#they deserve to be clean and happy :(

[skipblebee]

Bingqiu they could never ever make me hate you

[witherfide]

what do you mean eclipse doesn’t run the daycare?????

[greenteadumplings]

I think there r not enough fics about pat finding out that pran's been in love with him for soo long. I mean I wanna read him thinking that Pran is joking and have his grin fall out when he realizes the sincerity in his words. I mean I kinda wanna see it happen in bet era (although if it did happen during bet era I definitely don't think Pat would have been able to continue the bet any longer). I want Pat to wait until the full meaning of it set properly and I want realize the pain Pran went through. I want him to pamper Pran like never before. I mean I know he's already gone man for Pran but I want to see him completely loose it with this information.

[homestuckreplay]

JOHN EGBERT’S GIFT UNBOXING VIDEO LIVE UNEDITED

(page 1052-1069)

‘So much sweet loot. You'd almost think it was simultaneously your birthday, AND Christmas or something. Of course you know that is ridiculous and could never conceivably happen.’ (p.1069)

Today’s update – which was posted on December 21-22, near Christmas, but is set on April 13, John’s birthday – is John blatantly ignoring Rose’s orders and making himself a bunch of sweet loot. The story has laid the groundwork for John alchemizing further, so I think this could still work for someone who’s reading the archive and/or who doesn’t celebrate Christmas – but it’s clearly set up as a real time, shared culture experience.

The things John makes apparently came from an 80 item (!!) MSPA forums poll, with other readers voting on potential alchemy combinations. That’s cute because it’s like we’re collectively deciding what Christmas gifts to give him. Unfortunately I can’t find the poll to see the other options.

I’m going to list off everything John makes for completonism, and then drill down on a couple specific items and discuss the alchemy process generally.

John’s Christmas Loot <3

Hammerhead Pogo Ride (Hammer || Pogo) (5 build 20 shale)

Green Slime Ghost Suit (Suit && John Shirt) (3 build 1 shale)

Wise Guy Slime Suit (Green Slime Ghost Suit || Wise Guy Book) (1 build 5 shale 10 tar) (Contains Secret Trickster Gimmicks)

Serious Business Goggles (PDA && Glasses) (6 build 3 tar 6 mercury)

Telescopic Sassacrusher (Sledgehammer || Colonel Sassacre’s && Telescope) (250 shale 10 tar 50 mercury) (MUCH bigger than John)

Hellacious Blue Phlegm Aneurysm Gushers (Gushers && Nannasprite’s Ectoplasm) (24 build 30 shale 18 mercury) (has healing properties, but still made by Betty Crocker)

Remote Ghost Gauntlet (Fake Arm && Nannasprite’s Ectoplasm || PDA) (32 build 128 tar)

Left Handed Remote Ghost Gauntlet (Remote Ghost Gauntlet && Bathroom Mirror) (32 build 128 tar)

Barber’s Best Friend (Umbrella && Razor) (2 shale 8 mercury) (I support john branching out weapons wise)

Betty Crocker Barbasol Bomb (Gushers && Shaving Cream) (1 build 1 shale) (terrible, but the || combination is likely even worse)

Cosbytop (Ghost Dad Poster && Computer Tower) (30 build 10 shale)

Fedora + Candy Corn (Fedora && Problem Sleuth Game) (5 build)

?????? (Problem Sleuth Game && Hammer) (30,000 build 90,000 ? 6,000 mercury 180,000 ? 1 ?) [NOT MADE]

Wrinklefucker (Pogo Hammer || Iron) (55 build 44 shale 66 tar)

John thinks that his Serious Business Goggles make him ‘look way cooler, like one of the kids from SPY KIDS or something.’ He then quotes the tagline ‘REAL SPIES… only smaller’ which I thought was a classic Homestuck incorrect quote, but a quick search reveals that this was the actual tagline for Spy Kids 1 (2001). I haven’t seen that movie but I HAVE seen Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003), which is a very Homestuck relevant movie. So I’m planning to rewatch that in the next couple days and see how the game in that movie compared to John’s experiences playing Sburb.

John wearing a bland business suit didn’t feel right to me. It felt like he was playing a part, either dressing up like a movie character or dressing up like his dad because the house feels empty without him, and John feels like he has to step into the ‘man of the house’ role. Now that he’s customizing the suit with the green slime ghost and the possibility of playing 52-card pickup at any moment, this feels like a John outfit. Any suit is still a type of clothing that has a lot of cultural associations, but John showing some identity through his clothes is still meaningful, and the teal looks good on him.

The Cosbytop is a very unfortunate reference and I don’t support Bill Cosby in any way, but the connotations are accidental. From John’s perspective, this person plays a movie character he looks up to. John loves the movie Ghost Dad, but has defaced its poster with ‘IDIOT [R SLUR] DEAD FATHER’. It seems like something John’s dad should have noticed and maybe discussed with John, but instead he apparently ignored it and kept on watching movies with John. I am starting to think that a lot of John’s problems come from his dad’s complete unwillingness to address things openly, which is a common, culturally ingrained trait of quite a few fathers.

And now John has made a computer themed after someone he sees as a good dad, literally creating his own new father figure to guide him through important activities, alchemizing a dad replacement. So there’s a huge difference between John’s conscious and unconscious opinions of Elliot Hopper (the protagonist of Ghost Dad), and he’s unwilling to think through that – he takes a moment to think ‘lousy goddamn stupid subsconscious!’ but immediately moves on. I think John is less able to compartmentalize his feelings towards his actual dad, but they’re just as conflicted.

In and around the SWEET LOOT, we actually learn more about alchemy (although it’s easy to miss in the excitement). John is now using overlapping card && combinations, leading to punched cards with only a few holes, and double punched || combinations, leading to punched cards with a lot of holes. The hammer/pogo combination is the only one where we’ve seen both options. I think this is a missed opportunity – John should have tried Problem Sleuth Game || Hammer and seen if it also cost a ridiculous amount of grist.

The pogo hammer cost 10 build grist and 16 shale, while the hammerhead pogo cost 5 build and 20 shale – the same types of grist for both, but the numbers are different. I’m not sure how an item’s grist cost and types are calculated, or if it’s possible to predict that – but most items John has tried to make, he’s had the right types of grist for. So maybe the items in a player’s house are linked to the grist they collect in the early game, while other items John might discover on his journey (or perhaps on Prospit??) will use grist that doesn’t appear until the late game. The cost could relate to the number of combined items, except the butchered rocket pack (4 combined items) only cost 4 build and 8 shale.

On page 1064, John figures out how to ‘subtract’ one item from another, making a simpler item instead of a more complex one. This is super smart of him, as he accounts for all possible ways the subtraction could work, tries them in turn, and finds which one is right. I want to give John big props for being so smart, but also highlight how different the items from the other combinations are – punch cards with a single hole difference can yield a potted plant, a painting of a horse attacking a football player, and a Ghost Dad movie poster. So it’s not possible to change a single hole to make a similar but different item; there’s a randomization process preventing that.

I also wonder if there’s a maximum number of items that can be combined – John says that by alternating && and || combinations, the total number of holes will stay relatively consistent, but surely there’s a point where combining enough complex items loops back around to making something really simple. Just due to the limited number of hole combinations available, there’s a theoretical limit to how weird this can get, and I think it’d be funny if John combined the Wise Guy Slime Suit with the Hellacious Blue Phlegm Aneurysm Gushers and ended up with a simple kitchen spoon, because he’s hit the limit.

I understand why Rose wants to save the grist for building John’s house, but most of the items he’s made are genuinely useful – the new weapons are essential, the healing gushers are really smart for if Nannasprite isn’t around, and the serious business goggles will make it WAY easier to keep in touch with Rose without the PDA getting lost in John’s sylladex. Sburb/Skaia is a somewhat malevolent entity, so while this is a fun happy update, I can’t help but wonder if Sburb is trying to sow discord between friends by giving the server and client player two different goals, but a singular resource. Even if it’s not malicious, it’s a trial by fire for this friendship.

> John: Combine playing cards and candy corn.

[beautifulstorms]

Yuna Aoki, FS She • NHK Trophy 2023

[thehauntedmarionnette]

I ALMOST FORGOT OUR LORD AND SAVIOURS B DAY SO HERES A RLY QUICK BADLY DRAWN SOC MED STYLE SKETCH

[femstyles]

X

[dinosaurwithablog]

Today....

Every day, you start with a clean slate. The past is behind you. You can't change that, but you can make a positive difference today that will shape the future. Every new day is a gift and a chance to make things better... to make things right... to get what you deserve... to stand up for what you believe... to help yourself... to help another person. Every day, I try to make a positive impact. Sometimes, it's just a small difference, while other days, it's major. Take the gift of each new day and move forward. Every day is precious. Get the most out of your day starting today. That in itself makes a positive difference in the world, and that is major. 🫂🙏🏼💜

[kukuandkookie]

Need to vent momentarily so uh…

Had a giant fight with my mom this morning about admiring Elon Musk or Donald Trump just because they’re “successful” which also evolved into her again critiquing her own children and how I pointed out that the shit she says about us can be hurtful, even when she insists she’s trying to be “encouraging.”

I won’t go into detail about it because my family issues are insane sometimes—but I wanted to add this context because maybe I still have some leftover frustration and rage from that, and I guess because I’ve experienced another weeks and weeks’ pile-up of sinophobia, and I’m also overwhelmed by how awful the world is right now with the continued genocide of Palestine but also the rise in normalization of right wing politics, but I saw something today that just added to the frustration because God I hate how people can’t see “the Other” in a less prejudiced light.

It’s not a big deal but saw some sinophobia today that with my poor mood didn’t help exactly:

Basically, there’s a short from a year ago about Chinese celebrities being snubbed at international events to the point that one of them (Liu Yifei) got cut off from a group photo and how another (Zhang Yuqi) got asked to get off the red carpet because they assumed she wasn’t a guest despite her being all dressed up.

The comments are all bullshit like “well they work for the CCP right? So they deserve to be ignored” or “why are you stirring up drama? Just because they’re famous in China doesn’t mean they’re famous internationally” or “haha a taste of China’s own medicine.”

Like oh my God, shut up.

These are international events. Why are you acting like snubbing an international guest isn’t worthy of critique? Just because you hate the country’s politics?? In that case, if you don’t even recognize the celebrity, how do you even know if they work for the oh-so-evil CCP???

It’s always “I don’t hate the Chinese; I just hate their government” until it comes to actual Chinese people because then your poor brain just assumes Chinese people are an extension of their government. You think these celebrities work for the government just by simply existing?? How? Do you think they pay their wages to the CCP or some shit???

Kpop fans mentioned for years that kpop celebrities were snubbed at international red carpets until recently. Why the hell don’t fans of Chinese celebrities get to point it out then?

[faggling]

I love taking care of people omggg 😍😍😍

[lemongogo]

vash w this hairstyle is literally so cute.. .. wolfwood matchies or smt T__T

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

it’s so funny to me that people consider neon genesis evangelion oppressively dark bc like. yeah it’s undeniably dark as shit but it’s also the least oppressively dark piece of media ever like it’s the exact opposite of “everything is shitty forever and you can never be happy” it’s literally about finding the will to live and make your own happiness even if everything is shitty. it’s, genuinely, one of the most hopeful pieces of media i've seen. it’s about love and kindness and change. it's about how you need to love yourself to love others, not because you’re a burden or any less valuable if you don’t love yourself, but because if you don’t realise how much the people around you love you and support you and live your life in fear you'll be the one cutting people off. and no matter how traumatised you are or what you’ve done, you not only need to love yourself, but you deserve to love yourself. like, the whole point is that you are loved more than you realise. and even in the darkest times you can find happiness and you can choose to live. and every time you choose to live you are making the right choice because you deserve to exist- you, individually, deserve that. and it shows us darkness only to say- yes, even now, you can be happy, you can forgive yourself. there is no such thing as “too broken”, there’s no such thing as being so traumatised or mentally ill that you are “better off” dead. and like, as someone with a lot of issues, that has been an important message to internalise. society makes you feel broken if you’re a trauma victim. like you don’t deserve to exist. and like idk evangelion being like “yes! you should exist! you can be happy and you can be loved and supported! yes even if you’re like that! you deserve to love yourself!” has done a whole lot more to comfort me than any traditionally “wholesome” media.

[z0mbride]

performed my first postmortem care like 30 minutes ago hoopla

[idealisticrealism]

TCL 3x11 thoughts

Very delayed bc life is hectic and it's the hiatus anyway. 3x12 to follow at some point lol

The main things: 

The Thony & Nadia of this ep was everything. Nadia being initially furious with Thony about taking the choice out of her hands with faking her death, but then realising that not only would she be 100% dead if Thony hadn’t done it, but Thony had also risked her own life to help her. Thony’s reaction to Jorge saying that she and Nadia were close, recognising the truth in it. Thony arguing on Nadia’s behalf when Jeremy goes back on his deal. Nadia turning to Thony for help getting the cash, and being genuinely appreciative of Thony for doing it. Thony and the family hiding Nadia from Ramona. Nadia being devastated over the marked cash, and Thony helping yet again by getting the stash from the motel. Nadia desperately pleading with her to bring Jorge in, and Thony refusing because she’s still trying to protect all of them, Nadia included. Nadia thanking Thony and Fi with the jewellery from Kamdar and telling them how much their help meant to her. Thony driving Nadia all the way out into the desert, being the last link to her old life, the one to literally deliver her to freedom…. and then the whole “I can’t believe all we’ve been though”/“I’m glad you’re free”/“I hope one day you can be free too, Thony”, and the way Thony is the one to reach for her and then they just hold on to one another so tight?? They really have been through so much together, and they care so much about one another. The love they both had for Arman was initially the thing that stood between them, but now it’s what links them, and in some ways part of that love has transferred to each other since his loss. Despite everything, they are truly family to each other now, which is what makes everything that happens next even more heartbreaking, bc of course the writers just couldn’t let my baby Nadia be free :,(

Ugh and when Ramona appears and accuses Nadia of stabbing her in the back, Thony completely freezes, but Nadia doesn’t panic or fall apart or beg– she could have tried to save herself by telling Ramona about Thony and Jeremy, but she doesn’t. She protects Thony like Thony protected her, and faces her fate with her head held high and her usual cutting snarkiness, and I love her so much for it, even as my heart breaks for both her and Thony. When Ramona stabs Nadia, you can see the utter shock and horror on Thony’s face, and then ugh I’ll never be over the way she just completely disregards Ramona and the threat to her own life to stay by Nadia’s side as she dies, telling her she’s here with her, screaming her name as she’s dragged away…Thony fought so hard to save Nadia, to do for her what she hadn’t been able to do for Arman, and yet she still failed, still lost her like she’s lost so many people she’s cared about in even just the past few months. And okay yes we had some warning, bc this ep was full of painful foreshadowing about it– “I don’t think anyone can make Nadia Morales disappear” “My whole life can’t be for nothing” etc– but ughhhhhh my creys. Honestly them killing Nadia off was just so fucking heartbreaking, because it didn’t need to happen! Losing Arman was of course so incredibly awful, but there was literally no choice there, so that made it just the tiniest bit easier to bear. Killing Nadia, though… I can see the narrative value of it, how having Ramona’s inability to just let her go be the very thing that later brings Ramona down, and how through that Nadia gets the ultimate revenge on her… (“Please, Thony. Get her for us. For Arman”) but stiiiilllll. The writers could have absolutely found another way for Thony and Jorge to bring Ramona down while still letting Nadia escape with her life– death is not the only way to write out a character!. But then again, I guess this show has always been about the price that comes with going to whatever lengths necessary to protect one person (and also the consequences of getting in over your head in a world you don’t understand), so Nadia apparently had to become yet another hard lesson for Thony to learn… I just wish that the writers could have stopped at Marco and Maya for that lesson, rather than taking Garrett, Arman, and Nadia from us too. Sighhhh. 

But ugh I really did love elements of this ep… Nadia and Fi becoming instant besties was so important to me ugh. And Nadia getting to be hugged by Fi, who was yet another person who genuinely wished her well and cared what happened to her, like Thony? She deserved that. And I’m so glad those guys finally got to act together, even if it felt like an even sadder goodbye after that

Honestly, Nadia and Thony and Fi just being SO done with Jeremy was a highlight in this ep lol. Thony referring to him as ‘a stupid undercover’ right in front of him. Jeremy offering for Nadia to move to Utah or Oregon and asking where she would rather be, and her responding “Dead. But for real.” (As someone who has been to every US state, that one definitely got a loud laugh lol). Fi’s rant at Jeremy was also amazing, and lol Thony “She had a few things to say, I didn’t want to interrupt” hahahahaaa. Honestly Jeremy sucks so bad and I want him gone like immediately, but at least his presence this season has meant some excellent opportunities for hilarious snarkiness from these women. I also felt very satisfied about how grumpy he was for most of the ep because he views himself as the good guy and yet these women clearly see him as the villain, and plus he kept getting the feeling he was being played but still wasn’t able to catch them at it. Getting outsmarted by these civilians again hey buddy? That’s a little embarrassing for you lol

I have been wanting Luca and Violeta to be friends since we first saw her, and I love that they immediately started happily playing together, but omg their hide and seek game was so goddamn stressful. Thony’s panic was so palpable I could hardly watch ughhhhhh 

Ugh Thony telling Fi about how she almost let Ramona die… that acknowledgment of the darkness that she’s learned she’s capable of… her needing the FBI to lock Ramona up because if they don’t, she’s afraid that next time she gets the chance to make Ramona pay with her life, she’ll take it…. I just love seeing her growing and changing as a character, and I love that her experiences through the seasons have made her understand Arman more and more. They were similar in a lot of ways, and understood each other to such a deep level, and ugh it was such a gift to watch *sobs*

Jorge tells Ramona that his partnership with Nadia “wasn’t like that” (aka had no romantic element), and tbh I believe him? He saw in her someone whose ambition and drive matched his own, and who had the skills and assets to help build his dream. He saw the opportunity she represented, and he also saw it as a chance to look out for one of the women his nephew loved, just like he looks out for Thony (honestly I think he intended to bring Thony in on the hotel development as well, which is why he deliberately got her to come to his office while the investor guy was there discussing the plans). And idk man, maybe this is just the Ace in me talking, but just because two people are attractive and get along well and find support in each other does not automatically mean they wanna hook up!?? I know TV show writers do often tend to go for the romantic/sexual angle when they have two single characters of different genders interacting a lot, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to do that in every situation, especially when it wouldn’t make sense in the circumstances (like in this case!). Tbh Jorge and Nadia’s connection (and Jorge and Thony’s) is just as compelling without the romantic element– for people to care about each other and support each other without it being tied to their desire for sex? That’s special and interesting in its own way. And who knows, maybe either of these two relationships would have had the potential to develop into something romantic in the future, but in the current moment it would make zero sense when both Nadia and Thony are brokenhearted and grieving the man they loved.  But anyway though, I gotta say I really appreciated Jorge for not hesitating to keep Nadia and Thony’s secret from Ramona, and for sending such a huge amount of money to help Nadia be free (how many people would have just let go of $40 million like that, when they could have kept it for themselves without any consequences??). Letting go of both Nadia and the money meant risking his hotel dream falling apart, but he did it anyway, and I respect him so much for that. 

Other stuff

Ugh Thony sitting in Jeremy’s lair, watching his video feeds of her family’s home… seeing all that must have felt like such a violation. No wonder she joins Fi in smashing the cameras after lol

Some of the scene choices in this ep were hilarious, like Nadia apparently going from arguing with Thony (at the end of last ep) to somehow passing out on the couch again lol. And then when she wakes (again) and they argue (again), Thony has her own little rant and then storms off… but just goes and sits on the couch in full view of the others? Like the writers could at least have had her go into the other room lol, which is what most people would do after an argument like that?

Oh man, the scene where Thony goes and gets the money out of the safe was so stressful, worrying if she was about to be caught any second... and it was also hard to see her in that office and remember all the moments she shared with Arman there. That space used to mean so much and now it must feel so empty ughhhhhh

Awww, Chris calling Paolo ‘Dad’, and then the very parental discussion where Paolo calls Chris out on the way he talks to Fi, just like a true dad would? I love that for them

Chris and Camila are so cute but damn the whole thing with them nearly getting caught by ICE was so damn stressful!!! This show has no consideration of my poor nerves lol

Was so happy to see the return of Samantha! I love that she is always down to help them screw over the FBI lol. A true ally 

Had the sudden realisation while watching this ep that the actor playing Jeremy also played Toby, Channing Tatum’s friend in the movie She’s The Man, and it honestly blew my mind. He was such a baby then!!!

[1punch]

Saitama is not untalented is unmotivated. He's literally limitless but he's also depressed.

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Hi

Yeah, I've seen the 1 min 30 Izzy teaser. I've seen it many times. I'm choosing to not go crazy on here because the second I do, I will abandon my WIP, and spend all day going in mental loops.

I'm just stuck on feelings of- 'damn we were right' (happy) and 'oh, damn, we were right' (devastated).