#super dickery

[superman-the-secret-third-thing]

Oh god I really hope Clark doesn't know

(that's the movie Bruce saw the night his parents died)

World's Finest (1990) Vol. 2 Issue #2 by Dave Gibbons.

[butchdykekondraki]

i think dave is present at fazbenders physically but like. man. in his heart he is still at fredbears. i don't think he ever left henrys side in his mind. he talks about missing fredbears in his diary, and talks about how he missed henry, and brings it up in nearly every conversation. even when he's telling dee his life story he takes time out of his monologue to talk about how great fredbears was and how great henry was. i think in his heart he's still that scared, alone young man that henry took under his wing and "really cared about". i think a part of him died when henry was killed.

[jaggedwolf]

sorry wait I just remembered the other thing that broke my suspension of disbelief: Jamie visiting his childhood home, because footballers half as close to their mums as Jamie Tartt buy said mums really nice houses

my biggest problem with ted lasso s3 is that it flinches too early, too often.

to me, that's a cardinal sin. I can forgive a lot when I'm fond of characters - imperfect pacing, lackluster plot, unanswered questions - as long as I believe there's something real there, that there's a willingness to bite into the meat of the story before setting the plates for dessert.

you can't flinch from your own story.

what do I mean by flinching?

let's take nate. s2 takes him on a believable arc. he went from a (bullied) kitman to a coaching position, a job beyond his wildest imagination, but on the inside, he stays insecure. actually, he gets even more insecure. because the thing about nate in s2, right, is that he's oversensitive to the slightest hints of disapproval - like his father's apathy - in a way that makes him desperate for constant approval. and yet even when he gets that approval, it doesn't satisfy him, not completely.

he needs more, wants more, there's an gulf inside that cannot be filled by success. it makes him swing wildly back and forth between "i'm garbage, i'm a piece of shit" and "i'm the best, why the hell does no one appreciate what a genius i am?", makes him externalize his dissatisfaction with himself into cruelty towards will and colin and ted, makes him kiss keeley and then be offended that roy wasn't angry with him.

s3 seems to posit that what nate needed was success and validation. that he could fix that bottomless gulf by being a good coach, and getting a girlfriend, and having his dad tell him that he's smart. and all of that would make him realize he doesn't want to be like cheating rupert and then he's no longer dickhead s2 nate.

except. except none of that makes any sense.

the end of s2 sets us up with nate as west ham's head coach. we've watched multiple seasons of a show that's told us how much power the head coach has in setting the tone for a team, and were given an indication of the type of culture george cartrick encouraged before he was fired.

that season's finale makes you want to ask, geez, how cruel is nate this high on his own supply going to be? and then....s3 basically does not care. s3e1 gives us a token depiction of nate being a dick to his players and his coworkers, and then we never see that behavior from him again.

and I think I could have ultimately been okay with that, even if nate falling into worse behavior before climbing out of the pit would've been more satisfying to me. they could have had me buy that nate as head coach is so high up enough and so distracted by rupert and guilt that he has less outbursts than s2 nate.

but only if s3 didn't have such a warped idea of what it meant to show an improvement in nate. remember: a fundamental part of nate's shit is that for him, his timidity and self-centeredness are two sides of the same dang coin, a hyperobsession of how he's perceived.

you know that whole quote about how if you want to see how a person's like, look at how they treat their inferiors, not their superiors? let me give you a nate shelley version: if you want to tell me he's a much better guy than the one we saw in s2, you have to show me he reacts reasonably to rejection, not just acceptance and praise.

nate in s3 gets what he wants so consistently - he chooses to leave west ham instead of getting sacked, he gets the frickin players asking after him at the restaurant, he gets his dad calling him a genius (??) - that I have no idea if he has improved in that regard. I really don't know. (I also have no idea if he's any less weird about women, between that keeley kiss and defaulting to calling rebecca a shrew)

for contrasting examples in the same show, look at rebecca and jamie, who each made some pretty asshole moves without the show flinching away from it. rebecca's forced to directly confront how she hurt keeley with the paparazzi move, jamie has to prove himself to sam and the rest of the team - they had sympathetic reasons for their assholishness, but that didn't give them a pass.

and I understand the doylist context here. the writers did not anticipate the degree of rage many viewers had towards nate's end-of-s2 actions. maybe that's what led to the flinching away from how messy nate as head coach could really have gotten.

but regardless of the why, they still flinched, and it made nate's story so much the worse for it.

ok I have another complaint about flinching as it pertains to colin's arc this season, but I'll put that under the cut

unlike with nate, I actually enjoyed most of colin's story this season. how he navigates being closeted, tying it in to his visit with dr sharon last season, the night he has with trent in amsterdam, all of that was fairly well done, I thought.

but man, the episode where he comes out to the team? tore my suspension of disbelief to shreds. not the team's overall reaction, bought that, genuinely loved ted's bonkers football fan analogy and that colin feels free enough after to play excellently. the issue is what prompted his coming out.

you see, I watch ted lasso like I watch sports anime. I am not expecting a realistic depiction of male professional athletes and definitely not male professional athletes within a locker room. I don't question all of them crying at you've got mail, or all but one engaging in a pillow fight instead of hooking up in clubs, some of them cheating on wives. that's not the type of show this is, any more than haikyuu being that type of show, for instance. that's chill.

and colin's story arc coming out could very easily co-exist with that.

yet when it's prompted by a fan shouting homophobic slurs, as happens many a time in the actual EPL, and they show the team's reaction to that, they utterly break the illusion. because, to be frank, if this is a world where that's said by fans, just as it is ours, it feels ridiculous to watch an EPL team be horrified by the word. (and to be good about not saying it themselves!)

and also that occurrence implies that isaac and sam and other players (and probably nate, come to think of it) are also getting called all kinds of slurs from the stands, something the episode avoids ever addressing.

like look, I'm not asking to hear "faggot" or "paki" or any other number of slurs on a sitcom, of all things, but it's the show who decided to make this the plot point for that episode. it stands out that when isaac overreacts to the slur because of what he knows about colin, and then he and colin talk, there is an absence of any mention of the (targeted) shit isaac likely hears, especially after taking over as captain. it would've only made the episode stronger, given their friendship, and that colin was clearly frustrated with isaac's reaction during the match after he'd spent so long being ignored and yelled by him.

or, y'know, if they were gonna flinch this hard they could have had colin come out literally any other way lol.

ok i have some other qualms about the season (now that we know rebecca's endgame re: the club i mourn for what a consistent arc towards that could've looked like, and also jamie's dad can fuck off), but those were my two big wtfs this season. where i went, "bro, you're the one who brought this up, why are you running away from it?"

[samsammysamson]

y'know how it is, babey! ask blogs are fun!

a couplea ground rules;

▸ Don't be a dick to the mod pls! In character dickery is great though. ▸ You can pick on Sam, but use common sense when doing so and don't go overboard. ▸ We ain't doin' irl politics or irl religion here! In-game versions of these topics are fair game! ▸ Being overall bigoted ain't tolerated, and it won't even be posted if they come in! ▸ Suggestive + jokey nsfw stuff is fine, mod is 18+. Just don't send anything that would potentially get the blog nuked, please! ▸ Direct blog x blog shipping requires that you are 18+. I am not comfortable writing romantically with anyone under 18. I don't need to know your exact age, but if the words "I am 18+" or "I am not a minor" aren't anywhere on your blog, or you don't tell me yourself, romantic shipping asks will be deleted. ▸ I LOVE longer in-character interactions. Rp whole threads with me, if you like! I can trim posts to keep things from getting lengthy! ▸ I'm working really hard on making super-customized icons. I hope you guys like them! But please do not take them for personal use without my permission. If you want to use them in edits, please ask me first! ▸ Please check this post if you're going through a crisis. Understand that I feel for what you're going through, but I cannot be the one to help you. So please don't send vents that explicitly detail or idealize harmful behaviors.

aaand mod time ! hiya , i'm rott , a ghoul with way too much time on his hands ! i'm 26 , he/they , and desperately love my gay little gremlins . let's fuck around and have a good time ! :) (the portraits are from bugboybehaviour's sam with a mullet mod, with hella edits by me!)

additional sprites edited by @sebastians-asks and @sheepkebby i am so blessed <3

Tags:

Music: #💿 sam's mix tape 🎵

Fanart: #☀️ fanart 🎸

Headcanons: #;; hc

The horrifying saga of 😎: #😎 anon timeline

[gaybananabread]

Hii! I hope I'm doing this right 😅

The amazing digital circus, Lee Jax! Ler ragatha!

Banana,oranges,lemons please!! :3

Absolutely fine if your not able to do it but just a request :D

(oh no I forgot something 😅😭 Can the most focused on spot be the ears please!! Super sorry!)

Fruit(s): Bananas, Oranges, Lemons

You’re all good, Anon! Jax is such an ass and I’m here for it (⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠◡⁠`⁠). I’ve been pretty sick this week, so I’m sorry if there’s any mistakes or quality issues (ミ⁠●⁠﹏⁠☉⁠ミ). Fair warning, the bunny man is quite the prick in this because I like bickering. Thank you for requesting, and I hope you Enjoy!

Lee: Jax

Ler: Ragatha

Summary: Jax is being a total brat, sassing and picking on all the other characters. Ragatha has enough, giving him a lesson on manners he won’t soon forget.

Warnings: none! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!!

The Amazing Digital Circus was…an interesting place, to say the least. If one could get over the fact that a likely-sentient AI entity ran a digital fairgrounds that nobody could ever escape from, their minds twisting and going down a deep spiral of paranoia and uncertainty until they lost their sanity, it was kinda cool. That first part was a pretty big hang-up for most, though.

Jax, however, had grown pretty used to the madness. He had his wit and sarcasm as a coping method. Why worry about your own misfortunes when you can laugh at someone else’s? The rabbit took every opportunity he could to quip, snicker and poke fun at his fellow characters. He got on everyone’s nerves. 

His antics really got to one being in particular: Ragatha. 

She felt as if she could tear his ears off some days. Jax would always bully the others, but he had been horrible that day. Pomni was still getting used to things; the poor thing didn’t need another reason to fret. His jokes were only putting everyone on edge, and that jester was already on a narrow ledge… It needed to stop.

“Wow Gangle, I didn’t know you could actually do something productive. Color me shocked.” Jax hovered over her, looking down at the ribbon being’s drawing. It was some sort of fan art, though he couldn’t name the media. It didn’t look that accurate, and he wasn’t that much of a nerd before he put the headset on… 

Before she could think to be shocked at the half-praise, he quickly put the dickery in his words. “Shame it’s too trashy to make out whatever you drew. This place is enough of an eye-sore as is.” 

The tears on Gangle’s mask rippled as she sniffed, trying not to let his mean words get to her. It didn’t really work; she’d put a lot of effort into that… She clutched the drawing to her chest as she ran away, her mouth line quivering. Jax just chuckled, not really caring that she ran off. It was just a joke. Not his fault she couldn’t take it.

Ragatha put her hands on her hips, marching over to Jax. He rolled his eyes, preparing for the lecture. “JAX! What is wrong with you?! Gangle worked really hard on that! You…you need to quit being such a jerky prick!”

The wide smirk stuck, though his eyes widened slightly. It was hardly a solid insult, though coming from such a typically passive-aggressive person, it was surprising. Didn’t know she had it in her…heh.

Jax’s snarky smirk returned, his eyes forming amused crescents. Hello, new source of entertainment… “Relax, dollface! Crybaby’s fine. Just havin’ another pity party.”

She scoffed, letting her typically suppressed temper show. “Seriously? You told her that those amazing drawings were trashy! Why are you such a bratty bully?” Her tone was as curious as it was disappointed. Eugh…

“I’m not a bully. I just say what I see; not my fault you babies can’t handle the truth.” Okay, maybe he was going a bit further than he normally did. He was bored, and the banter was actually amusing. As long as he danced on the right side of the line, he’d be fine. “Like you. I mean, I get this place knows our minds or something, but it really nailed you. Trashy scraps and frayed yarn.” 

This little…ugh! He was bringing out a side of Ragatha she didn’t know she still had. “Oh really? And what’s that make you, cotton tail? A bargain bin, carnival prize knock-off?”

Jax actually chuckled; finally, someone fun. “Nah, I’m just better. Taller, good-looking, not made of sewn together *boink*. I’d say it did me right.” He smirked, leaning in and getting to her level. “You found a nice 1830’s girl yet? They’re all about raggedy scraps.”

Oh, that was it! She glared, her upper lip curling as she reached for him. The lanky jerk leaned away just in time, taking off in the opposite direction. Okay, so it was possible to make her mad…totally worth it. 

Ragatha chased after him, going over revenge plans in her mind. She normally tried to avoid conflict, but Jax was out of control. Rabbit stew seemed delicious, even if it would only be a simulation… 

Jax tried to find literally any not-obvious spot to hide, but everything was ginormous and solid, a vengeful Ragatha on his heels. He just ran for his life. He might’ve made it, too, if he hadn’t tripped on something. “What the-” He went down, face-planting on the bouncy floor. Gloink…of course. He could’ve sworn it smirked at him, even though they had no mouths.

The doll was on him in seconds, quickly pinning him to the floor. For fabric and stuffing, she was pretty strong. Before he could think to fight back, his arms were pinned above his head, the girl straddling him and blocking his every escape. “W-woah doll! At least buy me dinner first!” That one was kinda stupid, but it was there.

The smoldering glare that comment received finally shut him up, if only for a moment. So many ideas, so little time… But she couldn’t do anything to hurt him. One, it wasn’t physically possible, and two, she was better than that. He still needed some kind of shove in the right direction… Ohohohooo, that’s perfect.

“I think you need to learn some hard lessons, Jax. Respect for your friends, and when to shut up.” The tone of her voice was surprisingly playful, even if it had a serious edge. He didn’t know whether to be scared or relieved. 

He wasn’t sure what she was up to. That is, until he felt one of her mitten-esque hands on his stomach, wiggling into the furry surface. Unable to bite his lip, giggles slipped past his defenses, greeting the smug doll. “W-whahat the *bloink* ahare you dohohoing?!” 

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m showing you what happens when you’re a snarky dork.” Ragatha smirked, keeping his hands pinned firmly above his head. “W-whehen dihid you gehehet strohohohong?!”

She tsked, trying not to take offense to that. “You need a filter, Jax. Apparently Caine’s isn’t enough. My way is a bit more…hands-on.” Ragatha went to town on his belly, digging her fabric fingers into his midsection. 

Squealing, twisting and turning, Jax tried anything to escape. He might’ve had the height advantage, but when it came to strength and endurance, he was surprisingly out-matched. Also, apparently very ticklish. Shocks across the board.

Jax kicked his feet, the pads thumping against the floor. She cooed, teasing him further. “Aww, guess you really do live up to your character, Thumper.”

The tickling wasn’t even the worst part, though it did come in a close second. It was the teases. He honestly didn’t think she had it in her, but *sproing* he was wrong. Ragatha squeezed his hip, making him jolt and squeal. “R-RAHAhagathaha!” Okay, make that a tie.

His laughter, to Ragatha, was honestly adorable. Who knew a jerk like him could be so ticklish, much less have a laugh like that. It was bright, bubbly and uncontrollable. Hearing her friends laugh, no matter how rude, was something special. She could listen to it all day, though she didn’t quite plan on going that far. 

While the silliness wasn’t hurting him, his pride was being battered to bits. No matter how much he wriggled and writhed under her, he couldn’t manage to break her hold or knock her off. Beyond that, she just had to keep exploring his spots. “Youhuhu lihittle- GYAAAHAHA! NAHAT THEHEHERE!” Like that one.

Ragatha's eyes widened as she rubbed the base of his ear, not expecting the spot to incite such a reaction. She wasn’t complaining, though. “Geez, Jax. These floppy ears are so sensitive! I have got to tell the others.” The doll switched between each ear, making sure neither felt left out. They twitched and flopped, but couldn’t avoid her skilled hand. 

Even though he was the most prideful of all the characters, her tickling was really pushing his limits; he just couldn’t take any more. Abandoning his ego for a moment, he cried out. “O-OHOHOKAHAY! IHI’M SOHAHAHARRY! P-PLEHEHEASE NO MOHOHORE!” 

She took that as her cue to quit, releasing his arms and climbing off him. The rabbit man immediately curled into himself, giggling like a toddler. She did notice, however, that he was still wiggling slightly, his closed eyes moving as if he had a twitching nose. He was clearly happy, though she bet he’d never admit it out loud.

“Y-youhuhu…youhu’re dehehead!” The threat would’ve been a lot more menacing if he didn’t look and sound like he’d had the time of his life. “Uh-huh, sure. Just try to be nicer, okay Giggles?” Ragatha pat his head, walking away and going to find Gangle. Knowing her, she would need similar treatment, though for very different reasons. 

Jax took deep and giggly breaths as he tried to calm himself. That was…wow. He didn’t even think stimulation like that was possible in the Circus. Then again, Caine did say the only thing he couldn’t control were their minds. How his mind felt right then…he’d rather not talk about it. Her plan had worked; he’d definitely be thinking about that encounter for a while. Maybe not for the intended reasons, though…

[hazardworld]

It’s season finale time!!! This is a doozy, guys. 

Content warnings: The same Jason dickery covered in Part 5, plus what Andy does to Erica in S4 is more than just mentioned. 

Stick around as I figure out where to go from here!

WB: 1.2.3

Season 1: P1.P2.P3.P4.P5.P6.P7.P8

———

Darkness.

Darkness consumed him.

Thick oozing liquid through his scales.

A voice in the distance, calling his name.

Commanding him.

Shock went through him as he split in two…

and two…

and two…

For once, he’d follow willingly.

After all, they had a common goal.

———

“I am so confused!” Max groaned, draping herself over a chair. “This is going completely nowhere!”

“I hate to say it, but Max has a point,” Eddie commented, “we’ve been consistently circling back to the same points over and over again. What is it gonna take to try and make this a path instead?"

"I hate to say it, but Steve needs to leave the kitchen," Erica sighed. "As much as I desperately want whatever he’s making right now, I also want to know what this damn book means," She gestured to Jason’s red magic book at the center of the table.

Nancy sighed, looking towards the kitchen as her face settled on her fist.

"STEVE," Dustin yelled, clearly exasperated, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN THERE,"

"Practicing Erica’s birthday cake!" Steve responded, "She’s here, and I didn’t think I was all that important since you guys were figuring stuff out on your own, so I thought I’d just check things off my list!"

"Steve, you are literally the most important person here!" Nancy called, shaking her head. "How much time do you have left on that timer?"

“…like 10 minutes? I just changed the rack,”

“Get out here, you idiot!” Erica chided, “My birthday is in like 11 days! It’s not even Bastille Day yet!”

“Oh my god Erica, enough about your fucking birthday,” Dustin groaned as he complained. Erica had been mentioning her birthday ever since school ended, and it had been pissing him off ever since.

“Dustin, we both know you’re exactly the same come November,” Will smiled, raising an eyebrow, and Dustin flipped him off.

Will wasn’t…entirely wrong.

He got excited, okay??

“Yeah Dustin, maybe I won’t invite you to my summer Barbie beach extravaganza,”

“Wait, Dustin, you actually like Barbies?” Max grinned, eyes passioned like wildfire. Immediately, Dustin felt his ears flatten and his cheeks grow bright red in embarrassment.

“It’s not lame…” Dustin muttered, frustrated, though the words only fell to Erica and Max’s ears.

Dustin thought Barbies were cool, okay? When he was little he got a lot of his parents’ old toys, which included his Ma’s old Barbies. Usually, he’d make up they were his older teenage sisters, and dress them up in late 70s fashions as if they were the 'coolest popular kids at school' and were super intimidating and made him popular by proxy. Now he had Steve for that, but he still liked keeping some of them around as experiment models, or to talk through science stuff to, or in the rare times he sewed, to prototype what he was thinking.

"I never said that," Max smiled, "I just didn’t expect it, is all. Barbies are a girl’s toy,"

"Gender is a social construct, kid," Argyle grinned, "Take me for example. I look like a guy, cause this is just how I naturally exist. Just because I look like a guy doesn’t mean I couldn’t be a girl," Argyle shifted to resemble the form of a girl, "Or even something in between," Argyle shifted in between the two, then back to his natural form.

"Here here!" Eddie cheered loudly, before awkwardly quieting when he realized it wasn’t the time.

"What are we cheering about?" Steve sauntered into the dining room, wiping his hands on a washcloth, grinning. He was wearing his baking apron, and to Dustins glee, had kept his half form the entire time. Steve had said he wouldn’t show it in public quite yet as to not jeopardize the party, but it was reliving to see him taking care of himself regardless.

"Nothing, don’t worry about it," Eddie waved it off, and the table made eye contact agreeing to just move on.

"Steve, we need you to open this book Max found," Nancy pushed the red book towards him as Steve took his seat.

"Max, is this…?" Steve looked at her in bewilderment, but she nodded.

"I think it’s Jason’s, I found it in his bedroom—OH! Eddie, I have something for you after," Eddie grinned and nodded as Steve looked over the book.

"Guys, I can’t open this," Steve pursed his lips. "If Jason was descended from Melusine I could use his direct ancestor’s magic since my lineage connects higher, but he’s from the youngest sibling. I’d need the Great Father or Great Mother’s magic to unlock it, and both of those are under lock and key in Atlantie,"

Well fuck.

Wait…

Dustin leaned over to his stack of books as the table discussed further options above him. There was that one book Will found that was extremely useful, and didn’t it go further into the idea of siren sibling magic?

Eventually, Dustin found the purple leather-bound book in the stack, and flipped around until he found the page he was looking for.

'A Siren’s magic could be placed in 4 separate Houses:  

The House of Theliore is the magic of water. Calm, cool, and mature, this magic is in the heart of Atlantie. It can be found in the hearts of most underwater sirens, though every siren, no matter their House, is always connected to it. Sirens in the House of Theliore are typically creative, bubbly, and more emotional than other sirens.

The House of Melusine is the magic of air. Witty, spirited, and impulsive, this magic represents the thinkers of Atlantie. Typically found on land, Sirens in the House of Melusine are typically more thoughtful than other sirens, though they can also be somewhat too-faced to those they don’t care about.

The House of Cerina is the magic of earth. Controlled, stable, and strong, this magic represents the doers of Atlantie. These sirens can be found anywhere, though most still reside underwater. Most sirens in the House of Cerina are grounded and less objective, though this can lead them to being seen as less unkind as other sirens.

The House of Gerane is the magic of fire. Active, vivacious, and energized, this magic represents the spirit of Atlantie. Sirens in the House of Gerane are typically driven more by their heart, leading them to sometimes make brash decisions. They’re rarely found underwater, and are the rarest type of siren due to the clash between their House and their nature.’

"So, this isn’t just a magic submission potion," Unfortunately for Dustin, he’d been reading so long the table had moved on, and Eddie was now analyzing some sort of small potion bottle, "This is a general submission potion."

Instantly, Max’s eyes went wide.

"He said 'no one wanted to get fucked at parties anymore,' in reference to it." She whispered, horrified.

"Eddie, how strong is it," Nancy asked, blue eyes starting to glow just slightly in her anger; the little tell-tale of Valkyrie in her veins.

"I don’t know, Nancy, gimme a second!"

Dustin looked to Steve, who was following the conversation with a frown and a furrowed brow. He gave him a little tap on the thigh, and the older teen looked to him.

In all honesty, Dustin wasn’t the best at following nuance. Upside Down coding was one thing since he knew what all the codes meant, but something like this, where everyone at the table was talking around the blunt truth? Absolute shit.

Luckily, where Dustin lacked in people skills, Steve usually could fill in.

"Dust," Steve leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Jason was using the potion to make people submissive and weak at parties, like a roofie, and then—"

"OH"

Steve nodded once before leaning back to his seat.

Dustin despised Jason Carver.

"Do you know who made it?" Erica asked, and Max pointed at her as if to validate her point. "Because whoever made it—"

"Had to have known what he was using them for, I know," Eddie murmured, turning the bottle over in his hands in contemplation.

"If they were smart, they didn’t sign anything on the bottle," Will countered. "Is there any magic surrounding the bottle?"

Eddie nodded once. "Yeah, all potions have magic around the seal,"

"We could get El to analyze it if you can’t find anything," Will proposed. "She can tell us what the magic looks like, and we can find them from there probably,"

Suddenly, Dustin caught a whiff of something unfamiliar, something sour…

It came from out front.

"Actually, this one wasn’t smart!" Eddie grinned, looking up from the bottle. "On the bottom there’s a little—"

"Dustin, man, are you okay?" It was Argyle that keyed into Dustin’s manic sniffing, "You’re sniffing up a storm, there."

The scent was vaguely recognizable, something he knew he’d smelled before.

There were hints of something similar to Lucas, though it didn’t carry any of the notes of lavender and Lucas’ woody cologne, just the sweat…

The sweat which was far stronger after basketball rehearsals.

Oh fuck.

"The basketball team is outside," He blurted out.

There was a deafening silence before all hell broke loose.

"GET THE BOOKS OUT" (Dustin)

"GET EVERYTHING OFF THE TABLE" (Nancy)

"I CAN’T CARRY EVERYTHING, SOMEONE FUCKING HELP!" (Erica)

"I NEED TO HIDE" (Eddie)

"WHY ARE THEY AT MY HOUSE" (Steve)

"EDDIE NEEDS TO HIDE" (Will)

"WHY ARE WE YELLING THEY CAN PROBABLY HEAR US" (Max)

It was Argyle who calmly walked to the front door and waited for the inevitable knock and call of Andy.

Yet again, everyone froze in anticipation.

"Hey there, can I help you young gentlemen?"

"Where’s Steve?" Andy. Dustin heard their feet move into the main entrance, and Argyle shut the door. He felt himself constrict in anger, and Max put a hand in front of his now-bared teeth in case he started to growl.

"Why?" Argyle asked, “Is everything okay with him?”

Silently, Dustin watched Steve sigh and calmly shift himself back to his human form.

Damn, it was fun while it lasted.

Steve beckoned for the group to follow him, and slowly, they all walked out.

"Hey!" Steve gave his publicity smile and a wave. "Can I help you guys?"

"Mind if we take a look around?" Andy asked, smirking as if he had an upper hand. "We have reason to believe you’re plotting against Jason."

"Sorry, but I know my rights." Steve tilted his head in fake sympathy. "You’re not the police, and even they can’t search my parents’ home without a warrant. Besides, all you’ll find is the makings of a birthday cake tasting session," Erica smirked and nodded, puffing her chest out slightly.

"With Eddie Munson here?" One of the team members asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Dammit, Steve, I told you I needed to hide!" Dustin could feel the anxiety reeking off of Eddie from every angle. The man couldn’t stop fidgeting to save his life, currently!

"Andy, isn’t that the kid that was so easy to stop this spring?" A werewolf from the group said, cracking his knuckles.

Wait, was that how Erica broke her arm in the Hellkins 4?

Erica bared her teeth and Dustin did the same.

This was his pack, dammit.

Dustin was snapped out of his anger as a phantom breeze went across his skin.

Weird.

"What?" Steve’s faux enthusiasm broke, and Eddie looked at him with wide eyes.

"I wonder how easy it would be," The wolf stepped forward, towards Erica. Dustin tried to block her with his arm, but the older wolf easily pushed him to the floor.

Another phantom breeze, stronger this time.

"To pick you up," The wolf picked Erica up. "And throw you down just like my witch friend," He pointed to Andy, who smirked.

Erica didn’t hit the ground.

Instead, she started to glow dandelion yellow.

Soon, everyone in the Party did, and the winds Dustin had been feeling started whipping around in the same color.

So were Steve’s eyes.

His half-form was back, thankfully, but this time Dustin was legitimately frightened.

Steve was right, sirens were fucking scary.

Subtly, Dustin could hear a song playing in the background, sad and melancholy.

The basketball team were hovering high in the air, their hair and jackets whipping around them.

(Why weren’t the Party’s hair whipping around, too?)

Dustin didn’t look when he heard the thumps of the team’s bodies hitting the mansion walls at full force.

Steve’s trance was broken when something beeped.

"Oh shit, my cake!"

Instantly, Dustin shot up, and with the rest of the party, watched Steve calmly take out the prototype cake as if nothing strange had ever happened. Soon, Steve made eye contact with the group.

"Guys, is everything okay? You’re all looking at me like I’m doing something weird…"

Well yeah, no shit. Erica had almost gotten thrown and Steve lost his shit, were they not going to be looking at him like a crazy person?

"Steve…" Nancy pleaded, and Steve sighed. He wiped off his hands and walked towards the group.

"What? What could have possibly gone wrong that…" Steve’s eyes widened when he saw his main room, and the hopefully unconscious bodies along its walls.

"Eddie, Argyle, get the kids and go." Steve said sternly and all too quickly, and Dustin froze. "Nance, stay here. I’ll need you whether or not they wake up."

Dustin wasn’t leaving.

"What, Steve—" Eddie protested, but Steve put a hand on his shoulder, shutting him up.

"Eddie, I need you to take the kids to the Byers’; that’s where everyone else is. Fill them in. I’ll tell you when to come back. Keep them safe for me; I trust you."

Will and Dustin made eye contact.

OH.

HOLY SHIT.

GO STEVE, APPARENTLY??

"O-Ok. C’mon kids," Eddie and Argyle made for the door, and the rest of the younger party followed.

"Dustin, c’mon!" Max beckoned for Dustin, but he shook his head.

"Dustin, go," Steve said, stern. Dustin’s head throbbed—was Steve using sirenspeak on him?—but he was too stubborn and too pack bonded to care.

"Fuck no. You die, I die Steve," He gave a nod to Erica; she understood the reference. "I’m not leaving you here, and you can’t convince me to leave."

Steve looked him once over, and sighed.

"Go to John’s, guys." Steve nodded to Eddie and Argyle, and they nodded back. 

The door shut behind them.

"You’ll be safe there,"

----------

Season 2!

The fact that some people think Dustin is homophobic when he canonically enjoys cartoons for little girls for their plotline value. That one saw gender and said ‘fuck that’ and ran. Anyway it just so happens my fan birthday for Erica is the Barbie movie release.

Edit: I realize I said ‘basketball rehearsals’ and currently hate my cringey theater kid self. That being said this is Dustin’s pov and he canonically is also a cringey theater kid so it stays.

Tag List:

@estrellami-1 @cookies-and-doom @beckkthewreck @dbquills @impeachy

[gamesception]

Sception reads Cass Cain #22

Batgirl (2000) #7 words: Kelley Puckett pictures: Scott and Campanella

No more Peterson. As far as I know he was still at DC comics, but he's not co-writing Batgirl any more, and I'm not sure what changed. The cover is some classic comic cover misdirection of the Super-Dickery style, though it also implies a proper fight between Bruce and Cassandra, something that really needed to happen in her story, but iirc by the time it eventually does that story has meandered a bit.

This comic launches a sort of three issue arc that first establishes where the loss of Cass's body-reading abilities leaves her, which was a bit of an open question, then contrives a way to give her the ability back, while imposing a new cost for doing so in order to not completely undercut the implied tradeoff between speech and body-reading.

As usual, I have... mixed feelings

No, no, I wouldn't say it sucks. We've lost Peterson, but we still have Puckett and Scott, both still on their A game. As is the pattern so far, quality execution pulls me along even when I'm not 100% sold on the direction.

So pretty much right away, we establish that without her body-reading Cass isn't just 'not as good as she was', she's all the way down to 'not good enough for Bruce to let her out at all'. Honestly, this feels like a bit of a stretch to me. Like, are we honestly saying Tim is a more competent fighter than Cass at this point? Well, probably not, the fact that Tim isn't predisposed to throw himself into groups of armed thugs without thinking is a likely factor here, one that is mentioned by Babs later.

One thing that I really would have liked to be an explicit part of the story, if we're doing this at all (which we didn't need to, most other bat-fam crime fighters don't have super-powers, they could have just said she was worse but still good enough) - but, yeah, if we're doing this at all then I would have liked if lingering doubts about Cass after watching the tape of her kill were explicitly part of the reason Bruce was keeping her off the street. It would have kept the thread up about that aspect of her story - imo that's the core conflict her character is built on and it just kind of Peters out - like I alluded to earlier, Cass and Bruce do eventually fight, but it's not even really about that.

Like, right now our status quo on that is "Bruce is in denial over the fact that Cass killed a guy and will be real upset + maybe refuse to let Cass wear his symbol ++ maybe will have to face up to his own feelings of guilt once he eventually has to accept the truth of what Cass did", but iirc he never really does have this big conflict and never is forced to confront Cass's murder. IIRC - and honestly I hope I don't remember correctly here, I hope I just missed or forgot important stuff - but iirc eventually Bruce just knows and is ok with it without any major drama or revelations and none of the juicy conflict ever happens.

But anyway, for the moment that's a missed opportunity rather than a mistake.

Anyway, Bruce gives Cass some study material.

And she studies it. Bab's holodeck is a bit too sci-fi for me, but whatever, visual storytelling.

The issue is a bit repetitive here, alternating between studying panels and Bruce beating Cass up panels, though it serves a purpose of conveying how she's stuck in a rut.

"All this knowledge. No substitute for knowing." is a good line.

I like these panels. You can really feel Cass's frustration. We also finally have Bruce pulling back. He's really been beating the crap out of Cass in these training/testing sessions - is any of that some part of him now seeing her as a murderer? And how different is that from the extremes Cain was willing to put her through as a child? Extremes that even before 10 years old she was more than willing to put herself through. Bruce flinching back like this is a key moment of him /not/ just being a substitute for David Cain, because he isn't willing to just brutalize Cass until she 'gets it', even if she's not just willing but eager to do things that way.

But yeah, Bruce pulls the 'Jason Todd' card

And Babs pulls the paralyzed card.

Really strong facial expression from Scott on that last panel there.

Doing the vigilante stuff isn't just a calling for Cass, though, it's a compulsion, and the writer kind of calls it out through Babs here. It all comes back to the guilt. Cass killed someone, she thinks she deserves to die for it, but she can't just kill herself. Being Batgirl is a way to do some good to help redeem herself and re-contextualize all the killing skills her father gave her while also exposing herself to the possibility of death over and over until some day it inevitably comes.

She can't not do that just because she's in more danger now, deliberately putting herself in danger is part of the point.

So she goes out in this new cobbled-together alter ego, and there's some fun panels of it. It's an ok design, too.

And that's how we introduce Shiva.

I'm gonna be honest - I really only know Lady Shiva from her appearances with Cass. I have no idea if her characterization in the Batgirl title is true to her previous appearances or not - particularly the suggestion that will come later that her whole death-match obsession is as much about her own deathwish as it is about martial pride. I've heard some complaints that Shiva was a more interesting character before/without Cass, and that her more recent appearances have kind of reduced her to just being Cass's mom with not a lot going on outside of that, which if true is a shame.

The Shiva connection also leads into dumber stuff later in Cass's solo title - I never jived with the 'one who is all' business, imo it was too silly and the whole concept undercut the much more personal and frought relationship between Cass and David Cain - and its thematically resonant parallel to her relationship with Bruce. Post-reboot Shiva displaces David almost entirely, and there's no parallels to Bruce at all, either with Cass and her guilt or Cass's previous masters and Bruce's lifestyle & training techniques. Of course, by that point David's unrecognizable and they couldn't do the thematic parallel stuff anyway.

...

But within Cass's story, at least in this early arc, Shiva works pretty well, and her introduction is certainly striking, pun intended

Using the fancy restaurant scene to build tension

Before everything explodes when Shiva finally attacks.

And the issue ends like it starts. I like when that happens.

All in all an effective issue. It's a weird thing to complement, but I think it does a particularly good job conveying Cass's growing boredom and frustration through the repetition in the early training scenes. The art's particularly nice - a lot of strong facial expression, good posing, nice detailed backgrounds.

I like how much fun she has in her new vigilante alter-ego. Again, doing Batgirl stuff isn't just about guilt and atonement and wanting to die, it's also fun and thrills, she likes doing it for its own sake.

And I like how cocky she is with Babs afterwords, at least until she's caught. Very much a kid who thinks they're getting away with something attitude. It's fun.

Good stuff, overall.

[re-readingcomics]

12/07/2023-02/03/2024

Over this period of time I read the books I had that are continuations of things I had been reading. I am not sure how much I have to say about any of them, hence the delay between finishing them and posting this.

I started with volume 3 of BRZRKR written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, art by Ron Garney, and colors by Bill Crabtree. I read the first two volumes recently and wanted to see how it wrapped up. I was worried about forgetting things in the mean time. I did, but while I read the final volume, what I forgot didn’t seem much worth remembering. The story was all in broad strokes. It wrapped up a plot about one employers of Unute and Diana, while leaving them to start a miraculous family with two quickly gestating and growing fraternal twins. It ends in space in a way sets up a new beginning. I don’t think I care enough to continue. I still like the art, but by now I feel cynical about this opening to a franchise. 

My normal way for choosing what to read is to prioritize wha I started the longest ago first. If I kept with this, I would have read Blood Stain 4 writing and art by Linda Sejic before BRZRKR 3. There has been six years between volumes, and I still haven’t gotten my to read piles down enough to re-read the first three. This is the only series that I haven’t written about here, as I wasn’t trying to do these kinds of updates when he las one arrived. It is also the one I enjoyed reading the most. I definitely forgot a lot of the plot, but there hadn’t been much of it. A throw away bit of dialogue in this volume worked as a reminder that the previous volumes only took place over a few days. The lead character, Elliot Torres only is confirmed to get the job as Vlad Stein’s assistant in this volume. On a related note, the previous volumes all had comedic material the back involving the characters in non-plot related situations, that show a level of familiarity that they hadn’t reached in the plot. This one didn’t. If anything, it did a lot to make up for time lost as far plot points go. We learn about about Torres’s adjustment to her new work/life balance, and more about the working Stein’s actual life here than I think we did ever before. Stein becomes a lot more human, despite all the other worldly or vampiric signatories around him, including how his text bubbles are black with white text, like the Sandman himself. I liked it the most of these reads. It’s pleasant and friendly and seems to exist just for itself. I also like the art, which combines reality and fantasy very well in a way that feels like they inform each other. It’s lovely.

Finally, I read Second Coming Trinity, the aptly named third volume of Second Coming. It is written by Mark Russell, art by Leonard Kirk and colors by Richard Pace. I read the firs two volumes way back in  2021 and I remember mostly liking them and being okay with the way the Jesus and Superman become roommates situation. But I forgot most of the plot including everything about the Lex Luther/Brainiac villain Cranius. This one is about the affect that Sunstar’s son, brining up examples of how both Sunstar and Jesus were dangerous super powered kids in their youth. Also there is an issue where it turns out God is disappointed in the human art market. Me too, but this just irked. The volume ended with a cliff hanger. Everything in the volume led to it. And yet I still feel like the creators bit off more than they can chew. It’s Sunstar flashbacks have a combination of “Super dickery” and “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” that feels too related to the writing about Superman over the decades to be a stand alone story. Jesus starts his own church to have a more direct control over his message, but that has worldly complications. We get to meet more of this world’s versions of Justice League characters, which mostly left me wondering why?

I have started y next comic book pile since finishing this. I am in a slow to read historic comics. I will update when I am ready. 

[popculturebuffet]

Velma Season 1 Review (Review for Weird Kev27)

Hello all you happy people and for this fine start of april we're looking at something that's been long overdue.

So something I've only expressed a little on this blog is that i'm a massive scooby doo fan. While I grew up with the world's greatest great dane and really loved mystery inc, over the last few years i've gone from simply appricating the series to being a massive fan with a decent amount of knowledge. Together with @jess-the-vampire we watched EVERY scooby do movie, we've binged most of the shows and i'ts given me an apprication for the franchise as a whole.

So naturally the first new series since i became a scooby head was a cause for .. cautious optimsim. Yeah while I liked Mindy Kaling's previous work with The Mindy Project and felt the idea of an adult scooby doo series had potetial the combination, i was tredpedatious as adult series can mean "excellently plotted comedy where you can have a plot about abusive parenting, bi erasure and the mafia in the same episode as a country set slaughter fest, said abusive parent putting dildo's everywhere because he assumes that's what gays like and an extra horny shark man who statistically has boned half of every room he's entered. "… and sometimes you get show's whose whole identities are random cruel violence, dickery and

Sadly.. Velma ended up this way, with the trailers presenting a show that not only didn't really care for Scooby doo, but picked the most obvious ways to deconstruct it while loudly scremaing

In lieu of actual adult conversations or themes. It had specks of those but it was mostly just obessed with proving how clever clever it was. So let's talk about tha tunder the cut eh?

Yeah while we WILL be hanging around for Scooby Doo, we are not talking Velma.. yet. I haven't even braved it just yet, as a combination of the counltess dickheads crticizing it for being "woke"…

The series making everyone but Fred POC was a GOOD idea .. it just seems couched in a lot of jabs that come off as them having never watched a damned scooby doo show past where are you. I'm not sayin gi'ts required to watch thousands of hours of scooby doo to make an SD property, but watching a FEW episodes of more recent series to make sure your stuff is fresh and checking to make sure yoru ideas are either new or a diffrent enough take on an idea to work. While i'm not sure if the writers of recent series like Mystery Inc, Be Cool and Guess Who? have seen EVERY scooby do thing, it's clear al lhave seen enough of the franchise and know it well enough to play with it, from making it a cosmic horror story , to a wacky comedy with Fred and Daph tweaked signifigantly, to a team up show that has Malcom McDowell take our heroes to a distopian future where Shaggy and Scooby have no tonly surivvieed this long but are fighting to the death.

I will give Velma a shot eventually and likely cover it too, but for now me and Kev just weren't all that invested. He might have me cover it later and if he decides not to I might still just do it anyway, but for now that's just not something i'm going to be doing

Instead.. .we're covering something that DIDN'T get released. Yeah as a special treat i'm taking a quick look at Scooby Doo and Krypto Too. SDAKT was supposed to be another scooby doo direct to video film, coming out to allign with the Super PEts MOvie, which I also need to see at some point. Problem is it was made during WB"s Tire Fire years, and it along with a HEX GIRLS MOVIE MY GOD YOU MONSTERS WHY DID YOU CANCEL THIS, were scrapped, and the latter was nearly complete.

That would've been the end and given the project was never even ANNOUNCED, as is common as Warner only tends to announce sd movies a few months before release, and Warner's Habit of locking good animatoin in indiana jones vaults.

Thankfully some brave soul we still don't know leaked the film, which not only leaves potetial for more of the stuff they've refused to release to get out there, but was a nice hearty fuck you to a company and president who prides trying to stop bleeding money in the sleaziest way possible over actually making things tha tmake money. I"ve been vocal as hell about The Warner Bros Discovery Tire Fire so you better belive me and Jess watched this asap. And if WBD had a problem with that.. they PROBABLY shoudl've let the film actually come out then instead of destroying months and sometimes years of effort and locking it in crate to make 5 dollars, as their's legally nothing they coudl do. They did try to remove the film, but this being the internet once it was out there they couldn't undo it and it's already in the wind as it damn well should be.

So naturally when Kev, after several diffrent ideas I won't say in case we end up going with them at some point, suggested this I was all on board. But when you strip away all the controversy what do you get?

WEll you get a pretty decent Scooby Doo Team Up Film. Scooby Doo DC Team UPs are far from new, going as far back as the Scooby Doo Movies, and only increasing once warner started syndergizing it's propertie smore While a LOT of it is naturally fitting team ups with the world's greatest detectives including a full on reunion movie for batman brave and the bold that I love dearly, they've also teamed up with the flash, wonder woman and even had a dc comic ENTIRLEY DEDICATED to team ups that featured my boys the doom patrol among MANY other deeper cuts and currently have one just for batman and the bat family.

It's still weird though to see them team up with Krypto, but not unwelcome. It helps for me at least that as a big comcis nerd.. I fucking love Krypto and as a teen got a two pronged attack that made me a lifelong fan of the pooch: Krypto showed up in Geoff John's run of teen titans as Connor's loyal canine (with Clark having given Connor his dog), and a mostly realstic dog who just happens to have kryptonian powers nad wear a cape. The other was the opposite an da series that's only grown on me with time, Krypto the Super Dog. While meant more for the preshool set, Krypto was still a LOT of fun, going in a more silver age direction, throwing in things like Streaky, Supergirl's cat in the comics, and Ace the Bathound and best of all the Dog Stars of the Universe, who I was shocked to fine werent just made up here to serve as Krypto's own Legion of Super Heroes.. actually existed in the comics. Why they haven't been brought back I don't know. you look at a bucnh of dogs with weird super powers in space and tell me it's not gold.

So finding out this existed was great. And honestly even putting aside the stupid shelving.. it's a solid DTV Scooby Film. i've watched all of them, not hyperbole, and while i've seen far better, including the recently released trick or treat scooby doo, this is still a fun entry.

The plot is kinda simple: The Gang visit Metropolis just as the Justice League has gone missing and no other heroes exist in this universe because plot convience. Our heroes are summoned by Daphne's old friend Jimmy Olseon to help Lois Lane look into this. Lois is perfectly played here too being fast talking, no nonsense and only not investigating herself because 80 thigns are going on at once with all the supervillians running riot. Jimmy less so as he thinks hea nd daph are together and has been telling people such when they never reallyd ated. We also get Fred being jealous of which I have some notes on.

I won't talk much about it. It's bad, it shoudl feel bad and the only saving grace is it's not DAPHNE IS JEALOUS OF SOMEONE BEING INTO FRED WHILE THEIR NOT TECHINCALLY A COUPLE PLOT #98. Seriously it happens a LOT. A LOTTTTTT.

We also get our usual parade of supsects: a foodtruck lady running challenge of the super fries, the local valet whose tired of super cars because Green Arrow apparently has a SECOND arrow car just for metropolis, and what have you. The main suspect and treat of the film though is Lex Luthor. Lex is played to hammy perfection, not only trying to buy the hall of justice but being open about being a buisnes scumbag and eventually being forcced by circumstance to work with our heroes, wtih him and velma playing off each other really well. Lex is easily the best part of the film. He also gets a great moment as while shockingly he's NOT behind it, his assitant mercy who in this continuity is in love with him and was tired of Lex being more buisness luthor and less mad scientest luthor was behind it to try and do an evil scheme since he wouldn't. I mean.. I can't see her complaint: Buisness scumbag luthor is STILL miles ahead of piss in a jar luthor.

Still it's a nice motive.. and Lex was not only AWARE the whole time , he only let it play out to see whta she could do and hacks her robots for her plan easily… then reveals he let her plan go ahead to buy time for his: to demolish the hall with giant robots. Naturally she loves this and they get together. It shows off both versions of luthor great: the cold buisness man who uses hsi money and cleverness as a weapon, and the mad genius who hates superman and wants to destroy something only tagnetally related to him out of spite. his evil dog rex even turns out to be a robot and knowing Krypto was around he put a chunk of kryponite in him and the robots

Krypto himself.. works really well and is the heart of the film. While Luthor is EAISLY again the best part, Krypto's main traits are shown off: he's loyal, loves his master and the feeling is mutual. Krypto was left behind by clark for his own saftey after the fight that sent the group into the phantom zone, and it's clear all Krypto wants is his master back. He dosen't get a ton of characterization fo ra movie based on him, but it's nice seeing his inherent bravery and invunerbality contrasted with the gangs cowardice or his confusion when in one bit , Shaggy triggers the kitchen, the JLA's danger room , and it makes it into an actual kitchen, with his confusion bein ga nice hint at the gag. We also get a real solomon grundy who just wanted to pet dogs. And how can I not relate to a fellow swamp monster who just wants to pet dogs?

The climax is great, wtih our heroes and various red herrings stepping in, a truly climactic figh tnad hero much like his master powring the fuck through even at his weakest. We get a heartwarming reunion.

Scooby doo and Krypto Too isn't a top tier, one in a millon DTV scooby movie but it's still an excellent one. And while NO FILM deserves the sheving WBD heaped on it, this film is an easpecially galling example of that and if you can find it out there, go do so. It's a fun tight 90 minutes. We return to our reguarlly scheduled nonsense in an hour or so. Thanks for reading.

[superman-the-secret-third-thing]

Superman's Day of Truth! (1965)

A.k.a. Silver Age Superman is obligated to be honest for an entire day and he's a douche about it.

At least it gave us some neat insights to Kryptonian culture, such as this weird holiday and the fact they were formerly colonized by an oppressive alien race before uprising, inspired by the actions of a martyred youth, but more importantly, Superman is so mean in this!

[yoonieper]

AHHHHHH is ftb going to be super slow burn? rn, i dont like yn jk and yuri. or at least the decisions theyre making. yuri is a plain bitch thats all, and jk.. poor man. but i hate that he projects his misery to yn. pt 5 when they were having sex and he was talking about yuri, man that just broke me. i feel like yn should have a stronger backbone.. hes treating her like shit and she knows it but why oh why does she still keep being with him girl stand up no dick is ever worth all that internal pain for!!!!!! 😫 like i wish shed stop entertaining him with sex, cos as hot as it is, it really just leaves a lingering feeling of sadness. human intricacies are strange. why do we work like this?

nonetheless i trust that theyre both going to be under a major character development. thank you for sharing this story with us, your writing is a delight!! i look forward to the next part 🩷

Yes we’re taking this slow friends 🙂‍↕️

But that’s valid. Everyone doesn’t like Yuri, but Jk is definitely starting to act up and get on people’s nerves. Despite the treatment Y/n sees through the tough exterior Jk keeps building higher and higher and has a feelings his dickery is more than just him being an asshole. Considering how broken he seems she keeps coming back hoping their time together might help “fix” him.

Glad you’re enjoying the story ☺️🫶🏽

[zooterchet]

Jumping Jack Flash (Taking Down the KGB)

KGB: Brian Monaghan, KGB Ireland.  "Halloween", Michael Myers.

Technique: Star Trek Film References, to Destroy Police Informants.

Selected: Deep Space Nine, Drug Dealer (The Baseball).

Pest Control: Countered, returned to grocery store, contacted through alias command, Luke Charon, as Undertaker; FBI riddle matching genetic order, Cain (Old Testament).

Transgender Surgeon: Countered, appearance in cross dressing pornography, with Empress M; transition into prison rapist, through appearing with Line of Christ, inventor of special education rooms, psychiatric hospitals, and corrections prisons; however, as filmed, hence sold with self as violent threat to inmates and Basim members.

County Clerk: Placement in supervising agent, hunting Boston Globe Spotlight, as "Super Dickery Dot Com"; mirth stripped from DC Comics, realizing that advertising, was against women's rights, placing as Turkish Jew; line of Muhammad, escaped from execution by Judea, through sacrifice of Gaetanos as Jesus.

Sex Director: Movement into Jew Hunter, as targeting Irgun and associates, those claiming Israeli parenthood, however Russian, Croat, or German-Jewish.  The removal of Rabbinical rights, from "Inglorious Basterds", as having postured on Megaman MUSH as director, "Rich Dotcom", not own father, "Chet".

Marriage Agent: Refusal of marriage broker through Mosaic, as admission to prostitutes, not to Catholic priest trained Jewish, but to actual line of Moses; hence, imbibement on Respiradone, patent held out of emancipated child Megan Dalee, previously defended at UMass-Amherst campus; Suboxone, muscle building steroids, not fat building steroids, Albuterol, for asthma.

Jewish Laser Academy: Own eye switched to right, on own, hence any accusation of hypnosis, outside of own Holy Trinity, not Peasant's Creed; hence work submitted to prove Obama, a Noble, and Adolf Hitler, a Peasant, reflects poorly on people of KGB, as siding with Hitler as a Noble agent, however in poverty; deconstruction of MI-6 claim to Holocaust, placed by Russian Irish agents, as actually having been Arnold Lodge, Comstock; predecessor to CIA programs, under Nixon, reform of international espionage under Falun Gong; the battered women's shelter, against Jewish Husband's Advocacy Act.

The Tong: Three informed tips, on Tong, placed on John "Brick" Remby, Mossad agent; freedom of Chinese restaurants in New England, full six state region under Carnegie Institute, from forced semenal imbibement and labor laws; all those having taken Asian women and blackmailed Asian men, then aligned with Stormfront, for complete and total liquidation of physical materials of body, under Donald J. Trump, a "dictator", in favor of China and North Korea, not Japan and Taiwan.

Rabbinical Advisor: Identification, of stalker Rabbi, as "George Washington", invoking Tanacharison, Caldor's.  The placement outside the priesthood and Rabbinical orders, of George W. Bush Jr., on the collected Arkadian Police League, and the linking to the Spanish Jesuits, the ugly bowel moil and his associate, Brad Neely, done away with, the end of the Yorktown Trust and the Dewey Decimel birthday of January 15th; Joan of Arc, placed as January 6th, to force all such individuals transgender, as having sought to steal the American arms industry for Britain, Germany, and Israel.

[dappercat123]

Oh yeah, this was the issue with the cover that has a fat Superman eating a crap ton of burgers lol

We’re getting into the pre internet clickbait era of comic book covers, and the era of aptly named “super dickery”

Its a shame that human calorie conversion and sleep mechanisms don't make much of a dent in a living solar battery Action Comics 454

[namajague]

#nsfw but vaguely?

All the nonsense about how Superman would kill a human woman (always a woman, in these things) by having sex with her is making one very big mistake, which is assuming he even has human-type genitalia. Sure, he follows the general bipedal humanoid mold, but who’s to say Kryptonians don’t lay egg sacs? You don’t know! Stop your assumptions!

I mean, also everything about that argument is ridiculous, but I don’t have the time or energy to fully explore it. My main objection is the nature of the reproductive systems in question.

[ladyluscinia]

Lol, your tags cracked me up @lordess-dickery-doof 😆😆😆

This is actually the closing question of that last Metro Weekly interview, so uh...

On point.

I mean I kinda felt like S1 was doing it successfully, at least. Not really in a subversive way, but creatively... a pirate show that actually wasn't about the adventure and high stakes battles, but just having fun with the crew as characters? And not because it's a show for 5 year olds? Actually successfully doing something I can't go get somewhere else, no genre subversion required. But yeah the mindset of "ugh this stupid genre" rarely goes good places for long.

Also, like, A) his solution to not being inspired by pirates was to go on tangents about inspiration he found in Westerns and. Ok. Those are sibling story types in different hats, right? Not identical but so related. They're less genres* and more settings, but they cater to similar themes, each have similar aesthetic rulebooks, outlaws... Super ironic to go "well there's nothing to work with in this Lowes, better go borrow some genre inspiration from Home Depot" and not get why that's funny at least 🤣

And B) does he... does he not know pirates are romantic??? Like I do not watch enough romances to know whether there have been dedicated tv/film examples but I'm aware of the concept. Dude. Dude.

*coming back to this at the end because it is my largest pet peeve - "pirate" is not a genre, my guy. Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Muppet Treasure Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Black Sails do not all share a genre, they share a setting concept or some aesthetic references.

Draft clearing. I think I had more of a point on the topic of Jenkins and genre I wanted to make when I gathered these, but I'm not feeling it anymore. However, I need spread awareness of his absolutely baffling ideas about pirate media and how he sounds half-convinced it must be a formulaic action/adventure. I only picked up on this by reading way too many interviews back to back so I'm not surprised I've never seen anyone else mention it, but like. It's wild. And he's SO additionally weird about how showrunning a piece of media about pirates relates to whatever concept he has of pirate media in his head.

Here's the link to my interview compilation if you want to check my sources on these.

Jenkins Quotes on "Pirate Genre"

"I think actual pirate stuff is fine, but it's not necessarily my cup of tea. And I think Taika [Waititi] felt similarly.

[...]

Showrunner Jenkins sees Our Flag Means Death as having "joy. A lot of joy. I like Stede because Stede is, to me, the outsider artist of pirates. And I think in designing the show, I was conscious [of the fact that it's] a hard genre to do anything to. It's a very stubborn genre because it's been done so well and so often. So I kind of tried to look at, like New York, like Alphabet City in the '80s via a pirate genre via Mad Max and try to throw all these different things at it. So I think you'll get a different feel than you'd get on a normal pirate thing. I think we achieved that with our amazing crew." - (Gizmodo, 2/22/22)

"I guess I really… I get kind of bored. How much pirate can you do? They're going to rob stuff. They're going to steal ships. There's only so many pirate stories you can do." - (Collider, 3/24/22)

Despite creating a pirate show, he himself says he's not a huge fan of pirate movies. - (EW.com, 12/13/22)

"I don't want to see a bunch of pirate things that I've seen in other things, I'll just go watch another thing if I want to see that. That's not really my thing. I like the genre, but it's a very hard genre to budge. I want to see relationships in a pirate world." - (TV Guide, 10/5/23)

"The pirate genre is fun, but I wasn't dying to make a pirate show. Taika wasn't dying to make a pirate show. But the thing that was interesting to me was that Stede finds love, and he finds it with Blackbeard." - (Variety, 10/13/23)

"I think there is something in the show about how piracy is a brutal way of life. It's essentially Mad Max, this world. There's no law, there's just strong and weak." - (Polygon, 10/21/23)

"And it’s also a pirate show, so he’s got to die." - (Vanity Fair, 10/26/23)

"Another thing I love is what I call shaggy stories, stories about people navigating each other. When you plug them into different genres, you get this great engine that comes with it. I'm not particularly dying to write a pirate thing, but I want to write a bunch of characters trying to navigate each other in a pirate thing." - (Vulture, 10/28/23)

"But I'm like you. I'm not a big pirate person. In general, it's a big creaky genre that's hard to budge, but I think the show benefits from we can pull pirate stuff out when we need it. Ultimately, yeah, I want to see these different relationships and perspectives on different relationships. Then it's fun to plug it into an overwrought genre.

[...]

Pirates of the Caribbean, those movies are great. That's not necessarily what I hunger to see, but in that genre, it's great. You're not going to beat that, especially on something that's lower budget. We've seen a lot of this stuff, so it's fun to take it then and don't do any of that stuff." - (Metro Weekly, 11/1/23)

"I think it's more interesting to me that I've never seen a love story like this in this genre, and you dream for that. Really, pirates, what can you do that's different with pirates?

[...]

To me, to tell the story about these two men in this very hetero action genre, falling for each other..." - (Metro Weekly, 11/1/23)

---

...This is the same guy who just ended a season on the British Navy blowing up Nassau for symbolism reasons that I'm pretty sure have nothing to do with the love story. 🤨

[findrahil]

Hi, so I'm writing a russingon fic and publishing it on ao3, the first silm fic I've written though I've been around the block in other fandoms for a while- so far everyone has been mostly very welcoming and lovely! But I have one commenter who has taken to lecturing me on the 'correct' canon (it's mostly hilarious, their logic is very flawed, so I'm not too bothered but still). I have vague memories of seeing a repeat commenter being rude on multiple different fics discussed amongst some silm blogs a while back, do you remember anything of this? I just want to know if it's worth moderating comments or straight up deleting any more rather than engaging with this person, and if I can find out if they're the same person that would be helpful. Thanks!

hi! first, the fic you're writing looks super interesting and i definitely have to read it sometime!! it looks like you're really good at dealing with complex characterization, which is an absolute JAM :D

unfortunately, i do think i know who you're talking about, and i'm really sorry that one of the nefarious names has found your fic and decided to pick issue with it. claudk is... for lack of a better word, a dick, and while i (fortunately) haven't personally ever interacted with them, other people's experience indicates that just deleting their comments (or moderating) is best. (ao3 needs that block button... -_- ) engaging just goes around in circles and creates frustration more than anything, and more importantly, this is YOUR fic and you can do whatever the hell you want with it, and no one should tell you otherwise. you're doing this for free because it's fun for you, so don't let someone else's clownery ruin your fun!

(i believe claudk is most infamous for their dickery on @absynthe--minded's russingon fics... so yeah, repeat offender...)

hope that helped, and if there's anything else you want to discuss feel free to just pop into my dms or askbox again :)