#i don't have a lot more explanation than that. the longer i'm in this fandom the harder it is to stay here for more than a couple months

[thebroccolination]

Hi Key, your post is the second I've seen that hinted at Joss but without further explanation. He generally has a positive public perception and I only know him from 3WBF (which I liked), so I'm curious where this shift in perception is coming from recently.

Would you mind making a post or directing me to where I can learn more about his general...situation.

I apologize if this is intrusive since I know you don't like to engage in Fandom Drama and like to keep your space positive, but I don't have XTwitter and his Tumblr tag is usually quite dead.

Thank you in advance!

Why I Don't Fuck with Joss: An Extremely Academic Essay of Words and Screenshots

Hi Anon!

I normally would have DM'd you an answer to this, but since you sent the ask anonymously and you were very kind in how you asked, I didn't want to ignore you.

However, two things:

I do generally make it a policy to keep my negative personal thoughts about certain actors to private conversations or, y'know, Discord servers, just to keep it off public platforms where toxicity is already rampant. In this case, though, I think the situation is interesting enough to comment on. (Plus, y'know, I'm amazed he was even managing a comeback when he's been known to Be Like This for years.)

I didn't get a lot of primary sources for this post because quite frankly I don't like Joss and I don't want to look at his face any more than I already have. However, friends who've been following this more closely than I have were able to verify that there are sources out there for everything I'm going to mention. Just, y'know, don't use me or this post as a source. This isn't one of my Citations Included Posts, this is just a Why I Don't Fuck with This Guy Post.

So, for context, I made this post last month, and someone made a more explicitly worded reblog here that's honestly better if you're going in without any context.

Essentially, Joss has had a dodgy reputation for years, but I think because fan turnover is high in interfandom and he's never been in a BL series before, most interfans just know Joss as A Tall Man Who Likes Sportsball.

But when I got into Thai BL back in 2020, Joss was one of the first actors I heard of as ~Problematique~ so I looked into him, and what I learned made me go, "Ew," so I just keenly ignored him from then on. (General gross stuff like the Domundi boob-grabbing prank and some assorted Dudebro comments about women. I don't remember specifics anymore because he was barely on my radar, but a friend at the time who'd been in fandom longer basically told me, "Yeah, that's Joss, lol.")

Interestingly, before JossGawin became a thing, most interfans were rooting for JossLuke, but I think given how vocally left-leaning Luke has proven to be, I wouldn't be surprised if Luke saw the prospect of tying his public reputation to Joss and went, "lol no goddamn thank you."

Gawin, on the other hand, seems to be down for whatever GMMTV wants him to do, so he probably just sees Joss as a colleague he makes out with (acting is a weird job). He went to high school in western Pennsylvania, he has white relatives on his dad's side, and he hangs out with the Gym Dudes of GMMTV, so I'm sure he's completely desensitized and is one of those guys who thinks, "Nah," but doesn't go so far as to say, "Not cool, dude." The Gawin Caskey Method seems to be: throw a basketball, make out with a dude on camera, go home and eat an edible. Dismount.

Unfortunately, even though Gawin's never really made any political statements or taken any major stand for the queer community, he's gained goodwill that some people are now calling into question because of Joss.

Anyway, apparently Joss used to follow Andrew Tate on Twitter until Tate was suspended, so it seems a lot of people assumed Joss unfollowed Tate, but yeah, between the sexist comments, Boobgate, and admiring Joe Rogan, that was enough for me to physically recoil from the screen when I saw the teaser for MGB.

Okay NOW, everything from this point onward is new stuff I've learned over the past month that made me go, "Oh. So he's worse now."

Joss has apparently had that Joe Rogan quote pinned to his Twitter account since 2020, but people just shrugged it off because they like his man stomach or something? (I don't find him attractive, but even if I did, I truly don't understand how he made it this far. It feels like he's been pretty firmly canceled every year since I got here, honestly.)

I also didn't like him weight-shaming Gawin. There's some older clip of him calling Gawin fat, and I know in Asia it's more common to comment on other people's bodies and weight, but I also recently found out that he got Gawin a meat cake for his birthday because idk actual cake is for pussies? (Sorry, Anon, I was trying to aim for an objective tone but I abandoned it because I reeeally don't like this man.) And apparently a lot of JG fanservice is just Joss and Gawin at the gym so Joss can teach Gawin self-control or something? I've had their tag blocked from the beginning, so you'll have to look into that if you're curious.

Ah, and at some point in the last few months, Joss was apparently asked what his "type" is and he said something like "white, skinny English-speaking Europeans/Americans"(?) Which apparently made Asian women go, "Hey, c'mere real quick: good. Bye."

I also thought it was a huge red flag that Joss has been in the industry for years, and his domestic fanbase is still quite small. Others have pointed out that very few fan interactions with him are in Thai, and he's clearly courting a western audience both in his individual engagement and by partnering with a mixed American actor. When he did the LGBTQ+ panel last summer, apparently the reaction from Thai commenters was, "lmao why Joss?" not, "Oh yes, of course, Joss!"

So it seems like GMMTV has been trying to do a rebrand for Joss using Gawin and interfans more generally since Joss speaks English and interfans don't generally seek out the resources to do research. Remember last year when GMMTV announced that Y-MIND script competition? It was originally domestic only, but after Thai fans overwhelmingly went, "The contract terms here are wildly exploitative, so fuck off," GMMTV rereleased the promotional material in English and went, "HEY INTERFANS WANNA SEND US STUFF :D?"

That told me they really don't think especially highly of us.

On December 15th, someone pointed out that Joss didn't just follow Trump on Twitter, he also followed a ton of extreme alt-right accounts on Instagram. Not normal political figures, either. Obscure figures like Pearl, Candace Owens, that guy who was saying Your Body My Choice, and Andrew Tate's right-hand man, and more! Some of his fans tried to point out that he follows progressive Thai politicians, but as far as the American side, he only followed alt-right conservative accounts with zero liberal accounts.

Though, in fairness, someone did point out that Joss also follows famous progressive Democratic figures [checks notes] comedian Chris Rock and basketball player Stephen Curry.

So. Whoohoo for that, amirite?

Since Joss's fans weren't having much success defending him on their own, they threw some @'s at his account to get him to make some kind of statement that would somehow explain away why he was following a deep, deep alt-right fanatic like Pearl. (Spoiler: He didn't.)

The JossGawin International fan club even released the above statement to address the issue, then received such alarmingly vitriolic backlash from the JossGawin fandom for "betraying" Joss that the fanclub decided to deactivate entirely. (I have no idea if they reactivated or not, since I stopped keeping up with this whole debacle shortly afterward.)

One Thai(?) JossGawin fan actually seems to have used ChatGPT to create an English comment to chastise the fanclub for their lack of support in Joss's dire times:

Amusingly, rather than address his fans' concerns or unfollow any of the accounts causing the chaos, Joss instead just started deleting any comment on his Instagram that called on him to comment.

Five days later, he unfollowed 137 accounts. No idea how many of those were alt-right extremists and how many were just extra padding to make it look like a general cleanse, but it was at least fifty last I heard, and the fact that 1) it took him nearly a week to do anything but delete the comments calling him out, and 2) his first tweet after this whole mess was a quote-retweet of GMMTV's message welcoming Barcode into the company saying, "lol this kid looks like if me and Gawin had a baby" just goes to show how unthreatened he feels.

After all, Joss has been this way for years, and his upcoming series with Gawin is probably going to do numbers regardless. He's successfully rebuilt his stagnant career off the support of interfans, and he knows he'll be fine.

Even Foei has a show with Tay! We're all good here. \:D/

So yeah! That's why I don't fuck with Joss. \:D/

This'll be the last I say on Joss publicly.

I just figured I'd make one all-encompassing post so I can link back to this in case anyone asks why I'm not supporting any of Gawin's projects with Joss. It's a shame because I do really like Gawin, but this isn't even a hard choice for me to make.

Oh, and while we're on the subject: the director of MGB, Ark, is also Not a Good Dude by all accounts I've heard from multiple people who've interacted with him privately. I mean, he sure is queer, but he's also said to be a misogynist with some white-people-worshipping tendencies. He doesn't have the highest opinion of BL fandom in general, either, especially when you look back on his whole direction of IT'S NOT A BL Shadow. Just, y'know, another reminder that queer people aren't Virtuous or Evil by nature. We're a big ole clusterfuck of nuance, so you don't have to support MGB for Ark just because he's a queer man. I have zero proof that I can share publicly, so you don't have to take my word for it. Just, y'know, in case you were on the fence, I've heard he's a dick.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go write absolutely filthy gay porn to purify myself from writing Joss's name so many times.

[skyfallscotland]

Onyx Storm, by Rebecca Yarros ⚡️

She was the first to choose me, to elevate me above all others, the first to see every ugly side of me and accept it all, and every single person in this fucking canyon will die before they remove a single one of her scales.

Oh boy, here we go. This is probably going to be the longest review I've done (as it should be, I suppose) and I think I'm going to have to separate my likes and dislikes into separate posts and link them, just to at least try and be more concise.

To be completely honest, I didn't really enjoy the book all that much. When I finished it I just felt confused, empty, and completely overwhelmed. I cried.

It might sound a little stupid to other people, but I think if you've lived with depression, you know how much stock you can end up placing in the little things like this, and your hobbies and obsessions, and what you pour your time and energy into.

So it's hard when you don't enjoy things as much as you expect to. I didn't have lofty expectations for the book at all, in fact I had no clear idea of what exactly I was expecting plot-wise, but I did expect to really like it. A lot of small things piled up to make this unenjoyable for me at times as an experience and I'm having a bit of a hard time with that.

It's not even the book itself, so much as the fact that I kind of feel like I'm the only one who didn't love it, on the outside looking in at a fandom I’ve given a lot for, and worse, that it's killed my drive to write anything for the universe at all.

Overall, and this is my biggest problem, I feel stupid. So many things did not make sense to me. I finished this book feeling like I no longer understand the world building, the foreshadowing, the characters—nothing.

It didn't feel like a cohesive story, there was a lot of info-dumping and more than a handful of threads picked up and pulled on, and never looked at again. I don't have the answers to questions I've had for years, I only have new questions, and a lot of things that happened well...they don't actually matter at all. You could pick a bunch of things and pull them out of the story and the end result will be the same.

Someone on Goodreads said "Onyx Storm felt like a kid lost in a supermarket trying to find their mother." And wow, yeah. Yeah, it did. We went down all the aisles, every single one, and in the end we left without the groceries.

I feel almost like I need to apologise to Iron Flame, because really, her issues feel negligible to me now, in my personal experience. At least then I understood what the hell was going on.

Is this a chicken and egg scenario? Am I the idiot? Even if I am the idiot, should it be written in a way that idiots understand? Because I do not understand, Rebecca. I'm lost.

There just wasn't consistency.

There was no 'kill your darlings' in this book. It felt like there was a lot of fan service, and honestly it really felt like someone had gone onto the subreddit, grabbed a bucket of every theory ever mentioned and then went 'oops' and dropped it all in.

I feel like we shouldn't be learning about how magic works in the second half of book three. You're over 400k words in and you're going to choose now to tell me the dragons actually don't have their own magic? You told me in book one and two that they did. And now they're just four-legged venin?

None of this would be as big of an issue if it was news to Vi, but it's not. We're constantly just having things she apparently knew this whole time dropped on us with zero explanation over and over and over again. If you want to keep things from the reader, write in third person.

I spent half the book going back and re-reading things because I just didn't understand what was going on. Maybe it’s the OCD, maybe I'm an over-thinker, maybe I'm just dumb, but that kind of thing doesn't do it for me, it seems unbalanced and illustrates a lack of continuity from book to book.

In terms of characterisation, I wanted a more badass Vi and I got her, but it feels like there's a massive character development gap missing between 'I don't want to even know the truth in case you hurt me again' and 'I'm going to poison someone, blackmail them, and threaten their children.' Did they deserve it? Sure, but it felt out of place to me.

I've made another post here with the things that frustrated me and the questions I still have, and one here with all the things I did love. Because there were things. There were times I smiled, and laughed, and cried, and quotes I adore.

Ultimately though, my rating for this (on my personal scale) is it’s a good book, it just didn’t do it for me.

And personally? I really really wish it had 🥺❤️‍🩹

[samsheughan]

Confession I guess?

I figured it's time I was honest with y'all. (below the cut; feel free to skip if it's not your preferred cuppa)

I know I don't owe anyone an explanation of any kind, but as I've always said and stood by, I hold what audience I have with the highest regard and respect and I feel y'all deserve more from me than just the occasional "thanks for reading!" you know?

That being said, I want to let everyone know that, it's official: I am writing an original novel that I do plan to have published as soon as possible. I am planning on this novel being a trilogy of sorts, so there will be multiple books coming from me! :D

I have been writing fanfiction since I was 12 years old. What started on a floppy disk has flourished into a passion that I will always be proud of and grateful for. Writing fanfiction has spared my life more than once, and in the process of writing fanfiction, I have made friends that I know I will have for the rest of my life. I am so SO so grateful to y'all.

However, as time has gone on, and especially in the last few years or so, writing fanfiction felt more like an obligation rather than the hobby it's supposed to be. And that's no fun. But trying to bridge the gap between fanfiction and actual fiction (aka, the kind you can get paid for) has also been a struggle. I had a hard time trying to detach the ideas I had for fics from their respective fandoms and convert them into something that could be an original novel.

I have tried to adapt some of my more popular fanfiction stories into original ones, but a lot of the fandoms I've been in just don't make that an easy prospect (even my Modern AUs are hard to adapt since what makes them Modern AUs is deeply embedded in their respective fandom). But lately, the fog from that cloud seems to have lifted, and I am currently working on the manuscript for my very first novel!

All that aside, you might be wondering: "but Liz! You promised us you'd finished your fic! You promised, you promised, you promised!!" And you're right. I did promise. A promise I still intend to fulfill. I am a woman of my word. Sutures will be finished.

Someday.

But the timeline for that finale is now offcially on an indefinite hiatus. I could wake up tomorrow morning and finish it all and then post it that evening. Or it could be 10 years before I'm able to get back to it. Who can say? I sure as hell cannot. And while I hope I won't have to make y'all wait that long, like Claire, I have a glass face and cannot lie. But I also have to live in reality: I am my family's primary breadwinner. We are all disabled in some form and I am no longer capable of working outside our home. Wolf hasn't been for some time, so us staying home with The Pup just makes more sense now that we have officially pulled him from public school to homeschool him ourselves. Doing something working from home is now my chief focus, and I have to do what I need to do to facilitate that. We are good for the time being though (so much so that I closed the gfm I started a few months ago, so thank you to everyone who helped us out in our time of need 💜)

It has been a lifelong dream of mine to become a published author. A writer of love stories, in every romance genre I can get my wee fingers on! xD I am now in a position to chase that exact dream, and I cannot wait to be able to share what I've been doing!

To the Outlander fandom: my heart is yours from the moment I saw y'all. You've held my spirit with your two hands, and kept it safe (hey, jammf would be proud of me for channeling him here, be quiet :P) I have had many ups and downs with fandoms but I am eternally grateful for the love and appreciation this fandom has showered me with and I hope y'all will continue to stick around to see what else I got up my sleeve!

Stay tuned! Good shit is coming xx

[bartletslesbians]

Top 5 (or more) people who were involved in The Leak. I love your opinion/perspective on things, you've got such an interesting way of looking at things. This is really just an excuse to ask if you actually think Toby did it, and if not who else could have (or if he did leak it, if other people had more involvement than we know).

Ohhh oh okay. Yes. I love talking about this and I get anxious talking about this because this really seems to be the hot topic item in this fandom. And I do not hold a very popular opinion on it.

So to preface: I get why people don't like this storyline for Toby. That's fine. I personally think that he did it, and I think it makes a lot of sense for him to have done it; I don't think it's out of character, I don't think he covered for anyone. This is hopefully going to be a clear explanation as to why I think that, and why I like it for his character, but if you disagree that's not unexpected and completely fair.

I struggled to structure this, so I think I'm first gonna give you the actual answer to the top 5, and then at the end a more thorough thought process? Toby will be number 5 on the list because I think he did it and it'll be an easier transition to the longer explanation.

so

(and 2.) Claudia Jean Cregg (and Andrea Wyatt)

I'm putting them together because they are the most common alternative leakers I've seen in alternate theories. And I think that's a shame. CJ is involved, in a way, because without the conversation she had with Toby, he never would've known the information he had is worth leaking to the press. Something important there is that at that point in time, CJ suspected there was something of a military shuttle, but Kate, NASA, the President, and Hutchinson, were all unwilling to tell her anything except "well in theory we could build one, that's something we're capable of doing" with no confirmation. She goes to Toby not with a certain "I know this, do you know this?" question, but with a "I'm suspicious about this, do you know something about this?" where she hopes that he knows more than she does. And he does, cause he immediately knows what she's referring to even though she herself doesn't know as much yet.

I think that's an important distinction because there's a reason she could tell the white house counsel that she talked about this with Toby and not get in legal trouble, while Toby is very explicit that CJ was not the source of his knowledge of the military shuttle. They talked about it, but he knew of it before that conversation.

Still, without that conversation, he would not have been able to deduce that the military shuttle he was already aware of, was useful in this situation. That conversation clued him in that the shuttle could be used, wasn't being used, and he's smart (we saw him figure out MS so quickly), he could easily guess that the reason for not using it was the importance of secrecy. Hence, leaking it to push the administration into using it.

but for both CJ and Andy: I really kinda dislike the theory that either one of them leaked the information themselves, and Toby was just taking the fall. (Sidenote: I highly doubt Andy had any way of being aware of the shuttle, honestly.) Partially (and I'll get to that part later) because I think it takes away from what makes the leak so Toby for me, what makes it work. And partially because frankly I think it's insulting to say that the leak would destroy Toby's character too much, but to then pin it on someone else for who it would be a much more horrible thing to do, and act like that's not a worse character assassination.

Toby leaks the information and it's a self-sacrifice. Andy or CJ leaks it, but is too much of a coward to take the fall? Letting or making their ex-husband/father of kids or their best friend destroy his life for a crime they committed? That takes all the moral good to be found in the leak and just turns it into this insane act of cowardice and selfishness. CJ leaking this, and then letting Toby ruin himself so she can skip off to California with her new husband and a baby? That's a completely unforgivable act. And I think it's a shame that that's one of the more common explanations to 'save' Toby's character from what could be a very admirable act if he did it himself.

For CJ outside of this, I have so many thoughts about how the leak affects her desire to leave politics (for a while at least), and her relationship with the press and with Toby and with her own career. "First female white house chief of staff" is now gonna be followed with "in charge when her best friend committed one of the more egregious security leaks in modern history" and that shit hurts.

3. Josiah Bartlet

I think Jed was completely genuine about how angry he was with Toby about the leak. And I think part of that is the way it shows that Toby is more willing to do hard things to do good than Jed is, when that's something Jed wants to pride himself on. But also in general, when Jed finds out there was a leak at all, he's furious. It's a domestic and international disaster, and it's really such a personal betrayal and a way of saying you did wrong, I fixed it because you wouldn't. But especially also, Toby is the one he assigned to finding out who leaked it. It did not cross his mind that it was Toby. (and when the FBI points to CJ, Jed does not appear like he disagrees very heavily). I don't think Jed encouraged Toby to leak this at all; if he had I think it would've played out differently (there would've been even less reason to drag the investigation out a month before confessing, for example; it could've spared the democratic party and the white house and CJ herself a whole lot of headaches).

4. David Ziegler

Toby's source, beloved.

I do believe David is where Toby got it from. And while that technically is a crime, I think the reason Toby is so insistent to his lawyer and the prosecutor that it wasn't David (whereas to CJ he readily admits that David did tell him about a military shuttle), is because it was never ever intended as a crime or as something of any importance. They describe it as brotherly one-upmanship, and I find that very believable; two brothers bragging a little about their importance in the world, the younger brother wanting to show off what he knows. And that's supposed to be it! David had no way of knowing there would ever be a situation in which Toby would find it necessary to leak that information; no way at all, and I tend to imagine that Toby knew that if he had, he wouldn't have told him anything. I think that's how it went: David told him, and because CJ asked him what David told him, Toby knew it was relevant.

5. And then there's Toby.

Who did it.

I think it's partially that David, his astronaut brother, had just killed himself. David died in his car, asphyxiation. These three astronauts are also about to choke to death. Toby was powerless to prevent David's death, but can save the astronauts. David gave him the key he has to save those astronauts. How could he not?

And partially it's just... it's what's right. The President has to weigh this against international agreements and alliances he's already broken but hasn't admitted he's broken with the military shuttle. Toby doesn't have to take that into account. He sees an opportunity to save three human lives while the administration is dragging their feet debating if that's worth the political and international fall-out, when for Toby there's no question about that. Of course that's worth it. That's worth everything, including his own freedom and career and relationships with his friends and his kids.

And I admire that. He sacrifices almost everything he has (cause he doesn't know nor expects a pardon to follow) to save lives. And I think that's what's taken away if you say he didn't do it, or he's taking the fall for someone else. I think the most interesting and admirable thing about this is that he did it, despite all the reasons many other people would have been too scared to do it.

I think one thing that bothers me about the ideas that CJ or Andy did it, or that Jed pushed him, is that it takes away a lot of the agency Toby has over this decision. It's important to me that it's a choice he made; not something other people made him do. I don't like the idea that it was a sacrifice he was pressured into making?

Something I also love is that he didn't ask for a pardon. Andy wanted him to have a pardon (and was the only one in the building saying this out loud, when everyone else was scared to broach the topic let alone mention it to CJ or the President), and then Jed himself asked for it. I love that detail. Toby doesn't seek the pardon, but it's given to him anyway because Jed's furious with him, but knows right from wrong. (Hilariously, I learned that you can technically reject a Presidential pardon. And I doubt he would, but I'd love to see a fic where Toby does that and Jed loses his mind even more, just for laughs.)

That said, I do understand specifically the complaint that there was no build-up for it, no arguments about it in the oval and such, and I do think it would've worked better if there had been, but it doesn't really bother me that there wasn't. In a way that kinda reminds me of Toby organizing the funeral for the homeless veteran using the President's name, without telling the President. There's no time to go round for round with it in the oval, he just acts and lets the consequences happen.

And also, having said all that, there is one thing that always really bothers me about this. And I don't think it's necessarily out of character, cause I think it makes sense to do something, but then become scared of the consequences until it becomes really pressing. But while I deeply admire him leaking the shuttle, I find it hard to fully forgive him for the month he let it drag on before confessing.

Aside from Brock, even. Specifically, the way he allowed CJ to lose her mind and be targeted as the suspect by the FBI, believed by the President, while he could've stopped that and let the inevitable happen a little sooner by just saying he did it. She's falling apart in front of his eyes and he doesn't say a word until he learns that Leo's about to be subpoenaed, and the that is the catalyst for him confessing to it. And I get that, honestly; I think doing something knowing the consequences is different from then seeing those consequences in action and that's scary as hell. But I also think her "you don't need a pardon, you need a frying pan to the head" was the least he deserved for doing that to her. I would have liked it better if he'd leaked it, and then marched into the white house counsel's office, or the oval office, or even CJ's office, the day the article came out, and said he did it.

I really love the CJ and Toby friendship through the seasons, which makes it all the more heartbreaking. I love imagining them close again post administration, but I also think that would've taken years of effort, and I find it just as easy to believe that they never get that comfortable with each other again. One thing I find so interesting about that is that CJ never gives her opinion on Toby getting the pardon; Jed asks what she thinks he should do, a reporter asks what she thinks about Jed having signed it, and she never answers. And I think that's such a complicated question for her.

Okay I hope that all made sense lmao. I am so very happy to talk about this more, if you think I missed anything (I barely touched Brock in this, I know, but I think ultimately that's different from the people involved from the administration) or have something to add! I enjoy writing about this storyline

[autumnmobile12]

My Hero Academia: Healthcare?

I don't know if any fanfic writers will find this useful or not, but I think the information is interesting and worth speculation in the My Hero setting. This also applies to any fanfic writers in the anime fandoms who want to have more immersive and in-depth writing. Obviously, writing fics that are 'accurate' is not a requirement since the point is to have fun, but here's some knowledge to use (or not use) if anyone is interested.

Obviously, Deku's been in the hospital a lot. A lot of the characters are injured and in the hospital a lot. But for all the hospital visits, nobody in the series is going to be bankrupted by astronomical healthcare costs. (Yes, that's a jab at America's system.) And it's not because the Pros, especially the popular ones, have money.

Here's why:

Quick rundown of how healthcare in Japan works: Everybody receives healthcare, everybody has health insurance. In Japan, your employer is legally required to provide you with health insurance. If you are unemployed, you will be on a community healthcare plan. There is also a plan for citizens over the age of 75. This also applies to foreigners who have established permanent residence of three months or longer.

Article 25 of Japan's Constitution is paraphrased as follows:

“all people shall have the right to maintain a certain standard of healthy and cultured life” and that “the state shall try to promote and improve the conditions of social welfare, social security, and public health” for this purpose.

I'm not going to reiterate the system in its entirety, but if you would like to learn more, this site here (the Article 25 quote I used is also found on that page) has a brief and comprehensive explanation of how healthcare is handled. However, one thing I am going to mention that is relevant for Deku and other Pros is the threshold out-of-pocket expense.

In Japan, citizens enrolled in healthcare do not spend more than ¥90,000 per month out of pocket, protecting them from financial disaster.

(To Americans, this may sound like a sweet deal, but hold your horses because Japan also funds this system through heavy taxation. Medical procedures are expensive and people will be paying for them one way or another.)

The question that needs asking now is how does this system apply to the hero society? Well, first off, since My Hero does take place in a slightly futuristic setting, we could take into consideration the system has been revised.

Assuming not much as changed, are heroes that operate their own agency technically considered business owners and are required to insure their employees and sidekicks?

Or...

Because they are all government employees, is the Safety Commission responsible for insuring all heroes and sidekicks no matter what they rank in their popularity?

Personally, I think it would be the latter since, in the coldest sense of the word, the heroes are essential to the Commission in upholding their system. So that makes them an asset. The Commission would want to protect its assets because as shady as they are, their own system could work against them. They certainly don't want heroes going on strike for lack of benefits or complaining the government doesn't take care of their people. So I assume it's the Commission who is covering insane healthcare costs on behalf of heroes.

(And since the system is probably funded by taxpayers' money, that also feeds into the prevalent societal discontent that's ongoing throughout the series.)

Now what about Deku and his classmates since they have not graduated and are not officially licensed yet? Honestly, I think it's probably UA itself that insures the students. That probably has to do with accreditation and so on, which is another matter entirely, but again, the backing is likely coming out of the Commission (and taxpayers') pockets.

And there you have it. Happy writing, happy research.

[twst-hottest-takes]

This isn't a hot take, but more of a question to you. If you don't like the writing, believe the characters are shallow and hate a lot of what the game has to offer, why don't you quit playing the game? You don't need a green light in the form of an ending like Yuu going home to stop playing. I quit numerous fandoms when they were still publishing content. This isn't an attack on you. I'm just confused.

Because it's fun!

And I mean the game, not ragging on it, though that's fun sometimes too.

Believe it or not, I actually enjoy Twisted Wonderland a lot. This blog is just a place to air out the grievances. Though the positive posts are few and far between it's not all bad and I can point you to some of the fun ones if you'd like! Or if people want to see a longer post about what I DO like about TWST I can totally do that.

I can like the game and still call the writing shallow. I can enjoy the gacha and acknowledge that it's predatory. Being hopelessly attached to the characters that have the least amount of time and investment in them is a personal flaw of mine and I have to live with that.

The game itself runs like clockwork. The updates are consistent. Despite the premise being an easy sell, the game isn't cheaply made and you can see a lot of time and effort goes into the upkeep of the assets. The fanservice is fun without being overbearing. The card art quality is actually pretty fantastic and almost consistent all the way across the board. You can effectively free to play the game and there are no ad incentives.

In all honesty I love that the novelty of Disney Villains being turned into pretty anime guys hasn't worn off on me and I'm still excited every time they reveal a new character. A lot of the Disney nostalgia keeps me coming around, and the various "twists" they make regarding it is more enjoyable and amusing than not.

The game has a lot of rough patches, yeah, and I reserve my right to talk freely about that, but when it's good, it's REALLY GOOD.

I won't continue to wax poetic here, but I hope this is a good enough explanation in short. There are lots of things I love about Twisted Wonderland and have no actual issues continuing to play it, but I can understand how the tone of this blog really might make it look like I don't view it being as fun as I do. Especially when I say things like, "I could comfortably drop the game if the main story concluded and the MC just went home."

Thank you for asking.

(I don't know what TWST would have to do to get me to actually drop it like a hot potato but I supposed it would have to be pretty bad.)

[themundanemudperson]

Power Rangers Dino Charge: End of Season Review

So I thought making reviews for every Power Rangers season that I've seen would be fun! (And I'm ignoring the physics lab report I have to do lmao)

Don't really expect anyone to read this but eh this is for fun

Fave Character: Prince Phillip III of Zandar. He's my little bitch babygirl <3

Fave Ship: Chiley!!! Green/black ships my beloved. My fave rarepair is Phillip/Ivan. The gay devotion in knight/prince ships is peak

Fave Non-Romantic Relationship: Kendall, James, and Phillip. Auxillary Rangers ftw!! (fuck Zenowing)

Fave Episode: The Tooth Hurts! Chiley ep of all time

General Thoughts:

Dino Charge was the first season of Power Rangers that I'd ever seen, and was the thing that got me into the fandom, so I'll always have a soft spot for it. But even rewatching it recently has it hold up.

The characters in this show are what I think makes it one of the best Power Rangers seasons, and the best Neo Saban. All of them are so great, and while they never got too much depth (curse you adults that think kids can't handle complicated things) but they're still such interesting people. Dino Charge had a large cast, and they didn't always handle that many people that well (the auxiliary Rangers unfortunately get little to no attention), but the cast, in my opinion, is what made it so great.

The main cast is so lovable. Tyler, while he can be a little bland at times, is a little cutie so he's great. Chase is an interesting character that's very fun to watch. Koda is the heart of the team and he's a perfect little angel. Riley is our canonically gay (via the actor) overachiever representation. Shelby is also overachiever representation, with academic pressure from parents too! Then you have Ivan. Our loyal and chivalrous knight out of time. The gay devotion is real with this one.

I'm going to cut myself off here, because you probably get the point. I love the cast of Dino Charge. Barring Zenowing and Keeper. They're just useless to me

And because these characters are interesting people, they also have such fun dynamics with each other. I love that the Rangers really feel like a found family. You can examine any relationship between the Rangers and have something to talk about. I mentioned Kendall, Phillip and James earlier as my fave platonic dynamic, but there are a lot more to look at. Tyler and Chase as himbo bros, Riley and Shelby as gay besties , Koda, Kendall and Chase with their familial bond as they were the first Rangers together... they're all great.

And the villain situation in Dino Charge was.... interesting.

The concept of fighting a bounty hunter that captures his monsters from all over the universe is cool, especially because it gives an explanation as to why the monster of the week fights so hard - they'd win their freedom if they brought back an energem. But Sledge himself was kind of a boring villain to me. He never actually has any kind of motivation for getting the energems - we don't know if he wants them for universal domination or to sell them to the highest bidder. So he felt kind of flat to me. I did love Poisandra, Curio, Wrench and Fury though. I liked that they had more personality. And Poisandra is my girl and I love her. She should've gotten a redemption arc. Fury was also an interesting character because of his rivalry with Ivan. I do wish they explored it more, but what we did get was cool.

And after Sledge was defeated, we got Heckyl and Snide! Quite obviously a Jeckyll and Hyde reference, these two were much more interesting to me than Sledge. Heckyl's backstory is so sad 😭 and I love him more for it. The concept of a villain infiltrating the Rangers place of work and pretending to be their friend was so awesome. I wish he was a double agent for longer (and that they didn't wipe his memory of their base) but I liked it.

Then you had Arcanon for a little bit. This was so fucking stupid. Dino Charge made an original villain in Sledge, so I think they shouldn't have bothered with trying to work Arcanon in there (his Sentai counterpart was the head villain). It felt too rushed and they could've introduced the dark energem with something else.

And then surprise! Sledge again! Also hated that to be honest. They defeated him the first time. Why bring him back.

We don't talk about that finale. We don't

Technically I have to if I want to talk about Dino Charge (unfortunately) so all I'm going to say is that it's stupid and I hate it. Ivan and Koda never leave and they never fuck up the timeline with that dumbfuck idea thanks <3

(Genuinely there's a discussion to be had about the character assassination that was committed by making Koda and Ivan - who had accepted that they were men out of time and living lives with their new family - went back in time for some fucking reason, but that's for another post)

Now! Onto something I actually want to talk about! The Sentai adaptation vs the Power Rangers. I've seen both, so y'all are getting my thoughts as to how well they adapted it. I think Dino Charge did an amazing job. They didn't take what happened in Kyoryuger and copy that exactly (cough cough Samurai cough cough). They made their own story and used the footage well

I also want to talk about the thing that makes Power Rangers iconic - the actual Ranger bit. I'm talking about the power source, the suits, the zords, and the Super mode.

I really liked the energems as a power source. The idea of ancient stones created at the dawn of the universe that bonded to dinosaurs, then people, is really cool. I have issues with the "energems give them immortality" bit (because I'm sad that they have to watch their friends and family die) but it really does make sense. They are bonded to something that is ancient and powerful, and there should be some side effects from that.

Now for the suits! (One could argue that the suits are more of the Sentai's influence but I'm treating them as solely Dino Charge right now). I really love the Dino Charge suits. They already get points in my book for not having fucking lips (which I hate with a burning passion), but they do look cool on their own. I love solidly coloured suits that don't have white or black pants. The helmets are also really cool, and I love the dinosaur heads incorporated in them. So the DIno Charge suits are great to me

The zords in Dino Charge are also awesome. They look really cool. I wish they could be small to hang out with their Rangers, but alas, we can't have everything 😔

The Super mode in Dino Charge was a pretty solid one. I liked that Rexy could be small to fight alongside Tyler. Don't love the white on the suit, but at least his normal suit is a nice, solid red.

So yeah! That's my Dino Charge review. Thanks for sticking around after that word vomit lol. I love this season so fucking much

[blimbo-buddy]

Ough just wanted to say, as someone guilty of falling into the fandom trend of forcefully 'found family-ifying' characters a LOT in the past, i find your mobile mw rewrite really compelling, especially from this '''family''' angle... Like i find the issue of fandoms doing this really fascinating, i LOVE whenever people explore the implications of something like that actually happening in-text!!!

Captains need for control and the way he views himself as a father to the crew, a papa bear like you said, is soooo compelling..... Hes convinced hes doing the right thing, hes trying to escape earth and real life and make a lie last longer... This coupled with the fact most of the crew dont even seem to LIKE him (?)(hope im not misremembering here) is so funny

All in all i just want to say: cool rewrite👍

(A late answer is better than never)

Thanks a lot man! Seeing the sheer wave of people applying found family dynamics to Mouthwashing was one of the main reasons I went the route I did with tackling companies "being a family" while also critiquing the downsides of the family unit, the abuse and generational pain that goes unnoticed or is brushed off.

Captain, through forcing a family dynamic with his crew, unknowingly creates an environment that mixes all the bad of family

It's a place where you feel like you can't speak up about things that your other crewmates do/say that you don't like, it'll just fall on deaf ears

If it's even spoken about at all to begin with

Why exactly Captain is like this, I want to keep up in the air while also suggesting a few things about himself and his backstory

The crew either "tolerates" him (Like how you'd tolerate a bad/strange family member) or doesn't like him at all.

Something I'm really into doing with this story is having barely anything known about the survivors at the beginning, but have a lot known about the dead crew. Nurse, Shinsuke, Jim, and Swanz are all stuck together, but they barely know anything about each other.

This also ties into the themes of family negatives

Sometimes in our family, we barely know people but we're made to be in the same room with them because. Well. That's who we're related to.

But going back to how fandoms shove characters into family dynamics, it's admittedly something that we've all done at some point. Family's a tricky, complicated subject that seems simple at the surface. Hell, even I've had my moments with Mouthwashing where I've compared Anya and Daisuke to siblings.

Maybe there's some deeper explanation about it all. How we want to see positive family dynamics because the world has conditioned us to put up with horrible families, whether they be our own or others. But with my Mobilewashing au/rewrite, I actually want to play around with this in a sort of "ironic hypocritical way"

The characters (mainly survivors) sometimes do see the others in some kind of family dynamic

Maybe this is in the absence of their own families

Maybe the stress of the idea that they'll never see their own families again, so they do this to cope Whatever it may be, it's ironic that this is what the characters feel sometimes. To think that Captain's obsession with family would also lead the survivors to seeing one or more of themselves as siblings, aunts, uncles, or what have you.

Captain's obsession with having family is what killed most of the crew. It drove him to do all of this, to murder the crew, the "family". Does that mean the others will end up the same as him?

[jantostolemyheart]

Fic #1

Title: Please Don't Go

Fandom: Good Omens

Characters: Crowley, Aziraphale, Metatron, god

Pairings: Crowley/Aziraphale

Status: complete

Crowley followed Aziraphale as the angel left his book shop. The demon's eyes were wet, and they noticed their angel's eyes were glistening with unshed tears as well. A strange thing they noticed - Aziraphale was tracing a finger over his lips. Was he trying to feel the fading sensation of when Crowley's lips were pressed to his?

They followed Aziraphale as he got closer to the elevator that would take him back to Heaven. Just as he reached for the button...

"Angel, wait! Please-!" An anguished voice rang out. Suddenly, the angel felt himself wrapped tightly in familiar arms from behind, a face with features he knew so well pressed into his shoulders.

"'Ziraphale, don't leave me-" Crowley whispered. "Please. I need you-"

Metatron glared from next to the elevator. "Aziraphale, we haven't got all day," he said in a falsely polite and saccharine voice. "God is going to be waiting for you."

The longer Crowley held tightly to Aziraphale, and the longer Aziraphale stayed quiet, the more irate Metatron got. They had been standing like that for nearly fifteen minutes. Metatron was impatient and getting violent. It started to do things to separate the two. Crowley let out a scream of rage and pain as the first projectile narrowly missed hitting Aziraphale. They spread their wings, wrapping it completely around their Angel.

The projectiles and various other destructive items flew past them both, some hitting Crowley. They gritted their teeth and did not make even one sound to indicate the amount of pain they were in. There were some burn marks and parts where their skin was steaming with a small bit missing from salt and holy water hitting them with the projectiles.

A figure no one had seen before appeared. No one but Metatron, that is. "Shame on you, Metatron! This is not what I told you to do! I did not create Aziraphale for the purpose of abandoning who he loves, or for being head archangel. You are now sentenced to the seventh circle of hell for the rest of eternity with no chance to get out," she fumed. Her voice was a normal volume, but so powerful it seemed to resonate everywhere. May whoever crossed her be pitied, for no one went against the will of God herself when it came to her Angel and Demon.

The moment God appeared, the attack stopped. And as soon as she finished berating and punishing Metatron which happened faster than the pair could comprehend, Crowley felt a hand on their shoulder. They jumped.

"It's alright, Crowley. I'm not here to hurt you," she reassured them. "Let me heal you? Metatron did quite a lot of damage..."

As soon as Aziraphale heard that, he got really worried. "Oh, Crowley-" He brushed his thumb over a salt burn, causing the demon to hiss in pain. "I'm so sorry, my dear, I never wanted you to get hurt..."

"Angel, I'd protect you no matter what. No matter the cost to my life, or my heart."

Aziraphale's face reddened in shame. That last comment stung, but he knew Crowley was right - the demon always had protected him, no matter the cost to themself, and now they were paying a hefty price. And not just physically. There was only one thing to do - he had to repair the damage he had caused and hope that Crowley would at least forgive him, even if they couldn't be together anymore.

"Crowley, I-"

"Angel-" Crowley cupped Aziraphale's cheek as God continued to heal the broken demon. "You don't have to apologize. I understand. The call of Heaven is too strong and I'm not enough to keep you here. It's okay, I understand." They dropped their hand from Aziraphale's face.

The angel caught Crowley's hand in his own. "No, Crowley. You deserve an explanation. Perhaps you could forgive me after I explain, but if not, I will live with that and accept it."

He took a calming breath and squeezed Crowley's hand gently, and when Crowley held tight, he took it as a good sign. "What happened was-"

*flashback to the conversation between Metatron and Aziraphale*

Metatron stared at Aziraphale. "So, Mr. Fell, here is what is going to happen. You are going to come back to Heaven with me, and serve as a proper angel."

Aziraphale stared back. "But my shop- I can't leave it! And Crowley - what about them? I can't just up and leave Crowley, they'd never come to Heaven with me! Besides, why would I leave them, when they're the most important person I know, and they are what's most precious to me!" Aziraphale's words hung in the air for a few moments before Metatron spoke again.

"Aziraphale, Aziraphale, always the fool with the biggest heart. See, that's going to be your downfall. In fact, I'd already say that you began your own downfall by telling me what you value most. Which means I have leverage over you. So. You can either come back to Heaven with me and serve as a proper angel, or I will erase both you and your "precious" demon from the Book of Life. Which means that neither of you would have existed. Could you do that to them? To your "precious" Crowley? Could you hurt them like that? Would you throw away six thousand years together to have never existed just to avoid going back to Heaven?"

Aziraphale was shocked and contemplated Metatron's words. "Fine, I'll do it. I'll come back to Heaven. But you better not harm Crowley, or nowhere in Heaven, Hell, or Earth will be safe from my wrath. I guarded the East gate to Eden. And I am knows as her strongest soldier, not for nothing."

*return to present*

Crowley was silent. God had retreated now that Crowley was healed.

They looked at their angel, and then pulled Aziraphale as close as possible, wrapping their arms and wings around him.

Aziraphale was not expecting this reaction from the demon, but he held tight to them. It was then that he let his tears fall.

"I'm so sorry, Crowley-"

"Shh, Angel, it's okay. You were forced to make a choice that you never should have." The pressed a soft kiss to his hair, running a soothing hand up and down Aziraphale's back. "It's okay, Angel."

Crowley continued to hold Aziraphale like that, until his tears stopped, and the angel stood up straight again.

"Crowley?"

"Yes, Angel?"

"You were always enough for me." Before Crowley could speak, Aziraphale kissed them softly. He kissed them long enough that they could pull away, or kiss back and feel the emotions he was putting into the kiss.

"Ngk-" said Crowley. They were taken by surprise. But as soon as their brain caught up, they cupped Aziraphale's cheek once more, and returned the kiss.

Aziraphale pulled back for a moment, and whispered against Crowley's lips. "I love you."

"I love you, Angel," they whispered back, kissing him deeply this time.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

re: Jenkins' tweets about how Buttons is a witch and there's no show without Izzy, IMO there are three possible ways to interpret that:

He's being cryptic because he in fact has no intention of resurrecting Izzy (outside of maybe being a guilt ghost, like Nigel) and is trying to mollify the fans.

He's being cryptic because he wants to keep his options open in the event that he does resurrect Izzy somehow.

He does actually plan to resurrect Izzy, via Buttons' sea witch magic or something similar.

I think it's #1, at best #2, because I think him resurrecting Izzy would cause more narrative problems than it solves.

Longer explanation under the cut:

So, okay, Buttons being kinda magic was hinted at throughout season 1 but, importantly, it was never actually confirmed one way or the other.

The fact that he can identify ships on the horizon as Spanish with his naked eye when Izzy needs a telescope could be proof of sea witch powers, or he could just have good eyesight and/or guessing ability.

His ability to talk to birds could be a legitimate skill, or it could be a figment of his imagination, like ghost!Nigel is for Stede.

The hex he puts on Calico Jack could be real, especially since Calico Jack gets hit by the cannonball after Olivia has her standoff with him... or it's a complete coincidence.

Even in season 2, we never actually see him transform: he walks off into the woods, the bowl falls on the ground, and we hear a seagull, but we don't actually KNOW he's turned into a seagull. There's no Swan Princess-esque transformation scene here.

The same ambiguity is present in the curse episode. It's never confirmed one way or the other whether the curse is real, because that ambiguity is part of the point (i.e. "it doesn't matter how you feel about it, Stede, you need to validate your crew's experiences and not be a selfish ass").

So say Jenkins ends up leaning hard into the magic thing, makes it explicit and unambiguous, and ressurects Izzy. That opens up a whole host of new problems for him, like:

If magic is real, what are the rules? How does it work? What can it do? What are its limits?

Who else in this world knows about it? Obviously Auntie does, but it doesn't seem like Zheng or anyone else does: why?

If it is known by other people, how well known is it? Why do so many people (like Stede and Izzy) not believe in it?

Who else in this world is magic? It can't just be Buttons, since he needed the scroll to turn into a bird and that presumably came from some other magic user.

How much of what we've seen is magic and not plot convenience/rule of funny? Are the Loony Toons physics magic? Is the ship staying afloat despite no one knowing how to sail magic? Is the characters' ability to row anywhere they want, including places they do not know or even have a reason to try to find in the first place, magic?

And, the most important one: if magic exists in this universe, and people know about it and believe in it, and if it's been underpinning the story this entire time, why does Izzy need to be resurrected at all?

I'm not saying these are insurmountable questions Jenkins has no way of answering. But they are questions he would start having to answer, which is not only a lot more work but also very easily verging into the ridiculous if not handled well. It's an incredibly difficult needle to thread. Like, even if he's not slapped with (honestly, valid) accusations of trying to do a do-over because of fan pressure, he's going to be veering off in a direction that is way more difficult to write in a way that feels authentic and satisfying and not forced.

And I currently don't trust him to handle it well! Since we just saw how well he handled killing off a main character and navigating the cast's romantic relationships, which are both way less complex in terms of world-building!

Fanfiction can absolutely handle this. The OFMD fandom has already picked up the magical realism ball and ran with it, which is one of the things I like about the show: a lot of tropes that are often kind of jarring to me in certain fandoms (not just magic in a world with no magic, but certain whump and angst tropes that sometimes feel a little overwrought) aren't jarring here, because there's some basis for it in the canon. Like, the fandom has already written a lot of stuff more complex and better understanding of the universe's rules than the S2 finale (even, dare I say, much of the second season in general).

But Jenkins and the writers team right now? Nah.

[soulstagger]

So.

Let's talk muses. Let's talk Kako muses more specifically. I feel I owe explanations on everything, the delays, the uncertainty, and ofc. Who is staying and who is going.

Starting with this blog specifically and who will be on it.

Soulstagger

Immediately being the main blog, it is meant not just for the most popular muses, but the muses I want to openly push at more people. Not just my friends, but new followers, other fandoms, creating new longer stories. It's not that the side blog muses can't, but these are the ones I want to focus, and deserve to have the main blog's ability to send asks most often.

Starting with the expected.

Jeanne Beaulieu, Skadi, Micuccia Coccaro, Hong Meiling, and Kirisame Marie.

All of them are popular, story driving characters. With them Viorela Lupei, Kitagawa Ida, and a final new muse will take up the last slots. Each of them have the potential to be multisetting, with long stories to grow and I hope you'll indulge me on them.

Additionally Skadi and Heart will each get their own tiles.

So we move to the side blog and the most complex of the problems.

Soulstumble

I'll talk about those who are getting a full tile slot, and then those who will be legacy. Then we'll talk about those not showing up.

For Touhou/Arknights: Kasen and Akiyama Mao are main stays, with new faces Ueda Naomi and Akabane Mirai showing up for an event soon enough. As for Arknights, possibly a Blaze re-addition but right now no primary Arknights beyond Skadi on the main blog.

For Fantasy/Searoulean: We will keep the main faces of good, bad, and neutral types present. Vaimiti, Avra, and Yura, alongside Natalia Naess. All of them could be considered main enough for soulstagger, but I figure keep them all together in case the focus is more my setting rather than just fantasy occurs, then it helps for them to all be there.

For Other/Modern/Post Modern: Eloisa and Lenora take front positions, with new face Yamazaki Cassidy, and specifically the Lust variant Franziska slotting in as well.

There's a lot missing so let's talk about the Legacy Tiles/Extra tiles whatever I decide to call them.

Mostly muses that really probably should of kept napping after my retirement, and that I didn't need to bring back but doing stuff with friends is great. So these muses, are more request only or established stuff.

Legacy Touhou/Arknights: Miko, and Chengshu. Not that I don't want to write them, but I have no desire to do new stuff. I like what I have, it's hard to want to do more than what I do already.

Legacy Fantasy or more accurately, NPCs: Let's just list em off, Kawa Bae, Kurousa Kiyoko, Usha Sharma, Ruan Na, Neche Machi, Zhu Xueyi, and Elva Joyce. None of them muses are really legacy as they were quite new even when I retired, but most of them are additions to their core fantasy characters. They either have small ships, or show up in threads belonging to stories involving other Searoulean muses. They have just enough to exist, and could have their own slots later once the blog's settled again. Available but, they are extras. Smaller stories. It's the one legacy/extra tile that's a bit misleading because I'm always happy to do more with them. They just clog up a lot of space right now.

Legacy Other/Modern/Post Modern: This one is a grey zone betweeen how the legacy is meant to be and how fantasy is treating it. It's old stories, but also muses that need a chance to shine later but don't merit removing. This includes Celune DeCalme, Ziatrix, Sezja Krieger, Mariam and Mirana.

Again being Legacy doesn't mean less important, just not my focus nor the ones I want to promote the most. But ultimately there for the friends.

So let's talk the others you have yet to see. New, upcoming, old, ect.

Trouble? No bitches no profiles?

Let's start Arknights, the biggest one missing from the equation is Yuzuki Zunin/Ulpianus. He needs a little rewrite but he effectively around for some specific instances. He will probably return to the legacy tile. But he is the easiest to talk about, don't worry Ceri mun his threads are good and I am not stealing him from the grump cat.

Others like Rrrrat Lin Yuhsia and Gavial will exist on a, I saw specific friends doing stuff basis and sent them an ask.

Our beloved Indigo and Mudrock will not be muses anymore.

Touhou time v3, I will for the time being, not be continuing my Tojiko, as I've lost confidence in it. And I will put my Megumu addition on hold too. Kokoro will continue to be retired. Let my babu sleep. And Nobu or Hannah might return later but right now there's no need.

Talking Fantasy now. There's a popular muse that's missing. It's Tone, even with the FC change I don't feel comfortable playing them. They changed a lot since I started, and I really tried for my friends but it would be unhealthy for me to keep writing them. So for now Tone is not a muse right now. I apologize hugely to Momi, Ceri, and Draco.

Give me a little time, I want to continue her, but she needs some updates and an identity that is her own and not a changed concept.

Additionally, Vera Voll needs a rewrite, and may return later but for now ZZZZ.

Now for a confusingly short talk about the Gates sisters and Zak'yanna. The reason they're not there is obvious, Zak'yanna is technically KIA right now, and the Gates sisters Sophia and Skadi Sedna, are K.O until some threads resolve things. They will be changed too coming out of this, so you could say this is a little rewrite, no an update more so.

Now Yuma and Deva. Like Lust, they're event hold overs, but unlike the Lusts on this list. Deva is supposed to be dead, and will only appear in threads as remains. So will not have a proper profile, and Yuma.

People love yuma, but she was meant to be retired too, living a nothing life away from everything. I would like to give her that. As of reading this, Yuma and Deva are no longer muses on the blog, with Deva only showing her face as a fragment for story reasons like with Rirune ect.

Speaking of Lusts, where are the rest. Let's be real, the Lust era is over for me. I'm happy to some of the ships that finally got to name there's, and sure for asks from time to time, or story reasons like Kiara, they'll pop in and out. But they don't merit tiles legacy or not.

So let's move to more NSFW geared muses. Like Gavial and Yuhsia mentioned earlier, muses like Maman, Reject, they exist for specific people and will not be listed. They exist in a, if you know, then you know way.

A few more fantasies to mention, Katou Kazuko, Pascal Van Kren, and Mu. May return in the future, but they are a tier lower than NPC/Extras, they might appear to add conflict to a thread but their lack of depth means for now they're gone unless as mentioned, needed for conflict.

Hit the ground, not running. I will not be adding Sekai Yume, Yamazaki Noriko, or Aikawa Yuuka just yet. Let them cook more.

Finally the beloved.

Haya and Aiharu. My favorite muses of my entire life, but truthfully hard to rp now that their core cast has all moved on. If not for Millia I would have retired them entirely, and that's what I'll do. They exist for me to bug Xana's Millia from time to time, but you will not see them with a profile for some time now.

So new faces?

That's Ueda Naomi, a fox man in Touhou, and a snake lady Akabane Mirai also for Touhou.

There's Kitagawa Ida, a mirror witch for all fandom/setting. Viorela Lupei, a fox woman and somewhat a bounty hunter.

And one last new face that's meant to start very normal, but I want you to drag her into crazy worlds and situations.

But for now, I think I've covered what people were expecting.

If there's a muse not listed you are wondering about, if they're to be added, not added but still there, or retired entirely. You can ask me.

I just felt I owed some reasons and explanations, it's these thoughts and some code issues that took this update so long.

Anyways my plans going forward are to move everything accordingly, to try to reach out with stagger more to new followers with a smaller selection on the blog. But continue a lot of our fun on stumble too, as well as an incident event in March.

For now thanks for reading.

Again I'm sorry to a few friends whom got replies from me last night, yet today I axe the muses.

If I didn't do it now, I would be unhappy going forward.

Cheer.

[wetcatspellcaster]

Have you finished veilguard? If so, what did you think of the ending?

hey anon! I finished it last night. I'm still arranging my feelings overall, but my first impressions are as follows (mild, vague spoilers so under the cut)

I saw the twist about Varric coming from mid-act 2, and I still think it's cheap. I think it's a soulless, corporate best of both worlds - you get to leverage fandom nostalgia and pander to your audience by having his voice actor present throughout, but then his character has no meaningful impact on the story. The explanation i came up for it in my head when it was a theory was also stronger than what we were given in game.

I think the choice between Davrin/Lace is valid as a narrative choice that raises the stakes of the final conflict, but limiting it to only two companions with minimal reactivity is a shame, and the two companions they choose is highly suspect.

As always, and forever, I do not care about Solas the way this game wants me to care about Solas.

When Varric gave his hero/villain speech about Solas, I had to take a walk.

If you want your male villain/antihero to be deep and meaningful, maybe make his mindprison quest a little longer and add some puzzles, so that his 'prison of infinite regret' cannot be broken out of by one (1) hypercompetent woman in under ten minutes flat (Rook is the hypercompetent woman, not I).

I did not pick the 'best' ending bc I do not think it is the 'best' ending. But the ending I chose was incredibly satisfying given that I ended the game honestly feeling like I'd spit on Solas in the street, or go back to Inquisition to punch him a second time.

I enjoyed the combat! Particularly Elgar'nan's rave stage in his boss battle.

I think it's a shame that the final quest is a funnel, that then becomes more and more streamlined as your companions are picked away. If they had a cast of 9 like other dragon age games it would maybe work better, bc your choices of party members for tasks to get the 'good' ending really limits the choices for your own party, which is frustrating as it's the last time you're fighting and you want to have your faves with you! (I had the same issue with BG3, to be fair.)

My feelings of the game overall are mixed. I had a lot of fun. I like a game where combat is easy but engaging. It was addictive to finish. I also don't think it's worth the money I paid for it.

I loved Rook, but often felt like they were a bystander in their own story, rather than the protagonist. And I think everything - from the plot to the companions quests to the romances - is underwritten, in a way I only hope fandom can fix.

[the-alliance-maker]

More art from my younger sister, yay!

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) looks like that because he's worn the Fierce Deity Mask too many times for extremely long periods, and now it's started to stain/scar his skin.

I'm also putting her little doodle she made me bellow too.

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) has a/his shadow following him around. This is apparently my sister's view of their relationship.

(She was nervous about letting me post the gif and required that I clarified that it's a low effort, quick animation she only made to get a laugh out of me, lol. She was correct about making me laugh. I was in tears for, like, an hour.)

More explanations (And lack there of?) about it under the cut.

These pieces of art are both from an AU of mine that we roleplay a lot.

I'd explain more, but it's built off an alternate timeline/universe of @wutheringmights story "Call them brothers". And I'm not sure what her rules are about fanart or fanfics, mostly because I never asked or looked into it and I never intended to.

I make AUs for the fanfics I read, write fanfics for those fanfics with thousands upon thousands of words in them and then never post them or do anything other than hand them to my sister to read. She does the same with her art.

...Fandoms are messy enough without me accidentally stepping on someone's toes. (I think my sister doesn't post her art because she's too unconfident though.)

That aside, Call them brothers is literally my favorite fic I've ever read. I know we like to throw that phrase around in the fandom a lot, but I have every intention of getting that sucker printed and bound once it's finished. I've been reading Fanfiction for nearly a decade and this is the first one I've wanted to do that for.

If you're a person who enjoys darker stories and want a story line with some actual consequences for the characters, I'd totally recommend it. The last time I was this gut punched over characters and their development was Red Rising by Peirce Brown (My favorite published book series ever), and Wuthering's descriptions of a war ravaged country and all it's horrors is fucking immaculate.

I found Call them brothers through my desire to see a longer fic that had Spirit Tracks Link, and it did. not. disappoint.

Wuthering's takes on what Spirit's abilities, character traits, and game culture/lore are currently my favorite I've seen from anyone in the fandom, and I would doubly recommend the fic just for that.

That said, it's not a story for the faint of heart. It's Dark. With a capital 'd' for a reason. Wuthering doesn't add all those tag warnings for no reason. Also, if you can't stand to see one of the Link bois written as anything other than what the mainstream interpretation for them is, this isn't for you. War isn't out of character, but he's certainly a bold take. A fantastic one, but bold none the less.

Plus there's mild mentions of Links being interested in other character's that aren't their Zeldas or their typical love interests. There is NO shipping of the Jojo's characters amongst each other, but if you're the kind of person who can't stand alluding to characters having crushes that aren't Link x Zelda, it isn't for you.

I know there's some people in the fandom who don't like that kind of thing, so I thought I'd mention it. Also, you've been warned so no being mean to Wutheringmights about it!

If you're okay with the things I've listed, please, please, please give it a read. @wutheringmights deserves all the love for writing something so good.

(Anyway, I could ramble for hours about all the reasons Wutheringmights is my favorite Author in the LOZ fandom, but this was supposed to just be a post about my lil sis's art that got waaaaay away from me.)

[scarlet--wiccan]

I'm new to comics, and I've seen a lot of people in the fandom say Quicksilver ages super fast cus of his powers Is there a specific issue or panel that confirms this? (If you don't mind)

No, it's not true. I mean, it's obviously not true-- if it was, don't you think he'd be, like, dead by now? But it's also not a canon fact. I tried looking around online to see where people are getting this idea, and it seems like it's mostly just forum users speculating and theorizing without actually looking at the material-- and most of them are just talking about the movies.

There are canon explanations for Pietro's powers, and how his body and metabolism are able to negate, or compensate for, the damage that a normal human body would incur from being moved that fast. You can find this information, with citations, for yourself on the Marvel wiki, but I have a shorter summary here. But you can take it as read that Pietro's body is highly adapted to support his powerset without negative side effects.

As far as I can recall, the only time Pietro's powers appear to have an adverse effect on his aging is in Son of M, which is a story set in the aftermath of House of M. I know you're new to comics, but one thing you need to know is that 2004 to about 2011 was a really dark period for Wanda and Pietro. Starting with HoM and Disassembled, the characters got dragged through the mud by writers who had no regard for their history or integrity, and there are several contradictions and incongruities that since been swept under the rug. If you're serious about getting to know these characters, then you do need to read these comics, but you also need to be able to take them with a grain of salt and understand that these treatments do not and should not apply to Wanda and Pietro's larger history.

Anyways, in Son of M, Pietro is abusing Terrigen, which is the substance Inhumans use to activate their genetic powers. The Terrigen restores Pietro's speed, which he'd lost, and also gives him the ability to move through time, which appears to be physically draining. We see a dramatically aged version of Pietro from the future who claims that his condition is a result of time travel. Present-day Pietro starts to look a little rough by the end of the series, but he gets better later on. Pietro no longer posesses Terrigen or time-travel powers-- by all accounts, he's back to "normal," and his base power set does not effect his aging.

There's also some particularly unflattering artwork, especially from the 80s and 90s, that makes him look weirdly old, but that's just an unfortunate aesthetic choice. It doesn't mean anything, and it's not the case any more, as you can clearly tell from modern comics where he and Wanda are obviously the same age, and actually look younger than they probably should.

[spirits-art-blog]

Time for some qsmp egg designs! Since I was working off of the idea that dragons adapt and change to look similar to their caregivers before they hatch, it was really difficult for some eggs since I don't know most of the members of the server + Pomme and Richarlyson have more than two parents. I also based the spots on their shells on their favorite colors, which was also difficult since the wiki doesn't have them all listed.

Anyways I'm glad with how these turned out.

Leaving explanations for all the design choices below for anyone curious.

Some basic details about the eggs, so far their colors have not completely set in so some of their original purple coloring can still be seen; this is most notable for Tilin, JuanaFlippa, and Trump, who all died before their new colors could get past their shells. All of the eggs started out quadrupedal but quickly adapted to stand on their hind legs as well as adapting to have opposable thumbs allowing them to pick up and use items.

Tallulah: Starting off, she has hair coming from the top of her head and the tip of her tail, the color and style are from Wilbur, however she hasn't seen much of his avian form so the positioning actually comes from Phil. Speaking of Phil, because she has been under his care for quite a while she has also gained many traits from him, such as an extra talon on the side of her heels and pin feathers sprouting from her front legs/arms. Her scales have also started changing to an orange hue, similar to that of my Wilbur's markings, and her secondary colors are a darker green because of Phil.

Bobby: Bobby is my favorite egg but gave me a lot of trouble due to not really knowing much about Roier so he pulls a lot of traits from Jaiden and the common traits of the fandom's designs. Like Tallulah he has pin feathers coming from his arms and extra talons, however his talons are on the back if his heel. Like Jaiden, he has a feathers on the tip of his tail. While his secondary is a lilac from Jaiden's influence his main color is a duller blue as the fandom has convinced me that he would've been blue if he got to hatch. I had drawn him alive for this, but once dead, he would have a large hole in his shell just under his overalls.

Chayanne: Probably the easiest design as his traits are about the same as Tallulah's. His tail feathers however are both shaped and patterned like Phil's own tail feathers. His scales are also green and gold to match Phil's clothing. Now that Missa is back, Chayanne's secondary may start to change into a purple/blue or, after he hatches, he may gain bone markings. Leonarda: Unfortunately most of her design comes from Foolish, such as her webbed feet, finned tail, and gold and silver coloring, the best I could figure out to add some of Vegetta's influence was to have the silver be more purple than the blue that Foolish has.

Ramon: Honestly just made Ramón shades of brown since I couldn't figure out much colorwise form Fit. However he does have other features such as a longer tail than most of the eggs, plus he is also the largest of his siblings. His iconic mustache is also made up of his larger spots, which he uniquely has white spots over top of the brown ones.

Dapper: Dapper was also an easy egg design since Bbh is his only parent, so I gave him the typical black and red palette as well as a longer tail with long fur coming from the bottom. His design might change a bit as I eventually figure out my design for Bbh.

Richarlyson: I'll be honest, I kinda gave up, I don't really know enough about the brazilian streamers to add any specific feature, so for color he is made up of a light green with alternating yellow and a dark green. He is also the only egg with spines running down his back, however they aren't sharp at all yet.

Pomme: While Pomme also has the problem of having many parents, I've seen her the most around Baghera, who has a very distinct look. So because of this, Pomme has many duck features, such as tail feathers, pin feathers on her arms, webbing between her toes, an extra talon on the back of her heel, and her main scale color being a more pastel yellow. For main colors, I decided to take the main color from the other french members, make the pastel, and have them alternate on Pomme.

Tilín: Like father like son, Tilín is, or at least would have been, very blue. He doesn't have any duck features due to his death being so early and that I also haven't decided if I want Quackity to be an avian or not. Tilín is also the smallest egg. :)

JuanaFlippa: Once again, due to dying so early, she wasn't able to develop a lot of traits or color. The traits she did get was a longer tail and she would've been a light green with yellow accents.

Trump: Unlike Tilín or JuanaFlippa who have large cracks in their shells to represent their deaths, Trump's shell has become soft and discolored, to the point his spots' original color cant be determined, to represent his death to neglect. Because of this, his limbs are thinner, tail is shorter and his scales are duller; any possible change in his colors is barely noticeable.

[welcomingdisaster]

thinking about a discussion i saw this morning (please accept these very half developed ideas!) and i do think that part of the reason that the silmarillion fandom pays less attention to female characters (outside of misogyny, which is also a huge part of it) is that basically every single woman is a wife, and most of them are mothers?

i can't help but notice that the majority of popular male characters are unmarried and childless (looking at ao3 statistics, with the notable counter-examples of elrond, who is very often a child in fanfic, and feanor, arda's most divorced elf). which is possibly because many of the most influential male characters in the silmarillion are unmarried and childless, but it does feel a little disproportional.

some very disorganized thoughts on this phenomenon, presented with very little confidence because i'm just bouncing ideas around:

queer ships are far more popular in the fandom as it stands now, because it is heavily queer, and there is very little woman-to-woman interaction in the silm. the majority of the most popular m/m ships are based on some meaningful interaction between the characters. many of f/f ships involve characters that have never met (indis/miriel, finduilas/nienor) or have very limited interactions (thuringwethil/luthien). ------------ this does not explain, however, why m/m ships between people who have no interactions at at all (erestor/glorfindel, celebrimbor/maeglin, etc) routinely get more attention than f/f ships.

basically every woman's story is defined in relation to her husband's (and usually children). idril, i think, is the semi-outlier here (and to some extent aredhel). but even then -- the majority of the male characters, even if they are married, have a lot of story outside of their marriage/relationship (so much so that characters like finrod, fingon, and angrod can go from married with children to unmarried in some drafts have very little changed!). can that be said of any married female character in the text? i don't think so. once a woman in the silmarillion marries and has children, the progression of her story is almost always defined very heavily by her relationship to her husband and children. fingon rules the same and dies the same whether or not he has a wife and son -- idril's story would be very different without tuor and earendil. feanor gets to do a lot of things after his marriage to nerdanel -- fingolfin does very much after his marriage to anaire. both of the women disappear from the story once their marriages are no longer relevant. ---- here i will note that some male characters ARE heavily defined by their relationships to their families. turgon, whose motivations are very heavily based around the death of his wife and protecting his daughter, comes to mind. so does thingol, whose wife and daughter are equally central to his story. that said, neither of those characters is popular in fandom.

to expand on the previous point: characters whose main stories are romance stories, including male characters, do not tend to be very popular. earendil has just under 700 works on ao3. beren has just over 500. (elwing and luthien, for reference, have just over 700 and 800 respectively). despite our love for shipping, the fandom seems to be disinterested in parts of the book with a heavy romance focus. is it possible that the fact that nearly every single woman having a prominent romance arc "turns fandom off" them?

only four unmarried women come to mind as counter examples (watch me miss someone obvious). these are finduilas, haleth, findis, and lalwen. findis and lalwen are footnotes that disappear quickly from the story without being given much to do (which doesn't stop us with erestor or caranthir, but still). finduilas, despite being unmarried, is heavily defined by a tragic love triangle. haleth is the notable exception -- i would say she is more popular in fandom than many women, but less than most male characters. the only real explanations i can give for her getting so little fandom attention is misogyny/bias, the general fact that humans in the silmarillion get less love than elves in fandom, and and possibly her having little connection to any of the other popular characters outside of caranthir.

that being said, i do still think misogyny/the general fandom tendency to ignore female characters in favor of male ones is responsible for a good chunk of the difference. i also really welcome feedback on these thoughts because i feel very uncertain of them. the more i think about it, the more i can find counter-examples and outliers to a lot of the trends i'm talking about here -- perhaps i overgeneralized. is there no coherent analysis to be drawn here?

currently leaning in the direction of "this is a vague but not all-encompassing trend in the text, which affects fandom to some extent without explaining the preference for male characters and m/m ships entirely."