#i'm not feeling brave about any of this

[xray-vex]

HOW YOUR EMAIL FINDS ME

[xxcyberghostxx]

to me billdip is the most compelling when Dipper is still a teenager and bill's human form is a middle aged man or something. maybe he manifests and looks like he's in his 30's...maybe he manifests and looks like he's Ford's age...either way, i love love the idea of bill physically demonstrating the power imbalance between them. bill having the capability to look like he's Dipper's age but refusing to even consider that as an option bc he wants everyone to see that he is 100% in control of Dipper

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[charliespringverse]

i think it should be possible to scream without making any noise or disturbing anyone or inviting any questions . just sometimes . as a treat .

[fowltempered]

Sorry that the quality is dogshit, this is the first video I've ever made but I couldn't write a normal essay about my opinions so you guys get this.

[perhaps-mr-collins-has-a-cousin]

Hello praying people, I'm not doing well and would really appreciate your prayers right now <3

[scoriarose]

Hi!! I’ve never had a pet snake so this might be a dumb question but is it harder for snakes to see when they’re in blue?

It's not dumb, snake eyesight is different from our own so we can't assume they see exactly how or what we do. For the longest time people believed they couldn't see red, and used red lights to light their enclosures at night- that's bad for them. Please do not light your snake like a rotisserie chicken, they can see it.  Red light can be detrimental to reptiles because it can make it difficult for them to perceive depth, which can lead to mental distress. Red light bulbs can mess with your pet's ability to tell if it is day or night, since a light is always on, and that can cause stress and health and long term sight issues too.

But back to your original question, yes, snakes have difficulty seeing when they are in blue. Many will stay buried and hidden, not even eating until they've completely shed. That is the norm, and if a snake wants to be left alone, they should be. Sakura will hide most of the time, but I'll sometimes see the tip of her nose near a burrow hole, and I'll dangle something tasty in front of it and she'll eat it- but I won't dig her up if she's having alone time. Scoria will hide unless I'm around- they both know my voice and scent, and Scoria has complete trust in me so much that even when blind she knows I'll keep her safe.

She allowed me to take her out and feed her today, and then asked for pets. This behavior is unique to her, and if she were not specifically asking to be pet I would not do it after feeding (any other snake might throw up). I'd stop petting her and she'd ask again and again like, "Nope! Need more, come back and pet me." I really don't mind, she's found a way to tell me she enjoys being pet, and that's amazing- and also makes me happy. After many many pets (I guess we had a few days to make up for, I've been leaving her alone for the most part, only saw she was in blue, and then it was food day and saw her looking at me from her mossy hide) she buried herself underground in her bioactive area.

Perhaps some day Sakura will trust me to touch her while she's in blue too- but if not that's just fine. Sometimes we all need a few days to ourselves.

Oh, and don't feel bad asking snake blogs questions. It makes us happy when we get nonbot or spam asks! I imagine most of us love sharing about our snakes! And if sharing what I've learned helps lead a snake and their caretaker to a better life or bond then they would have had before, that's such a win for everyone!

[ashtonisvibing]

who would've thought, while watching mark's final video of slay the princess, that the phrase "shifting mound mark" would have invoked such a deep autistic reaction in me

and anyways if you give me some time and a white board i could connect each of mark's characters with a princess

[tricoufamily]

once again thinking about how easy it would be for me to be in a relationship if i was cis

[concernedbrownbread]

I just cried at an email is this the adult experience

[analyticallyminded]

tomorrow (wednesday) i'll have been writing jemma on tumblr for ten years and that is. so wild to think about.

[berrymeter]

. i completely forgot the popular enstars ships. mutuals is it ok if i come out as a disliker of kanata/chiaki

[fawnatrix]

Watched the little IGN announcement teaser for the new Mighty Nein animated series. It was really good and I’m really excited for it, but if I had to nitpick it a little bit, it does kind of irk me that every character got to have a line that encapsulates their character (Yasha’s “and I don’t believe in luck” line, Fjord’s “you need me more than I need you” line), except for Nott, who’s line is about her relationship to the man in her life.

Idk maybe I’m just jaded from seeing Nott/Veth be reduced to Caleb’s emotional support mother figure so many times, and I know that her relationship with Caleb is important to her character... I just still think it’s a bit disappointing.

“Case closed” (episode 29), “A sign that there could be, for all of us, another chapter” (episode 36), “No, there’s no comma, I’m just Nott the Brave.” (episode 4), “And they made me everything that I thought I was: not pretty, not good, just not(t)” (episode 49), “Chemistry’s good, baby, but killing is better!” (episode 57), “Molly said not to steal from happy people” (episode 27), “But the reason I want to find these people and rescue them is not to use them, and it’s not because we’ve invested time into them, it’s because I love them” (also episode 27), “Every one of us has left without saying goodbye to someone in our lives” (episode 107)

Some of those are a bit too spoilery to use, but you get my idea. I just think there are a lot of better quotes they could’ve used that would’ve encapsulated Veth/Nott’s character better.

[rotisseries]

actually now that the clique thing is a few days old, i didn't really get involved for a reason and I don't feel super strongly in either direction

but I will say that like. while there's certainly a problem of less interaction on the fanworks/posts from less popular blogs, this isn't really a byler exclusive issue? this happens in most fandoms these days, interaction is just on a decline in general which IS. a problem but not really a "byler tumblr is cliquey" problem. in regards to any actual cliques I wouldn't say they don't exist but I don't think it's "the popular kids" themselves doing this. I don't know if the rest of you have some other bloggers in mind that I don't know about, but as someone who is mutuals with a fair amount of who I thought were the popular blogs, they are always very nice and welcoming to me, and actually easy to talk to once you just. see them and talk to them as a normal human and not an omnipotent fandom god. so this is all to say that if there's a clique issue I think it's from the outside. I think maybe people are perceiving these bigger blogs who all happen to be friends as these untouchable idols in fandom and it's. making it cliquey from the outside. like are they a clique or have you just convinced yourself they wouldn't want anything to do with you and isolated this group from everyone else. this isn't to say that people can't be assholes of course just that I don't think any of this is intentional

[cidnangarlond]

trying to convince myself I do not in fact have any spleen injury just because my stomach hurts/I'm backed up, the area is tender/my side hurts, my collarbone/shoulder area hurts. like I'm probably just sleeping weird which is common for me and I hurt my ribs years ago so I have pain on and off and I had a huge salad for dinner the other night so that's probably why there's some digestive issues right. right

[andessence]

@polarean // continued.

Fuck. Well that just slips in right under the armor, doesn’t it? Insidiously gentle. The moment of silence is just enough for his temper to even out before he feels his hand entwining with Philoctetes’ (without need of his mind to prompt it) and hears those words that push softly, ‘just one more word, one more thing.’ And he barely has time to cringe back toward his defenses when the reassurance comes. ‘I wasn’t rejecting you. ... It doesn’t mean I want you, or love you, any less.’ Gods, it’s all so SAPPY! ... So why does it make him release some breath his didn’t know he was holding? Why does it make him want to squirm, want to sink into Philoctetes and his stupid, corny little assurances?

He can feel the color rising in his cheeks.

FUCK, really!

It’s embarrassing how badly he suddenly knows he needed to hear that. He remembers now that Philoctetes understands, even when Pyrrhus doesn’t want to be understood — even when he doesn’t understand himself. He wants to say... He wants to tell him... gods, something, but the something doesn’t take the shape of words. It takes the shape of want, warm in his skin, a craving to be held, kissed all over. He wants that mouth to press those words all over every inch of him and still the wounded pride that just can’t settle. He gets more than his looks from his father, after all.

He squeezes Philoctetes’ hand, and brings it still locked with his own to his lips, kissing the knuckles, and mumbling against them like an I love you, “I’m gonna fuck you so good you don’t even remember that stupid fucking word. No more ‘doctor,’ old man.” He lets his legs spread and a knee nudges Philoctetes. But he doesn’t jump on the lewd suggestion right away, even if his unresolved recreational endeavor of an hour ago has left him still more wound up than Philoctetes has any way of knowing, and commits internally to giving his boyfriend at least a good five minutes before Pyrrhus starts to paw at him. And then, as if the other words made it easier to finally, really, dislodge it from his throat: “I love you.”