#they're not wrong for not going out of their way to play it in a different fashion

[tressknight]

PLEASE read about abolition. I've listened to talks and read from some amazing Indigenous abolitionists and the thing that stuck out to me most, which this post basically covers, is to think about how you perpetuate carceral logic in your lives. More than supporting the police and their way of punishing, carceral logic is about how you employ the logic of punishment in your own lives. If someone does something wrong to you, and your first instinct is to punish them, something is going on here you may want to think deeper about.

I teach children how to swim. A lot of them misbehave. I see a lot of teachers yell or punish by making them sit out. I try not to do this unless they are a danger to themselves or others in the class, especially since the pool has an added risk of drowning. I try instead to ask why they are behaving in this way and to see if there is an alternative path before immediately yelling and punishing.

I taught an autistic kid for a time. They had meltdowns a lot when things didn't "go their way." Another teacher covered my class and said that we shouldn't have to be careful or pander to the kids every desire, e.g. wanting to jump in the deep end first. Instead of punishing for being disruptive or not listening, I tried to figure out why this was happening and discovered it was because the child got angry that things were happening they didnt like but they never communicated this. I asked, next time ask me what you'd like, and we can work together with the other kids in the class to compromise or make a plan. From then onwards, there were less meltdowns, and we could manage the class better so everyone was happier.

They won't swim properly? Maybe their goggles are just loose and they're not actually disobeying you. They just want to play? This is a different environment where they usually view the pool as play time and they're young, of course they just want to play.

Be patient. Think of alternatives and think about how carceral logic is embedded in your daily, average lives. This is the only way we can break the system; if we refuse to participate in it even in our average day.

One of the most important things to unpack and unlearn when you’re part of a white supremacy saturated society (i.e. the global north) and especially if you were raised in an intensified form of it (evangelicism, right wing politics, explicit racism) is the urge to punish and take revenge.

It manifests in our lives all the time and it is inherently destructive. It makes relationships and interactions adversarial for no good reason. It undermines cooperation and good civic order. It worsens some types of crime. It creates trauma, especially in children.

Imagine approaching unexpected or unacceptable behavior from a perspective of "how can this be stopped, and prevented" instead of "you’re going to regret this!”

Imagine dealing with a problem or conflict from the perspective of “how can this be solved in a way that is just and restorative” instead of “the people who caused this are going to pay.”

How much would that change you? How much would that have changed for you?

[warmilikeit]

Yandere Batfam x Camp half-blood (Neglected reader)

DC x Pjo

Part 12

______________________________

Present

"is that a ferry?" I ask, the hippocampus got closer and we saw something that said "Princess Andromeda", and the figurehead is a wooden woman tied to it

Princess Andromeda... Who?

Ah..

The wife of Perseus son of Zeus, she was to be sacrificed to Poseidon but Perseus saved her

How weird of her to have a ship, you personally, certainly won't step foot into the ocean after you were about to be sacrificed to it

A middle aged man scolds his three kids for jumping in the pool and points at a sign, a dog that looks somewhat human that looks like it belongs in the deepest pits of hell is in line for the buffet

You freeze up, is that an empousa?? A monster playing poker with a mortal human?

You look around and see variations of monsters and humans, seemingly happy in the cruise

What is this? Monster human united nations?

Don't get me wrong, you're not racist, it's just that monsters typically eat humans, so it's okay that you find it weird that a snake haired monster with poison blood is gambling with Jeff

(not Medusa, but gorgons)

"Is this a trap? A knockoff Lotus Hotel & Casino?" Percy scoffs

Annabeth holds your hand in a tight grip "Could be... But we don't know what it does, no one eat anything here"

"Lotus Hotel...?" You ask

Percy looks at you "Yeah... It's some magic hotel where time passes really slowly, like so slow, it's different for everyone, I met a guy there from the 70's and when I asked he said he'd only been there for two days, we felt we were only there for a couple of hours but it's actually been five days"

Oh shit.

"is... Is this hotel in Vegas?" You look nervous, Annabeth furrowed her brows "Yes, have you encountered it? It's dangerous and normal people wouldn't know how to get out"

"oh fuck... I may have been, no definitely, I should be older than I am right now, when my family and I were on a mi- vacation, I went inside this hotel, I was only there for like 20 minutes but they claimed I was gone for two years... I- holy shit. I was stuck in a hotel for two years" you exclaim

"how did you not know that was a trap? Have you not read the Odyssey? The lotus island and the lotus eaters?? I thought you were a fan of Greek mythology?" Annabeth asked

You roll your eyes "Well I'm sorry I didn't think a hotel was going to be related to a magical lotus island"

Tyson's face got sad "that scary... How you got out?"

"I don't know... All I remember was a pageant in the hotel, it was an event and- Oh." You stop

______________________________

Past

"Wow... This place is actually kind of nice" you look around the glistening chandeliers and observe the clamoring people

A servant smiles at you, seemingly ignoring your vigilante costume "Would you like a lotus flower? They're complementary"

It won't hurt you to take one right?

So you did.

"hey.. um where's the way out?" You ask

The smile on the servant's face doesn't drop "Miss it's so late out at night, you should return to your room"

"but I don't have a room-" you feel a key card in your pocket, you did have a room

So you go there, you enter the gigantic room, it was like for royalty, the sheets were so silky, the pillows were so soft, you opened the cabinet to find a set of clothes

Your suit is beginning to feel itchy anyways, you take a shower and put on the clothes, you find on the night stand a platinum card

What were you here for again?

You get out of the room, you hear people laughing

"you should go down there young lady! There is a pageant! There is this beautiful maiden, more beautiful compared to the others!" A man says, he was wearing clothing so old fashioned you'd thought he was from the regency era

Well, a pageant sounds fun!

In the hotel ballroom people were staring... Not at the contestants, well, yes the contestants, but one, one special lady

"Good evening LA!" She laughs

How captivating... , you think

She turns and sees you, she stops smiling "(Name)? What? What are you doing here?"

Did she just call you?

Oh gosh she just said your name!

"you're not supposed to be here!" She floats, yup floats and you're shocked, she grabs your hand and she walks you to the entrance of the hotel, the servants who were eager to help everyone was avoiding her gaze and now staying far from you

At the entrance she gestures you get out of the hotel, so you did

A bunch of guys approach you, you don't know who they are

A few minutes pass by

"guys what happened to the mission?" You ask

______________________________

Annabeth: why didn't you know the hotel was magic?

You: idk maybe because in the book it was an island?!

______________________________

@yunloyal @sirenetheblogger @00hellohello00 @spqce-bun @casspen-starlight @eyeless-kun @ghostdoodlen @ratchetprime211 @delias-stuff @sadslasher13 @ellaprime7 @wpdarlingpan @mountvesuvu @chinxinsomnia @nathaly36 @vanessa-boo @bat1212 @ceramic-raven @sweetconnoisseurgardener @dhanyasri @bella-wolf100 @shortnsweetsposts @roseapov @d3sperate-enuf @d3kstar

[erinwantstowrite]

bear with me here because i'm gonna ramble about something i've been thinking about for a while... and i'm not complaining, i'm just noticing

sometimes i think we've leaned so far into the vigilante side of the batfam that we miss out on what really makes their characters: detective work. we need more mysteries in their lives that don't lead up to some big bad "we already know who's doing it" or an "end of the world" or "yet again: this fucking guy." we need more stuff where spy movie music plays in the background and dumb adventures that don't lead up to some huge grand event with a big name villain. the shock factor stops being shocking or interesting in any capacity if we're like "Gah! the Joker! ... Again!" or whatever

does that even make sense? like "yeah sure they're blowing up a building again and there's hostages. oh look they're gonna poison the water supply." these aren't bad and that's not what i'm getting at because obviously this is a classic for comics. you need to have characters/antagonists that show up more than once and who can make a story better by being in it. and i did say to bear with me- that's because im tired. so like i hope im getting this across the right way? it's just that sometimes i don't wanna see a huge explosion, i want these motherfuckers solving a regular murder or a disappearance or regular corruption in a local office without it being tied to a grand reveal like "actually this person knows you as a long lost relative" or "they were at that circus can you guess which night they went?" that kind of thing? if you get me? like... more of the small time stuff makes the big stuff important, it makes it stand out more. at some point, the format gets repetitive even if you're switching up the villains. you can make these situations/mysteries still fun to solve for the characters and fun to read for the audience if you do it right

the concept of a detective dressed as a bat and having a sidekick in traffic light colors is inherently goofy as hell??? but that is what is so charming about it??? i think we have lost the balance between them being silly while also being intelligent with important conversations that criticize the world as we see it and teach lessons and can go over dark topics. nowadays it's always end of the world problems or just straight up the most gruesome true crime you can think of?? or they can ONLY do the dark stuff and the criticism without offering a balance of the good in the world. or we keep coming back to the FUCKING JOKER-

like yes they are vigilantes and with that comes a different level of their work, but their brand should be a mix between a black and white detective film that can get very nitty gritty and a classic spy movie, that kind of thing. at the end of the day, it's what makes them so different from the superheroes. that's what appeals to me.

seeing them in the big superhero groups is fun, don't get me wrong. it's always funny to see them standing next to people who are so powerful they never really fit in with anyone but each other, who chose to step up and use their powers for good. the Bats' specialty is Gotham and yet here they are stopping a god or whatever. and they do stop the god or whatever, all the while being an important leader and strategist to their teammates. they're important to have in these cases. but if there's a world ending event every time i pick something up, it's not as fun

the fact that they are so very human and not fantastical is why i like reading them. it's what makes the joke of people, even Gotham citizens, theorizing about them being cryptids, funny. they're fucking weird but that's because they're detectives. people who love to solve mysteries usually have a fatal flaw of curiosity. they forget the bounds between social interactions sometimes because they're used to working through problems or being intertwined with partners that understand them. but they're very much human. so human that it hurts them in many ways. and idk i've just been thinking about it lately and idk what point i'm trying to get across actually

it's just that in my eyes that's how it really is for Batman- a black and white movie narrated by a very serious man who took up a job to help people, one that has a deeper commentary on the world and viewed outwardly as pessimistic but actually has a deep hope for his city and who tries to help even the people who have wronged others. He's a stationary man in the belief that him being a constant can serve to soothe others and help them move forward. He stays in the middle of the path so he can tell everyone what is up ahead. he blends into the Gotham rainy night to serve justice but in a way that saves both the victim and the perpetrator. (the way he tucks a Robin into his cape is the same he does for Gotham with his mere presence.) and his background is actually so important to his story and yet people still somehow gloss over the lesson from it? he lost his parents because of a man who was on the opposite end of the spectrum to where he was in life. and yet he chose to help the people like the man that killed his parents. he could have done anything else with his power and money, but he instead is choosing to bring as many people up with him as he can. He's Mr. Serious that no one else can get a read on. and yet he walks into a room and he's already piecing together your life and what you're going through because he thinks it matters. he comforts people who have lost something or someone or themselves. I picture Batman and I don't picture a man trying to save the world, I picture a detective walking around a crime scene and trying to save at least one person every time he puts on the cape. and he put on the cape and became a vigilante because then he could go out of the bounds of what laws have been set up- and specifically, Gotham has other people in power who are corrupt, keeping the system that way. that's why Batman being a billionare and throwing himself into helping people at the risk of his own life is so important. he knows that if you are alive, you have something or someone to lose, no matter who you are. the dude is a bleeding heart but he doesn't know how to express it, in fear that if he gets too close, if he moves down the path with them, he'll be lost again

and then he's met with someone who should be a complete opposite, but isn't at all, because they're two sides of the same coin. his partner in crime, his son, a boy that is nothing like the black and white world that he sees. and that's the point in his life where he first sees that potentially getting lost is worth the risk. Robin is color and passion that needs guidance to move forward, but can not do so unless the stationary man learns to move with him. the kid is loud and reckless and you'd think he's from a different genre from the detective but they aren't so different, really. not when you look close enough. Dick grew up moving from place to place and seeing the world, knowing so many different people from different cultures. He's been learning to fly and jump and embrace the free fall his entire life. He's clever and he's sharp, and he thrives in the action and adventure. it's that perspective that compliments the stationary man. one is steady and the other pushes. he's the same genre but a different generation. and Batman introducing him to the way of life he chose for himself was another way he could save someone. because let's be real for a second? Dick would have gone down a very dark path had he not had Bruce, who understood, who saw not just himself in the kid but also saw who the kid has been his entire life until now. he saw Dick's parents, he saw the family he had in the circus, he saw the joy he had in what his family was doing. he saw the grief and the fire and the color that Dick's world was made of. because to Bruce, it always matters. Dick had to come to terms with Bruce's perspective to help anyone who they come across, to always give more chances, and it kept Dick from losing his color

what gets me is that the man who lives in the black and white world can actually see many different shades of gray (because black and white always needs the medium), whereas the boy in a world of color and light can get so focused on the bright that he can become single minded. and yet the boy sees a world of color and delves deeper into the lives of the peolle they come across and can be much more open minded, and the man in the black and white world sometimes forgets the shades of grey are right there. they are just like each other. they can exist without the other, but do they want to? because the black and white can be built up into the colored image, like the inking and shadows drawn on a comic book page before the colors are added in. they meet in the middle to complete each other. Bruce has been passing the story over to the next generation for a long, long time, even before his story was complete. and just like with the first Robin, it was so for every Robin afterwards. they each color in the lines differently, but that's what makes Robin so special, so unique. they are an art style that branches into their own life, but can not forget where they started: tucked into Batman's cape and the inky black of his world

and so detective work really frames their hunanity to me. the mysteries they get their hands on, the glimpses into the lives of Gotham citizens that they swore to protect, it's fascinating. it's what makes their story stand out compared to the people who can lift trucks or cast spells or run around the world in seconds. so yeah ig that's what i'm trying to say? that i want to read more of that? in both canon and fanon. cause even the small time villains we see can be like. AWFUL people and it takes out the fun of their gimmicks. and if it were any other day this would be a more coherent post but alas, it is not any other day

[akanemnon]

I totally get not wanting to do the geno run, I remember wanting to start the run, killed a single monster, and deleted the save.

A friend was mean to me for giving up on it.

This was back when the game was just a few months old, and we were 14-16 years old.

It's just... like you said. I don't want to hurt the pixilated people. Makes me feel sad. And because I was maybe 15 years old, and very sensitive, made me feel extreme empathy for these characters.

I'm really sorry your friend was mean to you because you didn't want to go throught with the genocide route. These characters are written with so much love and care, that it is no wonder that you would get attached to them and wouldn't want to hurt them. I literally feel the same way.

I have no way to confirm this, but I have heard that back in the day people used to be really mean when people didn't play Undertale the "correct" way. That kinda sounds like one of these cases.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to do the genocide route. There is also nothing wrong with going through with it. Undertale is a game and it gives you the option to approach it in any way you like. It also reacts to the way you do it.

In the end it all boils down to what you get the most out of in the game. For some people it's the characters, for others it's the fights, and then there are those who want to scour every single thing this game has to offer. Undertale has something for everyone.

I am more than content with only doing the pacifist route and never touching the game again after that. Yes, these characters are just a bunch of lines code and pixels, but in my mind, they're quite happy with the life I could help give them on that Switch cartridge.

[puppy-brains]

Thinking about "accidental" incest...

Sucking dick inside a gloryhole not knowing it's your dad on the other side

Going to a Halloween party and hooking up with your older brother because you didn't recognize his voice under the mask

Getting black-out drunk and fucking your twin sibling and not knowing it until the next morning when you wake up sore and messy

Getting blindfolded and free-used by older men for hours, only discovering that they're your relatives once you're untied and being cleaned up

Sending faceless nudes back and forth on an anonymous hookup app, only to find your brother waiting there when you meet up for sex

Stumbling into the wrong bedroom in the middle of the night when it's pitch black, trying to get frisky with your partner, only to wake up in your little sibling's bedroom

Play-fighting with your baby brother and accidentally rubbing against him just the right way to make you both react inappropriately, and it just feels too good for you to stop

Hooking up with some random older man you've never met before, only to learn after weeks of seeing each other casually, that he happens to have a kid your age that he hasn't seen since he walked out when they were a baby

""Accidental"" incest...

[skimmingmilk]

i've just found out your tumblr has even MORe picket fence writing and im over the moon?? But also my heart was shattered with the back in time wip 😭😭😭 how does sonic find the strength to leave baby tails behind, how does he react when he sees tails again in his own timeline after having met sick abandoned baby tails??

Heheheh, yeah, there are some little fics or scenes I've written that I hesitate to put on AO3 sometimes (or just aren't complete enough to be a story on their own), so I like to throw them at Tumblr from time to time. Glad you found them! :D

Ohh, the back in time WIP... Not sure how much I can give away because of the chance that it's going to end up part of a bigger fic... but it'll still be a long while until I get around to posting that xD Maybe people will forget lol.

Potential future spoilers under the cut?

So! The way I see it playing out is that Sonic is going to find it in him to leave baby Tails behind because he knows they'll cross paths one day, the way they're supposed to and everything will play out from there. He knows he can't stay in the past and he can't take baby Tails to his present. Plus, Silver's with him and it probably wouldn't go over well to try and explain why it'd be a good idea to take baby Tails with him when it would negate pretty much everything Sonic and Tails experienced together since meeting on West Side Island or cause a split in the timeline where now there's a universe where Sonic never got to meet Tails because he wasn't there and now Sonic's time with have two Tailses. He knows that it can't happen.

But... Sonic still can't stop wondering about the little guy. Is he cold? Is he scared? Is he getting enough to eat? Is he lonely? Hurt? All the things he's not letting himself think about when it comes to his Tails (the 10 year old who's on his first solo adventure and basically gone as close to no contact as possible in order to "prove himself"). He projects all that onto the baby version of him because he knows Tails can handle himself (and that's not why he's worried about him, what he's uncomfortable with is the motive behind the journey). So he gets his hands on two Chaos Emeralds and goes back to check on baby Tails by himself. Just this once.

Except it doesn't end up being just once. Because there is this disconnect and distance between Sonic and Tails of the present, doubts that have arisen in the wake of Forces, Frontiers, and now Tails's absence, Sonic's drawn more and more to the past. Baby Tails smiles and laughs and he doesn't pull away from him and he likes to play and explore and he still needs him. It's just so easy for Sonic to make him feel better. Just by being there.

Also, because this is after Frontiers, going through cyberspace and the cyber corruption has opened the gates to Sonic's memories a bit and they're kind of leaking into his thoughts more and more. He's falling into the habit of ruminating, reliving moments and questioning choices he made, things he might've done wrong, could've done better. So that maybe Tails wouldn't feel like he needs to become a completely different person.

Present Tails won't listen to him, but baby Tails hangs onto every word. So maybe by being there... Tails might remember being loved and maybe the 10 year old won't only see the worst parts of himself when he looks in the mirror if Sonic can try again and show the younger version that he's worth something just as he is.

I think Sonic crosses paths with present Tails twice during all of this. The first conversation goes okay, but there's an awkwardness to it. But Sonic does try to make an effort to be more open with Tails in the hopes that maybe it will set a better example. And Tails is surprisingly receptive to it. So Sonic resolves to not go back to the past, because Tails seems to be doing okay after all. And he's reminded that he loves who his little brother is now. The good and the bad made him who he is, and would he really want to change that? Of course not!

Unfortunately, the second conversation doesn't go nearly as well...

So Sonic goes back to see baby Tails in the wake of it - not because he needs it, but because Tails clearly does - but when he arrives, the forest is burning and he can't find Tails anywhere...

[rei-ismyname]

Uncanny X-Men #6 From The Ashes

We're starting to see Raid on Graymalkin come together with each team having a member in custody, but first we get to know these kids a little better. Spoilers, naturally.

Yeah they're a mystery to us too.

Calico/Becca has been in pretty serious denial about being a mutant and is easily the least worldly of the four. Context clues told us she grew up wealthy, sheltered, and that her mother did a number on her. It's good to make that explicit but I think something is lost by doing it in third person flashback. This is information she doesn't know and considering what happens next it'd be more effective to have her tell her own story. The flashbacks feel jarring to me too, knocking me out of the present. Her having Ember kick Logan was pretty funny though.

And she's cured! 🙄

Calico has a breakthrough after a minute talking to Gambit, completely accepting her mutanthood. I think this would be the place to hear her speak - just a little back and forth instead of Gambit getting through instantly. She basically drops out of the story at this point, repeating that she's a mutant to anyone who'll listen. Yeah, she's been going on about goblins and her mother the entire time, and she was clearly in denial, but the sudden acceptance feels unearned.

We're not done with Harvey X, it seems. He's died at least once on page and said his powers would move on when he did. Does that mean he's not dead or was he just wrong? The thing with fakeouts is that the more you do it the less readers trust what you tell them. Logan brings up the old guy whose death bed he visited in issue #1 and shares the story behind the Tequila. He asks them to drink it with him and Rogue realises he's heartbroken. This feels unearned too, frankly. We'd never seen this army buddy before and while it's sad, there's so much trauma in all these people's very recent history. Krakoa, The School, Chuck, a genocidal war, Beast, hundreds of thousands of slaughtered mutants. The narrative doesn't really need new trauma when so much is already set up.

It sucks to lose an old friend, but the reader doesn't know the guy at all so it comes out of nowhere. A lot of page space was dedicated to the Sarah Gaunt/Chuck relationship and both aren't present in the story right now. Imagine if that space was spent on, say, Sarah/Logan instead. Very little needs to be changed and being blinded/nearly killed by his now monstrous ex would be a payoff that was setup.

I have complex PTSD myself and I would love to see it handled well in this book, but it's off to a weird start that centres Rogue more than Logan. He's in the middle of sharing his trauma and reaching out when she does this. It's really fucking odd, and I have an uncomfortable feeling it's not meant to be. I'll reserve judgement and see how this plays out.

Is the spit take because of what she said or because she's acting strange? You all have PTSD

Uhhm, what? Is this meant to be Harvey X's influence on Rogue? Her narration seems to suggest that, though she's still using her accent. I don't know, but it feels off. It's great to see the letters PTSD in an X-Men comic, because no shit Logan has PTSD. However, once you pathologise it instead of just referring to trauma, you need to pay that off. I'll believe that when I see it. Also, she just cut him off and told him. Logan says she's not qualified to diagnose that and he's right.

The kids are off to school! I think this is an interesting way to keep the education element of X-Men books separate from the mutant part, and naturally the kids run into bullies straight away. We're shown the other kids listening to Jitter though her confidence is attacked by jerks making fun of her stutter. Ransom has her back but Deathdream is really committed to the bit. This scene shows us what class dynamics are at play too. Showing and not telling might seem like faint praise, but I appreciate it when it's done elegantly. It's something this title has struggled with and I'm happy to see Simone lifting her game with the kids. That said, the bullies are extremely generic. Total cutouts that could be from 1950 or 2024. That's probably intentional but high school drama is a trope that's been beaten to death. If you're going to do it you want to do it well.

More bullying happens and Deathdream seems to take Ransom's words to heart, scaring the bullies with Eldritch horrors. Deathdream really doesn't seem bothered he's about to catch hands, but Ransom rolls his sleeves up and lays them out. I think the Olympics business was overegging the pudding, we can tell from his stance and form that he's trained in boxing. Or maybe this could have come up when they fought the X-Men. Everyone would notice an Olympics hopeful boxer. It could have been in Rogue's narration and wouldn't need to be vocalised as the skill is being used. Chekhov's Skill - it's narratively satisfying.

Unfortunately, while this is going down five heavily armoured dudes corner Calico and tase TF out of her. They call it in to Graymalkin and the Raid is set up. I wonder how they got into the school or knew they were here at all. Cerebro explains the latter. Why are they so obsessed with these kids anyway? Dr Ellis was concerned for their lives 2 issues ago and now she's encouraging brutality. Whatever, big ding for the Uncanny team's record of caring for children.

Kurt and Jubilee head to the store to do shopping and Kurt BAMFs away to save a little girl from being hit by a bus. For once he gets some gratitude, though while he's doing this Jubes is being cornered by Siryn, Blob and maybe Wild Child in full Hound mode. She gets snatched up too and Kurt returns to blood and mess everywhere. He calls Rogue and she tells him to get back quickly. The ending leads straight into 2 issues of Raid on Graymalkin (with 2 over in X-Men) and both teams have their motivation. I'm not looking forward to the contrived conflict but maybe we'll get some answers. We saw Siryn and Blob being tortured in earlier issues, but I'm surprised they're here unsupervised. Perhaps those collars are responsible.

Pound for pound I'd say this is the best issue of Uncanny yet. It had some super odd moments but most of them were relics of the first arc. I do wish we got more time to know all the characters, especially the Outliers, before moving into a mini crossover but this is what we have. Still skippable but seems to be getting better. I'm interested to see how the PTSD thing plays out though my expectations are low. I know that sounds quite negative for what was an improvement, but the first arc left a bad taste in my mouth and trust is earned. Also there's NINE main characters which is really not especially sustainable in a book like this. There's just not enough space, and you end up in situations like heading into an event without a solid grasp of where most of the cast is at.

Don't stand behind a horse, Logan. Lucky you have a healing factor.

[inchidentally]

Inchie we need your words of reason again 🙏 Newer fans have bled over from other hockey rpf and keep crossing lines 🫥

babe idk how wise I am ?? at all but I'm a firm believer in using common sense about rpf. and I haven't personally seen the stuff you're alluding to but! I've seen posts referring to it and I heard smth about another ship suffering a containment breach… so can't hurt to throw my 2c in as well ?? idk?

tl;dr that landoscar is NOT the ship for you if you 're going to try and force it to be "real" in a l*rry way*. this ship adores the real life friendship without having it compete with the guys' other many friendships - and we do NOT hate women and women partners or pretend they're beards/fakes/conveniently open relationship. and we absolutely do NOT push rpf outside of fandom. you'll get blocked/reported if you do. this is NOT the space for you to find your next "omg what if they're actually fcking" ship. Lily and Oscar are basically forever, Lando is rightfully loving his life sharing his beautiful body with people, and the fan fiction for the ship is staggeringly amazing so we're very very happy w the status quo <3

and we do NOT share rpf content with Lando, Oscar, anyone in F1, the families - basically if they're not someone you know solely in fandom, you don't share rpf with them. again, you will not find support for that here.

I "officially" joined landoscar fandom around Silverstone 2023 and these have been the hard lines taken for as long as I can remember and from all of the OG people in this fandom. esp from people who've been here since Oscar's Alpine tweet bc landoscar is unique in not having led with a PR image and we've all gotten to see every nervous, stumbling and authentic progression of their partnership and friendship along the way - at no point feeling the need to cross the boundary between fic and reality. it truly is charming and intriguing and rewarding as it exists in reality!

as far as the 'why' essay I'll drop all that where it can be ignored easily aslfgjalgf

like I said - landoscar has always been the exception of no one ever slipping over into trying to "make it real" in large part bc Lando and Oscar don't do the PR bromance/fake gay/fan service stuff which !reminder! is content in other ships I absolutely eat up and is 100% targeted to me but !! I'm also aware is connected to a lot of inappropriate fan behavior from ppl who blur the lines between amusing PR content and reality. trust me, I had to basically abandon carland0 which was my very first f1 ship bc to this day - fully out in the open - I see casual misogyny thrown around about Rebecca and ppl truly loudly thinking Lando and Carlos - who have always referred to each other as brothers and who laugh at the "gay" stuff they do precisely bc it's not real - genuinely fcked and/or dated. I will never care enough about an rpf ship to willingly encounter that shit on a regular basis. I know there's a lot of good ppl in the ship who don't engage in that stuff but I have such a hard line about wag hate that it's not worth it for me.

ironically or maybe because of, Lando and Oscar are the only drivers to NOT engage in playing gay for laughs BUT also who hit multiple progressive bullet points in things like discussing romance and dating in gender neutral terms and not making a big deal out of consuming or discussing queer media etc. they actually walk the walk in not pushing gender identity or sexual orientation on hypotheticals or on each other. they also don't do any macho/tradmasc behavior with each other or even bro-ey stuff like rough-housing or loud, aggressive humor (nothing wrong with loud bro stuff tho as long as it doesn't veer into toxic territory! I come from hockeyblr originally so it can be really sweet!)

and landoscar is also the exception in that we all ADORE Lily and have zero interest in trying to erase her let alone anyone be hostile toward her. in straight people culture they're basically already married and that's how they were when landoscar started as a ship! a lot of us have regularly made posts similar to this for newer fans to remind them that Lily (and whoever Lando ends up with as a steady partner) are NOT pawns in an rpf game. Lily is a real human woman with a real life relationship with Oscar and while no one is obliged to engage w wag content, respecting her existence is the bare minimum expected.

the last point I should make is that there's a very clear difference for instance on my blog where I see fanservice ship content about say charl0s or frand0 or n0rtrell and lose my mind over it and love it etc. but then there's Alex or Rebecca or Pietra on my blog! bc I can have fun without erasing women or losing common sense!!

whereas whenever I post stuff about a friendship that rly does make me Feel Things and write my insane essays, it's bc of what the relationships verifiably are and not what they aren't. Max F truly has a complexity and level of depth in his relationship with Lando that is unique and special to each other's lives. in the same way, Lando and Oscar truly do have a particular charm and fondness for each other that's made them approach each other unusually tentatively and slowly - while also having such intense blushing fondness as well as a uniquely intriguing maturity to their professional partnership. this stuff is fascinating and those two examples in particular swim around into all kinds of social/emotional territory.

in ways that do not require conspiracies and fan theories of them fcking or dating to make them compelling.

(and tbh the fact that Lando has some form of "crush" on a lot of handsome men and subconsciously/consciously "flirts" is absolutely fine to enjoy... as long as none of it gets outside of fandom.)

and the fan fiction for landoscar is truly TRULY staggeringly prolific and immensely talented so that's where we go for imagining them in any other type of reality <3

*do not get mad or whatever abt this - if you did or still do just want to ship l*rry privately then whatever but that's the like terrible gold standard for horrific real life repercussions of taking rpf seriously and why fandoms should never ever allow that to happen. there's no debate about that.

[calx-bdo]

. ★⋆.

𝓝ow playing :: glue song - beabadoobee

-> choi beomgyu x g/n reader (fluff, strangers to lovers)

-> no warnings

a/n : i wrote this while listening to glue song by beabadoobee and bed chem by sabrina carpenter.. i hope beomgyu is okay after his recent live 🫂

"choi yeonjun, you best have a reason why i'm being dragged to this stupid party !!!" your wrists burn from the sheer strength the raven-head is pulling you alongside with.

"look, taehyun just wanted me to bring someone. even out the numbers, y'know? besides, you're already dressed up. you're acting like you're not looking forward it!" he retorted, the pout evident in the way he's speaking, as if he's the one getting wronged. you felt heat rise to your ears. you'd hate to admit it, but he's right. you did dress your best for this party, deciding that this was your one chance to actually socialise with others around your age instead of just hunching over your desk for college work.

"well- just stop grabbing my wrists so hard!" your shoes click against the pavement, the white rocky path slowly transitioning to a gravel walkway, letting you know you're slowly approaching the house of that college boy he was so interested in..

"yeonjun! you're here! and... you are..?" taehyun's eyes lit up seeing you both at his doorway. "hi, i'm y/n! nice to meet you." you extended your hand to taehyun, but he only chuckled and pushed it down. "loosen up, this is a party. let's go in." taehyun's blue hair shone underneath the party lights, his glasses glinting under the rainbows.

once entering the house, it was clear that you were completely out of your element. the loud banging of the music was slowly driving you to a headache, with the bright lights completely blinding you. "first time?" taehyun asked, his hands slipping inside his pockets. you sighed, rearranging and smoothing your clothes over. "yeah, i'm kinda nervous." he merely smirked, "just make sure to cover your drinks."

you gave him a weak smile, but by the time you looked back, yeonjun had disappeared from your sight. you could feel your eyebrows furrowing, but you decided to not let it get to you. you slowly made your way over to a couch, sitting on it as you looked around the party. you picked up a red silo cup from the table beside you, taking huge sips of the alcoholic drink. just as you thought, nobody here looked as if they would hang out with you. with nothing else left but wait for yeonjun to finish chatting up his friends, you fished your phone out of your pocket and opened it, finger automatically opening instagram.

deciding to play a fun game of "match the account to the owner", you opened a few random accounts to match to people on the dance floor. "forever_young10", that's wonyoung.. "hynjinnnn", hwang hyunjin.. suddenly, an account caught your eye. "bamgyuuuu"? that's such a cute username. you clicked on it, not expecting the pure beauty on the page shocking you. you began opening his posts, admiring his features, and his aesthetic, his...everything, it's alluring. unconciously, you began to like each of his posts. being too engrossed in your phone, you didn't even notice the couch dip beside you, or even a head peering over your shoulder.

"you like my photos?" a deep timbre suddenly entered your ear. you shrieked a little, head whipping around to lay eyes on the most gorgeous person you've ever met. but.. hold on.. his photos?

in an almost comical fashion, your eyes darted from your phone to his face, back and forth. back and forth. holy fucking shit, user bamgyuuuu is in front of you, and catching you in the act of stalking his profile. a small smile played on his lips. "well?" you stammered a bit, blurting out whatever's on your mind. "yes, you're very pretty! i mean, they're very pretty! wait, you're also really pretty and i don't mean only yourpicturesareuglybut-" every word came out of your mouth like word vomit, and mr.gorgeous man over here clearly enjoying each and every second.

"hey, hey, calm down. you don't look too bad yourself." beomgyu's hands started fanning you, almost like a parent trying to calm their child down. he giggled, looking you up and down as you visibly panicked. in your state of fluster, you suddenly whipped your head to look at beomgyu. "wh-h-huh-what..?" heat floods your face, as you take in his own eyes staring at you like you hung the stars. "i mean, well.." beomgyu tilts his head, a small shrug on his shoulders. "you do look good. why haven't i seen you on campus?" maybe its the alcohol in your system, maybe its the low lighting, but you swear you can see blush spreading on beomgyu's cheeks.

"i mean.. thank you.." you let out an embarrassed laugh, subconciously smoothing your clothes and tidying your hair. "usually i don't come out of the dorm often. i'm too busy studying anyways." beomgyu's eyes lit up, before opening his pink plush lips and suggesting the best idea you've heard in a while. in the whole time you've been in the college, actually.

"let me take you out for ice cream?"

──── ୨ৎ ────

3 months. 3 months of freuqent dates (not dates but you really really wish they were) and 3 months of this repetitive situationship. you were sick and tired, and currently screaming into your pillow as yeonjun looks at you with the most amount of exasperation you had ever seen possible on a human face. "dude, JUST CONFESS. IT'S SO OBVIOUS HE LIKES YOU!!" his arms swung up, clearly tired of all the constant back and forth 'flirting-but-not-really-flirting' you two had with each other.

"IT'S NOT THAT EASY!" you yelled back, throwing the pillow directly at his face. qith a thud, you laid down on your dorm bed as you looked at the ceiling. "there's a chance he doesn't even like me! have you seen how flirty he gets??" you kicked your feet, akin to a child throwing a tantrum. "oh my god..." yeonjun trailed off, a deep sigh leaving his mouth. "he waited outside in the rain for 50 minutes because your stupid ass left your water bottle inside the BIGGEST lecture hall in the college. FIFTY MINUTES. FIFTY!!! HE HAS NEVER DONE THAT WITH ANYONE BEFORE and i KNOW for a fact if he hadn't liked you he would've ghosted you by now." yeonjun threw the pillow back, narrowly missing hitting your face directly.

"i knoww!!! but there's always.." you trailed off, eye catching onto the blinking signboard across the road. on the mall beside your dorm, there was a repeated flickering of a light. a haunted house was flickering on the sign. you blinked a couple of times, before finally jumping up and yelling, "i know what i'll do!" yeonjun slumped back against the chair, looking at you through his eyelashes. he rubbed his temple a bit, before sighing. "please don't tell me you're going to invite beomgyu to the haunted house and then make him scared shitless and accidentally confess to you." he deadpanned, looking at you with a slight frown.

"i hang out with you too much." you sneered, before picking your phone up and opening beomgyu's chat.

You:

gyu theres a new haunted house opposite my dorm

do u wanna come

only if u want to ofc

gyummy bear <33:

duh obv

gonna be ez for me cus im a goat

i dont get scared easily

You:

i hope u piss ur pants in front of the actors

im so fr

i rlly hope u do

praying on my lucky stars

gyummy bear <33:

if i pee its gonna be on YOU

watch out.

Stay cautious. Be on high alert.

Pay attention to the ominous bell tolling.

You:

???

ON ME???

that's called a kink Weirdo

ykw its fine i'll go w yeonjun instead

gyummy bear <33:

do NOT go with tyat STINKY BASTARD

i dislike him greatly

i'll go w u

pls

pls

pls

pls

pls

pls

pls

You:

SHUT THR FUKCK UP

you threw your phone onto the bed, hugging the pillow lightly. the scenario was already playing out in your head: the actors would scare beomgyu, but you, being brave, would protect him. beomgyu clings onto your arm, eyes shutting tight as he hurriedly rambles, "if i die i need to tell you this, i liked you ever since i met you and i really, really wanna be your boyfriend.. oh my god this is so scary.. if we get out of this alive please date me!!" his clutch on your arm gets tighter-

your face meets with a pillow, courtesy of the redhead in your room.

──── ୨ৎ ────

"this is it. are you ready to go in?"

you and beomgyu both stood at the entrance of the haunted house, looking at the .. ominous writings on the wall. the red calligraphy along with the truly graphic images frighten the ever-living shit out of you, but beomgyu remains unfazed, laid-back even, with his hands in his pockets.

"welcome! is it only the two of you?" the receptionist in front smiles and picks up a clipboard, her positive demeanor sticking out like a sore thumb against the gloomy atmosphere of the place. "yes, only the two of us." beomgyu affirmed, nodding his head. "there is a couple discount, so i'll sign you both up for it, yes?" her smile moves from "capitalist" to mischevious, the sly glint in her eyes akin to a fox.

at the mention of "couple", both beomgyu and you flushed a little, standing still like a deer caught in headlines. "i'll take that as a yes.." she giggled, the pen quickly writing down onto the clipboard. "well then, luckily there is actually a queue reserved for two people, and it is currently empty. you guys can go ahead and wait by the door on the right!" with a small smile, she'd usher the both of you to a door before leaving. you huffed a little, mind still reeling at the thought of you two being a couple.. "hey, are you ready to go in? or are you too much of a pussy-" your eye twitched, choosing to push beomgyu into the door and leave him to his own devices.

that sneaky little rat grabbed your arm and pulled you in..!

──── ୨ৎ ────

"gyu !! gyuuuu !!! slow down!!!" you tugged hurriedly on his jacket sleeve, pulling for him to at least give you a minute to take in all the horrors. "i thought you'd say i'd pee my pants?" he said with a teasing lilt in his voice, shit-eating grin already present on his face. "screw you.." you mumbled under your breath, but your hold on gyu's arm did not loosen up one bit. he patted your head and went into the last room, with you automatically following like a lost puppy.

out of the blue, a ghostly figure jumped at you, its face marred and disfigured. the stench of blood permeated the air, and the fog in the room made you want to rethink your live choices. you shrieked, hugging- almost crushing beomgyu's arm in your grasp. before you could even control yourself, words and confessions tumbled out of your mouth.

"if i die, i need to tell you this!!! i liked you ever since i met you and i really, REALLY wanna be yours.. oh my god this is so scary!!!! if we get out of this alive please date me...!!!!" you shook your head as you whined wantonly, fear and terror digging its claws into you. seeing your pale face, beomgyu pulled his arm from your hug and opted to tighten it around your waist instead, pulling you both into a position where your head was directly onto his chest.

despite his nonchalant behaviour, you can hear the way his heart pounded after your confession, and the deep red on his ears is not a trick of the light. you blushed slightly too, knowing that his state of fluster is from you, and only you. once you both made it out of the haunted house in one piece (thankfully), beomgyu didn't.. pull you apart from him..?

instead, beomgyu looked down at your face, and tilted his head, smirking.

"was the ice cream THAT good?"

──── ୨ৎ ────

"i still can't believe you slapped me after that." beomgyu whined, pouting on the couch of your dorm.

"gyu, i had my most vulnerable moment exposed to you, and you managed to completely ruin the atmosphere!"

"the atmosphere was already ruined once you made such a rushed confession!"

you flushed, remembering the sheer embarrassment you felt when you had confessed to not only beomgyu, but also to the other five scare actors in the room. beomgyu stood up, and walked over to your bedside.

he placed a soft kiss onto your lips, his plush ones feeling your own. he grabbed your chin lightly, pushing your foreheads together.

"you're so cute when you're embarrassed."

you threw your pillow at him.

──── ୨ৎ ────

@studiogyu @daddldee . ★⋆.

[tokiogoull]

More Adult!Byler headcanons bc I'm on break and I got a lot more interaction on my last post than expected. But this time it's Parents!Byler bc I'm a sucker for it.

(Sorry it's a long one...w/ a lot of typos...oops.)

Parents!Byler:

- They have three kids, all adopted, and about 5 years apart each. They adopted in their 30's.

- Will is the parent who disciplines the kids more, but in a gentle-parenting way bc of his upbringing. He actually sits them down, and talks about why their actions weren't good, how it made him and/or others feel, and what the best course of action should be.

-Mike will discipline the kids at times too, but sometimes he catches himself acting like his parents. Either half-assing it like his father, or yelling like his mother. He asks Will to keep him in check over this. More often than not, he will talk things out with their kids in a similar fashion to Will's style.

- When they first heard one of their children swear, they disciplined them properly, but they had to go hide in their room to laugh their asses off afterwards.

- They both encourage their kids to explore the arts, they take family trips to art museums.

- They decided to explore therapy before adopting. Both fearing of becoming their parents. Will was especially scared of turning into Lonnie.

- When the kids want money or to do something without being told "no" right off the bat, they go to Mike.

- Mike accidentally said "shit" way too many times around their first child, that their first word was "shit". It was funny at first, but it convinced Mike learned to curse less.

- Since it was the early 2000s when their kids were babies, the baby bottles were made of glass. One of their kids accidentally whacked Will with the bottom of a bottle and he still has a faint, small scar on his forehead from it.

- Since he has middle child syndrome, Mike likes to make sure Will and him spend time with their middle child. They try to treat all of their kids equally.

- When they adopted their first child, they were text book anxious parents. Scared to do wrong, and read every book and parenting they could get their hands on. They learned with their second and third child to loosen up.

- Their kids will send them tiktoks, and they watch them in confusion. They're used to them now though, thanks to their kids' Vine phase. That was a strange ride for them.

- They love to embarrass their kids, especially in public. If there's a song they recognize playing in the store, they will sing terribly with it. Their kids will walk off and act like they don't know who their parents were.

- When it was Mike's turn to do grocery shopping and if he took the kids with him—whenever there was a clear aisle in the store, he would have the kids hold onto the cart, and he would run and then jump onto the cart as well, so they'd zoom down the aisles faster. (They stopped once they were older, but they sometimes still do it for the nostalgia.)

- Will is the good driver of the two, but he likes to drive fast at times and Mike isn't a big fan of it. So when Will is driving with the kids in the car, minus Mike, he will take back roads where the small hills are. He purposely drives faster over the hills as the kids find it fun (responsibley ofc).

- They both got a mild case of empty nest syndrome when the kids went off to college. So they adopted two Maine coon cats.

Some Grandparents!Joyce, Hopper, Karen, and Ted as a bonus:

- The kids love both of their grandmothers, but they prefer Karen during Christmas and birthdays for the gifts. They love Joyce more in general, though.

- When it comes to grandfathers, they love Ted bc they get away with a lot more shit. (They're secretly low-key scared of Hopper even tho there's nothing to be scared off.)

- Hopper takes the kids camping in the summer. The kids loved it as small children, but not so much as the teenage angst began. As older teens and young adults, they started loving the camping trips again.

-Joyce carries a tin in her purse full of Skittles. When she takes the kids on errands with her, she gives them some as a treat. She sometimes swaps the skittles out for those grandma strawberry candies.

-Karen kept a lot of Mike's old toys and will have the Byler kids play with them when they stay over. She converted the foyer into the grandkids' playroom for both the Byler and Jancy kids.

-Ted acts similarly to the Byler kids like he did with his own, but he's much nicer. It gives Mike mixed feelings, some bitterness, but he's ultimately grateful that his father is accepting of his kids.

[akiizayoi4869]

Have you seen the preview pages for Ashes of the Academy, and if so, what do you think about them?

If you haven't seen them yet, here is a link to them: https://x.com/AirspeedPrime/status/1861744804155056340

Yep, I've seen them. I don't really want to be too judgemental of them since they're just preview pages, and we don't have the full story just yet. The only real thing that annoys me is how the writers seem to be blaming the school for how Azula turned out, which, once again, pretty much closes the path for Ursa to do some self reflection and realize that she was less than an ideal parent when it came to Azula. Did the academy play a role in Azula's life? Yes, but I wouldn't say that it was a huge role to the point where it shaped who she eventually became. Like plenty of people have already said, going by that logic, Mai and Ty Lee should have ended up the same way as her, if not at the very least somewhat similar. But....they didn't end up like that at all. Why? We don't know. So thanks to that, this whole thing with the academy really doesn't hold up too well. It's just yet another excuse to not dive into the complex relationship with Azula and Ursa, and it's really frustrating at this point.

Also...why doesn't Azulon exist🤣🤣🤣. We haven't seen this man appear and actually speak at all since The Search. Hasn't been mentioned since then. And in this comic, the headmistress is claiming that Sozin and Ozai contributed a lot to the school. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that there was a firelord in between those two. So you mean to tell me that both Sozin and Ozai saw the benefits in influencing children with propaganda, meanwhile Azulon was like "fuck them kids"? Very strange.

[driftsart]

Fascinated by the idea of the Constructicons, minus Hook, being captured and used by the Autobots. I presume Hook tries to save them at some point, but how that would go down... Do they make Devastator here, and are they gestalt yet, or not yet?

Very fascinated to know more, as I'm a combiner fan and always fascinated to know others take on combiners. It's just. Such fun to see what people theorize out. Also fully agree with an earlier post about writing Cybertronians as asexual, it makes complete sense and it is a relief to see others don't simply follow the fanon "cybertronians have human like reproductive organs" because they shouldn't. They don't reproduce that way.

Tysm! :D

The constructicons are not yet aware that they are able to merge together to create devastator, and usually it's rare for a Cybertronian to be able to combine with another. The wrong combination can lead to death, or even permanently leave them tangled up. They may find out in the future though, that they are able to.

Hook does miss them, since the constructicons always stuck together like family, he's tried looking a few times in the place where they got separated, but it's very dangerous for a Decepticon to go back to Cybertron since they are hunted down.

I'm glad someone agrees that cybertronians are better off being asexual! I also disagree on the fandom's belief of how they reproduce, I guess it's just so that some artists and others can draw or think about y'know... That. For me, I've never liked any of that, and I think an alien species would be much more interesting if their biology was not like a human's.

I love playing around with their biology to make it unique- they're a combination of "organic" life and robotic life, mostly robotic, their insides work in a unique way, they reproduce in a unique way, and there's actual differences between males ans females (Mechs and femmes). It's fun to come up with lore ;)

[wellzofyouth]

What are some of your unpopular comic opinions? Dc or otherwise

I'm gonna do milquetoast unpopular opinions because I don't wanna argue with anybody today

stop writing superbat so sanitized!!! I want Bruce to ruin Clark's life in the best way possible. But also make it cute! I want to feel the yearning and I feel like most art fails to reflect that. Like they'll make Clark a masculine Dom top and a r*pist and I'm just like okay. I want them to be pathetic together.

Also people who hate on superbat for being toxic are incredibly boring and uninteresting. Also I see this criticism a lot from *certain* people but Superbat isn't OOC. In fact see point 8* for my feelings on that

Also I would like more stories from Clark's perspective without him being evil 😇 give him sexual repression and survivors guilt too. I want more stories about him being an immigrant.

People who call Bruce abusive are so fucking annoying I'm sorry. Especially because I'm not a fan/don't read most of the shit they're pointing to but also because the standards of child abuse changed during history and comics reflect that. Like fucking get over yourselves he's not real. God forbid you bring up the writing of some of their faves....

People would complain about batfandom getting their characters wrong/clogging up the tags are just as annoying as people who do those things. Yall are just going to have to accept that Batman is THE most popular superhero in DC and that people are going to relate him to your character. For good reason too since he is in every comic basically. Just block or move on already. Literally mute the tag like I do. You're not oppressed for being a green lantern stan. Well maybe you are if you like Guy.

Garth should be in more adaptations and media wtf????? He's basically a khia

Teen titans and Yj cartoons are both different shades of mid. I don't like Starfire in TT at all :/ and Yj just blows. Teen titans is iconic though and I loved it as a kid.

Wally is unfunny. :/ no hate to him tho. I just don't find the way most writers write funny characters to be funny. Probably because they're all cishet white guys who take themselves too seriously.

Clois loves to watch real housewives together ❤️ I know this in my soul and I will not hear otherwise. Not even unpopular just a headcanon

OOC doesn't exist for comic characters. I used to believe otherwise but I am fully on the team of OOC doesn't exist. There is simply too much history for most of these characters to have one based solid characterization so I will never hate on fanon. People on here can be such pretentious little fucks when it comes to other fans. Like just mute or block bitch damn. They don't hurt anyone by saying Tim drinks coffee and plays fortnite

I dont like most canon straight ships sorry 😭 I'm not naming names but they're all boring as hell. That does not mean I hate all straight ships. I can only see some characters like Dick as straight unfortunately and I do like batcat and clois but the others are just so.... yaoi and yuri won this round. They're all gay people to me

But also I dislike most popular ships in this fandom in general. Yall are missing out some good ass yuri to pair up men with no chemistry. Come on 👎👎👎👎

Green Lanterns are all hot asf. Not even unpopular I think. Hal, Kyle, and Alan are easily the hottest DC men and it's not even close.

Idgaf about any comic post 2011 and barely anything post 2003

[asneakyfox]

i mean that's a fine stance too! but in that case don't waste so much of an episode on the two of them hanging out at all. if they don't need a dynamic then we the audience don't need to spend so much time watching their complete lack of one.

i do actually think just not doing it could have been a better move for the season's pacing, given the constraint of an eight episode season. from a seasonal storybreaking perspective the two things accomplished by the 2x05 stede-izzy plot are (a) provide a handwavey explanation for how stede got to be sort of minimally ok at swordfighting and (b) establish that izzy is no longer hostile toward stede. but since (a) is already a handwave it would be easy to handwave in some other way, and (b) is actually unnecessary because stede and izzy are going to have some friendly interaction in 2x07 anyway and if anything that would actually hit harder if izzy awkwardly attempting to comfort stede over the breakup had been the FIRST friendly direct interaction we saw between them.

imo it would have served izzy's arc much better if he spent 2x05 avoiding ed & stede and exploring his new relationship with the crew. you could easily use this to ease him into a place where it feels more plausible that he'd be ready to sing in public by 2x06 - do the thing where he's awkward about his redemption. he realizes that the whole way he related to his crewmates was wrong before and nobody needs him to stomp around yelling at people to work harder but he doesn't know what he's supposed to do instead, and the crew works in all their different ways to communicate that all they want from him is to relax and be a little silly with the other muppets, and it's really hard for him but by the end he's started to unclench just a little. maybe throw in the beginnings of a particular bond with wee john. the whole singing bit could have worked much better with an episode of setup. (admittedly i don't know how you fit the cursed suit into this version of the episode, and it's important to stede's arc for a few reasons, but i think you could make it work.)

i get why they did what they did. they're planning to kill izzy off and they want to do every possible fun thing with him before he goes, and "let con spend an episode playing around with rhys" is one of those things. and they're really worried about making sure the audience buys izzy's redemption as fully completed, to the point of overcorrecting for it, so they're not willing to let him be awkward lest the arc seem unfinished. and they're not concerned with setting up any dynamic between izzy and any other character that could possibly be interesting going into the future because they don't plan for izzy to have a future.

but, man, if we're going to spend this much of an episode on stede hanging out with izzy you gotta come up with SOMETHING to give it a little more juice. otherwise just don't bother.

anyway arguments about Stizzy Real or whatever leave me in a weird place as a huge gb with no interest in steddyhands who nevertheless kind of thought 2x05 SHOULD have gone in just slightly more of a stizzy direction - like not in a serious way, but 2x03 had set up a stede-izzy dynamic that had the potential to be actually interesting for the first time ever and that's where they could have developed it more, maybe thrown in some flirty bickering while they were at it - and instead everything about the writing, acting & directing seemed to make the baffling decision to play the relationship with an utter lack of any sort of tension sexual or otherwise

[dare-to-dm]

I get a little miffed when I see people criticizing common scenarios in games like D&D such as killing bandits for being "violent" or "problematic" and suggesting that people can/should play D&D in a more non-violent way.

I agree that it is very possible to do and I'm cool with people playing games they own however they want to. But the reality is that most of D&D's mechanics were designed specifically with combat in mind. You look at any given class, and that's what the bulk of their abilities are for. For pretty much everything else, you have a "skills" system that functions, but is not developed with much depth. Most of the toys you get to play with are there to simulate fantasy violence. And part of the fantasy in such a game is that you can solve problems, save the day and be a hero with violence. Enjoying that fantasy doesn't make you a bad person, and if you don't enjoy that fantasy, you might be better served playing a game with a different design philosophy and priorities.

For comparison, imagine it's a hot summer day and you're watching some kids play outside. It's your job to keep them entertained, healthy and safe. So you want them to play a game that's going to get them physically active, have fun and cool off.

So you set out a big bin of water balloons and super soakers and a hose and tell them they should all get wet. If those kids pick up the super soakers and the water balloons and start shooting each other and playing war, it would be weird of you to then chastise them for simulating violence. After all, that's basically what those toys are explicitly designed to do. And sure, you could explain to the kids that they could instead choose to spray themselves with the hose or pop the balloons by sitting on them or whatever. There are definitely possible ways to use those toys that don't involve pretending to be violent. But if that's such a dealbreaker for you, you probably shouldn't have bought those toys in the first place. Like, you could have set up a sprinkler or a Slip'n'Slide or an inflatable pool instead. Choose the toys/the game that's designed for what you want.

And don't assume that just because I would relish taking someone out "execution style" with a super soaker that I would approve of the same thing in a non pretend situation.

[uncanny-tranny]

A lot of cis people may not want to hear this, but here goes:

You are going to have more in common with trans people who have a similar gender identity to you than you think. Trans people are reliable narrators of their own experiences, and whether you like it or not, we will have similar or even identical experiences to yours. Cis people don't have a monopoly over their gender or the experiences people have as a result of their gender.