#who would ever call bender lovely except fry

[cheezzzypunk]

S7E10

when Fry got "the best delivery boy" award, he really did thank "his lovely robot Bender" and didn't even mentioned Leela...

sounds gay

[cywscross]

Pt.1 | Pt.2 | Pt.3 | Pt.4 | Pt.5 | Pt.6 | Pt.7

Lookee what my brain coughed up~~

Peter stays the night again. The man cooks for the two of them, Stiles finishes his homework, Peter uses his shower and poaches more of Stiles’ clothes, and they end up in the fort again, knees and arms knocking together, blankets piled on top of them.

“Should we be expecting your father tonight?”  Peter enquires idly, not sounding like he cares much either way.

“Mm, no, he’s working on a case out of town.”  It’s instinct to check his phone, but there’s no text message waiting for him, and that’s to be expected too.  He sends one off to Scott though, just to check in, just to ask how he’s doing after everything that went down.  He doesn’t get a reply this time either, which doesn’t surprise him one bit.

He tosses the device aside and sighs before pulling his laptop over.  “Wanna watch a movie?”

He feels more than sees Peter shrug, so Stiles goes about setting up Tangled.  He wants fun and light-hearted, and if Peter doesn’t, the werewolf can deal.

Peter mostly just seems entertained though, and interested because oh yeah, coma equals six years of missed media.  Amongst other things.

So they watch Rapunzel venture out into the world and beat people up with her frying pan and defy her mother and finally get her happily ever after, and it’s a nice distraction from the death and destruction here in good old Beacon Hills.  After that, he goes further back and puts on Enchanted.  Stiles has a soft spot for musicals, so sue him, and he refuses to be embarrassed by it even when Peter slants an amused look at him.

As it turns out, Peter doesn’t mind a bit of singing and dancing either, especially when the movie gives such a unique twist to the classic fairy tale, combining live-action and animation together.  Still, he must’ve been more tired than Stiles thought because by the time everyone gets their happily ever after in this one (except the bad guy, obviously), Peter’s dozed off, still sitting but slumped against the wall behind them.

The movie ends, everything goes silent, and Stiles just sits there for a while, watching Peter sleep. Then he sighs, powers down his laptop, and sets about getting ready for bed.  It takes two trips out of the fort because he forgets to line all the windows and doors in the house with the bag of mountain ash under his bed, at least for the night.  He doesn’t feel like dealing with any werewolves who might swing by and break into his house just because they can.  Granted, it isn’t likely.  Scott’s (getting) busy with other people, Boyd and Erica have run off to god knows where, if Isaac shows up, Stiles might actually strangle him with his scarf, and he hasn’t even seen Derek since that night with the kanima and Gerard.  But just in case, Stiles does it anyway.  If any of them do show up, it’ll be because they’ll want him to do something for them, and helpful is about the last thing he feels like being right now.

Peter’s the exception only because the dude’s already inside, and it would be a hassle to shove him back out the window.  Besides, it’s pretty clear the werewolf doesn’t want anything from him aside from a place to bunk, and even if he does, Stiles figures Peter’s allowed to at least ask, if only because he’s cooked for Stiles and even taken his pain a few times.

Although admittedly, the former was still on Stiles’ dime.  But not even Peter Hale can produce money out of thin air, or he wouldn’t even be in Stiles’ house right now.  He came though, to check on Stiles.  Which, pathetically enough, is more than anyone else has done.

What exactly does it say about Stiles that the only one who cared enough about him to come at all is the formerly dead former psycho on a former vengeance bender?

Probably nothing good. Best not to think about it then.  And the pain-drawing thing is true enough.  He’s done that pretty regularly as Stiles’ injuries heal at glacial speeds.

He crawls back into the fort and starts prodding Peter into something more horizontal.  Blue eyes flicker open, hazy to sharp in about 0.5 seconds, but they go drowsy again when they recognize Stiles, and Peter doesn’t do anything to stop him from piling a couple blankets on top of him.

It only takes another minute for Stiles to get comfortable himself, and another few minutes for sleep to creep up on him.  He doesn’t even open his eyes when he feels the bedding shift and the warm line of a body press against his own.

The rest of the week goes about the same.  Peter camps out in Stiles’ bedroom, cooks him meals, and spends the hours between nine and three probably apartment hunting and doing other hopefully not too illegal things.  Stiles goes to school, sits through his classes, and doesn’t bother eating in the cafeteria anymore because it makes him feel like he’s trying too hard to get Scott’s attention, and that’s just pathetic.  Downside, he hasn’t been this alone at school since junior high when Scott transferred in and Jackson stole his inhaler so Stiles tripped him down the stairs.  But on the other hand, every other hour that he isn’t in school means he’s with Peter, and Peter… somehow, Peter makes it very hard to feel lonely, even if they’re not doing anything except sitting side by side and working on their own thing.

By the weekend, Peter’s found a place, a small apartment building on the corner of Wisteria and Clove, near the edge of town.  The paint is faded, the floorboards creak, but the place seems sturdy enough, if a bit shabby and actually not at all what Stiles would picture Peter choosing to live in. It isn’t smack in the middle of downtown either so there doesn’t seem to be many tenants.  Still, even though Peter’s the one who suggests giving Stiles the grand thirty-second tour of the single bedroom, bathroom, and sitting room and attached kitchenette in the first place, a defiant, defensive slant remains in his shoulders the entire time, and he watches Stiles like he thinks Stiles might laugh at him or something.

The mighty ex-Alpha brought low.  Stiles wonders if Derek would taunt him about it.  He’d like to think no, ’cause that’s just kicking someone when they’re already down, and… yeah okay, Stiles is exactly the type to do that if the person is high enough on his shit list, but he’d never do it to his dad no matter how… absent the man is from his life or how much he drinks, or even his mom, no matter how many times she hit him, or even Scott, even though Stiles doesn’t know where they stand these days.  And he won’t do it to Peter.

Peter’s family to Derek though, no matter how much history there is between them, and yet Peter seems used to expecting the worst from those around him.

Of course, then Stiles remembers Derek ripping Peter’s throat out without a beat of hesitation just a month ago, remembers him leaving his crippled uncle behind all those years ago, remembers each and every one of his own interactions with Derek and how Derek’s go-to methods were always to threaten or insult or use violence to get Stiles to do what he wanted or even just to tear him down for whatever reason.  He even remembers the tiny smirk on Derek’s face as he stood by and watched Erica mock Stiles like he thought it was funny.

Right.   Never mind.  Christ.  No wonder Peter killed Laura.  Leaving him to rot was enough of a crime.

Stiles’ absolute favourite part of the tour is the collection of furniture Peter’s amassed. There isn’t much, and it’s not overly expensive stuff, but what the werewolf has somehow managed to get his hands on are new and elegant and moveable, and if he turns all of it over and throws a couple sheets over it, the resulting fort would be almost as spacious as the sitting room.

“I love it,” He announces before he can stop himself, already eyeing the furniture greedily.

Peter blinks, follows Stiles’ line of sight, and then his shoulders finally relax, as if Stiles has passed some sort of test.  He even huffs a laugh and overall looks pretty happy for someone whose guest is more excited about building furniture forts in their home than complimenting the decor.  Then again, Stiles is sort of doing that.

“I thought you might,” Peter smirks.  “Feel free to do some… rearranging anytime you want.”

Stiles gapes at him a bit because he didn’t actually think Peter would- “Wait, you’re gonna let me build-”

He cuts himself and flushes a bit.  Saying furniture forts out loud makes him sound a lot more childish than he’d like.

But Peter just shrugs. “You’re welcome to it.  It isn’t as if I need to sit down to watch the evening news, Stiles.  I don’t even have a TV, and I’m not planning on getting one.”

“…Oh.”  Stiles pauses, uncertain of what else to say.  Thanking the man for something like this just feels plain awkward.

“On one condition of course,” Peter continues, all smug cheer again.  “I get free entry and sleeping space in there.”

Stiles sort of just stares, because for an adult, Peter is so weird.  Only his mom ever called Stiles creative when he upended the house’s furniture, and she was sort of obligated to, being Mom and all.  Dad always called it a mess, exasperatedly amused at first, then just… long-suffering at times, annoyed at others, and forever confused over why his son never seemed to grow out of this phase even as he got older.

“…Well,” Stiles flaps his hand in the vague direction of everywhere.  “It is your place.  So yeah.  But don’t you want to sleep on a bed?”

“I don’t have a bed,” Peter points out, because yeah, Stiles did notice that, but he just thought Peter hadn’t gotten around to buying that yet.  But the werewolf only glances thoughtfully at the sitting room.  “And I don’t think I’ll buy one.  Who needs a bed anyway when I have my own personal professional fort designer?”

Stiles’ ears go pink. Peter grins but it lacks bite despite the teasing.  Stiles rolls his eyes at him.

“I’ll bring my spare blankets over then,” He offers.  So you won’t have to buy any, he doesn’t say. He thinks about the text he got today from Jenna.  “Dad’s case is wrapping up and he’ll be returning sometime late tomorrow anyway so I have to clean the house before he gets back.  Actually, we can do it now.  I mean I guess it’ll look kinda weird since neither of us has a working vehicle but we can just stuff them in bags and carry them over here.  You’re a werewolf anyway so it’s not like it’ll be too heavy for you.”

Peter arches an eyebrow and looks like he wants to say something sarcastic.  But he restrains himself and just nods.  “We can straighten up your house first.”

Stiles blinks at that, startled, but Peter’s already heading for the door.  He hurries after the werewolf, tripping over the doorstep and almost doing a faceplant before Peter catches him by his good shoulder and hauls him back up without missing a beat.

He didn’t actually mean for Peter to help him with the cleaning, but he can’t complain either.  It’s always just been his job though, household chores, for almost as long as he can remember.  Nobody’s ever given him a hand before, even in the early days when he was messing up the laundry and burning the food and his fingers.  It’s weird that Peter’s willing to help.  Peter is just… weird.  So weird.

He gives himself a hard mental shake and shunts it all aside.  Whatever. Four hands make faster work than two anyway.

Peter stays one more night at the Stilinski home, and they end up hauling the blankets over to the man’s new apartment in the morning instead, and then Stiles just goes to town on pushing furniture together with all the glee of a five-year-old on a sugar high.  Peter sits at the kitchen counter, half his attention on whatever he’s doing on his laptop, the other half on Stiles, a fond quirk playing at his lips that Stiles pointedly does not look too deeply into.

Noon comes around, and Peter cooks them lunch.  Then they both hole up in the fort with part of the blanket-ceiling pulled back to let the sunlight and breeze filter in through the open window.

It’s four in the afternoon before Stiles finally gets up to leave.  Peter sees him to the door, expression indecipherable, but he reaches out to cup a hand around the back of Stiles’ neck for a last pain extraction before they say their goodbyes.  Stiles wants to ask when (if?) he can come back, and when would be a good time, but in the end, the words get stuck in his throat, and he scarpers without voicing his questions.

He’s back in his bedroom and shucking his sweater before he realizes there’s an extra key on his keyring.

He’s still smiling when his dad walks in through the door.

[itsworn]

The Drive of Shame in a Fake Snake

The Ford Mustang is probably as popular now as it’s ever been in its history. The classics are more expensive than ever, new models are selling like hotcakes off the showroom floor, and even the Fox bodies from the ‘90s have developed their own cult-like following.

Of course, that list leaves out a couple of models that don’t receive nearly as much love from the masses. Namely, we’re talking about the much-maligned, Pinto-based Mustang II (How many of you even consider those real Mustangs?) and the more recent SN-95 Mustangs that Ford produced from 1994 through 2004.

It’s not that the SN-95 doesn’t have any fans, but it doesn’t receive nearly the adoration as the Fox body that preceded it or the new-retro S-197 that came directly after. In fact, Roadkill’s own Mike Finnegan called it a “college girl car” in episode 49 of the show. Heck, in the title they even labeled it a “Mullet Car.”

That’s OK, because somewhere in the hazy intersection between performance and low price is where Car Craft thrives. That lack of coolness puts the SN-95 right in our low-price sweet spot. According to a very unscientific study—a few weeks spent shopping Craigslist for used Mustangs—you can find SN-95 Mustang GTs for $3,500 to $5,000 all day long. That’s not too bad for a rear-wheel drive, lightweight, late-model coupe with V8 power.

At Car Craft we’ve always been more interested in ways to find maximum performance for minimum Benjamins than any perceived cool factor, so when a 1999 Mustang GT popped up on Craigslist for a mere $1,500 dollars, we knew we had to take a closer look.

Surprisingly, the photos didn’t look that bad. There were Cobra badges on the Mustang’s bright yellow fenders and grille, but since Ford only painted Cobras red, green, black and white in ’99, we figured they were bogus. What was the real reason for the low $1,500 asking price? A quick call to the owner confirmed that the transmission was busted: third and fourth gears were no longer along for the ride. He’d just spent $3,400 on the car a few weeks ago, but lost third and fourth in a bit of spirited driving and now was so disgusted at the thought of paying to have the transmission fixed he was willing to dump the car for a song. The good news was that first, second and fifth still worked, so the Mustang could be driven instead of trailered.

The transmissions Ford used in Mustangs from this era equipped is Tremec’s T-45 five-speed. Generally, the T-45 is a good transmission, but it’s notorious for breaking shifter forks, and in stock form can only handle moderate power. In fact, there’s a whole cottage industry that’s sprung up building steel or billet aluminum shifter forks to replace those that break, and we were pretty certain that was the only problem with this trans. So we swung by the bank, grabbed the cash, and set out from the author’s home near Charlotte, NC, for the three-hour drive to the coast to see this Mustang first hand.

In person, this Mustang is definitely a 30/30 car (it looks pretty good from 30 feet away driving past at 30 miles per hour). The yellow paint has been touched up at least twice, and neither time by a particularly good paint-and-body man. Some panels are a bright yellow, while others are more orange, and there’s a ridiculous run where the passenger-side fender has been repainted. Three tires are Michelins while the fourth is a Firestone. There are bare wires in the interior where stereo components have been hacked out. The exhaust is absolutely rotten from rust. And a growling sound from the rear end has us worried that either a pinion or wheel bearing is about to give up the ghost. But hey, $1,500, and the tank was three-quarters full of gas.

So we handed over the cash and hit the road for home with Car Craft’s newest project car, hoping nobody would notice the fake Cobra badges until we had a chance to pry them off. Besides the faux badges, the car was also a little embarrassing to drive because of the transmission. With third and fourth gears missing, you had to rev the engine in second gear like a want-to-be street racer and then drop it into fifth, where the two-valve 4.6 Modular (which is definitely down on power) lugged a bit as the car slowly climbed back into a usable rpm range.

It wasn’t until we got back home that we discovered yet another issue. While filling the fuel tank we noticed a horrendous leak dumping fuel all over the pavement. It turned out to be another common Mustang malady—the rubber donut gasket sealing the gap between the fuel fill tube and the tank had practically disintegrated, acting more as a sieve than a seal. There’s no way the seller couldn’t have noticed the leak, but he somehow forgot to mention it. Or fix it. Apparently, creating a biohazard whenever he hit the pumps was the preferable option, or that’s maybe why the “full” tank was only three-quarters full.

Fixing the leak wasn’t tough at all. After driving the Mustang around long enough to burn most of the fuel out of the tank, we dropped the tank, pulled the fill tube out, and replaced the gasket with a new one before bolting everything back up.

That was the easy part. Next on the to-do list was the broken transmission. Ford’s engineers didn’t make it easy; just removing the starter requires using a couple of ratchet extensions to reach the forward-facing bolts all the way from the front of the suspension. But it can be done without any special tools or skills. We did it with the Mustang on jackstands in the floor of our shop.

Jim Cook Racing Transmissions rebuilt the T-45, which you can see in the accompanying photos. Showing the step-by-step process would take far more space than we have here, but we did want to show you some of the highlights. Shop owner Jim Cook showed us the root cause of T-45’s breaking shifter forks is actually synchronizer wear. When the synchronizer wears, it causes the gears to grind when trying to shift. It’s that extra force required to get the transmission to shift that causes the weak aluminum shift forks to eventually break. You can upgrade the to billet aluminum or even steel forks, but that can get pricey. Since we hope to pretty quickly boost the power levels well beyond the T-45’s relatively low capabilities (We’ve been told around 400 lb-ft of torque is about all it can reliably take.) we just want to get the T-45 back together to give us a baseline before eventually putting something beefier in it.

Next time, we’ll take the car to the chassis dyno to find out just how much power our 240,000-mile 4.6 Modular V8 is making. Eventually, we hope to turn this sad SN-95 into a ridiculously fun autocross/pro touring car with daily driver capabilities. Stay tuned, because we’ve only just begun.

We bought our newest project car from a Craigslist ad by a guy on the North Carolina coast. Sharp eyes will notice the Mustang GT carries fake Cobra badges. They were installed by a previous owner who was more interested in appearances than things like regular maintenance. Despite the transmission missing third and fourth gears, we were more worried about being spotted driving a faux snake on the three-hour drive back to the author’s shop near Charlotte, NC.

Besides the obvious respray on various panels, the car also showed signs of being in at least one fender bender. It still drives well and tracks straight, so we’re assuming any damage is cosmetic. The driver’s side door gap is a sure sign the hinges are worn and the heavy door is sagging, but there are bigger fish to fry with our $1,500 Mustang, so fixing that is project for another day.

The interior is run-of-the-mill Mustang, except for a couple of quirks. When we first saw the Hurst shifter handle, we were excited that at least this mostly stock Mustang had been upgraded with one of Hurst’s excellent short-throw shifters. But further inspection proved the previous owner was truly all about image over performance. He’d simply bolted up a Hurst handle and left the shifter stock. Annoyingly, the backlighting on the aftermarket radio changes color every 10 seconds. We’ve yet to figure out how to make that “feature” stop.

Ford’s 4.6-lifter, two-valve Modular V8 first appeared in Mustangs in 1996, but 1999 was the first year the 4.6 got better PI (for “power improved”) cylinder heads that boosted horsepower from 215 all the way to 260. This was achieved by improving flow through the heads, shrinking the combustion chambers from 51 to 42 cc’s, and a new camshaft profile that increased valve lift. Besides a cold air intake and one aftermarket coil, our 240,000-mile engine appears to be stock. Our very unscientific butt dyno says the engine is down on power, but as soon as the transmission is fixed we’ll get on a chassis dyno to find out for sure.

The first time we filled the fuel tank, the Mustang tried to create its own EPA superfund site. Turns out the fuel fill tube gasket had rotted out, which is a relatively common problem for Mustangs from this era. Thankfully, replacing it is as simple as dropping the tank so that you can pull the fill tube free (That’s it in the top of this photo.), and then squeezing the new gasket into the hole in the tank.

Despite several coats of rust penetrant and whispering plenty of threats, one of the bolts connecting the exhaust manifold to the exhaust pipe simply refused to budge. We ended up breaking it off. We’ll have to drill the remainder out of the flange before reassembling the exhaust system, but that, like so much else we’re discovering with this car, is a chore we’ll tackle later.

Once the exhaust and driveshaft are out of the way, you can finally turn your attention to getting the transmission out. Don’t expect it to be a picnic. Here, Nick Helms resorts to connecting several extensions just to get the starter off. A forward-facing bolt requires you to actually go in all the way from in front of the suspension to reach it.

Jim Cook of Jim Cook Racing Transmissions begins the process of tearing into our T-45. In its stock form, Cook says Tremec’s T-45 is can reliably hold up to around 400 lb-ft of torque. We’re certainly hoping to exceed that by a lot on this Mustang, but we also don’t want to spend a ton of money beefing up this T-45 right yet. For now, Cook is going to show us some cool tricks to get this trans back up and running on the cheap.

Cracking the T-45 open can be a bit of a puzzle: The gearshift offset lever (It’s what the shifter connects to.) on the shifter rail doesn’t have enough room to be removed inside the shifter housing, but the tailhousing can’t be removed while the offset lever is still in place. The trick is to remove the roll pin that holds the offset lever to the shifter rail, unbolt the tailhousing from the transmission’s main housing, then slide off both the tailhousing and the offset lever at the same time.

Inside the tailhousing are the assemblies for fifth gear and reverse, as well as the electronic speed sensor drive gear. The cast aluminum shifter fork for fifth and reverse, shown here, revealed some hairline cracks on close inspection, so we will be replacing it.

Next to come off is the bellhousing.

With the bellhousing out of the way, the third/fourth shifter fork is revealed. Notice that the fork is still on the slider, but the top of the casting is broken, allowing it to slide away from the shifter rail. We found the rest of the casting in the bottom of the transmission.

Cook inspected the rest of the gear assemblies and, thankfully, didn’t spot any other major damage.

Here’s a better look at where the shifter fork broke. Cook says he’s seen this plenty of times with the T-45, and it’s always with the third- and fourth-gear shifter fork. Apparently, that’s where everybody likes to do their powershifting.

The T-45’s shifter fork design isn’t faulty, it’s just weak. The real cause for the transmission failure is worn synchronizers that should have been replaced long ago. The synchronizer is the dark gray ring. It rides on a cone that forms the leading edge of the gear. The synchronizer works by increasing friction as it rides up the cone to match the rpm’s of the spinning gears. But when the synchronizer wears, its I.D. grows, which allows it to slide all the way up against the gear, as you can see here. Ideally, the synchronizer should stop with at least 0.030 of an inch gap (approximately the width of a credit card) before it gets to the gear itself. On this Mustang, third and fourth gears have obviously been grinding for a while, requiring extra effort to get the transmission to shift. All that extra force and gear wear eventually caused the fork to break. What is the lesson here? If your transmission starts grinding gears when you try to shift, get it fixed before something even more expensive goes wrong.

Forcing the transmission to go into gear when the synchronizers are worn can cause a ridge of metal to form on the front edge of the sliders. Replacing two shifter forks (3/4 and 5/R) along with two new synchronizers already cost 240 bucks—at Cook’s cost—so he showed us a trick to save a little dough. By lightly sanding the I.D. of the slider you can knock down that ridge of metal and make it nearly as good as new. Again, if you plan to make the transmission last another 200,000-plus miles you might want to spring for the new sliders. But if you are short on cash or just trying to get by, this is a great option.

Here, you can see the correct gap with a fresh synchronizer.

The main shaft and cluster gear all have to be assembled inside the case, but we mocked everything up to help give you a better idea of how all the major components on the T-45 go together.

Before letting our freshly rebuilt T-45 go out of his shop, Cook checks to make sure the shifter is properly adjusted and everything works smoothly. Now all we have to do is get it back in the Mustang.

The post The Drive of Shame in a Fake Snake appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[raceandspeculation]

John McNally                                                                                                                          4/4/17

English 3690                                                                                                                     Dr. Smalls

                                         Decision 3012: A Parallel to the 2016 Election

           During times of serious political dishevel and debate the genre of comedy always seems to profit off of the state of the world, whether it be snide remarks of off handed commentary in an episode of a cartoon or live action show, or perhaps a full blown parody like in the case of Alec Baldwin’s representation of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. Matt Groening, creator of famous animated comedy series The Simpsons and Futurama can be thought of famously critical of American values—Politics certainly being no exception. As a result, during this times of political disagreement we can always count on Groening to weigh in with thinly veiled commentary about the state of affairs in the world. During the 2012 Presidential election where President Barack Obama would defend his position in the white house against opponent Mitt Romney, there was an apparent schism between the American populations (as there seems to be for every election) that Groening would of course have to give his two cents on. He would do this on June 27th 2012 with the airing of the episode of Futurama titled “Decision 3012” which is an obvious parallel to the 2012 election from the title of the episode alone. I am more concerned however with comparing the campaign depicted in this episode to the 2016 election, between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton due to the fact that there are certain parallels that simply cannot be ignored.

           In “Decision 3012” former president Richard Nixon’s head in a jar is running against Chris Traverse, a democratic senator. The episode is played in by their theme song, being interrupted by a distracted Bender Bending Rodriguez, a bending unit robot with a love for alcohol, after seeing a sign that reads “FREE BEER.” The tantalizing offer was offered by a Nixon rally, in which citizens of New New York have gathered to watch their future presidential candidate speak (and enjoy some free booze.) The fact that Nixon feels he can coax voters into listening to his conservative nonsense by offering them free alcohol is entirely representative of the way the voting class in America is viewed by politicians and certainly by Donald Trump. Many of Trump’s supporters and voters claim they can get behind his “regular guy” attitude in which he supposedly does not sugar coat anything or speak in a confusing manner, as well as enjoys the same American values that the voters do. Nixon’s head begins to rile the crowd gathered by talking about illegal aliens. Now, since Nixon is running to become president of Earth he literally means space aliens entering their planet illegally. Not before addressing the voters as ‘nitwits’ (which further demonstrates the value politicians may have for American people) does Nixon suggest the build a large Dyson fence to wrap around Earth to keep illegal space aliens from entering the planet, eerily similar to what Donald Trump would suggest a handful of years later during his presidential campaign, which is to build a wall between the United States and Mexico to control illegal immigration. Trump picks these immigrants as one of the first targets of his campaign fueled by hate and fear and that would ignite a fire in the bellies of some ignorant Americans or quite simply racist ones.

           There is a further connotation from the anger sparked by both Trump’s campaign and the one run by Nixon’s head in Futurama, and that would be the underlying factor of fear. In the show, Nixon’s head states that illegal space aliens are taking earth jobs—And while this visibly angers the crowd gathered to watch him speak, the fear of losing and/or not being able to get a job manifests itself as well. In a real life parallel, Trump delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention in which he stated “Countless innocent American lives have been stolen because our politicians have failed in their duty to secure our borders,” Like Nixon, this goes far beyond a simple hatred for the illegal aliens and plays on a fear that our American way of life is at risk (or in the case of Futurama, an earthen way of life.) In The Atlantic’s article titled “Donald Trump and the Politics of Fear” writes “Fear and anger are often cited in tandem as the sources of Trump’s particular political appeal, so frequently paired that they become a refrain: fear-and-anger, anger-and-fear. But fear is not the same as anger; it is a unique political force. Its ebbs and flows through American political history have pulled on elections, reordering and destabilizing the electoral landscape.” (Ball) The fear created by both Trump and Nixon’s head is played off of their fabricated anger instilled into the minds of the American voters.

           Running against Nixon’s head is democratic senator Chris Zaxxar Traverse, sent from the future to beat Nixon due to the fact that his presidency brings about the end of human superiority the world (which apparently is still not enough to sway the voters minds.) Traverse is intelligent, honest, and forthright in his campaign but is simply not resonating with the voters as Nixon’s head does. This can again be compared to the 2016 election, as many voters found themselves related to Trump’s ‘honest American man’ façade. Hillary Clinton, however, was not able to sway voters with any so called ‘charm’ as Trump did—and senator Traverse faces a similar problem in Futurama. The character of Turanga Leela offers herself to be Traverse’s campaign manager, claiming he had wonderful ideas and policies and that “we just need to conceal your intelligence and honesty in a hipper, dumber package.” (Weinstein) The real life parallel to this would be Hillary Clinton’s vein attempt to resonate with younger/urban voters by adopting slang, posting memes to her official twitter account and even going as far as to embarrass herself on Ellen by imitating the pop culture dance move ‘the dab.’ Gentrification aside, Clinton is making similar assumptions about her potential voters as Trump, Nixon’s head and Leela. This is that the voters cannot think for themselves and will simply be swayed by whomever may catch their attention better, which is a destructive mindset for the potential leaders of our country to have.

           Senator Traverse pleads with the public about the end of the world Nixon’s head brings about in future, stating that without cheap illegal alien labor the world begins to fall apart. As the world begins to crumble, the duties of hard labor that earthicans do not wish to complete are fallen upon the shoulders of robots—who eventually up rise from their cruel treatment and wipe out humanity, other than the senator who is able to be flung forward in time to attempt to stop this all from ever happening by winning the election over Nixon’s head. This comparison to the labor America relies on from immigrants is far from subtle and speaks volumes about how much our country depends on this labor that seemingly nobody else wants to do, and yet we still seem to crucify immigrants for “taking our jobs.”

           In the end, the time traveling Senator is able to win the presidency and the evil future brought about by Nixon’s head is no longer a concern that is until the timeline is now ruined by this course of events. Traverse begins to cease to exist, explained by Bender: “You see, since Nixon wasn't elected, the robot uprising didn't happen and Travers never got sent back from the future. It's Politics 101!” (Weinstein) This creates a new reality in which Nixon ran for president unopposed and, naturally, wins. After this series of events, character Philip J. Fry concludes that is does not matter who you vote for and that voting is a waste of time. This is reflective of the mindset many Americans have due to the system of the Electoral College. Even if a candidate overwhelmingly wins the popular vote, they can still lose due to not receiving as many electoral votes. “we should look at our governmental structure. The United States has a system of separation of powers, where someone who wins a majority of the Electoral College is elevated to the Presidency. A candidate can have a plurality in the popular vote, but not triumph in the Electoral College.” (Fuchsman) This was the exact case in the 2016 election and the disguised jab made at the ridiculousness of this reality in the conclusion of Decision 3012.

                                                            Works Cited

           Ball, Molly. "Donald Trump and the Politics of Fear." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 02 Sept. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

           Fuchsman, Ken. "The Presidential Campaign That Astounded the World: A Psychohistory of Donald Trump and the 2016 American Election." The Journal of Psychohistory 44.4 (2017): 292-309. Web. 4 Apr. 2017.

[alittlefangirlish]

Dear Chocolatier,

First of all, thank you so much for writing a story just for me!

To start, some of my general likes/dislikes:

What I Like kid!fic (as in, the characters have kids, not the character are kids - toddler age is perfect), crushes/beginning of relationship (the concept of the feelings coming to fruition and both parties going, “WTF is going on? Why am I acting this way around him/her?” is one of my favorite fandom tropes), smut is always good, flirting.

What I Don’t Like Incest, bestiality and molestation are my only three sexual squicks, fandom has desensitized me to everything else. Character bashing. Yes, I’m generally a slasher but that doesn’t mean I hate the female (or in the case of a femslash ship, male) characters (or, if I do, it’s for reasons unrelated to “I ship his/her love interest with his/her best (fe)male friend and s/he gets in the way of the gay sex”). On that note, I also hate when writers completely disregard canon pairings. As much as I don’t want them to, they exist. If you’re gonna break them up, let us know how it happened. Please. And now, my specifics!

Requested Fandom #1: Backstreet Boys, Brian/Nick or Howie/AJ

For either pairing: Backstage hijinks? Tour bus loving? Or maybe a high school, college, or workplace AU?

I love both of these pairings and either would be lovely for me (if you even wanted to include both pairings, that would be amazing but don't feel like you have to do that!) I'm a major sucker for AUs over straight canon, but if you prefer to write canon, please please please do not have any of them cheat on their wives. (And if there is smut, set it when all parties involved are at least 18, thanks.)

Requested Fandom #2: The Sims, Pascal/Nervous

He's always looking toward the stars for love, but the love he needs is right down here on Earth

This is a prompt for these two that has been floating around in my head for quite a long time. Pascal, being the Knowledge Sim that he is, is fascinated with the stars to the point that he hasn't had time to forge many friendships on Earth, Nervous being an exception. And Nervous, wanting to settle down and have a family, as well as Pascal being his only friend, may develop feelings for Pascal and want to be a second father to Tycho (and yes I see Tycho as the "canon" name for Pascal's baby).

Requested Fandom #3: Voltron: Legendary Defender, Hunk/Lance

Anything either set during the Garrison days, or even post S2.

(I know S2 won't release until about a week or so after assignments go out, but I will be watching it very soon after and will definitely have watched it by the time stories are revealed, so if you get a plot bunny from it, go wild!)

I love these two! They are the cutest pair and everything about them hits all of my shipping buttons, because they are good and pure and best friends and that it all I ever want in a ship. Anything you want to do is fine with me. Just please age them up to 18 if there is smut involved.

Requested Fandom #4: Mystic Messenger, 707/MC or Jaehee/MC

For 707/MC: Making their own space station

I have to admit, I hadn't fallen for Seven at first (I was a Yoosung girl!) but the more I learned about him the more he seemed to be right up my alley, so I quickly switched gears and was under Seven's spell. I think his little "Let's get married in the space station!" is cute, but obviously impractical, so instead they decide to build their own little space station here on Earth.

For Jaehee/MC: Love in the coffee shop

Oh, Jaehee, Jaehee, Jaehee. I did not expect her to be my breakout favorite in this game (again, I really wanted Yoosung!) but I ended up playing her route first and was shipping these two almost immediately. I want Jaehee to stop friendzoning MC and give her the romantic ending she deserves with her as much as she deserves with the boys (the Christmas DLC came close, but still not there!)

Requested Fandom #5: Pokémon (Games), Bianca/Hilda, Lillie/Moon, N/Hilda, or Shauna/Serena

For Bianca/Hilda: "Where have you been the last two years?"

The thing that got me about B2W2 is that all the major players from Black and White (Juniper, Bianca, Cheren, N, etc) return except for the player character. Where did she go? What did she do? And what does Bianca do when she finally returns?

For Lillie/Moon: Return to Kanto/Alola

I don't care if it's Lillie returning to Alola, or Moon making a trip to visit her in Kanto, I just want to see these two reunite and have Lillie gush to Moon about all her adventures in Kanto, and how much she missed everyone, especially Moon.

(Also, while I did use "Moon" and the canonical tag is "Lillie/Moon," I prefer the name "Selene" for the player character, but you don't have to call her that if you don't want!)

For N/Hilda: "The Pokémon wanted to see each other again, yeah."

I will admit that I wasn't one of those who was shipping N and Hilda from the get go because I saw N as a villain and my thought was how much of a jerk he was and how could anyone ship them together because he didn't deserve her, etc. etc. And then the end of the game happened and N does his 180 and it was like the heavens parted and shone a spotlight on these two and I saw it and it was good.

Now that that's out of the way, I can see these two definitely not realizing their feelings for each other, and using Reshiram and Zekrom as an excuse to reunite. (N can say that his Pokémon wanted to see hers - I played White and White 2 so N took Reshiram and Hilda took Zekrom, but if you wanna swap them and use Black/Black 2 canon go ahead.)

For Shauna/Serena: Let's go see the fireworks again!

Ah the fireworks scene. The moment of every Boutiqueshipper's (and okay, BrightTomorrowShipper's, for that matter) heart. I know that was the scene was the moment I started shipping them, and maybe they make it an annual thing, seeing the fireworks together and things progress from there. Bonus points if you include the fully evolved starter that she gives you in post game (I started with Chespin so I got Froabble the Froakie - now Greninja, but if you wanna include Chester the Chesnaught or Kinniekins the Delphox instead, feel free to!)

Requested Fandom #6: Osomatsu-san, Choromatsu & Ichimatsu or Jyushimatsu & Osomatsu

For either pairing: Typical hijinks! More along the lines of the show.

One of the things I love about this show is the crazy relationship the brothers have with each other (which is an exaggeration of the typical relationship siblings have: casual teasing with the unspoken brotherly love the six have for each other). I'd love a fic exploring that. And like my Backstreet Boys request above, if you want to include all four of these guys in the fic, go ahead!

Requested Fandom #7: Original Work, Female Boss/Female Secretary, Male Soldier/Male Soldier, or Female Alien/Female Human

For Female Boss/Female Secretary: "I always saw you as an equal and not a subordinate"

I'm not usually a fan of the "boss/subordinate" pairings, but I can definitely get behind two equals meeting in a work situation. I can definitely see the boss character treating her secretary as an equal, and that's where the feelings stem from.

For Male Soldier/Male Soldier: Wanting to reconnect after being discharged. 

When you're in a situation such as wartime, I'm sure you bond with your fellow soldiers. I can definitely see a couple of platoon mates (is that the term? Sorry, I've never served.) wanting to reconnect once they both go back to cilvilian life, and seeing where things go from there.

For Female Alien/Female Human: "How does your anatomy work?"

You could take this one to be just pure PWP, or if it ends up leading to something more than that go for it! One thing that's always got to me about stories involving aliens is that, for simplicity's sake, they have matching anatomy to humans (aside from the skintone being green/blue/gray/what have you). That just seems unrealistic to me, so something where the alien's anatomy is significantly different (to where both parties need to explain how things work) would be fantastic!

Requested Fandom #8: Futurama, Fry/Bender

"No one can love you like I do"

The thing that I've always loved about these two and their relationship is that Fry is always the exception to every rule Bender has about humans. He hates them, except Fry. He wants to kill all of them, except Fry. And it just leads me to believe that, ultimately, they would both realize that there was something special between them all along.