#i've been watching the same fucking twitter argument over this shit

[aipurjopa]

my stance on the stupid boundary thing has always been "if you're going to break them, tag your shit properly and don't do it in a place where the cc can see it." like.

[sp-ud]

Genloss is a tragedy. No not the actual content, but how hard it fucking fell off.

Now, I know there are still people who enjoy it, even enjoy the new things and are excited with each new release of the founders game chapters.

And if you are one of those people, good for you. Genuinely, good for you. Don't let me being a hater ruin your own enjoyment. So I'd recommend maybe not reading this post cuz im not gonna be sympathetic to genloss or ranboo. If you couldn't guess by my opening sentence.

Anyways, I don't know it's just. Sad. To see something that had so much potential just fall flat so quickly. In retrospect as soon as the founders cut took more than 3 months it should have been obvious the whole project was kinda fucked.

And tbh I do not care about any thing like "ranboos just one guy", "it's their first project", "their adhd medication wasn't being properly supplied" etc etc. Like 1) ranboo literally isn't the only guy credited as editing the founders cut in the version that did end up releasing. 2) okay, same with like. 99% of other indie horror things. And those guys usually don't start out with enough money to rent out malls and buy expensive props that can only be used for one thing. 3) we loop back to the team thing. I'm someone who genuinely can barely function on days I don't take my adhd meds btw

Back on topic instead of countering arguments I've seen before but haven't actually been brought up to me.

It's just, there's this lack of cohesion and planning in what we've gotten since TSE that is just. So strange. I would say it comes from ranboos perfectionism but everything that keeps coming out is half-baked shit that sure seems unfinished.

Like, the founders cut was so fucking unpolished which is insane for something that took over a year. And we can't try to make it an in-universe thing, be for fucking real. Ranboo wasn't thinking like that.

And ngl when ranboo was reacting to that fnaf timeline video and like, praised "community storytelling" (aka when u throw a bunch of shit out, seen fans theorizing and go "oh wait ahit that's smart, yeah that's what I meant haha") it just. Made me feel so defeated cuz that kind of storytelling isn't fucking good.

It works well enough for fnaf but that's cuz it's fnaf. Look at how little attention generation loss gets outside of its initial and constantly shrinking bubble.

Admittedly it was gonna always be hard to follow tse, those kinds of productions are pricy. No shit. But the next steps being:

1: Twitter acc that kept going on hiatus because ranboo hadn't even fully planned it out before ranboo just decided to scrap the Twitter acc and just vaguely promise zero will return somewhere else

2: a slapped together cut of tse that completely fails at being a quicker introduction to the series compared to watching the original streams that clearly doesn't understand any of the elements that made tse charming and enjoyable even if cringeworthy at times

3: a second person pov book disguised as a choose your own adventure where not a single choice has actually mattered, not even the ones that were voted on and had to wait a whole week to find out what happened next.

Is just kinda insane to me. Like idk how u fumbled it that hard.

Yall remember how ranboo gave us a generation 2 Spotify playlist? Oh or what about "generation 0: the story of lostfield" which they showed off the title card for at twitchcon and vidcon? Where the fuck is any news even about those. I'd at least like some clarification about if the founders game is tied to literally either of those.

Getting off track here but tbh this is just me collecting all my annoyed/frustrated generation loss thoughts into one post.

But it's just like. Idk it's just weird that it took over a year after Tse for ranboo to get enough of a team to keep them on track and producing things consistently. And then for that thing to be. Literally none of the things we were expecting.

And now that we're 7 weeks in, technically 8 if we're counting the skipped week. 9 if we include the week we waited for after inputting the password. I'm just tired man. I'm tired of waiting for genloss to be good. Of trying to trust the process.

"Letting ranboo cook" only for Tse to finally be what we got did work, but it just. Really doesn't feel like ranboo gets why tse worked for so many people. And no, it wasn't just the inclusion of other popular ccs although that did certainly help if we r being blunt.

Tse had a story that left you guessing what was intentional and what wasn't. Only for the final reveal to be that it all was intentional, it was us the audience that was being experimented on, being tested. And that was cool as shit!

But, nothing has been able to get even close to that yet. This newest chapter of tfg's did briefly give me an "oh shit" moment at the start. But then the chapter just. Went no where. It was empty. And now we have to wait another week for the payoff. Another week on top of 7/8/9 weeks.

And listen, I get good stuff takes time. I get that many other indie horror things go months without updating. But like. There's just nothing aside from a small sense of obligation and vague interest to see if it's finally interesting or if I'll just have something to complain about with my friends that keeps me coming back.

It's not engaging, it's not something I'm really all that invested in. I keep fucking forgetting every week that a new chapter is coming out cuz there's just nothing to be excited for.

Im not even excited that we will be talking to the founder or whatever in the next chapter which is crazy cuz I feel like I used to be pretty invested in the founder specifically. Like I was the guy who constantly brought up the merch site's about page that was a message from the founder when no one else did.

Anyways that kinda wraps up my frustrated thoughts on genloss at this current point in time. Sorry it might be hard to follow.

Also, if ur someone who genuinely has still been enjoying genloss and/or the founders game who actually did read through all of this, I'd be genuinely interested in hearing ur opinions. I mean, you read through all of mine so its only fair. And also I just. Genuinely want to know what other people r finding fun abt the recent things as pretty much everyone in my direct sphere has roughly the same opinions as me.

[virginpornstar]

Branden's Top Realizations of 2023

2023 was a rough year for me. I had some incredible things happen, and had some amazing moments, but also had some hardships I had to deal with. That is life. With the good comes the bad, but all that matters is I made it through. Here are my Top 10 Realizations of 2023!

2023 WAS MY YEAR OF CHAOS

Eris is the Greek goddess of chaos and discord. This year felt like Eris possessed me herself to blow up my own life. If I had the option to choose to avoid drama or have drama, I went with the drama. I chose chaos every chance that I got. From getting canceled, falling out with my best friend, and even just having non stop petty arguments online and falling out with random guys I've never even met, I was having non stop drama and chaos this year. I wasn't the one to avoid any confrontation this year. I didn't give a fuck. With the chaos I endured in 2023, I'm hoping to choose peace in 2024.

2. ALL PUBLICITY IS GOOD PUBLICITY

It's already been nearly a year since I got "canceled", and honestly I didn't really lose much besides 2 FwBs that don't even live in the same part of the country as me, and I only fucked both of them once.

It was inconvenient having to block 1300 profiles, and still having to block people. I still have poz black gays that have been on my block list nearly a year making posts talking shit about me, but whatever. They're going to be poz forever, so they're going to be mad forever. I have always believed that I don't care what people are saying about me, as long as they're talking about me. Getting "canceled" had more people talking about me than ever. Even with them trashing ever part of me and my existence, more people than ever were reading my blogs, watching my acting reels, looking at my posts, watching my YouTube videos, etc...getting canceled was fantastic for exposure. More people than ever know who I am.

I may be a bit of a pariah in the black gay community, but the black gay community is just a cesspool of HIV infected gays, fighting online and in person, can't keep a relationship, not educated or employed, bums begging for money, people living a lie, etc...

Plus the same week I got canceled, I saw the same people that were talking shit about me canceling even more black gays within the same week. This is why no one takes the black gay community seriously. Twitter/X is just an app with bitter black gays looking to terrorize and cancel other black gays.

I'm still employed, traveling the world, getting dick everywhere I go, and my followers are up on most platforms compared to before I got canceled. I didn't lose shit except fake people in my life. It was inconvenient having to block 1300+ profiles of people talking shit about me, but after those first 3 days the chaos was pretty much over and life resumed to normal.

3. THE BEST PART OF GETTING CANCELED IS THAT IT EXPOSED MY SECRET HATERS

"What other people think of you is none of your business' is one of my favorite quotes. I first heard it from RuPaul, and it's always stuck with me.

As a fem black gay man with a "valley girl" voice, I've been bullied my entire life for a multitude of reasons. There's nothing anyone can say about me that I've not already heard. It's true that decades of bullying does build thick skin. I am used to gays hating me and that's been what I've had to deal with from the majority of the gay community since high school. Then on a grander scale in college. Now on the grandest scale of the internet.

I had so many random people from my past coming out of the woodwork to jump on the hate train against me. Former friend's friends that I only hung out in a group setting like 2-3 times were writing entire essays of lies about me on Twitter. Saying how they always hated me, and here I am thinking um...I met you twice. I didn't like you either, but I also never gave a fuck about you to write an essay about you. I was disgusted how you and your man said you collect buckets of rain water and bathe in it.

Then I had former cowokers I never even liked that I only knew from being extras on various film/TV sets making posts about how they always hated me. Um...I never liked you, hence why I always avoided you and gave you the impression I didn't like you. I can't stand people that crave attention are and are loud and obnoxious, especially at work.

Then even cast members/producers of the ratchet black gay reality shows I watch on YouTube talking shit about me since they didn't like my tweets about their show, and also one was embarrassed since I saw him at the clinic and knew he was poz since the wasn't there on the same side of the clinic I was for people getting tested/treated for STIs. He was there for the infectious diseases doctors, aka poz. I didn't even know some of them knew who I was, but apparently they did enough to make posts about always hating me.

Then I fell out with some of my lovers that turned on me. Can't trust them fake ass weak ass Libras to be loyal when the world is against you. I really am not compatible with people that care what others think of them. That's why Leos and Libras are so compatible. They both are signs that care how others perceive them.

I'm a Scorpio. I don't give a fuck about anyone, but me. I don't care what anyone thinks of me, and nor would I ever turn on someone when the world is against them. I like you for you, and I dislike you for you. No one can turn me against someone, but the best part of getting canceled was knowing who couldn't wait to turn on me. On top of it also exposing who's poz. With 50% of the black gay community being apart of the Walking Dead, there's so many incubators of disease walking amongst us, and we wouldn't even know it. Had they not exposed themselves, literally and figuratively.

4. I WILL NEVER FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING AN HIV-NEGATIVE MAN

I spent most of my life scared of fucking, because I've been terrified of HIV. My worst fear is becoming poz, and I don't want to ever be apart of that black gay poz statistic. I don't want a man that's apart of that black gay poz statistic either. I will never feel guilty about that. It's also why I have no regrets about anything I said that got me "canceled". Since I've been saying those things for years. Just this is the first time anyone listened.

Plenty of others agree with me, they just were too scared to publicly agree. But they slid in my DMS to tell me they feel the same way. It's crazy how the diseased are so deluded and want to normalize everyone fucking people with HIV, and then attack and chastise anyone that doesn't want to fuck people with HIV. Yet not fats/no fems is perfectly ok in the black gay world, but as soon as you say you don't a man with an infectious disease that they got from their poor life choices, suddenly you're the problem. The gaslighting in the (black) gay community is astounding.

HIV may not longer be a death sentence, though the only thing keeping poz people from wasting away and dying of AIDS is their medicine. Hence why I call them The Walking Dead. Nobody wants that shit, or wants to deal with that shit. Yes HIV is preventable with PrEP and if peopel are Undtectable, but I still would rather be with a man that made smart life choices to prevent from ever being infected in the first place. I feel how I feel, and I'll never feel guilty about that.

5. PROFECTIONS YEARS ARE REAL

Profection Years are a combination of astrology and numerology. There are 12 houses of the zodiac, and each year of your life is apart of a different house. Each house represents a different aspect of life, and what will be the big theme of that year as you reach that age. It does seem unlikely everyone is experiencing the same thing at 30, 31, 32, etc...but I don't give a fuck about everyone else because it's been eerily accurate for me.

For 32 my profection year was that this would be a huge year of travel for me. It was. I took 23 trips this year so far! That's more than I've ever traveled ever before in my life. It also was accurate for 31 being a big year of death/rebirth/transition, and 30 was about relationship. I got in a relationship when I turned 30. 31 was about rebuilding my life post relationship since I feel like I allowed my relationship to distract me from certain goals.

My profection year has been on point so far, and now 33 is about my image and public persona. Which is so true. Since I gotta rebuild my brand/image after getting "canceled". Though let's be real. This world barely gives a fuck about gay people. They really don't give a fuck about black gay people. They certainly don't give a single fuck about black gays with HIV. So it is delusional to think black gays with AIDS have the power to cancel anyone.

6. EUROPE IS FUN TO VISIT, NOT TO LIVE

One of the highlights of 2023 for me was that I finally got to go to Europe! I went to London, Paris, and Madrid. It was a dream come true. I was originally supposed to go in 2020, but Covid happened, but I finally made up for it this year. I loved Europe, well not enough that I'd want to live there.

My friends that had been before said that being black is so much better in Europe than America, and Europeans love black Americans. Um...I should've known better than to trust the word of my black friends that only like white men.

I would never want to live in Europe. There's barely any black people, and the few that are there make it very clear they only like white men. Me in my early 20s, before I was into black men, would've loved Europe and probably been like "I want to move there". Me now, I like Europe to visit, but I'd never want to live there.

I like big men, which are hard to find in Europe. There's twinks everywhere. I love Madrid since it's a bear capital and they definitely had the sexiest men in Europe. Madrid had the least amount of black men I'd seen in Europe, but still was my favorite European city. London and Paris I found one guy in each city to get with, but Europe is fun for a visit, but definitely not where I'd ever want to live. If anything it made me appreciate being an American more.

I have black gay clubs, black gay spaces, black gay men of all sizes and shapes, and I have options in the US. In Europe, if you dont' want a white man then you're out of luck.

7. GAY FRIENDSHIPS ARE SO DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN AS I GET OLDER

I've fallen out with the 2 closest gay friends I've ever had within 2 years of each other. One was a 16 year friendship that ended after he not only didn't invite me to his 30th birthday party he spent months planning, but I had to find out about the party from social media. Plus I took him out to lunch the week before the party for his birthday, and he made no mention of it for me.

We were doing that fake shit like having parties and not inviting each other when we were in high school, and you want to start doing that in our 30s? Fuck that. I'd rather ben former friends than fake friends. Clearly if you don't want me at your own celebrations for yourself, then we aren't real friends. Also if you don't invite me to your party your planned because 2-3 of your 50 guests don't like me, then clearly you don't value me as a friend. So I ended it.

Then I just fell out with my best friend of 5 years. The previous friendship ending wasn't as big of a blow since we both clearly had moved on to new BFFs, and had been growing apart. Also with this friendship we'd been growing apart too.

We don't live int eh same part of the country. We don't see each other as much. Plus he made a new friend group, so he likes feeling like he's queen bee, though that shit doesn't work for me. I'm always queen bee, and not a sidekick.

We fell out due to a trip planning gone wrong, and he was financially challenged. Yet he picked the hotel, I just booked the room, but then he cursed me out because he didn't like the price and then refused to apologize for cursing me out. I don't have time for this immature shit. I am past that point in life of sharing hotel rooms with friends. I like my own space. I also am not tolerating a friend refusing to move on from drama they caused. Take accountability. Don't lie and say you misread a text, when you clearly were arguing with me about what you clearly read the night before. I don't have any tolerance for immaturity or fake shit.

It's sad to lose a friend, but sadly we outgrow people. Plus I was fucking a guy he really liked behind his back for months, so I was doing fake fucked up shit too. The friendship was destined to end this year. It's sad, but everything happens for a reason.

8. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT DIRECTION I WANT MY LIFE TO GO IN

I'm torn for the first time ever. I've always been somewhere that's know what I want, where I want to go, and where I want to be. Yet now I have no clue. I know what my options are for where I want to move next. Yet I still can't make a final decision.

I could go back to Atlanta. I already have friends/acquaintances, jobs I can get back into, and know the city. Atlanta has changed a lot since I left, but Atlanta is still the black gay capital. There will always be options for men there, and I've had the most sex and best dating experiences in Atlanta. Biggest downside is way too many poz people. Where there's lots of black gays there's lots of HIV, and I honestly want that far away from me.

I could go to Chicago. Chicago is my favorite city. I love the architecture, and landscapes. It's exactly the type of city I love. Great public transit, walkable, but large, diverse, and I have decent experiences with men there. Biggest downside are the rough winters, and a lot of the people I fell out with after getting canceled were in Chicago. Granted it's a big city, so I don't have to see those flaccid woke warriors.

I could go to NYC. Growing up in the Northeast, the goal has always been to live in NYC. I think that's natural. Gays aspire to move to the biggest city in their region, and NYC has always been the epitome of the top of the list. If you can make it there, then you can make it anywhere. Plus I love New York N*ggas. Downside is the ridiculous astronomical rent. Yet if money wasn't an issue, I'd definitely choose NYC.

Lastly there's LA. I just don't see myself as an LA gay, even though this year I've realized I can be faker than ever, and I already have the "valley girl" accent. Even when I went to Europe everyone was assuming I was from California form how I talk. I do love that no one can tell where I'm from from my accent. Yet LA is so overcrowded, and there's so many crazy homeless people everywhere. Also I hate driving, and it's impossible not to drive there. Also the gays are so flaky, and I don't see myself happy in Los Angeles. Though I'm an actor and screenwriter. So LA will always be the best place to be.

I'm still figuring out which option to choose, but they're all so different. My life will look different depending on which city I choose, and no option I think will have the same outcome. Still I want to push myself to try somewhere new, but I also am terrified of picking the wrong one. Though if one doesn't work out, then I can always move. We shall see what the future holds.

[itsclydebitches]

Is buying the new Harry Potter game supporting transphobes because I've been seeing a lot of that on twitter? Not playing it. Pirating is fine, but actually paying for it.

Hi, anon!

I’ve seen a lot of the same and had initially thought to post my thoughts on the issue… before I got a very angry ask condemning me for a post where I admitted that I thought the game looked great and was excited to play it. I can no longer link to that post because I deleted it: a late night, impulsive decision made in an effort to try and protect myself from further flaming. Thus, I considered ignoring this ask under the same justification… before realizing that it might not matter in the long run. The Harry Potter: Legacy trailer has been out for just a few days and already I have gotten that furious ask, been told off by a friend for mentioning the trailer, and was questioned (antagonistically) about why I had added a Harry Potter related book to my Goodreads list. They’re small and potentially coincidental anecdotes, but it feels as if any engagement with Harry Potter is slowly coming under scrutiny, not just the (supposed—more on that below) crime of purchasing the new game. Given that I will always engage with Harry Potter related media, if there’s any chance such subtle criticism will continue regardless of whether I make the “right” choice to boycott the game or not, I might as well explain my position. Especially for someone who asked politely! Thanks for that 💜. 

Which leads to the disclaimer: Any anon hate will be unceremoniously deleted. This is a complicated issue and I intend to write about it as such. I ask that any readers go into this post with good faith and a willingness to acknowledge that this situation isn’t as black and white as they may prefer it to be. If that’s not something you can emotionally handle—which is 100% fine. Some subjects we’re simply not inclined to debate—or if you’re just looking to get in a cheap shot, please hit the back button.

Right. Introduction done. Now here’s the tl;dr: saying things like “Buying this game is inherently selfish/transphobic” isn’t the hot take people want it to be. Is boycotting Legacy one (very small—we’ll get to that too) way of showing support for the trans community? Yes. Is buying the game proof that you’re a selfish transphobe?  No. This isn’t a bad SAT question. Legacy boycotters are to trans supporters as Legacy buyers are to  ___? The argument that someone is selfish for buying the game is basically that you are choosing a non-essential video game over the respect and lives of trans individuals, but the logic breaks down when we acknowledge that purchasing a game has no real life impact on a trans individual’s safety, support, etc.   

“But Clyde, you’re giving Rowling money. She is then using that money to support anti-trans organizations. Thus, you have actively put more harm into the world.” Have I? I’m not going to get into whether/how much/what kind of money Rowling is receiving from this project because the fact is we don’t know and we’ll likely never know. Suffice to say, she probably will get some portion of any $60/$70 purchase. The real question is whether those sales have any meaningful impact. Reputable information on Rowling’s net worth is hard to come by, but it seems to be somewhere between 600 million and 1 billion pounds. Or, to put it another way: a fuck ton. And money keeps rolling in from a franchise that is so, so much bigger than a single video game. It literally doesn’t matter how much money you might put in her pocket via Legacy because she’s already so goddamn rich she can do whatever she wants. If Rowling wants to give a million dollars to the heinous “charity” of her choice, she can. She will. You are not directly contributing to this horror because that money may as well already exist. Every person in the world could refuse to buy this game and she’d shrug, going about her disgusting life because it literally does not affect her in any meaningful way. You’re refusing to give the murderer a knife when they’re got direct access to a knife-making factory. Horrible as it is to hear, you can’t stop them from doing something horrific with that tool. 

For me, this is the straw argument of the Harry Potter world. Not straw as in strawman, but literally straws. Remember how everyone was talking about plastic straws, swore off them, and subsequently deemed anyone who still used one to be selfish people who didn’t care about the environment? It didn’t matter if you had a certified “good” reason for using one (disability) or a “selfish” reason (carrying straws everywhere on the off chance you wanted a drink is a pain in the ass)—you’re a horrible person who wants the planet to die. Same deal here. If you can swear off straws, great! Do what tiny bit of good you can. But if you can’t or even don’t want to give them up, the reality is that your “selfishness” doesn’t make a significant difference in the world. The amount of plastic corporations are pouring into the ocean makes your actions inconsequential. It’s not like voting where every small, individual act adds up to a significant total. This is your lack up against others’ staggering abundance. It’s not adding a few drops of water until you have a full bucket, it’s trying to un-flood the boat with a teaspoon while someone else is spraying it with the hose. Have you, on the most technical level, made a difference by moving that teaspoon of water out of the boat? Yes. Is it a difference that holds any meaning in regards to the desired outcome? Not really. Now apply all that to Rowling. She is so phenomenally wealthy—with additional wealth coming in every day—that your purchase of Legacy is a teaspoon of water in her ocean of funds. It’s inconsequential.

“But Clyde, buying this game would support her and supporting her sends the message that what she believes is okay.” Exact same argument as above. JKR’s fame is so astronomical that no video-game boycott could ever make a dent in it. For every 100 people who swear off her work there are another 1,000 who continue to engage with both her writing and the writing related to her world because she is that prominent. Harry Potter is one of the largest franchises of all time, second only to things like Pokémon and Star Wars. This isn’t some indie creator who you can ignore into silence. The reality is that Rowling is here to stay and we have to take far more substantial acts to counteract that influence. 

Even more importantly, buying the game is not evidence that you support her views and the black and white belief that it does is an easy distraction from those harder “How do we improve the lives of trans people?” questions. I started compiling a list of stories with problematic authors only to realize the number of incredibly popular texts with awful histories attached to them unnecessarily increased the length of an already long post. Everything from Game of Thrones to Dr. Seuss—if you love it, chances are one of the authors involved has a history of misogyny, racism, homophobia, etc. Which I don’t say as a way of excusing these authors, nor as a way to silence the justified and necessary call outs on their work. Rather, I bring this up to acknowledge that engaging with these stories cannot be concrete evidence for how you view the minority group in question. The reasons for consuming these stories are incalculable and at the end of the day no one needs a “correct” reason for that consumption (my teacher forced me to read the racist book, I only watched the homophobic TV show so I could call out how horrible it was, etc.) If fiction were an indicator of our real life beliefs we’d all be the most horrifying creatures imaginable. I may be severely uncomfortable with the queer baiting in Supernatural, but if a friend says they bought the DVD collection my response is not, “How dare you support those creators. You’re homophobic.” In the same way, someone purchasing Legacy should not generate the response, “How dare you support her. You’re transphobic.” There’s a miles’ worth of pitfalls in connecting the statements “You purchased a game based on the world created by a transphobic author” and “You yourself are transphobic.” 

So if buying Legacy does not add additional harm to the trans community from a financial perspective, and it doesn’t make a dent in Rowling’s platform, and playing a game is not evidence of your feelings towards the group the author hates… what are we left with? “But Clyde, it’s the principal of the thing. I don’t want to support a TERF” and that is an excellent argument. Your morals. Your ethics. What you can stomach having done or not done. But the “your” is incredibly important there. People need to understand that this is their own line in the sand and that if someone else’s line is different, that doesn’t mean they’re automatically a worse person than you. For example, I have made the choice not to eat at Chick-Fil-A. Not because I believe that me not giving them $3.75 for a sandwich will make a difference in their influence on the world, but because it makes a difference to me. It helps me sleep at night. So if not purchasing Legacy helps you sleep at night? That’s a fantastic reason not to buy it. But the flipside is that if someone else does purchase it that is not a reliable reflection of their morals, no more than I think my friends are homophobic for grabbing lunch at Chick-Fil-A now and then. Sometimes you just want a sandwich. 

“But Clyde, why would you want to buy it? Rowling is such a shit-stain I don’t understand how anyone can stomach supporting her—whether that support has an impact or not. Maybe someone eats at Chick-Fil-A because it’s close to them and they’re too busy to go elsewhere, or it’s all they can afford, or they don’t know how homophobic they are. There are lots of reasons to explain something like that. But you’re not ignorant to Rowling’s problem and there’s no scenario where you have to play this game, let alone spend money on it. So why?”

The reality is that I will likely be buying Legacy, second-hand if I can, but new if it comes to that, so I’ll give some of my personal answers here, in descending order of presumed selfishness:

5. Part of my work involves studying video games/Harry Potter and as a researcher of popular culture, my career depends on keeping up with major releases: good and bad. I often engage with stories I wholeheartedly disagree with for academic purposes, like Fifty Shades of Gray.

4. I find the “Just pirate it!” solution to be flawed. I’ve spent the last four months struggling to get my laptop fixed and I currently have no income to buy another if it were to suddenly develop a larger problem. I am not going to risk my $2,000 lifeline on an illegal download, no matter how safe and easy the Internet insists it is. 

3. We’ve been told that Rowling has not been involved in Legacy in any significant manner and I do want to support Portkey. No, not just financially because I know many others have insisted that everyone good has already been paid. Game companies still need to sell games. That’s why they exist. There’s a possibility that a company with just two mobile games under its belt will be in trouble if this completely flops. Is my purchase going to make or break things? No. Same reality as whether it will put new, influential money in Rowling’s pocket to do horrific things with. But I’d like to help a company that looks as if they put a lot of heart and energy into a game only to get hit with some real shit circumstances outside of their control. Even if they’re not impacted financially or career-wise… art is meant to be consumed. I know if I wrote a Harry Potter fic and everyone boycotted it because they want nothing to do with Rowling anymore, I’d be devastated. Sometimes, you can’t separate supporting the good people from supporting the bad. Not in a media landscape where thousands of people are involved in singular projects.

2. I’m invested in reclaiming excellent works created by horrible authors. That’s fandom! We don’t know much about Legacy yet—this is pure, unsubstantiated speculation—but this new story could be a step forward from Rowling’s books, giving us some of the respect for minority groups that she failed at. That’s the sort of work I want to promote because Harry Potter as a concept is great and I think it’s worth transforming it for our own needs and desires. The reality is that as long as Rowling is alive she’ll benefit from licensed material, but if that material can start taking her world in better directions? I want to support that too.

1. I literally just want to play it. That’s it. That’s my big justification. I think it looks phenomenal and I was itching to get my hands on it the second the trailer dropped. And you know what? I’m not in a good place right now to deny myself things I enjoy. I don’t need to tell anyone that 2020 has been an absolute horror show, but for me certain things have made it a horror show with a cherry on top. Not a lot gets me excited right now because we’re living in the worst fucking timeline, so when I find something that makes me feel positive emotions for a hot second I want to hang onto it. I have no desire to set aside that spark of happiness in a traumatic world because people on the Internet think it makes me selfish. Maybe it does, but I’m willing to let myself be a bit selfish right now. 

Which circles back to this issue of equating buying a game with active harm towards the trans community. It honestly worries me because this is a very, very easy way to avoid the harder, messier activism that will actually help the queer community. When someone says things like, “You’re choosing a stupid video game over trans lives” that activism is performative. Not only—as demonstrated above—is purchasing a game not a threat to trans lives or ignoring the game a way of protecting trans lives, it also gives people an incredibly easy out while still seeming ‘woke.’ Not all people. Maybe not even a significant portion of people, but enough people to be worrisome. “I’m not purchasing that game,” some people post and then that’s it. That’s all they do, yet they feel like they’ve done their duty when in fact they’ve made no active difference in the world. Are you donating to trans charities? Are you speaking up for your trans friends when someone accosts them? Are you circulating media by trans authors? Are you educating your family about trans issues? Are you listening to trans individuals and continually trying to educate yourself? These are the things that make a difference, not shaming others for buying a game.

All of this is not meant to be an argument that people shouldn’t be absolutely revolted by Rowling’s beliefs (they should) and that this revulsion can’t take the form of rejecting this game wholeheartedly. This isn’t even meant to be an argument that you shouldn’t encourage others to boycott because though the financial impact may be negligible, the emotional impact for you is very real. I 100% support anyone who wants to chuck this game into the trash and never talk about it again—for any reason. All this is meant to argue is that people shouldn’t judge others based on whether they purchase this game (with a side argument that we can’t limit our activism to that shaming). That’s their decision and this decision, significantly, does not add any real harm to the world. Your fellow Harry Potter fan is not the enemy here. We as a community should not be turning our visceral on one another. Turn it on Rowling. She’s the TERF, not the individual who, for whatever reason, decided they wanted to play the game only tangentially related to her.  

If Twitter and Tumblr are any indication, I can imagine the sort of responses this post may generate: “That’s a whole lot of talk to try and convince us you’re not a transphobe :/ ” For those of you who are determined to simply things to that extent, there’s nothing I can say that will change your mind. Please re-read the disclaimer and consider whether yelling at me over anon will benefit the trans community. For those of you who are still here, I do legitimately want us to think critically about the kinds of activism we’re engaging in, how performative it might be, whether it harms the community in any way, and (most significantly) whether it’s actually moving us towards a safe, respective world for trans people to live in. Personally, I don’t think telling Harry Potter fans that they’re transphobic for buying Legacy will generate any good in this world, for them or for the trans community. 

At the end of the day only you can decide whether you can stomach buying this game or not. Decide that for yourself, but make that decision knowing that there’s no wrong answer here.  

[jollymageret]

Nightmare - SM

so basically this is some shawn angst type thing.

y/n is a singer/songwriter who takes it upon herself to take her empowerment back. shawn called her a nightmare after their twitter war and in true singer fashion, she made a song.

i used halseys nightmare because 1. it’s amazing and 2. it really fit well. i love halsey and it’s no copyright intended.

“so the next song is about...saying fuck you to a certain ex, and i’m sure you know what ex i’m talking about.”

the crowd cheered as you chugged down the rest of your water, your attire was becoming sticky with sweat.

“the final stage of a breakup is redirected hope, in other words empowerment. so when i wrote this song, it was me just accepting the things that had happened,” i said, “and me saying to myself, fuck all of them.”

you smiled as the intro started playing, “shawn called me a nightmare on twitter...and he is absolutely right. i want you to raise your middle finger to a person that you gave everything to and then they took advantage of you.”

10,000 fingers raised in the air as they started to sing along,

“i, i keep a record of the wreckage in my life,

i gotta recognise the weapon in my mind,

they talk shit but i love it every-time,

and i realise...”

your and shawn’s breakup was messy to say the least. a cheating scandal that he denied even to this day, that had led a twitter war. he had called you a nightmare, which was true.

you were always a bit wild, a rebel, a rule breaker to say the least, which shawn has always said he loved about you. you weren’t controversial but you didn’t keep your mouth shut if you thought something was wrong. you then proceeded to be very sarcastic and take the piss out of him, releasing a bit of private information but nothing to seriously damage his career. sex life antics and arguments over texts.

in total you had been broken up for about 7 months and although you didn’t admit it, you missed him. the late night phone calls, sweet text messages and obviously the sex.

god, the se-

“i’ve tasted blood and it is sweet,

i’ve has the rug pulled beneath my feet,

i’ve trusted lies and i’ve trusted men,

broke down and put myself back together again,

stared in the mirror and punched it to shatters,

collected the pieces and picked out a dagger,

i’ve pinched my skin in between my two fingers,

and wished to cut some parts off with some scissors.”

the phones shone bright as you walked around the stage, videoing the experience that they would no doubt post and look back on in years to come. you would probably be married by then, live in some fancy house and have children. at one point you thought that would of all been with shawn, the person you wanted to grow old with. but now you will probably be quite lonely, when you feel ready to move on.

to be honest, you weren’t quite over the breakup. you were still in the stage of anger, every-time someone brought up his name you would clench my fist and jaw until the topic was over. you couldn’t listen to him on the radio and you couldn’t watch any videos of him. your friends where walking on eggshells around you, careful to say what bar they went to last saturday and who they went with. he always loved going out with his friends.

“come on little lady give us a smile,

no i ain’t got nothing to smile about,

i got no one to smile for,

i waited a while for a moment to say i don’t owe you a god damn thing!

i, i keep a record of the wreckage in my life,

i gotta recognise the weapon in my mind,

they talk shit but i love it every-time,

and i realise...

i’m no sweet dream but i’m a hell of a night,

that i’m no sweet dream boy i’m a hell of a night.”

you had texted briefly, nothing extensive. figuring out arrangements for stuff to be transferred over to your place, or asking if he was going out with your friends that night, which ultimately led to your decision of declining your friends offers to go to a bar. he had hurt you, sure enough you had probably hurt him too but he was the one that ended things over text.

a two and a half year relationship that he ended over TEXT. he didn’t even tell you face to face. he sent a long bullshit arse message which upset you even more when he was the one being accused of cheating. he apologised put he said he thought he was ‘holding you back’ and that it hurt to much ‘to tell you face to face’. if anything you couldn’t move on without him, you would be probably writing breakup songs forever now.

“no, i won't smile but i'll show you my teeth,

and i'ma let you speak if you just let me breathe,

i've been polite but won't be caught dead,

lettin' a man tell me what i should do in my bed,

keep my exes in check in my basement,

'cause kindness is weakness or worse you're complacent,

i could play nice or i could be a bully,

i'm tired and angry but somebody should be,

come on little lady give us a smile,

no i ain't got nothin' to smile about,

i got no one to smile for i waited a while for,

a moment to say i don't owe you a goddamn thing!

i, i keep a record of the wreckage of my life

I gotta recognize the weapon in my mind,

they talk shit but i love it every time,

and i realise...

i, i keep a record of the wreckage of my life,

i gotta recognize the weapon in my mind,

they talk shit but i love it every time,

and i realise...”

the cheating new had broken on youtube, shawn was on tour at the the time and you were visiting your family in london. he was caught smuggling a girl into his hotel room arm around her shoulder. she then left the next morning in the same dress and his leather jacket. the one that he gave me when i was cold, or because he said i looked cute in it. it was our thing and he gave it away so easily, just pushed me to the side to make way for the next one to get into his pants.

when it had come out he called me straight away, telling me not to believe it and it was all fake. i believed him as i put more in our trust than the tabloids, there had to be an explanation for it, of all people not shawn. but then i got an instagram am from the girl that night, saying she was sorry but it was all true. she said they were sober and he said i could never find out about this. the look on his face when i showed him the messages, that said it all.

“someone like me can be a real nightmare completely aware,

but i’d rather be a real nightmare than die unaware,

someone like me can be a real nightmare completely aware,

but I'm glad to be a real nightmare so save me your prayers,

i, i keep a record of the wreckage of my life,

i gotta recognize the weapon in my mind,

they talk shit but i love it every time,

and i realise...

i, i keep a record of the wreckage of my life,

i gotta recognize the weapon in my mind,

they talk shit but i love it every time,

and i realise...

i’m no sweet dream but i'm a hell of a night,

that i'm no sweet dream but i'm a hell of a night...”

the crowd erupted with cheers and hollers as you fought back tears, this was hard for you. but then, you remembered.

he doesn’t love you anymore y/n. he cheated. you’re a nightmare to him, he hates you, he doesn’t care.

you smiled and said, “fuck shawn, right?”

[antivancoffeelover]

I have a genuine question. How often do you actually deal with antis? I've been following you for a bit now and it seems every so often you bring up antis. I've certainly kept my interest about thorki shut and locked away in a box from my friends for the simple fact that all of them think it's incest. It's not an easy topic of conversation but you just seem to handle all the antis so well? Also on an off note about beast!Thor, his favorite pass time must just be rutting into Loki 24/7 🤔

when someone tells you that you're romanticizing abuse [bc i made a stockholm moodboard for a fic] I don't know what I'm supposed to say other than I don't condone it but I write about it? Is writing about abusive relationships bad in writing??? you're the only person i ask for advice so thank you for anything in advance

i’m honestly really glad you came to me. i really do like discussing this topic in this kind of way bc i’ll never reblog an anti or answer an anti ask. even if you’re arguing against them, i don’t think it’s worth it to argue against them if it means also spreading what they’re saying

the basic premise of all anti behavior and ideology is censorship. that’s all it is. 

“i don’t like this topic, you need to stop writing it and making art for it. if you don’t stop there will be consequences.”

that is censorship and that is the kind of shit fandom has had to fight ever since there’s been fandom. women, poc, lgbt+ folks have been dealing with people telling us what we can and can’t write and enjoy for... well, probably forever. but we’re still here, creating the kind of content we want to see and indulge in.

as far as how to deal with antis, my advice is to ignore, ignore, ignore. they want what any bully wants: attention

you stop paying attention, you stop giving them time they don’t deserve from you, they’ll die off. there’s no point in fighting them directly. produce the content you want to see and enjoy what you want to enjoy. drown them out. you don’t owe them a response just because they come to you. they don’t have any qualms about being rude to you, so be rude back and just ignore them. i love blocking antis, personally. take out the garbage, y’know?

antis use the words ship and support as synonyms because they think that shipping is some radical call to action for lgbt rep instead of entertainment

shipping is not activism. shipping is about entertainment and enjoyment, nothing more

so this is why i have this very blasé attitude about antis. i just don’t give a fuck about them beyond making posts trashing their idiocy. because that’s what it is. it’s idiocy, but going deeper it’s puritanism at its finest. antis use fox news scare tactic logic under the guise of some pseudo feminist agenda because they don’t understand and don’t want to understand that enjoying dark fiction as entertainment isn’t equivalent to some greater moral stance

they use the same argument about shipping and fanfiction that WASP moms use against video games and loud music: that enjoying and consuming it will make you think it’s normal and there’s nothing wrong with it irl

okay, well, vlad the impaler never played CoD or far cry and caligula never watched hentai but we know why i’m bringing them up in this context without even heading over to wikipedia, don’t we?

they use the words abuse and pedophilia waaaaaayy too liberally and they’re doing more harm than good because they’re twisting and warping words that should have very specific meanings by using them so goddamn vaguely and irresponsibly 

my own personal theory is that these people are terrified that if they don’t yell in opposition to these topics 24/7 and actively attack content creators that they’d probably enjoy it, and they’ve been so programmed by the echo chamber of tumblr and twitter that they think this means they’re bad people. 

spoiler alert: that’s not what it means

i literally watched a circle jerk on twitter where screenshots of some mafia starker au got tweeted and retweeted w/ pictures of someone pouring bleach into cereal and people had asked to see more of the post. if you really don’t like something, you shouldn’t hate-read about it. it’s not productive, it does more harm than good if that’s the actual issue rather than some reverse psychology-style enjoyment they’re probably getting out of it.

they claim to hate this shit so much, but they’re reading hundreds and thousands of words and putting these images in their heads of their own free will. i don’t do that with shit i genuinely dislike. i avoid it.

i see antis say they enjoy thorki fanart because they think it’s cute, then they see it’s tagged thorki and they have an over the top reaction because the nature of anti ideology states you should never enjoy something like that, so if you do then you have to make the excuse of ignorance to prove that you’re still innocent and pure. enjoyment is apologism to them because they aren’t content to simply attack fan creators, they want to try and drive away the people who consume our art as well because they know you’re the cornerstone of fandom. consumers are why creators create. yeah, i write because i enjoy it, but i also write to connect to my readers and have people commenting on my fics when they like them.

it’s also worth noting that antis only ever talk about shipping. they only talk about sexual and romantic ships. i’ve never seen an anti talk about (often extreme) levels of violence in canon source material for the ships and characters they want to froth at the mouth over. 

seeing someone bleed out and choking on their own blood after being stabbed or shot or bludgeoned? meh

seeing a character who was once a child have a sexual thought about a character who was also once a child and is also their close friend? omg why are we trying to make fandom unsafe for people?

personally, i’ve also noticed that fandoms with darker canon material tend to have more chill fandoms most of the time. i think it also depends on the average age in a given fandom. there’s a major difference between fannibals and steven universe fans, let’s just say that.

creating a moodboard for a dark fic is not “romanticizing abuse” and at this point antis honestly have no fucking idea what that phrase is. they use those words the way a bored CEO uses social media buzzwords and hashtags in a staff meeting

if antis want to see true romanticizing of abuse then they can go to serial killer thirst tags and spot the fucking differences between shippers and people who forget that ted bundy was weak, flaccid, cowardly piece of shit

writing something dark or violent or whatever else and condoning the act or doing the act are different. this is why stephen king isn’t under government surveillance or in prison.

make no mistake, this anti shit only applies to fandom. they’re attacking creators here because creators out at the professional levels don’t give a fuck. they’ve tried, and they’ve failed. 

creators at the professional level understand something antis don’t: that being able to reconcile your enjoyment of dark media can be a sign of emotional intelligence and good emotional health. it’s cathartic. it’s allowed to be cathartic.

the most common consumers of dark fiction are members of minority communities and people who’ve been emotionally and/or sexually repressed for one reason or another. 

antis want to say that fiction doesn’t exist in a vacuum and they are 100% correct! because writing fanfiction and original fiction that relates to parts of my life that nearly killed me gives me control over something that was beyond me in the original context. writing about fucked up codependent, violent romance allows me to process my shit in a way that’s healthy and produces something fun and enjoyable.

my therapist knows i ship thorki, she knows i write thorki. i’ve had her read pieces of fanfiction i’ve written in addition to pieces of original fiction. y’know what she said? “wow, baylen, that’s vivid. you have a way with words!”

i read her a line out of smart boy and told her what the story was about and this trained professional said “well it’s a productive way to process some emotion that you clearly need to let out”

but you know what? if someone doesn’t have the trauma i have? let them write it, too! let them create and enjoy the fictional content they want! more cake, y’all!

finally getting around to one of the first parts of your ask, lol. thorki is incest. thor and loki are brothers. they were raised believing they were blood brothers, even. loki being adopted doesn’t change a thousand years of personal history where thor looked at loki and thought that they came out of the same woman, y’know? 

that’s his brother and in the comics his attachment to loki is even more intense. the mcu nerfed that shit. loki’s life has been intrinsically tied to thor’s ability to feel a full sense of joy. 

enjoying an incest ship isn’t some sign of moral depravity. writing abusive relationships isn’t bad. gone girl was made into an award winning movie. art should look like life, and sometimes life fucking sucks. dark stories, sad stories, fucked up holy shit idk if i can go to sleep after i read this stories exist for a reason. we need them. we have to have an outlet for our frustration, our anger, and especially our fear.

so which is the healthier option of these

to write up a piece of fanfiction where two siblings are in love in a way that might be cute and soft or might be destructive, depending on your mood?

or

attacking strangers you don’t know online and threatening violence against anyone who doesn’t think like you do?

i know what kind of person i want to be.

ship and let ship, thanks for reading my doctoral thesis office hours are always

[nottooldforthisship]

Hi! Can I ask what are your top fics of 2017 so far? The fics I've been reading for the past week(s) were all from 2015/16.. So I've been wanting to catch up with the new ones. :) Thanks looove

Oh shit, that’s a hard question ^^

(I’ll update this until the end of the year)(last update on Dec.14th 2014)

(also this is mostly in chronological order of my reading) (and fair warning, I haven’t read a Larry fic since Nov.17th)

- Fall At My Door , by @fullonlarrie : A-list actor Harry Styles and award-winning musician Louis Tomlinson have an acquaintances-with-benefits relationship, so whenever their busy professional lives happen to land them in the same city, they meet up. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.And that’s all it is. Until it isn’t. (30k, E)

- Feels Like Coming Home, by @phd-mama​ : The last thing Harry Styles expects when he’s hanging out at the Someday Cafe in Somerville one rainy October day is for his ex, Louis Tomlinson to walk through the door, but that’s exactly what happens. After a spectacularly ugly break-up three years prior, Harry hasn’t heard one word from Louis, and he’s moved on. Gotten over him. But having Louis back in his life, not to mention working at the restaurant where he’s a chef, isn’t easy, and the feelings that Harry thought he’d left turn out to be not so easily forgotten. This is a story about love and the power of forgiveness, and how the hard choices we make define us, and change our lives.(60k, E)

- Saved Tonight, by objectlesson : Harry is the world’s most persistent seduction-baker, a questionable dog-sitter, and Louis’s biggest fan. Louis hasn’t written in years, is trying to pass loneliness off as cynicism, and absolutely hates his fans. It’s probably destiny. (30k, E)

- Just Breathe, by @a-writerwrites and @dimpled-halo: Louis pops his head into the kitchen, “You alright?”Harry smiles shaking his head, “Just my clumsy arse at it again,” he says laughing.“I oughta put you over my knee and give you a good spanking,” Louis mutters, chuckling.Harry freezes.  His pulse races so hard he can feel the blood rushing fast and hot throughout his body, like a livewire, zinging through him in a delirious rush.  His mouth goes dry, and his eyes are wide.  And when Louis turns around to look at him after being silent for so long, it’s like Louis just knows.  He understands.  Harry loves him so fucking much.  **** OR the one where Harry and Louis are on a journey through life together — one that includes discovering dark, hidden parts of themselves that only the other can find. (50k, E)

- Then We Talk Slow , by @letsjustsee : (…) A famous/non-famous AU in which Louis banters back and forth with his new record company on Twitter, only to find out that Harry is the man behind the tweets. (20k, E)

- Riptide , by FlyingAlwaysInColor : AU in which Louis loses his amazing mum, and is sent on a forced holiday to a luxury spa resort where he meets a green-eyed butterfly-angel and an adventurous Irishman who help him start to heal by administering equal doses of love and laughter. (91k, E)

- Reduce Me To A Pleading Cry (Break The Skin and Tantalize), by @taggiecb : As the CEO of Styles & Styles, Harry Styles cuts a brooding and handsome figure at the helm of a very successful business. His reputation for intensity is well known, but you would be intense, too, if you had to work numbers all day, give countless orders, and conduct endless meetings. When all you really want to do at night–ache to do–is give away the reins, let someone else make the decisions, be ordered around for once, just–let go. Harry has reached his breaking point when one touch from a man whose very stance commands attention leads him back to a place he thought he’d never return. Or Harry is a broody submissive boss, Louis is a natural dom who works in the mail room at Styles & Styles, Niall is a matchmaking oracle, and a slender, dark haired man stands mute at the coffee stand encouraging others to spill their secrets. (33k, E)

- Resist Everything Except Temptation, by @domestic-harry :   (…) The one where Louis is the commodore’s son who is forced to become a part of Harry’s crew when he is captured. (100k, E)

(more under the cut, this list is gonna be so long …)

- Them Butterflies , by @gaycousinlarry  : To sum it all up - Louis is beautiful. Breathtakingly so. And Harry can’t find it in himself to even question the fact that he thinks so. Louis is mesmerising, nearly magnetic with all the energy bouncing off of him. Harry doesn’t know what to make of it, but he knows he doesn’t want this night to end.  This is the extraordinarily ordinary AU where Harry falls in love for the first time and Louis learns how to fall in love all over again. (68k, E)

- When We Were Younger, by @dinosaursmate: About a week after Harry started visiting this particular chat room, he was watching some kid argue with the whole room about football, personally disinterested as he tipped a bag of crisps into his mouth. He happily chomped on the crumbs, taking a swig from a glass of Ribena to wash them down, glancing at the screen and very nearly spat the squash back out again. His heart was pounding wildly. The display icon of the argumentative newcomer had caught his eye, and not in a good way. He gulped as he clicked the picture, and when it popped up in full resolution, his heart nearly fell right out of his arse. - Sixteen year old Harry Styles’ world turns upside down when he logs on to gay teen chat to discover somebody has stolen his photos and used them as their own.  (76k, E)

- Fool’s Gold , by @freetheankles : Or the Arnacoeur AU in which Harry is scheduled to be married to Liam in 10 days and Harry’s mother hires Louis and his team to break them up.  (55h, E)

- Dance Me (to the End of Love), by @phd-mama​​ : You would think that it’s a simple process - you meet, you fall in love, you get married. But when you add one lawyer and one overly-competitive high school teacher to that equation, it’s no longer a straight line from beginning to end. Or the story of how a simple proposal becomes a competition where no one loses in the end. (19k, E)

- Life Was a Song, You Came Along, by @rainbowninja​ : It’s embarrassing how long it takes Louis to recognize his own song. Niall had sung it as a bright, hopeful love song, and that’s honestly how Louis had always assumed it should sound. But this new voice, slow and rough, stripped of any backing instrument, has infused the lyrics with just the tumultuous mix of fear and defiance that Louis can remember so clearly from the night he wrote them. It’s not a comfortable thing, to feel like someone is singing all your secrets back to you.  Louis is a songwriter trapped in a lie that could ruin his best friend’s career. Harry owns a record store, distrusts everyone in the music industry on principle, but loves Niall Horan’s newest album. A modern retelling of Singin’ in the Rain.(37k, E)

-  Wholehearted, by TheMagicWord : AU. When superstar singer and winner of The Voice Louis Tomlinson tweets “Nothing worse than waking up with no milk for a cuppa !! Gutted” he doesn’t expect someone to bring him some. And he really doesn’t expect that someone to have bright green eyes, long curly hair, and (fucking) dimples. (77k, E)

- Looking Through You, by @allwaswell16 : Just as Louis and Liam were starting out in the music industry, writing and producing for up and coming artists, a fateful meeting with new pop singer Harry Styles changes everything. Four years later, just as Harry is set to embark on his next world tour, a drunken confession causes a rift between once inseparable friends. As Harry tries to make sense of his feelings for Louis, he begins writing his next album to express them as it may be the only way to break through the walls that Louis has built between them. (41k, E)

- Love’s Truest Language , by @smrwine :  The first part was meant as a joke. He didn’t really expect Harry to buy anything. It was just Louis’ way of softening the ‘get the fuck out’ blow.  “Where’s your order forms, then?”  “I don’t want your flowers.” Louis chided before directing all of his attention to the arrangement in front of him.  Harry laughed under his breath as he stood to his full height, “Who said anything about them being for you, love?” (48k, E)

- got the sunshine on my shoulders , by @hattalove : five years ago, harry styles left his tiny home town to make it big as a recording artist. he didn’t have much regard for what he left behind - a life, a family, and a husband, who woke up one morning to find him gone.now, harry has everything he could possibly want: he’s rich, famous, and adored by everyone he meets, including his boyfriend. but when said boyfriend proposes to him, he’s forced to face the uncomfortable facts of his past - and louis, who’s spent the last five years returning every set of divorce papers harry sent him.(or, an au based on the movie sweet home alabama.)(124k, E)

- Never Let Me Go, by @loveisalaserquest17​ : Harry and Louis have been friends forever, but they couldn’t be more different. One night, with a little too much alcohol, they make a pact to marry in ten years if they’re both still single.Now, one month before the deadline, Louis is willing to do whatever it takes to avoid ending up with his best friend. But is he, really? | Loosely inspired by The 10 Year Plan  (55k, E)

- Don’t Want Shelter , by @fullonlarrie : Louis and Harry have known each other all their lives. Friends as children, they danced around each other as teenagers, and have spent the last twenty-five years either screaming at each other or not speaking at all. Except for that one time ten years ago…When Hurricane Nicole threatens the coast, they end up stuck together in their families’ old vacation home that they begrudgingly co-own.During the storm, and in the months after, they’re both forced to reevaluate their history and what they mean to each other. (76k, E)

- Turning Page, by @daisyharry : AU: Harry Styles tries to get lost in a place he’s never been.  Louis Tomlinson has been perfecting the art of being lost for years. What they don’t expect to find is each other. (67k, M)

- No One Like You   , by @myownsparknow : Where Liam and Niall are art historians discovering the truth about two nineteenth century painters on opposite sides of an artistic divide. (20k, M)

- Paint Me In A Million Dreams  , by @greenfeelings : Harry’s one of Hollywood’s biggest actors, has made a name for himself in prestigious films and lives the life of a superstar. There’s just one thing missing to make it picture-perfect, but the one Harry’s in love with is completely out of reach for him. Enter Louis, one of Hollywood’s biggest actors himself, who just came out of the closet and taps new genres in the industry. When Louis sacks the role Harry auditioned for in Scorsese’s next big film, their irrational feud starts. Who could have guessed it would get even worse when for promo season, their teams decide to present them as a couple for publicity?  (110k, M)

-(Take Me Home) Country Roads, by @a-writerwrites : OR a Northern Exposure AU featuring Louis as the big city doctor, Harry as a natural healer, Niall as a secretive barkeep, Liam and Zayn head over heels for each other but they don’t know it and a lot of hurt, comfort and moonshine in between. (86k, E)

[gremlincatsblog]

Twitter becoming the 2016 tumblr

Honestly watching twitter devolve into what tumblr was a few years back is slightly hilarious ngl

So I left tumblr back in 2017 after being on the site for about 5/6ish years because it affected my mental health so much. It was wholesome, nice art, friendly fandom banter etc but eventually other things started leaking onto my page. Toxic positivity, people getting offended over dumb stuff (sometimes I get it but people definitely feel too entitled these days and it's stupid) cancel culture etc. I'm sure most of you know so I won't delve too deeply.

The point was, I'd log on and be told I'm racist, sexist, homophobic etc literally as the first thing I'd see. and sure. okay as a white bisexual person born a female maybe there has been some inherited minor stuff and I will throw my hands up and say yeah, okay that's fair let's not do that then. I understand education is important in that regard.

But most of the time? That wasn't the case. You could simply read the comments or check the ops page and find they weren't even part of the community they were supposedly defending and would start arguments by gaslighting. Or they were an actual child who was obviously breaking the tos by being on the site, had much growing up to do and was calling out the 18+ side of tumblr who were minding their own business and not doing anything wrong.

For the record I know there was and likely still is dodgy shit that had every right to be called out on but I'm not talking about that here. I'm talking about those who would literally say they're 18+ and minors shouldn't interact (such as myself. I don't post 18+ content per se but I'm 24 and don't feel comfortable with the idea of a 13 year old messaging me regardless of what it is). I'm sorry but if youre a minor and you elect to ignore that then thats somewhat on you. I'm hoping said 18+ will ignore you if you try to message. Of course you're a child and between the two, the adult needs to act like the adult, at best maybe explain why you shouldn't be contacting them but otherwise unless said person is posting something that is literally illegal or very immoral or if they didn't post disclaimers/tags anywhere I don't think you have a right to complain about something that you shouldn't be a part of anyway (that's sounds harsh but I literally just mean a child being in a 18+ space and then complaining that it's too mature I've been in 2 discords that I left because of that, both I joined from tumblr ironically enough).

I understand and respect making safe spaces we totally should do that, everyone should have a fun time. But I think many have a hard pill to swallow which is that you are not entitled to everything and the world does not evolve around you. If you are uncomfortable block tags, even people (hell I wouldn't be offended at being blocked) we have tags for a reason. Do people abuse that sometimes. Yes unfortunately. That's when you should complain. But I'm an artist, who occasionally posts gore (not here tho dw) I tag it, put disclaimers etc and even then have still had people telling me to take it down because they are uncomfortable by it. JUST BLOCK THE TAG! BLOCK ME! IT'S NOT THAT HARD. I did everything correctly, posted in the right space etc. Artfol literally has a feature where you can categories art as gore or nsfw and if you have it checked you don't want to see that it will blank out the work Artstation does the same. So if you are still seeing my work that it's not on me. Sorry. But it's true. That means you're in a space you shouldn't be in.

Some of y'all also need to lighten the fuck up and not get offended over every little thing. That goes mostly towards this cancel culture crap.

I'm happy this site has calmed down since then, or maybe I'm just not following enough people to be bombarded by it yet. So far though it seems to me most left after the p*rn purge and went to twitter, a site I barely use anyway so it just make me laugh seeing history repeat itself.

Anyway this ended up being way longer than I intended sorry. I just wanted to get it out there.

[ariyadaivaris]

HEY here's smth i've been thinking about lately: who on 205 Live would u like to see turn face and how would u like to see them do it? i been thinking about this and it's hard because the heel boys are all so close to each other and i don't wanna see em split up...

now–okay. 1) im sorry i took forever to read this im very shy and 2) im gonna be THEEEEEEeeEEEEEEeeeeEEEeeE most biased person on earth about this but this is SUCH A COOL QUESTION and i’m living for it, thank you cat for my life

and like. i mean the answer that’s easiest is OBVIOUSLY ariya. i mean. like. let’s be real here, especially if i’m the one answering, like, who else could it be, but ariya? he’s never had a face run in his career, iirc, and i want to see it, with my eyes, and live it forever. 

and YEAH splitting up those sweet terrible heel boys is a bad time, and that’s something that always gets me when i’m thinking about turns, because ideally everyone remains friends, face or heel, but like…i think that with ariya that’s something that could be accomplished WHILE the rest of the heel boys stay heels. and i know this is a topic i am on about a lot, or at least it feels like it, but i think it would work if you had ariya turn face against brian, specifically. 

jack’s not involved in this yet, i know that’s like, HI HELLO IT’S ME BUZZ INTERNET, but this turn doesn’t have anything to do with jack. okay it might have a BIT to do with jack but that’s not the most important part of it. it’s a subplot and not like, the main conflict driving this turn. the main conflict driving this turn is VERY much between ariya and brian, and there are a few points of interest here: 

brian betraying tony in the contendership elimination match, which is a relatively small insignificant betrayal, but still a betrayal of one of ariya’s friends

brian outright allying himself with enzo and ariya, but not to convince enzo to leave wwe entirely (which, until proven otherwise, has to be ariya’s goal here because jesus christ) and instead either for manipulation reasons or because he sincerely relates to everyone being jealous of the cruiserweight champion. because he’s brian kendrick

brian not only fucking with jack but fucking with him to the point jack is ALLYING with him; ariya might be a bastard but he’s really loyal to the allies and friends he has, even noam, who ariya was never EXACTLY FOND OF but to whom ariya’s remained loyal and is pretty straightforward with

and just like…ariya’s a brutal guy and he takes pleasure in fighting people in the ring, and he’s pragmatic and not afraid to bend the rules to win, but as a person, he’s fundamentally…pretty genuine? genuine isn’t the right word, but. he’s blunt and what you see is what you get with him for the most part. he’s sneaky and tricky, but he’s also a pretty bad liar beyond playing a wounded gazelle gambit in the ring! like, his alliance with enzo? he’s of course a very sweet boy but he’s got a reputation as well and he’s very VERY much just…pretending it doesn’t exist and hoping that’s convincing. ariya is…pretty sincere, at heart. he doesn’t Perform unless it’s for the greater good, he doesn’t try to be anything he’s not, and who he is MIGHT be a pretty rude and sharp person but that’s who he is. and he’s fine with that. 

brian kendrick kinda spits on every single idea of that! 

ariya believes he’s an honorable person, but like, ariya will back down and admit he’s outmatched when necessary (that’s kind of a running thing he does, with neville, with braun, etc), where brian is just a dirty coward who cheats and lies and plays dirty all the goddamn time. he’s the man with a plan and his plan is despicable from the beginning! and ariya doesn’t trust that, no one trusts brian, obviously, and i think that they could butt heads in a way that easily transitions into a face turn for ariya. 

i think that could happen in a tag team match? not one where they’re pitted against each other, but put on a team. brian’s usually paired up with jack but jack’s got his own shit going on this particular night, so brian needed a new partner, and he came to ariya. and ariya doesn’t trust him for a goddamn second but he doesn’t have anything to do tonight, so he agrees. and then he discusses it with the rest of the gold standard, and tony’s clearly Not Happy that brian would even consider coming to one of them, even if this IS what ariya’s gotta do, and that definitely stays with ariya. because ariya is a dick but he loves tony and drew a lot and he isn’t the most forgiving person of slights against the two. 

but brian and ariya team up for the night, they’re taking on, who knows…OH no wait i know, they’re taking on mustafa and akira, ding ding ding! ariya and brian both have past rivalries with akira, but ariya’s got a weird frenemies thing happening with mustafa over twitter at the VERY least, and ariya’s still thinking about how much of a manipulative lying motherfucker brian is. and while they’re in the match, brian pulls some SKETCHY SHIT that results in akira getting pretty fucked up on the turnbuckle, and ariya’s no akira fan but he knows that was fucked up. akira recovers and tags mustafa in and the match moves on, and ariya is stuck on this moment, and he looks back at brian in the corner and thinks, man, i fucking hate this guy

and he makes a decision, to get back at brian for tony’s sake at least and now for akira’s sake as well, because if brian can play dirty, ariya can too, and maybe it’ll teach him something about not being a HUGE SHITHEAD ALL THE TIME. he tags brian in for a double team move and makes a surprise transition; instead of whipping brian into mustafa, he catches brian up in the hammerlock lariat he does! and he takes a moment to kind of process “oh shit, oh SHIT this is happening”, before coming back into focus. and he just shakes it off, nudges brian towards mustafa and gestures to the top rope like “hey i set up your dumb flip for you, you’re welcome”, and just rolls out of the ring. before he starts up the ramp, he catches akira’s eye and nods, and then he’s just Outie, and then it’s just. okay! it’s an ambiguous move and he doesn’t break apart from his heel faction, of course, but it’s a start. it’s at LEAST a move from “allies with monster heels” to “allies with goofass heels and tweeners” territory, and it’s a start. 

another opportunity for an ariya face turn, and like, if we’re following this same thread, a CERTAIN, CONFIRMED face turn, is ariya turning on enzo! i will die on the hill of “ariya is trying to get enzo out of here”, but if it happened for real after the above moment, that would be a pretty clear turn into face territory. it’s like…to expand more on ariya’s previous rivalries, it’s like a smaller scale version of what neville did. it’s no secret that drew and tony don’t get along with enzo, but ariya’s working with him because GOD everyone wants enzo to leave wwe. not even just 205, but wwe. please god. and ariya’s thinking that at any rate this COULD mean he gets a friendly title shot opportunity. it won’t. he knows it won’t. enzo’s a cruel stingy son of a bitch he’s never gonna give anyone a title opportunity if he can help it, but ariya thinks he could break ground if he just tries hard enough. 

and then that hope is buried for good, because enzo goes after drew, like he’s wont to do. tony starts shit with enzo, and drew steps in to get a match with enzo and finish it, because Of Course He Does, it’s very noble even though tony and drew are both the worst. drew gets a match with enzo, and tony chills on commentary and ariya’s sitting in the back watching and ariya’s just fuming silently, but tolerating it. and then enzo cheats to win, because of course he does. and then for no good reason, he grabs a steel chair to attack drew, because he’s a dick! and tony comes after him, and enzo’s not afraid to attack him, too. 

ariya comes out as soon as the steel chairs get involved. it looks for a second like he could be out here to back enzo up. tony and drew get fucken worried for a second that the plan’s gone wrong. but ariya wouldn’t dream of betraying either of them. not ever. if he’s got beef with them, he settles it, he talks through it, that’s how they’re good friends STILL. he doesn’t let things stew, he doesn’t fume over imagined slights silently. ariya’s a lot of things, but he likes to think he’s an honorable person. and there’s no one he’d honor more willingly than these two. 

he convinces enzo to give him the chair, and at the last second, he turns it on enzo instead. he chases the rat out of the ring, back up the ramp, and barely spares him a final look before going to check and make sure drew and tony are alright. it doesn’t lead to those two chucklefucks getting a face turn, they’re still VERY embroiled in their own heelish pursuits, but ariya’s given up his pursuit of the title and his attempt to earn enzo’s trust, because he cares about his friends. and he really does consider the tactics he uses that he can see enzo using, too, and he actively starts working to stop using them. he’s not like enzo! he isn’t. he’ll never be like enzo. 

and in that, ariya earns his face turn. 

also, this isn’t the best argument for it, but ariya’s pretty well learned in high flying, which is a style he hasn’t gotten to use as much as a heel, and the style change from heel to face could be a good factor in that turn? that sentence was worded like DOGSHIT but i hope it made sense haha

also HOOOOOLY SHIT THIS GOT LONGER THAN I EVER WOULD HAVE EXPECTED I KIND OF THINK ABOUT FACE ARIYA A LOT IM SORRY