#extremely personal lol

[chloefraazers]

horizon + animorphs dossier [ battle morph || bird of prey || personal ]

— Horizon Forbidden West PC

[fizpup]

valentine, you're a horse ❤️

[nerdy-hyperfixations]

Listen, I love Fiddlestan as much as the next guy, but where did we start getting the idea Ford was cold and dismissive towards Fidds during their time working on the portal???

I could totally be wrong because I haven't read every single GF related thing (hell, my journals aren't decoded because I'm a slacker), but like??? The first time he saw him, he bought him his favorite snacks *and* a whole ass banjo and said he'd make it his mission that Fiddleford would be comfortable in his home.

They go adventuring together and talk about things like fashion trends and the future and go stargazing.

Ford is *so* happy when Fiddleford returns that he hugs him immediately. Abd then he feels bad that Fiddleford feels bad about his failing marriage that he throws him a holiday party even though he doesn't celebrate and hates the holidays honestly. And he put on Fiddlefords favorite song (which he despises and honestly? ME TOO FORD. I HAVE BEEF WITH THAT SONG) and drank seemingly spiked eggnog with him despite not usually liking to drink. So that he could make Fiddleford feel better.

He also just openly adores everything Fiddleford does. Maybe it's only in his journals. You could argue he doesn't say it out loud but, like, he exclusively describes him as impressive all of the time-

And I get where it's coming from in like a "oh he's a workaholic who has the pressure of Bill breathing down his neck that he has to be working on the portal 24/7." And like yeah, but in the pages he's a workaholic he's a workaholic practically begging Fiddleford to stay up with him because he loves working along side him. Fiddleford and him work *together.*

Like the page where they're sorta fighting with each other because Ford wants to work more its not "leave me alone Fiddleford, I have to do this" it's "hey! How come you won't stay up with me! Ugh this is so unfair that you're going to bed even though you know I plan to continue working for another hour."

I'm just saying if Fiddleford wanted to cuddle, I imagine Ford's response would be "Oh! Awesome, I love spending time with him 🥰🥰🥰" but he'd just end up using Fidds' back as a table for his studies. Or they'd do that thing where one of them is working on a desk and they sit on one chair in each other's arms.

And, while we're here, realistically? Emotionally stunted, slapped by more women than He's dated, "I can't cry in front of people, and the only thing I'm good for is my fists." Stanley Pines??? He's not cuddling shit. He's got that toxic masculinity ingrained into him. It doesn't matter how incredibly touch starved he is, cuddling is too emotionally intimate and "girly" for him. Honestly if Fiddleford tried to cuddle him he'd probably throw him in a headlock because he's also been on the streets for years now with people constantly trying to attack him.

And I'm not saying this to diss on Fiddlestan. Again, I *like* Fiddlestan! But when I read "Ford could never appreciate him like Stan could" I don't understand it.

They so clearly bonded well together, and if Ford truly was being an asshole (or not an asshole, but just generally unpleasant even when he wasn't possessed) the whole time, I doubt Fiddleford would've stayed. Nostalgia and physical attraction can only get you so far, and Fidds is already facing the horrors in Gravity Falls, Stanford has to be a hell of an amazing person to make someone want to stay. Like, he's a grown adult. Sure he really wanted to impress Ford and allotted himself to be "the tech guy to Ford's smarts" but if he wanted to leave, he could've. And there didn't seem to much keeping him there. Especially when he was having doubts on the portal.

[dreadfuldevotee]

I'd like to discuss the elephant in the room. Why did we get zero Loumand sex scenes? We got hints and implications, but season 1 was pretty explicit. Do we think that that's a creative choice or something else is happening?

I'm glad I ended up ruminating on this for about a week because episode 7 & 8 really solidified my opinion on it.

I do wanna start by saying that it's very clear to me that there was supposed to be more explicit scenes between them. There has been some thoughts tossed around that censorship happened with the 9 pm timeslot (as opposed to the 10 pm timeslot of S1). I believed this hearing Assad and Jacob talk about the BDSM dynamic between Louis and Armand, but what really sold me on this was Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop talking about the bedroom set and more specifically about their beautifully carved custom headboard. (If you're a production nerd like me or just want to know more about the design philosophy of IWTV I recommend giving the entire thing a listen!).

I think there are several reasons I think as to why they decided to leave any more explicit scenes on the cutting room floor but above them all is: you cannot separate Armand's sexuality from his abuse. I am really against pulling a "well if you read the books" card but reading just the first couple chapters of "The Vampire Armand" makes me understand so much about not only Armand as a character, but the care being taken to his adaptation. It's clear to me that alongside Rolin & Co.'s commitment to not watering him down to a one-dimensional villain they are also trying to not fall into Anne Rice's tendency to romanticize his trauma.

Sex and sexuality is not the same pillar of Louis and Armand's relationship it was in Louis and Lestat's and so I don't believe their story suffers from the lack of on-screen sex. But I also firmly believe that maybe we don't need to be slutting out the character who we literally just watched talk about how he doesn't remember his life before being sex trafficked. And even when he was "freed" he was still being repeatedly assaulted at the hands of, and under the eye Marius de Romanus. Like it is extremely important to remember that Armand's craving for dominion in his relationships is a manifestation of trauma that deserves the same level of care and depth given to every other trauma portrayed in this show.

I think people have gotten too comfortable calling IWTV a romance when it has always been Gothic Horror. Romance and sex are pivotal to the story but I have found the demands for sex scenes this season a bit absurd and also? unfounded? Loustat share more kisses on screen but there are two sex scenes and both are very plot relevant. I truly figured we were all in agreement that the eroticism of this show is found in the various displays of power, and the dynamics it creates and not the actual clapping of ass-cheeks...which also wasn't happening in S1 either. S2 does not suffer because of the lack of sex-scenes, but the likelihood if it suffering trying to make one work is

[dailyloopdeloop]

loop and mirabelle. That's it that's the ask

DAY 84: enrolled in the gossip wars

[volcanocraft]

Your Gem as an unlabelled bi/gay non-op transman who uses she/her has overridden my previous headcanons and rewired my brain. Quite possibly the most correct take I've ever seen.

I really appreciate you saying this :’) she is so dear to me. I love your turiagirl headcanons as I think gem would definitely be mspec and I haven’t heard of the label before… it’s always fun finding out the new ways people are able to label complex gender attraction!

I’ve been thinking about bi gay gem for the past couple of days too. I just think she is able to represent a facet of masculinity I can relate to heavily because of her unconventional expression of her gender. Unlabelled because she doesn’t think too hard about it but able to identify herself in the flux that is masc while also using conventionally fem constructs because she just likes them … AOUHH thank you for making my day 💖

[dreamyyesenia]

Always Keep Simming - Some much needed carefree family time!

The Blackburn’s enjoyed a quiet harmonious day. They even went outside to the backyard to have fun in the snow. Gemma and Gavin looked the happiest Aileen had ever seen them as kids. Since their birthdays, life had been tough for them all. The conflicts first with the aliens and now with Jenna Blackburn had left their mark on them. It felt good to be a normal family, enjoying time together during the holidays…

[pango-doots]

yeah

[aphel1on]

another thing i love about laios:

HE IS GENUINELY A REALLY GOOD LEADER!!

despite struggling with the finer points of socializing, he has all the qualities necessary to be a good leader.

(i refer to the manga a lot in this post as someone who's read most of the manga at this point, but i avoided any specific spoilers)

He cares about all his teammates' well-being

He is extremely level-headed in a crisis

He is excellent at strategizing (within his areas of expertise; in the manga someone eventually points out he's pretty much useless at fighting other humans, lol)

If a plan fails, he is immediately thinking up a fallback plan - he doesn't give up

He is acutely aware of his teammates' strength and weaknesses, and accurately assigns them tasks suited to them in times of need.

He is perhaps not innately a 'leader-type'; he's fine deferring to the rest of the party most of the time, even when he doesn't understand why. (Just going along with the blindfold in the sauna for example, lol.) He was ready to head back into the dungeon by himself before Chilchuck and Marcille volunteered to come along. He doesn't think of himself as particularly smart or special. And when the party meets others (such as the old gnome couple) they don't tend to assume Laios is the leader.

But he has an unwavering vision (during the story it's rescuing Falin), and, you see it again and again: when they enter difficult combat, or any time things fall apart and everyone is panicking, Laios steps up and takes charge. His calmness helps everyone else calm down, and they generally follow his lead. They intuitively look to him in a crisis, to the point they're shocked the few times he doesn't have any ideas.

It kind of ties into another thought I have; he is repeatedly seen as "having no interest in other people" by other characters, but this isn't really true! He struggles to understand people and he is aware that they struggle to understand him. This leads to him mostly focusing on the things he IS good at understanding, such as monsters. But he genuinely makes a big effort to understand the people he cares about. In the manga, there are times you see him think deeply about his friends' struggles and motivations. For much of the early arcs, he understands Chilchuck better than Marcille or Senshi do. He and Marcille don't get each other that well at the start of the story, but by the end they have a very strong reciprocal friendship.

I could go on about it honestly but this post is already very long. Tl;dr laios one of the characters of all time to me and i think people should appreciate his leadership skills more!!

[sysig]

Even stardust shimmers, darling 🌟 (Patreon)

[ask-shane]

Shane. English or Spanish?

for the record… i’m openly bisexual.

[phoenixyfriend]

Had some fun decorating at work!

Ft. Some books from the office library, some calligraphy prints from @theshitpostcalligrapher that felt on brand, and an art card by @cobaltbeam.

[puppyeared]

Auggie voice test!!

Voice claim: Elphelt Valentine from Guilty Gear, voiced by Cassandra Morris

[dulceswans]

Thought it would be fun and silly to give the goofy ballet man a biological mom. I bring you, an equally goofy marriage planner mom.

[cryobabyy]

Tbh I don't think it's that Storer is against Syd and Carm moving past a platonic relationship, he probably just doesn't want to reveal too much about what goes on in the writer's room and what they're cooking. You gotta throw people off with some misdirection - it's pretty standard for keeping the plot a surprise. No one wants to watch a TV show when they already know what's going to happen.

That being saaaaaiiid 👀

The decision to use Strange Currencies; first when Carmy and Claire see each other for the first time in the supermarket, and then again but distorted and backward when he's thinking about Claire, and then clear and forward when he thinks about the first time he met Sydney; that was pretty heavy-handed symbolism. It was a deliberate choice. From a narrative standpoint, there are not many ways to read that juxtaposition of Claire and Sydney other than Claire triggering anxiety associated with his past and Sydney representing the future and stability. Claire reminds him of who he was and what could have been. Sydney reminds him of who he is; More so who Sydney believes he is. "You're the most excellent CDC, at the most excellent restaurant in the entire United States of America". Her voice literally and figuratively cuts through the chaos, the thought of the first time he saw her and how she came back when he thought he was irredeemable brought him down from the panic attack.

I literally can not come up with a platonic justification for such blatant imagery. I guess you could say his vision of Sydney represented the restaurant as a whole? But if that were the case, why not include any of the other staff in the montage? Why choose a romantic song for this sequence? WHY IS IT THE SAME SONG THAT PLAYED WHEN CARMY MET CLAIRE???

"These words; you will be mine all the time." LIKE??? HELLO???

Anyway lol

I can only think of two logical explanations

1.) This scene was a massive oversight in the writer's room. They unintentionally framed Carmy's feelings for Syd as romantic by making the creative decision to Juxtapose her with Claire (his actual love-interest at the time). What was written did not translate well to the screen. So basically "Oops we didn't mean it like that".

2.) Storer is slowly laying the groundwork for Sydney and Carmy's relationship to evolve past friendship, or at least experimenting with that narrative possibility.

Now, I do think it will literally take forever - like multiple seasons forever - but I do think it will happen. The build-up is so important. Well-developed and satisfying romance (especially in television) takes time. Don't lose hope y'all!!

[khaire-traveler]

There's this interesting thing that happens where someone will support people blocking other people for mental wellness, but then when it happens to them (as in they're being blocked), it's no longer ok. I think some things people need to reflect on are:

1. Why is it no longer ok when it happens to you?

2. Does someone else's view of you need to alter or change your view of yourself?

3. If yes to 2, why?

4. Why is your support conditional only when it involves you directly?

None of what I'm saying implies that people who act this way are truly "at fault" for anything; it's just something to think about when you support a concept only to reject it when that concept applies to you.