#people I haven't talked to but think would love to contribute:

[randomfoggytiger]

Was afraid Tumblr might eat up my tags, so I screenshot them.

**Note**: This isn't the whole list, of course:

X-Files fandom friends, I need your amazing fic knowledge! As some of you know, I'm both a fic writer and an academic, perpetually working on a PhD on the learning that occurs when writers engage in a fandom over many years. I'm finally reaching the final stages of my research and need to interview fanfic writers directly about the ways that fanfic, fandom, reviews and writing in established universes has grown them as writers. But the fandom is vast, the fic too plentiful for me to sift through, and this is where your collective knowledge can help me.

Can you please tag your favourite XF writers who

🔦writes novel-length XF fic

🔎has been in the game 15+ years, longer the better

🛸might be willing to be interviewed via email for my research, with their responses used in my thesis and later publications, including anonymously if preferred

I would be extremely grateful for your recs, and my research will greatly benefit from your connections to writers and works outside my little corner of the fandom. Then I can reach out to writers to gauge their interest and explain my project a bit more. Thanks for any help!

[theamityelf]

Makoto enters the Neo World Program to help with the shutdown sequence, but to his surprise, he doesn't find himself in the trial room.

He finds himself on the beach, in the simulation's normal map. The original map, before Junko's twisted Funhouse and her Titty Typhoon and all her other contributions. He was even dressed for the beach, in a tank top and swim trunks.

(Back in the trial room, Junko stops in the middle of some great exposition and exclaims, "OMG, finally! Later, chumps! Sit and spin, or whatever," and she disappears, leaving them confused.)

Makoto feels that she's there. He doesn't have to turn around, but he does, only to get glomped in an unnecessarily tight hug.

"You made it," Junko('s AI) coos. "It felt like I was waiting forever. Did you let me play with those chumps because you were scared to see me?"

He sighs. He kind of knew that he wouldn't have much control over what happened once he was in the simulation, but the fact that he hasn't joined the surviving Remnants as intended is a bad sign. "Get off."

"Oooh, so forward!"

"Get off me, Junko."

She takes a few steps back, eyeing him up like she's taking inventory of his limbs.

"What happened to the trial? What's happening to them, while I'm here?"

"Who knows? Who cares? You didn't actually think this was about them, did you?"

"It is for me."

"Not even that. Come on, those nutty senpais of ours were always just dolls. They're proxies. How about you put on your big boy pants, instead of wetting them, and talk to me directly."

"They're not dolls, and you're not her. She's dead."

"But I'm like her. Aren't I?" She traipses up to him again, trailing her nails lightly over his skin. "Aren't I enough like her?"

She looks completely real. The details of her skin, her eyes, are exactly the same. Her hair is frizzing from the spray of the sea. She's wearing a bathing suit, too. The top piece laces at the shoulders; it's tied into a bow on one side, but on the other it's just a knot. Imperfection. Realism. The placement of the sun directs his gaze to her, and her shadow snakes across the sand.

The sand feels real.

"This is cheating. You didn't win the trial. You haven't earned this. If you don't play fairly, you're admitting that they can beat you if you give-"

"Yawn! You're taking a leaf out of Kyoko's book. We already did this 'I owe you a trial' thing. Take a load off. We're one-one right now. You beat me once, I beat you once. Let's take a walk."

Makoto almost argues, but then he remembers the ancient ruins on the second island and considers that he might be able to get out through there. "Fine. Let's take a walk."

"Yay!" Junko bounces up and down, and he quickly looks away. "I just love this map. As soon as Kamukura plugged me in, I could just smell your nasty little hope-hands all over this thing. Did you notice, I kept all of your ideas in my version of the map, in some form or another."

Makoto starts walking toward the bridge. He did notice that the places that were removed or walled off wholesale were ones that were thought up by other people. He assumed it was a coincidence. After all, how would Junko know which ideas were his? "I'm glad they got to ride the rollercoaster. It looked like they had fun."

"Like we did."

He remembers that class trip. "Yeah. We did."

"Tampering with your map was more fun than this whole killing game. It was like we were making a baby together."

"N-No it wasn't."

"You planted the seed, and I-"

"Nope. I'm walking faster now." He power walks across the bridge.

"Oh no," Junko deadpans, remaining a step behind him. "Your legs. So long."

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Watching the episode again and I just cannot get over how well done it all is! One of the things I focused on this time was the way they managed to show us the state of TK and Carlos' relationship. We haven't really checked in with them one on one since episode 5, and I think there's so much here that can give us insight into what has been going on since then:

We see that the box is still in use! Since we're told in this episode that Gabriel died a year and a half ago, that means that about 6 months have passed and Carlos is still using the box! This shows clearly that he's been making serious efforts to be more present. I noticed some people hypothesizing that the fact that his phone was outside of the box was meant to show he was struggling to be fully present, and that's definitely a valid interpretation and maybe it is what they were going for...but to me, it seemed like the phone was outside of the box just because it was being charged. Carlos still left the phone next to the box when he went to bed and I think that indicates some major effort!

However, the presence of the box a whole 6 months later also indicates to me that they ARE still struggling. Things aren't 100% fixed. If they were, I don't think the box would really be necessary anymore.

Carlos wakes up on his day off and the first thing he does is reach for his husband. When he realizes TK isn't there, Carlos goes to find him, expresses his desire to spend the morning of their shared day off sleeping in together, and then kisses his cheek and sits on the couch next to him. TK is not remotely surprised by these behaviors. To me, this shows that there is not constant tension between them. They are loving and affectionate with each other. They look forward to spending time together and make efforts to do so.

When Carlos announces that he wanted them to sleep in on their shared day off, he makes it seem like such a thing is a rarity. Add to that the fact that he worked so late the night before that TK wasn't sure when he got home, and it's clear that they aren't getting to spend nearly as much time together as they'd like. While it doesn't seem like this is some dire situation, it certainly may be contributing to remaining issues that they are having.

The way Carlos talks about their counseling makes it sound like they are still going, which I think is a really good thing because it again shows major effort being made in their relationship!

All these things perfectly set the scene for the conflict in this episode, showing clearly that these two love each other, they're putting real work into their relationship, but they're still struggling. Under those circumstances, when you add in a major crisis and upheaval like the Jonah situation, it's inevitable that things aren't going to go smoothly. However, their love and soulmatism is still shining through, and we know they're going to make it and come out the other side stronger than ever!

[centrally-unplanned]

Stumbled on this 1992 interview with Michael Crichton about his 90's Japan Scare novel Rising Sun, which is very fun. For one, Crichton is a Perotist!

Question: “Rising Sun” makes a strong argument that Japanese business is unfairly aggressive and Americans are foolish to have tolerated this unfairness for so long. Is that a decent synopsis? Answer: Not exactly. Let me just restate it. In the immortal words of my hero, Ross Perot: “It’s not a two-way street. It never has been a two-way street. It’s not their fault.” It’s our fault.

His 90's "Declinist America Needs Protectionism" vibe really comes through in the whole interview, you forget these days due to Trump how much of a Type of Guy that was and how intellectual-coded it could be in that era of dominant "unreflective" neoliberalism.

Anyway, we certainly did talk about race in the 90's!

Q: Do you consider the Japanese racist? A: [...] We’re talking about a historically inward-looking nation, an island nation, largely monoracial. That’s a good structure in which to have the rise of feelings of superiority about your own people as opposed to other people in the world. Of course, these broad statements can’t be applied to the individual Japanese person. One of the things that Americans, as a multiracial society, feel is a tremendous sensitivity to racial comments of all kinds. In the book, one of the things I tried to say to Americans was: Hey, while you’re tiptoeing around the race issue, your competitors are a monoracial country, very much aligned, and tend to hold in common beliefs that would astound you.

Narrator: America did not, in fact, "tiptoe" around the race issue.

But to be clear it isn't like this is super wrong or anything - 90's Japan absolutely was a "racist country" if such a thing is possible, most countries are, and its geographic isolation and relative lack of modern immigrants at that time certainly did contribute to that. What I instead find amusing is the idea that this is a threat to the US; the implication is that, because Japan is a racist country, when they rule the world economically they will in some way impose that racist worldview upon us. Which, I don't really think that is how free trade works? Might have watched too much Gunbuster on this one buddy.

We of course have the classics of Japan Scare:

Q: Has the continued decline in the Japanese stock market, their falling real-estate value and shrinking foreign investment caused you to rethink your views of Japanese-American business dealings? A: No, not at all. I’ve not seen figures on what the growth of the Japanese GNP will be this year. You hear stories about economic distress in Japan, but you see that the growth rate is going down to 4% from 5%. If this country had a 4% growth rate, we’d all feel like we were pumped full of testosterone.

-😬😬😬-

Narrator: it did not stop going down at 4%.

What i love most is how you see the same exact arguments about American "economic weakness" you see today, but with the dates/countries swapped around:

Q: What allowed us to contribute so willingly to our own weakening? Greed? Altruism? Shortsightedness? Arrogance? A: (following a large sigh) You have to look back at broad time periods. It’s possible now to argue that Americans have had no increase in real earnings power since 1962. Some economists would dispute that, and set the date at 1973. Either way, the country is in a steady, consistent and ongoing decline. Why? That’s an extended conversation. 

Obviously since then US living standards have gone up quite a lot! You definitely *cannot* argue that they did not go up since 1962, that is in fact an insane claim. You can't argue they haven't gone up since the 90's either. Even in Japan they have, they definitely have in Europe, economies grow in general. And of course the classic "American companies are all gambling now":

No one invests in a company anymore, in the way it was done in the ‘50s, say, because they believe the company is good. They buy because they think the price of the stock will rise or fall. What this means is that American managers are obliged to manage in the short term. There’s no incentive for an investor to hang on with a company for the long term. In Japan, savings--up to a certain point--are tax free. Why is that not also true in America? You want savings? Then don’t tax it as ordinary income.

I will leave posting a list of the most high-value companies over the past 30 years as an exercise for the reader; you don't need it, you already know them. But I certainly see versions of this dancing around today, and you definitely saw it in 2008 all over the place.

No real skin off Crichton's back, to be clear - prediction is hard, he isn't an economist, most will be wrong. Just funny how the ideological churn keeps spinning.

[condensed-ink]

I've been thinking a lot about #FixTF2 and I know that some might have their doubts about the movement, however, I've realized that, even if it does not succeed in getting Valve's attention, it will end up contributing towards an important development in recent years - the shift in the public perception of Valve.

If you are person who was growing up in the early 2010's then you obviously remember how Valve games were essentially the cultural zeitgeist of the time, how you would see pictures of King Gaben on every meme/YouTube thumbnail during a Steam Summer Sale. As I understand it, Valve essentially rode this wave of good will throughout the 2010's. Even when everyone was getting frustrated with the lack of sequels for games such as HL2 and L4D2, some people would just excuse it with "ah y'know Valve, not communicating and not doing anything is just their style, this is just probably part of Gaben's 5D chess - tier master plan". However, the cracks in this image have been slowly showing up for a long time:

Portal fans haven't had anything since Portal 2's release back in 2011. We have had some small VR titles but that's hardly any consolation.

Left for Dead 2 came out all the way back in 2009 with nothing afterwards. As of June of 2024, the game still has more than 10 thousand concurrent players yet it is also unplayable for a significant amount of people due to reported DDos attacks.

The suffering of Half - life fans at this point is a meme in itself. The only thing we got was HL:Alyx back in 2020 and, even though it's a very good game, it was inaccessible to a lot of people at launch due the costs and lack of VR hardware. We were left on a cliff-hanger AGAIN and four years later we have no news of any follow-up.

In my opinion, Valve to some extent could ignore these fandoms since they were smaller compared to their big earners. But it is the recent issues with these bigger titles that have started to test everyone's patience and tolerance for Valve's bullshit:

Team Fortress 2 - I mean what else is there to say: rampant cheating and idle bots, bot hosters doxxing and swatting people. The bots crisis has been destroying the game for the past 5 years. If we remember the original SaveTF2 movement, it had a more positive tone, i. e., people talking about how much they love the game and pleading Valve to fix it. Well, one shitty tweet and two years later the tone has gone from "Please fix the game" to "FIX THE FUCKING GAME YOU ASSHOLES" and rightfully so.

CS2 also has a myriad of issues. CS:GO became CS2 after the game jumped to the Source 2 engine, but the resulting game, by many accounts, is a downgrade. A lot of game modes and maps from the original game were not included and are still not present as of June of 2024. Cheaters are rampant. To what degree I cannot say but it is to an extent where a significant enough portion of the player base is affected. Also, the game hasn't had an operation (major content update) since 2021. The player count is still high, but a lot voices in the community have been chewing out Valve for this level of incompetence.

With DOTA 2 I cannot say for sure. Some people talk about neglect whilst others say the game is in a decent state considering the game still gets frequent updates and patches. At most I can say that there is a portion of players that are dissatisfied with the state of the game but most likely to a much lesser extent than in the previous cases.

HOWEVER

All of that is just one part of the double whammy, the second part is probably is much worse than the first - a lack of continuity for Valve's legacy.

I mean, let's think about it for a second here: most of us who grew with the Valve classics are probably in our mid-to late twenties at this point. Of course, I'm not saying that there aren't any younger fans but the bulk is the old guard. I'm pretty sure a lot of kids and teenagers don't even know a lot about these games and it's not their fault, they weren't old enough to experience them. The blame lies SOLELY with Valve because they have done NOTHING to boost the visibility of their older series due to the fact that they haven't bothered to make a single proper sequel for any of them.

And speaking of visibility, Valve's advertising strategy is non - existent and downright insulting . They really have this holier-than-thou perception of themselves, where they think "I am THE Valve softworks, makers of TF2 and Half-Life! How could you NOT know of us?!?!" and then expect everyone else to spread news of their games through word-of-mouth. Like, I'm sorry, Gabe, but we don't owe you shit. I'm not gonna advertise your shitty card-game and upcoming mediocre 5v5 hero shooter just because I had fun playing TF2 back in high school. Like, it's no surprise that you're not gaining any new fans when this has been your modus operandi for the past 10 years.

TO CONCLUDE

This is where we are right now: the old guard is either apathetic or straight-up hates Valve for their negligence, the younger generation barely knows about most of Valve's OG game series due to the lack of any meaningful output. At the end of the day, Valve isn't going to bankrupt, they're gonna keep taking their 30% cut from Steam and peddling gambling addictions to kids via cases. However, the era of good will is over, nobody is cutting them any slack anymore and, frankly, they deserve all the shit that's going to get thrown at them.

[the-astrophel-system]

Why Alters Are All You, & The Formation Of DID

Tw for talk of abuse (implications to different types), trauma, unsafe caregivers, trauma responses, homophobia, and brief talk of death. We're talking about the formation of DID, childhood trauma, please be cautious if you continue.

Let's discuss what people say is the basics of Dissociative Identity Disorder, its formation. The current leading theory is the Theory of Structural Dissociation (ToSD). Yes, we still need to know more about this disorder, but this is the current leading theory and was written by Ellert R. Nijenhuis, Kathy Steele, and Onno Van Der Hart. They took some research, ideas, and words from other authors and researchers, added their research and ideas, mixed it all together and presented us with the ToSD in their book: The Haunted Self.

Now, there are plenty of problems with the theory, and I know that Hart and other researchers you see in this field haven't been the best people. However, it is currently the leading theory. Colin A Ross spoke about numerous problems with the theory, but he even states that this theory is a significant contribution. While yes, it isn't perfect, and any scientific theory can and should be constantly improved on, its pretty damn good. What I understood from reading Ross' response, the understanding it gives us of DID is good, the issue is when it addresses other disorders, or lack there of. I will state, before going onto my point of the post, that Ross mentions that there is confusion of what counts as an emotional part (EP). In the sense of, how differentiated does an EP need to be, to count as a separate dissociated state?

I don't want to go into that all today, because I'm not a professional and cannot confirm what would count, at least in Ross' eyes.

What I want to talk about, is what the ToSD does give us, and why it explains that all parts/alters are You.

Now, I know I will get a lot of hate for this. So all I'll say is that: I'm willing to discuss this matter further, however I will not tolerate any insults, threats, belittlement, or any other kinds of hate. If you are mature, I'm open to discussion.

The ToSD states that everyone is born with ego states. These states are in charge of meeting specific needs. A child needs love, affection, food, comfort, sleep, etc etc. If a child is able to dissociate to a high level, has a disorganised attachment to their primary caregiver (which is inherently traumatic), and experiences repeated childhood trauma, they can potentially develop DID.

If a child experiences trauma, their brain is going to do its absolute best to protect them. They may fight, flight, or freeze (especially if it is repeated). Maybe all three. That child may subconsciously think that if they were a different gender, or a different age, or maybe if they were stronger or scarier, they could prevent this from happening to them. Maybe they felt like they deserved this pain, that they're an awful monster, or just a toy or an animal to their abusers. Maybe they just refused to accept this was happening to them because if it did, they would be dead.

Their brain will do anything it can to try and prevent and explain this trauma.

They may try to seek help from caregivers, but remember, in the case of DID, that child will have some kind of disorganised attachment. That child will not feel safe enough to tell them about this trauma, or if they do, they aren't supported in the way they need to heal and process. Maybe their caregivers are the source of this trauma, they have already tried to tell them to stop.

Nothing is working, this child is essentially trapped.

So, like I said earlier, this child's subconscious is working on overdrive and trying its absolute best to survive this. Dissociation is a very complex and extraordinary coping mechanism.

So the child pushes away the trauma, dissociating so chronically they disconnect to everything happening, and themselves. This dissociation is keeping those different ego states separated, preventing from them integrating during childhood. Instead, this dissociation basically creates amnesiac barries between each ego state. If that dissociation wasn't there, those states would try to integrate, but because some experienced trauma, they cannot harmoniously coexist. This is the differentiation between ANP's and EP's. ANP's (apparently normal parts) are the parts that are in charge of daily living, they are disconnected from any trauma. EP's (emotional parts) are the parts that remember or are connected to different traumas. EP's dont have to be emotional, it simply is to refer to the parts that are connected to trauma.

Anyway, mini ramble aside. ANP's and EP's are separated from each other, they still are aiming to meet certain needs for the child/person now. That's why it is so helpful or common for systems to catagorise alters into roles. Some parts are simply trauma responses, some exist to make friendships and connections, some have very specific roles/needs they meet, some alters exist to soothe, or protect, or whatever. They are still dissociated parts, aiming to meet needs.

All alters are still dissociated from each other, and some may believe they are the only one there, or the "original" because they are an ANP or host. Again there is not an "original" because the full personality was never whole to begin with. You started with different ego states, and you still are different ego states (obviously alters have grown and developed (but still not fully)).

So with that being understood, lets address the title of this post. All alters are You. Thinking about everything I have addressed for far, all alters are dissociated from each other, so what do you mean there can be a "You"? Again, I'm not talking about an "original", I'm talking about all aspects of the Self that is being dissociated from.

I used to find this fact absolutely ridiculous and hurtful and dismissing. But after starting to learn more about this disorder, working on self validation, and starting on trauma processing, it has made it so much easier to understand.

I, Virgil, am a part of Clem and Skye. Clem and Skye are parts of me. And this is the same for all alters. We are all different ego states that are dissociated from each other, from the Self.

So, what happens if we all fuse? And no, I'm not saying that's the only way to heal, I'm just trying to put this in perspective. If we all fuse, we would be dissociating so much less, we would be fused ego states and we'd create a fully formed and developed personality. We are all parts, and if we fuse, we create a whole.

A whole that we are no longer dissociating from. We will be the whole Self, the whole "You". We will not be dissociating from each other.

I cannot express this enough, fusions happen when you no longer need alters to be separated, they can exist harmoniously, they share emotions and thoughts and feelings and they are not dissociated from each other. There is no memory amnesia, or identity amnesia between them.

Again to clarify, all alters are dissociated ego states that grow and develop, and then if you all fuse, that is when the Self is no longer dissociated from. You'll finally be a complete You.

Another thing I want to address is differing opinions of alters. Let's use another hypothetical. Let's say you have like five different alters that are all queer in some way, but you have five that are cisgender and straight. Two of those cishet alters are homophobic and transphobic. So, if you all fuse, what will you identify as? While I cannot say anything for certain, I can take a big guess and say that no matter what you identify as, you may not be homophobic/transphobic. In this hypothetical, I'm assuming those alters have those beliefs because of things they experienced growing up. Internalised homophobia and all that. As you process trauma and become more accepting of yourself, and you fuse, I would guess those parts are no longer dissociated from that queer identity, whatever that identity may be.

I hope this makes sense. While alters can and do grow outside of trauma, those foundations are shaped because of the experiences of the child. Age, gender, opinions, personality, species, and even sexuality, can all be based and rooted in that trauma and experiences.

Healing from that trauma means reconnecting with the Self, whatever that looks like for you. It may not be the singlet persona many systems use, it may not be the host, it may be something different than what you originally thought. But it will be You and it will be right. It will be the Self that you've finally reconnected with.

Anyway, I think I've rambled enough. TLDR: all alters are You, and if you fuse, you will reconnect with the Self that was originally being dissociated from.

small edit: it is okay if you aren’t ready to accept alters and trauma. but that doesn't change the fact that you're all dissociated parts ✌️

[pseudophan]

some post wad weekend thoughts...

i just wrote all this on the plane and haven't read it through so apologies for any mistakes

first of all, this weekend was incredible. i usually just kinda sit at home doing not much of anything, and this was a much needed break to actually have some fun. london in general always lifts my spirits but i suppose that danisnotonfire guy contributed a little as well.

guys i think i've met more people the past few days than i otherwise have in years. like. holy shit. i started listing people but i'm petrified i'll forget someone so i chickened out, sorry about that. but you all know who you are. i've met friends i've had for years, people i used to know but haven't spoken to in what feels like a decade, newer friends, and a frankly baffling amount of people i didn't know yet but who told me they've followed me for ages. like holy fuck you guys lmao what the hell??? and i mean did the reaction ever get old no of course it didn't. bad for my ego i'm sure but totally worth it. there's something very amusing and incredibly surreal about being chronically lame in most aspects of life and then suddenly finding yourself in an environment where you're kinda cool???? SO fucking fun oh my god, but also i do kinda feel like i've tricked you all? but hey i'll happily let you keep believing i'm cool, that is more than fine with me.

most importantly though everyone was SO lovely. like i said i don't think i've spoken to this many people in such a short amount of time in years and every single person i talked to was awesome. guys did you know phannies are kind of great... don't tell anyone but, lowkey... everyone is so funny and cool and absolutely insane but in a good way (shoutout everyone left at the gates until the very end, we should probably get some help).

and then lastly of course, mr howell himself. i talk about this a lot i feel like but fuck me that man was born to perform. whether you think he's actually funny or not, nobody can argue he doesn't absolutely thrive on a stage. he plays off the audience so well and he's so very obviously having the time of his fucking life. i'd already seen the show twice before this, and i didn't think anything would top the previous london show but man... the first night he came back out after the show having clearly been tearing up backstage, apologising for being an inconsistent absent parent, and i can't lie the "i had daddy issues and THEN i subscribed to dan howell" got me cause yeah no literally dude, you nailed it, exactly, well done. i think something about doing this show again, his magnum opus as he considers it, now after the dapg return was very special to him. he seems genuinely surprised that so many of us were ready to just jump back in like nothing happened, i don't think he was expecting so many people to still be waiting and it's... man. he comes off so grateful for us all and it's so fucking sweet. and then on the last night, i think that was my favourite, when the show ended and he got the standing ovation and people throwing him flowers.. he was so HAPPY. and clearly overwhelmed with emotion which, i gotta say, there is something honestly kinda funny about daniel howell standing in front of you trying not to cry. like no by all means dude go ahead, please, you've made me cry an endless amount of times it's only fair.

ugh. i'm proud of him or whatever. dick. and i'm proud of our ridiculous fucking community. i'm not sure what 14 year old nora would say if you'd told me i'd still be kicking it in the phandom a decade on, but at almost 25 (fml) i'm so so happy to be here still. you know, we get a bad rep, but i genuinely think as far as fanbases go we're pretty solid. and i love you all so much.

i believe i will have to rob a bank or something because the next time dan and/or phil do a tour i think i'll have to just show up at every date like i'm sorry but this was too good of a high we need to do it again immediately

anyway. back to work 💪

(by which i mean giffing dan and phil. i am still very much unemployed. fr though i'm two whole videos behind this has never happened i feel weird. who am i)

[that-one-enby-ranger]

It's John Richard Deacon's birthday today so that means its time to yap about him so get ready

First of all, I fucking love this man. This man is amazing and has got to be one of the best people I have had the pleasure of knowing about. He is an amazing player, and even though I will admit he is probably not THE best, he is still, in my opinion, one of the best, and will always be my favourite.

This man is such a talented musician and I hate how underrated he is. He is one of the less open members of the band and is not as public, and of course isn't like Freddie, so he is often forgotten about by people who pay more attention to the music instead of the band themselves. He has written great songs for Queen which include Another One Bites The Dust, I Want To Break Free, You're My Best Friend (which he wrote for his wife and I find that so cute), wrote the bass line for Under Pressure (and then forgot it while getting pizza but lets not talk about that), Friends Will be Friends, Spread Your Wings and others

And then he has songs which are extremely underrated in my opinion because they are fucking GREAT. Misfire (great lyrics, truly poetic, can't believe someone could come up with such great words and meanings), In Only Seven Days, You and I, If You Can't Beat Them, One Year of Love, and I don't care what anyone else says I like Back Chat. He wrote other songs as well. Even though he didn't write as many songs as the other members did, he still wrote songs, some of which went on to be massive hits, and he still contributed a lot to the band.

There's a reason why the rest of the band chose him as their bass player. They tried out multiple different bass players and none of them worked out. Then they met John and boom they had the best bass player they could ask for.

John also knew engineering, and he is an electronics engineer by training. He created his own amplifier in 1972 and it is called the Deacy amp. That's fucking cool. I'm not an engineer of any kind, but I would guess that's pretty impressive.

THIS MAN IS A FUCKING FAMILY MAN. He loves his family so much and it is so sweet. His wife's name is Veronica and in an interview (I'm pretty sure it was an interview they did for The Miracle album) he said that one of his favourite songs was a song called Veronica or something like that because it was the name of his wife. He also has six kids which is pretty badass if you ask me. Plus he wrote You're My Best Friend for his wife and that is super fucking sweet especially if you listen to the lyrics and remember that he wrote that for her. "Ooo, you make me live."

We joke about John being the cute baby of the band, and even though he is adorable, he is also a complete badass and I love him for it. According to Brian May, John could make you want to crawl into a ball and die with just a couple sentences. That wasn't a direct quote but it was something similar. There was one time when the band were out recording for an album or something like that, I can't remember the specifics, but John pretty much just fucked off and went to Bali, and left a note on his bass case saying that he went to Bali. He wrote Misfire. He used to throw peanuts into Brian's hair while he was playing his guitar solos at concerts. He learnt to play the double bass in two days because Brian told him as a joke that he would need it to play '39 even though he didn't. He had tons of stitches in his hand from smashing through glass when he was drunk or something and he still played a gig. A photographer couldn't do a photoshoot for Queen so they payed John to do it and he tried to take pictures of Roger's ass. I'm like 80% sure it was Roger I can't really remember. This is just the stuff I can think of at the top of my head by the way, this isn't even all of it. If I could be bothered to get my phone and look through Queen folder to try and find all this shit then I could add more but I'm lazy. By the way, I haven't fact checked any of this shit and I am definetely not going to, this is just shit I've heard, so some of it may not even be true, but I don't care, I like to think it is.

He is the most quite and reserved of the band, especially when it comes to the public and I absolutely repsect that. Just because he's apart of one of the most famous bands in the world does not mean he has to be public outside of that. He didn't have too much attention put on to him during shows, and I can only assume he liked it like that, but he still had his own little prescensse and I love him for it. He had a little cocktail bar behind his amp ad during concerts he would be constantly going back to get drinks, so throughout the show he would be getting more and more drunk and would be getting more hyper most likely. During concerts he did little disco moves and dances and it was the best seeing him hop around in his own little area and do his own little thing.

HIS DECISION TO LEAVE QUEEN AFTER FREDDIE DIED WAS COMPLETELY VALID AND ANYONE WHO DISAGRESS CAN GO TO HELL. I heard somewhere that part of the reason why he didn't want to carry on wasn't just because of Freddie, but was also because when Freddie was with them, he felt that most of the attention would be on Freddie, but after he died, he felt that more attention would be on him and he didn't like that, and honestly that is completely fine and he can decide what he wants to do. He cared so much about Freddie and he apparently cried before going on stage for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and he should not have to carry on with something if he doesn't want to do it

John is such a silly cutie. They all are. But today we focusing on John. I'm writing this while watching John clips and he is so cute and such a silly underrated guy.

Also, I noticed the John Deacon tag here only has like 7.something K followers and THAT IS CRIMINAL HE DESERVES SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT

He did the triangle in killer queen and that is the reason he has a microphone and I found that so fucking funny.

There is so much more I could write about him, but Im gonna stop now because I'm only half focusing on my deacy clips and he deserves more attention so I'm gonna watch that

Here have some photos:

Hot

T-pose Deacy

SUCH A CUTIE HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS MAN DESERVES THE WORLD AND ALL THE LOVE AAAAAAAAA ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💝❤️💝💝💝💝💝❤️💝❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉🎉❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉❤️❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🎉❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🎉❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🎉❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[callmebrycelee]

9-1-1 REACTION

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I believe I spoke too soon!!! Last week, I said the episode "No Place Like Home" was one of the strongest episodes in a very long time. While I do agree with that sentiment, I think this past week's episode is even better! But hey! I'm getting ahead of myself! Let me start over. This reaction is for the season 8, fifth episode "Masks" which originally aired October 24, 2024. The episode was written by Taylor Wong and directed by Christine Khalafian. Spoilers ahead!

It's been a long time since I've been this enchanted by an episode which is funny to say considering how much I gushed over the last episode. This episode was just so ... perfect! It was the perfect mix of comedy and drama. The scenes involving Buck had me laughing until my face hurt while Hen and Karen's storyline left me sobbing on my sofa. Also, Aisha Hinds deserves all the awards. No one on this show can go there emotionally like she can. Her acting in this episode rivals her performance in the episode "Malfunction". Speaking of acting, let's talk about the best plot of the episode.

Best plot?

This is really a hard one. I thought both of our major plots this episode were pretty amazing for different reasons. However, for the sake of keeping things balanced, I'm going to give it to Buck's plot. Now that Gerrard is gone, our resident Golden Retriever is back to being fun again! Halloween is approaching and the 118 have been delegated the task of turning the firehouse into a haunted house. The budget at the LAFD must be really nice if they can afford to go all out the way they did. Buck's contribution to the decorations is a creepy AF dehydrated-looking prop dead body he got from a Hollywood warehouse. The night of the haunted house, he shows it off to a group of kids. When the 'fake' corpse's arm snaps off, Buck sees there are tendons still attached. Turns out, our fake dead body is not so fake. In the words of Evan Buckley, he's real, he's real, he's real, he's real.

After dislocating his shoulder responding to an emergency involving a man's head trapped inside of a rotting pumpkin, Buck does some digging (pun totally intended) on the dead body. He learns the remains belong to an outlaw named William James McCurdy. McCurdy's nickname was Billy Boils due to large pustules that covered his body. Buck thinks he's been cursed by Billy Boils and to make matters worse, the morning after he dislocates his shoulder, he wakes up with giant boils all over his face.

The episode ends with Buck facilitating a proper burial for McCurdy (aka Billy Boils) and acknowledging the betrayal he suffered by those in his posse. If anyone knows what it feels like to have the people you trust turn their back on you and leave you behind, it's Buck and to a certain degree it's also Tommy who is there by his side through the whole ordeal. Overall, I thought this story did a great job of reminding us that Buck has found his own posse, a group of loyal individuals who will have his back no matter what. I loved the moments between Tommy and Eddie. I really like their dynamic and I hope we get to see more of it. I also think this is one of Oliver Stark's most comedic performances. I hope we get more fun Buck moments throughout the rest of the season.

Best Emergency Sequence?

The emergency involving the two students, their principal, and Denny is the best emergency sequence of the episode. It started off so innocently. I'm not a fan of Halloween pranks but the principal completely overreacted. His decision to get in his car and chase after the two girls was completely unhinged and his actions led to the tragic moment of the episode. A part of me was like, they are NOT about to kill little Denny Wilson off and the other part of me was like, what if they do kill him off. That would really up the dramatic stakes for Hen and Karen - as if they haven't already been put through the ringer this season. Denny's acting was pretty great this episode and it makes me wonder why he isn't a part of the main cast. Declan Pratt has been in most of the episodes so far this season and Gavin McHugh, who plays Christopher, has technically only been in one episode although we do get to see him in a photograph in this episode. I'm not trying to get in between Gavin and his money. All I'm saying is that Declan is putting in a lot of work this season and should be considered for the main cast next season.

Anyway, I digress. Hen is absolutely devastated by the events and it doesn't help that she's already feeling pretty guilty for having to miss celebrating Halloween with Denny and Mara. The moment that really got me is when the 118 arrive on the scene and Chimney sees Mara and Jee-Yun. The way he put two and two together and tried to warn Hen before she saw Denny gave me goosebumps. Kudos to Hen for simultaneously losing it and keeping it together while tending to Denny. I especially felt for Karen because she isn't a first responder so all she could do was stand back and watch. This must be every parent's worst nightmare. Things can happen so quickly and whether you're there like Karen or not like Hen, bad stuff can still happen.  Thankfully Denny is alright. I loved how the 118 and Tommy were all at the hospital in support. They really are a family and I have a feeling that's going to be a theme we get all season long. After the whole ordeal with fostering Mara last season and the Olivia Ortiz of it all and now this, I think we need to give the Wilson family a break. They've been through enough. Just give me nothing but sweet family moments between Hen, Karen, Denny, and Mara for the rest of the season. You hear me, writers!?

Episode MVP?

In an episode where Buck and Hen were our main focus, I have to give the Episode MVP award to our hot pilot, our bestest boyfriend - Tommy Kinard. It felt so good to have him back this episode and I totally wasn't expecting to get so much of him. Tommy is at the hospital when Buck dislocates his shoulder, he's caring for Buck at the loft, he's with the rest of the 118 while Denny is in surgery, and he dons his best suit to accompany Buck to the cemetery at the end of the episode. The man is the definition of showing up and a part of me is curious as to how the Buddie shippers are going to spin this. Tommy is a good guy and his heart is pure and yet they still hate him. I know what they think shouldn't bother me but it's really frustrating how far they're willing to go to villainize not only Tommy but the actor that plays him. Shout-out to Lou Ferrigno, Jr.! You are aging like fine wine, you sexy beast!

BuckTommy Corner

Speaking of Tommy, this week's BuckTommy Corner totally makes up for the lack of BuckTommy moments we got in the last three episodes. Tim Minear and company knew we were starving and he fed us so well this episode. First thing I want to talk about is our newest, canonical ship. The relationship between Tommy and Eddie is something this show needs more of. The scene where Tommy shows up at the hospital and Buck is explaining how he ended up dislocating his shoulder, I thought it was hilarious when Eddie kept interrupting. Also, I love the very subtle choice of having Eddie read a Sports Illustrated with swimsuit model on the cover. It reminds me of that Kim Kardashian meme where she's like 'I'm dropping hints that I'm single'. In this case, you can swap single for heterosexual. Another thing I found funny considering the ongoing shipwars on Tumblr, X, and Reddit, Eddie has way more chemistry with Tommy than he has with Buck which is another indicator that Buddie will remain fanon and fanon only.  But this isn't Buddie Corner - it's BuckTommy Corner and I loved the little moments of domestic bliss we got. Since we don't get to see Tommy every episode, it's important they find ways to show the evolution of he and Buck's relationship without being hamfisted about it. The way Tommy supports Buck in this episode tells me they have reached the stage in the relationship where both parties are completely comfortable with each other. I love the contrast between how Eddie supports Buck and how Tommy supports Buck. Eddie's way of supporting his best friend is to give him shit and poke fun at him while Tommy lets Buck be Buck but doesn't overindulge him. He gives advice when it's appropriate and shows up when he needs to. What I also like about Tommy's boyfriend abilities is how he listens actively. When Buck was rambling on and on about the curse, Tommy was so focused on hearing every detail even when he thought that Buck was being ridiculous. And lest we forget, the man got dressed up to attend the funeral of a man who's been dead over a 100 years. I don't know about y'all but I would love to have a partner like Tommy. Tommy's the kind of guy who won't be able to post your bail because he'd be right there in the cell with you.

I don't want to celebrate too much but I have a strong feeling that BuckTommy is going to last a long time. The level of care this canonical ship is getting by the writers and Tim Minear is on par with Hen and Karen. And Bobby and Athena. And Chimney and Maddie. I also get the feeling there's plans to make Tommy a part of the fire fam. He's now commented twice on how much he admires the 118 and how supportive they are of each other. I think Buck is going to take steps to make Tommy feel more included. Him sitting in that waiting room with the rest of the 118 felt so right. It felt natural. I think if you asked Athena or Bobby or Hen, they would tell you that Tommy's one of them. He's part of the family. Okay, it's time to end this bad boy. I really enjoyed this episode. I'm really enjoying this season. If season 8 were an album, there would be no skips so far. I hope we keep this momentum as we approach the winter hiatus which usually comes around episode 8 or 9. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention yet again the network change. ABC is the perfect home for a show like this and by shifting networks, I feel like there's more longevity for the series. There's so many stories we can tell and as long as Angela Bassett. Peter Krause, and the other main actors are willing to stick around, I think we can look forward to more seasons down the road. Until next time!

[stregoniconiconii]

I think a lot of people really don't get the Eddie Dustin dynamic. They think Dustin and Eddie are new best friends, that they are equal, which is not the case. Their dynamic is more mentor-student coded. Eddie said it himself he sees the people in his club as little sheep he saved, he never really was their friend. His world view also shaped Dustin's personality. This kid and his friends saved the world 3 times, they consider themselves heroes and yet by society standards they are seen as nerds and get bullied. Then there comes a dude who they think gets it, so they latch on. Even though he is not that different from popular kids who think they are better than the rest. His harmful opinions influence Dustin (I would argue even Mike) that they suddenly ditch their friend, are mean, failing school even though in Dustin's case he absolutely loves learning and so forth. Eddie brought out the worst of them which contributed to the tensions in s4 between Steve and Dustin (along with Dustin maybe being jealous of Robin tbh I haven't considered that way but it makes sense). You can't compare the Steve and Dustin dynamic with Eddie and Dustin because Steve never saw himself as something better than Dustin, he always treated him as someone equal which is why their bond will always be stronger than the bond Dustin has with Eddie. I really hope for s5 they somewhat touch on this. (Sorry for coming in your inbox like this)

Most people in this fandom don't get Eddie, full stop. They completely buy into the bullshit he spews about conformity and "the man", which isn't helped by the Duffers also leaning into it. Most egregious example being the supposed conclusion to Lucas' s4 arc. It's ridiculous precisely because Eddie does begin to learn that his assumptions/"doctrine" is wrong through his growing admiration for Steve and his bravery.

Eddie's relationship with his friends is absolutely not based on any kind of equality. He is looked to as a leader and not a particularly forgiving one at that. More like a tyrant. It's played for laughs but Mike and Dustin are genuinely anxious about how Eddie will react to not only Lucas not being available for DnD on one particular night, but him being unavailable because of a basketball game. Lucas didn't even want to talk to him himself, probably because Eddie has already shown himself to be unreasonable when it comes to DnD and basketball.

It's not purely Eddie's influence that leads Dustin to his meaner path, but he certainly doesn't help. Dustin has always been a know-it-all and cocky, he has a foul mouth, and he clearly has hard set ideas about other people that he finds very difficult to let go of. I think Eddie's main influence is in the us vs them attitude that Dustin adopts regarding the "popular" kids, but Dustin's overconfidence is definitely also because he has cheated death 3 years in a row. Nobody that was real to Dustin has died and he believes his plans are infallible... until Eddie dies following one of his plans. Yes, Eddie made the stupid decision to run into certain death for no real reason, but it is through Dustin that Eddie is connected to the larger plot. If he had just witnessed Chrissy's death and then hid, then he would have eventually been found by someone else and never directly involved with the Upside Down.

The thing I mentioned about jealousy over Steve and Robin's friendship, I think it's something that gets overlooked Way too much. Dustin was very invested in his idea that Steve and Robin are perfect for each other. We all know why they're not together, but Dustin doesn't. He just sees Steve being best friends with Robin instead of boyfriend and girlfriend like he had expected/predicted and that throws him off. 1. He was not right about something and 2. HE'S supposed to be Steve's best friend. He feels replaced. So, he tries to replace Steve. Not totally, because he can't, but Dustin Literally says to Steve "You're just jealous I have another older male friend". Dustin doesn't have subtlety. He's Trying to make Steve jealous and it is working!

Steve and Dustin's friendship was so fresh and unexpected. They're not supposed to be friends, but they are. Steve watches Star Wars with Dustin, Steve does Dustin's hair. They save each other's lives. Attempting to recreate that brotherhood with Eddie just...doesn't work. They haven't gone through what Steve and Dustin have gone through. Plus, you're right, Steve and Dustin are on a more equal level. There's elements of mentor-student with them, but most importantly they teach each other. Steve isn't leading Dustin down a road of enlightenment, he's just hanging out with his buddy. Eddie doesn't compare.

I have zero faith in s5, which I'm barely certain I'll even be watching. The Duffers lean too hard into fan service so they're going to recreate the Justice for Barb storyline but with Dustin and it's going to suck. The Duffers don't think it's a bad thing that Dustin snipes at Steve constantly or puts down his intelligence, because it's meant to be funny. Comic relief yay. The characters on this show are mean to each other, yes, but it's annoying to deal with when we see Steve apologise for going too far when he bites back at Dustin.

[mdhwrites]

How do you feel about Alador (if you haven't already talked about him before)?

Opens mouth

Closes mouth

You know what? I don't think I really have. Not on his own at least. Admittedly, like many parent characters, it's hard to talk about him as just his own character. The other side of that coin though is that unlike other parental characters, it's much less about his kids than it is about his wife. You know, someone else who really isn't much of a character and doesn't work.

Add to this the flip flopping, wishy washy nature of his character and you have someone who is hard to judge as anything but a waste of time. He spends 80% of the series quite literally only backing everything Odalia says. The one time he disagrees is to point out that his wife's goals are being met despite them not being through her own agenda so maybe it's okay to let Amity have this win? That is still serving her interests though and instead just presenting a second view point.

As a character, he is just a feckless father. The most basic stereotype of a dad who works too much, mixed with VERY forced moments of being easily distractable which don't even feel accurate to the one episode they're a part of his character, Escaping Expulsion. Just as Odalia is boring in that she is what you think of for an evil capitalist, Alador is just as basic.

This is also why the only thing people bring up about him is his inconsistency. How the show never shows him as anything other than entirely loyal to Odalia before turning him around 180 degrees and expecting the audience to believe it. There just is little else to talk about. Any wasted potential you want to even claim is mostly within Odalia already, making it feel like Amity could have honestly had just one parent and nothing would have changed besides Amity's motivation for wanting to enter the Bonesborough Brawl. Yes, you could claim the Abomatons too but if you make Odalia the abominations user, that is immediately fixed. Because that is all, story wise, Alador actually contributes.

If there is a writing lesson to be taken from Alador, it's actually WHY parents seem to never be around in shows. It is the importance of understanding what elements are important to your show and necessary. The best example of this is Clouds on the Horizon. Let me explain in the best way I can:

The love interest for the story has just been told they must be without their love. Not only that but that to continue being a part of their family and society, she must stand by cruelty and evil. The one forcing this upon her is her own mother. Everything that has been the push and pull of the character comes down to this. To reject the past, the traditions that cause harm, and embrace an uncertain, beautiful, warm future.

"No but you were very close!"

And in one line, all that weight is lost. It is not Amity overcoming all of this. It is not Amity's morals winning out versus her mother's. It's not even love winning out over hate. No, now it's some asshole who hates his wife enough that he's decided to betray her and fight her. The narrative climax of one of your main characters, one of the ones with the most plot lines related to her and what could have been a powerful climax is instead given to a minor character who has barely had twenty minutes combined in the entire series up until now.

That to me is his greatest sin. How him never existing would have strictly made the show better. Because eventually you need to figure out what your story is about and what is actually needed to tell it instead of providing endless repetitions that only get weaker with each retelling.

And boy, by the time Alador is telling the tale of his redemption. that tape is well worn and never belonged to him in the first place.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[livefastdriveyoung]

I'm gonna go ahead and say it, you can disagree, but don't be rude please.

I don't think Mercedes turn-around is enough to make Lewis want to stay.

It took 2 years.

2 years for the team to figure it out.

Whether or not the powerpoint is a joke or not, that was two years of Lewis making suggestions, with most of them being ignored. That is 2 years of having his wins and his championship battles being used as a way to remain relevant while they shoved him in a corner, gave him a car that literally had him talking about his back being too painful for physio, didn't show up to his podium, let the social media teams essentially use any comment defending him as a way to show that Mercedes care without doing anything else (and I have more to say about their admin), and let people constantly question and criticize him while never defending him.

Mercedes thought that Lewis would retire with them. They thought it was a done deal. They thought that Lewis would be happy to take a 1+1 because he's still driving and would be able to retire with them.

Except they didn't stop to actually listen and see if that is what Lewis wanted.

So Lewis goes to Fred, goes to Ferrari, and says this is what I want, this is what it would take to get me to sign with you.

And they give it to him. They give him millions upon millions of dollars. They give him a brand ambassadorship. They give him an opportunity to contribute.

When you have to fight to be heard in a place that has held your blood, sweat, and tears for 18 years, that saw you through the end of a friendship, the end of a relationship, there comes a time where you have to realize that it just isn't going to work anymore. Whether or not that was the way the team kept talking about a future without Lewis in it, whether or not it was when they failed to show up, whether or not it was when they didn't listen to him about the car, whatever it was that caused him to leave;

1 Pole Position in his home country isn't enough to get rid of that.

Yeah, Ferrari haven't been doing great since Monaco. But they were doing great until Monaco. Mercedes couldn't say the same. And by the way, what we're seeing as a downturn is not a drastic drop. They were P5 & 6 in Spain, Carlos was P3 in Austria, and P5 in Silverstone. Sure, Charles has been P11 & 14 the last 2 races, but things change at the push of a button.

And sure, Toto and Lewis are close, but Fred was Lewis's first team principal. Lewis raced under Fred with Nico. He has always talked fondly about him. And for all the jokes that the Ferrari dream is new, he's talked about it for years, but in his mind, he never thought he would have the opportunity, never thought that he would take the opportunity.

So in February, when we were all gobsmacked that Lewis Hamilton would don the red suit in 2025, were we really? Or were we shocked that Lewis was finally leaving a team that didn't love him anymore, not like they used to?

[inthefightgarden]

re-reading mother of learning and hearing this bit in chapter 1 made me go a little insane...

Though his family thought he simply liked to sleep in, Zorian actually had a reason for being a late riser. It meant he could eat his food in peace, as everyone else had already had their breakfast by then. Few things annoyed him more than someone trying to strike up a conversation while he was eating, and that was precisely the time when the rest of his family was most talkative.

just. the post canon potential. i cannot stop thinking about the ways and reasons zorian would eat breakfast with people (especially zach cause their dynamic is just pure gold).

1. zorian eating with his classmates at imaya's because they know he needs a bit of space and they can talk to each other, but it's just nice to have him around. and him acting grumpy every time they make him join them, but really he likes it too and everyone knows it.

2. zorian and zach having breakfast together because they know each other so intimately at this point and are so comfortable together, and zach knows what he needs and is willing to just enjoy the quiet with him. ("i don't like people. no he doesn't count as a person. in a good way." kind of energy)

3. zorian and zach again, but where zach has mastered the art of chatting away while not needing or expecting zorian to contribute to the conversation. just talking cause he wants to...

3a. and just going on about inconsequential stuff like his plans for the day, or recent gossip (omg zach getting really excited about new goss because its been decades since he's really had any), or just train of thought, or whatever else. because its just nice to chat, especially to zorian. and zorian low key finding it really soothing and loving the sound of zach's voice.

or 3b. but also saying a bunch of statements and ideas and questions that he KNOWS zorian will have opinions about, as part of his "casual" chatter, just to see if he can actually get him to respond. and zorian just completely calmly eating his breakfast and then when he finishes eating immediatelu launching into his own monologue which is like double the length of zach's with all his thoughts, because he has perfect memory and doesn't need to respond at once, and zach getting confused cause he doesn't even remember what he said in the first place.

(i feel like the dynamics of both parts of 3 could also work really well and be very cute in different ways if adjusted for kirielle.)

4. i haven't put as much thought into this one, but zorian visiting the taramatula and actually deigning to respond to orissa, because he finds her legitimately really interesting, and everyone else being so pissed off (in the friends way) when they find out.

5. zorian not changing the behaviour. he still likes to eat alone. but the people around him actually consistently respect that and give him space, and when other people chatting at breakfast come across something they wanna talk to him about or think he'd find funny or whatever they make the effort to remember it or write it down so they can tell him later. because they care about him. and this is how he opperates. so they build habits around it.

[botanicallyinclinednerd]

More stuff about my Merlin soulmate au:

Something I think I forgot to mention last time is that soulmates take comfort in the presence and physical contact of each other, feeling safe and content with them by their side.

The other kingdoms view Uther's policies on soulmates to be barbaric and cruel, and is a contributing factor to the tension and conflicts Camelot faces with the surrounding kingdoms.

Morgana still goes evil in this one lads, but with an important change of her anger being exclusively directed at Uther, Arthur, and Merlin. Gwen is her soulmate and she loves her, she wants Gwen at HER side. Her rage at getting a vision of Gwen becoming queen isn't because she is queen, but because she's ARTHURS queen (I do want to clarify that Gwen and Morgana's relationship in this au is platonic, but it only makes sense for Morgana to want one of her soulmates to rule beside her, and her other soulmates are her sister and a child)

So all the attempts on Gwen's life are gone (though both the shade plot and the dark tower might still be in play, but with the intention to get Gwen back all to herself, not to harm her)

(Merlin does not know Morgana is one of Gwen's other soulmates until after he poisoned her and Gwen let's slipped that she's really worried about Morgana, but at least she knows she's alive.)

(Gwen being Morgana's soulmate is a treasure trove of angst that I do plan on exploring fully)

The Coming of Arthur is going to be fun in regards to Morgana and Gwen (and Leon)

Morgana promising Gwen that no harm will come to her, not with her by her side.

"I know it's not fair of me to make you choose between soulmates, but Gwen, I can bring peace back to Camelot. Magic can be free again, soulmates cherished as they are supposed to be. Please, join me."

But the thing is, Morgana isn't just asking Gwen to choose between two halves of her soul. She knows both Leon and Merlin would never forsake Arthur, and if she chose Morgana, she would also lose both of them, not just Arthur. It's an unfair position to be in, an impossible situation (she chooses anyway. The Morgana she knew never would have ordered the death of innocent civilians to punish those who would not obey her. Something happened to the girl she loves, shes having trouble recognizing the holder of a piece of her soul)

(Gwen still goes to the dungeon to bring Leon food, though it goes a little differently, with Leon learning that Morgana is her soulmate. More on that in another post)

Arthur is going to repeal the laws against soulmates and magic as soon as he becomes king (he has been aware of Merlin’s status as a sorcerer for years and is unable to see how magic can be evil and corrupting when Merlin is one of the best people he knows and his soulmate to boot)

Due to most of them growing up under laws that prohibit talking about soulmates, it takes everybody far too fucking long to realize that they are all soulmates with each other cause no one says anything or compares notes.

I know its mean, but they finally figure it all out following Lancelot's death

(I have tried to figure out a way for him to survive but I really don't think he can)

(Poor Gwen all alone in Camelot breaking down while helping care for people because she feels Lancelot *die* with only Gaius to help her. No other soulmates available to hold her and help her feel a little less empty, a little less alone.)

Everyone experiencing the same pain and all knowing they just lost Lancelot leads to conversation.

Because while everyone in the group had been bonded with Lancelot, not everyone is bound together, which is totally possible, but Arthur knows he's soul bound to half this group, it would make sense to check if there's others in the group.

I will make a separate post about the events of the darkest hour cause I think this would get very long if I had it in here

Now, something I haven't gotten into yet is the magic part of soulmates (so far it's mainly been the destiny and social ramifications and interpersonal details)

Soulmarks are magic, and in some cases, an individual can develop a soulmate ability, a single ability that can be used in regards to exclusively one's bonded soulmates

Now these abilities vary in strength and specificity, some are dictated by touch, others apply no matter where they are in the world

Some soulmate abilities I've come up with thus far are:

The ability to always know what direction their soulmate is in relation to themself

The ability to know when their soulmate is lying to them, and a more broad varient of always knowing when they are lying period

The ability to always instinctually know what it is their soulmate truly means when they speak (I'm very tempted to give this to Gwen because I think it would make things interesting with Morgana, but I am worried it might break things a bit)

The ability to know what their soulmate is feeling emotionally by looking at them or touching them (I think I'm going to give this one to Leon?)

An ability confined to touch that brings to the soulmate's attention what their body most needs at that moment. (It's requires intent to be put into use, and it doesn't necessarily make the soulmate do that thing? It's not compulsory. It's more "Hey you're fucking exhausted you need sleep," or "Crying sounds so nice right now," or "Dude, EAT," and they can still fight these things, if they choose to, but those things are now at the forefront of their attention (making them more likely to be heeded))

Now, an ability I've thought EXTENSIVELY about:

A very rare and (before Uther nuked everything having to do with magic and soulmates) coveted ability that allows someone to, through constant touch, share their life force with their dying soulmate in order to keep then alive.

So say, for example, somebody (Soulmate A) is actively bleeding out from a fatal wound. The soulmate with the ability (Soulmate B) would have to touch soulmate A, skin to skin contact, and have this desperation, determination that soulmate A will not die, they won't let them.

Now, a couple things would happen.

One: Soulmate B's soulmark on Soulmate A's skin would move in some way to the point of injury (the method may vary depending on what their mark looks like. Like if the mark was a flower, the stem may extend and the mark itself stays stationary, or if it's something that's alive it would just fully move) and start "healing" the wound

Healing being in quotes because

Two: The injury is really being transferred partially to Soulmate B, enough so that the injury to Soulmate A is no longer immediately fatal, for the duration that they keep contact with Soulmate A. This buys Soulmate A time to be healed properly, but if the underlying injury is not healed in a timely manner, both Soulmate A and B could die.

Healing Soulmate A would also heal Soulmate B, as it was never truly their injury (though it sure feels and acts like it, and can be just as deadly if help isn't gotten in time.)

Because this ability is so inherently magic and is considered a spell, Soulmate B, even if they have the capacity to use other magic, can not cast a healing spell while using this spell, as it's only possible to cast one spell at a time.

I am naturally giving this ability to Merlin.

But the thing about abilities like this one is that it's impossible to know if you have it or not until the situation calls for it for the first time. It's impossible to know until your soulmate is dying right in front of you. Until you reach out and wish with every fiber in your being that they survive and they DO

The other thing about this ability? It can only be used once per soulmate. One get out of death free card and that's it

I haven't fully figured out if the dark tower would still happen, but if it does, Merlin would discover this ability saving Elyan's life (with the help of the knights who have to on the fly learn healing magic or else lose *both* of them)

That's going to be it for this post as it's starting to get long, but I have other posts I'm already working on. Also, if anyone has any questions, ideas, or suggestions in regards to this au, please feel free to send them my way!

[moooclipse]

Kat Support <3

I haven't been keeping up as much with the LAES, but I adore Earth and Dazzle, plus Pollux and Nebula seem interesting too! Below I tried to write a note for each of the characters I drew:

• I find Earth's desire to help and be there for her family, as well as her ability to set boundaries when necessary, to be admirable traits of hers. Her recent development of chronic pain sounds interesting too, and I'm curious to see how she learns to re-navigate the world and adapt to her situation. Apparently, the recent episode where she makes her promise with Sun was a big deal and some people didn't support it, but Earth has ever reason to do what she did. Between the betrayal of learning the truth behind her father, Nexus' descent into madness, and Lunar's spontaneous attack, it's no wonder she'd feel some rocky trust to those around her. The current Moon who's around isn't even the Moon she grew to know, and it'll take time for her to understand him and trust him to the same level as the rest of her family, and she mentioned in the video too that she was thinking of making the same promise with Solar. Even if she doesn't go through with that promise to Solar, Sun being the first, and possibly only, person she makes that promise to makes sense. Sun is, if I remember correctly, the first member of the family she met, it wasn't even Nexus. It's not that she doesn't trust her family any less, but she trusted Lunar to not hurt her, she trusted Nexus to not hurt her, she trusted her father to not hurt her, and look at what happened. She has every right to be wary right now, and her decision to make that promise to Sun is completely valid.

• Dazzle has easily been a favorite of mine since she's been introduced, and I don't think she'll ever lose that placement. Her naivety, backstory, childish behaviors, and unconditional love/care just make her too hard not to love. One of the videos featuring her that's at the top of my mind lately is her comforting Sun after Nexus' death. She doesn't fully understand why Sun is hurt, or what about him is hurt, but she tries so hard to make him feel better in all the ways that help her. I can't even put into words how much I love that episode. The episode where she meets the beast is also sticking out to me. It's both sweet and heartbreaking her situation with Neptor. Like I said, I haven't been keeping up as much as I'd like with the LAES, but I believe at that point she had been informed of Neptor's death, yet she doesn't seem to understand what that means, and it makes sense! She talks to Neptor like he's still alive, and even says that if she could live in the walls of the Daycare for so long, then of course Neptor must be living in the ground. Of course we know that's not true, but her logic makes sense from her pov and I like that, as heartbreaking as it is to watch though </3 And her worry for the beast, she wasn't scared of it or even had a thought that it might hurt her, instead she was worried if it was ok and if it was hurt. I just love her character so much and whether she gets reunited with her father and stays with him, or she stays with the celestial family, or some kind of compromise between the two happens, I wish the best for her.

• I'm not as familiar with Pollux and Nebula, which feels bad to say, so I sadly don't have much to say about them, but I'm certain they're just as wonderful of characters that I would like to go back and learn more about.

Kat, I think your story telling is lovely, and I adore the characters you voice act. I'm sorry that people in the community can't see that and decided to hurt you, you and all the other female voice actors don't deserve it. Whatever happens next, thank you for your contribution to the story and the patience you had with this community to hold your ground this long. <3

To save from any confusion I wanted to mention that the character featured in all four drawings is my own, Star. She's a bit of a self-insert that I wanted to use to express my support, I hope that's alright.

[rayllurn]

What "The Dragon Prince" Means to Me

There's been a lot going on in my life recently, and I haven't had much time or energy to contribute to s7 hype, but on the eve of our final season, I do want to reflect on what The Dragon Prince means to me. (Cue long-winded personal essay no one cares about LOL).

Growing up, my parents always made me feel weird and ashamed about my interests, telling me the shows I watched were "dumb" or that I was "too old to watch that." When I was 14, I literally watched ATLA for the first time on our family computer on some random website when no one was home, and I would delete the browsing history so my family wouldn't see it and judge me (....some 14-year-olds were deleting porn history and I was out there deleting cartoon watching history LMAO).

Anyway, I decided at some point that no one could know what my interests were or that I watched cartoons/anime. I went to college and was absolutely terrified of not fitting in and being deemed "weird" by my roommate (she thought I was weird regardless lol). I actually had this belief that if I ever got married, I wouldn't even tell my spouse about watching cartoons or anime. Then, I met my college friends, who were into more niche stuff too, and my (now husband) who was really into Dragon Ball (which I learned after we'd been dating for a few weeks). I reluctantly opened up to him about the things I was interested in, and he thought it was all really cool and wanted to watch them with me (and enjoyed watching them with me!).

We've been together since 2015 and have been living together since 2017, so on September 14, 2018, when I was browsing Netflix and "The Dragon Prince" was recommended to me, I watched the trailer and was immediately hooked. And I called him into the living room and showed him the trailer and was like "wanna watch this with me?" And he was like "heck yeah!" And we've watched every season together since.

I think in a lot of ways, this was the first show where I've felt comfortable talking with others about my interest in it, largely thanks to personal growth and just finding my people. I've loved every bit of the show, supplementary material, memes, etc. that I've seen over the past six years, and this has been, hands down, the best fandom experience I've ever had. Apart from getting to enjoy the show with people I love, I've met so many amazing folks on tumblr whom I admire and really enjoy chatting with.

Some personal highlights for me over the years:

Learning how to make gifs

Going absolutely batshit crazy over rayllum in season 3

The 2020 virtual SDCC panel where they announced seasons 4-7

The time they randomly dropped season 5 like a week early

The official rayllum Valentine's Day art!!!

The Valentine's Day takeover earlier this year (where all of the tdp couples got Hozier songs lol)

The mustache wars

Screaming over 06x06

That time we all thought Rayla was fake

And much, much more!

Six years is a long time, and, while I was an adult when the show started, I've definitely grown up in this time period in a lot of ways, having experienced a lot of major life events:

I got engaged

I got married

I got promoted at work

We bought a house

We've adopted two dogs and a cat (one of my dogs is named Stella after tdp)

We've encountered some major losses and hardships, which have made us stronger individually and together

And, this June, we're expecting our first child (provided everything keeps going well!)

So to me, my Dragon Prince era has been about personal growth and learning to accept and love who I am. It's been about leaning into my interests and passions and learning new things (like making gifs!). Life is seriously too short to give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks. Be unapologetically you! <3

It's been an honor blogging with you all, and happy season 7 watching!