#i blame gregg

[rodrifc]

is the usmnt about to bottle the nations league.

[joannechocolat]

Burn the library, or walk inside. Either way, it's your choice.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you can't have missed the escalating riots all around the country - riots which the media keep referring to as "protests", in spite of the fact that no-one involved seems to agree on just what they are protesting against.

Dragging strangers out of cars, burning down public buildings, throwing stones at ambulancemen, setting fire to hotels in a deliberate attempt to burn the people inside alive - and maybe scoring a new phone or pair of trainers on the way home - has nothing to do with "protest."

It certainly has nothing to do with the brutal murder of three little girls, although that was used as a springboard by online agitators, claiming that the murderer was an immigrant (he wasn't, and even if he were, attacking other immigrants because of what he did makes about as much sense as torching a Wetherspoons in Manchester in protest against Myra Hindley.) Nor does it have anything to do with Asian grooming gangs in Rotherham, although that's the most recent excuse I've heard: those grooming gangs were dreadful, but these criminals do not represent the Asian community any more than do the white leaders of grooming gangs (which by far outnumber them).

So, what the fuck is this about?

Well, it's the illegal immigrants, they say. Coming into our country, taking our jobs, raping our girls, yadda, yadda, yadda. Except that it isn't. Brexit has made it increasingly difficult for foreigners to work here, which is why so many European doctors and nurses have already left the country, putting still yet more pressure onto our dying NHS. And refugees - let's call them that, given they're neither immigrants, nor here illegally - aren't allowed to work while their application is being processed. As for "immigrant crime", a phrase that these people have borrowed from Trump - it represents a tiny proportion of crime in the UK, which by the way has risen sharply as the riots have escalated, because the police just don't have the manpower to fight on two fronts at the same time.

And add to this the fact that the principal agitators - people like Yaxley-Lennon and Farage - don't even live in this country, I think it's pretty clear that whatever motivation these burners of libraries, looters of shops, and goose-stepping Nazi cosplayers claim, it has nothing to do with "British values" or "taking back the country", and everything to do with doing whatever the fuck they want and blaming it on someone else.

Why do I care? Because I was born in one of these communities. I still have family in Rotherham, in Barnsley. I live less than fifteen miles away from the heart of these riots. I've done events in the libraries and universities that have been attacked. And by the way, isn't it weird how thugs always target libraries and places of learning on their way to robbing their local Lush, or Greggs, or Shoezone?

It's almost as if the agitators know that education is the key. That reading brings us together; teaches us to question what we read on the internet; crosses cultural boundaries; reminds us we're all human. And in disaffected communities like Rotherham, with a high degree of poverty, access to these ideas is very dangerous in the eyes of a far-right movement that wants to take power.

Already, 14 years of austerity, cuts and corruption has brought the country to its knees. By cutting education and the arts, Tories have reduced the access of these underprivileged communities to critical thinking and new ideas. Brexit has done further damage, as well as cutting us off from our allies. After the event, it is now clear how much Russian misinformation played its part in that process, just as it's playing a part right now in spreading its racist rhetoric via supporters like Farage and the fake accounts that amplify him. Now they're no longer in power, the far-right is doing its best to do as much further damage as possible to our society, urging people to "take control" by destroying anything else that can help them out of poverty.

Why? Because poor people are easier for the far-right to control. Poverty and crime are linked; just as illiteracy and crime are linked. And both of those things are linked to hate; to racism and mistrust of anyone who seems different.

But here's the thing. There's always a choice. Not everyone who grows up poor becomes a criminal. Not everyone who missed out on a good education becomes a racist. I grew up in a poor neighbourhood. There were some racists there, and some thugs, but most people were decent and honest. Most people were happy to co-exist with people of different cultures. I was one of those people; my family was different. Sometimes people even told us to go back home where we belonged. Most didn't. But of course, were were white. We looked like them. There's an obvious reason why brown and Black people in particular are being dehumanized and blamed for what's wrong with the country now.

And it's ironic, how people react when someone calls them racist? "But we're just ordinary people, with ordinary concerns."

"I'm not racist, I'm just (insert your bullshit reason here)."

And yet, here we are. Racism is ordinary. And if you do racist things, if you blame all brown people for what one brown person did, if you judge people by the way they look, if you make assumptions about whole groups of people, then you're a racist. And if you spout Nazi slogans, do Nazi salutes, walk with Nazis, repeat Nazi propaganda, then you're a fucking Nazi, mate. Live with it, or change. Your choice.

Because the choices we make today affect what comes tomorrow. And although poverty isn't a choice, being a decent person is. Your choices can help your children break the cycle of despair. Or they can keep your kids stuck in the same rut. To put it another way, you can take your kids to the library and let them learn to think for themselves. Or you can burn the libraries down and take them to watch you and your mates trying to set fire to some terrified refugees in a hotel instead.

Either way, your kids get to live with the choices you make today.

Right now, you're deciding their future.

Your choice.

[sofya-fanfics]

It's Been A Long Time

Fandom : That '90s Show

Relationship : Jackie x Steven

My Fictober 2024 contribution for the prompt : “it’s been a long time”.

I’m sorry for the mistakes, English is not my native language. I hope you like it.

Summary : Jackie was about to put her hand on the handle of the glass kitchen door when it suddenly opened. She was so absorbed in the fact that Donna had returned that she had not paid attention to the person behind the door. She froze, in shock. He was the last person she expected to see.

“Steven !” she managed to utter.

“Jackie,” he said indifferently.

Disclaimer : That '90s Show belongs to Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Gregg Mettler and Lindsay Turner.

@fictober-event

AO3 / FF.NET

Jackie parked in front of the Formans house. It was official, Donna and Leia had moved in Point Place for good. Every time Donna came to town, they only saw each other briefly. From now on, they would be able to see each other whenever they wanted, like before. And even if Jackie would never admit it to anyone, she was happy to see her best friend again.

It was Jay who had informed her that Donna had just arrived. As soon as he had told her the news, Jackie had rushed into her car and had driven to the Formans house.

She went behind the house to enter the kitchen. It was a habit she had had for years when she spent her days in the Formans basement with her friends.

Now it was her son and his friends' turn. Years go by, but some things never change.

She was about to put her hand on the handle of the glass kitchen door when it suddenly opened. She was so absorbed in the fact that Donna had returned that she had not paid attention to the person behind the door. She froze, in shock. He was the last person she expected to see.

“Steven !” she managed to utter.

“Jackie,” he said indifferently.

There was a silence for a few seconds that Steven finally broke.

“It's been a long time.”

Jackie refrained from giving a scathing answer. Was that all he had found to say to her ? Yes, it had been a long time. Almost twenty years. Twenty years without giving any news, without knowing where he was, or what had happened to him. She suspected he must have kept in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Forman. Maybe with Eric and Donna. Of course, she could not blame him. They had broken off long before he left.

“Indeed,” she finally answered. “Are you here for a long time ?”

“I just came to pay Mr. and Mrs. Forman a visit. I was about to leave.”

So quickly, she thought. It did not surprise her. Why would he bother to stay, when he had done everything he could to disappear from her life.

“Bye Jackie.”

He walked past her and headed for the exit. Why, Jackie wondered. Why was her heart beating so fast when he did not seem to care about seeing her again ? Why were all the feelings she thought she had forgotten for him resurfacing ? She was happy with Michael, well, most of the time. And Jay was what she had more precious in her life. Yet, just one word, one look from Steven and she knew she would fall in love with him again.

“Steven !”

Jackie opened her eyes wide, surprised by her action. She had called him without thinking, without knowing what she was going to say to him. He turned round, waiting for her to speak. Jackie took a deep breath and said :

“It was nice to see you.”

“It was nice to see you too.”

He smiled at her and continued his way. It was then that Jackie understood that this unexpected meeting had troubled him as much as it had her. She also understood that it was impossible for her to fall in love with Steven again, since she had never stopped loving him. But Steven was part of her past while Michael and Jay were her present and her future. She watched him walk away, until he disappeared, and she entered the Formans’ kitchen.

Over the years, she had often imagined what her reunion with Steven would be like. Now, she could turn the page on this period of her life and continue moving along with Michael.

The end

[half-deadmagicperson]

So recently I started listening to the RPA podcast, and the brain rot is absolutely consuming me (I blame @scarletsaphire ). Anyways, I love the characters and the storylines so far, and I highly recommend it!!

(I don't own these characters btw, they belong to Gregg Taylor)

[samasmith23]

Diving into The Abyss arc of Donny Cates' Venom!

I'm currently marathoning Donny Cates' Venom run in the "Venomnibus by Cates & Stegman" that I got as a birthday present this year. I re-read "The Abyss" arc published in Venom (2018) #9-12 just a few nights ago (which was the last arc from the run that I originally read back in 2019), and holy FREAKING crap... I had honestly forgotten just how effectively heavy and powerful this arc truly was!

When I first read this storyline back in 2019, it completely blew me away with its sheer amount of shocking twists and revelations, ranging from the backstory of a teenage Eddie Brock being involved in a drunk driving accident in which he ran over and killed a kid, but ultimately got off despite wanting to plead guilty due to Eddie's abusive father Carl Brock violently forcing him to plead innocent, to the revelation that his older sister Mary Brock and past experiences with cancer were actually false memories implanted by the symbiote in order to manipulate Eddie into staying with it, to the fact that he has a son named Dylan Brock who was accidentally conceived during that brief time his ex-wife Anne Weying bonded with Eddie's symbiote and briefly became "She-Venom" during the 90s miniseries Venom: Sinner Takes All.

But re-reading the story now I can look back and greatly appreciate the sheer amount of craft that's on display with Cates' writing in this arc, since he carefully foreshadows all of these plot twists all throughout the arc through subtle hints and double-meanings in the character's dialogue. Aside from the brilliant narrative subversion of fooling the reader into initially believing that Eddie is the kid who's run-over in the flashbacks before pulling to rug to reveal that in actuality Eddie was the one behind the wheel, the twist that Eddie's sister was simply a false memory was expertly foreshadowed through both Carl & Dylan being absolutely confused whenever Eddie mentioned the name "Mary."

Another that I really love about the drunk-driving backstory is how it not only recontextualizes Eddie’s motivations as both an anti-hero and as a supervillain. In regards to his anti-hero persona, Eddie's constant proclamations about wanting to "protect the innocent" were rather ill-defined back when the character received over a dozen miniseries' during the 90s. But here Cates' emphasizes how Eddie's guilt over accidentally killing a kid and being let off due to being manipulated by his abusive father has made him want to try to protect "real innocents" from people like himself. but also during his time as a villain pursuing Spider-Man. As for how this backstory recontextualizes Eddie's tenure as a Spider-Man villain, during in the original David Micheline era in which Venom first debuted, Eddie’s hatred for Spidey was connected to the classic Death of Jean DeWolfe storyline, wherein Eddie wrote a series of interviews for the Daily Globe with a man he believed to be the notorious serial killer, “the Sin Eater,” whilst hiding the killer’s true identity under the guise of “first amendment rights and protecting his journalistic source.” But Eddie was eventually forced to reveal his source’s identity due to mounting police pressure and the Sin Eater’s rising body-count, which led to Eddie outing the Sin Eater as Emil Gregg. But literally 30-minutes later it was revealed that Gregg was just a copycat, as Spidey caught the real Sin Eater who turned out to be policeman Stan Carter, which led to Eddie being fired and refusing to take responsibility for his own failures by projecting the blame onto Spider-Man. Additionally, the Micheline's Venom: Lethal Protector & Zeb Wells' Venom: Dark Origin miniseries highlighted how Eddie’s relationship with his estranged father partially influenced his writing of the Sin Eater interviews in an effort to bolster his reputation, but following his firing permanently destroyed any chances of reconciliation with Carl Brock.

And in those classic stories Eddie constantly proclaimed that he was “once an innocent whose life Spider-Man ruined,” even though his actions as a journalist were incredibly morally dubious and unethical. So the drunk driving backstory of Eddie being violently forced to plead innocent by his father and ultimately getting off? That only further fleshes out Eddie’s inability to accept responsibility and false projection of “innocence” onto himself during his villainous phase in those original stories, while also showing how much Eddie has grown since then by acknowledging that he’s not a “real innocent.”

Plus, there's also a strong thematic through-line in this arc about the nature of abusive relationships in the form of Eddie's co-dependent bond with the Venom Symbiote plus Carl's abusive behavior towards Eddie in the past & Dylan in the present day. Additionally, Cates also touches upon ideas of self-improvement and redemption, not only through the backstory of Eddie's motivation to "protect the innocent," but also through the story ending with Eddie deciding to raise Dylan himself after helping him escape Carl's influence, as well as the Venom symbiote willingly leaving Eddie & Dylan after the former denounces the symbiote's manipulative behavior, with the symbiote proclaiming that it's, "Trying... to... be... better... both... of... you... better... without... me..."

It shows that the key difference between Carl and both Eddie & the symbiote is that Venom at least acknowledges his past monstrous behavior and makes efforts to change unlike his coward of a father, thereby simultaneously allowing Eddie to overcome the demons of his past with his abusive father, as well as making the symbiote's later reunion with Eddie in Absolute Carnage more believable!

Like... hot dang! There's a reason why "The Abyss" arc in particular left such a lasting impression on me when I initially read the first 12-issues of Donny Cates' Venom series a few years ago! Not only does it still hold up phenomenally well from both a narrative and thematic standpoint, but it's gotten me even more excited to dive into the rest of Cates' Venom run and the corresponding Absolute Carnage and King In Black events, which will be my first time ever reading those stories!

However, I do have some thoughts regarding two minor points of contention about Cates' run as a whole and "The Abyss" arc in particular that I've encountered from toxic fandom spaces here on Tumblr that I also wanted to address, which I'll link to right here:

[devilsbiggestmistakeblr]

Tomgreg and reasons why I'm obsessed with them.....

the scene where they fight in the bathroom (should have been longer in my opinion)

forehead kiss

taking the blame for Greg

you can't make a tomlette without breaking some greggs

their FIRST INTERACTION IM SORRY YOU WANT HIM TO WHATTT

that one scene in the boar on the floor episode where Greg blinks twice or something and Tom looks at him, breaks eye contact, looks so pained for some reason and then doesn't tell Logan the rat was Greg (I ate this shit uppppp)

"thanks man"

"I'd castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat" (only so late in this list cause I forgot)

"let's fight like chickens" used as an excuse to touch Greg and also simultaneously self-destruct

GREG REFUSINGGGG

"I'm staying over tonight in a 'friendly' way"

touching Greg's tie

AHHH OMGGG I FORGOT d**k the size of a red sequioa or whatever and I f**k like a bullet train and then Greg going prove it sir say sike right now

first interaction in season 4 being whatever the fuck that was

"did you rummage to fruition"

sorry these are so basic but they mean so much to me, if i don't have an invasive and codependent relationship like theirs then I don't want it (jk I think)

[bunny-j3st3r]

Archie sonic issue #2

And here we move on to the second in the #290 comic book series woof.

As I said in my previous post as much as I dilike the archie comics this isn't to to shit on the comics or those that like them. I'll be giving just as many positive thoughts as I do negative.

I'm just reading through them and just wanna share my thoughts on them.

Issue #2 was released in July 1993 And publication was september 1993.

Must of been wild back then to wait so long in between as if tbf we do that now still with idw but I remember a lot of my own comics I read growing up were weekly.

Anyway this is like one of the few pins I wish I could own but trying to explain the gag to people would be a lot of effort.

Sorry but Coconuts is like a really cute design I wish he was used more, I think he was in the tv series more?

This was a fucking mob hit.

Also hello you two bastards I know you fuckos.

This is so fucking stupid but "your non identical twin" made me laugh WAY harder than it should off.

These are funny acutally. Like I forget early sonic also had a cheeky attidude, I mean his british comic self would tell tails to fuck off or he'll shag his mam in greggs but you know.

WOW throw back to issue one /J

I don't really recall seeing much of scratch and gounder after this, they were more involved in the tv show I guess and just didn't really hit of with comic audience I guess? Which is a shame because they are kinda funny as bumbling idiot servants.

I wonder what Cubot and Orbot would of thought about them?

Kids who read the comic when it first came out are all like this now.

I would say I think this is when they tried to insert lore but I think this is the one about the two gag characters and not the uh racist stereotype tribal men story line.

Yep I believe they returned somewhere in the #90s issues? maybe I don't recall but I don't think they were like meant for anything other than to just make a fun story about the rings.

Oh god this made me cringe acutally that looks oddly painful

also omg better look at sonic's lil nub tail.

Awful scene that implies sonic's nose isn't the black ball on his snout

They had this odd habit at the end of some of the comics like a desperate plea not to cancel them, I think it's in the mecha sonic comic to very bizzare espically consiering some kids prolly did send letters in but were most likely ignored.

For years after I read this comic (my dad brought the collection when i was younger they are prolly worth some now lmfao if we had them) I believed this was how they made 'foil' covered things.

I remember doing it myself and being dissapointed my face just tore through it.

That sure is a title.

Need you guys to commit this image to memory for later.

This was a cute little thing of people guessing why tails had well two tails. I don't think they had a solid idea at this point? I don't remember the cartoons that well.

He's not naked he has shoes on.

The sonic vs mario haters is as old as time

My thoughts on this one was pretty good again, it's a cute series at the start and it introduced characters from the series like scratch and grounder.

I guess they wanted to introduce the characters that were going to be in the tv series because as I said some of these characters weren't really seen again in the comics, well not that often.

Which I don't blame them because I suppose keeping a lot of cast around takes away from the main villian himself and it's easier to concentrate on him.

It's a shame though because I have fond memories of vividly hating scratch and grounder but for a goofy kids cartoon they slotted in well.

I like eggmans use of skinny and square shaped idiot partners as his sidekicks. He seems to have a type for those being his personal servants, err, assistants.

my time lines could be funky on these because I'm not following along with the mini series of comics until later on.

But I like them.

We haven't reached ken penders era yet /J

PREV NEXT >

[no-damsel]

Just friends

Warning - Swearing

Chapter one

The music was so loud that it was almost impossible to hear the conversation that was taking place right in front of you. Walking further into the room, you rub the bottom of your nose with the back of your hand and sniff loudly before sitting on the club owner's lap. His hand immediately moved to your waist, making you uncomfortable, but you bite your tongue and pretend to enjoy the attention Jasper gives you.

“Who’s this?” You ask, pointing to the two men sitting across from him.

Jasper takes a drink of his whisky. “This is Tommy and Gregg,” he says slowly, as if you’d need a moment to follow what he’s saying. “They are going to be working here on a trial basis.”

“Cool.” You lazily rest your head on Jasper's shoulder while they continue to talk business.

Both men would be rotated between working behind the bar and working security. Occasionally, you’d wipe your nose with the back of your hand or twitch your jaw. Each time you did, ‘Gregg’ would shoot you a death glare; you couldn’t blame him. He probably thought you were a drugged-up mess, which is exactly what you wanted people to believe. You recognized the man going by the name of Tommy as the sweet kid who lived down the street from you growing up, Adam Ruzek.

“I’m sorry,” ‘Tommy’ says, interrupting. “But you’ve got to introduce us to this pretty lady here.”

Adams' brown eyes bore into yours as he searched for any sign of distress. You hadn’t seen him in so long that he must have been shocked to see you sitting on one of the most despised men in Chicago. The fact that you look strung out and hardly dressed probably didn’t help.

“Where are my manners?” Jasper says, slapping you on the thigh and laughing. “This is Angel; she’s one of our dancers and my personal favorite. High as hell, but she takes great care of my books.”

How Jasper wasn’t busted before was a mystery; he would mix different pills and alcohol and start blabbering to anyone who would listen. He had just met these guys and already told them who had done his books.

The man sitting with Adam scoffs, “Angel, huh? How original.”

You met his glare. He was handsome. Hispanic and looked to be around the mid-thirties. Given that Adam hadn’t been a cop for long, you’d assume this guy had a fair amount of experience being undercover. You lean forward and run your finger over ‘Tommy’s’ jawline before pinching his cheek. “I like him; he’s cute. He reminds me of a chipmunk.”

Adam gives you a sweet smile before acting flattered by your comment, “Well, thank you, sweetheart.”

Jasper wraps his arm around you a little too tight, a silent way of telling you to shut up. “Excuse her; Angel likes to party a little too much on shift and comes away with some weird shit; just ignore her.”

“Oh, I imagine that’s not possible.”

Jasper smirks. “Since you’ve taken a liking to them, you can show them around.”

After showing the club’s newest ‘employees’ the lockup routing, you lead them down the hallway towards the dressing room. The halls were mainly empty since it was still daytime, but in a few hours they would be mobbed by dancers starting to get ready for the nighttime shows.

“So, Angel, how long have you worked here?”

“A couple of years,” you answer before opening the door to a small room that the staff uniforms were kept in. You close the door behind you and look between them. “So, chipmunk, is your friend here good?”

Adam chuckles. “He’s good.”

You both knew the question you were really asking, and that was if the person could be trusted.

You give them both uniforms, scribble down a message, and place it between the tops you hand to Adam. You hand it to him just as Jasper walks into the room.

You wink at Adam and say, “I’ll see you later, handsome.”

Jasper frowns and runs his hand through his blonde hair, and you hear him say, “House rules: no getting high off my shit and no fucking on shift. If you see anyone who isn’t one of my men, tell me right away. And if you do bang any of these bitches, I don’t want it to bring any drama into my house, right?”

They answer in unison, “right.”

A few days pass before you see Adam again, along with the other cop, when you finish your shift at six in the morning. They had been working behind the bar while you jumped between greeting ‘guests’ at the door and convincing the men sitting at booths to buy overpriced bottles of alcohol.

“Yo, Angel!”

“Tommy,” you smile before rubbing at your eyes, which are heavy and over-coated in massacre. “How are you enjoying your new gig?”

He looks more uncomfortable the closer he gets to you, and he does his best to avert his eyes from the sheer red outfit you were wearing. He clears his throat. “I was just going to grab some breakfast; care to join me?”

“Sure, I’ll just get changed, then meet you outside.”

“Your partner seems intense,” you say in between bites of your breakfast. Pancakes loaded with cut-up strawberries, bananas, and chocolate sauce. You’d need the sudden sugar rush to help you stay up a little bit longer.

“Antonio is wary of strangers, but he’s a good guy.” Adam chuckles, “I see you still have a sweet tooth.”

“I don’t indulge much these days. Jasper likes his dancers to look a certain way, you know.”

“Yeah, like trash. Calling me my nickname from when we were kids was a good call. I gotta say you had me really worried when I first saw you; I actually thought you had gone down that path.” He sips on his coffee. “You're not taking anything, right?”

“Absolutely not!” you say defensively. “I’m just good at making it believable.”

“Viola…”

You kick him under the table for using your real name in public.

“Sorry, sorry.”

You had to give two years of your life to this undercover assignment. You had gone on a strict diet, dyed your hair with cheap dye, then let the roots grow out, and invested a lot of money into tacky clothes and cheap makeup to play the part. In-between bites, you ask, “So you're going to tell me why you're in that hellhole?”

He leans in and talks in a low voice, “In the past two weeks, there have been thirteen overdoses because of bad dope that’s been sold by Jasper’s people.”

“Jasper isn’t the boss; a man named Hector Vazquez is calling the shots. This case… It’s icky; there’s more to it than just dope. I’m not going to lie—I’m actually glad you're there, because I’m drowning.”

“Can’t you speak to your sergeant?”

“No,” you answered sharply. “Sorry, it’s just that you're the only person I’ve said that to. I’m… The stuff I’ve found out has made me seriously consider just leaving and starting over.”

Seeing the worry on your face, he places his hand on yours. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been looking at one-way plane tickets,” you admit. “I just... I don't know who to trust anymore. You're the first person I’ve spoken to in a long time who even knows my real name.”

Adam scratches his chin with his free hand before smiling politely at the waitress when she tops off his coffee. “I know someone who can help, but you’ve got to trust me. Completely.”

“Who is it?”

“My boss, Hank Voight.”

[tsykku]

I watched back Quackity’s stream where he took Tallulah without Wilbur’s permission out of her house to introduce her to Roier as his adopted daughter. After which he destroyed part of her garden with Gregg and Roier and blamed it on Dapper and Badboyhalo. And I have been having thoughts about it.

Because to me it seems that q!Quackity is trying to drive q!Wilbur into his arms and make him dependant on him. So far, Quackity has been the one to establish some form of relationship with Wilbur, trying to draw him in a revenge plan against Slime, calling him his husband etc. Now he tries to claim a part of Tallulah which is naturally part due to his grief of losing Tilin and her reminding him of his child. But I feel like another part is due to that Tallulah is Wilbur’s daughter.

By making it seem that they are in a complex relationship to the other players, grieving Tallulah’s house and pretending that Badboyhale and Dapper are trying to assassinate Tallulah, he is trying to get Wilbur to rely on him and not others. 

Meanwhile, Wilbur is more hesitant. He does acknowledge the tension between them and flirt a bit, however he does not commit to anything. Tallulah is his main priority. We all know that Wilbur is not the strongest one out there and that is character relatively naive in comparison to the rest of the server. Not only does he underestimate the danger level of the mobs, he has not realised the violence of the other players. 

For all that he talks big, Wilbur is not a PVP-er and has no resources to his name. So it will be interesting to see how he as a character will react to the threat to Tallulah’s safety because we all know that she is his girl. 

Will he go fully against Quackity? Is he even able to? Will he try to get allies to protect Tallulah in his stead, like he has done till now? Will he break down? Will he go into full denial? 

I am so curious which direction he is gonna take this in. 

Especially now that the server has announced that the eggs will die and have 6 days left to live. This is a tragedy waiting to happen and Tallulah is such an easy target. Maybe even the easiest. 

[beardedmrbean]

The overwhelming majority of New York voters blame President Biden for letting the migrant crisis spiral out of control, a new poll released Tuesday reveals.

The Siena College survey found that a stunning 84% of voters consider the influx of migrants a serious problem, with 57% identifying it as a “very” serious problem. Only 12% of respondents said the problem is not serious.

“It’s a sad case and Biden doesn’t even care. This is a federal problem and has always been a federal problem,” said Maria Ortiz, 37, works in retail and says she constantly sees migrants begging on the train with their babies.

“I’m not voting for him. I voted to get him in office and it’s [been] my biggest regret since,” she said at Jamaica Station in Queens. 

Nearly two-thirds of voters — 64% — flunked the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant influx, while only 29% approved.

The poll suggests the crisis at the southern border that has swamped the Big Apple with the thousands of asylum seekers is dragging down Democrat Biden’s popularity even in blue-leaning New York.

“While other issues in Washington and abroad have largely driven the news cycle over the last few weeks, the influx of migrants to New York remains top of mind for voters, with 84% saying it’s a serious – 57% very serious – problem for the state,” said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said.

“Seldom do we see an issue where at least 79% of Democrats, Republicans, independents, men, women, upstaters, downstaters, Blacks, whites, Latinos, Catholics, Jews, and Protestants all agree – that the migrant influx is a serious problem.”

The survey indicates that even immigrant-friendly New York has reached the breaking point with the unrelenting crisis.

Nearly two-thirds of voters, 64%, say New Yorkers have done enough for new migrants and must now work to “slow the flow” of migrants from the border, compared to 29% who say the state should accept and work to assimilate them. That’s a higher figure than the 58% of voters who said so in August.

Mayor Eric Adams was roundly criticized for saying the migrant crisis would “destroy New York City” without aggressive federal intervention. But 58% of voters said they agreed with Adams’s statement, and the support of his dire claim was consistent from all regions of the state.

54% of voters said migration has been more of a burden, while just 32% said it’s a benefit, a worse figure than in the prior August poll.

Biden, 80, has trouble with his own base. A majority of New York Democratic voters — 52% — said they want a nominee other than Biden to be the party’s standard bearer for president. Only 41% of Democrats said they want him as the nominee for re-election.

Thomas Barnes, a 44-year-old transit mechanic, predicted a “huge red wave” in the 2024 contest.

“If this election goes any other way, I think it is time for the American citizens to take a good look at our election system.“ 

“Biden’s funding two proxy wars, Americans are not only broke, it’s getting worse — the crime rate is sky high. Law abiding citizens are afraid for their lives. I’m a transit worker, I see shit every night. Democratic policy is what got us to this point,” he said, while adding he also blamed Republican Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot for sending migrants to sanctuary cities.

“The working class is getting squeezed to nothing. We got nothing left. It’s our tax dollars, not the rich. I think Donald Trump has a really good shot [with] demographics that have historically voted Democrat — it’s all over social media. Black people are done with the Democrat party. It’s promise after promise during election season. Tons of pandering and no follow through. No delivery.” 

His favorability and job approval ratings are underwater and he leads former Republican President Donald Trump — who is fighting four indictments — just 46% to 37% in a hypothetical matchup, with the rest of the voters undecided. His lead over Trump is shaved to 7 percentage points if Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West run on minor party lines.

Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who has fought the opening of migrant shelters on her Staten Island turf, said, “New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of Democrats’ open borders.

“From President Biden to Governor Hochul to Mayor Adams, they have created an unsustainable and unsafe crisis at the expense of their own citizens,” Malliotakis continued.

“Senators Schumer and Gillibrand should stop holding up our Border Security Act that passed the House in May and end this madness.”

Former Democratic Rep. Max Rose, who lost his seat to Malliotakis three years ago said the president “can’t ignore” the migrant issue.

“The Biden administration and Democrats have to show they can effectively and humanely manage the migrant issue or face serious election consequences,” said Rose.

“This could make the 2022 backlash over riots and crime look like a walk in the park,” he said.

Rose predicted Biden will carry New York in the presidential race next year because of the overwhelming Democratic vote in NYC. But Democratic candidates for Congress could lose if Biden fares poorly at the top of the ticket in the suburbs and upstate, he said.

In terms of popularity, 52% of voters said they had an unfavorable view of Biden compared to 45% who had a favorable view. Similarly, 51% of respondents disapproved of his job performance while 46% approved.

A staggering 65% of New Yorkers say the United States is going in the wrong direction under a Biden presidency, while just 25% said it’s on the right track with the remainder undecided.

Felix Ramos, a 26-year-old security worker, said if the polling trend continued, Biden would have to blame himself. 

“New York might just become a red state, and that’s when you know you did a bad job as a president.” 

Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-1 and the last GOPer to carry New York in a presidential race was Ronald Reagan in 1984. But last year, Republican Lee Zeldin ran a competitive race for governor against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the GOP picked up congressional seats.

“And also true is that right now, Biden has his worst-ever New York favorability and job approval ratings,” said Siena’s Greenberg. “The good news for Biden is the election is more than a year away. The bad news is there’s more bad news,” Greenberg said.

“While 70% of Democrats view Biden favorably, and 70% of Democrats approve of the job he’s doing, 52% of Democrats say they want a different presidential nominee in 2024.”

Zeldin, for his part, said “President Biden should start preparing a concession speech” if the trend continued.

“If New York is close, you can only imagine where voters are heading in swing states,” the former Long Island congressman said.

“There is an intensified desire for a correction over disastrous one-party Democratic rule in New York.”

Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams’ handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.

Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.

Only 37% of respondents statewide approve of Hochul’s handling of the migrant crisis, while 52% disapprove.

Public safety remains a major concern — 59% of voters statewide say crime has gotten worse over the past year, while just 9% said it’s gotten better and 28% said the same.

In New York City, 51% of voters said crime has gotten worse, while 33% said the same and just 12% better.

That’s a potential problem for Adams, who made bolstering public safety his top campaign pledge for City Hall in 2021.

The survey of 1,225 registered voters was conducted from Oct. 15-19, after the terrorist group’s Hamas invasion and slaughter of Israelis and Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza. It has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

The poll found that 57% of New Yorkers support providing more military and economic aid to Israel, compared to 32% opposed.

Meanwhile, 51% of responders back providing more military and economic aid to Ukraine while 38% were opposed.

“New York needs help and we have been asking for help but all [Biden] does is send help to other countries and lounge on the beach. Pathetic,” said Ortiz, the Queens straphanger.

On the Middle East war, 50% of voters agreed with the statement that Israel must do everything it can to get back the hostages taken by Hamas, but Israeli attacks in Gaza will largely hurt innocent Palestinian civilians more than anyone else

But 32% of voters agreed with the statement that after the surprise terrorist attacks Hamas carried out on Israeli civilians, Israel must do everything it can in the Gaza territory to make sure it never happens again, regardless of casualties.

[digitalisnarcissus]

If the tills go down in Greggs (for the purposes of this exercise you work in Greggs, a purveyor of baked goods, particularly sausage rolls both meat based and vegan), they're down right, in Greggs, and your battery on your phone is dead and all the people you work with in Greggs their phones are also dead, well wouldn't you be sad you did not learn your times tables parrot fashion?

[sage-nebula]

Something I've been thinking about for a few days is how, on Gregg's path, what he says to Mae after he saves her from Eide in the last part of the game suggests that he thought she went off to die or be killed in the woods, like he just averted a willing sacrifice / suicide attempt.

"Dude. Dude. You don't get to do this, okay. I don't get everything that's going on with you, and I'm not saying it's not happening. I believe you, okay? I do. But you don't get to die on me. You are not gonna do that to me, okay? [. . .] I am not gonna lose you. Okay? You can't make me lose you. Would you let me go like this? [. . .] And if we keep talking like this I'm gonna cry, and—"

He straight up tells Mae that she doesn't get to die on him, she doesn't get to make him lose her, "would you let me go like this." He clearly thought she went into the woods to die, and honestly . . . he's not entirely wrong. Mostly she went there to get answers, but if dying was what it took to get everything to stop and protect her friends, she was willing to do it. Mae was in a really bad headspace at that point in the game.

But I bring it up because while he successfully saves Mae, it's shortly after this that he learns that Casey did die. Casey didn't just skip town, Casey was kidnapped and thrown into a pit to feed an eldritch abomination by a cult of conservative uncles. (Note: said eldritch abomination might not actually exist.) Mae is Gregg's best friend, but Casey was his other best friend. Gregg loses his shit when he finds out what happened to Casey and if not for the fact that the cult had several guns on him and the others, he would have killed them all right then to avenge his friend.

So I'm just thinking about what the rest of that night must have been like for him. After they all escape, after they all get home. He's lying in Angus' arms, thinking about how Casey's dead, and how he came so close to losing Mae, too. That Mae went into the woods to die, that she would have had he not woken up and realized she was gone. That Eide grabbed her leg there at the end, tried to drag her back down to kill her, that Gregg and Bea managed to hang onto her and Angus managed to drop the elevator shaft but that it was so, so close. That Casey is dead and gone forever, and the same was so close to being true about Mae, too.

I imagine he just broke down sobbing and honestly, no one could blame him. Thank everything he has Angus. Thank everything they saved Mae. But I imagine he's in for a storm of down down days for a while, thinking about how close things were to going the other way.

[corndoggod]

Anatomy of Failure

I felt like I was on trial watching Anatomy of a Fall -- for my failures as a writer and the ensuing resentments misdirected at my partner. Seeing my private torments litigated in a riveting courtroom drama, spoken in clinical French, was titillating. The writing was so sharp I could’ve just listened like the blind son Daniel and been engaged. But I loved watching Daniel practice piano, the baby blue glaze over his eyes and his surprise testimony in a redrum turtleneck. 

The story wastes no time. Within five minutes, the husband is found dead, bleeding out in the snow. An autopsy cannot rule out foul play and his wife, a writer, becomes the sole suspect. What unravels in court is not only the events that precipitated the death of her husband, but an ultimate tea concoction of their strained relationship, competing literary ambitions and the blame and guilt surrounding the accident that blinded their son.

Entering a foreign court is a bit jarring. The rules, procedures and dress are notably different from America and seem silly when defamiliarized. The prosecutor, a bald little gremlin robed in red, was probably my favorite character. Arched, dry and eloquent, he bludgeoned the accused writer with an avalanche of incriminating evidence and was quick to undercut any counter/argument from the defense. Court rules in France appear to allow more cross-talk, making the arguments more conversational than U.S. court dramas, which glorify long-winded monologues. 

Impressively, the writer/director thread the needle so well that one is never quite convinced one way or the other. I am easily persuaded and in this lawyerly tug of war, I felt myself suspended over a chasm with demons of jealousy, envy and pride snapping at my feet. 

For all the talk of literary failure, this was a written masterpiece. I am drawn to such stories, like a moth to flame, for so many deep and cutting reasons. Like the husband, I deflect and blame others for my shortcomings: If only X, Y and Z were different, then I could write! The wife’s gaslighting voice lives within me too: Make the time and do it, coward! And I disdain my father for giving up sports journalism, and for withholding those ambitions from me (Had I known earlier, maybe then I’d be a staff writer!) and on himself in general. 

Funny enough, when I was biking home after seeing Fallen Leaves last week, I had the high thought that my senior thesis anticipated my current condition with regards to writing. My argument was garbled -- something about the author subverting masculine forms/expectations of writing (adventure, heroism) using feminine forms (diary, domesticity) through an act of ventriloquy -- but the book I chose to write about was a book about a wannabe writer’s failure. 

Called El Libro Vacio and written by Josefina Vicens, it was a novel about the shortcomings of a middle class man working in middle management and his literary shortcomings. He wanted to be a great writer, but he was tormented and uninspired by the banality of his day-to-day life as a family man. If only he didn’t have a kid and wife, he could hit the road and sail the high seas and finally have something to say! He studiously documents his failures and torments in a diary that amounts to the novel by Vicens. 

In my early 20s, I was interested in what makes a good leader. I studied the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, the most winningest basketball coach Gregg Popovich and read more than a dozen presidential biographies. But now I find myself fixated on failure, my own and my fathers, and I want to learn the art of letting go. 

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Doesn’t surprise me that Darcy Grey quit. Makes a lot of story things make sense too.

I feel like maybe they were supposed to get Harriet’s house but then they had to switch it last minute to Charles and Manpreet swooping in because they had never even mentioned looking for a house before that. And I feel like the Gregg thing was probably supposed to be a bigger thing but then they just decided to end that abruptly to trigger a break up so Marcus could leave.

Maybe, I don’t know. It’s a shame the character was so wasted but I don’t blame Darcy for wanting to leave because they did absolutely nothing interesting with Marcus. I mean we spent half his run waiting to see if the Pierce connection would materialize into anything whether we wanted it to or not and in the end it meant nothing. He didn’t even talk to Rhona after their initial scenes. And then the rest of the time he was just kind of nothing.

He annoys me less than Ben cause he’s not dating Aaron but the character feels much the same. He’s got a weird backstory connection that should have been a bigger thing but they did nothing with it. His only other character trait is his job. His relationship moved at strange speeds and will end abruptly because of actor exits.

Sorry Marcus…you deserved better. I mean they could have actually done something with his and Ethan’s relationship, especially after the Eddie debacle, where Ethan falling in love with another blue collar guy teaches him not to be so snobby about that sort of thing. There could have been character growth. Instead I feel like Ethan’s going to end up right back where he started, being too career focused and looking down at everyone because they’re not another hot shot lawyer. And I’m not sure they can really try this a third time.

But if they do, for the love of god can they just bring in a character with no convoluted backstory connections to another character and establish him as a character in his own right first and then start working towards a relationship with Ethan. Like have Vinny or Jimmy need to hire someone to work at the scrap yard or the haulage. Or have Kim bring in a new young business minded guy to rival gabby but he’s gay so she can’t go after him and eventually he ends up with Ethan. Or Charity needs to hire someone at the pub now that Bob has defected to the B&B. Or Leyla needs to hire someone to work at Take a Vow with her now that Priya has left. There are plenty of opportunities for new kinds of characters.

But I won’t get my hopes up.

[alliswyattonthewesternfront]

against my better judgment, i have told Gregg about "wet hands style."

i have no one to blame but myself.

[definitely-future-luke]

POST BACKROOMS LOG

It seems that everyone is keeping logs and notes these days... I can't say that I blame them. It has simply become a necessity with the string of bizarre occurrences plaguing our lives at the moment.

Earlier, me and Greggslover escaped the "British Shop Backrooms", and to celebrate we ate at a Normal Greggs with No Dimensional Anomalies Whatsoever. I don't think I've ever eaten a sausage roll that's tasted better than that one.

When did this all begin... I suppose the first truly strange occurrence was Claire coming back. Was there anything before that?

...

Wait, Was There Anything Before That. I mean, of course there was. But What Was Before That. Bill Hawks' announcement- what was before it-

Shit. God, my head feels as if it's going to split open. I'm going to lie down.