#follow me on twitter if you want more commentary lol

[starburstfloat]

The Killa Choreography: Commentary and Analysis

So, the day has arrived where we finally know what The Killa looks like on stage! It was Yeonjun and Soobin's first time performing this unit song, and we all knew it would be something sexy when it was released last month. If you don't know the song, well, you don't even need to take a glance at the lyrics to catch the vibe. But in case you're curious, there's lines like "tame me and fill me up with you" and "you're dominating me" so…you can imagine what sort of attention this track got and the anticipatory hype leading up to the concert. It seemed every fan had one question on their mind, namely What would this performance look like? 

What I find interesting about this stage is that it easily could have been a track paired with sensual choreography for the audience - you know, your standard kpop fan service platter full of the Sexy Boyfriend fantasy where fans are meant to believe their idols are singing about wanting them. And yet it took a surprisingly creative direction by yes, clearly having a sensual dance with your typical kpop fan service elements, but (contrary to my expectations!) communicating first and foremost a sensual story through the choreography. Let's take a look.

The choreo starts with Soobin and Yeonjun approaching each other from opposite ends of the stage, wearing opposite colored clothing (black and white). More on that in a moment. First, I'd like to direct your attention to the screen behind them, which depicts large mirrors encasing their walk on the stage.

The utilization of mirrors as a visual design feature is really cool for a track containing this much lust because mirrors, while symbolically serving many purposes, tend to represent the duality of self: we check the mirror to assure that who we see in the reflection is an acceptable version of us who we can present to the world; that nothing noticeably flawed or unsatisfactory comes beneath the surface. As such, mirrors force us to acknowledge our duality and assuage our two opposing sides (light and dark). There's a quote I really love by Michelle Arch that captures this sentiment well: "Through mirrors we see our cognizant, social, 'better' self and the natural world in which we live, while also glimpsing, and sometimes succumbing to, the darker, depraved image of our subconscious 'second' self and the frightening, otherworldly realm in which it resides". 

Given that this song relies heavily on communicating lust and our narrator's obsessive desire to be controlled - what one would consider the dark and depraved subconcious - the use of mirrors alongside the clothing color contrast was an excellent creative choice! While color theory suggests that white is a typical color for innocence, and black is characteristic for, well, all things dark and corrupt, I think this color choice was used more strongly to represent the opposite push and pull energy we're about to witness between them, as well as the aforementioned duality they exhibit.

Once they reach each other on stage, Soobin gently reaches out and rests his hand below Yeonjun's chin. Then, in sync with the beat, he gracefully glides his hand away while singing "Tame me, please", as Yeonjun's gaze follows his hand.

This moment intrigued me not just because it's that typical txt homoeroticism coming through lol but because it sets up a story. A fan on Twitter made an exciting point, namely that Yeonjun, by hypnotically following Soobin's hand, is the character in this performance who is initially being tamed. And so starts a cat and mouse chase of each character confessing their desire and tantalizingly pushing and pulling away from each other.

They break away from each other but Yeonjun keeps his eyes on Soobin as his body is sliding away. He sings: "I'm craving it more and more, you know I want you bad, show me mercy"

Right before we transition to Soobin's part, they point at each other and say "The moment that we found each other in our eyes".

I thought the pointing at each other was significant because this easily could have been turned into a kpop fan service thing where they point at the audience while saying those lines, but instead this motion acknowledges that they're referring to each other, further emphasizing that this is a performance between two impassioned characters who are seeking each other. Soobin says right after this "Want you to tame me now [...] I'll serve you." It's clear now that this is a conversation.

They slowly move towards one another and I absoluteoy love the detail of Yeonjun grabbing the hem of his shirt as if he's being involuntarily pulled towards Soobin.

When they are within reach of each other, Yeonjun glides his hand across Soobin's chest and they both delve into the chorus choreography.

The chorus part feels more fan servicey to me because rather than facing each other, they are side by side hip thrusting while facing the audience. Perhaps it would've gotten a touch too erotic if they went there lol (after all wasn't the age requirement for his conert 9 and up or something??).

They transition out of the chorus by circling one another and sizing each other up.

Then they whip out the finger guns at each other once again while the lyrics center again on wanting to be dominated and it's "only you". If that weren't enough, they point at each other AGAIN repeatedly during the series of "you, you, you"s playing in the song.

I'm also a little in love with the detail of Soobin placing his hand on Yeonjun's shoulder as Yeonjun sings "Yes, I belong to you". I'm reaching my image limit so I'm just going to include a nice mirroring detail towards the end where Yeonjun rests his hand on Soobin's shoulder, an apparent callback to earlier. Perhaps a confirmation that these characters affirm they now belong to each other?

In conclusion, this performance surprised me more than I expected (and I know they'll get a bit more bold for this stage once they hit their US tour stops). I know that some could argue that placing two members into a sensual choreography with each other is a form of fan service and I agree to an extent, but I'd also counter by saying that that perspective disregards the creativity and craft put into the choreography. This isn't sexy for the sake of being sexy. It's sexy because it's intertwining the song's overt sensuality with characters embodying that lust.

Overall, I'd say the choreography has shifted my perspective of the song. I used to see it as one voice communicating wanting one abstract idea of a person but now I see Soobin and Yeonjun's verses as two separate conversations that their characters are having with each other. Everyone thank our little freak Taehyun for contributing to the songwriting on this. Gonna have to find out who to thank for the choregraphy. In the meantime, did you notice anything in the performance that I didn't touch on that you wated to discuss? How about screaming into the void with me? Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to day 2 already!

[cocogum]

I'm sad the great wave volume is over and eager for the next. But I think I enjoyed following through your commentary more than actually getting the story xD

So, thanks for that.

I’ve been giggling at ur comment for two minutes now 🥰🥰

DON’T TELL ME NICE THINGS, MY JAW’S ABOUT TO POP OFF FROM SMILING TOO MUCH-

But in all seriousness, your lovely comment means more than you’ll ever know.

Every Thursday when a new chapter was uploaded, I found myself re-reading it repeatedly. I had to carefully organize my thoughts to articulate them clearly and in a logical order for others to easily follow. I also had to screenshot every panel I needed to reference in order to illustrate my points.

I often have to combine two or three panels into one using Picsart on my phone because Tumblr only allows 10 images and 30 images on the website. This way, I can avoid discarding or wasting any of the images I want to share. Additionally, I sometimes use ibisPaint X to cover up certain parts in images where I cropped them and it affected the appearance of the eyes.

But don’t get me wrong, despite going through this hell every Thursday night, the chapters were a joy to read, and I enjoyed reflecting on them while considering how to approach discussing them.

In short, it was hell but I enjoyed the full process 💖

But it’s obviously not over for the great wave series lol

Since the physical copy of the first volume featured 5 chapters (the 10 webtoon episodes got fused into 5 chapters), this means that we’re only at the very beginning of the Great Wave manga’s story. (I can’t believe we’re still at the beginning even though it feels like we’re already in deep shit 💀)

Tot pretty much confirmed on Twitter that there will be around 100 chapters to prepare for.

That means I’m aware we’ll see much more mature themes (*cough* chapter 1 *cough*) and much more graphic content (*cough* possible horrid assassination of the royal osamodas family *cough* no I am not delusional).

That means I’m aware I’ll have to keep this whole commentary thing going about a hundred times 😄🤭😁

But to know that you enjoyed my commentary more than the story is just-

Wow??? I am speechless???

Like-

What do I even say to that??

I get that the story gave us a huge weekly migraine cuz of the chicken and gorilla but omg???

I am genuinely happy that I made your migraine bearable throughout those weeks, thank you so so much for telling me 😭💖

Just the thought of knowing that you liked them makes me wanna bash some blue animals again 👹👹

I hope you’re having a wonderful day/evening/night imatekuani 💖💖💖

(I see you got a King pfp 👀 ur even more amazing for having good taste ✨💕💕 I’m also pissed disney had to end the owl house earlier than expected)

[all-the-things-2020]

Late Night Talking - Chapter Ten

Summary: The aftermath of the movie premiere.

Word Count: 3150+

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: mentions of parent death, issues with body image

Tag list: @rhoorl @avastrasposts @readingiskeepingmegoing @runningmom94 @gwendibleywrites

We slept late the next morning. It was after nine when I crawled out of bed to use the bathroom. Dieter was still passed out cold, lying face down with his face crammed into a pillow, his bare ass poking out from under the covers. I took a look at myself in the mirror and wished I hadn’t. My hair was sticking up in all directions and there were bags under my eyes. It was a far cry from my red carpet look.

I decided to take a shower and start over with my hair, rather than try to tame it the way it was. When I got out, I slipped into a pair of leggings and a t-shirt, deciding to forgo a bra, at least for the time being. It was going to be a lazy day, after all.

Dieter was still asleep. I leaned over the bed to cover him up and he grunted. “Why are you so obsessed with my butt?,” he mumbled.

”I’m not obsessed with your butt,” I told him. “I just didn’t want it to catch cold.” I tucked the comforter around him and patted his bottom. “Go back to sleep, Deet. You’ve earned it.”

”What time?”

”Doesn’t matter. Go to sleep.”

He didn’t argue with me. I knew the press junket had been stressful and tiring. He deserved to get some rest. 

I found my purse in the living room and pulled out my phone. I’d managed to remember to turn it off last night, so the battery was still at 65% when I powered it on. All my apps were lit up with notifications, but I went first to my texts. 

SAM: You look GORGEOUS!!!!

ME: Aw, thanks. It’s all thanks to the stylists. Did my hair and makeup and everything. Felt like a giant Barbie doll. LOL

It was close to midday back East, so I knew she was probably at work and wouldn’t respond right away, so I jumped over to Instagram. I followed the studio’s page and I knew they would have posted photos from last night. 

There were several pics from the red carpet, including one of me and Dieter. It was weird seeing myself all glammed up, standing beside him as he posed effortlessly for the camera. I could see that I was a bit stiff and awkward, despite the elegant dress and high heels. Still, I looked nice. Not bad for a first time, I thought. Then I started reading the comments.

She’s OLD.

Come on, girl, at least dye that gray hair. Woof.

Thought Bravo had better taste than that. 

Def a publicity stunt. Prob trying to hide that he’s gay AF.

If they think we’ll fall for that, he needs a new publicist. Lots of actresses they could have hired to help his image. Barf.

I think she looks nice. For a middle aged woman. 

There were positive comments, of course, many of them, but my eye went right to the negative ones. After all, most of the positive comments were simple heart emojis or “they look so cute” or other generic messages. The negative ones were more pointed.

I closed Instagram. Twitter would be even worse — there were so many trolls on there that I hardly ever posted anything anymore. Maybe tumblr would be kinder. I was wrong.

There were several posts under the hashtag “dieter bravo” that displayed one of the Getty photos from the night before and had commentary along the lines of “I’m glad he’s so happy” and “Aww, they made it red carpet official” but there was also lots that claimed to be insanely jealous of me for being beside him.

Oof, not to be that girl, but I could pull off a red carpet look better than that, just saying.

Not sure what he sees in her, but you do you, Dieter.

He looks AMAZING as always. Wish she’d worn something better.

She looks like she doesn’t want to be there. I’m sure it’s overwhelming and all but at least look happy to be next to him. I’d kill to be on the red carpet with him.

Ugh, I hate her, lol. Seriously, does anyone else think he’ll be back on the market soon? She is so not his type. Dieter fucking Bravo is a party boi.

I could feel tears stinging at the back of my eyes. It was silly — I knew they were making the comments out of jealousy or sheer assholery — but it was like being teased or excluded on the playground in elementary school. It still hurt.

Fortunately, my phone pinged with an incoming text.

SAM: Those stylists couldn’t have done it without something amazing to start with — YOU! I am so proud of you, chickie! You rocked that red carpet. And Dieter 🥵Don’t know how you manage to survive around him without spontaneously combusting. Dude is HOT.

ME: You don’t know how badly I needed that, chickie! Been looking at comments on social and people are brutal.

SAM: Fuck them. I’ve been bragging on you all day. Everyone thinks you look fabulous. Trolls gonna troll.

I smiled. Leave it to Sam to cheer me up. Then another text came in, this time from Simone.

SIMONE: Girl! You were on fire 🔥 last night. Your pic is all over campus. Kids are all planning to go see the movie with Miss Emily’s boyfriend this weekend. Eileen had such a sourpuss when I saw her, lol. 

ME: Thanks! Been seeing some haters online so glad the kiddos got my back. And I’m ROTFL over Eileen 🤣

SIMONE: One of my kids was IRATE over some of the stuff people were saying about you. She was going OFF! I didn’t even know she knew where the library was, lol. If a 15yo can see through their b.s., so can you.

“Hey.” Dieter came stumbling out of the bedroom with his hair sticking straight up and one hand in his boxer shorts scratching his ass. If only the fans could see him now!

”Hey yourself,” I said. “You need coffee?”

He nodded as he shuffled toward the kitchen island. “I got it,” he said. “You looking at photos from last night?”

”I was, but people are mean. Then I got a couple of texts that cheered me up.”

”People are fucking assholes online,” he said as he dumped water and coffee grounds into the machine. He slopped water onto the counter but didn’t wipe it up. He was messier than usual when he was only half awake. “First thing Carmen told me when she signed on was never read the comments.”

While the coffee was brewing, he fished his phone out of his pants, which were draped over one of the dining room chairs. He slumped onto a stool at the island and started swiping. “You looked so good last night,” he said. Then he yawned and scratched his head. “Anyone who says different has their head up their own ass or is just jealous. Or both.” 

The scent of coffee wafted through the air and a shaft of sunlight lanced through a gap in the vertical blinds. The kitchen was illuminated with golden light and Dieter’s hair became a halo of fire around his head, just for a second. Who gives a fuck what Prissy McDickface on Instragram thinks? I’m the one here with Dieter, watching him smile at pictures of us while he’s waiting for his coffee. And if Dieter could smile before his first infusion of caffeine of the day, I knew he was truly happy. Because of me.

*******************************************

The movie was a hit. It was number one at the box office that weekend, and Dieter spent most of Saturday afternoon fielding phone calls and texts from Carmen and his agent. He looked every inch a Hollywood star as he sat on a lounge chair beside the pool with his Ray-Ban sunglasses on and his phone up to his ear. 

“Yeah, set it up,” he said. “Can’t hurt to meet with them.” He looked at me over the tops of his shades and winked.

”Shit, I can’t believe all this,” he said when he’d hung up. “Carmen has ten journalists lined up to interview me. And half of them are from legit outlets, not just bloggers.” He laughed. “Who knew a twenty minute part would get so much attention?”

We had skimmed some of the reviews online and most of them had been positive. Many of them mentioned Dieter’s performance as one of the highlights of the film; several had used the phrase “Bravo’s back.”  

“And David has two meetings booked with producers this week,” Dieter continued. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself but this might be the thing to get the ball rolling again.”

“I hope so,” I said. I knew that Dieter really wanted to get back to the level he’d enjoyed earlier in his career, where he was taken seriously as an actor. He’d taken just about any part the last few years, just to keep the money flowing but while movies like Cliff Beasts might be popular with fans they weren’t taken seriously by critics. And he admitted he’d been phoning it in before he’d gone to rehab. This film was the first project he’d worked on since and apparently he’s done a very good job. 

“Just don’t get too famous and forget about the little people like me,” I added.

“I will never forget about you,” he said seriously. “And you are definitely not one of the ‘little people’ in my life. You’re huge, baby.”

“Yeah, that’s what some of the trolls online are saying,” I joked.

“Fuck them. I’ve been with skinny women and it’s like hugging a skeleton. You’re real, Em. Nothing fake about you. Which is one of the many, many reasons that I love you.”

******************************************

We had finally finished off the leftover Chinese food, so we decided to go out for dinner Saturday night. Nothing fancy, just a little hole in the wall Mexican place that Dieter was fond of, and not just because the food was good. The owners were very protective of his privacy and didn’t laugh at his clumsy attempts at Spanish. His father’s parents had been born in Ecuador, and he still had some distant cousins in South America, but Dieter and his family had only ever spoke English.

”My dad can get by pretty well,” he’d explained to me once. “He does business with one of his cousins who lives in Buenos Aires, and he sometimes visits his aunt in Santiago, but Freddy and I never learned. Hell, I took French in high school just to fuck with everyone. Freddy took German, of course.”

Although they’d come from Ecuador, Dieter’s grandparents were descended from German and Italian immigrants. “My dad’s grandpa Antonio Bravo married one of the Diefenbach girls,” Dieter had explained. “Huge Romeo and Juliet vibes there. The two families were rivals in the button business.”

My own skill in Spanish was limited to the Spanglish I’d picked up by osmosis from living in Southern California (like Dieter, I’d take French in school, because I thought it sounded fancy). But everyone at Ramon’s was friendly and very patient with our attempts to do more than just ask for what was on the menu.

”Buenos noches,” our waiter said as we sat down at our table, tucked away in the back. ”El jefe said you get free margaritas because the movie is doing so well.”

”Gracias,” said Dieter. “Um, dos platos de empanadas, por favor. Y los margaritas.”

”Muy bien! And my sister in law saw the movie last night. She said tell you she really liked it if I saw you.”

”Tell her thanks, man,” Dieter had exhausted his capacity for Spanish already. He was still running on fumes from the press junket. I could see it in his eyes.

After a delicious dinner of empanadas and enchiladas — not to mention two extremely generous margaritas — we went back to Dieter’s place and collapsed on the couch.

”If I went there too often, I’d gain thirty pounds,” Dieter said, unbuttoning his pants. 

“The food is amazing,” I agreed, glad I was wearing stretchy pants. “You want to put a movie on before we succumb to the food coma?”

”You read my mind.” He grabbed the remote off the coffee table. We were only about twenty minutes into Jurassic Park when I felt his head slump onto my shoulder. He was out. I maneuvered him into a more comfortable position so he wouldn’t wake up with a stiff neck. I never saw the end of the movie. I was tired, too.

**************************************************************

We lay in bed, both of us wide awake at two a.m. after our nap on the couch. “Whatcha thinking about?” Dieter asked, his hand idly playing with my hair.

”Not much. Just feeling cozy. How about you?”

”I’m thinking how I could get used to this,” he said. “Dinner, falling asleep on the couch, lying in bed talking about stuff … I wish you didn’t have to go back home tomorrow.” He kissed my forehead. “You know you can move in any time you want.”

”It’s tempting but it would be a hell of a commute.” 

“Quit your job. Get a new one. There are plenty of schools. You’d still be in the same union, right? Still get your pension?”

I rolled onto my back. “Deet, it’s not that easy. There aren’t all that many school library positions out there and they pay well enough that people don’t leave. Or they’re part-time at elementary schools. And other positions … yeah, I could do other stuff, but your retirement is based off of your final two years salary. If I took a pay cut, I’d get less so I’d have to work longer.”

“Jeez, you sound like my dad and Freddy. ‘Be practical, Deiter. Plan ahead, Dieter. Invest wisely, Dieter’,” he grumbled.

”I have to be,” I said. “I only have myself to rely on. You know my parents didn’t leave me anything.”

Dieter sighed. “You aren’t alone, Em. You have me.”

”For now,” I said. “I want to believe this is forever, Deet, I really do, but I just can’t jump off the cliff yet.” I sat up, hugging my knees. “I know you think I’m being too cautious, and I know it probably hurts you to hear me say stuff like ‘for now’ when you want to hear ‘forever’ but …”

He sat up and put his arm around me. “I get it,” he said quietly. “I get you. And you’re probably right. I’m too much like my mom. I need you to balance me out.”

”You don’t talk about her much,” I prompted. I knew she had passed away not long after he’d won his Oscar, but that was public knowledge.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, I’m still working through some shit in therapy,” he said. “My mom … she was an artist. Painting, sculpture, stuff like that. And that was the love of her life. Art. Creating. And once she created something, she moved on. She wasn’t interested anymore once a piece was done.”

I kissed his shoulder. “You don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want to,” I said. 

“When she and Dad got divorced, she moved to New York City,” he said. “That’s why I went there for college. But about two months after I got there, she moved to Europe. So I went there after I graduated. She was in Italy, so I went to Milan. Then she moved to Madrid, then Stockholm — god, Stockholm was so freaking cold — and then I got tired of following her and came to L.A.” He laid his head on my shoulder. “I was going to visit her in Switzerland after I won the Oscar. She’d actually called me and said she was proud of me. But I had a movie to do first and … it was a car accident in the Alps. She and her latest guy were on their way to Venice and a dude in a Maserati blew a turn and crashed into them.”

”Oh, Deet, I’m so sorry,” My own parents had been ill before they passed, so I’d had some warning, at least. 

He shook his head. “Hey, we’re supposed to be celebrating this weekend, not confessing our darkest moments. So let’s talk about something happy. Like my bank account after the movie earns out and I start getting some checks. We should go somewhere. Romantic getaway.”

”I do have a week off for Thanksgiving,” I said. My aunt always invited me up to her place for Thanksgiving and I always declined and ended up at some friend or co-worker’s Thanksgiving dinner. It was not my favorite holiday.

”Hey, see, making plans for the future.” He nudged me with his shoulder.

”It’s like two months away,” I reminded him. “Not that far in the future.”

”Baby steps, Em. Baby steps.” Then he kissed me and we stopped talking for a while.

******************************************

As I was driving home on Sunday afternoon, my phone rang. I usually don't like to use the Bluetooth, because it distracts me from the road, but I recognized the number. It was Sam.

”Hey, Sam, what’s up?” She rarely called; we both preferred to text. Our grown up version of passing notes in class.

“Just checking that you’re still alive after spending three whole days with Dieter,” she said. Her tone was joking, so I knew nothing serious had prompted the call. “Really, I just wanted to hear your voice. I saw the movie and it just doesn’t seem real that you and Dieter are … I mean, it sounds stupid, but I had to make sure you were still you.”

”I get it,” I said. “Hey, I’m on the freeway right now. Can I call you back when I get home? We can have a good talk. I’ll tell you all about the dress and the red carpet and … maybe you can give me some advice?”

”You better not be thinking of breaking up with him, Em. He’s the best thing that’s happened to you in a long time.”

”No, no, kind of the opposite. Shit, use your signal, you asshole! Sorry, some dude in a Tesla just cut me off. I’ve got to hang up. Talk to you when I get home, chickie.”

”Stay safe, chickie.”

I ended the call and tried to concentrate on the traffic. It was an incredibly long and tedious drive to make every day. There was no way I could keep my job and be with Dieter more than just on the weekends. And I would be foolish to quit for a guy I’d only known for a few months. Right? 

I shoved the thought to the back of my mind. Sam would help me figure it all out. She always did. 

[karinarro]

Hey hey, I saw your tweets about mgs fans who have proship DNI in their profiles being absolute morons and hypocrites and I just want to say THANK YOU because I feel like I’m losing brain cells over having to wade through so much bullshit in the metal gear fandom of all things. We might have a different focus on what blorbos we have (I’m more on the mgr side of the fandom but love the entire franchise) but I just wanted to send a big 🤝🤝🤝🤝🤝 because booooy does it feel lonely here sometimes.

It’s especially funny because when you think about it, the biggest proshipper in the metal gear fandom would be Kojima himself. Idk how people get into mgs and have never looked up the big words they put in their mouths even once. Like how can someone live like that, getting into a series that is supposed to make you THINK about what happens and how it’s a reflection of real world issues, and then turn around and parrot some right wing rhetorics repackaged as fandom “activism” 24/7, inherently contradicting that you even understood what these games were about despite claiming so otherwise.

It’s so… brainless and boring and as someone who loves to discuss the complexity of this franchise (and things in general), I am glad to come across a likeminded person in this fandom.

Like man I felt like I’m getting to old for this, I got into mgs before anti ship as we have it now was even a thing in the internet. But seeing that you’re about a decade younger than me and get that all of this stuff is horseshit, I feel like I am not losing hope 😅😅

I hope you’re having a great day :]

Also I love your art 🫶

Hey there!! Thanks so much for the kind message, I mean it 🥹🫶 I love MGR too!! I was so obsessed w it as a kid. I had my Raiden phase too~ (Still kinda am! That game awakened my love of mecha.) This is my first time dipping my toes into the MGS fandom. Coming from someone who usually lurks in smaller fan spaces, and said fan spaces are largely pro-fic, I really didn't expect the onslaught of antis interacting w my art hahaha! I was ripping my hair out vetting new followers that came into my twitter. Metal gear is a game filled with so much political commentary, I think I expected... more critical thinking y'know? The fans you mentioned are probably just as bad as the fanboys who think whatever went between BB and ocelot is just a 'russian taunt' I agree w/ what you said Kojima being profic LOL The man hated to have his life's work censored. To him, games aren't only a medium for his stories, but it's also a way to express his opinions & ideas. MGS in particular, it's about war. How war affects regular people, the devastation it brings them. How the fuckheads behind it are orchestrating it, taking advantage of the military industrial complex (To quote Kaz, "And war will become a business...") I'm again reminded of that analysis you rb'd from me: "Peace is only possible in the case of war criminals when they’ve been buried." I can't fathom how so many people missed that message in MGSV. As you said, it seems like people are fucking blind to the fact that their faves are bad people. They are war criminals! Some people in fandom acting like they are above it all, saying 'proshitter dni' and repeating fascist talking points is just so... I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Because you are either that dense, or media illiterate or emotionally unintelligent or... something ! Most that I've seen so far who do this are teenagers, which okay. They are still figuring things out, I can excuse them a little bit. But there are adults over 20 who do this too and I'm just... wow. You know? To stand for Antis is to stand for censorship in fiction. And that goes against everything that Kojima believes. Haha dw there are people my age who aren't this stupid! I've been hanging out in more profic spaces and they're out there. You're not alone friend!! I hope you have a nice day too :] Lmk if you wanna be mutuals on twitter! 🌻

[elizabeth-karenina]

They Got Me Yet Again

I got tagged by long-time mutual, @midnightinjapan! Thank you so much, my dear.

This one's gonna be a doozy, so strap yourselves in! *cracks knuckles*

1. why did you choose your url?

My first name is Elizabeth, and I was reading the novel Anna Karenina when I first started this tumblr.

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.week.

LMAO, MY GUYS! I honestly don't know how other people keep up sideblogs. Having to manage one is already enough! I've never really felt the need to have another one.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

....I'm like, 98% certain that I first came here in May 2013. So, I wasn't here at the very beginning where all the True Madness of Tumblr was taking place, but I came in near the tail-end of it all, LOL.

4. do you have a queue tag?

I don't queue at all! Again, I've never felt the need to do so. I'mma show up when I show up; I'm gonna reblog whenever I want and whatever makes me happy; and then I'mma leave, LOL.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

I was talked into it by my core group of friends who I've been close with since high school and college. And the irony of it all? I'm the one who still uses Tumblr regularly! The rest of them either deleted their Tumblrs or just simply abandoned them and have left them alone for years, LOL.

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

It's a painting by the Russian artist Vasily Surikov called The Siberian Woman. I love his style of painting, and I've always been surprised how me and the woman in the painting look alike! Another one that I use frequently is Portrait of a Lady by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, for the same reason--she looks quite a bit like me!

I've tried having other icons on and off, but I always come back to the Siberian woman and Portrait of a Lady. What can I say? They fit me.

7. why did you choose your header?

It's an image I nicked from Twitter. It must've been from a historical textiles or blue motifs post that someone made, and I immediately was drawn to it. Blue is my favorite color, especially darker blues. The gold flowers made it even prettier, so I've kept it.

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

I honestly have no idea! I don't often make my own posts, as it were. Any commentary I make is usually within the confines of my tags (which is also very frequent and often!), which are many! I've got a lot of things to say, and I'm gonna say 'em somwhere, LOL!

9. how many mutuals do you have?

I truly do not know, if you can believe it. Probably around 20; I don't make it a point to make so-called "famous" blogs follow me, but if we've talked more than 4 or 5 times, I'll probably follow you back.

Many of my mutuals are ladies I've known for years, so that probably is a factor as well.

10. how many followers do you have?

Eight hundred seventy-something people? But are they all active Tumblrs? Or are a good portion of them bots, LOL? Sometimes I'm able to catch them and block them, but other times I miss them.

11. how many people do you follow?

146 people.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

I'm sure I have in the past, especially in my early days.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

Quite a bit, LOL, especially during the summer time when I'm on school vacation. Cringe as it is to admit, it's been a huge part of my life for years.

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Yes, particularly in my early days when I was exclusively a history blog. But it was over something silly, like a Historical AU me and a friend had created, not about anything factual.

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts

Not reblogging anything I don't want to. Guilt tripping isn't cool. -> Keeping Norrie's answer, because same.

16. do you like tag games?

I do! I love talking about myself and sharing my interests with people. I could answer questions for hours tbh!

17. do you like ask games?

It can depend on what the theme of the questions are. But like I said above, yes, usually I enjoy answering ask games.

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I honestly couldn't say! Maybe Virginia, I suppose.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

I crush on all my mutuals🥰 -> Also keeping this answer from Norrie, because ABSOLUTELY FREAKING SAME! If we're mutuals, just know I sincerely love you. So grateful for the friendships I've made with all of you!

20. tags

@becauseismellgood, @shvkespearc, @1980s-jean-ralphio, and honestly anyone else who wants to do this!

[tapejob]

help im from twitter and idk what im doing. how does hockey tumblr work

so you just fled hockeytwt - what now?

hey anon, welcome to hockeyblr! we're imo one of the best communities on tumblr and we're so glad to have you. hopefully you'll enjoy your stay :)

some general tumblr things to note:

as you probably know, tumblr doesn't run on an algorithm

any content depends primarily on what blogs you follow + occasionally what tags you follow (less reliable. your main source will be by blogs)

tags serve mainly as an organizational/content marker, as well as for filtering purposes. tagging #fyp to get your content out there does nothing

to send an ask, click on the button beside the follow/following button on the user's blog - some people rename the 'ask' to some other things, which may make it hard to find

we are the faceless app. pls customize your blog a little so it doesn't look like you're a bot but do not feel pressured to reveal names/face/age/pronouns whatever

once again, the only way content is found is through reblogs. reblog things that u think are neat, no additions required :)

re filtering: you can block terms/tags/content you don't want to see on your dash (e.g. 'tw sexual assault'). here's a better post to explain trigger warning/tagging etiquette

ok onto general hockeyblr:

to follow tags, go into the search bar and type out #[tag] and click the blue follow button on the right. your basic starter pack of tags to follow in hockeyblr: #hockey, #nhl, etc.

but that's lame. and you're probably not gonna get any of the juicy stuff

following your team/the teams you are tangentially interested in and their popular player tags are often a good way to start breaking into the community (e.g. #pittsburgh penguins, #sidney crosby)

follow cool hockeyblr ppl! u can find ppl in your team spheres through the tags i mentioned above. there was also a hockeyblr directory made a while back (og masterlist is down but shoot me a message and i can get you some specific team lists. don't be afraid to ask ppl for recs too)

reblog, like, etc. esp with content creators/gifsets/etc. engagement does the heart good

wtf is liveblogging:

lots of users liveblog and post commentary during games!

you can find these posts in the lb tags, which vary by team and are sort of collectively known (e.g. #pens lb for pittsburgh)

some tags are a little less intuitive: #nyr lb or #rangers lb are both used for the rangers iirc, #bolts lb or #tbl lb have both been used for tampa - feel free to shoot me an ask/msg if you have trouble lol

big events, such as the playoffs, worlds, the all star game, etc may have their own special tags (e.g. #scp lb, #worlds lb, #asg lb, #team germany lb, etc). you'll figure it out as you go! and don't be afraid to ask for clarification

tagging your liveblogs are pretty important since:

it's fun to liveblog with a bunch of people on your silly little gang of guys! helps u find friends to follow, and

people who follow the opposing team might want to filter out your commentary (more info below)

ouch, yikes. i don't want to see that (aka, filtering/blocking)

coming back to filtering, the nice thing abt tumblr is that u can filter out whatever tags/blogs/keywords you don't want to see on your dash

go to your blog settings to live peacefully and with prosperity

you can filter out team tags/liveblogs/players, anything you want. in fact, u are encouraged bc not feeling extreme rage over some picture on the dash of the team that knocked your team out of the scp does the body good

filtered posts don't disappear entirely from the dash (in case u have fomo), but when a blog u follow posts about something in that tag, you will see a blurred post with the tags you filtered, as well as an option to view the post

(looks like this)

some users also have specific tags that they may have created for organizational purposes and to help you block specific content (e.g. #nhl trade rumors are my personal tag for, you guessed it, trade rumors. some ppl don't wanna hear that, so easy tagging for filter)

on that note: filter and move on. don't go into opposing team tags/liveblogs and talk shit or stir up shit. you will be blocked by. a significant amount of people. play nice y'all, it's hockey

rpf/fic

not really my area of expertise on tumblr, but there's a pretty big rpf/fic community on hockeyblr. follow or block as you need!

player relationship tags are a good place to look for content (e.g. #sidgeno, #8771)

use the :readmore: function on tumblr liberally if you're posting fics - full player fics in the player tags can suck to scroll through for an outside user

once again, don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help. best of luck navigating hockeyblr, you're sure to have a blast!

[wunderbud]

Keeping it real.

Tw for one mention of gr00m1ng!

I'm gonna keep it real with yall, idk if I'm gonna keep posting on here.

This is gonna be me basically rambling but ive been meaning to post this for a while now.

Its been really hard recently to find the motivation to post here. Don't get me wrong, I'm so incredibly grateful for the support I've gotten, 700+ followers is a lot, and I don't think I deserve it but whatever you guys just have bad taste lmfao

I've realized a lot about myself on my time here, more so recently looking back on some things that happened back when I was younger. Realizing someone basically gr00m3d you isn't fucking easy. I won't say who it was, nor will I ever probably, I just know it happened and I know they will see this. You know who you fucking are. I've also just been struggling in general with college and depression, basically imagine if a meat grinder didn't kill you but just left u a little more mangled and in debt lol

Shit like that really kinda made my memories of this app shittier, which fucking sucks because I love interacting with you guys when I can, I've made so many amazing friends on this site, and I'm so grateful for all of them. But I think it's time to let this account retire for a while, I'll definitely still be lurking every now and then tho so don't be jumpscared by random posts

If you like my art and want to support me, please follow me on my twitter and on YouTube where I plan on posting some fun commentary type stuff!

But yeah, I've got big plans going forward, thank you to everyone who's supported me here, every last one of you are my goobers

I'll end this with shamelessly plugging my friends, go follow these talented assholes /pos

@lockandkeyhyena, @elesketchii, @abnormalceiling, @jack-o-phantom, @lithiums-corner and everyone else!

Anyway, I'll see you on the other side

With love, Cris Wunder :]

[meimi-haneoka]

È il mio 10 anniversario su Tumblr 🥳

It's apparently my 10th anniversary on Tumblr 😳😳😳

This blog definitely didn't start as a CCS blog, or not even a Clamp blog, I remember I was in my Saint Tail brainrot/withdrawal period, and I wanted to ramble about it all alone on a personal space, always hoping that Tachikawa sensei one day would write the extra chapter that she talked about on her blog...hence why I chose this url. For this and another personal reason, actually. I also loved to RT all the nice screencaps and edits for my favorite anime...

...then 2016 came and the love of my life, CCS, came back and my blog was absolutely swept away by the excitement, turning pretty much into a constant stream of CCS content and chapter commentary for Clear Card each month. When the anime came out in 2018, things only got worse 😂 but then in 2020 I started to realize about the translation differences between the English version and the original Japanese, and I decided that my beloved story deserved better than that, better than being misunderstood like that, especially the new characters that in the meantime I came to love so dearly...

So pretty naturally, I started to vent my frustration compiling all the mistakes/differences every month, in a very "whoever is willing to read it, is welcome to do so" fashion. For my convenience the differences are always included in my commentary. I haven't gone around promoting my posts very much, it's basically always "I run into someone confused about a line in the Eng ver/got some facts wrong, I tell them that the original JP actually says something else and I leave a link to my blog".

The more the story went on, the more I wondered if I was stepping on anyone's toes for doing these posts, but with my immense joy it seems they got Clamp's blessing, so I'll keep doing them till the very end of the story.

In between these commentaries, I throw some other translations I do mainly for myself (Twitter Spaces where Sakura is mentioned, interviews especially about the anime, etc) and that I like to organize more or less neatly in one place, and that people can share if they want. And also my fanarts, even though they never do big numbers here. But heh, I'll keep sharing them here too, cause it's my blog after all.

So yeah, 10 years of this. There were definitely times when I've hated this website and its community since things were becoming pretty toxic, flames started randomly out of nowhere, I just hope once the anime will be back it won't be the same shit again. I stopped looking at the CCS tags because of that and other reasons connected to that, so unless one of the people I follow shares it and puts it on my dash, I almost never reblog CCS art/edits/gifs etc. Cause the pretty artworks aren't worth wrecking my mood because I found the nth person shaming something that I love (and the people who love that thing, with it). Sorry about that, my blog is pretty boring in that sense.

Luckily, Tumblr brought me also good things, so I guess it makes up for that. I've met lots of people from my current CCS "circle", here.

To be honest, I know I have 2626 followers (as of today), but to this day I still wonder why. I highly doubt all of them are here because they're interested in my posts, probably not even half of them, lol (and I do my best to kick the bots). Nonetheless, thank you to all the people who interact with my posts ❤️ and thank you for sending me nice asks every month! 🙏 I don't always reply to them right away and some of them I leave for later when I have a downtime (like this one ask that's pretty broad in topic and I'm keeping it for when I have a little more time and nothing else to talk about).

Since Clear Card will continue for a little more than expected, the monthly appointment here will continue in parallel, and I'm already preparing my next "trivia" post, it's a topic I wanted to talk about since looooooong time. 😉

[not-poignant]

August 2023 Writing Round-Up

Here's the monthly round-up of everything written and posted in August 2023!

Underline the Black 56 

Underline the Black 57 

Underline the Black 58 

Underline the Black 59 

Underline the Gold 03 

The Nascent Diplomat 35 

The Nascent Diplomat 36 (Patreon early access $5+)

Underline the Red 05 (Patreon early access $5+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 23 (Patreon reward $3+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 24 (Patreon reward $3+)

Game Theory 02 (the Edits) ($10+)

FANFICTION

A Stain that Won't Dissolve 18 

A Stain that Won't Dissolve 19 

A Game We Can Try 01 

A Game We Can Try 02 

--

The following stories are ongoing at my Wattpad account. For those who prefer to read on the Wattpad app, or who prefer shorter chapters, or just want to reread the stories somewhere different (or want to give me some love!), you can currently find these stories ongoing there:

A Stain that Won't Dissolve

Falling Falling Stars

Once the scheduled chapters for these come to an end, I will no longer be writing at Wattpad! And will just leave a note to anyone who finds me there that I'm on AO3 instead. It's been an interesting experiment, and a pretty spectacular failure, lol. 

*

Thanks for everyone's patience while Patreon has been a bit fucky with payments and declining payments, I've experienced this myself too as a patron. The short version of the story is that Patreon started doing more of their payments through Ireland instead of the USA and didn't tell anyone, and a lot of banks freaked out because it was unexpected. As far as I know, that's the main reason this has been happening! 

*

August (I always spell Augus first and have to remind myself to add the T, just little Fae Tales things) was a good month with a decent 14 chapters written across four stories, Underline the Black, A Stain that Won't Dissolve, Underline the Gold and Underline the Blue - Black got a whopping 6 chapters to itself! 

And that was a total of 50,909 words. :D

My September writing is actually going to have a really heavy focus on A Stain that Won't Dissolve, other than that, I'll be diligently writing ahead because in October I'll be taking a month off from writing!!! I'll still be posting chapters as usual - more than in July and August, I was preparing for October :D - but my monthly wordcount will be set to 0 and if I want to write, I can work on anything I like, which I'm looking forward to. 

I'm excited to take a full month off before NaNoWriMo, because I tend to burn out pretty badly towards the end of the year, and this is the first year of my writing life where I've managed to plan things enough that I can take a kind of holiday from writing, and while I'll still be doing other aspects of this job, writing and editing 10+ new chapters will not be a part of it. Or at least, if it is, it'll be on literally anything I want lol.

If you're particularly excited to see me work on anything in particular, including stories not listed here, please let me know!

This year I've written y'all 358,000 words, which is the equivalent of about 4 standard novels. :D

*

If you want to get updates or links to my fanfic, or hear about ongoing writing things, and read excerpts from future chapters, please find me on Twitter or Tumblr, and subscribe to my fanfiction account over at thespectaclesofthor.

If you want to keep seeing my writing and support it, come join a tier at Patreon - it's my income and it lets me share this writing with you! Alternatively, I have a Ko-Fi account for anyone who wants to support that one. :D

Sending love to all of you, from the lurkers, to the folks who just like that one story, to the peeps who aren't here for the writing and are somehow here for all my ask responses I love you all

[f1-birb]

it's not necessarily reading twitter or insta comments (i don't use twitter much at all anymore and i've had mclaren blocked on all socials since the ricciardo days when they were allowing their team to get harrassed too lol), but it's just like you can curate your spaces so well and you're still going to get posts recommended to you from these damn algorithms that are like “lando is washed,” “lando is going to get exposed,” and idk it gets old.

even reddit, which used to be a voice of reason when it came to actually discussing races/drivers, you cannot have a single lando thread without half the comments being about lando never winning a race or oscar beating him to the first race win and it's like oh my god. who the fuck cares. ocon got the win over alonso in 2021, do people actually think ocon is a significantly better driver than alonso. carlos got ferrari's only win and the only non-rbr win in 2023, do people really think he's significantly better than most of the grid, including his teammate charles? george is mercedes’ last race winner. do people, especially after last year, truly think he's at a higher level than lewis right now? like wins are great. i'd sacrifice my firstborn for lando to get a race win. if oscar gets one first, that's fine. it doesn't mean lando has failed or is washed up or isn't as talented. (i also feel like half of these people don't even like or care about oscar, they just want to see lando get beat. like theres this sick trend on tumblr, reddit, media in general of wanting to see oscar win first and lando fall in this unbeatable depression that has me like what the everliving fuck is wrong with you, but i also have enough decency to think actual mental health problems should be off-limits as criticisms. theres a difference between saying one driver handles pressure better than another, an actual analysis/criticism, versus wishing to see a driver struggle mentally for entertainment).

and this is nothing against oscar at all. it's pretty apparent lando likes him, the team likes him, and he's a major talent. there's just loud parts of his “fanbase” (again i use this term loosely because half these people dont seem to care as much about oscar as they do seeing lando get “exposed” or whatever the fuck) that lack the ability to praise him without shitting all over lando.

and idk. i have full belief in lando as a driver. but some of these criticisms hit pretty close to home when you follow and support him because he's the driver you find most relatable and suddenly the majority of the criticism isn't about his driving, but his character or personality and how people perceive that.

i also just think this overanalysis of his mistakes while others get this free pass because fans/media always insist on blaming the team or others (won't name names, but i have a feeling based on other of your posts/answers, you know who I'm mostly thinking about) will continue into 2024 and i just don't feel like dealing with it anymore. i'm stuck in a shitty job i'm not really enjoying until at least august, f1 used to be an escape from that, but shitty people have ruined that too. and unfortunately I've been around the media enough that even if i did watch the races on mute so i wouldn't have the shitty sky commentary to annoy me even more, i would still know subconsciously what narratives were being spread and i just don't have the emotional stability to care about this motorsport atm.

fe and indycar? sure. like i cannot tell you how many times my favorite indycar driver did not capitalize on opportunities to win last year, yet this year all of the socials are uplifting and asking for predictions on how many races he will win, not betting that he retires with every most (insert accomplishment here) without a win like f1 does. i used to call those 2 my comfort series but i don't think they provide comfort so much as they're so much less toxic than f1 that i don't have to worry about my favorite drivers being straight up harassed instead of just their driving critiqued.

i'd love to follow lando, and oscar, and the entire team through both the highs and the lows as i have for many years now, but i just don't have the energy in me anymore. it's been feeling like a chore instead of a fun little hobby to watch for a while now, and i thought i would find some enjoyment out of it again at some point, but i just can't anymore. i will definitely be sticking around to read your writing though, just maybe not commentary on race weekends.

anyway this got so very long, i'm so sorry. this isn't an airport and i don't need to announce my departure, i guess i just had a lot of things building up that i needed to get out.

no need to apologise at all, I've always said my asks are open for rants or venting or just needing to let it out

I'm sorry there's not a lot I can say to what you've said because I agree with a hell of a lot of it and fully get where you're coming from

there's no point making yourself sad, upset, angry over it and while I know it'll suck to miss out on the racing since that's what you actually care about, maybe a break sounds like a good idea actually especially if you've got life things too

I'm preeeeettty good at tagging stuff so hopefully that'll help you navigate my blog at least, but since I do post a Lot on race weekends if I post writing it's always tagged "birb writes" and that's a featured tag for easy access - but it's so sweet that you'd stick around for my writing, it means a lot <3

[madbox91]

Today, I caused chaos on Twitter and Mobox and friends didn't like it lol Part 1

It all started when I was just impersonating mobox87 on Twitter again, you know being a goof ball. That's all. Then I found out that Nikolai (aka mobox's friend or girlfriend or whatever he is) had a new Twitter account and so I followed him. After that I made this thread

I was doing some funny monkey business when I did that. I didn't think much after that and I wasn't expecting anything to happened because I have done this before with Nikolai's other accounts and he didn't respond to me and ignored like he should. The reason why I did this is because to get a reaction, mess with him, mock him, make posts to make fun of him about and if I am lucky get attention. Just be my annoying harassing ass self. I love fucking around with people and annoying them and of course making myself laugh and maybe perhaps make other people laugh by my actions or posts. I've been doing online harassment for years so I know on wtf I'm talking about and fully aware that this shit is so fucking dumb, bad, shit that losers do. I don't care, I'm like a jester bully or something. Anyway another reason why I did it is because I always wanted to have a interaction with him. He has always been my most wanted person to fuck around with. The way he talks and the way he tries to be the bigger person in most situations is something that I always notice and always wanted to challenge him. It's so fucking delusional that he does it even though there's a clear advantage that the other person has. Plus he will get more material on making more posts that I can mock about. Anyways lets get into the juice and commentary.

Lol he blocked me

when he first messaged me, I didn't understand why he would do this after doing the greatest decision of ignoring me for like a very long time. Then when I was starting to talk to him and I realized this was an attempt to harass me. I'm thinking that my actions I did to mobox got into his skin and decided to get like vengeance for mobox due to his disliking of me going up to the next level or something (if this is true then big win for me). But anyway he really did failed on harassing me since once again, I have been harassing people online for years and I know like a somewhat of a amount of online harassment tactics and so I'm already used to and know how to be immune to it. I know I sound like a fucking scientist or professor when it comes to online harassment but remember I know what I am talking about due to years of being a dick. In fact he's like very similar to me when it comes to harassment and I'm pretty sure he figured that as well. I was so excited during this time, this is something that I've always wanted for a long time and got a chance to do it. I never thought my dumb little actions can get to these guys so easily. Like there's no way he wanted to harass me in order to stop my Twitter that has not that much attraction to begin with. He harass me because of something I have done that he didn't like. At least that's what I figured. I mean both him and mobox have a pretty close relationship and Nikolai has done this before with other people like blossom. I guess you can say that he's pretty sensitive whenever someone says something bad to mobox87 but anyway let's continue

Right off the bat, the cooler harasser (me) has already made him kinda defensive. I was messing around with him by making this meme reference

I'm not going to explain the whole meme if you don't know about it but the punchline is something sexual and so that's why I called him young for not getting it. I don't care if I said "thang" wrong, the funny thing about this is that this mf tried to correct me that he isn't young due to me saying that he was too young to understand the punchline of this random ass meme reference. "Um actually I'm 21 and that's not young to understand what you mean, you dirty lust☝🤓". I honestly couldn't believe I actually made him vulnerable for the first seconds of talking to him by messing around with him with something that he was ignorant about. It's so goofy that he had to tell me that he totally isn't young and said he isn't a "dirty lust". I'm not sure if this guy was trying to be fucking formal with those words but bro isn't Edgar allan poe with the words "dirty lust" 💀💀. Anyway

I was meant say "oh really" but I guess "how really" does work as well

As you can see, he's trying his best to make me think he's unaffected by the words. He's trying to make me feel like he's the bigger person in this conversation. I recognize this and do the same. That's basically what whole the conversation was like and is. Two losers tried their best to harass one another. Basically a waste of time for both sides. I mean I was expecting to just do this and at the same time was so excited because my biggest dream has come true and my expectations have been met. Also don't get me started on the mobox throwing away my account shit 💀. That shit was ass like holy fuck that actually made this harassment attempt fall apart. He even said "or something" to make it up because he knew that this was shit to say. LIKE HOLY SHIT THAT MADE ME SCARED!! MOBOX WAS ABOUT TO DESTROY MY ACCOUNT 😭😭💀💀😱😱🗣🗣🗣 SO SPOOKY. Like bruh, really? Tf she gotta do, call elon musk for this shit? I am absolutely right about how she already failed at throwing my account, bruh. It really is too late to say that you don't give a fuck. This is already damaging. Like I couldn't believe in my eyes when he said that. Bro thought he can scare me with that. How embarrassing

Bro really tried to get the mobox critique involve like I care. I already know those guys don't liked me so yeah thanks for stating the obvious for someone reason.

I like how we both have the same motivation at wasting each other's time and getting entertainment out of it. At the end of the day, time wasting is bad in both parties so it really doesn't matter. This is like talking to a less cooler clone of me which is fitting considering he is talking to a clone of mobox87. Also I think I cut him off when was asking "why so obsessed with". I don't know why

This feels a competition from all the attempts we did at each other.

[namor-shuri]

I swear your commentary on posts is hilarious af 🤣☠️ These video and photo edits are so cool too. Is there a reason why you don’t post more to Twitter (not that you have to, just an observation)? Thanks for everything

Hey 👋🏾💜 Thank you for the kind words. Y’all need to stop gassing me up. My dad jokes/ corniness will know no end lol.

With my Twitter page, sometimes I question whether or not people think I’m stealing work from this Tumblr page bc both my pfp and handles are not the same 🥲 I made my twt before I made this side blog so the handle and pic was a quick “slap together” choice. The phrase “be f*cking for real” is too funny to me so I just ran with it. And then my brain was completely uncreative and was like “namor-shuri” will do rofl. Hopefully people understand by now that I’m the same person, but alas.

To answer your question, I think it’s broken up into two parts. One chunk of it is that I rant A LOT so this platform makes it easier for me to do so while also being creative with color fonts and all that jazz. I also just love the freedom of layouts and stuff like that. From a creative perspective, of course it doesn’t help that Tumblr messes with quality but what I lose in quality, I gain in possibilities [I swear I don’t work for Tumblr and this is not me promoting them rofl].

The other half of the pie is the stark difference of engagement on Twitter vs Tumblr, in my personal experience thus far. Like I said, I made my Twitter first back in late December of last year. It was kind of a random decision but once I realized I was super into the Namor x Shuri ship, I wanted to engage with the fandom more directly and pour into it. Since then, I’ve been able to have a lot of fun with making different artworks, edits, videos, playlists, you name it! Ya girl has been BUSY to say the least lol And what’s been dope is that this fandom has been a fun outlet outside of my professional artwork and stuff like that. All that being said, what slowly became apparent to me was that I wasn’t feeling as included or apart of the fandom as I initially hoped I would. I would try and engage with people or joke here and there and most of what I would get back was crickets, whether it would be on my own posts or my commentary on others. And to be fair, I know it takes time for people to get to know you and build community but it just felt slightly strange. Especially when I would see new pages pop up and everyone would immediately flock to engage with them. I say this to say that absolutely NO ONE owes you anything in life so to be upset that someone isn’t your friend [whether it’s in person or online] is a human experience but you have to understand that not everyone is going to jell with you. There are billions [billions? *does quick google search] of people on this planet. Someone is bound to hate you, while another will worship the floor you walk on. Someone’s going to think you’re okay, while you being your raw and authentic self makes another person’s day. It’s nothing personal. It’s simply a numbers game. So inherently I understood that but it still hurt the 3 year old in me that was just trying to make friends at the playground, you know? lmao But I think what set it off was when I would look up and then see my edits used for people’s banners, fan art, post ideas, etc without asking me or giving me any credit knowing that they also aren’t following me or even engaging with me in any way. It still wasn’t cool but I think what would have made the whole thing feel a little different is if I was more “in the group” but because I’ve been on the outskirts the majority of the time, it just made it sting that much more.

Then I started to get slightly paranoid and wondered if I was missing something. Did I do something wrong? Did I say something that was off? I felt like a message was being sent and that confused the hell out of me [and lowkey still does]. BUT SOB STORY ASIDE lol I brushed my shoulder off, switched gears and thought “f*ck it, let me make my own side blog and do my thing on there” and that worked for me! I got traction after that, people were responding to my stuff and throwing in their own ideas/commentary/analysis etc. I felt like I could engage with people more, even with the limitations Tumblr puts on side blogs. And just the whole vibe overall started to feel really f*cking good. The funny thing too is that I’ve noticed that a lot of Twitter is on here and vice versa so it’s the same folks but for some reason I think this platform has opened up more possibilities for engagement in my experience. Twitter lends to a wider audience than Tumblr unfortunately but I’ve accepted my humble abode on here.

This rant is getting super long so I’ll end with this; I have nothing against the Nashuri fam on Twitter. Just because I’m not necessarily apart of the “crew” doesn’t mean that I don’t find everyone hilarious or amazing in any way. If you think I’m funny anon, you need to read what these girls say because it is SUPERB *chefs kiss* The talent from artworks to fics to think pieces and everything in between is incredible and oozes from that community. But for me, I think I just haven’t found my footing or people over there and as much as it’s been a bummer, I’m still going to be on there to support the dope stuff that comes out of it. I also want to say that just because this has been my experience doesn’t mean it will be yours. I fully encourage you to branch out on different platforms and try and engage with as many people as possible [fandom or not]. I think I just got my finger burned once and immediately gave up rofl. One of the biggest blessings that have come out of the Nashuri fandom in general is it’s vast bipoc community. As a black woman myself, I haven’t experienced this level of inclusivity when it comes to race, gender, language, culture, ages etc in other fandoms. It’s beautiful and I will always be thankful for that.

I also want to drive home that everyone needs to find what works for them. You owe yourself that. If you feel like your aren’t getting what you desire out of Instagram, move to Twitter and see what happens. If Twitter isn’t cutting it, move to Discord. Move to Tumblr, you name it! I think that move for me made a HUGE difference and honestly made me feel better about being in this fandom in the first place. And also this just goes for life in general but just because you might not feel included somewhere doesn’t mean you or the place is a problem. You might just need some scenery change.

Ps: If you are in the fandom and are on Twitter, definitely hit me up and add me! I would love to be mutuals. I’ve seen some familiar accounts from Twitter add me on here and vice versa and it’s been really cool. I appreciate the blogs that engage with me on there and all that jazz. I’ve never had a Twitter before so I’m lowkey new to that world still but grandma’s getting the hang of it slowly but surely.

Thank you 💘

[curestardust]

hiii~ i'm trying to migrate from tiktok to tumblr because i heard that the precure community is way larger here [and i refuse to use twitter] your blog and another blog are always posted on tiktok but the other one doesn't have anonymous questions or whatever on so i wanted to ask you!! what is the etiquette here for interacting with content creators and also what blogs are the ones to check out and which ones should i avoid because i'd really hate to follow someone and then find out all the tumblr girlies think they're a creep?? OTL sorry if this is like a dumb obvious rude question it's just i've never used tumblr before so i don't want to interact with a content creator the wrong way and end up blocked lol thank you if you respond and also i love your cure butterfly icon it's so pretty <3 <3

i...get posted on tiktok? wha- how does that even work oml

i do think tumblr might be the 2nd biggest platform for precure after hell twitter indeed

for CCs... it's a bit difficult to know whose stuff you'd be interested in. i don't think there's anyone who posts exclusively precure (i don't either) so if you only want to see that you can browse the precure tag. if you like someone's stuff give them a follow though! i don't know anything about "creeps" but i've been on this website for over 10 years so my blocklist and blocked words is massive lol. i'm just chilling over here making gifs.

tumblr etiquette:

i see a lot of new people be confused about this but reblog NEVER repost someone's content. there are those 2 arrows at the bottom of every post, that's a reblog. downloading someone's gif/art then posting it to your blog is a repost and it's VERY frowned upon.

generally people like to add extra commentary in the tags instead of on the post itself, though there's a sort of comment section under posts now but not many people use it.

general rule of thumb (for any social media site really) is to stay away from takes you disagree with. just scroll by, don't say anything, don't insult them. if you REALLY disagree with what they are saying, block them.

CC interaction is kinda odd here, most people are pretty introverted. usually creators will appreciate if you send them a nice ask that you really like their stuff (though they might not post your ask) but the most common way of doing that is by putting praises in the tags cause they'll see it in their activity feed.

hmmm, i dunno if i answered everything properly but it's super late here so mb, you can shoot me another ask if you have more questions~

[yunyoungahh]

Omg

[sirartwork]

I'm kinda sad you don't do "actually furry" art according to you. I'd honestly pay you to just do whatever the fuck you think is funny with my fursona because I love your stuff lol

I am more than happy to take commissions when the price/circumstances are right, and yes, I draw furries/anthro as well. I can even do suggestive/pinups tailored to your choice (just not outright smut... yet????)

I'm actually chopping my way through a queue of commissions right now, but progress is hampered by health concerns. Nowadays I only announce/field openings on my Twitter page, so keep your eyes peeled there if you want to secure a slot!

I do want to make a point to post collections of completed commissions and/or commentary to my Patreon as well, among other things, so please bear with me as I try to find a stride of a manageable yet interesting output.

Thanks again to everyone who follows and supports my work! It means more to me than a whole universe of silly drawings could ever express. <3

[gayworths]

grace and frankie s7 thoughts!

i have mostly moved on to using twitter to express my thoughts and just use tumblr in a similar way to how i imagine pinterest users use pinterest, but i have a lot of thoughts about the final season of grace and frankie and i think tumblr is better suited to longform content, so i'm putting them here. plus i met a lot of you through gaf so it feels fitting that i should post this here!

i was really happy with this season and how the show ended, for the most part! it was a pleasant surprise because 7a did not really click with me, and i was worried 7b would go the same way. but i was left extremely satisfied with how the grace/frankie dynamic played out.

but before getting into grace and frankie themselves, aka the stuff that i actually care about, here are some stray thoughts on the other storylines:

the coyote and jessica plot was cute. i've never been super invested in them but their relationship is sweet and i've always liked coyote pretty well compared to the other kids. i liked that they argued over the concept of soulmates vs. choosing to love someone, because i have had similar arguments in the past lol. i also thought the show handled coyote's potential relapse well.

i do wish they had spent more time on the coyote/frankie relationship, though. they threw in this big conflict that frankie doesn't trust coyote, which led to him spiraling out, but then their relationship was resolved offscreen. as much as i loved the coyote/grace scene (which i'll get into later), i would've liked to see a fuller resolution for coyote and frankie.

i've never cared about the say grace stuff, taneth is annoying (which pains me because i like casey wilson!), and mallory is boring. what i did find funny is that the show pretty much gave explicit meta commentary on how boring mallory is. it was clear that mallory wasn't a good fit for ceo so i guess it's good that she was fired, but i was kind of left feeling, what was the point of all of that? what i did like, though, was the exploration of the mallory/brianna dynamic. i find both characters the most interesting when the show is exploring their sibling relationship.

speaking of brianna, i loved that she ended the series single and childless. it was never really all that clear why she and barry were together since they seemed fundamentally compatible. there are so many series that force unconventional, prickly female characters into a "happy ending" where they end up with a husband and children (*cough* parks and rec *cough*), so i like that the series ended with brianna choosing to live her life the way she wants to. in a lot of ways i think brianna is living out the life that grace would have chosen for herself if the social pressures of the era hadn't made her feel obligated to marry and have kids. what i didn't like, though, is how they made brianna, like, actively awful towards the baby. you can not want or like kids without being a monster! also, i think she and barry should've broken up earlier, because doing it so late in the show left things sort of unresolved. but tbh i ultimately never cared that much about their relationship so whatever.

i did not care for bud's storyline. it makes sense why he would want to quit being a divorce lawyer, and it's consistent with his character as the Good Son that he was probably pushed into following in his father's footsteps without really considering whether that's what he wanted. but his pivot into comedy seemed out of left field and really just brought out the worst in both him and allison, and ultimately left me feeling like he's kind of a dick. and i hated that allison had to give him "permission" to quit his job.

this season was the most i ever cared about robert and sol. the storyline with robert's memory loss was so painful and hit way too close to home. martin sheen and sam waterston are both phenomenal actors and the show finally put their dramatic skills to good use. i actually can't talk about this part too much because like i said it hits too close to home and makes me emotional! but i appreciated how they handled it and that it ended on a note that was realistic but uplifting. the hotel scene was beautiful.

(i do have to say once again though that it is LAUGHABLE how little sexual/romantic chemistry martin and sam have, especially compared to jane and lily who are not supposed to be the canon gay couple. it took me out of their final moment a little when i noticed how clearly they framed the scene so that the elevator would close before they had to actually kiss.)

i still hate everything to do with robert's theatre troupe, though. peter is the WORST character on the entire show, and that plotline is boring and unfunny at best, and actively irritating at worst.

on the other hand, joan margaret is my fave side character, every time she was in a scene i was living.

there were so many characters that they brought back who i had zero memory of. like that guy who mediated the brianna/mallory conflict? was i supposed to know who that was? and i remembered michael mckean being on the show but i did not remember why he would be mad at frankie. i think that means i'm due for a rewatch.

but despite the novel that i wrote above, ultimately i never really cared about anything besides grace and frankie. so, on to the good stuff.

grace:

loveddd the stuff about her father. it's become pretty clear by now that there's a lot of jane fonda in grace, so when they revealed that her panic attacks and fear of the world root back to her father's death, i was like, of course. lol. but it provided a lot of new character insight! such as the fact that a lot the repression that she has continually blamed on her WASP upbringing is probably actually the result of her losing her sense of security when her father died. as evidenced by the fact that her brother, who was too young to remember his death, isn't as outwardly cold and repressed.

i wish they had dealt with her alcoholism more seriously. i loved the coyote/grace scene, as two addicts dealing with their addictions in different ways. and chainofclovers' post helped me to appreciate what they did this season more. but i still felt like it was frequently treated as a joke and i would've liked more closure. that closure doesn't have to be her quitting drinking and joining AA, because that's not realistic- lots of people don't overcome their addictions, and that's just life. but i wanted something more than what we got.

speaking of grace being a fictionalized jane fonda, i love that the show outright stated that grace becomes a different (subservient) person when she is in relationships with men, and that it's bad. it felt like a huge moment of character growth for her to realize this unhealthy dynamic in her relationships and reject it, and realize that even if nick isn't intentionally being controlling she can't be with him because of how she becomes when she's with men. personally i viewed it as her beginning to overcome her compulsory heterosexuality, which i know is not the only possible interpretation you could have, but it makes a lot of sense in this context.

i thought that the conversation between the hansons in "the horrible family" was so well done. everyone acknowledging how horrible they were but also acknowledging how much of it stemmed from trauma was just *chef's kiss*. i feel like it's been implied before but i like that they outright stated that one reason why grace struggled as a mother is because she was given zero blueprint from her own terrible mother (and once again i'm pretty positive that that plot point is taken directly from jane fonda's own autobiography lol)

frankie:

god, the stuff about her losing the ability to paint fucking gutted me. that's one of my greatest fears about getting older. her saying that she's less scared of dying than she is of all of the pain that leads up to it was so painful and real and i think relatable to a lot of people. (and i think this also comes from lily's life, since she's talked about her osteoarthritis affecting her hands, which just makes it even more painful)

other than exploring her feelings about death, which was big don't get me wrong, i feel like we didn't get all that much insight into her character this season. i wish we could've gotten a scene between the bergsteins like we got with the hansons in "the horrible family." but still, i was ultimately satisfied with her character arc this season and how she came to accept the struggles that will come with getting older.

also fucking loved her smuggling cheap drugs for senior citizens who can't afford them, although like i saw several others on here say, it is kind of weird how many Crime Plots grace and frankie were involved in this season.

grace/frankie:

fuck i love what they did with the grace/frankie/nick dynamic. i actually always enjoyed nick as a character outside of his relationship with grace, partly because peter gallagher is so charming, but i have been so sick of this man for several seasons now. i kept being like, why do they keep him around? but it turned out that his ultimate purpose was to highlight how important grace and frankie are to each other! and that no one else could ever be as important to them as they are to each other. grace saying she doesn't want to be married to nick because she wants to be with frankie? nick explicitly stating that their marriage was painful for him because he knew grace loved frankie more than she loved him?? HELLO??? as much as i did not enjoy seeing them have sex for one last time, even that scene highlighted the unequal relationship between the three of them. grace and nick are cuddling post-sex, frankie sits down next to grace, grace starts cuddling frankie instead, and nick knows that's his cue to leave. they really treated their dynamic as a love triangle in which not only did nick lose, but he was doomed to lose from the start. insanity.

grace having panic attacks at the thought of frankie dying because frankie is the only one besides her father who's ever made grace feel safe! my god these women love each other so much!!!

i love love love that a central thesis of the series is that these women's relationship makes them both better people

the scene where they go to heaven. holy shit. frankie rejected going to heaven so that she could be with grace. like. i honestly cannot fucking believe it. that's some shit out of greek mythology or something. and when they thought they were going to have to say goodbye, and put their foreheads together and said they loved each other? frankie saying she wishes they had more time together and that she knew grace as a little girl? grace saying she would be a completely different person (going back to the idea that they make each other better)? you can't tell me they're not deeply in love. you just can't.

(it's basically the castiel superhell ending but opposite lol)

THE FINAL SCENE HOLY SHIT. i have never seen anything more romantic than grace helping frankie to paint. my heart stuttered and i think i literally gasped out loud. no greater act of love!!!

the final scene is them walking off into the horizon while a song with the lyrics "i dedicate my life to you" is playing. i just. i can't.

these women are deeply, passionately in love with each other and in my headcanon they went back to the beach house after the last moments of the finale and admitted that their feelings aren't platonic, had sex, and got engaged. you can't tell me otherwise!

obviously my ideal scenario for the finale would have been for them to kiss and admit they're in gay love but realistically that was never gonna happen and i made peace with that a long time ago. i'm just so happy that the show ended with them committing to each other for the rest of their lives, in a way that i can easily interpret as being romantic/sexual. like, that's not just a headcanon, it's one possible reading that's completely consistent with the text. i know some people were disappointed but i was very emotionally satisfied with what we got. like i said on twitter, in some ways the ending we got felt gayer to me than if they had actually unequivocally made them gay. after all these years of loving this show but it putting me through agony because these women wouldn't admit their feelings to each other, this ending was better than i ever thought it would be.

i can't believe this show is over but i'm so grateful for what it's meant to me over these past 5 years or so, and for all the friends i made through the fandom. it really feels like the end of an era.