#that's part of the reason why I wanna go in research; at least then most of my job is discovery

[fennthetalkingdog]

My flavor of giftedness isn't gifted kid burnout, my flavor is "never quite burned out but now is stressing because academics aren't the same as the real world and while I'm good at academics I'm horrible at real world stuff so I'm desperately trying to find a career that's somewhat close so I don't utterly fail whenever I get a job"

[anexperimentallife]

The US far right has been working on their plan since AT LEAST the 1960s, when I was a kid listening to evangelicals talking about their plan to take over the US, and eventually the world. It's called "Christian Dominionism," and it's a fascist ideology which goes hand in glove with the GOP's plans.

Although it was not expressed so much to the world at large, this plan was OPENLY and FREQUENTLY discussed in far right circles. We kids, if we asked about it, were told that it was "God's Will." Ask any exvangelical about it, and they'll confirm. (Part of why I know so much about these dangerous and deluded folks is I WAS ONE OF THEM in my youth.)

And where has that plan gotten them? Well, the GOP recently released a hundreds of pages long document filled with their intentions if they win--including a nationwide abortion ban and a repeal of anti-discrimination laws, among other things.

Trump has already signaled his intent to create a military dictatorship if elected, by repealing laws against using the military against US citizens on US soil sp he can deploy them against dissenters, etc., and if the GOP pick up a few more congressional seats, he can do it. The GOP has already pushed to repeal presidential term limits, and Trump has indicated he'd like to be president for life.

So I'm amazed at all the people who think withholding their vote and letting the GOP win is going to somehow fix things and "push the Dems left."

You wanna know how to push US politics leftward? You're not gonna like it, because it takes actual work beyond stomping your foot and pouting and performatively showing everyone how "pure" you are by refusing to vote.

You have to start the same way the far right did (and again, they've been OPENLY talking about and pursuing this plan since I was a kid in the 1960s, AT LEAST)--they started by getting the most extreme right wingers they possibly could into any position they could. Positions like school board member, police chief, sherrif, city prosecuter, city council member, municipal judge, mayor, governor, hell, fucking dog catcher.

They encouraged far right extremists to become police officers and military personnel and work their way up the ranks to the point at which even the famously-racist FBI reported that major city police departments across the nation were pretty much taken over by members of white supremacist organizations.

In formerly reasonable churches, right wingers pushed for the hiring and training of more and more right wing pastors and mire right-wing theology.

More affluent right-wingers bought local papers and broadcasters, and as their political power grew, they changed laws to make it easier for a single entity to control the news--until now a mere handful of entities own nearly every major media outlet in the US.

And then they used every victory as leverage for the next one, and worked their way up. I mean, there's more, like the capitalization on economic and social anxiety and their inentional exacerbation of same so they could take advantage of it, but that's intertwined with the rest.

Essentially, they got this far because they put the work in.

If the US left is going to turn things around (and if it's not already too late), we've got to do the same, but it takes RESEARCHING and PROMOTING your local and state candidates, attending city council and school board meetings, and shit like that. It's actual fucking work to fix a country.

And then, after you've done all that--and after you've shown up to primaries to try to get any non-authoritarian leftist candidate you can nominated--then you vote for the leftest folks you're able to in the general. If there are no remotely leftist candidates, you vote for the centrist or right winger who will do the least damage.

Again, that's what the US far right has been doing for decades. Taking action. Wherever possible, taking new ground, but when they couldn't do that, ceding as little ground as possible. If they couldn't win, they made damn sure to do everything in their power to try to keep actual decent human beings from winning.

Actually doing the work doesn't have the emotional satisfaction of a grand gesture, but it definitely shows who is serious about making a difference and who would rather let everything burn than sully their imagined purity by voting for anything less than perfection.

Listen, Trump is not going to end the genocide in Gaza--in fact he increased tensions between the Israeli occupation and Palestine. And the GOP will never be persuaded. Hell, they want to let Russia take Ukraine and declare open season on asylum seekers.

The Dems suck. But the GOP is far, far worse, and will do MORE damage, and kill FAR MORE innocents. And if allowed to do so, will make it even harder to change the system than it is now. They've already PUBLICLY ADMITTED that their only chance of victory is keeping people from voting. Don't play into their hands.

Under current circumstances, you know what the Dems are going to do if Biden and a bunch of other Dems lose for not being pure enough? You think they'll be all like, "Oh, no! The left sure taught us a lesson by handing the country to the GOP! We'd better shift to the left!"

No. They're going to sip champagne in their multi-million dollar mansions and have meetings about how they need to move FURTHER RIGHT to win elections, because the left doesn't vote.

And if the US becomes a military dictatorship, most of the high ranking ones will simply take their fortunes and leave.

Yup, it'd sure teach ol' Joe a lesson to force him to spend the rest of his days sipping cocktails on the Riviera.

Look beyond the single battle and think strategically. That's how the GOP keeps gaining power. And refusing to act strategically is why the left is losing. We cannot take the hill we want right now. But if we lose the hills we've already taken, we risk losing the entire goddamn war.

So fucking vote. Work to get every leftist you can in any office you can. And if you can't do that, support the one who will do the least harm.

And if it takes voting for that shitbag Biden to keep Trump and the GOP out, hold your fucking nose and pull the goddamn lever.

[gyarustarrr]

LORE LORE LORE!!!🗣️🗣️🗣️ (This is super long and my English is horrible for a native speaker so bear w me)

ILL BE REAL I DIDNT PUT MUCH THOUGHT INTO A REASONABLE BACK STORY but bcuz shes a self insert i had to make a mention for my bestie who can EASILY be in the pressure universe fr <3

Pre-lockdown: I think itd be unique that if Sebastian was used to give humans gills then Phanny can be used to find immortality cuz who doesnt love when a corrupt corporate entity tries to find the cure for death, happens all the time lol. I say for the important parts shes fused with an immortal jellyfish, my favorite jelly which im extreme jelly of 😼😼😼😼, and i would say that its possible that she could live forever IN THEORY with the dna of that jelly but that would have to be tested lmaooo.

I believe because shes also able bodied (mostly) she would be given similar jobs as Sebastian so shes not depressed, rotting, or lashing out. Not sure if they'd work together but she's observant and being a psychologist, she def psychoanalyzing the hell outta everybody in the facility out of boredom. She seems happy but ofc its a coping mech to make the best out of the absolute horrors around her, still emotional unstable and freaks tf out frequently. Once Sebastian frees everybody, she's free to roam and sees what Sebastian is doing. She asks to assist him in his goal but she only plays a part once Seb handles BIDNESS on land during lockdown. Post lockdown she scavenges for data and whatever here and there but shes mostly left alone or out of most of his operation, yk,,,working with Mr Lopee and all. She really tries to get close with Sebastian (despite emphasizing hes a married man, YEAH SURE BUDDY YOU'RE LIKE 32, WHATEVER MAKES U FEEL BETTER💀) and being the drama fiend i am, i think having a "moment of weakness" would lead to their complex semi romantic possibly toxic dynamic.

Fight: And as i did my research its highly debatable if Sebastian is telling pAInter the truth about getting them both out. Phanny would believe this without question cuz if he can make a plan and has all these skills and resources, he should be able to take everyone (this also includes other peoples inserts and ocs who are experiments because it makes the setting more lively and interesting). I even thought of a cool ass line my homie thought was cold asf for argument dialogue between Phanny and Seb about taking everyone back up to the surface.

Just to summarize: Phanny mentions how noble Seb is after making progress with his escape plan, assuming that he'll take at least as many people as possible including Phanny. Sebastian at this point is already trying to push her away post weakness moment and he know damn well he's just doing this for himself and never accounted to leave w/ a whole damn facility of sentient experiments. He just wanna see his mom again and hes already working in private with Mr Lopee i mean this is a one man escape plan. This ofc shatters Phanny cuz from what hes saying, nobody and he mean NOBODY is getting out of here with him. Hes not a savior and hes not responsible for people he dont even know or fuck with like tf?? And Phannys like OKAY? Nobody's asking you to be JESUS but can you at least be Moses?? Free us so we can all get justice! Explain why you can't take a handful and come back once u take this damn company down?? What about your promise to pAInter? To ME.

Ofc it ends in a big brawl, think Mark getting his shit rocked by his own dad (Omniman from invincible) and they just have this heartbreaking dialogue and they split ways.

Post fight + breakdown: After this, Phanny is basically losing it. I even have a vision for this if it was actually in game and she was an actual character with weight to the gameplay. Like crying and wailing in the vents and pipes, shit breaking, Phanny not being seen for a majority of the game until shes physically stopping u from going through doors and rushing the player. Not to kill them, she loves the expendables and protects them but if she really has to if it means Sebastian can get out/she gets to see another day then...

Plus i drew what that would look like in my last post where shes just standing in the dark in the corner blocking the door. Even if shes not blocking the door she's obviously going through something and can't be interacted with, she just follows the player with her eyes and breathes heavily. If its not that then shes crying by the the water and interacting with her gets the player a DEVIOUS side eye or no response.

Pre-breakdown + if she were actually in the game: I can't really explain why she would help the expendables WITHOUT knowing removing the crystal will indirectly end their lives, i actually havent evaluated that yet but shes friendly to expendables, takes free trade in exchange for shiny objects, and can be seen hanging out with or talking to Sebastian, or passing by in the water/halls. She's capable of killing the player entirely by accident due to her tentacles hanging from the ceiling which she chills in and dying to her makes her scream or apologize (before Sebastian says something snarky) since shes strictly against killing and never willing.

Announcing ur presence helps her know shes in the way. Typical interactive npc shenanigans. Maybe even saving expendables from certain attacks but these are rare interactions in the game. She's overall friendly and if she were real, she'd prolly be a fandom fave (ofc not on Sebastian's level, LETS BE HUMBLE YALL😭) because shes so polite and her tragedy comes near the end where the player isnt even aware of how she became hostile in just a few hours of the run. Her story would hardly happen in game and itd be one of those things a creator would have to mention outside of their game for fans to know abt yk?

Its typical for creators to just drop the craziest lore ever about a character but they're purposefully vague or literally like oh yeah time constraints so we scrapped it lol.

ALRIGHTY CLASS, ANY QUESTIONS? (typing this on my phone was so crazy guys ik its a lot but trust me its DECENT lore </3

[munchboxart]

I wanna yap about Goodsmile's new packaging because the arguments against it are pissing me off

According to the company, the new design will cut down on 84% of plastic waste by them.

I'm very happy Goodsmile is making this change, I really fucking hate plastic waste, especially since it's pretty much useless outside of it's original purpose. Also because I think it's ugly in general.

Now, I know most people are upset about the window being gone. The more reasonable argument that I've heard was that you can't tell if it's a fake or not. Now, I don't know how much knock-offs there are of Nendo's, but can't you just ask the person to open the box and take close up photos? Also, if you're that worried about knock-offs, I'm sure there are legitimate stores where they sell officials, or guides on how to tell what's a knock-off and such. But I don't go here that often so I'm just hazarding this as a suggestion.

The other argument I heard against this is branding. Which I think is really stupid. Like yeah, the window is iconic, but it isn't a need. Brands can always do re-brands, at least this one has a positive on why they're removing it.

Also, Gundam and Transformers have made packaging that don't have a window like this and they're still fine. Goodsmile will be fine, they're a massive company anyways, not some indie studio.

Oh and "that it's harder to imagine what the doll will look like" as an argument or something. Which is... huh. I guess if you're looking for a particular angle, yeah, but I'm sure someone out there will make a video reviewing the figure.

The only alternative I can see where it reduces plastic AND gets to use the new packaging is something like this

Just imagine the plastic parts as the paper boxes instead but with the plastic window in front. Although, I think it adds more paper waste compared to what they're going for but whatever.

I kind of lost steam in the middle of writing this, but I'm just frustrated at the people against this. I get what it's like being a collector, I have a bunch of Kirby and Transformers figs. And I also get dealing with knock-offs. Although, Transformers is a surprisingly unique case where they're happy to say that they're a KO LOL, but it still happens (like with the Masterpiece series, I had to research what a KO looks like). But overall, I think the positives of reducing mass waste beats a collectors needs.

Edit: Also, if you're already a hardcore collector, I don't think this really changes anything for you outside of the box design? Just keep an eye out on pre-orders, look at reviews and photos, buy from trusted sources, etc.

[hfjonewiki]

Hi! I hope this isn't a strange thing to ask but could you tell me more about ii-critical? I'm writing a research paper on the ii community and I wanna gain more insight to what that part of the fandom was all about.

My main questions are: Why did it exist? Why were you apart of it? What were the posts like? What was the biggest drama? Hell, what platform was it even on??

I wasn't that deep in the OSC when it was up and running (only really got into the community in ~2018) so a lot of community context from that era is lost on me. If you have any other object show oldhead insight for ii you wanna share, please do! I find fandom fascinating and would love to here more stories.

hoooo boy...... cracks knuckles. i went over it a little bit in a previous post but i'll try and give more info this time

(also this should go without saying but please don't try and seek out anyone mentioned or involved its been like 6-7 years since all this happened. also most of us were mentally unstable teenagers hence the. everything)

ii-critical originated as a tumblr blog created by someone named mira (i have no idea if they still go by mira or what their pronouns are now. i'm just gonna stick to they/them for convenience) as a way for them to discuss their criticisms towards the show's writing. the blog was created in mid-to-late 2017, during a time period where "(media) critical" was becoming a common tag. the trend was started by "su critical", a tag created by steven universe fans to discuss the show's faults in response to the show being in a rut of making some VERY dubious decisions (i believe it was started around bismuth's introduction, which was heavily criticized at the time for MANY reasons). the "critical" tags were often created for fandoms who tended to be hostile towards criticism of the media they were based around. the inanimate insanity fandom didn't really have that issue, thankfully. and so, the blog "ii-critical" was born.

at the beginning, the posts were about mira going through an episode beat by beat, and pointing out things they both liked and disliked about it. occasionally, there were posts analyzing a specific character. i'm kind of speeding through the "what were the posts like" section because that is by far the LEAST interesting part of the ii-critical mythos

i found the blog very shortly after its creation. it caught me at a good time, because i was at a point where i was becoming disillusioned with the show (episode 11 was the most recent episode at this point, and i really disliked it due to it being at the peak of ii's melodrama era. the show just felt miserable to watch. s2e11 sucking butt is still an opinion i stand by today Lolzor). mira and i started talking and i was brought on as the blog's other moderator, and i wrote my own analysis posts.

the blog was decently successful and didn't actually get that much hate. most people agreed with our criticisms and were, like, normal about the concept of a thing they liked being flawed. at some point we had a decent amount of followers and made the ill-fated decision to create a discord server for the blog. for added context: at the time of the server's creation, mira was 13, and i was 14. we were NOT old enough to be running a public discord server that at least 50+ people ended up joining.

the server had a lot of problems, mainly in regards to the channels. since we were both at the age where you are hormonal and stupid, we decided to make the nsfw channel accessible to everyone, and didn't even ask for people to include their ages in their intros. a concerning amount of people assumed that mira and i were both adults, or at least older teens until we said otherwise. we also had a blacklist and vent channel, which, word of advice, you should NOT have in a public server. shit gets out of hand SO fast. i vividly remember there being at least one guy who posted in the vent channel on a near-daily basis about pretty serious stuff. trust me when i say that people shared some HORRIFIC information in there. also, we had an emoji that was just a drawing of donut from bfdi with his whole cock and balls hanging out because we thought it was funny. i'm pretty sure there wasn't a "please don't post the donut balls emoji in non-nsfw channels" rule anywhere either.

i could go into more detail about various happenings, but that delves too deeply into interpersonal drama that frankly has no business being shared publicly. one of the most concerning things that happened, however, was this one guy who would come in vc, barely say anything, and fuck around with his gun the whole time. and yes, you could hear it. eventually we got reports of him being predatory towards a younger member of the server, and he was banned. i think that was the first thing that made mira and i go, "oh, we might've fucked up". there was also another incident where somebody was leaking information from inside the server (yet another reason why the vent channel was a HORRIBLE idea), and we banned a bunch of inactive people until eventually realizing somebody had stolen the username and pfp of a real user and impersonated them to stay in the server. this whole ordeal lasted like, two weeks. and again!! we were just BARELY no longer preteens at this point!! and we still thought, yeah, we can handle this. we're super capable. at one point we hired two other moderators (one of whom was 14-15, and the other was an actual adult for once. having an adult moderator led to us FINALLY locking the nsfw channel off to minors, since we had somebody who could moderate it for us), but this was towards the end so most of the damage had already been done

i was removed as a moderator on the blog after a large amount of interpersonal nonsense that, again, i'm not going to get into. it was mainly just because i was spending too much time in the server instead of posting on the blog like i was supposed to. a couple weeks later, i was suddenly banned from the server and mira had blocked me on everything. again, interpersonal nonsense and both of us being mentally unstable, not anyone's business. we reconciled a few months after and both apologized for being dumbasses, so we at least ended things on better terms.

another notable thing is that sometimes, crew members would pop in and out of the server, and they were surprisingly chill about the blog's existence. it was mainly justin and sam from what i remember, and resulted in this legendary image:

i don't remember this bit, but at some point taylor may have responded to one of our posts and was Not Nice about it? again, i don't remember this, take it with a grain of salt. but knowing his history with getting into shit with fans for no reason and how it got to the point where it was cited as a reason he was removed from the team, yeah that tracks

talking about ii-critical is strange, because i don't know where to draw the line between "infamous blog from the early days of the tumblr osc", "stupid pointless infighting between teenagers", and "genuinely horrible decisions and moderation that caused real damage". i'm trying to stick to just the first one and giving info about the last one when necessary. i'm aware a lot of this is gonna paint my past self in a VERY unflattering light, but that's who i was and what i did when i was 14 and i just have to accept that.

ii-critical was just a facet of the tumblr osc circa 2017. a lot of what happened can be traced back to larger issues with the fandom, especially when it came to restrictions on nsfw content. remember, this is pre-tumblr porn ban. i knew an ALARMING amount of people who had nsfw blogs, and even posted nsfw art while they were minors. i don't wanna seem like i'm making excuses for fucking up when it came to moderation and keeping our members safe, but it's important to know that the blog and server were very much a product of a specific point in tumblr history. we saw minors casually posting nsfw on a regular basis and thought, "yeah, it should be fine to have the nsfw channel open to everyone, right?" and like i said, we didn't originally require ages upon introduction. people didn't realize how badly we'd fucked up until the damage had already been done.

i could go on about the dozens of other ways i fucked up, but that would start to dive into the interpersonal side of things. i think i covered everything that actually mattered. i don't plan on talking about ii-critical to this extent again any time soon. everyone who both ran and was part of the blog and server have moved on, i don't wanna keep dragging people back to what's probably a very unpleasant period of their lives.

that said, if prompted, i will talk about the 2012-2014 deviantart era + "dark ages" of the osc AT LENGTH if prompted. i swear i have wisdom beyond the shitty blog i ran with my friends as a teenager. you dont even know about the Ball OC Discourse

[skiiyoomin]

I was wondering if you could write a saiki & reader oneshot fic with a reader who has DID & C-PTSD and paranoid tendencies? I understand that that might be a bit too hard to write but just in case I got some recorces that might be handy, here is the link to DID listing from my own copy of the newest version of the DSM https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htaraej65e34tg9/AADBATmelRQFUBfTMxaJ3W6wa?dl=0 as well as this website that has a lot of good info on it https://did-research.org/ and this page I found that has a brief overview of C-PTSD https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24881-cptsd-complex-ptsd but I also recommend quickly reading thru the different types of flashbacks (shouldn't be that hard to find info on)

The main idea is that because of the mix dissociation,switching,paranoia, different types of flashbacks etc that the readers thoughts are very fucking confusing to saiki (feel free to use this premise for any kind of plot you want just try not to make it overly angsty is all I ask, well as un-angsty as you can get with C-PTSD anyways lol) I just wanna see more y/n / reader inserts that I can actually relate to but the saiki K fandom is so small

Can be platonic or romantic

Hi!! So sorry for the late reply, I researched as much as I could so if theres anything remotely wrong or different please tell me! Ngl, im not very sure i like how it turned out, nevertheless I hope you enjoy :))

Also i totally get that its hard finding stuff for saiki k which is the reason why i write for it in the first place, they totally deserve more recognition!! Feel free to send more requests in the future!!

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Content: somewhat angsty but not really, i tried to be as vague as possible so as not to trigger anyone, reader suffers from trauma, DID, CPTSD, swearing, fluffy ending? slightly oc saiki

Summary: Saiki was used to listening to many types of thoughts, and at one point, nothing he heard surprised him. However when you came around, he was beyond confused. What sparks as a little curiosity might turn into something more.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

ღNo matter what

He was used to it, or at least that's what he used to tell himself. Throughout the years he had heard all sorts of thoughts, at one point, he learned to tune them out when need be, having listened in on weird enough ideas that now don't surprise him anymore.

When you came in the picture, he was...baffled, to say the least. Confusing wasn't even close of a word to express how he felt. Your thought process was anything but simple. At times it'd be a fuzzy mess almost as if you lost part of your memory, other times, you'd think as if you were a completely different person, contradicting many of your previous thoughts. But what disturbed him most was the series of traumatic thoughts that would cross your mind. Flashbacks he realized in that moment.

In the beginning he felt annoyed, as per usual. Often times, he'd find you in class with a dazed expression, which to be frank, he had seen enough times to not give it a second thought. But then his attention would be caught when your mind would wander and you'd start thinking in a very unusual way. They were so unlike the person you presented to be, so much so that Saiki was left perplexed and in need to understand exactly what was going on.

The more it happened the more worried he'd be. There were days where you acted a certain way, and other days where you acted completely different. He could tell you weren't being fake trying to act differently for attention, after all, your thoughts lined up with the you acted and the things you said. Rather, it was the abrupt changes in your behaviour that had him thinking for far longer than he normally would.

Along the way, he also picked up how you'd flinch if you were in sudden physical contact, the way your shoulders would tense and the way your heart beat would speed up. Saiki wasn't stupid of course, he was aware that all of this was caused by some form of trauma.

He knew not to pry, yet his heart strings pulled everytime he saw you having a bad moment. So he began to follow you, in disguise of course, and even if he seemed like a stalker, he couldn't help it. Eventually he began to connect the dots, your reactions, behaviors, everything. It made sense now.

Unconciously, his words began to soften around you, his touch became gentler, he looked out for you in ways he had never done so with others. You began to notice but in no way did you mind, if anything, Saiki was someone you took great comfort in. What started of small slowly grew into something neither of you expected.

Of course, that didn't make it any less hard for either of you. Like right now. You were laying in Saikis bed, your head resting on his shoulder as you watched a movie, when suddenly a specific scene had triggered an anxiety attack. Your mind was racing through flashbacks of the many disturbing events you had gone through. Saiki was up almost immediately, having read your mind and sensed your reaction.

His touch was soft, his hands cupping your face so gently you'd think he was scared to break you, which he was. He was in no way someone who could comfort others easily. Nevertheless he tried his best. He attempted to lower your heart rate, rubbing small circles against your back as his other hand held the back of your head. No words were needed, they never were. He had, in a way, been there for you, way before you two even became a thing, so none of this was a surprise for either of you.

That didn't ease the guilt in your heart any less. You always felt bad. You knew Saiki could read you, literally. And well, it wasn't pretty. Countless times you had attempted to push him away, yet he never budged.

"'m sorry" you mumbled against his shoulder as your rested your head on it.

He cupped your face in his hands, pulling you to look at him.

`I won't let you push me away. The things you went through won't make me see you any differently, because to me you'll still be someone I cherish'

Your eyes welled up as you looked him deep in the eyes, finding nothing but love for you. Still cupping your face, he ran his thumbs under your eyes, wiping the tears away. He leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead.

'I love you'

"No matter what?"

`No matter what'

[khiphop-discussions]

RAP:Public Ep.2 part 1

They don't talk about it here but J-Tong started the "Buckwilds" crew. It had SO many members and some of them are big names as of today. Zico, Giriboy, Lil Boi, and more. Here's a list (I'm not even sure this is a full list. I remember back in the days thinking there was so many members. I didn't even attempt to memorize lol):

Some things I didn't know but found out on namuwiki:

I don't remember this (I think this was from before I got big into khh) but he was under Just Music and then Ameoba Culture. He also dissed the Soul Connection group (Bang Yongguk's old crew?!?) and it basically destroyed their career (at least as a crew. Obviously BYG ended up becoming BYG). All of this was from before the time I became a huge khiphop fan so I can't give anymore details regarding all of this, unfortunately. I'll try to do some research some other time but I'm sure almost all resources about it are in Korean.

All spoilers from this point on

There's 60 rappers to split between 8 blocks (groups/teams in the rap:public). 60 divided by 8 is 7.5 (shout out to all the contestants who were struggling to find this out in their head cause I was too lol). The teams less than 6 will get eliminated. A team can't have more than 8. So I wonder how that will be reconciled if more than 8 people want to go to one? It seems like there will be votes.

Kaogaii is right. It is advantageous to have a smaller team at the end. 300,000 won has to be split between the members of the winning block. This means it's likely we'll see teams turn on each other towards the end. Probably why we so many many arguments/crying in the flashforwards on ep.1.

Jtong becomes the first member voted on to the block. Next is Loopy. Then, Haon. 4th Since. 5th Khundi Panda. 6th Kaogaii. Apparently, he was on a show called "Money Game" too? Can't lie, I'm suspicious of Kaogaii. He's very aware of survival shows + the commentary he's made? At this point, this is just a show/business for him. So it seems like he'll make tough, sometimes harsh, cold decisions with ease. It's like those people on the reality show who say "I didn't come here to make friends" and they end up being insufferable cause they treat everyone as disposable and will be highly manipulative if they feel it necessary.

7th. Owen...*eyeroll*. 8th. Hippie Kunda. Unexpected but I'm glad to see a lesser known rapper (and another female) make it.

Why they all vote for Hippie Kunda if no one wanted to be on her team? People didn't choose her team but Haon had lots of people who wanted to be on his. 99 Nasty Kids has a short segment. They said both will leave of one leaves and most rappers (rightfully) thought that's a bad mindset to have. Owen was like "They should have gone on a dating show"...boy...shut up. (Note: if anyone other than Owen said this, I probably would have thought it was funny lol)

Jtong chooses Damini, Loopy choose Yukon, Haon chooses Yang Kyle, Since chooses Punchnello, Kaogaii chooses Geegooin, Owem = Double Down, and Hippie Kunda = Drain K (other half of 99 Nasty Kids and also the first person to say he wants to be on her team). Khunda doesn't choose cause he doesn't want people with opposing styles. Luci Gang and someone else. He says he'll wait and recruit good/better artists. Naturally some people won't get recruited to their first team of choice. I understand his reasoning cause its hard to make opposing styles fit. However, I think he might be better off with someone more trendy since show usually come down to who has the best songs/performance as opposed to solely the best "technical" rapper.

So far block 6 is Kaogaii, Jo Gwangil, Geegooin. All talented but none all that popular despite being highly successful on smtm. I understand that. If you don't blow up after smtm, its kind of a sign that you're a but niche. Most people are probably here to max their popularity so they'd wanna go for popular teams. Plus, many probably aren't really fans of these 3 or at least are bigger fans of others. Joonie comes to the team but its clear they don't want her. They don't think she's all that good clearly. Kaogaii feels like she's not good live from what we've seen.

They wanna use Joonie basically as a shield. Make sure they have enough members but if eliminations come, get rid of her. Fucking men. I can admit, this is the most strategic thing to do here. But...fucking men...

Kaogaii is right. Why vote for him but not want to be on his team? He says he's humiliated about it. No one chose his team for multiple rounds. 7th round came. At this point Haon and another team didn't recruit for a round.

Eventually, Kohway and someone else comes.

Block 8 has Bizzy and someone else.

Block 1 (jtong), 2 (Loopy), 3 (Haon), and 7(Owen *obligatory eyeroll*) all have 8 members. 5 (khundi panda) has 6 members and then announced he'd "close" recruitment. He's got Hash Swan, Mason Home, Luci Gang (who he initially rejected instead of choosing?), Mckdaddy, and someone else.

10th round recruitment, o'domar goes to block 6 (kaogaii). Kp goes to block 8 (he initially got passed in the first round with Khundi Panda. He was the one next to Luci Gang earlier).

Last one is Leo (is this the guy signed to B.I.'s label or someone else?). Since rejects him, Khundi seems like he considers to give him the benefit of the doubt but doesn't remember his rap. Everybody is getting secondhand embarrassment and sadness for the rapper but no one tries to recruit.

Finally, Hippie Kunda chooses him. Damn, I wish they'd have done that earlier instead of drawing it out. Somehow I feel more secondhand embarrassed knowing how long it took. Now it's even MORE blatantly obvious they didn't want him but recruited purely out of pity.

But he's smiling with that big pretty smile anyway! OK Leo! Next round show them why they were dumb to not take a chance on you! Head up!

Jtong recruited all of the loud, unique people. Damini, Don Mills, Jeffrey White (okashii), Fleeky Bang, Goldbuuda, and Kang Hyuk.

Loopy: yukon, kim ga yeon, shyboiitobii, khan, xwally, nosun, and raf sandou (okashii). Seems like he wants the unknown people and up and comers. He wants to showcase something new and unique.

Haon: Yang Kyle, James An, Dommiu, Noh Yunha, BBULKUP, Reddy, Osun. Everybody is saying it's balanced. I don't have many thoughts on this team. I'll have to see how they work together.

Since: Punchnello, Kim ryul, Viin, Boi B, sky minhyuk, and cocona. This is interesting. Everybody here is a good performer.

Khundi Panda: mckdaddy, jp, mason home, luci gang, and hash swan. I'm not too hopeful about this team. I'm not really sure how they can do in this show. It's an interesting mix. They are talented but I'm not sure what type of songs they can really do. None of them are really people who make songs that you want to dance/party to or just chill to. Hash Swan can make songs like that but idk about the others. Also, for Swan he can be hit and miss in terms of songs. I like some of luci gang's songs but not a huge fan yet. I am looking forward to seeing more of her on this show.

Kaogaii thinks his team can beat any team. Joonie, Kohway, Koala, Geegooin, jo gwangil, and odomar. This isn't a horrible team. Seems like it has a mix of style and technical skill. It is very diverse.

To me, right now it seems like jtongs team is the strongest. I know some of the members are polarizing. But I've seen enough of most of them to know they can carry their part in a performance or song. If it was solo (which it might become at some points in the show) then I'd be a bit more skeptical. However, I do believe they all can do well if there's other people there for support.

I'm gonna stop here cause it's late. But I plan to continue this series throughout the week.

[lusthurts]

writing meme about me!

no official tag but thought maybe time to share more about myself! mostly because I want to know more about you all as well, and @sperrywink extended an invite to seblaine mutuals so I will do the same!

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

I discovered it on accident as most of us do - I was on the Glee wiki I think? There was a link to select fanfics on the ship pages at the time, and I started reading one of the Finchel ones, and it was game over for me lol - I started writing my own a while after that, and I participated in a variety of Glee RPGs that inspired me to write other characters. I was in one of those massive Glee RPGs in like 2011 on fanfiction.net, and it was very formative for me in terms of connecting with the rest of the fandom and wanting to do more of that. RPGs are also so great for exposing you to ships you never would've liked or even thought of before, although all my current ships came from elsewhere lol

oh, and there was the whole escapism from family shit that was going down at the time thing - that was a huge factor for sure

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

I've almost exclusively been writing for the Glee fandom since the beginning, although the ships I've written for have changed drastically throughout that time. I've dabbled in some other things as well depending on my special interest at the moment, but I always come back to Glee. Other fandoms I've written for include The Outsiders, Degrassi, How I Met Your Mother, 13 Reasons Why, Girl Meets World, and Skam ! none of these are published anywhere anymore though as far as I know, it's all far too embarrassing (and yes I'm aware that's the most bizarre mix of fandoms ever)

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

at least 12, I wanna say I started around 2012ish?

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I genuinely think it's about equal, but it comes in waves. Sometimes I'm reading more, sometimes I'm writing more. I'm almost always working on something and I'm also almost always in the middle of reading a long fic.

5. What is one way you've improved as a writer?

I think I've gotten a lot better at writing comedy and ensemble dialogue. I like writing the silly goofy scenes with large friend groups a lot, especially when I feel like I've nailed the character's voices enough that I don't even need dialogue tags to know who said each line.

6. What's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Ohio geography lmao - I like always have Google Maps pulled up trying to map out different locations and how far drives would be, etc. I also have researched a ton about various colleges (especially for my current WIP since these characters are actively applying for college rn) and France (never been there, constantly have to write stuff that takes place there).

7. What's your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

I genuinely do love all comments! I especially loves one that are specific/mention parts of the chapter or the fic that they enjoyed or thoughts that they had while reading. I also like chatting about the characters and canon and their predictions/hopes for the rest of the fic. The length doesn't really matter so much - I love long comments and short comments, and I try my best to respond to all of them.

8. What's the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

Idk I kinda write a lot of infidelity and toxic relationship stuff. Seblaine is the main ship I write for nowadays, and the nature of their relationship lends itself to a lot of infidelity in their process of getting together. I also just love writing angst, so even when I'm writing established relationships, they end up being sort of toxic throughout especially given the traits of both characters. I just find it more fun and probable to write a slightly toxic relationship than a 100% healthy one.

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

PWP - I struggle so much with writing smut, although I like to think I've gotten a bit better at it recently. I'm also trying to get better at writing ensemble fics, but it's definitely a struggle for me to give each ship/character enough attention. And I'm pretty awful at world building, so anything remotely fantasy, sci fi, etc. is a huge struggle for me.

10. What is the easiest type?

slow burns! I've gotten so much better at delaying the characters from getting together for a really long time in fics and it's soooo fun. I prefer a character centric slow burn with lots of sexual tension and an arc that involves characters moving from enemies/friends/strangers to lovers over the course of many months or years.

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

I like to write outside of my own home - something about physically relocating makes me way more productive. I write a ton on planes (I travel a lot for work). I also love a good coffee shop, Panera, park, library, etc.

I write in Word and publish to AO3 - used to write in Google Docs but it's so slow and laggy so I much prefer Word. Used to publish on fanfiction.net but I will never go anywhere else now that I've transitioned to AO3, the far superior fanfic site lol

I am most productive with writing either during the day if I'm somewhere other than at home or in the middle of the night in bed - my most productive hours at home are between like midnight and 3 am

12. What is something you've been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

I recently got over my fear of PWP and published a one shot that I'm very proud of. I have many ideas for things similar that I'd like to work through in the future!!

Most of this is fandom specific though - I'm super intimidated to write for big fandoms because I've gotten so comfortable in the Glee fandom, especially writing Seblaine which has a relatively small audience in comparison. I'd love to write Marauders, but that fandom is HUGE and very intimidating because there is so much lore and fanon to mess up. I hope to give it a shot one day though!

13. What made you choose your username?

it's a song lyric! lust hurts comes from the song "Barcelona Boots" by Arlie - the lyric goes "Lust hurts, could you bear it for me?" and I thought that was very fitting for someone like me who's obsessed with romance in fiction but can't be bothered with it in my real life

any of my mutuals are welcome to participate! I'll specifically throw in a tag for @daisyishedwig @calsvoid @xonceinadream @andyandersmythe bc these are the ones that come up first when I go to tag haha

[hotpinkstaples]

Hey so I'm interested in writing for bartkon week, but I like doing frankly excessive research on characters before I try writing them...and honestly I don't really want to read all of SB94, impulse and YJ just to get a handle on what I'm doing, that's a lot even for me. I know some general stuff about the both of them, but not to the point where I'm like "Ah yes, I understand the soul of the matter" So I was wondering if there were like any specific arcs or points of characterization that I could read through to get the dynamic right?

shfkjdsfd ngl, I'm the worst person to ask bc my romance with BartKon didn't even start with BartKon....... it started with Clark/Bart from Smallville 😭😭😭 I'm exceptionally weak for Kryptonian/Speedster romances, but whereas Clark/Bart was the gateway, Bart/Kon is where my heart resides. And I don't ship any other Kryptonians with Speedster. Literally just Clart from Smallville and BartKon from the comics. Just giving you context so you don't think I'm some subject matter expert with a phd in BartKononomics ...... I am just a lady in her thirties who has carboard boxes full of sb/imp/yj singles cuz Clart made her Feel Things when she was a kid and she decided to Do Something about it (aka read comics).

BUT TO YOUR QUESTIONS!

If you want a high level overview of the ship, @radioactive-earthshine's KonBart Manifesto is a great place to start. It has the ship's Best Highlights, and really sums up why there is a small but dedicated fanbase to it. Dedicated enough that I broke my near-ten year cold turkey of mainline DC comics because my main man Bendis put BartKon back on the map while I was living my life blissfully unaware that DC had even hired Bendis to begin with and that the Diamond distro monopoly died. I was shocked. Still am. Two things I never thought would happen in my lifetime.

Now to understand the soul of Bart and Kon.... you're gonna have to look at that things that don't really have Bart and Kon on the same page. Part of the reason why BartKon Speaks to Me is because their relationship progression over the year directly ties back to their individual growth as characters.

So reading material 1: In Impulse, Bart starts off as the speedster equivalent of a feral bobcat, but slowly progresses into an empathetic, understanding, and an overall Good Man. Much of his story deals with the harsh realities of simply growing up different. Running theme of Imp fandom is that Mark Waid created and wrote an autist with ADHD without meaning too, and by Allah he sure did. It's fascinating because Bart harbors both grief and rage due to his predicaments, and the adults in his life are incredibly unkind (even if they are well-meaning), so Impulse has always been, in my understanding, the slice-of-life that really helps Bart to come of age into a Man and a Great Hero. You don't have to read the whole series, but if you can read at least the first twenty or so issues, you'll find yourself rooting for the little man and see how he shines in terms of empathy, understanding, love, and dealing with unresolved rage/grief/loss.

Reading material 2: Superboy is a trick and a half because it deals with issues of child neglect, grooming, the allegory of child star exploitation, and so on and so forth. The BartKon implications are There, but the reason why Superboy is incredibly important is because Superboy as a character is more than just his parentage. Contrary to popular belief, Geoff is NOT the main man in this story. Reading even just the first twenty issues of Superboy will show you Kon was failed by most of the adults in his life, and Superman is NOT his villain. Or the root of his daddy issues. Bro didn't even have a name until much later. If you wanna know who Superboy REALLY was before the Geoffian Era, you can read the first twenty odd issues. If you wanna go earlier, you could read his parts in Reign of the Supermen, just to get an understanding as to why he HAD to be the way he was during this time.

Reading material 3: I do not recommend reading all of YJ 98 for the BartKon bc YJ 98 is hijinks fun. It's GREAT reading for absurdist and comical situations, but only really works with context from Impulse and Superboy to get to the BartKon heart of it all. Not to say YJ 98 wouldn't give you the BartKon goodness, it sure does, but the soul doesn't come together if you don't get how Bart evolved in Impulse and how terribly Kon was treated in Superboy. You can read really anything in YJ to have fun with the group, but if you wanna fast track, you can read the last twenty or so issues and Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day.

Reading material 4: The Geoffian era..... I wouldn't wish Teen Titans 2003 on my worse enemy. Funniest thing is that at the time, I was just starting to watch Smallville. In love with Smallville!Bart already, I embarked on my Superboy journey.... had mixed feelings, so I stuck mostly to the 90's content. Ended up reading impulse a decade later, but long story short.... the Geoffian Era set a Tone and Direction for Bart and Kon that never sit well with me. There IS story there, if you are interested in reading about Daddy Issues, Masculine Identity, and a shit ton of other stuff that really pulled Kon away from his roots and made him more of a Emotionally Tortured Super. If that floats your boat, you may enjoy it. You can read a handful of comics from this era. Just know that in the end, he suffers anyway, just in an ugly ass outfit. The only real bit I'd recommend forreal forreal is when he dies. His whole arc in the Geoffian Era really just tells us he doesn't know how to live and thus he... dies. It's sad bc the writers before him despite having tortured Kon relentlessly, never really made him so...... hopeless.

Reading material 5: Flashpoint.... Bart dies, but I personally did not feel much for him because Bart didn't feel like Bart in the end, but yeah, he kicks it. This is where I pretty much kicked DC to the side too, minus the mistake that was reading RHATO. You can read Kid Flash Lost if you'd like.

Do not read New 52.

Reading material 6:.... my main man Bendis. No you do not have to read all of YJ 2019, but BartKon reunion and then Bart's explication as to WHY he found Kon is all you need. Bendis, despite the hate he gets, actually shows that he has great love for the YJ line. BartKon especially. The bald headed demon proves yet again that he care not for the world, only for his faves, which I'm cool with bc BartKon are me faves.

I know. A lotta reading. Those numbers I gave you.... you can also just read half of what I said kjdhgkhd Googling also helps! I know it's not always feasible to read so many comics, and I'mma be real, the Tone for many may not entice you either. Impulse feels like a slice-of-life to me, but YJ's an absurd shounen, and Superboy is the saddest book you'll ever read that is absolutely hilarious when you can accept that 90's writers just Did Not Care. Geoff hates Bart and Kon. New 52 is not real. Bendis actually loves BartKon a LOT, so you can just read their tidbits and find peace in the fact that Bart Allen, the loneliest fucker in existence, found his Kon El, who is the saddest fucker in existence. Something something, I will find you even if God wants us both dead. And God (editorial) did. I don't know how Bendis pulled the shit that he did, but he put a decades old rarepair back on the map after the Geoffian Reign. And Geoff hates Bart and Kon.

Happy Reading/Googling/Researching!!!!

[numerous-bees-in-a-skin-suit]

okay so I know I said I’d have a post for Monday but stuff happened (nothing bad don’t worry) so this is late and also not what I had planned. but it’s something at least while I’m working on drawing and trying to actually finish a drawing for once in my life

anyways without further ado: more Voltron dragon prince AU shenanigans because that is still very much a thing that I want to do and am going to at least have some “official” art done for at some point in the year.

I only have an idea for Shiro’s design right now, but I have so much more to talk about in this post.

Shiro doesn’t really have a direct parallel to anyone in the dragon prince, but he’s still important (obviously) and he still goes missing. I can’t really say too much about him because of story and plot reasons but there is gonna be Cool Stuff happening. I decided to make him a moon shadow elf because it makes the most sense, and also I just thought he would look cool as one. He’s still engaged to Adam, and he still goes missing with Sam and Matt Holt.

That’s all I can say about Shiro for now, but I still have other characters to talk about.

Adam is going to be playing an active role in this because I want him to and also he won’t fucking die because I think he should live. As a treat.

In this AU, Adam is human. A huge part of his whole deal is that he will be looking for a Shiro and Keith alone because they’re the two most important people in his life and he wants to find them.

Also, Adam and Shiro’s relationship is secret, only Keith knows that they’re together and that’s a huge motivation as to why Adam goes searching for them alone since he’s kinda trapped since he can’t exactly go out and get help finding Shiro and Keith. Anyways, that’s enough about those two, let’s get on to everyone else I’m talking about today

I’m just going to make a quick bullet point list of characters I don’t have much to say on in this post but I still wanna say what their deal is in the AU:

Coran is going to be Opeli (the like, advisor in TDP). He’s the royal adviser, but he also helped raised Lance and Allura. I don’t really have much to say about him other than he will still very much be himself and I love him

Matt is a scholar or something of that type along with his father, and they meet Shiro while doing research and end up befriending him (thank you Aeon for this suggestion your brain is great)

Romelle is going to be the equivalent of Ellis (the kid with the wolf). Also trans Romelle because I am a trans Romelle truther

Veronica is going to be this AUs Amaya but not going to be exactly like her (also, please let me know if you guys think that I should make Veronica deaf like Amaya since I would like having a deaf character in this but idk if it should be her or another side character that would most likely be an OC)

Krolia is going to be missing/MIA

The BoM are going to be the moonshadow elf assassins, but without the whole knowledge or death deal since. I just don’t want them to have that and it’s my AU I get to do what I want

Honerva is dead lol

Zarkon will be Viren

Ezor, Zethrid, Narti and Axca are still Lotor’s Lesbians and I have Several Ideas for them

I still have a lot that I wanna do, like learn how to draw dragons because Whoops I made an AU that has dragons and a lot of them but I don’t know how to draw them, and I have a lot to talk about when it comes to certain decisions I made for this, like Zarkon and Honerva and some things I have in mind for them. This is probably going to be a project that will take a long time to even officially get started because I don’t know how to write but I so desperately want to tell the story I have in mind and have it be enjoyable.

I’ll make another post soon with more in-depth descriptions and ideas for Zarkon, along with something I like to call the “kill-die scale” and also some ideas I am still struggling with

Also as always, thank you to @deuxaeonn for the help, your brain is so good and ik this hasn’t been worked on for a while but still lmao

[blueburied]

every now and then i see posts about homeschooling and i'm like hey i was that i wanna talk about it !!

so for context i was homeschooled until 9th grade (2020), when i went to high school. I think that i got really lucky? basically every post i see about homeschooling is talking about how bad it is. And i can get why! people aren't always ready to like. fully teach someone. and sometimes also people are bad parents and take their kids out of school to have more control over them. its so shitty, especially when you're used to one environment and you're settled there and all of a sudden you're trapped at home with someone you don't always like.

I was lucky. My mom is wonderful and a librarian with a masters. She also like. put proper effort into teaching. It was nice having a teacher who knew me on that level and could understand how i worked. She also enrolled me in social programs where i could socialize, make friends, and experience things she couldn't give me herself. In particular i remember the homeschool gymnastics program I went to on wednesdays extremely fondly. Co-ops (which is, at least in my experience, a once a week thing where we take classes that we want to take that are taught by other homeschool parents). In particular the classes I remember the best would be the class where i took a computer apart and put it back together and got it to post (i was SO proud of myself, also i was like 9 or 10) and a greek mythology course in which we would do readings of plays among other things which is probably part of the reason i am a theater kid. I made and hung out with all my friends that way, and my family is still friends with one of the other families we had met through the second co-op we were a part of! My mom was actually the biggest advocate for me going to high school, primarily because they have resources she knew i couldn't get at home. Now granted, I went to a vocational school, but I still graduated with a 4.0 GPA and am now going to my choice university for something i'm really passionate about! I will say i was probably a bit on the sheltered side, but the internet and four years in high school more than made up for that lmao.

It seems like i'm very much an edge case, but i do want to say that it can be done right! BUT. if you're considering, based off of other experiences i've seen, i would probably suggest not to. at least not initially. if your kid comes to you asking about it, maybe then it is a good time to consider! but remember: do your research and make sure you get proper teaching resources! be prepared to teach like its your job! and also, and perhaps most importantly. socialize your kid! make sure they have people around their age they can hang out with some regularity!

oh and also don't try to control their entire life!

If I am wrong on something, do feel free to critique me in an RB! I am open to learning, or at least wanna try to be.

[faun-fauna]

i hate highschool

Ughuyuh

I had to wake up at 4 fucking 30

For once I didn't wear a mask.. it was interesting. Usually I wear it for the feeling of security. I felt fine (someone said I looked weird ;w;)

I really liked my outfit though

There's only two freshmen in my geometry class. A kid I hate and me. I don't really like it like that.

My Spanish class is super full. We need more desks. Only one junior, rest are freshmen. I have 3rd lunch cause Spanish is my 5th period (B317)

I'm fine with my lunch period cause I have a decent amount of friends.

Honors history also has too many people. He specifically said he only wants to be called Thor. He also told us to research his religion for homework TwT

I got to Eng H seven minutes before class ended. I accidentally walked into the SPED class because it had the same number- a teacher told me to go there

I had the basement first (Eng) which sucked going up to history (3rd floor)

Biology was fine. Though a kid who somehow got into honors (IDFK HOW) called the teacher a slur T_T

The biology teacher was sweet. I like her. She was telling us about how she burned her hand in biology.

Don't really wanna do the science fair but it's required for honors. I also don't wanna cut open a frog, I think I'd cry. I really like frogs.

My art teacher touched me which was kinda weird ("I see we already have some artists in this class!") she was my favorite art teacher's art teacher. Art was fine though. I didn't particularly enjoy the assignment, but it's fine. I drew a bit in my school sketchbook.

I enjoy my Spanish teacher. She reminds me of señora. She said most people barely pass her class (eihhihhhgh) she used to live in Puerto Rico. We have her class for an hour and she said we can never leave the class ;w; and it's very specific- she will not let us touch the door.

We headed over to the middle school after highschool. Saw our teachers. Funn. I saw 2 of my favorites. Gr8 social studies and art. I miss them lol. Señora wasn't there, sad.

My sweater was fucking hot as HELLLL and my backpack is so fucking heavy for no reason I'm gonna break my FUCKING BACK. I DON'T EVEN HAVE A LOT OF STUFF

I'm a bit jealous of other kids. Even though they have honors, they have so many friends. Every class, everyone is friends with each other, everyone has their close friends. I don't understand why I couldn't have that too? I feel like it always happens to me. I never get anyone to be with. It's been like this for so long. I got lucky for 8th, I really did, but it just sucks. I really hate it. Because, already, I know I'll be that ONE kid that no one wants to work with. The one who always just stands awkwardly, waiting for everyone to pick their partners so I'm put with the last person who obviously doesn't want to fucking work with me. It's not like I'm a loner. I HAVE friends. A lot of them. Why can't I just have them for some? My BEST FRIEND got more classes with my friends than me, and he's not really friends with them. It's just upsetting, I guess. I feel isolated, almost? I have one class with a friend. Yay, I guess. But it's like. I'd feel so much better if it was at least 2 or 3. T-T

This is really complainy, I know, but I hate feeling like I'm being backed into that lonely corner like always. It's happened a lot, I guess I'm just kinda sick of it.

Today was really tiring. Maybe because I had to get up early, or maybe it was just mentally tiring. I don't know??????????????

I don't really wanna do my homework. It's nothing much but I just don't want to in general.

A while later we had a picnic. That was really fun. Chaotic, too. That part was fun. I recorded it a lot on my friend's phone - like a rap battle and hide and seek. Also, throwing cupcakes .. we cleaned it up. Yay.

I'll do my homework later .w. ughhugu

[doodle-boy]

Here it is! My guide to how the weather and how the weather factory works all in a cute little powerpoint!! Finally over a week of obsessive research, script writing and powerpoint panel creation has lead to this masterpiece!

Obviously I am just a fan making up some stuff so if any of you guys disagree with how I head-cannoned the weather please feel free to ignore this. If you wanna take this and use it for your own little ponysona's feel free to do so! Literally the reason why I made this, so that at least we as fans can have one piece of information to point too if ever we need to explain how the weather works in MLP.

Also I did cut some stuff from this, mostly fake seasonal transitional holidays that I made up to help fill in the gap for like spring to summer and summer to fall. since all we ever see in the show is winter wrap up and the running of the leaves. So I'm gonna put that info on the bottom of this cut so you can read that if you want. It is optional!

Anyways I hope you all like it. I'm going to go take a nap I am so tired.

Seasonal Transitional Holidays!

Winter Wrap Up

The Holiday that kicks off the start of a new year! This is one most ponies enjoy because it comes after a long cold season. It is also one where ponies exercise teamwork with one another as ponies split off into teams to help clear away the snow and get things ready for spring. While the teams and methods of clearing the snow are different depending on the city and the pony population. Generally, the teams are split into three categories. Weather Team, Animal Team and the Plant Team.

Weather Team: The Weather Team are the ones who are mainly in control of clearing away the snow and helping the ice melt, as well as clearing the clouds to get the sunlight to warm the earth.

Animal Team: They help with waking up any hibernating animal as well as help guide in birds from the south and building them new nests to use.

Plat Team: Are also responsible for clearing the snow as well as planting new crops to help rejuvenate the landscape.

Celestial Summer Celebration

This Holiday celebration marks the beginning of the summer season! This holiday does not require much preparation on the average pony’s part as it is mostly a celebration to share with friends and family.

Celestia’s Longest Day: Our Princess Celestia brings the sun out earlier in the morning than normal and the ponies in Equestria celebrate the longest day of the year. Ponies spend most of this day outside, swimming, grilling foods, having picnics, and enjoying the sun as it warms up the earth.

Releasing of the Fireflies: This part of the celebration is done as the sun finally sets. That is when ponies release the fireflies, who had been previously sleeping through the cooler spring air, out into the warm summer skies. This is a event celebrated with family and friends as well, though someponies think of it as an unofficial romantic celebration as couples go off to watch the fireflies in private.

Rainbow Leaves Festival

            The most colorful of holidays celebrates the beginning of fall as we encourage the leaves to change colors through song and dance as ponies often host colorful costume contests. This is also a time for feasts and other fun activities as ponies come together to share in the bounty that summer gave us. As well as helping our animal friends prepare for winter.

Animal Migrations: This is the time of year most birds start to go back to the south for the winter. Most ponies assist with this by setting up bird feeders in trees, meant to supply birds with all the food they’ll need to make the long trip over. We also leave out feeders for our animal friends who are starting to get ready for hibernation.

Changing of the Leaves: This is the main event of the festival; ponies will gather together wearing colorful dresses and suits in the appropriate fall colors and they will dance and sing songs. From formal fall balls to country square dances there is no wrong way to celebrate this festival. This is a time to come together and dance and sing and make merry. The harmonic energy from the celebrations helps to turn the leaves from green to their colorful oranges, red, browns, yellow and purples. The festival will end with a big feast as ponies enjoy the last summer crops left from the previous season, everypony making colorful dishes with the available ingredients.

Running of the Leaves

            The Running of the Leaves is a smaller celebration but one that ponies still enjoy as ponies love to race one another through the forests of Equestria. The combined force of all the ponies racing allows for the leaves to fall from the trees and allows for the transition of winter to begin. This celebration also ends in a large community feast.

Races and other Competitions: Every community and city have their own local races so as the cover as much land as they can. Races usually start earlier in the day when it’s cooler. Not only are there races, but other competitions like to be hosted on this day as well. Like Pie eating contests, tug of war, bobbing for apples, potato sack races, and scarecrow making contests. It’s a time for fun and games and face painting as ponies celebrate the end of fall.

Harvest Feast: Much like the Rainbow Leaves Festival there is also a feast at the end of the day. But this one is usually much larger than the previous celebration. Ponies go all out as they make mash potatoes and pies and other delectable treats as everyone gives thanks to the harvests they produced during the fall. It’s also a time for family and friends to catch up and share their plans for the coming winter season.

[wordsmithic]

What would you say is the worst retelling of Greek myths,

At this point there are THOUSANDS, so you can understand why I cannot answer this by taking every book into account. I can tell you about some retellings I saw that will stick with me forever - and not for good reasons. Let's begin...

The winner of this shitshow: "The good side of wrong" by Jenika Snow.

A ddlg erotica posing as a HxP retelling. And before you say anything, it's not about the kink, okay? It's about many things, including Persephone being barely legal and Hades being predatory and abusive, and her actual blood-related uncle in a modern setting. I only stomach some pages desperate friends sent me because of the violence and even blood related to sexual acts. Out of many nsfw and violent excerpts, let's go with the "mild" one. (Uncle Hades harasses his niece Persephone at school)

Daddy: Bunny, when I call you, answer. I went into the contacts, clicked his name, and promptly changed it. I’m at school. Leave me alone. I was just about to toss the phone aside when it chimed with another incoming text. Asshole: Did I ever tell you how pretty you are when you sass back? I shouldn’t have liked that praise. Asshole: Are those little fuckers at your school leaving you alone, or do you need Daddy to come and break their kneecaps for looking at you? DO I NEED TO GO ON? I don't think so

Wanna write erotica? Fine! Do you absolutely HAVE TO have the supposed "Greek gods" as the characters who spank each other and tie each other from walls? If that writer was me I would never look even an ancient statue of Persephone or Demeter in the eyes EVER AGAIN!

I want you to look AN ACTUAL ANCIENT VENERATED STATUE OF PERSEPHONE (this one was to be placed near a grave I believe), I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT GODDESS PERSEPHONE, AND TELL HER "I am writing ddlg about you hehee". You are sooo out of touch, people! No, look at her! Look at her and think of ddlg, I fucking dare you

I've also seen some Anglo USian authors on Twitter crying about "people not respecting the greek gods" and when you go on their profile they write this type of erotica with the Greek gods....

Second "honorable" mention: Lies We Sing to the Sea, by Sarah Underwood

As the author hasn't read the Odyssey and yet her book is a published for profit retelling based on the Epic, I am not going to read her book but still provide my opinion on it. Magical how that works, eh?

Let me start by saying I despise the author for saying that the most important Epic of my culture is "but it's so long, and written in a 'prose-y' way that's kind of impenetrable." Oh, but also she did us the favor to mention that "parts of it are very beautiful". Oh thank you dear, white anglo author, for recognizing some value in that overcomplicated primitive culture of ours!

In Greek school we studied whole poetically translated rhapsodies of the Odyssey in GYMNASIUM, what the hell… And she said she owns "various translations" but I think that's an outright lie because, ma'am, how haven't you read the Odyssey but you own it multiple times??

The writing may be okay-ish, from what I've heard. I put it in the "worst" category because if you like Greek myths in your books, this won't have any Greek myth in it. The author herself ignores the nature of Greek myth, how the themes are woven there, why the characters do what they do, how the gods and humans behave there, and so many other cultural conventions.

If your joy is reading books that fool everyone with how they market themselves as "Greek mythology retellings" just because they have characters with Greek names (and a Hebrew name for a Greek character who isn't Hebrew, because what is basic research? 😂) then, fine, maybe this book is for you. Go, live your girlbossing life, babygirl.

And last (nightmare) but not least: Circe by Madeline Miller

Because you can still fuck up Greek myth despite managing to avoid it the first time. Maybe this case is worse than Lies we sing to the Sea because this author has degrees (not too relevant to Greek antiquity) and can hide behind them when people call her out. And more people are going to believe she knows what she is doing.

I have a #Circe tag for this horrible retelling, about the girlbossification of Circe which ended up disrespecting the myth, the characters - especially Circe - and making a distorted version of how the author thought justice looks like in the context of that myth. Seriously, did Circe HAD to be raped and abused all her life?? She was pretty badass in her own right on the myth. (Westerners don't idolize every evil and violent woman / female creature from the Greek myths challenge).

As I've said before, writers like Miller love forcing violence on foreign eastern women as an escapist fantasy of righteousness.

The book can bore you to death or offer you ample cringe with pieces of dialogue and character behavior that reminded me so much of USian teenagers I wanted to claw my eyes out.

“And how were our father’s (edit: Helios) golden heifers?” “Beautiful.” Perses laughed. “She doesn’t know! Have you ever heard of anyone so stupid?” “Never,” my sister said. I shouldn’t have asked, but I was still drifting in my thoughts, seeing those severed bodies sprawled on marble floors. “What don’t I know?” My sister’s perfect mink face. “That he fucks them, of course. That’s how he makes new ones. He turns into a bull and sires their calves, then cooks the ones that get old. That’s why everyone thinks they are immortal.” “He does not.” They howled, pointing at my reddened cheeks. The sound drew my mother. She loved my siblings’ japes. “We’re telling Circe about the cows,” my brother told her. “She didn’t know.” My mother’s laughter, silver as a fountain down its rocks. “Stupid Circe.”

Ours is the Land of Comedy (derogatory) so we Greeks know one thing or two about embarrassing stuff.

Also Helios didn't fuck his cows. His cattle just didn't die because it was blessed. Correct me if I missed something here but it seems that Circe took a SACRED cattle and shoved zoophilia into the whole situation because "I must show ancient Greek males bad".

Speaking of Greek men... she describes Prometheus like this:

His skin was beautiful, the color of polished walnut. It smelled of green moss drenched with rain.

Yeaaah No... It goes without saying that no Greek, today or in antiquity, describe other Greeks in their circle (or outside, as far as I know) like this. The world you are looking for is μελαχρινός, Miller. You want to write realism, I am giving it to you.

This description is not exactly neither natural or realistic. It looks like exoticization. Tree/dirt/crop colors are not in our language to describe colors in humans unless it's for "ebony" hair, so this description along with the "pressed olives" skin color from TSOA makes me think Miller sees skin tones not pale as hers as something "other". I might be wrong here but it feels... icky. It's like she thought, "let me describe these marvelous otherwordly skin tones of these exotic people in breathtaking prose!" Meanwhile the dude is just a bit tanned, and two tones darker than Miller herself.

Ok, that's it, I can't do this anymore.

[dogmetaph0r]

10, 13 (alfie - i mean i have to - plus one of your choice) and 14 for salty asks game 👉👈

OOOH HERE WE GOOO

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

I didn’t not like it narratively, but I didn’t particularly enjoy the whole arc of trying to get Linda and Arthur back together :/ I did appreciate it in a “fellas we are never breaking the cycle” way, but it kinda drove a wedge between me and my enjoyment of Arthur’s boyfailure arc at some points. Linda kinda reminds me of my adorable little WASP-y mom so seeing her threatened and upset because a man will do anything but go to therapy……eugh, hard watch.

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

Alfie - this is gonna maybe be a bit controversial (or not? idk it took a while for me to wrap my noggin around the vibes) but……I don’t think Alf is all that religious? He is very very involved in his community and seems to be a well respected member of Jewish society in Camden Town, but idk how much he really practices in his day-to-day. I could be entirely wrong (would be happy for a Jewish PB fan to correct me if I am, and honestly I much prefer the headcanons that imply it matters a bit to him because as you’re about to see….I love cultural exchange) but Alfie’s irreverence and self-deification don’t really come across as terribly devout to me. If you consider the non-TV works to be canon, he definitely seems to be of the impression that nothing really matters beyond the carnal. He does seem to believe in a God, but that God’s existence isn’t really consequential to him. So I think his Jewish identity is more forged in community than shared reverence! I can relate, in a way; I never practiced Catholicism, but because my entire dad’s side did and I grew up in a highly Catholic neighborhood, it impacts how I interact with the world. So that’s how I kinda see it: it’s not the religion that he practices, but more the identity of someone raised with the religion.

I also wanna doooooo……..

Polly - she wasn’t always a wise, rational woman throughout the show. There were plenty of times she acted out of anger, fear, stubbornness… and while I do love that we kinda treat her as our voice of reason, she’s still as flawed as the rest of them. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of fics fall into the idea that Polly knows everything. It makes for a good story driver, but I feel like that unfortunately just doesn’t encompass who Polly is as a person. I don’t wanna ramble super long AGAIN but I think a lot of her interactions with/about Michael kinda demonstrate that. She’s easily blinded by her fear of loss in particular, and in a way it’s very similar to Tommy’s motivations. I think that’s part of why they butt heads sometimes. I’d like to explore that more myself!

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Oooh boy, this one is kinda tough to say. But I think we have a looooong way to go as a fandom in terms of cultural sensitivity. I know we’re working with source material that already has a pretty problematic and shallow way of going about Romani characters, but I think it’s our duty as fans to sorta….grapple with that a bit? Address it with nuance? Or at least listen to POC, particularly Romani, creators who take issue with the things done in the show and in fan content. There are SO many aspects of the show itself that play into racist stereotypes about Romani people, and I’ve seen a number of tropes and fic concepts that revolve around those stereotypes in particularly shocking ways (for example, maybe don’t have “sold to the Shelby family” or “magical g**** fortune teller” as a plot point??? Many levels of inappropriate to that). I do largely give people the benefit of the doubt because I know that not everyone knows what to look out for, especially if they themselves are not targeted personally by bigotry in their communities, and fewer people know where to go to figure that out…. but I feel like specifically Romanichal culture is a strong enough theme in the show to warrant SOME promotion of cultural research. Of course we all have work to do (I’m no exception, and I wholeheartedly welcome concrit if anything in the story seems off) but I feel like some people really lean into exoticism and stereotypes without any unpacking of why they’re doing it. And, when other people express discomfort, I’ve seen more than once the sort of response that sums up to “well so-and-so said it’s not a slur/bad trope/stereotype so I’m gonna keep using it”. Thankfully it’s less prevalent here on tumblr but it’s still a problem! Let’s rid ourselves of the idea that any one culture is a monolith! Cultural exchange and education are exciting! Decolonize your writing! Respect and an open mind go a long way!

BUT YEAH basically that’s it teehee :•)

[minheeskitten]

"2k is long" is also nonsense i'm so sorry 😭 2k is barely anything if you're trying to introduce an AU and actually flesh in a setting and especially if you're trying to show different personality traits 😭 your fic are mostly AUs with really well thought out lore, and it needs the word count to breathe and establish everything. if someone's attention span is too short to read more than - what - 2 pages? that's their problem, not yours! fwiw, my fic lengths range with the shortest starting at around 5k and the longest getting close to 30k and i have never had anyone leave a complaint about the length! people are more than willing to sit through 10k+ just to get to the smutty stuff, and they usually end up enjoying the rest of the fic as well. do not worry about it! you're doing just fine 🩷

I don't often look at the length of a fic unless im updating someone on how long its getting. My shortest wip is 100 words. And. Ive posted it to here bcs i feel it'll never be finished.

If it does get finished eventually then i will post it as a fic but. Until then it sits in my drafts.

My fics almost always include worldbuilding to at least 3k now. Though not all of them were like that.

Do you want in on a secret? I don't think out the world for my aus. It fleshes itself out. I think on what may happen n go from there. The story writes itself. I am just a vessel for the words and visions.

I am absolutely terrible at worldbuilding if im doing it consciously.

Its why i have visible headcanons for idols. But i just can't put them into words haha.

The most i think through is 'what sort of details would enhance this and make it better to read'

And then thats where i go from!

Siren!ivan was originally supposed to be more non-con than it is rn. The consent is not proper consent tho but thats bcs. Well. Siren wants what he wants and he will convince dann to give it to him.

Though. Thats a little bit of a spoiler. It is going to be tagged accordingly. Don't worry ill tag fics right.

The fic i thought through the most, probably is one ive not even started wtiting. The dissection fic. I gotta do all sorts of research so i can make sure its accurate and well done.

Which unfortunately means i gotta look at anatomy from a more medical standpoint. Need to go find a book for that..

The first fic i put out actually has a very strong plot hole. That i told myself id patch before posting it but. I didn't.

That plot hole was the reasoning as to why ivan was doing that to hwon. It has a very weak reason and i could absolutely fix it now. But. Not this year.

I write ab 5k minimum most of the time haha. I prefer letting the story fill itself out n then helping fine tune details. Its why i really can't tell you how long a fic may be.

So far my longest fic is 16k words. Published. Theres more unpublished. That's for the abandoned but not orphaned one.

I may return to it eventually. That's why i didn't wanna orphan it.

All of my fics stop at a point they organically would have stopped at. When i feel it can't really take another scene. I end it. That usually leaves spaces for part twos to them as well!

But i like exploring aus as i write them.

Fun fact! I write aus bcs im worried that if i do anything else i may accidentally copy someone else's idea.

I do get inspired by the other kd writers. Oh gods do i get inspired.

Lee, lunar, eve, even erin, who encourages the hwonicide. They all inspire me in their own ways. Does that usually come in the form of a prompt to note down asap? Yeah.

But other ways are helping with details for fics. And they are all very welcome to chat ab fics w me. I don't steal ideas. Not without permission and changing it to be my own.

I have a prompt that is inspired by eve's fic Clear My Mind (eve is karmacumover btw!)

But it is different. I may show her the prompt itself if she wants to see it haha.

But i love working on fics. Even if I can't be proud of them as a 'look i made this!' i can still look at the work and go 'yeah. Thats good.'

Thank you lee for helping me figure out how to do that. It was amazing to be able to step back and go 'thats a good story' if i removed myself from it.

The lee im referring to here is intenselysalmon. So she knows who im referring to.

One day. One day my goal is to be proud of how much I've written. Of what I've written.

Its a goal i think is far away. But the more i talk to other writers. The more i realize.

Im not as bad at writing as i think i am.

Honestly id never even considered myself a good writer, until i asked writers like lee and erin their feedback on my works. And they both said i write well. Maybe a little dialogue heavy but. Thats fine i can work on it.

Im doing my best. And im trying to ensure i continue getting better.

The more i talk to other writers and see how they talk ab my writing. The more i go. 'maybe im too harsh on myself' but. As they say, you are your own worst critic.

Honestly i never even considered my work good enough to do much with. But. Lunar still offered to possibly do a collab or fic trade. And i keep thinking on it. Maybe.

It makes me think they find me a better writer than i find myself to be.

Then i see eve, reacting to some of the xlips of airen!ivan ive put out. And she's reacting as i would for any of lee's clips. I find lee an amazing writer. It seems eve thinks of me that way too.

Im trying to wrap my head around it. But the reason i am so harsh on myself is. Anxiety and self doubt. And i need to work through them.

Thats the first time ive admitted that.

I will work through my weaknesses, and be better than before. Slowly. It takes time. I have to be patient.

One day. One day i will be able to proudly say 'im a good writer'

Its not today. But. It will be an eventuality.

Moots mentioned in this post:

Lee (@intenselysalmon )

Erin (@kurenaiwataru )

Eve (@karmacumover )

Lunar (@kingdoms-babygirl )