#either due to shipping / missing go's for the uk

[theyilinglaozus]

RE; Pin Badges

(posting this in response to @fismoll7secinv​ asking about my pin collection in their reply to this post!)

So I collect a good number of pin badges, and have done for a good few years now. I started with Disney park pins, but around lockdown I discovered the community of pin makers and it started to grow into fandom pins too!

Last year I shared my danmei pin board, which has a few of my selection (you can see that post here). The wangxian bunnies was a gift from my bestie (and the first MDZS pin I owned, I believe!), and she’d left me the shop card in the package for the maker, so that Boxing Day the shop had a sale and I brought the other baby pins you see there. You have Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu and Jiuxiao (RIP to him in the photo, the sun reflected on his face). I aim to buy Gu Xiang and immortal!Wenzhou from the shop at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet as my fandom spending has instead gone to purchasing danmei novels mainly :’) The wenzhou pin pictured was part of the Four Seasons zine, as were some of the stickers and postcards featured on this pinboard!

Recently, I’ve been pinning some of my newer pins to a pillow I was gifted. I don’t know if I’m going to keep them on there or eventually turn to embroidery hoops like I originally planned on doing when I have some spare time to get to our local Hobbycraft, but here’s a picture of what it currently looks like:

The first is a pin of the dragon Elliot from Pete’s Dragon (the original Disney version, not the remake). I found him on shop disney and treated myself to him whilst a sale was on. The next three all come from my latest trip to America; the Japan and China pins are from EPCOT, and the spiced latte Mickey Mouse was just a cute little thing I found in one of the shops.

The next two in the line are my Bloodborne hunter and Greatwolf Sif pins, both of which were gifts from another friend for my 30th birthday last year (she also recently gifted me the wangxian bunnies you can see on the pillow for this Christmas just gone!). My other friend who gifted me the wangxian pin pictured on the pinboard also gifted me the next two pins for my birthday - Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

The next four pins were a very expensive but very necessary purchase I treated myself to last summer: the first is Alucard from the Castlevania games (animation too, I guess. Although this pin is very much his original design), and the other three are my Final Fantasy 7 boys: Zack, Cloud and Sephiroth. The seller for all these pins was so incredibly lovely too, and I’m definitely looking forward to buying from them again in the future at some point.

The little guy next to Sephiroth was from a blindbox of Cuphead pin badges. I brought a box on a whim and really wanted the devil pin, and lo and behold he turned up! :D Was very surprised and happy with that! And the last two pins were Christmas gifts from my parents: a blind box of the Disney 50th anniversary pins. They mainly brought them for me out of the hopes that I’d get my best boy, Figment, out of them but the stars were not aligned. However! I did get the lovely Orange Bird and Jamboree Bear, which I was really happy with as I adore them too.

Things I don’t currently have pictures for but know I have somewhere are a hell of a lot more Disney park pins, this Skeletor pride pin (gifted again by a friend), the 80th anniversary Fantasia Disney Store pin badge set (only one left to collect but I’m waiting on a seller to contact me back on that) and Shino’s wenzhou pin which will arrive ... hopefully in the next couple of months!

[mirai-desu]

On the MSATD News

I didn't have time to post a knee-jerk reaction (which those of you from the Downton days know I was apt to do - thank you to all my long term mutuals of my side blog for sticking with me through those days), as I saw the news as I was getting ready to head out for work and it's been… a bit of a day.

Suffice it to say… I am devastated. And my initial reaction was (well after cursing), that it should have ended with S4, but with a different (happier) conclusion. It's called Miss Scarlet AND THE DUKE for a reason. And after all that happened in S4… it really feels like… what was it all for?? Especially if they knew WHEN FILMING THIS?? "Goodbye for now" is NOT "goodbye forever." They really, really really fumbled this.

There's a lot of theories going around, and I will admit it's too hard for me to listen to Stuart's new interview, but going off what other's have said and the parts of the transcript I did manage to read… I just cannot feel like this was actually his decision unless there's something else going on with him (either in his personal life or maybe he has some secret role he's got, because supposedly he hasn't worked since he did ADR on S4). He's been the captain of the ship, and he has always been enthusiastic with discussing the show and had just great insight into playing William. It doesn't feel like he himself was ready to move onto other things (and that's not even how it's worded - some BS about how the show needed it him to be gone for ~longevity~ of the show), like I've seen with other actors are on shows (e.g. Dan Stevens). He still promoted S3 (which came out in the UK after they filmed S4), he still even promoted S4! He was an executive producer for S4!!! Nothing makes sense!

So if it's due to RN… why keep having the other characters say William was only going to be gone a year? Why bother to have the flashback? why bother to have him stay at at Eliza's to recover?? hell I'm surprised they just didn't keep in the coma then--

But really, why even bother to have Eliza write to him? Or have Ivy say what she said to her?? The time apart was supposed to be them looking at their options. They literally foreshadowed him joining Eliza at her agency upon his return. So… what happened?

If it was actually for personal reasons that Stuart left, he has a right to his privacy. But then they should have rewritten S4 to be the end then, since they knew all this time. I can't believe we are getting the full story on this, one way or the other. The more and more I think about it... I do think it was RN's doing though.

Just two nights ago I drafted up a whole meta extolling how one of the best things this show has done has been how they developed William and how he grew as a character. The progression he made as he not only accepted Eliza having a career but encouraging her. His mentorship of Fitzroy. How he came from nothing, from a teenager living on the streets, to become an inspector at Scotland Yard. But they have chosen to toss that all out the window.

Who knows, maybe S5 ends with Eliza deciding to go to New York. But it doesn't seem like they are handling this like Babington's absence in Sanditon. They will make Eliza quickly fall for someone else, and slap fans in the face who have been following their friends to lovers slow burn for five years (because we had to wait for S2 in the first place thanks to the pandemic). And what sucks is that we still got promo saying they are in love with each other. From Stuart, from Kate, from Rachael New herself. We have still gotten promo promoting the romance. Why not have them have a big fight then or something, idk. They gave us hope. And you know what Fellowes says about false hope.

So I'm just supposed to believe that William gives up on Eliza and doesn't return…? No, I cannot. As much as we hated the deaths on DA when they wrote out actors, at least those characters still died in love with their spouses. And while I'd still be foaming at the mouth in anger if they killed him off… yeah.

William's last lines of the show is a flashback including him saying "is it all worth it?" And the answer is… no it's not.

[the-wandering-whumper]

Haha yeah, the "ugh why is there none of the sort of whump I personally like" fandom I've gotten to now is Rivers of London - which is very good in terms of plot, characters, references to all sorts of nerdy stuff, and worldbuilding (it's a series of books that are sort of like police procedural/detective story plot but with magic, set in modern-day (lagging a few years behind current year due to the books being set closer together than the rate they're published at) UK, mostly London, with the main character, Peter Grant, being an apprentice wizard and one of the two members of the branch of London Metropolitan Police that handles magic and other supernatural stuff) but in terms of whump does that annoying thing where the main character keeps getting into all sorts of dangerous trouble, but also tends to get out nearly unscathed. I guess part of it is that the author wants to treat injuries with relative realism in terms of how long healing from something takes etc (and magical healing, while it apparently kinda may exist in the setting, is not part of the magical tradition the main character has been trained in, so it's not available to him and also we don't know how effective it would be even if it was available), at which point really the most plot-convenient way to handle it is to just not injure the main character beyond some bruises and such minor things.

And unfortunately the fandom is small (1088 fics altogether on Ao3, in case you're curious), and unfortunately there's only 59 fics tagged as Hurt/Comfort, and don't even dream of having things tagged as whump, and a lot of those still are either with a character who I do like but don't really care about seeing whumped as the one getting hurt, or they just have ships or tropes I don't care about, or stuff like that. And sure, there may be things that I would like that haven't been tagged, but even if it's only a thousand fics, I'm still not going through all of them one by one on the off chance that I'm missing something good

So I'm a little bit frustrated because apparently if I want something that matches my tastes I'll have to write it myself but I can't be bothered to write, I just want to read, you know?

- Erdariel

I like that I can usually fall back on the hurt/comfort tag to find something a bit whumpy. Whump itself might not get mentioned, but chances are, since it's been around so long, someone thinks to at least tag it with h/c.

But yeah, there is nothing worse than having a fave in a small fandom where none of the works revolve around them and even less have whump. Strength, my friend! We shall endure!

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

May 2021 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

It’s a cray cray Friday when Vietnam gets its eng subs up before GMMTV Thailand. What alter-reality are we in? Well, the Vietnamese offerings are better right now anyway. (Oooo, feel that burn.) 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Top Secret Together Ep 2 - pulping it up in the best possible way. Sure sound and production values are pants, and in classic Thai fashion the editing in post is exacerbating (rather than fixing) pacing issues, but it’s still CUTE AF. I don’t even mind the added university storyline, because they’ve got good chemistry (and a confident gay fresher after a panicked gay hazer is an old favorite... what can I say, SOTUS was my first love). We aren’t spending too much time with any one couple, so it’s weighted a lot better than Brothers was, but also character development is slow. 

Siew Sum Noi Ep 2 - Unfortunately, it’s just too hard to find, plus no subs. I’m dropping it in the hopes it comes back on my radar some day. 

Y-Destiny Ep 8 - (Thurs) It’s rough having a ghost boyfriend, half your friends are scared, the other half think you���re crazy, and kissing shortens your lifespan. This was a cute couple even if I wasn’t wild about the surrounding story. 

Close Friend Ep 5: (Dear My Star/JimmyTommy) - about high school penpals. It had to rely entirely on voice over work as the actors only meet face to face at the end. It’s a good thing they are appealing screen presences on their own, with good vocal control. It’s hard to imagine any other BL pair carrying this kinda plot. It’s by far my favorite of the series so far, and I’m not even a big JimmyTommy fan. 

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 7 - no subs. Do we care? Not really. Because we have... 

Nitiman Ep 3 - currently my favorite out of Thailand. It’s the university Thai BL i’ve been waiting for since... when was the last good one? My Engineer? Yowza. Anyway we got: head on my shoulder, baby is a floppy drunk (but still wants to be in control), proximity alert, boyfriend’s closet, seme gets seriously jelly, and a cute twist on feeding him. There’s something fun and complex about Jin’s character. He’s not a panicked bi. He knows exactly what’s going on, he just hasn’t decided if he wants Bb or not. He clearly enjoys being looked after, the compliments, and the attention, but he’s not sure if he’s going to like what happens if he gives in. I like that twist on the usual tsundere uke archetype a lot, cautious rather than willfully obtuse or freaked out. We can see Jin realizing in stages: I like this person, I like that they like me, I like the romantic attentiveness. But in the background is... do I actually want to f*k him? It’s a dynamic we don’t often see on BL. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 10 fin - the most ridiculous show using BLs worst tropes in a sort of weird smoothie of bitter greens and too ripe banana. The ending was the sappiest cheesiest thing ever, like cheese syrup tapped from the cheese tree. So of course I loved it, but I’m pretty sure I giggled through all the bits meant to be profound. Because, in the end, to tolerate this show at all, you just can’t take ANY of it seriously. RECOMMENDED (with some SERIOUS reservations and trigger warnings.) Full review here. 

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan) Ep 1-2 - I don’t mind a damaged seme character but this one is a bit weird for me. Like creepy Cheese in the Trap level weird. On the bright side, the story has given our tsundere uke good motivation for his angst and great existing friendships, loyalty, and likability. Plus I’m invested in the cafe owner/innocent puppy side dishes. So if it’s only the seme character I’m not jiving with, and he’s the most established actor, it should all turn out fine. I believe in you, Taiwanese BL. 

Papa & Daddy (Taiwan) Ep 6 fin - speaking of belief. This such a good show but they gave us a cliffhanger ending. Now we must hope against hope for season two. That’s never guaranteed with Taiwan tho. So, I’m docking a few points and saying, RECOMMENDED so long as you realize it’s a cliffhanger. 

Love is Science? (Taiwan) Ep 1-9 (BL subplot) - this is a good het romance, but the fact that the BL subplot is a beautifully acted disaster bi + confident gay means you’re hearing about it whether you want to or not. Plus they just added in some GL! Come on! I gotta support Taiwan normalizing queer to this extent. They are fighting the good fight and if I also have to watch a career lady and her much younger softest straight boi get it on, too? Twist my arm with that service sub subtext. Go on Taiwan, TWIST IT. It’s on Viki. Join the revolution.   * Incidentally if you actually like the D/s het dynamic of this show, I highly recommend Japanese Kimi wa Petto - career woman keeps a hot young dancer boy as a pet. Oh yes, an actual pet, that IS the pitch. Never doubt Japan when kink is on the line. It’s also on Viki. Go get your kink on, thank me later. (If it helps: That was not a request.)  

Most Peaceful Place 2 (Vietnam) Ep 2 (AKA 5) - love triangles aren’t my thing, but if you’re gonna do it short form, by all means bring in the lead’s other BL pairing so the chemistry is on point. Now I've no idea who I want him to end up with. Can’t they just be in a poly triad? 

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 7 - I’m still enjoying it a lot. It’s still unabashedly queer and the tension is ramping up. We now have secret identity, blackmail, femme fatale, faen fatale, and incoming seme confrontation. Best of all, the series is still airing, which makes it longer than any other Vietnamese BL I’ve seen (aside from Tein Bromance - which is just too weird to count). 

Gossip - Thai BL 

SEVEN PROJECT TEASERS

No one is entirely sure what Studio Wabi Sabi’s Seven Project/7Project will entail. 

It might be like Close Friend (1 episode per couple, no linking), 

or Y-Destiny (2 episodes per couple, loosely linked), 

or The En of Love (4 episodes per couple, linked but independent consecutive stories). 

They’re giving the couple’s arcs separate titles. So each one would be what? Seven Project: Once Upon a Time or the like? We’re in Taiwanese title territory people and NO ONE WANTS TO GO THERE. Anygay... 

Once Upon a Time is the BounPrem (og UWMA) anchor story, and seems to be the most dramatic and likely saddest. These two can handle most of what’s thrown at them at this juncture, so it should be good. 

Vs Love is a BoomPeak (og Make it Right) university vehicle. Since I thought Boom was done with our nonsense, I couldn’t be more thrilled and surprised this pair is doing another show together. I don’t think either of them are the greatest actors but I find Peak very endearing and Boom charismatic on screen, so I’ll watch. 

Would You be My Love is the hotly anticipated SantaEarth launch. They’re a (cultivated) IRL ship and Earth is an established BL actor. They have great chemistry and high energy so this could be lots of fun. 

We are also getting a GL from this series from established BL actresses Samantha and Pineare. Nothing teased yet on that, but I’m looking forward to this installment the most. Also curious to see how the ladies handle the branding and promo side, not to mention the culture. (Thailand variety shows gonna force *girls* to play the Pepero game?) 

Secret Crush on You upcoming Thai BL with no release date, co-produced by and featuring (but NOT staring) Saint and directed by Cheewin (sigh) with all fresh faces. (Previously known as Stalker the series.) It looks like pure pulp and I’m not wild about the plot but could be better than expected as it’s adapted from a novel. Cheewin is an okay director when he has an actual story to follow. 

Don’t Say No the series. Coming from the producers of TharnType this is the JaFirst vehicle many have been waiting for. Friends to lovers + a good boy/bad boy pairing on a sports romance foundation. It’s basketball so they tapped Meen as well (he’s semi-pro). The bad news? You get one guess as to who is writing the darn thing? Yep it’s MAME. So, ya know, expect some slam dunk kidnapping, a light dribbling of rape, and me turning into a basketcase. AKA... 

Will I have to live blog this series in order to survive it? That seems to be the only way I can. So probably. Which means the bad sports puns will continue. Look, if I’m suffering, SO ARE YOU! 

Rumors of a new YinWar vehicle The Best Story (mini series) coming in July. Also rumors that their previously announced Love Mechanics (full length series) has either been delayed, is facing money issues, or is moving studios, or all three. 

Breaking News 

DELAYED (I’m talking these three off the watch list until we get new airing dates) 

Love Area’s release was pushed out but it got a trailer. 

Golden Blood was supposed to drop Weds but comments in MDL report that it is delayed due to C19.  

Love’s Outlet (Taiwan) is supposed to have started a 50 episode run (only 3-5 min each, what utter nonsense). Sadly, this delay is due to a surge in cases in Taiwan which was doing so well, but also doesn’t have many inoculations. 

Bad Buddy has started workshopping at GMMTV actual. 

Kang Insoo’s BTS for Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding is SO FLIPPING CUTE. You have to watch it. Trust me, I don’t rec behind the scenes stuff often. 

Next Week Looks Like This: 

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[masterthespianduchovny]

The counter argument to people being against Sam/Rebecca for legitimate reasons are claims that Sam is being “infantilized.”

These age gap conversations in general are difficult to have because one side won’t acknowledge that just because two people are adults doesn’t mean they are in the same place emotionally and mentally. And this is a very important thing to note.

Someone being 18, a legal adult in America (I think you can date adults at 16 in the UK), doesn’t mean they are able to date a significantly older person, say 38, without a problem. Because, more times than not, which is an understatement, there’s a lot of fucking problems in an age gap relationship even if the older person isn’t dating the younger for nefarious reasons.

It is not infantilizing Sam or any young adult to say, “hey, this relationship may be detrimental to them because of their age.” That is just…facts.

Many people on tumblr and other SM sites often talk about how they still feel like kids at 22 and are still figuring life at, despite having jobs, kids, and shit. Despite being in full blown relationships, these young adults don’t feel like adults and that’s because you aren’t magically mature just because you’ve reached an arbitrary age to be declared a legal adult.

You just aren’t.

And being mature in one aspect of your life or regarding emotional development doesn’t mean you’re mature in other aspects. At 17, I was mature enough to understand this.

Because maturity isn’t just something you obtain like your degree or license, it’s an ongoing, ever evolving thing.

It’s life experience. As in how you learn and grow from it.

Acknowledging that someone doesn’t have significant life experience isn’t infantilizing them, it’s giving an important perspective to a crowd of who is essentially arguing “age ain’t nothing, but a number.”

If you’re all for an 18 year old dating a 38 year old, why not a 16 year old and a 36 year. It’s only a two year difference, right? And what if that 16 year old is really mature? Most would have an issue with that. People are justifying a significantly older person dating a younger person due to legality and not they are actually mature and on the same level. But there’s not much difference between a 16 and 18 year old or an 18 year old and a 20 year old. But guess what, there is a significant difference between people between the ages of 18-22 dating people a decade or more.

I literally just turned 30 last week and, even when I was 25, after a while I could tell when I was speaking to a teen or someone in their early 20s. Because, whether or not you get along with them, there are just some things that, because they haven’t had enough life experience, they don’t have the nuance or perspective to engage with you a certain way and this is even on a non romantic level.

And, in some cases, the younger person is more “mature” not because they’re actually that mature, but because the older person is that immature.

So before I get into the issues with Sam and Rebecca, let me give you four examples of age gaps relationships:

1. A friend of mine dating an older man when she was 23 and he was 38. She was a manager at a gym and he was a gym member. They would have sex and hang out, but she wanted commitment. Whenever she asked him about it, he’d get weird on her. After finally breaking it off months later, he “loved” her and finally wanted commitment, but she’d moved on. While she dated him, I told her my two cents on the situation and left it alone. Last month, she recalled this conversation as she groaned in displeasure hearing about an age gap relationship. She’s now skeptical of older people dating significantly younger people.

2. A friend of mine was 18 dating a 28 year old. We all worked at a pizzeria. He watched her on the cameras from the back when he became a manager—got mad if she talked to male coworkers. Used to gaslight her, controlled her via manipulation, and other gross toxic shit. After emotionally tormenting her for a year or so and pressuring her to live with him, which her parents allowed due to some issues they didn’t want to exacerbate, he cheated on her. They’re broken up now. She was always stressed out while with him.

3. A girl got into her first and only relationship when she was 19 with a man who was 32. They’re now married 23 and 36. She wants to wait to have kids and on her birthday he gifted her baby clothes. Make of that what you will.

4. A girl, 22, dated her 37 year old professor. At 28, she feels like she’s outgrown him and is disturbed about how and when they got together. And one night she heard him advise his friends to date younger girls so they can mold them. Yeah…

Sure you have marriages that have age gaps that lasted, but even then, very few of those are actually healthy. The younger person is usually taking orders from the older partner, can’t do certain things, doesn’t have any true agency, skills to survive on their own, etc. What typically happens is after that person becomes older, they begin to question their relationship because what seemed okay when they were younger, is unsettling after becoming older.

Like I said, take out the nefarious shit, and there is still a significant life experience gulf between Sam and Rebecca and that is one of the many issues with this pairing. Despite what some romantics and media loves to say, “love does not conquer all.” Most of the marriages that end in divorce isn’t because they couple fell out of love, it’s due to finances. Love couldn’t conquer that. Some marriages end because one of them changed or they could’ve overcome their vast differences.

I’m not saying Sam and Rebecca are on a path for marriage or are even in love, they aren’t, however, they idea that just because they get along and have some things in common means it would be a great relationship is very shortsighted. There isn’t even enough significant interaction to prove this. Getting along on an app isn’t the same as connecting face to face. And none of this can overcome Rebecca’s life experience and, relatively speaking, Sam’s lack thereof.

And I’d argue that, on average, athletes tend to be immature because they live in such a bubble where people constantly kiss their ass. Which makes Sam look more mature than he probably is.

Even then, being with an older person ages you. This younger person misses out on so much, many of which they regret, because they’re trying to be mature enough for their older partner. They don’t want to seen as immature for doing young shit when that’s exactly their age range.

But let’s get into the real consequences for Sam here:

1. Sam has to keep his relationship a secret. The media will tear him up about dating/fucking the owner of the team. And so will fans. People love to mention he’s being infantilized because he’s young and black, how do you think that is going to go if anyone finds out about them? Racism, baby. He won’t suffer from sexism, however, they will question his place on the team and if he deserves to be there. This will taint him and even cause issues with his parents. So secret relationship it is.

2. If his teammates found out, this will fracture his relationship with them. Whether or not it’s true, Sam will be blamed for shit outside of his control. They’ll think he only got more playing time, more pay, or whatever because he’s fucking Rebecca. OR they’ll try to ask him for favors and get upset if he won’t do it. His team will think he’s getting favoritism and believe there is a power imbalance between them and Sam as a result. Don’t believe me, Google dynamics once students realize a classmate is dating their teacher or an employee is dating their boss. It usually doesn’t go over so well.

So even if the relationship is loving and healthy, Sam will suffer from being with Rebecca. Because if it's a secret, it’s going to bother him eventually that they have to sneak around and the anxiety of being caught. If it’s out in the open, he will suffer harassment, alienation, his play will suffer because his teammates probably won’t pass to him, etc.

Which leads to, 3: transferring teams. But how is that fair? Sam is developing well under ted and now that may delay his development and stock just so he can be with Rebecca? We want this young, black man to succeed, but his career will be kneecapped due to his relationship. Sam is serious about football and this would be a major blow to him.

Like I said, take out nefarious shit and this relationship is still detrimental to Sam. And even with a healthy relationship, there will still be a disconnect that will lead to their relationship ending because they are in two vastly different places in their lives.

That is not infantilizing Sam, that’s reality.

And, again, that power imbalance is massive. We saw how easy it was for Rebecca to send Jamie back to Man City. She has so much power, control, and influence over Sam’s career and livelihood. She can dictate how much or how little they offer to pay him during contract negotiations.

And this is the ship people are getting upset at others rightfully taking issue with?

It doesn’t even make sense for Rebecca to go along with this either. She played a part in Keeley breaking up with Jamie, which age, Jamie being younger, played a key part in it. She’s even disgusted by Rupert dating a significantly younger woman. I doubt her opinion centered on maturity. She��s not going to suddenly support this relationship if she found out that Bex is super mature.

Rebecca would stand to lose a lot of she were to get involved with Sam and others found out. She’d get dragged through the mud worse than she did after her divorce. She’s lose them support of her staff. And it would fuck up the relationship she has with her players.

Now some Sam/Rebecca supporters have called bullshit on people who are against this relationship, yet support Ted and Rebecca. They claim it’s the same power imbalance or that one exists.

1. It’s not the same power imbalance.

2. Yes, one does exist, but it’s not nearly as wide as it is with Sam and it wouldn’t destroy her either.

Ted has the authority to hire and fire people. He has the authority to facilitate trades, call up people, and send them down. He has a lot of influence that Sam does not. They aren’t equals, but there also isn’t a massive power disparity either.

Rebecca also can’t completely fuck over Ted like she can Sam if she went all scorned woman. Because, doing so, would entail her own demise. Even if you don’t include that, Ted is only attached to Richmond. He doesn’t care about having a career as a football coach in the ways coaches from non US countries do. He can go back and have a career as an American football coach and still be massively successful. Or, if Rebecca did want to fuck him over, he has that bomb as to why he was hired. Ted doesn’t even have to play that card for it to be played by either Higgins or Keeley.

Because one of them will if they feel it’s necessary.

We have no clue what’s going to happen with this storyline. But the idea that people against Sam and Rebecca being a thing, romantically or sexually, being fueled by racism or sexism is misguided, hypocritical, and flat out wrong. If this entanglement is pursued, it stands to harm Sam from various angles and that’s MY objection.

People think this is all about Ted/Rebecca when, personally, I’d lose (some) respect for Rebecca if she got involved with Sam. That would taint her for me. Because let’s be real, many of us are grossed out by Rupert dating, marrying, and then impregnating Bex. Yet, some are okay with Rebecca and Sam getting together and those who are against it are sexist? And I truly believe the same people supporting this ship are also grossed out by Rupert’s relationship.

How is Rupert’s relationship gross, but we shouldn’t obsess over age with Rebecca and Sam? People say Sam is mature enough to date Rebecca, which implies that Bex isn’t mature enough to be with Rupert and that IS sexist.

Even if the writers confirm tomorrow that Ted/Rebecca will never be a thing, I wouldn’t object any less to Sam/Rebecca. If Sam was Roy’s age and in Roy’s position, I’d have way less of an issue.

But you’re going to have a tough time convincing me that a young man who is 20/21 and employed by a 47 year woman who can heavily influence his career isn’t a massive power imbalance that shouldn’t be explored by fans.

I’m really curious to see how this post ages once the storyline plays out. But this post is about exploring what it means for Sam and Rebecca to get involved and how the accusations of infantilizing Sam doesn’t pass the sniff test.

[nottheleavesarecinders]

ACOFS Prythian Map Appreciation Post

So, the fandom is in a bit of an unrest right now, so I’ve decided to offer you the best distraction I could think of: an appreciation of the Prythian map that came inside ACOSF, since it is absolutely GORGEOUS and I don’t feel like we talk about it enough!

One thing I’ve always loved about the ACOTAR maps it’s the fact that every single book there are new details included in them, either due to an stylistic choice or to portray new locations that become relevant in the book. With time, more and more things have been popping up, leaving us with the work of art that is the ACOSF map.

For those of you that may have not seen it yet, this is the map! Look how pretty it is!

I’m going to leave my fangirling after a read more because this will be very long!

So, first things first: obviously you can see Hybern, Prythian and The Continent, with the Mortal Lands and Fae Realms portrayed where they are. There are a ton of little details added to them, mostly portraying different locations, so let’s look at them more closely!

First there is Hybern. As you can see, there is a little crown and a castle drawn in it! The crown probably symbolizes the fact that Hybern is ruled by a King instead of High Lords, so it’s a way to show the influence of royalty in that land. The castle signals... yeah, the castle we went to in ACOMAF. I don´t really think its location it’s accurate, since as fas as I remember we weren’t really told were it was... but to be honest, it being near the shoreline DOES sound familiar, so probably it is a good approximation of its real location. Also, let’s take in how many mountains there are, it gives Hybern a very wild feeling that I think fits it REALLY well!

Now, let’s switch to Prythian! As you can see, The Wall is clearly signaled with a thick, black line, but my favourites are the borders between the Courts (divided by The Middle, with the Seasonal Courts below it and the Solar Courts above)- shown as thorny branches, which really portray the feeling of nature that suits the Fae so much. There is one interesting detail, though: the only missing border is the one between the Day and Night Courts. Maybe it’s because they are already divided by a mountain range? Hmmm I wonder...

So, I’ll talk first about the Mortal Lands and the Seasonal Courts, then about The Middle and Solar Courts!

The Mortal Lands don’t have a lot of detail in them, but you can see a tiny drawing of Feyre’s village under The Wall! It’s obviously not in scale, but I love the level of detail you can find in it- specially the tiny tower that seems to belong to a church! It really gives the “kinda-medieval-village” vibes Sarah seemed to want to portray in ACOTAR, and that little tower just makes it perfect!

Then you have the Seasonal Courts!

First there is the Spring Court. There is one detail I personally find REALLY interesting about it, and that’s the fact that the Manor doesn’t appear- in fact it hasn’t shown up in any of the maps we have seen so far. You would think that such an important location would be shown, at least with a little skecht like Hybern’s Castle... but no, it’s missing. I wonder why... One of it’s features that has appeared since the beginning is its eastern river, which hasn’t appeared in the books so far. I wonder if it’s going to become relevant at some point or if it’s rather an stylistic choice. It seems there is a river in the UK near the same place, so maybe it’s simply based on it.

Next up it’s the Autumn Court! My favourite! Yay! There is something I absolutely LOVE about how it appears in this map, and thats the fact that it has the most amount of forests by FAR, which I think really fits it. Another detail I find charming is how we can see the Forest House and then a drawing of some kind of big cottage or almost farm house representing it. Knowing what we know about the people in the Autumn Court, I’m pretty sure they would resent seeing their home shows as just a “simple” building. There is something else than I like, and thats the fact that, except from the mountains in the north that separates it from the Winter Court and all the forests, the rest of the terrain is flat, which makes sense knowing that they have lots of fields. I simply love this Court.

Now let’s focus on the Summer Court. This one doesn’t have tiny drawings of castles either, but you can see Adriata and one arrow showing us where it would be. As you can see, its placed next to a river’s delta, which makes a lot of sense taking into account the huge ammount of emphasys the Summer Court has in ships and sailing, it’s natural that its capital is not only in the shoreline (as we saw in ACOMAF), but also near a river they could travel in too. I also love how you can see a spatter of forests in the east and some mountains near Adriata and in the North, but the rest of the terrain is flat. I feel like it has a very summery vibe, clear but also with a little bit of everything else.

Lastly, the Winter Court. This is the Seasonal Court we know the least from, at least when dealing with geograhy. The only thing we have learned is that Viviane held a small city during Amarantha’s Reign, which sadly doesn’t appear in the map, not even with a small drawing. What we can see it’s really close to canon, tho. We know that there is a mountain range between the Winter and Autumn Courts, which it is indeed shown in the map. On its north side there is The Middle, which means mountains as well, and there are also represented here. The rest of the Court seems to be flat, which again makes sense, taking into account the short description we get from Feyre in ACOWAR, when she’s running away with Lucien from Eris and his brothers. The idea of flat, icy fields and lakes surrounded by snow capped mountains REALLY fits winter, so I really like how this map transmits it!

Now, this is probably my favourite detail about the Courts: all of them have symbols drawn in them that symbolize their nature! In the case of the Seasonal Courts, they are flowers! They used to appear in random spots inside their territories, but this map has moved them so they frame the Court’s names! Please, feel free to correct me if I mess up with any of the flowers, but in this map I think they are: lavender for Spring, oak leaves and acorns for Autumn, magnolias for Summer and Holly for Winter! 

Let’s go North now. The Middle and the Solar Courts: Dawn, Day and Night.

In The Middle you can see Under the Mountain and the Weaver’s Cottage (I just noticed I cut the name out Oooops). The Mountain is suitably big- there is no way you can mistake it for a normal mountain. I also love how much sharper it seems compared to the others near it. The Weaver’s Cottage is... a cottage. I would have liked to see the forest surrounding it and the Bog of Oorid, though. Maybe they’ll show up in the next book?

The Dawn Court. We get another tiny drawing: a castle (signaled by its own arrow) which looks suspicioulsly medieval-looking (it even has a tiny flag on top, which is unbelievably cute). I wich it were a little more stilized though, since it doesn’t fit at all the image I had of the Dawn Court Palace in my mind. I mean, Feyre was almost jelaous of the decoration, there is some fancy stuff in there. Appart from that, there are a bit of trees and several mountains. It’s likely that the entire territory is mountanous, but we cannot see that because they need a blank space so we can see the court’s name, same thing with the Day and Night Courts. Mountains everywhere seems to be a theme in the Solar Courts. It looks very similar to the Day Court, which i guess makes sense, taking into account that they are sibling courts. The Night Court does look different but... I mean, we already knew that.

The Day Court! Again, no drawings and no cities and no nothing, which makes sense because that’s the exact ammount we know about this Court, since it’s the only one none of the POV characters have been in. I cannot wait to travel there in a future book, Helion is the best and it’s pretty sad there are no noteworthy features in its map. If in the next book there isn’t at least a tiny pegasus drawn somewhere I’ll riot.

Then the Night Court. Of course, since it is the court version of the Main Character, it is the one with the biggest ammount of stuff in it... except for Ramiel, or a mountain in The Prison. I’m still salty about this, I would have LOVED to see Ramiel portrayed as a huge mountain, with a slender monolith on top and three starts crowning it. This would represent the Night Court perfectly as well, and I’m sure it would have looked GORGEOUS. And I’m noy going to lie, I would have also enjoyed having the three sacred mountains protrayed at the same time, mainly to draw lines between them and feel like a investigator. Anyways, what we DO have is the Court of Nightmares, Velaris and The Prison. I think there are no drawings of castles or houses here because they wouldn’t really fit, but I do appreciate that you can see that Velaris is near the sea- and quite away from the Court of Nigthmares. It would have been lovely to see the Sidra and the location of the Cabin as well, but I guess there are just so many locations in the Night Court that it’s impossible to fit all of them.

This Courts also have their own symbols next to their names! A sun peaking out for Dawn, a full sun for Day and a bunch of stars for Night!

Nooow to finish off the locations, let’s go to the Continent! Compared with all the info we know about Prythian, they show very little. We can see Scythia in the Mortal Lands, the home of Vassa. Then, in the Fae Realms the territories of Montesere and Vallahan are clearly marked (with simple lines, not thorns like the Courts in Prythian. I approve, since there is no denying Montesere and Vallahan cannot compete with our beloved Courts in seer amount of DramaTM, so it’s a fitting choice). Then Rask is also shown offmap with an arrow. To recap (I had to look this up because my knowledge of this territories is shaky at best): Montesere is one of the territories that allied themselves with Hybern with the goal to defeat Phythian. There is nothing else noteworthy about it for now. Vallahan was also part of this alliance, and it’s the place where Ianthe was born and run away from. This is also the country Mor spends a huge ammount of time in during ACOSF. Rask also allied itself with Hybern... and I think we know nothing else about it.

What IS interesting about this map is that it shows what I think it would be fair to agree it’s Koschei’s Castle. There is a huge lake in the middle of that mountainous-and-forestal formation (which I think looks eerily like South America, which I’m sure you cannot unsee now), and on top of that the drawing of a tall, narrow castle. How cool is this??? I think it was featured in the ACOWAR map as well, which I LOVED. This only seems to further confirm the importance of this place in future books, and I honestly cannot wait to see more of Koschei and this continent.

I also need a map with all the Mortal Queens’ territories asap, I would LOVE to see their borders!

Now, to put an end to this Map Appreciation post, I want to point out some details that I think really complete it, are very fitting and also absolutely gorgeous.

The first one it that over Hybern you can see a very simple compass Rose (it shows only the north), but in this map it is The Cauldron! It’s tilted and pouring water, so at first it looks like something melting inside a circle, but when you pay attention to it it’s clear that it represents the Cauldron, maybe in a moment of creation! I LOVED this detail, it’s so perfect!

Also, now that I,ve brought your attention to this image: on the left there is a column, and on it you can see symbols of the Summer and Spring Courts, represented with a wave and a rose and shining oh so bright. In fact, every single Court appears in the map like this! I also love how they are surrounded by roses, it’s SO beautiful!

This is the other side of the map, where you can see the Autumn (acorns) and winter (snowflake) courts. Again, with the roses running up the column and the light rays around it. UGH SO GOOD.

But my favourites are the Solar Courts, which appear in the center of the map and let me tell you, I almost feel like using this as a screensaver because it’s sooo beautiful.

You have the Sun (Day court) shining bright in the middle, with its rays influencing the entire map, another Sun rising from clouds (dawn court) at the bottom, and it looks just so soft and ethereal, and lastly the Moon (night court) at the top, surrounded by stars, which you can see at the top of the entire map. I seriously love how this combination looks, it’s just so beautifu!

So, that’s all I have to say about this map! I hope you discovered details you may have not seen before, and if you have noticed something that I haven’t ttalked about PLEASE let me know, I would absolutely love to hear about it! I hope you enjoyed the Post!

[sweetrupturedlight]

This week on Sen Çal Kapımı

Serkan's inability to articulate his feelings for Eda has him literally man down, while Eda contemplates their kinda, sorta, maybe mutual feelings and her future. Other stuff happens, but come on, with this episode, Edser takes centre stage as the ship sets sail on the high seas.

Before we jump right into it, last week in this post, I bulleted the things all of us expected was coming. 

Let’s take one moment to note the glorious ways in which all of these things unfolded?

Nursing back to health

Pining

Severe angst

Breaking point

Dear writers of this show, we appreciate you. We are truly blessed.

Now, on to this week. The episode picks up where we left off, with Selin giving Serkan 2 days to decide whether she drops Ferit like a hot potato on the eve of their wedding. Let’s be clear, she wants to dump a man she is supposed to marry in two days to resume a logical and clinical relationship? Is Selin even in love with Serkan? It doesn’t seem like he treated her very well – but then again, it seems their relationship had a very logical genesis – no sweeping romantic gestures, no sweet words, no compliments it would seem! etc. So objectively I’m not sure what exactly makes that prospect better than the one with Ferit – who clearly does love and care for her. But I digress. 

Essentially, this is how it plays out:

Selin: “Let me know in max 2 days if you want to be with me, k.”

Serkan: ...

Eda: Simply exists.

Serkan: Stares directly at Selin as he deliberately grasps Eda’s hand and holds on for dear life.

Now, they say actions speak louder than words... so how is Selin still not clear on the fact that Serkan not rushing to end her marriage means he’s not interested???

Anyhoo, Serkan and Eda spend most of the episode circling around the same.

Did you say yes to Selin?

What is your opinion on my situation with Selin?

Would you stay?

I can’t stay because… reasons

If either one of these to love-struck puppies took a second to reflect, they would realise that they actually have the answers already. Eda in fact, does consider for a minute that Serkan might actually have feelings for her. Serkan however, is convinced Eda cannot wait to get out of his life - which makes his bold move at the end of the episode a great moment for his own growth as a character. He was operating on his feelings and taking an emotional risk, having no idea how she actually felt. Yes, he had the note she left, but up until 20 minutes earlier, he was still fighting Engin on the notion that she could genuinely have feelings for him.

Speaking on Engin, writers, I have faith that we will see Engin mercilessly tease Serkan in the next episode about his heart eyes and his newfound familiarity with the language of love. This is likely going to bring great comedic gold. Its also not lost on me that Engin can so easily see the love between Serkan and Eda, but is totally clueless about his own romantic entanglements. To be honest, I’m not invested in this romance, so whomever he ends up with - or doesn’t - is fine by me.

Listen, I’m high key bursting at the fact that Eda and Serkan both already see the other in their bed(s). Them facing “each other” with longing was one of the smaller moments of the episode, but one of my favourites. And because this show is so good at parallels, I’m putting it out there that we will get a scene of them sharing a bed without Serkan needing to turn his back to her, but also without Serkan ruining the mood once daybreak arrives. Eda is a snuggler and she loves to sleep. I’m looking forward to bedroom shenanigans. Also, can Eda (and Engin) find the pictures of them he’s clearly carrying around in his wallet at this point? Please and thank you.

SIDE NOTE: according to Laila, Serkan has a conference in London “next week” which has been reserved for two people. Since I’m going out on a limb and saying Serkan won’t be travelling with Selin, will Eda accompany him to the UK? One can only hope for a honeymoon romantic getaway business trip.

Adore the “don’t leave” parallels that the show has been dropping like golden nuggets for the past few weeks. Serkan has spent multiple episodes in a struggle with himself. If Eda wants to leave, he insists its not his style to ask her to stay. But by episodes end he is so frenzied at the thought of his life without her, he’s ready and willing to say it m u l t i p l e times. We love a glow up.

Things I loved about this episode:

The handhold 5 seconds in & Eda’s impulsive kiss on his cheek.

The super cheesy let’s-randomly-turn-on-the-radio-and-awkwardly-listen-to-the-exact-song-describing-our entire-love-story. The way I was lapping it up with shovel. Also, Başak Gümülcinelioğlu’s (aka the actress playing Piril) song Sen Çal Kapımı is beautiful. All the fanvids, all the time please oh talented vidders.

Serkan’s meltdown at the office the minute he realised she’s about to leave. Hilarious. I truly enjoy seeing him a little off kilter and a lot out of control. Just looking at how his employees have relaxed since he’s been more relaxed - due to Eda’s influence - is a great subtle storytelling mechanism as well.

Immensely enjoyed Nurse Eda - especially her traditional approach to checking temperatures. LOL. Just a comment that despite Eda believing Serkan and Selin are most likely a thing, she refuses to leave his side in deference to Selin. I totally loved seeing her stake her claim. And judging by the never-you-mind, irritated way with which Serkan basically told Selin to move along, Serkan doesn’t want people around when he’s sick - but he certainly wants Eda.

Serkan going from unable to communicate to “you’re constantly in my head, in my every thought! You’ve taken over my brain! You’ve taken over my entire life!” #FlingsSelfIntoTheSun

THE KISS. Beautiful cinematography, beautiful direction, gorgeous cast, amazing script. Loved everything about it.

Things that broke/confused me

Serkan being a complete dolt and instead of enjoying the woman he loves cuddled up beside him, he takes the time to reiterate that he doesn’t remember their conversation from the night before. SMH. Eda was about to risk it all one last time, and Serkan’s poorly timed dose of realness is the final straw.

The tears in his eyes when she left the office. He was still fighting being vulnerable, even after Eda basically gave him the roadmap with an x for how to achieve success. Thankfully, by episodes end his own desperation at potentially losing her outweighed his “logic” and self preservation. Eda is teaching Serkan that its okay to need other people and that he doesn’t have to shoulder everything alone. #MyEndlessFloodOfTears

Aydan being unable to see how very much Serkan loves Eda and her - bordering on delusional at this point - push for Serkan to marry a woman who inspires no passion, no interest, no life, no spark in him! I understood it initially. But now it’s just comical. Seyfi is clearly team #Edser. I know the Bolat’s have a history of trauma. But pushing Serkan into a loveless marriage, while hurting Ferit and potentially Eda (and Serkan himself) seems absurd to me.

Ayfer’s reaction to the contract was OOT IMO. The show has been quite light handed with drama and this was the first time I thought the hysterics was over done. I understand that it was a shock, I understand that feelings of betrayal and hurt are natural. But a moment of reflection - as well as allowing Eda to explain - would have easily highlighted what Ayfer already knows - that there is a lot more happening between Eda and Serkan than a mere contract. Furthermore, this “Serkan Bolat is the devil incarnate here to take advantage of our poor Eda” is ridiculous. Serkan is a good person - logical and sometimes aloof - but he isn’t devious. If anything, Ayfer getting to know him during their terrarium creating afternoon left her with a good impression of who he is. So unless there are missing scenes somewhere, her suddenly being anti-Serkan feels like a necessity to serve the upcoming plot, as opposed to an organic happenstance. Not my favourite development. This includes her orchestrating Eda’s scholarship in Italy. Feels out of character. But let’s see how it all plays out.

Things I know is coming:

From the fragman, Serkan names a star or something after her #squee

Selin finally getting it

Aydan not getting it

Seyfi being over the moon - along with Melo no doubt

D R A M A about parents and death and cover-ups but I’m ignoring that for now

And most importantly:

Dating

Kissing

Hugging

Giggles

#FlingsSelfIntoTheEverLovingSun #NotPrepared

[jupitermelichios]

This is a long and depressing post, but if you’re in the UK, please read and share it. We all need to know this.

2016 - the government were told that due to austerity cuts the NHS was no longer prepared to face a pandemic, in a report that particularly highlighted the lack of PPE and ventilators. No action was taken.

22 Jan 2020 - the government were told by advisors that Covid19 was more infectious than Spanish flu, and were advised to implement a lockdown.

24 Jan - A meeting of the government disaster response committee Cobra was held. The Prime Minister (who's job it is to chair these meetings) didn't bother to attend. (And no, he wasn't doing something else vital to national security, he was attending a party to celebrate the lunar new year). The meeting lasted only an hour, and the health secretaries response was to tell people the threat to the UK was 'low'

30 Jan - the first order for emergency PPE was placed, four years after the government were told they were needed. Sources inside the NHS say very few orders were placed in February, when it was known how badly they were needed but the worst of the cases hadn't yet hit, and that there were no plans in place for how to manage the difficulties in shipping from china, despite the fact that there are UK based companies manufacturing the equipment needed.

End of Jan (no exact date give) - the government made the decision to treat this as a flu epidemic, despite clear evidence from Chinese experts and the WHO that that was not appropriate. This is where the herd immunity idea comes from - that is the advised reaction to a flu pandemic if a country already knows it doesn't have the resources to cope. Not only was this totally the wrong decision, and based on no medical evidence whatsoever, it was a clear admission that the NHS would not be able to cope with the disease.

25 Jan - the government issued a statement that the UK didn't need to be concerned, because we had no known cases.

13 Feb - Boris goes on a 12 day holiday. Parliament is recessed.

16 Feb - the Times reported that the UK would be hit extremely hard, as Public Health England could only test a maximum of 1,000 people per day.

20 Feb - most flights to China were suspended. Between Jan and March 190,000 people took flights from Wuhan province to the UK, and it's estimated that around 2,000 of them were infected.

21 Feb - official numbers from the WHO were that Wuhan had 76,000 cased, and Italy already had 51 and 2 deaths. Nervtag (the government body that advises on respiratory diseases) considered this a 'moderate' threat, despite calls from the countries top infectious disease modelling experts at the Royal College of Medicine to treat it as an emergency.

25 Feb - Boris attended a Tory fundraising ball. By this point he had missed 5 meetings of the disaster response committee he was supposed to chair.

26 Feb - with 13 known cases in the UK, the government were told by advisers that we would face catastrophic loss of life if no action was taken. The predicted death toll was 380,000 people. The need for an immediate lockdown was stressed. No action was taken.

28 Feb - Boris gives a press conference saying that this was now the government's highest priority, and he would finally actually attend a disaster planning meeting. After a weekend break to Chequers.

1 March - while Boris was on holiday, the government were told that the number of patients would would require hospitalisation was likely to be double what had previously been thought.

2 March - two months and 6 disaster planning meetings after the threat was first known, Boris agrees that action is needed. New emergency hospitals were to be created. The lockdown, which was known to be required, was not implemented due to governmental infighting.

12 March - Boris makes his herd immunity speech. The Department of Health and government's medical advisors have since denied that herd immunity was ever the plan, and it contradicted all available medical evidence as well as the UK's established pandemic response plans, so either the people we rely on to protect us are liars, or Boris overruled those people based on no medical evidence.

24 March - the lockdown was implemented, two months after it was first declared necessary by experts.

1 April - the In Vitro Diagnostics Association, which represents the UK's medical testing sector, was approached by the government for the first time, three months into a Pandemic. This was also the first time the BHTA, who represent UK manufacturers of medical equipment, were contacted to ask if their members could help meet the shortfall.

The UK used to be considered to have one of the best Pandemic response plans and preparedness in the world. Other countries have been using our model to contain the disease. We didn't. We had a plan, we had the ability to survive, until the Tories cut the legs out from under the NHS and Boris refused to take action for three months. Every one of the 16,000 people who has died so far, died by act of Tory. 

We shouldn't be hoping to go back to normal, because this was our normal, and everything that's happened since January is proof that normal wasn't working.

[another-mexico-oc]

💖 What your favorite Mexico´s ship/OTP says about YOU ...

Spanish version ���> AQUÍ

Hello everyone! The month of love is finally over, but before that, inspired by the “What your Favorite Hetalia ship says about you” and related; and since Mexico is one of the most shipped countries (at least by the Hetalia and Countryhumans latin fandom), I decided to make this in collaboration with my cousin. If you are not familiar with this, basically it is a recopilation of facts some people share when they ship Mexico with another country.

WARNINGS AND NOTES BEFORE WE START:

- This post is for both, Hetalia and Countryhumans fans. I clarify that in this blog we don´t discuss which one is better than the other, we enjoy the healthy part and avoid the toxic part. 

-  This is just for fun, and IT SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Think of it as a horoscope, you can share some of the facts, maybe not. The main purpose is to have some fun. 

- We are aware that not all the ships will be here, or that not all of them will have the same extension. We tried to gather all we could. 

- This is an extra warning for the English translation: This post may contain a lot of mexican and latin american modern references. Also, the best known historical periods are going to be mentioned, so if you are not familiar with the history of Mexico, we invite you to watch this video, and to consult other articles and media.

Without further due, let´s begin: 

FIRST OF ALL, THIS IS ONE OF THE POSSIBLE REASONS YOU SHIP MEXICO WITH ONE, IF NOT, MORE COUNTRIES: 

- You are mexican, I don´t have a doubt. You have a Mexico OC and you make fanarts and write fanfics about him/her with your favorite character.

- You are latino, and you came from the Latin Hetalia fandom, or you are from the latin fandom of Countryhumans (obviously, Miss Sherlock Holmes).

- You are neither mexican or latino, but still you like Mexico. 

- If you are from Hetalia, you are still waiting the day Himaruya publish the official design of Mexico, so he/she can interact with your favorite character. 

OKAY, NOW LET´S GO WITH THE SHIPS:

IF YOU LIKE 🇺🇸 USAMEX (USA X Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Favorite fanfic genre: Angst.

- Your guilty pleasures are the toxic love, the impossible love or the unrequited love. Or perhaps you like stories about people who fall in love with their chilhood friend. Or you like the phrase “From hate to love...”

- If you are from Hetalia, (also applies to Countryhumans) probably you also like FrUK (France x UK) or SpUK (Spain x UK). Or you simply don´t support USUK (USA x UK).

- If you are mexican, probably you are from the North, and you love the North and South Mexico OC´s. (And obviously, you ship North Mexico with USA).

- If you are mexican, you probably have visited the United States or your have relatives living there. Going further, you are chicano.

- You love the states personifications of both countries, and you are fascinated by the idea that Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California are the USA and Mexico kids. 

- If you are from Hetalia, you like cowboy America, and you also like Mexico dressed as a revolutionary or adelita.

IF YOU LIKE 🇷🇺 RUSMEX (Russia x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You hate USAMex and surely you don´t like United States if you are mexican.

- Your favorite historical event: the Cold War.

- Favorite word: Tripaloski.

- You like couples with a lot of height difference. Lil Mex is the most adorable thing in the world. 

- If you are a Countryhumans fan, probably you also ship Perú with USA.

- You like love triangles stories. (Cough… cough… USA x Mexico x Russia)

- You have seen Youtube videos of “Rusos Reaccionan a…” (Russians react to), and of mexicans in the Russia 2018 FIFA. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇨🇦 CANMEX (Canada x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like fluffy ships.

- You think Canada is a better suitor than the toxic USA and the distant and cold Russia. (Or if you are from Hetalia, you think Russia is too mad and unstable for Mexico)

- If you are mexican, you have visited Canada, you want to work or study there, or you have relatives living in Canadá. 

- If you´re from Hetalia, it is likely that you don´t like CuCan (Cuba x Canada).

- Also, if you´re from Hetalia, you got excited when in the anime and the manga, Kumajiro mentioned Mexico, and then you got mad because he/she was never showed up!

- If you´re mexican, you were into the memes of Peña Nieto and Justin Trudeau. 

- Like Russia case, you adore the love triangles, but in this case you like stories about brothers who have a crush on the same person.

IF YOU LIKE 🇪🇸 SPAMEX (Spain x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like sugar daddies. (Daddy Spain 😏)

- Your guilty pleasure are stories about possesive couples and couples with secret lovers. (Okay, that´s not healthy...) 

- If you´re from the Hetalia fandom, you do not like SpaMano (Spain x Romano), and if you are mexican, you will never accept (or you ignored) that canonically, Romano received better treatment than the rest of Spain colonies.

- If you are mexican, you like when Mexico (or New Spain) is represented as the spoiled kid, as daddy´s little princess, and as the best colony of Spain. (Sorry, the other Spain former colonies.)

- Your favorite Mexico periods are the Conquest, the New Spain colonial era and the Independence. 

- Probably you not only ship Mexico with Spain. Actually for some reason you like Mexico cheating Spain with another country, either England, France, a latin country and, why not? with the United States.   

IF YOU LIKE 🇫🇷 FRAMEX (France x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like to live the expensive life: Eating in gourmet restaurants, buying brand clothes, expensive trips with a five-star hotel stay. Or if you had money, you would love to live the expensive life. 

- You like fashion and architecture.

- Favorite Mexico period: The Porfiriato. If you´re mexican, you think that outside of the bad things, Porfirio Díaz made great contributions to the country, and his remains should return to Mexico.

- If you are mexican, you live in the capital, or/and you love to visit Mexico City downtown. 

- You like stories about characters who made the casanova to fall in love with them, or stories about the stalker gaining his crush´ heart. (Creepy...)

- If you like male Mexico, you like him to be a flirt and gallant. If you like female Mexico, you like her to be very femenine and dressing pretty outfits.

IF YOU LIKE 🇬🇧UKMEX (England x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you are from Hetalia, obviously you like tsundere characters. 

- You are fan of Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Queen, the Beatles, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, or any other english celebrity. 

- You´re a big fan of gentlemen like Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice or Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre. In fact, you have readed a lot of books from that period and from that genre.

- You like black humor, wordplay and double entendre phrases. 

- You hate Spain and you think England would have been a better sugar daddy. (Why would you think that?)

- You think England would have been a better colonizer than Spain (Why would you think that?)

- If you´re from Hetalia, you like pirate England.

IF YOU LIKE 🇩🇪 GERMEX (Germany x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you´re from Hetalia you think Italy doesn´t deserve Germany. In other words: No GerIta.

- You like dogs, and you want to adopt Paco from Countryhumans.

- Favorite historical period: WWI and WWII.

- You are one of those who think the Zimmerman Telegram was a love confession letter from Germany to Mexico.

- You think England and United States are the worst for intervening on your OTP. 

- You like stories Romeo and Juliet´ type: Two people who are from opposite groups who fell in love with each other.

- Also if you´re from Hetalia, besides you like the Doitsu, you like his BDSM side. (Fifty Shades of Germany, coming soon to your nearby bookstore)

IF YOU LIKE 🇦🇹 AUSMEX (Austria x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you are mexican, you think Maximilian I of Mexico would have been better governor than Benito Juárez. 

- If you´re mexican, you think Mexico should have been an empire since it´s independence.

- You like stories about arranged marriages, or stories about a poor character who marries a rich one, like in telenovelas!

- If you are from Hetalia, probably you prefer PruHun (Prussia x Hungary).

IF YOU LIKE 🇮🇹 ITAMEX (Italy x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Congratulations! You are 1000% unique and different. Oh, and you are alone in your fandom too.  Barely there´s someone who shares your ship. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇯🇵NIMEX (Japan x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You´re mexican and you are 100% otaku.

- You are tired of Mexico being shipped just with europeans, latinos and north americans. Asians also deserve time y admiration.

- You love cats. (You may be also in the furry fandom)

- If some of the previously mentioned ships have this feature, with this one you confirm that you like complete opposite couples.

- You love long distance relationships.

- If you´re from Hetalia, you like Japan quiet, shy, inocente tiene la mirada… 🎵 🎵 🎵Le tomo la mano, y siente algo extraño … 🎵(Okay, i´ll stop singing)

IF YOU LIKE 🇨🇳 CHUMEX (China x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You don´t like neither USAMex or RusMex. 

- Or maybe you like the Rusia x México x China love triangle. You can add USA, and now you have some kind of love square.

- You have seen the Chumel Torres on HBO videos, specially those that are titled: “Mexicanos al Grito de Trump” and “Latinos Enemigos”.

- You like the apps Wish and Tik Tok.

- Unlike those who ship FraMex, you prefer to save money by buying good, pretty and cheap things. You have bought in Miniso and in other Chinese low-cost variety stores.

- You like couples with a lot of age difference (If you are an Hetalia fan, you know what I mean). In other words: 🎵A mí me gustan mayores, de esos que se llaman señores … 🎵

- You prefer Huawei rather than Iphone.

IF YOU LIKE 🇰🇷 South Korea x Mexico 🇲🇽

- It is more likely that you came from Hetalia than Countryhumans, and you think Korea needs more recognition alongside China and Japan, even more when this character was censored from the anime.

- If you´re mexican, your ship started when: “Hermano coreano, ya eres mexicano”. (Korean bro, you are already mexican)

- You like K-Pop.

- You have seen videos of El Coreano and Coreano Vlogs on Youtube.

IF YOU LIKE 🇧🇷 BRAMEX (Brazil x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇦🇷 ARGMEX (Argentina x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇨🇱 CHIMEX (Chile x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇵🇪 MEXRU (Mexico x Peru) 🇲🇽, or ANY OTHER LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY X MEXICO.

- IN GENERAL:

    - If you are from Hetalia, obviously you are from the Latin Hetalia fandom. If you are from Countryhumans, obviously you are mexican and/or latino.

    - Your favorite characters are without doubt the latinos, and you prefer that all stays in family. In fact, you don´t like to ship Mexico with first world countries, or you use these last ones to create love triangles, love squares, or any other love geometric figure. 

    - You like Mexico being the dom of the relationship.

- BRAMEX: If you are from Countryhumans, you are most likely to be a fan of @torakashu. You don´t like Argentina x Brazil, or maybe you like the Argentina x Brasil x México love triangle. You also ship Argentina with Chile.

- ARGMEX: You don´t like Argentina x Brazil, or maybe you like the Argentina x Brasil x México love triangle. You also ship Brazil with Uruguay.

- CHIMEX: You live with roomies. You love tsundere characters like those who ship UKMex, but maybe not too tsunderes. And people who don´t like your ship, you smack´em with your guitar! ( 😁)

- MEXRU: If the people who ship RusMex like lil adorable Mexico, you think that Peru (who is even more short sized) is the most mega super 1000% kawaii thing in the universe. Probably you also like the Rusia x Peru x USA x Mexico love square.

IF YOU LIKE 🇺🇦 UKRAMEX (Ukraine x Mexico) 🇲🇽 or 🇧🇾 BELMEX (Belarus x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Your favorite historical event: the Cold War.

- You think that RusMex is very overrated, and similar to the CanMex case, you think Russia siblings are better suitors.

- You don´t care to ship countries which do not share a lot of history and interactions compared to others.

- If you are from Hetalia you are a Belarus fan,and you ignore or hate her canon personality in the manga and the anime. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇳🇱 NEDMEX (Netherlands x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You are from the Hetalia fandom, without doubt. 

- Favorite Mexico Historical Period: The New Spain Colonial era.

- You like mysterious guys and with aura of "bad boy" but romantic on the inside.

- Eh… you like tulipans???

IF YOU LIKE 🇵🇭Phillippines x Mexico 🇲🇽

- Favorite Mexico Historical Period: The New Spain Colonial era.

- More probably you are from Hetalia than Countryhumans. 

- You like dom Mexico.

- Is probably that you ship, both Phillippines and Mexico, with other countries, since this two have their own harems.

IF YOU LIKE PRUMEX (Prussia x Mexico) 🇲🇽,  🇵🇹 Portugal x Mexico 🇲🇽,  Scotland x Mexico 🇲🇽

- You are an Hetalia fan.

- PRUMEX: You don´t like GerMex.

- PORTUGAL X MEXICO: You don´t like SpaMex.

- SCOTLAND X MEXICO: You don´t like neither UKMex or USAMex.

- IN GENERAL: You don´t like popular Mexico ships, and you prefer to ship Mexico with the siblings of the popular countries. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇲🇽Mexico x Any other country which is not on this post 🌎

You like random ships, you are unique and different, or you simply are a mexican who has visited or likes certain country. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇲🇽 Mexico x Mexico 🇲🇽

- You are a 100% patriot mexican.

- You like the North, South, and even Central, Mexico OC´s. 

IF YOU LIKE 🌎THE MEXICO HAREM (Everyone x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You are mexican without doubt.

- You like submissive Mexico, or you like the flirty Mexico OC´s. 

- You think Mexico is the best country in the world and everybody should know it. 

- You get excited everytime a foreigner speaks well about your country. You often read the news about Mexico and it´s negotiations and agreements with the other countries.

- You have thoroughly investigated the history of Mexico and its relations with other countries. You've watched the YouTube channels of MainWatchers, Yolo Camotes and The Nopal Times Tops

- You are studying or you are interested on the next careers: International relations, History and Languages. 

- If you´re a fan of Hetalia, you like all the male characters and you fantasize about them. 

————

We finish! If you like it and you had fun with it, I invite you to reblog it with this emoji: 💟. We also invite you to reblog it so you can share it with more fans :) 

I still have a lot of work and it seems it will get more hard, but I´ll do my best to keep active. Without anything more to say, see you all on the next post. 

[lordendsavior]

I was reading the notes from that Covid post you reblogged and some people from the rich countries are missing the point totally. It said "it's slowly becoming a 3rd world problem" not that it started that way. And so many screaming vaccines have not been boarded by their countries and they are not vaccinated yet well that might be the fact at this very moment but 1) this countries actually boarded / bought millions. It's just shipping got delayed in the case of Canada and Astra popularity sunk in the case of most European countries. So they did intend to hoard it's just didn't work out for now 2) they won't waive the patent so it's mass produced and available throughout the world. I am from Europe and I know we been through shit due to this pandemic but idk how we can't see our governments are capitalist to the core and that's usually to the demise of others

yes. i haven’t had a chance to register for vaccination yet either, but i will very soon and globally speaking i know how lucky i am to be living in a country which 1) is part of a bigger organization like EU that elevates its position and 2) can afford to pay for all the vaccines it needs and more. not to mention countries like the us or the uk. we’ve all been through shit but some have and will go through even more because of the capitalistic and selfish actions of governments and pharmaceutical companies

[fand0mfancies]

Came across this on Tumblr a few days ago, it amused me for a couple of hours or more, filling it in, while watching QI.

 Fandom Questions

 1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

Star Trek: Voyager, I suppose at least for reading. Started writing with Stargate SG-1.

 2. What is your latest fandom?

I dip in and out of lots of fandoms on and off, the most recent ‘pick up’ is Ballam from Eastenders, I don’t watch soaps, but Robron and Ballam both appear a good bit on my tumblr, so I eventually gave in to checking them out via fic and youtube – thank god for youtube, lol! I still don’t watch soaps, but I watch those storylines!

 3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

Gosh, that’s... actually no that’s really easy. Primeval. For anyone not familiar, it’s a ‘silly little dinosaur show’ produced in the UK. It had 4 short seasons, with a somewhat revolving main cast – although they managed to keep 3 of them through all 4 seasons – but the fandom was/is amazing. I made life long friends through the fandom and even though I don’t write much any more I still read some and still talk with those people.

 4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

I would say no. I can’t say every fandom has always been amazing – ship wars anyone! – but mostly fandom has been a very positive experience in my life.

 5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for?

How long have you got... in genuinely no particular order (basically as they came to me) Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek (TNG, DS9, Voy, Ent & Reboot Movies), Marvel, Kingsman, Person of Interest, Due South, Quantum Leap, Firefly, Buffy/Angel verse, Harry Potter, The Sentinel, Torchwood(/Doctor Who), Hawaii Five-0, Shadowhunters, Sherlock, Primeval, Emmerdale (Robron), NCIS, CSI (Vegas, NY & Miami), White Collar, Empire Records, Bull, Diagnosis Murder, MacGyver (the original), 1-800-Missing, CHAOS, Without a Trace, M*A*S*H, Charmed, Queer as Folk (US), Will & Grace, Bring it On, Nash Bridges, Magnificent 7 (TV series), House, Babylon 5 – I think I got them all... a few of those were one time only deals, but a lot of them have more (anywhere from 2-52 (or more still!) ranging from 100 word drabbles, to thousands of words – hey I’ve been writing fic for 21 years... you tend to amass a lot of fandoms...

 6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Oh geez, here we go, lol! Okay...

 Stargate SG-1: Jack O’Neill/Daniel Jackson

Stargate Atlantis: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard

Star Trek: Elim Garak/Julian Bashir, Chakotay/Tom Paris, Jonathan Archer/Malcolm Reed, James Kirk/Spock – I don’t particularly have an ‘otp’ in TNG, the couple I’ve written were Picard/Data, I’ve also dabbled reading Data/Gordi)

Marvel: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Kingsman: Harry Hart/Eggsy Unwin

Person of Interest: Harold Finch/John Reese

Due South: Benton Fraser/Ray K

Quantum Leap: Sam/Al

Firefly: Malcolm Reynolds/Simon Tam

Buffy/Angel Verse: Buffy/Giles, Angel/Spike, Xander/Spike, Willow/Tara

Harry Potter: Harry/Draco, Harry/Hermione, Harry/Hermione/Draco

The Sentinel: Jim/Blair

Torchwood: Jack/Ianto

Hawaii Five-O: Steve/Danno

Shadowhunters: Magnus/Alec

Sherlock: Sherlock/John, Mycroft/Lestrade

Primeval: Nick Cutter/Stephen Hart, James Lester/Hilary Becker Emmerdale: Robert Sugden/Aaron Dingle

NCIS: Gibbs/DiNozzo CSI: Nick Stokes/David Hodges, Mac/Danny, Horatio/Speed White Collar: Neal/Peter/Elizabeth

Empire Records: Joe/Lucas

Bull: Benny/Jason

Diagnosis Murder: Steve/Jesse

 I’ve left a few out where I don’t have particular OTPs

 7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

Here we go again... lol!

 Stargate SG-1: Jack/Sam, I just... no. I’ve read a few where it’s a background or secondary pairing, but it always makes me wince a bit. I’ve read a few with Sam/Daniel as a secondary pairing that didn’t make me react that way and I’ve read Sam with other characters, but Jack/Sam just is a nope for me.

Stargate Atlantis: McKay/Keller – no, just no. that was horrible. She treated him like... awfully, trying to change him to suit her, just... no.

Marvel: Contentious, but Tony/Pepper, also Peter Parker/Tony Stark. Maybe because I saw the movies before I ever looked at the comics, but meh.

Due South: Benton Fraser/Ray V – again, contentious, but honestly I think Ray V was kind of a shit friend to Fraser.

Firefly: Anything with Jayne. No really, I just can not stand the character. I spent most of the series wanting to punch him in the face and sometimes you get characters you love to hate, but I just hated him.

Buffy/Angel Verse: Buffy/Spike, Willow/Kennedy

Harry Potter: Ron/Hermione, Ron/Harry, Harry/Ginny... basically, Ron and Ginny should just be loveless hermits who live by themselves. Ok, no, that isn’t fair... but as much as Ron was Harry’s first friend, he was selfish and bitter and Ginny/Harry just... never sat right with me. Ron literally says she spent ‘all summer talking about’ Harry, when she’d met him for all of three seconds. She didn’t know him. It always felt like she fell more in love with the *idea* of Harry Potter, than Harry Potter himself.

Sherlock: Sherlock/Molly, he’d eat her for breakfast. Serious, she’d never survive him.

Primeval: Oliver Leek and anyway. Arg. Creepy little dude is creepy and evil.

NCIS: Ziva/DiNozzo – ugh, just no.

 Again, I’ve left out ones where I don’t have particular NoTPs

 8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

Tumblr, god damned bitches posting gifs of pretty boys falling in love, roped me in!

 9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

I dabble in several fandoms at once... but if we go by ‘most recently picked up’ as ‘current’ we’re talking Ballum, which hey, it’s always fun to have an actual canon pairing be my OTP, that’s rare for me, lol.

 10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Well (so far) I haven’t written any Ballum. (I say so far, because I’m a realist, lol). I rarely read in fandoms and not end up writing in them at some point. Although I have probably dabbled in a few I’ve not written for, but if I read it with any sort of consistency, I mostly end up writing it. I am weak!

  Ship Questions for your Current Fandom

 11. Who is your current OTP?

Okay, so that list above, just basically go with that. While I do drop in and hour of fandoms and some I certainly read in more than others, I do tend to go back to fandoms... If we were talking about what I’m mostly focused on writing atm... Steve/Tony, Mycroft/Lestrade, Harry/Draco and Robron are ones I’m currently working on most.

 12. Who is your current OT3?

I’m not currently writing anything that’s OT3 with any real focus. I have a couple of Neal/Peter/Elizabeth WiPs that I will at some point finish, but they aren’t a big focus just now. I did recently read a fabulous Neal/Peter/Elizabeth fic that’s been on my tbr list for ages.

 13. Any NoTPs?

Just... see above, lol!

 14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

Harry Hart/Merlin, those two are Bro’s until the end and I will fight you on this. Also, Eggsy/Roxy! OMG they are such a BroTP! And Tony/Pepper/Rhodey – I may no like Tony/Pepper as a pairing, but I love them as best friends and of course, our Rhodes, because again, I will fight you on this, they are awesome and Tony needs his best friends!

 15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

I’m not sure there is. I suppose I’ve read a few fics for some random pairings over the years, but nothing that’s made me really ship-ship them. I like Clint Barton/Bucky Barnes, after seeing it as a secondary pairing in a Steve/Tony fic, but I’ve seen that pop up a few times since, so maybe it won’t stay obscure for long!

 16. Are their any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

Jack/Sam, Tony/Pepper, Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, Buffy/Spike – they all seem to be het pairings, oops. But I am mostly a slash fic reader/writer, so I suppose that’s not too surprising.

 17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

Jack/Daniel from Stargate SG-1. I still love them. I still read them, although it has been a while since I’ve written them on their own (I have got some SG-1/SGA x-overs where they feature)

 18. What ship have you written the most about?

I’m genuinely not sure... without going and counting (and I’m not going any counting!) I’d guess Jack/Daniel, McKay/Sheppard, Jack/Ianto and Steve/Danno.

 19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

No, not that I can think off. I either like it or not. I do occasionally feel bad for not reading a fic if it’s an author I really like, but I don’t read that fandom or pairing, but nothing specific.

 20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Robron and Ballum, lol. I do not do soaps!

  Author Questions

 21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

 Stargate SG-1, Jack/Daniel, a story called The Dare, The Disaster, The Almost Happy Ending, And The Very Happy Ending – it was awful. Don’t go looking, lol!

 22. Is there anything you regret writing?

Don’t we all? No, I wouldn’t specifically say so. There are certainly fics, especially older ones, I wish I could have written better, but nothing I’d go, ugh I should never have done that.

 23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Uh... honestly that’s really hard. I... um... yeah, I don’t know, really. I wrote a nice little flower one in POI that I felt worked rather beautifully. The Language of Flowers. An I wrote an SGA fic for NaNo a few years ago, called A Different Life, but it’s not online, because I didn’t finish it yet and I knew I wasn’t going to finish it any time soon, so I didn’t feel it was fair to leave it up unfinished (there is a reason I don’t read WiP fics and I don’t post them either, because I know how much I hate unfinished WiPs) Edit: After writing this I reminded myself of a POI fic I wrote called Hours of Separation – It’s a Harold/John break up story that I always intended to write a sequel too where I ‘fixed’ them, but I just couldn’t do it. I broke them a little too well. But I really love it actually.

 24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

The afore mentioned A Different Life needs to be edited and finished, lol! Also a Primeval fic with the working title Crypt Keeper (don’t ask) that I worked myself into a bit of a corner on and I figure out how to fix it, but I haven’t done it yet, so it’s still needs fixing and finishing, lol!

 25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

I haven’t the foggiest.

 26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

Sometimes, really easily, a quote, a line from the fic, a song title... other times it’s like pulling teeth, hence working titles on things like ‘crypt keeper’ which is a reference to one scene near the very start and has no actual hint of the plot, lol!

 27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Oh the titles. Summaries you can just copy a few lines from the fic if you are desperate, if you had to post ‘untitled mcshep fic #67’ people would get cranky, lol, hell I’d get cranky!

 28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Oh... I... huh. I mean who wouldn’t love fanart for their stories? Any of them honestly! But if I had to choose just one... I guess something in my Animal Instinct verse, which is Primeval (although I always intended to write other fandoms in the verse) where some people transform into animals, based on their ‘spirit animal’ and some art of the characters with their spirit animal form would be awesome.

 29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

Sometimes, look if you’ve read this far, you know I write in a lot of fandoms, lol. In some fandoms it’s easier than others to find beta readers. Also, sometimes if it’s just something short, I won’t bother. But I do try for my longer fics.

 30. What inspires you to write?

That old adage, if you want to read it, sometimes you just have to write it? Spite? Boredom? Honestly sometimes I just have ideas I have to get out of my brain and it’s write or go mad(der)

 31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

That it inspired them to write something.

 32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

Sometimes, sometimes I find it distracting when writing because I end up singing along and forgetting what I’m writing, lol! I do sometimes get inspiration from songs, I guess mostly from the lyrics, but no particular band or genre – although I listen to a lot of country music!

 33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

Little from column a, little from column b... littler still from column c...

 34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

Around 60k, I think.

 35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

I have. Primeval had/has a week drabble challenge, mostly when I’ve written drabbles it’s been for a challenge, with a specific prompt.

 36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

Uh... I mean, my fandoms really span the genres, but I guess sci-fi or crime are probably my favourites.

 37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

Third mostly, I have occasionally written in first person, if it felt like the fic needed it.

 38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

Little from column a, little from column b... it depends on the fandom and the story. Sometimes you just need more characters, mostly they are minor roles, I don’t tend to write much established character/oc fic

 39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Ability to convince myself people will want to read it, lol! No actually to be honest, I love to know people read and like my stuff, but I gave up a long time ago on trying to ‘please’ people with what I write. I write what I want to read.

 40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Focus. The problem with 21 years of fandom history, is well... 21 years of fandom history. A lot of fandoms, a lot of pairings and as I say, I never really ‘leave’ a fandom, I just drop in and out and sometimes that means I’ll write on something consistently for weeks or months and then end up getting distracted by another fandom again and not touch it for weeks or months again. Hence, I don’t post WiP fics, because I know I’m easily distracted and don’t want anyone to suffer my lack of focus but me.

  Fanfiction Questions

 41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

I don’t read WiP fics, so yeah... but 5 I’ve recently read in different fandoms that I’ve really enjoyed

 Turns Out, I Have a Rose Garden by betheflame (Steve Rogers/Tony Stark)

Lucky by china_shop (Neal Caffery/Peter Burke/Elizabeth Burke)

Colors by Quesarasara (Sherlock/John)

Betrayal by Blackghost7 (Gibbs/DiNozzo)

Matchmaker (Part 1 of the Marmalade Series) by HastaLux, Mottlemoth (Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade)

 42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

See now this is hard, because... ahh so many...

 FredBassett – Primeval author, her Stephen/Ryan series is epic and brilliant and endless

https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredbassett/pseuds/fredbassett

 Keira Marcos – I know other people will have said her, I don’t care. I love all her stuff, across all the fandoms she writes in

http://keiramarcos.com/

 theapplepielifestyle – her Steve/Tony is amazing. Hands down some of the best I’ve ever read. I will fight you on this.

https://archiveofourown.org/users/theappleppielifestyle/pseuds/theappleppielifestyle

 JillyJames – her Tony DiNozzo is a real life grown up... exactly as he should be considered given he’s a goddamn federal agent!

https://jillyjames.com/

 missbecky – I’ve read pretty much all her Steve/Tony and Harry/Eggsy and it’s awesome.

https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbecky

 Honestly, I could have listed so many more, but, I’m being good!

 43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

Everyone. The thing is, fandom at it’s best is like crack, the more you get, the more you want. The writing, the gifs, the art... it feeds you and makes you want to make more of it, because more of it needs to exist and if that means you need to do it yourself, so be it!

 44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

ALL OF THEM!

 45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

Oh hell no, not even, I can not. It took me an hour to narrow down 5 authors, I can not narrow down one fanfic!

 46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

I mean, it depends on what they like... probably the Hour of Separation I mentioned above, if they like the fandom/pairing, or my Animal Instinct stuff.

 47. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

Archive of our Own. I haven’t touched ff.net in *years* since they started getting super restrictive about what you could post. I do occasionally post stuff to tumblr, but mostly I now post to AO3. I did have my own site and I’ve yet to upload a lot of stuff to AO3 – one of these... months... that will be a project – but it’s amazing. Seriously, having been in fandom 20+ years, going from having to search all over a million different places and now it’s all in one place, where we’re honestly, spoiled and protected. The kids now have no idea how crazy impossible that once seemed.

 48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

Yes, but not as often as I should. I love AO3s kudos button, so I can sort of say ‘hey I enjoyed this’ without having to comment, because I sort of hate leaving comments just going ‘hey I enjoyed this’ because I always feel like I should say more, like, oh I enjoyed this specific thing, which yes is an unnecessary hang-up, but there ya go.

 49. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

Of course it’s nice to get comments, kudos, reblogs etc. I’m not as attached to them now as I was when I was younger, because I learned along the way that it was more important that I like what I’m writing than that other people do, but it’s still nice to know that something I’ve created is enjoyed.

 50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

I went looking for Star Trek Voyager stuff online, pics etc, waaaaaaay back when! And I came across fanfiction entirely by accident... and I read some – het stuff mostly, then I started watching Stargate SG-1, went looking for fanfiction for that, but was not on board with Jack/Sam, found Jack/Daniel went ‘huh really? That’s weird’ read it... and yeah... 21 years later... lol!

 51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Ship Wars. No seriously, just don’t. Like, who the actual fuck cares. I like my ship, you like your ship. I don’t care if it’s canon or not. I don’t care if it’s popular or not. I don’t read my NoTPs, but I’d never dream of telling someone else not too. Yes I think they are terrible, bad, no good pairings, but that’s *my* opinion. Don’t try to change my mind and I won’t try to change yours. I avoid them like the actual plague. If someone starts that shit around me, I will shut it right down. You are a dick. Go to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

You are awfully judgemental and opinionated and seem to think you know all about Corey and the reason for his problems. It doesn't show any respect to him at all and just adds the the negativity of what is already a messed up world at the moment. You collect all these articles of awful things celebrities have said. Maybe you should practice what you preach.

I’m awfully opinionated and judgemental? Sorry, anon, I just don’t like racist assholes like Lea Michele, if that makes me “awfully opinionated” then great, I’d rather be called “awfully opinionated” and NOT stand by racism than watch it happen and keep my mouth shut.

I’m not going to pretend I have the biggest platform on any social media but I do have some form of a platform here because as of writing this, I have just over 1.5k followers on this blog. It’s nowhere near what some celebs have, and I don’t kid myself, but as a white young woman with any amount of following, the best thing I can do right now is to use my privilege and try to raise awareness by spreading information, calling out other white people for their racism, and spreading links/petitions. If even one of my followers sees a link or something I’ve shared, then that makes a difference.

I don’t claim I know/knew Cory (not “Corey”) or any of the cast, I live in the UK for fuck sake and I was 15 when he died, you think I knew any of them personally? Nah, I was a fan and nothing more. On that note, I was not the one who brought up Cory into this ordeal regarding Lea and her disgusting racism/diva tendencies in the first place - I recieved an anon who mentioned Cory, and I responded. If you read what I said, I said that NO, she is NOT to blame for his addiction or death - at the time, I was extremely sorry for her. No one physically forced Cory to overdose or take drugs the day he died; he had an addiction and needed help, and I mean it in the nicest way possible but no one is to blame for him overdosing because it’s not like anyone physically forced him to take drugs, he made that decision himself.

As I said in my post, the reason Cory took drugs is because he said so himself that he had a VERY turbulent childhood and he was 13 when he started taking them. He was very open about his addiction and his upbringing, and so I’m absolutely not saying Lea is responsible for his drug addiction because she’s not, his drug addiction was a thing long before he was on Glee. I think I made that VERY clear.

What I meant by my response is that we know the Glee set was extremely toxic for EVERYONE. Cory was fighting his drug addiction and would have been in a vulnerable place because of that - the toxicity on set would have really been horrible for him to deal with, I imagine, especially since we know none of the other cast members could speak up against Lea because Ryan would have fired them or reduced their roles. So yeah, being on a set like that, it definitely wouldn’t have helped him in the slightest.

As for my respect for Cory...frankly, you don’t know about my feelings regarding Cory. I was 15 when he died, a huge Gleek, and like a lot of Gleeks, I was inconsolable and absolutely heartbroken. None of us knew him personally but he was so open and honest and genuine that it felt like we lost a big brother - sure, us fans didn’t go through nearly the same amount of pain and distress that family, friends and the Glee cast/crew did, but if you ask the Glee fandom as a whole, they’ll probably say either the same or something extremely similar. His death was the ONLY time I’ve seen the Glee fandom actually stop fighting and come together to mourn; I’ve spoken before about how horrible the Glee fandom was, and we all acknowledge how toxic the fandom was due to all the ship wars, anon hate, etc., but when Cory died...we all stopped that. We all came together and mourned and cried. Not a single Gleek alive was unaffected by Cory’s passing. So please don’t tell me I have no respect for Cory or his struggles because you don’t know how hard it was for this fandom, especially for those like myself who looked up to him and took inspiration from how hard he fought his demons/problems.

You seem very angry about me reposting screenshots of tweets that Lea’s co-stars and Glee extras - as well as other people who’ve had a bad experience - have made. Why? Why should we ignore their voices? Why should we ignore what Sammie, Amber and Alex (who are all black) have said when right now black people are fighting for their rights? Why shouldn’t I post and share information about how absolutely vile this woman is, especially to her black and POC co-stars?

I’m sorry if you’re a Lea Stan and this is all upsetting for you, but frankly when this many people have come forward to share their stories about how a) racist and b) generally horrible she is, her feelings are no longer a concern. She didn’t care about Sammie’s feelings when she threatened to “shit in her wig”, didn’t care about the extras who she referred to as “cockroaches”, didn’t care about Daubier when she said “you can’t sit at our table” even when numerous other cast members said they wanted him to. Why should I or ANYONE ELSE be nice to her right now, anon?

I agree that we should all be kind, love over hate and all that but honestly? Why should I or anyone else spare her any kindness when she doesn’t have any respect for anyone else but herself? Ignoring that she did so many vile things, especially against black people, especially right now while black people are dying and fighting for their own rights, misses the point completely of the movement. Her being pregnant doesn’t mean we should go easy on her*, neither does the fact she lost her boyfriend years ago - her grief over losing him does NOT excuse her racism or how horrible she was, especially since there are MULTIPLE people who’ve said she was that horrible and vile BEFORE Cory died and before she was even on Glee.

I’m sorry, anon, but I have to disagree with you on this.

*While her being pregnant doesn’t mean we should go easy on her, I am absolutely against bringing her baby into this. The baby hasn’t done anything, they haven’t even been born, so everyone please don’t drag the unborn baby into it or make hateful comments about them.*

[tisthenightofthewitch]

Tobias Forge is reflecting on Ghost’s spooky success

Grammy-winning metallers Ghost are the perfect Halloween soundtrack. With a UK arena tour on the go, frontman Tobias Forge reflects on their journey so far.

Thirty-one years ago, in Linköping, Sweden, a mean old teacher stood in the way of her young freedom-loving pupil. She was condescending and bitter; she didn’t like talking back; she didn’t like heavy metal… and she was deeply Christian. She also inadvertently provided essential kindling for the biggest, most theatrical, occult rock act in the world today.

That student was Tobias Forge, now the mastermind behind Grammy-winning metal band Ghost. “I found it so weird that she was supposed to be representing good and she was just a mean, backward-thinking bag of shit, basically,” he tells The Big Issue. “That was generally my impression of Christianity, and of Christians: they were mean and stupid and didn’t like fun things. And so, fuck them.”

Steeped in infernal imagery and horror movies, Ghost is precisely the band you need at this most haunted time of year. Revelling in a backstory based in a semi-fictitious cult, they’ve been fronted by a series of Satanic priests (each of them actually Forge) with the rest of the band made up of masked musicians known as Nameless Ghouls. After cycling through four incarnations of skull-faced Pope Papa Emeritus, Ghost’s frontman is currently rejoicing in the persona of ambitious and light-footed Cardinal Copia.

Their live show – due to hit the UK in its biggest-ever incarnation very soon – is as much ritual as gig. Recalling the dark pomp of Alice Cooper or Kiss, they leave a wave of ‘Grucifix’-wearing converts in their wake.

We spoke to Tobias Forge between shows on the American leg of their Ultimate Tour Named Death…

TBI: Can you tell us a bit about what we can expect for your upcoming UK dates?

Tobias Forge: You will have basically the tour that we are on now – we’re just shipping that over to Europe. So, it’s a full production, arena show. Which is very, very cool. I am very happy about that because we’ve never really done like a full show in the UK ever.

For a long time we were stuck in the academy circuit. The academy circuit is so whimsical, it’s like, one venue might be okay – like the Manchester Apollo is nice and then you go to other cities, and the stages are just absolutely bullshit. So small, you can’t do anything. My motto is that if you pay the same money to see the show, you should get the same thing. Right?

That seems fair.

I’ve always been extremely adamant about moving into rooms where we can bring our own stage and bring our own production. And that’s what we’re doing this time. And I’m very happy about that.

It’s almost Halloween… do you have a favourite horror film?

I don’t have one favourite horror film, I have many. I generally believe that the best horror films were made by filmmakers who did one horror film and the rest of them they did was thrillers and drama. One example is Stanley Kubrick. The Shining is definitely one of the best horror films ever made. And so is Jaws. And so is Silence of the Lambs. The Exorcist. Dracula, Ford Coppola’s version, is one of my favourite films of all time.

A horror film shouldn’t just be about that spectacular death or that jump scare. Now, everything is just about jump scares. That’s not cool.

In Rats [the lead single for latest album Prequelle], you sing about living in times of turmoil, which we certainly are. Do you think that Ghost has a message for us in those times?

I think that there’s a message there if you want. Ironically, we’re not trying to preach. We’re here to entertain, to make you feel better about yourself, to feel content with life, and inspire you to live. And, to whatever extent we can, aid people and the world to either become a better place… or to not become a worse place.

In the greater scheme of things, I don’t think that we’re, you know, significant enough for the world to change, but who knows?

You attract a larger female contingent than we see for most metal acts. Do you have a theory about why that is?

A few years back when we were a little bit more clandestine, and people in general didn’t know who we were, I believe that part of the attraction was the fact that you could place whomever you wanted underneath that mask. [Forge’s identity as the leader of Ghost was only unveiled in 2017 as a result of a court case filed by his former bandmates over their share of revenue for the band.] So, whomever you fancy you can just pretend that was the person. But on the other hand, I also think that there’s the same rules of attraction – the music probably attracts people and the show probably attracts people. I don’t see that there’s that big of a difference between boys and girls.

And there are not many bands that finish their gigs with an ode to the female orgasm [the song Monstrance Clock]. So that has to help.

Right. That’s important stuff.

Do you miss the greater degree of anonymity that you used to have before you were ‘unmasked’?

I still have the luxury of being able to differentiate between myself and my onstage character, which is a luxury that many artists don’t have. I am not expected to be anything like my character in private. So, I’m still very fortunate.

I did not choose to dictate the imagery of this band based on the fact that I was shy, or I didn’t want to be famous. I wanted to be as famous and recognised as anyone else putting a guitar onto his or her crotch. But over the years of having both – being in a famous band, but not being super famous myself – I’ve come to enjoy the fact that I can go in and out of that.

I am not asocial but I definitely have an asocial streak, that I need to be by myself. I like to just go around y myself and I like to do simple things. I like to go to dive bars to play pinball. I like to go to record stores – and I like to do it by myself or in the company of a few friends. If I can still do that, I’m a happy boy.

Of course, to those of us watching closely, it wasn’t a full surprise whenever when you were unmasked. There were a few leaks. Rob Zombie memorably posted an Instagram photo with you without your mask. I wonder, did you rap his knuckles afterwards?

No. He explained it as just a mistake. He has no reason to flaunt a picture like that. It doesn’t serve him, his purposes. And he’s not a junkie, that way. You know, of ‘like’s, or whatever. I really, really didn’t feel in any way that he was doing it with any malice or any intent.

He seems like a cool guy.

Oh, yeah. He’s a very cool guy. Very nice.

I wanted to ask you about Satanism, because it seems to be having a bit of a moment just now, especially following the release of The Satanic Temple documentary Hail Satan?I know that many of the followers of The Satanic Temple are big fans of yours. Is it welcome to have to have them in your corner?

Anything that has to do with – loosely coined – ‘Satanism’ is, of course, up my alley. It’s part of my DNA. As long as, the peddlers of whatever faith that is are still positive – and it doesn’t involve certain negative elements, and it doesn’t involve violence against innocents – I am for it.

Prequelle has seen Ghost grow even bigger – how do you plan to follow it?

I won’t go into detail. But let’s just put it this way… the next must be built on the momentum that we’re leaving off now. And where we’re leaving off is playing arenas. We need to make an album that sounds like an arena band. I cannot just phone a record in and pretend that I have nothing to live up to. It doesn’t work like that.

THE BIG ISSUE

[theymakehistoryarchived]

Illya Verses

I. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) Movie Canon

II. Fifteen Years Later, based off of the 1983 movie stemming from the original TV show. Illya had been dishonorably discharged from service as an agent in the mid 60s, and has been working as a fashion designer since then. Fifteen years later, he is recruited back into service.

III. Post-Movie, Illya is loyal to his UNCLE team, and begins questioning his loyalty to the USSR as he sees their actions. He does not defect, but he begins to stray from his original extreme nationalism.

IV.  Young Man: Ranging from age 14 until the movie, this verse covers Illya’s time training in the KGB and various missions of his. (FC Austin Butler)

V. Grand Duchesses’ Right Hand: In a world where the Revolution of 1917 did not occur and Russia remained under the control of the Tsar. Illya’s father was a noble and a primary advisor to Tsar Nicholas. Illya grew up in the palace, born in 1896, grew up beside the royal children and was being groomed to be a bodyguard to the Grand Duchesses. He was the closest to the second Grand Duchess, as she was a year his junior. The young future tsar, Alexei, felt envious of Illya, and after trying to get Illya in trouble, realized it would be better to take note of Illya’s strengths and eventually viewed Illya as a sort of older brother figure despite a lasting feeling of resentment over Illya’s strength and lack of being confined due to illness. Illya was suspicious of Rasputin, but kept quiet about it as it wasn’t his place to vocalize his opinion. He did, however, listen to the complaints of any of the Tsar’s children. After Rasputin’s death, Illya’s father gained even more in station which resulted in Illya being put in line to be the advisor to Alexei, if the young Russian survived to become Tsar after his father. (FC: Austin Butler or Armie Hammer, depends on his age)

VI. Modern: UNCLE, formed in 1964, is now the international version of the FBI. Illya was trained by the Russian division, still the “best within three years”. Illya was born in 1988, during the end of the USSR. His father was killed during the fall of the USSR, as certain KGB agents were being silenced. As a single mother, Illya’s mother brought Illya to an old government contact of hers when he was eleven. His new guardian saw potential in Illya, resembling his father. After training in the Russian military from ages 18 to 21, Illya studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University. He majored in World Politics and minored in French. After graduating, he was recruited by UNCLE.

VII. The Curse of Immortality/Super Soviet/Marvel Friendly: With the USSR wanting their own version of Captain America - in both the propaganda and the access to a super soldier, Illya was chosen due to his exceptional performance during KGB training. He had been injected with chemicals that didn’t delay his aging but stopped it and accelerated the regeneration of his cells as to allow for rapid healing and increased strength. This was how he was able to do the “barely human” acts in the movie, such as ripping the trunk off of the back of a car. With his delayed aging, Illya had to leave UNCLE after a few decades, becoming a vigilante in Eastern Europe from the 1980s until today. Eventually, while an UNCLE agent, he tracked down the group who tortured him and - in his eyes - cursed him. They were a cult experimenting in black magic, and used Illya as their guinea pig when trying to cause immortality. Before killing the last one of them, Illya obtained the means to cause immortality - enough for two people, as he would offer them to Gaby and Solo if either was near death and the idea of either of them dying is one of Illya’s greatest fears. There is supposedly no way to reverse the immortality, which Illya seeks to remedy by modern times as seeing the world age around him causes a great deal of cognitive dissonance for him.  He has a better grasp on his anger now, but certain things/topics still set him off - such as reminders of Solo and Gaby (if they are deceased).

VIII. Private verse with wehavefoundthestars, Second Chances: As a tie into Illya’s immortal verse, soon after the events of the 2015 movie (set in 1963), Illya fell into a coma as his body’s way of balancing out the trauma he sustained and his rapid healing and cell regeneration. It took about twenty years for him to come out of it, waking up with the same age maturity as he had when he fell into the coma. The new head of UNCLE set up a second chance for him, where he would be an American graduate student by the name of Oliver. An entire new identity was created for him, and it was insisted that he take advantage of this second chance. Regardless of this, Illya/Oliver feared forming attachments again due to the fact he’d outlive anyone he got close to.

IX. A Happy Ending: After about five years serving as an UNCLE agent, Illya has gradually worked on addressing his trauma with the assistance of Gaby and Solo. He has “gone soft”, as Solo once teased him about. Reflecting on what he missed growing up, and what his parents had fall apart, he realized he wanted to retire and settle down. Tying into the “fifteen years later” verse, Illya has become involved in fashion design - specifically for women in Berlin, both East and West. Eventually, he realizes he does want a family, that he craves the support and love that is supposed to come with one. While he remains wary of love and trusting someone so much, he accepts that deep down he wants that life.  Returning to where he first felt love, Illya now lives in Rome. *Note: this verse can happen with a Gaby, even with her not retiring. I do ship them, and can see them eventually having a real relationship - not just a fake one. She is the first person he ever felt safe with, and also set the standard for anyone he envisions having a relationship with.

X. Hogwarts: In 1943, at age 12, Illya was transferred to Hogwarts from Koldovstoretz rather than any of the wizarding schools in the USSR. Despite both the UK and USSR being involved in WWII, they believed Illya would be safer at Hogwarts and have an advantage due to some of the professors at Hogwarts and the safety measures in place. When placed under the sorting hat, Illya was not given a decisive placement and it was based on his preference. (In a quiz, he got “So you’re 28% Gryffindor, 26% Ravenclaw, 25% Slytherin, and 21% Hufflepuff! You seem to be an almost perfect combination of all four houses, which is incredibly rare - you’re equal in your intelligence, bravery, loyalty and ambition. As we know, though, the Sorting Hat takes your preference into account…so it looks like you get to choose your own house). Based on his knowledge of the four houses, Illya chose Ravenclaw as he wished to focus on improving himself as a wizard rather than focus on social interactions. If he had been in a better mind set with less pressure on himself to become a contributing member to the USSR, he would likely have been sorted into Hufflepuff. He was particularly talented in  Regarding his lineage, Illya is believed to be a Pureblood, but it is possibly untrue due to the bias in favor of Purebloods within the USSR and propaganda to only have pure blooded children as to lessen the risk of non-wizards being born. While having missed the Grindlewald disasters, he did encounter Tom Riddle (Riddle having gone to Hogwarts beginning in 1938, being in his fifth year when Illya was sent to Hogwarts). He was not certain what to think of the Slytherin, and simply avoided him - that was how he behaved toward most, so it didn’t seem out of the norm. Upon returning to the USSR, Illya got involved with UNCLE’s wizarding branch and acted as a spy amongst the growing number of wizards practicing illegal dark magic. He worked with drop out Slytherin, Napoleon Solo who had served in WWII’s later years and now for the CIA’s wizarding branch, along with an East Berliner named Gaby Teller who had attended Beauxbatons as an international student (please note that if you are a Solo or Gaby who has different headcanons about their wizarding schooling, I’d be happy to go with yours! I just went with what I thought might have been the situation). As of the war in 1998, Illya’s status is unknown except to Napoleon Solo and Gaby Teller. (FC: Austin Butler or Armie Hammer, age dependent) Wand: Red Oak with Unicorn hair as the core

XI: Medieval  : Illya, starting at age eighteen, became the guardian of the crown prince of a small but flourishing country. Illya’s origins are still in Russia, but he spends his life in various ranks given by the crown prince and eventual king.

XII: World War II: Born in 1923 (rather than 1931), Illya’s story is essentially the same as his canon and/or Super Soviet verses.

XIII: The Old Guard: Illya is a relatively young immortal, not even being 100 years old yet (having been born in 1931). True to his canon movie verse until 1965, the year in which Illya discovered he was immortal. Similar to his Super Soviet verse, Illya uses his immortality to function as a superhero.

[kiradurbin]

Super Short Reviews Summer / Fall TV 2019 part one:

Pennywoth (Epix) – Paloma Faith , snippy dialogue, alt DC Universe London post WWII.  Alfred before he was Batman’s Alfred.  Big thumbs up from me but will definitely connect more with BBC fans than superhero fans.  

Alta Mar (Netflix) – Spain.   Gorgeous period drama / murder mystery.  Beautiful sets, shots, costumes, lighting.  Upstairs Downstairs meets Agatha Christie on a cruise ship on the high seas.

Sherman’s Showcase (IFC) – Super duper silly fun.  Same guy that did South Side on Comedy Central (Bashir Salahuddin.)  Fake documentary of a fake variety show, poking fun and celebrating pop culture / history and shows like Soul Train. Great guest stars.  

Bulletproof (CW) – 2 Street cops “fight crime” in London’s east end.  Originally aired in UK 2018.  No clue why the CW thought this was a good fit for their brand as a summer show.  

I Ship It (CW Seed / CW) – Originally aired on the CW Seed whatever that is?  If you blinked you missed it.  Weird mash up of comedy, musical comedy, fan fiction, and sort of making fun of the shows that are really on the CW.   I like anything that makes fun of Hollywood, so I liked this.  

Two Sentence Horror Stories (CW) – Again, if you blinked you missed it.  Except in this case you didn’t miss anything.

The Terror Infamy (AMC) – You don’t even need evil spirits when the story involves executive order 9066 … but then again im not sure if these spirits are evil or if they’re just … NO SPOILERS!!  Watch it watch it watch it.

David Makes Man (OWN) – Tough to watch due to raw honesty.  How do we break the cycle of poverty? Akili McDowell is wonderful in his portrayal of David.  OWN is finally becoming a real network.  

Carnival Row (Amazon) –  If Ripper Street had fairies (and other magical beings)  – binged it in 3 nights.  Nice metaphors for real life topics if you look for them... or don’t and just enjoy a good British alt period drama.  

AHS: 1984 (FX) –  I didn’t live in LA in 1984 but I bet it was exactly like this... well minus the serial killers (yes there’s more than one.)   Like most seasons of AHS I have a blast with the first few episodes – this time it’s 80s references and creepy campground – but after the third week it just seems like a really long drawn out kaleidoscope of horror movies i’ve already seen.

All Rise (CBS) – America loves an underdog, so settle in to the couch for this comfy Monday night broadcast, and join the fabulous Simone Missick as she navigates her first year of being a judge.  And Im sure this is exactly what being a judge in LA is like, right?  

Emergence (ABC) – Unlike other supernatural tinged shows, when you sit around trying to figure out the WHAT – and how long thats going to take – this show solves the mystery by episode four, so now you have to decide if you care enough about the WHY.   Either way, Allison Tolman is the bomb so I hope the writers have a few more tricks up their sleeves.  

Prodigal Son (Fox) – The lead dude (Tom Payne) is appropriately super weird, and Michael Sheen as his father is appropriately gleeful in his manipulation / murder revelry, and Lou Diamond Philips is appropriately level headed (and handsome) as the coach of this oddball NY police team.   Im not sure how this will be able to develop too much more, but its the network hit of the Fall.  

Sunnyside (NBC) – Already cancelled! Kal Penn is the perfect guy to make a comedy about American politics / history but something about this show didn’t gel.  And it wasn’t the characters cuz the actors were great – especially Diana Maria Riva.  

NOT REVIEWED:

Designated Survivor: 60 Days (Netflix)

The Rook (Starz)

Bankok Love Stories (Netflix)

Muder in the Bayou (Showtime)

Room 104 (HBO)

First Wives Club (BET +)

Bigger (BET +)

Godfather of Harlem (Epix)

Back to Life (Showtime)

Veronica Mars (Hulu) – This is not a new show.

Press (PBS) – UK.  I wandered out of the room and forgot it was on – thats how much I was interested.  

[fabfoxly]

Fharry Tale Birth, part 2: Something dodgy (or two, or three)

In Part 1, we looked at the timeline. Now, it’s time to deep-dive into the dodgy, inconsistent fooleywang surrounding this “blessed event” (or whatever one wishes to call it). 

When was the baby even due? 

 By any calculation, the October announcement, and her own remarks, she was well over 40 weeks, despite caginess around the actual due date. And then this happened: 

Either that, or the sight of Gayle King triggered it. 

When did she go into labour? Why announce labour hours after the birth?

A now-deleted Operational Note originally said labour started around 1 AM. Sussex IG and the “corrected” note say “in the early morning hours.” The official announcement of labour was released that afternoon, followed by notice of birth 40 minutes later: 

If the announcements were correct, that’s about a four-hour labour for a geriatric, overdue, first-time mum. Must be all the yoga, because apparently they had time to host friends and watch some telly before she was “whisked away,” according to The Express: 

If she wasn’t yet in labour (Sunday evening), why would she go to “give birth?” 

Where did the “birth” happen? 

No one knows, because that info is missing from all of the announcements. 

Chris Ship thinks it happened at Fraudswamp: 

Rebecca English (Daily Mail) insists: 

Portland, however, won’t confirm, so all we have are guesses and wild speculation. And Richard Palmer, like the rest of us, is upset that the Palace is still hiding the location: 

If it was a hospital, how did she get there? More fooleywang! 

Rebecca English again: 

How did the entourage sneak by all those people? 

Apparently, this happened in such secrecy that not even “senior royals” were aware. Also, these lovely folk who’d been camping on the Long Walk and in Windsor for days, on hair-trigger alert for any sign of life at Fraudswamp Cottage, on the road, or in Windsor, ALL missed a squad of vehicles traveling down the one or two roads they’d have taken: 

(image: USAToday)

(image: @havendalegirl, Twitter)

These are the same people who went bonkers a couple of days earlier because they sighted a “slow-moving Bentley” with pink blankets in the rear window. 

Yet NONE of them saw Harry and Megs leave, or return with Sproglet Monday afternoon -- even though they were supposedly back at FC before the labour announcement (Daily Mail).

Aren’t the Sussexes just so sneaky and clever to put one over on all these reporters like that? 

Wait... Scotland Yard?

There’s also the minor issue that Scotland Yard would not escort Megs to hospital, just as they have not done for any of the Cambridge births, as Skippy here at Tumblr has shared: 

https://skippyisheretostay.tumblr.com/search/Scotland%20Yard

Maybe they had one of these? 

Good thing we cleared that up, because there’s much more to come. 

Who attended the birth? Where’s Meg’s medical team (or at least midwife)? 

Nobody knows, not even the Palace. 

The tot became IG-official just a few hours after being “welcomed” (a Hollywood word used when celebrities acquire children). No location or doctors were mentioned. and then Prince Harry announced the news himself (I’ll do a separate post on that), but did not mention or thank hospital or medical team (he did, however, thank the horses). Twelve to fourteen hours post-arrival, Buckingham Palace placed this upon the easel: 

That’s the entire thing. The date is pre-printed. There are no doctor signatures. And the RF is delighted at “the news.” Not “the birth.”  It’s “her” child. Compare to the Cambridge children: 

Princess Eugenie, who was also far down the line of succession, had doctor signatures on her Palace birth announcement as well. There was time to get doctor signatures, whether the arrival happened at FC or a London hospital. Why are the names missing? Here’s Richard Palmer: 

In case you were wondering, this is not how royal births normally work. They’re usually run smoothly because everyone understands how things should happen. Here’s Richard Palmer again: 

Why the bungled announcements, secrecy, and conflicting accounts?  Meghan’s sugars will rant about privacy and how expectant parents should be able to dictate what goes on. That’s great for private citizens, which these two are not. UK taxpayers are funding this charade; sharing basic info hours after the event, like where the baby was born and who helped bring it into the world, does not violate family “privacy” any more than telling us how much the baby weighed. It didn’t hurt the privacy of any other RF members, and it won’t hurt these two. They can still relax together at Fraudswamp with a steamy cuppa, a screaming newborn, and a doting grandma. 

Where’s Doria? 

She’s supposed to be at Fraudswamp with Megs, but no one has seen her arrive, leave, buy kale and avocados, or even peek out a window. We have zero evidence that she is actually in the UK at all, much less in this luxurious abode: 

(Image: Daily Mail, 7 May 2019) 

What with boarded over and wide open windows, no curtains, boxes piled inside, etc., it doesn’t look like anyone’s living here at all. What happened to that £3 million worth of renovations? 

So many questions, so little space. Stay tuned for Part 3!