#especially twinks ngl

[sinnbaddie]

I’m starting to hate STSG so much solely for the fact that I cannot consume any content of my faves without them always being brought up or inserted into the conversation in some type of way

I just wanna hyperfixate on Hikara and Itafushi yet the most toxic and unhealthy ship is brought up more in their tags than them themselves

[robulz]

hello eurovision is in some hours and i. i m about to blow up out of excitement i think u too

YES U GET IT !!!!! i'm sosososo excited so nervous about today's results AAA it'll be so fun! i can't wait to see more of everyone's staging!!!

sadly your girl isn't allowed to vote today because greece is in semi 2 but the hype is so REAL. @ all my esc liker followers hold my hand!!!!

[py-dreamer]

So... I know I'm late...

But yea! I said I was coming back with some stickers and I kept my word! I would've hoped that I could've completed the sheet in like a day but as you can see...that didn't work out

I know I've been a bit MIA lately but burnout sucks. I do have a lot of WIPS I really want to work on but again, it seems that the ProcrastiNation hath struck my feeble mortal brain again.

But anyways:

I headcanon Aroace Mei, just a personal headcanon (disagree if you like) I also like lesbian Mei but thought I'd give some aroace appreciation

Silktea was only given 1 episode but OH BOY did it fuel our wild shipping habits. And I jumped on the bandwagon. It's a reference to that scene in She-Ra where Scorpia tells Catra she 'didn't want to do this' then wraps kitty up in the blankey and cradles her like a wee baby. And Sandy would do that for any friend, I will die on this hill

Saw a fanart where Mk had a pig nose themed pacifier and I just yoinked that idea. The pig hoodie and the pacifier seems like something Tang would do for Pigsy (also to get away with free noodles cause who can say no to that face?~)

Mac showing Wukong the lantern. What can I say, mans' fascinated by them pretty lights. Though our little performer's eyes seem to be straying from the show (^u ')

I know many people have issues with shipping with Nezha and such and I know the two had a rough history but y'know what fans do; they love to make the people who kill each other soulmates (platonic, romantic or otherwise) Even if it wasn't romantic, I still love the idea of them being buddies and just chilling, the danger noodle prince and the angy prince snuggle and watch a movie (mainly from Nezha 2019 but I also saw New Gods and can I just say, I want those two twinks to bicker then kiss awkwardly and I want Yun Xiang to BEAT. HIS. ASS) but in case anyone asks, I do perceive Nezha to be a consenting adult in general outside shipping drama and if the two are adults, it does make my heart squeal when I see these two hold hands and whatnot

HOW COULD I EVER FORGET MY SPICYBOIS, inspired by that one Ponyo kiss scene. I was actually gonna make a bigger piece but then I saw someone do it already in a much better fashion than I ever could and I just gave up on the idea but Ig here, its just like the two cakes mentality and I gave it a go. Hope I could do the concept justice

Have spider queen or scorpion queen ever interacted before? No. But they are both queens and I believe Spider Queen's confidence could rub off on Scorpion Queen and she'd appreciate the company of Spider Queen's children henchmen. Also she give yummy food so lesbian venomqueens for the win

Redraw of that moment with Peng and Azure. I normally detest that bird but these two do get some gears grinding and whatever anyone says. Neither of those two are straight. I'll tell ya that.

Toxicinsanity is another rarepair that had like 1 sec screen time. I don't think they'd ever work out in canon and had virtually no chemistry. I still love all the fluffy ship content I can find of them though and if it ever were to happen. I think the mayor would scare the sh!t out of Syntax

Let's get at least one hetero couple here, Chang'e and Hou'Yi are a couple of favorites ngl, I took most of their outfits from Over the moon cause both of them looked stunning, Chang'e especially. I've seen people ship mah girl with other people and while I do agree it's healthy to move on, in my heart she will always long for Hou'Yi

Also irl, on valentines, my mum took us out for lunch, she treated us to bubble tea and donuts. We walked home so I waited to drink mah drink in my room while I drew and I accidentally finished it all... I'm so sorry mum

f*ck I forgot ironbull. Uhh....I'll draw something later, rn I need to go to bed before I get yelled at...

click pic for less sh!ty quality!

[chaifootsteps]

Ngl, I kinda find it something that there's at least three different MLM couples in the Hellaverse that fit the same archetype of: gay effeminate bottom x pan masc top.

Angel (gay effeminate) x Husk (pan masc)

Stolas (gay effeminate) x Blitz (pan masc)

Fizz (gay effeminate) x Ozzie (pan masc)

And they're some of the more popular canon ships. Some of the non-canon ships don't 100% fit, such as Alastor/Lucifer, imo, but still an interesting... pattern. Especially since with the first two, the bottom gay twinks are the harassers of the relationships 😭

It's frustrating to see it treated as revolutionary when we're 20 years past that point. It's so painfully heteronormative, wrapped up in a thin rainbow veneer.

[elendsessor]

ngl i think its so important how the metaphor cast feels like a found family both in comparison to atlus’s/studio zero’s backlog and the general jrpg landscape

repeat after me: metaphor is not a megami tensei game.

this being said, there was definitely some influence because of the devs working on it, though this is due to the gaming landscape. save for indie titles, you’d be hard pressed to find a studio, especially one owned by a big company, to even be given the chance to make a new ip. atlus in particular has a history of financial flops, which is actually why the sega merger is so important. without sega, no matter how successful persona got, they would have died out in the 2000s/early 2010s. this is also why they lean on persona a lot more. of course, persona isn’t the only influence behind metaphor despite the big names having worked on modernsona, as some of its dna draws from traditional fantasy rpg tropes and digital devil saga. however, this has influenced how the game was approached on several levels, as diverting too much could have caused the game to flop. metaphor hinged most of its success based on studio recognition and marketing, and considering how persona is atlus’s cash cow, it needed to take every advantage it could get.

metaphor can definitively be best described as experiencing some first game syndrome pains + development hell complications, but in general, its plot and especially character dynamic writing seems to have been an exercise for the studio they couldn’t get while sticking to persona. no matter how you feel about the series, there’s no denying that, particularly with p3 onwards, it became a very mainstream-influenced anime rpg, filled with tropes and fanservice galore. only issue is how this alienates potential players. everything wrong with persona’s team writing is one reflected throughout the genre because it was made to fit that genre.

the anime rpg market is over saturated, the fandom reputation didn’t help, and to be honest, like many jrpgs in general, the party relationship falls into the trap of having minimal group chemistry outside of a shared goal, leaving them to not truly feel like a collective group of friends once the big bad goes down, especially if there’s a punching bag. as such, there seems to be plenty of reevaluation of how topics and characters are handled in order to attract a new player base turned off from the genre.

and that’s probably why i love the approach to metaphor’s main cast the most. while all end up having a shared goal aka we need to kill that fucking twink, they’re really initially brought together because they’re societal outcasts one way or another, then grow to like each other overtime due to exposure breaking down several barriers.

the biggest example for me is how heismay begins to shut down his perception of paripus after the eht ria arc, as its the first time he hears about what was actually going on the day his son was killed—there was an uprising from a tribe often forced into slavery and becoming lab rats, and unfortunately, an innocent bystander got caught up in it.

his relationship with basilio is really interesting in that regard tbh. there’s a growing respect once he and fidelio decide to help them out in defending other innocent kids caught up in a mess, and i think seeing him lose a loved one really put into perspective paripus aren’t inherently violent. sure, the magnus brothers were on louis’s side because at least fidelio believed might makes right, but having the courage to not abandon morals just to people please? takes a lot of guts.

that’s really where that respect starts to be gained even if it isn’t obvious. by the time the final day rolls around and they help hold the line? heismay actually being nice to basilio and even saving his life feels earned.

junah’s also really important. while initially from a shitty place and not holding sanctist beliefs or at least the extreme parts of it, given how she gets taken into a powerful family, finds success really easily despite her tribe, plus a lot of special treatment from every major group really gives her that unintentional superiority complex. she only goes along with will because they’re both from the resistance, initially treats him like an assistant, and one of the first things she says on the runner is denouncing how it isn’t up to her standards.

it’s another quiet background development in that it’s subtle, but she does end up challenging her worldview upon meeting eupha. being raised in an entirely different culture only to start seeing parallels in terms of faith being warped, causing unnecessary loss of life? that’s why she came to the conclusion she wants to help. this isn’t mentioning the follower ranks, furthering that understanding of how not everyone gets the same treatment as her because of things out of their control.

also noticed how everyone loses someone close and how at least one team member fills that same gap. extra bonus points for gallica because what’s this? a navi character that isn’t beating up on a single character and even then comes from a place of caring, praising those when they deserve it and showing worry when things don’t go as planned?

not a lot of games have this close knit relationship gained, usually only sticking to a couple characters liking one another and everyone liking the protagonist. it’s refreshing. the writing team deserves so many kudos for it it’s insane.

[uninformedartist]

So just finished watching the ep so review. Spoils ahead:

So the episode was ok to me, solid 6/10 one of the better episodes which since this was supposed to be an "extravagant" ep why does it got better quality than the main eps, idk Viv has her moments like this ep and other eps its a train wreck in writing ect.

Mammon worked on my nerves, from design to his movements, personality ALL of him was annoying, which props for an annoying Villian but its Villian I never want to see back again and he's hinted for some sort of return.

Side tangent: Mammon is like the how many-ith Villian to get a return ep/hint at one. It was 1st cherubs, then dorks, then stella/ice twink, striker/crimson now Mammon & according to the leaked storyboards a ghost guy that tries to talk IMP into off-ing themselves... its a flipping lot and cherubs & dorks seem to be forgotten dispite dorks knowing & having hard evidence they exist, flip Viv chill it with your Villian of the week cos its way too many now.

Anyway, Blitz didn't need to be in this ep besides the flashback. Ozzie got him to talk Fizz out of being Mammon's puppet but ultimately Ozzie spoke him out of it & gave him courage to quit/confront Mammon. Even Blitz being a bodyguard/killing people for Fizz could've been any imp. Blitz is starting to feel like Steven from SU, in every ep even tho the ep doesn't need him/ the episode surrounds topics a wee child shouldn't be in (i.e Lapis trauma dumping on Steven & he a child isn't really equipped to handle that situation).

My fave part of this ep was Ozzie and Fizz. Ya'll I legit prayed Viv wouldn't mess these two up and my prayers were answered. Absolutely a joy these two were. Fizz especially what a darling. Loved that small scenes with him and the deaf imp child, l dont know sign language but it looked genuine animated and was just sweet moments.

From their interactions, Fizz's panic attacks/self doubt felt & were genuine... I felt that as someone that has panic attacks from high stress on my studies/life. It was just handled well. Fizz feeling less than and needing to prove himself from 1. his past 2. his appearance, that accident affected his self image/worth so much (why I felt him forgiving Blitz was too hastily done but I digress) & 3. him doing this Mammon contest still to gain/earn Ozzie's love for him cos Fizz believes Ozzie only sticks around because of this fame Mammon gave Fizz. Ozzie finally saying what he loves about Fizz was lovely, wanted that in the 1st ep but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Their song was... I didn't like it BUT the message in it was beautiful. Lastly Fizz saying fuck you to Mammon from the courage/strength Ozzie gave him was a nice send off... also Ozzie saying he loves Fizz ah ngl that made me smile agh I just love them. I want to see them more than the Stolitz show but thats only a wish. Props Viv, you get 1 brownie point not messing this up.

Last findings, the ep was bloated as hell my soul Viv please stop cramming so much in an ep, this one is 30 mins long & yet still felt bloated. Pacing was a motherfuka damn it was bad & the swearing was jarring (its a Viv written ep I don't expect any less but still gonna point it out) and the comedy wasn't so prominent in this ep, Blitz/Mammon gave some comic relief but in the best and worst ways:

The way the VA delivered this line "to be fucked" made me laugh, the line is cringy but the delivery lol gold

Aand Blitz, my soul shut the fuck up & get out this ep. Last ep & this one he said something so agonizingly cringe I pulled my face

The world of HB is legit American hell or earth just painted red since Fizz named all these places in America just "hellified" where his fans come from.

And very last, congratulations Salem glad you got the cathartic send off you deserve from working under Viv, truly fuck you "Mammon" indeed :) also glad they credited you this time.

[dat-soldier]

yknow what now that i think about it i was also a bakery twink. kinda backbreaking to move so much bread. especially restocking the palettes upon palettes of sandwich bread in the grocery store. worst job i ever had ngl

i watched a video of arborists doing their jobs and it looked like such a cool job that it gave me the idea for the comic. I tried to think of what the opposite of that job would be. Many choices honestly but Baker gotta be up there in terms of boring hard jobs

[haine-kleine]

ngl pretty hilarious that Spinner and Izuku have similar backgrounds when it comes to training. both were sedentary homestay twinks and Spinner especially barely left his room where he was spending his entire time gaming. except Deku is the one who needed to get the Best quirk or ultra expensive mecha suit to do heroic activities despite supposedly completing Allmight's special anti-littering training while Spinner just took a bunch of giant swords and rolled with it. my man had learned driving on Grand Theft Auto and apparently gaming was enough to teach him swordsmanship as well.

[not-goldy]

Not random person 12345805859 picking up Jikook's couple vibes after seeing them for 5 seconds together. Its always Jikook. Like for a random person to assume Jk was with his 'girlfriend' and not some random female staff or female assistant, but a girlfriend specifically makes me wonder what she witnessed to get that aura from them. I mean its clear to anyone who sees them, but were they being extra clingy and cuddly? We did see both of them being clingy to each other at the airports and getting in each other's personal space and clinging to each other when walking through the crowd. So maybe she definitely picked up on that energy.

And someone had the audacity to say why don't we view Jimin's interactions with Tae as romantic when he was hugging Tae during their visit for his dancing or at Tae's fanmeet, but only view Jikook's as romantic. Cause the vibe is different. DUH. Like I love me some Vmin, but when Tae showed up to see Jimin to his thisisjimin is actually a perfect example. Jimin saw him, walked over to him, tapped his behind and let him join. He was very calm. When Jk showed up to his production diary live and snuck in and Jimin spotted him, talk about an aura change. He was beaming and blushing so hard and shouting his name and even went in for a tiddy squeeze and things took an awkward 'I forgot I got a crush on you, you got to go, or I'm gonna get shy' turn. Followed by jimin still beaming and giggling and saying that was nice after Jk left. Just like his bday live when Jk showed up or the vegas live when Jk showed up and Jimin melted. Jimin can't contain it, even though he is the one who tries his best to play it nonchalant. This is why I still find it funny out of all the times with members showing up to support each other during hiatus, when we get Jk at Jimin's set me free rehearsal's, he is already there sitting down. No initial reaction when Jk first shows up. Editors were probably like yeah, this is too obvious. CUT. I also kinda don't think they would have even showed it had Jimin not brought it up on camera to Jk during his live. Which is why I'm almost certain their show is gonna be heavily edited, esp now that they are serving together. They are gonna really play up the broness up. lol

Will never fault anyone who mistakes Jimin for a woman. Never. Especially next to Jungkook

Their size difference is very wattpaddy. Ao3 even. It's giving heteronormative straight couple

He loses all trace of his masculinty in Jungkook's presence as if he'd switched a button.

Can't tell if it's because he feels too safe around Kook that he's able to lean in his feminine energy or he just yells action to give KooK an ego boost or both🥲

I struggle seeing him as a Twink most times but I can admit he's at his most Twink when he's in Jungkook's presence 🤧

When he's not he's giving pretty much daddy

THE DUALITY. CRAZY

Even around Jungkook sometimes he'd be like that making Kook look like a submissive little cunt like the rest of us but then he would suddenly switch on us like sir what's happening 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

it gives me whiplash ngl

Doesn't help that he's androgynous either😭

If I didn't know him and If I met him randomly on the streets and he dropped his wallet next to me I'd yell ma'am you dropped something 😹

[1800naveen]

Apologies for what you're about to hear. Be warned I tell you!

My ears feel violated. NIGGA, WHY ARE YOU AT THE CAMERA??? LOOK AWAY FROM ME!!! (Y'all I'm black, don't worry. The flag in my bio is my home country and everyone there is blackity black) I don't like the way he's smiling at the camera, I feel like I'm going to get touched😨, reminds me of that Rhysand fanart I hate so much.

I checked the comments and they were going crazy over it. The bar is in hell.

Ngl, bro looks like he smells like seahorse sex. Like he low-key looks like a twink. He probably wants some dick up his ass. GET THAT MAN PEGGED. He looks like his favorite book is fifty shades of grey, that era was wild. Men who cater to the booktok women are so strange. Especially the ones when it comes to Acotar or SJM in general.

Hearing this is enough to turn a woman gay. When I unfortunately heard this while scrolling on my fyp, I wondered why I wasn't attracted to women.

If I ever catch this man on the streets, trust, he will be dealt with.

I need a smoke😮‍💨

[tomwambsgans]

i'm ngl it's because i recently read fight club, But i'm thinking a lot lately about castration and the true/deepest implications of it irt nero and sporus and tom and greg. obviously we've got tom's line about greg being "castrated on pay" and some pretty solid analysis on that being a matter of tom keeping greg dependent on him, but tbh even with said meta posts...

like, i'm sorry, but it's a weak line. it feels just as strangely on the nose as shiv falling down the stairs, and in fact like a line that exists specifically to match shiv falling. it almost even seems like a last-minute rush to complete Following Up The Nero And Sporus Thing, like they did the first part and managed to get all the way to the last episode before realizing they'd forgotten to do the second thing, so they had to reach for anything they could relate castration to without having to film a new scene. this feels especially evident/likely in the fact that there is NO way greg's salary is actually getting docked to the degree that tom implied. it's markedly disappointing, too, in the way that setting it up with shiv literally falling down stairs had the audience looking forward to how the rest of the overt symbolism would play out. castration on pay was the most mundane and least expected possible conclusion, lol. and not at all on par with the literal fall. like if that is the castration we were actually waiting for the whole time...

it's also all overkill, for that matter, considering that the s3 finale fit "pushed his wife down the stairs and married sporus" thing perfectly fine and a perfect amount of vague. like tom ALREADY betrayed shiv, symbolically "killing" her, and had an ancient-roman-wedding-handshake agreement with greg about his soul. even tom and greg's initial dynamic in the final season often feels like that of a married couple. which begs the question: why have the stuff in s4 on top of that? it may very well be simply one of the many marks of s4's drop in quality, caused by a myriad of irl factors. or it could possibly be on purpose to specifically bring home something else about the nero and sporus story. maybe it's to reinforce the tomshiv divorce and also tom and greg's marriage after all the rapid shifts in dynamic. who knows.

but what i DO know is that i wanna get to the bottom (lol) of the castration symbolism/motif. so i'm gonna go through everything that could possibly inform the audience's interpretation.

i'll start with the least significant, which i believe is the reality of castration in ancient rome and in the circumstances around the irl nero and sporus. part of why this falls on the bottom rung is the fact that historical accounts of nero especially with sporus are hotly contested. another reason is that the story tom tells is one that not only omits many details in a technically misleading/recontextualizing way, but also adds details that are present in no known accounts.

so: WHY was sporus castrated? there are 2 main possibilities/reasons.

to maintain his youthful [and therefore feminine] beauty. the real sporus was most likely around 16 when nero had him castrated. and the practice of castration to preserve youth had precedence. basically, twinks were REALLY in. it's alleged that sporus may have already been more effeminate (and sexually attractive) than average. but it's also said that sporus bore an uncanny resemblance to poppaea, which nero chose him for specifically and wanted to maintain.

in order to marry him with legal/social sanction. ancient roman society, rather than being built upon the heterosexual, was more built upon the Top/generally masculine. Eunuch was a gender class/category essentially equivalent with Woman, which allowed sporus to specifically be nero's wife. this didn't mean that his marriage to sporus was necessarily seen as good and normal, only technically acceptable.

and i have a ways more to go with the analysis but i'm gonna say right here that i do not think the first reason bears any significance to tom and greg. firstly due to that there is no textual evidence that tom wants greg to be explicitly feminine, even compared to himself, and a LOT to the contrary. tom consistently invites greg to join him in performing masculinity and gaining power through it, case in point the "let's fight like chickens" scene that directly follows the nero and sporus story. secondly, sporus's possible resemblance to poppaea does not track to greg and shiv more than incidentally; greg being shiv's cousin doesn't directly earn tom anything. but more importantly, imo, is the fact that what would have made nero want sporus to look like poppaea is in direct contrast with both the story tom tells AND the way their arc plays out.

so NOW, to demonstrate this, let's look at the irl poppaea's death/murder, which happened during her second pregnancy. different historians (even those alive at the time) have different theories for how it went down. who knows how much truth they're based in, bc there's a clear heavy bias against nero, but they're all we have anyway and therefore all tom would have had. here they are:

nero kicked her in the stomach in a fit of rage, while she was fighting with him about how much time he spent at the races (main theory/rumor)

nero kicked her in the stomach in a casual outburst

nero "leapt upon her belly" either accidentally or on purpose

nero poisoned her (uncommon rumor, most likely bs)

she died through no fault of nero's at all, simply bc of complications with her pregnancy (this has the most evidence, and is believed by many modern historians)

you'll notice a complete lack of stairs-related death theories, and in fact a near total lack of Nero Purposefully Murdered Poppaea theories. the general idea is that nero deeply mourned poppaea's death (and was remorseful, if it was his own fault), and proceeded to replace her with sporus, even calling him by her name.

which feels like a good segue into the more significant story of nero and sporus to analyze: the one that TOM told.

Sporus was a young slave boy. He was Nero's favorite. And, uh... you know what Nero did to him? Well, Nero... pushed his wife... down the stairs. And then he had Sporus castrated and he married him instead. And he gave him a ring. And he made him dress up like his dead wife. ...I'd castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat.

without looking into the actual story, this would sound like nero murdering his wife in order to marry sporus. with bringing up sporus first, it even sounds like nero met sporus and started favoring him prior to killing poppaea. which is also overtly analogous to tom and greg's relationship arc.

despite what tom must have read in his book, and what one could very easily imagine him, a Wife Guy, latching onto in that book... tom isn't telling greg about the tragedy of an emperor who accidentally killed his wife and then had to replace her with a young boy. tom literally invents a method of death that there is NO preexisting source for. furthermore he chooses one that does not sound remotely unintentional. at best he keeps in line with themes that suggest a violent miscarriage. but he removes all notions of an accident. he turns it into an unambiguous, purposeful uxorcide.

so, since all notions of trying to keep sporus looking like poppaea are not only unfitting as potential parallels, but also utterly irrelevant to the version of events that tom tells, and since we know tom twists and omits many other details (like what happens just a year into their marriage) anyway... what reasons DOES tom have for bringing up castration in this story? here's the possibilities i can come up with:

to make it sound less overtly romantic through means of the bizarre. classic diversionary tactic. literally without the castration it would sound undeniably like he's just saying "i read about this ancient roman gay marriage. an emperor murdered his wife so that he could marry a boy. i would like to do that with you also :)"

to make it sound less gay, specifically, because of nero's power in the situation. this of course calls back to that second reason for the actual sporus to be castrated. it's not gay if i've made you a eunuch, greg.

to emphasize the cruelty on nero's end. tom often puts himself in the role of a villain, especially irt his behavior with greg. considering also that this whole scene follows tom talking about how he's going to prison (AND that the next time he calls greg sporus it's in the scripts before the diner scene, where he agrees to sacrifice himself and go down for greg), it would make sense for him to buffer this confession with the caveat of what a bad person he is, like express in SOME way how insane his feelings are and how terrible he knows it is that he feels this way about greg. tom is notoriously unable to make normal apologies either, so. it tracks.

i think all of these are true, and i'm sure most would agree. i'm also sure most who've read this far are in full agreement that tom fixated on the story of nero and sporus in particular because it was a gay relationship with just enough ambiguity that he's able to relate to it without panicking. hell, the "he gave him a ring" line alone doesn't even evoke an ancient roman marriage nearly as much as a modern american one. i can't find even any sources that specifically mention a ring from nero to sporus, so i imagine tom invented that as well.

BUT while i'm here i do still want to mention a couple other queer things about nero to drive home that it's not just incidental gayness but overt homosexual desire being portrayed, as well as to emphasize that second reason that the irl nero may have had to castrate sporus:

prior to knowing sporus, nero had a mock-wedding as part of festive role-reversals during saturnalia. in this wedding he took the role of a bride, marrying a different freedman.

this is apocryphal and practically historical fiction, and may also specifically be due to perceived deviancy in nero, but it's old enough (like 13th century) that it's lowkey in the nero "canon" that he had womb envy and was obsessed with being the one to get pregnant

okay so NOW... how does all this translate into the actual events demanded/foreshadowed/symbolized by this story? if pushing shiv down the stairs is the betrayal that keeps her from being able to block the gojo deal (but also shiv is shown to fall down a couple real stairs)... and marrying sporus is making the "deal with the devil" (AND the sticker on the forehead)... then what's the castration? what was the first, less on-the-nose-and-simultaneously-meaningless castration, at least?

my best answer is that it's tom getting greg to drop his brightstar buffalo plans and follow him instead. because if death is just corporate death, then your testicles/manhood is your independence. tom says you're a joke, you can't function on your own, you need me (i need you). he's insecure that greg will leave if he has the option to do so. fair enough.

......and yet i come back to my initial disappointment, because that is barely different than the pay castration. and it's redefining greg's symbolic testes to something that tom gave him in the first place, thus practically retconning the first castration. but if that's it, does shiv's literal fall also replace her kick out of the company? that would sure be stupid! is the point of rehashing the symbolism to be stupid? to have meaningless stuff follow up the more significant events? even if that was the case, wouldn't you at least be doing it to give a visual element to the symbols? if shiv gets actual stairs, WHERE are greg's actual balls? or ANY balls!!!! greg even started wearing grey suits which he hadn't done before (but shiv had), and got a "ring" in his final scene. where's the FUCKING balls, huh?????

(anyway)

occam's razor, i think, may be that the meaninglessness of the castration specifically is the point. tom's insecurity that greg will leave if he has the option to (that greg would never actually want him but only need him), has been present for basically the duration of the show. it's just a character trait, and thus doesn't even work as foreshadowing when that just means "he's gonna keep doing what he's been doing." then, take that second reason--the purely pragmatic, not based in heterosexual-adjacent desire reason--for nero to castrate sporus. aka the only reason that makes sense for the way tom spins the story.

(it's also a motivation that leaves room for not even actually doing it. sporus wasn't going through rapid masculinization or anything. and they only lived another year. you could get away with just claiming that you did it for a while, probably.)

i should say there IS technically a third reason, postulated by modern scholars, for sporus's castration: to intentionally humiliate a potential rival for the throne. imagine if tom had told greg about nero and sporus upon first meeting. obviously things changed very quickly, but if all castration is here is tom keeping greg on a tight leash, then it works. and if the castration is nothing, then greg nearly tanking tom's plan out of naivety can be a nothing version of sporus wanting revenge. and shiv falling down real stairs can, instead of actually intending to set up a meaningful castration, be a red herring in that regard and simply foreshadow her pregnancy.

and that could be it. but... i've got One More Thing. maybe the most significant of all. lightning round:

who or what, in modern day where tom and greg live, actually IS castrated?

animals

specifically dogs

hmmmmmm

and why are DOGS castrated?

to reduce sexual and territorial aggression

reduce other unwanted behaviors

to keep them from breeding

okay. think greg's newfound sexual confidence in s4 and tom's distaste for it. tom's continued anxiety that greg's independence might lead him to leave him. think greg being tom's attack dog and how that nearly backfires at the very end. greg approaching tom at the end like a begging puppy.

think full circle: who's the rescue pup, i'll take care of you, i've got you...

i feel justified in recontextualizing all of this, and i come back to fight club:

Valley of the Dogs. Where even if they don't kill you, if someone loves you enough to take you home, they still castrate you.

[rockanroller]

ngl i don’t hate mammon’s design.

my biggest issue is the same as always which is unnecessary amounts of detail but even then his details are organized a *lot* better than others. however the fact his left (our right) pant leg isn’t dark green to complete the pattern of alternating limb colors makes me salty lol.

i *do* agree with what some are saying in that for everyone thinking about how different he was going to be bc he wasn’t going to be another pretty boy twink it’s kind of a mid delivery. it kinda seems like his clothes are just big, but i don’t think it’s the worst. i can still read his design as fat, especially considering the style of the show, i’m not super bothered.

however *if* he’s ever shown without clothes on and he is…

a. exaggeratedly fat in an intentionally ugly way

b. not near as fat as his outfit

…i’ll be displeased to say the least.

(EDIT: wording)

[mmxstrangers]

I had to take the day off today after class x_x; I pretty much ate and passed out after class, haven’t been able to focus on much besides YT videos ngl.

Anyhow, I’ve been thinking about some of my non-cryptid MMX muses! I’d like to give them a little love at some point, I’m just debating if I want to add them to this blog or make a separate one.

More deets + art under the cut!

This is King Cobra! He’s an actor who has a ton of body modifications he can switch between. Outside of acting, he’s often using his naga mods to resemble his namesake. He likes to present himself as prideful and over-the-top, often liking to bring a little pizzazz and “making things interesting” - but in private he’s surprisingly a sensitive individual. No less eccentric, but you could say he worked his way up so he could give himself permission to be extra.

In his universe(?) he’s known for playing Sigma in prominent movie/tv adaptations. Besides that, he gets typecasted a lot for villainous roles - especially if they need a little hamminess! He also does stage-acting roles, especially in dramas and sometimes musicals.

He’s also a little goofy - it comes with the ham.

Next up is my AU Axl :3

I just call him vamp!Axl or incupire Axl, he’s got less battle prowess but has improved shapeshifting abilities, alongside abilities such as making copies of himself.

I don’t know how to describe him other than “stupid horny twink” but much like how he’s matured a bit in the X series itself, he’s got potential for some interesting interactions and room to grow from them!

Also he’d be very willing to tease/flirt with other people as their crush (or just using his abilities in general) so there’s much potential for shenanigans.

I’ve got maybe a couple more in mind but these two would likely be the ones I would enjoy playing the most :3 If you’d be interested then lmk!!

[gay-bbq-dad]

I've got a story and a message to anybody taking T and losing hair

When I started T I would say that the possibility of going bald would be worth it. Especially because I had a mohawk and figured I'd just commit to it when my hairline was really far back.

I proceeded to grow out several Mohawks telling myself I wouldn't ever do it again. But it's so fun so I do anyway. This is the 5th one in 6 years. And honestly at this point I'll probably keep it until I'm bald enough to just shave it all.

Ngl it's really fucked with my head. For a few years it was pretty negligible but half way through being 26 it amped up. My hair is really thin. All the hair when to my face and body. And like. Yea I'm 27 and my family all has the same hair situation as me. But that little bit of transmasc brain rot that makes you think you need to be a twink isn't always sustainable. And that's okay.

You can try out meds if you want but in my experience Finasteride is a nightmare. Topical minoxidil only works to regrow some but won't stop it forever. But it's an option you can seek. Toupees and wigs are an option if you really want. 

But also. It's okay to have hair loss or go bald. It really fuckin common and tbh most people won't really notice. People worry about their own imperfections so much but almost never notice the insecurities of others. And even if they do and they think poorly of you, then fuck them. It's literally a genetic thing you cannot help.

I've known a family friend for like 15 years now. He's always had a thin Mohawk. I never noticed that he had so much hair loss. I always just thought it was cool! He's a joy to be around and dresses very cool. All of that is way more noticeable and more important than hair.

What you do, what you create in the world, and the kindness and love you bring to people can't even be compared to hair.

Be ready. Embrace it. You're still gonna be hot without hair. Rock that shit.

[dogwittaablog]

this ask turned into some insane ramble feeling journal entry dump thing that got away from me im so sorry

i got into hockey last year during the playoffs and had basically no interest in nolpat or the flyers like watching the burner exposé unfold meant basically nothing to me. i didnt even know all the nhl teams much less care about this brain damaged draft bust from a team not even in the playoffs but im currently living that NEET life and ive had time to be bored as fuck and fall down that rabbit hole and get invested. im so annoyed np is attractive (only when hes mostly cleanshaven and with certain hair lengths. his facial hair is nasty i think hes going through twink death) i watched the bo show and was smiling fuck my shit life.

the 1 on 1 nolpat flyers vid (https://youtu.be/UyjbFn2QRXk?si=UgsT637ka3_qFZbO&t=304) the interviewer at the end (like 5:04) asks what he wants people to associate with his name "probably just be a good person. a good teammate. thats kinda the main thing for me honestly......being a good teammate, good person off the ice is one of the most important things" with the knowledge of the burner is soo ironic like that media training is being put to work. i am finding some joy that majority of hockey fans only really remember him is for being an injury riddled bust or one half of a ship of him having gay sex with a teammate. and the burners. plus his biggest fans being people who shipped nptk and kinda headcanoned him as like genderfucky? because of his pretty face and the long hair. i bet he was fucking seething. he's so irrelevant now. i so badly want a front row seat of his life being shit. i want to see him to go through all levels of hell while alive. i hope he fucking hated living in philly. i want him to feel like sisyphus pushing that fucking pointless rock up that hill everyday (AND NOT ENJOYING IT OR FIND HAPPINESS IN THE ACTION). i lowkey need him to go bankrupt and start a gay4pay OF. can everyone please manifest with me. i need him to go through what he was saying about women on the burners. get in a skimpy dress and on the workbench now!!!! god hes a loser do u kno abt those batman 2022 riddler fanart/fics that has like horny incel vibes??

this is a lot and i'm sorry for coming to his grave and defacing it by hate jerking off while everyone is shit talking him.

I live for rambles ngl especially when they're articulate and self expressive mixed in with some good humour and relatableness.

He's stated more than once that he values how people perceives him especially around the locker room and team, but tbh if you read inbetween the lines I think he really was telling us that he mainly just values his friends, families, hockey bro's and his coaches/staff perception of him and not necessarily anyone outside of that. Not saying that's super bad but you can tell that mf is selective af with being genuinely nice to people in general.

STOP the way old videos of him really got us kicking and swinging our feet in the air. The BO show was such a classic gem ugh his laugh is literally engraved into my brain from that vid. Draft him was 10/10 nobody could deny it, he is too in love with the greasy musty look I don't know when we'd ever see him look like that again.

I am unaware of the batman 2022 riddler fanart/fanfics, but I'll jump into the rabbit hole.

[toshkakoshka]

This is a weird ask but I am so proud to follow you and like so happy you portray chaipunk the way you do. I log onto twitter or even search the Tumblr tags and its all twink uwu-ification of Pav and making Hobie out to be this super masc dominant almost violent boyfriend and its really makes my head hurt that people need to see them as this yaoi USA centric couple, and I'm so glad you don't so thank you so much keep creating i hope your okay thank you

ngl i knew this was happening the moment we had to deal with hobie being darker skinned and im MISERABLE knowing this has to happen to them and its soooo annoying and racist especially with the yaoification… so cringe. lord knows how much i hate having to see this version be the most popular type. anyhow im glad you like my version of chaipunk cuz im 100% keeping the way ive done them since rhe beginning (minus the size difference I LOVE the size difference its hilarious). which is actually treating them like men LOL