#most of the time they make them look like nazis obviously

[insert-content]

a summar(ule)y of 196 culture

since the tumblr veterans have been kind enough to introduce us newbies to their site and culture, i think it is only fair that we explain the culture of our glorious former home to any tumblr users who might be interested in the #196 tag. keep in mind, all these things are based on my perspective of the situation.

first of all, some general information (that you might’ve already heard):

196 (r/196 on reddit) was a subreddit with only one (official) rule; "post before you leave." it was mainly a meme/shitposting sub, but it cultivated a large queer and left-leaning community. in protest of the recent api chances in reddit, 196 has shut down indefinitely until reddit reverts these changes.

now for some culture/references that you might come across

spronkus kronkus:

spronkus is this yellow, rabbit-like creature.

they were the mascot of our subreddit. their appearance can vary from images to image, but as far as i’m aware, their full outfit consists of a bandanna in the colours of the trans flag around their neck, a gun labelled as such (other wise you obviously wouldn’t know what you’re looking at), and an axe also coloured like the trans flag.

r/place:

this is a rare event on reddit where the entire website gets a huge white canvas and can start creating pixel art on it. 196 participated by collaboratively creating our mascot, spronkus with "196!" written next to them.

this version of the pixel art was recreated by me as i couldn't find a nice image of it. there were some changes between the first version and the end result, so this might not be exactly how it looked in the end

post titles/"rule":

reddit forces it's users to title every post they make. as most of the posts on 196 spoke for themselves, many user instead titled their posts "rule", to indicate that they followed the subreddit's only rule. some people also tried to make puns with the word or tried to include it in words that shared some letters (example: wor(ule)d).

anarcho-stripperism:

as the amount of cropped porn jokingly posted to the subreddit increased, the moderators decided that porn would be banned from the sub, with one exception: anarcho-stripperism. she made food fucking videos, in which she jokingly tested the fuckability of different food items (fruits, pasta, etc.)

bigotry showcase:

bigotry showcase was a post flair (basically the reddit equivalent of tags) on the subreddit and was later restricted to only be used on saturdays. under this flair people posted instances of different forms of bigotry to make fun it.

eating babies/hungryposting:

at some point, the subreddit started to pretend to like eating babies, which started a variety of memes regarding the subject. even a post flair called "hungrypost" was added because of this

goblinhog:

goblinhog is the most prominent and well-known member of the 196 moderation team. besides this, on 196 he was mostly known for changing people’s flair if you enjoyed him enough about it.

flairs:

flairs are little tags that are displayed under your name in posts or comments, they are also subreddit specific. most subreddits give their users a palette of preset flairs and the option to make your own custom flair. however, in 196 you only had the option to customize your flair during special events. if you wanted to customize your flair outside of those events (which was basically the entire time), you had to ask a mod to do it for you.

punching nazis:

from time to time, the same gif of a person with a nazi armband getting punched in the face, and promptly falling to the ground, was reposted to the subreddit. this became a sort of tradition.

discourse/drama

wasp discourse:

the wasp discourse was a one to two weeks long heated discussion that generally divided the subreddit into two factions. one side said that they were justified in killing wasps if they were attacked by them, while the other claimed that since wasps are just animals, they aren't aware of what they're doing in the same way humans are, and therefore should be spared.

drama about the british:

there was a time when jokes along the lines of "ew, british" became pretty frequent on the subreddit. as a response, some user claimed that this was akin to racism and tried to get others to stop with the jokes. a debate over whether or not it was important or necessary to stop followed afterwards.

pillar discourse:

this was a debate over which type of pillar should be considered the best (ionic; doric; corinthian). i have seen the question "which pillar is the best?" being used as a sort of greeting between 196 refugees on here.

related subreddits

195:

195 was the predecessor to 196, and also was a social experiment with the same premise as 196 (one rule, post before you leave). as the creators of 195 ended the experiment, the community wanted something with the same vibe to continue posting, and thus 196 was born.

197:

197 is another part of the 196 ecosystem and is commonly understood to be the more politically right-leaning and bigoted as 196, as some people who were banned from 196 continued posting there. besides that, the subreddits were essentially the same in terms of how they functioned.

19684:

this subreddit adds a second rule which banned all mentions of sex (that’s why it’s name is a pun on 1984). some people took this as banning all discussion of sexuality, which resulted in a community that was slightly less accepting of queer people. it is currently still up and running as the 196 moderation team wants a way to stay in contact with the community.

amendments to the posts:

u/femboy_expert:

another well-known 196 user. as the name suggests they're an expert on the subject of femboys, with their flair on 196 reading "phd in feminine boys". as the subreddit was somewhat obsessed with femboys, it's no wonder that they became popular.

u/shitcum_backup:

this was the main account of a pretty popular shitposter on the subreddit. although i didn't see them as much in the last few months, i remember them sometimes having a unique speaking pattern, in which they referred to themself in the third person.

u/monko74:

this user commented "Every day I thank god for not making me a r/196 celebrity," which led to many users of the subreddit treating them like a micro celebrity. there are even a few subreddits solely dedicated to u/monko74.

691:

a sister subreddit that inverts the rule of 196, here you would be (temporarily) banned for posting. some time ago the members of this sub initiated a rebellion/revolution against the bot who performed all the bans (roomba).

u/Smart_Calendar1874:

this wasn’t necessarily part of the subreddit, but it was a pretty popular meme. and since it’s getting posted on here again, and i know enough about it, i’ll add it to the post. this user made a post to r/AskReddit titled "How would you get a small cylinder (5.1in length, ~4.5in girth) unstuck from a mini M&Ms tube filled with butter and microwaved mashed banana? [sic]" it was pretty clear that they were referring to their penis, yet they continued to claim "it’s a cylinder," in the comment section. this lead to comments like "it is imperative that the cylinder […] remains unharmed," in response to people’s advice of cutting the m&m tube.

it's going to be very interesting to see which aspects of 196 culture are going to survive the tumblr migration, and which aspects won't be applicable on this site.

i'm obviously not the ultimate scholar on 196 lore. if i’ve missed or left out anything, or said something wrong, please comment it.

[crowhoonter]

rating Parahumans guys on how well I think they'd be as parents

Brian: I think Brian would believe he is a great father, but there is too much repressed emotions and depression in there to properly care for and raise a child. 3/10, Not particularly good.

Alec: Alec has lacked a real positive parental unit in his life, and while I don't think he would purposefully be shitty to a kid, I think he might fall back on what he knows from his own youth. Might be a fun older brother though. 3/10, needs to focus on himself first

Danny Hebert: Too sad about his wife dying to properly parent. no further notes. 2/10, Danny please get it together Taylor is relying on you

Armsmaster: Would rub off his worst personality traits onto a kid, resulting in them being the average r/malelivingspace user. Might also encourage child to grow poor facial hair. 1/10, I feel bad for whatever unfortunate soul is consigned to this fate.

Coil: Coil would be an absent father for 90% of your childhood, unless you were useful for his plans. In that case, he would feed you drugs or some other unethical thing and make you work for him (child labor (bad)). 2/10, conditions are poor but you might get to meet some of the other children he has, fixing the playdate situation.

Kaiser: See in story results. -5/10 Nazis don't make good parents.

Uber and Leet: They come as a package deal obviously, and they are actually pretty okay parents, they aren't great obviously but they aren't tremendous failures either. That is until you show up on one of their livestreams and then you are the laughingstock of the school. 4/10 Don't upload your kids online.

Scion: Too sad about his wife dying to properly parent. Also not emotionally available. 1/10, get it together man people are relying on you.

Mark Dallon: Not necessarily a bad parent, but he has a laundry list of problems that he needs to work through before he can begin to think to focus on his kids. 3/10, he's trying by god. He's not doing good but he's trying.

Number Man: He would probably respond to any question his kid asks with some weird philosophical math metaphor. Is a killer cook though. Also math classes would be a breeze. Unfortunately, most of his time is dedicated to cauldron. 5/10, grades will be great.

Accord: The worst type of helicopter parent. He would make itineraries to follow any time his kid went out and would require them home in pristine condition super early. Has a rigorous study schedule and puts a lot of pressure on you to succeed, and you know he wants whats best for you but like its stifling and you aren't really living for you but for him. Sure grades are good but you just can't do it anymore. 4/10, the depression and GPA are soaring.

Jack Slash: As seen in Worm, he is an absolutely killer parent. Has a fun family vibe? check. Engages with his children's interest and allows them to pursue it? check. Keeps his child intellectually and creatively stimulated? check. Takes his family all over the country to see new exciting places and people? check. Dude is simply top tier on the parenting skill. Sure the family dynamic is a bit unorthodox, but when the results look this good can you really argue? 10/10 Jack Slash has got it going on.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

So let's talk about rape, and porn, and why porn isn't rape.

By now, I've seen more than a few people talking about that OnlyFans chick who fucked 100 guys in a single day and ended up crying afterwards. Let's just say this up front: That's incredibly sad. It's not unique, because there have been a lot of pornstars over the years who have had gangbangs with hundreds of guys before, but it is sad. She obviously wasn't mentally prepared for what she did, and it obviously affected her in ways she wasn't expecting. I feel bad for her, and I hope she ends up learning a lesson from this about the emotional impact of casual sex and treating her body like a commodity to be sold to strangers.

But I've also seen way too many people equating what she did to being raped, and the men who had sex with her to rapists. And that's just not even remotely true. Regret is not rape. She chose to have sex with those men. She chose to keep going with every new guy that showed up. At any point she could have said "Okay, this isn't good, I want to stop now". But that never happened.

Now, I know some people will read that and say that all porn is a form of rape, because paying a woman to have sex is taking her agency away or "forcing" her or "coercing" her. Those people are wrong. Unless someone is actually being forced to do porn, porn is voluntary. Porn stars and OF people and camgirls/guys all choose to have sex in front of a camera for money.

"But the money!" some of you are saying. "The money makes it coercive!"

Well, okay. Let's look at that argument. So, what does coercion mean? It means, according to the dictionary

the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats

Note the last three words. Force or threats. I think we can all agree that threatening or forcing someone to have sex is wrong. But accepting money to perform a job, even if that job is having sex, is not coercion. It's never coercion. It's a voluntary pact between buyer and seller. Even if the person doing the selling is dirt poor.

"But," some others may say, "what if she wanted to stop but some of the guys talked her into continuing?"

To that I say, "So what?"

Convincing someone to do something is not coercion. Even if you're convincing someone to do something they don't want to do. Even if that person really wants to say no, but ends up saying yes. Unless there's force or a threat, it's not coercion. Making bad decisions is not equal to being raped. Talking someone into making a bad decision is not equal to being a rapist. We can't just throw around the most emotionally charged terms we can think of whenever we want to make a point about something that upset you. That's what the left does, and it's the reason why words that should mean very specific things have become watered down. It's why words that used to elicit horror and revulsion now barely get a shrug. Nazi, racist, rapist, fascist, abuser, war criminal. All these words have specific meanings. All these words are used everyday on social media to talk about exes or parents or politicians or friends or celebrities or strangers. Think of how many times you've heard someone use those words. Now think of how many times you actually took the arguments of the person using them seriously after they used them. I'm guessing that first number is pretty high. And I'm guessing that last number is low, if it isn't actually zero.

Don't turn yourselves into the leftists who presided over the biggest electoral shellacking in a generation. Don't adopt the language and tactics of the people who have turned nearly every demographic against them by doing exactly this same shit. If you want to hate porn, go ahead. If you want to advocate against it, go ahead. If you want to get angry at the way sex is treated these days, go right the fuck ahead. But when you do, really think about why you're doing it, and articulate those reasons without trying to get people to respond emotionally by using the worst, most incendiary language you can think of. That's not how you're going to get anything done.

[luthielion]

As I'm currently still on the train from the Netherlands and bored out of my mind, time to post my take-aways and opinions on the dutch production of Elisabeth for everyone who would like to read it.

Under the "see more" thingy I'll post my pros and cons and my interpretations and personal opinions on the interpretations of the characters so everyone who wants to go in unbiased can do that.

pros:

obviously Pia as Elisabeth was absolutely phenomenal, Pia Douwes the woman you are

Danique Dusèe as the young Elisabeth really blew me away, the way her Elisabeth was both so young, playful and naive but at the same time had very soon a certain melancholy about her and you could really see the effect all of her interactions with Tod but also the effects the way of life at court had on her

Generally the way they handled Elisabeth as a character was one of the things that impressed me most about this production. I don't know if any other production has done it that way but the way they portrayed especially the manifestation of her mental illness through substance abuse which, while I don't think that this is actually historically accurate, correct me if I'm wrong, just emphasises this aspect even more than I feel like most productions do.

In the light of the topic of substance abuse I especially liked that during 'Mama Wo Bist Du' we actually have Elisabeth almost watching it, in the sense that it is an opiod induced hallucination of her son calling out for her and Tod intervening which also gives us and her this terrible sense of foreboding when Tod and Rudolf exit the stage together

Then obviously as a very important moment in terms of Elisabeths mental illness you have 'Irrenhaus' which in this production is for the most part set on a mix of fence and prison bars and by on I mean both the woman believing she is Eliabeth and Elisabeth herself climb this fence and the entire rest of the scene takes place there. What struck me about it was this very real cage-like feeling while Elisabeth is singing about freedom and feeling imprisoned which is only amplified by her actually sticking her head through the bars while climbing (it also looked scary cause you could see it kind of swing a bit back and force but that is not important right now)

during the duet between Elisabeth and Franz Josef Lucheni slowdances in the background, together with a lifesize bodypillow

the costumes were amazing, from Ensemble to Elisabeth

the narrator in the beginning is not as usual a voice with no person attached to it, but rather the whole Ensemble dressed in what later turns out to be painters clothes

The Ensemble is mostly wearing the same costume for most of the musical which paints them as kind of outside the story, almost a reflection of the audience themselves and acting out the story Lucheni is telling from a rather contempory lense. 'Schönheitspflege' for example is more angry rather than the usual obedient servant. They are also painting a lot of the time and their painting are revealed to be only black while Elisabeth dies which is something I still haven't figured out exactly.

'Milch' also ends in a sort of riot in which the paintings of Elisabeth all around the walls are splattered with deep red paint which makes it look like they are smeared with blood, both a statement about the contents of the scene and also a sort of dark foreshadowing of thing to come.

speaking of riots, they also made rudolf not just a spectator of 'Hass' but rather actively the main victim and the speaking character, a choice that on one hand perfectly compliments the staging the next scene and adds to the actual portrayal of Rudolfs reasons to commiting suicide on the other hand, making him an actual victim feels sort of wrong because it never really was the rich and influential non-jewish people who were the first victims of the Nazis/ hypernationalistic people.

con:

one of the main issues I have is the decision to rapidly reduce the homoeritic tension between Rudolf and Tod. For me the dynamic just fell very flat, especially due to the very very limited physical contact between them, no mayerling kiss or attempts at them anywhere, and the fact that they're never really alone. And while it is a very interesting concept to also depict Elisabeth and Lucheni having a breakdown in the background of Schatten it just detracts from the effect the scene is in my opinion supposed to have, the portrayal of the isolation of Rudolf and how Tod and thus death seem like the only way out for him.

In general Rudolf is the one I have the most issues with, as his entire arc just really falls short in favour of his mother. While I do think that 'Mama Wo Bist Du' was actually good like this, Tods almost sole focus on Elisabeth, going so far as to walk over to her during Schatten just made his despair and suicidality feel like it didn't matter to the show which it very much does. It felt more like Tod was orchestrating all of it to spite and hurt Elisabeth and not as an effect of Rudolfs struggles, thus making him a pawn in Tod and Elisabeths relationship rather than a person in his own right.

The last is the very static choreography, there just was not enough movement in my opinion.

Tod-Elisabeth Dynamic:

It seems to be intended as a very abusive relationship and it truly excels at it through a lot of different things and aspects. Firstly the substance abuse, which is very much through the influence of Tod, as he is the one who first forces her to smoke. Later she smokes more or less of her own volition but still only in scenes which feature Tod. The opium which leads to the hallucination is also offered by death. One of the many cases of abusive ralationships is the abusive partner getting the other hooked on substances and while only the smoking is explicitly shown, the opium is heavily implied. And while in all productions I've seen, Tod, after being rejected, only turns up again when he sees the golden opportunity in FJ cheating, in this production he keeps turning up and Elisabeth keeps accepting it and doesn’t really reject him, on the contrary, they even get incredibly close.Tod is especially in the beginning very controlling, literally as he manipulates Elisabeth like a string puppet without even touching her. All of it is incredibly possessive and he really seems to enjoy being so in control of her, going so far as to making her sink to the ground, seemingly dead.

To recap, an incredible production with fascinating choices having been made, but not without flaws.

[anamericangirl]

I know you’re probably done with the stupid Elon stuff (I know I am) but I just saw the beginning of the clip when he first goes on the stage and I just…. after seeing that how can anyone think he was doing a nazi salute 💀 like obviously he was giving his heart to the crowd but the way he goes on stage just gets me.

The awkward man who’s excitedly jumping and dancing around the stage? Doing a nazi salute in the middle of his extremely thrilled “we did it I’m so happy” speech? Make it make sense

It’s just so frustrating that people are going straight to “nazi 🫵” instead of watching the whole clip and using their brain. I’m not shocked about that, just frustrated. Sorry to rant to you I just needed to let this out. I really wish the whole clip can go viral and people can see what actually happened, you know?

The woke mob is notorious for taking things out of context because context, facts and reality destroy everything they believe in so they have to hyper-focus on small things they can blow out of proportion and make look really bad by lying about it and removing all context. But obviously when you have it in context he is clearly not doing a Nazi salute. It would have been the weirdest most random time to throw out a Nazi salute because it does not at all fit the theme of his speech or message he was giving.

Like it’s obviously not one and even without context it’s easy to tell it’s not a Nazi salute. It doesn’t even look like one. But people who cry Nazi want him to be one because they’ve been holding on to that narrative for eight years so they jump on anything they think they can use, which has just resulted in them becoming so incredibly ignorant that they think any gesture that involves swinging out your arm is a Nazi salute, regardless of the context surrounding it.

But that’s the only thing they’re good at. They imagined a problem into existence which has resulted in the country focusing on a completely harmless gesture made by Elon musk and people like us with brains explaining to idiots that not everything is a Nazi salute.

[mossadspypigeon]

ohhhhh my gd. antisemitism makes people dumb as hell. do they not realise how deeply stupid they look?

an author I've been following for years and whose work I admired just retweeted some random account claiming to be from an palestinian prisoner (unnamed for his safety of course🙄), talking about abuse by israeli prison guards and it is so obviously false I cannot believe an actual literate, educated adult fell for it. the account literally claimed that female prison guards had sex with each other in front of this guy and forced him to watch, then "grabbed his genitals" and forced him to "penetrate" them before inviting male prison guards over to join in.

THAT IS A FANTASY STRAIGHT OUT OF PORN.

nowhere on earth did this happen lmao. it had like 50k likes too and all of these replies like "wow this is the most depraved thing I've ever read!!" YEAH BECAUSE IT'S NOT REAL. these people are so desperate to hate jews they will believe ANYTHING.

and when I checked the quotes a former friend of mine (an austrian whom I met at a holocaust remembrance event and who is now a conspiracy nut. sigh.) was there crying about the evils of israel, the "new nazis".

how do I get off of this planet of hateful, credulous morons?

this is just a tit for tat thing bc one of the released prisoners raped a female prison guard. this happens every time new incriminating evidence against hamas and palestinians in general surfaces.

and ofc the nazi woke up in that austrian ex friend. i am so sorry, anon 💙🫂

[lotty-ed]

This is going to be a rant/PSA/reminder for people.

Assigning morality and purity in this fandom is breaking it apart.

The hate towards people who don't see buddie as Eddie being gay, non-platonic and going to and must be cannon. The shaming towards multishippers and rare pair ships especially because most of the time these are for fun to play out the dynamic and not for canon.

911 has been a source of joy for me for several years buddie being a part of that and Bucks bi arc help me build the confidence to come out to other family members.

Tw- mental health and suicidal ideation ends at ***

When s8 started I was at my lowest and was struggling to make it through the day 911 and bucktommy and the fandom helped me escape for a couple of hours and gave me something to look forward to whilst waiting to get help. It's so disheartening to be called a fetish ( most of the media I consume is queer mostly focused on w/w) , that im disgusting and an awful person for finding joy in a ship when most things didn't.

***

Fandom isn't deep and should be fun for everyone. But this fandom is Riddled with homophobia towards actual queer men, the racism either from fans and influencers - ie Buckleyplease and vampirebuckley the latter was actively paying a Nazi for twitter and many others didn't see a problem with it and carried on interacting and platforming them without addressing it after they( vampirebuckley) were called out. The amount of bashing fics towards chim and hen are out of order. In my personal opinion if you're going to hate Lfj then you've got to be consistent and hate on Ryan being a hypocrite because you find a man hot and he's part of your ship is an interesting hill to die on.

You've obviously got all the mysognoy slop towards any female li as well as any mum in the show plus to older fem presenting fans.

The ableism towards Gavin and Chris - the infantleization and dehumanizing him as a prop for shipping.

The purity culture of kinks is a red flag and a right wing censorship red flag.

It's important to put this all in context of the real world the US is now a fascist state that wants to remove queer and non white people that's the goal as well as turning women into breeding machines. Studios will likely be pulling diverse media (911's demographic is middle aged and therefore currently more likely to be right leaning) calling for a queer couple to end because it's not the one you want feeds into this. It's important to show that there is money in supporting and creating diverse media because in the US capitalism rules being petty because it's not how you want it separates us and makes it easier for them to win.

[fancoloredglasses]

The Tribble Saga (what happens when invasive species come to the Federation (oh, the irony!)), Part 1: The Trouble With Tribbles/Trials and Tribble-ations

[All images are owned by Paramount. Please don’t sue me]

Of all of the ridiculous episodes Star Trek (the Original Series) has done (and let’s not forget that among those episodes we were treated to a planet of modern Romans, a planet of gangsters, a planet of Nazis, and space hippies), there is one bout of silliness that is fondly remembered by fans. That would be the episode featuring these little guys:

However, as Star Trek expanded beyond the Original Series, there were two other episodes that featured the Tribbles (including one that revisited the original episode thanks to *sigh* time travel)

I would like to note that it took me 40 years to realize that the original series episode that started this all was about the dangers of introducing an invasive species into a favorable environment.

Anyway, on with the saga, which starts nearly a century after it begins. If you would like to watch the episodes in question, they’re available on Paramount+ or behind your favorite paywall.

We open with a shuttle approaching Deep Space Nine

(Thanks to Mike Johnson)

And what was the Enterprise up to at this point?

We begin with an info dump about Sherman’s Planet, a world in dispute between the Klingons and the Federation, with colonization rights ultimately given to whomever can most efficiently develop it.

Suddenly, the Enterprise receives a Priority-One Distress Call from K-7, a space station on the border of Klingon space. Kirk assumes the Klingons are attacking the station and rushes to the station, phasers hot, to find no Klingons. If they has been and gone, the station would likely be nothing but debris. Surely K-7 didn’t send out a false alarm?

Kirk contacts K-7 to find out what the hell is going on. The director of the station (Director Lurry) apologizes and asks Kirk to beam over to explain why he issued the false alarm.

With that, Kirk and Spock beam over to K-7, where they encounter…

Nilz Baris, a diplomat from Earth who is now in charge of the development of Sherman’s Planet.

…and his assistant, Arne Darvin.

Varis drafts the crew of the Enterprise to guard the storage compartments in K-7, as they are filled with quadrotriticale, a genetically altered grain designed specifically to thrive on Sherman’s Planet.

(If you think I’m gonna keep typing quadrotriticale throughout this review, you’ve got another think coming! From here on out, I’m just gonna call it “grain”)

Well, as long as the Enterprise is stuck at K-7, Kirk authorizes shore leave for the crew while off-duty.

Back in the present, Sisko explains that Waddle stunned the crewman guarding the Orb and used it to send the Defiant over a century into the past to the Enterprise’s mission to Deep Space Station K-7.

[QUICK NOTE: The producers of DS9 managed to cast Charlie Bill (the actor who played Darvin in The Trouble With Tribbles) as Darvin in this episode]

Worf explains that Darvin was altered to look human and was a spy, but his mission failed and he was disgraced and left the Empire. Unfortunately, Worf isn’t sure if Darvin beamed to the Enterprise of K-7, so he has the teams split up to search both crafts.

Sisko tasks the crew to find Darvin before he can do what he came to this time to do (whether warn his younger self about his future, or even murder Kirk), but to do that, they’ll need to disguise themselves (after all, those stylish Federation “grease monkey” uniforms won’t exactly blend in with 23rd century garb, not to mention the fact that they have a Klingon among them!), so they have the replicator make them uniforms.

Obviously, history isn’t Bashir’s strong suit (also, I think his “23rd century” hairstyle makes him look more dorky than usual). Then Dax shows up in her minidress uniform.

Keep it in your pants, Julian!

Using Treknobabble, O’Brien explains that there are moments of “blind spots” in the Enterprise’s sensors that will allow the Defiant to decloak long enough to use the transporters (well, that closes one plot hole, at least) The human members of the command crew will search the Enterprise while Worf and Odo search K-7 and Kira coordinates the teams and takes command of the Defiant.

With that, the humans beam aboard (Sisko and Dax in the fore with Bashir and O’Brien in the aft) However, they have a comical bit of culture shock when they don’t know how to operate a 23rd century turbolift.

(Thanks again to Mike Johnson)

Worf has a seat (FAR from the Tribble) and explains his dislike of the creature.

Odo then mocks the Klingons, who committed genocide and destroyed the Tribbles’ homeworld for good measure.

Back at the bar, the trader (Cyrano Jones), sells his Tribble to Uhura, but not before the Tribble eats the sample of the grain Chekov was carrying.

Suddenly, alarms blare throughout K-7 and the Enterprise! Sisko checks in with Kira, who reports a Klingon battle cruiser is approaching K-7.(Well, THAT can’t be good! Did they find out there was a Tribble peddler on K-7?)

Kirk warns Lurry about the Klingons, but Lurry doesn’t seem worried about an attack, since the Klingons’ captain is in his office.

Kirk immediately beams down to talk to the captain, a Klingon named Koloth.

And what did Koloth want with K-7?

(Thanks to April 5, 2063)

Dax recalls Kurzon Dax knew Koloth and wants to transport to the station to meet Koloth help Odo and Worf. Sisko sends Bashir and O’Brien instead.

(Thanks to Dputiger)

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock enter the Lounge to discover Uhura’s Tribble has had a litter. Spock notes that the cooing from the Tribble has a soothing effect on humans.

…he says as he’s gently petting the Tribble. McCoy takes one of the Tribbles to analyze in Sickbay.

Meanwhile, Sisko and Dax spot…

(I do enjoy seeing the Forrest Gump effects being used to integrate the two casts)

…Baris contacting Kirk to chew him out about letting the Klingons on K-7.

Dax admires the pair from afar.

Sisko comments on Kirk’s reputation with the opposite gender.

Dax is amazed that Sisko doesn’t want to meet Kirk. Sisko admits he does, but it’s more important to find Darvin and not pollute the timeline.

Meanwhile, Kirk goes to Sickbay to deal with the dual headaches caused by Baris and the Klingons, when he sees the Tribble Uhura gave McCoy…or, should I say…Tribbles!

McCoy figures out that a Tribble’s internals are geared toward making more Tribbles, but he needs to further examine them.

Kirk addresses the crewmen going on shore leave, telling them to avoid conflict with the Klingons, and leaving Scotty in charge to keep them out of trouble.

On K-7, Bashir and O’Brien spot the others in the lounge.

(Once again, thanks to Mike Johnson)

[Clearly, that “Long Story” Worf is referring to is “Brannon Braga couldn’t be bothered to come up with a plausible explanation before the scripts were finalized and shooting began”]

Anyway, the Klingon kept goading Kirk, and when that didn’t work, the Enterprise.

Well, you can insult Kirk all day, but NO ONE insults the Enterprise in front of Scotty and gets away with it!

With that, the bar erupts into an all-out brawl!

Even Worf gets in on the fun on the Starfleet side (at least he knows where his loyalties lie) until Odo spots Darvin and they go to apprehend him. However…

…Security shows up and detains all Starfleet personnel. Kirk then dresses down all of his (and Sisko’s) men involved.

No one rats out Scotty, so everyone is confined to quarters and dismissed…except Scotty. Kirk wants to know from the one who was supposed to prevent this sort of thing who started the brawl.

When Kirk heard the insults thrown by the Klingons at himself and the Enterprise, he understood, but still had to punish Scotty.

Since Bashir and O’Brien have no official quarters on the Enterprise, they wander off randomly until they run into…

That can’t be good!

It’s not all bad news for the crew of the Defiant, as Odo and Worf have captured Darvin, who reveals he’s set in motion a plan to murder Kirk.

(Thanks to April 5, 2063)

And so…

…they scan Every. Single. Tribble. Unfortunately, the Tribbles are breeding MUCH faster than they can scan!

Fortunately, Dax has a brainstorm: the bomb must be somewhere that Kirk will be in the next half hour or so, so the new plan is to shadow Kirk and hope they scan the bomb before it goes off.

Meanwhile Kirk has Cyrano Jones brought in to deal with the Tribble problem. Jones says he’s done nothing wrong, despite the fact that the Tribbles are breeding out of control. At that, he saunters out of Lurry’s office as Baris storms in with a bone to pick with Kirk.

He accuses Kirk of allowing a Klingon spy free reign over the station, namely one Cyrano Jones. Kirk all but laughs in Baris’s face, having thoroughly checked Jones’s background.

Later, Dax and Sisko are in the Enterprise lounge when Kirk comes in for lunch.

Then Scotty comes in and announces the Tribbles have gotten into the air ducts, and Kirk realizes there are similar ducts leading to the storage compartments on K-7 (where the grain is stored), so Kirk and Spock rush to the transporter, and Sisko and Dax get beamed to the storage compartment and quickly start scanning as Kirk gets to the storage container and opens it.

(Thanks to Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project)

And as this happens, inside the bin…

(Thanks to Star Trek Clips)

…and no one noticed the explosion?

But the last of that clip is getting a bit ahead of ourselves. We’ll circle back to that as Kirk has Cyrano Jones brought to Lurry’s office as Koloth also enters, demanding that Kirk apologize to the Klingon High Command for how the Klingons were treated while on shore leave.

Baris says that such an apology will be basically handing them Sherman’s Planet. However, Kirk first wants to know how the Tribbles wound up in the grain and what killed them before he gives the Klingons the time of day, let alone an apology. Koloth asks that, before proceeding, the Tribbles that have settled in Lurry’s office be removed.

As Security removes the Tribbles, Darvin enters.

Kirk asks Jones why the Tribbles are acting like that. Jones says he’s only seen that sort of reaction with Klingons. Kirk then takes the Tribbles and tests them against the people in the room first the Klingons, which causes them to screech once again.

Then Spock, whom they like.

Followed by Baris, whom they also like.

But yet, they screech at Darvin. Kirk asks McCoy to scan Darvin.

McCoy then gives his report on what killed the Tribbles in the storage compartment: the grain they ate was poisoned! Under threat of being locked in a room with the Tribbles, Darvis confesses to sabotaging the grain. As Darvin is arrested, Kirk tells Koloth to get his ship the hell back to Klingon space.

As for Jones…

(Thanks again to April 5, 2063)

By this time, Kira had learned how to use the Orb of Time to return the ship to the present.

(Thanks one last time, Mike)

[NOTE: The scene with Kirk and Sisko was NOT from The Trouble With Tribbles, but Mirror Mirror, with Sicko replacing Lt. Moreau]

…and so Odo managed to re-introduce the Tribbles to the galaxy thanks to the wonders on time travel. I suppose the crew could round them all up and send them through the Wormhole? If this happened in Season 6, they could’ve been a nasty “gift” for the Dominion!

However, this wasn’t their only appearance before the Klingons Wiped Them Out For Good (only for Odo to ruin all of their hard work)

[philosophicalparadox]

The term “Modern AU” for Naruto fandom needs to die. (Jk, sort of). It needs a new name, for ontologies sake.

Like. There is no consistency to the technological advancement in Naruto at all, but nonetheless, it is a demonstrable product of its initial years of development, which is the 90’s.

Throughout pt1 and Shippuden, we get a weird and nonsensical mix of Showa era (all of it, from 1886-1949) postwar period (1947-1980 thereabouts, though Wikipedia will disagree with me on that) and mid-late 90’s tech boom.

Now you could solidly argue for a “modern” interpretation of the Showa-era systems and customs, although that very much interferes with 1. the Uchiha as a clan, because they are 100% late Showa / WW2 period culturally. Hyuuga are more representative of the earlier Showa era, like 1920’s or so. SO yes you could do away with that, but frankly those clans are not themselves outside of that satirical context. (And I do actually think Kishimoto meant it to be satire, or at least his editor, who came up with most of the Uchiha premise, did). And

2. The whole Shinobi premise, which had still-living threads during that time period despite Shinobi as a profession supposedly dying in the 1850’s. (Pfffffft, Like mercenaries went anywhere during the European renaissance; they simply went from mercs to commissioned officers. Title change but not role change. Same idea.)

Furthering this, if you take them out of the dirt, so to speak, then they cease to have the in-universe function that they do. They don’t have to — you can still absolutely mock up a Mercenary-Paramilitary-Mage Caste for the “modern” world, by which is typically meant: In Japan/Our World, not the NarutoVerse.

Yes I know I’m being pedantic, but to say “modern” implies “past” and while there’s lots of that in Naruto, there’s also:

90’s Telephones (why doesn’t the Hokage have one in their office??? Landline is pretty darn secure.)

90’s Electricity

Computers (90’s era, but clunky things with limited functionality but can store data)

Floppy Disks to go with the above

Security cameras

Polaroids (again, 90’s era)

The cutting-edge-of-its-time (90’s again) radio collars

Industrial production of steel (how? We don’t know. But they can build 80’s-90’s skyscrapers, somehow.)

Steam engine (not that impressive or modern, but like, Where Are The Trains. We got 90’s steam boats in Kiri, but no locomotives? How? Why?)

Medical devices. Oh the list I could make about that. All like mid- late 90’s, at least in Konoha/Orochimaru and Co. The iron lung does not exist, replaced by stately 1999-2002 ventilators. (Kimmimaro) The concept of IV nutrition exists and is applicable, even if Kishi did an absolutely abysmal job of demonstrating that. (On Kakashi) (the reality: So. Many. Ports.) That little innovation didn’t exist until 1982, and didn’t actually work until 1996. (Because figuring out how to synthesize metabolic fats and proteins was really hard); you’ve got Ostomy tubes and bags that belong in 1995, (Kimmimaro again) and don’t even get me started on Lab equipment. Do you know how long it took to produce incubators that didn’t take up a quarter of a room? Do you have any idea what the world of cloning looked like in the 90’s? (Actually, it was a lot more advanced at that point than it is in Naruto, which is stuck in like, 1980’s with that notion).

And I could go on!

And there is just as many examples of the inverse, too, where there’s things juxtaposed to the past level. Example:

Psychiatric care. Granted we don’t see a lot of that outside of Kakashi’s little stint, but it is very 1940’s-1950’s type BS.

Similar to that, most the stuff in the Interrogation Unit. From attitudes to technology, but mostly in just the very weird, 1930-1950’s way the whole thing operates. Kishimoto did not do his research there, very obviously (Torture does not work like that), but nonetheless they give me Nazi vibes. (Well, Inaba and Ibiki do, respectively). That part might be intentional, but it still doesn’t really make sense in the bigger scope. (Why doesn’t the village know things when they are a SHINOBI VILLAGE. A postwar village no less! Make it make sense Kishi!)

Some elements of medicine. There’s a very weird divide there, between synthesized chemicals that are complex poisons, which SHOULD mean complex medicines exist, (because the only difference between medicine and poison is the dose and many toxins have medical value) and the demonstration of this, which relies upon herbalism. I suppose both those would exist in a Shinobi’s world, but there’s a bizarre element of “only the bad guys actually have good medicine” going on, which again is a very 1940-1950’s thing.

Idk, I feel like “modern” sort of fits? But not entirely. Because fundamentally the NarutoVerse is a completely separate dimension, a twisted alternate reality that is very removed from our own yet also very like it.

Gahhhhh the world building in this series is hot, messy garbage 🤣

I would love to see an AU where it’s more homogeneous, like smack-dab postwar all over the board. Or even just bring her up to the 90’s. That would be actual modern-NarutoVerse.

But using Modern to mean “Our World” has always just been a small thing to bugger me. Use what you want, because I don’t think the term is going anywhere, but if I can’t share this anywhere else I can share it here.

[co-mixed]

Fantastic Four (& FF) by Jonathan Hickman

Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four equals a ton of expectations. Capital E. After the original one by Lee and Kirby, this one is probably considered to be the most defining for the team. At least that’s what I kept hearing before picking it up. It’s a fan favorite, hence the E.  So it doesn’t need any extra introductions. 

Next — spoilers, questions, enlightening conclusions, and more reasons to despise Reed Richards...

When I couldn’t come up with anything to say about the previous Millar run, I thought that was because the run didn’t affect anything (seriously, you should see my review — it’s pretty much me going on and on about how Reed messed up again). Turns out, I was wrong. Not about Reed, about the run. It was just a prelude to Hickman’s cooking. 

Almost everything makes a comeback: dead Galactus, living Galactus, Nu-Earth, Doom, Val’s brilliant mind, etc. Topped off with Hickman’s love for large-scale events, his style of storytelling (where time is a flat circle), and even text pages. Don’t worry though, they make an appearance but don’t take up half of the book (yet). 

A lot is going on in this series. When I say a lot, I mean almost overwhelmingly. Hickman’s style is throwing bits and pieces at you at random points and making them come together at another point. Now when’s that gonna be — you never know. This makes his runs fun and just a little chaotic, kind of like life. And if you pay attention, the bits come together like a puzzle where everything fits and nothing is left to chance. 

The narrative also happens in two books: at some point he introduces FF as in Future Foundation, thus solving the question that plagues many a writer — what to do with the kids. 

As much as I don’t care for kids' adventures, these worked just fine, so I don’t even feel the need to defend their existence or convince anyone not to skip them. 

Too many Reeds

There is a whole council of Reeds and we learn that despite being so obviously the worst of all humans on Earth, our 616 Reed somehow turns out to be the best Reed out of all Reeds. Imagine how low the bar is…. Oh wait, there’s no need to imagine if you check out the story of Reed-98570 (Fantastic Four #605). And that creep is one of the founders of the council. 

So between the nazi scientist Reed who stole Doom’s brain, other Reeds who turned their back on their families, and Reed Reed who is just garbage, there’s really only one question: why are all Reeds so awful? 

Hickman proposes a possible answer — his father wasn’t around. Kind of sounds like bs. Look at the Marvel Universe: how many heroes still have their parents? And some parents had been awful. Not everyone turned out like this (except maybe Stark…). No, I say, Reed is bad because of Reed. And Val is probably gonna turn out just as bad. 

There is so much to choose from. At this point, the list of his misdeeds (as I just mean Reed 616) exceeds the list of Daredevil’s dead exes.

It doesn’t take Reed 10 pages of the new run to start lying to his wife. 

But that’s not news. What blows my mind, is how obsessively Reed is trying to prove to Wizard that he’s going to raise his clone into someone better. Pffft, Reed. Take care of your own kids – they’re out of hand. One is making deals with your arch-enemy, and the other is doing god knows what in the middle of the night in his own universe. You have your hands full.

And that is not even remotely close to being all that Reed’s been up to. He starts Future Foundation as a way to bring young forward-thinking kid geniuses together and solve everything. Ambitious and fair, fair because he sees how the existing scientific community has stagnated. The old, experienced scientists have no interest in building a future they won’t get to see. But kids, they do. Val is a perfect fit for this foundation (and so is Bentley-the-Wizard’s-clone) and that’s a great excuse to start neglecting Franklin. You know, build a little competition. If Odin’s guide to healthy parenting has taught us anything, it’s that kids should fight for their parents’ love and approval... Fine, I’m exaggerating but just a little. After all, Reed manages to neglect FF too. Whenever he does, he usually dumps it all on Johnny. 

Johnny’s reign

It’s on one of such days that Johnny ends up locked forever in the Negative Zone. He is presumed dead and it’s all very tragic for the next few months. But it does bring Spider-Man out of his neighborhood and into the family drama. He actually fits in quite well, with nothing to prove and his easygoing attitude (but even he wonders if Sue is fine with whatever Reed’s doing at a given moment). Still, it’s not about him, so none of his personal tales make it into the book.  Of course, Johnny soon returns.

Not only he shows up at the best possible moment, he has Annihilus on a leash and complete control of the Zone (which gives us the ‘hold my Annihilus’ panel). I swear, whenever Johnny sends his ships and troops somewhere, you can feel Reed’s green envy. Reed probably thought he deserved it more… (I don’t have any proof but it seems like something Reed would experience.)

Johnny seemingly matures, he’s supposed to be 2 years older now too, but that doesn’t last long and he quickly reverts to his classic irritating self. As if dying and coming back doesn’t mess with one’s mind. 

What’s worse, he gives the Zone free elections, and guess what? They vote for Annihilus. Again. They got rid of him with pain, sweat, and blood, and they voted him back in. Now that’s just unrealistic! Can’t happen. Right?

That’s probably everything of note that happens with Johnny. I have to assume that writers, for the most part, still don’t know what exactly to make of him. But my guess is his image needs a serious makeover. I don’t know where he’s at right now, but I don’t think this party-hard, drink-’till-sunrise, never-be-on-time, have-no-purpose persona should live past 2012. 

Sue’s enchantment under the sea 

How did Johnny even end up on the other side of the gate to the Zone? Well, Ben was human, Reed was busy with Nu World and Galactus, and Sue… oh, Sue was ruling the seas. 

No, unfortunately, she still hasn’t left Reed for Namor or any other fish person. But she did spend a ton of time negotiating a truce between Namor’s kingdom and other fish in the sea. Even punched Namor, which only made him want her more. 

And I know that’s a whole other book but there was a jealous vibe from Emma, who also makes an appearance, and I don’t know what to make of it. From all we know, she can still have him as a backup if she wants to. Maybe she just hates being a second choice and Sue doesn’t exactly have Jean’s habit of dying and vacating the partner. 

Other than that, Sue waters flowers, kicks celestial ass, and wonders if she’s a good parent. She is (her husband isn’t). She has confidence which is very nice to see. But she still doesn’t give Reed the grief he deserves. He keeps lying to Sue and deceiving her, which leads to bigger and bigger problems and she, along with other heroes, ends up having to deal with it. It’s a vicious circle and it’s an exhaustingly old issue even at that point (2011-12, people, the Avengers just came out!) Don’t get me wrong, I would be complaining if their married life was all suns and rainbows, because that’s just boring. But I need to see her confronting Reed. At this point, she just looks the other way and leaves him to his devices. I’m almost not surprised she jumped at the chance to hang out with Namor, even though he once again showed his more obnoxious side. At least he isn’t spending time with a bunch of himselves instead of her. 

I never not feel bad for Sue, mostly because we still don’t really know her. Writers make small improvements and adjustments for her, and they reassure us that her love for Reed is real, but I can’t believe that. She has nothing of her own, nothing that isn’t attached to her husband, kids, the team, or Namor. She makes sandwiches and cuts off the crust. 

The week of Ben

Now back to Johnny’s trip to the Negative Zone, where was Ben? Right beside him. Only Ben was human because the FF kids created a serum that could turn him human for a week every year. That was so shocking to everyone — the kids have figured out something Reed never could. Only that’s not true at all. Throughout the FF's history, Ben’s become human again at least 5 times, maybe more. Several times Reed figured out how to change him for good, some times he gave Ben the option to turn into The Thing at will. It never lasted but not all of that was Reed’s fault.

Regardless, Ben became human for his week, spent it hanging out with Johnny (worst choice ever if you ask me), but he also reunited with Alicia. The part that does bug me is he still thinks she loves him only for his looks. You know, as if his charming and not-at-all-angry personality is not enough. Also, no one is even mentioning Debbie who just a week ago was the love of Ben’s life and nearly became his wife and Sue’s best (only) friend in the process. But no sense in dwelling on the past. 

Of course, after failing to sacrifice himself instead of Johnny, Ben takes a guilt trip. No, he actually leaves the team to go mope around in the Avengers mansion. And feels that it’s really all he does during this run aside from backing up the team and announcing clobbering time. But we do take a little trip to the future with Reed’s father, and we see what the kids’ serum does to Ben – he only ages a week every year so he gets to outlive everyone and that’s when we get a little moment that reminds us that he and Reed are actually best friends. Something that’s been buried under Ben’s loyalty and resentment, plus occasional (permanent) selfishness on Reed’s side. 

Moloids though, they worship Ben. So that’s something.

The kids won’t be all right

We get to see future versions of Franklin and Val. To call these kids shady is an understatement. They are straight-up nasty creeps. And in a very mutant tradition, they come back from the future to mess around with history. Franklin gives himself his powers back, Val constantly states how much she doesn’t like her kid self.

Meanwhile,, their younger selves, accompanied by the FF, constantly get into trouble. We do address kid Franklin’s issues that I felt were dropped by Millar, his budding envy for Val. And when it comes to Val, I don’t think she’s going to change. She is Doom’s child at heart… everything about her is Doom, her arrogance, her sinister ideas, her elaborate plans. She did get one thing from Reed though — lying. Sneaking around and doing shady things – that’s all Reed. It makes me curious, the more I read about her, the more I want to see her turn into a self-righteous villain. She has everything for the part and she’d make a far more exciting villain than even Franklin with all his world-ending abilities. Val is also more suited to rule Latveria than Kristoff. Not trying to give Doom advice on how to run his land but… just something to think about. 

What’s There to Do(om)?

The Reeds have historically been very unkind to the Dooms. And before we get into it, remember that I’m not giving props to a dictator, but let’s agree that turning Dooms into talking plants or brain donors is certainly not the way to achieve your goals of universal peace and prosperity. But the council of Reeds hunts down every Doom in existence, which I don’t know if it does make our 616 Doom special. He keeps jumping higher and higher up in the power ranking, and at this point, it’s hard to imagine he could be defeated. With some help from Val, he even obtains an Infinity Gauntlet (from a different universe) and creates a whole world. That makes him a god and I know this Doomiurge will return in Battleworld. 

To make things worse (for Reed), through the course of the run, Doom is saving Richards and his family left and right. First, he saves Reed’s absent father (by killing his variant), then he sacrifices himself during the fight with the Celestials, and so much more in between. All while being very nice to Val and not breaking his word once. Oh yes, he’s a better parent to Val than Reed is.

This is once again, a story about the family. Reed’s family, because even when they all deal with their own things, they can be sure that somehow Reed is going to screw up everything and bring about the end of the world.

All of it makes me understand one thing. When you’re writing a Fantastic Four run, you gotta be either pro-Reed or pro-Doom. If you’re pro-Reed, you’ll go out of your way to prove that Reed’s doing the right thing. Even when he does the wrong thing for the right reason, which is a - always, b- a clear sign of a villain. 

Pro-Doom writers don’t argue with Doom being evil and ambitious, but they always try to remind us how honorable Doom is and that his heart may be black but there’s a soft blueish spot in it for Valeria. A bit of healthy disdain for Mr. Fantastic usually correlates with at least some Doom apologism. 

[liquid-bonhomme]

CD-Call of the Conservative: Part 2

[Part 1]

Who killed the Tories? (Poilievre and the Trumpification of the Canadian Right)

Okay, so, we need to set the stage here a bit for where we are right now in Canadian politics.

Because, no. Though I would NOT call the Canadian Liberal party "right-wing" (not YET, anyway) well. . .

This has been a trend for both American democrats and Canadian liberals. In response to the rise in right-wing popularism, shifting to the center and adopting what's considered more "middle of the road positions." Middle of the road positions that to the average voter signal "business as usual " and "establishment dickriding," when, by in large that used to be the Republican/Conservative position for both countries. The shift has been even more of an absolutely whiplash-inducing heel turn for Canadians, considering what Harper's Conservative party used to look like.

Again, I'm going to use J.J. McCullough as the pinnacle example of what your average, well politically educated, coherently Conservative Canadian voter looked like-- up until extremely recently.

And yes, again, I realize these opinions sound vaguely center-left to Americans. Canada is NOT America.

JJ McCullough is for:

Equality of civil rights, but against equity of civil liberty.

Smallest government spending imaginable, but NOT without sacrificing social safety nets, like socialized Healthcare.

Capitalist growth and economy stimulation, even at the expense of the environment.

However, against big business and monopoly.

In my opinion, maintaining the status quo of the country-- but he'd likely not agree.

Yes, before and well after Harper, there were Canadian voters FAR MORE right-wing than that (the white nationalit party PPC was formed in 2019 basically because they went full pissbaby that the Cons were "too woke" for caring more about the economy than actively encouraging gay bashing and racism) but that's your characterization of your . . . Cream of the crop, when it comes to conservative Canadian voter. The most rational position to vote conservative for.

I obviously really don't fucking agree with the conservative platform, even Harper's Conservative platform-- and I'm probably making him sound a lot more benevolent than he actually was in practice. In my opinion, Harper's vision for the conservative party was an abject failure. I don't think conservative policy fucking works period though, take that opinion however you would like to.

My point here is, though I VERY STRONGLY, do not like Harper, I do not agree with JJ. However, I would not call Harper or JJ extremists. I would not call them anti-social. I would not call them grifters. I would not call them nazies.

[Enter stage left, Pierre Poilievre. Trump Canadian girlfriend, she goes to a different school, you wouldn't know her.]

Pierre Poilievre is the current leader of the Conservative Party, and unfortunately despite recent events with the Canadian Cons melting down because of the Top Ten Anime Betrayals of all Time Trump Tarrifs, there is still a good chance he might be the next Priminister of Canada.

Pierre Poilievre is a waist of human skin. He is an embarrassment to Alberta. He is someone's pass-around-party-bottom that got left in the car on a hot day.

He is a Trump understudy. He's popularist. He doesn't have policy, he has redhoric. He thinks us tr*nnies are after his kids. He thinks anyone darker than peach pink is scary. He said he would like to bring Canada back, "to what John A. McDonald envisioned." John A. McDonald, by a stupid technicality, was the "first priminister" of Canada. The man on our ten dollar bill. But not only was he not actually functionally the first priminister, for the fucking reservation schools.

He's the face of the Maple-MAGA movement-- slaughtering the old guard, the Harper Tories of the party.

And, I can't get into it right now, this post is going to be long as is, but he wasn't chosen as party leader via entirely "above the board" means and, though it's supposed to be easy for parties to boot their leaders-- Poilievre has undermined our democratic process.

His own fucking party doesn't want him, but, he's determined to be prom queen.

I can't go into exhaustive detail as to why Poilievre is such a RADICAL CHANGE from Harper and Con establishment. . . I hope I've made it as clear as I can with this brief summary.

Back to the fucking Libs now . . .

As the right-wing vote in Canada has taken such a drastic U-turn in degree, the Libs have drifted more and more center-left. More and more moderate.

And the issue with centrist politics is that, trying to please everyone, no one ends up happy.

I believe sometimes Americans get the impression Trudeau has been the abject WORST priminister in Canadain history.

He very much is not.

He's been, I would describe as . . . An adequate priminister. Plenty of his policies he implemented I liked, though I did not so much appreciate HOW he implemented them. And some of the reasons people give to why he's frustrated them has to do more with back luck on his part, not poor decision-making.

With that said, in the ten years he will have been leader of Canada, he implemented about HALF, if that, of the campaign promises he made. And yes, I get it, politicians say whatever to get elected. But these were not insignificant policy changes he was promising. These were not, "a gender neutral bathroom in every Tim Hortons" campaign promises.

He campaigned on overhauling Canada's voting system to give us something like this:

This would have been a change ALL voters would have appreciated.

BUT, probably somewhere along the line, the Libs likely realized this voting system would hurt THEM more than it would the Cons.

Just ignoring the political enigma that is Bloc for a second, Canada's only TRUE right-wing party is the Cons. And bringing the Bloc back into consideration, Quebec is Canada's most powerful voting province. The way that Canada's votes are tallied gives them a MASSIVE amount of political sway, along with a few other provinces. The western part of Canada can win parties' seats, which isn't NOTHING in our system, but typically, the eastern side is who actually decides who wins PM. Part of the biggest voting problem Cons have is, if Quebec doesn't vote Lib, they typically vote Bloc. The Cons can pretty consistently win in western Canada, and that helps "balance the scales" if you will, but even so.

Con voters are typically in thinner supply. Lib voters are more abundant but are typically just voting Lib out of fear of the Cons winning the PM seat and/or majority, and can be split by third parties.

A NARROW margin of pro-estabilshment, vaguely progressive libertarians actually like . . . Actively LIKE the Liberal Party.

As the Libs have gotten more and more moderate to try and attract the middle-right former Harper Tory voters and the Cons have captured that Maple-MAGA right-wing extremists, this has only become more and more so the case.

Lily is NOT a politically coherent woman. But, MOST people aren't, dare I say. That's why I gave JJ McCullough as an example of a coherent conservative Canadian voter. I realize that.

I'm here to be your political Canadian guide, okay? Lily dickriding Trudeau is NOT a sign that she's a leftist. Actual Canadian liberals aren't big fans of the Canadian Liberal party as a whole either, even if they're not just voting for them, though they'd rather vote third party.

I'm not even saying it's WRONG for her to point out that the Liberal Party is not nearly as fucking useless as the classic Tory Cons can be.

I'm saying I have good reason to believe that Lily thinks the Libs are MUCH MORE left-wing than they actually are. Her assessment of the conflict and drama between the NDP and the Libs, along with all of the other right-wing redhoric she's laundered with leftist language over the years, BY CANADIAN STANDARDS, a conservative.

O b j e c t I v e l y.

That must wait for part 3.

[fandomhype]

Plagiarism Somerton

I obviously didn't watch the new James Somerton apology video ON his channel because I did not want to give that man the views and you shouldn't either! It has been re-uploaded and summarised elsewhere so that he doesn't benefit if anyone wants to see it.

The original hbomberguy video was wild to me because of all the stealing, I found it highly entertaining, loved all the Memes and it honestly did my imposter syndrome wonders! but then I watched the Todd in the shadows video and it really upset me.

He didn't just steal from other LGBT creators he lied to his mostly young LGBT audiance who were looking to an elder gay for guidance and to learn about their history.

Todd's video starts with a clip of James lies being spread by another person on a podcast, there's clips of people discussing his made up gay nazi fanfic he has presented as hard facts. He actively harmed his own community for cash! There are young gay men bringing that subject up in conversation being laughed at for falling for it and that leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

Now I'm not a part of that community but a lot of people I love are so that angered me a lot.

...and then he comes back with another apology video, conveniently within the three months he would have had to post something on his channel to retain his monetisation status weirdly?! In which he blames both a head injury and his ADHD for his theft - at no point does he address the lying in either apology video or any of the apology posts he made that I could find.

I have combined ADHD, when I was first diagnosed the NHS referred to it as ADD with Hyperactivity element but everyone seems to have gone back to calling it ADHD and that is the term used most commonly online so that is what I refer to it is as.

I am medicated but there has been a world wide shortage of my medication and I was without it for some time over winter, which was HELL! I got nothing done.

I am in no way a big creator, Youtube for me is a fun wee hobby that will hopefully grow and allow me to collaborate with other people with similar interests but ADHD is for sure a large part of my journey as a creator.

I've published like 7 videos and currently have around 10 being worked on because, you know... ADHD! *siren noises*

I know that I am forgetful sometimes, just for the record I also had several head injuries and concussions as a child because Lil undiagnosed at the time me truly had no fear of climbing or other dangerous activities so I have my script (because free talking a subject with this brain would be nearly impossible) open in one google doc and my research open in another. It's not hard.

That's the way it was at school, college and Uni too. James claims he went to Uni to do business. Every university uses anti-plagerism software for essays and has done since like the mid 2000's? so he knows not to copy pasta. He's straight up lying there.

Another thing he's lying about is his ADHD making him forget he copied things. Now if you tell me a joke that I like it'll stick in my head and I will straight up tell it as my own later, I've been called out for this many times! But entire articles? whole sections of other peoples videos? (he also flipped a fan Vid he had ripped off of another YouTube to avoid detection and tried to pass it off as his own) No that's not something you can accidentally do even with a swiss cheese brain like mine.

Weirdly all the the paragraphs James claims he accidentally copied were also edited to remove aspects of the Trans, Bi and Ace experiences that James markedly does not believe exist. Strange considering he accidentally copied them and assumed they were his own words? Imagine going back through a paragraph you think you wrote yesterday in the edit the next day and finding swarths of things you don't agree with there?!

Why am I telling you all this? Well because I wanted to put my two cents in as a creator with this condition, partly because I felt it was somewhat of an attack on us!? He's put it out there that ADHD creators are liable to steal from others and that's not ok by me. Also I just really like the sound of my own typing!

TL;DR : James Sommerton is a suck ass liar and he doesn't get to use his disability as an excuse for what he did! and...

****** ADHD DOES NOT MAKE YOU STEAL SHIT!!! ******

Also watch Todd's Vid, everyone saw the Hbomberguy one but this one goes deeper:

[quidfree]

accidentally deleted this ask but for the anon asking what my gripes were with iwtv’s finale / this season:

look i love this show. ive never read the books* and i thoroughly enjoyed the one time i watched the movie mostly bc of tom cruise and kirsten dunst acting circles around bradd pitt. the show to me really elevates the material, it has phenomenal writing, the acting is obviously stellar, i think it does a great job at being that dark gothic romance that is both deeply tragic and fucked up and funny etc etc.

a key element of the adaptation is evidently that they have recontexualised the characters in ways that both add depth and nuance to them. when we meet him louis is a black gay man in a deeply racist and homophobic setting who hardens himself to survive and rise above as much as he can. claudia is a young black woman who has always faced societal violence and neglect because of this. armand’s whole arc as an exploited and fetishised child whose trauma has become his identity is also encased in colonial violence. i’m not from the communities they are so i can’t speak for everyone, but i think for the most part the show is pretty good at having these changes enrich the show and acknowledge what an impact this has on dynamics and the characters. s1 explicitly addresses how lestat handwaves away the racism louis experiences as something he can just overcome because he’s a vampire now, how lestat himself plays into racist imbalances of power in his patriarchal relationship in their home esp wrt claudia, how he goes to capture claudia on the train being portrayed to echo a slave-catcher, etc. s2 has the trial obviously set up like a lynching (claudia says so much herself), with lestat’s testimony framing the two black people he abused as the aggressors and himself as the victim, and even when lestat is genuinely apologetic and remorseful it’s because he’s allowed his tears and victimhood while louis and claudia are not. all this to say there is obviously lot of conscious thought that goes into the way the characters’ races feed into the show and the story and it oftentimes is very effective, as well as aware of audience perceptions of the characters and how the irl audience’s own biases might need addressing.

unfortunately for me there are two aspects of s2 that i feel are kind of outliers in this regard, and not in a way that makes sense/feels intentionally uncomfortable to me. 1) is madeline’s backstory, and 2) is the change of having armand actually have been plotting to murder both louis and claudia at the trial, and lestat have been the one to save louis.

1) to me is just really… weird. i feel like i know why they wrote her that way. it makes madeline a ~morally grey character~ by default so she fits in with the rest of the cast, and there is an element to the very real misogynistic vitriol and violence post-ww2 directed at french women even falsely accused of having slept with the invading nazi occupiers that feels very in line with the things the show likes to examine and point to as examples of plain old human barbarism and othering. but the way they present it in the show, unquestioned, not as a dubious survival tactic or a multi-faceted situation but an actual love story that madeline has no remorse for, is very off-putting to me. madeline is not louis and claudia who ignore the atrocities of the war because those are human affairs and they are no longer human but supernatural monsters. madeline is a normal person whose peers- jewish people, queer people (surely her own community), political dissidents of any kind- have been put down like dogs throughout the occupation, sent to prison camps at best and death camps at worst, and she never even has a line of dialogue addressing conflicting feelings about this? no one ever challenges her on it? the people painting nazi symbols on her shop are consistently framed as villainous? it just feels weird to me that claudia’s “weird white lady” has this saccharine romance with her, a black woman, without the show ever exploring any friction in that dynamic given madeline’s apparently uncomplicated nazi romance. madeline being a femme tondue is a great idea, but the execution leaves to be desired imo.

2) … oh boy. i feel like i’m wading into discourse here bc i’ve seen really confrontational takes on this, esp a lot of “responses to” people who didn’t like this change, where this is presented as those people being dumb babies who are blinded by their liking of armand and don’t Understand The Show. im sure there are those of which this is true (and ppl have explained better than me how antiblackness feeds into everyone jumping into ship wars and defense of louis’ abusive partners in general) but also it feels very reductive of some valid questions people have. people can argue the change is consistent with armand’s characterisation, which, sure, even though i feel like it feels a little flimsy / contradictory for armand to finally Choose The Coven and allow for them to execute louis but then go feed him blood and allow him to revenge-kill all of them immediately afterwards, etc. i don’t mind characters being More Evil on the Evil Vampire show.

my bigger question is why this change was made. bc my sense is that the change is less about armand than it is about lestat, and specifically setting the stage for the loustat reconciliation, and i do not love that. it’s one thing to make it so armand wanted to kill louis too, just for the extra drama of daniel’s reveal and scale of his betrayal, another push for louis to leave. it’s another to make it so lestat was the heroic captive who not only was forced to be there by armand as per but also bravely exerted the limits of his strength to save louis from execution and then nobly didn’t tell him about this. these are both monstrous vampires who have abused and betrayed louis in their own ways (armand has already orchestrated claudia’s death and kept louis in a purportedly protective mind prison for decades! that’s betrayal enough! you could even have armand originally want to kill louis too and then change his mind!), so why at this juncture choose to have lestat save louis in a move that was originally armand’s? just from the way the audience (fandom and casual watchers) is reacting it makes me wonder if the showrunners were just oblivious to how much this worsens people’s takes of armand (the brown man) being the “real villain” and lestat (the white man) being the redeemed self-sacrificing figure. i’m sure people will say this is placing too much weight on race blah blah blah but it was so jarring to me and the change in viewer attitudes so immediate that it left a really bad taste in my mouth.

inb4 the inevitable: i actually really liked the loustat reunion in the finale! i don’t hate loustat! i like all of the dynamics between all of the characters, albeit my favourite louis ship is louis x therapy (an obvious inference from my favourite character being daniel lmao). this is not a change that i hate because i’m a bitter lestat hater. i have no issue with armand doing bad things, episode 5 was my favourite episode! i just think this particular choice was weird, and felt kind of thoughtless in the service of speedrunning a lestat hero role in advance of his season.

i have other less tangential complaints but overall i think this is a great season of television. these are just two points that stood out to me as being handled with less grace than i expect of iwtv.

*i just started reading the first book today on the airplane so. we’ll see how that goes. book loustat is so funny compared to the show. book 1 louis hates his ass 😭

[max1461]

I really have to say that when I see people engaging in, uh... soft apologism for Israel (I mean like, drawing focus in Israel/Palestine discussions away from Israel and onto how bad Hamas is, or how the Israeli side is being unfairly represented, or so on), it basically always makes me lose a little respect for them. Like.

Obviously Hamas is awful. There's nothing wrong with saying this straight up. I don't believe in the kind of neurotic narrative-crafting bullshit that other leftists seem to. People will call it manufacturing consent for US support of Israel or whatever, but I think this is silly. You can't sway US foreign policy by policing a conversation. I've compared it before to the inefficacy of weaving in traffic. It's like, no matter what your goals are, better (except in various edge cases) to go with the slow and steady strategy of "say what you actually think is true, or don't say anything at all". And what is actually true is that Hamas is an awful organization, and I won't hesitate to say it when I think it's relevant.

But. There is a genocide being committed right now, and it is not by Hamas. The current death toll of the war is ~26,000 Palestinians and ~1,400 Israelis. That's 4,000 more Palestinians than last time I made this exact same fucking post a few weeks ago, and... maybe a few more Israelis? It's hard to tell because there's some variations in the numbers that are being reported. That's not even to mention the people who have been expelled from their homes, the infrastructural damage, the damage to public health, etc., which has been exclusively concentrated in Palestine.

This is not a symmetrical conflict. This is a genocide.

I just... there's no other way to say this, but I've seen some people I otherwise respect on here come into I/P discussion and say things like "well this is all true, but Hamas is still terrible blah blah blah", and I see this in pretty much the same light as someone during WW2 being like, "well, the Nazis are awful, but" or "well, the Rape of Nanking was awful, but".

Like. It's not that there's never a time to talk about e.g. atrocities by the Allies in WW2! Those are actually pretty important to talk about! But when there's an ongoing genocide, when the situation is what it plainly is, and I see people repeatedly redirecting discussions of the genocide in away from the actual perpetrators, it's like...

Frankly it just makes me think they are bad moral reasoners. Like I interact with some of these people, I may not know them personally but I know them well enough to be confident they aren't evil or malicious or bloodthirsty. So instead I think they're blinded by bias, or they're in some discourse bubble with the kind of leftists who say Hamas is great and they're being too myopic to realize that dumbass internet leftists (who have always and will always exist) are not the most important issue right now, or whatever. I think they're engaging in a simple failure of moral reasoning. And, I think, an avoidable failure, the kind of failure that makes me look at someone and go "c'mon, man... really?".

The reason I am not so governed by myopic annoyance at internet leftists is that when I see them be dumbasses I say to myself "c'mon, man... really?", and when I have said this enough times about someone I stop taking what they say very seriously to begin with. And so too I often find myself reading I/P discussions and upon seeing one of these "reasonable" voices enter the scene, say to myself "well, this is probably gonna be a silly contribution". Well, anyway.

[fiepige]

if miles and hobie got into a fist fight who would win? (If they had no powers)

oohhh that's a tough one!

Hobie is my guy so I'm obviously biased towards him, but I'll try not to let my biases get in the way of my conclusion too much!

Hobie has the size advantage but since we're saying 'no powers' I think Miles would have a slight strenght advantadge? His build looks more muscular than Hobie's so I'm assuming Miles has more muscle mass compared to him.

But I feel like Hobie would also have more experience when it comes to fighting? We don't know much of ATSV Hobie's background (I'm assuming we're talking ATSV characters here lol) but even with no powers I can't imagine Hobie wouldn't get in a fight with fascists, nazis, police officers etc.

Not saying that Miles haven't been in a fight before, but I feel like Hobie would be way more experienced on that front. (And depending on the context of their fight, Hobie would also know how to fight dirty and not be afraid to use that to gain the upper hand). But then again, Miles' dad is a cop and it'd make sense if he'd taught Miles some moves at some point, so maybe it'd be more even than one would initially assume?

Honestly, Hobie's got size and most likely experience on his side so I'm leaning strongly towards him winning over Miles in a fist fight

(Just look at the height difference here, Hobie would get the upper hand so fast)

Of course there are many factors that could be at play - What are their motivations for the fight? - Did one of them have time to plan the fight? (If Miles somehow managed to catch Hobie by surprise he could increase his odds of winning) - Are they both healthy and well rested? (Hobie's experience with getting into more fights could backfire if he was injured from a previous fight and didn't have time to recover)

(I'm honestly just grasping for straws here to try and make it look less biased towards Hobie but who am I kidding lol) My conclusion is gonna be that Hobie would win the fight in most cases - Place them in an empty room and make them fight and I have no doubt Hobie would come out on top

(though if anyone has any evidence that says otherwise I'd be curious to hear it)

[xxx-theartofsuicide-xxx]

Hi! I know that your content is primarily Beetlebabes-centric, but it's refreshing spotting another Grilo shipper in the wild as well!

It's a shame that the vast majority of the modern Repo! fandom is so heavily "Anti-Ship". It's quite ironic considering the content of the movie itself! Out of all of the morally reprehensible actions committed by the movie's characters, this is where we draw the line Not to mention, statements from Terrance Zdunich himself have pretty much confirmed it as canon anyways!

Truly, I wish there was a community that welcomed this pair. Obviously, ships like Beetlebabes and Sareth get hate from the Beetlejuice and Labyrinth fandoms respectively, however there are still plenty of communities where you can openly express your love and appreciation for the ships! Unfortunately, Repo! isn't nearly as popular as either of those, and as such it's incredibly hard to find other Grilo fans. :(

Anyways, thank you for reading! Apologies for going off in your inbox! <3

Only reason this is a babes blog and a not a multi-fandom free for all is because that's, yeah, where most of my content lives but I have all kinds of ships and interests.

Repo!fans that are anti-grilo are identical to BJ!fans that are anti-beetlebabes: they're Fake Fans and anti-intellectuals who don't actually love the canon universe and have no respect for the people who created it. They just want to take the media and claim it and twist it into something it's not, something less Real and more Delusional, something squeaky clean enough to help their troubled, feeble little minds sleep at night.

And these dumb motherfuckers are loud and plentiful, but they do not represent the fandoms. They represent pixels on a screen. The fandom is comprised of the writings and art made by people who genuinely love these universes. The content created by puritanical fans will not stand the test of time because their work is either dishonest or insulting, and anyone who looks at it can tell and wants to look away.

Anti-shippers operate under the false projection that they are the majority, and it might feel that way too bc anti-shippers from other fandoms who don't even give a shit about the media in question will pile onto their notes and make their dumbass takes seem popular. They depend on the fear of shippers. They are trying to make you so uncomfortable that you never post or share or talk about it or make content, and therefore the other grilos out there are feeling that same isolation you do.

Fuck that and fuck them. They're a bunch of literal fucking Nazis and Grilo/Beetlebabes is as as canon gets.

They're not saying anything real. They don't have a voice with weight. Don't give it to them.

Please no apologies, go off whenever you want, and I apologize for taking this opportunity to soapbox. Please don't feel afraid to post about your ships. Shippers are the majority. Anti-shippers are fake fans and tourists, and their passion for the media is not sustainable or renewable.

They always end up fading out.