#i don't know you and so this response is not a criticism of You it is merely my view about singshong's handling of LGBT characters

[cometconmain]

Wired is paid subscription only but I found someone on Reddit who posted the full text for everyone. (Sorry to anyone with screen readers, this is A LOT to type on my phone. I'll come back later to add it in when I have access to my computer.)

Here are some other articles I've found talking about it as well.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/young-techies-underpin-musks-drive-slash-size-us-government-2025-02-05/

“I’ve been furloughed, I guess?” said one contractor with 15 years of experience for the bureau for humanitarian assistance, where she had helped coordinate urgent responses in Ukraine, Gaza, Somalia and Latin America. “I don’t know what my status is but I don’t think I work here right now.” By Monday, Kliger wrote an email to all staff at 12.42am to tell them not to bother coming into the building that day.

The incident has illustrated how Doge employees with Musk’s backing were able to override USAid leadership and bypass government procedures for accessing restricted areas with classified materials, fueling criticism that his agency is a national security risk.

“Did Secretary Rubio allow this kind of access by Musk’s employees?” asked Kim. “It worries me about USAid but if it’s happening here, I’m guessing it’s probably happening at all these other national security agencies.”

Formally, Rubio has delegated responsibility to Marocco, who has been pressed by congressional staffers to give details of the changes affecting USAid and the $40bn in foreign aid it manages each year. “The question at hand is: who’s in charge of the state department?” Senator Brian Schatz told the Guardian. “So far the answer has been Pete Marocco.”

Doge did not respond to questions about what security clearances, if any, the engineers held. “No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances,” wrote Katie Miller, a Doge spokesperson, on social media. But Scifs are regulated by a strict protocol and it is unclear who could have verified the Doge employees’ credentials and filed the necessary paperwork to allow them to enter.

Inside the building, staffers said that Doge cultivated a culture of fear. “It’s an extreme version of ‘who do you trust, when and how?’” said Kristina Drye, a speechwriter at the agency, who watched dozens of senior colleagues escorted out of the building by security. “It felt like the Soviet stories that one day someone is beside you and the next day they’re not.” People started meeting for coffee blocks away because “they didn’t feel safe in the coffee shops here to even talk about what’s going on”, she added. “I was in the elevator one morning and there was an older lady standing beside me and she had glasses on and I could see tears coming down under her glasses and before she got off her elevator she took her glasses off, wiped her eyes, and walked out,” she said. “Because if they see you crying, they know where you stand.”

(Btw I want to make it very clear I'm reblogging this because it's just their names and I'm not aware of or intending to support any address sharing because that would be doxxing which is unacceptable behaviour, especially when we want to make a world where collecting, sharing and using someone's personal data without their consent at all let alone to harm them is unacceptable behaviour. Their names are apparently easily seen on their own social media profiles as of this date, so it looks like their names are not currently private information. Their families also don't deserve to be harassed or attacked for these peoples' behaviour, so I don't support that either.)

These men just stole the personal information of everyone in America AND control the Treasury. Link to article.

Akash Bobba

Edward Coristine

Luke Farritor

Gautier Cole Killian

Gavin Kliger

Ethan Shaotran

Spread their names!

[fearoftheminotaur]

How not to take accountability

Lately this callout for genderqueerdykes aka equinox has been going around. tl;dr, a blatant terf sent a rambling ask about how trans women are privileged for their genitals, and equinox responded with a rant about toxic masculinity and the kinks held by an ex who accused it of SA.

I don't know the scope of how influential this user is, or how much its follower base is going to be affected by this mask-off moment, but the short-term reaction from equinox has been to bury the post under new content, delete the original, and say that it was wrong and want to grow from its mistake.

The lack of any overt response, clarity on its point of view both before and after the negative reception to the post, or even acknowledgment of the rhetoric in the original ask, makes me think that it has no actual intention of taking real accountability, and that it wants as many people as possible to come away from that post agreeing with it. Just my opinion. But I want to highlight this part specifically, as just in-general useless garbage for anyone's circumstances.

"being informed that what I said hurt people was all I needed... so I stopped it"

That is not how this works! Sometimes saying something that is true and useful involves hurting the feelings of people who are upholding injustices. Sometimes it even involves hurting the feelings of well-intentioned people who did nothing wrong, because you can be emotionally invested in a wrong idea!

It said, about this terf in its inbox, "they are genuinely right and it doesn't matter how much it bothers you", and "these are hard pills to swallow". It knows that hurting someone is not a good enough reason to take something back; the reason you should take something like this back is it is misinformation and libel. Yes, when you make post you regret, it is completely fair to apologize for the harm that it caused. The stereotypes that you amplified, the trust that you broke, even the ways it went against your intentions are an understandable topic. But saying that you wanted to 'stop' (no idea what it even means by it stopped - because it deleted the post, thanked the people criticizing it, and gave a non-apology?), because you hurt people; that's just not a good enough reason, especially when it knew people were going to get hurt by the post before it even made it.

This is not responsible; it's only a step above "I'm sorry that you felt that way" because at least genderqueerdykes acknowledges its agency in causing harm. But by not acknowledging that its post was not just hurtful, but harmful, transmisogynistic, and wrong - and not being able to articulate an actual argument for that (which hey, if anyone reading this wants some of my thoughts on why the original post was wrong, or even just my thoughts on one specific point of it, the ask box and dms are open), means that:

anyone who saw the original post and advocated for it, agreed with it, or was influenced by it, has no real reason to move the other way. Even if they see the "retraction", it will come off that equinox had to take its post down because the "woke tgirl mob" complained too much, and not that there was actual merit to disavowing it.

I think if you asked most of the people in genderqueerdykes' posting circle, they'd say that uncomfortable conversations are needed, so this "I don't want to offend anyone" behavior just comes off as dodging an argument that it can't win, because it's only sorry that it got caught.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, maybe there's some context where ostensibly molding your online presence to whatever won't be hurtful to your followers is the best thing you can do as a public figure, or even in your interpersonal life. But I'd need a real good argument to the effect that a) this can actually address or stop the harm, and b) the intentions here are in any way coherent.

[sir-adamus]

Same anon from before, I'm pretty new to the FNDM (I started it back in the summer) so let's say I was pretty fucking confused when I searched up the show on social media and saw all the negativity surrounding it. Like, if the show was super controversial then I would understand, but it's pretty much on the same level on most western cartoons nowadays

I need someone to enlighten me on why RWBY in particular is so dogpiled on... I don't know if it's the audience that Monty-era attracted or bad luck or what but it's just annoying we have to put up with it constantly

You know that one comic panel of the guy sat in the pool who's being laughed at because he's the only one who didn't pee in the water? Yeah that perfectly encapsulates what it's like when you say anything good or positive about RWBY 😭

the show attracted a demographic of buzzkill assholes from the moment it started who decided it was the new thing to mock and shit on, because it was 2013 and we were still in the height of the era of irony poisoning where being genuine or caring about anything made you a subject of mockery - so an amateur show that wasn't perfect from the word jump and genuinely believed in the story it was telling was the perfect punching bag for a crowd of losers desperate to make themselves look cool to all the other irony-poisoned losers

i think after that they stuck around simply because the show didn't shrivel up and die like they convinced themselves that it would (to the point that they have now deluded themselves into believing that nobody ever liked the show and that it was never successful which is hilarious considering the international success it's seen and, oh yeah, nine seasons, a spinoff anime, multiple books, multiple games and two movies), so it just became sunk cost fallacy - if they admit they wasted all this time shitting on a show that provably is a success, then they look like idiots. sticking to their guns, continuing to try and parasocially bully a web cartoon under the belief that eventually they'll convince everyone that it's bad and it'll disappear forever and prove that they're smarter than everyone else, and won't make them look like weird pathetic losers and idiots at all

like you have to be a special kind of weird and pathetic to create a subreddit just for shitting on a web series under the guise of 'criticism' (like, guys, you're not critics. you have no qualifications in media studies, you provably have no understanding of media production. you're dumbasses whining on the internet about a show you don't like. and it's weird), that is primarily screenshotting positivity on social media and whining about it in your little circlejerk (and then harassing anyone who complains about being harassed by these morons because you're incapable of any kind of self-awareness, and yes i am talking about one specific idiot in this example, he was doing that shit this morning)

it's like, the sunk cost desperation to avoid admitting being wrong, and an utterly pathetic desperation for attention - the contrarian, the devil's advocate, the dickhead who always has an opinion that is intentionally inflammatory just to get a reaction. and because these losers are holed up in their little circlejerk all the time it's given them a completely warped idea of acceptable behaviour and they will just be unpleasant little slimes not just in response to fans posting fanart and fanfic but to the creatives involved, actors, artists, animators, the creator's own brother - there is no depth they won't stoop to because ignoring reality in favour of being 'right' matters more to them than any basic sense of decency

and i invite them to go outside, up to some stranger on the street and act like that and see where it gets them

[bearballing]

i think you're taking this in bad faith actually, these are all very common things that transmisogynists do on here.

1) people do it deliberately to trans women to degender them, this is done even/especially when the woman they're being an ass to has pronouns very easy to find.

2) in this context it's brought up Only when trans women criticise the misogyny they receive, and then the transmisogynists bleat "why are you dividing the communityyyy" like the misogyny in the first place Doesn't

3) male terms are not gender neutral despite being common. I have seen so so many women get sick and tired of being called those words only to get a response like "well i call everyone dude, chill out"

4) how is it misused? people assume it's the same as asab when it's not, that doesn't mean it's misused

5) good for you that you've only seen it once, this shit is everywhere. the transandrophobia crowd are big proprietors of it.

6) there is actually. it's straight up a fact that trans women face more oppression for being trans than trans men do. who do you think are the targets of the bathroom bills for instance?

7) this is not me personally mocking gender nonconforming people, this is again a specific occurrence that a lot of tme people identifying that way think of themselves as more liberated or more queer than "binary trans women".

8) again this is not me believing this phrase. tma people, yes often including drag queens, are affected by transmisogyny. transmisogynists on here try to co-opt it by saying We All Are affected.

9) this is something that transmisogynist trans men deflect with because they take offence at criticism! men are sexist, women stand up against it, men feel threatened. I've only been accused of hating trans men because i don't believe in transandrophobia. i AM a trans man

10) it's not saying you can't.... it's something that transmisogynists do on here to again deflect criticism of shit like transandrophobia. trans woman says "misandry doesn't exist actually", transmisogynist says "why won't you let ME talk about ME?" when nobody is actually saying they can't. again, i am not being accused of this. i think you're not reading this thing the way it's intended

11) again this is actually a common insistence. plenty of tme trans people think misogyny affects them more due to their asab, whether or not society sees them as a woman

12) this is all simply things I have seen trans women deal with on this site time and time again. and if I'm sick of it god knows how they all feel about it

going to start using this for every dipshit post i see on here

[toniwritesshifts]

The Night We Met Pt.1

First FanFic if there's anything that should fix or work on please tell me I need the criticism

Damian Wayne x Fem reader

This is based off of my DCU DR... if you don't believe in shifting keep it to yourself cause I could careless I wrote this for fun. Reader is based off of me cause I love me. Reader, Damian and most of the people they interact with are in the 10th grade unless said other wise.

CW: slow burn like REALLY slow, swearing, reader has ADHD because I have ADHD, Split POV?

"Today is going to be a great day."

You stare at your reflection in your dorm bathroom mirror, leaning onto the sink to inspect your face. No glaringly red pimples—well, except for that one. Without hesitation, you pop it.

"I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it," you complain to yourself, grabbing a pimple patch and slapping it on.

With an approving nod to yourself, you back away, rush out of the bathroom, and immediately trip over a pile of clothes. You barely catch yourself before face-planting.

"Shit ok, note to self put these away before they actually kill me."

You shake it off, grab your backpack and cheer bag, and speed out of your dorm, locking the door behind you. As you make your way to the school building, you slip one AirPod into your ear and adjust your bags.

"Good morning!" you chirp, greeting every person you pass.

"You're late," a voice says the moment you reach the school stairs.

You scoff. "Nope, I’m right on time, actually."

Alex, one of your best friends since you transferred in the middle of ninth grade, rolls her eyes. The rest of your crew—Mia, Terra (yes, that Terra, the one who’s supposed to be dead), and Brinley—are already there, chatting about their schedules. After a few minutes of catching up, you all head inside to drop off your stuff before class starts. The last thing you need is to be late—especially since detention means suspension from the cheer squad.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Damian Wayne hated school.

It was inefficient, mind-numbingly dull, and filled with people he had zero interest in interacting with... well that's what he told his father. But here he was black backpack strapped tightly on, security lock in place (only he and Alfred knew the combination), wearing the standard Gotham Public uniform in blue, white, and black. In his hands, a single sheet of paper listed his dorm and locker number, along with his class schedule on the back.

After several frustrating minutes, he finally located his locker. Right next to the bathroom.

"This is disgustingly unacceptable."

He scowled, reluctantly opening it and arranging his belongings inside. He grabbed his massive binder capable of holding twelve six-subject notebooks along with his sketchbook and pencil case.

BANG!

A locker slammed shut next to him, the noise so sudden and aggressive that Damian whipped around, fully prepared to fight.

Instead, he found himself face-to-face with you.

"Are you new here?" you asked casually, balancing an absurd number of things—an oversized laptop that clearly wasn’t for schoolwork, a bag stuffed with library books, and a tiny, overstuffed backpack that was one bad tug away from falling apart.

But the thing that really made him frown?

That obnoxiously colorful pencil case sitting on top of your stack.

He scowled on instinct. You were chaotic. Loud. Distracting. He already disliked you.

"We have the same classes!" You say looking at his schedule over his shoulder "Cool. I'll show you around come on," already walking off without waiting for a response.

Damian blinked. Is she just assuming I'm going to follow her?

A part of him wanted to ignore you. Another part, the one that always sought information and efficiency, decided it was the most logical course of action. With an irritated sigh, he shut his locker and followed.

You lead him through the hallways, weaving through students while Damian silently trails behind.

“This is the cafeteria. The food is actually pretty good for a public school, but oh my goodness, whatever you do DO NOT try the mystery meat unless you wanna meet God early.”

Damian barely listens. He’s too distracted by the fact that ‘mystery meat’ even exists in a place meant for education and the absurd number of people who stop to talk to you.

Everywhere you go, someone waves says hi, or stops to chat. People throw out gossip, random compliments, and even inside jokes.

You know everyone.

It’s exhausting just watching you socialize.

Damian, used to go unnoticed unless he wanted to be seen, and he found it deeply irritating. He didn't like unnecessary attention. He didn't like small talk. And he definitely didn't like how effortlessly you commanded every room you walked into.

As you continue to weave through the crowded room, students keep stopping you some to say hi, some to ask questions, and a few just to gossip for the hell of it. Damian watches, mildly horrified, as you effortlessly jump from conversation to conversation.

"Anywho," you continue, not missing a beat, "the library is on the third floor, but I swear its haunted, so if you hear whispering, just keep it moving."

Damian raises an eyebrow and scoffs. "There is no such thing as ghosts."

You stop and turn to look at him with the most offended look you could possibly muster. "Says the guy who has classes with me, meaning he takes Advanced Mythology AND Paranormal Studies. Boom."

He opens his mouth to argue but then immediately shuts it.

"Touche," he says after clicking his tongue in annoyance.

You grin before turning on your heels to continue the rapid tour. Makeing sure that the tour ends right outside of your first-hour class.

By the time the first bell rings, Damian has already learned several things: You are absurdly social, you have way too much energy for one person, you talk with your hands, aggressively. (He nearly got smacked twice already, you are completely, utterly, and unapologetically YOU.

And for reasons he can’t quite explain yet,

But, it doesn't annoy him as much as he thought it would.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

it took me 2 days to write this mainly because I was crocheting and working on my script buuuuut I'll try to make the next parts in about the same time span unless I get grounded 😶

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Always a bit puzzled by people saying that anyone who wanted long-term consequences for TotK Zelda's sacrifice are "edgy".

I'm not even particularly in the camp that she should have remained a dragon forever (I think this should have been Ganondorf's fate, it would have been sooo much more impactful than to explode him and move on but anyway). To be honest, I wish the rules for turning back would have been 1) clear 2) active gameplay on the player so that it feels like it's something we have earned, and 3) not make her have amnesia about it and/or at least having her gain some crucial insight because of the experience.

(also: doesn't she crave knowledge? isn't that insanely mean to have her watch over every civilization and every bit of history ever and then take it away from her? kind of dislike how totk privileges the comfort of the player's feelings over what the characters would actually want or need tbh)

To be perfectly honest, I fully expected us needing to turn her back before engaging Ganondorf so we would fight him together, especially since Zelda as a compagnon exists in the game code already (though in a very subdued state). It feels very very strange to me that all of this mechanic of Sages following us existing and yet we never have the very climactic cool Zelda-staple moment of facing Ganondorf or Ganon together (OoT, WW, TP, ST and probably more that I'm forgetting all did this in some way --even BotW had Zelda more involved than in TotK). I'm not sure Mineru was a compagnon that was needed over Zelda honestly, especially given the kind of non-insight she gives us on the zonai (even if the idea of the mecha is cool, it really could have been Zelda using her zonai + sheikah knowledge to pilot one for us or something).

But anyway: yeah, even if this isn't what I would have wanted personally, I think wanting Zelda to remain a dragon is kind of arguably more respectful of her relationship to Link, in a way, that what the game ended up doing. When she enacted this sacrifice, Zelda decided to trust him to such a extent that she lost herself, reciprocated his trust in her and his devotion to her, and now the future of Hyrule exists beyond her and beyond what Hyrule once was, but she trusts them to follow through and be happy and she will watch over them from the stars moving on. It's fine if we manage to save her from that fate, but even if we don't, honestly this sounds like a beautiful story/tragic romance to me, if you want to read it that way. Tragedy doesn't necesserily involve edginess. Fictional pain isn't always mean, or out to get you.

[possamble]

What are your headcanons about Marcille's mom if you have any? It's interesting that what drew Donato to her was cause she lived the history he studied, or that was said somewhere at least. She must've had an interesting life.

so this was going to be just a normal answer but then I realized I have a Lot of Things To Say. so here goes, a compilation of what we know for a fact from the canon, what I've extrapolated from the visual cues and details, and my theories based on all of that.

Things we know for a fact about Marcille's mother because they were explicitly stated in the manga and supplemental materials:

She was a court mage for a Tall-man kingdom at the southern part of the Northern Continent

Donato, a court historian, fell in love with her because she had lived through the history he was studying, and he courted her for 17 years (age 15 to 32) before getting married

She was a cheerful person who rarely showed extreme emotion and took things as they came

She always cooked a huge meal for Marcille on her birthdays

She remarried a gnome after Donato's death and a short distance away from Marcille's childhood home

Pipi, Marcille's pet bird, was actually older than Marcille and originally belonged to her mother (bird died at 62)

She was extremely heartbroken when Donato died and ultimately ended up instilling a deep fear of mortality in Marcille with her words

the only time she showed extreme emotion in front of her family was when Donato could no longer eat his favourite dish near the end of his life.

She scolded Marcille for being cruel to ants (implying she can have a stern side when needed)

Things that are explicitly shown but mostly through visual cues

She has a very distinctive style of dress always involving a ribbon choker (mirroring Marcille's habit of always wearing a matching choker with any of her outfits that don't cover her neck)

She was almost stereotypically good at housekeeping and traditionally "wifely" things (very frequently depicted wearing an apron or doing some domestic chore when not at work, seems to have been an avid cook).

She knits? (also, note the affectionate smile as she's looking at Donato and Marcille reading a book together in the full panel)

She was as excited for Marcille's milestones as Donato was.

She didn't tell Marcille much about elven food

(there are a couple things that this panel in particular implies:

She lived a good deal of her life (if not being born and raised) in a mainly elven country in the West, implied by her knowing enough of an elven region's cuisine to prefer Tall-man food over it

seems to have a pretty carefree and casual demeanour overall, if this is how she replied to Marcille asking her about it (sounds like she never gave her culinary preferences that much thought to begin with)

slightly related to number 2, it seems like she and Marcille had a fairly casual parent-child dynamic (especially in comparison to the Toudens' memory of their father)

(local elf tastes Italian food once and never goes back))

However, she seems a lot more... serious in most of the other times we see her? Almost like the very stereotypical archetype of a graceful elf.

Subsequent conclusions about her personality:

Usually pretty carefree and cheerful at home, has been a loving and attentive parent throughout Marcille's childhood (while not being so doting that she didn't discipline Marcille).

Slightly more conjectural theories on her personality:

Had a much more graceful and professional personality at work, which would explain the more serious portraits we see of her.

Given that both she and Donato had positions at the royal court, it seems a little odd that she'd go out of her way to do all the housework herself, so maybe she just enjoyed doing it?

Now taping all the evidence together and toeing the line between analysis and fanfiction:

It's clear that she loved Donato very much and was utterly devastated by losing him. But there's one thing that really stuck out to me in what little we see of her:

Doesn't she seem... angry? The way she's gritting her teeth, clutching the tablecloth, and how this is the first and only time we see her eyes opened that wide. In the following panel, you see her being quiet and dejected after her initial outburst. She's still crying very intensely, but her brows are furrowed, and she's not really responding to Donato's affection in her body language.

We're not told the details of how she felt about losing Donato other than that it upset her. But this, to me, implies that she was angry and resented that he was aging, that the end of his life was approaching. An "it's not fair" type of preemptive grief. And if this was the first and last time she cried like this in front of her family, she was either very good at coping in private... or very bad at letting herself feel unpleasant emotions until they become unavoidable and end up overwhelming her.

It's not too remarkable a detail on the surface. It's even reminiscent of what the audience has seen of Marcille. But... when it comes to the big picture, you'd think an elf who voluntarily chose to marry a tall-man and have a half-elf child would have been better prepared for this.

It kind of recontextualizes her cheerfulness to me.

"I'm sure everything's gonna be okay!" (or some variation thereof, depending on what translation you have).

And this is stated to contrast her extreme grief when finally confronting Donato's failing body and eventual death. But I'm wondering if... maybe this optimism was why she was so upset. What if she went into all of it thinking "everything's gonna be okay"? What if she was a little young by elven standards, and just followed her heart thinking that her own resilience would get her through anything?

Of course, only to get completely overwhelmed when she actually loses Donato. She turns into a completely different person. And that's heartbreaking on its own-- but what the audience sees is the effect it had on Marcille. Can you imagine being her, watching your invincible and upbeat mother suddenly lose all the light in her eyes in one go?

I've already made a huge post about how I think Marcille models her "work persona" off her mother, but another thing that stuck with me as I was looking for more details in the manga was this:

copy pasting from the other post i made about it lmao it's like... the second she resigns herself to lifelong pain and terror, there's another portrait of her mother facing her like this. with their heads bowed, in mirrored body language of resignation and despair and sorrow. Except it's posed like Marcille is still looking at her mother but her mother is looking away.

It took me a second to realize, but I think that it's a visual metaphor for the fact that Marcille's mother was the only long-lived role model she had-- and she failed to model healthy grief for her daughter. I don't say this as an accusation or to disparage her as a character, but just as a matter of fact. In her, Marcille was seeing herself older and losing a short-lived spouse or loved one of her own, and all she saw was hopelessness.

But her mother didn't mean to instill hopelessness and terror in her. She wasn't really thinking of how it would truly affect Marcille at all (at least, that's how I'm interpreting her looking down and away from Marcille in the metaphor), she was just sad. And she, in her own way, was trying to protect her daughter and help her prepare for future losses.

What she meant was "loss is inevitable, and you have to learn how to be in pain but live on anyway." What Marcille heard was "loss is inevitable, and you will be scared and hurt for the rest of your life."

Again. Marcille's mother doesn't feature explicitly in the story the way her father does -- but in so many ways, her shadow, her silhouette, her reflection is always hanging over Marcille.

All that to say... headcanon-wise (everything from here on is 100% without evidence lmao), I'd like to think that she matured and realized that she failed Marcille. I imagine her being regretful about it, wanting a chance to fix it but never finding a way to insert herself back into Marcille's life when Marcille is so so so busy becoming the most accomplished mage possible. I imagine her being herself again, now, so many years after her loss and after remarrying -- but with her cheerfulness tempered with a lot more wisdom and the pain of having gone through loss like that. I think the second Marcille actually tells her what happened in the dungeon, she'd want to go running to her daughter again -- if Marcille tells her the full truth instead of just being embarrassed she let things get that far. (oh, the tragedy of her wanting to be more like her mother and an accomplished adult who doesn't need to be babied... being embarrassed to actually tell her mother how much she fucked up...)

There's also the tension of her having remarried -- I know that there's at least a little bit of resentment that Marcille harbours about that, because she's childish like that at heart even if she makes an effort not to externalize it. I think that her mother would be aware of that, potentially adding to her sense of guilt and apprehension at trying to reappear/intrude on Marcille's life. I honestly don't think Marcille has met her stepfather -- or even considers him a stepfather rather than "mama's new husband" and kind of a total stranger. I think she and her mother actively don't talk about it in their correspondence, like an elephant in the room.

but, ultimately, I think her mother is on her side no matter what. Ancient magic? Dark necromancy? Sure, she'll feel guilty and like she was partially responsible for setting Marcille down such a painful path, but she wouldn't care. that's her daughter!! she would've moved back west and been petitioning for her at the court, buying a house right next to the Canaries barracks and visiting her every day that she wasn't on a mission. And if her husband had opinions on Marcille becoming a "dark arts user," he either gets over it or it's divorce with him. Yes, she might have had her optimism completely humbled by losing Donato like that -- but she's still headstrong and self-assured and she doesn't care what people think of her. It's her way or the highway and she's always going to be in Marcille's corner.

(She also needs a name lol. I went with Juno, just to be cute about "Marcille"s closest real life equivalent being Marcella, which is the female version of Marcellus, which in turn is a diminutive of Marcus, which was derived from Mars. Absolutely in love with Marcille potentially being named after Ares/Mars the fucking god of war btw)

[astralleywright]

pretty unphased by all the finale hate in the tag bc tbh, it has been obvious that a lot of fans did not realize where c3 was going and would not like its ending since last month. or really august 2024. or really april 2024. or really june 2023,

[seventeendeer]

adventure time, baby, I'm going to keep it real with you: you had the perfect meta setup (a spinoff of a children's cartoon made for adults who grew up with said cartoon) for a story about two characters desperate to return to simpler times (fionna longing for the subconscious memory of a fantasy land where nothing is complex and she won't have to face the trials of young adulthood in her now-mundane world, simon longing to lose his mind again so he won't have to remember his grief) coming to realize that the "simpler times" they remember were never as straightforward as their idealized memories (fionna realizing that her black-and-white worldview was actually just deeply biased and ultimately harmful, simon realizing that ice king was just as miserable as simon himself and simply lacked the tools to parse his own emotions), the idealized past they want to return to was never real, and in order to move forward, they have to face the painful realities they've been trying to avoid, mature as people, and learn to see beauty and value in their own respective lives, even if they're not the lives they'd hoped for

and then that didn't happen. there was a perfect metaphor for the false allure of nostalgia using THE "whimsical at first glance/shockingly grim under the surface" children's cartoon RIGHT THERE. How Did You Fuck That Up

[giantkillerjack]

ur post about queerbaiting and the dismissal of people in fandom to critical analysis is so incredibly true thank you. i feel like marcille's writing in the anime has been super misogynistic a lot of the time and every time i bring this up all anyone wants to say is "well maybe this isn't for you! and you shouldn't watch the show!" like. i don't think this is about taste lmao, i am analyzing the text in front of me and coming to conclusions about the craft of it.

[This is in reference to this post]

YES!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

It is so so frustrating!!!!

It's like being at a restaurant and being served a bunch of delicious appetizers, but then one of the bread appetizers is literally just a plate of crumbs; and then when you're like, "Hey, uhh, why are we being served literal crumbs?", a bunch of the other folks eating at the restaurant are like,

"WELL HOW ABOUT YOU JUST DON'T EAT HERE THEN??!? YOU MUST NOT BE THAT HUNGRY, SO JUST FIND ANOTHER RESTAURANT AND DON'T EAT WITH US!!"

And maybe they say it politely, but "Aw, sorry, maybe this restaurant just isn't for you 💖" is just trading out an aggressive dismissive tone for a patronizing dismissive tone. It's the same message.

And it's like! I was honestly happy to move on from the crumbs once my complaint was acknowledged because the meal overall is still delicious, but then all these folks got SUPER WEIRD AND DEFENSIVE ABOUT IT, so now I find myself double-checking all the other dishes -- and, actually, you know what those eggs DO look a Iittle misogynistic undercooked!!!!

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

About a month ago my new coworker told me he didn't like LoK (that's fine). When I asked why he said it reminded him too much of The Last of Us 2. And I was like ??????? HuH???? So I asked him to elaborate, and due to time constraints (and maybe him just....refusing to really elaborate????) the most I could get out of him was "Korra/Ellie choosing not to kill Kuvira/Abby at the end" and that was "bad."

AND THAT'S IT! Nothing else, no expansion. So I have to tell y'all, my ass hasn't been ok since. It's keeping me up at night. I'm trying to figure out what he means. Cause the math ain't mathing lemme tell you. I think it's all bullshit TT0TT Like this man had a vision, but god does he need some fucking glasses.

I haven't been this inside my own head since I was debating with air about P5. TT0TT

[weed-cat]

sincerely and genuinely you guys are just Saying Stuff 😭😭

[toomuchsky]

just saw one of those long posts of resources but it was trying to provide resources for like. so many different world issues. and anyway what i’m trying to say is that the only news article it had for kashmir was about how kashmiri hindus are being targeted or whatever and it truly makes me scream and also like? maybe we shouldn’t be creating long ass posts like this for every single issue in the world. maybe we should recognize that there might be nuance and history that’s hard to parse out if you’re not familiar with that area.

[bookwyrminspiration]

dira bookwyrminspiration mcquillington i'm so sorry in advance the way i'm writing this fic feels so mid but i don't know how to fix it. spiritually banging my head against the wall. rocking back and forth. staring at this google doc and going How The Fuck Do I Resolve This Conflict. praying the qpr keefex fluff at the end makes up for how mid this is probably gonna turn out on the hurt/comfort-esque end-

Izzy i am shaking you shaking you shaking you. please! stop! undervaluing your work and apologizing for it!

You are a talented, capable writer, and I know I'm going to greatly enjoy whatever you create regardless because you've created it. Even if it's mid, I'm still going to. To be more serious for a moment (I'm not upset or mad, I promise): what situation have you put me in here?

It may seem innocuous, as you're criticizing yourself and expressing frustration with your own writing, but you're doing so publicly in a self-deprecating way about a fic you've shared you're writing as a gift for me. There's nothing wrong with being critical of your work, acknowledging its flaws and admitting when it's not satisfying to you, working to improve and change it. But this isn't quite that; you're being mean to yourself! And because of how you've reached out to me to say it, I'm now also affected by it. What response options do I have? To let it slide and in that way reaffirm your perspective? To once again remind you that I'm going to be happy no matter what you make or its quality? To tell you I'm sure it's not mid and dismiss legitimate critique? It's not the best position to be put in, though I know it wasn't intentional.

This is my polite, humble request for you to be nicer to yourself in critiquing your work and being frustrated with it, both for your sake and that of those around you, because it affects more than just you. I've found that when I notice a flaw in something I've done and want to point it out first so I don't feel as bad if someone else notices (as opposed to neutral, legitimate critique), just say nothing. You don't need to say something positive in it's place, just don't point it out, and odds are no one else is even going to notice or say anything. We're here to enjoy what everyone creates, not pick it apart, and pointing out that flaw gives it a foothold it wouldn't have had otherwise, and others may now have to contend with it too. That works for me, but that doesn't mean it's the best option for everyone; just sharing as an example of an alternative

Anyway, I saw you started a new draft and am very curious and excited to see it whenever you finish! I'm sure I'm going to love it :)

[scarletfasinera]

All of the responses I keep reading on the antitheist post (because I hate myself I guess) about hell being abusive to teach children all going "actually you're just talking about CHRISTIANITY because JUDAISM doesn't believe in hell" as if Christianity and Judaism are the only religions ever. as if there aren't literally thousands upon THOUSANDS of religions out there in the world that have some kind of concept of hell that is used as a form of power and control to scare children and threaten people into submission within it. But sure, your one or two religions you can mention off-hand that don't have a hell-like concept are the reason the "antitheist" part of the post should be written off and the reason you can try to reduce the post to "just being about christianity". ok.

[wreckedhoney]

^^ "coming to the conclusion that positioning the "can people enjoy things that would be immoral IRL in their fiction" debate as a proship v anti fandom debate is akin to pretending that "should we have the death penalty" is a discussion that only matters in Death Note discourse"

not proshipper not anti but a secret third thing (person who has a career in the media and, through covering legislative politics, has watched "associating with problematic fiction or entertainment is an indicator of moral degeneracy" rapidly become a mainstream GOP position that they are encoding in legislation to target the queer community under the guise of protecting children, thus coming to the conclusion that positioning the "can people enjoy things that would be immoral IRL in their fiction" debate as a proship v anti fandom debate is akin to pretending that "should we have the death penalty" is a discussion that only matters in Death Note discourse — the extent and manner to which fiction affects reality is an issue that is immediately relevant to today's US politics, and to summarize my opinions on the matter in fandom terms would be to diminish the ways this debate is affecting america Right The Fuck Now. and i have stopped taking "this person is bad for shipping the wrong anime thing and being horny about it" in any sort of good faith ever since I saw it literally used as part of a GOP smear campaign against a transgender state legislator in an attempt to defend the right from backlash after they used their supermajority in the Montana house to prevent her from speaking on the floor. Anyway I think everyone on this site, especially Americans, could benefit from ceasing to think in proship v anti vocabulary and instead developing coherent political positions on the nature of fiction that do not directly align with current fascist political tactics)