#i just have way to many thoughts about nostalgia culture

[nostalgic-soda]

You guys ever think about how modern media companies are so simultaneously obsessed with childhood but also seem to not truly respect childhood? Like modern media is so nostalgia obsessed and it results in a constant never ending stream of shitty “dark and mature” reboots that are constantly shit on yet continue to exist. Craig McCracken literally confirmed he only is going back to his old IPs because studios rejected all his new ideas. But these studios never wanna see the properties as they actually were. They twist and morph these characters into unrecognizable shells with the same names and throw a bunch of violence and adult shit into the story to make it more “mature” but a lot of the times these properties already tackled actually mature themes. Shit like the powerpuff girls cw leaked script feels almost comical in how much it twists this beloved IP. But why does this keep happening? Because society. I’m being serious. Society presents the idea that adults need to grow up and put their childhoods behind them. That they can’t enjoy childish things anymore. That they have to be adults and therefore focus on work. It doesn’t matter if childhood things bring comfort, the “real world”, aka the adult world sucks and that’s what adults have to conform to. But it’s not that simple because nostalgia is a powerful emotion. So these adult reboots exist to serve as a compromise for adults who still hold onto their childhoods but want to appear mature. Studios prey on nostalgia but don’t understand WHY people feel the way they do. Reboots and live action adaptations can only superficially remind people of their childhoods. They can’t replicate the feeling one had as an actual kid. It’s not fair that so many people are shamed for “childish interests” when studios make bank of pandering to those childhood interests. Because people don’t really realize how valuable childhood actually is. Studios only care about it because it’s marketable. They know nostalgia is strong and they use it as a tactic for money. But a person’s childhood is extremely formative to their identity and media can play a large part in that. Like I’m not sure I’d be who I am today were it not for the shows and movies I watched as a kid. And yet I’m expected to put that stuff behind me, to be a real adult. But by society’s expectations I’m not a real adult. I hated how hopeless adult life was made out to be by people like my parents. How I had to suck it up and accept the stress. I want to have fun I want to enjoy life I want to feel good about myself. And that’s something that the proposed adult life never seemed to offer me so I find a lot of comfort in my childhood memories. That’s why I hate seeing them twisted into super edgy and worthless Netflix and CW trash. They just serve as a reminder of the hopeless world offered to adults. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

[meyhew]

“WHAT WE MOURN FOR THE DEAD IS THE LOSS OF THEIR HOPES.”

I never thought I’d make this post. Any time I imagined a One Direction member dying, I pictured myself weathered and grey. This was an eventuality that wasn’t supposed to be actualized until the boys and I had lived full lives. To have to come to terms with Liam’s death—his perpetual absence moving forward—in my mid twenties feels absurd. I wrote a long thing the day after I found out, so I’ve already gotten some thoughts out. I’m going to try and keep this short. I likely won’t succeed.

Liam was kind. If he’s remembered for anything, I hope it’s that. I know he helped out with food banks in London during lockdown because there were photos of him packing boxes, but I didn’t know until now how much money he gave them. £80,000 without any publicity. And it wasn’t a one-time donation. He kept working with various orgs to help food insecure people. In the week leading up to that unfortunate Wednesday, he gave away thousands to fundraisers—primarily set up to help people with severe illnesses. He’d been part of Soccer Aid for years. He was involved with anti-bullying campaigns. He worked with Rays of Sunshine to make hundreds of sick children happy. Over the years, he also donated to nonprofits that help children in Gaza and other places. The T-shirt he designed for Choose Love has garnered nearly £200,000; Choose Love has been working with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Medical Aid for Palestinians to provide desperately needed aid in Gaza. Liam understood the value of his wealth, and what his social responsibility was. He did his part to make this world better.

All that without taking into account everything Liam did for us. The youtube videos he started during quarantine because it was a way to distract people, give them something to look forward to. His comedic timing was something special. The discord server where he talked to fans and highlighted their creative endeavors. His livestreams, the endless culture-defining tweets he made. I still see people laughing about his tweets. We all remember Mrs. Horan, yes? I mean, go all the way back to TwitCams. Just google the phrase and one of the first videos you get will be Liam’s. From day one, he took it upon himself to make sure the fans were happy. That we felt seen, heard. And he kept One Direction alive for us, on occasion at a great personal cost. He performed deep cuts we’d never seen sung live, he was always so enthusiastic about everyone else’s projects, he never shied away from talking about the band—because it made us happy. He knew what the band meant to us, the blend of hope and nostalgia many of us clung to, and he held on with us. For us. The masses ridiculed him for his clinginess, and he didn’t let go—for us. I’m sure he knew there are those of us for whom the name One Direction still means everything. And how right he was. Look at the global charts for the past two weeks. We’ve made history again. Because of Liam. He had been the glue holding a lot of the fandom together, whether people realized it or not. He brought us all together again in the most heartbreaking of ways.

One Direction came into my life at a time when I was becoming lonelier by the day. I had moved to a new country two years prior, and I didn’t yet have many friends because I knew only enough English to get by at school. Outside of school, I had no friends. They were all back home in the place I’d left. All I had was my two siblings—and when you’re 13 years old, your 14 yr old sister is hardly the person you want to spend all your time with. I didn’t have space for me, to do and to be something that was just mine.

Then I found 1d through a girl at school and they became that something for me. I bettered my English by watching them talk. I found this community because of them, and I have learned so much from being a part of it. So many wonderful people have touched my life because of them over the years, some I’ve fallen out of touch with and some I hung out with just this month. They—and, by extension, Liam—have made me wealthy in friendship.

Claudia, Ingrid, Mery; Thank you for putting up with my insanely specific demands and making headers for me. Ingrid, you’ve been so patient about teaching me how to gif. Mery, I still have your rec list for learning Spanish saved in my notes app. The TPWK print you gifted me hangs on my wall. Cloudy, do you remember that lineart you made of me? I still have it. You’ve all been so kind to me.

Rafa; You have no idea how much you’ve helped build my confidence as a writer. Lyab is a thing of the past now, but those hours you spent fleshing out the details of that fic are priceless to me. I’d never written anything so ambitious before. And, frankly, I don’t think I would’ve attempted a novel if I hadn’t written a 100k fic—which I couldn’t have done without your encouragement. I think this is my first time telling you I finished the first draft of my novel in September. Thank you <3

Yas; Beloved you are so dear to me. You have shown me such kindness over the years, at times I wondered what I had done to deserve it. Not many people check in with me the way you do. I value your presence in my life beyond words. You have so much love and affection to give, and I’m glad I get to receive so much of it.

If I wrote a personal note to everyone who’s in my life because of Liam we’d be here for hours and hours. Jess, Bella, Alex, Jack, Hayley, Hope, Soni, Kayla, Sara, Arsh, Tina, Ola, Cristal, Kylee, Hana, Ali, Antonise, Clare, Abby, Nina, fnh, mert, people I don’t follow anymore, everyone who’s come into my life because of liam—I love you. Literally every single person I follow should be named here because I wouldn’t even be on this website if it weren’t for 1d. You’re all so special to me.

I still can’t believe Liam is gone. I was at the grocery store and it hit me that it’s real, and I thought, no, there’s no way. It feels so fucking weird having this invisible hole in my life that’s never going to go away. But I’ll always be grateful for everything Liam brought into my life. I know I’ll grow old with a whole bunch of you in my life—I’ve already spent a decade with some of you in my life—and I wish Liam got to grow old and weathered with us all.

This is such an inadequate goodbye. I think I’ll keep coming up with things I wish I could tell Liam, or things I want to say to you all. There’s so much history here, so much to reminisce about. He took a piece of my adolescence with him. I’ll miss him forever. Too many of my memories are intertwined with him and I’ll miss him forever.

Sleep easy, Liam. I hope, in time, you’re remembered for your limitless capacity for love and your desire to do better, be better. You deserved more. 🤍

—————

tagging 1d people here because i know many blogs aren’t active on a regular basis. apologies if i missed someone (i’m sure i did). hugs for everyone

@1dclowns @hrrytomlinson @sandiazucar @fookinfreezin @hoeranghae @wlwmermald @tomlinsun @epubgf @heyangel @fireproofs @90sgrungelouis @lirry @iconichalo @itsnotreal @aquickstart @roguecurls @harryscuddles @hoteyelinerguy @babyy-honey @goldencereza @kindathoughtprovoking @kindofsharethat @fuchsiasea @queerbloodyangel @tofiveohfive @aboutmetamorphosis @wastelandbabyblue @delicatepointofview @twentybiqueen @girlcrushau @chaoticsue @chimnation @akasakasads @icouldbeluckyagain @alloutshirt @half-lightl @halohamilton @willowfey @meltedwings @softandslow @loustyles @onedirectiom @pop-punklouis @pridesobright @finexbright @femstyles @baawree @iamnathanscott @avocadolouie @userautumn @niallerer @itsnothesameasitwas @usignedupforthis @svpportive @svncourt

[maingh0st]

i know i'm not the first to say this, but the acolyte's cancellation has confirmed how tired i am of disney's decision-making when it comes to their content. i know nostalgia is the easiest way to a big payout, but we can only take so many spinoffs before the universe starts to feel too small. but then fresh content—content that's building on the canon by looking to old star wars lore while asking new questions—fizzles out.

it's the sequel trilogy all over again. we're promised something new, something that actually expands the canon rather than just recycling it, even bringing in concepts from legends, and then the rug is ripped out from underneath us & we're punished for ever caring about any of it. silly babygirl! palpatine was always the big bad (don't worry about the fact that this is thematically nonsense and not foreshadowed in any way), and rey isn't a nobody ("your parents sold you because they loved you"), and this isn't a story about how the force transcends human categories and dynasties (represented by a grey jedi force dyad between a legacy skywalker and a nobody orphan from a backwater planet, fulfilling not only balance between light and dark but also transcending the old to become something new). silly idiot!!! rey's a palpatine by birth and a skywalker by self-adoption and god forbid she create her own identity outside of these names our fans recognize. watch as she stands alone on a sand planet that has no personal significance to her, ending her arc almost exactly as she began. but look!! two suns! neat

i don't even know if fanservice is the right word. at a certain point, it just starts to feel like they're quaking in their boots at the thought of doing anything new. i had my gripes with some of the choices in the acolyte, but at least it was unique. it explored a new era and asked questions that star wars has only ever flirted with. like: what happens to the children who are uprooted from their homes at such a young age, yet can't find their place in the jedi order? how does one survive in a supposedly honorable system that nevertheless relies on the repression of some of humanity's most fundamental emotions? is it possible that an organization dictating exactly how one ought to interact with the very life force of the universe... could perhaps be faulty and shortsighted? what happens when the ways of that order clash with other cultures and worldviews? (spoilers: space colonialism). and that's not even to mention the ideas they play with re: the force itself (vergences! plagueis! force witches!)

i know not everyone loved the show, but a lot of people really did care about it. a lot of people, like me, were excited to see these new questions being raised. but forget it—the disney gods have decreed that it didn't hit some magical threshold of streaming hours or reach a "broad enough" audience in the two months it's been out. but don't worry guys. turn your brains off and tune in for the next spinoff 2 chewy 2 bacca

[fanaticsnail]

I shared this w/ deerling before she’d deactivated. I’m sososo happy for her! she will always be loved n missed! But, I never got to hear her thoughts! And I thought you might humor it too!

I’m not sure if you’re familiar w/ the song Imitadora by Romeo Santos? A week or so ago I was hyper-fixated on it n it made me think about law. Growing up when the Donquixote pirates would have galas and such celebrations, would he watch Rosi dance w/ partners and just praying on his downfall? He needed something, some type of material to tease & embarrass Rosi w/ to get his lick back. But honestly? the only thing he picked up from observing Rosi dance was the way he danced.

I’m not very familiar w/ the correct type of dance that should be associated w/ this song, and anyone please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong! But the most common one I’d found was bachata, which originated in the Dominican Republic. I know you’d already written something in your series for Bachata, but just hear me out!

Law, after watching Rosi dance during celebrations when he was younger, would have to had learn something and picked up the basics at the very least. Now, I raise you this food for thought. Would Law be a good partner? Would he be rusty? Or maybe just outright refuse and dismiss it? Would he be embarrassed? Or would nostalgia wash over him when you offer, take him by the hand and pull him towards the floor? A bit more willing w/ alcohol in his system. Hand on the small of your back, one knee slotted between your thighs your palm falling to the nape of his neck n fingers threaded through the soft wisps of baby hair a bit before his nape n finally falling into the music. Now! Would he experiment w/ all of the fancy dips and twirls he’d remember Rosi do? I like to think he’s more seasoned n cocky even going as far as trying something on the fly!

Sorry for the ramble! I love your writing andhope to see your thoughts if you humor this!!

-🪼

Hello my love! I have so many thoughts and fics written and coming up for this particular concept. I love the thoughts, 🪼 Anon!

1. Donquixote Rosinante can dance.

This man can absolutely dance. He dances Flamenco, Tango, Salsa, Bachata, Conga, Rumba, Cha Cha: anything that involves hips swinging, feathers flying, legs intertwining, and passion igniting. This is the only time he is absolutely not clumsy. He was also taught the marines waltz while in basic. Donquixote Doflamingo, however, can not. He thought it was a waste of time.

2. Imitadora Romeo Santos

I am not familiar with the song, but now that I've listened to it on repeat a few times, Rosinante dances Bachata to this song. Hips flush against yours, one hand on your lower back while the other is expanded to the side in the hopes you'd take it to spin. Always with a smile on his face, twirling between the rapid brush of drums on the snare, tapping his feet while dragging his toes. He loves it, and makes it known my whispering the lyrics without vocalising them.

3. Bachata

I love Bachata. When my host-sister came back to my country for a visit, she took us all out dancing Bachata on the beach - something that I would love to take up on the regular. It's sultry, romantic, playful, everything you want wrapped in one dance. I see Luffy, Ace and Sabo dancing Bachata - and Rosinante also excels at it.

4. Law and Dancing

Growing up in Flevance, Law's cultural dances would be something similar to the folk dances in Austria and Germany. There is no way he wouldn't grow up learning these dances with Lami. Watching his parents engage in social events, letting loose with their colleagues, some of his happier memories would be watching them in the warmth of each other's embrace and slowly swaying to a waltz. Hearing a 3/4 rhythm beat on the den-den shoots him back to that moment: his parents love for one another swelling his heart and having him yearn for a fragment of the past.

5. Rosinante and Law Dancing

Law would gruffly pout in the corner at these social events, far before Rosinante had bothered to pay him any mind. He hated the events, especially when Doflamingo ordered him to dance with Baby 5 as "an aspect of his training". Once they opened up to one another, baring Corazon's secret mission with the marines, Law paid far more attention to his guardian protector. Watching in earnest as he demonstrated his skills by engaging with partners.

6. Law past the time skip

This man wants to dance. He would never admit it to anyone, but he wants the opportunity to keep a part of his heritage alive and pass on the knowledge of his cultural dances to anyone willing to listen. After Dressrosa, he is far less pent up and full of wrath, and wants to express it through dance. He is so rusty, he forgets a few of the steps, and will need reminding.

7. Law and Sanji

Sanji knows some of these cultural dances. When the Supanova trio catch up and engage in social drinking, firstly: the Victoria Punk crew demonstrate some of their highland jigs, and teach them to Luffy. Luffy, in turn, teaches Killer how to Bachata. Given how large he is in comparison to Luffy - he would opt to teach "Traffy" in response. Law knows these dances, has seen these dances with Corazon, and actually enjoys relearning how to do this dance.

And to repay Luffy, he would offer to teach him a dance from Flevance.

Given how long it's been, he forgets a few steps and slips up with the spins: finding the follow position rather than the lead. With how poorly he seems to remember the steps, Sanji lets out a huff of exasperated cigarettes and opts to "cut in" for Luffy: immediately takes the lead position, and guides Law through the steps flawlessly. Law would become extremely overwhelmed and quite emotional afterwards, having to excuse himself as he takes a moment to remember what was lost to him. After paying his respects to his parents, Lami, and Corazon's memory - he would return and witness Franky attempting to impress Robin with a dance fit for the Cossacks.

8. Dancing with you

After the event with Sanji, you would go and ask the foreign captain if he was feeling alright. You, being the councilor and negotiator for the Straw Hats. Waving away your worries with a flick of his tattooed hand, the music would change into a reminder of the Bachata earlier. Offering to pay you back for checking in on him, he would lead you into a dance immigrating Luffy's earlier twirls and sways.

Demonstrating a particular motion Luffy didn't teach, a twirl that had your back to his chest, hips pressed flush against your ass, and knee slotted between your thighs in the same way Rosinante would catches your breath in your throat.

Feeling a little more bold with his control, he wouldn't let you leave the floor until he was completely satisfied with the way you moved with him. Having cheers from Luffy, and taunts from Kid, would spur him on to keep you in his arms and hum to the music. He remembers his friend, he remembers his parents, he remembers his sister, and he remembers his past through dance.

He also remembers how to flirt. And he enjoys making you blush while he's so close to you. Eyes half-lidded, lips spurring soft praise, speaking his native tongue with a combination of Corazon's to have you squeak out a "thank you" with a hot flush igniting your face.

9. Further notes

I am incredibly grateful you shared these thoughts with deerling. She was such a joy to this fandom and I'm so glad she found her happiness. I have no idea how long this has been in my ask box, considering it had been not working properly for quite a while. Thank you for blessing me with some dance headcanons for the favorites. I love the thoughts, and I hope you enjoy my take on them!

10. I know this isn't a fic, but I thought I'd tag you just in case you wanted to see.

@mfreedomstuff @daydreamer-in-training @since-im-already-here @gingernut1314 @writingmysanity @sordidmusings @i-am-vita @indydonuts @feral-artistry @the-light-of-star @empirenowmp3 @racfoam @sunflowersatori @carrotsunshine @skullfacedlady @jintaka-hane @thenotsofantasticlifestory

[hheaven-sentt]

willow and wisteria

summary: he's the willow, you're the wisteria | leon kennedy x reader

word count: 1.6k

warnings: movie title mentions (had to pull out the pop culture stops for this one), yearning, a certain nostalgia for Blockbuster and VHS rentals

notes: has this been sitting on my laptop for two weeks? yes. do I want to talk about that? no. also, i am battling a sinus infection that spread to my lungs? and let me just say: sinus infection's got hands | ao3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shoulder to shoulder on the couch, you wonder how you got to this point. He’s stiff beside you as the credits roll on some old western movie you don’t remember the name of. You can see him in your peripheral, jaw clenched like he’s fighting to keep words in, skin naturally smoother than you could ever get it with products, staring straight ahead like he’s looking for his own name on the screen. He’s wearing a sweatshirt you’ve never seen before; it looks so soft, and you want nothing more than to crawl into it.

His voice pulls you from your thoughts. “How many is that?”

You turn your head a bit and blink at him. “Twelve, I think,”

“I think I’ve seen enough westerns to last me a lifetime,” he teases lightly. “I get to pick next time,”

This is what you do. It’s a moment of reprieve for each of you. In total, you’ve watched sixteen dramas, fourteen comedies, six romances, and twelve westerns. Movies are easy. There’s no expectations, not like there would be if you went out to dinner or to a bar. You’re not supposed to talk during movies, although you and Leon have never really been good about that. You don’t know his middle name or his favorite color, but you know that he hates Die Hard and he had a crush on Molly Ringwald as a kid. So, yes, you talk during the movies, but never about the things that would let you peel back the curtain.

You like it that way. There’s no fear of saying the wrong thing or unloading baggage that’s been packed away for decades. It’s easy this way, and you like easy.

“I’m sure the guy at Blockbuster is eagerly awaiting your decision,” you grin. Leon rolls his eyes.

“Are you going to bring that up every time I pick a movie?” he asks, looking at you finally. You see something in his eyes that you can’t quite place.

You shrug. “Probably. I’ve never seen a man more excited to talk about Alien,”

Leon cringes. “To be fair, it was a good movie,”

“I don’t know if it was ask-for-your-number-good, though,” you laugh. “Besides, I bring it up so that you don’t get any ideas about ditching me as your movie buddy,”

“I can’t imagine that we’d watch a ton of movies,” Leon says. Immediately, his cheeks go pink, and you can’t resist the laughter bubbling in your chest. It’s bright and wide, filling up the entire room. You’re wheezing before you know it.

“Hey, man, do whatever you want,” you say between giggles. “Just as long as you watch movies with me,”

Playfully, he knocks his shoulder into yours. “That’s not what I meant and you know it,”

You like when Leon grins. It’s more than a regular smile. It takes up most of his face, eating away at his cheeks and his sorrow, even if only for a moment. He carries something that he won’t share, and you like when he lets go of it for a while. There is peace in the way he laughs, and you prefer to savor it.

“Help me clean up before you head out?” you ask. Sometimes, you try to make him overstay his welcome. Sometimes, you never want him to leave. Sometimes, you try to con him into three or four movies in one night, hoping that he’ll choose to crash on your couch rather than brave the D.C traffic.

He nods, and begins to grab bowls and cups off your coffee table. There’s never much of a mess, but he always helps when you ask. Wordlessly, you file in and out of the kitchen until there’s no evidence that he was here at all. He gathers his things–his keys and geriatric phone–from the table next to the door and slips on his shoes. There’s a weight in your stomach that you wish would go away.

“Same time next week?” he asks. You smile.

“Don’t miss me too much,” you tease. “And don’t stop by the video store without me,”

“I can’t risk going back in there alone,” he says, feigning seriousness.

You can’t help but notice the way he lingers in the entry. You stare at him as you hear a crack of thunder rolling through the sky. You gnaw on your lower lip.

Before you can stop yourself, you say, “If you’d rather not face the storm, my couch is pretty comfy and I make a mean cup of coffee in the morning,”

He looks at you for a moment, like he didn’t fully understand what you said, and then he slips his shoes back off. Silently, he pulls his keys back out of his pocket and returns them to their place on the table.

“Just so you know,” he says. “I drink it black,”

You roll your eyes. “Of course you do,”

You half expect the next few minutes to be awkward, but they aren’t. Leon just settles back into his spot on the couch, leant back against the cushions behind him like he’s supposed to have been there all along. You have to fight the curl threatening to upturn your lips. You return to him, like you always do, settling down beside him with room to spare.

“What’s next on the list?” he asks. His hands are on his chest, just below his sternum, fingers interlaced. You notice that his eyes have slipped closed.

“I was thinking Titanic,” you muse, leaning your head against the cushions. You hadn’t realized how tired you really were. “It’s a classic,”

“Little boring for my taste,” he says. You smile.

“A whole boat sinks during the last, like, hour of the movie,” you tease, leaning over to shove him playfully. “How is that boring?”

He shrugs, smiling and opening one eye to peek at you. You feel a chill snake its way down your spine. “The other two thirds cancel out the boat sinking,”

“Fair,” you note. You can’t find anything else to say, even if you want to. He looks so peaceful there, loose on your couch and in your space. He chose to stay. He chose to be around you. Sometimes, it makes you nervous.

Silence stretches between you, but it doesn’t amplify the nerves. It settles them, honestly. You find yourself so comfortable here, an arm’s length away from him but somehow still wrapped in his warmth. He eases your tensions, dampens the sounds from outside. What a pleasant world it would be if he were here all the time. Your eyelids droop as you watch him. His breathing is so steady, you’d think he’d fallen asleep. But he twitches every now and then to tell you he’s still awake.

“You’re really gonna make me coffee tomorrow?” he asks. His voice is low and smooth. It makes you smile.

“Yeah,” you whisper. “It’s the least I can do for holding you captive,”

He laughs, weak and wonderful as if he’s on the edge of sleep. “You’re not holding me captive. There’s hurricane force winds out there,”

You grin, opening your eyes to look at him. You find him already watching you. Blush creeps over his features. You hold his stare, wondering what he’s thinking.

“You make me nervous,” you whisper. You’re not sure he even hears you. He seems to be calculating his words, or maybe his escape route.

Instead, he furrows his brow. “I hope it’s a good kind of nervous,” he whispers back. Your lips form a line as you nod.

The silence returns, but you keep watching him. He’s pretty like this, haloed by the lightning that flashes in the window every few seconds. You fight the urge to reach out and trace his features. You can imagine the way his skin would feel against yours, the sloped angle of his nose, the creases near his eyes.

You want to jump out of your skin when he turns to consider you more. There’s a half smile hung on his lips. Then, he’s reaching out to grab your hand. It’s tentative, like a young boy might slowly wrap his fingers around a girl’s for the very first time. It’s simple, it’s easy; you like easy. His hands are much warmer than yours, though you’re not sure how, considering you feel like every inch of you has been consumed by flames. You worry that he can see the sweat beginning to bead along your hairline. You swallow thickly, praying to whoever might listen that you don’t screw this up.

“What’s your favorite color?” you ask. Your voice is low, barely above a whisper like you’re children trading secrets when you’re meant to be asleep.

He smiles. “Green,” he says. “Like a forest just before dusk,”

Of course it would be green. You feel a flash of embarrassment for not having asked earlier. The amount of green things you could shower him would last a lifetime. You think back to every green item you’ve ever seen, every natural green you’ve had the pleasure of witnessing,  and wonder how you’d never thought of it before. Now, when the tree outside your window raps against the panes, you’ll think of him. You’ll think of him when you use the crockpot your mother gifted you when you moved out. You’ll see him in the murky depths of a lake, or the vibrant hue of your favorite pair of shoes.

“Mine’s purple,” you reply. “Like wisteria,”

His face sours for a moment. “The stuff that hangs off willow trees?”

You grin and nod. “Exactly like that,”

At this, he laces your fingers together with more confidence. You feel your heart stutter. You would be content to die like this. In this moment, you’d make him a hundred cups of coffee, give him a thousand green hued things, and look for willow trees where you can.

[spikeinthepunch]

as Craig of the Creek is coming to a close in the near future, i cant help but repeat again and again forever just how fantastic that show was and how i do wish it garnered more attention in tumblr's general cartoon fandom circle. it got little bursts of love when episodes about important topics came out, but it never saw it keep that love consistently- the whole show deserved that high praise.

CotC followed in the footsteps of Steven Universe and did more with that opening to representation and diversity!! this really showed how important SU was for cartoons. CotC has an incredibly diverse cast- in show and out of show. The writers/artists/storyboarders/etc themselves- poc, neurodivergent, and lgbt put their stories into these episodes by writing them into characters. cultures and experiences explored in ways i had never seen so frequently and so deeply in a kids show. i might have some bias but my internship on the show for a summer really let me see even more how that crew as a whole put their hearts into it, and how much that diversity is so important to any piece of art.

poc showing their home lives, unique experiences, and cultures. kids discovering their sexuality and being able to talk with older gays for advice! exploring the struggles and feeling with a kid who heavily implies having autism, genderfluid characters respected and unquestioned (and one being a literal creeksona of the nonbinary board artist Angel Lorenzana!), and overall the wide range of experiences children having with their parents, friends and overall life.

they are children, they write them will and are entertaining to everyone imo. when i saw the show has "serious" plot i mean that these writers care, they care a lot about making these characters mean something in the story, and that being for "kids" wont make them hold back on important messages, deeper feelings, and realistic actions. the world is shown through the lens of "playing pretend" to have those fantastical moments, but they pull back many times to show the reality. sometimes you make mistakes but you learn, you dont agree with your parents but you work it out, you make bad decisions and hurt your friends but you can grow. (in some ways i wonder if tumblr would devolve into old the SU thoughts of 'redemption' on these 10 year olds too and get mad about the 12 year old being redeemed for bullying so, maybe its ok it doesnt have a fandom that big lol). the shows core ideas bring a special kind of nostalgia- one part in the form of seeing myself in the world they made, but also getting to relive a feeling of childhood that maybe i didnt get.

i hope in the future people can discover this show. it was axed (along with its spinoff) in half by the execs. there were at least 7 more episodes ready to be made before they cut it. im so happy they ended up with 181 episodes and a movie, but it deserved to keep going. it got a good 5 years but it shouldve had more, it felt like a timeless show.

[foervraengd]

There are conversations ive had with people who have changed the way i see the world but the one that stuck a lot to me was when i got a ride home by my former neighbour and we talked about disney movies. And she talked about how much she loved Beauty and the Beast, i was just about to share my opinion about the live action remake when i realized - it was the remake that my neighbour was gushing about.

She loved the movie, she found it beautiful and touching and entertaining and magical. It was her absolute favourite movie. And here i sat next to her, realizing that not only had i not even watched that movie, but all my opinions and thoughts on it all came from youtube video essays by people who have watched so many movies that nothing impresses them anymore.

Who am i to tell her that “actchually disney just wants your money by using nostalgia uwu” when the fact of the matter is that Disney have always wanted our money, even back in the early 90s when the original movie was made, in fact disney have made movies with the intention to get ppl to visit their amusement parks since the beginning. This woman in her 50s love a movie that ppl in my age range find cringe and soulless, maybe because i know too much about the stuff behind the scenes. It’s difficult to appreciate something when you know too much if the process. Like it’s hard to enjoy a game knowing about crunch culture for example. So I envied her joy for something i have learned to associate as cringe and mass produced. She was such a kind and helpful neighbour and i wished she still lived next to me.

also im just glad it was beauty and the beast she loved and not like fkn harry potter lol.

[itslenagain]

My thoughts on episodes 1-3 of Netflix ATLA (SPOILERS):

1. Commander Zhao has middle-aged white guy manager energy. I feel like this man is about to lead me in a team-building exercise

2. Aang having his origin story changed irks me! He ran away impulsively in the original show and got stuck in the ice. In this version, he fully monologs to Appa about his fears, but then just leaves for a joyride and gets stuck. It takes away from the significance of Aang leaving in the first place. When Kyoshi berates him for running away, it doesn't feel right because in this version, he didn't really run - he just got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time

3. The Zuko that stood on an iceberg during a full Moon and challenged Katara to battle would be absolutely enraged at the Zuko that ran from the conflict in Omashu

4. Also, the fact that Zuko has not mentioned honor yet? What the fuck?

5. Seriously, Commander Zhao has a LinkedIn. He's got great networking skills

6. I miss aggro Katara. This version is way more subdued (though we do get a sibling fight in episode 3) and somehow listening to Aang's weird circular philosophy helps her learn how to waterbend and I don't get it

7. Seeing Aang be joyful is a nice change from the movie that shall not be mentioned

8. If Gram-Gram putting the waterbending scroll in Katara's bag replaces the storyline where Katara says fuck cultural looting and steals one I will scream

9. It's interesting to see Azula so early in the story, but I'm bummed we missed out on the whole blackmail thing with her & Ty Lee

10. Do you think Commander Zhao pays his employees a fair wage? Do you think they have health insurance? 401k matching? Vacation time? Sick days? What kind of benefits does his company offer?

11. This version of Sokka is definitely not silly enough

12. I feel robbed that Aang got to transform into a magical girl but we didn't get a magical girl transformation sequence

13. Also, we were robbed of Sokka crossdressing as a Kyoshi warrior and they are so rude for that

14. The graphic murder of the Airbenders felt. Weird? Wrong? I don't think we needed to see that. The impact it had when Aang arrived at the temple to find all of them gone in the original show felt heavier than in this version. We saw what happened, we know they're all dead. As a kid watching ATLA the first time, I remember feeling hopeful for Aang that maybe he wasn't really the last one. We don't get to feel that with this version

15. They did not understand Uncle Iroh at all. His character is so weird. Maybe it gets better???

16. The pacing is weird but maybe that gets better too???

17. I have never related more than when Ozai just burned that Earth nation dude who was about to start monologing, please shut up in my presence

18. Apparently everywhere has names?? Who decided on these names?

19. As a lesbian I also get horny on main immediately for girls who could definitely kick my ass, Sokka was so real for that

20. Overall I think they lean into the idea that the audience for this show is primarily older than the audience for the original (they're not totally wrong!) but I worry about it losing some of the messaging along the way. Part of the beauty of the original ATLA show was tackling these big, complex issues in a way that both kids and adults could relate to and understand. Anyone who knows me knows I also love Bluey for this, along with a few other shows that do it well. Media like ATLA that tackles the ideas of colonization, genocide, war, and so many other important issues is crucial! I hope that these topics are handled just as well as they were in the original series.

Am I going to watch the whole thing? Probably, yeah. Will I enjoy it? I hope so! It's not terrible, but it's also hard to do a show that has so much nostalgia attached to it in a way that will please all viewers.

If you haven't watched it, I think it's worth a shot. Just don't expect it to be an exact retelling of the original story.

[love-byers]

Hi!! I binge-read some of your byler analysis, along with other users', and I can't help but STILL feel on the fence about hoping for byler endgame. I guess I just don't want to get my hopes super high only for them to be crushed by whatever CGI fest the düff3rs got in store to "go out with a bang" (while, obvs, sticking to the status quo and what they think the GA wants to see). I've seen so many intelligent people write media criticism pieces and analysis in support of the ship, but I still dread that the writers cry plausible deniability on all the clues they DID lay, that the people behind the N*f1ix social media accs confess that they've willingly posted queerbait to boost their engagement and thus get a bigger paycheck (I wouldn't blame them if they did, obvs; besides, it still means that some higher-up approved those misleading posts) and, worst of all, that this whole thing may end up blowing up negatively like the JohnLock conspiracy or the Voltron shenanigans or, y'know, the Supernatural fandom after Castiel's introduction and up until that lame ass final season. In your opinion, what makes byler different? Is there real hope for a satisfying mlm relationship from a show made by het men that capitalizes on 80s nerd culture nostalgia?

Sorry for coming off so jaded: I do wish for a byler ending, but it's been hard to keep my hopes aflame against these worries :c

i think everyone has some amount of doubt, which is totally understandable.

lgbt representation has come a long way, but a lot of us fans who are a bit older grew up consuming media that either had no representation or shitty representation. we sought ourselves in the media we loved and never found it, and corporations exploited that. nowadays there's way more representation that isn't left up to interpretation or censored, but a lot of the time that's in shows that are about romance and drama, high school a lot of the time. which is great, but stranger things is a sci fi show with romantic sub plots. it's easy for queer characters to end up being left out of a show like ST, but they haven't been at all.

one of the big messages of ST is embracing weirdness and being different. loving whatever it is you love, unashamed. when a character strays from being their true self or pushes away the things they love, there are consequences for the character. they become less likable to the audience. the entire theme of s4 is living in the truth, not hiding things, embracing love, being misunderstood simply because you're different. all of that is very queer coded. and it happens to be the season where will's love for mike fully comes into light.

there has been so much thought put into stranger things. the duffers have said there are no coincidences. they put thought into everything, thats why it takes so long to make a season, because they care so much. there are endless details i could point out not related to romance. they've also said they've been set on the ending for a while and will not be changing it to please people. i believe they said some people might not like the ending, but they don't care because they're making the story THEY want. which so far has uplifted queer people and promoted being different. so some antis may call be stupid for trusting them, but im choosing to. i believe they'll do these characters justice.

and my favorite quote from them is "The best plot twists don't make the audience say "wow I never saw that coming!", it makes you say "I should have seen that coming."

as a writer and a creative writing major, i definitely look up to the writers of ST. they are all incredibly talented and i hope one day i can put this much thought and love into a project. and, as a writer, i cannot see them throwing mike and will's relationship down the drain.

so, what makes byler different? there's very few shows where this much thought is put into everything. its not debatable that they do that, they've said it and its evident if you watch the show. so i refuse to believe all of these things between mike and will are just coincidences or accidents. there's just no possible way. i definitely had a klance phase and i can confidently say voltron writing is nowhere near the level of ST, and neither is supernatural. supernatural is one of those shows that has a lot of seasons and has gone all over the place in terms of writing and plot. the duffers have known the ending to this story since season 1. and unlike those shows with lots of seasons, ST only has 5. it won't be dragged on and beaten like a dead horse like some shows.

you don't have to completely eliminate your doubt. even i have doubt even after all i've said and posted. there is simply no way to confirm what'll happen before s5 releases, and they want it that way. just hold on until s5 friend

[homkamiro]

I LOVE THE TF2 MLP AU SM. it gives me sm nostalgia to when i was a kid and i and everyone in the fandom made pony aus of franchises we liked- im so happy cringe is dead and tradition is alive 🥹

ALSO THE INFECTION AU POST. GOOD SHIT;!;!!!!!!!!!! gore and body horror are inseparable from (hopefully only the mature part of) the mlp fandom and i felt so giddy jumping for joy kicking my feet up seeing that it had a resurgence!! Your post of this au with your tf2 ponies was my introduction to it!!! Nature is healinggggg

That post is BOMB. WE GOT: 1) HEAVYMEDIC ANGST. 2) PYRO & ENGIE ANGST. 3) BOOTS & BOMBS ANGST. 4) DADSPY ANGST. 5) SNIPER ANGST. ITS GIVING💅🏽💅🏽💅🏽 and the way the disease spreads differently for all of them is so creative!!!!!! Engie wants to sever the infected body part but cant cus its on his back and he needs medics help for that (and med is way too far gone to do any operation), and scout doesn't want his wings severed even tho that would save him cus he still wants to fly!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

also soldier misinterpreting the request is so good. And pyro wanting to help but not being allowed to cus they'd try to burn engie. Demo drinking himself to death cus he cant handle seeing his friend in the state that he's in. Sniper disappearing cus he wants to be with his parents during this horrible time even tho they have a strained relationship. Spy wanting his son to live through this so much that he's planning to sever his wings himself. And heavyyyyyy. Heavy breaking his heart everyday still taking care of medic knowing he's going to have to kill the love of his life soon. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Anyways sorry for fuckin. Screaming in your asks and basically just repeating what you wrote sgjdjd. I just really love this au (and especially that comic with scout, medic and engie!!!) and the infection au post made me so nostalgic to the early days of the mlp fandom that the adhd went mental and i had to shout about it lol- feel free to not respond to this! Youre awesome! Keep doing you!!!!!!

(also youre really good at drawing gore????? Hello teach me pls)

WHAT A BIG FEEDBACK OHMYGODヽ⁠(⁠(⁠◎⁠д⁠◎⁠)⁠)⁠ゝ

Anyway I'm really super puper glad you liked my au!! I was a little hesitant to post it, since AU in AU sounds weird but I'm glad I thought otherwise - cringe culture should be dead!! Mix your hyperfixations it's good for your health!!!

AND AHHHHGGGGGH You noticed so many details thankyouuu🥺💗💗💗The best thing about this AU is that every ship and brotp can work so well in this story. Engie first helping Medic but then ending up being also infected??? Spy checking up on Engie and making him eat since he's too stressed to take a break??? Demo, Heavy and Pyro comforting each other after loosing their friends??? Spy and Scout both raging on Sniper for leaving like a coward??? Or maybe Heavy, as an earth pony, comforts Scout after he just got his wings amputated??? So many possibilities!!

Don't worry, I love when people are noticing all the details and just get,, really invested into my stuff, it really brings me joy and you made my day so much better!!🥺🥺I feel honestly a little insecure, since my pony designs and thoughts may not be the best, but I'm glad that so many people still like my mlp×tf2 stuff!! It's really endearing to know that finally something I like making is also likable to you!

About gore -- I have no idea😭I love gore but it's a pain to draw properly and scary, you'd need practice and references (I mostly use art references since yknow,,,real photos can make me sick)

[whatbigotspost]

On being real mean and then less mean

Long post incoming........I've been chipping away at writing this for like a month now and (unlike my usual self) I've stalled out a few times unsure of what all I want to say. But I think I've got it squared up the way I would like to. Unfortunately, I need a long context laying preamble. Sorry this will feel like an online recipe experience 😅

As the 5 of you who usually read my blocks of text will know well, I grew up in a very toxic, abusive, high-control environment. If you wanted to intentionally produce kids who would have anxiety, shame, self-loathing, aggression, be overly-competitive, angry, and equipped with little-to-no social skills, you should be parented like I was. In my nuclear family, we couldn't have had worse life lessons or role modeling when it comes to building healthy relationships, strong friendships, and harmonious existence with others. Violence was often normalized. Manipulation was encouraged. Specific conditions and rules were put on receiving love and/or affection. We weren't seen as independent humans who had their own lives and thoughts and ambitions--we were seen as extensions of my father, brought into the world to be his unquestioning cheerleaders and adoring team, to do our best to become his clones, to live out his unrealized dreams, and to combat his grievances w/ the world.

In short, it sucked.

Above all, I was taught in a very deep and real way to hate myself, not that this was explicitly acknowledged mind you, but it was the implication of everything. This self loathing was an extension of my father's own insecurities and full inability to grow the fuck up and build a life for himself that was emotionally mature, resilience, and self-caring. This mentality, if truly internalized, creates ugliness from the inside that radiates outward. I can see that so clearly now, but back then, I didn't understand it at all.

I was implicitly taught a thought process like, "the best way to 'own' someone is to shit talk them into crying" or "you can make yourself look stronger and distract from your own shortcomings by staying 1 step ahead of everyone through making THEM feel like shit about their shortcomings."

But you weren't just mean to someone to stay ahead of them, you were also mean as a way to ingratiate others to you. "Telling it like it is" even if what you said was unnecessarily cruel, was a virtue. Like, "what? I'm just saying what we're all thinking!" kind of stuff. I was taught that "teasing" is a way you show someone you love them, where "teasing" means saying all kinds of awful things that are quite hurtful. I was taught that being funny was one of the most important qualities and it didn't matter if those laughs came at the expense of others' feelings and if, over time, your comments began to destroy those around you.

It's "just teasing." It's "just joking." It was a lot of "oh come, on grow a thicker skin" over "maybe saying cruel shit for fun is bad?" It was "God, I can dish it and I can take it, why can't you?" over "maybe I want friends who support one another instead of digging at our insecurities."

Some recent nostalgia I've been wallowing in this summer reminded me of my grossest self who lived by these rules.

Those worst moments, where I was a bully and an asshole, all occurred for me at school, when I was probably around 11/12 and older. School was a very interesting place for me. When I try to paint an efficient picture of what my childhood home was like for others, I often say, my family existed in a weird liminal someplace between mainstream, mid western white suburban society and a survivalist/separatist/cult/fringe culture (like Tara Westover describes in Educated or as seen in Captain Fantastic if you're familiar w/ either of those.) We were a cult of 4 and there were many things We Did Not Do, all my dad's rules. (My grandparent's house was a safe harbor unlike my home, but that's a tangent for another time.) That said, accessing education was something my father DID trust the local government to do (as long as he could emphasize over and over how we can't trust everything they say, we could trust their lessons of math, music, English, etc.) He strategically chose a place to live where I could get the best "free" education possible in Central Indiana. My social life existed fully in a traditional school setting, where it took me all of 2 seconds to clock that other kids' lives weren't like mine, and that was compelling to me. I became a lifelong student of interpersonal relationship dynamics far before I realized I had become a lifelong student of relationships. I remember when I was in elementary school journaling about and thinking about and talking about all the friend groups and dynamics, etc. Writing stories about friend groups. Creating Barbie universes and dramas with 2 neighborhood friends. Trying to spend more and more time w/ peers instead of family.

Beyond that, I loved school because I would receive praise and love at home for A's and praise and love from my teachers for being "so good" (aka offering 100% deference to adult authority as I been told to do, even if I could question them inside.) This all means when I was very young, I did SO WELL at figuring out school...how to make friends...how to get an A+...how to get teachers to love me...how to be The Good Kid...how to reduce my value to my grades and what I produced, which is a mentality I've still only begun to unweave from within me, some 30 years later.

Anyway, point is, despite the hand I was dealt, I somehow never had trouble making friends and with a lot of my closest friends, I wasn't all that mean to in the way I describe above, at least initially. But when I did apply that behavior, god damn was it ugly. I get that now, but back then, I felt cool as fuck.

The more it (temporarily worked for me) the more I used meanness. By the time I was like 17, I literally was known as mean and wore it as a badge of honor. Lacking emotional intelligence and an overtly loving home environment, I thought it was normal? cool? idk...to "not be able to handle mushy emotional stuff." I would (LITERALLY) run if friends were telling me they loved me. It became more and more common for me to apply, "witty mean girl" quips to even my closest friends. Stuff was said about me like, "oh, if she makes fun of you, it means she really loves you." I was always saying shit to gain laughs from others that really hurt some people and I would act like that was a THEM thing like "god, they're so sensitive, poor widdle baby."

NOT GOOD. Nothing to be proud of. Signs of someone who deep down hates themselves and hopes you don't notice because of a big, bad exterior. In this era, I was someone who attracted and accepted other toxic people and was abusive toward and accepted abuse from friends who had these same issues. How I met and fell in love w/ my partner who is not at all like this during that period of time back when sometimes confounds me. His boundaries and feelings are why I started really looking inward. His patience and willingness to understand what was going on for me was immense (as I was similarly patient for things related to his baggage.) FOR YEARS we had a dynamic where I'd "make fun of" "tease" "just joke" about him too harshly in front of others and he would ask me over and over to stop. I'd get better for a while, then I'd backslide and make him feel like shit in a group setting again--but hey! everyone laughed at my ~*~*just oh so hilarious comment*~*~ and so that makes it fine right?? Obviously, not, and the older I got the more I started to FINALLY see "mean" as mean and not "telling it like it is" or being a core part of my humor.

How I REALLY know that this toxic coping mechanism I used to my benefit was a thinly veiled defense mechanism style behavior to cloud my deep deep deep self loathing is because when I'd be talking w/ my partner about his very reasonable and normal request that I not say unnecessarily cruel things about him for fun in front of others, I would be afraid of things like, "But that's part of who I am? It's my humor."

I really thought so lowly of myself that I believed that if I wasn't witty-mean, people wouldn't love me. That I wouldn't still be funny. That I wouldn't be ME unless I was being MEAN. It was so backwards and upside down because my meanness did make me harder to be around, and people were right there loving me anyway, not because of it, but despite it.

It's so sad to realize this! Looking back and describing this girl now feels in both parts foreign to me and also like looking in a mirror. I've been in 20 years of some form or another of "recovery" from this kind of childhood now, and I'm about 15 years into true healing and re-parenting myself. Almost 14 years ago, I made the biggest shift toward killing this old mentality...I moved away from my home town and the people I spent my days around to that point. I had an opportunity for a hard reset in my social life and behaviors, leaving behind old reputations that didn't serve me. And I’m still me. I’m spicy and I’m real and I’m blunt and I’m funny but I’m not cruel or mean anymore. The old me sometimes still rears her ugly head, especially when I'm tired, stress, or dysregulated. But it's less "how I am" now than ever in my life.

As I've been thinking about this whole topic for quite a few weeks now, and I tried to articulate what I did that really changed me and allowed me to shed that mean girl shell of armor I was wearing that I had so thoroughly needed to outgrow. If these things resonate with you, I do have some pieces of advice.

Speak from your personal values 100% of the time. That means defining your personal values first, not just accepting what you think is valuable you've been told by others. Once I grew the maturity to understand I needed my own life values, it was very simple to grasp that I was not in line with them. My top 5 personal life values are: love, equity, humor, loyalty, and open communication. Mean jokes don't check many of those boxes.

Become your own best friend first. My behaviors were driven by self-hatred I did not choose. When I choose how I want to feel about myself, I choose self-compassion, and I actively cultivate this mentality and practice all. the. time so that I don't backslide.

Stop "telling it like it is." This is not helpful. No one needs something obvious and cruel pointed out. This is basic "THINK" acronym stuff. It's a classic because it works. Is what you're about to say.... "true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, kind." Telling it like it is is only TRUE, it's rarely -HINK.

Never "just joke" about something someone could possibly be vulnerable about. If someone has a physical wound, you don't jab your finger into it for fun. When someone has an emotional tenderness, you similarly don't jab a mean comment into it. When in doubt, just don't joke about it.

Have actual hard conversations and "call outs" in the right times/spaces. Sometimes behavior that one friend may call "mean" is actually a very necessary hard conversation to the other person. So it's helpful to just remember that those kind of real-deal communications are rarely done effectively or productively with an audience or by using humor. Real shit deserves a real shit tone.

Push yourself to say the nicest stuff and just be fucking sincere and genuine. Tell your friends you love them. Tell your friends when you are obsessed with what they are achieving/doing/saying. Tell your friends WHAT you love about them. Make an effort for your most important relationships to have far, far more "positive bids" than negative.

Use "teasing" or "self deprecating" humor selectively and strategically. Sometimes, my partner and I DO tease each other by having open communication and actually knowing one another's boundaries, I now understand what's fine and what's not. So I can proceed w/o hurting him. But I don't know most people to that level, so I'm not going to try to tease someone else in front of others w/o that knowledge anymore. Self deprecating humor has also been a go-to for me in the past and one of the people I could be meanest to was myself. I realized I should use it sparingly with people who I don't know well, too, because I don't necessarily need to give them a cheat sheet to what my baggage is. And lastly, in general, I think that we should ALL be very very careful to spare strangers our sarcasm, deadpan comments, or whatever. Many folks are neurodiverse or otherwise don't get your sarcasm and your implications can be lost in translation. You never know what topics, with strangers, might be a hornet's nest you stumble into.

PFEW! Ok, I think that's plenty for now! If you've got similar tips or thoughts, LMK! Of course, I still fuck up my practice of not being mean all the time, but the best thing about having done this work and shared it with those around me is that my friends are much more like to say something like, "OW! Was that your dad talking for a sec?" and help me than to just go on assuming I'm an asshole. 😆

[salarta]

Scarlet Witch #4 Thoughts

Scarlet Witch #4 came out today, wrapping up the Griever arc where Polaris and Quicksilver join in to help Wanda. Thoughts below, but of course I loved it and thank Orlando, Dauterman and Camagni for their work.

My biggest takeaway is that this book really got hurt by how Marvel didn't market it as a Magnus family reunion. Yes, Wanda is the focus as she should be for a book titled after her, but you can't reach all your audiences if they don't know what you're doing. I didn't even know about it until shortly before issue 2 came out.

Overall, the story did a great job of emphasizing how great Lorna, Wanda and Pietro all are together, what great work can be done among them. There's a specific quote from Lorna that's incredibly poignant.

"You two don't threaten each other -- you strengthen each other. Strengthen me."

Fandoms can sometimes get very snipey and inward fighting. This is especially true with old timey comic book fans, whose comic book culture decided to treat everything like a competition for dominance. "I bet Batman can beat up Superman." "There's only one role for a token woman on this team, which woman is deserving of hanging with the guys." That kind of thing. Some of those old timey fans work for Marvel, and they insist on things like "there can be only one true daughter of Magneto" and then say Lorna can't be one if Wanda is one. Even though they have no such limits on male characters, e.g. Thor and Loki both being Odin's sons, or three Summers brothers existing.

This quote is a good one, because it openly recognizes that fandom can be collaborative instead of combative.

Another great thing is an overall theme of potential and possibilities. This book emphasizes it with Wanda for the story, but it's something I've said many, many times about Lorna. She's full of untapped potential, and there's tons of possibilities in things she could do that Marvel simply hasn't done. This issue in particular feels like it was made to recognize how these characters can offer so much if they're not kept in artificial boxes by people like Tom Brevoort.

On to the smaller touches. I found myself really liking Quicksilver in this. For me, personally, Pietro's been one of those characters who I never really cared a ton about but still respected greatly for his history and importance. This arc, especially this issue, made him a lot more appealing for me. He's got that cocky snark down with a good heart.

Also neat to see Lorna called magnetist. Neat new descriptor, though of course I wouldn't want it to limit her. Good as flavor text, so long as writers don't respond to it as "oh she's just a living magnet, that's all." Her powers really allow for a lot more than that.

Gonna wrap up by saying Wanda entered Griever and made her boil-pregnant. Griever's having her boil babies.

Hopefully this is just a start for the siblings spending more time together. And hopefully it provides a way out of Brevoort trying to ruin Lorna to satisfy his nostalgia for sexism.

[overgrown-kid]

To my fellow Magnus Protocol fans I am so happy to introduce you to one of my long time favourite things...Mr Blobby !!!! 💛🩷💛

Mr blobby is a TV mascot from a 90s British tv show called Noels House Party! Blobby would appear and just generally wreak havoc and it was a pretty even split if you either loved him or deeply feared him.

I'm firmly in the loving camp!!!

Over the years he has become an absolute staple of British culture and even when he lost mainstream popularity he was and still is a large part of the cultural zeitgeist of the UK!

Due to the amount of people who found Mr Blobby scary, many people have associated him with horror imagery and themes, along with uk nostalgia, and I think the way TMagP has harnessed that is really interesting and fun! I can't wait to see how it goes!

If you want to know more about Mr Blobby let me know!!!!! Or a more detailed post about my thoughts for Mr Bonzo and my opinions as a Blobby fan AND a horror fan!

As always, blobby blobby blobby!! And bonzo bonzo bonzo!!

[twig-tea]

Absolute Zero ep. 1 First Thoughts

Absolute Zero already has me in a chokehold. This is everything I want from New Siwaj. It's beautiful, it's sad, it's cinematic, the background music is orchestral. People have visible real skin texture, and different skin tones. There is so much good, subtle physical acting (not every reaction is in the face), something New excels at bringing out in his actors.

There is SO MUCH NOSTALGIA! I am drowning in the aesthetics. And I love that two of our characters, the cinephiles, are clearly also quietly obsessed with retro things for their own reasons--the DVD/VCD rental store owner who has a gramophone and cassette deck in 2008 and was still renting DVDs through 2018, and Soon, who carries around a walkman and a flip phone in 2008, past when mp3 players and smart phones were a thing, renting rather than pirating DVDs, and watching films projected from real film on a reel [also was that an old school tape-based voicemail machine on his desk?]. Anachronism is established so early in this show, so quietly but thoroughly. I wonder how many younger audience members would even know that these things are anachronistic (I know it's not just cultural differences because Remember Me confirmed Thailand had smartphones by ~2005). I know we've already established that Soon is stuck in the past because he misses his recently deceased parents, but I am curious about how else these anachronisms are going to interplay with time travel as a theme.

I am also trying so hard not to reminisce, but I had a corner store that I passed on the way home from school and so would stop in all the time and rent VHS tapes from and the old guy who ran it knew me and would say hi and point out new things I would like and would make fun of me for renting the same thing over and over and would give me free gum from the gumball machine at the counter....it was even smaller than the one in the series and it was such a comfort and man I miss it!

And the time pieces! The hourglass, the old school analog alarm clock, the cigarettes which indicate the mystery neighbor [Soon from the future] has been on the balcony awhile, the ticket stubs to indicate the amount of time Ongsah missed Soon, the lack of anything on Soon's wrist (contrasted with the watch on Ongsah's--this might be a stretch but I'm thinking about it), even the stars as old timepieces (this is definitely a stretch).

And the grief this episode! So much and so quiet. We have Soon so overwhelmed he looks like he's choking on his grief at his parents' grave, as well as his general constant air of sadness [Mix improved so much since What the Duck and UWMA!]; Ongsah crying silently at the water for reasons we don't yet know; the DVD/VCD rental place's daughter grieving her father, and Soon also grieving him, and then the preview for the next ep so we know more pain is coming. I really appreciate how different each of these circumstances and depictions of grief have been so far, and it's something I'll be thinking about as the show goes on too (because I'm sure there will be more!).

Anyway. I am really excited that the first episode lived up to my expectations!

@bengiyo you asked to be tagged 💕 Anyone else talking about this show, feel free to tag me too!

[voxofthevoid]

Nah, bro, rooting for russians to migrate to ao3 is crazy. No one educated enough on the functioning of russian laws and their culture wants that.

First of all, they are stealing like crazy. U will be surprised by the amount of works they "translate" with no heads up for original authors on ao3. Even worse than that, russia does not have established laws regarding copyright issues with fanfiction - meaning that A LOT of authors quite literally print and SELL fanfiction. It's a normal story especially with big fandoms, such as Harry Potter, Marvel universe etc.

Funny story, one of the most popular russian Harry Potter wannabe story "Tanya Grotter" tried to access western market and lost miserably to JK Rowling - which is like... lmfao... they didn't even try to mask it as original content. I have zero respect for this woman whatsoever, but it's still crazy to me, that they tried to capitalize on her works this boldly. https://blogs.princeton.edu/cotsen/2018/06/tanya-grotter-and-the-magic-of-international-copyright/

Second of all, it's a very closed community and there is a REASON why they didn't and aren't moving to ao3 anytime soon - russian "culture" has no respect for authenticity and originality. russians are still in their "colonizers" era and I can assure you - the amount of artists creating just for the sake of their passion is laughable in comparison with authors looking strictly for recognition and a bag of rice. They are making capitalistic hell out of fanfiction with no consequences. Add to that mix a great sense of patriotism and nostalgia for soviet culture and it's wraps for us.

Btw Google how many languages are you allowed to write with on Ficbook?

I can tell right away. Only one. Russian. No Ukrainian, Kazakh, Moldovan, English languages are allowed. And you can say, well, #they r pressuring them because of politics rn, they banned LGBT works lately, too. No honey it was ALWAYS like that. Since the very beginning of the Ficbook. I can assure you, you are NOT welcomed there, but your works may find a new russian author someday. With a good usage of VPN, of course, and language skills. Nothing personal, just business. At the end of the day, what's more desirable than forbidden fruit?

So, no - you don't want them to move on ao3. You really don't. And I wish people would be more aware of what kind of mentality and opinion they REALLY have on people like you especially. Not that left-wing 0.008% that long ago flew russia and now live in other countries spending whatever they want. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with highest amount of russian citizens now demand a B1 official language certificate confirmation from foreigners - a normal request every other country has when making a visa or citizenship. Who were screaming the loudest in protest, demanding to get rid of it in favor of one CERTAIN language and rhetoric of all those countries still being under CERTAIN country meaning their rights are "violated"? I let you guess, it's starts with R.

I frequently see you posting a lot of info about Palestine, which is good, but I wonder if you even know what the hell r you talking about when you posting something like this. Imagine saying - let's now give more platform to Israel to express their thoughts on whatever topics using fanfiction, artworks etc. What a great idea 💡 👍 I wonder what could possibly go wrong - certainly not increased procentage of propaganda thorough mass media... certainly not🤭 Only #fluff, #enemies to lovers, #countries r currently at war, #love wins #AUs. Amazing. I suggest you to get out of your bubble sometimes, might be groundbreaking and not comforting, but it'll get better.

Or not.

Either way, awareness is not a talent - it's a skill. You're currently lacking.

Shove your condescending bullshit up your asshole until you choke it back out of your mouth, you steaming pile of shit.

[et-cant-phone-home-no-signal]

The Last of Us HBO - Episode 1 thoughts

Warning: Pure yapping ahead, just my thoughts and things I've noticed whilst watching, it's not serious and I don't invite arguments (fellow yappers however are more than welcome)

(these make sense in the way that i wrote this as i watched so it's all chronological, this is my bday gift to all of you lol. spoilers under the cut)

Love the opening, gives a lot of the context you'd get from the opening credits of the game in a way that's easy to follow and understand for a new audience (using my mum as an example, she knows nothing about this show other than me telling her it's a zombie show - her only experience with that is the walking dead vaguely so her expectations were mid, but even she told me it's easy to understand and actually makes more sense irl compared to TWD)

The whole pandemic stuff really just hits different after COVID doesn't it

The whole climate change thing mentioned is so real, and I know this is written for modern times by modern writers, but for them to set that idea up in a 60s show is very eye-opening

The silence + stillness of the host and audience, the camera angles chosen, it's so good and unsettling in a very inconspicuous way, bravo

I wonder why they chose to change it from 2013 to 2003. Don't get me wrong I'm okay with it, and it's fun to relate to seeing a bunch of familiar things from my own childhood (lack of smartphones, older decor, easy clothing style etc), but it's a decade difference and I wonder why? Is it to make it more relatable for us that the majority of the show is set in 2023? Are we meant to connect to that more, as we've just had our own pandemic and this is a more intense fallout that we could have had if the nature of COVID had been slightly different? Maybe I'm overthinking it

The details in Sarah's room 👌 the posters, the box TV (such nostalgia), the pictures of her and friends, of her and Joel, ribbons and trophies from winning soccer tournaments, the hung up doodle paper, fairy lights, soft pink walls, it's so comfy and lived in, girly but completely her own space :') reminds me a bit of my childhood bedroom tbh, messy but comfortably so

I love that she knows her dad won't wake up so she knocks and calls because yeah, that's what you do when your dad is a deep sleeper

The contrast with Joel's room immediately after, the details there too - the old boombox cd player, fan up and running, messy dresser with slightly open drawers, the most Texas art on the walls (come on, music, deer and a tacos and beer poster?), blue walls, a hamper filled to the brim, a fucking treadmill?? Joel, your plant on the bedside table is long deceased I'm begging you to chuck it and release it from its misery 💀

(Something my mum noted, was that Sarah is wearing her natural curly hair, which mum said "it's rare to see that, in 2003 at least", to which I replied "maybe not in America?" because fr we are European and there's many cultural differences between the USA and other countries. Mum noticed it and she grew up in the Netherlands as a 60s kid. Me personally, I didn't think too much on it because it didn't click that might be odd to see someone wear natural hair, but I also admit I grew up in small villages and towns in more rural areas of Scotland and the Netherlands, so I didn't see much diversity in people growing up until like high school, but I consumed an insane amount of media such as Doctor Who and that's always been a very diverse show. Anyway, just a little thing that was noticed, I love Sarah's hair)

The domesticity :') Joel forgetting the pancake mix (good thing too), going straight for coffee, Sarah insisting on orange juice, his utter disgust at drinking it

"Gonna have to wear diapers soon." "Who says I don't already?" 💀

IS THAT DIDO PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND??? ULTIMATE WIN (I fucking love Dido, the song playing is White Flag)

"Shell." "Calcium." *pushes egg through teeth* "Lovely." stop it oh my god

Family banter, I'm eating this shit up so bad y'all, uncle Tommy <3

The Jakarta detail 👌👌

Pedro with a Texan accent is mwah

I like the detail of Sarah's name being on her bag, I had the same as a kid but my mum would sew it into the top of my bag instead, sometimes on the outside sometimes on the inside. I feel like that's not a safe thing to do anymore but it was so normal when I was a kid

Wish I could write an essay on Joel's drawer but instead I'll just say I love that Sarah is comfortable enough at home to just, go into her dad's room and grab stuff from his dresser, and know Joel won't be mad about it :) healthy home relationship

I wonder if the knife has any crazy significance? I don't remember seeing that knife ever again, unless it's just foreshadowing to Ellie's knife

I swear, them constantly avoiding baked goods is so genius (no pancakes, no cake, no biscuits, they don't eat the cookies later, it's small and clever)

Joel throwing Sarah under the bus like that to the neighbours had both me and mum cackling

Joel "no smoking in the truck" Miller

The desert storm detail is an interesting addition to Tommy's character, and at this stage, it's open whether this is about Joel or Tommy since we don't know who's truck it is (just because Tommy is driving doesn't mean it's his, after all, Joel has a garage)

The details in the school are fun, but idk if that's a normal American school thing to have pictures of the presidents and founding father up or not, I honestly will assume it is since there's also a big ass USA flag in the corner

THE PAPERMATE INKJOY PEN!!! I USED TO HAVE THOSE!!! Damn the small details are so fucking popping

This part is wonderful - where the fuck did they source that many different and fun clocks from and where can I get them?

"20." "That's it?" "Okay, 30." "20's good."

The build up is fantastic, it works for fans and for newcomers alike - all these things like the police all day and other things previously mentioned, the lady ushering her out as quickly as possible, all the people that were outside eating and enjoying the food stands are suddenly gone and the street is silent

The whole Jesus spiel, good lord, feels very Texas in the 2000s (and still tbh, let's be real)

Sarah's face when Mrs Adler says "raisin" is SUCH a fat mood my god this kid is funny

Nanna no 💀 (that fucking grandma is FREAKY as FUCK, outstanding detail)

Mercy knows. Animals always know.

Thank god Joel forgot the cake

Pedros funny little facial expression absolutely kill me, adds such dimension to Joel as a father

Super satisfying to hear the game dialogue ngl, especially that funny little bit with the watch

It's so interesting to see Joel has always struggled with his emotions and verbalising them - the small "thank you", not looking at her, rather looking down at the watch itself, fiddling with it - he's trying but he's never been good with feelings

Joel SNATCHING that dvd like, damn son, it's not going anywhere 😭😂 it's cute to see him so excited about it though, Sarah knows what he likes, even if she's not interested in it at all

The instant sofa snuggle :')

"Don't fall asleep." "Of course I won't, it's too riveting." *Cuts to Sarah fast asleep*

The phone 💀 I remember us having a phone like that, whole ass protection sleeve and all

This extra detail of Joel having to bail Tommy out just adds so much more depth to the dynamic and I'm here for it, also explains why the fuck Joel wasn't in the house at 2am (that always bothered me a bit about the game)

Joel loves his daughter so much,,,, the gentle way he puts her in bed, shoes and all, covering her up with her blanket, little kiss on the head,,,,, I'm already in pain for what's to come

Mercy my sweet baby <3 what a good dog, so scared :(

The show really captured that out of sync feeling when something like this happens - nothing crazy yet, just utter confusion and mild panic creeping in because this isn't normal but nothing seems to be happening yet

Mercy said "peace ✌️ I'm out"

This girl is braver than me, I wouldn't have walked through the door - but that being said I haven't had close neighbours like this in years so maybe it's just that they're very close and she feels comfortable doing so

Oh that's fucked UP dude, Sarah downright walking into cannibal town that's so disturbing (fantastic acting and special effects all around)

The cordyceps special effects are so fucking visceral and disgusting, that out of the mouth?? Grim!! Love how they did this

Love the amount of game dialogue and referencing we get in this particular part - "You take 71-" "71, I know.", the whole car conversation, "That's Jimmy's place" (I know in the game Jimmy is the neighbour and it's Louis'farm that's on fire but the reference stands), most of the camera work being fixed on Sarah or from Sarah's perspective in the back, "They got a kid Joel." "So do we, keep driving. Somebody else'll come along.", just a fucking well done scene tbh

This whole part in the car from Sarah's POV absolutely invokes the same anxiety I felt when playing this bit of the game, totally made me feel like I'm in the truck with them and it's scary (scary good)

I was so thrown off by the fact that they avoided the car crash that I wasn't expecting the alternative that they chose instead 💀 like shit??? A whole ass plane??? Love that they did the eerie music to black thing though that was great

Nico honestly just stole my whole heart as Sarah she got all the fucking expressions down, the panic, the way she talks, the pained sounds, love it 10/10 casting imo

The instant reaction time on Joel and getting Sarah out of the way of that car was NUTS like, I rewatched that part multiple times just to see how quickly he switched them around goddamn

Pedro and Nico are a fantastic father daughter duo 👌

Joel pushing Sarah's head under his chin more so she doesn't look 🥺

The infected actors are fucking amazing, terrifying dedication to the role

Oh no I'm about to cry so hard guys

Sarah 😭😭😭 her whimpers make me so fucking upset this scene is so fucking sad

On a genuine note, Nico did an outstanding job of channeling the desperation from the game, and so did Pedro and Gabriel - Tommy's choked up "Joel" and look of utter defeat and grief is absolutely heartbreaking

Joel holding his dead daughter in his arms, rocking her like a baby, crying out for her to please please be okay...... Yeah

The set for the front of the Boston QZ 🙌

It's so telling that the first thing we see FEDRA do is lie to a child and kill her when they promised she was gonna be okay. They promised they were gonna feed her and get her toys, and that the medicine would help her. They told her that she was safe. And they killed her.

Having Joel be the one to throw her into the fire, holding her the same way he held Sarah, was such poignant choice - how a man can change over 20 years

The Boston details - the set itself, the extras, the shoelaces for ration cards, the covering up of the firefly logo, the sheer amount of FEDRA guards everywhere

Ah yes, the return of public hangings, my favourite 🫠

Interesting to see Joel "smuggler and dealer" Miller, something we didn't get much of in the game tbh

Tess <3

Robert is so slimy eugh

I love that we get to see more of Tess outside of her and Joel, it builds more of a picture of who she is besides just Joel's smuggle partner - also love the amazing bruise makeup they did for her, looks super real and painful

The fireflies actively causing mayhem in the QZ is also a great added detail! We see it a bit in game but I enjoy the constant references to it as well

Bella as Ellie is god tier damn they're so good - snarky as FUCK

Joel just, skipping the fucking line without giving a shit, no one stopping him

"When I'm sleeping, Gabriela listens, or my son. The smart one, not the other one, god bless him." 💀😂😭

I love that Joel has a secret stash in his apartment

Ah yes, drugs and alcohol, the remedy to all

The watch 😭

Liking the music and camera usage in this scene, makes me feel like I'm high myself

Tess just coming in, scooting Joel over in bed and being the big spoon 🙌 the tender way in which she slides her arm over his waist and he grabs her hand in his 😭

The jarring cut to it being day and him lying down alone, pheww

The way Joel is instantly awake and ready to fucking go when he sees Tess' face 🫠

Enjoy how we get Tess saying how absolutely terrified Robert is of Joel, that he needs to take a breath and go slow, but reassures him she still wants to fuck him up - Tess is handling Joel like an spooked animal, gently and with care

Marlene's casting is fantastic 👌 - JUST CLOCKED THAT THE REASON WHY I FELT THAT IMMEDIATELY IS BECAUSE MERLE VOICED MARLENE IN GAME, NO WONDER I INSTANTLY FELT SHE WAS RIGHT!! I recognised her voice without clocking it

I enjoy the changes made to Marlene from the game, she feels more real here, more brutal, this is a rebellion leader who is aware shit isn't going well, it's refreshing - we're seeing more of the inner workings of the firefly situation in Boston

I think it's cute that they still have shitty bars and stuff, humans desire connection and community so much they'll make the best out of whatever they got

"You tell me to 'look for the light' and I'll break your jaw." SLAY LOL

This insight into Ellie's treatment and her relationship with Marlene is really interesting - it's more context which I always enjoy

"You my fucking mom or something?" "Do I look like your mom?" "Nooo, you do not." 😂

First Riley mention, time to feel sad!

With more thought, the "he's here" is probably about Robert! Didn't think much on that before

Detail notice - love how hair and makeup department did Tess and Joel's graying hairs, it looks really good and natural. I read some comments ages ago that Joel's hair is too silver in some spots, but I raise to you my mum in defence, who went grey quite early (she started in her late 30s) and has beautiful silver highlights naturally between the darker hairs. If my mum ever finds out I've posted that online, she'll probably kill me, but then she shouldn't have genetically given me her terrible eyesight 😌 consider it retaliation

The wall body is so grotesque and beautiful, it reminds me a bit of Annihilation (if you haven't seen that movie, I recommend! Fantastic music and visual effects)

*Joel rambles about the building structure* "This has been 'Construction Corner' with Joel Miller." got me creasing lmao they're so snarky and funny

Man I wonder wtf happened, like, did Robert try to scam them so bad they had a shootout?? Crazy

"So this is who Robert screwed us over with? The Che Guevara of Boston?" tells me everything I need to know about Marlene

The shootout stance oooooohhsggsg

Kim and her missing ear 💀

I like the way they get the Ellie job in the show, it works really well

"Really? That fast?" crying lmao

There's clearly more history between Tommy, Marlene and Joel and I know it's because Tommy was a firefly but man what I wouldn't give for a series on the 20 years between this and 2003!!! I'd play a whole game of that!!! I wanna know what happened, in detail!!

Something that bothers me: they're soaked, their shoes are squelching, yet the floor is bone dry after they walk in 😭

I love how smart and inquisitive Ellie is, all the small things she notices and picks up on

Love the same dialogue but different way of delivering it from the game, refreshing as fuck

Ellie's a sassy little shit ain't she (I love her)

I find it constantly funny that cars and shit are still used after 20 years because y'all, gasoline has a shelf life of like 3-6 months and diesel about a year if they're stored correctly with stabilisers, so, why are vehicles used so much?? Where are they getting their gasoline from?? Yes I am aware you can make bio-gas out of plants but it's a complicated process and do you really think FEDRA is out here with greenhouses for gasoline? No me neither

Tess is actually so fucking lovely in regards to Ellie, like, mom mode detected - also love how it's Tess that takes the lead

I can feel my own back protesting at seeing them squat walk, yikes

Ellie gripping Tess' hand for support 😭💕

Joel's flashback due to the light - him beating that guy to fucking death because he's already lost one daughter to a soldier before, and he may not even like Ellie yet but he'll be damned if he lets another little girl die at the barrel of a gun like that

Ellie's face, like she wants to be scared of Joel but shit, that guy just killed a FEDRA soldier to protect her and you can see the admiration in her eyes, but the fear is there too

The radio at the end - we know Bill and Frank aren't alright but at this stage we don't know what exactly that means

The final shot of the iconic towers at the end, an infected screaming on the roof - fucking poetry

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading!! It's literally just my running thought process whilst watching!! Do you agree with some of my notes, was there anything you noticed that i didn't? Comments and reblogs welcome <3

Episode 2 thoughts:

Episode 3 thoughts: