#teen vs machine

[heir-of-the-chair]

Except for Matilda 😌

it’s so insanely fascistic that literally every children’s movie is about how important and good the nuclear family is

[amyoffline]

It's done! The outline for—

—is below the cut. The goal of this project is to explore the following phenomena with as much context and nuance as I can manage, tracing our history over the past 15 years:

What about us, and what about Dan and Phil, drew in and continues to draw in a very specific audience. If they are a ranch metaphor, we are a pizza metaphor 🥗🍕🫶🏻

Why we were Like That™, by which I mean so parasocially invested in them that we became, at times, the most annoying people on the internet. Much of that reputation is undeserved, and the videos on the phandom to date have been strongly negative. So, uh, I guess I'm going to put my face on camera and (mostly) defend us.

Reblog, share in your Discord servers, reply, or send me messages/anon asks with feedback or resources if you have any! Especially if your experience being in this fandom community has been dramatically different from mine. There are TIT spoilers near the end of the outline, but I'm not tagging because certain individuals seem to be lurking over there. Thank you!

Chapters:

Full outline:

introduction

cold open

felt personally attacked by jonathan haidt's last press tour

showed up to the phrenaissance 11 months late

had an unexpectedly strong response to their new content, needed to find out why

what the hell are we doing here?

- phenomenology (academics are professionally insufferable) - research question 1: what drew the audience in? - research question 2: why were we Like That™?

what we're NOT doing here

- a strict content analysis or "wow we sucked" video - providing sources for things best left uncirculated, thank you

reflexivity (personal biases)

- american zillennial in public health - in the youtube audience by spring 2010 - lurking in the phandom on tumblr 2013-2015, back* since 2019 - fan behavior i did and did not engage in

(----): truly necessary background information, i swear

(pop) cultural trends, tech, and their intersection

- nerd/geek identity and the first online weirdos - broadcast tv & the music industry vs the internet - defining "emo" - blogging & vlogging - early internet comedy

broader social/economic trends

- so the U.S. economy collapsed in 2007 - a decade that sucked except for rom-coms and square enix games - the flip/slide phone + digital camera + mp3 player loadout

(05-8): early youtube and early phil

youtube: a great video uploader without a clear purpose

the content on the website

- crossposts, corporations, and creative/social outlets - omg guys it's amazing phil - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: justin bieber

the audience of "early adopters"

contemporary social media sites and forums

(2009): origin story

a wild dan appears… in the comments

the global constant that is teenagers being messy online

daring my old school district to sue me

- "one town's war on gay teens" (literal rolling stone headline!) - epidemiology 101: rates of… ugh… "unaliving" oneself - ways kids cope when it seems no adults will help them

the earliest days of dan & phil

- hello internet + pinof - a chronically overexamined timeline - file deleted ---* so how big WAS the audience at the time? ---* acceptable funny/edgy language was just different

contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: lucas cruikshank

omg it's meeeeeee

- how amy & friends were using youtube - ways i was just destined to end up here - being in social environments with peers 3-6 years older

(2010): is it "twenty-ten" or "two thousand ten?"

youtube is a platform about to explode in popularity

- the algorithm before it was The Algorithm™, lost site features - let's take a trip through the wayback machine :3c - actual dan & phil content in 2010 - the green brothers found vidcon - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: darren criss

social media: also about to explode in popularity

- facebook was cool at the time, believe it or not - law of equivalent exchange: 2010 amy cringe compilation - the birth of instagram and pinterest - youtube slash livejournal (the first phanfics… sort of) - shockfic and its place in the overton window

the beginning of "the great rewiring" as haidt calls it

- ways social media is about to dramatically change - third spaces become online spaces - confounding variable: changing expectations of teens

(2011): the end of an era, the start of an age

a very long tangent on fandom and pop culture

cultural exchange

counterculture and teenagers as concepts

the first british invasion: the 1960s

- beatlemania and its descendents - moral panic about the virtue of tween/teen girls - tv/film/fashion trends being imported from the uk - in parallel, star trek births the modern fandom

the second british invasion: the 1980s

- synth/new pop that came out of the punk movement (hi, emo?) - confined mainly to music and fashion - cool britannia

it's harry freakin' potter

- absolute titan of pop culture influence - the rise of online fandom: examining the horrors ---* what is "wank" ---* flaming, sockpuppeting, and general cyberbullying ---* censorship: ffnet purges, boldthrough, & strikethrough ---* other fandom shenanigans of the time (yaoi paddles, anyone?)

harry potter's over. now what?

- for those who needed coming-of-age hero's journeys ---* twilight and YA dystopia waiting in the wings ---* some pretty iconic tv shows start or hit their stride ---* the mcu's phase one ---* takeaway: the rise of "geek culture" generally - for those who just wanted to go to hogwarts ---* doctor who & the wider world of bbc programming ---* british vloggers, you say? where? on youtube? brb--

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

dan & phil in the first half of 2011

- a continuation of 2010… for now - the videos - british pancakes as a case study of bad fan behavior

streaming and social media

- the birth of snapchat, twitch, and younow - netflix starts developing original programming - multi-channel networks (mcns) - digitour

dan & phil in the second half of 2011

- and they were roommates (omg they were roommates) - fantastic foursome - youtube glitches out - the super amazing project - the first proper baking video + wait, is that the bbc?

~ baking interlude 1: christmas cookies ~

the family sugar cookie (sorry, delia)

amy's 2011

(2012): why is anyone nostalgic for this

the transition from desktop to mobile

- massive growth in smartphone ownership 2011-2015 - things one might do on mobile one might not do on desktop - non-online ways smartphones changed being a youth™

what is tumblr and why is my child using it

- how the site is meant to work - fandom, memes, aesthetics, and SOME public figures - want to be anxious and depressed in peace? come to tumblr - this site seems a little……… gay ---* tumblr's very queer, very neurodiverse userbase ---* legacy media representation in 2012: bad! ---* actual academic research on tumblr users (yes, it exists) - the tumblr experience for non-native english speakers

amy becomes a vibrating mass of panic and paranoia

- in context of the above - additional rant about the american public school system

the growing dan & phil audience

- investigating the origin of the term "phannie" - more collaborations = more viewers - more video uploads = more /invested/ viewers - younow and interacting with fans - watch time replaces clicks in the algorithm

online etiquette, or lack thereof

- mid-transition from the 2000s to the 2010s - "professional internet celebrity" is still basically brand-new - lack of boundaries - various ways to be an asshole online - unsupervised kids simply do not engage in best practices

the end of 2012

- dan and phil move to london - wikipedia vandalism - tiptoeing around a top contender for the phandom's greatest sin - super amazing project DONE, now it's BBC RADIO TIME

(2013): arguably the most important year

- wait. what's that six-second video platform over there--

[amy's curated vine compilation]

- a new wave of internet comedians (read: future youtubers) - the zillennial lexicon - other platforms start emphasizing short-form video content - magcon

emo is BACK - well, sort of

- fob hiatus ends, mcr breaks up. my god. you had to be there - more open ties to nerd/geek culture than in the 2000s - these things once again intersect at dan and phil

dan and phil in the first half of 2013

- siri, what's a "sex symbol?" why are you booing me i'm right-- - d&p are everywhere - radio shows, interviewing, hosting - youtube uploads on their individual channels

rapidly changing cultural attitudes towards queerness

- gay marriage will be legal in places other than canada soon - a lot of assimilationist rhetoric though tbh - parallels to the pop feminism of the decade

hey kids, let's talk about compulsory heterosexuality!!

- what is it and why do people do it - academic, tumblr-level, and anecdotal research - the dannies, the phillies, and the phannies

amy

- the closet™ - mental health stigma - 2013 dnp posts from my main blog

dan and phil in the second half of 2013

- subscriber milestones, vidcon - joint content before the gaming channel - phandom starts having a major presence outside tumblr

(2014): achievement unlocked!

it's time to talk about rpf

- definitions (a chance to be annoyingly pedantic) - academic perspectives and fan discourse on the ethics - when the subjects clearly aren't fine with it - so… we can acknowledge "shipping phan" was different, right? ---* sometimes the subjects are fine* with it, actually ---* how dan and phil started to handle the shipping ---* obvious differences between phan and other rpf ships ---* sharing my favorite passages as a first-time phanfic reader

dan and phil in 2014

- wikipedia vandalism 2: electric boogaloo - bbc request show → internet takeover - the 7 second challenge - youtube content, subscriber milestones, rewind - cons and award shows

tumblr reaches the peak of its influence

- yahoo's attempts to monetize the userbase - buzzfeed and aggregators steal our jokes and bait our clicks - legacy media dangles carrots and uses us for free marketing - the legend of korra breaks TV precedent, almost out of nowhere - the tumblr user experience ---* on mobile, without xkit ---* on desktop, with xkit ---* 2014 dnp posts from my main blog

gamergate and its long shadow

- trolling, renewed and revamped - algorithms push increasingly extreme content - the broad conservative backlash conglomerate - increased normalization of conspiracism in general

my greatest sin [not clickbait] [very funny]

- so, circling back to comphet… - the actual story

anyway, let's talk about danandphilgames

- a star is born: dil howlter - different types of gaming content on youtube at the time - why did 17yo amy not subscribe? well…

~ baking interlude 2: chocolate cupcakes ~

make your own frosting. it freezes well

roasting myself further

(2015): it's not queerbaiting when it's real people

facebook "pivots to video"

- mark zuckerberg lied. water is wet - causes other platforms to REALLY double down on video - the birth of musical.ly - corporate-branded creators (read: future youtubers)

queerbaiting enters mainstream public consciousness

- academic origins - early fannish and acafan writing - johnlock, destiel, and sterek - statistics 101: type i error, type ii error, and queerbait

dan, phil, and the phandom

- bbc, cons, & the brits - danandphilcrafts - phan conspiracies ---* japhan ---* body language experts ---* timeline truthers ---* floor plan investigators ---* no but seriously imagine it - regular youtube uploads ---* solo content ---* joint content ---* subscriber milestones, rewind - tatinof uk and tabinof ---* on "selling out" ---* revisiting the statistics 101 lesson: now with real people! ---* never meet your heroes (unless they're dan and phil)

amy's (temporary) exit from the phandom

- it's legal adulthood with a steel chair!! - growing discomfort with some fans' behavior - 2015 dnp posts from my main blog - the closer: final fantasy vii

(2016): season finale

vine's imminent demise

- content platforms behaving badly - content creators behaving badly

youtube after "the great rewiring" (as haidt calls it)

- version 1.0 of the modern youtube algorithm ---* deep neural networks for dummies ---* what's holding creators accountable, or not - advertising and sponsorships ---* basically every child and youth™ is watching now ---* the battle for our attention ---* regulators start to crack down on undisclosed ads - the rise of drama/tea content (and later, channels) ---* youtubers are now seen as regular celebrities ---* dan and phil as the butt of other youtubers' jokes ---* baiting the phandom for engagement

tatinof us and aus

- a proven new model for live show tours - show & documentary released to youtube red (now premium) - [sigh] the tour bus

sea change in online fandom

- the newer, sometimes queerer media in korra's wake ---* better and more representation in live-action tv shows ---* voltron (i'm sorry!!!) ---* the mystic messenger craze ---* alice oseman & heartstopper - the new dynamics of #discourse ---* proship is to anti as phannie is to phanti ---* the bad behaviors of the 00s get a new coat of paint ---* new, though: fans harassing creators ---* a personal note on ace discourse

dan and phil presence off-tour

- the internet takeover ends - regular content, subscriber milestones

so. uh. current events.

- brexit - sorry the united states is a font of chaos - ripple effects

closing out the year

- amy finally gets an anxiety diagnosis and treatment! hurray! - dapgo, rewind - bbc radio awards & the boncas - gamingmas

(2017): time for a rebrand

tangent - sit down!!! buckle up!!! today's lecture is on PSIs & PSRs!!!

"parasocial" as defined by the current zeitgeist

- summing up youtubers' and laypeople's opinions (not dan's) - an unfairly negative stance overall, imo

older academic literature

- the 1956 paper (yes, 1956) - with traditional celebrities - with fictional characters

current academic literature

- with youtubers and other content creators - positive effects on the audience - negative effects on the audience - broader societal implications

fandom spaces as a parasocial experience

- parasocial and truly social interactions with each other - phandom as a supportive, welcoming space for oddballs - what research i can find about neurospicy folks, + anecdotes - me and everyone else on planet earth move to discord

inherent transactionality

- the nature of celebrity - positive effects on creators - negative effects on creators

reexamining early phandom through a parasocial lens

- the good, the bad, and the ugly - the role audience demographics played in all of this - entering, exiting, and remaining in the phandom

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

vine is well and truly dead

- some had prepared to become primarily youtubers (smart) - some move to musical.ly, insta, facebook, or snap (less so)

the sun sets on danisnotonfire

- i am very normal about dan's hobbit hair, i swear. - the last dnp content before the rebrand - new apartment, new floor plan investigations

adpocalypse now

- youtube has become the village elder of platforms ---* increased scrutiny, increased responsibility ---* some youtubers had been getting away with !#$!#@% - the scandals ---* pewdiepie + logan paul ---* elsagate and being "family- friendly" (read: ad-friendly) - censorship and monetization ---* adsense revenue goes down as advertisers pull out ---* the glory days of posting whatever and making bank are over

amazingphil and ~daniel howell~

- youtube & younow content - that week in march - vacations and conventions - conjoined baking and the concept of a "soft launch" - daniel & depression → dan as a mental health advocate - truth bombs, ii announcement, rewind

(2018): the phandom vs the hiatus they told us not to worry about

interactive introverts

- "giving the people what they want" - in hindsight… - let's talk about dnp fans from the global south

youtuber burnout

- it wasn't just dan: (more examples than header fits) - the old model was simply not sustainable - newer contributing factors - research on burnout, plus personal anecdotal experience

other dan and phil content

- younow/rize lives - dan's last videos before… you know… - phil's solo content in 2018 (quiff!!) - pinof → wdapteo - the gaming channel

other stuff happening online and in the world

- youtube raises the barriers to monetization - many "pivot to video" creators are now independent - the modern youtuber's multiple streams of income - continuations of societal trends in 2016 - musical.ly becomes tiktok - notable: she-ra and the princesses of power

the hiatus™: part myth, part reality

- how long dan was actually offline - major confounder: tumblr implodes almost overnight - major confounder: perception of content density from '13-'16 - major confounder: rapidly maturing audience - major confounder: our temporal awareness is about to go way ↓↓

~ baking interlude 3: scotcheroos ~

minnesotans and their obsession with "bars"

amy has one last existential crisis (you know, to date)

(2019): demolishing the closet with a nail bat

phil videos in the first 5 months of this very important year

basically i'm gay

- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - multiple things can be true at once

coming out to you

- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - why phil waited (actual explanations, speculation)

amy's 2019

- return to the audience, not really to the phandom (rip tumblr) - strange coincidence that i also had a major life transition

dan and phil: still here, freshly queer

- twitter becomes the main nexus of phandom, by default - regular phil uploads + brief return to younow - vidcon

(2020): go home and stay there

so it's a goddamn global public health crisis

- infectious disease perspective - effects on overall well-being of adults - effects on kids and teenagers (sorry to all of you) - political and economic impacts

hitherto unforeseen levels of online content consumption

- tiktok replaces basically all short-form video content - yet another wave of new (otherwise unemployed) youtubers - you're watching a video essay. these got really popular now. - being young and isolated: thoughts from younger phannies

the Content™ bc that's the one word we use for this now

- phil's videos - when dan is around - that attitude magazine interview - pour one out for the phil solo project(s) the panini wrecked

further political disaster… avoided?

- checking in on the state of social issues previously discussed - unfortunately,

(2021): welcome to the 2020s, we have lingering trauma

THE PHOUSE?!?!?

- social media posts - the stereo shows

other dan and phil videos

- phil's solo videos - gay and not proud - hometown showdown - other joint videos - phil's #shorts (sounds normal in american english)

panini updates

- vaccines soon, uwu??? + entrenched misinformation - pros and cons of remote work - pros and cons of remote school - pros and cons of remote socializing

you will get through this night

- younger me really could have used this book too, dan - thoughts as a professional in a related field - reflecting on some of my more unique circumstances

daring my old school district to sue me (again!!)

- updates: racism and transphobia - updates: right-wing freaks take over the school board again - residents vote against improving mental health resources

(2022): dan returns (still not on fire)

hey so politics are um getting worse

- americans lose the right to reproductive freedom ---* the quickest of histories on where these freaks came from ---* this shit kills people. - trans kids become the punching bag of culture war discourse ---* fuck off! (gently) ---* fuck off! (i have a knife) ---* checking in on terf island

we're all doooooooooooooooomed

- dystopia daily my beloved - the style, the substance, the metatextual analysis-- - not everyone loved it, though. why? - the promo - dan on tour + sister daniel

amy's 2022

- i got covid - then i got long covid: brain fog, pots-like symptoms

some more news (i will work on my warmbo impression)

- dan joins tiktok + danisnotinteresting uploads - phil: uploading less, busy doing remote crisis management - twitter is acquired by an idiot jackass - heartstopper on netflix! ---* the show and what it means to people ---* drama (revisiting "real people can't queerbait") ---* why this has anything to do with the phandom

~ baking interlude 4: cinnamon rolls ~

- lovingly, recipe changes and corrections :) - if i have an opinion about anything, it's sweet yeasted breads

(2023): the phrenaissance

phil

- joins tiktok! - youtube uploads through september - what even is phannie tiktok. i've never used this app. help.

dystopia daily b-sides

- dan memes of 2022 - the 2023 dystopia daily episodes

amy: the doctoral candidacy process

- purgatory, privilege, poverty, and free pizza - checking in on what this is like outside the united states

pretending the panini is over

- complaining about post-adpocalypse censorship standards - honest take about "giving up" on covid - who gets the short end of the stick

the youtube algorithm is BAD and UNINTELLIGENT, actually,

- unhinged rant about not hearing about the gaming rephrival - because i was offline from other platforms. like, @amyoffline.

pov: you are a phannie (not me) on october 15th

- what i was doing on october 15th - saying goodbye forever, spooky week, and november - gamingmas - phil uploads through december

(2024): fifteen years of terrible, terrible influence

hey what the fuck is going on

- dan and phil ---* joint and phil videos ---* jokes they never would've made ten years ago ---* a collection of emotional posts about how far they've come ---* people want fun and silly content again. we'll get to why ---* nostalgia, hope, and other warm and fuzzy feelings - the phandom ---* ancient parasocial attachments, reactivated instantly ---* people are way more normal now. let's discuss why ---* tumblr vs twitter vs tiktok phandom

we're all doomed, youtube version

- my thoughts - thoughts on "dan should/shouldn't" do video essays - i can't objectively evaluate anything he makes bc [gunshots]

terrible influence tour

- legally phlonde - the concept: healing one's inner child / taking it back - we gotta talk about phannies in the global south again - no but seriously imagine it? ---*ogres are like onions, they have LAYERS ---* [placeholder for whatever does(n't) happen]

anglosphere current events once again

- the likely us tiktok ban - the tories get fired - [placeholder for whichever hell americans manifest] - witnessing genocide and feeling powerless

ffx full-circle moment to the intro of this video essay

- the night i found out they came back - why i am doing this, now with context - reflections on a nearly 15-year (parasocial) relationship

whatever youtube uploads we get during fall/december

AMY SEES TIT (nov 14)

- the vibes at the phamily reunion - buying merch to apologize for eternal ublock origin use - how much should i document?? (not during the show) - phanspiracies confirmed - atlanta confessions - favorite bits - the alternate universe where i went to tatinof and/or ii

(2025): the horrors persist, but so do we

whatever 2025 content is out while i'm still working on this

our parasocial social club

- let me be philosophytube for a second ---* every interaction has a parasocial element ---* what are we obligated to do as a phandom, actually? ---* as people who parasocially care about these two dorks? ---* what else should we be doing socially to be at our happiest? - "they're my gay uncles" vs "i'm a little in love, even now" ---* riffing about the boundary/overlap between these camps ---* sibling reads me for filth in a single text (sister daniel...) ---* at least we're all in this together

what's going to continue to draw people in

- grown adults drawing our cat whiskers back on - updates on queer/nd kids - updates on anxiety/depression rates - updates on tech and the broader environment of content - world still feels doomed

tangent - the "hard launch" and why people want it

what are people referring to, exactly

- general definition and other examples - when it comes to dan and phil - maybe they hard launched already and we just missed the memo

the ludonarrative of phandom

- if you got here early on - if you got here in the mid-2010s - if you got here after they came out - if you got here post-hiatus - final fantasy comparison: ffvii's chokehold over first-timers

a rom-com for the ages

- the tropes in play - brief tangent on the evolution of the genre - queer romantic comedies - final fantasy comparison: ffviii's plot and squall/rinoa

phriends… or…

- wholesome influence, slice-of-life - projection - final fantasy comparison: ffxv's gameplay loop, the chocobros

humans don't like ambiguity

- from a media perspective (narrative tension) - research from the hard sciences - final fantasy comparison: fanille ---* the first gay final fantasy characters, actually ---* ffxiii's character development process ---* fang and vanille in the text. brb, clawing at the walls ---* so, if anyone is looking for a phyuri au prompt…

tl;dr: reality is not fiction. make peace with not "knowing"

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

the phuture

- phil's big solo project when??? - dapg is just the joint channel now - youtube has changed since when dan last "regularly" uploaded - nothing lasts forever, and that's okay

~ baking interlude 5: ranch + pizza ~

- ranch propaganda and ranch metaphors - showing off my dough and sauce skills

conclusions

- a lot has happened in 15 years - [placeholders: don't write your conclusions before you do your research]

Proof this project can only be done in consultation with Tumblr: no other platform we're on could accommodate a post of this length and formatting detail lol

[imtiredthatsalligot]

F Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night/ New Titans #55/ I.B. Vyache Conversations over Sanguinacchio/ Tales of the Teen Titans #50/ Unknown/ Grayson #9/ Fleabag Episode 2.6/ Outsiders #8/ Hera Lindsay Bird, Mirror Traps/ Robin and Batman #3/The Amazing Devil, Farewell Wanderlust/ Batman Year 3/ Natalie Wee, Our Bodies and Other Fine Machines/ Preludes to the Wedding Nightwing vs Hush  

[digitalmidnight]

Project Eden's Garden Predictions

This is meant to be silly. Spoilers in post and in tags

There's a really big influencer light and Kai just walks right up to it and gets fried like a moth. Kai is a victim.

An area opens up with remote controlled RC cars. During the race, everyone hits the sand bags at least once. The sand bags start leaking pink. They open it like a cocoon. The butterfly was broken upon the wheel. Kai is a victim.

Toshiko forces Kai to watch teen rom-coms with her. Kai is a victim.

Grace goes "Screw you Damon. The man I shared a bed with is gone, so I'm killing the man you share a bed with." Kai is a victim.

Damon was supposed to die in Chapter 4. Kai becomes aware of the plan, but ends up dying himself to save Damon. This kickstarts a series of events (like the butterfly effect) that lead to Damon finally being fully into being part of the group and ending the killing game. Kai and his killer are treated as martyrs. Kai is a victim.

Same thing as above but Damon commits a murder instead. He gets away with it. It doesn't matter anyways. Kai was a victim.

Damon goes: "so how did the victim die?" Kai says: "Like this!" Kai is a victim.

Eloise is training late at night and sees Kai acting odd. A misunderstanding happens where she doesn't know it's Kai specifically. Still, she believes whoever she saw, which just happened to be Kai, was a horrible, irredeemable person. She makes him suffer. Kai is a victim.

Jean kills Kai for his attempt at French. Jean is a bigger victim. Kai is a victim.

A big plot involving handwritten murder notes pops up. Except the handwriting is atrocious (in trial, there's confusion whether it's Damon or Demond. Also Mark vs Ultimate Marksman). Kai ended up getting killed because the killer confused his last name with Grace's. Kai is a victim.

Diana gets Kai because chameleons eat butterflies and she was hungie. Kai is a victim.

Kai does a little hip bonk to get an item out of the machines. The machine falls over and breaks. Mara gets him. Kai is a victim.

The casts gets it into their heads that this situation is like V3. They totally consented, this is a television show, and all their fans are routing for them. Cassidy and Kai end up fighting to the death for the sake of their fanbase. Kai is a victim.

Someone pops Kai's pool inner tube. He does not float like a butterfly. Kai is a victim.

Ingrid knocks Kai upside the head with a horny jail hammer. And by that I mean sledgehammer. Kai is a victim.

Kai makes it to the very end where the garden itself is starting to crumble. They come across a statue of two men. The boulder that the Cain statue was holding falls. Kai is a victim.

Wenona wants to get out and somehow clocks Damon, Ulysses and Kai to be the only people smart enough to rat her out. Theres a sleepover between a lot of people in Ulysses room to try and research about where they are. The room fills with gas that Ulysses can't smell. The gas is denser than air. Kai, who was sleeping on the ground, is found before anyone else can be affected and the attempt at getting him to fresh air gets everyone else out of danger. Kai is a victim.

Jett goes "I like cars" and suddenly a car appears out of nowhere and hits Kai. Kai is a victim.

Kai begs Mark to listen to his super cool music idea. "Trust me it's so cool and you just have to make it but it's a billion dollar idea. I'll pay you in exposure. It'll totally pay for itself-" Kai is a victim.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". Two strangulation victims are found. You would think it would be the two women with bird motifs, but only one of them is. Kai is a victim.

It's a simulation. Kai is a bug in the program. Tozu removes him. Kai is a victim.

Kai discovers Mukuro Ikusaba. The sixteenth student, lying hidden somewhere in Eden's Garden. The one they call the Ultimate Despair. He didn't watch out for her. Kai is a victim.

Kai gets really messy in a bathroom with his hair dye. The pink smears make him look like the killer. The class gets it wrong and everyone is a victim. Kai is a victim.

Desmond is dared to hit a target. This triggers a trap which kills Kai. There is a debate over if whoever set the trap is the killer, or if whoever hit the target was the killer. Doesn't matter to Kai what the answer is. Kai is a victim.

Damon is too comfy cozy to get up. There is nothing containing Kai except for Damon sleeping on top of him. Kai starves to death. Kai is a victim.

[umbrellajam]

Tales of the Teen Titans #53 - Dick and Kory vs. Donna and Terry; very cute doubles match inside Titans Tower

Batman (Vol. 1) #468 - Tim practicing against a ball machine at Wayne Manor. Bizarrely, he's shown playing both left- and right-handed in different panels (but primarily left). Artist mistake Ambidextrous Tim evidence?!

[3simsblr]

Mcbling Clothing CC dump

It's shockingly difficult to find 2000's style clothes for The Sims 3, so here's a list of items I've come across that I think do/can work for the Mcbling style. Some of the items are YA/A only, some will need CASt to really read Mcbling. This is not yet an exhaustive list, but I hope it helps others who are also finding it difficult to find cc they're looking for. CC under the cut!

Juicy tracksuits:

Juicy Velour tracksuit

YA/A Juicy Outfit

Teen Juicy Outfit

Juicy Couture tube top & pants

Bottoms:

Denim skirt 1

Denim skirt 2

Capri jeans

Jeans with embroidered back pockets

Teen studded denim shorts

Denim skirt 3

Pleated denim skirt

Pleated denim skirt 2

Tops:

Layered tank/bralette

Tank tops with lace (particularly the one on the left and center, with recolor)

Sparkly angel top (download link there is broken, I snagged the sfs link through a big adventure on the wayback machine so download here)

Layered tee

Another lacey tank top (rightmost tank top, it's the one named "Top Descent" in the file)

Teen Juicy Rules top

Dresses:

Belted dress

Ed Hardy dress

Shoes:

sandal wedges

thong wedges (the closest I've come to those chunky wedge flip flops from back in the day)

high heels

platform heels

Other:

Whale Tail Thong (I believe there are others out there, but this is what I've run across)

VS inspired PJ (I think) Set

That frosty lip we wore (if not a fan, can do a lip gloss that isn't super shiny and it'll look like a frosty lip)

oversized square fame sunglasses

That's what I've got for now. If people actually see this and want to add to the list, I would be overjoyed! Anyway, I hope this helps!

[thewadapan]

Spent today checking out The Amazing Digital Circus and Murder Drones, and god, the kids today have it so good when it comes to this sort of content. When I was a teen, I was obsessed with Red vs. Blue and RWBY, which I think it's fair to say are the equivalents of the time, and the sheer gulf in terms of writing quality and production value is stunning. I hear there were some rumblings of unprofessional conduct from the production company, which would hardly be surprising considering this is yet another guys-working-from-their-basement success story, but much bigger companies with much shittier business practises consistently put out much worse content than this.

The Amazing Digital Circus is definitely the better show of the two, thanks to its slam-dunk premise and some great writing from Gooseworx. The producers have talked about aiming to fill a perceived gap in the market between kids' cartoons (The Boss Baby) and adult animation (Bojack Horseman), and I think they have successfully threaded the needle to create a very unique tone. There's a sense of these works existing totally outside the mainstream media machine; they're not getting BBFC rated, but you just know millions of kids are watching them. It's on YouTube and the fact that it looks like some Frozen Spider-Man kids' slop just means da parents won't question what their kids are watching.

But truth be told, there's nothing objectionable about the content of The Amazing Digital Circus whatsoever. It's unusually metatextual and loosely apes the aesthetics of much darker media, touching on slightly more existential themes than your typical kids' cartoon, but it still has a lot in common with those same cartoons. The zany characters are all fairly one-note, and the emotional arcs of the episodes are honestly quite straightforward. The second episode in particular has an absolutely textbook plot structure to it. It's a far more self-assured and traditional style of writing than you ever see in this kind of independent work—certainly far more so than Murder Drones, which is written by an insane person.

More than anything, I'm reminded of how I felt watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica: that it's a very solid work of fiction, but that the people who'd get the most out of the work are isolated teens struggling to make the transition into adulthood. Certainly if nothing else, the fandoms of these shows must be bringing a lot of kids together around the world. I adore this soundbite from Goose: "Above anything else, I just wanted it to feel kind of lonely." You see Pomni's worldview shatter, she suddenly finds herself in a body that feels completely wrong, and she has to construct a new kind of belonging for herself.

As for Murder Drones, that show's absolutely fucking nuts, yo. The writing is at once painfully basic and utterly incomprehensible. If someone just sat down and explained the plot straightforwardly, it would be fantastically boring. But man, the presentation, the sheer delight the animators seem to approach every scene with...! I'd say it's clearly trying to use "the characters are robots" as an excuse to expose da kids to some absolutely shocking levels of gore, much like the Transformers movies, but midway through the series it starts straightup swapping the oil and wires for blood and bones and you've got to respect that.

The writing itself is so excruciatingly irony-poisoned that it goes beyond cringe and somehow wraps back around again to being sincerely funny. The show kind of wants to have its cake and eat it in terms of constantly lampshading how flat and cliché the emotional plotting is, but also clearly aiming to genuinely tug at the heartstrings and whip fans into a frenzy. And it kind of succeeds, I think! The way it veers between bizarrely high-effort implementations of memes, seriously cool fight scenes and horror visuals, and big emotional moments is very disarming. If The Amazing Digital Circus is an attempt to faithfully rework the American-cartoon formula for a slightly older audience, Murder Drones aims to crib the aesthetics of high-school cartoons while actively rejecting every traditional narrative technique used in those stories. Which means it's kind of bad, which means it's also kind of great.

If it's not already, then within a couple of years it will be deeply cringe to have ever been into Murder Drones in particular or (to a slightly lesser extent) The Amazing Digital Circus, in much the same way that everyone seems embarrassed to admit they were ever a Homestuck fan. But like with Homestuck, I feel like these series are genuinely pushing at the frontiers of storytelling in a way that's commendable and might inspire new kinds of writing once the fans grow up.

ENA is also pretty good, for the record.

[jevilowo]

Not sure if ive already done this. But.

Predictions for COMIC 7

CHARLES DARLING WILL BE THE FINAL ENEMY besides Helen. Trust me on this one I swear they wouldn't have brought him in if they didn't have plans. ALSO the mother of the Mann triplets (Bette Mann neé Darling) was RELATED TO HIM HE'S RELEVANT. I'm so convinced he's the one Helen made a deal with and he's going to make a grab for Mann Co.

We'll get to see Bilious Hale in a flashback and find out what happened to him. Bilious Hale, oh guy who punched coal out of mines and sat on John Wilkes Booth while other people shot at him, my beloved. I hope they don't reveal he was a bad father or anything.

A woman is nice to Ms Pauling for once and she gets a smooch. She deserves it. Hopefully it won't be a smooch from Helen (DAMN YOU 4CHAN LEAKS), the old lady's had her hired since Pauling was in her mid teens.

WE GET HORSEMANN LORE! this is just wishful thinking on my part the Horsemann makes me insane. Shout out to Silas Mann fr. If he doesn't show up, I hope they at least acknowledge or reference him. I swear they had plans for him back in 2010. Which they then immediately abandoned in favour of developing Mann vs Machine.

Spydad reveal. Pretty much a given. No need to elaborate. I hope Scout’s mother shows up I love her.

Demo gets something important to do! He's only been there for comedic bits so far really, so I think he deserves some Serious Plot Stuff.

Build up to and cop out on Pyro face reveal. The whole thing of Pyro's character is the mystery, so I think the funniest way to go about a face reveal would be for us to only see the team's reactions and have them all react very differently e.g. Scout vomits, Demo gives them the thumbs up, Spy starts taking horrified notes, Engie looks vaguely lovestruck, Saxton Hale expresses annoyance that they aren't actually *insert obsucure species of something here* like he thought.

CONAGHER LORE!! By which I mean Engie shows up and has a chat with Fred about Radigan and immortality and whatnot. Fred has to have been spared from the bloodshed for a reason, right?

Classic Medic shows up! Or they confirm he is dead. Or they confirm he is Pyro which is a funny theory I read once but sincerely doubt. Maybe they'll pull a Bea and have him have been a girl the whole time.

I have a crackpot theory that Helen/Elizabeth is actually Bette Mann (again, mother of the Mann triplets), and while it's unlikely to be true, it would genuinely be so funny if I'm right so WATCH THIS SPACE. My main reasoning is Helen started her Australium search the year the triplets were born, aka the year Bette DIED, and also Bette is a nickname for Elizabeth. Also also it adds to my theory that she will team up with Charles Darling, who is, as I've already said, related to Bette.

Olivia gets to do something important also. Saying this bc she's mostly been a prop so far. I'm manifesting a sideplot where she summons the Horsemann to beat up Charles Darling for her.

Merasmus returns! Last we saw he was arrested, but Jay Pinkerton really likes his Soldier/Merasmus interactions so chances of him coming back are high.

There will be a joke like "geez it feels like it's been seven years since we beat grey mann" and a panel where everyone just lets that process before going back to plot stuff

Chances are, a new comic after so many years means there will be new writers, and the fandom has changed quite a bit since the last one. There will be SUBLIMINAL SPEEDING BULLET SHIPPING. There will be MORE FOCUS THAN IS REALLY NECESSARY on Scout. SOMEONE WILL THEY/THEM PYRO which sounds great actually you know what I forgot where I was going with this godspeed.

ZHANNASOLDIER WEDDING FINALE!!!

[phoenixyfriend]

Star Wars AU Masterlist: General AUs

Navigation Post

Fun fact, tumblr allows 250 links on the old editor and 100 in the new. So. Network of masterlists. This is one of sixteen masterposts I have for Star Wars. These are just the most ‘generic’ of the AUs.

(Also this post has been randomly deleted at least once so uhhhh great thanks to the wayback machine holy shit.)

RANDOM AUS IN CANONVERSE

Misconceptions AU

Fem!Obi-Wan - not the same AU, but related: hair and makeup

Magically attractive Obi-Wan

Obi-Wan is Immortal (and it’s not great for his self preservation)

Padme/Sabe timeline

Jedi who leave the Order as a way to save it

“AUs where Obi-Wan gets adopted by Mandalorians” but I made it pro-Jedi and also Obitine

I did not know that about Haiti, whoops

Omegaverse Jedi should be LESS intense about sexism, not more

Pre-TPM

Obi-Wan fakes his death on Melida/Daan

Dooku knows Jango before Galidraan AU

Slutty Xanatos

Sharad Hett finds baby Anakin in Mos Espa and has to Deal With That

Shake that (Stewjoni) Bagpipe - various instruments with various characters

Anakin & Obi-Wan age swap, ft. Anakin and Satine being saltmates

Mand’alor Satine

Rael finds and keeps Komari - Expanded

Force-Sensitive Satine Kryze

Xanatos-Obi age swap (Xanatos/Bo-Katan)

Aayla/Bo-Katan meet during The Year On The Run

Quinlan meets toddler Anakin pre-canon, and Obi-Wan has a contact on-planet (Shmi) when TPM comes around

Raised a Sith Anakin, except Dooku snaps up Anakin and his mom from Mustafar since he’s better at Childcare than Sidious (who is annoyed at this situation)

That time Qui-Gon turned into a tree (via @willowcrowned, with fic by @smilebackwards)

Pre-TCW

Anakin&Obi-Wan, Jedi Stuff

Anakin’s paternal DNA came from Palpatine via Sith Magic

Anakin Skywalker, Secret Son of a Disgraced King

* Kick Up Your Heels - The Summary

Drag Queen AU - Oh, That’s Just Ben

Obi-Wan Wins a Moon

Tiniest Assistant Teacher

Anakin Loses his Connection to the Force, Time For Career Guidance - Addendum

Amnesiac Qui-Gon

Taking out Obi-Wan Kenobi (MaulObi)

Murder Puppy Anakin

Anakin the Snake - This AU is in the Wider AUs masterlist

One of several reasons Qui-Gon may not have been the best teacher for Anakin

Anakin’s teenage rebellion

Through strange coincidence, Obi-Wan and Shmi are actually stepsiblings

The Jedi are Kyber

Best masters for Anakin when Obi-Wan and Mace aren’t available

Obikin Sleeping Beauty AU - TCW Anakin finds a hot guy in cryo, turns out it’s Qui-Gon’s missing padawan from like twelve years ago

Mandalorian and Clone Stuff

Bo-Katan Decides She’s Siding With Family

* Kamino Belongs to the Clones (ft. banana)

Secret Clones AU

Anakin finds the clones a year early

In which Bo-Katan, or possibly Jango, breaks the cycle of violence that raised them

The Darksaber Picks Satine

Sith&Other Stuff

Ventress vs. Absolute Primogeniture

Maul ‘acquires’ Ferus Olin

Dooku Acquires a YA Sith Maul, following up on Sidious’s notes: I can teach you the ways of the Dark Side. Dooku, following literal decades of habit: …I can domesticate him.

Dooku becomes Count of Serenno… and brings the Jedi with him

Dooku hasn’t Fallen yet, and adopts teen Ventress, who has

An Accountant in Theed

Parenting Focus

Obitine Raise Anakin, ft. Grampa Dooku

* Mand’Alor Korkie Kenobi

The secret accidental Obitine baby isn’t Korkie, it’s Bo-Katan - Bokkin addendum

Obitine’s Pregnancy Scare

Obi, Protect Them

She’s Little Sister Shaped

Power Limiter Robes

Quinlan’s Smear Campaign

Artoo and Threepio adopt Boba

* Congratulations, Master Jinn, It’s a Boy!

Anakin isn’t human and reproduces via Space Parthenogenesis (and possibly lays an egg)

A “Stewjoni are all capable of pregnancy” fic where Obi-Wan offers to have Bail and Breha’s heir for them

Calligraphy I prompted from @theshitpostcalligrapher

Bo-Katan is Korkie’s bio mom, but got him removed to finish gestation in a tube (like clones) as soon as she found out because she was sixteen and not at all ready

Transmasc Obi-Wan babytraps ‘escaped Naboo intact’ Maul, who is now having difficulty deciding what to do with himself - Why we love MaulObi

TCW

Main: Anakin

Anakin Assists the Jedi Council While On Medical Leave (with a Horrible Miscommunication Addendum by @willowcrowned) - Now with a longform (and really good) fic on AO3! Sith Lightning, Paperwork, and Other Extreme Sports by @deadstarsrisingsblog

Chip Reactivation AU

The Romance Movie Curse - Ficlet written by @chaoticevilbean

Deserters? What deserters?

Anakin accidentally used the Force to make people like him, and is now panicking in an attempt to undo All of it (especially Padme)

Mace gets de-aged, hooks up with Anakin (much to the distress of Obi-Wan and Depa)

* Ficlet: Because I Fell Too

In for a Penny (Anakin confesses to the Tuskens)

Truth Serum AU (Anakin confesses to the Tuskens) - It’s all fun and games until it isn’t

In Which Palpatine Leaves the Door Open (Anakin confesses to the Tuskens) - A conjugal visit

Voluntary servitude (slavery) as the highest form of penitence and reparation on Tatooine, Anakin’s apology to the Tuskens - A different response - The context of Anakin’s childhood

Anakin invents a twin brother

Undercover Anakin&Mace have to pretend to be father and son

Anakin becomes aware of the fourth wall and ‘solves’ his problems by leaking nudes and otherwise fucking up his life “The way to break free of a story’s gravity is to consider every possible option and then pick the one that makes the absolute least sense.”

Sith Heir Anakin arranged marriage to second daughter of Mandalore Bo-Katan

Everyone Anakin meets is obsessed with keeping him safe post-Mortis and he hates it (horror)

Main: Obi-Wan

Mandalorian Mamma Mia (AKA Korkie lies about his dad)

(Most Obi-Wan focused AUs are in other lists).

Main: Ahsoka

Ahsoka gets Winter-Soldiered (This already exists and is much better than I could have managed)

Artificially Evil Ahsoka (Mortis had some lasting effects)

Ahsoka accidentally becomes a Film Noir Private Detective after leaving the Jedi, and derails all of Palpatine’s plots

Ahsoka’s crush on Barriss is “notice me senpai”

Bosoka arranged marriage when?

Main: Disaster Trio

Ghost on the Wire AU

* Anakin’s DNA Wish

Even Ventress Sees You’re Dad - Anakin talks too much

Disaster Lineage on SpaceTube

SW Prequels “Watch Your Own Series” AU (chrono)

Anakin & Barriss

Obi-Wan joins Dooku in AotC as a ploy to gather information, fails upwards

Anakin Accuses Obi-Wan of being Blonde

Sudden Soulmarks

Ahsoka accidentally outs Palpatine as a Sith through the use of incomprehensible emoji jibberish

Main: Clones

In which Cody and Rex Accidentally God-Mode - Kix Fights Rex’s Blood

Furbie the Coruscant Guard

Clint and Matt

Ghost Kitten Clones

Keep the Jedi Out of It, now with art by @lemoneste

In Which Fox Arrests His Boss - On a Technicality

Bly’s Glitching Brain Chip

Commander Fox is the Organas’ sugar baby (non-sexual, mostly)

Rex/Ventress - stranded together

Sponsor a Battalion

Fox arrests some senators for littering

Cody and Fox become building safety inspectors post-war

Clones deserve to be frat boys. Also date Anakin.

Rex/Barriss, in which Barriss is Fucked Up (but trying to do better)

Echo takes Dogma under his wing

Main: Other

Sidious and the Worst Kidnapping Ever

Who Gave Ventress the Keys? - Additions by others

Yoda commits a murder, blames the dementia

Shrink ‘em

Necromancied Qui-Gon kidnaps Ventress (she’s a Free Grad Student) - Addendum

Ventress Gets Married to Fuck Up Sidious’s Day

Dookasta interviews/negotiations, TCW as the galaxy’s ugliest divorce

Korkie picks up the Darksaber, and sees Dead Mand’alore

Satine manages to piss off both sides of the war by taking in defecting clones

Parenting Focus

Ahsoka Steals a Baby

Rattatak Death Swap

Baby 501st Legion

Oh, So THAT’S What People Think

Fairy Jango Fett

* Big Sis ‘Soka

Anakin volunteers to be a surrogate (the timing is… not optimal)

Trans Anakin explains that he is NOT the father

* Implications of a Miracle Pregnancy

If Obi-Wan gets pregnant, Anakin’s going to be the one getting invested in the future nibling

Grieving with Newborns (Padme still dies, and Anakin goes to Obi-Wan for help) - Addendum - Addendum 2

Ventress gets pregnant as a get-out-of-jail card

Anakin and Obi-Wan babytalk the twins differently

Post-O66

* Eldritch Ahsoka (1k plus notes)

- Speaker of Mortis

The Mortis Song

Emperor Bail - Addendum

Pirate Mace (Mace survives O66, joins Hondo) - Tax Evasion

Yularen’s Radio Show

Yularen undercover on the Death Star (feeding info to the Rebellion)

* When Vader Fails (in the Wrong Direction) (quick note)

* Owen Needs a Favor

Korkie gets dragged along on Bo-Katan’s insurgency plots

What’s Korkie Up To?

Barriss breaks out of prison and incidentally joins up with Rex

Barriss breaks out of prison and finds Ahsoka because she needs an external moral compass

Quinlan finds, frees, and press-gangs Bly into helping him fuck up the Empire, in Aayla’s memory/honor

Ventress Bothers Darth Vader

Bo-Katan bothers Ben Kenobi

Vader hallucinates so intensely that he destroys the Empire because he talked to a ghost who was disappointed in him.

Vader gets turned into an anime waifu and everyone hates that

A trad Mando of Din’s type finds Merrin, and decides to return her to her people. The only one still alive that they know of is Ventress.

Padme’s Handmaidens: Let’s Scam The Empire Into Thinking Amidala Is Still Alive

Original Trilogy and Beyond

Han’s Anti-Force Force-Sensitivity

Bumbling Vampire Han Solo

The ghosts of all those murdered Jedi Kids are haunting Vader but he’s just… too pathetic for them to try that hard

Mace’s ghost mentors Luke - Jocasta’s ghost mentors Leia

ANH Obi-Wan pretends to be senile, lost, and politely befuddled on the Death Star when noticed by Stormtroopers

Rex and Wolffe, dying Cody

Boba Accidentally Acquires The Darksaber, And Now He Can’t Get Rid Of It

Vader skypes his kids from jail

Mpreg Vader - This AU is in the Wider AUs Masterlist

Trans Vaderkin pregnancy, prenatal addiction to the Dark Side - Followup

Darth Vader gets turned into a cute teen girl and makes it everyone’s problem

Luke finds Decrepit Old Hermit Dooku hiding out on some mountain and recruits him to the new Jedi School before anyone can tell him why that’s a bad idea

The Mandalorian:

Ahsoka’s got Beef (The Mandalorian)

Boba’s Older Brothers

No, REALLY Old

Whacking sticks

Maul’s Back - Now with art by @its-not-a-pen

What I would want out of The Mandalorian            

Bo-Katan knows Luke is Vader’s kid, keeps her mouth shut

Bo-Katan fucking with Obi-Wan’s Ghost

Get some actual Mando’a in here, Disney, you cowards

BobaDin but Fennec’s making fun of Boba the whole time

Satine is one of the darksaber ghosts - Addendum

Tradition as Din’s Covert vs. Tradition as Death Watch

Middle-Aged Foppish Duke in Distress Korkie is very enamored by Mand’alor Din regularly rescuing him

[beebopurr]

Ppl acting like the Jinx vs Vi 1v1 without weapons is an equal fight are insane bc there are so many factors that just make that not true.... Vi technically wasn't WRONG when she said Jinx had to use her "chickenshit gadgets" to beat her bc in a way that's true!! On a pure physical standpoint, even teen Vi outmatches Jinx (at least according to the boxing machine) so she isn't WRONG per se, but it IS spoken in a way that's misleading. Jinx's 'chickenshit gadgets' aren't chickenshit gadgets, they're real weapons made by a genius. Vi targetted them when she was talking shit bc that is Jinx's lifeblood!! She's posturing! Trying to demean Jinx's REAL talent in an attempt to intimidate her and make her feel small!!

Also that was never a real fight in the first place bc they were just being bitches to each other.... anyways I just hate the vibe people give off that Jinx needs to 'surpass' Vi in this way as if she already hasn't surpassed Vi by MILES on the front of her technological prowess. The entire show she was comparing herself to Vi and that wasn't a good thing. They are separate people with their separate talents that unfortunately overlap in a way that is explosive.

Anyways they're both assholes and I think they both deserved to slap the shit out of the other for being a bitch. Equality <3

[chowadoe]

Heyyy I just have a question about your au (which I'm obssessed with btw)

How did Robotnik stumble across Sonic? How did they find eachother and why did Sonic choose to work with him? (I noticed you used quotation marks on the word "raised", this is why I'm asking)

(Also I'm sorry if you have explained this before I'm just dumb and forget things alot😭)

hehe yes!! i touched vaguely on it but in the AU, but i have more thoughts

the AU is set in a Mobius/Earth that's heavily-industrialized, nearly robot-run and almost-dystopian backdrop.. rather than it being a case of man vs robot, its more like Earth vs the over-industrialization done by humans.

I'd like to think Robotnik found Sonic when he was pretty young, before his teens. since it's a role reversal where Sonic takes on more of Shadow's "ism"'s, I'd think there's lapses in sonic's past/memories that's simply a result of his upbringing in an machine-operated unnatural world. possibly found him orphaned and beat up from an unfortunate run-in (with either a robot or something else) in some junkyard. also toying with the idea that Robotnik suspects a rodent problem in his lab because whyyy is stuff going missing :/ and it seems to be connected to this little hedgehog over here.

Robotnik, having a lapse in his usual evil scientist judgement, decides to take him under his wing under the self-disgusing excuse of 'yes! haha! i'll teach him for taking my stuff! he can become my minion! my protege!' (when really Robotnik probably has a soft spot for kids). Robotnik is also quite interested in Sonic's extraordinary speed, thinking he'll prove quite useful for his future endeavors if he can train him. of course, Sonic is like a stray dog and kind of feral, because who can he trust in this world other than himself, so used to fighting for scraps where he can. the socialization process is long and arduous process LMFAO (as for the clothes, Sonic isn't interested in things that are readily given to him, he likes pissing Robotnik more, so lets say its something he "borrowed" from the scientist's closet and modded to his own liking. hes silly like that)

Robotnik at first tries to placate him with clothes and "toys" and "treats" (like fidgets and building sets and small robots. Sonic always ends up breaking them.) with little success. Sonic probably escapes several times, only coming back for something he needs- and its a routine that they both get used to because Robotnik can say "this is your last chance!" all he wants but when is it ever. and it's a habit that Sonic never really outgrows either.

Robotnik comes to the conclusion that Sonic is better left treated like outdoor cat that lets himself in when he's bored or whatever else (Sonic's quite good at sneaking into places. hedgehogs and burrowing and all that). eventually the machines and robots Robotnik builds do pique Sonic's interest-- but mostly in breaking them. he's more invested in the ways he can take things apart than anything else and that's a reoccurring headache Robotnik imposes on himself by dishing out new tech for Sonic to try out and they come out worse for wear at the end of the day.

They both mind their business at the end of the day, their relationship is rather estranged with little-to-no familial regard, Sonic's more of a thorn in his side than anything, but Robotnik still does have a soft spot for the rodent. Sonic is like the adoptive son that just never left his rebellious phase, wanting nothing to do with his guardian but bothering them when its convenient. he's Robotnik's contractual accomplice but only when it's on Sonic's terms, only agreeing to certain requests if it's interesting enough, like trying out Robotnik's new "toys"/weapons/robots or if it's tech that happens to boost his existing abilities (that he can try out on Robotnik's robots or G.U.N. soldiers or whatever gets in his way first).

[hd-fan-fair]

Title: Five Times Draco Malfoy Used Muggle Things Incorrectly (and One Time He Didn’t) Creator: Anonymous Prompt: #205 Muggle Theme: Draco Malfoy is Clueless About Muggle things Rating: Teen Warnings/Content Notes: Auror Harry Potter, Parolee Draco Malfoy, POV Harry Potter, EWE, Supportive Ron Weasley, Weird Pureblood Customs, Domestic Boyfriends, Fluff and Humor, Minor Injuries Summary: Harry had never expected to arrest Draco Malfoy in a Tesco in Newham, London. He'd also never expected to fall in love with him. Word Count: 8,537 Creator’s Notes: Thank you @phoenixacid for a great prompt! I loved your ideas, and I hope you'll enjoy Draco's adventures in the Muggle world as much as I enjoyed writing them. Hugs and thanks go out to my lovely beta J., who did an amazing job as always, and of course to the mods for their hard work and dedication.

Original Prompt (205): Draco vs. the self-scanning machine at the Grocer: “Scan what!” Draco vs. public transport: He pulls out a big bag of gold, and the bus driver goes, ‘Oi, scan your card!’ Draco vs. the microwave: Draco leaving a metal spoon inside, Harry returns to a kitchen filled with smoke etc.

( Five Times Draco Malfoy Used Muggle Things Incorrectly (and One Time He Didn’t) )

[itsjustcaroline]

Alright, I thought long and hard about what we might see in Arcane Season 2, what the Machine Herald is going to look like, who else we might see, and so on.

Also, this post does not contain any leaks, I have seen one picture, which doesn't even make sense (lucky me). If you spoil anything under this post, you are going to be blocked. I will talk about bout the trailers, though.

So, let me get my thoughts in some order:

- if Viktor was the hooded person in the trailer or wears a mask, then it's probably more because of his side in this war: he's not a Piltovan, but also not really a Zaunite anymore. We don't know when he moved from the Undercity to Piltover, but from his concept art, it was most likely during his early teens.

He's slightly younger than in S1 Arc1, but already wearing the Academy's uniform (though it seems a bit too big for him, and his pants are more rigged).

So: Viktor is going to be a Pariah and he is going to need to hide his identity, which makes a Collab with Jinx unlikely since she's on the run from everyone. Singed might be there in the direct aftermath after he got blown up, but they're probably going to fall out again since lore-wise Singed is going to team up with Noxus.

- In League of Legends Heimerdinger is a mage (shooketh, I know), and there's already a scene in S1 alluding to this: when Viktor and Heimerdinger are in Heimerdinger's office, Viktor goes through Jayce's notes and is intrigued. He asks Heimerdinger, whether he could do it (magic) and Heimerdinger hesitates a tell-tale second before he declines. Now, Heimerdinger might be a mage, but he relies mostly on his inventions. But wouldn't a fight between Viktor and Heimerdinger be cool? First, they throw ideologies at each other, then they fight. I think, I'd love this even more than Viktor vs. Jayce. Kinda like Obi-Wan vs. Anakin.

- I think, that Caitlyn is going to shoot Vi. Everyone I read so far thinks that it's the other way around, but that would be too predictable in my opinion. But maybe it is that way.

- Just stating that everyone is going to be contrary than they were in S1 and going from there falls a bit short. I think, that there's more to this quote.

- Divorce Era, because Jayce does, in fact, not understand. I am going to cry.

- The Hexcore will save Viktor's life in the aftermath of the explosion, and there are three ways I can see that happening:

(1) Viktor does it himself, maybe with the help from Singed.

(2) Jayce does it, thus breaking his promise to destroy it. I am going to cry

(3) The Hexcore, which is now connected to Viktor will sense his doom and burst to him. That might also be the shine, that Heimerdinger saw in the trailer.

- That brings me to another point, to the connection towards the Void: I don't think there's much to it and that the Hexcrystals are not shards of the brakken. However, I think the Hexcore is sentient due to Sky. Think about it: it changed its form after it disintegrated (or absorbed) Sky. Then it hurt Viktor (honestly, same. You think, you can walk away after accidentally dusting me and threatening to destroy my new essence? I'd be pissed). It might be interesting, if the Hexcore/Sky talks to Viktor in his head, furthering his spiral into madness. I'm here for it.

- Ekko will learn how to manipulate time and he will use it to try and save somebody. Be it somebody from the Firelights, their hideout or Jinx. Maybe it will go in the same direction like in the Convergence-Comic (which is, I repeat, outside of any lore), maybe not.

- Well then, what Viktor might look like: my favourite head-canon would be just as described in The Pulse of the Machine by bringthekaos on AO3. Mechanical eyes? Voice modulator can be shut off? Emotional suppressor has a switch? Rawrs in cyber-engineering. As it stands, I imagine it more to be like Battle Angel Alita (the manga, NOT the film!) or like a Borg from Star Trek. Definitely NOT like a Cyberman from Doctor Who.

- Who else do I want to see in S2:

Swain, just give me the Noxian General and heal my Daddy issues.

Renata, just give me the Chem-Baronness and heal my Mommy issues.

Jhin, Arcane should take place around the same time when Jhin was in Zaun. But that is a far shot (pun intended)

Camille, she exploits Hextech to become a weapon and I think she is kind of contrary to Viktor, who only ever wanted to help (others, himself, though with sometimes dubious means

I don't see that Orianna is Singed's daughter. That would fuck her beautiful lore. Don't do that to me.

Stuff, I'd also like to see:

- Viktor's apartment in Piltover

- Viktor's parents (flashback)

- Jayce's father (flashback)

- Jayce and Viktor fighting but unable to do so properly

- Mel and Sevika together

Thanks for coming to my Arcane-Talk.

[paulkleestan]

I’m honestly tired of people babygirling Beavis both in and outside the fandom and I don’t think the movie or 2022 revival helps much. Even if people keep his a-hole teen boy nature they still characterize him as that way just because of Butt-Head goading him - so here’s a list of awful things Beavis has done - mostly outside of Butt-Head’s influence

Sadistically pulled a bumblebee’s limbs and wings off just to watch it squirm and suffer (You Might Think music video)

Stomped on and killed multiple men unprovoked in the Godzilla opening sequence of Do America (Butt-Head only swatted a helicopter away because it was in his face while trying to put the moves on a chick)

Said he would kiss a dead chick (“Candy Sale”)

Falsely accused a man of child molestation as a joke (“Manners suck”)

Stole the wallet off a guy he thought he killed (“Patsies”)

Was fine with letting Butt-Head drown (“Water Safety”) and wanted to burn him alive (“The Special One”)

Called a woman “old” and said she “should do something about that” in group therapy and made her cry (“Close Encounters”)

Claimed that he only cares about himself and everyone else should die (“Mr. Anderson’s Balls”)

Thought it would be funny if a guy fell on a pitchfork and it impaled him in the stomach (Rusty Cage music video commentary)

Asked if chicks would do anything he wanted in heaven (“The Final Judgment of Beavis”)

Peeped in on a woman going to the bathroom (“Vs the Vending Machine”)

Put a piece of paper up the butt of a horsefly and watch it slowly die of exhaustion while he looks upon it with glee (“Most Wanted”)

[nobite02]

Dean and Metallica

Dean was born in 1979, which puts him in Generation X. Even though he is technically at the tail end of this generation (generations are not decided by birth years; I will die on this hill), his personal experience would have been more typical of the middle of the generation. It's generally accepted that music taste develops in adolescence and early adulthood, around 12-25.

Many of the bands we see as Dean's favorites were at the peak of their popularity in the mid-70s to early 80's. This would include Led Zepplin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Kansas, Lenard Skynard, and Blue Oyster Cult, which are all of the classic rock variety. Still, there is also Iron Maiden, Motörhead, and Def Leppard, which are more hard rock moving into metal categories. All of these bands have their most popular albums, which come out from anywhere between 1974 and 1984, which would make Dean around 6 years old. Suggesting that these are the bands that John may have listened to.

However, Metallic is also one of Dean's favorite bands. Metallica was formed in 1981, and their first 5 albums were extremely popular from 1883 to 1991. The black album, or their self-titled, came out in 1991, meaning Dean would have been 12, right around the time people developed their music tastes.

We don't see Dean enjoying much of the popular Gen X music, such as any of the prominent grunge bands: Nirvana , Peral Jam, or Alice In Chains . Alt-rock, such as Weezer, Green Day, REM, and Rage Against the Machine. Other metal bands popular in the 90s include Mega Death, Pantera, Slayer, and Anthrax. We see evidence of glam metal through the fake names they use and bands like Warrant, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, and Poison, but it's minor.

Metallica is well known for popularizing the thrash metal genre, which began to develop in the early 80's. Many elements that categorized the genre come from punk and hard rock of the late 70's and 80's. Eventually, moving into more of a hard rock style with the black album and later albums. Many of their influences include classic and hard rock bands of the 70s, all of which have been mentioned. All to say that Metallica was new in the 80s and "underground" and would have been popular among teens rather than adults who liked rock.

John, an enjoyer of typical "classic" rock, would have likely found Metallica too fast and chaotic. Dean, being 12 when The Black album came out, would have likely found it on his own (though other kids or just listening to the radio) and began developing an interest in Metallica. John and Dean likely would have fought about it due to John not liking it, the pushback of normal adolescents' developmental stage, and the sense of self-development.

Enter Sandman and Some Kind of Monster are referenced/played in the show. Enter Sandman is the top track from Metallica and was released in 1991 on the black album. Some Kind of Monster is from their 2003 album St. Anger.

This was a lot to say that Metallica sticks WAY out from many of the other bands Deans enjoys. To me, it appears something HE chose to listen to vs. what John listened to. Metalica's lyrics often address addiction, war with anti-war statements, religion, and mental health.

I suggest listening to Dean's favorite Led Zeppelin song, "Ramble On," against any Metallica song. Some of the top ones are "Enter Sandman," "Master of Puppets," "Some Kind of Monster," and "One."

Most of this is pulled from my head, from what I know from my parents, my history of rock and roll class I took 4 years ago, and some minor googling. PLZ share any other thoughts you all have. I'd love to hear them!

[serialadoptersbracket]

Round 2, Match 1: Ogai Mori vs. Pascal

Submitted kids:

Ogai Mori: Uhhhh let’s go with Dazai and Chuuya. It gets complicated to figure out the adoption status of everyone else

Pascal: Village children

Propaganda under the cut!

Ogai Mori:

"Alright so Mori is a shady criminal underworld doctor who’s out here treating /looking after the sick boss of the Port Mafia. During this time he runs into this kid who tried to kill himself and treats him (because he’s a doctor and that’s what he does). This kid (Dazai) is HIGHLY suicidal and will Not Stop trying to kill himself. So Mori’s like “ok stick with me real quick” and takes him to visit the mafia boss. While they’re there Mori kills the boss and tells Dazai that’s he’s the only witness and the story they’ll tell is that the boss died of natural causes and made Mori his heir.

So the plan works and now Mori’s the mafia boss, plus he’s looking after this very suicidal teen on the side. Meanwhile someone (Chuuya) is out there single-handedly destroying the entire mafia. So Mori looks into it on his own and goes “oh that’s a teenager! Around the same age as my boy! Imma capture him and force them to be friends! :)” So he does, but they (Chuuya and Dazai) HATE each other. Absolutely despise each other’s very existence. So Mori’s like “well if I force them to work together forever, then they’ll HAVE to get along!!”

Anyway his two boys become the most powerful duo in the canon lore of this animanga.

Eventually Dazai leaves the mafia because his friend dies while doing mafia work. Very tragic, Mori still talks to him like he’s his estranged son that he wants a relationship with. Mori and Chuuya don’t interact much in the main manga but in all the bonus material he’s definitely very parental to him. Specifically the aquarium side story from mayoi— sure that was a job but iirc he kept telling Chuuya to relax and just enjoy going on a fun aquarium trip."

Pascal:

"not putting all of his lore here bc of the pg-13 rule but he's this robot who is the sweetest guy imaginable, he is pretty smart cares a lot for his kids (again, cant get TOO into that but he is v/ protective of them) and also is a pacifist who rlly just peace between the androids & machines even tho thats pretty fucking difficult (he even is an ally to the android resistance and trades w/ them frequently!)

from his unit data (because im Bad at describing things lol):

""A pacifist machine lifeform that despises conflict and strives endlessly for peace with humanity. This unit possesses incredible intelligence, as well as a deep interest in the history of both humans and machines."""