#i think a lot of us are familiar with the concept of being bullied.

[ndcultureis]

Autism culture is getting bullied for making a mistake and not knowing why you want to cry so badly when you don’t care about their comments.

Ps: how do I deal with bullies? I’ve tried talking with them, they just laugh at me. I’ve told authority figures (teachers, etc) and they talk to the dudes and it only makes it worse.

.

[hibiscusangel15]

Entity Horror Movie Rec List: The Stranger

The Stranger is an entity that personally freaks me out. I already don’t like interacting with strangers if I can help it, and the idea of a creature completely stripping away all that you are and no one, not even those closest to you, being able to tell the difference is horrifying.

A lot of the movies on this list rightfully feature aliens, specifically those of the shape-shifting or infiltrating society variety, and loss of humanity.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The original nightmare that threatened the world!

I didn’t put a specific year for this one because honestly both the 1956 and 1978 versions are great movies in their own rights. The ‘56 version is a bit cheesy by today’s standards, but honestly, the first time I saw it, I was freaked out by the concept for days after. It’s still pretty effective, in my opinion.

Both versions depict the fear of The Stranger the best of the movies on this list. The infused paranoia of the ‘78 version is near-perfect for it. Noticing something is wrong with the people around you, but not exactly knowing what is something The Stranger adores playing around with. That and clowns, I guess.

Fun fact: The ‘56 version was originally set to have a more miserable ending, but the studio forced the director to shove in some feel-good end instead. I think the more nihilistic ‘78 version revels in that opportunity instead. It also features a cameo by the main character of the original, so it’s almost a self-titled sequel, in a way.

The Thing (1982)

The ultimate in alien terror.

What is there to say about The Thing that hasn’t already been said? Its practical effects are disgusting, grotesque, and unlike anything that has come before (or since). My favorite John Carpenter movie bar-none. Everyone from Kurt Russel to Keith David to even the dog is so good in this movie.

The main characters getting picked off by a bloodthirsty creature that can look like any one of them at any time makes this movie a paranoia-fueled, tense nightmare and I love it. They work through who among them (lol) might be an alien in really smart ways. It has quite a bit of body horror and nasty practical effects, but I would still recommend you watch this anyway.

Games like Among Us are heavily inspired by its premise (and I think InnerSloth credits this movie directly for inspiration). If you haven’t seen The Thing (1982) yet, I cannot recommend this movie enough. Just watch it.

IT

Listen, a movie rec list covering The Stranger wouldn’t be complete without some reference to clowns or the circus. What shape-shifting, fear-hungry clown suits this Entity better than Pennywise? If you say the Killer Klowns from Outer Space, I stg...

Obvious references to Tumblr’s obsession with 2017′s Pennywise aside, both iterations of Stephen King’s IT are fun in different ways. Tim Curry’s 1990 mini-series Pennywise is a lot goofier while still being off-putting while Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise leans more towards being sinister.

Both operate like a creature of The Stranger, in that they lure in their victims with something seemingly innocent and familiar before flipping it into something unfamiliar and wrong. Literally the definition of stranger danger.

To be honest (and I think most people agree), the kids’ half of the story is way more fun than the adult stuff. It: Chapter Two’s cast is fantastic, but it doesn’t totally save the latter half of the story being a bit laughable compared to what their kid versions faced. Probably because (spoilers) they literally bully Pennywise to death. Like how can you not find that fucking hilarious what the fuck.

(Spoilers over) Obligatory clown/circus-related movie lol. They’re both set in different time periods, which reflect different kinds of fears of the time. The 1990 version is set in the 1950s/1970s and the 2017 version is set in the 1980s/2010s. I think both are worth a watch, though you can watch whichever you feel like and you’ll get pretty much the same experience.

They Live (1988)

If I had a nickel for every time John Carpenter made a movie in the 80s about aliens disguising themselves as human, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

All jokes aside, They Live is a horror-comedy that definitely leans more into the comedy and social commentary than horror. Whether you find the alien designs horrifying is more personal preference (I find them kinda goofy), but what they set out to accomplish is still pretty relevant today.

Even the regular humans in this movie fail to trust each other or are immediately shut down when they try. It also has one of the LONGEST fight scenes I’ve ever seen in my life (it’s kinda hilarious how long it goes on tbh). Definitely recommend if you need something light to start off with.

Under the Skin (2013)

“You don't want to wake up, do you?”

I will admit, Under the Skin is an artsy film that will not be to everyone’s tastes, but I think it’s accessible enough for those new to horror to try out, too. It definitely requires subtitles if you have trouble understanding thick accents, though.

Under the Skin is about an alien disguised as a human woman luring unsuspecting men to her domain. What ends up happening to them is something I don’t want to spoil. The imagery is so haunting and surreal that it’s hard for me to describe, anyway.

I also think it’s an interesting look into what an alien (or in TMA, any Entity-born creature) might do if it wanted to look beyond its purpose and join humanity. Think Agnes Montague if she was an Avatar of The Stranger instead of The Desolation, I suppose. It’s as tragic as it is unsettling.

END

That’s it for The Stranger! Most of these are classics that most people have seen, but I still feel like these are very fitting.

If you guys want a Part 2, I could definitely delve into movies that dive more into Uncanny Valley territory. I want these rec lists to be more a crash course into horror rather than digging deep into the weirder stuff I’ve seen (just yet).

More Entity rec lists:

The Eye

[myheartismadeofstars]

TGCF pokemon teams: made x

Xianle Quartet version

Xie Lian

Absol:

Pretty self explanatory. Absol is the Bad Luck pokemon and appears before disasters. No doubt XL encounters a lot of them. Absol would also keep an eye out for BWX.

Calyrex: a pokemon who used to be a king but has lost everything, even his friends...sound familiar? Also it can make plants grow and I love the unused Flower God!XL concept. Also I think XL deserves a legendary.

Hisuian Liligant: an elegant fighter and a beautiful flower. Revered in ancient times but almost forgotten in the modern era. Also I see H!Liligant as very nice and polite.

Mienshao: an unarmed fighter that fights with "ribbons" that remind me of Ruoye. Mienfoo are also mentioned to seclude themselves in the mountains to train.

Garbodor: our favourite trash collector needed a trash pokemon, okay? But also a joking reference to his terrible cooking lmao. (I think Garbodor could eat XL's cooking like HC can, but that's the same as calling it garbage lmao)

Dusclops: THIS is Ruoye. It wraps and binds people in the cloth bandages hanging off of it. It does hold a Reaper Cloth but XL hasn't been able to find someone to help it evolve.

Liligant, Calyrex and Mienshao have been on the team the longest. I think the newest member is Garbodor, but he has had several other pokemon over his lifetime that he lost due to his luck.

Hua Cheng

Ceruledge: allow me to quote the pokemon Scarlet Dex Entry "The fiery blades on its arms burn fiercely with the lingering resentment of a sword wielder who fell before accomplishing their goal." That's honestly enough for me, but also, wartime!HongHong-Er having a Charcadet and also it's a ghost/fire type lmao.

Inteleon: Inteleon can learn Rain Dance. But also the transition from a bullied kid to an emo teen and finally a cool and suave (seeming) adult who still has signs of being that scared kid at heart?

Houndoom: HC needed a dog. Also the fact that just HEARING Houndoom's howl can send people fleeing in terror and the burns hurting FOREVER. (Reminds me a bit of E-Ming's curse, though not perfect)

Absol: Pokemon believed to cause disasters and hated for it, even though it was innocent and was actually trying to warn them... Also Absol has red eyes! Unlike XL's Absol, HC's has Super Luck!

Honchkrow: Murkrow are supposed to bring bad luck but Honchkrow are the bosses of Murkrow and said to be merciless towards them, much how HC is with Ghost City.

Honedge (Shiny): E-Ming! The shiny form has red eyes on its hilt and the blade seems forged in blood. It's literally a cursed sword with red eyes.

I would say that Inteleon and Ceruledge and MAYBE Honchkrow are the only pokemon he has from when he was alive, though none of them were fully evolved (Inteleon was a Drizzile). Ceruledge evolved first.

Feng Xin

Hisuian Decidueye: hisuian Decidueye is based on a ronin. He's an archer wandering the earth without a master.

Mabostiff: Mabostiff are LITERALLY the Guard dog pokemon!! Of course our favourite bodyguard has to have one! Also supposedly has a "scary face" like our grumpy boy

Lucario: Protective and loyal and I've now seen several people say that FX is good at tracking and I would say Lucario is perfect for trying to track someone (aka: XL) by their aura.

Espeon: Loyal but also the Sun Pokemon! FX is the "Southern Sun" after all! I also have a headcanon about FX having a spoiled cat and I think Espeon is the most similar to the cat I have for him

Zangoose: Obviously a reference to his fighting with Mu Qing. (I also think Zangoose has Toxic Boost rather than Immunity. Because FX isn't immune to MQ's words and actions, just angered by them, ergo: Toxic Boost)

Male Pyroar: It's a noble and intimidating pokemon and I would consider them a very masculine pokemon that would suit his title quite well and also...since it's revealed that Pyroar do have similar social structures to real lions... Males have nothing to do with child rearing I'm so sorry FX I'm sure you'd be a good dad if given the chance idk if I'll give Jian Lan a team but a female Pyroar would definitely be on it.

Most of his teammates have been around for a long time. Decidueye didn't fully evolve until he ascended on his own, and I would say Lucario and Espeon are the newest members. But his "starter" was probably Litleo, and he got Maschiff when he became XL's bodyguard when he was 14.

Mu Qing

Umbreon (Shiny): counterpart to FX'S Espeon, and I think it fits "Enigmatic Truth" almost as well as Espeon suits "Southern Sun". MQ's is shiny mostly because I feel the blue rings suit him better lmao. Also MQ deserves something special dammit!

Seviper: Rivals FX's Zangoose. The poison typing brings to mind his own toxicity (🤟) and the bladed tail reminds me of his Zhanmadao and Seviper is just a bit longer than most Zhanmadao are.

Persian: Considered beautiful and elegant but fickle, just like our boy!

Leavanny: Leavanny reminds me of the fact that his mother was a seamstress. But also: they are kind to children (but can also learn Sword's Dance and have wicked bladed arms) Mama's boy cannot forget her.

Midday Lycanroc: Cautious and extremely loyal to those who treated them well. Considered Dusk Form considering how hot headed MQ is, but slightly prefer the Midday form for him because it emphasizes the loyalty while Dusk is notably difficult to raise I also headcanon him with a yellow coloured dog so midday suits that better

Empoleon: Proud in all evolutions, but still live in groups as Piplup and Empoleon, though solitary as Prinplup. Sounds like pushing people away and then realizing that you wanted them in your life after all.

While he doesn't keep it with him, he also has a Male Indeedee who has been with him since his servant days. He mostly stays in his Palace and manages things. MQ doesn't like to be reminded of those days, but it did introduce him to his friends.

The oldest teammate is Leavanny by quite a bit. Leavanny was with him before he went to Mount Taicang (though maybe not fully evolved) Lycanroc is the newest member, but I don't think Empoleon is fully evolved until he reconciles with XL and FX.

[theroundbartable]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "theroundbartable "?

Haha^^

10 fics will be hard for me to do, since I'm very bad with names and I don't really.... Save any. I read, like, comment and move on.

Let's start with my name first. That's easier. Theroundbartable was a joke I made a couple years ago and I had it as the headline of my blog for a while when I was still Changelink23.

I'm not sure where it came from anymore... But I think it was kind of the basis for "connecting the dots". Which is a fanfiction I wrote that is about Gwaine and the knights making up stories about Merthur. It was their game to guess what Merlin was up to and gossip about Arthur's pining. And collectively, they'd make up the entire series on accident.

My idea then was that the knights gather in a bar, got really drunk and basically play DnD with the BBC Merlin storyline. So, the knights of the round table, but at a bar. And maybe that table was round. And maybe it was their regular seat and they called it the round bar table.

After Changelink outdid its purpose and I got really deep into the Merlin concepts, I decided my name should fit the theme. And what else am I doing here with you guys, other than exchange ideas about Merlin while half sounding on drugs? It's my idea of being part of this fandom, I think. All of us sitting at the round bar table and having fun with the series together.

Now, fanfics:

1. Dirty laundry by Gybslythe (Voltron)

It's just... It has sentimental value for me. The author put down the story because they were bullied, sadly. I just felt at home in that fanfiction because the places seemed so familiar to me and I caught the feeling. I could compare it with me visitung my godmother as a child and the described places were just the best moments of my entire childhood. Also the writing style is SOOO good! I mimicked it for a mock exam and that was my best English Exam during my A-levels.

2. Sadly I don't know the actual name of this one :/

Funnily enough, it was a Gravity falls fanfiction... And a Bill cipher x reader one at that, which is WILD that I ever read it. The Reader thing really repulses me. Lol. The thing is, it was very non intimate and the world building blew my mind. It started off with Bill realizing his existence and step by step, he'd give his knowledge to the one human that interested him and therefore lost his power. The reader, however, grew with the knowledge and in the end, wakes up as the entity Bill had been. Just, suddenly knowing she existed, no memories of ever being human. It was so well done and pulled at my philosophical brain, I built "Wired" off of it.

3. Not a story but a series...

Anything by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle. This is the series that made my Merlin writings what they are. I read these and they brought me SOOO much joy! I used to write really depressive stuff. Still do. But after reading these, I wanted to bring that joy, too. I really dug into my humor after that and it really changed how I see stories and even myself and became the foundation of what I focus on in dialogues.

4. From the grave to the cradle by larcluce

I admit it, I'm a bit biased for this one because I'm so proud of larluce for posting their first story after wanting ME to write it. As if I could have done it justice. It's so good for a first work and yeah... I'm very proud of them.

5. My soul has your claim, my soul is in flames

(Voltron) i'm currently reading that due to my online friend's suggestion and it's just... Maybe it's because I'm currently obsessed with it but it really is just that good. It's everything I want from a voltron fanfic :) obliviousness, pining, misunderstandings, and reassurance and Lance's death reveal. Like... Yeah. I'm a sucker for this story.

...

There are probably a lot more on my list but I'm REALLY bad at remembering stuff XD I remember when I stumble on them. I just listed the ones that are at the top of my head. Sorry it's not a full ten :/ I actually write more than I read too. When I start reading, my mind gets ideas and then I have to write them down and I somehow rarely finish fics over 100k words.

BuT wRiTinG tHEm iS fInE.

By the way, I haven't read "like the cycle of the year" yet. It's been on my list for a while but I haven't gotten around to it. I know it's a fandom favorite. But maybe that's what's putting me off. It'll probably make me feel inadequate after reading it and comparing it to my stuff and then I'll feel bad about my writing. Which would by both oddly motivating and off putting, lol.

As a little bonus, I'll just say what I'm currently working on/planning to work on for now.

1. second chances (Drarry)

I've been writing on that one for over a year. Which is the longest I ever spend on a fic and also the longest fic I've ever worked on in total and also the one I most edited. I'm writing it for my girlfriend. I feel like I'm getting closer to the end and I will post it once it's finished.

Jkr sucks, by the way. She'd probably hate the story which satisfies me greatly.

It's a time travel au, obviously, in which Drarry was a muggle therapist after the war. The magical world doesn't respond well to the idea of therapy but that's not Draco's concern even though it should be. He just wants to atone for his sins. Being thrown back in time gives him that chance... But it also awakens deep traumatic issues while he struggles to help the good side and betray his parents and friends in the meantime. It's very analytical of his character and he suffers a lot and it's a lot of fun to do.

2. Karak'nirir- the goddess of creation (Voltron)

A Lance centric Voltron fanfic in which he is gifted the power of a goddess. I'm trying to get back into world building and well... I just really love Lance XD

3. The clockroom (BBC Merlin)

... It's on hiatus... Again. It's so hard to find the time to work on it. But I will... At some point. Probably. I hate unfinished business.

4. ... I'll probably focus on the Merthur marriage concept next. In which Arthur tries to raise Merlin's status and has Merlin learn magic in order to defeat Emrys. Cause then Merlin would be druid king and they can get married XD i want to apply some stuff I'm currently learning through "my soul has your claim" and maybe that will change how I write in the long run, too.

5. .... I should be working on a book that's publishable. Maybe feedback from professional book sellers will help me improve my work also.

By the way... Having 4 wips kills my brain. I hate it. One fic at a time. That's how I work best. It's too much for me. I'm dying. I have no ideas how other people do it.

Anyway.

Thank you for the question, anon ^^ I hope I answered it well enough XD

[darker-overlord]

whoa, she launched!

happy launch day, kayo! she's my little pookie i love her so much that i bully her constantly through the narrative

in honor of today, i'll be dumping some REALLY old doodles (really old = two-three months ago) when i started working on her! unlike most of my dumps, i'll be describing and giving more context to the drawings! think of it as a little timeline of her development :D

*the oc blog is @lilies-and-forget-me-nots .. i forgor

drawing 1: our earliest kayo?!

this was dated january 17 2023. yeah. 2023. this year.

geez, was that really my art style just three months ago?

yes, unfortunately. though i'll attribute the fact that kayo looks 12 here mostly to the fact that i was still getting used to using an ipad to draw--still, you can really see that i had her design 90% down from the start. just changed her parting a little and removed the flower accessory + little ombre(?) in her hair.

at first, she was going to be a LOT closer to yui, but then if she was, she would've intervened as early as more blood, which was not something i was aiming for. plus, isn't it more fun thinking that she barely knows her (and yet pulls the stunt of taking her place for her sake... what a loser)

also, at first, she was going to just be straight up meaner for no reason. like literally just the worst person you can think of, but a problem with that is that she would definitely get killed if she was just horrible and toxic. plus, that was kind of boring on my end as well, so she kind of turned into a meowmeow.

adding to the old concept though, all her endings were supposed to be bad endings! then i scrapped that really quickly when i changed her personality...

drawing 2: our earliest hunter!

same day as the first drawing... yeouch.

as you can see, her hair was supposed to be a lot neater--and flatter--as a hunter. the cross clip is a lot smaller, and her palette was all over the place. like come on, why is her coat pink??

speaking of which, i changed hunter kayo to being a little messier than her old version because of a change in personality. this proto-hunter kayo still feels emotions very well. in fact, even more intensely than bride kayo. she's constantly angry--for what she went through as a young girl, for losing her eye--just a lot of things.

kind of funny that her personality pulled a 180 lawl

drawing 3: early outfit dump

i made the file for this drawing on january 19, but i believe i updated it as late as early march.

as you can see, it's really just outfit concepts. most of them are the same as the current outfit concept art--thanks to, well, me updating this file until march. you might be familiar with the three on the right, and the lost eden + dark fate outfit is practically the same as the one i posted. the hdb/mb outfit changed the most out of those three: i suctioned it to kayo's body to emphasize her figure more lol (i am the biggest kayo simp in the end)

as for the first two, you can see they were labelled for chaos lineage and lunatic parade! the chaos lineage outfit is probably already like 90% down for me, but the lunatic parade one is peculiar because, well, i scrapped it entirely. it's a cute outfit, for sure, but i didn't think it was kayo's style in the end. perhaps it might get the same hdb/mb outfit treatment and get tweaked to match her better, but i think her current lunatic parade design is solid!

drawing 4: early cg concepts

this was dated feb 25!

honestly, this is still really good, and i'm still planning on adding this scenario to laito's route. it's just that, once again, kayo is suffering from the bug-eyed twelve year old syndrome i was going through since january. plus i was (still am) bad at drawing men, so laito kind of came out looking like a really strange looking lady lol. it's so embarrassing i even had to crop it out.

drawing(s) 5: whoa sailor outfits?!

i actually drew this just two weeks after the last one--march 10th! you can clearly see my art style shifting at this point; i'm starting to think it's the switch from sketching with a soft brush to a hard brush.

this was, if you didn't already guess, in honor of the aquamarine series! of course, there are two: one for the hunter and one for the bride!

i have this running theme of "what would reiji (biggest discreet pervert) make bride kayo wear?" and that man loves his kayo legs, so naturally she had to wear thigh highs and an awkwardly short skirt. at least hunter kayo got away with just a crop top.

you can see something hanging on the hunter's waist--it's actually a demon hunting relic!

drawing 6: hunter kayo in ryotei au cgs?!

very recent drawing--dated march 29!

now, hunter kayo actually doesn't attend ryotei at any point of the series. it just so happens that i thought she'd look really hot in the uniform, and ta-da--i made an au! being an au, it's not canon, but i like to think she has a small route with shuu that doesn't really end well as you'd expect.

still, the sight of her kissing him as he bites on her knife is very very cool. keep up the good work hunter!

drawing 7: late highschool kayo!

the final doodle--dated less than a week ago!

this is really just kayo in high school after seiji's treatment of her started getting to her properly. i wonder what she's praying and why...

BONUS 1: CATGIRL KAYO!!

i was in the middle of making this post when a certain catboy-baiter (@poohwhin side eyes...) posted................

i love humans with animal features (i.e. not humanoid animals aka what you'd typically think of when you think of furries...) and genshin already devastated me with not only keqing but DEHYA being fake catgirls, so to recover emotionally i naturally made kayo a catgirl. ougggg she's so cute

BONUS 2: a kayoyui route?!

Yes. and it's finished. i just have to make the cgs and post it.

i mostly made it as a kind of exercise in making routes, since, well, i have to start making a lot. it only has five individual scenarios in the dark, manic, and ecstasy section, but it still has a prologue and epilogue. there are also only two endings!

it also serves to delve a bit more into the hunter's character, since bride kayo is the main focus of the blog. let's give her a little love, yknow!! even if she can't give any back...

[soul-dwelling]

Any new thoughts about current one piece? To me its just seems like Oda is throwing things at the wall at this point - Oh the elder is actually a monster, oh but Kuma comes, but oh Bonney can control the other robots, but oh the giants come too, but oh now ALL the elders come when just one was supposed to be the "hype" thing.

I guess the problem is that instead of being cool and exciting it just devalues everything - like one elder not being able to do everything leaves room enough for the others in the future, but now all five not really being able to do their job makes the whole concept of turning them from ruthless yet human politicians that do cry when they have to do inhuman acts into generic demon monsters that treat humanity as bugs be kinda not worth it, atleast in my oppinion

I received this ask on March 20, 2024.

I better answer it now, given some non-One Piece spoilers I read that kind of screw up what I'm going to say below.

(My Hero Academia spoilers below; spoilers for Justice League Unlimited below; spoilers about One Piece throughout.)

One of the inadvertent advantages of enjoying One Piece, while not being as close to the series and not remembering all details from it, is that these kinds of details bother me less compared to series I have a lot more familiarity with. 

For those reasons, revealing that Saturn has a giant monstrous Devil Fruit ability didn’t bother me. If anything, I can enjoy the moment for the pure shock as well as, with reflection, what that may reveal: the reason Saturn has been in power this long is not just due to experience and intelligence but also a powerful Devil Fruit ability. 

But as you say, when thinking about it, it does lead to disappointment--maybe in different ways than what you describe. What I mean is, okay, sure, Saturn now shows he has this giant terrifying power…and we can assume Luffy will beat him, because Luffy. At best Saturn’s power means he’ll overwhelm other characters first, which could cause irreversible harm or at least long-lasting harm. 

As for the arrival of the other Elders and then showing off their powerful abilities: yeah, that is rushing things more than I think the story needed--that could have been saved for a future story. At best, it makes sense: the Elders are now just that desperate that they are going to do overkill to make sure to stop this problem right now. The problem is that, even if it makes sense for the characters, it does sap some anticipation in the story. As you said, “one elder not being able to do everything leaves room enough for the others in the future,” but now we got to rush everything to get to that reveal already. 

As for the Elders coming across as less human--I’m ambivalent. To complain about a different series, it’s like how I feel about My Hero Academia and All For One. 

On the one hand, yay, we made the fascist into a pathetic immature man-child and wannabe supervillain, showing that at the end of the day every fascist is nothing more than a bully who never grew up. 

On the other hand, it means the way of defeating All For One will always be unsatisfying, not only because in our real lives we (for good reasons) don’t handle fascists and bullies that way and hence those fascists and bullies persist (making My Hero Academia a bothersome moment of escapist fantasies that inadvertently suggests the wrong way to handle fascists and bullies and denies us a real-world example how to address them). 

Plus, by making All For One so pathetic, it leaves you thinking, “Why didn’t someone just do this to him before?” The manga at least does give an answer: in a society where no one extended a hand to help Tenko, why would you expect anyone to stand up to stop All For One? Then again, someone did stand up to All For One--a lot of someones, all the holders of One For All--and All For One’s long-term planning and massive power makes their sacrifices, especially All Might’s and Nana’s, seem pointless, and it requires the story to bend over backwards to act like All For One is so smart when, even within the story and with the suspension of disbelief, there is no way he could get every last bit of this stuff correct (up until he let his ego toying with Endeavor, Hawks, All Might, Stain, and Bakugo get in the way of just finishing the job).

What does all of my ranting about All For One have to do with the Elders? My point is, do you want to represent fascists as humans and hence they have flaws, emotions, maybe even sympathetic qualities, or for political motivation do you want to dehumanize fascists and portray them as just monsters? Each approach has its advantage--but neither version on its own is usually satisfying on its own. Probably the best iteration we got was Eiling / the Shaggy Man in Justice League Unlimited, someone who shows “honorable” qualities and perhaps some sympathetic ones, but who is still a raging fascist and, by his transformation, becomes monstrous on the outside and, as he concludes, “becomes what [he] hate[s],” another overpowered freak who hurts bystanders in a foolhardy quest against an equally powerful opponent. 

Maybe Oda will do that with the Elders what Justice League Unlimited did with Eiling--but then we don’t get the satisfaction of seeing them get their asses kicked. Maybe Oda will just have them get their asses kicked--but will we also get a motivation representation of how we should be handling fascists, by holding them accountable by law and, through their punishment, reassert how such threats will be stopped and make an example of them so that no one ever abuses power like that again? 

I mean, fascists do treat people like bugs. Even if they cry, that doesn’t suddenly change the awful things they have done (I’m not about to let someone weaponize their tears--going back to All For One again, cry harder over killing your brother, AFO). But, yeah, as storytelling, it is less engaging when the villain is just a straight-up fascist, because just about nothing they do is going to make you believe their emotions are anything more than an extension of their work to maintain their unsanctioned power over others. Unless you’re Odo from Deep Space Nine, it’s hard to write a fascist where you get how they eventually committed the injustices they did but can cheer on their redemption and understand their desires. 

As for the other details: 

Kuma showing up makes narrative sense, so that’s unavoidable. 

Bonney controlling robots… I admit, I’m ignorant as to a lot about Bonney and her power set, so I don’t have an opinion on this. 

The giants showing up… That is too awesome for me to worry about it: this is absolute fanservice, paying off the long wait. As I said, maybe if I was closer to One Piece then I would get annoyed; at the distance I have from the story, this is a feel-good moment of getting to see the giants return.

[ultravioart]

Also, I recently watched the movie Nimona and got familiar with both the movie and comic. I see a LOT of Nimona in Lord Dominator so I want to channel some of that.

Stevenson had definitely put pieces of Nimona's personality into LD, you can see this in the comic version Nimona especially. Never needing help, refusing help, claiming to never being able to change and she's killed people and 'that is who she is', hiding in the form of a human as opposed to hiding in the form of a monster--an unexpected twist. Having two halves, a monster, and a girl. The connections LD's design has with Mojo jojo is also notable when compared to comic Nimona's possible origins-- pink eyes green skin and pointed ears, a lab experiment. Nimona's movie character in her spunkiness also reads as Lord Dominator's quirkiness, so I think I will use that as inspo for more of Lord Dominator's personality in the Dominion au. As for her story, Lord Dominator is a bully, but s3 was going to tackle topics about forcing people to be something they aren't--how forcing a bad guy to be good isn't actually helping, a person has to choose to be good to actually be good. I think Dominator would have some kind of CWO effect but also the concept of LD being forced to be out of suit. Without her powers, without her ability to express and play. Lord Dominator's play is APART of her, just as much as play is a part of Wander, and I think that intrinsic similarity can lead to Lord Dominator at the end of the AU acting as a galaxy wide protector against outside threats like the enforcement force lol, a theatrical force of nature, scary big sis of the galaxy. Meanwhile in the au, Lord Hater would become the galaxy's new rock n roller hero, with Peepers at his side. I think Peepers and Lord Dominator in the Dominion au would almost have a reversed Nimona and Blackheart dynamic, "you got it boss!" is too adorable to pass up for Peepers lol. And it also fits with Peepers being bitter about Hater...... comic Nimona vibes r real.

[dopscratch]

FNAF MOVIE THOUGHTS BECAUSE I CANT SLEEP

non spoiler version: solid 8/10, beautiful animatronics, glorious set, wished for a bit more horror/tension but overall it was entertaining and enjoyable and surreally awesome to see

(spoilers below)

for my rating,

scares were very lacking, the only time i jumped was when i heard matpat, and there werent any moments that made me feel uneasy. i think my standards got sent sky high after watching battington so much though hahah. i feel like making the lighting darker/more desaturated at some points and a few more moments of quiet tension and good ambient sounds could have fixed this, though overall this doesn't bother me TOO much and i still enjoyed the movie immensely, still, point docked.

spring bonnie looked amazing and he did NOT get enough screen time, point docked (this also refers to the lacking buildup for his reveal and the fact that afton doesnt even wear the spring bonnie head most of the time)

no phone guy :(

overall though i loved this movie and there were so many points where i was sitting there pointing at the screen excitedly slamming my armrest. it wasn't perfect, surely not the best movie ever made, but it was a solid and entertaining start that made me happy and i hope to see more.

anyway, now for other thoughts

for most forms of media i hate it when there are lore inaccuracies between adaptations but for fnaf it works so well? like with the games and the books and even the eras of games you have various continuities and they're all different and unique but also contain similar themes and motifs and you can use some to infer things about the others and i absolutley love it

like right now the movies makin me think about if game mike ever had to do some of williams dirty work?? has game mike ever made a misjudgement or rash desicion when confronted with something suggesting child abduction (or maybe to extend it more, bullying/abuse?)

also if movie mike & his family are actually related to the henry emily equivalent?? like we have garrett who like charlotte gets captured and killed by afton at a DIFFERENT point in time than the missing children's incident and afton presumably went out of his way to go get him too- you cant convince me afton came across the schmidts by chance and the way he LOOKED at mike reading his name like he was ANALYZING HIM dang i could feel that stare it was crazy. i feel like there has to be more significance to this. a father who takes a death in the family poorly?? a kid abducted before the missing children's incident? sounds familiar... (also i just really like mike in all of fnaf and the way he was characterized in this movie was so interesting and i am probably just desperately telling myself this because i really dont wanna see him sidelined for vanessa, who i always found as a sort of mid character)

does movie william have multiple kids or just one? if the schmidts are the emily parallels (which is. just my speculation and hopes.) and theres multiple kids maybe movie afton only has 1 child??

parallels parallels galore too!! like how vanessa being aftons daughter rationalizes her appearance in the movie a lot so she's still that reluctant follower without all that crazy ai business! mike's negligence leading to guilt over something bad happening to his lil bro! abby nearly getting stuffed into the possibly circus baby suit!! its just so wild to me

expect more speculation from me because I am goin nuts over this movie. so many unanswered questions and so many ways to take this and apply it to concepts in other facets of the franchise. love all of this new material and how its going back to the roots of just old supernatural stuff, ghosts in grimy old machines business. i just love the simplicity of it and the many ways it can be executed

[indepth-mbti]

i've seen your ig acc & i enjoyed consuming your posts.

so i've been wondering about my type. for a while i thought i was an intj. i knew about the functions, but i only focused on the dominant ni types since *i think* i relate to them. but upon further researching about types, i come to conclude that i relate more to inferior fi than tertiary fi. as much as i don't want to, i force myself to dig deeper into my memories & had an epiphany: the reason i have no friends or that i was bullied by the people around me, including my cousins, is that because i was *& is* argumentative. i want people to follow & believe what i say. in the place that i lived, our family was a bit on the privileged side than most people there, so i dominate the kids who i *thought* were beneath me. but when i was faced with my cousins who were boys, i suddenly lose my courage. as a child, i already had the concept of people being expendable. so i discard people who i cant benefit from by being mean to them and alienating them from the group. but when i thought a kid is beneficial to me, most specially in the social department, i automatically became nicer to them, expecting them to be my friend. basically, during my elementary days, i was the mean girl in our class. but when i enter highschool, i realize that having friends is useful, & immediately understand that i should be more amiable to collect friends to help me with things (specially math). i think it's Te, albeit very unhealthy and immature use of the function. and since i repress it for most of my highschool life, and the trauma that i have gotten because of my attitude, i didn't realize up until this point that that was te, since upon its repression, i became meek and socially shy. all along i always believed it to be just auxiliary. but what i displayed inside our house showed a lot of dominant te. i may follow what our parents say, recognizing their authority, but i always forge a path of my own, wanting to achieve my own goals that, in the long run, will benefit them too. i actively participate with decision making regarding what goes on in our house & my future. i also imposed rules on my younger brother & berated him if he didn't follow it. i can't trust my own knowledge so i have to trust reliable sources to validate what i know. now that i'm in college i'm exercising my te in a healthy way.

the only thing that i'm confused is to whether i used ni-se or si-ne. i'm both detail-oriented & big picture thinker. i sometimes get bogged down by details & wanted everything to be as what i envisioned it to be. i'm meticulous with my projects, striving for perfectionism, follows the methods that i know will give me the results that i want. i want order in the group that i am in, & so wanted clear heirarchy on who will lead or not or who can be efficient or not. i'm not really good with organizing physical things (my mom — who i suspected to be an si dom — always berate me because i'm shitty at organizing our shoe rack). but i'm good with organizing data, abstract theories (given they have practical applicability), & my priorities. when i'm dealing with things that i'm not familiar with, just like in cooking, i want to have explicit step-by-step procedure because i'm afraid i will fuck it up. i hate coming up with new ideas. so when we were brainstorming for our research topics, i instantly thought of the milgram experiment (which is connected with behavioral psych & something i'm familiar with) & modify it to extract the essence of the research. when i'm working with projects, i always search on the internet for possible topics or procedure, and if i found something that interest me, i found ways to connect it to my project and work from there. i'm not really good with remembering details, & when i tried to remember data from the past, what i come up with was its synthesis or my overall impression. my past was murky, i don't really put too much stock on it but i trust what works best before, & i found myself considering tried and tested methods to solve a problem. when a problem is presented, i perform leaps in judgement. i don't really need to know any missing data before i come up with conclusions. i'm good at determining the cause & predicting the future, base on the available info at hand. sometimes, i found myself being bogged down by future possibilities, oftentimes negative. i really hate multiple possibilities, but in order for me to assuage my anxiety, i think of contingency plans to prevent any of the negative possibilities from happening. but when i can't think of anything else, i don't have an issue with acting swiftly, just to get the job done. i'm sorry this is too long! & thank you for lending your time in helping me with my confusion. have a good day!

You're an ENTJ. 683 tritype, but I'm not sure about your core type, I'll say E6.

Your arguments for dominant Te and inferior Fi are on point. Let me tell you this: it is a positive to be aware of your flaws and to accept them with honesty. But be careful, because many Te doms while accepting their flaws and mistakes may fall into a "those are the facts, and me acknowledging them is enough" state.

About your middle axis, I lean towards NiSe because in your writing style there's nothing that points out towards the categorization of ideas and the awareness of the inner states typical of Si users. You express yourself in terms of ideal tendencies/essences you want to reach. Most of what you wrote in the second paragraph is actually Te dom again, but those things are Ni-Se:

"but i'm good with organizing data, abstract theories (given they have practical applicability), & my priorities." - TeNi

"so when we were brainstorming for our research topics, i instantly thought of the milgram experiment (which is connected with behavioral psych & something i'm familiar with) & modify it to extract the essence of the research." <- Ni > Ne. Convergency > Divergency.

"and if i found something that interest me, i found ways to connect it to my project and work from there." <- Ni

I'll say E6 due to the following statements:

"i can't trust my own knowledge so i have to trust reliable sources to validate what i know. now that i'm in college i'm exercising my te in a healthy way." <- this is Te + E6

"i found myself being bogged down by future possibilities, oftentimes negative." <- E6

"but in order for me to assuage my anxiety, i think of contingency plans to prevent any of the negative possibilities from happening." <- E6

[bloemrijk]

Keijo Vieno Salonen

🧊 credit: korewahareno (twt)

🧊va: Takuya Sato

for more information, see below.

🧊 The emoji I associate with Vieno is the ice cube 🧊. Originally it was the snowflake ❄️, but Neige has claim to that one officially, so I had to change that.

🧊 Vieno’s name was originally Xander Dubois. But I renamed him several times: Xander, Keijo, to Dušan Dimitri Horváth, back to Keijo. It sorta went along with how I developed his home kingdom.

🧊 Xander Dubois was actually written for the sole purpose of being a fill in ‘x male reader’ type for angst and erotica. Though, I fell in love with him in general and messed with him more until he became my most used OC.

🧊 Vieno’s first name, Keijo, means “elf;fairy,” and he often is mocked for it back home. His best friend, Fenrir, often playfully calls him “twinkle toes” in thinking about the tiny fairy types.

🧊 Vieno was originally written having purely black hair. It wasn’t until I used Ruki from Diabolik Lovers as a face claim that he had white tips. Though this also changed his background a lot.

🧊 Vieno’s coffin logo was drawn by me.

🧊 Despite having been roommates with Rook “no one knows any sense of privacy when I’m alive” Hunt for two years, no one has ever seen Vieno without his shirt. The most they’ve seen is his toned stomach when it was unbuttoned, but never his back. There’s actually all sorts of rumors about what is on his back that he won’t allow anyone to see.

🧊 Vieno has three familiars. An Arctic fox (m) named Avalanche, a Norwegian forest (f) cat named Artemis, and an albino fruit bat (m) named Pulp. He is the only one in his kingdom to have three familiars, no one is jealous since one familiar can be rather difficult to manage.

🧊 Without going into too much detail, the inspiration of how familiars work in Harmaajärvi comes from an old favorite childhood movie, The Golden Compass. The idea of animals being tied to ones’ life was a really interesting concept that I just HAD to play with myself.

🧊 Vieno and his grandmother have a very strained relationship. Despite his mother’s attempts, Vieno has no relationship with her, though he is unaware that she’s trying to build one with him. Vieno’s brother, Aleksi, and he often send letters to one another, this has not changed since Vieno’s acceptance to NRC.

🧊 Because his home kingdom, Harmaajärvi Kuningaskunta, is known for producing trained killers who often kill non human beings, Vieno is extremely unpopular amongst his classmates.

🧊 Vieno is only a member of the Equestrian Club by accident, he originally was just feeding the horses in the stable when he was unknownly added to the club member roster.

🧊 Since Vieno is the first person from his kingdom to attend NRC in over six hundred years, the translation stone was unable to translate anything to Vieno’s native tongue. This actually is why Vieno sat in silence so frequently or stared blankly at someone when they tried to converse with him for the first few weeks of school. Following that, it was learned that Vieno is a relatively quiet person in general.

🧊 Vieno was originally a member of Heartslabyul dorm, but transferred out the same time Rook transferred. That was purely coincidence, but this is how they came to be dormmates for the next two years. And it was intentional on Pomefiore’s part to put the weirdest two people of the dorm together in their second year.

🧊 Vieno was told threatened by Crowley twice, that he is forbidden from hurting any of the students in the school with no exceptions. This in turn means that Vieno is unable to even defend himself against Savannaclaw students when he is being bullied or mistreated.

🧊 Vieno has three associated ships: Lilia, Jade, and Jack. I did consider Floyd, but Floyd would be too much of a wildcard with a silent but gentle type like Vieno. Originally, it was Azul who I paired him with, but after I started headcanoning Azul as acearo I changed it to a different second year.

🧊 I have numerous alternate universe variations of Vieno. My favorite version is actually the dragon rider version where Vieno disappears from the earth during winter break of his first year. He is not discovered until years later where he is living alone with dragons in a not-so-subtle reference to Ancient Magus’ Bride where Vieno takes a similar role to Lindel. My not as actively played with version is his RSA one, mostly because there is so little known about RSA in canon that it would be like designing a whole other school and I’m a bit busy with several already.

🧊 Vieno refuses to fly in flying class, it’s actually the reason he has an F. Vargas has given up on trying and makes Vieno run laps instead, which is still rather intimidating because it’s proven that Vieno has the stamina to run laps for over an hour and not tire. To everyone’s surprise, Vieno actually enjoys running, a lot.

🧊 The only reason Vieno does not fail astronomy is because the professor, Fujino (another OC of mine), fails no one especially if they give at least some attempt. Vieno doesn’t mind Fujino, but is sorta perturbed by the man’s abilities to read and accurately interpret tea leaves.

🧊 Vieno doesn’t understand the Halloween event to ward off spirits. In his hometown, it is actually customary to call forth spirits of one’s ancestors for a grand feast. During the event, Vieno often chooses to not participate instead having feasts with the spirits of the school. This included the Ramshackle ghosts. Even though they could not eat, the ghosts appreciated Vieno’s more cultural habit.

🧊 During the Fairy Gala event, Vieno did not understand the idea of stealing the rock back from the fairies and instead offered the replacement rock to the fairies directly. Granted, this ultimately failed and Crowley did scold him for being too upfront about their wants.

🧊 During the Ghost Marriage event, Vieno was dragged in by Crowley as a tall, princely type, though they did have concerns considering that Vieno is relatively stoic and never smiles. However, to the shock of the other students, seeing so many of his classmates taken out by this one ghost just caused Vieno to laugh. Eliza did consider Vieno to be almost as perfect as a prince as Idia. Despite not being into as many otome as Persephone (Idia’s cousin, my OC), Idia did comment that Vieno would make for a great green flag character even though he would be perceived as a red flag for basically every route but his own.

🧊 Vieno’s favorite season is summer, this mostly stems from a lot of childhood trauma. However, this has changed since he started school to spring, he thinks the blooming flowers are pretty.

🧊 Vieno’s natural body temperature is extremely cold. It is considered hypothermia is the human body drops below 95f (35c), however, Vieno’s body temperature rests at 60f (15c) naturally. There is a lot of panic the first time anyone takes his temperature, especially if they’re unaware of how abnormal his body is. Trying to warm him up actually causes the opposite reaction, he passes out from heat exhaustion.

🧊 To the surprise of other students, Vieno is able to walk around in winter with very little in terms of warmth. He is completely unbothered by the frigid temperatures. Even Rook playing around and shoving snow down his shirt seemed to not faze Vieno in the slightest.

🧊 Vieno is yet another student in NRC who is able to use light magic, however he rarely uses magic so students often believe they mistook what they saw.

🧊 Vieno prefers the company of animals to people.

🧊 2nd Birthday Bash celebration with Vieno will end with the interviewer wearing the pie, not Vieno. Vieno was apologetic and felt guilty that he reacted before he realized what was happening. Needless to say, the saddened puppy eyes from Vieno over this silly thing caused the interviewer to pretend that nothing happened out of the ordinary. They quickly got to work and made it look like Vieno got hit like he was supposed to.

🧊 Vieno has a sweet tooth that wasn’t discovered until he was a first year and Trey gave him some homemade desserts. Vil actually has Vieno on a restriction because otherwise he will eat his weight in sugar.

🧊 Vieno was given a phone by Heartslabul house warden in his first year, however it’s a glorified paperweight for as often as he forgets it and forgets to charge it.

🧊 Vieno is a vegetarian, but two of his familiars are carnivores. So during lunch he buys a salad for himself, a small bowl of raw meat for Avalanche, a small fish for Artemis, and a bowl of fruit to share with Pulp.

🧊 Silver has caught Vieno singing twice, both times was because the horse he was riding walked over to Vieno. Riddle and Sebek have heard him a total of once, also completely by accident since they came to the stable earlier than Vieno expected.

🧊 Vieno’s hair is considered magical to Rook, particularly because his tips are always white even after they’ve been cut the day before.

[partyhatjigglypuff]

i do think it's worth elaborating on how much of Yu-Gi-Oh! was related to the "Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG" (referred to in the manga as "Duel Monsters") because it's kind of funny from a broad perspective when you consider all 38 volumes of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and compare it to the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, which is the benchmark for most people.

Duel Monsters is introduced as a one-off idea in the 2nd volume over two chapters and makes a comeback in volume 5 as the culmination of a longer arc (the battle in volume 5 is the 3x blue eyes white dragon vs Exodia that became the pilot of the anime*). these battles look nothing like the card game you remember - it was mostly drawing cards and whichever monster had the bigger number won. there were some spells and traps but it was very basic and didn't have much strategy.

here's the thing: there were only three Duel Monsters battles in the first seven volumes - Takahashi spent just as much time on other games he made up, like "Capsule Monster Chess" played by Mokuba and a TTRPG ran by evil Bakura, as well as a bunch of messed up one-offs where Yami Yugi would challenge bullies and thugs to games of death for their greed, and there was an underlying air of mystery with the egyptian artifacts.

however, Duel Monsters was by far the most popular part of the manga and it was insanely marketable. so. the next 24 volumes of manga were allllll about Duel Monsters** and include the arcs most people are probably familiar with (Pegasus Island and Battle City) and while there's some other action, most of it is centered around this card game, and there's a little bit more overarching plot about the egyptian stuff but it's kind of an afterthought.

the story then abruptly jumps back to the egyptian mythos, with yugi and co transported back in time to ancient egypt to learn the truth about Duel Monsters and help Yami Yugi prevail over evil. Yugi then has to defeat Yami Yugi in one last game of Duel Monsters to send him to the afterlife, and they all live happily ever after.

now, because so much of the content outside of Duel Monsters was kinda dark (especially for american audiences), the adaptation and localization focused heavily on the card game and removed a lot of the darker and grislier concepts. remember the Shadow Realm? in the comic, there was no shadow realm. people just fucking died from explosions or being sawed in half. the last few volumes in particular were kinda gory and my parents were NOT happy when they found out what the card game comic was doing. there are 5 seasons of the original anime, and seasons 3 and 4 are almost entirely new material focused on Duel Monsters.

as a result, the vast majority of americans who are familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh! know very little outside of the context of the card game and the anime adaptation of the card game, and that's largely the cultural impact that remains. no knowledge of the eerie, cruel shadow games, the life and death D&D game, or the bloody egyptian history. just the heart of the cards.

anyway. you should read the yu-gi-oh manga.

(disclaimer: i have not interfaced with yugioh outside of the original manga run and the relevant anime episodes, and haven't done so in a long time aside from the occasional re-read. there's probably some incorrect info, and some info made incorrect by the many subsequent spin-offs and adaptations that didn't catch my interest. i just wanted to go off about the funny dichotomy of USAmerican perceptions of Silly Card Game Cartoon vs the macabre content of the manga, because that was eye-opening for me at age eleven)

* the first seven volumes were adapted into an anime referred to as "season 0" by fans, but i'm not sure if it ever officially made it to the US

** yes, there was also Dungeon Dice Monsters.

I love yu-gi-oh (the manga) because it's both basic enough to be broadly appealing and has an absolutely buckwild plot festering under a relatively straightforward premise, which means there's all these normal casual readers of stuff running around discussing what seems like a relatively straightforward fun kid's comic with their friends (who haven't read it) only to have themselves having to suddenly explain the ancient Egyptian soul games being played a trapped spirit pharoah who keeps murdering high schoolers for crimes like "being a bully" and "taking the best table at the school fair", and the rich kid's giant death theme park, and how this all ties in to the complex magical politics of reincarnated Egyptian priests. There are stories with more broad appeal and stories with weirder plots, but very few stories straddle the line to so perfectly contaminate one with the other.

Yu-gi-oh was Homestuck before we had Homestuck is what I'm saying.

[thekuraning]

still going through my old laptop backups! some more old slowpoke tails and koffing fumes art under the cut!!!

Last time was just olympicshipping stuff but sometimes when i write i do little concept sketchies to help wrap my head around things so today im gonna show off some of those. they used to be on my deviantart but frankly i am uncertain if my page even still exists so back here they go!!!

if you remember alex no you don't i don't have like... a ton of art of him. because he's been canned so hard he might as well be sardines. and if you dont remember him he was a major antagonist in petrel's plot line who defected from team rocket. despite being a "major" antagonist i think he mostly only showed up in a couple chapters, mainly in the oh no they got arrested arc around ch20

here he is in technicolor

his sableye's name was slim. and if that sounds familiar.... it's because Alex actually followed the route of a lot of my old Rocket OCs and got repurposed! In this case, Nanu ate his heart and absorbed his powers and became the Ultimate Traitor (I Am All of Me from Shadow the Hedgehog blares in the background)

ive also got decarli and kevin from proton's crew

Decarli's remained... mostly consistent between STKF and ZFDS! he was always supposed to look pretty generic as a person and he's remained a music teacher-turned-rocket but!! someone who didn't make it into ZFDS is his lovely little mawile, Shoyu!! She was actually named by a reader for winning a contest! And actually, since this was back in the day when it was super easy to generate your own pokemon, I gave her away as a promotional gift, complete with her in-universe moveset and Decarli as her OT :) I don't keep in touch with the person who got her, but I hope she's out there somewhere in the big ol' pokemon world. And I hope she got to mega evolve at least once.

kevin did not make the cut to ZFDS and will proceed to not make the cut (but his sweet lil rattata, Ribbon, is going to find a new trainer soon!)

in ZFDS, Proton has flashbacks to the time he murdered his highschool bully and shoved his body into the river, but in STKF, his highschool bully ended up in Team Rocket, and his name was Kevin!! He ended up working in Proton's department in the HGSS arc. he had a big crush on proton, so petrel hated him

its ok kevin hated him back.

thats actually all the slowpoke tails old art i was able to find, so i shall now leave you to bear the weight of this curse:

[alias-sam]

Pierced by a Golden Soul

Chapter 13. Video Killed the Radio Star

Platonic Jojo's x Reader

Summary: Fate is a bizarre concept with countless more bizarre implications. In life sometimes such extraordinary events happen that the only reasoning left must be fate. The tragedies that constantly befall the Joestar bloodline for example may be the unluckiest series of cards drawn in human history, or perhaps the work of a greater power. There is no way to tell for sure. Had Dio Brando or Jonathan Joestar moved slightly on a divergent path the world itself would be left very different. The fate or luck of the noble Joestar bloodline has led to destruction of evil likes of the Pillar Men and DIO. This story is of a similar caliber to that of the other Joestars (as I am sure you are familiar with them). This is a story of lost souls, compassion, hope, and above all fate.

Word Count: 2,113

(Crosspost from Wattpad, full fic is already posted there.)

On Friday at 6 a.m. you stood at the entrance to your school's football stadium.

"Are you sure he'll be here?" Jotaro sighed tiredly. He had agreed to meet you at the school. Classes for the day had been cancelled so there wouldn't be anyone else on campus but staff and personnel trying to fix the electrical problems.

"Almost definitely." You nodded, walking up to the chain-link gate that led into the stadium. There was an old rusty padlock holding the gate closed, you squatted down and fiddled with it, trying to guess the combination. "Tim's got a bone to pick with the football team. Since school's out for the day, it would be the perfect time for him to try swiping the season trophy." You looked up at Jotaro who was just standing over you. He always looked angry in some way, but right now it felt like he was growing impatient. "What's wrong?" Jotaro motioned for you to step aside. You backed up a few paces and watched as Jotaro's Star Platinum lightly flicked the lock. The gate slowly creaked open, and Jotaro proceeded inside.

"Compared to the motives of prior enemy stand users? This is ridiculous." Jotaro muttered listlessly.

"That goes to show the kind of emotional maturity teenagers have." You said following the man.

"I've never seen a stand user apply their abilities for something so juvenile."

"Say what you will, but I think this is an extreme but reasonable reaction. Maybe this is meaningless to you, but that trophy means a lot to my classmates, and Tim's looking for good revenge." You glanced around at the empty bleachers and field "I think his stand messed with his head or something." Jotaro stopped to look back at you.

"How so?"

"Well... Tim went from a mild-mannered wallflower to a rude bully overnight. I just thought, could his stand have anything to do with that?" Your stand user mentor stood in silence staring off into space for a solid minute. "Mr. Kujo?"

"Maybe." Jotaro muttered. "Different people have different reactions to stands, and stands have different effects on their users." He continued walking through the stadium and onto the field. You slowly followed him. Jotaro thought back to when he first developed his own stand. To many, it also appeared he changed overnight. In just a day he wound up in jail.

"I'm just hoping he's cooled off since yesterday."

"And if he hasn't?" Jotaro asked flatly. You unconsciously cupped your bandaged hand. It didn't hurt but there was a faint scar from the burn. Jaya had told you to take it easy since her hamon healing couldn't do everything.

"I'll improvise." You shrugged, summoning Golden Soul and looking around the stadium again. Jotaro paced back towards you.

"So, you don't have a plan?" Jotaro muttered through clenched teeth.

"I do." You said, not looking at him. "Unfortunately, it's only a rough draft at the moment." Golden Soul pointed towards the press box as it loomed above the field where you stood.

"Give me a break kid." Jotaro briefly hid his face with the brim of his hat "You're not being careful enough with this guy. Stand users are dangerous. They'll try to kill you any chance they get, you've seen it yourself. You need to get your guard up."

"Maybe you need to relax." You turned from the press box to look Jotaro in the eyes. "Being less guarded around you hasn't backfired just yet." Jotaro seemed to contemplate something before going back to looking around the stadium.

"Where's this important trophy you wanted to protect?"

"Oh, it's not here. All awards given to the sports teams are kept in the gym building."

"Wha-" Jotaro paused mid-sentence when a soft buzzing filled his ears.

"I asked you along so Tim can't surprise me like last time." The stadium's microphone system filled with a horrible high-pitched feedback tone. You and Jotaro immediately clamped your hands over your ears. "Told you I had a rough plan." You yelled over the noise.

"Yare yare kid!" Jotaro yelled back. The mic feedback faded away, allowing you and Jotaro to uncover your ears. After reading Tim's diary entries you decided you needed to talk to him. Without some extra muscle from Jotaro that would be a pipe dream. However, not knowing exactly what Tim's stand could do made it impossible to run your scheme by Jotaro over the phone or on the street.

"Sorry I lied." You shook your head, trying to get the ringing out of your brain. "It was hard to tell if he could hear me talking to you over the phone or some other way." Your plan worked though, Tim was in the stadium.

"Y/n!" Tim's voice boomed over the mic system, uncharacteristically confidant. "You were really dumb enough to come here?" You simply looked up at the press box where Golden Soul had located Tim.

"I was smart enough to lure you somewhere away from most of the public." You took a few steps towards the press box, which allowed you a glimpse at Tim through the windows. "I just wanna talk." You showed your hands to Tim in an attempt to indicate civility "You haven't been well lately."

"I feel fine." Tim's voice reverberated through the stadium again. "If anything, I feel exhilarated." He said with a cruel laugh.  "You know how being a 'wave maker' spelled your downfall amongst our peers? How I spent so much time trying not to stand out? Well now I can't get enough of making waves!"

"Tim?" The air in the stadium grew staticky, like the aftermath of a lightning storm.

"My stand 'Radio Star' manipulates waves of all kinds, sound waves, electrical waves, telecommunication waves, radio, TV broadcasting, you name it." The score boards on either side of the field lit up.

"Tim! Wait!" The speakers attached to the score boards let off a bass boosted blast that forced you and Jotaro to your knees.

"Kid!" Jotaro yelled, summoning Star Platinum. "You planning to fill me in on your plan?"

"Yeah." You summoned your own stand, using it to protect you from dirt and debris that was being thrown at you. "I need you to buy me the time for it though." The mic system once again let out a horrible feedback noise, but this time the sound waves were much more powerful. "Tim's using his stand to manipulate the sound system. He can't attack us if he doesn't have any technology to jack into!" Jotaro seemed to understand what you were trying to say because his stand picked up some stray rocks from the ground and flicked them at the buzzers on the score boards. You sighed in relief when the sound stopped. Jotaro offered you a hand and a pointed look.

"Next time, tell me before you lead me into a death trap." He said sternly.

"Will do." You groaned as you stood up, your ears ringing. Quickly, you directed your attention back to Tim in the announcer's box. "What was that for Tim? Mad?" You yelled up at the tower so Tim could hear.

"O-of course I'm mad-"

"Mad at who?" You asked. "Me and Mr. Kujo? Or the bullies?"

"S-shut up!" Tim stuttered, his composure starting to crack.

"No."

The mic system started going off again but this time without the speakers on the score boards it was much less intense. Before Radio Star could start messing with the sound system again Jotaro sent a rock flying through the press box window using Star Platinum. Tim stumbled away from the window and out of sight. You started running to the tower, but Jotaro grabbed your arm.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"Just go. I can handle the rest of this." You said hurriedly. Jotaro didn't seem convinced, his grip tightened. "Please!" You begged.  "Trust me?" Jotaro stared at you for a good minute, contemplating. He let go of your arm and sighed.

"Be quick or I'm following you."

"Thank you, Mr. Kujo." You smiled. Jotaro just gave a slight nod and reluctantly headed to the exit.

......................

The door to the tower was left ajar, no doubt thanks to Tim. You cautiously ascended the stairs, stopping every few steps to survey what was around you. As your leg passed an electrical socket it began to fizzle and short. Golden Soul managed to grab Radio Star's wires before they could wrap around you. It didn't appear Tim's stand could electrocute something immaterial like a stand. It was a struggle for Golden Soul to wrangle the mess of wires as they slithered around every one of your stand's limbs. The wires found their way to Golden Soul's neck and you were overwhelmed by the feeling of being choked.

"For the love of god Tim!" You gasped as the wires tightened. "Can't you see I don't want to hurt you?" You gagged and heaved as the wires continued to tighten. Just as you were running out of breath the pressure on your neck eased up. You caught your breath and got a glimpse of Radio Star as it retreated back into the electrical socket. The lights in the stairway flickered before going out. A few dim emergency lights were your only illumination. Despite the encounter you decided to keep heading up to the press box.

................

When you opened the door of the broadcasting room, all the lights were turned off along with the equipment. As you slowly looked inside, the emergency lights from the hallway crept in.

"Tim? You in here buddy?" You took a glance around the room. Sitting against the far wall was Tim.

"Go away Y/n...." Tim's heavy breathing slowed down as you stepped closer. The boy wiped his face with his sleeve when he realized you weren't going to listen to him. "Why are you here?"

"Thought you might want the company." You laughed nervously, walking closer to where he was sitting. Tim didn't move away or object as you took a seat next to him on the floor. Neither of you said anything. The silence wasn't awkward though, and Tim was left to think about the events leading up to this moment.

"I don't really know why I-" Tim started to apologize but you stopped him.

"You were angry. People have been hurting you, they stole your work and you didn't think you were able to do anything about it." You spoke softly, "I don't blame you for wanting to stick it to them... and I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner." You turned to face Tim. "But taking your emotions out on others won't help the situation. You'll turn into the kind of person that hurts others." You didn't have the heart to point out that Tim had lately acted almost exactly like Blake.

"Why do you care?" Tim asked defensively. He didn't want to admit you were making a good point. He reflected on how emotional he was, and he realized how irrational it made him.

"I'm your friend Tim." You placed a comforting hand on this shoulder. Tim shrugged you off and stood up, anger boiling up again.

"I don't have friends! You're probably just going to have that Jotaro guy pummel me as soon as I let my guard down!" Tim glared at you, the staticky aura of his stand appearing.

"Jotaro left the stadium." You stayed sitting down, not wanting to make him feel any more distressed. "You and I are the only ones here." You assured him.

"That doesn't change the fact I don't trust you." Tim said coldly.

"Alright." You sighed. Tim watched carefully as you stood up and grabbed something from behind your back. "I'll go, but I have something for you." He was prepared for you to pull out a weapon. Much to his surprise, you pulled out a few folded pieces of notebook paper and held them out for him to take.

Tim stared at the pages oddly. After some mental debate he decided to humor you. When he unfolded the pages, he found his own handwriting and some familiar lyrics.

"Is t-this....?"

"Some pages from your notebook. I couldn't salvage much, but I figured you would want these back." You watched Tim's face turn to one of shock as he examined the papers. Some parts were water damaged, but the writing was fine. You started walking out of the room when Tim stopped you.

"Y/n! I'm.....sorry. I'm so sorry about all of the trouble I've caused." After realizing what you had done for him, Tim felt the need to make amends somehow. You were about to just tell him it was okay and leave, but when a thought occurred to you.

"Tim, you said earlier you don't have any friends. Now that this is all hopefully over... I wouldn't mind getting to know you."

"Yeah, I'd like that." For the first time in a long while, Tim smiled.

[prettyoddfever]

do you support brendon ?

Yes.

The yes/no answer isn’t as simple as it should be because the concept of “supporting Brendon” seems to be currently tied into a whole alternate reality that’s based on a whole mess of misunderstandings, rumors, lies, and other things that I don’t even know much about. I have next to no background info about events after 2010, so I can’t begin to pick out what might or might not be true. But the parts I’ve seen people talking about that do involve years I’m familiar with (anything before 2010) come from such a wildly misinformed alternate reality that the info basically only serves as a red flag to show how little those people actually know about the entire topic they’re speculating over. If their understanding of the pre-split band is so minimal that they truly believe some of the things they’re saying, then I’m not really inclined to trust their critical thinking skills about later years either lol. A lot of the other commentary I’ve seen about 2005-2009 basically just tells me that people are willing to take a topic they know next to nothing about, speculate over it in an echo chamber, feel validated because the internet appears to share their perspective, and then treat it like fact.

Some of the other current condemnation of Brendon seems to be coming from people who were born after 1991 and weren’t teenagers at the same time as Brendon. There’s a definite generational gap happening here in the perception of some events, so just bear with me while I go off on a tangent that might be relevant:

My generation is largely a product of the entertainment & culture we were fed at every angle.… not the masterminds of it. We were not born as inherently horrible people. The 2000s were fun at times and I’m nostalgic for a lot of aspects, but I also have to balance that nostalgia with the understanding that the culture was truly shitty in a lot of ways and pretty much only respected straight white cis men (but I feel like they were still harmed too in a strange way since they were taught a lot of toxic behaviors & mindsets). On a slightly related note: I went to film school for a year in 2008 and we were legit told that a Hollywood screenplay needed to have its target audience be “18-to-25-year-old white men.” None of my teachers were white (and very few were men), but that was still the rule… and my teachers acted like that was just how the world worked and you should roll with it if you wanted to have a job. I remember wondering if 18-to-25-year-old white men naturally wanted such a specific type of humor & content, or if Hollywood had taught them to want it in the first place. I went into more detail in this post too about how the culture in the early 2000s was toxic for teen girls and taught us to treat each other horribly.

Modern teen culture seems more individualistic than the teen culture that Brendon & I grew up in. These days people might view a comment that you make as a reflection of who you are, but back then it felt more like we mostly tried to conform to a handful of acceptable images and their expected norms. Your comments & actions gave away whether or not you were a poser... they were a reflection of how well you could fit into a specific group. Strangers, other kids at school, and corporations didn’t give a crap about you (and certainly not your “authentic self” lol). Based on conversations over the past decade with a lot of friends from all over the country, it felt like there was a small box of what was normal/acceptable in the early 2000s and most of us just tried to conform to that for the sake of not being bullied. I’d argue that the kids who went outside of that box of “normal” (ex: goth, emo, Avril Lavigne wannabes, etc) either still tried to conform to their group and were vicious about calling out posers, or else their identity was grounded in the fact that they were not conforming… which only reinforces how the overall culture was something that people were expected to generally conform to. (Ok side tangent: I don’t know how to categorize that large group of kids at every school who just wore colorful sneakers, flared jeans, some kind of unisex graphic tee that was probably for a band or from a school activity, hoodies, and maybe got chunky highlights in their hair but nothing too wild. They fit in but didn’t try too hard. Anyways, their personality or sense of humor usually still matched what was common/“normal”). In my own experience, it really wasn’t that hard to be popular back then (and thereby safe). You just wore the right clothes & hairstyle and adopted a personality & sense of humor that matched what people expected… and suppressed almost every aspect of yourself in the process lol. Nobody talked about mental health when I was in high school, but I’m positive that everyone I knew wasn’t as fine as we all pretended to be.

side note: when I talk about the “2000s” I’m mostly focusing on 2000-2006. I think the fashion, music, and culture in 2008 slowly shifts to feel more like the early 2010s. By 2008 tween magazines had also significantly cut back on the content that basically bullied female celebrities. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our culture started changing once sites like Tumblr & Twitter gained momentum throughout 2009 and people could access alternative views & ideas and converse with the world at large instead of the small bubble of people who already shared your interests on a specific forum. I don’t know how to phrase this, but there was a definite shift once ordinary people could direct the conversation online and could make their voices heard instead of just consuming the culture that was given to them. I’m not sure that teens these days fully grasp what the world was like before everyone was so connected… even just the concept of having internet and a cell phone in 2004 was very different from what that meant by 2007.

Teen culture was largely dictated to us by the media back then (in magazines, tv, MTV, movies, and other similar avenues that didn't have the ability for true dialogue or for their audience to have their voices heard regularly. There weren’t many decent books for teens, though, so we couldn’t even learn about diverse worldviews that way. Twilight eventually showed the publishing industry that young adults could be a very profitable niche, but it took many years to get the YA industry to what it is now. Also, the drama in YA books back then was like some white girl from a middle class family was anxious her classmates might discover she was “poor” and a poser, or whatever generic nonsense). Anyways, media showed us what to aspire to – we did not matter as individuals. These days there’s a much wider range of sources you can turn to for inspiration & ideas, and it doesn’t really feel like there’s some kind of overall homogeneous culture being dictated anymore. Social media has more power than a print magazine talking about last month’s events ever could (I know that algorithms mess with stuff and corporations buy out influencers etc, so I’m not saying that everything is perfect or trying to analyze anything on an intricate level here. I’m just pointing out how the channels that we get information through have expanded significantly since 2006… and I feel like that’s weakened the ability of the media & corporations to shape our culture or dictate what’s “normal” in the same way that they did in 2003. We have so many alternative options now and can easily see other ways of thinking or living… and sometimes just being able to actually see so many people who support a certain idea helps us critically examine our own understandings). Advertising also seems to have made a shift towards treating the individual more like an actual person (ex: the whole self-care trend). There’s also an amazing push for diversity & inclusion that celebrates the individual. There are so many aesthetics for your personal style, and people seem way more into authenticity and creating their own image via social media. So I think teens growing up in this culture might expect Brendon’s comments to be a reflection of his personal core values & authentic self, but I see them as a clear reflection of the culture he worked really hard to conform to. Obviously it’s still wrong to make those types of comments either way. But understanding where they come from & the motivation behind them can make a difference in how you view Brendon.

I really want to emphasize that some kids in my generation worked extra hard to conform for the sake of safety. There’s a strong push now to condemn bullying, but back then bullying was often treated as an unfortunate but inevitable part of society (and in my own experience, it felt like the bullies were almost celebrated… like many adults were proud of them for basically winning at life). My middle school certainly took a blame-the-victim approach or just didn’t care. It never even occurred to me to tell a teacher about the constant sexual harassment that many sophomore girls endured from the senior boys in our math class because it all seemed so completely normal to me. All of the schools I attended had pretty much the same advice about harassment & bullying: just ignore it… if you don’t give them the satisfaction of a response then they’ll move along (supposedly). Wearing a tshirt that says “it’s cool to be kind” in 2004 would have basically been like taping a target onto yourself and “asking for it,” but I’ve seen those shirts for sale in recent years (and felt a surge of terror for the poor child who might be caught in one before I remembered that things might be different now). Obviously bullying is still a problem today, but society’s overall attitude towards it has changed so much that I don’t know if today’s teens fully understand the environment that pushed a lot of us to try to fit in so hard. Some kids back then made it through high school just fine without changing much about themselves, but a lot of us learned to make ourselves the smallest target possible by fitting in with a group as much as we could. That applies to more than just high school, too. Marketing & the media basically thrived on creating a very narrow group of people who were “in” and then everyone else was a target to scorn or mock as they scrambled to pass for whatever was deemed acceptable that year.

The people I know in my own life who are having a harder time fully letting go of harmful ingrained behaviors & phrases are the kids who were bullied, didn’t have many friends in high school, were autistic, or for whatever other reason worked harder to practically memorize the social norms and “rules” of fitting in & being acceptable, or at least staying safe. It just seems obvious to me that Brendon would’ve been one of those kids. If you paid even the slightest attention to the pre-split band, you’d know that Brendon visibly strived to be likable and good enough. I have honestly never seen someone try so incredibly hard. He was almost desperate at times with his eagerness for acceptance & approval from the other guys in the band. Brendon also talked a lot about how he didn’t have many friends in high school… kids were generally not very kind to him. Brendon was “weird” with his ADHD and didn’t fit into what was considered normal. He tried hard to be funny. He also had the exact personality & mannerisms that my friends and I had even though he went to high school thousands of miles away from us. He was such a typical teen in 2005.

Any comment that Brendon might have made over a decade ago about wanting to rape a crowd would have sounded like a completely normal enthuastic/affectionate statement to anyone who was in high school in 2002-2005 (like Brendon). I’m not sure if people are trying to turn the cultural norms of a future decade into the status quo of the past or why they’re pointing out that moment, but obviously a comment like that wouldn’t be a literal statement (the fact that I even need to explain that feels so strange). Back then, screaming that you want to rape someone was largely a sign of affection. Running down the school hallway and yelling “Anna just raped me!” meant that she tackle-hugged you with affection. Yes, it’s a truly disgusting thing to say… but it’s not like a single one of us came up with that phrase on our own. We’re just a product of our generation. As another example, Brendon saying “I’m going to f— you, I don’t even care if you want it” to a crowd would be completely playing into what the crowds had largely screamed enthusiastically about for so many years. Again, I don’t see this as something like Brendon’s true thoughts coming out whatsoever… I see it as him stepping into a role onstage and playing into an image that he thought/knew people wanted.

I’ve seen some recent screenshots of people who have concluded that the only way that the “n-word” could possibly casually slip out of Brendon’s mouth is if he’s such a deep-rooted racist that his thoughts are just like that normally. And that kind of conclusion only reveals a staggering lack of understanding about the world that Brendon grew up in. People said the n-word all the time to be casually cool when I was in high school without thinking critically about what they were even saying. The motivation there came purely out of a desire to fit into the culture of that era (ex: Paris Hilton said it lots). I went to a high school that was like 98% white and kids would greet each other with “sup my n––“ all the time. Idk why everyone threw up gang signs for pictures either or tried to “talk ghetto” randomly (their phrase, not mine).  

update: let me make this clearer with an example. Brendon said the n-word while singing the lyrics to a song. Some people seem to think that the fact that he didn’t hesitate must automatically mean that he’s just SO racist that the word feels normal to him. You’re projecting current cultural norms onto Brendon when you assume that he grew up with the same conditioning you have. I’m not saying that Brendon shouldn’t be held to those norms! The effect of his action is the same regardless of the cause... but wow people are certainly misunderstanding the cause. When Brendon & I were teenagers it would’ve been completely normal to say that word and sing those lyrics. Right now the word is obviously wrong to say, so you’d currently expect someone to hesitate or avoid the word altogether. But that is literally the opposite of the world that Brendon grew up in.

Anything that people didn’t like back then was labelled “gay,” “homo,” or “retarded.” I remember a short season where some kids were saying “that’s so Asian” instead of “that’s so stupid.” I think one kid from my school just heard the phrase somewhere and other kids automatically repeated it without thinking so they could be cool & prove that they were still fitting in. Yes, it’s obviously a major form of privilege to be clueless that what you’re saying is racist and/or harmful and has an actual impact. The driving need to fit in, not expose yourself as a target, and just survive high school sadly wasn’t particularly conducive to questioning social norms back then. I’m glad that social pressure is shifting these days so that it’s cool to care, to speak up, or to examine how others are affected by our words & actions, but back then it was like the opposite.

Common phrases and the main culture’s sense of humor back then confused me because the racist, sexist, homophobic, and generally mean comments didn’t seem very funny to me, but I just figured that something was wrong with me… so I worked extra hard to learn when to laugh at the correct times so I would seem normal. A lot of the humor and popular phrases back then were just inherently cruel & harmful. It’s not like people were never aware of that fact either… it’s more like being incredibly mean was often supposed to be funny? And if you were hurt by it, then people acted like you just needed to grow a thicker skin and lighten up.

There are obviously SO many things wrong with the stuff I just mentioned, and the fact that “most people did it” doesn’t excuse anything or make it any more acceptable now. But it’s going to take time & patience to help some people in my generation unravel the truly messed up culture that permeated almost every aspect of our lives. For some people, it might take a bit longer to shake that learned “cool” armor and condition themselves to a new normal (especially if they’re still hanging around someone else who’s stuck in the past). Obviously some people are just racists who don’t want to change, but I believe (or hope) that most of my generation would’ve never done those sorts of things if we were privileged enough to grow up with today’s type of internet. Our society absolutely still has a long way to go, but I hope that today’s teens can balance that knowledge with the understanding that my generation started from a very different place than they started from. We’re not the ones who created the culture of the early 2000s. We were just kids who grew up pressured to conform to the narrow world we knew. Yes, that culture is truly disgusting and inexcusable in hindsight. So cancel that culture then and help people recover & grow past that. There’s enough hatred in the world already without you adding to that. It seems like some people are getting a sense of power out of creating a mob verdict these days and almost celebrating their attempts to destroy Brendon. It’s strange to see people treat others terribly in the name of supposedly crushing hateful behavior.

At the same time I know that ignorant comments harm a lot of people, and that shouldn’t be a secondary concern that’s less important than helping my generation learn/change/grow. So I don’t have any answers here. I’m not happy with the culture I was raised in and I don’t want to turn my back on people my age who are still working on shedding that. Obviously nothing is as clear-cut or simplistic as people might want to make it seem. By continuing to support people who might have harmed others, am I automatically discounting those who have been harmed? Can’t you help both sides heal and care about them both? I’m still figuring things out. Also, if I dropped everyone in my life who had seriously messed up, I would literally be alone because we are all flawed humans. It’s not like I’m tolerating unacceptable behavior out of some self-serving desire to never be alone, either… the point is that I care about those people, so I want to try to help them succeed in life if they’re willing (and if it’s safe). Forgiveness is not even remotely the same thing as dismissing someone’s actions btw. It’s seeing a human who is more than their mistakes, trying to understand that person, and choosing to love them & support them as they grow. But I respect other people who might choose differently.

What’s important to me is that Brendon genuinely seems like he wants to do better and truly cares about other people. He’s shown that over & over with his actions. You can unfollow or hate me for not canceling Brendon if you’d like, but I’m glad that I refused to turn on Ryan in 2009 and kept an open mind there (that whole situation is a bit similar). Hopefully I’ll feel the same way as I continue to support Brendon.

side tangent: I worry about Jon Walker sometimes. He’s been put on this pedestal of being a perfect guy who is unproblematic, so his current identity would just be wiped out if he does one thing wrong. Too many people seem to hold up a celebrity as some sort of god, place part of their identity in him, and then lash out when it turns out that he’s actually a flawed human who didn’t reflect the image that they wanted for themselves.

Some aspects of teen culture haven’t changed tbh. Kids are still waiting for you to screw up by breaking social norms so they can gang up on you and ostracize you. It’s awesome that the expected social norms are shifting towards normalizing kindness & inclusion instead of the negative stuff from the 2000s that was basically the opposite. But it’s truly strange the way that some people these days are acting like attacking & harassing a person who’s been deemed worthy of cancelling (or their fans) somehow makes them righteous. It’s still cowardly cyberbullying. I’m paraphrasing a friend here, but at least teens in my generation largely owned the fact that they were being mean. Cyberbullying was sometimes a bonding activity for teens in the 2000s and it seems like not much has changed in that regard. Obviously it’s perfectly ok to dislike someone… you are free to have whatever opinions you want about Brendon. But bonding with other people by bullying Brendon & his fans seems so toxic. Your common interest is literally hatred. And some people just seem overly excited to have an excuse to go full steam ahead with the hatred they seem to have been determined to aim at Brendon no matter what.

I don’t think Brendon’s silence over the past couple years is “deafening,” damning, or in any way strange. All four band members were trained by their PR team to stay silent and carry on through most rumors in 2006-2009. I know there’s a totally different situation in our culture now where people have way better access to celebrities online, but I still think it’s odd to expect Brendon to publicly acknowledge online rumors. That’s a dumb PR move that only draws further attention to what’s being said. It might feel like thousands of people are already talking about it, but that’s nothing compared to what media coverage of an actual statement would generate (ex: compare what fans were saying about Ryan’s possible cocaine picture in April 2009 to what countless people were talking about after Ryan actually addressed the cocaine picture from July 2009… the fact that it became “the cocaine picture” says enough. Ryan’s statement to MTV didn’t even matter to the fans who were convinced he was a drug addict whose life was spiraling out of control, but it certainly drew outside attention to the rumors about Ryan and what the fandom had been saying. I’d also argue that it contributed to some media perception of Ryan moving forward). Or look at how the Brent situation was just a fandom meltdown & normal news until it spun out of control with the band’s statements to the media and escalated into a total headache. Making a public statement on a large platform usually isn’t the best way to end rumors.

Brendon already did make a statement in November 2020, though. And I saw so many people brush that off. So would anyone even care what Brendon had to say or believe him if he bothered to further “break his silence”? Or would everyone just brush Brendon’s comments aside and say that they still know the “truth” no matter what? I mean, just look at how people currently treat the band’s split. All four guys (plus all of the people surrounding the band) made countless comments that all explained the exact same thing that fans had been observing for years at that point. The split made complete sense to me and was a reallllly long time coming, yet kids today seem to ignore basically everything about the irl band and would rather believe whatever drama they invent on their own. 

I don’t know how Brendon can even start to address some of the allegations when they’re so grounded in an alternate reality/perception of both him & the band. Is he supposed to sit down and give people a history lesson of the actual dynamics of the early band or culture in the 2000s?? If he didn’t spend literal hours explaining the basic history that people are clearly lacking, would they even believe his claims that something isn’t true, or would they just dismiss it because it conflicts with the reality that everyone in their bubble shares? It seems futile for him to even begin to craft any sort of statement. People have already shown that they are determined to hate Brendon & tear him apart no matter what. In early 2020 Brendon seemed like a puppet who was dancing around trying to placate the section of the internet that hates him, yet people still ignored his genuine attempts to do better, ignored whatever apologies or explanations he made on Twitch, and kept harassing him & his fans. He definitely couldn’t win then, so why would one more statement now make any difference? If you walk away from an abusive situation, that’s not suspicious or a sign of weakness on your part. I think it’s healthy that Brendon could distance himself from everything.

Also: if you can look back to 2011 for examples of things to cancel Brendon for, then why do other Decaydance band members get away with things they said & did in 2006-2008? It’s like that one girl who went to jail for downloading music from Limewire… it was weird that she got singled out and had to face extreme consequences for actions that a good chunk of her generation did too (except maybe that’s not the best analogy because most of us could spot that stealing music was wrong even if people still went ahead with it). It’s just so strange to see people act like Brendon is the antichrist while the rest of his peers are fine nbd. There also seems to be a double standard with how some fans treat Ryan vs Brendon now. They’ll work hard to justify anything Ryan’s done and point out how he’s been through a lot with people treating him like crap. That scenario should absolutely apply to Brendon too, yet those people hold him to an entirely different standard for some reason. A lot of the people I’ve seen who are very anti-Brendon seem to have a loose understanding of the band’s pre-split years. They also tend to act like they need to be against Brendon in order to support Ryan now as though those two are somehow connected in a strange sort of seesaw where you’re automatically raising one side by lowering the other. Ryan and Brendon are very different, separate people who are both flawed humans. It’s totally possible to support them both.

Some of the perceptions people currently have of the band in 2005-2009 essentially take away Ryan’s agency, turn him into a passive victim, erase his creative vision & goals, infantilize him, and basically ignore him and what he actually wanted. You’re not doing Ryan any favors by erasing him & replacing him with your own creation. When you try to claim that Ryan left P!ATD because Brendon was some kind of horrible person, then you erase the real people, years of context, and basically do yourself an injustice because you’re so absorbed in an alternate reality that you’re missing out on knowing about the real-life band. I understand that people are more likely to be invested in a storyline that they connect with emotionally, so reality might seem less interesting in comparison to what they’re inventing through speculation with their friends… but you can’t actually rewrite history. Claiming that it’s “impossible to know everything” about the pre-split band also isn’t an excuse to validate whatever story you want to invent. These events did not happen that long ago lol... I wasn’t in high school during some kind of prehistoric culture that’s been lost to time. If you feel like there’s a mystery to solve about the early band, then that’s a problem with your knowledge... not the actual band. Most of the fake stories that people currently believe about pre-split Panic would never seem plausible if you had even the most basic understanding of the band during that time period (and the same thing goes for a lot of the current claims against younger Brendon... like if you had some basic context for those years then you’d just roll your eyes at how some teens today actually think that the “Lana Jade letter” was serious/real).

When I first got back into the fandom in 2020 I started to reconfigure my understanding of the early band to match what a couple fans were telling me since I hadn’t thought about P!ATD much in like a decade and it seemed smarter to trust people who had been in the fandom in recent years. For a few months in mid-2020 I was ready to believe anything about Brendon since the reality I remembered didn’t match up with the narratives I was being told. Then I slowly figured out that one of the girls I was talking to was a compulsive liar, the other girls meant well but were very misinformed, and the current fandom is basically a mess that I don’t want much to do with. So now I’m just using this account to focus on the early eras as I knew them. That doesn’t mean that I’m ignoring the post-split years because of any opinion about them (I don’t know them well enough to even form an opinion tbh). It’s rather depressing for me to look at current stuff & see how much the guys have aged because then I can really see how much of my life went by while I was sick for a decade. So my decision to keep my head mostly buried in 2005-2009 is just my method of coping right now... there is no statement there about the modern band or anything. I still support Brendon, Ryan, Spencer, & Jon as individual people and hope they’re doing well! I'm definitely curious to see whatever they might be working on, but I'm not particularly interested in getting too involved in the modern fandom right now.

[magicspace114]

Next class was talking to magical creatures. There couldn't possibly be a wrong way of doing this. Creatures spoke, you listened. Sure, they all communicated in different ways but you literally couldn't listen wrong!

You were almost excited for this class, until the teacher came up to you and informed you that because you didn't have a familiar yet, you'd be unable to participate in this class but you were welcome to watch and learn.

You stood back, glaring as the other students got to wander up to the different animals to 'talk' to them. They were instructed to use their familiars. Their familiars did the talking and translating. It was stupid and your annoyance for this school grew.

"Maybe you should have stayed on the farm, might actually get more work done there." Your bully sneered as they walked through the gathering of animals, gushing over them like they were pets.

You knew these animals. There was a gryphon standing front and centre on a pedestal, a testament to the proud creatures that occupied the skies of your childhood home. There were snakes and jackalopes and all kinds. There was even a unicorn in the corner though everyone was warned against getting close to it. It was seemingly aggressive. They were all behind fences or rope barriers to avoid the students getting too close.

You didn't need a familiar to translate for you. You knew how these animals talked. They didn't speak in full English sentences in your head. They spoke in concepts and vibes. They spoke in body language.

The dragons near your home spoke in emotion. They used sounds and smells that evoked feelings, telling tales of their lives through your own imagination. If you had no imagination, you'd have no idea what they meant but if you opened your mind and smelled the smoke, tasted the iron in the air, you could see the fierce battles they fought and the fear it brought them to protect their family.

Gryphons used bird calls, twittering and trilling whilst also using physical contact like a cat. You understood how they felt towards you through context clues but you didn't have any words to go with their meanings.

The familiars translated to their respective student and the students told their teacher that the creature was happy or sad. Such basic concepts. The unicorn was apparently just angry. Everyone said angry and that it wanted to be left alone.

You knew better. No creature was just angry. There had to be a reason. When no one paid attention to you or the unicorn, you approached it yourself, holding out your hands to show you were no threat.

"Can I approach you?" You asked the unicorn.

It huffed at you, throwing its head and stamping its front foot. That was a no. You didn't need magic to understand that. It snorted, turning its head to be side on with you so it could better watch you. Its tail swished but its ears only slightly flicked back.

"I don't mean any harm," you said, "I just want to know why you're being hostile."

The unicorn whinnied, high pitched and continued throwing its head up. It didn't rear up but it pawed at the ground. You looked at its body language, nodding in understanding.

"I can't get you out of here, unfortunately," you said regretfully, "I get not wanting to be here. A lot of these students are a bit annoying." You rolled your eyes.

The creature huffed, lowering its head a little. You continued to watch its body language, considering you were now in a conversation with it. It lifted its back hoof a little off the ground, not like it would when it was relaxing, instead it appeared to limp.

"Are you in pain?" You tensed up. The creature lowered its head in a nod. "Can I take a look?"

The unicorn whinnied, throwing its head up more and stamping its foot again. Its ears pinned fully back. You realised it didn't move from its corner to avoid showing off its limp to the other students.

"Alright, I know what you're thinking," you held your hands up again in surrender, "I ain't no 'pure of heart maiden' here, I'm just a farm kid who knows how much of a pain a stone in the shoe can cause."

The unicorn chewed a little, ears flicking to different sounds. You stood still, allowing the creature to think about your offer. Finally, it lowered its head, snorting and moving towards you. You could see the limp as it stepped.

"Just to confirm, that's a yes?" You checked, hopping the fence and the unicorn's ears came forward, it lowered its head below its withers and that was when you moved to touch its shoulder, running your hand along its spine before moving down to its foot.

You didn't even need to ask as the unicorn lifted its foot for you and you ran your hand over the hoof to dig out some of the dirt with your fingers. You found the root of the problem with a bramble trapped under the shoe.

Your mentor had always taught you to use the magic around you before falling back on your mana stores but considering the ambient magic around you was simply for temperature control, you figured your own mana store was more helpful here. You reached out, dulling the pain as you pulled the spikey branch out from under the shoe and soothed the hoof before putting it down.

"I don't blame you for your bad mood," you said, "if I had this stuck in my shoe, I'd have eaten one of those students." You walked back to the front of the unicorn and showed off the bramble.

The unicorn looked at it before rubbing its face into your arm, careful to not stab you with its horn. You smiled at the affection.

"Well you're very welcome. Hopefully that'll help improve your mood, even if you're still stuck with all these classes." You smiled at it, blinking slowly and lowering your own head as a sign of trust.

"What are you up to, farm boy?" Your bully asked, "only the handlers are meant to be that close to the creatures. Finally figured out that you were on the wrong side of the fence?"

The unicorn looked at them then back at you, ears flicking back again though it wore a bored expression. Carefully it started inching so its butt was turned towards the bully, its face still watching you.

"Ok, as funny as that would be, this one is a tattle tail. They'll get us both into trouble if you kick them." You warned. The unicorn snorted, head bobbing up and down with excitement as you saw its tail lift and you had a moment of realisation before it farted in the bully's face.

The bully shrieked and ran off towards the teacher while you burst out laughing. You nearly lost balance as you doubled over, the unicorn making a loud whinny that sounded like laughter. Neither of you were composed enough to face the teacher or the creature handler. You were nearly finished laughing when you saw the bully hiding behind the teacher and you started up again.

"What's going on?" The handler asked.

"That beast farted at me." The bully said, "he made it."

"I did not," you said, still trying to breathe while laughing, "I- I can't-" you laughed more, the unicorn now nudging you to stand up straight in the presence of your superiors. You did, taking deep breaths to fully compose yourself. "I feel lightheaded after that." You looked at the unicorn, "told you they were a tattle tail though." The unicorn nudged you again, hiding its face behind your back.

"I will say, there's no way you can get that creature to do anything it doesn't want to do," the handler said to the bully, "so it just doesn't like you."

"You are not supposed to be behind that fence," the teacher said, "and you especially should have been standing back to observe the class, not sneaking in to play with the animals."

"I wasn't playing," you said.

"I'm still speaking." The teacher said. There was a pause. "This is my classroom, you must obey my classroom rules. They're there to keep everyone safe, to ensure no incidents from either students or magical creatures occurs." There was another pause that felt like they were waiting for you to say something but you kept quiet for the time being while your other classmates stared. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" They said.

You immediately addressed the handler, "there was bramble in its hoof." You held up the bramble you removed, "that's why it was acting hostile. That and I don't think it particularly enjoys these classes."

"That was in the hoof? Which hoof?" The handler hopped behind the railing with you and immediately you discussed the injury, completely ignoring the class and the teacher.

The teacher did not like this. "Excuse me," they raised their voice, "just what do you think you're doing? This is not over! Get back here right now!" Their yelling seemed to change the mood of the entire room. The handler tensed up as if they could tell too. Supposedly they had no familiar and were able to handle these animals just fine.

The unicorn tensed up too and hid its face behind you, not caring now if its horn touched you. You grimaced as you felt it dig in.

From across the isle, the gryphon on the pedestal let out a guttural twitter, lowering its head and flaring its wings out, looking like it was about to pounce on the teacher.

The jackalopes huddled together as they understood the danger that was building in the room. The teacher continued to yell at you, voice still raising in volume.

A smell filled the air and you hadn't realised there was an actual dragon in the room, knowing at least a fully grown one would never fit but the smell invoked strong feelings of fear, a memory of a creature trapped in iron chains filled your head with yelling men around it. You looked to the handler who also had the same look of worry.

The scent got the other creatures riled up. They understood that the yelling was the problem, it was scaring the dragon and making them think of the bad memory.

"Stop," the handler stepped towards the yelling teacher now, holding out a hand, "you're scaring my creatures. I need you to lower your voice, please."

"I will not be told how to behave in my own classroom!" The teacher yelled, "I'm sick and tired of the disrespect being shown to me today!"

You grimaced more as what you were going to do next would definitely get you kicked out of the class but potentially out of the school after just two classes.

You pinched your fingers together and the teacher's mouth sealed shut. There was a moment of muffled grumbling before the teacher realised they couldn't speak, then they froze, looking back at you with a death glare.

With the quiet in the room, you could all now hear the distressed grunts and groans of the dragon in the room. Without the yelling, they quietened to whimpers.

The handler looked at you, seeing your gesture and nodding, "thanks." They rushed off to the other side of the room to comfort the dragon. On their way back to you, you noticed they were holding a baby and your eyes widened.

"You- how do you have one that young?" You asked, making sure your voice was low.

"I have an agreement with the parents, this is supposed to be a sort of exposure therapy for them. As long as no one is raising their voices, they've been doing ok." The handler sent a pointed look at the teacher. "I think this is enough for today though. Thanks for your help, kid." The handler walked out with the dragon huddled in their arms. They looked back and nodded to the other animals, all of which followed them out.

You let go of your teacher's mouth as the last of them filed out of the door, the unicorn giving you a goodbye nudge before leaving too. You turned back to the teacher who is now livid. Time for you to be kicked out.

You are a poor child going to a popular magic school at your mentors insistence, telling you to “broaden your horizon.” But when you get there you realise everyone is doing magic differently to what your mentor taught. They use silly chants and carry big ugly books around.

[utilitycaster]

So I acknowledge on some level I can never control what people reply on posts and usually I quietly delete these, but: most replies I get on D&D mechanics build questions are pretty rough.

I think the most common problem is people recommending really niche or complicated stuff for self-admitted very new players. The most egregious example was someone recommending a completely new homebrew unofficial class to a new player - ie, something that's going to cost them money, might have weird mechanics no one is familiar with, and has few build tips online - but much more commonly people will bring up complicated multiclasses or weird feats and it's like, with all due respect, there is a reason I kept this simple.

Another really common thing is not actually listening to what the player is asking and considering it. I'm not saying the asker is always right. In fact, I'm explicitly not saying that. But there's so much more to answering than just What Does The Most Damage or even the basic question. There's a reason I ask for party makeup! As the previous paragraph indicates, I do take into consideration whether the person involved mentions that they're new to D&D, and if they're doing things more for flavor/backstory or if there's a mechanical purpose and if a revision of the flavor without changing mechanics might do better. We can all understand that if someone says "I'd like to play a warlock, but I'd like to be able to heal", there's a huge difference between hexadin and celestial patron, even though both are valid options; but a lot of people jump to one or the other without hearing the asker out about their other needs.

And on top of all of this, sometimes I will in fact recommend something other than build...and that's also thought out too. If someone describes a DM who is bullying them, the solution isn't to passive-aggressively play a coffeelock, the solution is to use your fucking words, and maybe they'll actually figure shit out and become a better DM in the process but at least the asker won't have to put up with them. I joke about it but actually, Murph's classic "find better friends" is genuinely good advice; it's better to tell people they're acting like assholes instead of turning everything into some kind of bitter war of attrition. The power to fix the broken stair is in your hands.

This hasn't come up super recently but it's something I think about a lot. I think the TTRPG community in particular is very bad at actually listening to people's questions and meeting them where they are, rather than pushing their own agenda (*cough* people who blindly hate D&D and recommend their indie fave with no consideration of what story people want to actually collaborate on *cough*), and the internet in general is full of people who think that providing unsolicited advice is helpful. For all my opinions I do actually put a pretty significant effort into trying to consider the actual problem being posed, rather than telling everyone to fit into my specific idea of what's fun to play in D&D. So do please keep that in mind, and go find a reddit thread for niche weird build concepts if you're looking to express those.