#i mean idk. i'm no expert. just seems fine to me

[morhido]

Sighs. Okay yeah i have thoughts about cgi toothless.

First of all, why does he look so... slimy? He feels too smooth. Like they just stretched some scaly skin over a skeleton and let it walk around. Immediately offputting.

His body language is. Fine? Am i being nitpicky or does it seem just the tiniest bit less expressive? I'm guessing this is either the scene right after hiccup cuts him free, in which case he should be way more intimidating, or the fish-sharing scene, in which case he should feel a little friendlier and more curious around hiccup. It's a quick shot so i won't put a ton of expectations onto it, but i think it's worth noting.

Okay this is a legitimately cool detail though. He has a secondary eyelid!! You can see it slipping away when he opens his eyes. That's a detail exclusive to the books so i like that they included something as small as that.

Sighs again. And this is the shot that prompted me to make this post.

Look at the original, and then look at the cgi version. I could write an essay about how inferior the cgi version is in comparison.

First off, they flattened his face. I swear every iteration of night furies after the first movie has just been compressing their snouts until they're sufficiently 'cute' enough for the audience to forget they're supposed to be sleek and aerodynamic.

Second, his eyes. Absolutely radioactive. I understand using a brighter colour for his eyes, especially in a relatively darker environment to make him stand out and seem more fantastical. But. They're just so bright. It's mildly unsettling how saturated they are compared to everything else.

Third, his eyes. Again.

Toothless is supposed to be terrified but still threatening in this scene, and the original shot conveys that perfectly. If it's a threat, then by all means hiccup should kill it or at least run, but instead he draws a connection between both of them being scared of the other and decides to cut him loose instead. And that's the core of their relationship. Toothless is staring him down with a slitted pupil that could just as easily be interpreted as "fuck around and find out" but hiccup just acknowledges that there's a frightened, injured animal in front of him that needs help, and he helps.

Is any of that conveyed in the cgi version? No!! It's trying so hard to be cute that it's gone full circle back to just being scary. The wide-eyed stare, the dilated pupil, he's basically just saying "🥺🥺 uwu pwease i'm so cute and innocent don't kill me aha 👉👈". Which is a lot less of a compelling reason for hiccup to free him!! Plus the fact that toothless turns up to look at him instead of lying and accepting his fate like in the original, which only makes it seem even more like he's trying to show off how apparently adorable he is.

Idk. Just the difference between the in-your-face sanitised cuteness of "teehe you wouldn't kill little old me would you? 🥺" and the expert subtlety of his "please don't hurt me" of the original doesn't give me high hopes for a toothless that stays true to his character from the first movie. Even from something as small as this. He's gonna get woobified. I can feel it.

[pedge-page]

i love your preggo wife drabbles soo much!!! could you write one where joel takes care of reader with her morning sickness? 🫶🏻

Joel dealing with Preggo Reader: Morning Sickness

Notes: Idk why I keep making reader so mean but he's such a trooper! I'm also no pregnancy expert obviously so plz take my minimal effort in research with a grain of salt.

Warnings: mean reader, language, vomitting, morning sickness

- - - -

"I hate your penis."

Joel rolls his eyes. It's only the 11th time you've said it today while being hunched over the toilet, with Joel caringly hovering over you, holding your hair out of the way as you take a deep breath and hurl the breakfast he made you this morning.

"I hate—"

"I know, sweet pea. Just breathe."

You nod in an almost drunken state. He knows its because you've got no energy in you to really fight him, with the baby giving you all the first batch of hell in the life long journey of headaches in child bearing.

He rubs over your spin, caressing the shivers raking over your body so you can focus on not dying right now.

"I hate your toes. I hate your shampoo. I hate your fingernails. I hate your toast.  I hate—"

"Ah huh..."

At first he was pretty upset and angered by how much you loath him, but at some point he's tuned it out and just holds and shushes you. While you pout your disdain for the man, you don't oppose his touch.

For now.

"Doin' so good, baby. It's only temporary, baby's just making sure you're a tough momma—"

"Shut the fuck up and get me some water."

Joel stands, his knees reminding him of his less than youthful age, before running downstairs and grabbing a bottle.

You were both a little surprised that all the morning sickness you were warned about hadn't really given either of you trouble in your first trimester. It came with a surprise by the middle of your second, and comes and goes on a daily basis. Today is honestly not so bad: it's your attitude shift that really gives him whiplash.

By the time he gets back up, you're already meandering out of the bathroom like a lost soul with puffy, sleep deprived eyes, and over to the bed, slowly crawling over the mattress, muttering "too tall". You feel his hand supportively on your back, but you snap "fuck off" and get in the bed yourself. He goes to tuck you in with the sheet, but again your hand slaps his away and you close your eyes into darkness.

You can still feel his annoying presence. "What!" You yell, eyes shooting open to see the bottle dangling from his hand. You snatch it without a thank you and gulp.

Joel's just got his hands on his hips, staring at you.

"Kern I hEp ouu, Hondah?" You gurgle through your water sloshing in your mouth.

He just chuckles to himself. "You're cute like this."

You swallow. "I'll fuck you the fuck up."

He laughs even harder, seemingly unserious in your threats. To him, you looked even smaller than before, despite the obvious roundness growing in your tum tum. You seemed like some small puppy finding her growl, or toddler pointing her finger trying to be intimidating but unaware of how badly you're failing.

"So amusing? Why dont you make yourself useful and rub my feet," you demand.

"You need to eat food, baby girl."

"BaBy GiRl" you mock with puppet hand mouth. "NAG nag NAG. I Don't WANT food. I want my FOOT. In your HAND. before I put it up your ASS."

Joel can tolerate the baby cock-blocking him for a few weeks and the endless assult of your words, but he puts his foot down when your basic needs arent being met. "I need you to eat food. You need energy. Baby needs energy."

"Fine! Crackers, you crackhead. Then—" and you thrust your leg in the hair and wiggle your foot in his face so he gets the picture.

"Okay okay!" And he walks out the bedroom.

Joel spends a record 4 minutes downstairs hurriedly putting together a fancy array of cracker options, from Saltines, to Townhouse, to Ritz. He also pops a few cubes of diced ham in his mouth and then holds a few in his hand to snack on later since he too had to abandon breakfast to service you.

By the time you're conplaining "it's been hours!" He's trotting up the stairs, you wiggle your bum so you sit upright in bed, hand over gurgling belly as he brings the tray to you.

Just as youre about to feast on these dry ass cardboard squares, your nose twitches. You see Joel chewing something in his grasp, popping one cube of pale meat quickly into his mouth, and it takes all of 2 seconds for the smell to travel to your brain before you're throwing the tray on the ground, crackers spilling all over the carpet and b lining to the bathroom again to throw up.

As he hears your dramatic gasps and hurls, Joel pulls out his little note pad he's been documenting your pregnancy so far. He writes "no ham" in the lines , right under "hates my penis", before tossing the paper on the bed and stroking your hair lovingly again as you empty your entire organs in the toilet.

By the time you finish, you've got snot and tears running down your face. "but I LOVED HAAAMMMMM" You screech.

It's true. You used to wrap a thick spread of cold butter on a slice of cheap deli ham and eatnit like a cannoli— something he thought was a weird aquired taste BEFORE he even got you pregnant.

Joel grabs a tissue and plants it firmly in your face, and you squeeze your eyes tight and blow right into his palm like a little snot nosed trumpet. He rubs his fingers in your nostrils to get all the boogers out before tossing it and helping you up to your feet again.

All the while you're bawling "l-l-loved—my hh-ham—n cheese" with gross babbling as he tucks you back in the duvet. You were fine with giving up other aversions like tomatoes, pizza crust, and yogurt. Even sex (occasionally). But your beloved ham is one baby step too far.

"Your—"sniffle— "big—"hiccup—"ugly—"choke—"WORM —" cough—"DID THIS TO MEEE," you accuse his crotch and wail into the air.

Then you hiccup very loudly and go quiet entirely.

You look around with curious eyes, fresh tears suddenly unbothering you at the moment.

"Mmmmmmmn crackers," you moan. "Gimme that one," and you point to the mess on the floor.

"What one?"

"That one!"

He bends down and picks up a piece.

But you shake your head. "No that one."

"No." "No the other." "No."

"Which one!" He shouts, unable to contain the lace of frustration.

"The one I'm pointing to, stupid!"

He finally picks up one hes pointed to 3 times already and you clap your hands.

You snatch it out of his grasp, pull a hair off its curved cracked edge before munching on it happily.

He looks at with uncertainty on his face.

You swallow the dry mushed bits and hum contently. "Mmm. Salty."

-

Not even 12 hours later  you two are getting ready for bed, and you mood has completely changed. Still sick, but instead of being unable to stand Joel's entire existence, you praise it.

"Joel, honey? Can you please prop my feet up Under this pillow. I'm sorry. I just can't seem to reach it myself."

"Baby? I'm a little thirsty. Can you get me some water?"

"Im so sorry, Joel. I just can't stomach this food, I know you put so much effort into it. Ugh! I loved this, I really did! I don't know what's wrong with me."

You rub over the discomfort in your slightly swollen tummy and try to be a brave girl and fight the tears, as Joel's been so attentive to your needs, aches, cries and cravings, only to hurl them back up.

You sniffle and look up to him.

He's a bit tense, almost in a fight or flight stance with fear behind his eyes.

"W-whats wrong, Joel?" you ask with a honey song voice.

"Who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

- - - -

Permanent taglist :

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[drinker-of-paint]

those docs are sick as hell. did you use posca markers? comma also anything to seal the design on?

So I'm not an expert by any means but I'm happy to share my research

Also I wore them out and about on a misty rain day today and they seem to have held up but only time will tell

So from the research I did custom designs like this work best on certain types of docs (it said 'smooth leather' was best, and there was one that it absolutely doesn't work on so deffo look that up to be sure not to ruin your docs if you already have a pair you're thinking of decorating) I'm not really sure if mine count as smooth leather cause they're kind of matte and they might have been talking about a specific type but anyway- that's something to keep in mind.

Next said to prep the area you're painting. There's a few things you can use but i ended up just wiping some nail Polish remover (in place of rubbing alcahol) over the area with a cloth and leaving it to dry for a minute (don't go overboard with it though- you want to find the happy medium of taking off some of the oils so the paint can bond with the surface but not so much that you leave the area looking damaged or drying out the leather too much, that can cause long term damage)

I played with some designs and placement of the different eye sizes in my sketchbook before I was ready to brave putting paint on these brand new doc martens 😂

May have been a me thing but I do recommend it so you're as confident as possible with what you want to do every time you put the pen down. Depending on the type of fabric you can use tissue or a cotton swab with more rubbing alcohol to correct mistakes with posca but I couldn't find anything that worked for mine so I was just really careful.

Next unless you're really brave it's probably a good idea to use a soft pencil to draw the pattern to trace, then when you're ready to put posca on it (I used the type with the pointy plastic nib- makes it much easier to get sharp points) just really take your time with it

if you're adhd like me and feel burnt out after doing one side definitely take a break and come back to it when you're zoned into it again because when you're out of steam is when you'll start making mistakes and rushing things 😂

When you're all done and happy, and you're sure it doesn't need another layer for full vibrancy, (though fewer layers is preferable) posca dries really quick but just to be completely sure I let them sit for like half an hour.

Now I should preface this by saying i couldn't find literally anything about sealing posca on your docs online, most I could find were people saying just be sure to prep the leather and it'll be fine, but idk I live in England it's wet as fuck here I don't know if I trust that.

I did find one thing from posca saying you can use water based varnish to seal it on leather but idk if that was really talking about shoes? I don't have any varnish but I'm probably going to get some just to be safe.

I DID though use a layer of some of my sisters hairspray, because it was literally all I had to hand, which at least to me did seem like it made it more sturdy when I ran a fingernail over it but I don't know if I trust getting them too wet with only the protection of hairspray

Anyway this was a super long response overexplaining more than you actually asked 😅

but i thought this might be helpful to put out there for others who are trying it for the first time because I couldn't actually find anywhere that had clear instructions in one place, hope it helped 😂

[shizuu-chann]

Does anyone have an explanation for Veilguard companions', er, descriptions? By that I mean the little blurb underneath their bond level. Initially I thought it was a description of their attitude toward you, but then some of them seemed more like literal descriptions.

Example: Bellara starts off as "Eluvian Expert," and now she's "Elven Historian." That seems to fit; it's a description of who she is and what her skills are. Harding, though? She goes from "Associate" to "Loyal Friend," or Davrin goes from "Monster Hunter" to "Comrade in Arms." Even Emmerich confuses me, from "Fellow Necromancer" to "Esteemed Mortalitasi." (I'm playing a Mourn Watcher, obviously, so idk what it says if you play another faction yet.)

Lucanis's feels even more confusing. He goes from "Contract Killer" to "Flirting with Danger" (if you flirt with/romance him, anyway). The first one is fine, it explains who he is to Rook, but the second could be either how you see your relationship with him or how he sees you in general.

The point is I'm confused, wondering if there's some sort of pattern to the descriptors. Does anyone else have any plausible theories? Is it how they see you or the other way around? Is it supposed to make sense at all? Is this an oversight by the devs or am I just stupid? Lol

[fandom-hoarder]

Ok, so I got an ask for mutual aid. Of course, it's human to want to help someone in need, even if all you can do is reblog their post. But you also don't want to be scammed, or help spread a scam. So you look for clues, or you only reblog your mutuals' aid posts because you at least know they're *real*, or you don't reblog aid posts at all.

So, what are the tells? (I'm not an expert, this is just what I've learned through osmosis.)

Do they follow/interact with you, outside of the mutual aid request?

Is their username weirdly generic?

Does the blog look like a real tumblr user, and not just someone who made a tumblr to ask for aid? How old is it? Is it involved in any fandoms? Does it seem staged?

Does their aid ask and needs description make sense? Is it overly vague, or bogged down with unneeded details?

If you quote-search the body of their aid ask, do you get any similar hits for scams on other sites or under other names?

Does the account for donations look legit?

What do you find when you reverse image search?

So, having received an ask that sounded very much like someone whose mutual aid I would want to support if they're real, but already having two red flags from the jump (not following me and not in my notifications, weird wording and grammar on ask), I endeavored to suss them out.

Screencaps of my adventure under the cut.

Like someone else has said, please don't go harrass this blog. Even if it's a scam, at some point there's a person behind that screen.

So here's the ask.

Red flags: they don't follow me, I don't know them, the ask is long, the grammar and punctuation are bad, word choices are odd or misspelled. These don't mean it's automatically fake, but it looks more like a weird AI than someone using google translate to communicate in English.

So I check their blog.

Their pinned post is this (click to read, it's a longass pic):

I don't take any links yet.

I take a block of their post and check it in google; all I get are snapshots of tumblr reblogs for their aid post. I click the "buy me a coffee" link, and it looks...idk, fine I guess. There's a tumblr logo, but clicking it seems to do nothing. (I'm on mobile)

A quick search of their name on tumblr gives me 2 posts mentioning them spamming this same message to people.

I read the one with the readmore linked here

After reading wannursyafiqah74's post about it, I got on my laptop and went back to casualdonutfire.

Mostly random reblogs; cats and other random reblogs of mostly pics, many with comments that could've/should've been tags, and no actual tags whatsoever. Like set dressing that says, "See? I'm a real person! I'm leaving comments about my reblogs that show I'm not a bot! I interact! I know what I'm I'm reblogging!"

It gives me a creepy vibe. I try google again to see if I can find their presence elsewhere on tumblr. The returns are still all snapshots of their mutual aid post. I open their archive. Ok, their tumblr has archive on...?

There are no fandom-esque posts until the very first reblog, a comment on One Piece fanart on October 18, 2023.

Their first post about needing aid was on November 7, 2023. Nearly the same wording as their pinned post, except they don't mention having a child. Zero specifics on what amount is needed for what or a timeline or anything. Not even anything about Christmas coming up. Tagged generously for trans surgery and other visibility words.

Oh. AND. The buymeacoffee is different. Adela, not Adella.

Then their next post for aid is fresh on January 11, 2024; nearly the same wording, except now there's a daughter and a birthday -- no date for the birthday, though, is there?!

[reblog linked here] If you go to their January 12th reblog and click on the "video proof," it's an audio-only black screen upload to imgur, with no identifying info for what's going on other than what they describe (and it doesn't really sound like what they describe; it sounds like a kid ready for christmas but not disappointed, like idk what more you're supposed to get out of it)

Then I clicked on their buymeacoffee link and noticed something. When I hovered my mouse over the tumblr symbol under their blurb, the link embedded there showed up at the bottom of my screen. And it was NOT casualdonutfire.

It was deepeagletimetravel. And, of course, it's a nuked tumblr. Hence doing NOTHING for me on mobile.

So I went to google again!

And lo, what do I find in those lurking reblogs?

ANOTHER MUTUAL AID POST IN EVERYONE'S REBLOGS. WITH A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSONA AND STORY. BUT THE SAME WALL OF TEXT + BAD PUNCTUATION STYLE

Using a stock photo for their initial "bio" that seems awfully misleading when you don't say it's a stock photo.

And with stolen/uncredited art by thetransformistress as a thank you.

And, of course, the buymeacoffee page it linked for Ameera (buymeacoffee.com/AmeeradelzC) is blank. 👀 Totallynormal, nothing to see here.

But this makes me think. I go back to that Nov 7 casualdonutfire post, with their first buymeacoffee link to "Adela" (buymeacoffee.com/adelladomil)--

and what do ya know, the tumblr that opens is casualdonutfire!

So did they forget they made an adela account, and change their ameera buymeacoffee account to adella for their new post, forgetting to change the deepeagletimetravel tumblr name?! 🤷‍♀️

[megamindsecretlair]

Writing Tip #2

This one may seem a little redundant, forgive me, but it's necessary. I mean this with all the love in my heart, please fall in love with the enter bar. Part of writing is understanding structure and it goes for fics too. No one, and I mean no one, wants to read a block of text.

You start a new paragraph whenever you have a new thought, someone new is talking, or there's a change in scene or location. Heavy on the when someone new is talking. At no point should you have two pieces of dialogue in the same paragraph. I'll use my fic "Sunshine" to illustrate my point.

Don't

He tugged on one of your braids. “You too good to be hanging around here,” he said. Oh god, his voice was fine too. No, he was dangerous. But you couldn’t make your legs move away. “What you talkin’ about?” You managed to ask. “You one of them good girls that always got her nose in a book,” he said. He sipped whatever was in his cup. From the faint smell of it, it was probably Henny. It always was. 

Even with dialogue tags (he said, she said), it's clunky and will confuse the reader.

Do

He tugged on one of your braids. “You too good to be hanging around here,” he said. Oh god, his voice was fine too. No, he was dangerous. But you couldn’t make your legs move away. “What you talkin’ about?” You managed to ask. “You one of them good girls that always got her nose in a book,” he said. He sipped whatever was in his cup. From the faint smell of it, it was probably Henny. It always was. 

By using a new paragraph, it's softer on the eyes, visually clues you in that someone else is speaking, and allows you to expand on a character's thoughts before you write the response.

You can have a single word paragraph too. If you want to highlight a particular emotion or echo something you just wrote, that works too.

Speaking of dialogue tags, fall in love with using those as well. It's clear to YOU who's speaking, but for a reader, this is the first time they're reading it.

“Not so good, are you?” “Oh shit.” “You tappin’ out?”

Which one is speaking? Which lines belong to Tyrone and which lines belong to the reader? It's hard to tell which. So consider:

“Not so good, are you?” He asked. He pulled you closer. His warm hands circled your waist and pulled you flush against him, you could feel his thick cock against your thigh. “Oh shit,” you gasped.  He chuckled. “You tappin’ out?” He asked. 

Not only does dialogue tags help orient the reader, using alternatives to "said" help highlight what's going on the characters' minds without needing an extra paragraph. I could have said "said" instead of "gasped" but a stronger verb was needed. "Gasped" gets the point across that Reader is turned on and surprised at finding Tyrone so big and ready.

You don't have to go crazy with dialogue tags. Using "said" is perfectly fine and no, it is not overused. It fades to the background as you're reading. But knowing when to use something different is an important skill you have to develop as a writer. Variety is the spice of life.

Sometimes it's not your writing that needs to improve, it's your structure and formatting. I promise, start breaking up your paragraphs and you'll notice a huge difference in flow.

Idk, I'm not an expert. But try it and see if it works 😗 Find more tips and posts about my process: Behind the Megadome.

[saturns-cryptid]

Never got to share some of my headcanons for the hfr characters but here we go:

Chai is a blind mf (near-sighted) and needs glasses. Like, right now.

I don’t really know what glasses to give him though. Maybe like John Johanas has. Those could probably suit him.

Korsica is sporty, without a doubt, all about that daily exercise and healthy nutritious diet. What sport would she do though? I think boxing, like with Macaron, would probably suit her, yet I’d also think of kickboxing and maybe some jogging on the side.

On that note, Chai seems extremely flexible, almost if not outright gymnast levels. It remains a mystery for how long Chai had his right arm the way it was before the implant. Maybe he had it like that since he was a baby, but I can imagine him somehow injuring it in his early years, and it was just so severe that he couldn’t get its fine motor skills back. Like, maybe Chai has a degenerative disease that either runs in the family or only affected him due to him being a gymnast.

Or he’s just that naturally flexible and jumpy idk

Another headcanon for Korsica (me fine woman) is that she actually used to play drums and it’s not just a motive that she has in the game with her batons. Maybe she was part of the school orchestra and would only play simple tunes in there, while actually being good enough to pop off any minute. I instantly remember that video “When you’re overqualified for the job” when I think about it.

If the groups were to start a band, then Macaron would def be a piano guy and Peppermint the bass girly.

OKAY i'm gonna go down the headcanon list ting bc i love your takes and i want to respond to all of them properly TEE HEE

would NEVER have thought chai to be blind or in need of glasses tbh, though i'm here for it!! i personally think he would've been more far sighted bc of his ability to snatch onto magnets and grab enemies and stuff... (the thought of him squinting the entire game and hitting any moving robot looking blobs in his field of vision is pretty funny though tbh LOL) ... also i looked up john johanas and it's been a hot minute since i've booted up the game but i SWEAR the ones with the thick black frames are an actual pair of glasses you can get in the shop for chai and i am SOOO doodling that if i have the time

korsica is absolutely sporty. proof: sporty fit in shop. also she's head of security she literally HAS to stay in shape to spin that thang around. (also idk if it's just me but it's implied her batons are pretty heavy bc there's this one specific scene during her boss fight when the game is like "okay scratch parrying everything!" where she strains JUST a little bit to get into the spinning motion so she is SOOOOO absolutely muscular). ALSO did not think about korsica and macaron sparring!! macaron doesn't seem like the type to spar at his age LOL... but maybe he'd be up for it occasionally post game :0!!

i definitely think he would've tried to stay limber growing up all things considered, he has WAYYY too much stamina if he can beat up all those robots LOL but now that you mention it, he DID practically fold in half at the very end of the first stage... BUT i personally hc he has monoplegia as a result of an accident when he was really young as opposed to something he was born with. i'm by no means a medical expert, but it sounds... medically inaccurate for a degenerative muscle disease to stay in one arm? (if you ask me tho, i think he would have a brachial plexus birth injury IF he were to be born with it, but again) take that with a fistful of salt, i'm not a doctor and i don't know shit

i don't have much to say for the last two, i agree with you for the most part BWAHGAHGW i love the idea that if someone asked korsica about why she chose the weapons she chose, she'd just say something like "hitting drums, hitting people. same difference." and shrug BWAHWBJAHGSHJF

[doomed-era]

RAMBLING ABOUT CULTS TIME!!!

HELL YES

OKAY SO! CULTS. if any of this is interesting to you and you like weird indie animation movies or comics uhh you could check out the final exit of the disciples of ascensia and joe vs. elan school nooo im not shilling things i like nooo

OKAY. LET ME MAKE A LISTICLE. though there are clear indicators of cultlike behavior, the way the word cult is used is often relative and ill-defined. as a fair warning, i'm not an expert on any of this; it's just a casual interest of mine. feel free to correct me if i get anything wrong!

ONE. i think it's generally agreed upon that there's not much of a difference between high-control groups and cults. however, i think when people think of a cult, their idea of what that is is a lot more nebulous and associated with religion. cults do not have to be religious! also, i think high-control group in general suggests that it's just controlling, and so idk cults seem more like a subset of high-control groups to me i'm not going to argue about this if someone actually told me they are synanonymous (haha gotcha) but

TWO. ANYONE CAN JOIN A CULT. anyone could be vulnerable to a cult; it doesn't matter if you're smart or cool or famous or whatever. the primary reason people join is to be part of something, for acceptance and community and joining others under a common banner. people in cults are just as human as everyone else, they are not stupid or crazy or inherently bad. oftentimes, even though they may do horrible things to others, they were preyed upon themselves.

THREE. okay so I know I was like "you should look at the BITE model" earlier but it is a flawed model </3 namely there's things about it that seem to apply more to western cultural norms and i don't know if i'd apply them to others (for example, some cultures are more communal and less individualistic. the definition for what is a healthy amount of individualist or collectivist behavior depends a lot on who you're talking to.) also though there are definitely controlling religions if a controlling religion is considered an acceptable mainstream belief generally i would not consider them cults. a lot of these things are still relative.

FOUR. cults are all about control!! this above all else is what sets them apart from any other type of gathering or organization. they will isolate you from others and attempt to control you by any means necessary. some of these are more obvious, like physical isolation, keeping you from accessing information that isn't approved by the cult (they'll usually give a reason for this), or frequent monitoring. some of them are more subtle, like sending you out to "see the outside world" for a specific task to reinforce how "bad" the outside world is. there's very much an "us vs them" mentality going on. think of cults as a bit like an abusive relationship, except on a broader scale!

FIVE. cults often have a charismatic leader and a strict hierarchy! also honestly the things cult leaders do sometimes can be just so goddamn funny like these guys will buy 27 yachts and watches and sex fifty people while the rest of their group lives in complete squalor but it's fine because Reasons!!! they frequently break their own rules it's kinda funny. people further up on the hierarchy will usually get more privileges than those at the bottom. also if the cult leader writes a book they get bonus points from me because lmao

uh i'm kinda out of things to ramble out for now unless its something specific hope u enjoy

[sentientgopro]

So, the other day, I told the first other person I know IRL that I cracked, over a month after it happened, and it was, well, weird.

The reason for it being this person in particular was that I know, damn well, they get it. Hell, they're a massive egg themselves, their words, not mine. So I knew if I was gonna tell anyone, they had to be first.

I didn't wanna outright bring it up to them if I could avoid it, so I started with small hints every now and again, like being a little too careless with keeping my phone close to me while I had an r/egg_irl or r/traaaaaa... post on my feed. They commented on it when they saw egg irl, I told them Im not an egg, they looked at me as if to say "yeaahhh sure about that buddy" and I followed up by saying an egg is someone who hasn't realised it, And I realised a month ago.

Idk if I wasn't clear enough, it was kinda loud in the room, of whether they thought I was joking, but they didn't really react to it at the time.

It wasn't until we went on a walk to get lunch a week or so later, and they kinda got into something a bit personal out of the blue, and it really set the tone of "we dont normally talk about shit but we can do that right now." As it goes, the thing they were talking about could feed kinda well into me being more upfront with what I was trying to say. I repeated the same "Im not an egg" trick I did last time but clearer, and we had a back and forth exchange of

"But In a cis way right?"

"No."

"But in a-"

"No."

"...

...

...But in a-"

"no."

and it kinda seemed to catch them off guard a bit, being so upfront with what I was saying. As I said, they say themself that they're a massive egg, as a joke, ofcourse. But I think they were so suprised by me doing that because they feel the same way but are down so many layers deep in "in a cis way, still cis tho". And it kinda makes me wonder if me being so upfront and honest with myself about it will help them be honest to themself. Either way, I feel like I'm starting to read too much into someone elses emotions and make assumptions based on nothing.

Other than the initial suprise, they didn't really react much and have much else to say, and I really think thats a good outcome? Like, they get my situation, I can't start transitioning for a while, so they understand that I'm not really trans yet, Im just telling them how I feel, and kinda reacted like that was the case. The most they said was when I was talking about how I just kinda gotta manage it for now until I can move out and they said "Fuck it, we ball" and I was just like. Exactly, you get exactly what I mean.

So its weird, because while it feels like a massive deal to me and feels kinda anticlimactic, I dont really want to be treated like its a massive deal yet? Because really, nothing has or will change for a long time, and thats part of the reason I havent come out to more people yet, because its just gonna be awkward to continue like I never said anything afterwards. But this was good.

So, this has been a fairly aimless log just generally talking about my first experience kinda coming out as trans (not my first experience of coming out, plenty of people know Im Ace) so I wanted to write down my thoughts on it. After so many posts like this, it still feels kinda silly, but I guess the whole point of blogs is that theyre kinda like public diaries? idk.

Its also worth noting this was part of one of my 3 goals for this year, to start kinda coming out to people. I doubt Ill tell anyone else, maybe one other person I can trust, but idk. As for the other 2, I really havent made a great deal of progress with planning my transition, but thats fine, its January. As for "100%ing Celeste to the best of my ability?" Kind already done after 40hrs and just over a month of having it. I thought thatd take me alot longer lmfao. So, update to that one, lets say, Strawberry Jam done up to expert lobby? Sure, why not.

[damnfandomproblems]

Rounding up a few asks regarding Fandom Problem #5724 and ensuing replies.

Anon: (replying to this ask)

you are engaging with the fiction in a purely diegetic sense without thinking about how it interacts with reality. yes, vulcans are not autistic. but Spock was written by human writers, based on their experiences in exclusively human culture. Spock is not autistic in the canon of star trek, but it is absurd to claim that he was not inspired by, nor is metaphorical for, autistic experiences. also, what does Dan Olson's character have to do with the validity of that hypothesis?

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Anon:

Response to the headcanons asks. The issue I personally have is when people claim their "character X is autistic" headcanon is canon. There's this TV show where one character is thought to be autistic by a lot of people in the fandom. He is not autistic in canon. People just think he is due to certain traits of his. Which would be fine, except if anyone ever says they find the character annoying, or they dislike some of these traits of this character, these fans jump up and call you ableist. By all means, have your headcanons, but you don't get to make accusations against people just because they dislike things about a character that you identify with.

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

Anon:

Hi, the "Spock is Human and Vulcan" anon that I think I started the whole ableism argument thing here. I realized I didn't explain that last part very well and want to clear it up. The ask was a rant about how the submitter omitted facts about Spock's heritage in order to justify why he can't be autistic, which to me came off as both racist and ableist (because intersectionality! You can be multiple things lmao). Disagreeing over headcanons is valid, but when you use racist and ableist arguments to do so, then it starts to be a problem. And I question why some people get so upset about neurodivergent fans seeing themselves within a character. Also, perhaps we should bring back the term "allegory". I'm not actually an expert on autism so I'm not going to diagnose Spock or make headcanons, but, I can acknowledge that he can be an allegory for autism because of the traits he exhibits, his behaviors, and challenges he faces, which people, and especially autistic people, can relate to. It's like how Jadzia is a transgender allegory because of the way in which her species and culture works, even if she herself isn't transgender. Once again, it shouldn't be used against fans who do headcanon a certain way, but idk maybe it can clear up confusion?

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

Anon: (replying to this ask)

Autism can be a huge part of peoples' identity, but that OOP person said "leave labels out of it" because that's literally what people are doing with characters: labeling them as this or that. Categorizing them. As autistic, or as anything. Surely that's obvious? "Label" isn't being used as a dirty or reductive word here. I'm bi and the word "bi" is still a label. It's a way to quickly explain what I am without having to wax poetic. Stop reading in bad faith. From your responses to these asks, it's happening a lot.

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

Anon: (replying to this ask)

I don't wanna make it seem like I'm taking an harmless joke post super seriously and I'm not really saying this AT that anon, but it just reminds me of a thing that's been bugging me, the fandom trend of going "what if actually the minority group were the MAJORITY group! ^^" (i.e. "everyone is neurodivergent" "everyone is queer" etc) Just 'cause it's kind of like. Missing the point? "A (relatively) small group of people struggle / are discriminated against because they're not understood or society was built without taking their needs into account, who largely confide in each other because they're able to find common understanding, which they often can't find elsewhere." If things were "reversed" the same issues would still exist, it doesn't actually fix or improve anything. Speaking as someone who IS queer and neurodivergent.

[orionsangel86]

I'm not in the Good Omens fandom, so maybe I've got this wrong, but I suspect why everyone on my dash seems to be clamoring for an immediate fix-it besides obvious fandom impatience. I think a lot of people are convinced that basically nothing is coming back from the strikes. Tbh I kind of am myself. I've just accepted that we're never going to see Sandman s2 or GO s3 because Amazon and Netflix are shit. At least with Sandman we have the books?

I admit its a tough situation to be in. I guess for me, I am trying to have hope that the streamers will eventually see sense, because otherwise their business models are gonna fail and they are going to lose revenue anyway. Eventually some sort of deal will be made and the work will start again, I just hope beyond hope that the deal is everything the WGA and SAGAFTRA want.

I have more hope for a GOS3 than I do for a Sandman tbh. Simply because making films and TV isn't Amazon's main source of income so they can be a bit more flexible with their choices. They have renewed far less popular shows for far longer. It seems almost like the entertainment division is more a hobby or pet project for Amazon than its main focal point so IDK, I'm just not all that worried about Amazon Prime. I genuinely think Amazon is very proud of GO and they won't let go of it anytime soon. It's also one of their most popular shows so I'd be really surprised if they cancel it (though, then again, with the strikes anything can happen). We also still have the BBC backing it up I believe? Though I doubt they'd ever have the budget to take over fully if Amazon decided not to continue with it, but perhaps its possible the BBC could look for a new partner in that unlikely scenario? I dunno I'm not a media expert here by any means.

Sandman though is a different story. Extremely expensive, and on a streaming service notorious for cancelling shows mid season. With the strikes, I can see them changing their minds and cancelling Season 2 even though it started filming in some bitter attempt to get back at strikers and claim tax breaks where they can. I don't trust them at all. I loathe the Netflix execs because they have been cancelling, making excuses, and screwing over creatives for years now. They are the ones that started it all, and the other streamers simply took their ideas and ran with them. I wish Sandman had been on a different streamer. I feel like it would have been safer on Amazon Prime. Even if we do manage to get through to season 2 of Sandman, I have absolutely zero faith that we'll make it through to the end of the story on Netflix.

Though at least with Sandman, I believe (though correct me if I'm wrong) that Neil still holds all the rights, and if Netflix cancels it, he can put the option out to other networks/streamers to pick it up again? So even if Netflix does what Netflix always does, there is every possibility that it'll just jump to a different network to finish the story.

I hope that is the case, because in all honesty if I had to put money down on a bet on whether or not Netflix will follow through with Sandman right through to the Wake, I'll be betting against them. I just don't see it happening. Netflix are too flakey and well, evil, to care about stories to do it justice.

To your first point, I can understand the fear and do sympathise with fans being hurt and upset that GOS2 ended on such a grim cliffhanger, I just don't think the hate and denial and screams of "out of character!" are the way to handle that fear. But diving straight into fanfiction is a totally acceptable and encouraged way to manage the feelings anyone may have over the ending! That's totally fine! Keep the fix-its to fanfiction, but please stop clamouring for reasons why the ending was wrong and bad and stupid and worth sending Neil Gaiman inbox hate over. You're all better than that.

[bthump]

As it seems Griffith's a character who likes to be in control and has a tendency to repress his emotions. Do you think that he is the type of a person who would have a panic attack (since panic attacks are related to the inability to let go of the need of control)? What may trigger a panic attack in him? And also how would he respond to the situation it, if seen by Guts( or Casca) while having one?

It's my understanding that panic attacks can happen to anyone - though I'm no expert, so maybe repressing emotions can make you more prone to them? Idk, but either way I could definitely see Griffith having a panic attack as being in character, depending on how it's written.

It doesn't seem too far off from the river scene in canon, or Griffith's state of mind post-Charlotte. Plus dude probably at least has ptsd. Idk if I'd personally connect it with his emotional repression, like if I was writing it, but yeah maybe that could be a factor too.

As far as triggers go, idk that's tricky for me to come up with because we see him in a lot of situations that could easily be triggering, and he manages to be chill. Like the Battle of Doldrey, eg. Post-torture you could probably justify just about anything lbr, but during most of the Golden Age... idk, maybe a substantial blow to his dream would fuck him up? Like if somehow a wedge came between him and Charlotte, or his part in assassinating the Queen was discovered or something, and everything was about to come crashing down around him.

If you're looking for otherwise innocuous things that could be triggers, I mean you could go with anything, like smelling the same scented soap Gennon used or something like that.

And lol this is probably a boring answer for like, h/c trope purposes, but I think if he was about to have/having a panic attack in public, he would keep quiet about it and remove himself from the situation asap to hyperventilate alone. I don't know if all panic attacks are created equal, but at least in my experience that's generally something very doable.

If he was discovered in the middle of a panic attack by Guts and/or Casca I can see him doing what he did in the river, reining everything in and pretending everything is fine super super hard, even if they just saw him crying/self-harming/etc. Maybe Guts could break through that and get him to talk tbh, I could see him calling bullshit and forcing a conversation, particularly pre-Promrose Hall speech. Casca would probably accept Griffith's lie for the sake of his personal comfort.

Or if he was past the point of giving a fuck about breaking down in public, you could get your traditional h/c scene of someone like, holding Griff while he has a sobbing breakdown.

I do always kinda wonder what the next ten minutes after Guts was out of sight was like for the rest of the Hawks after the first duel lol. Could be an awkward breakdown right there for Casca and co to witness and deal with.

Thanks for the ask!

[hedgethemaze]

So, Netflix's adaptation of ATLA...

I’ve only seen the first episode so far…

It was quite alright. Visually, I think it couldn’t look better, even if they tried – the environments especially looked incredible - I loved the Southern Air Temple locations the most, but also Wolf Cove.

I won’t comment much on the bending, except that it worried me for sec how slow earthbending seemed, however little we got of it, but take this phrase with a grain of salt as I’m no expert on the matter… that, and I’m probably more used to earthbending being more dynamic because of The Legend of Korra, oops!​😆

The main cast is nicely portrayed for the most part, imho.

No one is as goofy as their animated counterparts but that was expected and not at all unpleasant – I’m talking, mainly about Iroh… as toned down as he ended up, I quite liked his persona. Tho, I think Monk Gyatso was my favorite...

Oh, and I live for Appa! 🤍​💞​ That flying hairball is everything I hoped and I’m greatly pleased they didn’t mess him up😃

Overall, and I'm just saying this about the first episode only, this live action adaptation is worth every penny they put into this projec​t 👍

There were minor details I’m not 100% okay with but I’ll wait to watch more episodes to see if that changes as the show moves forward. (Suki, King Bumi, Master Pakku and Yue are the ones I’m looking forward to watch the most ​👀)

That said, the one thing I am not fine with is Zuko’s excuse of a scar – it barely passes as a black eye, imo – If that's the best they could do, they really dropped the ball with that one🤦‍♂️

What’s worse, it greatly downgrades Ozai’s character, if you think about it.

And I know the characters aren’t a carbon copy of their animated counterparts, nor should they, but c’mon, this is one of the main antagonists – THE main antagonist.

It is safe to say, at this point, many a people know the terrible acts and unscrupulousness Ozai is capable of. A man amoral enough to scorch half of his son’s face, which includes, disfiguring/melting his left ear…and all the live action does is to put a splash of dark color around the boy’s eye that resembles a slap on the cheek more than the cruel unforgivable way he actively chose to punish a thirteen y/o...

I’m willing to predict this detail as the shows biggest pity 👎​ – ofc, that alone cannot doom the entire thing and that’s a fact but… idk, it sort of diminishes a pivotal aspect of this father and son terrifying dynamic for me.

Foot note:

I'm not crazy about the show, I mean, I never thought Avatar needed a live action adaptation to begin with but it certainly looks stunning🙂

[adelle-ein]

looking at a post that came across my dash...i've read about the ravelry accessibility controversy before and it's never honestly made any sense to me. if the movement was heavily co opted by terfs that makes honestly a lot of sense but idk. i'm digging and not finding anything conclusive. i don't think it was completely invented but i think some things went wildly telephone game.

it's always been so strange though, especially some of the specific anecdotes and how most people were never able to describe what was actually triggering or a problem for them. or when they did, they described things that are also applicable to hundreds of other websites that they claim to be fine with. it does seem like something psychological that spread very quickly through people that were already very antagonistic towards the site, and people get EXTREMELY hostile about it still to this day. like far more hostile then they get about other famous website issues and redesigns, it always feels deeply personal. i'm willing to buy migraines, headaches, even seizures - but not seizures literally only induced by one website without flashing images. definitely not the people insisting they went blind from the website or instantly have the only seizures of their life every time they look at a still screenshot of it. it's especially notable to me that no experts/neurologists interviewed were able to explain the whole situation. many of the loudest voices already had massive amounts of beef with the site or founders. and people on reddit are quick to link to extremely transphobic bullshit articles when asked about it which....

and then they recommend ribblr which like...even higher contrast and starts flashing wildly if you scroll too fast. i can't use ribblr without getting headaches personally as someone with all kinds of weird photosensitivity issues. and ribblr was founded right when ravelry got "political" and banned trump content which is sooo dubious. it just seems so deeply unserious and confusing.

probably a "grain of truth, embellished into an insane layer cake of lies" situation. like this isn't me saying ravelry is perfect or this was handled perfectly by the founders, but it's very jarring that people literally only blame the trans woman on staff. it's even weirder that when people say "look at the horrible shit she said!" they link to really innocuous "i'm confused as to how this is happening" quotes. like they (not just her) did say rude shit but people are equally angry about them saying "we don't understand what people mean and experts we talk to don't either" which is wild to me.

all that being said, website monopolies suck, but god people are REALLY weird about ravelry in really specific ways that definitely come across as targeted in a lot of cases. it's just a kinda dated website run by kinda annoying people, it's not anything near as unpleasant as the shit ribblr pulls with "renting" patterns and discouraging education/computer literacy...so many of these people are ao3 worshippers too...tbh i hate the Fiber Arts Community Drama like it's not cute or funny hehe knitting ladies getting mad. it's really quite nasty and unpleasant most of the time. you could not pay me to use those website forums or subreddits...

[buckys-little-belle]

hiii love Ive never really done one of these before so sorry if it’s weird T T

So basically I’m just wondering how u knew u were a little? And if anyone can be one? And like how do u get into littlespace and stay there?

The reason why I’m asking is bc I’ve known about it for a while and have loved the idea but I’ve never been able to get myself there. Bc of some trauma I’ve been through i feel like it would be really healing for me,, but also it just seems like fun and something that I really connect with. I’ve had times where I felt little but it always goes away after I finish reading a little fic or etc. one of my friends made me feel little once but it also didn’t last very long. Idk basically I’m just asking is there a way for me to start regressing? And is there a possibility that I just can’t do it?

<33 Lots of love

- 🌷

Hii! Not weird at all!! Don’t worry!

Just to preface, I'm not an expert, so please not my words aren’t the only possible facts, and please anyone who could answer these questions, comment! or reblog! but I'll do my best.

Can anyone be a little? I'm honestly not sure, to be honest I haven't gone deep into all of the brain stuff surrounding being a little, but to me I think yes. I don't think that there is a specific thing holding some people back from being a little, I genuinely just don't, and maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. I think some people might struggle to truly get into the headspace, it can be a tricky thing to do/control at the beginning, and I often find myself struggling with controlling/getting into the headspace. (By controlling I mean not involuntarily slipping into your little headspace, like when really loud noises happen or someone is mean, and your brain just copes on it's own, something that isn't a bad thing, but can be scary when you aren't able to control what headspace you are in, and when.) So short answer, I think anyone can be a little, but again I could be wrong.

How do you start? SUCH A GOOD QUESTION! I always see some interesting answers to this, which is fine, to each their own, but for someone who's just starting to regress I suggests simply doing activities you enjoyed doing when younger, for me it's coloring. I picked up coloring as a hobby through a tough patch and found my headspace to be so peaceful, little did I know I was actually regressing. Honestly, just embrace your kid side, just do a thing you love and LET YOURSELF ENJOY IT! Don't hold back, don't get mad if you don't feel little, don't try and force anything, just let yourself find joy in whatever you're doing, and let whatever happens happen. Eventually you'll find something that helps, it'll most likely be a few tries before you find what helps you slip, and tools in helping you stay there, it's really all up to little you, just let them flourish. I have been struggling lately to regress, stress and anxiety plaguing me, so I pulled out my bin of Barbies, and the first few times nothing happened, I just enjoyed doing their hair and making sure they all had some cute outfits, but eventually a few days later little me took over, and played with barbies like I did as a kid, and it was great, it just took some time, and that's okay!

Is it possible that you're not one? Maybe? But from what you've said, you seem to have slipped into that headspace, and to me that's a good sign that you are one. It took me a while to realize that I had been slipping for years at that point, my friends always treated me like a little sister, and that helped me feel safe enough to be a kid again, and it seems that maybe you've had a similar experience and that's a good first step.

I do hope that these answers helped, even in the slightest, and if you have any more please, please ask them! I'm an open book and will always be here to answer questions. Also, good luck, please come back and let me know how things go, and feel free to come back and just chat whenever, you're a very sweet anon tulip, and I hope to see you again <3

[navree]

What do you think about Joseph Stalin and communism in general?

*idk if you answer political questions so feel free to ignore this question if u don't want to answer it*

(politics is both my literal field of study and my desired work environment so this ask itself isn't shocking it's just that most of the questions i get tend to be either fandom analysis or people wanting to know more about my personal life so seeing a notification that started with "what do you think about joseph stalin" took me tf out. and i also want to be clear that i am not an expert on either stalin or the soviet union in general, russian history was never my thing and in general the history of the 20th century that I have looked at is france/Western Europe in ww2 for family reasons and america in the 1960s/70s, it's one of the perks of reading Helter Skelter the same year you meet Ethel Kennedy)

Stalin was a monster. I have a general rule of thumb that I think people who orchestrate genocide are assholes, and that extends to Stalin as well. I don't have a very fond view of the Soviet Union in any capacity due to the giant clusterfuck of awful that it was and all the horrors it wrought on its corner of the world, which is always going to color Stalin negatively in my view, but Stalin himself holds a distinction of also being a uniquely bad person. He was functionally a dictator who killed hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of consolidating his own power and nothing else. He was a totalitarian despot who orchestrated several atrocities and is responsible for some truly egregious crimes against humanity in the 20th century and as much as I can hate a personal unknown on merits alone, I hate him. And also, might just be me, the non-aggression pact with the fucking Nazis is a nonstarter (and if someone gets on me with some bullshit "but America!" take then you don't know me at all because I have continuously taken this country to task with my abhorrence of how it handled itself with the Nazis there's a reason why I refuse to acknowledge D-Day as worth any importance).

As for my thoughts on communism, it's complicated. Most importantly, please understand this: economic systems are not my forté in any way. My capabilities lie in public policy, in public outreach/overall campaigning, and speechwriting and all other statement/press release things. My knowledge and my insight into the capitalism vs. communism debate is very mundane and pedestrian, which is why I don't really comment on it; I don't think I have a new perspective to offer. Communism, as a base concept, is a decent theory, but you can't just look at these things as solely concepts. And when I look at how communism has been applied in various governments over the years in various different forms, I see an incredibly flawed system that has continuously failed to achieve any long term good. This isn't to say that I find capitalism is a perfect system either, it is also deeply flawed, and as its applied by most modern countries probably needs some severe overhauls. But communism just overall seems to be something that sounds like a good idea but needs incredibly significant fine tuning in order to be functional and not descend into totalitarianism. The idea of "the government controls the means of production" is good in theory, but it also depends on who is in government. If the government has bad people in it, whatever your definition of that is, then you're handing an extraordinary amount of power to people who might have bad intentions and use it to hurt others. Again, this is a very simple opinion on a very complex topic, but that's what the opinion is, at least for me. There is also the fact that, quite simply, I'm a young American living in America, and my exposure of communism is a bunch of people who call themselves communists and think that means they can act like fucking lunatics and generally have batshit opinions that provide a stunning illumination into horseshoe theory, which isn't going to predispose me to feeling positively about communism either. Overall, communism just personally isn't my jam; I can see why it's something people are drawn to due to the flaws in the capitalist system, I really do, but I tend to look at self-described communists askance and I think the system has some deep rooted issues that have yet to be addressed by either governments that want to use it as a whole or even individuals who promote it as a possible alternative to the current system we have now.

And I do answer political questions! Like I've said, I have worked and plan to continue to work in politics, and I have a lot of political opinions about stuff both past and present, and as long as people are respectful in general there's really not a whole lot I just flat out won't answer if someone wants me to talk about it, so long as they're nice. <3