#they’re for a community i used to identify with and still feel a sort of connection to and therefore are the closest

[darlinimamess]

also can we talk about how there’s so few popular musicians making gay (mlm) music that isn’t either sexual or sad?

[paperstorm]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of kindness and what some people seem to mean by it vs what it means to me. Because ngl some of the worst people you’ll ever interact with have “treat ppl with kindness” in their social media bios and I’ve been trying to figure out why that is. Why do they think they’re kind when they are so clearly not - or, who are they kind to and who are they not? What sort of social capital is gained through declaring yourself a kind person but never backing it up with actions? What have we gained/lost as a society when we put so much weight in just label of good person but so little weight in caring whether anyone follows through? Why can so many people I know relate to the experience of the meanest people sincerely believing they are kind, and using that as a shield or weapon when it suits them?

I don’t know that I have answers yet but I’ve been thinking about how in my conceptualization

Kindness means being nice - complimenting people, lending a helping hand, keeping negative opinions to yourself sometimes, being happy for others success, being a cheerleader for your loved ones. Kindness DOES NOT mean being a door mat - denying yourself your valid emotions, letting others step on you or manipulate you, bottling up your feelings so as not to cause a scene, keeping the peace at the expense of your own well-being. Being kind also means being kind to yourself.

Kindness means being welcoming - inviting people into your groups, being open to making new friends, identifying when someone is feeling left out and maybe altering your behaviour accordingly. I changed high schools for my last year and in my first class a boy i had never met came over and said “hey you’re new, come sit with us.” That was kind and it has stuck with me to this day. Kindness DOES NOT mean being welcoming to everyone indiscriminately. You can’t throw a party for wolves and sheep where everyone is welcome. Sheep are not safe at that party, and pretending they are is siding with the wolves who will use your party to hunt them. You can’t be welcoming to bigots because you don’t want to make waves and still be a safe person for minorities to exist around. Sometimes kindness necessitates making waves.

Kindness means fostering positive spaces - where the happiness is genuine and laughter is abundant and people feel good about themselves when they’re around you. Kindness DOES NOT mean keeping the peace at any and all cost. That is a veneer of acceptability politics where people don’t feel safe to speak up when they’re being harmed, and it often involves prioritizing the comfort of the majority. Again, you can’t be kind to everyone. So much of what some people seem to mean by kindness boils down to the maintenance of a homeostasis where nobody is ever upset. But through what means is that achieved? Is it real or are people with genuine concerns being told to shut up and pretend to be happy? “Absolutely everyone is welcome!” “It’s not that serious/we keep things light and cheerful around here!” “Fandom is supposed to be a safe space/escape from the real world!” “This is a space free from politics!” read as neutral statements but they aren’t. They are statements that can serve, albeit often unintentionally, to invite bigots into your space by communicating that you won’t lift a finger to evict them if/when they start harming historically oppressed people who are also in your space. Having peaceful spaces is good. Having spaces wherein the peace is maintained through the tacit silencing of minority voices because their discomfort is ‘ruining the vibe’ is an act of cowardice, not kindness.

Idk! Clearly don’t have all the answers or even any answers but I’m releasing these brain worms in the hopes that I can keep searching for additional clarity on this and other things I’m always ruminating about in this messy life.

[alien-ln-disguise]

Help an alien out with their otherkin identity

I consider myself Alienkin and somewhat spacekin because of my Alienkin identity but they’re being put on the probing table and here’s why

(Spacekin has been sorted out, see below)

———

I recently learned of the terms Synpath and Otherhearted

Some people use it interchangeably some don’t. I personally interpret them as separate:

Synpath: Used to describe feeling a profound connection WITH something, but not AS it.

Otherhearted: To identifying strongly WITH something, but not AS it.

For the spacekin part of me I think Space Synpath is more like it. I do not identify AS space itself but I’m connected with space so strongly that it’s definitely more than just “I love it” I had a whole post about it, yall have probably seen it lol.

———

Now that I know that I’m actually a Space Synpath, now onto my Alienkin type.

This one is still actually a little more complicated to me. To kin something is to identify AS something while Otherhearted is to strongly identify WITH something but not AS it while identifying as fully human.

Here’s the thing, I’ve never felt human, I do not connect with humans I’ve never felt like I was part of them just living amongst them. So I thought, okay alienkin because I connect with aliens in a way that feels right, it feels like me, I feel like an alien. I am not human but I feel like an alien.

But that’s where the distinction becomes important: Am I alienkin because I don’t identify as a human and am an alien or am I alienkin because my life experiences living among humans made me feel alien?

Could it be both? That’s a possibility. I do not experience any shifts or phantom limbs, I just feel like I am alien. Perhaps I answered my own question with that sentence alone. I’m not very active in the otherkin/alterhuman community, at most I’ll like and reblog posts I relate to but that’s kinda it? I suppose posting counts, but I don’t actually talk to anyone in the community.

I like having my facts sorted out and I like figuring things out via technicalities sometimes as it helps me understand things better. I’m not strict on this at all, again, I use it to help me understand things. This entire post is basically me trying to reach to the community that is more knowledgeable on the subject of otherkin and alterhuman experiences and their differences.

Here are bullet points in case it’s easier to follow:

I know I am not human in some way non-physically

Ever since I was young I never felt like I was human both from experiences in life and simply inside

I have a strong connection with aliens and space as a whole. I know that my connection with aliens comes from my extreme connection with space but I am aware that me being alienkin is also coincidental

I do not experience shifts, or phantom limbs, or dreams of past lives. I am aware that none of these are requirements for being otherkin but I wanted to add this anyways

I know that it may be up to me to see which one fits me best when it comes to terminology. I know that folks in the community experience different journeys and may have different definitions for different things.

So, in your opinion, my fellow otherkins and alterhumans, would you say I am Alienkin or Alienhearted?

[heyclickadee]

Some kinda silly Techphee head-canons/thoughts under the cut (I wrote this ages ago but never posted it):

1. I’m honestly still not sure that Tech wasn’t trying to flirt back in “Entombed.” Not even necessarily in a serious way, because I don’t think that switch completely flips until “Pabu,” but in a, “Hhmm. She’s interesting,” sort of way, but his flirting language just ended up going completely over Phee’s head.

2. Likewise, I still like that things between them are moving really slowly and that we’ve barely gotten to (kinda clumsy and very mild) mutual flirting. It’s a negotiated relationship and not a whirlwind romance, and I appreciate that.

3. This is partly head-canon, but I also kind of appreciate that both of them are trying to figure this out. Phee has this interesting combination of having a somewhat flirty baseline personality while also being somewhat standoffish in the most extroverted way (I kind of head-canon that she’s one of those super outgoing people who still manages to keep people at arms length and has a vveeerrrry short list of close friends because emotional intimacy is terrifying), and that could potentially make it hard to communicate when she really likes someone.

And then with Tech—I kind of think it’s new territory for him. In a way. I don’t personally head-canon Tech as ace or aro, though I appreciate that other people do, and I honestly don’t have a head-canon either way on whether or not Tech’s ever hooked up with anyone. Maybe he hasn’t, maybe he has, could go either way, for me it just kinda depends on whether he ever had the opportunity or the time. What I think, though, is that any experience he might have with sex or kissing or whatever was limited to one night stands with people he knew he was never going to see again. Phee, though—Tech has had the time to get to know her a bit, and he could potentially have a life with her. And those are two things—time and the chance of a life or an actual romantic relationship with someone—that would’ve never been on the table before because those were things the GAR didn’t allow. That’s what I mean by it being new territory, and that could make someone cautious, however into another person they are.

Tl;dr: They’re both struggling to figure out what’s going on between them and I love them being gently disastrous because of it.

3.5: Kind of an aside, even though I don’t head-canon Tech as ace or aro (I identify very strongly with Tech, and I’m ace, but I also like leaning into the ways I think he’s very much not like me at all), I do actually kind of head-canon Hunter that way. And I mean that I headcanon him as being completely uninterested and even a little confused that other people are. Though I appreciate that other people don’t headcanon Hunter that way. (This is one of those cases where it’s really fun seeing other people’s interpretations).

4. When Tech comes back and if Tech and Phee do end up together, I’m really hoping that they’ll be a bit like Kanan and Hera in Rebels, in that they end up being best friends who are also very in love and extremely married in a science adventure battle couple kind of way. (I also really adore the sibling energy between Phee and Hunter, so I. Like. Need them to be space in-laws). Friendship and romance don’t cancel each other out and can not only co-exist, but strengthen one another as well. I feel like media does us a disservice when it says that romance ruins a friendship or that friendship is a stepping stone or, worse, an obstacle to romance. I want them to steal stuff from the British Space Museum and then also smooch from time to time.

5. I’ll admit that I’m kind of compelled by the fact that Tech and Phee won’t really get to grow old together. Even if they get to live peaceful lives, Tech’s going to be old long before Phee, and he’s going to die before either of them are really ready for it. And there’d be something interesting about one of them—I imagine Tech but it could be either one—saying, “This is going to be over too quickly, and that’s not fair,” and the other going, “No, it’s not—but let’s live life anyway.”

6. I’m on the fence on whether or not Phee and Tech would want kids if they do end up an item, but if they did (I mean, okay, if the writers make them want kids, but if we’re buying into the narrative here), I actually think they’d be good parents. Tech’s kind of already got a kid that he’s pretty good with (there was a learning curve and Hunter’s the main dad, but Tech’s right there co-raising Omega, and she’s his kid/little sister as much as she’s Hunter’s), Phee’s actually pretty good with Omega, too, and Lyana clearly adores Phee. It’s not the same as being primary caretakers, but it’s a step towards not being awful at it.

And it’s not as though they’d be on their own if they did decide to raise kids. (I’m including adoption of the very informal ‘a kid who needs a family and protection found us so we’re parents now’ Star Wars variety as a possibility here, btw). While I don’t think the the batch is going to settle down on Pabu all together all the time after season three (I have thoughts), any kid Tech and Phee would have would probably end up being raised by the wwhoooooolle family. Hunter, Crosshair, Wrecker, Echo, Omega, and probably Shep and Lyana are all gonna be Involved, not to mention the bazillion distant uncles (like Rex) that kid would have. That kid’s getting doted on.

6.5. Another aside, but I’m really curious how Phee and Shep met, and how Phee became part of that little family.

7. Tech’s and Phee’s relationship isn’t the one I’m the most interested in exploring going into season three—the sibling/parent/whatever relationships within clone force 99 are the ones I’m most invested in, and the Techphee stuff has been so low key that I don’t expect it to take precedence over anything else, or think it should —but I am still very invested in it and want to see where it goes.

[formerlycookierunauprompts]

Sun & Star dynamic (Arcane + Golden):

Yay!! Let’s talk about this once tragic yuri, the girlies of all time! We’ve all heard of the sun and moon dynamics in all sorts of mediums, mayhaps even the rare moon and star dynamic as well. But never the sun and stars, never them. So… what would this dynamic be like? To answer that were look at the pair no one expected in our small little community, that of Arcane egg and Golden Butter. Let’s see how they fit into this lovely polycule- let’s go!

Important note: these notes / document sections will mostly be going over the dynamic of the main storyline and after the three get together. There will be brief mentions of before the fall- but unfortunately we don’t have much info on Goldie be for the fall. Besides that before the fall the two had a very close friendship, like very close! 

-first of all, no one saw this coming. So to say the least this is a very low-key dynamic. No one really saw this coming- not even the parties involved.

-but this relationship makes sense. Their very similar to each other so they mesh well, and where they do differ from each other they still mesh.

-their both kind and considerate people, both have very bubbly excitable sides, their crafts are very similar in quite a few aspects! Even if arcane has many, MANY crafts. (She’s very flexible) etc.

-Like the sun and stars their made of the same stuff, there's a warmth to the two of them. A vibrancy!

-they are both introverts! But they’re two different flavors of introverts. Golden is what one might call a more… traditional introvert. quiet, a bit more soft spoken, private about their feelings, social interactions tend to drain her batteries, etc etc. While arcane need’s social interactions a lot more, she tends to be loud, a bit clumsy, she has a long array of friends, etc. but she’s still very much an introvert.

-as a result when they're not recharging by themselves they tend to recharge together. They usually pop in a movie and just chill, they might do something with their hands. Arcane might chatter quietly mindlessly, but she doesn’t expect an answer; she just does that naturally. Otherwise they just bask in each other's presence. It’s soothing really, basking in each others natural light~ (I’m so cheesy :D)

-and even in their differences they compliment each other, arcane is more emotional / feels their emotions very strongly. As a result of this and their strong empathy they pick up the mood shifts in others easily, even if they can’t really identify what’s wrong. So they are able to sense when something is bothering their precious Goldie. Really helps their very emotionally intelligent, even if they don’t word it quite right sometimes.

-Another thing from Arcane is that she's a very silly cookie! Not the obvious type of silly and theater kid that shadow milk is, but she is silly. Example when you hug her she can choose to make squeaky toy noises. It entertains Golden immensely!

-Now, for Golden. She’s a very… peaceful cookie is how I would describe it. Arcane finds peace with her, her buzzing mind quiets around her. If only a little bit. Goldie’s very presence actually helps Arcane sleep, for even when she isn’t haunted by an otherworldly force. She’s a bit of an insomniac.

-Golden is also a fellow creator! They get to share that joy together, go through the process of making and then redrafting over and over- together! Her more….stoic nature helps arcane a lot as well, arcane doesn’t have to be anxious around her. She doesn’t feel shame, it puts Arcanes heart at ease.

-… the two do… envy each other, if only a little bit. Or they used to.

-Golden was envious of Arcanes' vibrancy, her morals, her creations at times even. She was like the sun, warm, enviting, and energetic. Her will though- that was the real kicker. Her defiance, her willingness to dream of a better world. Her fire to make it so… she was everything she never was….right? She was just a star, a small blip in the sky. Arcane was the sun- she was not.

-But Arcane was envious as well, sure she was the sun! But… but everyone loved her, they loved Golden's light. She was like inspiration herself, she inspired creation. They all loved her too! They spoke of her gentleness, her kindness, her grace, her… her everything. But Arcane…? She was TOO much. Her robotics were… unnerving to cookie kind, her dealings with the spirit world? Too weird, too creepy. She was often described as too intense, a little destructive at times with how enthusiastic and clumsy she could get.

-………. Hell….. her precious moon was in the same sky as her- they…. They were perfect together….. they were perfect without her…. maybe the sun was always destined to be apart from the glittering night sky- from her moon. From her star…. How tragic…

-or, maybe not. Maybe… the stars and sun could learn from each other? Share their light? Their warmth? Yeah… they may be able to reconcile yet- they're from the same thread after all. They can get each other in a way most couldn’t, quitely.

——————————————————————————————————

so? Wha chu think? Anything you want to add, I really want to add more but my brain is not cooperating! Anyways I hope you enjoyed! Have a good one!

YURI!!! i love them, i love them so much

tbh they deserve to be happy together. love that for them

also this is the funniest gbc timeline because they both left Shadow Milk in the dust in favor of Yuri and honestly that's a girlboss moment. Shadow Milk dies because of the power of yuri/j

[clanoffelidae]

I’m always scared of jinxing myself by opening my mouth and saying I’m ‘not physically disabled anymore’ or that ‘my cyclic vomiting is gone’; because there’s no cure and we don’t know why it sometimes just… stops. There’s not even really any medication to manage it you just kind of… try to work through it and manage symptoms and side effects as best you can. Namely, the dehydration due to excessive vomiting being the main concern. (Have had abdominal spasms due to becoming dehydrated from it before. Took me 5-6 minutes to army crawl six feet to the shower, wiggle out of my clothes, and stretch up to turn on the hot water to try and soothe the muscles I was in so much pain. It was also like 4am and I was at a homestay in another country so fuck me I guess lol. Fortunately my homestay actually spoke English; which worked out because I speak Spanish decently well so I was making an active effort to converse with her and practice before I got sick, she was extremely helpful because I mainly needed help with specific vocabulary/phrases and she could help me translate them, and then when I got sick and was so exhausted I could barely communicate in English anymore I was able to drop the Spanish and still be understood and given help. That’s a tangent tho lol sorry)

And that’s true of a lot of physical disabilities, sadly, so I’m sure many of you can understand why I’m scared of it. Because I’m one of the lucky ones, even when my condition was at it’s worst I had more good days than bad. One of the defining characteristics of CVS is that in between episodes you would never know something is wrong with us.

And sometimes people just… ‘grow out of it’, so to speak. It most commonly affects children, even being thought of as a pediatric disease, and then just goes away when they get older. I was a weird case, I had two sporadic episodes in high school and then it hit me hard basically as soon as I got to college; it only ever happened when I was an adolescent/adult.

During the worst of it I would have episodes as little as 3 weeks apart; I’d be in severe agony and vomiting profusely for around 24 hours, take several days for the pain to go away (the episode was over but I was sore after the vomiting), and about a week for the brain fog and lethargy to clear up. I knew my stomach was empty, I knew I had nothing in it, but it felt so swollen and I was convinced it was about to tear open like an overfilled balloon. The condition is believed to be related to migraine headaches and I believe it - my severe migraines are the throbbing kind where it feels like my head is about to explode, and that is the exact same kind of pain I was feeling in my stomach. Those same, unique qualities that differentiate the pain of a migraine from another headache were exactly what I felt in my abdomen. I was also light and sound sensitive, seeking darkness and solitude; although it didn’t cause literal pain to be exposed to light and sound like with a migraine headache, it stressed me out for ‘seemingly no reason’, overwhelming me and increasing my pain as a result of the stress and desire for the stimulus to go away.

My last episode was in 2019. I only even had frequent episodes for a little over 2 years.

And I’m still deathly afraid of every new medication I try because I don’t know why it stopped. Nothing about my lifestyle changed, nothing about my habits. I was never able to identify any triggers like with my headaches, it just sort of ‘happened’ as far as I could tell.

I have no idea why it started and no idea why it stopped.

And I’m constantly fucking terrified that I’ll fuck something up and it’ll come back, that this time of peace and ‘health’ is temporary. I’m so fucking scared because it hurts so fucking much and I don’t want to be in pain again.

I don’t want to be in pain again.

And I don’t know why I’m bringing this up or what I’m trying to say really. I guess I just want to get my fears written down because they’re circling in my head again.

And I guess I also want to say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry to everyone who suffers with a ‘hidden’ condition that no one believes you about, I’m sorry for everyone who is barely dragging themselves through it day by day; in pain, exhausted, and with the people around them burnt out on offering help because ‘why can’t you just get better already’.

I’m lucky, I’m so very, very lucky that for whatever reason my episodes just… stopped. They just stopped. And even still I live aware of the sword dangling over my head, never believing that the dragon is actually dead and is only just sleeping, still there to be reawakened if I mess up (when I don’t have the slightest idea what or where that invisible line I must never cross is), and I never dare to say that I’m ‘cured’ because I don’t believe in miracles like that. It’s a miracle that they stopped, and I’m grateful for it, but I will never dare to believe that they couldn’t come roaring right back any day.

Disability can happen to anyone, and I’m vividly aware that my old pain could be stumbled into at any minute, along with any number of other things, and I’m so sorry to everyone who still lives with their pain that is a constant companion. Mine is sleeping, but I remember it well for how it burned like the sun, to the point that I was able to identify sporadic episodes years after the fact that I had thought only stomach bugs because they were so horrible.

Pain is good, but not like this.

Pain is meant to be a teacher, a protector. A warning system of ‘hey! Don’t do that! We could get hurt!’ Your body’s way of keeping you safe and alive; don’t touch the fire because it hurts, don’t touch the fire because it could kill you. Pain is life’s way of steering you away from death, of keeping you safe and alive; letting you know there’s damage so you know to keep that part safe while it heals and use it less. Because when you’re about to walk into the flames your body doesn’t have the time to sit down and explain it to you gently, it has to alert you ‘NOW. PULL BACK NOW!’

Pain is meant to be a good thing; it’s meant to keep you alive and to protect you, to teach you about danger so you know how to be safe, and go let you know when you’ve been damaged so that you can make sure to give the damage time to heal.

But it’s not meant to be there all the time; it’s not meant to be constantly flashing the alarms when there’s nothing to be done, your body trying to help and let you know that something’s wrong when there’s nothing you can do. It’s not meant to linger until it breaks you, to weigh on your shoulders until you struggle to see the good past it. But just like with any good thing, so often does it become ill.

Pain is a constant companion for too many of us, and I’m so, so sorry for that.

You shouldn’t have to be strong.

I’m sorry.

I just wanted to let you all know that.

[gay-artificer]

Thinking about vulture grub summoning signals.

Vultures respond to signal, but it also seems that the grubs themselves are aware of when the signals fail- I was previously assuming it was a case of risky behavior on the part of the grubs since if the vulture doesn’t find anything, it takes the grubs. This originally read to me as a sort of fail state the grub would ideally want to avoid, and that calling the vulture was a means of driving off predators by intentionally attracting a threat that would pick a bigger target. A badly timed call to the vulture would result in the selection of the grub, but a reasonable threat to the grubs safety would be something worth that risk. This is more or less how even slugcats use them (if they aren’t players who feel bold enough to go straight for the vulture, they’re mostly used to get lizards out of the way) This would be a fairly straightforward mutual relationship to evolve, with some risk to the grub. We can assume its not a unintentional relationship due to the fact that if blocked, but potentially able to move the light into the sky, grubs will make some effort to get their signal visible by wiggling over a bit. This specific effort to at least get the signal skyward suggests that its not merely an unrelated sign vultures seek out, but rather pretty intentionally targeted at them. Its not impossible that vultures and grubs are related directly, but I feel like its not as strongly implied as some people suggest. It really reads more as mutualism vs. a parent - offspring relationship. Especially since vultures do kill grubs freely. That’s not unheard of with animals (and there isnt any particular reason why vultures would be encouraged not to, with seemingly no way to identify grubs as their own offspring) but in this case assumption of relation really adds little to their relationship other than “reason why they cooperate” It’s the inclusion of the “failed” signal that I find interesting, as it suggests the grubs are aware when the signal doesn’t work and communicate that as important data (And yes, in terms of game design this is a good thing for the player). But if you were attempting straightforward predator deterrence via alerting bigger threats, it would generally be better to feign success in the hopes that the current threat would respond anyway. So a ‘green’ signal would always be the ideal... so I think the better concept is that the signal is actually an area warning.

In several types of plants, predation from long-term predators such as caterpillars can prompt the omission of specialized chemical signals that are designed to attract other insects and predators who target the offending species. Dealing with a certain type of caterpillar? Call a wasp that is an exclusive parasite of that caterpillar. The predators benefit from responding due to the presence of the prey, and the plant is protected by having predators kept near it. Another type of chemical signal sent by threatened plants is actually for the benefit of other plants- they warn each other about grazing or disease threats. Even if plants can’t exactly get up and walk away, the warning allows for them to prepare ahead of time and hopefully decrease their own damages. I think vulture grubs, with a bit of self sacrificial behavior are trying similar with vultures- and communicating failure to summon as a means of notifying their surroundings that the desired defense mechanism has failed. Vulture presence would be a pretty noteworthy thing to announce (especially given that they fly, and thus might be subject to some pretty heavy migratory patterns) if it was a primary defense mechanism. Since we also don’t know exactly how the worms get where they are, it could even be a means of encouraging whatever parent animal they have to chose more protected areas. And since the grubs are not immune from vulture targeting, they still benefit from primarily being subterranean and in locations unlikely to be directly scouted by active vulture colonies- but most of these locations are still fairly close to open air, where it might be feasible to send SOS still if carried from their initial position. and if you wanna get very risky, sending the fail signal might also be a plead to other non-vulture predators. “There’s no vultures, please come in-fight” would be... very high risk, for a lot of reasons, but many of the species in rain world are threatening enough to each other that using them as a last resort in lieu of a more favorable species is reasonable. With the overall idea being that you make the immediate area risky enough that the remaining colony of grubs (since they spawn in groups, even if they’re mostly dead in-game) isn’t completely harvested.

[fox-steward]

I wonder if liberal SSA people might be extra invested in and defensive of drag queens because they fulfill a sort of unofficial sacred clown role that has been key in getting our foot in the door with straight people who would otherwise consider us a threat or a target. Drag queens wear elaborate brightly-colored clownlike ensembles that, although feminine, are distinctly different from what women actually wear, they perform song & dance & spoken routines, and they officiate at cultural events. They're a big part of why straights consider us fun and cool.

In theory we're supposed to be allowed to go about our business as regular people now, but everyone knows there's still homophobia everywhere. I'm thinking some people get subconsciously panicky at the idea of taking away the #1 thing that makes us fun to the straights (and is also clearly and obviously identified with gays in a way that is impossible to miss, unlike the arts in general), because if we can't entertain them, they might decide to go back to attacking us.

this is an interesting point and i’m glad you mentioned it. i want to challenge the idea that drag queens’ outfits are “distinctly different from what women actually wear” because they’re actually embellishments, which is important to to understanding the level of mockery of women that drag is. sexualized and restrictive clothing is expected of women, heels, makeup, fake lashes and nails—that drag queens take it to the extreme shows the lampoon, but what are they lampooning? one of the actual methods of restricting women’s bodies, participation in society, money, time, etc.

but otherwise, i see your point. there’s a bit of a sanctified role for drag queens within LGB communities, and as you rightly mentioned, it’s just about the only thing the larger heterosexual culture has happily accepted of us, so it can feel painful to look it squarely in the face and see it for the degradation of women that it is.

i’m not sure if fear of the vitriolic homophobia that used to be so common underlies the reluctance to criticize drag by LGB people. it certainly reads as plausible, though it doesn’t seem the simplest explanation to me. i am sure it plays a role, even if subconsciously like you said.

but to me, the occam’s razor here is misogyny. broadly speaking, no one gives a shit about misogyny, it’s the oppression that doesn’t count. so when (gay) men engage in this deeply misogynistic practice, it is easy to accept and celebrate. our culture has a long history and rich current practice of accepting and celebrating deeply misogynistic things/art—beauty pageants, fashion modeling, women’s clothing, pornography, blonde jokes, makeup influencers, etc. drag is just the dish that LGB culture brought to the misogyny potluck. and people hold onto it for all kinds of reasons, though i don’t think yours is incorrect, just incomplete.

[bluemoon160]

【IᑎTᖇOᗪᑌᑕTIOᑎ】 💙🌌

Hey everyone! My name is Rosalind but I also go by Ross or Ros. OR you could call me by my internet names Blue or Bluemoon if you’d like! (It’s a lot of names I know lol sorry. Just pick whatever).

I’m a 20yo artist, writer, and editor who will be mostly focusing on fanart, self ship, furry content, and maybe some cosplay on this blog. I do have a business focused on my published books, OCs, and editing services which you can find here if you’re interested. I’m more active over on those accounts since I work on that stuff almost full time now but I try and post fan/personal content when I can. This blog specifically will be a place for all my self indulgent interests. I may not be super active here but will try to anyway :)

【ᗪIᔕᑕᒪᗩIᗰEᖇ】

Skip ahead to read more about me, my, interests, and who I ship with, etc. But in the meantime, I need to get this out of the way and say that I really wanna make new friends here but I’m also hesitant to rejoin any sort of self ship and/or fan communities because of how many horrible experiences I’ve had with them before. Perhaps Tumblr is different but I wanted to put this out here for my own peace of mind lol. So please be patient with me. I grew up in fandom and self ship spaces that had constant arguments about literally everything. I didn’t even know what half of these discourses were even about and everything I’ve learned has been against my will. So no, this is not me “taking a side”, I just don’t want to be apart of drama anymore. My morals are this: live and let live unless you’re supporting/romanticizing anything immoral. If you have genuine critiques about how I portray certain things then definitely let me know since I’m always concerned about how I represent stuff, but aside from that, this is just a blog to talk about stuff I like so let’s keep it chill please. 🧍‍♂️

【ᗩᗷOᑌT ᗰE】

⭐My full name Rosalind B. Sterling (or you can call me by the other names listed above)

⭐I’m 20 (covered that lol)

⭐I’m bi and aroace (I also sometimes use the term procul but I don’t identify with it as a sexuality. Just an add on term for my asexuality to explain how my sexual attraction fades away once my relationship with someone becomes real).

⭐I’m genderfluid and my pronouns are she/he/they

⭐I’m mixed race/Puerto Rican

⭐I’m neurodivergent (OCD, MaDD, and a few other things) so tone tags would be great to use around me but they’re not required

⭐I currently live Ohio (yes I’ve heard all the jokes and they’re honestly pretty accurate lmao)

⭐My favorite colors are aqua, bright purple, hot pink, and neon green

【ᖴ/O's】

Note: some of these characters might come from controversial media. I just like them for personal/creative/self indulgent reasons so don’t interact if these make you uncomfortable.

“Main” f/o’s

(Putting this in quotes since I hardly ever talk about these characters nowadays. They’ve just been my main for a while and I feel too attached to take them off the list)

⭐Dan {Dan Vs.} (Started shipping 7 years ago)

⭐Gary {Final Space} (Starting shipping 6 years ago).

Current main:

⭐ Alastor {Hazbin Hotel} (Started shipping 4 years ago) And before anyone comes after me with the “but he’s aroace!” comments, I know that and I don’t erase it. I’m aroace too and kind of imagine him and my S/I being in a possible QPR type thing. I still have developing to do. I just like the thought of two aroaces hitting it off and bonding closely. I take a lot of comfort in him as a fellow aroace so leave me be please 😭

⭐The Narrator and Stanley {The Stanley Parable} (This one’s a polyship and is pretty recent. Been shipping for about 7 months now)

Other f/o’s:

⭐Pinkie pie {MLP}

⭐Reagan {Inside job}

⭐Jinx {Arcane}

Other characters I like but don't consider f/o’s:

⭐Connor {Detroit Become Human}

⭐The Warden {Superjail}

⭐Andre {Inside Job}

⭐Ken {Barbie Movie}

⭐Mike {fnaf movie}

⭐️Rarity {MLP}

⭐Reigen {Mob Psycho 100}

⭐Archer {Archer} (It's always the walking red flags that get me 😔)

Familial/platonic f/o’s:

The only ones I can think of rn is Angel Dust from Hazbin Hotel. I kinda see them all like family tbh but specifically Angel Dust. Also maybe Kirk from Star Trek. Like we’d definitely be besties I’m so fr.

There’s probably more but I’d have to think about it.

【KIᑎs】

⭐Reagan {Inside job}

⭐Brett {Inside job}

⭐Moxxie {Helluvaboss}

⭐️ Millie {Helluvaboss}

⭐Tina {Bob’s burgers} (This one’s so funny to me but it’s so true. She’s literally me in every way possible😭)

Am I comfy sharing any of my f/os and kins?

Yes! I’m fine having doubles. I used to hate it a few years back but now that my mental health is a little more in check and I don’t have to rely on self shipping for major comfort like I used to, I no longer feel bothered by that. It was unhealthy anyway. Not to judge anyone who hates having doubles. I understand folks have pretty valid reasons for it. I just realized the attachment I had to these characters was turning into an unhealthy kind of obsession and was hurting me more than helping. I’m out of that place now luckily. I still self ship for comfort reasons but it’s not as in ease as it was before and mostly just for funsies now. If you're comfy sharing and we have doubles, totally message me so we can gush and ramble together! I love doing that 🫶💖

【ᗰY ᖴᑌᖇᔕOᑎᗩ】

Putting this here too since I'll probbaly be sharing furry stuff whenever I get the chance. So here is my eyesore of a fursona which is a wolf/fox/bat hybrid with a scene kid aesthetic who looks like every middle school edgelord oc deisgn vomited into one character. But idc honestly. I’m not doing anything serious with her and am just having fun. I also might use her for self shipping if I end up F/Oing any anthro characters but idk.

Art credit goes to coral-kun

【IᑎTEᖇEᔕTᔕ】

⭐Anything sci fi, crime, or comedy

⭐Any time era from before the 2010s. Though I specifically love the 20s-50s, and 80s-2000s the best :)

⭐Cartoons. Specifically for adults. Adult swim is literally my go to channel lol

⭐Reading, writing, art, crafting, etc

⭐Space, science, dinosaurs/paleontology and history

⭐Animals and zoos

⭐Conspiracy theories and mysteries

⭐Anything horror, paranormal, or creepy pasta

【ᑕᒪOᔕIᑎG】

And that's it! I hope I can meet some new friends and stuff but also predict that my reach won't be all that huge since I've never had massive luck with algorithms. Especially as of late. But if you're seeing this, don't be afraid to message me or interact! I love meeting new folks :3

[nicollekidman]

hii abby sorry if this is a question you like. do not care to answer. but ik you identified as gay for a long time and now identify as bisexual, and I’ve identify as gay for several years now but just recently sort of come into the idea that I might actually be interested in men and I’m sort of like,,idk how I deal with that?? I also feel a little strange because a lot of people in my life Know that I “am” gay (and make jokes about it pretty regularly) and I feel sort of like I’d be doing something wrong in their eyes or messing up. I like to think I’m fairly open but it scares me a little to have Done Something Wrong and I was just wondering if maybe you had any advice? thank you if you even read this rambling <33

truly deeply and completely non-flippantly it does not matter! i know that the optics and expectations of “identifying” and representation culture make that distinction seem like a really important thing that you’re signing a contract about and everyone is monitoring to see if you Betray Your Identity but that’s not the case! labels are there to help us, to guide us towards a community and a deeper understanding of ourselves and the way we relate to others/the world/our history. there is so much overlap in the lived experience of lgbt people, so many of us have discovered new things about ourselves and changed our language of self… it’s nothing to be ashamed of and you’re not doing anything wrong!! being a person is a constant evolution and if, for you, that means exploring attraction to men, then good for you!!! if your friends have to think a little harder about the jokes they’re apparently cracking around you, then that’s their problem! you are still exactly who you are and no one can be mad about that. as someone who’s gone through a similar experience where labels currently function as a cheeky little thought experiment more than anything else, i can say that they mean only what you need them to 💕

[angstyaches]

Would you be willing to make a sort of species guide for StW? Like what are the characteristics of your vampires, werewolves/shapeshifters, demons, demon eaters and witches? And how might someone identify one? Here are some q’s to get the ideas flowing but feel free to do your own thing or to decline if you want us to learn these things through the stories

Vampires: Do they sparkle in the sun or have an aversion to garlic? Do they get crazed by the scent of blood or are they more in control? Are they cold to the touch? Can they reproduce or do certain or all biological functions cease at a certain point in the transformation? What is the transformation process/how many stages are there and what characteristics does the vampire have at each stage? Is anyone who is bitten by a vampire turned or can a vampire feed on a human without turning them? Can a transformation be reversed? At what stage of the transformation can a vampire turn others? Do all vampires have the same abilities? Are abilities inherited somehow or are they unique to each vampire? What is the vampire social structure like?

Werewolves/Shapeshifters: Can they eat chocolate? Do they only transform during the full moon or can they do so at will? Is there a physical/mental toll either pre, during or post transformation? Are they stronger/faster/do they have heightened senses while not transformed? What makes someone a shapeshifter? Is it inherited genetically or do you have to be turned by another shapeshifter? How do you get turned? Do they have a pack or community or are they generally solitary?

Demons/Hybrids: Can they possess someone at will or do they have to be invited? Do demons have a physical form or are they more of a shadowy entity? Could they leave their host if they wanted to or do they form a dependence? Is the bond generally symbiotic? How does the bond affect the host and is this different depending on the type of demon? Does the host experience physical changes when possessed? Can the host generally access and use the demons abilities at will? Where do the demons come from? Is there a community or are they solitary beings?

Demon Eaters: Are they more physically capable than humans? Can they sense demons or do they have to stumble upon them/hunt them down? How do they hunt demons? Are there clear signs to indicate a demon has been in the area or is nearby? Can they manipulate or control demons in any way? Can they be sustained by eating demons alone? Is the ability generally passed on genetically or can you become a demon eater? Do they generally work alone or do they have a community?

Witches: Are there different types of witches? Can anyone learn to work with magic or do you have to be born with the ability? Is it generally passed on genetically or is it random? If passed on genetically, is it possible for one member of a family to be born without magical aptitude? Can these people still be involved in the community or are they generally more removed? If random, how do witches find each other/know they aren’t just hallucinating? How do witches use magic? Are there spells, potions, rituals? Are there ways of increasing magical power? Is it like a muscle that gets stronger with use or can power be increased with a staff or another type of catalyst?

Bonus: Are there other supernatural beings in your world that you think are particularly interesting?

Thank you for all of these lovely questions! As always with my worldbuilding stuff, everything I say is subject to change if I change my mind, or (the more likely) I forget the lore of my own story.

Answers under the cut 🖤 If they suck or they don't make sense, it's because I've been in a weird brain fog for a few days now and I can't seem to shake it.

Vampires

Do they sparkle in the sun?

No; they just have more sensitive skin that’s more prone to sun damage, depending on whether they’re fully turned or just half.

Aversion to garlic?

Fully-fledged vampires, yes. It causes extreme nausea and violent vomiting. Ryan can’t even smell it without a reaction.

Crazed by the scent of blood or in control?

It depends on the personality of the vampire, as well as how long they’ve been denied food and blood. A starving vampire will fall victim to their cravings more easily than one who’s fed recently.

Are they cold to the touch?

This one, I go back and forth on, and I’m sure I’ve been inconsistent with it in my fics at this stage.

I’d like to say with full certainty that half-vamps have just a slightly lower body temperature than humans, while fully-blooded vampires are much colder, and that their body temperature would actually be affected by whether or not they’ve consumed blood recently… but like I said, I’m sure this could be disproven by my own writing.

Can they reproduce?

I actually haven’t thought about it too much, but I’m going to say no because that makes the most sense to me. Half-vampires probably could, especially if they’re reproducing with a human, but vampire laws wouldn’t allow it, because there is so little known about it and the offspring’s wellbeing wouldn’t be guaranteed. Vampires have a lot of laws about mixing species.

Can vampires feed without turning the human?

Yes, they can! Turning is a deliberate process that requires a special venom, whose production can only be stimulated by strong, sincere intent.

Can a transformation be reversed?

Not that anyone is aware of.

At what stage can a vampire turn others?

It depends on the vampire or half-vampire’s strength. Some half-vamps can produce the required venom, but are forbidden from doing so even if they can manage it. Otherwise, it’s mostly the older, stronger, fully-turned vampires called Elders who have the ability to change others, and are permitted to (if the right paperwork is submitted to the council etc.).

Do all vampires have the same abilities? Are the abilities inherited or unique?

All vamps and half-vamps all have enhanced senses and reflexes, as well as increased body strength. The level of these depends on their age, their training, and their heritage (Elliott’s strength and stamina are due to the fact that he was turned and nurtured by Ryan, a particularly powerful Elder vampire; Felix’s abilities are weaker because he was turned by a half-vampire).

Some, but not all, fully-fledged vamps have extra supernatural abilities (Watson: can turn into a giant bat; Elliott: can turn into a swarm of bats; Ryan: power of persuasion) that manifest according to their own strengths and characteristics.

What is the vampire social structure like?

The Elders are essentially the ones in charge of maintaining order amongst those in their bloodline, and also make up the council of vampires who make big decisions that could affect the entire community. Full-bloods who aren’t Elders also have occasional responsibilities, which include community service and law keeping.

The council of vampires also precedes over the other supernatural creatures, since they have the greatest population (and they were strongest in the past and nobody really wanted to challenge them) and the closest lives with humans.

Werewolves/Shapeshifters

Can they eat chocolate?

Yes! But they have a strong aversion to silver jewellery, and will break out in a rash and eventually develop burns from it.

Do they only transform during the full moon or can they do so at will?

At will.

Is there a physical/mental toll either pre-, during, or post transformation?

Physical, yes. It’s an exhausting and occasionally painful process.

Mental, sometimes. Mitsuko, in particular, struggles with controlling herself when she transforms, and has the most trouble processing things after she’s switched back to human form.

Are they stronger/faster/do they have heightened senses while not transformed?

Nope!

What makes someone a shapeshifter? Is it inherited genetically or do you have to be turned by another shapeshifter?

It’s a genetic condition that activates at a certain age. Kazuhito was a late bloomer, and only developed his ability when he did because he prayed repeatedly to the fox god, who changed his target animal from a wolf to a fox. He often wonders if other animal deities could grant the gift to regular humans who weren’t born with the shapeshifting ability, but he’s never voiced his theory to anybody who could possibly look into it.

Do they have a pack or community or are they generally solitary?

In the past, they would have stuck in packs, but in modern days, there’s no exact rule for it. Some stick with their biological family members for a lot of their life, while others go out on their own. Kazu and Mitsuko have traumatic childhood experiences that have pushed them away from the family unit, but they’re doing their best to still be there for each other.

Demons

Can they possess someone at will or do they have to be invited?

If they’re strong enough, they can possess and control anybody they please.

Do demons have a physical form or are they more of a shadowy entity?

Both! Demons have physical and ethereal aspects; the physical aspect is something that was possessed and/or absorbed from our world, while the demon’s soul itself is from another realm.

Could they leave their host if they wanted to or do they form a dependence?

They could leave their host/object if they needed to, but they would be a lot weaker and more vulnerable. Most demons wouldn’t choose to do so willingly, once they learned the security of having a host.

Is the bond generally symbiotic?

Generally speaking, no! Charlie and Charlie Two are the first known human/demon pair to function the way they do, so in-world, there’s very little known about this kind of symbiosis, or “affiliation” as they come to call it in canon.

How does the bond affect the host and is this different depending on the type of demon?

Regardless of its type, a demon would generally have destructive intentions on a human host. This would include mental strain, confusion, painful mind sharing, lost chunks of time where the demon took control, and any number of bodily ailments, too.

Does the host experience physical changes when possessed?

Most victims of possession wouldn’t exhibit any physical changes that other people could see or notice. In Charlie and CT’s case, Charlie only experiences physical changes because of how deeply bonded they are.

Can the host generally access and use the demon’s abilities at will?

Unless we’re talking about a case like Charlie and CT, it would take an extremely tough human to tap into a demon’s powers like that. Most likely, a demon wouldn’t continue to try to possess a person with that much willpower, and would just leave them.

Where do the demons come from?

They come from The Other Side, a demon realm adjacent to our world. I hope to keep expanding upon it as a concept, but for now, it’s all very vague, I apologise.

Is there a community or are they solitary beings?

Demons are chaotic creatures who don’t seek order or community or security. They mostly just want to feed on whatever it is they crave and exert their influence over. Charlie Two is eloquent and craves connection because of how long they’ve spent attached to Charlie’s consciousness.

Demon Eaters

Are they more physically capable than humans?

In terms of speed, yes. Dahlia could move impossibly fast, practically melting into a shadow while she hunted. Shayne inherited a weaker form of this ability, since he’s half-human. Unfortunately, there are no natural benefits in terms of physical strength.

Can they sense demons or do they have to stumble upon them/hunt them down?

A bit of both! Shayne sometimes gets a weird feeling, like he’s being watched, if there’s a demon nearby, but it’s sometimes hard for him to distinguish this from general anxiety (he sits in class with Charlie for almost a month before realising he’s possessed).

How do they hunt demons?

If they can lock onto that sense that there’s a demon nearby, it’s not too hard for them to tap into that feeling and just follow it until they find the source. Demon eaters can catch and wrestle demons into an ideal position before devouring them, but it’s easier to use magically-enhanced devices, like Madelyn’s jars.

Are there clear signs to indicate a demon has been in the area or is nearby?

No. It’d be the same as trying to figure out if a human had just walked through the area; unless there’s a distinct disturbance of some kind, it’d be extremely hard to tell.

Can they manipulate or control demons in any way?

Demon eaters can command demons in their custody to do anything they want, so long as they don’t escape. This is done by employing their demonic speech, which demon hunters have an inherent knowledge of. As a weak hybrid version of a demon eater, Shayne can only command them to answer questions.

Can they be sustained by eating demons alone?

True demon eaters survive exclusively by eating demons! I can’t remember if I ever wrote/posted about it, but Dahlia didn’t and couldn’t eat human food. She didn’t even have a sense of taste. Shayne only needs to eat food because he’s half-human.

Is the ability passed on or can you become a demon eater?

It’s passed on.

Do they generally work alone or do they have a community?

Demon eaters are rare and tend to keep to themselves, to the point where Dahlia was the only one that anybody in the vampire sphere was aware of.

Witches

Are there different types of witches?

The main distinction that exists is that some witches have inherent magical abilities (type 1), and others are born with the capacity for magic but have to study and practice to unlock it (type 2). Nancy and Blake are type 1s; Lilith, Astrophel, and Rex are type 2s.

They can also be categorised according to their aptitudes. For example, Lilith and Nancy are both healing witches, Blake can transform thoughts into reality, Astrophel is clairvoyant, and Rex can manipulate the veil between worlds.

Can anyone learn to work with magic or do you have to be born with the ability?

You have to be born with the capacity for magic to flow through you.

Is it generally passed on genetically or is it random?

It can be either! It’s most common for witches to inherit magic, but it’s not unknown for babies to be randomly born with it. Witches that come from strong magical backgrounds are sometimes called legacies. Blake, Rex, and Lilith are legacies; Nancy and Astrophel are both born of humans.

If passed on genetically, is it possible for one member of a family to be born without magical aptitude? Can these people still be involved in the community or are they generally more removed?

Yes, it is possible. It’s also possible for someone born with magical capabilities to lose them, or let their strength dwindle to the point where it would be almost impossible to reinvigorate them. The latter is the case with Lilith’s sister, Nadya. In her case, she is fairly far removed from the witching world, but isn’t exactly estranged from Lilith or their family.

If random, how to witches find each other/know they aren’t just hallucinating?

Astrophel spent years trying to decipher the messages xe kept getting from the stars about Nancy, but eventually xe was able to track her down. Witches who don’t have clairvoyance, or another method of communicating with or finding the witch community would struggle a lot more.

However, the supernatural community, including the council of vampires, does keep an ear out for odd occurrences like that, just in case there’s a witch (or other) out there who doesn’t know how to contact anyone.

How do witches use magic? Are there spells, potions, rituals?

Yes, all of the above. Magic can be used on the spot, channelled directly from the user onto their environment (spells), or poured into physical objects (potions, enchanted items, etc.). Rituals would probably be the rarest form, used only in cases where a lot of time and magical energy is required.

Are there ways of increasing magical power?

Exposure to magical or otherworldly energies can increase a witch’s capacity for magic.

Is it like a muscle that gets stronger with use or can power be increased with a staff or another type of catalyst?

If a witch had a magical object that amplified their powers, it would only expand the brute force of their power. The way they get stronger is by learning the pathways that work the best, take the least toll on their body, and achieve the most accurate results. So I guess it’s a mixture of both.

Bonus

Are there any other supernatural beings in your world that you think are particularly interesting?

They’re very underdeveloped because when I started to delve into this, I found it a little too morbid to think about, but zombies exist in Swallow the World as well. Not the mindless, groaning, constantly ravenous kind a la The Walking Dead, but undead creatures kind of similar to vampires but who need flesh instead of blood, and without the strength, the supernatural powers, the immortality, etc. that vampires have.

[saaturnia]

With respect to OP, anyone claiming that astrology can accurately sort people into set categories is not using astrology properly.

In the most basic terms, astrology is trends, patterns, and potentials that are explained through the relationships between the astral bodies.

Two people can be born under the sign Aries. Or even have the same “big 3.” Does that automatically mean they’re exactly the same? Obviously not. That’s ridiculous.

Just like with any other “system”, such as language for instance (which is just as ‘made-up’ and categorical as astrology if we want to get philosophical about it), someone’s understanding of what was communicated depends on the person’s perspective, experiences, and a plethora of other factors.

“I love you so much” and “te amo mucho” mean the same thing, but depending on your personal experiences, you may only understand one of those sentences. Maybe you understand neither? Maybe both? It depends.

Two people may be Aries, but depending on their experiences, they may understand/identify/feel connected to different archetypes associated with that sign.

This is my ‘layman’s terms’ explanation. I could get into degree theory, aspects, astrological houses, Placidus vs whole sign, Vedic vs Tropical astrology, progressed charts, and more, but that’s an entirely other post.

All this to say: astrology is more complex than “lol I’m [insert sign/aspect/placement here] so that means I’m XYZ.” Anyone using it this way or explaining it in this way is usually someone who is still learning or who doesn’t fully understand the extent of astrology.

some people on the astrology post seem very concerned about having their beliefs respected, but what about my beliefs? namely my belief that any system claiming to accurately sort every single human being on earth into a set number categories based on arbitrary information is horseshit

[maxtalksalarmclocks]

Welcome!

You’re here! And you’ve got questions. Like, why in the world does this blog exist???

Allow me to enlighten you.

Who are you?

I’m Max! My pronouns are he/him, and I’m a member of the LGBTQ+ community. And for as long as I can remember, I’ve been super-super-interested in various random things! One time it was vacuum cleaners. One time it was answering machines. One time it was cell phones (pre-iPhone). One time it was cars—well, it’s still cars, as in, I can identify pretty much any car on the road today at a glance.

And if it’s not clear by now, one of my biggest interests was alarm clocks.

How did you learn so much about alarm clocks?

By Googling like a fiend! Off and on over the span of a few years, I dug into alarm clock instruction manuals, and Amazon reviews, and eBay listings, trying to find every interesting detail I could. It was sort of like needles in a haystack, in that for every several hours spent poring through boring product listings, I might find one wildly interesting detail that made it feel worth it. Unfortunately, this is what they call a “variable reinforcement schedule,” and it hooks the brain’s dopamine system like nobody’s business. I will readily admit that my alarm clock education was too often all-consuming and unhealthy, which is part of why I’m trying to avoid doing any new research for this blog. But my hope is to bring you a highly curated selection of the interesting details I learned, so you can avoid the slog of reading as many instruction manuals as I did!

Why did you learn so much about alarm clocks?

Besides the dopamine reason cited above, there were actual reasons why I was drawn to alarm clocks. First, I honestly think they’re visually and conceptually beautiful. Strange, almost alien plastic forms with buttons and ridges and movement. Displays that illuminate in beautiful colors, like fruit juice or stained glass. Speakers that make sound with magnets, circuitry beyond my comprehension, motors that send CDs pirouetting and lasers that reveal their secrets, their binary hieroglyphics. Cast in the shadows of night, alarm clocks are strange bringers of light and sound and life.

Second, alarm clocks are machines with features and attributes that I can easily comprehend. I love the idea of a world that isn’t as confusing as this one, and even if an alarm clock is its own universe of components and logic, that universe can be succinctly summarized in a short instruction manual. Alarm clock features can be arranged in hierarchies, or compared, or sorted into rules and exceptions. My brain loves every single one of those things.

Third, alarm clocks actually matter. They were developed by real human beings, designers and engineers and businesspeople and factory workers and retail workers. Every one of those human beings has a story, and each story intersects with these devices. And these devices in turn affected real human beings, namely, those who owned them and used them every day. Unlike some consumer electronics, like TVs and VCRs, alarm clocks engage with us in an intimate and vulnerable experience: falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking up. For that reason, we have feelings about them. (Just ask anyone who’s smacked the snooze button or knocked a beeping clock off their nightstand.) And also for that reason, alarm clock designers tried a whole lot of different approaches to helping these devices fit into our day-to-day lives, bringing us comfort or joy rather than frustration. So there’s a surprising number of alarm clocks that are actually quirky, and funky, and interesting, and worth talking about.

So in short: alarm clocks are universes. They are beautiful universes, they are small universes, and they are part of our universe. And that’s why I love them.

What made you decide to start this blog?

So I can be cyberbullied!

No, not actually (plz dont cyberbully me thx). Part of why I started this blog is to preserve the history of the alarm clocks I love. Alarm clocks are kind of an obsolete technology, in the sense that our phones can do almost everything they used to do. And there aren’t that many people who are as interested in the topic as I am. So I’m afraid that as these alarm clocks age, and break, and end up in landfills, and their manufacturers move on or go out of business, the little information available online will disappear. I’ve already noticed that old Amazon listings for discontinued alarm clocks have been taken down, and for at least one model, I can no longer find photos of it online. So I want to act to preserve the information that is still out there, before it disappears any further.

Also, part of why I started this blog is to honor the side of myself that cares about this topic at all. When I was young, I kept my obsessive interests like this one secret outside of the house, because I felt they were strange and made me vulnerable to bullying or judgment. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there are actually a lot of people out there with really strong interests in unconventional topics. Sometimes I’ve heard them called “hyperfixations,” or associated with particular kinds of neurodiversity, but regardless of label, I want to be another voice showing that people have this experience, and it’s far from judgment-worthy. It’s actually beautiful, to be able to find joy and wonder in aspects of the world that most people overlook. And I want to bring that joy and wonder to you!

What should I know before reading your blog?

A few things!

This blog features a mix of posts. Some will be deep dives into alarm clock features. Others will highlight specific alarm clocks and what makes them unique. I may also reblog any alarm clock content I find here on Tumblr, or elsewhere on the Internet!

My posts are not product reviews. I don’t own most of the alarm clocks I’m discussing, and many of them are long-discontinued. I estimate that most of the alarm clocks I will discuss here were made in the 1990s or 2000s. So if you’re here trying to find the best alarm clock to buy, I’m afraid this is the wrong website for you. This is more of a museum, if you will, of alarm clocks and what I find interesting about them! It’s for entertainment rather than practical purposes.

It is possible that errors or inaccuracies will sneak into my posts. If you spot an error, or just have a question of any kind, please contact me through Tumblr, or email me at maxtalksalarmclocks@gmail.com. I’m happy to help!

I will not be using generative AI to write any of my posts.

Because I don’t own most of the alarm clocks I discuss, images and videos will generally not be mine. I will credit them wherever possible. As an example, my profile picture is an image of the Sony ICF-CD855V from Google.

I don’t expect to post to this blog indefinitely. I have a solid number of ideas for posts, but once I write all of them, I will probably call this blog a finished project. That said, I will clearly state once I have reached that point. So if there’s radio silence from me, it’s probably just that I’m short on time and haven’t posted in a while, but I still plan to be back!

To ensure that this blog isn’t referencing product images and instruction manuals that disappear from the Internet later on, I have created my own archive of images and manuals in this Google Drive folder. I will add content to this folder over time!

All are welcome here! I want this blog to be an inclusive space where anyone can join in on this journey. I know sometimes I’m frustrated when I find people online who have interesting things to say about technology or cars or whatever, but also have attitudes that are less than inclusive or compassionate. So I want you to know that I see you, I value you, and I’m excited to have you on board for this wild ride!

That’s everything I’ve got to say for now. Thanks for letting me explain why this blog exists in the first place. Now, let’s talk alarm clocks!

[maskedrealities]

I’m easily annoyed with others. This is an extremely bad habit of mine that I struggle to work past. I understand that everyone has different ideals and preferences, but once this goes down to being a bigot and judging someone’s identity, it makes me easily annoyed and rightfully so.

It’s annoying how other beings will see someone else that is different to them and judge them like they can pass judgement. No, you do not know what that person has done or been through. You cannot ask personal questions and expect an answer as an answer isn’t required to be given. Personal space and boundaries still exist in online communities.

For someone to ask me:

“Well, you look like a woman, so you can’t be intersex. Have you just transitioned?” I’m not required to answer and you cannot tell if someone is or isn’t intersex or trans just by looking at them, don’t assume to further your bigotry towards intersex individuals.

“You’re intersex? You can’t be! Just because you look androgynous doesn’t mean you’re intersex!” Yet you aren’t aware of my chromosomes, what I deal with. Why are people so concerned with someone being intersex if they’re perisex?

My experiences shouldn’t be undermined just because I look, sound, or act a certain way. The gender binary/trinary doesn’t need to exist, stop trying to put me and others into a box to fit your narrative

Others ask me things extremely personal related to my non-humanity. Such as:

“What made you want to identify as such? What happened?” Trauma and dehumanization. That’s all you need to know about.

“What are the details?” None of you concern, frankly. My trauma is mine to know, not yours to weaponize or to use as a means to claim my experiences are fake.

I know what it’s like to be interested in wanting to pick someone’s brain apart, but that doesn’t mean you ever have to act on it. You are able to ask these questions to yourself. If they sound invasive to you, don’t ask them. It is not “simply getting to know someone” but asking questions that might make someone feel unsafe and uncomfortable around you.

No one is required to answer any sort of question. In person, online, anywhere. And if you are the type of person that gets angry when someone doesn’t answer a question that they don’t want to… then I’d suggest self-reflecting and being a better individual. It’s like getting angry at someone for saying “no.”

A question has an underlying question of consent. Such as “how are you doing today?” I am able to tell you how I am, which gives you consent for knowing. Or I can avoid answering you as I don’t feel it appropriate to tell you or for other reasons, which would be equal to a “no, don’t ask/Id like space.”

So, please, understand that everyone is a being, a living breathing part of the world we all live in. Don’t treat them badly just because you can’t get information out of them that you want to know as a stranger. There is nothing bad with getting to know someone and slowly building a relationship and seeing if those questions could be asked, but also understand how you can still be supportive and a bigot.

[honking-sys]

Messaging you directly to answer your question to avoid getting attacked™️ but it’s because well, there are technically no “non-traumatized” systems. Only systems who are aware of their trauma, and those who aren’t. DID is a disorder that develops from trauma, so hearing people who aren’t yet ready to face this insist that they have the disorder anyway, feels like an insult to many of us who have acknowledged our trauma. The concept of endo systems is based on the idea that this disorder is “fun” to have. The reality is, if you’re actually a system, you have some sort of trauma. Even if you don’t remember it, but insisting that you dont and you dont need it is very invalidating for people who spent years accepting that it actually was that bad. If no trauma was needed maybe it wasn’t so bad, right? Basically it’s a heap of discourse about the actual, DSM criteria for the disorder, vs people who are in denial and invalidating towards others. So to actually answer your question, it’s controversial for us to want our own space because a lot of these people actually just wanted to “be in on it” and ~be included~ in a disorder because it sounds fun to them

Hi anon! I’m sorry you’re worried about being attacked — no one deserves that.

I understand where you’re coming from. It can be really jarring and upsetting to see people identifying with the same labels as me when they don’t have the same experience of struggle. It can feel like it’s diminishing what I’ve gone through. It can feel like mockery.

However, I think this is a misunderstanding of what an “endogenic system” is. These people aren’t claiming to have DID (unless they are actually diagnosed with it, and all of these endos I know admit to trauma being the cause for the diagnosis). These people are claiming multiplicity without distress. And that’s why it’s fun for them — the trauma is the distress, and they don’t have it.

I will never understand what it’s like to not live with trauma, so my system isn’t fun. It is built to handle trauma. There was never a point where I was having fun with my plurality, because the discovery was itself traumatic.

Maybe some systems are aware of their alters and not the associated trauma, but trauma catches up to you regardless. If a system isn’t acknowledging their trauma, if they are not dysfunctional, then it means they’re not safe to do so. I will never, ever rush that system. They will find out on their own timeline, and my best course of action is to support them, wherever they are in their journey.

But psychology is messy, and I can’t say for certain people can’t be multiple for other reasons. The DSM always acknowledges the possibility of cultural influence and a lack of distress. If there are some people who are plural for religious reasons, or who don’t experience distress, that doesn’t invalidate my disorder. It just means they don’t have my disorder. We still have some similarities, but there are differences as well to acknowledge.

I think people get scared that exclusive spaces will become exclusive to one worldview. This could keep out plurals with trauma and who need trauma resources, but who do not identify with the right labels or ideology. People get caught on “endo,” but I don’t think origin labels matter as much as the experience of trauma. Healing is for everyone, no matter how they describe their existence.

The politics of syscourse are really not helping anyone. I think our communities should be focused on what we share, not what differs. And the things that differ, like experience of trauma, should have their own separate spaces, where trauma is the focus, not the status of one’s diagnosis or their personal belief on why they are the way they are.

[sunnyuto]

I feel like I don’t have much to contribute here because I do willingly present as my agab and use the associated pronouns in most situations. That said, forgive me if this isn’t well articulated, it’s mostly stream of consciousness:

There seems to be this belief that non-binary people have to be accepting of enbyphobic behavior and misgendering moreso than binary trans folks, because of the way we exist in between or external to the gender binary. That “people” (meaning, the cishets) can understand transitioning from one gender to the other but that identifying outside of the binary is simply too complex for them to grasp, as if “people’s” understanding of our gender is the end-all-be-all of determining who gets respect. That we’re always going to get sorted into a binary category and shouldn’t get upset that people don’t gender us correctly at first glance when we look one way or the other.

And while this occurs for androgynous non-binary folks too, it’s even more prevalent for those of us that aren’t androgynous or obviously outwardly trans. I haven’t been closeted in 7 years, but I still present as my agab and use my original pronouns in almost every setting. I have no plans to pursue hormones or surgery - the extent of my medical transition is birth control to stop my period, which I will someday have to stop taking because I do want to have biological children. And these are choices I’ve made! The choice to not repeatedly come out to every single person I meet, the choice to wear dresses and show off my tits, the choice to knowingly return to a state of dysphoria to participate in a heavily gendered bodily function. These are all choices that I consciously made, but there’s a pervasive misbelief that they’re actually just inevitabilities. That non-binary is a phase and everyone either ultimately transitions along the binary or goes back to being cis.

And that’s really the root of the problem, and it’s something that I think other identities outside of the binary experience as well. I know I also see the same rhetoric about bi/pan folks and about ace/aro folks! I myself have mostly stopped using both the label pansexual and the label non-binary in favor of just calling myself queer because I’m frankly sick of these parts of my identity thought of as temporary by my own community. No one questions you when you say you’re queer.

There are two (2) people in my life that actually use they/them pronouns for me all the time except in situations where they’ve been asked not to, and you, Jaz, are one of them. I’m never going to get proper pronouns from my family or at work, and that’s something I’ve accepted, but damn if it doesn’t suck that I have to sacrifice that little bit of euphoria to placate “people” who simply will never understand. It’s exhausting to have to constantly fight with people about my identity because they see me “not transitioning” and decide that my identity and my pronouns aren’t things they need to respect because I’m obviously not serious if I’m not doing anything about it.

❗️❗️ This is asked entirely in good faith. This post is intended to open dialogue and help with solidarity and understanding. ❗️❗️

I would like to hear specifically from nonbinary people how the system of exorsexism/enbyphobia uniquely targets and affects you. Things that you feel other demographics do not experience. Reblogs and replies are very encouraged! If you would prefer, you could dm or send an ask to be added anonymously by me.

This is in the spirit of wanting to understand. I am listening. I encourage all binary trans people to not speak on this topic and let nonbinary people do the talking here. Reblog the post to spread it, but please say nothing.

Any and all people who identify as nonbinary are encouraged to participate. This is not agab-locked. If you are agender, trans neutral/neutrois, genderfluid, bigender, trigender, multigender, xenogender, genderqueer, third gender, two spirit, or any other gender not wholey contained within the strict binary of "man" or "woman", this post is for you. Even if you have already posted on the trans fem or trans masc versions, if you are nonbinary, you are welcome here.

This is not bait to start a fight. I will block without hesitation anyone who is actively being a shithead on this post. I want to hear and uplift your voices by getting it directly from you.

Click this to access the trans fem and trans women version of this post.

Click this to access the trans masc and trans men version of this post.