#i considered starting a new blog for this but meh

[mewtillidae]

posting a kremy every single day until new episodes of OUAWL are out DAY 1

[joesalw]

First of all I just wanted to commend you for becoming a TS hate blog despite the annoying fangirl swarm you're probably going to face. You're truly doing the lord's work.

I saw that you said you were her a fan of hers but then realised who she was after her breakup with Joe. I was curious about how long you'd been a fan and how involved were you in the fandom and what was it that caused this 180? Was it one thing that just shook you out or was it little things added up?

For me, I had always considered myself more of a casual fan of her music but never got into the fandom side of it because I always thought of swifties as pretty fucking annoying. However, I've had mutuals through the years who were more in the fandom so I sort of observed from the outside. As for her as a person, I never went to bat for her but I always felt like I gave her a sense of grace and understanding despite her being 7 years older than me and far more privileged. For example, when people accused her of always playing the victim I always thought it was understandable because when you're young you often only see things from your own pov, but with age and maturity you start seeing the bigger picture.

My issues with her started in 2020, the year after she made a documentary where she shed her white women tears and proclaimed she wanted to be politically active and use her voice for good. But when the opportunity came with covid, BLM and the election she did less than the bare minimum, a couple of tweets and some cookies iirc. After that her shitty allyship continued to annoy me especially after that Ginny and Georgia tweet, but what was really grating on my nerves was the way her fanbase and the media were hailing her an artistic genius for the littlest things. She's always been one of the poster girls for white mediocrity in the entertainment industry but it was taken to whole new level with her directing her "short film". I don't know what makes good music, but I do know little more about movies and directors and all too well was just so meh and bland and basic and the fact that Sadie and Dylan are both brilliant actors yet their performances in that "film" were so lackluster tells me she does not have what it takes to be a director. Yet she was invited to one of those variety talks and was campaigning for a Oscar nomination? And will apparently direct a movie sometime in the future? Has the world lost it's fucking mind?

Anyways come 2023 to her dating a bigot and I realised just how much of a performance her "activism" has been and her going back to the same tricks of playing victim that made me realise it wasn't immaturity and age this is just who she is.

Sorry if this is tmi but I thought since I was asking for you story I'd tell you mine in a sense. I also have some completely unqualified armchair psychology takes on miss t if you're interested in hearing them. They're probably not "hot takes" or something someone somewhere hasn't already said about her but this was already too long for me to dump them on you unasked.

Hope you have a great day! X

I started fangirling her in 2016 when the whole snakegate thing happened. With reputation especially, when she wrote those monologues about her being comfortable being her ownself at the end of her 20s and wanting a normal life and privacy outside media scrutiny. Her talking about how she used her "taylor swift sqaud" to heal her past insecurities not knowing how it could affect someone who still doesn’t have that type of friendgroup, her deciding to keep her relationship private instead of making it a circus for the media. You know, you could see the personality growth in her at that time. To me she really felt like a very matured person.

Even though there were still lots of things (that you talked about) used to make me very uncomfortable, like that ginny and georgia tweet and her posting that black image of blm trend with THIRTEEN HEART EMOJIS (so embarrassing and weird?)

Moreover, I never liked any of her self directed music videos. Like those were so bland and boring and never fit with the music. But people still praising her and giving her vmas and shits was just a confirmation that nobody cares about art these days, they only want the clout from her name. Her music is also very boring. She writes about the same events in thousand different songs to milk the shit out of it. Like girl please move on!

But what made me actually unstan her was the whole shitshow she put up after her breakup with Joe. The person she talked so highly about in her whole discography was now a villain too. She went on a brought up a whole hate trend on Joe by making her friends unfollow him publicly.

SHE IS THE ONE WHO INSTIGATED THE WHOLE JOE ALWYN HATRED TREND.

You know no matter whatever someone does (his only fault was not wanting to marry her lol), nobody deserves to go through this type of media harassment. But Joe did. Joe is the person who saved her when she was having this kind of media treatment but later on SHE instigated the same type of hatred for him. That just proves how terrible she is as a human being. And not to forget she immediately started dating a vile, racist, islamophobe, bigot, piece of shit and said that was the best time of her life. She didn’t even acknowledge her wrong in the relationship on her breakup announcement (she acted unbrothered). She used Ice Spice to cover up her mess. I mean how many more reasons did i need after that?

Now in her travis era, she switched completely 180° saying being public is her real personality. She also brought back her squad pap walks. She is really feeding into the narrative that Joe kept her in basement. So like the MAIN thing that made me fall in love with her in the first place was all along a lie? She never matured? She never wanted to have privacy? She never valued a normal life? Her personality growth really went downhill to a shithole.

But after being so invested in her for 7 years, I can tell you that a breakdown is coming very soon and I will not feel bad for it at all!

[merrikiwi]

What we got up to in July 2024

Writing this blog post is an idea I came up with because it is fun but also because it forces us to reflect on the month and what we did. We've been trying (badly) to keep track of all the things we watched in the year so we can do an end-of-the-year retrospective of all the media we enjoyed so heeeeeeere we go.

July, July, July, what a busy month we've had. From L getting a new job to us running our first convention stall selling our art. We have truly been busy, but that has not stopped us from having fun with all kinds of media. Whether to relax or to research we watched a lot last month so lets talk about it.

Movies Movies are a good place to start. I've been trying to keep track of the movies we watched on Letterbox like I do with anime on MAL. I just like having a big list of all the things I've seen I can't help it XD. 

For my birthday we did a Gentleman-themed movie night. First, we watched The Gentleman a film I've been trying to get L to watch for ages and my birthday seemed like a great opportunity. And guess what she loved it. It's Guy Richie so you know the cinematography and editing are going to be fun a least. I didn't remember how homoerotic it was but I'm all for it. I think the gangsters should kiss. 

We also watched The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare... Also Guy Richie. It even had Henry Cavill but they couldn't save this story from being kinda meh. It sucks because I was looking forward to it but It just felt a little all over the place. You never really get to know any of the characters and the action felt excessive considering the real-life versions of these people managed to do this operation with only one injury. 

The last movie I can remember watching was Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Our hopes going in were so low but it was actually really awesome. The world and story are just so interesting and well-made. It feels like a passion project from the director. It's just plain fun times. 

TV

For the small screen, we watched The 8 show, A tv adaptation of two Manhwa Pie game and Money game. The show chose elements from both  to create a kind of mish mash of the ideas from both. I hadn't read them but L had so I got to turn and go "Omg did that happen in the Manhwa". I wouldn't want to spoil anything but if you're a fan of death games its very compelling. 

My main criticism of the show as a whole was that the violence in the latter half was actually really hard to watch. It felt excessive and unrealistic. You will watch a character get their head bashed in with a baseball bat multiple times and will be fine the next day. It gives it this kind of unrealistic uneasiness where you're real-world perception of how much damage the human body can take is confused for the sake of plot convenience and shock. 

L: It made some interesting adaptations and outright changes that were mostly good but it is very different to both manhwa. Which is a good thing. I've read it already so show me something cool you can do with the idea!

Anime

Anime was a large part of what we watched as usual. We have completely stepped off the seasonal train and as a result have been enjoying anime from all over... anyway we watched Dungeon Meshi. If you have seen our most recent video you know we love this show. It's genuinely a 10/10 and I can't wait for the next season. I don't want to be basic and make more videos on it but I kinda do. 

Shangri-La Frontier was another anime we brought up in the last video as it was just overflowing with passion and skill. We still haven't finished it with 2 episodes to go.

I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability; was also fun but for very silly reasons. I can't sit here and claim it's inherently good but it was fun and easy to watch. Sometimes that's ok.

Lastly, for anime, we have Black Butler. omg, it's so fun. we're only 10 episodes into our rewatch at the moment but it's been about 10 years since I last watched it. The English accents in the dub are particularly awful I love it. 

Its interesting to look back on the anime we watched and see exactly how we went from watching these to writing the Passion and Skill video. I can see what elements of each show inspired what elements of the video. This is cool and fun and nice. 

Games

Don't worry we are nerds of the highest order so we played some games too. I've been playing a few in the last week or so. Star Ocean Divine Force, Orks Must Die 3 and Circus Electrique just to name a few. I've been ping-ponging back and forth between all of them. 

The big game of this month however has to be Spellforce 2. I played 3 and really enjoyed it but the jump back to 2006 graphics was a hurdle I had to vault and I'm glad I did. The game has a lot of interesting elements that they stripped out for the sequel. Unsurprising considering the game changed hands multiple times between the 2 games. It really feels like a classic CRPG with strategy elements instead of a bunch of strategy maps with some RPG-style quests for good measure. It was fun and just as I thought I was finishing it the game kept going. I have no idea where it's going to go next.

L has been playing the Demo for Blue Prince pretty religiously. I don't think ill see her again once the full game comes out but I won't say too much because I think there's a little video/strategy guide on the horizon. You should see the spreadsheet. 

L: Spreadsheet :3c 

Conc

If I could conclude this rambling blog post for July in one word I would say Expanding. Because our tastes are changing and expanding. I'm excited to see what I get to enjoy next month. 

Anyway, this blog post is more for us to store thoughts than anything substantial at the moment but if you enjoyed reading it let us know. If you want better-worded thoughts check out our YouTube videos and if I actually stick to this new idea see you next month.

[fire-water-grass-core]

OOC

tl:dr i'm placing all my blogs on indefinite hiatus, i'll be putting that in my pinned posts as well.

Well. I made the decision. it's been coming for a while tbh, i've taken a lot of breaks in the last few months, and if i'm honest i never really wanted to stop these breaks. I'm not having fun roleplaying here anymore. It's an ugly truth, but its a truth.

I don't want to blame anyone but myself, please don't get this wrong. But i want to explain myself and i want to be honest. And also, i'm very sorry about incoherent rambling, i can't really help it right now.

I feel like i had no involvement in this community anymore. Which is... objectively false, but that doesn't help me feel better. All the people that made me join rotomblr either left themselves or they evolved so much and so fast that i can't keep up. There are new people as well, and there are many that i like a lot, but in the end, rotomblr is changing way too fast for me to keep up and it simply kills all my joy and motivation. (again, i don't blame anyone here. I want you to have fun. It's just sad that i can't be part of the fun)

I have tried a lot to bring my motivation back to rotomblr by making A LOT of blogs, some have been very well received, some are not getting any attention. And again, i understand that. I don't want anyone to force themself to be into something they're not. And i understand much much better that i can't just expect a blog i created 5 minutes ago to get asks and followers in the hundreds. But this is, in the end, another reason for me to feel left out.

I also tried to plan an event, i tried making a story and none of it really went anywhere. I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you can go and plan something like this, and how you work together with people like this, and i just can't keep it up anymore. It's gotten so bad that i actually fear opening the app on my phone. I don't read my favourite blogs anymore. And since i realized that, i also realized i need to make a change.

In addition, there is also real life, and other hobbies, and all of it is draining the limited time i have as well as my mental capacity and lately have been getting REALLY depressed. Not specifically because of rotomblr, but i think it's been a part of it.

So. I have made the decision to put all of my blogs on hiatus. I don't want to delete them, because i had it often that i just gave up on a hobby or a game or a book and came back to it after a long time. And honestly, i like a lot of the characters. They are very dear to me, and most of them only live through tumblr, and i don't want to lose them. But i don't have concrete plans to come back anytime soon.

On the other hand, i won't leave the few discord servers i'm in, mostly because i still really like the community and i consider quite a few of you people good friends by now.

PS: I am so incredibly upset with myself it's unbelievable. When i made the blog and started having really a lot of fun, i said to myself that i want to keep this hobby up for one year. That was my goal. And i failed. FUCK. On the other hand i have been ignoring rotomblr for a bit already and it's been kinda freeing. so... yeah... meh.

[jasper-book-stash]

January 2024 Reading Wrap Up

As y'all know, I started this blog anew to record my thoughts on some books I read. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of reading a lot more books than the average human should, and they knock each other out of my noggin. This is why I maintain a color-coded spreadsheet with columns to keep track of things. I also took on a winter reading challenge, and I've read most of the 17 books I was looking to read. With that said, let's see where things landed this month!

Religious Text

None applicable.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

None applicable (thank the gods).

2/10 - Trash

Creating Magickal Entities: A Complete Guide to Entity Creation | David Michael Cunningham, Taylor Ellwood, T Amanda R Wagener

This one was...rough. Painful, even. This made me retroactively rate the other occult books I read higher just to cope.

3/10 - Meh

Heartbreaker | Julie Garwood [reading challenge]

I was hoping this one would be fun, considering the author is from Missouri and the summary seemed promising, but the main male character (not the antagonist) came across as a creep the whole time. I hated him very much.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists, & Other Creatives | T Thorn Coyle [reading challenge]

With all due respect to Mx. T Thorn Coyle…this book sucked. It originated as a zine and tbh it should have stayed that way. There was a lot of fluff to get the page count up that could honestly have been removed (and should have been). I didn’t feel like I came away from this one learning anything new about sigils or how to incorporate them or my writing into my craft.

The Whittiers | Danielle Steel [reading challenge]

Unlike my surprisingly good experiences reading The Wedding Planner, The Whittiers was a sludge to get through. It was a bit annoying to hear Danielle Steel talk so much about how the characters weren't rich when they were clearly living a rather rich lifestyle without much financial problems in the beginning, and I eventually gave up on the book. The characters just...weren't too compelling to trudge through the repetition for.

The Stranger Upstairs | Lisa M Matlin

YOU. This book took a bit too long to get to the point (the plot), but at least part 2 was absolutely riveting and the epilogue was intriguing. I honestly think None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell did this better, even though The Stranger Upstairs is more about a house than a person. Just...read None Of This Is True instead. Trust me.

Liber Null and Psychonaut | Liber Kaos | Peter J Carroll

Part of what I'm doing is research into chaos magic, starting with its foundational texts. And boy howdy, is this a severely middling book to me. Pointlessly obtuse, refuses to get to the point, spends too long sucking Aleister Crowley's dick... But utterly fascinating from a retrospective point of view, seeing what chaos magic looks like now.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

Dracula | Bram Stoker [reading challenge]

I'm going to beat Bram Stoker with a broom. Good with the caveat that you have to read it with the context of it being a product of its time. Also, post-vampire Lucy Westenra can GET SOME.

Strawberry Shortcake Murder | Joanne Fluke [reading challenge]

I "read" this one in audiobook form, thanks to my library having a Playaway of it. This one…aged a little poorly in some aspects. I might skip into more modern entries to the series rather than trudge through the older stuff to get there.

The Leftover Woman | Jean Kwok [reading challenge]

This one was a fucking TRIP. This book was full of twists and turns and physically pained me at points. It absolutely fucked me up and I was crying by the end, so I was lucky that no one came into work while I was reading it. I can't say much about it for fear of spoiling it, other than that it delivered upon what it promised.

The Midnight Library | Matt Haig [reading challenge]

This did NOT help with the crying! This book also fucked me up! It’s absolutely wild from the get-go. Content warning for animal death early on, though, because that did not help my anxious ass.

Marrying the Ketchups | Jennifer Close [reading challenge]

With all of the things this book was juggling, it ended exactly how it needed to.

Spells for Change: A Guide for Modern Witches | Frankie Castanea/Chaotic Witch Aunt

I was expecting something entirely different from this book.

Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic | Phil Hine

Exactly what it says on the tin.

Magickal Servitors: Create Your Own Spirits to Attract Pleasure, Power and Prosperity | Damon Brand

Far more effective and to-the-point than Creating Magickal Entities was, but still far from perfect.

9/10 - Very Very Good

The Puppets of Spelhorst | Kate DiCamillo [reading challenge]

This book is one I've been meaning to read since the library got it in. It's an adorable story with great illustrations and plenty of drama for the 8- to 12-year-old in your life. Or for you, if you want a touching low-stakes story with an open ending.

Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under The Sea | Dav Pilkey [reading challenge]

From the guy who brought us Captain Underpants comes an adorable graphic novel about…honestly a lot happening, there was a lot. Luckily, even though it’s late in the series, there’s enough context provided that you can get a good grasp of the characters. Doesn’t have much to do with Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, though, so I’m deducting a point for that. I read Jules Verne's work and there was nothing about a dog-headed cop in there, nor a cat man who used to be a criminal and is having the worst redemption arc of his life.

Honestly, it was still fun.

Practical Gods | Carl Dennis [reading challenge]

Read for both my reading challenge AND my book club's Pulitzer Prize prompt, this is such a lovely collection of poems and really gets into the crossing of religious belief with modern problems. How does it do this as a book of poetry? I’m not sure! But it did! Definitely worth the multiple prizes it has won. I ordered my own personal copy and I'm waiting for it to arrive.

Gods of Jade and Shadow | Silvia Moreno-Garcia [reading challenge]

I AM GOING TO EAT THIS BOOK BECAUSE I LOVE IT SO MUCH. We love a book in which the main character dies but that's not the end of their story!

Warrior Magic: Justice Spirituality and Culture from Around the World | Tomas Prower

I did a little write-up of this one.

Give-A-Damn-Jones | Bill Pronzini [reading challenge]

This one was great because the titular character respects women and protects minorities and keeps getting into situations. We love a guy who doesn't want to be here! This was the first Western I've read, and I think it was a good pick.

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

Well, everyone who's into the genre these fall under, at least.

Sappho: A New Translation | Mary Barnard

I was so worried that this translation would...well, straightwash Sappho, but from what I see, Mary is dedicated to translating them as close to intentional meaning as possible, including Sappho's bisexuality. Hell yeah.

Welsh Witchcraft: A Guide to the Spirits, Lore, and Magic of Wales | Mhara Starling

This is an in-depth look into a Welsh witch's practice. It's delightful to read someone talk about their own craft, and you can really tell that Mhara loves the place she lives in.

Exodus 20:3: A Monster Romance | Freydis Moon

We love a gay angelfucker romance between a trans man and an angel, complete with smut. Honestly, a great time.

The Salt Grows Heavy | Cassandra Khaw

Do you want the mermaid from The Little Mermaid fairy tale to murder people? Do you want a nonbinary plague doctor? Do you want to hear about murderous child cannibals and freakish surgeons? Do you want your protagonist to McFucking Snap? Do you want a happy ending in the weirdest way possible in this setting? Read The Salt Grows Heavy! A mere 112 pages that will fuck you up while you're trying to poop in peace!

[textsfromthetva]

I don't think I've ever seen you post about any of the other projects Loki's been in. How do you feel about his movies? Which one(s) are your favorite?

First off, I'm sorry for letting this sit in my inbox collecting dust for three weeks, considering the fact that it's actually a great question and it caused me to really reflect on my thoughts about Loki in the MCU. Unfortunately, none of those thoughts got to a point where they were worthy of publication on the esteemed tumblr dot com, as I doubted they would pass the savage peer review of much more dedicated fans. They still won't.

Honestly, I'm scared, anon. People probably won't agree. But since you asked so nicely:

Thor - solid tragic backstory established with a certain flair. Loki is by far the most interesting thing about the whole movie. Not that I actually dislike it as a whole, I just don't think it's anything special in the context of the MCU. It's a fish out of water comedy interrupted regularly by a heartbreaking tale of loss of identity, self-hatred, and daddy issues. Which is a... choice? I guess? Kenneth Branagh's love of Shakespearean tragedy really shines through, is all I'm saying. Tom really established his brilliance right out of the gate, so that brings it to a solid 8/10 on my Loki-scale.

The Avengers - now... look. This movie has a lot of flaws. But I love it. I was in my mid-20s okay, I was exposed to it at a weird time in my life and I was obsessed. I watched it three times in cinemas, including once in New York City, while I was there on a study trip with uni. I probably watched it half a dozen times after that. And Loki was so much fun in this! Just the perfect villain for that movie. He was the Moment. I'm not even gonna get into the tragedy of the mind stone's influence fucking with him, Thor not realizing, lack of acknowledgement of the fact that he literally tried to commit suicide two movies ago, or the many implications of past torture by Thanos, I just like watching him be flamboyantly evil and smack people with his cane. The other stuff gives the story depth that I'm not actually sure it actually deserves. Still, 10/10

Thor: The Dark World - we can all agree that this movie is, uh, kinda meh. At least in my opinion. However, I think it's very important in terms of Loki's character development and the development of his relationship with Thor. For that reason alone, I admit to having watched it more than once. Also, he's such a little dramatic bitch in this, it's what we all deserve. 7/10.

Thor: Ragnarok - this is where some people will start throwing rocks at me. I really, really like this movie. I love Taika Waititi, I love his whimsical humour, I love how goddamn silly and lighthearted this thing is compared to The Dark World (and Avengers: Age of Ultron). Fuck grimdark angst, we have bright colours and fun. It just means the few emotional whammies hit all the harder too. I've heard people confidently call this movie a character assassination, in regards to Loki, and I really can't express in words how little I care. He is now Jeff Goldblum's trophy twink. No explanation needed. Let the guy be chaotic for once, he's earned it! 100/10.

Avengers: Infinity War - nope. Dont' wanna talk about it. -10000/10

Loki - well. I'll refer you to this edit of mine:

This show is a general mess on so many fronts, but I still feel such fondness for it. And judging from the number of viewers it got, the world will watch just about anything if it has Loki in it, which, you know, valid. And would I be running a whole damn blog about it if I actively disliked it? No, I would not. 9/10.

There we go. Based on my personal rating, Thor: Ragnarok wins. The trophy twink can't lose.

[televinita]

tagged by @empress-of-snark to post my recent, current, and future reads! (Which: hahahahaha! an excuse to GET LONG)

recent: Like in the last week? Love Interest by Clare Gilmore (still tap dancing between 4 stars for overall joy and 3 due to demerits); The Seat Filler by Sariah Williams (perfect hand-claspy fluff of fantasies! once I washed the author's notes out of my brain); Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart (a quick but delightful read! brought to you by: "when I left this morning I thought I was just dropping my parents off at the hospital but actually I'm staying with Mom the whole time and will end up staying at the house overnight"); Penhale Wood by Julia Thomas (disappointing meh after I loved her debut).

and on audio, Texts From Jane Eyre (which is a STELLAR listening experience; it's just two narrators but they are full on voice actors bringing the literal equivalent of a script -- with no stage or other directions -- to life. While I only vaguely remember the original...blog? Twitter account? website?, this had me cackling)

God, we haven't even made it to Current Reads yet, huh.

--------

current: Meanwhile Farm by Margaret Cheney (70s back-to-the-land memoir by a widowed and middle-aged feminist -- bought it at a book sale ages ago and when I was at the house, it ended up being the one that spoke to me most as a Next Read. it's interesting but overwritten, so probably not a keeper but still worth the read); When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord (underwhelming; I really thought LiveJournal was going to play a far bigger role than it has so far, 2/3rds in); Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands (💖) (so much so I haven't gotten past chapter 3 as I keep putting it down to squee)

and on audio I'm working through Goosebumps #10 (The Ghost Next Door) to fall asleep to -- childhood favorite! -- and just started The Only One Left by Riley Sager.

-------

future: it's incredibly dangerous to even think about next books given the state of the above section, but since there's still a bit of a queue for it and it's checked out right now, will probably try Starter Villain. Beyond that, it could be anything from this list (copied from my temp. pinned post, since it's liable to change):

the first two books in the Maxie & Stretch cozy mystery series by Sue Henry

A Barn in New England: Making a Home on Three Acres

The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus

Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country

and an outside shot at A Bird in the Hand and a Bear in the Bush, which I almost picked over Meanwhile Farm and which definitely looks more fun, a 70s memoir of a family who moved to the country and started rescuing/rehabbing orphan/injured wild animals. Also bought ages ago at a book sale.

Please consider yourself tagged if you wanna talk books! Credit me even! (let me look at your words about books) (even if you simply list titles. which is probably what everyone else does. i simply cannot be contained or even modestly restrained is all) (see also: these extra-unnecessary parenthetical asides)

[mareastrorum]

Irreverent ranting, don’t mind me.

I think I spent too much time on Reddit to bother with most of the curating advice like block buttons. The only time I’ve blocked anyone is for spambots because that helps keeps bots from taking over (I guess?).

Listen, my MO was to go onto Reddit and browse a curated front page of weird subreddits I subscribed to for maybe 10 minutes. 13 years of curating specific subreddits for whatever niche hells interested me. After a bit of that to ease my way back into the internet, I was ready to dive into the unhinged shitfest of /r/all for the rest of the day.

/r/all is like going into Tumblr’s trending page with 0 moderation and staff to prevent the unsavory bits from getting there. All that mattered was upvotes. I saw the most absurd shit. Getting to the top 100 of /r/all was considered an accomplishment, of course, except for the people that rushed to post breaking political news ASAP for an easy ride to the top. But I didn’t stop at top 100. I kept digging with RES endless scrolling because I am a hater. I wanted to be outraged. I wanted to see things that made me think “why would you post that?” and “why did people upvote this?” and weird crap I would have never otherwise encountered in my life. I was there for the two broken arms AMA. I was there when Victoria was kicked out of /r/IAmA. I was there when /r/bestof decided to exclude the default subs and again when they added them back in years later. I was there for the Ellen Pao revolt and sexist horseshit that came with volunteering to be the sacrificial lamb. I was there for the /r/jailbait debate and ban and aftermath, and for each ban wave after that. I was there when Grumpy Cat became a thing. I was there for the WSB GameStop insanity became a DFV cult and watched the subreddit turn into a conspiracy theory sub instead of the loss porn gambling with your life savings sub.

And if I needed time to chill the fuck out, I went to /r/law because at least there some of the takes were reasonably educated and thought out, usually eviscerating the dumbasses that came in with some political agenda. Oh man, 2016-2021 was an ERA of STRIFE, and I loved my time there. The insanity, the drama, the intrigue.

I never really encountered the DNI stuff until coming here. It’s just like, what? Do haters listen to that? Like, I am a silent hater, I’d flag people with RES to track bad faith asshats so I knew not to waste too much time on replies to them, but I didn’t stalk or block people on Reddit. I guess that’s how people do on the blog website? Here, I follow several people I don’t agree with because I don’t think that is an important part of my internet experience. I’m an attorney, I literally read and write things I vehemently disagree with as part of my every day. What would my life be if I didn’t? Fucking boring. Hell no.

When I started a Tumblr blog a few months ago, it was just to follow specific fandom stuff because the subreddit for it was surprisingly sparse. I laughed at the “hellsite” moniker because man, I would award that to Something Awful, not this place. Tumblr has issues, but meh.

So yeah, anyway, to all the redditors: if you’re like me, ignore the bullshit about block buttons, and just don’t be rude to OP if you want to avoid getting mass blocks. Getting blocked means you get to do less from that blog, but of course, you could always make a new one. Reblogs don’t work like a subreddit, they work like posting to someone’s personal sub and the OP gets all the updates of people responding to YOU. That’s kinda shitty, so it’s a nono. Same thing with the tags. Just be aware that OP sees them just as much as a direct reply comment would.

I’m off to douse myself in someone’s drama bullshit again, woohoo.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Why Not Cast In PVC?

@a commenter in this post: I'm not an impressively cool fount of knowledge like Oldie Chinese Diaspora Anon, but I can actually answer this question!

D4nny Ch00 actually did pivot into making plastic-bodied Sm4rt D0lls at one point, called "Cortex" Sm4rt D0lls! The upfront investment /was/ very high for him, as he detailed the process in various posts to his blog -- which were an interesting read despite how... occasionally grating his tone can be. Unfortunately for his efforts however, the end results were less than satisfactory. The bodies were cast in many small parts -- which I consider to be one of the major failings here; mass production necessitates simplification -- which then had to be cut, sanded, and painstakingly assembled by his team. From what he's said, this wound up taking considerably more time (and paid hours) than assembling the vinyl bodies did. Because of this, as well as a general "meh" reception from the community, he wound up discontinuing them not long after release. Despite how much he poured into the project, 'Cortex" just didn't make a profit -- directly after this we entered the era in which D4nny made about one-billion new characters, started selling extremely highly-priced one-offs, and marketed blind boxes that might contain nothing but fabric when reasonable customers would expect, at least, doll parts if not a full doll -- which I'm sure was a way for him to recoup the losses incurred on the Cortex endeavor. 

There are some dolls cast in plastic- 4zone Pure Neemo and Picco Neemo bodies are plastic with vinyl heads, and I believe 0bitsu also has some plastic doll bodies that people often use to customize Nendoroids. But they are generally solid pieces and not hollow like SmD are so I'm sure they're considerably easier to produce (as well as being significantly smaller- and the fact that 0bitsu is a major manufacturer for other dollmakers already.) This is likely part of why they've found success where SmD was unable to, at least in my opinion. 

tl;dr it's too expensive and the market might not show up even if you do put in the work.

~Anonymous

[double-knots-archive]

So update: my gram is doing waaaaay better. things are returning to a weird semblance of normal. nothing is normal, but its ...closer than it has been. I am managing to not just ... sleep or zone out for hours on end at the end of the day. I have cider’s ashes, and his stuff has been mostly cleaned up. I’ve been forcing my cat to spend time with me as a way of dealing with his absence. Its not really working, but i’ve gotten some cute cat pics ( cat tax )

now for tumblr,  I don’t know yet my plan 100%. but i do know:

Double-knots is gonna get a rework, and will probably move to a new thing. same url, but it’ll be fresh and new and new icon, graphics, etc 

Speed: I’m still gonna be slow as fuck because grad school, babysitting, & care giving are still things. just, ya know, less than it was. 

New blog? I am considering making a side blog to double-knots that’ll focus fully on my original characters from my original world :) 

Alice is still gonna be alice. She’s going to be the most active out of all of my blogs for now. Since ,,, all her shit is done, and everyone likes her xD 

Canon blogs: i haven’t decided what to do with my canon stuff yet, but im formulating ideas slowly. i am starting to think about shuffling around mains, as well as what blog is the main vs sides, etc etc etc 

Drafts: no idea what im gonna do with those yet. not important yet. meh

inbox: will probably get deleted. maybe not all of it, but meh. not important yet

icons: i am just gonna stop trying lmaooooooo i am just gonna get rid of the whole border idea. as much as i like it, tis too much work. the serotonin of using them =/= the sucky feeling of making them 

Other: uhhhh i still got discord if y’all want to talk / check in on me  lol 

[ackalice]

oh yeah- that's perfectly normal considering I haven't posted about them here before lol-

Adamo and Bambinali are the ship kids between Donnie and my oc Adelaide. She's the insanely long haired brunette that you may have seen in that rottmnt doodle dump I made a while back. Shes one of the characters in a story line that me and my friend are making currently.

Dara is another ship kid between the two, but in a different AU. She's SUPER new so I don't really have much more to say atm-

I didn't really plan to put their stories on my blog since most of the people that follow me follow me for fnaf content, but seeing as A LOT of people seemed to like this piece, meh why not. I'm always happy to blabber on about my characters. Maybe I'll start making posts about them, idk.

HOLY CRAP THIS TOOK TWO DAYS-

but here it is! I planned this a month ago but never got the chance to start it till yesterday.

Here's a buncha Donnie's kids! I thought it would be fun to gather a few oc's (including my own) and make a big ol' canvas of 'em.

Alya, Lou, and Emi belong to @s-s-ironnie

Petri belongs to @Darlinkaz on Twitter

August belongs to @Star_Sparkler on Twitter

and Adamo, Bambinali, and Dara belong to this dork.

Close-ups:

[sadlysoulx]

How Haikyuu characters would react to you seducing them

(they have a crush on you)

Please bare with me coz I don't know how do you✨seduce✨ a person. So if the following doesn't count as seducing and considered as teasing, please forgive me🙂👍

Hinata

-you sat on his lap

-•/////•

-he died on the spot🙂

-But jokes aside, he would stutter and fumble with his hands, not looking at you.

-He can't stop fidgeting because he doesn't know where to put his hands; on your waist or on your thighs? 🤷🏻‍♀️

-"U-uh, Y/n? Where d-do I put my hands?"

Kageyama

-he was drinking his milk when you walk up to him, took his carton milk and sip from the same straw.

-(pretend there's no kuroona virus😃)

-he would blush when you hand it back to him casually, half-empty.

-And then you winked before walking away.

-He didn't mind sharing his milk with you😏

-"Y/n B-BOKE!"

Yamaguchi

-He was literally breathing peacefully until you came😭

-he was sitting there, so you walked from behind him, bend down and brush your lips against the crook of his neck.

-His breath hitches🤭

-When you started to lick a bit he started to bounce his leg.

-"Y-Y/n. . . W-what are y-you doing?"

Tsukishima

-You knew seducing him is a bad idea😬

-But reader-chan is stubborn 🤦🏻‍♀️

-you visited him in his house and you saw him relaxing on the couch. Smirking, you walked up to him and straddled his lap.

-He froze.

-Jack 2.0 😭😭😭(Titanic music playing in the background)

-he tried to hide his flushed face on the crook of your neck.

-"You're an idiot. . ."

Tanaka

-👁️👄👁️

-You didn't even tried to seduce him💀💀💀

-You were just staring at him and then he would blush😭

-he would broadcast to the whole world.

-"Y/N-CHAN SEDUCED ME!"

Nishinoya

-same as tanaka-senpaiiiiiiii🙂

-You were like just ✨breathe✨ and then noya be 😍

-"Tanaka! Y/N SEDUCED MEH!"

Suga

-You were passing by the empty hallway when you saw Suga walking up to you without knowing.

-you smirked and called him. He looked up and smiled at you.

-You walked up to him but didn't stop, so he walked backwards until he felt the wall behind him.

-he realized the situation you were in so he got really nervous 🙇🏻‍♀️

-he avoided eye contact so his eyes went like:⬅️⬆️↗️↘️⬅️↘️⬆️

-Lmao sorrryyyy💀

-You laughed and walk away leaving him flushed.

-"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR Y/N?!"

Daichi

-You realized he gets enthusiastic when you call him captain

-but then you found out it's a different story when you call him daddy😩

-when he walked you home, you accidentally called him that.

-he got nervous, fidgeting everywhere and then would scold you.

-but he secretly likes it.

-"Y/N! If you don't want others to think we're in a relationship, then don't call me that. Unless you want us to be in a relationship. . ."

Asahi

-You both decided to study together.

-he was memorizing a while paragraph and then when he looked at you, he finds you smirking and staring at him.😏😏😏

-he stutters in his whole paragraph, his cheeks flushed red when he sees you like that.

-"T-the w-world war t-two is one o-of the— Y-Y/n? Is there something in my f-face?!

Oikawa

-both of you were eating ice cream and then you saw some swipes of it on the corner did Oikawa's lips. 👁️👅👁️

-You mindlessly wiped it off his lips and ate it.

-(again pretend there's no kuroona virus👩‍🔬)

-he stared at you for a momment processing what you did and then smirked.

-"oh you noti noti, seducing me like that. . ."

-sOrRy 💀💀💀

Iwaizumi

-Say it with me THAT ARMMSSSSS💪

-you were sitting beside him in the bus stop waiting for the bus.

-he was wearing a 🔥sleeveless top🔥 because a while ago was practice

-You ran your hands up and down his arm, amazed by how a third year can have such amazing muscles.

-he froze and then looked at you.

-blush painted his cheeks and he liked what you did.

-But he won't admit🕳️🏃‍♀️💨

-"TF you're doing?!"

Ushijima

-🔥😏💪👁️👅👁️😍😛😜😉

-Do anything to this guy he won't get affected.

-try to seduce him, he won't get affected but would give you a 3 hour lecture.

-That is UNTIL you straddled his lap.

-you thought he would scold but then smirked as his face flushed the faintest pink.

-he leaned in, and whispered to your ear.

-"Did you brush your teeth?"

-SORRYYE 💀💀💀

-he actually said:

-"Y/N. . . What are you doing? Sit down and let me tell you why that is wrong,"

-you were right. . . 3 hour lecture. ☹️

Tendou

(help I run out of ideasss)

-You went out of the school showers after taking a bath.

-You sat beside Tendou, smirking up at him whole running your hands through your wet hair.

-he smirks back, even though there was a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

-"You look hot, little one,"

Kuroo

-Both of you were waiting for kenma to get out of his classroom.

-the hallways were empty so you decided to have a little fun.

-(as you know, the males Nekoma uniforms consists of black pants, white long sleeves polo shirt, black vest and tucked in red tie)

-Kuroo doesn't have his best on so you pulled on it and bend him down to your level.

-Kuroo was taken aback by shock, a blush printing permanently on his cheeks.

-his bad bish mode was off. . .❤️

-Kuroo:😳

-You:😏

-kenma watching: 👁️👄👁️

-hotel: trivago

-"U-uh Kenma! I also dunno what to is Y-Y/n d-doing. . ."

Kenma

-you saw him playing with his Nintendo so you sat down beside him.

-your body was twisted to face him.

-your left hand playing with soft hair.

-your face dangerously close to his, so that he can hear you heavily breathing 💗

-He got all blushy blushy •/////•

-You can hear the defeat song playing on his Nintendo switch.

-"Look what you did to me. . . I lost the game. . ."

Lev

-You were just putting lotion onto your legs and Lev be like🤭

-Yaku mom mode on so he smack the head of Lev

-Little did he know you were actually seducing him 😏

-"its not my fault Y/n's so hot—" *gets smacked by yaku again*

Yaku

-After tossing balls to Kenma for his sets, you walked up to yaku, all sweaty 👀

-yaku be like 🤚🙂 gurllll for what reasonssss

-you watch him ran away from you.

-you: 👁👄👁

-"Y/N WHYYY DID YOU EVEN DO THAT?!"

Bokuto

-He always slaps your butt💀

-He always butt slaps you, sometimes he forces you to join him to butt slap Akaashi 😭😭😭

-akaashi: 👁️💧👄💧👁️💢

-so this time you wanted to get revenge to slap his 🎂

-Once the two of you are alone, you slapped his butt hard.

-Bokuto was blushing hard and his eyes are wide open.

-And then suddenly he rans away.

-"AGAAAAASHIIII! Y/NNN BUTT SLAPPED MEEEEE!"

Akaashi

-You heard Akaashi has a hand insecurity :(

-when both of you are sitting alone together, you slowly touched his hand and you felt him shuffle uncomfortably.

-you sighed before taking his hand and interwinning it with yours before raising up kissing it, looking him dead in the eye.

-he blushes before looking away.

-"Idiot. . ."

Kita

-You pinned him to the wall

-(☉-☉)

-he quietly stares at you while he blushes as hard as he can.

-"Wtf are you doing? Suna is watching us right now. . ."

Suna

-lazy boi™

-poker face©

-add both of those= no reaction from him™©

-you sat on his lap and he pushed you away.

-But believe it or not he regretted doing it cuz he wants you close by.༼;´ ༎ຶ ۝ ༎ຶ༽

-"You little elf get off me!"

Atsumu

-lets get this straight.

-you guys are together now. . .ᕙ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ

Osamu

-he offered you his onigiri.

-instead of taking a new one on his bento.

-you took the one he already bitten off with.

-You walked away smirking.

-Osamu: . . .

-"WAIT WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!"

Sakusa

-You asked him for an alcohol spray.

-he suspiciously gave you his.

-you sprayed your hands with it.

-Sakusa=proud daddy

-"well. . . That was hawt. . ."

Whew! I took 2 hours straight writing this I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for all the notes you gave to meeee. I just started and my blogs are already getting a lot of attention ಥ‿ಥ

Follow for more! (・∀・)

Requests are openʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ

Anyways thank you for 23 followers sis I only started a few days ago but this is already alottt🥰

[bitimdrake]

Hey, I read one of your fics on ao3 and you offered timelines in the notes? I'd love to know where to even start, but one for the batfamily focusing on the Robins would be really nice. Thanks!

At all times I would love to ramble on about DC comics timelines, yes, absolutely. Possibly relevant to your interests: the Dick Grayson specific timeline I did earlier.

As for where to start, that depends on you! Personally, I felt compelled to read things in order--but most people just pick a character and read piecemeal. If you like the latter approach, you can very likely search for “[character] best stories” and get some good recommendations. If you like the former--or if any particular item/period of time on this long list appeals to you--feel free to come back and I will give you more details of which issues specifically to read.

(And my real rec for anyone just starting batfam comics is to ignore everyone telling you to read Batman: Year One. They do not have your best interests at heart. Never read anything written by Frank M*ller. Also, you don’t need to read it; I promise you already know everything it has to say. If you want to start at the beginning-ish, consider Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet and Robin: Year One for some of Dick’s early time as Robin.)

Onward to my very long, probably more information that you wanted, timeline for the Post-Crisis era, because this is a post-crisis supremacy blog. This isn’t so much a reading list, but I have included references.

The Early Years

Dick Grayson’s parents are killed by Tony Zucco. In some order or another, he is taken in as Bruce Wayne’s ward, becomes Robin, and works with Batman to have Zucco arrested. (Refs - original: Detective Comics vol 1 #37 from 1940. This has been retold an uncountable number of times, e.g. Robin Annual #4, 1995.)

Age - Dick is anywhere from 8 to 12; like I said, this story has be retold so many times. To make the timeline work with Tim’s later introduction, I tend to declare him 11 here.

Batman and Superman meet and learn each other’s identities. (Refs - original: Superman vol 1 #76 from 1952. This has also been retold, e.g. Superman/Batman Annual #1 from 2006.) Robin and Superman also become friends :)

The Justice League of America forms. Batman is usually a founding member, but sometimes not, depending on which of many retcons are currently in place.

Dick forms the Teen Titans with Garth/Aqualad, Wally West/Kid Flash, Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, and Roy Harper/Speedy. (Refs - original: The Brave and the Bold vol 1 #54, 1964, then flashbacks in Teen Titans vol 1 #53, 1978, then The Brave and the Bold vol 1 #60, 1965; and onto Teen Titans vol 1, 1966-. Partially retold in Teen Titans: Year One, 2008.)

Ages - Dick is in his early teens, as are all his friends.

Barbara Gordon dresses up like Batman to mess with her dad at a costume party, ends up actually fighting a crime, and decides to stick around as Batgirl. This could probably be placed before the Teen Titans and/or JLA form without messing up the timeline. (Refs - Detective Comics vol 1 #359, 1967; retold in Batgirl: Year One, 2003.)

Age - Depending on your choice of retcon, Barbara is either a few years older than Dick and in her late teens, or the same age as Dick and in her early teens.

If you chose the version where Babs is older (hell yeah), then Dick has a crush on the cool, older Batgirl. If you chose the version where they’re the same age (meh), then they dated as teens and went to prom together.

The Teen Titans split up. (Ref - Teen Titans vol 1 #53, 1978.)

Dick goes to Hudson University (Ref - Batman #217, 1969) ...but drops out after the first semester (Ref - Detective Comics vol 1 #495, 1980). Yes, Dick was in the same semester of college for a full irl decade.

The 80s

Dick forms the New Teen Titans with Raven, Wally, Donna, Koriand’r/Starfire, Victor Stone/Cyborg, and Garfied Logan/The Changeling/Beast Boy. (Ref - New Teen Titans vol 1, 1980-). Dick splits time between the Titans in NYC and working with Batman in Gotham.

Bruce quits the JLA and forms the Outsiders here, because he is going through an edgy phase and also wants to be in charge. (Ref - Batman and the Outsiders vol 1, 1983.)

Some time later, he leaves the Outsiders and joins a new Justice League. (Refs - Batman and the Outsiders #32, 1986; Justice League vol 1, 1987.)

Bruce notices Dick is growing up and starting to move on, so preemptively fires him to avoid being left. (Spectacular parenting there.) Dick becomes Nightwing. (Refs - Batman #408, 1987; Tales of the Teen Titans vol #44, 1984; and flashbacks in Batman #416, 1988. Retold in an imo worse version in Nightwing: Year One, 2005.)

Age - Dick is 19.

Very soon after, Bruce finds recently-orphaned street kid Jason Todd stealing his tires and, after a failed attempt to get Jason safe elsewhere, adopts Jason himself and makes him Robin. (Refs - Batman #408-409, 1987.)

Age - Jason is 12. That makes Dick ~7 years older than him.

I can’t remember if Dick had already moved to NYC or only moved after being fired, but either way, he ends up living there. He also gets into a long-term romantic relationship with Kory (Starfire). (New Teen Titans.)

Dick rarely returns to Gotham during this period, but he does meet Jason and, though still mad at Bruce, gives Jason his blessing. (Refs - again, Batman #416; retold in Nightwing: Year One.)

Bruce quits another Justice League.

By this time, Barbara, working as a librarian, has become much less active as Batgirl, but still has some chances to work with with Robin!Jason.

As a civilian, Babs is shot by the Joker and paralyzed. (Refs - Batman: The Killing Joke, 1988, but don’t read that and instead read a story actually about Barbara and her recovery in Batman Chronicles #5, “Oracle: Year One”, 1996.)

Bruce grows more worried about Jason and benches him for his safety. Jason runs away to find his mom. Jason dies.  (Refs - Batman #426-429, “A Death in the Family”, 1989. Dick finds out in New Titans vol 1 #55, 1989.)

Age - Jason is 15.

A mysterious new hacker, Oracle, starts to work with the Suicide squad... (Refs - periodic issues from Suicide Squad vol 1 #23-38, 1989-1990.)

Tim Drake tries to convince Dick to become Robin again, fails, and is instead encouraged to become Robin himself. (Refs - “Batman: A Lonely Place Of Dying” crossover with Batman and New Titans, 1989.)

Age - Tim is 13. This makes him almost exactly 2 years younger than Jason, 9ish years younger than Dick.

Batman meets and eventually recruits mute mechanical genius Harold Allnut. He lives in the Batcave?? Comics ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ (Refs - Batman #448 Detective Comics #615 Batman #449, Batman #458, 1991.)

Tim’s mother dies and his father is put in a coma. He stays with Bruce for a few...months? weeks?...until his dad wakes up. The Drakes move into the manor next door to the Waynes, and Tim leaves boarding school to go to public school instead. (Refs – Detective Comics #618-621, Batman #480-481.)

Helena Bertinelli starts operating in Gotham as Huntress.

Stephanie Brown first appears as the Spoiler for a single story arc to thwart her dad. (Ref – Detective Comics vol 1 #647-649, 1992.)

Age – Stephanie is later stated to be a year older than Tim, making her 14 or 15 here.

(Did my section for the 80s stretch into 1992? Yes. Shut up. The Batman 80s last until Knightfall, okay.)

Non-Stop Story Arcs

Bruce meets Jean-Paul Valley, a nice college student who is semi-brainwashed to become the super-violent vigilante Azrael, and takes him under his wing. (Refs – First appearance in Batman: Sword of Azrael, 1992.)

Tim starts dating his first girlfriend, Ariana Dzerchenko. (Ref – She first appears in Robin III, 1992, but they start dating off-screen.)

New villain Bane breaks Bruce’s back. Bruce appoints Jean-Paul Valley as Batman in his place. This will prove to be a terrible idea. (Ref – “Knightfall“, 1993.)

Stephanie reappears as Spoiler, working alongside Robin to foil her dad again. irl, Stephanie became a supporting character in the Robin book here, so she starts to appear more consistently, mostly with Tim. (Refs – Robin vol 2 #3-5, 1994.)

Bruce, still with a broken back, goes traveling Europe on a rescue mission. Alfred despairs for how little he’s looking out for himself and resigns in protest. In Gotham, Tim is locked out of the cave by an erratic and dangerous JPV-as-Batman (a.k.a. “Azbats”), who is getting progressively more violent. (Harold, apparently, is just hiding in one of the side tunnels during this time.) (Ref – Knightquest, 1993-1994.)

Meanwhile, Dick and Kory’s relationship falls apart, they almost get married and then don’t, and the New Titans split up.

Bruce, magically healed, returns to Gotham and takes his mantle back from JPV with Tim and Dick’s help. (Ref – KnightsEnd, 1994.) JPV is kinda sorta maybe better now, though, so he gets to keep working in Gotham as Azazel.

Bruce immediately decides he wants a vacation and Dick becomes Batman for the first time while he’s gone, with Tim as his Robin, until Bruce returns. (Ref – “Batman: Prodigal“, 1994-1995. ♥♥)

Stephanie starts to realize she wants to do the vigilante thing for real, not just when her dad is around. (Refs – Robin vol 2 #15-16, #25-26, and on...)

Barbara starts to regularly work with the Batfam as Oracle around this time.

Dick goes to London to convince Alfred to return. (Ref - Nightwing: Alfred’s Return, 1995.)

A plague is released on Gotham. The whole team comes together to help, and also Tim catches it and almost dies. (Ref - “Batman: Contagion“, 1996.) Soon after, said plague returns and it turns out Ra’s al Ghul is involved. (Ref - “Batman: Legacy“, 1996.)

Dick moves to Bludhaven and settles in as the city’s protector. (Ref - Nightwing vol 2, 1996-)

Meanwhile, Barbara starts working with some female superheroes, particularly Black Canary, in what will eventually become the Birds of Prey. (Refs - Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey, 1996-1997.)

Dick and Helena have a one night stand. Oops. Dick’s love life is complicated. (Ref - Nightwing/Huntress, 1998.)

Tim meets Superboy, meets Bart Allen/Impulse, and later saves a mystery girl called Secret with them. (Refs - Robin Plus Impulse, 1996; WF3: World's Finest Three (Superboy/Robin), 1996; Young Justice: The Secret, 1998.) The four of them form Young Justice. (Refs - JLA: World Without Grown-Ups, 1998; Young Justice vol 1, 1998.)

A huge earthquake hits Gotham, sending the city into chaos and again assembling the core family. Large parts of the manor and batcave are destroyed. (Refs - “Batman: Cataclysm”, “Aftershocks”, 1998.)

Tim breaks up with Ariana so he and Stephanie can start dating. Stephanie realizes she’s pregnant (not Tim’s lmao; he has never ever had sex) and puts the Spoiler costume aside for awhile. (Refs - Robin vol 2 #57, 1998.)

Age - Stephanie is 15.

Dick & co reform the Titans because they miss each other. (Refs - JLA/Titans #1-3, 1998-1999. Titans vol 1, 1999.)

(Harold seems to leave around this time, vanishing into Gotham to repair things all about.)

You how Gotham sucks, and it sucks even more now that it got hit by that earthquake? Let’s wall it off and not let anyone in or out! Bruce tells everyone to leave him aloooone. Dick stays in Bludhaven. Tim’s dad moves the family to Keystone City. Bruce goes away to sulk for a while before returning. Helena Bertinelli decides to actually get shit done in Gotham and dons a cowl--which will later get her dubbed Batgirl, even though she SHOULD have been batWOMAN okay--while still keeping up appearances as Huntress. Barbara also stays in Gotham, and also gets shit done. (Ref - Batman: No Man’s Land, 1999.)

Stephanie has her baby, who is given up for adoption. Tim convinces his dad to return to Gotham. (Ref - Robin vol 2 #64-65, 1999.)

Bruce is an asshole to Helena for dumb manipulation reasons and a combo of factors stop her from being Batgirl. (Still in No Man’s Land.)

Bruce realizes working alone is actually super inefficient, and calls all his allies back to Gotham. Also!!!! Cassandra Cain first appears, immediately impresses both Barbara and Bruce, and is given the mantle of Batgirl. (Still in NML.)

Ages - Cass is 17 when she’s introduced, making her about the same age as Jason, ~1 year older than Steph, ~2 years older than Tim, and ~7 years younger than Dick.

No Man’s Land finally ends and Gotham is reopened to the public.

Early 2000s

Tim gets enrolled in a (local) boarding school as punishment for multiple disappearances. (Ref: Robin vol 2 #74, 2000.)

Dick and Barbara start dating, after a very long flirty lead-up.

Cass, living with Barbara in the clock tower, is magically made to understand language, though she still has a lot of struggles speaking. (Ref - Batgirl vol 1 #3-6, 2000.)

Things actually get to continue for a little while without being extra horrible, until Jim Gordon is shot and decides to finally retire. Also Alfred resigns again, going to live with Tim at his boarding school, and not talking to Bruce. (Ref - Batman: Officer Down, 2001.)

A new commissioner, Michael Akins, who is much less trusting of vigilantes, is appointed.

Bruce tells Stephanie Tim’s identity. Tim is furious at Bruce for going behind his back. Bruce starts training Stephanie. Tim realizes he’s actually happy to no longer have to hide his identity from Steph, and they continue dating, but he refuses to speak to Bruce. (Ref - starts in Robin vol 2 #87, 2001.)

During this time where Steph is actually getting acknowledged by Bruce, she also meets and becomes fast friends with Cass. (Ref - Batgirl vol 1 #20, 2001.)

Bruce finally, officially adopts Dick. (Ref - Gotham Knights #17, #20-21, 2001.)

The Joker does some stuff in a big universe-wide crossover. When it seems like the Joker has killed Tim and he also taunts Nightwing about Jason, Dick beats him to death :) :) :) Bruce resuscitates him for Plot Reasons :/ :/ :/ (Ref - Joker: Last Laugh, 2001.)

Bruce--who, you may remember, is not speaking to Alfred or Tim--is accused of murderer. Cass figures out his identity through 2.5 seconds of seeing Bruce Wayne walk. Everyone takes sides on if he’s guilty, not helped by Bruce being an evasive bastard. Eventually Bruce realizes (again) that working alone sucks and allies are good, and they all team up to clear his name. The air is cleared with everyone... (Ref - “Bruce Wayne: Murderer?” and “Bruce Wayne: Fugitive”, 2002)

...except Stephanie, who Bruce completely ghosted during the whole murder trial (as she still doesn’t know his identity). Then he tells her he actually doesn’t want her being Spoiler at all. The Birds of Prey, who had started training with Steph too, also decide to cut off their relationship. Steph is pretty much left with just Tim and Cass, neither of whom entirely believe in her either :(

Jean-Paul Valley dies. I feel bad about it, but I did almost forget about him. (Ref - Azrael: Agent of the Bat vol 1 #100, 2003.)

Dick briefly runs the JLA while the regular members are trapped in the past. Good for him!! (Ref - JLA: The Obsidian Age, 2002-2003.)

New villain Hush comes to town. This is kind of Jason’s first post-resurrection appearance, but wait, it’s not--but wait! actually it is! Retcons, y’all. (Ref - Batman: Hush, 2002-2003.)

Ra’s al Ghul dies, but, like, for real this time. Disclaimer: this is the one thing on this list that I have not personally read yet, so I can’t guarantee exactly where it goes. (Ref - Batman: Death and the Maidens, 2003-2004.)

Things Suck!

A team up between Young Justice and the Titans goes terribly, resulting in multiple deaths, and both teams splitting up. Tim ends up joining the latest version of the Teen Titans, and Dick is reluctantly convinced by Roy to join the new Outsiders. (Refs - Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, then Teen Titans vol 3 and Outsiders vol 3, 2003.)

Huntress joins the Birds of Prey, and things are finally looking up for her. (Ref - Birds of Prey vol 1 60s.)

Over in Bludhaven, Dick’s life is terrible, including Barbara dumping him, his old circus being burnt down, and his apartment building being blown up, culminating the death of Blockbuster. It’s a bad time. (Ref - Nightwing vol 2, roughly from #83-#95.)

Meanwhile, Tim’s dad discovers he is Robin and reacts very poorly. Tim is forced to quit. (Ref - Robin vol 2 #124-125, 2004.)

Stephanie steps up to be Robin instead. Bruce gives her the briefest chance before firing her. (Ref - Robin vol 2 #126, Detective Comics vol 1 #796, Batgirl vol 1 #53, Robin vol 2 #127-128, 2004.)

Stephanie returns to being Spoiler and, in an ill-advised attempt to prove herself, unintentionally triggers a major gang war. Tim realizes he can’t stop being a vigilante and returns to being Robin, with his dad’s reluctant agreement. Barbara’s clock tower is destroyed. The police, led by Commissioner Akins, fully turn against vigilantes. Stephanie dies--later retconned/revealed to be faking her death. (Ref - Batman: War Games, 2004-2005.)

Mere days later, Tim’s dad is murdered. (Ref - Identity Crisis, 2004-2005.)

(Also from Identity Crisis, Bruce starts to remember a certain event where other League members wiped his memory. I know that has nothing to do with Gotham or the batkids, but the growing paranoia becomes a big part of Bruce’s characterization in this period)

Tim, grieving his dad and girlfriend, and a little tense with Bruce after the Stephanie stuff; and Cass, grieving her best friend; each move to Bludhaven, where they start to bond for the first time. During this period, Tim has put himself under the custody of a fake uncle, after rejecting Bruce’s offer to adopt him. (Ref: Robin #132, Batgirl #58, Robin #133, Batgirl #59, 2005.)

Meanwhile, Dick has left Bludhaven, working briefly with the mob in Detroit, and then with Deathstroke. (Ref - Nightwing vol 2 #107-115, 2005-2006.)

And Barbara moves to Metropolis along with the Birds of Prey. (Ref - Birds of Prey vol 1 #74, 2005.)

Cass leaves on a personal quest to learn her mother’s identity, gets caught up with the League of Assassins, gets killed, gets thrown in a Lazarus Pit, and a bunch of other stuff besides....but I don’t think she actually tells anyone about all of this. (Ref - Batgirl vol 1 #66-73, 2005-2006.)

In Gotham, Jason Todd returns as the Red Hood (currently an antivillain). After a lot of dramatics and that final confrontation with Bruce and the Joker, he vanishes again. (Ref - “Batman: Under the Hood“, 2005-2006. In the middle of that arc is Teen Titans #29, where he beats up Tim.)

At the same time (like, literally, at the same time), hero/villain tensions in the greater DCU escalate to the point of a group of villains destroying Bludhaven. The city is fully ruined, and after the initial rescue efforts, Dick does not return. (Ref - Infinite Crisis and tie-ins, 2006.)

Also in Infinite Crisis, Bruce’s latest paranoid spy stuff goes evil and almost kills everyone, Superboy dies, Dick almost dies, and the universe semi-explodes again. Bruce decides to take Tim and Dick on a fun round-the-world trip.

When Cass returns from her mom/soul-searching mission, she takes over Gotham in their place. Also during this year break, Kate Kane/Batwoman first appears, though she actually has far less connection to the main batfamily than you might expect.

One Year Later

Jim Gordon comes out of retirement to be commissioner again, for reasons that will never be explained.

Dick moves back to NYC, where he has an unpleasant-yet-brotherly run in with Jason, who is I think an antivillain still? (Ref - Nightwing, beginning with #118.) Dick dates a couple women during this period, but honestly none of them are very memorable.

Bruce offers to adopt Tim again, and this time Tim says yes. He moves into the manor. (Ref - Batman vol 1 #654, 2006.) In Teen Titans, Tim has a brief and failed relationship with Cassie Sandsmark while they mourn Conner, then in Robin starts dating a girl from school, Zoanne.

Cass, who became a fluent speaker over the year jump and started learning how to read, gets temporarily brainwashed and evil. This storyline is largely agreed to suck.

The Outsiders shuffle around. Dick leaves the team, and Bruce takes over the new team. (Ref - Outsiders: Five of a Kind, 2007.)

Jason, who is an antihero now because the writers said so, starts on an adventure through the multiverse with Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner. Everyone hated the series this was in, so don’t expect it to ever be referenced or brought up again, except for the part where Jason briefly took on the name and costume of Red Robin. (Ref - Countdown to Final Crisis, 2007-2008.)

Damian appears for the first time, to everyone’s surprise. He tries to claim Robin, which no one agrees with, tries to kill Tim, which everyone is upset by, and then seemingly dies alongside Talia... (Ref - Batman #655-658, 2006.)

Ages - Damian is 10. Tim is 17. This makes Damian ~16 years younger than Dick.

...but, of course, he survived. He and Talia appear again when Ra’s (remember how he died?) tries to steal Damian’s body to bring himself back to life. Damian is kept safe, Ra’s finds himself a different body, and Damian and Talia once more vanish into the wind. (Ref - “Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul”, 2007-2008.)

Dick and co reform the Titans once again because they miss each other. I love them. (Ref - Titans vol 2, 2008-)

Stephanie makes her return to Gotham. Tim is initially thrilled to see her, but that dulls into an uncomfortable tension as the fakeness of her death sets in. (Ref - Robin #170-174 and Robin/Spoiler Special, 2008.) Cass, unfortunately, is never really given a chance to react to her best friend’s return.

Cass, un-brainwashed, technically starts living in the manor, but is rarely seen there. Bruce adopts her, although she must be well over 18 by this point. (Ref - Batgirl vol 2, 2008-2009.) Cass joins the Outsiders. (Ref - Batman and the Outsiders vol 2 #2..., 2008.)

Damian returns to Gotham, for good this time. Bruce disappears and then actually doesn’t disappear, and then does die (but not really). This whole thing is a mess. (Ref - “Batman R.I.P“, except actually not, and also it pains me to have to list that on this post. Final Crisis, though none of the rest of the family appears in that and it also pains me to have to list that too. Honestly, just know Bruce “died” and don’t worry about the event itself. 2008-2009.)

Also, Stephanie accidentally triggers a gang war (...yes, again) and Tim tries to tell her to stop being Spoiler. (Ref - Robin #177-182.)

Dick moves back to Gotham, because someone’s gotta keep this city/family together. The Titans also split up around this time.

A New Status Quo

Tim tries to convince Dick to be Batman (Tim trying to convince Dick to take on a role he doesn’t want count: 2). Jason, who is a full villain now, decides to be Batman himself and do a lot of murdering. Dick becomes Batman for real. Jason falls off a train because he’s dramatic, and disappears for the millionth time. (Ref - Batman: Battle for the Cowl, 2009.)

In an effort to keep him in Gotham, Dick makes Damian Robin, as Damian has been campaigning for since day one. Tim is very upset. While being very upset, Tim strikes on his Bruce-is-alive theory, refuses to explain to anyone, dons Jason’s old costume and moniker of Red Robin (Tim inheriting vigilante IDs from Jason count: 2), fights Dick’s attempts to keep him in Gotham, and goes on a world tour to track down Bruce. (Ref - flashbacks in Red Robin #1-4, 2009.)

Dick, Damian, and Alfred move to Wayne Tower, living in the penthouse and working out of the underground bunker beneath. (Ref - Batman and Robin vol 1.)

Local villain Hush, who has surgically given himself Bruce’s face, starts posing as Bruce Wayne. Dick (and Damian, and the Outsiders), sorta-kinda get him under their control, but it’s a tentative thing. (Ref - Batman: Streets of Gotham.)

On posthumous orders from Bruce, Cass makes Stephanie Batgirl. (Ref - Batgirl vol 3.) Cass leaves the Outsiders and Gotham, later revealed to have gone to Hong Kong.

Dick joins the JLA as Batman.

The dead riiiiiise. Dick gets Tim to return to Gotham very briefly to face their zombie parents. (Ref - Blackest Night: Batman, 2009.)

Jason, who is either a villain or an antivillain now (but honestly who can even keep up), but is Red Hood again, pops up to make trouble for Batman and Robin. In the midst of his trouble, another villain shoots Damian in the spine and paralyzes him. Jason is taken to jail. (Ref - Batman and Robin vol 1 #4-6, 2010.) Damian gets a shiny new spine courtesy of Talia, et al. Surely this will turn out okay :)

Tim returns to Gotham with evidence of Bruce being lost in time (and a call to all his allies to help him stop Ra’s al Ghul). He gets emancipated to nominally take over Wayne Enterprises (but really Lucius Fox still runs it). (Ref - Red Robin #10-12, 2010.)

Tim briefly lives in the penthouse with the rest of the family, until Damian tries to kill him again--this time for including Damian on his Batman-esque list of people he needs secret plans to defeat--and he decides to build his own apartment.

Bruce returns through the combined efforts of many people, checks on all his allies, and decides he cannot work with Damian and there should be multiple Batmen. (ref - Bruce Wayne: The Road Home and Batman: The Return, 2010-2011.) Very little actually changes with his return. Dick stays on as Gotham’s Batman and Damian’s partner. Bruce goes around the world to establish “Batman Inc,” working with various allies along the way.

Cass takes on the name Black Bat, mostly off-panel.

Jason (still a villain) breaks out of jail, killing a bunch of people in the process, work briefly alongside Dick and Damian, and then runs off as a fugitive. (Ref - Batman and Robin vol 1 #23-25.)

The rest of Bruce’s kids all work together when Cass returns to Gotham briefly, including the first meeting of Cass and Damian. (Ref - Gates of Gotham ♥)

Barry Allen fucks up the timeline and this continuity ends.

The New 52 (2011-2016)

A reboot I have not yet read, but which, from my understanding, changes half the character’s personalities and backstories and erases the rest. Jason becomes a proper antihero and gets friends for the first time, though those friends lose all characterization in the process. Tim becomes an asshole genius who was never Robin. Barbara is reverted to Batgirl. The other Batgirls are largely erased. Dick becomes a secret agent and possibly a himbo. Kate and Bruce become cousins, and Batwoman becomes more prevalent. Everyone dies or fakes their death to the point of it being a joke.

Rebirth (2016-2020)

Another reboot I have not yet read, but which I understand to be an attempt to reclaim the well-liked post-Crisis characters and stories, with the most popular parts of the new 52 blended in. Started with high hopes, and then crashed and burned. I have no idea what happens in this period except for Dick’s largely despised amnesia arc.

Whatever The Fuck Is Happening Now

Another sorta-reboot. DC is going with an “everything is canon” approach apparently, which I assume will last until they find something that readers enjoy and then they’ll declare that the real canon after all. Only time will tell.

[anonil88]

Malcolm and Marie live blog

I don't usually do liveblogs for movies but yea.

Spoilers ahead!!

I love that its modern timed but very 70s stylized.

A tune indeed.

When you are high and drunk on success and

How the white critic reacts is why I feel like gatekeeping my scripts. At the same time some things I do make are about race or involve.

Marie sitting on the patio smoking is a mood whenever men are talking.

So he's pretentious and unaware.

Whoever chose the music for this, I feel like we would be Spotify mutuals.

Can this nigga stop pacing.

Also can he stop talking;

Marie is so tired and unimpressed.

Also little booties matter and are to be bitten.

Oooo the tension and the jazz.

Title Card over mac and cheese.

Shitty boxes mac and cheese but still mac and cheese.

Tbh i always wonder if spouses/significant others get upset when their spouses don't acknowledge them during speeches.

John sounds so much like his dad but I really hope his acting style differs from his dad a lot.

Guilty confession?

He did not profit off of his partners backstory and then not even acknowledge her.....I.....

If that ever happened to me catch me cussing my partner out during the beginning credits, the end credits, in the car, and at home.

GASLIGHTER!

The way I'm excited for Zendaya to give me some, oooo can she work with Regina King. Please on my knees I pray.

Um no that's not your job to coddle your lead.

He's a dick and the type of dick who makes himself look like a good person around other people.

If Sam Levinson is trying to make his viewers more of misandrist, it's working.

I feel like Marie has her flaws probably a lot of them and we will surely see as this continues, but Malcolm needs to learn how to apologize sincerely.

70s vibes! 70s vibes!

Them kissing and talking about criticism and dreams makes me miss a partner. A partner that I've had and haven't had.

Women really are behind every great man.

Yea sir you fucked a happy moment.

Oh visual allegories for looking in from the outside and cat and mouse chasing and looking from the outside in.

She's saying she doesn't feel noticed by you.

Gas lighter :0 he called her an emotional support dog, bruh.

I would LOVE to co-write or take a writing class held by Sam Levinson. The fights i write are very much in this same realm of reflection and anger and monologue.

Sam.....sam.....are all the sides inside of you doing okay sir?

The ugly side of dating and being in a relationship with someone who struggles with their own demons.

Honestly I could close my eyes and listen to this script being read without seeing these characters visually. Just close my eyes and get a sense of these characters like it was a radio story.

Oh. Oh this is a new wheelhouse of Zendaya acting; a different voice is like breaking through here and her expressions aren't the same we are used to. You can literally hear another character in there....hmm.

Mans is outside really fighting with his invisible demons lmfao.

Selfish ass, how after everything she said you came out of it thinking about your own craft and self instead of how you hurt her.

So she's conditional.

Me: did sam (a white man) say nigga this many times in his script or are the actors adding their own inflections. Not just the lingo used but the topic of race and directing etc. being written by a white writer about black characters is always gonna be a critique when you're writer is a white person.

Alexa play Broken Girls by Saba

He is so hurtful.

A clown nigga a clown look in the fucking mirror you bozo head ass looking like you need some Mehron clown white and a size 16 in clown shoes.

John is doing a really swell performance and reading of these lines.

He is reading her for her insecurities by bringing up his experiences with other women and that.....is yikes.

Arguments can get messy like this in real life but it takes a lot of maturity and control to either not let it get to this point or have a healthy conversation afterwards.

This film is really shot on some very crisp lenses.

They sitting there like 🚬🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️.

Leftover Mac and Cheese and unfinished cigarettes.

The nyt etc. pay walls are so annoying, but there is a work around look at the articles on incognito or add a period at the end of the url.

He sounds like his daddy so much here, weird, this is the only part I'm eh on the dialogue it feels real but a bit out of pace in how they are bouncing off one another.

Nail scissors? So the end is not the only part he based off of Marie. 🙄

ITS A GOOD REVIEW YOU DINGUS but also its a full review they are going to critique things. She isn't wrong though he did profit off of a woman's story that was not his own to profit from.

Yes Malcolm because unfortunately all marginalized people look through a lens of life that is inherently political because of the world they live in.

He is so mad and upset and had a lot on his chest. But I think he Malcolm and Sam are talking about something thats an issue and a non issue. Being critiqued for you art is hard but also Malcolm is not super self aware. He's like a stand in figure of for example rich depop sellers who wanna be oppressed so badly they yell at others instead of examining their own personal behaviors and ethics.

Oh Marie, when you know the spark is gone and you pick fights because.

He ain't even ask her to read?

One critic I have for most of hollywood actors is they learn their cry and that is it. A change from this is Margot Robbie, I adore her fluctuations of crying being similar but the crying is carried differently for each character. If I had to say any actor that does a cry scene amazing its this woman right here (Amy Adams)

You stole her story from her and gave it away, she has a right to be upset and angry and a rubber band ball of emotions.

Citizen Kane, not the cinematography, but the story is it even that good? (Unpopular opinion but meh, maybe in my rewatch it will be better.)

But that is what people want authenticity and whatever authenticity means to them. What is real for one is false for another.

To be honest look at the criticism of Euphoria, well earned, but a lot of people were like this isn't real even though he literally wrote about his own life. People said it was inauthentic like....wtf.

Ahh the smoking is just a habit, he quit and she didn't.

CAST ZENDAYA IN A HORROR MOVIE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING. Get Lupita and Zendaya and some more black actors preferably less known ones in a horror movie. One with a interesting script and story, directed by Regina King. Please and thankyou.

I love Marie yep that was amazing.

Behind every great man is a greater woman, one that deserves her credit for how she has stood behind. I wonder the stories of those women, what they have sacrificed or not sacrificed. Their thoughts and feelings when the world is surrounding their partner and views them as a plus one. (I'd write a short script about this but I think do I have the time, can I, or am I equipped ?)

He is a shitty person for bringing up his exes, like she even said I don't wanna know any of that.

Imagine being on anti depressents and rarely having a sex drive and then when you do your partner starts talking about their exes and tearing you apart for all your faults.

I love when you see peaks of Zendaya's cadence in roles.

Tension, what if's and he didn't even bring her up in his speech.

Marie to herself and the audience:

He is not afraid that he will loose her but as my character says in my unreleased story, "i can't wait til you give me a fucking reason to leave your ass." Malcolm expects everything in order for not even doing the bare minimum and she is only asking him for something as simple as consideration. She just wants him to be considerate. He wants to get married and considers their relationship like rolling down a hill at full speed and he cannot apologize, he cannot be considerate, and he cannot admit his wrongs. He can only offer her I love yous that he probably does mean but he does not back up outside of what he's done for her in the past. The past which was more of her experience than his and he sees his part in it as a burden. He doesn't use his own vantage point of the past to further his career he uses her. He does all of these things without a real apology or thankyou because he is not afraid to loose her.

The restrictions of quarantine and the panorama have made Sam's writing very no frills. I wonder how other films from other directors and writers that are filmed in small contained crews like this will be structured. But this was a very good movie gonna add to my letter box 3.3-3.5

Oh shit this is my song,

Ratings/overall thoughts:

Script is like a C+, B- : I could go into my heavier big brain thoughts on the script but I don't feel like it. You catch hints of it above it centers conversation on race and privilege, mainly the writers and questions i have that won't be answered but Sam did make me grow disdain for Malcolm over a short time. Which is sometimes hard to do because im one sympathetic person but the sympathy i have for Malcolm is at 0. Maybe a 2 at some scenes but then it quickly goes back to 0. Some parts of the dialogue miss the mark or hit the are off balanced. While some of it like Malcolm's bathroom speech albeit mean is really strong or their conversation when he comes back from peeing really shines for me.

Performances: B+ to A- because they carried the script further than it could of gone with less talented actors. The monologues do well to showcase their current skill levels which are already high af and leave room for anticipation in where these actors go next.

Zendaya holding a knife: A+ with a gold star. That switch on and off and on is delectable.

John being a shitty boyfriend but following Marie like a lost puppy: B+ with a good job written at the bottom of the paper, Malcolm being nervous a frantic dialed up with more realistic nervousness would have sold me completely on Malcolm's anxious waiting.

Cinematography: A and a participation award.

The mac and cheese: A+ for the easy mac. Wish it was like Annie's or Velveeta.

Cigarettes: Participation award and their picture hung up for student of the month. Why the grill lighter? Everytime Malcolm opened up his mouth Marie was like sparks fly.

The music: A++ with a prize. Whoever picked the music probably makes good Spotify playlists.

[quietrainfan]

Hey! Anyone want some heavy platonic Loceit angsty headcanons I've extracted from the new episode? Well, too bad because it's happening regardless. :)

Yes, also some Unsympathetic Patton. You know what blog you're on. (This interpretation/headcanon shall not die. Not here.)

(Also, this is going to combine my observations and thoughts as well, so sorry in advance if this post turns out as a bit of a mess.)

Alright, so! Orange Side confirmation. How we feelin', Sanders Sides fandom, how we feelin'?

Honestly, the Orange Side theory wasn't something I was really all that into. It was a 'meh, could be cool' headcanon for me personally. But I have to say the way the reveal was handled made me jump in my seat with pure joy. No joke, I audibly gasped when Logan's eyes flashed orange.

It was all downhill from there, I was excited. Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm a sucker for character's eyes glowing when they've reached their limit or are displaying a power they've never shown before, combine that with an unexpected reveal and I'm sold.

Plus, glowing eyes have been a common theme with Unsympathetic content and Dark Side headcanons so you could imagine how the first peak into the Orange Side's existence (or, rather confirmation. we all saw the 'hello' hint, Orange, you cheeky little munchkin.) was his color in Logan's eyes made me feel. It was so cool!!! Ah!

Then Thomas had to tease us again at the end card with our boy Orange's eyes popping up in the darkness, waiting for his chance to be too loud to ignore. Like, the audacity. Who do you think you are, Thomas?! (That was a joke. Sorry, I'm just really pumped.)

Also, Remus got quite a few laughs out of me. Ah, I missed him.

Okay, headcanon time! We're going to do Logan first, then Janus, then combine the two. Sound good? Alright, here we go (Trigger Warning for discussions of alcoholism, please if anything I write here sounds insensitive or inaccurate, let me know and I will edit. Also, no need to read if you don't want to. Stay safe.) :

Logan

Logan knew where to grab for that alcohol bottle.

I mean, I guess that makes sense since he lives there and is naturally the most observant Side. But...that bottle's placement was a little too convenient.

Sure it was played up as a joke and it was funny.

But something about the way Logan threw his coffee into the sink and quickly replaced it with the wine stuck out to me.

I've joked about Logan and/or Janus having to "drink to cope" due to sharing the single brain cell Thomas has amongst all the chaos. But seeing that in an actual episode, even as a gag, is kind of...different.

Let me explain.

This may be a common thing for Logan that he struggles with.

He wakes up early to be the first one to help Thomas start the day, naturally. Logan goes to make his cup of coffee and there's always the lingering urge to take a sip of wine before anyone can see because he just...can't face everyone without needing just a little bit of it to cloud out all the gross, petty, negative feelings he experiences every day around them.

He's logic. He can't be drinking and risk any more harm to Thomas's function.

So, it's a constant battle with coffee vs wine, coffee vs wine, coffee vs wine-

Most of the time Logan is able to resist and go with the coffee.

It doesn't make him feel good in the slightest. If anything it makes him feel even worse knowing he'll be more alert that day.

Logan hates that was even a thought at all. He needs to be alert. Otherwise everything will fall apart. He is the rock in the system and without him everything will crumble.

Such a selfish mindset. He needed to focus.

Other days Logan just doesn't have it in him to discard the wine regardless of how much he wants to.

He knows what the day holds for him. It was all so repetitive at this point. Logan knew when he wasn't able to get through it despite it all.

That didn't stop him from shaming himself for caving. He should be able to handle this. He's made so much progress with resisting it up to this point but today he through it away again because he just had to, right?

Sometimes Logan finds himself "cheating" by hiding a couple drops of wine into his coffee on days when he chose the coffee but later felt particularly bad about...a lot of things, into his second cup.

Logan more often times chooses neither. The temptation for clouding out the others was just too strong and was a waste of time.

Logan is beyond tired of the others.

Every single action they have agitates him now. No matter how minor it is.

Roman's loud voice and constant references makes Logan's toes unconsciously curl beneath his shoes. Even a silent warm smile and wave from the prince fills Logan with an unpleasant tingle in his knuckles.

Virgil's neverending foreboding and unnecessary nasty remarks that he doesn't even bother to filter provokes Logan's new habit of biting his tongue. Any kindness he ever gives him makes his stomach twist.

Patton's nicknames, poking for for a laugh, his "sweet" way of shoving away any objection he may have, how casually he behaves as if he isn't part of any problems- how quickly he's prepared to "bounce back". Logan feels like every word, action from him something steps on a guitar cord in the back of his mind that makes the ugliest, loud, screeching sound. He feels this strange warm fuzzy ache he can't define. All he hears is that cord playing faster and faster the longer he stays in their presence. Logan no longer trusts himself alone with Patton.

Logan thinks if he just separates from the others long enough, the ugly strumming noise will go away.

But he's so wrong.

Logan can hear it even when he's all alone. When it's finally silent, he still can't get rid of it.

It's loudest when Logan is alone in his room. Logan has lost count of how many nights he's spent clenching his head, quietly sobbing, and praying for it to just go away already.

Logan often feels like he's losing it.

On nights where the sounds are particularly louder than usual, he swears he can see orange shadows creeping around him, lights of the color flashing on and off, he sometimes even sees it seeping in and out of the cracks of his door like a thick fog. At times he'll even wake to it glowing absurdly bright through his window.

It's just the sunrise. Logan tells himself. He has to believe that. Everything else looked normal, after all.

What's worse is Logan doesn't know how long he's been hearing this sound or seeing the strange lights.

Patton knows about Logan's late night and early morning struggles.

But surprise, surprise, he pretends as if he's nonthewiser.

If either Virgil or Roman asks about Logan, Patton will answer: "Oh, that silly billy's probably got his head in one of his astronomy books again! I wouldn't bother him right now."

Knowing full well he's having an emotional breakdown in his room that gets worse every day.

Knowing about the little sneaks of alcohol in his hot morning beverage. Might even speak about yummy drink combinations when they hang out in the living room, while Logan is present, specifically and even only on the days Patton knows he's cheating with his bad habit, while he's still drinking it.

The further Logan is to the edge, the better. Patton is still bitter about the events of Redux ending in his favor, after all. He needs leverage from somewhere.

When Thomas left to see Nico, Logan heard the cord again. His chest tightened and though he could feel the tears welling up, he kept them down.

Thomas hasn't been very happy lately. He had to let him have this.

No matter how loud those cords get.

Janus

I noticed that Janus was either unseen by the others or unacknowledged by them.

Janus was near all of them but far enough that he was separated.

He could've just popped up at the end without them noticing but...that's less angsty therefore less fun so-

Janus has been the instigator for bringing Sides that have been hidden away to be brought to light for a long time. If the assumption that Janus let Remus out is true.

He's always been hinting at upcoming events that are sure to come if Thomas continues to ignore certain aspects of himself.

He knows. He knows our Orange boy is getting worse and soon will be too loud to ignore. Janus wants to protect Thomas but that's becoming harder every day. Thomas is making it harder.

Janus will reveal the Orange Side eventually. And very soon. Hell, that's looking like less and less of a choice considering Logan's...outburst.

I think Janus has this painful awareness that he can be seriously hated for doing his job. After all, he's always the one who's forced them to acknowledge uncomfortable truths about Thomas.

He's the one giving them all of those hard pills to swallow and especially after Remus, it is definitely overwhelming and exhausting to be met with.

They question their roles more and more because of how used they are to the fixed mindset Thomas has had for such a long time.

That can't feel good.

Janus knows that his job may cause more hatred to fester the more that's revealed.

Janus is being kept at arms length and he knows that won't stop any time soon.

But he's a clever snake. That won't keep him from keeping an eye on Patton.

(Find it real suspicious that Patton was all mushy with Janus in that end card but still is at a big distance from him.)

Loceit

Janus will sometimes find Logan in the common room with his head in his arms, sprawled out against the coffee table. His glasses being discarded from half his face, unmistakable tears lazily dripping out of his lifeless eyes.

Janus would wordlessly go to the sink and grab a glass, filling it with water.

Janus goes over to Logan, giving him a gentle rub on the back. He urges him to sit up. It takes Logan a few minutes but eventually does.

Janus hands Logan the water, supporting the back of his neck as struggles to get it down, reminding him to take his time.

Janus takes his glasses and gently sets them on the table. He hands Logan some tissues.

Logan lifelessly takes them and tries to clean his face. But he always ends up crying into them.

Janus moves Logan unkempt bangs from his face before moving his head to his shoulder. Janus manifests a warm blanket over Logan and uses a bit of his abilities to soothe the shorter man's pain, tenderly putting pressure on his neck.

Janus and Logan have a talk. Logan always asks why he bothers to stop and comfort him.

"You've helped me through a lot, Logan. Not returning the favor is out of the question."

That was always his answer.

Janus and Logan do this often.

Janus opens up about sometimes needing a bit of a drink himself from time to time. Though mostly that consists of tea more often than not, he sometimes has a glass of wine or two to relax on days when it's particularly hard.

He feels ashamed of it. Janus has to be the strongest out of everyone, especially the Dark Sides. Allowing things to faze him was the worst case scenario. At least, to that degree.

But Janus understands that isn't his fault and urges Logan not to blame himself, either. While he hated that weakness he occasionally submitted to, he wasn't going to let the rare slip up to define the worth of his role.

Logan thinks that Janus really is the strongest out of all of them just for saying things like that and he's being too hard on himself.

On nights when things become too much Janus will sit with Logan and share a drink. They try to have as many conversations without wine as possible but sometimes Janus says "screw it" and sits with Logan with one or two drinks.

Just having Janus there helps Logan choose his coffee in the mornings and feel as if he's being heard even a little bit.

Now if only those cords could actually quiet down, that'd be even better.

[illustratorintheprocess]

PLANNING THE 3rd YEAR

After 2 years at UAL you've kind of gotten the hang of how things run in the beginning of a new uni year. You log into Moodle, the ORB and your student email account on Outlook and get organized. I like to start preparing as soon as I can before the term officially kicks off because with that you are usually flooded with emails from societies, tutors, year leaders, IT support etc. At that point you might be so overwhelmed by it all you might accidentally overlook important information or think to yourself "meh, I'll remember that" but then forget.

So as a big fan of all things structured and orderly (a german cliche i am proud to live up to) I begin with going on Moodle and printing out all unit project briefs and making a note of their deadline dates in all calendars.

When the timetable is finalized (which they will notify you about via email) I check what tutor group I'm in and note down a weekly schedule. When I have to be where for what. Room numbers, tutor names and keeping your units straight is key.

3rd year seems to be less confusing with different unit names and deadlines than the first 2 years but maybe that's just because I'm used to it now.

I also schedule in when the uni breaks are so I can volunteer for overtime during that time at my part-time job.

With the weekly timetable it's important to know as a new or potential student at UAL lcc that there are some things that are fixed "lectures" or meetings each week - like for me the Monday meetings with Maisie or Tuesday for CTS3 unit - which are pretty much mandatory to attend and keep a record of if you want to pass.

While other things that are scheduled in your timetable aren't really mandatory in that sense but rather a good addition to your schedule if the subject matter of the lectures and meetings fit what you are going through or working on. For example the optional meetings with Ellen Hacier on Wednesdays under the subject of Professional Futures. Ellen is amazing and usually sends out weekly emails with opportunities or fun things to do. Now if among those things in the email is a field trip you could book that. Or if you are unsure about your professional future (much like me) you might want to book a 1-to-1 with her. This might not be every Wednesday and might not necessarily tie into any of your projects but you are free to book and attend those things to enrich your education and student life outside of the mandatory. It is also great to keep a record of everything since it looks good in your blog if you engage with a lot of uni-given opportunities.

A big part of weekly planning throughout your years at UAL and lcc specifically is booking workshops and inductions to workshops on the ORB. This is 100% based on your own initiative and without doing this you won't get far in your degree or get your moneys worth! The workshops introduce you (in the case of what is available to us at the London College of Communication) to a great variety of print making like Riso-print, Letterpress, Relief printing, Screen printing, Mono printing and digital print as well as anything involved in finishing your work like through book binding or by using the Print Finishing facilities.

So if you are considering or confirmed to study at UAL I can only advice you to:

-Keep on top of your emails - there will be TONS!

-Book all Induction workshops through the ORB you can during your first (and second) year - this will mean you can use the spaces freely afterwards and have a good idea of what is possible to make at the uni!

-Book everything you can on the ORB and print as much as possible while it's still FREE! -THIS IS HOW YOU GET YOUR MONEYS WORTH

-Keep a record of EVERYTHING you do! Every workshop, tutor meeting, chat with friends that added to your project, record it, take pictures, take notes! THIS IS PART OF YOUR GRADE!

Well then, this was a lot to take in and I have like 70 more posts to make before my Monday meeting with our tutor and my shift starts soon so I gotta move.

I really hope this helped someone to get their ass and sleeves up.