#my first post on any blog has to be a really bad meme sorry

[deathstrokewilson]

OOC: Hi all, Roleplayer behind JJ and Slade here. (mentally insert Zuko meme if you so choose)

I'm feeling a bit calmer now. I was quite hurt by that anon from last night.

To explain my reaction, for anyone who is confused, I am a person. I'm sitting here on my computer or phone to have fun and write stories with others, the same as everyone else here. This is my first time trying to RP on Tumblr, and for some of you it may be your first time trying to RP at all. To which I say, I'm so glad you are! Genuinely, roleplay is a great way to make friends and to explore all sorts of stories and themes safely and supportively.

Additionally, this is my first time writing Slade. I never expected so many people to enjoy my writing, and listen, I love that he's so generally terrible, and that I seem to write him well enough that you want to rally against him, that you love to hate him, that you send love to the Dick who's agreed to be Slade's Renegade. It's sweet. It's intense. But it's supposed to be fun.

Whoever did send that anon may have just been caught up in the intensity of having Slade seem like such a big threat, and wanted to try and ding his ego, or something to that effect. I don't know their intent. But as a person writing for both my enjoyment and yours, it was like a punch to the face. It was incredibly hurtful, since firstly, I don't think I've written him that way, and secondly, that just… isn't something you send. It's a serious thing to say or imply, it can be easily twisted out of context, and shouldn't be slung around. I would also like to state that I have checked in several times with people who are either directly part of the story or were emotionally affected by it to make sure they were all right to continue. I know it's an intense character, an intense storyline. I genuinely don't want people feeling uncomfortable or scared. I want people to enjoy what I make, like any creative, in a safe and healthy way. And I also want to be happy and comfortable.

So there's that.

As such, I want to offer something to you all- a poll. I am asking you all to consider the options carefully and genuinely, and vote honestly. Please, please be honest. Because I won't be dealing with that sort of thing again. A large part of roleplay is considering both the characters and the people behind them, and how your writing can affect them. I never expected Slade to be more than a brief thing, and thanks to everyone's interactions that grew and changed. I did appreciate it, and at least up until that anon, it was fun. I would like it to be fun again. This is also to either subdue or confirm my anxiety, so I'm sorry if this seems dramatic, but it will help me. So, let's vote.

1. I continue to roleplay as Slade, the storyline that has been started continues. I request if you are not comfortable with him and this choice wins, you unfollow for your own comfort.

2. I set Slade on the high shelf for an undetermined amount of time. The storyline is cut off, blogs that were more personally involved return to more normal posting if they so choose. Until more people can learn to separate the fiction from the person behind, no more big bad villain to hate. I will only RP JJ, or other non-villainous characters.

3. I stop roleplaying here on Tumblr entirely. If for whatever reason you think I shouldn't be roleplaying here at all, and this vote wins, I'll stop. No more Slade, no more JJ, no more of my ideas. I'll also request that if you don't want me around you at all, you DM @littlefaefeather with the blogs you want me to block or unfollow.

I do intend to take this day as an RP-lite day for my own sake, but if there's anything you really want to RP or include Slade or JJ or my Robin blog in, you can still @ them for it, I'll be checking in every so often. Thanks for reading all this. 🧡💛💚💙💜

[jeannereames]

Do you see memes and shitposts about Alexander and his time? If yes, do you like them, you hate them? Would you change something about these memes?

I’m sorry. I’m just really curious about what a professor thinks about this. Do you perhaps have a favorite Alexander meme?

Well, for me there’s a big difference between memes and shitposts. The former can be rather entertaining, the latter are just trolling. Don’t feed the trolls. I realize I’m perhaps defining shitposting more narrowly than some, but there’s enough of the narrow sort out there I don’t want to confuse it with memes.

Meme are great. I have two favorites, although not about Alexander, ironically. I’ve shared them below. Both show up in my class Power-points, btw! Many of my colleagues also enjoy clever memes. My buddy Borja Antela was trying to collect some on Alexander last year. For a while, I followed Alexandergoatmemes on Instagram, but finally left because about 85/90% of them seemed to be about Alexander naming cities after himself. Sure, it’s funny maybe the first 20 times, but at 100+?

So memes are great. Shitposting and ignorant-posting, however, are annoying.

I’m deliberately creating that third category. Shitposters know they’re posting shit; ignorant-posters (usually) don’t. The latter put up videos, tweets, or blog entries about (in this case) Alexander that perpetuate a lie, a false quote, or an oversimplified-and-mostly-wrong factoid. Some ignorant-posters are just reposting what they heard because they don’t know any better and may receive correction well enough—especially if offered politely. Yet others get upset (sometimes disproportionately so) when their errors or distortions are pointed out.

This can be about controversial matters, such as Alexander’s putative “sexuality” or it can be something surprising. I once had a fellow fly off the handle when he posted that Alexander was left-handed and I (gently) corrected him.* You’d have thought I’d called his mother a whore. It seemed quite silly…except that left-handedness used to be considered a Very Bad Thing. So being able to claim famous people as lefties was apparently more for him than just leftie pride.

Aside from oddities, most of the ignorant-posting I’ve seen comes in three main types.

First, we have the religious/spiritual/life-coach sorts who usurp Alexander for a moral lesson—not unlike the orators of the (Roman-era) Second Sophistic, or both Muslims and Christians in some of the Alexander Romances. Alexander has ALWAYS been a malleable figure for lecturing. Ergo, he pops up in homilies/sermons as a parable, like his supposed Last Three Wishes. It is, of course, total bullshit, but there’s quite a lot of stuff like it out there. People read it, go “Aww,” and reblog without bothering to check if it’s correct. It has “the authority of hearsay.” These can be either Alexander-positive or Alexander-negative parables, btw.

See also: quotes attributed to famous celebrities that they never, in fact, said. Alexander gets these too. The ¡Inspirational! “Army of Sheep Led by a Lion” is especially egregious, as it’s a general proverb that appeared well after Alexander (no, he didn’t say it). It seems to be currently popular, along with, “There is nothing impossible to him who will try” (also not ATG). Yet these make great quotes for those damn “Inspirational Posters.” Here’s a whole page of them, lion quote right at the top, suitable for a Power-point!...with no attempt to verify their authenticity or say where they got them. But the image with the quote below is especially funny as they even put a date on their fictional quote. If it has a date, it must be true! Netflix, btw, used that bloody quote even though I told them not to; it was fake. Didn’t matter.

Second, we have the alt-right/white supremacist groups, or hangers-on who might reject the label (coyly or not) but embrace much of its Eurocentric thinking. These folks present Alexander as spreading good [white] Western values to the poor benighted East [brown people]. It’s essentially warmed-over Plutarch with a dash of Curtius and some Arrian. Their Alexander even sometimes has longish flowing (blond) locks and is oddly tall.** Like Thor. I stay the hell away from them but have occasionally stumbled over them on Tik-Tok.

Anyway, the alt-right crowd may have read some about Alexander, written by other alt-right guys who take material from a carefully curated set of “accepted” histories: Arrian and Plutarch, and not just Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, but his double-essay from the Moralia, “On the Fate or Fortune of Alexander.” They tend to be war/conquest-approving and see the Greco-Roman past as some pure Aryan utopia from which we’ve fallen into our “wretched age of iron.”*** Of late, a lot of their associated images are AI generated, btw. A couple examples below.

Last, and on the opposite end of the spectrum are the Alexander-was-Queer-AND-Wonderful, and oh, boy, some of them also don’t want a single bad thing said about their hero. They may know relatively little about his life aside from his putative gayness, but are just as resistant to/resentful of being corrected in their errors and romantic oversimplifications.

And that is what all of these categories share: oversimplification for the sake of a particular social and/or political agenda.****

Isn’t it, then, also shitposting? No. Because shitposters intend to stir the pot. They may or may not believe what they say, but they’re saying it TO get a reaction. Like the Tweet Heard Round the Alexander-verse after the Netflix thing (below). THAT was a shitpost. His entire goal was to go viral, and he succeeded.

By contrast, ignorant-posters usually aim for a particular audience and rarely expect to go viral outside their circle. Nor do they expect to be corrected. When they are, they react with surprise and anger. (Again, there are exceptions.)

I tend to observe these things, but rarely engage—although I did engage more when I was a young grad student. Now if I reply, it’s general (as here), not to the original post/tweet itself. TBH, I have books and articles to write, classes to teach, and papers to grade. 😉 I don’t have time for flamewars.

-----------------------

* Yes, I made Alexander left-handed in Dancing with the Lion, partly for the hell of it. But there’s zero evidence one way or the other—which I point out in my Author’s Note at the end of book 2, Rise.

** BTW, there’s a Whole Thing out there online about Alexander as tall, even Super Tall, claiming evidence which they don’t actually cite (correctly). Note the “many stories suggest….” Oh, really? These are? Anyway, I don’t think the author of that blog entry is alt-right—which is why I put it as a footnote—but dig the wacko AI white-haired Nordic Alexander at the top! And I’m still chuckling at a 7-foot-tall Alexander. Good Lord, how tall would that make Hephaistion?

*** Yeah, that’s a little bow to Hesiod’s theory of the Ages of Man.

**** Note that I didn’t include Greek Nationalists. While some of them also swing right (Golden Dawn, Front Line, National Reform Party, etc.), many are more moderate. Alexander is a Greek hero, and if what’s presented about him by some is also oversimplified to fit a national narrative, it doesn’t spring from ignorance so much as deliberate choice and what they learned in school/at home. Think about what the average (white) American knows about George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, or for that matter, the average native person about Tecumseh or Crazy Horse.

[davekat-sucks]

This is was supposed to be a simple ask but it ended up getting long because of there being too many question and discussions but barely any answers so sorry about that.

On the topic of WhatPumpkin sometimes we all have to wonder what the fuck is going on behind the scenes, the latest news we got werent that much and it felt more of a like "Hey guys we are still alive dont forget about us" situation and it doesnt help that we cant really get any info because of how the only guy that Im atleast aware that works on it and is online is James and although I have no source because it was months ago, when beyond canon came back I remember him getting asked about Hiveswap and i dont remember if he answered it on the blog or on a reddit qna but he had said he cant really do much about it because hes just the music guy on that department and not an director or writer and he probably cannot say whats going on if hes aware of even the minimum because of NDAs and you know the situation is weird when not even the new director for post canon can do nothing about it or doesnt know what the fuck is going on over there either (i believe its more of the former).

On the same topic Hussie jumping the ship in my opinion feels like such an awful move in a moral and community sense, he hires fucked up people and ends up going through development hell and instead of trying to fix it he just runs away and gives someone else the work. He becasically invited destruction to that place by not doing background checks and shit and now everyone else but him has to suffer for it. I wonder if WhatPumpkin will close business after they finish Hiveswap (if they even manage to finish it) or if their writting quality wont be bad if they try to do Hauntswitch now.

I also sometimes wonder if Hauntswitch was made first maybe things could have been better. Think about it:

It happens on the Human World and you play as a cool kid looking troll and that could open the doors for a lot of potential to explore more about the Earth on the Homestuck universe and its conspiracy theories and also give us more video game parody mechanics.

The whole conspiracy theory Jude had that iirc had even the USA presidents connect to may be right considering the easter egg that shows some sort of cultists standing outside the mansion we see on the background and watching the events unfold.

We would get more answers for whatever the fuck those creatures that attacked the manor where.

another good dog best friend to fill the bec shaped hole in our soul <:

Exploration of what SkaiaLabs exactly does.

Overall sounding like an awesome story itself, a alien coming to earth and fighting a cult related to the presidents with a human companion. Especially considering how Dammek sounds like hes an asshole and also because of how trolls are usually violent could lead to interesting interactions.

I might be wrong and biased though but I feel like that concept could attract more outsiders than Hiveswap could ever wish to do. And hopefully thats it and that I wont waste almost an hour of my life rambling about this stuff (for my own sake because i feel like i could have spent my time better but i also need to post this somewhere and i dont use social media most of the time and when i do its usually to see fanart, memes and overall discussion of my fav franchises) but I probably will in the future.

It's cool with this ask. You brought up many good points here.

Yes, the question about Hiveswap was asked in a Q&A back in October 30th, 2023 from James Roach here (Archive ver for backup). The news about development should be something more like how Toby does with the Deltarune newsletter. Monthly, maybe do a special event ARG thing that gives insight of what's coming up, or anything like that. Though even with that, it might be probably too little too late since we are at 11 years since the Kickstarter had funded. Probably doesn't help since 2 million dollars was wasted, it's a mystery how the game is still being worked on if the original Kickstarter money that was given to them, had been used up. What is WhatPumpkin's new source of income then? Do they have a second job they aren't telling us about? Are they using part of that Patreon money from Beyond Canon since technically there are some that work within Hiveswap too like James? Then there's the fact Hussie not only wasted the money, but basically left the Kickstarter project he started in the first place. He may own it and be credited as the creator, but he won't be involved in the future Acts and Hauntswitch. I'm surprised nobody is pissed at him for scamming them out of 2 million dollars. Do people not care if the original person who hosted it left? Especially with the truth come to light thanks to Gio's research on this. I wouldn't be surprised if WhatPumpkin does shut down because they couldn't gain the sales needed after releasing Hiveswap Act 3. People will probably wonder if even buying stuff from Topatoco would help or not with HS merch like the prints slowly resurfacing. Drawing in the crowds from old and new to play the game will be tough. I wouldn't be surprised if Hauntswitch was first made in mind before Hiveswap. Dammek even had a 3D model ready too.

Likely back when it was still a 3D game, we would control briefly but then after the cutscene of them being transported to the other planet, we would then have to take control of Dammek, have him meet Jude to possibly have him find a way to help him back home, and the pair would adventure on Earth itself for the rest of the game to find out about the monsters and the cult. Dammek's paranoid nature would play off Jude's conspiracy theory pretty well as it has the two involved looking deep into the mystery. I wouldn't be surprised if something about the cult would eventually tie in to his home planet and the rebellion as a final grand twist. An idea like that sounds more interesting than some girl getting lost on an alien planet and was roped into some rebellion that she has no reason to be part of besides being concerned for a friend.

[renaultphile]

TC tag game

Thank you for the questions and for tagging me @spudodell.

Rules: Answer the questions and tag other TC fans!

1. "He would not fucking say that" only they did and it's canon. When/who?

Ralph to Laurie in the ‘break-up’ scene, as soon as Laurie starts asserting himself:

"Don't waste time, Spud. It's childish to start an argument about whether we love each other, the moment I go and sit on the other side of the room”

What a horrible thing to say!  Run like the wind, Laurie!

2. Did they kiss in the study? Yes/no + why you are 100% correct about this.

First let’s take a moment to appreciate Spudodell's recent spot of a stealth kiss (can you re-blog that one too, I couldn't find it!) at the beginning of the ‘break-up’ scene when Laurie comes through the door, which to me is absolutely definitive and ground-breaking (not in a good way for me, but still….brilliant detective work!)

On the kiss, I am in the ‘no kiss’ camp, but it is not possible to be definitive.  I feel that Mary plays a lot with echoes, parallels, and contrasts, and for me ultimately I feel the lack of a kiss is meant to be a contrast to other moments in the book, not an echo. 

But what has exercised me more recently is, kiss or no kiss (but especially if there was a kiss), this scene in chapter two really gives me the creeps.  I have been reading around the topic for some schoolboy Ralph fics and Alec/Ralph (watch this space on that one), and it has become ever more clear (Alec Waugh’s commentary ‘Public School Life’ being the best reference on this) that Prefects really were like Gods.  He points out that prefects had almost as much power as but even less accountability than teachers due to the ‘no-snitch rule’.  You can see it in the discussion of Hazell and his confessions, and how contemptuous the schoolboys are of him for 'confessing' (or in modern terms, reporting an inappropriate relationship).

In some ways, a kiss could explain quite a lot about Laurie’s behaviour and attitudes to Ralph in the book.  But to be brutally honest, I’ve had enough of creepy behaviour in men being disguised as ‘romantic’ in heterosexual romances (Mr Rochester, anyone?) and the thought of encountering it in a gay context in such a beloved book is just too much to bear.

So, no kiss for me!  He was still behaving pretty weirdly but that’s understandable in the circumstances.

3. Mandatory question about Ralph's alleged tattoos.

I’m sold on the fic that has him get a tattoo of his sunken ship.  Love the co-ordinates of Dunkirk idea though!  But I think Lux’s one is more realistic.  My reading of that being that he got drunk and wanted to fit in so he got a load of random not-very-good-ones.

4. 53 vs 59 edition: quote a line or paragraph that is better in the edition you like the least.

I favour the ’59 edition, as I broadly feel the cuts make it read better.  But there is one exception.  When Laurie is daydreaming about swimming with Charles, Mary cuts this line:

“Take off your things and jump in."

Apparently skinny-dipping was a step too far for the US audience!  Scandalous!

5. Which TC character would feel right at home here on tumblr dot com?

Bunny but not in a good way.

6. Tag yourself at Alec's birthday party.

I’m Laurie as in sitting in the corner checking out the books.  Not as in going on a rescue mission with some drunken guy.

7. Post a TC meme.

Sorry I couldn’t find the source of this – not exactly a meme but it made me laugh!

8. Easy to talk about who deserved better. Who deserved worse?

Not that I know what happened to them, but Andrew’s relatives who tried as hard as they could to ruin his life, as if his parents dying wasn't bad enough.

9. You can break the fourth wall (at any point in the novel) and say a single sentence to our protagonist, Laurie Odell. What do you say?

I would tell him not to let Dave bully him into leaving Andrew without seeing him.  Because he knows with every fibre of his being that Andrew would not want that.

10. What's a question you have about TC? One you haven't found an answer for yet.

Too many to say.  It’s the unknown unknowns that really get me.

Tagging @gayskogul @telltaleangelina @jeork @alovelywaytospendanevening @black-bentley and anyone else who wants to play and would like to raise their head above the parapet!!

[orchideae]

salt meme *cracks knuckles*: ☠ What does someone have to do for an instant unfollow from you? ☼ How long do you stay mad? ☢ What fads/trends are you so over (What is a fad)? ♨ Have you ever made a public call out post? ❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you? ❣ How salty are you feeling right now (Please give a comparison beginning of writing the answer to this and after you wrote it, for science purposes)?

— @delusionaid // Prompt: The salty AF meme

❣ How salty are you feeling right now? (1) I can't believe Youtube is playing a song called 'Do or Die' as I'm typing this up. Youtube wants me to go hard, but I dunno how much I can live up to that. But currently, salt levels are around 7/10.

☠ What does someone have to do for an instant unfollow from you? Show a genuine lack of respect across the board. This plays into numerous elements of social interaction, but more so than anything, it plays into the element of taking away someone's autonomy to how they run their blog. See, this is actually also something that more so makes it that I'll never follow you in the first place, but I guess that'll also work as salt too, right? Right, autonomy, I hate that we live in 2024, and people have been all about "it's your blog, you have the freedom to do what you want!" Yeah, except, ding, ding, 'do what you want' doesn't quite mean what we all think it does. You know, that little thing called its official definition? Yeah, not a thing. Have your liberty, however, you can't write with this person or that muse because they're problematic (correction: this person 'feels' that they're problematic) or have done some questionably morally grey things in their lifetime, you can't write a character with any of these 375 faceclaims that you're supposed to keep track of and agree with, if you write a villain then you should obviously ignore all of these villainous traits that make them villains because why would you ever write a villain who does bad things? (Unless he's hot or said villain is a female character, of course), on that note, please ignore this and this bit of canon because it makes me (personally) very uncomfortable. And to expand on the last two in specific, obviously you can't ever write or acknowledge these (dark) things any way, because if you write a character who even did something less bad, like spoke rudely to anyone, you obviously do the same thing in life outside of Tumblr.com and so I will write a callout about you. But apart from all of that and more things that are coincidentally hidden behind a little 'etc.', you can do whatever you want! Have fun!!

❣ How salty are you feeling right now? (2) About... 9/10.

☼ How long do you stay mad? Unless it's something really trivial, I'll usually sleep and my brain will process it back into non-existence the next day or the one after. But I do however, hold a grudge like none other. Granted, getting to that point is rather difficult to do, but if you do genuinely wrong me in some capacity, then I will remember that. Now, I believe in second chances, but those can't apply everywhere, for I do firmly believe that there are lines that truly shouldn't ever be crossed. Overall however, I'm not an angry person and to anger me in the first place is quite difficult. And you know, you especially do like to say that even when I'm angry, I'm smiling and laughing and 'don't really sound any different', so how mad/angry am I really? I think I really am just the 'No talk me I angy' cat meme in the flesh.

☢ What fads/trends are you so over? I still hate the concept of 'censorship'. I'm sorry, but if I dislike a character, a culture, a character trait, a show, book, an adaptation, I have every right to say so and I can even talk about it on my blog for hours if I so choose to do so, just like others are allowed to do the exact opposite. It is a two-way street. I shouldn't have to adhere to some system of social politics of, well, you're allowed to complain or talk about how this and this is bad, but if you want to touch on that, well no, we can't quite let you do that one! That's not exactly fitting in the current social political climate. Because here's my thing with it in general, if anyone for example told me that they disliked Yelan, I think that it would be a shame, if someone told me that, for example, they disapprove of my take of her sleeping around (again: not done in promiscuity); that's perfectly fine, tell me why and we can have a friendly talk about it. Because last I checked, discussion is incredibly healthy for our mental development. I want to know why people think differently, and I love the challenge of even possibly changing their perspective on the matter. But if everything is censored from the get-go, then there's no discussion, no potential for growth or understanding. I'm sad that this mere concept is still as prevalent in all fandoms as it seems to be.

♨ Have you ever made a public call out post? Can salt posts like this entire ask response be considered as a public call out post of bad behavior across the board? Yes? Okay great, then yes, I absolutely have. I reblog a salt meme like this at least once every 2/3 months when my activity isn't entirely shot into the depths of hell itself

❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you? Meh, I don't care much about FCs, at least not like I used to when I actively used them, nor did I ever really feel like any FC was ever 'ruined' for me. I just get very tired of people overusing specific characters or roles, but I'm very easily affected by overexposure or over-hype in general, so this isn't surprising.

❣ How salty are you feeling right now? (3). 6/10 or so, I'd say.

[anzuhan]

I’d love to see your fave kanata card! 🐟

very bad mistake anon. kanata was one of the first chars i was mega obsessed with until i uh.. realized i just like him for my own hcs and nothing else actually ! like i one day did a silly story meme on insta ab ryuseitai and kanata was ALWAYS LAST like wow i like NOTHING ab this guy besides hes a fish and my own hcs. 🐟

so speaking about my hcs, this falls under those, this card has me in a chokehold, and it personally drove multiple of my friends to draw me kanata holding a knife and i ALWAYS gave this card as reference <////3 (i even req'd a commission w it to explain how normal i am about it)

but yeah um he looks so happy and content w that knife in his hand i wish hed slit someones throat w it <////3 (i am sorry for being not normal on the art blog I AM AN AVERAGE YANDERE KANATA ENJOYER 🐟‼️)

besides that one which is a . special case I GUESS, im also very very ill about the ponytail one cause 1) he still has a weapon 🥺 2) i uhenntmntmenmt yirmemf i like ponytails like those on men a lot. thats all

any other kanata cards where he has a weapon of any sorts also count

+ normal answer i also really like the ones where hes wither holding a fish, or anything else sea life/seafood related i think they're everything (LOOK AT HIM HES SO HAPPY WITH HIS PREY THEN EATS IT TOO)

++ very very very specific but this (and rest of jiangshi fits for ryuseitai) make me go rnhrntnrnrnrmenrkrnnekndnendnfrnemmfmfmendmdmwnemdmenmemdmwmdmdmwmdmdmwmmsdm (but mostly just kanata's and chiaki's)

HE HAS FANGS AND HIS NAILS ARE PAINTED BLACK AND I OUHIUIHEHHJRNNENF 😭😭😭

.

im gonna stop here bc whenever i talk ab kanata i remember that one post thats like "hello kitty doesnt like murder and blood and all those other things ur posting her with... she likes her friends and being positive" like thats me with kanata but im the people the post is talking about. i am sorry <///3 it wont happen again until someome else wants me to talk ab kanata

[un-chained-a]

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN INTERACTING WITH MY BLOG - Customizable Edition

BASICS !

Name / Alias: Ti

Pronouns: Any is fine with me. But default is they/them

Blog type: single muse | Multi-muse | non selective | semi selective | selective | mutuals only | private | other (temporarily mutuals only until i have more free time)

Type of muses: canon | OCs | both | other (specify)

GENERALITIES !

Triggers people MUST tag: nsfw. Animal abuse. Child abuse. Chain mail/messages.

Interest tracker / checker: I have it and it's mandatory | I have it, it's not mandatory but I'm more likely to follow back / interact with the people who fill it | I have one and I prefer it if people fill it in | I have it but it's to people whether to fill it or not | I don't have one | other (specify)

Reblog karma: I practice it | I practice it sometimes | I don't practice it | I always reblog memes from the source | indifferent | other (specify)

Rule passwords: I have one and it's mandatory | I have one and it's optional | I don't have one | I send passwords | don't sent passwords | [space for eventual additions / explanations]

3-5 ESSENTIAL RULES PEOPLE HAVE TO RESPECT

I can be slow on threads. My muse leads me to what they wanna reply to. Sometimes a thread has more of my attention and muse than others. I also work a job and have other hobbies. I won't always be here.

Please tag your NSFW, especially if it's an image. Please no fancy tags, just tag it simple nsfw or something easy. Having fancy ways to tag something that I CANNOT black list it, might get you unfollowed.

Do not send hate of any kind or spread hate of any kind. This can be with call outs, or reblogging things of 'every time this gets reblogged *insert person* dies.' It will get you unfollowed.

3-5 IMPORTANT PET PEEVES TO KEEP IN MIND

People who CONSTANTLY pester me for threads or telling me they replied (I am okay of course if I give you PERMISSION to tell me when you reply. I have one person I asked to tell me when they reply cuz their replies don't always show up on my blog.) I am fine if you ask me about a thread once in a while, but doing it every day or really constant will get you blocked.

Really bad grammar.. I don't mind mistakes, I make mistakes too in my writing. But if it's constant, I'm sorry I can't do it. It bothers me too much. I am WAY more lenient to people who's first language isn't English, but tbh, those people have WAY better grammar than people who is first language.

People who take art as icons and cannot say where they got them from (giving the artist credit.) I'm not saying you have to have a BIG ASS list on your blog of all the credit. But it someone asks who made your icon, please be able to tell the person the artist. Please be able to credit artists some how if asked. (The icons I didn't make I can say who made them when asked on Shigaraki.)

2-5 THINGS THAT WILL LEAD TO INSTANT (SOFT) HARD BLOCKING

I changed it to hard blocking. I do NOT soft block. I either unfollow or hard block. Unfollow = We can still RP together, it's just that your content on your blog bothers me. Hard block = I will no longer talk / RP with you.

Reblogging call outs. I want no drama on my dash, including call outs. Talk it out like adults instead of spreading rumors and bull shit. All y'all claim to be adults but you certainly don't act like it. I've seen my friends called out and everyone blocks them without asking for THEIR side of the story. So yeah, I want none of that on my dash or in general ANY drama. I admit if it's a few times you post drama, I am okay, I get you may need to vent. But if it's a constant thing, I'll hard block.

As stated above, really bad grammar and sentence structure. I cannot read run on sentences. It gives me a head ache. The same with GIANT blocks of texts-- no paragraphs just a big wall. I don't like that either.

People I just don't vibe with. If you give me bad vibes, I'll block you.

People who soft block me or block me, I will block in return.

2-5 THINGS THAT LEAD ME TO UNFOLLOW / SOFTBLOCK A MUTUAL / SOMEONE I INTERACT WITH

This kinda goes with the above mentioned...

People who post really long posts that are NOT RP. Like that color of the sky post. I hate it. Posting long posts that take me a few scrolls to get by might get you unfollowed.

Posting politics.

2-5 REASON YOU DON'T FOLLOW (BACK) SOMEONE

You are a personal blog or all it seems you post is musings and ooc. If I see NO RPs from you, I won't follow. I will also unfollow if I see no RP content from you. That being said, SOME personal blogs I DO follow, esp if they're a friend.

You are a bot / p0rn blog.

I just happened to miss you. It happens. If you RP I usually follow back. And if I don't follow you-- Just RP with me and I probably will notice I am not following you and follow. MY BLOG IS NOT MUTUALS ONLY.

tagged by: I yoinked Tagging: YOU

[flameandindifference]

🔥 🔥 🔥

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

'Sorry, I don't know enough about your muse/the source material' is a weakass excuse for why you wouldn't interact with someone.

Now hear me out! I'm not saying that you HAVE to interact with anyone, that's your choice to make of course. No one should force you into anything you don't want to do. But in my own opinion, saying that as if you cannot just ask questions to the mun about their muse or the source material-- which most muns LOVE anyway-- is more of an excuse to yourself than the mun.

I'd accept 'I can't see how they would interact' or 'I don't think our writing styles mesh' a lot more quickly than 'I don't know the source material, sorry'.

Ask questions??? It's seriously just a one step process! Just ask them!

Because shit like this is really frustrating and unfair to super obscure muses, like Lucius himself. Barely ANYONE I've spoken to that I write with here had any idea the Lucius games were even a thing!

Imagine if all those people went 'Sorry, don't know the source' and bounced. I'd have, MAYBE, two or three people that would be writing with me and that's insanely discouraging for a blog. That's how you get deleted blogs because then what's the point?

2.

'Reblog from the source' has killed the RPC a lot worse than Reblog Karma ever did.

I get not wanting people to use you as a meme source, I really do! I hate that shit too! But the thing is that at least with reblog karma there was a higher chance of someone sending you something. With reblog from the source, people can reblog all the memes they want without sending in a single thing which creates a vicious cycle of no one getting anything at all.

And maybe this is just me but I actually like when people reblog Aesthetic or Musing posts from me. It never fucked with my notifs badly enough to bother me and at least it showed that people were looking at my posts, were engaging with me in SOME fashion. Nowadays I can go the entire day with exactly ZERO notifications, for several days, and that hits worse than finding a notif saying someone reblogged a gif set from me.

3.

'Personals will be blocked on sight' is a damaging mindset to take. Why you may ask?

From my experience it seems that a lot of people on Tumblr just kind of forget that Sideblogs are a thing??? I use my hub blog as a personal blog but I have it plastered right in the blog description that I'm a HUB BLOG, that I have rp sideblogs, that I am there in the follower list as a potential partner. It's literally right there, a two second hover away to see.

And my ass has still gotten blocked on multiple occasions because people slapped the block button on sight instead of just... I dunno, taking less than ten seconds to check? It's pretty frustrating and has happened so often that I don't typically follow people first because I'm afraid of being blocked for the crime of **looks at smudged writing on my hand** not making my rp blog my main blog?

Just... please remember sideblogs exist. It's bad enough that Tumblr itself won't support us (we can't even send ASKS for fuck's sake), we don't need potential partners doing it too.

@ofhardknoxxx

[graysongraysoff]

💝 💥 💌

💝 what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

i always expect my satosugu fics to do better than they do?? lol. like come on y'all i thought you were horny for this one.

it's because they're always sad it's because people want them to be happy and i will not let them.

and i guess i like "get" it now but i really was flabbergasted when i first posted all in, palms out and it got the response it got. like, now i understand that's what The People are really horny for (of all the fics i posted last year my top 5 are all gojo & megumi world's okayest dad and feral kitten son content) but at the time i was truly not expecting it to do as well as it did.

💥 find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

i'm honestly fully gobsmacked that my least kudos'd fic is a trc fic????? lmao i figured it'd be an r&j fic or something with no fandom like zone blanche, but trc was like. i genuinely don't think i ever got more compliments on my writing than i did when i was writing trc fic, straight up.

anyway.

so this is a little drabble i wrote for a prompt meme; it's only 116 words. in that small space, though, i think i do a pretty good job of capturing a fun facet of ronan and gansey's friendship. it also contains the phrase "gasoline sliding through his muscles" which is, i'm sorry, fucking french kiss superb. everyone yassed.

and i have personally always enjoyed the figurative image of words or breath getting ripped out the passenger-side window of a fast-accelerating car.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

it's so rare that i actually have up-and-coming works to talk about, so that alone has me hype, lol.

idk, i really hope i can get my ass in gear and really do it justice, but if i do there should be some tender oda & dazai father/son content for any bsd enjoyers who follow the blog. and if i'm feeling ambitious maybe some good dad v bad dad in the form of oda v mori.......... We Will See.

fic writer emoji asks

[sweetlesson]

{Also since I'm here and thinking about this... Actually, I'm going to put this under a cut since it might be considered negative and triggering to some.}

{When I first started this blog I tried really hard to like, reach out as much as possible? I liked every interaction call I saw and sent in every meme I could and even tried to make extra posts of my own to reach as many people as possible. But actually, that's... Not how I normally behave?}

{I was trying really hard to reach out to people first because I felt like it would be really rude to make a blog for people to follow and then just... Not be the first to reach out? Just do nothing? I didn't want to do that to anyone. But I'm also like incredibly anxious and I've found even with perma starter calls I still get really worried that I'm spamming interactions or I'm interacting with someone that actually doesn't like me or my writing all that much and only interacts with me out of pity? Like I know that thought process is so stupid, but unless someone has gone out of their way to interact with me multiple times and carried out threads with me for a while or even to their end, I usually feel like that person must actually only tolerate me at best.}

{And I've been doing my best to fight against that mindset because logically I know that isn't the case and it's actually ridiculous of me to be afraid of people especially when 90% of you guys followed me first, like I know I'm not being rational. But when I consider interacting with things or trying to reach out to someone it gives me the sweats and heart palpitations and a lot of the time I decide nah, I'll try again later when it's more appropriate, even not knowing what more appropriate even looks like to me.}

{All of that to say that if you ever want to interact with me for any reason and we're mutuals? Please just do it. Please just send me something because that will make me feel so much better about sending you stuff in the future, too. I'm sorry I am this way. I realize I'm not being very polite. I really apologize to make anyone make the first move with me, since I know quite literally from experience that that sucks really bad. I'll try to be better in the future, but until then just bother me with literally anything you want at literally any point you want because that legitimately helps me be more comfortable, I promise.}

{And if we're not mutuals and you want to interact? Follow me! I'll check your rules and see if we line up alright.}

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Bro I think you just met Shidou incarnate /j LMAOO but I feel you better safe than sorry!! The many wonders of the internet lmao

ME fr me at first I remember seeing some announcements and I was like wait what’s going on why’s Shidou the cover of vol. 5??? Then I realized LOL but yes will keep you updated!!

The way that kaneshiro apparently has written some other freaky mangas too has me reeling like bro WHAT but yeah i wonder when we’ll finally nail in the idea that not sexualized is really bare minimum the fact that we have to say it’s bare minimum already speaks sm to society but anyways….

LMAOOOO everyone being a BLLK fusion but WAIT XY ASH >>>> no because i remember thinking “wait why is ash so different here” and I stumbled on a post that was like “it’s because they finally gave him fucking teeth” LMFAOOOO and lowk they’re not wrong??? I’m not sure what it is but without the teeth when he just has like a pink triangle for a mouth it just looks goofy ig but also he went through something between unova and kalos like his personality and everything but yeah anyways STEVEN STONEEEE

Wtf….wtf…….bro the bakery scene was a breaking/development point for that exact conflict too??? But also just wtf do they not remember anything about maki or mai like we KNOW how women are treated in jujutsu society which ties into the abuse reader faced and her reliance on noritoshi like bro if you think she was allowed to make independent decisions before you’re tripping too it was also literally all established leading up to the bakery scene like did you just not read….(I LOCE THAT QUOTE TOO THO) but AGREED I don’t wanna rain on peoples parades but yeah not my choice of fic setting where readers just op and edgy but no I definitely know what you’re talking about I also find it really cringey and can’t get myself to read it

Mira back at it again with the extensive research but WOW I would eat that up if I had any deeper knowledge of aot LMAO wait the breakdown of the badass killer action girl trope waitttt you’re onto something all of this sounds very very intriguing I can just imagine all the angst and development

LMFAOO “I’m a married man” is so loser karasu coded wait reader not following back is so fucking funny the petty salt is real that would totally happen TABIKIYOKEN LMAOOO otoya getting bullied by his team instead of kiyora stop that would be peak comedy

I GOT YOU!!! No because you’re just taking my thoughts and putting them into words if I thought you were a bad person I’d be a hypocrite LMAOO it’s fr refreshing to see a voice of reason though I look at tiktok and etc for memes and all but when something crazy comes up you know it’s really batshit insane

PSLSLS NUMBER ONE NAGI DEFENDER dw in 6 days we’ll get more…trust!!!! Ok but I didn’t realize so many people here hated him???? Like no leave him alone he’s just a boy who likes sleeping and gaming shoo shoo

- Karasu anon

LMAOOO SHE WASN’T EVEN SHIDOU SHE WAS STRAIGHT UP FANON SHIDOU it was horrible…tbh in our conversations and my random thoughts that i post i’ve said enough that anyone who knows me irl could put things together quite easily but the plausible deniability of my face not being on here + nobody ever reading our conversations besides us two gives me confidence (also it’s my blog and my life so i’ll do what i want…i can’t allow her to control my life completely PLUS i know her ao3 with her horrifically bad smut fics and i never told anyone even when i found it + i never told her my account so there’s that element to it)

HAHA that’s so interesting i’m actually intrigued now about this!! please do keep me posted LMAO and yeah he’s written a lot of really random stuff which is so interesting to me like what was the impetus to switch to a sports manga after that?? but anyways yeah one day we will move past the sexualization of female characters and get to writing them as actual people

NO BECAUSE THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT THE MORE I’M LIKE “wow i was really fate to like nagi huh” because not only did i like steven stone and inumaki (both pale haired baddies) i also really liked mahito when i first started jjk?? got a lot of hate for finding him attractive but i somehow did…and now it turns out he has the same VA as nagi so actually i think my mind just recognized him before i even knew it was him

I LOVEEE THE ART STYLE OF XY i lowkey stopped watching after xy but i wish they would’ve kept that more mature style and feel to the anime!! HAHA omg not ash getting teeth…he looked really good in xy though agreed and he feels like such a different character too?? like an actual trainer instead of an idiot 😭 tbh he should’ve won the kalos league he had such a good team too 😩 but it is what it is ig…

THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING LIKE THE BAKERY SCENE IS LITERALLY MEANT TO BE HER BREAKING POINT??? that’s when she realizes that it’s okay for her to be herself and grow progressively more sassy and self-reliant (her with todo and megumi specifically is SO funny like she becomes mini gojo with them almost) which is compounded by her bringing yuta back to life but fr that’s not even a theme i made up LMAOO like there are themes that are pi-specific (love as resurrection for example) but the mistreatment of women is EXPLICIT in jjk it’s not even implied gege straight up shows it 😭 it’s that tik tok reader/14 year old wattpad user epidemic i think…the fact that reader didn’t pop out of the womb fighting against the abuse she faced makes them think she’s automatically weak when honestly given the circumstances the entire scene in the prologue when she exorcises a curse with the pins from her hairstyle and insists to noritoshi in front of EVERONE that he allow her to go to school is incredibly brave and much more than can be expected of her realistically!! also wait but tangentially related someone also once commented on the scene in the chapter post-shibuya when reader asks yuta if she’s ugly that she was “fishing for compliments” i had to stop and stare at the screen for a moment there…like this girl has been PERMANENTLY DISGIFURED the scars on her neck and hands never go away!! yes it’s not to the extent that maki was but the two of them are very different characters + unlike maki reader has kind of grown up her entire life being praised for her beauty and being told that that’s one of her only redeeming qualities 😰 i don’t think it’s unreasonable/fishing for compliments that she’s insecure after going through an incredibly traumatic experience and having to look at the reminders of it every time she sees her reflection??? like let’s not forget that the scars on her neck are from when jogo is literally choking her to death and the ones on her hands are from when she effectively dooms tullia by using the last of her energy to use composition on jogo 😓 anyways most people are very nice commenters so don’t think i’m ungrateful or anything it’s just that the crazy ones are so insane i’m consistently flabbergasted by them

YES EDGY that’s the word!! like when they’re trying too hard to make them seem cool and powerful and whatnot i’m just like huh and then i close the tab it’s not for me 😩 but yk everyone has their preferences i guess

AWWW THANK YOU honestly i wish i was still into aot enough to finish it because it was such a fascinating story like the reader is probably my favorite reader EVER not only does she commit many many literal war crimes but i get to explore her mental state throughout it…like it’s not just the guy she kind of falls in love with she also dooms her former friends without much remorse in the moment it was really cool to write about that kind of detached state in a person where she’s making these brutal moves because she’s so overly concerned with protecting herself that she doesn’t care about how she’s ruining people’s lives…then once the war ends and she’s reminded of what she’s done she’s like HEAVILY depressed and lowkey suicidal and has some insane coping mechanisms and it’s even worse because when she goes home she’s treated like a hero even though she thinks she’s a monster 😰 and then she finally begins to heal in (what is probably my favorite chapter of anything ever) this scene where’s she’s taken to a hospital to meet with this ex-soldier who was tortured by their enemies (it’s a very gruesome description because i did not shy away from gore but basically he was kept in solitary confinement before they took him back out and pour acid over his face every day for weeks because he refused to talk [he didn’t know anything] so half of his face is completely burnt and one of his eyes has melted out) and she realizes that she also saved some people…his face is meant to be a reflection of her mental state so we see him later on looking much better which shows how she’s doing better too!! it’s such an intricate plot imo (not to self glaze) with the most insane angst and development but i had so much fun turning that stereotypical trope on its head and showing what war and conflict ACTUALLY does to people

karasu is SUCHHHH a loser in fwtkac especially omg imagine a girl slides into his dms and is like “hey i think you’re cute” and he just likes the message and doesn’t even respond meanwhile he’s heart reacting to reader’s every single story (besides the otoya one) and she eventually texts him (because they somehow have each other’s numbers) and is like “yo you need to stop i’m going to block you” and over text he’s just like “👍” but internally he’s like “Y/N NOTICED ME 🥹🤩🥰” omg can you imagine karasu just adopts kiyora as his son (he has experience w parenting given hiori) and they just terrorize blue lock as the resident number one bullies HAHAHA

LMAOO we are just that synced up fr…yeah tik tok is crazy i’m only there for the audios edits and memes other than that i try to avoid the insane takes i consistently see 😭 PLEASE THERE ARE SO MANY NAGI HATERS IT’S INSANE???? call me nanami the way i’m doing overtime defending him…to be fair as someone who actively does not like the top four most popular characters in the fandom i have to be prepared to take the heat i dish out 😩 maybe i need to change to a karasu theme i don’t think i’ve ever met a karasu hater 🤔 JKJK if the world doubles down on hating nagi then i will double down on loving him ‼️ forcing everyone to read pursuit just so they’re converted to nagism ong

[multifandomshell]

Adaman, Irida and Volo 1, 8, 14, 22, plus one wildcard for whichever question you want!

Oh hey!! Welcome to my blog, you're my first ask! Dunno if I'm supposed to choose one for each question or do all of them, so I'm doing the latter. This is gonna be pretty long, so buckle up lol

Why do you like or dislike this character?

I'm pretty neutral with Adaman, he's a character with solid design and personality, but I just wish there's more story to him. The only noteworthy story stuff I find about him is that he has a lot of siblings, which make for a fun dynamic, he's a bit unsure being a leader (altho that appears few and far between), and that's kind of it? He's kind of boring imo Adaman fans pls don't come @ me ;A;

Irida, on the other hand, I actually get attached to a lot more than I expected. She has the same solid design and personality as well, but I like that there's more focus on her personal conflict. Since she's young and a recent leader, the insecurity of being a leader is stronger on her side, not to mention the whole thing with Palina. You can actually see that she's growing as well over the course of the main story.

Lastly, Volo. He has a death grip on my soul Unsurprisingly my fave, mainly because of the angst potential he has and his way of thinking. Personally, I take one look on his idea of "The world is unjust so we need to start over" and thought 'oh, big mood'. (The same reason I got attached to Cyrus lmao) Unlike Cyrus tho, he's a lot more human and he acknowledges it, which is where I like to imagine how shit goes down with him, especially with his vague backstory.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

When it comes to all of them? Just water down their personality by A LOT. One thing I saw in how ppl treat them in fanfics, especially with Volo, is either making him a terrible irredeemable monster with zero personality other than 'evil' and 'master manipulator' and making him the butt of the joke, or he's a soft fluffy UwU boy that instantly regrets what he's done and becomes good after the MC kisses him or something. Like I get that it happens in memes for the former and x reader indulgences for the latter, but cmon guys. Once or twice is fine, but I feel like it's so overdone. You can't just erase the canon like this. Volo is a compassionate guy. Volo knows well the weight of what he's doing / will do to the world. Those things can and do coexist.

I also have a really long tangent for Volo being compared to Kamado in terms of evilness and being hated / loved by the fandom, but that's for another post if you actually want to see it.

While I don't see much of their depiction in fics (because I'm not wading through 157 submas or x reader fics just to find a decent fic of them), I do also think that, like Volo, Adaman also suffers from his character and story shoved aside because ppl focus more on the fact he's hot, be it in fanarts or fics. I do occasionally see some interesting takes on his character that are explored further, but it's either a) a hidden gem, or b) overshadowed by the main plot of more popular fic focuses (again, submas AUs or x readers)

And for a main character, Irida is just really shoved aside in the fic department. You have to actively scour for stuff about her, although I don't actually do that so I don't really know how bad this gets.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Why would you make me do this I am the worst at this aaaaa- (ded)

Adaman is not formal. At all. Assigning him a steampunk aesthetic because of the association with time is really cool, but expect him to be fussy about it. He is 100% casual, bonus points if the clothes are long sleeved and baggy or loose in any way. (Which is ironic since those are a nightmare to clean in boggy terrain. Whoops, sorry bud) In a way, his modern drip is actually really fitting.

Irida is definitely the opposite of Adaman. She NEEDS her clothes to be at least somewhat revealing, otherwise she won't survive the summer. I can also see her choosing light colored clothes instead of the black undershirt in her modern drip since it reflects light (and therefore heat) instead of absorbing it. Also jewelries. Nothing too excessive, just a bracelet or maybe some earrings to match her outfit.

Volo is definitely an ancient greek aesthetic, although he may be open to other things as well. Like Adaman, his clothes tend to lean on the more comfortable side, although he doesn't mind revealing clothes too much. His default is thick jackets or hoodies with fur linings (and the fandom also agrees since it's the consensus modern drip for him lmao) but I imagine him wearing more traditional celestica clothes in private since his heritage is near and dear to his heart.

Literally no polyester, rayon, nylon, or any synthetic fabric for these guys. They would die of rashes within 30 minutes. (Aside from Volo, but he's still dropping it after a while)

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

While I'm mainly a Volo x Reader fic main (yes I'm one of those ppl pls don't judge ("o_o)) I actually enjoy the fics that analyzes their characters and behavior more. Potentially also worldbuilding and relationship dynamic with some other character (that don't involve romance) is also really good and I keep coming back to them.

Some of my recommendations for Volo in Ao3 is teach me a kinder world (whatever you can bring) and a lot more Volo and Cogita stuff by absolutenadir. Another one is 成功を祈ります (English ver.) and while it's presented as an x reader, reader barely appears and there's zero romance scenes at all. After the story itself, there's a really detailed breakdown of Volo's character as the author has a philosophy masters degree (bless your soul Laurentine, hopefully you're doing well out there) and I think it's a good foundation for understanding and writing Volo as a character as well.

While I don't actively read Adaman and Irida focused fics, there is The Importances of History (Class) by annasofroma which is a series dedicated on worldbuilding and relationship building. While the main focus is on the Galaxy Team, I've read all of them and there's at least one fic in there where both are prominent figures and actually express a distinct way of thinking. There's also same earth; same air; same sky which explore their sibling-like dynamics.

But on that note, shoutout to jdphobe for making that and Apotheosis as well. Definitely the most invested I have ever been in a long fic. There's two other legends arceus fic of theirs as well that focuses on Volo but be sure to give them a read as well!!

And I think that's it!! This post's gone on for long enough so no wildcard for today. Thanks for sending me the ask!

[undesirab1e]

#UNDESIRAB1E              —              an independent roleplay blog for harry potter .              anti jkr .              i write exclusively in first person .      mutually exclusive.      minors dni .          tales told by eden ( 29 ) .              rules under the cut .

— harry is mostly headcanon based because fuck those poorly written books and also fuck that terf trash. my harry has many au aspects. i am currently going back through the books and once i've completed that i will put up a document about all my au changes.

— harry is one of the first characters i ever wrote ( neville longbottom being the first ) over 10 years ago now so he has a very near and dear place to my heart. these books were my autistic special interest growing up. so with that being said i will criticize all aspects of this universe but please know any comments on characters is never me hating them... unless their names are snape or dumbledore in which case its true. i hate them.

— i write in first person because my voice just comes more naturally in first person . i do not expect anyone to match me .

- i would like to write on this blog with the intention of development . what i mean by that is , i think indie has really demotivated me because things are seldom replied to , never mind finished . i can’t remember the last time i got to really dive into any the plots i’ve done & i want to get back to that . while i understand life happens & muse comes & goes , please keep in mind to be considerate of this .

- i’m pretty open to who i follow back so long as your blog looks like a friendly place. however , there are a couple characters i’m not interested in writing with who are as followed : billy hargrove , severus snape, cody fern fc ( he didn’t do anything i just have personal bad experiences sorry ) , ansel elgort fc , & tyler lockwood .

- there will be minimal nsfw here . the most i’d probably post is a meme .

- this blog is strictly mutuals only . i will generally soft block anyone i decide not to follow back though so it shouldn’t be an issue .

- the best way to start interacting with me is simply to send me a meme & continue it . i think they’re a great place to start & they generally work out better than starter calls for me . please note that absolutely anyone is allowed to send in memes whether the meme is platonic or based around established relationships or romantic . 9 times out of 10 we can make anything work (’: so don’t be nervous about it .

[redley-of-many-noodles]

Self-rb’ing with random tags for reach because apparently “some replies might be hidden, blocked, or waiting for approval.” I’m not allowed to put any more replies in my own comments, it seems.

If you don’t appreciate the tag, feel free to block me. I genuinely have no clue who most of you are, I’m just typing a few letters and letting Tumblr autofill the rest. If you think this post is worth sharing, please reblog. Tagging people in your orbit also helps a great deal.

@118sexen @placidd-acid @meredithfoster-blog @one-time-i-dreamt @ipusheveryoneaway @neckkiss @pamelalove @wetheurban @notcontent-blog @merrychrithmas @helsing-mccree @transgirlsgetswords-deactivated @transfloridaresources @gloriousvermin @empress-of-dark2005 @justgirlythings @words-of-emotion @rliex @shirablu @qalmy @tattoos-org @anxietyproblem @yourplayersaidwhat @queerlovenow @unofficial-ihop @bagelcollie @inigosdad @roguetelemetry @noahkalina @xathrid @ghostlywriterr

And some more gimmick blogs I’m aware of, for those of you who feel like interacting.

@biggest-gaudiest-patronuses buddy I’m sorry but you’ve been memes to hell and back because of PM Seymour and the Tube Gang. You’re basically a gimmick blog now. I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules.

@rulemaker is who you’ll wanna talk to ‘bout that.

@the-ghost-painter can i get a spooky lil bugger pls

@pukicho uhmmm wtf you plagiarised my facorite pokeyman, puckachoo. not cool bro. (refer to The Gaud’s tag for my justification.)

@theshitpostcalligrapher This doesn’t really feel like a shit post to me but I don’t want it to die, so… sometime if you don’t have anything else on your plate could I get rule one in some of that Dramatic Text you’re so good at?

@i-say-ok ok?

Radiohead song to lure the Yorkebot:

@i-reblog-your-post-with-balls probably the first time someone has asked to see your balls lol

(disclaimer: i havent actually checked your blog yet so idk much about you. sorry if this offends you.)

@probablybadrpgideas every player that supports israel’s genocide has to roll a dex saving throw to dodge getting absolutely smited by a dive-bombing gargoyle. every turn. thoughts?

@badjokesbyjeff i dont know honestly. got any bad jokes for me?

@amtrak-official any notable names in the transit industry to boycott that you know of?

And now, some yummy bait for my favorite bot., the, um… hiker bot?

Rule One of Spotting Genocide

If you’re debating the semantics of what does and does not constitute genocide, you’re in the middle of a genocide.

Rule Two of Spotting Genocide

In the midst of debating the semantics of genocide, you can tell where a news outlet’s underlying bias lies by checking the headline to see whether ‘genocide’ is in quotes.

This also frequently applies to individuals.

Rule Three of Spotting Genocide

Use your fucking eyes. When shit like this goes down, it will be heard on the internet. Even a competent military will struggle to hide the evidence of an ethnic cleansing.

To uphold the integrity of Rule Three, ensure you strike down any and all internet censorship laws with extreme prejudice.

Rule Four of Spotting Genocide

Word of mouth and community service are your friends. During a genocide, protests will break out in public spaces, and political discussions may seem divided to an abnormal degree. Keep an ear to the ground, and both eyes on the streets.

Rule Five of Spotting Genocide

Check news sources from more than one country. In fact, check from as many different countries as possible. Even the ‘developing’ ones. Especially the developing ones.

I’m talking to you, ‘United’ States.

Rule Six of Spotting Genocide

Posts like this will be in heavy circulation across the web.

Open your eyes.

[glisselda-of-uplands]

just finished Tess of the Road and the entirety of Southlands be like

[saurons-pr-department]

On Adar, Halbrand and Secret Sauron*

[Note: This post contains mention of events from the texts of The Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings and Morgoth's Ring (vol. 10 History of Middle Earth) and so may contain spoilers for anyone watching the show who isn't already familiar with the canon. Or not, I have no idea what they will and will not decide to include in this show.]

Love it, hate it, or could not care less about it, there is big excitement across much of Tolkien fandom about Amazon's The Rings of Power. One of the biggest sources of excitement, getting quite a lot of speculation from what I've seen, is Sauron. Specifically, have we seen him yet? And if so, who is he?

We are currenlty one episode away from the season one finale and there are two characters who've really caught people's attention as potential Saurons: Adar and Halbrand.

Now, as anyone who has even glanced at this blog will know, I kinda like Sauron. [mentally insert the Marge and potato meme here]. He has been Blorbo Supreme for some years now. And as you would imagine, I have opinions. Opinions on what constitutes a good portrayal of Sauron or, probably more appropriate in this case, what constitutes good hinting at Sauron. Of course, just like everyone else online, I'm not privy to any of what's going on behind the scenes in the writers' room, and I don't keep up with any production news, meaning I have no idea if it was intentional for either of these characters to be in the running for potential Saurons. As such, I feel it would be inappropriate to try to comment on how good or not so good I think the writers' trail of breadcrumbs is. After all, if they were never trying to hint, of course the trail won't be any good. For this reason, I'm going to simply discuss these two characters and their potential Sauron-ness, or complete lack thereof, in a kind of floating void (hi Melkor!). Not ideal, I know, but like I said, I have no idea if the intention was even there in the first place to mislead people in the case of these (or should I say, one of these...) characters.

First, I want to address the case of Adar. Of the two characters we're discussing, he's the one I think makes for the more likely Sauron. Do I think he's Sauron? ...The answer is more "I hope not". To my mind, he is too boring an entrance for an already evil Sauron and too blatant an entrance for a secret Sauron and so would be a disappointment. And then we have what, for me, would be the even bigger disappointment; we would no longer have Adar! Honestly, I love the introduction of a character who is one of the original Elves to have been spirited away by Morgoth and twisted to his service. Not to mention that wonderful "Orcs (apologies Adar, I mean Uruks) are just some guys" speech that would almost certainly be reneged on should Adar turn out to be Sauron. However, the above two points pertain more to personal preference on my part and do not play a role in how believable I think Adar is as Sauron. I just couldn't resist adding them in. As for whether I think the theory of Adar being Sauron holds any water... I don't think it's bad. I don't look at people like they've gone mad when they suggest it. I do however think that he's missing something as a Sauron.

We'll start off with what I think could indicate potential traces of Sauron.

Let's start with the lowest hanging fruit. The major red flag (and currently implied to maybe be a red herring) is that he is leading an army of Orcs and that, in a recent episode, together they have 'created' the land of Mordor. I'll admit, this is probably the weakest of the hints. Stealing that sword thingy and throwing the mentos into the coke bottle, sorry, setting off Mt. Doom, is something that easily could have been delegated to an underling. I mean, technically Waldreg did it in the end, so it actually was delegated to an underling now that I think of it. Anyway, on its own Operation M(en)t(os). Doom is not really much to say "there's Wally!**".

There are however points that could be a more direct hint at Sauron himself, things that are more consistent with what we know of his history and personality. The name 'Adar' itself could be a nod towards Sauron's probably having a hand in the creation of the Orcs. I say probably because it's never directly stated that he was involved, but the Valaquenta [from the published Silmarillion] does tell us that he was involved in all of Morgoth's schemes within Arda, with something similar mentioned in Myths Transformed in Morgoth's Ring. Together these texts tell us that he was generally the one who saw that Morgoth's plans were actually seen to completion (Melkor being the accidental god of ADHD). Then there's the reverence that the Uruks show for Adar. To me, this would very much be in line with how Sauron would expect to be treated. This Maia is nothing if not self-important (as anyone familiar with the whole 'mightiest werewolf' fiasco will tell you). We know that he wants to set himself up as a God-King (I'm so sorry, I cannot for the life of me remember where I've seen Tolkien use that phrase for him!). He doesn't simply want to control his followers, he wants their worship. He doesn't want to just be in charge, he wants people to recognise his divine right to be in charge. Adar seems to have something akin to this in the Uruks who follow him.

Then we have two points that I'll admit do require a little bit of a stretch, but hopefully you'll agree it's a stretch that stays within the realms of believability. When Adar is approached by Waldreg and asked if he is Sauron, we see a look of almost disgust on his face. Later, we're led to believe that this is because Adar hates Sauron and has in fact destroyed him in order to free himself and his fellow Uruks of his tyrannous reign. We know from Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, that 'Sauron' is not the name this character uses for himself. Which, honestly? Fair. It means the Abhorred and was bestowed upon him by his enemies. He does not use it himself and Aragorn tells us that he does not permit its use among his followers. Again, fair. If people I didn't like went around calling me 'That Fucking Bitch' I don't think I'd be rushing to adopt its use either. I certainly wouldn't go calling Sauron 'Sauron' to his face unless I had a death wish. During his reign prior to 'capture' by Númenor, he styled himself Tar-Mairon, which Tolkien translates as 'King Excellent', again driving home how highly this guy thinks of himself. I would also here like to point out that 'Mairon' is supposed to be his name before his fall. The Admirable is what it means. 'Sauron' is probably intended to be a pun on, or corruption of, this. To me Tar-Mairon is simply him using his own name, but I digress. My point is that he doesn't like being called Sauron because that's not actually his name. It's an insult. As for Adar claiming to have killed Sauron and now having noble purposes, I think it could be argued that perhaps this is a reference to how, following the War of Wrath and the capture of Morgoth, Sauron did try to repent, perhaps even genuinely [Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, the published Silmarillion]. In both Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age and Myths Transformed, we are given information on how he did genuinely believe that Eru and the Valar had abandoned Middle Earth (or at least had successfully deluded himself into believing this), that he desired to create a better world and had at some point probably genuinely cared about the well-being of his subjects, but that he couldn't help but fall back into evil and into imitating his old master. Personally, I would not reject turning over a new leaf as the reality behind the claim that Adar has killed Sauron, but that might just be because I am a sucker for a character 'killing' their former self in order to become something new. What can I say? I'm part of the Obi Wan 'from a certain point of view' Kenobi school of thought. Now, I could talk forever about Sauron's motives and his possibly maybe trying and failing not to be evil that one time, but this post will quickly end up falling down a rabbit hole it was never meant to enter, so I will leave it at that...

There is one Adar moment (that I remember anyway, you think I remember things? no) that strikes me as distinctly un-Sauron. This would be the moment where he's almost in tears and states that he is not a god, not yet. Now, I know you're going to say "But Sorcha, wanting to be a god is so on brand for Sauron. That's as Sauron as it gets," and you would be right, but here's the thing; as I've already mentioned this guy loves himself, thinks he's the best thing since lembas bread, not to mention the fact that he has a massive cocky streak. Do we need to mention the werewolf thing again [Tale of Beren and Lúthien]? Standing on top of a temple in a lightning storm as if that was all Manwë or Eru had [Akallabêth]? How about laughing at his own evil plan so hard he didn't realise that he was about to be absolutely bodied by a giant island-sinking wave [Akallabêth]? Or what about how he is actually one of the demi gods that helped to sing the physical world into existence? Do we really think this guy is going to sit there and cry about how he's not a god or do we think he's going fume at how no one is acknowledging his brilliance and right to be their ruler? We also know that no matter what the situation, this man seems to be in a laughing mood and that the Second Age is when he seems to be carrying out his most ambitious and unhinged plans (making the One Ring [Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age], setting up a whole human sacrifice cult dedicated to Melkor and achieving immortality [Akallabêth]). Yes, yes, I know, lies and pretences are his whole thing, he's the great Deceiver and all that, but that doesn't change the fact that we often get this strong sense of a joyously cruel and self-important personality from many scenes with Sauron, even when he is lying (he doesn't pretend to be a nobody when he's pretending to be Annatar, does he?). For me, this moment for Adar doesn't match with this personality. It's not a complete misstep, but I would argue that it doesn't quite fit what we know of him.

Right! So, I have spoken way more about Adar than I intended to, and my tiny attention span is trying to Melkor its way out of writing the rest of this post. Unfortunately, I don't have a Sauron to pick up the slack for me, so I best move on to Halbrand before I give up altogether!

Halbrand. Halbrand Halbrand Halbrand. Where do I even start? Being 100% honest, I actually thought this was a crack theory when I first saw it. You know, we have this mysterious guy and we haven't seen Sauron yet so wouldn't it be funny if he was Sauron??? But then I realised that people were being serious. The guy we meet floating on a raft and then see get the shit kicked out of him by random guys who it most certainly would not suit Sauron's purposes to let humiliate him?? The guy who's kinda flirty with Galadriel, who we all know spotted Annatar's bullshit a mile away?? That guy???

There is just... so much wrong here and the connections so tenuous. Yeah, he's interested in forge work but like, so are a ridiculous number of other characters? Being a smith is a whole thing in Tolkien. Is Celebrimbor now in the running for Sauron? Maybe the reason Sauron is so tall is because he's secretly all of the Noldor and all of the Dwarves standing on each other’s shoulders and wearing a trench coat! Okay, so he's clearly not being truthful and we don't really know what his deal is. Gil-Galad, Celebrimbor and the various Durins were all rather shifty at the start in regards the Mithril situation. Míriel wasn't instantly forthcoming about the condition her father was in. Holding things back is not Sauron exclusive. My personal favourite was seeing it pointed out that he laughed once, which as I mentioned above Sauron often is described as doing but like (Jesus wept) I'm laughing right now writing this. Am I Sauron?? (this is starting to feel like that everything is cake video). I have yet to see any evidence given for Halbrand being Sauron that is actually specific to Sauron and not the vaguest of grasping at straws.

This is of course without even going into how Sauron is supposed to arrive in Númenor. A prized prisoner who quickly silver-tongues his way into Ar-Pharazôn's ear, allowing him to become High Priest of the temple of Melkor. He allows only the briefest of humiliations against his person before viciously tearing apart their little island society by the already rotten seams. The random cast away found half dead on a raft is.... not this.

For me, the biggest hole in the idea that he is secretly Sauron is that Halbrand is neither positioning himself to be helpful to anyone, nor is he positioning himself as important. Galadriel is, but he's not doing it himself. For a while he's been trying to insist that he wants to be just some guy. But one theme that runs through Sauron's big Second Age schemes (being Annatar in Eregion and allowing himself as Tar-Mairon to be Númenor's prisoner) is that he establishes himself as someone useful to those he would manipulate and that he somehow has the connections to back up that usefulness. It's how he gets them. He finds something they desperately want and lets them think that he is the person who can get it for them. For the Elves, it was the chance to create a Valinor in Middle Earth or at least to heal the hurts of the First Age. For the Men of Númenor, it was to rip immortality from the hands of the Valar who were withholding it from them. Maybe it's to do with his pride, but he doesn't do the random guy who gets into a brawl with nobodies in a back ally for a bit of petty theft. In his head, he's Middle Earth's saviour. Everything would be perfect if everyone just did what he told them to. Even in all his lying and scheming and manipulating, elements of the belief that he is just what this world needs seem to come through. Just look at his 'disguise' as Annatar. He's 'The Lord of Gifts', a follower of Aulë, a Maia, an emissary of the Valar come to guide the Elves. There is so much of him as Sauron in this deception. Now, I could see a certain amount of practicality in being honest that he is a Maia. It allows him to use his powers for the making of the Rings as well as allowing him to really manipulate those complex feeling the Elves in Middle Earth would have towards the West. But I would also argue that there's just a limit to how much he is willing to lower himself, even for a plot as important as trying to bring the Elves under his sway. This is something that the character of Halbrand is missing.

Now, would I trust this man around a Ring of Power? No, probably not. I wouldn't turn my nose up at him becoming an eventual Ring Wraith. He seems suitably conflicted in what he wants to be caught up by the pull of a Ring. Is he Sauron though? No. Zero Sauron vibes. -1000000/10. If he turns out to be Sauron, I'm rage-quitting my telly and never turning it on again. He's also about as interesting as a wet sock, which is not something that could be said about Sauron.

If we're going to see a character who turns out to be Sauron, for me the most believable and most realistic would be a character who initially seems too good to be true. They have something to offer. Something others want. And they are going to be so obliging as to help, because they also believe in all the things we do. They're on our side. Their help is invaluable and oh so precious…

*Secret Sauron the festive celebration where you are gifted magical rings no strings attached we promise

**Waldo for the Americans and their strange ways