#i deleted a whole side rant about the importance of both

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

Exactly. Asking living people is in fact a pretty important part of modern archaeology. My professor used to tell all kinds of funny stories about how he and his team were stumped on something, only to get a seemingly obvious answer once they asked around the local community. There’s no shame or anger from “silly ivory tower academics,” they want to know the truth way more than just be right, and being wrong becomes a funny story and cautionary tale you tell your students 40 years later. But sometimes, locals don’t have all the answers. Time passes, traditions and practices change, and not every descendant knows the exact function of a 400yo tool offhand. So then you have to look at the wear on the tool, distinguishing between marks from how the tool was used versus imperfections left over from when it was crafted, while also factoring in how the passage of time has affected it. You cross reference other finds from other locations, or consult historic documents and art to see if they mention anything. You study the chemical composition of samples to find out where the material was sourced and see of you can find more data in that second location. This is something people spend years learning how to do, and like op said, if it was easy, everyone would do it. And then sometimes, after the research is published, somebody from a completely different region shows it to their great grandma, she recognizes the tool, and is able to provide further insight. “Um, but why didn’t they just ask the grandma in the first place?” I don’t know how to tell you this, but researchers don’t have a big contact list of non-academics who know the specific information they are looking for but just refuse to use it. Oftentimes, they look for people with know how but don’t find any the first time around. And getting the word out to a wide swath of people can be pretty hard if it’s not a high profile project. To the anti-intellectuals, when’s the last time you even looked any deeper than a tweet about a headline? If researchers were looking to ask you for your input, would you even notice?

the thing that really gets me about certain popular but incorrect posts which cross my dash of the “scientists were baffled until they talked to Normal People, who told them what was actually going on! ohohohoho, those silly ivory tower academics!” type is that aside from promoting a tiresome anti-intellectual narrative, they’re incredibly disrespectful to the actual process of science. which involves - brace yourselves - people being wrong. a lot, actually! science requires us to be wrong a lot! we put forward hypotheses and then we test them and most of the time we’re wrong. but sometimes we’re wrong in ways that move us closer to the truth. note that those stories exist because researchers did, uh, talk to people and change their theories when they acquired new information. if they hadn’t, the story wouldn’t exist at all. 

it’s also disrespectful to the non-academics who contributed - by reducing it to “oh, everybody knew this, it was just the silly researchers who never asked” it minimises the insight offered by the external experts (because they are experts! in their own fields!). it does actually take expertise and insight to put together archaeological discoveries and craft knowledge. if it was easy everybody would be doing it, you know?  

none of which is to say that there aren’t ~issues~ in modern science and academia with whose knowledge we privilege and people clinging to theories because they don’t respect or like the source of the evidence against them. but being wrong is not in and of itself the problem there. and turning the process of research into a stick to beat people with is a great way to directly impede research. 

[girlboypersonthingy]

I GOT AN ANON REQUEST FOR KEITH X READER CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO LOVERS AND ACCIDENTALLY DELETED IT 😩 I’m sorry, anon but here it is! ✨ Keith is so baby 🥹

Keith x reader ~ Childhood friends to lovers ❤️‍🔥

You met at the garrison when you were barely teens, when Keith’s hair was shorter and he NEVER opened his mouth in public.

It’s not that he didn’t like you when you first met, he just didn’t want to like you. He was comfortable being a loner and didn’t want to put in the effort a friendship requires

But you were just so nice to him. He lowkey loved and hated it at the same time. He wanted to ignore you like he did everyone else but you wouldn’t leave him alone and he felt too guilty to tell you to go away. You noticed he was always alone so you tried to offer him some kindness.

He kinda wanted you to leave him alone but you didn’t and eventually, he started to looked forward to seeing you everyday. Seeing you run to him with a smile on your face and an extra lunch bag in your hand for him made him feel important. He’d never admit any of that to you tho.

One day, you weren’t at school and the whole day was just off. He didn’t feel right, he felt sad and invisible as he walked past all his classmates in the hall. He felt like no one truly saw him besides Shiro, who was often too busy to really give Keith attention, and you.

The next day when he saw you, he came up to you first!!!

“Where were you yesterday?” “I had a doctors app-“ “Next time, tell me you’re gonna be gone. I was worried.” He reached out for your hand, holding it between his own cold hands. “Oh…okay. I-I’m sorry, Keith.”

Omfg he was worried about you? After one day??? How cute!

From then on, you two were inseparable, the best of friends. He went to you every time he was really sad and needed support or when he was extremely angry and needed to just rant and yell to you. He confided in you so much, he trusted you more than anyone else. He told you the ugly and embarrassing secrets he’d never told anyone else before.

That day that he punched Griffin, after going to the dean’s office he found you outside reading. You could tell he was upset as he stomped over to you, making you immediately toss your book aside and give him your full attention.

“Keith? You okay? What happ-“ He flopped down in the grass beside you, laid on his side with his head resting on your thigh and began crying. He made sure to keep it quiet and keep his face hidden from you but you could feel him shaking. Unsure of what to say, you just began playing with the hair covering the nape of his neck. He LOVED the physical affection. He didn’t talk to you at all that afternoon, he just cried in your lap for a while then hugged you tight and went home.

That moment was when you both began to catch feelings. He loved that you were so kind and accepting of him, always so comforting. You never pressured him to talk to you, your presence alone was enough to calm him down.

You loved that he trusted you and always protected and checked up on you. He would do anything for you, all you had to do was ask with your pretty smile and soft eyes and he’d comply.

As you both grew up, he came to love your praises. You always told him how smart he was and how amazing he was at piloting, he couldn’t get enough. You fed his ego so much.

He was and still is terrible at returning the compliments. He’d often offer you constructive criticism instead, which took some getting used to but made you realize that he genuinely cared for you and only wanted the best for you.

You’d often walk hand in hand around the garrison and if anyone gave you two a weird look or tried to tease y’all about being a couple, Keith would literally bark at them while keeping your hand in his grip. “Fuck off! Mind your business…” and you liked his fiery personality. He was your scary guard dog.

When Keith got kicked out of the garrison, it broke both of your hearts. He was completely lost without you or Shiro around and you couldn’t sleep well at night for over a month bc you were so worried about him. Just like that, he had disappeared.

It was a while until you finally found him in that shack in the desert. You had gotten a tip from a teacher at the garrison while they were talking about him being a recluse and how he would sneak out to that shack in the middle of the night just to be alone and enjoy the quiet.

You found it one day and sort of just barged in, catching him half dressed and sleepy in his bed. “Keith?” He sat up abruptly, fists up defensively. “(Y/N)? How…what…?” His hands dropped to his sides as he stared at you in surprise. You ran and hugged him tightly, smiling as he hesitantly hugged you back.

He looked different…his hair was longer, he looked like he had been working out a lot and the bags under his violet eyes were very prominent.

You decided the garrison just wasn’t for you and you’d rather be with Keith. It just wasn’t the same there without him so you left it all behind and began visiting him every day.

He had never been so depressed and anxious before you found him and now that you were back in his life, he slowly but surely began to smile and eat more and act like his normal moody self.

The night finally came that you helped him rescue Shiro and he told you he’d be forever in debt to you for helping him save his brother. After getting Shiro to safety and settling everyone down, he pulled you outside his little shack so you could be alone together and he hugged you so tight it almost hurt as he cried on your shoulder. This time, his tears seemed to be from happiness and relief. He finally had his support system back ❤️‍🩹

Once you found yourselves in space together, his attitude changed a bit. He was much more busy and irritated and quiet all the time. Being a young adult out in space with the tremendous pressure of defending the universe took its toll on him.

You just gave him space and tried to keep yourself busy as well. He wasn’t sure if he liked the space or not.

As you all began to get into the swing of life out in the cosmos, Keith began coming around to you more often.

“Wanna come train with me? It’s boring by myself.” You were way too excited to spend time with him. You missed him so much while he was being distant. This moment changed everything. You two were inseparable again.

The whole team noticed that you had a way of getting him to soften up and relax when he was really frustrated. Everyone knew that you two loved each other but would never admit it to the other.

Finally, loverboy Lance steps in. He had to get y’all together. Keith is so dense and only seems to open up to you. You both just need a push from Lance the matchmaker.

He goes to Keith first and Keith shuts down the whole idea. He is terrified to lose your friendship by pushing a relationship on you so he totally rejects Lance’s help. He even tries to tell Lance that he only sees you as a friend but we all know he’s a terrible liar.

When Lance approached you, you couldn’t help but confess your burning love for Keith. You love him more than anyone in the world and you were also scared of making the friendship awkward by confessing to him. But Lance is the best wingman in the world. He would never let you fail.

Lance helped you come up with the right words to say and also tried to get you to practice some pick up lines, to which you just scoffed at him.

Finally, the day had come. You were gonna tell him how you really feel, how you’ve been feeling all these years.

You approach Keith’s door, waiting a few seconds before your shaky hand knocks.

The door slides open and a small smile grows on his lips. “What’s up?” You walk past him and into his room without asking permission, finding a seat on his bed. He was confused as to why you didn’t even smile at him like you normally do. “(Y/N)…are you okay?” He came to sit beside you, watching you with worried eyes.

“Listen…I uh…I have something to tell you but you have to swear, promise me that you’ll always be my friend…” Keith’s cheeks begin to flush as he nods slowly. He’s pretty sure he knows what’s about to come out of your mouth. “I promise.”

“I…I’m in love with you. I’ve loved you since we were kids. You���you mean the entire universe to me and I just want to call you my boyfriend. I don’t want to ruin our friendship so I understand if you don’t-“

“Shut up. I love you too…more than anyone. Let’s just date already.” And now his face is burning red hot as he avoids your gaze.

You guys fell into it so quick and smooth. It was an easy transition from best friends to lovers. You shared your first kiss just a few days after making it official.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you ever since that day you told me you were worried about me when I wasn’t at school.” This makes him smile bigger than you’ve ever seen him smile before.

“Yeah? Funny…that’s when I first wanted to kiss you too.”

There’s no one else he’d rather be with. You are his person and he is yours, forever and ever and ever ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

[honeycreammilkshake]

Oh and another thing those gojo fanatics are spreading rumours that the manga was cancelled because he killed gojo and that's why the rushed ending that sukuna killed the manga (despite selling so well)

Just....I really hope gege shuts them up for good last chapter

i'm sorry, anon. i wrote a whole rant about this in reply but accidentally deleted it. probably for the best bc it's already the stuff i've said before.

gojo fanatics make absolutely everything about him even though it takes away from the actual meaning and importance of the story. apparently yuuji should've died to go be with gojo, sukuna was a "fraud" and couldn't possibly have won (i have no idea what that means honestly, it's so untrue), and to them the whole story went down in quality after gojo died.

there are so many unkind and extremely hurtful comments i've seen on the online manga sites about how gege really "messed up" by killing off gojo and how the story is worthless since then.

gege himself doesn't really like gojo (they said they wrote gojo as too powerful, so it's hard to get gojo into any real danger) and was glad to be able to stop having to write about him. but fans treat gege like a villain for ending gojo's story in a way that has both meaning and importance to the overall series. fans just can't accept that gege did the best they could and didn't want to keep writing gojo because it was getting too difficult to do so.

they have no respect that gege, as the author, is entitled to make these decisions. they relegate every other character to the side and even ignore gojo's problematic traits just to keep worshipping him.

i'm being really bitter about it but i'm seriously so tired that people think they can send actual death threats and hate comments because their "precious mc deserved better."

you know who actually deserves better? gege. gege and yuuji. they deserve so many apologies for the way fans have treated both of them.

i'm glad you shared your thoughts with me, anon. hopefully all the toxic gojo fans leave soon and make this place better for those who actually see gojo as just another interesting jjk character without having to make everything about him.

[gecko-with-a-greatsword]

saw someone else to this so im plaguing my mutuals with this

free pass to ramble about literally any topic!!! i wanna hear about the things you like

ok I know you said things I like but I'm actually going to take this opportunity to rant about The Lorax (2012) because I have a lot of thoughts about why I hate this movie. Thank you for the ask :)

idk how coherent this will be and this might get long sorry

By the way no judgement to anyone who likes this movie or to the onceler fuckers, these are just my opinions. So to start off, I feel like the lorax story did not lend itself well to the animated kids movie formula. It probably would've been better as some sort of short film or something. And I know Dr Seuss was, like, racist and stuff but the lorax had a pretty good message. And in making the movie I feel like they muddled that message a lot.

So like I said, the story didn't fit the vibe, so to make it work as a kids movie they added an entire other plotline outside of the actual story. They expand upon both the world and the child hearing the story, and I have a problem with both of these. It seems like they were trying to make the town have that whimsical feel that other movies based on Seuss stories have, but personally, I don't think it works for the Lorax. Reading the story you get a sense that the world is desolate and barren. It feels pretty dystopian. In the movie that's only the area where the onceler lives and outside of that is a pretty nice looking town. Sure they have no trees, and are being scammed by some shitty CEO but it's a society with lots of people, who don't seem to feel like anything's wrong. And considering that it's a movie for children, I think the things that make it feel dystopian are too subtle. And you could argue that it was intentionally made to feel like real life, as some sort of commentary or something, but again I think kids won't pick up on that.

Moving on to the kid voiced by zac Efron, (I don't remember his name and I don't really care) I think in the story the kid is meant to be a stand in for anyone, like it doesn't matter who he is because it's meant to be you, reading the story. So making this kid a more fleshed out character was not something I would've done in the first place. Furthermore this kid doesn't even think anything's wrong. He's just motivated by the girl he likes saying she wishes she could see a tree! and that's kind of all he cares about which makes me feel like at that point why isn't she just the main character? (also side it was a weird choice to make her be so much older than him.) Basically I didn't care about any of this, they should have left out the entirety of this outside plot.

Anyway, moving on to the actual important part of the story, we have to talk about the onceler. And I think the main issue with the onceler is that they humanized him too much. Obviously in the picture book you don't really see his face, and reads like much more of a creature. I also believe that there was early concept art of the onceler where he was a lot more creature-y but obviously in the movie he ended up as just a guy. And you could argue that this makes sense because in real life it is humans who are at the root of all the things destroying the environment, but the onceler isn't meant to represent one person, he's meant to represent the companies and corporations. And I don't think the whole tumblr sexyman thing was necessarily their fault because I don't think that was intentional or that they could've forseen that, but it's kind of a testament to the fact that he is too sympathetic a character. And I guess that might be sort of the root of my problems with the movie, that everything feels too personal to be as allegorical as the original story feels. Oh yeah also the deleted song "Biggering" is actually really good and in my opinion would have worked much much better than how bad can i be or whatever. I feel like there's a lot more I could say and i'm probably forgetting a bunch of stuff but I'm kind of losing steam and I've already written a ton so I'll leave it at that I guess. I'm not rereading this lol I hope it's at all comprehensible and if anyone reads this whole thing sorry :P oh and DISCLAIMER I haven't watched this movie in a while or read the story so this was just me talking out my ass if I got something wrong or said anything stupid, whoops 🤷🏽

[heartsoftruth]

I know you like Kylian and I used to really like him as well even when he was at Monaco, still have a soft spot for him really but let’s not act like he hasn’t been behaving like a total brat since Messi came to PSG. First with Neymar finding out he wanted him out and all the South Americans out of the team?! Then him posting #pivotgang, him deliberately not passing to Messi& Ney and stopping, complaining during the match. Then after Messi won a major tourney you come out to say trash about SA football when both your teammates are the faces of the biggest NTs in South America! That is so not fair at all whether people think what he said is fact or not, you don’t rubbish your teammates nation, continent like that. Nah he has really been disappointing last few months. Just thankful he was at least able to salvage his relationship with Giroud after the rubbish he did trying to take Benzema’s side. He is a great player but he needs to calm down with his attitude, which is why I don’t want him to go to Madrid cause his attitude will get worse there I think 🤷🏾‍♀️. I wish him all the success but the way he has acted towards neymar and Messi in particular when he’s even still trying to settle down with the team, a new country etc just doesn’t sit well with me. Sorry for the long rant and enjoy the holidays!

First of all (and most important): I wish you happy holidays as well! Enjoy! 🥰

I have a few questions about your ask tho. I haven't been as on top of all the PSG things this year (did read something of course), but still have a few questions haha: - and all the South Americans out of the team Do you have a link to this article/rumor. I do remember there being a rumor about a divide in the dressingroom between French/Spanish speaking, but this I don't remember. - Then him posting #pivotgang I don't see the problem in him expressing (like he did before) his preffered position. “I have a lot more freedom (in the France team), the coach (Didier Deschamps) knows that there is a number 9 like Olive (Giroud), who occupies the defenses, and I can walk around, go in space, ask for the balloons… In Paris, it’s different, there isn’t that, I’m asked to do the pivot”, explained Mbappé before confiding “having fun everywhere”.

The Insta-post was a bit dramatic and I presume he saw that himself as well and deleted it (but of course thats too late). Yeah dramatic, but I don't see a problem in a player with his talent expressing his preffered position. The insta-post wasn't the way but other than that: ok. I have no idea about him not passing to Leo and Ney tho? If he's a #9 now there won't be a lot of that I presume...

-Then after Messi won a major tourney you come out to say trash about SA football That comment was made in May. Kylian has kept silent after the WC other than what we've seen him post on social media. Even with all that garbage that has been thrown at him he kept silent.

I don't see what he's doing to Messi tho? I do think the relationship between him and Ney has changed (but it's just from hearsay because I haven't watched a PSG match in mooooonths). I will look at it in the upcoming weeks. No F1 so PSG time haha.

If the rumors about the power PSG promised Kylian are true it's the clubs fault tbh. No player should have and get that power ever from a club. He's a top talent: yes, but (again if true) PSG did this himself.

Which also makes me think that whole Pivot Gang-gate: who knows what position PSG promised him when he signed a new contract. I will say what I was dissapointed in is that he renewed with PSG. It makes him look like it's all about the money and that's not the image I have of him. He could play for any top club; yet he chose to stay there... I don't get that. He was ready for a move to a topclub.

[hard-core-super-star]

I think I sent the last ask and forgot to make it anonymous, I'm going to faint right now. about comfort, do you say about writing something small and quick or is it about some fluff? 🤔

well, looking at the bright side is looking at my side, after all, a star has to shine so- “unless” lmao. unless what? don't be shy finish the sentence.

are you defending me from the reference you made that I didn't get? Kejskakwk there's a whole conspiracy behind this 119% and now I understand it, but I didn't expect it to be something random, I thought it had to do with your age.

RIGHT? even the dialogues between themselves are incredible. NO RUBIX, EVEN THEN YOU CANNOT TAKE THE PHONES!!! but I completely agree, Children shouldn't have access to the phone at such a young age, but I think what's even worse is children who at that age have already developed an addiction.

It took me a while to learn that there wasn't just one Robin in the bat-family lmao. but yes, if it makes sense then I will continue to love them the same, even though I am called a “fake fan” by a certain someone-

It's really cool that you just go after the poorly written part of the shows and throw rocks at them and then just rant about it. It's not a complaint, I'm for it whatever you call it. Firestorm! wow, I'm really bad with names too, jesus. Oh yeah- I see it, but hey, it can still be given to you, but by yourself. you can write after all. I don't remember who they are 😭😭 the thing about them being irrelevant is real apparently (I'm literally almost asleep writing this, there's probably something that doesn't make any sense, now let's see if I have enough strength to answer the next one)

– 🌟

you definitely sent it on anon so don't worry about it. and if you ever do forget, i’ll just delete it and pretend it never happened. i respect your decision to stay anonymous and mysterious. honestly, it's a bit of both. writing fluff can be incredibly therapeutic for me and writing those short headcanon sets makes me feel better about going so many days without posting a full fic. i still take forever to write the headcanon sets though which doesn't leave me with the greatest feeling in the world but oh well.

alskdkdk that's an excellent way to put it, i approve. in the words of my favorite star,”nuh-uh, no way.” two can play the game of unfinished sentences. the only difference is my unfinished sentences are still obvious so 👀

i was trying to help you feel better about not getting it and i think i succeeded. it's also not completely random, to be fair. i have a strong attachment to the song because i was born on a 19 [i’ll keep the month a secret for now because it's fun] which means that yes, it does also have to do with my age ‘cause i’m nineteen [call me. that's a reference to the song lmao] unrelated but i have 19 tattooed on me but in roman numeral version because i could.

i truly don't know how they came up with such amazing lines and this is making me want to replay the game ‘cause it’s been a WHILE since the last time i played it. fine 🙄 i won't take their phones. i’ll just silently judge them instead. exactly!!! it's concerning and i don't care how hypocritical it makes me sound.

skskjdjdjs i want to judge but i get it lmao. damn, that certain someone sounds like a cool person with a great sense of judgement 👀

i think it's just hard for me to turn off my writer brain sometimes so when i see something not done the way I think it should be done, i start trying to rewrite it in my head. sometimes that leads to fics, other times i just rant a lot. akdkkdksj it’s okay, they're genuinely not that important, in my opinion. they should have just focused on idk, giving caitlin a real storyline instead of adding new characters every other episode. [i thought your sentences made sense, don't worry. i’m also half-asleep writing this so bear with me and my tendency to skip over grammar mistakes when i’m tired 😶]

[isagisyoichi]

PINKY STAR (RUN) :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

SYNOPSIS: isagi as your boyfriend

CHARACTERS INCLUDED: isagi yoichi my boyfriend of many several years

WARNINGS: swearing? i think idk i forget also yah pretend they all go to the same school and stuff. also horribly self indulgent if u couldn't already tell

A/N: if you remember my old one delete it from your memory it was literally so bad help anyways the re-up because my boyfriend deserves better. also i really like this one and i feel like it’s more in character for him :P lol i've had this in my drafts for like, ever <3 but also my last post for a while because i have ap exams and my sat soon :P

FOR: the anon that asked me where my original isagi bf hcs went :’)

after the initial awkwardness of being in a new relationship fades and you two become comfortable with each other, a relationship with isagi would be like dating your slightly awkward best friend who you make out with sometimes.

like, i don’t really see isagi being high maintenance, so i feel like a relationship with him would definitely be on the relaxed side, but still romantic, you know?

isagi’s inner monologue is so funny and he definitely lets his thoughts out to you. it makes you laugh to see your usually friendly-to-all boyfriend have his moments, too.

you guys are one of those couples that give each other a look when someone’s doing something weird in public #telepathicconnection <3

but, isagi’s really such a sweetie with you. i know user isagisyoichi may be slightly biased when they say this, but believe me when i say that isagi’s 100% boyfriend material.

walks you to class whenever he can. always either holding your hand as he listens attentively to you complaining about school.

writes down things he feels are important about you in a digital note entitled “y/n 💗,” so he can remember them in the future.

isagi's used to talking to all kinds of people, so even if you're not the most talkative, he can adjust with no problem.

and he’ll always entertain you about whatever stupid conversation you wanna have.

kinda basic with pet names. babe, baby, dork (he would, i don’t wanna hear it), are his usual rotation.

randomly compliments you/says these really romantic things out of nowhere because he can’t control himself and often blurts things out.

“yeah, of course, when we get married, i’ll-”

“when we get married?” you inquire as you cut isagi off. you two have never discussed marriage, just but the thought of isagi wanting to spend the rest of his life with you is enough to make your head spin.

isagi’s eyes go wide when he realizes what he’s said. damn his mouth that moves faster than his mind.

swallowing hard and taking a breath, isagi says, “y-yeah, when we get married,” further affirming his statement with a nod, albeit a bit of a nervous one.

now both of you guys are flustered LOL.

likes to sit his head in your lap and have you play with his hair, while you two talk or just sit in silence.

such a good listener, perfect person to rant about anything with. he’s very understanding, he’ll hold you if you need him to, wipe your tears if you’re crying, give you advice if you need it, just overall so sweet.

also always knows when you're sad because of his intuition. isagi encourages you to open up to him, but ultimately doesn’t force you, just lets you know that he’s always there for you <3

(that's kind of lie because isagi does pry a little LOL, but he means well)

takes care of you! nags you a little, tries his best to make sure you're not doing anything stupid, and if you are, that someone responsible (him) is watching you, looks after you when you’re sick, etc.

gives you his jacket when you’re cold (he’s been waiting to do that his whole life bro LMAOO), carries your things, always texts you good morning and good night, just overall sooo good to you.

but as soft as he is for you, isagi does have this tendency to get these random spouts of confidence, so sometimes he’ll say or do something really bold out of nowhere.

like, he’ll suddenly grab your waist and pull you closer to him, or he’ll kiss you out of the blue. the flustered expression that rests on your face for a change always makes him smirk *heart eyes*

in general, though, isagi's still kind of awkward sometimes regardless and does say or do things that make you go "???" and make him be like "why did i do that" LOL he's so cute though <333

he’s pretty basic with dates, usually opts for things like restaurants, walks in the parks, movie nights, or stuff like that, but they’re still really fun!

but, if you ever want to do something out of the norm, he wouldn't be opposed to it, either. but, you do have to tell him ‘cause he's not a mind reader lol.

(okay but, one time, isagi tried to watch a scary movie with you because he wanted to do that thing where he wraps his arm around you during the scary parts, but HE ended up being scared instead 😭)

isagi’s the type to put your name with a heart emoji or the date you guys started dating in his instagram bio LOL

y/n 💓 IHS Forward #10 ⚽️ *insert some soccer quote about grinding*

it’s a bit middle school, but you let it slide because you know he just wants to show you off <3

study sessions are normal between you two but, you guys always get bored or distracted halfway through and start watching youtube or something LOL.

it’s canon he’s a thigh man lol, so if he ever sees you wearing an oversized shirt, especially one of his, with shorts, isagi will literally short circuit in real life.

he keeps his hand on your thigh when you guys cuddle that day, tracing patterns on your skin, or just squeezing it every now and then.

in general, though, isagi likes poking at and playing with them whenever they're out <3

once, isagi wanted you to do that trend on tiktok where he sits between your thighs and stuff, but he had no idea how to bring it up LOL

so, isagi just watched tiktoks of it in front of you and hoped eventually you would get the hint 🙄

and you did, thanks to his incredible lack of subtly. he doesn’t even care when you giggle and tell him how bad he is at being slick, isagi got your thighs around him, he won!!!!!!

takes a picture (or two or three) to savor the moment.

(even though he could literally just ask you to do it again in the future, but whatever, i guess)

when you’re dating isagi, the team comes with him too LOL

they’re always snapchatting you pictures of isagi when they’re hanging out without you, with stupid captions like, “look how sad your boyfriend is without you 😞”

isagi’s not even sad in the picture, he’s just confused as to why they’re shoving a camera in his face 😭

isagi one hundred percent attempts to get you to run the mile with him during gym if you don’t already.

“babe, just try!” isagi pants, as he catches up to you and your friends, as you guys are still on your second lap.

admittedly, the effort is cute, but beloved, i hate to break it to you- i will not be doing anything of the sort.

he will sit down or walk around with you after you finish the mile, though. if he’s not already playing soccer lollll.

when he does choose to go with you, expect exclamations from the team about how isagi “abandoned us for his little relationship” 👎

isagi’s receiving love language is words of affirmation (also basically canon LOL) so, he really values the compliments you give him with his whole heart.

you could tell him how his hair looks nice in the morning, and isagi will think about it all day.

whether it be about how cute he is, or how talented of a player he is, isagi really is happiest when you praise him <3

speaking of soccer, isagi has this tendency to get lost in the moment and talk your head off about some soccer related tangent that probably makes no sense to you.

his eyes light up and his voice is just oozing with passion for what he does as he goes into detail about how he made this crazy goal at practice while you stare at him with the biggest heart eyes ever, adoring his dedication.

and of course when isagi realizes he was rambling, he apologizes profusely for “boring” you, like the gentleman he is.

but when you reassure him that he could never bore you and that you want nothing more than for him to go on, isagi begins to feels lightheaded due to his adoration for you <3

if you're the type to go all out when it supporting isagi at soccer- like make one of those corny signs, yell from the crowd, wear his spare jersey to games, isagi will physically have to withhold his heart from jumping out his chest.

he's a little embarrassed that you're doing all that for him, but the effort means soooo much to him.

and speaking of soccer, it would mean a lot to isagi if you not only supported him at games and stuff, but expressed an interest in learning more about soccer as a whole, too.

you know, learn a little more about the game on your own accord, ask him to teach you how to properly play, or even challenge him to a one on one, do stuff like that, and he’ll literally be head over heels for you. well, more than he already is.

(he always goes easy on you on your guys 1v1's and he thinks your efforts are adorable, no matter how much you may or may not suck)

he'd repay the effort and try to get interested in whatever your hobbies are!

also, you can get him to do almost anything if you pout and beg hard enough, you’re literally so hard to say no to in isagi’s eyes <3

isagi’s the type to not realize when other people are flirting with him LOL

he just thinks they’re being nice (unless they’re being straight up) and i don’t think he would really process it because he’s so focused on you romantically, if that makes sense.

once he realizes you’re jealous, isagi apologizes earnestly, reassuring you over and over again that you're everything he could ask for and that he would never intentionally try to hurt you and all that jazz.

although, i will admit, sometimes isagi’s kinda smug when you're jealous, especially when it’s over a dumb reason 👎

however, when he’s jealous i feel like it could go one of two ways-

on normal days, isagi would just stand there to “intimidate” the other person, maybe cough a little for emphasis until they go away lol.

but on days where he’s already mad/filled with adrenaline/or someone’s really not taking a hint and you’re visibly uncomfortable- oh boy, it’s like a switch flips in him.

has those same fiery eyes he has during the climax of a game. the energy he’s exuding is dead serious, and that alone is enough for the person bothering you to go away. not bad for a man that’s only 5’8 🥰

adding on, isagi doesn’t take any shit about you, ever. even if it’s from his friends. usually isagi’s very neutral and doesn’t actively try to start conflict, but there are some things he’ll always defend and you’re one of them.

isagi always listens/watches/reads/etc whatever you recommend him (on that note, please recommend him good anime because isagi’s out here willingly telling people his favorite anime is darling in the franxx), even if he doesn’t necessarily like it LOL

you could show isagi objectively, the worst song ever and he would be like “yeah, it was good babe!” (it was not)

also does the same thing when you bring him shopping with you, like he's absolutely NO HELP 😭

you could try on the ugliest sweater known to man and he’d like “you look nice 🙂” pls be honest isagi, you can say it’s hideous!!!!!!

but isagi’s also being somewhat truthful in his statement because he does genuinely think you look nice in everything <3

also loves when you wear his clothes- always feels a mixture between pride and slight shyness?

kinda lol idk but overall, isagi really is sooo happy you wanna show him off that much, especially when you're wearing something of his around his friends :')

he says “i love you” first, no doubt.

he’s a bit nervous when he does because he doesn’t know if you’ll reciprocate, but he really does love you and he feels like he physically can’t hold it in anymore.

“i promise you don’t have to say it back!” isagi reassures anxiously. “i know it’s a really big commitment, and if it’s too early for you right now-”

“i love you, too.”

[conservativetradlife]

Porn Bloggers? 

Ya need Jesus. 

If you want to just delete this WHOLE rant and keep the above, be my guest, but only if you subscribe to the ideas listed below... Its kind of important. Jesus accepted whores and sinners, we should to. At least thats how I feel.

MOVING ON.

I see you following me. I see all of you, and I know you are thinking about the lifestyle that I promote. A single partnership bound by love and faith, a bound close knit family and a homey lifestyle relying on God’s bounty to provide. 

I have a high influx of BDSM/Porn Blogs following me, and I don’t condone that kind of blogs following me, as I don’t agree with porn on a visceral level - however, it’s surprising to me how many women, appealing to the male fantasy ‘sex kitten’, and men seeking ‘slutty’ submissive women follow me.

Like genuinely, I don’t promote anything that is agreeable to that kind of lifestyle and I have spoken at length with members of both sides of this community on the ‘why’ the Traditional Lifestyle is so appealing. I can’t say that either side has bad points to make - but when I see the kind of content shared by these blogs I really just feel sorry for you all. It’s by no means condescending for me to say that I feel sorry for you, and where you are at, to want to live the kind of lifestyle you are promoting on your blog... It might seem appealing in the short term? But when I think about it, I don’t think that these lifestyles are sustainable in any way, and its sad that the only way you feel you can get the love you need, is to degrade yourself in one way or another to suit the sexual needs of your partner.

I think there is inherent value in being alone - in feeling your feelings, both good, bad and uncomfortable. Being alone in all senses, but most importantly in your romantic life. If you don’t spend time learning who you are, what YOU want, while not being steeped in the desires and interests of another, you never learn about what makes you happy, nor find the value you have in yourself.

I am by no means a saint. I want to be clear about the fact that my life is very much a rocky story to tell, and one that I have graduated from with time. I can understand those who feel as though becoming a sex object is the only way to feel like you are getting what you deserve. A rotten, deep self loathing that reeks in the pit of your gut and poisons you from the inside out. I can see those who prey on the vulnerable, people looking for purpose who are wounded in many different ways seeking validation and love in the only way they can control.

Its the fact that despite that, I still have people following my content, which I hope is showing a different life. One that is hopeful and different - not just aesthetic to the eye, but to the soul and mind. I hope the content I share inspires you to seek validation and worth outside of your body or own primal urges. I am by no means judging you - as a Christian, someone who believes wholly in Jesus Christ himself. How could I rightfully sit there and judge someone for the way they lived. We are supposed to aspire to live how Jesus lived, right? Last time I checked, he consorted with a lot of people that others considered dregs of society, the broken and downtrodden were the ones he supported the most. If I am a Christian, truly, then I am not going to point my finger and say that you are a person unworthy of recognition nor understanding. I may not agree with your content, the values you have or the morals you stand for, but I respect the fact you are different than me, and your life experiences have lead you where you’ve landed in life - which is not identical to my own.

I just feel like the Trad Community is followed by a lot of BDSM/Porn blogs because we offer a glimpse into the hopeful? I refuse to believe it all has to do with kink and play - particularly as my blog is pretty much devoid of any content that would even hint at that kind of dynamic behind closed doors. I don’t see how a BDSM Blogger is getting anything from my reblogged post of an autumn forest than what I am - the comforting nostalgia of a liminal space.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe its all degenerate. Maybe we’re followed because we have pretty pictures that give a small moment to rehydrate after an hour long goon stream of increasingly graphic gifs. Maybe there are always people who will fetishize Traditionalism - bastardizing the principles presented to suit a sexual narrative... But sex isn’t really that long lasting - and eventually, everything that can be done, will eventually be done, and then what? You cast away your person for someone else, never mind the emotional ties now bound from what you went through in a dynamic, but also as a couple? It all just sounds so messy and unnecessary to me. You don’t have to live like that, honestly.

I’m choosing from now on, to believe that my blog is used as one for hope? It might sound a little uppity and full of myself, but who am I really to negate someone’s right from looking at the content I post? Nothing is explicit, nor worth putting behind a barrier. I’m really sick of seeing these names pop up, but at the same time as people choosing to take my sending asks on Sims blogs I like being reacted to like ‘m doing something racy and scandalous, maybe its one in the same. Maybe this blog is a dirty little secret, because its a fantasy that they desire to have, outside of the life they are projecting with their content. 

Maybe it is them who are the anomaly.

Maybe we have what they want? Who really knows, its all conjecture.

Not judging... So sick of being in the community and pretending that sex doesn’t exist at all. So sick of this stigma hanging over the heads of the aspiring trads to entirely flip themselves under the guise of a narrative that is ages old and entirely new every generation. You can be trad and be unladylike, you can be trad and interested in BDSM with your partner, you can be LGBTQA+ and still be trad. We are projecting these ideals onto ourselves that don’t need to be there. 

Maybe, these porn blogs are just other Trads letting their freak flags fly. Who knows? I am absolutely a different person than the one I want to be online. One who is more patient, more Godly, more agreeable... I know I have hard edges, but I don’t think they can or should be softened by the Traditional Community.

What I’m doing here, is promoting a lifestyle that integrates one partner (a monogamous pair) and leads to having children - as many as God permits. I want to promote motherhood - femininity in its purest form, I want to inspire women to promote their natural beauty and value themselves enough to wait for a partner worth having who values you as much as you deserve. I want to promote a devotion to God, one that is powerful - but personal. Shared when you wish you share and celebrated as you wish to celebrate it.

It seems a little silly to me, really, that the Trad community is so opposed to the concept of sex (even in private polite company) but are dedicated to the ideas of having large families with their spouse. Do NOT @ me about adoption or IVF. We all know the diatribe. WE KNOW. I shouldn’t have to preface it with that. For those natural families to happen, you’re gonna have sex - and being sex positive to some degree, in my opinion, is super important to the success of a marriage. Finding someone who is willing to explore, be a little crazy and keep things fresh is important, sex is a love language for a lot of people. We can’t forget that.

Ugh... This whole rant has given me a headache. Uugh. You porn blogs are too much some times, I can’t. I have to say at this point, I am a sex positive blog. I don’t agree with porn, I am not a fan of you porn bloggers and I would much rather you don’t follow me, because you’re never subtle about what you’re about and yuck guys, honestly... Yuck. But at this point, I’m done pretending that sex shocks or appalls me. If you’re not okay with that, please feel free to unfollow. I will not be reblogging anything of the sexual variety on this blog - period. But my opinions might be a bit more stand forward from now on in regards to this.

Ya’ll are seriously exhausting. Go outside and touch some grass... 

[gallavictorious]

Seven Days left~ Give us 7 favorite Shameless moments

One day late – whoops! Sorry about that, sweet nonnie; this was the most delightful ask and I was very stoked to get it. ❤️❤️❤️

Disclaimer: I misread the question because I’m a dumbass and went for Gallavich moments. My bad. :o These are seven of my favourite moments, by the way: I just can't decisively pick my ultimate top seven. Also put them down in chronological order rather than in order of how fond of them I am, because it'd would've been too hard to do otherwise.

4x08: “You coming back?” This scene is quite uncomfortable, what with Ian's demand for blowjobs and Mickey's obvious (though temporary) discomfort, but I think that's what has me returning to it again and again (and what has had me writing one very long meta and a fic about it). It represents a shift in their dynamic, with Ian claiming some power in the relationship for himself, and even though it is uncomfortable, it's fascinating to see – and needed to happen for them to work in the long term (even if it maybe didn't need to happen like that – but then again, it's just so in character for both of them, however messed up?). The look Lip and Mickey exchanges after Ian's “relationship issues” never fails to get to me either, and I think it's important to note that Lip makes sure that Ian is okay with the situation and then he leaves them to it; he doesn't try to interfere or dissuade Ian. I keep wondering what that means to Mickey, having Lip – who's certainly not a friend at that point – know about him, and about him and Ian, and not really caring beyond making sure his baby brother is okay? I kind of think that maybe Lip and Mandy both showing Mickey that they're aware of the situation but not making a big deal out of it is really fucking important – people can know he's gay without it having to be a thing and without the world ending. Terry is a horrible outlier.

4x11: “Just wondering if we're a couple or not.” Maybe it's the mutual manhandling, maybe it's them trying to negotiate and sort out the current dynamics of their relationship. There's so much tension and so many layers here, history lingering, even as they're both fond and playful: lots to unpack. Damngoodcoffee once noted that Ian almost looks scared when Mickey pushes him to the bed, and I haven't been able to unsee that since, or to forget that the last time Ian pushed Mickey to verbalize the truth of their relationship Mickey kicked him in the face. I also love love love the lead up with Carl and Ian, “do you love Mickey?” – “I like how he smells.” Please take note of Mickey washing his hands: the dirtiest white boy in American is an example to penis pee:ers everywhere.

5x08: “Sorry I'm late.” Ian's surprise, and the look of hesitant wonder as Mickey shows up and moves to lie down next to him, like he can't quite believe that Mickey is really there, that he actually came. Mickey's quiet apology, no excuses or explanations about how he needed some time to deal (which, you know, it's very fair for him to need); he's there for Ian now, putting his own fears and pain and needs to the side to be what (he thinks) Ian needs him to be. That admittedly doesn't work out great for either of them in the end, but still, in this moment, it is what they both desperately crave: to just have each other and find shelter in the other's arms. Ungh. That gentle kiss to Ian's hair, how Ian finally relaxes and reaches up to grasp Mickey's wrist, holding on. It breaks my heart and soothes me, all at the same time.

10x07: Domestic bitches. Probably the scene I've tag ranted about the most, because I. Love. It. To. Pieces. Ian's so glad to be back in a place where he feels at home and can be useful by doing important stuff like picking up shampoo and shit for Mickey (in prison, I think he was acutely aware of them being on Mickey's turf and him feeling a bit not comfortable with being the one in need of protection?) and he's so damned happy that he gets to be here with Mickey. Gets to help him out and playfully slap his ass and kiss his cheek and squeeze his titty and just love him and be with him. And Mickey, being completely unconcerned about this display in front of Sandy; in fact he seems to adore being so obviously claimed and loved and wanted, and that's such a huge shift from the boy who was once terrified by the idea of letting Ian kiss him even in private. Argh. Just. Them being domestic bitches and loving it – and each other – so fucking much. They're giddy with it here and it makes my heart swell.

10x10: “When you know, you know. Right?” I have an absurd weakness for Ian being petty, and Mickey really had it coming here, so. You know. Allow me an evil chuckle. The Byron of it all is an unwelcome distraction (and Mickey gritting out “the love of my life” makes me cringe so hard every single time), but then I look at the absolute glee in Ian's eyes when he realizes that Mickey is going to a hipster concert and yeah, this is Kee's shriek of delight. Mickey looks very good in his shirt and with the hair and the cigarette, and that's always an easy sell with me. (He also looks so uncomfortable with Ian finding out about the concert but, again, he kind of had it coming.) Aah. Ian's certainly not the only petty character on the show, but it just looks better on him than on anyone else. He's got it down.

11x10: “Hit my husband again, I'll fucking kill you.” Mickey isn't even in this scene, and still. I didn't expect Ian to take such a firm stance on this (considering that Lip is his brother and Mickey was not innocent in the fight) but maybe that's why I love it so much? I swear, the jolt I felt when hearing it for the first time, it nigh on knocked me over. “My husband” Ian says, making a point of emphasising the nature of his relationship to Mickey; the Gallaghers generally strike me as having a general expectation of putting birth family above partners when push comes to shove. Fiona certainly did for a long while, and though Lip's kind of screwing his siblings over to create the life he wants with Tami and Fred this season, I think he still sees the sibling group as Ian's primary unit, and Ian wants to remind him that this isn't the whole truth anymore. Also, protective!Ian is glorious. (I love me some brothers on the porch, so even without this line, this is a great scene. But with it – holy mother of God, I've been slain. I'd feel embarrassed about the number of times I played it on repeat the next day, but I'm too old for that shit.)

11x11: Intro Speaking of protective!Ian... I'm sorry, there's just no arguing with the aftercare vibes and I don't even know how to process that properly. Mickey's a little out of it, seems like, since he's rather slow to respond to the intrusion and displays none of his usual intiative and agression, whereas Ian is very quick to shift from gazing lovingly at Mickey to chasing us out with a determination and anger usually reserved for Frank. I mean, how else would you explain it? (And okay, it's an intro and breaking the fourth wall, so speculating about when it happens in canon is of course foolish, but I'm just saying that they're in their new flat with very little furniture still so it has to happen around the time of the last episode but I very much doubt they played around like this when everything was so weird between them so probably not between 11x10 and 11x11, but say they got back to their place after their reconciliation on their old bed and just kept on reaffirming their bond in all possible ways? Yes? Yes.)

Special mention: 10x06 Deleted Bathroom Scene. Mickey is looking fine as fuck – please, do wear black tanks more often, I am begging you, Mick – and his eyebrow game is in excellent shape, and then we have Ian seeing to his wounds (be still my heart) and pulling at his hair when Mickey's just a shade too bratty and Mickey's little look of 'okay sure I had that coming' and I'm sorry, but I am dead now. Deceased. Only two things detract from this otherwise perfect scene: Ian's titties tattoo on prominent and unfortunate display, and the confusion about whether or not Mickey didn't even learn the simplest Spanish words during his stint in Mexico.

So, that's me. I could just as easily have picked seven completely different moment, but I do love all of these very much.

[space-girl-and-droids-art]

Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark- Book Review

“Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark” Is an anthology of stories narrating some of the arcs of the clone wars from the perspective of the characters. It gives more details and depth to some episodes, as well as giving us information that makes us have a different view of the events.

This is not exactly a review, but mostly my reactions to reading the book. I do recommend it, if you loved the clone wars and want another perspective on some of the arcs this will be a good read. That said, this does contain spoilers for the clone wars.

#1 “Sharing the same Face” -Jason Fry (from the episode “Ambush”)

Okay this was once one of the most light-hearted episodes of the series and now I ended up crying. I did not expect an order 66 reference here. Every time Yoda addresses Dooku is painful. Seeing how Yoda perceives the clones is really heart-warming, but knowing how it all turns out in the end is really sad and during the whole text you are really aware of that. In the show you kind of forget about what’s going to happen for a while, but this text just keeps you thinking about it constantly. It was a good read, I loved it. I found it really interesting knowing Yoda approaches the clones the same way he approached his students at the temple, and knowing what his opinions on the clone army it was a good detail. Loved this one.

Did I care that much about this episode before? No. But watching it right after reading this made me cry for half an hour. (I am a really emotional person, so take this with a grain of salt.)

#2 “Dooku Captured”- Lou Anders (From the episodes “Dooku Captured” and “Gungan General”.

This was a funny read, and the fact that the events are narrated by Dooku Himself made it even more hilarious. It’s supposedly a holorecording Dooku was doing for Sidious, and you can tell by his words that he was so done. Poor Dooku deserves a meditation day after it. You can tell how annoyed he was by the whole situation and his perception of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They really are bothering for the count. I’m surprised he didn’t retire after this event, man’s gotta be really tired. Also, when they were tied together, they just shared a braincell and most of the time, Dooku was the one carrying it. The love he had for Qui-Gon does not extend to rest of the lineage, clearly.

At first it was really slow, but after they get captured by the pirates it just gets funnier. Good story to read after the sadness the previous text gave me.

Also, the fact that Dooku canonically records himself venting to Sidious is hilarious to me. Like, can you imagine being Palpatine and receiving daily vlogs from your apprentice ranting and complaining about Anakin and Obi-Wan? Dude was tired, of course he would let Anakin decapitate him in the end.

#3 “Hostage Crisis”- Preeti Chhibber (from the episode “Hostage Crisis”)

For an Anidala shipper this is a must read, because you will know exactly what Anakin thinks of his wife and how he views Padmé. This text was more Anakin centric (I believe the next one is Padmé centric) and it was a delight. I haven’t read much in canon about stuff that involves Anakin’s feelings so this was really good.

The scene from the beginning of the episode? Is hotter when you read it, trust me. For a clearly SFW text, this was intense. I’m pretty sure I can guess all of Anakin’s kink only by what was implied in his thoughts. Is also really sweet to see how much she cares, but also know why everything went downhill at the end. Good retelling.

#4 “Pursuit of Peace”- Anne Ursu (from the episodes “Heroes on both sides” and “Pursuit of Peace”)

I really love Padmé Amidala. My favorite senator. If you have seen my review of Queen’s Peril you KNOW How much I love her, and even when this text was written by another author, I still got the same feeling about her. Padmé is amazing. This arc is one of my favorite of the Clone wars because it’s the arc that let you see that it wasn’t a black and white kind of situation, both sides were being played. An none of them were really worrying about their people, they were in it for the money. I love reading Padmé’s thoughts on the whole situation. Also, the way this story is written makes what went down with Padmé and Anakin in the third episode make more sense and more in character. She is a strong, good, and smart politician. But she is also motivated to see the light in the dark and preserve the light, it gave me major Qui-Gon from “Master and Apprentice” vibes. It did make me tear up a little, because when I finished it, I realized everything she did was for nothing. She was too kind in a galaxy already so corrupted.

Also, Palpatine stop calling her “my child” you disgusting sith lord, I know you are responsible for her death and so do you, so shut the f up. Padmé was doing everything right and she hasn’t done anything wrong in her life whatsoever.

“Just because there’s darkness in something does not mean you do not love it. You show it love, you show it light, and you hope it chooses the light”.

She was talking about the senate but you just KNOW she isn’t really talking about the senate.

This story re-telling broke me, just as the first one. I am not ready for the next one. Do I have to? Man, I really don’t want to go through Umbara again.

#5 “The Shadow of Umbara” -Yoon Ha Lee (from the episodes "Darkness on Umbara," "The General," "Plan of Dissent," and "Carnage of Krell”)

I was, indeed, not ready for it. It doesn’t really add much to the story… except pain. Rex’s pain, to be precise. Let my man mourn Hardcase :C I just wanted to give him a hug, him and all of the clones to be honest. Fives was as good as always, but re-reading his lines knowing what happens to him made me sad. I hate Pong Krell, get you dirty hands off my babies. I don’t think this re- telling made me sadder, but that’s only because it was just as painful as the episodes.

Dogma my beloved, you deserve everything.

I love how this arc develops Rex character and his attitude towards the war in general.

#6 “Bane’s Story”- Tom Angleberger (from the episodes “Deception”, “Friends and Enemies”, “The Box” and “Crisis on Naboo”.)

Is Cad Bane the Regina George of the Bounty Hunters?

The answer is yes. Yes, he is.

I wasn’t really excited to read about Cad Bane at first, I felt that everything that had to be said about the guy had already been stated in the show. He was just a mean bounty hunter in space. But this was actually pretty funny to read, specially because it’s narrated in first person from Bane’s perspective on what happened with Kenobi. And it’s hilarious.

He is basically re telling the events to Boba and Bossk while he is in jail again. During his story you can learn a few things about him as well, specially what his thoughts are in relation to some important topics. You would think he is only concerned about the money and blasting people, and you would be right. But he also does have an opinion on what’s happening on the galaxy at large, on the jedi, on Palpatine and Dooku. But those opinions don’t affect how he gets the job done. It was really interesting seeing him internally judging Kenobi for being a liar, and knowing something is wrong with the jedi order if they pulled that off. He knows everyone is being deceived, but doesn’t know how. That’s why he doesn’t care, and doesn’t get involved on anything unless you offer to pay him. Money moves him, but not the people who has it.

It was a good story, and I also liked to see how Bane respects Boba and sees him as the one that’s going to take his place eventually.

We know from the deleted episodes that Cad Bane was supposed to be killed by Boba Fett, but we haven’t seen that in canon yet. I really hope they answer what happened to Cad Bane in the current canon, I would love to see that in a comic, or in a book.

#7 “The lost nightsister”- Zoraida Cordova (from the episode “Bounty”)

I love Asajj Ventress for a million reasons and this story just made me love her even more. It’s the same story from the episodes but with an insight of what Ventress is thinking about. Which is unsurprisingly very depressing but the story itself turns out to be pretty uplifting.

It’s about her thoughts on what happened after the massacre of her sisters, her family, and how she deals with everything she had already lost. How lonely and worthless she feels. But during the course of the story, we see her reconnecting with who she is, and learning her value. Learning she is a powerful person, master or not.

It was also really sad to see how she compared herself to others. She was really sad and angry that nobody cared about what happened to her people, no one that cared about her. She saw how people wanted the girl in the box back and thought about how nobody would ever do the same for her and it was sad.

I also find very depressing that she couldn’t mourn her family.

But then she said this:

“What made her so special? What made her worth—No. She couldn’t think that way. This girl’s worth didn’t diminish her own. “

And like, I’m 100% rooting for her here.

Also, I love that once she realized the girl from the box was being smuggled to be essentially a child bride, she didn’t hesitate to scam the old creep. She may be an assassin, but during the course of this story you learn that she is disgusted by men who take advantage of female beings. I also love her internal monologue after the guy was bothering her in the cantina and how she just knows that if she can defend herself, she will do it with no hesitation.

Lovely story, I love knowing more about Ventress. Beautifully written.

#8"Dark Vengeance”-Rebecca Roanhorse (from the episodes "Brothers" and "Revenge")

It’s so on brand for Darth Maul to have his entire story be about Kenobi. It’s narrated by him, but directed towards you, like he is telling the reader a story. That in some stories could be like an awkward thing, but here it was well done. I love Maul and like, I could picture us having that conversation, well, me listening to him monologuing.

I really liked that he started telling the story from the events that happened on Naboo. You get to really see what happened from his perspective and understand why his hatred of Kenobi only grows over time.

Also, Darth Maul was like “I can excuse murder, but I draw the line at being rude”. Which is so morally wrong, but very fitting to his character. He is really upset at Kenobi for not caring about what happened to him. From what I gathered of the info that he let us know, he would probably like it more if Kenobi killed him instead of having to spend all those years in the garbage. Nobody cared for him enough to go and check up on what happened to him. That doesn’t excuse murder though.

The interactions he had with Kenobi let us know that it was not very jedi like the way he treated Maul, ignoring his rage and letting it consume him. Obi-wan just kept adding fuel to the fire because he was also really angry at Maul for the murder of Qui-Gon, not realizing that that would only make Maul be even angrier. And we know how that ended up for Satine Kenobi.

Final thoughts: Savage, I love you.

#9 "Almost a Jedi"-Sarah Beth Durst (from the episode "A Necessary Bond")

I thought this story was going to be from Ahsoka’s point of view. It was not.

I’m not mad at it though.

The story itself does focus on Ahsoka but it’s narrated by Katooni. It’s basically about how much she adores Ahsoka and wants to be like her, but also doubts herself a lot. She thinks she is not good enough to be a jedi. But her experiences both with Ahsoka and with Hondo Ohnaka makes her change her mind.

I want to say that I love the fact that it’s canon that she drew a poster of Ahsoka for her room because she really admired her that much it's so wholesome. It’s cute, and also let us see the perception the younglings had of Ahsoka.

Also, the bond between Hondo and Katooni is really wholesome. This also made me realize that this encounter with a young jedi is the reason he is immediately friendly with Ezra in Rebels. Ezra and Katooni do share similar personality traits sometimes.

Deep diving in Wookiepedia after reading this I found out that Hondo’s ship in Galaxy’s Edge is called “The Katooni” and now I’m sad thinking he was probably devastated when he learnt about Order 66 and what Vader did to the younglings. Great now I’m angsty about a chaotic evil space pirate.

I think it was confirmed by Dave Filoni that those kids are dead now. May the force be with them, they were good enough jedis.

#10 "Kenobi's Shadow"-Greg van Eekhout (from the episode "The Lawless”)

This is the re-telling of one of the saddest clone wars episodes. The episode just lets you think that everything’s going to be alright, that they are going to survive together, lets you hope that they take off just in time… and then it doesn’t happen. I’m still not over Satine’s death. And this made it even sadder. There were so many points their story could’ve gone differently, but their story was already at an end.

This is in third person but heavily focusing on Kenobi’s thoughts along the way. He really was close to turn to the dark side, but his love for Satine and his grief made him not surrender to it. But he felt an anger, a justified one, but an anger that I have never seen in a jedi other than Anakin Skywalker. And we all know what happens to him.

It was a good but sad reading. I won’t be reading this one again. It’s too much. I knew what was going to happen and it still hit me hard. I wish things would’ve gone differently for the both of them. I wonder if we will get flashbacks to this in the Kenobi show.

Also, I really need an Obi-Wan Kenobi and Satine book of their time on the run.

#11 "Bug"-E. Anne Convery (inspired by the episode "Massacre”)

I can’t talk openly about this story because it’s not actually featured on the clone wars. It’s a really good story, specially if you want to expand on the lore regarding Dathomir and the Nightsister in the new canon. It’s perfectly executed, and even when the story isn’t about any of the main characters it hooked me from start to finish. Definitely one of my favorite stories of the book and If I had to pick one story from this anthology to read again it would be this one.

It has more gruesome details than the others and the atmosphere is dark, and I loved it. I would read a whole Dathomirian Nightsister novel written by this author if it was in this exact same style. I really liked it a lot.

In summary, I really enjoyed reading this Anthology. I would really recommend it to anyone who is fond of the Clone Wars or the prequels era. Adults, Kids, Teens, Young adults. I think I would’ve enjoyed this book as a kid as well, and I enjoyed it a lot now in my early twenties. It contains a little bit of everything and that makes it a really complete anthology.

[brelione]

A Start (JJ X Reader X Rafe)

A Glitch In the System:Chapter Two

Chapter One

(Y/N)

You felt the slight itch on your arm, knowing there’d be messages written all across if you pulled up your sleeves.The car driving by slowed down ever so slightly, making you and Max speed up, taking a short cut down the hill.

 “Yeah, no.Im not down to get axe murdered unless its by Tessa Thompson.”They laughed, kicking the ground to make sure they werent too close to any puddles. “Can you get your lighter out, please?”They asked.You sighed, digging your hand into your pocket, pushing down so a faint light came from it.Thats when you noticed the words written all over your right hand. 

Im a slytherin+scorpio and my favorite food is oranges

Wow, good for them. “What?”Max asked, noticing you had stopped.They gripped your wrist, laughing at the messages. “Come on, you have to write back!What’s the worse that can happen?”They asked, beginning to walk quicker than usual.

Your house wasnt far, only a ten minute walk or so. “I dont want them to think that im interested, I dont want to get my heart broken.”You answered, holding your hand at the side of your lighter, seeing more words spread across your palm. 

“Its your soulmate!They literally cant break your heart-thats literally the whole point, dumb bitch.”They shook their head, their curls bouncing as they did so.You rolled your eyes, continuing your walk. 

“Yeah?So then why dont you write to yours, Maximus Prime?”You asked, hearing them sigh.You grinned to yourself, knowing that you had won. “Maybe I just dont have one, i dont know.Or they’re a sociopath and cant feel love so it doesnt work.”They replied, catching themselves on a tree branch after almost tripping on the large rock.

You sighed, dragging your foot along the dirt in front of you, hoping that you wouldnt fall into the stream again.It was only a few feet across and only a few inches deep but the brown water never came out of socks and gave the soles of your shoes an awful smell.

You found a twig on the ground, lighting the end of it. “(Y/N)-thats such a bad idea!You’re gonna set the whole forest on fire or something.”Max protested, watching anxiously as you tip toed on the wet rocks, getting onto the green grass at your end of the stream, waving the flaming twig in front of you.

You held the twig between your fingernails, the wood already burned halfway.Max sighed, carefully making their way across. “Can you put that out, please?”They asked.You laughed quietly, giving it a few harsh waves in the air before the flame went out, tossing what was left into the water. 

“You’re such a pussy.”You shook your head, making your way across the grass until you got to your fence, punching in the code so you could get into your backyard.The two of you made you way carefully across the yard, blindly reaching for the door knob and smacking the light switch to light up the kitchen.

Max immediately rushed to open a drawer, finding a green sharpie highlighter that was probably a couple years old before grabbing your arm and forcing you to sit down at your kitchen table.You rolled up your sleeves, showing off both of your arms for them to read.

 “One of them is in Slytherin?I dont see how that could work out.”They grumbled, opening the cap of the marker and rubbing the green ink against your skin to cross out the word.You sighed, listening to them rant about how you were lucky that you had options. 

“You should answer the questions.”They told you, handing you the sharpie.At this point they had crossed out slytherin, scorpio and oranges. “I mean...they’re a slytherin scorpio that likes citrus.That means that they’re a hot psychopath and you should just go for it.”They watched as you used the sharpie, pressing the tip of the marker against your skin to make finer lines.

You wrote your zodiac sign, eye color, favorite fruit.They hadnt left enough space for you to answer anything else.Max was watching intently, pouting when you stopped. “What are you doing?You guys are just getting to know eachother!”They exclaimed, wanting you to write more.

You laughed, pulling your sleeve back down. “The dumb whore didnt leave any space for me to write.”You answered, immediately feeling the light itch of more questions being written.

They simply sighed, grabbing a beer from your fridge and using their fingernails to open it. “But its a start.Can we please call JJ?Please?”They were practically begging you, taking a quick sip of beer before taking your phone from the pocket of your leather coat.

Rafe

Rafe sat anxiously, watching as green ink scribbled out the words along his palm.No words yet.He was trying to think of other things to ask or anything to break the ice.What was her name?What was her ideal first date?Did she like milk chocolate or dark chocolate?Did she like chocolate at all?

He twisted his arm, trying to see what she was writing.Her handwriting was a lot better than his for sure.Ward had complained multiple times that he still wrote like a toddler even on important documents and assignments.His eyebrows furrowed as he watched the name of her zodiac sign appear, reaching frantically for his phone to see if they were compatible.

Then she kept writing, answering the questions until there was barely any space left.His heart was thumping, taking a quick photo before rushing into his bathroom to scrub off the ink so he had a clean slate to write on.The green sharpie stayed, a few gaps between her words.

He dried it off as quick as he could so the ink wouldnt run before grabbing his crayola marker again to ask what her name was and where she was from and how old she was.He was laughing, a few tears falling from his eyes.

She was alive and she was out there and she was talking to him.He frowned when she didnt answer immediately but at least he knew that she was alive and well enough to write.That was a start.

(Y/N)

“Max!Now they’re asking more questions-im over this.”You placed the sharpie back down, seeing more marker spread across your arm.Max frowned, wanting to see the questions that they were writing before you covered it back up. 

“Well that sucks but that doesnt mean that JJ Maybank is like that!Lets at least try talking to JJ-maybe they wont ask as many questions.”Max replied, giving you a pout as they fluttered their long eyelashes at you.

You glared at them for a moment before finally giving in, typing the number from your arm into your phone. “What do I say?I cant exactly be like ‘oh yeah im your soulmate’ like thats so weird.”You sighed, staring at the screen.

They bit the inside of their cheeks, making a fish-like face. “Why would that be weird?They wrote their number so it only makes sense.”Max explained, getting up with the beer in their hand as they leaned over your shoulder.

You:Bitch.

Max smacked your arm. “Really?Come on!This is the person you’re gonna spend the rest of your life with and thats the first thing you’re gonna say to them?”They asked, sighing.

You couldnt understand why they cared so much about what you had to say to your soulmate when they couldnt even bring themselves to talk to theirs. “Yeah, it is.If we’re truly meant to be they’ll find it funny.”You shrugged, watching the screen and waiting for an answer.

JJ

JJ laughed at a stupid joke John.B had made, taking a sip of beer when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.All of his friends were here and their phones were nowhere to be soon so who on earth was trying to talk to him?His eyebrows knit together as he pulled out his phone, unlocking it and seeing a message from an unknown number.

The pogues noticed his silence, watching him. “Guys-guys!”He exclaimed, standing up. “What?”Pope asked, not understanding what was going on or if he had somehow missed something. “I think my soulmate just texted me.”The blonde replied, staring at his phone.

Shouts came from the group, none of them really making sense but more of just excited squeaks and screams. “What’d they say?”John.B asked, grabbing JJ by the shoulders in attempts to see the phone. “They called me a bitch!”JJ exclaimed, jumping up and down.

 “ANSWER IT!”Kiara shouted, grabbing JJ’s wrist.He laughed, cheeks bright red.He typed quickly, deleting half of what he wrote before deleting the whole thing. 

“What are you saying?Use proper grammar and dont mess up!”Pope exclaimed, joining in on the attack on his friend, trying to see the screen past John.B and Kiara. “Is this my soulmate?”He sent it before his friends could judge his life choices, waiting anxiously for an answer. 

“Idk.Guess.”Was the answer he got. “What’d they say?”Kiara shouted, hurting his ears a bit. “Here!Read it!”He exclaimed, showing her the screen. “I wish mine would answer that quick.”Pope sighed, looking down at the silver ink across his wrist that hadnt gotten a reply yet. 

“Aww, dont be like that!They’ll answer eventually, took mine like five months to answer and I still dont know who the hell they are.”John.B patted his friend on the back. 

“I think you are.”JJ typed quickly, checking it over a few times before sending it.He saw a read reciept, three gray dots floating across his screen before a message finally came along with a slight vibration of his phone.

 “Then you’re right, Maybank.”He smiled at the message, sighing softly before sitting back down, all other things that he had been thinking about had quickly been forgotten. 

“So you know my name so can I know yours?”He typed quickly, not even caring about grammar.It made enough sense for someone to read it and understand the question.

(Y/N)

You showed Max the message, trying to figure out what to do.The way this one wrote was a lot better, not jumping straight into a ton of questions.Max was a grinning mess, watching as you typed. “(Y/N).”You typed back, heartbeat quickening as you sent it.

You waited for a reply, feeling a bit sick as you saw that they were typing. “Cool.So how are you?”They asked.You laughed, sighing.Every single day since you got your mark they had told you their name and their first question was to ask how you were.

It was pretty funny.But then again they could be just like you and not really care that much. “Are you gonna reply?”They asked, hugging you from behind.You sighed, looking up at them. “Im not going to now just to spite you.”You replied, feeling them squeeze you harder. “Thats such a dry question.”You replied, biting your bottom lip. 

JJ:Sorry lmao

JJ:If you could fly or breath underwater which would you choose

That was a much better question.

You:What makes you think I cant already fly?

Max was reading over your shoulder, brown eyes moving quickly. “Ask them their gender or for a picture of them or something.”They offered you a sip of their beer.You huffed, thinking about it.

Maybe one of your soulmates was a boy and the other was a girl or something like that.Could that even happen?Max would probably know but you didnt want to them to start ranting about every soulmate story and all the possibilities and percentages and death rates and theories.

JJ:Can you?

You:Nope.I’d rather breath underwater.

JJ:Why?

You thought about it.Neither really seemed like good options.The only superpower that would really matter woud be mind reading.That could get you everything you ever wanted and more.

You:Because swimming with whales and turtles would be fucking awesome like you could swim forever and get a fake mermaid tail and just vibe and sleep underwater and talk like imagine that though

JJ

“What are you guys talking about?”John.B asked, trying his best to keep up with the situation while Kiara started to make a whole pinterest board of first date and wedding ideas.

The pogues would all be lying if they said that they thought that JJ’s soulmate would ever answer.They were sure that they would be dead or something like that.But now that they were alive and well it changed everything.

 “Superpowers.”JJ replied, typing quickly. “right but if you can fly then you can go wherever you want whenever you want and your skin wouldnt wrinkle up like a raisin and when you got tired you could just catch a ride on a dragon or a plane or a hot air balloon or something and you would never have to worry about being on a plane and crashing or car crashes off of a cliff”he typed, hoping it wasnt too morbid.

He took in a deep breath, thinking of all the questions he had always wanted to ask.Where did they live?Did they like dogs or cats?Did they know how to surf?Did they prefer movies or TV shows?He didnt want to ask too many questions too fast. 

“But mermaids.”They replied.He simply smiled, letting out a soft sigh.He still knew pretty much nothing about (Y/N) but every relationship had to start somewhere.He was already thinking of nicknames to call them, trying to picture them in his mind.

Were they a boy or a girl?How tall were they?Did they have freckles or pierced ears?What kind of clothes did they wear?Would (Y/N) like him if they had just met him before knowing that they were soulmates?What was their type?Did he fit their type?Would they be dissapointed when they finally met him?

“Can I ask a quick question?doesnt matter if you answer or not just curious”He sent the message, tapping his foot nervously.His phone vibrated, bringing his attention back to the device.

 “just ask the question.”(Y/N) answered. “What’s your gender and pronouns”he typed back.He had always assumed his soulmate was a girl but he didnt want to be rude or disrespectful towards the person he was going to marry some day.

(Y/N)

You smiled at the message, showing Max. “Yeah, this one wins.”You told them, typing back. “She/her and I identify as a girl.You?”You typed back.You were still hoping for a girl but you could accept anyone who could respect gender and pronouns.That was a good sign.

 “He/him and I identify as a dude.Sorry if im not what you expected.”he typed back.It was pretty cool that he didnt just assume that you were a straight girl. “I was hoping for a cottagecore lesbian ngl.”You typed back, biting your fingernail with a stupid love sick smile.

You already liked him.He seemed pretty great so far.You just had to hope that he wasnt putting up a front. “Im sorry lmao I can learn to bake bread and put on a dress if you want.”He replied.You were a smiling mess as you read the message, showing it to Max.

 “See!I told you it was a good idea!”They grinned, pulling off their jacket before pulling off their shirt leaving them in just their binder and large jeans. “If its such a good idea then you need to talk to your soulmate and it’ll have a good outcome.”You answered, seeing them roll their eyes. “Dont contradict yourself, Max.”You replied, going back to typing. “We gotta live in a cottage at least.”You typed.

Rafe

He didnt know what he expected to happen.He always imagined it as the first conversation being perfect and meaningful and being able to say ‘i love you’ after a week and then meet up for a date.

He just wanted to know everything about her.He wondered what her hugs felt like or what her kisses would feel like against his neck or how she’d look in his clothes.

He thought back to the dates he had made up in his head every night before he went to bed.Going to midsummers together, going mini golfing or getting icecream together and eating it on the beach.

He just wanted to know what true and perfect love would feel like.Could he provide the love and care that she deserved?Was she meant to fix everything that was wrong with him or was she meant to teach him how to be the good person that he always wanted to be?

With a slightly shaky hand he dragged the tip of a pen along his skin, writing his phone number as nicely as possible.That would make things a lot easier for her.

JJ

By now all the pogues had fallen asleep inside of John.B’s house but JJ was still in the hammock, swinging back and forth as he held his hot phone, texting (Y/N) until the sun was rising and he couldnt get anymore answers.

That meant she was probably asleep and he should be too, letting the phone rest against his chest before slowly falling asleep.At earlier than 10 in the morning he was shaken awake by Kiara. 

“JJ!JJ!JJ!My soulmate wrote to me!”She exclaimed, showing her friend her arm that had a phone number and a name written on it in green highlighter.

@nas-marie-loves-u​ @28cnn​ @sexytholland​  @yuxsh06​   @ifilwtmfc​  @cherryobx​ @poguestarkey​ @n1ghtsh4d3-67​  @poguestyleskye​ @judayyyw​  @sunwardsss @meaganjm​ @sarcasticsagittarius1998​ @jj-fic-recs​ @homophobicclownmoviestan​ @jj-iz-bae​ @natalie-kate-98​ @negativity4you​ @nxsmss​ @ofmaybankheart​ @broken-jj​ @joshy-obx​  @curroptbunnie​ @outerbnx-stiles​ @angelreyesgirl100  @hannahhh-marie​ @sadnessrehab @purple-vodka-99​ @annmariek8​ @harryswigss​ @imagines-07​ @pink-meringues​   @popcrone818​ @fttayla​ @cherryobx​ @drewstarkeyobx​ @jjtheangel​ @jj-iz-bae​@sunwardsss    @natalie-kate-98​ @nxsmss​ @broken-jj​  @prejudic3​  @outerbongs​  @copper-boom​  @httpstarkey​ @teenwaywardasgardian @drewswannabegirl​  @simonsbluee   @jiaraendgame  @khiaraaa-in-spacee​  @on-socks-off​  @abbiesthings​ @kindahavefeelingskindaheartless @i-love-scott-mccall​  @rae131415 

[dalekofchaos]

How Disney/Lucasfilm failed Finn and John Boyega

A rant about my continued frustration on how Lucasfilm/Disney failed Finn and John Boyega

John Boyega’s Finn was setup as the male lead and co-protagonist of the sequel trilogy. That’s not an opinion, that’s not a headcanon, that’s a literally fact. He was set up to be equal with Rey & Kylo’s foil and we all know why that changed.

John Boyega was cast as the male and co-protagonist of the sequel trilogy by JJ Abrams, who had to fight for John Boyega to be cast against the preferred (White) casting choices.

Originally Finn(Sam in the original treatment) was white

Majority from Okiro’s twitter thread exposing Lucasfilm’s hypocrisy when it comes to representation and black history

JJ Abrams told Finn he was the new star of Star Wars

In The Force Awakens. Finn was a Stormtrooper who defected. After witnessing the death of his friend Slip and seeing the innocents being killed, Finn made the decision to save Poe Dameron and leave The First Order. Finn only wanted to leave The FIrst Order and run away. But after meeting Poe and later Rey, Finn began to care for more than himself. Finn was mentored by Han Solo. For once, he had a father figure and a positive role model as opposed to people like Hux and Phasma. He learned to care for Rey and even love her. After Starkiller Base destroyed the Hosnian System, Finn realized running was pointless and knew he had to fight. Then Kylo Ren took Rey. Finn went to The Resistance using his time on Starkiller Base to shut down the shield generator and plant the explosives on the thermal oscillator. Finn’s main focus was rescuing Rey. After Kylo force pushes Rey into a tree, Finn faces Kylo Ren. Finn learns to overcome his fears of The First Order and faces the symbolic evil that was Kylo Ren. Although Finn does not win, he puts up a good fight and was put in a coma for daring to defy Kylo. Then they bait and switched us with Rey. I’ll let you read my rant on that.

Finn was the co-protagonist of The Force Awakens, this is evident of Finn’s actions saving everyone. Finn is the very reason why the Resistance is even alive. Finn breaks his life-long brainwashing, informs Rey and Han about the importance of BB-8 and helps out in getting BB-8 to the resistance and provides vital information that lead to the destruction of STB and gets nearly killed while helping to achieve this. If it were not for Finn saving Poe, BB-8 would’ve been scrapped for parts and Rey never would’ve left Jakku. The map would either be destroyed or be in the hands of The First Order. Starkiller Base would’ve destroyed D’Qar and Ach-To. He is the reason why Poe is still alive. He is the reason why BB-8 isn’t parts and Rey left Jakku. Because of leaving Jakku, this is the sole reason why Han and Chewie were able to find the Falcon. And he is the reason why The Resistance was able to find out about Starkiller Base’s weakness. he Helps out in sabotaging STB so that Poe, the very pilot he saved in the beginning can deliver the finishing blow to Starkiller Base and destroy it completely.

There are some missed opportunity in TFA, believe me I know as I feel JJ squandered the theme of Stormtroopers rising up against their oppressors and that crack about Finn being a janitor was so tone deaf and unnecessary. 

Don’t believe me that Finn was meant to be the co-protagonist of the Sequels? Look at the marketing?

Also. Just look at the hopeful optimism and representation FInn brought to black people.

Then the racist boycotting happened. The boycott was groups of bigots who wanted the ST to be boycotted. What was the response from Lucasfilm? Zero defense of John Boyega, but their actions were transparent when they shrunk Finn on the TFA poster for fucking China’s sake, kept him off the TLJ teaser poster, and small on the official poster

I’ll let what Rian Johnson chose to do with Finn speak for itself. John Boyega has every right to hate what Rian did with his character.

By giving into the boycott and doing their best to erase and sideline John Boyega, Lucasfilm proved they would always cater to mob law if the mob was big enough. Do I have proof of this boycott against John Boyega? Yes, I do.

Also, popular Reylo blogger Jenny Nicholson’s racism against John Boyega

Reminder that Jenny Nicholson blocked a whole fuckton of Black people who even gently criticized her about how she went after John Boyega

Did Lucasfilm after The Force Awakens try to support their Black lead in any way? No. In fact, they began to erase him harder than ever to the point Fans started a hashtag #WhereIsFinn because it was getting so bad. But Bryan Young, a Lucasfilm writer, sure loved to hate on Finn

Lucasfilm was so racist, the very concept of a Black man and a white woman getting together sent them into such a frenzy Lucasfilm had to have it removed from any EU material just to make sure they kept it nice and bigot friendly. Also it’s worth noting that Alan Dean Foster was ordered by Lucasfilm/Disney to scrap any hints of Finnrey romance from the TFA novel as he believed that was the direction of the Sequels’ romance and coincidentally they did next to nothing with and we know it was racially motivated. "I expected to see that developed further in Episode VIII [The Last Jedi]," Foster said. "And zero happened with it. And we all know why zero happened with it — and there's no need to go into it in-depth — but that's, sadly, just the way things are."

It wasn’t JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan or Chris Terrio who were against Finnrey. It was Disney and Lucasfilm and RIan Johnson was more than happy to separate Rey and Finn 99% of the movie(he said and did enough things to prove that he didn’t want the two characters even near each other)

Then John spoke about his frustration with how he was treated

People have tried to twist the narrative or put words in Boyega's mouths, but his GQ interview paints the picture rather clearly. He was sidelined due to his race after The Force Awakens when The Last Jedi came around with a "reordered character hierarchy" Lucasfilm's order btw

It resulted in Rey and Kylo Ren being featured prominently in both TLJ and TROS. It also resulted in Reylo being canon. Lucasfilm killed the Sequel trilogy, cause they couldn’t bare the thought of a black man in the leading role and a interracial relationship. 

If you look at TFA, you’ll realize that Finn was built up to becoming a Jedi, Kylo’s foil and Rey’s equal. Because TLJ happened, Finn’s role was reduced to a side character and JJ could not make him as prominent as he originally wanted to. EIther studio interference or TLJ screwed everything up so bad that he had to work on it slowly and just hope that Disney + would have something for Finn.

At the start of the trilogy, we all thought people of color would have a prominent role in the new trilogy, there was a potential for the first interracial relationship in Star Wars and there was a potential for the first LGBT relationship in Star Wars. But no, it’s clear that both TLJ and TROS gave us the impression that only white people can be Jedi and only white people can have epic romances and save the galaxy, people of color can only have secondary roles. And the blink and you miss it kiss? Only white women, not two men of color who clearly love each other.

Finn’s best scenes were deleted. 

Finn and the villager. it really shows why Finn chose to leave. Finn’s reasoning for leaving the First Order had nothing to do with being against violence, but a moral confliction of not wanting to hurt defenseless people. This villager wasn’t a soldier, wasn’t trying to hurt him. She was just a woman with her baby. This wasn’t war, this was murder, and Finn refused to be a murderer.

TLJ alternate opening. Opens with Finn waking up. Small change, but it would show that Finn is still a prominent character.

BB-8 shows Finn Rey’s last moment with him. BB-8 tries to cheer Finn up, but to no avail until he shows him a recording of Rey from the end of The Force Awakens - the scene she says goodbye to an unconscious Finn and kisses him on the forehead before leaving to find Luke Skywalker.

Poe gives back his sewn up jacket to Finn. In this deleted scene, Poe fills in the gaps and tries to assuage Finn about his concerns, including Finn's mixed feelings about his relationship with the Resistance. Poe then gives back the jacket that was once his and became Finn's in The Force Awakens, showing Finn that he sewed it up. This scene doesn't necessarily push forward any plot development, but should've remained as great a moment between Finn and Poe. The two characters established a wonderful chemistry and bond in The Force Awakens, and with Finn off on Canto Bight for much of The Last Jedi, fans didn't get to see as much of their relationship as expected. It's nice to see that chemistry and bond again. Finn's question about winning is also interesting in highlighting the constant uphill battle of the Resistance. Even destroying the Starkiller Base, Rey defeating Kylo Ren, and blowing up a Dreadnought can still put the Resistance in the position of fleeing. 

The elevator scene between Finn and an old Stormtrooper friend.  A Stormtrooper voiced by Tom Hardy recognizes Finn and starts talking to him. Finn starts to draw his gun, thinking the Stormtrooper has recognized him as a traitor, but it turns out the Stormtrooper is just surprised to see that FN-2187 has become an officer. The scene may go on for a bit too long, but ultimately it should've stayed in. The scene in the elevator does a great job playing with the audience's emotions, as they're unsure whether the tension will rise to the breaking point of a fight or evolve into a humorous moment. It also shows Finn using restraint by not killing a fellow Stormtrooper, unlike the other two movies.

Phasma’s alternate and BETTER death scene. WHY WAS THIS CUT????? No seriously, WHY WAS THIS FUCKING CUT????? I will never understand why this was deleted. Finn calls her out about her betrayal of lowering the shields and when this information is revealed, the Stormtroopers near her look suspicious and it looks as if they are going to turn on her. Phasma like the ultimate survivalist she is kills them with no hesitation. Finn cuts her hand off and blasts her into the abyss, giving Phasma a more deserving and better send off. Seriously, this is way better than their actual confrontation.  What I really like about this scene is its direct connection to The Force Awakens plot point and that it acknowledges Phasma's survivalist attitude which was introduced into her novel. The Phasma novel and comic portrayed her not as a First Order loyalist, but as a ruthless warrior who did whatever it took to survive. She even went so far as hunting down and doing away with those within the First Order who had knowledge of what she did at the Starkiller Base lest the truth get out. Phasma was always about self-preservation, she wasn't about preserving the First Order, but that never comes across in The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi. It only comes across in this deleted scene where Phasma chooses to end her own Stormtroopers to save herself.

Something else that bothers me. Finn’s treatment in the expanded universe. Have you ever noticed that Poe and Kylo got all the big expanded universe material and Finn is always shoved into the background or not there at all? Even worse, every form of media portrays Finn as Poe's bumbling sidekick, which is even more apparent in TROS. They were more interested in having Poe and Finn being the Abbott and Costello of the ST instead of letting Finn going from Stormtrooper to Jedi and lead a Stormtrooper Rebellion.

In the journey to TROS, Finn is not featured in ANY of the novels or graphic novels for the Journey to TROS. When he was, he was used as Poe’s sidekick and not featured anywhere with Rey. Before the release of the movie, he is not featured whatsoever in any shape or form in marketing. We get to see him in two teasers but he says nothing. His new outfit looks awesome. Finn could’ve been used to rise as a Jedi with Rey and essentially be the Skywalkers that Rise and face Kylo and Palpatine together. If not that, Finn could’ve caused a Stormtrooper Rebellion that burns The First Order from the inside out. Instead of any of that, it Finn was given nothing for this movie. He doesn’t even get to face Kylo Ren, their rivalry as foils was completely dropped. That is sad and heartbreaking.

Seriously, there is no novelizations or comics that expand on Finn’s time in The First Order. Sure, there is Before The Awakening. But consider this. Finn was their best Stormtrooper, so good that Hux considered him Captain material.

There is so much potential with Finn in the Expanded Universe. Apply all the posts I’ve linked and more.

The Poe Dameron comics were not about Poe’s life, they were about his personality, skills, character, and the Resistance. So I ask, why can’t/couldn’t the same have been done with Finn pre TFA? A comic series exploring his character while world building the First Order.

There is so much to tell. You could start with Finn vividly remembering his family and how he was abducted and recruited for the FN Corps.

You could even show the ruthlessness of The First Order by showing initiation for the FN Corps is only granted by forcing the children to kill each other in a Hunger Games/Battle Royale to see who the strongest and who deserves to be welcomed to the First Order. This would be in separate groups of the children who are abducted to determine who gets to be put in the FN Corps. We could see Phasma returning to the room, only to see a young Finn covered in blood and dried up tears. Phasma will only say “Welcome to The First Order, FN-2187.”

Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how Finn, a brainwashed soldier broke free of his mental conditioning, learned the truth of the FO yet still tried to be a good soldier. It could flesh out his relationship with the squad he led, as well as Phasma and Hux.

It could’ve also showcased the brotherhood and friendship Finn had with  FN-2199 (“Nines”), FN-2000 (“Zeroes”), and FN-2003 (“Slip”).

The biggest thing it could do is finally show Finn’s skills as a soldier, his brains, while giving so much needed world building First Order. We could also finally show what it’s like as a FO stormtrooper from a sympathetic POV.

Through the avenue of a Finn comic series you could also flesh out Hux, Phasma, Nines, Zeroes, Slip, and even characters like Kylo and Snoke. It doesn’t have to cover spoilers, just make the one note more dimensional while giving Finn so overdue respectful content

It could end with everyone asking Finn “what was the moment you decided to leave” which then we would see the TFA deleted scene of Finn in the village 

It could end on Finn saying "I was raised to do one thing, I used to think I’ve got nothing to fight for, but now I have something worth fighting for.“

And afterwards. You could show Finn and Jannah working together to liberating the other Stormtroopers. The first person they rescue? Zeroes, FInn’s last surviving Squad Member and together they awaken and liberate their brothers and sisters and all the while Finn rises up and becomes a Jedi!

For those wondering what about Finn in TROS? I’ll let this video do all the talking

I’d also like to point out. Finnrey WAS going to happen in TROS. Here’s confirmation by Jedipaxis, the main reddit leaker, who was right about everything before the films release, confirmed that Finn’s “i never told you” line was supposed to have some payoff and it was going to end with finn and rey holding hands. could this pic have been of the alternate ending? then reshoots happened and we got the Reylo kiss

I’m convinced that John Boyega was told by the higher ups to say Finn was meant to say he was “Force Sensitive” no one who is about to die would “always want to tell you” they were force sensitive. 

Hell, even in the original Episode IX by Colin Trevorrow. Duel Of Fates. Finn was given the shaft again. For some unknown reason, Rey is paired with Poe, a character who barely interacts with Rey at all. Finn was given another sidequest to do. The only brightside for Finn is he participates in retaking Corruscant and a Stormtrooper Rebellion near the end. 

Finn, who was once held in prominence as the co-protagonist alongside Rey. Was erased from how prominent he once was and reduced to a sidecharacter due to China and fanbacklash that there was going to be a black lead in Star Wars. Disney caved in to the racist backlash and caved into China’s racist demands. 

Finn deserved to be a main character alongside Rey, while Kylo Ren is their villain. He deserved a good character development, a great arc, an interesting backstory. he had the potential to become one of the most epic star wars characters. TLJ and TROS was an insult for him and he deserved better. nobody will EVER change my mind.

Finn should’ve been a Stormtrooper turned Jedi who embraced the light, while Kylo Ren who was the Skywalker who rejected the light and embraced the dark. Rey should’ve been Luke’s daughter, while Finn is the Jedi who builds himself up from being a Stormtrooper from nowhere to Jedi and together Rey and Finn stop Kylo Ren and bring down The First Order and rebuild The Jedi!

Finn should have been a Stormtrooper turned Jedi.  It doesn’t matter that you think it tells a better story for him to not be a Jedi. “Finn being a hero who is not a Jedi is important.” Poe and Rose are great examples of ordinary heroes coming from nowhere. Rey was supposed to be a jedi related to Skywalker or Kenobi legacy while Finn was the perfect “nobody from nowhere” that becomes a Jedi. And honestly, Black kids deserved to see themselves in the Black Jedi and black kids deserved to see themselves as one of the three protagonists of the trilogy.

Finn got no last name No theme Was sidelined in the trilogy Had his scenes cut Mocked by Lucasfilm employees Racially harassed by bigots and media outlets Disney used while staying silent and then Disney has the nerve to say they “stand” with John Boyega during the BLM movement and celebrated Finn during black history month despite squandering him....

Finn deserved better, period!

[geekgirles]

Chloé’s redemption arc

I know I’m probably late to the party, but I’ve been meaning to do this analysis for a while, as I think there’s still much to be discussed.

When I first watched Miracle Queen, I must admit it was not in the best viewing quality possible. I watched it when it first premiered, in Ukranian (I think? Sorry, since I know nothing about the language I don’t really remember), in clips, and with lots of major events lacking. So that didn’t help improve my opinion on the episode compared to what we were promised (i.e. we were bound to cry), and what we got in Love Eater.

But I got the jest: Chloé is no longer Ladybug’s ally. 

Meaning all the time we spent hoping for her redemption was for naught.

And even so, I must admit that we should have seen it coming. Congratulations, members of the fandom who never believed in Chloé, you were proven right (this isn’t meant as a sarcastic remark, don’t worry).

What I mean to say is, the whole Queen Bee fiasco was foreshadowed during the season! Just like Chloé becoming Queen Bee was foreshadowed during season 2.

In season 2, whenever Chloé was given some focus, we got glimpses of her redeeming qualities, or aspects of her life/personality that were supposed to make us feel more sympathetic about her.

First of all, compared to season 1, Chloé didn’t cause nearly as many akumatisations in season 2, and when she caused them (directly, Malediktator, undirectly, Zombizou), she played an important role in the episode instead of being just their target.

In Despair Bear, thanks to Adrien’s coaxing, she tried to be a better person, and it probably would’ve done much more than just throwing a party, or trying to not be rude to others had Adrien hold her accountable for her actions longer (no Adrien salt, though. Just facts). 

In fact, the first hint on Chloé’s heroic side was shown then, when she actively did her best to help/save Ladybug from Despair Bear.

Then, we have Zombizou. 

True, her actions at the begining of the episode where far, far, far from heroic. Sabotaging Marinette’s present because she’d forgotten to bring one of her own was petty, mean, and childish. But she sacrifised herself for Ladybug and genuinely apologised to Miss Bustier.

In Style Queen she was clever enough to pretend to be on her mother’s side in order to prevent “being fired” by her, but she remained loyal to Ladybug and even tried to help her.

When it comes to Queen Wasp, even if Chloé’s actions were guided by the wrong reasons, in the end she acknowledged her mistakes, and even apologised. Hinting that there might actually be hope for her. Not to mention, she only used the miraculous when she was fed up with her mother belittling her in favor of Marinette, which, let’s face it, would be harsh for anyone.

And finally, we had Malediktator; the episode where Queen Bee became more than just a fantasy. That episode was the most hopeful of them all when it came to Chloé becoming a better person.

We saw Chloé displaying powerful emotions and intentions: sadness, courage, remorse...

She proved she was actually a competent wielder, and a loyal ally to Ladybug.

Heck, she was even nince to Sabrina.

See? Season 2 was meant to make us believe that Chloé’s change was possible. But season 3 threw many hints on the opposite.

In retrospective, the biggest hint would be Stormy Weather 2. 

Chloé’s actions there were inexcusable: she bullied Aurore like she messed with Ivan when he got akumatised, she kept on mistreating Sabrina, and for the first time we saw her desire to be Queen Bee again, no matter the cost. (Which would have been taken more seriously had the episode premiered after Miraculer like it was supposed to...)

And the biggest hint of all: “Once a villain, always a villain.”

Honestly, considering we already knew the synopsis for Miracle Queen then, I don’t know how we didn’t see it coming sooner...

And her interaction with Chat in Bakerix could be taken as one as well. Just like in Startrain, Chloé seemed to be starting to believe that just because she’d been previously entrusted with a miraculous, that she would always be needed. No matter the circumstances. When in truth, 90% of the time Ladybug hands out a miraculous is because she needs some very specific skills that are granted by one specific miraculous. So it’s a given Chloé wouldn’t always get the bee.

And, of course, there’s Animaestro. Besides Stormy Weather, that’s the other episode where she was like her season 1 self the most. Just because she didn’t like Kagami, and because she was jealous of her bond with Adrien, she cooked up a plan to embarrass her and even talked Marinette into helping her. Just like she would do to Marinette during most of the first season.

But because they can’t just hand us a straight up answer about Chloé being redeemable or not, they threw Miraculer and its “Chloé resisted akumatisation” scene at us. But, to be honest, considering the level of entitlement she displayed during the episode, we should have kept our guard up for the finale.

This is something that was most likely foreshadowed in the ending card:

Chloé’s back was turned on us, symbolising her future betrayal. That she would turn her back on Ladybug. The only one smiling was Hawk Moth, meaning he was up to no good. And after Sabrina had been defeated, Chloé got rid of both her picture with Ladybug, and her costume of her, signifying that she no longer looks up to her like she used to.

And, of course, there’s the finale.

Many will say it was Marinette’s fault for entrusting the miraculous to Kagami instead of Chloé, but seriously? I actually believe she made the right choice.

No matter how you look at it, Kagami wasn’t in nearly as much danger as Chloé was. Sure, Hawk Moth knows of their secret identities, but Kagami only revealed hers to her mother (who’d forgotten all about it once she was deakumatised) and Hawk Moth, whose least concern at the moment was the actual akuma battle. 

Chloé, on the other hand, had revealed her identity to all of Paris, including her parents. The ones who were akumatised at the moment. 

One could argue that was all the more reason to give Chloé the miraculous, but considering Love Eater had no qualms in endangering their daughter when she had no powers, I wouldn’t put it past them to do the same if they were to battle. And don’t forget it was them who were at fault for Queen Bee’s akumatisation during Heroes’ Day. That was Hawk Moth using Chloé’s identity against her. 

When it comes to Marinette, her only mistake was not detransforming when visiting Master Fu. Had she done it, and the most Chat and her would have had to face would be an akumatised Chloé. But not Miracle Queen. 

Was Marinette troubled by her own emotions when she picked the miraculous? Of course. But, ultimately, when it comes to her chosen, she made the right choice.

Now Chloé, despite being emotionally vulnerable, could’ve done better. After all, she managed to do so in Miraculer. She also had plenty of reasons to trust Ladybug before Hawk Moth when he was trying to manipulate her. 

I can’t take the fact that she tried resisting him at first from her, but you can’t take away from me the fact that she gave in, either.

When Hawk Moth was trying to convince her to side with him, he gave her reasons to betray Ladybug that were as easy to debunk as Lila’s lies. But just like that particular example, Chloé didn’t do something crucial; she didn’t think clearly.

“What has she ever done for you?”

“Nothing.”

That is the biggest lie I have ever heard! Not even Lila’s are that bad!

Because Ladybug had done so much for Chloé. And so many times! Arguably, Ladybug had done more for Chloé than her parents ever did.

She’s saved her countless times of akumas, many of which she’d caused.

She apologised for her mistakes (Antibug) or any action that might’ve hurt Chloé (Miraculer).

She entrusted her with a miraculous even when she had previously proved she wasn’t the smartest choice.

She listened to her problems and offered valuable advice and support.

Seriously, Ladybug has been more of a role model to Chloé than literally any other character in the show.

But did that mean anything to Chloé? 

No.

In the end, her desire to be exceptional and celebrated outweighed her admiration for Ladybug. 

In the end, the brat beat the hero.

And her immature rant and desperate attempts at the end of Miracle Queen didn’t really help either. She kept blaming Ladybug for not giving her the bee miraculous, which she constantly referred to as ‘hers’; she actually tried to grab the akuma Hawk Moth released after being defeated, she even tried to keep the Miraculous Box to herself!

Hate to say it, but it was kinda pathetic.

And, honestly? Now that she no longer has Ladybug as someone to look up to in her life, and her parents will probably be busier trying to rekindle their relationship than paying attention to her, I can only imagine she will walk down an even darker path. Especially given the debut of a new Bee Miraculous Holder.  

A miraculous holder that looks, suspiciously, a lot like Chloé. But who we know it’s not her, mainly because it’s been confirmed, and she’s been described as “very sweet.”

Now, this is mere speculation, but I believe this might actually be the true introduction of Amber Bourgeois. 

Remember her? She was thought to be Chloé’s sister and the original holder of the bee, a belief very widely spread until  the SDCC2016/17 (?), where Rena Rouge and Queen Bee were first featured.

It would actually explain Lindalee Rose’s statement; “secret siblings.” And this is perfectly plausible if we keep in mind that Félix was supposed to have been deleted when they created Adrien. But, hey! He has an entire episode dedicated to him! Crazy, right?

But back to the point. If Amber were to appear and prove herself to be way more likeable than Chloé, that would surely put her in a foul mood. Especially if she were to receive the Bee Miraculous. And I’m not even saying that Chloé has to know her sister’s her replacement to be mad!

As I see it, it wouldn’t be impossible to believe that, one way or another, Chloé had always been in Amber’s shadow, especially when it comes to Audrey and her affection. Probably, Amber wouldn’t only be nicer and generally more likeable than Chloé, she would probably be more exceptional than her, earning her the attention and approval from Audrey that Chloé so desperately seeks.

Maybe, we’ll see Chloé was so attached to the idea of being a hero because she genuinely thought that was her only chance to be something her sister wasn’t. She might have thought she could only be exceptional if she was Queen Bee.

Which will only be all the more painful when she realises that she truly has no chance to ever wield the miraculous again, not only because she betrayed Ladybug, but because she’s been replaced.

Both scenarios, losing the miraculous to another or having her sister outshine her again, would actually explain her fifth and new akumatisation in season 4.

So is Chloé really capable of redemption?

If you ask me, she is. But she’ll have to earn it as Chloé Bourgeois, not as Queen Bee or through any external help other than the hard truth.

What do I mean with this? Simple; redemptions happen when the character actually faces the consequences of their actions, consequences that are as grave as the mistakes or crimes they committed. So if we want Chloé to be redeemed, she must realise that she messed up, big time, after her actions catch up to her.

It’s for this reason why I personally don’t see a ship such as Luckloé happening. 

People argue Luka could be a good influence on her and they would really complement the other and bla, bla, bla... 

Seriously, though. What could Luka possibly do that shouldn’t have been already achieved by Ladybug or Adrien?

It’s true Luka could call her out on her flaws, and maybe she would try to be better in order to appease him. But just like with Adrien, it’d only be that, an attempt to get in their good graces again, not a genuine attempt to be a better person. Meaning, the moment Luka, or Adrien, or whoever she might want to impress forgive her, she’ll be back to being her usual self.

And don’t try telling me Luka would actually hold her accountable for her actions for more than an episode, because if there’s something that should be learned when watching Miraculous Ladybug that is that feelings can blind us.

For starters, that is literally the reason Hawk Moth even has akumas!

Hawk Moth literally depends on his victims’ hurt feelings to make it easier for him to get under their skin and get them to agree to being turned into his minions. All for the sake of revenge.

Second, although I am going to go on a bit of a tangent here, that is also what happens to those involved in this show’s complicated love story.

Surprisingly enough, Kagami is the best example. 

Despite being the most stoic one of the four teenagers that are romantically involved with each other, she allows her feelings for Adrien to blind her from things she doesn’t take kindly from other people.

For example, there’s the thing with moving on. Out of all the four of them, Kagami is the only one who’s shown no intention of actually letting go of Adrien. Because, even if Marinette and Adrien are certainly very attached to their own crushes, it’s been shown more than once that they have at least considered moving on from Adrien and Ladybug; respectively. And as for Luka, he’s made it very clear ever since Frozen that he would gladly let go of Marinette if it means she’ll be happy. Kagami, on the other hand, has made it very clear that she wholeheartedly believes Adrien and she belong together and that she refuses to let go of him entirely, preferring to wait for him to realise she’s the best choice.

There’s also the fact that Kagami’s stated many times she isn’t one to hesitate, nor does she have a lot of patience for those who do. Even going as far as saying Adrien’s hesitation was hurting her. However, that doesn’t stop her from still going after him, even when it has led her to doubt and don’t think highly of others.

See what I mean?

With this I’m trying to say that even Luka could be too blinded by his feelings for Chloé to actually make her rectify her behaviour if Lukloé were to happen. 

And there’s also the fact that if there’s any relationship she should work to mend and improve first, it should be her friendship with Sabrina.

Summing up, while I believe not all hope is lost, I also think Chloé shouldn't be entrusted with a miraculous again. She should work to be exceptional as Chloé, not as a hero. She should learn to be a better Chloé Bourgeois, not a better Queen Bee.

[emeraldskulblaka]

Regarding the whole Robert Hallow and the Holy Men incident: I have received a number of asks from anons attempting to explain what happened. I decided to publish them under a “read more” to avoid clogging up people’s dashes.

tl;dr: I feel like everyone overreacted. The whole situation hasn’t been handled sensibly and I can only repeat what I’ve said before: set and respect boundaries, especially when it comes to celebrities of any kind.

Make sure to check the reblog(s) for more, and do not send me any more asks concerning this whole issue. I'm not part of any Discord group and didn't ask to be involved in any of this.

The post responsible for my involvement (check notes) x

Previous asks: x x x

Ask #1

The tad/rhathm discords dont have the exact same mods but theyre all part of the mod/inner circle clique on the tad server and are 'high up' in their social circles. I've seen several occasions where they've pressured others not in the clique to delete tweets @'ing the band in incredibly innocuous things and actively discouraging people tweeting asking abt Ruin in the name of "joey has anxiety" "dont pressure the band" "respect what you get from them". And yet they were deep in Robert's dm's the whole time 🧐 and follow anyone related to the band on ig including Joey's sister?? I honestly can't say I'm surprised it came to this because they clearly thought they were exempt from whatever boundaries they over-enforced with everyone else irt communicating with the band and its members and got upset when those boundaries got put back in place. (Sorry for the rant lol it all just seems so shady).

Ah, thank you for the clarification regarding the mods! While I don’t think following people on Insta is inherently bad, it’s important to respect rules you expect others to follow as well, no double standards. And in general, artists need to know how to deal with pressure from fans. Obviously, fans should respect boundaries, but a certain degree of professionalism can and must be expected (especially from Joey, who is the biggest “celebrity” of all of them. So yes, don’t bully people, guys, and don’t talk over them.

Ask #2

Re -RH the mods for the Discords aren't the same [I am in both].

Re - the TAD discord 'gaslighting' a small number of fans were told off for trying to dm the band directly when changes were made on the discord -

The change was removing a cursed channel that made people uncomfortable

A group then kicked off that it wasn't fair they couldn't post what they wanted and the word gaslighting was thrown around.

I dont participate in either because of all this mess

Gaslighting seems to be people’s favourite word atm even though nobody knows what it actually means -.- yeah, it’s a mess.

Ask #3

I was in the rhathm server and what happened was at some point someone came to the mods with accusations of gaslighting and manipulation and abuse. The mods decided they were uncomfortable with him being there and kicked him out and decided to close the server. They put up a message (which he couldn’t see, he was gone by then) saying they were closing the server and said they wouldn’t give details on what happened based on respect for the victim and the victim’s safety. Then Robert posted the crying video. And then he posted another video where he publicly outed the full first and last name of the victim who was trying to remain anonymous. Which was taken down by instagram pretty quick because a bunch of people reported it because of that. Which is when he made the “my side of the story” post. An artist then came to forward in the discord with stuff about him taking advantage of and not paying artists the way he should. There wasn’t really hate in his insta comments and he didn’t have access to anything in the discord since before the message that it was closing went out. There wasn’t any hate for him before either, everyone in the discord loved him. So i don’t know if there was a lot of hate in his insta dms or something but probably not? I don’t know where he was seeing all the hate he talked about. No one was telling him to delete everything or to stop making music or stopping anyone from making another discord. He just went and deleted everything of his own accord. This was just the discord closing and he blew everything way out proportion imo. And yeah it does look kind of bad from outside the server because all anyone else has seen is that everything is deleted and maybe what Robert said about his side of the story and him crying. But unless the victim herself decides to come forward and publicly tell her side of the story, which she shouldn’t be forced to do, then that’s all there is really is for the moment. (he does have someone there with him btw, his fiancee, so he’s not alone if you’re concerned for him)

Oh damn, they really did overreact, huh? I wasn’t aware of the video in which they outed that person, but that’s horrible and extremely unprofessional. I didn’t see hate geared towards them anywhere either, that’s why I was so confused yesterday afternoon - it all seemed to come out of nowhere. So thank you for the input - I have no clue about anything, so I’ll leave it at that. And yeah, I noticed another person present in one of their Insta videos, so I wasn’t overly concerned ;)

[hella1975]

Tom Nook joined the Gaang and I'm so so happy about that but like. Sokka is sixteen, but he acts so much older. That's the thing about Sokka--his only company was young children, his kid sister, and middle aged--elderly women. He didnt get to have that goofing off with other teenagers experience, didnt get to have his first kiss or coming of age traditions until a war sent him away from his home. And even then, those experiences were rushed, overshadowed by the looming threat of disaster and destruction. One of the reasons Suki is such an important character (by far this is not the only reason, her worth is not measured by her role in his character arc. I'm just talking about her importance to Sokka rn) is that she is able to give him that camaraderie and belonging that comes from butterflies in your stomach, jokes shared with a friend who gets you and your experiences. He gets this later with Yue too--they get to forget things, just for a while, and be kids, but that's also overshadowed by her internal struggles and the war (I could write a whole ask about this honestly, Yue deserved so, so much better). It ends in tragedy. Hes constantly protecting the gaang. Canonically getting very little sleep so he can watch over them, etc. He only leaves with Aang to protect Katara (and gains a little brother, oops). And Katara!! Katara is four-fucking-teen. She's gone through all the trauma of losing her mother, presumably seeing the body, the guilt of being one of the only people who could've prevented it, and then assuming the role of mother. Her only remaining parent left her alone to fight in the war that took her mother away. She deserved to be a kid too. And it's not like they realize what a toll this has all truly taken on the other? Both siblings had to grow up way too fast, and they adapted in pretty much the same way--by attempting to fill the gaps left by their parents, only neither really knows what to do or what the other is trying to accomplish. What I'm getting at is that Tom Nook, both on a ship, at war, had more of a childhood (not that their childhoods werent also incredibly sad and stained by war) than Sokka and Katara and that's so fucking sad. Now I'm imagining the complete surprise Tom nook will feel when they begin to really realize? Ugh?

Idk if this makes sense I haven't reread it at all but I have FEELINGS

I’m gonna fucking scream i typed out such a long response and it just deleted itself i don’t understand???? god has forsaken me i hate it here. anyway it was a rant about my boys tom nook and i love them enough to try re-type it so here i go but know i’m PISSED about this.

okay for starters anon, yes this did make sense and it made me SAD i hope you’re happy. I also love how you talked about Suki, just because a few people tend to forget that she’s, you know, an actual person and not just a plot point for Sokka’s narrative. 

My addition to this; tom nook are in a very similar boat. I know you said it’s different for them because they got more of a childhood, but i’m not so sure. It is different, but it isn’t better. Nanook is twenty and he’s had to spend two years away from home. From the snippets we see of the South Pole chapters, we can tell he really gets on with his family, so to leave them behind to go fight in a war is devastating for him. Now add on the fact that Nanook takes personal responsibility for his friends. It’s been mentioned once or twice that he’s really protective of the people he cares about, and ever since Uki, he sees it as his duty to keep them safe no matter how out of his hands the situation is. So Nanook then has to watch Tomkin, who is such a little brother figure for him, go into battles at his side, he has to watch Sokka shoulder these burdens, he has to watch Katara be far stronger than her age ought to require. He has to watch and he so desperately wants to protect them all from that, but he can’t. And then he lost Zuko. He lost Zuko in a very similar way to how he lost Uki. Uki disappeared in a snowstorm and there was no body to provide closure, and Zuko was kidnapped with zero certainty of what happened. Despite him having no control over either of these situations, Nanook blames himself. We see more of it when he’s with the gaang, but it’s one of the main reasons he personally struggles to talk about Zuko. Nanook as a character doesn’t actually get much introspection in taob (though he probably will with the gaang like i said before) and that’s solely because he’s so complex and i know i’d go feral if i started looking too deep. Nanook angst is a whole new kettle of fish.

Then we have Tomkin. Tomkin by definition is still a teenager. Tomkin is ‘Little Tom’ to the crew and, despite his teasing, he’s actually the kind of character who enjoys being treated like he’s his age or younger. When his parents died, it took a lot for him to stay kind, stay innocent, stay fun. He really fought hard for it. And now him and Nanook are being given responsibility of all these kids, and it’s not fair for anyone. Nanook would have taken a parental role even if Hakoda hadn’t asked, because he can’t not. But Tomkin, while he loves kids, has never assumed an adult role before. He’s being forced to grow up despite how hard he tried to stay young, if that makes sense.

To summarise: kids should not have to fight wars and all these motherfuckers deserve to be happy (and when all this is over, they will be)

[moonlightdreamzz]

Serenity — Mark Lee

Request: “Hi love! 💋 can you do a scenario with Mark Lee where he sees you being too in your head, stressing about life, being low-key frantic, freaking out about basically nothing, pulling at your hair, over organizing, etc. and he tries to calm you down and get you to relax in however way you see fit??? That was a whole lot... sorry lol”

A sight always too painful to see—you in distress. Mark can’t stand to watch you pulling at your scalp, taking deep breaths in attempt to calm your staggered breathing. Watching you run around the house, scrambling to clean every spec of dirt, delete every residue; he always was quick to step in and tell you to stop.

You getting like this wasn’t a common sight. Truthfully, you never got angry when you were supposed to. In those moments, you would suppress your feelings, always wanting to stay the ray of sunshine you had been labeled as. Mark is watching the way your curves are making their presence known in your velvet pajama shorts, and crop top that will show what’s his if you reach up the shelf just a little bit more, and his fingers are rubbing up and down his legs. He’s thinking about all the times where he would get on you about being so nice to the wrong people.

“Slow down.” He finally speaks, but still he doesn’t move.

Not to his surprise, you ignore his request. Quite frankly, you probably can’t even hear him. Once you get in this zone, you’re stuck until someone yanks you out and Mark understands this—he understands you, so he’s up and he’s walking to the bookshelf where he finds his home behind you. His arms snake themselves around your frame, and he makes sure to press his soft cheek to yours.

You’re trying to move, but he can feel you giving up slowly.

“Just let me finish re-arranging these, please.”

Your voice is slightly cracked as you whisper your request, and naturally, Mark presses a kiss to your ear. It’s poetic, similar to when he has a pen and pad in his reach, and he doesn’t remove it. He keeps his lips there, even as you try to wiggle out.

“This isn’t what you need.” He says. “You need me.”

“Why don’t you help me with this?”

“Because this isn’t how you cope with your problems. I promise you this is only making you more stressed.”

He waits in position, expecting you to at least turn around and look at him with your beautiful eyes that could bring a thousand memories to his foggy mind, but you don’t. You lean over the shelf, placing your forearm down for your forehead to land on. You’re fighting yourself. One half of you so badly wants to tell him to please just give you an hour alone to rummage through all the unpacked boxes from your home, or unnecessarily clean the bathroom, but then the other half—the half that Mark is trying to get to hear him wants to relax. It knows it needs to have a seat and talk to your boyfriend who’s only passion in his personal life is to make your everyday serene.

You take another deep breath before dropping everything to the ground.

“Mhm.” He cheers and rubs your belly at the same time, although his voice is still very quiet.

“You’re lucky you’re you.”

And he is. He knows the power he holds over your entire being, and he can’t say he doesn’t enjoy it. The way you look at him, crave him—it makes him feel like the most important man in the world, and he has a duty. He’ll never take advantage of it though. I mean, how could he when he feels the same way about you? You have him on lock, and the key was thrown away a long time ago.

“Your hair looks nice.” He compliments as the two of you plop down on the couch. It was a wig he had seen you purchase not too long ago over a very lengthy FaceTime call. Of course it looked amazing on you. Everything did.

He can’t help but notice the way you lean towards his opposite. He knows you’re not upset with him, but he always gets so somber when you run from him regardless.

“Thanks.” You sigh, and your hands are covering your face. The french tip polish that’s covering your fingers are a perfect match; your hickory colored skin creating the perfect comparison point for him, and anybody else who was an intellectual.

“Your skin looks good too.” With this statement, he rests his hand on your ankle, rubbing up and down.

“I’ve been using that new face wash you gave me for Christmas.”

Anybody else would assume they’re talking to a wall, but Mark doesn’t mind. He presses his lips to your knee, before slapping your butt. “Talk to me.” He prompts. His sweet demeanor is still there, but his tone has become much more firm. You don’t have but so many more seconds to speak before he starts to purposely annoy the truth out of you.

“Honestly babe, it’s so stupid.”

“I know.” He says instantly, and he mentally slaps himself. The shocked expression on your face tells him that you weren’t expecting it either, but it also makes a smile creep onto your features. “Wait wait, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, I know you sometimes get stressed about small stuff. But it’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not like you walk around pushing people and yelling at them.”

“I know.” You breathe out, “I just have so much studying to do it doesn’t make sense.” You’re finding your voice just as you always do, and he always loves this part. You’re about to rant about everything that’s happened in your week. Well at least, that’s what he was expecting. You tell him a dribble of things that annoyed you, but after that, you stop. You also find your way into his hold, and he doesn’t hesitate to embrace you tightly. “Make me feel better.” You mumble straight into his chest.

“In which way?” His eyebrow raises, and as soon as you laugh, his hand is slapping your behind again with a thud as his bottom lip connects with his teeth.

“I’m not some toy, Mark.” You giggle, but even so, you’re straddling him.

“You’re right.” Your lips connect sweetly, “You’re not some toy, you’re my toy.”

“Is that right?”

“You don’t agree?”

You don’t respond—well, verbally. Your bodies are connecting in something heated before you pull away.

“Let’s make dinner.”

“Okay.” He speaks quickly before moving back to your neck.

Your hands are on his chest pushing him back. “No Mark, I mean right now.” You’re teasing him, but he never minded. He would wait forever for you, and you know that.

“You want your favorite?” He sighs, although the smirk is prominent on his face even through his flushed and hued red features.

“Well, I get that after dinner.” You say as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “But I do want my second favorite.”

“Aka something I can’t make. You want me to call Doyoung don’t you?”

“No. I want me and you to go in that kitchen and do a lot of stupid things.”

Any other day, he would fight it, but he can’t now. Your eyes are too pure as your hands rests on his cheeks, nose nuzzling his own.

“Okay. But don’t get mad when I burn your shit, baby.”

“You won’t!” You assure, before he’s picking you up in the same position, and running you two into the kitchen.

Mark was in fact correct, just as he always was. It was actually worse than be predicted, and you also ended up cutting your finger.

“I told you.” He says, voice echoeing through your large bathroom.

“You did tell me.” You pout like a child.

He’s wrapping up all your wounds better than you would have imagined. You expected everything to fall out of place the minute his hands released the cloth, but he didn’t.

“I have a better, more safe idea.”

“Mark—

“Shh.” He voices, pressing a finger to your plump lips. Of course you kiss it, and that brings an intense smile to your boyfriends cheeks. “Come on.” He encourages with a hand.

Mentally, you’re questioning it all, but you take his hand anyway, letting him lead you back to the living room. He’s rummaging through your many movies, and you’re about to sit on the couch before he pulls out a much bigger object. It’s Frank Oceans first album—made to be played on an original record player.

“You don’t have to do this.” You plead. You know how much Mark hates to dance, especially in a setting like this, but he ignores you just as you did to him earlier.

“I know.” He agrees. He approaches the device smoothly, lifting what you referred to as “the pointy thingy”. He places the cd on the spinner gently, pressing the button to make it move.

Thinkin Bout You is slowly crawling all over the walls, and bringing chills up your spine. Mark was constantly playing this song on the guitar and whether you had the voice of an angel didn’t matter. You both would make attempts to sing in attempt to make your day a little brighter.

You’re so lost in your recollections, you jolt when your boyfriend approaches you—left hand on your waist and the other grabbing your hand to hold. “Don’t try to fight me on this.” He whispers, and it’s in a tone you had never heard before. He was always so gentle with you, but as if it was even possible, his voice is even lightly and fluffier. He was really worried about you this time.

“I won’t.” You agree, putting your chin on his shoulder.

The two of you are swaying side to side, allowing Sir Ocean to keep your steps in check.

“How was your day?” You finally break the silence, but even so, your voice is barely audible.

“It’s always a great day when I’m with you like this.” He mumbles, pressing a kiss to your shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“No—I mean thank you for—

“Always knowing what to do.” He’s chuckling. Even when you try to take away his credit for knowing your every move, he proves you wrong.

You’re shy, head buried into his shoulder now. “Exactly.”

“You know I’m always going to be here for you, right? I’ll never get tired of this.”

“I hope so.”

“Don’t hope—know. I love you.” Are his last words before he’s haulting your dancing slowly. Now his arms are wrapped around your waist, and his kisses are wetting your neck. It’s loving, and it’s proving he meant what he said as if he was touching you already. Your favorite feeling is up next—him rubbing up and down your back, then moving to your bossum. “Let me show you. Can I show you?” Are his final words before he’s picking you up and lightly placing you on the couch.

His kisses are hungry, and they’re saying I love you all at once. Mark was so, so good at making you feel like the only girl in the world.