#seriously this is for such a specific niche of like a few other people

[finchhollow]

here. have a ren shitpost. bc for whatever reason goodles is the joke of the week in the gc

[oscargender]

I have some thoughts brewing abt my gender and sexuality that I might feel ready to share soon. Idk idk

[ai-satin-chic]

As some of you may know, I get quite a lot of requests for various artworks. I try to accommodate those which fit within my style, and even then, I sometimes push my boundaries if I think the request will broaden my artistic knowledge.

That said, I just want to put on record that I will *NEVER* produce artwork which falls under the following categories. STOP ASKING.

Fully nude. I may do the occasional "tasteful" tease, but that's about it. Seriously - my art focuses on the clothing. If you want nude, there's plenty of other places to find that.

Sch00l uniform. Not going there. I like cute pleated and plaid skirts, as well as pigtails, but I'm never going to create specific "sch00l" AI art.

Men/drag. I understand the niche, but it's just not mine. My art is the dream of beauty in the female form.

Anime. All my art is designed to be as realistic as possible. I'm not going to make cartoons.

P0rn. If I had £1 for every time I was asked for one my images to be converted into an "adult" image, I could pay my care for when my brain dies. Please. Stop asking for p0rn.

A few other weird ones too:

Very short hair/bald

No satin/silk (really?)

Traditionally male clothes such as jeans, pant suits etc

Images without backgrounds

Captions in the image - I prefer to keep the images "clean".

With all that, I want to thank people who have asked for genuine artworks - I've really enjoyed working with you and testing my ability.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hello slug! Do you have any piece of advice you wish you knew when you first started out as a translator? (Or just something you want beginner translators to know)

I could go on about this all day if you let me, so I sat on this ask for a few weeks and tried to condense it down to five of the most helpful-- if a little abstract-- points. Hope this helps!

Usual reminder that I'm referring specifically to J->E media translation, although I would imagine most of this applies to media translation of other language pairs.

Edit: Ohhh Tumblr's being a nasty little man and not letting me post everything. Try to curtail my verbose ass, eh? We'll see about THAT! More in the reblogs it is.

A translation is a piece of creative writing informed by the unique needs and limitations of its author, audience, and medium. Before I write a single word, I always consider what approach is most appropriate for translating the work. This is informed by many things, including but not limited to: - Author(s). A work with a single author (most books, indie games) usually demands stricter fidelity, as the words you write become representative of this person's views within the English audience. A work with multiple authors (most bigger games, virtually all anime) may allow greater creativity in the pursuit of other goals. The author's purpose is also paramount. If the author's primary goal is to make people laugh, you will often want to make your work do just that. Serious works should read seriously. Romantic works should tug at heart strings. Occasionally, authors will provide specific guidelines to follow. You do not always have the ability to push back, even if you think they are horribly misguided--in many cases, the company you're working with can lose business if translation teams cause too much of a fuss. If the end result looks silly, you may be blamed for it in reviews and public perception. Responding publicly is not a good look and may hurt your chances at finding employment elsewhere. Conduct yourself professionally! (End of tangent.) - Audience. While rewriting a text to cater to an audience is almost never appropriate, it will often make you and the audience happier if you consider their expectations for translations. Fan translation readers often want to receive a black-and-white, "correct" interpretation of the text--an understandable desire; I'm not knocking this--and therefore may be more receptive to inappropriately detailed translation notes while less receptive to looser interpretations of the text. Readers of professional translations, especially paid works, often demand a higher level of polish and are less tolerant of juvenile goofery that can sometimes be gotten away with in fan translation. Similarly, genres affect the work. BL audiences are more likely to be LGBT+ than isekai action audiences and will expect translators to use more politically correct language. Some niche genres expect (at least, the appearance of) stricter fidelity at the word level than genres that attract a wider mix of casual and serious fans. - Medium. Even if one translator works on multiple iterations of the same series, the nature of the medium will force them to produce two very different translations. Anime and manga are often more understated compared to works of straight text (visual novels, actual novels, some RPGs) to avoid overwhelming the visuals. Anything that is voiced (anime, some video games) must follow the tone and sentence structure (Ie, "short clause, pause, long clause" is often translated as "short clause, comma, long clause" even if there are many, many other ways to express this idea) of the voiced line. Anything with character limits (anime subs, video games, manga) must be concise and punchy. In manga, the script's visual presentation--line length, what words should be placed together to create a nice shape, word length in skinny bubbles--must also be taken into consideration.

[physalian]

On Fight Scenes (Or, getting creative with your magic system)

This is coming from a reader’s perspective, not a writer’s, in what I like to see and what my thought process was when writing my fight scenes—I hate these things and can’t call myself any authority on the matter. They’re tedious and translating what’s in my head onto page is always frustrating.

This is also for fantasy and sci-fi: Fight scenes that have some magical or technological element to them, not a straight-up action story with two dudes punching each other. This includes anything from fights in Harry Potter to battling a Xenomorph to bending in ATLA to a throwdown between superheroes.

Side note: I really, truly hate “two dudes punching each other”.

—

I have a friend who loves comics, specifically DC Comics, and watches all the DCAU films. When we lived together, I often watched a lot with them. My favorite remains Constantine: City of Demons because unlike literally every other DCAU movie, it doesn’t drop the ball in the third act and devolve into a stakes-less fistfight. This dude faces *consequences*.

I’m not a comics (like actual, paper comic books) fan, but without fail, every time the setup is good, the characters are good, the first 2/3s are good with pacing and usually a mystery and passable character development like Batman: Under the Red Hood…. The last 15 minutes or so always abandon what had been a good plot for just superheroes punching each other and I get so bored. I’m invested and then they rarely deliver any payoff.

But I do like Constantine. Dude needs a nap.

Point is: On top of those fight scenes not really mattering, by the nature of what comic books are in that they can never stray too far from the status quo, or if they do, it doesn’t stay that way for long, the people who made these characters don’t get all that creative with their powers.

I think, actually, I liked Constantine so much because his stuff is rated R and it doesn’t shy away from the more realistic effects of living in a superhero society… without being gratuitous like The Boys.

I just get bored. The fight stops when the plot says so. Knockouts are arbitrary, power scaling is arbitrary. Someone can get thrown through a wall and walk it off but the villain or their buddy can come up behind them and hit them really hard on the head and that’s enough.

Anime is its own thing and would take far too much time to address here but I do want to talk about My Hero Academia real quick, following up on a previous post about tournament arcs.

Season 2 of the show has three main arcs: The tournament in the first half, and the Stain fight/final exams in the second.

For a while, the show actually seemed to take injuries rather seriously (for shonen, at least), and got insanely creative with characters’ very niche powers. In season 1, their teacher, Aizawa, gets pretty brutally beaten by a horde of villains and his powers are permanently impacted by his recovery—he can’t use them for as long as he used to, and he has a new scar.

Midoriya, too, whose powers break his bones on the regular, has consequences for overusing them, like his hands and forearms not healing properly despite superpowered medical intervention.

Power scaling, too, was fantastic…. Until the Stain fight.

I will never understand the thought process behind this logic:

“Hey let’s show how powerful Todoroki is by having him manifest an entire glacier in about 3 seconds!” *9 episodes later* “Hey let’s make this fight with a dude who only has various blades to work with super tense by making Todoroki completely nerfed in a legit life or death situation!”

Buddy couldn’t take two seconds to yell at his friends to get the fuck out of the way? Was he worried about damage to the buildings? I feel like nepotism could have spared him from some consequences if breaking a few windows meant him not getting murdered. It wasn’t like he had daddy issues over his ice powers.

The rest of the show (until I DNFed) had similar issues. Powers were as competent as the plot allowed at any given moment, which I guess is the nature of shonen, but if you’re going to go out of your way to establish realistic rules and consequences really early on, breaking them willy-nilly because it looks cool later is annoying.

Which is applicable across all fantasy sub-genres: Consistency.

I might not be the best at writing the step-by-step choreography, but damn it if I don’t know how to make sure I’m not opening up plot holes in how much damage my characters take and dish out.

—

So. How I approach fight scenes as told by Eternal Night and my sci-fi WIP.

Before anything else, establish a reason that this has to be a fight, that it has to happen now, and what’s happening beneath the combat to keep the story progressing. The plot will not stop just for fisticuffs.

A magic system is only as cool as what its characters cannot do with it, and breaking those limits ruins the magic system.

Make sure this is a fight that can only happen in this story, taking full advantage of the various powers/abilities/magic system rules, if this is meant to be flashy and grand.

Eternal Night is about vampires, thus my vampires, being immortal, can take a lot of hits and not suffer long-term consequences compared to a mortal. I adhere to a lot of classic vampire lore while also making up my own rules. They don’t have super speed, super strength, or compulsion, they just have a lot of experience and know how to use their weapons well, and can essentially go at 100% without mortal limitations of fatigue.

Basically: My vampires are only as strong as a mortal in absolute life-or-death situations, but that’s also dependent on how strong they were in life. Somebody who was a couch potato isn’t going to be as strong as a bodybuilder, and that carries over. I don’t have “younger/older vampires are supernaturally stronger” rules.

They have the same immortality risks as most versions: Stakes, beheadings, sunlight. Anything else is survivable.

Simple magic systems tend to be the most robust because there’s less rules available to risk breaking or forgetting (why ATLA's bending feels so real).

So when I was writing ENNS’s big fight, on top of making sure they weren’t all gods with their weapons—they missed shots, got tired, made bad calls—priority one was making sure I kept killing blows consistent, and when they’re temporarily “dead,” that the timing of when they revive isn’t determined by the plot.

Meaning: If I have a vampire who, idk, gets stabbed by a regular sword and it “kills” them, they have to stay “dead” for whatever amount of time I’d previously established and not wake them up early to participate in the plot again. Those are my rules and I have to work with them.

And in that way, yes the choreography is frustrating, but even if it’s an average description of a fight, I will appreciate that the writer respects their own rules and still be entertained.

With that, in the sci-fi WIP I had incredibly complex and diverse magic systems, 3 complete and unique practices split between two characters. One of which was incredibly OP.

This was a very reluctant OP character who wouldn’t use the full extent of his powers even to save his own life, often to the ire of his team who suffers the consequences of unnecessarily complicated battles when he could one-shot the enemy but chooses not to.

Internal limits tend to be stronger than external ones if you have an OP character, because they’re more believably toggled on and off without breaking the lore.

Even with OP character stubbornly making life harder for himself, he was still OP. He had two different magic systems at his disposal, and beyond his internal limits, they had two very easily exploitable external limits.

Magic system A was tied to a physical artifact he had on his person. If he got separated from it, he couldn’t use it. A is also a lot harder to use if B is also busted.

Magic system B was counteracted easily by users of Magic system A, and by the enemy military who’d developed weapons specifically to nullify those powers, and that weapon was everywhere.

Which meant my fights concerning OP character were rarely “why doesn’t he insta-kill them” it was “oh shit, he can’t insta-kill them, now he has to be clever to get out of this alive”.

One of my favorite fights was at the tail end of Book 2 where he was stuck with two of his non-powered teammates, on a ship dead in the water being overrun by the enemy. The ship had no power, the radios were dead, and the engines were fried.

He had already been sick for half the book and physically and mentally exhausted, and when the enemy arrived, they nullified the rest of his powers. All he had was Magic System A, but in his condition, it was like being asked to do long division on paper by hand, because his calculator was broken.

Dude was not having a good time.

Which meant he was basically useless, with two of his basically useless teammates, who all had to work together to get creative and clever with the tools that they had, on a ship they all knew like the backs of their hands.

So many things they would not have had to do in any other situation, with stakes so much higher because OP was powerless. The characters came first, not their powers, which I think is the most crucial ingredient to any fight you want people to keep talking about for years to come.

—

I can’t tell you how to choreograph your scenes, but I do think that why they’re fighting matters far more than what they’re fighting about, and especially in fantasy: What’s the point of writing magic if you don’t take full advantage of your magical characters?

[writingjourney]

I’m in need of some advice and kind words. As a fellow writer I’m really struggling to believe people will and want to read my stuff. There’s no real engagement anymore and I’m worried that if I post my long-form fic that no one will give it a chance. It’s really bringing me down because I love it so much but it feels like no matter what I try to do my stuff just doesn’t get seen or liked? I’ve even thought about changing my entire way of how I do things since I don’t think the way I write is working for the masses. How do you keep up the motivation as a popular writer and do you have an advice?

Hello anon!! I feel like this is something many of us currently deal with. And first of all I seriously hope that you do share your story!! ♡

To be completely honest with you the lack of engagement in the fandom has for sure impacted my own motivation which is why I haven't been putting as much time into longer fics (nor the Friday Nights series or IKNBS, I do write but I refuse to force myself). I don't feel any urgency because uploading fics hasn't made me as happy as it used to. It feels like only other active writers are reading fic atm and it creates a lot of pressure on creatives to stay super active.

I'm aware that I'm insanely privileged to have the engagement that I do have, that the type of stories I want to write are also the type of stories that generally seem to appeal. However, engagement tells you NOTHING about the quality of your work, only how many people are active in a fandom or like a specific pairing/character/trope. Your own unique voice matters more than numbers.

I also notice that a lot of people who used to read my works have disappeared which I completely understand. The fixation can ebb away during times of inactivity or when a certain hype dies down. People just don't get that dopamine hit anymore and move on. It's also entirely possible they get tired of a certain style of writing and prefer other writers at times, what do I know. I definitely don't blame anyone for that. First and foremost people should read for their own enjoyment and engage with fandom in a way that makes them happy. It makes no sense to pressure people into engaging. A huge issue right now is people overthinking these things which makes support transactional instead of genuine.

I don't care much about notes but I REALLY miss the feeling of sharing a fic with people who are excited for it, that sense of an active community. BUT the activity will come back – the movie will come out, new music and videos, heck even a whole new Papa!!! That's the natural flow of things. We can't be excited and super active all the time, we need phases of calmness as well (which is an act of rebellion in the capitalist hellscape of overproduction and churned out content. I am honestly glad Ghost is taking it easy).

Now, I recommend you write your story exactly how you want to!!! do NOT change it for the sake of popularity because it will lose its very soul and you will struggle to be happy with it by the end. You know how you want to tell your story and nothing else matters. It will find its readers or you can wait and share it at a later point. I recommend that you approach other writers and readers and intensify that contact, make friends and talk to them about your stories, hype each other up, share snippets. It's even more meaningful to know people you like enjoy what you do. I am currently working on super niche fics for non-Ghost characters and I'm honestly having a great time chasing that dopamine by just writing what I'm really into and sharing it with friends. Fandom is community, fandom is fun and we can work to make it better for everyone.

A few general tips when it comes to making stories accessible: Format them to be readable (paragraphs!!), add a "read more" break, add proper content information and a nice summary to draw people in, add some visual appeal like a banners or stock image edits (like i do for IKNBS) and then tag the fics with relevant tags (and only those). Also make sure to tag the OG post, tags on reblogs do nothing for reach. Engage with the community when you feel like it and it's likely that the community will engage back. Being supportive is worth it, being kind is always worth it even if it amounts to nothing.

[traumatizeddfox]

Idk where I stand on the term narc abuse but 2 things to bring up.

First, the jury is out on if abuse via narcissistic tendencies (not related to npd inherently) via specifically the term "narc abuse" is real or not. Theres both official and unofficial sources, charities, University/medical journals, etc that acknowledge it as different from more common forms of abuse/how the abuse is brought on and why (someone being physically abused due to their abuser being on drugs and over-reacting to a small trigger vs someone getting physically abused due to percieved sin/religious undertones will have varying experiences, ones that reasonably involve different labels) this warrants a different label and plenty that do not and criticize it. I won't judge a terminology when even medical professionals can't seem to decide yay or nay. I just figured I'd mention it because the only way people know this term usually is TikTok but it's actually older than TikTok, they just picked it up. There is a difference between someone with npd and someone whose a narcissist in a non-medical/mood/personality disorder way and I do think the people trying to use the term should differentiate the two but to be fair, most people don't even know about npd and therefore would only be talking about egotistical people, not nessesarily pwnpd. I also think it's nessesary to bring up that Tumblr has obscure and hyper niche veiws on topics with zero room for conversation and just as plenty of pwnpd on Tumblr are adverse to the term, there also plenty of pwnpd on Tumblr and other platforms who acknowled/support it as a term, do not take offense and/or understand its usage and what it means without direct correlation to the disorder but more as a grouping of actions/beliefs with the label outside of medical contexts. The term narcissist and the actions associated have existed as a stand alone personality type (like sloth doesn't automatically mean someone with Chronic fatigue syndrome or Thief doesn't mean kleptomaniac) long before the disorder got its name and associations, plenty of people call egoists narcissists and it's not offensive suddenly. Understanding words have multiple meanings and contexts is important here, Rape dosent even automatically mean sexual assualt, sometimes it just means steal or kidnapping. All this to say it's budding mental health related language, it will take what already exists and expand upon it. Same as when the words triggers and gaslighting got popular then promptly died. Your free to take your stance, I'm not invalidating it, I'm just sharing some facts cause as a long time user of Tumblr, it seriously screwed my views of the world and narrowed them to a pin prick about what's acceptable and agreed upon and what isn't and should be shunned. Only after stepping outside the site did I learn just how little 90% of discourse here actually matters and affects the world at large. Consider this whole part devil's advocate but presenting only the people who side with you as evidence when this isn't a "is climate change real?" Sort of stance where 98% of the field agrees is disingenuous. The field is split here and very few people are actually considering this label to specifically mean pwnpd and more mean specific forms of mental and emotional abuse and neglect that usually comes from a place where the abuser sees themselves as better than others, see the victims as threats to their high standing and see others as means to their ends. Again, Idk if I support the term or not, I'm just relaying information.

Lastly, #2, trying to say that anyone who feels they are a victim of specifically "narc abuse" is just trying to "feel special" is fucking horrific and invalidating regardless of your feelings on the term. Regardless of the words they use to describe the abuse they experienced, they still experienced abuse and trying to imply they are lieing or attention-seeking is fundamentally abuse-apologist shit. The same shit gets said to every other victim of abuse and just because you don't like the label dose not mean they think they are special or different and what they describe is suddenly not fucking abuse. They are still actively victims even if they arnt perfect ones. I'm disabled, I'm fully aware if the term "disabled abuse" came out cause a few people got beat with grandma's cane or their disabled abuser used their mobility aid to hurt them I'd be fighting it cause that's not fair and disabled only means one thing, however, I would never EVER invalidate their trauma from that physical abuse. I would never say they never experienced any wrongs or they think they are special cause it was abuse from a disabled person. No matter where you stand, that was a fucking terrible thing to say and imply. You can shit on a label without invalidating real victims of real abuse. No one in this debate was questioning the victims until you just did, they only criticized the label they were using. You can get that victim-blaming perfect-victim shit and shove it up your ass. And no, I'm not a victim of that form of abuse, if it even exists, but I can see shit when I hear it and that was shit. Shame on you for that.

Okay first thing I want to say first is this. i am sorry if u read my post and misread it or misinterpreted what i was saying. i was not victim blaming anyone lmfao. I was NOT invalidating anyone when I said those who have been abused by narcissists think theyre special. what I was trying to say is that the language around narc abuse is that victims seem to talk about it like its a worse type of abuse. i see people say "if you have been abused by a narcissist its because they saw how special u are!!" and i think thats not ok to tell victims bc victims will romantizie why they were abused!! i remember believing my abuser (who does have npd btw) only abused me bc i was so special and he hated that!! but in reality, he abused me because he's an abuser. an abuser might be triggered by someone, they might hate someone and thats why they abuse. an abuser might have a disorder that can make them react abusively, but its because theyre an abuser. there are plenty of ppl without disorders who abuse, and there are those with npd who dont also abuse. its not a hive mind.

i do not understand why u think i was telling someone that they werent abused. if u spend more than 2 seconds on my blog u will know i validate everyone who has ever been a victim, and those who will become victims.

BUT my point was there are victims out there who seem to treat narc abuse like its a badge. we dont walk around and say ptsd abuse bc ppl would lose their shit if we ever did that. "Narc abuse" is not anything different than any other kind of abuse. can an abuser have npd? yes. can the npd make an abuser respond in a unique or different way? yes same with any pd. but narc abuse is just emotional abuse. ppl will say narc abuse and then go onto explain everything that an abuser does. "Theyre selfish" "They want control" yeah thats an abuser. i think the problem is people now look at symptoms of abuse and say narcissist. i literally see ppl call anyone a narcissist these days.

the issue i have with this as well is that i have seen and heard victims wonder if they are valid because their abuser doesnt have npd bc these victim spaces especially Tiktok have created this belief that abusers are narcissists and ONLY narcissists. can they be? yes. but can an abuser also be a neurotypical? yes.

abusers are just abusers. we dont need to slap some label on there. now is there different levels of abuse? yes ofc. emotional abuse, physical, spiritual, financial, etc are all different kinds of abuse. being abused by ur mother is different than being abused by ur teacher, or partner, etc. but it doesnt mean its worse. ofc there are SITUATIONS that can be considered "worse" in the eyes of the law but at the end of the day. abuse is abuse. a broken ankle is still a broken ankle no matter how it got broken.

victims are all on the same playing field but they try to fight each other and we need to stand together and realize that abusers are the issue!! i dont have any ISSUE or problem with victims who say they were abused by a narcissist but i do have an issue when ppl say narc abuse. and i know a lot of victims who say narc abuse might not even realize what theyre saying. i remember being that person until i started to talk to pwpd, espeically npd, did more research and realized how stigmatizing it is.

the MAIN issue with saying narc abuse is that what ur saying to people with npd that 1) they are not valid if they have been abused. 2) they are abusers. this is dangerous because its generalizing an entire group of those with a disorder that can not change or fix. a lot of victims worry if they have been the abuser bc abusers fuck with ur head thinking ur the bad guy, so if someone with npd sees a post that says all narcissists are abusers they might believe they are one when they arent. im speaking very general. every person with npd is a unique person and i dont SUPPORT every single person with npd bc ofc there are monsters out there who are also abusers , but i do support that people with npd get support and are also included when ppl say mental health matters, or believe all victims.

no one is saying that those with npd cant be abusers, what were trying to change is the language !!! before people believe everyone with schizophrenia was a violent killer until we learned that is not true. we need to do the same with personality disorders.

the history of the word rape does come from the meaning to steal, seize, or carry away but there is PLENTY of words we use in today that are not the same. just look up the history of the word "mother fucker" and you will never want to ever say that ever again. but i dont see what this has to do with ur point in mental health. no one would ever say rape when they mean "steal" we just dont use that word in that way anymore. but to add to this, its a great example as a way to change the meaning of narcissists to be only used for those with the disorder. (yeah ppl can have narcisstic tendencies, we ALL have some level of it, its how we survive but thats different than having a disorder.)

i know tumblr has always had weird takes, and some stuff is strictly an online discourse and doesnt happen irl, but that doesnt mean we cant change the way people view mental health. people have misused gaslighting, triggers, but that doesn't mean we cant stop or change that. most people learn to adapt.

but to finish, i understand where ur coming from and im sorry if u saw my post and were upset but when i see others with npd wishing they could die because they feel like a monster just because they have a diagnosis, it shatters me knowing they feel like there is no support. even therapists are sketchy with pwpd. i just think that we need to change the language around abuse. just say abuse idk why thats so hard!

[doberbutts]

Sorry if this is dumb, but if you don't mind me asking, what's the difference between "Weekend Warrior Bullshit" and someone there to actually work their dogs? I'm asking because as someone in a working breed who's considering getting into breeding these dogs in the future, I seriously want them to be able to do what they were created to do. But if I can't do that without living on a farm with cattle and sheep, for example, I'll happily leave breeding to the people who actually need these dogs to put food on the table as I think that's what's best.

Well it's not to say that people who can't truly work their working breeds shouldn't breed. I'm a weekend warrior bullshitter myself so there's obviously a lot of market for dogs who only really do that.

Basically, almost anything that you can earn a title for is "weekend warrior bullshit". IGP, herding trials, hunt tests, those are great sports but they are not necessarily "real work" when discussing what truly qualifies as work.

Dogs who hunt with their owners for sustenance, dogs who move livestock on an actual farm, police and military dogs, those are "real work".

I've discussed several times in the past how it irritates me that people are so hung up on titles titles titles. Don't get me wrong, I like sports, so if I want to buy a dog to play sports I'm buying a dog from titled parents and from breeders who pursue titles. And I do think titles are one avenue of proving your dog can do the work- in an ideal world the dogs doing the "real work" should easily be able to title. Otherwise, unfortunately, you're relying on someone's word and people tend to lie or be willfully ignorant to the realities of their breeding programs.

However... I grew up pretty Appalachian. Most people did not buy food from the store but hunted and farmed it themselves, or worked out community exchange with their neighbors. This is also due to religious pressure in my specific part of the Appalachians but I've found similar experiences up and down the mountain range. Proving your dog can pass a couple weekend hunt tests is great and all but that doesn't prove that your dog can be out in the woods with you sunup to sundown for the entirety of the hunting season to ensure your family eats that winter. Your dog chasing sheep in a pen for 15 minutes at a time doesn't prove your dog can reliably keep the flock in line yearround with predators, new additions, and births complicating matters.

And it irks me, and others like me, when people say "well MY dog is FIELD CHAMPION TITLED so his worth at playing hunting every other weekend is SUPERIOR to your untitled dog that literally keeps you alive in the winter". Like thanks I think we come from two different planets actually.

That being said, there's plenty of crossover, people who DO use their dogs to keep them alive that ALSO play at sports. And unfortunately the easiest way to meet them is to go to sporting events and talk to people and see who is doing it off the field in real settings vs who just shows up on the weekends.

This is compounded of course by breeds whose jobs no longer exist or are no longer legal. As the swiss mountain dog breeds were beginning to spread to other countries, the tractor was invented. Suddenly no one needs a workhorse of a dog because a tractor is cheaper and more reliable due to being a machine. So what was already a very niche thing became so abysmally rare that these breeds almost disappeared entirely, and only survive today due to enthusiasts and sports. Some breeds fell out of favor for their historic use- no one uses purebred danes for boar hunting anymore and the very few dane crosses are dramatically outnumbered by easier, cheaper, hardier breeds and mixes. Dog fighting and animal baiting is illegal so gladiator breeds can do sports, become pets, or get a new purpose. Some breeds we don't have a solid consensus on their use- what was the techichi, the landrace that became chihuahua, used for? No one knows because the people who made them went through multiple genocides and the few that are left don't want to talk to colonizers (which, like, fair).

So it's not so much "you must work your dog x amount in order to breed" but rather "if you are looking for real historic work, your first task is seperating those who do it for fun vs those who do it to survive, AND understand there's a lot of overlap here"

[derschleierfallt]

Pls share actor opinions!! :D

OK. biggest question of my life. gonna list top 3 favs for elisabeth and tod but i’ll throw in a rudolf or two. honorable mentions and least favs too just for funsies. also it’s going to be painfully obvious that i mostly stick to german language productions sorry in advance. and nothing too niche probably. maybe one day ill revise when i’ve watched like every video i have

elisabeth

1. pia douwes

OF COURSE NUMBER ONE IS PIA. she is my absolute favorite actress, not just in this role but also just in general. i first saw her in the role in the essen proshot, and how she conveyed all the different highs and lows of the character was just so good. you can feel every emotion and you can believe every word. i had watched the 2005 vienna proshot first, and i liked it a lot, but it wasn’t until i saw pia in the titular role that everything really clicked. her understanding of the character is so compelling, and i literally just don’t get tired of it. she’s also an absolute powerhouse vocally. hoping to go to the netherlands next year to see her in the show for real!

2. ranno hana

okaaayy i haven’t watched zuka 2014 in a BIT but… ok confession… i don’t love zukabeth. i like it enough, but a lot of the changes are just tooo hard for me to completely forgive lol. that said, i’ve watched a few productions, and this one was a standout for me, mostly bc of this elisabeth (and tod tbh but this isn’t abt them rn). i really loved her portrayal of the character, acting-wise i think she’s seriously incredible. vocally she’s not exactly a favorite, but like who gaf. she’s GOOD! her wenn ich tanzen will is one of my favorites, as is her ich gehor nur mir. so fun to watch

3. maya hakvoort

don’t be fooled even though vienna 2005 didn’t completely hook me at first i do like maya a lot. in terms of character, i think maya plays it a little more broken and beaten, which is an interpretation of the character i love. she’s crushing under all this weight, and though she remains strong, she really really shows all the cracks that form. her der schleier fallt with mate always makes me wanna bash my head in (in a really good way!)

honorable mentions

nicole sieger. kind of. only shitty audios exist of her performance but i like them a lot lol

mari hanafusa (toho 2016) didn’t love her in zuka 96 but she’s really good here

ruth kraus. recently watched a video with her and i liked it a lot! seen some people say she’s lacking but i don’t believe it

not my fav

maike boerdam. not sure if this is like a hot or cold or middling take? personally not a fan of her elisabeth, some of the acting choices take me out of it and while she’s talented, her singing just isn’t my thing! she has good moments though and she is in many great essen photos and i do love essen promo photos

der tod

1. uwe kröger

92 vienna specifically. this is The tod. u cannot say the word death without me thinking of that swoopy 90s hair. u can’t talk abt some random guy named todd without me thinking of that swoopy 90s hair. he lives in my head and i cant evict him. i love other interpretations of the character and while i dont like to be all THIS IS THE ONE CORRECT WAY TO PLAY THIS AND THIS… this is the most correct in my heart. i love the ambiguity so much. i think its essential. most vienna tods from this era just don’t really captivate me as much as uwe bc i think the bar was set so high (and vienna content is SCARCE to say the least). i like him in essen as well, but the way the character was directed in that production isssss inferior imo. he’s got good elisabeth takes too so number one

2. jesper tydén

i really don’t know how this happened. i really really just like his tod. depending on the day i think he could switch with mate. i get the vibe that his tod is a conniving little beyotch. slimy, maybe is the way to put it? but not exactly as gross as slimy would suggest? unhinged, but not flying off the handle? calculated, but not fully controlled? i think it’s also the vocals that bump him up for me, he’s got some GOOD vocals that really get to shine in this role. i do also just really love essen understudies for some reason

3. máté kamarás

like i said he can swap for jesper but today is a jesper in 2 day. for me, mate is more the acting and not so much vocals, at least later in the vienna revival run and every production onward. i do love his voice earlier on though, so it’s a shame his voice kinda suffered a bit! maybe this kinda sounds like a diss or something but ITS NOT. i think mate tod is really captivating, there’s this vibe that the impossible really did happen, he really did love elisabeth, and he plays it very well. he bounces off of the other actors incredibly (vienna revival im specifically thinking about), so every interaction with every character has something just sooo good about it. i also like how sparkly he is in hungarian productions

honorable mentions

yu shirota. see my post abt him being a freak. love it!

addo kruizinga. specifically in original vienna, i actually didn’t like him at first but his interpretation really grew on me

lukas mayer. so happy to see a new tod i actually really like show up, i hope we’ll see him in this role again

5. least fav

m….ma……r…….k… coldest take on tumblr dot com possibly ever! every performance i’ve seen he just looks so bored or so done. however i think he’s good vocally, and im sure he is better in other shows. but in elisabeth he’s bored and im bored, so not for me!

rudolf

1. andreas bieber

number one is all original vienna i’m sorry LOL it’s andreas bieber. wenn ich dein spiegal wär was written because of him (or something like that), so i think that says something! not sure how exactly to put this but i like how ? pitiful ? his rudolf is LMFAO. when i was just getting into elisabeth and browsing through youtube clips i didn’t understand whatsoever his rendition of the aforementioned song struck a chord with me. no clue what he could’ve possibly been singing about, didn’t even know the historical context lol, but i could infer enough from his acting and it was SAD. seeing mayerling for the first time when actually watching the musical in full was like ohhh…

honorable mentions (tbh i didn’t focus on rudolf much until recently so sorry)

jesper tydén AGAIN. sorry he’s good. i wish he was in the vienna revival longer than he was

dennis hupka. part of the reason why i care abt rudolf more now LOLOLOL

also to end it off serkan is obviously my fav lucheni alongside i think 99.9% of people and i have no more to say than that. serkan is the standard for me and it has not been reached again… not that my eyes have seen… except maybe that guy who was the one thing i liked abt schonbrunn 2019 but i don’t remember his name atm

[murderbot-moodboard]

A few weeks ago, someone on here shared their playlist of songs they thought Murderbot might listen to, which I thought was a really cool idea. (If you're the person whose post that was, you have great music taste! Please feel free to comment and remind me who you are!) And that gave me the idea earlier to make a short Spotify playlist of songs that I feel like could generally be talking about parts of TMBD, whether from Murderbot's perspective or not.

The playlist is called "Murderbot Mood" (couldn't resist the consistent branding, lol). As it says in the description, these are "songs that sound like specific aspects of TMBD or adjacent vibes (your mileage may vary)." It's a mix of some older and recent classics, plus a few niche gems I've discovered over the years that I think are seriously underrated.

I did a little curating of the order but not a lot. And again, I just created it yesterday, so it's on the short side. I guess I wanted to share it because music is important to me (and has kept me alive over the years) but I've never gotten to talk about it much with other people? Idk, I grew up super conservative and wasn't allowed to listen to a lot of popular stuff, so I didn't discover most of my favorite songs until I became an adult, and I'm still acquiring new favorites that most people my age grew up listening to (such as *NSYNC). But anyway, if you're interested, here's a preview of the first several songs, followed by the Spotify link.

[happymetalgirl]

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

Blood Incantation is not the only band or the first band to make death metal progressive and spacy and cerebral, but across their now four-album discography they definitely have developed a signature style and ethos within that already niche sub-subgenre, an ethos of imaginative existential musing on the biggest fundamental questions of our species: the nature of the universe, the origin of life, the extent of the cosmos, the possibility of other life, etc. This existential speculation the band engages in is not done super self-seriously, as was exemplified by their widely lauded 2019 LP, Hidden History of the Human Race, which dabbled playfully (I hope) in the idea of humanity being placed on Earth by another species. Ancient Aliens death metal. The record even came with a little pamphlet on opening your third eye and discovering the truth of the universe and all.

I've never got the sense from the band that they're super true believers in this kind conspiratorial thinking, at least not in a committed way; I didn't get the vibe from Hidden History that they were actually trying to evangelize some flat-Earth-level type of alternative theory of human existence of whatever, even with the pamphlet. If anything, the pamphlet seemed like a tongue-in-cheek touch and an adjunctive component to the imaginative world-building the band was engaging in. It seemed more about building an immersive fantasy and stimulating grandiose speculating than about pushing some specific hairbrained conspiracy theory. That said, even most conspiracy theorists don't hold their wacky beliefs with such confidence that they dare express them publicly outside forums and comment sections, because those beliefs are more of an emotional crutch for not understanding the massive and complicated world around us and validating whatever biases they have, like what religion is functionally for most people who subscribe to one.

And somehow (ownership of new media and legacy media being gradually consolidated in the hands of a disparately wealthy few who actively thumb the scales of algorithms to favor the spread of anti-class-conscious information like right-wing propaganda and conspiracy theories to prevent any type of threat to their wealth and power that working class solidarity might pose, capitalism) conspiracy theories are a real actual sociopolitical ill that we have to contend with seriously now, with actual batshit true believers like Marjorie Taylor-Greene and RFK Jr. and more than a handful who've unironically pondered "the Jewish question" now holding higher office and shaping policy in the federal government of the most economically and militarily powerful country in the world. It's so awesome that we have to take fucking "globalists starting wildfires to promote 15-minute cities" type bullshit seriously now.

Mark Bankston, the lawyer prosecuting Alex Jones for his defamation of the parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, lamented frustratedly that conspiracy theories used to be fun, benign little thought experiments in the fantastical and absurd that he felt like people back in his day could engage with in good fun and not actually become so seriously sucked into, and now in the age of the internet consolidated onto a handful of social media platforms they're a weapon of anti-progressive propaganda. This has been a slow-building phenomenon, and it's not like InfoWars wasn't a major cog of the right-wing misinformation machine back in 2019. But it's so much worse now, and with the trajectory the U.S. is on in the wake of the election and the cabinet nominees being assembled, it's likely going to become an unprecedently severe problem.

All this is to say, do I think Blood Incantation (or anyone) dabbling in the mushroom-tripping vibes of space-alien existentialism with a flair of mystical thinking is worsening a serious problem of anti-intellectualism with this kind of artistry or even just doing so in bad taste? I would say no. Sure, satire is dead in an era in which it's indistinguishable from the genuine expression it satirizes, but I don't think in the context of a genre of music (death metal) that has always held ties to the cartoonish and fantastical and made very clear its fictional nature, that what Blood Incantation is doing is really normalizing or legitimizing "Jewish space laser" horseshit. Old songs with (at the time) relatively innocuous lyrics about Trump being a rich and brash public figure as more of a character archetype than anything he is now have soured more than I think Hidden History of the Human Race ever will to my ears. And that IS definitely in part due to the TYPE of conspiracy theory being toyed with, which is just the silly ancient aliens stuff that's kinda too esoteric to be tied into sociopolitical conspiracy and weaponized like holocaust denialism or something. The band stick firmly to the realm of discussions held while hot-boxing in pizza delivery vehicles after shift ends, and five years after Hidden History, they're still focused mainly on what's going on in the stars and beyond.

The cover of Absolute Elsewhere hints at a continuation of the same alien historicism, with a clearing of the crater-riddled surface of some mysterious planet with two moons in its starlit sky somehow decorated with two of the same types of pyramids of Giza. Comprised of two central compositions each divided into three tracks, it really is an album of two halves in the thematic sense though. While "The Stargate" picks up right where "Awakening from the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul)" left off in terms of grand celestial projection, the lyrics of the album's second hemisphere are surprisingly grounded, at least in the sense that the grandiose existentialism is turned inward. It's actually surprising how direct the message of "The Message" is in the album's last 23 minutes in its humanism. The band don't break the fourth wall or anything, but even in mystical character the answers they give to the age-old questions on the meaning of life and consciousness and humanity are not the least bit cryptic. "To create." "To give." "generosity". "sow peace through deeds." "To grow beyond the animal instinct to fight." I don't know if the concerns I laid out earlier about conspiracy and anti-intellectualism taking hold of power had anything to do with their rationale or thought process for doing so, but I am glad that Blood Incantation did decide make a concrete statement at least about the purpose of the types of intergalactic thought experiments they engage in, which is not to uncover ancient secrets or expose the lizard people or any of those other harmful distractions from our obligation to support our fellow human and cherish the possibly rare and unique life present on the Earth.

As for the music... the scope of the subject matter of Absolute Elsewhere is matched in breadth with the scope of the style and composition of the instrumentals behind it. It's not just that the band employ these spacier psychedelic passages inspired by 70's prog rock between careening passages of death metal, and it's not just that they manage to tap Tangerine Dream for the second "tablet" of "The Stargate", it's the intentionality of the long-winding compositions and the way these elements are woven so thoughtfully together, with wonderful little memorable motifs of guitar and orchestral synth builds making it more than just the novelty of the combination of ingredients at play here. That said, more than any individual riff or sweet clean guitar passage, the tight symbiosis of death metal with 70's new age music and space rock is the real masterclass here that really brings the extraterrestrial introspection home. There's not really a way to easily get into the highlights of finer details of such a seamless album without it becoming tedious or spoiling, but I can at least heap massive praise on the accomplishment made here in the immersiveness into the huge scope of the subject matter here made possible by the meticulous and crisp production of each piece of the album, whose varied individual components must have been a real puzzle to mix and master.

I remember when I was hearing so much hype about Blood Incantation before Hidden History and then hearing that album and becoming a believer; I think Absolute Elsewhere could easily be that album for the unconverted because it really is a masterpiece of a progressive and grandiose compositional approach to death metal with some of the most natural integration of disparate styles ever. I love this album, and as impressive as it is from Blood Incantation, it's no surprise that they could reach even higher than Hidden History of the Human Race and that they could make so many diverse sounds work so well together. If you're not a believer all I can really say is look into it yourself, open your third eye.

9/10

[graysongraysoff]

i think switching over from twitter to bluesky these last couple days and watching my timeline as folks try to find each other over there has helped me isolate something that’s been bothering me for the last couple of years that i haven’t been able to articulate until now.

see, the fandoms and fanfic-sharing spaces i have been in until recently were very much just about enjoying x thing together in the very simplest sense. even in the bigger and more “topical” fandoms i’ve been in over the years, it was all about making a small, close-knit group of friends really casually in the tags by exchanging headcanons and rping and writing fics for each other in a very, like, “non-commercial” way. just hanging out and having fun and feeding off of each other’s passion in forums or later on tumblr with no expectations beyond just enjoying each other’s work and company. like sure i still got in my head about kudos and comments from time to time, who doesn't, but it was more of an every-once-in-a-while thing rather than being like. daily.

now, i don’t know if this is because of the specific fandoms i’m in currently or if fandom in general has made this shift as forum sites and tumblr have fallen off and more algorithmic sites like twitter and instagram have taken over, but recently trying to engage in fan spaces feels so much more like. capitalist now, lol. it’s all about networking and promoting your work and Getting That Bag (either figuratively via kudos and comments or literally via commissions and zines). not that this hasn't always been an element of fandom — i know it has, and a big one at that. and i know a lot of people enjoy this side of things, which is awesome! go get that bag! hell knows i’m gonna buy that merch and support those zines!

i’m just saying that, to me, it feels like that's the whole thing now rather than just a part of it. i largely haven’t been successful with finding fandom friends the way i used to, because, well, how do you start bantering casually with people in fandom tags now that everyone has left tumblr, and twitter and instagram et al basically function as fandom linkedin? the larger shift away from just goofing off in forums to creating promotional threads for your fanfic on bluesky and huge discord servers to network in... i don't know. i don't love it.

i’ve started using reddit a little more over the last few days, so we'll see; maybe that's where my chiller, more vibey fandom niche has vanished to. but i think trying to carve a space in this larger fandom culture is the root of this constant feeling of inadequacy i’ve been wrestling with these last couple years. everyone takes everything so much more seriously, and i pay so much more attention to my ao3 stats than i used to as a result. i’m simply not having fun anymore.

it's no wonder i want to orphan my fics and delete my accounts when it feels like the only way to make fandom friends now is through fucking marketing. i do enough of that at my job without making it a part of my hobbies, too.

[dirtbag-linecook-kyloren]

Lol okay, seriously. Would you ever write a historical AU and if so, what setting(s) appeal to you most?

FUCK MAN IDK

like, i have so much trouble with historical fiction, with the LITERAL EXCEPTION of pride and prejudice, unless it's non fiction

BUT ALL THAT BEING SAID I have a few event/timeline specific aus I could see myself writing.

One would be SPECIFICALLY an east germany AU, likely in the style of a German movie called das Leben der Anderen, (aka the lives of others). hux would work for the stasi, probably be fairly young and still stuck listening to wiretaps. This would be a 'light side' kylo-amidala-esque vision, where he's helping smuggle people across the east/west border and definitely doing so many things the stasi ARE NOT chill with. I would have to do about 7000s years of research to feel like i could handle it well and with care but it's all research i'd find interesting so that really helps.

The second would take place in Edinburgh in the 1820s, and would 100% be inspire by Burke and Hare, who killed people to sell their bodies to the local medical institution for dissection. Kylo is killing people, Hux is teaching at the medical school and has very lose morals, and they end up fucking about it, probably?

like, historical periods don't get to me as much as specific windows of history, so I worry sometimes that they'd be too niche?

[badedramay]

@roobylavender replied to your post:

thank you for answering! this is super insightful and i really appreciate the point you make about intention and how despite include some repercussions of feudal traditions, addressing that niche of pakistani society as a whole was not actually the central aim of the drama (so in that aspect it’s distinct of dramas like sang-e-marmar, sang-e-mah, malaal-e-yaar, badshah begum, etc.). i definitely think that’s a valid defense to shielding it from some criticism bc like you said the more pertinent intent is to address misplaced judgments, rectification of old mistakes, the harms of parents projecting onto their children, the plights of stubbornness and inflexibility, etc. that definitely holds when, like you said, you approach ruhi’s arc as a whole, bc it’s about much more than a mere reaction to societal practice  and i like the point you bring up in the tags about faarah too! i’m less endeared to wali this go around bc some of his alpha male behavior towards her in the beginning of their relationship seriously turns me off lol but it’s true a lot of faarah’s relationship to the haveli is premised on her dynamic with agha jaan first, and that’s definitely where the show wins a lot of viewers over (including me! they were so sweet and i loved them) in any other show that tried a similar approach of “wait and see that this guy you got married to isn’t Actually so bad even though he’s trying to dictate everything you do” i think i would probably still remain super turned off bc there’s not often a character like agha jaan present to balance out that transition into accepting that maybe your judgments of your spouse and their family are not entirely solid. so aH he was here lol! such a crucial character to tie everything together truly 

(making this reply a new post rather than continuing in comments cuz I need my space with me especially when talking about Wali akjsdhakwjeahw)

Yes! exactly! I was thinking of dramas like Sang-e-Marmar and Mere Humnasheen as examples when I was making that point. In those dramas, the background of the characters is the plot. because when you remove the background the entire story falls flat on its place. the characters and their actions in those dramas they are not justified but also plausible because of the characters’ backgrounds. the same doesn’t fully apply to the characters of DeD. Aga Jaan’s family could’ve been from any non-specific feudal background and the story would still take place. the reasoning might have to be altered to fit that but on the whole, the plot progression could’ve happened in the same way as it originally did.

As for Wali...oh boyyyy yahan pe aata hai conflict. because Wali remains my most criticized AND most beloved Pakdrama hero. my history on PakDrama fandom world is witness to how much I have dragged this man for his actions (even as recently as just a few days ago!) however, regardless of how much some of his actions continue to irk me..on the whole Wali’s character journey is so fascinating and intriguing for me that I can never see him as a “red flag bad guy”. there are layers to him!! I do sometimes wonder how Wali would be perceived in today’s landscape. like i am SURE he’d be criticized a lot more than he was back in 2015. some of his actions wrt Faraa are so ruthless that I can vividly imagine some people on stantwt making it their mission to start “Cancel Wali Suhaib Khan!!!” parades.

But like I said, the beauty of DeD is how a character comes across when you take the context of their situation when they were performing a certain action. Wali’s abusive kidnapping of Faraa and the initial manhandling he did with her within the first few days of her return to the haveli..these are things added in the drama for well drama’s sake. Wali of the novel was always the picture of perfect gentleman. Wali of the drama was prideful. for six years he had witnessed his own pride be spat on by Faraa’s cold demeanor. Wali forgave the insult to his pride, where he fully lost his senses was when he witnessed his Aga Jaan, his most beloved grandfather, be reduced to a man just breathing not living because of all the hurt Faraa’s attitude had caused him for years...that was unforgivable for Wali. in a very pathetic attempt to be his defense..Wali was pushed to show his most brutal self to Faraa and confirm her worst fears about him that she had nursed for years all because there was no other way Faraa would just LISTEN to him. Wali had never tried to impose the power their nikaah gave him over Faraa except just this once. and he did that not for his own self but for his grandfather’s.

Wali is not a perfect character; good heroes seldom are (hence why drama!Wali is more beloved to me than novel!Wali) The show had already established Wali as someone who had the habit of exercising his dominance where he could. We saw it in how he would scold Zarminay when she tried to be nosy in his affairs or him reprimanding her for planning picnics. but at the end of the day that strictness was not what defined him. we saw how Zarminay confided in her brother and leaned on to him in the time of intense grief. because he was raised by Aga Jaan, he didn’t learn to put walls around his heart and was taught to have more love and respect in all the relationships he shared with anyone. THAT BEING SAID..Wali was ALSO a young man with all the hotheadedness youth brings with itself. it was his initial youthful blunder of putting himself across as a lazy, entitled brat to Faraa which made it easier for her to cement her bad opinion of him. it were his own insecurities that made him unable to empathize with Faraa when she found peace in Moiz’s company. yeah sure Wali’s guess about Moiz being a leech ended up being true but we cannot deny that Faraa’s proximity with Moiz wounded Wali’s pride as a man to the point where he started to question that maybe him assuming duties far beyond the capability of his age had rendered him into an undesirable man. Wali was also well..petty.

Despite all that..I cannot see Wali as someone who, after his rage died down, was incapable of asking for forgiveness for his actions. YEAH I KNOW THE SHOW DIDN’T GIVE ME THAT SCENE AND I WILL FOREVER HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST IT FOR DENYING ME THE SCENE OF WALI ON HIS KNEES BEGGING FOR FARAA’S FORGIVENESS FOR TREATING HER SO HORRIBLY but i also know that how Wali’s character was shaped up..there did come a point when he did apologize for it all. HECK! I can imagine Aga Jaan severely reprimanding Wali if he so got a whiff of HOW ACTUALLY Wali managed to bring Faraa back to haveli and refusing to talk to Wali until he SEES Wali on his knees holding his ears and awaiting Faraa’s forgiveness. which she’d give him of course. not only because she loved him but because she is at that point in her life where she wants all the past mistakes kept aside to start afresh.

Wali works because Aga Jaan works. if Aga Jaan who started as the villain of the story can have a character arc that makes him THE BEATING HEART AND SOUL of the entire story, Wali also cannot stray too far away from the circle of redemption purely because of his connection to Aga Jaan. it’s because of Aga Jaan Wali is mercifully not given the “he’s good because we say he’s good so whatever you saw and how you interpret him is wrong” treatment that so many of the current Pakistani dramas subject their protagonists to (coughmeerabcough). because we SEE Wali’s connection with Aga Jaan and we SEE how Aga Jaan’s sheer love won over Faraa and gave her the peace and acceptance that she was craving for for years..we can SEE why Faraa, by this connection, falls for Wali. not just because he’s her husband and she has no choice but to love him. i see it in a more poetic manner...’the beloved’s beloved becomes my beloved’.

[nonaonann]

The Bats & Birds and Their Favorite Ice-creams + Reasonings:

Alfred: Moose Tracks (People who say his favorite would be plain vanilla/vanilla bean are my mortal enemies. Idc if they're comic writers or whatever, Alfred is so not that guy. Moose tracks, for those who don't know, has a vanilla ice-cream base, with fudge swirls, and chocolate covered peanut butter cups. It's something fun for him, but not too "wild" if you know what I mean.)

Bruce: Rocky Road (Idk man...vibes? I hate the almonds in it but I feel like he likes almonds, like a lot? <- Random hc that is. Plus, whenever any of the others try to say, "Rocky Road? The nuts are gross, why??" Bruce can just add on, "And there's marshmallows.")

Kate: Strawberry Cheescake (This one is just a lot of association at play. Red is her accent? color and also just, her color, and pink is adjacent to red, and Kate seems like such a cheesecake elitist, sorry Kate Kane fans, I'm not retracting my truth, still love the woman, but yeah. Cheesecake is good an all, but it's definitely not my favorite thing in the world, sorry cheescake fans.)

Babs: Pistachio (....VIBES. Yeah, that's my reasoning for the most part. Also, it matches her eyes :^) Also, also, it's so fun to imagine her and Dick having these intense arguments and "wars" over "the better green ice-cream". Spoiler: Babs wins every time and she's the one who starts the conflict because for one, she finds it entertaining, two, she despises mint chocolate chip ice-cream, three, she likes drama lol.)

Dick: Mint Chocolate Chip (Specifically the green colored one. It's one of my top 5, plus, it fits his vibe in a way, it's wacky and bright. Also, it seems to be a somewhat widespread hc for him? I've come across a few fics where it is his favorite ice-cream flavor so glad I'm not alone in this. Also, I imagine he mixes together Mint Chocolate Chip, and everyone elses' favorite ice-creams in a bowl when he feels like it. It of course causes disgust, confusion, and chaos. The only ones of the others' ice-creams that are excluded are Pistachio, Vanilla Bean, and Rainbow Sherbert.)

Jason: Gelato (He strikes me as a Gelato over ice-cream guy. He likes to pick fights over it, a fellow seeker of the drama, like Babs lol. If he were to eat ice-cream ice-cream, probably Pistachio like Babs to egg on Dick for it, or Butter Pecan. I love the hc of him having like, Dad/Old man taste and this is my Dad's favorite ice-cream. Also, if anyone tries to egg on him for it, like, "You are such an old man." "Pecans? Those are gross---" he just adds on, "And carmel." I also like him being similar to Bruce in the overarching narrative way, but also in the little ways way.

Carrie: Rainbow Sherbert (IDK MAN IT’S JUST THE VIBE MATCHING IM PICKING UP. It's colorful, a little loud, a little chaotic, a little bit of a niche one, not a lot of people like it, me included, anecdotal evidence and all that jazz.)

Cass: Birthday Cake | Rocky Road | Cotton Candy (I love the hc? that Cass likes a lot of the things Bruce and or Steph like. <- Babs too, but I have a feeling Cass doesn't like Pistachio nuts for some reason? However, she also seems like a Birthday Cake ice-cream sort of gal. It's fun, it's colorful, it's an interesting contrast to her typical colors and Bat persona, and perhaps a little bit more reflective of her actual personality. When she has the time and a craving, she mixes all three ice-creams together, something she picked up from Dick, and it generally grosses out/confuses/and "angers" people. "Angers" meaning people jokingly get mad over it, like how you pick sides for mundane things and playfully, but veering toward seriously, defend it.)

Steph: Cotton Candy (Another of my personal top 5. Specifically the Thrifty brand. Peak childhood memories are of me mixing this ice cream together---its a sort of marbled thing with hot pink and a vibrant blue---to make it purple. We all know Steph's appreciation of the color and I also can just see her liking cotton candy flavored things.)

Tim: Black Cherry (Another of my top 5. Again...it's mostly for the vibes. Also, there's this really good---and I mean really good, a.k.a. it made me sob sob---fic called "cherry trees in your ribs (cherry trees in mine)" by klixxy on Ao3 that's about Tim & Dick talking about the time where Bruce "died" aka was lost in the time stream or whatever it was. It's a Tim-centric fic and the imagery is so beautiful and vivid, the line delivery makes my bones ache, and it, in my opinion, so perfectly encapsulates the relationship of being so incredibly close to a family memeber, only for something to happen that alters everything and causes that closeness, that relationship you loved and cared for, to never be quite the same. I have so much more to say about it, but this post is supposed to be about ice-cream, so if you have the time, read it and form your own opinion.)

Duke: Vanilla Bean (Are you getting tired of the "idk man...vibes match" answer? Well too bad, cuz that's also my reasoning here. Also, I love the idea of anyone bashing Duke for liking Vanilla Bean ice-cream all like, "Vanilla bean?" "That's so boringgg---" only for Duke to just, absolutely demolish them for their ice-cream flavor, no matter what it is. I'm talking, he's giving insults to these people that years down the line they still remember.)

Damian: Neapolitan (Uh...vibes. SORRY. But uh, it probably annoys him to a significant degree when the layering of all the flavors aren't evenly divided. His favorite sections, from most to least, are Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla. Damian's also probably a Vanilla Bean > Vanilla kind of person, so he has words about the vanilla ice-cream typically included in Neapolitan. Upon further consideration, maybe he'd like Matcha flavored ice-cream as well.)

[mwagneto]

what are your thoughts on the rhys darby merman? I saw people calling it cringe and while I do think darby's performance in that scene was.. a bit not it, the idea itself is really funny and cool to me idk

okay honestly i think i'm gonna have an extremely niche opinion on this because i am like. clinically insane about mermaids like seriously i've been begging my parents to get me one of those swimmable fins since i was like 8 and then i ended up buying one for myself on the internet w my pocket money when i was like. 12-14 idk?? coz they refused to and now i own three. so. literally any opinion i could have on mermaid stede is trumped by me being distracted by the tail coz it's like. they spent so much time and effort on it and it's still kinda bad like omg i can see like so many ways they could've done it better because they literally painted each individual scale which is SO MUCH EFFORT. but the way they laid the scales makes it look like the pattern is just printed on like it's literally a 3d hand painted tail that looks like they got it for 30 dollars on ebay especially bc the silicone doesn't have enough hold so you can still see the human legs under it like you would with a regular printed tail. like if they just overlaid the scales instead of putting them next to each other that'd already be a major improvement like. i cant find the specific video now but like ppl DIYing silicone tails at home usually overlay the scales and it just immediately looks so much better. also i'm not rly a fan of big flashy side fins but that's just personal taste but like tldr they clearly spent a lot if time and effort and money on the tail and it's sad because with a few minor adjustments it could've looked wayyy better

as for like the actual scene i think it's extremely good and cute and the ppl who dislike it hate fun and need to let camp into their hearts. ed's face going all soft and lovey has been playing in my mind on loop ever since and that's not a joke