#i don't even have the energy to read analysis posts on tumblr

[disdaidal]

I don't know but I am so going to get a bad grade on tomorrow's literature test. I'm looking at previous tests and their "example answers" and I'm like .... what.

RIP.

[andy-wm]

i'm wondering how your thesis of "idols will come out when they want" fits into your insane shadow analysis attempting to prove jimin and jungkook fucked in the middle of their travel show (amongst other things)? like do you get joy out or trying to drag someone out of a closet they might not be in? or is it something else? just curious! 😀

Hey wdcmaxy

Since you have the guts to use your name I'll respond :)

So, you read my thesis?

*Sips whisky*

Cool. And you read my insane shadow analysis too?

Hmmm... do you come here often?

Let me answer your question then.

I think we both know the shadows analysis isn't really insane - it's based on very basic earth science. Shadows grow longer as the day progresses because of the rotation of the earth on its axis. You sound reasonably literate so i assume you know this already.

I guess your description of my shadow analysis ( I think I'll name my next racehorse 'Shadow Analysis') as insane is an attempt to discredit the idea that a fair bit of time passed while Tae was out of the house? But that was kinda silly on your part. Even children know that shadows change as the day passes.

Nothing insane about it.

He was gone for hours, no debate.

Now let's move on to the fucking part, and when and how idols choose to come out.

This is actually worth discussing.

As flattered as i am that you think my tiny insignificant blog could be a game changer for anyone, let's be real.

How many people, besides yourself, do you think read my blog?

Serious question.

I'm estimating maybe 100. Double that on a good day. Maybe 300 if i write something REALLY profound which doesn't happen often.

I am way less excited about my impact on the world than you are, because I'm a realist.

BUT if by some strange twist of fate my blog came to the attention of someone whose opinion mattered (I'm not counting you, don't worry) do you think they would take it seriously? Do you REALLY imagine a random tumblr post about shadows could make someone believe that an idol was gay if they didn't already believe it?

Here's a great example of how that wouldn't happen:

You, dear reader.

You're my example.

You came here to tell me I'm speaking shit and that I should pull my head in, correct? My insane shadow analysis hasn't changed your beliefs at all. You're here, throwing a tantrum on my page, because you don't agree with what I'm saying, not because you suddenly believe it.

Or ...

Perhaps you suspect it's true and that scares you. Maybe you can't be absolutely sure I'm wrong and that's why you need to yell at me? Could that be it? Time for a bit of self reflection?

Either way, it's not going to make an iota of difference in the grand scheme of things.

We are all just dust motes floating through time and space, my friend. You dont need to worry so much. The universe is unfolding exactly as intended.

However... There are a couple of things we should agree on:

The fact is that the shadows grew long and therefore, time passed. And Tae was out for several hours. Maybe he went out for a bit of afternoon delight himself? Maybe Jimin and Jungkook played Pokemon Go all afternoon, or prayed, or practiced their English, or braided each other's hair.

Regardless of whether they did or didn't fuck, or how many times, or on what surfaces, the time still passed.

And whether I write my blog or not, people will believe what they believe. And they will be gay or they won't be gay.

And even though I never mentioned anything about them fucking in that post, whether you like it or not Jimin and Jungkook might be fucking right now, as you read this.

One last thing...

Please bear in mind, through all of this, that fucking is not the be all and end all of life. Sure its a lot of fun if you do it right but the notion that it's more meaningful than sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings, or giving someone your time and energy, is bullshit.

You can have a roots-deep love for someone and never even think of fucking them. Or you can meet someone in a public toilet and have at it, and leave without even knowing their name.

Sex does not equal love. Fucking is not that big of a big deal.

Unless...

Unless you're fucking someone the patriarchy doesn't want you to fuck. Then its a major issue.

Hear me out.

The need to control who we fuck is based a patriarchal need to control material wealth.

To control material wealth, the patriarchy needs to control reproduction (so they can be sure their wealth stays with their bloodline, because wealth is built over many generations) and to do THAT they need to control womens' bodies.... and to do that, of course they need to control who women fuck. And who men fuck too!

Do you know what the ACTUAL issue is with men who like dick? They don't automatically buy into the patriarchal way of life. (where's the solidarity, lads?)

Why don't they?

Because lifelong monogamy and marriage and nuclear families don't matter as much when you're not equating love with sex, and sex with reproduction. When your goal isn't to accumulate wealth and pass it down to your children.

Same thing applies to women who love women. They aren't focused on being demure and pleasing the men in power. They aren't focused on making themselves wife material. They will challenge the status quo and maybe even (shock! horror!) decide not to have children. How the heck do you make sure your money and power stays in the family, how do you build an empire, when the women are perfectly happy having sex with each other and don't want to love, honour and obey??

And whose fault is all this?

Its got to be the damned queers, right? They're making people think there might be other ways to share your life with those you care about! That's why its important to squash down gayness whenever you can, right, wdcmaxy?

Look at them destroying the fabric of society!

If Jimin and Jungkook ARE fucking every chance they get, good for them. I hope they're balls deep and breathless, hitting all those sweet spots for each other having a really good time.

And if they're not fucking, it actually doesn't matter to me because the way they support each other and share their hearts is beautiful. (I do think they are fucking though)

Truthfully, whatever they're doing, as long as they're happy I'm happy.

Can you say the same, wdcmaxy?

Peace.

[ladyluscinia]

I know my last experience with a season ending on a note everyone hated and unanimously tore to fucking shreds for destroying the story on every level was... atypical. Lockdown. 6 month mass hysteria at minimum. Conspiracy theories that were, like, real things we had on camera. There was a Twitter wedding. Creative fervor that broke 100k fics on AO3.

Like. I know this is not a rational point of comparison and I'm not going to expect anything in my lifetime to match it 🤣

But.

If that was the highest high of post-season fandom engagement built on a cocktail of tasting everything you ever wanted AND the absolutely lethal levels of spite and swearing to eat showrunners' hearts in the marketplace, then whatever the fuck is going on after OFMD S2 is the opposite of that.

OFMD S1 was a huge fandom explosion. One silly little streaming show that had a gay kiss and then it skyrocketed. Fic numbers were soaring, high activity fic and meta engagement lasted for at least four months, it was constantly trending and flooding the dash... Like, fucking hell, over a year and a half after the immediate finale fervor it beat Stucky in the top ships bracket?!? To the point I was willing to give it what felt like due credit toward its potential as a future juggernaut ship. Not guaranteed, of course, but the potential was there.

In that context, new content should be a blow out party. Which it kinda was pulling off as it was airing, but looking back now? Not even quite a month later?

The effect of S2 on the fandom is like... a blip. Possibly over already.

New fic numbers started dropping off the moment the finale aired and have returned to deep hiatus levels. It's dropped off trending and streaming leaderboards... I'm very curious to see the first tumblr Week in Review since the finale, though we're still waiting due to the holiday.

Like, I've even popped on to scroll a few Izzy hater blogs that I know loved the finale out of morbid curiosity what they were up to, and I'm telling you... if I hadn't just watched the new season I'd think they were still over a year into hiatus. Saw some standard bitching about the izcourse / Edward takes (aka the one thing that kept them going all hiatus), they're currently passing around posts mocking one specific long OFMD version of TJLC I'm just hearing of, the same BTS gifsets everyone else is thrilled by... But barely any new meta or discussions. There's like 2 people posting actual analysis of S2 that's getting reblogged and they aren't even names I recognize from the hiatus. Nor is it particularly interesting to read. 🤷‍♀️

In July of 2022 I could pop onto a random OFMD blog and scroll through a dozen enthusiastic Stede or BlackBonnet metas about jacket colors or that moth from 1x07 or lighthouse symbolism or whatever. Now the new stuff has the same energy as posts from June 2023. It's borderline dead. And this is what it's like when there's an active campaign to engage fandom and Renew as a Crew?

(I will say fanartists are bringing some energy and there's some lovely pieces being passed around, which I do think the Renew as a Crew campaign is helping to boost?)

Even the hundreds of people saying it was a beautiful season and they loved it so much don't seem to be finding it a very engaging or inspiring season.

It's such a turn, like, what the fuck.

[pinkysgallery]

Omg hi!!

This may come off as a bit late, but I just wanted to tell you that after reading chapters 1-2-3 of your Wakfu fanfic Collision in English, I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT 💖❤️❤️

Seriously, this might just be one of the best Wakfu fanfics I’ve ever read on Wattpad (AO3 is a whole other breed 👹💕) of all places and I’m so grateful I even came across it thanks to you on tumblr!!

I just finished reading chapters 4 and 5 right now AND I NEED MORE ❤️❤️

I don’t know how you did it, but you perfectly did everything right! You managed to properly convey some of the sadidas’ opinions about the eliatropes, you even showed an elite eliatrope’s perspective on their history (from their days back in the Genesis era to today), you portrayed each character so accurately, and you managed to fill up what we were missing before the season 4 finale.

Honestly, I think you’re extremely good at what you do and I love the way you had the idea to start the fic right before season 4’s final episode.

You make my day everytime you upload and it’s always worth it 💖💖💖

Thank you so much for even finding the time and energy to translate the chapters!! 💕💕💕

Mmm, ok, let me take a moment to...

Cof cof, ok, I'm fine☕️💦

Thank you SO MUCH for giving it a try to Collision, and for your quick review, it means A LOT 🤧💙💚. I've been following your neat blogs and reviews for a while now, and let's just say that I've been taking notes 👀☕️💦 So I can say that most of the development is thanks to your analysis influence 👉👈💙💚

I've been a little concerned about how the English version is being received, cause I still don't have much feedback there, and I've been posting the translation feeling that is not 100% accurate, but doing it anyway for that part of the fandom's sake, cause I wanted them to read it too, even though I know my English is not perfect 🤧👉👈💕

The Spanish version, on the other hand, is receiving more feedback (depending on how juicy is the chapter) and it has already 32 chapters that I've been writing and posting on the go, and it keeps going. So, don't worry, you'll have more juicy content eventually 😏☕️���️

Or maybe in a few minutes... 👀💦

I decided to post the translation this way so I could take time to manage both versions, keep posting on AO3, keep making art, and post to my social media, while I deal with my real life and keep translating...

I'm fine, really👉👈💦

So your feedback and support mean to me MUCH MORE THAN YOU THINK, and refill me with motivation to keep up the hard work 🤧🤌💙💚

Thanks again for passing by and giving it a chance 🥹💙💚 Please do not hesitate to give me your opinion, or suggestions, that also help me to improve and defeat the creative block that I get sometimes 😅🫠💕

[your--isgayrights]

do you have any favorite meta or analysis from yourself or other people for orv? reading peoples takes in the meta channel of orvcord (orv discord) was addicting and i want more. even if you dont I still want to hear you talk about things you like like its philosophy or inspiration and stuff.

Aaah, ok, I tried to answer this ask a few days ago and wrote like a few paragraphs each for some of my favorite meta things, but Tumblr just like deleted it when I tried to post（ TT 。TT ）... I've posted these things before and don't have the same energy to completely resummarize them so if you don't wanna search through my archive for the og posts you can go ahead and ask specifying questions but I'm just gonna list my favorite meta things to analyze.

1. JHY's transmess & progression of transfem portrayals throughout the ORV narrative + implications on the idea of a 'character' between the expectations and intentions of writers and readers.

2. YSA's role in the story and commentary on relationship between female characters and roles with agency in narrative + emphasis on Journey to the West commentary in particular.

3. Reader/writer/character trifecta in ORV epilogues, particularly how the OD works in terms of KDJ's character, reader expectation, and the idea of 'probability.' + the idea that when KDJ looked up WoS the first time he genuinely just typed something like 'how do you keep living in a terrible world like this' and HSY's story with YJH was the answer that came up.

+ Bonus is drawing connections between KDJ's mom and the myth her constellation backer is from, that post might be more recent? Then of course anything that's like connections between KDJ's youth and the way he acts as an adult.

[zukosdualdao]

Im glad to read the takes of a fellow zuko stan :)

Honestly, it feels like people just hate on him way too much lately. The posts ive seen on twitter, on tik tok, on tumblr... Do people just not like him anymore? Why did everyone turn against him so suddenly? I've been hoping it's something temporary, just a trend, but. I don't know anymore. People mock his disability, spit on his trauma, wish death on him and interpret everything he says or does in the worst possible way. I saw someone crying about how entitled he was because he took aang's seat when watching the play just the other day lmao. Another person wrote about how mysoginistic he was because he didn't remember katara's name when asking about kya's death to sokka? There are those who even call him a colonizer on the same level as iroh lmao. It seems their justifications for all the salt they throw his way are along the lines of "he's been loved for too long, aang stans have suffered way more, people just watched the show again and realized how bad he actually was, he's catching strays since his fans keep setting him up, his fans paint him as perfect and erase every bad thing he's done" etc etc. I'm all for criticism and deeper character analysis, but this is just said in bad faith. I also think it has a bit to do with how different engagement has become in fandom spaces recently (things people support in fiction need to be morally correct) and well, zuko was the perfect target. He's done bad things, sides with the villains for a good portion of the series, redeems himself but there are things he still has to work on... I don't know, it's been getting to me. There are many other harsh things ive read said about him (like implying how every single member of the gaang hates even after redeeming himself), but i honestly don't have the energy to delve into each and every one. His arc was poorly executed and his development was badly written now, apparently. I kind of just ranted here, i apologize. Im very happy to read the posts of someone who genuinely likes him and doesnt throw him under the bus to defend or elevate other characters...

hi! i'm glad you're enjoying my blog <3 and no need to apologize for the rant, i'm always happy to talk about zuko!

about to theorize a bit as to why it seems like maybe zuko has become a more contentious character, but it should be noted i have not been exceptionally, actively involved in the fandom very long. i loved atla as a kid, have retained fond memories, have witnessed some discourse from the fringes over the years, but only recently has it overtaken my brain to the point of making a whole blog about it. lol. so, like, grain of salt, etc.

i think a big part of it is what you said - in the last few years of fandom in particular, it feels like there has been a huge upswing in purity culture, moralizing liking/not liking certain ships or characters, and an overall increase in very black-and-white thinking. there's also an emphasis on "holding people accountable" (good in theory), often without specifying what, exactly, that looks like (less good). the idea then becomes that if you've done harmful things, there's no way you can ever make up for them and should just, like, hate yourself for all eternity and also die, probably, which is not actually helpful to anyone.

so, i think for those who ascribe to that mindset, zuko is a prime candidate for them to criticize. and while there's nothing wrong with criticizing a character or their arc or writing if you truly have a problem with it, as you've said, a lot of the time, criticisms against zuko don't seem to be made in very good faith. after all, a big part of zuko's arc is having to unlearn some very black-and-white thinking. also, zuko is not a real person. he is a character, and therefore a narrative tool, and if we want him to be 'held accountable', we need look no further than the story itself, in which he is probably the character the narrative holds the most accountable for his actions due to his prior status as a villain.

(it reminds me a bit, actually, of another favorite character of mine: alec in the tv series shadowhunters. he starts out the story already in a heroic role, unlike zuko, but a big part of his narrative is unlearning some prejudiced cultural mindsets and challenging not only his previous ideologies, but his conception of himself and the people in his life as well. as a result, alec can look sometimes more obviously flawed than the other main cast, but the point is that the narrative asks him to examine those flaws and change and introspect and grow in a way that it doesn't always ask of other characters when they are showcasing their own flaws. which does make me thing about zuko vs. aang in the atla narrative.)

the other thing i think is contributing to zuko's more contentious status in the fandom is how long atla's been in the cultural consciousness, and how common it is for things that used to be popular to cycle through to people starting to criticize or actively hate it to people saying "no, actually, it's still pretty good, you just don't want to like a popular thing" (this is me rn), to maybe eventually getting popular again/at least in certain subsects of the audience. zuko was probably one of the most talked-about aspects of atla for a long time, and while i can understand how that could get frustrating (because there are some other really great characters and aspects of the story!), that's not, like, for no reason. people connected with and admired his story for a reason, and many still do, and (in my humble opinion) that is because it is one of the most thought-out, intentional, and nuanced character arcs of the show.

the ableism, i think, really gets to me because like... even if every criticism from the people who hate him were 100% accurate and said in good faith (they're not, but let's pretend for a minute)... that still wouldn't be an excuse for ableism against a character with a prominent facial difference (or making fun of abuse survivors for the permanent injuries they sustain from abuse.) if zuko had never redeemed himself and stayed a villain, it would still be wrong to talk about his scar and abuse the way some of his detractors do. and the show agrees with me! you know how i know? the only two characters to ever make fun of zuko's scar are villains in the narrative: zhao and azula. ("make fun of" might not be quite right for zhao, since what he said - "you have the scar to prove it" - is far more matter-of-fact than azula imitating him by covering her eye or "make sure they get your good side", but he's absolutely being a huge jerk about it.) other characters react to zuko's scar in all sorts of different ways, even when he's still in a villain/antagonist/anti-hero role: zuko's crew is horrified to learn how he got the scar, song sees a point of connection and tries to reach out to him, but, while i think well-intentioned, she breaks a major boundary by trying to touch his scar when he hasn't conveyed he's okay with that, jet makes assumptions about his background because of it, lee, the kid from zuko alone, asks with curious, childish naivete how he got it, only for his father to reprimand him for asking, aang reacts with annoyance/boredom to azula's ableist joke, and katara trips over her words to correct him when zuko thinks she's essentially calling him "scary to look at". not all of these interactions are positive, but the characters (all of whom are written as pretty sympathetic, even if also flawed) aren't outright trying to make fun of him for it, and the narrative never implies he deserves to be treated as less than because of it, even before his redemption.

anyway. if people don't believe in characters' (and, hell, irl people's) capacity for growth and change and don't want to have nuanced discussions about how trauma can impact these things, i mean... that's their prerogative, but i don't understand why they enjoy the show, because those are big parts of it (and not just wrt zuko.)

i know it can be frustrating, anon— trust me, i get very frustrated. but i promise you, there are plenty of people out there who a) still love zuko and his story and b) are capable of and willing to talk about things with nuance and in good faith. i'm happy to be part of that corner of fandom, and i bet you can manage to carve out a space where more people like that exist, too! <3

[semidecentpoet]

Queer Christian "mini" ramble :P

I'm a nonbinary lesbian and a practicing Catholic Christian, and ik that Christianity has been and continues to be used as a justification for queerphobia (by people who have clearly never read a Bible smh), but that hasn't stopped me from thinking ab how even just the themes of faith and queerness collide and intersect and come together and shit in such,,,,, just,,,,, beautiful ways imo???

Even going beyond the whole "Love thy neighbor as thyself" and Jesus just being a Swell Guy—The Swell Guy—it can get really fucking interesting, especially considering the context of modern times (I'm a little coo-coo for literary analysis, so just allow me to get my energy out here lol)

Like, Isaiah 49:15 says, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" (wording varies based on the version of Bible, but you get the picture)

God is literally saying, "I love you even if your own mother doesn't," and somehow, in the context of so many queer kids getting kicked out/disowned by their parents—to the point where 28% of queer youth have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives as of 2021—too many fucking Christians think God hates gays??? Pick up the damn Book, bitches???

God is an ally, you fake motherfuckers. Leave Their kids alone, goddamn.

(As an aside, I don't want to make anyone feel like I'm pushing my faith onto them, especially when it comes from a religion and institution that has done a lot of fucking harm. I'm not trying to convert anyone—that would be a bitch move. I just get really excited about these two parts of my identity that are very important to me lol)

I feel like this adds up to the bigger point that God is all ab the OutcastsTM, those who mainstream society has marginalized and all that. Several examples from the Gospel to support this come to mind immediately, but listing them all would take a Hot Minute.

But this line from Isaiah is one I think ab a lot. In a text that relies heavily on parable—to the point where you'd think more Christians would understand what metaphors are by now—this line hits especially hard in the context of today bc it's something that literally happens frequently to a specific group of people.

It's eery, at the very least, how on-point it is.

To anyone that's read this far—not to be that cheesy Christian, but I'm gonna be that cheesy Christian—God loves you. Even if you're not religious or have a rocky relationship with religion, I want you to know that God loves you. I have textual evidence and everything. Take it or leave it, doesn't matter <3

At the very least, I, some okay-ish poet on Tumblr (who rarely posts any actual poetry lol), am in your corner. Should you ever need it <3

Ok, ramble over, go drink some water. Hydrate or die straight, you sexy bitches

[douglysium]

Episode 20 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(​What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 19. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (Episode 19 TMP Quick Thoughts).

However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.

These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.

Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don't really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you're getting all the nuances.

These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.

Episode 20 “Social Stigma”

This is yet another episode I find interesting because we actually get to hear about some of what’s happening from Ink5oul. But first, we start in the breakroom of the OIAR as Sam, Celia, and Alice have a conversation about the Institute and some of the stuff surrounding the OIAR and the government. The transcripts note “Sam, Alice and Celia enter. Sam is almost vibrating with nervous energy.” and Alice says “This had better be worth all these theatrics…”

Celia makes it clear that Sam wanted to talk in the breakroom to avoid having the computers listen in on the conversation. Alice is clearly annoyed and says “If this is more neurotic conspiracy shit about the Magnus bloody Institute…” before Sam immediately tries to talk about what led to the Institute’s destruction. Alice is afraid Sam will become paranoid like Colin but Celia tries to vouch for Sam’s sanity. Sam reveals that he thinks Starkwall killed the Magnus Institute on behalf of the OIAR. Celia questions the fact that a security company would do this but Alice argues “They’re more than a security company. They’re a PMC, Mercenaries. It’s not impossible.” Sam says what he thinks the Protocol in the last episode involves: “Burned it to the ground and killed everyone who worked there. That’s what “The Protocol” is.” This would match up with the Protocol’s connection to the burning of the Magnus Institute, Great Fire of London, and the stories of Isaac Newton having lost 20 years of research to a fire. This could also mean that the strange fire seen in Episode 7 (Give and Take) was in fact this Protocol in action, considering all the machine gun fire too.

Alice warns Sam against snooping around secret government stuff but Sam still wants to get to the bottom of this and brings up the case from last episode. Sam explains “Okay, so, it talks about “The Protocol” right, about how it was used to reign in weird stuff Newton was working on and it reminded me of what happened with the Institute, but I mean, it’s 300 years, right? No way it could be the same thing? Right?” “But I had an email when I got in tonight. It contained a bunch of files from 1999. Some… paperwork between Starkwall, or GSR Security as they were back then, and William Price, who used to run the response department. The documents were very thorough, and what wasn’t redacted was pretty clear. They totalled the Institute.” Alice asks who sent this mysterious email and Sam says “I don’t know. The email address was gibberish and when I tried to reply it went nowhere.” This email is probably somehow related to the one Sam received from someone named “John” in Episode 7 (Give and Take). In that episode Sam tells Colin “Uh anyway yeah, I was wondering if you knew who “John” was?” and explains “I got a weird email from “John” with a random name and an address and it looks like it’s from an internal email so… ” However, Sam doesn’t mention the newer email having any name attached to it so it could be from a different person, thing, faction, etc. (such as ERROR). If you want to subscribe to the idea that Jon, Martin, and Jonah somehow have a connection to the computers then you could say that the email’s address depends on which voice is sending it. But there’s not anything really concrete at the moment and Sam doesn’t mention the email coming from an internal source like the first one did.

Alice basically admits that she is pulling a season 1 Jonathon Sims by using feigned denial and ignorance as coping method when she responds to Sam’s “So you believe there might be something to it?” with “Of course I do! That’s why I’ve been trying so hard to protect you!” Alice states that Sam is putting himself in danger by going through classified documents and “I don’t know what the OIAR looked like in 1999, but I know what it looks like now, and it’s basically the five of us and Colin, who, I might remind you, has already lost it. I seriously doubt we’re still doing covert Protocol shit. We can’t even turn up on time!” Celia points out that Lena is secretive but Alice retorts with “(restrained) Okay class. Let’s entertain the ridiculous notion that that kind of stuff is somehow still going on. Now do we think that sticking our nose right in the middle of that steaming mess and taking a big old whiff is a good idea or a terminally bad one?” Alice does have a point about the staff but I suppose the other staff members Alice wouldn’t be able to take into account are the various Externals like Mowbray and Bonzo. These Externals might be the people / things aiding the OIAR in enacting this Protocol with Starkwall and it’s also possible that any target the Protocol misses is later cleaned up by an External such as Bonzo or Mowbray.

Sam doesn’t believe that Alice can be okay with working for such a shady government but Alice explains “Look, of course I’m not happy with anything about this. We’re trapped in a vicious, petty, awful machine that rules over a vicious, petty, awful little country. I hate that that’s how things are. I hate it. But that doesn’t stop it from being true and if I’m going to put myself and the people I care about in actual, physical danger, it’s not going to be over a matter of principal. It would need to be for something that’ll actually change something. And I’m sorry but going to the press with “British government did another bad thing in the past” doesn’t exactly scream revolution does it.” Alice does have a point even if I find myself agreeing more with Sam. It’s clear that Alice doesn’t think they are in a position to really do anything and there’s a good chance that Sam just ends up “mysteriously disappearing” after sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. Also, obvious commentary about the British government here and it’s brutal, colonialist, etc. past. 

Sam asks Celia what she thinks about this information and she wonders if destroying the Institute was the wrong thing to do. Sam reacts with “(shocked) Celia, they killed like forty people.” but she argues “I know. And that’s awful. But from what I’ve found the Magnus Institute was up to some pretty bad things. Like catastrophic, world-endingly bad.” This is another moment that paints Celia as really suspicious. As mentioned in previous episodes, there’s a lot to imply that Celia either is from the TMA universe or somehow knows a lot about it. This “world-endingly bad” catastrophe being orchestrated by the Institute could very easily describe that ritual performed by Jonah for The Eye (and other Entities) in order to enact the Change. Something we know would have eventually killed off all life because new animals / people could not be born but they could die in specific Domains run by The End so eventually all the things feeding the Entities their fear would die. Now whether Celia is making a guess based on what the TMA’s Institute did or she came across evidence that points to their Protocol counterpart doing the same thing is still up in the air. We still don’t know just how closely the TMA and TMAGP universes parallel each other but we have seen characters like Gertrude, Gerard and Georgie show up in both universes. However, it’s clear that their lives have taken at least somewhat different paths at various points since if things were exactly the same Gertrude and Gerry would have been dead before Sam even joined the OIAR. Plus, the Institute seemed like it had a lot more resources in TMAGP (at least enough to actively detain people).

Sam asks what makes Celia think the Institute was up to anything world ending but she sort of dodges the question by saying “Never mind. The point is we don’t really know what happened and as horrible as it is to say it, for all we know this Protocol thing was a necessary evil to stop something worse.” Sam still doesn’t feel great potentially working for an evil organization and Alice makes it clear that she’s scared for herself and everyone else so she wants to be left out of this whole conspiracy Sam is trying to unravel. But Celia wants Sam to keep her posted on any info he finds. 

Case?

I’m not sure if this counts as a case but we do get a case or statement from Ink5oul (pronounced Inksoul). So maybe this is a live case? Well, it’s not any sort of case spouted by the computers and this is one that’s actually told to use directly by Ink5. We cut to Gwen’s phone as she enters a warehouse and the transcripts say “Gwen walks nervously through the cavernous warehouse. She is walking towards the distant buzz of a tattoo gun.” Gwen approaches someone and asks “Hello? Is that… Grace Wilde, AKA “Inksoul”?” Looks like we finally got their official name. Ink5 questions how Gwen found them and Gwen just says “We uh have our ways.” I assume Gwen doesn’t actually know how the OIAR found Ink5’ location and she was just given an address to go to. I’ve been arguing that the OIAR is potentially connected to an Entity like The Eye, and The Beholding is well known for being connected to the ability to randomly know things, such as where a person is.

Gwen takes notice of the body Ink5 is tattooing and asks if they are alright and Ink5 reveals that the person is in fact dead. I wonder if they were stealing tattoos from this body or were merely using it for some kind of weird practice, or maybe both. Ink5 starts tattooing the body again and asks if Gwen has any tattoos of her own. Gwen says no and Ink5 responds “Shame. You’ve got lovely skin.” Pro tip, if you are in TMA and someone starts talking about how nice your skin is RUN. It never ends well. Gwen explains, to the obviously annoyed and dismissive Ink5, that she is from the Office of Incident Assessment and Response (a civil service) in order to recruit Ink5oul. When Ink5 notices how odd it is for a civil service to want someone for their tattoo skills Gwen says “Not exactly. We have some use for someone of your… type.” which gives Ink5 pause. It’s obvious that Gwen means someone with some strong connection to the supernatural but she’s clearly still being kept out of the loop on a lot of things. Ink5 asks what their “type” is and “(approaching) Tell me what’s happening to me. Something is happening. I can tell. I’m not- There’s- I’m changing there’s all these – I don’t- TELL ME WHAT I AM!” Gwen explains “I-I don’t know! I’m sorry! They haven’t told me! All I know is we call you Externals!” and Ink5 asks “External to what? Your department? Society? The world?” and Gwen basically says that she doesn’t know

Before I continue I think this interaction reveals some important information. Not all the cases on the computers in the OIAR deal with people who are currently Externals. I mean this is kind of obvious since some of the cases deal with people who are long dead but it does show that just because a case takes place in the modern day and has some sort of monster or supernatural being that doesn’t mean said being is with the OIAR. It also makes me wonder if Gwen is going to have to recruit Needles next.

Gwen asks Ink5 why they are in the warehouse and they say they are hiding from everyone due to how popular they are on the internet. This is the part where Ink5 starts giving their case. I found it strange that Ink5 was giving a very well put together story explanation for Gwen and the last time I had a thought like this in TMA it turned out that anyone in the position of Archivist had the ability to force people to answer questions and give statements. So it’s not impossible that Gwen’s promotion to Liaison came with certain supernatural benefits. It’s also possible that some other force can compel cases out of people but I’m not sure what that would be outside of potentially ERROR or whatever is listening through all the devices and we still know basically nothing about those two.

Ink5 recounts their internet career and how it took off. It started with a tattoo of a snarling wolf but the wolf looked like it had more of a cheeky grin due to how Ink5' hand slipped during the process. They didn’t consider it their best work but decided to post it anyway and it took off online. “It was reposted by HellYesTattoos and suddenly my 79-follower account was getting thousands of favourites, hundreds of new followers and so many… lovely messages. They were trawling through all my old work, really amateur stuff, but they still left the nicest comments.” However, there were haters too “They didn’t see the appeal, didn’t understand why everyone was sharing it. Those messages hurt. They hurt a lot more than the nice ones boosted me, but… it was still thrilling, you know? Knowing that a stranger looked at you and saw someone important, someone worth getting angry about. I didn’t feel good, I felt… important.” This does sort of add some context or irony to the tattoo they gave Madam Electrum in Episode 16 (Anti-Social). In that episode Electrum says “It hurts. All that hate, all those people wanting me dead or worse… I can feel it. No cap, it hits right here. It’s like y’all are bees stinging me over and over right in the heart. I dunno if the camera’s picking it up but you can even see it… ”

In hindsight Ink5 wonders if they should have resisted “but why would I? These people wanted to hold me up, tell me I’m better than them, I’m special. Why should it be on me to convince them otherwise? Why should I spend my life scabbling in the dirt telling them “I’m just like you, honest!” when I’m not. I’m better than them. I must be otherwise they wouldn’t all spend so much of their time thinking about me.” The next year Ink5oul’s career hits a rough patch as their follower count plateaus before dropping even as Ink5 churned out piece after piece. “At one point I made a bit of mess of client’s Satan design and it got posted on that OopsTattoo blog. It got more traction than all my other recent posts combined, so for the next few months I deliberately started having “accidents” with client’s tattoos. All it got me was a black eye and a handful of refunds. I was getting desperate. I needed to be seen again.”

It was during this attempt to become seen once again that Ink5 came across Oscar Jarrett “He was a pupil of Sutherland Macdonald.” “He was this pioneering tattoo artist back in Victorian times – real popular, tattooed Prince Alberts cock or something, and everyone adored him. Anyway, he had a bunch of students and one of them was Oscar Jarrett. I learned later there were all sorts of stories about him, rumours of him doing hand-tapped tattoos with sharpened human bones, mixing strange chemicals into his ink, all that sort of stuff.” Not a lot of Oscar’s original designs are remembered and few people actually know who he is. “I stumbled across an old photo of one of his designs in a 1930s book. I’d taken to hunting down vintage inkwork books as people were less likely to notice when I lifted a design from some old obscure artist. My own stuff clearly wasn’t cutting it, so I had to try something else.” A photo Ink5 encounters stops them in their tracks because the person with the tattoo was 70 years old. However, the skin under the ink was pristine and the design itself looked like it had been done a week before. Collecting books in TMA isn’t new and important characters like Leitner collected magical books. But I can’t really say that the books Ink5 is collecting sound like leitners, especially since we know some of the tattoo designs come directly from dead bodies.

Surprisingly, this actually isn’t the first time we’ve encountered tattoos that grant some sort of weird effect in TMA. Within the original TMA Gerard is noted as having tattoos of eyes on all of his joints and over his heart. In MAG 12 (First Aid) we get “Like the first, he was completely covered in almost uniform second-degree burns, except for what at first I thought were small black scorch marks. Looking closer, I saw that they were eyes. Small, tattooed eyes on every one of his joints: his knees, his elbows and even his knuckles, as well as just over his heart. I would have expected the burns to have almost destroyed tattoos that small, but instead they were unblemished, and the skin about a centimetre around each one also didn’t seem to have been affected.” Not exactly 1-to-1 but the tattoos preserving the skin under them are vaguely similar.

Ink5 actually gives a description of the tattoo they found “It was an abstract sun design on his shoulder, shaded in this dull, muted yellow and there was a black dot in the centre that if you really squinted, you could see was an intricate network of crosshatched lines. The round edge of the sun was ragged and wavy, and I could almost feel the warmth of it. It was labelled “Fig.3 One of the few surviving examples of Oscar Jarrett”.” Ink5 eventually encounters a man named Harry who wanted a tattoo of a sun from major arcana tarot cards. Seeing their chance, Ink5 lies to him by showing him a different design and then proceeds to use Oscar Jarett’s design once Henry is on the table. “After all, once he was face-down I could inscribe whatever I liked into his skin. Don’t forget I’m the artist. He was just the canvas. Besides, I had slaved over that design.” “He started screaming about twenty minutes into the session. He said it burned, that it felt like his whole shoulder was on fire. He didn’t move, though. It was like he was nailed 

down as my ink spread across his skin, the smell of scorched flesh filling the room. He stopped screaming by the time I finished. Just whimpers at the end. I cleaned off the blood and took my photos, and for all the smell it didn’t look like there had been any burning at all. Harry stumbled out like the drunk he was, not even bothering to put his shirt back on. At first I was worried for when he’d be back to complain about the design I had actually given him, but I never saw him again. At least, not in person. Saw his picture on a news site though, he’d been killed in a house fire. The story got decent exposure actually.”

If we look at this specific sun tattoo through the lens of Smirke’s 14 (plus The Extinction) it bears the strongest resemblance to something like The Desolation. I mean yes The Desolation seems to have an affinity for fire but it’s an Entity revolving around the fear of loss and destruction as well as the pain associated with it. Fire symbolically connects to this very well due to being a painful and destructive force that can destroy entire houses. Harry eventually dies in a house fire which could fit very in line with The Desolation. Not only is the home usually something people don’t want to lose but The Desolation is also prone to manifesting as bad luck or weird accidents and the fear associated with them (such as with Jason North mysteriously having all his stuff breaking down and loved ones die in MAG 37(Bad Offering)). In MAG 89 (Twice as Bright) Jude Perry describes the Dread Power as “The Desolation. Blackened Earth. The destructive, agonising heat of burning flesh and land scoured of life. The light, the comfort of fire stripped from it, leaving nothing but the terror of its approach.” So a scorching hot sun could be very in line with The Desolation. Additionally, the domain Jude Perry watched over after the Change takes the form of a tenement block that constantly catches fire, destroying the victims’ homes in the process. The fire does subside at times but only long enough to destroy all the homes once they are repaired.

As far as other possible Entities I suppose there’s The End, since Harry does die in the end (but other Entities are no stranger to killing people either), potentially The Flesh with the body horror and maybe The Buried with the idea of ending up stuck in a burning house. 

Harry’s death doesn’t really matter to Ink5oul though because they already snapped pictures of the tattoo and a lot of people loved it. “Followers, views, messages and… sponsorships. It wasn’t much, really. Almost nothing in cash terms but it wasn’t about the money. I have a small inheritance that takes care of that, it was about the respect. The adulation. The love. They started calling me an “influencer”, A “bold new voice in skin art”. I started making all these connections, hanging out with other influences whose follow-counts dwarfed even mine. I had arrived.” Ink5’ old friends start worrying about them but Ink5oul writes this off as jealousy and remarks “they were never very photogenic.” So it’s clear that the priority of Ink5 has completely shifted to becoming more popular. Ink5 comment about the inheritance continues the theme of wealth enabling those with a lot of it to harm more people than they otherwise would have.

“But a handful of pictures do not a career make, and so after another lull where I pushed through some more of my own designs I had to admit to myself that my skill, my real skill was in adapting Oscar Jarrett. If anything, I was doing him a favour – nobody remembered him at all but thanks to me his designs were fresh and relevant. Besides, its not like he was around to miss out on anything.” So Ink5 begins plagiarizing from Oscar Jarrett even more. Ink5 begins searching for some other tattoo designs from Oscar and while they are difficult to find it’s not impossible. However, they eventually use all the designs they copied and struggle to find new ones. At some point they come across a ledger with most of Jarrett’s clients and learn that all the skin touched by his ink never decayed, “Even after death, they were all flawless.” However, Ink5 runs into another snag because while the inks did last the people the tattoos were attached to did not (implying that they would often either die or mysteriously disappear. Think of Harry and the house fire that killed him or even Madam E). There was also the fact that tattooing these designs was very painful and Ink5 had trouble keeping people still: “It was very difficult keeping canvases still on the more complex designs and after I was done they would usually end up having grotesque experiences. That didn’t matter so much to me once the pictures were captured and posted online but after a while the police did notice a definite, if unprovable, connection between my tattoos and a series of rather disturbing accidents. Eventually it was easier to just use some chemical cocktails to keep clients quiet and become a bit more… nomadic when it came to studios.” Luckily for Ink5, and unluckily for their clients, all this stuff only added to their mystique and brand. “The fans ate it up, and all these empty warehouses gave me some space to think and reflect. Everyone wants a piece of you when you’re this famous.”

However, it’s not just the tattoos of Ink5oul’s clients that started behaving weirdly as they note “I don’t remember when my own tattoos began to change. I know it was around the same time I started craving “the look” more. Not the pleasure in a client’s eyes when they see their new skin, but the one I saw just before they went under: terror, helplessness, and the certainty that they would wake up changed in a way they could not understand. It filled me up in a way I can’t quite explain but I have never felt any other time. And as it did so, inside my skin the ink- There! Do you see it?” So it’s clear that the fear of their clients has somehow started feeding them or their tattoos. In Episode 2 (Making Adjustments) Daria describes Ink5 as having “an absolutely gorgeous floral serpent design running up their arm and into their neck that was so vivid it looked ready to slither off their skin and onto the chair.” This snake is probably connected to the ink 5oul is talking about. Snakes are often also used as a metaphor for things like gluttony or betrayal so I wonder if that’s somehow connected to Ink5 clambering for more and more popularity or how they lie to their clients so they can stick whatever tattoos on them.

“Jarrett doesn’t matter now. The ink flows through me and out of me, transforming the lucky into something newer and more beautiful than their own shallow tastes could have conceived. But I… I don’t understand it. There’s something inside me that remembers worrying about... I’m not sure. Did I always want to hurt people? To make them afraid? It’s so much a part of me know that maybe it always was. Have I changed, or have I simply emerged? What am I? I’m…” However, Ink5oul makes it clear that they are not sorry or remorseful for what they do / have done: “And why should I be sorry? This is what I deserve. I don’t even need to wait for clients anymore. I can do it to anyone, whenever the mood strikes me. But then I wouldn’t have anything to remind all those people that they are right, I am better than them. Besides I wouldn’t get to see “the look”.”

Gwen is surprised by how eloquently Ink5oul explained their situation and feelings. Ink5 asks “So you understand? You can explain to me what all these changes, these hungers are?” and Gwen says “Well, uh, it sounds like, perhaps through your actions you made contact with some sort of… power? And it’s changed you?” but this only annoys the tattoo artist because that answer was glaringly obvious to even them. What Ink5oul is describing sounds like the process of becoming some sort of Avatar. What’s causing Ink5 to transform is most likely the fear being generated with their actions. They seem really attached to the terror in “the look” and in Episode 6 (Introductions) Needles says “Oh the land is definitely marked now, same as me, and it feels good. It satisfies in a way I never really thought anything would. It fills that hollow, lonely hole inside quite nicely. It’s not sadism, or masochism, I tried both of those already. I think it’s the fear, the look in their eyes once they realize their mistake, it just makes me want to hold them close, so I do.” So there’s a similar focus on fear in that episode too.

Some might take Ink5oul’s talk of “hunger” as evidence of a new Entity or force but I’m currently unconvinced. Metaphors revolving around food and eating have been a thing since the original TMA. In MAG 89 (Twice as Bright) Jude Perry says “The point is, whatever form it takes, you have to feed it for it to grow strong. Otherwise you’re the one that gets consumed.” and we know Avatars can be weakened or even die due to “starving.” if they don’t feed on enough fear within a certain period of time. In MAG 200 we get “Once upon a time there was fear. Old fear. Primal fear. A fear of blood and pounding feet, a fear of that sudden burst of pain and then nothing. And that fear was nothing. Went nowhere. Knew not what it was. Then it became. Or perhaps it always was and simply entered. But fear was here and true and was itself, and it hungered. It wished to know more. It wished to feel more. It wished to be more. And to those things that hurried through the grass, that shivered through the night in their burrows and their caves, because they knew the dark held flashing talons and shining eyes, they fed the fear. It was blunt and it was simple, but still it was solid enough to satisfy. And the thing that was fear was sated and content.”, “And something else began to happen. Some minds did not simply recoil from them and feed them. Some seemed almost to call them, to court them, to hunger for them in return. Minds that saw the faces of the things that were fear, and were compelled as much as they were repulsed. Whether or not they knew what it was they did, they called out. And they were answered.”, and “And with this newfound power came greed. The hunger for more, the unformed, unfocused, but impossibly huge desire to exist. To join the minds that gave them shape and purpose, and finally drink their fill ‘til they were one and the same. They had no concept of how, or when, or even why, but they needed it. They needed it.” So here we can see hunger being connected to the Entities as well as their Avatars and followers. Jon has also described his urge to take statements as being a hunger and in MAG 148 (Extended Surveillance) he wonders “Does reading a statement of the Ceaseless Watcher count as a sort of auto-cannibalism, I wonder? Or some sort of bird-like regurgitation of fear? Re-consuming secondhand terror.” after reading a statement having to do with The Eye.

So I don’t think the “hunger” being mentioned in Protocol is actually a completely new theme but rather a continuation of a previous one and Ink5 has merely not realized that it's the fear that this strange Power is reacting too. Something that was true for Needles and even some characters from TMA didn’t immediately realize that they had become an Avatar or somehow tied to an Entity. Becoming an Avatar does not automatically fill you in on your Entity or what’s happening. I suppose this case also confirms that Ink5 is only copying existing tattoos and they cannot make their own supernatural tattoo designs. There’s a clear commentary on the connection between trying to become popular and things that can pressure one to plagiarize.

There’s still one thing to consider though. Becoming an Avatar requires one to die but while this death can, and often is, literal it can also be metaphorical or symbolic. So if Ink5 really is a traditional Avatar then when would they have died? Well, you could very easily see their embracing of their online persona as a sort of ego death, especially when they cut many of their old friends out of their life. In a metaphorical sense Grace Wilde died so Ink5oul could be born. However, this is just my speculation and who can be 100% sure if Avatars as we understood them are really going to be a thing.

This is the part where I try to look at the case through the lens of Smirke’s 14 (plus the Extinction). If you want part of the reason I’m doing this you can read it here (Why Smirke’s 14). The other part of the answer is because it's fun. However, Ink5oul proves to be a challenging one to place since each of the tattoos they “borrow” from Oscar seems to have a wildly different effect. I suppose if you wanted to you could argue that Ink5 is somehow connected to an Entity like The Flesh due to the body horror involved and the whole “they would wake up changed in a way they could not understand” thing. It’s also not impossible for Entities to involve other Powers in their work. Breekon and Hope were connected to The Stranger but delivered artifacts connected to various Entities (such as The Web and Buried) for example and the Institute collected a variety of non-Eye related artifacts for research and experimentation (Sasha notes being forced to interact with them at her previous job in the Institute). So maybe it’s merely one Entity like The Flesh interacting with other Entities. It could also be that the tattoos themselves are tied to specific Entities but Ink5oul is tied to their own Entity more directly. It’s also possible that Ink5 is something akin to an Avatar but doesn’t belong to a specific Power as we understand it. While the categories are useful they are ultimately a vague spectrum so it’s just as possible Ink5 is sitting on some vague or more nebulous part of the spectrum or that the particular Entity they are tied to doesn’t matter that much, or maybe their tied to multiple Entities (which we know is possible). It’s kind of hard to tell when not even Ink5 seems fully aware of what’s happening or what they’re tied to.

I can’t see a lot of other obvious picks for Entities here except like maybe The Eye with a desire to be seen and go viral along with the idea of someone using you to be seen (and we know Ink5 streams some of theit sessions) or The Web in relation to not being in control when someone forces a tattoo design you didn’t want on to you and The Web likes to do things like control movement or make people lose control of their body (like how Harry seem paralyzed during the tattoo process).

I’m also using Avatars as a reference point and it’s possible that “External” has a different meaning or connotation. Maybe External refers to what TMA would call Avatars AND Monsters or maybe we’ll learn that “Externals” have their differences. At one point 5oul asks “External to what? Your department? Society? The world?” and Gwen says “I don’t know. All of them?” Clearly these characters have no idea what’s going on so you can only take so much of what they say with more than a grain of salt but I could see how External relates to all these concepts. The Entities might be from another universe which would mean Externals draw their power from an external source, they are externals of the OIAR as an institution, and I doubt beings like Mr. Bonzo fit into normal society (thus making him an outsider or external_.

Ink5oul definitely doesn’t want to sign the OIAR’s agreement and Gwen snaps after Ink5 tells her to piss off: “(bristling) I know what I’m talking about when I say you’re being an idiot. It’s a good deal, and the only way your story doesn’t end in a “where are they now?” article that no-one clicks on. So just sign the damn contract while you still have a chance. You’ve got plenty of ink, and I’m sure even you can manage to write your own name.” I wonder if this is some kind of foreshadowing or Gwen is assuming someone will attempt to kill Ink5oul in the same way Klaus was supposed to be killed. Knowing how the OIAR works I wouldn’t be completely surprised if something like Mr. Bonzo was sent to deal with Externals that refused to abide by the OIARs rules or legal agreements. I also wonder if the paper has any supernatural properties since the papers signed when working in the Archives of the Magnus Institute in TMA were magically binding, so I wonder if something similar is supposed to happen here. I mean are they really just going to take Mr. Bonzo’s word that they aren’t going to kill a few extra people on the side every once in a while and if he decided to cut loose who would stop him, or would you just have to send more and more Externals to deal with each other and keep everything in check?

Gwen’s outburst does not go well and Ink5 threatens her by saying “You want ink?” “You really do have the skin for it…” “This is the part where you start running.”

Conclusion

Yet another episode that I found quite interesting. The way the case came from Ink5ouls themselves was also interesting and it does more to show that cases seem to function like statements in many, if not all, ways. If you want the categories for this case in the transcripts they are:

CAT1RAB2534-12042024-12042024 

Transformation (tattoo) -/- Social Media (influencer) 

Incident Elements: 

- Atychiphobia (fear of failure) 

- Desecration of Corpses 

- Body Horror 

- Non-Consensual body modification 

- Mentions of: exhumation, needles (tattoos), conspiracies, 

burns/fire, drugging 

- SFX: Tattoo buzzing 

 If you want to read my other Quick Thoughts you can do so here (TMAGP Quick Thoughts Archive).

[sattarehi]

hey. tumblr. can i get a "read later" feature? like in one of those tabs you keep pushing on us. sometimes i see a post i WANT to interact with, but i just don't have the emotional energy/spoons to do so at the moment. and i know that it will Just Get Lost in the dashboard. but i do honestly want to interact with it.

i know this might sound silly or dumb since a lot of the times this ends up as "oops my watch later is 743 videos long" but for tumblr, where you have people who put time and energy into specific posts (political information, breakdowns of games, discussion and analysis of current events, anything!) that never gets the proper return on investment they deserve.

and even if most people use it as a secondary likes/never really interacting with it, i feel like tumblr is weird (positive) enough that those people who DO get a use out of it will REALLY enjoy it. plus, it would be easy. put it in the freakin' meatball menu and make it an opt-in tab. or use the drafts architecture and just modify that. there's easy ways of implementing this!

[misc-obeyme]

CC, I desperately need to know. When commenting on or reblogging your fics, are suoer simple feedback comments still really nice to get? Like "This was beautiful" or something?

I'm struggling with feeling guilty because I am having a hard time getting energy to give longer comments and stuff. I usually write a few things about the story or related to the story but right now even just writing "I really like this!" has been taking a lot of energy.

Also, do you have an Solomon🤍 anon? If not...

~ Solomon🤍

Hey there anon! I don't have a Solomon🤍 anon, so I will be sure to add that to the anon list!

Now, as it happens, I have thoughts about this specific thing. I can't speak for all writers/artists, but I think my sentiments are somewhat universal since we're all creating and sharing on the same platform. I've also been on Tumblr since the very beginning, so that might have an impact on my personal perspective.

To begin, let me give you the short and easy answer: It is always nice to get any kind of feedback, even short and sweet comments like the ones you've given as examples. Please don't feel guilty about not leaving massively long, in depth commentary on things. Most people understand that not everybody has the spoons for that kind of thing all the time. It's honestly just nice to know that someone liked it at all.

That being said, I feel the need to give you a little bit more nuance about this particular issue, as someone who gets a lot of notifs nowadays.

Quite honestly, the fact that you reblogged it at all is really nice, even if all you do is tag it as "obey me" or something along those lines.

I get hundreds of notifications every day. And most of those are likes. I would say perhaps like 90%? It's a lot. And when one post is getting a lot of attention, my notifs just group them together. So it'll be like "username, username, and 12 other people" and then it'll indicate the post and that it was liked by all those people.

That means that if you reblog it, even without tags, it pops up as a separate notification. And to me, that's always nice to see. I'm always like OH! That person liked it enough to reblog! Thank you, friend!

I'm not kidding, that's my internal monologue lol.

I know there's a lot of discourse about reblogging vs liking, but I'm not really talking about any of that (I'm willing to share my thoughts if people ask though). I'm just telling you what it's like from my perspective.

Things that always catch my attention are reblogs with or without tags, a direct comment on a post, and asks.

Specifically about reblogs, there are different things that are more noticeable.

Like, yes, I'm going to notice if someone leaves a lot of tags gushing about how much they liked the story. I have screenshotted tags and comments that have made me happy just so I can go back and read them.

I often reread the reblogged tags on posts. It's writer-fuel.

And when I'm looking at the reblogs of a post all at once, I'm scrolling through and seeing one that's really in depth and one that's just "AAAAHHH" and i love them both equally.

Is it always going to be more meaningful and impactful if someone reblogs with a dissertation in the tags or even a whole analysis added to the post? Of course. But that is a rare occurrence and not something I ever expect to see. Nor would I personally want someone to force themselves to give more feedback than they can manage.

I just like to know that reading it meant something to you. Likes tell me you liked it, tagless reblogs let me know that you liked it enough to share it, but they don't really tell me much beyond that. A reblog that says "I really loved this!" lets me know that this piece of writing touched you enough for you to actually write a little response to me. You might even say something like, "I love *character*" or perhaps "that last line oof" or even just "a;lksdfkljasdfklj" - all of that conveys so much more to me than a like or tagless reblog. It doesn't have to be a lot. And when like five people do this on one post, it really adds up, too, you know? So I'm like Oh, the people like this one!! LOL!

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, the more interaction you can give is always appreciated, but nobody wants you to force yourself to have elaborate comments. Just a reblog is also appreciated.

That being said, if you want to get elaborate in the tags PLEASE DO. You don't need to push yourself, but you don't need to hold back, either!

I appreciate every bit of interaction I receive, of course. And I'm thankful for everyone that has followed me and enjoyed my writing!

I hope that answered the question, I'm sorry for rambling a bit lol. I just figured I could take the opportunity to talk a little bit about what it's like from my side of things! Thank you for asking, honestly, I appreciate that you're worried about making fic writers feel the love on their works! But you don't need to feel guilty, you're already doing more than most by reblogging and leaving any tags at all. 💕💕

[hellcheercaine]

Welcome to my safe space

Hi there tumblrs! 👋 I’m Caine.

Given the traction I have on my blog recently, I figured that I’d do a proper introduction to pin to my profile.

I used to be a Rogue and Gambit shipper before I left fandom culture, but Stranger Things pulled me in and this is where I found my spot here with the wonderful Hellcheers and Harringroves.

The golden rule of this space:

'Ship and let ship.’

I don't care if you follow me even when we like different ships, but if I see any ship bashing or anti comments/tags from you on my posts, you will be blocked.

Don’t like what you see here? Save your energy by tapping the block button. I am not responsible for your online fandom experience, and I am not here for petty arguments. Please keep your purity culture to yourself.

P.S: This space is not for minors. If you are a minor, this is your last chance to scroll away from this blog.

However, if you are a minor and you decide to follow my blog, it’ll be agreed that you, will acknowledge full responsibility of your own online fandom experience here.

P.P.S: Blank blogs do not interact, unless you have something (e.g. a pfp/post) to prove that you’re not a bot. Bot blogs will be blocked and I’m sure that you, would definitely wouldn’t want to be caught in this crossfire.

Are we good? Let’s move on to the good stuff.

This blog is a safe space for:

Hellcheer (Eddie Munson and Chrissy Cunningham),

Harringrove (Billy Hargrove and Steve Harrington),

Seyloy (Aloy and Seyka) shippers

This blog is also pro-Sylki and Wolfwren.

Memes, text posts, moodboards, prompts and sometimes ficlets will be written for these three. Got a question/request? Ask me.

ST + Text posts:

Looking for some wholesome Hellcheer text posts? They're here.

Chrissy Cunningham posts can be found under the tag Strawberry Shortcake Chrissy Cunningham.

Eddie Munson? They can be found under the tag Almond Tallcake Eddie Munson.

Want some Harringrove? They can be found under the tag harringrove texts.

Do you just want the ones with just Billy Hargrove? They can be found under the tag Walking Fruit Salad Billy Hargrove.

Or the ones with just Steve Harrington? They can be found under the tag Goody Two Shoes Steve Harrington.

Gothbasket (Jason Carver + Eden Bingham) can be found under the tag gothbasket texts, while Munver (Jason Carver + Eddie Munson) the tag munver texts.

Horizon + Text posts:

Are you looking for Seyloy posts? Look here.

Aloy’s text posts can be found under the tag Aloy Despite the OSHA Violation.

Wait, what about just the ones with Seyka? They can be found under the tag Seyka Despite the HR Violation.

Aloy and Talanah text posts can be found here.

Text posts from other characters can be found here.

Other stuff:

🎸📣 Hellcheer Playlist

🍦🚬 Harringrove Mixtape

☁️🌊 Her Sky, Her Sea (Seyloy Playlist)

💭 📣 Chrissy Cunningham (a dreamer’s playlist)

Other fandom text posts:

Wolfwren (Star Wars Ahsoka)

Sylki (Loki)

Masterlist coming soon. In the meantime, you can read some of my works and OTPs here.

Tracking: #hellcheercaine

Other ships from other fandoms (e.g X-Men, Naruto, The Bear, Adventure Time) and mental health related content will be blogged/reblogged once in a while.

Some house rules:

- No reposting (if you decide to use my moodboards, ficlets, text posts or prompts for your work, please give credit where it’s due unless it’s cleared by me). If you’re not sure, please ask.

- racism, sexism, ableist, terf or any anti lgbtqia beliefs is not welcome here. You'll be blocked if you’re found making such comment on my posts.

- No religious or political discussions here.

Ship analysis, character analysis and discussion is welcome, but outright hating a ship or character will not be tolerated. Please refer to the aforementioned golden rule if you’re not sure.

Lastly, be kind and respectful to one another, be it fandom discourse or anything else. As one may not know what’s going on in everyone’s lives, it is important that we be empathetic to one another.

Hope this helps.

[whatudowhennooneseesyou]

Conversation: Negative Comments

Hey everyone,

Before I post my Softtober schedule I just wanted to let you know that I have been receiving many anon asks that I've chosen to delete that have devalued my writing by calling me a prude and referring to my work as 'boring'.

Now, usually I let negative anon asks slide because they're not worth me commenting and giving them attention but there's been many.

So-let's talk about it?

I understand with the rise of kink normalisation and with Tumblr being a platform to write kink-friendly smut that my work is not for everyone.

Being called a prude is unnerving for me because I have discussed and being open to discussing different types of kinks on here-particularly with my nsfw astrology chart analysis.

I also incorporate 'inexperienced and late bloomer themes' because I am one myself and I understand the stigma behind it and I think by referring to my work as 'prudeish and boring' further reinforces the stigma that you need tons of experience and 'kinky' in order to be seen as sexy.

The main reason why I write soft smut (apart from me enjoying and loving to read soft smut) is because I love writing pieces that are realistic and relatable yeah?

You're not going to know how to ride like a cowgirl on the first try (I've tried and I tapped out after a minute-it's HARD!) and you're not going to have a million orgasms the first time you have sex if you're a vagina owner.

I don't write hard kink related work because I think there are some kinks that require experience for you to write them properly and with accuracy.

I am one of the very few kpop smut blogs on here that predominantly write soft and bubblegum-sweet and so if you don't like my work, there are HUNDREDS of blogs that write 'hard kink' smut.

It takes less energy to scroll than it does to send in a negative ask.

SECONDLY!

And this one shits me to no end.

I have received hateful anon asks that have accused me of being 'racist' and 'colourist' because I said Hongjoong's type is dark hair and a 'fair-ish' complexion.

It is such a generalised statement that is getting blown way out of proportion.

You don't have to believe my statements and it's why I include a disclaimer in all my astrology posts.

Everyone has physical traits they find attractive, even the idols we adore and simp over.

You don't need to insult me in the ask box because my perceived ideal type for a idol is different than your perceived idol type.

Anyway-I'm going to add my taglist but don't feel the need to respond if you don't have too.

Be open for this week's fic to be released and for the Softtober schedule.

Taglist: @hipster-shiz@creativechaoticloner@cherry-0420@scuzmunkie@marievllr-abg@umbralhelwolf@starsareseen@lino-jagiyaa@mischiefsmind@mrcarrots@junieshohoho@partywithgyu@whatsk-poppinhomies@craxy-person@hologramhoneymoon@gyuhanniescarat@staytinyinmybpack@necessiteez@wooyoungmybelovedhusband@berryberrytan@laylasbunbunny@bangchanbabygirlx@i-love-ateez@anyamaris@lemonhongjoong@krishastumblernow@hexheathen@michel-angelhoe@northerngalxy@muselin@justaaveragereader@lyramundana@saintfool@wolfakira@youre-alittle-taste-of-hell@sometimesiwritethings@ja3hwa@hwalysm

[syncopein3d]

Shun the Light: A Friendly Review

Introduction and Format Explanation:

I've just finished reading Shun the Light by @thoughtsonhurtandcomfort. In the communities where I spend most of my time here on Tumblr, I see occasional recommendations but nothing I would call a review, so I thought I'd go into a little more detail about why I enjoyed this story. I'm still a relative newcomer here in 2024, so if I'm wrong about that, send links in the notes and I will include them here!

The reason I think a positive review might be useful to my audience is that, when people praise a story, they seldom give enough detail for me to know as a reader if I will also want to read it. These are stories I liked personally, and this means that reviews will mostly be of hurt/comfort stories with happy or at least ambiguous endings.

Ambiguous here means characters may part, or may have dangling plot threads for later, but they have survived and are in some way better or recovering. Please always read authors’ trope/warning lists before taking off into their other work. I review hurt/comfort without NSFW usually, but lots of whump writers have both h/c content and NSFW, torture, pet, slave, or other subgenres of whump. I support everyone in this community, and I don’t want anyone to be mad at them or me because you dove directly from a reviewed story into something you didn’t like or were triggered by.

This doesn't mean I disliked everything I didn't review; I read a lot of stories and can't review them all. This is just for stories that are completed according to the author (something of a rare category already) and that I thought deserved special mention.

I'll attempt some light analysis, but I won't ask authors if I'm right about their intent first, so you only get my reader impressions on it. As such, I might be wrong about some or all of how I describe a story and its lore. I don't insist on death of the author once a review is up, so authors are welcome and encouraged to comment!

Summary:

A werewolf and a vampire meet under difficult circumstances and forge an unlikely bond through various injuries and incidents.

Vibes:

I will try to refrain from gushing, since the author is no doubt tired of seeing me type rows of capital A’s on the story posts themselves. This is a very sweet and pleasant hurt/comfort story. It feels warm and comfy even in the slightly gory parts. If it’s possible to write a cozy Universal Studios Horror Gothic, it’s this right here. A lot of it takes place in the same old house and its environs, increasing both the intimacy of the story and the sense of warm familiarity. This is just a delightful palate cleanser if you’ve been reading darker material lately and want to just sit back and feel better.

Characters and Setting:

The story centers on Dante and Matteo, a vampire and a werewolf who wander into each other’s lives by accident. Both are well-intentioned, both are grieving what they lost, whether recently (for Matteo) or long ago (for Dante). When misunderstandings happen, it flows reasonably out of the difference in their ages, their circumstances, and their mutual exasperating tendency to assume the other person’s emotions incorrectly. There’s some delicious angst as a result of that.

Dante is an old soul both literally and figuratively, low-energy and depressed, without rapacity of any kind. The only times he uses a vampire mind control ability are when he is helping to care for Matteo – motivating him to get up the stairs to bed, soothing him to sleep, helping him feel better. It’s almost never for his own benefit. Matteo is not a roaring monster so much as a whipped stray, used to disappointment, expecting the worst. He has a giving heart, but he can’t believe Dante would care about him in return. This doesn’t feel like he’s being stupid in a writing sense; it feels like he has been taught by bad experiences that he has no value. I thought that was handled really well. The dynamic is excellent.

As I mentioned, a lot of the story happens in and around Dante’s house, a slightly decayed mansion where the graves of his loved ones are and which, we receive the impression, he has been haunting like a ghost for some years now. Gradually, we come to see it as more of a safe haven as the story advances, the characters and their exchanges transforming the atmosphere even though the old house remains nearly unchanged. There are brief moments in the woods, in a small nearby town, but they’re not important; they hover vaguely around the place where the characters seem to belong.

Themes (Mild Spoilers):

A lot of stories with vampires in them try to work with themes of renewal. A lot of stories with werewolves in them try to work with themes of found family. Tropes aren’t inherently bad, it’s all in the execution, and it was very interesting to see those two things collide and mingle in this.

Dante needs someone to drag him out of his grave. Matteo needs someone to care and give him value. We morph from the two of them trapped in a slowly rotting antique, wounded and exhausted, to the two of them taking care of each other with more purpose and determination inside what is becoming their home. I would hope that, if the author writes a future story still set here, they would work on renovating parts of the house, as a metaphor for their ongoing dynamic; or burning the place down as a symbol of moving on from their traumas into a new life. But that’s just me writing fanfiction. The story is complete in itself, and I love it.

Final Comments and Recommendation:

This is a lovely, cozy story about two sad people treating each other’s wounds. That’s one of my favorite flavors of story, and if it is for you, too, this is absolutely for you. When I say I like whump, this right here is what leaps to my mind. For fellow loss-of-consciousness fans, Dante has a numbing venom that’s used for that purpose several times, so there’s lots of that here, too. I can hardly recommend this one wholeheartedly enough. If you like hurt and comfort at all, you really, really should give it a look.

My writing masterpost is here, including more Friendly Reviews!

[autogeneity]

I really like reading your self analysis posts. Something I've learned from going out into the 'real world' is that most people do not self analyze in the way people in this corner of Tumblr do. I've tried to bring up the subject and provide an example of how I'd discuss such a subject in conversation, and I'm often met with blank stares. A couple times my friends have been able to follow along but it takes a substantial amount of energy to guide them along that thought that I don't really find it worthwhile or viable. I'm a little sad about this because it is one of my favorite ways to get to know people and understand them.

thank you! a bit surprising to receive this now tbh since I don't really do much of that here anymore.

but yeah, discussing some shit is quite weird with some people, where even if it's just me pondering they don't really engage with it substantively at all, even with pointed guiding. although also people will generally not feel comfortable having such discussions with someone they don't feel that close to.

I have found it pretty common in uhh, mysticism enthusiast types though, if you're willing to gently step around the woo.

[everliving-everblaze]

I saw a few people mention me as someone they still thought of as a "big blog" and wanted to just make a little post :] a hug and a flower for each of u if you want them

For those who already know me, I'm still here sometimes! I do a lot more lurking than interacting these days because I don't really know the newer blogs or happenings that well. but I'm scooting along! I was largely off of Tumblr for a while for religious reasons, but am fully back now. My writing is very little and very scattered, but I still hope to return to bigger projects at some point. (I have at least one very self-indulgent Sophitz fic I wrote a little bit of, but don't have any plans to publish right now. It's not very in-character, I think, so I'm not sure anyone would want to read it. I also do still have the coffee shop AU in my head constantly, but am struggling to have the mental energy to bring it to the point I want it to be at.) If you've been thinking of me, that is so kind of you, and I can't believe that anyone still mentions my name on here. I'm alive, and I still love KotLC so much!

If you don't know me and are curious about seeing me mentioned, hi! I'm Catherine! (Some people also call me Cath, and that's okay too.) I'm mostly known here, I think, for loving Sophitz, as well as formerly owning the wiki—I'm coming up on six years of editing on it! I also love writing analysis and meta, largely related to Sophie and Fitz (individually and together), and am known for the occasional cursed edit (the fitzpocalypse may have been largely my fault...). I also coined the term "keepblr" and will never shut up about that. I don't post a lot these days, but this fandom will always be my home. This series and the many years I've been in its fandom are a large reason I am who I am, and I'm always super happy to chat with other fans. :]

So that's what I'm up to! This is very long, but I was so excited to see my name mentioned and felt compelled to do a little update/intro/brain dump. So hello! And I'm sorry for all the times I haven't replied to tags or asks; I see them, and I love them so much, (and if you are so inclined, please do keep tagging me and sending asks), but I am still in a place where I have a hard time keeping up with even my own life sometimes. So just know that I really do love talking to you guys! As you may be able to tell by the length of this post, which I really should end. So goodbye!

[did-we-imagine]

Omg I was talking with a fellow tumblr user about Ozai and then I realized that the Loser Lord was the embodiment of a traditional saying we have in my country.

"He who wants it all shall not get any of it."

It's interesting how his most powerful motivator (a mixture of greed, pride, wrath, and envy) made him seethe with rage in deep unsatisfaction when many would have been very content with such a high station (except for Azulon being an ass, which was the catalyst of Ozai's descent into his sociopathic megalomania). Yet his thirst for power and recognition were never quenched not even when he finally one-upped Iroh through his plot with Ursa. He just had to want to outdo all of his evil genocidal imperialist forefathers lol. I think it would be nice seeing an analysis if his character through a lense based on the 7 deadly sins.

Through his never ending greed, he ended up losing everything, down to his firebending.

I remember reading an amazing meta where someone thinks that comics Ozai is somewhat OOC because show Ozai was so utterly destroyed when he saw Zuko it seemed he was simply too far gone to try and mess with him anymore. I personally think that this is such a cool take and that the OP's arguments hit the nail on the head, especially in that Ozai knows fully that his ableist heavily militarized country will never ever accept him back after a disgrace far worse than Iroh's post-BSS siege and his new nonbender status. He could definitely start plotting against Zuko after a while maybe, but he'd need Azula more than ever and he'd seek a regent position where he would get to be a puppeteer. His plotting would also be far more "elegant" (read : entertaining to watch) than what happened in the comics IMO.

My personal HC, though, is that dude eventually went catatonic, cementing the energybending as a less than stellar option with logical realistic repercussions, hence why Aang only uses it on Yakkone but not for everyday trouble makers maybe. It would also enrich the plot in that each decision/action has consequences. Sometimes, mercy doesn't come with more pleasant results (i.e : death sentence vs life sentence debate, I think life sentence is far worse than the death because damn what's a fucking life locked up in a teeny tiny cell in a terribly miserable setting esp if one has to do heavy work as a jailbird?), and it's only normal and deserved for the magnitude of Ozai's crimes.

I might be a little dense, but I personally didn't feel that the debending itself was that horrible tbh(since we weren't shown the repercussions like maybe nerve damage ?? Being extra cold ??? Having worse health/chi/whatever than ppl who were born as nonbenders?), like aside from Ozai's insane attachment to it, since I saw cool nonbender characters thrive, I was like "You got off very lightly you jerk...stfu Zuko got it worse losing his face and half of his sight/hearing. I don't want to hear your whining." 🤣

PS: I am not dissing Aang's mercy or trying tl say he wasn't merciful (he is by far so forgiving and kind, he even tried to reason with hell kaiser before fighting him ?? Like what a sweet kid !!). I think he did what he believed was right and his punishment was actually chef's kiss. I just wanted a little bit lore details/a more multi layered approach by authors. I've read some fantastic fanfictions address this side of energy bending, and my goodness, they were excellent.