#dudebros hate to see this coming

[sleepyicon]

solving the great debate once and for all: they’re all fruity except miguel who’s the token straight character

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Pavlovitz at The Beautiful Mess:

Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz would be her running mate in the coming presidential campaign.

The decision was met with effusive praise from both Blue voters, as well as a disparate group of politicians and commentators. Walz’ effortless warmth, his heart-on-sleeve demeanor, and his undeniable joy for life, which have been apparent for a long time in his home state—have suddenly become a national story. In a matter of hours, millions of people fell in love with the Governor, sharing videos of he and his daughter on thrill rides at the State Fair, and photos of him being joyfully embraced by a group of school children and cheerfully holding a tiny, sleeping piglet. And in the wake of the announcement and of his and Kamala' Harris’ electrifying appearance in Philadelphia at their first rally, the “Christian” MAGA Right rolled out a telling reply that they surely imagined was a real zinger: They created the hashtag #TamponTimmy. Really. That’s where they went. That’s all they got. Not only does this desperate response underscore the reality that Republican voters have nothing left but sophomoric name-calling in an effort to emulate their emotionally-stunted orange messiah in the absence of substantive critique, but it reveals how hateful toward women and how threatened by non-toxic masculinity they are.

MAGAs don’t see how much they expose themselves by using a female medical product as a slur, the way it reveals their complete contempt for women and their agendas toward them. They are so intimidated by a man this confident in who he is and so endowed with natural humility, that they have to attack these things as if they’re some sort of character flaws. Emotional maturity is a red flag for them.

[...] They are fully fed up with Trump and his surrogate’s contrived John Wayne dudebro American tough guy cosplay, and they are ready to embrace a better kind of manhood: one that doesn’t need to prove how tough it is, doesn’t have to be the center of attention, and most of all, is not concerned about showing its deep humanity because it revels in it. Tens of million of boys and young men of this nation have been irreparably harmed by the sexist dehumanization of Trump and the MAGA movement, which have been reinforced by Dark Ages theology, culture war politics, inherited/internalized misogyny, and good ol’ fashioned fragile masculinity. This nation is ready to embrace a masculinity embodied in Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff: one that does no harm, one that gladly defers to a strong, capable, talented woman, and one that makes all of us better.

John Pavlovitz nails it. The masculinity of Tim Walz is what’s needed for America, instead of the kind of masculinity the likes of Donald Trump, Andrew Tate, and Elon Musk push.

[an-android-in-a-tutu]

Been seeing a lot of takes like this and I appreciate where they're coming from, it's a good idea to be especially wary of excessive criticism aimed at things made by and for women but like. Yes you do see hot takes about Marvel, and the lego movie, and Batman films. To say this with your whole chest you have to spend zero time in leftist circles and pay zero attention to criticism of big blockbuster movies or just. Yknow. Lie to make your point.

More relevantly you see this specific thing happen whenever a big corporation makes flaccid listless gestures towards progressivism for the sake of their bottom line. Because the end result is always too toothless to have meaning for leftists while still being offensive enough to right wingers simply by virtue of having a lot of women or gay people or people of colour in it to have them frothing at the mouth. Sexist dudebros hating Barbie doesn't shield it from feminist critique, they were going to hate it whether it succeeded or failed but it can still fail.

And as nice as the big feminist speach in barbie is I have to wonder if its primary purpose is to actually uplift women so much as it is to shut down criticism of the movie and the brand. If even Barbie can't escape this criticism what hope is there for the rest of us, right? Except Barbie isn't a real woman, she's a plastic toy made in sweatshops by a brand attempting to rehabilitate a progressive image out of a long history of being criticized for its portrayal of women because that's what will boost sales. This movie is part of that, and pointing that out is important.

You don't need my or ayone's permission to enjoy the Barbie movie, if it was meaninful to you I'm genuinely happy for you, if you just thought it was fun and funny, great! But to act like the only reason to criticize the movie is sexism is glossing over some very real problems and like, straight up falling for the corporate propaganda. Yes every big blockbuster movie actually does get criticized bc they are political tools that serve the people in power. Not every big blockbuster is also being sold as a feminist masterpiece though, so you probably are gonna hear it more about Barbie. You'll also hear it more about Barbie bc people are hypercritical of women and that will motivate some critique, but to assume bad faith is to shut out conversations that need to happen.

[starbeltconstellation]

Ahh, and THERE it is… 🙃🙃

I have kept my opinions mostly to myself about The Acolyte, because I wasn’t planning on watching it until seeing where it went with the Jedi. Almost everything in SW media has an element of Jedi criticism (sadly 🙄), so I knew that would be a given with this show, so I was holding off on any total judgment until the end.

One thing I KNEW I would despise and would make me not ever watch it is if they actually made canon that the Jedi brutally murdered an entire coven of witches and COVERED UP A MASSACRE (wtf on that part, because they would NOT cover it up, even if they’d made a mistake). Apparently, it is not as bad as I feared, and they don’t destroy the Jedi Order’s characterization entirely.

But THIS line. 🥶🤢

With THIS line that is apparently written in the newest episode—that’s it. You’ve lost me.

Because THIS line is just straight up genocide apologia.

Ohhh, of course they don’t come outright and SAY, “Loool, those space wizards deserved what they got! 🤪🤪✊”, but the implication is pretty clear, all the same.

From the very beginning, I knew the showrunner of The Acolyte didn’t like the Jedi or their culture, and said that her show “wouldn’t be kind to them.”

And I could’ve lived with just the stupid vagueness of portraying the Jedi as a pompous bureaucracy (because it’s just an infectious opinion that’s spread through most of the fandom), without FULLY condemning The Acolyte and declaring the show a terrible portrayal of the Jedi and their morality and culture, along with the CANON aspects of the Dark Side being a cancer in The Force that does nothing but make people miserable and cause imbalance in The Force.

But with THIS LINE that is SO clearly a wink and a nudge to the SW fans who believe the Jedi ‘deserved what they got’… 🙄🤢… I’m sorry, but they’ve officially lost me. 😬🤷‍♀️

There are things that I’d probably like, if I ever can make myself stomach getting through the show: seeing how different cultures view The Force, seeing more of the Jedi Order/culture/Temple/how they teach their students, the characters Sol and Jecki and Yord and Osha—even seeing Jedi fighting style being so different and more defensive while trying to not use their lightsaber unless necessary, since they are in a time of peace.

But for the most part?

With THIS frankly DISGUSTING line, I can say with absolute certainty that The Acolyte is a show that I would never enjoy, and that is frankly not a welcome addition to the SW universe to me.

I appreciate the diversity inclusion, and I find myself relating to that meme that says something like: “When you hate a show, but then realize the other people that hate it are mostly bigots, 🙃🙃” because—unlike THOSE moronic dudebros—my criticism is for the story itself.

It’s a genuine shame. It’s such an interesting premise, getting to see the Jedi in the High Republic Era. But with this… I now know that The Acolyte is a show not worth my—or ANY OTHER pro Jedi fan’s time. 💔😔🤷‍♀️😬

Only thing I’ll say in defense of it: Mr. Sith (?) IS hot. 🔥❤️‍🔥

And that’s the only other praise I can give. 🤷‍♀️

Loool, sorry for the rant. I’m just so pissed off. 😭🤷‍♀️😂

[seandiazworms]

sean diaz + lyla park friendship headcanons

- lyla fit the manic pixie dream girl trope when she and sean first started being friends. she practically introduced him to a lot of good music, weed, parties, anything u could possibly think of. sean definitely put her on a pedestal in the beginnings of their friendship

- sean and lyla go back and forth with racist jokes

- whenever sean and lyla explore abandoned buildings and sean has to climb a wall/gate its like a competition to see who says something first ☠️

- “is it because im korean?”

- “yes” sean says with NO HESITATION

- lyla just stares with a blank smile LMAO

- when actual racist people come after either of them though they go batshit crazy and spew insults (lyla that is)

- bc lyla has insomnia, she will call sean at like three am and just start rambling 😭 sean will try to respond but he just mumbles in response and falls asleep within ten minutes

- she screams at him and he always flinches awake in fear LMAO she thinks its soooo funny but he hates it

- sean and lyla be gossipinggg together

- lyla has way more connections so its usually just her telling sean abt drama at school but hes so invested every single time 😭

- theyll be gossiping abt a certain person/couple and see them the next day. sean not so inconspicuously starts smirking and making faces. lyla always hits him to make him stop

- at parties sean will awkwardly linger behind lyla and shell tell him to go away bc “hes scaring the hoes”

- he in fact does not go away and just stands behind her looking slightly more tense

- sean is more of a lightweight than lyla is and she uses this to her advantage at every function. the amount of “blackmail material” she’s accumulated…

- both virgins who make fun of each other for being virgins

- super music nerds!! they go to local shows together once lyla introduces sean to the local music scene ^^

- lyla finna be in the pit… whereas sean likes to stand on the sidelines

- when lyla and sean sesh w each other sean can get paranoid sometimes. lyla thinks its hilarious when he starts freaking out about random conspiracy theories or how hard hes breathing 😭

- “the… the fucking babies man… we gotta save them…”

- “sean stop tweaking the fuck out and just enjoy the high please”

- “but lyla the babies…?“ sean whines

- “…god these chili dogs are good….”

- when sean visits lyla at work she always gives him a free drink. she has yet to get caught

- lyla expects the same treatment when she goes into the grocery store sean works at 😭

- “lyla you can’t just take the cabbage—“

- “i literally made you that mocha for free?”

- people call sean “lyla’s twink” because he talks to no girls and is always getting out of the passenger seat of her car??? LMAOOO. lyla eggs this on because she thinks its the funniest thing ever. sean absolutely hates it

- sean does not know how to social media and relies on lyla to make him look hot in her instagram stories. she’d probably post a picture of his face all scuffed up from skating to make him look hardcore LMAO

- car seat headrest lovers. they are so twin fantasy coded… they would love that album. they have that slight dependency “us against the world” vibe with exception to the abusive parts… 😭

- they also love mid90s and their friend group is quite literally that movie minus the random ten year old boy

- lyla tries to recruit daniel as the random ten year old but sean refuses because daniel is embarrassing to him LMAO

- matching stick poke tattoos??? which sean reluctantly agrees to

- lowkey lyla prob has a geek bar and sean thinks it’s the stupidest thing ever. daniel plays with the screen LMAO

- their after school routine consists of skating and being dudebros forever and ever. and ever and nothing bad happens. ever

also old but im cleaning out my notes app and thought i should share it lol. i love love sean and lyla sm thank u for the latino and asian girl duo rep life is strange!!!

[offsidetracked]

I've been thinking about how I'd go about byler in S5.

When I got hooked on byler it was the same way I got hooked on every other ship; it's heavily supported by subtext, regardless of if it's confirmed by the text later on or not. Sasunaru, reylo, bkdk... all are ships that have intricate and beautifully woven subtext that made us fans speculate for years. In some cases discourse is still ongoing. That's a hallmark of some great writing as far as I'm concerned (all of these ships crashed and burned in different ways but until they did the writing was truly stellar).

Stranger Things and byler are in the same league. I just believe that this time the outcome will be a lot more satisfying. So how do we get the GA to root for it when it happens? I'm not the Duffers but I know some things I would do to help it along:

Dial up the homophobia. When byler becomes canon there can be absolutely no question; the bad guys of this show are the bigoted close-minded homophobes. It must be explicitly shown how mindlessly cruel this specific type of hate is and that it's incompatible with viewing yourself as a hero or good guy. I'd continue to spin the thread from last season and have the town blame pretty much all that goes wrong in Hawkins on your resident nerds, outcasts and misfits. Mix that with the aids crisis and the Reagan administration and next season is gonna be brutal. But it needs to be to drive home that in Stranger Things, if you're a homophobic bully, you're the monster.

Make the subtext hornier. One of the things I adore about Rian Johnson and Masashi Kishimoto is how they do subtext, particularly sexual subtext. Funnily enough dudebros in both the Star Wars and Naruto fandom, just like a lot of Milevens, didn't pick up on any of it. The Last Jedi is filled with Freudian sexual imagery. From Rey falling onto a hairy seaweed-filled cave hole to Kylo's light sabre design, yoni-shapped doorways and their joint fight towards the end—all sexually loaded and masterfully tongue-in-cheek. Naruto had a much longer run and was consequently more parsed out with it's subtexual imagery. Still it's not hard to find if you know how to look (there are some really excellent accounts on here if you wanna dive into that rabbit hole). Stranger Things has the beautiful benefit of being a horror; a genre that excels at showing our suppressed desires in grotesque and weirdly relatable ways. Phallic monsters, fluids everywhere, exposed scratched up and damaged skin, tending to wounds in intense and intimate ways, grime and dirt, panting, moaning, grunting through pain... It's up to the Duffers how in the face they wanna be about it. But it would be a missed opportunity if they don't crank up this type of imagery at least a little. Also, I want to see Mike suffer. Let him sweat and have a nervous breakdown over allegory.

Show that repression = impotence + harm. Freud, no matter what you think of the guy, is all over horror. This quote from Men, Women and Chainsaws sums it up pretty neatly; "Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways". Well bitches, now is later and it's time for the subconscious to come out of the closet and ruin everyone's day. Will is gonna be stuck in the victim part of the Final Girl trope until he fully embraces his queerness by having his feelings reciprocated by Mike. Mike, on the other hand, will probably actively find himself and the people closest to him in dangerous and harmful situations as a direct consequence of all the shame, fear and desire he's bottled up. Until he too, embraces his queer self by confessing his feelings to Will. Poetic cinema. However the Duffers go about it, the lesson everyone watching S5 needs to leave with is that forced conformity is harmful to you and everyone around you, and that there is no greater horror than the horror we subject ourselves to when we deny and repress the truth of who we are.

Well there you have it, this is what I would do to promote byler, get the GA on board and tie together this wild, wonderful, nerve-wracking ride we've been on for the last ten years. Godspeed to all of you, however it goes.

[whiteladyofithilien]

Okay here to talk Eowyn and how the slights and disrespect she gets are more annoying than listening to Gollum talk to himself all day...

People who act like Aragorn dislikes/disdains her just because he doesn't return her romantic feelings are living in that incel mindset that women can only be admired as matrons or sexual objects. Aragorn the king of wholesome masculinity admires the heck out of Eowyn. Refers to her as the fairest thing in Rohan. He values her friendship and her place as a fundamental bullwark of her people.

People who act like she's somehow pathetic because she falls for someone who doesn't return her affection are not living in reality. They're lost in some Hollywood/porn centric view of romance where women are always sexually desired and if they aren't well then something is wrong with them. Faramir very clearly lays out what happened. She who had been treated rather like a utility in her household meets the last and greatest of the men of Numenor. Truly a man above all others. And of course she's bedazzled. Then there's the fact that he seems to truly see her (albeit on his side just platonic admiration and desire for friendship) and she matters and of course for someone who has been sidelined to tending to her aging uncle this draws her in. There's no fault on Aragorn but as any girl whose femininity and/or personhood has gone largely ignored will tell you it can be quite heady when someone actually notices you as a whole person, femininity included.

And finally her moment with the Witch-King being stolen from her like she did nothing. Ignores all these facts

1. Merry wouldn't have been there to stab him if not for her

2. It's very clearly a dual credit thing both in the passage and in the appendix footnotes

3. Nothing explicitly says that without Merry and his barrow-blade that she couldn't kill the witch-king. She's not a man while Merry is not a Man. The whole thing was based off of an elven prophecy which prophecies seldom are straightforward in their wording and don't even always come true (ask Treebeard) so there's nothing conclusive to say that her jamming a sword in his face wouldn't have done the trick with or without Merry. His role is certainly important because if nothing else prophecy or no he did distract the Witch-King with his blow allowing Eowyn to press an advantage but absolutely nothing there discredits her accomplishment in slaying the Witch-King of Angmar and people trying to act like Merry "made it easy for her" need to shove a barrow-blade where the sun don't shine

Small note here too. People who want to criticize her cooking are wrong in multiple aspects.

A. That's only in the films and a deleted scene at that.

B. It's sexist as hell to base a woman's merit off of her cooking skills. You go hamstring an oliphant and make a souffle then anonymous dudebro hating on Eowyn

C. If you think Eowyn's only accomplishments are "masculine" she does have a great talent with "feminine arts" as in she's a healer and gardener in Ithilien and by virtue of her spouse she's a freaking princess given Faramir is the Prince of Ithilien

So in conclusion if you want to diss Eowyn for any of the above mentioned off base arguments you can kiss Gollum's scrawny arse

[melonteee]

Did you think you were going to hate zoro when you first started? I feel like he comes across as (and is marketed as) the typical Shonen badass side character who does badass things with badass swords and has no real qualities besides Big Slash. But he's actually a silly little dumbass who doesn't know North from up and loves his little reindeer buddy.

I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA HATE HIMMMMMMMMM but not as much as SANJI?? LMAOO but fr I thought Zoro was just gonna be the most BORING guy EVER to me. Mr Macho Masc Man Crush Male Fantasy guy who EVERY dudebro jerks off too.

In some ways, Zoro IS that, but I was so DELIGHTED to find out he was SO much MORE than that. I am still convinced Oda is showing Zoro's bottling of emotions as a negative thing, and something Zoro NEEDS to eventually heal from by looking inwards, so he has me on the edge of my seat and he makes me SO happy because it feels like...Oda sometimes questions the idea of Zoro's very stubborn masculinity on what masculinity really is when there are emotional men like Luffy, Usopp, Sanji and Franky on the crew. The more I look at One Piece, the more I KNOW Oda does NOT see emotions as a negative trait or a weakness, while ZORO seems to think something like crying is annoying, weak or 'unmanly.'

His recent line about Vegapunk seemed to prove that enough, even if Zoro doesn't actually mean it, it feels like he thinks he needs to be an emotionless machine to be strong. Once again, Oda clearly doesn't believe emotions or tenderness makes someone a 'weak' person or a 'weak' man, so I am SO excited to see where Oda goes with Zoro!

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

This. Plz. I need it. It screams PTSD and comfort piece

Bro??????? I didn't expect to see you in my inbox ghsggsg I love your blog <3

I had this in my drafts for almost a year but I FINALLY got motivated to finish it. So woe Springtrap angst/comfort be upon ye

........

By day, you worked at Fazbear's Fright as its "security guard" actor, making sure everybody got to experience the attraction safely and soundly.

It was far from the dream job you've been hoping for.

The pay sucked, small children were dragged through screaming and crying their little heads off, and some teenagers even made tasteless jokes about the tragedies that happened over 30 years ago.

It wasn't any better at night, as you were legitimately a guard who had to ensure nobody broke in and stole anything, all while working in hazardous conditions with only a slight pay raise as compensation.

You were all for "authenticity", but sometimes you considered filing a complaint with the health department....and then you remembered that this was the only job that was willing to hire you on the spot.

Bills didn't pay themselves, of course.

Like it or not, you had to work here.

However, it wasn't all that boring at night...and you actually preferred being here with nobody else around.

And no, not because your only worries are some faulty cameras, shitty ventilation, creepy phantoms of past animatronics invading your mind, and the possibility of a fire breaking out...

But because of something that your "dudebro" of a manager mentioned during your second nightshift.

"We found a real one. A live one."

Ever since then, you've seen him stalking the premises a few times.

It was Bonnie, but at the same time not Bonnie.

There was a person inside that animatronic, wearing it as a suit. And he seemed to be trapped within it, likely for years and left to decay as his bones, flesh, and even some vital organs were exposed by all the rips and tears.

At first you thought it was a cool little Halloween concept, convinced that 99% of the attraction's budget went into making such realistic gory details for a costume that showed the real-life consequences of the fabled "springlock failure".

You even jokingly told the actor inside he can come out and take a break as you were the only one here, promising you won't rat him out..

But you quickly realized he wasn't acting.

All he did was stare at the cameras and through the window. And as you observed him, you can tell he was limping, hearing his jagged breaths and pained moans echoing through the halls. Like a wounded animal begging to be put down.

The few times he did speak to you....it sounded like something was strangling him, crushing his vocal cords, making him choke out his words as though he had been chain smoking for the past 30 years.

But it wasn't any drug he was on.

He was literally a dead man walking.

You had doubts he was even a man anymore.

By all accounts, he shouldn't be alive..but he was.

Something in that suit was keeping him on life support, and it wasn't batteries or servos or electricity, but something entirely paranormal.

You felt bad for the poor guy, whoever he was. Nobody deserved this kind of torturous fate...except maybe criminal scum.

The only thing you did know was that somebody used that Springbonnie suit to commit those infamous murders back in the early 80s.

The victims were children.

Literal children who died in the place where they should have felt nothing but joy and safety.

You didn't wanna believe it could be....him.

It couldn't be, right?

He was probably just a random hapless employee who got into a tragic accident with the suit, unable to move or cry out for help. Nobody likely knew he was still inside when they sealed the walls.

No way could he be that evil man.

So when you didn't see him at all tonight, that's when you became concerned and decided to seek him out. Hopefully he didn't collapse somewhere unreachable.

You weren't sure what compelled you to look for him, but....you'd hate to sit in the office all night and deal with more ghosts.

Eventually, you did find him in one of the furthest rooms, clearly writhing and tormented by something unseen to you.

Maybe those phantoms haunted him, too?

It would definitely make you feel less alone and less crazy.

You stood near one of the arcade machines, cautious as you weren't sure what to say to him.

"Are you okay" sounded stupid, as this man was literally rotting inside a tomb he could not escape from. So he was very much not okay and would never be okay.

Not as long as he was in that suit, which has apparently become infused with his flesh.

Before you could think of anything to console him or even indicate your presence...his gray optics flickered to meet your human eyes, eyelids lowering as though he was trying to mimic squinting.

"M.....Michael...?" He rasped.

Your heart leapt into your throat, feeling it pounding as you wondered if he was expecting somebody else.

But he's seen you before, hasn't he?

It's always been you here.

"It's me, the guard you've been seeing a lot.." You began awkwardly. "This is the first time we've really met each other, and not through a window."

Now the man-animatronic seemed less tense, as though disappointed. "You should...stay away. This suit..still has its kinks...ahhhghh.." He groaned in pain, his fingers curling into his fists, every breath crushing his lungs more than the last. "Hurts...so bad....."

"What does?" Kneeling down, you still minded your distance but now your concern for him only grew further.

"Everything...like...it's....happening all over again. But why...? I'm dead....unless..I-I'm not..."

By this point, he seemed to be muttering to himself, unsure of whether the pain he was feeling was even real. Given what little of his human body you could see, it's incredible he could feel anything and still have thoughts. He shouldn't be able to even speak, and if so...it should only be through those broken prerecorded voicelines given to every animatronic way back then.

But no. He himself was talking--the man who somehow still had active nerves that could feel pain.

You felt bad for him. Life in prison or death penalty would've been more merciful than this hell he went through.

You felt like there was something you could do.

It might be the most insane idea, but you were willing to take your chances if it meant distracting him from the pain even a little bit.

"May I..help you feel something different?"

"..what..? What are you...." The rabbit-man seemed bewildered as you placed your smaller hands into his now open felt green palms, interlocking fingers without any hesitation on your part.

Despite your nose being clogged up with the stench of death, and your stomach churning in kind..you refused to let him go. "What do you feel now?"

"....only my greatest pain..like I was back in that saferoom..." He coughed, his longer ear folding over one eye. "Sometimes...I think....I can just take this off...before it happens again..and again....and again. But....I can't. Why did I do that? Was I scared? Why did it fail me then? Did I deserve it for...for....."

Then he fell silent, his head drooping, and for a moment or two you were worried he somehow shutdown or actually died this time.

But just as you were about to pull your hands free, he suddenly sprung back to life, a ragged gasp escaping him as his fingers curled around yours. It was tight, making you wince a bit, although it was worth seeing the look in his robotic eyes..

Which showed less anguish than before.

"I feel...you." He muttered, almost astonished as he looked down at your hands. "Your flesh. Something I haven't felt in years. Warm, small..easy to crush-"

Before he could say anything further, he felt like he was choking again, the small steel beams and screws piercing his lungs...suffering until he slowly died in a pool of his own blood.

Every now and then, that sensation came back again.

But this time, he felt something different.

Something old, yet new.

Something foreign, yet familiar.

it didn't hurt.

You tried not to look at the piece of his lung that was visible and somehow still functioning, inflating and deflating with every unsteady breath. Instead you kept looking into his eyes, assuring him you're here and you're real.

"It's okay. Keep holding onto me if it helps. I....don't think I ever caught your name," you muttered. "I doubt you wanna be called Springbonnie."

"I've...become more like a Springtrap, " he remarked with a low chuckle. "But....my name...it's...."

"It's what?"

".....what is my name? It's become...lost to me..."

"Oh. Well, I hope it comes back to you soon."

"Hm...perhaps..it will....thank you."

"Of course." You offered him a sympathetic smile.

Maybe this job didn't completely suck after all.

You got to make a friend and help that friend.

[maoam]

I love how sakura and hinata fans say sns shippers are misogynists for not liking those girls and the ships when really I think me being a man-hating-radical-feminist is what makes me not like them lol. Like I have self respect which is why I don't like someone who's entire purpose is to be a man worshipping housewife from the 1950s with no backbone and doesn't stand up for herself at all (hinata) or someone who's pretty much a male in female form who mimics real creepy male behaviour to a T like constantly harassing someone and trying to force them to like you back despite constant rejects, treating them like a sexual object only, centering yourself around their life and not even actually caring about someone they claim to love (sakura). Also if you take it a step further, I can even say the reason sasuke's my favourite character is bc he's female-coded. Like almost every way he gets treated both by the narrative and by real fans is how a lot of ppl treat real women. (think they know better for him, hating him for being attractive and able to get anyone's attention, hating him for having agency and not caring what ppl think, not caring to follow paths others want him to follow, etc) these are all things that most women get hated on for irl. It also says a lot that most of his haters are male lol, while other male characters with the "coolness" factor like sasuke are still worshipped (like his own brother, kakashi, even naruto). Also gaara getting more popular after he started worshipping naruto and leaving his cool backstory and interesting character behind also proves my point. If sasuke just became a naruto fanboy halfway thru and didn't bother with his revenge and only started loving naruto (not romantically tho, ofc, bc that's gay and we're alpha males who fuck bitches only 😤) he prolly wouldn't be as hated. Just like if sakura switched her affections from sasuke to naruto halfway thru, the dudebros would stop hating her. It's all about naruto worship, and the characters who end up doing that always end up being the shell of the interesting characters they once were (like gaara, hinata was never an interesting character, she's the only one who was meant to be his cock worshipper since the beginning) and that's what makes me hate all dudebros and some female fans who think this too. Like sometimes I start hating naruto myself bc some of the sasuke only stans on tumblr make really good points about how naruto's basically a male power fantasy series. Almost everyone ends up worshipping him, and even sasuke (if you wanna see it that way) ends up doing that. I personally like equal power in relationships so I like to see them as equal in the end, but some ppl who only wanna see their self insert incel mc be worshipped, they can see it that way. Sometimes I only like naruto in sns and sasuke individually, and hate everything else about this series. Anyway that got kinda off topic but yeah.

Sakura also does not stand up for herself when it comes to Sasuke.

Hinata's body language is always timid, but Sakura's becomes one too in the presence of Sasuke. Because she tries to make Sasuke like her, but since she doesn't understand Sasuke she also doesn't understand this is not what Sasuke wants nor needs. Sasuke wouldn't like it either if Naruto acted this pathetic.

Hinata is literally a tradwife dream, she is docile, submissive, doting and her only goal in life is to support Naruto and become Naruto's girlfriend/wife and have his kids. She has no thoughts about anything else. This is what many men want from a woman. It's really pitiful to read/watch people try to come up with something in order to make Hinata look like a decent character. It all comes down to "she liked Naruto since the beginning", "she sacrificed herself for Naruto", "she has had more kids than the other female characters".

I don't know about the use of "female-coded" as a term (I talked about it at one point), I think it's the homoeroticism that largely contributes to this (especially how Sasuke is made to be desirable to both men and women). But I do see where you're coming from. Sasuke does piss off many men but a lot of it is due to incel mentality. Some of it is due to main character entitlement, as in Sasuke takes too big of a chunk out of the manga when it comes to screentime. Ironically, there are many of them who think Sasuke should have been a female character so Naruto's obsession with him wouldn't make them so uncomfortable.

I also find it annoying when so many Sakura videos I watch have men ranting about how Sakura still likes Sasuke despite the fact Naruto saved her. Like you can tell they think a man should be able to buy woman's sexual interest by making her owe them. But thankfully, I have come across also videos that make very good points about her character.

Naruto and Sasuke's fight (or more like the aftermath) annoyed some men because it was physically basically a draw and Naruto even said to Sasuke "this isn't about winning or losing". Sasuke lost to his feelings, basically him admitting defeat was him accepting to be loved by Naruto LMAO no wonder dudebros were mad. Many of them whined because they hated how Kishi had to make it so gay.

Shonen tends to be a male power fantasy. Luffy also gets everyone to fanboy/fangirl him. And shonen mcs usually have one of the worst stans for this reason. It's funny (or not) how the same pattern can be seen in every shonen fandom when it comes to the main character. There are men who self insert into them and act like everything needs to be about them, and bash other characters especially if they take even a little from their mc. Meanwhile there is a subset of women who create this yaoi harem shit around the mc, him as feminine uke bottom that every other guy just wants to rail. And they also might wrote posts on how other characters are irrelevant and boring compared to their beloved mc. It always happens. If it makes you feel better, Naruto always saw Sasuke and Iruka as different from the rest, because he didn't need to prove anything to them, they just cared for him even when he was a loser. And to Naruto, Sasuke is the best in the world. Even to Sarada he started ranting how Sasuke is hot and cool and the best shinobi in the world lol. But yes, I think Gaara and Neji lost some edge of their characters after they were saved by Naruto.

[yurious-george]

For those of you who don’t know anything about Hollow Knight or its upcoming sequel, Silksong, there is some drama of astronomical potential that is going to be hilarious to see how it shakes out.

Three things. First, as you may already know, Hollow Knight is one of those hardcore games that attracts a certain type of cishet “gamer guy”: I’m sure you know the type. They can be more or less overtly bigoted, but either way, they’re all kind of That Guy. Second, Princess Hornet is one of the major characters in Hollow Knight, and the player character in Silksong. Third, every character in the Hollow Knight world is a bug, and aren’t depicted as having sexually dysmorphic traits that humans have: there are no insects with tits in this game, despite being bipedal and anthropomorphic. (Despite that, Hornet is frequently drawn with tits anyway, because the aforementioned demographic is outrageously horny for her. This is important later.)

In Silksong, Hornet is strongly implied to have a rival/deuteragonist, Lace! Not much is known about Lace, except she’s described as sadistic and set up as Hornet’s rival. And gamer dudebros hate her.

Maybe not full on hate, but they don’t like her. “Too mean and dislikable,” if memory serves. If I had to guess, they’re subconsciously picking up on the subtext and being homophobic about it: Hornet is the waifu of many a gamer bro, and between the subtext and Lace’s implied importance in the narrative/sadism/independence/backhandedness, Lace does not have a lot of love in that half of the community.

(As for the other half of the community, the player character of Hollow Knight is canonically agender. There are two canon gay couples within the game, and while not required, completing their side quests is essential to 100%ing the game. Despite being a couple of Cishet Male Gamers themselves, the Hollow Knight team is gracefully supportive of the LGBT+ community, and much of the fan base is LGBTQ+!)

But back to Lace: Lace and her subtext. Lace has insane amounts of wedding and romantic subtext despite only having 2 trailers and a demo’s worth of content. Off the top of my head:

association with white & gold, particularly white roses

Lots of church imagery, especially an emphasis on ringing bells

Lace’s and Hornet’s VAs are both Japanese, and Lace is straight up wearing a Japanese wedding garment while dressed head to toe in white

Visual design and presentation wise, Lace is framed as an equal and opposite to Hornet. Lace is likely to play the rival-won-over role that Hornet had in Hollow Knight, to the point of leaving the arena the same way as Hornet when her first fight ends

Calls Hornet delicious when first introduced. Then says she likes her when Hornet tells her to fuck off

Strongly implied to have saved Hornet in the opening trailer

And, last but certainly not least: the original Silksong announcement, with Lace’s introduction, came out on February 14th.

And that’s just off the top of my head!

I don’t want to get my hopes up, much less expect anything and get disappointed, but in my heart I am hoping gamer bros take the BIGGEST L when Silksong comes out. I hope Lace is complex and engaging and still sadistic. I hope Lace is the Vriska of Silksong. I hope Lace and Hornet have so much subtext it’s practically text. I hope the good end is locked behind a lesbian wedding.

I don’t hope for that last one specifically, but just imagine. Go on, pair off the one character that cishet male fans go “hhhurngh… female character” and draw with massive balloon tits to the character they hate the most. Do it. I believe in you

But seriously: The main character of the most wishlisted game on Steam confirmed in a wlw relationship, effectively alienating half or more than half of the fan base. Hollow Knight: Silksong has the potential to be the funniest lesbian W in the universe and I cannot wait to see how it all goes down.

[frownyalfred]

Rereading asoh and the early Jason pov’s really sound like the manifestos of those redpill podcast guys I can’t believe how perfectly you NAILED that btw. His constant mental ranting about his training and how superior he is, as though he has to tell himself that over and over to remind himself that “it’s real”. How he “doesn’t need comfort because blankets and pillows feel suffocating” to him and about how much stronger he is now. This is literally just a written redpill manifesto but in omegaverse. Like I’ve heard so many alpha male dudebro rants that sound exactly like his brain here and the same over-explaining of how cool and superior and tough he is and how everybody looks down when he passes etc etc bc he HAS to tell himself that. It’s SO GOOD AND SO UNCOMFORTABLE YOU DID IT SO WELL

Haha thank you I’m glad it came across right! I am obviously not an incel but I am on reddit so I occasionally see that kind of rhetoric. It’s super self hating, that’s always what it comes back to. And in that fic, that’s where Jason needs help too — his self hatred, causing him so much pain that he uses anger and alpha instincts to compensate.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

Hi there! I wanted to say your art is absolutely incredible and always brings me back to Elden Ring when I forget just how amazing the game is. I live for your depictions of Marika.🥹

I was partly just curious after you posted the recent family tree, is there a reaspn Ranni and Radahn don't make as much of an appearance in your drawings? What is your thoughts on their questline/storyline in general?

Thanks for all the cool art, you're getting better with every piece!!

tbh... i think draw Ranni a lot, she's literally the cover of my first fromsoft fanbook 🥲🥲

though most of my art of her is from 2 years ago, i wouldn't say i don't draw her often at all 😭 i've drawn Radahn 4-5 times too. i understand because i draw too much, it's easy to have an impression that i draw some specific characters less, but compared to, say, the Omen Twins or Rykard or Melina (who i keep meaning to draw but haven't got around to do so yet), Radahn and Ranni are two Carian characters i draw the most of that side of the family (well, Rellana is looking to dethrone them soon but you get what i mean aksfkjdfkj)

Radahn dudebro fans keep pointing fingers saying i hate him but i actually like him. as a guyfailure that is so obsessed with these symbols of a Lord in his father and Godfrey, yet failed to live up to any of them (*stare at that scene of Morgott whooping his ass*). his involvement in the DLC is an interesting spin on things to me, and make a lot of sense in the grand scheme of things (when i saw that we found like... 11 Miquella's Lily in places most personal to Radahn like Carian Manor and Sellia. hoo boy).

lately, i lowkey think Radagon specifically picked him for Miquella and encouraged his obsession with being a Lord. to me at least Radagon is really bitter that Godfrey is the First Lord and not him (her actual other's half! sentenced to live away from her while another man got to be her first in everything! the injustice!), so him not only discrediting Godfrey's descendants (whole thing with Hunters of TWLiD) but also preparing a whole new pair of Lord and God that should have been how he and Marika could have been from the start sounds like the kind of overcompensation he'd be doing (look honey that could be us but you tripping).

so in a way i do feel for Radahan and Miquella falling victims to Radagon's list of issues (though it's only one reason in many other reasons for them to turn out that way ofc. Radagon merely nudges the pieces into certain direction, they go barreling head first down on their own). and i actually like that i could come up with all that thanks to the DLC. imo it actually adds a lot more to Radahn and Miquella's character (depends on how you view the story though whoops).

you can say i like him (and Miq) the way one likes AC6 Iguazu... or Genichiro. the kind of hater characters that are doomed to fail from the start, but they are stubborn and will run head first into the wall again and again. and it's fun to put them in a jar and shake them.

Ranni... after the DLC my feeling for her is a bit more complicated. before i get why she did all those things and i like her story enough, but after the DLC as you see i come to really like Godwyn and links him closely to Marika. so now it's kinda awkward for me to insert Ranni in all the scenarios im drawing lately?

it's not that i stop liking her, it's simply that the scenario doesn't line up for me to add her in that's all. and it goes to other characters i haven't drawn tbh. not because i don't like them, i simply don't have anything in my brain about them to draw out. i don't think there's any characters in Elden Ring i hate tbh (yes i do like even the Hornsents. i find the stories in the scorpion stew and dried flower talisman really somber and give them a lot of humanity too, fucked up rituals aside).

and thank you for your kind words! my editor has been on my ass for a whole year about my art and it does help me improve a lot, im glad to know it shows in the quality of my fanarts as well!

[badgalsasuke]

You wanna know something really dumb and fairly inconsequential thing I think I’ve figured out? Okay so I’ve always been someone that just wonders why people in this fandom are the way they are… recently I’ve seen h/nh/sh fans using “tumblr sns” as an attempted insult. And like I’m just confused— like first of all using the fact some uses tumblr to try and make fun of someone is so 2016 YouTube. Second of all, why are they specifically targeting tumblr sns? Then I took a moment to really think about.. and I realized. H / nh fans don’t have to hold over sns shippers here that they have on twitter or other places. Like H / nh on spaces like twitter will get backing from sns people just because they dislike ss. They also often guilt trip sns shippers by convincing them h is actually such a good character with such a sweet and innocent love story with Naruto (and if an sns doesn’t fall for it they get quote tweeted and bullied by them. It’s often a bit worse than when let’s say ss shippers attack someone because they don’t have the backing of dudebros to help try and bully an sns into submission.) but that doesn’t work here… oh they’ve tried, they’ve tried real hard to attach themselves to sns here but it fails because the tactics that are effective on twitter are useless here. I’ve seen h fans that so obviously come from twitter because they rehash the same lousy arguments and the attempted negging of anyone who doesn’t just hate ss/s & has the audacity to see h for what she is— exactly the same as s. I see them having meltdowns in comment sections on anti posts because they’re so used to being coddled on the other platforms and genuinely feel betrayed when an sns rightfully criticizes nh/h. That’s a real thing btw. I’ve seen young nh people that “get along” with sns on twitter (I put get along in quotes because let’s be honest, the only reason there’s this fake truce is because they hate ss / s. I often see these people who commonly interact with each other on s hit pieces have completely different views. Some nh being homophobic but the twitter sns ignore it because the hate for s is all that matters.) but they feel weirdly betrayed by sns on here not blindly accepting h and having critical thinking about the media they consume. They think all sns love h because of twitter.

Sorry this is so long. Just wanted to get this random realization I had out. You have no obligation to respond ^^

Hi anon!

We keep our feet on their necks that's why they're always lurking checking what we have to say, it pisses het!shippers to no end that their pseudo-feminist arguments have no effect on us and we see right through their bullshit.

SNS shipers from twitter are so pathetic because they're always hoping to get the approval of a dumbass that can't read but weaponizes misogyny for the benefit of mid characters.

But at the end of the day Hinata is an useless irrelevant uninteresting character that got lucky male fans jerk off to her design and that's what pushed her to the top of popularity polls and her stans know that, hence their insecurity. Hinata's biggest achievement is marrying a man that couldn't care less about her and there's that. No amount of "fujoshis are misogynists" or "you just hate her because she comes in between the gay ship" or whatever else is going to change that.

[fandom-hoarder]

Sorry to rely on you for understating some discourse, but what is this about:

https://www.tumblr.com/pinknatural/776595028171784192/i-think-when-jarpad-pranks-the-cast-of-this

Why the hate on Jared?

I can't see the post because they have me blocked, but I'm guessing from what's in the url that it's something about Jared's pranks. Maybe bringing it up now because of the boys, and misha coming to the boys with Jared?

Hellers love to act like Jared pranks people maliciously, and Misha has contributed to it by constantly exaggerating his stories about Jared's pranks. Some blogs who handle more of the drama have done comparisons of old versions vs recent versions of Misha's stories: times he's told it around other cast who were there, and times he's embellished it for hellers with no other cast around and made it sound worse on Jared's part, while downplaying his own part in it.

A main heller past time IS hating on Jared because he's an easy target for their rage about not getting their way on the show and irl. And at this point, Misha has become a grifter who thrives on telling hellers what they are foaming at the mouth to hear, which doesn't help the propagation of truth.

They ALL pranked each other, and it could get over the top for all of them in dudebro ways, especially when they were younger. They all love pranks, but they've also all matured since some of the bigger pranks. If Jared's pranks were so criminally bad like they love to say, Misha wouldn't want to continue working with him so badly. Jared has worked and pranked with a lot of people, and they all love having the opportunity to work with him again. People love Jared and even bring him up when he's not around, years after they've worked with him. Pranks around the Walker set were fun, and they pranked Jared back. Jared is a playful, puppydog of a man, and he likes to joke around with people as a bonding experience.

And if The Boys is mentioned in the post I can't see: Jared has already hung out with these guys with Jensen. The people on set are still people working on a show full of over-the-top gore, crass humor, and explicit and often gross sex. They don't think the pranks on that set could be crazy? It's a set with Eric Kripke. And while the cast is full of some phenomenal actors, they're still just people who probably like to have fun like most people. Even on a tightly controlled set, I'm sure there will be jokes and bonding, and then they'll do press tours together.

Jared is going to be 43 this year and he's been in the business for over twenty years, and everyone he's worked with thinks of him fondly. The man knows how to behave. There's a thing called maturity, and it changes how you do some things compared to when you were younger, because of how your life experiences have shaped your behavior and mindfulness about the world around you. Especially someone like Jared who actually does therapy. FFS. Hellers want to act like people aren't allowed to ever make mistakes or grow if they're at all famous. 🙄 Unless that person is Misha, in which case he's never done anything wrong in his life and doesn't have to grow or apologize for anything. 🤷‍♀️🙃

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Brendan O'Neill

Published: Apr 14, 2025

You could almost feel Douglas Murray’s vexation. There he was, invited on by the weed-puffing, free-thinking king of the podcast bros, Joe Rogan, to debate prick-kicking comic Dave Smith. Smith has wielded his contrarian cudgel against everything from lockdowns to ‘woke insanity’. And yet what was Murray hearing from this supposed slayer of sacred cows? Israel-bashing. The kind of thing you get from every Guardian pod and every keffiyeh-sporting rich kid of the Ivy League.

That’s what this viral spat brought home for me: the sheer omnipresence of ill-will for Israel. Every online subculture, from the showily unwoke to the pronouns people, feels a frothing animus for the Jewish State. There’s little difference between the views of brash libertarian Dave Smith and the faux leftists of the Queers for Palestine cult: both say Israel is a uniquely barbarous nation. You could accidentally switch between the motormouth rantings of crank rightist Candace Owens and the daily musings of Novara Media and not notice you’d done so: both will be wanging on about Israel’s ‘genocidal mania’.

I share Murray’s frustration at this heedless loathing for Israel that has taken hold of both the conformist left and the contrarian right. He criticised Rogan for ‘platforming’ more Israel haters than supporters. And for having cosy chats even with people whose hot takes come from the Middle Ages. Like conspiracy theorist Ian Carroll, who thinks Israel was behind 9/11 and Jeffrey Epstein was a Mossad asset sent to ensnare America’s horny elites. And Darryl Cooper, too, the creep who makes madly long pods hawking the lunatic idea that Churchill, not Hitler, was ‘the chief villain’ of the Second World War.

Cooper once even tweeted that Paris was better off under Nazi rule than it is today, in our messy, woke era. It’s not good enough, Murray said to Rogan, to say you have these people on to stir up debate. ‘If you throw a lot of shit out there, there’s some point at which “I’m just raising questions” is not a valid thing’, he said. He’s not wrong. If you give someone three hours to peddle the falsehood that Churchill was a worse man than Hitler, you’re not ‘having a debate’ – you’re aiding and abetting a lie. Rogan, true to form, took the criticisms in good faith, while pushing back against Murray in places.

Murray reserved his real ire for Smith. Smith really hates Israel. Murray asked him if he’s ever visited. Guess what? He hasn’t. Now, I don’t think you have to have been to a country to have an opinion on it. But to hold forth so ferociously on a foreign nation, all while refusing to hop on a plane to see what it’s like, is a testament to the dogmatic aloofness of the Israelophobes. They never test their ranting against reality. They don’t need to: their fevered, fact-lite claims are reflected back to them daily by a media and cultural establishment that hates Israel as much as they do. Israelophobia is the internet age’s great self-reinforcing circle jerk.

This pod clash has shone a light on the limits of edgelordism. It seems even self-styled iconoclasts dutifully bend at the altar of anti-Israel sentiment. Even dudebros who doubt everything from the efficacy of vaccines to the idea that a fella can be a lesbian will happily bow to the establishment mantra that Israel is the wickedest nation. No number of red pills, it seems, can inoculate you against the potent allure of modish Israel-hate. Hence, you’ll see even unwoke comics coming off like some genderfluid intern at Human Rights Watch the minute the Jewish State is raised.

Israelophobia is the great unifying obsession of our times. It’s rife in both establishment circles and among the performative radicals of the revolting campus. It binds the crank right and the woke left. Fascist midget Nick Fuentes holds forth on the vileness of Israel every day. So does Owen Jones, the gurning darling of Britain’s bourgeois left. A new ‘insurgent’ right is coalescing around hostility towards the Jewish nation just as the left has done for years. The end result is that you can’t go online these days without seeing someone – whether it’s a phoney Marxoid in Arab headgear or one of those ‘Hitler had a point’ dudes – saying that Israel is the most murderous and nefarious of nations.

Well, maybe they’re all correct, some will say. They aren’t, though. Both Israel’s woke and unwoke haters trade in untruths. Both peddle hyperbole, both obfuscate. Both damn Israel for ‘massacring 50,000 Palestinians’ yet never see fit to mention how many of the dead are Hamas terrorists who dream of killing all Jews. Both slam Israel for bombing civilian infrastructure while gleefully overlooking that Hamas is inside that infrastructure, plotting Israel’s destruction. Both have become blind to other awful conflicts – like Sudan or Myanmar – as if the Jewish nation’s war on its invaders were so incalculably wicked that it makes every other instance of human suffering pale into insignificance. You don’t need a PhD in the hysterias of the pre-modern era to hear echoes – unwitting in many cases, not so much in others – of yesteryear’s suspicion of Jews. The 1400s called – they want their bigotry back.

Good on Murray for calling this out. Rogan is a clever bloke: he fizzes with an intellectual curiosity too often absent in our stifling times. If he could only aim his iconoclasm at that most foul icon of our times – hatred for Israel – then public debate might improve immeasurably. Do it, Joe.