#wow i never let myself make critical posts this feels weird

[that-wildwolf]

how does fanon get Shakarian wrong? 👀👀

*inhales*

I'm gonna start off by saying that I'm a turianfucker too and turians are hot and I get the thirst I get y'all

BUT

too many people are attracted to turians and want a turian romance so badly that they ignore Garrus's entire character for the sake of getting a turian romance and just basically strip him down to nothing but his species. People who are into turians and have a primal kink or something, which like. I also get I'm a monsterfucker too that's fun. are also projecting too much of that kink onto turians and Garrus specifically because Garrus is just unlucky enough to be the romance option. People write a generic alien/human relationship while ignoring most of what the Shakarian dynamic looks like in canon because. Well I actually don't know why. But the amount of turian/human fics, and yes, Shakarian too, that include some kind of "turians are a bit feral or actually aggressive/possessive" take is terrifying. Have we played the same games? Turians are literally described over and over as uptight having a stick in their ass sticklers for the rules. Garrus is an awkward nerd who doesn't know how to flirt with his girlfriend. Even when he he does the evil he does it in the most rule-obedient way possible. He's a mess and he relies on Shepard a bit too much especially in the first two games. This man is NOT the growly dominant alien character insert you want him to be I'm sorry. Turians have 15,000 more years of civilisation than humans. They are not going to be feral creatures just because they have sharper teeth. The human would be the primitive uncivilised alien in a turian/human relationship if you need someone to fill that role (also, why would you?).

Not to mention Shepard being treated as a self-insert which is. well it is a lot more forgivable in my eyes, but even as an RPG PC, Shepard still has a lot of distinct character. I think this is the first time since playing The Walking Dead that I've seen a player character with such a strong personality despite the genre forcing her to be different things.

To be fair I think a lot of the problems with fanon characterization of not only Shakarian but pretty much everyone who gets commonly mischaracterized (look at the woobification of Tali) could be fixed by regularly checking back in with the source material instead of, which I understand and can also be guilty of sometimes, immersing yourself in more and more layers of fanfic until you can't tell apart the fanon Shakarian from the canon Shakarian.

Dishonourable mentions (things that aren't common bad fandom practice but bother me personally): sub Shepard and actually worse yet dom Garrus, any AU where Garrus is a human (like??? lmao. his entire personality and conflict is driven by him being a turian, that is so central to his character that I can't imagine why you would take that away and think that's the same person), Shakarian retiring to the beach (Garrus said tropical. He didn't say beach. He hates swimming he would drown save him)

Also obviously this should go without saying, but there are TONS of great fanfics about Shakarian out there. This is just a list of what people get wrong that I wrote in like ten minutes on my phone sitting on the floor in my kitchen. It's not some magic truth scroll of fandom transgressions. Also obviously everyone is free to interpret fictional characters however they want even if it's different from the source material. Sometimes ignoring canon is better, trust me. Do whatever you want and don't let me spoil your fandom experience for you.

But yeah

TL;DR: I think that Shakarian and Garrus in particular suffers a lot from Garrus being the only turian romance in the games.

[megumiswife4]

Entwined Shadows 3

Part: 3

Pairings ~ Megumi x Fem Reader

Warnings ~ slow burn, (possible smut in later chapters), aged-up Fushiguro (as well as other characters), 18+ only PLEASE.

WC ~ 1.3k

This is my first fic here. Please take it easy on me, but I would love to receive constructive criticism to improve my writing; you guys can always leave messages in my inbox or comment below once again thank you for reading, and enjoy.

*( I will be posting every Sunday night for a new chapter)*

Part 2: 👇🏻

Megumi’s POV

I pondered on my own thoughts, trying to figure out a game plan. Was I going to try and confront this man? Or sit back letting this unfold steadily and strategically? I’d prefer seeing this man try to bypass y/n. She was his next target, and yet he thought I would be on board with his scheming plan of being able to drug her and believe he could take her home.

“Please tell me that you’ve seen that too, Itadori?” Rubbing the temples of my forehead annoyedly.

“Yeah, looks like we’ve gotta stay vigilant on this guy.” Tilting his head towards me.

I scoffed in annoyance, the one night out that we decide to unwind we already have trouble coming from our first stop. Y/n needs to have her moment on that stage with Kugisaki, the last thing she needs is some punk ass trying to take advantage of that all because of his greedy little ego; Too bad I’m going to ruin his night a tad bit early.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/n exuded such a presence on that stage and wowed the entire bar, that even after she was finished everyone applauded with Kugisaki alongside her. Itadori and Megumi both joined in with the rest of the crowd, excited to see the girls having a blast their guards down knowing that they could just be themselves even if it was just for a moment.

Y/n ran up to Itadori excitedly, “How did I do up there?!”

“You did so good!… look behind. You’ve got an entire crowd of people here that thought your performance was badass! Same goes for you too, Kugisaki.” Letting out a minuscule laugh. Both girls thanked Itadori for such a warm compliment, after all he was your guy's best friend and an honest person; If something wasn’t all that great you both would know.

Y/n was gradually making her way over to Megumi before she could take her final steps towards him, an unknown body figure appeared and it was most certainly not Megumi’s.

“Wow, you looked gorgeously phenomenal up there. Did my order of sake shots help a bit with calming your nerves?” The man lustfully smiled, gazing his eyes towards y/n.

“Umm.. yeah it did, I really do appreciate the drinks, it really eased the tension up for me to feel more comfortable.” Uncomfortably smiling.

“Oh my god, where are my manners? I never formally introduced myself. My name is Hayato.” Extending his hand towards y/n.

Laughing a bit awkwardly, reaching to his hand. Instead of having a soft handshake he slowly pulled her hand upward to his lips placing a small kiss. “Uhm… the name is y/n, nice to meet you.”

Finally releasing her hand from his, it was visible she was uncomfortable. “I thought you might like this drink, it was one of the special cocktails of the night that the bar advertised.” He insisted, showcasing the drink in his hand.

Megumi horizened his gaze over Hayato’s shoulder, taking notice that the drink looked awfully different; coincidentally there had been a weird fizzing reaction occurring in the drink and not to mention there was faint white substance slowly sinking into the liquid. Megumi had only recognized it due to Hayato accidentally dropping the small zip bag of the substance much earlier. Y/n nervously smiled grasping ahold of the glass he offered her, suddenly another man’s arm interjected between the two.

“It’s alright man I think she’s had enough to drink for the night. But she appreciates the offer.” Megumi let out a stern smile, offering cash to substitute his cocktail order for her.

“And who are you?” Hayato laughed cunningly, pushing Fushiguros forearm away between the two of them.

“That’s really none of your concern, other than my friend and I are accompanying the girls here.” He hovered over Hayato, vigorously standing between y/n and him now. Proceeding to grab the drink out of his hand pouring it beside him onto the tile floor, his other hand stuffing cash into the pocket of his button up shirt.

Megumi leaned into his ear, “It’s best that you go Hayato, once again thanks for the drink she won’t be needing anything more from you.” As he patted his chest with a small grin plastered on his face.

“You bastard.” He snarled, grabbing ahold of Megumi's perfectly creased collar. Yuji quickly pressed himself against Hayato, “It’s alright Yuji I got it.” Megumi insisted.

“I’m telling you right now man, you really don’t want to do this here.” Fushiguro huffed.

Hayato firmly let go of his collar, gazing over at y/n. “I didn’t really give a shit what your name was, in all honesty I just wanted you to come home with me to have someone accompany me in my bed for the night sweetheart.”

Megumi quickly grasped his throat, tight enough for him to still breathe and speak. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, speaking to a woman like that? You really think that me standing here is going to be the only thing I’m going to do to you for disrespecting her like that? Huh?!” His eyes widening, the color of them darkening with every word he spoke.

Hayato immediately withdrew his way out of Megumi’s hold, “Look man I didn’t mean any harm, I promise!” As he lifted both arms in the air initiating a truce.

“Next time I see you around, I’m not letting you off this easy now get out.” Glaring at the man. Hayato quickly found his way out the bar feeling flustered and was never to be seen afterwards.

“Megumi, what was that all about? All he was trying to do was hand me a drink.” Questioned y/n

“Trust me you’re better off not having it.” He stammered, a hardened look on his face.

Kugisaki looked over at Itadori for an answer, “What was that guy's problem? The one that Fushiguro almost murdered?” Chuckling.

“Well for one, that guy isn’t all sweet like he intended to be when he first greeted y/n. Fushiguro and I were waiting in our section when we noticed an altercation with him and his buddy. As soon as his friend stormed out, Hayato accidentally dropped a bag with white powder inside of it…and well we knew what exactly his plan was afterwards.”

“Okay he’s totally a creep for that, I know for a fact if I had known he was such a weirdo, I would have kicked his ass right in this exact moment.” Kugisaki exclaimed.

“Trust me Kugisaki, Fushiguro and I would have taken care of it. We came with you both. It's kinda our job to be the protectors here.” Itadori insisted.

Megumi and y/n were engaged in their separate conversation from itadori and kugisaki addressing the situation that had occurred. Megumi planted his hand above her head as he lightly patted it, “Y/n I’m just looking out for you, Itadori and I noticed he wasn’t a guy with good intentions just some scum bag looking for a good time, he planned on drugging you; I saw his bag laid out on the floor before he picked it up. And that drink he offered… he was trying to have you out unconscious.” A saddened look appeared on his face.

Guiding his hand to her mid back to ease the tension from this situation, y/n nervously felt his soft hand graze the back of her dress she knew he was only trying to comfort her; but oddly enough she just couldn’t seem to grasp this butterfly feeling in her stomach. He caught a glimpse of y/n, her cheeks bright red. He couldn’t discern whether that was the alcohol flush or just the nervousness displayed by his gentle touch.

“Let’s get going, we still have another place to scope out.” Itadori exclaimed. Nobara, Y/n, and Megumi followed his lead leaving the bar.

“Didn’t you mention that one badass nightclub? It’s got those crazy lights inside with an insane smoke machine?” Nobara responded excitedly.

“Yup! That’s where we’re headed to!” Itadori announced.

The entire group yet again, explored their way into the streets of Shibuya; finding the extravagant nightclub that was greatly talked about throughout the town and its well known locals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TAGLIST: @mariapierce789 @afatalheat

[slade-neko]

I debated on making this post, but somehow here I am...

Apparently some folks got upset over my post saying how I disliked the Fallout TV show... seriously? Can't even have an opinion on the internet anymore, but I then again when could you?

Look, I'm not upset or anything and am most definitely not here to tell people what you can or can't like. I was merely posting my opinion on something that's part of a series that I've loved for years. I took the time to watch something, gave it a chance, and I genuinely didn't like it. Simple as that. If you loved it, good for you, but maybe you shouldn't read a post talking about how someone else disliked it. Don't try to devalue someone else's opinion, a purely subjective matter, and tell them they're wrong. That's like if I stumbled upon someone venting how they hated the anime Dragon Ball Z... I'd just think to myself, "whatever" and move on with my day.

My post wasn't meant to sound hateful, just very cynical, as that's how I write. It was intended for my own followers, didn't expect someone who follows the tags to find it and flip. This wasn't even supposed to be a serious thing, just some thoughts. I don't cover the actual story writing on the show (which I was not a fan of either...) I said in the beginning I decided against making a full review because there are some great ones already on Youtube. I simply talked about how I disagreed with some of the nasty stuff in the show. Not just Fallout TV particularly, but crap that plagues Hollywood movies in general.

I'll admit I didn't take the greatest care in my writing and for that I received "some" very valid criticism, which I wanted to address in this post where I can hopefully clear up any confusion...

(Remember this is someone's OPINION that could very well differ from your own! If that bothers you, please do not read it. 😇)

1. The games are full of "bad stuff," so it makes sense to feel bad watching it!

I never argued that a rated-M role-playing game about a post-nuclear apocalyptic world didn't have dark and mature themes to it. I simply disliked the nasty crap thrown into the show for the sake of comedic/ shock value.

A.) The incest stuff with Lucy and Sweet Home Alabama (her cousin) was made out to be funny on a Rick & Morty level like "Hahaha wow, I can't believe they put that in there!" It wasn't taken as a serious issue, just a jab at idiot humor. If you want to see incest addressed as a real problem, the indie game "The Coffin of Andy and Leyla" portrays that way better.

B.) The weird freaky guy who bangs chickens is in the same boat. It was just stupid shock value of the BoS guy breaking up two idiots fighting in the wasteland only to have one of them be a "chicken banger..." Wow, so funny! And cherry on top, Maximus just let's him go. Personally, I'd have killed him or brought him back to the chicken's owner and let him do what needs to be done, but this is a show, not a game, so you just watch the wonderful writing play out.

C.) The genetic mutation vault. Vaults do have sick messed up crap in them, that's a fact and yes there is genetic mutation in a series all about radiation, but a human lady birthing out baby monsters (gulpers) that devoured her alive... Still, never seen a Vault in the games do that. Might be a poor excuse on my end, sure, but I could've gone without seeing something as disgusting as that in my life. Also the Vault's weird cult crap with people "exposing their chests..." The Fallout games are rated-M, yeah, but never feature full nudity... I don't wanna see naked people in Fallout, if I did, I'd install mods lol. But I digress, this is HOLLYWOOD's Fallout, so I suppose they can do whatever they want with it for the sake of their "artistic vision." Again, something I'm obviously not a fan of, if someone else is, well that's their thing.

2. Oh, but Fallout has tons of s*x jokes!!!

True, the games have jokes like that especially in New Vegas with things like Fisto, the reprogrammed Protectron. Fisto, to me, IS funny because its well-written. In my opinion, Obsidian's writing was leagues better than Bethesda's Fallout games. Thank Chris Avellone and the Obsidian team for that. Fallout 4's came off very bland, boring, and inoffensive. New Vegas in particular had wonderful writers and all their jokes and innuendos were good. The TV show's attempts were nothing more than miserable Hollywood "idiot humor." The whole "wanna have s*x?" scene will never be funny, at least to me anyways. It think it's just stupid.

3. Lore doesn't matter/ it can change!

I myself have never been one to get too invested in lore of anything, but I do appreciate it when creators of a series at least try to keep things in check. While it might "not matter" for some people, you can't take that away from those who enjoy it. Lore itself is an important building block to create a strong foundation of a fictional world that fans can invest in. When lore is subject to change on a whim whenever the creators desire then it makes it harder for fans to immerse into said world. Why bother getting invested if everything you learn will only be altered constantly? Unless someone only cared about the quick thrills and enjoy things only in the moment, which is fine, I suppose, but doesn't mean everyone does.

Sure there exists many crappy live-action video game adaptions, but typically the original video game creators don't ever mention them let alone acknowledge their existence as they're made simply for "cash grabs." Take the Resident Evil movies, dime a dozen, crap adaptations, nobody really cares about. Fallout's on the other hand, while maybe its purely speak on Todd Howard's behalf, but he insists that the Fallout TV show is "canon" to the universe and will be followed through in Fallout 5. Paired with the fact the show creator said in an interview that he wasn't out to make a show to please fans of the games, saying "It's a fool's errand." Rightfully so that can make fans very upset when said show tramples on years of lore built up from previous games. Especially from the ORIGINAL Fallout games that Bethesda had nothing to do with. Disney and Star Wars is another great scenario of this.

I can fully understand why Bethesda does that though, as they're just trying to make A.) a fun game and B.) make money (more-so on B. now-a-days...) Prioritize game first, lore later. Many games do that, The Legend of Zelda games are a big one that come to mind. Like I said, I'm not a huge lore guy, but Fallout is one of my favorite series, so I appreciated it when they tried to keep things somewhat cohesive and respect the lore that came before.

End/ Final Thoughts

I still think the show is mediocre at it's very best. This is just the opinion of some guy who's liked Fallout for 14 years starting with Fallout 3. Gave the show a shot, didn't like it, not a big deal. It's not the end of the world or anything.

The show obviously wasn't made for people like myself and that's okay. If someone else likes it, good on 'em. Keep having fun and don't let me or someone else stand in your way of enjoying the things you like, but at the same time don't disrespect someone's opinion simply because they don't feel the same way as you.

"Some people just plain don't respect others, and that's a no-no. If there's one thing I won't tolerate, it's lack of respect." - The King (Fallout: New Vegas, 2010)

With all that said... I'm very tired. I didn't come back to Tumblr to argue stupid opinions over a freakin' Amazon Prime series of all things. If anyone wants to watch a good full review, I recommend ItsAGundam or SyntheticMan's on YouTube. I found them to be very good honest reviews from long term fans.

Remember to be nice to each other, respect opinions, etc. etc. Now I'm gonna go back to doing something fun like playing Minecraft or Sims.

Peace ✌️

[mmm-amba]

flash floods

so i'm currently writing this from ny's computer and buttery keyboard. i was trying to log in to my tumblr but i had forgotten which email was associated to. so i tried a few and i ended up on an old account, reading my old private blog from high school that... it was just so strange to read. i was really unhappy in high school, holy moly. looking back on the posts are all the same, like feeling isolated, stressed from school, uncared for by my friends, critical of my friends, hating of myself, etc. it's so weird. so so so weird. i was very lost and blaming everyone including myself. that blog was a place to vent and i... i never imagined that i would be reading those entries from such a different mental space?

writing is interesting because it's simultaneously a release and a record. release because we can vent by writing things out, but then a record because, well, it's recorded. and something about a record feels like a keepsake which is the opposite of release.

usually i read about one book per year. last year, the books were sour heart by jenny zhang and 1984 by george orwell. this year, the one book has been never let me go by kazuo ishigurou. i might get bored of his style if i read more of his books, but wow am i love in with this book. such a beautiful book. that book covers so many topics relevant to modernity. kind of relates with the release/record duality but moreso in the... challenging fate vs. accepting fate duality.

last week i was pretty stifled in many ways. physically it was hot as hell and i had an AC but not a fan. and the rattling from the AC was truly unbearable. and the air quality was like 170+ from the wildfires and.. my stupid window slid open! so i was frustrated for many reasons, so much so that i actually went to the school gym to run. on a treadmill. i hate treadmills lol.

i was also stifled in terms of... being frustrated and mean to myself about all my work.

i couldn't figure out my bug in the pyro code and i kept on telling myself that everyone else could figure out the code but only i couldn't and i was behind. turns out everyone suffered some major bug.

i kept on putting off the data science project work and just guilt tripping myself about it?

stress about resume edits.

i'm balancing a bunch of stuff tbh. this summer is research, research group, data science project, internship application preparation... and i also gotta start studying for prelims! i'm trying to just rush this data science project because it might be the easiest thing to finish and put an end to stressing about.

one thing about living alone is that i get to have total say over everything i do. which means things like being excessively stingy when i don't need to be. so here i will try to challenge that and manifest: treating myself out weekly to meals; cooking nutritious and filling meals. i think i will try a week long yoga trial that comes with unlimited classes. and then i'll just go like every other day to make the most bang for my buck. i think doing an exercise subscription might be good. or like a planned weekly food truck lunch so i walk to campus. basically, i am learning that it is not entirely good for me to be alone by myself for most of the day.

i've been listening to music, improving my texting, doing yoga, ....

[uelden]

Vanity Fair interview translated

Just a side note before the actual translation; I don't know why, but instead of reporting the full questions and answers in full as she should, the journalist decided to report only summarized fragments of what Måneskin said and patch these fragments up into messy clusters. She also worded a couple phrases in a very confusing way (and yes, she's fully Italian). In short, she did quite a poor job, so the final shape of the interview is not that good. I didn't expect top-tier journalism from Vanity Fair but ffs. You'll see what I mean.

I translated it as it is, adding just a couple footnotes to give you insight on Italian pop culture references.

Translation under the cut

Måneskin: "Different from whom?"

by Lavinia Farnese, 09 June 2021

"True justice is being judged for what you do and not for what you are." The ones who are convinced of this are Damiano, Victoria, Ethan and Thomas who, by being the emblem of a generation that is finally free, refuse labels and conformism. In life, in love and on the stage. Where, maybe precisely because of this, they're winning everything

With the still unexpected (first place at Sanremo Festival) and the incredible (triumph at Eurovision) in their eyes, Måneskin are on the sofa of the house-studio they rented - to resume writing songs and rehearsing them - like you are after a won battle: lying in a calm and unreal silence, alert and a bit irreverent, happy.

In the garden there's the tennis table and the pool, the light of summer when it's starting and calming the country all around, and it filters inside from the large windows, and it goes onto the shining black of Ethan's hair, which blends with Thomas' eye shadow and the butterfly he has tattooed oh his naked forearm, which completes the picture of Victoria's golden crucifix hanging between neck and tank top and ends on the black nail polish of Damiano's stretched hands.

It's a human fresco, a Theatre of wrath [translator's note: "Teatro d'ira"] - to call it with the title of their latest album, a platinum record already - where their flaunted 20 years of age, their irregular femininity and virility are grown into proud and challenging custom, a pop glam rock generational manifesto of hard-earned liberties in a finally-unconditional expression of the self.

To watch them from any angle and from another age is to think that a great love will be born in those who'll understand: this new way of being in the world, the true and sovereign realm they hold where "diversity=exceptionality", the power of the artistic and cultural revolution of which they are healthy carriers in establishing in all lyrics and gestures the right to live according to one's own nature past the "people (who) talk, the people (who) unfortunately talk, and don't know what the fuck they're talking about." [tn: "Zitti e buoni" lyrics]

We go where we're afloat, where the air isn't gone. [tn: journalist's own variation on "Zitti e buoni" lyrics]

Miley Cyrus says hi – The numbers of a phenomenon

"The streams of Zitti e buoni are growing by the second, and they bring us above Muse, at the top of English charts, twelfth in the Spotify Global Chart. Followers almost tripled, in the post-Rotterdam period (from 1,4 to 3,3 millions, ed.) Contagious and universal folly: t-shirts and merchandising sold out in 10 minutes. Like the records, the tickets for a tour that keeps adding dates and expanding over geographic maps. They're contacting us even from some festivals were The Rolling Stones went." Thomas

"After the pretextual controversy over cocaine that France built against us, later disproven by my drug test, some graffiti popped up in Spain depicting me as a “No drugs” poster guy. Some tweets made us laugh: "Congratulations, Italy! I've never been more certain that four people have had sex with each other." Miley Cyrus started following us -You're great. -You guys are greater." Damiano

From the garage to the stars – Story of a flight

"It was only 2016, and we played in restaurants, in the streets, in via del Corso. Damiano without even a microphone, Thomas' guitar with wonky strings, Ethan was drumming on a cajón. During Rome highschools' sit-ins (Kennedy, Virgilio, Mamiani) we had our first confirmations and half-hours of celebrity, playing among those who criticized us and those who went "wow they're really cool." One of the rare times when they would have paid us – 50 euros each – we gave the money to the next band in the lineup so that they would make us play in their spot, later in the day, when there would have been more people. We had already realized how things worked. Visibility mattered more than money. And we still think that." Victoria

The intimacy of rock – Choice of a genre

"Music allows us the miracle of extending to others some very personal and private topics, sometimes even difficult and thorny ones. They are and they remain deeply your own, but at the same time they become a confession that reaches a wider audience, and in this passage that is alike a delivery, they find a place in you as well, a processing of them. You overcome them, you accept them. One second it's something aggressive, the next it's a ballad. Cathartic». Damiano

Against panic – The stage as therapy

"I've suffered a lot from anxiety and panic attacks, it's an issue I've worked on thanks to a psychotherapy course, my friends and my family. Playing helped me in not letting myself be paralyzed by my fears, not making myself limited in my private and professional life. I've learned to accept, to live with this side of myself. I don't hide it. I don't feel ashamed of it." Victoria

Analysis as necessity – Relying on someone saves you

"This belief that only madmen go to the psychologist is a widespread ignorance. No-one's born learned. [tn: common Italian saying] And it's often hard to understand the very reason why we're here, let alone the origin and direction of our desires. It's a long and legitimate journey towards lucidity, a kind of backing to become transparent." Damiano

Being out of our minds – But different from them [tn: "Zitti e buoni" lyrics]

"When you feel a strong passion towards something that is not a canonical job but an artistic language, that already puts you on a level of anomaly, which is not superior or inferior to other people, but it puts you in the position of the one who breaks the mold and also works at a loss, the one who sustains great risks while trying to do something that who knows if it will take you anywhere. "Why do it if it doesn't pay?". You want to give this dream of yours an aesthetic, but it becomes "You're dressing so weird! You must be gay!" - now that I'm 22 I laugh about it, but when I was 17 it had an effect on me, too." Damiano

The beauty of uniqueness – Of believing in it and defending it

"And I mean, at the end of the day if we're all different it's not because we want be alternative but because, really, no-one is the same. Justice is being judged on what you do and not what you are. Justice is equality, respect, beauty." Ethan

Fluid sexuality – Pride is freedom

"Heels for men that like themselves in them, kisses among ourselves, we have an open, extended mind, and we're proud of it. The horizons become vast, past the oppression of conservative families. With the information on the web knowledge becomes greater and with it the possibility that minorities will be less and less minorities, because the majority will be less of a majority. This way we'll make insults and bullying grow quieter. If social media get to a village of 50 souls and reveal to a girl who's afraid of the dark that someone has felt her same fear, then there's no reason to give a name to that fear, to mark it with labels which also limit and restrict. Definitions always had this effect on me. You shouldn't even consider the gender when judging someone, let alone their orientation." Victoria

Sexism – A culture to be dismantled

"Emma [tn: Emma Marrone, Italian singer] drops the bomb: “At Eurovision when I was there they massacred me for a pair of shorts, while they said nothing to Damiano – bare-chested and in heels.” The easy judgment against women is more fierce, constant, debasing (if I have a lot of sex I'm cool while Vic is a whore, where I show myself strong I'm a leader while Vic is despotic and a pain in the ass who reached success because she's hot.) As a male I'm privileged, the abuse I get is not comparable to those a woman has to live through, the comments over my aesthetic are centered only on my aesthetic and don't insinuate anything about my professionalism and my competence, while women are victims of this kind of thought in a systematic way. It happened though to find myself standing with a woman who while pulling me to herself to take a selfie, started licking my face out of the blue... I mean, what the hell do you want? Who asked you? Consent exists, and it's due." Damiano

Grow yourself – The only commandment

"To me conformism is the opposite of education [tn: could also mean "politeness"] and is the asphyxia of expression. I fortunately never endured heavy bullying, heavy enough for the the judgement of others to change me. But the mold of the small crumbs of bullying I got and of the kind of aggression that scars is the same. If I'm a kid who dances and likes dolls you have to let me do what I like. I was a kid who wanted to keep his hair long and played with Barbie. As a teen, my friends looked at my hair: " You have to find a girl with short hair to be at your side." My grandparents took away my dolls: "Stop it, they're not for you." Ethan

"When I was six I was already sick of them, the distinctions between masculine and feminine. I've always had strong ideas about how I wanted to be. I refused things that were typically defined as girly, and all around me they mocked me because I went skateboarding, I played soccer, I didn't wear skirts, I was giving myself the chance to be as I wished. I endured it a little, I suffered a little, but I had courage, and now thanks to that courage I know that I could have gotten even much more hurt, otherwise I would have left to others the most important choice: the one about myself." Victoria

Love in progress – Music, girlfriends

"I've been married to music for the last 20 years. I can't wait to celebrate our golden wedding anniversary." Ethan

"Everyone makes their own experiences, sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes wrong, but it's always not anybody's business." Thomas

"When I first felt feelings and attraction towards a girl it was a bit disorienting because I had never had the courage of going beyond the limitations I had put for myself. For society being heterosexual is the norm and so you often define yourself in that way automatically, depriving yourself of the freedom to live many shades and faces of love. Once I overcame the initial insecurity of having to call into question my certainties I've lived my sexuality in a very natural and free way, as it should be for everyone." Victoria

"I had paparazzi at my door every day and night. So, after four years of relationship, I revealed her name. I still have paparazzi at my door every day and nigh, but at least I don't have to hide anything anymore." Damiano

The worth of the group – Phenomenology of protection

"The true engagement though, the true family is among ourselves, our band. We've believed in it since day zero, even before we called ourselves Måneskin (Moonlight in Danish), even before Ethan drew a giant moon on the flier for the first concert we ever did. We share everything, even the pain for the tragedy of Seid Visin, who committed suicide at 20 because of racism. [tn: I think the journalist asked them their opinion about Seid Visin's death, which was a current events topic in Italy, and then pasted it syntaxically in the middle of Thomas' answer, which was not a great move] A group is what we all should be: stay united and not back down an inch in the face of oppression that is generated by a distorted view of diversity." Thomas

I'm not of the right age – Like Gigliola [tn: Gigliola Cinquetti won Eurovision with her song "Non ho l'età", which means "I'm not of the right age"]

"Before you the only one who won both Sanremo and Eurovision on the same year was Cinquetti (1964). If there's anything I feel I'm not of the right age for? No, honestly no. Maybe having children. Regarding children I'll be honest: I'm not of the right age." Damiano

Having touched the sky – The fears that remain

"We're more than inside the dream, we're in the conquered dream. When you fly high there's the risk of plummeting and hurting yourself, but we'll work hard not to end up like Icarus, who burns his wings with the sun. Everything is in our hands. And this - a bit pretentiously - reassures us rather than scaring us." Damiano

[wigglesforsquiggles]

1-10 >:]

this is the second time i've had to type this bc as i finished tbis it got DELETED ;-;

1. what are 3 things you'd say shaped you into who you are?

uhh one is definilty when i discovered you tube for the first time and promptly got sent down a medical rabbit hole, leading to my intense fear of rabies, seeing a dedication video to a dead child by their parents who were convinced he was jesus incarnated (as in, actual jesus, not a metaphor for being an angel), and the little part of my brain that diagnoses me with every disease i learn about

another would be kneeling on the landing next to my sibling late at night, watching my parents watch tv. you could just about see into the living room from there, and we often snuck down the first set of stairs to watch tv once we were sent up to bed bc we were bored children and didn't want to sleep. i always felt to proud whenever we heard my dad stand up (he has knees that click like a horse) and ran upstairs giggling before he could catch us out of bed. looking back we obviously made a lot of noise and were definitely not as subtle as we thought

lastly i'll say getting lost in this museum when i was like 5. there was this mini gift shop half way through the museum and i got distracted with an etch-a-sketch (it was the first time i had seen one) and fiddled with it for a while (i was trying to figure out how it made lines), and then i looked up and i was alone in a massive room. i must have cried a little, but i stayed where i was and waited for my parents to find me (despite wanting to go further into the museum to find them), and eventually they came back for me :D i can't remember if i went to an employee and told them i was lost or not but it was very scary at the time

I just remembered what i put originally for one of the paragraphs so u get an extra one. one time i read the part of the huger games where Rue dies 3 times a day for a week to make myself cry just to prove i could. i can't tell you a reason past i would still do this today if i used my kindle more

2. show us a picture of your handwriting?

3. 3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

i must confess i almost never rewatch anything - my ability to watch films ourside a cinema is almost non existent anyways lmao

the only time ive rewatched any film is The Old Guard where i needed to show it to all my friends but could only hang out w them on different days, leading me to watch the film 5 times over 2 weeks.

maybe i'll say the mama mia films bc ive only watched them w friends and it's just fun to sing along

4. what's an inside joke you have with your family or friends?

ok, do not question me with this but "arson" being a code word for incest

i will not explain more than telling you lockdown was a weird time and a conversation that starting with immortal fairies having dna lead to this

it's very funny thoigh when i randomly hear the word and this specific firend and i make eye contact, trying not to laugh at a joke only we know

5. what made you start your blog?

i saw so many tumblr posts screenshotted in instsgram, and i finally caved and got in on the action :D

6. what's the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

best - making friends :D i love being able to talk to people all over the world and just ask how they are and see their opinions. @ ing ppl on posts that make me think of them is an unmatched joy :D

worst - the discourse. i get upset rly easily and also am still working on my critical thinking skills so it's easy for me to get caught up in drama and let it affect me emotionally. i only rly. price it when im offline for a few days and go: wow i feel so normal

7. what scares you the most and why?

death, mostly. i used to stay up late at night and cry silently because i was so scared about not existing anymore. simply my mind being gone and not being able to do anything about it. but i just don't think about it anymore and it's all good :D

8. any reoccurring dreams?

like 30% of my dreams are reoccurring actually. all my dreams are incredibly vivid and nonsensical (more random plot points being put together like a game of madlibs more than anything else)

i guess i'll say the one about being stuck in a water parkour course in a pair, (with the aesthetic of fire bot and water girl) and finally climbing up a vine with my partner after being faster than everyone else, and getting to attend a lesson on how to have lesbian sex - in a room like my local gym (and worrying bc i wasn't out in this dream)

9. tell a story about your childhood

i got to play moshi monsters for the first time on my mums red laptop on the island counter at age 9 i think - but i had to stand up because my foot was in a blue container filled with salt water because there was a splinter the length and width of my pinky stuck in the bottom of it

i later went to a&e to get it taken out after a day because it took that long to convince me to go to the hospital (i was terrified of pain and medicine and wouldn't let anyone touch it). the doctor that saw me was very nice and used numbing spray (very cold) and got it out in under 5 seconds. to this day the only time ive been in hospital bar being a baby.

10. would you say you're an emotional person?

oh 100% - it's a meme amongst my friends at this point. i was assigned those greyhounds that jenna marbles has that look like they're crying all the time , for reasons you can guess

i also feel things very intensely, happiness anger and fear are all very overwhelming to me and it's only in the past few years ive been able to get them partly under control

[plan-d-to-i]

I think you kinda hit the nail, lately the fandom is tiresome cuz everyone is making things about themselves instead of the book. From every side of every argument it’s always about their work their feelings how they relate how they feel attacked… it’s almost funny how on twitter i see authors complaining that people are subtweeting them when they complain about a trope or HC that they happen to write about one day only to start complaining about another trope and another HC that they hate themselves the next day and then go “ why people think it was about them? i was only talking to myself” and I’m like wow they’re all a bunch of children… let people hate tropes and HC in peace for god’s sake they aren’t threatening your puppy to stop you from writing them lol.

Like the whole switching discourse that’s always making rounds, I don’t mean the weird person who said that those who don’t like switching aren’t real shippers btw lol but i see people who don’t like it (I don’t like it either) make posts against it and people who write it feeling attacked only for the one who made the posts complaining to then start feeling attacked bc another person is posting about how they dislike another trope that they do write like age difference or something. like sis just because someone doesn’t like a trope doesn’t mean they hate you and are shading you specially plz just let them dislike the trope 🤦🏻‍♀️

💯💯 Totally agree. A large part of fandom has made the work/story about them ੈ✩‧₊˚. For better or for worse when you post something online you submit it to public judgement. It's never a stellar feeling for someone to not like what you like, write, draw, think, but it's unrealistic for everyone to harmoniously agree on everything. So I strongly believe in separate corners. Leave nice feedback when you can and save the venting for your own corner/blog/sm. Don't make an author's life on Ao3 a pain in the ass in their comment section. The nice ones don't deserve it & the ones who are just trying to provoke would only be getting the attention they want. Alternately don't go trying to track down/chase bad things about yourself. Ppl are allowed to vent in their space & you can block them. Additionally not everything is hate. I saw a post the other day where someone was conflating a simple correction with HATE! & harassment! 😐

For me personally in the long run it's more important to learn to let go, and minimize the emotional impact someone else's criticism/opinions have (when they don't threaten safety) since ultimately it's impossible to avoid all negativity online (& irl).

(I think this is the post the ask is referring to: X)

[rhosyn-du]

Never make a mess when a total catastrophe will do - Epilogue

Pairings: Jimon, past Clace, background Clizzy, a bunch of other minor background pairings Rating: Explicit Art: @cor321​ Beta: @all-thestories-aretrue​ Tags:  Alternate Universe - College/University, fake dating, oh my god they were roommates, friends with benefits, idiots to lovers, pining, miscommunication, holidays, drinking games, mistletoe, symbolically significant Oreos, domestic fluff, brief mention of past character death, Jace’s self-worth issues deserve their own tag Summary: What do you do when you find out your sister is not only dating your ex and love-of-your-high-school-life but is also bringing her home for Christmas? Bring your annoying, hot, annoyingly-hot roommate as your fake boyfriend to show them you're totally fine with it, obviously! There's no possible way this could backfire. Link: AO3 , Tumblr Master Post

Epilogue

“How is this the third store we’ve visited that’s out of cranberry sauce?”

“Because it’s eleven in the morning on Thanksgiving Day?” Maia threw Simon a look that clearly said ‘duh.’ “I’m honestly surprised we managed to snag those last two pie crusts.”

“I should never have let myself get distracted while I was doing my shopping on Monday.” He fixed Jace with a stern glare. “No more distracting me at the grocery store.”

“You were pretty into my distraction, if I recall correctly,” Jace said with a lazy grin.

“You’re laughing now, but you’ve never seen Bubbe Helen when she doesn’t get cranberries on Thanksgiving. You don’t even know.”

Jace wrapped his arms around Simon’s waist, pulling him close. “Hey, we’ll find Bubbe Helen her cranberries. We’ve still got a hundred miles left between here and New York. There’s bound to be a store along the way that still has cranberries.”

Simon relaxed in his arms with a sheepish smile. “You’re right. I’m being dumb.”

“It’s not dumb,” Jace corrected gently. “It’s tradition, and it’s important to people you love.”

“Wow, holidays make you really sappy,” Simon teased.

“You make me really sappy,” Jace corrected, reaching for Simon’s left hand. He brought it to his lips, placing a kiss on the knuckle right above his father’s ring. The same ring he’d used when he actually proposed two weeks ago, at the same table in Java Jones where they’d made their list of fake dating rules all those months ago. He’d hidden the ring under his muffin, knowing Simon would steal the last bite like he always did, and even though it wasn’t the kind of grand, romantic gesture his siblings had suggested when he asked for their help, it was theirs, and the look on Simon’s face when he said yes was really all that mattered.

“You make me pretty sappy, too,” Simon said, drawing him into a kiss.

“If you two start making out in the middle of the canned goods aisle, I’m stealing the van and going to New York without you.”

Jace pulled away from the kiss to give Maia an unimpressed look. “No one’s making you watch.”

“Yeah, but every minute I have to spend waiting for you is one I don’t get to spend with my girlfriend, who I live two-hundred miles away from and only get to see maybe once a month if I’m really lucky.”

“She does have a point,” Simon said. “Plus, Becky can be really vindictive when she wants to be, and she’s got easy access to the room we’re sleeping in tonight.”

“And the longer we stand around here, the longer other people have to buy all the cranberries at other stores,” Maia pointed out.

“Fine,” Jace relented, releasing Simon. “Let’s go find some cranberries.”

Simon took his hand, and Jace could feel the warm metal of his ring pressing into his skin.

~~~

“We have cranberries!” Maia announced as they entered the Lewis home.

“Oh, thank god,” Becky said. “Someone was starting to get a little agitated.” She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head significantly toward the kitchen.

“So, you’re only happy to see me for my cranberries, huh?” Maia teased.

“I’ve got a whole list of reasons I’m happy to see you.” Becky gave her a quick kiss, then turned to poke Simon in the ribs. “But I’m only happy to see this fool for his cranberries.”

“Hey!” Simon protested, poking her right back.

“I guess I just don’t even rate, huh?” Jace asked.

Becky turned a wide, mischievous smile on him. “Oh, no. I’m happy to see you for an entirely different reason. I want to offer you a trade.”

“Don’t do it,” Simon said. “She’s sneaky, and she will rip you off.”

“I am sneaky,” Becky agreed, “but this is totally above board.” She turned back to Jace. “I hear that you and Maia are drinking buddies.”

“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Maia commented.

“That’s probably a pretty accurate description of our relationship, sure,” Jace agreed.

“Which means you’ve seen Maia drunk,” Becky continued. “Which means you probably have embarrassing stories about my girlfriend. Stories that I’m more than willing to trade embarrassing stories of my brother to hear.”

“See?” Simon pointed at his sister. “Sneaky.”

“Yeah, babe, I’m not sure you’ve actually thought this through,” Maia said.

“No, I have,” Becky told her with a smirk. “I’ve also thought up all kinds of ways to convince you to forgive me.”

“Please don’t elaborate,” Simon said.

“Okay,” Maia said, “but I have an even better deal for you.”

“I’m listening.”

“How about we both tell embarrassing stories about Simon and Jace over dinner.” Maia leaned in and finished in a low voice. “And then you can show me how you were planning to get me to forgive you when we get back to your place tonight.”

“Oh,” Becky said. “Yeah, that’s a much better deal.” She turned to Jace. “Sorry, got a better offer. No hard feelings?”

Jace shrugged, biting back a laugh. “I mean, I can’t really blame you.”

“Is it too late to do Thanksgiving with your family?” Simon asked Jace. “Or we could just sit in the van and eat cranberries out of the can. That’s also an option that would be preferable to this.”

“Oh good, you found the cranberries.” Bubbe Helen emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. She walked over and pulled Simon into a hug. “I knew my grandson would come through.”

Behind her, Becky shook her head emphatically, mouthing ‘lies.’

Simon kissed his grandmother’s cheek. “It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without cranberries.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying.” She turned a critical eye on Jace. He was pretty sure she still held a bit of a grudge over him supposedly proposing to Simon in a storage closet. “And what are your thoughts on cranberries?”

“Oh, uh.” Jace was pretty sure he’d never thought much about cranberries before this morning’s frantic search across half of New England. “I’m definitely pro-cranberry.”

“Speaking of which,” Simon interrupted, “we should get these groceries to the kitchen and get started on the pies. You’re going to love Jace’s pecan pie, Bubbe Helen. It’s the best I’ve ever had.”

“Pecan, huh?” Bubbe Helen gave Jace a considering look.

Jace nodded. “With browned butter. It’s a family recipe.” Technically, it was Alec’s recipe, but Alec was family, so he figured it counted.

Bubbe Helen nodded. “You’ll do.” Then she turned with a wide smile to greet Maia, and Jace let out a relieved sigh.

As they made their way to the kitchen, Simon bumped Jace with his shoulder and spoke in a low voice. “It’s cute that my grandmother makes you nervous.”

“It’s not cute,” Jace muttered. “She’s terrifying.”

When they arrived in the kitchen, Simon’s mother was checking the turkey.

“Another half-hour, I think,” she told them as she closed the oven door. “If you work fast, you can put the pies in as soon as the turkey comes out. I cleared some counter space where you can work over there. Do not touch anything else.

“Hi, sweetie,” she added as an afterthought, giving Simon a quick hug.

Simon returned the hug. “Hi, Mom. Pie plates still in the same place?”

“Bottom cabinet to the left of the sink,” she confirmed. “Is there anything else you two need to get started on the pies?”

“Pie plates to the left of the sink, half an hour, don’t touch anything,” Jace repeated back to her. “I think we’re good.”

“Perfect. I’m going to go toss the linens in the dryer. You boys get started on those pies, and I’ll be back to check on the turkey in,” she checked her watch, “twenty-eight minutes.”

Jace watched long enough to make sure she was out of earshot before saying, “If we’re ever crazy enough to do joint holidays, she and Maryse cannot be allowed in the kitchen at the same time.”

Simon chuckled. “Mom can be a little intense about holidays being perfect, but I think it’s just because she wants us to enjoy them.”

“I get it.” Jace knelt down to retrieve the pie plates from the cabinet. “I mean, you saw what Maryse and Alec were like just over Christmas dinner. Military campaigns are less well-orchestrated than Thanksgiving at the Lightwood house.”

“Is it weird having Thanksgiving here instead of with your own family?” Simon asked as he rolled out a pie crust.

Jace set the pie plates down next to the pastry mat. “I am having Thanksgiving with my family. I’m having it with you.”

Simon smiled without looking up from the pastry mat. “If you keep saying romantic things, I’m going to kiss you, and then we’ll never get the pies ready to go in the oven on time.”

“I wasn’t being romantic,” Jace insisted. “It’s just, it took me a long time after the Lightwoods took me in to really start thinking of them as family, to accept that they thought of me as family. I’m not sure I ever would have if it wasn’t for Alec and Iz. They taught me that family can be people you choose, not just something you’re born with.” He shrugged. “And I chose you.”

Simon looked up from the now perfectly-rolled pie crust. “That was super romantic.”

“Maybe a little,” Jace conceded. He lifted the crust into one of the pie plates and began smoothing it into the corners.

“That’s actually part of why I wanted us to do Thanksgiving here this year,” Simon said as he began rolling out the second crust. “I know you haven’t always felt like you had a family, and even though I know you do now, I wanted to show you that you get to have my family now, too.”

Jace wound his arms around Simon’s waist. “Now who’s being romantic?”

The pies were not ready to go into the oven on time.

[algernoninwonderland]

Miraculous, intertextuality and why referencing other works all the time isn’t necessarily a great idea

TL;DR: Miraculous loves itself some pop culture references, they’re in the show all the time for you to enjoy, especially if you’re a big nerd.

Only, making a list of references and trying to replicate what other works did before yours doesn’t make your show good by association, and when it comes to Miraculous, these references seldom do these original works justice. Instead, it makes comparing these other works with Miraculous really easy, and the comparison is rarely flattering.

Miraculous would be a much better show if it tried to be its own thing, a few scenes are just that and they are great. It’d be a wonderful show were they not so few and far between.

Miraculous is made by nerds, as is the case with most cartoons. The show itself lets you know that right away. It’s a pastiche of magical girl anime and Silver Age comics, it uses a lot of their visual languages, and references its other inspirations a lot, for instance:

The name of its fictional locations, (Françoise Dupont is a regular kid with a masked detective alter ego named Fantomette, Marinette’s address is a reference to a French illustrator who often drew a talking ladybird)

The way its characters look (Master Fu is both Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid and Muten Roshi from Dragon Ball, when akumatised, Mme Couffaine becomes basically Captain Harlock and her houseboat becomes the Arcadia) 

Sometimes entire scenes are references to other works (Aurore’s akumatisation is straight out of Utena’s Dark Rose Saga, “Gorizilla” has a King Kong pastiche). 

You could fill an entire Wiki with all the references in Miraculous if you wanted to. If you paid me well, I’d do it myself.

Wearing your inspirations on your sleeves is a double-edged sword, really.

On the one hand, you showcase the things that inspired your creative process, a way to say, “hey, that show/film/book exists within a landscape, it’s the heir to such and such work”. You acknowledge that you owe a lot to your predecessors, you acknowledge that there’s no such thing as a 100% original thing. That’s a great act of humility. 

And intertextuality conveys meaning, too! Let’s take a very mainstream example. When you notice that ha! The pod-racing scene in Phantom Menace comes from the 1959 movie Ben-Hur for instance, you get the sense that you understand the cinematic masterpiece that is Episode 1 a bit more. It tells you that your movie about space wizards owes a lot to other genres, and that it transposes these genres to another setting, space! “It’s Ben-Hur, in that that slave kid is pod-racing for his freedom, but I gave it my own spin,” George Lucas tells you. “Look, the funny Gungan stepped into that space cow’s poop! Haha, sure hope I’ll sell lots of toys and buy myself some death sticks!”

You feel really smart when you get a reference, too! “Hey, that’s a Dezaki effect right there!” “Wow, is that a robot from Castle in the Sky in Age of Ultron?” Likewise, if you don’t recognise the work being referred to, you might get curious about it! References send back to other things and your knowledge of these things and when you get it, it feels nice. Lots of people discovered Utena thanks to Steven Universe and that’s really cool, and these references add to the meaning of the cartoon! Folks who casually got into RWBY but didn’t know Soul Eater and Cowboy Bebop heard about those shows and many others while discussing RWBY and I’m sure lots of them got into anime thanks to RWBY!

On the other hand, by being so open about your sources of inspiration, you expose yourself to criticism, especially in the case of your work being compared with what inspired it: it might be seen as derivative, or even worse, unable to do these previous pieces of media justice by only retaining and replicating their most superficial elements without a great understanding of what made them work, gratuitous fanservice for nerds.

And I’m not quite sure where Miraculous stands. Oftentimes, it feels more like a Spider-Man/Kamen Rider crossover with bits of outdated shoujo manga and superficial wuxia sprinkled in there than a show at least trying to be its own thing.

And the problem is, Sailor Moon is better at being Sailor Moon than Miraculous could ever be, as it uses its visual language better, and it has a tiny thing called “the main character having a group of friends who aren’t props and a plot you can follow” that is the very reason why people liked the manga and anime in the first place. Miraculous only retains the very superficial aspects of the manga/anime and of the genre. Marinette still trips over a cat in the opening. Because that’s how it happens in Sailor Moon. Her characterisation as a civilian screams “Usagi Tsukino but more stressed out”.

Spider-Man is better at splash pages than Miraculous because ML’s CGI is pretty meh when it’s not in motion, these weird filter effects don’t look great, that only works when you’re Into the Spiderverse and have comic-book aesthetics. Queen Wasp has a whole sequence that is just that scene in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 only this time Queen Bee sabotaged a metro on purpose to stop it. It’s not an awful scene, it carries its point across rather well (Chloé is a selfish nerd who thinks she can be like these comic book characters but truly isn’t fit to be a hero) but the original did it better, it was more impressive, there was more tension to that original scene, some really interesting camera and foley work that made you feel the weight of that train. It didn’t feel cheap the way that scene in “Queen Wasp” did.

Utena’s Black Rose Saga explores the psyche of some of its secondary characters the audience is already familiar with, with problems we could already identify within them. It offers an examination of the storyworld from another point of view, and helps build it further. There’s always a proper buildup before these characters have a mental breakdown in an moody elevator with a butterfly pinned on the wall that turns back into a chrysalis, because the characters are going through a kind of regression that makes them easier to manipulate and turn into “villains” while acting out their true desires in a twisted way. “Stormy Weather” has most of that, an elevator with dramatic lighting, a butterfly and a mental breakdown, but the character is all new to us so it’s just not that impactful. Often, that one secondary character who’ll get transformed has had spoken lines, yes, but that’s only minutes before they get akumatised.

“Kinda the same but a bit worse and missing some of the key aspects of what made the original thing so good” isn’t much of a tribute, is it?

In an earlier post, I stated that Animaestro was basically “I have watched a lot of animated shows and I know how to mimic them, the episode”. It told us nothing about animation as a medium except that it’s cool sometimes and that you get to imitate other people who are much better at the things they do than you are. 

It’s not a clever metacommentary, it’s just “me likey moving pictures”. Good for you, I guess… Did you really need an entire episode to make that point?

And then you’ve got all the bad outdated shoujo tropes with characters falling on top of each other, aggressive flirting (harassment, really) from Adrien portrayed as really sweet and romantic because it’s just like in the shoujo manga (which one?) you see… And that’s just not great, is it?

Miraculous is a much better cartoon when it doesn’t try (and fail) to emulate other shows and movies and comic books and manga. The only thing it tells us about these works is that That Guy and co really like them and that copy-pasting them is the best way they’ve found to show their love. Imitation and flattery and all of that I guess.

“Look, it’s like in that scene in the anime! Did you like the anime? It sure was a good anime, and if our show makes you think about it, then it’s also good, right?”

No, you guys, I’m sorry but no. If making references was all it took to be good, then gaming webcomics would be regarded as masterpieces. 

Very often, the show seems interested in being anything but itself. And it’s a shame, because there are lots of ideas the show kind of brings up but never quite touches. Marinette is interested in fashion design? That’s great, show us more of that! Make it an important part of her character, and by the same occasion, make her creations look not-laughable. Miraculous could be the first cartoon to explore what it’s like to be a biracial kid with a Chinese parent in France (would that work with a crew of almost strictly middle-aged white men is another question to which the answer is a resounding “no”). The show is set in Paris? Cool, how about exploring the city outside of its landmarks every tourist and their mom already knows?

Inexplicably, in the middle of an episode when you expect it the least, you get brilliant bits of directing that aren’t references to other works. Alya becoming Rena Rouge and her first steps as a superhero? Brilliant, really immersive, loved it, not a reference. The sad car scene in Puppeteer 2? It’s really really good, not a reference either. All the unexplored lore? It seemed really promising and having more of it would help us understand things a bit more!

People don’t just like your show because it reminds them of another show. Why watch it if you can watch that original work in the first place?

Trying to make a superficial mashup of all things you think are great in other works is not the way to do these works justice, nor is it the way to make your show interesting, let alone good. 

[voidsentprinces]

I am seeing some weird defensiveness in the community lately so, I thought I’d write a little something up on my thoughts regarding it. Because though I love Final Fantasy XIV, my experience getting into it seems to begun to echo through the influx of WoW Refugees coming. So before I go forward let me say, I enjoy FFXIV. I think Shadowbringers is the best MMORPG story, I’ve ever been through. That being said, Heavensward was over hyped for me and Stormblood might be slightly worse than ARR for dividing its focusing among two separate revolutions. One which takes up a sizeable chunk of the game and doesn’t impact it until precisely the penultimate quest before the end of the main Stormblood MSQ. That being said, I have like 50 Million Alts and am planning an OC AU Comic to be posted eventually. With that out of the way let me say my peace:

I am glad, there is a surge of new players in FFXIV but like...ARR is still a hurdle. The story time meanders, it rarely finds focus and it feels very monster of the week up until the very end and not every player is going to wait or want to wait for that whole “It gets better later” spiel. If a game doesn’t grab a player within its first few hours, its its own fault. Another wave of new MMOs doing something different is on its way. Between New World and Ashes of Creation, the MMO Market is about to be bombarded with potential once more. After Endwalker, ARR is gonna have to be polished and shifted even more to compensate because the stagnation of the last twenty odd years ain’t cutting it no more. MMORPGs gonna have to sink or swim. No matter how much I like this game, I am not going to be writing home about how surprising the twist behind the ambush before Ifrit was. Or that same story beat is used in quick succession for Laurentius and again for Tiduslayer also being an imposter or for Thancred being possessed by Lahabrea or how it turns out the Inquisitor is also an imposter spy.

Like ARR has one twist beat and it is always that someone is a spy or isn’t who they say they are and it never refreshens it. By the end of Post-ARR its the same story beat they used for Ungust and that’s like Hours of Content that amounts to, “Yeah so, here’s another person who isn’t who they say they are.” Final Fantasy XIV is a fantastic game and all, but the incoming population shouldn’t be expected to stick around especially if we as community keep hyping up, “Oh it gets better in Heavensward” or “Oh Shadowbringers is where its at”. You set the expectations too high and they’re going to expect the second coming of Christ and as we saw with Cyberpunk 2077 or No Mans Sky or hell who remembers Spore? You put too much stock in something it is never, ever going to deliver on that promise.

I came to FFXIV during WoW Legion which is turning out to be the last good thing that MMO has done. And the grind, the overused story beats, and the world did not warm itself to me. It wasn’t until BFA that I actually broke into FFXIV and the only reason I broke through ARR is because I had already done the same thing with Dark Souls. A game about banging your head against a wall until it submits itself in defeat out of pity. Pretty sure general population didn’t get into Dark Souls either.

Point is, I am starting see a lot of defensiveness when a WoW Refugee comes over and isn’t instantly enamored with FFXIV and goes to try something else. If someone is turned off by something and goes to do something else they aren’t worst for it and they didn’t personally break into your house and steal your pets. They’re giving valid criticisms as to why it just didn’t connect with them. No one should have to get use to a look or a story. The story and look should be there to draw them in. Serve as a way to hook them and if it doesn’t there is little you can do about it.

And actually now that I think of it, I feel the need to quote a game critic talking about Dark Souls that I feel holds true for FFXIV experience and how the community seems to have to hint at it getting better at certain story beats later on:

“Now, I never reviewed Dark Souls because other titles were out and my playtime was limited, and every time I sat down to it, it was like walking into a dark shed full of rakes, immediately treading on one and getting blatted in the face. Other people with more time on their hands started telling me it was the greatest thing since tummy-rubs, so I'd go back in the shed thinking, "Well, maybe there was just the one rake," before BLAT in the face again!

So I left it for a while, but this week with plenty of free time in my schedule, I thought to myself, "Last chance! I'll just keep tanking the rakes and maybe I'll somehow become really psychotically into being rake-faced just in time to be prepared for the sequel." And I'll be blatted in the face with a rake if that isn't kind of what happened. I've been raking myself all week right up to bedtime, I'm at risk of going blind!

You see, I resisted Dark Souls partly because people kept telling me, "It's good once you're used to it" and I've always held that the same thing can be said about being boiled alive, so I'd ask them to explain why it's good and they'd reply, "Ooh, we can't tell you. You'll just have to find out for yourself." And then I'd say, "Shut up or fuck off, ideally both, in either order!" But then after watching a decent Lets Play of the game, gone over the wiki a few times and a six week preparation with a team of advisors and physical trainers, I was able to break through the wall. And I suppose that's the first failing of Dark Souls; that you need the fucking Cliff's Notes to get into it.”

Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn treads the same road and is unfortunately the entry point in the series and not everyone is built to do the grind all over again after coming from another MMO. Heavensward is an okay story, the aether currents if you’re not an altoholic like me are irritating to track down especially if, like me, you pick up flying to finish exploring a zone. Stormblood leaves much to be desired from the way it sort of forces Lyse down your throat to the way Hien just sort of goes about thing a little too pragmatically to be called a hero and doesn’t enamor any more confidence during Yotsuyu’s amnesia arc. Shadowbringers is the moment the story becomes about you. Which is kind of strange in the context that an MMO should make you feel like you are the central character and WoW’s greatest failing is in that the world changes about you and you have little say in how things actually unfold. It is a difficult balance to find but one Shadowbringers has done beautifully.

But again, to have to drag yourself through a two expansions to get to the actual goods while having the ever present need of FOMO to be with your friends. ARR certainly isn’t doing the influx any favors.

I am happy our community is welcoming and that there is a sizeable group of people sticking with it til the good stuff. To expect everyone to immediately become entranced by this new world we’re being thrown into is a little silly.

I am sure no one I follow or who can see this is causing an uproar but hey it never hurts to just get it out my system. Oh hey and there’s only 3 months until Endwalker. Here’s hoping for another solid expansion folks. Be excellent to one another even those who only stick around for five minutes and then leave the game for something else.

[leeyounger]

Sweet Sleep (A Christmas Thought)

[This post originally appeared in audio form on the podcast ‘The Watertower’]

When Christy was pregnant with our first baby, we read a book called, “The Happiest Baby on the block” by an MD who had developed this surefire system for getting your fussy baby to fall asleep. The whole theory was to use certain techniques, sounds and sensations to make the baby feel like she was back in the familiar, warm, cozy environment of the womb. All of the swaddling, swaying, shhh-ing, and on and on were really just a clever ruse. The outside world is big, open, cold and full of crystal clear noises near and far and strange. The five ’S’s were designed to say to the baby’s brain, “Hey buddy… everything is cool. You’re warm, you’re safe, you’re tucked in tight on every side. Everything is as it should be.. it’s quiet and familiar. You’re right where you belong. When our baby was finally born and we deployed these techniques, our little Anna would gradually calm down, let go and ease off into peaceful sleep.

This Christmas, I’ve been trying to mentally put myself in the old story… as if I were walking through the very moment with the young couple and the impossibly helpless baby. What were the sounds in and around the stable that night? Can you imagine the animals around their old trough which was now doubling as a crib breathing like only animals do? Can you hear the crickets? Was Mary singing a lullaby? How cold was it? Curiously, one of the very first things we learn about the baby Jesus in Scripture is that Mary swaddled Him before laying Him down to sleep in the manger. Wow. That’s the first of the 5 S’s! That’s maybe the most critical of the techniques to get a baby calm on down so He’s ready to doze right off. I guess “The Happiest Baby on the Block” wasn’t such a breakthrough after all… Mary wrapped her little boy up tight, which would have told His little brain, “Hey buddy, don’t worry.. you’re back in that comfy world you’re used to. Everything’s cool. Go to sleep…”

And He did. God the Son closed His eyes and slept. 

Have you ever stopped for a second and just thought about how weird that is? God sleeping, I mean? Because it is at least a little weird. I’ve been singing, “Away in a manger” and “Silent Night” all my life, but as I mentally put myself in that scene this Christmas, I’m amazed and filled with awe at the idea of Jesus sleeping. Look, the Incarnation is glorious, but it’s also a gigantic mystery. Almighty God becoming one of us - fully human, fully God. There’s so much we can’t understand or explain here. But this moment… when she swaddled Him and rocked and shushed Him till His little eyes closed and He actually gave way to unconsciousness… it’s amazing. Somehow, God let Himself drift off into sleep. 

Okay, why is that weird? Well, to be honest, sleep is weird in general. Think about it. Every single day, every person you know just goes unconscious for hours at a time. If you were talking to someone and they just went unconscious in front of you, you would call 911! You would get paramedics on the scene! We would be rushing around, freaking out and checking vitals. And yet, every last person you know does this for multiple hours every single day. You just straight up pass out. The world keeps happening. Night clubs, street food vendors, online video games, that one text thread you’re in that never freaking stops, football and baseball games on the west coast, all of it goes on and on, but you are checked out. You’re not participating. You’re asleep. 

Did you know most humans spend 1/3 of their entire life asleep? Isn’t that crazy? People talk about being on that grind lifestyle, being non-stop and all that, but even those folks close their eyes and peace out every day. When you calculate how much an average person sleeps in a year and put that together with the average lifespan of a person in this country, you wind up with a staggering statistic. You ready? The average American spends 36 years and 7 months completely and totally asleep. Ha!

Here are some cool / weird sleep facts: Sleep boosts immunity. People who live in Hawaii sleep more hours a night than everyone else. 15% of the population sleepwalks. So if you and your spouse have 4 kids, someone in your house is scooting around at night without knowing it. Apparently you sleep better during a new moon than during a full moon. The perfect nap, according to NASA, lasts 26 minutes. It’s impossible to sneeze while sleeping. You burn more calories while sleeping than you do when watching TV. There are 84 different recognized sleeping disorders, so if sleep is complicated for you, that makes sense. And the weirdest thing of all about sleep? No one has any idea why we do it. The scientists who decoded our genome, cloned a sheep and put human beings on the moon still have no idea why we do what we all do for 36.6 years of our time alive. Wow. 

So yeah… sleep is weird. But if sleep is weird, it’s even more weird that Jesus did it. Why, you ask? Because Jesus was and is Almighty God! Isaiah 40 says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the Everlasting God! The Creator of the heavens and the earth. He will not grow tired or weary.” Psalm 121 says, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” 

The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is responsible for making the world. The Carpenter of Nazareth, the baby in the manger was the Creator God Isaiah and the Psalmist spoke of. Jesus is the Maker of Heaven and Earth. In teaching us about the mystery of the Incarnation, the Apostle John, who knew Jesus firsthand put it this way: In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him, nothing was made that has been made… The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It was Luke who first told us that He slept.

Okay, I want to admit that we are perhaps venturing out onto shaky ground theologically here. Let me just say that clearly as we walk out onto the ice together. Hang with me. Here we go. Jesus has always existed. He was not created. He was not made or formed. He was and is God. That much is clear. He put on flesh when He was born on the ground to a couple of poor teenagers. Mary held Him, nursed Him, wrapped Him up tight and then a thing happened that had never happened since before time began. That is, Almighty God the Son, the Creator of everything, went unconscious. She rocked Him, she shushed Him. He closed His precious little eyes, His breathing slowed and then a wonder… For the first time ever, Jesus checked out. 

Sleep is a battery recharge. I mean, scientists may not really know why we do it, but this is at least part of what is going on, right? We have something we need to do, we rest up before doing it. What’s the main thing they tell you before you take a big test in school? “Get a good night’s sleep!” The word Christmas is a compound word that literally means, “The Mission of the Christ.” Jesus came into this world on a rescue mission. He came here to give His life for you and for me. A good night’s sleep at the outset of the mission makes perfect sense. Away in a manger, little guy. You have a big life ahead of you. Rest up.

Sleep is also a necessity. We have to do it. You can survive longer without food than you can without sleep. We may not know the true purpose of sleep, but we know we need it. Sleep is about trust and surrender. When you go to sleep, whether or not you’re thinking about it intentionally, you are saying, “I’m stopping for now. I’m trusting all of this to stay in the lanes while I pass out for a bit. I am for the moment, surrendering my right to control what is happening. I am letting someone else take the wheel.”

I think about the angel Gabriel telling Mary that she is “Highly favored.” Wow. No joke. She was the one who was entrusted with the Hope of all the world, the Desire of Nations. Joseph and Mary would literally keep the baby alive that would save the whole world and they watched as He slept. The infinite God allowed Himself to drift away into unconsciousness, surrendering Himself to the arms of sleep while these backwoods nobodies who were “highly favored” and downright famous in Heaven watched over His precious little life. 

And it wasn’t the last time He slept. He was a completely normal human baby. And a normal human boy and then a normal human man. He got tired. He took naps. One time He slept in the back of a boat in the middle of a storm while His buddies thought they were all gonna die. They woke Him up and He (very un-normally) told the storm to hush, which it immediately did. He slept in the homes of friends. He slept under the stars. When He camped, He fell asleep looking at the same moon you do when you camp. He made that moon. He knew you would love it. Have you ever thought about the last night Jesus slept?

It was a Wednesday. He was in Bethany. The village that was just a couple miles outside of Jerusalem. Was it a good night’s sleep? Somehow, I doubt it. You know how it is when your heart is heavy because of some stressful thing you have to do.. some conversation, some confrontation that you know is going to be hard, sleep doesn’t come easy. Did our precious Lord toss and turn on that Wednesday night? On Thursday night, He didn’t even try to sleep. He just prayed all night. At dinner, He told His friends, “I am sorrowful to the point of death.” Yeah, you’re not gonna sleep like that. 

On friday morning, on no sleep, He was accused, mocked, tortured and nailed to a cross. Mission Accomplished. Almighty God the Son had let Himself sleep before this moment. Now, at around 3PM, He let Himself die.

On Sunday He rose from the dead. Alive forevermore and taking up residence in the hearts of those who trust Him. He is the Maker of Heaven and Earth. As far as sleep goes, He’s been there, done that. That’s over now. His nail-scarred hand is firmly on the steering wheel and He is a great driver. He is alive. He is with us. He is in control of everything. And because of that, I can rest. I can lie down in peace. I can surrender my cares, my worries, my problems and questions. Because the baby who slept in the manger is the Mighty One who bled for me and rose victorious. The God who lives in my beating heart. The King who reigns forever. 

So, next time your head hits the pillow, try this: Remember the baby in the arms of the teenage girl. Remember His trust and surrender. Then remember the Man on the cross and the stone rolled away. Think of the King and let yourself drift off into the surrender of sweet sleep.

[ma-lark-ey]

DnDads fandom, here’s some food for thought for you. 

You keep telling Anthony you want representation, that you want more diversity, you want characters confirmed as fandom wide headcanons, whatever. You tell him you want more. 

But, these same blogs that say these things reblog posts on the “men writing women” memes and rant on cis people writing trans characters and white people writing POC and whatever else, so let me off you this. 

If you were a content creator, and your fans were asking you for representation, while on the same note saying how people who aren’t [people group] can never get [people group] right, what would possess you to take that step to provide that? I want you to genuinely think about that, because as a content creator who prides themself on putting in the kinds of characters I’ve heard people cry for in my stories, seeing those kinds of things is very discouraging. Because, I, as a white person know my portrayal of a POC is never going to be as good as POC want it to be, but all I can do is try  my very best and listen to them on their critiques and turn around what I did wrong. 

I’m not saying Anthony is justified in the lack of diversity in NPCs, but you guys need to understand that when you tell him to provide diversity then also complain that [majority group] never portray [minority group] right is not helping your case. All you’re gonna do is discourage him from providing that. 

If you need evidence, here’s an actual Talking Dads quote form Anthony on Trans Nick and other fandom wide headcanons  ( I did not transcribe this scene, i thank my Discord friend for sending me this. I don’t know your Tumblr but if you see this just drop a say so in the notes) 

“Anthony: Oh wow. There are a lot of ones I like that are almost exclusively about gender and orientations and stuff like that. Of like, oh yeah maybe Nick is trans or or or any of those kinds of things. Cause those, it’s always like, not not that I would ever take those because uh, uh, and, make them part of the main canon just because I feel like that might- I don’t trust myself to not make that appropriative and weird. But I love that people from marginalized communities are taking those characters and being like “he’s ours now!”

Beth: Yeah. 

Anthony: ‘Nick, he’s- he’s black and he’s a trans man and Glenn loves him and it’s not a big deal.’ And like, all that kind of stuff.”

I’m sympathetic to sentiments like this, because this was my writing until this very year. My thought process was “I won’t write POC because I, as a white person, might fuck it up” and that thought process is only made so much stronger when if you do fuck up, no matter how minor or how severe, you’re met with nothing but inbox spam and threats and hostility. If you want response; use your words politely. When you attack them, nothing will change. Attacking does nothing but make them fear their own fans, and that’s genuinely not what we want. I know that’s not what we want. This callout/cancel culture people have created in this little fandom is so toxic, to both us and the dads. 

If you’re gonna ask something of the dads, do it nicely. Don’t come for their throats. If you, YOU personally, have sent them the same message multiple times and have no response after a couple weeks; then you get rights to get more aggressive. Not when you’re posting one call out on their Twitter.com and do nothing but yell and accuse. That’s not accomplishing anything. 

If I, a fifteen year old, find myself using more tact in these posts than grown ass adults, there’s definitely a problem here. And it’s not the dads. 

You wanna know that dads aren’t giving representation? Because they’re scared of fucking it up, they’re scared you ADULTS are going to come for their throats at the smallest mistake and continue to turn their fanbase into a warzone. Don’t make it a warzone. 

You know how you fix that? Approach them. Message them on some platform. Just say; Hey, I know your fans want [character] to be [minority group] and if you wanted help in learning how to confirm that, I am [minority group] and I’d be willing to help you.

It’s that easy! Wow! 

Because, honestly, even a sensitivity director can’t be perfectly knowledgeable on every single minority group. 

If you want your kind of minority group represented in DnDads, god dammit reach out to the cast and offer your input. Not you may not be an authority on your minority group, or some kind of genius on it, but one of those people reaching out and offering advice based on their own experiences is often much better than nothing. 

Like, the other day on twitter someone said, “Hey, Jenna and Anthony! I noticed you called Ratticus Finch ‘agendered’ and that’s not a perfect term for all nonbinary people, so I would suggest putting in some more research on terms before the next episode.” And THAT’S how you approach topics at first, not screaming and yelling. That’s how you put in advice. That’s how you provide criticism. 

I said when I first started talking about discourse that the adults are the problem, and i still stand by that. Because I am yet to see anyone under the age of 25 acting like this. Anyone younger I’ve seen on this has been tactful, and polite. Which really shows the difference in generations. It’s sad. 

I hold hope in the hosts, because they’ve made steps to change in the past. And they’re only gonna take the issues one hurdle at a time, you can’t expect everything to be managed all at once, they have to pace themselves or else they’re going to get burned out and that’s worse. 

And if this podcast at the moment is not up to your standards? That’s fine. Walk. Away Come check back in in a few months if you still hold interest and see if it’s what you want to associate yourself with. Just stop attacking the hosts, criticize and construct them instead. 

You get nothing out of tearing others down, only more destruction. 

[flyandfamousblackgirls]

RASHIDA RENEÉ WANTS YOU TO KNOW YOUR HISTORY by  Alexis Rene Moten (Culture Jock)

Let’s start this article with a quiz: Name a Black model from the 1990’s that isn’t Naomi Campbell or Tyra Banks?

Stumped? It’s safe to say that if the question were asked to name a White model that wasn’t Kate Moss or Cyndi Crawford, best case scenario you would’ve excelled with a list to provide. Maybe something like: Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington, Shalom Harlow, Carla Bruni, Heidi Klum..you get my point.

At times, Pop Culture can be a fair-weather friend. Monday’s It-girl becomes Friday’s nobody and by Sunday there’s a new hot thing in town to get all the girls in a fuss. But as nostalgia-trends rises as capitalism’s newest enterprise, endorsed largely by social media app, Instagram, history is being retold by the agenda of it’s curator. The selective hearing of  Instagram accounts like @90scelebvibes (391K followers) and @90sanxiety (793K followers) present a facade that the past was rather beige, leaving largely out the credit due to the Black and people of color creatives that developed and inspired the trends imitated today.

Bay area based, Fashion archivist Rashida Reneé, takes on self-love to a familial level celebrating her love and the appreciation of Black designers, models and other fashion industry influencers that otherwise go forgotten in our modern culture. In fashion, as in anything else, things old become anew. However, Reneé takes on the responsibility as a trend gatekeeper, providing evidence of what fashion used to be and recognizing the faces we longed forgotten.  

Q: Name a Black model from the 1990’s that isn’t Naomi Campbell or Tyra Banks?

A: Beverly Peele,  Gail O’Neill, Iman, Kara, Young, Karen Alexander,  Louise Vyent, Roshumba, Veronica Webb, etc.

Culture Jock: What is a typical day for the most hated hoe in the city?

RR: (laughs) It’s weird, I kind of like to keep it to myself. Keep track of what I like and my thoughts. I don’t know. I'm very low-key person in real life, but when I do leave the house (pauses) I do, I promise! I just like my personal time, but when it’s time to be out I am present, as much as possible. I do what I do becauseII like giving information to people and give them links and information just so they know.

CJ: What brought you into fashion archiving?

RR: My whole archiving process was originally for myself and filling in spots of information where there it was empty of black people. Of course, there is street fashion, but in terms of online fashion, sites like Manrepeller, you didn’t see a lot of black girls doing it and the people doing it I thought were lame. Finding other black people who weren’t anti-black in those kind of spaces. I felt a lot of people were trying to make us to assimilate. Everyone was kind of like doing the same things and it was like, ‘Naomi Campbell!’ But if it were any other dark girl it didn’t matter. So, I started my own blog and then I had to stop myself from posting Naomi Campbell’s photos too. I would do one picture of Naomi Campbell a day and try to really give props to other black woman involved and black people in general. When I was younger I was familiar with the other models not just Naomi Campbell, my mom was really in it with Naomi. She worked in a beauty salon, which had magazines of all the models. Like, black hair magazines, they always listed the models so, no matter what you knew who they were. Whoever it was in the 90s, ‘this is who that is and this who that is.’ You’d see the oldest Destiny Child’s video shoots in black hair magazines. I just haven’t seen other people doing that. There are other girls now that focus more on Hip Hop in 90s and 2000s. Livejournal, fashion spot, Tumblr, people didn’t go out of their way to scan the black models or even try to name them. It’s funny, people online, they don’t even try to hide their biases. No one was really fashion blogging the way I like or how I see .

CJ:In your piece for Office Magazine you mention, from Patrick Kelley to today’s influence of Dapper Dan, American culture from its roots drips of Black influence and culture. Why do you think Black culture is so immutable and where do you see the ownership of our creations.

RR: People I mean know, it’s just like, it’s weird and odd to even talk about. Not just people referencing me or copying, I feel like I am being gaslit all the time or being told that. People love stealing from black people. People love stealing from black people. People love stealing from black people and lying about it. People hate black people but they think we are cool. I can’t even (pauses)yeah it’s very weird. The twitter thing is weird (sighs).

CJ: It is weird.

RR: (sighs) It’s not really helping them. It’s boring to live with no personality. To see someone interesting and steal from them to bolster themselves. [On social media] we have the means to share with each other, like, moments that are of shared experiences of oppression and that is even imitated. I don’t know why the copy of things are okay. It is such a multi-layered thing. Or the way the Stans talk like mainly the Black queer and Black trans talk and how all of that is now being used by everyone. Ariana Grande, ya know, icons talk like girls on the ballrooms did back in 2006. Parodying things. It helps them develop their own brand, I don’t understand their fascination with us anyway. I’m into my own shit and own culture. I like the way black people express themselves and other people use us and what we do to talk to each other or communicate and then take that to feel cool. I’ve always been,like, ‘why would someone want to be like this?’ or pretend. I don’t get it. People run out of content. I know people used to make fun of me and the things I used to be and ironically they are into it now. People need to find their own hobbies. They are bored.

CJ: The internet is complex. It’s a parody of itself.

RR: Knowing your history is important. You need to know where you came from to know where you are going. When it comes to fashion archives the question is, ‘what is it that you are looking for or trying to highlight?’ My concern is that fashion archiving is feeding into nostalgic trends, where it’s easier to mimic what was done before rather then create new moments. Do you share the same sentiments?

CJ: What is it about fashion that excites you?

RR: It’s so fun and so funny. The dolls are taking over. That’s how most things go, the things that happened come back with a hyper focus. It really is going full out now. It’s interesting to see how people are dressing now. [Fashion] is always reflective of the political climate. Think about the 80s everyone is dressing like a dickhead. Then when people got sick of dressing like a dickhead, minimalism comes in. We cycle through trends so fast, today. I remember a girl wearing a hair clips and no one was into it. Then the next week everyone was wearing them, then I see Cyndi Lauper in an interview wearing hair clips. She’s like 50-something and she’s wearing hair clips made out of Swarovski crystals. It’s so interesting. It’s funny how it happens. Now everyone is into fashion.

CJ: Who are your biggest fashion influences ?

RR: My biggest influences are Naomi Campbell and my mom. Girls I follow on the internet. My mom is from San Francisco lives her own life and is very eclectic. I get a lot from her and different taste. Foxy Brown is also very inspiring, I reference her a lot I think about her and Steven Miesel. Steven knows how to do everything. Steven can do everything. Everyone knows I am a crazy Beyoncé fan. But, I have different girls for different moods. My main inspo is Naomi and Foxy Brown. I really gravitated to Foxy because she was more into Prada and Chloe when Stella McCartney was there. Because of Foxy I love Chloe. She was very cool. Naomi is, you just aspire to that level of greatness. There is no one else. Even in her flaws she handles them so well. I can’t imagine someone else with that kind of rap sheet to not get fully canceled. I judge people by how they react to criticism. She handles it really well. I find that really inspiring.

CJ: What film or television do you think has the best fashion catalog? If you could what character's closet would you love to raid?

RR: I am so frazzled. There’s so much stuff I like. I write things down specifically, because I can never remember. I watched The Nanny last year with Fran Drescher, when I was really depressed and was like, ‘Wow this is inspiring.’ Brenda Cooper, her mind. Everyone had a look in. Pose, is another one. Everything has intentions from the main characters to the background characters. I really like the first season of costume design. It’s commitment to that era. Someone is always dressed like, Karen White or Jodi Whitley. Elektra is very dynasty, that high lady energy. I love that about the show. I love Glow, the costume designer, Beth Morgan. I love when people do era shows, specifically the 80s and they don’t try to soften it, especially in makeup or hair. They aren’t scared to embrace the ugliness, I love that. That’s what good costume design is about. High fashion is easy, but what really gets me is watching old movies and looking at the clothes.  

CJ: We are moving into a new decade of 2020. I have a feeling it may be the year of 2020 vision and final clarity. What are your aspirations for this new era and what do you hope to see from the world?

RR: I feel like the children are our future. That’s what I’m looking at, to see what the kids are into. People are more focused into what they look like and I remember if someone dressed a little bit out of fashion it was a huge deal and get talked about. But now they are embracing their weirdness and experimenting. Do you watch that Tik Tok stuff? I just want a regular life. Happy, healthy, all my kids are happy and healthy. When I move to [Los Angeles] and get hotter, hotter and I want to  become, what is that called, a wellness person? I want a Goop moment, but with Solange aesthetics. Maybe make a propaganda film to get people to stop wearing wigs.

[ceeweej]

YOU'LL EITHER GET IT OR YOU WON'T??????????

I HAVE ADHD AND I DIDNT KNOW IT UNTIL I WAS 24. OR 25. WHICH WAS ALSO THIS PAST YEAR (?) THAT I FIGURED IT OUT (?) (AND BRO I LITERALLY CANNOT PROCESS TIME AS OF MARCH 2020. LIKE IM COOL. IM WITH IT. BUT I DONT *FEEL* IT.)

IS THE REASON I'M SO /RELATABLE/ BECAUSE I SAY "Y'KNOW" A LOT?

THAT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE BUT IM RLY THINKING ABOUT IT BECASUSE ADDINBG "YKNOW" AFTER YOU SAY A THING WITH A CERTAIN INFLECTION CLUES THE PERSON YOURE TALKING TO INTO THE FACT THAT YOUR TONE WAS SIGNIFICANT

BTW SPEAKING OF TONE

IM NOT ACTUALLY SHOUTING. I JUST FEEL THE NEED TO TYPE IN CAPS RN. I THINK IT..... HELPS ME....? HOLY SHIT. I'VE NEVER MADE THAT CONNECTION BEFORE. IT TOOK ME LIKE. OK ITS PROBABLY BEEN 6 MONTHS OF KNOWING FOR SURE ABOUT ADHD (BUT STILL NOT *FOR SURE* FOR SURE BC LIKE I DIDNT GET A SPECIALIST EVALUATION BUT LIKE........... WE KNOW)

wERE ALL tjer FUICKING HOMESTUCK TROLLS SUPPOSED TO BE

NEURODIVERGENT. scratch that straight up every homestuck character is literally neurodivergent i will not be accepting any feedback or criticism on this point

god ansd like. listen this

im just. okay listen ig i;m not Masking my typing, let's sat. if i just keep all the tpypoos in my tpyiong there because thats hiw it ha[pens. Okay. Now I am gong Slow. I'm Wow. actually. going slow and typing right i can't. Think the same. Ialso instinctively backspace to fix typos more when going slow. ooooh..... wait. broi literlally. forgot that TYPING IS A SKILL!!!! just like! any other thing I do with my body! I was a little fucke dup internet gremlin as a child becAUSE!@! NECAUSE!!!!! I WAS BULLIED FOR BEING NEURODIVERGENT COUGH COIYGH AHEM COUGH ADSFDSHJNDFBC HFJGFKUYTLASF

omg dude like honestly thinkijg of posting this and someone reading it is acruallt so funny., is this art?> do you know what i am saying? I am not dont thing. ??????? hello? I am not doing this intentionally. I havent been able to shut my bra i n o f fffff let me go back to doing Research on..... ohhh hmy god. i mean this is how people DO IT. THIS IS WHY TUMBLR IS THE ONLY VALID PLATFORM. THE SHIT IS READABLWE!!! I CAN READ ALL OF WHAT IM TYPING AS I GO AND I CAN STREAM OF CONCHOIIUS. CONCHES. like the shell. its a pun. self conches. idk, thats what my brain says whenever i think Self Conscious. I think it's because I always mix up Conscious and Conscience. Do? Do you? YOU? I am genuinely asking like it;s gonna sound like maybe I am being weird internet Funny man. But listen, if you are reading this please tell me. I havent asked the question yet, here it is: Do you think about words in this way???? Am I literally insane! Like I make sense to em (me). Like I have to self edit every thing that comes out of my entire being. But god, doesn't everyone? Is the issue that I do it or that i'm aware of it? I'm questioning myself. i find myswlf! ASKING@!! WHYN CANT YOY JUST! DO IT! JUST DO IT FO ITY DO IT DO IT DOTI DTFHGFH

but i

i dont think i can?

and like

im...... like im fine with that. in fact i tjink it's cool and sexy of me to see things differently. i didnt say this at the start of this but i find it actuallly--

[ UJHHHHHH INSANE NOW THAST YA MENTION IT THAT I COULD WRITE AS MUCH AS I WANT ON A TUMBLR POST AND IOT JUST EXISTS LIKLE THAT. LIKE. IM SURE INSTAGRAM CAPRTIONS HAVE A CHARACTER LIMIT *EVENTUALLY?*** RI]

-- like something else i realized is. I dont think I haaaaave disassociative identity disorder. And i am fully aware that I could be overpathologizing. at present i have had *pretty severe* insomnia

i dont think much has changed ok yeah i really dont. know. im like "no, i've always felt this way. i'm normal. <3" whats disassociative identitity disorder?

i feel like it could be true that i have an Identity Disorder. i have had issues with mySelf and how i View myself and how other Perceive me and what others Think of me and. phewwww yknow???

one thing! too!

what IS mania???

that wasnt it that was something else

I DONT FEEL BAD I JUST FEEL DIFFERENT

---- ok so like this section right here is gonna be another homestuck thing:? --

god shut tf up

like it's meaning less i know it's nonsense. it's compulsive? Whatever its how im coping bc i cant fucking sleep and i hate not being able to fucking SLEEP BINGO THATS IT THERE IT IS I HAVE T R A U M A ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO SFALL THE FUCK ASLEEP

and UHHHH trauma thats mildly related to homestuck but in a way thats entirely shitty people who werent like a part of homestuck ""fandom"" per se treated me at the time i was Reading it and nothing to do with the actual comic itsef which is just forever Tainted. i had a big brain thought about epil. epidemic memory. im feeling scared? now bc i realize my mom does this exact same thing. i didn't use to. why scared? i Smoke Oui'd now and hmmmmmmHMMMM my mom made me scared of drugs. oh my god. my mom literally lied to me and i could tell but i came to the wrong conclusion? or. no i couldnt tell she was lyi

i COULD tell. I could tell that my mom, when she said that she expeimented with drugs to "see what they were like" like, she literally phrased it something like , "" i REMEMBER That. i (signaling me to me) REMEMBER (sticks out that what i (subject) (me) is doing is REMEMBERING something (use memory part of brain) (ok) (types note to myself to.... RUN THE PROCESS? BEFORE THE PROCESS STARTS? BC WOAAAHHHH BRAIN WORK. IS THAT. WHAT DOES IT SAY THAT I AM AWARE OF THAT? AM I MAKING ANY SENSE AT ALL?

this is so chaotic it's so funny to me. esp the more i focus and normally i would........ look away or dissOCIATE??? TO KEEP ZONING OUT???? AAAUUHGHHH AAAAAHHH PSYCHIC DAMAGE UNTO ME OOHHHH AAUOOWWIIEEE

but NOW im trying to be mindful and Expressive of literally how i feal with every goddamn keystroke that i have the ability to control. if u dont get it jsut move on babt there's a lot to it. mayb e iu'll reference something later that will make it make sense that's thje BEAUTY OF IT stay WITH ME on the JOURNEY i would chastise myself for Explaining it to you but god all i wamnt and strive for is to be Understood. and my system MAKES SENSE! If you let it make sense! See through the Etrrors. somer of them are because my hands are Really hurting and burning ooo aaaa but imtriyng to be mindful of it, becausde again, somrtimes i do this anyway and i just Dissociate and

wow. shit. ok. that was Hurting me. i took a break and did some stretches. could do more. should look into getting a good dication machine but. if i cant Type it i cant get my Meaning Across the same. yknow when john green margo? margot? fuck ow from uhhh

ok whatever not important i guess cabt be FUN with CARPAL TUNNEL

i have so many more thoughts but theyll have to Wait

goodnight

- its 6am!

[siriusly-parker]

𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 - 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐

never forget - part 1 i’ll do this later sorry

Pairing: James Potter x reader

Fandom: Harry Potter - Marauders Era

Words: about 850 (this is a short one sorry)

Warnings: Cursing, and more bad writing, lots of dialogue cause i’m a hoe for dialogue which i’m trying to beat and it also makes it faster to read so oops sorry the next parts are gonna be better and i know i said that last time but dude life is hard and i’m craving nachos

A/n: ok. sorry for taking so long to write the second part and for it to be so short. even though my writing is really really bad and i’m not exactly proud of this i’m honestly trying my best (which in my opinion is still not enough). i’ve been doing my research on writing and been planning the story (so if the writing is bad at least the plot is entertaining). aaaaalso the story is kinda taking a turn... and i don’t hate it. but i kinda hate myself for it. but it’s fine. kinda. ok. thank you so much for understanding and keeping up with the series. the next parts should be coming out soon. i love you.

Days passed and she didn't understand how he could not understand. He was her best friend. How had that changed? When had that changed? Why had that changed? How could it simply change? Why couldn't things stay the way they were? Too many questions and they all made her head hurt. They all made her heart ache. And it was all because of the same person that used to make her smile a week ago and promised to never hurt her years before that. But they grew up, things changed, and he broke his promise. 

At first, he didn’t even notice that she was ignoring him. Which made it all that much worse. He spent so much time with Lilly that he completely forgot about his other friends. Sirius missed his best friend and went to complain to her for the third time that day.

“Yyyyyy/nnnnnn….”

“Oh merlin, what again?”

“I’m boooooored…”

“Okay. And?”

“Do something about it.”

“I’m not your babysitter Padfoot. Doesn’t Rem-”

“Tutoring.”

“Well, Pet-”

“The one getting tutored.”

“Weeeeeell, then it’s a perfect occasion for you to study as well. Bye.”

“PLEEEEEEEEAAAASE!!!”

“SSshhhh…” 

They both turned to the angry little lady who hushed them. The library was definitely not the right place to do this. So she packed her things and dragged Sirius out of there by his Griffindor tie.

“Ok. Let’s do this.” Y/n said.

“Wow. Don’t say that.”

“Say what?”

“Let’s do this. It’s cringe in real life.”

The school year had only begun, but autumn was already letting winter take its place. The weather, too cold to make a pile of leaves and jump into it, but not cold enough for snow, made going outside, not the best option. So they opted for the only thing that came to mind and the thing they were best at: Pranks.

The first prank was for Remus and Peter since they basically rejected Sirius out of their study session. Chocolate. Chocolate is all of what the prank consisted of. Well… Special, kinda magical, chocolate. Chocolate that makes you only say the truth? Maybe. Kinda. Yes. That’s exactly what it was.

“Mooooooonnyyyyyy…”

“Oh no.”

“Why does everyone react so disappointed?”

“I think it’s just your way of approaching people. Not you. As a… great… human being…?” Y/n tries to reassure her confused friend. And pretty much failing, with her just as much confusing and confused words.

“Well thank you, my dear. We came here REMUS, to actually give you a gift. But you’re a bitch. So no. And we hate you”

“Aaah...Aaactualy, no. We don’t, we still love yo-”

“Even though you’re a bitch.”

“Yes…Uhh... We have chocolate for you. My parents sent some to me and I thought you’d needed them more. Plus, I know they help you study.” Y/n says, the most convincingly possible.

“YEAH! SINCE YOU’RE STUDYING. RIGHT NOW. WITHOUT ME.” 

“Ok Sirius.” She adds while ruffling his hair which his dog side (and even his human side) enjoyed.

“Oh. Well, thank you, guys. That’s very thoughtful of you. Normally I’d say this is weird and probably a prank but in case it isn’t, I don’t want to make Padfoot anymore mad. For… no… apparent reaso-”

“OH. SO MISSING MY BEST FRIEND, ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH OF A REASON TO TAKE OUT MY ANGER ON OTHERS???”

“ᶤ ᵈᵒᶰ’ᵗ ʳᵉᵃˡˡʸ ᵗʰᶤᶰᵏ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ’ˢ ᵃ ᵍᵒᵒᵈ ʳᵉᵃˢᵒᶰ ᶠᵒʳ ᶤᵗ ᵇᵘᵗ ᵒᵏ”

There was silence. Everyone understood that feeling. They all missed him. Y/n simply smiled at him. A sad smile. For that split second they understood each other’s pain. But a sudden cough made them break eye contact.

“Uuuhh… Can I get some of that chocolate too.”

“Of course Pete. I brought it for the too of you.” 

Y/n’s sweet smile made him blush. He’d never quite seen her like that. So...calm and kind? Not that she wasn’t kind, but she was more aggressive and rude. Not in a bad way, not “mean”, but more like she just had to be. She had to be like that to protect herself. As if to make her look strong. She just had that attitude that made it clear to everyone to not mess with her. The whole situation made her walls brake down. She had no protection and was completely bare. And that smile… It was forced… but it was so… so genuine?

“I think I’m just gonna go.” Said Sirius while already walking past the group of friends.

“I’m gonna go with him.”

Remus screamed “Uhh… Thanks for the chocolate!”, but they were already gone.

Y/n tried to follow her friend down the castle’s halls but lost him at the first turn he took. He simply disappeared. She kept walking, but suddenly stopped at a right turn. What she saw made her sick for some reason. It made her feel like she felt that same morning. It made her feel like when she sat beside Remus and James beside Lilly at breakfast. Hanging out with Sirius numbed the pain, but the view in front of her put the tears back where they were before.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

thank you so much for reading the second part of never forget! please comment what you liked and didn’t like, what you wish to happen in future parts, or any type of constructive criticism. i love to hear your feedbacks and support.

also! i decided to also post my writing on wattpad. i know. i’m sorry. but think about it. if you like my writing here, you’ll like it there. i don’t LIKE wattpad but i like the interface and how it’s made and how practical it it. I like how i can post messages for easier updates and you you can give better feedback. i’ll be posting on both. but i’m thinking in also writing original stuff (when i don’t suck as much, which may mean never) and tumblr is not the best place for that. wattpad is a platform MADE for writers and tumblr is simply not. i’ll of course be posting on both tumblr and wattpad. but if you want to keep up with this series and the ones that are coming, wattpad may be better. i’ll keep you posted on everything on here and on there as well. my username on wattpad is: @siriuslyparkr (parker without the e). tell me how you feel about this. also thank you for understanding and please don’t hate me. love you!

never forget on wattpad:

part 3 - coming soon!

taglist:

@hi-there-x @koreandrama-crazyyyy

@df841 @hanniejji @streetghostfighter07

@milouquinha @midnight-from-hell

@randomlyoblivious @littlebrownngirl

@emcchi @bellalikesboth @angelmarie823

@siriuslysirius1107 @wwhitewwolff @evyiione

@ateliefloresdaprimavera @marvelismylifffe

[theadorablespderman]

Everything to love about Far From Home not in this order:

Literally seeing that opening with all our loved avengers that are no more.

Whitney Houston “I will always love you” made me cry because damnit Tony’s face was right THERE! NOT OK!

The blip footage was pretty damn funny not gonna lie.

Peter’s cute ass plan to tell MJ how he feels.

MJ’s favorite flower being a Black Dalia because of the murder. Literally a girl I can relate too. Murderinos for life sister. Idk but it just made her sooo relatable!

The fact that Brad is a kid grown up from the blip and that made him seem all the weirder for MJ.

Jealous Peter was so freaking amazing! Oh my gosh! That face he’d get. I’m a sucker for jealousy and they did it so good.

Making MJ this awesome character she was before but also obviously has this softer layer where she does have flaws and insecurities and she’s really sweet but also so badass. That was amazing.

The starting relationship between Peter and Beck. It was cute and so I was sad knowing that Beck was somehow going to be the villain.

Also let’s talk about how Beck is basically Syndrom from the incredibles.

That scene with Peter and Brad....the pure terror when he snapped that picture

Also seeing how big of a dick Brad is and how unhealthy jealous he was.

“Nick Fury” getting ghosted, showing up in Venice, tranquilising Ned (don’t touch him you monster) and then promptly highjacking Peters Summer trip.

Showing the emotional trama Peter is going through. The anxiety, the greiving. It was very reminiscent of Iron Man 3 when Tony suffers from PTSD after the battle of New York. I loved that they showed Peter reacting as any kid would, many adults too, which is to just try and forget anything happened but being faced with the reality every day. So well done.

Happy and May’s relationship. Enough said 😂😂

I feel cheated we didn’t see Mr delmore again.

Addressing all the problems the Blip/Snap created. High school aging, school, drinking ages, homelessness and housing issues. That’s just the start of it I’m sure but they covered those pretty well and I love that.

The technology that made Beck into Misterio was so well done. Instead of some frankly, kinda far fetched story that he came from an alternate earth (which I was willing to believe but felt it was a cop out in terms of plot and character) they showed the real world issues that superhero’s can create. The Enemies that have a real deep rooted hatred for hero because they’ve personally been betrayed or wronged by them. Because marvel has always made clear, everyone is not on the hero’s side.

Steeping Misterio’s powers in tech which is classing marvel but again, so brilliantly done in this movie. I loved the development. Because at first glance, half way through, I was thinking “wow this is really kinda weird and unexplained and too witchcraft for what marvel usually brings to the superpower backstory” I know it’s weird to say after everything marvel has done. But it seemed just a tad out there without being too hard to grasp. Which again was brilliantly done because that was the whole point.

The nod to Misterio’s helmet even when Beck was in the hologram suit watching everything play out. I guess it was his screen? But I loved the staple of even without his big over the top suit he still had the trademark helmet. Great costume design.

Peter’s soft gazes towards MJ. Nearly gave me a cavity they were so sweet! Ahhh sooo cute

Mr. Harrington’s marital problems nearly made me pee my pants....we all knew here in the fandom that shit like that would half to happen but my god lol

The opera scene was sooo freakin cute and that one step Peter took when he saw Brad move in was so freaking cute and hot!

MJ running after him and finding the critical peice of information to crack the case wide open. Loved it.

Betty and Ned’s Sicily sweet romance that you knew couldn’t possibly last. They really nailed the realistic high school romance. But I still ship it.

The bus scene was epic. And when Peter knocked Flash out...god it was amazing.

Mj obviously having love eyes towards Peter same as he does for her.

THE FACT THAT HE ACTUALLY BOUGHT THAT NECKLACE FOR HER OH MY GOD! I CANT GET A GUY TO TEXT ME BACJ LET ALONE BUY A NECKLACE LIKE THAT WHICH PROBABALY COST A GOOD CHUNK OF CHANGE IT WAS SO FREAKING AMAZING AND CUTE AND TOUCHING.

All the iron man images got me feeling depressed as hell

“are you being serious because I was only like 67% sure?” That was amazing. Seeing MJ get so excited and trying to keep that hidden was awesome

The fact that she was so pleased with herself but also played it hella cool when Ned walked in and she said she figured it out. Literally that is me.

The shirtless Peter trope that we all wanted and freaking got! So freaking cute how she tried to peak at his abs. Like understandable girl.

The fucking illusions. Turning our sweet trusting Peter into a ball of mess. I was too.

God when he had to tell himself it wasn’t real but it still totally feels like it is.

Him trying to save MJ when she’s “thrown off the Eiffel Tower”

Every traumatizing thing Beck shows and tells him during the illusion. So shitty.

Seeing Tony’s grave, seeing iron man come out. That was awful and we all felt it in the movie because we’ve lost him too. We could FEEL that slap same as Peter.

Beck telling Peter that Tony’s death was his fault. I was abouta hurl myself at the movie screen.

Every illusion done in a way that just when you think it’s over, it’s never stopped. You forget what’s real and you feel trapped in it same as Peter does.

WHEN HE GETS HIT BY THE TRAIN!!!!!!!!!! Nearly had a damn heart attack!!!! My mom had to look over and ask if I was ok because I literally stopped breathing for a solid 30 seconds.

Showing gradually just how insane and evil Misterio was.

HAPPY BEING CONCERNED FOR PETER! LIKE SINCERELY AND HONESTLY CONCERNED! It’s good to know he’s got Happy to take care of him and May but that Peter still has a father type figure he can count on after Tony. Because you know Tony wouldn’t have put up with any of that getting hit by a train shit.

Also where the hell was Karen? We missed her. We got Edith but Karen wouldn’t have let Misterio take her over. WHERE WAS KAREN!!

Peter crying and needing to know Happy was real. Broke me heart

That hug between them was so sweet and you can see the concern on Happy’s face

Happy and Peter opening up to each other was so awesome considering their relationship in Homecoming.

ALL THE TONY and PETER PARRELLS! All of them!!!!!!!!! Not the people saying “Spider-Man’s the next Ironman” no the actual hints and glimpses at how similar him and tony actually are. The hologram gauntlet shot, a straight parallel to Iron Man when Tony is building his first real suit. Obviously “Back in Black” by Led Zeplen (formally known as AC/DC) playing. Another obvious hint toward Tony. The Stark sunglasses. Peter falling with the parachute and it literally looks like Ironman with his jet stream behind him from a distance. There’s so much more I’ll do a whole other post on.

Of course: “I love Led Zeplin!” Hahaha it’s such a kid thing to say! I’ve said it before I knew the big differences between AC/DC and Led Zeplin. It was so freaking perfect.

Peter making his suit and Happy’s face. Bittersweet and I live for the affection he holds for Peter now.

The Netherlands Holding cell...must I say more?

Brad’s downfall and MJs amazing comment about him taking pictures of people in the bathroom. Ep-ic. Even flash was like “bro that’s so weird”

Mr. witchcraft was hilarious and I loved his aside with Brad “I’m gonna be the cool teacher and tell you you can’t do that anymore.”

Flash is definately Gay or Bi and I’m so here for it. That wink he makes to Peter proves it.

All the near death truths in the vault of the tower.

MJ BADDASS COMES SWINGING WITH THE MACE AND IT WAS LEGINDARY OH MY GOD! YES GIRL! She’s my idol I love her so much.

Peter and his “Peter Tingle” And while we’re on the subject the banana he gets to the face while packing.

Important. His amazing skills at the end trusting his instincts (which is great because May says in regards to MJ, but it applies to this too) May tells Peter to trust his instincts and don’t think too much. And that’s what he does when he defeats Beck.

The bad ass “you can’t fool me anymore” after redirecting the gun away from his head at the end. Literally was so intense and well done.

Peter and MJ’s kisses! I loved how awkward it was at first and the slightly less awkward one. They really accurately captured the awkwardness of teenagers in love. Like that’s what it’s like guys.

Show me MJ’s parents you cowards, or show me something. Anything. I just want to know the nature of the situation.

Ned and Betty’s breakup. So funny and honestly not surprising at all. But still I ship them.

The hand hold. So cute.

May and Peter still being the cutest aunt and nephew duo there ever was.

I totally thought Peter was going to end with telling the world he was spiderman....BUT SOME OTHER ASSHOLES DID IT FOR HIM AND MADE HIM INTO A VILLAN AND IM PISSED. LOOKING AT YOU MR JAMESON YOU PEICE OF SHIT.

The movie ended and I have no idea what’s next.

Mid credit of MJ swinging through New York. Home girl doesn’t like and neither do I. Looks full on terrifying we don’t blame you hun.

After credit where the skrulls have been playing Maria and Nick fury for the whole movie. Honestly it made more sense because Nick fury seemed just a bit off. ALSO WHERE IS THE REAL NICK FURY at and I’m so psyched to see where this new movies are gonna go!

Alright that all for now folks!!!! Everything about the movie was great!!! I will have to watch again ad see if anything more pops up. Sorry for any spelling errors I’m on my phone.