#it was a fuckass 10 years but personally i think they will know how to love each other so much better

[tiddiesoutwhenthetisout]

i'm not super sad about the story of achilles and patroclus tbh; what matters is that they're united in the underworld and can just vibe down there forever.

it would have been a different story had the other continued living, or if they didn't have the option of seeing each other again even as shades. it doesn't matter to me which shape or form of existence they are in. they love each other and they can continue to do that for as long as they'd like.

life was tragic, but now they have forever to exist.

[cupuacu]

was looking at the school systems in latin america and i think our ministries of education should come together n decide some sort of standard fr bc what a mess

[kurtcobainindresses]

my take on challengers

1. not about the movie itself but i'm so excited for what seems to be the first occurrence of monoculture in a while it's so fun to all be talking about the same thing and it not being t swizzle related

2. i'm so sorry for this but i don't think zendaya has enough gravitas to carry the movie. like she's very good as the alluring figure you're attracted to right away but as soon as she starts speaking i can see the wheels turning in her head and it's clear to me she's not embodying the character as a person with a past and memories as much as emulating whatever emotion tashi's supposed to feel in a given scene. this is even worse in the "present timeline" scenes like i just did not get 30yo mom who is bitter and dissatisfied and weary at all her body language was the exact same in every timeline when she's supposed to be at very different stages in her life

3. continuation of the preceding point but there's no triangle if all three relationships aren't equally as entrancing!!!! and to me the scenes between art and patrick were a 100% more interesting than any of the scenes they had with tashi individually unfortunately. i just didn't get anything from zendaya

4. i like that the attraction between art and patrick was implied BUT it could have been taken further imo. we see patrick swiping (left or right i don't remember) on a guy on tinder so we know there's something going on there but what about art???? are we just supposed to think tashi repressed him so bad he just forgot about it??? (and yeah the final scene yada yada. i know. but still it felt like it still went unacknowledged for quite a while)

5. some of the editing choices were bad ie. the timestamps which were unnecessary after the first time (we could tell by the length of their hair!!!) and the slomo at certain points (when tashi was walking down the alleyway like it was a runway with her fuckass bob 😭😭😭)

6. the score fucks trent reznor and atticus finch you will always be famous

7. josh o'connor. how do you do it

8. blood orange during the almost threesome was so good. i need to know who is responsible for this

9. the non-chronological storytelling got kind of cheap for me at the end. it kinda did a disservice to the movie because it made it hinge on a bunch of big reveals we all had guessed a while ago so quite unnecessary in my opinion (and yes i know the back and forth is supposed to mirror a tennis match but to me this is style over substance and not in an interesting or original way)

10. all in all this is a fun movie but not quite all it's made out to be.....i think it could've been stellar if we'd had a real trio and a real presence at the center of the movie which i don't think zendaya can be quite yet!!! but ykw. we let keanu do it twenty years ago and we're letting john david washington do it now so zendaya should be allowed to as well!

[lemonhemlock]

house of the dragon is sanitized because it doesn't want to offend anybody and receive the same (justifiable imo) criticisms that were lobbied at d&d for their treatment of women, poc, lgbtq+, etc. so, they turn a story that features morally dubious characters with themes that heavily criticize if not condemn monarchy, feudalism, and war in favor of serving a good vs. evil narrative that's straying further and further away from the original point.

You know, I'm starting to think if maybe I just don't resonate with this particular kind of storytelling anymore. I'm at an age where I've watched my fair share of shows and the devices that have been in use these past years have become cliche. Bad/mediocre shows certainly have their place in the ecosystem, but I'm not going to be impressed by such a straightforward attempt at tacking a simplified theme. What worked 10 years ago in movies and TV shows doesn't feel fresh now in 2024.

I am probably a little doomposting and I don't doubt the show can get better (I'm convinced there will be moments I enjoy), but this linear strategy of building Rhaenyra up as the "good monarch", only for them to tear her down when she enters her madness/vengeance arc is just not revolutionary at this moment. It's been done before many times, including with Daenerys. (At least that's what I presume they intend to do with Rhaenyra). But, perhaps to counteract the Daenerys criticism, Rhaenyra's fall from grace won't be so sudden, there will be more hints and more buildup to it and they'll pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

I just would personally have preferred to not have to wait until the second half of the show to encounter the criticism part. This particular technique of subversion feels a little stale at this point. You don't have to wait so long to insert commentary and it doesn't have to be overt or take up more than a few seconds of screen time. You can close up on someone turning their nose or raising their eyebrow when a character makes a fuckass reply, for example. I am just tired of seeing characters like Otto say shit like how Viserys was the salt of the earth and it going absolutely unchallenged.

This is why I love Succession so much, I suppose, because the commentary comes within the episode, with the way it's filmed and framed. It doesn't tell you what to think, but it gives narrative and visual clues that something is up and it doesn't wait until 120 episodes of whitewashing some character to reveal that they're actually quite villainous or wrong. And they really had the material to do something more experimental with this set-up.

[iamred-iamyellow]

ok this is very random (as im not sure how much of an ls2 defender u r)

BUT

every new thing that James bitchass stanky dummy shitty Vowles says abt the Logan situation just pisses me off more. makes me even wonder how logan dealt w everything for as long as he did.

Swear if Logan wasnt backed by Duracell and all the other US companies that bring in sm bank, Vowles would have dropped him even without meeting Franco...

Logan might have underperformed but his car isnt good to begin with, strategy was practically a DIY youtube video every fucking race weekend and not to mention that out of what 10-12 races his teammate has only managed to score 6 points...(no saying Albon is bad at all just goes to show that even a decent driver cant do shit in that fucking half charged golf cart 😒)

As a CS55 girlie im praying for the best for Carlos and that the team figures itself out over the new year break bc the way things r going i wouldnt be fucking suprised if Carlos opted to race for another team or just become a reserve driver after one year w bitchass Williams.

Truly a shame that a driver with such potential (LS2) and an excellent teammate and great driver with consistency (CS55) have ever had to deal with James stanky Vowles ( even tho Vowles is a D1 national level Sainz glazer 😭😭)

UGHHHHH i just know next year is gonna b...interesting to say the least.

Praying for Franco too 🥺💯 I've really come to like him so far after Monza and think he has great things in store and can rlly prove himself too 😞🩷

How it feels being BOTH a LS2 and CS55 gal btw;

as an american i think im obligated by law to be a ls2 defender 🫡🦅🇺🇸

“strategy was practically a DIY youtube video every fucking race” TRUTH!!! 

i will forever be a defender of our four williams babies alex carlos franco and logan because they were dealt some fuckass cards 

i just cannot believe that logan didn’t have enough time to develop in f2 and williams didn’t even TRY to give him more opportunities to train during his f1 seasons. they literally tossed him in a car and said GO they set him up to fail and then got mad that he didn’t exceed their expectations 

don’t even get me STARTED on the comments james made about mick i am PERSONALLY offended omg 

i’m really gonna miss franco at the end of the season but i hope he gets more opportunities from what he’s proven he can do in f1

and speaking of carlos his journey is just one that ends up being really sad for me. he jumps from team to team and proves himself EVERY TIME but he has the worst luck when it comes to it. he was teammates with max first and therefore the second fiddle because christian was set on max being his everything. then he moved to renault which was uhm renault. then mclaren where he could’ve technically been seen as first driver or equals with Lando but Lando to Mclaren is Max to RB. He got a win at mclaren and just brought out the absolute best vibes for the team. Then he moved to ferrari but it was too late bc again Charles to Ferrari is Max to Red Bull. He always ends up second to a teams golden boy and as much as i love all those drivers it really sucks that Carlos does so much and will never truly get the recognition he deserves.

[bfwonho]

AITA but i dont wanna use reddit

ok you know what here is the situation. my (only recently) 20 yr old friend (i met them four years ago when we both worked at mcd) lived with their strict, emotionally abusive, overprotective parents until recently. their parents would confiscate tech for yrs at a time, wouldn't let them get vaccinated (i had to help them do that), guilt and shame them, etc. also obviously homophobic and my friend is transfem nb and queer. theyre also the eldest sibling of quite a few and had to handle the pressure of that responsibility and their parents never wanted them to do normal things like getting a car and moving out. i was always there encouraging them even when we stopped working together bc i was like fuck this naive gullible homeschooled kid has no one and they remind me of my younger sibling and im gonna be there for them as much as i can. the only reason they even got a car eventually is cus i kept telling them to so they cld move out

cut back to barely a year ago, they're still so naive and gullible they've lent like 1k+ to ppl who won't pay them back, but they still have like 10-20k in savings and now their own car. they also get into digital art with my help and get into furry porn or whatever. im like ok i guess ur an adult now do what u want. and then theyre like "ive got an online partner from CANADA!!! (we r australian) don't freak out i know it's bad but he's 30." i'm like oh god. they've been together 3 months ish and my friend RLY wants to visit their fuckass boyfriend and i'm like please be careful, please wait at least a year, i know u wont wanna listen to how i rly feel about this but at least just take these precautions. i'm also like when you do meet irl he should come here ur barely 19 and he's 30 like it only makes sense. and theyre like "thank u i promise i will do that"

and then maybe 10 or 11 months into their relationship i find out my friend is in canada with their bf, and has been for like a month, and i only know this bc they're asking if i can pick them up from sydney airport. im like errr that's pretty far away but take the train and i'll pick you up from the station and they're like ok sure! and i ask a bit more about it and find out they believe their parents have been hacking into their laptop because why else would they be suspicious that this canadian guy is their boyfriend, i'm like actually no offense but it's really fucking obvious i don't think they did that... and they're like "yeah anyway my parents are no longer picking me up which is why i need a lift, i admitted i have a boyfriend and they're calling him a pedo (and i almost agree but i just smile and nod) and so i'm not going back and taking their bs anymore, i'm gonna sleep in my car if i have to" so i offer for them to stay at my place for a few weeks.

they go get their stuff from their place, i buy them a pizza cus they havent had dinner, i help them get their stuff inside, set up a temporary bed. they tell me they plan to be out within a few days, i tell them they can stay longer if they need to, but currently their only job is doordash and they should focus on getting a real job so they can find a place and i'm more than happy to help them find somewhere. theyre the type of person to say sorry for everything and not let themselves ever feel comfortable, so i make sure they know they can use the kitchen and bathroom and everything while they're here and to not feel like a huge burden, im gonna be charging them a tiny bit of rent anyway so yeah.

now tell me why it's been over a month, they've applied to only a few places, i specifically put in a good word with them at my job and told them to call back and ask about the application and they just haven't, they've just been doordashing and filling my entire fridge and cupboard with their food, i tell them to use the laundromat cus we don't have enough space for their washing too and they end up asking if they can use our washing machine anyway (i reluctantly say yes), they destroy all my kitchen sponges on washing this one shitty pan i have cus they have to cook an entire grand meal from scratch for breakfast lunch and dinner, they wash up but i'm the only person who cleans the floors and the bathroom so now i'm feeling cramped and stressed out...

i ask my mum about what to do, she says give them 2 weeks to move out, my mum is a guarantor on my lease so in the group chat i explain the situation and say they have 2 weeks, they NEVER RESPOND and start not coming home until late at night... i'm considering moving into another place with a friend atp so i'm like yo maybe you can get on this lease and THEN they respond and start showing up again... and today i called and updated mum on the situation and her partner got on the phone, me and my sibling only got this place cus he apparently called in a favour cus we were rly struggling to find any fucking housing, and so he says "tell him i mean THEMMM if theyre not out tomorrow i will forcibly remove them" and so my sibling makes sure to tell them this face to face so they cant avoid actually responding. i also find out today that this whole time they've been flat broke (to the point they had to borrow my money just to get petrol despite doordashing like 40 hours a week) because they HAVE BEEN HELPING. PAY. THEIR GROWN ASS. SHITTY FUCKING USELESS. PARTNERS. RENT. THIS GROWN ASS MAN NOT ONLY HAD THEM PAY TO GO SEE HIM AND SUCK HIM OFF AND COOK FOR HIM. NOT ONLY WAS LETTING THEM GO BACK TO AUSTRALIA AND JUST BE HOMELESS. BUT HE IS ACTIVELY TAKING THEIR FUCKING MONEY. despite all of this i am deep down INCREDIBLY GLAD that my mum's partner put his foot down to get them out of my house and i feel guilty about it despite risking eviction cus im breaking my lease agreement by having them here loooll

tldr my 20 yr old friend has been living in my house illegally for over a month bc they refuse to go back to their shitty parents, they are however broke and don't have a stable job and their 30 yr old boyfriend is leeching off of them, and now i'm essentially kicking them out of my place within 2 days because my own housing security is at risk

[gu6chan]

So What Was Yaha's Deal? Drakengard Things You Might Not Know

GOD okay so im finally rambling about him okay so

I've been thinking about Yaha lately and it's really dawning on me how a lot of people just do NOT know about Yaha's past and it makes sense!! Literally NONE of this is available in English and it's so :( but also it makes me sad both because it's SO good and also because when people shrug him off as just "Reason Drakengard 2 sucks: it has a gay stereotype" like oh you do NOT even know omg

anyways, just so we're on the same page: this is NOT a theory discussing what happened to Yaha, just the best collage of what's ACTUALLY considered "canon" that I've picked up from different side materials and interviews (Most notably, Memory of Blood and World Inside). If I ever find anything else I'll be sure to update it :3

I WILL dive into a bit of personal interpretation/rambling over his battle lines (i have them save lmao) a bit later, maybe even in a separate post, but BOY

So TW: Mentions of noncon, dubcon and CSA up ahead

So i think the first thing that's to be established about Yaha's character is that the Empire DID wipe out most the elf population in DOD1, and while he did survive this, he was more or less still a victim in the respect that his parents WERE killed in likely less-than-painless ways as the Empire sought to use the elves both to use their blood for magic-repellent armour (While it looks like it was only introduced the the third game, it's actually been plot point for a while!) and the children to open the seal.

Given he's 25 by the events of Drakengard 2, he'd have to be around 7 at oldest before he arrived at the orphanage where met Urick. (He's not even 10 and he's already been through it...... baby...........)

Fortunately or unfortunately enough, Yaha DID manage to find a way to "survive" in this world from a very young age, and that was due to the fact that even as a child, he wasn't just commonly mistaken for a girl, but an absolutely "captivating" one. As it reads in his glossary section in Memory of Blood:

"He grew up an orphan, and even though he was a male, he boasted such beauty that he was frequently mistaken for a woman from an early age [...] For this, he uses his beauty as a systemic tool for survival. He captivates everyone, both male and female, and gains both status and protection in exchange for his body, which he used to escape life in the orphanage." (Glossary section from Memory of Blood)

It should be noted before I go on that the director, Akira Yasui, DID hint in his world inside interview that he thinks there was "something" between Yaha and Urick during their days in the orphanage, but whether that means feelings or an actual relationship isn't really clear (Though judging by his tone, it seems to lean more towards the short-lived, childlike-fling interpretation than anything imo i could just be biased though lmao):

"...As for his relationship with Urick, Yaha had liked him since they were in the orphanage together. I think there was definitely “Something” between them before Yaha left the orphanage. The powers of his pact didn’t reach Urick because he already knew how to deal with it; Urick was also once mesmerised by Yaha’s charm." (Yasui interview from World Inside)

(That last line is included for those tragedy points from when we get to the ~Split~ and BOY)

As for the orphanage, Yaha was...... "Adopted" by a well-to-do man when he was 14 years old. As for why and how he got adopted, it's unfortunately stated right at the end of his glossary entry which isn't even the worst part when you take into consideration that he's already been doing this for a while.

At any rate, Yaha DOES decide "You know what? Fuck it, we splurge" and uses all adoptee's fuckass money to buy useless shit until he turned 16 and joined the Knights in search of a better standard of living (How can he get that if he's already pretty much rich? given what he's going through at that point, you do the math)

and you know what? he deserves nice things <3

(And to note, Urick was also taken in by Oror from the orphanage as an apprentice when he was 16 as well.)

Anyways, Yaha was back to survival mode after joining the Knights, and just as he did when he was in the orphanage, used his body to climb the ranks of the KotS in search of a better standing in life. It's just repeating what his glossary says, but Yaha WAS slandered for this and got a lot of shit and rumours spoken about him behind his back for it. And the list...... wondering why gismor isn't on that list.... is there something he's not telling us???

"He joined the Knights of the Seal in search of a better standard of life; his successful climbing of its ranks being more due to his "body" than his skill in battle. The only people of notable standing who had not had a relationship with him are Oror and the Hierarch Seere (It is rumoured that he may have also had a relationship with Verdelet). Behind his back, Yaha was labelled a nymphomaniac." (Glossary section from Memory of Blood)

While working on an excavation site during the creation of the different countries of Midgard into districts (It's own can of worms), Yaha comes across a beautiful jewel unlike anything he had seen before. SO beautiful as a matter of fact, that Yaha, who by merit made beauty his everything on the basis that it was all he had (aside from Urick), took personal offense to this and pointed his sword at it. However, from the jewel came a gnome who would go on to offer Yaha a pact, offering him irresistible charm so that he could get whoever he wanted. Yaha, seeing the opportunity to move up even further in the ranks of the Knights of the Seal (both due to his charm and his status as a Pact-Partner, as Gismor was looking for Pact-Partners specifically SO they could guard the Seal Keys and manage the districts) and also claim Urick's heart by doing it, accepted the pact in an instant. But as you all know, that came at a VERY high price. Of course, Yaha lost his ability to feel pleasure, resulting in whatever "barrier" from his mental scars he had whenever he tried to do the deed being removed. The act of sex, for Yaha, was filled with not just mental pain made lighter by the aspect of pleasure, but now was just sheer psychical pain as well. What a lot of people may not know, however, is how literally Urick meant it when he said "Don't look into his eyes, he'll trick you with his lies" and followed up with "It's the power given to him by his pact-beast. Or maybe it's the price he had to pay." Urick was not joking.

For those familiar with Junji Ito's Tomie, it was essentially just that: Yaha wasn't just in possession of extreme charm, but enough to bring people to lose all rational thought and reason when they were around him. And the way the glossary talks about this...

"[...]As a result, his beauty became even more ebullient, to the point it lead to people easily losing all sense of reason. However, his body was no longer able to feel the sensation of pleasure. This was the price of his pact. Although Yaha had come to immensely regret it, it was already too late. He now lives every day being swarmed by those who have lost all reason and is forced to engage in sexual acts filled with nothing but fear and pain."

Yaha............ :( SO this is what leads to the real final kicker: Yaha has gotten his position, has more beauty than anyone could ever imagine, but what he really wants is Urick, right? Of all the pain of sex both psychically and mentally, if he could at least be with Urick, the one person he saw differently, the one person that at least wouldn't be mentally scarring to sleep with, maybe it could all make sense. So Yaha confesses to Urick. But Urick turns him down - not because of any sound argument, but because all he sees is a self-absorbed narcissist in his friend's place, manipulating others and sleeping around carelessly just to up his own ranks in society. For two seconds, it would make sense - That's technically what it is. A honest flaw in Yaha's character is that he's genuinely greedy and materialistic. He uses goddamned slave labour, for Christ's sake. On the other hand, is he really looking for a higher place in society? Or is he looking for stability? A place to get away from his past and be the one in control for once? Of course, being perfectly aligned with Urick's own version of "self-absorption" (All the Lieutenants have it!), he completely failed to realise where all that stemmed from. He saw Yaha as just being greedy and narcissistic from the lens of him being inherently bad, didn't for a second take into account Yaha's origins which led to that behaviour. His own best friend. So, long story short: Urick thinks Yaha is a bastardisation of his best friend and, following in his cowardly character, takes that as personally as you can (as you see in all his scenes and lines relating to Yaha together, im going to slap that little cunt) - despite the fact Yaha SHOULD have had the upper hand via his Tomie-like powers, as I mentioned towards the start of the post, Urick was already charmed by Yaha - he had just grown used to it because of how close they already were.

Brief Personal Analysis:

Personally reading into it, Yaha doesn't really care so much about his position as, beyond just being about as high as you can get, and it wasn't what he really wanted. The underlying source that got him that position to START with was his beauty, which Yaha cherishes like a narcissist would. He's used to people changing their tune whenever they lay eyes upon them, which Urick specifically instructs not to do towards the beginning of the battle, and is the source of such lines as "If I die, my beautiful body and the holy crystal shall perish. You would let that happen?" At the same time, a player death results in a VERY different tune from Yaha, where he dejectedly says the line "My beauty... It is my sin." Possibly hinting towards his own conflicted feelings and sorrow towards it as again, he goes from "My body is perfect, is it not?" to "My beauty is my sin" as soon as Nowe or his crew is too dead to question it. The difference is VERY jarring between the two, and I also bring into question the tone he uses to speak about his gnomes on whether he intentionally sounds exhausted of them (It would make sense, given the hinted resentment he has towards his pact-beasts for doing him dirty like that) or if he... Just sounds like that. Granted, a LOT of Yaha's lines sound similar in their sultry, somewhat sorrowful and tired tone all around. Of course, there are also his lines directed towards Urick, which should be self-explanatory given the context, but a few other notes and trivia and whatnot before i wrap up:

Just to note and say the obvious a final time since I know how this fanbase can be: Yaha IS genuinely a narcissist, that being his leading character flaw, though of course it should go without saying that while his actions as a result of that (re: slave labour) are definitely not to be swept under the rug, it's just as important to note the context that led to that and the tragedy of his character because of it. As Urick says, "He was very different then."

Yaha is confirmed bisexual! It surprised me too, but...

"Similarly, when I designed Yaha, I designed him to be a typical narcissist — a character who would probably go and describe their own self as "Beautiful". But even though his character is supposed to be one who is attracted to both men and women in the story, people who are attracted to both genders in real life are usually not of this type. Like Gismor, he also largely captures the image of "Bewitching"." (Character Artist Fujisaka commenting on Yaha's design in Memory of Blood)

Just a fun little detail: During Yaha's battle against the Rock Gnome, when it lifts the jewel above it's head in order to throw it at you, you can throw out a magic attack at just the right time and it will drop the jewel on its head for massive damage! And of course, similarly you mainly attack the Rock Gnome by using jump attacks to bring your weapon down on its head. And if you look at Yaha's portrait during his death scene...

Similarly, Urick is strong against monsters, which encourages you to use him to bring the final death blow to Yaha. And given their lore together I'd be damned if this cruel little snippet wasn't done intentionally.

The drawing of Yaha's death with the gnomes is titled "End of Agony", and hopefully after reading this post, you now know why.

A bit more interpretation than theory, but I have an ongoing hunch that each of the layouts and/or "gimmicks" of the Lieutenant's fortresses are based off the personality and story of the Lieutenant itself. Hanch is based around walls, closed doors and of course, water, Urick's is a twisting maze based off of sacrifice with the themes of life and death, Gismor's is based in fighting your way up a tall tower to reflect his ego and overlying reach as an antagonist, and Yaha's, primarily, is based off of illusions. The more you get past them and through the fortress, the less "ebullient" and fancy it looks until you reach its end - a single, shabby room filled with sand and dirt with nothing but a few musty crates and a bunch of jail cells meant for holding sacrificed prisoners to the Seal Keys. If that doesn't reflect Yaha's whole character, I don't know what does.

Either way, that's about all I think I have for him! Hopefully you learned something new, and if you have any questions, do let me know~

[whenwillderekhalebehappy]

so i just started playing fallout 4 ,,, here are my preliminary opinions

- lame storyline, i don't want to be married heterosexual. idc abt this fuckass baby either.

- fr tho, it feels like the devs just chose the most generic backstory they could think of so they could get that part out of the way. it's not interesting or good. moreover, if that actually happened to a person, they'd be traumatized and terrified, not running around looking for guns and stimpaks. like, it feels like my character doesn't even give that much of a shit that this happened. like ooh the world ended, my wife was murdered, my infant child was kidnapped, it is 200 years in the future, but yeah no i don't have any questions, ill just roll with it. LAZY WRITING!

- also: how does the survivor know that his baby is still alive. the story has him frozen, unfrozen to witness murder and kidnapping, frozen again and then unfrozen to start the game. how am i supposed to know when that kidnapping happened? like yeah it could've been recent but it could also have been 100 years ago.

- upon exiting the vault you immediately start like 11 quests. why?? for what reason?? i just got here??

- do not love that feral ghouls will just lay on the ground waiting for you to get close enough so they can attack you. 1. its annoying, you get ambushed every time. 2. why would they be doing that, are they sleeping? waiting? doesnt make sense for them to be doing either of those things. they're feral, they wander around attacking whatever comes near them, they don't lie down and wait for prey, thats just ,,, not how they work?

- i especially dont like that the ghouls also dont show up as hostile on the little navigation bar until they get up. the whole point of that is so i know if there's hostiles in the area. if all the hostiles just sneak up on you, there's no reason to look at it.

- the fact that you can just max out your SPECIAL stats kinda defeats the purpose of those stats. the point is that it allows you to pick strengths and weaknesses for your character, instead of it being skills you can learn. it adds difficulty and personalization.

- i genuinely don't like the "improved" graphics. maybe its because my pc is shitty and i have to run low quality, but i cant see shit. especially all the harsh shadows make it really hard to gauge depth and to see things on the ground (like feral ghouls waiting to attack you).

- why is VATS under Q. thats dumb

- follow up: why are we now using the enter key and arrow keys in addition to wasd. let me keep my hand on the mouse instead of constantly having to switch (update: after 10 hours in-game i found out you can also press E, still stupid)

- why cant i just go up to people and ask them shit. why do i have to wait until they want to talk to me.

- i do like the whole settlement building thing. ive been having more fun with that than anything else tbh

- it is nice that you can make radaway and you dont have to rely on scavenging or bartering for it

- they are harsh on the raiders. like i get that they're enemies but labelling them 'raider scum' is a bit much. like thats still a person.

- in the intro thing they say war never changes at least 3 times. i get it. dont overdo it.

- also in the intro, they just say the US ended ww2 by dropping the bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki which is a VERY BOLD statement about history.

- i've barely encountered anyone who's nice. ive met preston and his friends but beyond that its basically been nothing but raiders. where are the friendly npc's? it makes the whole world feel hostile and empty

- the variety of weapons and mods is ,, actually a little too much. i don't know the difference between a pistol and a revolver, let alone what a receiver is. the game kind of expects you to just , understand what all these things mean and how to best modify your weapons. I don't. i barely know what i'm supposed to be looking at. "um yeah i definitely prefer the hardened enhanced glowsighted tempered auto pipe revolver pistol over the hardboiled standardized incendiary double barreled shotgun rifle" <- statement dreamed up by the utterly deranged

- recently encountered super mutants, why do they yell at you that they are super mutants. i know that. i mean, the character technically doesn't since no one's bothered to explain all the new creatures to him, but still.

anywho, ive only been playing for a week or so, so there might be more redeeming qualities later on. but so far im not very impressed

[isa-ghost]

I would like to emphasize that QCode is not at all being subtle that they're trying to fuck Mark over and taking him and his creations for granted. Like. Some of the shit they're doing with TEOS and Mark are really telling and damning, pretty hard shit to convincingly chalk up to incompetence or something that isn't in bad faith.

TEOS was meant to debut on October 18th. Instead, they've released it, only in America, 3 days early on a Tuesday morning when it's extremely likely that people are busy at work or school and can't watch it. With no warning, advertising, or ANYTHING.

If The Edge of Sleep doesn't hit Top 10, Iron Lung probably won't see the light of day and there's nothing Mark can legally do about it.

You can, if you haven't already (Raz I know you have, this is directed at anyone reading), learn more about it from Mark himself:

My friend @adverseflyer909 has already watched TEOS this morning and can corroborate basically everything I'm saying here, as they've done even more digging around to verify things.

Not only that, they also told me that in the credits of the show, they don't even credit Mark by name (Mark Fischbach). They just call him "Markiplier," which, considering their attitude about the rest of this? I personally feel like that's them reducing him to "just some fuckass nobody YouTuber."

And we all know that the mainstream media, especially Hollywood and whatnot, has a history of not valuing or respecting the contributions and talents of YouTubers. Many of them don't think YouTubers contribute anything at all. Just recently I was watching something (it *might've* been this podcast episode where Jacksepticeye is a guest?) where a YouTuber was talking about how offline/mainstream media has these issues where they don't take YouTubers seriously, to say the least.

I'd also like to point out: How many movies and whatnot have other YouTubers, like Jacksepticeye, Matpat, Valkyrae, Ninja, etc all cameo'd in in recent years and in the credits of THOSE pieces of media where (as far as we know) things were much more "pro" YouTuber and welcoming, those cameos are credited as "[Legal First Name] [YouTuber Name] [Legal Last Name]" or something similar? For Mark to just be "Markiplier" in these credits feels like a spit in his face and a reduction of who he is.

I don't have the time to find articles/videos/whatever else to provide sources for what I'm saying, but I vividly remember seeing *multiple* instances of articles & posts about them here on Tumblr over the years talking about interviews that have been done between mainstream media outlets and YouTubers like Mark, and how they were doing exactly what I've said here: downplaying and just generally being oblivious at best and shitty at worst about them and what they do.

Or all the times that we've seen YouTubers get invited to movie premieres and whatnot, only for NOBODY to bat an eye at their presence there, nobody has a clue why they're on the red carpet, nobody interviews them, and anyone who does or at the very least tries to talk with the YouTuber at all has no idea who they are or what they do.

For example, Jacksepticeye has rallied and donated MILLIONS, probably totaled up to be BILLIONS of dollars to multiple charities. And nobody fucking knows it. People STILL barely know who the hell he is at events he's invited to.

TLDR: It's not at all a far-fetched statement or misguided idea to believe that QCode (and perhaps Amazon) are intentionally trying to fuck over Mark and Iron Lung because mainstream media like Hollywood doesn't respect YouTubers or their talents.

alright gang, the rumors are true. The Edge of Sleep is now live (US only ig) on Amazon Prime Video. and i get what some of y'all are saying, "there doesn't need to be marketing because of mark's rabid fanbase!"

But guys. Guys. This is not a YouTube project. I hate to say it but even 30+ million Markiplier fans is not enough for what needs to happen here, unfortunately. This is ultimately about breaking out of the YouTube-fanbase sphere and getting this show to mainstream viewership. That's the goal-- this is about showing that a "YouTuber project" (even though Edge of Sleep was made by a professional production company and isn't really that) can have appeal beyond a preexisting audience. It's about, big picture, legitimizing the contributions of online creators in making films and television products for casual viewers.

So yeah, it's time to break out not just The Plan, but The Strategy. What is that, you ask? You'll see--check back tonight. This is a call for all hands on deck.

We ride at sunset-- the edge between day and night when the world starts to go to bed. We ride at the edge of sleep.

[smileymoth]

Some random numbers for the oc's asks (answer with whoever you want)

5, 19, 27

FRANNYYYY thank you <3 i'll answer with college au etho and joel since i started to think about them for some reason rn because i kind of have a coherent storyline brewing (not really) and they're literally just my ocs at this point. i've hurt etho too much for him to be not an oc

note added later: FUCK IT GET BEAMED !!!!!! IM ADDING CLEO AND BDUBS BC I CAN!!!!

context: joel and etho are roommates, cleo and bdubs live together but arent dating . joel and bdubs are in architecture, etho is in comp. sci and cleo is a textile/fashion student in another school entirely.

5. how do they typically dress? does their wardrobe lean more towards practicality or aesthetics?

Etho: she's more practical than anything. I don't think he has shopped for new clothes in like, 2 years tho, if it fits it's whatever, if it doesn't have a hole its whatever... obvs she wears mostly black/white/greens/greys, maybe the occasional dark blue? i think he would benefit from some pink clothing. maybe Cleo can provide those. Cleo would absolutely give him some of her old clothing and tailor it to fit him or sth. like florals and stuff. <3 cute! I do want to say Etho dresses like a reject emo kid but without the band shirts since he feels insecure about wearing graphic things since he feels like it brings attention to him. :3 also BLACK RIPPED SKINNY JEANS are a given. also fuckass cargo shorts

Joel: imagine 2014 grunge tumblr. Purely Aesthetic. would wear an extra belt if he could be bothered. he probably has about 10 plaids. He LOVES green accents. He absolutely owns a pair of knock off Tripp Pants. I think he thrifts mostly. Probably stole from his fathers closet too. Too many band tshirts. 50% of them he's never listened to. But they look cool. He probably hates Guns n Roses but wears the Tee anyway bc it looks cool. Absolutely a recovering scene+emo (scenemo?) kid who is never recovering. Mostly wears sweats around the house, sometimes will just walk around in his underwear. Etho doesn't like it because he gets flustered but gets used to it after the first semester of living together.

Cleo: She's a textile student/tailor so she sows most of her clothes herself. She likes crop tops and blazers and flowy skirts with floral patterns. Most of her clothes are made with comfort AND aesthetic in mind since, yknow, she does make them herself so she can choose both. Honestly I feel like she would learn more toward earthy colours, not so much black, I'd say maybe more of the ''kinderwhore'' aesthetic??? Grungey??? Maybe??? Oh and you KNOW she's dressing herself in velvet for special occasions. She doesn't wear too many accessories, just a good pair of earrings and simple necklace. Maybe a choker.

Bdubs: bro has no style he's just out there in messy wrinkly clothing that he found from the ground he does NOT care at all. Somehow even Etho is more put together than he is. I think the most noticable item from his wardrobe is the pink hoodie bc obvs he has a pink hoodie. duhh. Yeah he just doesn't care.

19. are they quick to anger? what sets them off?

Etho: i don't think he can get angry really, more annoyed or irritated out of anxiety ......... mostly if plans change or someone forces him to do something he will get a bit nasty.

Joel: you can piss this guy off with nearly everything. You can place the mug 1 inch too close to the edge of the desk and he will shout. <3 He has issues. I love him. He knows exactly which buttons to press to hurt the other person if he wants it to hurt. He doesn't even necessarily have to mean it. He's just awful

Cleo: she doesn't get angry too quickly, but they will get annoyed fairly quick. If you're argumentative they will Not like you. cough joel cough. she will snark her way out of getting angry tho, the other person usually stops beforehand

Bdubs: He gets angry and calms down in the matter of like 30 seconds so it's whatever. He mostly plays it up to be annoying and dramatic. <3

27. if applicable, do they have a favorite sport? do they play any sports or prefer to watch?

Etho: I think he hated PE way too much because he was a weak boy, he doesn't seek out to watch sports but he Will watch football with Joel. Like I can't for the life of me imagine that thing enjoying any sports. Maybe hiking but he's gona die from iron deficiency dizziness LOL . he can't do skating because his balance and feet suck, cant skii because he sucks, he cant run so he sucks at football and basketball and hockey, basically he sucks and hes gonna die . the only sport he can do is . uh . like. tennis. yeah. sulgpall :thumbsup:

Joel: Bro loves football. he probably still plays it even in college. loves watching it too. forces Etho to watch it. He's got mega calves from playing lmao. he's a pretty fast runner. and he's short so. lol

Cleo: doesn't care for sports but she doesn't mind playing volleyball and tennis <3 she WOULD however go skating each winter when the rinks open !!!!

Bdubs: played basketball in middle+high school, will watch it (and football) on tv but he's not exactly the most enthusiastic sports fan. i think he would go to the gym for funzies tho. :) perhaps he can take cleo with him too and they both do weights or sth

I DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT SPORT WHRUSDFUG im so bad at it so i dont care

this got so long goodriddens

[melancholybluu]

turning 20 in a few months and i have many thoughts about it because tbh i am really unhappy with what im doing and where i am in my life bc I should’ve been doing so much more but i genuinely just can’t afford to, and it’s so disheartening that I have all this talent and intellect and i can’t afford to be recognised for it because university costs money and i live on my own with no help from family or really anyone in an apartment 40 minutes away from town when it’s under 10 mins drive, and I can’t get a job anywhere in town because of my fuckass dad and mum because as soon as ppl see my last name or even me they know whose daughter I am and turn me away and irs soooo annoying it makes me wanna explode!!!!! last year was a string of situations hips and heartache and I really wanna open my heart and really be in love with someone again because for some reason it’s clicked in my head this year that I deserve more than I’ve been given romantically. I want to fall in love as hard as I did when I was 14 with someone who can actually reciprocate those feelings and not bounce around how they feel or be a terrible person overall. I just wish I was in Canberra going to uni and working and meeting new people and seeing new things and just being somewhere where I don’t have to be reminded of every single bad thing that’s ever happened to me because I’ve lived in the same town my whole life!! I just need a car or something and I will be set I think, but honestly I just wish I was able to do more.

[iamfuckingtrash]

Congrats on being trans! Can I ask how you found out?

Sure! (Putting it under a read more bc i kinda wrote a lot)

not to start with the biggest cliché ever but I never really like. Felt like a girl (as a young age if asked my gender i'd say tomboy) and didn't like girly things and all that and with age i assumed it was just internalized misogony but i grew out of 'hating girly things' and realized like oh, most of that stuff aint my jam but some is nice (i love baking and needlework)!

i Still never liked being feminine in like any way tho, but dressing masculinely and being called like he and handsome and being 'mistaken' for a boy and stuff did feel good and this led me to a fuckass long period of just being like "how am i supposed to KNOW if im TRANS if gender doesnt MEAN ANYTHING (because ofc sex isn't gender but also being masculine or feminine doesnt determine gender and its great to say gender is just how you feel but the words seem kinda meaningless and maybe this means im nb?) and am i just STILL plagued by internalized misogony?"

and uh... that lasted for a few years and i honestly dunno how i got out of that phase? I mean partially im sure is because i used to be afraid to identify as transgender for... obvious reasons lol but i also just kinda became more comfortable with the idea that i dont see myself as a girl and it doesn't really matter if i think otherwise later!

So for a while I just kinda said i was 'probably not a girl', 'probably trans but not sure', then hesitatingly either 'not cis' or 'trans' but I still wasn't quite sure of what my identity was exactly, whether I was agender or a man or just nb, and with time I became more chill with the idea that I don't have to know exactly what my identity is, but trans guy fits me pretty well so I'll use that at least until I find something that resonates with me more!

There were some things that like. Helped me be more comfortable with the idea of me being trans so ill say those too !

numero uno cutting my hair which i wanted to do foreeeeever. My hair was mid thigh level and my mom didnt really let me get it cut any length other than Real Long so getting my hair cut real Short was fantastic like. 10/10 would recommend very liberating. i had to compromise with her so I'd get a short haircut but not an undercut (she thought it's a cut for an older face or something but ive got one NOW so GOTTEM) but Still that was Great and boosted my self esteem SO much.

I found a nice tip somewhere (i wish i could remember where) I followed of making my character in viddy games male (I pretty often just make my characters. Me) which helped me realize like Ah! This feels normal for me ! This is nice !

I also wore more mens clothing and i gotta say going to the mens section of a store to get things For Me was 👌👌! my mom even let me get a suit for some event which, even though it was like a suit made for women (i dont know how to like. say the difference between a mans and womans suit but there really IS) it was really nice !! and along with the short hair, I looked a lot more masculine and a lot more like. more of who i wanted to be i guess instead of wearing the same hoodie licherally every day. this also helped a lot with my confidence and self esteem because for once i actually liked things about the way i looked!

So uh yeah thats all, I think! It's been kinda wild but. All the good things have made me a lot happier with who I am as a person !

[ohhicas]

I've only been into comics for a few years, but I've read enough of the old Flash stuff where I adore the classic incarnations of the Rogues. Honestly curious here: what's it like to be a fan of James Jesse back when he was retgonned around 10 years ago and see him brought back but now all mwahaha crazy evil? I'm way more used to Axel (and all that off-panel character development in Nu52, thanks DC) but even I find this kinda weird. Was James ever crazy evil in any arc?

^- me 90% of the time someone says James is coming back to recent media & it’s not a direct continuation of the comics prior to 2004

[ Warning: this is gonna get long and be full of a lot of assumptions. I can never form solid statements and things will get jumbled, because I suck at presenting things ]

[ this is my can of worms hill and you opened it so I’m dYING HERE ]

I mean, back in the earliest ages, no Rogue had a real personality to speak of? They were just “1960s Bad Guy in a different outfit” at the very start, with quirks! Like James having a thing for toys and nuclear powered flying tricycles. It wasn’t until that era ended that they started getting real distinct and into what a lot of ‘classic’ James fans loved and appreciated? 

(I think at least, I’m just One Person here pretending like I even understand HALF of what the ‘classic’ fandom enjoyed. I’m wildly speculating just going off what fanworks I’ve seen produced.)

(I don’t have all my scans anymore but I’ll toss in scans when I have them)

But that’s when we started getting things like James actually having specified friendships with certain people

or clear distaste towards others, and when you could tell he was more of a wild card than the others. Or when he decided to fuck off and hang out in Hollywood with Blue Devil for a bit, even siding with Kid Devil to deck out Captain Boomerang. 

Or when he decided to fuck off to Gotham, to mess with Catwoman by pretending he didn’t know who she was, but absolutely knew who she was because of how she walked and carried herself, but James being James was like “mmmmm long con, nope”

hey lil Cold, gimme all ur guns and don’t question why I’m in drag xoxo

Even then, he wasn’t shown to be vicious yet! He’d hopped around various places, was still considered A Rogue, A Criminal, and as far as any comic reader could tell by trying to count up how many civilians may have been crossfired at, he had no On Purpose deaths racked? Like, the only thing you could really argue was he may have made someone drive their car off a cliff once, but I’m like 98% sure they’re fine. He’s not a murderer, he’s just here for a laugh and a long-con for funsies because he know he can get away with it!

AND THEN WE GET A LITTLE OLDER, LITTLE DARKER

[ I’M PUTTING A CUT HERE CAUSE AFTER I THREW IT INTO DRAFTS, I REALIZED I GOT REALLY LONG, I’M SORRY IF MY LAYOUT SUCKS ASS FOR THIS. ]

little more 90s Hair. Little more 90s stereotypical “But what if EVERYONE WENT TO HELL” demon plots against Satanic Hockey Hair Neron. And James? still wasn’t evil? He was a little dismissive when everyone ELSE died sure but he still in the end turned around like “nghgng I’m THE ONLY ONE”, purposely got his ass down there, regretted it, and then beat Neron at his own game to save the entire fucking world. Because! He could! And he did it so well. STILL NOT EVIL, even when he had a chance right then and there to take over everything alongside Neron should he so desire. Like, two words, maybe some under the table BJs depending on how you feel about that pairing (I don’t), and bam. He would’ve bested nearly any other villain in the DCU save like, Satan himself. Or i guess one of those world destroyers. But we’ll get back around to those BOY HOWDY WE WILL GET AROUND TO THOSE. 

So James! Saves! The world! Sorta! Later they fight Neron again and his kid he somehow had somewhere down the road (it sounds like I’m complaining, i’m not, I love Billy and Mindy both I just wish they showed up like… ever again?) and he sTILL SAVES EVERYONE. 

Piper helps by their 90s ponytails combined. 

Somewhere around here, because dates and timing aren’t my strong suit, he also goes and messes with Bart for a bit. It’s pretty much a Spy Vs Spy episode, but with less bloodshed. 

ANYWAY IT’S AFTER THIS POINT THAT THINGS GET… where I think the majority of “James is a Low Rate Joker” comes from? 

For some unknown goddamn reason, in between issues (James wasn’t a Super Frequent Rogue? He’d show up, sure, but in the huge run of the series he’d just kind of vanish for 20 issues at a time and you’d go “welp, guess he’s still alive”) James went super-cop? like, the FBI? For some reason? Hired James “I am a probably still wanted felon, a man who has escaped jail numerous times, probably never served a full sentence, known Trickster and liar” Jesse. to the FBI. And for so many issues it’s like he legit just. Did this. He threatens to shoot Piper who he was up until this very moment, considerably very close friends with (as far as comics would show Rogue/Rogue friendships), unwilling to help his friend clearly framed for murder of his parents and losing his mind by the day. Despite James talking Hart down a little on the whole ‘THE MAYOR IS ROSCOE ADN NOBODY BELIEVES MEEEEEEEE” thing. 

Also he steals Digger’s dead ass corpse? 

FBI James is a fucking enigma. Here he is standing up for Gay Rights even though Piper is like “mm maybe I should forgive my abuser??”

BUT. AFTER THIS? WE GET COUNTDOWN WHICH IS JUST. Countdown is. IT’s a problem. James’s personality is IMMEDIATELY HORRIBLY u-turned into “well we need SOMEONE to be the Bad Guy to Piper’s Good!” DESPITE. ALL THESE YEARS OF COMICS.This is the shit you’ll see people who don’t know better or just want a reason to hate the Trickster (despite being 100% okay for them to just say he’s annoying/they don’t like his tights/acrobats are stupid) reference. James is, suddenly, very abruptly, a homophobe. Like an “ew don’t touch me” level homophobe because I’m pretty sure DC snorts cocaine and threw a dart at a board for “how could they make these two fight” and landed on GAY RIGHTS IS TRENDING. 

BUTSTILL IN THE FUCKING END OF ALL OF THIS?After so many issues of James being a complete fuckass prick? 

springboards himself from his current job of being railroad face putty to catching bullets to make sure Piper wasn’t gonna die. Without knowing the proceedings of this entire plotline, James out of nowhere after so much gaybashing, still finds it in him to leap into the path of multiple bullets and save Piper. Because, yknow, he’s evil!

Later it’s shown he’s been working to take everyone down (y’know, like when he was in the FBI) and left Piper specific helpful notes to do it himself. Because Evil Bad Guy! Helping his gone-good friend! Take down bad guys! 

DC I STILL HAVE SO MANY GODDMAN QUESTOINgsd

But yeah that’s. That’s where we last saw James. in 2007, dead, after saving Piper when he could have easily pulled a Joker and ripped HIM down to take hte bullets and etcetc, y’know. Something a Very Bad Person would’ve done, like the characterization we’ve seen now. 

His ghost (easily argued as Piper’s own mental construction of James sassing him) sasses Hartley to even, in his mental state, saw off James’s hand so Piper doesn’t have to lug his weight around and has a fighting chance at living. And in the end, when Piper’s fighting the thing that can destroy the fucking world, it’s shown only Piper was the one who could save them? Because his flute, and his musical ability, and [enter DC comic science here]. You could argue this was James, once again, somehow knowing the long-con at play here, getting screwed over at EVERY turn, and sacrificing himself so they ‘good’ team had a fighting chance.You could also argue this is me losing my mind trying to make sense of the things they made James do. (my running argument is he was purposely a prick to push Piper away, so he could keep him safe) 

Also Piper plays James a Swan Song of Queen as the final boss explodes and he’s fully prepared to die. So like. There’s that. 

AND THATS BASICALLY THE COMICS? The main, ‘canon timeline’ comics. I’m missing a LOT of little things here and there, but I’m not missing anything like body counts, or murder attempts, beyond the old Silver Age “Bad guy of the week” things like trying to make Flash’s head explode, or you know. Other “nobody really has a personality, we just have quirks”. 

MY NUMBER ONE GUESS TO WHERE THIS NEW PERSONALITY TREND COMES FROM?

Mark Hamil|’s OG run as him in the old live action show. That characterization was fun, for the time, and I even enjoyed it cause it was just that off the wall and you could tell it was what they used to decide he should be the Joker for the BATS Joker. Consider it a prototype (combined with all the previous comic jokers but that’s not for this long ass post) 

And if it’d stayed there, that’d be it! That’s it! But then JLU came along, and they referenced the old show for their version of James with a sprinkling of early-era comics, and a lot of people loved and watched that show. That was their version of the Trickster, because it was their first meeting with him! And I can’t fault that! But that guy was clearly off his rocker and I’m sure if the JLU allowed a higher rating, it would’ve been even closer to the old TV show. 

And both of THOSE were heavily, heavily referenced for the CW version, which as I’m at this point now means I need to slap my usual anti-CW tag onto things. I hate the CW James. There is so little comic in him it’s almost disgusting, and they ramped up so much of the Joker side of JLU & OGTV he might as well just be the Joker. It’s not a good representation of him at all. I have, also, only seen his first appearance episode, so maybe I’m wrong? But when you fuck up hard on the first run, why would I return for round 2? 

So with ALL THIS– 

REBOOT TIME. Whatever the newnew remake is calling itself. 

At first! With how James was! In the first panel flash of him clearly behind the scenes tugging so many wires and lines, watching everything with a bucket of popcorn while pulling others to his side, sitting pretty in an old museum? warehouse? highlighted in purples and vintage toys, I was like “holy shit this it. This is My Boy, back from the goddamn limbo-dead. It’s him.” But then“taking over the city entirely” to do? What? Turn it into the world’s biggest Trickster themepark? Make everyone wear striped leggings and combat boots? Martial Law of murder if you don’t carry rubber chickens? This is already veering from anything major James has ever done. As it stands I can’t see the gag here. Its’ weirdly dark and edgy, and way too close to something we saw the 90s TV show Trickster do, in the episode where he basically took over the place. The previews show him being what I’m assuming a Judge, Jury, & Executioner joke– and unless this spins into a Clopin song and dance number and his little hand puppet crops up to slam the button on the guillotine, I’m not having it, DC. 

They’re trying to tie him back into the CW, despite the writer saying he really enjoyed the Neron-era things with James (if I’m remembering the interview correctly). And it’s also why you may see me constantly saying “Well I sure as fuck hope Neron shows up” at anything new that’s released, to explain away all of… this.

This isn’t him. If they wanted a murderous Trickster, they should’ve just used Axel. The kid, canonly, tied explosives to stray dogs and homeless people. AXEL is the not-good Trickster, the murderous Trickster, the one you aren’t suppose to feel sorry for beyond being in way over his head due to his young age. 

i think I somehow didn’t answer your question

TL;DR

it sucks? it’s also great because there’s a .5% chance that maybe they’ll do it right and won’t reference the fucking 90s noncomic media. But then they do. And all I can do is laugh and shrug like ‘welp I expected nothing’. But when they get it RIGHT it’s like christmas came early.

[fenrirgodspeed]

about me tag!

tagged by an uwu @justine-the-guillotine

the rules are:

1 . Tag the person who tagged you

2. Answer the questions.

3. Tag 10 people

•How tall are you?

4′9″

•What color and style is your hair?

it’s dark brown but rn there’s a gross dark brown/reddish orange ombre going on from when i bleached it two summers ago

•What color are your eyes?

dark brown!

•Do you wear glasses?

nope!

•Do you wear braces?

i had them for three years from like 7th-9th grade

•What’s your fashion sense?

black! velvet! crop tops! high-waisted everything, platform shoes, and gaudy chokers. when i do wear a lot of color i’m either in my “i want TO BE pastel pink” zone or it’s v 80s-inspired

•Full name?

only a few ppl on here know bc of fb/ko-fi. i don’t rlly like. CARE if ppl know but it’s not what i want to be called so i don’t rlly see a reason to put it out there lol

•When were you born?

january 23rd, 1996

•Where are you from and where do you live now?

fuckass, texas and fuckass, texas

•What school do you go to?

i don’t right now!

•What kind of student are you?

a literal c-average one/almost-failure bc of my procrastination and general lack of ability to focus on anything that doesn’t naturally interest me

•Do you like school?

no! i hate it and i always have. college wasn’t as bad admittedly, but i wasn’t ready for it straight out of hs and even a three-class workload was a lot for me. when i go back it’ll be because i have a specific goal in mind and ik it’s gonna take a lot out of me.

•Favorite subject?

english!

•Favorite TV show?

mmm PROBABLY the vampire diaries. i love reign too. i’m a sucker for cw dramas lmao. does anime like? count? bc if so akagami no shirayukihime is hands down my favorite.

•Favorite Movie?

i don’t rlly have one?? i much prefer shows and movies are kind of like a one-and-done thing for me, but some i’ve really enjoyed/HAVE watched multiple times through the years are the last unicorn, the last mimzy, legally blonde, heathers, clueless, pretty in pink, sixteen candles (and every other 80s/molly ringwald teen movie) and as above, so below (aka the only horror movie i genuinely like for reasons beyond the fact that it scares me)

•Favorite books?

well. ever since i was like 14 i mostly have read fic, with bursts in between of binging YA literature, and it’s honestly been a year or so since i’ve read any original fiction. i’d say my favorite currently is the ACOTAR series. 

•Favorite pastime?

otome, reading fic, binging an entire season of something in one day. writing if i’m not in a state of total burnout like i am right now

•Do you have any regrets?

oh heck yes i do lol i could go on all day about them but! i can’t change the past so i try not to dwell.

•Dream job?

ya/romance writer

•Would you ever like to be married?

maybe! for tax benefits?? it’s a romantic idea in theory, but in reality it’s complicated and emotionally/financially taxing to get out of if you break up and i would have to be with a person for like....several years before i’d even consider the possibility. it’s honestly something that seems less and less important to me as i get older

•Would you like to have kids?

nope!

•How many?

-3

•Do you like shopping?

yes! clothes, merch, otome, food, you name it, and i’ll drain all of my money into it!

•What countries have you visited?

uhhh just the cayman islands, which are a british...territory i think? i rlly wanna go to canada, though, and i’d also love to travel to scotland, switzerland, japan, france,,,,just,,,everywhere ig 

•Scariest nightmare you have ever had?

once i had a dream about a room absolutely COVERED from floor to ceiling in daddy long legs spiders and it’s stuck with me for years fjdsfks i hate them

•Any enemies?

i’m in my 20s, do u think i have The Energy to sustain hatred for anyone other than myself

•Any significant other?

nope!

•Do you believe in miracles?

i believe in like. chance swinging in your favor, sometimes unexpectedly and despite low probability. luck, i guess. i don’t believe in divine intervention or anything

•How are you?

kind of hungry, actually!!!!

i’m gonna break the rules and only tag @pseudofaux @saizoswifey @serenity-writes @kashimalin ily angels

[nightcoremoon]

tw death cw death trigger warning death etc

let's look at some statistics.

(don't worry, I'll do the math.)

in 2015 there were 320.64 million people in america. 2.71 million died. 0.84% of the total population of people died that year. to match 2016's total population it would need to rise by 2.3 million, meaning 5 million babies were born (or people who immigrated).

in 2016, 322.94 lived here. 2.74 died. 0.85%. 4.75 were born.

2017, 324.99 alive, 2.81 died. 0.86%. 4.5 born.

2018, 326.69, 2.84 dead, 0.87%, 4.4 born.

2019, 328.24, 2.85 dead, 0.87%, 4.5 born.

and in 2020, 329.88 lived. the population slowly increased, the death rate slowly increased which makes sense exponentially, and the birth rate was pretty standard. it's fine.

but... this is sobering.

out of 329.88 million people, 3.36 million died. that's 1.02%. that's a jump by 0.15%, which when you realize that's 494,000 people...

usually it's been so far that the number of people who died each year increased an average of less than 0.01% aka 33,000.

461,000 extra people died in 2020.

but that's just the beginning.

691,000 people died from heart disease which happens every year because people die from being old (or 400 pounds overweight and I do mean that literally) and their hearts give out. but you know what, if less than 700K people die and over 4 million people are born that's totally fine. people gotta die, it's a fact of life.

600,000 people died from cancer. fuck cancer.

192,000 people died from accidents. oopsie.

160,000 people died from strokes. if your heart is stronger than your brain then you're probably gonna die by one of these. it sucks but again old people gotta die somehow.

151,000 people died from their lungs. smoking does that. it sucks but it makes sense. it's easy to die from any of your major organs failing.

133,000 people died from alzheimers which is, again, something that afflicts mostly the old. it's a shame really because of how much of a cruel fate it is to slowly lose your memories instead of just passing away all at once if your heart just decided to stop beating while you slept.

100,000 people died from pharmaceutical companies hoarding insulin for money like the greedy corporate fucking morality-whores they are diabetes. unfortunate. mostly preventable. insulin should be free, fuck you if you disagree.

53,000 people died from pneumonia and the flu. so you know what if you think that it's a valid talking point to say "nobody gets the flu anymore" you're a goddamn idiot so shut the fuck up you stupid cunts.

nearly the same amount died from kidneys.

and 44,000 people killed themselves. sad. although I'm surprised as hell that the number of reported suicides went DOWN??? during pandemic? which seems contrarian but hey it's good news.

now, I'm gonna take a brief segue to point out that cancer stayed at the same number and this probably shows something nefarious about cancer research and big pharma because it stayed scarily static and I might put on a tinfoil hat and say it's because I think the government might be infecting the population with cancer in order to get more money from people through cancer research as a big money laundering op to finance their underground secret wars and the black market because that's something they would totally do. but that's unimportant.

also, heart disease noticeably increased over the years but like, as time goes on and the population increases more age demographics get larger and older so that makes sense. stroke, alzheimer's, kidney disease, them too. but what's REALLY WEIRD is just how many accidents increased exponentially. I can't just attribute it to dumbasses with gender reveal parties and dumbfuck republicans having huge fuckass fires, something nefarious is going on.

and one last thing... look. gun violence is bad. mass shootings, gang warfare, cops, they're out of control. and they mostly target children, people of color and/or religious minorities, and the lower class, homeless, impoverished, etc. it's not as bad as the left makes it out to be in terms of pure numbers but it's worse than the right makes it out to be in terms of statistical analysis and common sense. more people die by their own hands than by guns. just like the war on drugs is a colossal fucking waste of time and taxpayer money, a gun ban would be an expensive waste of time, and if you are out here advocating for BANS then you're a moron who doesn't understand basic fucking civics and is doomed to never operate a successful government and probably shouldn't even vote, because all we need is treating them the same way we treat cars, this is a perfectly reasonable compromise between the "ban everything we find even slightly morally questionable and yet ignore why that's a fucking stupid mentality so says every single queer who's ever been victim to religious based oppression" left, and the "we hate black people but not as much as we love our rooty tooty point n shooty and we will never accept any bill that limits military expenditures because GUN GUNS GUNS YEEHAW" right, because you have to appeal to the majority in a democracy and if you don't like that then fine go ahead and wave your pastel hammer/sickle because you've already given up your rights as a voting american and you live in this system so you have to abide by it unless you're willing to get your hands dirty and actually get off your ass and do some direct action and pipe bomb tesla microsoft apple sony disney or any other actively harmful corporation. didn't mean to go on this tangent but oh well. the highest stats I could find say that less than 15K people died at max in 2015 and honestly given that in the past 20 years it's been between 10 and 15K yearly I gotta say that 30 per day is really not that high and the best way to prevent these is control & reform & prevention strategies and not waste the government's time because they can barely pave the roads (AND CAR ACCIDENTS KILL SO MANY MORE PEOPLE). anyway this is one of the dumbest hills to die on and it's not that high a number and every single person who wastes all their time arguing about guns and ignoring diabetes and cops and suicide, the much more important issues in our society (defunding the police and putting that money into free insulin and mental health care will save more lives than the piggies ever will), is a moron who's missing the big picture.

now back to my original point

345,000 PEOPLE DIED FROM COVID.

THIS IS INDISPUTABLE.

WEAR A MASK, DIPSHITS.

OR I WILL COUGH ON YOU ON SIGHT.

and stop calling it a hoax. you look like an idiot.

and either pay fast food workers more or stop filling the mcdonald's line three blocks every friday night because you're too stupid and lazy to cook real food and NOT scream at a 15 year old because they didn't give your disgusting cheeseburger 16 pickles or they gave you 5 instead of 6 mcchickens or fucked something else up because you suck shit at speaking clearly and ordering politely, dumbass karen. pick one, you ungrateful fucking assholes.

rant over.

[sophygurl]

WisCon 42 panel MCU’s Black Superheroes

The full title of this panel was Show Me My Respect: A Critical Look At The MCU’s Black Superheroes

The panel description:

Has the MCU done its black characters justice over the last 10 years? Did Disney allow Ryan Coogler to give Black Panther the respect and nuance it deserves? Did the Russo Brothers f*ck up everything in Avengers: Infinity War that the black and NBPOC writers and directors established in building complex characters and storylines? Let's explore this decade-long journey into Phase IV to see how the MCU has and will continue to treat us.

The moderator was Jennifer Cross, with panelists Aunterria Bollinger and K. Tempest Bradford.

Reminder that these panel notes are only my own recollections and the things I managed to write down - my notes are incomplete and likely faulty in places. Corrections and additions are always welcome. Especially please do correct me if I get names or pronouns wrong!

Also I name panelists as that’s publicly available information but not audience members unless requested by that person to have their named added.

[I came into the panel a little bit late, so missed intros and probably some other stuff.]

Tempest was talking about the black best friend trope and that DCTV does this a lot. Rhodey is very underused, and Civil War turned him into the disabled black best friend. 

Jennifer said Don Cheadle deserves better! Iron Man 2 gave complexity to Rhodey and Tony’s relationship and Civil War messed a lot of that up. It also made Rhodey disabled in a super questionable way [I missed some of this statement]. It was a literal cheap shot and felt like Joss Whedon saw him as an expendable character to use to elevate white man pain. Also the fact that Rhodey just automatically sides with Tony - what happened to the tension between them and Rhodey holding Tony accountable for his actions?

Jennifer made an aside to let the audience know that the panelists were going to be using a lot of code switching and AAVE references. She then went on to say “Fuck Infinity War - Russo brothers, take your white man pain to Ralph Lauren and buy some more polo shirts.” (lol)

Jennifer brought up that two black American men go to Wakanda for the first time and said nothing about it. Also they made Wakanda look “dank as shit.” 

Tempest said the amount of Cumberbatch she had to stare at in Infinity War was too much - she skipped a whole movie to avoid him! (me too) One problem with IW was that there were just too many people in it, so they couldn’t properly focus on anyone. 

Tempest added - why didn’t they just ask Shuri to fix things from the start? She was finally going to fix it, but she got interrupted by more man pain! Jennifer added that she loved the “you tried” moment with Shuri. 

Aunterria talked about IW’s short shifting of Wakanda as if they were saying “well we gave you a whole movie - what else do you want?” But also how much worse it might have been if that had been the first introduction to Wakanda instead of coming out after Black Panther. 

Jennifer brought up Winter Soldier and how Sam got to have a whole back story about his PTSD. In IW, we see him helping other people with their trauma but they never address how events are affecting him. She talked about how PTSD varies from person to person, and about how it can affect black people differently, especially.

Tempest brought up the gaybaiting of the series. Jennifer adds that she hates shipping, but she loves Sam and Bucky. 

Tempest said that Sam has more back story than Rhodey in terms of story that isn’t tied to a main white character. She will also never forgive Tony for shooting him in the face in Civil War. Marvel tries with regards to race, but their attempts are inadequate. 

She went on to talk about the character of M’Baku in Black Panther. She has a friend who was initially very upset about the inclusion of this character because in the comics the portrayal is very racist. Then he saw the movie and saw how great the character was. This is what happens when you give black people agency. Ryan Coogler had a lot of freedom in how he made BP.

Tempest added that white directors may try, but when trying to fix race in one area, they often make it racist in a whole other way. She brought up the Mandarin, for example. Why don’t you just ask an Asian person?

Jennifer said she wanted the panel to primarily focus on black people. The MCU fucks up all people of color, but the panel is specifically about black characters. 

She added that she loved watching Rhodey kick Tony’s ass. When he said “you don’t deserve to wear this suit” - it was a calling out of his privilege. She also found it suspect that Rhodey didn’t notice Tony’s PTSD in Iron Man 3. He’s a veteran and a general and would be trained to look for those signs. She said “we’re 10% of the population in LA - find one of us and pay us to fix this stuff.” Especially important to find a black veteran officer to inform Rhodey and Sam’s characters. She no longer trusts white people to write black people. 

Jennifer moved on to Valkyrie. She said she does love Thor because Chris Hemsworth. Also Taiki Watiti did surprisingly well. She loves Tessa Thompson. 

Aunterria talked about her love for Danai Gurira as both Michonne in The Walking Dead and Okoye in the MCU. However, she still falls under the trope of the exceptional black woman giving it all up for a man. 

Tempest countered that saying that Okoye fights for Wakanda over a man. She and T’Challa fight alongside one another and it’s clear that she would do the same for Shuri if she was queen. BP is not just about awesome black men, but black women too. There isn’t enough complexity in the other black characters in the MCU with the exceptions of Heimdall and Valkyrie. Asgard also had random Asian and black characters walking around that are never addressed or explained.

Jennifer loved Valkyrie drunkenly stepping off the ramp. Also the quietness of Heimdall’s character even when had more to do than just standing there. She talked about being a big Norse Scandanavian folklore nerd and said Asgard looks the way it’s supposed to look - it was actually diverse as shit. It took a man of color to finally make it look almost accurate representation-wise. She references the show The Almighty Johnsons as a show about Norse gods living in New Zealand. 

Jennifer wonders if it’s going to take only poc behind the scenes to give us proper treatment. Way down in her soul is an optimist that “no amount of beating with Lucille can shut up” that wants to know if it can happen any other way. 

Aunterria said she’s not optimistic about this. She can’t think of a poc character written by a white person that’s done anything meaningful or purposeful or accurate. 

There is much collective groaning about Iron Fist.

Aunterria talked about making Luke Cage bulletproof but not talking about police violence. Giving black characters powers without engaging in the social issues around them. 

Jennifer said she is mixed about Luke Cage. It’s the embodiment of respectability politics. But there is an effort to show Harlem and the gentrification of it. There’s this idea that poc don’t have any room to make mistakes. BP did so well that Kevin Feige is begging Coogler to come back. 

Jennifer said that she loves the women in LC - especially Misty. There are lots of women who are all different people, all unapologetically black but in different ways. She’s watching it for the women. Praises Alfre Woodard. 

Tempest uses headcanons to make movies better.

Jennifer addressed how Tessa Thompson was the one out of the women in the MCU cast to ask Kevin Feige about them wanting their own movie. Why did the black woman have to be the one to ask for what all these white women have been wanting? Why couldn’t ScarJo take her white appropriating ass up there and ask about it?

Tempest talked about the TV part of the MCU technically being in the same universe. TV shows have to include the big events of the movies but not the other way around. She said she stopped watching Shield when Daisy’s transformation killed the black male character (Trip) for one episode of white pain. Jennifer also stopped watching it in season one.

Aunterria is still watching Shield. She wondered if Trip had been killed because of the possibility of his entering into an interracial relationship. She said there is a new black male character (Mack), but his arc is all about suffering. Last season had a storyline about aliens enslaving white people, which was interesting. But the people of color come to save the white people. Jennifer interjects “Killmonger wasn’t wrong...”

Tempest adds “Joss is the most fuckassed fuckass to ever fuckass.” Jennifer asks what about Stephen Moffat? Tempest said - he’s second.

Aunterria said Shield did make the black man the team leader at the end of this season. Jennifer said - so he has to suffer for his reward now and his reward is to parent a group of white people? That’s even more fucked up!

Tempest said that BP gave her hope. Jennifer said - see, she’s not the only one with optimism. Tempest said that Coogler has some power right now - maybe he can bring in some friends and fix some more stuff.

Aunterria said that being a black writer right now is also hard because there is so much to fix. There is so much shit to work on before you can even focus on your craft - so it’s more work for them.

Tempest said her hopes are with the movies over the TV shows.

Jennifer said - “especially fuck babyvampJessica” (Karen from Daredevil). It’s like the paler you are, the more people will die for you. 

Tempest said - as far as cleaning up, BP didn’t have to do that work because they were starting from scratch. There must be other characters that can be brought into the MCU movies that can be written by black writers.

Aunterria said those do exist, but the funding isn’t there. Tempest - but Gods of Egypt somehow got funding!

An audience member asked about Heimdall and if he would come back. Jennifer said that Idris Elba has said no on that. 

Tempest talked about actors being semi-responsible to the narrative of their characters. RDJ even saying - maybe it’s time for me to go? Jennifer added - and then they throw more millions at him and I can’t be mad about that. Tempest said that we know all those people who were turned to dust are coming back. It was a bold decision to kill some of them - but we need to sunset one story in order to have a sunrise on another. Also - “fuck Thanos.” 

Tempest said that something that ruins a narrative almost as much as white supremacy is the irresponsible choices of actors going on and on - except for all of the cast of BP - they can stay as long as they want.

Jennifer said that with Disney owning Marvel, Deadpool is now officially a Disney Princess (lol).

Tempest said she sat through all of Wolverine Origins just to see Hugh Jackman naked and she is done with Deadpool now.

An audience member asked about the character Cottonmouth on LC. Jennifer talked about him as a complex character bridging socio-economic status’s. She added that if you put trauma in a black character’s history, you need to do it in a way that is not just for show. She said the opposite of the example would be Zoe Walsh.

A member of the audience asked about Lash’s purpose on Shield. Aunterria said he filled in May’s backstory and explains things to us about her that we weren’t getting just from her side. But he was mostly there for gratuitous pain and suffering of a black man and Asian woman. 

Jennifer said the MCU is allergic to black love. “Tweet that.” She wants to see a black male character saving a black female character - not just everyone else.

An audience member asked about Miles Morales. Jennifer said - we’ve had four Peter Parkers in fifteen years! Tempest said Tom Holland is at least finally a good one. Kevin Feige has said there is space for Miles, but she wonders who is going to write him? 

Jennifer closed the panel with a firm statement for the white members of the audience, especially. She said - you will take everything good from our culture and appropriate it, but not our pain. You’ve taken our stuff for fun value and for show, but you don’t address our pain. 

This panel was also livetweeted pretty extensively with #blackmcu if you want more/other perspectives from it. 

[For context, I’m white.]