#submitted may 6

[anonpolls]

Note from Anon:

“Please say your opinion in the tags! I’m asking cuz I have two oc ships and I’m afraid that the age differences might be a problem, the first is a 28 year old x a 31 year old the other is a 41 year old x a 46 year old.”

-submit your poll!-

[incognitopolls]

You see a post that you want to reblog, but OP added a banner to the post that says "read my carrd before interacting." Their carrd contains multiple pages of information including a lengthy "DNI" list.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[xieyaohuan]

The Gloves are Off - The Symbolism behind Homelander's Gloveless Moments in Seasons 1 through 3 of The Boys

Submitted by Xieyaohuan to the International Journal of Homelander Studies for collective peer review. Please point out any errors or oversights that you spot. All comments, disagrements and additions are welcome.

Abstract: Homelander is the main antagonist in the series The Boys (2019 - ). He is known for wearing a super hero costume that usually includes a pair of red gloves. In this paper, the authors discuss the patterns of when Homelander takes off his gloves in seasons 1-3, and analyze the themes and symbolism associated with his gloveless moments. We argue that the absence of gloves is not random but follows certain patterns that are used to convey important points about Homelander's psychology, and his most fundamental desires. There are some inconsistencies in how the gloves are used across seasons, but overall, the act of not wearing gloves is connected by common themes that run through the entire show. They are linked to Homelander's search for "home", "family", "intimacy", "belonging", and "love", and they hint towards the existence of a fledgling private persona that is separate from the much more dominant and established public superhero persona that Homelander projects to the outside world.

Keywords: character analysis, Homelander, clothing, symbolism

The Hypothesis

The character of Homelander is know for never apparing in civilian clothing and instead always* wearing his superhero uniform, which consists of a blue top, a separate pair of blue pants, a gold belt, a flag cape attached to the suit top with a pair of gold eagles, a pair of red boots, and a pair of red gloves. *Adult Homelander wears his suit during all scenes with only one exception at the beginning of episode 3 of season 3 (S3E3), when he is fully naked.

Apart from this one scene, only two parts of his uniform occasionally come off: his pants and his gloves. The pattern for when he (partially) removes his pants is easily recognizable: he takes them off in three scenes, all while having sex (S1E8, partial; S2E5, fully; S2E6, partial). The removal of the pants therefore principally serves a practical purpose and carries no greater symbolism, except when analyzed in conjunction with the pieces of clothing he does not remove during sex, a topic which will be touched upon briefly below but which mostly exceeds the scope of this paper.

By contrast, the patterns of when Homelander takes off or appears on screen without his gloves are more subtle and deserve to be explored in more detail. The authors posit that the status of the gloves is not random but carries symbolism that contributes to establishing who Homelander is as a character, what his values and desires are, as well as, potentially, giving some clues to his mental state.

Methodology and Disclosure of Author Bias

In order to test this hypothesis and determine the patterns during which types of scenes the gloves either are or come off, the authors rewatched all three seasons of The Boys. For each scene in which Homelander appeared, the glove status was noted in an Excel sheet along with brief additional details about the scene as well as information on whether the gloves where visible on screen (see Table 1). We used three main status options for the gloves: on, off, or not visible (note that in most scenes where the gloves are not visible, such as on television, they were presumed on based on context). For season 1, the status of the flap of his suit top (up or down) was also tracked. This was not tracked for seasons 2 and 3, as we had previously determined that the flap is consistently up in the latter two seasons.

Table 1: Screenshot of the Excel tracker, excerpt from S2, E1-2

In our research we mixed both inductive and deductive approaches. While our starting hypothesis was that the status of the gloves carries some form of symbolic value, our initial approach was inductive with regard to the exact symbolism and themes conveyed by the presence or absence of gloves. During the research process, we refined our initial working hypothesis to include more specific hypotheses about what the gloves symbolize. Preliminary findings indicated that the absence of the gloves appeared to be related to values and sentiments such as "home", "family", "intimacy", "belonging", and "love". All of these carry some relevance for the phenomenon known in fandom as "shipping", defined by the Urban Dictionary as "the act of [...] wanting/supporting two individuals involved in a romantic relationship."

GIF 1: A visual representation of how the authors feel about Homewell and Butchlander

In order to avoid the authors' own shipping bias, care was taken to record the status of the gloves as accurately as possible and to remain aware of our own bias during the analysis stage. For each interpretation, alternative interpretations and counter points were taken into consideration. In addition, we disclose our biases here (see GIF 1) so that the reader may take them into consideration when reading this paper and evaluating its conclusions.

Pattern description

There are considerably fewer instances where Homelander does not wear his gloves compared to when he does have them on, namely in 4 out of *ca. 40 total instances where Homelander appears in Season 1; 9 out of *ca. 65 total appearances in Season 2, and 4 (5 when counting the scene where he is fully naked) out of *ca. 55 in Season 3 (see Table 2 for an overview and brief descriptions of all gloveless moments). This means that Homelander only appears without his gloves in 10% or less of his scenes.

*Only approximate numbers are given for his total number of appearances per season because some scenes where he shows up only briefly, such as when flying by or overhead, were not counted. For other scenes, there could be legitimate disagreement on whether to count them as one or multiple scenes. The main point that Homelander wears his gloves in 90% or more of his scenes applies regardless of the margin for error.

Table 2: All scenes where Homelander's gloves are off

There is a limited number of characters around whom Homelander appears with his gloves off. These are, in order and by season:

Season 1: Madelyn (twice), The Deep†, Madelyn's baby*, Starlight* (In all scenes in Season 1 where Homelander does not wear his gloves, he also has his flap down at the same time)

Season 2: [Madelyn†], Ashley*, Blindspot*†, Ryan (3 times), Becca (twice), Maeve†, Starlight†, Stormfront

Season 3: [Stormfront†], Ashley* (twice), The Deep†, Cassandra*, Starlight†, Victoria Neuman*, VNN host*

[ ] Characters in brackets are not on screen physically, but things or places reminding Homelander of them are.

*For characters marked with an asterisque, the authors believe that they could (or should) be discounted from the character pattern analysis in one or more scenes of that respective season.

†Characters (or an object or setting reminding Homelander of them) marked with a cross are the ones where he makes physical contact with his bare hands.

There are also several instances where Homelander is by himself when the gloves are off: two in Season 2 (one when he drinks Madelyn's breast milk in her office and another where he goes through Becca's things while she is gone), and two in Season 3 (one when he mourns Stormfront and one when he is in his penthouse taking phone calls). In addition, there is one instance in Season 1 when Starlight runs into him staring at Madelyn through the wall that should be counted as Homelander being by himself, as he clearly did not anticipate Starlight seeing him like this. If the scene where Homelander is fully naked is to be counted as a "gloveless" scene, the same logic should apply, as he was expecting to be alone.

Similarly to how Homelander only takes his gloves off around a limited number of characters, there are only a limited number of places where Homelander is gloveless. These are:

Madelyn's office: twice in Season 1 with Madelyn present (three times if staring into her office through the wall watching her counts), and once in Season 2 alone (before Ashley barges in on him)

Meeting room of the Seven on the 99th floor: once in Season 1 (with the Deep), and once in Season 2 (with Maeve)

The hallway of the 99th floor: once in Season 1 (watching Madelyn)

Becca's place: four times in Season 2 (three times with Ryan or Ryan and Becca present; once while alone)

His penthouse: four times in Season 3 (twice alone, once with company, and once while fully naked, which arguably does not count and/or should be analyzed separately)

VNN studio: once in Season 3

Last, there are a limited number of activities Homelander typically engages in without his gloves on (note that what is relevant here are his original intentions, not what actually ended up happening due to the actions of another character):

Private time with Madelyn, trying to impress her and prove his competence

Private time with "family" (Ryan and Becca), doing classic "family things" such as having breakfast together, playing baseball, or saying goodnight - all things he would only know from having studied them in theory in the lab

Attempting to bond with former and/or prospective love interests (Maeve, Starlight)

Spying on Madelyn through the walls

Rummaging through Becca's home while she is away

Trying to be close to a dead love interest by spending time in a setting that contains memories of them (Madelyn, Stormfront)

Spending time by himself in his penthouse

Threatening and/or disciplining junior members of his surrogate family team (Deep, Starlight)

Threatening to kill or killing/injuring supes (Starlight, Blindspot)

Drinking milk

There is only one scene to the best of our recollection where he drinks milk with his gloves on, and that is when he milks the cow in S3. GIF from S2E3

These activities roughly fall into the following categories: seeking out love and family, enjoying the benefits of "family", stalking his love interest and his "family", spending time alone, and performing his private family duties as the "family patriarch" of the Seven (as he would see it).

Of at least equal importance is the fact that there are some activities he never does without his gloves on throughout all three seasons:

Public appearances (with one exception)

Performing official duties as The Homelander

Flying (he does use some of his other super powers without gloves, such as warming Madelyn's breast milk with his laser eyes and using his x-ray vision to stalk her, but when he flies, the gloves are always on)

Killing non-supes (he lasers most of them, but when he does use his hands, he always wears gloves; by contrast, he has killed and threatened to kill supes with his bare hands in his capacity as the family patriarch of the Seven)

Touching non-supes, with the exception of Becca, whose waist he touches briefly without gloves in S2E7, but in a possessive way that is meant to assert dominance

Sex (with one possible exception when he masturbates on top of the Chrysler Building, as only one glove is clearly visible in the scene, so the other could theoretically be off though, let's face it, it's probably on)

So the activities he only does while wearing gloves are mainly those that are connected to The Homelander in his official professional capacity, anything to do with getting too close to or touching non-supes, and sex (with both supes and non-supes).

Pattern Analysis and Interpretation by Season

As noted above, by sheer number of scenes, Homelander wearing his gloves is the norm, while Homelander taking them off is a somewhat unusual occurance. Therefore, it makes sense to look at especially at the scenes where the gloves are off or come off and see what, if anything, ties them together. In some cases, multiple interpretations are possible, but some themes are fairly consistent across individual instances and seasons.

Season 1

The character arc for Homelander in Season 1 is a dark coming of age story, where he changes from a character who, although clearly an antagonist, is relatively well-adjusted and content with his situation to one who is growing increasingly restless and discontent with his role as a public mascot of Vought prized only for his looks and public speaking skills ("smile, look pretty, say my lines"). He wants to be recognized for his intellectual contributions to Vought instead, especially by his boss Madelyn Stillwell, who is also his oedipal love interest/obsession. (Incidentally, all of this character development should have happened much earlier during his twenty years at Vought, but that is the topic of a different essay.)

From the character arc perspective, it is notable that in season 1, Homelander only takes his gloves off (and has his flap down) in episodes 2 and 3 (his early "rebellious teenager" phase), not later during the season. So to an extent, this "informal" look is temporally associated with the earlier stages of his character arc when he is still a more "innocent" and "playful" version of himself - someone who has done bad things but who has not yet, for example, abandoned a plane full of passengers to die (arguably one of the most important scenes to define Homelander as a character for the viewership). It is possible that it was intentional to let the more informal look, especially the more playful "flap down", disappear as the character grows even darker and more determined to prove himself and put his mark on the company's direction in the worst possible ways.

Independently of the temporal dimension and the character arc, other patterns and themes associated with gloveless appearances emerge in S1 that are more significant and that recur in S2 and S3, namely privacy and intimacy as well as his desire for a home, love, and family. Homelander only dresses "informally" in the (relative) privacy of the 99th floor (or, in S2, in Becca's home). By contrast, whenever he is outside Vought Tower (doing press, on missions, on stage, etc.), participates in large meetings, chairs a Seven meeting, or acts in any other form in his formal professional capacity as The Homelander, he is dressed fully with his gloves on (with one notable exception in S3, discussed below).

His informal look ("gloves off, flap down") is spatially and thematically tied to Madelyn as his mother/love interest and her office as a location where he can play around a bit with who he wants to be when he is not in public, all while trying to get her attention and proving himself to her. Out of the four instances in S1 where he has his gloves off, two take place directly in her office. The first is when, to her great annoyance, he barges in on her while she is just finishing up pumping breast milk (see GIF 2) and she ends up confronting him about the mayor's plane.

GIF 2: Nope, we do not knock before we enter someone's office around here (S1E2)

The second is in the presence of her baby when he first complains to her in her office about the talking points she gave him for Believe Expo (not to be confused with the scene where he tracks her down while she takes Teddy to the pediatrician - in that latter scene, he is outside Vought Tower and wears his gloves).

The third instance takes place when Homelander stands in front of Madelyn's office, watching her through the wall pumping breast milk (see Video 1). While Starlight surprises him, he clearly had no intention to be seen by her like this. As a person, she is therefore irrelevant to his glove status in this particular scene (unlike later gloveless scenes where she is present in S2 and S3); it is the location and the person he is spying on (Madelyn) that are relevant to the absence of gloves.

Video 1: Good thing he's not creepy, or this scene would be reeeaally creepy, S1E2

Notably, the next time he stalks Madelyn in S1E5 and she calls him into her office and lets him suck on her fingers (see GIF 3), he is in full costume, flap up and gloves on, either because he realized the hallway on 99 is not as private as he had previously assumed, having been surprised by Starlight once, or because the season progression required a more formal look and Homelander felt he could no longer allow himself to be vulnerable by showing up in anything but his full attire even on the 99th floor.

GIF 3: Yup, the gloves stay on during the act (S1E5); nope, they don't come off in S1E8 either

The only other instance where Homelander has his gloves off in S1 is when he confronts the Deep about going to Madelyn about the mayor's plane in episode 2 instead of to him. This scene takes place shortly after Madelyn confronts him in her office, where he wears the same informal look. Arguably, he simply went directly from her office to the meeting room of the Seven in his informal attire. However, unlike in the other three scenes, the gloves are visible in this scene, lying in front of Homelander on the table. So if he had wanted to appear in his full professional capacity and outfit, he could have put them back on fairly quickly.

We therefore argue that the themes of family and intimacy apply in this scene as well, but with Homelander not as the recipient of love and affection but in the role of "family patriarch" disciplining his children to ensure their loyalty to him. First, Homelander does refer to the Seven as "his family" multiple times. Allowing himself a certain intimacy and familiarity around members of his team, especially while in a 1:1 setting on 99, would be in line with other gloveless scenes. More importantly, in this scene, Homelander performs what he sees as a necessary duty as the head of the family. This is to ensure their loyalty to him, which by extension, in his mind, guarantees that the family the team runs well.

There are other scenes where Homelander takes his gloves off around junior members of the Seven to show them some tough love and bring them in line during later seasons, including another scene where he bullies the Deep (or, as he would see it, where he demands a token of complete submission to the head of the family before letting him back on to the team). So while this scene could also be interpreted differently, the "family patriarch" interpretation makes most sense based on both how Homelander views himself vis-à-vis the Seven and on parallels with coparable scenes in S2 and S3.

Season 2

Season 2, for the most part, fairly unequivocally ties the glovelesss moments to Homelander's search for family and love. The presence and absence of his gloves are largely disconnected from his character arc and are instead primarily tied to places, memories, and people he associates with having his own family.

In episode 1, the connection to Madelyn's office and her memories is picked up again when he enters her office, which is under renovation. When he enters and first starts rummaging through her stuff, looking at old photos of them together, the gloves are still on. He then takes them off off-screen before the camera cuts to him opening her fridge and taking out the last bottle of her breast milk, warming it up and drinking it. It's the last intimate memory of a person he regrets killing, and taking the gloves off is a way to get close to a person he wanted both as mother and as lover one last time.

GIF 4: Don't look at the tongue, look at the hands! S2E1

Ashley then surprises him, and he keeps the gloves off in her presence, as well as when they go to see Blindspot together. As these scenes are consecutive, Ashley (and Blindspot) do not seem particularly relevant as characters around whom Homelander takes off his gloves, beyond the observation that he does not feel the need to put them back on and assume his full professional persona in their presence. The other point of potential note is that he hits (and ends up killing) Blindspot with his bare hands, an "honor" that seems to be reserved for supes. (However, while HL does not kill "normies" with his gloves off, there is variation with regard to supes; for example, he wears his gloves while killing Noir.)

While dead Madelyn's memories in her barely recognizable office are deserving of a gloves off moment, the alternate reality he creates in the cabin with Doppelganger does not. It's a set up he ultimately knows to be fake and that fuels his self-loathing for even needing such a set-up in the first place, as he indicates when he kills Doppelganger after he has transformed into a Homelander lookalike. Although the cabin is a private place that he experiments with, and where he also takes Ryan later, it is not a home, and Doppelganger is certainly not family.

Instead, for most of S2, Homelander takes his gloves off when he is at Becca's place, that is at his new "home" with his involuntarily little 1950s family he so desparately wants to make a reality. He plays baseball with Ryan without his gloves. His gloves are also off when Becca is gone and he is rummaging through the home, drinking milk from the fridge, smelling her clothes and doing other creepy stuff to create intimate impressions of her place. His gloves are off when he has breakfast with Becca and Ryan (though he does put them back on before he goes outside and pushes Ryan off the roof). And his gloves are off when he tells Ryan goodnight. In sum, he takes his gloves off during all the little family rituals he has known in theory for so long but has never experienced himself minus the creepy stalking.

GIF 5: Let's not think about the fact that the gloves lying on the breakfast table touching the fruit have probably been in a lot of people's guts. S2E3

Notably, just like in S1, the kind of intimacy and love associated with absent gloves is completely unconnected to sex (make of that what you will; it definitely breaks the authors' hearts to know it may just be something the Meow Meow does because he thinks it might win people over so that maybe he can get some real love and affection down the line). Homelander wears his gloves during all of his sex scenes with Stormfront; in fact, the only scene where he takes them off in front of her is in episode 7, when they are both visiting - yup, you've guessed it - Becca's place.

GIF 6: Perhaps it was just too visually appealing for the show runners to ensure that Homelander always wears his boots and gloves during sex? (And no, that normie is no Starlight.) S2E6

There are two more scenes in S2 where Homelander takes off his gloves. One is in episode 4 when he threatens to kill Starlight in the elevator (see Video 2). Someone somewhere said that Homelander having his gloves off during that scene is the universal sign for meaning business. It's quite possible that that's all there is to the symbolism in this scene. However, there is a certain parallel to what Homelander does to the Deep in S1 (and what he does to him again in S3). He is acting in his capacity as the family patriarch, demanding absolute loyalty from the supes he considers to be the most junior members of his team. In this case, Starlight has already disappointed him, and he is ready to eliminate her as part of his self-perceived duty as the head of the family. Read this way, his willingness to disembowel her with his bare hands is another twisted manifestation of "family" that fits a certain (if not conclusively established) pattern.

Video 2: We only kill our surrogate children with our bare hands around here. S2E4

The other gloveless scene is in episode 3 when he seeks out Maeve on 99 right after he got chased away by Ryan. In this scene, the association of gloves off with the search for intimacy, family and love seems to apply again. Homelander is frustrated he failed with his experimental hostage family and is looking for some kind of connection at a similar level. The obvious choice is his previous love, Maeve, who will belong to him forever in his head. Yup, that's the scene where that little gloveless awkward wave is from (see GIF 7).

GIF 7: GIF quality like it's 2023 and we're on mobile! S2E3

When she pretends to reciprocate his feelings, he is genuinely overwhelmed for a moment and grabs her hand (see GIF 8). Of course, he doesn't actually believe her because he's beginning to catch on to her relationship with Elena and asks her about it directly afterwards. But this is Homelander who is fully capable of rationally understanding that somebody hates him while still wanting to believe so desparately that somebody loves him that he can hold two completely contradictory thoughts in his head at the same time. And that makes this a short but genuine gloves off moment.

GIF 8: No snarky comment, this makes us emotional af. S2E3

GIF 9: No seriously, just look at that face, that's five different emotions in under two seconds. S2E3

A big thank you to @deliciouskeys for pointing out that this scene strongly parallels a second scene in S3, where Homelander takes Starlight's hand in a public setting. The parallels and the significance of both the Maeve and the Starlight scene will be discussed below.

Season 3

In S3, there are fewer gloves off scenes again, and they are most frequently associated with private moments in his penthouse. This makes sense because for most of S3, he has no family or lover he can share these moments with in a "home" en par with Madelyn's office or Becca's house. The first instance where he has his gloves off is in episode 2 after Stormfront killed herself. He is lying on her bed in his penthouse touching her blood with his bare hands. The scene mirrors Homelander drinking Madelyn's breast milk in S2E1. In both scenes, he is trying to get close to the person he loved and lost for one last time without his gloves getting in the way of direct contact with the respective bodily fluid only thing that's left of them.

GIF 9: Full disclosure, we are a bit scared that one of the revelations in S4 when they run out of cheap shock value will be that HL is keeping what's left of Madelyn's and Stormfront's corpses somewhere.

With one exception, the remainder of the gloves off scenes in S3 show Homelander in a private setting in his penthouse. In one of them, he is completely naked and is surprised by Ashley. This scene was only included for completeness' sake in the strictest sense but will not be analyzed here as it makes points that clearly go beyond glove symbolism.

In another gloveless scene in episode 3, Homelander serves a meal to the Deep, his wife and Ashley in his penthouse, #justicefortimothy. On the one hand, the glove status makes sense from a purely pragmatic perspective because who wants to eat with gloves on that have been in who knows whose guts. On the other hand, this scene parallels the other two scenes where Homelander takes his gloves off to assume his role as family patriarch (towards Deep in S1 and towards Starlight in S2). Again, he is disciplining a weak inferior "child" and gives him a test of loyalty before letting him back into "the family". Like in S1, where he chokes Deep, he makes physical contact again in this scene, massaging his shoulders while forcing him to eat his friend. Yay, family?

The other gloveless scene that takes place in his penthouse is when he is by himself in episode 7, yelling at Ashley on the phone, Ryan's address in front of him, before taking Soldier Boy's call. There is nothing inherently remarkable about this scene other that it fits the S3 pattern of Homelander mainly taking his gloves off within his own home.

The one big aberration to this pattern, not just in S3 but across all seasons, where Homelander breaks his rule of not appearing in public as The Homelander without his gloves on, is in episode 6 when he appears with Starlight and Victoria Neuman on a VNN talk show (and storms off just a few questions in after feeling ambushed). In the scene, Homelander is on the show without his gloves, perhaps because he is so freaked out (this is the next Homelander scene right after the Mirrorlander scene) that he fails to uphold his official dress code for public appearances.

Whatever the reason, when he sees Starlight, he tells her he is really glad she is there before squeezing her hand, taking her aback with how genuine he sounds.

GIF 10: Brought to you snark free again. S3E6

As mentioned above, there are parallels with the scene in S2E3 where Homelander awkwardly takes Maeve's hand. First, in both scenes, Homelander has just lost someone really important to him. In S2, he was chased off by Ryan after pushing him off the roof; in S3, he just learned that Noir abandoned him after hearing of Soldier Boy. In both cases, he rationally knows that both Maeve and Starlight hate him, but he still cannot let go of the hope that perhaps they are going to be there for him after all.

Given the context, it is obvious that this moment is not for show; he actually means it. The lack of gloves serve to underline the search for human connection, love, and any kind of friendship or support. Just like with Maeve in S2 after losin Ryan, in this moment of desperation Homelander is genuinely projecting his search for real family and love onto Starlight for a very brief moment.

Summary and Some Concluding Observations

The Boys is a show written by many people. As such, just like other themes and symbolism, the use of the gloves does not line up perfectly across seasons and episodes, and some inconsistencies should be expected. Despite all this, certain patterns do emerge and are consistent enough to be of note.

The first is his public versus private persona, though drawing a clear distinction via glove wearing habits only works in one direction. With one exception, Homelander never appears in public without his gloves, but there are many scenes which for a normal person would be considered his private life in which he does wear gloves, sex being the most obvious but not the only example. This should come as no surprise. Officially, as per his own words, a private Homelander persona does not exist: he gave up on his "secret identity" "a long time ago", as he tells Starlight when she catches him ostensibly staring at his own portrait in the hallway.

This shows two things. On the one hand, it is obvious, and the many instances when he wears gloves in otherwise "private" situations confirm, that his public persona bleeds into his private persona to such an extent that most people, including himself, believe he does not even have a private persona. On the other hand, and this is perhaps the more surprising revelation, Homelander still attempts to have a private persona through his search for family. He may have given up on what he considers his "secret identity", but he has not completely abandoned the public-private distinction and the idea that there should be something intimate in his life that is not part of his public persona, namely giving and receiving love from a family. (And however skewed his understanding of love in a family context may be, it is still less screwed up than his equation of public adoration with love.)

The second pattern, relatedly, is the clear association of gloveless Homelander with these very particular ideas about family (both the benefits coming with it and the duties he has to perform), love, and "nesting". Showing himself without his gloves on is, for the most part, reserved for a certain small circle of people he considers, or desperately wants to be, his family, though Homelander himself assumes different roles and personas (ranging from someone who is searching for an equal to love him to family patriarch) depending on the context and who he is dealing with. Whatever his exact role, going gloveless is reserved for contexts where he can be fully himself because the people he is showing this part of himself either are or are supposed to be so loyal and committed to him they would not (dare to) take advantage of any vulnerability he shows them.

Several people or groups of people stand in as his family from this perspective. In season 1, it is his main love interest, Madelyn. It excludes her baby, which is not only not his, but active competition for Madelyn's love. He shows himself to her from his playful, personal side in her office mainly to gain her attention in his early stages of realizing he 1. wants to be more than a pretty face for Vought but also 2. he is losing the battle for Madelyn's heart to... a mewling accessory shitting its pants and drinking up all the milk.

In season 2, it is Ryan - and, by biological family extension, Becca - are Homelander's chosen family that he showers with what he sees as love and affection. Consequently, it is Becca's home where he is most frequently seen from his most private side without his gloves. This includes both appearances in front of others - both Ryan and Becca - but also private moments where he is alone and is trying to commit the place to his sensory memory.

In season 3, Homelander has no clear place comparable to Madelyn's office or Becca's home that is tied to his ideals of family. He resumes his role as family patriarch familiar from previous seasons, but overall, he is pretty lonely throughout the season, so his own place stands in as the place where he appears most often in informal dress without gloves (or fully in the nude once). Interestingly enough, Starlight is the only person he briefly tries to connect with on an equal level in his search for love.

Much more could be said on the topic of glove symbolism, but it is Sunday evening, and this essay is already too long, so we will leave it at this and maybe pick up some of the strands touched on here in future articles.

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

forr tartaglia ^^ when your downtimes match up with hers, whats something you like to do with alectra to wind down ?

Tartaglia: "Hey there! Great to hear from you!

Hmm.. We didn't always get a lot of opportunities to meet up 'til more recently. Now that we can, though, we'll tend to go out and get something to eat! It's a good chance to fuel up, and get to fill each other in on things that we've done since the last time we talked. Alectra tends to pick the place itself, but she's got a great eye for it - anywhere she's going to be happy going will be somewhere that does some really nice comfort food, y'know? It's all well and good showing off your status by eating out at fancy places all the time (if you think like some of the other Harbingers, anyway..), but I'm not like that at all. I'm not about to shell out all my Mora for a dish that could fit on an arrowhead, and that's made from a bunch of super-rare things you can't even taste when you eat it. And she's not either - sure, she's fancy in herself, but not in that same kind of stuck-up way, not at all! So, it's always a good time. Plus, if I'm the one to bring up the idea in the first place, she can't try and argue when I cut in to foot the bill!

Other than that, well.. I know you did ask about winding down, but sometimes we'll spar with each other as well. Alectra's.. less eager about combat compared to me, but she'll still reach out if there's some sort of technique she wants to try out, or she just needs to let out some frustration. And I'm always eager to help! Training with her is a good experience, because as fighters go, she's pretty tricky - her left-handedness means she does most things mirrored, so you have to adapt to that, and her physical strength isn't super high, so she keeps herself out of harm's way a lot. Of course, I'm never going to try and hurt her in the first place, but the whole thing can still be good practice for me and her both!

I hope that about sums it all up for you!"

[reallyneedsalife]

me: submits a change of identity form to my university, changing my prefix (Miss -> Mr) and preferred name (Deadname -> My name - which is very masculine) and informs them (again) that I am a trans man.

the administrator in the email that they looped me into:

[buckys-robot-arm]

Everything is ruined and now I’m fired for sure because I sent in the form a day late

[blairelythere]

I pay $2000 dollars a month to live in a 900 square foot box.

I delivered $120 worth of fast food to an 8 bedroom house in a gated community. In that hour, I earned less than it cost to buy myself a frozen pizza and toilet paper that night.

My account was overdrawn. I was charged $35 for being $2 short.

Didn't have the money to pay for new car tabs when they expired -> $250 dollar ticket.

Rent was submitted by the due date but processed two days after. That was an $180 late fee.

I was discriminatorily fired because my self-harm scars are "triggering to others," and I "abandoned my job" after being harassed about it. Yeah, sorry, you should've stayed in the abusive work environment, bit your lip, and merrily carried on if you didn't wanna be fired. Oh, and also, you don't qualify for unemployment now.

Don't want to have to tell a future employer your dead legal name while job hunting? $200 filing fee, $150 record request, a court hearing, and 3 months of wait time for a name change.

Just reach out to the family that abused you. Reach out to the family that abused you. Reach out to the family that abused you. Reach out to the family that abused you. Reach out to the family that abused you.

Disability payout is awaiting approval. Oh, sorry, the wait time is 6+ months for a response. Yes, we know that you're already legally disabled. Yes, you still have to wait.

Did you miss a credit card payment? Well, shucks, gonna lower that measly score now. Don't worry about how it's a qualifier for apartments, car loans, and mortgages; it certainly won't negatively ripple throughout the rest of your adult life.

I still have my things - my knickknacks and toys. For now. The fact that you haven't sold them is a sign that you simply aren't trying hard enough... did you know that? Times are tough! It's time to sell everything replaceable and irreplaceable. Things are just things, right? You must have nothing left before you truly may have help.

I can't quite capture the feeling I'm feeling.

You must have nothing left.

It's awfully expensive being queer, poor, and alive.

[hotvintagepoll]

LAST POLL OF ROUND 6

Propaganda

Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight, Casablanca, Notorious)—A lot of the time hotness in a movie is just about words and framing. "You're the most beautiful person here" [vaseline lens] well I sure hope so because that's who you cast. But when, in Casablanca, they call Ingrid Bergman the most beautiful woman in the world... they were not fucking lying. And such a dynamite actor too!! I'd only seen Casablanca up until last year, and there she's confined to love interest. But in Gaslight she was maybe one of the most incredible actors I've ever seen!!!! Goddddd shes so fucking hot and cool.

Lauren Bacall (To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Key Largo)—"Just put your lips together...and blow" excuse me ma'am i'm briefly going to turn into a kettle. She's the quintessential Femme Fatale who may betray me in the end but I'd let her it'd be worth it

This is round 6 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Ingrid Bergman:

God, she's fantastic. She's both beautiful and a compelling actor who's more than capable of putting the whole movie on her shoulders if necessary. It's worth noting that while her beauty is conventional, she was seen as refreshingly "natural" with more eyebrows and less makeup than many other leading ladies of the time. She's well known for her role in Casablanca, but in Notorious, Spellbound, (both available on archive.org ) and Gaslight (1944) she shows how immensely capable she is.

I mean...she's Ingrid Bergman. I feel like that should be enough, you know? She's physically beautiful (her eyes!) but watching her is like a transcendent experience. Her voice, her expressions... beautiful woman, beautiful actor.

I'm a gay man but even I understand her appeal. I'll watch any movie she shows up in. Gorgeous woman.

Just try and watch her movies without sighing wistfully, then get back to me!

Choosing 1-3 movies where Bergman was at her hottest was agony because, of course, she was always at her hottest. Not just because she was beautiful but because she was absolutely willing to go up against the bs women in Hollywood were constantly dealing with. When exiled from Hollywood for having an affair with Roberto Rossellini, not only did she refuse to apologize at any point, but she went on to say that Hollywood's films had grown stagnant and boring to her. Though she said she appreciated her time working there, she wanted to try new, different techniques (hence starring in Italian neorealist films, working on stage, and acting under directors like Ingmar Bergman). She was not afraid to chase after her artistic ideals and go outside the box regardless of what society had to say about it. From her first movie to her last she killed it. There's so much more to say about Bergman's career and life, but I've already written five million words so I'll stop at that.

One of the most incredible actors I've ever seen on film. Her facial expressions are so intricate and poignant that I cannot look away. I'm either ace or straight, but damn she made me question that.

SEVEN TIME OSCAR NOMINEE QUEEN. Girl also PULLED, having affairs with famously hot men Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck IN ADDITION to her three marriages...sexy

She has a very natural beauty to her, and she's from Sweden!

She left Hollywood and only became more beautiful. You could drown in her eyes. She can look innocent AND like she's seen it all. She is effortlessly elegant. She's played Joan of Arc (automatically hot) AND was in the movie that coined gaslight as a term. And where would we be without that!

She was known for being a breath of fresh air on the movie scene at the time with her windswept hair, dreamy smile and soulful eyes. I have loved her in every movie I have seen her in - she was just magnetic!

Where do I even start. There's a neighborly quality to this beautiful, talented actress that makes her hotness one of a kind and her looks impossible to forget

With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cinematic history. Known for her naturally luminous beauty, Bergman spoke five languages – Swedish, English, German, Italian and French – and acted in each.

She's hot, don't get me wrong, but I've always found her very approachable, like she could easily be a member of my friend group

Where do I even begin with Ingrid Bergman? I fell in love with her with her astounding performance in the 1956 version of Anastasia -- the best Anastasia movie in large part due to her wonderful and touching performance. She's got this amazing, fascinating intensity to her in whatever role she's in. She commits 100%, and she's got this light in whatever she's in that's stunning. She's utterly convincing no matter what she plays, from an amnesiac possible lost princess, from a nun, from a woman taking her revenge on the town that wronged her, to light romantic comedy. She's never missed in any role I've seen her in! Also she became quite the MILF.

Lauren Bacall:

"She is soooo neat. And hot. And everything. That one scene in To Have and Have Not where she says "you know how to whistle don't you? You just put your lips together and blow" altered my brain chemistry during media archaeology class and here we are."

"The VOICE, the SLINK, the EYES. Woof."

"Lauren Bacall was a major lesbian awakening for me. Every picture of her makes it look like she’s about to destroy you physically and emotionally (why is that so hot, I may need help). She had incredible long running chemistry with her husband, Humphrey Bogart, but was an absolute star in her own right. I’ll never be over my crush on her."

"She's got that confident, no-nonsense air about her. She's a boss babe who knows what she wants and gets it DONE. Staunch liberal Democrat her whole life. Campaigned for RFK. From Wikipedia: "In a 2005 interview with Larry King, Bacall described herself as "anti-Republican... A liberal. The L-word". She added that "being a liberal is the best thing on Earth you can be. You are welcoming to everyone when you're a liberal. You do not have a small mind."" Beautiful hair. Beautiful eyes. Beautiful lips. She's just beauty. LISTEN TO HER VOICE. TELL ME THAT'S NOT THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF."

[agentc0rn]

So... Pokémon has officially revealed the Top 300 quarter-finalists for the TCG illustration contest. I myself have participated, but unfortunately, did not make it. There were many awesome artworks!!

However... there has been a suspected case of an individual who entered with multiple identities (similar initials) through AI generated entries - V.K shows up in 6 entries. The weird and unnatural proportions, position, angle (look at vaporeon for instance) all give away indications of AI too.

The rules have clearly outlined multiple identities to lead to disqualification, yet the judges failed to take account into the suspicious number of similar styles appearing more than three times (surprassing the maximum number of 3 entries) with the initials.

"The rules in the contest affirmed that: submissions must be submitted by the Entrant. Any attempt, successful or otherwise, by any Entrant to obtain more than the permitted number of Submissions by using multiple and/or different identities, forms, registrations, addresses, or any other method will void all of that Entrant's Submissions and that Entrant may be disqualified at Sponsors' reasonable discretion."

This is very disappointing, Pokemon TCG. Not even just disappointing, this is very shameful and distasteful to artists who did not make it.

Edit: There also seems to be 2 more entries that are ai prompts but under a different name (pikachu sleeping with a background night landscape and another one sleeping on a tree root)

Here is a really good educational thread that explains the errors in the ai work (on Twitter)

UPDATE: on Twitter pokemon tcg actually addressed the issue, has disqualified the person with multiple identities and will be selecting more entries from other artists!!

[anonpolls]

Thanks for the question, Anon!

-submit your poll!-

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[daydreams-after-dark]

Free Use Jail Cell, Part 1

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Police Officer Skz ot8 x female reader

Premise: you're arrested and held for 24 hours by 8 police officers at the local police station / reader has her fantasy play out.

Word Count: 3k (part 1)

Chapter Summary: Officer Seo Changbin arrests you and has some one on one time with you before taking you to the station. You meet the other officers. (This chapter is Changbin focused, but a little bit happens at the end with the other officers.)

a/n: This fic will be in multiple parts because I get too impatient not to share what I’ve written so far. There will be two, possibly three installments turns out it will be more like 6 (tag list is open).

I refer to the officers as “Officer Hyunjin”, “Officer Minho” etc just to make it quick to identify the characters. 

The whole premise is planned and explained in the fic. The story is purely fantasy, but please be mindful of content warnings, as it has potentially triggering content. I want you to be safe here on my blog.

CW: planned fantasy role play, police arrest, nudity, unprotected sex in a semi public space, pain kink, roleplay pain, anal play, blow jobs, cum eating, name calling (both praising and degrading), reference to sexual acts, imprisonment, restraints (handcuffing).

🚨🚨🚨🚨

The lights of the police patrol car reflect in your rear view mirror, signaling for you to stop your car.

“Dammit.” You sigh as you pull your car over to the side of the road.

You watch in your side mirror as a police officer emerges from his patrol car, and your heart rate increases when you see the well built figure approach your window. 

“Everything okay, Officer?” You say innocently.

“I’m gonna need you step out of the vehicle, Ma'am.” He says sternly.

“But I wasn’t speeding.” You protest as he opens your car door and pulls you out.

“Ouch! You’re hurting me!” You writhe against him, but he’s too strong.

“No. But you’ve just resisted arrest, so you’re in big trouble little bunny.” He slams you front first against the side of your car and proceeds to handcuff your hands around your back.

“You’ve got the wrong woman, Dude!” You cry.

“That’s Officer Seo Changbin, to you.” He tears you away from your car abruptly and tugs you towards his police car. “In.” He throws you in the back of the car like a rag doll.

“But my car!” You wail, as he slams the door and hops into the driver’s seat.

“Shh. It’ll be impounded. Now not another word.”

“But you haven’t read me my rights! You can’t do this!”

But Officer SEO Changbin ignores you as he drives away.

After half an hour of you demanding he explain what you’ve actually been arrested for, and half an hour of being met with silence, Officer Changbin pulls off the main road and parks his car in a deserted space under a bridge.

Alarm bells go off in your head as you look around. The area is absolutely deserted. You frantically try to formulate a plan to escape. But even if you did escape, you’re fucking handcuffed.

The Officer opens the back door and slips in beside you, holding a tablet and stylus. “Y/n. Twenty five. Female. Submitted a ‘free use jail fantasy’. That is you, is it not?” He quirks an eyebrow at you. 

You stare at the man, but remain silent. Isn’t that one of your rights?

Changbin sighs. “This is your contract. I need you to understand the terms of our engagement.”

He holds the tablet in front of you so you can read exactly what you signed yourself up for. 

I, y/n, agree to being held prisoner in a police station setting, where eight men have the right to use my body how they see fit. This includes: degradation, humiliation, spanking, oral sex, vaginal penetration, anal penetration (includes use of fingers), double penetration, rough sex, use of props and restraints. 

Please read below for further details.

You scroll through the rest of the pages. Details of the acts that may take place, photos of the men and their role, special interests and skills. They are fucking handsome as hell too.

What the fuck have you signed up for? It sounded good in your head. It sounded good when you applied. But now it’s real.. You gulp and look at the Officer. 

“Sign here.” He points to the space at the bottom of page 12.

“Umm…”  you nudge your head towards your restraints.

“Oh yes of course.” Changbin releases your cuffs, opting to secure them in front of you instead. You take the stylus and sign on the dotted line.

You only live once right?

“Great. So as of now you belong to us. Well, for the next 24 hours.” He says matter of fact.

You suck on your lower lip. “So, like right now you could get me to do…things?” You say in a small voice.

“Yes, that’s right. I could instruct you to do things. Or, I could just do things to you. Free use, remember?” He takes the tablet from you and places it next to him in the seat. Your eyes fall on his thick bicep and you feel an ache between your legs. He sits back, slouching against the backseat, and his eyes drop to your bare leg.

A heavy silence fills the car. 

Changbin reaches out to squeeze your thigh, just above your knee and you hold your breath as his hand slowly slides up under your skirt.

“Show me your panties.” He whispers, lifting your skirt up. You open your legs for him. 

His plush, pink lips part slightly.  “Take them off.” He instructs.

You shimmy your panties off and wait for your next instructions. 

“Unbuckle my belt.”

The chain of the handcuffs rattling, and his heavy breaths are the only sounds as you bring your hands to his belt. “Uunzip my pants and take out my cock.”

Your heart begins to race, and your mouth becomes dry, as anticipation and fear bubble in your stomach. Your fingers shake as you unzip his fly and pull his length through the opening of his boxers. Fuck, he is so thick. Your eyes flick up to his.

“Suck it.” He says, staring at you.

You take a deep breath and bring your mouth closer to the fat tip, wondering you you’d even be able to stretch your mouth around it. You kiss the slit. Changbin hisses. “Don’t tease.” He says with a gravely tone. 

You swirl your tongue around the tip, then along the shaft, moistening it up. But Changbin is impatient, and he presses his hand on the back of your head, indicating that he’s had enough of your chaste ministrations.

You stretch your mouth around his girth and sink your head down over him. God, he’s not going to fit. You’re going to choke. 

“C’mon, deeper.” He pushes your head, coaxing you to take more of him. Your eyes immediately water, but you do your very best to suck him enthusiastically.

You feel his hand slide down your back and over your ass. You whimper when he lifts your skirt up and he spanks you on the ass. “Deeper.” He moans. 

You lift off and take a big breath before taking him back in your mouth, forcing yourself to take even more of him. His fingers finds your pussy, sliding them  through your wet folds. He gathers some of your arousal and brings the pad of his finger to your asshole. 

“Hmm… you feel like you’re gonna be so tight. The boys are going to have fun stretching out this little thing. You won’t be able to sit for a week.” He chuckles. 

You moan at the thought, excited to be used.

Changbin’s finger breaches the tight ring of muscle as he presses inside. It’s just to the first knuckle but it’s making you hungry for more.

“That’s enough for now.” He decides, withdrawing his finger and pulling your mouth off his cock. You sit up whining at the loss. “Are we going to go to the police station now?” You inquire.

Changbin scoffs. “Greedy little thing. Can’t wait for what’s in store for you.” He strokes your tear stained cheek. “We’ll go soon. But not until you ride me. Climb on.” He nods towards his cock. “I want first feel of your pussy.”

You straddle Officer Changbin, wrapping your still cuffed hands around his neck, and he holds his cock steady for you as you lower yourself down on him. “Fuck!” You squeak as you feel the tip against your entrance. “You’re so big Officer. I’m not sure I can take you.” 

You swallow, looking into his eyes. There’s lust there. You can see it. He looks like he could hurt you, but there’s a kindness in his expression too, and you wonder if the other men will be like him?

“If you can’t take my cock, how are you gonna take two at once?” He whispers. “Sit on it. I want to feel your walls wrapped around my dick.”

“What if I say no? What happens?” You challenge him.”

“‘No’s not your safe word.” He grips your hips and slowly lowers you down onto his length. “Just keep your eyes on me, sweet thing. Shhh. I know Binnie’s thick.”

You shake your head. “It’s too big.” 

“It’s gonna feel good. I promise. Let me stretch your tight little walls.” He breathes against your cheek.

You feel yourself stretching for him, slowly relaxing to accommodate his size. Inch by inch you feel him fill you. 

“You are tight aren’t you? Fuck, like a vice.” He closes his eyes and tries to steady his breath.

You push yourself down all the way and pause. 

Changbin opens his eyes again and lifts your skirt so he can see where you’re impaled on him.

“See. Look at that.” He says in awe. Your eyes follow his as you lift up slightly and lower yourself again, watching him disappear inside you. 

“Bounce on me. Show me what a good little girl you are, and I’ll put in a good word in my report.”

He digs his hands into your ass cheeks, spreading them and using his grip on them to bounce you.

“I need you to scream for me. No one’s gonna hear you, but I want you to scream your lungs out anyway.”

He grips you tighter, and as though you weigh nothing, he lifts you up and slams you down. You cry out. “Again!” He growls as he slides you up his cock, and drops you back down. “Scream.”

You cry out, screaming loudly.

“Hurts doesn’t it, bunny?” He uses his hips to fuck up into you ferociously.

“N-no…feels goo-”

“Say it hurts. Scream like it hurts.” He growls and throws  you off him and pushes your face into the car seat. He lifts your hips to meet his cock and thrusts into you forcefully. Every thrust is deep and hard. Your pussy feels stretched to its limits. 

He’s relentless, pounding into you harder and harder. The sound of your bodies colliding filling the car. The windows are steamed up, and you're certain the car is rocking wildly.

“Stop… please… too hard…it hurts…” you scream. But you don’t use your safe word. It actually feels incredible.

“Is Binnie too much, hmm? Poor little cunt struggling to fit me?” He mocks you.

You scream louder. He picks up the pace. 

“Fuck…I’m coming!!!” You let out the loudest scream your lungs can muster, as you clench your walls around Changbin’s cock.

“That’s it, so nice and loud for me.”  He helps you ride out your orgasm and then withdraws from your still quivering cunt.

“Good, compliant little bunny. Come, drink up.” He strokes your hair as he helps you turn around so you can wrap your lips around his cock again. He pumps the length a few times until you feel his hot, thick cum coat your tongue. 

“Open. Show me.” The tilts your chin as you present to him your mouth full of semen. “Swallow it up for me.”

You keep your eyes locked on him as you swallow the thick, salty substance, and then open back up to show him.

“Good girl. We need to get you into your cell.” He smirks and gets back into the front of the car.

🚨🚨🚨🚨

It’s almost dark when you get to the police station and you’re feeling incredibly nervous about what lies ahead. 

Changbin helps you get out of the vehicle, leaving your panties on the floor, and escorts you up the front steps of the building. It actually looks like a real police station too, and you wonder how on earth they managed to have access to this place.

The seven other men are waiting for you. They eagerly stand up from their desks as Changbin walks you past until you reach the cell at the far end of the room.

“In.” He grunts, removing your handcuffs and pushing you inside and slamming the door closed behind you. You quickly take in your surroundings. There’s absolutely nothing in your cell except a mattress with two folded blankets on top.

“So this is the sweet thing we have to break?” One of the men jeers. 

“This will be fun.” Another adds.

You turn back towards the men, who are all lined up on the other side of the bars. They watch you. So many eyes. On you. Some look mean. Others look kind. You recognise each of them from the photos, and you know from your research you need to watch out for the ones named Seungmin and Minho. 

“Y/n. Come meet the officers.” The Chef, Chan you believe his name is, says firmly.

You take a step forward.

“No.” He stops you. “First, strip.” 

“Oh!” You squeak. You hesitate. Are you really ready for this? But there’s something thrilling about this situation, and you know, deep down, even though you’re nervous, scared even, you don’t want to stop. Your hands tremble as they grasp the hem of your top and you pull it over your head. Leaving your top half In merely a flimsy sheer bra.

“Fuck. She’s hot.” One of them men whistle under his breath.

“The skirt too..” Chan barks.

“B-but-“ you remember you’re not wearing underwear.

“Skirt. Off. I don’t like repeating myself.” Chan snaps.

You lower your eyes as you peel your skirt down and let drop it to the floor.

“No panties. What a slut.” Minho smirks.

You can feel all eyes on your bare pussy. 

“Look at the officers before you y/n.”

You lift your head and look at the men.  

“For the next twenty four hours these men own your body. They want your cunt? You let them have it. They want to fuck your ass? It’s theirs. They want to take you two at a time? Tie you up, use restraints? You do not resist. They feel they need to punish you? You take it willingly. They want to degrade you, humiliate you?” 

Seungmin laughs at that.

“They can. If they want to treat you nice, be sweet, they’re allowed to do that too. But you don’t come without permission. They control your orgasms.”

Chan basically recites  your submission request back to you.

“Alright. Come forward to meet the officers who will be taking good care of you over the next twenty four hours.” 

You take a step forward. “On your knees.” Chan corrects you.

You drop to your knees, the floor is cold and hard, and you crawl over to where the men wait.

The one named Minho comes forward and presents his erect cock to you, sliding it through the bars. “Come say hello, kitten.” He says coldly.

You look up at him as you wrap your mouth around him, and he immediately takes hold of the back of your head to keep it still while he fucks your mouth. You hear several belts being unbuckled around you.

So this is the introductions then?

“Changbin and I will leave you to it.” Chan informs the group and he and Changbin leave you with the remaining six officers.

From what you can tell from the way Minho holds your head and watches you with intense eyes, is that the man can read your limits. He pushes in just enough to make you gag, but not quite making you choke. His rhythm is smooth and consistent, and when he cums you know he’s holding back a pretty moan. He’s definitely a dom, but one that really understands a sub.

Felix, the pretty and gentle blond, is careful with your face, he doesn’t push too far, and he lets you use your hand on him. But there’s a glimmer in his eye that tells you he doesn’t mind the kinkier side of things, or that he might like seeing you in pain.

Hyunjin. He doesn’t even have to speak and he’s got you blushing. Just the way he’s looking at you, his tongue licking his pretty lips, has you dripping down your legs. The man is beautiful, sensual, and  the way he’s working with you as you work his cock, moving with your mouth and hand, makes you believe he finds sex to be about connection. You’re not entirely sure how that will play out.

Jeongin. Seems sweet and innocent, but his entire expression changes to demonic once his tip hits your throat. You’re not sure what he has in store for you, but you know it’s not going to sweet, and you find yourself imagining all sorts of scenarios with him.

Jisung is next. Confident, demanding with his cock. Mumbles “slut” a few times, and thrusts his hips erratically. He’s unpredictable, and you splutter when he pushes far too deep for you. A flicker of fear and concern crosses his features, and you get the urge to help him stay in the character he’s trying to portray. You moan enthusiastically, and he quickly recovers, fucking you without restraint.

Seungmin is last. He’s cruel with his words, and careless with his thrusts. He’s energy is cold, and you know that if you need to be punished, he’s the guy to give it to you. That is until he comes back with an oversized shirt and a tray of food, and asks you if you have any questions about the agreement.

🚨🚨🚨🚨

You sit alone in your cell and eat your dinner, wondering what the night will hold. You don’t have to wait long though, because Chan is walking towards your cell. 

“Y/n. It’s time for your interrogation with Detective Minho and Officer Seungmin.”

Fuck.

↣↣ up next, interrogation time with 2min here

↳ tag list : open

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[objectheadzine]

The theme of the eleventh Object Head Zine is “MAGIC AND FANTASY”.

(Illustration by TheHoleyness, concept/sketch by Potentialforart) Embrace the swirling magic inside as you summon power from the depths, awaken the sleeping strength to battle strong foes, and venture forth to adventure - this year's zine wants you to pull forth your imagination and seize fantasies beyond your wildest dreams! Feel free to pick whatever genre you'd like; there's plenty to choose from!

This book will feature 35 people I’ve selected, plus 35 open slots available to the public for a total of 70 participants! This year’s zine is a PAID OPPORTUNITY of $115 USD per page (an increase from previous years!). Participants will be paid as soon as they complete their piece  (give or take a week for PayPal to transfer funds). There will be a pre-order sale to cover the costs of printing and shipping.

The 35 pre-selected participants are:

Potentialforart | Corviday | Kimberly Wang | Louise Kay Uy | Cosmicloak | jeong | theHoleyness | Nighto | Blacklimes | Autumn Haynes | Jenny Park | Shibara | Juliette GMM López | Lemonjuiceday | Cacoethic + Lenalis | Vetiverfox | Caitlin Ono | Inktrashing | Jackarais | Pastachyan | nauma | april | siins | Kosse | PigDemonArt | CHRISQI | R-GIE | BunnyangelArt | K_Duffles | 1000 Dead Draculas | Rainboopz | Krispy | Feefal

The guidelines are as follows:

Illustration-quality works in either digital or traditional mediums. Both colour and b/w acceptable; background required. *BG can be as simple as a pattern or colour block!

6”x9”, 300 DPI illustrations with a 1/8th inch bleed (FINAL DIMENSIONS SHOULD BE 6.25” x 9.25”) Works must be in CMYK, and in a vertical format only.

At least one (1) work in progress picture should be sent in with your final illustration.

For consistency’s sake, keep faces to a minimum (You can have eye(s) or you can have mouth(s) but don’t have both in a humanoid arrangement.)

Original characters only (yours or your friends’).

You can include humans or other creatures, as long as there’s a 1:1   object head to non-object head/human ratio.

This book is for all ages. PG-13 content at the most! Cartoon violence and blood are acceptable, but realistic gore is NOT. Use your common sense. If you’re unsure, run the idea by me.

Completed illustrations must be sent as a flattened psd or tiff file

TO APPLY, FILL OUT THE GOOGLE FORM HERE

There  are only 12 slots for comics available due to page count space so if you apply for a comic space, and you are selected, you may not be picked for comics but instead illustration!

If you have any questions about the zine, feel free to send an email to objectheadzine(@)hotmail(.)com. I’ll do my best to reply promptly. If you haven’t received a response from me, please feel free to send it again. There are a few essential questions answered over at the FAQ. There is also a Twitter account for the zine for frequent updates and WIPs of the book!

Applications are due June 2nd, 2024, 11:59 PM, PST.

Edit: The google form was not letting people submit applications, I've remade the form - let's hope it works now!

[swimonzine]

Swim On 10: Blue Planet Applications are OPEN!

APPLY HERE! Swim On is a yearly charity zine dedicated to shark preservation. All proceeds the zine makes go directly to finfree.org and this will be the final zine! After ten volumes I decided this was a good number to stop on so I want to it to go out with a BANG! The zine will go up on https://topazcomics.com/swimon for $1+ (pay what you can) All Swim On zines can be found at https://topazcomics.com/swimon/downloads All artists at any skill level are welcome to apply! Everyone who applies will receive an email, so be sure to whitelist swimon@topazcomics.com Any information in this application can be found at topazcomics.com/swimon Submission Guidelines

Your piece must be 6”x9” (1800x2700px) at 300dpi JPG or PNG in RGB

There is no theme the zine, just sharks!

A shark must be the focus of the piece (humans & other animals are allowed to be present)

You must submit a full completed piece, no rough sketches, or blank white backgrounds will be accepted

Comics, traditional and digital artwork are all accepted

You are welcome to submit more than one piece

Only new pieces will be accepted, please do not submit a piece that you have made previously

Lesser known species are encouraged!

For species examples check out this site

No anthropomorphic, half-human, or prehistoric sharks

Absolutely no AI art will be permitted

No nsfw content (including gore, death, blood – this is a G-rated zine)

Applying You will need to provide 1 url to showcase your work. This can be a tumblr, twitter, instagram, google drive, etc. Please:

Make sure your work is easily accessible and easy to find on your website of choice

Showcase that you can finish a full illustration or comic page

You can change your credit name or url after the rough pdf is sent out

You will receive a copy of the application after you apply, if you did not receive it please email swimon@topazcomics.com

This zine’s communication is through email only, there will not be a discord

Schedule May 10 – Call for artists opens May 24 – Call for artists closes May 31 – Artists Announced July 12 – Submissions are DUE July 26 – Rough PDF is sent to artists/adjustments made August 2 – Zine goes live September 2 – Artists can post their full pieces publicly September 30 – All proceeds donated to finfree.org If you have any questions about the zine check out the FAQ, shoot me an ask, reply to this post or you can contact me at: swimon@topazcomics.com

[incorrectbatfam]

What are the rules in the house? Wrong answers

1) Pants must be worn in the presence of company.

2) If groceries are still alive and moving, e.g. lobsters, it is forbidden to shoot at them while calling them "six-legged marine [insert any expletive]."

3) No falling asleep whilst sharpening batarangs.

4) No throwing pool parties in the master bath.

5) Caffeine shall not be given to Impulse on Manor grounds.

6) A maximum of 4 people may swing from the chandelier simultaneously.

7) No holding yourself for ransom.

8) Street signs must be returned within 24 hours of taking unless otherwise specified.

9) Activated smoke pellets may not be sent in the mail.

10) No overnight guests in the graveyard without prior approval.

11) No gender reveal parties. Gender unreveal parties are acceptable so long as they do not incite a natural disaster or result in more than 2 injuries.

12) Shoes are not a substitute for a litter box.

13) If a dispute cannot be solved through civil conversation or sparring, it shall be turned over to the Wayne Family Court for a trial by jury (see article 3 section 3 of the Wayne Family Constitution for more details).

14) Spaceship valets must be scheduled 8 hours in advance. For information on parking validation, please contact Alfred.

15) Events will be updated daily in the Wayne Family Newsletter. To submit an article, email redrobin@oracle.edu.

[mcytblraufest]

MCYTBLR AU Fest: General Rules and FAQ

TIMELINE: 

May 4: Discord opens at 0:00, Artist creation starts. May 30-31: Artists with a finished piece of Art can sign up, submitting their work for claims. May 31: Artist creation period ends at midnight. June 2-4: Writers can claim art and be assigned to Teams. June 6-7: Writers who wish to be assigned a Beta Reader can sign up (this is optional) June 9-10: Beta Writers can claim writers/art and be assigned to Teams June 29-30: Check-in #1 July 26: Writer creation period ends at midnight. Unless you have an extension, you must be fully ready to post at this point. July 27: Posting period begins at 0:00 August 2: Extension period ends. Unless you are a pinch hitter, you must be fully ready to post at this point. August 9: Posting Period ends. All work must be completely posted by midnight.

ABOUT:

MCYTBLR AU Fest is a mini reverse-big-bang event where artists and writers work together in teams to make stories and art inspired by MCYT and set in an Alternate Universe.

EXPECTATION: 

Artists must make a completed Art piece. Writers must deliver a story of at least 5k words, inspired by the art they signed up for. Dark or triggering topics or themes must be tagged for.

RULES:

You must be a member of the discord, for team matching.

Because of Tumblr, Ao3 and Discord TOS, you must be 13 to participate.

Respect your fellow participants, even when you disagree on fandom matters

You agree to work together with your teammate(s) to make a piece of art and a fic together, and link to each other's works.

All works must be MCYT-centric and set in an AU— no canon-compliance. 

No AI-Generated content.

LINKS:

Discord: Here Ao3 Collection: Here

FAQ:

What is MCYTBLR AU Fest? MCYTBLR AU Fest is a reverse minibang-type event where writers and artists come together to create fanworks centred on MCYT and set in an alternate universe from canon.

How does it work? Artists will have a month to complete an art piece. After a month, once the art is complete, they will submit the art, with information about server, characters, relationships, and any warnings they are opting into, which will be posted anonymously for writers to view and claim, first-come-first-serve. Teams are assigned by mods, and then writers will have two months of creation time to make a pice inspired by the work (minimum 5k words).

What type of MCYT is included? We welcome creations based on any SMP, whether or not they have a canon tag on Ao3. Mianite, DSMP, QSMP, Hermitcraft, 3rd Life, Lifesteal, Witchcraft SMP— it’s all welcome. 

Can I join if my Art is a Game/Web Weave? We welcome all types of art— web weave, game, traditional art, original songs, videos, etc. While the list is not exhaustive, we have outlined some of the baseline expectations for an art piece below.

What are the requirements for art? It is difficult to define precise expectations for art pieces, especially given the broad realm of things that could count as art. We are primarily looking for art that is complete to a level that you would normally post as "finished", ready to inspire a fic piece of 5k or more, containing an audio or visual component beyond the confines of the written word, that does not take more than an hour to consume. While you will have the opportunity to include your understanding of the world in things such as if the relationships depicted are romantic or not, the art piece must stand alone without explanatory text or extra worldbuilding.

The defined requirements for different forms of art are:

Digital or Traditional art: one piece, completed to whatever you would normally post as "finished", ready to inspire a fanfic.

Web Weaves: a web weave of at least ten elements, original or properly credited.

Video/animatic: a video at least 30 seconds long.

Other Art Form: other art forms such as fan games or original songs would fall under this category. If you wanted to sign up with an Other art form, you need to contact the mod team and work out what minimum expectations would be for your art.

Is shipping allowed? Yes. Because there is no broad fandom-wide consensus about how Creator boundaries are to be enforced in specific cases (whether it's okay to write beeduo as /r or /p is an obvious one, or whether it’s permitted to ship Joel Smallishbeans) or between specific fandoms (Lifesteal approach to shipping and boundaries is different from HBG is different from DSMP), the mods will not be policing any specific understanding of boundaries across the event. The event's motivating ethos is Don't Like Don't Read, in that artists will be able to specify for themselves if a given relationship is to be interpreted as romantic or platonic, and writers will choose to opt into that, and NSFW will have to be specifically opted into on both sides.

Is NSFW allowed? Yes. NSFW works are allowed, but must be opted into, both in terms of viewing art and in terms of creating fic. No one under 18 is permitted to opt into NSFW and attempts to do so will be grounds for a ban from this event and anywhere else the mod team touches. For the comfort of the greatest number of participants, and to conform with Tumblr TOS, anything with the tags Underage or Incest will not be permitted to be part of the event. 

Are major archive warnings (noncon/graphic depictions of violence/MCD) allowed? Aside from the content rules governing NSFW (no underage or incest, for the comfort of the greatest number of participants), major archive warnings are allowed. Depictions of real life horrors such as genocide and slavery are not-uncommon motifs in MCYT fics, and the mod team is not interested in legislating which types of horrors, griefs or abuses are inherently worse than others and are therefore off-limits. Because holding writing to a quality standard or saying only survivors can write atrocities is unworkable from a moderation standpoint, the three mentioned major archive warnings (MCD, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Noncon), are permitted to be included.

However, Major Archive Warnings must be explicitly opted into by the artist, and writers are free to not include Major Archive Warnings that their artist has permitted. Delivering un-asked for major archive warnings is grounds for a ban from this event. The mod team reserves the right to warn other mod teams on both the MCYT and Multi-fandom side about your bad behaviour.

What kind of an information will I provide as an Artist? How long or detailed? Artists will be able to specify

the server their art takes place on

the characters in the work

whether the relationships in the work are romantic, platonic, or could be interpreted either way

if they are okay with NSFW work

what age group of people they are okay working with

the type of AU it is

any content warnings present in the work already (i.e. gore, eyestrain, child death)

if the work is nsfw

any major archive warnings they are okay with happening in the story

common fandom themes and/or triggering content that they are okay with happening in the story.

A DNW

What sort of fandom themes will I specify? While this will not be an exhaustive list of every possible triggering concept, the mods want artists to be able to specify if they are okay with dynamics that circulate in the fandom that may be triggering or people simply may have strong opinions on, and for writers to be able to sort by that. Some of the themes include domestic abuse, alcoholism, family dynamics, pregnancy, dubcon, torture, body horror, dehumanization, child death, non-consensual touching, drugging, etc.

What is a DNW?

Artists will have the opportunity to fill out a DNW, which stands for Do Not Want. This is anything that has the potential to ruin a fic for you, and is where you opt out of content that would trigger, squick, or just render the gift unreadable for you. DNWs must be phrased politely, (so no "No foster aus because they suck and you suck if you like them"), and they must be reasonable, (so no "no blood/injury" if the art depicted shows injury, and no attempting to box someone into a specific gift beyond what is depicted in the art, so no "dnw anything that isn't a modern au where scar is a theatre teacher and grian is a biology teacher and they live in a city named hermitopia and grian has a situationship with mumbo and scarian has a rivalry at a coffee shop for the half-price muffins and jellie has psychic powers she's manipulating the muffin market with" if that is not clear from the art), and they must be specific and clear, (so no “no triggering content"), but they can be as petty (disliking 1st person) or as broad-reaching (no modern aus, no specific ships not depicted, no crossovers with specific servers or fics) as you like. Deliberately breaking someone's DNW is grounds for a ban from the exchange. 

Is Dark/Violent content allowed? As long as it is something that the artist has not opted out of, yes. For many of us, the source material that originally drew us to the fandom includes major character death, torture, murder-for-hire, death games, public executions, child death and more. The fanfiction that arose from the source material follows in that trend. We will allow dark content to be part of the event, but it must be tagged for. 

We also ask that participants use best judgement in delivering commonly triggering topics un-asked for. We reserve the right to ban people at mod's discretion for delivering unrequested triggering content, under the "do not be an asshole" rule.

Moreover, if your fic is rated E for any reason, (including violence or gore) your entire team must be 18+.

How can I get involved? You can participate in this event as a:

Author

Artist

Pinch Hitter

Beta Reader

You can even sign up for multiple roles, as long as you’re very sure you can make your deadlines!

What is a Pinch Hitter? A pinch hitter is a person who saves the day and steps in when the original creator is unable to deliver their work for whatever reason, making a new work on an accelerated timeline. You must reach the minimum word count of 5k. . 

When do I have to join the discord? You have the option to join the dicord and hang out as soon as creation starts on May 4, and if you are an artist, you must join before sign-ups close on May 31. If you are a writer, you must join the discord before claims begin on June 1st. If you are a Beta Reader, we'd ask that you join before claims begin on June 9th.

How does team assignment/claims work? We will release a document with all the art pieces linked in it, and 24 hours afterwards we will release a sign-up form. Writers will be expected to list out out a top-five of artists they want to work with, and mods will match writers with art on a first-come-first-served basis.

How does Beta Reader assignment work? Shortly after writer sign-ups end, writers who wish to sign up for Beta Readers will be able to do so. In a similar way to how writers claimed art, beta readers will be given a list of summaries and then, 24 hours later, will be able to submit a short list of fics they want to help work on. Beta readers will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

What happens if there are more artists than authors, or more authors than artists? If there are more writers, some artists will be assigned multiple writers. If there are more artists, we will put in place a question where writers can specify that they’d be willing to make multiple pieces, and a (hopefully small) number of writers would be assigned multiple teams. 

What if all the artists I list have already been assigned? If every artist you wish to opt into has already been assigned, mods will contact you and ask if you wish to be matched to people who have not yet been claimed. You will then be able to choose if you wish to claim other teams, or wait and hope that there will be more writers than artists, and multiple writers on a team will be opened up. If that happens, you can re-submit your list and be assigned as a writer to one of your original artists.

I’m in [insert time zone here]. What if I’m not awake when claims open? There will be a spot to input your time zone in the discord. Mods will try to open the claims at a time that works for as many writers as possible. The art pieces will also be available for 24 hours before claims so that everyone can view them and pick out the ones that are the most interesting to them. We will aim for claims to open between 7 a.m. and 1 a.m. for as many writers as possible across all time zones. If claims fall outside that zone for you, you’ll be able to contact a mod and we’ll work out an alternative method for claims for you. 

I don’t know what time zone I’m in? Go to timeanddate.com and enter the nearest major city, and it will tell you your current time zone.

What’s a check-in and how do they work? Check-ins are there to make sure everyone is on track to finish their piece in time, and to communicate any issues with the mods! If you know that you won’t be able to check in on a specific date (lack of internet, etc), please contact the mods in advance.

How long should my fic be? The minimum word count is 5,000 words! There is no maximum word count, but we ask you to be mindful of how much you can actually create in these two months. 

If I wrote a multi-chapter work, do I have to have it all posted by the end of Posting Period? You must post your work in its entirety by the end of the two-week posting period.

What does AU mean in this context? AU stands for Alternate Universe and in this case means anything that would make the work not able to be tagged as canon compliant. Alternate endings, role reversals, complete setting or plot swaps, and crossovers all count. As this is a fest specifically to celebrate AUs, we ask that the AU be a significant and celebrated part of the work, not something that could be skipped if you aren’t paying attention. 

Can I create two fics for my artist? Absolutely! There is no maximum for number of fics you want to create, but again, be mindful of not biting off more than you can chew two months of creation time.  Can I post just the first chapter of a longer fic/Can I use AI to help me with my piece? All fics must be complete (no missing chapters or truncated scenes) and created specifically for this event, inspired by the art claimed at the beginning of the creation period. Writers and Artists must create their work themself. Works may not be wholly or partially created by generative text or art programs (so-called "AI") such as chatGPT or OpenArt.ai. Works may not be wholly or partially duplicated from other works, and may not contain substantial repeated material included in an effort to boost word count (such as paragraphs or comics panels that are copied with minor variations).

Can I sign up with two pieces of art? You are welcome to sign up as part of the fest with multiple art pieces. However, if you do so, we will ask that you prioritize which art piece you want to be matched on first, and you will only receive a match to your secondary art piece after everyone else has an writer. We’re going to proritize every particpant getting a team before we prioritize every art piece getting a team.

Can I sign up with a multi-piece art piece? If you want to sign up with a web weave that features multiple panels, a long video, a long comic, a series of connected art pieces, a song cycle, or any other more complex/more ornate work, you are welcome to. We just ask that you make sure you can complete your art piece during the month of artist creation time, and keep in mind that if your piece is sufficiently complex, that might restrict the writers who are able to sign up for your piece. But if you think you can pull it off, then go for it.

Can I sign up with a writing buddy— as part of a collab team? You are welcome to sign up as a collaborative team, either an art team or a writing team! We ask that you make sure you work together well, and when you sign up for an team, you must declare that you’re a duo, so people know that they’ll be getting multiple team members and not one. 

Can I submit an art piece that is part of a larger AU? All art pieces must stand alone, so you can't have it that your writer has to consider other art pieces to make a work. The art must also be made specifically for the event. We ask that you not submit an art piece that was made prior to the event, or one that is part of an au you've posted about so often that it will effectively de-anon you. Brainstorming or sketching early is fine.

Once my art piece is done, when can I post it? Art and fic should be posted together, during the Posting Period at the beginning of August. Once you have your art done, you'll have to hold onto it for another two months, while your writer is working.

What if I need to drop out? It is your responsibility to communicate with us if you need to drop out of the event for any reason, and we do need that communication. We know that life is no respecter of fic and art deadlines, so no hard feelings if something happens. However, we would hate for any artist to end up having no fic for their art, so please think about this if you are thinking of dropping out close to reveals. Dropping out after the last check-in without informing the mods will result in not being permitted to take part in further events run by this mod team.

I have a question not answered here? Send us an ask on tumblr, contact @antimony-medusa on tumblr or discord!