#probably more of an archive than a social media service

[mirrorofliterature]

okay, you local australian law student would like to correct some widespread misinformation about the recent under 16 social media ban in australia.

let me translate the legalese for you:

it will affect tumblr unless otherwise explicitly excluded.

This is because it defines 'age restricted social media' as

(a) an electronic service that satisfies the following conditions:

(i) the sole purpose, or a significant purpose, of the service is to enable online social interaction between 2 or more end-users;

(ii) the service allows end-users to link to, or interact with, some or all of the other end-users;

(iii) the service allows end-users to post material on the service;

(iv) such other conditions (if any) as are set out in the legislative rules; or

(b) an electronic service specified in the legislative rules;

but does not include a service mentioned in subsection (6).

Subsection (6) = something explicitly excluded in the legislative rules, where the government will elaborate and name and shame particular social media, but just because something is not in that list, does not mean it is not included in the ban.

Anyway. Tumblr is definitely included under the broad legislative definition, so it is covered by the under 16 social media ban, at least technically.

Is this ban a good thing? No, but don't spread misinformation.

[rycusfunnies]

October tradition to post this freak. He now has a ref sheet. Took me like a year or two to finally get around to making him one LOL?? He needed time to cook in my brain. Like yknow like, rotate around in a mental microwave until ready, that kinda thing. Heres his extra info I wrote on disc and a few other things below the cut if you wanna read that or whatever since I yap too much

This guy is pretty much more than a Pixar Cars OC or a LM to me. I want to make him real. Though without the weird symbiote stuff of course! He's the reason why I want to study automechanics as a hobby. I have pretty much everything prepared and ready for when I eventually get a 74'. Websites with the service manual archived, I follow various AMC enthusiast and collector social medias, and a trade school I'm looking into as a last resort for learning. I even talk to people irl and online about it. Even some of my family who have experience w mechanics(My uncle owned a Pacer once and loved it and has a pretty positive view on AMC. Didn't speak to him for awhile and he yapped to me for an hour on the phone about mechanics and AMC's). I had the coolest convo with someone a couple days ago. Dude approached us while I was helping my dad w putting groceries in our car, he was living on borrowed time. Worked as a mechanic, told him all about this since I figured he'd understand. The most unexpected thing happened, he told me he a Gremlin with a supercharger, the 304 CID v8, and loved it and said it was a beast. He wished me luck getting my own. Bet he was no doubt, pretty surprised that someone who looks physically 16 is talking about a 50 year old car that he probably drove back in the 70's and 80's and understood what he was talking about. Funnily enough it was the same store parking lot I saw a red AMC AMX parked in once! People like that are the reason why I want to make him a reality and work on older vehicles like him, it feels right, and its on my bucket list. I have gotten nothing but support and other mechanics online willing to assist me, and sometimes the "You have strange taste, why though? That is a ugly car". But still its funny anyway, and thats the point, no? There is def something unique about these cars, they are a eyecatcher.

[taekooktimeline]

Hey everyone 👋🏽

If you celebrate, I hope you’ve been having a nice holiday 💜I’ve been super inactive as I spend time with family, though I probably will continue to be more IA on TW and IG while Taekook are away. I don’t like SM as it is and I’ve started quietly working towards personal goals while we wait for Taekook’s discharge, which is filling up a lot of personal time☺️

I’ve been considering adding Taehyung’s and Jungkook’s latest chapter, their time in the military, into the blog. While this blog is primarily used to archive their beautiful bond, I think noting their military service would be a nice way to help pass the time while we wait for their return, and it also would be another way to support and cheer them on (especially since we miss them so much).

With that being said, I’d like to get feedback on doing this since I know opinions vary on sharing this type of content. The photos I would post would come from official, public sites. They would not come from, and never would come from, questionable sources, or from places where we aren’t sure if they’re edits. They’d be public photos, public information, already publicly shared across multiple social media platforms.

For instance, I’d like to add the publicly released photos of Jungkook that have been shared during his basic training. If I were to update the blog with their time in service, I want to point out that there isn’t much substance to note with one of the two updates I have pending for him currently, so one post would be more photo based than text, but I’d still like to document them as part of his service journey. And likewise, I’d like to add Taehyung’s currently released photo, especially since we did get information attached to this, that he’s platoon commander of the training soldiers, an incredible feat I’d proudly like to note.

Please let me know what you think. I’m receptive to feedback, especially since I always want to do right by my biases🙏🏽 I have family in town, so while I will do my best to respond to all comments, I apologize if I’m slower to do so.

My goal would be to update the few small drafts I started working on tomorrow (Friday) when my family leaves, if feedback is positive towards this style of updates for the next 18 months. I will edit this later with a note what the overall feedback has been and how I’ll proceed. And for those who do share their thoughts, thank you so much!

Happy Holidays 💜💚

Kayla

Note - it looks like the feedback is positive so I’ll work on cleaning up the drafts and posting them in the next day or so!💜I do want to gently point out that this is new territory for me. I’m not familiar with military jargon (or anything military really). I’m learning as I follow updates related to Tae and Jk so as always, if I can word something better or if I’ve worded something incorrectly, please let me know and I will modify!💚

[catiecat1320]

Sonadowtober Prompt 17: Alter Ego

For one of my AUs, Atlas! Decided to bring the old manga back to life with a post-Frontiers self-discovery arc for Sonic

Shadow's been looking for a certain someone... and finds that someone has taken on a new face

Sorry it's late lol (Context in AO3 endnotes)

Read Below🔽

Shadow doesn’t know what compelled him to walk into that bookstore.

It wasn’t particularly eye-catching, nor was he in need of a book of any sort. Yet something told him to stop beneath the sign proudly labeling the quaint place as “THE ATLAS.”

A lady with kind eyes and a soft smile opened the door hugging a thick clothbound book, calling back over her shoulder a thank you to someone named Nicky. She stops upon seeing him. “Why hello! Visiting?”

“...Yes.” Shadow supposed he wasn’t the most discreet person on this side of the planet, with easily memorable red stripes declaring to everyone unfamiliar that they haven’t seen him before. It wasn’t such a big deal now as it is when he’s on missions, but it’s still annoying that he can’t blend in with folks who often ask him more questions than he has the social battery for.

“What brings you to our little town? We don’t get much tourism around here,” she beamed. Shadow had an automated response prepared for questions like hers.

“Personal reasons.”

“Oh, I hope it’s nothing bad,” the lady replies. “The Atlas is a good place to go if you need advice, though! Nicky’s got something for everyone. I swear that boy knows everything there is to know.”

Quite a boast. Shadow pastes a smile on his face and tells her that he’ll look into it, completely certain that this Nicky wouldn’t be able to help. With as remote of a town as this, he doubts they’d know anything about the whereabouts of the hero he’s looking for.

He doesn’t know how wrong he is. Yet simultaneously, he finds out just how right his assumption of obliviousness was.

Perhaps he goes into the shop knowing that his objective isn’t urgent, that the lost didn’t need nor want to be found. The world wasn’t ending, and he knew that Sonic would show his face if anything of the sort happened. Shadow supposed he just wanted to check in on him, seeing as the last time they met, he wasn’t doing the best.

But if Shadow’s advice had encouraged him to find the comfort to disappear off the face of Earth for such a while, he was probably okay. 

Whatever the case, Shadow walks into The Atlas, and finds everything he thought he wouldn’t.

Among the shelves stands a hedgehog, stretching to reach a book just out of his grasp. When he turns around to greet his new customer, emerald eyes widen behind black-framed glasses, if only for a second. 

“H-hey! Welcome to The Atlas!” Sonic squeaks, pitched in a bad attempt at disguising his voice. He tugs at his red hoodie’s strings nervously as he gets stared down.

“Sonic.” Shadow suddenly finds that he has no idea what to say. He didn’t really expect to come across the hero so soon, despite having looked for him for months now. Turns out, he didn’t have to say anything, at least not yet.

Sonic has grabbed his arm and pulled him into a different room before he can even register the movement. He’d gotten so used to being faster than the rest of the world that he forgot there was someone faster. “What are you doing here?”

“I… I should be asking you that,” Shadow states, taken back by the sudden question. “Can I not be here?”

“Heh. I suppose you’re right.” Sonic runs a hand through his bangs, something he apparently took the time to grow out. “Uh…” He glances at Shadow, then around what seems to be a storage room, struggling to find words despite the numerous books. 

A faint ringing of bells sounds from beyond the closed door and the blue hedgehog perks up. Giving a customer-service worthy smile, he gestures outside and goes to greet whoever came in.

Shadow watches the interaction unfold in secret.

The customer seems young, bright. By their demeanor, they’ve definitely been here before. “Hi Nicky! Has that collection arrived yet?”

“Ollie!” Sonic’s so at ease as he hops behind the checkout counter and hoists a box up to them. “Here! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.” He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. “And if you require any more books, I have plenty of recommendations like this one.”

“Alright, bookworm,” they laugh, trading a sack of rings for the neatly bound box. “Thanks! I’ll be back!”

“See you later!” As soon as they’re out of sight, Sonic zips back into the storage room, smiling shyly once he realizes Shadow’s been watching. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Shadow says immediately. Seeing him interact with Ollie… he can see that the hero’s found a place here, one worth staying for. He’d feel bad if he was anything other than happy for Sonic.

Sonic seems to disagree. “So… on a scale of one to mass hysteria, how bad is it? At home, I mean.” At Shadow’s confused look, he cringes, prying his glasses off his face and anxiously cleaning them with his shirt. “Gosh, I should go back, shouldn’t I?”

“What? No. Why? They’re fine,” he splurts, unable to understand what planted that idea in Sonic’s head in the first place. It was as if Shadow’s mere presence caused the hero to regress into the near paranoid behavior he’d only recently worked himself out of.

“Are you sure?” He sounds so… scared. Shadow takes his hands and plops those glasses back onto Sonic’s face. 

“I’m sure. I didn’t come with the intention of forcing you to go anywhere. I looked for you to make sure you were okay. There’s no need to return if you’re enjoying yourself here.”

That coaxes a smile out of him. One of those genuine smiles that caused the corners of his eyes to crinkle with joy, not the practiced kind the hero wore for the masses. “I am. It’s nice to be just a guy again.”

Shadow nods in sympathy. He can’t say he knew what it was like, but if Sonic found it so nice… “Would you like me to call you Nicky?” The blue hedgehog shrugs. Indifference. Well, if he was to be a normal guy, a hero’s name wouldn’t do. “Nicky, then. It fits you. You return when you’re ready, Nicky. The world can handle itself.”

Emerald eyes simmer with unsaid thanks, and Shadow finds himself pulled into a hug, tight but comfortable. He can’t help but smile as he reciprocates the gesture, gently running a hand through blue quills.

Just two hedgehogs, for the moment.

[cipheramnesia]

What can we do to prevent or fight back against the takedown of blogs like normal horoscopes and were-ralph?

OK, so, normal-horoscopes is back, and it seems on balance more likely a lean staffing / over use of automated systems issue I spec.

But what the real question here is more like how to conclusively demonstrate prejudicial and malicious behavior and transform that into meaningful change, yes? I will admit I do not have the mental physical or organizational resources for this, but here's roughly what I'd want to put together.

First, you need a metric. I would suggest "violence" because blog takedowns are too difficult to track and not common enough. Blog takedowns may be an outcome of systemic prejudice, but probably not an easy measure. Violence is everywhere, easy to find and measure.

Now get yourself a random sample. This is not very easy to do on social media, particularly as you won't know how representative the sample is. My best guess would be to trawl the trending topics for several weeks, and also throw some directed searches into the sample like top blog results for queer, transgender, radical feminism, terf, patriotism, nationalism, etc. Whatever is liable to pull a bunch of blogs that feature a variety of disenfranchised groups plus a variety of authoritarian groups.

If I was organizing what to look for in the sample I'd say three categories (1) threat of violence against a specific person, (2) threat of violence against a general group, (3) any reference to violent behavior in general. Note here - yes you have to include humorous posts, and also posts of like a trans person talking about how terfs should die or something. How you define violence is also important but I'm not conducting this study so I'm not going into that. I would suggest however that it be UNAMBIGUOUS.

So you got your sample, you got your metric, now go through like, idk, a month of blog archives and report every single instance of category one. Collect any reference numbers, mark down if the blog is like about disenfranchised groups, authoritarian, or generic. Check the posts to see if action is taken. If yes, mark what action, if no, report the post again in like a week or two weeks or some regular interval. Report all new posts from category one, track them in the same way. Keep this going for a bit, like three to six months at least.

Posts in category two I would suggest tracking but not reporting unless you have insufficient data from category one. So this is like if you find a couple hundred random blogs and there's like a dozen category one and all one blog, that's no good and this means you gotta add in reporting of category two posts, again collect reference numbers and track as above. Both categories explicitly violate the TOS so it's fair game. I also suggest tracking notes on reported posts as possibly useful data.

Category three is track only, these don't violate any terms of service, it's mostly added detail to see if there's for example a correlation between "posts a lot of violent stuff generally" and "reported posts get taken down less, the same, or more frequently."

Anyway, now hopefully you have a shit ton of data and you wanna figure out if there's a correlation between disenfranchised = more takedowns per reported post than authoritarian or generic; and if authoritarian = less takedowns per reported than disenfranchised or generic. Probably also want to confirm if the data still holds true when converted into a ratio of "violent posts to taken down posts" so you're not skewing things. After this is done, if you have a correlation that shows even accounting for the quantity of posts that disenfranchised posts are nuked more than authoritarian, now you have some hard data to start digging into.

The next bit is tricky because now you need to find someone who can connect you with Tumblr's staff and you have to do it without sounding like you're on a witch hunt. Because now you have reference numbers and reported posts which means, hopefully, someone in Tumblr's HR can dig up all those references and find out if there's a consistent group of staff members linked to both the unresolved authoritarian reported posts, and the nuked disenfranchised posts. Or is there no specific person / person that stands out?

If it's a few people, well, pretty good chance it's malicious and at the bare minimum they probably shouldn't be involved in the review of flagged posts. If it's just everyone, no clear individual, then when you have is a systemic problem, and we have reasonable grounds to demand Tumblr revise its review process.

And then when whatever dust that kicks up settles, you go right back and run this same thing from the start to see if there's changes. And that's probably a solid, not perfect, but solid way to knock out some of the bad shit from Tumblr, maybe, if Tumblr staff doesn't just blow the whole thing off.

Or like I guess you could write a 5,000 word callout post on someone for bad fanfiction ships or something, idk.

[yashashveeroy]

✨Services at Roy's Archives.✨

.⚜️It's time for the King to be at your service⚜️.

Royal Greetings,

For the longest time, I struggled to believe in my intuition. I had a hard time with it, I still do sometimes! But after a lot of encouragement from some of the most important souls in my life, my Royal Subjects here at Tumblr and obviously, my Mother Dearest, I humbly present to you: "Services at Roy's Archives". I realized that I needed to stop doubting and fearing every little thing I did intuitively. Might sound funny, but.... I am more afraid of myself than I am of the unknown, or perhaps what I could individually do with the knowledge of it.

So yes, I maybe afraid right now but I need to let my soul's Lotus bloom. While I let it grow, I only wish for it to help me find my way in this new journey. I promise to love it and care for it. I promise to let it age and wither whenever it's necessary. With every other decay & blossom, I promise to let in the transformation it brings me. I promise to use it to help others grow and transform as well.

As for the one who is reading this at the moment, happy to have your beautiful presence here. If by chance you end up booking with me, my inner child will probably throw a party for me, I think! But yes, more than that, I'll be grateful for the fact that you placed your trust & faith in my intuition.

Come, let's bloom together. 🪷✨.

Lots of Love, Roy.

✨The Royal Service Enquiry:

The services, their descriptions and prices are all mentioned in the form itself for a hassle free system. If there are any more doubts on your end, you may reach out to me through my Email or DMs and I'll try my best to clear them.

✨Koji:

For all my available payment methods and social media, especially Email.

✨Tip Roy's Archives:

If you found my Paid Reading to be really helpful or perhaps you really enjoyed the original content I post here on Tumblr, feel free to leave a lil tip.

✨PayPal

✨Koji Tips:

For the souls who don't use PayPal but can make a payment with a simple Debit/ Credit Card.

💖⚜️🧿🪷✨.

[sailor-spaghetti]

I should make one of these probably. This is NOT a DNI - anyone can follow, but this is a summary for you to decide for yourself if you'd like it here.

Hi, my name is Sailor, I'm 25, and I'm an undergrad student who is double majoring in Social Thought and Political Economy (STPEC) and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) with a minor in African-American Studies and a certificate in Civic Engagement and Public Service. I am a radical leftist and a Marxist who has recently been flirting with anarchocommunism. I hope to go to grad school one day to continue studying and learning, because I want to be a teacher someday (and I really want to help bring the pop university to the US).

I am transmasculine and use they/them pronouns primarily, but will also accept he/him if you're struggling with they/them for any reason. I gay and autistic, but I am also white and do carry that privilege. With this in mind, please ask before tagging me to contribute to a conversation. Not every political discussion is within my wheelhouse, and while leftist and liberatory politics fall firmly into special interest territory for me, I have no desire to speak above people who have more stakes in an issue than I do.

I am a crochet/fiber artist and I'm definitely going to be putting some of my art here. I also intend to open a BigCartel shop (fuck Etsy) for small items I've crocheted, but it's not live yet. I will update this post when it is.

This blog is kind of a mixture of everything. My art, politics, a place where I'll be putting some recommended reading/viewing/book/media reviews (at the time of writing this, I am currently reading Warped: Gay Normativity and Queer Anticapitalism by Peter Drucker and so far I highly recommend it), some miscellaneous fandom stuff, a lot of shitposting, just things I think are pretty or fun (there will be a lot of faerycore and liminalcore here), etc. I don't plan on reblogging porn or anything, but there's definitely some 18+ and 21+ humor here, so if you're a minor it might be best if you just look through my art tag instead of following me. I'm tagging all of my fiber art with #spaghettistitchery, so there's even a convenient tag to work with.

I will gladly engage in good-faith conversations about politics, history, etc., but the key word there is "good-faith". Things I do not consider to be good faith include:

Bootlicking

Playing devil's advocate

Hypotheticals

Tone policing

Peace policing

Liberal and neoliberal ideology in general

Moving the goalposts

Slice-of-the-pie discourse

Anything that discourages solidarity with people who are more oppressed or people living under different conditions from my/your own. Solidarity is a necessary tool of resistance.

Respectability politics

Purity politics - being a comrade does not require knowing exactly the right thing to say, it requires class consciousness and a willingness to learn from those whose experiences you do not share

Etc. This list may be expanded as time goes on.

Unless a post is immediately relevant (current news, mutual aid request, active/ongoing conversation, etc.), I only reblog to the queue so that hopefully this place can be active even if I'm too busy to post. I am a very busy person between school and real-life activism/organizing, and so I might not always get back to you right away if you message or tag me.

If any of my academic writing ever gets published, you also have my permission to DM me to ask for a free copy. If you need help accessing a book or a paper, feel free to DM me and I will use my student privileges to see if I can access a PDF to send you. I hate the inaccessibility of knowledge under capitalism and want to do everything in my power to combat it, and I encourage any other students or teachers on this site to do the same.

Some free resources that are available:

The Marxist Internet Archive - you can access a lot of Marxist texts here, for free, in multiple language.

Libcom.org - Another site where you can access leftist writings, this one focusing more specifically on anarchocommunist texts.

Kanopy - You can watch documentaries for free here with your library card. I definitely recommend using this site and I especially recommend watching Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialist Self-Defense.

Open Library - If you can't access an in-person library for whatever reason, you can also borrow PDFs for free from here.

Anarcho-Communist Playlist - I didn't make this but I shit you not there's so much here that every time I put it on shuffle I feel like I'm learning a history lesson.

[wtffundiefamilies]

Happy 30th, Jill.  Good news is, this decade usually sucks way less than your 20s.  

I went to the TWoP forum archive to see if I could find a post I made one night a dozen or so years ago.  If it’s been archived, I can’t figure out how to access it.  Not important.  Partly because no one, least of all you, will read this (or care if they/you do).  Partly because I remember what I said, more or less.

It was when you were considering pursuing nursing as a career for a hot second, before deciding on midwifery.  I considered, not for the first time, what a waste of potential the majority of your family has been.  Not because motherhood isn’t worthwhile or difficult or feminist, but because none of us really believed that you were being given a choice.  

And I think you’ve essentially confirmed that was true.

Your family loved to brag about how they put Jesus first, others second, themselves last.  They trained you all like a bunch of seals to bark the phrase out on command.  But nearly all of your siblings obediently repeated it, then went back to being entitled, demanding, destructive and lazy.  

Not you, though.  

My father had a saying he liked; “What am I going to believe, you or my own eyes?”  I usually watched your family with the sound off (your parents have the most annoying voices in Christendom), and it wasn’t hard to notice whose eyes were dead and whose smiles were fake.  It wasn’t hard to notice that while your family goofed off on mission trips, you were genuinely interested in connecting with people.  90% of your family seemed pissed off to not have a hot shower; I sincerely believed that you would’ve given up some of your own privileges and excesses in your own life if it meant you could’ve brought your friend, who wished so desperately to come to the US, home with you.  I don’t agree with your family’s brand of mission work, but I think you believed in it, not to curry favor with God or advertisers, but to better lives.  And as a kid, it’s not like you could be blamed for your family’s brand of toxic evangelism.  I still find your beliefs and practices abhorrent, but I believe in your case they at least come from a good place, rather than a selfish one.

When you brought up service-oriented career goals, I was genuinely sad to realize that no matter how good your intentions were, you’d be married and pregnant long before you made it through nursing school.  And it seemed like it would be a waste of the rare Duggar who genuinely believed that helping others, even if it meant sacrificing their own comfort, was important.  I believed you had the potential to make a big difference for people who needed whatever you decided you could offer them, and it seemed like such a waste for you to be stuck in a family who only saw a woman’s value in her uterus.

I was so right about that immense potential to make a difference.  You’re already doing it.  It’s not what I envisioned, and probably not what you envisioned, but...men plan, God laughs.  

You’re better off without them; you’re better without them.  I’m glad you see your own worth.  You are enough.  Without your famous parents, your eighteen siblings, your (stolen) TLC paychecks.  Without 12 theoretical kids you can’t emotionally care for.  Yeah, your ministry was a trainwreck, but at least you tried something.  And your husband may be a dbag who sticks his nose in your business constantly and bullies queer people on social media, but he’s on your side.  

Putting yourself first when it’s necessary is the one part of JOY they conveniently never mention.  I’m glad you finally figured it out.

...any chance, though, you can smuggle Johannah, Jennifer and Jordyn into your home next time you’re in the neighborhood?  (Josie will be fine; I’m 90% sure she can take JimBob in a fistfight.)

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with MustangSally

MustangSally has 33 stories at Gossamer. Even if you haven’t read it, you’ve probably heard of at least one of them, Iolokus, since it’s an X-Files fanfic classic. All her fics hit big and are well worth your time. I’ve recced some of my favorites here before, including And Dance by the Light of the Moon, All the Children are Insane, and Iolokus. Big thanks to MustangSally for doing this interview.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I could tell you but then I would have to kill you.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Yes and no. Yes, because life has moved on since the early nineties and the characters and the fans are in vastly different places now. Our current tech would make the premise of the X-Files impossible. No, because of the longevity of some of the Star Trek TOS work (there’s an archive of hard copy fanzines at the University of Iowa). Top-drawer authors started out in TOS fandom.

I’m just greatly saddened that my physical body is showing wear and tear while the fic doesn’t. Fic gets to stay smooth-skinned and muscular, captured at the peak of perfection.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

At the risk of sounding atrociously trite, I think of the friends I made.  I met some very remarkable women that I’ve been able to stay friends with online for over twenty-five years.  We may have moved to Facebook and post entirely too much about our pets and which of our body parts has sagged this week, but we’re friends.  It’s a furiously funny, feminist, and well-educated group of women with jobs in the highest levels of academia, finance, communications, and media.  I’m amused by the fact that if I have a question about how a virus replicates, I can ask a PhD I’ve been drunk with in Las Vegas.

Back in the day, I had a job that sent me traveling around major cities in the US and UK. I could post on a message board and within ten minutes there were people I could go out for dinner and drinks with. We already knew we had something we could talk about for at least a couple of hours. Additionally, most of these people were women so there was an added level of security. Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Well, it was mostly atxc and the Yahoo! groups mailing lists that spiraled out into Geocities sites and, eventually, LiveJournal. The amusing thing is that getting in on the ground floor of social media and the Internet has helped me get jobs!  When I look at a new piece of software, I think, ‘this is hella easier than uploading to Geocities.’  We had to walk uphill both ways, in the snow, on dial-up, fighting off dinosaurs with our AOL CDs while writing HTML code. What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS.

The past four years in politics have basically been the ugliest online kerfuffle the world has ever seen. I survived the Shipper Wars of ’96 and I thought those were brutal, but that was NOTHING. The only way to win an argument online is to not have the argument at all. Arguing with a troll is like mudwrestling a pig: You both get filthy and only the pig is happy.

Also, READ THE FUCKING TERMS OF SERVICE.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I had the most terrible straight-girl crush on Scully. I wanted to be her best friend, I wanted to BE her.  I wanted to order Chinese food and paint each other’s nails and talk about bones.  Scully and Princess Leia and I could all just hang out poolside with hot and cold running waiters and poolboys, drink margaritas, and bitch about how unfair it all was – if the stupid men would just get OUT OF THE WAY AND LET US DO OUR JOBS, the world would be so much better. What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

This question is really about Iolokus, isn’t it?  You can’t fool me. [Lilydale note: I can neither confirm nor deny the motivation for this question, but I cannot complain about the answer.]

Simply put, I was enraged. The moment it was revealed that Scully’s ova had been used in experimentation, I lost my feminist mind. It was the most obscene defilement imaginable.  Scully wasn’t nearly as angry as I was.  What I thought needed to happen was for Scully to become a fiery force of vengeance against the MEN who had done this to her.  Clearly, I was not going to get that level of satisfaction from the show, as I was imagining Kali-like carnage on a global scale. I emailed RivkaT (whom I did not know well at that point) with a proposition that we work together. Strangely enough, we didn’t meet face to face until we were well into the project, but we did talk on the phone quite a bit. The rules were simple – everyone had to be punished in truly horrific ways, and at some point, we had to see if we could write a car chase (only because that seemed impossible).  Then it basically turned into a very twisted game of chicken to see who could be the most outrageous in terms of killing people off or writing really horrific things that fit within the structure of the narrative.  I did, in the end, write the car chase, but RivkaT one-upped me by throwing in a helicopter (a FOX News helicopter, at that).  

Really, RivkaT?  A helicopter? What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom? I am terribly proud of what I wrote, pleased that it brought pain and pleasure in equal amount to people, and, again, thrilled by the people I became friends with. I admit that I stopped watching the show when Scully announced her pregnancy.  I could only see a long jump over a shark tank for the rest of the series. I haven’t watched the new episodes, either.  It is complete in my mind and doesn’t need to be continued.  I wouldn’t say no to having a reunion with some of my fic friends, although we’re still chatting online like everyone does.   Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Rivka and I wrote in the Buffy fandom for a few years, but then we moved on to real adult jobs that left absolutely no time for me to write. I’m in education, and I regularly sweat blood for fear that someone is going to find my old fic. The Buffy people were fun; there was a certain *shininess* to them that I really enjoyed. The X-men authors were just batshit and delightful, and some amazing stuff came out of Marvel fandom, particularly in the Thor/Loki and Steve/Bucky subgenres. I’ve learned to appreciate a good coffee shop AU and one famous Erik/Charles fic where all the main characters are crabs. Seriously, crabs—it’s hysterical. [Lilydale note: Other Crabs Cannot Be Trusted by groovyphilia currently has almost 2,500 kudos at AO3.]

Every few years, I’ll have a student try to explain to me what fandom is and I just smirk. Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully? No. Not really. Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom? I fell into an X-Men hole a few years back and had a great old time wallowing in the Cherik muck, and there was a flirtation with BBC Sherlock as well. Strangely enough, I became interested in A/B/O fics only because of what they were saying about the role of women in our society. The limitations on the male omegas seem absurd and then you realize those are the same limitations put on women all. the. time.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

RivkaT very nicely formatted everything and put it up on AO3. What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

I will always be stupidly proud of how shocked and horrified people were by Iolokus. The truth of the matter is that Iolokus has Greek drama at its core. Scully is Medea, and the entire story is lousy with “blood on the threshing floor” and Dionysian rites. The everyday is subverted into horror, and wives and daughters will tear men limb from limb like the Maenads. Since I was ultimately disappointed with what Chris Carter did with the entire show, that approach seemed appropriate.

At a certain level, all fic is corrective fic.  Like critic Anne Jamison said, “Irritated fans produce fanfic like irritated oysters produce pearls.”  And because fic has fallen so much into women’s sphere, a pure form of correction is not just the death of the author but the MURDER, a new creation springing up from the spilled blood like Cadmus sowing dragon’s teeth.

Okay, that’s a bit much. Maybe I should just take myself back to the isle of Goth Amazons or something. Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I had to write a self-evaluation and a reflection on pedagogy today. If that’s not fiction, I don’t know what the fuck is.

All my creativity is caught up in trying to pretend to be a normal middle-aged white woman so no one knows I am really a lizard.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Keep writing, keep reading, keep fighting the commercialization of narratives. As things grow more and more commodified, all our dreams and desires reduced to tchotchkes made in China, it’s a revolutionary act to separate your work from the marketplace. Be bold, take chances, turn the trope on its ear and kick it in the ass. Take everything the creators have done to make a work palatable to the unwashed masses and set it on fire.

Be subversive.

Be mean.

Have a great fucking time.

(Posted by Lilydale on March 2, 2021)

[queenlilith43]

Reasons Why Post Plus is a Terrible Idea

Tumblr has recently unveiled their new "Post Plus" feature. It allows people to put a paywall around their blogs, allowing them to charge up to $9.99 a month, with Tumblr taking a 5% cut of the creator's earnings. In this post, I will explain why this is a horrible idea.

@staff: You better listen up. I took a few hours away from my day for this. I had to have my friend Ashley help me with this, and that took time from her day too. (Thank you @patalliumapples) I'm explaining everything under the cut because this is long.

1. We Don't Have the Money

First of all, Tumblr is a social media site. This means in countries like the US, people as young as 13 can sign up and have an account. Most teenagers do not have the money to keep up with their favorite blogs for the low, low price of $9.99!

Second of all, a lot of adults on the site already are having trouble paying their bills, and don't have any content they would be willing to charge people on. As explained in this post, people are already struggling. (They also explain how to support creators better, which I will go onto later.) They don't have the money to spend on this. I, as a teenager myself, don't have enough money to spend to unlock Tumblr blogs. I don't know if I even can, I don't have a credit card or anything, and I don't want debt before I'm out of high school. Oh, and that leads me right next into the next point.

2. You could fix other things

Tumblr is called a Hellsite for many reasons, and how it breaks a lot is one of them. One problem are the Ray-Bans sunglasses bots that hack the site every so often. I have gotten one, Ashley has gotten three.

You can also barely even search on this website. Searching for tags brings up the randomest things. You can barely even search your own blog, this is how bad it is. Fixing those issues before we give you our credit card number would be a great thing.

3. People don't want it

The consensus so far is NO. In some cases, "FUCK NO" This is valid, people don't want it. We can't pay for it, and we really don't need it. Everyone hates it.

And you bet that the Tumblr-famous will try this out.

I, as of writing this, have 416 followers. I bet all of them would leave me if I tried to do a paid post. (Not like I can, I'm a broke teenager, but still.) That would limit the market.

And other people have expressed they would leave anyone who put their posts behind a paywall, such as in this newly-viral post.

4. Monetization of fanfic

Alright. *Cracks fingers* I get to show off my knowledge of copyright law.

Fair use that covers fanfiction does not cover having to pay for it. Monetization of fanfiction is not legal, and if someone tries, the original content creator can issue a DMCA takedown order. The person who posted and monetized the fanfiction will be forced to take down their post, hurting their earnings. This will affect Tumblr.

Also, as we saw recently with a Loki T-shirt on Etsy, big corporations are known for taking down anything they consider infringement, even if it falls under fair use. There was a scare a while back on Ao3 (Archive of Our Own) that Disney would take down their fanfiction, but Ao3 had a legal time that can fight for them. Tumblr probably does not, and would probably lose a legal battle against Disney.

In fact, Ao3 does not allow any sort of links to other monetizable websites, like Pateron and Ko-fi, on their platform to avoid potential legal trouble. It's included in their terms of service, which you can read here. I would recommend it, and to check out some other links. They explain legal issues quite well.

And as satirized in this post, trying to find posts on Tumblr for a DMCA takedown is pretty damn hard.

5. You can get around paying for a post through the reblogs.

Despite the fact that is something you're technically not supposed to do, people can just copy and paste the content. The fact is if anyone has a Post Plus post, you bet the entirety of Tumblr is going to get around that. After all "you can share a teaser of +Post Content through the reblog function on the Services" (From the Tumblr TOS)

6. We've had mirror sites that could probably get around the paywall

In the past, we have had many mirror sites. They are the exact mirror of our Tumblr, tracking everything right down to our reblogs. Last I heard they were all shut down, though Tumbex sounded like it was going to come back. If these mirror sites are smart enough, they would be another way around the paywall.

7. You can't block people who are paying for your content

This is a problem. People can harass you, and sometimes, this Hellsite won't take them off. The block button is an important tool. I, for one, currently have 11 people blocked for various reasons. Some of them were messing with me in the reblogs of a post (it wasn't even their place to do so) and I didn't think Tumblr would count this as harassment.

If you can't block people, and even with the risk of it hurting your earnings, it's not good. Even remotely.

8. There are other ways to support creators that are much better. 

As said in the very first reason, creators hate this Post Plus. They prefer being supported in other ways. People also don’t always want to be paid for the content (not even counting legal issues) And if they want to there are already platforms set up for them to use. For example, Pateron has tiers you can set up for membership, ranging up to $100. There, you know what you walked into. You’re not expecting free content, like on Tumblr, you’re building a relationship with the people in your community. Ko-fi lets people donate directly to their content creators, and won’t take any of their donations, unlike the 5% cut Tumblr is planning on taking. Both platforms also offer features that would not be available on Tumblr. Creators are also more likely to already have one of these set up, and keep Tumblr for their free content. 

9. Tumblr could make money through better ads

Tumblr ads are famously . . . what’s the word? Ah, yes, “batshit” is the word I’m looking for. I’ve gotten ads for tattoo aftercare, signs of heart disease (the picture provided was someone with their nails painted blue), maps of the USA, celebrities that has passed away, lists of bad cities in my state, graphics of chickens with Hindi (note: I am American), and apparently now I should be worried if my dog licks their paws. (?) As I went to check my dash while writing this post, I saw a small air cooler that was apparently more powerful than A/C being advertised. 

No one clicks on them except for a laugh, or if they accidentally thought it was something that was actually interesting. Most of the time, it is not. Tumblr could do something like Instagram and actually have good ads and make more money off of it. It may not be as much as they thought they were going to make, but it’s better than what they have now. (It’s a low bar.) 

10. This is the same website that spearheaded DashCon

You remember DashCon, don’t you? 

This seems to illustrate the website's stupidity in one picture and this is why you shouldn't trust us with money.

If you have any other reasons why this is bad reason, reblog the post with your reasons. I'd like to hear them, and don't forget to tag the staff.

There is a survey Tumblr wants you to fill out here, it's a step you can take. You can also listen to the protest @postplus-protest which should help. It starts August 6th, it's going to be a great time.

[bytheangell]

Take Me With You

(For my @shadowhunterbingo square: Traveling | Jimon, Rated Teen, referenced alcohol but no archive warnings/other warnings) (Read on AO3) “I don’t need a bodyguard,” Simon insists. “It was one stupid letter.”

“The letter wasn’t stupid,” Jace says, already regretting his appointment to this job. “It was a death threat, by someone who’s sent multiple things to your unlisted apartment.”

“Well, no one knows where I live on the road, which is where I’ll be for the next three months,” Simon points out.

“Oh, yes, the total inability to track you from a list of cities you’re going to and the dates and times you’ll be there. You’re right, no one will ever find you that way,” Jace says, his tone dripping with sarcasm and more than a little condescending. Simon isn’t a no-name, but he isn’t famous-famous either, and Jace hoped that’d make him a little less awful to put up with than Jace’s usual high-profile assignments. So far it’s the opposite - Simon isn’t taking this seriously at all, which is somehow more frustrating than too much importance being put on minor perceived threats.

Simon sighs. “Fine.” It certainly doesn’t sound like he’s fine with it, but Jace isn’t here to argue. He’s here to do a job.

“Great,” Jace says. “You won’t even know I’m here.”

---

That ends up being a complete lie. Of course, when Jace first imagined blending into the background of Simon’s tour life he hadn’t taken into consideration the fact that Simon drove his own van, which would just be the two of them for extended periods of time.

Jace can tell that he’s putting a damper in the way Simon normally functions during his tours, mostly because he’s quiet while they drive. Then he’ll say something, start to ramble, catch himself rambling, and fall abruptly silent again in a repeating pattern.

“Sorry if I’m cramping your style,” Jace says after one of these repetitions, speaking loud enough to be heard over the music playing in the background.

“You’re not,” Simon insists.

Jace is dubious. “What would you be doing if you were alone?” Jace asks.

Simon doesn’t even hesitate before answering, “Scream-singing at the top of my lungs with the windows down. It’s like, my tried-and-true road trip routine.”

“...so do it. Don’t let me stop you,” Jace says.

“My manager hates it because he’s convinced one of these days I’ll end up losing my voice before a show. It’s probably for the best I’m not,” Simon says before falling silent again.

Jace doesn’t push it, nor does he comment when Simon starts to sing to a song that comes on about half an hour later, his voice growing louder and louder until all the windows are down and he’s shouting lyrics into the cool night air.

Jace has to fight the urge to join him. Normally he doesn’t have an issue staying focused on a job but Simon has this disarming way of making Jace want to relax around him. Somehow what he thought would be his easiest job to date continues to throw surprising complications his way.

Still, he keeps his mouth shut and enjoys Simon’s singing as they continue driving into the night.

---

Watching Simon with his fans is nerve-wracking. There’s no telling who might be a threat, not when everyone seems so down-to-earth, much like Simon himself. There aren’t any obviously obsessive fangirls and normal tells like knowing too many personal details is just the norm, with multiple people casually asking Simon about how his Bubbie Helen is doing or about the cat he left at home with Clary during his tour, or the most recent book he’s been reading and chatting about online. It’s difficult to pick out a potential stalker when everyone knows what Jace would typically consider more personal details than usual about Simon.

Jace watches these pre- and post-show encounters with a feeling more like he’s observing conversations between old friends rather than a musician and his fans, signatures and photo ops aside. Simon knows some of them by name, remembers birthdays mentioned over social media or live chats, and even recalls previous conversations. It’s impressive.

Dressed in plain clothes so he blends in with the crowd, Jace grows increasingly impressed with Simon the more time he spends with him. Plenty of people claim to be humble, but few often are in practice. Not Simon. Simon is everything he told Jace when they first met. He’s the same way with his fans that he is in private with Jace, which is the same way he is with his family and friends - Simon’s just, well, Simon, honestly and earnestly and unapologetically.

It’s refreshing. It’s also just another thing for Jace to push to the back of his mind, because he doesn’t need to like the guy - he just needs to protect him. Simon looks up from the table he’s signing CDs at and shoots Jace a beaming smile, and Jace has to actively force himself not to smile back and simply nod his head in acknowledgment instead.

“It’s an assignment, Herondale. Get your shit together,” Jace mutters to himself from the corner of the room. It’s a reminder he repeats more often over the upcoming weeks than he’s comfortable admitting.

---

“Please,” Jace begs after the first two weeks of shows. “I will pay for a better hotel. Let me pay for a better hotel.”

Simon is shaking his head in response before Jace finishes the request.

“Why?!” Jace glances critically around the room. “Do you want to get murdered in a shady motel? Just because I can keep you alive doesn’t mean we have to actively test it every night when we could have a door that doesn’t look like my 11-year-old brother could kick it in.”

“You have a brother?” Simon asks, ignoring everything else Jace said as he tosses his duffel bag (because Simon doesn’t even have a proper suitcase) onto a bed Jace feels the instinctive need to run a blacklight over.

Jace hesitates to answer because this is a job and he isn’t meant to share personal information about himself with his assignment. It’s strange because normally the people he’s tasked to protect are such self-absorbed assholes they barely spare Jace a second glance, let alone casual conversation.

He’s aware that the pause he takes after what should be a simple question is way too long when Simon frowns, brows pinching together.

“Two brothers, actually. One older, one younger, and a sister,” Jace finally decides to share. It’s all he intends on saying, not wanting to be rude and not answer at all, but when Simon brings up his own sister and keeps talking, keeps asking curious, harmless questions, Jace finds himself answering without thinking.

Simon is easy to talk to - maybe a little too easy to talk to, because the next thing they know it’s 1am and they need to be up and back on the road at 6.

“Get some sleep, Lewis,” Jace says finally, taking a few extra minutes to secure the door before doing one last perimeter sweep. When he gets back he pretends he doesn’t notice Simon, still awake, hastily close his eyes and pretend to sleep the second Jace gets back in the room.

---

After the third week, Jace insists that staying at nicer hotels is a matter of security and finally convinces Simon to pull into the parking lot of a proper hotel. One with room service instead of vending machines, plus a gym and a pool. Jace tells himself it’s a matter of security as well, and not a reaction to Simon complaining about having several nights of terrible sleep and some back and neck pain from the old, cheap mattresses.

Jace certainly doesn’t correct Simon’s assumption that this is covered in the contract when in reality Jace is fronting the extra cost himself. After all, this is as much for his own benefit as it is for Simon’s, right?

That’s what he tells himself as he opens up more around Simon as well, sharing a drink or two when Simon insists (never anything enough to impair his judgment, and only ever when they’re back in a room for the remainder of the night), telling a few more personal stories, and… flirting?

Jace isn’t sure, but occasionally when Simon impulsively runs into an ice cream shop in a new city and gets a cone for each of them, or points out a storefront display with a leather jacket he thinks Jace might like, or leans his shoulder into Jace while laughing at something sarcastic Jace says… yeah, sometimes Jace gets the feeling that Simon might actually like him.

Then Jace just as quickly tells himself that it’s just Simon being nice, because Simon is nice, and because of course Simon’s going to be on good terms with the guy he’s stuck with 24/7 for two months. Jace is working for Simon, and their relationship is strictly professional, however pleasant it may also be.

It’s that hard line Jace knows they won’t cross that allows him to continue to open up more, because Simon’s safe. He’ll never see the guy again when all of this is over.

“You’re a good person, Jace,” Simon says one night after a lengthy conversation.

“...what?” Jace isn’t expecting that.

“You know that, right?” Simon’s tone is just shy of insistent, and certainly not rhetorical.

“Why do you say that?” Jace asks instead of agreeing, because… well, because he doesn’t know that. He tries, but he’s made some shitty decisions in his past, and hurt a lot of people, intentionally or not. And Simon doesn’t even know him, so Jace really doesn’t know where this is coming from.

“Just… the way you talk about yourself sometimes. Like you always have something to prove, or make up for... or like you have to justify everything you say. Sometimes I get the feeling you don’t think very highly of yourself even when you’re acting like God’s gift to mankind,” Simon adds with more accurate insight than Jace is comfortable with.

And now Jace really doesn’t know what to do with that.

“What are you, a philosopher now?” Jace mutters, still avoiding any sort of direct commentary on Simon’s way-too-close-to-home observation. “Go to sleep, Simon. I don’t need you too tired to focus on the road tomorrow.”

Simon looks like he’s going to argue but doesn’t in the end, leaving Jace alone with his thoughts in the newly settling silence of the hotel room.

It feels surprisingly pleasant to hear those affirmations from Simon, and Jace considers for the briefest moment what it’d be like to just be friends with Simon outside of their circumstances, to have these discussions and delve deeper into both of their pasts, humoring more of Simon’s personal questions and--

--and everything he can’t let this turn into over the next few weeks. Fuck.

Maybe there’s some harm in opening up after all.

---

They’re a little over halfway through the three-month tour when Jace realizes that perhaps his harmless crush on Simon is stronger than he realized. Jace watches from his usual spot in the corner as Simon signs CDs and sells band t-shirts and poses for photos, which is what he always does. But with every flirtatious laugh and every arm Simon drapes over someone’s shoulder or wraps around someone’s waist, Jace feels the desire to pull Simon away... and it isn’t because he’s in danger. It’s because Jace is jealous.

Jace grows sullen at the realization, arms crossed in front of him as he forces himself to watch Simon with his fans, because this is his job. The more he watches the more he doesn’t even think Simon realizes he’s doing it. Jace knows what active, intentional flirting looks like, but this is just Simon being his natural charming self, and Jace isn’t sure if that makes the whole thing better or worse.

Because it starts to dawn on him with a bit more meaning now that the way Simon’s been with him is the way Simon is with everyone. Jace just gets to experience it more often than everyone else right now. That doesn’t make their conversations special. It doesn’t make Jace anything special to Simon. And hell, maybe it’s just been a while since Jace spent this much time with someone else, too. Maybe he should work on writing off his own motivations as easily as he’s writing off Simon’s because his feelings are far from professional right now.

When the crowd disperses and Jace goes to help Simon wrap up his gear and load it back into the van (something that’s become routine for them, though not strictly in Jace’s list of expected duties) Jace is quieter than usual.

“Everything alright?” Simon asks, catching the shift in mood.

“Yeah. Fine,” Jace says curtly.

Simon doesn’t look like he believes him but doesn’t press the topic as they toss the last of the equipment into the van and head out.

---

The nicer Simon is toward him, the more closed-off Jace gets. He’s quiet during dinners Simon insists on paying for, stops sharing so much about himself when they do talk, and when Simon gives Jace a guitar pick he fashioned into a necklace for him Jace pockets it with a muttered ‘thanks’ without putting it on. He doesn’t have the heart to totally push Simon away, but he can’t keep growing closer to him knowing it’s all going to end in three weeks.

Jace wears the necklace every day but he keeps it tucked underneath his shirts where Simon can’t see.

Simon eventually stops trying to talk to him entirely, and they spend more and more time in uncomfortable silences. Sometimes Simon insists he needs privacy to work on his music and Jace sits at the end of the hallway of their hotel room listening to the faded sounds of Simon’s strumming.

There are three weeks left in Jace’s assignment when he gets the call that the police managed to track the letters to a girl back in New York: she’s in custody and getting a restraining order put against her, and Jace can come back as soon as he arranges transportation.

Jace hangs up the phone feeling surprisingly upset. This is great news for Simon, and he should be happy for him if nothing else, but that means this is the last night he’ll have to spend with Simon.

The last night he’ll get to spend with Simon.

“Hey Simon, good news. I just got a call from Luke and they tracked down your mystery stalker. You’ll get all the details once you’re back home but they’re already putting the restraining order into place, so you’re good to go.”

“What? That’s amazing!” Simon grins automatically, but it falls back into a frown just as quickly. “Does that mean you…?” his words trail off in question.

“I’ll be able to leave in the morning,” Jace confirms.

“Guess you’ll be happy to get out of here,” Simon says, his smile entirely gone.

“I do miss New York,” Jace carefully avoids the answer he knows Simon’s fishing for. The lie he should give, but can’t bring himself to.

Simon looks Jace up and down, his gaze finally resting on Jace’s face for a long couple of seconds, searching for something there before turning away without another word.

---

Jace knows he shouldn’t go to the show, but he does. He hangs in the back, a real drink in hand now that he’s no longer on duty, and listens to Simon sing the songs Jace knows by heart now. Jace knows from experience standing by the side of the stage that there’s no way Simon can make out any faces where Jace currently sits back by the bar. He plans on leaving before the end, before the lights come on and Simon knows he was there.

He’s a few drinks in when he hears Simon break his usual format.

“How does everyone feel about me trying out a new song I’ve been working on?” Simon asks. The crowd claps and cheers, and Jace shifts in his seat to fully face the stage. “This is a song about feeling a connection with someone, and not knowing when things went wrong, only that they did. And wondering if maybe it was all in your head the whole time...”

Jace feels his throat tighten at those words. He doesn’t have to be a genius to piece together the lyrics Simon starts to sing, fitting them to their lives the past few months, the hope of getting to know someone you’re starting to like, the confusion of being shut out, the uncertainty of wondering if they ever felt the same way you did or if they were just humoring you.

Jace knows Simon well enough to know that this isn’t a coincidence. It can’t be.

Against his better judgment, Jace stays. He stays until the set is over and the lights come on and Simon looks out around the crowd and makes direct eye contact with him.

Because fuck it. He’s leaving in the morning, and if this is all for nothing then he’ll never see Simon again and it won’t matter. But if he’s right…

Jace hangs back, watching Simon smile and laugh and sign CDs and take photos, acutely aware of every time the musician’s eyes wander over to where Jace lingers by the bar. Outside of the fading buzz from the alcohol it almost feels normal: hanging back after the show, watching Simon and waiting for him to make his way over once the crowd disperses. Hell, even the butterflies in Jace’s stomach aren’t new.

“You’re here,” Simon says when he finally makes his way over. “I didn’t think you’d come, since… I mean…”

“I heard your new song,” Jace forces the words out before he can change his mind. “I’d say I liked it, but that seems like the wrong response from the guy who made you think you did something wrong.”

“Not everything is about you,” Simon argues, but the intent falls flat beneath the nervous tremor the words are spoken with.

“No,” Jace agrees easily. “But that song is.”

Simon hesitates, then sighs. “It is.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize for not liking me, Jace. You were doing your job, that’s-”

“No. I’m sorry I was going to leave without telling you that I like you. I thought I’d leave and you’d never see me again, that it’d be pointless to get attached. I thought you were just… being nice. Because you’re a good person.” The words spill out of Jace before he can overthink them.

“You like me,” Simon repeats incredulously. “That totally makes sense with, you know, the way you completely stopped talking to me.”

Jace can hear the anger in Simon’s voice and winces slightly. Just because it’s entirely deserved doesn’t make it easier to hear.

“I figured it’d be easier to walk away once this was all over if we weren’t as friendly.” It’s still a shitty thing to have done, and Jace wouldn’t blame Simon for holding it against him. But after hearing that song he couldn’t walk away with Simon thinking it was over anything he did wrong. No matter the cost to Jace’s pride, Simon deserves that much. “And… maybe I was a little afraid that if I got much closer I’d want to cross a line I knew I couldn’t.”

“So you felt it too?” Simon’s words and expression are full of so much hope that Jace almost panics again. What if he isn’t half the person Simon thinks he is after getting to know him in this little bubble of theirs from the past few months? What if he messes this up?

...what if he doesn’t?

“I did,” Jace finally admits. “I still do. And I know I probably ruined any chance I had before, but if I haven’t fucked things up too badly, maybe once you’re back in New York we could meet up for coffee?”

Simon smiles, brighter than the house lights that fill the small venue now.

“Or… or you could stay with me for the last few shows? I wasn’t just being nice for the sake of being nice - I like you, Jace. I changed my hotel routine for you! I wouldn’t do that for just anyone. I don’t know if you have to go back right away for work, or something, but if you don’t I definitely wouldn’t mind the company. Your company.”

Jace considers it for a few long moments, then nods. It’s fitting, he thinks, to drop the formalities and the professional distance in the same setting he started to fall for Simon in. The same setting in which Simon started to fall for him, despite Jace’s best efforts to dissuade him, only this time with no excuses to hold him back. And if Simon’s willing to give him an actual shot after everything, he’d be a fool not to take it.

“Well, I can’t very well leave you to lug all your equipment around by yourself, can I?” Jace says, smiling. “Let me check back in with the office tomorrow morning but I don’t have anything scheduled. It shouldn’t be an issue.”

There’s a pause then, the air between them filled with an almost electric buzz of anticipation. Simon takes the first step closer, bridging the gap between them. There’s no questioning what Simon’s thinking when his eyes dart down to Jace’s lips and back up to meet his gaze again before speaking.

“Can I-”

Before Simon can finish, Jace’s lips are already on his in response. It’s slow and tentative, with each of them feeling the other out, but it’s nice. It’s really nice. When they pull away after a few moments Simon can’t keep the smile off his face. “That was even better than I imagined.”

Jace quirks an eyebrow, smirking fully now. “You imagined us kissing?”

“Shut up and help me load the van.”

The familiar banter and Simon’s easy smile are such an immediate comfort for Jace that he can’t help the light laugh he gives in response. As Simon looks back at Jace it’s with an expression so soft and full of kindness that Jace knows now isn’t the same look he reserves for everyone else.

Jace knows it’s a look reserved only for him this time - and with any luck, for many more times to come.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

Today the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol asked eight federal agencies for records. The chair of the committee, Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), gave the agencies two weeks to produce a sweeping range of material that showed the committee is conducting a thorough investigation of the last days of the Trump administration.

Thompson sent letters to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which keeps the records for the government; the Defense Department; the Department of Homeland Security; the Interior Department; the Department of Justice; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the National Counterterrorism Center; and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

While the House had previously asked the National Archives for all the records it had covering the events and federal actors involved in the events of January 6 itself, the select committee is using a much wider lens. It has asked the departments not just for records covering January 6, but also for those reaching back as far as April 1, 2020, to see if the Trump administration had plans to contest and ultimately, should he lose, overturn the election.

The committee has asked the departments for any records about plans to derail the electoral count, organize violent rallies, declare martial law, or use the government positions to overturn the election results. It has also asked for any “documents and communications” about foreign influence in the 2020 election through social media and misinformation.

And then there was this tidbit. The last items the committee asked NARA to produce were: “All documents and communications related to the January 3, 2021, letter from 10 former Defense Secretaries warning of use of the military in election disputes.”

That letter, which was published in the Washington Post and signed by all ten of the living former defense secretaries, warned that “[e]fforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.” The letter reminded then–acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates that they were “each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.”

It was an extraordinary letter, and its authors thought it was important enough to write it over the holidays, for publication three days before the January 6 electoral count. The driving force behind the letter was former vice president Dick Cheney.

Cheney’s daughter Liz Cheney (R-WY) sits on the House select committee.

Trump has threatened to invoke executive privilege to stop the release of the documents.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the committee’s action proved it is not looking for truth but rather is engaging in politics. The committee asked NARA for records of communications between the president and “any Member of Congress or congressional staff.” This will sweep in McCarthy, who had a heated conversation with Trump on the phone as rioters invaded the Capitol. “They come for members of Congress, they are coming for everybody,” he said.

But, in fact, such a sweep is precisely how scholars actually figure out what has happened in historical events. Limiting research before you know the lay of the land simply obscures the larger picture.

Just such a limiting view is on the table for the Republicans right now as they are proposing to investigate President Biden’s exit from Afghanistan if they regain control of the House in 2022, saying it “makes Benghazi look like a much smaller issue.”

The first days of the evacuation after the Afghan army crumbled and the Taliban swept into control of the country in nine days were chaotic, indeed, but since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated more than 82,300 people, bringing out 19,000 people yesterday alone. It has evacuated at least 4500 U.S. citizens and has sent more than 20,000 emails and made more than 45,000 phone calls to Americans who had notified the embassy they were in the country (since Americans do not have to register with the embassy, it is unclear how many citizens are there). A rough estimate says there are probably 500 U.S. citizens who want to leave, while another 1000 are not certain or want to stay.

Today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a press conference pointing out that the evacuation “is one of the largest airlifts in history, a massive military, diplomatic, security, and humanitarian undertaking,” and noted that “[o]nly the United States could organize and execute a mission of this scale and this complexity.”

Blinken said that the success of the airlift to date has been “a testament both to U.S. leadership and to the strength of our alliances and partnerships.” He reiterated that the Biden administration is not abandoning Afghanistan but is shifting its focus from military power to diplomacy, cybersecurity, and financial pressure. He said that the administration has worked hard to build alliances and that the U.S. will continue to work with allies both in Afghanistan and elsewhere going forward. He pointed out that the Taliban has made both public and private assurances that they will continue to allow people to leave the country, and that 114 countries—more than half of the countries in the world—have warned the Taliban that they must honor that commitment.

Tonight, it appears the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating. Russia, which backed the Taliban in its struggle against the U.S. and which originally said Taliban control would restore stability to Afghanistan, has begun to evacuate its citizens from Kabul. And tonight, the U.S. government warned of security threats and urged U.S. citizens to leave the area around the airport immediately. According to a State Department spokesperson: "This is a dynamic and volatile security situation on the ground.”

When asked by a reporter about investigations into the evacuation, Blinken said he and the president accepted responsibility for it. He seemed fine with scrutiny of the last few months but suggested that that period should not be looked at in isolation if we are going to learn from our experience in Afghanistan. “[T]here will be plenty of time to look back at the last six or seven months, to look back at the last 20 years,” he said, “and to look to see what we might have done differently, what we might have done sooner, what we might have done more effectively.  But I have to tell you that right now, my entire focus is on the mission at hand.”

Today, President Biden signed into law H.R. 3642, the “Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act,” giving the Congressional Gold Medal to the 369th Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the “Harlem Hellfighters,” in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service during World War I.

In that war, the 369th Infantry was made up of 2000 Black men, 70% of whom were from Harlem. Since many white men in Jim Crow America refused to serve with their Black comrades, army leaders assigned the unit to the French Army, where, although they still wore the U.S. uniform, they were outfitted with French weapons.

Sent into the field, they stayed out for 191 days, the longest combat deployment of any unit in the war. At the Second Battle of the Marne and Meuse-Argonne, the unit had some of the worst casualties of that mangling war, suffering 144 dead and about 1,000 wounded. “My men never retire, they go forward or they die,” said their commander, Colonel William Hayward. Germans called them the “Bloodthirsty Black Men.” The French called them “hell-fighters.” A month after the armistice, the French government awarded the entire 369th the Croix de Guerre.

And now, in 2021, the unit has, at long last, been awarded a U.S. Congressional Gold Medal.

Sometimes it takes a while, but accurate history has a way of coming out.

—-

Notes:

https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-committee-issues-sweeping-demand-executive-branch-records

https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/20210825%20Exec%20Branch%20One%20Pager.pdf

https://thehill.com/homenews/532486-idea-for-former-defense-secretaries-warning-to-pentagon-originated-from-cheney-perry

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/10-former-defense-secretaries-military-peaceful-transfer-of-power/2021/01/03/2a23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html

https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/NARA.8.25.pdf

https://news.yahoo.com/january-6-committee-issues-sweeping-records-requests-to-federal-agencies-170505915.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/20/politics/house-republicans-afghanistan-biden-benghazi/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/january-6-committee-trump/2021/08/25/cd356794-059a-11ec-a654-900a78538242_story.html

https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-on-afghanistan/

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/08/25/politics/january-6-house-documents-investigation/index.html

http://werehistory.org/harlem-hellfighters/

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/08/24/storied-harlem-hellfighter-regiment-receive-congressional-gold-medal.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/25/1031088877/as-many-as-1-500-americans-in-afghanistan

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Mae Catt’s Cyberverse Q&A

Here’s a neater version of some key Q&A responses from Mae Catt’s Cyberverse stream. 

Please note: not everything is verbatim, and also note that Mae Catt said “Don’t take things I say as the end-all be-all.” She’s a big supporter of fanfic writers!

This Q&A session contains spoilers for Season 3 of Cyberverse. For a (somewhat) more comprehensive transcript, please refer to this post.

Q: Megop rights?

“Oh absolutely, duh.”

Q: What does Optimus do when he’s not giving speeches / being a leader when they were all hanging out on the ARK?

I think he reads, he seems like a heavy reader. It’d be cute if he read really bad Earth romance novels. He seems like a guy who needs a break from everything.

Q: Does Optimus have hobbies?

Not to borrow from Rung, but doesn’t it seem like Optimus would make model ships? Very quiet, very focused detail-oriented hobby. *pauses* Oh duh, he also plays basketball.

Q: How did the Decepticons learn to stream? 

Because they’re deceptive! Megatron knew he should dedicate some time to winning the hearts and minds of humans. Starscreams’ funeral was not the first time they streamed. Optimus would use the official media channels (like the news), not a streaming service. Megatron would try to speak more directly to the people.

Q: Is Optimus the type of streamer who would take 10 minutes to figure out how to un-mute his microphone?

Optimus is a dad. He has no idea what’s going on with streaming. Optimus would say embarrassing things while Bee and Hot Rod were in the middle of streaming something.

Q: Is Megatron dead?

In discussions we wanted to kill him. We wanted to do a reverse Optimus death. However, in the final product, I kinda enjoy the ambiguity rather than the final decision. Can’t remember if we were decisive about that in the script.

Q: Did the Titan mind Decepticons living in them?

The Titans want to be cities. They want citizens. They want to be lived in, that brings them joy.

Q: Does Megatron do anything for fun or is he too angry?

I want to say he’s too angry, he has fun beating people down but I don’t think he’s had fun for a long time.

Q: How would you feel about a female Optimus Prime? 

[GAY LAUGHTER] 

The question is: do you turn Optimus Prime into a woman, or do you take characters like Elita One and uplift her? I would want to lean more into giving Elita One more oomph, I do love how Optimus doubts himself and if he’s worthy of being a Prime.

(Mae Catt talked a lot about representation and later mentioned how there's more pressure to write the girl characters well, especially because of the need for better representation. They wanted more girls in the show, and they planned to have Jazz be a girl).

Q: Elita prime when?

All the time, in my heart!

Q: Did you plan to have ___ character in the show?

Almost every character was discussed at least once. 

She really regrets that they didn’t get to have Beast Machine Obsidian or Rumble and Frenzy in the show, and says she would’ve loved a MTMTE-style Ultra Magnus / Minimus and Transmutate. She didn’t know what Obsidian’s personality would be, it was just a “Look how cool he is!” sort of thing.

(Note: We have Mae Catt to thank for Whirl getting into Cyberverse)

Q: What was your favorite episode?

“I Am the AllSpark” because of the Megatron and Starscream dialogue (which she wrote). Also S2 04 Soundwave and Shockwave.

I enjoyed writing Starscream most, Clobber and Hot Rod became a joy, S2 E4 was my first episode, and it was fun getting into Hot Rod’s voice. It was hard doing Optimus’ voice, I’d always pass it off to someone to look at it.

Q: Did you ever plan to have Hot Rod become Rodimus?

Rodimus was never considered for the show because Optimus dying has been covered to death, but we were adamant about portraying Hot Rod as someone who wanted to be a leader. Hot Rod is someone who is learning to be a leader.

(On that note, when someone asked if she thought Bee would ever become Prime, Mae Catt said:)

I don’t think Bee would be a Prime. Windblade and Hot Rod would be a better Prime. He wouldn’t want to be a Prime. He’s the #2 to Primes!

Q: Did Megatron always plan to return to Cybertron?

Megatron’s priorities changed when he saw his doppelganger. Realizing he was a horrible tyrant, that scared him enough to return and not kill Optimus and make peace no matter what.

Q: Which death hurt you the most?

Starscream. (Slipstream’s hurt too).

We didn’t want to kill people off willy-nilly for shock value, but in certain instances it made sense. Like, the audience will fall in love with Slipstream because she’s becoming good, so she has to die. (She apologized for that sounding harsh). We killed Prowl because it was Shadow Striker doing the killing and he’s a self-sacrificing lieutenant. I almost wanted Starscream to emerge from the Judge’s head untouched, but I’m ultimately glad that idea got shot down.

(She circles back to this comment later, so I’m making note of that here since it wasn’t a direct response to a question)

When I was desperately trying to save Starscream’s life even though I brutally murdered Slipstream, I wanted Starscream to have amnesia and have a redeption arc. I wanted him to have a Windblade shard and have it be kind of like Castaway, where the only person he talked to was that (and the shard only had 5 phrases it could say). Eventually Bee would befriend him and he’d wind up with the Autobots.

I wanted to write Starscream kind of like an abuse victim who expects the worst of the Autobots, but I wanted him to warm up slowly to them. I wanted to have a Starscream and Optimus episode where Starscream messes up on something and Optimus is like “you did your best and that’s what counts”, a response which is totally new to Starscream. But obviously we didn’t have time for that.

Regarding redemption arcs (a continuation from the previous question, and a huge highlight from the stream):

Re: the potential for Starscream’s redemption arc “A redemption arc needs to be facilitated by a character acknowledging that what they did was wrong. He would have had a laundry list of excuses for it, even if there was all that evidence to the contrary, but the character needs to acknowledge that reasons don’t matter because people got hurt [by their actions]. [The character] needs to intend to do better. Let them try and let them fail, they don’t need to do a 180, it’s hard work to be a better person.”

NOTE: Mae Catt also made a few more comments re: the idea of a Starscream redemption arc on her Tumblr page.

Q: Did Megatron really kill Starscream?

The Starscream beatdown was super severe and they were like “holy frick they’re really going for it” when they saw the storyboards. According to Maecatt, Megatron didn’t kill Starscream when he slammed him down (which is a bit confusing since the show definitely made it seem like Starscream died). 

Q: Did Drift die? Why was he a double-agent?

According to us, Drift did not make it, but I fully endorse whatever you want. We needed a double-agent, someone who would (seemingly) kill Hot Rod. (She says they went with Drift because of his history in the comics).

(Later on in the stream)

Maybe Drift is alive, maybe he’s rethinking his decision and he’ll come back later. Drift would’ve been helpful in S3 for sure, maybe he’d come back with Repugnis or something.

Q: Why are you so mean to Percy? 

He's so mature and pragmatic that he can take it, and is willing to take one for the team bc he understands that it's what he needs to do. (In response to someone’s comment about his personality) Yes, he’s calmly feral.

Q: Is Skullcruncher Percy's bouncer now that he's running Maccadam's? 

Oh totally.

(She later mentions that Percy has permanently taken over Maccadam’s. Also: Skullcruncher is a lady! She misses Mac, but Percy takes good care of her).

Q: If Tarn is the perfect Decepticon who's the perfect Autobot? 

A firetruck alt mode, and an Autobot insignia as a face. Nat (her fiance) and I talked about it a lot. Optimus SHOULD be a fire truck, it makes the relationship between him and Ratchet a little more fun since Ratchet is an ambulance, and Optimus has an ax. It just makes sense! 

(She agreed that the perfect Autobot would be Thunderclash after the chat said that).

On that note, Mae Catt said they used Tarn for the show because: “OBVIOUSLY (the perfect decepticon) should look like this guy. A faceless mindless Decepticon that only serves Megatron”.

Q:  What sort of documents DID Optimus work on in the archives? 

Probably historical archives and working on stuff about all the Primes. Something like the French / American revolution equivalent, which informed his speech writing for Megatron and his own ethics.

Q: Did you always plan to make Optimus socially awkward? 

We “found” the social awkwardness for Optimus. Optimus was depicted as a father figure in S1 (implying it’s because S1 is from Bee’s perspective), S2 / S3 we were able to explore more and found the limits [writing him] and found it was hard to maintain that level of heroic dialogue. Optimus would feel awkward about it too. Randolph did an impression of Optimus’ speech for the Party Down episode. “[Optimus] can’t not be in war-mode.”

Q: Were Optimus and Megatron ever friends, or did they just work together on the speech stuff? 

Oh hell yes, I think [the story] is always enhanced when they’re friends and when Optimus really believes in what Megatron was working on. Optimus’ rejection of Megatron is what pushes him over the edge, his best friend rejecting him pushes him into a place where he becomes a tyrannical person.

Q: Does Maccadam know we love him? 

Mae Catt: *puts hand over hear heart and looks off into the distance dramatically* Yes.

Q:  What’s the best selfie Arcee’s ever taken? 

I like the one with the giraffe. Or maybe a selfie with some humans. I like the idea of Arcee having a bunch of human friends. 

Q: What do the Transformers think of the Florida Man? 

They can’t really tell the difference between humans, they don’t really get it. It just sorta looks like all the normal stuff they see on Earth (or something). 

Q: Who’s the Florida Man of the Transformers? 

Rack ‘n Ruin. But he’s too nice. Hmmm.

Q: What was most important to you personally to put out in each episode? Like humor/characterization/arcs 

I wanted to make sure I didn’t write dialogue that was condescending to kids, wanted to be true about the character. Dialogue needs to be true to the characters, and gay. (Laughs)

Q: Do Transformers know what memes are?

They know what they ARE, but they don’t get it. We wanted Hot Rod to be super into Earth culture (winning races and driving off before humans could realize no one was in the car), but we never had time to really get into that.

Q: What music does Soundwave like?

We had a cut joke from S2 E5 [where Megatron and Optimus are popping through portals all around the world trying to find the All Spark] . Soundwave pops into Brazil where there’s a music festival and he crashes the concert and hang out. He likes EDM the most? 

His favorite song is Despacito. He thinks its so sad.

Q: Were you surprised that Jake Tillman was in his 20s listening to his Optimus voice the first time?

She apparently listened to his vines a lot when he was in his teens so meeting up again like that was a cool coincidence. 

Q: What other dimensions or places did you want to be in the show?

I would’ve liked to have the other Transformers series show up (TFP, TFA, G1, Shattered Glass) but we don’t have those assets or budget. 

“This will quickly become unclear to audiences who aren’t (you people).” They couldn’t have all these references when some of their audience wouldn’t get it. 

Q: What about ____ ship?

Mae Catt says she doesn’t want to yuck anybody’s yums. For example, someone asked about Arcee/Grimlock, and while she said she sees them more as friends, she didn’t say they can’t be in a relationship. (Mae Catt also said she doesn’t ship Bee with anyone because she sees him as a little brother).

As she said several times in the stream, “Don’t take things I say as the end-all be-all”!

That being said, she did say she likes Dead End / Perceptor and Windblade / Slipstream.

Q: Why are there no humans in the show?

From the show’s conception, there were no plans to include any humans. They didn’t want humans distracting from the Transformers.

Q: Why did the Scientist collect Soundwaves?

He collects Soundwave because Soundwave is COOL! Wouldn’t you collect a single father of 5 who carries them around in his chest?

Why does anyone collect what they collect? “That’s a really angry dad who’s got five children he carries around in him and he plays music. Gotta have that!”

(Later on, she circles back to this question)

All the Other Universe Soundwaves the Scientist collected also had their own Laserbeaks. I wonder if the scientist would’ve taken them out. He might’ve just gotten rid of them.

(And of course, here are the boyfriend questions from the stream:)

Q: Is Dead End a good boyfriend?

Dead End is a work in progress, but maybe Percy is patient enough to get him there

(Mae Catt says she really loves the Deadceptor ship. She knew people would ship it, but she didn’t ship it herself until she saw the fanart for it).

Q: Is Astrotrain a good boyfriend?

No, no...he’s not a good person, really.

Q: Is Percy a good boyfriend?

Absolutely--WAIT HOLD ON. He’s very blunt, he doesn’t mince words, if you can handle his bluntness then you’re good. He is what he is and you have to deal with him.

Q: Is Soundwave a good boyfriend?

Soundwave is not a good boyfriend. He’s a good casual romance but he’s not a good boyfriend. Soundwave would be a terrible listener. He hears a lot but he’d tune you out.

Other information tidbits:

- If Thunderclash was in the show he and Jetfire would HATE each other. Thunderclash would be a rival reality star (maybe) to Media Fire.

- Mae Catt said “A lot of intelligent life is inherently mechanical” in space, explaining why so much of the non-Cybertronian life we saw in the show were robots.

- Knock Out was considered for the show, but every Transformer under the sun was discussed at some point in the writer’s room. (Ex: “Rumble and Frenzy are always considered in my heart, but there wasn’t enough time or space or assets to do so”).

- “The brand team had grown up on the toys as we had grown up on the ‘toons, so we just wanted to make the best thing imaginable.”

- They decided Optimus would be in the Other Universe’s Matrix and have a plinth because they wanted to show he was dead. “Logical backflips because he needed to be among the 13 to talk to Windblade.” 

- Dead End’s eyes are white.

- The team wanted Jazz to be a lady (!!!!!!!)  

- These characters have their own lives that we don’t see. Lots of stuff happening between episodes that we don’t always necessarily see.

- Developing Sky-Byte’s character was simultaneous with Jetfire’s character. “We knew we wanted Sky-Byte to be a poet, and we wanted him and Megatron to be chummy”.

- Percy did permanently take over Mac’s bar.  

- Her favorite VA is Jeremy Levy, he’s a really cool guy.

- She thinks Starscream and Cheetor could become (not necessarily friends, but connected?) because of their connection to the All Spark. Mentions how Starscream acknowledge Cheetor as the “Guardian of the Allspark”.

- Mae Catt describes Starscream as an “Awful gremlin” several times.

- Astrotrain and the Insecticons are from Megatron X’s universe.

- She thinks Cliffjumper and Bee wouldn’t get along, solely because of the IDW2 comic stuff. (They had a cut joke about someone telling Bee he should paint himself red and Bee saying, “But then everyone will think I’m Cliffjumper!”).

- Cyberverse got 26 episodes for season 3 because they had the 4-part episode movies.

- Megatron cares about his troops, but not in a way that we would notice that care. 

- AcidStorm is genderfluid. 

-  Cold Construction doesn’t exist in this show. When asked why all the Seekers look the same then, Mae Catt says “Maybe there’s one jet mode all the seekers really like”.

- She loves the idea of Wild Wheel robbing Astrotrain in train-mode, totally Wild West-style.

- One of the things she’s proudest of was turning Lugnut into a gal (and having so much body diversity and gender-neutral designs for a lot of characters). They wanted to include many more girls in Cyberverse (Nickel and Lightbright among them). She also mentioned that  Shadow Striker is taller than Optimus or is his height.

- She describes Cosmos as “R2D2, but a Transformer!”

- Maccadam looking like a buff Rung was just a strange coincidence.

- Blurr really was the fastest.

- Mae Catt says we absolutely SHOULD write fanfic. Fanfiction made her into the writer she is today. She wrote non-stop Matrix fanfic from the age of 12-20 years old. It helped her learn a lot about writing.

- She uses “They” pronouns for Rack ‘n Ruin when referring to both of them, but says that individually they both use “he”.

- She’s really sad that Skywarp didn’t get a speaking line.

- Mae Catt won’t say whether Ratchet finished medical school or not. (She laughed when someone commented "I don’t believe that man has ever been to medical school”). She also says she wants “I choose to believe Ratchet has never been to medical school” on a T-shirt.

- When asked why Rack ‘n Ruin were captains of the Ark in one universe, she says they’re probably the Prime in that one weird universe (lmao).

- She loves the idea that Transformers have siblings / families.

- In a world where they had an unlimited budget, it’d be fun if Cybertronians were constantly shape-shifting and changing their forms. Example: she’d like having Transformers who “grew a beard” and decided to “shave it”.

- She doesn’t understand cycles or astrocycles, she doesn’t understand the weird Transformers time stuff. (mood)

- She loved Beast Wars Inferno, she loved that Inferno called Megatron a Queen. It was played as a joke because the 90s weren’t very socially conscious, but she liked that Megatron never corrected him or beat him down.

- Shockwave altered his spark to have maximum bad vibes to destroy the All Spark.

- She said it’s hard talking about writing a show because you’re designing the experience and you have to make sometimes what sounds like cold and pragmatic decisions (eg: "we need a cold and spunky female”) which sucks, but they need to balance out the show. She says she’d never do that just for the sake of doing it, but it’s part of something that they do need to be aware of while working on a show. “It starts from a weirdly cold pragmatic place, but we try and put truth in it”.

- They didn’t want to have Unicron in the show since he’s the default “big bad”, but if he was in the show, Mae Catt says “If you put the proverbial budget-gun to my head, I’d keep Unicron in planet-mode because it’s more mysterious, but I want both alt modes”.

- Her favorite Megatron is Beast Wars Megatron.

- She doesn’t like Sky Lnxy’s design, it’s creepy. “He talks in the G1 episodes and the voice makes it worse.” She can’t get over his face.

- “I’d love to see more jets [who aren’t our usual gang] and find out all jets are kinda snobby, which explains why Starscream’s the way he is”.

- Everyone on the Autobot side are friends with each other.

Thanks for your time Mae Catt! We’re lucky to have you. Thank you for all your hard work on this amazing show.

[southeastasianists]

Since the Board of the Substation’s official announcement of the closure of the premise, in July 2021, countless tributes from Singaporeans from diverse artistic backgrounds have poured across social media, describing how they have benefited from the premise and its programs for the past three decades.

For me, the Substation filled the indescribable intellectual and cultural void of my late teens, and its relevance became strong during my years in military conscription.  Gigs at the venue were also a critical site for a more meaningful multicultural encounters and interactions, particularly with the Malay-Muslim dominated punk-rock community. Subsequently these experiences became integral to my scholarly research. Relevant publications I have based on this foundation over the past two decades include topics on Singapore’s youth subcultures, alternative music scenes and more recently the Substation’s role in exhibiting Singapore’s punk heritage.

My Subs-rhythmic journeys

The Year 1991. The “Evil Empire” of the Soviet Union became history. In the General Paper of my “A” (Advanced) Levels examinations, I mistakenly attributed Deng Xiaoping’s “To be rich is to be glorious” quote to Margaret Thatcher (probably the reason for my “C” grade).  For Singaporean teenagers like me, the “kinder and gentler” nation envisioned by the new Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong meant Hong Kong’s “Category III” soft-porn movies in local cinemas. The year was supposed to end well with a slow dance in a Junior College prom-night over Bryan Adam’s “Everything I do, I do it for you” the theme song of Robin Hood (1991) broadcasted ad-nauseum over the radio.

Everything seemed fine. That was until I was introduced by my friend Harold Seah to the Substation. Entering the “Garden”, my senses were immediately overwhelmed by the chaos of growling vocals, thumping drums and swirling guitars on the stage, with audiences diving from the stage into a maddening prancing human crowd. Stagediving, slam-dancing and mosh pits were actually banned by the Singapore authorities in 1993. Ten minutes into the gig, I handed my friend my house keys, spectacles and wallet for safekeeping and I melted into the mosh pit.

Established in 1990 with the playwright Kuo Pao Kun (1939-2002) as its first Artistic Director, the Substation took its name from the venerable colonial era electrical facility at 45 Armenia Street, located within the officially zoned as “Civic District” of museums, galleries and cultural institutions in downtown Singapore. I was not aware of the dynamics then, but it was only at Substation that a former political detainee, playwright, the first Artistic Director of the venue, Kuo Pao Kun met and created artistic possibilities with a new generation of ethnic Malay working class youths. Recalling Kuo’s approachability, band member of Stompin’ Ground, Suhaimi Subandie said, “You have long hair, short hair or no hair, he talked to you the same.  ”I have never met Kuo Pao Kun in person. But through the Substation, he gave me new possibilities and connections.

My experience is probably not isolated. As a converging and germinating site for otherwise fringe artistic and creative activities, the Substation has presented an intellectually fertile ground, especially for Singaporean academia, to find critically meaningful narratives and engagements with artists and social activities. As a platform for countless avant-garde exhibitions, performances and screenings, it has provided a poignant alternative narrative to the scholarly literature on themes relating to Singapore culture and society.

Until the 1990s, mainstream academic perspectives on Singapore society reflected on the postcolonial port-city’s rapid economic development as part of the “Asian economic miracle,” under the premiership of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew from 1959 to 1990.  This triumphant sentiment was encapsulated in the collection of more than fifty chapters in Management of Success: The Moulding of Modern Singapore, published in 1989 under the editorship of Kernial Shandu Singh and Paul Wheatley (Singh & Wheatley 1989). Responding to this discourse from a different perspective are non-Singapore based scholars are “soft authoritarian” portraits of Singapore’s as the party state.

It was the Substation and its accompanying activities that another generation of scholars, raised in post-independent Singapore like myself, found possibilities of transcending existing scholarly binaries, critical cultural nuances and resilient communities.

Like the arts, this “Third Space” for Singapore academia can perhaps be attributed to the momentum set out by the vision of Kuo Pao Kun. After his release from political detention, Kuo moved from pursuing direct political criticism to fostering creative diversity. Such possibilities evident in the three decades of the Substation, which started from the age of the fax machine to that of the internet and smartphone.

The incubatory, experimental and liberal spaces that the Substation has provided a multitude of fringe artistic and aesthetic activities, alongside the communities that grew from them, has also been actively mirrored in academic writing. The Substation is relevant to academic enquiry on a wide multidisciplinary spectrum. From semiotics and performance to politics and society, individual creative works and cultural scenes that have occupied the venue inform theoretical discourse and critique across scholarly fields.

Central to academic interest in the Substation are the artistic autonomies and possibilities that it has created within postcolonial Singapore’s highly interventionist, soft authoritarian political climate. Alongside this political juxtaposition, on the academic radar are the stark contrasts between the cultural autonomy emanating from the non-descript former colonial power-station and architectural showcases like the Esplanade in 2000 and the National Art Gallery in 2015.

Scholarly attention to the Substation is both archival and current, capturing interviews with Kuo Pao Kun in 1993, and memorializing his legacy; reaffirming the site’s uniqueness in the new terminology “Affective Paragrounds”. In addition, several academics have also been actively involved with the establishment and governance of the Substation, most prominent amongst them Professor Tommy Koh, Singapore’s Ambassador-at-large who is the venue’s Patron. The venue’s Artistic Directors like Audrey Wong, Lee Weng Choy, Woon Tien Wei, have either held doctorates in the Arts, been engaged as educators in tertiary institutions or contribute actively to academic publications. Over the decades, in various capacities as speakers and discussants at its public events, the local academic community has also made active intellectual contributions to the Substation.

Although there are investments in arts centres, schools and initiatives in existing universities, their significance to Singapore arts and culture is evidently dwarfed by that of the Substation.  Unlike the former, which are often inconveniently located on university campuses and cater for confined audiences of student communities, the Substation has greater artistic autonomy to serve a more diverse public. As such, especially for the locally based academic community, the Substation provides more exciting platforms for broader public engagement, social interaction and scholarly collaboration and research.

Punk rock gigs have been staged in campuses of universities sporadically over the decades, but organisers, performers and audiences there will always be a place for them at the Substation.  The Singaporean artiste Loo Zihan may be familiar with arts institutions and centres in Singapore. But, it is perhaps only in the Substation that he could comfortably stage the mixed media performance Cane (2012), a re-enactment of the controversial 1994 event in which Joseph Ng in openly cut his pubic hair in a mall, as a symbolic protest against police entrapment of gay men in Singapore. Like the annual Substation Conferences held in the 1990s, the Substation has encouraged substantially critical dialogues involving academics and the arts community.

The Substation’s artistic leaders recognised the value of connecting with the scholarly community. Artistic Director Alan Oei (2015-2020) actively sought closer academic-artistic collaborations. For example, I collaborated with Oei in integrating the Visual Methods Conference held in Singapore in 2017 with a parallel Substation exhibition, Discipline in the City.

As a moderator to the panel “Great Expectations: What Does It Mean To Make and Hold Space for the Arts In Singapore?” in “Space, Spaces, Spacing 2020” (Substation 2020), I had the honour to meet one of the speakers Subhas Nair and his sister Preetips Nair (within the audience). The Nairs were given a police warning several months ago for an “offensive rap video”, in response to a Brownface public advertisement. Unfortunately, that may just be my last academic service to the Substation as it plans to close by July 2021.

Among the local academic community. I am confident that those who have committed to Substation have done so purely as a labour of love, with no expectations of institutional acknowledgment from their universities and schools. On the contrary, some of us ponder what repercussions might follow our commitment to a venue that is associated more with critique than cheerleading.

Jason Lugur included the Substation as one of the few “Spaces of Hope” in his study of Singapore’s cultural landscape. The Substation gave me my foundations as a scholar in Cultural Studies and it has only been right for me to reciprocate in keeping this space of hope alive in my own small ways.  The Substation as we know it may be history. But, in fostering a unique relationship between independent arts and critical scholarship for the past three decades, its significance should not be written as an obituary.  It should remind the academic community, particularly in the Humanities, of its public commitments to arts and culture in Singapore. Through generating critical knowledge from its research, documentation as well as other forms of collaborations with the arts communities, I hope that the academic community will continue its affective missions in finding and serving in new spaces of hope in Singapore.

[theonceoverthinker]

435. You better interGET ready for tonight’s Fair Game HC!)

Tonight, I’ve got some HCs about Qrow, Clover, and the Information Super Highway!

-The world of RWBY is a little bit more technologically advanced than our world is, so by that logic, both Qrow and Clover have been using the Internet since at least their academy days (Probably a little longer for Clover since he’s a little younger than Qrow and lives in the even more technologically advanced Atlas). I imagine that it’s the equivalent of a 90′s or 80′s young adult learning the Internet.

-Mastering the Internet was something Qrow and his entire team did together to write papers for classes and research Grimm, weapons, and history for projects. Summer rallied Team STRQ to figure it out together, and Qrow was able to navigate it the quickest. They all start at their own computer, trying to sort out how webpages and searching works, but by the end of it, they’re all watching Qrow work his magic at his own station. Meanwhile, if Clover learned about using the Internet prior to entering Atlas Academy, he had a computer class that taught him the ropes of the Internet.

-Qrow and Clover each use different browsers -- Qrow uses the Remnant equivalent of Google Chrome while Clover uses the Remnant equivalent of Firefox. Both occasionally debate the benefits of their preferred browser. Qrow insists his is faster and syncs to more things whereas Clover thinks his is more user friendly (And has a cooler logo). Both make fun of anyone who uses Remnant’s equivalent of Internet Explorer together. One time, the target of their mockery (I feel like this would be Tai and he’d argue that they all used to use it together) is around for a situation where they both have to use that Internet Explorer-esque browser (”Just our luck.” “Speak for yourself,” Clover snorts). Payback comes for them.

-Clover tries to restrain himself to 5-7 tabs open at once. Unless he’s shopping or something, he knows that any more of that wouldn’t do him any good. Qrow stops when he can’t see the “x” in each tab without visiting it. He can balance the tabs well enough, but by that point, he knows that that’s too much. The two of them also have about two or three dozen web pages each bookmarked, at least, containing news sites, streaming services, shopping sites, selling websites, weather trackers, Remnant’s equivalent of Craigslist, two or three social media sites, Remnant’s equivalent of Youtube, and of course, Remnant’s equivalent of the one and only Wikipedia.  

-Tags under the cut!

Tagging @skybird13 @whipped4qrow @mooksie01 @luck-of-the-caw @xwildangel @solitude-of-stars @vastnessofthespiral @o0nashipear0o @unfairgamey @doctorrwby @clover-and-co @megan-atthedisco @wash-my-brain @bisexualdisasterqrow @thursdayseraph @doubledexterity @rwby-things-i-guess @atlas-heartthrob @the-answer-was-bi-klance @compoterie @thuskindlyiboop @oceansquid @transdemion @deltastream21 @mimiori @xya-hunter @delta-altair @dinosaurs-last-day @roman-torchtwink @subatomictealeaves @drbtinglecannon @saphiralunaris @pretentiouskneecaps @amxngsthxmans @ayomez13 @carbonated-table-spices @darkestsiren @chaosgameingkoi @collectingsparechangemadeeasy @michaels-daughter2005 @youmaywanttoduck @lovethewitchofendor @victorious1956 @kendalllwayland @madamoisellesica

Want to be tagged in future Fair Game HC’s (Or untagged, I understand) and be the first to catch all of the romance, fluff, drama, and puns (Sometimes all at the same time)? Send me a reply, PM, or ask, and it shall be done!

Would you also like to check out my old Fair Game HC’s? Who wouldn’t? Well, here’s a link to my Fair Game HC archives!!!!

[princip1914]

Princip -- you're the only other person I know who is a bit iffy on participating in zines. What are your reasons? I feel like we probably agree on some of them.

Hey RF! This is a great question, and a timely one. I have seen a lot of zine apps floating around Good Omens fandom recently. I imagine that those of us who, like me, love the fandom but aren't interested in participating in a zine might be feeling a bit left out. So I am answering this ask in part as a way to say: if zines aren't your thing, that's fine! It also goes without saying that if zines ARE your thing, that's fine too. I love that there are a wide variety of ways to participate in fandom, and I don’t mean to say one way is better than another. My goal here is just to articulate why I don’t feel comfortable participating in zines. So, here goes. It’s a long one, so my answer is under the cut.

1) Inclusivity: One of my favorite things about fan culture is how radically inclusive it is. Anyone can post something to AO3. It’s so easy! All you need is an email address and a story to tell. I love that. I LOVE that. What’s more, anyone can read anything on AO3. All you need is an account for works that are archive-locked and then the internet is your oyster. There are so few spaces in life that are like this. Almost everything--from where we live, where we go to school, where we eat and drink, who we know, what media we consume--has an element of exclusivity to it. Even other online platforms, like facebook or instagram, have algorithms to steer how content is experienced. Zines--which on the writing end have applications and mod teams, and on the reading end make content available only to paid subscribers for a period of time after publication--are exclusive spaces within the vast inclusive world of fandom. For me, the benefit of having something printed out, edited, thoughtfully formatted, etc. is not worth the exclusivity of the process.

I want to add here that I think there are many important conversations going on about how to make AO3 and other fan spaces even more inclusive (especially for creators of color and survivors of trauma). I think there’s still a ways to go, but that the ideal of what these sorts of spaces are supposed to be, is radically inclusive and that ideal matters.

2) Costs: I mentioned this above in my point about exclusivity, and I can already sense the notes piling up to remind me that many zines have a “pay what you can” option and make no profit and/or have the profit donated to a charity. I think those approaches to pricing are admirable. For many people, the act of raising money for a charity through zine publication may feel like an important and cherished part of fan culture. For me, however, it is important that my participation in fandom remain radically anti-capitalist. I never want money to gate access to my writing, which I do for free and for fun. This is also why I will never have a patreon or ko-fi account.

I recognize that this attitude comes from a place of relative privilege--I am financially secure and able to donate a portion of my income to charity each year. I have time to participate in service work outside of fandom. I understand that not everyone may be in this position and that zine work may feel important to some as a way to raise money for worthy causes.

3) Competitiveness: The world is a competitive place. I constantly feel pressure in my IRL life to perform better than others to advance my career. To some extent, I have internalized this drive and I wish I hadn’t. For me, fandom is a wonderful place where I am relearning the importance of doing something just for the joy of it, rather than to be the “best” at it. By not applying for zines, I am consciously choosing to keep my experience of fandom free of any comparisons with others (I would banish the AO3 stats page from existence if I could, but that’s another story).

4) IRL/Fandom Intersection: Unfortunately, I am not able to be open about my participation in fandom in IRL spaces. I know I will never buy a zine because I will never feel comfortable attaching a credit card with my IRL name to a fandom purchase, or revealing my IRL address for shipping. This sharp separation between my IRL life and my fandom life means that I (and others who maintain the same boundaries) will always be limited in our consumption of paid content and physically printed content.  I would rather not contribute to a product that a portion of the fandom (including myself) is unable to access.

With all the zine applications coming out these days, I wanted to provide a voice saying that it is possible to have a great fandom experience without participating in zines. If you’re worried about missing out on the social aspect of participating in a zine, there are a myriad of ways to make friends in fandom--participating in an event, joining a discord server, messaging writers you like on tumblr (yes, even if you’ve never DM’d them before, most of us love meeting new people and starting conversations!), reading and commenting on others’ fics, replying to comments on your own fics, etc. 

While these are my top personal reasons why I have never chosen to apply for a zine, I know that many people do enjoy them and I’m happy that the fandom is big enough for many different kinds of content!

At the risk of inviting ~discourse~ I would love to hear others’ (respectful!) thoughts on why they like or don’t like being a part of zines!