#the price theyre asking for it is ridiculous though

[sonknuxadow]

bootleg sonic merch spotted at the mall (idk abt the eggmen but they sure look funny)

malls are like breeding grounds for bootleg sonic merch ive seen that same set with the fanart of sonic with shadows color palette or at least one with similar packaging

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!

I loved everything you wrote for my last request (thank you so much!!!) and i have returned to be unreasonable in my demands of you yet again!

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️(ENGAGED ENGAGED ENGAGED!!!!!! THEYRE ENGAGED!!!!!)

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨(oh god alan’s back we hate alan but we love the potential angst this brings!)

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸(Reunited and it feels so good!! Can’t wait to learn more about eddie’s missing months!)

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮(poor baby buck! And preemptively poor baby bobby)

🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟(118 family is stronger than everything even a zombie apocalypse)

👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑(madneyyyyy my beloveds can’t wait to read your epic love story take a new form!)

And i’m gonna be a little cheeky and request something not technically on your list 🛞🛞🛞🛞🛞🛞🛞🛞🛞 (look you gave me the emoji darling i dont know what you expected me to do. Especially when faced with obnoxiously oblivious domestic in love buddie from chimneys perspective! Who is possibly supposed to resist that) but as this is an illegal request i understand if you deny it but a girls gotta try right :p

Please know that my frequently used emojis page has gotten real messed up from this game but thats a sacrifice i’m very willing to make. It’s a small price to pay for your fabulous content!!!

THANKS CAL YOURE THE BEST!!!

HEY!!!!!!!! THANK YOUUUUU <3 SOrry for messing up your emoji page.

Okay here we go....

45 for ⚡️(THEY ARE INDEED ENGAGED):

---

 “My kitchen standards? Ridiculously high.”

Eddie chuckles. “I think that’s fair, considering you do almost all the cooking.”

“And we need space to host.” Buck adds. “Like a back deck.”

“We can make a back deck.” Eddie suggests.��

“Deal,” Buck nods. “All I’m saying is don’t expect me to be an easy shopper. I know you don’t care about additional appliance space on the counters, but I am a reasonable man.”

“I can handle it,” Eddie promises.

“I want to paint the bedroom black.” Buck says.

Eddie freezes. “Uh, sorry?”

“I’m fucking with you.” Buck winks. “But this is fun, though.”

Eddie sighs. “I suppose I deserve some light ribbing.”

“You do. But also, I love you. So it’s fine. Can we actually talk about getting married now?”

“We can talk about getting married now,” Eddie smiles. “You’re right, I don’t want to wait over a year.”

“Okay, then let’s grab a calendar.”

🗲🗲🗲

A month later, by the time they’re gathering at Bobby and Athena’s for the promised engagement party, Buck and Eddie have a lot more figured out. They’ve landed on November for a wedding date. Not a typical month to get married, but it works for them. It’s off season, so cheaper to book things. It’s soon, but gives them enough time to put together something quickly. Maddie has called them crazy for their turnaround time, but neither of them wants to delay. Or have bills delaying their other plans. On the other hand, Christopher is quite pleased with their expediency. 

“November 2nd,” Buck tells people again and again at the parties. “Invites literally went into the mail yesterday.” 

It’s a nice party. Eddie’s mom, Abuela, and Sophia fly out. His dad sends his regrets. Apparently they’re not at a good place for being in the same room for extended periods of time but endeavor to be by November. Bobby even managed to invite Connor, Kameron, and the baby. Who Buck supposes is reaching toddler age, actually. 

---

24 for 🚨 (yesss he makes a quick appearance):

---

“Sorry, what?” He asks eventually.

“Shannon dying hurt you so badly, I didn’t want you to watch it happen to someone else you loved, Eddie.”

Eddie scratches his head. 

“Well, that was the exact wrong way to go about that, Buck. Are you nuts? I don’t love Alan. He was just… He was just kind of an embarrassing phase, really. I love you, if that wasn’t fucking obvious, and-”

“What?” Buck asks. 

“Obviously I love you!” Eddie scolds him. “Buck, be serious. I love you. You can’t die. Not for Alan. Not for anyone. I don’t care if that makes me a sort of unethical firefighter. You can’t die, because you’re in my will in case I die. You can’t die because I want to spend my life with you if I don’t!”

Buck feels suddenly dizzy. He doesn’t know which piece of information to lock in on.

---

60 for 🩸:

You are entering at the very end of a rather NSFW part so, uh... Sorry?

---

“That was… That was very hot.”

“Oh,” Eddie exhales. “Well, I thought so. But you might be a little weird, then. All things considered.”

Buck laughs. “Shut up.”

Eddie’s still a little shaky. This all feels sort of fantastical. He can’t have really just experienced all that and it be okay? 

“Now I really need a nap,” Buck mumbles, kissing Eddie a final time before turning off the shower. 

Eddie nods a little robotically. 

“I will join you there, too.”

Buck grins. “I should hope so.”

💧💧💧

Buck’s not sure how much he actually sleeps after fooling around with Eddie in the shower. On the one hand, he’s genuinely exhausted. On the other, holy fuck? Like what the actual hell was that and how does he schedule an hour of it a day for the rest of his life? 

He fades in and out of sleep, waking in short bursts to kiss Eddie and grind up against him beneath the covers. Eddie holds him, kisses him back, keeps him close. Sometimes Buck feels the telltale tickle or sharp teeth over skin, and sometimes he doesn’t. Like Eddie is settling into a natural sort of comfortability. It makes Buck happy. Eddie has to hide from so much. He shouldn’t have to hide from Buck.  

When he’s finally, properly awake, just laying in Eddie’s arms, he brings up what he spoke about with Bobby.

“Bobby wants to tell everyone.”

“Tell them?”

“About you and May.”

Eddie pauses for a moment, hands still stroking Buck’s hair. 

“Who is everyone?”

“Hen, Chim, Ravi. Maddie and Karen, too.”

“Okay,” Eddie says. 

“Okay?” 

“Yeah. I’m okay with that.”

“You’re sure?” 

“Life has to go on, right? Chris is back. He’s safe.” Eddie explains. “It’d be nice to have more family back.”

“Okay,” Buck exhales. “I’ll tell him.”

“I’ll be okay,” Eddie assures Buck. “Bobby wouldn’t be suggesting May if he wasn’t sure.”

“That’s true. I know. I’m sorry.”

Eddie brings Buck’s hand to his mouth and kisses it. “We’ll get through it.”

“We’ll get through it,” Buck repeats. 

It’s becoming a mantra of theirs, isn’t it? Buck has to believe it now. He has to believe it, and he has to make it true. He can’t lose this. He can’t lose Eddie. Never again. 

---

21 for 🔮 (YEAH IT'S ROUGH SORRY): ---

People in LA either have much better or much worse hair. 

Buck’s confusion might have remained directionless for a long time, if not for the priest. When he starts to speak, Buck’s sense of time in place is severely distorted. But at least he has some idea of what’s going on. 

“Timothy Nash was a God fearing man,” the priest announces.

Buck’s jaw drops. 

Nash? 

He scans the front of the room, for the photo of a man everyone is apparently here to mourn. He finds it. A grainy, almost sepia-looking thing in a big brass frame. A man with kind eyes and a mustache, mid-forties, in a firefighter’s uniform. 

Holy shit. 

But who is Timothy Nash? Bobby’s brother? Hasn’t Bobby always said that he came from a firefighter family? But why would Buck be at Bobby’s brother’s funeral, without Bobby? And isn’t Bobby’s brother older? 

No, this can’t be right. 

The priest goes on to talk about what made Timothy Nash a “God fearing man.” Buck has, personally, always found that language uncomfortable. Maybe those are his own childhood issues with authority coming out, but it’s true.

---

27 for 🧟 (DAMN RIGHT):

---

The only people who seem excited about everything are Denny and Harry. Denny is thrilled to have another kid, who is only a little older than him. He shows Harry around and the two of them disappear into the library together. 

For everyone else, it’s a little more complicated. 

Karen takes over for Chim on the cameras, and Hen and Chim help May alone. They set her up on a cot in a cool, dark storage closet. One that locks from the outside. 

“I’m sorry but we can’t take any chances,” Bobby explains the decision to Athena. 

Athena looks tense, but doesn’t complain. 

Buck gets a fractured sense of backstory from everyone - because apparently he is the only one who doesn’t know Athena - in the hours that follow. 

Athena was a police sergeant for the county here. Before everything. Around the time Buck started at the fire station, she and her husband split. Buck doesn’t get much intel on that, but apparently it was messy enough that Athena took the kids and went to spend some time with her parents in Florida. While there, the virus broke out. She kept them alive until it was safe enough to start journeying home. Looking for her ex. Her kids’ dad. 

Somewhere along the way, almost here, her daughter got hurt. Buck obviously doesn’t know this woman at all, but he can tell that that fact is killing her. She made a hard decision, took a big risk, and something bad happened. That’s got to fucking suck beyond measure, and he feels for her. He can tell Bobby does, too. Bobby would. With his past. 

Buck brings food for Athena and Harry as they wait for word on May. They eat gratefully.

---

24 for 👑 (THANKS!):

---

“Well,” she says, reaching into her purse. “I don’t know the timing of your shift or anything, but here.”

She hands him a glossy cardstock invite. 

“My parents throw this huge New Year’s Eve party every year. It’s my first year going in a long time. I kind of hate them, but the food is good, and the music… Maybe… Maybe if the company was better, I’d really enjoy it this year.”

Chim can feel his heart beating in his sternum. 

“You’re inviting me to your parents’ place?” He teases. “Maddie, it’s been one egg tart.”

She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Well, then you’ve got to stop offering girls egg tarts. They get ideas.” 

“This sounds really fun, Maddie.” Chim says seriously. “I’d like to go. I’m just not sure about work.”

“Well,” she shrugs. “Come if you can. I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“Okay,” he smiles at her. “I’ll see what I can do.”

---

As for 27 for 🛞... That has been posted! I wasn't trying to hide it, I just didn't have enough left when I did this haha.

It is this:

IN EXCHANGE, I can offer you 27 of the 🔼 throuple fic, or 27 of my next Gotcha For Gaza one shot prompt fill, which focuses on May. Its emoji will probably be 💐

[problematiquearts]

actually. fuck it. bro strider 4channer to furry pipeline:

his first fursona is one that he makes as a joke. its a smuppet and for maximum irony it's drawn in the mlp style. no one *really* gets just how funny this is

but hey i turns out hes like... actually pretty decent at the mlp art style? someone on /b/ (bro strider 4channer canon) asks him to draw fetish art of one of the ponies and that's *hilarious*. porn of a kids show? Fucking phenomenal. never been done before. show stopping. you will never understand the levels of irony he's on. drawing porn of a kids show, that he watches because its funny for him, the manliest man ever, to watch a tv show aimed at little girls about the power of friendship. Fetish art that he's being commissioned for by some loser who's actually into the fetish and doesn't see the hilarity of human sexuality like he, the ultimate chad thundercock, does. weird way to say you get no bitches but go off, king <3

draws weird crossover saw/mlp art for the lols. (you just dont get it. you dont understand the irony. you dont see his vision.) Rainbow Dash in a reverse bear trap. Pinky Pie as john kramer, but the depressed one with straight hair.

then equestria girls comes out. he has Opinions. Why make them human and keep the fantastical skin tones? Theyre not even horses. Ridiculous. At least stick the pony heads back on them shits. Rainbow Dash still best girl

He does just that. put them pony heads back on those human bodies stat. Cue the 'lol furry' comments on /b/ for that one. And actually, wouldnt that be hilarious? who would think *he* would be a furry at first glance? Comedy has never been so sweet.

Hes a furry puppet porn artist now. He's gonna make popular furry crushes to do snuff in puppet form. Gets really into the muscle bara types of furries. Also horses, hes already committed to being a clopper. Might as well commit to the bit a little more and just make it all cartoon horses.

... this is feeling less and less ironic as the days go by. so many people think hes like these freaks online and he's still doing the occasional commission for whoever is brave enough to approach him on his mountain of weird fetish porn. when finally..... finally....... someone asks him if he as a sona because they never see him draw his own stuff.

Well... no. he didnt. he had an old smuppet mlp oc but that... well its not that it wasnt him, it was that it wasn't.... really a sona in the ways these people meant it. And hes supposed to be committing to the bit right? double or nothing. So he does some research. (its a 3 day binge of every how to guide on deviantart and furaffinty) About how to make a fursona. I mean that doesnt... he not *really*, ya know? its an ironic thing.

So he makes the hottest horse-man youve ever fucking seen just as a way of taking the joke full circle. of course bro doodles him occasionally, sticks him in a smuppet kigurumi and everything.

and then he gets his first piece of fanart. it's like... actually good. they drew him his fursona with a loving kind of detail and Bro doesnt... know how to take that. This genuine affection for something he's done without expectation of reciprocation is kinda frying his brain. He doesn't respond to the post or the message. he does make it his profile picture though.

and someone asks about his puppet videos, if he makes all of the plushies himself? Maybe if he takes custom orders. And asking about the puppets genuinely is like a cheat code to get him to talk, even if he's got short responses. his first special interest was the muppets and that slid into puppetry so easy it was like breathing.

so he says the exact specs are a trade secret, but yeah, commissions were on the table for the right price. And that's how he gets roped into making his first fursuit. It turns out surprisingly well! Bro is a perfectionist and years of sewing famous characters and celebs into snuff fueled stop motion sex dolls has given him a lot more technical know how than you might think.

one thing leads to another and Stratos Fur rolls around. he doesn't buy a ticket. But he does make an excuse to himself to be near the convention center/airport. Someone's seam rips and he insults the shoddy workmanship. This is how he makes friends <3

'You paid for that crap? the stich tension alone would be a waste of good thread. Gonna fall apart under its own weight in 6 months.'

oh yeah smartass? what's your suggestion, then?

'get your money back. Or find someone who actually knows what they're doing. aint my wallet screaming'

As much as it's a dick thing to say it does kinda make them laugh. Finally, a non fetish based insult. Bro watches them go to sew it up themself and clicks his tongue. 'Whip stitch is gonna look like shit on the outside. Use an overlock.'

it's clear they have no idea what the hell that means. He huffs. 'Gimme the needle 'fore you hurt yourself.' And he slav squats right there for the next 15 minutes sewing a straight line without so much as a hair out of place. Human touch isn't nearly so bad through a layer of foam and fabric, as it turns out.

I've lost steam here but what's important is that Bro realizes that the fursuit limits human contact and theoretically would just be like piloting a giant furry mecha + inability to be over stimulated because he's being lightly squished by foam on all sides in a dark place. he can chill even while he would normally be freaking out. personal fursuit time babey.

Also important to me is that his asshole behavior correctly reads to other socially awkward assholes as 'not actually trying to start shit. human connection is just hard' and he gets adopted by the furry catgirl coders. he let's it happen because they remind him so much of Roxy and he's always had a soft spot for her, even if he denies it all the time.

having friends his own age who share his interests is good for him. support system to teaching him a few good coping mechanism to getting him on an ssri to hey if that's not working you wanna try my mood stabilizers? I switched to a different brand and I like just ordered a 3 month supply of the old ones to oh shit, he's kinda normal now. he really does need to be on those, huh?

[kayzroo]

figures ill talk about someone i dont talk about a lot lol

1. her name is madete, and she and her sister have matching names (her sisters name is gasete)

2. madete is a young animal who looks similar to a blesbok (she is 15 years old). she has two dark spots in her fur, being a stripe up her nose and a patch along her collarbone that looks like a necklace. she wears a long lavender skirt with vials of spices tied on, and has several plant themed bracelets and anklets as well.

3. she is female, and i really havent given any thought to sexuality, so ill go with asexual

4. madete works with her adopted mother as a traveling merchant, where her specialty is sweet talking people into scams. she comes off as innocent and perfect at first glance, but in reality is selling spices at such ridiculously inflated prices its shocking nobody catches on. when not selling anything, shes curious, with pretty much no sense of boundaries into peoples business, and she asks. about. everything. shes very smart and skilled despite being so young.

5. she and her adopted mother, dranina, work with two other salesmen (bismuk and dazmah). one day, in a far north town, they meet someone strange who seems to change their story every time theyre asked a question. he ends up tagging along with them, and in turn, the four serve as his excuse and hiding place. madete is very much a side character but shes one of those ones i just love so much.

6. not yet unfortunately. got plenty for other characters though :')

7. she loves dranina more than anything else. she loves plants and being outside, and shes a big fan of rainy weather. her favourite colour is green and her favourite animal is the jerboa.

8. she cant stand when people dont answer her questions or back out on a sale. she also hates when people harm any part of nature for no reason.

9. madete is an amazing cook, and she loves to garden when she has the time. sometimes she makes little matching bracelets for her and dranina, but she ultimately ends up throwing them out.

10. not so much an actual enemy, but she cant stand that strange person they met in the north. the way he dodges every question drives her absolutely insane.

this was super fun! thank you for tagging me in this haha!!

I have recently been introduced to the concept of tagging games. Here's one I just came up with, mostly based around your own characters (whether they are from your story or a D&D campaign):

What's the name of one of your original characters?

What do they look like?

How do they identify (gender identity, sexuality, etc)?

Describe their personality.

What is their place in your story/campaign?

Do you associate a song with them? If so, which one?

What do they like?

What do they dislike?

What are their hobbies?

Do they have a sworn enemy? If so, who?

I'll give an example, here's a character I've worked on for a few years and made several versions of:

This character does not have a name, if I post about them again, you'll know why. They prefer to go by the Devoted Musician.

This character has long, dark hair with bangs and blue eyes that occasionally appear violet. She most often wears a purple dress and black or purple Mary Janes.

She identifies as a young woman and is aromantic asexual.

This character is fun, outgoing, and humourous, but also quite gullible.

Their place in their current story is serve as both an antagonist and a warning.

I've associated many songs with this character, and all of her different traits and facets.

This character likes the colour purple, the night sky, fresh air, flowers, and music.

They dislike people leaving them or betraying them. She also despises people who are arrogant, especially about their intelligence.

Her hobbies include practicing music and exploring.

She does not have a sworn enemy (as of yet).

@kayzroo @cafeforwriters @pokedamage @albatris

[drzone]

Hi!! I saw you posting about weird car merchandise! Idk how weird or obscure this is but one of my personal favs is the Cupcake Lightning Mcqueen! It always felt like such a weird scene to turn into a figure! Also it goes for like $50-$80 on ebay? Which is WILD to me. I forgot where I was going with this ask but id love to see more weird merch if you have any/are willing to share! :-D (sry im a big fan of cars so seeing you post about cars makes me SO happy)

I LOVE THAT ONE I THINK ITS SO FUNNY. It is SUCH a weird scene to turn into merch but i love it. CRAZY HOW MUCH OLD CARS MERCH IN GENERAL GOES FOR. this is less weird merch but i really love the cars lego sets ESPECIALLY flos v8 cafe … unfortunately goes for a completely absurd price on ebay too. especially considering its only around 500 pieces. totally ridiculous (and its not even accurate to the movie😭!!!!!!) BUT IM SO OBSESSED W HOW THEY BUILT THE CARS ITS TOO FUNNY. Sarge looks fucked UPPP. sally looks good though.

and some more not weird ones but i was looking thru google images for kicks and giggles and these 2 ones are making me EMO. THEYRE SO CUTE

and back to the weird side i present to you: mcqueen soap dish. i actually want it so bad. its so …. gibbly. that doesnt mean anything but it Is.

AND ALSO THE DUPLO CARS ARE THE CUTEST THING. i love them so much

THANK YOU FOR ASKING LOL i really love cars. will continue scrounging around for more silly objects. OH also on weird merch: these. balanced meal. meal built for speed precision and aerodynamics.

[year2000electronics]

i actually don't have an opinion on either, so i'm curious: what do you hate about youtooz? (the price is way too much though i agree)

ok. so. first things first the REASON i compare these two series, and i believe it IS a fair comparison, is that they both serve the same role in their respective merchandising niches: a brand with a certain style that most figures conform to that is famous (or rather, notorious) for covering ridiculous amounts of media and their style being... well, depends who you ask. its just that funko pop covers mainstream media most of the time, basically anything that a big company can fund, whereas youtooz is for internet icons and independent creators 

and the BIGGEST point is the price point. 

so just using pops official website and my own personal knowledge as a jumping off platform, i know that the whole reason pops are so simplistic and accessible is because they’re meant to be easily accessible collectibles for the mainstream audience! theyre supposed to be neat little collectibles that are easy to get and easy to produce (which is how they maintain the price) 

the price here says these star trek funko pops are 11 bucks, and just from personal experience ive seen pops go for anywhere from 9 bucks to 15 bucks, with some really common pops even making their way to the dollar store! so if youre a fan of star trek who doesnt have CRAZY disposable income and you just wanna nab a spock, hey. there you go. 

now, vaulted pops and chase variants (basically pops that arent currently being restocked in stores, and rarer simple variants to already made models ie. gold mario) rack up a lot of money on auction sites, but this happens with literally every figure and limited item so its really not like, a pop problem. imo their goal of being simple, accessible collectibles for anyone to collect and enjoy WORKS.

now here ive got some figures from youtooz and- HUH. LOOK AT THAT. 30 US DOLLARS. (again, even more for me in canada!) now, i know that its not TOTALLY ridiculous bc even though theyre around the same height, funko pops have more hollow plastic and theres probably more complex designs but the REASON i do not think that these are worth as much as they are is because

2. THEY ARE UGLY. 

ive done a little sketch here trying to analyze the sort of design philosphies of the ‘pop style’ and the ‘youtooz style’ and i think both have their ups and downs.

i will give youtooz the point for the dynamic poses theyre usually in, as that usually makes the figure a lot more interesting, which you REALLY need if your figure has absolutely no articulation

look at the youtooz charlie brown doing a baseball- hes in the middle of an action pose, and it has a GREAT silhouette. 10/10 posing. some of the youtooz posing really fucking sucks but overall its got better pose quality 

but a lot of pops are Just Standing There. 

BUT overall i think funko pop has the stronger style. funko pop’s style has a REASON to be the way it is. why? because many of the first pop lines were just one in dozens and hundreds of already existing toy lines! so it needs a distinct style to not only give credence to a ‘collection’ mentality, but also distinguishing them from other lines of the same brand

like, there are so many different c-3pos out there, so i KNOW im getting a funko pop c-3po bc like. look at him. 

so then, i ask you, WHY does youtooz need a ‘unifying style’? why do internet creators need to conform to this style? because both the reasons i listed above just, do not apply here! one, these are often the ONLY figures made for these creators, and two, there is NOBODY who is collecting youtooz. the point of youtooz is that there are LIMITED DROPS, targeted SPECIFICALLY at fans of THAT creator. which is why they announce it on their channel! so theres no NEED to use this ugly UGLY style! and yet they do!!!

another thing the youtooz style sucks ass with is, like, the default expression. for funko pops, the default expression is usually a neutral, which SOME say is creepy or offputting but IMO. its like, a blank slate. a resting natural that could be anything and that works as these figures dont exist IN motion. look at hello kitty! she doesnt have a mouth and its used to her advantage 

but the closed eyes just fucking- its CONFUSING. especially in an expression thats not all smiley. its a confusing expression and usually a closed-eyes emotion isnt something that... stays on the face for that long? ik its a stylization choice but i dont LIKE it. theres no point of eye contact here. the posture suggests theyre looking SOMEwhere, like this rando throwing a thumbs up to the ‘viewer’ but his eyes are closed

AND THREE i just think funko pop does... ‘compromise’ better. so compromise is like, when something just WILL NOT FIT in your style. even if the reason for having that style is STUPID. funko pop has a better track record with bringing that style into synthesis with their own. yeah yeah you can strawman that fucking dory pop all you want but listen. there are GOOD EXAMPLES of this. 

look at this peashooter! hes adorable!! and the funko nose and lack of mouth get broken here. but LOOK HES SO CUTE

this pvz zombie breaks EVERY rule of the design. a non-standard nose, a body not smaller than the head, eyes that arent all black, MOUTH. but like. look at him! you know its a funko pop anyways bc its a small cute version of the zombie!!

now lets see how YOUTOOZ compromises. 

oh- oh wow. so uh, you saw a character whose big eyes are CRUCIAL to their design and instead of going ‘i know ill make the closed eyes bigger’ you go HMM LETS MAKE THE CLOSED EYES THE PUPILS’. wow. thats- okay.

tldr youtooz sucks and if it should exist it shouldnt force every figure to be the same stupid style. also who wants to pay for memes.

[creacherkeeper]

so i’m planning on doing a monster of the week one shot about a southern werewolf family because i was explaining to my friends how like. just Looking At The Facts it’s really stupid my moms side of the family like. ARENT actually werewolves??? and just thought it might be something tumblr would enjoy

some Facts about my family:

we all have ridiculously good senses of smell (for example we can tell what family members came to visit hours ago even if they weren’t wearing perfume/cologne)

we all have very bulky strong jaws and incredible bite force (one of my cousins went to the dentist and snapped the bite force measuring tool in half)

despite our great jaws we tend to have weird teeth. i had to get 4 baby teeth and 4 adult teeth removed when i was a kid because they were way way too big for my mouth. braces were painful and took forever because my teeth were so strong. my braces cracked off several times

all the older members of my family are Haunted By Things They Won’t Talk About. there’s big parts of their lives and childhoods they totally avoid

many of us struggle with insomnia

very strong value of Family Is Most Important/Family Sticks Together, even though my family members are frequently erratic or violent. my aunt was immediately accepted back into the family after trying to break into my grandmothers house and almost murdered my mother. she attacked several people, and left huge claw marks on my mother’s arm that she still has the scars from. i was not there to witness this because i was left a few doors down with a baseball bat

my cousins are all pretty tall and bulky. they also grow facial hair very quickly and easily. one cousin was so huge, mature looking, and grew a beard so young, that my aunt had to carry around his birth certificate to get child’s prices at restaurants. his nickname was “werewolf child”

i grew up with biting as a very common and accepted form of affection. literally didn’t know it was weird until i left the family. if you’re feeling loving and someone’s within reach you just grab them and bite their hand or arm or shoulder. leaving marks meant you were really happy

my cousins put away a ridiculous amount of food. my aunt could feed them a full huge meal, leave to spend time with her sisters, and less than two hours later they would call her asking if she would come home and cook because they were starving. one cousin can eat an entire pan crust large pizza in less than five minutes (despite eating so much, and frequently junk food or heavy meat, theyre all on the scale from thin to muscular. none of them are really overweight)

lots of paranormal stuff tends to happen around us. almost every member of my family has had one or more ghost encounters (frequently unexplainable things happening in front of multiple people who all see it while none of them have consumed alcohol or drugs. this has ranged from seeing people in their house, seeing people float/fly, seeing things move when no one touches them, hearing objects talk, and seeing black shapes in the corners of the room, even one time seeing a black orb fly out of their stomach the night before they had a miscarriage). i have been present and witnessed a good handful of paranormal things myself

like!!!! i’m just saying !!!! if we were a fictional family it would be SO OBVIOUS we were werewolves. and kids this is just ONE of the many reasons i can’t take nonfiction classes. no one ever “understands my metaphors” when i’m just writing about my real actual goddamn life

[wheremyscalesslither]

The Glowfish Adventure

In January 2016 my family decided to get a "low maintenance" pet for my nephew's 4-5th birthday... somehow they decided fish fit the bill. I rallied against it so hard because I knew inevitably no one would provide the care needed for a fish tank. Between the water changes, and feeding, and making sure the habitat was actually suitable for the inhabitants, I knew my family wouldn't keep up.

Literally a month later I was caring for the fish. My family wasnt willing to provide the care above, but also refused to get rid of them, so I bitterly took the lead. Bitterly, because fish were dumb and boring, amirite? But ESPECIALLY GLOWFISH.

No, not because they are "tattooed/dyed" (they are bred for their coloration) or because theyre GMO (the food you eat is GMO). But because in my head Glowfish were the pinnacle of gross capitalism: pushing the fad of owning a living animal for decoration.

Still yet, I was not going to let animals suffer.

TA-DA. The first fish tank. Okay actually the first fish tank had fake plants. Real plants were my first move as the caretaker. I went to the local aquarium shop and asked them to give me the easiest plants. They gave me:

water wisteria

Water sprite

Elodea anacharis

Echinodorus "red flame"

And at a random trip to petsmart I got an anubius nana for too much money 🤷‍♀️

And why yes, that is a grand total of 2 tetra glowfish in a 20 gallon because the other 4 died during what I learned was a "fish in cycle" 😬 I wasnt very fish savvy yet so I wasnt aware of what a cycle was let alone that you need constant water changes to not kill fish.

With a lot of help from @jayce-space and other great people (but mostly I bothered jayce-space) i started to slowly upgrade the tetra tank. Oh and the plants grew!!

Look at that healthy school of fish. And the questionably healthy plants. The only plants that survived the first tank were the wisteria, red flame sword, a sprig of elodea, and the anubias nana. Elodea died pretty quick afterward though, and the water Sprite became uprooted so my mom threw it out thinking it was garbage 😂 still one of the biggest WTF moments for me in animal keeping. "Mom you dont think twice about the tank why did you throw those plants away randomly" she still doesnt know hahaha

Onwards,

A year passed and I decided I *actually* enjoyed keeping aquariums, so much so that for my birthday I begged my parents to let me get the tetras a tank that was better suited for them.

And thusly the 40B gallon was born!

Oh man look at that aquascaping 👌👌👌 I branched out to more plants. I got 2 more swords (Echinodorus "ozelot" and Apongeton crispus), some dwarf sag, and planted the wisteria, anubias, and red flame sword into the 40B. those cholla were soooo aesthetically pleasing. Dont mind the rocks, they're weighing the driftwood down.

From January to September I added a ton more species of plants and more tetras: black skirt and white skirt- 2 more "normal" colors.

The new additions of plants are: Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Hygrophila corymbosa, Amazon swords

Eventually the cholla decompoosed too much and the bottom of the aquarium was ALWAYS dirty so I switched it out for some spider wood. One new plant species was added: staurogyne repens

Here is the tetra tank January 2018, 2 years into taking over the care of the tank.

By September 2018, someone gifted me a 55 gallon which was initially intended to be a salt water tank. After discovering just how much more careful and vigilant you have to be with salt water aquariums, as well as the hefty price tag, I made it into a bioactive enclosure for a snake. Which I got bored of and turned into an upgrade for the tetras ���

Oh boy those plants look sparse in such a long tank. What survived, might you ask?? Not quite the variety I had hoped for, though some of the plants from my original purchase survived:

Echinodorus "red flame" *first plant 😃

Water wisteria *clones of the first plant!

Anubias nana *first plant!

Echinodorus "ozelot"

Amazon swords

Apongeton crispus (though it melted and has never been the same since)

Hydrophilia corymbosa

A sprig of dwarf sag

A sprig of staurogyne repens

I later added java moss to make moss "trees"

Adding pressurized co2 was game changer. Plants EXPLODED. I'm 10000% committed to using co2 in aquariums. Holy cow it makes a difference.

Sadly I dont have a comparison to this January In a photo, just a video.

But heres a photo from March!

Along the way I got water Sprite again and java ferns. I also had a brief interest in shrimp (actually I LOVE them) so I added amano and ghost shrimp. I have also added platies and my nephews' betta fish after watching very very closely. Honestly at this point, the fish tank is no longer a tetra tank. It's mostly a platy tank. And they've done an excellent job of stocking it for me 😑

More recently, I switched to a better diffuser and the plants got even crazier! Here's a photo from 1-2 days ago after 2 weeks on the new diffuser:

I was literally pulling plants out by the handful to fill in my dad's 57 gallon tank.

Some plants got transferred:

Echinodorus "red flame," (she is arguably my favorite plant) Not only has she survived this long, but she outgrew the 55 gallon to the extent her leaves were sprouting out of the water and dying. I moved her into my dad's ridiculously shaped 57 gallon. That's her standing proudly on the left:

java moss trees got moved. The height of this tank suits them better and looks less crowded

One of the 2 Amazon swords

I cloned my original java moss, and it is now 7 separate plants- 3 of the smaller ones are in this 57 gal.

A very large sprig of water wisteria and a large clump of water sprite

A few dwarf sag

The elodea came from a science project at school, and they gave me all the snails and elodea from it :)

I also had some duckweed introduced from the snails and elodea so RIP me.

And finally, the tetra tank today:

It got a nice old trim and pull of plants even after I took some for my dad's tank. Now I need to add the hardscaping back in. And I'm really itching to get new plants and more glowfish tetras!!

Heres the final attendance sheet:

Fauna:

glowfish tetra

Glowfish shark

Black skirt tetra

White skirt tetra

Blue platies

Rando Pond snails

One nerite snail

3 amano shrimp

1 ghost shrimp

Flora:

Echinodorus "ozelot"

Amazon sword

Anubias nana

Java fern

Water sprite

Water wisteria

Dwarf sag

Some reddish plant I forgot the name of 🤔

Bacopa caroliana

Some other bacopa species 🤷‍♀️

Its funny to think back to the first experiences I had with aquariums and realize how far I've come.

So what's next?

What's next is my uncle is building me a frame for the 135 gallon tank my parents bought. The tetra and platies will likely be going right in there with all the plants :)

wish me luck!

[midnigtartist]

6. The super long kiss that wasn’t intended

He knows he should be watching the treeline. Sat beside Nott at the front of the cart, Molly knows that he ought to be scanning the tree line for any potential threats to their merry band as they weave their way through the valley. But he just can’t seem to get himself to focus on the slow passing trees as Nein marches southward. His gaze keeps slipping from the road, as he glanced over his shoulder at the wizard curled up in the back of the cart.

As to be expected, he’s got a book propped up in his lap. One of the spellbook he keeps strapped to his side, Molly notes, as he carefully and meticulously sifts through their recent spoils. The faint hum of arcane energy hangs in the air around him. It pricks at the back of Molly’s neck, making the hair there stand on edge and that’s why he’s been so distracted, and certainly not because Caleb looks so darling and content with his task, a small smile curling at the corner of his lips.

No, Molly thinks wryly to himself, it’s certainly nothing to do with that. Not at all.

He swings his legs over the side of the cart bench, earning and disgruntled yelp from Nott as she’s jostled by the movement. Molly ignores this, instead watching Caleb’s, dare he says, giddy smile as the pearl clasped tight in his hand dulls, and he picks up the bracelet he’s been inspecting. Sliding off the bench, Mollymauk seats himself cross legged at the perimeter of Caleb’s pile of spoils, resting his cheek to his fist.

“Anything interesting?”

Caleb starters, but only a little, his head jolting up and eyes blinking as he takes in the new addition to his ring of shiny things. Molly offers him a curling, close mouth smile in lue of a proper greeting.

Caleb nods, pulling at his beard. “Ja, this-” he gestured vaguely over the lot of stuff, a crooked grin on his face. “This ist gut. There is a lot a usefully things here.”

“Almost finished then?��� Molly asks.

“Oh yah, I just have to look over these rings for Jester, you know, and then that will be all of it but ahhhh- you have come over here? Is- is there something you need?” the thrill the magic gives him, seems to bear wearing off and Molly can see Caleb slowly receding back into his shell. And that simply won’t do.

He shrugs “Not particularly. This is fascinating, by the way.”

Caleb lowers his gaze to his spellbook. He twiddles and twists the pearl between his fingers and Molly tracks the movement because that’s fascinating too. Caleb’s long fingers rolling the small bead between them is truly something and he can feel the slight flush crawling up his neck.

“You have seen me identify objects before,,,” Caleb mutters.

“And I find it thrilling every time!” he says. He leans forward so his elbows are pressed into his knees. “I think it’s just wonderful, that. How you can learn all of that stuff just from looking at it for a few minutes. It’s very impressive!”

Caleb shrugs, but Molly spies a phantom of a smile touching the corner of his mouth and he finds himself beaming all the wider for it.

“Well you know, there is a bit more to it then that but it is ahhh,, nerd shit.”

“What I’ve learned from traveling with the lot of you terrible people is that nerd shit tends to be the shit that keeps us alive. It’s very useful shit. Don’t sell your shit short Caleb, it’s very good shit! Quality, even.” he says. Somewhere to the right of him, he can hear Jester cackling. He keeps his eyes and his smile trained on Caleb, who’s actually turned a bit to face him.

“Ha ha.” it’s not a laugh, not really. It more just the noise, but it’s so endearing that Molly’s insides squirm with delight at the sound. “I suppose you are right- about that at least.”

“You’d be surprised by how much I’m right about, actually.” Molly says.

This time Caleb does laugh, even if all it is a huff of air. “Mister Mollymauk.”

“Mister Caleb”

The pearl rolls between his thumb and forefinger. “Would you like learn a magic trick? I, you know, I have tried teaching Jester before, and umm, Beauregard but, they don’t, well, they really do not have the patience for this sort of thing.”

He cocks his head to the side. “And you think I do?”

“I have seen you mend your coat.” Caleb says, actually leveling his clear blue gaze on Molly, effectively pinning him in place. “That embroidery is your handy work, hmm? Something like that takes a lot of time.”

Molly draws back so that he’s sitting up straight. “Well as flattering as it is to know you keep eye on me.” Caleb flushes. “-I don’t think I’m quite clever enough to do what it is you do dear.”

Magic, at least, the magic Caleb does, seems to require a lot of reading, and reading has never really agreed with Mollymauk Tealeaf. It makes his eyes hurt and his whole brain revolt against him, can even give him a terrible headache if he forces himself to work at it for too long.

Caleb’s brows draw together, forming deep creases between his eyes. “It is not that hard.” he says.

Molly flashes him a tight smile. “Yes, but I’m not that smart.”

The wizard shuts his spellbook with a forceful snap that makes Molly’s tail jump and curl up behind him. “Come here, Mollymauk.” Caleb says, commands really, Molly thinks with a shiver. “I will not force you, if you do not wish, but do not withhold just because you think that you might not be clever enough. I will be the judge of that.”

“Well when you put it so nicely,,,” Molly says, praying to the Weaver that he sound relatively unaffected by whatever that was. He slides over so that he’s sitting next to Caleb, instead of across from him. “So, what will I be learning then?”

Caleb hesitates, but only for a moment before he opens his book back up, and shuffles over so that Molly can see the pages, balancing it on his knee.

“Something simple, I think.”

“Oh goody.”

Even the creak of the branches in the wind sounds ominous, which Molly thinks is rather ridiculous and painfully cliche. His blade, glowing with a warm, white light, is wrapped up in the tails of his coat to dull it’s radiance as Molly creeps along low in the brush. The Nein had decided, against Molly’s better judgement, decided to travel a few hours past sunset.

“The next town isn’t that far, guys.” Jester had told them, brandishing the map with the same ferocity with which she handles her sickle. “We’ve been on the road for daaaaaaaaaaays and my feet are getting all tired and gross from walking so much and I just want to sleep in a bed and not in the grass and wake up with like, bugs in my hair and stuff.”

So they’d marched on, and now they’re paying the price because not only is it a good couple of hour past sunset, but they’d been assaulted by some ruffians. Taking advantage of the exhausted state of the party, they’d managed to stop them, rob them, and make off with Jester’s haversack of holding. With so much of their valuable shit in that bag, they’d decided to give chase, and had gotten spread pretty thin in the processes. Which, isn’t such a bad thing, Molly’d been able to pick off a few of the bandits, spread thin themselves, quickly and quietly. But he’s worried about everyone else. If they were unlucky enough to run into more of the bastards then they could handle alone, with Jester possible very, very far away. That could make things a bit more sticky.

Of course, they’re all pretty capable, decently strong. And yet,,, Molly’s worried about some, specifically squishy members of their party.

He’ll- they’ll be fine.

He marches on deeper into the woods.

A bit of time later, the sound of muffled voices hit Molly’s ears. Not long after does he spy the flicker of firelight through the leaves, painting speckled shadows along forest floor.

Molly pauses a moment, tucking himself against a rotting old tree trunk. Peeking over the top of it he can just barely make out a group of darkened figured, hooting and hollering like idiots around a makeshift camp. Why do petty thieves always do that? Make a whole fucking ton of noise that gives away their position. Every single band of thieves he’s ever run into does it. It’s just not smart. Though, if they were smart enough to understand that they probably wouldn’t be out here robbing well seasoned mercenary groups, he thinks. He counts the shadows, or at least he tries to. The back lighting from the fire is fucking up his night vision but he thinks he sees four or five distinct individuals. Too many to take out alone.

Reaching into his pocket with his free hand, he pulls out a little piece of wire. Its difficult, harder with only one hand, but he manages to wrap the bit of copper around his finger and brings it up to his lips. He points out into the woods in the general direction he thinks he saw people running. “Found a group of them. Looks like five maybe? North. Just past that one rock that looks remarkably like a penis. Oh ! and you can reply to this message” he whispers into his fist.

Molly does this eight more time, hoping that if he casts a wide enough net he’ll be able to get in touch with at least some of the Nein. Between not knowing exactly where everyone is and the, frankly concerning, fizzle of the spell against his lips he not sure how many of them got the message. On the fourth time, he hears Jester’s cackling rattling around in his skull. It’s a horrible bizarre feeling that makes his skin tingle,and not even in the fun way.  On the sixth one he hears Beau’s exasperated “real fucking mature, man” and has to stifle a chuckle. On the last one, it’s Caleb’s voice ringing around in his skull.

“I see the rock you are talking about. oh- ja it does look like a dick.” He says. “I am making my way over to you now.”

Molly waits, one eye on the trees around him, one on the group of bandits, watching for any strange movement. Maybe one of them will come over here to take a piss. He could take them out nice and quite, and that would be one less shit head to deal with.

The bushes to his right rustle and Molly tightens his grip on his sword. Caleb comes sprinting out of the underbrush towards him, crouched low to the ground to avoid being spotted. Molly can’t even even get a word of greeting out before Caleb is suddenly upon him, hands reaching to curl around the lapel of his coat.

The wizard is positively beaming at him, his face cracked with a wide smile Molly has only ever seen him give Nott. His eyes are practically glowing, wide and excited and full of pride. He’s on Molly in an instant huddled against the rotten log alongside him and Molly is stunned.

“You cast message!” Caleb says, barely able to keep his voice to a stage whisper for the excitement. His hands come up, cupping Molly’s face between them and immediately the teifling feels himself start to color. Thumbs rub over his cheeks, Caleb squishing his face between his calloused palms “You cast the spell, you did the thing that I showed you! Oh! I am so proud! I am so proud of you! You are brilliant Mollymauk. I could kiss you!”

Well, that makes Molly’s heart do all sorts of ill advised and complicated gymnastics in his chest.

He puts a shaking hand on Caleb’s knee. “Don’t say thing you don’t intent to follow through on, Mister Caleb.”

Brain seeming to have caught up with his mouth, Caleb pales, then flushes a deep scarlet. His hand stay cupped around Molly’s cheeks, though they do lessen they’re squeezing a bit. His gaze falls past Molly’s right shoulder. “I ahh- right. I was- well I got a little excited I suppose,,,”

“Happens to the best of us.” he gives Caleb leg a friendly jiggle “Your secret’s safe with me”

Caleb chuckles.

They don’t move. They’re still dreadfully, painfully close. Annoyingly, not close enough. He watches as Caleb’s gaze flickers back over to his face. Watches the way his sharp, ever curious blue eyes trace the curve of his palm where it’s pressed into Molly cheek, all the way down to the corner of his mouth. He leans in.

The center of gravity suddenly shifts and Mollymauk Tealeaf finds himself crashing against Caleb’s warm mouth. Its quick, but it’s everything.

Caleb presses his lips firmly to Mollymauk’s for a brief moment, pulling him in with the fingers still curved around his jaw. Molly gasps, fingers tightening around the fabric of Caleb’s pant leg. He lets his eyes flutter shut. And then the warmth is gone and Molly opens his eyes to see the wizard staring at him, wide eyed and flushed. Still his hands don’t move from Molly’s face.

“I should not have done that. I-”

Molly brings his other hand up to the back of Caleb’s neck and pulls him forward. Their lips meet again and Molly can taste the crackle of arcane power that lingers on them. It shoots a thrill down his spine. The hand on Caleb’s knee tangles into the coarse fur lining of his coat and Molly sigh, deep and wanting against the other man’s mouth.

To his glorious surprise, Caleb responds in kind. His hands begin to move, one sliding down his face to rest at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, those long, scholarly fingers spanning across his throat, making Molly shiver. The other tangles into the short curls at the back of his neck, drawing Molly even closer.

Molly breaths through the kiss, eyes shut tight as he focuses on the feeling. Of dry and ragged ruined lips against his own. On the slight scratch of stubble against his chin and the rough pads of Caleb’s fingers on his skin. He feels exactly like he looks, coarse and rough around the edges. Nothing like the soft, sweet smelling hired company that Molly’s used to. He finds he likes this much better. The earthy smell that clings to weather battered skin, mixed in with faint hints of whatever spell components line Caleb’s pockets. Licorice and molasses.

Caleb sighs against him, tilting his head for a better angle.  Molly puts all other thoughts out of his head. Forgets about the bandits at his back, and his friends stomping through the underbrush. Even forgets about their stole bag of good. He put his facilities to better use, memorizing the shape and heat of Caleb’s lips against his own

Molly parts his lips and prods at Caleb’s lower lip with the twin prongs of his forked tongue, makes a soft sound of pleasure as Caleb’s fingers tighten in his hair. Caleb jumps under his hands, pulling away. He desperately wants to follow, but Molly let him go, keeping fingers folded against the lapels of his coat, half  to keep himself grounded, half to keep Caleb from bolting before he can find his voice again.

“Don’t you dare apologize for that.” He crooks out after a moment.

Caleb stares at him with blown out blue eyes. He swallows, runs a hand across his jaw. His fingers linger against his lips. “Ja- okay,,, That was ahhh-”

“That was good.” Molly assures him, stroking fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

Caleb nods, looking a little unsure. “Gut, ja. You know, uhh maybe we should- should, you know- maybe we could do that again, sometime. But I think we should probably take care of those bandits first.”

A smile splits Molly’s face. “Think we can take them, just the two of us?

“No.” Caleb hands come back around to cup his cheeks, then slip down, coming  to rest against the front of Molly’s coat “We are pretty tough, but you said that there were at least five of them. I do not want us taking any unnecessary risks.” he starts fidgeting with Molly’s coat, adjusting it on his shoulder and smoothing out the silk with his hands. “Clever boy.” Molly says, fondness laced into his words.

Caleb doesn’t meet his gaze, but he does smile.

The sound of twigs snapping catch their attention and moments later Beau comes slinking out of the bushes, a new bruise swelling up over her eye. Caleb hands fall away. Molly keeps fingers pressed lightly against the side of his knee.

“That’s a good look on you.” he says, once Beau is close enough.

“Thanks asshole.” Beau wedges her way between the two of them, elbowing Molly in the stomach as she does.  

He whizzes out a pained laugh.

[geekymoviemom]

Regarding Steve and Tony: Both made bad decisions in CW and didn't reach out in the following two years when they should have. You can argue that one was more to blame than the other, but to have that cross into actually hate isnt fair. And really, its wrong since its been established that they and the team do better when theyre on the same side. Its why for the Core 6 I prefer Phase One. After that it seemed like their conflicts were plot driven in order to split them up so they'd lose in IW.

If not directly after phase one, then shortly thereafter. The Avengers is still one of my top five MCU movies just because of the awesome OG6 dynamics we got (even though Peter’s not in it). That dynamic has played out in all three of my multi-chapter Marvel fics as well 😎.

There are perfectly valid arguments both for and against both sides in Civil War, but to have those arguments cross over into petty hate and name-calling is just ridiculous. There were no winners in that conflict, just two broken men and a splintered team, and then the universe ended up paying the price 😢.

I’m exploring something similar to the accords in my current fic where Tony and Steve are a united front, and while the odds seem to be stacked pretty high against them, well... you’ll just have to wait and see 😉.

Thank you so much for the ask, sweet anon! ♥️♥️

[stevethehairington]

It’s not just that he didn’t say “say two words on camera” he also refused to take a picture with someone who had a pride flag, despite the fact that they paid hundreds of dollars to take a picture with him

first of all, i didn’t hear about this one

second of all, i mean, look. i stand by my original view that celebrities aren’t entitled to their fans, they don’t owe them shit, they can and will and should say no if they don’t want to do something a fan asks them to do. does that mean we’re going to agree with their decision? no! celebrities aren’t perfect and sometimes they say and do things that aren’t always the best or don’t always fit our “perfect picture” of them, which oftentimes, leads to fans getting like super upset, which is a little bit worrisome because, really, we shouldn’t be holding celebrities such a high set of standards that when they mess up, when they make a mistake, when they act human, we think its the end of the world. and because of this, when fans that have “bad” experiences with celebrities report out these bad experiences, a lot of times they exaggerate and make it seem a whole lot worse than it is. 

also, i would just like to add that out of all the like stories of fans getting to meet james, my own experiences included, he’s been nothing but a complete sweetheart to everyone. like are we really going to let like one or two “bad” experiences (that, honestly, seem off base to me bc like. the video one those people were clearly harassing him with that. like. they were.) dictate how we see a person? and are we really going to “cancel” him over one or two not so great experiences? i mean come on people. that’s kind of ridiculous if you ask me.

i got a little off track there, so back to your original concern in your ask. like i said, i havent heard about this one, so i dont know the details of it. but. a couple things: first of all. idk how much photo op tickets were but based off the prices for entrance to the con (which were similar to the con i met him at) im going to assume that the photo op prices were similar to what i paid for mine. that being said they probably did not pay hundreds to meet him. regardless though, no matter how much you pay that’s shitty if they straight up dont take a photo with you. but im guessing thats not what happened. they probably got a photo regardless but it wasnt the photo they wanted so theyre butthurt over that. which. whatever. at the con i was at while i was waiting in line for my photo op the security guard there literally told us that the celebrities we’re meeting have every right to say no to whatever poses we want to do with them. 

also we don’t know why he said no to that. there’s a lot of different reasons why he could have said no and i think way too many people are quick to jump straight to homophobia as the answer and like. sorry to say this but that isnt always the answer? like ik thats sort of controversial to say, but as a bi woman myself i feel secure in saying that just bc someone doesnt want to do something lgbt influenced doesnt mean its because theyre a homophobe okay? and like i said, i dont personally know pj, but from what ive heard him say in interviews and panels and articles and stuff, he really doesnt seem homophobic. he’s had a lot of actually really thoughtful things to say about the lgbt community so. yeah. that’s just my opinion though.

i’d also like to point out, we werent there so we’re literally just taking the word of someone who was influenced by emotion when they posted about this so like. idk. emotion definitely does a lot to color an experience. and it can lead to people jumping to some pretty out there conclusion sometimes.

TLDR: i’m not going to let one or two “bad” stories in a sea of good ones (my own experience included) influence how i think of someone who is a human being that doesnt owe anyone anything. cancel culture is fucked and i’m sick of hearing about celebrities getting cancelled for stupid ass bullshit like this, especially when we only hear one (1) side of the story, which is almost always exclusively the so-called wronged fan’s side. we can only truly fully explain our own actions and trying to explain why someone else did or said something usually just leads to misattributions which can be very harmful.

and i’m genuinely not trying to start an argument with anyone about this so if you don’t agree with me great. good for you. that’s fine. please keep that to yourself and don’t try to argue with me.

[littlecafe]

omg yaa the pricing is way more than necessary for what fans are getting! even with the romanticize album they changed to slipping the cd into a paper envelope too. at least before the merge the cd was actually attached to the inside of the cover? idk whether its funny or just sad because romanticize wasnt even a hard cover album, it came in this weird paper box-like thing that held the loose items together. plus the photobook was just this very small paper booklet. but the ripped pages are definitely a first.

oh no i forgot about the enlistment too TT thats such a good point, fans always assumed theyd stay together even through their service, but now everything is still so uncertain. there still hasnt been any movement at all with jr, which is really worrying to me. at least aron announced hes gonna be in a podcast with his friend, but who knows what else is going on. ive already seen solo fans turning on the other members because theyre ridiculous like that. i hope at least the boys are able to interact freely without any worries, unlike the w1 era.

noo its ok you make a lot more sense than i feel like my asks turn out, im just spewing out my jumbled thoughts and hoping theyre not confusing!

ahhh thats so good, one of every member! ya honestly id like a group pc or poster so everyone is included. omg your stores let you pick?? thats so nice D: hehe maybe printing photos to put in the album like a scrapbook is the way to go, ive seen some fans do that as well! which is still sad that it has to be the consumer fixing the expensive product they paid for. at least you got a photo you like so its not just a mediocre image to keep reminding you of the production TT d you know how big the poster is?

yea like what is justifying these album costs because it's not the quality of them...omg so i don't pay close attention to albums so i never knew that the romanticize album packaging was like that until i skimmed some unboxings yesterday, i always assumed it was a book...not a flimsy box....though i guess there's nowhere to attach the cd if you make their album a soft box but i still hate how they really don't try to give the cd at least a cute, safer envelope instead of plain printed paper it looks and feels cheap and they deserve better and fans deserve better as the ones buying it for these prices too

romanticize is a little similar to day6's moonrise album since it was also in a box like thing that opens up in a similar way but the day6 one is pretty sturdy, the harder canvas like material on the outside keeps it from ripping and it's also bigger and flatter so less chance of it getting smushed during shipping/storing, their cd was packed in a semi-translucent thicker wax envelope so it doesn't tear or bend unless you forcefully try to, there's a light printing of the moon in the front and their logo/details on the back sealed with a sticky....god i wish that was nu'est so bad like pls if you're going to go with the cd just chilling outside like that MAKE THE ENVELOPE NICE AND STURDY TO KEEP THE CD SAFE but really this would be asking for too much since they even forgot to include the cd in some albums like i really don't understand....out of all things you could possibly leave out, the cd? really??? this is why u should attach it the the damn book omg

because of this fiasco, i skimmed multiple unboxings from various groups on youtube because i was just curious how other albums are packed and for the ones that have a separated cd, some use the lyrics booklet as a holder for the cd and i think that's an interesting way to do it, you don't need to waste more paper for an envelope since it would come with the booklet regardless, the harder paper stock and extra pages can buffer which makes me feel like the cd is safer inside, and it just looks better

enlistment scares me so bad especially for those that don't have a group to come back to, like there are always going to be some loyal fans, but the the industry moves on and they move on quickly so it's really hard to build back up if you haven't already secured a spot in whatever world you're in before the ~2 year enlistment period (kpop, acting, etc) because most likely they've already found another person to take your spot while you're gone

it's also so surreal to me talking about enlistment for them because in my mind i'll always remember them to be the youngest boy group to debut at the time like i can't believe it...

ahhhhh i hope this means he's just taking a short break after all these long years and the disbandment out of nowhere must be hard to deal with so it'll be nice for him to take some time to himself first rest and regroup...that's what i'll tell myself for now but hopefully we'll hear something soon, i'm glad there's news on aron at least!!!

oh nooo the solo fans are already starting??? can we please just have some rest in the fandom omg they're terrible, the boys bond with each other is so strong i honestly can't believe solo fans still manage to exist

yes!!! i'm so happy to pull at least one thing from each member!! still laughing at myself because i really, truly thought with my whole heart that the group photocard was a guarantee i was so devastated sakjfhskdf wait do local stores around you not let you pick?? like the ones you can go to in person? i always got to pick whenever i bought in person so i assumed that's how it worked everywhere, at least for posters, since they don't seem as high value as some other goods lol (stores literally rip random posters to use as packaging sometimes and it kinda pains me ngl 😅) but i do think it was very fortunate the stores here let me pick for all types of pre-order benefits even though it should be random, especially with member cards

omg waitttt scrapbook style is such a cute idea!!! i've actually never tried to do something like that before so it might turn out not nice lol but i'm very tempted to try it once i get my album, it can't turn out much worse than an empty cover right lmao

the poster is a decent size, it's listed as 420 x 594mm (for the member ones, the group one is the same but flipped aka 594 x 420mm because it's horizontal), the dimensions are exactly like some of day6's posters so it could be a more standard size to use?

since i actually have a poster of the same size i took a picture for you!! sorry for terrible lighting but their poster should be the same as this youngk one, 12 inch ruler to the side for comparison~ you can also see the physical posters in ktown4u's unboxing but they don't show it all on screen at once since their camera setup films closer up

[patriotsnet]

Why Do Republicans Like Donald Trump

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-do-republicans-like-donald-trump/

Why Do Republicans Like Donald Trump

We Need Somebody Who’ll Finally Get Tough On Foreign Policy

Why Do So Many Republicans Like Donald Trump?

Well, there’s no doubt that Trump talks a tough game when it comes to other countries â he sort of makes it sound like the world will just roll over in front of him, exposing its collective belly for him to scratch. You may remember when he insisted that he’d bring oil prices down by swearing at OPEC leaders back in 2011, when he was teasing a possible 2012 run. Here’s what he told a Las Vegas audience, as detailed by Mother Jones.

We have nobody in Washington that sits back and said, you’re not going to raise that f***ing price.

He also had a simple message for China, saying “listen you motherf****rs, we’re going to tax you 25 percent!” This is in keeping with the general level of seriousness he seems to apply to his prognostications â he also insists that if he’s elected, he’ll force the Mexican government to finance a border wall, and that’s still nowhere near the most antagonistic component of his far-right immigration plan.

If you’re the kind of person who wants some more strident red lines in international negotiations, say â to try to secure those ever-elusive “better deals” that some conservatives have been harping on lately â that’s fine, even if we might disagree. But be forewarned: what Trump’s putting out there is little more than presumptuous bombast, so don’t be shocked if that ridiculous wall idea never comes to fruition.

Why Do Trump Voters Believe His Lies It’s Not Because They’re Stupid

The cornerstones of President Trumps campaign were promises to appeal Obamacare and ban Muslims from the US. It took Trump less than 70 days to fail on both promises.

And yet, despite his epic fails, lies and incompetence, Trumps base supports him like theyre spanx and hes Marie Osmond. What explains this loyalty? Science has the answer.

Have a look at this puzzle.

Which drawing best illustrates the correct mechanics and structure of a bicycle?

How you answer will help explain the loyalty of Trump voters. Ill explain in just a bit. But first

What I wanted to know is WTF!?

How can two people look at President Trump and have such polar opposite observations? To find out, I conducted an experiment. I set up a fake account and joined more than 50 pro-Trump Facebook groups. I created a meme that said: What do you like about President Trump, then I shared it.

I got more than a thousand responses in 24 hours and the things people wrote most is that they like Trump because hes not a politician hes a real American not corrupted by Washington, and beholden to no one.

The next most common response was that Trump believes in God.

This was followed in near equal measure by Trump Loves America, he keeps his promises, that hes a good businessman, that he cant be bought, and that he tells the truth.

OK. So, one of them is true! Trump is not a politician. One could go either wayhis love for America.

I got nearly 700 responses.

WATCH NOW:

Opinionthe Gop Needs Women And Centrist Voters Ousting Cheney Only Nets Them Trump Loyalists

More important, experts say, are the shifting demographics of those neighborhoods. “Suburbs are simply far more diverse than they used to be,” a FiveThirtyEight analysis explains. “Suburbs have also become increasingly well-educated, and that may actually better explain why so many suburbs and exurbs are turning blue.” Both communities of color and Americans with higher education tend to vote Democratic combine those factors and you have a recipe for major electoral shifts.

And there’s no indication that shift is reversing. Recent polling from Harvard’s Kennedy School shows Biden dominating the suburbs, where 6 in 10 voters view the president favorably. Biden and Democrats’ lead in suburbs is such an existential threat to the GOP that Georgia Republicans have collapsed into infighting over how suburbs once represented by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich are now reliably Democratic bulwarks.

The Call for American Renewal is also hoping to recapture the support of women who have been fleeing the GOP since Trump’s first campaign. That may be harder than they think, too. Though it’s possible the group could restore some of the ground Trump lost to women, who went nearly 6-in-10 for Biden, Republicans have been losing women voters for years.

Mild dissatisfaction with Trump isnt the same as political courage. Most prominent Republicans have publicly aligned with Trump even as voter support erodes.

Poll Results Are Fake Unless Theyre Good Trump Says

During his speech at the Dallas convention Sunday night, Trump said he only would have believed the results of CPACs straw poll if they were his favor, Business Insider reported.

Now, if its bad, I just say its fake, the former president told the crowd, reported Insider. If its good, I say thats the most accurate poll, perhaps ever.

In the past, Trump has decried similar things he doesnt like as false, like referring to unfavorable media coverage as fake news.

A Large Share Of Republicans Want Trump To Remain Head Of The Party Cnbc Survey Shows

A CNBC survey conducted in the days before former President Donald Trump‘s impeachment trial finds a large share of Republicans want him to remain head of their party, but a majority of Americans want him out of politics.

The CNBC All-America Economic Survey shows 54% of Americans want Trump “to remove himself from politics entirely.” That was the sentiment of 81% of Democrats and 47% of Independents, but only 26% of Republicans.

When it comes to Republicans, 74% want him to stay active in some way, including 48% who want him to remain head of the Republican Party, 11% who want him to start a third party, and 12% who say he should remain active in politics but not as head of any party.

“If we’re talking about Donald Trump’s future, at the moment, the survey shows he still has this strong core support within his own party who really want him to continue to be their leader,” said Jay Campbell, a partner with Hart Research and the Democratic pollster for the survey.

But Micah Roberts, the survey’s Republican pollster, and a partner with Public Opinion Strategies, emphasized the change from when Trump was president. Polls before the election regularly showed Trump with GOP approval ratings around 90%, meaning at least some Republicans have defected from Trump.

Republicans Cant Understand Democrats

Only one in four Republican voters felt that most or almost all Democratic voters sincerely believed they were voting in the best interests of the country.  Rather, many Republicans told us that Democratic voters were brainwashed by the propaganda of the mainstream media, or voting solely in their self-interest to preserve undeserved welfare and food stamp benefits.

We asked every Republican in the sample to do their best to imagine that they were a Democrat and sincerely believed that the Democratic Party was best for the country.  We asked them to explain their support for the Democratic Party as an actual Democratic voter might.  For example, a 64-year-old strong Republican man from Illinois surmised that Democrats want to help the poor, save Social Security, and tax the rich.   

But most had trouble looking at the world through Democratic eyes. Typical was a a 59-year-old Floridian who wrote I dont want to work and I want cradle to grave assistance. In other words, Mommy! Indeed, roughly one in six Republican voters answered in the persona of a Democratic voter who is motivated free college, free health care, free welfare, and so on.  They see Democrats as voting in order to get free stuff without having to work for it was extremely common roughly one in six Republican voters used the word free in the their answers, whereas no real Democratic voters in our sample answered this way. 

Trumps Role As Republican Party Leader Is Becoming Stronger

This weekends CPAC straw poll results showed that Trumps popularity along with DeSantis in the Republican Party has grown in the last six months, according to Forbes.

In February, only 55% of attendees of a similar CPAC event in Orlando, Florida, said they wanted Trump to lead the ticket in 2024, Forbes reported.

If Trump stayed in political retirement, or at least stayed off the presidential primary ballot in 2024, DeSantis lead the poll with 43% attending Republicans choosing him in Februarys hypothetical presidential primary.

Related

Inside the newsroom: Words matter, including the hateful Murder the media

He Appeals To Rural Voters

More than any other group, Americas rural people have been disempowered and abandoned due to the policies pushed by urban elites. Theyve seen their jobs evaporate and their local culture obliterated, only to be replaced by a Walmart and McDonalds in every town. They also realize that most of the media and academia see them as ignorant and backwards and laughable. instead, Trump treats them with respect. If you look at an electoral map of 2016, Clinton won all the urban areas and Trump won all of the rural ones. Thats because he was the first politician in memory who didnt sneer at them.

Hes Nationalist Rather Than Globalist

Why Do People Act Like Black Conservatives Don’t Exist? | NBC News

He realizes that the ex-factory worker in Ohio lost his job because it was sent to Malaysia. He knows that some banker in Brussels is more interested in increasing his stock portfolio than whether doing so will render huge swaths of the American heartland jobless and pill-addicted. He cares more about what a homeowner in Iowa thinks about him than what some sneering cosmopolite at a Parisian cocktail party thinks.

Emboldened ‘unchanged’ Trump Looks To Re

Across the party as a whole, an NBC News poll released late last month found, a majority of Republicans considered themselves supporters of the GOP, compared to just 44 percent who supported Trump above all, the first time that has been the case since July 2019.

But mild dissatisfaction with Trump isn’t the same as political courage. Most prominent Republicans have publicly aligned with Trump even as voter support erodes, and they’re buckled in for the long haul. That creates the opening for more traditional Republicans to toy with forming a new party but it’s a slim one.

Why Does Donald Trump Still Seem To Hold Sway Over The Republican Party

Why after leading the Republican Party during a period when it lost its majority in the US House of Representatives and the Senate and its power in the White House does former president Donald Trump still seem to hold the Grand Old Party of Lincoln and Reagan in his thrall?

For US politics watchers, who on the weekend watched on as 43 Republican senators voted to acquit Trump of an act of reckless incitement played out in front of the cameras, that is the $64,000 question.

Or rather, it’s the 74,222,593-vote question.

That is the record number of Americans who voted for Donald Trump last November more than has been cast for any previous president. Unfortunately for them, an even greater number 81,281,502 voted for his rival, now-President Joe Biden.

As much as anything else, those numbers sum up the quandary Republicans find themselves in.

They have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections, and only remain competitive because older white voters, who tend to be more likely to support conservative candidates, also tend to vote in greater numbers in a non-compulsory electoral system.

Those same voters are also the most likely to cast a ballot in next year’s house and senate primaries, and the next midterm elections in November 2022 which will again determine who holds power in congress. They are the voters who initially flocked to Donald Trump.

All The Republicans Who Wont Support Trump

Numerous top G.O.P. officials have said publicly or privately that they will not be backing the presidents re-election. Some have even endorsed Joe Biden. Heres a look at where they all stand.

Follow our latest coverage of the Biden vs. Trump 2020 election here.

As November draws nearer, some current and former Republican officials have begun to break ranks with the rest of their party, saying in public and private conversations that they will not support President Trump in his re-election. A number have even said that they will be voting for his Democratic opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

As Mr. Trumps political standing has slipped, fueled by his failures in handling the coronavirus pandemic and by the economic recession, some Republicans have found it easier to publicly renounce their backing.

Here is a running list of those who have said they will support Mr. Biden in the fall, those who simply wont support Mr. Trump, and those who have hinted they may not back the president.

List Of Republicans Who Opposed The Donald Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign

This article is part of a series about

This is a list of Republicans and conservatives who announced their opposition to the election of Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican Party nominee and eventual winner of the election, as the President of the United States. It also includes former Republicans who left the party due to their opposition to Trump and as well as Republicans who endorsed a different candidate. It includes Republican presidential primary election candidates that announced opposition to Trump as the nominee. Some of the Republicans on this list threw their support to Trump after he won the presidential election, while many of them continue to oppose Trump. Offices listed are those held at the time of the 2016 election.

Why Do Evangelical Christians Love Trump

To many, it seems hypocritical that Christians who have long touted family values could rally around a thrice-married man who was accused by several women of sexual assault.

White evangelical support for Donald Trump has long puzzled observers. To many, it seems hypocritical that Christians who have long touted family values could rally around a thrice-married man who was accused by several women of sexual assault. Scholars have commented on his crassness, defined by historian Walter G. Moss as a lack refinement, tact, sensitivity, taste or delicacy. Others have observed how he has broken rules of civil political engagement.

But in my research on evangelical masculinity, I have found that Trumps leadership style aligns closely with a rugged ideal of Christian manhood championed by evangelicals for more than half a century.

As I show in my book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, conservative evangelicals embraced the ideal of a masculine protector in the 1960s and 1970s in order to confront the perceived threats of communism and feminism.

Believing that the feminist rejection of macho masculinity left the nation in peril, conservative white evangelicals promoted a testosterone-fueled vision of Christian manhood. In their view, America needed strong men to defend Christian America on the battlefields of Vietnam and to reassert order on the home front.

Why it Matters

How I Do My Work

The Baffling Continued Support For Donald Trump Explained

Donald Trump has, by almost any measure, been the worst president in U.S. history, or at least within the memory of people living in 2020. But for some reason, he has remained popular with a sizable segment of Americans. While Joe Biden defeated him in the presidential election, 74 million Americans voted for Trump, and a large percentage of Republicans, like Trump himself, are denying that he actually lost the election. So why do Trumps diehard fans stay that way?

Yes, hes made some people happy with his tax cuts and appointments of right-wing judges, and he is beloved by white supremacists and conspiracy theorists, but he has downplayed a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 276,000 Americans and caused an economic crash. One would think his personal style, bullying, and insults would alienate many people. Yet his approval ratings have remained stable at around 40 percent for most of his presidency, and the 40 percent cant all be fringe elements. What could possibly account for the continued unwavering support of Trump loyalists?

I think that there are a number of things at play, crosscurrents, if you will, said JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president for policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign.

Winterhof likewise said she observed a decline in enthusiasm among voters who were counting on Trump for positive change and agreed that Biden was better positioned than Clinton among voters overall.

Opinionwe Want To Hear What You Think Please Submit A Letter To The Editor

The history of American third parties doesn’t offer much hope. Last year, Libertarian presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen garnered just 1.2 percent of the vote in a typical third-party showing. In fact, no third-party candidate has achieved a double-digit popular vote total since Ross Perot in 1992, and data trends indicate that popular support for third parties has been in steady decline since then.

And even if the GOP 2.0 secures a marquee name like former Ohio Gov. John Kasich or Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah to champion its message, the role would likely be as a political spoiler rather than a serious candidate: Even former President Theodore Roosevelt, at the time one of the most popular figures in American culture, barely surpassed a quarter of the popular vote and garnered just 88 electoral votes in an iconic third-party campaign in 1912. No one on the Call for American Renewal bench commands anything near Roosevelt’s profile and platform.

That hasn’t stopped disaffected Republicans from setting their sights on fence-sitting “Biden Republicans” mostly suburban moderates who broke with Trump but remain aligned with GOP ideas like small government that have gone extinct in the post-Trump GOP. Those voters were largely responsible for Trump’s upset victory against Hillary Clinton in 2016, while Biden returned formerly right-leaning suburbs to the Democratic column to help power his 2020 win.

Taking The Perspective Of Others Proved To Be Really Hard

Why LGBTQ Republicans Hate The Party’s Platform But Like Donald Trump

The divide in the United States is wide, and one indication of that is how difficult our question proved for many thoughtful citizens. A 77-year-old Republican woman from Pennsylvania was typical of the voters who struggled with this question, telling us, This is really hard for me to even try to think like a devilcrat!, I am sorry but I in all honesty cannot answer this question. I cannot even wrap my mind around any reason they would be good for this country.

Similarly, a 53-year-old Republican from Virginia said, I honestly cannot even pretend to be a Democrat and try to come up with anything positive at all, but, I guess they would vote Democrat because they are illegal immigrants and they are promised many benefits to voting for that party. Also, just to follow what others are doing. And third would be just because they hate Trump so much. The picture she paints of the typical Democratic voter being an immigrant, who goes along with their party or simply hates Trump will seem like a strange caricature to most Democratic voters. But her answer seems to lack the animus of many.  

Democrats struggled just as much as Republicans. A 33-year-old woman from California told said, i really am going to have a hard time doing this but then offered that Republicans are morally right as in values, going to protect us from terrorest and immigrants, going to create jobs.

He Says He Wants To Make America Great Again

Aided by global finance and a compliant press, Americas middle and working classes have been sold down the river. Nearly all of the manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas, and what jobs remain here have seen their wages pushed down due to unrestrained immigration. America, once the shining light of the world, became a country ashamed of itself and that felt obligated to apologize to the rest of the world for being more successful than other countries. Something is deeply wrong when someone feels obligated to apologize for winningafter all, you never see that in sports. Trump wants to return us to a better time when people bragged about being American instead of apologizing for it

What Americans Really Think

Social scientists and psychologists believe that people subscribe to conspiracy theories for the simple reason that these theories often tend to validate their views of the world. Republicans believe all kinds of things about President Obama, and many liberals believe similar theories about President George W. Bush.

“For both liberals and conservatives, for everybody, there’s just this tendency to want to believe things that fit our worldview as we believe it,” said Joanne Miller, a political scientist the University of Minnesota and one of the authors of the new study. “Both liberals and conservatives are subject to that. It’s a human tendency to want to believe what we believe.”

In particular, conspiracy theories offer a simple explanation, with an identifiable villain, for the complicated reality of modern politics. That simplicity is appealing.

Miller and her collaborators — Christina Farhart and Colorado State University’s Kyle Saunders — used data from surveys of Americans who were asked whether they thought statements about politicians and public figures were true.

A few conspiracy theories were on the list. Four were designed to suss out conservative respondents:

that Obama was born outside the United States;

that his health-care reform established “death panels;”

that global warming was a hoax

and that Saddam Hussein was involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

There were four more theories for the other side:

Why Do Republicans Continue To Support Trump Despite Years Of Scandal

It was late September last year when a whistleblower complaint revealed that President Trump had tried to force the Ukrainian government to investigate Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Within moments the scandal captured headlines. What followed was months of back and forth as Republicans supported the president while the Democrats used their political capital to get him impeached.

But this was not the first time   or the last time  the president was caught in the middle of a scandal. Since the impeachment trial that followed the Ukraine incident, episodes from The New York Times uncovering unsavory details from President Trumps tax returns, to his questionable dismissal of multiple Inspectors General, to his refusal to clearly condemn white supremacists have all sparked widespread media attention and partisan fighting in 2020. 

Although with his polls dropping, some Republicans may finally be distancing themselves from the President, the question has been regularly asked the past four years: why do the Republicans continue to support the President despite these troubling charges being leveled at him? And, what is it that the Democrats stand to gain from repeated allegations?

 In addition to demonstrating how polarization accelerates scandals, the paper also found that: 

Republicans Think Democrats Always Cheat

The Republican strategy has several sources of motivation, but the most important is a widely shared belief that Democrats in large cities i.e., racial minorities engage in systematic vote fraud, election after election. We win because of our ideas, we lose elections because they cheat us, insisted Senator Lindsey Graham on Fox News last night. The Bush administration pursued phantasmal vote fraud allegations, firing prosecutors for failing to uncover evidence of the schemes Republicans insisted were happening under their noses. In 2008, even a Republican as civic-minded as John McCain accused ACORN, a voter-registration group, of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.

The persistent failure to produce evidence of mass-scale vote fraud has not discouraged Republicans from believing in its existence. The failure to expose it merely proves how well-hidden the conspiracy is. Republicans may despair of their chances of proving Trumps vote-fraud charges in open court, but many of them believe his wild lies reflect a deeper truth.

[celestialcarousels]

Okay so my little sister is obsessed with American girl dolls to say the least (don’t even ask me how many outfits/accessories/furniture/jewelry/etc. she has for those dolls cause it’s ridiculous. she even has a dollhouse for them that’s 6ft tall, each room equipped with more furniture and accessories than my actual bedroom has like its...... wild.) and she has a bunch of them because my mom gets her one every birthday/Christmas/school celebration/great report card etc., and these dolls are $115 + tax EACH so they’re pricey for a kid’s toy and anyway, yesterday my sister was in her room playing with her dolls like usual but I went in to ask her if she was hungry so I could make her something to eat and I instantly noticed she was playing with one of those knock-off dolls, the ones you can get at target that are the same size as American Girl dolls but theyre a much cheaper alternative and like idc for which one is “better” they’re same size and they’re just DOLLS at the end of the day but I was surprised she was playing with the cheaper brand doll because she never really showed interest in those, and so I asked my sister “hey I just wanna know... what’s the point of mom buying you those expensive dolls every year if you have no problem playing with the cheap ones from target?” And damn, that little girl glared at me like I was the fucking DEVIL and she took my question the wrong way and she started CRYING instantly. listen I cannot make this shit up, my 9yr old sister started crying her eyes out just because I asked her that and she screamed at me and said “SO WHAT?!! I CANT PLAY WITH THE CHEAPER DOLLS JUST BECAUSE THEYRE NOT AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS.?! I DONT CARE IF AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS ARE EXPENSIVE I STILL LOVE ALL DOLLS AND I DONT JUDGE THEM FOR HOW MUCH THEY COST! I LOVE MY TARGET DOLL JUST AS MUCH AS MY AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS, I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH AND I SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY WITH ANY DOLL I WANT TO!!!” And I was like?.?? What the fuck.... I didn’t know it was that deep for her omg and I don’t understand how she got that from me asking her why she was playing with the cheap doll when she has the expensive dolls and literally the only reason I asked is because it would save my mom a lot of money if she bought those target dolls instead of the AG dolls for my sister since she obviously doesn’t seem to care about the price difference but like wow my sister reacting like that is such a Cancer season mood lmfao not to mention she’s a water sign herself, she’s a Pisces. That’s so crazy though like I’m still stunned at how strongly she reacted over a small question wow. Kids are wild.

[lulzyfarm]

sent in:

im an artist who sells on pfq and prices are a complicated topic.. i used to do icons that took me hours to animate for 100zc slowly upping to 300zc. i used to do full painted illustrations for art contests just to loose and not be compensated or place in the top 3 and get the compensation of about 1$ in pfq items. used to do paintings for 100zc. but i also tried upping prices just to see that no one was interested. i think theres only so much we can blame artists for.  prices were a shit show topic on twitter this summer and it always boils down to theres a limited amount of customers. you have to stand out and/or be already popular to afford high prices. theres some overpriced to death artists on the site simply bevause theyve been around for forever and are popular so they can afford it. theyre also ultra rich and can afford loosing out on sales. another problem is that generally people don't treat art as a luxury item nor as real skilled labor.  think back to being highschool and people begging for free art when they find out you can draw. i dont think its a problem Just on pfq its like that everywhere. non artists dont see the work we put into this and they dont care. why should they? they can always just go and find a cheaper artist. were stuck in a shitty capitalism cycle and idk how to end it and i doubt i have the power to. i still dont sell my art for minimum wage cause if i did it wouldnt sell it barely sells at 

my current prices. selling art for something i view as expensive is stressful as well i feel like i have to properly compensate that people willing to pay me this much. if you commission just try to give big tips. it boosts confidence and might help artists to get to a point where they can raise their prices comfortably. other than that idk. same guy from the 4 part art asks forgot to mention, selling your art higher and watching no one ordering it is such a confidence killer it hurts really bad. so we cant blame artists for not putting themselves into such vulnerable positions. selling art on pfq loosing contests actually killed my confidence so bad i had entire breakdowns over it cause i measured my worth as a person with what people think my arts worth. im getting better but it still sucks and i dont wish this on other artists.

adding in the keep reading because the submission is way more important: 

i mean, yeah. being an artist irl and online is brutal. it’s all about commodification and not practice or labour, because at the end of the day, your work is a product. 

i’m sure there are also a lot of people, however, that are buying work on PF and really, immensely grateful for it. the silverlining, albeit, so minor, is that people who may not be able to afford commissioned work w/irl currency are able to commission and also support an artist they like. 

i don’t at all think that artists are the ones that should face the pressure of their worth or be blamed for the current system in place. but, fighting what art devaluation internalises and benefits off of is so valuable early on, it’s so difficult to unlearn that mentality later. imposter syndrome is a byproduct of late capitalism, and internalising art as a hobby and not a career, or other ridiculous rhetoric that says you’re not worth a grit, is what’s going to keep that system going. 

contests are always going to be shitty and humbling though unless you win. i feel that pain. i remember entering deviantart contests all the time and spending hours of work to lose. hard. and you basically feel obligated to sign off the rights to your work even when you lose. but that’s just the point of contests to an extent. 

thank you for sending this in!! 

[magalamantle]

SO THIS IS... a really long post of a bigass ask meme, all the answers, about a fallout oc!!! ummm for warnings. #violence #alcohol #alcoholism #drug abuse ?

IM LIKE INFINITELY SORRY if this is just long, and the whole dash, on like, mobile or anything, i got carried away and had a lot of fun with it um,,,,

OK SO TO START OUT a quick summary of this character: marion tremblay, 26 years old, they/them pronouns, a courier six (but i might write them into a non-six role idk) with Sight Gone Wrong. imagine savestates, but the character only experiences the "canonical" ie last save. so they go from neutral to knowing exactly how to process a situation, but it causes a LOT of stress on them, including an incredibly distinctive negative feeling when a "save" occurs and nightmares depicting all the plays gone wrong. in addition, the successful path isnt always harmless, and often leads to heavy injury - just not death. not to mention the fact that the successful path doesnt always help people theyre trying to help, just them.

http://www.hairfinder.com/hairstyles5/carpy-hairstyle7.htm

http://www.hairfinder.com/hairstyles6/hairstyle-carpy12.htm

marion is incredibly stressed and doesnt get it, runs into danger and knows exactly what to do, doesnt know why, doesnt understand how it all adds together, and doesnt understand to maybe take it a little slower. then again, when they try to chill out and live normally the nightmares just get worse and worse. so basically they self medicate to dull the dreams a bit and it just makes everything even more stressful.

theyre a courier/jack of all trades/mercenary type that uses a recharger pistol, and has no self of self preservation. is struggling, indulges often, and is impossibly easy to charm. does things for the fuck of it, anxious, hesitantly affectionate, eventually very protective and supportive, childish and constantly tired lol.

anyway heres the questions!!!

Which Fallout game are they from? new vegas :Y

Which faction(s) did they join and which did they destroy? Why? they end up joining the ncr - they have plans and intentions to go for a free vegas, but realize eventually that the ncr is probably a lot closer to a safe vegas than they were before. kind of insists that the people get a say in things.

DOES have enough time to basically fuss with all the families on the strip and various societies - basically destroys the omertas, takes a long time and a lot of trauma to fix the situation of the white glove society, keeps house alive but out of power which basically really fucks marion up for a long long time, they then spend a million years slowly working their way into the brotherhood of steel to try to get them to kind of... not be involved anymore, same with the khans

they dooooo clear out vault 3 entirely though

What is their S.P.E.C.I.A.L.? str 4; per 8; end 5; cha 4; int 7; agi 3; luk 9. peep that luck bro

Give us a summary of their backstory. OK SO... marion was part of a pretty biggish family closer up north, just kind of, they did business and were vaguely well off. they were always pretty pretentious and loved reading books n shit, tinkering with tech, so their parents were v happy with it. then around the age of thirteen their sight started kicking in, which manifested itself at first as just like a really heavy uneasy feeling whenever something was about to happen, and later kind of... worked itself into what it is now. anyway, they didnt cope very well with it and ended up fucking up a lot of relationships and things when they booked it at about seventeen.

at which point they kind of became a jack of all trades, constantly travelling, settling generally in the mojave. courier mostly at first, then eventually also a mercenary when the business started booming. they constantly had like, at least a couple dozen things going on, so occasionally they would forget a job or two. but considering their sight, they more or less had the ability to go into places that literally no one else could and come out bruised and bloodied but alive. so generally? business was good.

they did a lot of putzing around the strip, helped the followers a bit, etc. just generally has a little bit of history in most parts of the mojave.

after they got shot they forgot some... importantish things, but anyway they eventually fucked off, got ed-e, wandered around, rescued raul+visited him until they eventually just invited him along.

What’s their full name and does it have a meaning? Do they have any nicknames and how did they get em? marion tremblay - a quebecois name basically, uh pretty much their family line came from canada pre annex and were bitter about it.

What’s their sexual, romantic, and gender orientation? Do they feel comfortable telling other people? theyre nonbinary, just kind of, everythings a mess. nothing is definite. they have bigger stuff going on lol. just accepts whatever theyre labelled, but will explain if pressed

Do they have any mental illnesses? How do they cope? uhhh technically they have... some sort of flashbacks, from their sight, that gives them really horrible nightmares. they definitely self medicate its pretty bad. of course they dont really associate their habit of running into danger with their anxiety and attacks and shit, so they basically end up dissociating and confused most of the time, and figure thats just the way it is. and drink. gestures

Do they have any medical conditions? Is medicine/ treatment available for them? nah marions got nothing. theyre surprisingly physically healthy considering the fact that theyre basically useless physically

How much do they care about their outer appearance? What’s their “beauty routine”? How often do they shower/ bathe? they care just as little about bathing as most people in the mojave, but appreciate the ability to wash their hair - comb it pretty regularily. it gets really bad and knotted if they dont

What do they fear the most? their shitty vision failing to manage to do anything for people they love. its done it before

They’re biggest flaw? Do they recognize it as a flaw? their total lack of self-preservation and knowledge of self. like theyll do unhealthy stuff and get totally confused why they feel like shit, dont understand that running into things carelessly is what is making them constantly anxious and depressed, and they think that their inability to talk to people is what is fucking things up

What are they most insecure about? they pretty much lack any insecurity. they know theyre pretty bad at talking to people, but theyre not so much nervous about it as just dont really like doing it

What Wasteland threat do they fear the most? (ex. Deathclaws, super mutants, raiders) most bugs actually. since their sight kind of just keeps them from dying, it usually keeps them from dealing with deathclaws at all - but hanging around cazadores and getting poisoned just kind of means downing so many bottles of water and antivenoms, and it fucking Hurts. plus they just find the way they move really really disgusting lol

What’s their zodiac sign or which one do you think they relate to the most? What are their placements (if you know them)? (ex. Aries sun, Taurus moon, Aquarius Venus) mnmnnmn pisces sun. taurus moon. 

What’s their Myers–Briggs Type? (ex. ENTP, ISFJ) infp lol

What Harry Potter house would they be in? (ex. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw) gonna say hufflepuff because theyre a big softie when it comes to people they actually do like

Which Pokemon Go team would they choose? (ex. Instinct, Valor, Mystic) uh probably instinct? i think thats the yellow one right? 

Out of the nine forms of intelligence (rhythmic, spatial, linguistic, mathematical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential) which one(s) are they really good at and which one(s) is(are) their weakest? theyre really good with math and rhythm - not quite as good with interpersonal stuff, or intra for that matter. they dont know shit about themself lol. theyre really good at science stuff in general, though - comes from fiddling with that sort of shit

What natural alignment are they? (ex. Lawful Good, Chaotic Evil)

im not too good at pinning down characters, but honestly somewhere between chaotic good and true neutral. will help people, sure, for a price - or if they seem really really desperate. dislikes copious rules but wont go out of way to topple rules so long as they seem more or less fair

Do they have any hobbies? What are they?

they play harmonica! they like to think up songs, make harmonies to the songs on the radio. when they were little they liked to fuss with math puzzles and science shit but lost a lot of the focus as their sight got stronger, stopped being able to sit still long enough to really work on stuff. they like to fuss with ed-e sometimes lol. upgrades n stuff. polishin him

Do they have a favorite holiday? How do they celebrate it? when marion was more into consistent courier-ing, they liked pretty much any holiday that people sent gifts to each other. good for business, it was nice to see people so happy, PLUS people always tipped really well and gave them free food n stuff out of thankfulness.

What’s their favorite season? autumn, mostly - most fair weather. loves the winter when theres no storms or anything - nice to wear lots of layers of clothing and have it be appropriate.

Do they have a temper or are they level headed? pretty level headed, but when they lose their temper they sound kind of ridiculous because their voice gets really high and they??? talk like???? this?????? and theres a lot of gesturing.

they dont really so much lose their temper when they go into combat situations simply because they tend to go from zero to everyones dead, pew pew pew. it does happen sometimes in really tough, long situations, but as it turns out being angry doesnt really make your laser pistol shoot any better or harder Do they express their emotions freely or hide their true feelings? theyre so un-in-tune with their own feelings that they tend to not understand why or what theyre feeling. so its not so much hiding as like ????!??!!?!?!?!?

Are they a leader or a follower?

a leader out of necessity.

How do they come off to others? What first impression do they usually make? creepy. first impression is generally that theyre very businesslike, probably too frail to complete a job. “whys this person being so nice when they look like they want to eat me”

Do they prefer to travel alone or with company? Who have they traveled with if any? Current companion if any? they basically never travelled with a companion until recently. started traveling with ed-e, basically just because he makes sounds when things are happening, eventually found raul and after a good couple times of going back to him to get their laser pistol fixed just kind of invited him to come along. didnt realize he wouldnt be able to fix their pistol on the way lol

Would you describe them as selfless or selfish? Does it depend on the situation? they have the ability to be pretty selfless for the most part since theyre pretty well off from all the work they did before getting shot in the head. on the other hand, theyre not really used to hanging out with other people so theyre kind of selfish when it comes to food n stuff, at least until they got sassed enough for it

What do they find most attractive in others? Name at least one psychological and physical trait. (doesn’t have to be romantic attraction) they usually like people with silver tongues and wide shoulders

Do they flirt often? How easily do they fall in love? they basically do not flirt. they dont register flirting, either. its pretty easy to charm them, but marion is not... a charming person

What’s their love life like? Are they interested in anyone or in a relationship? listen i made the with the almost exclusive purpose of dating raul so. interested lol

Do they prefer to solve things diplomatically or using violence? diplomatically. they generally dislike having to actually, be in danger, but theyre really not charismatic so it usually ends up resorting to either violence, or very well-backed up threats

What is their combat style? What range do they prefer? Do they sneak? they are TOTAL SHIT at sneaking, for like no reason. theyre just... really not athletically inclined. their strategy is usually run and gun, dont stop moving, ABS - always be shooting. turns out when you have a rechargeable gun and the luck of the devil, it doesnt matter how many bullets you take as long as you win lol

What weapon(s) do they always carry with them? recharger pistol!!! they also carry a tiny bowie knife just in case. mostly used to cut plants off stems and cut meat off things. its a whole experience

Their most prized possession? pretty much everything they own is replaceable. the harmonica is nice, cause it pretty much still works entirely, but its definitely not super special or anything. theyd still sell it for a nice meal though

Their thoughts on power armor? a nice idea, but full heavy armor makes it kind of difficult to travel large distances, especially over mountains n shit

Favorite armor/ outfit? gecko-backed leather armor, plus a shitty hood they slapped on top of it. they think it looks so cool, plus its plain enough that its comfortable. they really want a tux lol

How’s their aim? Do their hands shake while pointing a gun? a gun? yes. a laser pistol? no. the second things have like, physical bullets in it, they get super stressed. using lasers instead of pistols or bullets allows a certain level of, like, disconnection from the situation.

What are their thoughts on having to kill on a daily bases in order to survive? Does it take a toll on them? Or do they shake it off rather easily? they really hate it. but honestly they get worse nightmares if they dont keep doing things, like constantly. they prefer to not really have to kill people, so tend to like... threaten and bluster their way through things pretty often. they wont chase down a fleeing enemy unless theyre really super in the zone

Thoughts on death if any? (ex. Fear it, accept it) definitely fear. they pretty much cant die, so theyre pretty confident about it, but its mostly because they manage to disconnect so much from situations that it basically just gives them night terrors. like i said before, complete disconnection from their own emotions. basically a whole lot of marions problems could be fixed by accepting that maybe running into danger is a bad idea, even if they basically cant die.

tl;dr, they think they accept it, but 100% fear

Do they move around a lot or prefer to have a place to call home? they move around SO much. marions pretty much been on the move since they turned 17, constantly doing just about anything they could get their hands on. a million jobs all at once

What’s their favorite location? the strip. they pretty much used to spend most of their spare time down there - loved the food at the ultra luxe, the booze n drugs at gomorrah, and the music company and games at the tops. a couple days of throwing caps down the drain, followed by doing a bunch of odd jobs in the area is a good way of spending a whole week. then, once they had enough messages and packages and people to kill/find, theyd take off again

Their opinions on ghouls, feral and not feral? marion kind of sees themself in feral ghouls. impossible to kill, but at what cost, etc etc. very angsty. thinks ghoul voices are actually kind of pretty

Do they scavenge for their supplies or simply buy them? combination. scavenges what they can, buys the rest. when youre as lucky as they are when finding bullets and bits, you definitely have enough caps for everything else. since theyre shit at repairing, they always get their equipment repaired while out

Are they the type to get distracted and go off to an unknown nearby location or do they stay on track? they definitely amble. long term plans are definite, but when you have maybe five jobs happening at once it doesnt hurt to step aside and grab a new one on the way

How do they sleep? Are they picky about where and how or can they sleep basically anywhere? they tend to get themself pretty blitzed to be able to sleep with few dreams. as a result they can pretty much sleep anywhere, but theyre pretty fitful about it

What’s their favorite radio station and song? (post-apocalypse) they used to like butcher pete but got pretty tired of it after a good, long amount of time. now they think aint that a kick in the head is super funny. since they got shot in the head.

theyre okay with literally every radio station, but likes black mountain radio a lot even though its a lot weirder than it was before. theyre really not sure if the people on the radio are uh ok but uh. makes it a point to eventually check that out.

What’s their favorite post-apocalyptic food? Are they a picky eater? Do they know how to cook? they fucking LOVE fresh fruit - trail mix is a huge fave, nd theyll pay pretty much any amount of money for it, especially since it keeps pretty well. theyre also a fan of like, gourmet shit, since they have the money to spend on it. good steaks are nice. theyre pretty picky, but they usually have a pretty good supply of long-keeping foods to eat on the road. they cant really cook that well though

What’s their favorite beverage? Do they drink alcohol? vodka is a fave. gets them real drunk real fast. a long time ago they managed to trade for some nuka-cherry and its basically their favourite thing in the whole world??????? has a weird distaste for sunset sarsaparilla and gives it all to raul

Do they have any tag skills? energy weapons, science, medicine. really good with e.weapons, more than decent with science, pretty good with medicine. mostly out of patching self up.

Anything they like to collect? (ex. Unique weapons, Bobbleheads) Caps Lol. nah but really they pick up anything that seems interesting to sell. they do have a big intention to buy the unique recharger pistol but its never in stock whenever they go to the kiosk

Are they good at disarming traps or do they constantly miss them? theyre pretty shitty at getting traps, but their luck is amazing with it. they can pretty much walk through a minefield just fine. like running through is safer than trying to disarm, because when you run through a minefield you either die or you dont - when you try really delicately you might blow some important bits up, but you wont die lol