#i just assumed it was some movie reference or whatever i wasn't getting

[fl3shm4id3n]

Bₑᵢₙg ₐ ₛᵢₙgₑᵣ/ᵣₐₚₚₑᵣ ₐₙd ᵢₙ ₐ ᵣₑₗₐₜᵢₒₙₛₕᵢₚ wᵢₜₕ: ⱼₒₕₙₙy Cₐgₑ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴊᴏʜɴɴʏ ᴄᴀɢᴇ x ꜰᴇᴍ! ꜱɪɴɢᴇʀ/ʀᴀᴘᴘᴇʀ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Tw: Age gap (Johnny is 58 and reader is 28), mentions of fans/people being weird.

A/N: Reader is heavily inspired by Doja Cat, I may write more stuff about this. I'll read any feedback of any kind.

Masterlist

When the public found out that you and thee Johnny Cage were in a relationship, a lot of people lost it. Some assumed that the only reason he was in a relationship with you was because so that he could still be famous or whatever other things they say. All you both did was just ignore those people comments.

That wasn't the first time some of your so called 'fans' tried bashing you for the decisions that you make. Same with Johnny. He isn't with you because of your fame and money, you and him actually had chemistry.

You and him were made for one another believe it or not. You both were like soulmates, literally. They were times where you and Johnny shared a braincell.

The thing about Johnny, as much as self absorbed that he is. He actually a very caring and sweet person to be around. He also is very good at making people laugh and get them to be flattered. That's what made you fall for him. He is a himbo in a way, but he is your himbo.

He is very supportive of you. He knows how much potential you got and you should show share it with the world.

Johnny likes to listen to your music, he's the type to listen to all kinds of music. At times you may hear him humming to your music and even singing under his breath while he's doing something.

He may not know very much about music, but he'll help in any way you need help in. For example, if you're having a difficult time trying to come up with lyrics or a beat for your song, he'll try and help. He loves to help you in all ways possible.

If that doesn't work with your writers block, you'll stop what you're doing and do something with Johnny. Whether is watching a movie, cooking together, simply just lay together in bed, or whatever you can think of.

A thing that he likes about you, is how you call out your some of your 'fans' on their weird and toxic behavior. He's had his fair share of his strange over the top fans. But he's never really had the guts to tell them off. He liked that you did, that gave him some sort of courage for him to do so as well.

You and Johnny have blast reading comments and watching videos in how you have become 'satanic'. It was funny because it all started when you began to work on other projects, that aren't what you normally do. This stuff isn't new though, every time a music artist does something new and is successful at it, then they've become a 'Satanist'. That's old news, probably as old as Johnny.

He's goes to your concerts and even on tour with you. He becomes your personal assistant in a way, because he knows you like the back of his hand. He doesn't mind it at all, he enjoys being your personal assistant. (He takes your kisses as payment.)

He also makes it his mission to record all most everything about the concert, mainly you since you're the star of the show. His star.

Johnny buys your merch. He doesn't have a shame in wearing it. He'll wear it 24/7. Whether is a shirt, hoodie, sweater, socks. He wears it.

Most of his social media, is of pictures of you and him, sometimes mainly just you. He also posts in his Instagram story your posts about your new album or shows. He loves to show you off to everyone. (He's probably do that one Will Smith meme when he is with you in public. Specially when it comes to events.)

Johnny is a dog person, but if you have pet cats. He'd end up spoiling the hell out of your cats. He'd also refer to them as yours and his kids.

[captain-mj]

Promise is a promise

CW: Infidelity, Soap is a bastard

Trying to breach out of my comfort zone, so here ya go! I'm not sure I handled the emotional part well, but I hope it'll suffice

Ghost had never been quite as happy as he was now. His team was supportive and understood his quirks. Work was going well as they hunted Makarov. And he and Soap had finally gotten together.

Ghost could admit, a big part of his good mood was that he had finally gotten laid. First time in... he gave up trying to count the years. Soap was great in bed. Both physically and making him feel comfortable knowing his... history.

But they went on dates and kissed and Soap called him his boyfriend several times. Ghost, in the dead of night cause he'd never have the nerve to do it in the light of day, had whispered that he loved Soap. Soap always whispered it back.

Right now, Price had caught Ghost to talk to him about Makarov. He listened, trying to take as much of the information in as he could, but he was still thinking about Johnny. His fingers itched to send him a message. Maybe they could sneak away together later? Ghost remembered Soap mentioning a movie he wanted to see. It wasn't something he'd be interested in, but Soap talked through every movie anyway so it wouldn't matter.

Price had stopped speaking, staring at him expectantly.

Ghost nodded and Price laughed at him. "Alright Simon. I'm glad you're doing better."

Ghost had no idea what he said yes to, but Price left him alone. Instead of sending a text, he grabbed some snacks from the canteen and just went to Soap's room.

Soap had mentioned that he liked spontaneity and Ghost felt this was a good place to start. He didn't even get to the door before he heard the grunting.

His face screwed up immediately, but Soap did share a room with Gaz. While he wasn't aware of Alex being at base, he couldn't be certain he wasn't in the area. He'd assume Alex would tell him immediately but... things happen.

Instead of barging in, he knocked quietly so that Gaz and Alex could get themselves decent before he barged in.

He heard Scottish cursing on the other side of the door along with scrambling. Ghost could feel his chest starting to crack. The pressure was building but he was naively, pathetically hoping, that he had misunderstood somehow.

Soap opened the door and had to look up. The pants he had haphazardly pulled on hung low on his hips and he hadn't managed to get a shirt on.

"Lieutenant!" He smiled, showing no shame over how Ghost had just found him. No discomfort. Since when did Johnny call him by his full title? Lt sometimes, maybe, but never Lieutenant.

The lad behind Soap did not show the same sentiment. He looked incredibly nervous. "Lieutenant."

Ghost stared at them both as Johnny slowly looked down at his hands where he still had whatever he could scrounge up from the canteen. Suddenly, he felt embarrassed coming to Soap's room like this. So embarrassed he felt nauseous over it. For a brief moment, he thought he was going to throw up all over Soap's bare fucking feet.

"Something wrong, Simon?"

"Don't fucking call me that, Sergeant." Ghost answered, voice so far away and cold it made Soap flinch.

"I know fraternization is looked down upon, but since when do you care about that rule?" Soap looked genuinely confused.

Ghost went through every moment in the past several weeks. Soap had referred to their nightly hangouts as dates like always. He had called Ghost all kinds of nicknames.

Had Ghost done something wrong? Must have. Simon Riley ruined something else.

Soap caught on. He always did. He looked at the other man and told him to get lost for right now. "We're alone now, do you want to talk?"

There were hickeys on his neck. That's what finally got everything through to Ghost.

"I thought we were together."

Soap frowned. "We are together."

Ghost felt like he was short-circuiting. "You just fucked someone else. What the actual fuck are you talking about? If we're together and you're acting like a fucking slag-"

Soap rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Simon. Forgot it's been a while since you dated. This is how modern relationships are. You should've asked me to be exclusive if that's what you wanted."

"I have to ask you to not cheat on me?"

"Woah, don't throw that word around."

Ghost dropped the food on the floor and shoved his finger into Soap's chest. "Why? That's what you did. You cheated on me. I trusted you."

Soap frowned. "Look, I'm sorry this hurt you. I'm used to people my age and rank. I should've known you would be a bit different."

Ghost felt like he'd been hit in the gut. He felt like an idiot. A lovesick fool. "Stay away from me, MacTavish."

Soap's demeanor changed, his face falling. "Wait, c'mon Simon."

"No. Don't you dare call me that. Clearly, I'm too fucking old fashioned. I missed something here. So, let me fix it. Don't talk to me. Don't come near me. Next time you want to get laid, call one of the other sergeants." Ghost barked at him.

"Oh, mo ghràdh." Soap tried to reach out and Ghost started to back.

Like a coward, he ran from him. He didn't go to his room, sure Soap would eventually go knocking. He also didn't want to deal with the disappointment if he didn't.

So he went to the only place he could in the base. Price's room.

Price didn't ask him anything. Didn't say a word. He just let Ghost sit on his couch and drink his whiskey and let him ruminate until Ghost felt sane. But unlike usual, Ghost did not feel sane the longer he thought.

"Something happen, Simon?"

"Ghost right now." He answered quietly. He felt displaced. Body shaken and wrong.

"Alright, Ghost. What happened? Trouble in paradise?"

"No. That's over."

Price nodded but Ghost could see his disappointment. He probably assumed Ghost fucked it up. Probably did. He just wasn't sure how yet. "I have some of your special cigars in my desk."

Ghost paused and looked over at him. "You're fucked, Captain. How did you even get a joint in here?"

"Eh, keep it in the desk in case you come walking into here."

Ghost nodded. "If Soap comes in here, don't let him know I'm here."

Price looked at him sadly. "I won't, Ghost."

So Ghost got as high as he could and thought over it all. His phone kept buzzing with Soap's messages. He went to check them and Price took it from his hands. "Mind if I read them?"

"No, sir. Soap will probably tell the whole base anyway."

Price frowned more and started reading through them. He eventually set the phone down. "Nothing in there you need to read, Simon. He's a right fucking bastard. Don't pay him any mind."

"It hurts." Ghost admitted. "First try in god knows how long. He said it was my fault. That this is how relationships are. Is that true?"

Price sighed. "I don't know. Been so long since I've had to date. Graves is old fashioned like me." He patted Ghost's shoulder. "Actually... I know you always turned me down before."

"I'm not sure I want to be set up on a date right now, Captain."

"Well, if you change your mind, I have a nice fella named Roach who I think you'd get along with swimmingly."

[wanderingwriter87]

okay but like. how often do they eat lunch together?

simple enough question. fanon suggests anything from once a week to every day. in the wire julian says they've been having lunch together "once a week for over a year now," but of course that's quite early in their friendship. it's not absurd to think they might have upped those rookie numbers at some point, but i assumed there wasn't really any canonical support for it - just a fun concept like the idea of them having movie nights or drinks in each other's quarters.

but!

okay okay this is all still speculative matpat level stuff. but indulge me! in this draft of the script for civil defense, there's a hilarious bit where Garak flirtatiously asks dax to have breakfast with him. offhandedly, he says "my lunch calendar is full."

obviously this is just a cheeky reference to the standing julian lunch date we all know about, but full? really? does he only take a lunch break once a week? is he having lunches with someone else? or do he and julian have more frequent lunch dates now?

okay fine whatever it's a cut line. but then im thinking about simulation!garak saying "lunch hasn't been the same without you." which. (okay bear with me, im going to be talking about their simulated "return to the station" in "the search" as if it's real because to Julian at his point it is, and the simulated Garak is saying what he thinks/wishes the real Garak would say to him when he comes back.)

"lunch hasn't been the same without you." not "lunch wasn't the same without you." the wording implies several missed lunches, right? so how long were they gone? when the jem'hadar attack the defiant, everyone is still getting acclimated to their cabins, bitching about the coffee, etc so they likely haven't been there a full day. cut to sisko saying it's been six days since the attack, then they "return" without much further passage of time implied.

your honor,,,, garashir lunches are happening multiple times per week. THIS IS REAL TO ME. the stakes have never been lower but i will die on this hill

[gaykarstaagforever]

1970

The Silver Age was coming to a close in 1970. But DC wasn't quite out of amazing ideas yet.

I'm not going to review this. There is nothing more to say than what this cover says. Superman turns into a giant stupid Superman for like 2 hours, wrecks a bunch of things, then it wears off. It is exactly as cool and entertaining as that sounds. They finally got one right, boys.

Here he is fighting a bunch of soldiers.

Here he is, doing the thing.

Here he is, using the tip of the Washington Monument that he broke off to write a giant message about how oops, he's sorry about all of this. ...Which seems like it kind of contradicts his point, since there were probably a hundred ways he could have written this message without destroying a national monument.

But we're not here to be nerds about writing, we're here to see this:

I'll tell you how he got out of this mess, because it is probably the most fantastic thing in this entire story. Maybe one of the most fantastic things Silver Age Superman ever did. And NO, it doesn't involve one of his stupid awful robot clones.

But first, you need some context. This is the very first panel of the story, after the splash page:

Now. If you're like me, you are immediately lost. Who is Titano, and why are these idiots talking about him in front of a King Kong movie poster?

Well. I don't know how to tell you this, but back in 1959, there was a Superman comic where NASA sent a monkey into Space, and it came back 50 feet tall with kryptonite laser eyes. It did a King Kong with Lois (of course), until Superman defeated it and whisked it away to a Planet of Giants he knew about.

You know that thing in comics, where they'll reference some old story only nerds will remember, and they'll put an asterisk and tell you what issue it was from so you know what the hell they're referring to? Yeah, no, they don't do that here. This panel is all you get. They just expected you to remember that 11 years ago, they did a story where Superman fought a giant monkey from Space.

Which, sure, is memorable, as far as these things go. But 1960s Superman fought all kinds of crazy things from Space! It seems a little presumptuous to assume anyone would remember this specific incident, after 11 years of growth rays and shrink rays and 5th dimensional pygmy wizards and that time Superman was fat. But here we are.

Yes this is relevant to the ending. As the bigness whatever is wearing off, Superman jogs out into the ocean to finish his shrinking. He then returns to Lois and Jimmy as Normal-Sized Clark Kent. This was during the era where Lois and Jimmy were finally both suspicious that maybe Clark was Superman, only because the two were never at the same place, at the same time.

And yes, even they knew about the damn robot clones by now, so they weren't going to fall for that sitcom nonsense.

So Clark, the perpetual liar that he is, has to make sure Lois and Jimmy don't point out how he was conveniently absent the entire time Superman was giant. Before they declare him Superman, he points out to them that while he is here with them now normal-sized, a giant in a Superman costume is still visible, running away through the ocean. See? He can't be Superman. Even if he looks exactly like him, in face and build, but with glasses.

So how does Superman callously deceive his two closest friends?

He flew real fast to the Giant Planet, abducted a confused and terrified Titano (remember him?), created a giant Superman costume and dressed the giant monkey in it, flew him back to Earth, and dropped him into the ocean in just the perfect way where Lois and Jimmy could see him in the Superman outfit, but not see he was in fact a giant monkey. The giant monkey they would both specifically recognize, because of the thing they went through with him before.

Don't worry about Titano though, if you were. Once this lunacy is over, Superman rips his clothes off and dumps him back on the Giant Planet.

...I appreciate that you're probably still trying to process all this. And best of luck with that. But before we end, we need to talk about this:

They buy Cracker Jacks at the movies. Jimmy's box has red kryptonite in it, and that is what makes Superman grow big and stupid, because, and I very nearly quote, red kryptonite makes weird stuff happen, and Clark was watching King Kong, so he was thinking about giant monkeys.

That is the ONLY explanation we get for any of this. No, they don't explain why red kryptonite was in a box of Cracker Jacks. Or why two panels of this comic are an obvious ad for Cracker Jacks, except the boxes don't look like real Cracker Jack boxes, and they always did that for ads, so this can't be one. Plus this isn't a separate page in the comic, this is just...how the story starts.

Was this a tie-in that fell through, last-minute? It has to be, right? LOOK at this. Why did they do this?

Also, King Kong is technically public domain, in the sense that you can print the name and show a giant monkey. But the movie rights are exclusive to Universal. And I don't know if that was true in 1970. So was this ALSO some kind of Universal King Kong tie-in? Again, it isn't a proper ad, it's just part of the story.

Though they very specifically only feature Titano in person in the comic, so maybe this WAS just a reference, and they were careful not to put actual Universal's King Kong in the story.

They just used their own ripoff of him from 11 years earlier. Where he was brown and looked more like a giant chimp. And now, here, he is a black gorilla, sort of. Like King Kong.

...There is a whole entire other feature in this issue, and I haven't even read it yet, because I have been thinking about this story for like a week.

I hope you understand why.

[therealvinelle]

what are the cullen’s hobbies? (not canon ones, things and activities you think they’d enjoy - even if being a vampire made it a little difficult or damn near impossible)

God, my eye is twitching with the desire to give them the weirdest hobbies imaginable.

The Cullens have an insane amount of money and time, and their powers (ultra-fine muscle control, amazing vision, etc.) means they will excel at a lot of hobbies.

The hobbies they are prevented from by their vampirism are things involving animals, professional sports (as you'll have to submit to drug tests and your health and fitness routine being monitored), close contact with people in general, food-based hobbies, and hobbies were humans are likely to bleed one way or another.

To say nothing of how niche a hobby community can get. Everyone knows everything about everyone, and that opens up for a level of scrutiny a vampire might not be prepared for.

So, let's assume these barriers aren't an issue for whatever reason. What do the Cullens do?

(I... admit I wasn't entirely able to resist that weird hobby urge.)

Alice might just find herself doing cat or dog shows. The level of perfectionism and effort that goes into preparing your pet (depending strongly on breed and fur quality, of course, some breeds require little if any preparation. The universal experience, though, is GROOOOOOOOOMMMM and if it’s dogs, then TRAIIIIINNNNN your dog) could very well appeal to her, and I imagine she'd develop her own coat products. Silicone powder, color-enhancing shampoo, volumizing spray, she's got her own line, to say nothing of the edge her gift would give her, as she would know which puppy or kitten to buy. (The "which cub am I choosing?!!" issue being a common one because when a puppy is 8 weeks old you simply do not know if it will grow up to be a hottie or not, and it’s not much easier with 12 week old kittens. This is a science.) Her pets win everything.

Carlisle, well, the trouble with this guy is his work is his hobby. And it's already one vampires are supposed to be unable to do. The man is a fluke. Carlisle's hobby is now to be able to contribute to medical research and reference patients from the 1820's without anybody asking questions.

Edward... god, all I can picture is some intensely esoteric craft, one that five people in the world can do and that creates something beautiful and meaningful. Making instruments, the rarer and more elaborate the better, is the name of the game, I think.

Emmett would love to compete. He's a vampire, he's going to win at everything anyway, he's incredible. He kicks the butts of seventeen-year-old humans who worked hard and makes them all cry because he just took their scholarships. He whoops, beats his chest. VICTORY!!

Esme, cooking competitions. She's winning them all. And, because anon said to remove the vampirism problems, she's not eating her competitors.

Jasper is into theatre. Not because he's particularly interested in it, oh no, he just likes to abuse his gift this way. With his gift he can make the other actors bomb their scenes, or make an untalented schmuck seem like the next Rex Harrison. He's in a movie club for the same reason. He made one guy laugh during Schindler's List. Just the one.

Renesmée, if finding the limitations of her hybridness lifted, becomes a freestyle diver. Who needs to breathe? Usually Renesmée, but not anymore!

Rosalie has her cars already, but she strikes me as a horse girl. Give the girl an unafraid horse, and the ability to compete without that being an issue, and our girl is on a Dutch Warmblood competing on a national level in dressage.

[mama-qwerty]

Okay, at the risk of being controversial, I have to address the discourse I'm seeing regarding the 'fat jokes' in the trailer description for the third movie. Because honestly, I really think it's being blown WAY out of proportion, mostly by people who are already on the fence/don't like the live action movies anyway.

First of all, we're hearing this third hand. Very few people have actually seen this footage, and what people are latching onto is the description of what happened that's floating around in Tumblr-land. We have no idea the connotation, or how it's actually being portrayed.

Secondly, one little line about Robotnik 'binging carbohydrates' (or whatever the actual line is) doesn't mean the whole film is going to be fatphobic and tossing out 'fat jokes' right and left. Claiming that Robotnik 'let himself go' refers more to his entire mindset, as I believe he's also let his hair and moustache grow long and unkempt as well. Dude's depressed, likely dealing with holdover injuries from his last battle with the boys, and is not all there in the sanity department. It's a fair line and doesn't necessarily have to mean "Wow, he got fat, what a loser."

Last, this line, as I understand it, was said by Robotnik himself. He and Stone are not exactly the pinnacle of sensitivity and understanding. So even if he/they say some things that may not be the most kind, consider the source. It's on par with their characters.

Honestly, I've seen so much shit being tossed around about 3 since this came out, and the announcement of Keanu as Shadow, it's really getting annoying. People seem to be ready to condemn the film before we even get a real trailer for it, and are making all sorts of connections and assumptions based on very flimsy 'evidence.'

How about we hold judgment until we have more to go on than some transcription of the very preliminary footage shown at Cinemacon? How about we wait to see if Keanu actually is the voice of Shadow? (The release of this information seemed so sudden and strange, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't true, especially since Keanu doesn't have social media to confirm or deny.)

I get that the movies aren't everyone's cup of tea. I respect that. But the low-grade panic and outrage I'm seeing because of these things is, in my humble opinion, misplaced. Let's not jump the gun and assume the worst based on a few things that may or may not be true, or may be taken out of context.

Everyone just calm the hell down, and we'll deal with things once we get more solid confirmation.

[turningsoft]

Richie Tozier & Will Byers Werewolf Metaphor Post

@pinkeoni's old What's up with all the werewolves? post and its further discussion made me think of a lot. Seriously, it's lengthy.

I wanna preface this by saying I don't actually believe everything is connected or intentional, as it would be a huge reach. However, it's rather interesting to draw connections even where there were intended none. Proceed at your own peril.

As we all know, the Duffers originally wanted to write Stephen King's IT remake. Naturally, we also know they took some inspiration from King's various work, so for me it was a really small leap from werewolf references in Stranger Things to Richie's werewolf in IT.

Richie Tozier Was A Teenage Werewolf

In the book, Richie goes to see a horror double-feature, which includes movies I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (both 1957). Let's read the excerpt from the novel.

The Teenage Frankenstein was suitably gross. The Teenage Werewolf was somehow scarier, though… perhaps because he also seemed a little sad. What had happened wasn't his own fault. There was this hypnotist who had fucked him up, but the only reason he'd been able to was that the kid who turned into the werewolf was full of anger and bad feelings. Richie found himself wondering if there were many people in the world hiding bad feelings like that. Henry Bowers was just overflowing with bad feelings, but he sure didn't bother hiding them.

Now, this quote contains a lot of information to suggest that Richie at least empathizes with the character, but we don't actually see him relating to Tony until Richie comes face to face with Pennywise — for the first time, or so he thinks. During this encounter, It takes the form of the Teenage Werewolf and chases Bill and Richie out of the house on Neibolt Street. His appearance is described in great detail and mostly doesn't contradict the original movie, except for the werewolf's silk jacket.

It was black with orange piping — the Derry High School colors.

And a bit further on:

It was the other thing that made him feel as if he might faint, or just give up and let it kill him. A name was stitched on the jacket in gold thread, the kind of thing you could get done down at Machen's for a buck if you wanted it. Stitched on the bloody left breast of the Werewolf's jacket, stained but readable, were the words RICHIE TOZIER.

In the movie it's Tony's signature jacket that allows others to recognize him in his werewolf form, so it only makes sense to assume Richie's scared because he's forced to recognize himself in the monster. The implications affect him so deeply that he considers giving up his own life.

Bad feelings

It provides a bit of insight into Richie's head and makes us question what exactly he considers “bad feelings” within himself, if not anger (he doesn't seem to be an angry person). Some speculate it has to do with growing up and becoming an unstable, hormonal teenager in the future. Others link it to his possible undiagnosed ADHD, self-hatred and the ever-present fear of being ostracized for his differences, both visible and not. Being a queer person in the 50's would also fit the narrative pretty well. For those who are interested, I strongly recommend reading expanded analysis on the matter here (werewolf as a symbol in IT), here (bisexuality viewed as “monstrous”) and here (Richie's fears explained).

Not his fault

Obviously, none of the aforementioned reasons justify putting such strong labels (monster, werewolf) on a literal child. Richie seems to understand he's not at fault for whatever makes him a target, but he also believes in a strong possibility someone can inflict this inhuman identity upon him. Despite already being bullied, he fears his situation can take a turn for the worse. And despite having a wonderful support system, he somehow knows it's not enough. If someone or something decides to “fuck him up” and exploit his vulnerable state, they will, so he cuts down on the amount of vulnerability. Heavily. I can't believe I'm still not talking about Will Byers.

Hiding stuff

As ironic as it sounds, Richie Tozier is canonically good at hiding. Other people find it difficult to make up their minds about his personality and actions — the most famous instance being, perhaps, this quote.

He had known Richie Tozier for four years, and he still didn't really understand what Richie was about.

Richie uses his Voices and “numbers” both as a shield and a weapon. He shows raw emotions only when he considers it absolutely safe. He takes “refuge in absurdity”. To reiterate @/jasperathrifteddoll's werewolf symbolism post, Richie 1) is confusing; 2) tells half-truths; 3) puts up facades; 4) “through his concealment of his inner thoughts to the reader, seems almost aware of his status as a book's narrator”.

All of Richie's fears are connected to or based on public perception. “But he knew well enough” has earned a meta post in and of itself.

Will Byers Has Werewolves In His Closet

So what's the meaning behind this werewolf costume in the Trick or Treat, Freak episode? Maybe it's a manifestation of one of Will's fears, or maybe there's no hidden message. After all, even if Stranger Things and IT are connected, I Was A Teenage Werewolf has nothing to do with ST… Unless we consider it left a huge legacy and inspired The Cramps to write a song of the same name — the one that introduced Eddie Munson to the audience in S04E01. Frankly speaking, I don't think this was an easter egg the writers were actively trying to include, but it doesn't take away from the parallel. It's still fun to compare Will and Richie, especially because on a surface level they're so unlike.

To execute Stephen King's werewolf metaphor, one would need:

a character with enough emotional baggage,

who is afraid of being perceived as a monster,

especially as a result of trusting an authority figure,

who breaks his trust and exploits his vulnerable state,

potentially making him dangerous in the process.

Let's see if Will ticks all the boxes.

Bad feelings

Will's otherness is easy to pick up on. It's either “being a sensitive artistic kid who grew up to be gay in the 80's” or “being a child who was abducted to a horrific dimension and is now attached to it”. Arguably, we don't even have to choose: these two plots are closely related and can become one through the AIDS metaphore. Not to mention the whole “growing up poor with an abusive and neglectful father” thing. Simply put, Will Byers has plenty reason to experience “bad feelings”. On a rare occasion, we can hear about his struggles firsthand.

Bad feelings = self-hatred

So far, Will has internalized a variety of epithets:

“Zombie Boy”

“Freak”

“Stupid”

“Mistake”

We can see each of them affect him to some extent.

In season 2, during multiple heart-to-hearts with Jonathan, Will expresses his desire for everyone to stop treating him different, like there's something wrong with him. Meaning, he himself doesn't think there's something wrong. He stubbornly insists: “Yeah, I am. I am [a freak],” but he's quick to be offended when Jonathan agrees. It reads as a defense tactic, not his own opinion. After all, when you pointedly address yourself in a hurtful fashion, shouldn't those words stop holding power over you?

When drawing the Zombie Boy, Will essentially tries to reclaim this identity in a way that's true to him — by using art. He doesn't want to passively accept the label, he wants to strip it of its negative connotations. But then again, when a kid deemed as dead comes back to life, it's a pretty dumb reason to bully him. Will probably knows it's dumb, so he fights back. His homosexuality, though, is a harder pill to swallow.

There's no denying he feels guilty for his attraction to Mike (well, boys, but Mike specifically). Guilty and other things as well, a mixture of shameful, jealous, hurt, confused and angry. In seasons 3 and 4 he learns that even the tiniest portions of his affection and his sincerest attempts at salvaging a friendship can be neglected or misconstrued. It cuts deeply.

Then there's, of course, the van scene. Will says he feels like a mistake sometimes. Not all the time, he clears up. Mike makes him feel better for being different, and yet Will cries after the speech, knowing full well his differences don't make his life any happier or simplier, or better.

Bad feelings = past trauma

Still, all of it pales in comparison to plain old trauma and its prolonged effects. This anon ask and @/heroesbyler's answer have summarized it better than I ever could. Here's a quote that I can't not mention:

His trauma is one of the most if not the most multifaceted in the entire story, and also he literally is the main character foil to the big villain. Saying that Will hates himself for being gay is such a gross oversimplification of what we see. It's haunting to know that people want to project a stereotypical situation to his nuanced one.

Additionally, there were theories that Will is a victim of CSA, and I'm not only referring to the ones about Vecna/MF/UD allegories (these I very much agree with) but those about full-on CSA by Lonnie. While I'm still on the fence about it, I acknowledge this is also a possibility.

To sum up, our boy Will has been through a lot. Emotional baggage? Check. Susceptibility to “monstrous” labels? Check.

Not his fault

Up until this point I was being ambiguous about whether my theory is applicable to S2 only or other seasons as well. I have to admit, right now the werewolf costume guy is no more than a little foreshadowing of the S2 plot. However, given the fact that S5 is promised to take inspiration from S2, some of its key elements or plot points may be reused, albeit probably in a different fashion. Additionally, new information might be revealed, meaning that the metaphore has potential to grow into something bigger in the future.

For now I'll focus on the S2 events mainly and compare them to I Was A Teenage Werewolf.

___

Movie: Tony Rivers embodies a typical delinquent from the 50's. He's a troubled rebellious teenager with anger issues. He exhibits such violent behavior that he's advised to seek psychological help.

IT: Richie doesn't fixate on the anger part and instead uses “bad feelings” wording to convey broader (or perhaps, entirely different) meaning. Ultimately, we're led to believe that it doesn't matter what character traits Tony possessed. What's more important is 1) he had psychological issues; 2) he was advised to seek out professional help.

ST: Will has a lot of unresolved trauma from his experience in the UD, which manifests in “bad feelings”, so-called flashbacks and coughing up demonic slugs. He's advised to undergo medical supervision/scientific surveillance at Hawkins Lab.

___

Movie: Dr. Alfred Brandon embodies the classic mad scientist archetype. He conducts experiments on people by using hypnosis and medication in unconventional ways and claims it's for a greater cause. He draws out Tony's traumatic childhood memories during their sessions. Brandon has an assistant, Dr. Hugo Wagner, who comes across as compassionate and humanistic.

ST: Dr. Martin Brenner is affiliated with multiple scientific projects that conduct experiments on people by using sensory deprivation, psychedelic drugs and various abuse/manipulation tactics. He, too, claims it's for a greater cause. Also works with traumatic childhood memories, e. g. the whole NINA project. If twelvegate is proven true in S5, these parallels will become positively unhinged. Brenner repeatedly works with Dr. Owens, who on the outside seems more sympathetic towards main heroes.

___

Movie: Tony finally accepts Dr. Brandon's help after a Halloween party gone wrong. He decides to trust everyone's opinion, goes through the procedure and ends up becoming “possessed by wolves” (= made into a werewolf).

ST: Will accepts the fact that he's spiraling and needs help on Halloween night. He decides to trust Dr. Owens, Joyce and Bob that his visions are just PTSD-related episodes. He follows Bob's advice and ends up possessed.

Ultimately, this is the moment when Will's trust is broken. Although it's definitely not Bob's or Joyce's fault, a collective authority figure represented by Hawkins Lab fails Will. It fucks him up big. And one can argue, Owens' incapacity to protect him wasn't a simple negligence but an extension of Brenner's politics. @/runninguplenorahills suggests the following:

If Owens knew about Brenner being alive and deliberately kept that information to himself (which he did), and if Owens knew about Henry and everything that happened (which seems to be the case too)……. Well….. doesn't that make Owens' inability to help and protect Will in s2 a deliberate choice?

Regardless, it isn't Will's own doing that turns him into someone dangerous — it's the Lab's fault.

___

Movie: Dr. Brandon and his assistant argue about the necessity of transforming Tony because it might be harmful or even fatal to him.

“But you're sacrificing a human life!” ”Do you cry over a guinea pig?”

ST: Dr. Owens argues with other scientists over attacking the UD vines/tunnels and potentially harming Will in the process.

“And if it kills the boy?” ”Then quite frankly, Sam, it kills him.”

___

Movie: In his werewolf state, Tony kills a bunch of his classmates, a random dog, Dr. Brandon and his assistant.

ST: While being possessed, Will leads the soldiers into a trap and gets them killed because they've upset the MF. Owens ends up injured, and Bob gets killed. We can view them all as Brenner's “assistants” to different extents.

All in all, I'd say the metaphor fits. But wait, there's more!

Hiding stuff

Once again referencing @/pinkeoni's posts, there's a long history of Will hiding his feelings. Fascinating how the conversation that basically establishes this trait of his, aka his exchange with Joyce, happens in S2 and specifically in relation to his not-actually-PTSD episodes. But the motive of hiding, be it in a literal or a figurative sense (as in hiding parts of himself), is integral to Will's character. It is continually present troughout seasons and is supported by in-show elements and costume design choices alike.

Billy Hargrove And Henry Bowers Are Overflowing

Parallels should be drawn between Henry and Billy, too. This section is small, but nonetheless I like it — it's a finishing touch to the story and a cherry to top it all off.

Richie completes his train of thought by contrasting Tony and Henry Bowers, accentuating how the latter “didn't bother hiding” his bad feelings, e. g. his anger, bigotry and violent outbursts. The same could be said about Billy. Both of them killed people under the influence (Flayed!Billy, Pennywise-inspired!Henry) and definitely were capable of assault regardless. For both of them a relationship with one's father seems to be an instigation of their descent into madness, although Billy hates Neil, whereas Henry appears to have a more complex, effectively love-hate attitude towards Oscar.

It's also noteable that Billy is a foil character to Will, who is mirroring him in many ways, while Henry and Patrick may be seen as foils to Richie and Eddie when it comes to handling “their same-sex attraction”. And by the way, if sexuaility and attraction is consired “bad feelings” within Will's mind, one particular part of this post becomes all the more relevant. To quote and paraphrase, “Billy wears his sexuality proud and openly”, yet Will's sexuality is suppressed — another case of hiding versus overflowing.

I'd love to TL;DR this post into something concise and coherent, but I fear I'd just end up repeating my points and wording. I'd rather say I have more thoughts on Richie and Will's similarities, so there's gonna be a short post about it sometime down the line. Thank you to anyone who decided that this was worth reading!

[crumbleclub]

ok ok. afton accent headcanons

William grew up with a northern English accent, but started faking a more posh one as a teenager bc he thought people would respond to it better when he was first learning about business and networking and things (classism yk yk). Some things stuck from his original accent, though; where somone from the American south might say hon, he'd say hen. He'll also refer to himself in the plural if he isn't paying much attention, which is a regional thing in some areas.

Early on in raising children, he'd correct their pronunciation to his preferred one pretty militantly, but he started to lose steam as the kids got older, and gave up entirely after Elizabeth's death (assuming we're not talking about a living au, which I totally need to do at some point). This influences the kids' accents.

Michael, being the oldest, sounds notably more British than American. Words that William would have the chance to correct him on would be that variant as well– torch, trainers, jumper, etc– but any slang that only became popular after William's move would be American, as well as anything that came about after William stopped caring and things that just wouldn't come up between them. Some of his pronunciation differs, though, and he watches so many movies that he'll occasionally sound extremely Californian out of nowhere.

Additional speech notes for Michael: speaks notably more casually than William, but is more soft-spoken in general. It's not strong, but he does have some vocal fry to his voice that William doesn't.

Elizabeth copies William's accent very closely and deliberately, without being told. This includes the little pieces of William's original accent that he can't mask. She's musically inclined as well, which makes it easier for her to mimic accents and voices in general, so she can copy most accents she's heard in her life. (She can also do pretty good impressions of her family members, though she does have to pitch her impression of William up)

Evan wasn't really instructed on any particular pronunciation, so his accent is... confusing, but a mix of what he's around. There's some British, some Utah (which has its own quirks outside of the general American western accent, as well as some notable dialect changes), some of whatever Mikey has going on with his accent, etc etc. In a universe where he lives, Evan sounds more American as he gets older.

[ww2yaoi]

I finished the Babe and Bill book. it felt like a really quick read and I am by no means a fast reader. it felt like I only read it for like 3 hours. anyways, here are my thoughts:

I definitely think the strength of this book is in its more humourous, anecdotal stories, given the transcribed oral format. you definitely see their personalities shine through, as well as their bond, and they're quite entertaining people

that being said I also think that because of the format, the book felt much more supplemental than something like Parachute Infantry. like I don't think you'd know very well what's going on if you hadn't read/seen BOB and they make a lot of references to "the movie"

It makes me wonder how much the show painted their memories of the events and dictated what was included in this book. having been written 60+ years after the war, you have to assume some of their recollection has faded. seeing something you went through depicted cinematically must really affect you. I would think it might subconsciously alter your memory of the events in some way, but who knows. always something to consider with memoirs written so long after the fact

because this is also a transcribed oral account it also felt less in-depth at times, I guess by virtue of Babe and Bill not really reflecting too much on certain topics either because of personal biases or just the pain of the memories. there is definitely some bizarre and uncomfortable things said in this book with no critical analysis because it's just their accounts straight from the mouth. like the way Bill talks about the Dutch women who collaborated with the Nazis. oh boy! and a story of a young German soldier who surrendered, was terrorized, then killed. and it's just like we're not going to talk about it. let's move on. it's a bit disturbing to see how normalized that violence is/was and how they honestly don't seem to regret it at all, which I understand. but it doesn't make it any less disturbing

I guess it's interesting to read between the lines and see the compartmentalization or at least the way war and killing is justified after the fact. I feel like the moral of the story is that they just did whatever they could to survive day-by-day, and there wasn't much time for philosophizing. you killed or you were killed

that being said, I guess because this book was much more straight forward and uncritical of everything I didn't get all that much out of it beside maybe a better understanding of Bill and Babe as people before and after the war. I liked the sillier annecdotes and certain details did stay with me, like how they used dead Germans to cover their foxholes in Bastogne or how they drank water with a dead guy's brains in it, but overall I was kinda just along for the ride. it's definitely not as well written as other war memoirs I've read like Parachute Infantry or With the Old Breed, but again, still an easy and enjoyable read as far as war memoirs can be enjoyable

[crossroadsghost]

fargo s5 details i have noticed on rewatch:

-munch's differences in body language/behavior/violence around men vs around women is so pronounced and tangible when you pay attention. even when he's supposed to be helping abduct dot, he hands the hammer off to donald instead of wielding it himself, and the only time in the rest of those scenes he ever touches her is when she's at the bottom of the stairs and he goes to pick her up. he kills the guard outside roy's house, but doesn't lay a finger on karen or the twins when he goes into their room. i can't actually think of any time he's violent towards women.

-munch's blood type is mentioned to be O negative, which is universal donor. fitting for a sin eater to have blood that can be exchanged to save anyone.

-sam spruell has such long eyelashes

-at the scene where ole munch is waiting at the gas station to kill gator's partner, the final lyrics of "this is halloween" to play are "i am the one hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red/i am the one hiding under your stairs, fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair." given the visual emphasis on ole's teeth and hands, i assume it's meant to be a comparison to him

-one of the street signs dot rearranges is named nylund circle. rose nylund from the golden girls is supposed to be from minnesota. whether it was intentional or not, it made me giggle.

-subtitles say ole munch's original name was bryn.

-the symbol on ole munch's chest during his ritual looks like the Peorð/ᛈ symbol from the elder futhark, a rune that has unknown meaning. the rest of the symbols shown are invented, so this could be a coincidence.

-"ring the door bell pretending to be trick or treaters and grab whoever answers" is literally how they catch santa in the nightmare before christmas movie. i'm still not sure what they were driving at with so many TNBC references in this season.

-there's gotta be a reason danish has one eye and lorraine's husband is named wink, but i don't know what that reason is.

-crack theory time: danish is wayne's real father. wink is so busy drinking and playing with models he would never notice. danish refers to wayne as slugger, and wayne refers to scotty as slugger, which implies something. it would also explain some of danish's emotional investment in the family and willingness to try to save dot with or without permission from lorraine--it's not only lorraine's feelings he cares about. and it's only after lorraine finds out that danish disappeared on the ranch that she decides to go full tilt against roy--she wasn't willing to go that far for dot, but she is for danish? maybe this isn't a crack theory at all actually.

-donald trump in the chat on roy's livestream lmao

-it feels like the dugout is meant to be a metaphor for . . . violence? trauma? manhood, patriarchy? okay i'm not exactly sure, but it's where munch performs the ritual, where witt dies, where gator has to pass through to get home and injures himself as he goes, it's where roy escapes to and says, "my destiny is at the other end of that tunnel." there's some significance to it.

-i don't adhere to the theory that the ending is a dream/delusion/afterlife/whatever, but if it is, i think it starts in the moment when the fbi rolls up on dot as she's about to kill roy, not in the backseat of the fbi vehicle. IF i supported this theory i would say they shot dot and killed her because she was holding the gun, and everything after is unreal. but i don't really support that theory to begin with, so eh.

-lorraine occupies the same metaphorical-and-literal narrative space as munch, of being a device of debts paid and owed, of use and abuse through the concept of debt, but she exists at the other end of the scale. she represents the eternal "ruling class" in both a literal and metaphorical sense, just as munch represents an eternal "oppressed class" in both a literal and metaphorical sense; he is forced to take on the debts of others because he's powerless, lorraine claims the debts of others to be empowered by them. i don't think we're meant to see her as a redeemed girlboss; she's supposed to be an implacable force of nature, and sometimes awful people like roy get swept up in that tide too, but that doesn't mean she's on anyone's side but her own. it's just that now she sees dot as "belonging" to her, and she protects what belongs to her.

-when they're praying at the dinner table and the prayer ends munch does not let go of dot's hand; she has to pull her hand away from his. thisisfine.jpg

-a charting of ole munch's life: we know he was born in wales, but uses a scandinavian name and mentions crossing the sea in longboats. vikings did know how to travel by water from scandinavia to greenland to canada, but they had basically stopped doing this completely by the 1500s; idk if we're meant to believe ole hitched a ride on an ill fated expedition or what, but technically they did know how to get there, they just had given up on attempting to colonize it, so the timeline is a little wonky there. regardless of that, the indigenous groups he mentions are the cree, arapaho and tonkawa, which were primarily in canada, colorado, and oklahoma, respectively. judging by this, he left wales and traveled north to adopt a new identity in scandinavia (sin eaters were treated as pariahs in their communities, so that's presumably why he left), then at some point sailed across to canada, then traveled west across canada, then south through colorado, then on to oklahoma. the tonkawa were forced south into texas in the 1700s, but then were relocated back to oklahoma later; during the civil war they were heavily massacred, so it could be that is what he's referring to when he talks about "the cannons and the muskets," but the timeline on when he actually lived with them is wobbly too. it's all kinda vague and the timeline is a little weird but not unfeasible.

-all throughout the final scenes, ole refuses to eat or drink anything the lyons give him- he doesn't actually drink either the orange soda or the beer wayne gives him, and when he's describing the "sins of the rich," he pushes his untouched plate of chili away without tasting it. like maybe he's convinced this is all a big trick; that the last time people brought him into their home and gave him a plate of food, it condemned him. ergo, the biscuit is more than just a gesture of forgiveness from dot; for him, taking a bite was also a gesture of trust in her. ow oof my heart.

[zoobus]

Alec Baldwin, huh.

(in reference to my tags on this post)

I don't agree with the sentiment, I'm just SAYING if you write media analysis like this, you're a moron:

For those of you who can't watch videos, it's the famous speech Alec Baldwin gives in the cinematic masterpiece Glengarry Glenn Ross. Baldwin's character -- whom you assume is the villain -- addresses a room full of dudes and tears them a new asshole As smarter people have pointed out, the genius of that speech is that half of the people who watch it think that the point of the scene is "Wow, what must it be like to have such an asshole boss?" and the other half think, "Fuck yes, let's go out and sell some goddamned real estate!"

Or, as the Last Psychiatrist blog put it: "If you were in that room, some of you would understand this as a work, but feed off the energy of the message anyway, 'this guy is awesome!'; while some of you would take it personally, this guy is a jerk, you have no right to talk to me like that, or -- the standard maneuver when narcissism is confronted with a greater power -- quietly seethe and fantasize about finding information that will out him as a hypocrite.

Here are some quick indicators you can disregard someone's media opinions, whether you've seen whatever they're describing or not

They tell YOU what you'll assume about a character

They tell YOU what the "correct" read of a character is

They think there's two primary reads of the story and they flatten down to "my interpretation is smart and says something good about myself, all other interpretations are superficial and evidence of a pathetic lack of self-awareness"

They talk about award-winning, complex media like a storybook for small children. This guy is actually the villain! This guy is actually the hero!

They're so so so certain that they know exactly how everyone else interpreted the movie

Take American Psycho - when I finally watched it, I *did* find takes I disagreed with, and I *did* find takes that I felt misunderstood certain characters. But very few, if any, disagreements were due to the other person's perception of characters as purely heroic or otherwise. I found takes that I didn't object to exactly, but came from viewpoints I felt too ignorant to fully grasp or comment on. I found gaps in my own understanding, gaps I don't think I'm capable of filling (I don't get music, sorry).

It wasn't 50% dudebros who wished they were/wanted to suck off Patrick Bateman and 50% wise women smartly explaining why the racist misogynist is in fact a bad person. The most annoying, shallowest takes I've found I'm most hostile to are those "you aren't patrick bateman, you don't even wash your face/teen girls with a skincare routine understand American psycho more than any dudebro could" memes. The take with actual effort that I bristled at the most was an essay that seemed oblivious to how severe homophobia was in the 80s.

I haven't watched Glen Glennie Ross, I'm just saying this guy's read of it lends me to believe he's not a reliable source.

[rainbowsky]

Ok I am the turtle who asked about the breakup cpn, with the kadien and things. I have been told that is rude and hurtful and im sorry Mr Rbs, I do not want to cause you stress. I follow cuz I am autistic and I like that you are too but autistics still rub each others fur the wrong way sometimes just like anybody so im sorry if I did that. Have a great day and stay healthy and may YiZhan stay happily married and one day get to safely come out if they want!

...

I don't even know what to say to this.

Who told you that it was 'rude' and 'hurtful'? It certainly wasn't me. I don't have a problem with people asking me honest questions that are in good faith. I answer all kinds of asks, regardless of my reaction to them.

I'm sure whoever said that to you meant well, but I don't want anyone putting words in my mouth. Whatever they said to you, that was their own perspective.

As for your ask, it actually did annoy me a bit, but not because there was anything rude or hurtful about it. I was annoyed because it contained things that are long-standing sources of annoyance for me (which isn't your fault).

First of all, you said "I know you don't believe kadian" which - honestly I've heard people say this before and I find it frustrating. I literally have a whole post that is prominently placed on my masterlist post, where I state pretty clearly that kadian is real. So when people say things like this it feels like they aren't paying any attention and are just making assumptions about me, or else they have poor reading comprehension.

I'm going to be really clear about this:

Being skeptical is not the same thing as being dismissive.

I am skeptical about a lot of candy and CPN, but that doesn't mean I don't buy candy and CPN. It just means that the candy and CPN I do buy is stuff I genuinely believe in - not because it's cute or makes me feel good (nothing wrong with that, but it's not what gets me excited), but rather because I've evaluated it and I feel (based on my own criteria) that it's well substantiated and real.

Contrary to another popular myth about me that also frustrates me (the ridiculous idea that I don't buy CPN and candy) - a huge percentage of my blog is devoted to CPN and candy, and in fact I think CPN and candy are pretty critical to turtledom.

I say this all the time and I hope it will sink in: it's never wise to paint with too broad a brush. Nuance, people. Not everything is black and white. Most things are grey. Just because I seem like a doubter on a lot of things, doesn't mean I don't have my own CPN, and doesn't mean I don't hold a lot of candy close to my heart, much of which I think is important and unwashable.

It seems like some people see a personality trait in someone and then try to extrapolate it across everything about them. Not only is it inaccurate, frankly it betrays a certain level of intellectual laziness. "Oh, here's the funny guy, everything's a joke to him." "Oh, here's the serious guy, he has no sense of humor." "Oh, here's the cutesy girl, she won't like this scary movie."

People are complex and often contradictory creatures. We shouldn't assume we have a read on someone just because we've picked up on a few of their character traits.

As for kadian - in my post about kadian I went to some pains to show that kadian is real, so I don't get why there's anyone out there who would think I don't 'believe' in it. In reality I think people who don't 'believe' in kadian as a concept are uninformed and out of touch. 'Not believing' in kadian would be like 'not believing' in slang acronyms like LOL and OMG.

Back to that 'broad brush' thing I just said - just because kadian is real, that doesn't mean a particular perceived kadian is real and intentionally placed. These things have to be examined in context in order to be properly evaluated.

You can refer back to my kadian post for all that.

On to the other, bigger reason your ask frustrated me.

Just Say No To The Turtle Binary

Your ask was about a 'kadian' you thought you saw in DD's post about being sick, and you felt it was evidence of a breakup.

Without realizing it, you stepped into something that bugs me about the fandom.

If you've been following me for any amount of time at all, you will know that one of my absolute pet peeves in this fandom is when turtles take everything GG and DD say or do as being deeply significant to their relationship. As I've said before -

👉🏻 almost nothing from or about GG or DD will actually be a candy. 👈🏻

I think the key to respecting and honoring their humanity is to love them as individuals first and foremost, and as a couple second. When we fixate entirely on their relationship we end up accidentally dehumanizing them and failing to recognize, respect and celebrate their individual achievements.

There are a lot of turtles in this fandom who take every single thing GG and DD do as either proof they are together, or else proof they are not together. And frankly, that doesn't make any rational sense.

If you've ever been in a long term relationship - or a relationship of any kind, whether family or friends - you should already know that almost nothing in our daily lives is about that relationship. Our day-to-day lives tend to revolve around work, school, hobbies and interests, other social interests and obligations. Almost nothing we do in our day to day lives is about any one particular relationship.

Just look at my own blog here. How often do I mention my partner? Almost never. But we've been married for years, and he's the most important person in my life. Why don't I mention him more? Because my life doesn't revolve around him.

GG and DD are no different. They are real, non-fictional human beings with busy lives and successful careers, and they have a ton of obligations and focuses and pursuits in their daily lives. Almost none of it is about each other. Why, then, would people be so ready to think that every post, every gesture, every clothing option, every decision, every goal is about each other?

Not only is that absurd just on the face of it, it's also absurd when you consider that the vast majority of things that ARE related to their relationship will never be made public for you and I to see.

Their lives are almost entirely focused on their careers. They work hard, they have packed schedules. They no doubt spend a lot of time connected to each other behind the scenes, via texts, video chat, etc. but most of their time will be taken up with their work, and with meetings and discussions with various handlers and brands and management and other career-related contacts.

It's going to be rare for us to catch a glimpse of something related to each other, because such things are going to be rare in their daily lives and in most cases shared privately.

So I am deeply dismayed when DD can't even call in sick without people assuming a break-up. It's not right. My god, let the man be sick for a day.

When it comes to kadian we need to remember that the context is actually more important than the numbers. What is the likelihood that any particular message is about something to do with their relationship? What is the likelihood that something important is going to be discussed or disclosed in that particular venue or format? What is the likelihood that GG and DD are going to send out key messages about their personal and private relationship in the timing of a Head and Shoulders ad?

DD is in the middle of promoting his new film, which - at the time - was just days away from being released. Can you honestly believe for one hot second that he's going to pick that time - of all the times in the world - to dicker around with cryptic, deeply consequential messages about his relationship? Consider his priorities, here. Consider the context and venue.

And have some empathy for the sick guy who was just trying to quell rumors that were flying about him.

When we evaluate anything they are saying or doing, we should be kind and empathetic about it, and on their side.

There were a lot of anti messages going around when he called in sick that day. People had all sorts of nasty theories about why he called in sick, including a theory that he was trying to generate sympathy to boost ticket sales.

Imagine that. Imagine if calling in sick to work made that big of an impact on your life and reputation? NO PRESSURE.

Like, woah. No wonder the guy never takes any time off anymore. No wonder he pushes through when he's got a sprained ankle or is practically falling over from exhaustion. The man can't take a day off without all hell breaking loose.

I expect that kind of thing from antis, but not from turtles. It's very disappointing.

A final note:

Another important thing I want people to fully understand and accept:

My failure to answer an ask is no commentary whatsoever on what I thought about that ask or about that person.

Anyone who has been following me for any amount of time at all should know that. I answer as many asks that annoy me as I do ones that make me laugh, smile or reflect.

In reality, if I don't answer your ask it's 99.9% of the time for one of these reasons:

I don't have time - I've been incredibly busy lately and have had very little time on Tumblr. Most of that time is spent scrambling to keep up with the content GG and DD and turtles have been releasing/discussing. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is pretty much always the reason I haven't answered an ask.

It's something I have already thoroughly covered, which can be found easily by doing even the barest search of my blog or browsing through my masterlist post. Given how little time I have for Tumblr, I'm not likely to spend much of it repeating myself.

It's a complicated question that will take a lot of time to answer, so the question ended up in my drafts folder as I pick away at it over weeks and months. My drafts folder is almost as backlogged as my inbox.

IT WAS NOT A QUESTION. I get quite a few of these. I've said this many times - my inbox is for questions.

Of course, anti BS, hate asks, etc. don't see the light of day, either, but that goes without saying.

If you've asked a question in good faith and it's not been answered, it's for one of the top 3 reasons on the list.

So, Anon, I found your ask frustrating, but I didn't find it 'rude' or 'hurtful'. And even though I found it frustrating, I didn't hold it against you because I know that approach is common among turtles. It's just a fairly standard part of the fandom that - while frustrating - I've more or less accepted as 'the way things are'.

So, no hard feelings. You didn't do anything wrong AFAIAC. I think you might want to do a bit more critical thinking than seems evident based on what you sent me, but you weren't rude or hurtful.

And to be clear, Anon: most of what I'm saying in this post isn't aimed at you. Like I said, I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about a couple of things, and you were unfortunate enough to accidentally stumble across it. I definitely don't hold anything against you.

[bigshotexpress]

overthinking what the time frame of Hillbilly's story was

so there's some dates given in various points in map descriptions, but these are largely non-canon (using the wrong names for the Thompsons, for instance, calling them Adams instead.) So what do we actually have outside of that?

Max watches a show with Superman in it on TV. The earliest superman show was 1952. Max also references a kid named Beaver, which is presumably referencing a 1957 sitcom "Leave it to Beaver."

However. Max ALSO makes a reference after bashing a cop's head in, "The deputy seems lost and confused... like a mindless zombie on TV." The first major zombie film was, of course, Night of the Living Dead, 1968, but they aren't ever CALLED zombies in that film and Max wouldn't have been able to pick up the term from people talking about the film because, well, you know, he wasn't able to converse with people. The next nearest date is the movie's sequel, Dawn of the Dead, 1978, which DOES use the term zombie.

So, earliest date is 1952, latest that's PROVABLE is 1978. That's a time frame of 26 years.

If you wanted to however, you could push the starting date further forward by assuming Max watched the animated superman tv show which aired 1966-1970 and saw Leave it to Beaver during its last airing year of 1963, which would instead give you the start date of 1963 to 1978, a time frame of 15 years.

Though of course, that last date is the earliest he could've learned the word zombie, not the end date for when he gets taken by the Entity, and the time frame only accounts for when he was of age to be watching the TV; presumably he wasn't given it until he was at least a few years old and able to use it/remember what he saw.

Though to be fair, the Dawn of the Dead date is kinda fudged, since while it was released in cinemas in 1978, I can't find any information about if it ever aired on TV around the time, which would've been the only way Max would've seen it. There were also earlier films that used the term, but not earlier TV shows, and it was Night of the Living Dead that popularized zombies in America, so its reasonably likely to me that at least whatever Max saw that made reference to zombies would've been after that film came out, so after 1968 at minimum.

The earliest actual TV show I found that was (at least primarily) about zombies was Monsters, 1988-1991, so you could use that as the latest date if you'd rather, which then instead gives a time frame of 28 years if you use the latest start date (1963) or 39 years if you use the earliest possible start date (1952.)

I think accounting for the years before Max would've gotten the TV and the potential for years after learning the word zombie, that time frame's a bit too long because I'm not sure I think he's that old, but that's just my opinion.

I'm not sure what the point of all this rambling was I just thought it was interesting. If you go with the latest 'End' date that would mean its very likely Max was around when the first Resident Evil game came out btw (1996).

[major-fukkup]

OK I'll bite. First thing to note is that in this post "my mom" and "my family" refers to my biological mother and family, whom I lived with until age 20. I'm in a much better, more stable situation now and have found a family who actually loves and respects me. Anyway, here's my homeschool story.

I was homeschooled my entire life, never even set foot into a public school until I was 22 or 23 (dropping off and picking up a roommate's child), and I've only known a total of three other homeschool families personally. One was in our neighborhood when I was a child, and the other two I met online in groups that had absolutely nothing to do with homeschooling, we just became close and opened up to each other over time about it (my mom only knew about the one, since I was 11 and didn't have a way to keep any secrets, not to mention was naive enough to still hope I could make things work out if I played my cards right; and the other one I was 19 and knew enough by then not to tell her shit).

When my older siblings were younger (before I was school age), they, along with my mom, participated in a homeschool group where they had meetings and events with other families and could get involved in whatever local things were going on and make friends, whereas, I never had that. We had completely stopped associating with anyone else by the time I started school, and it was like everything about our life and family was a secret from everybody.

I was never allowed to have friends (I was allowed to play with the neighbors' kids but ONLY if they invited ME, and only in our front yard or on bikes on our little dead end street; I wasn't allowed to invite them in, go to their houses or yards, or call them my friends; and any time I asked my mom for permission to do anything other than bike or play in the yard she would yell at me), go anywhere without an older sibling or my mom (she was a single parent), or go anywhere with the family during school hours "because someone might think it's suspicious that I'm not in school right now". I was also forbidden to talk about the things we did at home - the movies and shows we watched (they were few), games and activities, everything.

I have autism, ADHD, depression, and a whole list of other things that went undiagnosed for years because I wasn't allowed to go to any doctors except the optometrist (I've had to wear glasses since I was a baby).

My mom is an anti-vaxxer so I always just assumed I was unvaccinated until I was 17 and I overheard her talking to my brother about it so since she had never told me I just straight-up asked. "So, am I vaccinated or not?" She said yes, but that she's regretted it ever since. She says that she had to so that I wouldn't be taken by the Department of Social Services. I'm told we were under investigation for about two years around when I was born, which could account for some of her behavior and paranoia and never wanting to let me out of her sight, despite giving my siblings more freedom even when they were my age or younger, but on the other hand, seeing what I have in more recent years, it's more likely in my opinion that her behavior is what got us under investigation. She always just said it had to do with "false accusations" my sister made (I've been wondering for years now how false they were, if that part is even true at all).

Usually she insisted that neurodivergence (she didn't know that word) and mental disorders like depression, OCD, schizophrenia, the list goes on, were all fake. However, sometimes, she would say that they (specifically ADHD and autism), were caused by vaccinations and that's why they were so "popular nowadays".

A few years ago I read that there were studies associating autism in children with lead poisoning - a condition she told me I was diagnosed with as a baby right before (or after, I don't remember) telling me that the doctor was "lying to get her to pay more money" because apparently there's NO WAY there could be anything "wrong" with one of HER children. (Just a note: it hasn't been proven that there's a connection and I'm pretty sure autism has almost always existed, we just didn't always have words for it and scientific explanations for our brains working differently from each other.)

I have a theory, also unproven, that I WAS diagnosed with autism as a child and that she withheld this information from me in hopes that I could grow up to be "normal". But unless I can get access to all my medical records from back then, I'll never know, and most of the doctors she must have dealt with who might recognize my name have probably retired by now (it's been about 20 years and I know for a fact that my optometrist from around that time retired, so it's not unlikely that others did too; I have no recollection of any of them and I don't know any names to look them up).

But I was never her version of normal. I was always doing something "wrong", despite following her instructions to the letter. Never good enough, no matter what I did. I was a failure. I always just thought there must have been something wrong with me, that I just wasn't trying hard enough and that I could earn her love one day for sure. To put it in perspective, I started contemplating suicide when I was 7 and it's just been in my mind ever since. The belief that everyone would be better off if I was dead. Foreground or background, it's always there. I've lost count of how many times I've attempted, and I've all but given up on it because this many failed attempts either means I really am that much of a failure, or that it was never meant to be.

ANYWAY, back to the actual SCHOOLING part of this guaranteedly-too-long-already post about... homeschooling.

I swear all that was at least partially related.

I didn't have help. I had books. I would sit at my desk and read words I couldn't understand to try to help me figure out work I didn't know how to do.

The only "help" I got was in the form of screaming. I don't know which I heard more, "IT'S NOT THAT HARD" or "I DON'T GET WHAT YOU DON'T GET".

Fortunately in sixth grade, she stopped checking my work entirely. I graded my own tests against the answer sheets, but I made sure to do well for fear of the one time I slack being the one time she would actually check. Any time she was out of the room (which was pretty frequently now that I think about it), I'd just cheat off the answer sheets. And if she did come into the room, I'd waste time pretending to do the work until she left again.

All my siblings had actual graduation parties, with gifts, and family, and they were even allowed to invite friends (my mom failed to take into consideration that she never allowed us to have any). Their graduations were made into a big deal. Celebrated. Mine was just another day. Nobody cared.

All of these things have had a major impact on my whole life, namely, I learned not to share my opinions and feelings with anybody because they might take advantage of me or hurt me, like my family did; I find it almost impossible to make friends and therefore feel like I have to suffer alone forever; I don't know how to talk to people even if I consider them close to me; I don't know how to do basic self-care and hygienic care; and I have absolutely no plans or hope for my future.

What other people my age apparently learned in school was how to do math, how to use proper grammar, where countries and cities are in the world, how to cook, what career they would be best suited for, and how to be self-sufficient while still being able to lean on others when necessary.

What I learned in school was how to cheat the system, how to lie and hide everything and not get caught, how to take care of myself and not depend on anyone for any reason at any time, how to mask my emotions, that it's wrong to have an opinion, not to trust anybody, how to make anything worth eating in the microwave, and, above all, that I am a piece of shit that no one could ever come to love even in my wildest dreams.

Almost certainly more useful information (with exception to the last one), but not exactly the way I wished for a long time that I could have learned all those things.

I am aware that I really went on a tangent here, but that's why I elected to make my own post in stead of tacking my story onto someone else's.

That said, I genuinely don't think there's anything wrong with homeschooling. I think that some parents just really suck at raising their kids to live in this world. Or maybe just kinda suck in general.

I think that there are right ways and wrong ways to homeschool. I think that my mom went about it in a wrong way, but I'm not even entirely sure what I would have wanted her to do differently. I guess treating me like a fellow human being instead of a failed experiment would have been a good start. Or at least treating me as if I was equal to my siblings, despite being the youngest.

But maybe she was right. I haven't done any good for anyone. At least, not that they will tell you. I'm not loved, valued, or appreciated, or at least, not by very many people and am rarely treated like it. I haven't done anything with my life. Nothing notable. I don't suspect I will be remembered when I'm gone. I think my name will be forgotten within a year. But I think I'll live on in the memories of the few and far between who will speak now and then of this one person who was just... different. But they can't quite remember how.

Maybe she was right when she said she wished I had never been born. I wished that too, and I told her so.

Maybe she was right, I can't live without her. But I've been doing better on my own over the last four years than I ever was during the 20 I spent chained to her. She said I could never go across the country to meet my best friend, but look at me now.

She was wrong about that... I wonder what else she could be wrong about?

[morallygreyvigilante67]

thoughts on wyler?

Before I get into this, I'd like to say that people can ship what they want. This is purely my opinion on the ship based on what we've seen in canon.

Objectively, I don't see it happening.

A few arguments I see people bring up regarding the possibility of the ship happening mostly boil down to:

Wednesday (or the Addams family as a whole) likes murder

The Addams family have also killed people

Tyler actually liked Wednesday

Tyler was manipulated/it was the Hyde

So, lets go over these individually.

Wednesday (or the Addams family as a whole) likes murder

On a surface level that might seem true, however it's always felt like the family as a whole are more interested in the motive behind the murder as opposed to the killing itself.

Tyler didn't really seem to have any motives of his own besides carrying out Thornhill's orders. On his part, the killings were senseless.

Now, while all this is - admittedly - open to interpretation, the Addams family are shown to react very differently when the person being targeted is one of their own. They do not like it when someone in their family is in danger, and Wednesday was very much in danger.

And even if she wasn't one of his targets, Tyler was still killing people to help Thornhill resurrect Crackstone to commit mass genocide against the Outcasts, a group which Wednesday and her family are very much a part of.

I see a few people bring up the relationship between Fester and Debbie from the 90s movies in support of Wyler, but both cases are very different.

For one thing, Fester and Debbie were married. How is this important?

The Addams family are immune to a lot of things that should reasonably kill them and it's impossible for an Addams to kill another Addams (no, I'm not making that up) hence the fact they practice their more macabre hobbies on each other (but no one else). It didn't matter how many times Debbie tried to kill Fester, because at that point she'd never be able to.

Fester was in no real danger. Wednesday dying was a very real possibility.

Also consider how Wednesday reacted when she suspected Xavier was the killer, and then when she found out it was Tyler.

When she thought it was Xavier she was quick to get him arrested, and she didn't really show him much sympathy for - what she assumed to be - his actions.

When she found out it was Tyler, she was quick to capture him and then tried to torture him in an attempt to get him to admit to it. I highly doubt that was done with the same sentiment as the family hobby.

A few people like to reference her "I guess I have a type" line, but considering she was running away from him, the line comes across more sarcastic as opposed to a genuine statement.

The Addams family have also killed people

I'm not going to pretend that they haven't. But pretty much everyone killed by the Addams family was a person who had targeted them first.

I see people bring up the piranha scene at the start of the series in support of this argument, but Wednesday only did it because of what happened to her brother.

Was it an overreaction? Yes, I'm not trying to say that her actions were completely justified. But the fact of the matter is, she wouldn't have done it if her brother hadn't been targeted first.

Tyler actually liked Wednesday

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I can't claim that everything he did was just in the name of manipulating her.

But, regardless of whatever genuine feelings he might have had. It doesn't change that - from Wednesday's perspective - that's what he was doing. As far as she's probably aware, he was just doing it to manipulate her.

Tyler was manipulated/it was the Hyde

I'm not going to deny that he wasn't, but the fact of the matter is, he still killed people. "He was manipulated" is not a get out of jail free card, if this was a real court case, he would still receive some form of punishment for his actions.

Actions which included:

Attacking Eugene (someone who reminds Wednesday of her brother)

Attacking Enid (One of the few people Wednesday has been shown to care about)

Setting up a "date" as a distraction to allow Thornhill to steal the book and also almost resulted in Thing's death (Wednesday's family)

Granted, the "it was the Hyde" argument could be applied to what happened to Eugene. But considering he didn't seem at all remorseful for what he did when he was talking about it in the police station, I doubt it. And considering the fight with Enid happened afterwards (and he was also trying to kill Wednesday before that happened) it doesn't really apply there either.

And the "it was the Hyde" argument definitely can't be applied to what happened to Thing (a reminder that Wednesday actually cried because of this incident).

Wednesday released piranhas on the boys who shoved her brother in a locker. And people really think she'd just forgive Tyler for attacking three people who she cares about, one of which is a member of her family. Unlikely.

[simwoman2002]

To balance things, if you want I've got questions for you too :)

Some of your favourite series (shows/movies/books, whatever works better for you)

Favourite animal + if you could, which one would you like to be

Looking back in time, are there important things to you that you wish you had done differently? (You don't have to say what exactly, just how it made you feel realizing that, if it changed with time, or anything else you want) (yes, getting all philosophical and introspective today, sorry about that)

If something's been stressing you, I hope things will get better and that everything will eventually work out <3

Ooh, thank you so much for the questions! 🥰💖

I'll just stick with TV shows and series since movies and books are really hard to pinpoint all of them 😂🤣 Some of my favorites would be Girl Meets World, Secrets of Sulphur Springs, Hawkeye, and Moon Knight. I recently finished watching Moon Knight and it completely destroyed me 😭😭😭

My favorite animal in terms of pets would no doubt be a dog, but as far as wild animals, it'd probably be a wolf. And in that vein, you could probably assume that I'd like to be a wolf 🤣 I know that seriously sounds like such a Twilight reference or something, but I promise that is not the case. I'm one of the few people in the world that has never seen it, and what little I've seen, I wasn't overly impressed to be entirely honest 😅😬 No hate to anyone that likes it, it's just not my thing. But back to the question! I would like to be a wolf because of how beautifully majestic they are and how they just form together and have such a beautiful family unit.

Yes. 100% yes. There are quite a few things in my life that I wish I would have done differently at the time. Like a lot of times I wish I would have handled things with more maturity or with more patience. A lot of the things I regret are from my early to mid teens, and most of the time I have to try to find solace and peace in the fact that I was a different person then and that I have had many experiences that have helped me grow since then. I guess part of growing up and part of life is being that less patient, more immature person, because nobody's perfect. Which is a difficult thing for me to accept sometimes as a hardcore perfectionist and as someone who has been told in the past that she's extremely hard on herself, lol 😅

Thank you so much for the well wishes 🥺💖 Things are getting a lot better, and I'm trying to get things done so that I can have some free time next week to write and relax a little 💗

I'll try to send you some questions very soon! 🥰 I have a hard time thinking of questions that I think will work because I always worry about making people uncomfortable for some reason 😂