#this is a joke post. like its true but its also meant to be funny

[toytulini]

terfs go climb into a hole and start rotting. animals cannot inherently tell your "biological sex" you are all so fucking stupid. All this post is saying is that animals are not infallible judges of character and some of them make really stupid vibe checks and that people should try not to take it personally. Unless youre a terf in which case they know and they hate you and you should take it personally

re that one post tbh i do want to stress i dont think animals are like magically psychic at knowing your True Gender tbh i think ppl definitely get way too weird about Animal's judgement of ppl.

Sometimes a dog will vibe check a man and the dog will be right and you should listen. but sometimes the dog will vibe check someone for no good reason. sometimes dogs have wack judgement. sometimes dogs have biases influenced by their owners or previous owners. like. there are Racist Dogs. its not the dogs fault, but that doesnt make the bias theyve developed less real, or less potentially hurtful. i dont think we need to like, Cancel Dogs Bc Sometimes Ppl Can Train Them To Be Racist, but we do need to stop perpetuating the idea that a dog's judgement of someone is infallible. theyre not responsible for it and its not their fault its developed, theyre just dogs, they didnt choose it, but that doesnt mean theyre RIGHT lmao. i think its important to stress this for many reasons but in regard to that last post specifically, if youve ever been vibe checked as a gender you arent by a judgy dog its literally not your fault. might not even be the owners fault. not the dogs fault cos like. its a fucking dog. you do kinda have to be the bigger person in that scenario cos the other person is. A Dog.

[voidy-vibing]

This is probably gonna be my last post about the Zerum drama but here is a full breakdown of what happened and what I understood! Thank you @obbystars for showing me the tweet and screenshots. (also sorry for the tag)

So.

Zerum, the co-creator of Pressure, who's sona is canonically married to Sebastian has been getting constantly harrassed, bullied, and been given death threats.

There have been alllegations in which they are anti-selfship, transphobic and ableist.

To start off bit by bit.

Zerum was NEVER anti-selfship/oc x sebastian. In the Official Pressure discord server, there is a rule where people are not allowed to show ship art with ANY of the Pressure characters as all devs aren't comfortable with it. While they do not allow it in the official discord, they are not BANISHING shipping as a whole and people are allowed to do whatever they want.

People have been calling Zerum possessive, insecure, and a hypocrite because their reaction to people thinking 'Sebastian x Zerum is a joke not canon' was a pretty bad one. It was not professional, and people were right to get mad about their behavior but responded A THOUSAND TIMES worse. They sent Zerum countless death threats, insulted them, and they also griefed the Pressure Fandom Wikipage (the unofficial one) with a Sebastian x Zerum divorce fanfic (its fucking crazy).

People took the fact that Sebastian has a wedding ring as something to SPITE the Sebastian shippers, but to me it really seemed like setting in stone a thing that was already meant to be canon, as many ppl thought it was a joke.

The transphobic allegations came from the fact that Zeal made Zerum post a rule that Sebastian art with him in a dress isn't allowed. This was a rule ZEAL wanted, and they only banned it on the official discord server, and do not care for anywhere else. They just do not think it fits Sebastian's character ig. Its kind of weird to me, but its whatever.

The abelist allegations came from the fact that Zeal, when adding the deaf accessibility setting, didn't take on some tips from the deaf community. This I don't know a whole lot about so I'm not gonna delve deeper into it rn.

And finally, people think that the devs are mischaracterizing Sebastian by making him more snarky lines, or the ability to kill you, as a way for Zerum to 'fend off' the simps. This is not true, due to the fact that the voicelines for Sebastian killing you was recorded BEFORE there was the huge popularity for Sebastian. This is not something that was per say targetted at Zerum, but Sebastian has TOLD that he has been forced to help the Players. He doesn't help the Expendables because he is caring- he helps out of being forced to ans out of NECESSITY. It says in the wiki that Sebastian gets the data from the Expendables for blackmail (or probably something whatever in regards of escape ofc), and he simply sees the Players an easy means to get said data. Just because he is snarky because you literally flash his eyes fucking dry does not mean they are changing his character. He is still funny and sarcastic, but there are consequences to your actions and that'll be him getting mad ar you if you annoy him too much. It is very fair imo.

So no, perhaps in canon, Sebastian would not care for the players but it doesn't stop anyone from shipping or simping. He just manipulates us into thinking he cares in the game yes, but fandoms such as ourselves really shouldn't need to be mad or necessarily care over this aspect. This new update shows Sebastian's true colors VERY WELL and it is infact in-character for the game's story context. This does not mean you can't change it to your own liking, self-indulgence comes with being in fandom, and no one is gonna shame you for that nor should you shame someone else. I understand if people are upset over these new stuff about him, but I can make a seperate post to speak about this more clearly, I only wanted to try and explain it.

So yeah.

I really truly hope this does not seem like I am attacking, targetting, or hating on someone. If allegations with the devs or Zerum change, they'll change, but it's important to take every perspective and keep an open mind.

[salsaseth]

After hearing my friend, James bring it up in a call, we started watching Lily Orchard's video about Pokemon to see all the bad takes in it.

When she starts playing the DS games, she uses a mod to smooth out the aliasing and uncap the game's framerate to 60. And gah damn does it look fuckin bad. Even worse is during the 3D games where she uses another mod to smooth out the 3D models and it looks like peeled oranges. Unnaturally smooth. But it does get funny when she talks about the game running like garbage when she's fucked with the game's logic. Like no shit, it's running at a framerate it was never meant for.

Something really funny also begins in the DS games. I don't know why, but she replaces one of the starters with Ralts, cuz she's got some favoritism for Gardevoir. All well and good, but you know, Ralts is weak as shit until it learns confusion and it's still frail. So it gets its ass kicked all the way until it evolves into Gardevoir. But because of how much asskicking it receives, and I swear this is true, she suspects the game is artificially raising the strength of the enemy pokemon, as a way to explain for why's she losing.

Almost as if the game is designed to use a stronger than average pokemon to get you through the early game. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) Still, I don't fully understand why she refuses to use the regular starters. Especially when you can catch Ralts and Kirlia for most of the games. save for black and white. Speaking of.

One takeaway I've had from listening to it is what she says is more revealing about herself than what is intentional. The most telling thing is when she's going off about the Black and White characters for speaking about their ideals and opinions. I mean, she mashes through that with the A button (VISUAL NOVEL HATER SPOTTED), so it's when she's paying attention. I don't know if she just doesn't know what the game is supposed to be going for, or if she's just purposefully ignorant for the sake of contrarianism, but the game's themes are about truth and ideals. The truth is out there, but the ideals we have shape our perspective of the truth. Even Cheren, who represents the truth, is still shaped his ideal. It's a little more deeper than, 'Characters excited that they all have opinions,' but what do i know?

She rails against these characters, N in particular for having opinions and speaking them out. Meanwhile in X&Y, which its cast and characters are there to mostly stroke the character's dick, she vastly praises and prefers these characters to the ones in B&W. Hmmm. Characters that have opinions and speak them out are hated, while those that don't and heap praise on her are loved. I wonder if this says anything about her?

The video gets pretty boring the longer it goes on. The hot take well starts drying up and it quickly becomes a bad screenshot let's play. "Then I did this, and then I did that!"

That's all I got to report. Besides the shoehorning in of lefty takes. I don't know if it's because she's not funny or if she wields everything with as much subtlety as anvil-nunchuks, but when there's an opportunity to make a joke with a leftist-slant, it's as heavy handed as a Titan's ballsack and as funny as stale bread. I'm a leftist bastard myself, but every time the jokes were shoehorned in, I'm like, "The funny? Where is it?!" Especially when it was about Looker and Nanu. I get not liking the police, but this isn't the time or place for it. Leave the jokes to the professionals. Like my friend Plate. Several unemployment jokes were made at Lily's expense, and each one was funnier than the last.

I'll report back if there's anything worth commenting on. Me and the friends got to the end of Sun and Moon, so we have SwSh and SV left.

And if you had time to read this 'post', Lily, I think you had time to 'post' your resume to get a job ;D ;D ;D

[ericdeggans]

When your job is explaining race and media, what happens when you find a situation you don't want to explain?

That moment came for me this week, as memes were rocketing around social media connected to the brawl in Montgomery, Ala., where a crowd of mostly-Black bystanders ran to help a Black ferry co-captain who was being assaulted by a group of white men.

Video filmed by a group of mostly-Black bystanders on a nearby boat captured it all: The co-captain throwing his hat in the air, once a white man pushed him harshly; an older Black man whaling on people with a folding chair, including a white woman who was just sitting on the ground by then; a young Black man on a boat close by who jumped into the water and swam with amazing speed to the scene, jumping up to throw hands.

And, in moments, Black Twitter jumped to life (I know he’s renamed it X, but we ain’t recognizing that, and the term refers to people being Black across social media anyway. Harrumph).

There was the quiz asking which folding chair are you? There was the graphic pointing out that an early version of the folding chair was invented by a Black man (seems to be true). The photoshopped picture showing glowing rings around Black folks rushing into the fight, mimicking the climax of Avengers Endgame, where superheroes rushed in to save the day. Images dubbing the young swimmer Black Aquaman, Aquamayne and Blaquaman.

And two of my personal faves: A photoshopped image of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue holding a folding chair. And a version of the brawl video remade as the opening to classic Black sitcom Good Times, with acerbic credits noting the show was “created by Consequences and Repercussions.”

I was blown away by how quickly Black folks across social media were converting horror over a narrowly averted, racialized beat down into funny memes celebrating the reflex of Black folks to stand up for one another, especially when we’re faced with danger from white people.

But when I posted the photo of MLK’s status with the folding chair on my social media feeds, I just added one word: Wow.

I wanted the image to speak for itself. And I wanted people who had questions about what it meant to jump into social media and find out for themselves. I felt the image and its implied humor – that the nation’s most revered civil rights leader might be hoisting a folding chair to defend Black folks in the modern age – was most powerful when not explained.

Unfortunately, some people on my social media platforms insisted on an explanation. One was pretty persistent about it. And I realized I just didn’t want to explain the image, for some reason I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Yeah, it’s sometimes tiring to always be asked to explain your cultural nuances to the world. But that’s the gig I signed up for, many years ago. And yes, the joking was hiding a fear that today’s climate has left racists emboldened enough to attack a Black man in broad daylight for doing his job. So explaining only resurfaces those darker feelings in ways I wasn’t quite ready to process.

Still, something else was also at play. I always say social media is often like a giant dinner party, where people forget they are sometimes listening in on conversations between other people. In this case, being asked to explain the folding chair memes felt like having someone barge into an ongoing conversation to ask for an explanation. This was a moment where Black folks could be hilariously Black online and we could all share that moment together, laughing and consoling each other in one viral, social media moment.

Sometimes, in situations like that, understanding comes best by sitting back, listening widely and learning. Even for me.

I don’t know if this reaction is fair – especially given how much I’ve encouraged discussion about race over the years. But its all I have left, in a world where I increasingly feel like a frog in pot of steadily heating water, wondering when the heat will begin to burn me, my loved ones, my family, my friends and my people.

[pokemenlovingmen]

ur writing has truly captivated my attention, i truly adore how you characterize everyone, and thats not yet reading your other writing requests AAAAA!!!! im just!! wow cat eyes wide holding these fics in my hands gently

if its alright, im a little embarrassed to ask so quickly, could i ask for more general loving teasing for adaman? just flustering him (by blatantly flirting with him if anything) sounds like a fun time tbh msbdndb

I’m sorry I didn’t respond to this sooner, I wanted to, but since it had a request attached I waited on the post. But thank you so much!! You guys are for real SO NICE, like for as many specifics and rules as I have for requesting and interactions I’ve pulled such a kind and supportive audience. I usually write full fics in my spare time, but it’s been hard to finish any project so these headcanon list type things are good to keep the creative juices flowing, and I’m so flattered that what I basically use as practice pieces are things you like so much!!! You guys are so kind!!! I’m glad you like my stuff so much!! We gays are in this together!

And Adaman requests are always speaking my language, I’ve never been as down biblically bad for a man in a Pokemon game as I have that guy <3

Teasing and Flirting w/ Adaman!

💎 — Adaman is pretty hard to shake up, not that he’s stoic, but more that he’s just so laid-back and being raised into this clan leadership position, it’s second nature for him to just be ready to react to anything.

💎 — And if someone he didn’t have feelings for tried teasing or flirting with him, he’d probably just smile, totally oblivious to their true intentions because he’s got a million things on his mind and any attraction for that person isn’t one of them. He just won’t think anything of it.

💎 — But coming from a person he is romantically inclined towards, however…

💎 — Well, he might laugh a lot more at your jokes. You might catch him running a hand through his hair with surprising regularity. Like he’s nervous or something…

💎 — He’ll usually do that classic narrow-eyed Adaman Look towards you when he realizes you’re trying to get a rise out of him. Well, ha! He’s the leader of the Diamond Clan, and he’s more strong-willed than that, thank you very much.

💎 — But okay, you’re really testing him. He’s good at keeping his voice steady, but if you’re around other people there’s no mistaking how his face tints just sliiiightly pink when you talk.

💎 — Walk up to him and twirl his hair while he’s just talking to someone or even just minding his own business, he’ll whip around and give you a MASSIVE glare.

💎 — Hugs from behind really fluster him. If you wrap your arms around his waist the first thing that kicks in is the “defend myself from wild Pokemon” instinct, and once he realizes it’s only you he’ll just scowl and try and ignore you.

💎 — The “scowl and try to ignore you” is a regular technique of his that usually doesn’t work. Of course, you know him well enough to tell the difference between when he’s flustered and actually mad. Adaman’s face doesn’t go all red when he’s angry.

💎 — He’ll take your first few flirtatious comments in stride but the thicker you lay it on, the less dignified his responses get.

“Do you know how pretty you are?”

“Why, yes, I did! Thank you for noticing, S/O.”

“You’re soooo cute when you smile.”

“Did you mean handsome? I don’t think a clan leader is meant to be ‘cute’.”

“You have the sweetest laugh ever, I want to hear it more.”

“Very sweet of you, but we’re in public!”

“If I kiss this spot behind your ear, you get all red and it’s the cutest thing ever, look…”

“Eh?! Can’t this wait for somewhere more private??”

💎 — Funny thing is, Adaman does a lot of teasing himself. He’s suave, confident, and charming, being teasy and flirtatious is just second nature. But if there’s one thing that’s also true about Adaman, is he CANNOT take what he dishes out. His flustered reactions to your teasing are pure and simple embarrassment. He’s nervous about looking too soft.

💎 — He’s never been in a relationship before, much less one with a man, and he has a lot on his shoulders as clan leader. Romantic interactions, all that playful couple stuff, it’s all so new to him and being on the receiving end of it just. Short circuits him. It’s why you find him so fun to fluster, and also why he forgives you so quickly—it’s just some harmless fun and your little way of nudging him to relax a bit in your relationship.

💎 — And he understands and appreciates that! He loves the flirting, deep down, he just has literally no idea how to react to it. Feelings?? Help?? Man calling me pretty make my heart go thump??

💎 — When you two are finally somewhere remotely private, he drags you off by the arm with a “what was that?!”

💎 — You just wink at him and tell him he’s so cute, it’s just hard to help yourself sometimes.

💎 — He’s also very weak to winking. That suaveness sweeps him off his feet.

💎 — When he does get you alone while you’re still in that flirty, teasey mood, he’ll probably scold you a bit and try as hard as he can to be mad at you—which he isn’t, because he’s a pushover and also this attention just tickles his heart in the best way.

💎 — But after he gets done sulking… he might scoot a little closer to you and shyly ask if you could talk like that with him again, or be playfully affectionate again, it really did feel good.

💎 — Just stop doing it while he’s trying to handle clan business!! You HARLOT. (affectionate)

💎 — But hey, you’ll get him to loosen up eventually. Until then, it’s pretty funny to watch him struggle to conjure up a proper reaction to you being this way.

(This all came out incredibly sexual-sounding which wasn’t the intent at all… my apologies. The harlot thing was a dramatic jab but nothing was intended as sexual here, Adaman getting flustered was just him getting flustered, nothing more. That ended up being really challenging to convey though, I’m sorry. ;;)

[matoitech]

the thing abt gurren lagann is that there’s a lot of really intense and typical early 2000s homophobia in it that sucks ass but it feels a little easier to get past nowadays bcuz the director and writer team that made gurren lagann made promare ten years later. which has some things that feel like they exist to directly contrast against gurren lagann and show a much better version of what couldve been. i mean most obviously u have galos entire existence w his appearance and his behavior/the way he talks is kind of this juxtaposition against kamina. where kamina can be this embodiment of toxic masculinity (some of it u can argue is intentional and meant to be read as him being in the wrong, but a lot of it is bcuz it was 2007 and they thought it was funny) galo is a lot more intentional with combatting a lot of that ten years later as another over the top masculine action movie hero kinda guy. but he has shit like 'being normal to women' baked in2 his character so foundationally you only even think about it if youve Seen a gainaxtrigger production with an adult male lead before and you say 'wow, unfortunately that isnt typical.' his attraction to men also isnt treated like a joke, his relationship with lio is another foundational block in promare and taken rly seriously as a huge part of the narrative.

however trigger did not apparently learn anything actually about women (or race but thats a seperate post) in the last decade bcuz that shits still very present in promare. galo being respectful to women isnt a sentiment shared with the people who made the actual movie, probably more bcuz they thought people wouldnt like galo or recognize him as a good person in 2019 if he was weird to women (true but also why didnt it occur to them beyond writing their oc) (its also possible he was 'allowed' to be written as respectful to women bcuz trigger was writing him with the assumption he wasnt attracted to them so surely he would have no 'reason' to be a creep to women which is its own can of worms but thats just a possible branch of speculation based on how fiction written by misogynistic men often views misogyny and gay men)

*this post also doesnt get into the specifics of gurren laganns homophobia and particularly egregious bits of playing into both predatory and transmisogynistic stereotypes at times, particularly with leeroy (good god leeroy is awful), but since promare is a lot better abt this stuff in the first place its not really relevant w comparisons, unless you want to talk about lio and gender nonconformity in 2019 vs 2007 but they’re just not rly on the same league at all

[kuroppiii]

DON’T FILE THOSE DIVORCE PAPERS. but i thought emma was boring i desperately need ur full take geek out plz tell me what I don’t see

i would NEVER divorce you pookie??

(us actually)

everyone gets film freaky in their own way!!! its ok!!!

two film essay posts in less than 24 hrs by ro, someone needs to sedate me or something

( sort of spoilers for emma (2020) under the cut , but nothing explicit , really )

!!! disclaimer i think to really fw regency-ish movies, kind of inherently calls for being into things like their original source material. and trust!! i know its not for everyone!!!

personally, i'm actually a big fan of reading those old and classical kind of books. as in, i have a full, clothbound, BOX SET, of jane austen's novels (emma being one of them). my literature teacher recommended me to read pride and prejudice ONCE and i've been hooked ever since.

yknow people joke that back then that it was all "oh my god you can't show your ankles!!!" and yeah, that's pretty much what it's like when you get down to reading novels from that time 😭 but that's what makes it so entertaining for me! the bridgerton series (which i also really like by association) is an easy example of this. i once saw someone say bridgerton plays out like a kdrama and YES!! that's the level of yearning and pining and slow burn i feed off of

upfront, i liked the movie–even from when its first trailer came out–because its aesthetics visually were just so nice. like yes!!! pastels!! pretty flowers!!! hats with feathers!! tea parties!!! big poofy dresses!!! (and anya taylor joy)

but it was when i watched it for a second time, i found a lot of why i like this specific adaptation of emma is because i think it really got across the vibe of jane austen's writing–especially the humor.

ok now stay with me: i'm not saying you have to read the whole original novel to get it, bc basically i would summarize the reason why the humor is so dry (when usually you would think this rich and old-fashioned vibe of a story should be much more over-the-top and dramatic) is because jane austen was always trying to make fun of all the social constructs of her time. especially for women! (heavy on how her works were ones of satire!)

like it all plays out so bare-bones that you just can't ignore how ridiculous everything sounds, which is what austen felt about all the rules and expectations emma and the other characters were trying to uphold the whole story. i also find that kind of humor from the movie very charming in a simple way, too.

the whole vibe of watching the movie and its characters is very much unserious, and it's a personal favorite in that watching it and listening to the soundtrack makes me feel ok to wallow in my emotions like the characters do. it's very cathardic in that way to me. but yeah by no means is it very action-packed or even conventionally "dramatic", so i get how it can wind up boring.

the character development of emma is always so interesting to me though. it's subtle, especially on the first watch, but it always warms my heart when she goes from thinking she's got everything figured out, to seeing the value of true friendship in harriet and even mrs. bates (MY FAV CHARACTER I CANNOT LIE SHE'S SO FUNNY), and that making her more open to questioning her and her life more, including not being as perfect as she once thought she was.

and that's really why we get that payoff with her and knightley, because he's known her all this time but when she finally recognizes her imperfections and embraces them, that newly found self-awareness us what pushes him over the edge in love. then we get that BEAUTIFUL confession scene under the tree. 🤭🌳

it very much fits the genre of a "romantic" movie, in that it romanticizes everything. but not to the point where it lets you forget what everyone's wants were, and that there were genuine struggles grappling with all those societal rules at the same time.

bc at the end of the day those rules were efforts meant to promote values that could hopefully lead a life of morality, responsibility/duty, and respect to others and yourself (arguably there are rules we face today that try to promote the same things, but they just look much different than rules about showing your ankles lol). i think in emma it's interesting to see just how each character tries to navigate those rules to get what they want out of life from them, and i think it's just a very beautifully-made film overall as well.

[dwreader]

How do you go about figuring out what references the show is making (besides the ones they just say directly)??

Ohh ykw on this show I think they hit you over the head with so many both allusions and direct callouts that its almost more like trying to figure out which ones are true thematic references and which are just fun little namedrops. For example Daniel mentioning Kevin Durant imo is just a pop culture/worldbuilding namedrop to show that he's a ~cool guy~ from brooklyn and goes to basketball games (and to further establish these characters live in OUR world with the same celebrities). We're not meant to read Kevin Durant's bio on wikipedia and think of all the deep parallels. On the other hand, my pal blueiight has brought up that Basquiat paintings hanging around the penthouse could be read more deeply about the two men's biographies but maybe you don't necessarily HAVE to get the reference to understand the show. It's like an easter egg.

Also some references are simply bc modern tropes all stem from some origin and not the show deliberately making the connection, like yk the gothic romance tropes are abounding in this story and its not necessarily the show directly being like hey guys this is just like Jane Eyre! imma right? rather the conventions are so ingrained in our culture now that they bleed into everything. Or like my My Fair Lady posts it's like is this really a My Fair Lady specific thing or is it cause all professor/student or mentor/mentee romantic fiction all kind of stems from Pygmalion?? Anyways I'm gonna put the rest under a read more cause it's gonna be long af. sorry.

The ones I tend to take really seriously are books, plays, etc where the show goes out of its way to give you a bit of plot summary like Iolanta (blind princess who doesn't know she's a princess) where Louis crying at the opera kinda like Julia Roberts crying at La Traviata in Pretty Woman signals a thematic parallel between the characters (shoutout to slaygentford for that post that changed the world). Whereas they don't for Don Pasquale so while that's like a little funny joke cause its heheh its also about an old ass man looking for a wife that's like less serious to me than Iolanta. Louis casually reading Madame Bovary as his voiceover says he was "neglecting the duties of the role Claudia mocked me for the unhappy housewife" is a clear HELLO LOOK HERE moment, as well as Louis reading Edward Carpenter's book about marriage trying to regain his sight after his beating. Whereas I think him reading the Origin of Species is just like aww he's so cute and intellectual trying to find a scientific reason for his eating disorder.

A Doll's House is the biggest one imo cause it's both a direct callout in ep2 (Lestat mentions not wanting to miss the opening scene of Nora and the Christmas tree) and an allusion in ep7 (Louis shown decorating a Christmas tree), AND the "doll" theme runs throughout most of the show so even if you know nothing about that play, there's like hints being thrown at you with Louis bringing paper dolls to the twins bday party, decorating Claudia's room full of dolls and Lestat designing his Mardi Gras outfit like he's a doll. Maybe you've never read or heard Nora's monologue where she says all her life she's been treated like a doll and now she treats her children like dolls too cause she doesn't know anything else but you can literally SEE the dolls on the shelf in Claudia's room.

Streetcar is also the other one that the show is so so soooo obviously Leonardo Dicaprio pointing meme at itself. Even if you've never read the play or seen the movie, the image every fucking person on earth recognizes is Marlon Brando in a wifebeater cause that quite literally changed the course of pop culture history and male sex symbols AND you probably know STELLLAAAAA!!!!! These are both referenced quite directly by the show with Lestat wearing wifebeaters in ep5,6 and 7 and in Lestat's attempts to get Louis back after the DV as that's literally the context of STELLAAA he's screaming her name after he got kicked out for beating her btw if you even care. Plus they are riding an actual streetcar in ep7 even though they have a car??? and they're way too rich to be taking public transportation like what's that about.. unless!

Then you have things that Rolin has brought up himself in interviews like Bogie & Bacall (famously massive age gap hehe), John Cassavettes films (I would say Faces and A Woman Under the Influence as the primary sources of that comp), Francis Bacon art that you can definitely pick out from the show as well! So this show is chock full of cool references and inspirations and its very cool that people are being introduced to some of these older pieces of media through the show!!

[thebunniesgrim]

helluva boss’ humor really trips me up sometimes  

(long post like really long post i go off)

Because sometimes it plays with hell's society and makes funny jokes like the HR joke in Spring Broken. One thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is when it makes jokes or points fun at prudes in the universe. Which btw I don’t think this bad or anything it’s just something that pulled me personally out of the show. It’s still funny at the end of the day but!  

Like the normalcy of death, swearing, sex, innuendos and all that. like jokes that would make you or me pause for a second wouldn’t be such a deal to them and vice versa is funny. Honestly the M&M’s being in a loving relationship in hell as a joke is funny  

But the thing that trips me up is the way some demons in universe react to the jokes doesn’t make any since. I understand their reaction is a joke, but why did they have that reaction anyway? for example  

In the LooLoo Land episode a good joke was when Octavia said she was going to be sick then Moxxie panics going through different medications and pulls out a bunch of syringes full of morphine just to casually throw them into a baby stroller when Octavia says she wasn’t really sick. Hilarious and it shows the human and demon side of moxxie love it. Although in the same episode Blizto says he isn't a day hooker and the lady walking by judges him and he calls her a prude. Funny yes! But why does she care like girl he has a whole gun and that’s what you choose to be concerned about? Ok. I understand her being shocked is the joke but why is she? In a place where being a hooker is possibly the most normal thing to them as being lawyer is to you or me. Why such a strong reaction?  

(Stolas has green screen arms lol)

Even the newest Mammon ep in Fizz’s “two weeks' notice or whatever it's called” song when he say “spending life bent over with your fist in my ‘A’” and the crowed is like shocked or put off by it like sure maybe they just weren't expecting it but he literally says bent over and even shakes his little imp ass at them while setting up the joke. It could have also been that they were surprised he censored himself. I don’t know, do you know?  

Also, I must say hell born demons don’t have to be always ok with sex jokes. A little verity never hurts anybody. just Like Moxxie not very violent or having his limits is fine and also Striker being uncomfortable or not liking that everyone makes sex jokes at his expense is kind of funny it's of the same caliber of funny that the M&M’s gimmick has. I also think he doesn’t like the sex jokes because he doesn’t have control of the situation (or Stolas, Moxxie, and Fizz just aren't his type who knows lol) he was more than ready to diddle Biltzo’s holes if it meant he’d join Striker. Also, he didn’t seem to mind the other imps fawning over him even if he did kick that one girl in the face. Kind of like a you can look but don’t touch kind of thing. He likes or deals with the jokes until he can't control the situation and it's like come one dude, I'm trying to kill you cower before me plz :( you feel me? Like that makes since because it can be explained away with, their character but seeing as it’s not a social norm so when others who we don’t know and are supposed to show the status quo do it, it’s a little bit weird you know?  

This also applies to Helluva Boss in general not just jokes. It’s honestly hard to tell what's allowed in hell and what isn't sometimes even for jokes because you know how a lot of people were weirded out at the kid being at the clown pageant and everyone is like “dude its hell they don’t have the same type of morals as we do” but also have people in the show react to sex or taboo stuff like it's weird you know? Like yes, I expect hypocrisy in the world of hell like a whole “rules for thee but for me” kind of thing. It is hard to stay true to that when the rules aren’t enforced?  because one second, you’ll have Loona and Blizto making fun of Moxxie for being “fat”, but you also want me to care when Mammon calls Fizz fat. I'm supposed to take Loona beating up Blizto as a joke but once Stella raises a hand to Stolas, I'm supposed to be like oh no abuse! 

Speaking of abuse. Mammon is just Blitzo cranked up to eleven. They are practically the same character given what the show tells us. What Blitzo does to Moxxie is the same thing Mammon does to fizz only cranked up to nine. Mammon says things that make Fizz worry I.e. “ready to reclaim your win another year... I saw your competition and it's pretty stiff, right? You are going to have try extra hard” remember in “The Harvest Moon Festival” ep where Blizto says “now just remember your rep with the in laws is on the line here so, no pressure at all you totally will not make an ass of yourself in front of everyone important in your life” he totally did that on purpose. How about when Mammon calls Fizz a “a bit chungo”? blitzo in seeing stars “you know it wouldn’t kill ya to put a salad in your body every now and then” and he says it meaner. He even encourages Loona to also call moxxie fat so while it’s still Loona doing it Blizto not telling her to chill out or something and there by condoning it, but he has the nerve to clutch his stupid little pearls (also blitzo isn't Wareing his mom little necklace thing in ep) when Mammon does the same thing.

The fuck is that face for you slimy little bitch?  

Mammon says sexually charged stuff to Fizz that is very obviously making him uncomfortable but disregards it like its nothing? “The more they’ll want a piece of you they can home and fuck! Don’t you want that Fizzy? to be fucked?” Then Fizz said no, and he disregarded it. Blizto in Murder Family, Harvest Moon, Truth seekers, Ex's and Ohs when he makes a big deal about someone having sex with both Moxxie and Millie and then making a big deal at the fact that he, Moxxie and Millie have had sex with the same person also maybe Ozzie's when he says he watches the M&M get it on but it's hard to gaze if Moxxie’s reaction was surprise, disgust or both. Mammon calls Fizz a “a stupid little [HONK]” Blizto calls Moxxie “a fucking disgrace” in Unhappy Campers but to be fair I make it an active effort to forget that ep is canon so. Mammon puts Fizz in a situation he can't handle, which leads to a panic attack. Blizo in the first ep Murder Family where Moxxie doesn’t want to kill Martha because he doesn’t want to kill a mother and ruin a family and is openly hesitant and uncomfortable about it causing him to have a small panic and mess up the mission at first. Mammon tells fizz to get his shit together with the underlying threat of firing, terminating, or worse. Murder family Blitzo says “But if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will fuck you and your wife”. Both BLizto and Mammon treat Fizz and Moxxie all buddy buddy when they do stuff, they want but when they don’t comply or might not do something they don’t like they get mean or aggressive. They only main differences is that Moxxie can talk back to Blizto in a way and fizz can't. Also, Fizz actually quits, and escapes his horrible boss.  

I know that the pilot isn't cannon but it’s the blueprint of the characters and Blizto being abusive to moxxie sexually and verbally being a constant throughout the pilot and the canonized show is just... icky 

The show will tell me that imps and hellhounds are at the bottom of society but also have them stand up to the deadly sins like it no big deal. Loona tried to fight Beelzebub, Crimson tried to bribe and blackmail Asmodeus, Fizz stands up Mammon (as he should but Mammon could have literally tuned him into a smoothie) like the deadly sins are the next things to gods and these low-level nobodies are trying to square up. Not only does it make the deadly sins look like total wusses, but it also makes hellhounds and imps look more powerful than they are. Striker saying royals' step all over imps and treat them horribly and other than stella literally throwing Pringles and referring to him as “this one”

but Stolas literally uses Pringles as like a phone stand in Seeing Stars so.... 

The only ones who we’ve seem treat the imps like that on a regular basis are other non-royal hell born demons like the twins in Mammons ep. The lady and her kid in the doctor's office in western energy, the hellhound bodyguards in The Circus and even other imps like how Millies family treat Moxxie because he’s traditionally strong, or how striker thinks that he and blizto are far better then they’re own kind. Sure, the imps are butlers, purse accessories, and work on farms to feed the other rings. Other than the farm thing other demons do too from what we’ve seen. Also, from what we have seen, the royals are so detached from imps it seems like Strikers’ biggest problem is other demons themselves. The only royal we see talk down to imps is Stolas. Stella, Andrealphus, Paimon, never says much about them or even addresses them in any kind of way that’s outright negative, it’s more or less just plain indifference. I mean even the 7 deadly sins (that we’ve met so far) don’t say anything about imps in a derogatory way mammon doesn’t, Bee calls Blitzo “Imp boy” but not in a mean way, and Asmodeus call Moxxie “little imp” which seems more teasing than mean.  

Ok look if I'm to take the hell hierarchy seriously then please play by your rules. I-ok so like are the sins a force to be reckoned with or not? Because they just seem like regular demons but bigger. You're telling me the second blizto get nabbed by the DORK agents Stolas is out here cracking necks and summoning himself in blood to save him 

But nothing was done to save fizz?  

“It was hostage situation” ok and? Asmodeus is a sin he could have pulled a Stolas and posseted one of Crimsons goons and shot or incomposite striker and crimson. You have almost infante power and you can't save your boyfriend and work colleague? And if demons can't be possessed then send Stolas in exchange for the crystal. Crimson doesn’t know about Stolas, and it would surprise him stolas can turn into his big bird form in hell and did in Seeing Stars. ALSO why is everyone just standing up to and trying to pick fights with the Sins? Like guys I get it I really do but please realistically you're going to get smooshed like bug 

I'm constantly being told that Stolas and Blitzo can't be together while Beelzebub and Asmodeus can be with Vortex and Fizz. With no real in show reason as to why? You can address its hypocrisy all you want but you still never gave a reason as to why one is ok and other isn't. Stolas is Royality and can't date outside his rank? And the 7 deadly sins are of a different rank than him so it's different. How so? Why does Asmodeus need it to keep him and fizz a secret? if a god was dating a regular person, what could you possibly do about it? Also, if Asmodeus needs to keep his relationship a secret, then why doesn’t Beelzebub? If it because Beelzebub’s relationship corresponds to her sin how so? How is dating someone not of your rank gluttonous or indulgent? Unless Bee is a serial dater, and I don’t think she is how so? Also, Asmodeus dating Fizz does correspond to his sin he’s the over seer of lust and lust doesn’t stop at rank or class. If them being romantic is the problem, then they could lie and tell everyone that him and fizz are just fuck buddies or they're in an open relationship where they are ok with each other sleeping around but they don’t do it. They’re already business partners; it wouldn’t be a stretch if the literal ruler of lust would want to sleep with someone regardless of their rank and whether or not they work for them. Plus, they do openly say they are fucking each other while Ozzie's workers are near so them having sex isn't the problem.  

Ok so like ya’ll know the live action Grinch movie? And you know that one part where the grinch is the holiday chair mister and the who's are giving him a bunch of food even after he's full and his face is full of food, but they keep shoving more in his mouth? Yeah, that is what watching helluva boss is like sometimes you know?   

It's like a barrage of information or nothing 

Anyways  

this show is ride and then some lol granted this doesn’t really make or break the show for me honestly, it's just that the more the show tells me one thing it’ll go through hell (heh) to make it, so it doesn’t matter anymore, and it only brings up more questions. Like if something isn't allowed then make it so don’t just tell me oh that’s not allowed but is but it’s a problem but I'm not going to tell you why or what the problem is just trust me look at the cute couples don’t look anywhere else don’t worry about it  

I know you’re probably asking yo why are you questioning it I'm just a confused fan and I want the show I like to make since is that such a tall order? 

[skylilac]

what’s going on (i’m seeing out of context spn posts on my dash). what happened

HII OK SO actually im not even 100% sure on the details of this one but basically two actors on spn (one played a vampire who was lowk def fucking dean and the other played deans werewolf bf or actually like a human turned werewolf but thats not the point) were like best friends during filming like went to the others weddings and kept posting on twt abt being besties etc etc. but like literally all of the spn cast acts like theyre in love w each other genuinely they could be making out in public and everyone would be like “wow the cw is going hard w the queerbaiting promo this time”. but also like. i think ty (the vampire actor) literally posted a pic of them on best friends day and went like “we’re non-sexual life partners” or some insane shit like that a bunch of years ago so. so really it was a mess

anyway but like yesterday dj announced he was like fully in love w ty and also they were getting married!!!! im not totally caught up on the lore but judging by general reactions this was NOT expected. so for a normal tv show this would be met w “good for them!” but everyones still a little traumatized from bishagate two years ago and ppl were like okay this is gonna turn out a mistake he prob meant “platonic life partners” again this could be queerbaiting to promote s16 (which like isnt even confirmed yet) but like ppl werent fully sure??? like its PROBABLY real and that means being super happy for them but like their coworker literally accidentally came out once and didnt say anything for two days so who knows. but like. its prob true!!!!! and the trend of ppl getting married w their spn coworkers?? its insane. AND the werepire jokes bc they had the funniest possible casting combo AND the fact that they went from “im so happy youre getting married to her!” to “im marrying you asap”????? sooo funny i love spn sm we’re getting endless updates on the lore

[emerxshiu]

[SIDE ORDER]

tw// slight blood and body horror

not sure if it could classify like it but im adding a warning just in case

Speedrun agent 8 for side order release

I remember mentioning in my instagram when posting for valentine's that i would be back when side order drops, i mostly meant it as kind of a joke since i had some drawing to post. i did not expect that to actually become true lol.

Im definitly staying up tonight (not like i could sleep these past days anyway)

It felt kinda nice drawing some splatoon stuff again, last time was in like december, wich were just doodles, and technically yesterday but that was me making a kirby x splatoon crossover so it doesnt count, so actually last time i did an actual finished drawing for splatoon was the fuzzy neo in november.

Im really hyped up for this, i have played basically just one roguelike in my life (candies n' curses, its fun you should play it too) so i dont have much experience in the genere, but its okay! tho having to restart from floor 1 makes me a bit nervous, wich is funny cuz in candies and curses i also had to restart from floor one yet i kept trying so im not really sure why im worrying, tho it did take me months just to finish the main story in that game, and i want to experience the entierity of side order as blind as i can, maybe thats why. but i managed to avoid magolor epilogue spoilers for a year this might not be that bad.

here's an inverted version i did just for fun.

Aight now i need to talk about the actual drawing, honestly i just sketched something quick with a vague idea of agent 8 with coral growing from them. the real struggle was the background, the colors werent looking nice togheter, it was hard to see what was going on etc, and in the end i decided it would be cool to add images for texture, and that saved it. i used the images from side order's teaser trailer, superimposed over the background and ink. and then i decided to add the side order text to add something, i originally drew some color chips but they looked off in there so i got rid of em

also version without text

btw my birthday is next monday (sobbing rn) this is the third time nintendo releases stuff around my birthday, im so lucky lol

I hope y'all have a nice day

Jambuhbye! :3

[thievesandtraitors]

This is going to be a long post, but it's just me explaining a funny thing that happened to me which then turned into an interesting conversation with my best friend.

To preface this--no one was offended, not me, not my boss, not my friend, no one. It was actually a funny interaction that happened, but I wouldn't have fully seen it in this particular way I'm going to describe, had it not been for my friend. Again, my boss is a very cool, kind, funny, personable man. But, he also is still...a man. So, onto the story.

My job is in the kind of industry where, much to my dismay, a lot of business happens on golf courses. We're constantly in tournaments, our partners want to discuss projects, work, potential opportunities, etc etc while playing a round of golf. And I, unfortunately, know how to play golf. I've done it since I was a kid, competed in high school (wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst), I just hate the sport. I hate everything about it. And I told my boss when he asked, "yes, I know how to play, but I really, really don't like it." Now, am I going to have to play? Yes. But generally how these tournaments work it's much easier and much more fun than competitive golfing. But, I digress.

So it's one evening and my boss invites me to go hit some golf balls at the range. I say yes because it meant I didn't have to go to the gym, and it was a gorgeous day outside. So we show up and we start at the chipping area. (For those who don't know golf, chipping is referring to the area just outside of the green. It's a very, very short distance and its just practicing short hits up onto where the flag/hole is. So, not hard). But he's giving me some pointers about where to place the ball in my stance, relative to the slope of the ground, yada yada. And I grew up an athlete; I'm coachable, I listen whenever someone is giving me direction, so I take in what he's saying and do as he suggests. At first, I thought it was kind of interesting he was giving me pointers anyway, seeing that I never asked, but I was like "eh, he likes the sport, wants to share what he knows, cool." Didn't bother me.

But then it gets funny. So I'm hitting a few balls and after every hit he goes "wow, that's really good." Every. Hit. And I'm not saying this to boast, I don't care. I said thanks. But I literally thought to myself, "is he going to say this after every shot I take today?" I was genuinely wondering why he kept saying "that's really good". Again, I'm not trying to draw attention to the compliment, just setting up the point.

But I keep hitting and don't say anything meanwhile after every hit he's just ~amazed~. So he realizes I don't need any more pointers on chipping so he's like "Okay, you get it. You don't need this, let's go." And we go to the driving range. (For those who don't know, the driving range is where everyone is stationary and they're just hitting balls off into the distance.) We get to our spot and he's like "okay, show me what's going on." And I kind of look at him but don't say anything. Like "why did he say it like that?" Again, laughing on the inside because all his commentary was just interesting. I grab my bread-and-butter club, aka the club I always hit well no matter what. Take my practice swing and then hit the ball for real and it goes dead straight, a hundred yards. Boom. Whatever. I look at him and his face is surprised, but neither of us say anything, and I hit two or three more dead straight, no issues. And finally, he goes "What did you say you needed help with?" Completely puzzled at how well I'm doing. And I say (which I totally meant to come out as a joke but it really just landed more sassy) "I never said I needed help." And he busts out LAUGHING. I mean we're cracking up, and I was like "It's true!". Anyway, I can't live it down to this day, right, and this happened three weeks ago.

Flashforward to my conversation with my bestie and why I'm writing this post. But she pointed out to me as I was retelling the story that men hear "I don't like X" as "I'm not good at X and therefore I don't like it." And, subsequently "But if you teach it to me, then I'll love it." And the way that blew my mind! Because I was just reacting as I always do whenever I do sports, especially (and usually) with a guy around; they're always shocked at what I'm capable of doing. And her saying that made me realize men will always hear what you're saying as a way of saying we're unable, and therefore need their help, because we just fail or suck on our own. And again, not dissing my boss. The whole thing was lighthearted and he meant well. But it's interesting that there's always this level of misogyny laced through a man's thinking that they always have something to teach us and can make us like something that we don't, and we're always looking to be showed how to do things. Just because we don't like something doesn't mean its because we are bad at it and will love it "once we have help". Like no. I just don't like golf. I never said I was bad at it. Ever. I never even eluded to that assumption. Just men and their superiority complex interpret everything as "oh, she's asking for my help, she just doesn't know it yet". Its what John Oliver said in his clip about people and their UFO sightings, but with a twist. "What you think you heard depends on what you were expecting to hear". It's the same way men assume my bestfriend is stupid because she's a blonde and she runs.

[mastomysowner]

Chapter 1086

So it wasn’t Uranus. Looks like the WG finally got tired from all these crude jokes and ordered Vegapunk to build something new.

Oda took a break and announced Mad Theories Month. I’m in!

I said it could be Uranus or something Uranus-related in my Chapter 1060 post so now I can’t say I was against the Uranus theory because it’s too obvious 🤣 But I think it’s too early to drop the claim about Uranus-related. Even the Five Elders and Im-sama wouldn't be able to ram what appeared in Lulusia's sky into that basement, but it’s still unknown what is hidden under that hat. And what is usually covered with a hat?..

Funny that even after chapter 1085 there were a lot of people who thought the Five Elders weren’t fighters, Ju Peter’s scar was from a failed attempt on his life at best, and the sword was a glorified toothpick. It’s noteworthy that the sword belongs to, of all people, the Finance Warrior God. My headcanon is that it’s Shodai Kitetsu.

Oda also gave the guys punny planetary names so as not to be too predictable.

It’s strange to see but they’re actually concerned for humans.

All of them, with their poses, expressions and those shadows over their eyes, look unhappy with what’s about to be done. They even talk about preventing protracted conflicts from occurring in a way that Pain from Naruto intended.

I didn’t mention it in my Chapter 1085 post the other day, but the Five Dhyani Buddhas, the representation of the various aspect of the enlightened consciousness, are believed to have manifested the five aggregates of clinging. Each of Buddhas represents a negative quality as well as the completely transformed aspect of that failing, manifested as an enlightened wisdom. Maybe there was a time when the Five Elders were nice guys, but they were corrupted with the wrong view of reality?

What’s their goal? Power? Power is the ability to control resources. This is true of their brethren, the other Celestial Dragons, who gather resources from all over the world to continue their luxurious lifestyle, but what do those who are at the very top of the world get? To be respected, as in the case of Enel? Officially, they are not gods, and Im’s existence is top secret. The sweet feeling of being able to play with the lives of everyone in the world? They haven't been shown to act for it or to be into it at all.

Also, each Dhyani Buddha has his own animal vehicle (elephant, lion, peacock, harpy or garuda, or dragon). We'll see how true this turns out to be when their eldritch abomination form comes to light, but to me those ones look like a bird and an elephant.

When I saw the name Nerona, my first thought was, of course, of the Roman emperor. I have seen the theory that since many Christians viewed Nero as the Antichrist prophesied in the Book of Revelation, Im is a reference to the Beast, as the Beast will rise out of the sea (Imu-Umi) and take dominion over every tribe, people, language, and nation.

Even the Celestial Dragons fit into this concept, since in the Book of Revelation it was the Dragon representing Satan who gave the Beast his own throne and great power. This seems too much even for OP... Or not?

This is far from the first time the imagery of the Book of Revelations has been used in Japanese pop culture. For example, Whore of Babylon from Fate/Grand Order, the Beast that a certain Roman emperor became. It is said to manifest when the most prosperous city of an era reaches its zenith, so that it may savor its malignancy.

Whore of Babylon rode the Beast, which meant she was propped up by its power. That she will be devastated by the 10 horns (kings), her lovers, is a prediction of destruction by the rebellious nations. It is quite possible that Oda uses this motif as well. Yes, I don’t think the Great Kingdom was that goody-goody.

Nero is translated into Italian as Nerone, also nero means black/ink. What’s more, Nerona could be Japanese (寝)ねろな - don’t sleep.

In chapter 908, Im was shown cutting apart wanted posters and stabbing the photo of Shirahoshi. Much later, it was revealed that Luffy isn’t just the MC and a pain in the ass, but the user of Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. Seems that what is common among the selected is that they have powerful abilities, so maybe Im knows what Blackbeard's powers are? If Im has something like the power of nightmares as opposed to the power of dreams, it might be some sort of darkness-related ability, just like Blackbeard’s.

Ultimately, the Yami Yami no Mi’s powers are described as a void which devours everything and returns all to nothingness. Perhaps Im's and Blackbeard's powers even come from the same source. That was just a guess...

...but he knows/suspects Shirahoshi is Poseidon, I’m certain about it.

Mu, the word Im uses to refer to himself, is not only a Buddhist concept, but also the name of a mythical lost continent, the Motherland of Man, submerged by a catastrophe.

Does it remind you of something? Oda certainly drew a lot of inspiration from the history of this concept.

I don't believe for a second that Pangaea Castle isn't related to this. There's the Lost Chamber from chapter 1084, and it appears to be a separate entity from the underground chamber where the National Treasure of Mariejois is kept. Also Flower Room evokes the feeling that it was inspired by the Garden of Eden.

Now we have to figure out who’s that mother, great.

Mu also appears in numerous Cthulhu mythos stories as a lost land inhabited by the first human beings, who worshipped the ghastly Ghatanothoa out of fear of its frightful power. It’s decided, Im is a local Cthulhu!

There is a lot of emphasis on this at the end of the chapter.

In the original text, Doflamingo was specifically talking about the power that rots in the most literal sense, 腐る - to rot.

This chamber is literally a giant freezer that prevents flesh from rotting. I'm really dying to know what the National Treasure of Mariejois is and how Doflamingo intended (intends) to use it.

A good one.

The original text says he wasn’t just sentenced, but 処刑された, was executed. In all honesty, I find it hard to believe. If Mjosgard is dead then we’ll never know exactly how he was brainwashed reformed by Otohime and he’ll never meet his maternal third cousin Doffy? I can’t accept it!

[theangiediary]

omg Angie that was exactly what i meant and i loved it! I also adore Lebanon's favourite "are they?aren't they?" couple and imagining samdean co-parenting is such a delight. "If the baby looked like Sam, Dean would have like 12 disorders" got a laugh but it's so true i don't know how he'd handle it. It's similarly what makes me also like the idea of Dean having to deal with a deaged Sam just to see how gobsmacked he'd be. (Also those mommy recs? For a friend? 👀)

1. Oh good I’m glad it resonated! Truly, Dean would be against those baby chest carriers until the little guy was born, and then he’d not only constantly be wearing him strapped in, he’d also have one arm wrapped around at all times. Also that baby would not have a nursery, Dean would put the crib in their bedroom so he could be as close as possible, sit on the rocking chair at night just staring (Sam gets it, at least enough not to press the issue).

2. About A Boy with deaged Sammy: they’d have to end the show right there! Dean would run off into the night with itty Sammy, let some other hunter deal with the missing people. (/hj, I don’t actually remember what their relationship was like prior to that ep, all I know is it was VERY funny to me that they had a solution to the mark but Sam was like 🥺 “I am not baby?? no more Big Bro? Unacceptable.”  

3. Fic Recs

Haha, well! So many flavors... I’m throwing a huge mixed bag here, read what sounds interesting, skip what doesn’t.

Vice and Wish by thatsakitkat (incomplete, ABO A!Sam/O!Dean, 42k)

One of my all time favorites. It’s a little OOC, but Sam’s uh, canonical entitlement toward Dean/Dean’s body and resources is so so sexy. Cockblocking him, spending his money, joining him in Dean’s subconscious against Dean’s protests. Spn was allergic to having a consistent stance on souls, but if you largely view soulless!Sam as Sam without empathy, then.. Yeah. I think the Sam in this fic/universe is realistically ruthless in getting what he wants (a baby in Dean).

(Taste Every Fruit by the same author doesn’t have pregnancy, but is a lactation fic and uhh. Quite good.)

Nesting orphan_account (ABO A!John/O!Dean, 12k)

It’s been a minute since I read this, but I remember it being sweet, in a conservative fantasy way. Stanford era. Forced retirement. Small town. Also slightly OOC but like above, comes with the universe.

homebody by hellhoundsprey (ABO A!Jared/O!Jensen (background Jared/Ruth and Jensen/Tahmoh, 18k)

Listen, if you’re hesitant about rpf, this author writes it very much “vaguely inspired by the PR personsona of X”. People have been fantasizing about celebrities forever, heck, the SPN cast joke about rpf at cons. 

Anyway. Great fic. Darling sex kitten/tease and “Trying to be good” dynamic.

Share the Spoils Ch 2 by vintagedean (Fem!Dean/Sam, 2k)

Recently published, Deanna finding out if she’s pregnant and what she and Sam can do if that’s the case. Pushy teen Sam, distracted Deanna. "John's looming shadow" deserves its own character tag.

the need to choose by deadlybride (Hal!Dean/Sam, 3k)

Canon (post s7) divergence. The author has this halman universe which is similar to ABO but not quite; Dean’s something like an omega but not ✨feminine 👧🌷. Still, one of the things that the author does is realistic sex descriptions/pretty explicit naming of body parts: Dean has a clit, cervix, etc. Explores what having a baby would mean for them, in the context of SPN’s vessel plotlines. Sad, longing, open ended.

They Think I'm Possessed by deandatsgay (Dean/John, Dean/Sam 27k)

No pregnancy; Dean raised as Sam’s mom (thus inclusion in this list). Dark, dirty bad wrong porn. I love it.

[genlossneg]

ok. i didnt mind genloss, it was ranboos first massive project, theyre only 19 and a streamer, ok. but oh my god would it kill to take an improv class. the first 2 episodes felt like an snl skit. especially when it was branded as original and then was just some sort of frankenstein of different horror tropes from ranboos favourite horror media, that just reminded me of snl stealing joel havers skit lmao.

there were so much issues with it and i feel like i wouldnt mind as much if it was branded as a horror comedy a few months before the show, not 3 days before the show. a few months before and the weeks leading up to may 24th, it was branded as "you arent ready for this. this is groundbreaking, nothing will ever be the same after this show. this is serious." etc and then i think it was like 3 days before may 24th there was that fucking showfall media psa that just felt like ranboo saying "oh btw its a comedy" without warning it caught me so off gaurd lmao.

then he streamed after that sfm psa released and, if i remember right, people were asking about it being a horror comedy in chat and ranboo was like "well yeah obviously did u think id make a project 100% serious? no lol" (dont quote me on that though its been a while) now theyre saying gen 0 and gen 2 are going to be completely horror now, but i dont think thats true bc they also said gen 1 was mostly horror and none of it is

speaking of, the advertising was just lies lol. the whole "little to no filler :D" thing. it wasnt like ranboo didnt expect the improv to last that long bc the expected runtimes (from their tumblr post on may 23rd i think) were sometimes longer than the actual ones. 1st ep was meant to be 1-2 hours, it was 1 and a half, so that much filler and standing around going "what the hell man" was PLANNED. they just lied about no filler to make people excited. just be funny and i wont mind the filler. i like sneegs humour in his streams but here he was just bickering with ranboo. same with ranboo to charlie, charlie was the only one making actual jokes so when ranboo and sneeg were alone it was just "wait so why didnt you just-" "well idk i thought u woul-" "well why would i-" and when i tell you it drained my soul.

ive been a massive ranboo fan for about a year (im recovering dw), and after the game theory episode i got really hyperfixated on genloss (up until the sfm keynote thing i think). i was hyped for it back when T_1 was the only thing released for genloss, and followed it all the way up to the streams. i watched them live and my face was just like 😐 I WAS SO DISSAPPOINTED LMAOOO

the box being 18k pissed me off so much bc an experienced filmmaker/writer/director could make something so much better than genloss with just that 18k. i aspire to make my own live action thing one day, and like, hearing them go "oh yeah the box was 18k and jermas face prosthetics were 10k teehee🤪🤪" was just. AAAAA. and the thing is, like the prosthetics were funny, but spending TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS as a BIT from jerma going "what if i took off the mask and it just doesnt look like me lol" then framing urself as jesus christ and a victim. i am so mad.

idk how to feel about ranboo anymore, i used to watch like every 2nd stream for a while but then the whole "GUYS BUY MY MERCH also racism bad MERCH!!!!! BUY!!!!" thing made me rethink lol. the racist and misogynistic undertones in genloss made me so uncomfy, and while im not poc so i cant speak on that, i have enough sense to know that having the only poc in the entire show play evil rats is so tone deaf.

and niki!! i was worried when the teasers were coming out bc every single person shown in it was a white guy (and a white enby), so i was kind of happier when niki showed up, but then she died within the hour to "commentate on misogyny in media". ranboo thought that he was commentating on misogyny by contributing to it. did they think this through at all. i would have LOVED if they did something special with niki and something powerful, but all that happened was she showed up, cried, then died and now ranboo fans are going "ranboo was so real for this!!!". ik niki had control over her characters writing but im sure ranboo was the one who decided when certain characters died and stuff.

also i hate to say this but the mask flashing to signify if he was in control or not was EXACTLY like a thing in the undertale fanfic (sfw im not weird) i wrote when i was 12 💀💀the characters eyes would flash when they were under control bc edgy. it was so weird watching genloss with that in the back of my mind 💀💀💀💀

in conlusion, genloss had so many flaws and so much easy fixes that it just feels so sososososososo rushed. another year in the oven wouldve been ok i think.

woah this is long im so sorry i do not think only type oops

- the i feel like i should label what kind of anon i am lmao anon

sorry before i get to anything else the undertale bit caught me so off guard omg.

anyways.

it wasnt like ranboo didnt expect the improv to last that long bc the expected runtimes (from their tumblr post on may 23rd i think) were sometimes longer than the actual ones. 1st ep was meant to be 1-2 hours, it was 1 and a half, so that much filler and standing around going "what the hell man" was PLANNED.

this!! the way the second stream just.. dragged was so rough.

the poc/women diversity discussion is something we had on the blog a bit ago as im sure you've seen so i don't have a ton to add but. yeah there were certainly choices that got made there.

very much enjoying all the essays getting dropped in here (even if i feel like my responses are weak sometimes lmao)

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 14/02/2024

Goodbye To Love

Season 4 Episode 2 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume for Nintendo 3DS

Ripped by Sarvéproductions

Requested by crickqt! (Discord)

Believe it or not, being eternally single kind of means that you end up forgetting about Valentine's Day whenever it rolls around each year. I got a sudden shock in the SiIvaGunner Discord when someone pointed out I was about to miss one of the channel's longest-running jokes, done each February 14th since the start of the channel. Events come and go, Seasons pass, the channel grows, yet each Valentines Day, the SiIvaGunner character remains lonely. Each year, SiIvaGunner says Goodbye To Love.

Bobby Vinton's Mr. Lonely is the kind of song that's damn near perfect for use in shitposting. Its a well-remembered, classic song, yet also one that's very inherently memetic, still able to convey the crux of its point almost perfectly no matter how much you trim it, no matter what context its put in. It is, in no uncertain terms, a sad song about feeling lonely. Many funny memers of the ages, and the SiIvaGunner team itself, have thus been able to leverage this simple message to tell narratives of sorts: Each annual Valentine's Day, in making rips featuring Mr. Lonely, we're made aware in a pretty funny way that SiIvaGunner himself is single, lonely, and feels left out. This long-running joke that occurred without fail in Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 and Season 4 Episode 1, finally reached a sort of climax in its fifth go about it - during Season 4 Episode 2, Valentine's Day went from a subtle ongoing joke to a full-on event.

The channel's profile picture was changed to perhaps the funniest variant it would ever have, an edit of an infamous panel of Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul, expressing a sense of despair and resignation, inner sorrow expressed in a decidedly "anime-cool" type of way. The theme of the rips uploaded on the day was put into focus more than ever - Mr. Lonely was *everywhere*, and rips such as the aptly-named please god let me meet her feature full-on narration leaning into the joke. Being alone in the world is of course not a joke in of itself - the event, beyond playing on the building running gag from prior seasons, is parodying and making fun of a very specific kind of "incel", "doomer", "simp" culture found on websites like 4chan and Reddit - you've no doubt seen them if you're deep enough in the trenches to be reading a SiIvaGunner blog. Its the perfect culmination to this running joke, something that felt equally expected yet surprising in their commitment to the bit - all topped off with the finale to the event, Goodbye To Love.

The SiIvaGunner team must surely know at this point the emotional response that we as fans get from the use of Goodbye to a World - one of the channel's most famous rips from Season 1 used it to such incredible effect, at such a volatile and influential part of the channel's life, that rips using Porter Robinson and Undertale music in conjunction have become a running series of rips in the years since. Even looking past the Season 6 finale's incredible Fusion Collab in tribute to the song and artist, Aphex, Hopes and Divinity+ and Battle Against a True Porter are just some of the many examples of these that I've covered here already. Each one has resonated with us viewers in one way or the other, all calling back to that one Season 1 rip. Goodbye To Love uses that emotional attachment, that anthem of unabashed love for this silly meme channel, and attaches it to the aforementioned long-running joke - mashing up Goodbye to a World with Mr. Lonely for the most befitting finale possible.

I've meant to talk about the purpose and intent of the Circus rips on SiIvaGunner for quite some time, and I'll be getting to that in just a few posts from now - but to keep it simple for this post, rips of Circus from Five Nights at Freddy's allow rippers to completely obfuscate what the joke of the rip is going to be even more than the traditional rips already do. We already came to expect the event was going to have a finale of some sort, but to sneak it into a seemingly unassuming Circus rip, one of literally dozens upon dozens more on the channel, just adds so much more inherently comedy to it all. The mashup's extra lengths to reiterate on its own joke - including the aforementioned monologue from please god let me meet her, adding occasional melody swaps to Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls, changing the "Five Nights at Freddy's" title to say "Zero Nights at Freddy's" halfway through the rip, and so many more details just make it such a deceptively fun listen, when the mashup itself was already genuinely very funny.

And like, it may be because I'm forever on a Sean Kingston high - this is now the fifth rip I'm covering with the meme after Crazy Noisy Beautiful Girls, Beautiful! ~ Curveball of Sean Kingston, Take You To The Desert and Electromeme Adventures, but...it alone just adds so, so much charm to the mashup. If you've recently heard anything of Beautiful Girls outside of the context of SiIvaGunner, it's likely from someone making fun of the absurdity of its lyrics - it is, in literal terms, Sean Kingston singing about how seeing a beautiful woman makes him feel suicidal. That absurdity just makes it such a natural addition to this long-running joke - one that started two whole years before Mr. Lonely and Goodbye to a World first became mainstays on the channel.

I've talked quite a bit about the larger events on SiIvaGunner - in the past few days alone I talked about the King for Another Day Tournament of Season 4 Episode 1 twice over in Unhealed and NIGHTMARESCAPE 〜Unrestrained HyperCam 2〜 (Final Boss Phase 2). Yet these smaller, one-day event are so much fun entirely in their own right - they're able to be focused, perfectly paced, and generally not overstay their welcome, whilst delivering the punchline perfectly with explosively well-done finales. And to all the lonely souls out there this Valentine's Day, rest easy knowing that SiIvaGunner himself is staying just as lonely himself - and it's quite likely that Mr. Lonely is, once again, set to appear in just a few hours on the channel's rips, for yet another year of this dumb running joke.