#villain of my own story (self promo)

[scatcrccio]

SCATCRCCIO —— independent & selective NATALIE SCATORCCIO from Showtimes Yellowjackets. heavily canon based. AU's & multi - verses welcome. established March 9, 2023. rescued by rae ( she/her. pst. ). WARNING: blog will contain triggering content. MDNI. promo credit.

[chacusha]

Hi everyone! Time for a new sticky post. Here are some important, high-level things to note about me:

I am mostly inactive on Tumblr. I have uninstalled the Tumblr mobile app and use a siteblocker to limit how much time I spend on here. I do try to respond to personal messages and asks, but I'm pretty unreliable about everything else -- I mainly only use this blog for self-promo, sorry. See the bottom of this post for other places to find me.

Fandoms: Very many and change unpredictably. Star Trek is the main one at the moment, but I like various JRPGs (Mana, FF, KH, Bravely Default). Soulcalibur and ReBoot are some fandoms I find interesting and dabble in on Tumblr.

I am a proshipper. Not in the sense that I wade into fandom discourse (as I don't like it and so try to avoid it entirely) but that my opinions on fiction and fictional ships 100% aligns with the proshipper position and I avoid antis and people with anti opinions like the plague. More on what I mean by these terms below as there has been a lot of obfuscation (often purposeful) regarding these terms.

More detail on these under the cut.

Inactivity on Tumblr:

I have tried to make changes to make Tumblr more usable for me, but I still don't really have a healthy relationship to the site and still find it socially isolating, especially as a venue for artists who post art. I do respond to messages and asks, and I try to reply to replies and tags as well (sometimes they fall by the wayside, sorry...), and I reblog once in a blue moon, but I mainly use Tumblr for self-promo nowadays. Also, I don't really like talking about my personal life out in the open, so if you want personal updates on my life, I'm much more active on Dreamwidth, which has better privacy controls than Tumblr.

I tend to complain about Tumblr (while continuing to use the site) so much that I have a tag for it (#complaining about tumblr on tumblr). If that kind of negativity bothers you, you may want to unfollow me or filter that tag.

Some helpful links and resources related to my inactivity and frustrations with Tumblr as a platform:

Tips to new users to make Tumblr more usable

My Dreamwidth pitch (and the more readable Dreamwidth version).

Not mine, but here's a guide to using Dreamwidth for Tumblr users.

Here's also my pitch for why dA is not actually a terrible site for posting art compared to Tumblr (but Tumblr still has its advantages).

Some posts I made on why I find Tumblr socially isolating and why I don't tag dive on Tumblr, which are both largely still true.

Proship? Anti?

Most of the time, you can go through fandom without ever running into the proship/anti debate, and this has pretty much been my experience in my JRPG fandoms (Final Fantasy, the Mana series, Bravely Default, etc.). I have unfortunately not really had this experience in Star Trek fandom, sometimes being blindsided by people who seem chill in public then reveal themselves to have kind of unhinged views of fiction and immoral ships in private, so I have decided to just start proactively identifying as proship to ward those people away and will now only join Discord servers of people whom I know are not antis, or which have an explicitly proship moderation line.

Since it is often unclear what people mean by "anti" and "proship," I'll provide my own definition to make it clear what I'm talking about here.

Antis are people who oppose certain ships and the existence of certain types of fictional content because those ships/stories are immoral. While there is quite a bit of variety in where antis draw their moral lines, some common types ships/content that antis view immoral include incest, underage, rape/noncon, power differential, age gaps, etc. as well as being fans of dark (e.g. abusive, genocidal, villainous, etc.) characters, especially if this fannishness has a romantic/sexual attraction sort of element. The general anti approach to fannishness and fiction is to treat people who draw/write/consume fiction featuring these elements and themes as perpetuating harm (sometimes serious harm) through their fictional tastes. Such harm includes normalizing/endorsing/excusing abuse/rape, and grooming or normalizing/promoting pedophilia.

These are pretty weighty accusations, and needless to say, believing that (a) you can tell whether someone is an abuser/pedophile/groomer/etc. based solely on their fictional output or consumption (including what characters/ships they like), and therefore (b) your fandom is filled with literal abusers/pedophiles/groomers/etc. operating completely out in the open, led to people sending death threats, organizing campaigns to chase these "predators" out of fandom, and otherwise raising the cost of people existing in fandom while being a fan of "problematic" ships, whether through a private or public harassment campaign, by doxxing people, sending messages to their employer, etc. etc.

The proship stance/proshippers arose as a reaction to this harassing behavior of antis to basically establish an alternate approach to fandom that allows people to ship whatever relationships they like and which recognizes that fiction and reality do not map one-to-one, and which believes that treating fiction as if it is entirely equivalent to reality, treating fictional characters exactly how you would treat a real-life person, policing the immorality of fiction, etc. tends to lead to unhinged behavior like this (doxxing, harassment, etc.).

There was a very strong backlash to the anti movement and the anti approach to fandom has largely been discredited at this point by being portrayed as "fans taking fandom way too seriously," which is in some sense, accurate. But I don't think that this means that antis and their approach to fiction is entirely gone, just that they are merely more quiet/underground/cryptic about their anti positions. Also, I am a bit unusual in that I don't think that it was only the behavior that was wrong (doxxing, harassment, death threats, etc.), although it certainly was very wrong! But I also think that behavior was the natural consequence of a set of beliefs that generally equates fiction and reality; that is uncomfortable with the eroticization of the dark, immoral, and taboo; and that views the "point" or "main activity" of fandom and fannishness as being to write/consume/love "good" ships/content only. So long as people possess that particular approach to fiction, they are (in my mind) an anti at heart and their approach to fandom is probably antithetical to my own.

I take an approach to fiction that includes:

A recognition that there are plenty of reasons to want to write about certain characters having sex (even titillating, pornographic sex) that aren't "I am literally attracted to the characters and would still be attracted to the same characters if they were real."

Not harassing creators or other fans over shipping or creative output.

The view that "thoughtcrime" is not a legitimate concept.

Being against the idea that enjoyment of art can lead to moral contamination through association.

Art is not (and cannot be) the same thing to everyone. From "I couldn't enjoy this art for moral reasons," it is incorrect to conclude that, "If people enjoyed this art, that must mean they are immoral."

Just being chill about fandom, fans, and creators -- having a sense of perspective that fandom is a minor part of life and a minor part of pop culture, that fandom is a hobby filled with amateur, self-published creators who are learning their craft as they go, and often using fiction and art to explore their own sexuality.

I find this write-up to be a good outlining of the anti vs. proship debate and how antis tend to behave in fandom. People often also classify the anti phenomenon and approach to fiction as a kind of "purity culture" derived from an evangelical Christian upbringing (which views bad media to have a corrupting influence and the goal of reading/fictional consumption is to read "good" things only), but with the Christian social mores rejected and swapped out for non-Christian secular social justice values (consent, diversity and humanizing/"good" representation, etc.), and this seems to me a plausible theory and is largely how I understand the anti phenomenon as well.

Also, very tenuously related to anti/proship stuff, but I am generally someone with low tolerance for character/ship bashing, and for "I ship this problematic ship in the RIGHT way while other people ship it WRONG" type posting, and generally for making snide comments about other people's fic/art in public. Don't get me wrong -- I love a good rant about fandom, even a good public rant if it's not my fandom and I can eat some popcorn as I read. I have ships I can't stand and am happy to rant about them at the drop of a feather. But sometimes you have to pick the right audience for a rant, y'know?

Anyway, I generally try not to wade into fandom discourse (this is a self-imposed ban as I know if I let myself post about it, it will consume my brain), but I don't want my overall silence on this topic to be taken as neutrality or indifference in the whole anti/proship debate.

Oh yes, and if it wasn't apparent already, I am a very tl;dr person.

Where to find me:

Art Tumblr: https://denahi.tumblr.com/ 

Dreamwidth: https://chacusha.dreamwidth.org/ 

DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/chacusha 

Discord: chacusha

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chacusha/profile 

Communities I run:

Trials of Mana / Seiken Densetsu 3 fan community on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/communities/trials-of-mana

Quodo discussion/fan community on Dreamwidth: https://quodo.dreamwidth.org/ 

Quodo fanart archive on DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/quark-x-odo/ 

My Discord for Quodo (18+ with a proship moderation line): https://discord.gg/VaCnMYvKu6

My Discord for the Mana series (all ages, also technically with a proship moderation line but the issue just never comes up in this fandom ¯\_(ツ)_/¯): https://discord.gg/6wFWwnRvJr 

[moro-the-sun]

Um hi hello ayup. I’m sure everything I’ve read is pretty popular already but I’d just like to share my love with someone else.

1) Self-promo: I can load a rifle (I don’t need it anymore). Symmetreebark roadtrip fic in au where everything is slightly retro and I gave everyone a gun! Also war theme, be careful with that — a lot of us need to get out our thoughts about it sometimes, cus we live in. . . Where we live in.

2) all goes outward and onward (by Hypno_Cat). Grian taking a fight with grass and failing miserably, even if Mumbo and Scar try to help. This is just one of the best things I’ve read lmao, mumscarians here are so sweet and goofy and just all the absurd of situation- I’ve laughed so hard you don’t know how.

3) the birds in flight, the birds still singing (by Hypno_Cat). Grian has a trauma, and Mumbo tries to solve it with marriage, and Impulse is also here. This fic made me cry, and laugh, and kick the bed like I’m eight years old. I felt like I was on the real wedding. I’ve never seen a wedding in my life. What an expirience.

4) The Highwayman (by EnvelopedByOblivion). Jimmy is a sheriff and Tango is a highwayman, and Death loves them — maybe even a bit too much. Great fic with good atmosphere and character bond in which I just believe. Maybe I cried a little. You don’t know it.

5) Halcyon (by Flickersprout). I hope dream smp fic is ok here?? Tubbo is hero, and then he is not, and it is not better; then one day he meets Tommy, and then befriends villain, and maybe something is slightly better. This clingy duo dynamic is so sweet, like I love them so much. Also even if it looks like your basic superhero fic, it’s actually not! This is a very original work.

6) Na Pescatora, nu Folle i'llu Mare tràsinu 'nta nu bar (by in_the_forest). Gem and Grian go to a seedy bar, hear their own story told like it's an old legend and the existential dread kicks in only a LITTLE bit. an episodic story where the plights with the Mending Book get recalled, and gem's little town horrors and fish apparitions grow and run deeper than she thought possible.))

This fic is in Italian, but it deserves love for Gem-Grian dynamic, atmosphere and plot twist. I fall in love when I beta’ed it and I’m still in love.

you know what I haven’t seen going around in a while, and could use some of myself? fic recs! so, consider this both a rec and a self-promo post: recommend some fics to me in the reblogs and I’ll reblog your recs! in general, try to include both a summary and why you’re reccing it (whether it’s a self-promo or someone else’s), and let’s get some eyes on fics!

[valkyrie-night-103]

I'm gonna butt in with a couple my questions if that's alright! Namely 2E, 2F and 4A!

2F - What would your promos be like?

This depends where my character is in her story! (See my answer to 2A, as this won’t make complete sense without it. 2D also helps)

In the beginning when she starts off, she’s upbeat and optimistic and endlessly hopeful, and her promos would reflect this. It would seem too rehearsed to really connect though.

When she’s in her insecure villain era, she will give off a more aggressive, ruthless vibe. It’s a total 180. Yet again, it still feels rehearsed. Gradually she gets more confident and the words become more meaningful. She stops caring about what people think and she lets herself show.

In her confidence/redemption era, she’ll have a strong connection with the crowd. I can imagine something along the lines of ‘if you hadn’t been hard on me, I would have lied to myself forever. I wouldn’t be me without you’

2E - What would your makeup/hair/face paint look like?

Yet again, this coincides with my other answers! (2A, 2D, and 2F above)

Early era - more feminine and delicate makeup, curled/wavy hair that is quite impractical to wrestle with.

Insecure Villain into Confidence/Redemption Era - as she grows more angry, she transitions into edgier makeup that is also subtle- rather than foundation, blush and and lipstick, just a little bit of smokey eyeshadow, slightly smudged mascara and a tinted lip that isn’t quite purple but isn’t red or pink either. As she transitions into being more true to herself, she cuts her hair short and stops curling it, embracing her total lack of beach waves. She does little eyeliner doodles along her cheekbones and across the bridge of her nose.

These changes don’t happen overnight, they’re slow and subtle, but when you compare pictures that are months/years apart, it becomes very obvious.

4A - Would you have a valet/manager?

I actually don’t think I would! I think that the story I want to tell would work best if my character is mostly on her own. Though, when she gains her confidence and sense of self, she might have a tag team partner or fellow faction member that seconds her for big matches or promos.

[berlinini]

I think the problem is that his team doesn’t believe in him.

I remember at the beginning of the last year, when walls was released, some fans said that they talked with his manager and he told them that they didn’t do a lot of promo because they thought walls wouldn’t do well on the charts.

Same in the documentary they didn’t believe this festival will happen and Louis was so so so sure that it will happen.

They don’t know what capable Louis is of and that is so frustrating.

Oh, that is FOR SURE what is happening. LTHQ is my villain origin story.

You can see it clearly in the documentary, when Louis is sitting down with Matt Vines to talk about the festival (the sequence where Louis wears his blue cap and white football jersey, after Mexico). The tension... Louis' body language is everything: he's not looking at Matt for one second, he seems super tense and sad, he's smoking in a nervous manner. I think it's very telling - he's far from being his carefree, chippy self like he is around others.

Then there's the interview bit, Louis says the following:

Early on I piled the pressure onto my manager, Matt, and I’m like ‘if nothing else happens this year, this is got to happen this year’ and I said 'I’m gonna be reminding you every single time I speak to you' and every time I did, I put the pressure on him because I could just feel how amazing it’s gonna be.

A bit later, we come back to footage of the meeting and this happens:

Cameraman: Is there a probably that it won’t happen?

L: Well fucking yeah (laughs)(...)

Matt: That it won’t happen? Yeah, there’s every possibility that it won’t happen...

L: When it happens, not if; it will happen, I just got a good feeling about it.. ugh…. It’s just gonna be a really special night (...)

I think there's a lot of things that Louis communicated through the documentary, either directly or indirectly. The quote above is direct - he's showing he was so enthusiastic with the idea of the festival that he told Matt he would gently harass him until they made it happen. Underlying, he is saying that Matt didn't jump on board the moment he heard the idea, didn't start moving water and earth to make it happen, which is what you should be doing if you're Louis Tomlinson's manager. Because Louis has a strong fanbase and it was clear that the event would be a success on its own (COVID permitting). Because if you're an artist's manager, your job is to make your client shine and give them as many opportunities as possible. So with that quote, Louis also said: my manager is shit and I have to harass him to make him do his fucking job.

Their interaction about whether it would happen is also very telling. Why would Louis, who is the most optimistic person there is, who always gets up after being put down, work with someone who has as little faith as Matt? If Louis says "not if, but when it happens", shouldn't the person who is in charge of his career be on the same wavelength? Shouldn't that person also say: no matter what comes up, we'll do everything we can so it happens. Why would Louis work with someone who doesn't believe in his full potential?

Why is it that Louis always says that his strength and determination comes from his fans? Like we're the only ones who believe in him? Why on earth does he feel like he doesn't deserve to be where he is and is always surprised by the support he receives from us? For me it's clear as day that people around him have worked very hard at undermining his career and his confidence, and I absolutely believe his team, including his useless manager, is part of that.

I think there's a reason why the last thing Louis says in the documentary is: "If I've got these lot behind me, who the fuck is gonna stop us?"

The fans have been here all along and the support he's received is the reason he never gave up. I think Louis is building back his confidence and the fact that everything that he does goes beyond his (and everyone's) expectations because of the fans is showing him that if he's got the mindset and the willpower, and our support, he can make it, no matter who in the industry is working so hard against him, or how little the people supposedly working for him actually work. There's a reasons he made this whole festival by himself...."Together we’re unstoppable!"

[darlington-v]

I know different interpretations of a work are generally enriching and cool... but c!dream villan interpretations is like how to tell me you only watch Tommy without saying you only watch tommy.... which would be fine but its not a great place to be making statements about the whole nature of the dsmp lol

Wild speculation, but sometimes I wonder if like, because the dsmp didn't really start as a narrative, and a lot of fans don't nessecarily enter it expecting a narrative, but then there is one and the fandom is really discourse heavy and everyone is sort of excpeted to have an opinion while maybe not expecting to form one from the begining or not having a ton of experience with narrative in a way that would "expect" them to have an opinion or not take things at face value??, I don't know if I explained that well at all... and I don't really even think thats right nessecarily... but like wow sometimes some of the takes about power and government and villany...

Honestly, it makes sense!!!

I think something interesting is like.... looking at how animatics have shaped the like tone and culture of the fandom essentially. Like, an interesting fact that I didn't really fully grasp until SUPER recently is like...

c!Wilbur out the gate admits he is manipulating c!Tommy. Like his first youtube video on the Dream SMP he admits his goal is to manipulate c!Tommy and people like c!Tommy into helping him achieve a potion ("drug") empire to monopolize on potions because there were a lot of people on the server who like to min-max, which is to put all of your effort into this one specific skill essentially. so like... i know minecraft doesnt have a skill tree but if it did, it would be putting all your points into that one specific branch of a skill tree. So he wanted to exploit the labor of all the TommyInnits to.... maintain a Potion Empire.

THIS IS A LONG POST BC I GOT CARRIED AWAY SO BUCKLE UP

And I don't think a lot of the fandom who joined later on knows this. I certainly didn't until like a week or so ago? Like... I knew c!Wilbur had been manipulative from the start because I'm a mod of (shameless self promo incoming) @dsmpanalysis and we have a lot of different POVs in that mod team and discord and we talk about it really frequently. I joined the fandom as someone who was really big on L'manburg ESPECIALLY crimeboys, and have turned into.... *gestures vaguely to my blog*

And ngl I owe a lot of it to @1-michibiki-1 in terms of c!Dream "Apologism" but all of the mods there have expanded my thoughts and views on the storylines of this narrative.

My application consisted of like largely essays about like... how I think Dream was the villain but he was meant to be the villain because you don't get any insight into his character WHICH.... IS A FAIR ASSUMPTION AT FIRST GLANCE. People are easily villainized when you cannot get a glimpse into their thought process. It's easy to dwindle someone down into this flat character and starting out I knew Dream didn't stream the SMP on purpose.

And I personally came to the conclusion of "Oh! So Dream is supposed to be the villain." However as the story continued and I learned more about what Dream went through I began to realize that... it's more than likely a form of a red herring. My opinions on this were immediately solidified when I watched Ranboo's 2 MIL stream because both Ranboo AND Dream agree on enjoying red herrings.

There have been MANY times were Dream has said that c!Dream is a complex character and he's not a wholly evil guy and there have been times where the narrative has honestly just proved that.

Anyways, what's important though was that... I learned most of this from other people who were more focused on c!Dream rather than myself. Eventually I shifted from c!Tommy to c!Ranboo and c!Techno after c!Tommy betrayed c!Techno and I began to realize.... everything I learned before hopping in wasn't exactly what it seemed.

Part of this is because I'm older, I heavily identify with c!Techno's sense of loyalty and philosophies on government, but I especially identify with the anguish c!Techno voiced in... a lot of lore but especially the lore around Doomsday.

I'm not 16 anymore. I don't always feel wronged by adults, or older people in my case, whenever they absolutely have done something wrong by me, but I do feel wronged by my close friends. I also felt like c!Tommy's sense of loyalty didn't line up with mine after what felt like him constantly flip-flopping and refusing to understand c!Techno's morals on government didn't line up with his.

In short, it was easier to identify with Tommy in these animatics versus in the actual stream content because c!Tommy is played by a 16 year old. I'm not a teenager and my line of thinking doesn't entirely line up with people that age anymore. It's harder to place myself in the same shoes of someone's OC who is played closer to their actual age, because I'm not that age.

Regardless, I was still on the c!Dream is a villain train. I wasn't ever like... c!Dream is repulsive I hate him, but I was like omg hot villain lad go brrr.

Even when the first like... mellohi, panic room, Ranboo lore stream popped up I thought "Oh! c!Ranboo corruption arc?"

And I was excited because I really wanted this shy, nervous character to turn into villain buddies with his good pal c!Dream. I'm a total sucker for villains and corruption arcs and all that good shit.

SO I STARTED GETTING REALLY INTERESTED IN ENDERSMILE. I'VE BEEN ON ENDERSMILE SQUAD OUT THE GATE. NOT THE SAME WAY I AM NOW, BUT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED THEM TO TEAM UP.

So... upon not really keeping up with c!Dream and being relatively??? indifferent? I don't think I started arguments on c!Dream back then, but I might have. But I remember like... starting to participate more whenever c!Dream came up and looking more into Dream's character BUT ESPECIALLY TALKING WITH OUR SERVER'S C!DREAM SPECIALIST MICHI ABOUT DREAM A LOT MORE.

And because Michi has been a watcher since day one and was a DTeam fan rather than a SBI fan, she was able to provide me with more information on how the server worked pre-Tommy but especially pre-Wilbur.

Now, you could definitely argue well Michi probably has clear bias but it made sense to me when I looked back on how the storyline had been constructed and was going along, and everyone in the server talks a lot about our own biases and how we want people to maybe not lean so hard on them. Michi would also provide like anecdotes on what had happened and I'm sure links were probably provided at one point but the point was I felt like Michi had no reason to lie or manipulate how the story was told and if she did, eventually someone would have pointed it out because... Group of like... right now it's around 20 or more analysts but I don't remember how many at the time there were. POINT BEING, WE'VE ALL GOT POINTS TO PROVE AND IN MY EXPERIENCE NOT MANY OF US HAVE BEEN SHY TO PROVE THEM.

So if anyone ever had any differing opinions they would be talked about and we literally had and still have discussions.

REGARDLESS.... I DIDN'T FACT CHECK IN DEPTH BECAUSE I THOUGHT PEER REVIEW WAS ENOUGH WHEN YOU HAVE LIKE HOURS UPON HOURS OF STREAMS TO WATCH.

Anyways. Eventually I started paying closer attention and looking more into c!Dream lore but only recently have I started to triple check before speaking about c!Wilbur lore because I know everyone has biases and while I did trust everyone's thoughts and analysis in the discord, whenever I make essays I typically like it to be largely air tight and if theres a mistake, I want it to be because I forgot not because I just trusted what was said. Plus, I wanted to get down to the specifics of how Wilbur had always started with manipulation on the mind.

SO I WATCHED HIS FIRST VIDEO ON THE DREAM SMP.

AND WHAT I WAS NOT BY ANY MEANS EXPECTING WAS WILBUR TO SAY WORD FOR WORD, VERBATIM,

"SO WHY DON'T I START AN INDUSTRY WHERE I USE THE TOMMYINNITS OF THE WORLD TO WORK FOR ME, TO CREATE THINGS THAT THE MIN-MAXERS OF THE WORLD WILL WANT."

Like... this is in no way an attempt to like hardcore villainize c!Wilbur like everyone does Dream, it's just more so to like REALLY outline how far off a lot of fandom interpretation of c!Wilbur is....

Because of SBI focused animatics.

Now, when I joined I watched A LOT of animatics that really highlighted like... Wilbur being this self-loathing JD-esque, "I destroyed it because I had to because the world was against me because no one loved us, Tommy" type of character. At least... that's what it came across as.

And it definitely highlighted the fact that Tommy was a victim, which he is. He is undoubtedly a victim and no not even any dream apologist can change my mind otherwise. Tommy, despite being an instigator sometimes, didn't deserve the abuse he received.

But these animatics never shown the fact that c!Wilbur started L'manburg as a shady ploy to exploit people like c!Tommy and vilify c!Dream so he could have power.

And that was easy because Dream and Tommy had wars before. They had spars and pranks and here's the plan to take back my disks and here's the plan to out smart the thieving little child etc etc.

And all of the animatics I watched never mentioned this. Neither did the recaps though. The recaps gave the events flat out, there didn't sound like there was bias, and honestly I don't really know if there was rather than like... a lack of nuance. And it's hard to provide a recap with that much nuance in a short period of time for a youtube video, to be perfectly fair.

However, this creates a perfect formula for entirely rewriting the history of a server. c!Wilbur quite literally fucking succeeded TO A META LEVEL. He slandered and ran smear campaigns against Dream and like he even does that with Sapnap in the beginning. But what's crazy is that it transferred over into the meta! Most of this fandom understands Wilbur as a victim of mental illness, and yeah maybe? He definitely wasn't mentally well by the end of pogtopia, but he never started out with honorable intentions. L'manburg was never a victim, only its citizens. The TommyInnits of the world.

I just think it's like... such an interesting case study. Because this is like... an opinion like shared by at least half of the fandom, but the vilifying of c!Dream is shared by MOST of the fandom I would argue. Which is like even more crazy for me because that was c!Wilbur's goal!!!

LIKE I GO INSANE WHEN I THINK OF THIS BECAUSE HIS REACH IS JUST TOO POWERFUL. HE'S NOT EVEN ENTIRELY REAL, JUST A MANIPULATIVE PERSONA OF SOME BRITISH GUY.

And I mean... maybe people who have watched Wilbur's video on the SMP still maintain this idea that Wilbur wasn't always the bad guy, but honestly... I wouldn't be surprised if their introduction was still an animatic. Like bias is hard to check and I'm not going to lie I could have sworn I watched both Wilbur's AND Tommy's video on the SMP in the beginning and yet I STILL was a ride or die for tragic yet on some level still honorable Wilbur and a resilient Tommy.

Like... upon watching Wilbur's first video... possibly again I was surprised because I thought I did watch it like right before I even started watching the streams and yet I was still so invested in c!Wilbur as this tortured anti-hero.

It took 6 months of... not being in an echo chamber, full of multiple different people of different ages, different stream POVS, and people who joined the fandom at different points in time.

IDK IF THIS WAS EVEN ENTIRELY RELEVANT IT JUST FELT TANGENTIALLY RELEVANT AND THIS WAS SOMETHING I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT FOR A HOT MINUTE AFTER LIKE WATCHING WILBUR'S FIRST VIDEO AGAIN.

TLDR;

SBI CENTRIC ANIMATICS HAD A LASTING AFFECT ON THIS FANDOM AS IT'S HARD TO GO BACK AND ACTUALLY CHECK THE NARRATIVE FOR SOLID FACTS FOR YOUR OWN INTERPRETATION BASED ON THE FACT THAT THIS NARRATIVE SPANS OVER HUNDREDS OF HOURS WORTH OF TWITCH STREAMS.

[whumpwillow]

What are some blogs with good villain whumpees?

HOOO BOY OKAY HERE WE GO

me, obviously #humblebrag (im kidding lol)

@whump-a-la-mode is one of my all time favorites. so many villain whumpees and so many series, how do they do it all. i will never know. Anyway, they do some cool stuff like ‘choose your own adventure’ type stories with villain whumpees too. good stuff.

@the-three-whumpeteers has lots of good prompts and tropes

@redwingedwhump has her Captured series about an evil warlock who gets whumped and then rescued by friends who help him get started on a redemption arc, I’m literally obsessed with it. Dnd style environment.

@equestrianwritingsstuff i just discovered and haven’t read anything by her yet, but she has villain whumpee in her bio so 

@befuddled-calico-whump has a whump comic about a villain tortured by someone and then found by the heroes and it updates regularly 

uhhhhh i know there’s more but these are all the ones I can think of so far, feel free to add onto this post (self-promos are okay) because yes, we can always use more villain whump 🤗

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 6x19 The Black Fairy

Peter Pan! So weird to think they were married but I mean they’re both kinda obsessed with collecting children that aren’t their son which is a weird coincidence.

Aww baby Rumple!

Malcolm looks so happy to have a baby. It seems it was the loss of Fiona that made him resent Rumple. Perhaps he could have been a father with her support but he just couldn’t handle being a single father. 

I wish we got to know more about fairy lore

Rumple was born in winter. He’s totally a Capricorn!

Aren’t Saviors meant to save realms from dark curses? But the dark curse wasn’t created yet. Maybe they retconned it and they’re just meant to save people.

That dragon egg is awfully convenient. What happened to the characters going on quests to find things like this? It’s too easy to wake Blue up.

Snow straight up strangling the Blue Fairy. I know it’s not her but I think Snow deserves that opportunity. 

Quick thinking Rumple with that cuff! 

Why does Emma have to have sleepy time too?

Is the shack Rumple was born in the same place he and Milah lived in? Probably not.

Yep. Really shouldn’t have given her that book of prophecies. What did they expect? Fiona to be overjoyed her son would die at the hands of a great evil?

Wait. It’s not possible for someone to turn themselves into a fairy? There must be something about Fiona. There’s something about that family, I swear. It seems they were all destined for great power and great evil.

Regina teaching Zelena to drive is the best thing ever but she totally could have escaped with Henry on her broom if things went wrong. If people in New York saw her and Henry flying high defying gravity they’d just think it was promo for Broadway’s Wicked.

Lmao! Omg Zelena! This scene is glorious!

Oh yeah, baby Robin could fit on the broom too. They’d make it work!

Regina: “I trust him to raise you.” Lol. So true but now I need all the fics with Henry raising his little cousin and Auntie in New York. 

The Black Fairy is so freaking creepy singing a lullaby to Blue.

The hatred emanating from the Black Fairy for Blue gives me shivers. 

And then she’s like “I’m so happy we get a chance to play,” and sits down like a child. Chills, I tell you! Like, Blue has completely destroyed who she used to be.

What was she going to do to the child if she’d found one with the crescent mark? 

Aww. Rumple breaking down and saying “I would do anything for you, son.” This man freaking loves his children. 

How did they end up in Rumple’s dream when Gideon was the first to be sprinkled with the night night sand?

Hook: “How do we know you are actually you.” Regina: “Because it’s me!” Sounds legit.

Aww, Hook just called Regina “love”. Are they getting along again, now? I saw a meta the other day that noted how Regina only started to dislike Hook when he got serious with Emma and I’m pretty sure that’s true. Interesting!

I wanted to see a proper witch fight dammit! For a show with so many sorcerers, we deserved more magical duels.

But omg Zelena suddenly running the Black Fairy over and her flipping over the car is the best thing in existence! 

Aww the sisters’ little smiles to each other. 

The sacred vault of the fairies? Are they, like, religious? 

This poor woman. I feel so sorry for her. She’s just desperately and feverishly trying to protect her baby. What did they expect from her? Most mothers would go to those lengths if they were told their child would suffer such a horrible fate. That would bring anyone to the end of their tether.

Omg wtf. “He’s destined to die so that other children may live.” That is a beyond cruel thing to say to the face of a mother. What the hell? Omg the pain on Fiona’s face. No child should be sacrificed for another. How heartless of the fairies.

So did Emma replace Rumple as the EF’s Savior or can their be multiple Saviors? 

Agggh this is so horrific. Poor Fiona finding out she is destined to kill her own child. She’s devastated. 

Oh, did she get the crescent scar when she was disarmed? 

Oh cool, the Black Fairy can project memories! That’s quite a unique power.

Blue could have saved a lot of people by remotely teleporting their hearts into her hands from the EQ’s or Cora’s and yet she didn’t.

She has a point. Even if she severed her destiny so she wouldn’t be the one to kill him, he could still be in danger from some other threat.

Blue, what the hell! Summoning a portal was absolutely uncalled for. What because she dared to upset you as you were so desperate for him to become the Savior for some reason? Probably part of her long-game evil plan. So what if he didn’t become a Savior?! Blue’s going on like that was the worst crime. She was just trying to protect him and you separated a doting mother who was no longer a danger to him from her child! You had no right! She is so self-righteous, I swear to god. It’s nothing to do with her. Who does she think she is?! Blue has ruined so many lives and gotten away with it because she believes she’s all high and mighty. She’s just as much of a villain as any other on this show. It makes me so mad. Poor Fiona. No wonder she hates Blue. 

Fiona: “I promise you son, I will spend every moment of every day trying to find my way back to you!”

I think she let Rumple hate her because it was too painful and she didn’t think she deserved his love. 

There are a lot of parallels between Rumple and his mother’s stories. They are much alike. 

Malcolm genuinely loved Fiona. He said she was the love of his life. Gosh I needed backstory with those two! After her he felt the only way he could be happy again was to return to childhood and Neverland so he didn’t have to think about Fiona. It was too painful. Easier to pretend he’d never loved. 

Malcolm must have lied to Rumple and told him his mother had abandoned him.

The fairies imply Fiona is dead to cover their own asses. They won’t say they banished her because they damn well know he’d fight them to get the love of his life back.

Lol. Sorry but calling your child Rumplestiltskin just to spite him is hilarious. What does it mean? Oh! It means “Little Rattle Stilt.” I mean it could have been worse it could have been “Little Sh*thead.” 

Also the Fairies hearing him blame the baby for his wife’s death should have rung alarm bells. They should have put him in a home where he’d be loved and cared for. Nope, just leave him with this guy who hates him.

Eww. They put a heart on the dinner table.

Giddy Up’s got his heart back! Yehaaaw!

“A seafaring man does not take superstitions likely.” So he is superstitious! He allowed a woman on his ship for years so maybe superstitions are different in the EF.

Oh my God, next week’s the musical episode!!!! I can’t wait!!!!

[adultswim2021]

Frisky Dingo #1: “Meet Killface” | October 16, 2006 – 12:30AM | S01E01

Welcome to the first episode of Meet Killface! AKA Adam Reed's got something to prove.

Frisky Dingo was Matt Thompson and Adam Reed's follow-up to Sealab 2021. Sealab 2021 began life as “one of the good ones”, quickly got AWFUL (it was way before Capt. Murphy died, you philistines), then, and I don't think this is hyperbole, it became one of the worst TV series of all time. Then there was a LITTLE BIT of an uptick towards the end. A friend of mine noted in the mailbag that the transformation of Debbie, a shallow young woman who was traditionally the a vehicle for slut jokes, seems to have transformed thanks to Arrested Development’s influence; in the final season she became a born-again Christian and little bit of a Lindsay Bluth type trying to do misguided do-gooder things.

This episode starts off the same way the promos did: a brief clip of the Sealab 2021 opening becomes staticky and then fades into a close-up of Killface, a scary muscular alien type guy. He has a deep voice and a British accent. He is unmistakably a villain, but to make it 100% clear he lays out his plan to the viewing public: he's built a gigantic jet propulsion system designed to jettison the entire planet Earth directly into the Sun, destroying everyone and everything. I don't believe there's a ransom or anything like that involved. This message is simply to tell all of America that the world will soon be engulfed by the sun's flames.

The message ends with a lingering awkward silence and we pull out to reveal that he has a video crew; a pair of twins voiced by Brendon Small (credited as Donald Cock, the name of his doctor character from Squidbillies). He also has a female assistant who is terrified of Killface after he murders one of the twins by shooting him in half with some alien weapon. They argue about marketing and Killface's ability to reach a mass audience. They argue about the feasibility of getting his message to air on every channel at once, the price per unit on a DVD mailing campaign, and other, uh, stuff. It's sorta like Tim & Eric in that corporate speak is sorta lampooned. But there's more violence in this than in Tim & Eric. We also introduce Killface's son Simon, who’s rebellious and has emotional issues probably due to Killface's coddling. He's not nearly as intimidating as his father, but he's the only one that can stand up to him without being gored to death.

I always considered this first episode to be a little weak, and I think a lot of Frisky Dingo is weak, but I remember the series as a whole winning me over towards the end. Then it was done, and my goodwill just sorta had to evaporate into the ether. I guess I should've started watching Archer after that. Whoops. The main problem for me is that this show is WAY WAY WAY self-consciously trying to be intelligent. Gone are the “who gives a fuck” bad jokes of Sealab 2021. Make no mistake, Adam Reed and Matt Thompson must've looked at Sealab 2021 and pondered their own legacy and thought “we should maybe try to make something that isn't terrible”. So they made this show which is a little bit Tom Goes to the Mayor mixed with Arrested Development with the visual flair of Get Your War On.

Hell, the Arrested Development thing is inescapable. There's a part where Killface tells his son that they will never move back to Arizona. There were entire story-arcs built around Jason Bateman threatening to move to Arizona with his son. It's functionally the same joke, and the humor comes from the exact same place on both shows. I wonder if there will be more flagrant examples as the series goes on...

I don't think I’ve ever rewatched this show at all, really. I watched every episode when it came out, that's for sure. But I was never in love with it; it was merely good enough to watch once. I DID buy the DVDs for the sake of being an Adult Swim completist, but the lack of extras caused me to not even see what the menus looked like until this recent watch. They're okay, I guess. It's just like, big pictures of the guys in the show.

The only personal anecdote I have of substance regarding this show: one time I was showing Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! to a group of friends and it was going pretty well. There was one guy who I won't name but I'll call him Harrison Stink. He was previously a shy unassuming guy who at that point in time was turning into a clout-chasing snot-nosed monster. He covered his body in awful tattoos and became a male model and eventually appeared in the “LOOK AT THIS FUCKING HIPSTER” book. This was back when Hipster meant one very specific thing, which was that you were a selfish, immature young man who made bad fashion choices in a smug way and propped up other shitheads who dressed like you as though were the most precious people on Earth. There was a female equivalent to this but they were not hipsters at all, they were just INSANELY BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. I know that sounds sexist, but to be fair I am sexist.

Anyway, this guy's default mode was to shit on everything unless he saw an opportunistic angle to liking it. One time he was offered a spot in a band just doing like handclaps (he did not play an instrument and they’d recorded a few songs with him for fun) and he acted like the whole thing was beneath him and turned it down. When the band started getting successful he suddenly was like “hey are you still needing a handclap guy?”

When he saw Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! He immediately turned his nose up at it. If you are uninitiated: Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! actually has a GREAT reputation as a COOL GUY CULT MOVIE, and it was unmistakable to me that he had no concept of this; because if he did he absolutely would've acted like he'd seen it already and that it was his favorite movie. He was embarrassing himself on two separate levels.

But he didn't just turn his nose up at it: he defiantly sat in the room with a bunch of guys all laughing and cheering and having a great time and decided to shit on it humorlessly, just moaning “this sucks. We should watch something else” while everyone shouted him down. He wasn't even watching it, really, he was actually watching something else on his computer with headphones and would just periodically look up from his screen to torment us.

He was watching Frisky Dingo.

MAIL BAG

My write-up sure ended apruptly huh? Seems like another paragraph or two should’ve followed it, wrapping up my thoughts in a more definitive way? Fuck all that shit, here is Kon who is never wrong:

Ah… can't believe we're already up to Frisky Dingo…

I went into Frisky Dingo absolutely determined to hate it because of how much I hated the last half of Sealab. I just refused to believe it could be good. But also, my expectations for Frisky Dingo were so rock-bottom low that the show couldn't help surpass them. Like I was literally expecting Frisky Dingo to be 11 minutes a week of a Penny Arcade-esque Adam Reed analogue character looking at the screen and ranting about how unfair the critics are to him, calling out specific message board posters by username, etc. The idea of the show having settings, characters, jokes, even basic elements of storytelling, didn't even occur to me. When I saw it, I was genuinely astonished that it actually had any aspirations whatsoever to entertain, instead of being a completely self-indulgent wank. So, I simultaneously underrated Frisky Dingo because of Sealab's baggage, AND overrated it for actually being an actual show. I have no idea how I did that but in the fall of 2006 I somehow did. 

So in conclusion that is why Frisky Dingo is a pretty alright show sometimes. The end.

[juleswritesthis]

Roswell NM 3x11 Thoughts (I have a lot of thoughts!!!)

Contrary to popular opinion I really liked this episode. Yes, the science was so made up it was funny, yes certain character choices are hilariously silly, yes there was a lot of scenes filled with exposition dump, yes characters disappearing for episodes not to be mentioned as if they don’t exist is jarring & annoying, and omg yes, the Wyatt arc (if you can call it that) fell flat and was a complete waste of valuable screen time. So yes, I agree with most everyone’s assessment. That said still a very enjoyable and entertaining episode setting up the final concluding 2 hours of the season. Let’s get into it.

Jones is highly entertaining, overly good looking, and sometimes hilarious villain. Nathan shines bringing charm and depth to the role. Its important to note that Jones hasn’t caused any lasting damage to the group. Sure, he has tried to kill various members, he’s responsible for putting Maria in a coma & has kidnapped half the cast basically, kept our heroes busy all season. But when it comes to killing or destruction it’s really been focused on the dregs or racist folks of the town, the poor scientist in Santa Fe (I think it was Santa Fe) & the lady at the university last week. No one of any real consequence to our heroes. Now I have no idea if Maria’s vision arc has concluded because it hasn’t been mentioned in forever, but I’m assuming that there will be a major death by season end. Noah killed Rosa and the 2 other girls, abused Isobel for 10 years and destroyed the lives of all the mains. For Jones to be a real big bad there’s got to be some long-lasting consequences to one or more of our mains. Though I’m going into the final 2 episodes with excitement there is some concern. I don’t think any of the mains will perish but I do worry about Sanders and even Heath. (I’m really worried about Sanders y’all especially after that promo!!!)

Jones negotiation with Liz was bizarre. Why negotiate at all? Wouldn’t he just threaten to kill or maim people…what the heck is Liz’s bargaining chip against an all-powerful, evil dictator? If she doesn’t do what he wants he can just start killing folks she loves. It really is that easy. I get the whole creativity inspiration thing but fear for those you love is a great motivator. I was so amused that after hours of discussion Liz pulls out the big guns… free the sheriff. Was that her wild card? Really Liz? She may be a kick-ass scientist with a boatload of courage and sass, but I wouldn’t have her negotiating any of my needs anytime soon.

Isobel and Rosa scenes continue to delight. I think it’s clear Rosa won’t be in Season 4 much. As much as I will miss her, I’m glad that she will find some peace and joy at art school, she deserves it. Unlike Wyatt who does not deserve any tranquility because his redemption (if you can call it that) was not earned. Instead, his memories were wiped along with it any true feelings of guilt and remorse. How can we believe he has truly changed? What happens if his memories return? So silly and completely wasteful screen time (no offense to the actor who is quite good and likable).

The Dallas and Max scenes were wonderful. Don’t get me wrong I prefer the show not tell method. And Dallas conveniently having the entire Oasis history in a memory from his father then regurgitating those memories to Max (and the audience) was not the best way to convey the story. However, the actor who plays Dallas is ridiculously charismatic and I could listen to him recite the phone book (do those still exist?) and be entertained. Plus, for one moment I truly believe that Dallas had gotten through to the constantly self-sacrificing, martyr that is Max Evans. But as the promo for finale proves with Max asking Michael (why Michael?) to kill him, the words didn’t stick. Oh Max…

Speaking of, I truly feel so bad for Max. He’s had it rough. In a span of couple weeks, he’s been told he is a clone of an evil dictator, he isn’t the Savior but in fact a weapon to bring down the real Savior who also isn’t really a savior but a genocidal maniac (Michael’s words not mine) who slaughtered half his planet. Not to mention the “there has to be 3” doesn’t include him, as he isn’t part of the triad. And that because he is a clone, he doesn’t actually have biological parents or siblings or anything, well Michael, by DNA sort of, maybe? Oh, and he is the only thing tethering the evil, psycho dictator to life. I mean…

My hope for Season 4 is that Max gets to process everything he has learned about his existence. He hasn’t expressed how he feels the entire season and he deserves to. I hope the writers don’t have him get over it by season’s end with one scene or worse just sweep it under the rug. Like being a clone of an evil psycho, to be used as a weapon, without any real connection to Isobel and Michael? That’s got to have some lasting effects…please writers let me see it on my screen.

Speaking of show not telling, Michael’s new powers. I not a fan of Michael telling us a story of how he used his mind control powers accidently when he was 18. Can we please see these scenes so we can feel the true emotional impact?

As for these powers, strap in, this is a doozy (and might be controversial). I, like Michael, feel that taking someone’s free will, no matter who they are is not a good power to have; it’s not fun, it’s not cool. Michael is right that’s some dark shit and a power that needs to be used very sparingly and with a ton of responsibility.

I loved the scene between Sanders and Michael, but I have a couple issues with some of the dialogue. Sanders is the only living person (other than Jones) that knew and loved Nora. Thus, he can speak about her with authority. He is also the only person who is any kind of real parent figure in Michael’s. Thus, him saying Michael has no darkness can be believed. He knows Michael and he knows Nora. However, Sanders doesn’t know what its like to have powers, especially an immense power such as mind control. Though I appreciate Sanders’ perspective (and agree with him about the purity of Michael’s soul) I wasn’t a big fan of him brushing away Michael’s fears about having mind control powers and not wanting to use them. Yes, it’s important for Michael to recognize just because he has Jones’ power doesn’t mean he is or will ever become Jones. It’s not the powers that make a person. But the line about Nora not fearing her powers was not helpful. Nora’s powers were telekinesis, engineering (if genius is a power) and possibly miraculous crop growth. None of these powers take away a person’s ability to control their actions (well telekinesis to a certain point but in nowhere near actual mind control). So of course, Nora didn’t fear her powers.

I wish someone had validated Michael’s fears instead of brushing them away with a few words of you have no darkness or in Isobel’s case you aren’t like Jones/Noah. A person does not have to be evil or bad to misuse a power like mind control & for that misuse to have dire consequences. Can you imagine being able to make people do what you want them to do at any time? Even if your intent is to do good, it doesn’t mean it’s something that should be done or won’t have major consequences. Sort of like the ends justify means conversation between Jones and Liz. What is the line, do you recognize it and what’s to stop a person from inches towards the line and what happens if you cross it?

So, my wish for next season is for Michael like Max is given time to process what he has learned about himself and his powers. My wish is for Michael is to continue to struggle with when, how and if he should use the mind control power. That way even when faced with a racist sheriff that is holding a gun to his friends, he is careful, asks for consent and never takes advantage of this tremendous power. In addition, I do think it would be very interesting to continue to explore these powers and how they maybe could change a person? Take Max’s power to give and take away life force. He killed Noah and used that life force (and his own) to bring Rosa to back to life. Seems like a good exchange but ethically and morally having a person decide who lives or dies? And how would this all fit into religion with Dallas being a priest? These could make for some great conversations and strong character development. Fingers crossed we see some of it and not just get told in passing.

The music in the episode was amazing. The beginning with Nothing Else Matters and Jones is a tux… I mean… Also, the ending with the fight sequence, building the suspense, only for the reveal to be that Jones had wanted them all to come so he could trap Liz, Dallas, and Max along with Isobel and Michael (for extra leverage) in his mind. I’m confused about why everyone was sitting but Michael was standing? Is he able to move or is he able to resist his father’s mind control? I’m really looking forward to next week and for Team Human to come to the rescue (maybe).

Favorite lines of the episode:

Sanders to Michael: “You are just a pair of sad puppy dog eyes and a cowboy hat”

Jones to Team Alien & Liz: “Well, everyone seems a little tense” (LOL I love Jones!)

Dallas (or Isobel) writing on the wall to Jones: “KNOCK, KNOCK”

[scatcrccio]

❝ NEWSFLASH : girls like to do stuff, too. ❞ — independent, selective & medium activity NATALIE SCATORCCIO from Showtimes Yellowjackets. heavily canon based. rescued by rae. DNI if under 21.

[sword-of-summer]

hey hey hey, loki breakdown coming up,

so uhhh basically, I'll begine with a recap-

The Avengers of Earth 199999 travelled back in time to get the Infinity Stones to reverse the snap and they returned the Stones back to their original timelines just to ensure that there are no split Dark Dimensions where the above said reality is, as The Ancient One said, "their chief weapon against the forces of darkness".

Now, your beloved Captain America did return the Stones, yes, but because of the clumsy Avengers, yes, Stark, Nebula and Scott Lang to be exact, there were a few alternate Dark/weird timelines that evolved and remained unsolved as by the end of the movie.

Now, chief examples of these are -

The timeline where Loki used the Tesseract to escape, i.e., the upcoming Loki series,

The timeline where in 2014, there is no Thanos cause he travelled in time to Earth-199999 and got himself snapped,

And the timeline that Cap created just to have a normal life-

Now, The Loki series focuses on the first point I made, so yeah, let's begin.

The Marvel Multiverse has a section of Time Cops called The TVA, aka The Time Variance Authority, that is, these people oversee all the worlds and make sure no one screws up the future, the past, or the present and life continues as it is. Now, a background history from the trailer - The man in the lift is Mobius M Mobius, the director of TVA, and he controls everything, so he can blabber and tease Loki with no one to stop him - anyway, the TVA has an arch nemesis in the comics, ofcourse, cause we need supervillian duhh, and his name is Kang The Conqueror/Nathaniel Richards. This man, with the Collector, brought about the Contest of Champions, so we know he's no joke. Anyway, Kang is a time travelling warlord who brings his own self back from alternate timelines to work for him, this creating infinite Kangs, all ruled by a Kang Supreme at the end of Time. Now, what he desires is Chaos- he wants Time to be dissolved so that the only aura that exists is of Kang himself, aka The Conqueror- also, Judge Ravonna Renslayer, seen in the promos, is Kang's love interest- so, yeah, Kang is our best bet as a bigger villain-

So that was the comic part- now for the trailer. Apparently, the Avengers meddled in the timelines, but the TVA saw the other small broken timelines and needed someone to blame, and of course, it's Loki. Interesting fact is, they appear to be extracting some sort of timeline-setting-right work from him, cause someone is still messing with the Times, idk who but someone. Now, funny story - in the TVA conference room, they show Loki the iconic Avengers 2012 pose where Hawkeye draws an arrow and the other drama queens pose, but the second visual that is shown is of Loki rescuing Asgardian people during Ragnarok, which is fishy, because this Loki was just defeated by The Avengers in 2012, and he does not know about the 2017 events of Ragnarok.

So obviously, the TVA is showing him his future and will maybe show him his inevitable death at the hands of Thanos to get him to do their dirty work. So, as evident in the trailer, Loki visits alternate timelines, sets things right [somewhat]- So we see alternate worlds, mixed timelines, beautiful scenes, planets, it's just- hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh--

There has been footage of a fire sword- ARSON, hehehehehe, so, that's Lævateinn, Loki's sword from Norse mythology- another sword was seen strapped to his back? and I'm guessing that's Gram, Bane Of Asgard, his Truth Sword- it can force anyone to tell the truth- kinda ironic, as Loki lies all the time and HE gets a truth sword?????? apart from that, he has his knives- hhhhhh, his knives

Now, there's a hooded figure that appears and also there's been some speculation that Black Widow was the woman sitting on the bench in the trailer- but that's Lady Loki, guys, cause as we know, Loki is a gender fluid god, so he can and he does, so there's a "she" too, yay... now for the ending flight of the trailer - that is the legend of D.B. Cooper- he hijacked an American flight and stole money and parachuted, but the funny thing is even though the passengers gave a sketch and he wore typical rounded shades just like Loki does, in real life no one ever found him, just a couple of bills in the river where he parachuted- now that's where the series connects to this modern mystery, cause Loki looked just like the man, he parachuted, and when the Bifrost came, he left some bills, so yup that's another cool detail. Also the last reel is from the Loki Runs For President comic book, where Loki actually runs as a President for the USA- all of these are Variants of Loki, a manifestation of his Chaos as he navigates through timelines and realities and spreads his own brand of Mischief Magik- the new shot shows him being a diva in ancient Rome- so he caused Pompeii?!?!?!?!! we'll see- it was not a wise decision to give a god of mischief the power to time travel, sigh, bad move from TVA-

Now, my continuity opinion is that it will connect to Ant Man 3, aka Ant Man And The Wasp - Quantumania. Kang the Conqueror has been confirmed for Ant Man 3, and we know he connects to the TVA. Now, he bears an importance to the Quantum Realm - back in Ant Man and The Wasp, when Hank rescues Janet from the Quantum Realm, just before they go back to normal size, a brief glimpse of a miniature city is seen - a Quantum city - now this is most probably Kang's city, Chronopolis, inhabited by all Kangs and ruled by Kang, so he is the villian. Maybe Janet knows him, she survived all these years, and maybe she plans to thwart his plans of time domination using Quantum Energy. So maybe the Stopping Of Kang is started by Loki, but he being Mischief personified does little, so it continues in Ant Man 3.

Hoping for a Kang/Heimdall/Frigga cameo!!

thanks for reading, this got a bit too long--

[oceanspray5]

As a Muslim Why I am OFFENDED by the Islamophobic Plot of Netflix's Cuties and Why You Shouldn't Speak Over Me when I Say it having a Muslim Director Doesn't Excuse It

Look as a Muslim woman, I am ALLOWED to be offended that the director went that route. This director took an opportunity she had to show the evils of young girls being hypersexualized and she somehow STILL managed to make Islam the villain when its the MOST anti hypersexual religion you could find!

This movie is set in FUCKING FRANCE! You know what’s up with France? Oh... That's right! There’s a Freaking HIJAB BAN there. You know what that means?

The story of this movie had a chance to turn the “Oppressed Muslim Woman with White Savior” trope on its fucking head!

With just a few key changes, the villain wouldn’t be “Oppressive Islamic Ideals” but the society that takes away a woman’s right to choose what to wear: which is the actual villain in EVERY society, Muslim or non Muslim.

They could have had the Muslim girl WANT to wear her hijab but not allowed to dance as a part of the group because religious discrimination from them makes them refuse to allow her a place until she takes off her hijab! They could have shown the girl overcoming this and doing as she wants anyway WITH her hijab because that's what she wants and that's what she wears for the sake of Allah! This idea even lends to the anti hypersexualization plot BETTER this way. That the world would rather see a young girl be half naked then exercise her CHOICE to be covered up because of her religious belief. It would have highlighted the sick mentality of people BETTER because they can't stand another person's choice and religious belief and pick nonexistent, self twisted problems in it without proper knowledge (because 99% of people really have no fucking clue what they're talking about when they criticize Islam) but they would rather ignore the problem with seeing children half naked!

But NO! The story just HAD to be a run of the mill “taking off hijab for liberation” story and I am FURIOUS!

The director may be using her own life experience and I would NEVER disrespect her life story but she was in a position of power. She had THE OPPORTUNITY and THE RESPONSIBILITY to tell a NEW STORY for us Muslims. A story that DOESN’T stereotype us and DOESN’T fuel the fires of Islamophobia. Islamophobes and poorly researched writers in the past have already told the story this director is telling SO. MANY. FUCKING. TIMES! It’s old and quite frankly, it’s the story of the few compared to the many and yet this is how we’re stereotyped as. Poor Muslim Women waiting for some sort of white person to come and release of us our shackles right?

The media industry is ruthless to POC and Muslim creators. This director had a chance to show Islam in a better light. To differentiate between Patriarchal Traditions and Culture (Oppressive) vs ACTUAL Religion (NOT Oppressive).

As a Muslim I am ALLOWED to be mad at the Islamophobic message in this film because you know what? Nobody is going to give a damn that this film is about the hypersexualization of kids. Their only takeaway will be “Islam is Bad” and they won’t bother to look past it. It’s a same old story on repeat that I’ve seen happen before and it’ll happen again. Mark my words, no one will see past the surface. They’ll only use it as a reason to hate on Islam without resesrch again.

As a Muslim I refuse to support this movie. Netflix fucked up with the promo but so did the people who decided to green light a movie with such a redundant stereotypical trope that panders to non Muslim Islamophobic audiences.

The director is Muslim? Ok fine. Glad to see you respect that. But you know what? I'm an audience member and I'm Muslim too. And I'm FURIOUS by this plot and the directions this film went for. Oh and its not just me but the majority of Muslims I've spoken to on this matter are also furious.

We are TIRED of this same stupid STEREOTYPICAL plot and we don't accept it. We WANT better and we DESERVE better.

As a Muslim? I'd appreciate people who speak up against this film because at the end of the day the story it's trying to tell "right" is doing so at the expense of an entire community who are DONE™ of being stereotyped into some silent oppressed tortured beings when we're NOT.

This film only portrays us like that again and that is NEVER OK even if it's a Muslim Director behind it.

[sailtoafarawayland]

Self Promo Sunday

Today I’m sharing a complete story that I started a long time ago (back when Dark Swan was revealed, but we didn’t know anything about Dark Hook yet). I finished the third chapter just recently, and even though I have more popular stories, that chapter is probably my favorite thing I’ve ever written - so I really wanted to share it with everyone once again. 

Rated: Explicit  

Warnings: Heavy Angst, Suicidal Ideation 

A03 and FF

Darken the Horizon

Chapter One (2-3 at above links)

Killian holds his breath as he descends into the familiar space of his quarters aboard the Jolly Roger, uncertain of whether or not she will be waiting for him. He finds he is disappointed when memories of past deeds are the only thing that greets him. The scent of the cabin is comforting, notes of leather and wood layered upon years of parchment and books and ink. The atmosphere soothes him, his mind recalling memories he hadn't had much need to linger over lately—the raging sea as he clung to the helm, watching as the Dark Curse faded into nothingness only moments before it reached the stern of his ship, his haggard footsteps as he stumbled to his berth, dreams entangled with thoughts of how to get back to her.

To his Swan.

To his North.

When she startles him, he knows there are still lingering traces of joy in his gaze, his thoughts not having yet released their hold on the past—that moment when she drank the potion and remembered, when he knew all was not lost—Hook—and he'd never been happier to hear her say his name.

"It's not funny appearing like that."

There is a stirring of guilt in his gut. He should be wary, mistrustful, even, but Gods help him he is nothing but glad to see her, no matter the manner in which she arrived.

"Sorry."

The word sounds foreign falling from her tongue, and he realizes that she has yet to have formed regrets, or missteps. It must be freeing. He can remember a time when he was beyond those ordinary inconveniences, as well.

Bloody hell, being this close to her, he could see it again.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I know this has all been really confusing, and I haven't made it any easier. I wanted to apologize for overreacting last time. I know you're just trying to help, so I thought…we could just talk and have lunch, like old times."

He bites the inside of his lip, her words striking all the wrong chords. She sounds too much like Emma, but then again, not at all.

"I'd like nothing more, but this is hardly like old times."

It never will be, he realizes as he looks as her, the truth that had been lingering with him for days finally staking claim to his heart. He will never have his Emma back—the Emma who thought of others before herself, who taught him to love again. His heart clenched painfully, and he knew if he didn't let her go, it would shatter right there across the floor of his cabin. Instead, he would cling to the one piece of herself that she had left with him, the ability to love. He would love this new Emma, and perhaps together they could have an ending that he could live with, even if it wasn't happy, because as weak as he was, he couldn't live without some version of her. The decision is quick, and frighteningly easy to make, and he knows it's because he's been considering it for days, ever since that moment in the Dark One's house where she asked for his companionship.

He turns away from her then, dropping the bag of food on the table, and before he can turn back, everything changes. He feels the magic press against his skin, and when he looks down, he sees the familiar sight of a red checked tablecloth, the food arranged on delicate place settings. He waits for his heart to break, but it is curiously void of pain. He hears nothing behind him, but he is keenly aware that if he turns around, he will see her dressed as his old Emma—dressed as someone who is never coming back.

It was his last chance. He could look at her, drinking in the illusion as a marooned man would fresh water. It would reignite his hope, but with hope came misery and suffering, the long wait for a happy ending he would never get—because he was a villain, and villains don't get happy endings. They got the endings they deserved, and perhaps after hundreds of years bent on vengeance, the ending he deserved was by the Dark One's side. The irony of it all was fitting.

So he didn't turn around, keeping his eyes firmly focused on the corner of the red checked tablecloth.

"Don't." His voice was resolved, but lighter than it had been of late. "Let's leave memories of the past out of this."

The air in the cabin stirred, and he watched as the red checked cloth disappeared, leaving instead the knotted wood of his table, the food once again bagged.

He turned to her then, taking in the pale blonde hair smoothed tightly into an elegant bun, the curious tilt to her lips as she watched him. The dress he knew she was cloaked in only a moment before was thankfully gone, replaced with the severe black leather tunic she seemed to favor.

He didn't go looking for the pain in his heart, knowing that the burden had vanished with his new path laid out before him—standing before him. He took the few steps toward her that would close the distance between them, his hand reaching to take hers, studying his rings against the pale white of her skin.

"I have questions."

She didn't remove her hand from his, but her eyes shifted upward, meeting his, a moment of indecision reflected in their green depths.

"You don't want to know if I'm still the same Emma?"

"I already know that you're not. I don't care. I want to know why you're here, on my ship."

There was a long moment of silence, and he tightened his grip. Her eyes flashed with something he couldn't place, but he didn't ease up. If she wanted Hook, she was going to get all of him, Dark One or no, because Killian couldn't love this woman—but Hook could.

"I have a question for you, for once."

Her voice was frustratingly opaque, giving him no hint as to what type of answer she might expect.

"Do you love me?"

The Savior had loved the good in him, the long-forgotten morality of a young Lieutenant. She had stolen his heart and pulled him from the shadows. She had been his North, and therein lay the problem. His North was fluctuating, depending entirely on Emma, and now that she was gone, his North had changed.

The only thing left of it was the Dark One, and the one person she could love was the feral pirate, the man who plundered, schemed and ripped apart anything in his way. She was who he had left to him now, his new North, and so he would return to the shadows with her, and take love where he could.

"Aye."

"I need something that touched Rumplestiltskin when he was still a man. You knew him then. You can help me."

Hook didn't think anything of retrieving the cutlass from the shelf, it was what she needed. He held the blade against her cheek, a cold glimmer in the blue of his eyes as he spoke.

"I took this cutlass and put it to his head and taunted him. I'm assuming this will work, though he wasn't much of a man at that moment either, love."

It was surprising to him how quickly Killian slipped away, the guilt and sorrow lessening with each word that fell from his lips.

She raised an elegant hand, her wrist twisting before his eyes, and the cutlass disappeared in a cloud of grey smoke, his hand empty. He had the sudden urge to fill it, and so he did. His fingers found the pins in her hair easily enough, skillfully plucking them from her braids as she turned into him, her hands pressed into the edge of the table behind her, her eyes, dark and filled with desire, meeting his own.

She raised her hand again, and he was suddenly afraid that she would magic her hair into something he didn't want to see, something gold and beautiful, so he stopped her, his hook catching her wrist in midair and bringing it to his hip.

"Don't," he said firmly, tossing another pin to the ground. "If I'm going to have you—and I will. I want you just the way you are, no trickery."

He watched as her silver hair fell in waves around her shoulders, elegantly framing the smooth, pale expanse of her cheeks, her green eyes watching him like two moss-lined pools in the snow, ice gathering at their edges.

She was beautiful when she was undone.

He lingered for only a moment, wanting to feel something more than he wanted to memorize her, his lips finding hers with a brutality he had forgotten he possessed. She met him eagerly, her leg winding around his as she pressed fiercely into him, the leather they both wore an unwanted barrier.

She scratched her fingers roughly down the exposed skin of his chest before entwining them around his necklace, yanking his face to her neck. He nipped the sensitive skin at her throat roughly, the moan he drew from her lips making him throb painfully. He needed to be inside of her.

Something between a growl and a cry left his lips, and he found himself spinning her around forcefully, his left forearm pressing her roughly into the table, his hand moving to jerk her hips upward. He swore he could hear both of their hearts racing together, the air practically humming with unchecked need. Savoring the moment, the Dark One spread before him on the table, he set about solving the problem of that infuriating leather armor she chose to wear, his hook tearing down the back of her leather jacket before moving to her leggings. He didn't care if he damaged her—knowing that this Emma could handle those dangerous parts of him, the parts that took without caring.

Once he had her bared to him, her body shivering on the table, her breath coming in small, muted gasps, he moved his fingers to sweep against her center, the wet warmth of her calling out to him, begging for him to answer her need. He didn't bother with niceties, there would be more than enough time for that later—now, he simply needed to make her his, to claim her with all of the wild ferocity she had turned him back to.

The world around them seemed to still and shudder as he sheathed himself inside of her, their voices coming together in breathless abandon at the pure ecstasy of being joined. Before he had a chance to come back down from the moment, she was already pushing against him, her fingers digging into the tabletop as she strove toward him. He began to move then, long, punishing strokes that drove her body into the edge of the table—Hook falling from her lips over and over as he took her. Groaning wildly, he sought the tight bundle of nerves between her legs that he knew would be her undoing, sweeping his fingers roughly across it until she released, her muscles clenching around him.

In that moment, her nubile body writhing against him, pulling every last bit of his essence into her, he knew he was ruined.

Tagging: @justanother-unluckysoul @kmom0f4 @the-darkdragonfly @teamhook @zaharadessert @xarandomdreamx @jrob64 @wefoundloveunderthelight @tiganasummertree @pirateprincessofpizza @lfh1226-linda @alexa-fangirl-forever @alifeofdreams @superchocovian

[mejomonster]

a little update. a while back i found a list of upcoming gl dramas, and here’s if anything’s changed:

Dear Missy - its aired, people liked it, had some nice cameos from hikaru no go. however, also not gl. has a main friendship center between two girls, and they have their own romances. still, with its nice reception it may be nice if looking for more women led shows. I might still eventually check this out, just because it has at least 3 actors from hikaru no go (including ji li playing??? himself??? which sounds Wild). its also a take on the gossip girl kind of show, and as i mentioned reviews have said it has solid writing and looks and structure, so i imagine it probably is good although its just not gl like people hoped it was going to be. Still you can see from the promo pic why people were Hoping it was going to be...

Dang Jia Zhu Mu 当家主母/The Matriarch - still tba. looks Very Likely to be gl. Also I’ve seen some excitement for the cast. Set during Qing Dynasty, “There are two women - one a childhood sweetheart and the other a proper wife - both are natural enemies yet they work together to promulgate the art of weaving.” I’m going to check it out when it airs ;-;

Shuang Jing 双镜/Couple of Mirrors - looks very likely to be gl. tba. “ Follows a well-known author and a cold-blooded assassin, who support and encourage each other as they carve out their own paths.” Based on that summary I am absolutely going to be checking it out ToT

流金岁月/My Best Friend's Story - aired. (Ni Ni is one of the leads?!!). Unfortunately - did not turn out to be gl. while the two lead’s friendship is the center, they’ve got their own romance plots. Also the reviews are pretty yikes for the plot, with the main draws of the show being the lead’s performances holding it together.

Fighting Youth - airing currently. based on the reviews and mentions of romances i’m going to guess this show did not try to lean gl after all. Also the reviews are not looking great, but not horrible. So? “ This tells the story of corporate rookie Zhang Xiao Yu, and how through her extraordinary talent, she manages to earn the appreciation of Lin Rui, the sales division director of a renowned cosmetics company. “ The summary also mentions her blossoming as a career woman and also finding her true love so. I mean well i guess if she finds a man by the end that pretty much settles where the story decided to go -o-

The Legend of Yun Qian - aired. A gl drama! Short and worth the watch! Especially if you love cultivator and transmigration and time travel stories, with little fun identity plays, cold shifus, cute mischievious flirts, aka so many tropes one finds in the genre but in a romance with two women. Its very cute, while also managing despite its short length to touch on a ton of those loved tropes in a nice way that feels itself and still resonates with some weight. Reminded me a lot of scum villain self saving system and romance of tiger and rose but with a bit more ‘serious’ moments a la love and redemption or the untamed. Again its short and lovely so worth checking out. Its on youtube among other places.

親愛的天王星/Dear Uranus - tba. Taiwan gl. “Do you still remember when we were seventeen; blushing faces, racing heartbeats for the first time, meeting the person that we like. Would you take the initiative or watch in silence?” Produced by Rabbit & Wolf, famous lesbian couple youtubers from Taiwan. I definitely plan to see this one ;-;

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

on the off chance I can convince anyone to join me in offering or requesting one of these fandoms for Yuletide (with about 24 hours to go before signups close), I just added this to the promo post on Dreamwidth:

FANDOM NAME: Avengers Academy (Video Game) WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: This silly little mobile game shut down almost two years ago and I still miss it, despite all the frustration involved in loving a game packed to the gills with microtransactions. The premise was really fun: it was a new Marvel universe with younger versions of a whole bunch of Marvel characters (even villains, with a few exceptions), drawing from the MCU and comics and ranging from extremely popular to very obscure, and for various reasons they were all going to school together. The art was great and the writing was top-notch, and it was really fun both seeing new aspects to familiar characters and meeting completely new ones, and then watching them play off each other. The overarching plot about the timefog wasn't really fleshed out by the end, so that's a good avenue for fic, and it's just as good for feelings, fluff, and hijinx.   WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: If you didn't play it while it was around, unfortunately there's no way to play it now. If you did play it and just want to  refresh your memory, though, there's a lot of good info on the wiki and the subreddit. There might also be some Youtube videos, although I haven't checked that. FANDOM NAME: Loki: Where Mischief Lies - Mackenzi Lee WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: If you like Loki in the MCU or the comics, you're probably already interested in this. It's not necessarily canon for either of those--like the other Marvel YA novels, it's kind of its own separate thing--but it's an interesting story that spends a lot of time digging into Loki's motivations when he was still young. Loki is also canonically queer in this. The great part for fic is that it's pretty open-ended: you could more or less fit this into MCU Loki's backstory (probably less so 616 Loki, although several elements haven't shown up in the movies), but you can also...not do that, and take it in any direction you like. WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Anywhere you get your books. I was able to read it for free as an ebook because my library had it through Hoopla, so that's a good option to check. FANDOM NAME: What If... Thor Was Raised by the Frost Giants? (Comics) WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: It's Marvel comics, but it's also an almost completely self-contained story that doesn't require loads of other reading! It's also a fascinating AU of just how different Thor and Loki's lives could have been if Odin had been defeated during the battle with Jotunheim, and it presents all kinds of possibilities for future stories in this AU or just slice-of-life stories about Thor and Loki growing up. It's also very open-ended, which is just kind of begging for followup fics. WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Anywhere you get comics. The digital version is $2 on Comixology. I'm pretty sure it's also on Marvel Unlimited, which does have a free 7-day trial. FANDOM NAME: The Bifrost Incident (album by The Mechanisms) WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: I don't actually know much about The Mechanisms but apparently they do complicated concept albums, and this one twists up Norse mythology with steampunk space trains and Lovecraftian cosmic horrors. And I need fic. WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Looks like it's all on Youtube. FANDOM NAME: Silent Hill 3 WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Silent Hill 2 is more of a classic in a lot of ways, but this game also has ridiculous amounts of ambience and symbolism--and although I think 2 works better as a self-contained story, 3 is my favorite because of Heather Mason, the game's protagonist, who shows herself to be incredibly tough despite a WHOLE BUNCH of trauma. The plot is a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill game and it does get convoluted at times, but ultimately it's about a teenage girl fighting to reclaim her agency from the people who tried to make her an object for their own ends, and I love that type of story. WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Well, if you happen to have a PS3 or Xbox 360, you can play the HD version, which basically everybody hates but I thought it was fine, maybe just because I didn't know better). Compared to other options (mainly the original PS2 version), I think it's still reasonably priced. Otherwise you're mostly looking at emulators and the Silent Hill subreddit has some good info in a pinned post. Or of course there are always Youtube videos.