#bc i have so many. but they are like. either nitpicky things or things that are issues in lots of games too

[samarecharm]

geniunely not trying to put words in ur mouth im geniunely asking: what do you actually like about persona 5? from all ur rants im just wondering why you didnt drop the game bc it seems (again, im not trying to put words in ur mouth) that it simply not for you? i geniunely have not felt any of the issues you bring up outside of the writing ones and i cannot tell if i'm just easily pleased and not good at discerning what a good game is or we simply have dif things we enjoy in a video game. i hate getting tone across text but im asking out of geniune curiosity im not trying to attack your opinion (;-;)

Nah, i dont feel like ur attacking me, and I hope u dont feel the same when u see my complaints! Lmao. In my defense, I am replaying the game for the first time after completing my first file back in 2020, so alot of the faults i kinda shrugged off in my first playthrough are now glaringly in my face now that I no longer have the confusion and interest in learning the main story to keep me occupied. The game is clunky all the way through, and at some times, even frustratingly so.

But despite that, i do like this game. Alot! Its probably one of my top games ever if im being honest!

This ended up way longer than I intended, so im putting it under a readmore to keep the post short on dashboards

If i had to describe what I liked about the game in the simplest way imaginable…I think I would say, I like how the game makes me feel :) I like the music. I like the vibe. I like the immersion from city to city, and I like the premise! I like the characters and I like the connections you make with these characters! As im replaying this game, i am most excited to see Akira and his comments about the world :) i like hearing everyones voices, I like their little interactions in Mementos, and I like seeing them fight!

P5 is the first game I played in the series; its the game that introduced me to SMT in the first place! And it (smt) is a series that my longtime best friend LOVES and never thought hed be able to share with me! It is a game i keep very near to my heart; it has influenced me in ways i did not think would happen in the short couple of years since i first finished it. It genuinely keeps me awake some nights thinking about the world this game has created, and I think that is a testament to the impact its had, be it good or bad.

The joke about wishing theyd make a persona game that was Good is that despite all of its numerous flaws, the games manage to snatch your attention and pull you in anyway. Imagine if they made a game that had all of those things that i mentioned I loved, but done Right and executed Properly?? Where I got to have a story that made sense and didnt need to be spoonfed to me (in like an HOUR of dialogue and scenes; an HOUR!), and characters that talked and bonded beyond the tiny snippets of interaction theyre allowed to have in mementos? Combat that let me use PERSONAS i liked instead of BUILDS that stop me from getting instakilled throughout the entirety of the endgame, and a Persona building mechanic that didnt feel like I was shooting in the dark looking for possible fusions that end up not even being useful in the endgame.

Ive mentioned it before, but I complain so much bc I have seen what a good p5 game looks like, and its Strikers almost to a T. Combat is still your typical warriors-esque style combat, but it is at least different from the turn based strategy of the main game. Characters talk to each other freely, they hang out and comfort each other in a way that feels more connected that the base game. Strikers implements the ability to see ALL possible fusions with ALL registered personas, not just the ones in your Stock, so you can fuse easily without having yo consult a guide. The story feels like it makes SENSE with antagonists that feel morally grey and sympathetic. Genuinely, alot of the complaints for p5 I had were almost immediately rectified in this game.

But please also know that the praises I sing for this game is only bc of the groundwork laid by p5 and the world it created. Thats what I like about this game, that it had such a captivating premise and cast of characters, that a DIFFERENT company was able to hit the ground running with them. P5 had alot happening in that game, but i think what it had most was potential. The effort put into this game is astronomical, and the possible connections you can outright MISS if u arent paying attention was worth the money and time to implement; even if it meant that it could be considered a waste of resources to higher ups.

Books and games and part time jobs???!! Silly little cutscenes that add nothing to the game PLOTwise, but define and flesh out the personality of your protagonist. There was alot of love put into this game, and its evident by the fact that we have NOT seen a new persona game released; they bank on existing titles bc they are unwilling to make a game like this from scratch again. They dont want to ‘waste’ resources on good voice acting and a complex, overarching story; they dont want to waste money on scenes a player may never see, on routes a player may never get to experience. Making a game that gives u even the slightest bit of freedom means more money in programming and detailing that freedom. This has been an issue for a WHILE, and its a miracle that the gaming landscape had space for a colossal title like p5!

I complain bc I want better, and I do not think that is inherently at odds with my love of this game. In b4 im told to get good; ive played on hard and tested out merciless (its NOT fun, im making godbuilds again and its boring 😞). Its not the most accessible turnbased rpg; theres no colorblind modes, and the affinity system is convoluted and overwhelming. Combo moves are hard to keep track of and it can be incredibly frustrating to see your turns being skipped or seeing characters take extreme technical damage without understanding WHY it happened. The fact that they KNEW the game was desperate for qol improvements by the time royal came out, and instead of updating the base game to have those improvements too, they just pushed the royal edition out for people to play instead. It sucks! Customers and fans deserve better than being forced to shell out money for a game they already played !

As the gaming climate gets more and more hostile and unbearable, I think it is good to look at your games critically, and understand why products come out subpar. Persona 5 is a fun game that has a nice cast and an interesting premise, but it is ultimately tied down by its refusal to build on existing building blocks regarding its combat, and it insists on having insulting and downright out of character dialogue and scenes to appease the audience its designed to be targeted to. It is easy to forget sometimes that queer ppl are infact NOT the prime target of these games, its cishet gamer bros from aged 16 to 40 who will laugh at homophobic comments, who drool over a 16 yr old girl with a 16 yr old mindset and a grown womans body, who need to be placated with constant sexual comments to deal with a convoluted story that will inevitably make zero sense until its laid out for you before the literal end of the game.

Its bad. Its good. Its so shallow and its unbelievable that they thought having the plot twist make ZERO sense until they showed CUTSCENES of YOUR character discussing Goro and his connections to the metaverse for endgame SHOCK VALUE was more important than just having your team be smart and piece it together over time. Its shit. Its literally amazing. It let you FUCK your teacher ??????????????what the FUCK. They also let me shoot a god in the face w the best looking ult persona in the world so i can ignore that shit. And ultimately that is how i got through the game. Lol.

#chattin #answered #i have mentioned it before but i did NOT romance anyone #u know why? bc i literally didnt know it existed #i maxed out ann and the game was like ‘hey. this next decision is important’ #and i was like. huh. u know what. i have not looked up a guide until now. thats scary. i dont want to lose a confidant… #and learned that. #so uh. i really DID go through the game bot realizing i could date anyone. even the adults. #anyway. this was alot. and i tried to keep out alot of my other complaints #bc i have so many. but they are like. either nitpicky things or things that are issues in lots of games too #like the models suck in this game but i can look past that. graphics are always bottom on the list of complaints #and i do like the little animations!! i like akiras little tics #and i like seeing personas do their casting animations; shiki ouji and nekomata are my faves #i distinctly remember that being a thing i wished to see more of. #bc i liked thinking of what joker would look like fighting for Real #and then i remembered him being in smash so i was like COOL. ill look at those #and then i got STRIKERS and it was exactly what I wanted #i think #the game is like. #its bad. but in ways that i wouldnt call another game bad #like back 4 blood is BAD bad. its awful. the gameplay is bad. the story was shit. and the servers shut down within a year or two of launch #risk of rain 2 is bad in the way that it continuously obscures and withholds information to the player. its tedious and frustrating #but unlike b4b i LIKE ror2 and will continue to enjoy it. #bc the gameplay loop FEELS satisfying #and ultimately thats how i feel about p5 #for all of its faults; its fun. it has a gameplay loop that is consistent and fun when u get the hang of it #im playing on hard again since merciless is just me making the right instakill builds while i pick up my team over and over again #and theres still a challenge in having the endgame weapons and armor #its satisfying! and i think its satisfying bc I was given the luck of having this be my introduction into the series #maybe i would have a better opinion on the game if i came from p4. or maybe not! who knows !

[agent-troi]

Twenty questions for fanfic writers

I was tagged by the incomparable @baronessblixen 🫶🫶

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

104

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

396,351

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The X-Files, Star Trek, and I have one The West Wing fic

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Platonic Procreation

Security Questions

Eden

Mother Knows Best

The MSR Files

5. Do you respond to comments?

Sometimes! I usually try to respond if someone commented about something specific, and essay length comments always deserve a reply❤️ also if someone comments saying they reread your fic bc that's the best feeling in the world

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm I only have a few that end angsty but I guess that would be my canon compliant post-IVF Rain King fic, Driftwood Lullaby

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Aqua Vitae, but I also wanna spotlight one of my earlier fics, in which Mulder gives Scully a real wedding ring for their case in Arcadia, Though the Heavens Fall

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten a couple of nitpicky comments and one actual hate comment (ironically that one was on my most popular fic!😆)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No, I know it's popular but it's just not my thing either to write or to read

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't written one yet but I have several ideas for TXF/Star Trek, TXF/SVU, TXF/Bones gathering dust in my google docs😅

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not as far as I know

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Several! I contributed a chapter to Anahata: The Heart Chakra, Eden, The Amazing Muldeeni, and Agent Scully is Already in Love

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

MSR!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A prequel to Purplerow by @katy-kt-katie, an AU in which Scully is an astronaut, about the time she made first contact with aliens on Mars (I really wanna finish this but life has decided to just keep throwing bricks at me and I haven't been able to concentrate enough to write in so long😭)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm good at dialogue😅

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle so much with choosing the right word to describe something sometimes, and also finding alternative words to use when I accidentally use the same word four or five times in the same paragraph😂

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I like reading it! I think it adds to the atmosphere of the story, but I don't think I've ever done it myself except to copy and paste the German dialogue from Triangle😅

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lord of the Rings, I wrote a sequel featuring Aragorn and Arwen's daughter and posted it on Instagram back when I was active in the Tolkien fandom circa 2015 (posting fic on instragram probably sound super weird lmao but it was what people did, they'd post a pic corresponding to the fic and the chapter went in the captions)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I'm pretty proud of the fic I wrote last October for Mulder's birthday, Where a Million Stars Catch Fire

Tagging @katy-kt-katie @tofuttim @television-overload @cecilysass @slippinmickeys @skelavender @virtie333 and idk who else writes and hasn't been tagged so if you see this have at it lol

#tag game #fic writing #x files fanfic

[thee-morrigan]

now that I've had a couple of days to go through SEVERAL stages of mental illness about book 3, I have…Some Thoughts. about the book in general and specifically about N's route, as so far that's the only one in which I've gone through most (if not all) of the interaction variations (yes, I have approximately 83253 tabs open rn. I told y'all I'm being very unwell about this). I've played through M's route several times so far too, but there were fewer standout "wait, what?" moments for me in that route tbh 🥴

below the cut: the peer review nobody asked for! (and my sincerest apologies lmao)

I really need Mishka to hire professional copy editors for these books, y'all. There are grammar/syntax errors that just. shouldn't be there. (and I don't even mean the nitpicky ones that I'm super anal about! I mean ones like using 'stationary' when you mean 'stationery'.)

somewhat related to the above bullet, I hope the testing period for book 4 is a lot longer than it was for book 3. there are some inconsistencies in the narrative that I suspect would have been caught if there'd been more time between the beta testing and the book being sent to HG.

for example, if you trigger the sex scene options in N's combat route, there is at least one errant reference to the feel of denim when like. you're both in workout clothes (and there is significant time spent describing both N's and the MC's outfits!). ALSO, when you go back inside for the debriefing with UB, F & M tease N about their jeans being unzipped when, again: there were no jeans or zippers involved. It's a funny scene after the equivalent research options, but it makes no sense post-combat ones without editing for attire differences.

while I'm thinking about the research scene on N's route, the fact that the MC can confess their love and N flat out says NOTHING in response??? just immediately jumps to gettin' busy despite the MC explicitly asking them to say something in response??? what will probably be Holland's canon route is fine, because the combat path has a "scared by own feelings" choice and you know homegirl immediately tried to yeet herself out of that potential conversation bc they've been dating for all of 30 seconds at this point. BUT knowing that that path was fine bc it happened to fit my OC honestly just made me more annoyed for anyone playing with a different/more emotionally mature/open detective. because going through the "i love you" options in the research scene especially were disappointing.

again, related to the above, the narrative inconsistencies (and the bulky plot) made the pacing often feel inconsistent. there were so many moving pieces and story beats that a lot of scenes felt either rushed (without seeming like that pace was tonally/narratively appropriate) or unnecessarily truncated. I also felt like there were a lot of points of abrupt info-dumping that was clearly meant to give background info on UB/other characters/plotpoints but ended up feeling inorganic/unnatural in terms of actual relationship-building. or, alternatively, like it was meant to build to a resolution point later in the book that just never happened.

for example: the whole post-Unit Victor scene where your LI shares some of their past with you. It didn't feel quite as abrupt/odd in my M route playthroughs, but the flow was JARRING for me in N's. And the abrupt end to that scene is never revisited. like, I understand the conversation maybe not coming up again, but for neither of them to even linger on what were presumably heavy emotional topics or think about it again at what could have been relevant points throughout the book seemed to dilute what I assume was meant to be an important scene.

speaking of things that are basically not revisited when they really should be, if N's overprotectiveness is going to continue to be a defining trait and the MC can continue to be explicitly bothered by it, I am begging for book 4 to let them have an uninterrupted, private conversation about it - particularly after the whole "I don't know how this is going to work" scene after the auction. because if this is how it already is and there are 4 more books, their relationship is going to be so (much more) unhealthy.

a more positive note! I did think it was ~interesting to see the juxtaposition of N's constant over-the-top "romantic gestures/sentiments" schtick against the responses you can get when you invite them to dinner but choose either the "you don't have to go if you would be uncomfortable" or "I'll call it off if you're not feeling it" option. with the former, N's response is that relationships are doing things for the other person/doing things they want to do, and they seem genuinely baffled when the detective immediately disagrees. with the latter, they seem equally surprised at the detective's willingness to ditch dinner for them. it's a brief thing, but both of their potential responses give the impression that N's perception of those statements is disproportionate to their actual significance. I mean. it's a dinner party that the detective almost forgot about entirely. clearly they don't give a shit about rescheduling/going alone. moreover, towards the end of the book, N explicitly worries about not "being enough" for the MC. for whatever reason, N clearly seems to think they're like, constantly on the verge of losing the detective in a different way than they worry about losing them to the neverending string of external threats, and I do hope it's meant to be the foreshadowing I think it is.

#despite its flaws i am enjoying it overall! #but especially after having speedrun books 1 and 2 for updated saves on other routes the difference in book quality is noticeable #there's just so much potential and i worry about the future character development if adequate space isn't given for some of these things #anyway tl;dr i'm probs just gonna write nate/holland some fix-it fics and call it a day lmao #katie plays twc #twc book 3 #twc book 3 spoilers

[dhaaruni]

hey, dhaaruni 💜 i'm sorry if this is going to be super lame but you're the one confident, experienced, feminist, smart older (than me) woman i could think of! i haven't had sex yet bc i'm really insecure about my body - i have stretch marks and surgery scars, i'm not happy with my thighs and upper arms, my belly gets bloated easily etc.

i try to be positive about it and keep in mind that most men (i'm straight) aren't that picky and harsh as we girls are about our bodies, and then i go on reddit (yuck, i know!) and see how men talk about our bodies when women aren't around and it's just 🥲 the skinny girls are too flat, the curvy girls are too fat, it's just 🥲 and so many seem to have specific types and fetishes, they'll be reminiscing about their ex's red hair or something while in a happy relationship with a new girl???

i know that this sounds so stupid but i honestly don't know how to talk with people about this. i'm afraid of not being perfect! and ofc everybody says that if a guy is grossed out by scars or asymmetrical breasts or something else that most women have, he isn't the one, and i agree, but i just keep imagining getting rejected for not being skinny/fit/curvy/muscular/whatever enough and it makes me nauseous 🥲

is it really that bad in the heterosexual world? am i too irrational and self-conscious? am i going to die alone if my stomach isn't perfectly flat? are my stretch marks gross? what do i do?

Omg you're so sweet but I'm definitely still a work in progress like everybody else.

So, you seem very smart and clearly have your head on straight. It's very normal to get super anxious given the world we live in, especially when online but my biggest piece of advice to you is to get off r/relationships and similar forums because they are NOT representative of average people, and in fact, attract total maladjusted freaks!

I'm not immune to this either like I once saw an unhinged Reddit post by a guy who was mad that his wife didn't have her body back 2 weeks postpartum even though she'd already lost most of the baby weight and I of course immediately asked my boyfriend if he's going to abandon me if I get pregnant and am not thin anymore and he's like "I love you so no? You obviously will gain weight if you have a child but you're healthy and active so it'll even out in a few months."

And it's true, women are more nitpicky about flaws than most normal men like obviously, men police women's bodies on the holistic level but I guarantee you that most normal men (who aren't lunatics obviously) aren't going to notice if you gain 5 pounds or don't shave your legs lol. I gained a few pounds this summer and my boyfriend didn't even notice even though my parents did and I definitely did, and I lost it but the point stands.

But yeah, I hope that reassured you at least a bit, just try to keep things in perspective and remember the people who are posting about their relationships on Reddit or Twitter are absolutely not normal and the Internet thrives on extreme negativity and not my brand of "when my boyfriend and I disagree, we do so respectfully and negotiate our differences without insulting each other's bodies."

Let me know if you have any other questions!!

#anonymous #answered #I give advice sometimes #nice things

[facelessxchurch]

Came right here to complain about that figure because oh my god 200+ for something of THAT quality?

Well you came to the right place to complain bc I don't like it either. And I'm happy to see most other people don't like it bc that means I'm not just a nitpicky bitch.

Like, everything on the store is overpriced, but 250+ Euro for THAT? I'm starting to wonder if the entire merch store is just a money laundering scheme at this point.

For reference, the Unlocked figures from lol are about 80 Euro each and are WAY better quality. And the Unlocked figures are the budget versions. The more high-quality ones are way more expensive. The Skul figure is worth 50 at most. And that's only bc of the novelty of it.

The sculpt is decent at a distance but closer up it looks really dirty.

The paint job is dirty too and so basic. Like, just black and white, no gradient, not even accent colours.

Neither the sculpt nor the paint job is professional.

Even ignoring that, the pose is stiff and boring. Couldn't even add a scarf flowing in the wind. A gun or a flame like the OG figure had. And the OG one captured the OG books cover vibes perfectly and this one is... pretty generic. Honestly, eventho the OG one is cheaper in material quality, I actually like it more than the new one.

This is so the result of nepotism and that's the first thing I thought when Landy said his brother did the figure. At one glance I can tell he wasn't hired for skill. If you look at his Instagram and Artstation, you can tell he has potential, but he just switched from another profession to sculpting in 2022 and you can tell.

He probably went with his brother so he can financially support him/help him with his new career. But also bc it's easier and cheaper than doing it the proper way. Hire a concept artist, hire sculptor, hire a 3d printing company, hire painter and optionally hire someone for the box art. (A mini painter YouTuber did it this way and the result was AMAZING!)

Or just collab with a company that does figures like Youtooz. Everyone who is someone is doing a collab with them right now. First4Figures is like topnotch but can get REALLY pricey, especially with LED stuff. Or McFarlane Toys also got pretty good stuff. Their black light stuff would be so cool for China's tattoos.

So many good options and instead he chooses to use his brother and his brother's 3D printer. I have a 3D printer too, so I can tell the resin costs for each sculpture is very likely less than 5 Euro. The slicer tells you the material costs when exporting the print file. At least the Lychee Slicer does which is the one I use.

The expensive part is the colour. But they only used 4 different colours. And one of those colours is gonna be either black or white primer. Like, that's such a lazy paint job it looks like they only applied the base, no layering, no shade, no dry-brushing, no nothing.

TL;DR: the Skul figure is an overpriced scam, don't buy it. But we both know these figures will sell out eventho by what I've seen the fandom as a whole doesn't like it and thinks it's too expensive. Which it is.

#skulduggery pleasant #rant #art rant #sp merch #ngl I already bitched a lot about this on reddit so this is a copy and paste hack job

[strqyr]

I think it definitely has to be before Beacon because there is an established age limit of about thirty that one needs to be below so they can inherit the Maiden powers, and Raven has a nineteen year old daughter, so I'm pretty sure she's over the cutoff date. Personally, I think she might've been just at the edge of that cutoff date when she killed the previous spring maiden.

i feel the need to clarify that my "before or after beacon" was in regards to raven attending beacon, not the fall. i definitely phrased it in a confusing way, so my bad lmao

BUT. i love talking about the maidens, so. ages. the unofficial official word is that the cutoff point for becoming the maiden is 30yo. usual graduation age would be 21—though depending on how nitpicky you want to get (and i sure do love to nitpick!), raven does say that they were the perfect age, not the right age, so it's possible with their background that the branwens twins were either younger or older than that, as they just needed to be old enough to look 17, not actually be 17—and with yang being 19, add another year or two bc pregnancy and an assumption that team strq was active after graduation longer than like. a day or a week, and what we end up is raven being about 41, give or take. the spring maiden was said to have ran away "over a decade ago", which taking into account how sneaky the writers can be with their phrasing, i'm assuming means anything from 10-20 years.

so, essentially, it completely tracks that raven would have gotten the powers after she left. it can be a close call depending on how you read "over a decade ago", but it tracks.

however. even outside of crwby treating this a spoiler territory despite it being seemingly revealed in the show already, there's plenty of stuff that makes me go huh, what's this about then? things that don't quite track aka i've spent too many hours thinking about this that i've probably led myself astray but i like to talk so here's a list:

raven taking in the spring maiden in the first place. this is someone who left ozpin's group and wants nothing to do with the war, whether it meant helping ozpin or salem, and then she just. lets a maiden—someone who definitely has a target on their back—stick around? as cinder so helpfully pointed out, wanting no part in the war is a ship that sailed the moment raven chose to harbor a maiden. the only way it makes sense if raven believed salem would come for her eventually anyway, which admittedly could be the case; not sure if the shapeshifting magic alone is enough to put a target on raven's back, but if ozpin made it an additional key to the beacon vault and raven knows it, then it wouldn't really matter if there's a maiden within the tribe as well.

another thing that cinder so helpfully points out is that the bandits recognize the power of a maiden, and as such know not to fight back; raven returned to the tribe and became their leader—exact timing unknown—but according to qrow, just her return was enough to see a rise in the tribe's numbers; he then assumes that spring's arrival would have made amassing a following easier, but if he has kept an eye on the tribe enough to see it grow after raven returned, you'd think he'd notice another surge of followers when spring joined and grow suspicious if it lined up with her disappearance—instead, he gets clued in only after seeing shion, which looked like a rush job happening conveniently just as team rnjr were planning to catch an airship to mistral from there... and we know raven was following qrow around that time, so she would have likely known about said plan.

"She was determined, at first, when she inherited her powers, but the weight of responsibility proved to be too much for the child. She… ran. Abandoned her training, everyone."—does this not sound like raven? i mean, it also sounds like summer, but considering the two are paralleled quite a bit, i think it just adds on; they both couldn't handle the weight of a magical burden, so they left. took different roads but ultimately, they both left.

we also never get the spring maiden's name. ya know, that one thing—besides a photo or something—that could be very useful information to help look for her? even by an off-chance that someone from team rnjr might have run into her—jnr are from mistral / anima, after all—but nope. we've got amber. we've got fria. and then we've got.... the spring maiden. a complete non-character to the point that neither qrow or lionheart have any reaction to vernal, be it of familiarity or recognizing that the powers have changed host.

i don't think this is necessarily proof that raven was the spring maiden before she left—some of this could be explained by ozpin doing some fuckery with the bird thing and raven finding out—but it's enough for me to be a bit suspicious on what's really going on.

#armenianwriterman #ask.strqyr

[soldier-poet-king]

not to be like my parents are incapable of being happy because theyre pathologically committed to being miserable people and it’s bringing everyone else down and i desperately need to leave but rent is so expensive and i am on a sweet contract for work rn so i cant leave the city for a more affordable city until i find employment but like. ‘everything a goddamn ordeal in area family’ is 10000% correct and im EXHAUSTED

im TRYING NOT TO BE MISERABLE AND DEPRESSED AND CRANKY DURING THE BLUEST TIME OF THE YEAR. I am working on MYSELF and being cheerful instead of cranky even though i want to scream and i am changing my diet bc im having Tummy Problems and im Going to the Gym for the brain endorphins and like. holy shit i went grocery shopping with my mother and i will NEVER do that again it’s exhausting. she’s SO nitpicky and penny-pinching and i GET that that’s how she was raised and we were poor when i was small but 1) we’re no longer THAT poor 2) IM BUYING MY OWN GOCERIES and the mental hoops to save 50 cents is NOT WORTH IT + im going flexetarian so the amnt of money im saving on meat means i can get nice produce 

3) I WANTED TO GO ALONE but ‘this way we save on gas’ like WOW A WHOLE FIFTY CENTS I WILL JUST PAY FOR IT MYSELF HOLY SHIT. she treats everything (cooking, grocery shopping, LIFE ITSELF) like it’s a chore she just has to get through and like sure, she’s a SAHM cooking for a whole house and i have sympathy for that, but like. MAYBE she wouldnt be so miserable and crabby if she took the opportunity to view these things as smalls joys, or at least opportunities for joy. i LOVE cooking and grocery shopping, yes sometimes im tired. but it’s about an attitude of opportunity and wonder at the smallest things. a whole store full of so many kinds of foods? endless opportunity! all these people going about their lives? the smallest children? yes even that cranky woman yelling into her cellphone? wow look at the miracle of human existence. cooking? im sharing love. like yes it IS trite but it is such a wonderful way to live, and before anyone says ‘oh the joy wears off’ it doesn’t!  not if you work to cultivate it! i spent years on my own and i never got tired of grocery shopping it was a weekly joy! 

and then ofc we got home and my father is being pissy and grumpy and it’s just like. LEAVE ME GODDAMN ALONE. let me cook and exist in peace.

like no wonder these ppl are so unhappy if they take every single neutral (or even positive) experience and find a way to deliberately put a negative spin on it, play the ‘woe is me’ long suffering card, blame it on their spouse, etc etc etc. on purpose on purpose, they are determined to be miserable on purpose and it creates this godawful aura of unhappiness in the whole house

and it’s not even like they can play the mental illness get off free card. im more mentally ill that either of them by a SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT. however i acknowledge it. i seek help. i take meds. i do what i can to help myself get to a baseline functional, and from there i work to cultivate peace in a positive feedback loop bc like cbt and ert do work, at least somewhat, if you actually put the effort in. they refuse to acknowledge that their moods and behaviour is abnormal, they refuse to admit anything is wrong no matter how much i plead, how much EXPLICIT ADVICE i try to give, if they wont even see the problem they for sure arent making attempts to fix it.

i am a fuckin adult and my parents mental health is not my responsibility esp after they keep refusing all my offered aid but like. it is very hard to cultivate joy living with people who are SO DETERMINED to remain miserable after literally a DECADE+ of me trying to fix things

i have to come up with interesting excuses to go grocery shopping and cook at odd hours when i can be LEFT ALONE to do the things that bring me joy

#franposting #family bullshit #i am SO ANNOYED #im once again a teen where leaving my room means i enter the Miasma of Misery #take 10d10 psychic damage if i leave the safe zone of my bedroom #bc everyone is SO MISERABLE HERE #how am i the chronic depressed ex suicide the most cheerful functional emotionally mature person here #IM THE ONLY ONE MAKING ANY EFFORT AT ALL #I JUST WANNA MAKE MY LENTIL STEW AND DANCE AROUND IN THE KITCHEN AND CULTIVATE PEACE #i have so much more to say but im a broken record and becoming unintelligible #im just. WOW. FUCK THIS. FUCK THIS SO BAD #im. so tired of fighting it #but i cant be passive they're emotional vampires #and i am trying SO HARD to manage a little crumb of peace. a refuge for my tired heart in these blue wintry months #but like. oh man i am going to start looking at jobs SUPER FAR AWAY after this contract is uo #do i WANT to go to like. idk. fuckin saskatchewan for work? absolutely not #but I WILL IF IT FREES ME FROM TORONTO #i mean there's def the most jobs in my field in the toronto area #BUT I CANNOT AFFORD TO LIVE HERE ON ENTRY LEVEL PAY #like HOT DAMN rent prices in this city #someone in like. the maritimes. hire me. god that's the dream. or montreal. or mid sized city ontario. #i wanna go out west but BC is way too expensive #and i think i might die on the prairies they make me feel so agoraphobic i need hills and forests #and the territories are TOO COLD and DARK

[roseandmaple]

Hi, I, uh. Don’t send asks to people. Ever. Maybe that’s obvious here. Anyways, I needed to say something.

I’m sure you get a ton of people complimenting your old works, but I just finished reading Lapse and I am in shambles. The pacing, the story, the humor, it’s all so good, but I specifically adore the way you characterized Connor and Evan.

I joined the fandom a little under a month ago and have just been binge reading so so much fanfiction, and. I don’t want to say all of the fanfiction is bad, because it’s not! So many of the Ao3 authors whose Dear Evan Hansen fics I’ve read are super talented and come from a good place. But so many of them write Evan as this innocent, soft, defenseless boy who just wants the best for himself and the people around him, and Connor either as someone who magically has his crap together after Evan “saved” him as some knight in shining armor, or as this soft uwu boy hidden under all the depression and edginess (this is an exaggeration, but also, not really). Those aren’t the only character flaws I’ve seen, obviously, just what I’ve read boiled down. But the mischaracterization of these two that I see so commonly has never sat right with me. I could dive more into all of that, be real nitpicky, but I wont, because I don’t want this to turn into a tangent.

Point being, as someone who’s poured literal hours into character analysis and studies of Connor and Evan both from the musical and the novel, I adore your work. You are the first author I’ve stumbled across who’s DEH content I’ve really connected with. You stay true to the characters and their individual personalities, you don’t erase their mental illnesses (that one is very important to me), and you highlight the ups and downs of their relationship in a real and authentic way that isn’t just a miscommunication trope to keep the plot rolling. Not only do you characterize them right, but you usually have a compelling plot to go on top of it, too, which is just. So cool!!!

Dear Evan Hansen and the characters in it are just so dear to my heart as a mentally ill person, and it makes me so happy to see them being written well. I could go on, again, about the specifics, from the way you don’t make Evan stammer the beginning of every other word to how you write Connor’s dialogue so well I can hear his voice saying it. But I think I’ve rambled enough, so, like, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. For everything you’ve made. Are making. Both. The detail, the care, the passion, all of it. You’re so awesome. Thank you.

My friend,,,,, you have no idea !!! How much this ask means to me. I’ve been struggling with writer’s block and pressuring myself to work on BITD bc I’m being hard on myself about all of the things you’re complimenting me on (lol) and pressuring myself to just get chapters out when I’m not happy with them just to put something out there. I get wayyyy too in my head sometimes. Seriously: thank you, thank you, thank you, ily, you’re the best!!!!!!!!! This is so meaningful!!

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

s1ep25 kung food

BUCKLE UP WE HIT THE EPISODE I WAS DREADING

making a list again so i don't get too off track. bc this one is somehow worse than rogercop

racism: marinette's uncle, the bad chinese, his broken english

racism part two electric boogaloo: chloe's racism, the fact that adrien speaks better chinese than marinette

racism part three electric boogalee: kung food's design

the problem with the creator's infatuation with japanese media and choosing to make marinette half-chinese

marinette's voice actor voicing characters from japense media

english instead of french

the fact that all of kung food's weapons are western instead of chinese

marinette having to learn a lesson about not aggravating chloe rather than chloe learning not to be a racist piece of shit

racism part one: like do i even need to say it? the fact that he speaks in broken english. the fact that they just assumed he didn't speak any english (or french, as it were). the fact that, for some inextricable reason (not really i know the reason), marinette called alya instead of her mom??? her mom who is, presumably, fully chinese. her mom, who is chef cheng's neice??? hello???

i can handle ppl mispronouncing marinette's chinese last name. like i'm just used to it. but the fact that they put absolutely no effort into even trying to pronounce the chinese right is aggravating. like it's okay if marinette's sounds like shit, tho we're going to get to speaking about diaspora, and i'm getting ahead of myself but adrien is supposed to know chinese fluently enough to translate. and his pronunciation also sounds like absolute dogshit.

racism part two electric boogaloo: i mean do i even need to go over this one, either? the fact that she asks why chef cheng doesn't just make sushi, even though he's chinese. the fact that after sabotaging his soup, and he speaks to her in perfectly find english she says, "sorry no speak japanese." the fact that when marinette suspects chloe of sabotaging chef cheng's soup, adrien is just like "sounds like her, yeah." the fact that at the end when chloe storms off when it's pointed out she was kicked off the panel, adrien just sheepishly rubs his head and laughs, despite her racism toward his supposed friend and her family member. the fact that the only punishment chloe really gets is that she's kicked off the judging panel is furstrating. bc yknow what her takeaway is? she can get someone akumatized and still be rescued by ladybug bc "it's the right thing to do." frankly, i think anyone as blatantly racist as she is should be turned into soup.

i don't want to talk about having adrien's chinese be better than marinette's is wrong on so many levels bc it pains me on a very deep level, but it ties into me being diaspora, so i'll talk about it a little insofar as i don't think any white person should ever* write a mixed and/or diaspora character bc they will never understand the immense and deep pain we feel when we don't have a connection to our culture that we feel we should. and language is a very, very big link.

(*at the very least get sensitivity readers who are mixed and/or disapora, for the love of fucking god)

racism part three electric boogalee: do i really have to talk about why his akuma design is racist?

the creator's infatuation with japanese media: for one, i don't think he respects japenese media, i think he just consumes it. for two, i think it's an issue bc it informs his decision on things, when marinette is very specifically half-chinese. like maybe it's too subtle for most westerners, but the differences in culture are very distinct, and so if the creator is taking inspiration from japanese media and anime,,,why not just have marinette be half-japenese? it's very clear that he feels a lot more comfortable in area either bc he just consumes a ton of japanese media and/or he's done more research into japanese culture than chinese culture.

marinette's english va: this is a bit nitpicky, and this is by no means meant to be a slight to her or the fact that she voice acts for anime. i really like her voice acting, and i love anime lol. what i mean by this point is that it's clear that she's used to pronouncing things in japanese from when she's had to for anime. like it's probably not a lot or common, but it's clear that she feels more comfortable pronouncing japense words and names. and idk i just kinda wish they had taken more care and she'd learned how to at least attempt at a chinese pronunciation.

english v french: i just found it funny they say english, like they didn't think chef cheng spoke english, when they're in france. don't be a coward. just say french, even tho you're speaking english lol. it's like not changing the pronouns in songs when you're doing a cover.

kung food's weapons: interesting choice that all his weapons are distinctly western when he's a chinese chef. smoked sausages aren't served with hot pot???

marinette's lesson: marinette ends up thinking the takeaway is that she shouldn't have provoked chloe, which does nothing for the narrative. and also teachers the kids the wrong thing. that if you just don't provoke the racist person, they won't commit acts of racism. hello??? chloe would've sabotaged chef cheng's soup regardless of if marinette had defended him or not. bc that's what racist people do! they're going to be racist, regardless of whether or not you're nice to them, so there's not point in being nice to them!!!

my one and only consolation is that they at least used the correct character for meal in mandarin chinese. and that the english va for chef cheng sounds like he knows a little chinese. but we are in the pits of hell. so i find no comfort in them.

and honestly there's so much more i want to say; i could go on forever about this fucking episode. the fact that they greenlit this episode drives me to the brink of insanity. when i was younger and watched this, i was filled with so much righteous rage. now that i'm older, i'm just filled with a deep sadness and aching pain.

#chirp.ml #chirp.txt

[smnthwrd]

⚠️This is your warning, if youre going to cry about negativity on the timeline then don't read this⚠️

Hard truth: I didn't love cal :/

Before we continue, I'm going to say this first and foremost because i don't want to say it a thousand times while i write this and distract from what I'm actually saying: i know that cals journey mirrors a lot of watchers experiences, and i don't want to invalidate that at all. If you loved cal and related to them that's really great, and regardless of my own opinion, you deserve that experience and im glad you got it. I've also read a lot about Dua Saleh and the making of cals character, and i KNOW that they had a nonbinary consultant and they asked Dua about their feelings and experiences and all of that, and i appreciate that, and I'm glad Dua and Robyn both had good experiences on the set. But at the end of the day, media is there for us to consume and discuss, and this is just how I felt about their characters as a watcher. I'm not trying to invalidate anyone's experience. Now onto the post)

I didn't dislike Cal, i just...didn't really love them either. i dont know. I was so so hype to have a nb character, but the acting/writing just wasn't there for me? I really like Dua Saleh, but i dont think theyre the best actor tbh. I feel like the dialogue was just really awkward and unnatural at times, yk?

I just feel like they really wrote the most stereotypical NBs that they could and just called it good. Like I'm GLAD for the representation, i am. It's just, so many trans/NB characters in the media these days seem to be the same "walking encyclopedia" type who always regurgitate the same facts and phrases and have similar or the same experiences. To me, personally, it just seemed like the writers read some articles and FAQs about the NB experience and pasted it into the script. I mean sure, some people talk like that, and some people experience that, but also...in real life i think a lot of those conversations happen more naturally, and don't go quite so by-the-book, ya know? And like considering sex education has been really good about having honest, real, sometimes very gritty convos regarding sex in the past, that dialogue kind of stuck out like a sore thumb to me, seeming very scripted and everything.

And idk this feel nitpicky considering we don't have a lot of representation to choose from anyways, but it's like, Cal and Layla were both that very well-known androgynous type of NB, ya know? Which is cool and everything, bc that's how some NBs experience their relationship with gender, but it's like, not every NB person wants to be androgynous? And not every NB with a chest wants to bind it? Idk i guess i expected differently because sex education is all about being different and ~fresh~, i was kind of surprised when both of the nonbinary characters this season were AFAB and had similar experiences. Tbh it was kind of giving "views NBs as women-lite" type thing. I don't know i just don't think it gave everything it could, ya know? There are so many diverse and unique NB experiences and we only saw one pretty generalized kind of experience in cal and layla.

So that, paired with the fact that i really don't think Duas acting was on par with the rest of the cast, (and honestly took me out of the moment with how "acted" some of their scenes felt,) enjoying cals character to fullest extent was hard for me. Don't get me wrong i DID still enjoy seeing a nonbinary poc character onscreen! I was really glad to see that experience depicted on a popular show, and even with all of these feelings i wouldn't change it for the world. But at the same time, their character also just really fell short for me :/

I don't know, i know a lot of people won't agree with me on this but at the end of the day it's only my opinion and i just wanted to say it because I've been thinking about it since i watched s3. I enjoyed seeing Cal, and i enjoyed their friendship with Jackson (most of the time) but i feel like they could have done more and better :/

#sex education #sex ed #sex education s3 #nb #dua saleh #cal bowman #sex ed opinions #jackson marchetti #maeve wiley #eric effiong #otis milburn

[nectcr]

heyheyhey! this is a beat late(?) but i’m here and (spongebob vc) imreadyimreadyimready!! for starters, you can call me yeni :D and this is jin hanui aka FRTP1. those who know her most likely know her as JIN CONGLOMERATE HEIR or FRTP2′S EX or (more famously) HAN INSOO’S LACKEY BESTIE. i’ll deep dive into further info under the cut, but for now please give this a LIKE! for plots! you can also find me on discord @ yennifer (derogatory)#8974!! (where i will be much faster... i promise) can’t wait to write with you all :D 

PROFILE / BIO / sorry no plots i’m incompetent

leo sun, aries moon, taurus rising (haha)

the jin group is pretty out there and well known, dabbling mostly in finances but recently is going around investing in real estate and cracking open hotels and resorts yk (in short, she’s f**king loaded)

pretty much has been in the spotlight since she was born, her mom was pretty strict about conveying a certain ‘image’ and she more or less has stuck with it throughout her life

because of all that, she’s very very very conscious of her image, spends over 5k a month of upkeep from hair treatments to skin to mani-pedis etc

on screen (everyday is on-screen unless she’s with close close friends), she’s relatively nice and sweet and all smiles and charm. doesn’t particularly seem to have a temper but doesn’t come off as spineless either. really gives off the ‘girl you want to protect’ vibes, though.

off screen, it’s about the same(ish but not really)—only hanui has always been inherently the selfish/needy type. doesn’t like to share her boys (FRTP2 and INSOO) with other people. she’s also a bit nosy and nitpicky, comes off as bratty sometimes (that comes with being spoiled growing up though) and if it’s one thing insoo taught her, it’s to take what she wants and do want she wants (though in hanui terms, all of this is done within her own limitations)

despite all that, still very much the obedient kid her mom raised her to be, finds it difficult turning down anything her parents wants—it’s still what’s good for the family over her own self interest.

imo, she’s a bit (a lot) of a timid coward after years of living under mom’s thumb, growing bold only with the encouragement of her friend and boyfriend. so 100% the type that can’t support in the real world without her peeps. 

which is funny bc as of rn she doesn’t have either (rip insoo), which has her panicking a little on the inside and mostly just sticking to what she does know to do—which is pledging! kissing ass! whatever it takes!

fun fact! not as good as a person as one would imagine, again, like i said, she’s selfish and self-centered. things that don’t pertain to her (things that insoo or anyone else does) she turns a blind eye to because though it weighs on her conscience it doesn’t affect her (whereas, bringing it up and risking souring her relationship with insoo does).

probably knows more than she should about insoo’s business, considering their relationship (probably knows some of yours too)

i have zero plots thought up but lots of zeal to make up for it please plot with me​

#𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤. #virtue:intro #this took me a minute i'm

[vampireqrow-moved]

um its my birthday so wait until 12:01am pst to block me if u hate this post 🥰🥰

long story short the pansexual label is redudant and actively harmful (its far from the worst problem bisexuals face but it is one issue) and i dont hate anyone who identifies as pan because A) those ppl are bi like me and B) i used to identify as pan myself.

if thats enough for you to block me and make a callout post for me then i cant stop you but pretty please either read this whole thing or just wait a few minutes for my bday to end 🥰🥰

anyways im kicking off this point with some personal experiences bc i love to talk to myself. i got introduced to the pan label at maybe 10ish years old, and started identifying with it pretty much right away. i heard about it before bisexual and it was pitched as attraction to all genders and of course trans people. i was of course a trans ally! i had trans friends! i was trans also but hadnt figured it out yet! the way i had heard of it, there was no bisexual, there was no need for bisexual, and identifying differently was excluding trans people, which I was certainly against. being bisexual was trans exclusionary and why would i exclude trans people? the 'hearts not parts' slogan was thriving around this time and i genuinely said it and meant it.

as i started to become more online, mostly through roleplaying websites and tumblr here, i started hearing of bisexuality. it was supposedly an older term, so older people still used it, but it was common knowledge that pansexual was the better, inclusive label and younger people should adopt the new inclusive language instead of the old and transphobic words like bisexual. /s

and then bi and pan solidarity was all the rage! pansexual wasnt erasing bisexuality, why did anyone ever think that? bi and pan were two separate and complete identities that were valid and had to be respected or youre a mean exclusionist. and an asexual person, hearing people labelled exclusionist always meant they were excluding people from the lgbta community who rightfully belonged, denying peoples lived experiences, and generally telling people theyre wrong about their sexuality because theyre too young. and all of those things were bad and had hurt me, so it would be ridiculous to change labels and support "pan exclusionists" because they were just as bad as ace and aro exclusionists, and they were all the same people. or so it seemed to me at that time.

then, 'hearts not parts' began getting called out for blatant transphobic by insinuating that pansexual was the only identity that loved people for their "hearts" and personalities instead of those gross gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and even straights who only saw people for their "parts". (STRAIGHT PEOPLE ARE NOT OPPRESSED. I AM MERELY POINTING OUT THAT PANSEXUALITY WAS SHOWN AS ABOVE ALL OTHERS.) many pan people, including myself, began to denounce the slogan and insist pansexuality wasnt transphobic, there had just been a coincidence that a transphobic slogan was everywhere and a huge part of people's explantions of and associations with pansexuality. hint: it wasnt a coincidence.

from my perspective, this is when i began to see people discussing dropping the word pansexual. that seemed to be a huge step from getting rid off a transphobic slogan, and these people were just meanies who hated microlabels. and i like microlabels! as a genderfluid person, and someone who has friends who use specific aro and acespec labels, ive seen how people can use them to name specific experiences while still acknowleging their presence underneath umbrella terms like aromantic, asexual, nonbinary, lgbta, and for some people, queer.

pansexuals dont do that. they dont label pansexuality as a specific set of experiences under the bisexual umbrella, they see themselves as a separate identity, and even if they started to, the history of biphobia and transphobic undeniably linked to the existence of pansexuality in enough to stop being worth using. but i digress. pansexualitys shiny new definition that many people cling to is that pansexual is attraction to all genders. bisexual is two or more genders.

which. frankly? doesnt make any sense. my guess is that its supposed to be inclusive of nonbinary genders and those a part of cultures who historically have not had a binary gender system in the first place. i cannot speak for the latter group, but as a nonbinary person, its not inclusive. anyone can be attracted to nonbinary people. literally anyone. theres no way to know if everyone you meet is nonbinary or not. whether or not a nonbinary person reciprocates those feelings and is interested in pursuing a relationship is completely up to the individual, regardless of the sexualities of the people involved.

bottom line is that you cant number the amounts of genders someone can be attracted to, thus rendering those definitions pointless. people can be attracted to all kinds of people regardless of gender, even if they are gay, a lesbian, or straight. all people can date thousands of nonbinary genders if all people involved are interested and comfortable with it. numbering the genders you can be attracted to diminishes the post of nonbinary, as it is not a third gender, it simply any experience not fitting within the western concept of the gender binary (if the person so chooses to identify as such. if you cant tell already, the nonbinary experience is varied between every single nonbinary person.) important to note also that no widely accepted bisexual text defines bisexual as attracted to exclusively two genders or even the "two or more genders". i know this is used a lot but please read the bisexual manifesto. its free online i promise.

some people also claim pansexuals experience "genderblind" attraction while bisexuals feel differently attracted to different genders. this is very nitpicky for whats supposed to be two unconnected idenities, but thats only part of the problem. this definition is also not in any widely accepted bisexual texts, and bisexuality has never excluded those who experience genderblind attraction. i am in fact a bi person who experiences genderblind attraction. this does not mean i am not bisexual. it simply means i experience bisexuality differently than other bisexuals, and thats wonderful! no broad communities like bisexuality are expected to all share the same experience. we are all so different and its amazing were able to come together under the bisexual flag.

last definition, or justification i should say, is that yes these definitions are redundant and theyre the same sexuality, but people prefer different labels and thats okay. i agree in principle. people can define themselves as many things like homosexuals or gays or lesbians or queers or even other reclaimed slurs, while still not labelling themselves under the most "common" or "accurate" labels.

but pansexuality isnt the same as bisexuality, which may sound silly but hear me out. it has been continually used as a way to further divide bisexuals, who are already subject to large amounts of lgbta discrimination. "pansexuality was started by trans people who were upset with transphobia within the bisexual community! it cant be transphobic OR biphobic!" except of course that it can and it is. to say that trans people cant be transphobic is absurd. transmedicalism is right there, but thats not what im getting at. all minorities can have internal and sometimes external biases against people who are the same minority as them.

pansexuality was started as a way to be trans inclusive at the expense of labelling bisexuality as transphobic when its not. transphobia is everywhere, and bisexuals are not exempt. instead of working on the transphobia within the community, the creators of pansexuality decided to remove themselves from it to create a better and less tainted word and community, and the fact that pansexuality is intended to replace bisexuality or leave it for the transphobes goes to show a few things. pansexuality and bisexuality are inherently linked because the pan label is in response to the bi label. due to its origins, it is inherently competing with bisexuality and it cant be "reclaimed" from its biphobic roots. pansexuality is not a whole, separate, and valid label. its a biphobic response to issues within the bisexual community.

to top off this post, heres something a full grown adult once said to me. in person. she was my roommate. "i feel like im pan because im attracted to trans people. trans women, trans men, i could definitely date them. but not nonbinary people because thats gross and weird." she saw pan as trans inclusive and defined herself that way as opposed to bi which is shitty!

also a little extra tidbit about my experiences identifying as pan. i saw myself as better than every bi person. all of them. even my trans and bi friends. whenever they brought up being bisexual i would think to myself "why dont you identify as pansexual? its better and shows people you support trans people." because i was made to believe bisexuality didnt and was therefore inferior. thats the mindset that emerged from my time in the pansexual community. i am so sorry to all of my bisexual friends even if they never noticed. i love you all and hope you have a great day. this also goes to any bisexuals or people who identify as bi in anyway, such as biromantic or simply bi. love you all.

ummm yeah heres some extra reading i found helpful and relevant. here and here. also noooo dont disagree with me and unfollow me im so sexy 🥴🥴🥴

#if u have follow up questions ill probably answer them 2morrow #if u ask something just be nice its my birthday 🙄🙄 #anyways time to tag this lol ! #pansexuality #biphobia #transphobia #q slur #long post #my post #ask to tag maybe??

[feministrology]

I got high and wrote messages to the signs, from a Taurus

For reference, I’m a Taurus sun, Sagittarius moon, and Virgo rising. And I’m really bad with words when I’m high so this will be fun.

Aries: You guys all have a natural spunk to you. You can be so sweet and soft on the outside but you have so much energy in you. I love that. You guys are always the cutest and I have so much fun with you. Aries moons, though, are sooo much different. Most of them give me headaches tbh. I have met some great people with Aries moons, but some of ya’ll....

Taurus: You guys are pretty chill. I like us. But tbh a lot of us should be more friendly bc we usually always only stay with our close circle of friends. My advice, don’t be afraid to let new people into your life, you could be surprised. Oh ok I came back to add that a lot of us are so sweet and gentle and so down to earth I would die for u. Such loving and generous people once you get on their good side and they’d literally just do anything to make you smile. But don’t get on their bad side.

Gemini: I love Geminis bc my mom is a gemini. But really, I’ve gotten along with all of you for the most part but some of you are so wild I don’t even know how you keep up with yourselves. Not in a bad way though of course, you guys are the life of the party but I’d rather stay home. I hope that sounds ok wow I’m stupid right now sorry guys

Cancer: Cancer women are the sweetest things but I’ve had such a mixed experience with Cancer men. You guys are either too emotional for your own good or you’re just really laid back. But tbh I’m biased because I’ve had a bad past with 3 of my exes who all had heavy cancer influences. In general you guys are pretty sweet but when it’s bad, it’s really bad. Cancer women though I’ve always found to be the best. My two best friends are Cancers. You guys are so sweet and pure and genuine and I would do anything to protect you.

Leo: Every single I hug a Leo I feel like I’m hugging the sun. I saw that on a post here tbh so I feel like I should give credit but holy shit is it true. It describes it so perfectly. You guys are the best, I have so many great Leos in my life and every single one of them has impacted my life greatly, for better or for worse. Some of you guys can also get pretty crazy too, like you have so much energy and you guys love attention so much and can end up doing some wild shit. I gotta say though your loyalty and love are unmatched, and I admire that about you.

Virgo: Okay I don’t know a lot of Virgos personally, but I’ve loved every Virgo I’ve met for the most part and I LOVE people with heavy virgo influences in their chart. You guys really do fit the stereotype of ‘critical and nitpicky’ but that isn’t a bad thing. I’m the same way with my Virgo rising. I feel like a lot of us find that people don’t meet up to our standards and even we don’t a lot of the time. Be more forgiving and understanding of others and of yourself.

Libra: You guys all think you’re unique but most of the Libras that I’ve met have been extremely similar in a lot of ways. You guys have a natural charm that comes from mimicking your surroundings and the people around you. I always notice that Libras will agree with you on almost anything and it makes me wonder if they really mean it or not. That being said, they’re all still really unique people and they’re true to themselves. I love that & their levelheadedness too for the Libra sun individuals. People with a Libra moon aren’t as levelheaded, they feel more emotionally (imo, Idek if that makes sense) but I love this about them too.

Scorpio: My sister is a Scorpio (funny right, we’re sister signs HA) and I’m Scorpio dominant & mars. I love these guys. But tbh I’ve either loved or hated you guys (which makes sense bc of the opposition but anyways). I won’t even say hated, bc the Scorpios I didn’t like or talk to always had my respect in some way. It has always either been that I saw how respectful you were or just that I saw the good in you. Either way though, overall, Scorpios are great people.

Sagittarius: Wow I started making these really long. I didn’t think this would take me this long either. Anyways, Sagittarius. I love Sagittarius moons so much (I’m biased but still). My best friend and brother are Sag moons and I love and hate that they’re so much like me. My brother and I think almost exactly alike & it’s scary. Sag suns, though, I think are so cool but I never really tend to get close to a lot of them. Not in a bad way or anything, I have a lot of respect for you guys for your individuality.

Capricorn: You guys are always so mature and you’re such hard workers. Most of you, at least. That’s such a stereotype but I’ve found it to be true. You guys are always willing to take risks to get you ahead and I haven’t seen a single one of you fail. If you did, you played it off well enough that no one would notice once you inevitably make it back up on your feet again. When you guys find yourselves in a hard situation you always find a way to get yourselves out of it. You guys are strong, hardworking, and resilient.

Aquarius: Aquas are... I don’t even know. I have such different opinions about every single one of you. It really just depends on which one you meet. However I will say that every single one of you guys has challenged my views in some way and made me look at life differently. You guys are really good at getting people to view things from different perspectives, you guys have a really different outlook on life sometimes and that’s pretty neat.

Pisces: Aw. I love Pisces. You guys are so chill, and almost every one I’ve met has been so kind hearted and honestly? they can be really determined. I feel like people call Pisces lazy, but it’s only bc they just love naps and getting to relax for a bit. I’ve always noticed that they work hard towards the things that they love and that mean the most to them. They don’t like putting the time into the other things though as much because they want to literally save their energy to do the things they love most. I have noticed that unhealthy Pisces can lose sight of some of the things that matter to them while they’re wrapped up in another, almost self-destructively. Healthy Pisces are really good at keeping their lives balanced, between family/friends/work/etc.

I’m really gonna hate myself for this later lmaoooo

#mine #feministrology #astrology #all #aries #taurus #gemini #cancer #leo #virgo #libra #scorpio #Sagittarius #capricorn #aquarius #pisces

[dazoru]

Regarding that stuff with caleb, it's not as simple as him insulting a fan translator. The fan in question is the one who does the summaries of the leaks, and they're an endeavor stan. For months the endeavor stans on twitter have spread the idea that caleb is biased against endeavor (bc he's made it clear that he doesn't like the character very much on his twitter) and is letting that bias show in his translations, so the fans have been nitpicking his work to prove that point.

The fan translator has been doing comparisons between the original japanese and the official translations every week, but usually the differences were more due to localisation than actual translation mistakes. Either way, some other fans have used those comparisons as ammo to prove that caleb is a bad translator or that he's biased.

Some weeks ago some other account posted a translation mistake in vol 26. It was that scene where shouto tells endeavor that he's using him to become a better hero bc he's the number one. He sounded way more harsh than in the weekly release (and caleb is in charge of both) so people doubled down on their claims that caleb was pushing an anti-endeavor agenda. Caleb made a statement that he doesn't have the final say in what is published and that his work goes through a lot of people before getting published (and was backed up by other professional translators), so he CAN'T push and agenda like that. But people started to harrash him and demand that he was fired.

He went private after that and these lasts three weeks, since the chapters have been focussed on the todorokis, things have gotten even worse bc people were extra nitpicky and claiming that he made endeavor worse than in the original.

The fan translator... Didn't make things any better tbh bc she's an endeavor stan, amd her comparisons between japanese and the official translation has been more focussed on the changes done to endeavor. She could have worded them a little bit better bc her tweets always ended up sounding like she was saying the official translations were wrong.

This past chapter she pointed out that endeavor doesn't use "damm it" in the original when he talks with rei and touya... Some other professional translator pointed out that it was obvious nitpicking bc endeavor didn't cuss in japanese but he was screaming, looking threatening and using not so-polite-japanese.

What called said was in response to what that other professional said, and it may be too much but she (the fan translator) is one of the many people that have been giving ammo to the fandom to harass caleb, and she has quite a big following. She hasn't done much to stop the harassment campaign aside from saying "but this doesn't mean the official translations are wrong, support them" at the end of her threats and it seems like she's even liked some comments against caleb in the past??

Either way things went too far and endeavor stans and friends of the fan translator have been saying that caleb should be fired for being unprofessional (he said that behind a locked account and didn't even @ that fan translator btw), and some others have even tried to find prove that he's done some other bad shit to use it and get him fired. Some other account even accused him of being sexist and racist???

Things went too far and he decided to leave twitter.

This is way too long and my english isn't all that good, sorry 😓, and i can't fault you if you don't read all this hahaha but since people are spreading only the screenshot of him insulting that fan (which again isn't good at all) without the full context to make caleb the only bad guy here when he's been harassed for weeks just bc of a fictional character

Firstly your English is fantastic secondly @lottuseater sent me some context also which I really appreciate so thank you to you both! I understand a lot better now and honestly if I was Caleb I would also crack under the weight of being nitpicked every week. The fact it's Endeavor stans is no suprise to me either :/

Thank you for the context again and I don't want to spread anything that only tells part of a story in a much larger picture so I'm going to delete my reblog since I was unaware of the entire situation. Sucks a lot this has happened, as I did enjoy Caleb's trivia every week since he pointed out things I'd never have noticed before. It's shitty that people thought he was pushing some anti Endeavor agenda when he's just translating the tone and way Endeavor interacts with people. Dammit I believe would make sense in a context if a character is speaking roughly in a way that cannot be contextualised in English, because it makes us understand how rude he's being to his wife

Thank you very much again I really appreciate it!

#anon

[harrysdimples]

evermore track by track review (reaction?)

you know what time it is babieeeeeee......

willow

lovely little plucky guitar. I like the piano arrangement in the background. her vocals sound really lovely in the chorus and in the back of the second verse. i’m going to try and judge this as a separate project from folklore because it’s supposed to be just a complementary project but inevitably there will be comparisons. the 1 as an opening track is probably my preference over this I think on first listen. the bridge (?) is probably my favourite part of the song before the 90s trend line lol (just takes me out the song, kinda like the tweet line that’s in the lakes) but her vocals and how mature her voice sounds are just really light and airy and it’s nice to hear. but this is a lot more rhythmic than most of folklore which is something I appreciate and has enough dynamics so that you’re not bored, although the outro could’ve maybe been shortened a bit (but that’s a nitpicky thing lol). that’s her man!

ok I realised half way through happiness that I HAD PUT THE ALBUM ON SHUFFLE BY ACCIDENT WHICH IS BLASPHEMOUS AND SOMETHING I HATE DOING. I apologise sincerely lmao every song after this is in order with the album track list.

happiness

love a synth. ‘I can’t face reinvention’ ok bitch call me out ??? the lyrics are very lovely, as always. what’s/who’s this about ? lmao. it’s very pretty but not sure it’s going anywhere? more instrumentation could’ve maybe elevated this song just because I feel the lyrics are so flowery and beautiful that they deserve to either be in complete isolation (like from the dining table’s production) or some grandiose orchestral arrangement to properly show off how great and genuinely heartbreaking they are. I have no doubt at some point i’ll lie in the dark at some point and sob to this though loooool.

champagne problems 

ah bitch. the opening line already got me. again, the lyrics on this one are cutting me deep and I really like the production in the second half of the song, it really picks up the song when I was worried the production wasn’t going to be for me. the background vocals and harmonies are lovely. I think the lyricism of this song is so important and reminds me of what jack said in the long pond sessions about people with mental health issues never receiving proper recognition for just doing as okay as they can be because to other people, it’s either not enough or they just don’t get how difficult it is to maintain that level of ‘normalcy’. The idea of people dismissing things as ‘champagne problems’ is so poignant when you think of the fact that so many people disregard mental health issues until they’re directly affected by it in some way and treat others as outsiders/bad apples/something to only remember as a cautionary tale and to be forgotten otherwise. the numbness of trying to feel things (like going on the train) and participating in life and trying to believe that you deserve something good, a relationship, love etc but knowing that people are only waiting for you to fail so they can inevitably move on is so sad. my favourite out of the 3 tracks so far.

gold rush

good old jack antonoff production. girl how many people are wanting to get with joe ???? I really like the lyricism again, and the ‘what must it be like to grow up that beautiful’ bit kinda reminds of olivia’s instrumentation for some reason lol. I wish this hit a little harder because it’s on the precipice of greatness but doesn’t get quite there for me, kinda like the archer. loved the production, but I had anticipated it to have this big build up which it didn’t quite hit for me. I am listening to this currently at night with my blinds shut but I know that when it’s in the daytime/sun this will sound so good, so i’m excited to replay this one. update: it’s the next day and I LOVE this.

tis the damn season

hm. this one was pretty middling for me i’m ngl. I don’t think i’ve had enough love/life experience to really relate to this that much (which isn’t taylor or the song’s fault obvs) but I found it hard to ~connect to and the production didn’t really excite me enough to feel too passionate about it. very much enjoyed the “So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends, Who'll write books about me, if I ever make it” line though lol!

tolerate it

I really like this. really encapsulated the feeling of trying your hardest to meet someone’s expectations of you/your relationship and fitting yourself into parameters to suit their needs/what they want and yet you’re still considered on the outskirts of their life. Trying desperately to make that person care as much as you do for them, but in reality your actions just further the reasons why they don’t want you and why your actions are ignored/silently belittled. Feels like this is a good companion piece to a lot of the folklore tracks and could’ve fitted on that album yet is still different enough to stand out. will def be coming back to this.

no body, no crime (feat. HAIM)

ok so taylor’s having her before he cheats moment?? someone should be working on a mashup asap. you know i’m a sucker for country yeehaw bops so i’ll definitely be playing this on repeat lol, so far probably the most upbeat track along with gold rush and this is probably my favourite track so far. the storytelling through the lyricism is fabulous and I really love the little production elements like danielle saying “she was with me dude” lol, I don’t have a lot of experience/references for “real” country music so if this is a little corny idk but I like it anyway lmao

dorothea

this was a sweet song, might be completely off the mark with this interpretation, but I sort of viewed this as taylor speaking to her younger self and telling her how she can always go back to who she was after becoming too enchanted with fame and the troubles that come with it/experiencing the consequences of fame, and that inevitably it’ll be okay in the end. a nice reassuring, pleasant song. not sure how much replay value it’ll have for me personally but I appreciate it :’)

coney island feat. the national

I like this for the most part. I think it’ll be a grower but I can see this moving up in my ranks once I listen to it a bit more. the second half of the song after the bridge is definitely better than the first and I really like it, but the first half isn’t my favourite. I think within some of the lyrics there are some clunky lines and I’m not sure how well the dueting partner works (idk if that’s aaron dessner or someone else?) but I think another softer (?) male voice could’ve gone better with it, or just taylor herself. the instrumentation and production on this song is fantastic though and I really love the bridge (although the idea of joe and taylor coming together to write about all of taylor’s exes makes me lol)

ivy:

the chord progression really reminds me of like 80% of folklore and idk if this track was “necessary” even though she’s perfectly entitled to her art obvs. but in the context of the album idk if this was needed, probably the most filler-like of all of them so far (for me personally). it’s sort of like a long poem to me and the subject matter of infidelity is always interesting when taylor covers it, but idk, this didn’t do too much for me on first listen

cowboy like me

this feels like a movie or video game soundtrack song, I always appreciate a good guitar solo and the instrumentation in this song is great. I don’t know how much this goes anywhere until the bridge but I love the line “now you hang from my lips, like the gardens of babylon, with your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con”. I think this has the potential to be a major grower on me though purely bc of how melodic it is and how “vibey” it is.

long story short

yeah this wasn’t really for me. I can appreciate it’s objectively a well produced song with some good lyrics, it just didn’t really click for me sadly upon first listen.

marjorie

yeah so this made me sob. as some of you may know I lost my grandma two weeks ago suddenly so...yeah, this song just really hit me. this is a beautiful track.

closure

what is going on here on this day lmao? reaaaaaaallly not a fan of the production and the synthetic (?) drums that were used on this track and I don’t think the use of repetition in the chorus’ lyricism really works that well here. idk it just feels a little unfinished to me

evermore feat. bon iver

I think this is too lyrically dense for my brain to properly intake after the long road it took to get to this track lol so I think i’ll need some time with it. I don’t think bon iver’s addition works as well as exile but I like the second half of the song which he’s in, in comparison to the first half, it does kinda feel like two songs put into one though. taylor’s vocals sound nice though. 

in conclusion:

favourites: tolerate it, gold rush, champagne problems, no body, no crime, marjorie

in between/grower: cowboy like me

meh: tis the damn season, willow, doreathea, evermore

didn’t really like: ivy, long story short, closure

I feel like i’m going to be crucified for saying this but this feels like a lover-fied version of folklore ajfkhsas if that makes ANY sense to anyone but my own brain. I said when I did this same kind of post for folklore that the album did what the concept for lover tried to do (the love letter to different kinds of love) 10x better and I was happy to see this kind of direction from her. I still love folklore and I think it’s a true piece of art and it ranks high in my tiers of taylor albums, but this just kinda misses the mark for me for the most part (on first listen). It’s very lyrically dense, which is nice, but much less accessible than folklore to me in terms of melodies and the overall structure of some of the songs, which is again, fine, but not necessarily what I had anticipated going into this album and generally usually isn’t my thing. for all that i’ve said about jack’s production in some songs on previous albums of taylor’s, his presence here is missed imo. I’ve expressed that I don’t particularly enjoy long albums because eventually the flow of the album is lost, and that is true here. around the ivy/long story short stretch it kinda loses ground which is a shame because there is some beautiful lyricism in there, but it’s even more susceptible to risking being brought down by the sequencing when it’s a sister album to another project and will end up being compared to that and the tracks there. given the style of music this is in, the fact that it’s a sister album and so long, it’s got a lot against it and I don’t know if it manages to overcome those hurdles for me personally. It’s like what harry said about sequencing, the track listing is so important imo to the purpose and arc of the album that you want to tell and I feel like there could’ve been a lot more “editing” of this project to make it stand up to the highs of folklore imo, or potentially editing down folklore to combine it with some of the really strong tracks on evermore like goldrush, no body no crime etc. I don’t know if the narrative of this album is unique enough to stand against folklore and some of taylor’s other albums for me. I will be returning to these songs for sure, but the sequencing and overall structure of this album kinda lets it down. I can’t help but ponder if this album will age well in comparison to folklore, or both albums will age well with the narrative fuelling it being created in quarantine and as a product of boredom. if folklore wins AOTY at the grammys (which it seems it’s secured to at this point), it’s going to be tied to the “corona year” so it’ll be interesting to see where these projects end up and how well received they are in years to come vs taylor’s other projects and how they’ve aged. we’ll see! i’d probably give it a 7.5/10 in comparison to the 9/10 for folklore. 

#ruth rambles #taylor swift

[noroalia]

i only watched a reaction to the movie bc the gore was too much for me to handle but i am SUPER curious abt what u have to say abt it

OKAY this is coming from a swede btw who watched it with another swede and im. what the fuck.

the gore was a lot. i genuinely felt sick throughout the movie and it was constantly tense, so it wasn't pleasant to watch?? like the movie wasnt bad, but i dont think i can call it good, because i didnt like a second of it. the only thing i enjoyed was the cinematography, but Hereditary is one of my favorite movies over all so maybe thats not surprising?? and it was nice that most of the swedes in the movie were actually swedish, feels funny to hear your own language in an american movie though

that being said, here are some stupid things I can't stop thinking about that are 100% nitpicky:

- its so obviously NOT shot in sweden. it has that authentic mid-europe look, and like. i dont know how to describe it but how the grass and trees looked, the way the environment was built and the houses there were not at all what they look like in sweden?? not even a single Falun red house, thats all you see in the countryside here

- they didnt even sing a single snapsvisa :(

- Hälsingland. what. ive never been there and ive never met a single person who has been there, much less lived there. im not 100% convinced it actually exists, just a fake county

- obviously a lot of the traditions in the movie were either made up, or altered, and so many of them i just. huh??? ive never heard of this?? and i love northern mythology?? im surprised they didnt use more folklore, like there wasnt a single white horse or violin in the movie!! instead there was the bear. which was probably the least stressful scene of the entire movie because it was at the very end and i was mentally exhausted

- where was the frog dance! how can you say its midsommar and not do the frog dance! /j

- so many people just glanced over the whole nazi cult thing and said the movie had a happy ending, but as someone who's literally seeing the growth of neo-nazism in Sweden it made me so, SO uncomfortable. hell, there's an anti-immigrant slogan on the banner when they enter Hälsingland! and i know the movie is meant to manipulate you but it just made me so stressed out that it probably hindered my viewing experience??

- the swedish release date wasn't ON MIDSOMMAR, HOW DID THEY MISS THAT OPPORTUNITY

#also i didnt get invested in any of the characters except like. two #ari aster is also creepy about disabled folk as always! #asks #anon #ask to tag #thanks for coming to my rant that had nothing to do with anything! #long post