#genuinely if people don’t find this funny. then that’s fine. but also wrong

[actiniumwrites]

kiss me (not)

synopsis: how they’d react when you dodge/ wipe off their kisses for a day as a prank

characters: gaming, kujou sara, heizou, tighnari, cyno, kaveh, and lyney x gn!reader

warnings: fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, some humor, established relationships, etc

notes: i love this prompt so much omg. i’ve read a lot of fics other people have written for different fandoms and i’m actually shocked i haven’t written it before considering i eat it up every time (especially when there’s some angst 🫠)

gaming:

the first time he sees you wipe off his kiss, something in him dies a little, especially when you don’t say anything after he asks if you’re okay

so he starts doubting himself and compensating for where he may went wrong

maybe he had bad breath? or you weren’t having a good day today?

he hates that he doesn’t know what he did wrong, and even worse, why you keep doing it throughout the day

you only stop when you see the way he genuinely starts beating himself up over it, deciding it wasn’t funny anymore and honestly never was

“it was a prank,” you nudge him softly, regret overflowing from your voice, “i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. i shouldn’t have kept it going for so long.”

a relieved breathe and a small smile from him follow right after. you can tell he’s still a bit stuck on the whole thing, but deep down, he’s just grateful he didn’t screw up somewhere because there’s no way in hell gaming would ever let himself lose you

“it’s okay,” he breathes out, clutching your hand a little tighter than usual, “just please, don’t do it again, okay?”

kujou sara:

to say she’s confused is an understatement

she’ll immediately backtrack to make sure she actually just saw that correctly. did you really just wipe off her kiss?

so she goes in for another one, and sure enough, you dodge her this time and send her a quick goodbye before slipping out of the house and running off to work

it legitimately ruins her whole day. she can’t even function at work because it’s all she can think about

and by the time she’s home at night, she’s already tired and just wants you but she’s also too afraid that maybe she did something to upset you

fortunately for her, you spare her of the prank knowing your girlfriend well enough to know that the second she walks through the door she had a shitty day

so you apologize and tell her it was just a prank and you didn’t mean any harm

and she wants to be so mad at you for it, but literally can’t no matter how hard she tries so instead she just gives in and gets the kiss she’s been thinking about all day

heizou:

he realizes right away what you’re doing and finds it rather amusing

so he’ll play along too, not trying to kiss you at all and even going a step further and not showing you any sort of physical attention

try to hold his hand? not happening. hugging him? not a chance

and it ends up becoming a competition, because what can you say? you’re both competitive people

goes on until the end of the day and only ends when you’re both too tired to keep it up

“you’re no fun, you know?” you poke his chest as you tiredly lean against him

he smiles down at you, “how so? i let you play your little pranks, didn’t i? i even played along.”

you just scoff and scoot away, tucking yourself into the warm blankets and ignoring his teasing

but then he’ll grab you and pull you into his chest, giving into you, “fine. next time i’ll give you the reaction you want. happy now?”

tighnari:

the opposite of heizou: he’s very unamused, and is very aware of what’s going on.

as soon as you back away from him after he tries to kiss you, his face falls into a deadpan and he crosses his arms menacingly

“i’ll have you know i don’t find pranks like these very funny,” he’ll immediately tell you off, not wanting to act so childishly when it comes to affection

tighnari cares a lot about people, whether he shows it or not, so to have you pretend to dodge it upsets him — even if it is meant to be a mere lighthearted prank

so you apologize instantly, feeling a little bad over the whole ordeal, “it’s just a prank, you know? i thought it would be funny to see how you’d react.”

definitely the kind of person to feel a little bashful and guilty for overreacting over something so silly, but also doesn’t want to admit it

so he’ll just silently kiss you and act like nothing happened, secretly hoping you’ll never try to pull something like that again

cyno:

at first, he thinks it’s kinda funny since he always plays jokes. however, i think he’s similar to tighnari in the sense that he also takes a little offense to it

like, he knows it’s a joke, but he just can’t help feeling a little hurt over it

“is something the matter?” he’ll ask while you’re both on the way to meet with friends. you shake your head no, fighting a smile

defeatedly, he leaves it at that, knowing you won’t budge. he’ll feel miserable the entire time and won’t stop thinking about how you won’t give the prank up, even in front of your friends

and when you both leave for the night, he crosses his arms and confronts you as you both walk home, “it isn’t funny.”

“what isn’t funny?”

“your prank. it isn’t funny. i don’t like the way you’re avoiding kissing me,” he says bluntly. it makes your heart sink into your stomach a bit, admittedly starting to feel a bit bad

so you apologize and work everything out, telling him you got the idea from alhaitham who was curious to see how he’d react in a situation like that — that, and he felt like pissing cyno off for a day, but you didn’t need to know that part

he’ll get frustrated, but is glad it’s all settled. he’ll also be extra affectionate throughout the next week, feeling as if he somehow lost time with you

kaveh:

gets so offended omg he will literally hate you

the first time you do it, his jaw drops to the floor and he calls you out on it immediately

“what was that?” he points an accusatory finger at you

you bite back a smile and feign innocence, “huh? what are you talking about?”

will not let you leave for the day until you drop the act and properly return his kiss

when you continue to go on with the prank, however, he’ll start to get all pouty and just ask you to kiss him

and he just looks so cute that you cup his face and give him a big fat kiss and walk out the door immediately after without a word and a big smile on your face, satisfied with his reaction

lyney:

he gets so dramatic about it it’s not even funny

will literally clutch his chest and fall to the ground in public so that you stop him

when you don’t and you let him face public humiliation (because you find it funny too), he stops himself and gets back up

follows you around like a lost puppy all day and will constantly try to sneak in a kiss while you’re caught of guard, but you never fall for it and he gets so much more frustrated each and every time

then he begs lynette and freminet to help him, except they think it’s funny too seeing how whipped he is for you

and he knows it’s a prank too, but the fact that you won’t break makes him so lovingly annoyed with you

you don’t stop until lynette genuinely intervenes, complaining about how annoying lyney had gotten throughout the day, “please end his suffering already. you know my brother is an idiot who doesn’t shut up and i’ve had enough of him today.”

you laugh it off, but ultimately agree

so you go and find him, which wasn’t that hard, and tap him on the shoulder before planting a gentle kiss to his lips, “sorry for pranking you. it was just too funny of an opportunity to pass up.”

“you’re so mean to me,” he’ll complain, but will then continue to kiss you so often that you’re now the annoyed one instead

[imaginehappyhavoc]

Hi could i requesst ssome headcanonss of the thh boyss with a sselectively mute reader? Thankss!

A/N: Our first official ask! As a person who also struggles with selective mutism, this ask made me smile ˶ᵔᴗᵔ˶

Pairing: Thh boys x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: N/A

Makoto Naegi:

♡ Makoto is a very understanding and patient person by nature, so it didn’t take him long to adjust to your selective mutism.

♡ He didn’t know what it was at first, and he was confused as to why you would suddenly stop talking for hours or even days at a time. Not angry, mind you, just confused.

♡ He tentatively asked you about it when he was sure you were feeling up to responding, and he was so very respectful about it.

♡ After you took the time to patiently explain selective mutism to him, the two of you were immediately on the same page.

♡ He finds himself on the internet often, idly looking through posts made by people with the same problem, hoping to understand better.

♡ Now, once he realizes you’re not responding, he just switches casually to yes or no questions.

♡ He also offers more physical contact in these moments. He’ll squeeze your shoulder or tug gently on your sleeve as a nonverbal way of showing his support.

♡ It’s a barely noticeable change, but you can tell how much he cares for you in every small gesture.

Byakuya Togami (Platonic):

♡ To be completely honest, Byakuya thought you were being petty at first.

♡ He’s aware that he can be tactless at times, and he has a tendency to say things that come across as insensitive, but he really thought the “silent treatment” was a bit childish.

♡ His annoyance started to waver when he noticed you would still smile at him, even when you wouldn’t speak.

♡ Then, he noticed that it was everyone that was getting this treatment, and not just him.

♡ He came to the conclusion that you weren’t attempting some sort of petty revenge, but just didn’t like to talk sometimes.

♡ He supposed he could understand that. He himself found talking to others to be exhausting, at times.

♡ He immediately relaxed around you, a barely noticeable drop in his shoulders telling you that he was no longer tense.

♡ He hasn’t exactly changed any of his behavior regarding your nonverbal bouts, aside from the fact that he no longer scoffs and rolls his eyes when you don’t respond to him.

♡ Still, the air around you two seemed to be rid of tension all at once, and you settled into a peaceful rhythm with one another.

Yasuhiro Hagakure:

♡ If we’re being completely honest, Yasuhiro didn’t notice.

♡ He kinda just thought you liked to spend quality time fully chilled out. He could get behind that.

♡ So when you went quiet when hanging out with him, he went quiet too. Just vibing.

♡ You, however, misread this. You thought he was angry with you for “not trying” to be social, and that was why he stopped talking when you did.

♡ When you finally worked up the courage to apologize, and explain yourself, Hiro just blinked at you.

♡ He just sort of goes: “… oh! Dude, I thought you were just chilling! Like, thanks for telling me, but I was having a good time. You don’t gotta apologize for that!”

♡ And, honestly, nothing actually changes after that.

♡ Now that you knew he was perfectly fine with hanging out in silence with you, the only thing that really changed was that you weren’t stressed about it anymore.

♡ The two of you simply lounge in his comfy dorm room, sometimes cuddling, sometimes not. Hiro appreciates the vibe either way.

Leon Kuwata:

♡ The first time you ever went nonverbal around him, he thought you were being funny.

♡ He would poke at you, put his face really close to yours, and try to pry hard enough to get you to “break.”

♡ You cracked a smile at his antics, and he thought he’d won, but then he noticed that you still weren’t talking.

♡ The longer you were silent, the more his smile dropped. He was getting genuinely worried that something was wrong.

♡ He eventually asked you, in an uncharacteristically gentle tone, if you were alright. All you could do was squeeze his hand, and smile reassuringly.

♡ He stayed tense until you finally felt up to speaking again, and explained your selective mutism.

♡ It took him a minute to process, but once he understood, he was committed to being as supportive as humanly possible.

♡ When you two were out with friends, and he noticed that you were retreating in on yourself, he would redirect the conversation to himself. He’d answer questions for you, butt into side conversations that were meant for you, all so you wouldn’t feel nervous about speaking to other people.

♡ He does his absolute best to make you feel comfortable when you’re muted. He doesn’t even care that friends start to think he’s a bit too eager to talk to them. Just as long as you know he’s there for you.

Chihiro Fujisaki:

(Chihiro will be included in both thh boys and girls groups for headcanons, unless specified otherwise)

♡ Chihiro was fully convinced you were mad at them.

♡ It took them maybe two minutes to start tearfully apologizing for whatever they did to upset you, and you panicked.

♡ As much as you wanted to verbally reassure them, you knew you just couldn’t. So, instead, you gestured wildly, shaking your head with wide eyes.

♡ Despite their nerves, Chihiro managed to get the gist of what you were trying to say: They’re good, talking is bad.

♡ After apologizing for apologizing, Chihiro just stayed close to you for a long time. They wrapped their arms around one of yours, and leaned on you to provide some sort of comfort, though they didn’t know if it was more for you or for them.

♡ It wasn’t until everything clicked in their head, that you were simply nonverbal, that they relaxed entirely.

♡ They dutifully took on the role of caretaker, even if you didn’t necessarily need one. They’re always so eager to care for you, protect you, so you just sit back and allow yourself to be pampered.

♡ They make extra sure that you eat, and that you’re drinking enough water. They’ll pool all of their stuffed animals- and yours, if you have any- into one room, and make you a lovely little cuddle pile to let you rest your mind for a while.

♡ Their support is, for all intents and purposes, aggressive. It’s surprising, but not unwelcome.

Mondo Owada:

♡ Like Chihiro, Mondo totally thought you were mad, and he’d done something wrong.

♡ Unlike Chihiro, he sorta shouts his apology at you. His damned nerves always made him too loud and jumpy, after all.

♡ When you’re able to explain, it takes him a while to wrap his head around. It’s not something he’d ever heard about before, but it was you, so it had to be important.

♡ It takes a lot of patience, but he eventually gets it. After that, he’s stuck to you like glue every time you go mute.

♡ He’ll wrap his arm around your shoulders if you’re in public, and give withering stares to anyone who tries to press you to speak.

♡ It’s genuinely impressive, how intense he gets when he’s defending you.

♡ In private, however, he’s much softer. Tactile as he is, he loves to hold you tightly, encouraging you to rest and take it easy.

♡ When he speaks, he does so in such a soft voice it nearly makes you cry. Adoration is poured into every syllable, and it’s almost too much to bear.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru:

♡ Unlike everyone else, Taka knew about your selective mutism the moment the relationship started.

♡ He’s a firm believer in bold simplicity, so the moment you expressed that you wanted to be his partner, he told you everything.

♡ Naturally, he encouraged you to tell him everything as well, as transparency is one of the most important things to him.

♡ When you got to your selective mutism, Taka didn’t know what it meant. But what does he do when he doesn’t know something? He researches!

♡ Hundreds of questions followed. “How often would you say this happens? Are you able to type or write during these episodes? What are some things I could do to ease your mind when you’re nonverbal?” It was like talking to a doctor.

♡ Even after his conversation with you, he wasn’t satisfied with his own knowledge, and he turned to the internet.

♡ He researched and researched, and came out two days later with an arsenal of information and tools at his disposal. It’s… actually a little intimidating.

♡ He even went so far as to make flash cards for you! Little cards with basic sentences and questions on them that you could use to communicate.

♡ No matter what it is you may need or want, Taka gets it for you so fast it’s impressive. If you need something that isn’t on one of your cards, he wastes no time in making a new one for you.

♡ His tendency to bury himself in research and practice is a bit hard to be annoyed by, especially when it’s for you.

Hifumi Yamada (Platonic):

♡ Hifumi put two and two together remarkably fast.

♡ You simply didn’t want to talk. That was fine. After all, you were one of his first friends. Who was he to complain?

♡ He doesn’t ask questions or press you for conversation. He only ever asks if you’re feeling alright, before moving on.

♡ If you’re the type that likes to be talked to when you’re nonverbal, he’ll talk your ear off.

♡ He just has so many ideas running around in his head! He could keep you entertained and engaged for days.

♡ If not, he’s more than happy to sit in silence with you as he works on a project. You make a fantastic body double, he quickly discovers.

♡ Overall, he’s incredibly relaxed about your selective mutism. Unexpectedly, he’s the type to just go with the flow. When it comes to you, at least.

[bomber-grl]

Shun Kaidou x Reader who appears to be cold but is actually soft ❤︎₊ ⊹

Pairing(s): Shun Kaidou x Gn!Reader

LOLOL this guys is so silly

He’s terrified and so intimidated by you, just as he initially was with Aren 😭

He’s so hesitant to approach you especially since he’s over here shivering and timbering in his boots but of course nendo approaches you

That’s what leads you to the group because Saiki couldn’t care less and Kaidou is this close 🤏 to shitting himself when he’s around you

Atleast at first

I mean you’d usually tag along with them but never really let go of your coldness

That’s what made it difficult for him to even connect with you- I mean how could he at this rate?

You’re always straight faced and seem to not care about, well, anything

Of course he’d be hesitant to even talk to you

But eventually you’re at school and it happens to just be the two of you

He approaches you just expecting to have some awkward small talk and when you compliment his “powers” he immediately perks up

He lightens up and immediately starts chatting away while you listen

After that you usually egg him on while he’s talking about his jet black wings alter ego and he likes it

A lot actually

But eventually he realizes he’s never talked to you fr

I mean most times he’s clinging to talking your ear off but it’s only when you’re about to get mugged does he realize how he had the completely wrong idea

Not only do you defend him but you’re so nice to him afterwards

Literally the beginning of his crush

And now let’s timeskip to when you’re dating

He’s so shocked about how kind and loving you really are

I mean one second you’re gaze is as cold as ice while telling off people for making fun of him then you’re gazing at him so warmly

Like he’s everything to you and he just doesn’t know how to feel about

You guys are so sappy and again, he doesn’t know how to handle it

I mean the moment he started dating you was almost an instant switch and honestly? He loves it

Not to mention how you aren’t actually even cold at all 😭

It’s all in Kaidous head and when he realizes it because someone tells him he’s sorta bummed (??)

I mean in actuality you’re always willing to talk to people just that you don’t look like you want to be there

Which Kaidou takes advantage of 😭

He’s pretty possessive in his own right

I mean after dating you how could he?

You’re so sweet and genuinely so funny and actually listen to him and treat his dark reunion thing seriously

Also helps when he doesn’t want to socialize while you’re out and when you run into thief’s or punks

A win is a win

Well anyway, he’d be nervous to introduce you to his mom

I mean at first she probably mistakes you for a thug or something 😭

Rightfully so but eventually even she eases up (if u meet her criteria 😒) and even congratulates Kaidou for finding someone as sweet as you

He probably uses you as a body guard to keep people away but you love him so it’s fine

Honestly you guys are just the cutest

[lilac-hecox]

congrats on 800 followers!! maybe something with trevrasha? i don’t have any specific request w/ it tho so i understand if u don’t write something

(I used my numbered prompt list and a generator and got this and liked it so!)

Trevor/Arasha - Pessimistic - Trevrasha

--

"If you think i am going to validate your pessimistic thoughts, then you're wrong"

Not for the first time, Trevor wonders if he even belongs at Smosh. Everyone at Smosh is great. They are his friends, and he has fun. It’s a dream to be able to come to the office and hang out with people he genuinely likes, playing games, fucking around, being paid to be stupid and silly on camera. 

His doubts and worries have nothing to do with the actual people at Smosh. No, it all stems from how he is perceived. Trevor won’t lie and say that every Good Mythical Morning fan welcomed him with open arms but he was liked enough there that the comments negative towards him were fewer and further between. 

Now, he’s on Smosh and he’s more heavily featured, and with that exposure comes a whole new wave of attention, and with that attention, Trevor has noticed an uptick in hateful comments or tweets towards him. 

Some fans think he isn’t funny enough, that he doesn’t deserve the spot he got. He can name tweet after tweet with someone making lists of other people they think deserved his spot on the Smosh cast. 

Trevor tries his best to ignore those comments, but he finds they hang heavy on his heart, clouding his brain when he goes to film. It makes him nervous, makes him second-guess his jokes, his performances.

Trevor is at one of the lunch tables. It’s in-between shoots and after lunch so the area is pretty barren. He’s poking at his snack of yogurt when Arasha comes into the room. She’s carrying her own snack, a bag of chips, and she smiles brightly at Trevor as she stops at his table. 

“Can I sit with you?” she asks. 

“Of course, Arasha. You don’t have to ask permission.” 

She smiles and sits and then her eyes are on him. Trevor can almost feel her gaze digging into his chest, his mind, trying to find all the things that seem to be taking over his thoughts. 

“Is something wrong?” she asks as she pops a chip into her mouth. 

Trevor shrugs. He feels a little embarrassed to admit his feelings, admit his insecurities. What if he tells her how he feels and his fears are confirmed? What if everyone else thinks he doesn’t really belong at Smosh either? 

“Come on,” she says gently, “I can tell something is wrong.” 

He and Arasha have been in a lot of videos together lately. Maybe it’s because they are similar in age and bounce off each other well. Whatever the reason, the proximity has made them closer. He still remembers when she sat him down in a make up chair and giddily, and delicately, did his blush for him for their shoot. 

The way she had stood over him, her long hair brushing his chest, the way she smiled and it went all the way to her eyes. Okay, so the proximity between them might have also given Trevor a raging crush on the woman, but he can be professional! 

He sighs, tipping his head back in the plastic chair he’s sitting in. 

“Fine,” he says, “I guess. I feel like lately maybe I shouldn’t be here.” 

He spares a glance at Arasha and her brows knit together in confusion. 

“Are you not happy at Smosh or-” 

“No!” Trevor says quickly, “I am! I’m super happy! I just…I don’t know if I’m funny enough or like…good enough to be here, you know?” 

“Trevor!” Arasha says, “of course you’re funny enough to be here!” 

Trevor shrugs, “I don’t think the majority of the Smosh fans like me.” 

Arasha’s eyes widen and then it’s like an understanding hits her. 

“You’ve been reading hate comments?” 

“Not just hate comments,” Trevor mumbles, “sometimes they tweet me too.” 

She reaches across the table and lays her hand over his. Her nails are a soft purple and her hand is warm where it rests on top of his own. He likes her hands as weird as it sounds. She talks a lot with them. Her fingers are nimble. He also likes her smile, her laugh, her quick wit…he really likes everything about her if he’s being honest. 

“I know it’s hard but you can’t read that stuff, Trev.” 

“But-” 

“Ah!” she says, removing her hand and raising a finger in the air, “Ah, ah. If you think I am going to validate your pessimistic thoughts, then you're wrong."

She’s also really smart. That’s another thing he likes about her. 

“You’re here for a reason. You’re here because you’re funny, and you’re so kind, and you bring a certain light to the camera. You’re exactly where you should be with us, Trevor, so don’t let a vocal minority get you down. You remember when Ian and Anthony bought the company? A bunch of fans were clamoring for them to fire us, but that was just words, just their opinions, and now I’d say we’re all more loved than ever.” 

Trevor nods and he knows realistically she’s right. It’s just hard to remember sometimes. 

“Besides,” she says, her voice going soft, “if you left, who am I going to tease and hang out with?” a smile crosses her face, delicate, sweet. 

“Let’s see, Angela, Chanse, Courtney, Amanda, Spen-” 

“The point is!” she barrels on, a laugh on her lips, “is that, yes, I could hang out with them, but I wanna hang out with you and if you’re gone I can’t do that.” 

She is smiling and Trevor thinks he sees a hint of a blush on her cheeks. He feels warm inside, fond of this woman. The bad thoughts linger in the back of his head but Arasha was like a breath of fresh air, blowing them away, clearing the clouds that fogged up his brain. 

“Okay, okay, fair point,” Trevor says, “If I go no one else is going to understand your Drake and Josh references.” 

“Exactly!” Arasha says with a giggle. She turns her chip bag towards him, “want one?” 

Trevor snags a chip and smiles at her. “Thanks Arasha.” 

She smiles like she gets it. Like she knows it’s for more than just the chip. 

How could he really care if a handful of Smosh fans didn’t like him? All that mattered right now was that Arasha does and she wants him around.

[deliciouskeys]

Hot takes, roughly in order of how much I care…

Homelander and Ryan

I liked the what felt like 2 minutes of Ryan and Homelander that we got in this episode. I know where they’re going with this, but I expected so much worse from the slapping scene that was mentioned in spoilers. Is the Boys writers’ room going on record that corporal punishment may not be justified in the face of sexual harassment? Because I think that’s a controversial stance, especially if there’s a clear work power dynamic at play lol. Anyway, I’m glad they chose this gray scenario, because it’s really hard to be sympathetic with a guy like Adam.

When Homelander says “that’s… amazing”, I think that’s being interpreted as incredulous and dismissive in online circles. I think he’s genuinely surprised that’s what first comes to mind to his son, but I don’t think he’s disdainful per se. In Homelander’s mind “saving people” is very much synonymous with “putting wrongdoers in their place”. And since he sees society (‘in America’) as wrong, his grand plan of supes becoming more of a despotic pantheon over the normies isn’t necessarily in contradiction with Ryan’s desire to ‘save people.’ TL;DR I don’t think HL is dismissing Ryan’s aspirations out of hand.

(Hearkening back to “You people should be thanking christ that I am who I am, because you need me. You need me to save you, you do. I am the only one who possibly can.”)

ETA: ok I need to clarify this part since what I wrote here sounds like HL and Ryan are going to get along great and that’s not what I meant to convey. I cannot field all the DMs! This is a hot take! I just meant that I didn’t expect HL to realize he might not know what Ryan wants because he’s been fucked by Vought. My expectations bar is perpetually low, please keep this in mind. I also despise the oversaturation of portrayals of bratty kids in media so please know that’s just my personal aesthetic bias.

Other Vought peeps

I wish Sage got more screen time. I appreciated ATrain’s taking initiative to escape notice. I do wonder what Ashley would have done if Cameron Coleman hadn’t just broken up with her.

I’m glad Stan Edgar gets to say Homelander is a “Freudian cesspool of random impulse and deep insecurity” right on the heels of e4. “Glad” lol.

Virus farm section

I’m getting a little tired of characters saying “we’re at an impasse” when… they’re clearly not at any real impasse. Victoria could have exploded the Boys’ heads and brought in other redshirts to help find Sameer if she really wanted to. And she paid the price for not doing that. Is the implication that she is afraid of Annie and Kimiko?

As for the virus… well. I’m strangely fine with what Billy is doing. If this virus isn’t even that contagious supe-to-supe, then his plan to keep trying to kill HL with it makes a lot of sense. As for Sameer? Well, if they hadn’t wasted the “last dose” (see below for why that’s stupid) of the virus on sheep, and Victoria didn’t just shrug and say ‘guess that’s that’, and also let the Boys live in the first place, Sameer would still have his leg.

I did cringe when the sheep was vomiting its guts out and Victoria, Kimiko, and Annie were all within Ebola-body-fluid-droplet range of it. Because this thing does sound more contagious than HIV, at least.

If Billy Butcher really needed some more virus I hope he grabbed the carnivorous sheep carcasses. Presumably there’s a gallon of replicated virus right there. Not only does it kill supes, it’s also a virus that replicates orders of magnitude faster than any living thing on earth lol. There are many things that are funny about how they’re researching this virus. Not a single biohazard tissue culture hood in sight. No cell based assays. AAAAANYWAY, it really doesn’t matter. Big fast compound V targeting(?) virus doesn’t need logic.

Overall just not a fan of big loud sequences with ultimately low stakes, so the flying sheep were a lot less fun to me than the e2 fight scene action.

What I think isn’t working

This is minor but after Gen V, I cringe at Sam’s acting. Just that one line they gave him sounded bad to me, and I know it’s probably just PTSD from how much I disliked the end of Gen V but there it is. I’m sorry to those of you who like him, this is clearly personal opinion. Cate is fine, she can stay.

Hughie’s storyline… I don’t even know what to say. Nothing about his parents’ shitty behavior was resolved. And then Hughie was forced to say his dad is his hero to save his mom’s life. And also be the one to euthanize him. What a weird, weird arc.

I’m saying absolutely nothing about Frenchie’s storyline because it is even more inexplicable. @kosmochlor covered it all.

[sasukesun]

Hey, how are u?

Also, I wanted to ask what do you think about Naruto and Sasura’s relationship nature. I mean, do you think he ever truly loved her? His speech in shippuden about his feelings for her seemed really genuine, but except that I don’t really see love in his behavior, more like a childish crush? I don’t buy what was said in The Last about him trying to hit on her only to win with Sasuke, it doesn’t really makes sense to me. Anyway, what is your opinion? Thanks for answering xo

hello anon, i’m fine.

naruto’s behaviour towards sakura and overall attraction to women is inconsistent. we can easily tell that he truly never had romantic feelings for her, but a crush is, in my opinion, debatable… and really a crush in the sense of “she’s cute, i like her” kind of thing, which is basically what we see when sakura is introduced

now what is interesting is that the last wasn’t wrong to show that maybe it was about sasuke, it just definitely wasn’t so naruto could compete with sasuke

“i feel like i finally understand why i like her” right after sakura said she wants to be acknowledged by sasuke because she likes him? really? we know that naruto wants to be acknowledged by everyone, that’s the core of his character, but in this context, this just seems kinda ambiguous… he doesn’t wanna win over sasuke, he just wants his acknowledgement. when you take naruto’s interactions with sasuke and sakura into consideration after this quote, as well his behaviour, you see that basically naruto mimics heterosexuality by pretending to like sakura, while actually focusing his attention on sasuke, he mistakes his feelings/attraction for sasuke for a rivalry at first and a friendship later. i’ll give you some examples.

he doesn’t have much tact to compliment sakura. i know this is what she wanted to hear, but i just find it so funny honestly.

there are also a few more moments involving sakura’s appearance and naruto, in which a) naruto says haku is prettier than her b) naruto says after two years that they haven’t seen each other that she looked the same even though it seems by her body language that she wanted to be complimented and c) when other people called sakura ugly and naruto didn’t even comment about it or tried to defend her. now let’s look at this

is there some need to defend sasuke’s honour or something? no one is even insulting sasuke here, just comparing him and sai. the japanese word naruto uses here can be used to compliment someone’s looks btw and he not only says it, but he emphasises it at the end. there’s pretty much a huge gap between “the cute girl” he’s supposed to like a lot and sasuke, who is above it.

how about when naruto is just doing absolutely nothing but thinking of sasuke

until he gets interrupted by sakura… so he says he was planning to go on a date with her. are you for real?

this one is even funnier… sakura is taking care of naruto after he hurt his arm with rasenshuriken. someone in love would surely be happy to be closer to your loved one while they are healing you, and it’s what it seems that naruto is gonna say

until you turn to the next page

he’s just really happy they are in this together… for sasuke. you really can’t make this shit up.

i’ve also pointed out that in the chapter in which sakura decides to fake confess to naruto and go after sasuke to kill him, sakura says “that fool’s got such a crush on me” about naruto, and yet the only appearance naruto makes in the same chapter is him lying down and pining over sasuke. yikes.

the only “narusaku” moment during war on naruto’s part is when minato asks naruto if sakura is his girlfriend to which he reacts like

it’s not only that this is comic relief and it just seems like he wants to look good in front of his father, because he already knows about his mom’s speech and wishes when his parents died, it’s also that he hesitates to answer it.

but when he’s saying goodbye and really referencing the whole speech topic by topic and talking about important things…

he deflects the subject. very convenient and smart of kishimoto when he’s not allowed to explicitly say what he wants to, such as homosexuality.

and of course, there’s the infamous fake confession

in which naruto basically looks annoyed... not the reaction of someone who is in love, i would say.

and the cherry on top

the promise he made to sakura hasn’t changed anything, he would act the same with or without it.

narusaku dead and buried.

those inconsistencies happen over and over and they always involve sasuke somehow… like i said, projecting his real feelings for sasuke onto sakura. now if you think he thought she was cute and all, i can give you the benefit of the doubt, but being in love with her? no way. naruto has never loved her like that, and i honestly can’t even tell that he loved as a friend either when he pretty much treats her the same way he treats his other konoha comrades: takes responsibility for everything and doesn’t let anyone get involved…

…unless it’s sasuke, obviously, then he will bear his burdens and see so much pain that he just can’t leave it alone.

[steve0discusses]

Ep 46 Pt 2: Seto is Sad Now

I just want to take the time to fully appreciate Seto and Yami on the back of this horse.

You can’t tell me that the image alone of them on horse back where Seto is just on the back like it’s a motorcycle or something? Two cousins trying not to be weird about this mode of transportation while the tall one sits in the tiny seat?

 (which by the way, I didn’t realize it at the time, but uh my condolences to the shippers of Yami and Seto, they are...damn! They sure are cousins, aren’t they? Like a reverse Sailor Uranus/Sailor Neptune situation right here. Well, you still got modern Seto, but...sooo many lost fanfics out there, I’m sure, who were...probably not happy with this revelation.)

So I had to look this up because I’m not a horse girl, regrettably, I do not know enough about horses to know if two grown men can fit on the back of a horse without busting that horse’s spine in half. But, what I found out is: you don’t do this to a horse. I mean you can, but you shouldn’t.

Thing is...Yami is technically a kid in size, if memory serves, Yugi is still less than 100 lbs.

Maybe this horse is OK? this horse they occasionally use to skate down mountainsides? It’s not a real horse anyway, and honestly, this whole idea of the two on a horse is very funny to me so who cares.

(read more under the cut)

Also speaking of scientifically incorrect things in Yugioh, this was also very funny,

FAR BE IT FROM ME to get all technical and make some weird youtube video about all the historical inaccuracies in TV shows (which damn, I sure do hate those videos) but I can still laugh at it when it happens.

Bro just told me “bold of you to trust Google” and he’s correct. For all we know some AI just lied to me just now, so if you know some deep lore about trebuchets don’t be afraid to speak up.

Their horse pulls up to the line of out of touch trebuchets and warriors flanking the city, where we reunite as a cast minus Karim.

Yami then dumps this on me and it was so outlandish I could not tell if this was canon to the manga/original translation or if the dub decided this would be OK to do.

Just let the man die! He divorced his wife on horseback and then did not raise Seto, he abandoned this boy to kill thousands of people, just let Aknadin freakin die. Please, Yami, this is not up for debate, Yami. Let Aknadin freakin die he hella deserves it.

Agh, Dartz all over again, I swear this show didn’t used to feel the need to redeem it’s villains, youknow? Or maybe it was always like this but I forgot because of freakin long covid wiping a year of my life, I don’t freaking know. But if/when Aknadin comes back I genuinely can’t see how he and Seto could ever fix their relationship on this planet Earth.

Anyway, speaking of being tired beyond your ability, Yami remembers just how many fireballs he took to the chest today and decides to just keel over. Good thing he didn’t do this on the back of the horse.

Relatable, honestly, this is what I do nowadays when I have to stand too long because I decided to cook 2 things instead of 1. Yami just has long covid, he’ll be fine. Just find a couch and do a big sittie, Yami.

Like damn, Yami, maybe should’ve let Seto at least drive the horse?

And so the trebuchets fire off with all this animation that a bunch of people looked at, and after them, these scenes passed over like 100 more people’s hands, and no one at any point said “yo they used sleds instead of wheels in Egyptian sands, right?” and they were...like they were from the wrong anime really, but please admire the wings on these “trebuchets”

freakin nerf guns made out of logs hahaha.

Anyway, Bakura noticed.

Sad Seto starts botching it so poorly that it, in fact, triggers the end of the world.

Could’ve been Isis commanding the troops. Or Grandpa. Or Shad- no wait, no actually...

...probably shouldn’t be Shada.

But I think that Isis would not have needed that necklace to know throwing logs at the enemy would not work. Especially since this particular enemy is like...all log.

Thanks for the America shout-out Yugioh, my warm and fuzzy patriotic vibes go off in my heart every time I see lady liberty in an apocalyptic setting, not gonna lie.

I make fun, but it really did take Yami a while to figure out what the hell Bakura was implying here.

Lets admire the guy in the very back who looks like he just lost his glasses so he’s just gonna sit it out directly on the ground.

I will not revise the death count. They died. They died right in front of me. This is clearly a ghost.

They’re just back now. They’ve done this before where they magically come back to life, it’s never explained, and I’m used to it. Rex and Weevil are god tier and it’s never ever explained. I’m ready for them to die again every time I see them on this show. But this show will never let go of these bastards because like...well I don’t know, really, but it feels like the show runners REALLY like these two and I’ll let them have their comfort OCs.

LISTEN.

So I know I was going to put a towel on this boy’s enormous smiling dong, but it would, in fact, make it more obscene to put the towel on him in this particular scene than to go without the towel.

And yes, it did grow larger than the last time we saw it, and no... I don’t think we should analyze that.

Meanwhile we have run out of useless logs and their out of place trebuchets.

Blue Eyes just sitting on the bleachers being like “no dawg, it’s fine! I’m fine, we’re all fine!”

And then we uh, killed Shadi.

It happened so quickly I think the dub actually removed a scene where he gets hit. Like suddenly Yami’s in danger, then it cuts away, and then Shadi is just on the ground like “you get em buddy” and he kicks it.

What an unceremonious way for this creep to die.

And of all the times! He has been threatening to die this entire season! And I guess it’s better than getting bricked in the head by Aknadin, but still...a lightning bolt huh?

And in case you were like “so why is he this weird ghost that haunts us 5000 years later?” That’s apparently answered in like the movie, from what bro tells me. I forget which. I want to say it’s Dark Side of Dimensions, that movie I keep threatening to watch. He hasn’t seen it either, he doesn’t know.

Anyway, we made it through another episode, and yes, it was Shadi who died.

I cannot believe how long Grandpa has held out this season, can you? I can’t believe it at all.

We’ll catch up again next episode, where...it feels like this is the finale guys. Wow. We’ve come so far. And again, I wish I was in a better state to write, because I feel like I used to be a lot more in depth and just...more analytical. 

But really, this season is just pretty freaking weird. Like there is stuff to analyze here. There are things to get out of it. But I spend so long being like “and then this weird thing happened, and that weird thing happened” that I’m still just stringing together the nonsense and I’m not really appreciating the forest for the trees.

But I’m sure those things will come to me in time, if they really are that important to glean from this season, even if it may be in some later episode or some sort of post-season essay I feel like writing (I probably won’t). But until then, we’ll just admire the dickface they convinced 4kids to put on TV.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[potatosapien5]

okay so this is specifically about the fnaf movie but also any other movie that applies. I just really need to write this out. the thing is, when people say “it’s okay to like a bad movie” or “why can’t you just accept that you can like a bad movie” it’s not the comfort that they think it is. It’s actually really hurtful. the thing is, I DON’T think the fnaf movie is a bad movie. Is it perfect? Fuck no. Does the plot have pretty big problems? Yes, of course! But the thing is, it’s clear to me that it was made with love and appreciation for the characters. Their relationships feel genuine to me. I don’t find the animatronic scenes to be cringey, and if they are, I think it’s a heartfelt kind of cringe. I think that Blumhouse set out to make a specific kind of movie, and, overall, they succeeded at that. you don’t have to agree with me. You can believe that it is bad. But that’s your opinion, and saying that I should just accept that I “like a bad movie” is misunderstanding MY opinion at best. I have criticisms of the movie, I think there are things it could’ve improved upon, elements it could have made better. I do think, despite loving THAT scene, it did cause an abrupt tone shift, one that would understandably turn people off from it. But that doesn’t make the scene itself bad. The elements that someone else may dislike, and consider bad, are elements I consider GOOD. I don’t like these elements ironically. plus some of the criticisms have just felt weird to me. One person said that the acting felt off, especially for the kids, like Abby. I don’t understand that. Abby felt very realistic to me, as someone who knows several children and has a younger sibling. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but I definitely wouldn’t say the acting in the movie was bad, I think that just doesn’t make sense. It wasn’t the best in the world, but it definitely wasn’t bad. And many of the things people criticized I just… didn’t find to be flaws. It isn’t that I like the movie DESPITE these things, it’s that I don’t see these things as detracting from the movie. They add to it, and not just in a funny, ironic way. In the end, I think this movie was made with a lot of care and love, and I think that shows. And I think it has many amazing qualities, despite its shortcomings. So no, I’m not just going to accept that I like a “bad” movie. I believe that I like a good movie, a flawed, but good movie. This isn’t to say that people have to think it was good, they don't. But they need to accept that I think it was good. I, and so many other fans. I’m sure some people would disagree with me, and say they do like it ironically, or because it’s funny, or because it’s bad. And that’s fine. But if I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong, then you can’t tell me I’m wrong. Media isn’t objective. Opinions and feelings are different, but opinions aren’t absolute truth. So people who think the fnaf movie, or any commonly hated movie, is good, that’s real. Your interpretation of the media is valid, just as valid as anyone else’s. So you don’t have to say you just like a bad movie. You can like a movie people think is bad, because you think it’s good.

[ashdreams2023]

The umbrella academy season 4 thoughts (contain spoilers)

Let’s start with my top characters this season

Victor

Alison (surprisingly)

Klaus

Didn’t like them much for reasons I’ll explain

Ben

Lila

Five

Neutral about

Diego

Luther

Opinion on each character:

- First off Victor looks extra manly this season idk what it was but it was so good and he was so brave! I’m so proud of him and so glad he got the recognition he wanted from his dad, I like how his character got through the four seasons, his journey was great, he’s one of the most level headed to me personally in the group, he has every right to be angry and tired.

- Alison oh my god she worked this season, she knows she messed up bad and isn’t acting like she didn’t do anything wrong, it’s nice to see that by the end of the day she proved that all she needed was her family, Clare was also adorable, Also her knew powers are cool as shit, this Alison is so much better than season 3 and I’m glad we’re over that version of her

- I can not stress this enough but I’ll never get enough of klaus! It was such a nice touch to make him a germ phobic person and being scared of dying because he couldn’t just come back, him too timid and unlike his…well himself! Also I’m tired of seeing his potential going to waste! He is powerful! Literally he speak and order the dead! What happened?! Like his power is so dope! On a side note I sorta felt sad when I realized he started drinking at a young age to cope with the voices and what he sees

- Ben…Jesus Christ I haven’t liked him since season 3 and I still don’t, I miss the Ben from the first two seasons I used to have a crush on him he was adorable, funny and slightly crazy, plus he was always with klaus they were a duo, this Ben from the sparrow academy was not it and what you mean all of this was his fault? 💀 like yeah you want to be a hero but look to what that lead

- Lila I think she’s cool…her and Diego are badasses, but girl! Tf wrong with you?! Fine do undercover work, you have a right to be your own person you’re not just a wife but god damn did you have to go and be with five! Other than that it was just a mess

- five was so out of character this season, what happened to the overworked, tempered person I loved?! What you mean you fell for Lila because you followed her stupid idea?! And guess what? You got nothing out of it! You got lost for seven years in there, gathered literally nothing and had an affair with your sister in law! they could’ve been creative and pull a human Delors from one of the other timelines and make him a love interest but nope! They had to make it messy and weird

- Diego oh my sweet Diego, his character is so…I don’t know but I never disliked him, he has mommy issues and he’s hella funny without realizing it, also poor him this season, although he’s definitely softened up, it’s adorable that he made himself a family even though it got taken away at the end 💀 also he’s justified for being angry at five, that one bullet scene was excellent though

- Luther, actually like took me tf out that he was working as a stripper omg lol! I almost forgot how slim the actual actor was, he was dumb and funny, and I genuinely wondered where his wife went, he was so ready to go find her at the end of last season 

Overall:

I didn’t hate the final ending, I mean it made sense for that every timeline they stepped in they destroyed, like I’ll miss them to bits, those dumb idiots and pretend season 4 never happened because I gained nothing but a WTF did I just watch moment, and I thought people were exaggerating but it was just not that good…I wished they gave Ben and Jennifer more time so their relationship isn’t solely based on what’s inside them and justice for my man Klaus he suffered so much throughout these seasons.

Anyways at the end of the day these are only opinions and if you like this season good for you babe, enjoy whatever makes you happy 🤍

[lindszeppelin]

I’ve already seen on some shipper blogs an interesting pattern.

At first they were firmly saying that A&K were blissfully happy, just private. Then they changed it to “they can’t be smiling all the time!” when the smoking pics came out. After that, it was “see? People did an article, they’re fine”. A bit later, “L&S is not a reputable source!”. When the recent Romantic Getaway pics came out, it’s just 2 friends having fun and anyways, he doesn’t have to be everywhere she is (after they swore up and down that they were always together), of course, they couldn’t say Aus was there because he was on the other side of the world…though someone did say that maybe he was on the vacation but didn’t show in pics lol. They turned the likegate narrative as him shading V and he couldn’t possibly be talking about Kaia.

Then there was a slight shift when he was so obviously flirting with Lucia, apparently he’s always flirty and/or he was just having a bit of fun.

Now, when asked if they’ll still stand Kaia after a breakup, they insist that yes, and they have a “contingency plan” in case it happens…which I find interesting because before they were 1000% sure of the ship, and now it’s “well, if it happens, I’ll do this”. So they are also seeing the signs, they’re just refusing to acknowledge them for now because it would show how opportunistic they are. When the tide changes, so will they, I’ve seen this over a lot!

There’s a toxic fandom of a show with a time-travelling English nurse and her Scottish husband, and the leading actor has a rabid female fan base that defended him even when his covid actions were questionable… But as soon as he dates women they don’t approve of (he seems to like OF-types of “models”), they are now “disappointed” in him and won’t support him anymore 🙄

Watch these girls turn on Austin and pretend they never stanned him when the breakup happens.

First of all i love Outlander and knew you were talking about Outlander in your last paragraph, i love it lol. I didn't know Sam's fanbase was so toxic, i don't look and see. But that's gross of his fans to do that.

Secondly, when these shippers have posts in their drafts that consist of a Breakup Post or an Engagement Post...you're hedging your bets to still want to be right about your fucked up opinions. Like "see, I have this Breakup post in the chamber, ready to go when they do. So i'm not worried. But I also have an Engagement post if that happens". Like, give me a fucking break.

And of course they'll stand with Kaia after the breakup. That is not in question. The true test comes in with how they treat Austin when he leaves her, and when he finds somebody else. I guarantee you when they split, they'll keep caring about Kaia for a few weeks...maybe a few months to really give it the juice...and then they won't give a shit anymore. Kaia without Austin is nobody. Kaia without Austin doesn't give them the clout they're used to getting. And then those shippers that once didn't like her but then turned, they will revert back to being bored with her. The circle completes itself lol.

All you gotta do is see how they treat Austin. They are treating him as a plaything for their blogs and as a commodity now, just wait until they throw him to the curb or pretend to still be his fans when they breakup. They will try to overcompensate for the years of saying they will stay together. I am telling you, this is a fact. My intuition is never wrong. They will be licking their wounds for a long time.

The funny thing is that the shippers cannot win either way. If they pretend to still like him, it's not genuine and you can tell. If they throw him to the curb and say "Kaia deserves someone better" etc etc then they clearly don't give a fuck about him. They will lose regardless and they know this. That's why they are desperate for this breakup to not happen. They know they have nothing to stand on, they know they are not liked in the fandom, and they can't offer anything to the fandom anymore when it does happen. Nobody will give a shit about the content they put out, or their opinions. What purpose does it have when they've broken up? None lol. If nobody gives a damn about their whacky opinions now then picture how it's gonna be when Austin has moved on from Kaia. It's back to groveling and square one.

Like, i don't expect people to ever give a shit about my opinions, and I certainly don't expect people to give a shit about my opinions when they breakup because well...there won't be anything crazy to talk about and it's over, and we can go back to normal lol. I didn't start my blog with the intention of making the #1 Austin Butler Gossip Rag with all the latest whatevers. I jumpstarted my blog again as an Austin fan and I will keep being a fan until Tumblr implodes and we go to a new social media platform lol.

And that's the problem a lot of these shippers have. They marketed themselves and their blogs in a very specific way as shipper stan accounts and even more, and it's gonna fuck them over when they breakup. They will lose followers, they will lose engagement on their posts, they will scramble to stay relevant in the new fandom landscape. And all of that will be their karma. And the best part is that we don't have to do anything. God will take care of it. What you put out into the universe, you will get back ten times over. You verbally abuse people, you harass and bully people, you create a dictatorship within the fandom, you lie and slander...you'll get it back times 10. Trust.

[fcb-mv33]

You know watching today’s interview I feel like really shows how shook and hurt Max has felt about the abuse himself and his family have gotten and the accusations being thrown around about him.

Like over the past two years we have really not seen Max address the abuse he received beyond the usual “people don’t like me and I’m fine with that”. People including the media find it sometimes funny the abuse Max gets, they chose never to comment on it but really last weekend was a turning point. Seeing the abuse that was thrown towards his sister and her partner was honestly scary, seeing how far people are willing to take it to hurt Max. Threatening a family who have genuinely absolutely nothing to do with Brazil to a point where comments still are turned off on their posts is really sad to see.

Then when he said “I’ve never been a bad teammate to anyone” really was sad. Max has always been portrayed as the bad teammate, the reason why the other driver never does well, he’s portrayed as selfish and arrogant when he truly isn’t. All those drivers (bar maybe one) have nothing but amazing things to say about who Max is as a person and especially his teammates. Daniel, Carlos, Pierre and Alex have never ever had an issue with Max yet Max somehow is a bad teammate?

It just truly amazes me how little the f1 community cares about the abuse Max and his family have been receiving. This has happened before with other drivers and we saw an outpouring of support for media, drivers and teams yet crickets for Max. And yet people are still abusing him for speaking out? Saying himself and his family deserve it? Like what is wrong people.

I’m glad he spoke out but I really just wish that people would start to stick up and defend Max more and also begin to look at who Max is rather than what the media portray to have their villain.

[rpmemesbyarat]

Deconstruction is more than parody or satire or even subversion, and it’s more than just saying something is dumb, and it’s more than doing a “dark” take on something.  Some of my absolutely FAVORITE works are deconstructions, such as Shrek and Revolutionary Girl Utena, both of which point out the realistic pitfalls of traditional fairytale roles. But there still needs to be more to it than just “one really smart character just suddenly starts pointing out how all these things are unrealistic” because, as mentioned, if you just stick a character like that into one of these worlds that are played straight, it actually doesn’t work, because the character is objectively wrong. “Ah but it’s not like that in my world! The unrealistic things that happen have realistic consequences! All the stupid things people do in superhero/fairytale/etc stories don’t work and hurt people!” Then why are they still doing them? Edna Mode STOPPED designing capes because they were safety hazards. If gingerbread houses repeatedly get moldy from rain and crumple, why does every witch in your fantasy deconstruction still build them. Just so the protagonist can go, hey, that’s stupid? That’s kind of unrealistic itself. If something was built to fall from the start, how has it even lasted long enough for the hero to point out its flaws? And if it has lasted so long, how do they know it’s flawed? Hold that thought. Now, let’s talk about Shrek the character and the film. Shrek actually DOES do all the expected things for an ogre short of actually eating anyone. He lives in a swamp, he’s mean and nasty, and his hygiene is, uh, not great. The deconstructive aspect is in exploring why these things are and what their results are. He lives in a swamp to avoid people because of their reactions to him, which are also why he behaves the way he does. He explains out loud that people judge him before they even know him, and he finds it easier to just be what they expect because at least that keeps them away. He also does seem to genuinely enjoy the swamp for the same reason his hygiene is gross by human standards; because he’s not a human, so what’s “normal” for humans won’t be the same for him, and that’s actually fine. The grossness is played for laughs, but it also plays a role in showing Fiona’s self-acceptance. For instance, when she belches and doesn’t show any embarrassment, she’s stepping outside her prescribed “princess” role that she clings to, and showing behavior that is ogre-ish, something she normally has great discomfort with as it reflects the side of herself she hates. Yet, she’s unashamed of it around Shrek. So, it’s not just “omg she burped, so funny!” or “this is a clever deconstruction because see, the PRINCESS does something GROSS and princesses don’t normally do that!” It’s a lot deeper. We see that the role of being a princess is so restrictive to Fiona that she stifles an entire side of herself in shame, and we also see WHY she would do that, because it’s established earlier how despised ogres are by wider society. A society that hates ogres would surely never accept one as a princess. Her behavior makes sense within the context of her world, as does Shrek’s own, but also deconstructs it by showing the actual psychological ramifications that such restrictions and roles—the perfect princess, the nasty ogre– have on the people who are forced into them by society. A deconstruction criticizes a work by taking its foundations and following them to the realistic point, which is often a negative end. Revolutionary Girl Utena, though wildly different in tone from Shrek, does things similarly in that it critically examines the restrictive roles of fairytale archetypes–namely, the princess, the prince, and the witch—and the disastrous psychological effects that trying to fit these roles (or force them on others) has on people. It starts out with the idea of simply “Utena is a girl but wants to be a prince and save princesses” something that most people would find revolutionary enough, but then breaks down how that’s ACTUALLY still playing by the rules of an oppressive system, still using the same restrictive boxes even if you’re going into a different one than you’re “supposed” to, and still viewing others within that same restrictive system (seeing other women, namely Anthy, as “princesses” who exist for her to “save” in order to validate her desire to be a “prince” and thus dehumanizing them in the process as much as others have) Yet again, the deconstruction is done not by going “isn’t this silly?” or by having the characters simply act in ways unexpected for the genre, it’s done by exploring the realistic consequences of the tropes in a certain genre. And like Shrek, both stories show WHY these systems exist. It’s not just “everyone is an idiot using ideas that don’t work and only this super special protagonist can see how dumb it all is” in either one. Ok, most people being stupid IS a bit of a factor in Shrek, because it’s a comedy, but in both worlds we see these systems are promoted and upheld by people in power behind the scenes for their own gain. Even when fairytale creatures aren’t being rounded up and deported en masse by one noble in particular, it does seem that royalty is exclusively human in Shrek’s world, and the current king was only able to get on the throne and marry the woman he loved by making a magical bargain that made him human in the first place, even though he was sentient and speaking as a frog. Logically, why COULDN’T a sentient speaking frog with human-level intellect marry a queen and run a kingdom? Or a talking donkey? Or talking cat? Or an ogre? It’s not shoved in our face, but it seems like there is a definite “humans are a ruling class” thing going on, and the roles that people are put into as hero or monster (or just “lesser” such as Donkey) is based on one being a human or not. And our villain in the second movie, the Fairy Godmother, though not human herself, clearly seeks power by exploiting and enforcing this system. And in “Utena” the entire system of duels and ideas about roles—the Rose Bride, the Prince, etc– is confined to the small world of Ohtori Academy, which is ultimately revealed to be something of a pocket dimension magically separated from the "real" world and under the control of a formerly god-like fairytale prince who exhausted himself from saving damsels, lost much of his powers as a result, and became a conniving hedonist as a result who sets this cycle in motion again and again in order to regain that power. In other words, these deconstructions don’t just show us why these conventions would actually be bad, it also breaks down why they would exist in the first place in a world if they’re so bad, and the realistic consequences for the people as a result, and why/how it would continue despite these consequences in order to still exist long enough to be criticized at all. In a bad “deconstruction” the protagonist might simply point out that an unjust system is unjust and also stupid and that “realistically” it should all fall apart like a house of cards, which usually it then will…with no explanation as to how, if it was so flimsy and stupid and wouldn’t realistically work, it ever came to be in the first place. Which is itself unrealistic. Whereas in good deconstructions like Shrek and Utena, it shows why an unjust system would exist and persevere in the first place, and follows the natural conclusion to what type of people would benefit from creating and maintaining such a system. It’s not treated as just a natural occurrence or everyone except the hero just being stupid or bigoted, there’s an entire framework justifying why it does exist in-universe even though it harms people. Much like in our own world. The systems in Shrek and Utena also, it must be noted, are NOT “stupid”, just evil. But not stupid. They work very, very well for the people who enforce them and benefit from them. Which also explains why they exist and hold up for so long in the first place for our heroes to rail against. Deconstruction will look at something like fairytale roles or Chosen One prophecies, and go “ok, how would this get set up and maintained in the first place, and who would do that, and why?” and that usually leads to a dark conclusion as well (Dune is a GREAT example of deconstructing the Chosen One Trope BIG TIME—turns out the prophecy about one super special boy was in fact totally made up by a cult for their own ends and spread throughout the galaxy!) And speaking of railing against the system, both  Shrek and Utena the characters DO originally internalize the “rules” of their own world as is realistic for people who grew up in it. Shrek, born into being an ogre, starts out the film believing he just might as well give up and be what people think him to be, because no one will see him as anything else anyway. Utena starts out as somewhat rebellious against the system of her word, having been inspired by being “saved” by a prince when she was young and therefore deciding SHE would be a “prince” and save other girls, instead of being the “princess” herself. Yet this also still constraining herself and other people into the limiting roles she’s familiar with. Both of them go on a journey in which they realize that both society’s roles and their internalization of those roles is something each needs to grow from. They don’t just automatically know better for no reason, and it’s not simply “wow, the MONSTER is the hero this time!” or “wow, the GIRL saved the day!” which is what a lot of lesser deconstructions or so-called subversions come down to. Because, in those cases, the writers don’t really seem to have thought about the conventions of the genre beyond “well this is dumb/unrealistic” and “they do things THIS way so I’ll do the OPPOSITE” and think that alone makes for deep or clever commentary. TL;DR: Your deconstruction doesn’t need to be about the same things Shrek and Utena are, nor does it even need to have any kind of real-world social commentary like they very much do. But a good deconstruction does more than say “the tropes in this genre are STUPID” It instead looks at what the natural consequences of these tropes would be if they were enforced in a realistic way—what it does to people to be boxed into roles like princess, ogre, witch– and then examines WHY those tropes would therefore exist in the first place, asking the question of who decides them, who enforces them, and why that is, with the answers often being dark ones, rather than just accepting “this is the way it is” . It’s less kicking a house down, and more dissecting a body, basically. Also, an important note: Your deconstruction DOESN’T need to be dark. Many are, because examining the realistic consequences of common media tropes often DOES lead to unpleasant places, and because the ones that don’t are often not what writers want to explore; there’s no much story in “actually this is totally fine as is” most of the time. But it doesn’t need to be. Likewise, darkness alone does not make a deconstruction. So, doing a dark take on a fairytale wouldn’t be a deconstruction, nor would a role-swapping tale where the hero and villain were reversed or the villain’s side was explored. Both are absolutely worthy routes/stories, just, they’re not deconstructions.

[hyewka]

Im here to give my two cents worth opinion about shipping members and smut 😭👋. I’m ngl i do find shipping members together worse bc like idk I always see it on twitter and it’ll be like literal gay porn and they’ll be people like ‘yeonjun top beomgyu bottom’ about the porn and it makes me really uncomfortable and weirded out or members will be having a normal conversation and then people want to make it into them fucking each other or something and I just find it really odd like they’re literally family 😭 it feels like incest 😭they’ve said multiple times they’re like family and it’s clear they have a family relationship bc of how many years they’ve known each other that it feels weird when people ship them. Liking relationship dynamics with other members and pairing of relationships is fine obviously some members are really cute with the way they interact but if that was me and my close friends I see as family and people are posting porn and shipping us sexually I would feel weirded out.

Especially since it’s pretty much all straight women saying this it just feel like fetishisation of mlm relationships that’s why I don’t really like using ao3 bc it’s all mostly gay ships and smut on them written by straight females fetishising and shipping just in general I find it pretty weird when straight girls write gay smut or watch gay porn bc it’s the same as straight men watching and fetishising lesbian porn idk that’s me personally 🤷‍♀️. I feel like smut on a members isn’t that bad (personally if I was famous and found smut on me I’d want to read it and find it funny 😭) bc you’re writing about an imaginary person and even when writing smut on the members I don’t actually see them as them it really is just muses and changing their personality and setting but the people I’ve seen on twt don’t seem to ship the members as muses type they genuinely ship as I think that’s weird.

But if you’re writing a little cute fanfic or something and want to use members as a muse for characters and it’s lighthearted then I think that’s totally fine but the people I’ve seen don’t see it that way and love to fetishise sexual mlm relationships. Idk that’s just me though 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ my opinion could be very wrong 🧐

I see your point! I don’t think opinions can be wrong, so you’re good with that. I personally don’t really have much to say about this topic, but I do get where you’re coming from with the incest bit lol 😂 I also get the point that in fics they’re more like muses than writing about their actual personalities or how they are in real life while the shipping community might do the opposite (as in thinking they’re actually together).

[ryutarotakedown]

magnus archives! for the ask game

[ask game link] YAYYYYYYYYY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK this got horrifically long so under the cut!

Favorite character: i’d love to say basira but it’s probably melanie. or martin. oh little moth…

Least Favorite character: uhhhh i love all the characters as *characters* but i love to hate elias of course. what a fucking creep they did such a wonderful job with him. 106 and 117 live in my brain constantly & forever

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): FIVE? THERE AREN’T ENOUGH IN HERE FOR FIVE but it’d be what the girlfriends, jonmartin, daisira, basira/melanie, and. hm. hmmm. gertrudeagnes

— oh crap wait i keep forgetting platonic relationships are ships too, okay okay add jon & basira and jon & melanie and jon & georgie in there. not in any particular order but still

Character I find most attractive: im not even attracted to women but. daisy. i didn’t understand the fan reaction until i listened to her voice for the first time (i consumed this podcast almost entirely through transcripts) and went Oh I Get It Now

Character I would marry: georgie easily

Character I would be best friends with: jon or melanie because i love befriending haters you are all so fun

A random thought: i miss them so much. i kept expecting the transcripts to switch to “archive” for jon at some point but they never did which is probably for the best for accessibility reasons but can you imagine. i miss them so much. basira is funnier than people give her credit for. georgie is less funny than people give her credit for and i appreciate her so much for it (don’t be a Stranger!). i miss them so much

An unpopular opinion: hey did you know basira hussain is in the third most episodes total and actually has the second most scenes with jon (she had The Most, period, before martin dethroned her in s5)? did you know? anyway she should be in more stuff and i love her deeply. i also don’t think she actually had double standards for jon versus daisy per se, i think her problem was thinking that guilty people deserve punishment and therefore that daisy’s victims (criminals) were fine while jon’s victims (random people off the street) were not

— this is also why she stops daisy from killing jon in 091, because she’d met him before, he was a human being who cracked jokes, he *couldn’t* be guilty; rather than because killing people is bad

— i also think she knew deep down she was wrong for this considering how she says in the unknowing: i don’t want to hurt you. i don’t want to hurt anyone. and then in s5: of course i care! …that’s the problem

— she had to force down her compassion in order to function well as a police officer and forced herself to believe that it was the right thing to arrest people who did bad things

— reader she was incorrect

— have i mentioned i love her

My canon OTP: jonmartin and what the girlfriends

Non-canon OTP: you cannot tell me basira and melanie didn’t have something going on while jon was in his coma you simply can’t

— melanie was strong and violent and necessary and basira needed someone strong to rely on after daisy even though she could see how miserable melanie was. basira stuffed down all her emotions and became a stone figure and melanie feeling herself being overtaken by rage both aspired to that and hated her for it. they are anchors for each other but false because their usual anchors (daisy, georgie) aren’t here or wouldn’t get it. do you understand.

Most badass character: the admiral

Pairing I am not a fan of: sorry to jon.elias fans i do understand that exploring the Power Dynamics could be fun but i genuinely cannot see any romance in there whatsoever. can’t jon just hate a man in peace

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): hmmmmmmm. not anyone in particular? i think basira’s s5 arc was kind of rushed but i’m not super mad about it. also obviously the racist stereotypes in there (the haans. i mean the haans) but in terms of main cast i can’t think of anyone

Favourite friendship: tim & sasha because i haven’t mentioned them anywhere in this ask and that is a travesty. they’re fun i hope they are kayaking happily together somewhere

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

hello, could i get a matchup for genshin impact and honkai star rail? pronouns: any are fine, he/him preferred sexuality: questioning but maybe slight masc lean zodiac/mbti: leo/virgo (depending on if you're using the old one or the new one), INTJ 4w5 appearance: 4'10 (i'm not even that young i don't know how that happened) with pale skin, i have mid-length straight black hair. huge eyebags kek personality: to people i don't know well i'm relatively quiet, although i will make sarcastic comments every now and then if i find it funny. if i know someone more closely (or i just think they're annoying), i will do everything in my power to be as eccentric as possible. i will say the most controversial (and borderline creepy) things in public, and i get a ton of side-eyes which i find hilarious. i honestly have a ton of problems at home and mentally, but i don't vent, and if i do, it's done in a humorous way. i can't really take care of myself (nor do i ever feel the want to), so i'm very physically weak. sometimes i'm nice, but it's kind of offputting and comes off as jealous or clingy. i think of myself as having anxious attachment, but the one time i dated someone (i honestly don't know if i even liked them, i can't comprehend my emotions) i literally just avoided them like the plague. they grew their hair out and they listen to emo rock bands. the sad part was that they came back to me and we dated on and off for three years. we held hands ONCE. tbh i did actually find it endearing but i never showed or talked to them about that... likes: i don't know, every few months i change my entire personality and get obsessed with something. it's never really consistent, but some things i currently find myself enjoying are gacha games, having people compliment me, etc. whenever someone gives me an ounce of attention i go giggle about it and kick my legs for about two seconds before it wears off. this goes for both positive and negative attention dislikes: i don't know about dislikes either. i guess self-hatred goes here, i seriously can't think of anything. i don't really care for morally wrong things either. hobbies: just like everything else i change hobbies. rn it's working on a discord server. honestly i don't even think i'm redeemable atp i feel bad for anyone who gets paired with me

Hi Anon! Thank you for your request! I hope you like your matchups!

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

Aether’s a wonderful matchup for you. He’s an interesting balance of quiet and outgoing so he’s a bit eccentric himself.

Doesn’t like hearing you talk about how you don’t think you’re redeemable but he also understands that sometimes you feel things and those feelings are messy.

Instead of trying to get you to suppress those feelings and negative thoughts, he’ll do his best to help you realise that, even if you still believe those things, you also deserve to be happy. He cares about you and wouldn’t have it any other way.

He’ll also compliment you a lot, always a genuine statement about something he admires about you. He thinks you’re really cool and does his best to make sure you’re aware of that.

Aether’s a really good person to be around since you like change. He’s constantly travelling so things will never get stagnant and you get to see lots of new places.

In Honkai Star Rail, I match you with...

Wow, both male protagonists! You’re certainly lucky! I think Aether and Caelus are similar but different in some very distinct ways.

While Aether is a more gentle partner, Caelus is the type to pull you along with him, not giving you time to doubt yourself.

More than happy to help you take care of yourself. He knows it can be hard just existing sometimes so he wants to do what he can to help the person he cares about most.

Loves playing gacha games with you. He is responsible with his spending though so neither of you have to worry about getting carried away with trying to get certain characters.

Much like Aether, Caelus is constantly travelling, both around and between worlds. You’ll get the chance to see lots of new places and incorporate new things into your appearance and personality whenever you want.

[mars-ipan]

Ya got any rants stored up? Long-burning hatred?

i FINALLY found one i’ve been holding onto this ask waiting for the opportunity.

i HATE how people treat people with anxiety disorders. it’s endless pity mixed with complete incompassion

like ok. obligatory i have generalized anxiety disorder here. a lot of things make me stressed and when i’m having bad anxiety attacks (which can last days and sometimes put me into month-long spells of misery) i get physically sick, to the point of throwing up and fever. i also tend to go nonverbal/low-verbal during these periods of time (usually bc i’m nauseous.) i’m also very prone to migraines and have a tic and wear a night guard due to jaw clenching etc etc you get the point it affects me.

when i share these symptoms with people (assuming they don’t have similar symptoms) i get a lot of frowny faces. “owh i’m sorry :( that must be awful how horrible“ and the like. and it’s never said in a way that’s actually kind. it’s said in the way people talk about those aspca commercials. and it’s never actually come from a place of genuine concern- it’s superficial pity apparently meant to placate me. i hate it

and that’s assuming i even get that reaction at all! usually when i try to explain to someone that i’m experiencing symptoms of some sort like “hey i’m sorry i can’t really be productive right now, i’ve got a lot of brain fog” i am ALWAYS dismissed. EVERY time. maybe it’s because i’m quite skilled at coping and masking. maybe it’s because my panic attacks don’t (always) look like wailing and thrashing and choking on air. but for some reason people don’t seem to understand that yes my anxiety disorder is actually disabling for me sometimes. i will ask for an accommodation i need, be compared to someone else with different needs from me, and then be told i need to just suck it up and deal with it. and i am SO! TIRED! OF! IT!!!! the amount of times i’ve told people “hey please don’t say that to me i’m prone to paranoia about xyz” and then been yelled at because “it’s not that serious take a joke” is ABSURD. hey maybe stop telling me my cough is covid bc now i have to spend the next 3 hours reminding myself that i don’t have any other symptoms asshole!!! jesus

and THEN when i actually DO find a way to cope or utilize the way my brain works or god forbid crack a fucking joke about it people get mad at me. “see i knew it wasn’t a big deal” or “so you’re actually fine” or “that’s not funny” i am. so tired of it

and then i go online and see people saying that disorders like anxiety and depression have been destigmatized and we’re treated basically the same in neurotypical society. motherfucker i did not go undiagnosed for 17 years with several doctors telling me it “wasn’t anything to worry about” despite my family history and clear signs from a young age just to be told my disorder is respected. if i say my anxiety is a disability i get called dramatic and am told to stop taking attention away from people who need it- or not to call it a disability because “it’s not that bad” and i’m fine because clearly having a disability makes every second of your life miserable of course of course. hell anxiety is demonized too! not as badly as many other illnesses but it’s still demonized!!! if i tell people “hey i have anxiety so please be careful with xyz” they act like i just asked them to let me do anything i want without consequence. there’s literally a whole fucking stereotype of people using “anxiety” as an excuse to be lazy or an asshole or entitled. as someone whose anxiety manifests in depressive spirals (freeze response) and rejection sensitivity (doom spiraling) this is Not Great!!!!! like i am hypervigilant about enough things i do not need to add “will these people get mad if i explain how my brain works” to the list

and about the rejection sensitivity. i HATEEEEE when people judge me for crying because they’re upset at something i’ve done wrong. “mars if you’re in the wrong then you’re not the victim” who the fuck said i think i’m the victim???? i cry because my brain takes “can you pls stop doing this it genuinely bugs me” and turns it into “you’re a horrible person how could you do this to someone they hate you.” but just because that happens doesn’t mean i’m not capable of rational thought!!! i KNOW realistically that my friends are good communicators and share that stuff because they like my company. i just need to cry about it as well. that doesn’t negate my logic or say i won’t actually try to improve myself. i’m just upset that i made the mistake. obviously i’m gonna fix it. that one REALLY pisses me off esp when i warn someone in advance that i do that. like calm the fuck down i’m not even pointing out that i’m crying rn this isn’t about me stop making it about me.

ANYWAYS. it’s really frustrating to deal with this shit from nts and then go to an online nd space for community and hear people talk about anxiety disorders like we don’t face ableism. just because it’s quieter doesn’t mean it isn’t there. that AND the “it’s barely an issue” girlie i was told i wasn’t disabled enough by doctors my whole damn life i am NOT about to start hearing it from you too. you can drown in the ocean or a swimming pool or a puddle. doesn’t fucking matter. the hypocrisy irritates me so bad