#since she /has/ to be the common denominator of the situation

[lionydoorin]

AND ANOTHER THING!

Even when I was the age that the ghost kids were when they were killed, I still knew not to go places with strangers, even if it was like. Chuck E. Cheese (because that's essentially what the Spring Bonnie suit is if you think about it)

So what if the reason they, or at least some of them, went with William was because they were Vanessa's friends, and they knew he was her dad? And Vanessa's dad would never hurt them.

Something something William always telling her it's her fault they trusted him enough to follow him. THE GUILT. IT'S ABOUT THE GUILT.

IT'S ABOUT THE GUILT!!!!!'

(freddy and evan ☝️)

this DEFINITELY works, specially for the older kids, who would be harder to trick!!!! in susie's case, i've seen people say that william used her dog to convince her to go with him (which makes me think like imagine if. if the cupcake is susie's dog LMFAO it'd explain how it's so Feral Unhinged n like. not sharing the same soul as chica)

imagine young vanessa looking for her friends only to find their bodies inside the animatronics (without the head, like when mike found max's body with her brother and their friends) in the storage room. running out screaming and crying, looking for her dad, only to bump into a (bloody) spring bonnie outside. when she connects the dots, it's even scarier, but her dad makes her swear he won't say anything, all while blaming her for making them trust strangers.

and she was so young 😭😭😭😭 of course she didn't know any better 😭😭😭😭 and that's her DAD i mean. i don't know how nice he was to her before that but. it's her Father behind all of this.

[themuseofbaroque]

astro obvs. & notes #1 - general

author’s note - this is for entertainment purposes only, none of this is fact. these are simply my own opinions!

- neptune 1H 🤝 pisces rising, noticing their eyes first. the water influence to these placements adds something that draws you in like a current, no pun intended. i used to work with a pisces rising, and she literally looked like a pretty fish (lmfao) big, shiny eyes. either of these placements can find it incredibly easy to appear sensual or seductive.

- speaking of water placements! i’ve also noticed pisces placements tend to take a lot of pictures around water. beaches, hot tubs, rivers.

- this can also be said for air signs (esp. libra) but with things they enjoy! i’m always seeing personal interest posts from libras, aquarians and geminis. music, video games, political causes, shows they’re watching, food, celebrities, etc. anything they like, they post. anything.

- i’ve never laughed harder than when i’m with people who have heavy gemini, capricorn, sagittarius and leo placements

- in my personal opinion and experience, capricorn risings are what people think scorpio rising is. i’ve only met one scorpio rising irl (that i know of) and she did not fit martian/plutonian ruling at all. celebrity examples ⬇️

kim hongjoong of ateez. the intimidation factor, the style, sex appeal, the interest in piercings/tattoos. he’s a capricorn rising, with his chart ruler, saturn, in the sign of aries so we see a lot of red/martian influence from him as well.

megan fox. she’s been a little fuckin weird ever since she dated mgk (that man makes me physically ill to look at much less read about) but! she had her bad bitch moments! being known primarily for her sex appeal + starring in jennifer’s body (a gothic treasure btw) i feel is very scorpio coded however she herself is a capricorn rising, with a sagittarius saturn in the 11h, more fire influence from her as well just like with hongjoong.

joan jett. THEE female guitarist of the 80s. her whole career was surrounded by sex, scandals, drugs, all the darker themes of rock n roll in general. she’s another fire ruled capricorn rising and a sagittarius saturn in the 11h like megan. her style and even her personality has an edge to it, much more fitting for scorpio/plutonian stereotypes rather the capricorn ones. imo.

- actors who’ve done major/recognizable roles in horror usually have a capricorn neptune. neptune is imagination and capricorn is ruled by the devil card in tarot. combine the two and you have quite literally = dark imagination. celebrity examples ⬇️

mia goth staring in the X series as the main face of the trilogy

bill skarsgard being the main face of the IT remake as pennywise

evan peters as tate langdon in AHS, he also played jeffery dahmer recently for netflix.

- capricorn actually shows up quite a bit in the horror genre, esp. gore and paranormal. both actors and writers.

- sagittarius too, oddly enough. a lot of well known faces of horror have major sagittarius placements/stelliums/jupiter dominance.

- underdeveloped cancer placements are more manipulative and two faced than geminis. i see so much gem slander on here, and don’t get me wrong, i love both cancer and gemini placements! however i’ve met and befriended quite a few of both, and cancers by far have been the common denominator in issues around them more than once. stirring the pot then turning around and playing the victim when people are frustrated, lying, playing both sides to better their own situation, and even playing people against each other. i’ve never seen such hateful behaviors from the geminis i know irl.

- aries men are much shyer compared to the women

- taurus women i’ve met irl get pregnant very easily. venus? good coochie? idk

- grand trines are some of the most beautiful people i’ve ever seen (a grand trine is when someone’s big 3, so sun/moon/rising, are in the same element but in all 3 different signs. ex: virgo sun, taurus moon, capricorn rising)

- queer individuals with pisces placements can pass as straight pretty easily if they wanted to. most of them are chameleons

- aries risings i’m so sorry for the household you had growing up. i see martian childhoods usually being the ones who dealt with screaming matches, toxic parents, poverty and underlying issues with siblings that last into adulthood

- i’m not surprised at all when libra placements tell me they’re in college for a general studies degree because they can’t figure out what they wanna do yet

- a lot of fan favorite female characters in video games are canonically cancers

- if you think your rising sign doesn’t suit you very well, try looking at whatever planet correlates with your gender identity. masculine: sun and mars, feminine: venus and moon. the houses and signs of these should help you out a little bit

- libra placements absolutely get favoritism at least once in their life, jobs/family dynamics especially

- sagittarius women usually have rough love lives, at least in the beginning. a lot of them try to save and help partners who don’t deserve it and they get hurt badly in the process. same goes with pisces women

- virgo venus is not that bad of a placement as stereotypes make it out to be. clean freaks? yes. perfectionists? usually, yes. loyal? yes. remember the small things? yes. romantic? no. at least not in a cheesy way. sensual? yes.

- lilith aspects to any of the big 3 is a bad bitch placement. honorable mention is venus/lilith aspects as well

- air signs like spicy food just as much as fire signs

- a lot of rappers have heavy mercurial placements (virgo and gemini) (3h and 6h)

- mc aspecting venus in anyway is usually the person who fools around with coworkers/may even cheat on a partner with someone they work with. most people with this placement have definitely had a partner at one point or another worried about someone they work with. may be the type to have a “work wife”/“work husband”

- 6h chiron is the person who’s life has been majorly impacted by their own or someone else’s health. disabilities, chronic illnesses, stds, limb amputation, skin grafts, etc.

- aries moon and mercury combo = bad potty mouth, cursing is an almost unbreakable habit

- speaking of aries! aries and aquarius placements together in any of these ➡️ moon, venus, mars, lilith, pluto ➡️ usually have a tendency to jump around from partner to partner very quickly, including falling back into exes. their thoughts and opinions on people and things change SO quickly that they usually are the kind of people who have rosters (unintentionally). they are upfront, they don’t lie or drag anyone along but they do seem to be restless when it comes to romance. even if they don’t physically date a lot, they may often THINK of it, their minds going a million miles a minute

- geminis do not get the rep they deserve for being freaks. not only does the sign traditionally rule the throat/lungs/hands/nervous system, (choking, breath play, hickies, hand fetish/fingering, blindfolding and sub/dom dynamics) but it’s also ruled by the lovers card in tarot 👁️👁️

- fixed signs 🤝 tattoos

- sagittarius/capricorn/pisces/libra placements usually have issues with religion/spirituality growing up. either they were forced into one as kids and they have an unhealthy relationship with their god now as an adult or they simply struggle to find something that feels true to them. this is just my experience but every single friend i’ve had who’s left the christian church, had an interest in paganism/buddhism, joined the satanic temple, grew up as strict catholics, etc, have had these placements. religion is a revolving door for them and it’s a common subject of struggle in their life

- women with pisces placements tend fall into unhealthy relationships very easily, especially if they’re heterosexual and dating men. they fall in love with the idea of love before the actual person presenting it. they are bossed around very easy and usually don’t like confrontation. honorable mentions for this as well: pisces stellium, cancer stellium/mercury/saturn, 7h saturn

- cheesy hallmark movies make me think of taurus/libra venus placements, 7h venus as well

- 5h cancer/moon/venus, cancer rising/moon dom, 5h/8h synastry aspects please be wary of accidental pregnancies! wrap it before you tap it cause y’all extra fertile 💀

- most well known streamers/youtubers have 10h stelliums, including their venus. a lot of them will end up dating another social media presence/someone who shares a platform/job with them

yay first post! pardon any spelling errors i’m proof reading this half asleep ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ

[iamthat-iam]

Outer Space (another ND Story) 🌌🌠💫

Since Taylor was a child, she always wanted to go to outer space. Every time she played, she would always imagine that she was an astronaut who would fly her spaceship into the cosmos and visit other planets.

She always had an inkling that there was life outside of Earth. She used to make all kinds of alien friends, and she made sure to tell her parents about them all.

As she grew up, unfortunately she lost the spark she once had as a child. Life seemed to put her in bad situation after bad situation, and all she wanted was an escape. Her family had a history of addiction, so Taylor tried to find every resource possible so she wouldn't end up down that route.

She was introduced to a "guru," whom she went to for guidance and advice. She told him her entire life story, including the portion of her childhood where she was fascinated with outer space.

"Honestly, going to space would make me happier than anything," she admits. "It used to make me so happy as a child. Now I'm depressed because life is constantly beating me up. I just want to escape."

"Escape from what? What is here now that you need to escape from?" The guru inquired.

"My problems, my depression, just about everything.." Taylor sighed.

"Where do your problems go when you are not thinking about them? Who is depressed?" The guru questioned further.

These two questions perplexed Taylor a bit. Is there a secret answer?

"Umm.. I'm not sure how to answer the first question. The second question is obviously me... Who else would i be referring to?"

"I'll give you a hint," the guru smiled. "When I asked you 'what is here now that you need to escape from', I was pointing to this present, unfolding moment. Right now, in this room we are sitting in, your problems don't exist. Same thing with your depression. You are aware of feelings that you've labeled 'depression', but are YOU actually depressed?"

This actually made Taylor think. He does have a point. When Taylor is focused on other things throughout the day, and not her problems, they don't seem to exist in that moment. Something clicked about her depression as well. This whole time she was assigning a negative meaning to feelings that actually have no meaning at all?

"So what you're saying is, I've just accepted a narrative about myself that's not really true outside of me accepting it as true?" Taylor asked.

The guru clapped and gave Taylor a wide grin. "You are absolutely correct! Now let's go deeper. You said you always dreamed of going to outer space as a child. When you described this experience, you spoke as if it didn't really happen, or it was fictional. Tell me what is more 'realistic' about our conversation versus the 'daydreams' you had as a child."

Another mind-boggling question from this guru. Taylor hesitated a moment before she gave her answer. "Well I'm experiencing this conversation with the 5 senses, doesn't that make it more real?"

The guru shook his head. "Have you ever noticed during your dreams at night, the 5 senses work the exact same way as when you're awake? The 5 senses can't possibly be the culprit that makes one experience "more real" than another. Have you noticed that there is a common denominator between all experiences, whether it's the waking state, sleep, daydreaming, or visualizing? What is always present during all of this?"

This gave Taylor an a-ha moment. "I'm always present during all of these experiences! So does that mean one experience is not more real than the other, because I'm always aware during it all?"

"Absolutely," the guru stated matter-of-factly. "This means that your experiences in outer space where you made alien friends are just as 'real' as this conversation we're having now."

This was enough to bring Taylor to tears. She couldn't believe she created a barrier between herself and her "desires" as if she was seperate from them. The friends she made and all the wonderous experiences in outer space were real events that actually happened. But she took her suffering to be real, and has been torturing herself for years for no reason!

"I... Don't know what to say except thank you.." Taylor uttered through tears. "You've given me life-changing advice today. How can I repay you?"

The guru gently held Taylor's hands. "You don't owe me a thing. I am just you pointing you back to yourself. Now enjoy your dream. I'm sure your alien friends miss you."

And so Taylor visited her alien friends once more, making up for lost time. She is finally enjoying the freedom she longed for her whole life.

[lukolabrainrot]

Hey there, what do we think about Nicola’s IG post for Camilla’s bday. It’s a collage of 4 pictures taken by paparazzi of her and Camilla last year and in the caption she said something like remember when the paparazzi took photos and you protected me by covering my face. I feel like that is for sure throwing shade at a certain someone. Like she could’ve chosen any photo with Camilla. She has sooo many, why that one and why this caption. Also the way the photos were stacked looked like A’s recent soho house photos with her friends.

I feel like Nicola’s being very cryptic and sending messages through her posts recently including the scrabble board. I don’t know what that was about exactly but I feel like she posted it for a purpose and the person who that was aimed at would understand. I dunno I might be over analyzing but I think we should paying closer attention to her posts.

I also feel like that means we are headed in a positive direction because it means she cares about Luke and feels protective over him and is letting everyone know, even if there is currently a bit of tension between them. Not saying there is tension but just a feeling that she’s not very happy with how he’s handling things at the moment.

What do we all think?

Ok I just reblogged a post about this, but I am going to add this (and a lot of this is just based on my gut feelings/opinions based off of everything I've seen, so these are all just THEORIES):

First, I want to start by saying we will NEVER know exactly what anyone's SPECIFIC intentions are on SM posts unless the publisher publicly clarifies it.

HOWEVER, N is VERY intentional on SM. So is A. L... not so much (I've known a lot of dudes like him who just don't really care to put a lot of energy/thought into SM, EVEN if they have it and utilize it). So I get the impression this might be the case for him as well. Intentionality takes thought and energy, so I do agree that N and A's recent SM posts are VERY intentional, but what those exact intentions are, again, we will probably never EXACTLY know. What/who is the common denominator between these two women though? L. Sooooo, I feel pretty confident that he is at the root of most of these more "cryptic" posts/stories on N and A's SM.

Now, normally, I would say WTH is a 37 y/o woman doing playing petty and shady SM games with a 23 y/o woman that wants the attention?? Well... I think SM is the only way for them to communicate with each other, and these two women have a LOTT to say to each other (which totally makes sense if ANY of our theories on L/N or the PR tour/papgate/A are accurate). Which is why I do think a lot of N's recent SM activity has been shade, but more directly towards A. Since the London premiere, I personally think L/N are dealing with their complex feelings over everything in private mainly because people are analyzing EVERYTHING they do.

If you have read my other theories on this blog, I don't think L/N are in a terrible place rn (but are very likely having to work through a LOT of complex things in private). I am sure they BOTH aren't happy about how this all publicly played out. And as I have mentioned, I think EVERYONE in this situation has made some mistakes (some more than others though). Please look through my "timelines" posts if you have any more questions on my thoughts on this.

I have also said this before, but I will say it again. N AND A WILL NEVER, NEVERRR BE FRIENDS. Based off of everything I have seen and know about these two women, they have VERY little in common (and A is very insecure and envious of N). Therefore, these two women are probably NEVER going to talk alone face-to-face (I personally don't think A has the cajones to address anything with N to her face). A (based on her public image and actions and everything else we know about her) seems like such a selfish, two-faced mean girl (just my opinion). N appears to be the opposite of that, and I believe would be more inclined to address things with A face-to-face. Since that is not an option though, N has utilized SM to share her real opinions/feelings with A. And yes, I do believe N is protective of L (BECAUSE THEY REALLY LOVE EACH OTHER). I don't have any solid proof on this, it is just a gut feeling, but I think a lot of N's most recent "cryptic" posts/stories are hinting that L/N's connection is not going to be ruptured by immature, selfish, and insecure behavior from A. And I think that is a really good sign for us Lukola fans.

Lastly, who again is the common denominator here? L! Could he have handled this WHOLE situation better? Yes! I've mentioned before though, he got ANNIHILATED on SM after Papgate. And he has been getting hate on SM from people in the fandom for years (him AND N already had to leave Twitter because of all the hate they were receiving). Therefore, I believe he is FED UP, but also TRYING to stay engaged just a LITTLE bit on SM. Yes, N has also gotten a lot of hate on SM, but she and L are very different people, and I get the sense that she is able to navigate the hate a little better than L. Therefore, L has taken a major step back from his public engagement online, and to be really honest, I don't believe he will be returning to his typical public SM activity anytime soon. Now, what other people AROUND him post on SM, I think that has a lot more to do with THOSE INDIVIDUALS than L himself (again, just my opinion). How aware/involved L is with any of these posts/stories that adjacent people in his life are posting, we will probably never know. L is a chronic people pleaser though, and I got the sense from what I have seen that he is not very good at setting firm boundaries with people in his life (which likely played a role in SOME of the SM activity we have seen recently from adjacent people in his life). I think there is a lot of self-reflection going on for him at the moment in terms of determining HOW he wants to move forward in his career and HOW he wants the public to see him. I think he is still figuring it out...

Anywhooo, like I have mentioned multiple times, the whole situation seems to be REALLY messy (and I am almost certain that both L/N didn't want all of this to play out on such a public stage). And we will never know the full story of what was/is going on BTS for everyone. However, a lot of the recent posts/stories from N have been very interestingggg 🤔

[sugar-grigri]

What if Quanxi became Denji's mentor?

A little thought I'd like to share with you.

I've mentioned it before, but Quanxi and Denji are weapons with a lot in common. So far, Quanxi is the only weapon who has also seen her entourage (her girlfriends) killed before her eyes. I think that even after the brainwashing she received from Makima, she remembers because she wears a lace band around her neck.

Once again, Quanxi marks her points of vulnerability in this way: her activation point is hidden by her eye patch, and the band not only expresses the fact that she's been decapitated, but also symbolizes the grief she feels at having seen her girlfriends after being executed.

The public hunters seem to want to annihilate Denji's identity as a weapon, and he is no longer allowed to claim his demonic identity, to claim to be a hybrid being, and is forced to act as a human.

Quanxi fights most of the time only as a "human", she doesn't have the reflex to immediately activate her activation point to transform.

Maybe you can see where I'm going with this, but just as Kishibe was Denji's mentor (temporarily and in his own way), is there any world in which Quanxi wouldn't become Denji's?

Yes, she has no interest in boys, but Denji has the same reflections and reflexes as she does? To give an extremely privileged status to women? Whether it's their loneliness, the dismantling of their loved ones, or their "values", Quanxi and Denji have a lot in common?

In an arc where Fujimoto has merely repeated Denji's question marks, he has created a complex context that prevents his protagonist from acting: could fighting as a human be his way out?

Because Denji wants us to start seeing "Denji" as well as "Chainsaw Man". Who didn't say that the human in this hybrid being couldn't be appreciated as a hero?

The fact that Quanxi marks her vulnerabilities is not meaningless; it's inevitable proof that, as a weapon, she embraces her human condition to a greater extent than the others, who insist on feeling like supermen.

And again, it's more complicated... because for the moment, each weapon has its own response... or rather, a type of response to the identity crisis that can result from not belonging to either camp.

The whip demon considers herself a superman, while the spear devil has no answer.

Reze, the bomb devil, was the one who most embraced her weapon identity, being a veritable offensive object of Russian propaganda, but that didn't stop the girl from being disturbed by her dual identity, expressed by her desire to go to school but also by the fact that she also saw herself as Denji.

Barem for his part, has yet another answer of his own, as he completely avoids the identity crisis caused by the fact that he belongs to neither humans nor demons. For him, spreading death is a common denominator, blurring the boundaries between species.

Then there are the weapons who added a "-Man" as a suffix

Sugo Miri had mentioned it as a joke, but in reality "-Man" is a different kind of response.

Miri locks himself into denial, convinced that his new instrumentalization by the church is by choice, as if this would transform his situation into one governed solely by free will.

In the same way, Katana Man, when confronting Denji, expresses his remorse at killing even one zombie, that he has retained his "human heart", which is also in itself a form of denial, since all weapons have a demon heart, so he doesn't fully embrace his nature.

Denji is another type of response, even though he has the suffix "-Man", which doesn't express denial but rather gives importance to human condition, whether through freedom as a human characteristic with Miri, pseudo-morality with Katana Man or the need for integration with Denji.

Quanxi is yet another type of response: she has learned to identify herself in a way other than through the prism of the human/demon dichotomy that creates an identity crisis in weapons, she has circumvented the problem by proving her worth other than by nature and her natural gifts by being an outstanding fighter without transformation.

But she's attached herself to beings without barriers, to the point of having romantic and sexual relationships (from a sentimental and organic/bodily point of view) with demons, her girlfriends

Denji is imprisoned by the public hunter's dilemma: either Chainsaw Man or Denji.

Quanxi is also in a vulnerable situation, and I think that even though she still has some memories, the institutions have taken advantage of her state of weakness and confusion following Makima's brainwashing. Makima had turned weapons into weapons for the Japanese government, and although the government has lost control of some weapons, it still retains the use of others. Whether it's Katana Man, who no longer works for the Yakuza, or Quanxi, who works for China, the weapons have all changed owners.

Quanxi is just as trapped in a system that doesn't make her happy and that I think she hates as Denji.

Quanxi, as a fellow weapon in the same situation, is the one who hold the answer.

While the other weapons boasted of their immortality, Quanxi provided the answer in the chapter 143 : her lace neckband symbolizes a single idea, death affects everyone, even immortal beings.

[a-horde-of-mews]

Since it has been a while since I've stopped by, I've been reviewing the interactions and noticed two very interesting things that no one else has seemed to bring up yet.

(1) Pup left behind the only child he bore that his mate sired for such a non-serious reason. The mate (whom Seymour interestingly looks like) that left him for such a silly and equally non-serious reason and never returned even after he found out why Pup wasn't "fun" anymore. Almost poetic irony. To abandon the child who looks like the one who abandoned you. Although at least Pup came back to take pride in how well his son turned out without him around.

(2) There's a funny common denominator in that Seymour turned out into a decent mew and Sitka - who Pup wasn't able to bond with due to him being sick and never remembering her pregnancy or birth enough to connect with her - also seems to have turned out into a decent mew according to Seymour's happy reaction. It's really funny how the one that bonded and was raised properly by Pup turned out the way she did. Like, you’d expect the opposite to be the case! But no! She had a perfect happy childhood with her Baba! No explanation other than she was born to be a feisty little cunty bitch! (/affectionate) Funny how things works out like that sometimes. Granted their childhood is such a drop in the ocean of their lifetime, a blink-and-you-miss it situation from the perspective of an immortal. So, perhaps, the way a mew is raised doesn't impact how they behave as adults or how they think of their parents in the long run.

Just two fun things I happened to pick up on. Haha! Sorry! I'm probably reading to much into y'all tho.

King: Maybe keep those thoughts to yourself

[brxkxnhxxrtsclxb]

AAAAHHHH~

CRANBERRY DRACULAURA MY LOVE—

please she’s so pretty !!!!! 😭😭💖

that face up !! love love seeing these upclose pics !! (yikes on the poly hair though. her hairs are flying in the back >.<)

but now we can color match better for reroots !! AWW YEH >:3 I IS EXCITED FOR HER !!!!!

VENUS IS GORGEOUS OMG!! although i do wish her entire hair had been in the micro braids and not just the top few… its the least they could’ve done if they were gonna remove her twists >.< let’s hope her next doll has natural hair ♡ she has to get more dolls and get to keep her hair !!

i never like twyla’s dolls but she looks cute here !! (also has that yikes flying hair in the back >.< poly is atrocious T_T)

regarding lagoona, i have so much to say about the situation and the leakers

i for one feel bad for the leakers. they shouldn’t have to explain themselves to us. they already do so much for us by telling us what we’re getting. it’s not their fault lagoona got cancelled. saying it cuz them having to explain things and wondering why they would lie implies people are accusing them of it ://

it just doesn’t make sense for them to lie. their leaks are always right. why would they be wrong this time ?? they also got the lineup (drac, venus and twyla) right and the theme. if everything’s correct, why would they suddenly throw in a random character and claim she’s in the line too ?? seems lagoona was canceled at some point late in production. the leakers aren’t mattel. obviously they wouldn’t have known she was cancelled

it is strange though. it sounds more like a target thing, but i wouldn’t know. is just a theory. welcome committee frankie was suppose to go along with fearbook as a target exclusive but was dropped and moved over to amazon. lagoona being canceled and also a target exclusive sounds iffy to me. target is the common denominator here

i saw someone else say maybe SS3 ghoulia didn’t do too well, which is why SS4 was cut down to four characters instead of five and clawdeen managed to be squeezed in as a target exclusive somehow. that makes sense and sounds possible. my theory is clawdeen got in as an exclusive for target because it’s possible the contract or whatever was already agreed upon. SS4 had to be in the works already by the time SS3 came out so it would’ve been too late to cancel no ??? but then that can’t make sense cuz why cancel lagoona so late into production?? unless clawdeen sells better than lagoona but i wouldn’t know the ranks of popularity based off character alone

i also saw someone saying G3 is not selling well which is why she was dropped. it could be. we have no way of knowing what goes on behind the scenes but then why would mattel be making new lines and new dolls as well ?? why even give us spectra and fearbook and the next upcoming lines and the ones for next year ?? so many lines are coming out and they’re gonna be around for a year since that’s usually the timespan of dolls on shelves until the next ones come in

my guess is lagoona isn’t popular enough and target didn’t wanna have an abundance of stock on a doll that perhaps wouldn’t sell well ?? it’s the only thing that makes sense to me :// target would have a better idea of what dolls sell better than others more than we do

seems the obvious popular ones are draculaura, frankie, cleo, toralei and twyla since they’re the dolls that i notice tend to get new releases regularly. maybe clawdeen too but idk for sure since she could simply get pumped out for being the main character this gen and not cuz she’s popular (i’m referring to the two-packs she keeps getting with drac. if she sold well mattel wouldn’t feel the need to slap drac in the pack with her but who knows)

idk. it’s a very strange situation all around…

[artiststarme]

What If Steve Were To Leave Hawkins? Part 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I wasn't originally going to write about Dustin's reaction but @doubleb11 gave me the idea. I hope it meets your expectations! We go back to Steve's POV in Chicago in the next part. Thank you again for everyone's nice comments!

~*~*~*~

It was no secret that Dustin was struggling. He tried to remain hopeful and upbeat but his insecurities made maintaining a positive attitude difficult. Why would Steve leave? He had promised that he would always be there for Dustin. But so had his deceased grandparents and his dad that left without so much as a goodbye. 

The common denominator had to be Dustin. He knew that he was too sarcastic, too smart to be relatable, and kind of annoying. But he thought Steve understood. He’s always had trouble connecting with people but he thought that Steve was a lifelong friend, an older brother, if you will, that would never drift away. Since the time Steve gave him poor dating advice while looking for Dart, they had been best friends. So why would he leave?

Looking back, he could see why Steve might have underestimated his own importance to the Party. All of its members were a bit emotionally repressed and didn’t know how to talk about their feelings. They all tended to show their love through acts of service or quality time instead of words of affirmation. They did show their love and he thought Steve understood their feelings. But still, if Steve needed verbal validation, he didn’t get any. And Dustin had been a bit too preoccupied talking to Suzie to spend time with him, instead using the excuse of needing a ride to get in his regular amount of ‘Steve-time’. Regardless of his reasons, he felt guilty and useless when it came to searching for the older boy. 

It had been a mere two days since they had all found out about Steve’s leave and it was already affecting Dustin. When he wasn’t pretending to be okay, throwing a tantrum, or worrying about Steve’s well-being, he was ignoring the glances cast in his direction by the other Party members. Eddie had given him a ride to Mike’s for DnD and had tried to ask how he was doing. Dustin pretended to not hear the question and thanked him for the ride. Lucas had asked him if Steve had reached out yet. No, why would he? Dustin probably caused him to leave. Max and El asked if he was alright since he was quieter than usual. No, stop talking to him. Mike and Will avoided asking him questions but their concerned gazes were just as annoying. He was fine. 

Who cares that his pseudo-older brother left without talking to him just like his deadbeat dad? Not him. 

Joyce gave him a ride home from Mike’s when she picked up Will. She assured him that Hopper was doing everything he could to find Steve and that they’d have him home in no time. Dustin couldn’t find it himself to believe her. He just thanked her for the ride and made his way inside. He just wanted a night alone without anyone checking on him or bringing up Steve.

His mom was waiting for him in the kitchen and gave him a gentle smile when he walked in. “How was your game, Dusty?”

Dustin sighed. He wasn't in the mood to talk but his mom wasn’t aware of the situation and she certainly didn’t deserve any of his snark. “Hi mom, it was fun. Will is DM’ing again and Eddie has been giving him pointers. He was ruthless today.”

She hummed and pinched his cheek when she handed him the plate she had saved him from dinner. “Oh goodness, I almost forgot! Your friend Steve called to talk to you. I told him that you were with Mike today. He didn’t leave a message but you might want to call him later, okay Dusty? He sounded a little strange.”

“STEVE CALLED?” Dustin practically screamed as he whipped around in his seat, the bread roll propelling from his hand into a kitchen cabinet. 

His mother looked slightly alarmed but also woefully accustomed to his flamboyant antics. “Yes, Dusty. Don’t throw food, what did that dinner roll ever do to you?”

Dustin’s eyes rolled hard. “I’m sorry. You said Steve called? What did he say? Was he okay? Was he in distress?”

“No, he sounded a bit tired but that’s our Steve. He just asked for you and didn’t have a message to leave once I told him you were out. He will probably call back sometime later tonight or tomorrow sometime.”

Dustin felt his eyes fill with tears and his bottom lip started to quiver. Steve had tried to talk to him and he wasn’t there. What if he was hurt or in danger and Dustin was too busy playing make-believe to take his call? He would never forgive himself.

“Dusty? Oh no, honey! What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” His mother fretted over him and her concern is what pushed him over the edge. 

Dustin burst into big, fat, ugly tears. He sobbed into his mother’s embrace and cried out his feelings of worry, sadness, and angered abandonment. His mom cooed over him and pet her hand through his unstyled curls until he found the strength to speak.

“Mom, Steve left. He just left Hawkins without telling anyone. He’s missing and we don’t know how to find him! And now he called and I wasn’t there! What if he’s hurt and he called me to help him? He left because I was a bad friend and now he’s gone! We can’t even find a way to bring him back.” Dustin wailed through sullied tears. 

Claudia whispered words of comfort and encouragement as she held her sad boy in her arms. “Dusty, he sounded fine. I’m sure he was just calling to check in on you and tell you where he is. I don’t know why he would leave so suddenly but I doubt it was because of you, Dusty.”

“No mom, it was me! He’s been distant and sad for weeks and I told the Party to give him space. Me! I said that. I told them to leave him alone and no one checked in on him. I never even told him what he meant to me. What if he never comes back, mom? He’ll never know how much we love him!”

Claudia was confused with this whole situation. She’s known Steve for nearly three years now and has been nothing but impressed by the older boy. He helped her care for her little Dusty while she was at work or her book clubs. Steve didn’t have a selfish bone in his body, always refusing to take her money for babysitting and relinquishing his free time to drive her admittedly needy son around. It doesn’t make any sense for Steve to abandon the kids he helped raise, the kids who counted on him a fair amount, to leave town out of nowhere. The young man that she knew would never knowingly cause such distress in her little Dusty or his friends. 

“Dusty, I think Steve is dealing with something beyond you or the rest of your friends. He might need some time to work on it but he will be back and he knows how much he means to you. Just give him time. He called today and the next time he calls, I’ll take a message. Alright? Everything will be fine.”

God, he hoped his mom was right about this. Dustin did feel better at her words but there was still a seed of doubt in his mind. Unfortunately, there was nothing else he could do about the situation until Hopper tracked Steve down or until Steve reached out again. For now, he would wait for his best friend to call again and alert the Party to give them the update. For now, he would have hope. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20: Epilogue

Taglist:@nickavalens@conversesweetheart@themostunoriginalpersonever@swimmingbirdrunningrock@eddiethegreatteddybear @call-me-big-eyes @cornwallisandkerley @moonshadows-13 @glittergluekintsugi @cpidcupk @doubleb11 @mentalcyborg @amoris-no-smut-allowed @purple-lemonade @labels-are-for-the-weak @thebrazilianatheist @rajumat @livelaughlexa @5ammi90 @colorful565 @marvelousforlife @chaoticcoffeequeen @gregre369 @suddenlyinlove@thegreatmistake @stillfullofshit @nburkhardt @batxsignalsx @newunknowns @thosemessyvibes @tailsfromthecrypt@luciana-rowan @bird-with-pencils @adaed5 @lolawon @flustratedcas @iwillfindmyneverland @messrs-weasley @skoomy-doompy @yearningagain @darkwitchoferie @forest-fogg @bitchysunflower @stardust-era @newtstabber@bobatrash-queen @notjasontxdd

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation but do you ever see a reading that is so bad it makes you doubt like not only the other person's media literacy but also their understanding about other human beings in general?

I can see you are desperate to cram everything into an incorrect quotes generator, because the only way you have ever learned to interact with stories is stripping them down to the lowest common denominator, since the act of recognizing any novel or unique trait would require brainpower that is clearly lacking.

But also, thats not a "she asked for no pickles" kinda situation. That's not even allegorical to what is happening. If you absolutely have to cram this interaction into a fandom cookie cutter meme it is a feral baby on a backpack leash because that woman has a firearm in her hand with a finger on the trigger and is 2 seconds away from righteous gorey violence, but has been interrupted by social pleasantries. Those are not the same thing.

[randomfoggytiger]

ok I was gonna ask about your charlie scully one (still am I guess lol) but I must know your thoughts on the autism question, a while back there was a fandom-wide twitter spat over whether or not mulder and scully were autistic, and I was leaning against it but that was before I figured that out about myself, and most of my moots are in favor of it, and idk really what to think lol so your insight would be much appreciated🙏🏻 (also if I wasn’t so goddamn busy I would do all of that research for you lmao)

You should do it!! Even if one day my project comes to fruition!

My leanings on the autism question: no. But I'd have to prove or disprove my own theory if I wrote up that post; and in order to do that, I'd have to have a clearer understanding of the diagnosis, its symptoms (and symptoms that are commonly misdiagnosed), and its identifiable characteristics.

The "problem" is: the new understanding of autism and other disorders are now framed on a spectrum. In order for me to break down the topic, I'd have to ingest lots and lots of autism content from clinically licensed professionals and hear what they look for, broadly, when forming a diagnosis; then, I'd have to search up what the fandom perceives Mulder and Scully's autistic traits to be; then, I'd have to compare and contrast the strength of each claim; then I'd have to balance the whole. Currently, I'm ingesting new autistic creators that are breaking down barriers of what autism is perceived to be (and that's been helpful); and I have a few other licensed professionals I'd need to catch up on (one who even has the diagnosis herself.) In short: tons of layman research.

More importantly: who would be interested in my post, realistically? I don't have doctorate (or training), for one. Second, it's a rather popular thought that Mulder or Scully have some sort of diagnosis (besides trauma-- canon agrees with that one.) The rule dictates everyone has a right to their own opinion; and since that's the case, where would my post fit in?

Realistically, the 90s FBI wouldn't have recruited Scully out of medical school if they suspected she had autism. Mulder perhaps, but only because of Bill Mulder's (or CSM's) connection. There's a program just instituted (2021) by the Feds that is working on recruiting people with autism into their pilot program. And according to studies I've learned about from autism creators (that they've gleaned from the professionals), a neurotypical brain automatically senses something "off" or "different" about a neurodivergent brain, which can lead to ostracization (or bullying in children... and adults.) 90s Scully would have had to learn to mask her autism so well that not only was she never diagnosed but she attracted the attention of the FBI recruitment office-- not a small feat for a woman in the 90s-- and was able to keep it through their very strict recruitment circuit. (Fyi, the man who inspired "Catch Me if You Can" tried to get in with a law degree and was still turned down.)

Also, Mulder and Scully face back-to-back stimulating environments; and go right back to work without time to decompress (which is a feat nearly unachievable.) I'm not an expert-- far from it-- but the common denominator I'm finding from professionals and diagnosed individuals is that overstimulation is a key factor in autism. To varying degrees, yes, but still. Overwhelm and meltdowns are parts of the diagnosis that have to be factored in. Anecdotally, I've read one person who states she becomes better in high-stress situations than her peers because of her hyperfocus; but she seems to be an outlier (I presume.) I'd need to do more research on differing degrees of overwhelm and meltdowns (not everyone manifests overwhelm or a meltdown in the same way, of course); but since the field is still swamped with more information regarding "stereotypical" autism (a.k.a. boys who show the most extreme signs), it would take me a bit to narrow things down even more.

Lastly, we can all probably agree CC didn't write Mulder and Scully with an autism diagnosis. He definitely gave Mulder PTSD in the Pilot; and Scully's trauma from her abduction was written in later. The personal theories branch off from there; and, again, in order to finalize a perspective one way or another, a licensed professional would probably have to watch the show (or more than one season) and make a conclusion; otherwise, my "research" could be written off as another form of headcanon. And since professionals are professional, they'd probably abstain from forming an opinion either way.

Thus, the scales have been put before you: time requirements and lukewarm reception weigh against it; putting my ideas out there for me and the mutuals to puzzle over weigh for it.

[ladyjaneasherr]

If Juliet could have danced the twist with Romeo.

By Mary Teburn, TV times scan from the November 9th 1962 edition published by James Hemery on twitter (x).

As a teenager in Britain today, Shakespeare’s Juliet would probably dance the Twist, love record parties and have lots of clothes. She would say "No" to a drink and a cigarette and would probably make Romeo do the same. At least that's how vivacious, copper-haired actress Jane Asher imagines her Juliet. And she went into the part fairly thoroughly before starting to play it in Romeo and Juliet (Tuesday 3.26).

At 16, she is just two years older than Juliet was in her balcony days. With the common denominator "teenager" Jane set out to build a picture of her 14th-century counterpart. What she was like, and how she would fit into a 20th-century society, were questions that intrigued Jane. In the drawing-room of her London home she recounted a few of her impressions.

"Juliet was an uncomplicated young girl suddenly faced with a complicated romantic tangle too big for her to handle. So she poisoned herself. Today she would either run away to Gretna Green, or come to some solution with her parents," Jane said. Jane thinks that the father-daughter situation in Juliet's home was a ticklish one. And that Dad wasn't a friend and confidant as he usually is today-rather the lord and master of all. She was frightened of him. "Going against her parents' wishes was a terrible thing for Juliet. A social crime," said Jane. "Now they would probably have a round-table conference and discuss the problems. "An onlychild, her upbringing was severe and restricted. "She lived the leisurely and luxurious life of the time as an only child in a rich family.”

Juliet's friendship with her mother though, was probably comparable to the mother-daughter "conspiracy" today. From her mother Juliet learned to love clothes and to dress well. "She would approve of the clothes I wear in the play. They're high-waisted and full flowing, of beautifully embroidered heavy material. "Since she adored l dancing and loved clothes, I can just see her today-an elegant trend-setter and very fashionable," she said. "Juliet, in fact, would fit very well into today's society. She would be a member of the ‘den’ set probably (and here David Weston who plays Romeo, agrees with Jane) and have a wide circle of friends.

She would work too. Jane has even mapped out a career. “She would be a nurse, of course,” she said “You see Juliet was completely unselfish.”

“With her romantic, rather, poetic nature she would probably try her hand at art too.” The trouble it seems with Juliet, was her environment. She lived in a “closed-in” world, where women concerned themselves within the home, and rarely cared for things like politics or science. As Jane puts it, all thinking was “restricted”. So the love of one young girl for the dashing youth of a family quarrelling violently with her own was doomed at the outset. “Class distinction isn’t a barrier to romance today,” she said “they would have found it easier.” David Weston doesn’t think it would have been easier “But it certainly wouldn’t end so drastically…. I hope,” he said.

"It was a case of opposites attract. Juliet, sweet and good and unaffected, and Romeo, a gay young blade-the 'sports car type? —met and fell in love. "It's the same today. . . youth that doesn't think about the consequences until it's too late." The fact that Romeo was 17 influences David's portrayal of the role. "I play it a bit modern because I want Romeo to be as realistic as possible. I want him to appear as he was— a teenager,” he said.

It's a modern thought too, both agree, that teenagers when told not to do something by their parents, will immediately want to do that something.

Though Juliet, as Jane is quick to point out, was more sensitive than Romeo because she found it harder to disobey her parents. Coupled with her loyalty, Jane notes that one of Juliet's most endearing qualities is her dignity. "This grows with the play and we see a gradual transformation in the youthful heroine," she explained. "In the end she isn't a teenager anymore — she's a woman.” But would Romeo’s and Juliet’s romance be as exciting today? Jane wondered. Perhaps they would just meet, fall in love, go steady and marry.

[anxiety-pickle]

TUA and the horrible no good very bad apocolypse

Watching the decline of writing from season 1 to season 3 had already cued me into the fact that season 4 would be, objectively, a poorly written mess littered with plot holes, character inconsistencies, and confusing/poorly-established lore. But, at least, I figured it would be campy. Fun. We’d get a catchy soundtrack and a cheesy little family bonding moment, actualizing the themes that have been present since season 1, and some fun edits of Five killing people. Instead we got…. Petty drama, irrelevant B-plots, whatever was going on in that subway, the continuous undermining of Klaus’ character, a lack of catharsis, and… an apocalypse that turned into the exact antithesis of what it was established to be (narratively and otherwise) in season 1. 

Season 1, objectively speaking, is the best written: borrowing the premise from the comics, it has the most material to work with and the most leeway for establishing character beats, tone, and setting up expectations for their audience. The storyteller is expected to STAY CONSISTENT with all of these things, or else the story loses emotional appeal. Why would you remain invested in a character who you can’t even define? This season is my favorite because of just how intertwined and water-tight everything is. Right from the beginning, character relationships are established, along with the REASON for these relationships: the siblings are estranged because of the abuse they suffered at the hands of their father; Luther and Allison have a strange tension that comes with being forced into narrow and isolating circumstances; Luther and Diego argue over their position on the team, or rather, their father’s approval; Five, suspended in space and time, understands the incredulity of Klaus’ circumstances which establishes a baseline for their mutual understanding; Viktor is isolated from everyone on the team because he was isolated from them by their father. There is all an identifiable, obvious cause for their behaviors and character quirks. The abuse they suffered is, in some ways, indistinguishable from their development; all of them struggle to function in normal society, and this is a point that is repeatedly hammered down. Allison struggles with her ex-husband and her child; Viktor stumbles through his relationships and ends up falling into another cycle of abuse with Leonard; Klaus is addicted to drugs. And this is all painfully, painfully relevant to the elephant in the room:

The apocalypse.

My favorite storytelling device, what have they done to you. From the beginning, it lurks in the shadows of the plot, a constant threat to us viewers and Five - the only two who know the severity of the situation. It is, I imagine, quite like the anxiety of an overbearing father waiting around the corner, dealing out cruel punishment. The end of the world is vague and unknowable. We don’t know what causes it or how to stop it: only that it will destroy us all. It serves to raise the stakes of the story; but what separates the apocalypse in TUA is the reason that it happens. The end of the world comes about, quite simply, because a selfish man abused his children. This is INTEGRAL to the apocalypse story-line. The apocalypse being a result of the abuse suffered by the umbrella academy is the perfect intersection of all the character’s storylines. It combines Allison’s eagerness to rely on her powers the way she’s always been taught, even at the expense of other people, with the isolation and gaslighting and apathy leveled towards Viktor, and their father’s mysterious death, and Five’s reappearance in the timeline. The common denominator here isn’t Viktor, it’s Reginald Hargreeves. At the end of the day, the apocalypse doesn’t happen because it’s unstoppable. It doesn’t happen because it’s a force of nature, or because that it’s ‘fated’. It isn’t vague and unknowable or otherworldly. It happens because Viktor makes a choice. He didn’t have to do what he did; he was hurting and traumatized and overwhelmed with the magnitude of his powers, obviously, but he ends up perpetuating the violence done towards him. The apocalypse happens because a man was selfish. It is entirely preventable, and incredibly unfair, which is what abuse is. Reginald Hargreeves the father of child abuse and crimes against women did not HAVE to do any of that, but the consequences of his continuous decision to inflict harm against his children are what eventually cause the world to end, with powers that he (presumably, at this point) has something to do with. Narratively, the apocalypse represents a system of abuse which perpetuates itself. It seems unstoppable. It seems like it never ends. It seems like Viktor is “always the bomb.”

But I think we should remember that this is also said by Five who, at this point in the story, has every right to be frustrated by his siblings being morons. His brother almost ends the world twice, and that hopelessness is very understandable. This does not, however, make this an objective statement. I don’t think Viktor is “always the bomb” because there’s something fundamentally different about the abuse he suffered, or because there is something inherently ‘wrong’ with his character (wouldn’t that be interesting. Wouldn’t that be a totally not contradictory totally not poorly thought out totally not poorly executed plot point. Being born inherently wrong. That would be crazy right) but because he’s the only one with the ability to do that. The specifics of his circumstances lend themselves to violent outbursts. Suffering is cyclical, and the past is just waiting around the corner for you to slip up. The apocalypse is always there, waiting, because of a choice Reginald Hargreeves made thirty years ago. 

By season 2, we had practically abandoned the interpersonal relationships the siblings had with each other (said by a person who enjoyed season 2 generally). Viktor completely forgets everything, erasing all of the character growth he’s gotten up to that moment. Five spends the entire season in a panic-stricken frenzy trying to get his family home, but his efforts go (again) acknowledged (just like the apocalypse trauma that they no longer care about). Allison gained the most from this season, which unfortunately tied a lot of her character to a very specific point in the story to people who are not main characters. They’re all separated, estranged, again. And it’s starting to get a little tired. But, of course, that’s how living is. Frustrating and tiring. The problem is they never address this estrangement, they don’t come to any meaningful conclusions, they don’t improve their relationships. They just keep piling character plots and trauma and then addressing none of it. And this time… the apocalypse is less appealing. It has nothing to do with the way the characters feel, or how their past is intersecting with their present. It feels less like a haunting than it does a… plot device, conveniently in place to force the story forward. The story had lost a lot of its emotional appeal because it literally did not give me time or space to process the emotions that were there, and the narrative was now no longer directly tied to the main motivations of those characters. Now, we muddy the waters: the apocalypse happens because at a certain important time in history the American government finds Viktor and the cold war is happening and you’ve kind of lost me. This apocalypse means nothing to me. Five doesn’t even react to it, while in season 1 he was having full-blown panic attacks. Sure, Five is still flighty and paranoid and violent and neurotic, but most of these traits stay surface level and unexplored; and when the emotions and relationships of the characters bears the burden of the narrative, that is… not ideal. It weakens the stakes. 

Season 3 was generally agreed upon to be a mess. Which it was. There were moments I enjoyed, but I lacked the emotional investment from season 1 because the emotional investment just wasn’t paying off. They set my expectations for the characters to have plots which resolve their conflicts and then drop them, forget about them, change their characters so those plots no longer matter. And this, too, is reflected by the apocalypse we get, and the solution. Personally I didn’t enjoy the ending of S3, but there was a LOT they could have done with that concept. Showing how they adjusted to having their powers taken, when their powers are they reason they exist, when their powers are the reason that they were taken by Reginald, when they’re intimately tied with their personalities and experiences and livelihoods. We could have had discussions about what the implications of this fairy tale dream world are. The world is your sandpit or whatever. Instead we got…. Season 4. 

The apocalypse is back on. Again. It looks a little different this time. I do not care. The weight of the apocalypse has changed. It no longer represents the suffering of their family, and the possibility of perpetuating that trauma, but a “big evil world ending threat” that has lost all of its narrative meaning. The characters don’t even care that the world is ending - why should I? The story doesn’t have the characters finding meaning in the face of their hopelessness. They don’t even fight it. I watched six episodes of the most absurd, unpleasantly miserable episodes of this… for what? For them to die at the end because of something inherent to them? The apocalypse happens regardless of how they try to change, regardless of their efforts, regardless of the way they’ve scratched and clawed and fought their way through life?

And then it’s framed as a good thing and not a tragedy? And REGINALD FUCKING HARGREEVES gets to live? The one responsible for all of it? Narratively, he gets to live happily ever after with his wife who I also do not give a fuck about, while the people he victimized take the blame for his actions? That’s the message we’re sending here? Maybe if this was framed as like. Hey isn’t this fucked up. Instead we get the One True Paradise timeline and it’s just like. Oh my god. What the fuck was that. And nobody even remembers them. Nobody reconciled. Nobody finished their character arcs. Nobody got catharsis. I didn’t get catharsis. Why would you write that?? Why would you write that????

Anyways kids always remember: you were traumatized for the crime of existing and you should actually just kill yourself because the world will be a better place without you in it !!! 

[princess-of-the-corner]

So after a surprize illness, a bit of energy building and realising both that i forgot to justify a kwami swap and that i probably dont need to worry about that in a tumblr ask later, here is the promised ramble/explanation of the Theatre Kids AU, this time fully corporeal!

The basic gist of the AU is that Kagami is the Ladybug holder and Lila is the Black Cat, yet somehow Paris isnt dead.

Yes, this does mean that they have no idea what the deal is with a seasons worth of the akumas since they probably werent there, but i consider that part of the charm ('sides, I think the heroes having to go from thinking of the Akumas as the occasional nuisence to as actual people they know sounds fun)

To be perfectly honest the title of the AU doesnt mean too much for the story, it just happened to be the only common denominator between the two of them. I guess i could stretch it with some " /acting/ properly vs true to yourself" thing but that doesnt feel too good.

Lila mostly gets to be a hero early on because Plagg has domain over bad luck which prevents her from abusing her powers + some public goofs during Stoneheart getting her to decide to play up the whole "Goofy approachable girl" angle.

Kagami's main thing of the AU is just learning to open up and trust others on both sides of her mask because Tikki and Tomoe together arent too good at noticing that kind of problem. She doesnt even really /like/ heroing for the most part, she just genuinely believes there is no better person for the job

I made Lila Aro/Ace here so no love square between the heroes, but Kagami has a crush on Marinette who still has her /thing/ with Adrien to keep the spirit of it alive

And for our last part, some misc stuff!

-I got a bit tired of there being just the one villain so I made Pharaoh, Darkblade and Bugfighter permanent (i might have the guys from the paris special stick around too, depends on how it goes)

-I made Lila's multimom situation a mix of messed up adoption papers and a polycule. Canon gives me stupid plot points, i give them stupid explanations

-I decided to fix the whole incident with the Bee-Bugfighter by just having Chloe speedrun the Queen Wasp incident and is only given the Pig afterwards as a less dangerous/mentally healthier alternative (and Daizzy was told not to reveal the transformation phrase until she thinks the situarion is bad enough. Sometimes a found family is a girl, a mech and the god of joy)

-Zoé is the tiger and is basically she-Rath. I didnt even do that it just appeared in the doc/j

-I didnt know what to do with Felix so I made it a gag that he's basically living out a copyright-evading version of canon. Then i started tweaking the events on his end so now he's basically in Hero Chat. Sorry for the theft there, if its a problem i can just make it straight canon.

Oh fuckin dope!

[ausetkmt]

Why Everyone is Salty with Amanda Seales but not Katt Williams

It’s been a couple-few weeks since Amanda Seales posted an Instagram video dropping dimes on the lack of support she receives from Black media and we’re still blaming the victim. It’s the [insert strong Black woman] celebrity version of “but what were you wearing?” the accusation that keeps many sexual assault victims silent.

“Likability plays a huge role in our career trajectory” was the focus of an Essence op-ed about the actress and comedian.

Black Enterprise wrote that her post was “whining” and “complaining.”

TheGrio also chimed in with its own version of “she’s not a victim; she’s just loud and wrong.”

Even here at The Root we asked if Seales is the problem, citing her long-time divisive nature. (It should be noted that I, on a selection panel that included The Root’s editor in chief, other editors and a group of Howard University journalism students, chose Amanda Seales to be one of The Root 100 in 2023 for her witty, fearless and candid insights.)

Social media has, of course, spent the better part of the last weeks firmly coming down on the “it’s her; Seales is the issue” side of the discussion:

“We live in an era where folks absolutely don’t want to take personal responsibility for ANYTHING. There’s truth to the fact that if you are the common denominator in messed up situations maybe pause and ask ‘What is my role in this?’” started one Facebook comment.

On X (formerly Twitter), @Joshyoutrippin posted, “I hate when people like Amanda Seales, that live their lives as provocateurs rubbing people the wrong way, start acting surprised that people don’t rock with them. You’re annoying and no one wants to be around you. Don’t blame Black spaces for your bad personality.”

@feministajones shared her disdain for Seales on Threads in a series of posts that called the comedian “a nasty ass troll whose words have caused material harm and damage with nary an apology in sight.”

On Insta, one commenter summed up their feelings about Seales with a short and caustic, “No platform likes her…she is negative.”

If I’m correct in my understanding, when Williams roasts folks, he’s honest and refreshing. When Seales provokes discourse on myriad topics, including colorism, navigating industry social circles, gender identity, racism, dating f-boys and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, she’s a “professional polarizer” and “unpalatable.” Got it.

I don’t know Seales personally but admire the way she provokes conversations that challenge societal norms, which is what comedians do, right? The criticism she is receiving now is reminiscent of the treatment faced by actress and comedian Mo’nique when she stood firm in telling her truth. In its reporting, The Refinery 29 suggested she faced consequences for not playing the game.

The far greater likelihood? We are uncomfortable when a strong Black woman voices her opinion. Be loud, be bold, we tell our girls in 2024. Don’t dim your light. Don’t ever change. But apparently it’s in bad form to be too loud, too bold or too bright.

As one IG poster, one of the few who came in support of Seales, commented: “The saddest part is if you were a man you being likeable wouldn’t even be a factor. The industry rewards opinionated, outspoken men — but punishes women who do the same.”

Funny (sarcasm intended) how that rings true.

Kendra Lee is a writer based in DC.

[blubushie]

5, 21, and 39 for any/all (referring to the numbers ship post)

Righto!

5: Nicknames? Pet names? Any in-jokes?

Mundy is the king of nicknames—this is on behalf of being Australian. We fucking love nicknames. He calls Jesse everything under the sun with the common denominator being that they're all animal-themed—he'd called her rabbit for the longest time, but this one is never used as it drudges up bad memories. Instead he uses bun, which he deems more affectionate. Nicknames are also situational—he'll use bun and roo and love interchangeably, bilby when she's upset, and princess is strictly reserved for flirting or when he's in the mood. The only thing he doesn't call her that I personally hear a lot is possum, and that's because that was his dad's term for his mother and it hurts too much to use it. Jesse in the past has called Mundy Snipes and Red, but now she solely uses dingo or babe. Sometimes if she wants to tease him she'll affectionately use Mickey just to embarrass him. He loves it and loathes it at the same time. An inside joke between them is Jesse's inability to flip anything when it comes to cooking, be it eggs or pancakes, and Mundy's constant forgetfulness when it comes to where he leaves his cigarettes.

Suki doesn't have a nickname for Bruce—for her, using his actual first name is her version of a nickname, as she only uses the first names of people she's very close to (for example, Jesse has only ever heard Suki call her by her name one time, and that was when she was dying in Italy and Suki was trying to get her to calm down and focus). Bruce is the only person to call Suki her name to her face—everyone else either waits until she's out of the room, calls her doc or Okumura, or they call her Natsuki. Only Bruce has the privilege of walking up and calling her Suki and getting a smile in return. A running joke between them is Bruce saying subcutaneous at random intervals, since the first time he ever flirted with Suki he'd told her, "I like a woman who knows how to cut through subcutaneous tissue," and she'd responded, "I like a man who can say subcutaneous."

I'm adding Charles and Cindy in here because I want to. Cindy calls Charles Chuck, and Charles affectionately refers to Cindy as bluebell. This is because she was wearing a blue flower-print sundress the day he met her. Since Charles is Welsh his first expression of love toward Cindy was carving her a lovespoon, so now they regularly gift spoons to each other as an inside joke. When Charles finally returned to the Bronx with Jesse and saw Cindy after twenty years away, he offered her a silver spoon as an apology gift.

Ted would routinely call Liem cowboy and hoss. Liem called Ted kid and boy despite the fact that Liem was only three years older than him. Liem also affectionately used the name Teddy, and Ted was the only person allowed to call Liem by his first name, Sue. They had a thousand different inside jokes but the main one was gifting each other anything they deemed perfectly or near-perfectly spherical. Liem loves old ball grenades (he collects them!) and Ted loved baseball. The two idiots would routinely play baseball together, which mainly consisted of Liem pitching ball grenades and Ted whacking them into the firing range where they'd explode.

21: Do they share any interests or hobbies?

Jesse and Mundy have more in common than either of them think. They both love to read but in different aspects—Jesse loves comics and can't stand books, Mundy finds comics too visually distracting and prefers books. They both enjoy whittling in their free time, Mundy is a skilled artist when it comes to wildlife and especially birds whereas Jesse couldn't draw a bird to save her life. Half of the stuff they have in common are things Jesse saw Mundy doing, decided to give a try, and ended up enjoying.

Bruce enjoys watching Suki work, even if it's just filling out paperwork or looking over records. Suki loves to watch Bruce work out and sometimes he's able to convince her to sit on his back while he does push-ups. He finds this hilarious, she merely struggles to stay seated. Bruce is 100% keen on Suki experimenting on him (something that she consistently denies) and sometimes Bruce will take Suki fishing and let her gut what he catches because she's very good at it. Queen of deboning fish.

Cindy and Charles both share a penchant for current fashion, with Cindy being a hairdresser and Charles just... being Charles. Charles is suave and enjoys seducing Cindy (not that he really has to try) and Cindy eats it up. He'll take her out to fancy dinners, late-night drives in expensive cars, concerts at Carnegie Hall. Sometimes when they both have some time alone and aren't feeling up for anything exhausting Cindy will just style Charles' hair. She enjoys working with his curls and refuses to dye it no matter how often he asks because she likes the salt and pepper.

Liem and Ted both love baseball! Ted loved Liem's steady hands and would spend a few hours watching him work while he rigged explosives. Liem and Tamotu once built a batting cage for Ted (something that Jesse now uses) and Liem would waste an evening drinking beer and cheering on Ted from the sidelines until a baseball inevitably hit Ted in the face because he was distracted. Liem used to bring Ted to rodeos and show off to him in the ring.

39: Who initiated the relationship? Who kissed who first?  When did they realize they were in love?

Not answering for Jesse and Mundy because spoilers.

Bruce punched a sentry to pieces during a match, didn't go through RESPAWN before it was shut off, and so Suki spent an hour repairing his knuckles and fixing a tendon he'd cut by accident. Somewhere between making the incision and her pulling on his tendon with her forceps and saying "Look at this" while she made his fingers curl, he decided she looked mighty attractive and he kissed her. They skirted around each other for a few weeks after that (which the team suffered for during matches) but eventually he went to go to see her to apologise and she pulled him into her clinic. One thing led to another and they've been together ever since. They probably realised they loved each other at some point during the Robot Crisis. Suki is rarely sent through RESPAWN as she's generally very self-sufficient and aware on the battlefield with a habit of looking out for herself. Her realisation was Bruce telling her that he needed her to follow him into the fray during a particularly bad robot assault and her agreeing to do it without a second of hesitation toward her own self-preservation. Bruce had likely known it far sooner, from the day Suki put the uber implant into his heart with his full trust in her to succeed.

Charles pursued Cindy heavily and was consistently the one to make the first move. That said, Cindy was the one who kissed Charles first, just a quick peck on the lips before he left one evening. It'd worked, and he kept coming back for more. Cindy was well aware that she loved Charles long before he acknowledged it, likely when she saw how he interacted with her four sons. Charles didn't realise how much he actually loved Cindy until they'd learnt that she was pregnant and he had to make the decision to stay or leave. He stayed, but only for eight months after Jesse was born. Leaving was the hardest decision he ever had to make.

Liem is the kind of bloke to flirt with someone as a show of friendliness, whereas Ted was definitely more reserved with affection. Despite that, Ted was the one who made the first move and kissed Liem during a quiet night they'd spent fishing alone. Love was never explicitly mentioned between either of them—Ted would've said something along the lines of "That's gay, man,"—but Liem didn't realise how much he loved Ted until the day he lost him. The fact he'd never been able to admit how much Ted meant to him still haunts him. The only thing that haunts him more is the fact he'll never know if Ted felt the same way.

[burned-lariat]

Hey there, ChayLynn cheer captain here. Lol

I did not expect to make an earlier visit back here. But since yesterday happened. I couldn't resist. Damn u GH!

The Chase and Willow convo I was expecting to happen for some time now. Some parts eye-rolling and other parts like 👍🏼, okay Willow making sense for once and I didn't mute her to go knit a sweater. Although I really came like this>|<close to doing so.

Willow finally admitting her being "married" to Chase was a means to his end. There was no "marriage". So idiot Chase can stop holding on to what never was. One line summed up everything that took a whole lifetime for GH to clear up. Now let's not hear of that epic fail again.

Willow asks about his "rock star" stint. 💀 He admits and says he will miss it. Which is code for him missing time spent w/ BLQ. He's trying to do the smart thing instead of what his heart is telling to do. BLQ is the common denominator for all of this happening in the first place.

Chase knows he's in denial and can't get BLQ out of his system. Willow pushing the narrative was not my first choice, but okay. Comparing their messy breakup to ChayLynn's 🙄.

There is sooo much to weed through w/ ChayLynn. The writers overcomplicating this whole thing knowing that I still don't like Willow. Never! 🙃 Fight me writers.

Chase is more connected to Brook Lynn than he really cares to admit. He's fallen for someone who he never expected to fall for. It was supposed to be Willow. Here we go, letting go of the past so he can embrace his potential future w/ BLQ. However that turns out.

ChayLynn: The First Song Was The Deepest

One scene and I was a goner. 🥰 Chase sees BLQ at the keyboard. He asks if she's working on a new song. Something in there about regret slips out. She's self conscious about her songwriting, Chase sees that old BLQ again. Calling back to a year ago when he caught up to her at the house after he thought she was avoiding him after the Bailey situation. He brought a box with him, which he took out her songbook. The very book she thought about throwing away because she could no longer sing her music. Chase admits to her that he loves her songs. He would know cause he sings them. He admits he misses her and misses talking with her and he misses us. Thinking it and saying it are two different things. When Chase said that I could feel a weight being lifted. One small leap forward, right? Despite his hurt, he's very much in love with her. GAAAH! Come on BLQ, don't screw up this moment girly!!! He's right there.

This will be a two steps forward one step back convo. Despite what swoon worthy stuff will be said, BLQ has yet to tell Chase about the contract she signed to get her music back. Oooh boy!

Later...

For as much as Willow sucks and should die, she did do something decent in pushing Chase back towards Brook, and finally owned how crap she behaved when "married" to him. Ofc I wish for Chase to not be Millow's friends, but alas...