#i don’t trust him—i don’t even trust the version of him from the 90s and 00s!

[hanzajesthanza]

dandelion is indeed the worst but if he’s not present in the next book i would legitimately be sorrowful as the whole thing will become a slog . you basically cannot have the “short stories” era-of-the-timeline iteration of geralt without dandelion, it would be like eating unbuttered bread.

though it’s not like season of storms did them dirty, i wasn’t disappointed with it (… with regards to them), but since it’s literally been over 20 years since the saga was finished i’m trying to prepare for any potential reality

[beigetiger]

Honestly Skulduggery in Hell Breaks Loose hurts my heart. He was simultaneously a hyper-violent asshole who sold out his teammates for a half-assed attempt at killing Serpine, but he was also JUST SO SAD. I spent the first half of this book wanting to punch him and the second half wanting to give him a hug, no matter how bad of an idea that would be. Anyways, spoilers ahead.

His self-esteem, for one, is absolutely awful, and he’s kinda right to think of himself in that way. He understands that his love of violence and hurting people isn’t normal, even if his friends go out of their way to try and not make him too uncomfortable. He questions Ghastly as to why he sticks around despite Skulduggery ditching camp to try and failing to kill a guy, and berates Ghastly for trusting and loving him on account of the fact that Skulduggery will probably just hurt him again.

And that scene where he was talking to Valkyrie and they were just chatting about random stuff? Broke my heart. At first I thought that Skulduggery might not like or trust someone who claimed to be his friend from the future, but him being happy to meet Valkyrie because it means that he’s still capable of loving someone and that he’s not a total lost cause was heart-wrenching. I really loved all of the Dead Men interacting with Valkyrie, but those two definitely hit me the hardest.

And another absolutely heartbreaking thing to watch was him using necromancy magic on Serpine by accident. The aftermath of the whole thing did such a fantastic job illustrating his frustration with his own magic, with how he killed Serpine, and with knowing that he’s now essentially damned his teammates. He also seemed so legitimately frightened by his own magic, making him default to refusing to acknowledge it as part of him and not want to talk about the subject. In fact, watching him panic and the other Dead Men react to his shadow magic was super interesting because they don’t really fear it. And why would they? Lord Vile hasn’t happened yet, Skulduggery is their friend, they all have nothing to fear, even if they are a bit out of their lane. Valkyrie was really the only one who understood the full implications of the situation that they were in, which gave her even more of a reason to panic because it means that the timeline had gone horribly wrong.

Also, some of the stuff that Serpine was saying to Skulduggery while chained up? Absolutely FOUL, I cannot even begin to imagine the amount of self-control it must have taken for Skulduggery to stand there and take all that for as long as he did. Because while he has pretty much no self-restraint for 90% of this book, this was the one place he knew he couldn’t mess up. And he messed up, not that it particularly mattered in the end anyways. But I like to tell myself that I have decent self-control, and I would have snapped that man’s neck so fast if he started talking in disturbing, gloating detail about the death of my loved ones. Really just goes to show that Skulduggery didn’t want to lose the rest of the people he cared about as well. That went great, didn’t it.

Somewhat unrelated to this whole tangent, but knowing that Skulduggery and Rustica (Ghastly’s mom) were buddies and would hang out and joke with each other hurt so much more knowing how Rustica dies.

And completely unrelated to this tangent, Valkyrie having to watch a version of her partner die only to kill an old man and have the timeline revert so that he’s alive but remembers nothing that happened must have been a DISTURBING experience. I’d probably never sleep again, I’d be so worried about the people I care about constantly. And also I’d be stuck trying to unravel the layers of the universe. I’m fully convinced that the reason Valkyrie sometimes blocks out information people are trying to give her (or trying to dumb it down/ trivialize it) is because this woman has handled the horrors of the universe and probably implements this technique to stop herself from going insane thinking about it.

[lunarfleur]

Earth 42! Miles Morales General Hcs

Tagging: @juneberrie @hiyaitssans @sluggmuffin

Warnings:Mention of death, fighting, insecurity, smoking weed

A/N: I love my silly little guy

I see a lot of people view this Miles as like this scary tough go who one crosses

But I respectfully disagree

Miles is probably a dork in every universe. He’s quiet, reserved, and put together. Ganke’s is really his only friend, but they don’t hang out. He prefers to be alone.

He doesn’t start fights, because he knows his mom wouldn’t like it, but trust he will finish them ☝🏻

He’s actually really silly. Like he makes funny comments when he’s comfortable and jokes around a lot. And his laugh is contagious, it’s adorable.

People don’t like him, but they don’t hate him. Teachers like him cause he’s a good student. Students are able to like him because he’s not hard to work with. He’s smart and quiet and nerdy.

He has a lot of built up anger. He just doesn’t show it because he doesn’t want to make his mother worry.

He loves his mother more than anything. She always comes first.

He saves up his prowler money for her. Birthday gifts, Mother’s Day gifts, Christmas gifts, etc…

He never argues with. She works so hard to support him and he knows that. She tells him to do the dishes even when he’s tired and doesn’t want to? He does it.

He tells her he loves her. Every day. Because he does.

Miles’s anger comes from his frustration with himself about his mother. She overworks herself, but he can’t do more than just be there? How is he supposed to be okay with that?

When he’s at home and Rio’s working late, he always stays up to make sure she comes home. And when she falls asleep on the couch? He’s walking out of his room, slipping off her shoes is she didn’t get to it, and tucking her in tightly.

He always kisses her goodnight.

best bet he HAS slow danced with her in the living roo

Okay okay moving on from the sappy stuff 😭

The difference between him and his 1610! Counterpart is that his music was heavily influenced by Aaron.

He listens to some modern rap, but a very large majority of it is 90’s hip-hop and rnb.

Also some of his mother’s favorite songs

He has a pretty large record collection

And prefers airpods to any other kind of headphone

Literally has a plain black phone case 😭

I hate to say it but bro’s short 💀

Idc what is or isn’t cannon, bro’s tiny

But has abnormally large hands

Was one of those kids with GINORMOUS ears until he grew into them 🧍‍♀️

Bro has literally nothing on his bed, except for like a thousand pillows and one blanket

He used to play piano (still does at school but no one has to know)

And likes art just as much as 1610! Miles.

Except he mainly draws what he sees?

His mother, the sky, flowers, that kind of thing…

His inspiration comes from the world around him versus in his head

He’s a giggly bitch at heart

If he wasn’t so stubborn, he’d laugh at everything

42! Miles was one of those guys blessed with clear skin. I just know it.

AND the prettiest freckles (every version of Miles has this)

Only ever cries in front of his mother or at night when he’s supposed to be sleeping

He’s not actually afraid of being vulnerable? Like he doesn’t like doing it in front of other people but he doesn’t try to stop it?

Bros eyes are majestic

This is going off topic but I love his nose 🧍‍♀️

He’s really skinny for some reason

And he’s got one of those really pretty waists for some reason

Loves cargo pants

He’s actually got really good style 😭

Miles has a pull up bar in his room I just know it

Works out consistently

Is a sucker for rom com movies (and is very ashamed of it)

Hates going to the pool (he hates the smell of chlorine)

But likes going on walks?

Loves the smell of rain and smoke from like blown-out candles and bonfires

Hates the smell of lavender

Also loves the smell of vanilla because it makes him think of his mom

Uses Old Spice Bearglove deodorant

And semi-nice cologne? Like not expensive but not cheap?

Bro smells gooooooood

Purple is his favorite color

But he also quite likes pink because it goes well with purple

This Miles has lips that are not chapped (1610! Miles does)

Uses lotion multiple times a day so his hands are soft asf

Is a straight A student

And this boy was raised right so he’s not one of the guys girls worry about?

Like he’s chillin

If someone asks him out and he’s not interested? He’s cool about it

“I’m sorry, I don’t see you like that.”

One of the few situations where he says “I’m sorry” instead of “my bad.”

He doesn’t want to be viewed as a bad guy. He actually really cares about it.

Bros locker is boring asf 😭

Really likes cats and stops to pet (and sometimes feed) strays

Is surprisingly alright with kids? He’s got baby cousins and stuff

He’s one of the few guys who’s confident in his masculinity

Would paint his nails black if he didn’t hate the smell

One of those early to bed and early to rise mfs

He’s got a good sleep schedule

He has gotten high before like off a cart (for anyone who doesn’t know what that is, it’s basically weed in liquid form)

He doesn’t do it consistently or often, so he’s not addicted, but he’ll do it if it’s there

Has a lot of one sided friends (??)

Like he’s a friend to them but they’re not friends to him?

A lot of those are guys who are dicks to girl and doesn’t fuck with that

Cause his mother always taught him to ask himself, “would I want someone to do that to my mother?”

He doesn’t go out of his way to correct them, cause (A) it’s probably just gonna start a fight and (B) chances are, they won’t listen anyway

He’s an honest boy, you know?

He’s pretty craft with like machinery and stuff

He’d make a good mechanic

His least favorite class is English, but he’s a pretty good reader

He’s a math, science kind of smart

There’s pictures of him and certain family members around his room, as well as like 2 of him and Ganke

He thinks of his dad every

And talks to him sometimes, too.

After his dad’s death he kind of pushed his mother away?

But he ended up alright.

Likes buying flowers to keep in vases around the house because his mom likes plants and color

He takes care of them for her

He loves the Rush Hour movies

Actually considered joining the basketball team

Snuggles with blankets and pillows at night

And really likes the tight shirt and baggy pants look

He’s got a nice build

His phone’s wallpaper is a picture of him with his parents

He’d never change it.

He really loves The Boondocks

Miles has a collection of small pieces of memorabilia?

Like movie tickets, dried flower petals, polaroid pictures…

His room is always terrifyingly organized

Like more than a normal person’s

He doesn’t even know how he does

Overall, he’s a chill guy.

[writeforfandoms]

Warrior Song 6

Find the series masterlist

This chapter is like 10% plot and 90% fluff. That's it. But that's all this entire story is so this is on brand.

Warnings: Swearing, fluff.

Word count: 2.3k

You saw John at least briefly every day for the next three days. He brought you coffee one morning, and pulled you away from medbay to make sure you ate lunch.

And then his big trick was on the third day. He caught you right at the end of your shift at medbay. 

“Come with me,” he rumbled, looking down at you, shoulders very straight.

Well, that was a bit foreboding. “Okay,” you agreed slowly, stepping up next to him and allowing him to lead the way. “Although I’m pretty sure as a civilian I can’t get court martialed.” 

“What?” He looked down at you again, the frown clear in his voice. 

“Just joking. You look so serious.” 

John huffed his version of a laugh but didn’t say anything else. Instead he took you to HQ, and motioned you to enter first. Shooting him one last wary look, you did. 

The rest of Blue Team, Fernando, and the three highest ranking officers all waited there. You paused, alarm bells going off in your brain, before a subtle nudge to your back got you moving again. 

“This is all of them, Chief?”

“Yes, sir.” He stopped next to you, more or less boxing you in between himself and Fernando. 

The CO sighed but nodded. “Very well. I understand most of your choices.” His gaze lingered on you, doubt clear. You almost got your hackles up, but Chief intervened.

“She’s a knowledgeable medic who is uniquely equipped to handle potential needs in the field. She’s taught the techs everything needed to continue the operation of base.” Chief didn’t look at you at all, attention focused on the CO. 

Who merely stood quietly for nearly a full minute (you counted) before nodding. “Very well, agreed. You’ll provide updates when you have them.”

“Yes, sir.” 

“Get whatever you need, I expect you all to head out in the morning. Dismissed.”

Chief left first, and Fernando ushered you out ahead of him. You held your tongue for the moment, knowing better than to question what the hell was going on while in the CO’s office. 

So you waited until you were outside.

“What the hell is going on?” you hissed, looking between Fernando and Chief. 

“We’ve been reassigned,” Chief answered, not even slowing down as he walked towards the Pelican. “We are to find out more about this installation and what makes it different.” He paused for a moment. “We are also to eradicate any Banished we come across while investigating.” 

“Okay,” you said slowly, stopping outside the Pelican and watching as Blue Team all started to move crates inside. “So why am I here?”

“Chief.” Fernando sounded disapproving, putting his hands on his hips. “You didn’t ask her?” 

“Nope,” Joy piped up. “Not even close.”

“Someone better explain soon or I’ll start shouting,” you threatened, glowering. 

Chief stopped in front of you, blocking out the rest of the world and speaking quietly. “You are a valuable asset, and would be a help in the field,” he said, lowering his voice further. “I believe you’d enjoy the experience.”

You eyed him, trying to figure out if that’s all it was. “There are other medics,” you said slowly, testing. 

“I don’t trust them.” He held very still, watching you.

And it only took you a moment before warmth bloomed in your chest. “Oh.” You smiled up at him. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”

“You’ll come?” He sounded just as cautious as you had moments ago, testing.

“I will. Oh, wait, I need to grab things! You should have given me more warning, now I’ll have to do this the hard way. I’ll be back!” You dashed away, already going through what you could bring from the medical supplies and what you’d need to grab. 

And damn it all if you weren’t going to bring a few little comforts for people, too. If anyone deserved them, it was that group. 

It took longer than you wanted to admit to get everything, but you did it. One crate was your contribution to the contents of the Pelican, with a basket balanced on top with a few things you needed. 

“What did you find?” Joy asked from Chief’s helmet. A moment later he turned to look, holding out his hand so the little hologram of the AI could form over his palm.

“A few necessities, some medical things, extra clothes, bandages. Things like that.” Still, you couldn’t quite keep the hint of pride out of your voice. 

“Sounds like you did a lot!” Joy smiled at you. 

“I did pretty well.” But your smile was still satisfied. “I suppose I should try to get some sleep.”

“We’re leaving bright and early,” Joy told you. “So don’t be late!”

“I won’t,” you promised. “Night.” You nodded to her and to John and headed back to your room. 

This would be the last time for a little while that you had real privacy, after all. 

It was with a bittersweet sort of excitement that you left your room that morning, your tablet in hand, a few last-minute gifts from Carter and Lindsay in a cloth bag. 

The Pelican was oddly quiet, but then, everything had been packed up yesterday. The Spartans had wasted no time in making ready. So you took a few moments to just look. The Pelican was definitely scuffed up, but reliable. Much as it pained you to admit. 

Someone came up behind you and stopped next to you. Green armor in the corner of your eye had you relaxing. 

“Ready?” John asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” You shrugged. 

John nodded, and a moment later his hand covered yours, the undersuit warm and a little rough against your skin. “Thank you. For coming.” 

You looked up at him, briefly wishing you could actually see his face, especially with your own so vulnerable. Then you smiled, just a little. “For you? Of course I’d come.” 

He nodded once, slowly. “We’ll be leaving shortly.” He didn’t release your hand for another moment, though, sending your pulse fluttering. 

And then he was gone, to get the others or do his own last-minute prep, or whatever. You made yourself comfortable on the Pelican, as much as you could anyway. 

Fernando nodded to you as he headed up to the pilot’s seat, and Blue Team settled on the craft as well. You closed your eyes as you felt the ship lift up off the ground. A moment later there was a big hand on your shoulder, helping hold you steady. 

“It’s not long to the first base,” Joy said, and you weren’t sure if she was talking to you or to Blue Team.

“What exactly are you looking for?” You didn’t open your eyes yet, but you definitely felt better this time. 

“Well…” Joy trailed off, and you did open your eyes then to find her hologram looking up at Chief.

“She’s involved now,” Chief said, low and almost relaxed. “You can tell her.”

Joy turned back to you with a smile. “We’re looking for evidence of what the Endless are! The Harbinger kept talking about them, but we don’t know yet what she meant.” 

You blinked, very thoroughly confused. “Uh. I think you’re gonna have to explain a little more than that.”

“What do you know?” Joy tilted her head to the side.

“We’re on a ring in the middle of nowhere,” you drawled, dry as dust. “Stuck here without any functional slipspace drives. The Banished had control, but don’t seem to anymore. I assume that would be the work of you three.”

“That’s right!” Joy shrugged. “While we were fighting the Banished, we met the Harbinger. She wasn’t Banished, but something else. And she told us about the coming of the Endless.”

“So, probably a bad thing,” you guessed, leaning into John’s hand on your shoulder as the Pelican swayed. 

“Probably!” Joy agreed, far too chipper for the subject at hand. 

You snorted quietly. “Sounds fun,” you drawled. “Just don’t expect me to shoot anything.” 

“Don’t worry, he’s really good at that.” Joy jerked her thumb at Chief, and you couldn’t help but laugh quietly. 

“So I’ve heard.”

“Who knows, maybe you’ll get a chance to see for yourself.” Joy shrugged. “We’re almost there.”

You lifted your head, surprised. That had been faster than you thought, and smoother. Either the distraction from Joy worked, or Fernando was actually normally a good pilot when not having to avoid obstacles. 

“Coming up on the LZ, Chief,” Fernando called back. “All quiet here.”

“Copy.” With one last gentle squeeze to your shoulder, John let go and moved to the back of the Pelican. The other three Spartans rose to join him as the ramp lowered. 

They left quietly, without fanfare, weapons on their backs. You crept over to the edge of the ramp to just look, quietly awed at the beauty of this place, as well as the visible Forerunner technology. It was daunting but also intriguing. 

You’d always been too curious, even as a child. It was something you hadn’t grown out of. 

“Hey, Fernando?” You turned to look when you heard the pilot approach. “What do you know about the Endless?” 

He looked around before he flopped down to sit on the floor of the Pelican. “Better get comfy,” he warned you. 

Time passed faster than you would have guessed, the two of you going back and forth on ideas about who or what the Endless might be, where it might be, and why this Halo was different. Neither of you were experts, of course, so the discussion did devolve into increasingly outlandish theories. 

But it did keep the two of you busy through the day while Blue Team was gone. Fernando started showing you how to do maintenance on the Pelican, too. An exchange, he claimed, for teaching him about plants. 

You doubted you’d ever have cause to use this information, but you obediently paid attention and followed along with the lesson. 

The two of you were bent over some wiring under a front panel when the COM crackled to life. 

“Echo-216, we are en route to LZ.”

“Copy that, Chief. LZ still quiet.” 

“Copy.” 

You raised an eyebrow at Fernando. “All business, huh?” 

Fernando shrugged. “Sometimes he banters. Usually after he’s shot a bunch of things.”

“Must’ve been quiet, then,” you said, nodding sagely. “Boring.”

“He’ll be insufferable,” Fernando agreed, beard twitching with his grin.

“You are still on open COMs.” 

The deadpan drawl made you and Fernando both freeze, looking at each other with wide eyes. Then you cleared your throat. 

“Well, someone has to keep you entertained,” you managed. Fernando clamped his lips together to attempt not to laugh. “Left up to you, I bet it’s just a silent march back, no fun at all.”

There was a soft sigh, and what sounded like a muffled snicker. 

“Cut the chatter,” Chief ordered, though he sounded amused himself. 

This time, Fernando reached up to slap the button himself to turn off COMs. You were too busy cackling to pay attention. 

“No wonder he wanted you along,” Fernando muttered, still grinning like a loon. “You sass him.”

“Yup.” You grinned, leaning back. “Look, he’s got more than enough people that are just in awe around him and don’t treat him like a real person. I figure if sassing him makes him feel more human, I am more than happy to help.” 

“You’re also just sassy in general,” Fernando pointed out.

“That too,” you agreed easily. Standing, you stretched out your back with a low groan. “I need to stretch my legs.”

Fernando lifted a hand to show he heard, already working on putting the panel back on. So you left the Pelican, taking a little walk around. This part of the ring was pretty, with waving grasses and trees in the distance. It was still odd to look up and see the rest of the Halo in the sky. 

You heard them before you saw them, the heavy armor making them more audible as they approached. You turned briefly to wave to them before you turned away again, looking out at the view. A little stream burbled its way through the grass, soothing and simple. 

“How did things go?” you asked, feeling the ground shake a little under your feet as John approached. And you knew it would be John - the others had no reason to come talk to you. 

“Fine. Quiet.” He stopped next to you. 

“Get any leads?” You looked over at him, leaning a little closer. 

“Affirmative.” 

You huffed softly. “We leaving immediately, or in the morning?” 

That made him pause, and he looked down at you before looking over at the Pelican. The rest of the team were checking their weapons and gear. 

“We’ll leave in the morning,” John decided. “Have you eaten?” 

“I should be asking you that,” you grumbled, though you smiled up at him. “I’m sure the answer is no since you were in a potential combat zone. You lot are in charge of plates and utensils, I’ll whip something up. We have a few fresh things we need to use up first, anyway.” 

He nodded but didn’t move just yet, so you waited. His hand raised slowly, bypassing your shoulder this time to cup your cheek delicately. Your breath caught in your chest at the tender gesture and you leaned into the contact. For a moment you wondered about doing more, about leaning up closer, about putting your hand over his and leading him somewhere–

And then his helmet dipped, shoulders hunching as he leaned down to press the helmet very gently to your forehead. 

Without a word, he straightened and walked back to the Pelican, leaving you with butterflies in your stomach and a ridiculous smile on your face.

[chibishortdeath]

Ok, I’m sick of seeing only Netflix posts lately so I’m ranting about Simon lol

Unfortunately I had some nice paragraphs written for this but tumblr crashed while I was writing so this is my second time making this post (TwT)

TL;DR with the rant under a cut for easy scrolling, I am deranged and have studied all of Simon’s outfits, here’s some fun tidbits and I guess kinda a guide about his fashion sense :3

Oh boy, where to start XD. Castlevania has a lot of intricately detailed usually gothic and/or visual kei inspired fashion designs, usually with some amount of historical accuracy, thanks to Ayami Kojima, that the series is known for. But before this, the character design style was very different. From the very 90s shonen anime inspired Richter, to Christopher being deadass shirtless in a skirt at one point, to John Morris being in basically casual clothes, there’s a lot of variety in it.

Well, being the silly Simon super fan I am, I’ve studied all his outfits a ton over the years I’ve been a fan of the series and oh boy they are INTERESTING :3. I’ve noticed a lot of elements are consistently reoccurring, specific to him, and some are very much not specific to him lol. Anyway, just trust me on this one, overanalyzing the closet of an NES barbarian to be able to make new outfits for him is FUN >:3c.

So, I’ve seen him not wearing pants thrown around as a joke before, but it’s actually the truth! Besides the Haunted Castle wedding suit (an outlier that should not be counted lol), I actually have never run into a design where Simon is wearing full length, proper pants. The closest he ever gets is black tights in Simon’s Quest and occasionally shorts, but on that topic, shorts aren’t even his most common choice! Let’s look at some of his oldest designs:

This one is really hard to tell, but based on the angle of the lines, the shadows, and context clues from other art for CV1, I don’t know if that’s actually supposed to be shorts 💀💀💀!

In both his cute little manual doodles and his almost more adorable teeny 8-bit sprite, his outfit is a belted tunic of some sort! So like, the equivalent of a really tiny dress or a long shirt XD. And really, his cover art design is kinda just a more detailed version of these. They both have a distinction between a top and bottom part of the upper half, they both have big belts, they both have the tall boots and arm guards, they both have teeny skirt part, and Fun Fact! They both have red in the hair! I color picked a nice high res scan of the CV1 cover art, and yes, there’s red in his hair!!! It’s like a nice mix of dark reddish blond, it’s a very fun hair color :3.

However, that’s not where CV1 ends in tunic vs shorts debate:

THAT’S A SKORT— DO YOU SEE THAT DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE HALVES, ONE IS DEFINITELY A PANTLEG LMAO. So yeah, skort Simon is also a thing thanks to this particular magazine scan lol, thus leaving us with the possibility that it is both a skirt and shorts on the CV1 cover that he’s wearing X,,,,D. Never change, Simon, never change.

Besides the tunic, there’s some other interesting details to his CV1 era designs! :D In a lot of depictions he has this neat cape, something that returns in some Simon’s Quest art and Smash Bros lol, but he’s never shown wearing it in game. What’s interesting is that Trevor actually gets a cape in his game’s opening as well as Christopher in Belmont’s Revenge if I’m remembering correctly. It’s very neat seeing Simon character design details rubbing off into other characters :3. I like to think lore wise that it’s the same cape that’s been passed down to Simon from those two.

He also has the headband! Iconic! But have you noticed the little ball shapes at the ends of the tails? They’re either knots or, infinitely cooler option, beads :D!!!!!!! And I wouldn’t be surprised if they were because that leads me to another design: X68000–

Now this one is one of my favorites :3. It’s kinda like a forward facing version of his original design but with some new details! And his headband gets this cool lookin, intricate distinctly metallic design on it, something I’ve seen a lot of artists simplify to a general crescent moon shape. But it is kinda similar to the shape on his belt buckle, something that I still have no idea what it’s even supposed to be. Also, his arm guards and the thing at the end of his necklace (which may or may not have vampire teeth on it, they could just be metal spikes though) are similar; it makes me wonder if it was an attempt at a tortoiseshell pattern? Filigree? Whatever it is, they’re all matchy matchy about it.

This design also gives him the staple left shoulder pauldron, of which has these huge stitches holding it on and an added belt that connects to his other belt armor. Get used to belts, he has a lot of those X,,,D. What’s really neat about this one’s belt is that he has both a hilt for the family sword but also one for the whip on the other side, and they’re on the wrong sides for drawing the weapon properly 💀💀💀💀. Which is also funny considering his CV1 cover art has the sword on the other side, which is kinda wrong too? Who knows, maybe he’s ambidextrous and just doesn’t care what sides they’re on lol.

The biggest thing I can say about this design though is that a lot of these accessories and armor pieces look homemade, like as if he just took teeth as a trophy himself and strung them on a cord or made a shoulder piece and put it on an already existing belt he had. Adding onto this, there’s also the possible beads on his headband and the cords around his boots (which could be an attempt at a certain actual historical type of shoe that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me rn, in which case would make these not boots and actually corded shoes with very nice big fluffy socks hehe, I am forcing you to imagine him with big fluffy socks—) and yeah! I can see him making his stuff on his own :3. Which is so cool! I love this idea so much, it makes for a lot of things to imagine him doing hehe. Also gives him a hobby??? Yeah :)

No indication of if he’s got shorts or not in this one, maybe I’ll count how many have skirts or shorts and put that at the end of this lol.

But shorts get another point again cause we’re looking at Chronicles:

Oh Chronicles. Well, the first thing I wanna mention is that, this is Ayami Kojima’s design for him, so here we are seeing a very interesting mix of the visual kei style and 80s barbariancore in a way that honestly slays (figuratively and literally). And, surprisingly, there is something historically accurate about this design, and it’s not what you’d probably expect. Based on the width, material, cross rivets, and the buckle on the front, Simon is wearing an actual dog collar. Like, for dogs. Like it’s dog armor used primarily for hunting dogs I just— Again, never change Simon, never change 💀💀💀.

We also see Simon preferring to put his armor on his left side again with the torn in half coat. It’s also somewhat similar to 1600s coats, not really of any specific country in fashion that I can tell, however the sleeve being that short is not accurate, leading me to believe that he probably tore that off too lol. Very Chrom Fire Emblem of you, Simon, and another example of him D.I.Y.—ing things. The basic elements still stay similar to past designs. Shorts, distinct upper and lower half of shirt, belts, armor on said belt, sword and whip hilts, arm armor and tall boots (shout out to the heels on this one), and armor on the left, unfortunately no headband though. But that distinct bottom half to the shirt part of his outfit in this one is defined with… a corset? Yeah!!! That’s a corset!!! Though the proper name for the time period might be a stay or a girdle, but Simon is straight up wearing a belt over a corset. And said corset over a coat. Half of one. Don’t question him—

But the main entries to his 80s bara-barian half of the wardrobe, let’s get to some knightly aesthetic outfits, of which he does have a good amount, starting with SCV4:

Simon’s knightly outfits are usually a similar silhouette as his original tunic look, just in metal this time and in various colors. SCV4 has his armor as gold on the cover, blue on the Japanese cover and manual art, and green in game! And they’re all pretty much the same with mild variations. On the cover art, his shoes are corded sandals with nothing under them, but in game and in most other artwork they are these metallic boots with the classic X shape of the cords baked into them. Some art gives his middle belt armor section this cross with snakes on it, which is an odd thing to be referencing here. It’s either a staff of Mercury, usually associated now with medicine but was an alchemical symbol before that, or something else I can’t find any info on. There’s also a big ab window because these are all proper half shirts lol. Straight up a metal breastplate with nothing under it, a pretty bad idea tbh 💀.

All in all, these are generally really simple, but there’s one more thing before I stop talking about SCV4:

I LOVE this design. It’s this really nice blend of the older CV1 era style and the metal armor of the later ones, very cool. Shout out to the eye creases and the dead stare shadow over his eyes too, they really conveyed the effects of witnessing the horrors well lmaoooo.

Again, tunic, belt, arm guards, headband, the usual, but, speaking of symbols, there’s something about this one that’s been driving me nuts forever: I cannot find out what that symbol on his paldrons and belt buckle is!!! It’s this upside down triangle with a bent rectangle missing the bottom line over it and it LOOKS distinctly intentional, but I can’t find it or what it means anywhere!!! I tried searching through lists of alchemical symbols, religious symbols, nothing so far has been close (TwT ). Regardless, great design, definitely in my top 5.

And what else is in my top five? Oh yeah babey, it’s Simon’s Quest time:

Ah, Simon’s Quest with his fuck ass bob and the stolen Ravenloft image— but unironically, that armor fucks fr. Again, similar silhouette! If there’s any take aways from this post, it’s definitely that Simon is a little shirt, little pants kind of guy. A severe lack of long sleeves and long pants legs until now, and even then, these are skin tight. Heck even his boots(????) are vacuum sealed, just look at those fabric creases by his ankle!

Now, it’s honestly really hard to tell if his “gloves” and “boots” are supposed to be in some parts metal due to the shading on them and the base armor being very similar. I personally like to depict the forearm and calf parts as metal and the hand and ankle parts as not, but eh. Like most things regarding Simon, I suppose this too is up to interpretation XD. There’s some variation in color in some scans having the underclothes be white, dark blue, or black, and the armor be any range of red to purple to brown too. But towards red and black is probably the most accurate due to his sprite being those colors.

But this is a shockingly rare case of Simon being fully covered in one of his outfits, and I’m inclined to think that there’s probably a reason for that. Not only does he have a rotting curse right now and drawing straight up gore on the cover of an NES game was just not an option lol, but he’s not letting his guard down anymore after being hit. Which would also explain the sudden change to all metal armor as that can’t be cut through as easily as leather.

Speaking of all metal armor, oh I looooove the detailing on his. The gold accents to his byzantine (a nice in between color of red and purple, a color that is also reused in Smash Bros again in the middle corset section of his outfit) are what I would call stylized floral patterns, kinda in the way that fleur de les don’t really look exactly like flowers but still are supposed to represent one. Not sure what kind exactly, but possibly some sort type of angel’s trumpet? Very neat regardless. The gems inlaid in it are all green on top and around the belt, but the center belt buckle is bright red. It’s a very jewel tones color scheme!!!

Well anyway, if tumblr will let me have more images, I’d like to show off a few other random examples of outfit elements he’s had before I close this off with something :3

This was a pretty recently found scan of Simon wearing get this: a pleated miniskirt. Probably Roman armor inspired, as some of his other magazine scans have depicted him as such. One ad for SCV4 and another (live action even) for Simon’s Quest has him even wearing like a Roman helmet and everything, it’s odd. Add helmets to the list of things Simon might wear. Hmm maybe I should make a tier list of things based on how often he’s worn them…

Moving on!

This one goes for the bold choice of giving Simon not only an expected tiny belted tunic, but side slits on the legs! And uh um a little too much detail but uh— It’s also this kinda white, kinda bluish, kinda silverish color? Add this to Simon’s color palette I guess lol.

Which reminds me that I didn’t mention colors very much until now whoops. Throughout all of hie designs he primarily seems to wear neutrals like various browns, greys, and metal tones. But he also has a lot of color. Like as in there’s enough different colored designs to make a whole rainbow of Simon outfits. Common combinations like dark green, gold, and wine reds; blue and silver; brown, gold, orange, and kinda purplish greys; etc etc. And his HAIR. Oh boy, would this guy love modern hair dye X,,,,,D. He’s had it various blonds, reds, browns, even black at one point, blue, green, unnatural red, pink, and in one concept design white! Personally, I like depicting it as a nice in between of red, blond, and brown, it encompasses the most I think.

The final thing I wanna mention is the Smash Bros design, which I unfortunately can’t show because I’m on mobile and have met the 10 images limit whoopsie— (_ _ ;). This design is really a good culmination of a lot of elements. Not really definitive or anything, but very good :3. And it has something I didn’t mention earlier that I’ve noticed in some Simon designs: random belts or metal around his upper arms and thighs lol. The Smash Bros design in particular has the arm band things on both sides, Chronicles has it on the not half coat one, but this is another thing I’ve seen other characters (Christopher in particular, but his are just gold rings) have. The leg thing is less common, but yeah, that exists lol. Thank you Simon for uh bending two pieces of metal around your leg…? It’s cool XD. The corset also makes a return, as well as, once more, the same basic silhouette with the armor only on the left side, the belt armor pieces, etc etc. He’s very particular about that—

Well, anyway, Simon definitely has a vibe going on, but here’s a brief summary of things he seems to like:

Skirts, tunics, long shirts, and shorts (and skorts I guess), but nothing past about half his thigh, generally over the knees.

No long sleeves or pant legs (unless it’s tights when absolutely necessary).

Armor primarily to the left, unless it’s metal, in that case usually a full plate or paldron set.

Belts, hilts, belts on his arms, and neck, and hanging off of things, and legs, yeah belts—

Boots/tall socks, corded or not, and something on his forearms or wrists.

Headband! Seriously out of every Belmont he is the most dedicated to these lol.

Necklaces and beads and other little accessories and adornments are also cool.

Alrighty then, have fun Simon-ing and I encourage you to look through his or other characters’ designs and pick them apart a bit sometimes, even if it’s just through what’s on the wiki :3. If anything, I think it’s a good exercise in character design and consistency! But yeah, I wrote all this late at night and can’t think of anything else rn. If I do I’ll do a sequel I guess hehe. Either that or I might rant about another character hmmmmmmm—

[bookishfeylin]

What do you think about the whole “Tamlin was in love with the idea of Feyre” ?

I don’t really understand it tbh and I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Also here’s a kiss 😽 I hope you’re having a fantastic day.

Thank you love!

So I feel like I have to explain what that means first before fully debunking it. In short, THAT SIDE of the fandom feels that Tamlin loves a version of Feyre that wants to be coddled and taken care of and protected and provided for--aka a version of Feyre who no longer exists in ACOMAF--hence why he cannot stand and adjust to her change post-UTM when she suddenly wants a more adventurous life. Feyre herself thinks this in ACOMAF, mentioning that Tamlin being a provider+protector suited "who she was before" but not who she is now, which according to her is (one of the many reasons) why they were incompatible:

“I’m thinking that I was a lonely, hopeless person, and I might have fallen in love with the first thing that showed me a hint of kindness and safety. And I’m thinking maybe he knew that—maybe not actively, but maybe he wanted to be that person for someone. And maybe that worked for who I was before. Maybe it doesn’t work for who—what I am now.” (ACOMAF Chapter 15)

This idea, that Feyre just wants a soft life essentially where she can relax and not be burdened with being the caregiver and even be taken care of herself, where she can be given kindness and safety, is also alluded to in book one:

Sometimes I would even indulge in envisioning a day when my sisters were married and it was only me and Father, with enough food to go around, enough money to buy some paint, and enough time to put those colors and shapes down on paper or canvas or the cottage walls. (ACOTAR Chapter 1)

[Tamlin] came a step closer, as if forcibly leaving behind the dark, sad stain of what had happened to Lucien, and the starlight danced in his eyes as he said, “What would be enough to make you happy?” I blushed from my neck to the top of my head. “I—I don’t know.” It was true—I’d never given that sort of thing any thought beyond getting my sisters safely married off and having enough food for me and my father, and time to learn to paint. (ACOTAR Chapter 18)

[Tamlin] was quiet as we turned down another sun-drenched marble hallway, and I dared to look at him. I found him carefully studying me, his lips in a thin line. “Has anyone ever taken care of you?” he asked quietly. “No.” I’d long since stopped feeling sorry for myself about it. (ACOTAR Chapter 12)

So Feyre does want a quieter life where she can focus on herself rather than being busy caring for other people, and Tamlin feels pity for her that she can't get that life, indicating there is some basis for the fandom's idea. But there are several problems with this per canon itself, the first being that no, Feyre did not fall in love for the "first creature" who was kind to her. If that were true, then she would've fallen in love with Isaac Hale first, not Tamlin. The second reason is that this is not why Tamlin fell in love with Feyre? Like he explicitly did not fall for her because he saw a dainty feminine object he could protect and provide for. Aside from Feyre spending 90% of their romance wearing pants and plotting, scheming, and running around planting snares, stealing knives and shit... That's not why Tamlin falls for Feyre.

“I wonder if your family realizes it,” he murmured. “That everything you’ve done wasn’t about that promise to your mother, or for your sake, but for theirs.” I said nothing, not trusting my voice to keep my shame hidden. “I know—I know that when I said it earlier, it didn’t come out well, but I could help you write—” “Leave me alone,” I said. I was almost through the door when I ran into someone—into him. I stumbled back a step. I’d forgotten how fast he was. “I’m not insulting you.” His quiet voice made it all the worse. “I don’t need your help.” “Clearly not,” he said with a half smile. But the smile faded. “A human who can take down a faerie in a wolf’s skin, who ensnared the Suriel and killed two naga on her own…” He choked on a laugh, and shook his head. The firelight danced along his mask. “They’re fools. Fools for not seeing it." (ACOTAR Chapter 16)

“I never knew,” Tamlin said from behind me, “that humans were capable of …” He trailed off as I turned, the hand I’d put on my throat sliding down to my chest, where my heart roared with a fierce sort of joy and grief and overwhelming humility—humility before that magnificent art. (ACOTAR Chapter 19)

Tamlin is impressed by her overall badassery and her willingness to self-sacrifice per quote 1 and per quote 2 he loved her artistic soul. And most importantly:

He picked up the small painting of the frozen forest and examined it again. “I’ve had many lovers,” he admitted. “Females of noble birth, warriors, princesses …” Rage hit me, low and deep in the gut at the thought of them—rage at their titles, their undoubtedly good looks, at their closeness to him. “But they never understood. What it was like, what it is like, for me to care for my people, my lands. What scars are still there, what the bad days feel like.” That wrathful jealousy faded away like morning dew as he smiled at my painting. “This reminds me of it.” "Of what?" I breathed. He lowered the painting, looking right at me, right into me. "That I'm not alone." (ACOTAR Chapter 22)

He loves her because she also understands the burden of responsibility in a way few others do, that he's not alone in that feeling.

And we get this quote:

Faintly, echoing into my world of slumber, he spoke again, his breath caressing my ear. “You’re exactly as I dreamed you’d be, too.” Darkness swallowed everything. (ACOTAR Chapter 23)

I also have a lot of feelings about what that quote means because WE NEVER GET AN EXPLANATION FOR TAMLIN DREAMING ABOUT FEYRE. So apparently Feyre's aforementioned snare planting and knife stealing and scheming to escape and constantly disobeying things he asks her to do to stay safe and whatnot does not manage to dissuade Tamlin from finding her attractive! Not at all, actually, in fact she's ~the girl of his dreams~ And:

“I love you,” he whispered, and kissed my brow. “Thorns and all.” (ACOTAR Chapter 27)

Idk y'all I don't think "I love you thorns and all" means "I only love you if you fulfill my fantasies of being a perfect obedient housewife despite there being 0 evidence of you displaying any remotely housewife-like tendencies, least of all being obedient" but that's just me. That quote is... incredibly significant but I've seen the larger fandom mostly ignore it like they ignore the rest of book one.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: book 1 Feyre is cool and does some wild shit and Tamlin sees her doing wild shit and is like "yep. That's the one for me. My dream gal <3" and ignoring this to push forward a "Tamlin never loved the real Feyre" narrative ignores what Feyre was actually like when Tamlin fell in love with her in the first place and what they actually bonded over.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

AMY ROSE (SONIC THE HEDGEHOG)

1.) Amy’s characterisation has experienced several generations of misogyny, right from her genesis: She was designed as a girlfriend, but it eas then decided they didn’t want Sonic to have a girlfriend. First instance she’s a damsel in distress that he resents for being there and crushing on him, and this is echoed in the comics. She is then presented as pathetic, chasing and stalkerish, as well as sidelined in the games in favour of other characters despite being very strong. Her stories are often those with the most emotional weight, but the reading is coloured by other characters underestimating her importance there. She then enters a pushy and blind era where she becomes a mockery of her past self. A universe reset rebranded her as a feminist, but that often comes off as a bit pickme, and they frequently failed to hold her femininity and also combat capabilities in hand at once. She is finally getting a bit more stable characterisation and treated a bit better, but I still don’t trust the writers with her. Ultimately, it often felt like the creators didn’t like her, and only had her there because they were made to; and that sucked as a little girl sonic fan.

2.) She started out as the token Girl One in a 90’s property, and her first appearance was as a damsel in distress, which isn’t great to begin with, and she wasn’t playable for a long-ass time outside of spinoffs. The Sonic Adventure games redesigned her, made her playable, let her fight back against her would-be kidnappers, and gave her a major role in saving the world by letting Shadow talk to someone not game with destroying it. Then from Sonic Heroes to Sonic and the Black Knight, and the anime Sonic X, her character was reduced to ‘hehe funny obsessed fangirl is obsessed’ a lot of the time, losing her compassion and a good deal of her social awareness. In Sonic 06, she literally said that she’d sacrifice the rest of the world for Sonic, which, my girl would NEVER in SA2. The Archie comics weren’t kind to her either, as their explanation for the redesign was that Amy wished to become older, so they aged up her body, BUT NOT HER MIND EW EW EW. I’m sure there are other crimes the Archie comics did to her, but that’s not my knowledge base. THEN the writers tried to backpedal in the early 2010’s, but by attempting to undo all the 'crazy’, they took out Amy’s drive and convictions (Sonic Lost World just letting Amy sit and watch Sonic do all the work my beloathed). The Sonic Boom spinoff series tried to pivot and make their version of her a girlboss, but Rise of Lyric was SO BAD. Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice made an alternate version of her a damsel in distress, again, which while technically true to Amy’s roots, does not fit her Boom characterization AT ALL. The Sonic Boom cartoon was a screwball comedy, and they at least lampshaded a lot of Amy’s previous writing problems, but they didn’t give her much to do either, mainly making her 'the sensible one’ whenever Sonic wasn’t available for deadpan responses. They’ve been doing a bit better lately, with Amy usually involved in world-saving matters, and she was prominently featured in Sonic Frontiers, even if she was trapped in Cyberspace. The IDW comics are also treating her wonderfully, from what I’ve seen.

3.) when she was created as a character, she was made solely to be sonic’s love interest. in sonic adventure, they tried to rewrite her and flesh out her character more by making her realize she’s more than her crush on sonic and she finally realizes she’s strong enough to do things without him. sonic team IMMEDIATELY undid that in sonic heroes which came out soon after. they made her entire character in that game obsessed with sonic and based her entire story around him. she was obsessed with him unhealthily in that game because god forbid team sonic let’s a strong female character exist. many of the sonic games took away her quality of being strong without sonic by writing her to only be obsessed with him and not do anything without him. in many modern games, she’s improved more, but misogyny has really screwed her over as a character.

ABBIE MILLS (SLEEPY HOLLOW) (CW: Racism)

1.) Abbie starts out as one of the two protagonists of the show, only to get almost entirely sidelined as early as season 2, getting less and less screen time and allowed no relationships, either platonic or romantic, while the other lead Ichabod Crane has a seemingly infinite amount of them. It got bad enough that her actor wanted to leave the show, which they did by having her sacrifice her soul in the season 3 finale for the male lead to live, and then they ended the show after season 4 anyway, because guess what, it’s a bad idea to entirely sideline and eventually kill off one of your leads!

2.) She was killed by the narrative to advance her white male co-protagonist’s plotline and I’m still mad about it, Abbie deserved so much better. This is an example of racism in the narrative too and it extended to the production of the show, see news coverage:

3.) Look, I only watched the first season but they killed her off the show SHE was a co lead of!! Misogyny AND racism, all rolled into one. I remember seeing the fan reactions and I was so mad on their behalfs. They wrote her off her own show and from what I recall, gave her less and less screentime leading up to that. Truly, she deserved so much better and I will always be upset by this.

[coldninjaruins-blog]

Be fr when was the last time lesbians got rep and weren’t passed over for men? We’re bottom of pile they don’t like us! And females going insane over m/m further pushes us into the dark do you even know how bad it is? Our shows get cancelled lesbians are normally top of the list for bury your gay tropes.

So does that mean that as a lesbian I am not allowed to like any mlm ship? The fact that shows with wlw couples are cancelled while shows with mlm couples are renewed again and again is a huge issue that should be discussed, I'm not denying that.

It bothers me a lot, it's tiring and frustrating.

But does that mean I can't root for a mlm ship or enjoy it? Here I am going to talk about my personal case, I am NOT trying to speak for other lesbians.

I am speaking only for myself.

90% of the queer content I consume is lesbian or sapphic. I don't consume as much mlm content because I'm not that interested in it and that's fine. The last time I saw something with an mlm couple was Bad buddy (which I loved by the way).

That doesn't mean I can't enjoy mlm ships or even straight ones because I think if a couple is well written I'm going to like it regardless of the gender of the characters ( That's why I also can't ship the lesbian version of a straight ship I don't like, they suck and will continue to suck for me regardless if they were both boys, girls or a boy and a girl. I don't like their story and I'm going to continue to dislike it no matter what).

Now back to my point, if you check my blog you'll see that I don't ship any other ship mlm from stranger things besides byler, none. I just don't care about them.

I like byler because I like their history, it resonates with me. Here I could talk about how beautiful I think their relationship is, how the special bond they have from the beginning of the show and their friendship, the fact how they always trust each other no matter what it's what makes me love them as much as I do and how a queer slowburn childhood best friends to lovers is just my cup of tea and go on for years and years about it but probably you don't wanna read that so...

As a queer person I see a lot of me in Will specifically and his struggles with his sexuality, I want him to be happy so much.

People want so badly to lump byler into the category of "ships mlm that straight girls fetishize" but sadly... they don't fit in there :/

The byler fandom is mostly made up of queer people, and a large percentage of those people are specifically queer women. So yeah, it really bothers me a lot when people call us lesbophobic or say we hate sapphic specially when

1)A lot of us are sapphic.

2) Some of those who say it are mlvns who just say it because it's about byler.

Mlvns using rovickie when they never gaf about them just to throw shit at byler doesn't sit right with me and it's not the first time they've used a wlw ship to attack bylers and call us lesbophobes. It also happened last year with the scripts polls.

They called us lesbophobes because we voted for the Mike and Will scene over the Elmax scene, we just voted for our ship scene. And what did these people do when the elmax script came out? They made it about their straight ship.

Again bylers are mostly queer people who are rotating for a queer ship so it doesn't make sense to me that gay people wanting a queer couple with main characters in a big show like stranger things to happen = lesbophobia????

[deathbypixelz]

I had a bit of a revelation today and wanted to share. As it deals with my experience as a woman, I'm going to preface with this: Trans women are women, and this post isn't for anyone who disagrees with that.

Also wanted to say I know pronouns don’t directly correlate with gender. “She/her” doesn’t only mean “woman”, etc etc.

With that out of the way, I wanted to talk about why I, a cis woman, prefer strangers to call me “he/him” and friends/family/etc. to call me “she/her”.

--- ---

Depending on who you are and how close we are, I either use she/her or he/him. If we know each other, and/or you’re queer as well, use she/her for me. If I don’t know you and you’re not queer in some way, I’d prefer if you use he/him. Seems arbitrary, and I guess on an objective level it is, but I wanted to share my thoughts on why I feel that way. Emphasis on feel: this is my personal experience and it has no bearing on anyone else’s.

As a kid, I had a moment when I looked away from my shows and books where the boys and men have emotions, go on journeys, and have character arcs, while the girls and women sit in the back without real emotion, only follow the men on journeys or don’t have journeys at all, and don’t grow as people, and realized “I’m also a person, like the boys are”. The flat, non-people who also happened to be women were who I’d been taught to associate with, but they weren’t like me, because I was a person. Now, I was working within the bounds of a very limited child’s understanding at the time. Obviously we’re all people, but only the men in those stories were allowed to be people. When women were people, I thought “she’s acting like a man”. Maybe the text even outright framed it that way. In reality, they were just given the traits of a person, which I’d been conditioned to associate with “man-ness”.

Later on, this subconscious association came back to bite me. For a time, I thought I was a demigirl or some variation thereof, because I didn’t fully identify with the definition of “woman” I’d been taught. I viscerally hate the idea of children/childbearing, I only very rarely wear makeup (and even then “it’s not the kind women wear”), I don’t dress in traditionally feminine ways, etc. And, well, I’m a person with her own thoughts and dreams and wants and fears. I simply don’t fit into that incredibly narrow, reductive, and specific cisheteronormative definition. I never have. So, at the time, I thought “I must not be a woman then.”

But using she/they and calling myself a demigirl didn’t feel right either. This was frustrating, because I wanted a name to call myself by. And “woman” was right for me… just not this society’s definition. After a lot of thinking I realized I had a different definition of woman, and so that settled that. I am a woman. Just not the kind we (90s/early 00s babies) were taught about.

I did want to say though: Defining “woman” is, I believe, impossible. As is defining “man”. Or any other gender. If you ask me, at the end of the day it’s an attempt to describe something that’s so subjective and variable and ethereal there’s almost no use trying. It’s just a “you know it when you see it” thing. Or I guess “you know it when you feel it”. I can’t truly define the cisheteronormative woman, and I can’t define my own version of woman, but I do know they’re not equivalent in the slightest.

So how does this relate to my two sets of pronouns? Well, when someone knows me, or when a stranger is also queer and thus I can trust already has a different understanding of these things, I can also trust they’re using she/her for me in a way that at least somewhat aligns with how I use it for myself. I use it to refer to my personal definition of “woman”.

But, when a non-queer stranger refers to me, “he/him” feels more appropriate. Because to my ears, a non-queer stranger’s “she/her” refers to a definition of woman that is simply not what I am. And when we must work within the incredibly limiting cishet binary, the cishet “he/him” is actually closer to my “she/her” than the cishet “she/her” is.

It’s like translating languages, if I must compare it to something. There is no true equivalent in “the cisheteronormative language” to my she/her. “He/him” is what comes closest.

For an example: I don’t put my pronouns out there when I’m playing video games, because I’m concerned about opening myself up to harassment; “she/her” in that environment often means “someone to pick on”. That’s less true nowadays than it used to be, thank fuck, but it’s still a concern of mine. By leaving myself undefined, the average cishet male gamer will assume and call me “he/him”, thus treating me as an equal. Because I am. We’re both people. “He/him” is the closest equivalent in his “language” to what my pronouns “actually” are.

…I don’t really know how to conclude this little essay. But I wanted to share, because I’ve never seen anyone talk about this sort of pronoun usage, and I figured it might help someone out there figure things out.

And once again: this is all my personal experience and view of things. You can disagree on every point, and that’s fine. That’s your truth. This is mine.

Gender is made up, pronouns are just words, do whatever you want forever.

[punkrogue]

Confession: I used to be one of those antis who hated the Roguneto age difference and saw Gambit as the "correct" love interest. But then I got older and stopped thinking about things in black and white, I realized that Rogue doesn't give a shit since her two adopted moms also have an age difference. I think a lot of Rogue "fans" project their thoughts and desires onto Rogue instead of accepting some of the less stereotypical sweet "Southern Belle" image they like to compartmentalize her into (one reason why 80s Rogue is superior to 90s Rogue is she's a subversion of the stereotype instead playing it straight like the more palatable to general audiences 90s version of the character). Looking back, I like how the "I can't touch a man" problem was sorta resolved with Roguneto in AoA, so instead Rogue's character focus in that universe is being a team leader and going apeshit to protect her son instead of angsting over Remy and how she can't have sex with him.

First off I think that regardless of context concepts like the "correct" love interest are never good. I think that's just become more and more obvious over the years as fandom has become more toxic and more people feel comfortable calling you shit like an abuser for liking a "problematic" or hero/villain kinda ship. The ships are fictional, the people aren't. Who gives a fuck if people ship milo from atlantis and yzma from the emperor's new groove (yes this is a real ship i've seen) it's not my problem. Neither of us will gain or lose brownie points with a god or whatever because we shipped the right ship. Not an attack on you just my Thoughts because that's a common issue now in fandom that I know I certainly didn't see it at these scales when I was a teen.

AS FOR THE OTHER STUFF--

god you're spitting SO MUCH TRUTH.

Okay I wrote the rest of my reply to this originally in notepad bc i don't trust tumblr and god.... this is so long 💀

But then I got older and stopped thinking about things in black and white, I realized that Rogue doesn't give a shit since her two adopted moms also have an age difference.

It never occurred to me before how the age gap between Mystique and Irene would effect her perspective but that’s such a good and interesting point! We’re not clear on even when Mystique was born or how old she really was when she met Irene and we know Irene is like easily 100 when she dies. She and Mystique met in the late 1800s — even if you keep her dying in the 80s and don’t fudge around the timeline at all for the current date 1880 to 1980 is a century. Rogue was raised by geriatric lesbians. Idk WHAT this means for her psychologically or in how her love map got formed but it’s a Thing lol. I think the big takeaway really from being raised by mystiny is really that she expects a certain level of partner care and maturity and in syncness. Say what you want about Irene and Mystique as people but they’re absolutely an in love and loving couple. They’re totally in sync and have complete faith in each other, they’re each other’s rocks. Which ofc is why Mystique went so off the rails when Irene died.

There’s definitely a lot to be said about her expecting/needing/wanting a certain amount of maturity in her partner as a result of being raised by two older women in a very established relationship. Barring the dudes who’re born in test tubes (Longshot and Joesph) basically all her love interests are older than her by some amount. Even Remy is at least a few years older than her no matter how you pace out his life.

I tend to think worrying about age gaps in a society/world or whatever like comics is dumb when everyone in question is legal. Half of them are like 50+ by now (the 05 were teens in the 60s technically, xavier fought in the KOREAN WAR, etc), some are aliens, some are gods, some people got stuck in a time loop for like 2 years, some people where in another dimension for a while, etc etc etc. It’s more trouble than it’s worth to get up in arms about it when you’re not talking about adult/minor pairings. Magneto is like, 100 now sure. He’s also been de-aged like, twice, once that I remember to the point of being a fucking toddler again. This is automatically so fucking wild and impossible to map to anything real world you’re just gonna hurt yourself trying to comprehend the ramifications of that catastrophic life change on even how the fuck he STILL REMEMBERS HIS PREVIOUS LIFE AS AN ADULT AFTER THAT let alone his future relationships with anyone lol.

I think a lot of Rogue "fans" project their thoughts and desires onto Rogue instead of accepting some of the less stereotypical sweet "Southern Belle" image they like to compartmentalize her into (one reason why 80s Rogue is superior to 90s Rogue is she's a subversion of the stereotype instead playing it straight like the more palatable to general audiences 90s version of the character).

I think you’re very right about that. When you sit down and read Rogue’s comics through all at once the difference between her in the 80s and her in the 90s is wild and not in a good way. All the edges get knocked off of her, her morals become simplified, they gloss over her tense relations with the rest of the X-Men even more than they did before. She was created with the kind of character design slogan “the girl from the wrong side of the river” and it very much seems like few people remember that when writing or drawing her and I know why that is to some extent — stripping away her “problematic” nature (remember, Rogue DID stalk and attempt to murder Dazzler and did some other fucked up shit), stressing her more mainstream insecurities, removing her heavy metal/punk/butch interests and making her more in line with a 90s pinup girl in looks makes her more appealing and fuckable to the mainstream predominately male audience of comics. Alt girls are niche. She only got to get her tat sleeve and be a motorcycle mechanic and sing rock songs and be really wild again when Claremont takes her over again in X-Treme X-Men in 2001 and it really does feel like a breath of fresh air. She’s rough and coarse and rude again. She and Storm are at each other’s throats at times. She’s angry and she’s reckless and she’s funny and she’s you know That Bitch.

“Okay but characters change and grow, they kind of have to, and just because their creator intended them to be one way doesn’t mean they have to stay that way,” some will say and this is true! If we kept to the letter of the character creator’s intentions Cable would be boring as fuck and Shatterstar wouldn’t be pansexual. But here’s the thing—

Both of those Liefeldian monstrosities still to this day have maintained their “character slogan”, their Vibe, their Flavor if you will.

Cable is still a super douche with mega guns and 80 pouches who loves shooting things and is Edgy. He’s just better written now and has more depth. Shatterstar is still an American Gladiator made into a Real Gladiator clone boy thing who loves carnage and communes thru media lingo. He just sucks dick now. And is better written.

Note how this is not what happened with Rogue. Consider how LITTLE of her time in the 90s was say, about her conflicted feelings about her Still Evil Mom or her trouble really making friends in the X-Men because of personality differences or you know HOW HER POWER SUCKS THE SOUL OUTTA THEM or her love of mechanics or any of the other things that really only seem to crop up when it’s Claremont or someone taking notes from his characterization at the wheel. Her Character Vibe is “girl from the wrong side of the river joins a different paramilitary group for better healthcare”. THAT’S LITERALLY WHO ROGUE IS. THAT’S WHY SHE JOINED THE X-MEN. There’s absolutely room for growth here but that growth does not mean she has to stop having a mullet, or stop wearing studded belts, or stop being the other lovable unwashed mongrel in the house next to Logan.

But Possum Girl is not fuckable to most men so they don’t wanna write it and they don’t wanna see it and very few girls wanna see it because they can’t project themselves onto that. Also, misogyny— internalized or otherwise. Girls aren’t allowed to be ratty, loud, coarse, butch, aggressive etc etc etc. Rogue’s name is FUCKING ROGUE she’s NOT A SOUTHERN SWEETHEART that literally DEFEATS THE PURPOSE OF HER.

“When she was younger, Rogue thought the name made her sound like an outlaw. she played the part to perfection—using her power to imprint the skills and psyches of anyone she touched—until she realized she was stealing little bits of their souls." — X-Treme X-Men I think I cannot for the life of me remember what issue this is from but I know it’s a comic quote I had to type it out myself years ago since it’s not quoted anywhere else.

“The name 'Rogue' is not just a super hero code. She is very much a wild child. She likes danger and is much more of a Mississippi soul than a Louisiana soul.” — Claremont in a 2016 interview.

Rogue is SUPPOSED to be rough and wild and reckless and YEE-FUCKING-HAW MOTHERFUCKER. She’s r/THE_PACK in mutant form. There’s SO MANY WAYS to allow her to grow and change that do not mean she must sacrifice the skynyrd. But she doesn’t get to keep that. Cable gets to keep his stupid fucking pouches and his grimdark 90s patina but Rogue’s gotta have BIG 90S BAYWATCH HAIR and wear DAISY DUKES LIKE THAT ISN’T FUCKING VICIOUS ENDANGERMENT OF EVERYONE’S LIVES all so she can be the sexy southern gal and spend the majority of the 90s hemming and hawing over the practical logistics of hopping on Remy’s dick as though that man doesn’t have enough working general sex and BDSM knowledge to tackle the logistical end of a hookup with her and instead of trying to WORK WITH HER ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES just kinda fucking pressures her like a 10yo boy demanding a kiss from his crush for a while there before someone fucking LET HIM HAVE BETTER WRITING. Both of them are done dirty by that and most current writers more likely than not came in on this version of Rogue and Remy which is why we’re now being subjected to their malformed vapid bastard children in modern comics.

80s Rogue (and a lot of 00s Rogue) Imo are the superior Rogues because she’s an alternative girl. We have PLENTY of more mainstream girls in the X-Men but we don’t have any really who are ratty and mentally unstable and metal/punk and cause issues and don’t always sync up totally with X-Men “philosophy” and who’re Really Okay with committing Lots Of Violence and who are like, AGGRESSIVELY not perfect.

Why they chose to live in fucking nowhere Mississippi and what their financial situation is and just— whatever the fucking deal with Mystiny while they raised Rogue aside — Rogue is created as a mentally ill at risk runaway youth living in a foster/adoptive home and is heavily coded as poor/white trash. Like, I get very baffled by what the fuck is going with her early childhood with Mystiny (there’s a LOT of conflicting info) but i tend to assume they're living middle-classish since you know Mystique got that $$$. But Rogue absolutely at least coded as a lower class rough and tumble girl in the 80s and that’s like….. actually very important????????? That’s huge????????? Especially since the X-Men are the Disenfranchised Minorities with Superpowers wonder show.

Now look at any 90s comics or 10s-20s comics and show me ANY issue where “white trash” or “raised by Mystique and Destiny” shines through. Didn’t find any did you? Yeah. Thought so. This is why they’re the shittiest eras of Rogue Comics.

Looking back, I like how the "I can't touch a man" problem was sorta resolved with Roguneto in AoA, so instead Rogue's character focus in that universe is being a team leader and going apeshit to protect her son instead of angsting over Remy and how she can't have sex with him.

Part of why I like Roguneto in general is we just generally skip all the gross borderline fetishist talk about how she can’t fuck because she’d kill a dude or whatever. Magneto fucks. He just DOES. You look at him and you go "oh this man FUCKS". We don’t need to spend time on the fucking mechanics of it — in fact to do so seems INSANE. OFC HE FUCKS!!! NEXT QUESTION! Now yes Remy elicits the same kind of response but not the same level. Magneto is 3 grown children levels of fucks. DILF and GDILF fucks levels. This whole drama is completely fucking stupid with MAGNETO as the stage partner. HE’S LIKE 100 YEARS OLD AND HE OWNED A METEORITE. ROGUE HAS FIST-FOUGHT LIKE ALL OF HIS CHILDREN AT LEAST ONCE. WE HAVE OTHER THINGS TO ADDRESS.

After like 20 years of writers being weird little fetishist creeps about how exactly the logistics of Rogue and Remy fuckin would work when like that’s what a gimp suit and condoms are for, it’s refreshing to just not feel the WEIGHT of that forced conflict hanging over a romantic relationship of hers. With romy there’s SUCH a hyper focus by the writers on their sex life half the time not their overall relationship and it’s just weird and gross. Like they fuck, they figure it out and she works thru her fear of touch— can we talk about rogue’s mental instability and how that affects the relationship and remy’s fear of rejection/abandonment now?????????????? THAT'S WHAT I'M ACTUALLY HERE FOR!!!!!! YALL CAN'T SELL ME SMUT SO STOP OBSESSING OVER IT LIKE PRETEENS AND TELL ME ABOUT THEIR MESSY RELATIONSHIP DRAMA!!!!!!

Rogue also tends to just be fucking bonkers more when she’s with Magneto and I like that. She’s less southern belle and more fuck it we ball and it’s refreshing. It’s a nice combo of personalities platonically and/or romantically because Magneto is really an EXCELLENT emotional/mental rock which she needs and Rogue is 10000000% not afraid to call him a lil bitch to his face and he NEEDS people around him to help keep his ego/doom spirals in check.

Their arguments feel more like real conflicts and debates. When they team up it feels more solid and like a partnership. They just feel like there's more weight and oomph in their interactions. Magneto has such a power and gravity to him. He's literally one of the immovable tent poles of the X-Verse. They'll be finding ways to keep him on the field even when he'd be 1,000 in comic years. So by interacting with him it let's her be more of a serious character. She gets to square up unstoppable force to immovable object and really test herself against him while also knowing at the end they're gonna shake and say "good game."

You don't get that with Remy because Remy's not solid like that, he's built to move. He's meant to be flexible. If you take away his flexibility (morally, in personality, in allegiance, in wants, in self-image etc) then he's just not him anymore. But the issue there is Rogue is also malleable — she's literally absorbing other people. That's two rubber people trying to help each other stand. It ain't gonna work and none of the comic writers wanna put in the real effort to MAKE it work. (fic writers ofc, have cracked this code and know how to write romy who can actually work and be compelling even into the modern era)

for me, Remy was a good first love interest for her and I love his character and I still love their dynamic — just now in a more platonic way. Meanwhile Magneto is a better second and potentially endgame relationship for her. He's more where she is in life now and he both gives her someone to depend on when she's going fucking batshit from her powers and also someone to sharpen her claws on who can take it and dish it back.

[trekkele]

You mentioned in one of your tags that you'd like to write a fic where the batkids find out Alfred wasn't so awesome a parent to Bruce and I wanted to ask if you'd like to share some ideas and directions where you could imagine it going?

Would it change the way the kids think and act around Alfred? Or Bruce? And what are some Major Mistakes Alfred made that in retrospect make a lot of sense regarding Bruce's parenting? And what sent the boulder of realisation going in the first place?

I know it sounds like I'm asking for spoilers or the actual, complete plotline which you probably haven't thought out yet, but I'm just curious about various versions of situations and realisations you think could happen. Or things that you'd like to work into your fic but it just wouldn't fit.

Basically, I love your writing and I love this kind of DramaTM within the Batfam and I'd cherish any crumb of information you would like to share.

Thank you and have a wonderful day! <3

Ok so this premise does rely on good dad Bruce, not because shitty parents cant come from shitty parents (they do, usually) but because i think seeing Bruce not do the things Alfred does would be how the kids (specifically Dick) realize what kind of parent Alfred is.

And this is really a reaction to the “Alfred is a saint for putting up with Bruce” fandom attitude because if you, as a parent or a guardian, are incapable of parenting a kid, no matter how difficult that kid is, it is your responsibility to either find a way to become what your kid needs or find someone who can. I know a lot of us had shitty parents but a traumatized nine year old shouldnt be “put up with” or “handled” they should be parented. At the very least they should be loved, and they should know they are loved. (Gets off parenting soapbox, climbs onto fandom soapbox)

Also every time i think about this fic i start thinking “maybe Alfred deserves some more grace” because he was put in a pretty impossible situation immediately after losing two people he deeply respected, if not loved, and lets be reasonable the 80-90s were uh, not an ideal time for difficult parenting, and the therapy available for children back then would have probably made things worse if not outright given Bruce ptsd (if he didnt already have that), so theres that. On the other hand, Alfred is also fairly consistently shown as being deeply unkind about idiosyncrasies, and unwilling to admit when he’s wrong.

And theres only so many times you can call your adult child an idiot, and imply that you believe every one of their choices to be invalid or wrong, before it turns out that you are Part of The Problem, or at the very least, A Bitch.

Anyways.

The thing is, i dont think it would change much. I think they might stop taking Alfreds word as gospel, especially in regards to Bruce, and i think they might be more forgiving towards Bruce when he messes up in the long term, but the truth is that whats it going to change? How do you apologize to someone for that? What are you apologizing for?

Because ultimately i dont think Bruce is ready to admit that Alfred is, or was, wrong. Bruce knows he was a bad kid, a difficult kid. His teachers and his family and the newspapers, and even Alfred, have admitted that Bruce was a hard kid to raise. Probably harder to love. He’s never surprised when people leave him, after all.

He does know his own kids don’t deserve that style of parenting though. But thats because they’re better than him. He has to do better because they deserve better, because he chose to be there for them. Alfred never really got that choice, did he? Bruce’s parents trusted Alfred, and Alfred stayed out of his respect for them. Not the bratty kid who cried for a year and refused to speak and would hide under the bed instead of sleep.

And thats another thing - if Bruce admits that Alfred wasnt a good parent, if he admits that Alfred made some terrible mistakes, does that mean he’s betraying the trust his parents placed in him? Is he casting blame onto two people he can only idolize, because to do otherwise is to admit he doesn’t remember much of them anymore?

As for how the kids find out, i think Dick realized in his own. I think Jason realizes because Dick stops him from walking in and interrupting a conversation between the two and before he can ask whats going on he hears Alfred slap Bruce. Im not sure about the rest.

*i started answering this, got distracted, finished writing it in my head, and then forgot i never answered it in reality. But i think thats most of what i wanted to say.

[empressawesomecoolness]

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Speedrun Marathon - Series 3 (2007)

The semester’s keeping me busy but trust me I’m still trying to keep this speedrun going and get caught up on everything before May, so I’m glad to say I finally finished Series 3 yaaaaayyy! It was a lot of fun, especially in how it carried over from Series 2 into 10’s adventures with a new companion after Rose. Aight let’s get into it…

General Thoughts

Right off the bat, I loved Martha as a companion. Similar to Sylvester McCoy, I was familiar with Freema Agyeman from her stellar work on Sense8, so I was already a fan of her’s as soon as she popped up on screen. She’s got her own brand of intelligence and spunk that bounces off of 10 really well. Don’t get me wrong, I love that Rose was carried over from Eccleston’s tenure into Tennant’s, but I believe that Martha meeting 10 as he is for the first time in this series was beneficial to them building a better chemistry. Also, it’s great and refreshing to see the Doctor get his first black female companion in the show’s history. Overall, probably one of my fav companions so far, if not my favorite.

Not much to add in regards to David Tennant’s performance as the 10th Doctor, but I’ll heap praise anyways. He’s just as charismatic as he was last season, never phoning it in for even a second. All of 10’s big emotional and personality quirks can really be chalked up to Tennant’s clear love of the material, which was also apparent in the previous two Doctor actors I’ve covered thus far.

Besides the Doctor and Martha, Series 3 also had a really big moment that I was pleasantly surprised to see be built up so well: the return of The Master. Last time I saw that character in this speedrun watch-through, he was ‘90s Eric Roberts doing his best impression of an effeminate man. I was wondering how he’d inevitably return after his fate in the TV movie, so I genuinely felt the rug pulled out from under me when he was revealed to have been hiding right under my nose as Professor Yana in Utopia. Derek Jacobi played both the unassuming professor and the menacing Master really well, so props to him. As for his almost immediate successor, John Simm as the 7th Master, I must admit…. not really my thing. I will admit he had some great moments that made me truly hate him (which in turn made me like him more cuz well y’know he’s the villain duhh), but the over the top flamboyance just gave me major BBC Sherlock Moriarty vibes. idk, again I still haven’t seen the classic series in its entirety yet, so maybe that’s just how the Master is, but I’m inclined to believe Stephen Moffat is the common denominator in this specific characterization. Despite my criticisms tho, Simm’s chemistry with Tennant was really fun. Much more dynamic than the complete diva Paul McGann had to act off of.

Favorite Episodes

• Blink

• The Shakespeare Code

• The Lazarus Experiment

• Human Nature

• The Family of Blood

• Daleks in Manhattan

• Evolution of the Daleks

• Utopia

Favorite Moments

• The entirety of Blink was a really clever well done treat for me. It felt a lot like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it just played with Doctor Who’s version of time travel so well and to such great effect. The Weeping Angels are now some of the Doctor’s most iconic foes, which is well deserved because they are super memorable and scary as fuck. Also it was funny to see baby Carey Mulligan here lol

• The moment Professor Yana reveals himself to be The Master was so crazy cool. Like just a few seconds earlier when he started acting weird and jaded I was thinking “holy shit is he the Master he’s gotta be the Master” and I was right 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

• I appreciate that Martha mentions how William Shakespeare doesn’t look exactly like he does in the famous portraits we have of him. It’s still kind of a topic of speculation as to what exactly he looked like in his youth, so I liked that she’d pick up on that.

• “Come on. We can all have a good flirt later!” “Is that a promise, Doctor?” “Oh, 57 academics just punched the air.” I love this show

• They should induct Blink into the National Film Registry for preservation just for the introduction of the phrase “wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff” alone

• Captain Jack Harkness (great to see him back btw) is THE FACE OF BOE????????????????? not sure how to feel about that. points for creativity tho

• tryna just chill and watch The Lazarus Experiment then BOOM!!!!! MARK GATIS JUMPSCARE AHHHHHHHHH

• The sound of a militaristic drumbeat constantly playing in the Master’s head is a great motif. One of the things I did like about Simm’s portrayal was how well he got across the maddening effect of the drumbeat’s sound in his head.

• The series finale was soooo crazy. I loved how the consequences of the Master’s plan were shown to have been so hard to crack that it took a whole year for them to even get close to him. It really built up the Master as a new kind of villain for this revamped version of the show. Also, fucking good on Martha for busting her ass to travel the globe and gather the support of millions. She’s such a badass

• “Good old J.K.!” *thousand yard stare*

Alright, that about wraps it up for Series 3! I had a great time with this series, even if it took me a bit to get through. Time to crack on, though. Gotta keep this speedrun train going. Onto Series 4, which (for the most part) marks David Tennant’s final tenure as the 10th Doctor.

[pedritomosquito]

Wardrobe Malfunction

Summary: Bella feels awful in her form-fitting costume. Pedro and Craig swoop in.

Pairing: No Pairings, just Pedro & Bella

Word count: ~1.6k

Warnings: Gender dysphoria, panic attack

A/N: Bella did an interview where she said that she wore a binder for 90% of filming and that Pedro was the biggest supporter of it. This fic is how I imagine that conversation went down.

This is an incredibly self-indulgent fic written with little to no skill lol. I thought my fellow trans/non-binary/gender queer friends might find some solace in it, so I decided to post it anyway.

Bella walked back from the wardrobe department completely numb. 

In the previous episodes they’d shot, she always had multiple layers on. Usually an undershirt, a flannel, and a hoodie covered her frame, obscuring any details of her figure.

But now she was dressed in a snug long sleeve top.

She just nodded as they did the fitting, complacent with whatever choices they made. This was the outfit wardrobe wanted–what Craig and Neil wanted. She trusted them and letting them down wasn’t an option. She should really just get over it, despite the growing sickness pooling in her stomach.

She stood in her trailer, staring at her reflection, peering at herself from every angle. Her figure was soft and rounded in all the wrong places. She didn’t look like herself, her appearance too foreign. She was mismatched and her outside was incongruous with the rest of her. Everything was wrong. She couldn’t barely even explain what or why, but it was wrong . Maybe if she really slouched… No, that wasn’t enough. It wasn’t fucking enough . 

Her throat squeezed tight and she couldn’t bear it. The thought that this strange version of her was going to be permanently etched into television for everyone to see made her desperate. Without a single thought, she picked up a water bottle and chucked it at the mirror. The outburst didn’t supply any relief and she spun around, folding over herself like she could store her body away. 

She wrapped her arms so tightly around her chest, she could hardly breathe. She dropped to the floor and let the sobs overtake her. 

—----

Pedro checked his phone as he wandered over to Bella’s trailer to pick her up. They usually walked to set together and their lunch break was just about over. As he approached the door, he froze–there was crying coming from inside. 

“Bella?!” He knocked on the door and got no response, just hearing more cries. “I’m coming in, honey!” He warned her. He’d bust down the door if he had to. 

He swung the door open and stepped inside. He found her sitting in a heap on the floor, tears soaking her cheeks.

“Oh, Bellie,” He breathed. She finally looked up at him as he knelt down in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t answer. She didn’t know how to explain herself. She just cried harder, leaning towards him.

He sat down and pulled her into his arms.

“It’s okay, just breathe,” He tried, “It’s okay.” 

He didn’t know what could have made her that upset, but he can’t say he’s surprised. Bella was only nineteen years old and the stakes were unbelievably high for this project. The shooting schedule they had was brutal. He never could have handled the amount of stress she was under when he was nineteen.

He continued to reassure her, softly rubbing circles on her back. He waited until she had calmed down a bit before asking her to speak.

“What happened, Bella?” He asked gently.

“I feel wrong ,” She sobbed

Pedro’s frown deepened.

“What do you mean, honey?” He pulled away a bit to take a look at her, pushing back some stray hair that stuck to her tear tracks.

“I don’t feel like… myself… in this,” She replied, unlacing her arms and pulling at her shirt. “Millions of people are going to see me and I can’t–I just want my binder.” She hid her face against his shoulder, covering herself back up and letting more tears stream down her face.

“Bella,” He sighed, hugging her tight. “You don’t have to wear anything you don’t want to.”

“But this is what they want, it’s what Craig and Neil want,” She replied defeatedly, “It’s my job to give them what they want.”

“You don’t owe anything to anyone if it’s something that makes you uncomfortable with yourself,” He said, “And I can guarantee you Craig and Neil would never want you to feel like this. Did you talk to them about it?”

“I don’t want to be difficult,” She said.

“You’re not being difficult, not at all. It’s a simple costume change, honey. They change our wardrobe a hundred times before choosing something anyway, you know that.” He assured her. “Is it okay if I talk to Craig?” He asked, “And then we can talk to him together?”

She picked her head up, giving him a wary look.

“I’m not going to let you leave this trailer until you’re wearing something that makes you feel like you. I’ll be the ‘difficult’ one, okay?”

“Okay,” She nodded.

“Why don’t we get you on the couch?” He offered.

“Sorry, I don’t know why I ended up on the floor,” She apologized sheepishly.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” He replied, “Being on the hard floor is actually a great way to soothe your nervous system, sort of like a weighted blanket. You did it instinctually.” He explained as he helped her to her feet and guided her to sit on the sofa.

“How the hell do you know this stuff?”

“You overestimate my emotional stability, madam,” He joked, getting a giggle out of her. He got a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders so she could finally release her arms. He grabbed the fallen water bottle and retrieved some tissues, placing them next to her.

“I’ll be right back,” He smoothed her hair and gave her a little smile before stepping outside.

He spotted one of the PA’s and called after her.

“Cindy!” 

“Mr. Pascal, what can I do for you?” She asked, noting his serious expression.

“Can you let Craig know we need him in Bella’s trailer? It’s urgent.”

“Of course,” She replied. She pressed her walkie talkie. “Cindy to Matthew?”

“Go for Matthew,” a voice replied.

“I have Mr. Pascal here–he needs Mr. Maizin to Miss Ramsey’s trailer. It’s urgent.”

“Maizin to Ramsey’s trailer, got it,” The voice confirmed, “I’m getting him now.”

“Thank you so much, Cindy,” Pedro said.

“You’re welcome,” She replied, “I’ll make sure he gets here.”

Craig was a man on a mission when he was told Pedro and Bella were having some kind of emergency. It was less than two minutes before he was knocking on the trailer door.

“Pedro?” Craig called.

Pedro met him at the door and led him away, out of earshot of the trailer.

“You know what a chest binder is, right?” Pedro began.

Craig wasn’t sure what he expected this conversation to be about, but it definitely wasn’t this. Where was he going with this?

“Yes,” Craig replied.

“It wouldn’t be a problem if Bella wore one with her wardrobe, would it?”

“No, of course not,” He replied, “They can wear it if they want.”

“The poor thing, I found them absolutely hysterical over it,” Pedro explained sadly.

“Oh god, I had no idea,” Craig sighed. “Absolutely they can wear it. Are they doing okay now?”

“Yeah, I got them calmed down,” Pedro said.

“Alright, let’s go have a chat,” Craig replied.

Bella’s eyes looked up as they entered. Craig took in the sight of her, curled up on the couch in a blanket, eyes puffy and red. 

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, lip trembling. 

“Aw kiddo,” He swept over to her and sat down, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his side. “There is nothing to be sorry for. You can do whatever makes you feel comfortable with your costumes. You can absolutely wear a binder, or we could rework the whole outfit if that would be better, whatever you need. I didn’t even think to ask you about it. I’m so sorry.”

“I didn’t mean to make a big deal out of it, I just… I panicked,” she replied quietly.

“This is a big deal–it’s a big deal to us,” He said, looking to Pedro too, “You being uncomfortable is a big deal. Your well-being is more important than anything, you hear me?”

She nodded. 

“Do you have a binder with you?” Craig asked. 

She nodded again. 

“Okay. How about we break for a couple of hours, I want you to rest, alright?” He advised, “And then we can go to wardrobe together and get you fitted for some better costumes. That sound okay?”

“Yeah,” she said with relief. 

“You know you can always, always talk to me or Neil or Pedro about this kind of stuff, right?” Craig asked. “If you’re upset or uncomfortable with anything or even if you’re just not sure about something—please talk to us. We want to help.”

Her eyes start to water again. 

“Have I ever mentioned how much I love you guys?”

“In passing,” Craig joked. 

“On occasion,” Pedro agreed.

Finally, they got a smile out of her. 

“Change into anything you want and relax for a bit,” Craig said, “I’ll come by at three to check on you, alright?”

“Alright,” she replied, another small smile on her face. 

Craig gave her shoulder a squeeze and a gentle playful tug on her ponytail. 

“See you later,” he said as he departed. 

“See you.”

“Where are your clothes baby girl?” He knew she would get a kick out of the nickname. 

Bella gives a mock gasp.

“Oh my goodness, did I just get blessed with a ‘baby girl?!’” She asked. “I’ll pitch a fit over my dysphoria more often if it means I get the full Joel experience!”

“You’re too much,” Pedro laughed. “Clothes?” He asked again. 

“Right, they’re in my bag,” She pointed at the blue duffle in the corner. 

He handed it over to her and he sat down facing away from her so she could change. 

“Okay,” She announced when she was finished. 

“Better?” He asked, turning around to look at her. 

“Better,” she dropped back down onto the couch. 

“You look wiped, honey. What do you think, do you want to take a nap?” He offered. 

“Mhm,” she nodded, getting comfortable and pulling the blanket back over herself. 

“Get some rest,” He said, getting up to leave.

“Stay?” She interrupted.

“Of course,” He smiled.

[quietwingsinthesky]

what is a ship and popular spn headcanon/Interpretation you dislike?

In general I don’t really dislike any ships? Like the worst I can say is that I'm squicked out by a few (johndean or johnsam, etc, i have the boring version of daddy issues that make that a bad zone for me) or that i'm extremely bored by them (destiel, for the most part, which i got very burnt out on very quickly and most of the popular interpretations are v uninteresting to me.) but like 90% of the time if there's a ship that i'm given even the slightest hint of a good reason to tune into it, i'm there, i love it. i'm now invested in metatron/zachariah because of shitposting about it. they're boyfriends btw.

trying to think of a new one that i haven't complained about before lmao (you know, lucifer characterization, castiel's rewrite into being Different being annoying, how dean should be a bad person actually it makes him more interesting stop flattening him)

uhmmm. i don't really like the tendency in this fandom to group soulless sam in with 'evil' variant of the tfw? i don't really like that people tend to treat him as evil at all. he's very much not that. i stand by the fact that the worst thing he does on screen (letting dean be turned) is not as cut and dry Bad and Evil Scheming as people make it out to be. it was a terrible thing for him to do, but he didn't do it because he wanted dean to die or anything. he does it because he knows they need an in with the vamps, he knows there's a cure, and to me, the most telling bit, he is so sure in the fact that dean would never feed on anyone that he knows the cure is going to work on him. there is a lot to unpack about soulless!sam and dean's relationship, but it's pretty clear to me that a lot of sam's soul instincts to trust dean carry over to his body, that soulless!sam values his relationship with dean, in a different way than sam with a soul does, but he does.

like. soulless!sam is ruthless. he's disconnected from emotional shit. he's not evil. the other worst thing he attempts to do, kill bobby, is in response to learning they want to stick his soul back in him. his soul. which has been in hell for who knows how long. and might not even be functional anymore. he is working out of self-preservation there, and it's awful, but it's understandable! anyway. soulless!sam is sexy. not evil. i rest my case. we can stop lining him up next to demon!dean and godstiel.

[katie5000]

Episode 8, let's goooo~

It also points out early on that despite being twins, Vash does not appear to have any plant abilities; thus, he needs to eat, sleep etc while apparently Nai does not.

Nai pointing this fact out leads Vash to assert, "Hey, I'm a plant, too." This would seem to suggest that perhaps Nai gives Vash shit about his plant status because of the differences, and that perhaps Vash has a bit of insecurity about it as a result.

We haven’t learned [yet] that her long term significant other had passed away yet, spurring her to take the current job as a Seeds team member.  There is also the subtextual fact that it is clear she’d been thinking of having a family with that man. 

I wonder if we'll get any of this exposition before Stampede ends.

However, instead of being forced to travel with Nai after the catastrophe and sticking with his brother out of guilt and not understanding Rem’s last message to him, in Stampede Vash flees from the start.

This is not the 90s anime, no. But I'd assume you know that by now. So Nai is clearly unhinged and has outed Vash as an accomplice. Vash is frightened and doesn't know how to handle the situation, so he naturally runs away (he's the equivalent of a ten-year-old at this point in time).

There is a horror scene of dying people reaching out to him and Vash runs off screaming and apologizing before collapsing in the desert near a group of survivors...

Vash's ankle is grabbed by a badly burned survivor and it frightens him. He then notices all the bodies strewn around him and begins to run, horrified at the sheer scale of the disaster. He imagines the dead chasing after him to punish him for what he did, even though he begs for their forgiveness. Vash runs until he collapses, when he is then found by a scouting party looking for survivors.

The apparently are on ship three which did not crash and are trying to survive what happened.

Ship 3 did not crash because the crew were able to activate their gravity plant in the nick of time, or so says Brad.

Wow, love how simple it is for Luida to confirm that Vash is a plant with a simple flashlight!  It was better in the original that it was not all that obvious that he was a plant.

Sigh. But once again, this series is not that series. And I don't care if it was "better" in the original - this is how they're doing it here.

At any rate, I believe in the original manga, Luida, Brad, and the others on the flying ship know what Vash and Knives are, and that Vash and Knives have a conflict. This part of the episode is attempting to show how they came by that knowledge.

We also learn that the woman with dark hair is Luida from the original uncrashed ship...

What's more, we learn that her name is Luida Leitner. She strikes me here as being a younger version of the Luida from the manga - she has yet to age into that Luida. She seems to know a thing or two about plants, though: notably, that they can produce independent offspring on rare occasions. Brad wants to know more, and Luida suggests Conrad: it's revealed that both he and Vash were on the same ship (as per the manga).

Vash does not say much about Nai at this time, other than to suggest that he probably died in the crash...

The ship is surrounded in a sandstorm that conceals it from the outside with bursts of lighting soooo . . .

I wonder if this is a side-effect of activating the gravity plant for some reason. Hm.

Anyhoo, as the flashback continues Luida tries to be compassionate to Vash while Brad is a dick.

It seems that Brad is a dick in every single version of Trigun that exists. XD

We get it, they don’t trust him because he’s a plant and Vash at the moment isn’t very interested in living...They don’t trust Vash, keep him locked up and he’s not too motivated to eat...

Well, that's a rather flippant dismissal. Brad does not trust him, but then Brad always was paranoid - Luida is more on the fence. Anyway, the pattern of Vash foregoing his meals (or fasting) as a form of penance is first established here while he is in confinement on Ship 3. During this time Vash also struggles with feelings of inadequacy, since he is a plant but doesn't seem to produce anything.

We learn that they tried to recover the black box from ship five and any of Rem’s possessions which appear to be a journal and some photos.

Luida finds out that Rem was like a mother to Vash, so she has Brad see what he can recover from the wreckage of Ship 5. It is later revealed that Rem died at her post, trying her damndest to prevent the crash.

They do also recover the black box, though it takes them 5 years to "fix" it enough to get any data off of it.

Finally, to give Vash a plant ability, he learn that he can talk to the plants...he travels around with Brad assisting in plant mental health counseling.  What does he do?  Chat with them, make them feel better and it fixes the problem?

Vash appears to be an empath. I suspect what he does is anchor them both physiologically and psychologically, and then give them a bit of his energy to bolster them - this would be why his hair is half-dark as an adult. It may also be why he needs to eat and sleep like a human - he needs to recover his own energy so that he's not drained dry.

More importantly, though, this scene serves to show how Vash's disposition improves greatly once he discovers his ability and finds a purpose. Being a plant healer also allows Vash to make some atonement for what happened - though he could not stop the crash, he can now use his new ability to make sure that those who survived it are able to keep doing so.

Part 2.

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man 7 Part 2

So MM7 was the first mainline game to introduce a mid level between the first and last 4. Technically some of the gameboy games did it first.

Speaking of, the Robot Museum is both one of the dumbest and also most unsettling things in the series: first off the robots in expositions are the real deals and not statues or replicas,< in a world with a mad scientist known for stealing robots. Brilliant

But most of all this has got to be unsettling from a robot’s perspective right? Like imagine walking into a museum where the corpses of humans are preserved for history’s sake, I’m pretty sure Reploid society would look back at this and see this as revolting.

This is also when the story starts getting stupid, at the start of the game Bass literally attacks Mega Man out of the blue with the flimsy excuse of “I was testing your power to see if you could stand up to Wily (for the seventh time?), and yet both Dr.Light and Megaman don’t hesitate to trust him even though they have no idea who created him. Between this, Mega man seemingly letting Wily go the first 2 times and Light believing Wily about being reformed, I’m starting to think Knuckles and Silver might have some competition.

Slash Man is the worst of the bunch, his level may be charming but his fight is borderline cheap due to that goop that falls randomly incapacitating you, and hitting him with the Fire Wheel’s delayed animation is awkward (yes I know he’s also weak to the Freeze Cracker but will you know this the first time around?)

On the flipside I love Turbo Man, just this beautiful encapsulation of the 90s

Also Spring Man has the same boob-gems as Zero. I know it’s because MM7 had the same character artist as X1 and 2 but I don’t care, Wily partially based Zero’s design on Spring Man’s I will die on this hill

Also: this is where the official translation starts doing its own thing. this is something I had never realised until someone pointed it out but in the official Protoman calls Mega Man brother. Here’s the thing: Mega Man is not supposed to know that Proto Man is his brother, that little slideshow at the end of MM3 is only for the player, and we never see Light telling Rock.

This ties into Protoman’s character being a homage to a Speed Racer character, the older brother of the protagonist who everyone thought was dead but is actually secretly helping his brother using a new identity to hide his real one from him.

Also Bass says “Damn” in the English version during that cutscene in Shade Man’s stage. Of all games to want to make forcibly edgy is a Classic game with a cute artstyle