#dr-doomsduck

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Allow me to present to you my absolutely ancient rabbit Mo (turning 11 this year), who would very much prefer I gave her treats instead of wishing you a happy birthday!

Anyways, happy birthday!

Thank you but I hope to god he got some treats or I'm going to be so upset

[badpoliticaltakes]

Not an American, and currently trying to look at this election through a less polarised lens for a bit (because I'm seeing a lot of, well, A LOT from both sides), but what do you think the left and the right should do to move closer to one another? Doesn't need to be the same thing for both sides, but it feels like there's a gap between either end that needs mending.

Hey, I'm also not an American either! High five!

I agree there's such a gap - I think both sides have a tendency to demonise each other, although in different ways.

Lots of left wing people are saying in the wake of the election things like, "Oh, how could women vote for Trump?", "I can't believe people voted in a fascist" etc, and I think if you look at right wing arguments (even if you disagree with them), you'll be able to see the core values there (for example, lots of women who vote for Trump are doing so because they're worried about their children and their education, or see holes in abortion legislation that are dangerous or worrying). Those are admirable traits, even if you disagree with the way they're implemented.

Similarly, right wing folks do the same, (see "blue-haired liberal" for example), when really, whilst I disagree with left wing conclusions, I can empathise with feeling worried about your future, and wanting to feel safe, and feeling able to voice your opinions.

Sadly, both the media and the political system itself don't encourage these kinds of conversations. If you look at, Ben Shapiro for example, all his viral videos are ones where he "owns' someone - not the interviews where he comes across a lot calmer and rational.

Also, the other is definitely to get out and touch grass. Get rooted in your community, and talk to people about things other than politics, and you'll find that, oops the guy down your road who helps you with your groceries is also a republican! And you'll probably have a conversation, and then learn the other side is just as nice and just as human as you, and it won't feel as much like some mystery ideology is out to get you. (Same for right-wing folks like myself - I know plenty of left-wing and liberal people who are a delight, and that helps me to stay grounded in having empathy for people even when I disagree with them).

I hope this made sense and was interesting!

[the-cereal-simp]

eeeeeeeeeeeeee thanks for the tag!

Egg - I want to have some but I've never had any (religious reasons)

Steak - I would never

Milk - ew, unless choco or strawberry or vanilla or something like that

Alcohol - not of age, but some stuff sounds interesting

Warm drink - tea (from a teabag, not any masala chai)

Potato - all.

Spice tolerance - so high (I think I would be dead by now if my tolerance wasn't this high. That's what happens when you're Indian ig)

Tags : @hold-my-dr-pepper @sam-the-skelepun @dr-doomsduck @ashes-onthewind @azuzula and everyone who wants to join!

[sayruq]

So, I just finished watching episode 10 of HoTD and I swear I was so bored for like 55 minutes of the whole ride, the only moment I was actually paying attention was when Aemond was on screen and the only emotion I had was me cackling at Aemond's tectonic "OH SHIT" face when Grandma Vhagar did her war crime.

I cannot believe that this is meant to be a challenger to the brilliance that is RoP, which had me at the edge of my seat from start to finish at every episode. Like, miss me with this failed Targ shit, the writers are so clearly not getting it.

Rings of Power writers care so much about their characters and they committ to the story they're telling, nothing is half assed. They want us to be attached to the characters and they work hard to make sure that we do and that hard work paid off. Look at how well received their finale is compared to this one. Ep 6 brought several characters together and not only did it feel like a big deal, the episode itself was tense, heartbreaking, dark and filled with more morally grey characters than HOTD. Adar>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Daemon. RoP was not scared to have Galadriel promise genocide nor did it ignore what that says about her. HOTD won't even let Rhaenyra express murderous intent after she was usurped and her son killed. She just stares into the camera.

I read the leaks so I knew what was coming and that usually doesn't detract from my enjoyment of a show because I love spoilers but even I was counting down the minutes to Aemond. It felt like an ordinary filler episode. Things happen without urgency or tension and not once did I feel like I couldn't wait to see how other characters will react to the new plot developments except Aemond's scene (he really is the MVP of the show). It didn't feel like the beginning of a new catastrophic war.

This show doesn't understand how to pick it's scenes. Instead of a very long miscarriage and body preparation scene, we could have spent more time on Rhaenyra's anger at being usurped, her fear of what it means for her children and her grief at her father's death because she barely reacted to that. There should have been only one Black Council scene after her coronation where we get

Team Black talking about their allies and Team Green's allies and you know strategizing

Rhaenys and Corlys slowly changing their minds about Rhaenyra (the show given reason why they chose her is very stupid because even the Greens want peace but whatever) as they watch her handle herself

Daemon trying to wrest control from Rhaenyra. You can even have him start the Council without her to show his eagerness for war. Instead of him standing around the table talking about the island's defenses, we should see him attending to that, ignoring her while she's in pain

Rhaenyra resisting it because of the prophecy which she doesn't talks about just yet. We should see people constantly pushing her to declare war and attack King's Landing and Rhaenyra standing her ground

Plans are made to send Jace and Luke to act as messengers

Instead of war, Rhaenyra plans on gaining enough allies to back the Greens into a corner without a single person dying

Then Otto Hightower comes. Instead of the dumb dragon scene, show Rhaenyra struggling to walk there but being determined because she's now queen and this is her duty but also because of the prophecy. She listens to the terms offered, trades insults with Otto, Daemon is Daemon. The page is offered, Rhaenyra cries and she decides to give her answer the following day.

Daemon thinks her attachment to Alicent is problem but she tells him about the prophecy. He strangles her. Rhaenyra spends the night thinking about how unpopular her decision is, she doesn't want to waver despite all the pressure she's facing.

Luke dies and Rhaenyra finds out right before she tells Otto her terms for peace. Instead of Emma staring at the camera, we can have the iconic line

Tell my half brother that I will have my throne, or I will have his head,” she said, sending the envoys on their way.

Now we see how Rhaenyra has been transformed by her son's death and we don't have to spend the entire last episode spinning the wheel until Aemond enters the picture.

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

Ok ok ok, but question about W*lker: if the main character had been played by Jensen Ackles, would it have been more redeeming/entertaining to watch?

(obviously it'd still be copaganda and unnerving on several levels, I'm just trying to imagine Jensen saying yes and wading into this mess. I mean, would they still have cast Gen as the wife?)

Well. Yes and no. It would have been more entertaining to watch. It would have been redeeming on a structural level. It would have been redeeming on... well, Jared’s performance.

The concept of it is just so, so bad. Cop who ~bends the rules~ and just snaps at some guy who’s taunting him. The very trite trope of ~ex convict doing a legit business and employing former criminals to give them a second chance is actually just running a drug dealing activity. I stopped watching Lucifer for that.

If it weren’t “copaganda” but it were about a guy doing a different job? Who left for eleven months to do some business in Hong Kong for his company or something? And now had to navigate his grief and relationship with his family and new colleagues? Now that would still be embarrassing because of Jared and the glowy elvish visions, but if you put Jensen and say Phil Sgriccia or Rich Speight it would be something.

Now of course you need better writers because the whole “aren’t we progressive” because of some badly written Strong Female Character lines and references to deporting undocumented immigrants being not good... it’s just so fake and performative and bad. They cast a Latina actress as Walker’s colleague and a Black actor as her boyfriend but that’s it! Oh being a Mexican American female ranger is tough. Oh my family isn’t speaking to me because I became a cop. #notallcops

It’s just so bad. Would Jensen make it better? Yes in a sense that Lucifer was not horrible to watch but if you replaced Tom Ellis with Jared it would have been the most embarrassing concept you could think of. (Sorry for the mental image.) But I couldn’t keep watching Lucifer because it was bad, no matter how good Tom Ellis was at playing the character.

To be fair Lucifer wasn’t even trying to take itself as a Cop Show too seriously - thus the main character being literally the devil and all - which earns it some points. But Walker just takes itself seriously. It’s like a parody of itself.

[biillyhargroves]

New on the block but for the Billy Hargrove headcancon: post s3 Billy who's still recovering from the flayer's possession feels inadequate in comparison to Steve. Yeah, he beat him up then, but apparently it was only round 2 for Steve who just walked it off and went for round 3 with Cthulhu himself while Billy just let the Flayer in and helplessly cried from the sidelines. Steve obviously vehemently disagrees with all of this, because Billy fought plenty and even held it off with his bare hands.

OKAY. OKAY, LISTEN.

Summer, 1985? It wrecks Billy. He feels awful. He feels guilty and weak and terrible. He thinks he should have done more, that he should have fought harder, that he could have saved Heather and her parents and all of those people if he'd just manned the fuck up. 

But that voice in his head? The one telling him that he’s a failure and a disappointment and that he’s a fuck up? That’s his father’s voice. That’s Neil telling him to be a man, Neil telling him to “cut the pussy shit” and do what needs doing. It’s years of Neil’s physical, verbal, and emotional abuse bubbling up to the surface and spilling out of Billy’s mouth. 

And it breaks Steve’s heart. 

Because he knows what really happened. He’s pieced it together from what he saw at Starcourt and what the kids told him, and he’s filled it in from everything that Billy’s said. He knows that Billy fought harder than any of them. He knows that he resisted the Mind Flayer as long as he could. He knows that Billy tried, and that try is enough for him. 

“You don’t know what you did, do you?” Steve asks, and Billy just scoffs because of course he knows what he fucking did. He’s read the obituaries; or, in some cases, the missing persons’ reports, because the scientists behind the first gate aren’t quite ready to admit that their mistakes have killed a large fraction of the population in Heart of America, Indiana. He’s learned the name of every single person he handed over to that thing and he feels like shit about it. But, “No, that’s not what fucking mean, man,” Steve says. 

And he tells him about how it started. He tells him about Will Byers and the alphabet painted on a living room wall. He tells Billy about flickering lights and a monster that crawled out of the walls. He tells him about what they were doing the first time they fought - about why Max was even there, with Steve at a stranger’s house, in the first place. He tells him about how they met the Mind Flayer and how it used Will Byers as a spy. He tells them about they tried to get it out of Will, and how it clearly got stronger - got angrier - by the time it found Billy. 

“That thing could’ve torn you to pieces,” Steve tells him. “You realize that?”

“Yeah, it almost fucking did,” says Billy.

“And you held it off!” Because Billy did. He went after that thing with his bare hands. Everyone else had weapons. Lucas had his slingshot. Nancy had guns. Steve had his bat. Eleven had her powers. But Billy? Billy touched it. Billy grabbed it. Billy held it his hands and tore it apart and he lived to tell the tale. 

And, yeah, it fucked him up. It fucked him pretty bad. It landed him in the hospital. He had months of long, hard, painful recovery ahead of him. But he survived. He won. 

And that makes him strong. It makes so fucking strong and Steve is never going to let him forget that. 

[thelegendofclarke]

dr-doomsduck replied to your post

Fun fact, in Dutch meer means lake! So, it's definitely water related (on another note the Dutch word for sea is zee, whereas the German word for lake is see, it's fairly confusing for Dutch students learning German or vice versa.

I am a mermaid... Always.

[captainpikeachu]

Can I just say that you are doing aces in this whole Ash Tyler and Pike debate thing? You've got a balanced view of where both men are coming from and how they can get to a satisfying compromise and yeah, that does not include strikes below the belt about everyone's war experience.

Thank you for saying that.

I fully believe that once next week’s episode comes, hopefully the fandom will move on from this “debate” and realize that both are good people, neither one of them is a villain no matter how any of us might feel about what either of them have said.

And hopefully the characters come away from next week having a newfound respect and friendship.

I mean, nothing like a near death shuttlepod adventure while battling robot space squids to make two people into new besties! It worked in Harry Potter didn’t it? :)

[avibeyvillain]

dr-doomsduck replied:

Good. That's really good to hear. I do hope it won't come back and that you have the time and space to recover for a bit

_____________________________________________________________

Thanks for your well wishes! I spoke too soon, however. I just had another this morning. Ugh. 

[alloverthegaf]

Started following you for lotr liveblog and then found out you were into Rooster Teeth and Achievement Hunter. It's been ages since I've seen them on my dash, so it's been great to see that! definitely stuck around for that (and all the other good content).

Thank you so much! Definitely recommend checking out the blogs I reblog RTAH content from they’re great

[electricbluebutterflies]

dr-doomsduck replied to your post “Alright, 35 and 39 for the ask meme, because you don't seem to be...”

Ah, new job, that can be hella scary. Though my basic rule is that you can count your first day at the job a success if you find the toilet. No higher bar set, just get through it

Same store I’ve worked at for the last four years, but very different department. Sooo, I know the building amazingly well (probably better than most other employees), just not the exact environment I’m wandering into today.

[queenapple]

dr-doomsduck replied to your post “Maybe peoplw block you because they dont need someone saying rude...”

I think they might be exposed to it because the search function on Tumblr responds not just to tags, but also content. You writing the word Betty in a response might end up in the Betty tag

Betty is such a common name anyone who wants content on her is gonna look up “be//tty cooper” not betty or theyll have to shift through a bunch of content thats not even related to the show and i rarely type her full name

[sayruq]

Alright I had to come here for a minute, because I just watched a vid where they were comparing Marvel characters to GoT characters and they *seriously* suggested that Daenerys's counterpart for the MCU was Eric Killmonger. Now, if you're not familiar with him, his whole life's slogan is basically 'white people took everything from us with their colonialism and their slavery and imma bury them for that'. they compared THAT to Miss Colonizer herself. I turned that shit off right then and there...

WOW

are you serious????

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

@dr-doomsduck​ replied to your ask post

Does Anon realize that swarning you liveblogging Walker doesn't change the plethora of negative reviews it got for numerous reasons

This isn’t about Walker at all, this is about little in-fandom-fighting powerplay games. They’re trying to be like “you’re bullying Jared, you Jared-hater” which is something that exists in their small fandom bubbles where Jared fans clash against Jared haters.

I’m just, you know, chatting about a tv show with my  friends online (which is the only kind of friend interaction possible during a pandemic, anyway. Hard to do much else to interact with people but lil internet things on our lil laptops).

Jared Padalecki isn’t reading my blog and crying like we’re middle schoolers mocking our classmate on tiktok.

[biillyhargroves]

shit is it too needy to request a part three to the billy nightmare demogorgon thing? bc I love it and this is so so good but if you don't want to write more of it, that's totally fine! idk I love it sooooo much and I could read like endless amounts of this...?

oh gosh I’m sorry I’m getting to this so late!! things have been super busy here. but I hope you enjoy this!! I’ve really been enjoying working on this little ‘verse!!

too tired to be fightingpart i: do you have room for one more troubled soul?part ii: you’re a canary, i’m a coal mine(fic requests open)

Silence reigns once more; this time, though, it is tense and it is angry and it is paired with pacing so furious Steve thinks the carpet might burn. They are in Jonathan’s bedroom, where Joyce had ushered them on Jonathan’s offer after Billy began his pacing in the living room.

“The monsters,” El had told him, “in your dreams. They’re real.”

“You-” Billy said, and then, “You were-”, and then, “You saw-”, and then, feeling the heat of so many eyes on him, so many people watching him, so many observe his stumbling and stammering, he shot to his feet with his shoulders rolled back and his hands squeezed to fists at his sides.

“Billy,” Max said, jumping up too, and at the same time Steve said, “Take it easy.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Billy shouted. His tone startled El; she jumped, and she curled against Hopper, who tugged her closer as he said, “Hey!” in a loud voice. He seemed ready to say more, ready to launch into some kind of tirade, but Joyce’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. She bunched a wad of his shirt in her fist and shook him- not hard, but enough to shut him up.

“Enough,” she said. She squeezed El with her free arm, then released them both to stand. Billy’s shoulders rose as she approached. He moved like prey; jerky, untrusting, unsure. He backed away when Joyce stepped closer and flinched when she reached to him. She saw this, and she stopped. “Hey,” she said softly. She glanced around the room, releasing Billy, for a moment, from one scrutinizing pair of eyes. She looked to Jonathan. “I think some space would be good,” she told him, and Jonathan nodded. He rose, too, and again Billy shrunk back. He was like a cornered animal, alert and defensive, but relaxed when instead of moving toward him, Jonathan directed his attention to Steve. 

“First door on the right,” he told him, pointing down the hall. Steve placed a hand on Billy’s shoulder and tried not to react when Billy nearly jumped away. Joyce stepped to the side, making a path for them out of the living room. Billy looked at everyone in turn. He wanted to fight- Steve could feel that -but he was too exhausted to argue, too exhausted to push. 

Now, he is pacing the length of Jonathan’s small bedroom over and over again. He hasn’t said a word since Steve shut the door. Steve sits on the edge of the bed, watching Billy move back and forth and back and forth. He is simmering with something like rage. Twice he stopped to looked at Steve, twice he opened his mouth to- ask a question? say anything? -, and twice he shook his head with a low huff and resumed his pacing. 

“Can you at least sit?” Steve asks. “You’re making me dizzy.”

Billy grunts; it is the clearest response Steve has gotten from him in what feels like hours but, in reality, has only been about twenty minutes. Steve can hear a low murmur of voices outside the door, muffled with distance, and he knows that Billy hears it, too.

“I know that is…” Steve stops himself, suddenly aware that he doesn’t a word. This is what? Confusing, sure. Frustrating, obviously. Scary? Terrifying, even? Something out of a Stephen King novel? He sighs. “I know this is a lot.” 

Billy pauses. He looks at Steve, and he looks angry, but the anger doesn’t reach his eyes. His eyes tell a different story. They look like a child’s eyes. Steve opens his mouth to say more, but Billy turns his back again. 

“Do you want to be alone?” Steve asks him. Billy pauses again, this time with his back to Steve, and Steve prepares to be kicked out. He is halfway to his feet when Billy speaks.

“No,” he says. Steve hesitates, not quite sure he’s heard him right.

“No?” he asks. Billy turns to look at him. 

“No,” he says again, and he sits down beside Steve with a heavy sigh. He leans his elbows on his knees and rests his head in hands and, after another moment of hesitation, Steve touches a hand to Billy’s back. 

“Do you want to talk?” Steve asks.

“I want to sleep,” Billy murmurs. He sounds miserable. 

“You think you can?” Steve asks. 

“No,” Billy says.

“Because of-”

“Yeah.”

“Right.” Steve rubs circles between Billy’s shoulders, but the tension there stays coiled.

“What did she mean?” Billy asks.

“El?”

“She said they’re real.”

“Yeah,” Steve says.

“How does she-”

“She can see stuff,” Steve says. “Uh, she has, like…uh…superpowers, sort of.”

“But how does she know they’re real?”

“She kind of, um- opened the gate for them to get here?”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Billy-”

“Don’t,” Billy says. He lifts his head to glare at Steve, but the effect is lost when Steve sees a sheen of unfallen tears. “Don’t fucking patronize me, Harrington, I swear to God.”

“I’m not,” Steve says. “I swear. I’m not even sure I know what patronize means.”

“Fuck off,” Billy huffs, though his tone his lighter. He leans against Steve and Steve slips his around around Billy’s shoulders, holding Billy against him. “I don’t know how she knows,” he admits. “We’ve fought them before. She’s fought them before. But we still don’t really know how they, like…work. This is new territory for all of us. No just you.”

“Great,” Billy says. 

“Bright side,” Steve says, “is that you’re not in it alone.”

“No one else is seeing them in their dreams?”

“Well, uh,” Steve stammers, then sighs. “No. Not that I know of.”

“So how am I not alone?” Billy asks. “I’m just supposed to let my sister’s weird friend stand guard in my fucking head?”

“El can help,” Steve says. “We all just want to help.”

Billy is quiet for a moment, and then he says, “I’m tired.”

“I know,” Steve says. “You should sleep.”

“If they’re real-”

“-you’ve got backup,” Steve finishes. “Seriously. Okay? You’re covered, man.”

Billy is quiet again, and leans heavier against Steve. Steve lets him. He holds Billy close, rubs Billy’s arm, tucks Billy’s head beneath his chin. They sit there together, entwined, and Steve hums something out-of-tune to drown out the sounds of talking outside. 

“What if they know?” Billy asks suddenly, almost startling Steve.

“What if who knows what?”

“Those things,” Billy says. “What if they know we’ve caught on?”

“You think they have?”

“They looked at her,” Billy says. “At…El.”

“Then we’ll send her back in,” Steve says. “She’ll kick their asses.”

“So, what? I have a fourteen year-old bodyguard?”

“Would you rather go in alone?”

“You’re not leaving, are you?”

“What?” Steve asks. He pulls away, one hand holding Billy so that he can look at his face. Billy blinks at him, groggy and weary. “I’m not going anywhere,” he says firmly. “Okay?”

Billy looks Steve up and down. He bites his lip, looks away, looks at the floor, then back at Steve. He nods, and when Steve pulls him into an embrace, Billy lets his head fall back on Steve’s shoulder. 

“You’re really fucking out of it, Hargrove,” Steve says, “if you think I’d leave you.”

“Shut up,” Billy grumbles. 

And Steve tells him, “Go to sleep.”

An hour passes, and in it Billy does sleep. He falls asleep on Steve’s shoulder, and Steve winces as he lowers Billy onto the bed. He keeps his promise; he stays with him, keeps watch over him, until a knock at the door pulls him away. Billy grunts in his sleep, but doesn’t wake up, and Steve gently brushes Billy’s hair from his face, his thumb lingering at Billy’s temple for a moment, before going to answer the door. 

“What’s going on?” Max asks, and Steve holds a finger to his lips to quiet her. 

“He’s sleeping,” he whispers. 

“Is he-” El starts.

“He’s been okay so far,” Steve says. He leaves the door open a crack behind him as he steps into the hall, and he looks into the dimly lit room to be sure Billy is still asleep before turning his attention to the girls. 

“He’s scared,” El says matter-of-factly.

“Yeah,” Steve says. “Yeah, he is.”

“You’re scared,” Max says, brows furrowed as she looks him up and down.

“Yeah, well, he’s scared,” Steve says by way of explanation. 

“We think El should stay with him,” Max says. “I mean, if he’s sleeping, they can come back, right? She should be there if they do.” Steve looks to El, who nods. 

“I promised I wouldn’t leave him,” Steve says.

“You don’t have to,” Max says. “Just…let us stay, too. To protect him.”

“Right,” Steve says. “Right, okay. Yeah.”

He leans against the door so that it opens, and he tries to slow it down so that the hinges don’t squeak too much. Every little noise makes him nervous. He doesn’t want to wake Billy- not after everything, not when he’s so desperately exhausted. Max steps inside, and she makes her way to her brother’s side, careful as she lowers herself beside him on the bed. Before El follows her, she takes Steve’s hand.

“He will be okay,” she says, and she squeezes his hand and offers the smallest of smiles.

“I hope so,” Steve tells her, eyes on Billy, so far still sleeping soundly, so far still undisturbed. “I really hope so.”

[frodofeels]

dr-doomsduck answered your question: Hey friends!  What patronus did you guys get on...

very hufflepuff but I’d give myself a badger, I got a shrew though, which is pretty great too

European or honey badger?