#it is going to get zero traction but i had to make it so could get it out if my system

[mynameisbillandimaheadcase]

(made by me)

[germiyahu]

I think we shouldn't talk about Aaron Bushnell from here on out. I know everyone has their own hot takes about it, and there are plenty of posts that entice one to debate, many such cases of bait...

But don't give him what he wants. Let his name fade into obscurity.

Already the antizionist "activists" are hailing him as a martyr and a prominent leader of the "movement." People are going to remember his name over any individual Palestinian names. The Palestinians who've died will just be a lump sum, whereas Aaron Bushnell will always have a face and a name and a story. They're going to have him represent the ~victims of Zionist fascist genocidal Apartheid terror~ equally if not more so than Palestinians, who will be a nameless statistic beyond a few exceptions. The hashtag "restinpower" was trending when he was confirmed dead.

Do you know how disrespectful and disgusting that is? A white American man who worked for the United States military, an organization that has killed orders of magnitude more civilians in the Middle East, made himself the star of Palestinian Liberation. And he probably was aware that this could happen. But he wanted to be seen as a martyr, he wanted to be absolved of his sins. Nobody will ever dare criticize his career in the military now. No one will mention his hypocrisy as a settler on stolen native land who actively helped propagate the imperial hegemony of the United States.

He gets to be a "hero" to the Palestinians even though he's helped zero of them. What allyship had he worked toward in his life? He gets to be placed along side them as a fellow victim of the Jews Zionists. And they will use his face, name, and memory as a rallying cry.

Maybe someone on their side will make a similar point, not to get too carried away making a white man the face of "resistance" against the West and Israel and capitalism and all that. But I doubt it'll gain traction.

[lemotmo]

Interesting question and super interesting answer. Spot on regarding lots of people's feelings towards Lou.

Q. I want to first say thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, I know many of them have not been nice. I'm glad you've started answering more nice ones, it's good for everyone to see. You've said you liked Tommy a lot in the beginning, is it possible that your changing opinions about Tommy are actually a result of you not liking Lou? More than the show changing Tommy? Does that make sense? I am genuinely curious, please tell me this is not coming across as rude!

A. Good morning, anon. No, your question did not come across rude at all. In fact it's a good question and one I am happy to answer. Before I get into the answer about Tommy though, I will address the Lou part. I have made no secret about my dislike for LFJ. I personally find him gross. And I will fully own that, as a result, loving Tommy would be rather difficult for me. But in my real life it's my job to sell shit to people and make them think they love or need something they don't (PR) so I could make my brain get there if I really needed it to get there for the sake of the show. But fortunately for me I won't need to do that.

A couple of things happened with regards to Lou that prior to him the show had never had to deal with before. Forgive me, but my public relations nerd brain is about to take over. Lou is the first guest star the show ever had that publicly and rapidly promoted themselves as a characters' love interest. None of the others have ever done that before. But he didn't market himself to the audience at large. He targeted a very specific portion of fandom to promote himself to, engage with, and profit from. I'm going to take this opportunity to point out that the minute Tim/ABC told him he could no longer do the cameo videos, thus removing his profiting capabilities, he ended all forms of engagement completely. That tells you all you need to know. For this next part I'm going to use Megan West (Taylor Kelly) as my counterpoint. Taylor was popular with the general audience. The fandom hated Taylor (and Oliver wasn't a fan either, bless him), but the general audience liked her. It's why the show kept trying to make her work for multiple seasons. The GA liked her dynamic with Buck. The GA didn't 'turn' on Taylor until the show started her exit storyline and they weren't supposed to like her anymore. Same thing with Tommy. I think my opinion of Tommy changed exactly when the show wanted it to change. I followed the canon change. The general audience doesn't care about Tommy. Having a small, yet rabid, fan base is good for minimal short term traction, but the GA is what extends contracts. He didn't promote himself to the GA because he already knew the shelf life of his character. He knew the storyline that his character is a part of wasn't going to change. As a result he promoted himself to a particular sect of fandom to maximize his character's minimal self life. And it worked, for a little bit.

The show was not promoting him. He did a couple of interviews right after episode 4, but any actor playing that character would have been given those interviews. That had zero to do with Lou. And, unfortunately for him, and those of us who had to read them, the man's a terrible interview. He has no filter, no self editing capabilities, and zero PR training. It was a disaster. Even the people responsible for editing them into something resembling coherence struggled to make them work. They sent him on one joint interview with Oliver, an actual PR unicorn (he should teach a class), and the only thing Lou was allowed to say about the show was that Tommy and Buck were 'thriving' (interesting word choice given his one scene in the finale, btw). It also cannot be ignored that Oliver chose not to speak at all about the onscreen duo. The rest of Lou's time was spent talking about his dad, which is what the two people interviewing him clearly wanted to talk more about anyway. Oliver was who the show sent to talk about the show. They weren't promoting the ship. The interviewers would have been given very specific questions to ask if it had been about the duo. ABC didn't want Lou talking about the show. He had already proven he wasn't capable of doing so with any kind of tact. It also became apparent that he and Oliver are not comfortable with one another. Oliver tried very briefly to sell it a bit, but he didn't try very long or very hard. I know Lou's fandom thought it was perfect, but based on everything non Lou biased we saw, they were in the minority. And the show clearly didn't think it worked either because you never saw them again. The show has been doing PR since the finale. If they wanted to drum up Buck/Tommy they would have been using at least part of this time to do so, and they haven't. The release of the deleted clip was the opposite of bigging him up and the reaction from the general audience as well as his own fans proves that. The off-season PR has been entirely Ryan/Eddie centered. Which also was when Ryan's gender neutral musings also began, but I digress. The show had never encountered the game Lou played before and as a result they had no rules and regulations in place regarding guest star behavior. They have clearly established some rules now and Lou has been instructed to follow them. I'm also certain somewhere in there he was informed of his final episode count so he knows exactly when he's leaving. And while the cameo videos were great for him personally, in the short term, that rabid devotion was going to change quickly once it becomes apparent on screen that Tommy's arc is nearing its end. And I don't think he will be around longer than 3 or 4 episodes. I think his arc will conclude around the same time Gerard's arc concludes. I do not think the two will necessarily be connected but I do think they will come to a conclusion around the same time.

I'm so sorry anon but he drives my professional brain insane. And now as a result of his own hubris the show is now trying to clean up a mess he had no right to ever start.

I don't know what to write underneath these glorious posts anymore. Each and every single OP post just slay. This one isn't the exception.

Thank you OP for so eloquently putting into words what all of us have been trying to explain for weeks now.

Remember, no hate in comments or reblogs. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of the anonymous OP’s posts, you can find all of their posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[kamari2038]

Alright, just finished Heavy Rain.

Who all has played this game???

Because I need to CHAT with someone about this game.

Also, now that I've played Heavy Rain I have come to realize that DBH is sort of a really good AU fanfiction of Heavy Rain 🤔

Like there are sooooooooooo many common elements even though the vibes are completely different. It's like some actual competent writers came in and were forced to keep all of DC's favorite parts but were like "we're making this better"

!!!(Spoilers Below)!!!

Dang, I kind of loved Scott, though his sexism unbearably pissed me off. I can't even tell you how little it even occurred to me that it could be him. Unlike the Alice twist, I thought this one was actually pretty neat though! Like I REALLY should have thought twice about this one, but I was so into playing him as this maximally nice guy, plus so thrown off by the Gordi Kramer nonsense, that I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on (seriously though, what's the deal with the Gordi Kramer crap?).

Why didn't Ethan die of the poison??? Why was he having blackouts?? What did he do during the blackouts??? Was it planned??? Was no one drugging anybody??? So Madison's nightmares were completely irrelevant to the plot???

I wanted them to KISS. I DID NOT WANT TO GET RAILROADED INSTANTLY INTO A FULL NIGHT OF SEX. HELLO??? The ending of them being together frankly made zero sense, but it was cute so I'll take it. Bad nonsensical dialogue and all (part and parcel with any DC game at this point).

Guys, I killed Norman 😭. I can't believe it. My table has no traction for my mouse, so I have this folder with a rough surface stacked on top of a notebook and their fight was so dang long that the folder fell off and I failed the QTEs and he got SLICED APART??? AND NOBODY CARED??? NOBODY EVEN CAME TO THE FUNERAL OR THOUGHT TWICE ABOUT HIM??? AAAAARRRGGGHHH. Honestly though. Okay but the part where he's became a ghost inhabiting Ari and haunting Blake was pretty awesome. And there's something so sad and poetic about him dying and nobody cares. I have to play through more to see if it really made a difference, but I guess it was good that he kept Shelby distracted? I want to believe that...

Edit:

Norman was also apparently supposed to have a tragic backstory with a dead gay lover who had helped invent his cool glasses? 😭 Why? Why didn't this get made? Sad.

[smackins]

Not to be THAT guy, but I really need to bare my soul here.

I don't know if I want to do Artfight anymore.

While I'm extremely grateful for the attacks I did receive this year (I still owe 2 revenge pieces, don't worry, I'm working on them ❤️) it's become less fun and more of a reminder of how isolated I feel as an artist. I got a total of five attacks this year. I have friends who were attacked right out of the gate, on the very first day, by a barrage folks who were chomping at the bit to draw their ocs.

It's not Artfight's fault, and not really other people's fault, either. I'm not like, "How dare you not attack me!!111!!" It's just it amplifies so many insecurities I've had for years and makes it hard to ignore them.

I get an overwhelming feeling like there's something wrong with me as an artist, not even that I'm medicocre skill wise (though I feel that, too), but that I'm just fundamentally uninteresting and forgettable. My characters and my stories aren't worth asking about. They aren't worth anyone's enthusiasm or curiosity, they're not worth the encouragement. I can share a piece that I spent 6 hours on and just get "cute" as a response, while others could share a non-serious doodle of their ocs that took 5 minutes tops and get responses like "AHHH I LOVE THEM THEYRE SO AMAZING YOURE SO FUNNY."

And I know it's not good to compare yourself to others, but sometimes it's hard not to when everywhere I go, it feels so blatantly obvious how I'm barely worth anyone's time.

At first I thought it was the fact I draw non-human characters, because those are hard for people, so I made a little note on Artfight that I'll accept humanized versions. But plenty of people draw nonhuman characters, all the time, and recieve lots of encouragement and feedback from other people. Then I thought, "maybe it's my original comic characters that intimidate people" you know, my weird scorpion aliens. But that's not it either, because they're admittedly a lot less "alien" than they could be, and I know people with some absolutely WILD speculative-biology-type character designs who, again, get loads of enthusiasm and feedback. Plus, that doesn't explain why my fan ocs go ignored- plenty of people like Digimon, Mass Effect, and DBZ.

I feel like I'm just weird and tainted and cursed somehow, which I KNOW is absurd, but that's the best way I can describe this frustration. And yeah, I know if I posted more art and more about my characters, I MIGHT get a little more traction, but when I get so little encouragement from so few people, it's so hard to feel motivated to share. And it's not like I'm looking for huge, detailed responses or specifics about why people like my technique or whatever, because God knows I struggle to form specific words as to why EXACTLY I like something, but I just want to feel like people give a damn and ACTUALLY want to know more. Very few people ask questions or get curious. I have a lore blog for my original comic that has been up for 7 whole years, yet the only questions or comments I get are from the same 2 or 3 (very lovely and appreciated) people. Most of those posts have zero notes, a ton of them have been reblogged to my personal blog over, and over, and over again and still get ignored.

This isn't about popularity, or notes, or anything like that. I just want to feel like what I put into the world matters. Yes, I do get satisfaction from drawing for myself, but that can only go so far when I feel like I'm the little kid in the corner playing alone because the other kids don't notice me.

[nathanielbuildsatesseract]

This is the sort of post that'll probably get me in trouble and I shouldn't trust y'all to behave with it, but I'm in a dismal state and willing to take high-risk moves in an attempt to improve things. Nobody uses Tumblr on Friday nights anymore so it's not like many of you will even see this.

Recently I realized that my experience of being long-term single feels a lot like my experience of being unemployed. I met all the basic qualifications for all sorts of positions but couldn't get an interview. As far as I could tell, I was qualified, just a little light on experience. I was applying to jobs literally every day for months and maybe every couple of weeks would get some sort of indication that my resume had been advanced before ultimately getting the rejection email. After graduation, I was unemployed for a full year and got four (4) interviews in that time, one of which was a follow-up interview for a job I didn't get. Finally I threw in the towel and went to grad school. Two years later, I got plenty of interviews and multiple offers. When the job I took didn't work out, I got an offer for an even better position in just a few weeks. It's hard to express the difference between those three job search experiences. I never even finished the degree!

My attempts at romance feel very similar to when I couldn't get an interview after undergrad. I might not be an amazing catch, but I think I'm more than qualified for a serious boyfriend role. And yet, even when I'm active on Bumble every day for weeks at a time, I'm doing well if I match with someone every couple of weeks. Usually they send their mandatory first message, I respond as appropriate and ask a question in return, and I don't get any sort of response. I assume they're getting plenty of matches with men more attractive and neurotypical than me, just as I assume engineering firms were flooded with resumes from students at better schools with higher GPAs. Believe it or not, that doesn't make me feel any better about getting zero traction for months on end.

Just as when I was trying to get a job, it ultimately feels like getting into a relationship is a matter fundamentally outside of my control, that I have no ability to influence. All I can do is wait and hope that something turns up despite mounting evidence that it never will. Getting to a first date feels like a Herculean task when even the women who explicitly said they were interested choose instead to ignore my attempts at conversation. Actually being in a relationship is starting to feel like pure fantasy.

Perhaps I'm looking for love in the wrong places; neither of the firms where I've worked full-time were places where I applied when I was unemployed after undergrad. Of course, trying to figure out where women who want to date a nerd like me might be is not exactly easy, just like trying to find new firms that have relevant openings isn't easy when you have a niche resume and interests. (Tumblr worked once and never again since for reasons that are basically inscrutable to me.) Ultimately, the way I found those positions was just being systematic in checking the careers webpage for every aerospace firm I heard about and putting openings in a giant spreadsheet. I'd apply to at least one position a day, and started getting interviews that eventually led to an offer.

But I think what actually made the difference was going to grad school. For the life of me, I can't figure out what the dating equivalent of an MS would be. The only thing approaching a real suggestion that I've heard is Vibe Camp. Beyond the logistical nightmares I hear about every year, I'm very skeptical that something like that would meaningfully increase my odds of getting a girlfriend. I've been to special interest conventions (with better ratios) before and there doesn't seem to be any romantic value—immediate or long-term—to the experience. So as far as I can tell, I'm just stuck until I luck into meeting my wife randomly.

[atopvisenyashill]

Pol!jon anon again I was thinking more of the version of pol!jon where he like forces an abortion on her and reveals that he loved Sansa all along. When I watched the show I was thinking he was attracted to Dany and wanted to be with her initially but grew more and more fearful of her and eventually did not want to be with her. So he wasn’t manipulating when the relationship started, but staying in it was a scheme. Imagine my shock when I read the script for the finale and it said that Jon loved her even after she burned KL. Bad writing and bad chemistry between actors. I can definitely imagine Jon remaining in a relationship for safety and politics as a defensive play, but the offensive angle of pol!Jon in which he initiates the relationship with no feelings or desire with the intention of killing her feels wrong especially if a forced abortion is involved

Okay I’m gonna go point by point here just for organization sake.

Pol!jon anon again I was thinking more of the version of pol!jon where he like forces an abortion on her and reveals that he loved Sansa all along.

Oh no lmao, I forgot about all the baby theories for s7 and 8 😭😭 No, I don’t think what MMD says is a prophecy at all, I think people focus on the WRONG things out of that whole scene, and while I think george is clearly cooking something re: dany’s fertility, that’s gonna be something so central to the story i don’t think anyone is gonna guess it 100% right so everyone’s guesses are weird as FUCK on this subject. but also not for nothing, i’m fairly sure the moontea theory was like one (1) person and then everyone just kept going “wow so ALL pol!jon people think he’s gonna force an abortion on dany they’re so evil” no, actually most people who thought pol jon might be real didn’t think for a second that boat baby was real lmao. it was just like a “making up a guy to get mad at” theory that got traction bc of the ship war.

i DID see some people theorize he might tell dany he’s in love with sansa but like thee Moment he had zero reaction to finding out he was Rhaegar’s child was thee MOMENT i knew we were not getting a single satisfying jon snow scene again and that whatever it is that happens in the books for him clearly went RIGHT THE FUCK OVER dumb & dumber’s heads 😭😭😭 so like, yeah i just didn’t think anything at all even a lil but juicy was gonna happen and what do you know i was pretty much correvt akskkd

i DO think there’s a high chance that threatening sansa is the most pressing reason for why jon & arya would attempt to kill her and i’ve definitely played with some gruesome theories just based on lines that i thought could be hinting at what they do but i don’t think there’s going to be any moontea drinking, forced or otherwise, involved. i certainly HOPE she’s not pregnant when/if she dies because i fucjing. hate that shit. but idk.

When I watched the show I was thinking he was attracted to Dany and wanted to be with her initially but grew more and more fearful of her and eventually did not want to be with her. So he wasn’t manipulating when the relationship started, but staying in it was a scheme.

Yeah I think that also makes sense and could plausibly happen in the books - I mean that’s basically what I kinda imagine in my head, that Jon may be fascinated with Dany initially bc she’s a Targaryen & dragon rider then turn on her but only in secret, just, without the sex lmao. I just personally did NOT see the chemistry and I remember when they made that “oh you got a lil crush Jon Snow?” comment in the show and i was flabbergasted and when they banged I was actively cringing and I thought maybe it was just my aversion to them as a ship but then everyone online was like “but they’re so cute in interviews what’s happening??!” aksjd. so i think like many people i was hoping there was a deeper reason he seemed so disinterested, like even completely putting aside the shipping aspects, i thought jon seducing dany so he could get a dragon made a sort of sense with his character. he’s certainly willing to play nice with stannis for help, and this would be a much more morally murky but logical next step. but i had zero faith in the writers, so i DID just assume it was going to be (the much more boring route imo) that he did initially love her, realized she’s too dangerous, but stayed in a relationship with her to get her support.

Imagine my shock when I read the script for the finale and it said that Jon loved her even after she burned KL. Bad writing and bad chemistry between actors.

LISTEN. The conspiracy theory HOLES i went down after that fucking finale. i was just like. there’s no way they wrote an ending THIS BAD. there’s NO FUCKING WAY. and then we get the script and it was WORSE???? he was really just snowed by her THE WHOLE TIME???????

i guess apparently being hot is NOT enough to compensate, we need ACTORS for chemistry okay, at least ONE PERSON needs to be able to emote to sell a love story lmaooo

I can definitely imagine Jon remaining in a relationship for safety and politics as a defensive play, but the offensive angle of pol!Jon in which he initiates the relationship with no feelings or desire with the intention of killing her feels wrong especially if a forced abortion is involved.

Yeah that was basically what I was getting at and why I made the Ygritte comparison - he has sex with Ygritte while actively plotting to betray her in a very personal way so I don’t think it’s a reach to say he could something similar again. I can also see it stretching into like, Jon makes the decision he has to kill her/help kill her but he hasn’t broken things off bc like, KL exploded and he’s busy rn or whatever. So certainly still offensive in that he’s actively manipulating her for his own ends and unlike with Ygritte, he doesn’t even return her feelings in any genuine way. VS like the completely defensive “he falls in love, realizes she’s too far gone, THEN betrays her” take. But starting a relationship with her with the express intent of murdering her and forcing an abortion on her if she gets with child? With everything we know about Jon Snow as he stands, that one is a reach. That could change in the future I suppose but I personally don’t see it likely to happen that way.

[orionsangel86]

Sincere question, your response to the like-scolding post doesn't make sense to me. I already reblog often, so I don't need convincing, but I also don't feel the need to convince others to and don't understand when people do.

If a blog was empty, you weren't going to follow them anyway. They have zero impact on your dash.

I don't understand why following the tags, following blogs that make stuff in the tags, using tumblr's orbit thing or blog suggestions wouldn't be anymore sufficient than asking strangers that may not even care who follows them to make your personal dashboard more interesting.

I was hesitant to answer this, because I try not to get too involved in general tumblr discourse and I already have had a few passive aggressive remarks about my response to that post. I don't wanna open myself up to hate here so please know that this is just my opinion at the end of the day. I am one person and I have been on tumblr a long time and my reasonings for all of this is simply that I love this stupid website and want it to thrive.

Let me start by clarifying that I have nothing against likes! Likes are great! Likes are exactly what it says on the tin - a way to tell someone that you like their post. So I didn't have an issue with the sentiment of the original post that likes are not meaningless and are instead a way to tell people that you like their stuff! That's great!

But your reasoning here is flawed because of how tumblr works. No matter how many likes someones post gets, if no one reblogs it it will dissapear into a void. Tumblrs tagging system is not great. Tumblr's "in your orbit" section is something that most people ignore and do not use. The userbase on tumblr finds posts by following blogs and relying on the blogs they follow to reblog posts. The posts that circulate far and wide on tumblr are posts that are reblogged by users. Posts that have plenty of likes do not help a post gain any extra traction or help spread it to those that may be interested in it. Posts that are just liked and not reblogged do not get circulated and will get forgotten about and never find their audience.

This isn't about lurker types who never reblog anything and therefore won't ever get followers (nothing against lurkers!), its about this strange mentality nowadays which tumblr never used to have which is that people seem to be more particular about the kind of posts they'll reblog. People seem more hesitant to reblog long posts, or writing posts, or anything that doesn't immediately grab their attention. There is an expectation that for a post to be reblogged it has to be of a higher quality that a post that you may reward a simple like.

I think it is heavily tied to cringe culture. There is a mentality that your blog should be heavily curated and therefore you should only reblog the highest of quality which you feel is worthy for your own blog - rather than just reblogging anything that you may like or find fun or interesting. It is very much an instagram mentality and its been creeping into tumblr over several years - and because of it, fandoms are dying, its far more difficult to find fandom content, and it is becoming much harder to engage and build community. People are hesitant to add comments onto reblogs nowadays - when back in the day that was kinda how tumblr worked! You reblogged with commentary and thats how legendary tumblr shitposts were born! That's how Supernatural fandom "always has a gif for that" started! Because back in 2014 people didn't care about what others on tumblr thought about their blogs, because their blogs were all about the fun, about committing to the bit, about engaging with each other and adding commentary and additions, and speculating about your favourite shows on long posts where you could have an entire community of meta writers each adding a bit of their own analysis so you ended up with a huge post that was absolutely mind blowing. That's how artists on tumblr could have thousands and thousands of notes and gain huge popularity and be able to make a living based on their fanart.

I miss it so. fucking. much.

This place is a graveyard sometimes. Even among my current fandom. I will post something and ask that people add commentary. I will state quite plainly for people to please engage and add their thoughts, let me know your opinions! There are no wrong answers! Lets joke, make fun of the characters we love, write dumb little thoughts and headcanons and engage with them via reblogs, add reaction gifs and images with speech bubbles and just soak up the joy that can be found in engaging with fandom in this way - and stop being scared that your reblogs will be judged by some external source, that you will somehow lose followers or make OP hate you if you dare to add a comment to their post (in which case OP can go fuck themselves as far as I'm concerned because I ADORE comments and additions on MY posts). Just ENGAGE. Because a like, whilst appreciated, is literally the bare minimum, and if all we are doing on this site is the bare minimum, then what is the fucking point anymore? If there is no real engagement and community, if you aren't interesting in actually talking to each other and sharing posts among each other and just interacting with each other, then tumblr will die. I find that so fucking depressing. So yeah, I had a bit of a moan on that post, because I don't think y'all newbies understand how good it used to be here. Quit with the instagram mentality and start actually engaging. Because if y'all actually listened and started doing that, you'll bring this place to life again, and find so much more joy in it.

[noodleblade]

Chance and Unlikely Circumstance 1/6

AO3 Link Next Part

A very self indulgent fic of these two being friends despite faction ties. I just like the idea of Smokescreen having a bit of hero worship over KO.:) uhhhh Enjoy?

Smokescreen knew he was probably disobeying orders but, in all fairness, he was bored . How much danger could a completely deserted open stretch of asphalt really be? He knew that line of question was asking for trouble, but it was the eighth dull patrol run he’d been sent on with no activity. He felt it was safe to assume the risk of danger was resting at the predictable zero percentile. 

See, Ratchet , Smokescreen thought bitterly, I do use my processor.

When he had joined the Autobots and Team Prime, a not so small part of him thought “this is my moment.” He had been hoping for it, counting on it ever since he was hand selected for the Elite Guard. He was destined for greatness…one day! It just hadn’t come yet, but surely now a member of Team Prime, his moment would come. Smokescreen had thought he was finally going to get a taste of the action, to be able to throw himself helm first into the fight. 

He hadn’t considered the fact that their numbers were so few on this organic planet and anonymity amongst the native species was crucial. He hadn’t realized how vulnerable their position was, how necessary discretion was. Still, he was willing to play by their rules and learn…or at least try.

Ratchet had not been happy with his selected vehicle mode. “Flashy racers,” the medic had grumbled as he scanned the alt for his database. Smokescreen would have been offended if the medic actually had taste. 

What was actually offensive was the medic’s insistence that he not use his alt for its intended purpose unless strictly necessary; something about speed limits and law enforcement. Why let the gage go that high if he wasn’t allowed to actually push it there? Smokescreen was finding that he was never going to understand the organics of this planet and their contradicting rules. Why make something if there was never an intention to use it for such a purpose?

Bee at least sympathized, knew the urge he felt to spin his wheels as fast as they could. He offered to spar instead, it just wasn’t the same. But Smokescreen ducked his helm and played along. His entry to the team hadn’t been as smooth and welcoming as he had hoped and he didn’t want to ruin his chance to be a part of something great, to help get their home back.

It didn’t mean temptation wasn’t there and patrols were the worst source. Alone on the road with no one around, Smokescreen could feel his resistance wane. 

One quick joyride couldn’t hurt, right? There was no one around, hadn’t been since the start of his patrol. He’d clock 120 in a matter of nanokliks and then he’d hit the brakes and no one, Autobot or human, would be the wiser! It was his best chance to burn off a little energy with almost no repercussions and the threat of being caught was basically non-existent. 

Smokescreen swept the area twice more for bots and humans, both visually and with his adaptive scanners. The most readings he got were the teeny-tiny furry ball creatures Jack called desert mice and they certainly weren’t going to rat him out. He grinned at his pun, knowing Jack would find it funny. Immediately, his grin dropped in realizing he’d have to keep that one to himself if he wanted to keep in good graces with the rest of the team. 

His reasons for holding back dwindled to nothing and Smokescreen tuned out Ratchet’s whiny voice from his processor. 5 kliks, that’s all it would be. No harm, no foul and no one had to know.

He floored the gas pedal. His wheels squeaked, struggling to grip the sandy road for a moment before the traction caught and he was off. The flat, straight road left no resistance, letting Smokescreen gain speed quickly. Internally, he was cheering; his field wide and giddy as his speedometer ticked past the double digits and toy with the triples. The dry, chilled desert air whipped past mirrors, whistling along his spoiler. His spark soared. 

Of course , that’s when his scanners picked up another presence. Great .

Twin headlights appeared in his rear view. Smokescreen hastily slammed his brakes to a more acceptable level, sending a quick prayer to Primus that it wasn’t one of those police officers Ratchet had hounded him about. He had received an audial full and was haunted by mental images of “the boot .” Miko had promised she’d bail him out if he ever got impounded but the very notion of being stuck in his alt and unable to move sounded like a hell worse than offlining. 

The headlights were approaching…quickly. They were gaining on him, especially now that Smokescreen had slowed himself to the appropriate speed, even going 5 miles slower than the speed limit to be safe. It was clear whoever was behind him was going much, much faster than the sensible 55 mph. He pulled himself to the right lane to allow them to pass ( yes, he had been paying attention to Jack’s driving lessons!!!). 

They didn’t look like police; glossy red finish with gold accents, not at all the matte white and blue he’d seen of the police vehicles of Jasper. Even the vehicle type was different, lower to the ground, more streamline…speedy. It was missing the obnoxious overhead lights too, though Ratchet had insisted that was not a sure-fire way to identify the local law enforcement. Perhaps they were just civilian humans on a joyride. That, at least, Smokescreen could approve of. Especially with a sweet ride like that.

The vehicle pulled up beside him, lowering their speed to match. The windows were tinted and Smokescreen couldn’t tell how many humans were inside. His alt only accounted for 5 which seemed typical but Jack had told him about some humans that liked to pile double the amount in even if it went against the safety guidelines. 

The engine revved and the humans flashed their headlights in a taunting gesture. Smokescreen couldn’t help but grin to himself. Organic or not, Smokescreen knew that universal request to race. 

Gleefully, he let his engine rev back, speeding up a touch before pulling back to their synced pace. Ratchet’s warnings fell to the back of his processor, a gentle whisper that easily was drowned out by the sound of twin revving engines. The red vehicles headlights flashed twice and that was all the warning Smokescreen got as it sped off. Smokescreen, left in their dust, could hear a mocking double beep of their horn, laughing at him. 

Cheater!

Well, two could play at that game. 

Smokescreen floored it, chasing after the red vehicle. The humans straddled the middle lane, making it impossible for Smokescreen to pass as he caught up. Mockingly, the humans tapped on their breaks, forcing Smokescreen to slow as they resumed their breakneck pace. They did this a couple of times, each time Smokescreen felt himself getting more and more frustrated. Maybe he should stop brake checking the citizens of Jasper, it was annoying. He pulled back a few feet, allowing some space between him and the humans blocking his path. 

Stuck behind them, Smokescreen eyed the emergency pull lanes. They were crumbled with red sand and debris littering it. He’d probably do more damage to himself than have an actual hope of successfully passing. Still, he weaved as if that were his plan, the red car before him following to block him. Quickly, he spun his wheel in the opposite direction, gunning it for the opening left. He managed to pull alongside, the humans just barely stopping themselves from clipping him as they attempted to swerve back into the middle. Smokescreen had to guess they paid a pretty penny for a car like that, not to mention the maintenance. For drag racing in the desert, the finish was immaculate. 

Smokescreen was astonished by the humans’ skills. For a few kliks, they stayed neck to neck, neither of them quite able to pull the lead from the other. Despite this, Smokescreen felt exhilarated. This was exactly what he needed. Already, the tension was leaving his frame, stress melting away as adrenaline took its place and for the first time since he crash landed on Earth, he was having fun .

A slight curve in the road was approaching and Smokescreen cursed to himself. It was curving to the left, forcing him in the inner lane. It would mean his opponent would be able to maintain a faster speed to still make the turn but Smokescreen would have to slow down, even just a few degrees. He wasn’t exactly sure when they would call for the “finish line” but Smokescreen knew he couldn’t risk putting even a few feet of distance between them. 

Recklessly, Smokescreen sped up , pushing himself faster than before as the red racer slowed to safely make the turn. Hopefully, if he timed it right, he would be able to pull ahead and then cut the brakes to make the turn safely. 

Unfortunately, the turn was approaching too quickly. He could get in front of the other vehicle but slowing down would be dangerous. Smokescreen knew he’d be fine. Ratchet would be pissed but ultimately, the damage to his frame would probably be quite minimal and could be repaired with ease. 

The humans were a different story. 

As part of his education , Ratchet had forced him to watch through an hour of human traffic accidents. It hadn’t been pretty. Car frames and Cybertronian frames were completely different and the metal of Earth was very thin and very fragile. Smokescreen could still remember the horrible crunch of the video as the cars crumbled like tin. Not to mention, human bodies were even more fragile and even if the crashes weren’t fatal, the injuries themselves could be grave enough to affect a human for their entire lifespan. 

He couldn’t risk that to the humans behind him. No just for his purposes of staying disguised and not causing trouble, but all he could picture of Jack, Miko and Raf in the car, crushed up, broken beyond repair. 

Smokescreen hit the brakes hard, the loose sand on the pavement making him lose traction and skid for a second before he regained control. The humans in the red car had no issue, overtaking him on the turn and zipping past him. As much as he hated losing the distance and knowing he probably couldn’t pick it back up, he knew this was the best decision. Everyone would be safe and Smokescreen could withstand a bruised ego, despite what Arcee might think. 

Ahead of him, Smokescreen watched the humans slow suddenly. Their brake lights flared brilliant red as they drifted, spinning 90 degrees until they came perpendicular on the road. Beside them, planted in the dirt was a green sign, making the Jasper City limits and unofficially marking the finish line.

Smokescreen pulled himself to a slow stop. With the humans blocking his path, he would have to wait for them to move before he could make an exit. Internally, he groaned. If they were anything like him and Jack when they pulled their little stunts around Jasper, then he knew they were going to be smug afts about it.

The windows of the red vehicle went down an inch, not enough for Smokescreen to catch a glimpse of who was in the car but low enough for their voice to carry. 

“Nice try, kiddo,” the human practically purred in self-satisfaction. “ Try being the operative word. I’d say you almost had me worried at that turn but you chickened out. Quite sad really, you might have had potential but-”

Irritation blinded Smokescreen. It was trash talk- trash talk by humans no less -and he knew it should affect him. And yet it did. 

“You only beat me because you cheated!” Smokescreen snapped, revving his engine threateningly. “Round two you won’t be so lucky.”

There was a pause from the human and Smokescreen for a moment grinned victoriously. That was, until, the human let out a bemused, “Oh my.” Then, he raised and lowered his window in a demonstrative measure.

Smokescreen realized his grave error immediately. His windows, unlike the humans in their car before, were still rolled up tight. Smokescreen may not completely understand humans, but he was pretty sure none of them had the ability to talk through a car’s closed windows. 

Fear gripped his spark as panic flooded his systems. He screwed up and he screwed up bad . Without a second thought, Smokescreen put himself in reverse and floored it, spinning around and taking off.

If the humans in the red car responded, he didn’t hear them over the wind whipping against his frame and his inner panic screaming in his audials. They didn’t follow and Smokescreen took it as a small blessing in this horrible scenario crafted from his own hubris. All he could do was pray that no one at base found out, that the human in the red car would think he was just a figment of their imagination and nothing more. 

Knock Out watched bemused as the little speedster scrambled away.

Young, dumb, and rebellious. Reminded him a bit of himself in his younger days, though not with such a tacky paint job. There was little doubt in the medic’s mind that the kid had aligned himself with the Autobots. There was no way he would have survived too long otherwise; too naive, too trusting. Knock Out knew he probably should report it, alert Megatron of Optimus’ newest recruit. It’d certainly earn him some brownie points and with Breakdown…absent, Knock Out was in need of some allies. 

Then again- Knock Out narrowed his optics at the fading tail lights -it had been a long time since he had a racing buddy. Maybe he could wait on that report for a bit, let himself have a bit of fun before passing him up to high command. 

Knock Out slowly pulled away from his parked spot, turning the opposite way the kid sped off too. He should be returning back, before his absence was noted. Not that it matters , he thought bitterly as he peeled off. If it was the grounders missing, then there was no reason to worry. Afterall, Breakdown had been missing for nearly two weeks and not a single mech aboard the Nemesis had even bothered to question why.

[girlierest]

The long debate of what is it really that makes everything I draw so fucking fundamentally hideous that it appeals to zero people. And whatfuckingever, draw for yourself as if my concepts and driving force was never for myself, I'm still mad someone who literally only draws half naked men facing left said that to me, who actively went out of my way to challenge myself by doing something new every time I pick up my tablet pen. Like are you fucking serious there isn't a ton of repetition or even a hard pattern between my body of work. Even the colour palettes I try to mix up to cover my bases. I don't want a weak spot/a colour I can't work with.

I know it's the style. It's too western, ofc it doesn't fit Gnshn standards. I could, and have, illustrated whole scenes. Never gets as much traction as someone's 15 minute doodle. The style is so ugly and western. The colouring style isn't painterly, isn't cel shading, isn't clean enough. I'm working on the colouring, idk if I even want to change my style or if I'm even capable. It took forever to even get to a point to step away from anime eyes and weak necks.

It's also not realistic enough. Not painterly/perfectly rendered enough. It's too cartoony, not a flawless portrait.

Idk where I'm even going with this rant. I would love to be an artist, and yeah whatever if you draw that technically makes you one in some capacity, but unfortunately I love art. And I'll never be good at it evidently. And it's fucking frustrating that I still care enough about it to try. It's not even remotely innate. Never had a talent for a damn thing in my life so it's just been conscious practice, drills, mistakes, experimentation, and repeat. For years. Nearing a decade. That's so fucking pathetic.

Idk what exactly to do. Putting it down and stepping away means I will need to relearn everything again inevitably because it has always been an acquired skill with years of daily practice in to improve, still going. If I step away from digital I will literally forget the already shit skills I have now, which means I have to relearn everything again. Hell, getting a Surface Pro and using it regularly for one semester in college resulted in having to relearn drawing on a normal tablet on my other computer all over again.

The dissatisfaction of accomplishing nothing also stems from broken childhood dreams. I've always wanted to be an artist. Since circa 2016-2017, I found a viable way to actually be one and aspired to it. Should I just fucking stop? I've had to talk myself down and out of my stupid fucking delusions of grandeur that I might one day succeed at these seemingly impossible goals for me specifically, but easily attainable for literally anyone else. It's so fucking frustrating.

[twopoppies]

Why do you think Harry doesn't do more to help Louis in his career? Like get Louis signed to a decent record label that people have heard of, get Louis promoted, interviews etc. Harry has contacts. I'm sure he could do so much more. He only has to ask the Azoffs. They can keep it private. I've seen the Azoffs work with Niall. Why don't they do more for Louis? Or did Louis sacrifice his career so Harry could be successful? I've seen Larries say that. Because at one point Louis was more successful than Harry, when he released back to you. I also wonder if Louis was lumbered with a kid that isn't his because of Harry, and one of them had to go deep into the closet? and that person was Louis. So did Louis suffer a lot because of Harry?

Well, first of all, we have zero idea of what goes on behind the scenes. So we don't know what Harry does or doesn't do to help Louis. You seem to be assuming he does nothing because you don't think Louis is where he should be. You're also assuming that Harry (or the Azoffs) can actually just snap their fingers and make things happen. We have no idea what sort of contractual obligations Louis has been tied up with all these years. What have the Azoffs publicly done for Niall? How do you know they're not doing anything for Louis? How do you know that Louis doesn't want to be with BMG? I mean, I'm not quite sure what BMG are going to do for him, but there's no record label that's actually "good". Also, I'd really wait to complain until we see what changes will be made when LT2 is released. It'll be his first time releasing music not being signed to Syco. I would imagine there will be plenty of interviews and promo. Frankly, I think this idea that it's Harry fault that Louis isn't where certain people, personally, think should be is absolute crap.

I don't know any larries who think Louis sacrificed his career for Harry. That sounds like a bunch of rad bullshit to me. And I'm not sure what you mean by Louis being more successful than Harry at one point. Back to You was definitely a big hit for him, and then Sony pulled it just as it was gaining traction. Again, we have no idea wtf was going on and whether that was related to what Sony wanted from Harry. I don't know what criteria you're using to determine "success". HS1 came out just a couple of months before BTY and I'm pretty sure it was a pretty solid success (although clearly not as successful as his next two albums). Anyway, that's neither here nor there, I don't think it makes sense to compare them that way.

No, I absolutely do not believe Louis somehow volunteered to be deeply closeted so Harry could fly free. I think BG may have begun as a promise to raise Louis' profile with some classic PR bullshit, but then it backfired and he's been saddled with this situation since 2015. I do agree that his career was definitely sandbagged, but I've always felt that what happened to Louis was as much meant to punish him, as it was a way to keep Harry in check. Louis may have suffered because he and Harry are a couple. But he didn't suffer "because of Harry". And I'd bet the farm that Louis would still have been held back even if they weren't together because Harry was always the chosen one, as far as Sony was concerned.

[n00bpunk]

Amateur's Guide to the Hellsite: a Post Written by Someone Who Stayed Up Way Too Damn Late

So, you've decided to make your first Tumblr. Maybe you're sick of TikTok/Twitter's shit. Maybe you just wanna live on the website where all the wacky shit comes from. Maybe you just want to try a longform blog format. That's cool. You're welcome here no matter what your reasons are.

However, it's very important to know that this site is not at all like most social media. There's a reason why this site has such a unique following, after all. If you try to approach it like you would Twitter or TikTok, you are gonna have a hellish time. I'm by no means an expert, and I can't exactly tell you how to become "Tumblr famous". I doubt any of the more influential Tumblr blogs know how they got there either. However, there are a few things you should and shouldn't do for the optimal Tumblr experience.

Reblog shit. I know this is the first point a lot of those "dear Tumblr newbies" type posts address, so I won't linger too long, but I cannot stress how important it is to reblog things. Due to the way Tumblr's algorithm works, you're more than likely gonna be recommended things similar to blogs you follow and tags you post in. Likes don't have much to do with anything, whereas reblogs directly help spread that cool post further and up the chances of it gaining traction. If you want to keep a certain type of content on you main blog and think that whatever you want to reblog won't fit, that's fine! There are always...

Sideblogs. Learn to utilize them. On Tumblr, you get a main blog that all likes, asks, and submissions will be tied to. However, you also get a massive number of sideblogs to work with. I'm not sure if there is a limit to the amount you can create. I have nine right now, and Tumblr has yet to tell me to stop. This blog is one of them. Sideblogs can also be password protected and set up to have multiple admins. If you're shy about reblogging to your main, set up a sideblog with zero ties to your main and dump everything there. Hell, that'll probably be very beneficial to you anyways because...

Tumblr is jank as hell. I adore this mess of a website, don't get me wrong, but it is a floundering pile of code with a lot of weird quirks and differences between mobile and desktop. For instance, you cannot enable asks on mobile. It is impossible. You have to log into Tumblr via a web browser just to turn on asks. The search function is better than it was, but still bad. You could remember a post by heart and Tumblr's search still may not be able to find it. There are a ton of visual glitches that we've just learned to work with. Posts that seem to have no notes but are Tumblr Famous. Asks disappearing into the abyss. It's a thorough wreck, and expecting it to be super streamlined like most modern social media won't get you far.

Don't look like a bot. Tumblr had, and honestly continues to have, issues with bot accounts that post explicit content and scam content. These blogs tend to have a distinct appearance and behavior, and accidentally falling into the patterns they use could get you blocked and reported without explanation. A few things that could get you pegged as a bot are: having your actual face as your pfp, making a lot of posts that link off-site, liking posts but never reblogging them, having your name as your username, and having a default blog theme with no additional color tweaks. A few of these behaviors on their own might be fine, but too many in conjunction will get you mistaken for a bot.

If you're going to bring discourse to this website, honestly just assume we either 1. Have already discussed it extensively five years ago or 2. Think it's the stupidest thing to argue over and will laugh at you. Because honestly, those are the two types of discourse I tend to see off-site. Besides, I don't think you really want to get into discourse on a site where people can and will write entire books to rebuke you.

There is no algorithm on your side here. Like I said, Tumblr's algorithm isn't as precise as TikTok's by any stretch. This site isn't tracking how many seconds you spend looking at each post, if you left a reply on it, if you wound up sending an ask to the blog, nope. You can use tags, sure, but that just means your posts will reach the people who browse or follow those tags. I don't think anyone on here really knows how to get Tumblr famous. And honestly, that's fine, because...

Tumblr is not a numbers game. If you don't announce it, no one will be able to see your follower count. Sure there are the notes, but sometimes posts will reach a high number of reblogs only because of someone else's contributions. Tumblr is less about amassing an army of faceless followers and more about building small communities centered around a few blogs. Each community has its own kind of subculture too. Just look at the difference between webcore aesthetic blogs and roleplay blogs. Self-ship blogs and animal husbandry blogs. If you join a community and interact with the other blogs in it for the sake of building connections and contributing to the community at large rather than just gaining attention, you will have way more fun here. Trust me.

That's all I can think of right now. If anyone else has anything, write it down. I'm going back to work.

[incarnateirony]

Do you know if the CW feels any impact from the audience of their shows in countries where they're not a channel? For example in Brazil there's no CW, but some of their shows are on the Warner Channel as well as stuff from other networks.

This one is a little more complicated, I'll start at "nyes".

Here's the thing: at the end of the day, the CW is an empty vessel. It has less than 400 employees, and technically even qualifies as a "small business" resultingly. It is an LLC, meaning it has no stocks, and can not be held accountable on the stock market and the executives there have a series of protections designed to keep them from taking personal hits.

Boycotting the CW is a method to plink the armor of its much larger parents. At the end of the day, the CW--shitty as its ethics, choices and influences are--are mostly beholden to its parent companies.

Does anyone remember when I told people, the second that Wayward was cancelled, that CBS was responsible, despite Wayward being a WB IP? I explicitly mentioned Moonves, and quoted his methodology on properties, ratings, streaming and more? Then dipshits like You Know Who tried to claim they knew better, and that I was crazy/stupid, and then like a month later one of the wayward women said at a M&G that the contractual breakdown was from CBS, and This Guy Named Moonves, and then there was radio silence and the You Know Whos emitted crickets, buried the conversation, and pretended it never happened?

That's because these things are related. They all influence each other, as per my last ask (x).

At the end of the day, the things that happened on, say, Supernatural are you actually being pissed at the WB. You can see the WB's historically failing Studio Responsibility Index on things like LGBT representation here at the GLAAD website. (x)

Just like a lot of the supreme BS attempted-but-massively-failing woke content tends to spew out of CBS trying to appeal to The Young Gays while segregating The Gay Stuff off their prime network that is historically way behind the others. They have no idea how to actually make or handle that content, but slap pride flags and a few Hashtag Fact phrases on content and plug it up the CW's ass to market it to you with more rainbows and a big impressive tally list of gay characters, that the You Know Whos of fandom insist make it a great representation channel, and bury the conversation that most of those are one-off or very minor characters, dead, or worse. They're there to hit a target that's a good talking point. Nothing else. They put a gay in the background of a poster somewhere so That Counts(tm) and look how progressive they are, make sure to attend his funeral next episode.

This may all seem like a huge aside to the initial ask but it's necessary framework to present, in association with the above-linked previous ask, on why holding the CW accountable is important. Because at the end of the day, be it the Nadria Tucker issues with WB/DC and their firing her for racist/sexist reasons; or the erasure of gays on Supernatural to the point there's clearly an order to their related syndication networks where they won't even air 15.09 or 15.18 again much less the finale; or the bullshit attempts at being woke on Walker where they think making ICE prisoners a talking point to launch a white man cop's story as relatable to an ICE officer's struggles is good marketing; to things outside of it, like--as posted by POLOL member Rebarn in the server,

-- these are people actually being mad at choices made by the CBS and WB. The CW is just a vessel to deliver it with minimal accountability and a PR mask people eat up like the gay candy they're trying to sell you even if it's just sugar free beaver anus flavoring.

But because of the size of these giant merged companies, like--trying to tackle WB head on for example is a fools' errand unless everyone pulled their heads out of their asses and ended this "I DO WHAT I WANT" personality and started heavily networking with say, DC fandoms and adjacent to do substantial damage to their franchises far larger. But, again, deferring to the above linked previous ask, if you knock out the CW as a content vehicle, even if it's smaller, you suddenly dent 6, 7, 8, 9 zeroes out of WB/CBS profits because you CAN knock down the CW, and change how they have to peddle their product.

To round full circle to your ask: just because the CW isn't in your country doesn't mean it does no good to boycott the content. Because the profit still goes to the IP holders (CBS, WB), and it's still part of the joint statement, as well as lowers the digital franchiseability of the products they're trying to resell on the market, internationally.

For example you know how internationally Netflix shows a lot of "Netflix originals" that are very obviously not originals, but are instead shows from other sources? That's part of The Rights Game. Initially CW and Netflix had a brokered deal of bulk packaging for a very large, very pretty price to them that helped bankroll them for years. This is also why CBS started shoveling absolute fodder content down the CW's throat that could run on just about negative ratings -- again, I point to the Moonves interview I cited as implication to why Wayward was bumped off the line -- so CBS could run away with the digital profits 100% licensing things in dozens or hundreds of companies. But CBS threw a goddamn hissyfit about merchandising rights when Netflix was like hey if we're gonna source all these shitty shows can we get like 10% of the merch value and CBS threw themselves on the mcdonalds playplace floor kicking and screaming, and then CW lost its legendary netflix deal which made them have to start peddling their content individually.

So if you cut off viewership of this content internationally, its franchiseability tanks, and CW continues to lose a huge part of its bankrolling value both with digital and to its parent companies using it as a vehicle to deliver content to shove into digital venues. The lack of the Netflix deal is why CBS is also wandering around like a pauper to platforms trying to find a home for its content--like convincing WB to host Walker on HBO Max, where I promise it's not going to do well. Most of its audience is beyond streaming age, and I promise no young 20 something is gonna open HBO Max and be like YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT TO WATCH, THIS YEEHAW COP REBOOT WITH JARED PADALECKI SPITTING IN A POT AND PULLING UP HIS PANTS. They're gonna fuckin' turn on Game of Thrones or something. Netflix, hulu, amazon don't fuckin' want it because they see that on the horizon. They're not gonna pay the money CBS wants for it. CBS All Access is for old people and they're too noncommittally fake woke just enough to piss off the Trumpers (points back to point about CBS content/representation way up there). So CBS DOESN'T EVEN WANT IT ON ITS OWN STREAMING PLATFORM.

Walker's housing arrangement on HBO Max is actually an early symptom of CW death throes, and CBS trying to figure out what the hell it's going to do once the CW goes under. It burned its netflix bridge, and soon won't have CW to try to float/sell/farm its content. Streaming apps don't want their content anymore. Their content underperforms.

So yes, absolutely boycott these products internationally. It adds to the weight of what's going on and continues to make CW less and less valuable on the front, continues to damage the actual IP holder parent companies and take their products to their knees, and continues to expediate the decline of it all in one network of fuckery. The same way the CW was a strength for its parents by webbing between them is now a way to drag them into a collective undertow and force bad business results on them all around, essentially inverting its value, expediting the rate at which they decide the CW is a money sink, and making them watch the 0s fly out of their bank account in a way that--say--trying to tackle the WB directly wouldn't accomplish.

CW no longer owns the rights to SPN, hence deleting its YT content. WB does. But WB has been feeling the crunch enough that brand new unopened S14 complete season blurays with specials are being sold under 10 dollars at walmart with 2$ off other movie tickets on the front and still not going off the shelves. That's them even trying to recover costs on releasing them to begin with. The WB tried to put out a mega 15 season uber collectors set giveaway enter by RT and got like, 300 RTs total. They need traction, they're not getting sales, and we're seeing the active results.

Continue to put heat on products that came by way of the CW as a result of their communal meddling being bad for business in any way possible, even after CW is no longer airing it and once the money is going straight into the IP holder parent company pockets. Not only are you then making The Correct People(tm) hurt, you're further devaluing the CW itself and accelerating its heat death which STILL will end up massively dinging the WB/CBS for reasons explained above in ways that kicking the titans in the shins itself wouldn't accomplish.

Hopefully that clarifies.

[thiswasinevitableid]

52 or 41 for the meet ugly? sternclay, nsfw if thats chill

Here it is!

52. you think I’m leering at you in the gym but really I’m studying your form and trying to learn how to make mine better Sternclay NSFW

This is the toughest part of Joseph’s workout, so he could do without the audience.

He first noticed the guy during his turn at the squat rack; taller than him, in a grey t-shirt and black shorts that show he has muscle to spare, with brown eyes that were on Joseph’s ass whenever he looked away. Were Joseph not in the middle of the kettlebell burpees sequence, he might even spare a glance of his own to see how he fills out the front of his shorts, but he’s tired and he’s been dealing with behind the back stares all day.

When he’s done, he takes a final look over his shoulder to see the guy still staring at him. Joseph locks eyes, watches his face flood with guilt as he becomes very focused on his shoes. He continues studying them, as if holding still might keep Joseph from coming closer.

“Okay, I sense you’re new here, so I’ll be polite: everyone checks people out at the gym now and then. But the rule is you don’t do it so fucking brazenly the other person notices.”

“I, uh, I wasn’t-”

“I counted you staring ten separate times, even when your workout had you facing away from me.” He crosses his arms, annoyed that the man has the gall to deny his blatant ogling.

“I, uh, I was studying your form” the newcomer rubs his wrist, sheepish, “I’m kinda new to, like, formal workout stuff, and you clearly know your shit, so I was trying to use you to figure out how to do my circuit without fucking up my spine.”

Joseph rolls his eyes; that’s the first lie anyone tells when they get called out for staring.

“I’m serious!” The man has the audacity to look perturbed. Joseph has zero interest in an argument but every desire to call his bluff.

“Well, if that’s the case, if we cross paths again you’re welcome to join me and I can give you pointers.”

With that, he heads towards the locker rooms. He doesn’t feel eyes on him once the whole walk there.

---------------------------------------------

“Hey.”

Joseph looks up from setting his fitbit to see his not-so-subtle admirer beside him. The taller man smirks, “you didn’t think I’d take you up on it, did you?”

“No. But I’m not about to go back on my offer. Or modify my work out if you join me. Make your choice accordingly.”

“Okay. What’s first?” His smile is friendly, but there’s a challenge in it. Joseph, who's been bored the entire day, is more than ready to rise to it.

“Jump rope. Nine minutes total.”

They find a spare rope for the other man, but he keeps getting his right foot caught.

“Drop your elbows some, when they’re too high it’s easier for the rope to catch.”

“Oh, thanks.”

His new gym buddy is winded when they’re done, but follows him eagerly over to the mats for his core workout. He’s better at that, though Joseph still has to correct the position of his back the first time. They move through cardio, weights, and cool down with no conversation that isn’t directly related to body position or technique. By the end, the newcomer is soaked with sweat. And..smiling?

“That was fucking brutal. Can we do it again some time?”

If you, um, really want to?”

“Fuck yeah.”

Joseph smiles back, “I’m here every day after work. So you can come find me…”

“Barclay” the taller man fills in his unasked question.

“Joseph. Oh, and try to get some shoes with better traction soon. You’ll have an easier time.”

---------------------------------------------

“You okay there?” Barclay looks at Joseph from the treadmill on his left, “you seem kinda low energy today.”

“I ate too small a lunch.” He hits the stop button, walks as the belt slows, “I’ll be fine once I fish my power bar out of my glovebox on the way home.”

“Or you could, uh, you could come get dinner with me? There’s a great spot two blocks from here; it’s my favorite stop after you put me through my paces.”

Joseph thinks about downing a protein shake while wandering his empty apartment.

“That sounds great.”

Barclay leads him to a diner, all yellow lights and red pleather. His friend orders a stack of waffles and fried eggs (“I’m not a big fan of syrup”) while he opts for a french dip and, on Barclay’s recommendation, a chocolate malt. When the server asks if it’s one bill or two, Barclay pays for both of them.

“Least I can do in exchange for the free personal training you’re giving me.”

“It’s not like I mind” Joseph offers him access to his french fries, “I like working out with you. I’ve, um, never had a gym buddy before. UP agents are considered weirdos at work, I’m considered odd for one of them, and, well, you’ve done my workout; it intimidates some people.”

Barclay looks at him across the formica, beard still a bit mussed from drying it after his shower, “Yo--uh, I mean, it is pretty intimidating. But like, in a good way. The kind that makes you wanna push yourself.”

Joseph allows himself a flirtatious smile, “I’m glad you appreciate it.”

-----------------------

Barclay: gonna miss workout tomorrow. Got a date. Promise I’ll let you work me twice as hard on Friday.

J.S: Have fun. And you know I will, big guy.

Joseph slips his earbuds in; he’s gotten so used to their easy conversation that his best of the ‘00s playlist is jarring in it’s place. But he falls into his rhythm, is halfway through his workout when a tall, familiar shape in grey shorts hurries through the door and drops it’s water bottle next to his.

“Is everything okay?” He pops his headphones out as Barclay shakes his head.

“Date was a bust; guy was so pushy I bailed after one drink. Figured if I caught up with you the night wouldn’t totally suck.”

Joseph grabs a second mat, lays it out, “I can’t do dinner tonight; since I thought you were busy, tonight is for running errands.”

“No big.” Barclay lays next to him, their fingers brushing for a moment before Joseph counts them down.

As the evening ticks away in sets and reps, he gets increasingly worried about Barclay; his friend begs off both squats and rowing, and doesn’t join him for the ten minute cool-down jog on the treadmill. He hopes it’s just a side effect of having a beer before working out and not something more dire.

The locker room is empty on their side, and he finds Barclay leaning his forehead on the wall outside one of the shower cubicles, taking long, deliberate breaths. His shirt is off, but he’s still in his shorts. When he turns, startled by Joseph asking if he’s okay, it’s immediately obvious why.

“Sorry” Barclay is doing his best to conceal his hard-on, “this is hella embarrassing.”

“It happens” Joseph aims for a pleasant shrug even as his own cock starts acting up, “lots of friction and, um, and all that.”

“It’d be less humiliating if it was that. I, uh,” Barclay is redder than Joseph’s ever seen him, “I put a plug in before my date and, uh, I was in such a hurry to come find you once it ended that I, I didn’t take time to pull it out.”

He forces his voice to stay gentle, to not reveal the heat burbling up from his stomach, “You could have just asked me to wait a second once you got here.”

“Didn’t think of it until I sat down on the mat and realized how much I could feel the fucking thing. Like I, uh, I said, I kinda had a one track mind when I got here. I” his brown eyes are Bambi-wide when they skitter from Joseph’s gaze, “I wanted to see you.”

Shoes squeaking on the wet tile, Joseph nudges him into the stall, “Is that really it, big guy? You went through all that discomfort just for a few more seconds of being near me?”

“Uh huh” Barclay whimpers, his big, broad frame shaking when Joseph presses him against the wall.

“That’s sweet. Do you know what happens to sweet boys when they’re good?”

His friend shakes his head, hair catching across his eyes. Joseph tips his chin up, lips slightly parted in invitation. Barclay groans and drops his head down to meet him. It is, without a doubt, the messiest kiss of Joseph’s life, all sweat and odd angles like his first time in his boyfriend’s den in the July heat. The parallel is heightened by Barclay instantly grabbing his hips and humping him through his shorts.

“Joseph, babe, please, please say this is okay.” His hands tighten their hold when Joseph licks a stripe up his neck; it’s sweaty, sticky, the kind of thing he hates in porn but damn him if the doesn’t want to lick and suck Barclay until he can taste him in his sleep.

“No, it’s not.” Joseph cups his face to keep the panic he sees there at bay, “because if you cum like that, I won’t get to show you the rest of your reward.”

“Re-reward?” Barclay actually squeaks, and what can Joseph do at such a sound but kiss him once more.

“Shorts off, water on. I’ll be right back.”

Water obediently patters on the tiles as he shoves his hand deep into his gym bag; god bless emergency laundry quarters and bathroom vending machines.

He strips, joins Barclay in the shower and discovers his cock is even more pleasing than it’s outline suggested.

“Lord almighty, you’re gorgeous.” He lowers to his knees, traces the path of droplets through the hair on Barclays stomach and chest. Then he removes the first condom from its pack, rolls it down the thick cock that’s just tempting him to abandon his plan, then slips the second one on his finger.

“Fuck, this has gotta be a dream, right? Because it’s the same one I’ve jerked off to for fucking weeks.”

“No, big guy, it’s not.” Joseph reaches between Barclay legs, “oh shit, you’ve been wearing this all night?”

“AHnnnuhhuh” Barclay moans as Joseph toys with the base of the plug.

“And you still did a huge chunk of our workout. I’m impressed, big guy, impressed and very, very, very pleased.” He kisses his cock on each very, Barclay letting out an “uhn” at each one. As he slides the plug free he continues, “To think, your date was so unpleasant he missed out on not only your charm and your handsome face, but the fact you were prepared enough to prep for him.”

“His loss is my gain ohfuck, Joseph, baby, please-” Barclays cock bobs in the air as Joseph teases his ass. When he presses in Barclay gasps, Joseph praying the droplets hitting the walls lend any escaping sounds an air of plausible deniability.

“Nice and open. Good boy.” Joseph slowly works his finger in and out, building up to two almost immediately. He nuzzles Barclays cock, “do you always bottom?”

“M-most of the timeOH, god” His head lolls back when Joseph takes his cock into his mouth, sucking lazily as he fucks him open, “I like it, makes me feel taken care of.”

Joseph eases in a third finger, let’s his cock fall from his mouth as water collects in his eyelashes. Barclay is staring down at him, hair several shades darker as it plasters to his face and eyes hopeful.

“In that case” Joseph times his upstrokes to his thrusts, “how about you come to my place on Sunday? I’ve got a whole box of cocks to choose from; we could work our way through them.”

“Yes, ohfuckyesplease.”

“We could play around with positions too” He can see Barclay’s muscles flexing in new ways as he begins bucking his hips, chasing the tender pressure of Joseph’s fist, “I bet you look great on all fours, and I know what you look like with your ass in the air already. You in my lap, that could be fun--oh, ohshit” he laughs as Barclay nearly fucks himself off his fingers, “you like that, like the idea of sitting in my lap like the big, sweet boy you are while I fuck you, like the thought of cumming on my cock and then going to fetch the next one, of me not letting you stop until we’ve been thorough and found your favorite because that’s what you deserve-”

“Fuck!” Barclay moans, hands slipping on the tile as he floods the tip of the condom. Joseph adds “get tested” to his mental to-do list while the other man slides down the wall like a slasher victim until they’re face to face on the floor.

“You okay, big guy?”

“Can’t feel my legs.”

“That’s just the lunges talking.”

“Please” Barclay kisses his shoulder, “please let me suck your dick.”

Joseph smacks the handle until the water turns off, scrambles to his feet and clings to the “no-slip” bar as Barclay shoves his face between his legs. He sucks his cock, occasionally opening his mouth enough to licks his folds. He’s so eager, even tries fucking into him with his tongue, big hands groping his ass while Joseph stifles his moans in his forearm. He’s going to cum in the gym shower, he’s going to cum from his first blowjob in years, he’s coming to cum from the astounding, impossibly hot man below him who he intends to dom into next fucking week-

He cums hard, the hand not bracing him on the wall dropping down to stroke Barclays hair. After a moment, he tries to grab his towel from where he tossed it, Barclay smiling up at him.

“Hey, Joseph?”

“Yes? Hah, got you” He pulls the towel in.

“I was staring at your ass that first day. I mean, I was mostly looking at your form but there was for sure some ass appreciation.”

“I fucking knew it.” Joseph begins drying him off, “just for that you owe me dinner again.”

“Thought you had errands.”

“Shit. How do you feel about a romantic, pre-dinner Target run?”

“I’d love it.”

[ckret2]

GVK spoilers below, about conspiracy theories

I’m gonna get around to posting all my GVK reactions but this one got long so I’m putting it in its own post.

The Monsterverse series, in both KOTM and GVK, has some pretty interesting things to say about conspiracy theories and ecofascism; but, unfortunately, it doesn’t REALIZE that it’s saying any of them, so it keeps dropping the ball and missing opportunities to explore them.

Starting with KOTM, “there’s too many humans so we’ve just gotta let some die and that’ll fix pollution 🤷” is like false ecofascist claim #1 but at no point in the movie was it challenged as unfactual, it was just presented as a sad truth that people have to do morally ambiguous things about. Except that it’s just literally mathematically not true!

Emma could be such a GREAT, believable character—especially in this world with, like, frigging QAnon nonsense getting such widespread traction—showing a compelling, realistic tragedy of how this normal, intelligent, well-educated white mom who otherwise is likely left-leaning (pro-environmentalism, pro-nature conservation, got a doctorate and generally more academia correlates with more liberal ideals) got sucked into a far right ecofascist doomsday militia that combines hokey pseudo-environmentalist propaganda with “in balance with nature” semi-religious mysticism, because she was exploited at a time when she was emotionally vulnerable (when her kid had just died) and was lacking healthy emotional support (when her husband turned to alcohol and then ran off).

... Except the movie never says that her “overpopulation” beliefs are WRONG. It says that they’re RIGHT, and she was just forced to choose between two losing scenarios—deliberately kill most of humanity to hopefully save a few, or watch humanity kill itself.

Nobody bothers to mention that the size of the population isn’t the problem, it’s the disproportionate pollution coming out of first world countries. Nobody bothers to mention that when Emma talks about “overpopulation” and shows a screenshot of an overcrowded neighborhood, it ain’t affluent downtown skyscraper condos in Europe or America that she’s highlighting, but large masses of poor people whose neighborhoods look “dirty” to the white woman’s eyes, despite the fact that they’re contributing the least to humanity’s carbon footprint.

Emma’s beliefs are empirically wrong, and if KOTM had ever demonstrated that, it would’ve been brilliant. Instead, it tries to say “she was right, she just went too far,” and in doing so loses an opportunity to make Emma a deeply believable, timely, realistic, well-meaning but wrong villain.

And now we’ve got GVK, which has swerved away from the ecofascism but doubled down on the conspiracy theories. Here, Emma’s daughter, who was raised for five years with what amounts to a survivalist doomsday cult’s beliefs, when faced with the grief of her mother’s death and the struggle of trying to reconnect to her estranged father, turns—again—to conspiracies to make sense of the world around her. Because that’s what Madison’s been raised with, and even though she got disillusioned with the particular “we know something special that the normal people can’t handle” beliefs that she was raised with, that kind of thinking is still what she knows. She’s still doing what her mother raised her to do! She’s still pulling the “hypercompetent highly-trained lone wolf ‘survivor’ saves the world” shtick that Jonah’s gang taught her to do—but it’s never brought up that it was screwed up to raise a child like that and it’s screwed up for her to still be interacting with the world like that.

At least THIS conspiracy theorist isn’t literally advocating for global genocide. Bernie’s focus largely seems to be on “this corporation is trying to screw people over and screw up the environment—” (because in Monsterverse, as in Toho monster movies as a whole, kaiju/titans and the environment are symbolically conflated, so if a corporation is messing with Godzilla then they’re messing with nature as well) “—so I’m gonna find out what they’re up to and be a whistleblower.” Which is great! Solid start! We’ve got a guy taking aim at big business and who says “when the weather Godzilla acts erratic, it’s not random chance, it’s because a big business is doing something it shouldn’t,” so it looks like we’ve got a leftist conspiracy theorist, that’s different, could be interesting to explore.

Except then he starts talking about governments serving a “global elite” and facilities built by “lizard people” and then we’ve swung right back around to the far right by casually dropping in a couple of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Add that in with the whole “hollow earth” thing and damn, we’re namedropping a lot of antisemitic conspiracy theories, aren’t we? Granted, most conspiracy theories ARE antisemitic—but like, they could have dug around for some that aren’t. Have him talk some more about Roswell. Have him bring up things that we’ve actually got documentation happened and theorize that MKUltra research was used in Apex’s development of their pilot’s psychic mind link to Mechagodzilla. Have him bring up tailor-made-for-the-Monsterverse conspiracy theories that don’t exist here, “Monster Zero is actually the secret weapon of a nearby ‘Planet X’ that’s gonna invade,” whatever. Instead, nah, we went with the antisemitic ones.

Now, do I think the writers behind KOTM and GVK intended antisemitism? Do I think they’re closet alt-right trying to dogwhistle the fascists in the audience? No, I think they think they’re making fun of—or playing around with—what they see as harmless, unbelievable, way-out-there conspiracy theories. I think they know just enough about “hollow earth” and “global elites” and “lizard people” to make references to them, but not in a way that promotes the common antisemitic understanding of those theories as true. (Monsterverse’s hollow earth, a weird underground jungle where King Kong lives, sure doesn’t resemble the usual conspiracy theory.) To me, the way they were used suggests the writers didn’t deeply understand (or at least, didn’t deeply think about) what the theories really mean—nor what they imply about the beliefs of the characters who espouse them. Which is the crux of my issue with how the movies deal with conspiracy theories and ecofascists and so forth (beyond the fact that, hey, I just don’t like seeing likable characters casually referencing antisemitic beliefs): the writers didn’t think about the implications.

Because these things do imply a lot! For example, if, say, Josh, total newb to conspiracy theories, had asked about lizard people, I would have grimaced to hear it but I would have believed that he’s a teen boy that picked up the term at school and doesn’t know anything about what’s behind it. But on the other hand, I can’t believe a guy so deep in the conspiracy theory world that he bathes in bleach doesn’t know exactly what those conspiracies mean—or, even if he does somehow staunchly refuse to believe that “lizard people” is a code for “Jewish people,” that whatever circle of conspiracy theorists he runs with doesn’t use it as a code. Bernie didn’t pick up those beliefs in a void. I really doubt that’s what the writers wanted to imply about the goofy likable underdog with a podcast.

And sure, the “global elite” and “lizard people” references are presented like a “haha look how far out his beliefs are” joke—the same as the fluoride reference, which is basically Hollywood code for “bogus nonsense only complete lunatics believe” thanks to Dr. Strangelove—but at the same time, they’re never really disproven. Nothing he believes is challenged. Nor are any of Madison’s beliefs that she’s picked up from him. Everything they both believe is either a “wow that’s wild” throwaway joke, or else they’re presented as totally right, e.g. about Apex being up to dubious crap that’s irritating Godzilla.

Just like Emma, who was presented as in the wrong not because she was incorrect but because she WAS correct but took the wrong actions. And just like Rick in KOTM, who kept bring up the hollow earth theory like a running joke but then the joke was that he was right.

And that’s at the root of the issues with both movies’ portrayals of conspiracy theories. Aside from the jokes that are never explored (and therefore, never disproven), the movies say that, every time it matters, the conspiracy theorists on the fringe are correct, the heroes that need to be believed. Even though all (excluding Rick) are characters who have suffered deep loss, who have been hurt, who you can imagine as passionate but grieving people who turned to dangerously wrong extremism in their search for meaning... the movies don’t portray them as people who have been led astray by their pain, but enlightened by their pain. Which is what they themselves think they are, sure, but that doesn’t line up with reality.

The movies never forces them to grapple with how far they’ve gone astray from reality—and I think they should. I’d like to see them processing the revelation that their beliefs are wrong. Whether it’s as big as somebody trying to convince Emma that killing half the population doesn’t fix the pollution caused by corporations rich enough to weather a global hurricane, or as small as Bernie looking at Apex’s financial records and realizing the company’s money is going to the CEO’s vacation home rather than a reptile government and deciding to rethink those beliefs after they’ve checked out Hong Kong.

“Conspiracy theorist is right about everything” is already a common enough trope that Monsterverse isn’t breaking any new ground with it. And in a franchise like Godzilla, whose movies are rife with messages both allegorical and literal about environmentalism, corporate exploitation, the futility of military action, international politics, war crimes... letting the conspiracy theorists be wrong and showing that they’re wrong and what that wrongness can lead to would mesh far better with the themes of Godzilla.

Think about Jonah and Emma unleashing Ghidorah (who emerged from a destroyed ice cap and immediately caused devastating hurricanes—a perfect metaphor for climate change), and what that could say about how ecofascists who purportedly joined the movement because they support environmentalism are actually far more in bed with the destructive industries really at the root of environmental damage... if the movie acknowledged them as ecofascists.

Think about how Jonah collected Ghidorah’s head at the end of KOTM and by the time of GVK it was in Apex’s hands, and how this exchange demonstrates that “I want to unleash titans to destroy humanity to save the environment” Jonah the ecoterrorist and “I want to beat the titans to protect humanity” Simmons the billionaire CEO actually have far more similar ideals beneath the surface of their opposed goals—ideals that have less to do with the environment or with humanity and more to do with securing personal power and control... if the movie had explained how this exchange took place.

Think about how Madison’s mother died trying to mitigate just a little of the damage she did under the thrall of a doomsday cult’s skewed beliefs, how even though Madison broke free she found herself embroiled in similarly skewed beliefs just three years later, and how powerful it would have been if she recognized that she herself had walked right back into the kind of fringe beliefs her mother had led her into as a child, and if she had then resolved to learn how this kept happening to her and break this pattern... if the movie had ever let her realize that she was making the same mistakes, or even acknowledged them as mistakes.

There’s so much potential there, so many things you can see happening right beneath the surface... but the movies never touch on them. And so it looks like, in Monsterverse, all fringe beliefs are either right or harmless. And we never get the “disillusioned conspiracy theorist” story that could be so brilliant and that, right now, would be so relevant.

[starlightsearches]

Writer Q & A

Thanks for the tag @daydreamsofren! This was fun 🥰

1) How many complete fics/one shots do you have that you have not published (yet)?

Zero. Unfortunately I am not very good at delayed gratification, and so I typically post stuff as soon as I've finished. When I first started writing Office Romance, I had at least two chapters done before I posted the next, and then I got behind and I haven't been able to catch up since. I'd love to be the kind of person that could let something finished sit in my drafts while I work on the next part, but it doesn't look like that's in the cards for me.

2) How many WIPS do you have right now?

Around 20 apparently.

3) Do you take writing requests or write original ideas, or both?

I do both! I typically prefer requests, since it's fun to take a prompt and put my own spin on it. Prompts are also more motivational—I work on ideas I come up with on my own much slower.

4) If you do take requests, how many do you currently have?

I currently have 11 right now! I like to have somewhere between 10-15 requests in my drafts so that I can jump around if needed.

5) How many fandoms do you write for?

I tend to focus on individual characters, so I don't know if I'd really call it writing for a "fandom." There are a handful I like to write, but mostly I get requests for Hux (which makes sense because he's my favorite.)

6) Are there any fandoms you wrote for in the past that you no longer write for? I

Nope.

8) Niche fandoms/characters you write for?

It's gotta be Hux. I love that greasy little man 🥺

9) Do you read fics as well as write them?

Yeah, although I go through more ups and downs with reading than I do with writing.

10) What is your favorite genre to write for?

Uhh, I love angst, and fluff and probably smut

11) What is your favorite trope (to read/write)?

Mutual pining, friends to lovers. I'm more comfortable writing the beginnings of a relationship rather than something in the middle.

12) What do you do to get motivated to write?

Read other fics, or daydream. I'll also read back through old comments or read my own stuff that I liked.

13) Is there a trope/genre you like to read, but not write?

Fake dating. I don't know if I could do it justice but it is one of my favorite tropes.

14) Any characters/fandoms you want to write for that are never requested?

Not never requested, but I do really like Frankie Morales and Benny Miller from Triple Frontier, and Laszlo Kreizler from The Alienist.

15) How long have you been writing fanfiction?

A little over two years. I started at the very beginning of 2020.

16) Did you read fan fiction before you started writing?

A really long time ago. I used to read Star Wars fics about Kylo and Hux when TFA came out, and then I stopped before writing my own.

17) Do you only post on Tumblr, or any other sites as well?

I post here and on AO3, but I started on AO3. I don't think I could handle wattpad 🙃

18) What do you personally consider the word counts of “Drabble”, “One shots” and “fics”?

Idk, mostly I just go by vibes. I really don't look at the word count of most of the stuff I write.

19) Which do you prefer to write more? HC, drabbles, oneshots/fics, multi chapter stories, other?

I like oneshots/fics the most. Anything that involves planning suddenly turns into 4D chess in my head and I have a way harder time finishing it.

20) Are there any stories you have discontinued? If so, why?

I don't know. It's hard to say that anything is discontinued because when I look back at what I've written I really like it. I'd say Indecent Arrangements, but I still think about it all the time, so maybe there will be a chapter update soon.

21) What is one of your main “pet-peeves” as a writer on Tumblr?

Uhh, I guess it's hard to tell why certain stories get less traction than others. I don't like how much time of day/the tag function/whatever else plays into whether or not my stuff gets noticed.

22) Do you write at a particular time of day?

I'm a much better writer at night, probably because I'm too tired to be mean to myself.

23) Do you listen to music, ambiance/noise, etc to write or do you need silence?

I have two playlists full of slow-ish music that I listen to while I write. One is called Rainy Days, and the other one is called It's Folkin' Fall, Babey!

24) Do you outline your fics at all before writing?

Only if they're complicated. Indecent Arrangements and The Runaway both have outlines, but none of the others.

25) Do you post your writing as soon as you finish it, or do you schedule it to come out at a specific time/day?

Once it's done, even if it's the middle of the night. I should probably hold back on stuff more so that I can make edits before I post it, but I'm too impatient 🙃

No-pressure tags: @generalthirst, @thembohux, @girl-next-door-writes, @jynzandtonic and anyone else who wants to participate!!