#i didnt do my delusions any justice

[kazumist]

TAKE A CHANCE WITH ME .ᐟ

✩ — childe had always told you he liked you, but you never took his words seriously and dismissed them as his antics. however, after seven years of pining, can he prove to you that he's actually serious about his feelings? (or in which childe wants you to have a chance with him.)

✩ — childe x gn!reader. best friends to lovers trope. fluff, and uhm angst if u squint. no cws. wc: 784. reblogs and feedback are appreciated !!

✩ — zhongli was mentioned for no reason at all tbh. reader isn't oblivious btw it's more like indenial i think idk theyre complicated lol but yea you'll get it once u read it,, a proper drabble for this ramble i did back then :]

childe had told you numerous times that he had liked you for as long as you had known him. he always slips it into the conversation, even if it's completely off-topic. if you could get a penny every time childe says he likes you, then you'd be pretty rich right now.

it's not that you doubted his words (well, okay, maybe you do have a bit of doubt); it's more like you always thought that it was just another one of his antics. though you don't actually know if he's serious with what he says on this matter, you just dismiss it as childe teasing once again.

you and childe had this thing on fridays where you’d watch movies together. it’s a new movie every week unless you both agree to rewatch something. and while sitting on his couch, it isn’t any different. childe has said that he likes you about two times now, both with that cheeky grin he usually wears when he's teasing you.

(you wondered about it at some point—what if it's all true? maybe the reason he confesses in this way is to make it less awkward, and he could take it back if he ever gets rejected? you wouldn't really know, not when you can't keep count of the "i like you"s that childe has told you the whole time you have known him.

but one question always stuck in the back of your mind: who are you to childe? or rather—who is childe to you?

if you were to ask that of someone else, they’d say that you’re his best friend—the most obvious answer. you two have been inseparable ever since you met. however, the term best friend for him didn’t sit well with you.)

the movie was paused due to your quick bathroom break, and as you were going back, you were telling childe about the time zhongli forgot his wallet while you two were out buying materials for your project. but by the time you sat back down, childe looked troubled—agitated, even.

you called his name once or twice, yet there was no response. it wasn’t until you snapped your fingers in front of childe’s face that he snapped out of his thoughts.

"hey, you look pretty bothered; should we ditch the movie for this week?" you asked him.

but he didn’t answer; instead, he asked, "i know this is sudden, but... did you at least believe me once?"

you were speechless. what did he mean by that? surely he isn’t referring to that, right? (even if you wanted to not believe it, deep inside you knew what he was talking about.) you knew this would be a topic between the two of you sooner or later, but you didn’t expect to have this conversation now, of all times.

however, if you were to answer yes, you did believe it. you did, you did, you did—you believed all of it.

despite your lack of response, childe continued on. "i guess you didn't. i mean, it's okay. i guess my confessions didn't really seem sincere to you which is understandable."

"childe." you called.

"i mean, who would actually believe a guy who randomly confesses in the middle of a conversation? and the fact that i did it countless times? god, why did i do that? i'm stupid, aren’t i?"

"childe."

"i'm sorry, i really should've been more sincere at least once—" 

"childe!" he shuts up immediately.

before you could actually say anything else, childe spoke up again.

"i love you."

in the seven years that he has loved you, childe has never felt this impatient. he never felt this suffocated from all the feelings he kept for you this whole time. 

he expected the silence you gave him again, but his chest felt lighter now that he managed to say those three words. although the silence stings and now there’s a tense atmosphere between you both, childe has never felt any better.

on the other hand, you were still processing it all. you were asking yourself again: who is childe to you? he’s your best friend, of course. you love him—

oh.

oh.

you love him. you love childe, and he loves you. but it was no ordinary love between friends; it was a love that was more than friends could ever share. and it all came crashing to you that, truly, a universe without childe by your side would be mundane.

"i love you too," you finally replied.

"take a chance with me?"

a small nod is all what childe needs as a sign to kiss you.

there’s really no one else in the world with whom you’d rather fall in love except for him.

[these-posts-arent-real]

warrior cats dash sim anyone?

#no canon characters #sorray guys thats too much #im just gonna do some made up dudes

0 notes

🔲 yourfave-tunnel-guy-deactivat

Guys I hate tunnellers. Lmao.

🌱 dirtdigger-23 Follow

By StarClan, I hate this mindset. Tunnellers are such an underappreciated part of WindClan society. Just because we don't do as much running or typical hunting doesn't make us less valuable than you. Op and cats like him are so stupid.

🌻 l1llyst3m Follow

Crow-food-worth reading comprehension lmao. It was satire (the url clearly states "tunnel.") Also, her*

🌱 dirtdigger-23 Follow

Ok I see where that was probably satire (OP should have made that more clear though) Where are you getting "her" from though lmao. OP's url is "yourfave-tunnel-guy"

🌻 l1llyst3m Follow

I'm getting "her" because I'm OP. This is my new account. I'm trans. Hope this helps.

#i said so in the tags of the last addition #but as i said. crow-food-worth reading comprehension #prev probably didnt even read my tags lmao

2,209 notes

🌾 barncat-vibes Follow

I am goingto fucking kill Jadestar. Lmao.

🌾 barncat-vibes Follow

WRONG BLOG

🐱 berrrrry-o Follow

Clanblr user barncat-vibes is from rc confirmed??

🏞 trouttail-prefers-bass Follow

Haha I already knew that, I'm mutuals with them on their main, plus we're IRL friends. Forgot that wasn't common knowledge.

🐱 berrrrry-o Follow

tbh I always assumed they were wc since thats the clan closest 2 the barns...

🪵 i-eat-moss Follow

Uh sorry ar ewe just glossing over how @barncat-vibes and @trouttail-prefers-bass are IRLS???!!!!?

#mutuals i can understand since they have the same ideas on like #social justice stuff... they both post trans stuff sometimes #but #IRLS? #SOMEONE is fucking with me #i met trouttail once at a gathering #nice dude #suuuper weird to imagine him knowing barncat-vibes

27 notes

🌅 kit-names-inspo Follow

I've decided to make a full post on this, since I've noticed this issue a lot lately. So let me make this clear:

I am NOT comfortable with "transgender" cats using my name suggestions to pick out new names. The service I provide is to help queens who have or are having kits, not confused males who think they're mollies.

STOP using my blog for your delusions.

🌅 kit-names-inspo Follow

Go ahead and unfollow me. I didn't want you 200 transgenders on my blog anyway.

🛤 carnation-stem-02 Follow

Anyone else find it funny how after this post OP lost 200+ followers? Anyone?

Anyway for a better source of names for trans mollies, toms & enbies, @name-lists-by-theme has much better names, sorted much more cleanly, AND she's not a transphobe.

#trans #fuck transphobia #fuck transphobes #fuck terfs #<- kit-names-inspo is a self-proclaimed radfem&terf btw

17,092 notes

🔁 🐍xviper-the-fagx reblogged

🤍 snwtl Follow

I can't believe we're being told to "normalize" cats becoming kittypets now. Do you have any idea how many cats would just abandon their families if it became socially acceptable to run off and live with the twolegs???

🍲 ex-thundrclan-kipper Follow

Honestly (as someone who left the Clans because I had a mate in the twolegplace), I haven't seen this to be as true as you're saying. I've seen one cat who "abandoned" his family to become a kittypet, if you count his abusive ex-partner, but for the most part, the cats we leave behind are understanding and okay with the fact that we have to move on. I wasn't meant for warrior life, and I left it, and I'm happier for it.

🤍 snwtl Follow

The fact that you would even imply it's okay to abandon your family for a life as a kittypet only serves to prove my point. You make me sick.

🪺 robbbinpaw Follow

Crow-food-worth reading comprehension

#yeah #snwtl (snowtail i think?) needs to use their eyes lmao #starclan this place gets on my last nerve #thinking of taking a break from clanblr because of shit like this

847 notes

🌱 dirtdigger-23 Follow

Uhh... where am I. My dash looks weird...

[meili-sheep]

idk I think that crepus used to be a fatui or smth (can be a harbinger if you want) And he was very loyal to serve the tsaritsa but after he found the love of his life aka his wife he wanted to retire or settle down whatever its called idk

So he went to the tsaritsa to ask permission to leave his job (ok now I really see that he was a harbinger) The tsaritsa agreed but on one condition

He will have to raise his firstborn childe into a strong and loyal fatui member just like he was and after he agreed the tsaritsa gave him the the delusion! yay!

So after diluc was born he started making preparations his wife caught wind of what he was planning to do and disagreed with it she didnt want his child to be raised into a weapon she wanted her child to be happy and free so she and crepus fought (what happend to her is up for interpretation heehee)

So after crepus got rid of her he continued his plan cue a lot of years of training (plus kaeya)

So you know how before the accident happened in the webtoon you can see the cloaked person who was the one responsible for planting the metal bird onto their cart? yeah so I think that atleast sometime before diluc turned 18 crepus slowly just wanted diluc to live happily and have his own dream so he broke the deal he made with the tsaritsa

so that was the reason why someone was sent to kill them (it never made sense to me on why someone was plotting to kill them when I was reading the webtoon so I just made up stuff about it)

And after years of not using a delusion and only having good intentions of using it caused it to backfire on him so it killed him the end (I mean atleast diluc got to use a pretty cool delusion on his journey)

idk man i just want fatui/harbringer diluc in canon storyline im delusional

-💤

I've seen a few things about Crepus being a Harbinger float around and I find it a really interesting conpect.

Though it's a little on the unlikely side in my book because, as stated before. I think Crepus is a whiny little bitch. Too weak of any real character to be powerful enough to be a Harbinger. He is indecisive, lacks any kind of spine, and instead play pretend rather than being an actual parent to his children. So personally, I think he could never be strong or intelligent enough to be a Harbinger.

But I like how him being one would patch up the delusion hole and the Fatui trying to kill Crepus hole (it kinda creates new ones, but for the sake of argument we'll ignore that for now).

Not for a Harbinger Diluc from this, I feel would be a little bit of a more complicated setup, because of Diluc's values (Being justice, courage, and duty) And because of Crepus's original Goal and getting ride of his mother. Diluc would absolutely commend Crepus and his organization purely out of his sense of justice and duty.

For the goal of Harbinger Diluc, you need to convince him that Fatui's goals are ones that will align with his values.

So let me purpose to you. Crepus stole the Delusion from the Fatui, and Diluc learns this and learns the side effects of the Delusion on ordinary people. And well, being underhanded, their attack would have made sense. And maybe Diluc then feels he could align with the Fatui and that he has a chance to change their awful methods and keep delusions from getting into the wrong hands.

[citialiin]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @forseenclade thank you ! man i am so bad at doing memes.  tagging: @blossomingbeelzebug @zhrets @lupichorous @dansiere yayayayayayayaya

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [ z/iggy stardust is DEFINITELY not my original character, but 683 is, and every single part of how i rp ziggy from his backstory to his personality was made up by me. that being said, ziggy is still a character that exists in media. ]

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO. [ im pretty sure ziggy is tied with the thin white duke as one of b*wie’s most famous fictional personas? ]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES ? / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [ maybe a little overrated ]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [ celebrity rock god of limitless talent vs inevitable overrated washup. most celebrities are polarizing anyways ]

How strictly do you follow canon?  — there isnt much canon to go off of i think? the album barely even states if ziggy is an alien and b*wie himself got really wishy washy about it (sometimes saying z is a human who was contacted by aliens, he was an alien himself, etc). i dont think we know anything about him besides what he looks like (red hair / weird eyes / pale / “well hung” lmao) and he has a band called the spiders from mars, he plays the guitar left handed, he’s bisexual + androgynous, and he’s charming and popular with the teens but inevitably is a victim of his own ego. and he dies.  that too.  but that’s literally it! we know Nothing else about him.  so i filled in all the gaps because my brain has worms.  theres a little bit of the story that verges on fantasy (that he’s some sort of messiah messenger for “the infinites,” whatever the fuck THAT means, david) so i nix that because i prefer hard scifi.  and theres one BIG part that i just ... deleted out of his canon, in that the world is ending in 5 years in his timeline, and he’s like ... aware of this ?  but that’s dumb and confusing.  i legit dont care anymore. my OC now.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  im so embarrassed i know i could be genuine and actually try but i have brain blockajjolajlakala33lak33klak333ak3jka3akjj323j3 i guess it’s like ... ziggy is truly the ultimate expression OF humanity because he reveals everything both wrong and right about the human condition, he literally embodies the best of humanity and the worst at the same time, he’s a really interesting critique on the idea of genuineness/earnestness vs commercalism in art, the perils of fame, and also how humans are so inherently corrupting?  a lot of thematic stuff i like exploring is like what is innate to humans vs what is learned behavior, what are things that humans do naturally that ziggy mimics out of his desire to be like us?  i think he has a really good story arc -- he went from being a literal nameless CLONE in a society full of pragmatic forward thinking science-oriented people to a sell out rockstar celebrity in a society of people that value individualism and self expression and art, but in the process completely lost his mind and himself and gave into the worst that humanity has to offer like rampant selfishness, drug abuse, self destructive tendencies, etc. characters changing is always interesting and ziggy truly changes for the worse -- but he is never just black and white, he was never good and then suddenly evil, he just was always the same person putting on different facades and trying to be himself by constructing an identity that maybe was who he wanted to be versus who he actually is.  i dont know what im talking about. hes just an alien trying to be too hard to be human in all the wrong ways.   i just like how “gray” ziggy is. he isnt good or bad, he can be very nice and he can be very mean, he’s overtly showboating confident but at the same time deeply afflicted with self-consciousness (why tf else would anyone be So obsessed with how they present themselves?).  hes an icon of individualism but also commercialism.  he’s freakishly alien but is almost more human than humans themselves.  he struggles as lot in his head -- which makes for interesting writing, i guess !!  Im so emabrrased im not going to go back and read what i wrote so if i typoed dont look at me

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  i think ziggy comes across as really mean and nothing else.  his horrible bitchy rudeness comes across as hee hee hoo hoo sassy isnt he a rascal when it’s supposed to be more like ... he’s so far gone into the celebrity delusion he’s conflated aggressive rudeness with charmingness because no one told him otherwise and everyone worships him to the point where he’s just given into the delusion that he can do no wrong.  i think theres the general simplification problem that happens with a lot of fictional characters, it’s easy to see him as just a whacky sassy glittery quirky rockstar when i guess it avoids the inherent tragedy of like ... everything else about him. his totally fake and false sense of identity built up from superficial things like fame and labels and stardom.  maybe my version of ziggy is just too weirdly depressing and sad when i know his original iteration wasn’t quite so ... grim.  im not very sure tbh.  

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  hmmm ... a lot of things! i just really got into b*wie stuff in early 2019, i’ve ALWAYS loved aliens and sci-fi, and i was really shocked that db sets up such great visual storytelling potential but does it through music.  i just really liked ziggys “story” and i like any chance to think about aliens so i just got invested into piecing together a little backstory for him using, like, the cumulative knowledge of literally every other piece of science fiction ive ever consumed in my life.  this was summer 2019 when i was making initial pitches for my thesis film, and so i just randomly decided to pitch “animated version of ziggy stardust” as one of the potential ideas.  shockingly everyone liked it a lot and so did my professor who thought it was really cool, and then i just ended up sticking with the character and working on him for an entire year.  ziggy became my hobby but also my homework.  he was such a fun character because everything about him was interesting to me and i had just enough source material to have a starting point but so much room to take him in any direction i wanted to.

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  honestly, yooooou guyssssss. i have some really amazing fwends that ive met thru here .... and some of our dumb stupid stories have literally become NOVEL length. it just self generates inspiration because you realize the limitless amount of stories you could tell with this one single character when your character enters his story or he enters their story and etc. etc.  ive drawn endless amounts of comics and stuff for him ... ziggy is just so endlessly interesting ...   cringe be cringed bro but recently (i know this sounds dumb bear with me or die.) ive kind of realized a lot of how i rp z comes as some metaphor for the experience of being an asian immigrant/being asian in the US -- his home “culture” is a lot stricter than the rampant selfish individualism of the usa (he only lives in the uk and usa, so he thinks the whole planet is like this), he’s dissuaded from standing out from his community and his selfishness becomes a community burden rather than a personal flaw, and when he does come to earth, he goes through such awful culture shock, literally nothing makes sense to him and everything is Different.  and while some things are different in a Nice way, something things are different in an Awful way, and he’s given the option between losing his true personal identity as an atominan and giving it up to be a human.  the allure of being a human is a little too much but losing yourself like this is traumatic, in a way.  obvs like ... a little silly and definitely not something that i actively intended to put into his story arc, its just something that fell into place cuz i guess i worked so closely with my own personal experiences and feelings of “alienation” (pun intended) to try to understand how he would feel being a literal alien an shid. its cathartic to write about him. but he also has a lot of my own personal interests just thrown in -- 70s fashion, scifi, science, tryhard implications about human nature, art history, whatever dumb nonsense i get into

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / SOMETIMES?

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO  [ i would prefer information to spring up organically in the story but cuz threads always get dropped i end up just telling people outright. i didnt want anyone to know his home planet/his old name but barely anyone writes enough with ziggy to get to that point to reveal it (i legit managed to do it organically Once) so i just had to write it in a post lmao orz ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ wrote a ton of drabbles ! drew a ton of comics! ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO 

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / I DUNNO?

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / HAHA NO.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES  / NO. / IDK ? 

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  definitely!  like i said ... my version of ziggy ended up being the protag of my thesis film and for 1 yr straight his characterization, backstory, design, and even how i wanted to animate his fucking movements (ziggy stardust timing charts.) were beaten to death in a classroom environment, torn apart and rebuilt into something better.  had i stayed with what i originally wanted to go with, ziggy would be so different than how i write him 2day. amazingly my pre production professor is a literal two time emmy award winning storyboard artist and animator so he definitely helped me design him (my version of ziggy is meant for ... a cartoon, obviously, not real life) and give him a better backstory?  and my post production professor is a retired disney animator who worked on hercules and a bunch of old disney channel shows?  had i gone wah wah wah i dont want to hear ur critiques i wouldnt have made him better.  if you ever think ziggy seems inconsistent or poorly written ... tell me !! i literally major in ... animation. cartoons. entertainment.  my job is to entertain you. if you are not entertained, there is a problem.  ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED ????

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  I LOVE QUESTIONS? i love ... answering questions ... if you ask me something ill come kiss you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure! i dont know why that would happen, though, because i mean ... he’s an OC. but i gues someone could be like “i feel like this is incongruous to things you’ve previously established in his character” or somethin

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  i feel like a lot of b*wie stans would find my version of ziggy weird but i mean thats fine!  i guess my goal is to have a well written character, not necessarily an accurate version of ziggy

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  if you hate MY version of ziggy thats fine but if u hate ziggy stardust in general (like the bowie concept) then u need some taste what the fuck is cooler than a egomaniac genderless bisexual rockstar alien with red hair? nothing. go back to watching your CW shows you dirty filthy normie

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  yes! dm me though. dont clown me on the dash like that.  i usually write your replies 12 AM - 4 AM so it’s expected.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  hmmm ... maybe! i do like to talk to people and i am VERY nice, trust me, if youre ever sad ill do everything i can to make you feel better. but im quiet! i dont really reach out to people and i tend to just keep to myself.  im not very social or extroverted at all haha i barely can make ooc posts without feeling like god’s coming to beat my head in with a brick. im sitting here at 5:30 AM with this meme feeling like if i post it i will die (BUT I MUST)

[softpshycopath]

So with stranger things volume 2 being out I need to put my thoughts somewhere. (its been out for two weeks but thats not important)

SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS 4 VOLUME 2

(These are all my opinions don't lose it)

Ok so, while I was watching it I kinda felt like it was going nowhere, it took so long to advance the california gang to Hawkins. Which in the end only happened after the climax, which I was kinda disappointed by cause there could've been so many great things there. Lot of wasted potential. Anyways the part about Will and his painting was a whole 'nother level of heterosexual audacity. Never in all my years have I been queerbaited so hard. I didnt expect byler to become canon, I'm not delusion, this is netlfix, but the fact that wills painting and all his feelings of being an outcast and feeling lost, were wasted. Him being gay was used to advance a straight relationship and that was just insane. Especially with the amount of hinting we got in interviews, I expected at least something of a coming out scene towards Jonathan. I did appreciate Jonathan and Will coming closer to each other again, but I had hoped that atleast he would notice will was hurting and actually say something about it and not dance around it vaguely.

Speaking of people not noticing obvious feelings, there is no way in hell that Mike didn't notice Will, his best friend, cry next to him. Nor should he be so fucking insensitive that he tells el his life began when she appeared, the day that Will disappeared. And even if he didn't mean it that way, there is no way Will missed that and my boy has been hurt to much and deserves so much better.

About El and Mike I don't have much to say, I appreciated Mike getting his head out of his ass, did not appreciate the fact that we spend an entire season, and the previous season, watching El come into her own, and rediscover her powers and her past, for her to need Mike's reassurance to defeat Vecna. I didn't mind the whole nina project part at first, it was a good wy to give El some closure, but escpecially at the end, when it seemed El was leaving only for her to be capture again, I was tired of it.

(still kinda laughing at the fact that the whole 'big reveal' was that Vecna was behind everything, The Duffers clearly have never seen their fans, cause people figured that out very fast.)

Anyways, a reoccurring theme in my thoughts is how sad I am that the meet up was so late. The Russia storyline was great, also it was probably the only one which had any lasting effect (jopper being canon, which had me kicking my feet and giggling like a little girl, they're so cute). It did feel like they were never gonna get out of there, which was kinda annoying, but I'm glad we don't have to worry about the demodogs and demogorgon anymore. I do wonder what happened to Enzo, since appereantly a russian guard trying to fit into a small American town during the Cold War wasn't interesting enough. We now have no informationa about what happened and that is just sad. All we really got for a resolution was that El and Hoppper were reunited (thank god).

Now, I can spend a long time listing other things that didnt sit right with me, but lets face it, my biggest complaint was that Eddie died. Not the fact that he died per se (I was heartbroken but thats another story), but how and why. The idea was that he 'didn't run this time' and wasnt a coward. But that doesn't make any sense, sure he would've thought he was a cowards for running and leaving Chrissy, but if I saw that happening in front of me I wouldn't just stay, I'd run like hell. So the times he ran were justified and there was no sort of poetic justice. Additionally, during the first DnD game he says that its ok to run, now that obviously sets up the whole 'running' theme, but they shouldve let him listen to his own advice. Or let him die for a good reason cause now it was just like they wanted to kill off someone and were to scared to kill the main cast, or follow through with Max, its the continous theme of killing of the new likable character in each season. And im pretty sure they left his body in the Upside Down, cause wtf no one reacted? Not Steve, who he just met sure, but was bonding with, not Mike, who let his hair grow out to be more like Eddie? Just Dustin and his uncle? What about the rest of Hellfire? I think the writers were to scared to write how Eddie coming back to Hawkins wouldve worked out and thats sad cause there was a lot of interesting potential there. Eddie didn't even die for a good cause, the bats didnt need to be distracted more, how would he know that after they killed him they wouldn't just follow Dustin, or how would he know they would even leave the Upside Down had he left. They gave Steve, Robin and Nancy plenty of time. Overall it was very poorley executed and a waste of a great character.

There is probably a bunch Im missing but idk something was just off this season.

[laele25]

And on today’s episode of Republicans are willfully stupid...

We have this little gem of completely gaslit bullshit a friend ran across on Facebook and had to share with me.  So I’m gonna post this ill informed, racist, grammar nightmare, corporate bootthroating wall o’ text as it was posted, then proceed to apply facts to BS,  Complete with the data to back it up.  Since this moron has completely swallowed the kool-aid, cites he is stating facts when there isn’t a fact to be found.   This is gonna be a long one, folks.  So hang in there.   The Facebook post: (brace yourself, the Faux News is strong in this one) I'm just going to leave this right here. “All of you who voted for Biden better own it for the next four years if he wins. (its looking like he may) I dont want to hear you complain about your taxes going up or gas prices doubling. I dont want you to complain when your health insurance cost go up even further than they already are. Dont complain when you bring home less on your paycheck because you're being penalized for climate justice. Dont complain when you lose your job because 11 million illegal immigrants suddenly become legal and your employer decides to hire someone at a lower wage. Dont complain when your job is just out right eliminated because the minimum wage is to high and your employer can no longer afford to stay open or even pay you. Dont complain when your automotive job is eliminated because its shipped back to China. Dont complain when interest rates double maybe triple and homes/automobiles arent as affordable as they used to be. Dont complain when your stocks and 401k take a hit. Dont complain when we are locked into more endless wars in the middle east. Dont complain when your otherwise safe communities are overrun by crime and start resembling Chicago. Dont complain when the educational system goes down. You obviously didnt vote your paycheck or your future. You voted your feelings. Unfortunately facts dont care about your feelings and you will soon(sadly) learn this under a Biden/Harris administration. Just own it.” First of all, since when have Trump voters owned any of his incompetence, bigotry, corruption, and the utter stupid shit he says?  They make excuses, double down on lies, and pretty much basically repeat anything he says even if it’s been debunked repeatedly.   All right, let’s break this down this BS one point at a time.   “Your taxes will go up” Yeah, about that.  The solution is ‘not allowing corporations and the extremely wealthy to evade taxes’.  It’s that simple.  This article goes into the details a bit more and isn’t behind a paywall and has it’s own source links.  https://americansfortaxfairness.org/tax-fairness-briefing-booklet/fact-sheet-taxing-wealthy-americans/ “Gas prices will double-”  This is a tired scare tactic that ironically is because of the hard on these people have for the free market.  Gas prices are low because demand is low because we’re still dealing with the pandemic.  If this hellish plague every ends (either by a vaccine or idiots like this one passing it on to everyone and it killing everybody it could like the Spanish Flu), then they will go back up as demand increases.  But since there is an insane glut of oil in the world, it ain’t gonna be any time soon.

AAA itself said so. https://gasprices.aaa.com/fall-gas-demand-moves-lower-alongside-national-average/ “I don’t want to hear you complain when your health insurance costs go up ... “ More uneducated blathering.  The government doesn’t set the prices for insurance.  Insurance companies do.  The state can tell them they’re trying to raise them too high, but that’s it. Insurance companies have made obscene profits off Covid because of almost no elective surgeries and the aid offered in the first four aid packages.  But with unemployment still really high, they’re starting to feel the strain of the recession.  But as of October 19th, the prices for next year aren’t going to change much.  Regardless who’s president. https://www.kff.org/private-insurance/issue-brief/2021-premium-changes-on-aca-exchanges-and-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-rates/#:~:text=Among%20these%20insurers%2C%20the%20impact,%25%20increases%20(Table%201). The real issue is going to be fewer hospitals (especially in rural areas) driving up the cost of care.  Especially in red states that didn’t expand Medicaid.  Time’s article paints a better picture. https://time.com/5901656/coronavirus-hospital-closures/ “Don’t complain when you bring home less on your paycheck because you're being penalized for climate justice.” Yes, because stagnant wages are totally not the cause of low paychecks and it’s all this recycling and clean energy instead.  We’ll come back to low wages in a minute Except clean energy is cheaper. Even Forbes thinks so. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/06/15/renewable-energy-is-now-the-cheapest-option-even-without-subsidies/?sh=3893e0d35a6b And as Stanford University points out, the cost of pollution is appallingly high. https://earth.stanford.edu/news/how-much-does-air-pollution-cost-us#gs.k4cn3x “ Dont complain when you lose your job because 11 million illegal immigrants suddenly become legal and your employer decides to hire someone at a lower wage” First of all, there is  no such thing as an ‘illegal immigrant’. Most immigrant workers do jobs most Americans will not.  Nobody is ‘stealing jobs’, for fuck’s sake. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/10/a-majority-of-americans-say-immigrants-mostly-fill-jobs-u-s-citizens-do-not-want/ This is sad, pathetic, xenophobic racism.   And it’s just gonna get worse now that we’re in a recession and jobs are scarce because of Covid-19.  The ACLU has an article explaining it far better than I can: https://www.aclu.org/other/immigrants-and-economy “ Don’t complain when your job is just out right eliminated because the minimum wage is to high and your employer can no longer afford to stay open or even pay you. Don’t complain when your automotive job is eliminated because its shipped back to China. “ All of this racist, bootlicking garbage can be disproven by this article https://www.epi.org/publication/causes-of-wage-stagnation/ “Don’t complain when interest rates double maybe triple and homes/automobiles aren’t as affordable as they used to be.” I don’t know where Bubba is from, but this already happened. Low interest rates didn’t change that fact. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-housing-rents/unaffordable-rental-housing-may-be-new-normal-in-the-united-states-idUSKBN1ZU0IC “Don’t complain when your stocks and 401k take a hit.“ Newsweek explains why this is bullshit here: https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-donald-trump-better-your-401-k-1542665 “Don’t complain when we are locked into more endless wars in the middle east.“ Apparently, he forgot who got us into those endless wars in the middle east... “Don’t complain when your otherwise safe communities are overrun by crime and start resembling Chicago.” Oh look, more factually challenged racism.   Yeah, nah, the city with the most violent crime by population is Memphis, TN.  Chicago doesn’t even make the top ten. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53991722 “Don’t complain when the education system goes down.” Once again, don’t know here he’s been, they’ve been defunding it for years.  The worst states for education are mostly red states, so says Fox business News. https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/most-least-educated-states-america-2020 “You obviously didn’t vote your paycheck or your future. You voted your feelings. Unfortunately facts don’t care about your feelings and you will soon(sadly) learn this under a Biden/Harris administration. Just own it.” The delusion is strong in this one.  I did not exactly run out to vote for Biden/Harris (mostly because we have all mail ballots in my state like sane people), but this guy has no factual information in his entire sad rant.  But how many of the idiots on the right believe this shit?  Most of them.  And that is a very sad fact.     

[detectivecomicsstuff]

Wait did you not understand the point of the show that the only points the Flag Smashers were wrong about was the murder? Ligit, Sam agrees with her entirely. Your entire argument lays on the fact that we're supposed to condemn the Flag Smashers as villains, but the only thing we see is Karli slowly give into the allure of the Super Soldier Serum and start killing more indiscriminately. We are litterally supposed to be on Karli's side and the only thing that paints her as the "villain" is her habit of blowing up hospitals. How can you miss that?

And what about the military experimenting on black men in the service without their knowledge? Was that pro military propaganda? They put a black man in prison for thirty years for saving his teammates, who later died from serum related problems! "Pro military" my ass. The only thing "pro military" about this show is that it's a semi realistic superhero show about two superheros in the military who sometimes go to other countries to do their service (which is probably necessary in a post blip world where 3.5 billion people suddenly appeared and now governments all around the world have to struggle to feed everyone. It seems like the world became a much freer place with fewer boarder restrictions during the blip, which is what Karli is fighting to keep.)

John Walker is used as an allegory for police brutality and how officers who use brutal force often get off with no punishment. He didn't get any redemption arc, we see him slip evermore into his own delusions that he's a hero for his actions. He hasn't learned that, and as an audience we should pick up on that. He is meant to be the pro militaristic, pro imperialist white man who's entire being is propped up by black men and women. He cares about them, sure, but he cares more about his ego than anything else.

Even the senator is painted as a villain, an allegory for the faceless government that runs our own life. Yeah they might have listened to Sam after a rousing speech about truth justice and the american way, but I bet your ass he's going to be a problem going forward in the MCU along with Sharon.

The show isnt supported by the Pentagon and I dont know where you got that. Every piece of media that portrays the military in any way shape or form has to pay the military in order to use their equipment. The military has a right to take away their resources if it paints the military in a bad enough light (see Avengers's faceless military throwing a nuke at NYC). Unless you're willing to say that each and every movie, TV show, and miniseries that portrays the military in any way shape or form (even just one person in a uniform), you cant call this military propaganda just because they're allowed to use military equipment. I do agree that it's a bit sketchy that alot of the show takes place in Foreign countries that our US has no jurisdiction in, but that's the whole issue with Karli anyways, she doesn't believe in boarders!

The way I see it, Karli's angry at the reappeared people for taking priority in the eyes of the government after the blip. She's angry that boarders are being forced back into placement and that people are being relocated to their original countries from before the blip. And entirely valid point. Why should governments decide to forcefully move people all around the world after spending five years in their new life?

I agree with you that Mr. Bradley didn't want a memorial, he didnt want everyone knowing who he is, but I want to argue that it's important that the world knows about him. I see more in common between him and Henrietta Lacks than anyone else in black history, I'll be 100% honest with you. I see this memorial being similar to the book written about her. Unwanted, but necessary for the growth of America. How are the people of America supposed to change if we dont know our own racist history? I also believe the memorial is going to play a big part of Elijah's future storyline with Serum abuse in the MCU.

I personally think you just went into this looking for something to shit on and complain about, and you came out with entirely the wrong points. You went in there looking for racism because it's a show about a black man becoming a national symbol. You're mad that they wanted the cookie cutter ending that so many other superheroes get in their origin stories and that's not what you wanted to see. You didnt want to see a story about the struggles of a black man becoming Captain America. You wanted to see the story of America the Great and Terrible, where everything is shitty for the sake of being shitty. I agree that certain plot points are rushed because of the reshoots due to COVID, and some of the pacing was rushed, but I think you're judging the show using entirely unfounded criticisms from a biased point of view.

Sorry i may just be uneducated by why do you hate fatws so much? I thought it was fine /gen

because its very blatantly military propaganda and pro-American propaganda thats disguised as pseudo-woke bullshit. 

The villains are the Flag Smashers, who are *checks notes* a group of anti border, pro refugee, pro resistance, anti capitalists? Like that is their EXPLICIT mission statement, and their leader, Karli, is a young black woman. a lot of the things she’s said (especially the things that are painted as bad) come straight from anti-colonial anti-racist thinkers like fucking Fanon and Malcolm X. (also, their symbol is a red hand print across the face, which is the symbol used by indigenous activists to call attention to the horrific violence that is still being perpetrated against indigenous people, especially indigenous women. do you think that making that the symbol of the group sam and Bucky were against was a coincidence? hint: it wasn’t.) The show painted them in a vaguely sympathetic light AT TIMES, but time and time again, Bucky and Sam fought them, no hesitation, and condemned their violence (which was very fresh, given the military war crimes sam and Bucky both committed over the course of the entire show!), and at the end, Bucky and the new captain America work together to have the cops surround and arrest the flag smashers. even though sam praises them, he only does so after they are fucking incarcerated (and yes they escape in the end for a set up to s2 but he doesn't know that) and/or murdered. None of Bucky or Sam’s actions actually condemn OR help them until it’s much too late, and their primary goal is to dismantle the Flag Smashers. The Flag Smashers are the villains of the series. And that’s not okay.

oh yeah, also? Karli is murdered. like, a young black woman was fucking murdered during a police/military standoff in her attempt to fight for the marginalized, persecuted body of people she was a part of. If you don’t see why that’s violent, racist, and absolutely despicable, you need to take a step back. And only after she is murdered does Sam give his rousing pseudo-woke speech (this is an attack on the writers of the speech, not sam the character, who is not real) to the government. I’d remind you of the bullshit Pelosi pulled THANKING the police violence from last year (I'm not gonna name it explicitly bc I don't want this in the tags of a serious movement). this show is pulling the SAME bullshit as peloci’s sentiment: it martyrs black people who should be alive. Who would be alive otherwise. Who don’t deserve to be martyrs, who deserve to be alive. black people shouldn't have to DIE for movements to start or messages to be heard. Obviously, Karli is a fictional character, but the writers made the decision to kill her, to kill a black woman, for that exact purpose. that’s racism. (the show is also responsible for the black best friend trope, and also the black best friend who dies trope––the guy who was friends with the fake captain America.)

Speaking of fake captain America, he’s like, actively a terrible dude????? and he committed a full on warcrime and beat the head in of an activist in a brutal horrific way?????? and then,, he and Bucky and Sam work together in the end and he and bucket even have haha banter, because hey I guess defeating Antifa is more important than fighting this fucking Bad Apple of the military (that was sarcasm.) And then he becomes a superhero in his own right (and literally take’s Bucky’s captain America costume from the comics??????????????????? that’s literally Bucky’s costume on this dude!! what the fuck!!) he’s literally THEE most evil person on this show and it’s just like,, not addressed!!

Also, Isaiah. Isaiah, in the only not-bad episode of the show (the second to last episode), told sam quite correctly that he didn’t NEED a memorial. he didn’t WANT people to know his name, because after the fact acknowledgement of his past doesn't in any way make up for the violence he experienced as a black man in the carceral system. it doesn’t give that back. it’s meaningless, and it’s a false form of martyrism that erases the violence done to him (see how racist people in power treat MLK now by talking abt him as a hero as if they weren't the people who killed him / would have been the people who killed him if they’d been there). it’s performative, and it causes more harm than good. it accomplishes nothing. but then sam gets him that monument pat on the back tears etc because antiblack violence disguised as performative wokeness is the ONLY language marvel knows. that’s what sam’s whole speech was––it was we are all the same we are united as a country and I will work with the US government which is right and color doesn't exist but this is okay because these lines were put into a black man’s mouth and styled with woke words and empty sentiments. (also, guess what––the hard decisions of politicians doesn't actually give politicians ANY idea of what it’s like to be a black person in America. at all. that was a ridiculous bonkers line that ITSELF deserves its own fucking essay to unpack.) (ALSO sam being compared to MLK and Malcolm X by Isaiah after that bootlicking speech of compromise? FUCK that. I honestly can’t even enunciate how disrespectful that is.)

It was a bad show. It was a racist show. It was a pro-military, pro-imperialism, pro-US supremacy show. And that isn’t surprising or new. But it was a fucking very special and insidious kind of horrible because it dressed itself up as a revolutionary show, appropriating and hollowing out the words of the revolutionary movements like BLM in order to get away with it, and to appeal to a wider audience. It was a bad show. not in the “haha not really my cup of tea show” way, but in the “this show is harmful and dangerous and also was produced by a mega-corperation that actively hates you and also is supported by the fucking pentagon” way. Does that answer your question?

[toomuchlight]

nam-myoho-renge-kyo

when I was a young, rebellious, curious, exploring teenager I learned this phrase.... my Buddhist seed was planted

nam-myoho-renge-kyo

I remember this moment very clearly. It’s strange because I do have a very bad memory but I remember this like it was last month. I was walking around Broadway Avenue just north of Diversey in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. I was around I don’t know 16 maybe, I think I was a sophomore in high school at the time. Why I was walking around in Lincoln Park? I used to always want to be out of the house at that age. So often, I would go to one of my sisters apartment and Diversey and Racine. Three of my sisters, Grace, Violet, Shirley… All lived in the same apartment building so I could always go there and hang out. At that time in the mid or later 80s, Lincoln Park was actually a pretty cool neighborhood still. Sure the yuppies were starting to take over but it still had a pretty cool bohemian sort of vibe. So anyway I was wandering as I usually did back then just looking at things and experiencing whatever may come. Of course I had no money so I don’t really remember what I was doing there at the time. I was walking on the west side of the street maybe one block north of the then Century Mall. There was a gas station or something on that corner and I had just walked across the street.

The streets and sidewalks were not empty. In fact there were quite a number of people walking around. I don’t remember what day it was to be honest. The time? I think it was early afternoon. When I got across the street this lady approached me as I was walking in the opposite direction. It was really strange because she was not soliciting anything. I also noticed that it didn’t look like it was premeditated or she had planned to talk to me or anyone on that sidewalk in particular. I remembered she had shoulder-length brownish blonde hair. She was about in her late 20s or early 30s and was average looking. In short there was nothing really striking about her.  I just crossed the street and about 10 feet into the sidewalk and we were about to cross paths, she suddenly just stopped and tapped me on the shoulder. 

She said “excuse me can I tell you something?" At that time and at that age, that question from an adult usually made me feel that I am in trouble or I did something wrong. Of course my curiosity and my openness to people allowed me to say “OK“. I always loved strange encounters and unexpected experiences like that. In fact I was always kind of looking for that experience. So this is how the conversation went.

Her:  “say this” Me: "OK" Her: “nam” me: “nam” Her: “myoho” me: “myoho” Her: “renge” me: “renge” Her: “kyo” me: “kyo” Her: "now say it all together" me: "nam-myoho-renge-kyo" Her: "that's it!"

Then she walked away and i was standing there thinking about the phrase and what just happened. During this interaction the lady had this big glowing smile on her face... full of wonder. It's as if she just appeared to me out of nowhere to tell me this for some reason I could not comprehend. She had this calm, presence about her and also excitement about sharing this information with me. I do not want to say she  looked "happy" ... more like "very content".  I turned for a second to see her walking the opposite direction, and it’s as if we just crossed paths on the sidewalk and the interaction never happened. I was literally standing there thinking "what the Fuck was that?".  But something inside felt good almost instantly. I started walking in the direction south on Broadway ave. Most likely i was walking towards Gramaphone Records on Clark street which was just south of Diversey's crazy 6 corners. As i walked i kept repeating nam-myoho-renge-kyo to myself. Just because it was so foreign to me and meant nothing. Of course i was curious to know what it meant but at the time, i felt fine not knowing. How Buddhist! haha. I didn't realize I was actually chanting this phrase as I walked because the sound of the phrase was just so smooth ... so right. It was a revelation for me. A Buddhist revelation that I did not know until over a decade later. 

Back then, we had no smart phones, Google or even internet during the late 80s. If i wanted to research it, it would involve an initial look through our home encyclopedias. Then a visit to the library and researching through what are those card stacks? there were database computers but ... I didn't even know how to spell it! I didn't even know where it derived from or that it was Buddhist. I could not learn more about it, so my curiosity was stopped. But I never forgot it.

That was my initiation into Buddhism. My high school days were filled with wonder ... fear of the bomb ... dark depressing music ... social deviance ... rage against the machine ... anti political ... peace cor loving ... laugh at everything ... cry at everything ... worldly ... exploratory ... existential  ... thoughts. This guerilla insertion of this phrase ... and then nothing. It was effective. I have always felt, despite those thoughts of youth ... i always felt that there was a calm and justice just behind everything that is bad. Maybe that phrase planted in me way back then, subconsciously put the desire to seek this peace, love, harmony, and  optimism that I always had behind my dark depressing thoughts. It was has kept me alive and i didnt even know it.

I have always believed in Buddhist thinking and mantras. Not by the teachings of a church, a preacher or monk, or some text. I felt like it was just there in me. Maybe it's the Asian dna bloodline? I know it is innate. It is something I think everyone has and it just needs to be unlocked ... maybe by a simple encounter ... and a simple phrase.

namaste  🙏🏼 ===============

below is from this site: https://www.sgi.org/about-us/nam-myoho-renge-kyo.html Nam comes from the Sanskrit namas, meaning to devote or dedicate oneself.

Myo can be translated as mystic or wonderful, and ho means law. This law is called mystic because it is difficult to comprehend. What exactly makes it difficult to comprehend? It is the wonder of ordinary people, beset by delusion and suffering, awakening to the fundamental law in their own lives and realizing that they are inherently Buddhas able to solve their own problems and those of others.

Renge means lotus blossom. The lotus flower is pure and fragrant, unsullied by the muddy water in which it grows. Similarly, the beauty and dignity of our humanity is brought forth amidst the sufferings of daily reality. Further, unlike other plants, the lotus puts forth flowers and fruit at the same time. This illustrates the principle of the simultaneity of cause and effect; we do not have to wait to become someone perfect in the future, we can bring forth the power of the Mystic Law from within our lives at any time.

Kyo literally means sutra and here indicates the Mystic Law likened to a lotus flower, the fundamental law that permeates life and the universe, the eternal truth.

To chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is an act of faith in the Mystic Law and in the magnitude of life’s inherent possibilities. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is not a mystical phrase that brings forth supernatural power, nor is it an entity transcending ourselves that we rely upon. It is the principle that those who live normal lives and make consistent efforts will duly triumph