#if he was a teen in the late 90s/early 2000s

[chasing-clovers]

listening to explorers by muse this one’s for you mike wheeler

[okanra]

Since I grew up in the late 90s, all I can think about teen Trunks and Goten is through the layer of nostalgia, with them wearing the late 90s and early 2000s clothing in something like a US setting, and Trunks using the latest phone technology at the time since he's a tech nepobaby: the legendary flip phone.

I think for Goten who was originally a mountain boy to be so hooked on things like phones and texting and girlfriends and dates when he grows into his adolescence, is because Trunks was his original influence until it wasn't.

Them using the trendiest slangs of 20 years later is pretty on point tho.

[c0tt0nballz]

Ok so i have this HUGE headcanon where pete is a bisexual guy with internalized homophobia, some reasons for it would be the fact that he is a teen in the late 90's/early 2000's, how in the comics there have been instances where he was mocked for being into "gay" stuff (the way he claimed homo-erotic literature is great tickled my gaydar...), and i pretty much imagine his dad is a total asshole who fed him the idea of homosexuality being wrong and disgusting as well as his siblings (totally not projecting)

I love pete so much i need him to suffer in all the ways possible

[yeyinde]

thoughts on what kind of music taste t-141 has?? i can't stop thinking about this and your opinion 👀👀

I have a few! I tried really hard to think about what would be playing on the radio as each of them drove somewhere, and came up with this.

Price: I think he was an OG Alt Kid and did his research on rock which lead him right to the blues. And now his playlist is mostly a mix of blues and rock (garage, blues, alt, psychedelic), bluegrass. Folk. Divorced Dad Rock. 70s Roadtrip. Swamp Rock & Cajun Blues.

some artists you might find on his playlist are:

The Cure. CCR. Lead Belly. Koko Taylor. Agent Orange. Howlin' Wolf. Bobby Bland. Cockney Rejects. Siouxsie and the Banshees. The London Souls. Jimi Hendrix. Muddy Waters. The Psychedelic Furs. Grateful Dead. The Electric Flag. Johnny Cash. Cream. Snooky Pryor. The Rolling Stones. The Doors. Donovan. Sonny Boy Williamson. John the Conqueror. Fleetwood Mac. Pixies. Santana. Derek & the Dominoes. T. Rex. Wilbert Harrison. The Velvet Underground. Cheap Trick. Liverpool Five. The Rivieras. Redbone. Marlena Shaw. Mama's and Papa's. Allman Brothers Band. The Animals.

Gaz: eclectic. I think he dabbles in a little bit of everything. Almost all of his favourite artists are described as "genre defying." He's a lover of music, but tends to lean towards unique vocals, strong lyricism, and modern spins on traditional music.

some artists you might find on his playlist are:

Stromae. Nej. Espacio Dios. BLK JSK. Mdou Moctar. Mabastet. FIBEL. Rachel Chinouriri. Mereba. Mitraz. PLASUI PLASUI. Says'z. Tinariwen. Berhana. NATAB. IRBIS. Leto v Gorode. Jubantouja. Ayra Starr. Devon Gilfillian. Madihu. Karan Aujla. OBOY. Maher Cissoko. maye. Youka. LION BABE. AP Dhillon. Tay Iwar. Yalnayak. Oumou Sangarè. Kari Faux. Tati Falco. Taqbir. Soapkills. Ikky. Raury. Mon Rovîa. Svvell. Tanya Tagaq. Tunde Jegede. SARRB. Doechii. Rina Sawayama. Tiakola. Ronisia. Frenna. jev. H.E.R. Omar Apollo. Montell Fish. Lor. Pinkpantheress. The Fur. Sindrome. Odeal. Omah Lay. LAGOS. Jon Muq. DON WEST.

Soap: like Gaz, his taste is expands across genres but he's more of a Top 40 to Gaz's unending appetite. His choice mostly depends on his mood/the occasion. He has no shame when it comes to music, either. There's no "guilty pleasures" - just what he likes. Pop. Pop Rock. R&B. Soul. Indie. Folk. Rap. Hiphop. Rock. Metal. New Wave. Sea shanties. Traditional folk. If it sounds good to him, he'll listen. He also tends to adopt the music taste of whoever he's interested in - regardless of what genre it is. But he has a special kinda love for late 90s early 2000s R&B, and 80s synthpop/poprock, and a playlist for every occasion.

Ghost: I don't think his taste in music has changed at all since he was in his late teens, early 20s. Metal. Rock. Classic rock. Classical (Vivaldi. Bartók. Sibelius. Prokofiev. Shostakovich. Stravinsky. Verdi). It's not really because of any genre loyalty. I just think he adds those artists and songs under the umbrella of liked music because it's a habit, and something he used to do as a teen assembling mixtapes with Tommy. They probably hung out at local bars and listened to the underground music scene in Manchester.

Mainly because my biggest, unchanging headcanon for him is that he virtually stopped existing when he was 19-20 so everything has just been habitual. (Until he meets you or Soap teaches him the meaning of "we" and teamwork.)

[alacants]

i really love fics where there is clearly a fully-realized world underpinning the story but it isn't overexplained—the author relies on you to intuit the necessary background from the information presented in the foreground. i'm therefore about to overexplain the figure skating au to within an inch of its natural life. 

this is tagged role reversal and that was the basic premise—au where jannik is the one from a country with a recent record of success and carlos is from the middle of the fucking wilderness. tennistically skateistically speaking.

fs fans will know that the italian skating federation is right on the border of powerhouse status—it's not quiiiite big 3-4 (russia, canada, us, arguably japan/france) but it's real close. their greatest success hasn't necessarily been in the men's discipline but should a generational talent come along all the elements would be in place to immediately launch him into the stratosphere from the comfort of almost-home. jannik's nearly-lifelong training base—the icelab in bergamo— is only about 100 miles from sexten as the crow flies, just a bit farther than the distance between murcia and villena. the sacrifice is his mother driving him 3 hours there and back on saturdays, then later on boarding in bergamo during the week and going home on the weekends. a small metaphorical price to pay to train at an isu center of excellence from literal childhood.

(so why did it take jannik so long to break through? jump consistency—he lost his jumps after a massive growth spurt and, as the headcase references indicate, even after he got them back he stayed spooked for a long time. the real bergamo legacy is his pure and flawless skating skills, good enough that even the heavily foreshadowed simone-fixing-carlos montage won't be enough to catch up. and he'll still have those skills after his body can't hold up to the jumps any more, just as carlos will still have unmatched performance quality. in a way their late-career competitions are going to be much more interesting than their peak.)

meanwhile, spain. if you don't know much about figure skating i cannot emphasize the extent to which, on the figure skating map, spain is nothing and nowhere. …or was, until out of the blue they produced world champion and olympic bronze medalist javier fernandez. javi falls neatly in between the juanki and carlos generations, so i've split him in two and made juanki the freak pioneer, the one didn't quite beat the structural disadvantage, and carlos the freak protege, the one who will.

juanki… oh juanki. comment referring to him as the local narrative punching bag couldn't be more correct. imagine if irl juanki was exactly the same except born in a country where no one played tennis. this is what it's like to be figure skater juan carlos ferrero, a special talent in an esoteric sport with no resources whatsoever.

the only way juanki would have been able to achieve what he did in the late 90s/early 2000s is to have begun training abroad no later than his mid-teens. you can draw the obvious corollary wrt his family history. something he would have deeply conflicted feelings about, even today, manifesting in a total commitment to his life's mission: a real purpose-built training rink in his part of spain. a mission that is much, MUCH more quixotic than a tennis academy. the most he can dream of is to provide a good environment to learn the fundamentals, help young skaters start competing, bring in guest experts and host training camps and maybe, just maybe, someday, this will help a kid with promise make a real go of figure skating. and then he gets carlos.

right person, right place, right time. carlos is able to launch himself as a competitive junior skater while training in his home country, propelled by juanki's resistance to the idea that the only path to success must be for a child to leave their home and family + learned experience that it's possible to come from a humble skating background and still medal at the top. this is very good for carlos at first. this is less good for carlos later.

namely i think that when carlos first begins to advance there's an element of… idealism? pride? naivete? in how juanki understands his own career, that serves as a early blind spot. like, yes, world bronze, european champion… under the 6.0 system, courtesy of a certain amount of patronization. the judges are happy to reward this obvious talent who may not have the technical chops but has a real feel for the ice, a special quality to his performance… to a point. but that bronze was his ceiling. he was never going to be in the running for gold next. (which doesn't matter, since in 2004 he got the first of several injuries and by 2006 it was all over.) 

20 years later, this is not that different from the judging that lifted carlos to the euro gold. here is an obvious talent performing the skate of a lifetime and landing quads. when the faves flop—casper ruud that was your title for the taking!—you bet he's going to get rewarded. but you only get that shock and awe bump once. (also those quads were sooooo underrotated. his jump technique is Not Good.) afterwards, he's going to suffer from an expectation gap. seventh at the olympics is a much more realistic assessment of the tier he'll find himself in…. unless he makes a big change.

for non-fs fans… it's hard to explain all the factors that influence a supposedly objective score, but suffice to say there are many, many intangibles including but not limited to politicking and packaging. politicking = networking and advocacy on your behalf by your federation and/or coach. a federation like spain has zero power, so it would all come down to the coach. packaging = your combination of music/costume/choreo style, your image on the ice. does it look good and do you sell it well. a coach who hasn't been engaged at the elite senior level for 18 years is going to struggle because what worked in 2003 isn't necessarily going to work in 2022. and part of coaching is understanding what judges want and giving it to them. 

(you know juanki's still resisting the music-with-lyrics rule change so hard. he might understand it but he does NOT like it.)

juanki's a fast learner but he's all on his own out here—trying to coach carlos and teach regular lessons and keep the rink operational. he's doing everything he possibly can to revive all his old skating connections from 2003 and leverage them on carlos' behalf but that's only a drop in the bucket. he could drop all his other obligations and devote himself solely to leveling up as an elite senior coach for carlos, but it still might not be enough, fast enough. and it would kill the rink.

deep down he knows that he should have pushed carlos to make the switch immediately after that breakthrough season. he just resisted it for a long time. he doesn't want carlos to leave! he cares about him so much! how could he not, this magic gift from the fates, the consolation and the reward and the meaning to everything he's worked for over the last 17 years of his life! like. jesus. i am actually making myself feel bad thinking about this but it has to happen and juanki knows it has to happen. carlos fought him for MONTHS before accepting it, and it should go without saying that the major reason he did finally accept it was—in every sense of this word—the carrot. lmao.

(what finally pushed juanki over the line? well, it hurt to see carlos' scores that post-euro season, when he knew what they really could be. he loves carlos. he wants more than anything for carlos to be the skater he has the potential to be. and also oh idk maybe there's a new relationship in his life that's helping him face up to some of these emotional challenges. examines nails.)

juanki's still going to be listed as part of carlos' coaching team, carlos is still going to spend the off-season training in valencia, the odds are good that juanki's going to be the one putting the cry in kiss&cry when milan rolls around. i think the carlos experience does inspire him to commit to high-level coaching and he becomes a fantastic and highly-regarded junior coach, with young skaters from across europe choosing to train with him. the rink in valencia gets a major upgrade and it might not ever be an isu center of excellence but it's a beloved community institution and a source of local pride. HAPPY ENDING!!!!

…got sidetracked there. anyway, the point of this story is: what if jannik was the one who desperately wanted to connect with someone on his level, only he didn't know it. until it happened. 

[sisyphusunderthesun]

The funniest argument against Hankcon is when people say "Hank isn't gay". Well, unfortunately for such people, if Hank isn't gay (or at least bi, pan, demi), then no one in this fandom is.

But I have arguments based on which I believe Hank is kinda gay. So, the arguments:

1) A teen and young adult who was straight in the late 90s and early 2000s in America?? No, definitely not.

2) His shirts. Not heterosexual. No.

3) So, if he once fell for a man it doesn't make him gay? Doubtful. If a person has had a pleasant experience in consenting relationships, he is ALREADY bisexual, so the "he's not gay" thing doesn't stand up to criticism.

4) Internalized homophobia is the most boring trope for such a character like Hank (personal opinion, change my mind).

5) I’ve run out of arguments, so just...WELL he definitely has a bisexual vibe, just look at him!

But his shirts are the most obvious evidence.

[dylweedwastaken]

Just did some math regarding Rogues! The Podcast and the results were interesting.

Jon officially turned 44 in 2024, placing his birth year 1980. This is where things get weird.

What's weirder is that "S04E00 | The Files of Dr. Hugo Strange 0932 - Jonathan U. Crane" takes is recorded September 7th, 1995, meaning Jon is 15 in that recording?

Jon killed his dad on October 31st, 1990, meaning he was 10 years old. I was under the impression he was older, like in his late teens.

"Oh well, maybe the series just takes place in the 90s-early 2000s."

You fool.

Edward acknowledges the year multiple times in the series. The earliest in season 1 has him wishing everyone a happy 2013.

Did an independent writer who voices the majority of the characters in an extremely well-written series make a minor mistake?? Am I stupid??

Yeah probably

ABSOLUTELY NOT

[potato-plastic]

Part 2 of Dc no heros AU where the bats or wayne’s and co. run entertainment company in the late 90s early 2000s. Most hero’s are celebrities here or work at WE entertainment!

Next is Dick! Dick and Kori are the it couple in the universe they are in their mid 20s and in a reality tv show called ‘TITANS’ with the rest of the teen titans. I want their group be famous cus they are rich hot people. Think Paris Hilton. Some members are do have other jobs like modeling, acting, singing, etc. Like Dick is a nepo model, Kori is also a model. Dicks back story is the same as in the Og, he doesn't become a hero but at 16 he was arrested at a party and the poparazzi have been after him since. He wild out to piss off Bruce but now he's just famouser and likes hanging with his friend and gf. Kori started modeling in was a child and became really popular. Rachel(raven) introduced them at New York Fashion Week.

I will be drawing the other titans but I finished this first and loved how Kori looks.

[skierisa]

Ninjago 90 AU headcanons - part 1(?)

Yeah idk, just an important detail: this would be like the og series, but they're regular teens in the 90s. Dragons Rising would be around early to mid 2000s in this AU, so the ninja are teens

OC'S ARE INCLUDED! 100% IGNORABLE IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM

-------

Lloyd

- 2nd year of high school (to Americans it would be junior year, i guess)

- works part time in Doomsday Comix store

- plays electric guitar

- hides when seeing Harumi in public

- got arrested TWICE (first at 15, second time a few days before turning 16)

- the first time was because he stole something from Hot Topic, did community service and then was free. Never told anyone (besides Morro and of course his family) about the second time

- reads comics all the time while working

- favourite place to hang out is the skatepark, but also likes the arcade

- can skateboard, just doesn't do it as much anymore

- Starfarer collector

- spends too much money with this comics and the merch and the collector's stuff

- sometimes skip school with Jay and Kai just to play videogames

- has a crush on my OC, Valerie, but only knows her as "the girl from the music store on the other side of the road"

- randomly makes desserts at night

- is in the top 10 best students in school

Kai

- 3rd year of highschool (to Americans it would be senior year)

- tutor's kids after school, mostly history tutoring

- can not and refuses to use or learn how to use a computer

- likes Britney Spears, but hides it at all costs

- in a situationship with Skylor

- has a bunch of nirvana shirts

- knows Lloyd was arrested the first time because he was there too, but for drunk driving

- "party guy"

- drinks. a. lot.

- favourite food is Kahlua pig

- part of school's basketball team

- cuts his own hair (sometimes makes a bit extra cash by cutting his friends hair as well)

Nya

- 2nd year of highschool

- works as a lifeguard at a public pool

- robotics club member

- knows about Kai's love for Britney Spears, constantly blackmails him with it if he doesn't do what she wants

- favourite places to hang out are the skatepark and the theater

- favourite music genres are late 70s to late 80s pop and riot grrrl

- joan jett's biggest fan

- still prefers to listen to indie bands

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Kai told her

- of course she scolded him, like "i'm mad that you did this but im glad you're okay", like some sort of older sister

- LOVES bracelets, has both the beads bracelets and the slap bracelets

- has a yang necklace (to match Jay's yin necklace)

- has a bead bracelet done with all her friends' favourite colour (red for Kai, dark blue for Jay, navy blue with glitter for Valerie (OC), pink for Vanessa (OC), purple for Pixal, orange for Skylor, black for Cole, green for Lloyd, white for Zane and light blue for her)

- regrets her bob-cut phase, but wants to cut it short again

Jay

- 2nd year of highschool

- the unemployed friend that seems to be unable to find work (because no one hires him)

- at least once a day complains about not having a job, and knows he'd definitely still complain if he had one

- robotics club member

- listens Spice Girls, and is no longer afraid of demonstrating his love for the group once everyone made fun of him for liking it for two weeks straight

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Nya told him

- "how was it like?" first question he asked right after discovering it because he just doesn't know what to say

- spends too much of his free time in the arcades and sometimes brings Lloyd and Kai with him

- has dates at home with Nya, where they usually watch trashy horror movies and old dramas (sometimes anime)

- also collects Starfare merch and comics

- constantly visits Lloyd at his job just so he can read comic's while he works and for free

- has a yin necklace (to match Nya's yang necklace)

- wants to pierce his ear, but it's too afraid to do so

- his knees are always scratched due to skating, so he does have a few scars because of this

Cole

- 3rd year of highschool

- works at a vynil store

- when they can't go to watch movies at Lloyd's house, Cole's house is the second best place for their Friday movie nights that turn into sleepovers

- is dating Geo, but doesn't tell his name to his friends just to mess with them, so they're always trying to guess "who the hell" he's dating

- openly bisexual (preference for guys)

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Jay told him

- also scolded him, being mostly glad Lloyd was okay

- has been playing the drums since he was a kid, because his dad wanted him to play the piano and drums aren't piano

- his favourite music genre, surprisingly, is bossa nova (followed by metal and punk)

- he's a painter and participates in art competitions, meeting my OC, Vanessa, in one of those. They are friends with a healthy and friendly artistic rivalry, encouraging each other to try new things with their art

- smokes pot (mostly at parties and also with Kai and Lloyd)

- trying to get into art school after high school

Zane

- 3rd year of highschool

- volunteers in a animal rescue center

- into a one year relationship with Pixal

- knows Lloyd was arrested because Lloyd told him

- his pet falcon is a rescue, since it damaged it's wing so hard that it barely functions well, making it impossible for it to survive in nature again. Zane then took it with him after his shift;

- he really just calls it Falcon, like Marie Antoinette naming her pug Pug

- since Pixal is some sort of "celebrity" she was his celebrity crush

- 15 year old Zane: "so... we're dating her?"

18 year old Zane: "yes, she fell in love with you at first sight!"

15 year old Zane: *Zane.exe has stopped working, please, restart*

- quite too much of a fan of noir movies and noir books

- (once on college in the 2000s he'd 100% collect the Blacksad comics, I mean, it's his two favourite things together, animals and noir!)

- likes to wear a slightly more vintage style, but at school wears regular clothing as he recognizes that vintage clothing is somewhat more fragile and needs to be taken care of, and school isn't the best place to wear those

- was in the robotics club in middle school and changed to computer science club in highschool

- wants to be a veterinarian

Morro

- second year of college

- nobody knows his major and gets comically interrupted every time he tries telling someone what he does

- got fired from his previous work as a bartender

- now works with Wu in his tea shop

- adopted by Wu, btw

- taught Lloyd how to play guitar (he can play bass and mostly plays it, but borrowed a guitar from a friend as a teen)

- knows about Lloyd's second time in jail and helps him to hide it from everyone else

- constantly exchanging insults with Lloyd, but in a rather playful way

- alcoholic, but trying to quit

- best student in his class, surprisingly

- likes pachinko games and other gambling games, but not addicted to it. Sometimes brings Lloyd with him to play a bit, and sometimes Lloyd brings his friends, making Morro look like a babysitter sometimes

- likes hanging out with Lloyd, but usually they hang out in the middle of the night

Harumi

- second year of highschool

- part time Hot Topic cashier

- 100% stole a bracelet or two WHILE WORKING THERE

- knows Lloyd hides from her in public

- hangs out with the other girls just fine, but constantly complains about whatever they're doing (secretly loves to be with them and refuses to admit it out loud)

- she has a bunch of journals under her bed and they all read very entertaining reads

- the reason why Lloyd was arrested the first time (was stealing from hot topic, asked him to help her, but unlike him, she managed to escape from security)

- had a super crush on Morro when she was 15

- actually likes Friends TV show

- thinks Chandler is a mood, but her favorite character would be Phoebe in the later seasons

- goth clubs are her second home

- can't stand cigarette's smell

Skylor

- third year of highschool

- works as a part time waitress at Chen's Noodle House

- constantly gives her friends discounts

- lab partners with Kai

- almost exploded the lab with him once

- they still laugh about it

- knows about Kai's love for Brittney Spears, but pretends she doesn't

- loves karaoke hangouts

- still has an anacondrai tattoo (slightly angsty fact)

- heiress to Chen's mafia

- considers Nya a little sister, so they're basically BFF's and hang out together the most among the girls

- likes thrifting, usually looks for anything 70s related

- usually goes to roller discos to skate or goes to the skatepark with headphones

- sometimes meets there with Nya so they can chat while skating

- that's also where she likes to celebrate her birthdays

- knows about Lloyd being arrested because Kai told her

- treats Lloyd like some sort of little brother so actually got worried when she heard about him getting arrested

- "if you ever need it, i know a lawyer who helps my dad's gang member to get out of jail" Skylor to Lloyd once she meets him after hearing about his arrest

- only invites Harumi to the girls hangouts because she knows she will be upset if she's not at least invited

Pixal

- second year of high school

- part time job as her father's (aka Cyrus Borg) assistant

- goes to the same school as my OC's (see below) so she wears a school uniform

- Skylor's childhood friend, since they went to the same elementary school

- there's a conspiracy theory going around that Pixal is actually a robot and she knows very well about these rumors

- likes to scare people making a very impressive impersonation of a robot just for the funsies

- was in love with Zane at first sight (they met at Skylor's birthday party)

- her idea of a "perfect date" with him is both watching noir movies and studying together

- once threw a noir themed Halloween (or day of the departed?) party because of him

- loves to go thrifting with Skylor, and knows where to find the best pieces

- robotics club leader

OCs!

Valerie

- works at a CD and music store

- second year of highschool

- attends a different school than the main cast

- never wears school uniforms appropriately (always customizes it)

- constantly in the principal's office for arguing with teachers

- was part of school choral until highschool where she just didn't want to do it anymore

- wants to become a music teacher

- has a band named The Pin-Punks and does concerts in a music venue called Supernova Apex every weekend

-Valerie cut bangs after Vanessa was accidentally sent to detention in her place

- Kai and Nya's childhood friend and neighbor

- eventually would meet Lloyd when buying a comic

- doesn't dislike him, but thinks he's a dork

Vanessa

- second year of highschool

- also customizes her uniform, adding lots of chains to it

- trying to become a model

- has a massive crush on Harumi

- not only is a goth, but has a thing for goth girls

- art club member

- goes to Hot Topic quite often just to chat with Harumi

- won a few art competitions she was in

- knows Cole from a few of those competitions and is actually friends with him

- always goes to goth clubs on the weekend

-also always yelling at the DJ asking "what band is this?"

- once was sent to detention in Valerie's place because they were wearing the same hairstyle

- works as a nanny

- was the "responsible" kid in her childhood friend group (Kai, her, Valerie and Nya)

- not exactly openly lesbian, but doesn't exactly hide it

[wanderingmind867]

An idea I've had stuck in my brain for a while: a Justice League version of Infinity Inc. Perhaps rolling off of my idea of the post-crisis DC universe being a different universe from the Earth-One of the Silver and Bronze Ages, and the Earth-Two of the Golden Age, I'd want to see a team of legacy heroes for the 60s/70s Justice League. But while Infinity Inc was created and thus set in the 80s, I'd want this team to be set in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Some members of a legacy team I've thought of: The Pre-Crisis Jason Todd. He never died on Earth-One, so he's in his mid-20s and serving as a member of the Infinity Inc equivalent. I also want to see characters like Jon Kent and Damian Wayne (although aged around 15-16 instead of 10, as they are on the post-crisis earth). And I want an old Snapper Carr serving as the young heroes mentor (alongside Red Tornado), and I want Snapper still using his 60s teen slang. Give me a 55 year old man saying things like "dullsville".

Since Pre-Crisis J'onn J'onzz was just the leader of New Mars by the 70s, perhaps a child of his could come to earth to build up relations between the two planets. Barry Allen would be off in the 30th century with Iris, so I don't know if we'll ever see him. But i think we could have a child of Wonder Woman. Maybe one who was secretly born back when she was powerless and going by Diana Prince? We could maybe also have a child of Katar and Shayera, or even potentially of Zatanna. There's possibilities, but i'm struggling with fleshing anything out beyond guesswork.

But I think I need help thinking of more for this concept. My ideas have stagnated with everything beyond the initial concept (and beyond me messing with my calculator app to try and figure out character ages). Even if it goes nowhere, it's been stuck in my brain (not really going anywhere) for so long that i needed to share it.

[contemplatingoutlander]

Young Americans are more pro-Palestinian than their elders. Why?

Originally posted 12/23/23; updated 12/24/23

This is a thought provoking article about how different U.S. generations perceive the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. To encourage people to read the entire article, this is a gift 🎁link so that anyone can read the article, even if they do not subscribe to The Washington Post.

Although I am from an older U.S. generation, I condemn the Netanyahu administration's decision to pursue Hamas at the unconscionable expense of tens of thousands Palestinian civilians, including many children.

However, reading this article helped me to also understand why, being born in the decade after the Holocaust, I don't absolve Hamas of their terrifying behavior on Oct. 7th--unlike many younger people seem to have done. Although I strongly oppose the apartheid Israel has imposed on the Palestinians (and I do believe that Palestine should have been a free separate state long ago), I still don't think there is any justification for such a terrorist act against Israeli civilians.

I encourage you to read the entire article, but here are a few excerpts:

Across more than two months of war between Israel and Hamas, public opinion on the conflict has continuously shifted. But there has been a constant: a divide between the views of older and younger Americans that has shown up both during the war and in the years leading up to it. [...] Each age group has a different “generational memory” of Israel, Dov Waxman,director of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, said. Beliefs about the world tend to form in our late teens and early 20s and often don’t change, he said. Older generations, with a more visceral sense of the Holocaust, tend to see Israel as a vital refuge for the Jews, he said, and see its story as one of a people returning to safety in their homeland after living for 2,000 years as a scattered diaspora facing persistent persecution. In the decades after its founding, Israel was a relatively lower-income and vulnerable country. [...] But by the time millennials began forming their understanding of global events, the violence of the second Intifada had concluded in the mid-2000s with enhanced walls and barriers constructed between Israel and the West Bank, and then Gaza. This generation formed its idea of Israel from reports of Palestinians denied access to water, freedom of movement and fair trials, under the military control of what was by then a relatively rich, nuclear-armed power. “When I was in college it was the Oslo peace process, and I still remember that Israel — pursuing peace with the Palestinians and the hopes that came along with that,” Waxman said, of the ’90s. “Younger Americans have no memory of that.”

[See more excerpts from the article under the cut. Those excerpts are worth reading because they are quite thought provoking.]

A racial justice lens Joey Ayoub, a Palestinian-Lebanese writer, podcaster and academic, says young Americans are more likely to conceptualize the Palestinian cause as a sister issue to U.S. efforts for racial justice. There is a “visual parallel,” he said: of an armed soldier or police officer dominating a space inhabited by a populace with limited power, whether in a town in the occupied West Bank or a majority-Black neighborhood in the United States. [...] Eitan Hersh, a political science professor at Tufts University, said conflict between Israel and Palestinians seems to be seen by the young left, especially on college campuses, as “a people of color — that is, the Palestinians — rising up against a white oppressor,” though a significant portion of Israel’s Jewish population is of a non-European background. (Some are the descendants of about 850,000 Jews who were expelled from Arab countries and Iran after Israel was founded.) “It’s a bit of a curiosity,” he said. “One could tell an oppressor-oppressed story where the Jews, and Israel, is a story of the oppressed: kicked out of all these countries, going back to their homeland, surrounded by a broad set of dominant countries in the region that wants to destroy it.” Shifting demographics One explanation for the generational divide, experts said, was that fewer Gen Zers and millennials identify as conservative or Christian — demographics more likely to sympathize with Israel — than older groups. [...] Another “major factor” in older generations’ feelings toward Israel is their greater religiosity, according to Waxman. More than three-quarters of Americans 60-64 are Christian — with increasingly higher numbers for older brackets — compared with about half of adults under 30. “It’s, I think, for many religious Christians, somehow a kind of atonement in supporting Israel and Zionism,” Waxman added. “Genuinely, a feeling of Israel as a consequence of this long history of Jewish persecution” by Christians. Some Christians, particularly among evangelicals who are especially likely to sympathize with Israel, believe that Israel was promised to the Jews by God, and that the return of the Jews to Israel fulfills a biblical prophecy of the events that will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ. But even outside of this belief, the idea of Israel as a sacred land for Judeo-Christians has an emotional resonance that is simply not present for the increasing number of secular young Americans. [...] Social vs traditional media Dana El Kurd, a nonresident fellow at the Middle East Institute, said different types of media consumption have probably played a role in how people have formed their views on the Middle East. Americans 45 and older are most likely to get their news from TV networks and their websites, and Americans younger than 45 are most likely to get their news through social media, according to 2022 YouGov polling. The regular use of TikTok in particular is correlated with criticism of Israel, a New York Times/Siena poll found this week. Ayoub, whose interview podcast “The Fire These Times” with Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Jewish, and Armenian perspectives has mostly Gen Z and millennial listeners, said that new forms of media facilitated access between content creators and consumers without “having a gatekeeper.” This has downsides, including “a huge uptick in misinformation” online, he said, but also positives, including allowing traditionally underrepresented groups to reach an audience. [...] “I’ll give an anecdote,” El Kurd said. “My students, when the war broke out, said that they had gone onto TikTok and toggled between the different locations,” to see what kind of videos were popular in Israel compared with Gaza, the West Bank and other places. “It had never occurred to me before to do that.”

I encourage people to read the entire article.

I am strongly opposed to the apartheid that Israel imposed on the Palestinian population. But being from an older generation, I am also less likely to wholly embrace some of the (in my opinion) more simplistic generalizations that younger generations claim regarding Israel.

For instance, many younger people assume most Israelis are predominantly of white European ancestry, but there is evidence that about half the Israeli population is not of white European descent, including those who always lived in the region, those from Ethiopia and Northern Africa, and the descendants of the 20th century expulsion of 850,000 Jews from other nations in the Middle East.

There are also some estimates that only 20% of the general gene pool in Israel is white European. This in turn leads to questions about the assumption of many younger people that white European Jews engaged in a "settler colonialism" of Israel. Still, some form of colonization DID happen, even if it might not fit a strict definition of "settler colonialism."

But it is important to remember that most of the Jewish colonizers around the time of Israel's founding were refugees who had survived the Holocaust, or were running from Eastern European pogroms/oppression, or who were expelled from Iran and Arab nations. What is tragic is that many of these Jewish victims of persecution and oppression and/or their descendants ended up implementing or supporting oppressive practices towards the Palestinians in their attempts to create a Jewish state where they could finally feel safe.

In many ways, all the nations of the world who oppressed and persecuted Jews for centuries have some responsibility for this mess. But that does not absolve the Israeli leaders from their oppressive choices towards Palestinians (especially their current choices that have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians)--just as Israeli oppressive behavior does not absolve Hamas leaders for their decisions to employ terrorist tactics against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7th.

Although I still support a two-state solution, I believe there are no easy fixes to this situation. The conflict, for both Israelis and Palestinians is an emotional powder keg fueled by thousands of years of transgenerational trauma (both within the region, and outside it in the case of the Jewish diaspora). This in turn affects the perceptions and responses of both Israelis and Palestinians. Sadly the current conflict has only added a new layer to the transgenerational trauma of both groups.

Anyway, after reading the above article, I realize that coming from an older generation, my perspective on the Israeli-Hamas conflict is different than the perspectives of some younger people. However, I still think there should be an immediate cease fire, and that the Biden administration should STOP supporting Israel, unless Israelis agree to end the fighting, fully support a rapid international humanitarian aid effort for the Palestinians in Gaza, come to the table to negotiate peace, and finally allow the creation of a free Palestinian state.

Originally posted 12/23/23; updated 12/24/23

[v4porwaveee]

I forgot to post that I drew Needles! You can't tell, I haven't made the HC doodles comprehensive yet, but hisbneedles hide under his skin and eject when needed, like those spike traps but millions of needles!

I'm gonna put all my HCs below the cut just to spare yall

He's def a natural redhead to me, but bleached it a lot before becoming an avatar

Technically, this would only be his human disguise thing. Full eldritch is reserved for attacking ppl and defense, which is rarer than attacking people, and in that form he's all lanky with all his needles out all the time like a fucked up longhorse and pincushion had a baby and it got possessed

He just has no sense of pain most of the time, at least related to intrinsic issues. Getting stabbed or shot hurts, but when his bones constantly break as Eldritch Needles or when his limbs fall off (like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas) he doesn't feel all the pain, just a tinge or a pinch

Can remove his needles from his skin, but their 'slot' stays open until he puts them back or replaces them (like shark teeth, he grows them but can also swap them out for found ones) and he uses that to sew himself back together as needed

Lots of piercings, most home-done. Really only his lobe and one of three cartilage rings is professional, he did the rest as an angsty teen for fun

Was turned as a late teen/in his early twenties, and therefore his disguise stays looking that age because that's the only way he really remembers who he is and what he looked like. Eldritch Needles is just a fucked up skinsuit really, a puppet for what he needs to do, and Needles himself can't remember or guess what he would look like by now (bones, probably, with his luck, but he was taken as an avatar/eldritch in the 90s/early 2000s so realistically only around 40-50 or so)

Got in a ton of accidents as a kid, always was and always is banged up somehow

Flashes his needles and puffs up on instinct when things piss him off, has to stop himself from doing it around people

A gifted kid for the institute who ended up being neglected outside of schoolwork and what he could do (projection?)

Glitters in the sunlight even with the needles put away. Its just bcs he's got so much metal in him and the sunlight catches the slots weird enough to glint briefly

The jacket reacts the same way his hair and needles do, like an external organ, but it's only due to it being part of his avatar influence shit and its not actually a part of him. It goes dormant when removed or unwanted

Like a hedgehog hair-wise, it's harmless and like regular hair until it's Needle Time (TM)

Easily offended/angered, as seen in the 911 call, and likes to fuck with people. I'd guess older sibling if he had any, but the kind where you matured too fast and then slowed your roll so late you were the immature one (projecting)

Likes to be colorful but in a dull way. Washed out colors just suit him better in his opinion and let him express himself without drawing attention to himself and the fact he's not quite human anymore

Gap teeth <3 Wanted to get braces as a teen but didn't, still pissed about it because now he can't and it doesn't matter since hes not human anymore anyways. slowly learning to like the gap when his angel fangs don't get stuck in em

Didn't draw it but he has snake bites too, just rarely wears them. It's either angel fangs or snake bites but never both because they tend to snag for him

A parallel of both Nikola and Michael, kind of. He's got little bits that Norris, Chester and Augustus would recognize if they ever met him, like his speech pattern and penchant for never giving straight answers, but he's got his own thing going on more than the parallels ever could be.

Rip off Cheshire Cat. Alice in Wonderland, the animated one, was his favorite movie growing up for the colors, and when he got older for the story

[glassbead-xx]

I want to start a new series called Random Thoughts from a Sleep Deprived Fangirl

This edition: Undead Unluck

Note: this is not a theory, this is actually something very stupid

So I was on the internet, as you do, and I came across this page from the Chikara recruitment arc

And as I was laughing at Nico I saw baby Haruka in the back

Haruka is a baby here, but by the time Fuuko tells her to go to Brazil she’s already a teen, by the time Fuuko goes for her and Top Haruka is already like 17 (ish?)

Fuuko went to Brazil to retrieve Top and Haruka on October 2018

So unless I’m wrong, Chikara went to high school in the late 90s / early 2000s

(Think of all the classic songs Sean and Gina definitely sang at karaoke)

In the last loop Chikara was in his last year of high school in 2020, so he was born in 2002, he was 17 when recruited and if I’m not mistaken he’s 18 by Ragnarok

Chikara went from being Gen Z to being a millennial, and Haruka went from being on the line between millennial and Gen Z to full blown Gen Z

Why is this important, I don’t know I just wanted to share this information 🙃

[hypocriticaltypwriter]

On the topic of your Lost Girls Au through further investigation I do believe I have a good idea of the subject and have a few questions!

Firstly, as the Lost Boys was set within the 80’s is there a specific time set for the Lost Girls? Using basic math and the idea that they at least in their late teens I would guess that it is set in the early 2000-2010’s? Though it is up to you! I was just curious.

secondly, is there specific ages for the kids set out? Or do they just range from late teen to young adult? Ex: 17-20. I did see on the refs that Anastasia is the oldest and Chris is the youngest so I was wondering if they had specific ages or if it was up for interpretation of character, also I have to say Anastasia is a lovely name and really fits her character! All their names match very well.

Lastly, this isn’t a question but an app recommendation, I took a look at your pinned post and saw you had a passion project in the work and would love to recommend the app “Fortelling” if you’ve never heard of it, I personally use it and recommend it to all my friends/mutuals who are writers/artist with projects. It’s a story building app and comes with chapters, world building which includes places, species, items, and languages and character building, a large range of of questions to really develop your characters in a idealistic and realistic way. It’s a really cool app with lots of fun features to make story building so much easier and fun in my opinion. So check it out if you’re interested!

Oooo I've never heard of the app I might have to check it out! I've been meaning to find something I can use to help worldbuild and keep notes, thanks for the recommendation!

And thank you for the Lost girl asks! I'm happy to answer em for ya!

-The lost girls does in fact take place in late 90s early 2000s. I tried to take inspiration and influence of Y2K fashion, while also giving off an 80s/90s punk-dad hand-me-downs to the Baby Bats and there fashion choices.

-The Baby Bats don't have any specific age [yet!!] Besides Chris I believe, and he's 17-18/also the baby, so it's safe to assume the girls are around 19/20, and early twenties.

Also side note! The Boys and Chrysta at this point would be around pund 40s-50s, but they look pretty good for there age... [Iykyk👀]

-Funny enough Anastasias name is the only name with a story behind it [besides Christopher who is slightly named after his mother Chrysta] She's named after David's first lover, the Princess Anastasia! [from the prequel TLB script] All the other girls are just names from a 90s baby name Google search LMAO

[ready2blw]

𖤐 luka/misery 𖤐 20s 𖤐 all pronouns (preference in order: they/she/it/he) 𖤐 agender 𖤐 mentally stuck in 2003 𖤐

> my interests include but arent limited to:

music (especially metal and industrial), alternative fashion (l’m goth and my style would be better described as mallgoth, industrial goth or rivethead. i occasionally dress cybergoth), vampires, horror movies, pretty much anything related to the late 90s/early 2000s era

> some of my fav bands/artists include:

static-x (and wayne static), nine inch nails, fear factory, dope, cold, genitorturers, KMFDM, orgy, combichrist, ministry, my ruin, lords of acid, murderdolls, she wants revenge and others

> some of my favorite movies/series include:

the nightmare before christmas, perfect blue, girl interrupted, heathers (1988), black christmas (1974), the saw franchise, natural born killers, the teen apocalypse trilogy by gregg araki, ginger snaps, the crow, midnight mass, arcane, mr. robot and others

> some other miscellaneous stuff:

english is not my first language, i already apologize for any mistakes.

sometimes i vent on here, but i always put a warning beforehand.

i am taken, so don’t (actually) flirt with me or i’ll block you immadiately. go follow my bf guys him his user is @primalsldge :3

i dont have a DNI. just dont be a bigot and a horrible person or an asshole and i’ll pretty much interact with ALMOST everyone

last warning, sometimes this blog might contain “gore”, blood and some suggestive content

🧛🏻‍♀️ spotify letterboxd pinterest 🧛🏻‍♀️

[buffyfan145]

I just got done watching "The Archies" on Netflix and loved it!!! 😀 They did a great job portraying the characters closer to the comics while also having it set in 1963/64 India and including Bollywood/musical numbers. All of them were just like how they were in the comics and even the 60s cartoon series than "Riverdale" ever had them. I did like "Riverdale" in the beginning till about season 3, but this movie is so much more how I wanted that show to be as it felt more like a teen movie/show from when I was a teen back in the late 90s/early 2000s (which is when my favorite version of their spinoffs "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" show/TV movie and the "Josie and the Pussycats" movie came out). Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie, Ethel, Dilton/Kevin (as he was a mashup of the two), Moose, Midge, Cheryl, Pop Tate, Hotdog, and all the parents were there. It was a cute movie and they did leave it open to do more. Very happy with how this turned out.

ETA: Also I loved this versions takes on Betty (as I always related to comic Betty), Jughead, and Reggie and reminded me how I originally thought as a kid reading the comics that Betty should be with one of them instead of Archie and this movie stuck with that. LOL