walkingstackofbooks

[walkingstackofbooks]

Ok so. I recently started watching Star Trek (the original one) because my dad is a huge nerd and he likes the show, and I immediately noticed a chemistry between Spock and Captain Kirk, so, as one does, I opened Google to search about it and.

I.

I think I stumbled into something way bigger than I could've imagined.

[walkingstackofbooks]

Ok so. I recently started watching Star Trek (the original one) because my dad is a huge nerd and he likes the show, and I immediately noticed a chemistry between Spock and Captain Kirk, so, as one does, I opened Google to search about it and.

I.

I think I stumbled into something way bigger than I could've imagined.

[walkingstackofbooks]

My toxic trait is that I am far more interested in the socio-economic and geopolitical implications of ABO settings than the smut.

For example: I can't read any ABO AUs set in England or France because while I can suspend my disbelief far enough for a gender trinary set up, I can't suspend it enough to believe those two countries would still be distinct entities in a alternate history where Richard the Lionheart could have impregnated Philip II.

If there was a viable dynastic future with Richard, Philip would have climbed him like an oak and dragged him to the altar if he had to. It's a match that makes perfect sense from both their points of view: Philip gets Aquitaine back under French rule, the best general in Europe on his council, and a powerful check on the Angevins... then unexpectedly (after Henry the Young bites it) the entire Kingdom of England for his Capetian dynasty. Richard meanwhile gets to stick it to his father, secure Aquitaine's prosperity, and gets the leverage to start pushing for his mother's release. Then when Henry kicks the bucket Richard doesn't actually have to be King of England in anything but name: Philip can run the countries and unify the Crowns and what not while Richard runs off to go Crusading.

Plus they also like, loved each other and stuff and being able to get to be together long term instead of being torn apart by politics would have been cool. But I'm mainly obsessed with the historical and dynastic implications.

All this to say any ABO au set in England or France that doesn't have them united as a singular Anglo-Frank empire is doing it wrong.

[walkingstackofbooks]

Civil Defivil and Pork ‘Em More VHS showcase ‼️WARNING FOR SPED UP FOOTAGE WITH FLASHING FRAMES‼️

(The excellent) Civil Defivil [Youtube Link] And Pork ‘Em More [Youtube Link] are YTPs made by @/squimp

‼️Warning for stuttering frames and flashing lights for both videos‼️

Here's a close up for the Case and Sticker Design using the templates from this website.

[walkingstackofbooks]

You know what I like about Odo? Hes such a boring bitch. Like normally characters that can change their form are the fun quirky trickster characters, but Odo? Odo is explicitly anti-imagination, other changelings judge Odo for being so uncreative (what? You never tried being fire?) The most original thing Odo ever became was mist. We stan.

[walkingstackofbooks]

These keys bring up the equivalent of the emoji pad on mobile! (if you've got a windows-aligned computer, at any rate)

the most humiliating part of using desktop tumblr is having to google emojis every time i want to use one. my search history looks soooo fucking stupid 'pensive emoji' 'loudly crying emoji' 'weary emoji' girl when will it end

[walkingstackofbooks]

One friendship for Ezri that is a very solid pillar in my post-canon headcanons is with Miles O’Brien. Her dynamic with him is not nearly as textured or interesting to me as the other cast members, but it’s precisely because of that comfortable boringness that I think it would be good for her. Miles is a very stoic, unflappable guy who’s generally accepting of the weird stuff his friends have going on with minimal fuss. And while he knew Jadzia, he wasn’t as close to her to as Julian or Kira or Worf or Sisko or Quark were, so he brings less baggage there. As I see it, she goes back to Earth after a few years in order to finish her degree (or take another one) and Miles is teaching at the Academy, so they meet up sometimes for lunch on campus, and she’s a frequent dinner guest at the O’Brien house. The kids love her and think she’s the coolest. It’s very refreshing for her to be in a chill and normal family environment for a few hours at a time, and they’re just a very solid network of support for her overall.

[walkingstackofbooks]

I also really dislike the argument that Julian only used Ezri as a replacement goldfish for Jadzia, because he really doesn't - it is set up that way somewhat at their first meeting, but their later interactions have nothing to do with Jadzia, and when he does articulate something of why he's drawn to her, it seems to be about Ezri's specific qualities, rather than because she reminds him of Jadzia.

That said - it's honestly really frustrating to me that that's the case! Jadzia should have featured much more prominently in the development of their relationship, because even forming a friendship with someone who carries the memories and some inherited traits and mannerisms of a dead friend is an inherently fraught process, never mind pursuing a romantic relationship. And it's even more fraught once you add in the history of "unrequited crush + latent but never acknowledged attraction" that's hanging over that whole dynamic.

Like... of course I ship it! How could I not? I love triangulation and I love that there's inherently a third person between them at all times, a third person who's unreachable but always inescapably present. I love the shadows of grief and regret and the potential that there was a weird amorphous grey-area energy hanging over the whole Julian-Jadzia friendship, even when that friendship was least likely to become romantic, and I love how that clashes with the more conventional courtship mold that Julian and Ezri try to contort themselves into in canon.

And none of the implications of that are unpacked at all in canon. I think the fandom refrain of "they'd obviously be toxic and a trainwreck" - even coming from people who think the ship is interesting - is a reductive overcorrection, but I do understand it, because the ship as it develops later in season 7 is so anodyne and generic to me, in ways that feel discordant with the characters and their history. So while the criticism "he's just using her as a replacement for Jadzia" is imo not actually textual, holy god do I wish it were. Or at least, I wish they'd both been able to display more fear and trepidation at the possibility that that might have been happening.

[walkingstackofbooks]

*goes to see what Jezri post I've missed* 👀👀👀

I know this is a weird sudden ask but I loved your posts talking about Julian x Ezri I didn’t know people could have nuanced thoughts on them. I love the relationship so much thank u for putting my thoughts into words. Me and the 3 other people who like this ship 🤝 I’m too shy to say this outside of anon

Oh, thank you! Posting Jezri on main is like firing rent-lowering gunshots in this fandom (though not as much now as it was in, say, 2018), and I'm aware my take on the ship is a bit idiosyncratic (in several different directions) when compared to even the other people I know of who have some enjoyment of it. So that's really nice to hear.

[walkingstackofbooks]

Apparently it's called "Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome" 😅

naomi is like three years old how can she encode the controls of the holodeck or whatever it was

[walkingstackofbooks]

Not quite, I'm afraid - while Molly's unnatural aging is less noticeable, she was born in early 2368 (TNG S5), but in 2369 (DS9 S1) she's 3 years old!

naomi is like three years old how can she encode the controls of the holodeck or whatever it was

[walkingstackofbooks]

The key to a really good m/f pairing is that they DO NOT kiss. They cannot kiss each other. Except for maybe Once during an extremely high stress scenario they won't talk about afterwards

[walkingstackofbooks]

Bursting into tears as the credits rolled on that episode. Damn. DAMN.

Best episode of this eason, if not of this entire show. Wow. That was absolutely phenomenal. I don't have words.

I'm two minutes into this week's SNW and I'm already obsessed with the concept. I really, really hope it's as good an episode as it could be from the intro! 👀👀👀👀

[walkingstackofbooks]

I'm two minutes into this week's SNW and I'm already obsessed with the concept. I really, really hope it's as good an episode as it could be from the intro! 👀👀👀👀

[walkingstackofbooks]

Ironically this feels more like a "late-stage capitalism minimalist hellscape" rebrand rather than a "woke" rebrand 😅

byron donalds gave his life to christ in a cracker barrel parking lot. now you too can learn what religion you can convert to in a fast food restaurant parking lot by spinning these handy links!

[walkingstackofbooks]

You know what? Forget the discourse. This is no longer my hill to die on.

You wanna ship canonically aspec characters because “aro/ace people can still date/have sex”? Okay, then. LET’S DO IT.  I wanna see an aromantic character with an alloromantic love interest. I wanna see that confession of undying love and the moment when the aro character says they will never feel the same way—not romantically.

I wanna see the asexual character with their allosexual partner. I wanna see that moment when the ace characters tries sex with their partner for the first time because they want to make them happy only to realize that they are 100% sex repulsed.

I wanna see the two demiromantics who don’t even know if what they feel is romantic attraction, but they adore each other and just want to make healthy snacks together and destroy each other at Mario Kart.

I wanna see the two aces who love sensual affection and are figuring out what they define as sexual or not.

I wanna see the romance + sex neutral aroace who happily and consensually does whatever makes their partner happy…but their partner still struggles with feeling undesired. 

Oh, babe. You thought shipping an aspec character would be just like shipping an allo character? 

[walkingstackofbooks]

(This got so much longer than expected but hey I've written it now, and I'd be really curious to hear what people who don't think like me think! Or even, if there's anyone out there who does think like me!)

Following that 'Julian's quarters seem too bare' post, the more I think about it, the more I realise that I actually don't really get the whole "decorate your room/living space" thing, asides from wanting to appear interesting to guests.

Like, logically I get that you want your space to feel your own and to put things that you value in it? And I do very much enjoy seeing what sort of things other people have chosen to decorate their homes with. But on an, I guess, "emotional level", for me, I just don't see the point? (Granted, I only have a room that's solely my own, but I could very much put things in our shared living room if I wanted to.) Like, people seem to really like having posters or art on the walls, but they're a lot of effort to put up, and it's not like you're going to even notice it most of the time because you're in that space so often. And once you've seen a piece of art once, it's not like you're going to look at it every day and think how nice it is, because it's the same as it was yesterday? So for example, if I had a poster, I guess it would be a Star Trek one - but why would that be worth the effort, because *I* know I like Star Trek, all my friends know I like Star Trek (don't they just 😅), and I can see actual Star Trek anytime I want on my laptop, so it's not like I need a reminder on my wall?

And I mean, I *know* art and posters and things make people happy, but I just don't get why 😅

And that's not even touching on ornaments and knick-knacks and photos and stuff. Again, I get why you might want photos to show other people, but I have those on my phone - I don't need to go to the awful effort of putting some on a wall, and I definitely don't need to find a whole space on a surface for a photo frame which shows people I see regularly. (Granted, I'm fortunate to see most people I love at least once a year and the majority of them far more frequently, but still... The rare times that I do miss people, a photo doesn't make me miss them less?)

Like, surfaces in my mind are places for useful things that you'll use! Or, places that I'd ideally like to keep clear in case I *want* to use them. I don't want to fill them with random objects whose only purpose is to sit there and look pretty/interesting/be emotionally significant. It's difficult enough keeping one's space tidy without having to also find room for things people have gifted you and now it's emotionally significant *because* they've gifted it to you - a cool rock that a friend has painted and decorated for me is super cool and awesome and nice and I love it! But I've no idea what to do with it!

For me, I'd rather put those sorts of things in a box of memories and go through that box every now and again and think "Ooh, this was super neat! I'm feeling the warm fuzzies at this memory of what someone gave to me!" than for it to be in the way somewhere and end up with me eventually annoyed at it because there isn't anywhere for it to usefully go that doesn't inevitably end with it being lost down the side it back somewhere! I don't want to have negative feelings about a lovely gift! But for some reason, "hiding it away" feels rude?

Sorry this wasn't really meant to be this long and I don't really know what the point of it is, but I was just thinking about it and how like, people seem to find it weird that my room has bare walls and no photos or memorabilia and I just don't get why I should spend effort on putting extra things I don't need in my space, and I don't get how art and merch and things make people so happy for an extended period of time - even though logically I know they do! - because they might be cool to look at like once every six months but if they're around all the time surely they get boring, no?