#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???

[ssamja-trash]

This post is just me ranting in the tags scolding my kpop boy man lol. (But you should still watch this performance if you haven't yet because they SLAYED and they deserve support and I want an album from these three please don't stop singing you're so talented and charismatic 😭😭😭)

[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.

[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.

[nyapollo]

here's a hot take: as a buddie fan, I don't hate tommy kinard and the intense hatred towards him honestly kinda annoys me

was i rooting for tommy x buck to be endgame? absolutely not. but i didnt hate the guy

i understand the tommy hatred in the lens of his past racism because. that was for sure... odd! and although i can say, "well, hen & chim clearly forgave him for allat and if he hadn't changed then there would have been more backlash to eddie & buck casually hanging out with him," i feel like that's not the major reason most buddie fans hate him.

this is, again, repeating the cycle of having a favorite MLM ship being "broken up" by a love interest of one of the guys, causing massive fandom hatred. but, of course, they can't hate someone for no reason, so they nitpick every line that the character has said and try to find something slightly off that is at least *a* reason to hate them.

at the end of the day, i could really care less if somebody hates tommy. i mean, yeah, im writing a whole tumblr post about it right now, but this isn't going to effect my life in a major way. the biggest thing that actually bothers me is that a lot of tommy haters are just straight up calling lou ferrigno jr ugly (but in very mean ways).

i haven't seen it on tumblr as much as i have tiktok, but my personal favorite (its not) is them calling him a dinosaur. this is where it crosses the line for me. is it likely that lou ferrigno jr will see these tiktoks and be sad? No. but this contributes to a problem that i see so incredibly often, which is: people don't understand how to seperate the actor from the character, and see actors as nothing more than people on their screen rather than real human beings.

actors are real human beings. even though they probably won't see your post about how you think they're ugly as shit, other people will. maybe other people who have the features that you are calling ugly as shit. i also just think its incredibly inhumane to start nitpicking every single little thing about one person because you don't like the character they play on tv.

hate tommy kinard *as a character* all you want, it doesn't hurt anyone. what DOES hurt people is when you start critiquing people's looks and calling them ugly. i really didn't think i had to say this out loud, because i thought everyone had come to a consensus on this but.. i guess not!

tldr: as a buddie shipper, i never really liked tevan as a ship, but i hate the constant hate on tommy kinard because it goes back to the era of "hating every female love interest that gets in the way of your gay ship" and additionally, people not being able to seperate the character from the actor.

[fluffypotatey]

*puts on my Professor glasses* Macky really knows EXACTLY how to talk to Wukong, let's dissect it! M: Looks like things are going smoothly. W: I say, you've been here the whole time, haven't you? M: FFM is your home, but it's also mine. W: Did you find anything? M: Still nothing, however. Now the Jade Emperor is no longer present. The Celestial Realm already gives me an unsettling feeling. M: Wukong...that kid. W: I understand. M: You have to go and talk to him. W: I know! But...he still isn't ready. M: I see. You're the one who isn't ready, yet. How did you even become a teacher! M: He has to be. We all have to be realistic. W: He's just a kid. We can't let him... M: Who says he's just a kid! Why is it him? When you chose him, did you know? W: I didn't know, I really didn't know! I just followed...a feeling. M: Are you not the least bit worried?! This child has all of your special powers, and he always runs into trouble. Have you never questioned this before? Not a single person knows where he came from. Is it not strange?! M: We still have no clue as to whoever let out Azure Lion. All your old foes returned in one swoop. Are you not even a little- W: Then what about you? You also suddenly came back. M: Argh- M: I say, someone must be manipulating us behind our backs. Especially Xiaotian. But they still haven't succeeded. W: Then tell me. What about you? M: Tell me do you want my help or not?! / W: Not long ago you were still against me! / M: I see, you're just a- / W: ...after I assume you'll teach me how to train my own disciples? ~ Xiaotian Interupts ~ M: Look. That kid has made you his idol. You're his one true hero, but you... W: But I what? M: He has to understand, he doesn't need to carry these burdens. You have to do better. You can really tell whose the chatty one in this relationship XD Wukong might be a lil annoyed, but he's tolerant. And Macky is a little playful turd as always. Where Wukong gets gloomy and concerned, Mac swaps between teasing and serious in a blink. Then things get a lot more strained and tense, but unlike their previous fights, it never escalates into violence. Never a growl, never a raised fist. They're right at the edge, and they drop it. I'm very much interested in the psychology of arguments and when it comes to people latching onto (1) thing a person says and relating it slightly off topic to avoid talking about that other thing, like Wukong is doing here. It's so cool seeing how physical they are in trying to visibly control their emotions around each other, and how they keep trying to hold themselves back from tearing in further, always pausing and halting, and switching to another thing. They're TRYING. Ugh. I think Mac was trying to give a comforting smile at the end, but it's kinda warped by the whole ~ everything else. ~ Anyhow, I like how this starts with Wukong establishing, or rather cementing to Macaque that he believes MK is a kid. And while Macaque argues against that, he did also say before that Wukong should talk to him. And they have their squabble, with Mac pushing Wukong's buttons to get him to say something, BUT the fact this gets resolved with he needs to understand he doesn't need to carry these burdens. YOU HAVE TO DO BETTER. Like of all things Mac could have chosen. He's playing right into what Wukong himself believes, that will overwrite the "MK isn't ready" thing. Because let's face it. Mac is right when he says Wukong also isn't ready for that talk yet. He's so down throughout all this, Wukong probably feels himself that he needs to be better. AND by appealing to the fact MK is a kid, without explicitly stating that, just a statement that cannot be denied, BUT is a subject that undoubtedly, even Wukong cannot avoid. Because he wants better for MK. For him to not walk down the same path as him. Macaque has basically nudged Wukong into having that talk he wanted with MK by reframing it differently from what Wukong wasn't ready for. Thoughts? Critique?

*squishes you* anon…anon, you’re telling me..that this was the actual dialogue between SWK and Macky in 5x01. that what i just read is the translated version of the Mandarin dub. correct?

ok ok cool. i’m cool. gucci. feeling fantastic lemme just

WHAT THE FUCK LMK

ok so i ranted in the tags but realized i forgot to say more things (also i was worried i’d exceed the tag limit bc that is a real thing what do you know!)

so, anon, you said Macky knows how to talk to Wukong and yeah agreed but for me it’s for of the sense of “Macky knows how to get his words under Wukong’s skin”

he knows how to let his words sink in and fester in Wukong’s mind, making him reconsider things or another to help speed up certain decisions or choices Wukong is hesitating on. and ain’t it fascinating how despite how long it’s been since either character have talked or interacted with each other, they still know the ins and outs of their behavior and thoughts.

Macky knows Wukong needs to talk to MK but is holding back. Macky after one answer from Wukong realizes that it’s Wukong who isn’t ready for that conversation and switches tactics to try and breach that mental block

Wukong, in a need to avoid the conversation, brings up the questions surrounding Macky’s reason for even being alive again because that is information neither have talked about and oh hey! Macky is avoiding that conversation too! and it’s an important one to have so he pushes for it, but Macky knows it’s being pushed to avoid their original discussion and is annoyed bc “classic Wukong, never wanting to delve too deep into topics where he’ll need to be vulnerable for” (especially when said vulnerability is with his newly re-allied ex friend Macaroni himself)

god i love them

[cosmics-beings]

You've mentioned Starscream as being abusive before and I was wondering if you had an examples of that?

Well, yes! and i warn this is gonna be heavy critique on starscream so if you like his character you might not want to read this. i say this with starscream being my favorite character T-T

I can list a few examples off of the top of my head - we have his relationship with Knockout, where he is physically abusive to Knockout multiple times, which is why Knockout betrays him. The sad thing is that Knockout himself was trying to be friendly and genuine to Knockout, and he was cruel to him.

I do offer some empathy to Starscream because at this time, he himself was dealing with his own abuse and his own situation of toxicity but that isn't an excuse to be abusive to another person.

Also, i think it's important to understand a lot of Starscream's abusive tendencies can't be tied solely to megatron.

Throughout various continuums we've seen Starscream being abusive to his trine - for instance IDW (and the reason Skywarp and Thundercracker are seekers in IDW is directly linked to Starscream's abuse and manipulation of them).

He is also, in some iterations, abusive to Skyfire (and no I'm not just talking about Skybound) whom is his friend and he has tried to kill and manipulate. This is especially a cycle of abuse because Skyfire trusts Starscream and they are friends, and some people see them closer than that. In many ways it means if Skyfire didn't break from the autobots, there could have very well been a stronger cycle of abuse that grew between the two of them as Starscream in a way began to descend into madness and more hunger. which is why i am kinda annoyed when people make skyfire's sole purpose to save and protect Starscream, when Starscream in many iterations is awful to him.

In Earthspark, it is heavily alluded that he was abusive to and treated his trine the same way Megatron treated him, which is why clearly, the trine isn't very empathetic toward him in regards to the whole megatron thing.

There are other examples; I'm not using him being aggressive toward autobots because those aren't people he is close to.

Also, this isn't a reason to excuse how Megatron treats him. However, I do firmly believe that he had issues way before Megatron, and especially in IDW we see he was also dealing with issues of abuse...

I think i prefer earthspark's characterization of him because it holds him accountable for his abusive actions while being empathetic toward him.

A lot of Starscream's abusive tendencies come from the origin of his creation, especially in IDW hew as created to serve others or created to have his use designated for him. So he does anything he can to not be that person, or to get power and to him, power means stepping over people.

Do I think in some instances, his toxic relationship with megatron can amp up his abuse - yes, absolutely. Whether or not he'd be as bad as he was without megatron in the picture --well i always go back and forth with that.

[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

[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.

[olderthannetfic]

Fandom discussions that happen through the anon ask box of a third user who kindly lets us share our opinions on her personal blog obviously risk becoming flat and all that, but I'm kind of stuck on that bi4bi M/F ask because, like... what is the point of critiquing fans for their dumb ship wars and then you just insert yourself in said ship wars like that?

There is something to be said about how fandom treats cishet women (by acting like they're the only demographic present, by refusing to acknowledge their existence, by treating cishet women like the the devil, and also by using the "cishet woman" label as a way of silencing any queer person who disagree with one's opinion, which in itself has a number of other implications), but, like (and maybe this feels a bit personal for me because I've seen it happen one too many times) queer people—especially bisexuals—often "insist" that their M/F ships are bi4bi bc they're tired of bisexuality getting erased, especially when online fandom, like most other online (and offline) spaces, loves to both imply and directly state that bisexual people in M/F relationships aren't queer, or not queer enough, with the opposite also happening in F/F and M/M ships, where a character suddenly turns monosexual, or where bisexuality is not even contemplated.

It feels pretty naive to not take into consideration how that "insistence" often comes from a place of hurt, and not from the implication that being straight is Bad And Wrong™.

And obviously, whatever, everyone can ship whatever they want. But I have to question how many queer people—who aren't, like, antis or whatever—just go up to other fandomgoers and tell them that they're being queerphobic, really, because X ships should be bi4bi. Because there is a difference between someone saying that X and Y are bi, actually, in their own profile (or even lamenting the lack of bi4bi ships) vs. them directly going under a fanfic or other people's post to accuse them of being too straight or whatever.

It can still be annoying, mind you. Sometimes there are implications in how people explain themselves and share what they'd like to see more of in fanworks. I know for sure that some of the "Why don't we never see X" post can be annoying as fuck. Also, fans do often weaponize their (even if real, tangible) pain as a way to win arguments and demonize the other side—we see this happen with antis all the time. But it kinda makes me laugh when people try to critique this by flattening the discussion like this.

Obviously, discourse is annoying and wanting to be as far as possible from it is 100% understandable. And sometimes people just want to complain, which is also fair. But I feel like generalized complaints like this, posted on what is basically a public forum, often just fuels the discourse instead of shutting it off.

--

TBH, the main time I see bi4bi come up is when I post stats about het on FFN or something, and people come out of the woodwork to remind everyone that just because something is f/m, that doesn't necessarily mean it's het. (I promise you that 99.99999999% of the stuff I surveyed on FFN is the hettiest het to ever het.)

I haven't seen any policing of other people shipping the same m/f ship for not making it bi4bi. It might be out there, but it's not something I run into.

I have seen plenty of complaints about canons that end in m/f with a bi character not being queer enough. The funniest one I ever saw was about Stage Beauty.

I mean... it does end in the leads getting together... But...

(This is that historical movie where he's an actor playing women's roles, then the law changes, and men can only play men and women are allowed to be actresses. It upends his whole life and loses him his boyfriend. His assistant who's obsessed with him in kind of a "Do I want them or do I want to be them?" way takes over his old signature role of Desdemona. He's bitterly jealous, of course. Then they invent naturalistic acting in the space of a month because this movie is very historically accurate. Anyway, it would be pretty queer just for all the gender bullshit that's going on in the main f/m ship even if he weren't visibly also interested in men.)

IDK, I've found annoying people on both sides of this: letting you know f/m can be bi4bi when nobody asked and insisting things are Not Queer just because the endgame ship is f/m.

[amorphous-binary]

[discussion of Transformers: Earthspark “Home” below — not spoiler free]

I. intro

I was only very recently was able to get up to date with Transformers: Earthspark. It's super cool, and I’m really enjoying it this far, but the uh ... anti-Transformers sentiment in “Home” kind of fell flat for me.

After thinking about it for a few days, I think that I’m coherent enough to sort of ... explain why that is.

II. context

“Home” introduces us to Stevie, one of Robby's old friends from Philadelphia. Cool, cool, neat, right?

Unfortunately, Stevie is a lil’ bit of a bigot / insensitive / he doesn't really like Transformers. That's fine, I guess.

A horrible message is spray painted in the skatepark: “Transformers Go Home”. Judging from Robby, Twitch and Hashtag's reactions, this is supposed to be seen as hurtful.

Stevie's comments that the ‘Transformers’ mentioned in the message only refer to Decepticons really doesn't help. Robby and the Terrans leave at that point, and we don't see Stevie until close to the episode's end, where he replaces the “Go” in “Transformers Go Home” with “Are”, so that the message now reads “Transformers Are Home".

III. initial response

I remember seeing someone say that Earthspark actually does a poor job of engaging with any theme that is not ‘family’, and I kind of see where that critique comes from.

The audience is meant to disagree with Stevie, but it is actually very difficult to disagree with him entirely. We’ve seen images of Transformers (Decepticons, but they are Transformers nonetheless) destroying Big Ben, and attacking the White House. In “Warzone”, Megatron explicitly mentions that there were human casualties as a result of the Autobot-Decepticon fighting.

Knowing that information, I would say that Stevie's viewpoint is understandable. Hell, I find it difficult not to sympathise with humanity in general here — you have these big, massive robots that can destroy you and your loved ones easily.

I'd want Transformers to “go home”, too.

IV. criticism — stevie is sorta kinda right, y'know

I would have preferred for there to be some sort of discussion with Stevie on his views. To me, it's so weird how “Warzone” featured the deaths that came with the War — again, the human casualties — and a human who is understandably upset with Transformers for bringing their War to Earth is made out to be an antagonist for those views.

As the audience, we know that the Terrans weren't part of the War (Thrash, in particular, is extremely adamant about it in “Warzone”), but the everyday layman just sees a Transformer. Just sees another, potential threat. And after the while business with the War, the layman would be justified for having that view.

V. criticism 2 — why are we using Transformers as a vehicle* to criticize racism?

*pun unintended, but wholly appreciated

At the end of the day, Earthspark is about the Transformers who were "sparked" on "Earth". From that perspective, it makes sense why the "racism" featured focuses on them.

But attaching any sort of lesson on racism (or what is clearly meant to be the equivalent of racism) to non-human characters just feels ... I guess the word is "shallow"?

It's weird, because, I don't have this hang-up when the non-human characters are being racist to each other. Like in “Warzone”, when Shockwave referred to the Terrans as “lower class Cybrids”.

I guess the difference is that the “racism” in “Home” felt forced whereas in “Warzone” it felt far more natural?...

VI. conclusion

It's rather late in my time zone (3:43am at time of posting) so this is probably not very coherent at all but ... eh.

I’m still excited to see what more Earthspark has to show us, though!

[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!