#in fact it is all the time that doesn't mean its actually consensual

[endlessburningdarkness]

what did i just read? "Bingqiu is consensual. SQQ would rather not have the terrible sex but does it to make Binghe happy."

So you agree? SQQ doesn't want to have sex, he endures it for other reasons. And what do you call it when someone doesn't want to have sex but it happens anyway? Ah yes, sexual assault.

Like it can't simultaneously be something that he doesn't want, and something that he wants. He either wants it, and only pretends to dislike it. Or he doesn't want it and only endures it, which is a form of coercive assault. It's not consensual sex, because he doesn't fucking want the sex. If you don't want the sex, it's not genuinely consensual, because duh, you don't actually want it.

Why can't people just admit this instead of twisting themselves into pretzels trying to make it wholesome and consensual? I thought we were all adults okay with dark stuff? I thought this fandom loved dark stuff, and yet the obviously dark, toxic, coercive relationship gets sanded down into wholesomeness.

At least the clown behaviour makes me laugh.

[emotionalmessss]

Hiii! Can I request yandere Chrollo when reader tries to escape? Hc? Fic? If you want 🥰

A/N: I feel like I haven't written anything in so long (school is going to be the death of me I swear). I'm trying to be more active with my writing now that I've officially graduated, I'm sorry for ghosting! Anyways, enjoy Yan!Chrollo :)

Warnings: yandere themes, unhealthy/forced relationship, implied kidnapping, slight mention of violence and non-consensual touching, and psychological abuse. Chrollo is basically a warning himself lol.

Chrollo is always one step ahead. After all, he is the head of the Spider, so if you think you can escape from him--good fucking luck. He is cunning, meticulous, and devoted to having you back where you belong--in his arms. But that doesn't stop you from trying, does it?

Congratulations for managing to slip through his fingers, but it won't stay that way for long. There is nowhere in the world for you to hide from Chrollo, he will hunt you down using whatever means that will ensure his success. So, enjoy the freedom while it lasts, because it won't last very long.

Sure, Chrollo might be slightly ruffled at the fact that you actually managed to escape. But will he let that affect his calm composure? No, definitely not. Chrollo plays the long game, and he does it best. And who's to say that he didn't intentionally let you escape? To give you that brief, sweet taste of freedom, only to rip it away at the last second?

Chrollo’s expression remains impassive as he lounges on the plush couch in the middle of his expansive living room. Reclining comfortably into the cushions, he folds one leg over the other while using one hand to flip through the book in his lap. He is perfectly aware of your absence from the apartment--how could he not notice when the air lacks the usual animosity that only you can bring? 

Despite the apartment lacking its usual vibrancy, Chrollo remains calm and composed, a trait that has always irked you. His composure never slips, even now. He finds it pitifully endearing that you thought you could outsmart him--have you learned nothing? Chrollo doesn’t know if he wants to praise you for your bravery or laugh at your naivety. 

Sighing, he stretches his legs out across the coffee table, idly smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles on his dress shirt. You thought escape was an option? How quaint. His lips curl into a faint, knowing smirk; his predictions had been correct--like always. While Chrollo can’t deny that he finds your actions mildly irritating, they are more entertaining than anything else--not that he’d ever show it.

“It’s intriguing, really, how you thought you could just slip away from me,” Chrollo mutters to himself, his voice measured and almost serene. His big, gray eyes finally look up from the antique book in his lap, drifting towards the large window that offers a view of Yorknew City’s skyline. Somewhere out there, you’re hiding, and he can clearly picture the mixture of relief, fear, and paranoia etched on your pretty face. 

He taps his fingers on the armrest of the couch--the only sign that his mind is working in overdrive. Clicking his tongue thoughtfully, Chrollo tilts his head back down to the book resting on his thighs. Running a hand through his raven locks, he lets out a hollow chuckle, quickly followed by a deep sigh. For now, he’d let you play your little game, but in the end, you would not win.

Just like everything else, Chrollo's response will be chilling and methodical. As the head of the Spider, he'll use all the resources he has to get his love back. But for the time being, he will let you enjoy your little game. He's more than confident you'll be back where you belong. Make sure to keep looking over your shoulder every so often, he won't be far behind.

Chrollo will have you back in his grasp, no matter how much you kick, cry, and scream. He will remain unflinchingly composed, acting as though you were merely a small animal that needed to be handled with gentle care. The entire time, he'll have that small, almost invisible smile tugging at his lips--that smile that you've come to hate and suggests bad things for you.

Once he finds you--if he hasn't already been watching you the entire time--he'll strike when the time is right, and when the circumstances align in his favour. He won't be openly aggressive, definitely not towards you. Chrollo will take a different route, one that involves planning, scheming, and manipulation.

Consequences? Oh, there has to be some consequences for your disobedience. But, Chrollo would never lay a violent hand on you. No, that's not his style. He could never physically hurt his love. He can hurt you in other ways, though. Friends and family? That's a whole other story. Chrollo being Chrollo, will do whatever it takes to ensure you comply. Only if he's pushed to that point.

In Chrollo's twisted mind, he is protecting you from the dangers of the world--like a good lover should. He firmly believes that the only place for you to be happy and safe is by his side. He'll manipulate you into believing that you need him, and that even the thought of escaping is utterly impossible.

You’ve been sprinting through the empty streets of Yorknew City for hours, and no matter how far you run, you can’t seem to shake the terror that threatens to swallow you whole. At this point, your feet sting, your lungs burn, and your mind is a jumbled fucking mess--is this what insanity feels like or has Chrollo corrupted you so much? Neither of those reasonings are favourable, but you’d probably choose insanity over Chrollo. 

Frantically, you examine your surroundings as you come to a stop, panting and keeling over. You sluggishly move towards the corner of a large building, slumping back against the bricks and wipe the glistening sweat from your forehead. This is Hell, isn’t it? Clutching your chest, your mind races with a slew of possibilities; different escape routes, places to hide, and potential consequences should you get caught. 

What would the reincarnation of the Devil himself do to you if he were to catch you? Would he hurt you? The odds of Chrollo physically hurting you are slim, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t harm you in other ways. Despite spending an unwilling amount of time with him, you could never fully understand the bastard. You weren’t entirely sure if that was a blessing or a curse. 

“Get it together, fuck.” Your voice comes out strained and raspy as you forcefully compose yourself, shoving off from the wall to round the corner of the building. Every detail about that man pisses you off--his calculated mannerisms, his unflinching composure, his studying eyes that make you feel like he’s staring into your soul, and that god-awful smile that never looked genuine. 

Just when you soothe your chaotic mind and turn the corner of the building, he appears before you. Your heart plummets, and your feet drag across the pavement as you abruptly halt, completely paralyzed under his scrutinizing gaze. You watch him like a cornered animal, prepared to flee at the slightest sign of malice. But, of course, there is none--perfectly expected from a man like Chrollo. 

“My dear,” Chrollo begins, using the endearing nickname you’ve come to loathe. His voice completely devoid of aggression, showing no hint of the manipulative thoughts that are definitely running through his mind. “Wandering the streets alone at this hour isn’t wise,” he chides gently, his tone tinged with condescension. “Come now, let’s get you back home.” His hand extends towards you, as if he’s giving you a choice. 

You muster up a sliver of self-control, refraining from cussing him out. Instead, you take a cautious step backwards--away from the beast. Noticing this, Chrollo’s lips pull into a slight smile, and his hand returns to his side. He doesn’t move an inch, letting out a resigned sigh that suggests he had anticipated this outcome. His gray eyes never leave yours as the sound of approaching footsteps begins fill the silent street. 

“Please, let’s not make this more difficult than it needs to be,” Chrollo continues, his attention focused on you, purposely feigning ignorance of his loyal Spiders who are slowly encircling both of you. He remains the epitome of calm, acting as if your escape attempt was just a minor inconvenience. You stand still, and the Spiders close in, strategically blocking off all paths except for the one leading to Chrollo. 

[weebsinstash]

I keep thinking of some darker yandere Vox ideas themed around hacking and his hypnosis abilities just because, idk, his obsession developing into the desire to control or pry into your most intimate of parts has been hitting different lately

-I mean, just. Right off the bat could you even imagine dating Vox for a while but being too shy to sleep with him yet and one day he decides he's "helping you" by completely overriding your free will and you're trapped in your own head watching and feeling as you lie on your back as he does whatever he wants. He treats it all intimate and special and it makes you wanna throw up meanwhile he's talking about, how like, 'oh, he was just helping you because you're so anxious, you two shared an intimate moment, he's never been so close to anyone before--'

- sorry, I've just been on soulmate shit so hard lately, so: soulmate Vox with a computer/smartphone/tech Reader and he's just incredibly um "emboldened" by the fact that "you guys match", and the whole, "belonging together" thing. You're his soulmate, and you guys should be sharing everything, right? :) what's your social media? Let him see your friends lists. You don't mind if the hacking stuff also extends to technology stuff outside of your control like peeping at your private DMs right? Oh, do you have the ability to connect your phone with yourself, or other devices with yourself? Better be careful leaving your wifi signal open; he just might jump into it

-Vox installing a virus inside you that tracks your location and things like your heartbeat, oxygen levels, and the current overall state of your body and all its parts. He's basically constantly looking at your... your fucking Sims stats. Are you hungry, tired, horny?

-I mean. When you really consider the possibility of "Reader/Vox are tech and certain human attributes can now be physically altered or modified", that can be both cool and horrifying in of itself. It could really be taken to extremes. Vox doing something to upset you and forcing you to forget about it by hacking into and deleting your actual fucking memories. Deletes memories of friends he doesn't want you hanging out with. Deletes memories of anyone he doesn't like you liking or admiring. Vox trying to forcibly install programs inside of you that can control or influence your personality

-been thinking about how Vox is from the 50s and has electrical powers and how he could in theory personally give you electro shock therapy or could be in favor of having it done to you professionally. If you're a robot like him, he could basically, EMP you and knock you out if he thinks you're "getting hysterical". I just often have ideas about how him and Alastor are from time periods where they threw people into hospitals or medicated people to control them to some real extreme degrees and methods and how this environment might manifest in their behaviors, actions, and opinions

-like me the idea of, you're already in a consensual relationship with him but you're still a little shy but, like, you're happy with him, but, he's so, You Know, that he decides that he just HAS to know more about you and hacks into you or does horrible shit anyways. Plugs into you while you're sleeping to look at your memories or even thoughts if he's worried you're hiding something from him, or even kind of worse, he just. Wants to know everything about you and what's inside your head, including all sorts of menial questions and wanting to know any sorts of habits or preferences or favorite things you have. He's juat utmost violating your body in genuinely the worst possible way by getting inside your actual mind and looking at whatever he wants and it's ranging from, he wants to see why you've seemed kind of anxious lately, to, he wants to know the best way to propose to you, to, he wants to make sure you're not cheating on him (without even the slightest clue to hint you are, he's just genuinely possessive and paranoid), to... wanting to know your favorite foods, colors, what shows do you watch clothes you like: it either becomes a slippery slope of him escalating how invasive he is Or he's just immediately feeling entitled to know everything from the get go

-so I personally don't have any experience in this sort of thing but apparently it can be a pretty big thing between couples that some people REALLY Do Not Like their partners watching porn and I can't help but think of, Reader who is either a new consensual partner/soulmate of Vox or a reluctant one and he's, insulted to find out you've been jacking it to like other people rather than sleeping with him. I'm talking "he's going through your search history" levels of creeping on you about this. He won't stop until he knows Every Single Fetish You Have and he'll use that knowledge against you, either to seduce you or just kind of shame you for not coming to him. Maybe there's even kinks you have he doesn't agree with so now he's like, violating your privacy AND judging you for things you aren't even public about

-you don't even have to be a robot and he has his hypnosis powers so... I also think about... Vox who forces his darling to calm down because you're not "cooperating" aka letting him/whomever else touch you, whether it's him forcing you to also put up with Val, or you're with Vox and Alastor, just Vox being able to completely rob your control of any situation, even nonsexual ones, forcing you to cuddle or try on certain clothes or answer certain questions. He's a greedy insecure egomaniac who's convinced he can buy/force your love no matter what as long as he keeps trying and obsessively finding out every single thing about you. He's pathetic. He's the kinda guy where if he's spying through his drones and catches you with another guy it upsets him so bad he's crying and stalking the dude's entire social media, finding out his name, his address, vowing to ruin his life, sobbing as he screams 'why don't you love me' kind of shit, but, to your face he'll try and be the perfect businessman to sell the image of the ideal partner and eventually husband

[gem-de-lune]

Ik I shouldn’t be this pessimistic but I can’t help but sometimes feel guilty whether I’m actually hurting them by boycotting. So if you can, can you please do a reading regarding what the members feel about the boycott personally?

I have already read this before. I'm not sure in which reading bc it was a LONG time ago, but If I can find it I will link it here laterrrrr-

But I do know the general consensus is that they understand the Boycott and why it is a necessary form of protest. They "support" it as a means of protest but under the notion that it is a means to an end when all is said and done- as in when the goal has been reached or closure has been met. What actually hurts them a little is the thought that fans may leave altogether completely and forever (which a lot of people will if Seunghan doesn't return) and that is a direct effect of SM's idiocy and harms everything they have worked for. Thry blame SM for that even if people do leave.

These feelings are a bit complex- but they are not directed at Fans who leave as much as they are directed at the situation as it stands. They would feel sorry and hopeless for a multitude of reasons if Seunghan wouldn't return. It's like when you are already having a shit day at work and then someone totals your car in the parking lot. Its the fact that ON TOP of losing a friend they have to watch fans leave them 100%. You will notice this is why they keep saying they hope we will be there for them.

Does the boycott hurt their feelings? No! Does the prospect of them losing a lot of fans in the long run due to losing Seunghan and SM's negligence hurt them? Yes!

I do not think you are conciously trying to find reasons to not boycott. But i think a lot of people who may stumble across this are. Just to remind you: all content will still be there later. If you do not boycott you are just saying that SM's actions are acceptable. You are not supporting Riize. You are making things harder for everyone including them- bc they are also fighting to prove that Seunghan will bring more engagement and money to the group.

I hope this makes sense 🙏 🩵

[bsdawgz]

「 ✦ Cruel ✦ 」 Bungo Stray Dogs, Port Mafia: Dazai Osamu

a/n: follow-up from this fic, i hope i did ok! i really like writing pm dazai... also i wanna thank everyone who has followed me/liked/reblogged my posts. i really didn't expect to get any attention at all, so it means so much to me T_T and i will def get to writing ab the other characters soon~

genre: angst. so much of it. and the nasty.

content warning: f!reader. unrequited(-ish) feelings (but not rly). toxic ass relationship (like, RLY unhealthy), dependent relationship... i hope you don't find MC deplorable because personally i find her real af

MDNI! rough sex, choking, fingering, degradation both from dazai and self (bitch, slut), humiliation, trauma, bj (facefucking). dazai is rly rough with main character and not very communicative beforehand, but he checks up on character during. sex is consensual, but main character continues to force herself to do things she doesn't want to for the sake of wanting to please dazai (there is no pressure or coercion involved on dazai's part, to clear that up). if there's anything else you think i should add, please let me know.

summary: after failing to stop sleeping with the port mafia executive, dazai osamu, despite your unrequited feelings, you've come to terms with the fact that you can't bring yourself to leave him behind. but dazai's determined to show you there's nothing in him worth fighting for.

this place is all too familiar to you.

you’re bent over dazai’s desk and he’s towering over you from behind, pressed up against your body. there’s a haughty grin on his lips as he’s rucking up your skirt, grabbing your ass roughly and making you wonder when you began wearing short skirts all the time, if you’ve started doing it for the sake of easy access. after all, how many times in the past year that you’ve known this man has dazai actually taken the time to properly get you out of your clothes before fucking you, let alone gotten completely undressed for you himself? you could probably count it on one hand.

the thought makes you feel somewhat ashamed, knowing that you’re having routine sex with someone who won’t often do something as simple as strip naked for you. somehow the simple act of undressing feels all the more intimate, which makes you feel all the more distant from dazai, making him feel that much more removed in these fleeting moments you share. but of course, you don’t dare to mention it to him – not now, not ever. just let dazai’s hands roam where they wish, because more than anything, you want to please him. more than anything, you just want him to want you – whatever that might mean.

the last time you saw dazai, you had resolved to leave him for good, determining that your relationship was going nowhere. you were well-aware that dazai was only using you for sex, and that you were in the throes of an unrequited love with one of the most dangerous men in yokohama. but staving yourself off of a man like dazai, who could bring you in and out of heaven, was like trying to quit an addiction. you’ve never found yourself more attached to anyone in your life. it wasn’t long until you found yourself sleeping in his bed again. it was futile trying to fight it now.

“i said to look me in the eyes.” vicious words interrupt your thoughts, followed by an exasperated mutter of, “stupid bitch,” as you feel a few light slaps on your cheek. hands that once traveled up your skin so gently, caressing you and handling you like a fragile object, are now grabbing your neck and squeezing its sides, forcing you to meet his arrogant gaze. this is a different dazai than the one you know, a more cruel, more callous one. “ah, there’s my good girl,” he whispers coldly with a smirk, your jaw caught in his slender fingers as you now properly meet his gaze. “now, open your mouth for me… good. see how much prettier you are when you shut up and stop asking so many questions?”

he slips his thumb into your mouth, wetting it with your tongue before swiping your own saliva across your puckered lips.  “good… suck my fingers like the slut you are,” dazai murmurs erotically into your ear, his hot breath tickling your neck as he dips his fingers in and out of your mouth.  “this is what you want, right? what you keep coming back for.”

his words are mean tonight, like he’s punishing you for trying to get too close to him. vengeful, almost. although it’s quite typical of him to get impatient and even indifferent, dazai’s not the type to bring this kind of demeanor into the bedroom… at least, he’s never shown this side of himself before. but tonight he is more than determined to bare it all to you, to show you what he is really made of – and teach you to stay away from him, for good.

as he looks into your big, trusting eyes, which have never gazed at him with malice, he bitterly reflects on his decision. the vastness of those eyes of yours have never held anything but pure intentions and righteousness. they represent everything that he is not… and they hold the same values that got odasaku killed. you are a mere civilian who threw herself into the port mafia’s radar by sleeping with one of its infamous executives. at this point, your name has snaked its way into the mouth of dazai’s underlings; his enemies have readied themselves at your door. dazai was selfish to think he can keep you all to himself, his precious little treasure.

this was bound to happen, anyway. better that it ends now.

before you fool yourself into thinking a man like him can amount to anything more than a killer.

before your hands get soiled with blood.

before you’re shot dead…

… and before he’s convinced himself that he has a right to any of this. a right to see you, a right to hold you, a right to one day love you.

that’s why tonight, he’ll push you to your limits until you cry out in pain and pleasure; and when you’ve had enough of him and tell him to stop, he’ll leave wordlessly and never return, so you’re left only with the memory of his callousness and utter disregard for you.

gazing into the expectant eyes that are staring into his, dazai hikes his hands up your shirt to palm your breasts only to be surprised to feel nothing but bare skin. “no bra? you really are a slut, huh?” he shakes his head with a dry laugh as he tugs your shirt over your head, discarding the article of clothing on the floor. “always so desperate to be fucked.” nipples hardening at the brush of his hand, you bite back a sinful moan as he teases you with fleeting touches that send pulses to your core. the sight of you so vulnerable in his arms makes him hard; you feel his erection pressing into your back as he plays with your nipples. before you know it, those beautiful fingers of his are reaching for where you want him most – between your thighs, pushing aside your panties and sliding between your slickness.

he gasps mockingly as if he’s surprised you’re wet for him, an arrogant smirk forming on his lips. his hands know you well, his fingers finding the spot that makes you feel the best and rubbing in agonizingly slow circles. you can’t help but let his name roll off your tongue and let him know who you belong to, a quiet prayer on your tongue. succumbing to his touch so easily feels almost like a sin, but if it’s dazai, you’d do it in a heartbeat every time. even if it meant going to hell for it.

intoxicated by his cologne and blinded by his touch, when you feel his lips traversing your neck, you’re thinking to yourself like a fool: yes, this is how it should be. dazai’s awfully gentle now. this is how it should always be. you’re starved for him, begging for him to want you.

begging for him to love you.

but this man will never love you.

because this man is the devil.

“get on your knees, pretty girl.” there are those sweet words of his – ‘pretty girl.’ that term of endearment that he’s whispered affectionately against against your neck when his arms are wrapped around your waist at night, when it’s too dark to head home and you find yourself tangled under the sheets until daytime – those words that have confused you, that have left your brain a muddled mess, that offered you a glimpse into the gentleness that could be. tonight, there’s not a trace of kindness in his unyielding voice – nothing to confuse for kindness. his hands are rough, reckless. tossing you over, he faces you with a look that’s condescending and rotten. “get on your knees, and remind me why i keep you around in the first place.”

you’ll take it.

you’ll take it all –

– even if he’s hitting the back of your throat and gripping your hair so tightly that you can barely breathe, that tears are welling in your eyes, that you’re choking on him. you can hardly keep up with his pace, hands clawing at the floor in a desperate attempt to steady yourself. you’re a distraught mess, lips swollen from his shoving himself into you, saliva dribbling down your chin, an undignified whore. but you’ll take it. you’ll take it all, if that’s what it takes to keep him even for a moment more. you’ll squash the feeling that this is so, so wrong, the awareness that he’s fucking you like an object, the knowledge that you’re nothing but a piece of meat to him.

if that’s what it takes to keep him, even if just for a little longer –

– you’ll take it all.

but when he sees those tear-stained eyes of yours, he just can’t bring himself to do it anymore. he pulls out of your mouth completely, leaving you coughing uncontrollably and desperately gasping for breath. a wave of guilt washes over him, knowing that he put you in this condition in the first place. “come here,” he says harshly, trying to keep up his façade as his fingers dig deep into the flesh of your hips. he tosses you onto the bed, the spring mattress squeaking under your weight, then you feel his body against yours from behind as he covers your eyes with one large hand until you see nothing but black. “don’t tell me you still like this?” he asks in a serious tone. he’s so close to you that you can hear his soft pants against your neck, feel the heat radiating from his skin; he must still be worn out from before.

but you say nothing, nothing at all, your lips sealed in a tight line.

he scoffs at your silence, his grip on your body loosening. “use your words. aren’t you going to tell me to stop?”

you turn to look at him, and your gaze finally meets his once more. your eyes are clouded with tears, your cheeks flushed, your lips trembling. but your eyes are unwavering. that grotesque look that he just can’t stand – those big eyes, still full of devotion, unconditional resolve. eyes that are full of nothing but righteousness. he’s the source of your pain, and yet you look at him with nothing but kindness. you look at him as though he can offer you some sort of salvation —

but this man can’t even save you from himself.

“i’m… i’m not.” your voice is meek, a sob escaping you.

you find your body shaking frantically, suddenly hyper-aware of your nakedness and the fact that dazai’s practically completely clothed.

he takes a seat next to you on the bed and wraps a blanket around you, deep brown irises staring into your eyes dubiously, as though he can’t believe a word that you’re saying. then, reaching out to cradle your face gently in his hand, he strokes your cheek with his thumb. his tender caress makes you sick to your stomach and you feel bile rising in your throat – you wish he would go back to fucking you senselessly and calling you names, if only just to make this cruel fantasy go away.

“don’t touch me like that anymore!” you suddenly blurt out of spite, shoving dazai away angrily. “don’t you know how confusing you’re being right now?” you cover your face in your hands like a child just to keep him from seeing you break down, as if you could possibly hide your stifled cries and the tears streaming down your stained cheeks.

“i see,” he says in a quiet voice, hesitating as he retracts his hand. there’s a grimace on his face as he withholds his words, resisting the urge to say something, anything, to ease the pain. but he knows there’s nothing he could say to take back all that’s been done. a tension hangs in the air, disrupted only by the sound of your shaky breath as you heave into the palms of your hands, pressed firmly over your mouth to silence your heartbroken cries. bending over in pain, there’s an empty pit in your chest as you crawl into his lap like a kicked-down dog. dazai makes no movement to get up, just lets you fall against him and hums softly to comfort you, stroking the tendrils of your hair like a wandering ghost.

when your tears finally subside, leaving nothing but your shattered memories, you glance up at him only to find he’s been gazing at you the whole time. on his face, there was a pained expression. something like regret for the past, or maybe even the future.

he looked as though he had been crying, too.

(c) BSDAWGZ Don't steal or plaigarize cos that's mean... and if you enjoyed the fic, please share! Remember, likes don't share my work, reblogs do! ^^~ Beautiful dividers by @ v6que~!

[tanadrin]

Was there anything actually juicy in Clinton's emails? The media behavior reads like half an attempt to appear more principled b/c of the criticism they got in 2016, and half an attempt to swing the election for Trump because he's better for their business.

not super juicy. i do think there's a differential in how the media covers trump vs other candidates (even other republicans) bc he's so bizarre and they don't know how to handle them, but i don't think it's as calculated as "he's better for their business"

you have to remember that conservatives have spend decades screaming about how the media is unfair to them and biased in favor of liberals and bc media figures want to be the important biased neutral arbiters of democracy (bc that is how they perceive themseves) and they want to try to preserve access to political figures, they have spent a lot of time and effort trying to perform neutrality. this doesn't work of course--there's a reason why the right eventually spawned its own media ecosystem; no amount of bending over backwards to both-sides issues like global warming will appease basically dishonest actors--but it has produced this weird asymmetry where they report on trump like he's a much more normal candidate than he is, reported on his administration like it was a much more coherent realization of policy goals than it was, and sane wash a lot of statements that are either simply incoherent or are menacing and deranged. and they reassure themselves that he can't possibly mean the menacing and deranged things, or that if he does he won't be able to realize them, and after all wasn't the first trump term pretty OK after all?

obviously, i think this is a mistake--the first time around trump was impeded by his own incompetence and that of the people under him, and the fact that, not really knowing what to expect, some actually sane people ended up attached to his administration. i don't think that's likely to be quite the same in a second go-round. but normalcy bias is powerful. it affects a lot of people who aren't journalists, too. and even if you think he isn't likely to succeed, i think the responsible way to report on someone declaring that they are going to attempt to deport millions and seize direct control of major cities and shut down media outlets that offend them is to report that they intend to sdeport millions and seize direct control of major cities and shut down media outlets that offend them, not to try to interpret their pronouncements through the lens of anodyne "economic policy" or w/e. if the flagship outlets of media were really making a rational risk-benefit calculation on whether a second trump term would be good for them, they would be much more strenuously opposing him, because he has promised a scorched-earth campaign of revenge against them, you know?

but actually a lot of the dysfunction of american political coverage is the result of a social incentive structure that's been slowly emerging for more than forty years, driven in part by the incestuousness of the beltway media-political environment and the self-conception and ego of media figures. honestly i think it started as the conspiratorial right moved into mainstream conservative and republican politics in the last three decades of the 20th century. in order for that conspiratorial attitude to really take hold, you had to creative a social structure that isolated people from the broader political consensus, to get them to stop trusting shared sources of authority and information, and that resulted in sustained attacks against the supposed flagrant bias of american news media as a whole, and this process accelerated as distinct right-wing outlets like fox were established. but it was a frog-in-the-pot situation, and many republican politicians were willing to take on this new style of rhetoric that seemed to win votes (and no doubt many believed it to some extent, since it flattered their preconceptions).

but eventually the break became too great--birtherism, the tea party, qanon. mainstream republican politicians realized they'd called up something they couldn't put down; but it was too late to right the ship. trump is the avatar of all that conspiracism and rage, and he took over the republican party. but the tectonic social forces that produced him have been slow and kind of indirect, and a lot of people are still coasting on attitudes and approaches to politics that are ten, twenty, thirty years out of date.

[coraniaid]

Anyway, I've been rewatching the Kennedy episodes of Buffy for fanfiction-writing reasons recently (I still need to work on getting her voice down properly). And as I'm doing that anyway I thought I might make a list of all the times Kennedy unfairly undermined Buffy's authority or attacked her for no reason other than being an entitled stuck-up bully. You know, all the reasons the fandom gives for hating her.

Let's see: she spent all year lying about Buffy having attacked her at the Bronze, which played a major role in Buffy getting ostracized at hew new school. She publicly called Buffy "weird" and "a loony" and "a mental", suggested she should join a "freak show", pushed pass Buffy or pretended she wasn't there at all when she couldn't immediately do anything for her, scoffed at the idea Buffy could ever have been popular, celebrated the fact she didn't manage to get on to the cheerleading team, wondered out loud in front of her friends why the school even let somebody like Buffy join, she--

... oh, wait. That's the list for perennial fan favorite Cordelia Chase, isn't it? My mistake.

Here's Kennedy's list, three episodes in:

Bring on the Night

Notes that the Bringers "tore apart" her Watcher, implies that gathering all the surviving Potentials on a Hellmouth where they can be guarded by one solitary Slayer with no trained back-up is a pretty terrible plan. She's obviously, objectively right about this! It is a bad plan! It is a very bad plan! It only makes any narrative sense because this is Buffy's show and if the Potentials are going to join Buffy they have to do so in Sunnydale where Buffy lives, and it will turn out that (conveniently) this all works out, but there really is no good in-universe justification for Giles bringing the girls here with the information currently available to him. (If that's not enough, note that Buffy's reaction to Kennedy's complaint is literally "she's right".)

Repeatedly advocates for the Potentials to be give weapons to defend themselves. Seems entirely justified, especially since we know Kennedy herself has been trained to fight since she was eight years old, since as she notes the Potentials are "sitting ducks" without them. What is Buffy's reaction to this unfounded attack? Well, again, she almost immediately agrees with Kennedy ("we should load them up, Giles").

Showtime

When talking to "Eve" (actually the First), Kennedy is notably the only Potential to consistently argue against the idea that what they're doing in Sunnydale is pointless and to tell the others that there's value in them training and getting ready to fight. After "Eve" is exposed and one of the Turok-Han is on its way to the house, Kennedy argues (in agreement with Buffy) against trying to run, stands up for Wilow attempting to cast a barrier spell, and tries to help rally the other Potentials for a fight. What a bitch.

Incidentally, this episode establishes Kennedy's been training to be a Slayer since she was eight, and she's clearly in her late teens at least [the collective fandom consensus seems to be that she's 19, but I don't know where that comes from]. That means Kennedy's been training for probably over a decade. She literally has been doing this longer than Buffy. Later in the episode, when Buffy talks about staying behind to slow the Turok-Han down and Dawn objects that she can't fight it by herself, Kennedy -- who has seen it, and knows what it can do, and doesn't have any superpowers to rely on -- immediately volunteers to help. Now, as it happens, Buffy doesn't want this (because, as we learn through some remarkably clunky writing, she's engineered this whole situation as a way of fighting the Turok-Han alone in front of everyone else), but ... well, Kennedy doesn't know this and it's not like she causes any problems when Buffy turns her down.

Potential

Buffy takes the Potentials to a demon bar for their first group patrol. This is, um, an interesting choice on Buffy's part, I've got to say. As Rona says, they're "a bunch of fifteen year olds in a demon bar, how much blending in are [they] going to do?". [One assumes Kennedy herself is somewhat older than fifteen.] I'm not actually sure why Buffy thinks this is a good idea, because she's only just finished warning them how dangerous a place this is before she runs into Clem and starts chatting to him and she completely ditches the girls she brought with her. Not for the first time I am forced to question Buffy's pedagogical approach. Anyway, Kennedy does undermine Buffy's authority for the first time a little bit here (saying, of Clem, "do you think she dated him too?") but I am tempted to forgive her for this cruel and unprovoked assault because (1) as I said, this does seem to have been a poorly thought through training exercise on Buffy's part; and (2) Kennedy's line is pretty funny.

Later this episode, after the first lot of Potentials have started to bond, they meet the new Potential Amanda and Kennedy helps draw her into the group by getting her to talk about what it was like to stake a vampire by herself for the first time. I take it all back, I can totally see why she's the least likeable character ever now.

[1yyyyyy1]

it hurts so much being told by women that I'm not a victim after I express what this world does to women since the beginning even what other women do to individual women... These women were rf aligned... So they think that women are always the victims until its... Me? Because I'm "blackpilled" how can someone be this vile. Women were enslaved since the beginning of times and all other women co create our enslavement. I've been abused taunted gaslighted punished bullied ridiculed terrorised yet im not a victim? But other women always are?

How can women be this cruel while pretending to have virtue? All their tone policing must be secretly sadistic because its literally oppressive. They are like a curse to me at this point. How can creatures this filthy exist. Women are even naturally misogynistic in a way that they hold women to a higher standards and have more empathy for men. Like? Female socialization is aggressive. Scum behavior. Performative virtue

You are showing signs of genuine trauma to me because nobody who is not severely affected by a problem would react this harshly to it. I interact with the same type of women you are describing daily and I guarantee you that I do not react to their words the way you do, you are experiencing some kind of trauma response. You need to understand that your body is not these women's bodies and vice versa no matter how much they try to tell you otherwise, and that the acts they are engaging in are not being done to you. What they are essentially doing in trying to convince you that their problems are your problems is blackmailing you out of prioritizing yourself with things like "all of us have the potential to go through X or Y at the hands of men" (nevermind the fact that not all of us will go through the adverse effects of voluntary involvement with men, like infidelity, disappointment with your health and body after a successful pregnancy or violation of boundaries during consensual sex) and "if we all opted out, men would take it by force" — there will be no "opting out" for every woman on Earth and I have literal proof of them wanting to risk sex or pregnancy voluntarily on my blog. Opting out is for the select few who want to do nothing with heterosexual nonsense even if the price of doing so is death because partaking in their drivel is death, physical and spiritual, and if they really did care about distancing themselves from it all that much they would know that death is the least you will be willing to put up with. The behavior they engage in is perfectly avoidable. Is it hard? It is, but "hard" is very different from the "impossible" they are trying to paint it as.

"So they think that women are always the victims until its... Me?" — exactly. It is very easy to see that they lack integrity with how much they pick and choose who's a victim a who isn't in their eyes. It takes zero braincells to say "every woman is a victim" and actually approach women with that mindset, and when someone fails to do that despite preaching it over and over again, it means that there is some kind of internal agenda that they themselves may not be aware of.

I don't think they are aware of what they are doing per se, intent requires introspection and people like that are usually too caught up in their heads to do any sort of internal work to understand why they behave the way they do. At the end of the day, what matters is that their actions towards you are harmful and their lack of self-awareness doesn't signify that their behavior should be excused. Both you and me have been at it for years with trying to make these women see reason to only end up being abused and hit on the head in return, so my question is — why force yourself to put up with this? Because of the possibility of them coming to their senses and us banding together in our quest to eradicate male violence? You and these women have a different understanding of what constitutes it; you hate PIV and pregnancy and consider them violating while they don't, which is something they readily admit to, but what is even more grating is that they are not allowing you to express your disgust and exert your boundaries because they are fragile enough to think that another person's preferences reflect something about them as a person.

You don't need women to stop doing anything to get better and I am saying that from experience. What is more is that, in trying to "help" these women or by simply being around them, you are hurting a woman (yourself) which nullifies all of your feminist effort. If you want to take care of an abused woman, you need to start taking care of yourself. I can tell you with certainty that these women are well-off psychologically, at the very least compared to you, because no one with severe trauma is out there complaining about doing 50/50 with their man on an internet forum, they are terrified of men to the point where they can't stand the thought of being near one or are left in a catatonic state and I have seen that happen first-hand. I always say the following to anyone who's ever dealt with a serial abuser or put up with chronic abuse — you have years of experience with trying to get that person or lifestyle work for you, and you don't need me to tell you that the connection you are in is a certain death because it is likely reflected in your lack of productivity, overall misery or even the desire to "cross the rainbow bridge". You know what it is like to be hitting rock bottom and you might as well take a leap of faith to try and distance yourself from it. It is you or them and at some point you will have to choose.

[nrilliree]

https://www.tumblr.com/lady-phasma/751954243043442688/this-is-the-most-diplomatic-way-i-have-seen-this?source=share

Do people struggle with the concept of CONTEXT ?! No ?

How would Rhea be an equivalent to Rhaenyra ? Demon hated Rhea. Just because he killed her, doesn't mean he'll hit Rhaenyra in the future. To say yes, under the pretext that both were married to him is only a SUPERFICIAL comparison ! Daemon wouldn't even consider this woman as his wife. And of the consensual relationships that we saw him have with women, he was never violent with them. There's a distinct difference between Rhea and the other women in Daemon's life. It's grasping at straws to say that the strangling scene is consistent because Daemon killed his first wife. Once again, this is a superficial comparison on the grounds that Rhea and Rhaenyra were both married to Daemon. News flash, people generally don't behave the same with those they love and those they hate.

And once again, people are complaining about the strangling scene, especially because it's yet another demonization of the character Daemon who was never reported to have been physically abusive with Rhaenyra in Fire and Blood, and didn't even kill his first wife. So yeah, the original Daemon probably wouldn't have hit Rhaenyra.

Not only all that, but it adds gratuitous physical marital violence to a female character who is already experiencing various canonical violence ! Why add domestic violence in Daemyra ?! But it's the same with all the other characters. Aemma who dies during childbirth ? Not hard enough, we have to cut her belly open while she's still conscientious. Laena who dies after giving birth to a stillborn baby and trying to join Vaghar for one last flight but dies suggesting they go join her dragon ? No, not dramatic and horrible enough, let's make her choose to burn herself alive with her baby still inside her! Alicent is not the victim of “marital rape” in the book ? Let's change that to make the main villain, before Aegon II, a victim !

But people refuse to understand these basic things !

And I hate this type of thinking even more :

“Do they also think that the history books of the time would simply say that Daemon murdered his wife or that Criston literally beat up Joff Lonmouth in the middle of a party?”

Well YES actually ! Completely !

Fire and Blood does not hesitate to accuse Daemon of other murders that he is not proven to have committed ! So, believe me that if he had been also suspected of having killed his first wife whom he hated publicly, so something that everyone knew, it would definitely have been proposed by the maesters telling the story, mostly pro greens and who hated Daemon. Daemon who was AT WAR when Rhea Royce died, and who was in agony for 9 days before that ! It's that simple !

So in addition, yes, if GRRM who never hesitated to show the various violence suffered by women, including domestic violence, he would not have forgotten to suggest that Daemon was perhaps violent with Rhaenyra if that had been the case. And so, if he had wanted us to understand that, in the Fire and Blood universe, there is no way that the pro green maesters hating Daemon would not have reported this rumor if it had existed.

We must stop only under the pretext that Fire and Blood is a historical text, that we can invent our own fanfiction even if it means saying everything and its opposite.

And I'm not even going to touch on Criston's case because we know very well how Joffrey died in Fire and Blood. During a tournament, where accidents like Joffrey's case were common (even if Criston Cole probably let off steam during this fight). A much more logical death, because it is in fact impossible that, according to the laws of Westeros / the GRRM universe, that Criston in HOTD can keep his position and on top of that have a promotion in the future, just because the queen / Alicent covers him ! It just doesn't work, because going against guest rights is probably one of the worst crimes in Westeros, right up there with killing a family member. This is a complete inconsistency in the GRRM universe, but it was done, just to have sensational gratuitous violence in HOTD.

This kind of comment is basically simply saying that since we don't know absolute reality we can invent absolutely anything we like, even if it means throwing coherence and the laws of the universe out the window, and the original characteristics of the characters ! This is disturbingly stupid. And I am NOT sorry to say that. These kind of people think they are smart but they are just stupid again. They like what they see, so they inevitably think it's good and will go against anything that indicates otherwise.

I will add that a lot of people still seem to be unaware of this, but HOTD is not a retelling of the events of Fire and Blood. They may have originally claimed that, but their rhetoric changed when fans pointed out all the inconsistencies compared to Fire and Blood. HOTD is clearly a fanfiction inspired by Fire and Blood. The show and the book have their own separate canon.

Anyway, I'm tired of these people who claim that yes, all the horrible things that the writers make Daemon do without any coherence in HOTD show himself must have also happened in Fire and Blood. This is unspeakable bullshit.

And again, sorry to repeat myself, but the fact that Daemon killed Rhea Royce in HOTD (horrible thing that I'm not nor justifying) is not proof or a foreshadowing of Daemon physically harming Rhaenyra. For that he should have been shown doing it with the women he chose to have relationships with as well, not just one with a woman he hated. That Rhea Royce and Rhaenyra were both married to Daemon has nothing to do with the strangling scene. For the last time, this is a SUPERFICIAL order comparison.

The strangest comments are the ones where such people insist that Daemon was 100% exactly the same in the book… even though there was absolutely no indication of that. Daemon did not show any aggressive tendencies towards anyone there, and all his relationships were with adult, mature women from various social groups. Daemon hated his first wife (and this is also interesting: Alicent in the series, as a 16-year-old girl, was forced to marry a man she did not love, and she is THE victim, but 16-year-old Daemon in the book, forced to marry a woman he did not love, cannot be victim…), she didn't really like him either, so they lived separately. And she died. And that's it. He had absolutely nothing to do with it, and in the meantime he was in a relationship with Mysaria, whom he wanted to marry and with whom he wanted to raise a child. It was Viserys who actually harmed Mysaria, not Daemon. Then Daemon married 23-year-old Laena, with whom he had a healthy relationship… And there were no signs of violence either. And if there was even the slightest hint of violence towards her in his relationship with Rhaenyra, the maesters would blow it up so much to show that Rhaenyra is a "weak woman who cannot control her husband, let alone a kingdom." ". (I don't think so, I'm saying what they could write.)

Plus - yes, HotD definitely has a weird fetish for depicting female harm that was in no way present in the source material. Aemma's death, Alicent's "sacrifice", Laena's death, Aegon's victims, violence towards Rhaenyra - there was nothing like that in the book. Scenes of violence against women appear much more numerous and frequently, much more often outside the source material, than those against men. Does anyone really have a sick fetish there?

[senjuushi]

The chronic pain guns deserve a real gentle master. How would they handle a master who fucks them but makes sure they’re as painless as possible? They may be getting used but there’s pillows under their joints and plenty of prep and more painkillers and numbing cream than they could hope for, and it makes the pleasure their master is making sure to give them even better. With Mikhael, love1, F and Springfield

Since you said "used", I'm writing this with the idea that it's... mostly consensual? The boys are attached to Master, but not to the point where they would have asked for this on their own.

. . .

Mikhael

Every time you try to do this, Mikhael can't help but be tense. He's afraid of what's going to happen to him no matter how many times you treat him kindly, and the pillow keeping his bad knee at a comfortable angle is a small mercy. The worst part is that it feels good. He doesn't want to like it as much as he does, but being treated so softly, so carefully, and reaching that empty-headed state of post-orgasm bliss every time is more of a relief than Mikhael wants to think about. It's hard to believe that this kind of touch could actually be pleasant, and yet, with you...

Love1

He's not expecting anything good from this, when you start. Love1 knows his body is broken to the point where any rough handling is going to be a problem... but then, you're just careful. Gentle. Always making sure to find positions that don't leave his body aching afterward, and going so slowly that there's no chance to tense up and make himself hurt. That's how Love1 finds out that he has much more of a libido than he expected. Now that this is an option, it's hard to ignore how badly he wants it to happen again, if only so he can feel something good, for once.

F

The fact that you're so careful with him makes F very, very uncomfortable. Sex is supposed to be painful, miserable, and forced onto his body until it responds all on its own. It's not supposed to involve numbing cream to dull the pain from his scars, feather-light touches, and pills that make everything hurt so much less. The utter lack of the sensations he's used to makes it difficult for him to finish... though that just means you'll have to dote on him even more to make sure he comes. Highly disturbed by how gentle you're being, it's hard for F to keep up the mask.

Springfield

From the start, Springfield is more worried about his fragile body being an inconvenience to you than anything. The few times people did this before, he ended up much too damaged for it to happen again. He doesn't want to disappoint you or make himself even more useless, and that anxiety is obvious. Being treated so carefully doesn't feel right either, though. He doesn't deserve it at all— and that leads to plenty of tears and whimpered gratitude. Even if he's still scared, you're being so very kind to him.

[endlessburningdarkness]

Hey Speaking as a gay man who has had sex with women and thoroughly didnt enjoy it and didnt want to do it but fully consented anyway so I dont consider it S/A, I consider my experiences to be fairly comparable to shen yuans with binghes and also would like to point out that shen yuan is clearly shown to enjoy the sex in the dream extra and in the resentment of chunshan extra binghe says "As for this disciple, he never could have forced you like this. If Shizun merely furrowed his brow, this disciple wouldn’t have been able to continue. How could | let Shizun sob like this yet still not stop? The depiction here is a bit unrealistic" and Shen qingqiu agrees with this. I agree the maigu ridge scene was very unconsensual for both parties involved but after that I dont think it can be called sexual assault

I don't think your experience as a gay man is comparable to Shen Yuan's first of all and its really vey disingenuous of you to ignore all the other factors that go into Shen Yuan's decisions. Namely that LUO BINGHE NEARLY DESTROYED THE WHOLE WORLD!!

LBH threatens to destroy the wold and Shen Yuan's love and acquiescence to sex is because he thinks he has to do it, or LBH will go right back to fucking destroying the world.

Did your partner also threaten to kill people if she didn't get her way? Was she also an all-powerful demon who could hold you down and force you to take it? Was your ass also bleeding? I get trying to find yourself in a story but please don't pretend this is anything like your situation. Were your friends and family also being threatened with you know? DEATH??

Do you see how your situation is not comparable?

Also! Shen Yuan does not enjoy it! He thinks its the worst thing ever, it's painful, it's terrible. And the really awful part is that he asks LBH not to make him bleed and then when that happens anyway, he asks him to slow down, and LBH fucking speeds up instead!! It is not comparable to you possibly having an uncomfortable time with consensual sex, because you were not being penetrated until you bled nor where you under the possible world-ending pressure Shen Yuan is under.

Question for you, if your partner had pegged you until you bled and then carried on when you asked to slow down, would you consider it sexual assault then? Because that's the specific thing I'm calling sexual assault. I have a feeling you would feel differently about that.

Just because LBH says he would stop doesn't mean he will! In fact, when Shen Yuan asks to slow down, he doesn't fucking listen!! Shen Yuan does more than furrow his brow, he actually says, the words slow down. and LBH literally doesn't listen to him. He is lying to you and Shen Yuan and for some reason you believe the character that is shown to be manipulative and deceptive? Do you believe his fake crying too? LBHs words don't match his actions, and actions speak louder than words imo

Ok, so let me find the quotes:

Shen Yuan literally, mentally calls for help. That's not what you do when your consenting and enjoying the act for god's sake. Again he is not speaking to the reader, those are his actual thoughts.

He decided to conceded. To concede as in to stop resisting, bc he doesn't fucking want it. And it says one more time, because he doesn't want there to be a next time, bc, again clearly implying he doesn't fucking want it. If he was really into this, why would he have that thought? Who has consensual, amazing kinky sex with their horny husband and thinks, man I'm never doing this again?

And once again LBH doesn't fucking listen to him when he's begging for him to slow down. Like if this was actually negotiated beforehand, it would be one thing. BUT THEY DO NOT NEGOTIATE! and guess what? un-negotiated rape kink, is well, rape. The only thing that makes it not rape is the negotiation. Which as you know, does not fucking happen!

Good for you if you don't think this is sexual assault. I'm glad you don't feel SA'd but goddamn the situation is really not comparable, and just because you had that experience doesn't mean you have the authority on what is and isn't sexual assault. The wedding night scene reads like sexual assault to me and many others and our interpretation is perfectly valid. You don't get to interpret the text for us, I'm afraid. And you most certainly don't get to dictate what is and isn't sexual assault because of your personal experience.

Consent needs to be ongoing and genuinely free. Shen Yuan does not feel genuinely free, he's constantly feeling like it's his job and his duty. The whole world was nearly destroyed after he rejected LBH. He's under all this immense pressure to make it work and convince LBH he loves him. He's scarred of bleeding out the arse and he even asks LBH to slow down! He isn't pretending to be scared, those are his actual thoughts and feelings in the scene. He talks himself into thinking it's okay, but that doesn't mean it is. And it doesn't mean he wasn't assaulted. You can't retroactively consent either, so him being okay with it later doesn't make it magically okay and fully freely consensual in that moment.

Him physically enjoying the act doesn't make it magically consensual either, that's a goddamn rape myth. Just like it's a rape myth that people can't retract consent at any time, or that sexual assault is only when someone is fighting off the attacker. Just because he didn't fight, doesn't mean he really wanted it. Like, seriously, it's so sad that I have to explain this in 2024. A lack of resistance is not consent!

Please educate yourself on rape myths and abuse dynamics, because Shen Yuan literally acts like a battered spouse in the morning, he fawns, a common response in victims the next morning, calling LBH his husband in an attempt to appease him. again just because Shen Yuan isn't calling it assault and is telling himself it's all okay (the EXACT SAME THING HE DOES AT MAIGU RIDGE) doesn't mean it is.

Most people don't realize they've been sexually assaulted in the moment, especially if its by someone they love and care for. Because that's really hard to admit in that moment. They tell themselves it's okay and not a problem. They even do things for the abuser. Like this person, who made breakfast for their rapist the morning after. It can take months/years to realize they've been abused assaulted.

I get that you want to pretend that bingqiu is wholesome and healthy but the text literally doesn't support that. Their whole relationship is built on the lie that Shen Yuan is Shen Qingqiu, and he feels pressure to make Binghe happy so LBH won't fucking end the world! It is not healthy and that is FINE!! You can still enjoy it! You can still like it!

Just don't try to tell me it isn't what it is.

Don't be disingenuous about it either! Like if what happened to Shen Yuan actually happened to you, as in you were bleeding out the arse and your partner—DID NOT STOP, REFUSED TO SLOW DOWN—and none of that was negotiated, I'm fairly fucking sure you would count that as sexual assault.

And before you say it's fantasy, yeah exactly, it's not real, ergo not comparable to your situation. Because Shen Yuan is not a gay man having consensual sex with a woman with no other complicating factors. Not even close.

I really hope you will educate yourself on this topic. Consent, free and genuine, not coerced or pressured, needs to be ongoing throughout the sexual encounter. Shen Yuan's perspective really reads like he's just enduring it for LBH's sake, and I know you can see that reading because if you really thought they were all wholesome, you would not pressed about me pointing it out. You would just laugh at me and move on. The defensiveness you've demonstrated in trying to convince me the clearly implied sexual assault isn't sexual assault just tells me you are not secure in your belief that it's consensual.

That you had to bring your own personal experience as a defence just proves it even more, because the text clearly doesn't try to assure us it was all super wholesome like you are lol.

I hope you're in a better place now, with regards to your experience. Toodles.

[the-catmans-offical-2]

Here is the consensus of the Chimera! Ed AU;

Be warned there's spoilers I'm pretty sure.

This AU starts out just like the Canon sources: Ed and Al doing human transmutation, it leading to Ed loosing his leg and only moments later his arm due to bonding Al's soul to a suit of armor as Al lost his physical form to the gate, Mustang and Hawkeye coming to Resembool looking for two adult Alchemists only to find out their sources were wrong and learned of the human transmutation as well as the fact that Ed and Al are like 11-10, Ed getting the automail surgery and then a year later getting into the military, Barry the chopper shit; Y'know, everything up to where FMA 03 diverges itself from Brotherhood and manga. At that point the Chimera! Ed AU diverges as well.

(*Giovi note: As much as I'd like to mix elements of FMA 03 and FMAB for this AU, this AU will follow FMAB more as honestly I remember more from Brotherhood; I need to rewatch both 03 and Brotherhood if I'll be honest, but yeah.)

The trip to Lab 5 doesn't go as planned. Ed and Al go, fight both the newly soul possessing armor Barry the chopper as well as the slicer brothers, the homunculi show up and incompacitate Ed. Blah, blah, blah. But, instead of giving Ed to Al; They put him in the hands of some of the scientists who were working on Chimera research and creation in the 5th lab (They most likely moved to a different location to continue their work after it was destroyed by Envy, and Lust.) as to monitor their sacrifice more closely. In turn keeping him from getting killed if he went on more missions as well as just to 'have fun' with him, in a sense.

This would lead to the eventual transmutation experiments that lead to Ed becoming a Chimera.

(*Giovi note: I know most people probably think of cats or dogs in terms of animals to use for chimeras, when I was first thinking of this AU I actually went over other people's works on AO3 of their Chimera Ed's as to see how most would view him behavior wise as well as which animal to pair him with. I saw a few of Ed with dog/wolf, at least one of him transmuted as a cat Chimera; So my assumption that people typically chose such was correct. However, I personally am straying away from that thought. For starters, I don't think they'd believe it to be a good idea that the Fullmetal Alchemist, known for his temper and being a protector, to have a predatory animal mixed into his mindset and body. If anything, that could make him more dangerous to the people working on him, or even the homunculi themselves. Therefore I believe they'd mix him with a prey-animal. As means to both humiliate him, reducing him to a panicked, skittish mindset as well as smaller attributes to be taken even less seriously if he were to go out into public again. This is why I chose an armadillo for Ed, a prey-animal known to curl up and hide when in distress and act rather docile in most situations unless cornered as well as to eat bugs. An animal seen as diseased by most. Honestly, I do think the armidillo is very fitting of Ed. But I digress.)

So, yeah, he goes through various experiments; Having his automail crudely removed as to keep him from preforming Alchemy as well as to keep him from hurting the scientists too badly. When the homunculi aren't constantly hovering over the experiments, possibly going to check over Alphonse to make sure he's still kicking in his rust bucket, Ed is able to make his escape. He had tried to escape a few times in the past, but without his automail, that'd probably make it a lot harder. So he'd try escaping, hiding out within the vents and such of the lab or building they chose to turn into a lab as he finds his automail; Promptly attaching the leg automail limb to his body, of course after getting some basic tools as he wandered the vents into different rooms. It is already painful to have someone else attach automail, let alone reattach, now it is probably a lot worse when its done all by himself; Him being an amateur at best, with only one usable arm and lack of energy from however long he had been hiding in the vents before finding and therefore reattached his limbs. He most likely vomited from the pain alone, shockingly not passing out (But it's Ed, with his determined ass he probably would keep himself from passing out for as long as he could; Especially with such an adrenaline high he probably got on from the pain.)

He most likely reattached the limb wrong, probably not connecting a good few of his nerves; But enough to still allow some movement, to help him escape faster. But not enough to help him out if he were to get into a fight, probably shorting out. His arm was practically useless, having frozen up back initially in the 5th lab when Envy approached him, so he never attached the limb. He just tied it to his back; With a cloth of some sort, taking some hanging up scientists coats and putting them on as well.

When he did make his escape, he was nearly found out, having ran through a corridor he had watched scientists leave through even through days of the initial transmutation and the experiments that shortly followed that. If it weren't for Havoc conveniently searching the area for a different threat (Scar probably, he had split up from Mustang to search. But they also had been searching for Ed after he went missing, it being much harder to do with how tight lipped Al, Ross, and Brosh were being about the whole situation. They still had their jobs to do though); Ed probably wouldn't of escaped successfully.

The only issue was, Havoc's first instinct when seeing Ed was to point a gun at him; At first unknowing that it was indeed Ed.

Ed's appearance had greatly changed after the experiments occurred. These experiments being much lower budget, most likely kept from Bradley himself given Ed was "called dibs on" by him, and probably were to conclude whether or not Chimeras could be made using cheaper methods. (So unlike the Devil's Nest gang) Ed now looked more animalistic and smaller, his back unnaturally curved like a macaroni noodle, his face furry and almost shrew like with little whiskers and a snout, his eyes cataracted and white like Nina's had been when she was transmuted with Alexander, his right arm now only containing three fingers with long claws at the end of them. Rounded ears on top of his head. Yet he still had his long, golden hair with golden bangs. Still had that, although much dimmed out, fire in his eyes that inexplicably made everyone know who he was. And his voice. His voice sounded just like his own, yet with a bit more squeakiness to it. In the back of his throat, he seemed to emit a squeaking, almost beeping sound. Especially as he looked over Havoc when he was found.

So yeah, that's basically sumerizes the context you'll need of the AU once I start drawing out it's comic. It may take me a bit to draw the comic out, however, please be patient with me. All posts with the tag "#Chimera ed au" , "#Chimera ed" all pertain to this AU. That is going to be how ill organize the posts for now.

Anyway, if you have any questions, wanna give suggestions for the AU, or even just wanna tell me to stfu about the AUs; Use the ask box on my acc or just comment. I'll answer whatever I can. :)

[corruptimles]

What pokemon would your favorites of the mob psycho cast have, in your opinion?

anon I hope you're alright with how long this answers going to get because I sat down and went:

because I LOVE assigning pokemon to characters

We all know Mob and Espurr are pretty much made for each other but I'm putting a read-more because this answer is embarassingly long

I deleted it earlier because I wasn’t sure if it was the correct idiom, but my friend warns that you've "opened a can of worms" here

A little context/worldbuilding before I get into the lists:

These answers are in the context of a Pokemon/MP100 crossover in which Seasoning City is an existing city in new region, or is expanded into its own region entirely. Other countries are not brought up that often in MP100 so those could be replaced with existing Pokemon regions instead. (I think only America is mentioned, which could be replaced with Unova)

(this is as opposed to, an isekai AU, or if you decided the characters are from Kanto or something)

I won't be creating Seasoning's pokedex by any means, but this means I won't be limiting Pokemon geographically (like I assigned TSV characters with mostly Unovan Pokemon because they're from New York)

There's still the exception of the type of environment/region being very significant to that Pokemon (aka some regionals, legends/mythicals, endangered, etc))

Regarding Psychics/Espers

Psychics or Espers already exist in the Pokemon world, but the actual differences between them and Psychic-type pokemon is not widely explored, nor the fact there are non-psychic types that can technically use psychic-type moves, or abilities associated with psychics (telekinesis, telepathy, whatever it is empaths got going on, clairvoyance, etc)

There's also an unexplored difference between ghost-types and ghosts

but the point I want to make here is that I don't think psychic pokemon are absolutely necessary for an exorcism business like Spirits & Such, especially when psychic-types are weak to ghost-types in the Pokemon world, and MP100 espers usually have a natural shield against, like, possessions specifically

So we're going with Psychics/Espers being able to be exorcists, mediums, etc, with their wide variety of psychic abilities at their disposal compared to specific Pokemon with specific skillsets.

There's also more apparent leniency with the fact that Psychics post-gen III use both psychic-type and ghost-type pokemon on their teams, and you can debatably include hex maniacs and channelers as psychics or espers to a degree

A human Esper could possibly perform exorcisms themself or with the aid of a psychic, ghost, maybe even fairy pokemon, or pokemon with those moves

This means that I'm wont be assigning MP100 espers with psychic pokemon just because they're both psychic, but I acknowledge they'd likely be drawn to each other eventually, and it's up to the character if they'd interact with ghost types

There's also if the city/regions's general consensus on ghosts is similar enough to MP100 originally, which mean they're not as normal to see around as other regions for one reason or another

Personal Preferences / Headcanons

It's Very fun to match Pokemon to a character in how similar they are but other times I also like to try avoiding literal matches like that, or ones that are too on the nose

(what pokemon a character would be could be very different to what they would have!)

Often times I don't use the more popular pokemon either (like eeveelutions, sorry) unless it feels like that pokemon really works out for the character

It gives Pokemon ppl might not have thought of nor remembered a chance to shine

I also imagine if a character doesn't seem the type for competitive battling, they wouldn't have a 6-pokemon team, unless maybe they're the type for appearing strong, or under specific circumstances. Like petsitting or gifting. NPCs often have 1-3 pokemon if they're not strong league trainers. People with more would probably have lower maintenance pokemon

What pokemon could they have in their daily lives? What are they willing to take care of? If they do stumble upon a very specific Pokemon, how do I imagine they meet and how this influences their character? (for situations like this MP100 scenario, I like to impact the main storyline or characterization as little as possible if I'm not doing some in-depth canon-divergence or post-canon stories)

anyway

"What pokemon would your favorites of the mob psycho cast have, in your opinion?"

These answers may be tossed around or changed in the future but

Reigen

Lurantis I deleted the post saying why, but trust me on this Helps with the everyday life. Got terrified when it was a Fomantis thinking it was a bug-type but turns out they're both scared of bugs

Nacli whether he found it by accident or actively sought it, he kept it thinking it'd help w the business (it... kinda does? but not really)

Greavard (temporarily) (a la Uu-chan)

Nickit, maybe I prefer this as a pokemon he could be instead of have; it's very on-the-nose so I'm fine either or

I specifically imagine that in this world, like in canon, Reigen didn't know that espers were real, or didn't take them too seriously, especially when Pokemon could be doing all the stuff on TV

Serizawa

Hatterene (temporarily) "gifted" by Toichiro, but returns to Toichiro after Serizawa's fight with Mob (you know why)

Wimpod been with him since his years in isolation, evolves during World Domination Arc (you know why)

After Hatterene is gone, he probably only has Golisopod with him during the adjustment period with S&S but I do think he might take in another Pokemon by the time of the spin-off

(Swadloon -> Leavanny evolution via friendship is very reminiscent to Seri's character development and fight with Mob but idk if it's too much for two Pokemon to evolve back-to-back for him. It could also be what he takes in later on instead. )

Tome

Hoothoot I have my reasons

Elgyem her first encounter with the extraterrestrial, sparking her drive to know more about aliens and alien pokemon

looks up stuff like Deoxys and Ultra Beasts stuffs

Mob

Espurr evolves after confession arc?

Poliwag, maybe someone helps him evolve to Politoed over the course of the series?

okay I referenced Espurr multiple times so this might be redundant at this point, but I don't actually imagine him with more than maybe two pokemon? He's a middle schooler who might not be up for the responsibility of multiple pokemon, especially with the stress of his own and Espurr's explosions. Maybe he tries training more later in the same way he tried the marathon?

I just looked up the Poliwag line and I love that the lines' shinies do not look that different to the original but shiny Politoed has Mob's aura colours lol

He's not part of the cast but

Yoshioka

Herdier, or Watchog

yeah that's it

and they're not my favourites but some others I thought about:

Teru would have a full team, probably half left by his parents, which match his initial personality. He wouldn't be that close to them, but they're strong or rare and that's what's important until he's humbled later and actually learns to talk to them as companions He might not keep all the Pokemon by the end because he doesn't need to keep a reputation like that anymore, but has a select few strong ones that are strong because he actually trained together with them ^ the pokemon he'd have would still be very extravagent/gaudy in appearance though, like a Bruxish

Shou, and maybe Toichirou, may have Pokemon specifically from Unova or other farther regions because of Toichiro's travelling ^ Toichiro returning to Seasoning City is very Giovanni revealing to be the absent gym leader to me ^^Shou and Toichirou's teams could be styled in opposition to each other like Ghetsis and N. Shou spent so long preparing to be the protagonist against his father's plans, so

I firmly believe that Mob and Ritsu's parents would still be blasé about Pokemon like everything else that if either brother did come home with a legendary, they'd still be like "just make sure to clean after it. no battling in the kitchen"

it's not Reigen's, but there's a Fidough in the cafe above the office that he adores

Organizations like Claw, or the Rising Sun Spiritual Union would definitely employ a lot of psychic- and ghost-types for their needs

Dimple is either exactly the same, or the ugliest Gastly you've ever seen. I'd love to make a reference to the LOL cult and Yamask, but a fart cloud is a fart cloud

.

I have more but this list is too long so ppl can send another ask if they're curious about anything

final words: typing this was a nightmare because of how often I mistyped 'region' and 'reigen'

[centrally-unplanned]

Sarah Z released a new video on Buffy Season 6 - looks like she isn't the only one doing a recent Buffy binge, great minds Sarah! Given her long track record as a Buffy lover I give her props for finally going all in and making a project of it. As is going to be a surprise to no one, I am pretty middling on this video - lets go to the random thoughts:

--- My first comment on this was going be a bit of a question mark around its title, "In Defense of Buffy's Most Hated Season". Season 6? Most hated? Sure you not thinking of Season 4? Or Season 1? Season 6 is very consistently ranked as a higher Season by most - no Season 5 or 3, sure, but normally top 3 or 4. Its a bit of a "cultural baggage" idea - because of, hm, reasons, it was an extremely controversial season back in the day. But removed from its airing that drama faded away, and particularly given that season 6's musical episode is one of the most lasting legacies of the show, now it stands on its merits and is generally liked. Sarah even almost accidentally cops to that with one of her example reddit posts, from a Season 6 hater but who frames that as a hot take:

However, looks like we agree, because Sarah changed the name of the video! Now its called "You Should Watch Buffy Season 6". I respect and empathize, honestly, realizing the cultural consensus has changed can take some time.

--- For a movie review about defending Season 6, it actually spends half of its analytical run-time criticizing it. And I was not swayed by these - which I am sad about, I have my critiques of the season too. Just trying to explain why the following thoughts are about criticisms, given the title.

--- Does anyone out there interpret Riley's departure in Season 5, and one-episode return in Season 6, as Buffy "losing a good man, and being shown the life she could have had married to him if she didn't screw up"? Because that is what Sarah thinks, and that to me is a buck wild take. Riley is not a subtle character, its pretty much a defining trait of his. Pretty sure his departure in Season 5 is him leaving a bad relationship, that is bad for him and Buffy, and Buffy realizing too late that she was letting pride and self-involvement get in the way of fixing it. Not that it necessarily could be fixed, or should be, just that that was the source. And in season 6 - this to me can't be any clearer - Riley's point in returning is to highlight that he, who was in an awful place in Season 5, got better. He got over it. He's strong even when he doesn't look it. And Buffy is too. She will get over it. Its why she breaks up with Spike at the end of the episode - Buffy realizes she is still strong, she can be way she 'used' to be. It does not forgive Riley's mistakes, or is even about any of that? This is a very weird take. Honestly I want to know if others have this take, tell me if you do.

--- This very weird take by the way comes from the "misogyny" moments that the video constantly alludes to, which tie back into Joss Whedon's behavior, which I want to flag here. I'll admit that from what I have seen of the evidence, while Joss does come off like a huge asshole on set, I actually haven't seen much of a case for a lot more than that. Some people see him as this like uber-predator and I don't know where that is coming from. So I might be biased a bit here, lacking that heft of conviction.

But I still think this is generally correct - someone's personal behavior is an extremely imperfect reflection of their writing chops. Some of the most insightful prose of all time was writing for crass monetization; serial abusers have written, in spades, the most complex and well-realized victim protagonists. Writing is a skill, not a morality trait. Personal action impacts writing, sure, but not in ways that *align* with morality. The fact that Joss Whedon was an asshole on set does not mean the writing on Buffy reflects misogynist abuse. Xander isn't a misogynist - when he is mad at Anya for sleeping with Spike he is portrayed by the narrative as a clear asshole. Riley isn't portrayed as a perfect boyfriend, dude fucking pays vampires to bite him! This all in your head! You don't have to like prove Joss Whedon is a bad dude through textual analysis. His work can still be #girlboss feminism, there is no contradiction there.

--- This will be brief, but I feel like we are past the weird 2010's hiccup of thinking "fridging" is a problem, right? This is about Tara's death, ofc. Stories aren't real life, in stories some characters are way more important than others. Side characters exist, very often, to further the arcs of those main characters. One of them dying as part of a main character's arc is completely normal. Its weird I feel I have to explain this; I don't really, right? Tara is not killed off on a whim; she dies because Willow has a season-long arc of tipping over the edge on magic power, its a lot about her relationship with Tara, and her death pushes her over the brink. I'll admit I find Dark!Willow's execution to be a bit weak, but that's its own problem; the motive is solid. This is how stories work.

--- Additionally, I think there is a big, but a bit unnoticed, shift in what "works" in media around character deaths. When Joss Whedon killed Tara in Buffy - and more notably killed Wash in Serenity - he was doing a deliberate "no one is safe" thing. It became a meme, actually!

Meme-ing about Joss Whedon man, right there in the garbage dumb of the past alongside Harry Potter memes shitting on Twilight thinking its the better franchise; life comes at you fast. But anyway this was a "big thing" to happen - audiences were shocked by it! It had dramatic impact.

Then Game of Thrones happened and this got turned up to 11, and the general plot twist even more of a meme. But meanwhile, TV changed in the background; entire seasons were getting dumped at once on streaming, everything was becoming "high context" with actors live tweeting their own set experiences, fandoms got more involved and contextual, "water-cooler" shows everyone was talking about faded due to audience separation, all sorts of shit. Which meant that the "kill a main character" thing stopped being powerful - it was overplayed, spoilers were more common, it didn't "air" as a standalone episode everyone talked about. The reason to kill off a character to raise the stakes faded away.

Which means when people go back and say things like "oh I loved Tara why kill her", its...well for one Amber Benson wanted to leave the show. But additionally you can't see the power it had in 2002. TV was different then, it wanted different things.

--- To give something positive, while I think Spike's attempted rape of Buffy is a strong writing choice - very in character for Spike, and its fine that it is primarily about his arc and not Buffy's because its a story, that is how these things work - I do agree that Buffy's response to the event is just not explored enough. It comes up multiple times of course, even in Season 7, but it also gets swamped by plot events in Season 6 with Willow, its not given room to breathe.

This imo relates to the fact that the pacing of the event is a bit wonky - Spike & Buffy had been on the outs for many episodes at that point, there wasn't this strong inciting incident for it. If it had happened much closer to their breakup, in a more focused arc, it would have had more narrative impact and allowed time for both of them to respond to it. I get that they had a lot of plot balls to juggle at that point, but still, missed opportunity I think.

Okay I had more thoughts but I am tired, I think that covers my most interesting complaints/observations anyway.

[itsclydebitches]

Its not just the fanbase that likes V9 though. Fatmanfalling, Tom Horan, VexedViewer, Mrcheese. All major rwby critics who have never been nice to RT have stated this is the best volume. Its a consensus thats very wide. Which is fascinating

I don't follow the Youtube scene so I haven't seen their interpretations myself, but I wonder if this trend stems from the fact that, technically speaking, Volume 9 has done a lot of what critics have been calling for.

Jaune is absent for the first half of the Volume

The group is disagreeing with each other

Ruby is the focus of a major plot-point

Blake/Yang are indisputably in a canonical relationship

Penny's death is at the emotional heart of the Volume

This is a character-focused season

The Cat's presumed connection to the Gods ties this "fluff" arc into the wider narrative

There are other examples too, with the point being that if you were to just condense the Volume into talking points, yeah, it would come out looking really good. I wonder how many fans - critics and non-critics alike - are swept up in the relief of finally getting a lot of what we've been asking for... not realizing or admitting that it's a monkey's paw situation were we're also getting a series of unintended consequences as a result of these wishes. Again, I haven't seen these vids myself, but at some point I'd love to know a) if critics are factoring in the comparison aspect when calling this the best Volume (that is, "best" by RWBY standards doesn't mean free of serious problems) and b) if everyone still holds this view post-finale and after a bit of time has passed. I mentioned several posts ago the allure of RWBY's spectacle and given that I find myself doing this on occasion with other shows, I wonder how many fans would change their tune after revisiting Volume 9 after a bit of downtime. When we're not swept away by the shock of old!Jaune and the horror of Ruby drinking the tea and the excitement of seeing characters like Pyrrha again... when the novelty of the Big Reveals has worn off, do these moments still resonate? Or does that then leave room for a, "Actually, that's not very well done" response?

It is fascinating either way. I personally think this is one of RWBY's worst Volumes, due to how it has spectacularly failed to follow up on the conflicts introduced in Volume 8, its mishandling of new conflicts (like Ascension), and the overall tone of the Volume where we have a gag-focused start swerving hard into incredibly dark themes all while taking place in a world that, frankly, has had no time to be fleshed out. The fact that Little underwent the same fate as Maria and Pietro last episode - here's a side character you and the group are supposed to care about, but they're forgotten by the story after a horrific event where it's unknown whether they lived or died - just says to me that RWBY is still suffering from all the same problems, but now with increasingly ~shocking~ events to help distract viewers from that.

[itsyourearthtoo]

The pop-culture urge to resurrect dinosaurs.

First of all, let me clear this, DINOSAURS ARENT EXTINCT. They are right there, maybe pooping around in your lawn or the non-veg meal you recently had. You just aren't aware of it. My previous blog was all about this and you can go check that out :)

So, if dinosaurs aren't extinct, then what's the point of bringing them back to life? More so... why make movies, write stories, draw comics and blah blah blah to actually resurrect them?! And this is what this blog is all about.

Birds, which are dinosaurs don't look like the dinosaurs you actually imagine it to be. Just wonder, what's the first thing that popped up in your mind, when you read the word 'dinosaur' in the very title itself. A giant beast, ferocious eyes, long necks maybe (those sauropods) and so on. No one did think about the chickens we eat, pigeons we shoo away or those beautiful kingfishers and parrots we admire. If you did, then... I think you are already smarter than me.

This is nothing, but the result of a constant impression about dinosaurs that pop-culture has fed to you, that your mind can't imagine anything else. More apt, you just can't think other than the Jurassic Park franchise if you are a 21st century kid like me!

Now hold on, this doesn't mean I am a Jurassic Park hater or this blog got grudges against it. I love that universe as much as you but the thing is, fact is fact. And, science in the end shouldn't be to please people, but to make people aware of the things they aren't aware of.

So... with a bit of reading and literature research, I actually dug into this matter deep enough to find a reason; that actually answers my question - Why pop-culture wants to resurrect dinosaurs?

Richard Owen coined the term dinosaur in the year 1841. Note, the Theory of Evolution and The Origin of Species was published by Darwin in the year of 1859, meaning the world dug out dinosaurs technically unaware of evolution and natural selection (pretty funny to me).

This makes sense as to why it got related to reptiles in the first place. Until 1860s there was pretty much no consensus to the fact that birds are related to dinosaurs. When Archeopteryx was initially discovered somewhen around 1860 it pretty much changed the course of Dinosaur paleobiology. Trust me, society didn't believe this in the first place. It took decades for the Dinosaur Renaissance to actually begin and thanks to Robert Baker's famous book Dinosaur Heresis in the 1970s, that gave dinosaurs the justice it had long due. So its pretty much okay to say that birds are dinosaurs came into the scientific consensus much much later than it was actually discovered (unfortunately this happens with most of the discoveries in Earth Sciences as a whole). Also, I would point to the discovery of more and more feathers in fossil specimens as the point where the relation between birds and dinosaurs were eventually confirmed.

Now dinosaurs came into the pop-culture scene in the 1850s with Charles Dicken's Bleak House. Yeah, a decade before Archeopteryx was dug out and Origin of Species was published. Movies first depicted dinosaurs as pretty lovable creatures. Classic example being the animated, Gertie - The Dinosaur (by Winsor McCay) which released as a silent film in 1914.

Soon after, it didn't take long for the lovable dinosaurs to turn into horrifying beasts. DW Griffith in his 1914's Brute Force silent film depicted Dinosaurs as ferocious monsters who haunted cavemen. Also establishing the early fiction, that early humans and dinosaurs coexisted together. This, a devastating scientific hoax (sugar coated as fiction), remained for quiet some time. You might have seen the famous cartoon series - The Flintstones, yup! if you were a fan of it like me, then you relate to what I am saying.

Steven Spielberg made Jurassic Park much later. Already a lot had been done about dinosaurs in the television and big screens. He legit hired paleontologists as scientific advisors for his films, which is why many things were even scientifically correct in the Jurassic Park film series, but at the end he was a film director to appease people and deliver box-office hits. He already knew what people wanted from dinosaurs. Hardly few will remember that the film actually says that birds came from dinosaurs in the very beginning. Instead, what you remember is just them chasing humans and destroying things. Unfortunate, but that's the reality.

Even today, its hard to imagine any film, story or comic that portrays dinosaurs as birds. They are the modern day dinosaurs! You have it all around. But you aren't satisfied with it and so you need movies that bring the typical dinosaur to life with the help of special effects to satisfy your soul. So yeah, if we as common people accept the fact that birds are dinosaurs then may be resurrection of dinosaurs will reduce to a lot extent in your screens and scientifically accurate stuffs will be fed to you :)

So, this is it for this blog. To be honest, while writing this I realized that I started loving these creatures because of pop-culture only :) no matter how scientifically inaccurate it was. I mean, this does become an irony. At one side of the spectrum it is to be blamed, but on the other it did make these creatures popular isn't it? Maybe I should cover this in my next blog hehe, so stay tuned!

For the love of Earth Science :D Byeee

Oh yes!!! Do check out my previous blog

thank you.

Used Image Souce - Youtube video titled 'The Flintstones | I Dare Ya!'