#like i can KINDA understand where he's coming from with his critique but to say this wasn't good enough for an all pick???

[rmbunnie]

Okay so post-Seeing Red reread that comes with reading through Green Arrow 2001, I have 2 new things I've noticed and thought were interesting! This is the first, and the second will be here later on:

Ollie is kinda on his empathy A-game in this one? Like he's being a good dad, a good friend/colleague, it's impressive how much he isn't flying off the handle. I feel like all-in-all post-Mia-HIV-diagnosis, or maybe even post-City Walls, I can't pin down the shift exactly, he becomes much more self-aware in regards to his own temper and emotional shortcomings, and he doesn't like try to change that, but he does start avoiding situations that he knows he won't be able to handle with grace, (which feels like a much more natural progression for him and most characters in general than suddenly getting better and healing and no longer being flawed, but that's just my preference,) and he's doing his best with that in this one. All this to say, he:

keeps the conflict with Bruce to a minimum, except for when he's calling out his parenting style and rightfully upset by the possibility that Bruce only showed up in the first place to lure out Jason, and he and Mia were planned collateral. (It's worth noting that once he critiques Bruce's parenting, Bruce's knee-jerk response is to say pretty much "I know you're being mean and irrational because you're upset, but remember when Roy got addicted to heroin?" which, even disregarding the Roy part, he's kinda chalking any questioning of his parenting style up to Ollie just being upset, when like, that's a very valid critique of the situation. And I think context is added to his critique of Bruce's parenting style by acknowledging that a. that this comes after Bruce calling Jason "dirt in the gutter" and GA responding like "whatever you say," and b. Ollie is canonically aware that somehow, Jason ended up buried in rubble in his last fight with Bruce, meaning he has at least a rudimentary understanding of the Joker showdown (although I can't imagine he knows about the whole ultimatum part.) Several times throughout this run, Ollie alludes to Bruce being a difficult parent (mainly to Dick, via gossip from Roy,) but he doesn't know Jaybin well enough to even recognize him in Heaven, so I think it's entirely possible that when he says Bruce was a bad father to Jason, he's referring not only to Bruce's general closed-off and authoritarian approach to parenting, but specifically to recent, post-resurrection treatment of Jason, (maybe including the blowing up?) which would be VERY interesting.

sends Mia away when he wants to talk one-on-one with Bruce about Jason's turn towards evil! I don't know how I didn't notice this one in my first readthrough, but after she accidentally says something rude about Jason's death and the topic of drug dealing comes up, Ollie asks Mia to talk to one of her contacts about the weapons deal that's going on (and makes a point of praising her in front of Bruce for her network of sources and good information-gathering skills,) and then immediately goes in and tries to press Bruce on how hard it must be to see Jason doing the things he's doing (where Bruce doubles-down on having no residual care towards Jason.) This doesn't mean anything in the larger plot of things, but I think it's really sweet that once she gets embarrassed saying something insensitive, Ollie kinda gives her something to do off to the side so the adults can talk about something personal she'd be out of the loop on. I wonder if part of the reasoning behind sending her away is so she wouldn't be psyched out by the failed sidekick talk and the general idea of a sidekick dying, turning evil (relative to this way he was before,) and consequentially being abandoned (at a surface level,) by his hero parent, as opposed to Bruce's cautionary tale approach to the whole Jason debacle. It happens right when Bruce starts claiming that Jason is like, morally lost. The idea that she would see herself in Jason before the gym fight and Ollie could predict that upsetting her feels like a stretch typing it out, but a very interesting one imo. Either way, it's for the best that Mia wasn't around to hear the "another piece of dirt in the gutter" remark, and Ollie seemed to plan for this.

Gives Bruce run of the case, even before Jason comes into play, just in an effort to be cooperative, and because “he’s visiting." I'm also moderately obsessed with "Try and wear something nice tomorrow!" Like yeah Brucie public appearance, I understand what it actually means, but yelling "wear that dress I like ;)" out into the night is crazyyyy.

Is just so cute with Mia, if there’s one thing Green Arrow 2001 makes Oliver it’s a girldad. That really shines in this storyline. His first reaction to Mia when she escapes/is let out of the gym is “are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” he’s hyping her up, he keeps talking about Bruce’s “wild child” taking “his girl,” he’s actually explaining things about Bruce's m.o. and disposition to her, just being a great father all in all. And not to cornplate, but he makes a little joke about hating pineapple on pizza to some goons and Mia agrees with him pretty close after the Winick issue where she says it’s her favorite to the Teen Titans (another point of contrast with Bruce in the Mia-Jason parallel this storyline centers on: Oliver takes Mia to join the titans specifically so she can have a support system, while Jason was established to interact with them only behind Bruce’s back, under the pretense that he’d be punished for working with them, and dies isolated from his peers) which reads like she’s lying just so she can keep agreeing with her dad?? Mia Dearden cutest of all time! They both eat the pizza anyways...

I'm biased, but I just think it's kinda sweet that he continuously refers to Jason as "kiddo," "this kid," "wild child," etc. Like even mid-fight. idk Ollie acknowledging his actual age just hits, king of actually understanding the parental relationship between a sidekick and the hero who adopts him while Bruce makes a point of referring to both Jason and Mia exclusively as partners, charges, etc. all comic. Like it's ROUGH his direct response to GA calling him a hell of a father is admitting he has failings as a "mentor," both emphasized in quotes and bolded. Jason's wrong in the Mia conversation specifically about their fathers being the same, not because they aren't genuinely disconnected from his and Mia's backgrounds, they are, but because Oliver is a genuinely active parent, unbeknownst to Jason. And it's a leap in logic to think Mia's in the same spot, but with his reference to go off of? It's just a really fucking tough example to work off of, that he's internalized as the standard. But in reality, Ollie's... kinda killing it?

[soft-pine]

okay so @monstermoviedean is watching s14 rn and her takes are god tier!!! and you should all go read her blog please!

but it just makes me want to talk about lebanon/14.13 so much! like it really is one of my favorite episodes of spn. which is crazy i know because i truly hate john with every fiber of my being but i think this episode reveals so much about him & dean's relationship with him with delicious subtly!

and i've yapped at random on twitter about this but i want to gather all my thoughts in one place.

dean's relationship with john is The most important relationship in spn that i'm interested in unpacking. (i am normal and fine and this has nothing to do with my own issues)

i think for some people who understand john as abusive, it is frustrating and jarring to see him come back after so many years and just be kinda nice. especially given that dean has just finally started to talk to his family about some of the bad things john did.

i maintain that dean has been pretty clear with cas and like random strangers that his dad was shitty. but in 14.11, he tells mary the winchester surprise story. while he doesn't frame the story as truly a critique of john, it is a contrast to his quiet silence and pained expression after newly-resurrected mary says john was a good father in 12.02. in 14.12, dean opens up to sam about how when john was pissed off at dean, he would send him away. this is a stark new light on dean's comments from 7.14 where he apologizes to sam for sometimes "ditching him" when they were kids. sam quickly shuts down dean's apology in 14.12 and subsequent discussion about dean's regrets and feelings about john. but since sam's shift in his opinion about john in 2.02, dean pretty consistently keeps his criticism to himself in front of sam so this is a marked change. and the very next episode script draft includes the infamous "probably pulled the wide-eye hitchhiker routine. dad made me do it all the time on hunts. as bait." so, given the episodes and revelations that bookend 14.13, it's understandable how hard it is to see john and dean interact at all.

but i think it's perfect! because it so clearly shows every truth of their relationship.

firstly, we can look at who john apologizes to. in 1.16, 1.20, and 14.13 john is reunited with sam & dean after time apart. and in all three episodes, he apologizes and/or works to make amends with sam for their fractured relationship. in fact, in 14.13, it's a mention of the winchester surprise that triggers john's apology to sam.

in contrast, the only time john apologizes to dean for his childhood is 2.01 when he says sorry for making dean always have to look after him and sam. and then promptly asks him to kill sam if he has to.

it's crushing to me that at no point does john see the way he treated dean as anything to make amends for. instead, in 1.21 and 14.13, he frames dean not "having a home" or "having a family," "a normal life" as circumstances outside his control or as somehow dean's choice. and yet, john is entirely responsible. he is the one moving dean from school to school, getting him into credit card fraud, taking him on hunts. in 12.09 it's established that dean has as long arrest/warrant record which includes things we never see him getting arrested for in canonical spn. he is the one who always said hunting was temporary (6.02) and yet never allowed for a way out. so even though john's affect is kinder, we know he isn't meaningfully taking accountability for a huge amount of his actions.

it's the reason for the kinder affect we can look at next. because what is one of the most common indicators of abusive dynamics? treating people differently in public vs private. and critically for almost all of 14.13, mary is observing john. and we know that despite their marital problems (5.16), she considered him a good father. he doesn't know that the life he forced sam and dean into is the very worst thing she could have imagined for her children (4.03), but we can tell from his apologies to sam that john is at least aware of things he did which he regrets.

before mary arrives, he is giving sam and dean orders, "You boys better tell me what the hell is going on right now." i recognize he's very disoriented but this affect disappears entirely after mary shows up. i cannot overstate how much i love how not stern and harsh john is here because it shows that he could have always chosen to be like that. but there weren't negative consequences (a wife who might be angry with him) to face.

i've said before that i think one of the reasons that john kept sam & dean away from hunter gatherings and meeting other hunters (2.03, 12.06) is because hunters they met might have acted exactly how dean acts to krissy's dad in 7.11 and told him to quit. the hunters/community john did maintain relationships with were sometimes kinda shitty people - Deacon (2.19), Travis (4.04), Martin (8.09). not that Bobby, Caleb, Pastor Jim, Bill Harvell, Daniel Elkin were necessarily like that but I do think its worth looking at who John's friends who he didn't have a falling-out with were. Like Fred Jones who gave Sam & Dean their first beers when they weren't even 10 (8.08).

some other details about that first reunion kitchen conversation that always stick out to me are john finishing the drink dean pours for him while dean & sam barely touch theirs. it's also significant to me that dean tells mary in 12.01 that john died to save him. but here, he tells john that he died taking out yellow-eyes (which is literally not what happened. like specifically he died by making a deal with azazel). dean, always working to deescalate and maintain the peace, instantly clocks which thing they will each find more soothing to hear.

one thing that i see people often critique is the idea that john coming back is somehow the thing dean wished for the most. but what dean actually says is that this is something he's wanted since he was four years old. so it's really not about john back at all. john died when dean was 27. but mary died when dean was four. and that cause nearly every hard, traumatic, awful thing in dean's life. to some extent, i think it was about wanting john to have mary back. throughout dean's entire life, john used the loss of mary as an excuse for how he acted and what he made dean & sam do. so of course what dean wants most is... for that not to have happened.

and this brings my to my second favorite part of the episode. but you'll only catch if you're paying attention. dean says he's thrilled to have john back and yet at every chance he gets, he leaves the room john's in. he leaves the kitchen when john reunites with mary. dean gets the grocery list from mary while john has a tearful apology with sam. dean talks to john again only because he has to tell him about the pearl but then leaves to help cook. after dinner, he goes to do the dishes. dean really is not actually trying to spend time with john - even when they get a deadline for when their time with him is over, dean is not trying to make the most of it. and god i love him for that.

i sympathize with people who are frustrated to see dean fall back into the role of caretaker for john's emotions and wellbeing. and i agree but i appreciate that it is very clear that's what's happening. he's performing the role he's always been forced to perform. he may be more aware of it as a performance this time. he may be taking more steps to remove himself from having to interact with john. but i would almost feel worse if he wasn't getting john a drink, doing what he said, going on little errands, cooking, cleaning up. john says "You want to give your mom a hand?" and of course he goes.

i think dean always has held both deep hurt from and empathy for john and this episode is full of both of them. and while i think it's always hard to hear dean slip back into those moments of empathy (8.12 is always rough for me), it's so real that's where he would be sometimes. so much of being a child who's made responsible for your parent's emotions means that there is such a deep part of you that wants to protect them from harm.

i personally think the song "til it shines" by bob seger is an insane choice to play over their dinner scene. because, though that's not the part of the song that plays, the lines "Take the chip off of my shoulder. Smooth out all the lines. Take me out among the rustling pines, till it shines, ah, till it shines" always strike me as trying to see something through rose-tinted glasses in a way. or maybe acknowledging the performative, white-washing that's being done?

anyway, i understand why people want dean to have a cathartic yelling session with john. but honestly im not sure that would ever sit right with me. i think honestly 14.13 is kind of perfect. john comes back and it proves everything. john could always be kind (he took you to a freaking baseball game (4.19)). he could always apologize. he always did say he wanted the boys to get out of hunting but never even tried to make it happen.

and that brings me to my favorite part of the episode. my darling. my baby. my treasure. dean says, "i have a family." and what that means to him is his own. he gets to keep it. he gets to mean it without john's scrutiny. without him tearing it apart. the conversation sam & dean have over dishes is another deeply meaningful part. dean specifically rejects the idea of telling john the truth about any of it - even if it would change things. because he's good with who he is. "Cause our lives – they’re ours."

this matters so much to me because i don't think dean's healing can ever be contingent on john - not on his reaction, not on finally telling him the truth, not on john getting comeuppance for all the shit he did, not even on changing the past so john has more information because the critical thing that 14.13 and 4.19 show is that john literally did not do the best he could. so what could change that?

in the kitchen, dean tells sam that he blamed john for "the longest time". do you understand how much it means to me to hear him say that?! because i think of course blaming john is the first step! dean was hurt and he was angry about that and he should be!

but dean's healing can't just stop there. while i know there will be moments as he heals where he's angry with john again, the beautiful core of dean's healing i see in 14.13 is him being clear on where the boundary of him and his wants, goals, needs, and priorities are vs john's. i think a lot of dean's young relationship with john was him being forced to keep parts of himself (the parts that didn't like to hunt for example) secret out of shame and necessity. but here, i don't think dean is carrying that shame anymore. he is very clear on how what he wants from his life differs from what john would want but dean sticks to his own values. he has a family. he's good with who he is. it's just none of john's goddamn business.

anyway, as always mitski says it best....

plus we get two of THE MOST shots of dean's face of all time for me!!! like my god stabbing me would hurt less!!!

plus! PLUS!! CHERRY ON TOP!!! LOOK AT THESE NOOOOOODLES

in conclusion. your honor, i love her.

[frumfrumfroo]

A few years ago, I was discussing The Last Jedi with a classmate and he said something like “It was a good movie, just not a good Star Wars movie”. At the time, I chalked it up to the fact that he was a teenage boy who was probably parroting the vague and irritating criticism that the movie faced at the time. Years later, I began to think about that moment more and more. Despite hearing that critique so many times, hearing it from him made me reflect on the concept of “getting” Star Wars and what fans perceive as “getting” Star Wars.

What the last few years (and the stream of post-TROS shows) have taught me, is that a large portion of fans don’t actually get what Star Wars is. The same is true for those who are currently planning the future of the franchise. They don’t see the value in the mythical framework of the series or care to understand it, it seems like they overlook it entirely. They’re so consumed by the fidelity to “the lore” that they can’t take step back and see the (mythical) elements that drew them to the story in the first place. It feels a bit arrogant of me to say that, but it’s a feeling that’s been bothering me.

Yes, part of the core of the problem is that even the people who actually like SW that DLF hired seem to be mostly fans of the old EU who are fundamentally unconcerned with what SW is actually about. People who prioritise 'lore' and minutiae, who think trivia is worldbuilding or that 'worldbuilding' is what defines the GFFA.

Whereas what actually defines the GFFA is the themes ('love people, that's all Star Wars is' -George Lucas). The universe exists to tell the story and the story exists to communicate the themes. It is character-driven, not plot or setting driven. Things making emotional sense is the only thing that matters in the OT, the logistics are irrelevant and incidental. It's not sci-fi and never has been, there is no interest in explaining the rules of the technology or codifying the Force into a structured system. There is no exploration of the relationship of society with technology because this is an epic fantasy story focussing on the conflict going on in the human spirit between selfishness and love; it's about the coming of age of an individual where the entire setting is established to facilitate that. SW is a story about individuals and their journey to ethical adulthood.

TLJ is written to the mythic archetype and themes of SW, its basic narrative shape is absolutely textbook exactly what anyone who understands literary criticism should have expected. It is exactly what a SW sequel to TFA should and needed to be. Which is why so many people doing that kind of analysis were able to accurately predict its main story beats.

The lore fans who want 'realism', video game power system Force magic, and the kind of moral ambiguity which is foundationally incompatible with SW are not fans of the story, they are fans of the trappings. These are the people who dismiss Vader's redemption as a unforunate incidental that 'everyone' can ignore because the rest of RotJ is good (paraphrase of an actual post I saw).

THE moral victory, the protagonist's moment of vindication, the entire POINT of the story and this dude thinks it's like, an accidental blooper that just kinda snuck into the edit because he wants Luke to be a standard American hero and not to have his worldview challenged.

I am totally comfortable saying they don't get SW no matter how much trivia they've memorised and merch they've collected.

[battingmyeyelashes]

hi. ‪‪❤︎‬ i want to do another tiny ramble about bill dickey. im the girl that spazzes out about him often & makes long silly posts ‪‪❤︎‬

so, i wanna say first that everyone can do anything they want to, i dont mind, but i am very very transfixed by this little character for personal & silly reasons + so i think about him & his psyche a lot : (

i know the fandom rlly likes to make "x reader" or oc stuff with him where he gets put in his place by being berated or bitched out or bullied, etc. but i do not think that would fix bill or help him at all. it would probably just make it worse. i think a lot of his issues come from his lack of feeling secure in his life and with himself. his usual response to feeling threatened as im sure everyone already knows is to lash out, and if he were confronted by someone trying to bully him into submission, he would likely just double down on whatever he is saying/doing and it would be like throwing water on a grease fire. i have seen the personality type irl, and this is usually how it goes.

he needs someone who is willing to show him adoration and love and boost his ego to make him feel good abt himself, but also be able to see through all his silly nonsense and kinda psychoanalyze him n call him out on it. would take a very sizeable amount of empathy/sympathy. does that make sense?? i think it would give him a safe space to heal. it'd definitely still sting to be presented with the inner turmoil he may not even know he is dealing with, but the bitterness would be sweetened a little bit if its coming from the person who consistently is loving and shows him admiration and praise...i mean, itd definitely first be met with this feeling of betrayal, like, "i thought u looked at me like i was the greatest being in the world, why do you hate me now?" but then, the understanding would slowly creep in...i think thats the ONLY WAY he would ever let any kind of critique get through that thick stubborn skull of his... maybe im completely silly bcuz im a BILL DICKEY GLAZER but i dont care </3 its just my thoughts based on what i have seen and learned in my own life, i think?...‪‪❤︎‬ hmm...

mini edit hehe: as far as the other persons security goes, id say he would not want to be with someone who is overly confident in themselves bc i think that would also kinda bruise his ego?...i think he would like being with a person who is somewhat approval-searching bc that sort of adds to his comfort/ego boosting and it would actually help him let his guard down more. he cant feel like he is losing control/the upper hand in the relationship, i think. BUT the one area that requires a lot of confidence would definitely be in psychoanalyzing him and calling him out. i think thats where the self confidence must lie. there cant be any doubt in that area bc thats the most important...cannot be wishy washy when reading him and making observations...

owhh sweet squishy william...</3

[iztea]

Do you recommend any tutorials for new artists?

i'm gonna be honest with you, I've been out of the loop with recent tutorials so let me tell you about my goats sinix, marco bucci and ahmed aldoori

when I was first getting started, I binge-watched all of sinix videos. he has a great way with words and I've assimilated many of his principles and ideas, which I still use in my approach to this day. I recommend his Anatomy Quick Tips series and his Paintover Pals series (aka art critiques), but honestly just watch all his videos, he covers some very niche but handy topics that I don't see brought up that often. He also has one or two videos about digital art for beginners or intermediates so maybe start there and see how you like it.

Marco Bucci has great videos for understanding colors, lighting and taking a more messy-painterly approach to your paintings (which I've always naturally leaned into anyways). He has this series called 10 minutes to better painting where he basically goes over the fundamentals but in a very fun and digestible way. He also covers niche topics including post-processing tips which are verrryyy much looked over when it comes to digital art.

ahmed aldoori is just generally great at explaining and demos. He's probably the first person I'd go to if I needed help understanding anything art-related, and I mean anyytthinggg (hands, environments, portraits etc ) his channel is kinda messy but i'd recommend watching his critique videos because, again, he explains concepts very well while maintaining a chill and relaxed attitude, which I think may help alleviate any sort of anger or frustration that often affect new artists (and not only) i apologize if this is not the answer you were looking for but honestly, i can't think of particular videos i can wholeheartedly recommend outside of these channels because they're what I watched myself, and I can only speak from my own experience. And like I said in the beginning, i kinda just don't watch tutorials anymore because they feel repetitive like they're saying the same things i already know and it's boring so i have different ways to learn now If anyone else has any other recommendations for anon please share them with the class!

[amazon160]

Spot dabbles because the simps need to be fed:

(art ain’t by me I’m so sorry I couldn’t find the og artist 😭)

-He is the single most awkward man alive, no doubt. Has no filter. Will compliment or critique you on the spot. Hehe. I just noticed the pun there lol. And if it’s not an annoyed critique, he usually gets all flustered after he realizes what he’s just said.

-Spot is real laid back if not an anxious wreck around you. Clearly a bottom. You’ll get him to be more assertive by telling him that when he does, it’s straight up H O T.

-He seems like a “work now, clean later” kind of guy. I mean, we saw how disorganized his house was. It reminds me of Dipper in this one Gravity Falls episode iykyk 😉. Once he moves in with you, he’ll push himself to pick up after himself more often. Until then, he would much rather come to you than you come to his apartment.

-The man can be a scientific perfectionist, but he does not like to clean :(

-Absolutely loves it when you lay your head on his stomach. He’s a lil chub, so he feels like a pillow :3

-Spot is very self conscious of his body, of course. So he will go ballistic when you caress his square like torso or his spindly limbs, like they’re the most perfect things in the world to you.

-He doesn’t understand how you could love someone like him :’(

-When you trace around his spots or sweet talk him about whatever, he can barely sit still underneath you. Any type of praise will send him through the roof.

-So when you’d say it was hot when Spot was assertive? Every now and then, he’ll take that advice. It’ll be easy to kinda just sneak up on ya from behind with his portals.

-He also likes to give you praise as much as you like to give him it. He knows that the assertion needs to go both ways.

-That’ll be its own blurb with more details for another day.

-But.

-I’ve always had a thing for hypnosis, I love it and I don’t see it used too often. But like, imagine Spot pins you onto the bed or the couch or somewhere comfortable. His portals are keeping your arms out of place and he forces you to look at him the way he makes Miles look to the side in the movie

Erm. 😳

-The spot on his face starts to swirl, or ripple, or whatever motion and you feel all groggy under his gaze, making way for Spot to take advantage of you while you’re under his trance.

AAA--

-I’m not the usual fan of yandere but for a lil wimp like Spot to be acting that way would be HOO--MAMA--especially if this were after his transformation and the end of the movie.

-You wouldn’t stand a chance.

-AND tbh his voice is just so 😩 especially when it’s distorted

-Like is it just me-? Idk.

-He doesn’t like doing the spicy all that much, he’s mostly into the fluff and domestic bits of your relationship. Don’t get me wrong, he appreciates what intimacy he’ll get, but not so much the SPICY stuff y’know

-And this is whether or not you’d say he has his part. For some reason this became a discussion with me and some friends and one of them literally went “maybe it’s in a hole somewhere”. So if that’s where you wanna go, go for it. Heck, I’ve still seen some art of stuff coming out of that face-spot of his. Y’know, the one spot on his head 😋

That’s all the dribbles FOR NOW, but I intend on getting a not spicy but mild blurb of Spot along with that hypnosis concept XD

[fxckn-sxck-fr]

YEAH YANDERE XMEN LET'S GOOO

Anyways, I will look forward for any of your yan!x-men works. And I kinda hope for platonic mentor Scott Summers or Gambit(even if I don't see Gambit as a yandere it would be interesting to read about it)

𝐈 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐒…

!!! GN reader, dual-wielding yandere mentors, strict Scott, power abuse, manipulation, stalker Remy, no respect of privacy, the slightest bit of infantilism, I’m probably forgetting a lot cuz I’m really bad at warnings, pretty mild.

*Clutches my head like I’m taking psychic damage* AHHHHHHHH, THE VOICES!!! THE VOICES!!!! THEY’RE GIVING ME IDEAS!!!!

First off, you basically predicted one of my WIPs. Something about Scott’s base character just screams platonic yandere to me, and I probably couldn’t write a non-yandere fic about him if I tried. So!! Because I’ve already got a little something cooking with solo Scott, lemme give you the best of both worlds of your asks; yandere mentor Scott and Remy.

A dynamic like this would be completely uncoordinated. Their mentoring styles are polar opposites, and it doesn’t help that they can’t see eye to eye with each other on most things. So expect this to be a tug of war between what is essentially a strict dad and chill uncle. Scott will get done lecturing you about staying out late (he doesn’t want you dozing off and getting lazy during missions, that’s all!!), only for Remy to whisk you away on a late night patrol (with ice cream as a treat!!).

To fully understand what you’re dealing with here, let’s do a quick rundown on both of them on an individual level.

Scott: Overbearing as fuck. He might start off as harsh and borderline brutal, constantly singling you out and critiquing everything you do. Should anyone raise concerns over this, he’d be genuinely confused. He’s not treating you differently from the other X-Men!! You just need a little more tough love, that’s all!! He sees your potential and wants to bring it out of you so you’re ready for anything and everything!!

It would probably take a near-death experience on your end for him to finally soften up on you. He’s still strict as hell, don’t get me wrong, but at least he’s more encouraging than berating!! But now he keeps you glued to his side during missions. And doesn’t let you go on missions he’s not on. And only allows you to train with him. And starts getting more involved with your personal life. And basically keeps you on a tight leash with everything.

He definitely abuses his authority as field commander to get you to behave. Don’t wanna listen to him? Fine, you’re sitting out for the next couple of missions. What’s this? You think it’s unfair? If you won’t listen to him now, then what good are you in the field, huh? He’s only doing this to make you a better team player!! Now go to your room and think about what you’ve done.

Remy: Extremely hands off. The word “mentor” is used loosely when describing him, as he really doesn’t see himself as such. All he does is makes sure you don’t die on missions, gives you profound life lessons, then goes on to contradict that life lesson with some reckless move (text book example of a do as I say, not as I do kind of teacher). His laidback nature makes it easy to confide in him, and he’s always happy to lend an ear to his petit!

Meanwhile, his yandere side kind of runs counter to this. Yes, he’s extremely lax with you, but only because he knows where you are 24/7. There are trackers in all of your clothes so he can check in on you periodically. Not because he doesn’t trust you!! He really doesn’t give a shit what you’re up to as long as you’re not doing drugs or whatever. There’s just this nagging fear in the back of his mind that you could be in danger, and he wants to make sure he can save you in time. He also has a habit of snooping through your things; again, not because he doesn’t trust you, he’s just curious and has no sense of privacy when it comes to you (and also because he likes to leave behind little trinkets for you to find later).

While I don’t see very many situations where he resorts to this, it’s best to keep in mind that Remy’s a master manipulator. If you’re up to something he doesn’t particularly like — maybe you have a crush on someone he doesn’t deem worthy… which is just about everyone — he’ll easily talk you out of it, playing whatever card he feels necessary. There may be the slightest bit of infantilism (“you’re too young for mushy romance, petit!”), but nothing too heavy handed; he mostly does it to tease.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get back to their dynamic.

As said before, they don’t really work in tandem with each other. They just kinda coexist as your two mentors that constantly butt heads with each other. Scott sees Remy as a bad influence on you, and Remy basically does everything in his power to spite Scott. What’s this? Did mean ol’ Cyke lock you in your room? Good thing Gambit’s next lesson is to teach you how to pick locks (but that does not mean you can sneak out and do your own thing. Stay where Gambit can see you, damnit). It pisses Scott off to no end and Remy thinks it’s hilarious.

Now, there’s a very slim chance that they come to some sort of understanding. Sure, Scott has a stick up his ass and Remy is a bit reckless, but they at least share a common goal of keeping you safe. This is when they start (begrudgingly) working together, with Remy turning a blind eye whenever Scott oversteps his leadership role while Scott checks in with Remy for your current location. They’re absolutely not best buds with this setup, but they’ll at least tolerate each other for your own good.

They’re kinda like your divorced parents in this set up.

But, again, the chances of this happening are very slim. Scott will do everything in his power to keep you away from Remy’s influence, and Remy doesn’t trust Scott enough to agree to “sharing.” It would probably take a dire situation for them to work together. Just as a one time thing; it wouldn’t be permanent.

Overall, I love this dynamic. It helped me visualize a yandere Gambit better (despite him being my favorite, I wasn’t sure if I could hit him with my yanderefication beam), and of course I’m gonna write the X-Men’s resident yan-dad. I wanna write more so bad.

[joe-spookyy]

hi today i’m ranking werewolf designs based on how much i judged the vfx team for creating them. full post under cut sorry it’s so insanely long but trust me on this one it’s fun i’m discussing an american werewolf in london harry potter twilight the wolf man buffy the vampire slayer etc and so on (except not etc that’s it.) my credentials are i’m insane about werewolf narratives and i’m the boss of the applesauce.

first up is an american werewolf in london. now THAT is a good beast. he’s spooky. he’s scary. he’s wolf-like but not Just a wolf. and they get some mega extra points for that transformation sequence. rick baker the man that you are. however as much as i love it there’s a few critiques i have to bring up. first. it’s kinda odd that so much of the color palette for the transformation scene was browns and blacks when the actual werewolf was mostly grey. the final product was a little off from the transformation. i did like both of them quite a lot though so i’m not that mad. see. look. kind of off. but it’s definitely not bad i can mostly see how one came from the other even though the colors might be a little different. it also sort of lacks in facial movement in its final form as it’s kind of stuck in that permanent snarl, but they did a good job softening its eyes in the final scene where alex is trying to get through to david. 9/10.

mid-transformation fully transformed

next up yeah i have stuff to say about the harry potter prisoner of azkaban remus lupin design. is it fuck ugly. yes. is it cgi. yes. is jk rowling responsible for it. yeah. however. is it kind of a creative take on the typical werewolf idea. i hate to say it. yes it is. it goes against the typical sorta big strong hunky beast werewolf, and i cant lie, i appreciate it. it’s unique and kinda haunting in its own way. i don’t like that it’s bald. but i like the boldness and well. they got creative. 6/10.

ugly fucking freak ⬆️

next i’m going back. way back. yes sir we’re looking at werewolf of london. from 1935. and the wolf man. from 1941. cause they look pretty similar and they’re both jack pierce so yeah i’m lumping them together. if you ask me these ones lean more to the side of wolfman than werewolf - they’re kind of just hairy guys. which is like fine i guess i just think they should put more emphasis on the wolf. i like the wolfman better than the werewolf of london, which makes sense, cause i know the guy playing the london one didn’t feel like sitting for makeup and so jack pierce got to do more on the second round i guess. however WHY was bela lugosi’s werewolf form a straight up wolf and not lon chaney’s? they don’t explain it. rude. they’re iconic of course but they are honestly not showstopping. 5/10.

werewolf of london the wolf man

alright we’re flashing back to the present with twilight!! yeah. ok so last time i was complaining about there being too much man and not enough wolf. or like. too much were? i don’t know. whatever. anyways. this time i’m complaining because it’s too wolf. that’s just. it’s just a big cgi wolf. i don’t like this. it’s boring. i don’t even have that much to say it’s just like. whatever. 2/10.

lame as hell ⬆️

now. i’m gonna get irritating here. next up is buffy the vampire slayer. now i love oz. i wanted to like the design i really did. and they started out off strong. well. strongER. it’s like. kinda bad. but it definitely looks like a wolf? and it’s. kind of person ish? i don’t know. they tried. the bodysuit is loose but it’s better than what’s to come so i have to give it like a tiny bit of respect. 4/10.

see? not great but could be significantly worse.

and it does get worse. so. let me speak. this is the worst thing i have ever seen in my entire goddamn life. that looks like a gorilla. there’s like barely any semblance of wolf on this other than that it has fur. i don’t understand why they decided to go in this direction it looks terrible. and the body suit part always looks loose as hell. it comes across as like an ugly gorilla mascot suit, and they make no effort to have it move in a remotely wolf-ish way. they usually just have it scuttling around like some sort of little freak. oz does not deserve this ugly shit. i love buffy and wanted to enjoy the werewolf episodes but lord have mercy. this sucks. whoever did this i’m gonna find you. 0/10.

oz (bad) evil bitch veruca (worse)

that’s all the werewolves i can think of right now actually. and it won’t let me add more pictures cause i’m on mobile. in conclusion an american werewolf in london did it best and every other depiction of a werewolf should be looking to that for inspiration. but fight me on these by all means i may have objectively correct werewolf opinions but that doesn’t mean i’m not open to discussion. thanks for watching #sparkleon

[raskolnikvs]

#Star reviews: Yoake no Uta ✧

Okay so firstly, this is still an ongoing manga so i do feel a little bad for critiquing it rn but well.. this was a solid 9/10 for me right up until just after the midway point where they hit us with a plot twist that was (in my opinon) terribly executed.. I'm sorry but i have to dock a few points just bcs the [spoiler] "surprise! this ancient fantasy world actually just takes place on a secluded island in our very regular very normal modern-day world!" trope will never do it for me. It broke the immersion and left room for too many plotholes </3. But i guess I shouldn't complain too much and should just be glad about the fact that an explicitly BL romance manga had such a well-thought out plot in the first place as they usually tend to be forced into existing only in subtext if the creators want to have a series in which the plot is taken seriously. That said, they did bring it together around vol. 5 so i don’t see myself being too bothered by it going forward, and i don’t want to do it an injustice by starting off with that as it most definitely deserves a lot of praise!

The setting is unique and fresh, yet easy enough to understand that it doesn’t need a whole lot of exposition. Just a simple life between two boys learning to support one another as they navigate the flawed world they live in. I like how it portrayed and tackled how living in a faulty or corrupt system affects the people within it, particularly those who have no voice or say in the way that those in power choose to make their lives pan out. Elva’s loneliness that he had, after years of it being beaten into him, come to accept as just his lot in life is then disrupted by this curious, kindhearted boy who devotes himself fully to him. In their opposite natures, they found comfort in one another. Its a sweet and giddy romance that portrays how no matter how far gone someone is, being in just one person’s heart is enough to get them to a point where they can find themselves caring about all the little things in life again.

As for the characters, I loved them & their designs a lot! We need more handsome and charming yet dutiful and sentimental (+ long-haired) men in this world... and Alto you are exactly that.. ♡

My only nitpick being that it kinda felt like the author didn't want to place the characters in one box so they ended up placing them.. in all of them? At least when it comes to Elva; he's standoffish yet affectionate, closed off yet openly expressive of his emotions, he's committed to his duties yet he doesn't believe in or respect the monastery's beliefs, he (initially) wants to stay away from Alto and not let him get too close yet we don't see him commit to that at all as he's actually the one initiating the intimacy between them for the most part. etc. I guess he's meant to be torn between the two but it got confusing to follow. So yeah not something to mind too much it could be nuance but to me it just felt like his characterization was a bit over the place. And many of the other characters are still shrouded in mystery, we don’t get enough time with them to understand them and their motivations fully.

I’m not too sure where the story is going to go in vol.6 and beyond, there were honestly too many developments happening all at once I have yet to wrap my head around it all.. but I’m looking forward to seeing how its all brought together, and if we’ll get to see these two have a happy ending of sorts (they have to).

Soo overall its definitely a good series, it just could've been a RLY great one if certain aspects were ironed out. And with that i give it a 7.5/10☆ !

[llitchilitchi]

https://www.tumblr.com/llitchilitchi/780276469086715904/i-recently-watched-epic-the-musical-and-now-i?source=share

I'm here because I'm a dsmp fan ahah but you posted about wanting interactions, have reblogged a lot of Achille, Patroclus and Alexander (the third being a whole different kind of beast), and I just watched Epic the Musical and wanted to talk about it with someone that knew mythology

I agree ! It's a very good adaptation. The songs are great and the story in itself is rather good (my personnal annoyance was about the actualisation of the characters : Poseidon liking his son, Circe only protecting her nymphes, how much Odysseus would stay true to his wife, his men betraying him over Scylla... - but I get the difference through time and culture so it's not an actual complaint)

I believe I like knowing the original tale because it's such a fundamental to truly understand it, to get the messages that was first trying to be taught and the time where it was written ! As I said, the most "annoying" part to me is the actualisation of morale : men being sacrificed at the time was not something to blink at, nor was laying with another woman. But the importance put on respecting the laws of hospitality, staying humble and the way the tale is told acts like time travel when I rediscover the original tale.

TLDR : adaptations are but fanfictions -> lovely, can go farther and explore the story in way the original didn't and never would, but if you don't know the original content... it leaves me kinda empty ahah. But definitely not a critic towards Epic or any other adaptations : they even made me reread the Odysseus, that's to say how much of a success it was !

i still find it surprising when people say they're here from the dsmp times, like you guys truly stuck around this long (and oh, anonnie, the alexander brairot is here to Stay for a long, long time<3)

the changes you point out are, for me as someone who is fascinated with humanity like an alien doing autopsy, what makes the adaptation more appealing and interesting to me! the comparison of what people saw as important back then, vs how we choose to change the story now, with our modern morals and new tropes and ways we drive narratives. just the comparison of archaic greek works compared to western postmodernism tickles my brain in a very particular way. on top of that, Odysseus gets a whole arc of going from someone with very strong morals and ideas and slowly shredding them with time to achieve his goal of being with the people he loves even if it means he becomes a monster? delicious. I totally don't have a type when it comes to fucked up fictional men--

I think there's some genuine critique that could be done when it comes to changes in epic (especially the way the relationship of calypso/odysseus was handled but that's for another time) but overall I can't really complain

epic definitely benefits from the knowledge of the original material, if not the epic (no pun intended) in detail, then at least the myth overall. I've also been really enjoying people mixing their knowledge of homer's work with the musical, or their knowledge of other myths (more in depth than your average tumblr user bemoaning how medusa got done dirty or whatever) and other classical greek adaptations (like eurypides and his tragedies!!) - adds a lot of flavour :D

[comatosebunny09]

hi!! i just wanted to come say i love your works so much. the way you write sylus is just so good and gut wrenching. all the dynamics you create are so perfect and well-written. also i appreciate the fact that you write non-mc fics because while mc is cool, i adore non-mc fics so much. when i see an update from you it’s a highlight in my day.

your new royalty au fic is just… i can’t get it out of my head. the pain. the angst! the YEARNING!! my poor heart can’t handle it. also i’m curious about the deal that sylus and miss knight made from that line when she was chaining sylus up… and also the mark on her shoulder from earlier… does it have something to do with that blurb you made about dragon!king!sylus in a rut perhaps 🤨🤨 (marking her as his mate?)…

but can we talk about the yearning some more !! the way that everyone in the city, even the nobility from outside the kingdom can see it but the internal conflict for both is so disgustingly beautiful. it’s the way that she always struggles with her oath to protect him and all he wants to do is be able to hold her close and love her!! it’s the desperation in their moment alone after the guards and foreign queen leave!! he SEES her! it’s the way they seem to have so much history together but it’s forbidden because she is bound to him by knight duties, which i’d love to see more of. i want to know how they grew up and everything omg i just love them.

also! i have some questions if it’s not too much:

1. when is the royalty au set?

because like i always kind of think medieval times and there are some things in the story that make me think that just with the prominence of royalty ig (even tho it’s literally a royalty au) but then there are mentions of things like cars so. (also this is not a critique of you i’m just a little confused).

2. i hate to ask bc i know it can get annoying, i just love this one so much too. also im not trying to pressure you or anything like that, but are you still planning on updating carpe noctem?

because that’s the other fic that has a chokehold on me. the money i would pay 😌😌 don’t even get me started. i love the turn of events where assassin!reader doesn’t seem to get that sylus is just waiting for a sign from her that she wants him too because she’s just so hyperfocused on miss hunter! and then speaking of, their kiss and the phone interruptions! but she can’t even be mean with miss hunter because there’s nothing established between sylus and assassin!reader (on top of the closer relationship she has with miss hunter now). it’s the complicated relationship of being at his side as his right hand so long. she’s his but not HIS you know what i mean? ughhh i love it so much so i’m hoping it’s still getting updated.

3. is the limerence series connected to carpe noctem?

because i think a while back, you reblogged one of the chapters for limerence saying like “context for the newest chapter of carpe noctem” and im wondering does that mean the two are connected or was it just like “inspiration” kinda?

also side note, but the limerence series is so sad and i love how it ended. like she kinda went back to him (im thinking of the chapter ‘tempest’ i think). like its lowkey so toxic but just you can understand.

anyways, i hope you’re having a marvelous time in life and a great day and i’m so glad i stumbled across your blog because your fics live rent free in my mind!! 🤍🤍

signed,

a grateful anon who couldn’t be more excited for what other works you have in store. 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much for reaching out to me, sweetness! Also, thank you for your support and encouragement. It truly means the world to me. I apologize for taking a while to get to your ask. Initially, I tried to reply to you on my phone, but Tumblr's app is so buggy, it only allowed me to post your ask.

I'm a quiet sufferer, which is why I think I derive so much pleasure from writing non-MC stories. I've often been the person behind the scenes, watching the people I care about fall for each other while I'm off to the side with my hands shoved in my pockets, kicking a rock out of the way while they're inadvertently shoving me off the sidewalk with their lovey-doviness. And I have to put on a brave face because at least two good people found each other, even if I don't fit into the equation.

I'm also the biggest yearner. I edge myself so much with fics and sexual tension, it should be criminal. I am a sucker for the forbidden romance trope. That one-sided pining that isn't truly one-sided, but both parties involved are either too stupid to acknowledge they care about each other, or one of them feels like they're unworthy of affection. As you can probably tell, I put a little piece of myself into every fic, so you'll be stuck with blue balls following me. 😅😅😅

Now for your questions:

The setting for serve & protect is heavily influenced by Final Fantasy XV, so it's a bit of a modern-day setting with some futuristic and fantasy elements. I know that's probably convoluted. 😅😅😅 So here's a video to better illustrate the point I'm trying to drive home.

An update for carpe noctem is in the works. I'm grateful you enjoy the story. Did not anticipate the response it received and so many peoples' dependency on it. Again, pouring a bit of myself into the caldron, because I love a good nuanced reader with complicated feelings and relationships and someone who's basically a minefield rigged to blow at the smallest twitch of muscle. Relationships and friendships aren't as clearcut as we want them to be. Sure, we want to be happy, but if you're a sacrificial person and that's all you know, you'll always push yourself to the backburner to make someone else happy.

Carpe noctem is limerence if it went off in a different direction. I consider it something of a spiritual successor. Like, if Sylus didn't right out the gate follow the universe's advice and go for MC. So, think of limerence as Sylus letting fate win, whereas carpe noctem is if he said, "Fuck you, fate."

Thank you again for the ask, darling! This was a treat to answer. I hope your days goes wonderfully!

[chaifootsteps]

Reading Viv's callout post for DollCreep is kinda frustrating tbh. I wasn't there and none of us know exactly what the dynamic was like but that's why evidence is provided in these callout posts. To convince us that DollCreep is really bad. but.. the evidence provided isn't really on her side?

DC doesn't seem nice, exactly, but I'm not really feeling a lot of malicious intent? Not in the messages where they have normal-ish conversations and when their friendship still kinda existed? I'm not feeling much actual intent on abuse? I've been through some pretty nasty abusive relationships and I can understand being sensitive sometimes and needing a little more assurance but I don't think I'm comfortable calling DC totally abusive? Not without more evidence.

DC has an obsession with copying which isn't healthy. I dunno if I agree with him that the Viv ocs are copies but that also is more of an issue on his part rather than an intent on abusing Viv. I feel like there's gotta be more to that story.

Some of the messages seems more like critique than anything. The whole "those teeth look weird in your style" posts are more critique than abuse. It's not a nice way of phrasing it but DC doesn't seem delicate in general? His language is casual-harsh from the messages. Not horribly cruel? Maybe?

DC seems kind of exhausted with Viv saying the relationship wasn't healthy. To be honest it's probably not a healthy relationship and these two should've just stopped talking a long time ago. When DC does cut Viv off it seemed like it had been a long time coming. I've had to do something similar in my own life. Just sometimes on a certain day you chose to do it. It's not always because of a big blowout it can just be exhaustion. and if panic attacks were happening on the regular then it's not a bad thing they cut each other out.

DC gave Jiji to Viv as something of a peace offering. and in that message in particular (not underlined by Viv) Doll mentions that the copying obsession and character credit issue IS a personal problem that they're trying to work through. Something that isn't acknowledged in the rest of the callout. Viv obviously knows he has an issue with this subject and I feel like she could've spared a little more grace in acknowledging this is a personal problem for him. It's wrong for him to feel that way but it's clearly not just a 'DC is an asshole' situation. It's a mental issue. A hangup. A really nasty and unhealthy mental hangup.

His Afkinz stuff about Viv saying 'It's my story' in her underlined bits.. She bought Afkinz from DC. It seems like he's offering his own thoughts based on the character concept he created. He's not demanding anything just saying what he would've done with the character concept he created? Again, not in a NICE way but still.

I understand why Viv would remove part of DC's credit in Die Young but I still think she shouldn't have. She was angry at him but it doesn't change that it was a bad decision. In the art world credit is more highly valued than it is anywhere else and 'special thanks' doesn't mean much in comparison to a design credit.

Some of the parts towards the end are a bit.. weird. I dunno why she put up the original Jiji art mixed with rp logs to.. make fun of Jiji? The character made by DC was obviously a parody of scene girls.. not a real serious character. So it seems strange to say "wow so smart and original". She wasn't a character used in a real project so..

She's calling DC a stalker for just.. visiting her blog? I don't think that's terribly unusual? and Viv rants and talks about DC about as much as he did her? So.. I think they were both being annoying about all of this.

He made a crappy drawing of Viv.. but Viv made Jojo. So.. According to the writing under the drawing this was made AFTER Viv made Jojo. So.. I don't understand why she's shocked when she did the same thing first? and the 'dislikes' part is pretty.. concerning.

I really feel uncomfortable with Viv pointing out DC's characters that do 'extremely disturbing' things. Why even put this here? It adds nothing to the allegations and serves to shame DC. Especially when Viv does the same thing in romanticizing abusive relationships. Which.. I personally don't think is always wrong in every circumstance. and I know Viv doesn't see that as wrong either considering her OWN characters. So the only reason she put it there is to shame DC.

All in all. Pretty wild? I do think DC was a bad friend and they had a very toxic relationship but.. This is also something that should've been handled privately? Callouts really only need to happen if there's a clear and present danger to the general public. Nothing DC did was a danger to anyone but him and Viv. They should've went their separate ways and never spoken about each other again.

Instead this happened. Making it public was such a horrible idea and did nothing positive at all. It COULD NOT have had a positive outcome.

I think that's my takeaway from the whole thing too. DollCreep was no saint and they seem like they were both bad for each other, but from what we've heard of DollCreep, they seem to have disappeared, grown up, and become a better person. Vivzie hasn't.

Also, Dollcreep made a crappy drawing of Viv. Viv made a transphobic caricature of Dollcreep. Viv, you don't get a checkmark on that one.

[canis-constellate]

sometimes i hear certain critiques of things and i just... like. i can see where you're coming from. it makes sense from a philosophical or theory standpoint. but that critique only works with certain assumptions about lived experiences that don't fit the theory in the first place, and so just ends up like... throwing the baby out with the bathwater ig. especially when you're applying it to an incredibly wide range of experiences that can't be summed up in any single way that doesn't exclude someone (who would otherwise "count")--such as plurality.

and like. sometimes people will say "oh, don't do xyz to your headmates, they're people too! treat them as such!" and like. i can understand the instinct, especially if you personally experience your plurality as your headmates all being separate people from you.

but like. i'm not a person. this isn't me being self-deprecating, i'm just straight up... not a separate person. i have my own consciousness, sure, but that's not what defines personhood for me. i'm Oakley's mask--i protect it and keep it safe from other people, and it wears me when it feels vulnerable. Oakley is the person, and i'm attached to it.

Caxton doesn't fully feel like a person, either. he comes directly from our DID, making him perhaps a bit more attached to the hivemind than others might be. "i have autonomy, i have consciousness, but i'm still apart of one 'soul'--i'm not a singular person, i'm the purpose of protecting with joy that has a collection of experiences, beliefs, and feelings which forms the 'idea' of a person, but not a person in of itself. i might be [part of] a person, but i don't contain personhood as an innate quality within me. i would be a flat paper drawing if you tried to separate me and the concept of me out from the hivemind, because i don't exist or function without or outside of it."

and if your firmly held belief about or stance on something relies on all headmates in all systems/plurals/collectives/etc being their own fully separate people, and falls apart as soon as someone has a different experience, then... i'm sorry, but that belief/stance just kinda sucks.

and if your belief/stance still holds up, maybe you need to reanalyze the "people" part--like, you shouldn't stop your headmates from expressing themselves and doing things that bring them joy, not because they're separate people (although that can be part of it for some), but because that's abuse via taking away their freedom and autonomy. you shouldn't try to force your headmates into a particular relationship with you, not because they're separate people (although they may be), but because that's abuse. and if they have the autonomy to say "no" on their own, then that no needs to be respected just as it would be with people, whether or not they personally consider themselves "people".

being "people" is restricting for me and Caxton. the idea of being a separate person from Oakley hurts. i am made out of Oakley and Oakley's fears, and i exist specifically to silence those fears. and for Caxton, [being called/imagined as a person] assumes a level of agency that he just... doesn't have, which ends up hurting him when people, say, assume that means being a protector is something he chose, rather than something he's forced into--if he needs a break and we get hurt, he can't have that break because he doesn't have the option to leave front or pass it to someone else when he gets [negative] triggered out. advice that relies on him having that agency or on him being a fully separate person from everyone else just straight up does not work, because that's not his situation.

idk. i'm just thinking a lot. i just wish people wouldn't assume their experience is the only [right] experience, or even the most common one. or at the very least would take a second to ponder what underlying ideas their beliefs and stances rely on, and if they might be potentially exclusionary of some of the very folks they're trying to help.

(obligatory "this is not in main tags for a reason, this is just a ramble about some things that have been frustrating me lately, don't treat this like a peer-reviewed and edited paper" note)

- 🦗

[the1975attheirverybest]

Could you explain the context behind Matty's speech today?

Sure thing! Disclaimer, though, I haven’t had the chance to sit with it yet/ catch up on the show. It’s like just turned 9 am over on my side of the world, lol. So this is just off the top of my head….

I think the key to understanding what’s going on here is in the fact that he revealed the fact that the speech was written by ChatGPT at the END. Cuz, like, he could’ve just said “so, I asked ChatGPT to write a speech that sounds like a Matty Healy rant, and this is what it came up with. Gosh I sound so annoying don’t I heheheh” but he DIDNT do that. In fact, he chose to set it up as an “interruption” of the actual show. Like, he asked the guys to “cut” the music.

This way, he’s got the crowds attention. Cuz if he had done it in a moment of quiet in between songs as he usually does, people wouldn’t have paid as much attention/ would’ve been talking to him or over him or cheering like “I love you matty!!” Or “shut up and play notes!!” So, he set us up by making it a surprise so that we’d pay attention. If you’ve seen the clip on tiktok, the crowd is almost completely silent. He starts to speak, and at first it’s all vaguely making sense….he even leans into it when he says “Matthew,” and strokes peanut’s leg 🥺 which solidifies the illusion that this is a speech that he wrote and planned to say as peanut was next to him. So it makes us think harder about what’s going on. Like, we’re all thinking “He seems to be saying something important but….bro is not making much sense….or maybe I’m dumb? Maybe I’m not getting it?!” So we wait for more, like maybe it’ll make sense as he keeps going / if we listen carefully enough. But it just gets worse and worse.

The speech SOUNDS like Matty. In the sense that it gestures towards desire for connection/ cultural critiques. It has a few big words thrown in there. Even the arc of it is Matty-esque in that it tries to end on a positive note. Some vaguely coherent sentence about us all trying to be better and do better and maybe we can change things. Which is the only part that the audience kinda understands (you can even hear the crowd start to cheer and clap at this point cuz they’re like ‘okay I’m familiar with this bit that he’s saying. Yeah it’s that sounds like something I agree with. We SHOULD indeed all be trying and changing shit’).

Then he pulls the rug from under us, so to speak, and says “you know who wrote that? ChatGPT” (in the clip I saw, a crowd member yells out “YOU DID!” Before he tells us that it’s ChatGPT).

So, why did he do that? Again, this is off the top of my head, but I think for two reasons.

1. It’s the ultimately self-performance, right? Literally saying shit that he didn’t write but that is written to sound like him. I’m not super tech savvy, but as I understand it, ChatGPT works on an algorithm that detects speech patterns. So, in order to compose this speech, it mined the internet for Matty Healy content. Which means that it was probably drawing on his reputation (and we know what the most prominent articles and posts online about him rn would say. If you were an algorithm, what pattern might you find?) as a public figure. Lacking the context. Lacking the nuance. So, in that sense, much like Peanut, the speech is addressing his personal “controversies” on one level, but also commenting on our culture and reactionary politics more generally. He’s literally performing the version of himself that the world thinks he is. Especially since the show changed BECAUSE of the vitality of the band on tiktok and BECAUSE of his recent “reputation” and he told us that he was going to be commenting on it. Reducing himself to a bunch of public impressions and behaviors and speech patterns and then putting them on like a performance.

2. He’s thinking through the artist-fan relationship. We have this trust in him. We go to these shows because unlike ChatGPT, we HAVE THE CONTEXT. We as fans know where he’s coming from. So what would happen if he were to alienate us? To say something purposefully weird and incomprehensible….it’s not even real fuckin English it’s just a bunch of nonsense with a few words and phrases that sound like something that he would say. We experience a moment of critical confusion. “I want to believe in him. I do believe in him. I wanna get this. I’m trying to get this. But has he cracked? Has he finally pushed himself too far and gone to the land of nonsense? Is he turning into the obnoxious self-centered artsy straight white guy that Twitter thinks he is? Has he always been like this? Is this what he actually sounds like in real life and it’s taken me seeing him live to finally get that he’s a fuckin weirdo? Matty, what are you doing man???” And then we hear that vaguely positive end to the speech and are like “phew! Okay this sounds good. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I just don’t get it.” And in typical Matty fashion, just having made a deep, poignant point, he’s like “JUST KIDDING ITS NOT ME ITS THE ROBOTS HAHA TRICKED YA!” Showing that the artist-fan relationship is still built on the same public impressions. If we fully listened and believed that he was serious only to find out that we were totally wrong, what makes us think that we know him any better than ChatGPT does? Or twitter ? The only difference is, we hear that shit and think “he’s trying to make a point” whereas Twitter hears it and says “ah this confirms exactly what I know. He’s a dickhead who’s in love with the sound of his own voice and thinks of himself as some kind of philosopher.”

Idk. I’m sure there’s more that I have yet to think about. I haven’t had coffee yet so I’m still warming up lmao. Does this make any sense at all? Does it help? Does it make things worse? Idk. Just my way of seeing it I could be 100% wrong.

[some-pers0n]

Im the prev anon, but yeagh a few stuff: whats with medic and the baboon uteruses also a few critiques of tf2 :0 when I first got into tf2 i noticed some things

Okie pokie.

With Medic and the baboon uteruses, that's a joke that follows up on the things established by Meet the Medic. The heart that Medic replaces Heavy's normal one is a mega baboon heart if I remember correctly. It shows that Medic uses exotic animal organs for his surgeries.

The baboon uterus part is also foreshadowed earlier in the comics. Literally the first moment that Medic is introduced, he mentions it.

And then later on its reinforced.

Until finally...

And then Cheavy dies, blah blah blah..

And then boom. Baboon child.

Okay, so, time to put on my bitchy WoF fan mode. It feels weird to just actually talk and complain about TF2 because, unlike WoF, there isn't really anything that FEELS like missed potential and or just poorly handled. It doesn't jump out at you as much.

However, I will say that the Saxton Hale subplot in the comics did feels...very unimportant. I get it if it was to build-up something for the final comic involving some sort of confrontation between the mercs and Charles Darling along with the Administrator, but it's just. yeah. I don't care for it. Maggie doesn't exactly offer much in terms of character stuff other than being Saxton's girlfriend.

On a similar note, Zhanna. The comics in generally feel like they introduce a lot of ideas, yet don't really follow through on them. Again, this is because we are literally missing the final piece of the puzzle, but Zhanna doesn't exactly. do much. Her role in the story is just as another comedic relief character and a foil to Soldier. Literally we've already got enough foils for Soldier. Merasmus, Demoman, etc. Zhanna doesn't really do anything.

I hate this panel. I don't even know how you can defend it. I'm retconning this to death and back in my fic.

There is no The Funny. It's just the TFC Soldier and Scout talking and then at the very end being like. pedos?? Ermm,, how about NO??? Valve, why would you make the only kinda canonically queer couple in TF2 be pedos. Can you not? Please?

Hmm,, erm.. hmm... The lore itself is generally delivered in a confusing and convoluted manner. Yet again, I feel like that we would've gotten a great and amazing summary and explanation for everything in the final comic, but I need you to understand that I genuinely get migranes from trying to understand and piece together the lore, much more with actually trying to rewrite it and make sense of it. I'm at a point where I feel maniac joy from learning that green is the inverse of purple.

I'm kinda scraping at the bottom of the barrel here. I don't have too many thoughts on the Lore for now. Of the game? I mean, I'm not too into the actual game itself other than watching countless video essays, clip dumps, and generally just enjoying it all. I think that Dustbowl sucks.

OOH!! I randomly just don't like how New Zealand was sentenced to being an underwater desolate place that we barely explored. Boo!! Be like Rapture!! I think it would be so very cool if The Gang explored either what is literally just the underwater utopia city of Atlantis, or Rapture post-civil war. I think there's a lot of potential with New Zealand that's never touched on.

Scratch that, Valve (and the general fandom) is sitting on a literal GOLD MINE when it comes to Australia. Australium mine if you will. You have this futuristic utopian society that's got plenty of potential for weird shit and NOBODY talks about it. I feel like pulling my hair out whenever I think about Australia. It SHOULD be a important part. It should be something that's talked about more. Yet, nothing. Sjdbsmsbwjsbsh,,,

There should've been more Demo comics. Demo gets treated so, so, so bad by Valve man. I wish Demo's character was treated as more than just a silly goober. Like his parents literally abandoning him for a bit before readopting him, him losing his eye, his alcoholism, etc. I get it that it's the funny silly goofy game, but it's also the same silly goofy game that reveals that the Pootis Russian Guy's father was killed for his political views and he himself and his entire family was imprisoned in a gulag.

Clicking my tongue and tapping my desk trying to think of stuff. Hmm,, there's a lot of potential missed with the TFC team. They were introduced pretty late and we only really got two comics of them being threats until they all died. Fred and Cheavy especially I think wayyy too much about. Also Cmedic but eh. I love Fred and I kinda wish he would be there in the final comic. I do think that Cheavy had a good reason for getting mad at Medic, that being that Medic's literally sewing god knows what into him and his fellow coworkers as well and spending their entire budget AND reviving Sniper.

Miss Pauling's SFM design >>>>> her comic one. Her purple and white button shirt VS solid purple block dress.

I dunno what else to complain about. See ya.

[valeriefauxnom]

(you don't have to reply to this)

hi! not to be rude, but i think you've been formatting your dialogue incorrectly (from a grammatical standpoint). not sure if you're aware of it

idk how to explain it succintly but it should be like

"Dialogue," he said/shouted/yelled/explained.

"Dialogue." He smiled/shrugged/grimaced.

note the comma + uncapitalized 'he' for speaking verbs, and the period + capitalized 'he' for actions that complement speaking but aren't a Talking Verb (?? i hope that makes sense)

i can't directly link sites on anon but https://btleditorial.com/2018/07/16/punctuate-dialogue-in-fiction/ explains it well

mistakes from your recent chapter:

“I say, Midgardsormr, if you’re that upset being around these humans, why not just leave? You’ve already been sticking here in Sol Alberia for, what, weeks now?” She called out...

“Chthonius,” They greeted...

"she" and "they" shouldn't be capitalized

"...I also raise barriers between these sections, the outside, and my den, so that they do not bug me or escape.” He’d explained..."

similarly, "he'd" shouldn't be capitalized. and there should be a comma rather than a period after "escape" ("...so that they do not bug me or escape," he'd explained..."). the same way the example earlier with cthonius uses a comma

“...I can barely spread my wings here.” Jupiter critiqued...

“That is all the intruder had to say, Your Highness. Pardon for the interruption. I shall leave you to your work.” Leif said...

“...I might be able to find a more expeditious path to your destination.” Leif offered not three minutes after they exited the castle,

should be a comma, not a period, after "here," work," and "destination"

'offered' isn't always a verb that implies speaking, but in this case it does (since his offer is in his speech)

“I could ask the same of you, Netherwyrm, seeing as how you appeared quite resolute to not leave Clave Loy’elune,” Mercury smiled...

because smiling is an action that goes alongside the speaking, and isn't the speaking itself, it should be a new sentence ("...you appeared quite resolute to not leave Clave Loy'elune." Mercury smiled...")

“As a matter of fact…Yes,” Zodiark paused...

while the pause is relevant to him speaking, it's not the Speaking Action itself, so "Yes" should be followed by a period

just thought i'd point these out because this mistake is kinda prevalent in your fic and i'm not sure if it's intentional? have a great day!

Funnily enough, I'd actually looked up dialogue rules for some other things, since my default reflex is to capitalize after any dialogue, and had changed several things to lowercase.

And thank you for being polite, but in turn, not to sound flippant, but I have to say at this point I... just am not going to be screening for this in the past or future. If you can spot that many things in one chapter, you better believe the entire fic is going to be like that and probably worse, as you note it to be 'kinda prevalent', and, 220k words in (plus all my other works almost assuredly featuring this making it over 380k), the benefit to effort ratio to fix that one would be disproportionate for more nitty-gritty rules that I had to comb through many sites to find a single source aside your own that claimed several of the corrections to be made here.

So, in the end, I'm sorry to say that yes, your feedback is heard and appreciated, but no, I'm probably not going to fix most all examples nor particularly try to follow these rules as I write more chapters. My ultimate concerns when writing are that it is understandable, not flagrantly incorrect (for instance, distinguishing between 'two-too-to' and all that), working with previous and the proceeding dialogue, and in-character. Some of these are innocent mistakes, as I might have initially intended more dialogue to come after an action and put a comma where a period should have been, others are just borne of me never encountering this kind of direction in all my years of schooling despite having a degree.

That being said, thank you for reading, and I hope that it doesn't grind your gears so much as to stop! Even if it does, thank you for being polite about it all and I hope my response is understandable in turn. Have a nice day, too!