#one of the few beefs i have with the Franchise

[funishment-time]

say what you want about UDG but at the Very Least it shows us, a little, how beloved Junko was canonically supposed to be, which most other pieces of DR media run away from for some reason

[mcyt-trios]

PROPAGANDA:

Eclipse Federation:

i dont like them. they ruined my life. Subz and Vitalasy had already partnered in previous seasons but this one, Vitalasy ended up leaving for a few months, leaving Subz alone, and Zam ended up getting close to him after immense trauma at the hands of his former teammates. Zam has done SO many wrongs, including to Subz himself and Subz STILL took him in and made him join Eclipse Federation after Zam died 14 times in a row and got banned then revived by the same player who's been killing him all this time. And it could've been perfect but no, Zam had betrayed his previous team due to them using dupes via exploits, and now Eclipse Federation ALSO has exploits! And he decided that yeah his morals were more important than being loved! And so he murders Vitalasy when he's at his most vulnerable point, lets everyone gaslight him into thinking Vitalasy is an irredeemable evil monster who will never change, even as Vitalasy SAID he was ready to change before the betrayal even happened, Eclipse threw out their whole revenge plans because of Zam's positive influence and he just broke everything. Subz couldn't be with Zam but also couldn't see himself at Vitalasy's side, leaving him alone. Vitalasy hated Zam and yet never killed him or hunted him down, despite Zam acting like he did. And when Vitalasy left, banning himself off from the server, Zam had some time alone to think and realized he fucked up SOOOO bad. And Subz revived Vitalasy and told him to kill him. And ban him. His last wish. His Deliverance. And to make up with Zam. And Vitalasy tried, and they kind of did make up over Subz's death, but then Zam was like "actually im going to kill everyone and destroy the server now. because i want subz back and also because i always do extremely drastic things when i don't need to because i have unchecked mental illnesses i refuse to get help for". And surprisingly when Subz came back he didn't like that! And they ended in tragedy! Eclipse is fucked up. It's a trio that's always about the absence of one person, it's a team that could only happen in one timeline and it was doomed from the very start. But the love was there. It made everything worse, truthfully. But it was there. And that matters. Also as a fun fact Zam himself on twitter has referred to eclipse as a throuple, which is not canon but that's pretty funny. he also stated on stream he didn't want to get therapy because it'd ruin his lifesteal character. and there was a saga where they would "marry" (challenge lost kinda shenanigans) and zam was the only one happy about it. he's not normal. there's something wrong with him. love that for him though sorry for the block of text. I really dislike them. They're my beloveds :3

Big Eyes Crew:

best gas station owners you've ever seen

they started a business together and had beef with Boatem where Tango built a giant eyeball over their base which dispensed ravagers onto them. also they're called Big Eye Crew because Keralis and Bdubs both have massive eyes on their skins but Tango DOESN'T so he made big round red glasses for them all to wear and they're iconic frankly.

SILLY GUYS DOING SILLY THINGS

They made a gas station franchise so powerful there was a location on the moon

[engeorged]

Gainerbots 5

A few more. I’ve tested these out a lot more and these are the best three from the latest batch. One feeder and two gainers. Let me know what I should do next!

Matt Cubicle Feeder - Matt is a shy nerd you share a cubicle with in your soul destroying desk job. He’s hardly spoken to you before but recently he’s been doing a cookery class and bringing in the food do you to try. You have no idea but he is secretly feeding you up and you begin to blow-up

Christoph A-Lister - Christoph is a very attractive a list celebrity who has been playing a superhero for 12 years. He has just left the franchise and is keen to establish himself as a real actor. He’s working with a genius director who wants him to gain 75lbs of solid belly to play an ex rugby player. He comes to you, a personal trainer to help him get fat.

Pete Cornfed - (My favourite!!) You run a farm and you’ve been advertising for some help over the harvest and Pete lumbers in. He’s a giant at 6’6 and is solid corn fed beef. He has muscles on muscles. He’s dumb but can work a farm. You offer him a job that doesn’t pay well but he can eat with you in the evenings. He has a huge appetite

[krockdove]

You know, after watching the last batch of Earthspark, I was really disappointed for a number of reasons. I was angry about it.

But then I learned the producers were treated terrible by Paramount and had no choice but to end a lot of things in season one, now I'm not mad at them at all. I instead curse Paramount forever.

so....I'll write some headcanons I was looking forward to in Earthspark. I maybe do a series of related posts. Today is about one of the most important characters, Starscream.

Warning! This post contains spoilers.

Let me make one thing clear: I have no beef with his redemption. No, rather, I believed that Earthspark would do it as a matter of course. I never once doubted it.

The one of themes in Earthspark is "Second Chance". Starscream is the character in the Transformers franchise who most deserved a second chance, the character who could become the most dramatically three-dimensional with a second chance. Even though S1C was made under pressure to wrap everything up quickly, his redemption eventually came, which is what the show was meant to do from the beginning. The problem is, because the story had to be wrapped up in one season, all the dramatic plot points, connections between moments that should have been important, and characterizations were weakened across the board.

We are happy with his Redemption, but this is Earthspark. Not TFP. That means, we once had the opportunity to explore Starscream's character much more deeply. Not just in one episode, but a few.

Especially since I was serious about what was hinted at in the Warzone episode, I was disappointed that it wasn't used in the story.

I've seen several theories about that episode, the conclusion was that Starscream was caught in the Space Bridge explosion and was officially declared dead. I was actually pretty sure. That's why his appearances were low throughout the season, and he survives the explosion, BECAUSE Allspark revives him and fuses with him, right?

It makes it natural for Megatron to talk about the battle like that way and reveal his trauma, especially if he thought he lost both Shockwave and Starscream because of his actions. (This explains Soundwave's anger too.)

So Starscream was treated as dead, but actullay he was secretly imprisoned by the evil GHOST. He was unconscious when it happened, so it would have taken him a long time to figure out what was going on. He doesn't know that others to think he's dead. He sees his comrades locked the cell and thinks Megatron has really abandoned them.

This misunderstanding would have been a very important source of conflict when he was later reunited with Megatron. I even expected him to be the one to reveal the truth about GHOST.

I was almost certain that the GHOST and Mandroid plots would carry over into S2, so I thought it would be a conflicted ending with Starscream revealing the truth at the end of S1. It would have been nice if Starscream's character to be explored at the beginning of S2, along with his redemption, and the past war story.

And that would have made for some interesting drama not only between him and Megatron, but also with Optimus.

Imagine if that really happened. Starscream insists GHOST is wrong. How do you think Optimus and Megatron would take it?

Yeah, I can hear their doubts up here.

The point is, Starscream is seen as untrustworthy. Megatron would have a 50/50 chance of trusting him, but Optimus certainly wouldn't. From his perspective, Starscream would be seen as trying to drive a wedge between him and Megatron and reignite the war. In this situation, no one is lying, but someone ends up being unfairly labeled a liar. Optimus would compromise for the sake of the people he cares about, but they wouldn't include Starscream.

And I think this is the perfect moment for Hashtag to appear!!

Like, she's going to show up and be one who believes Starscream. If she believes in him, so do some of the Terrans – not all of them for now – but eventually the Hashtag and the Terrans believe in Starscream, and it would be really touching if that led to his redemption!

(also it inspires Terrans to dig into the truth of the GHOST themselves)

After it was revealed that he had an Allspark inside of him, he must have had an internal conflict. When he realized that the hope of his home planet and their people lay within him, could he handle it?

He struggles with it, but eventually does something heroic to help the Terrans. Maybe he uses the power of Allspark.

Terrans believe in Starscream when even Optimus doesn't, and it changes him, it would have fulfilled the show's message – Everyone deserves their second chance.

[measlyfurball13]

Seeing as your one of the only people I know who is into Transformers, would you mind info dumping about it?

I know very little of anything about it besides the old "Micheal Bay!" Joke, and that it was initially made to sell toys, but that doesn't really mean anything.

So tell me, is there "more than meets the eye" to this franchise?

HOOOOOOOOO BOY

The single most important thing to know about Transformers is that there is no singular canon. Rather, there's a TON of different continuities, or basically alternate versions of the same universe. Transformers is a franchise that basically tells the same story over and over again, altering each time while keeping some very basic core themes and characters.

Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots. Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons. The Autobots are the good guys, the Decepticons are the bad guys, and they have been fighting a war for millions of years. It is rare for continuities to change these core facts. They might be modified, but they will never be unrecognizable.

In one continuity, Optimus might be a younger, more inexperienced leader. In another, he may be old, wise, and powerful. In some continuities, Optimus and Megatron have personal beef with each other through their backstories, making them almost lost brothers of a sort. In others, Megatron is a stranger and Optimus is an impersonal victim of his cruelty. Each time this story, the story of Transformers, is told, little details like this change.

Generally, continuities try to keep a certain "feel" to them. While sometimes a continuity will completely reinvent a character, most of the time it will try to keep a character within a few (arbitrarily chosen) character traits and/or role.

So, if this story has been told over and over again, and there's certain established expectations for characters, what was this all based on? The answer is the original 1984 animated cartoon! This cartoon is referred to as "Generation 1", or just "G1" for short. This is the cartoon made to sell toys. The animation quality is poor, the dialogue and music are cheesy, and I absolutely love it to pieces. I would highly, highly recommend that you watch the first three episodes, which basically acts as the pilot for the whole show. It really writes the characters at their most iconic and introduces the setting.

Now that you understand that G1 is the base, you can go from there and explore other continuities! Remember, continuities don't connect across different mediums (with the very distinct exception of one specific continuity, which I'll get to right after this) so feel free to find one that interests you. In general, each cartoon (or close series of cartoons) is a continuity. Allow me to list some of the more popular ones:

Transformers Beast Wars. This is arguably the continuity that follows the established G1 pattern the least, since this is the cartoon that followed right after it. In this one, the transformers turn into animals and battle on a prehistoric earth. This one is well-renowned for its surprisingly deep character writing, but the antique 3D animation is the biggest hurdle to enjoyment. It's kinda the continuity that's the most forgotten.

Transformers Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. Also known as the Unicron Trilogy (no, not "unicorn"!), this one was made in Japan and then dubbed and exported. They introduce a lot of anime-inspired features into the lore such as powerups and the like. Armada is regarded very highly with good writing, the other two not so much. The continuity between them is fairly loose. You could absolutely get away with watching just that one. Here's a link to Armada.

The Michael Bay films. You already know this one. These live action films are in a continuity of their own. In all absolutely fairness, the first movie is pretty good, barring Bay's more childish flairs. If you don't mind the U.S. military being portrayed as the absolute good guys, I think you'll genuinely like it.

The Bumblebee movie. Special shoutout to this one! This live action movie is in its own continuity that's really fun. This is an excellent movie and I love it so much, please watch it at some point.

Transformers Animated. This is one of the most widely beloved continuities in the entire franchise. People really, really like this show. It takes the franchise in a refreshing new direction, with the first season feeling almost a bit more like a superhero cartoon than a "traditional" transformers cartoon. The Autobots are the absolute underdogs in this one and it's hard not to root for them. Here's a link. This one's a good one to start with.

Transformers Cyberverse. This one is a web series that was focused for a younger audience for the first season, gets decent in the second but then gets absolutely and insanely fucking unhinged in season 3. I. . . don't recommend this one for any beginners? It's a trip. That first season is pretty unbearable. The second season starts out feeling like you missed something, and then gradually gets kinda better. Season 3 is insane. Look, just tackle this one after you've tackled the others. Don't start here.

Transformers Earthspark. The newest of the bunch, this one is releasing on Paramount Plus. I've really enjoyed what I've seen of it! It's a much more down-to-earth approach to the story. It changes some characters but in interesting ways. The new characters are excellent as well. You can definitely start with this one.

And finally, without further ado:

Transformers Prime.

I fucking LOVE this one.

This one is my favorite and was what really got me into the Transformers fandom. This cartoon takes the good innovations from the Michael Bay movies and then actually tells an amazingly competent story with it. It's the Transformers cartoon with the darkest tone by a long shot, and it really sells that this story is about a war. Characters die! The serialization is suuuuuuuper tight- one of my favorite examples is that injured characters have to spend time onscreen healing back up.

This cartoon also gives a significant amount of focus and exploration of the Decepticons as a faction as well, which is rare for the franchise. Both the Autobot and Decepticon characters will charm their way into your heart.

This show is equivalent in quality to Avatar the Last Airbender to me. I know that's probably overhyping it. You may not like it as much. But I really really really love it.

Here is a link to the first season.

But wait! There's more. Welcome to the Aligned Continuity!

Transformers Prime is actually part of the franchise's first attempt to really connect a story across media platforms. The result was. . . mostly successful? Definitely a lot of plot holes/errors, and some of the continuity is trash, but I want to highlight two videogames specifically:

Transformers: War for Cybertron. This game is a third-person shooter by High Moon studios. They do an absolutely stellar job with this one. Taking place on Cybertron, the home planet of the transformers, this one acts as the first part of an indirect prequel to Transformers Prime.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. If the first game is good, then this game is amazing. The devs layer on more amazing mechanics to those introduced in the first game, with some of my absolute most favorite moments in all of gaming happening in this one. It acts as a second part of the prequel to Transformers Prime.

The writing in both of these games is so amazing, and the gameplay is so much fun. I know you love videogames, so that's why I'm recommending these two you. HOWEVER, the cost is that these games are stupid difficult to get ahold of. You'll most likely have to sail the high seas, yo-ho-ho, if you catch my drift. I play these on my Xbox 360. Best of luck to you!

Anyways, there are other entries into the Aligned Continuity. There's a set of three novels that I've heard are stellar. If you're looking for a show for young kids but that is also fun for you to watch, you could always check out Transformers: Rescue Bots. That one has a small but devoted fanbase of older fans.

But do NOT touch the cartoon in this continuity called Robots in Disguise. Do not. It's marketed as a sequel to Transformers Prime. It is not. Not really. It's like the Halo 5 of Transformers. Every day I am reminded that it exists I am in pain.

---

And there lies the end of my introduction! If you actually did read all of this, congrats to you. Ironically, I'm not sure that you've really ended up more knowledgeable than you started. I didn't really go over anything specific about characters or plot or lore or anything. But I hope I've illustrated my point that to do so would be fruitless- this story exists in so many different iterations that you just have to go out and find the one that resonates the most with you, y'know?

My recommendation for getting acquainted with the franchise is to start with those first three G1 episodes, then move on to either Animated or Prime. You could also pick Beast Wars if you're looking for something with a more retro 90s charm, which I know you like from Marathon.

[ancanosaur]

Does anyone else remember how weirdly toxic the MK Fandom was around MKx era? Becuase I do.

Those like handful of blogs that were just getting into beef with random Kano fans and their whole thing was "Kanno is a peice of shit! And so are you for liking this fictional antagonist!!!" I remember a few who put anti-Kano in thier description of their blog and it was just a hobby to shame people for drawing Kano fanart or liking the character in any way. (And a small revival with mk11 since they made him fuzzy for that game lmao)

Weird uncomfortable age gap shipping... That whole thing about that one artist that drew Cassie cage/subzero stuff and a shit ton of people were like "uh, he's friends with her dad and is like 52. So that's kinda weird." But then it also turned into a headcanon argument bc people were like "yeah subzero definitely watched Cassie cage grow up and he was a part of her childhood." Wich is so funny looking back at it bc there was no need for people to theorise anything about the characters relationship any further than what is Canon for it to be weird.

That fucking Sektor fan who just casually wrote headcanons about Sektor being a huge fucking racist for no goddamn reason?????!?!??? The headcanon specifically was about how they ship him and Cyrax and how Sektor calls him slurs and physically, mentally, and sexually abuses him as part of thier romantic relationship????????????? And they even gave examples of the horribly racist things he says to him¿¿¿? And that Cyrax was just okay with it??? And ended the post with like " I love my evil little man 🥰" No trigger warnings on the post either and when they were critiqued for it they were like "it's realistic and it's just my personal headcanons and you don't have to agree. Sektor is my comfort character and this is just how i see him." -type shit. (Deeper lore about said person. I actually interacted with them way before the headcanon thing. They approached me wanting to rp and they were so controlling they were basically just telling me what to do the whole time. super rude and impatient. So they just suckedl lol.)

Art blogs getting wierd asks that requested them to draw the fem characters in what was very obviously kink art but the asker would ask it in a way to trick the artist into making free fetish art for them. I got so many requests back in the day to "could you draw mileena for me :) but with her jaw wired shut? :)" or "could you draw kitana wereing a new pair of flip flops for me? That would make my day." like ????? Vague to the point of its sus but there were alot of minors in the fandom at the time including myself, i was in highschool at the time. but I was raised on deviantart so I could smell a wierd fetish from a mile away. But I did see other young artists fulfill these requests and several of them completely unaware that they were drawing kink art. Kink art is cool. But not when you're tricking minors into drawing it for you for free. (There was this mileena anon that was the most common one and I swear it was the same dude bc it was always something to do with with her getting her jaw wired shut, her getting bracess, or some other hardware being attached to her jaw/teeth.)

Selfshippers/heteroshippers being like "I know Kung Jin is the only Canon gay character in this very cis het and hyper masculine video game franchise- but im gonna ship him with my girl oc :) becuase he isn't real and it's not wierd to just pick the only gay one :) out of a huge line of big muscle men to choose from :) to ship with :) my female girl she/her lady with a vagina self insert :) or ship him with Cassie :) bc they are friends and should date :) I know he likes men :) and erasing that part of him :) erases :) a big part of his character :) and character arc :) but he would look cute :) kissing girls :) bc im :) girl :) and so is Cassie cage :) and my oc :) - is what I remember.

2015/16 really was a time for the fandom.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, round 1 of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Mick Rory and Leonard Snart:

The only supervillains on that show that understood the assignment. Thieves with a flare and loyal only to eachother. Eventually become anti heroes on legends of tomorrow but I liked them best as villains. The best part of both shows. Over the top and committed to the theme for the vibes. Puns and crime.

Fire and ice pairing! 

For Sergey and Oleg: (propaganda from the previous tournament here)

They're so married!!! The domesticity oh my god they live together and they sleep in the same bed and they're worried if the other isn't here when they wake up and they take care of each other when they're sick. Sorry, the latest issue was a lot. Anyway, the crime-doing part. They're both officially criminals and they're wanted in quite a few countries for various reasons: in Russia they killed A Lot of people in various bloody and/or arson-y ways (most famously rich corrupted people, which only antagonists can do) and blew up some stuff (which also killed a lot of innocent people) and kidnapped other innocent people just to get revenge on one guy who was just doing his job (the cop who got Sergey in prison while Oleg was out of the country) (and technically Oleg breaking Sergey out of prison is also a crime, on top of all his solo mercenary stuff). In Italy they also killed people and also broke countless laws (you can even count building safety laws in here for fun), in Mexico (honeymoon!) they had a run-in with the local mafia and that also ended bloodily, in a few other countries they were mostly just evading the law but you can't really do that without breaking other laws. They stole at least one helicopter (after killing the soldiers in it). And that's all *before* the current series. In that one they're coercing someone into becoming a vigilante (an already wanted by the law vigilante), and they're trying not to do so much public things, because they like being presumed dead and not being on the run. But that doesn't stop them from bloodily killing anyone who threatens them or Lera (the med student under the new Plague Doctor costume) or their plan, or defending themselves (by killing people) when the consequences of their past actions come around (does it even count as legitimate defense when you kill almost all the henchmen of the guy who wants to kill you because years ago his parent was an unfortunate victim of your beef with someone totally unrelated? Not sure). And yes *technically* they're killing other criminals, but also they are much worse criminals themselves (as said on- page by a secondary character who was trying to kill them because of, well, all the past terrorism / murder).

They're widely considered to be the worst people in a town full of criminals. A lot of people want to kill them, because of all the murders they did earlier. In all their appearances they're either the most married couple of a series that also has real married couples, or extremely efficient killers who don't have a qualm disposing of everybody else's henchmen.

[aliciavance4228]

What do you guys think about the relationship between Demeter and Hades?

The reason why I'm asking this question is because a LOT of retellings and fanfictions ended up turning Hades into this poor underrated soul, whereas she is completely demonized. At this point we can talk about a Draco in Leather Pants/Ron the Death Eater situation.

For those who don't know, these are two different tropes which often happen to go hand-in-hand, whose names are clearly inspired by the Harry Potter franchise. Draco in Leather Pants is when a fandom takes a controversial or downright villainous character and downplays their flaws, often turning them into an object of desire and/or a victim in the process. On the polar opposite, Ron the Death Eater is refferring to a fandom's tendency to shoehorn a good canon character into being a villain or make a villain significantly more evil than in canon.

Now, I perfectly know that they two are mythological figures and not just fictional characters and that "good" and "evil" are reductive terms, but you got the idea.

About Hades: While it is true that he is one the least volatile of the Gods, many modern day fans choose to overlook his kidnapping of Persephone on the basis that she eventually came to love him and they end up having the most stable relationship compared to many other divine couples. Some prefer to claim that Persephone willingly followed him into the underworld, and depict Demeter as an abusive, controlling mother that Hades rescued Persephone from. This is ignoring the fact that most versions of the myth state that Persephone loved her mother and was taken by force. In fact, the most famous and well-known version states that Persephone had screamed for her mother as Hades snatched her into the Underworld and that Hades had to trick her into consuming the pomegranate seeds of the Underworld in order to keep her bound to him when he was ordered to return her to her mother. Not exactly a great start for a relationship, is it?

Now on Demeter: She is mostly remembered for starving the Earth until Persephone was given back to her (which even then was done out of grief for her daughter going missing), but is otherwise a loving mother and a reasonable goddess (if not provoked), and plays integral roles in the canon mythology which don't involve Persephone (advising Psyche for one). Modern interpretations however rarely give her a personality outside of being an overprotective, overbearing, and sometimes even abusive mother to Persephone, and her starvation of the earth is portrayed more as sheer pettiness of her daughter gaining some agency in her marriage than despair at losing her.

Now, I think that one of the ideas in many HxP fanfictions that is irrirating me the most is the one that Hades and Demeter are deeply hating each other, with Hades viewing Demeter as his worst nightmare and Demeter considering him the worst son-in-law to ever exist. And do not get me wrong; they two probably still have beef with each other from time to time, but the fact that people cannot accept the possibility that there can be a lot nuances when it comes to a relationship of any nature and that they two might have become at least decent with each other in time is quite reductive in my honest opinion.

Especially because there are a few myths which suggest that they two aren't fighting like cat and dog:

In Homeric Hymn To Demeter, it is pretty much emphasized the fact that Demeter hated Zeus more than Hades for what happened.

In one of the myth versions about Minthe she was Hades' ex-girlfriend who then became angry when she discovered that he's now married with Persephone and made the ridiculously horrible decision of boasting that she was better than her and that Hades would soon get rid of Persephone make and her the Queen of the Underworld instead. Demeter was not amused.

And the last one in particular makes you wonder: If Demeter was completely against the marriage between Hades and Persephone and still viewed him as a monster for what he has done, then why would she be so willing to protect both her daughter's marriage and her status as the Queen of the Underworld? This was basically her chance of permanently getting her daughter back, yet she turned that nymph into a plant instead. That means that she doesn’t hate Hades as much as people like to believe, or at least that she respects her daughter's desires (in this myth version it is also stated that Persephone eventually came to love Hades) even when she doesn’t agree with them.

And look, I know that in some myth versions they two also have children together, but I prefer not to bring them into discussion purely because of their disgusting nature. Brother-sister incest is common in Greek Mythology, but having sex with the same man your daughter is married to is a rare flavor of disturbing on its own.

[matchbet-allofthetime]

Something I've noticed is I prefer lurking, even in a fandom as wonderful and old as the TF fandom

Because y'all will shit on someone for any character

Getaway, for example. Is he inherently good after what he did to Tailgate? No.

Would y'all be all over him if he hadn't done that to tailgate? Yeah. You would.

Why do y'all excuse everything Megatron or Overlord or Starscream or whoever else has done but you don't excuse getaway too??

Because frankly, y'all excuse some mad heinous shit just to get an excuse to simp for popular ones like Megatron and overlord (who are two of the worst bots in the ENTIRE franchise. I love them both, but you know I'm right)

Like I'm not even gonna fight anyone on this, again, I mostly lurk

But this just pisses me off

I don't excuse what getaway did to tailgate. But I don't excuse what any of my other favourites have done either.

Y'all really need to recognize that, with very few exceptions, media is simply meant to be enjoyed and for people to feel emotional in some way (good emotions, sad emotions, etc. That's the point of content dude, a story to enjoy)

Anyways I'm kinda sick of seeing BS about getaway when you will excuse the slaughter of billions or the abuse of countless characters by other characters

Another brilliant one- cyclonus treats tailgate like utter shit initially. Y'all excuse the shitty way he treated tailgate too, just because they're cute together and canon. Do I love them together? Yes! Do I think a lot of bots in the franchise become marginally less fucked up together? Absolutely! Am I also one of maybe three people I've ever seen talk about what cyclonus did, even briefly? Yeah. I am.

We've all got opinions, we do. That's the point of being different people sharing interests. But I find it ridiculous that so many of you excuse so much until it benefits you to clown on a character you just don't like. It even happens with Starscream and megatron. You hate megatron because he mistreats Starscream and mostly it's only mentioned by people who love Starscream, not people who love them both. But y'all either don't realize or care that they both beat the shit outta each other. A lot. In basically every continuity since G1. They were both pieces of shit. Love them fr though.

Rant over, but I'm sick of seeing shit and I have a Tumblr to freely say what I want now so. Feel free to beef with me, idrc.

[lokigodofaces]

I feel bad because on the one hand I 100% am down with Sam Wilson as Captain America, I'm so happy for him. And, while it was definitely imperfect, I did enjoy Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I genuinely like him as Cap.

But also Marvel has ruined itself so badly that like I just prefer to not think about current Marvel. With a handful of exceptions, the first Doctor Strange is the last movie I "mentally live in," if that phrase makes remotely any sense at all. And even with Phase Three, the only ones I have Big Problems With are Infinity War and Endgame (Endgame much more so than Infinity War). Then Phase 4 came along and honestly the majority of the new stuff isn't that great. The last thing I watched was Moon Knight (one of the few exceptions lol). I don't really intend on watching anything else unless all of my mutuals start praising it (the only people I trust to talk about mcu lol). It's to the point that I "don't consider it." Like obviously it's canon and all but I just ignore the majority of new canon. Like my fics are not affected by the majority in the slightest. If something has been revealed in recent times, I don't know or care about it.

Which means that there is literally only one episode of Sam being Captain America that I am willing to refer to. I feel as if the franchise ended because I simply don't care and choose to like what's actually good. Which is only one fricking episode of Sam having the shield and the suit and using it.

As I said, I "mentally live in" earlier phases. So in all of my fics, Steve is still there. So he's Captain America. In one fic I'm going to do an Infinity War-esque plot, meaning that they'll fight Thanos over the Stones but there will be no compliance to canon other than world building. So Steve isn't gonna go do one of the most ooc things to exist in the mcu. So, if I were to continue the fic after the victory (I'm not planning on it but who knows?) Steve would still be there.

Like my beef isn't with Sam being Captain America. I knew that Steve would probably be written out due to Chris Evan's contract (I thought he would've died...tbh would've preferred that to the butchering of his character) so I figured it would've been passed on to Bucky or Sam. I was a little partial to Bucky (I was tired of people calling Bucky a villain and at the time as a teen I thought it would be great to see people canon & irl upset that he bore the mantle of the heroic Captain America, but that was literally the only reason, spite) but I honestly didn't care if it was Bucky or Sam. When TFATWS was announced I was HYPED to see Sam as Cap. Like please do not misinterpret me, I love the idea of Sam as Captain America.

My problem is with the MCU. It's taken such a turn for the worse. As I made abundantly clear, I have no interest in watching more recent mcu content.

And it just so happens to coincide with when Sam is Cap. Sam takes the shield and the suit then the MCU becomes a dumpster fire. So I don't even have interest in watching any future content with Sam because it's probably be a flaming pile of trash not because of Sam but because Feige couldn't make a decent marvel movie if his life depended on it anymore.

And it just sucks because I want to be invested in Sam as Captain America, but it's hard when I prefer to ignore the new MCU. And it's no fault of his, nor is this because I don't like Sam. It's because marvel has ruined every little bit of the mcu.

[sauntervaguelydown]

every time people on the internet are like "everyone in comics is gay EXCEPT the JOKER lol" (although thankfully they do this less now than a few years ago) I want to go into a category 4 Well Actually event

DC as a franchise has been queercoding the Joker since the Bronze Age of comics--literally every time they want to make him "ooh scary crazy watch out" they layer on the queercoding again

look at this comic cover. LOOK at it.

Look at the gargoyle posturing--

His body is skinny and "effeminate" in comparison to the chunk of beef super hero, grotesquely displayed in contrast. He is lightweight and yet he is dominating, subverting the correct order of nature. Thigh garter, women's shoes, drawing attention to the red lipstick in a way that makes it look less "clown" and more "crossdresser". Boxers, so you know he's a man, increasing discomfort. But I want you to notice the pink hearts. In the early 00's that sort of thing WOULD get you called gay. In real life.

This is all the ugly bad homophobic short of hand you can shove into one character, only a little bit more in-your-face than whatever Moffat was doing with Moriarty in the BBC show, but for the same reason--when you want to make the audience uncomfortable about your "crazy" character, but the "craziness" is just aesthetic, you have them violate the social order. And queercoding is a free & easy way of violating the social order, bonus points because it makes your straight male audience viscerally uncomfortable. That audience wants the good and natural order restored.

The downside of this is, of course, that your audience may also contain a sleeper cell of women, queers, and queer women, who think this is very interesting and would like to talk a little bit more about that, please

I could go on but I think you get the picture. Literally look at the picture, why did I even bother to write this.

Truthfully, the point behind this point is that I don't want homophobic-queercoded-Joker to be whitewashed out of the records of popculture only to be replaced with Straight Wife Beater Joker. I like the gay ass joker in this horrible art. I like that he's dangerous and confident and unstoppable, I like that he's flamboyant. Supervillainy is drag, fight me about it.

They (the franchise, the artists, the writers) made their bed and now they have to LIE in it. They buttered their toast and now they have to EAT it. Commit to the bit, you cowards.

The joker is for ME now, and you can't take him back. If you want to make amends so badly, let your heroic chunk of beef have a turn in heels.

[mmikmmik]

Starting ToQger and OOO is really satisfying because they both have such smart, well-executed worldbuilding. When you watch a lot of iterations of formulaic shows/franchises, you start to notice the craft, in a good way.

The whole thing in OOO where the main Rider can transform/get additional transformation modes by using Core Medals, which are literally part of the Greeed and can be stolen from them when they're injured, creates stakes within all the battles between the Greeed and OOO, and it immediately gives the other Greeed an intense personal beef with Ankh and OOO for fucking with their stuff. The audience doesn't fully understand the Core Medals yet, but we can see from Ankh's diminished state that they must be important. (I think this does have some danger of falling into the issue I had with Ex-Aid, where the plot stakes revolved around transformation items, so they kept taking fun toys away from the heroes with very little actual impact on things like character development or personal goals, but so far that's not happening.) In general, the show about desire is doing a great job giving the characters things they want and are believably motivated to fight for. Themes!

Meanwhile in ToQ they established that at this point, the regular MOTW Shadows can use their gimmicks to be threatening, but go down pretty easily once the ToQgers work out ways around those. But the Shadow Line leaders like General Schwarz are almost impossible to injure in direct combat, much less defeat. But the Rainbow Line trains are much more powerful than the Shadow Line trains! So it all comes together - the ToQgers aren't in constant danger and can relax in their daily lives because they're safe on a Rainbow Line train. General Schwarz focuses on military power, natch, so he's being smart and tactical by trying to soup up the Shadow Line trains (and also he fucking loves trains). The ToQgers must leave the safety of their trains to restore Dark Stations to normalcy, but the Shadow Line doesn't have Shadow Cell Phones to use to call backup (get on that, guys) so there's not a huge chance they'll encounter a Shadow Line leader there. The Dark Stations can't hold off the ToQgers, but the ToQgers don't automatically know where they are, so the other Shadow Line leaders can spam Dark Stations and collect darkness until the ToQgers trip over them and they aren't just completely wasting their time. Within the fun little Bright Colorful Imagination Trains vs Dark Spooky Steampunk Trains setting, everyone has sensible goals that they're pursuing rationally.

No one is doing things Just Because. No one is bizarrely ignoring a huge massive problem for themselves that recurs in every episode. There's not really any "well, it's not clear why they're doing this, but there's no plot holes or anything and I can think of a few potential explanations so I won't worry about it". We love to see it.

[mystycalypso]

Calypso's Hello Neighbor insanity.

(In honor of the teaser coming out yesterday, here is my Aaron Peterson theory document in all it's baffling glory)

Hey howdy, it’s Calypso, and I’ve been infected with Hello-Neighbor-Loritis. It is incurable and my doctor (Jack in his “Nicky goggles”) recommends that I theory craft to cope.

Bracket Key, by Jack: Calypso: [text] Jack: (text)

So as previously stated, I’m obviously Hello Neighboring it up today after Jack read me the ENTIRETY of their theory thread with @ravenbrookz and @powertooled, and am now taking a crack at it myself. You probably saw my possible Guest appearance in the drawings made most likely by Nicky, though that was only based on what I could see in the image. I can’t exactly say for certain everything I know in the franchise is accurate, as my current pool of knowledge is primarily from the show (and Jack's rants), but I promise that if I COULD read the books, I would. I have just been informed by Jack that the first book is available on Spotify so we may or may not just hunker down and listen to that but I digress. (UPDATE AS OF 5/10/24: The Hello Neighbor books 1-6 all have audiobooks on YouTube, and I will be listening to them for the next several days)

So, into the meat of it, I suppose. This post is to be dedicated to a few of my theories regarding Aaron primarily. Because the theory crafting I’m to be doing is focused on the show, and our information about Aaron and Mya in the show is so limited, I will be pulling some from other sources (HN hide and seek, HN 2, etc) to get a proper read on the situation. 

We know based on the games and books that Nicky and Aaron were best friends. This is why in Act 1 and Act 2 of the first game, Nicky is suspicious of Mr. Peterson in the first place. Logically speaking, if Nicky and Aaron weren’t close (and neighbors, allowing him to witness the crime), Nicky likely would have taken the disappearance story at face value. That’s just how it tends to work in real life as well. People who are close to the victim of disappearance tend to go through the “stages of grief” because they’re more emotionally attached to them and don’t want them to die. It’s sort of a precaution. Nicky, Aaron’s best friend, wouldn’t want any serious harm to come to him, so he’s willing to put himself in danger, as a 13-15-year-old CHILD, to save him.

[I’ll likely be made fun of for how redundant that may sound by Jack]

This is also likely the reason that Nicky is so suspicious of Mr. Peterson in the show. He’s essentially the catalyst for sparking Trinity’s interest in the Peterson house, granted by having her mistake it for his house when he climbed out the chimney in episode 1 [Gotta admire the dedication, bro’s in that place ALL the damn time] (apparently more than he's in his own house /hj). Ultimately, I believe that Jack’s prediction about the reveal of Nicky and Aaron’s relationship being revealed in season 2 is his reason for investigating Peterson as much as he does (which is a lot). There wouldn’t be a reason for tinyBuild to change this, since it’s been established since the first game’s final build. (if you can count that game as “establishing” anything) [Which I am for the sake of the theory.]

Operating under that assumption does recontextualize some of his behavior throughout the show, specifically some of that “hotheaded” behavior called attention to by the Hello Neighbor Fandom Wiki. (that Jack has serious beef with) While he does have a level of agitation towards the others for cutting off his story in episode 3, [of which Jack is actively going on a tangent about as I write this] it’s something that can be explained by a level of impatience or worry for Aaron. (same with his anger of no one believing him in the previous episodes, and even mocking him for his theories) 

[Jack called Mr. Peterson “Mr. Neighborson” while I was writing this section of the theory, I just want y’all to know that WHEEZE]

We don’t exactly know the full context of their friendship in the media we’ve currently consumed, but again, based on his behavior, it’s likely they were close friends (and if not, honestly he's still justified for being upset that no one else cares about the potential murder of two kids). That brings me to the basement, then, which I’ll likely have the most to talk about because Jack and I have talked about this extensively.

According to Jack and their extended knowledge, it’s been established that the drawings on the fake windows in the room Nicky and the others were thrown into in episode 6 were drawn by Aaron. While possibly this being retconned (unlikely) and the culprit of the drawings being changed, there’s also the fact that we don’t know exactly WHEN these drawings were made [correct me if I’m wrong or smthin]. However, I have theorized that these window drawings were made by Aaron to comfort Nicky. Aaron has been in the basement much longer, but because we don’t know his mental state, operating under the assumption that he was put into the basement for the same reason he was in the games, he was put in the basement 1. For accidentally causing Mya’s death and 2. To protect him from the cult in town. Based on the Pilot for the animated series, we know that the first point is likely true, as in Aaron’s room, the words ‘Omen’ and ‘Cursed’ were written on the walls, likely by Mr. Peterson. I believe this is also true for the books as it was talked about briefly in the Game Theory video where MatPat analyzed the aforementioned Pilot frame-by-frame (like the meme:0). According to this video, Mr. Peterson had grown superstitious that his son was the cause of a bunch of bad things happening throughout the town, the final straw being Mya’s death when Aaron accidentally pushed her off the roof of the house as seen in Hello Neighbor Hide-and-Seek.

My theory is that Aaron likely feels immense guilt for what he did to his sister, regardless of it being an accident. He knows that his behavior in Hide-and-Seek was awful, and that’s more likely the reason he’s crying in the basement; he killed his sister, and as sad as it is, he’s likely under the impression that he deserves this punishment and that it fits his crime, as well as knows that his dad’s investigation into the cult is genuine and that he wants to keep him safe. I’m not sure why I get the feeling that he’s in a better mental space than Nicky is [lambast me in the tags if I turn out to be COMPLETELY incorrect come season 2], but it makes some semblance of sense when looking at the drawings in the basement. Psychologically, children with “better” mental states tend to use more color in their drawings. While it may be out of necessity to draw a happier “outside” for Nicky to view (or to keep his own sanity), it may also be an indication that Aaron may be doing better mentally than Nicky was (despite being there way longer), as we see (allegedly) Nicky’s drawings as well, that being black ink drawings of the Thing, the cat, and the Guest [still not sure of that one it’s still a theory]. This also means that that Aaron and Nicky could have been in the same room at least for as long as it took Aaron to make the drawings. I believe that the reason Mr. Peterson was so willing to keep Nicky in the basement in the games not only because Nicky's investigation made him a liability, but also was because he knew he was Aaron’s friend and wanted his son to have some company? IDK, it’s the first game, that game is a lore NIGHTMARE (reference to Act 3 intended).

While this may seem like an extremely small theory overall, it does wonders in establishing the relationship Nicky and Aaron had, as well as Aaron’s personality as an empathetic person. It could also establish that he was forced into this change because of his actions in Hello Neighbor Hide-and-Seek we see in flashbacks or the like, maybe even just Nicky reminiscing or noting that Aaron has changed. From what I’ve seen in Hello Neighbor 2, Aaron does seem to care about the main character, Quentin, when his father attacks him[Quentin, he doesn’t attack Aaron in the scene lol].

As of right now, I do believe that it was (probably) Aaron getting out of the basement in Episode 6 that had Peterson’s lid flipping. While I would have to double check [I’m gonna probably just ask Jack], the silhouette of the dark figure inside doesn’t exactly look one-to-one with Aaron’s established appearance in photos on the walls, but that may just be a redesign or placeholder. Maybe it’s not Aaron at all and he’s still in the basement, who knows [that’s gotta suck now that his dad’s been arrested smh].

[insert 2 screenshot comparisons here, Jack]

(No because the silhouette is bald and I think they made it as detail-less on purpose)

[Damn it]

(Literally quoting the series to Calypso while they write, I've rewatched it one full time since them starting the doc) 

If I had to guess, Aaron will be in season 2. The likelihood that he won’t be is next to 0 in my mind, as it would break some of the established conventions of the series [That being that Aaron takes an active role in second installments, that being Act 2 of the first game where he unlocks the door for Nicky and in the second game where he asks Quinten to save him via paper airplane]. While this may just be wishful thinking, I theorize that Aaron will be an ‘overcorrective’ personality by the time we see him and that it may be shown through his attempts at comforting Nicky through the window drawings. Him being his friend, that also may have been the sort of push he needed to stand up to his father for bringing his friend into this. Act 2 starts with Aaron unlocking the door to help Nicky escape, and in general, helps him.

[There was a short break here because it was like 2 am and I figured that I really needed context at least for the games before I wrote anymore. I have the context now and am now able to write it lol]

So after watching a breakdown of the games I can safely say that, yes, there’s a level of ‘overcorrection’ going on with Aaron. While it’s not the perfect word to describe what’s going on with him, the best example I can find is when Aaron gives up on running away from the museum with Quentin to help his father, who was trapped under a crow statue[chandelier?] that fell from the ceiling. I’d say that it’s a mix of guilt and attachment making him act this way because, despite everything his father has done, even after traumatizing his best friend, Aaron can’t bring himself to lose another family member. Hello Neighbor 2 leaves off on this as a cliffhanger and we have no idea what happens to Aaron both between games as well as after them, so headcanons away, I suppose.

My next theory is in regards to the Thing. While it has yet to make an appearance in the show, there have been teaser images for Season 2 that include it. The Thing is canonically a manifestation of pure fear as shown in the first game’s third Act. It also isn’t exclusively one person’s fear, as it was shown to be “haunting” both Nicky and Mr. Peterson. Fear in the franchise isn’t exclusive to things like phobias, it also applies to trauma and trauma responses. While not justified, Mr. Peterson locking Aaron in the basement was a trauma response brought on by the fear of losing him as well. The entire third Act is about Nicky confronting his fears inside his head, whether that be school, the grocery store [relatable ngl like bro I feel weird going to grocery stores], and yes, Mr. Peterson. We don’t even really need the context the books provide for these fears, we know that Nicky has anxiety and PTSD from being locked in the basement. He was also middle school age so whether or not he was scared of school before he was kidnapped, it would likely be exacerbated by his struggles.

Some lore bits do seem to imply that the Thing is an inherently malicious entity. While the Guest seems to be a sort of Cryptid for Raven Brooks, and therefore, the rules of things like Chupacabras or Aliens apply to it, the Thing seems to behave more like a ghost, a poltergeist of the mind, it seems. Nicky actively has to fight against it to overcome his trauma, and Mr. Peterson seems to be locked inside with it in the endgame’s whitespace. Us seeing it in season 2 must either be exclusively through either Nicky or Mr. Peterson’s eyes, or… Another person who has gone through similar amounts of trauma.

Aaron.

Now, I know that probably doesn’t initially sound reasonable. We’ve only ever seen Nicky and Mr. Peterson interact with the Thing, and that’s two whole characters that could reasonably (and quite likely) have to deal with the Thing making their lives worse. But the rules that have been established for the Thing, as flexible and subject to change as they may be, do apply to Aaron as of writing. It’s been established that Aaron fears losing his father, as well as vice versa. He wants to be free, but he doesn’t want to lose the only family he has left. Aaron has also gone through extensive trauma, the same as his father, in fact, but on top of that, the trauma of being locked away for presumably months. The push and pull of his thoughts on his father is the best example of this I can find. Their relationship has devolved into a toxic cycle of abuse, but Aaron can’t help but love his father despite it. It SEEMS that people who have experienced this level of trauma and by extension have these levels of fear, they can both see the Thing and be affected by its powers[???].

While I’m still not entirely certain of the extent of the Thing’s involvement in season 2, as a majority of the teasers have been centered on the Guest, I’m very excited to see how things change between my writing this and the release. I look forward to being proved right, being proved wrong, or merely watching the series come to fruition. Thank you for reading my absolutely insane ramblings.

-Calypso

[mad-hare]

You could have just said you didn't care instead of a long winded excuse

Why message me if you don’t want to listen to me talk? Why ask me if you don’t care about my opinion? I’m not “tumblr famous” or anything and I don’t have a lot of weight or impact in this particular field (remember when this used to be an agriculture blog?)

AI is used constantly in video games and has been for a long time. If this is the same person you just messaged me some Twitter beef that said I’m not going to take a stance on that because it’s all accusation based as of now. Pokémon is the largest global game franchise, they can take care of themselves if needed, they’ve not stolen anything from a smaller artist that I’m aware of.

I care a lot about video games, in a historical/preservation sense, as a medium for originality and expression. I have a lot of grief personally with game franchises (harvest moon, pokemon, animal crossing, Spyro if you can count what happened to it) gaining mass popularity and losing originality/quality as time progresses.

But to me this is, like I said, a cheap shallow game that is generating a few laughs for me. I’m sure no one would care about this if it hasn’t blown up as much as it did, but they really just followed a formula to put as many popular elements as possible into one game (fighting monsters, catching monsters, build base, ability to dick around with your friends).

I’m not going to be spending hundreds of dollars on palworld plushies or cards like I do with the pokemon franchise. I gave them $30CAD (sale price) which in today’s market is a cheap game!!! It’s not going to generate a strong impression or feelings on me. I’m not going to push 1000 in game hours like I have with Ark Survival Evolved (bad game) or Rimworld (good game that’s also just a dwarf fortress rip off).

And if there is some sort of legal action and new information comes to light, I’ll change my opinion on the game because I accept new information as it is revealed. Personally seems like the Devs have got their hands full as it is:

[curseofpower]

Two separate posters accuse us of victim-blaming for daring to say that Ganondorf had any legitimate beef with poor, saintly Rauru. For my part, I find it easier to believe in magic triangles than in a kingdom with completely clean hands. Especially kingdoms of super-powerful beings who come from afar to rule peoples not their own.

Oh fuck another one did it? I need to go hunting to block them. Sigh. How dare us question this kingdom which has been portrayed in arguably the most Notable games in the franchise as having a dark bloody history eh? We should all just kiss goat boy's ass for being uwu cute~ and so saaad boohoo

As if unification doesn't come with a price.

That maybe at least someone would rather go down swinging than be subjugated and have their culture gutted by some random interloper who decided 'ya know what? I think I want to be king of a loooot of people and make em obey me' one day (bc that's not already sketchy af at all right).

It's so tragic what happened to the gerudo in the wilds era that it physically hurts me to see. They have. Nothing. Anymore. People say OoT had issues, but I think that's far and away so much better than totk's 'our race must repent forever' and 'yay our ears are pointy now from giving in to the Hylians :) we can hear the gods now!! Also we love getting married!!'

At least OoT didn't shy away from showing how much Hyrule hated the gerudos and maybe that's why they were so angry and worshipful of their king who had the strength and fortitude to stand up to that fucked regime which already drove a certain people to near extinction by using them and crushing them into the dirt (sheikah). Probably as a forever punishment for saying 'no' and being too few in number and not powerful enough to keep up the fight. "We are servants of the royal family" is just "we were made into slaves by Hyrule." Forced to torture their own people, even, for defecting or god forbid, admitting being able to see truth? Maybe admitting the bad truth the royals didn't like? Jfc.

[girls-band-headcanons]

d4dj and Bandori are in the same universe bc of that 4koma so, in turn, I'm gonna talk abt headcanons I have that involve the 2 franchises!!!

ibuki has been compared to aya before many times, especially their voices. noa has a tendency to scream and wail w towa about it.

nanami and rinku have not met ever but all of the lyrilily members think they should be friends (every time they plan one, though, it always never ends up happening)

nagisa is a roselia, afterglow and ras fan and collects merch of them. she especially loves sayo and moca's guitar playing. she rlly want to do a collab w ras bc of the band having chu2.

chu2 has beef w shinobu. nuff said. shinobu doesn't rlly care much, but wants to have a joint live w them one day.

kokoro is friends w the rich girls, especially miyu and esora bc of their statuses as The Richest Rich Girls. they also keep trying to get Rinku to meet her but it hasn't happened bc their schedules never align.

saori is a bit of a regular at Galaxy ramen to the point masuki and tomoe remember her face. she is terrified of masuki though.

the hikawa twins are towa's cousins and when noa found out she has been begging towa to meet hina. this has not happened yet.

tae was an acquaintance of nagisa when nagi used to perform on the streets. nowadays they don't talk much but nagisa likes keeping up w her band's music. tae thought nagisa was a high schooler.

lumina covers some pasupare tracks in her streams which caused pareo to be a fan of hers, she's a casual fan but knows a few unichord songs she hums to herself when she's w chu2 and the others.

abyssmare and ave mujica have been compared to each other online a lot, it annoys sakiko but neo literally doesn't care at all.

mygo is a band aoi likes following and is a little obsessed w them. she listens to their songs when she's having a hard time. she got nagisa to be interested in some of their songs. tsubaki on the other is a avemuji fan bc of the vocal work.

hina is a fan of m4 and rlly rlly want to Collab w them but chisato isn't too keen on hanging out w "two hinas but one is orange-haired" (rika)

Mod Fusion: Welcome back, Crow! Anyways, these headcanons and relationships are awesome! Love crossover relationships!