#not really ship art but I need you to know that it’s a thing that exists between my Megatron and Optimus

[anghraine]

TMP is honestly this wild trip despite the glacial pacing at times, because it's like—

Vulcan woman: Spock, you've worked hard to purge yourself of all emotion, but your mind is picking up signals from some human and I guess some logic thing in space. my conclusion: you aren't racially pure enough to find your answers here

Spock: time to track down the pure logic thing and find the answers and meaning in my existence as a Vulcan that I've been searching for all my life and definitely never found in the past before all my previous character development got reset

[Meanwhile]

Kirk: so this unknown cosmic force is going to wipe out all life on Earth, and I've been placed in charge because I have a lot of experience dealing with bizarre dangerous cosmic shit as commander of this specific ship, in addition to my missing being in space because I was pushed into the admiralty at, like, age 39

Decker: *throws a series of tantrums about the prioritization of all of Earth above his ego for almost the entire mission*

Ilia: I have taken an oath of celibacy

Kirk: ... not super relevant. please just do your job

[Also, the transporter painfully melts some people we don't know into unrecognizable lumps of flesh. This is completely disconnected from the rest of the movie; it has no relevance to anything else, is immediately forgotten and never acknowledged again, and everyone acts like Bones is silly and paranoid for being nervous about going through the transporter]

Uhura: I think Admiral Kirk is obviously the person most qualified to command our incredibly dangerous and important mission, and we're damned lucky he got put in charge. if anyone cares

[everyone else]: *doesn't care*

McCoy: Jim, maybe you shouldn't make your mid-life crisis everyone else's problem

Decker: yeah! I should still be in charge! my solution is "don't take risks" when encountering the unknown and wait until systems are 100% safe before we do anything

Kirk: again let me reiterate that we need to act decisively even if it's risky or billions of people will die. we have to at least try, so waiting is not an option here

Spock: *shows up and, despite being icy and dismissive, immediately fixes all their most pressing technical problems*

McCoy: maybe we shouldn't trust him. he has his own agenda now

Kirk: wtf of course we can trust him he's Spock how dare

[Kirk quickly figures out the changes to the bridge, and from then on, his judgment and decisions are pretty much continually vindicated by the plot. Decker's advice goes from temporarily useful to unprofessional constant jabs with little sense of the real stakes and no better ideas. It becomes extremely apparent that Kirk really is far better equipped in temperament and experience to deal with the potential slaughter of Earth than Decker, especially when assisted by Spock—even this arctic version of Spock.]

Spock: *knocks out a crewman, steals a spacesuit, and tries to make contact with the cosmic acid trip/space vagina by traveling through what he unenthusiastically describes as its "orifices"*

Kirk: I ... guess maybe Bones was - no, it can't be - wait a moment, I -

Spock: *starts transmitting all the data he's gathering to Kirk*

Kirk: hah, I knew he would never betray me! Okay, everyone, you all stay here, I'm going to jump into space to catch him

[Spock melds with the cosmic space vagina and it violently ejects him through various orifices, as he might describe them, until he's thrown right into Kirk's arms, signifying nothing]

Bones and Chapel: melding with the cosmic logic vagina seems to have fried his brain :(

Spock, laughing: I should have known ...

Kirk: *seizes his shoulders* known WHAT Spock what are you talking about. please tell me your mind is intact. sweetheart it's okay what are you full of shame about this time *tries to shake the brain damage loose*

Spock: Jim ... I melded with the supreme logic being and discovered that there's no beauty or art or meaning in raw information or logic ... only a barren STEM hellscape without the humanities

[Spock slides his hand down Kirk's arm until their fingers wrap around each other, and their joined hands tightly cling together. unrelatedly, we have definitely seen Vulcans and Romulans use finger stroking as kissing and/or foreplay]

Spock: it was awful and empty and not at all what I've been searching for this whole time. and finally I understood that the real meaning in life comes from the simple feeling between you and me. The mechanized space vagina couldn't understand our love

[Kirk wraps his other hand tightly around his and Spock's clasped fingers. God knows what degree of obscenity they would be committing on Vulcan, but in any case, McCoy (as ever) politely pretends he's not seeing this happen right in front of him, since Kirk and Spock obviously have forgotten, yet again, that other people exist]

Kirk: 🥹🥰

[They stare tenderly at each other without speaking for a few seconds, but are definitely communicating on some level; after a moment's hesitation, Kirk nods slightly, then Spock nods in response, and it feels like we're missing half the conversation. Then Spock explains V'ger's existential angst in terms that obviously apply equally to his own past self, and by past I mean "for most of this movie until a few minutes ago"]

It turns out that V'ger, in addition to being a cosmic acid trip/space vagina/mass murderer, is also an annoying teenager, maturity-wise. I do appreciate Kirk and Spock having their "this is just adolescent angst and we are too middle-aged for this nonsense" reaction, and noping out to provoke V'ger into some measure of cooperation until they all figure out that it's trying to communicate with NASA.

In the course of all this, there's a point where Decker manages to be mildly helpful via the Ilia probe sort of remembering their old relationship, and he proves his value at last by welcoming the chance to orgasmically fuse with Ilia/V'ger, while Kirk is horrified and baffled at why Decker would find this remotely appealing. (ngl Kirk in this movie feels like the most purely gay-coded iteration of him; from the film itself, I could easily believe he has lost all attraction to women at this point.)

So thankfully, we're finally free of the weird and underwhelming Decker/Ilia duo via multiple cosmic acid orgasms, and the Earth is saved, etc. In aesthetics, it's all powerfully 70s, even in the awesome strange bits before V'ger looked quite so, uh, yonic. Somehow even the new bland sleepwear version of Starfleet uniforms seem very 70s; apparently Spock's kickass robes and the muscle-revealing quasi-polo top that Kirk promptly switches into consumed all available stylishness.]

Scott: everything's fine now, so I guess we can drop you off at Vulcan, Mr. Spock

Spock: my experiences today have, uh, resolved my need to stay on Vulcan, so there's no reason to detour for me. I'll just tag along to Earth for >_> no reason

Kirk: [deeply vindicated for about the twelfth time that day, but this time also managing to exude Spock is getting laid tonight without saying a word about him] Mr. Sulu, ahead, warp one.

[unforth]

crossposting this from the cnovels community on Dreamwidth.

I was wondering, where do y'all buy physical books in Chinese? My preferred source recently disappeared, and I'm hoping to find something more affordable than sources I've used before. I'm in the US, but I figure that as long as people say where they are when they answer, a post like this could make a decent resource for those of us interested in purchasing physical volumes in Chinese. We can use whichever parts are relevant to our own purchasing needs/desires?

Places I've used (in no particular order):

Heartbeat Anime: this was my preferred source, but they've disappeared. I noticed they were gone right after the US tariffs were announced, though I don't know if that's why. Link is to their defunct website.

Koon Books: has been solid and reliable for me, but shipping costs are extremely high.

Books TW: Taiwanese bookstore. Shipping is high, and I'm not always sure how to tell what's in traditional vs. what's in simplified (and I'm not ready to really tackling learning traditional yet, though I've been starting a little as I'm in a group where people use both).

Shandian GO: a Canada-based group order that I've used a lot, but they're more merchandise focused. ( @shandian-go on Tumblr)

Taobao: not linking specific shops because I can't get it to work right on my computer without a VPN. Using Taobao from a US ISP has always been challenging and now it's even harder; when I've ordered from them, I had a friend in Beijing order the books and they were shipped to her, then I paid her back and she brought them to me next time she was in the US.

Kinokuniya: I've never ordered online from them; I shop at their physical store in New York City. Obviously they're Japanese-book focused, but they've been branching out; I was able to get the TGCF art book from them, and they carry the TGCF manhua in Chinese as well. I'm hoping they'll keep adding more. They have way more books in Chinese on their webpage than they do in store. Not sure how much is traditional vs. simplified; the text on their webpage is traditional Eastern Book Store NYC: again, I've never used their website; I go to their physical store when I'm in New York City. They definitely have things in-store that aren't on their webpage (like, I just checked priest - their website has Zhenhun but not Youfei, which I've seen while there.)

Via Lactea: sort of cheating, in that this is a Canada-based publisher who print books in Chinese, so the only books they have are the ones they publish. I've also gotten everything they've published in English.

Amiami: I've not ordered books from them, but they do carry at least a few books in Chinese I think? I've used them for merch as well.

From all of the above, my orders have always gone well and I've received virtually everything I've bought, except for one instance where Customs impounded a shipment that included some ShandianGO stuff (they weren't the target of the impound but were packaged in the same bulk shipment). Places tend to package really well, and shipping costs tend to range from "high" to "ludicrous." I'm happy to say more about my own experiences if anyone would like more info about any of the above.

Where have you ordered from, and how have things gone?

[kryhara]

Megop (I need to learn how to draw Megatron lol)

[tagarilaghost]

I SWEAR CELEBI'S THINGY IS COMING SOON BUT I REALLY WANTED TO POST THIS ALRIGHT

yeaah... future trio got me too...

and Darkrai is there too, because of course he is.

hey look i drew a cute Drifloon :D

...ignore the rest

whatever started at Darkrai doodles ended in brainrot of future trio + darkrai and I'm blaming @scribz-ag24 for this

[cheaploafs]

Ruin each other like star crossed lovers…

[triglycercule]

Thoughts on mtt

they should travel the multiverse together and see and experience a more peaceful life than all of them ever have (⁎˃ᴗ˂⁎)

also they should get to gnaw at each other like rabies infected dogs 🧡🙏

[bogkeep]

btw etsy is doing this incredibly annoying thing that, unless i add tracking to my orders - Which I Do Not Have The Resources To Offer And It Would Increase Shipping Prices Considerably - they're gonna hold on to a third of the money i make from sales for an additional 45 days after :') just because i haven't been using my etsy shop for a while, so it's "suspicious" - even though i HAVE used it in the past and never received complaints about my orders. haha!! what a user friendly platform!!!!!

not to mention all the recommendations like "you know, if you offer free shipping you'll sell better :)" "1-3 days processing time is worse for sales than 1-2 days processing time, you should REALLY CONSIDER going for that one instead :)" "you should add videos of your wares, it'll sell better :)" when i just. i just wanna sell my little pieces of paper i have been drawing on. i just want a convenient and accessible storefront and sell things in a way that is convenient and accesible to me. is it really So Much to ask for

anyway does anyone know if ko-fi store is any better to use? switching to a different storefront may be a hassle but i'm not sure how long my tolerance for etsy's bullshit will last

[last-flight-of-fancy]

hey, hey, quick internet fandom ettiquete lesson; X has two hands jokes only vibe if you are talking to someone who is ALSO already talking about how X has two hands. Okay? Okay. It is in fact very rude to go onto other people’s posts where only one set of hands is involved to evangalise about two hands. When seeing ship art/fic of only half your ot3, it is proper ettiquete to simply enjoy the art/fic as it is, and if so inspired create/commission/seek out the ot3 content of your choice. This has been your quick internet fandom lesson, thank you for your time.

[anonyanonymouse]

🙈

[st4rstudent]

I think every social media website should have an effective tagging system, just my thoughts

[kakusu-shipping]

I’m making a Mario Series Shipping Chart and Bowser is making it incredibly difficult to format

[doodlingwren]

I didn't log in on Tumblr for a week bc was busy in UNI hell and the second I came back, I heard about the data sold to AI mess and what the fuck am I supposed to do or to say lol...

Anyway, I must add that I'm not going, like, anywhere else. Am I tired of this situation? YES, trust me. I've already experienced art being stolen to be handed over to AI programs (I'm talking about you, DeviantArt) but I'm exhausted from moving from one social to another. The most fucked up thing is that even with a deactivated account, your stuff can be used to training Midjourney and shit, so… like, there's not a lot to do.

The thing that makes me mad is the way Tumblr handled this. By the way they wrote the announcement, it does feel like it has already happened, and the update was just a notice.

[habits-white-rabbit]

Every time I see someone use Purple Haze Feedback for 'UwU FuGio real!!' or paint Giorno as a coldhearted sadistic master manipulator I feel myself coming closer and closer to snapping

[kellystar321]

.

[lightbulb-warning]

16 classmates means 256 potential dynamics to explore if we only consider 1 on 1 interactions (which i will! ...until this sentence ends) and that means 256 drawings. considering that group interactions exist and it can be any combo that is... a way larger number.

i have 2 hands, 0 time and too much ambition!!

haha! oh no.

[alopecoiddaydream]

The reason I, like, never post my DaveKat art aside from that one post is bc I am TERRIFIED of mischaracterizing them. I hope this helps.