#i hate stuff set in the 20th century i hate i hate i hate

[princema-k]

so draw your blade, you wretched fiend and let's you and i fight like the dishonourable dogs we are savage, violent, yet free and when the curtain calls, let me put you out of my misery

[omgshiftercat]

I have a friend whose ex, a minor celebrity in some circles, was abusive.

Shortly after she and some other women went public about it, there were some people who chimed in talking about other misdeeds of his.

Her ex was, and is, a loathsome waste of oxygen, and the words, "...who deserves every accusation leveled at him" would almost escape my lips...

...Except that some of the accusations people began throwing around because they (understandably) hated this guy weren't true.

This did not help my friend at all! It muddied the waters, and gave her awful ex ammunition for his claims that people were just out to get him, and were willing to make stuff up to smear him.

Switching gears: there's been a lot of discussion recently about how some brilliant and influential art has been created by objectively terrible people. Part of that discussion has been calling out people who say, "Their work always sucked," or "I never liked it." Not only are statements like this unhelpful, they provide cover for predators. If you insist that your tastes reflect your morality, you're giving yourself a huge blind spot, and making it easy to dismiss evidence of harm done by creators you happen to like.

This is one reason why I think exhibits like this one are important: they help teach that lesson.

Three notes on this: 1. by the time of that exhibition, Gill was long dead and therefore unable to profit from it.

2. This kind of thing isn't necessary for every artist, because not every creator does heinous things.

3. My friend's ex is nowhere near the artistic league of Eric Gill or any of the other creators I'll discuss.

Switching gears again...

If someone mentions a bespectacled British boy wizard with an owl familiar, in a modern setting with "secret world" magic, the name that springs to mind is most likely "Harry Potter", right?

But Timothy Hunter, from The Books of Magic, was published a full seven years before that. I was working in a bookstore when the novelizations for the BoM comics came out, and had to tell kids that no, this was not a HP rip-off.

I don't think the reverse was true, either: for one thing, The Books of Magic is set in the DC Universe, and I've never heard of JKR reading superhero comics. But also... sometimes completely separate creators will come up with strikingly similar ideas, utterly by coincidence. It's one reason why most authors tell fans NOT to send them ideas or fanfiction based on their work: there is rarely any good way to prove that you didn't steal a concept.

Now, obviously every creator is influenced by other people's works, and I completely agree that it's good to acknowledge that and to point fans towards your influences!

When Rowling began channeling her resources into making life worse for trans folk, I saw a lot of people saying, "Well, Harry Potter was just a mediocre rip-off of The Worst Witch anyway."

While I haven't read that series, I strongly doubt this claim. The idea of magic schools is older and more widespread than either of those series, and "British boarding school hijinks, but it's a magic school" was bound to be written more than once.

Now, some of you already know, and others have looked up, who originally wrote Tim Hunter. And... yeah, it's Neil Gaiman. *sigh*

In the last few days, I've seen some people saying, "The Sandman ripped off Tanith Lee's Tales from the Flat Earth." They cite a number of similarities: Azhrarn, the Lord of Darkness, is a pale-skinned, raven-haired Byronic figure with a sibling-like relationship to the Lord of Death and the Lord of Madness. Like the Endless, these beings are god-like, but specifically not gods. Apparently some people have mistaken fanart of Azhrarn for Morpheus. And Chuz, Prince Madness, has a bisected appearance, half his face horribly messed up, like the demoness Mazikeen.

But speaking as someone who was a fan of the late Tanith Lee years before I picked up an issue of The Sandman: I don't believe the latter was stolen from the former. Are there similarities? Yes, but they're superficial. If you've read both series, as I have, you'll know that the stories, settings, and characters are very different!

It's possible Gaiman was influenced by Lee's writing, and if so, I agree he should have acknowledged that. He did promote the work of other female creators, which is one reason why many of us thought he was "one of the good ones". But it's also entirely possible that these two authors independently came up with similar ideas.

When it comes right down to it, I think that statements like this -- "their best work was just a rip-off of something else" -- are just another variant of "their work always sucked".

It's often an easier accusation than "they've always been crap", because, as I said, writers come up with strikingly similar concepts all the time, and it's very hard to prove you didn't steal an idea. But it has the same problems, so -- barring the kind of case you could make with a college-level plagiarism-catching program -- I think it's best avoided.

Now, telling people, "Hey, are you sad about this creator turning out to be an awful person to whom you don't want to give any more money? Try this other person's work instead!" This is good! Let's have more of it!

Addendum 1: I think "separate the art from the artist" should mean, "you don't have to treat books already on your shelf as if they're suddenly coated in poison", not "I'm going to ignore this creator's actions and keep buying their products anyway."

Addendum 2: I just posted a version of this to Bluesky.

[atiny-for-life]

I need to rant about German politics for a second.

Finally - FINALLY - they decide the AfD is right wing extremist in its entirety! FORK FOUND IN KITCHEN - THANK YOU - if they'd moved any slower, we would've been going backwards in time, motherf- WE COULD HAVE HAD A SPD/Grüne/DieLinke COALITION, you dipshits - AAAAAAH!!!

Like, dude, Weidel has called Hitler left wing while actively talking to Elon Musk. Höcke has said extremist stuff a la HITLER on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS - hell, even his own party members couldn't differentiate between Höcke's and Hitler's quotes. Members of the party have also been closely associated with right wing extremists from across the world for YEARS (remember Potsdam in 2023?) - not to mention the whole Remigration bullshit and all the convicted criminals that are or were members of the AfD.

Meanwhile we've got Jens fucking Spahn from the CDU who wanted everyone to treat the AfD like they're not fucking FASCISTS which is so bad even friggin' SÖDER was like "woah, slow down" and that guy's a monster himself.

For years now, the CDU have been turning into the AfD with their hatred for refugees and immigrants, they're sexism and homophobia, their transphobia and disregard of human rights. If they're is a hell, you're going there, Friedrich Merz - have fun.

The friggin' spike in right wing hate crimes over recent months. The murder of Lorenz A. at the hands of police who SHOT HIM IN THE BACK 3 TIMES (a 21-year-old black KID shot in the back - the eleventh victim at the hands of police this year alone - last year there were 22 victims which was the highest its been in 41 YEARS!!!).

And, dude, if I even just think about all the ways in which we've failed the people in Afghanistan, I wanna cry. And if you're German and you don't know why that is, please watch this video and listen to their story:

I'm fucking tired, man. This is just the 20th century all over again, except on steroids because we know where we're heading and yet there's still people who are too asleep, too uneducated, too ignorant and selfish to see it.

Anyway, if you're stuck in this country like me, please try to stay on top of the news and, if you find out someone locally is set to be deported, make sure to sign any petition you come across and help in any way you can to create a ruckus so they might be saved.

In my area, there was recently a family taken in the middle of the night and they were from Syria and got deported to fucking SPAIN while their eldest daughter was left behind since she had managed to find a job. They literally took them at night because they knew the community would've stopped them otherwise!

And in Hamburg, a 12-YEAR-OLD CHILD is set to be deported and the class has been gathering signatures to save her. Please sign the petition here if you can:

But let's also remember the good. There are endless protests and demonstration on the regular so we're not alone in this - far from it. I'm pretty sure this is the most active I've seen communities be in my entire lifetime:

[lowandlonesomelow]

•south park headcanons•

philip "pip" pirrup

i am a sickly woman. set to die soon. this shalt be my last post. (not really. common cold i believe. and this will not be my last post! ....i think. ha ha.)

•glove wearer

i know he doesnt in canon media. (south park atleast. i still havent gotten around to reading great expecations.) but, a blacksmiths apprentice, ....you know....all of the other stuff he did before going through gentleman school. i think he would wear gloves because his hands are coarse, scarred, calloused, burnt,, &c., and he dislikes the feeling of his bare hands rubbing against certain materials. (think of the way skin gets caught on microfibre towels.)

•he doesnt like damien as much as damien likes him.

in the post about damien i mentioned how he was close with pip. how philip was damiens only 'close friend'. (i cant recall what i wrote at all. that may not be accurate....) however, damien still did all of the horrid things to him. philip, whilst he could eventually work up to forgiving other people - due to him learning that, in order to fit in at south park, he had to be a pushover - never could fully forgive damien. whether because of the fact that damien was the son of satan - and that was slightly repulsive to philip, or the countless things damien did to philip in the past. or rather, merely damiens attitude. nevetherless, the fact remains that- no matter how much damien 'apologizes', both boys will never be close friends with one another. therefore - neither will have good friends. (unless you love the foreign kids friend group....thing.... . then perhaps? i guess? but not damien) philip's only friends; estella, and herbert, are both still in britain. (....bonus headcanon, he writes to them frequently.)

•physically disfigured

take this as you will. i dont have many specifics as to what scars, marks, and ..all else, however i am very set on this. constantly getting ruthlessly beaten by other students whilst only trying to fit in and have friends. surely one is bound to have 'a few' scars. ive came across someone on his app saying something about philip having a lazy eye due to said abuse. personally ive thought of him to have just alot of scars. ive seen some draw him with numerous burn scars. never mind details, i think physically scarred philip is something that needs to be drawn far more often. (and mentally scarred aswell. truly, no one child can go through that and be completely alright in the head. back in my day, the 19th, 20th century, we wouldve thrown that boy in a madhouse.)

•he doesnt hate christophe that much.

dont get me wrong. i believe philip still hates french people, and of course he despises christophes overall dirtiness and frequent swearing and smoking, but really.. they arent too bad of friends. sure, they would not be spending time together one on one, but they could go through a day of the group being together and them existing in their own places within the foreign kids group. also, i do not think christophe would 'hate' philip. it would be more one sided 'despising'. i think gregory would eventually be like an elder brother to philip. therefore, i think gregory would stand up for philip whilst he was getting bullied. if ever in a situation where christophe was around whilst the boys were picking on philip, christophe would take gregorys place in standing up for pip. ...well, perhaps it would rather be christophe merely breaking it up and getting the other boys to leave.

FIN.

////i havent posted these in, what, ten-twenty days? ...and for that i apologize!! again. i think ive already apologized. ....ah, who cares. thank you @sillyharmonydragon for the request. i was going to post this as an answer to what you've sent in my inbox, however, ..i may have accidentally started this on a new draft and i do not wish to copy & past it over. sorry if this does not meet expectations . i did not rewatch any episodes including him. so i could not reference anything. oops. i tried, though.

[curioushabitforarivergod]

dark(ish) academia books that I don't see recommended enough

I read a lot, both fiction and non-fiction, and a lot of the stuff I've read over the past 2-3 years has had underlying academic tones. I've tried to include books I've at least enjoyed, although there are a few 3 star ratings. All of these books are ones I haven't really seen mentioned in compiled dark academia lists (mainly because some of them fall outside the general scope and are more ✨vibes✨). Feel free to add more less well-known books. I've included my own blurbs of the books but I've got shit memory and some I read like 2 years ago so yeah

Fiction

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world." Voltaire

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Takes place over 10 years and explores family and the destruction left behind after WWI. It discusses the feminine vs. masculine in art and while it can be a little slow to read (took me close to 3 weeks!) theres some really beautiful passages and also some funny ones as well — the characters spend several chapters at a dinner party convinced everyone hates them and constantly hating other people too.

The Dark is Rising (series) by Susan Cooper

Okay, yes this is a kids book series from the 70s/80s but it explores English, Cornish and Welsh mythology and has really good characters and world-building. Even though chronologically the series goes: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree, it's best to read The Dark is Rising first and return back to Over Sea, Under Stone. Anyway, I love this series and I read The Dark is Rising every Christmas because it corresponds pretty much with the days and is easy to place and that's kind of what makes it feel very cozy and academic. Also, theres some brief moments of time travel to the past.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

This is a beautiful written masterpiece set across the 20th century featuring plenty of train rides across Europe and vampires. It explores some of the history of Walachia and Dracula, as well as the Ottoman Empire and European politics of the time. It's a hefty read but I loved it because it combines history, dark academia, fantasy and vampires.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

My favourite of Shakespeare that I've seen so far and honestly murder is so dark academia I don't need to talk any further. Strangely, I don't see this recommended enough.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

This was quite popular a year or two ago, and honestly for good reason. I think it's only really academic because it's linked to Shakespeare and explores the less well-known lives of Shakespeare's family, but it's very good and I thought I'd include it anyway.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

This one feels really light academia to me, but I think it's mainly because of setting. It's set in this fantastical old and crumbling mansion that goes on forever. It's filled with statues and it floods and only two people live in the world. The story is told entirely through diary entries, but it's so well-written because it defamiliarises the reader entirely. It was a light and easy read for me, which is probably why I'm associating it with light academia rather than dark academia.

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

This book kinda mixes chaotic academia and cottagecore academia and is a reflection of girlhood and youth spent in the French countryside in the 50s. There's a toxic relationship between two friends who write a book together before one of them attends prestigious girls' school in England. Also the opening lines are amazing: "You cannot cut an apple with an apple. You cannot cut an orange with an orange. You can, if you have a knife, cut an apple or an orange. Or slice open the underbelly of a fish. Or, if your hands are steady enough and the blade is sharp enough, sever an umbilical cord."

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Another classic! I love Waugh, and Brideshead revisited is amazing and my favourite of what I've read of his. The book is quite homoerotic — explicitly so at times, which is fascinating for something published in 1945 — and deals with romanticisation. It nestles quite snugly between Picture of Dorian Grey and Secret History in terms of a dark academic literary canon.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

This is more gothic than dark academia, but it's also a satire of the gothic genre so I feel like it counts. It's definetly not as well known as some of Austen's other works and feels much more raw, particularly because its her first work (although not published until after her death). It's not my favourite Austen, but I love it all the same, especially because of its commentary on warning the romanticisation of other peoples lives and the gothic/dark academia. Although dark academia wasn't a thing in Austen's day!

Possession by A. S. Byatt

I love the main story but because its so metafictive and explores the relationship between two made-up poets (one of whom is bi and cheats on her gf with the second) from the perspective of modern academics, it can get quite hard to read sometimes. It's also really long, but definitely worth reading.

Non-Fiction

I feel like non-fiction is pretty over-looked when it comes to the academia aesthetic which really says something, given that its… kinda the whole point of academia?? Anyway, I read a lot of history books, but I only put down the ones which I found interesting or easy to read, so they're more popular histories than academic histories. Also; essays.

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like At the Turn of the First Millennium by Robert Lacey

This explores early medieval life in England based on the Julius Work Calendar, an Anglo-Saxon manuscript believed to date to 1020BCE. It's honestly a really light and interesting read and it talks about what everyday life was like, which I think is important in history. It's in a narrative style so it's quite easy to read even if you don't consume history often.

Oh, to Be a Painter! by Virginia Woolf

This is actually a short, published collection of Virginia Woolf essays on art. I read the essays all in one sitting because they're quite short, but if you're into art and art academia, I'd highly recommend. There's also an essay on the cinema which provides some interesting insights into todays world particularly as Woolf was writing at the time when cinema was only just becoming widespread and an industry in its own right.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

This is a satirical essay on attitudes towards the poor and it suggests that poor people might sell their children as food for the rich, highlighting the callousness of the upper classes. It's available free online and very much relevant today, despite being written close to 300 years ago.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer

Very useful if you ever find yourself stuck in the Elizabethan period! It's read as a sort of travel guide but includes plenty on history as well, providing a picture of what England looked like in the late-Tudor period. Also people will think you're a time-traveller if you carry it around, which adds to your intrigue and mystery.

A Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh

If you like Jane Austen and haven't read this memoir, you should. It's written by her nephew, so it's quite biased and it's not amazing in any way, but it provides a lot of context to her life and is a good light-read or coffee table book. Also my copy was pale pink so win.

Thats it folks. Feel free to include your own less well-known book recs that follow dark/light/chaotic, etc. aesthetics! I'd love to compile a huge list and read more outside my comfort zone.

[mobiuslab]

Reverse: 1999 seems unreal; too good to be true.

The reason I even took notice of it in the first place was its soundtrack. I hate jazz, but they made a jazz song that I actually like, and then there's ReReReRegulus!, what a banger. And then I watched the trailer, to get a feel of what the game is even about. First of all, the accents! Hello? I normally always play games in JP, but this game seems to be set not in some fictional world, but in our real world, in the real London, so the British English dub would be so much more immersive (but of course there are a lot of familiar JP seiyuu, I'm very conflicted.) If this game, unlike Genshin, has a good voice director, who actually does their work and tells the VA's how the character is supposed to sound, I might play in English tbh. As a former FGO player, traveling to the past isn't an entirely novel concept to me, however, we are going to the 20th century, which is quite interesting. I mean, think about it, the 20th century of our real world, there are so many fascinating historical events. And it seems that they are putting in much more effort in portraying the zeitgeist of the era than FGO ever did. The artistic direction seems to be on point for this game. Apparently there is a main character, with a canon personality and fully voiced dialogue. Hoyo making Honkai Impact 2.0's new MC a self-insert was the stupidest move, and I'm so glad that this game understands how much better a canon protagonist is. It really convinces me that they care about storytelling and characterization. The general artistic direction is so impressive, but the game itself also surprises me. The base rate of 6-stars is 1.5% (compared to Genshin and Star Rail's 0.6%) AND the soft pity starts at 60, with hard pity being at 70. There doesn't seem to be a weapon gacha and the dupes only increase skill multipliers instead of completely changing how a character can be played. At first, I thought it was unfortunate that pick-up rate was only 50%, but every character joins the standard pool, so losing the 50/50 won't be nearly as bad. Unless the gacha currency economy is completely fucked, this seems extremely generous. The combat is thankfully not one of those god-awful auto-fights like Blue Archive or PriConne, but it's turn-based, which is much more engaging, allowing for challenging battles that actually pick your brain and require some skill.

However, there is an auto-mode for the mundane stuff, and get this, you can record your actions, rather than having an AI do everything wrong. And thankfully, there is no PvP, so you don't need to compete with whales. Knowing all this, I really have to wonder, where is the catch? There must be some huge flaw, right? It is as if the devs of Reverse: 1999 looked at all the complaints and criticism of all other gacha games, and just decided to address all of them. As long as the game doesn't have a huge reliance on meta characters to clear endgame content and event-limited content and the writing doesn't absolutely suck, then this game might be the perfect gacha game. I'm so excited to give it a try!

[im-out-of-it]

Ah so I'm not the only one who thinks Clary is a self insert 😭 I didn't WANT to believe that because Clary is 16 in TMI and in her early twenties in TDA so why the fuck is a middle aged writer having her as a self insert 💀 But ig that's par for the course with CC and her history of weird behaviour. And oh lord her sexualization of Cordelia was insane. Did she not realize how racist and oversexualized it is to keep talking (often through the mouth of white characters) about the big boobs of a dark skinned Persian girl in 20th century England? And she is shit at writing romances but it felt like she hit a new low with James x Cordelia because it felt he was just mega horny and lusting for her with no other meaningful connection (iirc he compares her to food at one point?) and boy oh boy her queer couples. she can't spare them an ounce of the dignity and time she devotes to the het white angel siblings-sorry I mean lovers, clary and jace. the way ari and anna and thomas and alastair despite how dirty she did them were still more interesting and complex than james and cordelia and their contrived issues lol. when twp comes out i bet anything that we're gonna get three books of another bland unseasoned forbidden romance™️ between dru and ash and kit and ty are gonna get like a quarter book of development if we're lucky. oh also dru's bff Thais is Black so can't wait to see her be nothing more than the supportive bestie to the white MC the way Cristina was to Emma /s

PSA: INCOMING RANTS LONG POST READ AT YOUR OWN RISK I WARNED YOU WONDERFUL PERFECT BITCHES!!!!!!! RANTS ABOUT ALL THE SHADOWHUNTER BOOKS AND PRAISE OF THE SHOW INCLUDED

YES SHE IS A FUCKING SELF INSERT!!!!!! also there’s some correlation between CC’s husband and Simon which is also really weird. I can’t remember where I found it but for some reason, the initials of her husband are the same as Simons????? there’s some correlation that I can’t remember but it gave me the ick. and also I think one of her friends committed suicide and that was her inspiration for Alec- AND she wanted to kill Alec off in the first TMI book. so you cannot convince me that she liked Alec. then Malec got popular so she did fan service with the eldest curses but it’s so obvious she doesn’t care about Malec AT ALL

ALSO ALSO ALSO she hates the show, and I don’t think she stayed on after season one. I can’t remember if she did or not. she wanted the show to be exactly like her precious books, like the movie was. I remember seeing a tweet where she targeted Emraude who plays Izzy, trying to say that Izzy wouldn’t dress that way- more season one. I honestly feel so bad for the actors who had to put up with her insanity. poor Matt because he actually gave Alec overtime and everything he could while CC wanted to kill him off. there have been instances where she talks shit about the show and later put it in her writing. she later put Izzy in longer skirts (after claiming Izzy didn’t dress provocative in her books when yes she did) and in TDA, she has Julian joking about technology and how shadowhunters would never use it- while in the show they do.

I 100% think she was mad that the show was popular but it was popular for reasons she couldn’t stand. that Malec were the stars and that clace weren’t. because she wants everyone to obsess over clace and jace the way she did. also the show didn’t include Simon cheating or any heavy incest stuff- and that probably set her off- but that’s just my opinion and my take/interpretation on it

it’s really weird clary being a self insert but the one that gets me is Cordelia for TLH. the amount of times she writes about Cordelia’s breasts makes me so uncomfortable. I’m in my late twenties and I write but I do not write about teens. I would never write about teens having sex. that’s gross to me. I’m not here being almost 30 and writing about teens having sex like that’s just really weird. there’s so much wrong with CC and not just as a writer. I didn’t know how awful she was. I’ve always loved the show (show Malec, Maia, Izzy, Simon, Raphael only- never clace- please do not ever mistake me for being a clace fan) and I said before, I thought the books would be the same. so then I read them, didn’t like them, and thought hmmm let me visit tumblr and get that going again.

I cannot stand the shadowhunter community because the book fans make it impossible for you to have a good time. but then I got into the deep dive of CC and that she’s actually terrible. she plagiarized some fanfics I think???? and also the fact that she has incest in every book while also I believe having a step brother???? go seek therapy PLEASE. you are wealthy enough to afford it lmao and she’s rude to her fans or anyone that doesn’t agree or look at her as some god. if you have a problem with her writing, she will make your life miserable. I can’t remember where I found this thread, but in the Harry Potter fandom, there have been times where she has bullied literal young girls and women and targeted them. it’s so crazy how unhinged and messed up she is

not just the sexualization of Cordelia but saying that girls like Cordelia can’t wear pastels. if you don’t get your racist ass out of here bitch, I swear 🤺 I hate how she writes Cordelia but Alastair’s treatment irritates me even more. Alastair is made to apologize to the merry thieves and make all these amends but these white characters don’t have to?????? I have never seen an instance where Matthew ever apologizes for anything he has said or done to Alastair. while I sympathize with Matthew- Alastair didn’t make him buy that potion that killed his unborn sibling. Alastair did not put a gun to matthews head and do that. what TLH characters and basically all of the characters CC creates needed was some good old therapy. Matthew can creep in when Elias dies and that’s okay???? Cordelia can spy on Alastair and Charles and that’s okay???? she did Alastair so wrong. she does almost everhone in TLH so dirty, especially Christopher

she doesn’t have any respect for anybody in the lgbtq+ community. she can go on and on and pretend to be an ally but she fucking isn’t one. you don’t do that to Malec if you’re an ally. literally most of thomastair stuff has something to do with James. Thomas can’t even be arrested without it being in James pov. TLH was a literal thirstfest for James and Cordelia plus Will and Tessa. Christopher dies but do Gabriel and Cecily get to mourn him???? NO because Will and Tessa have to go have sex. Barbara dies and instead of giving Thomas a pov about it, Will and Tessa have to go have their moment. Thomas never gets the opportunity to grieve. his sister and his best friend/cousin/basically parabatai (Thomas and Kit are better at being parabatai than anyone is) dies within a year and Thomas doesn’t get the time to actually grieve all of that. also the way she writes parabatai is a crime. parabatai- the idea of them I remember reading was in Ancient Greek where they were warriors tied to each other or some shit like that- but CC turns it into a hellish nightmare. she always has to make the main characters have some forbidden romance. ITS TIRING GIVE IT UP ALREADY

Alexander gets tortured and almost killed by Tatiana but when he’s being captive, Gabriel and Cecily barely get any words in. because of course it has to be Will and about Will and Tessa instead. CC and her way of making everything about the herondales is unreal. any moment an lgbtq+ couple, character, any POC has a moment, they can’t have it because it has to be about a herondale. Cordelia kills Tatiana when she had the least amount of reason to do it. Kit dies and Cordelia does not think of him. of course she has to think of James. JAMES IS ALIVE AND WELL BUT WHO CARES THAT KIT DIED FOR YOU????? I would ghost the bitch so fucking quick like excuse me, why aren’t you grieving?????? if anyone deserved to kill Tatiana, it was THOMAS. I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL

Alec and Magnus can’t ever have a discussion without it being in simons pov or clace. and then she literally has the audacity of saying “wow they’re so much drama” despite the fact clace has more drama? I will never forgive how she did Malec in TMI. it was so unnecessary. Alec still gets shitty treatment after TMI. he always has to think about jace and he can’t ever speak another language or be skilled because jace has to be the best apparently.

and you know Malec can be better because the first eldest curses was not as terrible because of other writers involved. oh and having Magnus chase a barely 18 alec 🤢 and then having them have sex when he’s hardly 18. like what is her obsession with barely legal teens having sex????? honestly all of her books are a thirstfest if you give it time.

that whole Cristina love triangle was a disaster. I’ve blocked most of it from my memory. I can’t even remember happens honestly lmao I just know she watches them have their moment. of course a POC is the side kick/bff because no way could they ever be a main character.

TWP will be a disaster. she’s not going to make it about Dru, she will make it about Kit, have as much jace and Janus as possible. she will make us all suffer as much jace as possible. anyone who thinks that Janus won’t be involved doesn’t see CC and her pattern. every one of her books is her self insert of clary and jace. all of the herondales have traits of jace. the main characters love interest also have traits of clary. they all only think about their boyfriend, ignore everyone else, and they don’t take care of themselves. Alastair literally does everything for Cordelia but she can’t be there for him or have his back. Gideon and Gabriel help so often in TID but if Will hates them then so does tessa. Julian and Emma are such a disaster and they’re so obsessed with clace it’s ridiculous. having a villain comment on incest just so Emma can defend it 🤢

she won’t give anything for any lgbtq+ person. she may not have killed off Matthew, Alastair, Thomas, Anna, or Ari but she killed them still by barely giving them any development. THAT IS STILL BURYING THE GAYS. Matthew doesn’t get any development, has to apologize for liking Cordelia, and gets left in the dust. Alastair doesn’t ever have any pov (just barely one) and Thomas’s pov are mostly about James. she may not have murdered them literally but she still killed them in other ways. don’t do trauma, representation, disabilities, orphans, adoption if you don’t know how to write it 🗣️ no representation is better than shitty representation. you can create all the POC, lgbtq + characters you want but it means nothing if you side line them and treat them like shit

if anything, TWP will be as predictable as all of her series. you cannot convince it won’t be. she has the same patterns. miscommunication, misrepresentation, and praising her perfect white herondale toxic boys in ALL HER BOOKS

RANT OVER 👏🏼

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s6 ep11: Fair Haven

The one where the Voyager crew discovers cottagecore. Life in space can be so unromantic! But apparently only the crew is allowed to have fun and romance, not the Captain. I don't hate this one as much as the J/C shippers seem to, but I definitely have criticisms. (And some questions about hologram sexytimes. Yeah, it's that kinda episode, folks!)

I'm usually all for silly holodeck dress up playtime in historical costumes, but Fair Haven is a bit too culturally insensitive for comfort. It's idea of a 'quaint Irish village' is full of distinctly American stereotypes of Ireland, and this kind of stuff is why people in the rest of the world think Americans are dumb. Painting late 19th century Ireland as an idyllic Disney-fied paradise feels insensitive or ignorant considering the Irish people were politically oppressed and kept in poverty by English colonizers at the time. (And barely a generation removed from an attempted genocide to boot- the English purposely let the Irish starve during the Potato Famine fyi.)

I like to believe people would have more sensitivity in the 24th century than to treat an actual culture like a theme park, but maybe all that is so far in the past by then that ordinary Starfleet people have no idea about any of that history? That's what I'm telling myself, at least. That would make sense if it's supposed to be Tom's program, since he's into 20th century American history, and so 19th century Ireland would be out of his area of expertise. Honestly, I'd expect Tom would be more likely to recreate a 1950s American town with, like, a drive-in movie theatre and a McDonalds, and a beach with a surf shack. It would be an excuse to get all the women into bikinis, so I'm truly surprised the writers went for this instead. The one time the writer's room being full of sexist horndogs could have helped, and it didn't! But I guess they already had the generic old-timey European town set on the backlot, (it's the same one they used for France in The Killing Game in season 4) so all they had to do was redress it with some Irish signage and voila! (Side note: would there have been bilingual signage like they have here in Ireland in the 1890s?? The English were pretty hardcore about eradicating Celtic language and culture in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales- wouldn't the signs have all been in English at this point? Or were there still enough solely Irish Gaelic speakers in the 1890s that they had to have Irish signage? History tumblr, please enlighten me, I'm curious now!)

But anyway, the crew, obviously bored put of their minds and desperate for novelty and a little cottagecore escapism, somehow all love the Fair Haven program, and the Captain gives them permission to leave it running 24/7 while Voyager weathers a space storm. The captain stops by, takes a shine to the holographic bartender, and soon she's spending more time on the holodeck with her holographic fantasy man. I know the Janeway/Chakotay shippers don't like it, but Captain Janeway is so damn cute and charming when she gets flirty with holo-bartender Michael Sullivan that I just go all heart eyes, and I'm on board with whatever she wants. And there's actually quite a bit of shippy J/C stuff in this one- after Michael asks Captain Janeway if she has a man at home, and she assures him she doesn't, Chakotay immediately shows up, and Janeway looks sheepish like she's been caught in a lie, because her space husband totally just showed up. Chakotay clearly knows what's up with the Captain and Michael, and he seems amused by it more than anything, and teases her over it on the bridge later. He basically even gives her his blessing when Janeway seems embarrassed about romancing a holodeck character, and tells her 'I never let that stop me'(!) CHAKOTAY, WHAT?? You date holodeck characters?! Did he fuck a hologram?! And now he's giving his crush permission to fuck a hologram?? THESE TWO. Talk about matching each other's freak. They're so married, jfc. (But in an open relationship, where they're allowed to fuck holograms lol.)

Why the captain's little holodeck fantasy was deemed worthy of being the A plot of an entire episode, I don't know. Everybody has silly little holodeck fantasies and makes out with a holodeck character every now and then, that's literally what the holodeck is for. Why Captain Janeway should have to feel guilty or bad about it is the real question, and the only answer here is sexism, pure and simple. (Or internalized misogyny, since this was apparently written by a woman.)

Captain Janeway feeling so guilty about being able to change her little holo-bartender's parameters to be whatever she wants him to be, to the point that she feels like she must cast him away because he's too perfect and it's too easy for her, is just weird and nonsensical. It's a fantasy! That's the point! It's supposed to be easy and perfect to distract you from your real life for a little while! And when everything being too perfect gets boring, you move on to another fantasy, which is totally okay, because it's pretend! Everyone needs to have some sort of fantasy world to escape to when life gets too boring or too stressful, that's just a normal part of life. Whether it's through books or movies or video games or a holodeck, it's all the same. Captain Janeway has probably the most stressful job of anyone ever, since she's responsible for 150 people's lives 24/7, most likely for the rest of her life, with no help, no vacations, and no ability to quit, probably ever. She can't even date anyone on board because she's everyone's boss- if ever someone deserved a little holodeck romance escapism, it's her!

In a case of the worst person you know having an excellent point, the Doctor, of all people, points this out to her. Although I think a lot of his gung-ho attitude stems from just being pro-hologram in general, he is absolutely right that Captain Janeway should stop worrying about whether holodeck romance is morally pure or whatever and just let herself enjoy being happy for a while, wherever she can find it.

Eventually Janeway decides to cool it with her holo-boyfriend, because apparently she feels weird about having fucked that hologram. (It's not explicitly shown or stated that she fucked the hologram, but it's heavily implied. Which raises all kinds of really weird questions- like who exactly programmed him to do the deed? Tom originally programmed him to just be a bartender, with no idea that he'd end up Janeway's boytoy. Did the Captain add some new sexytimes subroutines to her specifications? Do all holocharacters just have sexytimes subroutines built in? Or, worst of all, did Tom program him with sexytimes subroutines from the beginning? Which could be the real reason Janeway is having an existential crisis- she didn't just fuck any hologram, she fucked a hologram that Tom Paris taught how to do it. Ohmygod. It's like the time they turned into lizards and had lizard sex all over again- they keep getting into awkward quasi-sexual situations together. Janeway probably had a mental image of Tom going all hologram Leah Brahams like: 'Every time you fuck that hologram, you're fucking me!' and then just noped on out of the whole situation, lmao! How is this episode even a real thing?!)

Anyway, after bidding Michael a fond farewell, she saves his program for later, after locking herself out of modifying his program further, which is yet more dumb, sexist nonsense. So even in their own private fantasies, women are supposed to limit themselves so that they don't get too carried away with- what? being happy? being in control? The air of puritanical, sexist nonsense that hangs over this episode is something I hope we as a society will have finally rid ourselves of by the 24th century. Good grief.

The only really fun parts of this episode were seeing the crew in cute 19th century outfits (Tom in a newsboy cap! Harry in his suit and straw boater!! The captain in her corset dress with her updo hair and no makeup!! And are those her real freckles?! adorbs!!!), and seeing Captain Janeway get to have her little romance, complete with a Jack and Rose Titanic dance moment. I honestly wonder how much of this Fair Haven idea was influenced by the Titanic mania that was everywhere around this time- it had been the big movie the year before this aired, and Irish music was having a definite moment after the third-class dance scene with Jack and Rose in Titanic, which this reminded me so much of. Of course Kate Mulgrew actually has Irish ancestry, so maybe they wanted a setting that she'd fit into well. But I'm a little surprised she wouldn't take issue with the whole 'drunken Irishmen getting into a bar fight in a pub' scene- that's a pretty negative old-timey stereotype. But, who knows, maybe she did, and they just didn't care. Nobody seemed to be too concerned with what is or isn't offensive in this ep!

Tl;dr: An episode that wasn't as much fun as it wanted to be because it was overly concerned with whether or not it's morally pure or acceptable for women to have fantasies, and which came to the sexist conclusion that it's okay, as long as they feel guilty about it and police themselves accordingly. Gag.

[venomouschocolate]

Why Do They Talk Like That: a stream of consciousness

Fantasy linguistics are so hard like where do you draw the line... I mean none of my characters are referencing major theistic religions or using real life loanwords or expletives but then there's quote-unquote fun stuff like "sadism" or "lunatic" or "sinister". i.e the Marquis de Sade does not exist in this world, but the concept of pleasure from cruelty does... Latin is not a language there, but I, personally, am writing in English, which has much of its etymology rooted in Latin (as well as pretty much every other language ever), even if there is no hate for left-handed people or indeed the left in this world, so "sinister" is inexplicable in itself now (odd how the left has historically been demonised and that it's also the socialist side of the political spectrum. not that odd really. thank you robert walpole?). The same with "lunatic": the moon is literally worshipped in some areas of my world, but it's still a term characters use, despite the moon having positive connotations.

Where Do You Draw The Line... I can't write in a conlang because a) I am not masochistic but b) I want my work to actually be read. You can imply different languages with accents and word choice and compound words, but ultimately I am writing in the same language for all (despite being bilingual, go me!) and ultimately that language is one that exists only in our world and not in the one that I've created.

While we're here, let's talk about swearing (cursing if you're american?) in fantasy settings. I don't mean "oh my god/s", that's arguably blasphemy and certainly not explicit; I don't mean "bloody" (not really explicit either) because frankly that does tend to fit a fantasy vibe with the type of characters likely to use it (considering the real world stereotypes and thus the archetypes an author will write using it). I mean expletives like "fuck", "bitch", "shit": STOP USING THEM. you absolute buffoons.

Recently I read a fantasy novel which included a whole magic system and several countries with absolute monarchies, etc, and they kept using expletives and it just did not work, and it never does. A step back: I believe that using expletives when writing in a real world setting (provided it's period-believable, of course) can work, and often (not always, not even mostly) works - I do it myself. However, believable expletives and exclamations and intensifiers can and sometimes do make or break worldbuilding, at least for me. The worldbuilding in the novel was fine, good even! But every time the (twenty-eight-year-old) mc used "fucking" or "bitch", I was immediately yanked out of the story and into reality. It was like reading a period piece (say, in the 19th-early 20th century) and seeing "bitch" in the expletive (slur) sense. I don't care whether it would be used: I don't BELIEVE that it would be.

Suspension of disbelief is everything, which (as a theatre kid...) is, I suspect, why musical films don't work: we're primed for a more true-to-life piece, whereas in a theatre, we're prepared to cast a lot more aside. We KNOW they're actors, we know bursting into song is unrealistic, but it's the stage! We believe it anyway. Seeing a fantasy character, particularly one that was meant to be a minor royal, consistently THINK in expletives (and not just exclaim them!) felt to me like watching Mean Girls The Musical The Movie. I did not believe the magic (which was a major plot point so it kind of sucked). I did not believe that the characters saying "bitch" and "fuck" would say those words, especially since those characters were almost exclusively limited to the middle-aged queen, an almost thirty-year-old established to be groomed into mild-mannered obedience, the former queen's guard and a (bastard) prince. I did not believe that the characters whose thoughts I was reading would think them, and thus I did not believe in the story.

If you're going to create a prose-based world intended to be separate from our own in terms of religion/history/sociopolitical structure/magic/etc, you NEED to think about the linguistics. I'm not saying think HARD or be super mega creative: in my sky-worship country, a common exclamation is "stars-be", short for "stars-be-dimmed", ditto "skies-be" and "skies-be-felled". My sun-based little sillies go "be-set" as in "sun-be-set"; the only country in a technological revolution (also the only country with guns): "I'm not wired that way"; "he's gearing for a fight"; "I was shooting for you". Furthermore, when explaining their culture in other languages, they struggle for words, because, for example, a train is a monolingual concept (one falters when about to describe someone as a "train wreck" and just goes "sorry"). It's not clever, it's not particularly original, but, in my opinion, it makes the language, and by extension the world, more believable.

While I'm mid-rant: there's a marked difference between characters of different class and upbringing. My more religious, self-righteous queen of skycountry says "my stars": she rules the country, she is a little crazy insane, she feels that she owns the sky, too. A less-educated character uses slang like "lunar", "feared", "heartfulness" where his posh boy counterpart says "insane", "afraid" and "empathy". And yes, I am totally neurodivergent, and I think about details, and I also study the development of the English language and want to continue to do so at university, so of course I am more drawn to it, but at the end of the day if you're writing prose then the words are really bloody important.

TLDR: worldbuilding is hard; do your high fantasy (or even low fantasy) characters NEED to say "fuck"?

[owltypical]

oh yeah, finished that agatha christie memoir, a little overlong and rambling and of course plenty of outdated victorian grandma views and such, but it had some interesting stuff

couple of entertaining tidbits too:

england started using the metric system for stuff in the early 20th century and they hated it and complained too, that's honestly extremely funny to me

while interning at an apothecary the pharmacist fucked up his metric math and created some dangerously overdosed suppositories, panicking at this realization and not wanting to have an embarrassing scene of correcting her teacher, christie did an elaborate staged clumsy fall and knocked the medicine down and stomped it to pieces so she had an excuse to take it all away from him and toss it

an italian crewman of a ship she was on misunderstood freshly-divorced christie's conversation and tried to show up for a late night snog, there was a big argument where she declined and said "sorry, i'm british, i'm frigid"

the revelation that she personally didn't think most murder mysteries should have a romance between characters in them because it didn't feel like an appropriate setting and was often pretty dumb, but she resignedly always included them in her own books because it's what people wanted and expected, which tbh explains a lot lol

i didn't realize her second husband was like fourteen years younger than her and was into older women, and what a scandal their whole relationship and eventual secret marriage were to people in the time period, everybody tried to stop it

the archeological work she and her husband did appears to have been pretty above board by the time period's standards? it was done only with the approval of the local government and the native landowners, and for every piece they were allowed to take back to england they were required to give a piece to the country itself to keep in their local museums, also christie loved the middle east and the art and people there, she particularly thought mosques were very pretty

[themememerchant]

P5R ARCANA SWAP AU IDEAS I HAD

These are all small little ideas and thoughts I have for my fanfiction Queenpin Of The Metaverse which I will hopefully be able to begin publishing on ao3 soon enough

So until then, have this moderately sized collection of random facts about the swapped thieves personalities and such

HERE WE FUCkIN GO:

Something not mentioned the original post but is important to know is that the phantom thieves are effectively a giant polycule, many of them are dating each other with Sophia being the exception-(she’s 10)

Sumire, Futaba, Haru, and Ann all trying on Makoto’s bomber jacket when they think nobody’s looking and Makoto thinking they’re adorable

Yuuki trying-(and failing)-to “rizz up” Sumire without knowing what the phrase actually means while everyone else gets 2nd-hand embarrassment

Futaba calling Sumi and Makoto her “Waifus for life-u”

Akira 100% being like Gomez Addams where he challenges the sun to a duel because Goro or Sumi got sunburned

“EN GUARDE, Mon Soleil!”

“Akira, that’s the sun-”

“EN GUARDE, I SAY!”

Yuuki pulling stupidly annoying yet harmless pranks on everyone like giving them 1,000 yen in nothing but 10 yen coins

Anytime someone tries to get a favor from Makoto she pulls out a box of pocky sticks and says: “Ya gotta play for it.”

Sumire doing weight lifting instead of gymnastics because she still wants to be fit

Makoto spots her

Yusuke giving off cat energy by getting stuck in the stupidest places and crying about it

Haru being weirdly talented with every niche thing she tries like drawing and singing

People ask how she got so good and she just shrugs innocently with legitimately zero explanation, she’s just built different

Sophia and Sumire both use age regression to cope with abuse from their respective parents and they set up playdates constantly

Futaba is Sophia’s designated caregiver

Makoto and Ann take turns being Sumi’s caregivers-(they begrugingly agreed to share custody)

TW: ALL THE STUFF ASSOSCIATED WITH KAMOSHITHEAD 

Yuuki having a “Poison” moment like Angel from Hazbin, except the song flips between him being beaten and assaulted in the P.E. office and his cognitive self coming onto Kamoshida

In reference to the above, Makoto and Yuuki having a “Loser, Baby” moment where they bond over hating Kamoshithead once Yuuki awakens

Sumire saying things like: “Everything’s jake!”, and nobody knows what the fuck she means until she needs to explain

Sumire using slang from the American 20’s is such a funny concept to me since not only is it outdated terminology, it’s also in a perfect NY American accent from a Japanese highschool girl

The thieves taking on traits from their personas in general is such a fun idea to work with

Sumire with her slang as i already said but also being enthralled by jazz music and early 20th century fashion

Goro having excellent deductive reasoning and fascination with random knowledge, he also has slight opium cravings

Makoto having inexplicable knowledge on sailing and being really good at bargaining and negotiation

Futaba emitting an aura of almost royal-like confidence that makes other students fall head over heels for her

Yuuki being a master of sneaking up on people by accident and having a really good poker-face

Sophia having a child-like curiosity over basic things like why the sky is blue and how rain works

Akira speaking in random bursts of Latin and Greek, he also begins writing poetry in his free time

Haru saying obscenities with a Southern-belle accent and being really good at working a crowd

Yusuke being followed by Paimon’s demonic parade so anyone near him will hear faint sounds of drums and trumpets when he walks

Ann suddenly becomes a master tactician who was even able to beat Goro at chess once, she also unconsciously whispers French prayers sometimes

Ryuji is a masterful pick-pocket-(Nezumi Kozo)-with great public speaking skills-(Maximilien)-, he later gets a side job with crossdressing-(Nezumi Kozo again)-

Goro and Akira having the same homoerotic tension between each other as canon but Akira is less self-assured and Goro is not a murderer but is still very threatening and intimidating

Ann has a “resting bitch face” because she has trouble expressing her emotions, so most students are too afraid to talk to her. After she joins and starts dating some of the thieves everyone just looks so confused as this gorgeous-yet-stone-faced blonde model starts hugging a red-headed cinnamon roll-(Sumi)-while looking as stoic as ever

Even better when Sumi makes comments like: ”Awww, It seems someone's in an extra good mood today!” And then Ann goes: “Thanks, I was hoping you’d notice.”

The students around them have no idea how anyone was supposed to know the blonde’s emotions, but Sumi is just built different

FUCK NOW I WANT TO MAKE A ONESHOT ABT THIS FUCK-

Yusuke and Futaba are both pretty smart people but when they try to work together they end up canceling out each other’s brain cells and becoming morons

Ann probably wears berets sometimes and the thieves poke fun at her by calling her a "French stereotype"

And that is all for now, who knows what else my diseased mind shall spit out next…

Until then, adieu all ye power tops

[bluberimufim]

7. 👠 SHOES: What is transportation like in the world of your WIP?

8. 🧢 CLOTHING: What is your MC currently wearing in the most recent scene of your WIP?

Hi! Thank you so much for the ask! I'll be answering for DoS since that's what I'm trying to focus on right now.

7. 👠 SHOES: What is transportation like in the world of your WIP?

The setting is supposed to have a general ~world wars~ (mostly around the 30's which I know didn't have a world war, ok, we're going by vibes here), so a lot of the stuff there is from the early 20th century. People have access to cars and trains for long-distance transportation (not that I'm specific with it), but rural areas, like where the first half of the plot is set, still have stuff like carts pulled by ox or donkeys. The whole Thing of the setting is supposed to be "oh yeah the War", so I never really connected it to real-life specifics.

8. 🧢 CLOTHING: What is your MC currently wearing in the most recent scene of your WIP?

They're currently wearing their uniforms, mostly, which I once drew for my birthday (tbh now that I look at it again, I don't like the drawing anymore smh)

Seth looks pretty much like the drawing except her cloak is supposed to close at the front. The cloak is basically all that you see, it kinda engulfs her. It's a while, floor-length cloak with two openings for the arms and another at the centre. It clasps over her neck and chest and it's a pretty high neckline. The front has flowers embroidered on it, also in white, signifying that she's Master Healer Lady. She hates it btw.

Oh yeah and also her cane with the flower engravings on the handle. It's her favourite because Theo gave it to her <3

[catgirljaneway]

Ask game:

Janeway, Kira, Julian, Tom (if you want to)

(ask game in question)

Thank you for the ask, anon! I love these characters.

Janeway

Stan Account: Amelia Earhart. She mostly posts text heavy + very intellectual posts about her impact on women in aviation, but honestly the more intellectual the posy, the hornier the undertones. Janeway has shared it with Tuvok (he beta reads her posts) but she tries to keep it secret from everyone else. Everyone is onto her. Tom found it first and showed it to Harry who showed it to B'elanna and it spiraled from there. Janeway hasn't realized this.

Convenience Store Purchase: Coffee without a cap. Also chocolate covered espresso beans. (This one was hard to figure out for her, not sure why)

Kink: Sex on the captain's chair for sure. Also smart people who argue with her turn her on. I also think she'd be into something like orgasm denial. Also being called Kathryn because she rarely gets to be called Kathryn in the Delta Quadrant cause ya know... it's lonely at the top. I also think that while she enjoys dominating, she also likes giving up her control cause she never gets that chance otherwise.

Kira

Stan Account: The prophets. Unfortunately she posts those terrible Christian mom bible verses over highly-pixelated "aesthetic" photos....

But also she runs a stan account for GIRLI (This is because I've decided Kira would like her music + her music reminds me of Kira) She starts it while she's still not out to herself, so there are so many photosets she posts of her being like "wow! I want to be her!" and Jadzia takes one look at the account and is like..... hey girl... i have some news for you....

Convenience Store Purchase: Beef jerky.

Kink: Honestly romance and setting the mode. You know that cheesy romance movie "trail of rose petals leading to bed" stuff? Yeah that would work on her methinks. Also biting.

Julian

Stan Account: Himself. He runs a stan account for himself. He claims it's not him running it, it's just "someone who appreciates his work" but no one believes him. He routinely makes burner accounts to send his "fan blog" hate for attention. I also believe he used to run a stan blog for some musician but then it got "too mainstream".

Convenience Store Purchase: Celebrity gossip magazine + those iced starbucks frappichinos

Kink: Unfortunately it's being called kitten. (also voyeurism)

Tom

Stan Account: He runs a 20th century car stand blog. He gets in the most HORRIBLE drama with other 20th century car bloggers. He gets so upset and is constantly telling Harry about it. Harry wants to delete his social media. Also he runs a Tom Petty blog. He likes to post "cool" photos of 20th century cars with Tom Petty lyrics.

Convenience Store Purchase: Dill pickle lays, hotdog, slurpee, beef jerkey, bubble gum. He has no self-control.

Kink: Dying in Harry's arms. (also daddy + degradation)

[gascon-en-exil]

Are there fictional settings you particularly enjoy? (To clarify what I mean, stuff like being based on particular countries or time periods or even more out there things like other planets, dystopian cyberpunk cities etc.) Is there a fictional setting you'd really like to see in a video game of your favorite genre?

Even though most of my current online content involves video games, Nintendo is actually sort of an outlier when it comes to the kinds of fiction I enjoy. I typically prefer historical fiction settings, most often 18th through the early 20th centuries. That's the literature I focused on at university, and some of my favorite period dramas and novel adaptations are set then. Of course France and Louisiana are the most interesting settings to me personally, although I can enjoy others that are at least somewhat related. My favorite books, movies, and TV shows tend to be slow and ponderous, with a lot of sitting around and talking - not the sort of thing that would really work in video games outside perhaps visual novels.

With that said, I do always enjoy getting to see more fictionalized versions of New Orleans. I even contemplated getting Red Dead Redemption 2 solely because it includes a well-realized interpretation of the city in the 1890s that I would have loved to explore. Alas, my PC can't really handle something like that...plus I'd hate all the cowboy stuff that makes up the overwhelming majority of that game.

[maguro13-2]

War of Shadow Realm ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Chapter 4 Pt.1

[Opening ~ Title Theme - Naofumi Hataya]

"Near the end of the 20th Century, computerized and technological genius, Lain Iwakura, known as the wired girl, has been linking to the world of data through computer memory space and has gained information about the planet's wonders. Yet, but soon, all data within the computer will be corrupted by viruses hacked by the evil forces during cyber warfare. In order to keep data safe from the hands of evil, Lain used her LAN data to link the computerized brain of a giant Gundam robot named Deathscythe Hell, that is under possession of it's pilot Duo Maxwell, due to the Soul data transfer link."

Lain Iwakura : Let's all love lain. We are all connected by data. The data link with each other's hearts.

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : Yeah, I'm ready for it. The Great Deathscythe has returned from the ashes.

"Battles after battles, Deathscythe continued to be one of the most dominant robots that has ever tipped the scales between balance of good vs evil, which gained the powers of soul-absoring energy from the enemies. With Lain's aid, Duo will unlock his robot's true potential and would put his plans on stopping one organization that had spreaded Shinra's Influence... Death Weapon Meister Academy."

"Later in the 21st Century, the great state of Nevada is in peril due to the Ohkuboverse's crisis, the evil force of darkness has began when heartlesses were planning on destroying the likes of humankind and Witchkind."

"But when it comes to the spreading truth, Deathscythe believes that a mysterious object called the Kusakabe legacy was responsible for the influence of Shinra Kusakabe, and Duo knew that it was all a lie just to hid the truth by Necrodeus as part of his plan to overthrow the witches of earth."

Duo Maxwell (Deathscythe Hell) : Lain, as much of you know about the human race, there's just one thing about this Soul Eater stuff in my head, can the world of Soul Eater really be a facade of this Shadow Realm thing? And what was their connection with the Kusakabe legacy? There's just no end to these monsters, is there?

Lain Iwakura : Perhaps it's best that the Ohkuboverse wasn't a universe at all, it's basically a facade by Shadow Realm itself, I hope you're intriguing that the evil forces in Soul World were a diversion set up by Demon Vibe himself. I gained his information data about his plans of conquering the universe of the real world, covering the planet in darkness and would corrupt both the humans and witches as well.

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : Yeah, you're right about that. But we couldn't let them get away with this. Some humans maybe bad for them to be called a heartless, but villains are always the picky eater of being the most hated beings like the Gorgon Witch sisters, who turned out to be the heartless Dopplergangers sent out by the real ones as decoys. But thanks to the detectives and their efforts to stop them, now we finally understand the truth about the world of Soul Eater, It's time that I can destroy the one's that shattered the peace of the real Deathscythe that I possessed.

Lain Iwakura : You are certainly correct and you have the vulnerable responsibility of taking your actions to the next level. So, what are you thinking right now?

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : [thinking] Hmmm... Let's just say that me and the boys are thinking that it would be a reunion for them, I hope they would return after our fight with the villains from the show. It's been so long since the guys boke up. Now that it's the 21st century, I can't believe that my reunion with the guys is gonna be here soon for their arrival once the war begins.

Lain Iwakura : I see your point tho. We would wait for their arrival as well. Have good luck in ya and believe you, Duo Maxwell. Our world's fate is in our hands.

Computer Voice : Preparing launch sequence in 15 seconds. All systems online...Green. Gate open

"Duo Maxwell, Pilot of the Gundam Robot Deathscythe, now has the same ability as his friends, to fuse his soul into a Gundam's computerized brain, becoming the one and only machine that is capable of being strong and brute, the sole surviving machine. And his request of stopping forces of evil that will put an end to everything that the world had to offer."

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : Now then...Necrodeus, it's over for you, ya self-righteous son of a b*tch! Your days as the phony Shinigami is over! And I'm going to put a stop to this, along with those heartlesses you dealt!

Computer Voice : Beginning launch sequence in 5...4...3...2...1... lifting off! (Deathscythe begins to flies off from the ocean and into space)

~ CHAPTER 4 : WAR OF SHADOW REALM ~

[trickstercaptain]

@hargrovetm sent a meme: name a few of their favourite pieces of popular culture.

12. name a few of their favourite pieces of popular culture.

okay so this is the part where i call Jack out for having extremely limited interest in popular culture from the 1990s onwards lmao. there's a reason why I've always thought it made sense for Jack to grow up in the 70s/80s and that's because he's into a lot of older movies and tv shows — I think in a modern setting you could easily bring up any recent cultural phenomenon like, idk, GoT or something and he'd have no fucking clue what you're talking about lmaooo. Jack doesn't pay attention to popular culture, he's just interested in his own specific niches.

but some of his faves, in no particular order and not an exhaustive list, are: grease ( yes, his bisexual awakening ), the indiana jones movies, ghostbusters, knight rider, dallas ( l m a o ), saturday night fever, back to the future, mamma mia ( i hate him ), the oceans movies, blackadder, baywatch ( again, l m a o ), the x files. more generally, he enjoys true crime documentaries and is also pretty prone to watching trashy reality tv too. he also reads widely and really enjoys a lot of 19th century and 20th century fiction ( stuff that he would not be able to read in his canon ) and in all honesty is much more likely to be reading than he would watching tv or movies. so it's not even that he's a film snob, it's just a medium that doesn't interest him as much as reading.

when it comes to popular, nerdy culture, I can tell you that he has seen the original star wars trilogy once and did not care for it ( and hasn't watched any since ), he never bothered to read lotr and therefore did not watch the movies ( I think medieval fantasy in general doesn't interest him, he prefers adventure/action stuff hence why indiana jones makes the shortlist of his favourite pieces of popular culture ), he's never picked up a comic book in his life and does not intend to start now, so has zero interest in superheroes, and I can't really see him being all that into video games either ? board games, sure, but probably only a passing interest in video games. he's not nerd material, basically — unless you want to talk about shakespeare.