#it makes me think of middle school is actually good ways

[fshoulders]

So I was actually taught French in classes that weren’t sticklers for accent or pronunciation. In the crucial middle years of study where we had a very good teacher who had a pretty strong Midwestern US-English accent on her French despite having studied at the Sorbonne, and that may have shaped the approach. It was mostly fine! Those of us who cared about accent could work at it and those who had tin ears for it were not shamed or penalized academically.

However, somehow this meant no one ever pointed out the difference between “ou” and “u”. Do not ask me how we never noticed that we were saying “on top of” and “below” exactly the same way, but I felt like a huge fool when I did an exchange trip to Lyon and figured it out! Especially since my parents (both of whom studied French in school) had taught us the French ‘u’ sound as children, as like…a car game. (Yes, my parents are big nerds too.) So I knew exactly how to make the sound! But I had never been told which words/spelling required it: I can only think because emphasizing that pronunciation would have been awkward for students who couldn’t learn to say it or perhaps even to hear it.

So it can go too far!

P.S. I came back from France with a specifically teenage-sounding Lyonnais accent which faded over time, and I’m very sorry I can no longer produce it on demand. My relatives in the South of France were the first to point this out to me, and they thought it was pretty funny!

I think we need to stop aiming for native level accents when it comes to language learning

[girlwithadragonheart]

I need to yap desperately about one single gripe I have with this game. MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD read at your own discretion

The first half is me ranting about how much certain things mean to me and how impacted I was, and the actual gripe comes closer to the end.

I'll preface this by saying this post is about Varric's death and my rage and despair regarding it, but more so about my Rook's.

I've seen people who said they picked up on the hints about whatnot, who knew before the Fade Prison. I was not one of those people. I was so relieved when I saw him after the Prologue that I didn't think twice, because I knew that it would destroy me the second shit started going wrong.

I was already not having a good time when I started the game simply because Varric was getting older. I don't handle aging well or death, and his design showing his age, and the comments he would make about "getting too old for this" just made my heart break.

And then shit got worse. I sobbed disgustingly when that knife went into Varric's chest.

After Rook woke up from talking to Solas and she heard Varric, I was so gods damned relieved. And my Rook was better taken care of by Varric in that year she spent with him than she was in the rest of her entire life.

I cried from the end of Ghilan'nain's fight until the romance scene and on and off after that. I got so used to visiting Varric just to be comforted by his presence. Inquisition was the biggest part of my life for a year and a half when I was just a kid.

I did really bad middle school age writing for it but regardless of the quality, those characters were built up in my head becoming even more than they were in the game. Varric was my biggest support character through everything I was going through at the time.

I don't talk about it much, but I didn't have a great childhood, and I know a lot of people didn't, but I coped with it through writing and video games. Varric was the one supporting me through the abuse I suffered and writing was the way I processed how bad things really were.

When Rook was in the prison she said "What am I going to find here?" And Varric said "I think you already know, kid." I DIDN'T until he said that. The second he said that my entire chest tightened and I just said "No" out loud as I watched Rook find his body.

Now for my real complaint!!!

Rook never gets the chance to grieve Varric. They go from talking to him every day to finding out he's dead and it was all a lie. I have personally never been more fucking pissed at Solas than I am now. But Rook comes back and they have that kind of "closing off" scene with Varric's empty bed (which was so hard to go through btw). And then they fuck their pookie LIKE I CANNOT BE THE ONLY ONE UPSET ABT THAT

FYM I gotta find out my dad is dead and then Rook is up for boning like there's no fucking way unless it's to cope. And at least pertaining to the Lucanis romance, Rook is processing everything that happened and they can say "So much has happened, I just don't know how to feel."

And rather than getting to process that in some kind of way, the devs said nah this scene serves one singular purpose, and Lucanis says "I do" and then dicks them down.

Personally, I felt very dismissed despite being overjoyed about finally having the romance scene, I couldn't even enjoy it with everything that happened prior.

Rook deserved the chance to completely break down after everything they went through. Tbh i don't know how they kept it together. Varric said "don't get all misty eyed" and i thought to myself that's way too delicate a term for what's happening here, I was fully ugly crying.

Fuck your "I had a good run" I still need you bitch.

All this to say I'm very upset, and I'm running my second playthrough and every time I look at, hear, or talk to Varric I tear up again. Wtf Bioware.

Rook should've gotten the chance to actually talk about what Solas did to them, especially in the sense that he made them believe Varric was still there. Or at least get to properly grieve the person who was their closest friend for a long time.

I have very strong feelings about this obviously

[124ndm]

villain!deku rambles.. eeerrmmm

i rlly want to start a comic about villain!deku, but im a little hesitant because i feel like it would be WAY too big of an undertaking for me..

but if ur at all interested, my ideas are below the cut. ^_^

My concept would start with the sludge villain incident. Other heroes get to saving bakugou before both midoriya or all might. This, in turn, means that he never gets OFA.. and never joins the hero course (yadada im sure this has all been written before). However I DO think that he would still join UA. Thats really my main motivation behind making a comic like this. In a lot of villain!deku stuff I see, he tends to abandon hero work altogether.. which i just dont think he'd do!! midoriya is VERY determined when he has his mind set on something, so I feel like he'd find some way to go to UA one way or another.

So, what would make him a villain then?? Well, it would definitely be a gradual build-up overtime. Assuming he takes the support-course route (which ig would make this a mashup of two aus, LOL), I think it would start with him helping vigilantes. Low-level illegal heroes convince him that by making support items, midoriya can advance in his field. He keeps doing these sorts of favors, knowing its unethical, out of a desperation to feel useful and help the 'heroes.'

I also think as a sort of parallel to bakugo, he'd start hanging around bad classmates like bakugo did during middle school. Being in a support course as opposed to a hero course means a very different demographic of students. We see a lot of instances IRL of students going into engineering good intentions, only to throw away morals for higher paying jobs (i'm sure yall have seen those Lockheed Martin tiktoks, need I say more 💀). We know characters like mei hatsume are very honest and dedicated to their craft, but what are the lower-level students like? What about the other classes? We don't really see much of that, so I think it'd be fun to explore the morally gray students of UA.

I think his final breaking point would be when he gets in kahoots with Giran. I don't think giran would immediately clock midoriya as a potential recruit, but instead would change his mind later: seeking out midoriya after Shigaraki shows interest in bakugo. (sure, they aren't in the same class anymore, but both of them being in UA works as a convenient connection).

After midoriya gets with shigiraki, I believe he'd certainly get a quirk (whether or not midoriya actually wants it, Im sure theyd give him one anyways. more power to their organization, and more leverage over midoriya). Soon after, the LoV would get into an altercation with class 1-A, which would probably get him expelled. Although, in-turn, fuel a stronger disproval towards hero society (and also compel izuku to get better at using his quirk, knowing that he has a lot of catching up to do).

And duh as the cherry on top, there'd be bkdk angst.. bakugo only realizing that midoriya got into UA after seeing his association with the league. The weird guilty feeling bakugou would get knowing that a kid he bullied ended up becoming a villain, but also pure anger at knowing that he even got into UA in the first place. And also, the inevitable midoriya/bakugo fight that would happen when the league and class 1-A have more encounters.

I haven't exactly decided on how to end it, but I feel like it would end with either a redemption or something similar to the whole togachako situation. More likely a redemption because, lets be for real here, midoriya is so kind-spirited that even as a villain: he'd probably fold when faced with a genuine bakugo apology or heart-to-heart All Might encounter LOL.

anyways im deffff yapping here, I did NOT intend for this post to be so fucking long HELP. I just really wanted to get my stupid ideas written down. Like i said earlier, this has prob been done before if we're being quite honest.. but I still I think making a comic like this would be sooo fun. But godd i am NOT a good writer so I worry that I would start and then never finish. aaaaah 😭😭

I'll just have to see if my motivation sticks around these next few weeks. If so, I'll probably start drafting this out!! If I do lose interest, well then.. this'll be the last you hear of my villain!deku rambles LMAO. I rlly hope I don't lose interest because this would be the first time ive written since like, early high school, and I really want to get back into writing again. Even in comic form, any kind of writing would be great practice for me. Dx

[listleven]

A SUCCESS STORY FROM POWERFUL LITTLE ME

Heres a little wake up call. Before learning about the law I used to be so delusional. So far gone from reality like. Ignorance was fucking bliss I was manifesting crazy shit and when I realized this was the work of loa, I doom scrolled to educate myself on something I was already good at. Let me show you a glimpse of what I used to do.

When I was in middle school I had learned about manifesting. And I went about it in a strange way. I was a really good student up studying always made me a little crazy. School made me a little crazy. And I would pick myself up and go every morning because I had to. I preferred school over home but I hated both. So I was kind of indifferent to it. At this time I heard of manifesting. It was the end of December and I was just sick of school. So utterly sick I wanted to never come back. And I don’t know what made me do this but I would swear up and down that something was going to happen to me and I wasn’t going to school. And I kept saying this to myself to motivate me to pick myself up. (I have no idea what I was on, I was so delusional) I didn’t know what I was doing like I still went to school everyday but i was just joking around a little off my hinges you know. Anyway i got appendicitis 💀. And I stayed home for a the whole of February 💀.

I didn’t connect this to manifesting bc it seemed like a coincidence and I had been having stomach pain + frequent hospital trips for a few months so it was like it already happened. Anyway I went back to school and my home room teacher was my English teacher. And in English we had this thing where we wrote a book entry everyday and after two weeks we turned them in. Now I was always on time with this but since I had surgery I didn’t do mine and procrastinated on it even when I went back to school. So the Friday I woke up and figured she’d check them I was so scared it was the due date. But again idk what possessed me but I woke up shook my head and decided she wouldn’t come to school even though she never specifically skips Fridays.

I turned out she fell down some stairs and didn’t return for the rest of the year. The guilt ate me up. I confessed 😭. I told my friends it was me. She was already over weight and I was so worried. I did this with my math teacher when I didn’t do the hw but she always came back the next day. From that day manifesting scared me. I didn’t use subs, meditations or anything I just knew in a disregarding way.

After a horrific few months of introspection. I’m understanding things and have been consistently manifesting things for myself the past few days. Now I want to point a few things out. Me manifesting getting appendicitis took ignoring my life and having a “feeling”(It was NOT a feeling I was delusional asf and made things up to help me cope) but I persisted without knowing it would ACTUALLY happen. It took a month of persistence while manifesting my teacher not coming took an hour. There was no goal. I already had what I had wanted and in both cases didn’t care for the 3d. I didn’t do anything wrong to delay my manifestations the first time. I simply did not care about time. Or about 3d. Because i didn't even know what i was doing at the time id never heard of loa just manifesting. It didn’t matter that it manifested in a month and the other in an hour. I didn’t waver during either. I was a delusional ahh kid. I didnt do any of those things bc I didn't know what i was doing. I think it was escapism. Trying not to identify with my reality in order to bear it. And on feb 1st i had gotten surgery.

Another thing. I was religious during this time bc of my family. So I definitely had limiting beliefs but that did not stop anything. Despite having them I manifested what I wanted. When we only focus on tackling limiting beliefs we make them worse by giving them value and over stressing them. I will get more into this in a future post just wanted to point out that if 12 year old stubborn, crazy, delusional, religious, me could do it so can you.

~ With love Jyspire

[thumperdaetime]

the music is punk because it challenges the norm. the clothing is punk because it challenges the norm. the politics are punk because they challenge the norm. it's not a sound, or a look, or a book, or a slogan. it's a way of thinking that puts radical acceptance and relentless pursuit of joy, face to face with a world that wants you dead. you can't put a price on it. the disabled woman that says "fuck it people know I can't hold my blatter anyway. I don't care if they can tell I'm wearing the rehab-provided brief. Get me my bright lipstick I'm going to bingo!" is flexing the same muscles as the suburban white boy who steals eyeliner from his conservative mother. they are both people using identity, to create joy and signal comradery in lonely times, reputation be damned.

not to mention, all of the clothes I have been able to afford new when I was in my poorest moments were shit quality anyway. anything you can do to extend the lifespan of a physical object that was made under the modern fast fashion system past "thrown out, unsold at the store" is a win. in the same way that any pressure you can keep against an actively bleeding wound is a win. cloths are a common class of tools we use to help regulate our comfort, with that is with the temperature or our cave-mates. if the clothes make you feel uncomfortable they are already useless. it is already trash. why not try anything to see if it works? there are intelligent capable people across the centuries who died dreaming of what to do with once gorgeous expensive trendy fabric, that will now look dated and trashy outside of "the spring of '32 when i fell in love with jazz." or whatever the kids are into these days. the stupid walmart blazer you took a chance on 2 years ago but now feel "too X to wear" is no different. either you trash it now, or live with that trash in your home until your kids do it for you, while crying about how they always thought you looked good in that color. you might as well see if there's enough fabric to re-make that halter top you loved in college. when it looks homemade you get to boast and explain all about how you're trying to make shit better in little ways. and who cares if it fails? Aren't you deserving of a little petty violence? when the last time you really didn't give a shit about seam Ripping and just went to town? don't you want to be able to yell at something with no moral consequences? so much in this world is complicated and nuanced and requires forethought and responsibility. Wouldn't it feel nice to have a hobby that lets you get reasonably angry at evil fabric for not doing the thing, and then you can just throw it and swear, and then never have to think about it again. because it doesn't matter. it was already cheep plastic made to feed a system that would rather watch the world burn than lose a shareholder. you eat credit cards a year. you can not hurt wasted disposable plastic more than it will hurt you.

and then if it works you have a cute top to wear around places to show you are the kind of person who has cool tops! and help you ease people into the idea that a political movements starts with people deciding what things they inherited they actually want to keep around. and then maybe one day you cut apart and re-make out of nice quality fabric, with the mistakes you learned from the first one. so you can weaponize your ability to present yourself as ""respectable"" when you have to play the politics game in big official ways.

or (imagine this) you can even use your new knowledge of what types of edits you often make to clothing to buy a quality garment that will be more worth investing in. Ones that are made in ways that add value to their communities will feel good on your body from day one, and you can be mened and adapt in ways that may let it outlive you.

or maybe you elevate that shity, guilt ridden- shirt out of the gym lost and found on the last day of freshman year, because "fuck it- I liked that middle-school library fit. and Its a size too small but I'm bound to get thinner eventually. and I don't think its actually stealing if no one else wants it." Maybe if you make it into a statement piece scrap in your favorite "look I'm not happy about it either!" outfit, to show that you want to fuck with the systems in a "hey we should still have A Library tho right?" sort of way. you might run into the middle school girl who gets to break the ice with a fellow "cool garment person" friend. and she gets to laugh about your shirt deadnaming her. and you get to apologize and offer to let her sign something over it. and now you are advertising the formative art of a local queer-punk-artisan who you know is also out there trying her best to make the shitty stuff a little less shitty when they can, even if it means learning how to thread a sewing machine.... eventually.... hopefully.

also, as a person who has spent about a decade trying to figure out ways to keep kids of all ages informed and prepared and enriched on a budget. "Tug of War turned tie-dye Party" would of been a smash hit, my queer and rural in the 90's type parents would have loved it. after growing up with Halloweens filled with pieced-together costumes that made room for sensory issues and accessibility aids. and family "vacations" taken on public land with what's left of the food stamps. i think there is definitely a market for how to teach your children the fundamentals of serving in a world that might find their misery profitable. without like... terrafing them.

imagine how much easier alot of it would have been if someone early in your life had sat you down and said "ok. a lot of times things are going to be bad and unfair and evil. and there's going to be complicated reasons you cant do much about it but feel bad. but if you feel bad all the time it will only get worse. so what you can do is take what is around you, figure out what it is and how it works and why it's there, and then break it in ways that are meaningful and delibrite. and re-shape it to help the actual people who are trying survive."

then they showed you and all of your little friends how to research, what fabric is and understand why you bought supplies, and then get their hands dirty testing how strong it is, and why jeans have rivets even when you want to sew right there. and re-asure them that it's ok you paved the way to make sure they can't hurt anything too bad even if they are really really bad at it. and then let them find joy and pride in making something unique and custom with their own tools for the cost of cleaning out a closet, and some rite dye.

and then the community has a couple new little baby punks making decent folks smile with little bold fashion statements, and turning heads when they experiment with which parts of society they want to bring into the new age. tl;dr: I think we need to start telling the “I’m too poor to dress punk” crowd that they’re posers. -polyamorouspunk, November 2024, tumbr.com

I think we need to start telling the “I’m too poor to dress punk” crowd that they’re posers.

[erikftglitter]

Ch 2 | The Piteous Life of Dr. Stevens’ New Wife

Killmonger AU

Created By: Erikftglitter

Kari thought that she had a lucrative imagination. There was no way those words just left Dr. Stevens mouth. The appellation confused Kari but it still seemed to affect her. She kind of liked the way that it rolled off of his tongue.

The thought of Dr. Stevens’ tongue was enough to neutralize Kari’s body. What was she doing? She felt crazy for being entranced by a man that she hardly even knew. However, Erik didn’t stop tracing the patterns on her. Kari remained inside of his arms for a few moments. The only other people that she got to hug were her middle schoolers. Who knows when she’d have the chance to be in Erik’s arms again?

In contrast, Erik wasn’t thinking about the same thing as Kari. He was curious about her reaction to his endearing pet name. He wanted to be certain that she definitely just purred at his words.

If the universe was trying to make a point then he’d be the one to test it out. Kari Evans has no clue just the things that Erik Stevens is capable of.

“Can you tell me what’s going on now?” Erik asked when he felt Kari pull away. It was the middle of a weekday and surely Kari belonged at Caber City Middle School.

“One of my students fell from a tree. She needs stitches. I’m sure she at least sprained her ankle as well.” Kari sighed as she thought about Nina. She still doesn’t know what enticed the girl to do such a foolish thing. Erik took note of how Kari looked everywhere but to his face when she spoke. He liked the silent confirmation that he was correct about her not being able to maintain eye contact.

“Is that what made you cry?” He just wanted to know why the beautiful woman was sobbing just a few moments ago.

“Y-yeah. I guess so.” Kari stammered. She wasn’t ready to discuss the matter with the fine gentleman yet. She was finally beginning to regulate and didn’t like the idea of crying again.

“Let me take you home.” Erik offered. His legs got cramped from sitting at his desk for most of the day. He was only outside to breathe in between completing paperwork. His schedule was clear for the day. He didn’t mind concluding his work to help the troubled educator.

It was evident that Kari had a panic attack. Her clothes were bloody and she looked like she could use a friend. If he was going to choose Kari to be the one then it would make sense to be kind to the girl. At least initially.

Kari didn’t say much on the way to her house. She actually hadn’t shifted since she assumed her position in the passenger seat. There seemed to be a lot on her mind so Erik granted her the silence. He was fine with that.

“You can pull in here.” She pointed to a warm brick exterior. If this was Kari’s home then she knew how to maintain its appearance. The home was lovely.

Erik was impressed as he walked up to Kari’s home. Kari was also a gardener. A woman who had domestic hobbies naturally attracted the doctor. He desired the ability to come home one day and acknowledge something that his wife had been working on while he was away.

Before he abandoned the thought of love, he always fancied the idea of domesticating his wife, and funding her lifestyle. He would make sure that she didn’t have to worry about anything. Kari was the closest thing that he would get to this dream. He’d be splurging soon. It was just his nature. He liked control.

He did note that Kari’s home was quite large for just one person. How didn’t she get lonely in such a house? Entering the home made Erik’s throat piquant. He had to muffle the growl that was forcibly released from his mouth. Kari’s compelling scent radiated throughout the home. Faint streams of warm vanilla assaulted his senses. No wonder why Kari smelled so great. He was almost afraid to be alone with the girl.

“I’m going to get out of these clothes.” Kari says after locking the front door behind Erik.

“Please feel free to help yourself to the baked goods on the kitchen table. They’re fresh.” She motioned to the kitchen before she disappeared up the stairs. Her footsteps hardly presented much noise to the floor.

Erik wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. He couldn’t keep being around her unexpectedly like this. He needed to get out of her house and put reasonable space in between them. But he did like opportunity to explore some areas of interest of the girl. If he was going to go for Kari then it would help to know everything about her. He studied the family portraits of Kari and what he assumes to her grandparents. He made note of the types of artists that she had vinyls of and what type of books decorated her bookshelf. Kari was quite interesting.

The distant sound of the shower turning on enticed Erik. What game was she playing? The thought of her rounded breasts and shapely ass being this accessible to him allured him. He could just chuck her across his lap for teasing him this way. He imagined how much he would love to bruise the woman’s ass and watch her body thrash. He would hate to make her cry

so soon.

Kari’s shower came to an end. She just needed to scrub her entire body. Some of Nina’s blood soaked through Kari’s clothes and she just felt unclean. She also didn’t want her face to be full of dried tears in front of the doctor. It was by pure fate that she managed to run into him again. Kari only had one chance to make herself memorable.

Erik followed the footsteps of Kari with curiosity from his place downstairs. He was directly beneath her bedroom. He wondered what she looked like right now. How the beads of water rushed down her legs and how relieved she looked now. The woman had no idea who she invited into her home.

The faint sound of glass breaking ceased Erik’s thoughts. His survival instincts quickly surveyed his surroundings. He moved to the source of the sound swiftly. Was Kari okay?

“Erik!” Kari was shocked to see the man on her staircase. She had been trying to change the flickering lightbulb that rested between her bedroom and hallway but was ultimately unsuccessful.

The look on his face was obscure. He moved past her began to clean up the assorted bits of glass.

Kari almost wished that he at least admired her frame for a little longer. However she was still grateful that he respected her enough to turn away.

The amount of self control was killing the doctor deep down inside. He had to ward off his own fantasies.

“I promise that I’m usually not a klutz. I’m just having an off day.” She was kind of grateful that Erik was here to change the lightbulb.

Erik chuckled before he walked into the bathroom to disregard the broken glass. The sight of Kari was enough to lure out the mischievous identity that impatiently waited for a chance to be free.

“How’s the contusion coming along?” He didn’t expect Kari to open her robe to show him the discolored bruise. The yellow push-up bra was enough to lure Erik to step closer.

His fingertips softly grazed Kari’s delicate skin. It was apparent that she bruised quite easily and he couldn’t deny the fact that he was attracted to that.

Kari fought the need to moan in front of Erik. His light touches were enough to intoxicate her. She couldn’t resist the urge to lean into his presence.

Erik was satisfied with the embrace. She was just as needy as he expected her to be. Between Kari’s bottom lip being sucked by her teeth and her breathing, she was definitely the type of submissive woman that Erik was waiting for.

That they were waiting for.

// @theesmartblonde @harleycativy @ziayamikaelson @ladymac82

[thegardengnostic]

my brain fighting for which special interests to like more right now is so crazyyyyyy hehe

[bitchthefuck1]

you know what, I actually will talk about this because it's bothering me. The issue with focussing so heavily on syd and carmy's potential for a romantic relationship isn't that there's something inherently unintellectual about romance or whatever, it's that a lot of people seem incapable of doing that without immediately flattening the story and ignoring or intentionally misreading any and all nuance for the sake of that romance. Every scene suddenly becomes about how it impacts their relationship, every analysis is done through a romantic lens, every frame or line of dialogue becomes about finding some easter egg or hint that "proves" these people should start dating. Their dynamic is absolutely a fundamental part of this show, but if you can only see it as a will-they-won't-they, you miss so much of what the story is actually trying to say with these two.

There are good versions of this story where their relationship is romantic and there are good versions of this story where it isn't, but as soon as you decide them being together is "the point," you lose the ability to actually judge the story for what it is, not what you want it to be.

[titsthedamnseason]

i actually feel like crying. it should be illegal to drift apart from your friends

[skrunksthatwunk]

sometimes you need to go back and listen to the music you liked when you were 13 because it's good for you. and no im not talking about like emo nostalgia in this case we have enough posts about that. im talking about dad rock. actually im just talking about barenaked ladies

[icewindandboringhorror]

It's always interesting to hear about people's weird/unexpected "alternate life paths". Like, something that you could have done with your life, a job you almost took, a school you almost went to, etc - that was still actually realistic enough that it could have happened, but NOW it seems to not suit your current personality.

Like for example, I currently hate advertising (how manipulative it is, brands trying to be 'relatable', social media amplifying it to an obnoxious extreme, etc.) so much that even seeing a little ad before a youtube video is grating to even witness, but there was a point in time where I was genuinely seriously considering going into marketing/making commercials as a career lol. Or like, I have a relative who was very inclined to be a pastor when they were younger, even though today they're a super strong atheist, etc. etc.

[somedudewithantlers]

ya girl Steve is not doing all that great in college work life

[golden--doodler]

So I messaged @drawthethingdoppelganger today and it ended up being so long and fun to write that I want to share it (I modified it a bit, but it's mostly the same as when I sent it):

Also shame on everyone who keeps vitriolically hating on Jimmy Jr.! He's a middle schooler, come on. Sure, "V For Valentine-Detta" was not a great episode for him, but that doesn't make him an awful, toxic person who's manipulating Tina.

It's super frustrating how people keep saying things like this to justify why Tina should 100% be with Zeke or Josh instead. Sure, I ship Tina and Josh the most, but that doesn't mean Tina and Jimmy Jr.'s relationship is toxic, especially considering how young they are. Also, let's not forget that Tina's not totally innocent either, she's done her fair share of (lovingly) being mean to J Ju. Like when she got high on caffeine in "The Unnatural" and made fun of his lisp. That exchange sends me every time.

Anyway, he's just a dumb teenager who has commitment issues! I genuinely believe he will mature as he and Tina grow older, no matter what their relationship status eventually turns out to be. It just makes me upset when people are so mean to him, it reminds me of the few people who are super mean to Gene.

Gene is also a dumb middle schooler (said with love) and sure, he's not perfect, but isn't that what makes him a lovely, compelling character? He has flaws. The only episodes I don't really enjoy him in are "Beefsquatch" and "Mommy Boy". That is it. And even in those episodes, he learns his lesson and comes around in the end, so they're not completely devoid of value either. He is actually so sweet that he doesn't even want to prank anyone on April Fool's Day! And let's not forget how in "It Snakes A Village", he quickly pushed through his fear of snakes to save Tina and Louise's lives! He's clearly still scared of them after that episode because of that one episode where he gets terrified of Steve in Nat's limo, so he did all of this for his sisters. I mean 🥺

Still crying that someone on Reddit said he should be killed off because he's annoying and doesn't add anything, like no! 😭 Does that person understand how strange and empty the show would feel without my precious baby boy? He may be the Middle Child, but he's so crucial to the show and its humor! He basically invented it from episode one, I'm telling ya. Like his cute lil' burger suit and his weird sound effects machine thingy? Yes. There would be something missing and everyone would feel it.

I adore the rest of the Belchers too, I really do, but no one has ever said that any of the others should be killed off? Because that's such a ridiculous notion?? I can't think of any characters in the show I would even think this about because I love all of them so much, every one of those side characters has a special place in my heart too.

One example I can think of where the show would feel so empty without Gene was that one scene (I can't remember which episode) where Tina tried to be like Gene and tell a joke, and then Gene said the same joke a second later, and Bob actually said, "It was funnier when Gene said it." It's unexplainable, but it's true. Somehow it was funnier when Gene said the joke! I love you so much, Tina girl, but Bob is right. He just fills a certain niche for the show, like Jimmy Jr. does. I feel as if we're in the same boat @drawthething so much because I think Jimmy Jr. might be the one character some people are as mean to as Gene? Like, come on! They're our precious dumb middle school boys (who are definitely LGBTQ+) and their flaws make them such fun characters to follow. They're not perfect, but that's what kind of makes them perfect.

[pickapea]

my absolutely biggest online pet peeve is US centric people projecting their rich sorority girl bully stereotype of nurses onto everyone else, as if nurses aren't working class and mostly immigrants of colour everywhere else. and when did it become cool to hate on underpaid and exploited workers anyway

[cartoon-skeleton]

I’m applying to be a substitute teacher LMAO

[themyscirah]

This is technically a Diana's age poll but I framed it partially around Julia's rescue because that's the event I need to contextualize and whether or not Diana is a thing yet is p important for my purposes. I would keep the Pérez run and postcrisis continuity in mind when answering this bc that's when this is relevant but I'd keep in mind that even though Diana is very young there (like early 20s) we don't know I don't think if she ages differently as a child (esp as a themysciran AND being made from clay) and in some versions she is older than she looks and was made earlier

Edit: I accidentally logic-ed this out in the tags lol 🤦‍♀️but feel free to still vote however you want. Going to publish this anyway bc I think I made some good points later in my tags