#maybe the tldr of this is Stop Being Weird On My Posts

[mikehasfleas]

Life hack for people with short attention spans:

WATCH DUMB VIDEO ESSAYS!!

I am so goddamn serious. If you have a short attention span, the best thing I've found to help with that is video essays. Please bear with me on this post, or read the tldr:

My attention span was, and still is, totally fucked from my years on the internet and my adhd. I would spend hours on tiktok, instagram reels, yotube shorts, etc, and could barely sit through a TV show episode without opening pintrest to get even more mental stimulation.

But fast-forward to mid-fall last year, where I got really into video essays. Started out with 5 minute "storytime stickmen" videos, then 10 minute explanations of game lore bits, then 15 minute videos on punk subculture stuff, etc, and even though I was still using pintrest and reels relentlessly outside of that, after a little while, I realized that I had stopped pulling out my phone mid-video. The videos were actually grabbing and KEEPING my attention, even if I had little to no prior interest in the subject.

And by now, I've finished multiple 2.5 hour long videos on totally random stuff like the characterization of king candy, the making of a now lost-media tinkerbell movie, weird random stuff in fnaf security breach, etc. Now I actually SEEK OUT these longer videos, and even find myself getting involuntarily disappointed when a video essay I'm watching cuts out at 20 minutes! I actually enjoy sitting through long videos now!

And sure, I don't always watch them in one sitting, but if anything that's even better! I can come back to a video I was in the middle of and STILL keep my attention on it!

This is all to say, you can't just cold-turkey your way out of the instant-dopamine-rush of shortform content. It's just not gonna work. But if you do it gradually, you will likely find yourself getting actually INTERESTED in just the act of watching a longer video. And maybe by extension, you'll find yourself being more engaged in things like your classes because you're already GOOD at being engaged with lectures on random stuff, which will likely make you want to find MORE of that class content (the coursework) because you're used to the information being given for even longer periods of time than the classes are.

Now, this won't work for every type of content, and it obviously won't completely fix your attention span. Hell, I'm still addicted to plenty of online shortform content. But it is undeniably helpful to have even just one facet of your attention span be over an hour.

TLDR (since this IS a post directed at people with short attention spans); I used to have a detrimentally short-as-fuck attention span, but I basically exposure-therapy'd myself into enjoying long videos, and it did WONDERS for my attention span. I want to help you do the same.

So please, for the good of your brain,

WATCH DUMB VIDEO ESSAYS!!!

[princesstarfire1234]

TLDR: I fucking despise ship art and fanfics that infantilize Orion Pax / Optimus Prime

Okay so I just wanna put my thoughts out here right now because I've not seen many people talk about it and it honestly bothers me a lot...

So, it's no secret that I ship MegOp and stuff right? I like and have reblogged a bunch of art of them before and I will keep doing so, but something about how this place (or more certain parts of the fandom) portray the ship gives me major icks and I fucking hate it so much

Detailed thoughts under cut ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Case in point, a massive part of the TFP fanbase likes to ship Orion and Megatronus and I get that, I get why people like shipping those two but it's the WAY they do it. A lot, not all, but most of the fanart surrounding Orion Pax and Megatronus is him being like the smaller and more submissive one of the relationship which fine, whatever, but most people just end up drawing him REALLY small like ik he's shorter than Megs who was a gladiator and all that and he was an archivist but jesus christ... Aside the size which is weird and all but it's really all about the rampant infantilization of the guy. When they remove all agency from the character and act like Orion is gonna fucking combust the moment someone confronts him or tries to fight him like no... I've not read Exodus but I don't think Orion being a nerdy book guy is gonna make him THAT soft, this is still the same mech who became PRIME like cmon

I don't know the exact words for it other than "infantilization" but like y'know what I mean right?? I'm not gonna name blogs but there's this one AU on here where Orion is blind and it has this cutesy artstyle which is fine but I vividly remember reading a comic on that AU where some thugs confront Orion and he's all like sobbing and shit and has to be saved by someone and it's... so you made him disabled and also a crybaby and absolutely incapable of anything??? Does that NOT give you an ick of sorts or seem weird??? God I don't even know anymore because I've seen many people seem to like that so I'm just scared I'm the weird one and wrong for this lmfao... Maybe there's smthn im not getting, you tell me

Anyways this post is getting real long, but this kind of "infantilization" also applies to certain fanarts of TFA MegOp, I always thought the ship was bordering on kind of strange (since TFA Optimus is like the equivalent of some 20-something college dropout and Megatron is implied to have been doing the war stuff way way way back like Ratchet's time) but I won't get into that, I just don't ship that certain brand of the characters myself, but it's fine, do what you want with it. Just know that I have seen art of those two where they treat TFA Optimus as this sort of incapable cutesy uwu boy (aaaghh)

So yeah.... hahahaha stop infantilizing characters and taking a ship where they're both grown ass big men and like straight up turning the other one into some weird ass incapable version of the character that lacks any and all agency and honestly bordering on being really icky as fuck, thank you, idc if you make Optimus the bottom or whatever, that's not what I mean, cya ✌️

[emblemxeno]

You can definitely ignore this ask, since it’s a bit on the rant-y side I just kind of need at least someone to maybe understand my thoughts. I was rereading some of your Engage posts and recently skimmed a video on Engage and it just kind of reinforces my thoughts of "stories in media don't have to be overtly complex and convoluted to be enjoyable." Like, Engage's story doesn't try to be something it's not. It’s okay to have a game with a “simpler” story, it’s not indicative that said story is bad or not well-thought out. And I think a lot of bad-faith criticism of Engage comes from people having a bias towards FE games that don’t have “deep” and “nuanced” stories that they want. And I think 3H did make people think it had this complex story, and what FE should be like, when it kind of just falls apart if you think about it too hard. Idk, I just need people to interact and examine media a little more than just regurgitating takes some guy made on Reddit/Youtube without first making an informed opinion about said media. Tldr; I like Engage and I do think it’s good, and I’ve stopped caring for the shallow critiques. Side note: I need people to admit that they're haters/contrarians online. Like just admit you don't like a thing because you can, it doesn't have to be complicated.

I agree! I think a lot of people have this weird fanaticism for (what they believe to be) complexity.

I don't think stories have to have tons of moving parts to enjoyable or well-constructed. For example, while I never played any Final Fantasy game, I have watched many LPs, so I know the stories of some of them pretty well. I'd say FF6, 7 and 8 have a lot more moving parts involved compared to say, FF9, but FF9 is still a great story because despite being more straightforward and 'simple', it hits the right beats and says what it wants to say extremely well.

Engage is the same. Hell, if anything, Engage's main story problem is letting things drag on too much, not the fact that it's too simple and barebones. But it still gets its themes and intent across effectively. That it's not 'complex' or 'grand' in scale or scope, is not a mark on its quality, but a matter of personal taste. More people should recognize that.

And same on the last part, people don't have to conjure reasons or lengthy explanations for why they don't like things, they can just say they don't like them with a few short sentences. Not everything needs to be a deep dive.

[gffa]

This is a long rant and I apologise if this comes off as too much 😅 I just want to let you know that I'm SO GLAD you're part of the star wars fandom. You're one of the few reasons my interest in this franchise has survived despite the toxicness that it has seeped into everything the past few years. Yes, star wars fandom has always been pretty much a mess but I feel like these days it's somehow gotten even worse. And there isn't even anything coming out that could distract everyone from the constant drama.

Your blog and your posts about the books are always a breath of fresh air in all this. I really appreciate that you take time to make all these long canon references and share them with us. And that you actually engage with canon content! For some reason that seems to be a tall order for most 'fans' these days.

It's exhausting seeing the ice cold takes about the jedi be repeated over and over again by people who seem to have barely even watched the films, let alone read the random book they're referencing to show how the jedi are So Evil and failed poor anakin by Forcing him to let go of his Attachments so they definitely deserved to all get massacred down to the last child!!! And if you push back by citing literally anything canonical to show how ridiculous their takes are they reference a random obscure legends novel (that they are often twisting and also usually haven't even read) And if you point out that, no, Legends isn't canon (and never has been) and we could discuss it as its own separate thing instead of dragging it into canon discussions, they completely flip and say they don't care and to stop taking star wars so seriously 🙄 ( u can probably tell I've had some pretty frustrating fandom arguments recently lol)

It does feel like groundhog day sometimes with the same arguments being repeated over and over again to villainize the jedi while absolving the genocidal mass enslaving space fascists that are Very Clearly the Bad Guys. And it feels pretty much deliberate at this point when people misunderstand star wars' canon definition of attachment and project all their issues in their own lives with their christian upbringing onto the space monks... This has only been exacerbated by people like Headland jumping onto the franchise and doing this with fuckass disney's approval, so now the racist anti jedi youtubers have started attacking this new anti jedi show so if I defend the jedi I get lumped in with them *sigh*

Anyway, I just listened to Padawan's Pride because of your posts and it was fun and a much needed palate cleanser for me after the months of anti jedi takes. I also started reading your jedi citations project and it's gotten me back into reading some other of my favorite jedi fics and maybe writing some of my own. So tldr; Thank You!

Oh, anon, I hear you and I went through a lot of similar feelings over the last few months. In between a lot of IRL stuff coming up and the fandom getting incredibly weird about Jedi fans (soooo much projection going on that it started getting unsettling sometimes) and the same old constant beratement on my posts, I was thinking that I was just too tired to deal with any of it.

It did get hard some days because it felt like no matter how hard I tried to be friendly and make a point to say that everyone needed to be allowed their space whether we agreed or not, that I would still get words put in my mouth or my posts misinterpreted or accused of trying to shut down other people's conversations, when I've never even interacted with that person, I've never reblogged anything from them, never talked about them, just made my own posts about the Jedi on my own blog.

That aspect of how, if we write posts that cite Lucas quotes or moments from the movies and shows, we're taking things too seriously (or the super weird one of how we're trying to "force" people to have to take Lucas' commentary as a holy grail or whatever), then we're taking it too seriously is SO REAL, I have been through that SO MUCH. And it's like, no! Nobody has to take authorial intention into consideration! But if you're going to say that I ~missed the point~ of what Lucas intended with the movies, I'm going to break out the Lucas quotes to show that, no, I didn't miss the point. You're still not obligated to agree, but the point is that I'm not coming out of nowhere with my views and deriding me as not a ~true fan~ or whatever is asshole behavior.

And it's hard to have that groundhogs day feeling, especially because you don't necessarily want to spend that time getting into arguments with people--they are allowed their own space, if they want it! But if they're coming into our space, then yes we get to respond with an essay if we like. (And, hey, some of us genuinely like writing essays, it's satisfying!) But I've found the best mindset for me to have when arguing is: I'm not going to convince this person in front of me and that's fine, they're not going to convince me, either. But there are other people watching this discussion and they are seeing which one of us is being a pill and which one of us looks kinda fun to hang out with.

Which is my way of winding around to what I really want to say--I'm so glad that I can help you want to have fun in this corner of fandom! There's always going to be times to respond with sharp edges to Jedi-critical stuff (especially when it starts dipping into the racist, xenophobic, bigoted nonsense)(not all of Jedi criticism is this, but it does happen all too often), I don't blame Jedi fans for having their nerves scraped raw by people feeling absolutely free to treat our posts like public property instead of them coming into someone else's lane to make a mess. (I've met some very nice Jedi critical people, this isn't about them, this is about the assholes.)

But is it really worth being in a fandom where that's all we do anymore? We can't avoid the negativity, we can't avoid people being assholes to us, but we can work on making the content we want to see at the end of a long day when we get home and log onto the computer and want to see something that makes us feel joyful.

I hope I'm doing my part to make it fun to stick around the fandom, to want to read some of the books or some of the fic, I love the artists who are drawing the cutest Jedi art, I love the fic writers who are writing great Jedi-positive stories, I love people who make silly shitposts about how funny the Jedi fan be, I love people who cry over the deaths of their favorite Jedi, they help make the fandom worthwhile.

It really does make a huge difference, I think! Whenever I need that same palette cleanser, I just take a week or so to push aside all discourse (don't even go look), just pick up some of my favorite Jedi fics, just go looking for some of my favorite Jedi art, reread "Padawan" or "Padawan's Pride" or "Obi-Wan & Anakin" or "The Living Force" or "Dark Rendezvous" and just spend time thinking about the things I love about the Jedi in canon, thinking up headcanons about lineages or nerdy Jedi philosophy arguments or adrenaline junkies, and it helps create the space I want to be in.

Hearing that I can help you with that is a huge boost as well--I hope you know that it helps me in return to know that we can help build something together here in our corner of the Star Wars internet. We're in this together and we can cheer each other up with cute content and I am getting out the pom-poms for you to have fun with that fic! <3

[fand0mswithbunny]

this is so different from the other posts i do but fuck it. descendants 4: rise of red review, spoilers ofc, we still boycott disney's ass, pirate this movie like uma and her crew ate the intro of this movie instead of watching this from disney+

keep reading if youve seen it or dont care about spoilers but tldr: if you havent seen it and see this as a spin off movie instead of a 4th installment, i say go watch it. its basically how i feel about the 2024 mean girls movie, im just here for certain characters, dynamics and songs, and a bit of the actual plot, its fun but definitely not for everyone, i liked parts of the movie/plots tho

okay honestly overall, despite the fucking terrible rushed ass ending, i still honestly enjoyed a lot of aspects of this movie.

songs, generally i liked. yeah its all pop-y but yk, none of them were unbearable, i loop red, whats my name (red vers.) and love aint it what about it

the editing was. a choice at times. like it will cut at the most random moments and when red was being transported and fell from that. pipe. thing in the castle it was so. disney channel editing core LIKE OKAY I KNOWW OFC IT IS but grahhhhhHH

the cg was good, direction was. also a choice at times. idk how to explain it but it felt like every scene was being directed like a music video and not like a MOVIE esp the lighting oh my god idk what it is but its so GLOWY AND WEIRDD

the characters themselves, i love the main cast, red, chloe, ella, bridget, etc. were all cool. IM A FIRM RED/CHLOE SHIPPER THEY ARE GIRLFRIENDS IDC and i also liked the dynamic they have with their past moms it was nice

oh yeah i dont mind how they wrote mal, evie, jay, and ben outta the story, i mean they gotta explain their absence yk. and i loved the carlos tribute, you can tell china was genuinely not acting in that tribute scene.

the vks were. okay. i dont mind that literally every villain/princess/disney protag goes to high school. this whole series basically feature length fanfiction anyway, idc personally about that. its weird URSULAS SISTER was the main antagonist. like i get having a completely new villain aside from the vks parents or something but. ursulas. sister??? besides you could tell me shes ursula and ill believe you.

its nice seeing filipino prince charming thats it thats all i gotta say RAHHH PHILIPPINES BABYYY 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 MY MANS GOT THAT 'PINO RIZZ OKAYYY

the plot was actually fun, but yeah I WISH WE COULDVE SEEN CASTLECOMING WE WERE ROBBED OF THAT i knew when red and chloe got the book there was like 10 minutes left in the film but cmonn we couldve had Morgie, I DONT KNOW somehow freeing the rest of the vks and them STEALING THE POCKETWATCH AND RED AND CHLOE HAVING TO GET IT BACK, GET ANOTHER 30 MINUTES IN THE FILM MAYBE, ANOTHER ACTION SEQUENCE, CASTLECOMING. but its finee im sure theres a fanfiction in the works somewhere that has that exact premise because thats what fanfic is for babyyyy

imagine. during the dance chloe and red are scrambling to find the watch, they see the vks, they find bridget crying because her best friend isnt there, she thinks ella bailed on her, they have to find the watch but, they gotta make her feel better right? red comforts her while chloe chases after them to find the watch, ella comes to the dance late after deciding, fuck my stepmom, get your hands dirty parallels, something something, the four of them all stopping the vks together, THEN they travel back.

i should just write a fix it fic for this movie at this point damnn i impressed myself

but yeah the ending does leave a lot of plot holes, if bridget didnt change from the past WHO DID, if Red even CONSIDERED a VK in this timeline? if not then WHO IS IT?? IS IT CHLOE?? its hella rushed, its ass, but i guess we'll find out in the 5th movie ig

also i thought they were totally setting it up for Ella to be the one that humiliated Bridget in the past, like the "I saw through her" in Love Ain't It we NEVER GOT ANY CLOSURE FROM THAT WHAT HAPPENED?? sighhh its okay its fine

i see this movie as a spin off movie rather than a 4th installment of the universe because it pretty much is, like its basically its OWN universe with the lack of the og cast and new characters. i unofficially coin it as the "Descendants: Redverse" because it just makes more sense

so many questions, mainly WHY, but yeah, still liked it, would rewatch. certain. parts of it. but honestly? a 7/10. leaning towards a 7.5

is this a recommendation? not sure, depending on who you are you could totally love this film or hate it, i say give it a chance and completely ignore the busted ass ending <3

anyways KENDRICKKK FANFIC WRITERSSSSSS- DROP SOME MORE CHARMINGHEARTS FANFICS/D4 FIX IT FICSSS. AND MY LIFE, IS YOURRSSSS

[momo-shut-the-fuck-up]

So i ve done the main story in infinity nikki and im gonna stop playin now, before i squeeze the game dry of content and have nothing (new) to do on release.

Time for a lil review/thoughts post

I m not gonna review every single mechanic in the game, simply things that stood out to me or that i wanna talk about. I also wont add more images, i kinda want ppl to see the world for themselves... i ll share more when the game comes out tho.

There s a lot of text under this. Tldr, i like the game i think it's a solid, enjoyable experience with a good gameplay loop, the story isn't for me, and i'll keep playin of course. And u should try it too if ur device wont blow itself up tryin to run it.

Dress up

The bread and butter of Nikki games... it's good as usual. Game doesn't shy away from long skirts or coat tails or complicated ballgowns just cuz nikki can run and jump and dash now and i'm very happy bout that. There's some clipping issues once in a while, but it's nothing major and the clothes we do have in the game are lovely. There s an evolution system for some of the sets, which makes em a diff color.... usually they can evolve once, but i saw Three extra evolutions for one of the UR sets and that scares me. Bcs to evolve them u have to craft the suit again. So u have to pull 4 copies of a suit to max it out..

Combat

Game's definitely succeeding in its quest for being cozy. There's no real stakes, combat isn't difficult in the slightest but i do welcome it- super simple but it's pretty fun regardless. The boss fights were surprisingly creative and fun for what they are, it's just unfortunate that you have to do them more than once or twice (crafting mats)- but they do change what the boss does so it's different depending on what mat u are farming for... and u can claim double or triple or however much stamina u got-le of the mat after u complete it once. So that s rly nice.

Exploration

I actually think it's really really good. Again this isn't a difficult or complicated game, not yet i guess... but with the major goal being "get new clothes" and "take pretty pictures maybe", the open world feels actively engaging to participate in. There's collectibles everywhere, little challenges you can do that are diverse but quick, styling battles, collecting everythin from animals fur to bugs to fish, and allll of this brings u closer to that never ending goal of woo more clothes.

However even if a challenge doesnt give you a blueprint, it's still just. Really Nice to exist in this world. It's very whimsical, as expected of Lilith, and the world has a combination of realism and cartoon artstyle that is just soso appealing to me. It's genuinely how i would've imagined miraland to look in 3d. Shame it's not the same miraland we know..

Story

Hmm... silly is one word i could use for it. Cute also. The story isn't doin anythin bad per se, and i did start skippin dialogue near the end w the pieceys because i want to keep at least Some part of the story for the game's release... but i get the gist of it, and it s just not my thing.

It feels like a story made for children, and it definitely would get a G rating. Easy and simple to follow, there's moments of tension or sadness sure but with the antagonist bein a literal babie lookin cutey fairy with a grown man's voice, or the creatures that i'm interacting with are a bunch of. Fuckin weird lookin big eyed balls of fabric that look closer to plushies than somethin Alive... it's all so silly and dramatic sometimes i can t help but cringe.

Part of it is a me problem, if u just open ur heart and free urself from the cringe the story is fine. It's just a little too kiddy for me and i so desperately hope it won't stay like this forever. My prayers might be answered though, there's a whole war beyond the borders and we have refugees around... shit's lookin bad for Umbrosa.

Other things i noticed that i liked:

The effect on nikki's skin when it's raining, she actually has water dripping down her face... its so cool

Momo capes are actually kinda neat ngl. Especially cuz the fucker follows u around everywhere, at least i can bedazzle him

Npc models look really good im a fan. They do suffer from "everyone is very beautiful" syndrome, which makes some of the npc villains look/sound ridiculous, but they have kid-teen-adult-elderly versions of models (i never see teen models in these games! Its cool!) And some body variation. The grandmas look so lovely i cry

The dark skin tone is really dark, and it looks quite nice and natural.

The lighting engine in this game is just rly good in general. God bless UE5

The edges of the map where there s forest, which u obv cant go thru, the forest is made to be darker, thicker.... i m a huge fan of this idk y. It's not just *invisible wall in front of an open field* nopee cant go there lets explore that area later tee hee. And it looks good to boot.

Camera function is p robust, has more options for changin brightness/saturation/contrast etc which i feel Shining Nikki lacks.

Some of the creature designs are so good man i looove themm <3.... the pieces are awful tho. Ok creature design is a hit and miss sometimes but the stray hatty? Peak. All the weirdy fashionable animals? Peak.

Bein able to quick switch thru ur saved sets while in the overworld is real neat

Oke that was it. Bye

[ccazimi]

u really gonna post something like that & not explain!

well tldr i met this random girl from my uni at a party and she asked for my number and i was like omg??? cute woman asked for my number well yes OBVIOUSLY im going to give it without second thought !!

note: my fallacy falls in the fact i am only extremely sus of men and never of women like keep in mind if this was all happening with a man i would’ve been sus and called it out MUCH sooner

anyways we were texting or wtv for like two days and then she hmu while she was in the car ig with someone driving her back to her apartment and she was telling me like “omg i needa pee so bad :/“ which isn’t super crazy?? like the conversation went on as normal but she would KEEP bringing up how much she had to pee and like KEEP IN MIND IF THIS WAS A MAN I WOULDVE BEEN VERY SUS IMMEDIATELY BUT IM TOO TRUSTING OF WOMEN and so anyways i was deadass getting stressed out for her right?? cuz apparently this drive seemed kinda long and she really had to pee and she wasn’t sure she was able to hold it like okay objectively that’s just not a good situation to be in 😭

anyways ig she almost made it to her apartment but she didn’t, and fucking wet herself by the time she came in. and then she told me abt how her roommates were super mean and condescending to her and how they were laughing/making fun of her and atp im like a little sus bc she was describing odd little details (apparently her roommate took her by the hand and changed her underwear for her but was super condescending abt it the whole time??) and sent me pics of her fucking piss pants but I gave her the benefit of the doubt cuz she seemed like ,,, genuinely upset? and also idk maybe she just lived with a bunch of evil ass women that bully her 😭😭 and then she started talking to me like “omg u probably think im dumb and pathetic for wetting myself don’t u :((“ and i WAS TREATING THIS LIKE A JORMAL SITUATION OK LIKE I ACC FELT BAD FOR HER so i was like noooo haha everyone has embarrassing accidents sometimes ! and then somewhere in the middle of reassuring her i made a joke abt “if i was there id pee my pants too so we can match” anyways.

Thay was a MISTAKE like that was the moment I actually fucked up bc she started being like “omg you’d really do that for me???” and im like uhhhhh and LIKE BY NOW I WAS GETTING TJE IDEA THIS WAS LIKE A KINK THING BUT SHE WAS SUPER CUTE AND FUN AND SMART OUTSIDE OF ALL THIS AND OFC A WOMAN,, AND IM FUCKING SOFT FOR GIRLS SO I CONTINUED TO ENTERTAIN THIS BULLSHIT right

but i was like um idk like what do u even want me to do …

and she’s like piss urself rn and send a pic of your wet pants after u take them off (and a video of u peeing urself if u can)

and now im like ,,, REAL STRESSED OUT. do NOT ask me why i was still entertaining all this ig bc before her it was 99% fucking white boys that seemed to have any interest in me and this was like the one time a girl did it instead like i can’t lose our potential beautiful connection to this little pee thing right??? and i was like maybe if i do it she’ll just move on . so I agreed to the picture not video AND I WAS LIVING W MY ROOMMATES SO I HAD TO WAIT FOR THEM TO GO TO BED before I went to the bathroom and took off my pajamas and poured some water near the crotch area and stuff to look like i peed myself?? and then I sent the pic to her 😭😭😭😭 and luckily she bought it and tbh she didn’t push me abt it after that but i was still feeling kinda weird abt the whole thing so the next day i told her I faked it and i know she was doing this as a kink thing but i do like her and would appreciate if she could just be normal with me

and like ,,, i think she tried? but ig she was also put off by the fact that no more pee fantasies so i kinda stopped talking to her and just PRAYED id never run into her on campus (my campus is HUUUUGE with a sizable student body so I actually didn’t run into her again….)

[looniecartooni]

I know where you should stand in the bbu stuff.

On the side that doesn't support the devs. Because they blatantly lied.

Oh boy- my first anon saying stuff like this!

I understand where you stand on this matter. I did read through their document as well as all BronyFandont and what a couple other people had to say on the matter. While there is evidence and a lot to question about Gabe's choices that are indeed incredibly sus, the people who are making these accusations seem overly combative and dedicating quite a bit of their content to smearing Gabe's name.

So... I am mostly left with questions. On your guys' end I'd like to know- is the end goal of not supporting BBU or getting rid of Gabe in order to protect others from being affected by his actions? I know it's to not support a you-know-what, but is it also in support of his wife/ grooming victim Claire? To help her out of a dangerous situation she's in? A lot of claims BBU made with proof were that Claire claims it was her consensual choice to pursue Gabe and that her parents (more specifically her father) were emotionally abusive.

On the devs side of things, I'd like to know: aside from protecting your casting choices and possibly (according to something I read but may have misinterpreted), was there a reason you felt you needed to take the time to try and defend him? Is there a reason Gabe isn't trying to defend himself on the matter aside from the cease and desist to BronyFandont? The devs adamantly claim that they would never allow a child predator or abuser in their game and server, but also went above and beyond for their supposed lie, so a lot of things still seem muddled to me.

People who take the stance you are taking have many times been correct in their assertion (as with the case of Mr. Beast) but being a part of the BBU fandom for so long, it's hard to wrap my head around the fact this is even happening. I don't believe harassment of the fandom or devs is the necessary approach to finding justice in this case. I do somewhat agree with BronyFandont in the sense that maybe a lawyer should look at this case...?

A weird thing I noticed about Fandont (and maybe this is just my lack of Twitter knowledge) and they claim to be a person that calls out bad bronies, but all they have posts of are that Gabe is a horrible person and evidence they either found or twisted to prove it (supposedly) all in the past 3 years. When Gabe told them to stop, they sort of took a weird combative approach demanding that the case be taken to court. The devs are also of the assertion that Claire's dad uses throwaway accounts to discredit Gabe and a couple years ago we saw something like this happen with another Twitter user they claim to be a throwaway account. Brony claims that they aren't and that they only met her dad once at a con but also claims that they haven't noticed anything abusive aside from a "concerned father".

TLDR: There's evidence that can easily support the claim that Gabe is a predator and the devs taking the high ground on him not being a predator instead of himself is still confusing. However, people who are making claims (not Destiny to my knowledge- I know little to nothing about them and I am sorry for what happened to them) (I mostly mean BronyFandont) appear to be very combative and dead set on defaming Gabe. While they do bring up solid points, it seems odd they've dedicated most of their post history to specifically that. I think this whole thing needs a look from a lawyer or professional, unbiased opinion.

I had originally wanted not to say anything on the matter, but I do want clearer answers rather than the same arguments back and forth. I really like BBU as a game, story, concept- I love so much about it and I thought I could trust the people behind it. I still want to trust them, but I can understand why people are upset and hate Gabe. I want to weigh all the facts before I stand my ground.

So... thank you for your ask. But next time you see me leave a comment on the matter in the tags, please assume that I do not want to talk about this. Thank you.

[lunar-inkclipse]

Hello! Sorryif this is a bit weird but I have question that's popped into my head about the swap AU. I was looking at some older murdle posts and this idea popped into my head lol but just wanna know, how does Illogicos parents feel about his ability to see ghosts? Do they think he's faking it? Do they try to ignore it? Actively discourage it?

Hey there!! Not weird at all, dw- I always love talking about my AUs and seeing that +1 in my inbox! ^_^ Got a tiny bit carried away and wrote a few more paragraphs than I really need to,so TLDR is his parents accept the idea he can see ghosts but keep it under wraps and encourage Illogico to do the same.

I think his mom was always a little more receptive to the idea, then again, I feel like Illogico has always just been a little closer to his mom. She was the first to find out, just out of circumstance- Illogico was just recovering from the accident, stuck in a hospital bed, and he asked his mom about the girl around his age looking out the window. The doctors and nurses said there was nothing there. Maybe it was the pain meds, or the shock, or something from hitting his head on pavement. He wore his helmet, yes, but still took a hard fall. His mom didn't say anything and just squeezed his hand a little tighter, staring at the same corner Illogico was and seeing no one there. She and Illogico's dad talked later, when he was deep asleep, whispering about their little boy's strange murmurings. His did has no clue what he's talking about, but his mom says one spot of the room does feel colder. And, well, it wouldn't be surprising if Illogico could see ghosts- Mediums are known and somewhat accepted in the world, depending on where and who you ask. And, well, with what happened, it's possible Illogico could talk to ghosts, now. (It's not fun to talk about, though, because it means Illogico really did die, even for a moment, and neither of his parents can stand to think about that much at all.) Still. They should wait until he's discharged and make sure it's not anything else at play before committing to the idea their son really does see ghosts.

And when they realize Illogico actually does see ghosts, they agree on some things and differ on others. Both his parents agree he probably shouldn't advertise the ability or anything, that can't end well. They don't mention it to friends or family, try to dance around the subject with Illogico, try and keep it under wraps. (Doesn't work out so great, because Illogico is teaching himself everything about how to sense and talk to ghosts as he goes, with a lot of trial and error, and that means a lot of not always telling what other people can and can't see. And the reputation that brings kinda sticks.) His mom probably asks about it sometimes, though, making sure he's alright and not too bothered by what he sees. His dad just says if he's going to see ghosts, he should figure out how to stop being so jumpy about them because he looks strange, talking to nothing.

Thank you for the ask, and feel free to hit up my inbox with any other questions!! ^_^

[comrade-kit]

restoring my childhood jly #19 (second release) | day 1

tldr: i took really good care of my ag dolls until i lost interest as a teen and improperly stored them twice ;-; now i'm trying to restore them :)

where we're starting + first progress pics are under the cut :) any and all advice is welcome <3

the starting point/before restoring:

she absolutely did not look like this before i stored her away </3 we've now got the following problems:

dry/frizzy hair

marks on her cheek (pictured) and other limbs. some seem to be from just general wear and tear, some (like the brown cheek marks) are maybe from mouse droppings?

this weird white stuff that's maybe a kind of mold?

a lose leg (not pictured) and neck that needs to be retightened (which maybe explains the lopsided look on her face?)

fixing problem 1: dry/frizzy hair

i got myself an ag brand wire brush and thoroughly wet her hair (while keeping her eyes dry) before brushing her hair from the bottom to the top. her hair is no longer dry! and (imo) a lot of the strangs that were flying away at the top and off the sides are now tame :)

however, i have this patch of hair along the bottom bag of her wig that's frizzy? idk what to call it but these strands are bent/short/something that prevents them from lying flat. i think a boil dunk might be needed to solve this? advice/recommendations are appreciated <3

otherwise, my plan is to wait for the braid spray i ordered (it's coming next week) and then brush through with that to see if it helps. i also need to cut some pieces at the end of her hair that are oddly long so everything is the same length

fixing problems 2 and 3: viny stains

i have no pics to show for this bc i haven't made a lot of progress :( i wiped her down with a wet rag which made the white stuff go away, but it would reappear after the vinyl dried. i then tried the baking soda paste, which got rid of some marks, like the white stuff! however, the brown stains (like on the cheek) remain </3

i found a store near me that has that acne cream in stock so i will be picking it up tomorrow and starting that process. i may also grab a magic eraser for her limbs (i won't use it on her cheek bc i would take the cheek paint off and i don't want to repaint that)

she's got some dust and maybe mold in her ears, mouth, and nostrils that i've been having trouble wiping away because those are such small openings. and then she's got dust/maybe mold/stains near her eye sockets which is evil bc i'm trying not to get water in there ;-; any advice for navigating these issues would be appreciated <3 (i have already tried using q-tips btw)

problem 4: tighting limbs and neck

the only progress i made with this was destuffing her which was very interesting! i had never taken apart an ag doll like this and i didn't know what to expect

i found a shoulder tag in her and she's also marked with the letter F. ik that's for manufacturing but it was really funny to look at her head and just see an F as if the universe was telling me F in the chat for her, lmao

the most interesting thing about the shoulder tag is that it's different from my other jly even though they both have 2008 body tags. my only theory is it's because they came in different meet outfits (the i like your style and star hoodie outfit). i don't know when shoulder tags stopped being a thing, but i have chrissa (who was released in 2009) and she doesn't have one

i was also kind of disappointed by the sewing inside jly #19's body. it's very messy. and ik hidden/inside seams don't need to be perfect but she's so stringy and it kept getting caught in the stuffing. she was just so expensive and i expected better quality from ag

the star dividers are from this post. all of the other photos are mine :)

[bettertwin1]

Hi, old follower here from before you had 100 followers. I've got a semi serious question for you.

When I first followed you, I got the impression that you were a RP blog, in the case where you would RP with your "brother" (bettertwin9000), so I followed the rules as such. But later on it seems that this blog is your persona? In terms of everything said to this blog is a personal question to you? It's a weird situation where people asking those intrusive questions make sense for a RP blog, but in a normal blog situation it makes it intrusive.

Tldr, I think many are confused if this is an RP blog or you having Leo as your persona, so can you confirm what this blog actually is?

OMG HI LONG TIME FOLLOWER!!

And, for the sake of things making a little bit of sense, as much as sense as we can manage, keep in mind that we have OSDD, we're a system-

PUTTING IT UNDER CUT CAUSE IT'S LONG 😅

At the start of the blog <- in which we were advertising it as a roleplay blog, it was being run by our host and partially by me though I had no clue what I was doing at the time and bettertwin9000 was being run by our partner <- (which btw, made for some strange asks)

We continued advertising it as a roleplay even when we began suspecting and having full breakdowns over the idea of being a system due to some little things and some big things and lots of research and therapy and blah blah BUT we kept going back on it cause tbh DID is a hard thing to accept and we didn't want it <- still don't

SO now I was trying to run the blog more all the while trying to keep us grounded, IGNORING the possibility of DID and thinking, nah, this is just a really bad cause of delusions and we NEED to get reality checked NOW.

But I ALREADY KNEW i'm not REALLY Leo from rottmnt, but I am him, I was formed from that guy, created? Idk. He made me in his own image type reference audio. WOW IM NOT EXPLAINING ANYTHING 😭😭 did I mention we have a tendency to overexplain <- but specifically for me in the case of explaining things that are hard to explain, ANYWHIZZLE.

We kept going back and forth, confirming and denying the conclusion "we have osdd" cause that's terrifying and while this was happening I was still trying to force us to post and interact and involve ourself in arcs for the sake of distraction from EVERYTHING happening irl and the blog kind of made it worse but in a light hearted way cause suddenly the asks became really gross, and I felt really gross.

Sure, maybe someone who was roleplaying Leonardo would have no trouble answering asks about dead relatives or near death experiences or villains that have physically harmed you and your 'siblings' or about my crippling inability to speak about feelings and whatever else people diagnosed me with on here but I was having trouble answering it, I was getting uncomfortable and I was feeling genuinely overwhelmed because everything that definitely would be great material for a roleplay account was making me just feel, bad. <- which wasn't great considering at the time, feeling bad was not something i could have been affording to do

SO at some point, I started putting boundaries, didn't explain why, just continued under the guise of hey, roleplay guy here, the intruvsive invasive asks about my family and my mental health and my anatomy is making me want to die so please stop andbonly ask fun stuff like idk, if i put salt in donnie's coffee sometimes and everyone was like, yes leonardo in unison.

Then I slowly started getting more adamant on pushing the narrative that I am LITERALLY Leo from the show cause pushing that seemed to really help with the questions, and then the roleplay blog became more like. A personal blog for some dude who happened to be a ninja turtle alter and it'd unfortunately gotten so out of hand that explaining this now kind of made us even more exhausted cause oh man, we might get fake claimed huh <- we had worse things to deal with, internet drama didn't need to be added to this.

Anyway, if you read through all that junk, i'm sorry 😭, but i think it helps explain why the impression of the blog is so confusing cause it was being run by two ppl, a host and an alter who were constantly trying NOT to be those things until pretty recently when we started accepting the fact that we have Osdd

SO TIMELINE.

The blog starts off as an rp blog by our host and I unbeknownst to us both

The blog is fun and we start gaining traction

We also start gaining more mental health problems and have a full breakdown multiple times on many different social medias

We push through to cope

We talk to the other blog runners who are systems <- (Mikey, Raph and at the time when their account was apart of this, April) and they kindly answer and guide us through some things

We start adding boundaries for my sake

We talk to other systems on other social media and they help us with more stuff

We talk to our therapist

We do a ton of research on top of old research we'd apparently already done before <- suddenly we have a long document with so much information

We tell no one about the discovery when we start accepting the possibility

More funny stuff ensue and personal life things happen <- #ONLYTHEREALONESKNOW!

The only announcement I ever make that i'm an alter are one off comments in tags or answers that I never address again until I make an intro post that says I'm an alter in a system

The blog is what now?

The blog is still a roleplay account. Sometimes, canceled arcs that we would have done would have been considered roleplay <- a canceled christmas arc. But usually, this is just a blog. Like, this is just a blog I use to entertain people and to get some of my thoughts out like a singlet would. It's both i guess, it's whatever I want it to be and whatever you guys consider it to be.

The blog is just, my blog, I don't know how else to explain it 😅😅

Also, Bettertwin9000 was pretty much going through the same thing at the time and fun fact, he is actually my "brother" cause he's a Donnie alter <- (yay!)

Shoutout to the host who has their own blogs that they never really post on! couldn't have done it without you! <- and the many kind individuals who gave us their research material and links and answered our questions and stuck w/ us through the most confusing part of OUR LIFE

Srry again if this didn't answer your question like at all by the way, i THINK it at least explained some things but you know 😭 SORRY IDK

[headcanon-territory]

OK I'm rambling about Screwllum, this is a very nonsensical post because though I like ramble and analysis stuff, I never talk about them publicly because it ends up being a jumbled mess. My brain just functions that way but please bare with me. [I think I should note that there is spoilerish content for those who likes to check the notes, events or curios in this game ]

I read a few of the Gold and Gears content or hidden Screwllum lore through curios, notes or the occurrence events and it just hits me that Screwllum just exists for the entire 1.6 quests and the new SU dlc dosent really involved him at all. He dosent do much but he is relevant.

But I can't stop thinking that this guy is the guy that got the IPC to cancel their plans about eliminating mechanical lifeforms across the universe, this is the guy in one of the resistance groups against Emperor Rubert. But what makes his rebellion different during the Emperor Rubert wars? HES A MACHINE JUST LIKE HIM. HE ALSO SAVED ORGANIC LIVES. like that fact alone wouldn't be so interesting to me if he wasn't a machine.

And somehow it feels like his character hadn't that much focus during the dlc. Buuut I haven't finished the dlc yet so maybe there's a few occurrences or some of the story endings i didn't encounter yet

Soo maybe there's things there that I didn't know yet about him unless I got informed.

ITS JUST it's weird that he's treated with a sidelined light in favor for Ruan Mei [since yknow, big character for 1.6] but he has importance during Emperor Rubert's time.

But i do guess it's on his decision that they made in the dlc and dosent wanna show this fact all over your face.

There is like hints or a few notable content about planet screwllum during the dlc that's good. Like ooo Mechanical City, finally get to know a bit about the capital of Planet Screwllum Like the intra-cognitive events are all set there. And also how Planet Screwllum's people can function like humans [THEY CAN CRY AND TEAR UP DO YOU KNOW THAT?? SCREWLLUMITES CAN CRY THEY CAN ALSO PASS AWAY APPARENTLY <atleast they have population control>] [but somehow Screwllum worries about what he drinks and it should be machine oil for some reason]

So hey! We are learning more about his people this update, slowly and surely! [how All of these hints is giving me false hope- there's no planet screwllum update in the future they definetlt won't they are not brave enough to make several patches with very robotic humanoids they wo]

I got brain burned

tldr: Screwllum should be a more important character in the 1.6 patch especially in the new SU dlc because he has relevance in the time period its based on

[sialaterornever]

points at you. hit me with the oc blast!!!!!! mweheheheheheheheee

RAHHHHHHHHH OCSSSSS

im. so ill. i have *checks google sheets* abt 55 ocs rn

ok i would yap abt catarina but i mean i already did. i would yap abt sialazar but thats ✨️spoilers✨️ for thr (minecraft server im in :3. you should watch)

um maybe mild spelling errors. oopsie

azazel cantor time :D i mentioenf him before in a diff post but yhats an au version of him

hes a silly guy who works at a bookstore but then get fucling beat up in an alley and dies and becomes a ghost vigilante amd does shit. ive been kinda writing him for a while now + writing his scrap! version

(scrap is basically a ghost hunting thing inspired by phasmo and theres also aliens too. yeah.)

ough i. i love azzy. hes so silly to me.

actually whilr im here time to talk more abt the haunts world (thats the working title of the world)

its a super powered world bc of course it is. takes place in the fictional city of perenburn, usa! youve got heroes and villains and the weird in between people

the main chars so far are

azazel cantor, local ghost vigilante dubbed specter who channels his inner child every day by pranking people

lex wisther, local cafe owner who can see the emotions & intentions of other people through ribbons and has two yoinger twin brothers who are hero & villain archnemesises(?)

noxurous, local enby amnesiac villain with shadow powers who may or may not have a thing for lex (and vice versa >:))

and marissa villaneuva, local demon villain dubbef purgatory who i havent fleshed out but she does crime because shes lowkey depressed (im still working jt out yall)

i would yap abt the plot but that seems like spoiler territory but it will unfortunately revolve around lex & nox eventually. still working on ship names rn. i think shadowmilk would be really funny considering thats a crk char (shadowmilk cookie my beloved & beloathed) but also. shadow = nox bc shadow powers. milk = lex bc he works at a cafe. yk.

theres also like. lexurous but thats boring tbh

ALSO! planning a sequel story (despite having not finished the main story <.<) thats an interactive fiction!!! like. choose your own adventure if you dont know what that is. or visual novel without ghe visuals. but you choose. yeah.

same city, but you play as a retired villain some years after nox & marissa eventually stop being villains. i dont wanna say much bc its a secret project bit watch out for it.

OH ALSO ALSO! OBLIGATORY THR PROMOTION

THR aka The Humble Realm is a survival minecraft server im in thats kind of rp? except spmetimes we get Too Silly and fuck around. :3 itll deffo get more active whrn summer comes around (i really wanna stream even if it is nomic) but tldr its a bunch of ppl with amnesia brought into this world by someone named maya. oh and also we all have 3 lives. and with each life lost that person remembers more abt themselves

i play as a silly human guy named sialazar lanuit! he's on two lives rn and is uh. currently Not Doing Well. ough i can wait for the next thr event bc ppl will see that he got Fucked Up. (i wanted to say he was fucked but um. yeah. teehee) ough i love my guy hes kind or ripped from the octopath traveller 2 world and so prays to those 8 gods (hes a mwrchant for all you ot2 ppl) and has a polycule (but he forgor them bc Amnesia)

i love going you cant spell amnesia without sia >:)

ive yapped so much but. if you wanna hear about any other ocs check out my toyhouse linked in my pinned post and ask abt any of those ocs there! very much a wip very few of my ocs are on there but. one day they will.

[fumifooms]

Hello! Anon Asker again here. Recently got through the latest volume on Kindle with the Dungeon Master arc.

(Spoilers ahead for others...?) Now that we got most of the characters' backstories, I feel the earlier black magic ritual they did for Falin makes a lot more sense.

Marcille is desperate to keep the people she loves alive given her sense of loss and persisting dread about outliving everyone she knows.

Laios (apart from loving his sister) has lingering guilt from having left Falin behind before, exacerbated by her sacrifice and the way she always puts him first.

Then there's Senshi and Chilchuck who have on more than one occasion shown a distaste for magic.

Yet Senshi didn't fight it much and stood by them, because he himself is not a stranger to loss, especially when it comes to loved ones who have sacrificed for others so that one might survive.

But Chilchuck I'm not so sure. He was the most vocal in how against black/ancient magic he was, but also didn't really stop it. Maybe we can attribute it to his own abandonment issues by his wife, or just that he could imagine what it might be like if it was one of his daughters (as we saw in a small chapter art where he had a nightmare of his daughters dead). But I wanted to hear your take on this if in case you do.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this ask! It’s a layered topic so I procrastinated on polishing my answer.

I think this is super interesting! Especially because we’re coming at this from totally different angles, since reading the manga I never thought that using dark magic didn’t make sense considering the situation or was weird. You’re coming at this at an angle of what personal reasons would make a character do this, while I looked at it in an angle of what social reasons would make a character let it happen. Post gonna be a lil long so I put it under cut! Tldr with your angle though, I think you’ve pretty much got it spot on and I don’t have much to add, I think your take it’s very interesting, and true.

So, why not do dark magic?

Throughout the whole manga, very early on too, we see our characters testing their society’s perception on morality in ways that we see that the moral wall was pretty baseless in the first place, mainly the disgust towards eating monsters for instance. Or sometimes, the morality of characters is lacking to our standards, having a perception we’d see as twisted, like in the kobold extra. Like Marcille talks about in the barometz/direwolves chapter, eating something "filthy" will make you filthy too and that’s why Marcille was innately so opposed to eating monsters. We also see it with the orcs’ chapter for example, Kui tackles a lot of difficult themes with nuance like racism, both the orcs and the elves have their perspective and their big faults in their part in their conflict, but in the end who’s right and who’s wrong isn’t spelled out for the readers. The point is that morality in the manga isn’t set in stone, it’s something that as the reader you draw the line on yourself, and we see that our characters aren’t infallible moral compasses either. The use of magic, too, is left up in the air on how good and moral it is to use, "unnatural" vs efficent vs cheap cop-out vs harmless or harmful.

So for me, when Marcille explained dark magic, how it works and why it’s forbidden, ‘yeah there’s probably a hidden catch in there’ I thought but I was super on board with it. To me, not using dark magic because it’s different and less known would be like not wanting to eat monsters for the same reason: more born out of fear and ignorance than reasonable and rational.

So we’re coming at this from different angles like I said, while you focused on character motivations for being fine with such an unholy act of magic I thought of it in an ambiguous morality and consequences way. So instead of "why should/would they do it?" to me it’s "why not?". And to me it’s a bit like "Well, no one should steal! But if the person really needs to for food, well I could let it go" for the characters’ thought process, though of course the instinctive revulsion and the stakes are much higher. They have all worked really hard to get there, and if there’s a chance it’ll go well then they would try it. Senshi and Chilchuck are much more reticent than the others like you said, but they’re able in the end to either rationalize doing it enough, or just prefer to listen to the directives and see how it goes by taking a more passive role. Not unlike how peer pressure can get you to participate in something you don’t want to do. But to me it’s a lot about growing accustomed to the unknown, hearing about it from Marcille who researches dark magic instead of the half-foot anecdotes about "dark elves" and "dark magic" used to nefarious ends. Which, presumably dark elves don’t even exist, we don’t know exactly what the half-foot definition of dark elves is, it’s a misconception and it’s a boogeyman, which is part of my point.

Where does Chilchuck’s distaste of magic come from? Elves. But by then Marcille, by being an elf herself and being trustworthy and friendly thus far, has started to chip away at these preconceived notions. Maybe what he heard wasn’t foolproof, after all. Under pressure and stakes like they were, people with even an usually very rigid morality may bend a little, steal, etc. To me, even if Chilchuck brought it up later, still very uneasy with it, it didn’t mean that him doing it was unrealistic or weird. People do things half-heartedly or unsure on if it’s the right thing to do sometimes, especially under pressure. Their will wavered while Laios and Marcille’s didn’t, and ultimately that’s what decided what they would do. What’s the other option? Marcille and Laios weren’t going to back down, so what, fight them so they don’t do it? Otherwise they’ll do it anyways with or without you, and then is there even a point to putting up a fight about it or even leaving? You can see the raationalization being done in real time, if you reverse engineer it.

Ironically enough I think this scene set after they do it depicts it perfectly: Chil lays out why he doesn’t like the thought of it, she responds on why dark magic being bad is up for debate, and he goes to argue but ultimately chooses not to and goes along with the group.

But yes it’s an interesting topic! Marcille researches positive uses for ancient magic so of course she’d be ready to use it to revive Falin, Laios has normalized reviving and magic a lot and overly relies on it, and Senshi doesn’t want to do it, but it’s because of his ideal- because of his instinctive recoil at anything that is magical or "unnatural"… Except for the golems. Because of how he sees himself as part of a larger ecosystem and cycle of life that humans shouldn’t have control over, that should know how to sustainably live with nature without getting greedy or cocky… Except for when he idealized Anne the kelpie as his best friend that even though is a monster would never hurt him. He tends to pull away from others socially needlessly, not letting himself grow too close to people or a community, too. Point is, Senshi has his pitfalls and isn’t as inflexible as we might think, and not everything he does is rational or even consistent with his own beliefs under his normal circumstances, though I do think he’s the one who was/should be the most opposed to the reviving character wise.

And I said that Chilchuck’s reason for not liking dark magic is rooted in superstitions and elves and history- and that’s certainly true but it isn’t the full story either. While Senshi’s preoccupied about morals and his world view, Chilchuck is SCARED of it, he thinks of the CONSEQUENCES, not the act itself (though it also def doesn’t charm him either). And not just the direct consequences of what a dark magic resurrection means either, it comes up a lot that Chilchuck is worried for others and for himself, about careers or the law and generally the future, and tends to micromanage them or be on their case because of it. Made a lil compilation below, notice the trend, he’s very focused on what others will do if they learn that they did dark magic, he’s focused on hiding that they did, not grappling with the morality of it as much. He’s very worried about the legality of it. He sees it as a crime but not something that shatters his worldview y’know. And even after Marcille did it and uncovered that she researched dark magic, he still trusts her and her judgement, is only wary of her a but for a bit before going right back to being thick as thieves together.

I was gonna talk about racism as a plot point and through arcs in the series here but I think I made my point without it, so that’ll be a topic for another day. But yeah… Spoilers for the last volume stop here and skip to the last paragraph if you still haven’t read ut all (bless your Kindle reader soul, good luck waiting for the next chapters). Is the winged lion bad? He’s harmful, certainly, but he’s not evil, and at its base it’s an entity without a sense of morality. Dunmeshi tackles morality in a really interesting, typical of seinens way, and unity is another big theme, as much as racism is a narrative tool and plot point the lesson is that putting efforts into befriending people you don’t understand is good. And with some, like the winged lion, that’s not gonna pay off, but everyone deserves to be understood regardless. Narratively that’s why Laios is the character he is, and why we get to learn about Kabru, the orcs, the canaries, Thistle, even the demon, and see it under new lights. Kui is big on critical race theory and sociopolitical issues used in/for storytelling, and it shows. During canon Chilchuck is growing closer to an elf coworker and tentatively giving her his trust, which pays off, and that is enough to make him reconsider wether dark magic is that bad, and think of how much risk he’s willing to get into for the party. Whew got sidetracked by the narrative genius of Dunmeshi and Kui but, the point is that in the story, characters changing their mind on issues and having their viewpoints challenged is very much common and important.

Sooo yeah! As I said I do enjoy your perspective as well, I’d never thought of it that way so it was interesting. Hopefully this is an insightful post and not just a load of nothing that wasn’t relevant to your question haha. But yeah, while reading I truly approached it from a "why not" angle, instead of a "why yes". They don’t like the method but they do want Falin to live, which makes it easier to dirty their hands for. Wash your hands of it and don’t think about it too much afterwards. (Top 10 reasons why it’ll backfire! none of them will surprise you 🌟)

[mx-piggy]

Hooray! I'm not several days late to reviewing this week's Futurama. Though, I did forget it was Hulurama day until like an hour ago. If you want the TLDR, I really enjoyed Quids Game, more than I think other people might have. As always, spoilers ahead!!

I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure what I think about this episode. I really liked it, but it definitely had things that I know people will take issue with. At the moment, I'd confidently give the episode a 7/10, though I'm more than prepared to bump it up to 7.5 or 8 if I watch/read a review of it that reassures me that I'm not being blind to this being the secret worst episode of Hulurama.

All of us watched the episode and knew that all of the characters would be somehow revived by the end. So, of course the focus of the episode was more on the comedy. I personally think that it worked well enough, though I think that some of the comedy easily could come off as meanspirited, not unlike some of the comedy in the Comedy Central era of the show, seeing as the joke is 'oh this character's dead'. I read through some posts on here to gauge the reaction to this episode, and right away I saw a complaint about the joke where Fry decapitates Professor Farnsworth and reacts to it casually. I completely understand why you would take issue with that, and I'm a little on the fence about it myself. But, also, I think maybe (and feel free to disagree with me) it would have been even more 'upsetting' to see another moment of Fry being made to feel awful in this episode.

I do think that, if you don't like the Squid Game plot of the episode, it's going to ruin Quids Game for you. And, I can see why you wouldn't like it. It did remind me a bit of the anthology episodes, like in the Prince and the Product when the car versions of the characters all get murdered and it's given very little weight, because it's supposed to be comedic/without canonical consequence. So, I can understand that people might have found the episode not enjoyable because you're just watching your favourite tertiary characters get killed without it actually meaning anything. But, I had fun with the episode. As a Squid Game parody, it really worked for me even though I haven't seen it. Parasites Regained, the Dune parody episode, was an episode I didn't enjoy much because of its reliance on Dune. So, I think this episode did a good job at being its own interesting thing while borrowing from Squid Game's premise of 'childhood games to the death'. I thought that the games themselves were cool, and all in all, the setting and premise of the episode was cool and I thought it was executed pretty well. (I'm going to stop 'both sides-ing' this review from now on, though, so I can give my opinion of the episode and stop worrying about other people's opinions lmao.)

I'm a huge fan of Fry flashback episodes, and I think that they make for some of the show's strongest emotional moments. It's weird because I had no idea that this episode was going to be a Fry flashback episode, and, coincidentally, I rewatched Cold Warriors last week because I was sick. I'm glad I did, because this one definitely reminds me of Cold Warriors, probably because of its focus on younger Fry.

Anyway, while I don't think this is the best Fry flashback episode we've ever had, it's definitely a good one and it felt like it brought something new to the table. I like that we get to see a more humanising side to Fry's parents, and I thought that the ending really was emotionally effective. The ending montage of Fry's parents helping him win reminded me a lot of the flashback to Leela's parents helping her throughout her life without her knowing, or the flashback in Lethal Inspection. But, and I didn't think about this until reading someone's post on here, it was really refreshing to get a flashback for once where it's not necessarily a moment that's secretly sweet. It was one of those moments of Futurama that gave me chills with its weight. Fry is distraught at losing his best friend, in a moment that we know sort of sends his 20th century life into a sort of friendless trajectory, and his mom thinks she's just given her son a great birthday party by making him feel like a winner when he so rarely does. God, it's such a great moment. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but I could definitely see this as being a key moment that would make Fry completely give in to his sort of innate mediocrity, associating this one victory with losing his friends. That's just the angst lover in me. I would love to read some Fry character analyses after this episode.

I liked that the episode used Gedgie, seeing as we're already familiar with how is relationship with Fry turns out later on (as shown in Cold Warriors).

Anyway, this episode was pretty funny, I'd say more than The One Amigo. It was fun seeing so many of the characters there together, and I think that the writer(s) handled this episode well given the sheer amount of characters there. Of course, probably my favourite moment was Zapp sliding between Fry's legs and saying 'hello, sailor'. The Frapp nation must be elated. Honestly, I need to write something Frapp-related. If I do, I'll share the link here.

Another joke I found funny was Fry saying 'I hope my grandma's proud of me down in hell'. My favourite line in the original run of the show is Fry's 'we can't just dump him in the gutter like grandma's ashes', so I think it's a small but funny bit of continuity that grandma was probably fucking awful.

Anyway, great episode. Seeing as The One Amigo felt like it should have been more emotional, I was glad that this episode handled its emotional beats very well. I really am looking forward to the rest of the season after this banger episode. As always, I'd love to hear what you guys thought!

[cilil]

Not same anon, but I read your post and have a thought. Do all Finwe's children have a daddy issues? Just want to know your opinion! And thank you anyway! Wish you good day/night

Gladly! Thanks for the ask! It's always a fun topic to talk about, so let's jump right in :D

(Disclaimers added down below, just in case)

As for Findis and Lalwen, I can see it go both ways. It may be that they have wisely chosen to stay away from the family drama epicenter and focus on themselves and their relationship with other family members, while also maintaining a decent/good relationship with Finwë. It may also be that they at some point competed for their father's affection, but realized that Fëanor was the favorite child on top of his special position as crown prince and withdrew, feeling disappointed and rejected on some level - so the kind of daddy issues where you stop trying and seek to have your emotional needs met elsewhere. You could tie this thought into Findis' decision to stay in Valinor and/or Lalwen's decision to leave, though for the latter her relationship with Fingolfin is usually cited as the primary reason.

As for Fëanor, I think he wouldn't have daddy issues in the "traditional sense" that he was trying to get more affection from a distant father figure, since Finwë was doting on him. Maybe he was jealous when Finwë remarried and had more children with whom Fëanor then had to share his attention and affection. What I like to think, though, is that Fëanor has what I call "reverse daddy issues" for lack of a better term. Reverse daddy issues is when someone doesn't want a daddy for themselves, but they want to be the daddy (for other people). Funnily enough I also think this stems from Fëanor's mommy issues, the entire emotional turmoil sort of motivating him to become the sort of parent figure he on one hand had experienced growing up (Finwë) and on the other hand lacked (Míriel).

With Fingolfin, we enter daddy issues central. Out of all of Indis' children he was the one getting compared to and pitted against Fëanor the most, being the oldest male child of the four. I definitely think he was actively (and dare I say even desperately) competing for attention and affection from his father; as an example I'd point to the scene in which Fingolfin tries to convince Finwë to restrain Fëanor (not that way, perverts). Depending on what we all voted on That Poll, I can see this going the daddy issues route or evolving into reverse daddy issues later. Or it's fake reverse daddy issues to mask the daddy issues (say daddy one more time...). So yeah, Fingolfin definitely has something going on there, in my opinion at least.

Finarfin may be somewhat in the middle. I can easily see him having similar sentiments as Fingolfin, but to a lesser degree because he was the youngest and seems to have gone his own way like his sisters, staying out of the drama to the best of his ability. You could point to his marriage to Eärwen as an example of that mindset. I like to think that Finarfin was really taken aback when he suddenly found himself in the position to take his father's place and might feel weird about it to this day; he lived his entire life thinking it would be Fëanor or Fingolfin. Ironically, being in this position might have taught him some much-appreciated wisdom and humility.

Tldr: I think all of them had at least something going on in regards to daddy issues, but Findis, Lalwen and Finarfin managed to not let it affect them too much while Fëanor and Fingolfin got sucked into the daddy issues drama vortex.

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Disclaimer 1: The intention of this post is not "Finwë bad" or even to highlight parenting mistakes. As per anon's question, these are just some lighthearted thoughts on how Finwë's kids may have interpreted the family situation and felt about it.

Disclaimer 2: Due to said lighthearted nature of this post, I use the terms daddy and mommy issues. Sadly they have been misused to degrade and invalidate the experiences of real people in different contexts. This is of course not the intention here. Please know that your real feelings about things that happened/are happening in your life are valid🤍