#tldr: I'm neurodivergent

[fondcrimes]

your comment about not being able to move on from stsg - i get that so much ToT it’s frustrating sometimes i’m ngl

what drew you in to their relationship? what do you like or think about often? personally something i really love is how tragic their relationship is. it doesn’t seem like it would’ve ever worked out in the world they live in, but despite everything their feelings feelings stay alive for around a decade

oh wow, thank you for sending me this ask! i will take any chance to get on my soapbox abt satosugu hehe

okay the shippy feelings are quite simple to explain, the fantastical world of jjk is buttressed by a style of realism i rly enjoy, so like imagining stsg school days and puppy love is super fun and thrilling for me. i feel similarly abt their breakup, their story has like wong kar wai film potential which i looooveeee. i put my stsg playlist on repeat and imagine the stsg arthouse film of my dreams.....

anyway the thing about satosugu that initially drew me in was angst bc i love the whole "doomed by the narrative" type of ship, but it's their inevitability that fascinated me. their friendship deterioration was inevitable bc of their role as sorcerers in the world. the material fallout of their friendship is also inevitable, as its woven through the main plot with profundity and dare i say care. i like to shit on gege and i have beef w his writing decisions, but i appreciate the way he portrays morality/duty and kind of juxtaposes it with personality/natural inclinations/true beliefs. gojo and geto are powerful, unfortunate, doomed, but their different approaches to their duty as sorcerers (and gojo's response to geto's defection) are authentic.. they can't help but be human despite their power and strength. i resent fanon interpretations that simplify the moral complexity of gojo's position following geto's cult era, it's not like geto or gojo made their choices for each other in the sappy romantic way. i ship them romantically bc of the immense depth/narrative weight of their friendship... like i love how fraught it all is. things like gojo essentially letting geto fuck around for a decade is interesting and shows how deep their bond was and how much it meant to gojo, so much so that he couldn't stand on business and carry out his purpose for jujutsu society. also speaks to his moral dilemma, he doesn't exactly believe in what he's meant to do which leads him down a path of regret.

and then there's the basic stuff like gojo being this privileged, idolized kid with little to no socialization (no peers), i think its extremely precious and tender when young ppl sort of imprint on the first person they get along with. that's my interpretation of satosugu's friendship as first years.. as powerful and smart as gojo is he has these innate weaknesses due to his upbringing and disconnect from people so his response and heartbreak abt geto feels extremely realistic and humanizing. geto doesn't know he's gojo's soft spot...like their friendship was more emotionally and psychologically codependent than either of them realized which makes it even more hard-hitting that it dissolved as abruptly and traumatically as it did.

i think geto is one of the most sympathetic examples of "radicalization" so to speak, the fact that he injests curses and turns evil is a stroke of genius imo, the emotional reality of curses and resentment about ppls role in the world is one of jjks narrative successes. his pain is tangible and i think its meaningful that he has this deranged sort of wisdom following his mental break. there's no redemption at the end of his path and he knows it, he lets his convictions destroy him, its terrible and harrowing but its everything to me. his normie beginnings as a sorcerer (esp compared to gojo) also make this so interesting, like at some point he rly believed in a cause that gojo never really had illusions abt. the levels of betrayal.... gojo's feelings abt geto defecting are for lack of a better word relatable and believable. ideological extremism is something that more and more of us in the contemporary age are having to deal with due to amplified social deterioration and political polarization and i think more ppl relate to this somewhat ambiguous grief of friendships/connections in an emotionally hostile world. to me gojo deals with ambiguous loss on multiple levels: loss of his only best friend, loss of someone he had unresolved feelings for, loss of a voice of reason in his life, loss of his strongest emotional connection to the people he protects, as well as losing his way as the strongest sorcerer in jujutsu society.

gojo and geto's arcs both represent the inherent tragedy and fatalism that come with living in a broken, hurting world and trying to protect it, as well as who/what u might lose in the process. i'm no determinist irl, i don't believe in the greco-roman understanding of fate at all. i will say… it can be hard to distinguish fate from choice sometimes. but analyzing the philosophical elements of silly shounen manga is a super fun mental exercise :3

[kayvsworld]

hi! sorry im autistic and i can't understand what your post means? the trans fem tony one. can you do a "TLDR"? its just very confusing, sorry.

are you against trans fem tony? i personally see him as trans masc

Hi! so the post in question is not about him being trans fem, or about headcanoning him as trans at all, or headcanoning him as anything—it's a discussion of [this] old post that went around in 2016.

That post (very long) argued that tony is the most female-coded superhero, based on the author calling a series of increasingly wild traits "female-coded", and ends by saying that tony in cacw uses "a classic strategy of the disenfranchised" (bewildering)

i was just saying that i'm dismissing a lot of the post because it's silly and kind of offensive (the arc reactor is like a bra? obsessive compulsive behaviours are feminine? he's short, like only women are?)

But i CAN see how someone might look at tony's character, and the stories being told with it, and go "hey, that's more like the kinds of problems and stories I'm used to seeing be written for female characters than for your standard male superhero"

but it's not about headcanoning, or tony's actual gender! transfem tony is very cool, transmasc tony is very cool <3 please headcanon him however you like and have fun <3

[la-galaxie-langblr]

what is going on w my brain

[chibitorra]

My weird ND thing is I absolutely refuse to watch video tutorials. I cannot stand having someone try to talk me through something bc most of the time, they talk way too much. Just show me the thing PLEASE. That being said there ARE some video tutorials that work for me, but 99.9% of the time it's just some dude talking about the thing for 20 minutes, and by the time the video is over I've forgotten everything.

[sky-chau]

Eyepatch Representation

Hi, as of the time of this post I am 30 degrees crosseyed and I've been wearing an eyepatch for six months or so. In that time I realized just how much representation matters, as unlike being gay or neurodivergent no amount of headcanons can really do eyepatch representation. It never dawned on me how often characters are crosseyed as a shorthand for being stupid. When my animal crossing character wears the "post op eyepatch" sometimes one of the villagers will say "Woah, you scared me there, I know it's just pretend but the thought of you getting hurt like that worries me!" Or something along the lines of. I don't know how to take screenshots on 3DS. And like, that's really demoralizing. The only representation I got reliably was in pirate media. And with Pirate media it's frequently the butt of a joke. Which the longer I think about it the more sad it gets. Like I feel the need to emphasize the fact that despite being an adult I'm getting this surgery in the pediatric ward. This is so common in children that when someone is crosseyed and the general surgeons don't feel comfortable the defacto experts are the pediatric eye surgeons. It's REALLY common for kids to be crosseyed and wear an eyepatch. And I'd also like to point out that eyepatches are typically accompanied by or attached to a pair of glasses. Which is where there's the largest void in representation. I can't make myself in the sims without using the pirate costume which cannot be worn with glasses. And it's just sad because unlike other forms of disability representation this would be a simple matter of adding a new accessory. (Which is not to say that wheelchair users and amputees don't deserve rep in video games like the sims, only that I understand from a developer standpoint why those features are hard to include retroactively.) I've never seen anything where the person with the eyepatch had an eye under it. Kids media could do with this. Heck, I can totally see a show like Arthur making a special episode out of it where Arthur has to wear an eyepatch for a week under his glasses. I forgot what point I was making with the drawing but here it is.

So I guess TLDR, if you're writing, especially for younger audiences, consider giving a main character an eyepatch + glasses.

[disco-orange]

I'm. So sad and baffled the odd squad online fandom isn't bigger.

Like what do you MEAN this engaging children's show with well written characters and a cool ass world and cool ass villains and HEAVILY neurodivergent coded characters isn't more popular???? It even has Todd. TODD. It has good twists in the story and characters' stories! It's not even over, it's ongoing and it doesn't feel stale!

Tldr go watch odd squad. Write fanfic for it. Make fan art. Make ocs. PLEASE.

[a-wins-a-win]

yes i am still thinking about him <3 

tldr; viewing Jason through an autistic lens, it’s very easy to interpret a lot of his dialogue and personality as being autistic traits - being resistant to change, feeling that there’s a single “right” answer for his social relationships, black-and-white thinking in general, an air of bluntness + being somewhat unsympathetic in particular when he’s upset, severe emotional dysregulation, and in several cases not reacting to particular situations the way he’d be expected to.

more specific/slightly more articulate thoughts under the cut

---

You & I doesn't give us a whole lot to go off, unless you interpret acting being "not [Jason's] thing" as him being resistant to change in general, rather than just the (admittedly more likely) fear that being involved in theater makes him more easily clockable as gay.

"Plus I might go out for baseball, and I neither dance nor sing." all I want to point out here is that a lot of autistic people are hesitant to try new things (and although Jason hasn't played [baseball] since they were twelve, there is at least a precedent there), whether that be a desire to maintain their routines, or issues with black-and-white thinking that make fear of failure particularly intense

Role Of A Lifetime is difficult in a way - because it’s all Peter’s point of view* so we can’t know how true the statements he’s making are. BUT if we take them at pretty much face value, we presume that he’s not just making this up out of nowhere, that Jason has, at various points, behaved or talked in such a way that these are genuine possibilities, then the song as a whole is about Jason masking and trying to follow the social rules he’s been taught. because despite piles of contrary evidence (in the form of his and Peter’s relationship) at the end of the day he feels that he has to mask and participate in life & society the way everyone else does.  (*and as such adds an element of guesswork in regards to whether or not Peter would know that Jason's autistic, and how that would impact the way their relationship works on an emotional level throughout the show)

"...your lines become routine, never really saying what you mean." i could make a joke about the word choice, and routines being important to autistic people, but I am going to just address it as it stands - this is a Peter line but I honestly interpret that whole verse as being about Jason, his seemingly inevitable fate of 'The American Dream™️' 'never really saying what you mean' could refer to the whole concept of masking - Jason is constantly policing his language, saying and doing things that don't come naturally/honestly to him for the sake of fitting in

Best Kept Secret is, again, dependent on whether we interpret Jason’s desire to conform as a conscious act of self-denial or whether he is just choosing the ‘safe’ option that he knows would be the ‘normal’ thing to do, independent of his trying to separate his personhood from his queerness. 

Birthday, Bitch! as a whole doesn't have a lot for me to comment on except this one particular moment “Guess who’s horny?” “Him.” maybe i’m misinterpreting non-hypothetical questions as hypothetical but to me that reads more as a silly goofy party statement, not an actual guessing game

One could, if one wanted, interpret One Kiss as an example of Jason either a) not picking up on the social cues Ivy is heavily putting down or b) not fully understanding the implications, agreeing to one kiss as just one kiss because he doesn’t get the concept that kissing generally implies a greater level of emotional attachment than he actually has to Ivy/the relationship she’s trying to set up.

"Did you get anything good?" / "Did you make a birthday wish?" without infantilizing Jason or autistic people as a whole these are quite safe, almost childish questions to be asking, especially considering the wider context. i could argue that quite literally any other character would understand where Ivy's whole little flirt is going and Jason just. doesn't seem to. (yes yes more realistically he knows what she's doing and is just trying to distract her/change the subject BUT this post isn't about that)

Reputation Stain’d is probably best pointed to as an example of black-and-white thinking - specifically in regards to Jason’s fears about his father & decision to end things with Peter. Black-and-white thinking can manifest in the form of viewing ideas & emotions in absolute extremes - in Jason’s mind there is no middle ground between ‘being with Peter and being outed to his father’ and ‘not being with Peter and not being outed’, so the only logical course of action is to break it off.

[Will I see you later?] "Yeah, I think so." [Try again.] "Yes, you'll see me later." Ivy leads all of her and Jason's social interactions, which can be interpreted in an interesting sort of way through an autistic lens. also this interaction in particular, Jason saying the 'wrong' thing and being made to 'try again', as Ivy teases, could be symbolic of a greater issue, where Jason is filtering himself in order to speak in ways other people deem appropriate or acceptable rather than what he actually thinks

[...where it won't be a problem-] "No, Peter, this is always gonna be a problem!" [...] "This, us, whatever? It needs to stop." we could interpret this exchange as Jason genuinely being unable to see the grey area between total acceptance and no acceptance at all, or else not being able to plan for the way that not hiding would change the way his and Peter's relationship operates and deciding to abandon it before that change could potentially ruin it

Not a whole lot to say about One that isn’t just echoing what I’ve already said about You & I or ROAL. Just that it’s slightly more obvious in regards to Jason’s statements about what he’s “supposed to do”.

"You want me to kiss you, don't you?" / [My feeling for you are real] "But why?" / [So, are you going to?] "Am I?" again, Ivy has to lead all of their romantic interactions - in context it's obviously because Jason doesn't know how to be romantically with girls. but consider that hetero romance has a different set of rules than gay romance does, and he's had 4 years of experience with him & Peter's relationship interactions, and he knows that it's going to be different with Ivy so he needs more explicit instruction

"Kiss you is what I'm supposed to do." again, just the outright statement of what he's supposed to do, like he needs to remind himself how the interaction is going to go

Touch My Soul is probably one of the clearer examples of Jason’s bluntness as it relates to his relationships (and where I think it tends to make me lean him more towards the low empathy category of autistic, for lack of a better term). He’s trying to let Ivy down gently, but at the end of the day it’s sort of a hollow apology/also doesn’t really work, all things considered.

“...I’ve never felt this way before - have you?”   “Yeah, once.” like. that is not a real actual question that warrants that answer. right? this, in addition to being Jason answering a hypothetical question seriously, reads a little bit like him not grasping the extent of how what he's saying is going to impact Ivy

Promise my beloved <3 - mostly I interpret the tail end of Promise as a meltdown, the stress of everything going on coming to a head and Jason’s being too overwhelmed to talk himself or anyone else down.

"I don't know what it is you want from me-" / "Why are you doing this to me?" these lines in particular read as Jason trying to express his confusion & overwhelm - at this point he genuinely doesn't know what Ivy or God want from him, and neither of them are in a space to explain

"Maybe I can? / Learn to love you too." i like to pick this section apart a little bit as being Jason's looking back at everything and believing honestly that he can learn to love Ivy in much the same way he learned all the other confusing social rules he had to follow, despite not being happy about it/it not coming easy to him

"Peter, I don't understand what's happening. I don't know what to do, you have to to help me." [I tried] "Wait, you know what then? Fuck you, Peter. Fuck you!" again!! the desperation replaced with anger when Peter doesn't do what Jason expects him to/is used to him doing leads to an emotional switch - black-and-white thinking can manifest itself as a belief that people are 'good' or 'bad' without room for nuance. and in this particular moment Peter's refusal to go along with what Jason wants from him makes him not on his side, so to speak, and therefore he must be against him

Cross continues the meltdown, and in that state of not being physically/emotionally capable of masking he runs again into the idea that there is something fundamentally wrong with him that he can’t force himself to fit in - which yes is about him not being able to pretend that he’s not gay, but it’s all too easily applied to the idea that he’s always going to be neurodivergent and no matter how good an act he puts on his brain will not work like other people’s.

"I've tried to belong / but I don't, or I won't, I can't, I can't-" this line i dig deeper into because the thing is - he was doing really well, all things considered, at forcing himself to fit in and playing the straight man (if you'll allow me the reference), but even then he knows there's something unchangeably "wrong with him"

"What do I do?" / "What do I do now? Tell me, tell me!" he's desperate for instruction here because there is no precedent for this - this is not a common enough occurrence that Jason has any kind of reference for how he's supposed to behave, and he doesn't have the capacity to figure it out for himself

---

why did i spend three whole days researching + writing this post? because i can! i am by no means an expert, and i'm not claiming that he was deliberately autistic-coded (because i don't think he was), but reading Jason as an autistic person can add an extra layer of depth and tragedy to his character.

i fully acknowledge that a lot of the lines i reference are a stretch, and that they were written with the intention of conveying his turmoil about his sexuality, but they can still be supremely relatable through an autistic lens.

and at the end of the day, Jason McConnell is a fictional character, so it doesn't really matter whether i'm right or wrong about it - i think everyone is entitled to interpret and relate to his character in whatever way they see fit.

consider this - high masking low empathy autistic Jason McConnell

[mirrorcatcreditcard]

As much as being a delusional Luka apologist would be fun, after reading analysis for the past two hours, I choose the only correct path for myself: Admitting his obsession with perfection and winning combined with his low/no empathy makes him seem inhuman while simultaneously empathizing with him because he presents as neurodivergent and his repression and lack of control over his life strikes a chord with my own toxic situation(s) and past/current mental states.

The fuck am I alive for if I can't kin who I want. This man is running off of self-imposed and others-expected perfectionism and love for a woman that shows up in the most fucked up way of wanting her as belonging/confining her because the only thing he knows is being confined in the society he lives in.

Tldr; he's fucked in the head and his trauma has made him unable to feel emotions "normally" or pursue healthy bonds but that's exactly why I love him. And I'm still an apologist.

With that, I'm gonna post my Luka rant I accidentally typed out when trying to talk about my general thoughts on the round 😎 because I have freedom of internet and I live laugh love him the most and Ivan the second most

[ofmdrecaps]

08/03-04/2024 Weekend OFMD Recap

TLDR; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Samba Schutte; Ruibo Qian; Rachel House Dominic Burgess; Nathan Foad; Articles; Fan Spotlight; OFMD Colouring Pages; Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika

Okay yall, I ended up being up all night for days with a grumpy kiddo so I am yet again behind, I'm really sorry. Here's the weekend recap. Aug 5 will go out tonight if I have to chug espresso for the next 4 hours!

== David Jenkins ==

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

== Rhys Darby ==

Our Captain is out in Edinburgh Scotland! Doing his Live Cryptid Factor show with Dan Scheiber and Buttons!

Lots of short videos on his Instagram Stories:

The Cryptid Factor Live - Edinburgh - Buttons CraftTime

The Cryptid Factor Live in Edinburgh - Dan's Book

The Cryptid Factor Live In Edinburgh - The Crypid Factor

The Cryptid Factor Live In Edinburgh - The Caves

Source: Rhys Darby's Instagram

Source: petrichorpond On Twitter (per @mon-ster-chen's Post)

= Astras TV Awards Nominee =

Rhys has been Nominated for BEST ACTOR in a Streaming Comedy Series in the Astra TV Awards! The TV Awards ill be held on Aug 18th so keep your eyes peeled around then!

Source: Hollywood Creative Alliance Instagram

== Taika Waititi ==

Happy Wedding Anniversary to Taika and Rita! (Aug 4th 2022). They were caught smooching out in London recently <3

Source: Instagram

== Samba Schutte ==

No context, but Samba called it "Man in the Mirror"

Source: Samba Schutte's Instagram

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan's weekly Saturday Celebration

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram Stories

= Ruibo Qian =

Just some stills from the Ms. Holmes/Ms. Watson BTS I wanted to include cause they're adorable.

Source: OldGlobe's BTS Video

= Rachel House =

So these are a week old but I found them via a more recent post from someone else there, so putting them in today! Rachel out with friends <3

Source: Instagram

= Dominic Burgess =

Dominic sending us goodnight cat pictures. What a guy <3

Source: Dominic Burgess' Twitter

== Articles ==

Thank you to @adoptourcrew for highlighting this article!

https://telltaletv.com/2024/03/20-iconic-queer-and-trans-characters-of-color-on-tv/

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

https://screenrant.com/tv-shows-always-recommend-good-regardless-genre/

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

== Fan Spotlight ==

= OFMD Colouring Pages =

Another set of colouring pages from our fab friend @patchworkpiratebear - I love that we're getting multiple versions each time now! These are super cool!

Source: PatchworkPirateBears Tumblr: Teacups / Flag

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

Another episode of the Omegaverse! This time hosted by Tessa! Check them out on your favorite listening platforms here!

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies!!! Found this really adorable artist this weekend and I thought I'd share them with you because they really express a lot of things that I tend to think--- like how much I love you all, seriously, did you know you're fucking FANTASTIC?? and fucking BRILLIANT AND AMAZING AND TALENTED!?

Whenever I'm stuck doing work, or other family/life stuff, I always come back to thinking about this awesome fandom, and how much I miss talking too you all and how much I love all the crazy stuff you all get up to every day! I haven't been interacting as much because it's really hard for me to focus with so much going on (yay neurodivergence!)-- but please know I'm watching and laughing, and crying and smiling, and wishing you all the best and cheering you on! Hope the end of the weekend and beginning of the week is treating you wonderfully <3 Take care lovelies!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James (@sunlightafterdark)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James (@sunlightafterdark)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James (@sunlightafterdark)

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

Just needing some of the Cinnamon Sugar, Salt and Pepper boys smiling together for this one <3 Gifs courtesy of more of our gif-masters @eddie-redcliffe and @thunderwingdoomslayer!

[arobotjester]

Talking about Murder Drones in general and episode 8 below the cut. Spoilers ahead.

I'm having a hard time with coping. The spot in my brain between grieving a real life person and a media + it's characters overlaps. I know I can just rewatch the episodes, but to me, it's like how yes you can look at a photo of somebody you've lost, but it's just not the same. I'm neurodivergent and 99.9% chance autistic (diagnosis is expensive) but I just know my brain handles some things at a much higher scale like in this situation.

It hurts knowing we will never see them say new things, go through different stuff, and live their lives. I know there is a potential for Uzi and N to return like Glitch said in the description of episode 8/in the comments, but it's most likely just Glitch Inn shorts/merch stuff. Which, yes, it's fine. I'm grateful to see them at all, but yeah.

I think it's pretty obvious my favorite character of all time is Cyn. I don't know if they'll use Uzi's new or old version if they do decide to bring them back for whatever. If you saw the after credits scene, then you know Cyn is now sharing Uzi's body- in a way. So yeah, I guess she is still there, but I wonder if they'll even use her again.

(Cyn and Solver may have been separate at one point, but it's of my opinion that Cyn is either doing this all herself to follow the Solver's plan or that the two of them are pretty much 1 entity now. The reason I believe the tail is Cyn anyway is because the black hole/NULL that Uzi ate came from Cyn's heart. That is her essence.)

I do plan on writing a post episode 8 fanfic aka my own season 2 tho

TLDR: I'm sad Murder Drones ended, and it's hard to cope.

I might delete this later on but blargh

[strange-creature-222]

I was actually thinking that if I decide to change my user I'm probably changing it to my discord display name (Strange Creature Up To No Good)

When you want to shorten your username but the url strange-creature is already taken by someone who has one post from 2016 that has one like :I

[sharpth1ng]

What do you think is mentally wrong with billy and stu other then being “insane”

I don't actually think they're insane, tbh. I'm going to give a long explanation of this but I just want to say I'm not judging you or the question. Terms like this get miss-used a lot in pop media (including in Scream) so it's easy to get the wrong idea.

"Insane" is a legal category, not a medical diagnosis. Legally, insanity refers to someone being in a state where they are so out of touch with reality that they can't be considered responsible for their actions. The way this works is complicated, but simply put if the crime was violent then it needs to be proven that the accused person didn't actually know what they were doing.

Successful insanity pleas are very very rare, both because the burden of proof is super high and because people with disorders that involve a break from reality don't commit violent crime that often at all. It's actually pretty rare.

So yeah, by that definition these two are not insane at all. They know exactly what they are doing and they intend to do it. They call themselves "psychotic" but that's also a miss-use of the term. They very clearly don't have psychosis, and aside from that people with psychosis are less likely to act violently than people who don't have it (this is a statistical fact).

On that note I just want to point out that the way media connects violence with psychotic disorders is a real problem. It stigmatizes and isolates the real people who struggle with this stuff. It causes others to judge and fear them, it makes them fear themselves, and it makes it harder for them to access treatment and care. So yeah the psychotic line in Scream is a real pet-peeve of mine, that's why I changed it in my writing.

Getting back to Billy and Stu I really don't think their issues and behaviours can be boiled down to any mental health issues. To be clear I don't think anyones bad behaviour can be boiled down to mental health issues. In some cases mental health issues can help us understand where behaviour is coming from, but they're never the only cause. So I'll talk about the way I write them in terms of the issues they deal with, but just keep in mind that these things not the cause of their actions.

I write Billy autistic partly because I am (but also because of the canonical horror movie special interest and third act meltdown) and I'd say my portrayal of Stu also indicates some type of neurodivergence- probably something like ADHD but I don't have any specific diagnosis in mind. Billy also has some attachment and trust issues- these aren't diagnosis or disorders but they are definitely things he struggles with. For his part Stu is dealing with parental neglect and struggles with loneliness as well as under-stimulation.

All of this stuff informs the way they behave with each other, the walls they put up, and the types of relationships they have with other people. For example Billy isn't emotionally open to Sidney at any point. Even if he wasn't gay there was never a possibility for their relationship to work out because he's completely closed off to her. He doesn't trust her.

In terms of what I think is truly wrong with these two it's the misogyny, the slut shaming and the self-centeredness. That's the kind of stuff that I think explains their behaviour for real, and none of it is related to their mental health issues or insecurities.

Stu is a rich white boy living in suburban California and the way I write him, so is Billy. They have shitty values and the kind of privileged upbringing that teaches men to see themselves as the main character. Billy literally has one of those scary tiktok boy moms, like when we see Nancy in Scream 2 she fully excuses all of his behaviour. He's been brought up not having to take accountability or consider the real effects of his actions. Neither of them have.

So yeah tldr: They aren't insane, they do have some legit mental health issues the way I write them, but none of that stuff causes their actions in the movie. Their actions are caused by a toxic combination of sexism and main character syndrome, which are not mental health issues.

I hope all that makes sense!

[aishabellasbigblogofeverything]

I cannot with this.I get that 'narcissistic' as an insult is inherently ableist but Hobie's not 'an ableist fuck',he's a fictional character and it was a one off line💀Like this just screams white,imagine hating like the first mainstream black punk character that's actually as popular as they should be and is like the blackest designed superhero ever PLUS a literal fascist killer and huge activist that took in a trans girl bc her abusive dad kicked her out........because of one line he said that was never backed up or referenced.We never should've let yts have Spiderverse ong

I agree so much with this. Now I won't deny that using "narcissist" as an insult is ableist and I can understand op being upset at Hobie for that, it's still a wild reach to claim that Hobie is ableist because of that one line. He is a fictional character who does not exist in a vacuum, he is controlled by writers who chose to make him use narcissistic as an insult. If there's anyone you should be upset with, it's the writers.

Hobie has always been shown to be nothing short of open-minded and woke and respectful of other people's cultures and identities, and promoting freedom and anarchism in general because, fuck, that's what punk is all about! Even I, someone who has a very low opinion of men as a whole, think Hobie is amazing and would love to hang out with him if he were real! He just seems like a really warm and welcoming fellow! And at the end of the day, no one is perfect, even woke and open-minded people have their blind spots, so even if we separate the art from the artist we could always say that Hobie, as someone from the 70s, isn't aware that using narcissistic as an insult is ableist, and would definitely apologize and do better. Like demonizing cluster-bs is something that is so normalized and embedded in our culture that even the most progressive and super well-meaning people can still fall prey to it. Yes, even other disabled and neurodivergent people, including those who ARE cluster-b and don't know it. Hell, I'm cluster-b and consider myself a progressive person and in the past I used to use "narcissist" "sociopath" and "psychopath" as insults because I just didn't know better. Once I did realize it was bad, however, I stopped. And the same could be true for Hobie.

If OP is so mad about it(which is fair, but still) they could always just write a fanfiction or create a headcanon where Hobie learns the true implications of using cluster-b terms as insults and stops doing it. Hell they could even hc Hobie as being cluster-b himself! But taking it out on the character and calling him an "ableist fuck", when, once again, you're all right to be upset, but that's a little bit too much. I bet if Hobie was white or non-Black this person would have patience for him and understand that it's not his fault, but the writers' faults, but because he's Black, because he's dark-skinned and Black, and alt to boot, he's a big bad scary monster who would definitely beat up narcissists and sociopaths for fun and therefore he must be demonized, attacked, and mistrusted according to this person.

TLDR OP get a grip.

[positivelyadhd]

hello!! I have returned with another random thought about ADHD/neurodiversity that I feel like I've known for ages but never really had the words for it so! this is partially an infodump because I can't shut up but also if you don't mind reading my long ramble on the relationship between ND people and online spaces I would love to know your opinion because I haven't seen many people talking this?

I have written a long rambly thought dump that I'll put under the cut if you want to know the details but the TLDR is: I think something about the internet is just a lot more suited to ND people and gives us more of a place to unmask than the real world does? in my experience, the more online I was the more unmasked and happy in myself I was but when I started masking to fit in in the real world I kind of,, lost that?

I've always felt there's a very strong link between neurodivergent people and social media and well tend to gravitate towards each other (which I adore and would love to write an essay about one day when I can function better! I wanted to study it for my dissertation at uni but there wasn't really enough to go on sadly </3)

but I've also been thinking about masking and I just realised,,, in my own life at least, I feel like online I naturally unmask? and I don't know if that's because I'm around neurodivergent people online more often and them unmasking makes me feel safe to unmask or if it has more to do with the way social interactions are inherently different online (I always feel there's less room to overthink/it's less draining. I only have to think about my words rather than body language/expression/volume/how the other person is responding ect ect)?

I have been chronically online since I was about 12 and that has shaped me as a person very much (and saved me too <33) but I always felt more able to unmask online and was also more likely to actually be rewarded for it? by meeting other neurodivergent people that would talk about The Thing We Love!!

I met my best friends online and they all happen to be neurodivergent (although we didn't know at the time!) and I know this is a very common experience for neurodivergent people! and it's partly why I think the internet is so wonderful!

when I was younger I had a fanpage on Instagram that got more followers than it should've given how young I was and I'd become a part of a community I was so happy and safe in which kind of,, made up for the fact I didn't have that at all in school?

I have been having the usual quarter life crisis recently and a lot of that is because in those few years I had no friends but an online space I loved I was so sure of myself and my identity I think because I had a space I could unmask freely? I also wasn't very good at masking at school so I struggled to fit in but I was happier knowing I could be myself then trying to force myself to be something I wasn't?

eventually I did make friends irl who I adore but around that time is when I started to lose who I was, I hadn't realised until just now that the time I started fitting in with other people was the same time I stopped doing the things I loved and ended up so burned out most everyday tasks are overwhelming?

also like I see a lot of people say, getting my diagnosis taught me to start understanding how to accept myself and it changed my life for the better! my school didn't do anything to support me but I learnt a lot about myself and started to understand that I am,, different to neurotypical people and that's okay!! however,, back then the neurodoversity movement was nowhere near as great and listened to as it is now so I feel like I almost,, gave up? felt like I'd been told by the external world so many times that I had to mask that I learnt how to?

i think unconsciously I started masking instead of trying to grow towards self acceptance like I was before. but with the way the wider world is talking about neurodiversity now I feel like the whole concept of unmasking is more acceptable now? also I am an adult that can make my own decisions not a 13 year old that has teachers and other 13 year olds so I don't have to deal with people not accepting me the way I did when I was younger?

idk if that makes any sense but I have many thoughts about masking ! thank you for reading <3

[reanimationstation]

Can you tell me a little bit more about Sammy’s relationship with his family? What was his relationship to Riley’s parents and assuming he raised her after their deaths, how was he at it?

As soon as he was able to, he basically took off and carved his own life away from his family. They're not on bad terms per se, just distant ones. Very distant. But whether he likes it or not Sammy is notified of people passing, either through mail or someone tracking him down.

I think Riley is Sammy's cousin's kid. But most of their family either doesn't live in America or is too far away to have stepped in, so when he was contacted about his cousins deaths and their now orphaned daughter, he did not have a lot of time to process! He wasn't the closest in the world to them, but due to them living sort of nearby and probably helping him economically early on in his adult life, he held them in good regard (good for Sammy at least).

[THIS GOT LONG SO THE REST UNDER THE CUT]

I think it's sort of implied that whoever ended up taking care of Riley moved into her house? Or at least the devs just didn't want to model a new place lol. So Sammy isn't really... the happiest about moving into his dead cousins place, but it's also leagues better than the dingy little apartment he had. Though I'm not sure if I'm in love with the idea of him moving in I'll have to stew on it. EDIT: also he was pretty young when this happens?? Maybe like, early 20s. He is NOT prepared for a young kid.

He's an......alright guardian. He was and still isn't comfortably being seen as her father figure, but he's doing his best. He's marginally better at taking care of a kid than taking care of himself. Not by much. She's alive that what counts. And she likes him enough, Riley probably thinks he's weird and bit of an asshole at times but hey so is she so whatever.

They're both the eccentric artistic types, so to speak. He doesn't know how to handle her trauma and subsequent art outlet, outside of just letting her be. Which is a good and bad thing... good, because coping! Bad, because coping badly. Not to mention the implications of some sort of addiction (probably alcoholism?) later on with all the bottles strewn about the place. It seems like addiction sort of runs in the family.

When she later gets hired at JDS I think she applied behind Sammy's back. He would not want her working there. So he's not really... on her side when complaints start rolling in about her unsettling art? In his eyes it'd be better for her to work elsewhere. I don't think he ever ends up seeing the fallout of that, as I think his ink addiction and subsequent inkfection and disappearance probably happen sometime during her employment. Which isn't helping her mental state! So there's nobody to stop her from falling into GENT's clutches, because her parents are dead, and Sammy's disappeared.

ANYWAYS TLDR Sammy is a bit distant from his family and tries his best which isn't enough because they're both neurodivergent and need a lot more help than the other (or anyone) can provide.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not roleplaying with someone?

I (19F) started a dnd-type roleplaying server with my friend (also 19F). She's the one in charge so she invited her online friend, Crow (I don't know his age but I know he's a few years younger than us) along with a few others. It's pretty fun although I can't always be there (health and school reasons).

However, me and Crow do not get along. We used to be in other servers together when we were younger and he would constantly say or do things to piss me off (sometimes I also did it back, though). Usually our mutual friends diffuse our arguments and things go back to normal.

From the start it felt like Crow really didn't give a shit about his character and kept making up excuses not to use him (creating other ocs, having him go missing, etc) so I was really shocked when he dm'd me to plan out a scene he wanted to do with my character.

Surprisingly, we put our differences aside pretty well, until it came down to writing the actual scene, where he completely ignored all of our planning and did what he pleased. He claimed it was because I introduced a plot twist (which we did briefly mention in our planning) and was just following the flow. I wasn't mad until he said I shouldn't be mad at something that could have been avoided had I just read his characters' lore (in my defense, he constantly creates new characters and writes pages and pages of info for them, it's hard to keep up when I'm really busy and specifically just want to play with our original cast of characters).

In the aftermath of that conversation I may have offended him because he kept acting all stand off ish but he claimed it was because he was autistic and couldn't really understand what I was trying to say (which I understand because I'm also some sort of neurodivergent who has trouble understanding subtext but it didn't really feel necessary in that conversation)

Cut to a few months later in which he's sort of just gotten really compliant and barely participates anymore, until he just straight up disappears for two weeks (he's done this before on other servers for attention so I just leave him be until he comes back on his own)

Finally, he does come back with like a whole essay on how we've been mistreating him and how terrible he's felt being left out (*cough* self isolating *cough*) I try to reason with him but it feels lile he's just being dismissive and interruptive. And again, he's typing very stand off ish, almost like he's writing a corporate email. I explain that none of us are purposefully leaving him out- he just didn't take the hint that we wanted to write something other than what he liked or thought was fun. I still don't understand what he was trying to say but we agreed to compromise and he went to sleep since it was late.

Now that he's back it's sort of awkward facing him after that night so I try my best to ignore him and do my own thing. He still has fun and writes with the others but I stay out of his way and he stays out of mine. I don't know if that's the right thing to do since he originally got mad at me for ignoring him, am I the asshole, though?

TLDR: I ignored a mutual friend who I can't get along with and then he wrote a vent post (indirectly) about me, AITA?

What are these acronyms?