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papercorgiworld · 3 months

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If you had known, would you’ve come?

Tom convinces his brother to help him get a date with a girl that actually doesn’t like him one bit, but Tom has it all figured out, except for maybe the falling in love part. Leave it to a Riddle to underestimate love. + brother dynamic Mattheo/Tom

Last cameo is Daisy ( @musingsofahufflepuff ). This sweet Hufflepuff is Mattheo’s girlfriend and Mattheo convinces her to help him set you up with his brother.

Tom II Riddle won the poll thingy I did a few days ago, so here it is, my first Tom II Riddle x reader. I loved writing Tom and Mattheo as brothers. I don’t know a lot about the popular opinion on Tom II, so I kinda just went with a general Tom vibe. Tomorrow I’ll start working on the requests so expect the first one to pop up one of these days. But for now, happy readings!

I added part 2

“Hey, little brother.” Tom appears next to Mattheo, startling the younger Riddle. After a second Mattheo regains his composure. “So, am I in trouble or you?” Mattheo asks, making Tom smile. “You, it’s always you.” Mattheo rolls his eyes. “You’re failing potions.” How does he know everything? “Yeah, I missed a few essays. Nothing, I can’t fix.” Tom raises his eyebrows. Sure, you can, you little overconfident bimbo. “Well, I’ve been so kind as to write essays for you that can get your grade up.” Mattheo stops walking and turns to face his brother. “Kind? Funny. What’s the catch?” Tom stares dryly at his younger brother, annoyed with his witty attitude, but nevertheless grabs a bundle of papers out of his bag. “I’ll even give you my notes and summaries.” Mattheo nods as he curiously eyes his brother. “Ask your redhead girlfriend to set me up with (y/n), they’re friends, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Mattheo tilts his head like he didn’t just hear his brother ask for a date with (y/n). “Why not ask her yourself?” Tom looks at Mattheo with dull eyes, like he just asked the most ridiculous question possible. “Cause she hates me.” Mattheo opens his mouth, but Tom interrupts him. “No more questions. Do you want these or not?” He waves the papers in front of Mattheo. Mattheo’s tongue pokes his cheek as he stares at his stoic brother with dark eyes, considering his options.

***

”How’s the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts doing?” Mattheo slings his arm around Daisy and kisses her cheek, making her smile. “You skipped class.” She says with judgy eyes. Mattheo licks his lips and stares her down with playful eyes. “Because I was busy dreaming about you.” Daisy rolls her eyes and pushes him away. “Very funny.” Mattheo follows her and whispers with a cheeky smile. “It’s true though.” A soft giggle escapes her and he smiles genuinely happy to have her, but then his face turns serious. “I hate this, but I need a favor.” Daisy frowns. They had been dating for almost a year and never had he asked for a favor, so she was immediately intrigued. “My brother wants a date with (y/n).” Daisy starts laughing out loud, before realizing Mattheo was serious. “No.” She says sternly.

“Hey, hey, what happened to all that hufflepuff kindness?” Mattheo argues as he pulls her closer. “You brother’s not the kind of guy who I want to set up with my friends.” Mattheo’s shoulders drop. “Why?” The hufflepuff averts her eyes, not liking what she’s about to say. “Cause he’s scary?” Mattheo’s lips form a line. “Right.” He lowers his head. “But you gave me a chance.” Mattheo’s eyes are innocent and Daisy purses her lips, thinking back to how Mattheo ruined every date she went on before admitting he liked her and actually asking her out. “Yeah I did, but I also knew there was a soft side to you.”

“My brother has a soft side, I’m sure, somewhere.” Mattheo frowns, seriously wondering for a moment if his brother had a soft side. “Look, he needs someone in his life, unless you want him to be the weird uncle that tells our kids that life is meaningless, downs a bottle of wine and murders people, not necessarily in that order, I honestly don’t know with my brother. The thing is he deserves a date, a chance.” Mattheo sighs, struggling to defend his brother. “Our kids?” Daisy questions with shiny eyes, loving the idea that Mattheo thinks about having kids. Mattheo feels himself get flustered and shakes his head. “Not the point of this conversation.” Daisy nods knowing that her boyfriend is right. “He deserves a date.” Mattheo smiles. “(y/n). Tonight. 7pm sharp at the wooden bridge. He has something planned.” Daisy frowns and sighs. “(Y/n) hates him. She’ll never agree to go out with him.” Mattheo nods. “Just tell her it’s a blind date.”

***

You were a bit nervous as you walked down the long wooden bridge, but mostly excited. You hadn’t been on a date in a while so when Daisy proposed to organize a blind date with a handsome and intelligent guy, who was one year older and wiser, you were easily convinced. Though, considering she was dating Mattheo Riddle you probably should’ve known her taste in men was worrying, not to say alarming. However, you fully trusted the sweet hufflepuff and chose to wear your most fancy dress, ready to impress. As you neared the end of the bridge you started to worry that you might even be overdressed. The wind blew through your perfectly done hair as you scanned your surroundings. “Seven sharp.” You whisper to yourself and check your watch, before looking around and softly chewing your lip. It’s then that you notice a small glimmer, only a few steps away. When you take the last step of the bridge your feet don’t land in the grass, because suddenly you’re in a room.

You twirl around admiring the beautiful decor. Someone conjured an entire room? A soft sound of admiration leaves your lips and you hear a soft chuckle. “I knew you would like this.” Your blissful face falls when you meet the man with the gentle voice. “Tom?” He walks towards you. “Shall I take your jacket?” He offers a hand and you stare at it. “No, I- I have- uhm a date.” You stutter and he pulls his hand back, watching as your eyes search for the way you came in. Your back is turned towards him when you realize there are no doors. “I’m aware you have a date. Since I’m your date.” Tom says dryly and you quickly turn around. “That can’t be. Daisy would never set me up with-” You fall silent when you look around the room and spot a perfectly decorated diner table, when you meet Tom’s eyes you see something you’ve never seen in his eyes, vulnerability.

“You didn’t know I was your date, did you?” Tom asks and you feel your heart sink. No of course not, no one I know would willingly go on a date with you. Tom doesn’t need an answer, he already knows and averts his eyes. “If you had known, would’ve come?” His voice is serious and yet filled with so much emotion. However, as soon as the question is out there he decides he doesn’t want the answer to that question either and reaches for his wand. “I’ll conjure a door for you.” Immediately you take a step towards him, making him lower his wand. “I honestly don’t know.” He examines your every expression as your eyes dart around in search of words. “Maybe I would’ve come, maybe not. I don’t know.” You chuckle and take another step towards him. “I wouldn’t have believed it. I mean you and I on a date, that’s ridiculous, who would come up with that.” You let out a short laugh. “I did, it was my idea.” Your eyes shoot up to meet his and you frown. “Why? We hate each other.”

Tom smiles and puts his wand away. He seems more relaxed and licks his lips. “You might hate me, but I definitely don’t hate you.” The surprise and confusion on your face makes Tom chuckle. “We have our differences, but I admire you.” You shake your head. “No, no, you’re Tom Riddle, you treat everyone like they’re less than you. You don’t organize sweet dates with.. uhm.. scented candles, and.. my favorite flowers and .. my favorite snacks-” You feel yourself get flustered as you notice every small detail is for you. “I treat everyone like they’re less than me, because they are.” You roll your eyes, but he ignores it and continues. “Except for you, your determination and consideration makes me believe you might be my equal.” There’s genuine admiration in his voice and you’ve never felt so recognised by anyone before.

You open your mouth to say something, but can’t find any words and just purse your lips, while staring around the room. “Can I have your jacket now?” He asks and after a moment of silence you turn your back towards him and let it slide down your shoulders for him to take. You take a few steps to the dinner table, before turning around to face Tom again who’s carefully scanning you down. When his eyes land on yours you tilt your head judging him for his staring and making him chuckle. “You caught me off guard. I’m used to you being beautiful, but tonight the English language fails to have a word that honors you.” Your lips part and your cheeks heat up. “Normal guys go for something like you look good or hot.” Tom nods and walks to one of the chairs at the table, moving it for you to sit. “And you wonder why I think they’re less than me.” You take a seat and shake your head at his words, but don’t argue with him.

Your eyes scan the table and you can’t believe how perfect it is. A small paper unfolds itself and announces the upcoming dishes and your eyes move to Tom. “A normal date would have sufficed.” You smile at him but he’s not pleased with your words. “I’m sorry if anyone ever made you feel like anything less than this should be enough for you.” You laugh nervously and lean over the table. “Are we on a date or are you courting me?” You whisper with a slightly amused smile, until you see his reaction. “Well, I’m an ambitious man, but I know where I stand so I’ll be patient.” At first you’re baffled by his honesty, but then you smirk. “There’s something about you Riddle men and having a serious amount of confidence, you’re different, but in heart you’re very much the same.”

Tom rolls his eyes. “I rather not be compared to him.” You laugh and he smiles as his heart warms seeing you happy. You notice the warm glint in his eyes and just know that tonight will be lovely.

***

“You know I have muggle friends.” You blur out as you’re both walking the wooden bridge in the direction of the castle. “I’m aware.” He says dryly, but still relaxed and sweet. You need to know his honest opinion, if you truly want to let yourself fall in love with him. “No one’s perfect.” He shoves his hands in his pockets, something you’ve rarely seen him do and you look away, feeling the disappointment squeeze your heart. “You despise me for it.” He says and you look up at him. “Yes.” He stops and so do you, there’s a soft silence as he looks at the water and you just look at him. “I believe I can convince you that my view of mudbloods is the right one.” His voice is stern, but not mean. It takes a moment, but to his surprise a smile tugs on your lips and you close the distance between you two. “I think I can turn your whole world upside down.” You whisper, while he stares you down and feels himself heat up at your closeness. “Cute, but-” You don’t let him continue and snake an arm around his neck, before leaning in and kissing him tenderly. When you break the kiss your eyes lock with his and you can feel his heart race. His arm wraps around your waist and he pulls you closer. Tom’s tongue moves around in his mouth as he’s obviously overthinking something. “Maybe.” He eventually admits, but it’s the smile that now creeps up your lips and your shiny eyes that make him seriously worry about how truly madly in love he is with you.

***

“How was the date?” Mattheo asks from his usual spot on the couch and Tom scans the empty common room. “You seriously stayed up to ask me how my date went?” Mattheo shrugs. “Well-” Tom starts, but immediately stops himself from talking about it. “I’m not telling you. We rarely talk and that’s not going to change. It was one date. It means nothing. I’m still the same person I was before this date.” Mattheo raises his eyebrows and tries to hide his amusement. “Sure.” Tom groans at his brother’s annoying attitude and turns around heading for his room. “Whipped.” Mattheo whispers, just loud enough for his brother to wonder if he actually heard that right, but he chooses to ignore his younger sibling and enters his room.

Word count: 2082

Feedback is always very welcome!

#slytherin #slytherin boys #tom riddle #tom II riddle #tom riddle imagine #tom riddle x reader #papercorgiworldwritings

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ducktracy · 5 months

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I'm not sure if this has been brought up yet, but as I caught myself doing it, I realized it was very likely a good chunk of others are also - I think having the racist parts included in the poll is going to heavily skew the data anyway because people will, very likely, not feel able to vote for something racist in good conscience, and so the votes the racist screams would have gotten if they weren't racist are lost, thus making the data unusable due to personal bias. not even considering the number of people abstaining completely, dropping the pool of data further! I'm not aware if this has been broached yet, but I think it's definitely worth noting that the data for the racist clips will always be untrustworthy, even if the scream itself is good. On top of all of the other reasons why they should be omitted ofc!

GOD YEAH. i feel so dumb going “🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 well gee you make a good point there 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔” all contemplatively because i’m realizing that was my intent too, in that “well hopefully they’ll whittle down as the rounds go further and further” has been constantly harping on my mind. but that absolutely feeds into everything you laid out too, which, again, i DEEPLY appreciate.

i’ll be doing that, then, in that i think it’s the safest and SMARTEST course of action. it’s likewise been pointed out that the setting is a little different here than if i were doing one of my analyses, in that i’m still making it available to vote for one of those options, and that interactive element innately delegitimizes the harm/makes light of it under the guise of a poll.

i was conflating that perspective with my analyses, which IS often a more objective presentation of “okay: this is it. here is the historical context. here is how a more modern perspective impacts how it currently stands” and forgetting that polls are polls. you’re voting on them. they’re going to get spread around and viewed as a game. and they are! and i was viewing the polls from the same archivist lens as the rest of my blog, when, due to the intrinsic nature of how these polls works, you can’t really do that. it’s not the same presentation. i do view this as a historical archival of the progression of these cartoons, how Mel Blanc’s voice changes and adapts through voice direction and even the impact of history on these shorts (like, the shorts made during the WWII years are much more energetic than the domesticity of the post-war cartoons. there’s more yelling to be found in the WWII era shorts for that reason) and i was getting too lost in that and sticking to my guns of “all of this is history and deserves to be acknowledged and accounted for fairly, if/especially describing how well or poorly something has aged, otherwise it’s not history” and that doesn’t… really… work… for these polls.

i can’t believe it’s taken weeks for me to come to this realization and again, i sincerely thank you and everyone else who has called me out on this or offered other means of perspective. it was pure ignorance on my behalf, and i do want to make it known that it was never my intention to perpetuate these stereotypes and caricatures further nor harm anyone. but, obviously, prefacing it with “my intentions were good!” doesn’t negate the very real and serious harm these caricatures and i myself have caused by spreading them in such a leisurely context (or lack thereof).

as mentioned before, i take the safety and comfort of my followers and readers incredibly seriously, ESPECIALLY with the nature of these cartoons. and it’s exactly why i’m so adamant about asking people (such as yourself) to speak up and call me out, let me know what i’ve done wrong, so i can apologize, take accountability, and move forward. those disclaimers aren’t a way to avoid accountability or make it seem like i have a free pass to discuss racism. i really do mean them with every ounce of my heart, so i deeply, deeply, deeply appreciate people such as yourself acting out on those messages. thank you.

i will be excising any future deplorable examples that come up (that, thankfully, have been very few and far between, i’m up to 1948 in logging these and have “only” run into 2 that would apply) and am just going to cut any of the winners out that survived and are going into Round 2. it’s not worth it. none of it has been, but definitely, if i’m constantly thinking to myself “it’ll whittle down!” then maybe we ought to restructure our thinking now haven’t we. funny how that works.

thank you again and my deepest and most sincere apologies. i feel like a complete and utter heel for my negligence—especially because the gut instinct of “just don’t put them in there” was there all along. but, again! these exact situations are why i stress the importance of calling me out on my BS. i’m likewise deeply aware of literally just how silly this entire thing sounds, because none of this should have ever been a problem because i just shouldn’t have included them in the first place! but i did, and i take full accountability, and the harm has already been done. so i just ask and thank you for your patience, understanding and forgiveness, but completely understand that nobody—especially those harmed by my ignorance—is entitled to give it to me.

nobody ever deserves to be confronted nor harmed with such egregious stereotypes, even/especially if said stereotypes are peddled under the guise of objectivity or historical preservation. a poll is not a history site. likewise, nobody deserves to be alienated over cartoons. i post what i post because i want to share the same overflowing love and passion and joy i feel for animation history with others. i love learning new factoids. i love being educated. i love feeling like i’m learning, like i’m indulging in an intimate slice of life from a bygone era. i want to share that same love and passion and joy to my followers. i’m here to make people laugh and to make people smile. i’m here to remind people of long buried memories, or to inspire them to make new ones and investigate these cartoons themselves. i’m here to preserve the history of these cartoons within their proper contexts, and do what i can to ensure i’m doing that safely and smartly and in a way that benefits everyone. and i’m not going to accomplish any of that by slipping needlessly horrendous caricatures in something as inconsequential as a poll on which clip sounds funnier or more impressive or whatever and causing the harm.

so, sincerely, thank you.

#there are a few Hitler caricatures coming up that i may similarly apprehend—the shorts are making fun of him and Blanc of course is Jewish #but it’s just not worth it for the reasons above. a poll isn’t the proper context for it #i know i’ve been making a lot of big grandiose responses and apologies and posts lately and i know those can come off as pious and hard to #take seriously. and those who do not feel they owe it to me to take them seriously don’t have to. again i’m not owed anything #but i do hope to stress that this all comes from a very genuine place and that i mean every word #i really do genuinely feel absolutely terrible. and obviously the only direction is forward. nobody is asking for me to feel terrible and #what’s done is done i’ve caused the harm i’ve caused and the best thing i can do is own up to it apologize and not repeat my mistakes #so. i know long messages like these can come off as guilt trippy or manipulative but i really am just speaking from the heart (and you guys #know me i never shut up)#so. thanks for listening and thanks for reaching out. i appreciate it immensely.#gothglam #asks

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batsarebetterthanpeople · 7 months

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Man those people on your ‘why are you straight edge’ poll are really showing their disdain for people who engage with any sort of drug… if I may add, I voted for having a medical restriction (my liver is failing thank youuuu immune system) AND I also take prescription opiate medication to help with pain. Every time I take my painkillers on days where I’m not working so that I can enjoy my hobbies I have complicated feelings about it because anti opiate rhetoric is just EVERYWHERE and it’s like… I just want to have a nice day. Getting over the ‘oh but it can be ADDICTIVE’ stigma is so important and it’s really not different just because I have a prescription. People who are so nasty about drug use for recreation are so stressful to me.

Ikr it's like people have such disdain for addicts, and drug users in general. I get upset about this because while I personally am a very casual user and I spend most of the time sober and am self assured so I can walk people being dicks about it off, but I know addicts and their lives are hard enough without all the stigma piled on top of it. I just wish everyone could be addiction neutral and pro harm reduction but they're so moralistic about it. I wasnt the politest I could have been about people not drinking and having sex because I was trying to keep it light and I know people take things like this really serious and it kinda backfired.

But like I totally know what you mean about the opioid thing. I really think that our society could benefit from being a little more addiction neutral, because yeah sometimes substance dependency does ruin your life, but I'm neurodivergent and I've met people where I think that doing life with drugs is better for them. Like you raise a great point about opioids. They're dangerous and addictive but if you're in pain because of a disability you need pain management. It's not really an option if you want to lead a normal life. There's a lot of heroin addicts who got that way because they needed pain management and their doctors refused them on the basis that they might become addicted, but taking a daily pill to improve your life, while it may be illegal depending on the substance, isn't bad. I bring up my own neurodivergence because I've heard of the same thing with ADHD and stimulants. Most people who have an ADHD diagnosis can get an Adderall prescription, but undiagnosed people and people falling through insurance cracks will sometimes turn to the street version. And it's like those people, both the ones with a script and the ones who are self medicating, should not be forced to live a substandard life because of someone else imagines there's some purity to a life without drugs. The goal should be to get those people the drugs they need in the safest way possible.

And I come down really easy, to the point where I forget to take prescription meds and don't experience any ill effects, but I have a friend who experiences a come down from their adhd meds thats not unlike the comedown ive seen from my other friend who's a meth user, and this friend with the ADHD meds can't function without them. But when the doctor and the pharmacist get them their meds on time they live a perfectly happy fulfilling life. That's what I mean when I say I'm addiction neutral. Most people who get addicted didn't just pick up heroin or whatever one day for shits and giggles. When I fuck around with "highly addictive" substances I make sure I'm in a good place and it's not a problem to drop them. People who develop problems are usually either they're escaping from something or self medicating. The goal for society can't be to never do drugs we've had drugs literally for longer than we've been humans.

I've heard second hand of a study which I haven't gone looking for, I might, because as you can tell this is a bit of a soap box for me, where they gave Heroin addicts a prescribed dose of heroin like you would pick up Percocet for chronic pain at a pharmacy, and because those addicts weren't shooting up mystery amounts and worrying where they were going to get their next hit from so they didn't start rattling and all the other things that make addicts lives hell, they were able to start doing things like holding down jobs. That study should have been a game changer. I want addicts to be able to live, and selfishly I want to be able to go to the drug store when I'm bored and say "one mdma high no fentanyl please" and leave with something to spice up the afternoon. That's like, not a moral failing on my part even though I'm not self medicating I'm just having fun.

The way the war on drugs has ruined drugs, which like, genuinely drugs are sort of magical when you think about it. Not just the fun ones either. Like when I was a baby I had a really bad bladder infection that absolutely would have killed me if I had had that same situation just like 100 years ago, but my mom was able to force a pill down my throat and it went away. Since then I've probably had at least a dozen little things like that that would have killed me dead if someone hadn't invented a chemical that could interact with my body and make it genuinely not a problem. and the fact that we have that for things like chronic pain and we're too afraid to use it because of stigma is so insane. Like god forbid people get high.

#drug posting.#my soap box #im sorry you activated my trap card anon #this isnt even getting into how hallucinogens can be a genuinely spiritual experience.#not everyone can do them obviously ive had some people on that poll who said their doc told them not to smoke weed due to a family history.#...of schizophrenia and that totally makes sense brains are weird and you wouldn't want to fuck up the chemical balance if its precarious #but also I can do them and i really really like them #i talked to Yuggsothoth and i want to do it again some day #i think thats beautiful #like people have used hallucinogens in Religious ceremonies for centuries and i understand why #what is the reason to take that away? other than bigotry?

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makeste · 3 years

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BnHA Chapter 313: Deku VS Lady Nagant

Previously on BnHA: Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai Lady Nagant showed up to fire a cupid’s arrow into my heart, and a bunch of literal bullets into my son. Deku was all “oh shit it’s Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai, what do I do, let me think back to Hawks’s advice for a sec.” Flashback!Hawks was all “anyway Deku so if my super-hot badass murder senpai ever shows up you’re basically screwed so you’d better abscond the fuck out of there.” Present!Deku was all “lol idek why I flashed back to that conversation since I’m just going to do the exact opposite of what Hawks said” and charged directly toward Nagant because WHY NOT. Overhaul was all “waah I need to get back to my boss who I put in a coma out of love” and Nagant was all “jesus christ why did I even bring you here” and had a flashback to AFO who was all “ILU NAGANT IMMA GIVE YOU AN EXTRA QUIRK SO PLEASE CAPTURE DEKU FOR ME PLEASE AND THANKS” and yeah. Shit is all over the place right now and I love it.

Today on BnHA: All Might gets attacked by a pair of discount assassins and is all “Call an ambulance! ...BUT NOT FOR ME” and it’s really badass but also I really wish he would stop tempting fate like this. Lady Nagant is all “[casually flies around town shooting shit]” and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t read an entire chapter of just that. Deku is all, “[gets shot (≥_<)]” and releases a giant Smokescreen which prompts En to show up. En is all, “( •᷄⌓•᷅ ) (⌣̀ Δ⌣́) ( •̀_•́ )σ (¬､¬) (눈_눈)” which I consider to be a high point of both the chapter and of my life. The chapter ends with Deku using the Third’s quirk to launch a bunch of random objects at Nagant so that he can jump up and grab her arm all sneaky-like, and I’m sure this is going to prompt another week’s worth of discourse that I don’t care about at all, but fuck it, I’m having a good time.

OH WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO ALL MIGHT WELL THAT’S NICE I GUESS. CONGRATS ON NOT BEING DEAD

you named your car??

you named it Hercules??

I love you so much??

please marry me you giant fucking dork???

lmao speaking of huge fucking dorks

who the fuck are you clowns. la dee da we’re gonna murder All Might with our synchronized spear attack!! I mean... they’re clearly trying their best... maybe I should just be nice and politely hype them up like All Might is so clearly trying to do

like okay, but we all agree that this is actually the least intimidating attack any of us has ever seen, right?? these guys zipped up their hoodies all serious-like and are trying to attack All Might and Hercules with their Walmart tiki torches, but just, no?? right?? like the only way this could possibly be effective is if they were trying to kill All Might with secondhand embarrassment

“those are assassins” this is a VERY generous assessment, All Might

OH MY GOD THE TIKI TORCHES ACTUALLY KILLED THE FUCK OUT OF HERCULES

[slaps roof of car] this baby can fit so many weaponized festive backyard lighting solutions in it

and yet, even after watching this with my own two eyes, I still can’t take these dudes seriously. idek what it is. anyways r.i.p. Hercules, I loved you a lot but I guess you weren’t actually a very good armored car were you

omg they didn’t know it was All Might??

okay 1) for a moment there I was like “oh hey maybe they’re not so bad after all” but then a moment later it was like “ah nope, they are.” like, that was an interesting .06 second emotional journey there. anyways 2) All Might you have my permission to kick their asses for this disrespect, and 3) anyone else all of a sudden getting “wouldn’t this be an interesting time for Stain to suddenly show up” vibes?? no?? just me???

(ETA: hmm tbh I’ve still got those vibes and they haven’t gone away lol. Stain?? you out there buddy?? do you want to be cool for just once in your life. ball’s in your court pal.)

OH SNAP ALL MIGHT ARE YOU REALLY GONNA DO IT ARE YOU GONNA KICK THEIR ASSES

PROTECTIVE DAD MODE ACTIVATED?? BECAUSE YOU KNOW I’M HERE FOR THAT SHIT, SO YEAH, FEEL FREE

omg he’s shouting at them about how much Deku has suffered lmao and they’re just like falling over from being scolded

so they have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about though, right? “SIR THIS IS A WENDY’S” well whatever, you killed his pet car so he’s in a bad mood now

OH MY GOD

LIKE, JUST SO WE’RE ALL CLEAR, THESE FOUR PAGES SO FAR HAVE MADE ALMOST ZERO SENSE. LIKE MAYBE 2% SENSE TOPS. BUT ASK ME IF I CARE. GO AHEAD AND ASK. I SAID GO AHEAD, IT’S OKAY. ...NO I DON’T CARE AT ALL THANK YOU FOR ASKING

(ETA: also, the more I look at this panel, the more I’m just like, why the hell would you phrase it like that though, sob. way to doubly tempt fate?? are you trying to give Horikoshi a challenge??)

and now back to Deku who is randomly bouncing around the city and narrating it to himself just in case he was confused about why he was doing this

who are you talking to Deku. but thanks we appreciate it

man you gotta love that overconfidence. the smartest guy in the world warned you away from this lady, so SURE, LET’S RUN RIGHT UP TO HER. “I APPRECIATE YOUR INPUT, FLASHBACK!HAWKS, BUT I’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE” well okay then!!

I think it would be funny if RHA.com put little Buzzfeed-style polls in between the chapter pages so they could survey people at random intervals as they read their way through the chapter. like, you finish this page and then there’s a little poll there asking “do you think Deku’s plan of catching up to Lady Nagant and finding out where Shigaraki is will work?”, and you click “no” just like everyone else and then nod as the results show that 97% of your fellow readers also picked “no”, and you chuckle to yourself wondering how many of the 3% accidentally clicked on the wrong option by mistake, and then you keep on reading

ANYWAY, SO

HOW’S THAT PLAN WORKING OUT FOR YOU SO FAR DEKU. nice kick, though!!

omggggggg

ouch

update: Deku’s plan not really working out. sources tell me my boy has been fucking shot. this is an ongoing story and we will keep you posted with the latest developments as they come in

wait what

feel free to explain to the rest of us what all of this “UNLESS...” and “THAT POSSIBILITY...” shit means anytime, Deku

oh lol did he realize she could fly??

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE, CNN’s John King reports that Deku is still fucked. eyewitness reports now coming in that Nagant is doing no-look shots and basically not even giving a fuck. sources described her mannerisms and expression as “sexy, but in like an effortless sort of way.” we will continue to bring you the latest

so now there’s basically an entire page of Deku being all “ah fuck so she’s basically closing in and she could already hit me with impossible accuracy even from Far Away, so if that’s the case then her being Up Close is probably going to be even worse!” making good use of that Big Hero Brain there, Deku

so now what, you’re doing some kind of spiraling kick thing?? how is that going to help

oh lol he’s using Smokescreen to create some cover. aww, good for you Deku you named one of your Smokescreen attacks

OH NO LADY DON’T TELL ME AFO DIDN’T EVEN FILL YOU IN ON THE BASICS

seriously, AFO?? you basically told her what Deku’s exact strategy was going to be but then couldn’t be assed to drop that little, small, barely notable piece of knowledge that Deku is rocking multiple quirks?? is it supposed to be a secret or something?? you dropped the ball here man

damn this is getting intense now

(ETA: the way En is poking Deku’s head in that first panel is fucking sending me, I love this guy so much omg.)

well then what are you planning, Deku?? I’m actually really curious!! I am genuinely starting to be invested in this fight scene not only in the “wanting to see who wins and how that impacts the plot” sense, but also in the “wanting to see how it happens because the choreography and strategy is actually pretty cool” sense, which honestly hasn’t happened for quite a while now! this is fun

anyway so what’s up Deku, are you going to use another quirk?? I’ve been speculating that he hasn’t actually unlocked the last two yet (since Two and Three didn’t exactly seem convinced when we last saw them), but maybe I’m about to be proven wrong

(ETA: well he clearly has Three’s obviously, but Two’s is still MIA, and that’s the one I am of course the most curious about. that’s the one we’re all curious about, let’s be real.)

OH SNAP???

AHHHH I’M HYPED LOL. ANOTHER SHINY NEW QUIRK LOL SHOULD I PUT UP THE USUAL DISCOURSE DISCLAIMER

(ETA: so yeah, after thinking on it, I’m not gonna say “please no Deku discourse on my blog” this week, but I probably will ignore any discourse that does come my way though, just because I don’t have much interest in getting involved in what would probably be a pretty repetitive discussion. like, I can just sum up my opinions (which is what they are) here instead. in fact here they are lol:

1) I like the SIXQUIRKS and I like seeing Deku be a badass.

2) I also don’t think Deku is too OP. more like he’s exactly as OP as he needs to be at the moment, given that we’re approaching the end of the series. I expect the other kids will also be pretty damn OP when we see them fight again. we’re just at that point now where they’re all badasses (as well they should be; they’ve grown a lot and they deserve it). it’s just that Deku’s the one we’re getting to see right now.

3) of course I miss Kacchan and the others, but for me this vibes much closer to the MVA arc where even though I missed them, I was still having a blast (as opposed to the dark days of the Basement arc where I was pretty much losing it lol). like, even though Kacchan’s my favorite, I still love Deku a lot and this arc has been amazing for him getting to shine on his own (for like the first time, really).

4) y’all know I love the OFA plot and I’ve never been shy about that lol. I like all of the Vestiges a lot. Banjou and his over the top personality; En and his “guy you thought would be serious and :| all the time but is actually hyper-animated and ALL OVER THE PLACE” energy; Shiro who actually is a :| sort of guy lol; Three who I still expect will be fleshed out in a more detailed flashback at some point; and of course Two, who, well. you know what I think about him lol. Bakuverse is still on the table and I’m still hyped. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we still have yet to see Two actually talk to Deku (as opposed to talking to the other Vestiges while Deku is distracted). did he lend him his power yet?? or is he still holding out?? either way it’s definitely going to be a Big Thing when it finally happens and I can’t wait to see it.

5) Lady Nagant is Everything and just because Deku grabbed her arm doesn’t mean the fight is over yet lol. Overhaul hasn’t come into play yet either. not to mention that even if the fight is over, the “where do we go from here” part still has me excited either way. her connection to Hawks and the HPSC is very intriguing and we’ve barely touched on that as of yet; she definitely has more of a role to play in this.

6) last but not least, I feel like every week the discussion is all about how much focus Deku’s getting, and how OP he is or isn’t, and OFA this and OFA that, but meanwhile I’m actually so invested in the character development here though?? the way Deku has distanced himself from everyone (except for the Vestiges, because of course they’re already dead so it’s not like they can die again lol)?? the way he’s pushing himself far too hard and we can see the shadows in and under his eyes, and the fact that he never smiles, and even All Might has remarked on how he isn’t taking care of himself at all?? the fact that he’s so single-mindedly obsessed with focused on stopping AFO?? the fact that he’s still the same sweet old Deku despite everything and was so kind to that fox lady with the umbrella, but there was also something so sad about that scene because it felt like a reminder of the type of hero that he wants to be, but that he’s not allowed to be right now?? because the stakes are too high and the world is falling apart?? and he feels like he’s the only one who can do something about it?? and that he has to be?? and that he is putting so much pressure on himself right now, and it’s absolutely too much pressure for any one person to bear, and I feel like no one is fucking talking about this lol goddammit.

anyway so yeah. I have feels about this, and every week that slow-burn angst is getting more and more intense behind the scenes, and I feel like it’s all going to hit a breaking point eventually. sooner rather than later. it really feels like a mirror of Katsuki’s post-Kamino arc. where all that angst was just churning below the surface for like twenty chapters and then it finally was like “okay it’s time” and it all came bursting out and we got the best five chapters of the fucking series (in my admittedly biased estimation lol).

basically, I know that most of fandom is billing this as either the “villain hunt” arc or the “solo Deku SIXQUIRKS fighting arc” or whatever. but for me, it’s always been and still is the Deku Angst arc lol. the cool fights are a sexy bonus (the worldbuilding less so because even though it’s interesting to see society at such a low point, it’s also very depressing and gets old pretty fast), but for me the thing that’s really keeping me engaged chapter after chapter is seeing Deku like we’ve never seen him before. seeing him all quiet and withdrawn and brooding and focused on AFO, AFO, AFO, and seeing that “he just doesn’t take himself into account” mentality taken to extremes. I am invested in that. I’m soaking up that angst each and every week, and I’m invested in seeing what comes of it. it’s a big picture thing. week to week this arc might just seem like a bunch of villain fight scenes, sure. but Deku’s emotional journey is the thread that’s going to carry this arc through from beginning to end, and for that I’m willing to be patient.

anyway that turned into a BIG OL’ RANT there but yeah! so those are my thoughts on the disk horse as it currently stands. and like I said, I’m open to discussion, but tbh I will probably just wind up repeating these same talking points endlessly so just a fair warning lol.)

anyway so Three says Deku has yet to use his quirk at ALL but now he’s trying to combine it with another quirk?? damn. also please check out En’s face here you guys

En launching a sneak attack up my favorite character list by the sheer power of his expressions alone. he really knows how to make the most of his screentime

OH DAMN DEKU

at this point the 3% from that hypothetical poll earlier are starting to feel prettttty damn smug, I’ll bet. well shit

what in the fuck

?? so like releasing his chi or whatnot?? isn’t that basically just like base OFA all over again?? also Deku did you seriously just apologize to Gran’s cape

update: Nagant has turned her eyeball into a gun

hm. hmmmmmmm. ...okay yep, still somehow sexy

anyway so she’s just floating up there building suspense, as one does. lord I sure hope she has good reflexes because something tells me she’s going to need them

OH SNAP HE THREW GRAN’S CAPE AS A DECOY WHAAAAT OKAY THAT’S SOME SMART SHIT DEKU

LOL SHE’S MAD NOW

JESUS CHRIST SHE JUST NEVER TAKES A GODDAMN BREAK FROM BEING AWESOME HUH

DEKU ARE YOU JUST THROWING EVERY DAMN THING IN YOUR INVENTORY

but without the cape and the hood how will you continue to look like an enigmatic badass. you really can’t. which means we might finally be moving on from the wandering nomad part of this arc, stay tuned

LOL YOU MANIAC

I hope he went full Kacchan with the dialogue there. his face sure looks like it lol. popped out of a building all mad fdskljlkj omg

well this was fun, shit. I still have basically no idea what Three’s quirk does though lol. like, can he use it to charge up objects with kinetic energy or something?? but then what was all of that talk about combining it with one of the other quirks?? or was that just because he was using Smokescreen at the same time??

(ETA: having seen and read an additional half-dozen explanations of Three’s quirk, I can say with confidence that I still have basically no idea what it is or does.)

anyway so!! Deku is a badasssssss but something tells me not to count Nagant out just yet even so. also I really enjoy seeing Deku flip out on people like he doesn’t have a fucking hole in his torso because it reminds me of A CERTAIN SOMEONE and I always love to see him channeling that feral energy; I feel like it’s been a while

anyways good luck to you both!! I truly wish that both of you could win. but if not, then maybe you can at least become friends instead. you have so much in common, you both can fly and have multiple quirks and you’re both badasses, and plus it would just be really funny to see the look on Hawks’s face lmao

#bnha 313 #midoriya izuku #lady nagant #bnha meta #deku meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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babymetaldoll · 3 years

Text

Quarantine with Matthew Gray Gubler (MGG / Reader)

(Not my gif, thank you to whoever made it! )

Requested: Yes :)

Vivir en cuarentena con Matthew, y él hace en vivos por Instagram con y/n respondiendo preguntas de fans

Category: Fluff

Pairing: Matthew Gray Gubler / Reader

Summary: Matthew loves making people happy, and in quarantine, he finds the best way to keep in touch with his fans and do what he loves the most: spend time with (Y/N) 💜

Warnings: Nope

Word count: 2,2K

Masterlist

A/N: I am so sorry this request took me forever!! Hello guys!! thank you for all your comments, and love 💖 You are awesome!! hope you have a great week!!

Living in quarantine isn't as bad as many people think. It all depends on who you are spending your time locked in with. (Y/N) knew it pretty well, 'cos she had been locked with her husband, Matthew Gray Gubler, in their shared house for the last month.

And even when most people were sick and tired of being home, (Y/N)and Matthew managed to keep themselves busy and mentally sane. In fact, you could feel more stressed considering there was a pandemic and no one could see their loved ones and friends. But being with Matthew made it all so much bearable.

Considering Gubler's job kept him busy most of the time during a normal year and that he didn't have many chances to be home the way he was now, he enjoyed it.

Sleeping in was heaven. And the fact he could stay in, wearing pajama and kimonos, just enjoying his wife's company, was what he needed.

He didn't realize he needed to take a break after years of hard work until he was forced to do it. And god, it felt good.

(Y/N) would keep herself busy writing and reading while Matthew painted and draw by her side.

Their daily activities included: trying new recipes at least three times each week. Gubler would always come with some random exotic dish he always wanted to recreate. And six of eight times, he nailed it.

They would also spend a day in their pajamas doing nothing. Usually, it was Sundays. That was their official cuddles day. Just movies, ice cream, and cuddles.

Matthew also started teaching (Y/N) some magic tricks. She had insisted a few times, but he was very reluctant to do it at first.

- "A magician never shares his tricks, Bunny"- he argued for days.

- "Ok, but what if I am a magician too? Then it would be ok?"

(Y/N) was sitting on his lap, playing with some curls of his hair between her fingers. They were in their backyard, having a picnic. They had set a blanket and had some cookies (Y/N) had baked, along with two tall ice coffee Matthew had prepared, with an obscene amount of whipped cream.

- "And how are you planning to be a magician if you don't know any trick?"- he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

- "Just because you haven't taught me any trick doesn't mean I don't know any!"- she answered, pretending to be insulted.

- "My wife can do magic, and she never told me?"

- "There are a lot of things about your wife you still don't know"- (Y/N) teased and smiled at him.

- "Bunny, we are locked in this house until further notice. I think I have enough time to find out all those things I haven't seen in the last years."

(Y/N) had finally convinced him when she showed him a simple card trick her father had taught her when she was a kid. Gubler got so excited he even presided a ceremony to name her an official magician and invited their friends to be part of it via zoom. Everybody enjoyed their magic tricks and shared a good hour of fun and laughter with them, just like they would do live.

It felt good to be with their loved ones, even if it was just online.

That gave Matthew an idea.

- "Hey, Bunny!"- he walked into the kitchen holding his phone, scrolling down his Instagram feed.

- "What is it, honey?"- (Y/N) asked him as she kept chopping vegetables for dinner.

- "I was thinking maybe I should start doing Instagram live streamings with the fans. Maybe do some magic tricks, tell jokes. I don't know."- (Y/N) raised his eyes from the food and smiled.

- "Sounds awesome! when do you wanna start?"

- "Now?"- he answered a little hesitant

- "And what do you have in mind?"

- "Maybe answering questions and asking them if hanging out via Instagram is something they'd like to do."

(Y/N) chuckled and walked to her husband, pinching his cheeks, making him giggle.

- "You are so adorable, Gub. Like anyone wouldn't love to hang out with you."- he blushed and shook his head.

- "Ok, I'm gonna do it here anyway."

- "While I'm cooking?"- (Y/N) looked confused

- "Yes, I want you near so you can stop me when I start rambling"- (Y/N) laughed and kissed her husband's lips sweetly.

- "I can't stop your rambling, Gubler. But I can mute the video"- she teased, and he pecked her lips, chuckling.

- "Just stop me when I start saying anything embarrassing."

- "Deal."

No one could say Matthew Gray Gubler didn't care about his fans. He was committed to being always nice to anyone who would ask for a picture or an autograph. Why? Because nothing made him happier than making people happy. And if his job gave people joy, he honestly felt his life had a purpose.

That's why he enjoyed his improvised IG stream so much. He just sat on a couch nearby the kitchen and started talking with fans, answering questions.

- "Where am I spending my quarantine? Here is my hunted treehouse. I don't think I had ever been home this much, and it's been awesome."- Gubler stood up and started walking around the room.

- "Who am I spending it with? my gorgeous wife, of course,"- he said and pointed the phone at (Y/N), who was still cooking dinner. She simply waved and smiled

- "She is making sure I eat proper food now... Bunny, people are asking what you are cooking."

- "Pad thai"- she answered with a huge grin- "Gubler's request for tonight's dinner."

- "Maybe we could make a cooking class one day,"- Matthew suggested, and the screen started filling with "YES!!" immediately- "I could teach people how to burn every pan in the house, and you can cook."

(Y/N) nodded, laughing.

- "You can teach everybody how to make the best hotcakes."- (Y/N) answered and walked away from the phone.

It wasn't that she didn't like being part of her husband's activities, but she figured she wasn't really that important. Fans were there to see him, not her.

But Matthew followed her.

- "Yeah! I'll make my famous chocolate chip hotcakes, and you will have to top them!"- (Y/N) laughed and looked at her husband, raising an eyebrow.

- "Battle of the hotcakes?"

- "Yes!"

- "Set a time and a place, and I'll be there"- (Y/N) put her hands in her waist and raised an eyebrow, looking as serious as she could fake it.

- "Tomorrow, noon, here in our kitchen, because we can't leave the house,"- Gubler answered and mimicked his wife's attitude, still streaming everything.

- "Bring it, Gub."

And just like that, another livestream was scheduled.

The next day, at noon, Matthew streamed the funniest hotcake competition there had ever been seen by humankind. At least that's what he described.

- "Let's say it's a tie"- Gubbler decided and finished the last piece of hotcake in his dish- "I'll leave a poll in my stories so you can decide what you wanna see in tomorrow's live."

- "Really?"- (Y/N) asked, surprised- "Which are the options?"

- "Magic tricks or... I don't know. I didn't think this through"- he answered, making his wife giggle.

- "Maybe you could make a Rumple reading"- and Gubler's eye brightened at the idea

- "With my Rumple costume?"

- "I don't see why not"- Gubler looked at the screen and grinned like a kid.

- "Ok, you'll decide, magic classes or Rumple reading."

It was a draw. That's why Gubler did a Rumple reading the next day and decided to prepare a magic class with his wife for later that week.

His followers were having a blast with each one of their streams. Matthew would always try to take a step back and let his wife shine in front of everybody. He thought she was so funny the world needed to see more of her.

And (Y/N) always tried to be the best sidekick for her husband. Helping him make his streamings as fun as possible.

For the Rumple reading, Matthew sat in an armchair by the fireplace, dressed like Rumple, and read the whole book, impersonating voices and everything. Then, (Y/N) read the questions from the fans, and Matthew answered everything.

Gubler dressed like a classic magician for their magic streaming, and his wife was his assistant, helping him with each trick.

And by the end of the week, the people picked Q&A streaming with the two of them. It was the Friday "Chilling with the Gubs special."

- "Your girl is about to steal the whole show"- Shemar called Matthew that week and made him laugh- "She's the best part of the whole stream."

- "Don't flirt with my wife!"- he answered and chuckled.

- "I'm just saying she has a lot of potentials. She should try to do some stand-up comedy."

Gubler loved that comment, though. He knew his wife was awesome, and he wanted the world to know. As simple as that.

- "Ok, Bunny, ready to answer some questions?"- Gubler set the phone in front of them as they sat in their backyard. One more time, they had set a blanket in their favorite spot. And they had cookies and coffee.

- "Hit it!"

It was fun to do those things together. (Y/N) had never been one to be in the spotlight, but she loved being with Matthew. And if he was happy, so was she.

And it took only a second to see how happy Matthew was. He beamed each time he looked at his wife by his side.

- "Ok, this is a good one. What did we have for breakfast today?"- (Y/N) read and chuckled.

- "Good question. Waffles. (Y/N) made waffles, and I ate five, with ice cream. I'm gonna get so fat in quarantine"- the actor answered and felt his wife's hand in his hair.

- "What's your next project"- (Y/N) read- "Oh! that's a good one!"

- "But I won't say anything about it,"- Gubler answered and chuckled- "You'll have to stay tuned."

- "But I can assure you, it's amazing,"- (Y/N) added smiling- "How did you two meet"- the couple looked at each other and giggled.

- "At a party in my best friend's house"- she answered- "She was dating one of Matthew's friends, and they had a huge celebration when they moved in together."

- "And when I saw her, I knew I had to talk to her, but her friends didn't leave her alone."

- "Why didn't you just walked over and talked to me anyway?"- (Y/N) asked and crossed her arms on her chest

- "Because they were intimidating! and I am a shy guy!"- he explained- "I had to wait until you walked away to get yourself a drink to talk to you finally!"

- "You literally appeared by my side as soon as I walked away from them"- (Y/N) laughed, remembering the moment- "It was so funny!"

- "Hey! it might have been my only chance! I needed to take it!"- Matthew held her hand and played with her fingers, thinking he was glad non of that was in the camera angle.

- "And it worked"- (Y/N) answered and smiled at her husband, thinking as soon as that livestream was over, she was going to have a serious make out session with him

- "I'm glad it did. Quarantine would suck without you."

Gubler answered and smiled, thinking as soon as that stream was over, he was going to jump on her and kiss every inch of her body, just because she looked so beautiful that day.

- "Are you guys planning on having kids?"- (Y/N) read and turned all kinds of pink. There was a silence between the couple as they just looked at each other and shrugged.

- "We'd make cute babies"- Matthew answered- "And we could clearly keep them entertained."

(Y/N) laughed and shook her head.

- "We are not streaming that!!"

- "What?"

- "The baby-making part!"- she joked, and Gubler blushed, laughing and falling back on the blanket.

- "That idea never crossed my mind!"

- "I had to say it! Just in case"- (Y/N) argued and chuckled.

She had thought about having babies in the last few months. But getting pregnant during a pandemic didn't sound like a good idea.

Or was it?

- "Ok, everybody. We are signing out for today"- Gubler announced and waved at the camera- "Take care, stay in your house this weekend, and we'll come back maybe next week."

- "Maybe people can suggest what they'd like to see"- (Y/N) said and looked at Gubler, smiling back at her.

- "I'll leave the option in one of my stories so that you can leave your suggestions. See you!!"

The livestream was over. Gubler left his phone aside and looked at his wife. She was sipping her coffee and fidgeting with her fingers on the fabric of her jeans.

- "We would make cute babies, though,"- Matthew whispered and watched her beam at those words. That was all he needed to know.

- "You would spoil them so much"- (Y/N) replied, giggling.

- "Only because they will be just like you, and I love to spoil you so much"- he opened his arms, and (Y/N) leaned in, resting her body against his.

- "So... do you wanna have a baby Gub?"- she whispered against his chest- her voice was muffled, but he heard her clearly.

- "I think I do. You?"- Gubler answered, feeling his heart beating faster.

- "Me too."

(Y/N) muttered and giggled. Matthew looked at her and leaned in a little closer, kissing her lips sweetly.

It was a massive step for them, and they were very excited to do it.

- "Do you wanna start now?"- Matthew suggested, and (Y/N) blushed immediately- "I mean... I was going to suggest sex before, but now..."

- "The sooner, the better, Gubler,"- (Y/N) replied and bit her lips- "After all, we are gonna have to do a lot of practice before we succeed."

#spencer reid #criminal minds #matthew gray gubler #fluff #mgg #mgg fanfic #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #matthew gray gubler x reader #matthew gray gubler fanfiction #mgg x reader #criminal minds fanfic #babymetaldoll writes

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arcticdementor · 3 years

Link

Imagine that the US was competing in a space race with some third world country, say Zambia, for whatever reason. Americans of course would have orders of magnitude more money to throw at the problem, and the most respected aerospace engineers in the world, with degrees from the best universities and publications in the top journals. Zambia would have none of this. What should our reaction be if, after a decade, Zambia had made more progress?

Obviously, it would call into question the entire field of aerospace engineering. What good were all those Google Scholar pages filled with thousands of citations, all the knowledge gained from our labs and universities, if Western science gets outcompeted by the third world?

For all that has been said about Afghanistan, no one has noticed that this is precisely what just happened to political science. The American-led coalition had countless experts with backgrounds pertaining to every part of the mission on their side: people who had done their dissertations on topics like state building, terrorism, military-civilian relations, and gender in the military. General David Petraeus, who helped sell Obama on the troop surge that made everything in Afghanistan worse, earned a PhD from Princeton and was supposedly an expert in “counterinsurgency theory.” Ashraf Ghani, the just deposed president of the country, has a PhD in anthropology from Columbia and is the co-author of a book literally called Fixing Failed States. This was his territory. It’s as if Wernher von Braun had been given all the resources in the world to run a space program and had been beaten to the moon by an African witch doctor.

…

Phil Tetlock’s work on experts is one of those things that gets a lot of attention, but still manages to be underrated. In his 2005 Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?, he found that the forecasting abilities of subject-matter experts were no better than educated laymen when it came to predicting geopolitical events and economic outcomes. As Bryan Caplan points out, we shouldn’t exaggerate the results here and provide too much fodder for populists; the questions asked were chosen for their difficulty, and the experts were being compared to laymen who nonetheless had met some threshold of education and competence.

At the same time, we shouldn’t put too little emphasis on the results either. They show that “expertise” as we understand it is largely fake. Should you listen to epidemiologists or economists when it comes to COVID-19? Conventional wisdom says “trust the experts.” The lesson of Tetlock (and the Afghanistan War), is that while you certainly shouldn’t be getting all your information from your uncle’s Facebook Wall, there is no reason to start with a strong prior that people with medical degrees know more than any intelligent person who honestly looks at the available data.

…

I think one of the most interesting articles of the COVID era was a piece called “Beware of Facts Man” by Annie Lowrey, published in The Atlantic.

…

The reaction to this piece was something along the lines of “ha ha, look at this liberal who hates facts.” But there’s a serious argument under the snark, and it’s that you should trust credentials over Facts Man and his amateurish takes. In recent days, a 2019 paper on “Epistemic Trespassing” has been making the rounds on Twitter. The theory that specialization is important is not on its face absurd, and probably strikes most people as natural. In the hard sciences and other places where social desirability bias and partisanship have less of a role to play, it’s probably a safe assumption. In fact, academia is in many ways premised on the idea, as we have experts in “labor economics,” “state capacity,” “epidemiology,” etc. instead of just having a world where we select the smartest people and tell them to work on the most important questions.

But what Tetlock did was test this hypothesis directly in the social sciences, and he found that subject-matter experts and Facts Man basically tied.

…

Interestingly, one of the best defenses of “Facts Man” during the COVID era was written by Annie Lowrey’s husband, Ezra Klein. His April 2021 piece in The New York Times showed how economist Alex Tabarrok had consistently disagreed with the medical establishment throughout the pandemic, and was always right. You have the “Credentials vs. Facts Man” debate within one elite media couple. If this was a movie they would’ve switched the genders, but since this is real life, stereotypes are confirmed and the husband and wife take the positions you would expect.

…

In the end, I don’t think my dissertation contributed much to human knowledge, making it no different than the vast majority of dissertations that have been written throughout history. The main reason is that most of the time public opinion doesn’t really matter in foreign policy. People generally aren’t paying attention, and the vast majority of decisions are made out of public sight. How many Americans know or care that North Macedonia and Montenegro joined NATO in the last few years? Most of the time, elites do what they want, influenced by their own ideological commitments and powerful lobby groups. In times of crisis, when people do pay attention, they can be manipulated pretty easily by the media or other partisan sources.

If public opinion doesn’t matter in foreign policy, why is there so much study of public opinion and foreign policy? There’s a saying in academia that “instead of measuring what we value, we value what we can measure.” It’s easy to do public opinion polls and survey experiments, as you can derive a hypothesis, get an answer, and make it look sciency in charts and graphs. To show that your results have relevance to the real world, you cite some papers that supposedly find that public opinion matters, maybe including one based on a regression showing that under very specific conditions foreign policy determined the results of an election, and maybe it’s well done and maybe not, but again, as long as you put the words together and the citations in the right format nobody has time to check any of this. The people conducting peer review on your work will be those who have already decided to study the topic, so you couldn’t find a more biased referee if you tried.

Thus, to be an IR scholar, the two main options are you can either use statistical methods that don’t work, or actually find answers to questions, but those questions are so narrow that they have no real world impact or relevance. A smaller portion of academics in the field just produce postmodern-generator style garbage, hence “feminist theories of IR.” You can also build game theoretic models that, like the statistical work in the field, are based on a thousand assumptions that are probably false and no one will ever check. The older tradition of Kennan and Mearsheimer is better and more accessible than what has come lately, but the field is moving away from that and, like a lot of things, towards scientism and identity politics.

…

At some point, I decided that if I wanted to study and understand important questions, and do so in a way that was accessible to others, I’d have a better chance outside of the academy. Sometimes people thinking about an academic career reach out to me, and ask for advice. For people who want to go into the social sciences, I always tell them not to do it. If you have something to say, take it to Substack, or CSPI, or whatever. If it’s actually important and interesting enough to get anyone’s attention, you’ll be able to find funding.

If you think your topic of interest is too esoteric to find an audience, know that my friend Razib Khan, who writes about the Mongol empire, Y-chromosomes and haplotypes and such, makes a living doing this. If you want to be an experimental physicist, this advice probably doesn’t apply, and you need lab mates, major funding sources, etc. If you just want to collect and analyze data in a way that can be done without institutional support, run away from the university system.

The main problem with academia is not just the political bias, although that’s another reason to do something else with your life. It’s the entire concept of specialization, which holds that you need some secret tools or methods to understand what we call “political science” or “sociology,” and that these fields have boundaries between them that should be respected in the first place. Quantitative methods are helpful and can be applied widely, but in learning stats there are steep diminishing returns.

…

Outside of political science, are there other fields that have their own equivalents of “African witch doctor beats von Braun to the moon” or “the Taliban beats the State Department and the Pentagon” facts to explain? Yes, and here are just a few examples.

Consider criminology. More people are studying how to keep us safe from other humans than at any other point in history. But here’s the US murder rate between 1960 and 2018, not including the large uptick since then.

So basically, after a rough couple of decades, we’re back to where we were in 1960. But we’re actually much worse, because improvements in medical technology are keeping a lot of people that would’ve died 60 years ago alive. One paper from 2002 says that the murder rate would be 5 times higher if not for medical developments since 1960. I don’t know how much to trust this, but it’s surely true that we’ve made some medical progress since that time, and doctors have been getting a lot of experience from all the shooting victims they have treated over the decades. Moreover, we’re much richer than we were in 1960, and I’m sure spending on public safety has increased. With all that, we are now about tied with where we were almost three-quarters of a century ago, a massive failure.

What about psychology? As of 2016, there were 106,000 licensed psychologists in the US. I wish I could find data to compare to previous eras, but I don’t think anyone will argue against the idea that we have more mental health professionals and research psychologists than ever before. Are we getting mentally healthier? Here’s suicides in the US from 1981 to 2016

…

What about education? I’ll just defer to Freddie deBoer’s recent post on the topic, and Scott Alexander on how absurd the whole thing is.

Maybe there have been larger cultural and economic forces that it would be unfair to blame criminology, psychology, and education for. Despite no evidence we’re getting better at fighting crime, curing mental problems, or educating children, maybe other things have happened that have outweighed our gains in knowledge. Perhaps the experts are holding up the world on their shoulders, and if we hadn’t produced so many specialists over the years, thrown so much money at them, and gotten them to produce so many peer reviews papers, we’d see Middle Ages-levels of violence all across the country and no longer even be able to teach children to read. Like an Ayn Rand novel, if you just replaced the business tycoons with those whose work has withstood peer review.

Or you can just assume that expertise in these fields is fake. Even if there are some people doing good work, either they are outnumbered by those adding nothing or even subtracting from what we know, or our newly gained understanding is not being translated into better policies. Considering the extent to which government relies on experts, if the experts with power are doing things that are not defensible given the consensus in their fields, the larger community should make this known and shun those who are getting the policy questions so wrong. As in the case of the Afghanistan War, this has not happened, and those who fail in the policy world are still well regarded in their larger intellectual community.

…

Those opposed to cancel culture have taken up the mantle of “intellectual diversity” as a heuristic, but there’s nothing valuable about the concept itself. When I look at the people I’ve come to trust, they are diverse on some measures, but extremely homogenous on others. IQ and sensitivity to cost-benefit considerations seem to me to be unambiguous goods in figuring out what is true or what should be done in a policy area. You don’t add much to your understanding of the world by finding those with low IQs who can’t do cost-benefit analysis and adding them to the conversation.

One of the clearest examples of bias in academia and how intellectual diversity can make the conversation better is the work of Lee Jussim on stereotypes. Basically, a bunch of liberal academics went around saying “Conservatives believe in differences between groups, isn’t that terrible!” Lee Jussim, as someone who is relatively moderate, came along and said “Hey, let’s check to see whether they’re true!” This story is now used to make the case for intellectual diversity in the social sciences.

Yet it seems to me that isn’t the real lesson here. Imagine if, instead of Jussim coming forward and asking whether stereotypes are accurate, Osama bin Laden had decided to become a psychologist. He’d say “The problem with your research on stereotypes is that you do not praise Allah the all merciful at the beginning of all your papers.” If you added more feminist voices, they’d say something like “This research is problematic because it’s all done by men.” Neither of these perspectives contributes all that much. You’ve made the conversation more diverse, but dumber. The problem with psychology was a very specific one, in that liberals are particularly bad at recognizing obvious facts about race and sex. So yes, in that case the field could use more conservatives, not “more intellectual diversity,” which could just as easily make the field worse as make it better. And just because political psychology could use more conservative representation when discussing stereotypes doesn’t mean those on the right always add to the discussion rather than subtract from it. As many religious Republicans oppose the idea of evolution, we don’t need the “conservative” position to come and help add a new perspective to biology.

The upshot is intellectual diversity is a red herring, usually a thinly-veiled plea for more conservatives. Nobody is arguing for more Islamists, Nazis, or flat earthers in academia, and for good reason. People should just be honest about the ways in which liberals are wrong and leave it at that.

…

The failure in Afghanistan was mind-boggling. Perhaps never in the history of warfare had there been such a resource disparity between two sides, and the US-backed government couldn’t even last through the end of the American withdrawal. One can choose to understand this failure through a broad or narrow lens. Does it only tell us something about one particular war or is it a larger indictment of American foreign policy?

The main argument of this essay is we’re not thinking big enough. The American loss should be seen as a complete discrediting of the academic understanding of “expertise,” with its reliance on narrowly focused peer reviewed publications and subject matter knowledge as the way to understand the world. Although I don’t develop the argument here, I think I could make the case that expertise isn’t just fake, it actually makes you worse off because it gives you a higher level of certainty in your own wishful thinking. The Taliban probably did better by focusing their intellectual energies on interpreting the Holy Quran and taking a pragmatic approach to how they fought the war rather than proceeding with a prepackaged theory of how to engage in nation building, which for the West conveniently involved importing its own institutions.

A discussion of the practical implications of all this, or how we move from a world of specialization to one with better elites, is also for another day. For now, I’ll just emphasize that for those thinking of choosing an academic career to make universities or the peer review system function better, my advice is don’t. The conversation is much more interesting, meaningful, and oriented towards finding truth here on the outside.

#richard hanania #substack #afghanistan #read the whole thing

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nemrez · 3 years

Text

Adrien Agreste September 2021

Day 1

Wednesday

Childhood

@adrienagresteseptember2021

“Tag!”

The girl with the blue hair got him, again. She aimed for the brunette, but she was to fast on her skates.

“I’m going to get you Chloe!”

Chloe ran shrieking through the people who were gathered to celebrate something concerning the Louvre. Adrien followed her close behind and nearly got her as they bumped into a woman you wouldn’t want to mess with.

“Carol! Mini Agreste! And you other two! What are you thinking! You can’t just run around, screaming, while running into people on an exclusive gala!”

The four had their heads lowered and stared at Audrey Bourgeois shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. That was until the little brunette, Alix, pointed at something. Because Audrey was standing in some jello they dropped while playing catch.Uncontrolled giggles were soon filling the hall they were currently standing in.

Audrey started ranting that they should take her serious and how they are fired. Suddenly a calming hand was put onto her shoulder.

“Oh, Audy, they are only kids, don’t take it to heart. I’m sure they didn’t have any bad intentions.”

While the blond boy jumped in the arms of the woman with a cry of ‘Mommy!’, the bluenette bowed her head.

“Yes, ma’am. We’re very sorry ma’am.”

Tomoe Tsurugi heard her daughter’s voice. “Kagami, what is going on? You just ran off.”

“I’m sorry mother, we were playing tag and then ran into her.” Kagami points at the, now calm, Mrs. Bourgeois.

Emilie reassured Tomoe that everything was alright and nothing happened. Shortly after Alim Kubdel stepped to them and the kids were send of to Alix’ room to play there, where nothing could happen.

This is one of Adrien’s happiest childhood memories. But now this is all over. His mother died a few weeks ago and he’s now 13 but he wasn’t allowed to leave the house or communicate with his friends since than on. So everything he’s been doing the last days was lying on his bed and wait for the day to be over.

He was angrily slamming the keys of his piano because his father wanted him to practice and he did, he was just not good at it. If it wasn’t for Alix and the window he opened so everybody could hear him he would have never noticed Chloe, Kagami and Alix throwing pebbles at his window, but Alix decided to aim for the opened window and hit him on the back.

Knowing no one but those three would dare to throw something at the Agreste Mansion leaned out the window and waved to the them.

“Yo, Rapunzel, ready to break out of this hellhole?”

“Alix! They could hear us!”

“So? At least he’ll know what we think of this! And that nothing can stop us! We’ve given him weeks. We didn’t even know if Adrien was alive anymore!”

“Even if Alix is exaggerating a bit, I have to agree, Gabriel should know that this is no way of dealing with loss.”

“Alright, alright, but how, exactly are we going to get him out? Have you thought about that?”

“I don’t quite believe that this will work, but Alix had an idea.”

“Yes, you’re going to throw a rope from the balcony of the hotel, Chloe, and Gami and I will tie the end to something like a stone and throw it to Adrien. As soon as it’s safely secured on both ends, Adrien will climb out.”

“To the top of the hotel?”

“I thought only over this giant wall, but the hotel would work too.”

“I... actually expected worse.”

“See, Kagami, I told you she would like my idea and if Adrien doesn’t like it, I have another one.”

“No! It’s alright! We’ll go with it!” It was his best and only option.

By those words, Chloe hurried of for the hotel and a few minutes later a rope fell down from the top balcony of the hotel.

“Sooo, Kagami, any idea what we could tie it around?”

“You didn’t think of this?!”

“I didn’t think I would get this far!”

“Alright, I think I have an idea.”

Without another word Kagami sprinted into the hotel. Inside she didn’t have time to wait for the elevator, so she sprinted up the stairs all the way up to the top, to Chloe’s suit.

“Where is it? Where is it?” Kagami was frantically searching for the bag she dropped of earlier, all her fencing equipment was n it, including her helmet which should be heavy enough to throw it over the giant fence into Adrien’s room.

There it was. Under the bench in front of Chloe’s bed. Kagami ripped the big open rumoring through its content and at the bottom of it was her helmet. As she hastily grabber her helmet she tumbled down the few steps and nearly landed face first on the floor. Thanks to various sports like fencing, yoga and some ancient Japanese fighting technique she placed her foot forward and steadied herself.

Back down next to the Agreste mansion found Kagami Adrien and Alix happily chatting, the later holding the end of the rope waiting on Kagami.

“Kagami! You’re back!” Adrien spotted her easily and was waving excitedly at the thought of finally getting out. “What did you do?”

“I got my helmet. We can tie the rope around it.” The short pinkette ecstatically threw her arms around Kagami.

“You’re brilliant, Gami.”

Not even a minute after the two girls had the helmet tied up with thousands of knots because Chloe insisted on more than one. She screamed it from the hotel through a megaphone, it’s marvelous how neither Gabriel, himself, nor Nathalie took notice it. But the Agreste’s were rich, so maybe they had soundproof walls?

But that’s beside the point. Alix took the helmet from Kagami and weighed it in her hands, to calculate how she’d have to throw it. Happy with how the helmet felt in her hands she took a throwing stance, aimed, threw and hit.

“Whooooo!” Alix was jumping and fist bumping the air in celebration.

While Alix was cheering over her victory, Kagami kept a cool head and shouted instructions to Adrien, “Take the rope and tie it to something like... your poll! Yes, that should work.”

Adrien quickly did as told. “Done!” He was already climbing along the rope over the fence and, jumped down into the arms of Alix and Kagami.

“Shit, Adrien. You’ve gotten heavy.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Chloe started shouting through her megaphone again, “Guys, I’m coming down!”

Adrien now once again lives his childhood happily ever after with his best friends, right at his side.

#Adrienagresteseptember2021 #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #emilie agreste #chloe bourgeois #kagami tsurugi #alix kubdel #audrey bourgeois #tomoe tsurugi #alim kubdel #miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir

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lightns881 · 4 years

Text

DreamNotFound Shipper Demographics and the Question on Whether Encouraging the Shippers is Unhealthy

So a couple of days ago I ran a poll on DreamNotFound shippers to capture demographics because a Reddit post (I will link it below) discussing the potential harm of Dream’s fanservice tactics (I’ve talked about it on a previous post) made me very curious as to the kind of audience he was attracting.

Here are the results.

The survey consisted of four simple questions asking for gender, age, sexuality, and what kind of behavior they engage in when it comes to DreamNotFound.

Out of the 174 DreamNotFound shippers who responded, here are the overarching demographics for them.

Statistics

Overall (174 Responses)

- 85.6% of total respondents identified as non-heterosexual

- All heterosexual respondents were female

- There were 8 times more female respondents than male respondents

- 37.9% of respondents were under the age of 16

Male (14 Responses)

- 50% of male respondents were under the age of 16, 1 respondent was 12 or under

- All male respondents identified as non-heterosexual with 42.9% identifying as homosexual, 42.9% identifying as bisexual/pansexual, 7.1% identifying as Asexual, and 7.1% identifying as Other

Female (116 Responses)

- 36.1% of female respondents were under the age of 16, 21% were over the age of 18

- 21% of female respondents identified as heterosexual, the majority (47.1%) identified as Bisexual/Pansexual

Non-Binary/Other (41 Responses)

- Non-Binary/Other respondents had the largest under 16 population at 39% and lowest 18 and over population at 19.5%

- 73.2% of non-binary respondents identified as bisexual/pansexual, 7.3% as homosexual, 14.6% as asexual, and 4.9% as other

(I will post a link to download the google spreadsheet in the comments below if anyone would like to take a look at the data for themselves.)

Fanfiction/Fanart/Reader Statistics

- DreamNotFound creators (fanfiction and/or fanart) were most likely to be bisexual/pansexual females between the ages of 16-17

- 35.3% of DreamNotFound creators were 15 or under, 41.2% were 16-17, and 23.5% were 18 or over

- 65.2% of DreamNotFound fanfiction readers were over the age of 16 (34.9% were 15 and below, 42.8% were 16-17, and 22.4% were 18 and over)

Possible Shortcomings in the Data

Though this survey was conducted for DreamNotFound shippers, not everyone marked the option of Shipping DnF in the last question. Though it might seem as some stray non-DreamNotFound shippers could have potentially taken the survey as well, this is likely not true considering the individuals who chose not to mark the Shipping DnF option all marked either one or both of the other two options. A likely hypothesis could be that some people thought Shipping DnF meant shipping them seriously/for real.*

*A way I’ve heard the difference between shipping them seriously and not seriously be described is shipping Dream and GeorgeNotFound (not serious) vs shipping Clay and George (serious). While all DnF shippers engage in the first, not everyone engages in the second because it is more of an invasion of privacy. It’s sort of like the way some people might ship two characters in a show but not ship the actors that play them. In this case, Dream and GeorgeNotFound function as sort of personas, while Clay and George are the actual individuals behind them.

Discussion on Potential Harm of DreamNotFound

So onto the million-dollar question: Is Dream’s fanservice and encouragement for the DreamNotFound shippers harmful solely because of the fact so many of them are minors? Is it harmful for minors to sexualize creators by writing, reading, and creating fanfiction/fanart (that might or might not be NSFW)?

*Chuckles*

Look, since the age of the internet, fandoms, and fangirls/fanboys, minors have been sexualizing their favorite characters, ships, personas, actors, singers and creators. “Teenage girls,” specifically, have been obsessing over them for a lifetime now. Just take a look at the One Direction and K-Pop fandoms. Is it harmful? I’m sure dozens of people, articles, and researchers have tackled this question in the past.

But, of course, we are talking about Dream’s deliberate encouragement of this ship (because it sure does get him a heck of a ton of fan content, does it not?) Obsession to the point where it affects a part of your life is obviously harmful, but is Dream encouraging this sort of behavior? Besides the passing jokes and fanservice, there is not indication that he’s deliberately encouraging obsessive shipping. Wouldn’t he try a little harder if he were?

And sure, Dream should not take pleasure from a bunch of thirteen year old girls calling him sexy and/or writing smut about him, but even if they were to stop the fanservice now, I HIGHLY doubt these behaviors would stop. It never did stop with One Direction, did it? Or K-Pop Groups. And I bet you right now someone is out there currently reading Septiplier fanfiction and/or engaging in the fandom that’s left for them even after they’ve explicitly told the fans they’re uncomfortable with it.

I don’t think Dream telling fangirls to stop shipping DnF will prevent this obsessive fangirl behavior from those who have it. This issue is much bigger than just Dream and George and the Minecraft community. The only thing it would do is stop the respectful and more mature DreamNotFound shippers, and that isn’t really going to make a difference, is it?

Now, in terms of accusations of grooming, I think this is a vastly different scenario that shouldn’t be brought into the discussion of DreamNotFound shippers. As long as the Dream Team doesn’t actively engage on a personal level with minors, there shouldn’t be a fear of sexual allegations. And again, even if he were to come forth and tell the fans to stop shipping DreamNotFound, it does not make this kind of situation any more unlikely to happen.

Concluding Thoughts

Now, I’m not saying I don’t entirely agree with the whole of the post. I think it brings forth some valid concerns that should be addressed, but I also think not everything mentioned is under Dream’s control. And specifically dealing with encouraging DreamNotFound shippers, in my opinion, I don’t think it’s going to make a difference in the toxicity and obsessive behaviors behind some of their stans. Most toxic and/or obsessive stans/shippers will continue to be toxic and/or obsessive, and the others who aren’t are just going to be discouraged from engaging in a ship and fandom they might really enjoy.

A Note on the Second Survey Conducted on the writing/reading of NSFW content from DreamNotFound shippers

I know some of you know I also conducted a second survey that was a little more personal and contained questions pertaining to the engagement of shippers in NSFW DreamNotFound content.

The reason I didn’t include the results for that survey here are because there have only been 20 responses to the survey as of now, and I don’t believe it’s enough to offer a valid data analysis for it.

However, if you guys would like to participate in it, I will link the form in the comments as well. I apologize for all the links down there, I do not want Tumblr to delete my post from tag pages.

Thank you everyone who participated on the survey! I would also like to thank the dream team writers discord server who helped in spreading the survey and evaluating the second unreleased survey. I hope, at the very least, this data evokes some discussion about this topic.

Check out my Tumblr page for DreamNotFound Fanfiction reviews, my twitch link (I stream MC every Sunday 7PM CT with my best friend), and other crack content! Toodles! :)

#dreamnotfound #dnf #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #dreamnotfound study #this took me ages please someone read it #analysis

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snkpolls · 3 years

Text

SnK Episode 68 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 146 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

---

RATE THE EPISODE 140 Responses

The anime continues its positive streak with just over 90% of respondents rating the episode a 4 or 5. MAPPA appears to be blowing this season out of the water for most of us!

Noice

Good!

I liked it

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 144 Responses

We got a pretty mixed pie chart this week. To be expected, given how many moments were in this episode. At a tie with the largest pieces of the pie were Hange’s eccentric attempt to greet the Marleyans and Eren’s gunshot figuratively hitting Sasha. Behind that two more options tied in each with 10.4% of the vote - EMA’s conversation at the shooting range and Sasha appreciating Nicolo’s cooking. This is followed closely by Eren’s mirror scene with 9.7% of the vote. Onyankopon explaining why he looks different when Sasha asks him about it took a solid 9% of the vote.

WHAT WAS THE MOST EMOTIONAL PART OF THE VISIT TO SASHA’S GRAVE? 144 Responses

This was almost too close to call, but Mikasa sitting alone managed to edge out just slightly over Connie’s “I’ve lost half of me” moment at Sasha’s grave. Trailing behind the two were Nicolo’s grief and the agreement between Papa Braus agreeing to a free meal from Nicolo.

AFTER SEVERAL TENSE AND ACTION PACKED EPISODES, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TRANSITION TO SOMETHING MORE CALM? 138 Responses

The larger chunk of respondents are feeling relieved to get a break from the action for a few episodes. 21.7% prefer the action but don’t mind a break here and there, while 21% state that they enjoy the exposition more than the action anyway, so they are content. A small handful don’t care either way.

We needed this for another build-up to more action

I like the action but it’s important to move the story along

These just feel mandatory fillers to me.

I miss the warriors

I feel fine with it. I thought that was going to be some happy-go-me episode, but gladly it still had a serious tones.

This episode felt like a very welcome respite after the absolute shitshow that was spoilers week and....whatever the fuck chapter 137 was.

Nice breather of sorts, I always like seeing characters from action-heavy series in their downtime.

WOULD YOU RATHER GET A SURPRISE GREETING FROM EREN & HANGE, OR ARMIN & LEVI? 141 Responses

The vast majority of respondents would prefer the slightly less lethal greeting given by Hange and Eren at the beginning of the episode. We’re not sure if the other 29.1% are masochists or just really love Levi and/or Armin that much more. Or perhaps they’re intrigued by the pig piss from the filthy island devils.

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU TO BE BACK ON PARADIS? 139 Responses

Overall, fans are happy to be back in familiar territory and put into the perspective of the Survey Corps again. Let’s get ready to rumble!

MAPPA HAS SPRINKLED IN ANIME-ONLY ADDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE EPISODE. AS A WHOLE, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THEM? 139 Responses

Though subtle, MAPPA did include some anime filler (such as Eren’s, erm, mouth breathing). 51.1% enjoyed the noticeable additions, while 37.4% are completely confused by the question and didn’t realize there were any. A handful generally don’t prefer additions but enjoyed what little ones we had this episode. A small sliver didn’t care for them.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SCENES FROM CHAPTER 107 THAT WERE PEPPERED IN BETWEEN THE MOMENTS FROM CHAPTER 106? 139 Responses

MAPPA is shuffling things around to pick up the pacing of this arc, and 48.2% of respondents are feeling very positively about it. 38.8% also feel that both the order of events in the original manga and the anime work out just fine regardless. A couple of smaller groups either felt that things were a bit off from the manga, or didn’t really care either way.

I think it's great because it allows an episode to start and end on the same chapter if mappa ever wanted it, allowing the right twists or cliffhangers to be in the right episodes, all WITHOUT having to slow down, which I wholly appreciate.

I'm fine with the changes. Mappa is doing good job.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CHANGE OF GABI BITING HER NAIL AND ANGRILY SAYING EREN’S NAME IN HER JAIL CELL? 142 Responses

Nearly half of voters feel that both MAPPA’s take and Isayama’s original take work just fine for Gabi’s character. 28.9% prefer the anime’s take on Gabi’s reaction to all that happened, while 14.8% feel that her more defeated posture in the manga makes more sense for her character.

I'm a mix of both? Her defeated posture implies that she's not happy with the way things worked out with them in jail and Zeke betraying them. On the other hand, her angry face is realistic to the scene too because it implies she really blames Eren for their current predicament.

She looks like some female version of young, angry Tarzan. This time Mappa should have kept the original postures, because the defeated Gabi feels to be more realistic, than the crazy anime one.

I think they both work but the anime's take might be the anime team beating us over the head that she's just like Eren when he was young.

Makes it clear to the anime-onlies that she really is psychotic

Gabi sucks

HOW WELL DO YOU THINK MAPPA NAILED THE TRANSITION OF EREN SHOOTING THE GUN, TO SASHA TAKING THE HIT? 141 Responses

The response to MAPPA’s take on Eren’s shot inadvertently hitting Sasha was overwhelmingly positive, with only a few people saying that they could have done better with it.

Eren shot linked to Sasha's death was awesome. Mappa is nailing it!

THE PART WHERE JEAN, SASHA AND CONNIE ARE TRYING TO GUESS WHAT A PORT IS WAS CUT OUT, WITH ARMIN’S NARRATION INSTEAD CUTTING INTO THE SCENE. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT? 140 Responses

Exactly 50% felt that while having that JSC characterization would have been very much welcome, they’re okay with that small detail missing from the manga (granted, it was at least acknowledged by one panel being animated). 25.7% have a more nonchalant response, stating that if it helps with the pacing, they’re fine with small cuts like this. 10.7% are just let down by JSC’s lack of characterization in the anime overall and didn’t appreciate even more being taken from their characterization in this episode.

I was more so interested in our Paradis Peeps talking about newly discovered technology but I’m happy with what we got.

Not dissappointed since I understand you can't show everything but I love them so sad

Why was it animated then?! I’m so confused

Normally I don't like it when they cut corners like this, but I wasn't fond of that scene in the first place so it's okay.

If by "anime" you mean the entirety of it including the past 3 seasons, then option 3. I'm always going to be salty about how much they took out or changed for these three during the uprising arc. So far mappa has done okay with them, I guess.

Would have been a funny JSC moment, but it was really absolutely pointless. In manga format it works as just background words on a panel. Animating it takes seconds of an episode that could be used elsewhere. So I'm fine with it being cut out.

SOME HAVE COMPLAINED THAT THE ENDING SCENE OF EREN REPEATING HIS MANTRA INTO THE MIRROR LACKED THE IMPACT IT HAD IN THE MANGA. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? 138 Responses

43.5% were receptive of the anime only shots, but favor the way the scene was portrayed in the manga more. 34.1% felt that both versions were done well, with only 9.4% feeling that the impact was largely the same (if not better). Based on the write-ins, the main complaint seems to be the lighting/color scheme of the scene not quite meeting expectations, or that MAPPA made Eren’s back look weird.

theyll make up for it when eren screeches at hange next ep

Impact was there, art just felt a bit wonky and toned down the scene overall. 9/11

This goes into my criticism of the color palette and shading style mappa uses, which is far more subdued. The contrast is lowered and the scene is very dark, and there is little rim lighting, so while the actual lineart has far more detail, the detail in the lighting is reduced. Damn I really am writing a wall text aren't I? I prefer Wit Studio's art style a lot but Mappa has honestly been doing great so I couldn't care less, manbun Eren is hot.

I prefer the manga version. I think the anime version have weirds shadows in eren's back. Plus the mirror don't have the same energy, less impactful

Cool scene in the anime, an unforgettable blow to the brains in the manga

Idk

Most of the time seeing things for the first time is what's really impactful. Feel this way towards Armin's transformation in the boat as well. It was definitely less impactful than when you first read it in the manga.

I understand the fandom because this moment was very popular when the chapter was out. I think that in the anime Eren lacks the anger he had in the manga. His voice was too calm while repeating his mantra. .

WHY DOES HIS BACK LOOK LIKE THAT

I didn't care for it in the anime, it was really underwhelming.

I think most people are annoyed about the lighting than the impact. It’s a bit too dim and the lamp hides Eren’s new hair.

Didn't like the anime version at all

The animation wasn't good and they totally fucked his hair, face, and body up. Although the added shots were definitely welcome.

Eren could've been sexier/animated better, I hope they do better next ep 😭

WE WILL ASK YOU AGAIN. HOW WILL THE ANIME DEAL WITH MIKASA’S HIZURU TATTOO/SYMBOL? 135 Responses

With Mikasa meeting Kiyomi presumably being inevitable in episode 69, we wondered if any opinions had changed on this. 34.1% feel hopeful that the tattoo will be retconned into the anime and that we will see this scene faithful to the manga. 28.9% think that Mikasa will happen to have some kind of embroidery on hand already. 25.9% don’t want to make a call either way, and a small handful think Mikasa’s going to just pull out an embroidery kit and go with it, lol.

The embroidery will be on the inside of her bandage.

Japanese are very taboo about tattoos because of the Yazuka... it will 100% be the embroidery.

I don't know but I hope it gets retconned. Never liked the embroidery thing.

It won't be included

Let’s just... ignore it..

I really really hope MAPPA retcons Mikasa's tattoo next episode. This will be the one retcon I will absolutely celebrate. Plus, it's not really a retcon if they're just amending Wit's changes.

WE WILL ASK YOU AGAIN, AGAIN. WITH THE PACING CURRENTLY UTILIZED BY MAPPA, WHERE WILL EPISODE 16 END? 137 Responses

Uncertainty continues to loom over exactly how far MAPPA will get into this (first half of the?) season. Nearly 40% don’t want to make predictions one way or another, while 23.4% feel that it won’t make it quite to chapter 122. The rest believe it will make it to chapter 122, with 17.5% feeling there will only be minor cuts, if any, and the remaining 13.1% feeling that there will be major cuts to make the feat to chapter 122.

116 (?) when the allied force attack paradis

122 with the amount of cuts being somewhere in between. They can cut a lot of the Gabi and Falco plotline and still have the story remain intact.

See, I'm not sure buy I'm also worried and curious about it all. It brings up the question of will the story continue in a possible second half of the season? With the manga ending very soon now, it makes sense to have the story wrap up in its anime medium as well. Fees like there's some kind of uncertainty surrounding this, it's unnerving tbh.

119 with Eren's head being blown off.

gabi no scoping eren, ending creds is eren entering paths and we see ymir standing behind him, s4p2 starts w the ymir backstory

121

No idea and I don't think about it. I just enjoy the show.

Your guess is as good as mine, I'm still fearing major cuts.

119

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT NICOLO’S PORTRAYAL? 138 Responses

With Nicolo now formally introduced in the anime, we were curious how you felt about his portrayal. Overall the reaction was positive, with 48.6% agreeing that he’s a “cutie pie chef”, and another 45.7% feeling that his design and seiyuu are absolutely great! A small handful were less happy with the voice, but happy with the design, and a sliver went in the opposite direction, preferring voice over animation.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ADDED DETAIL OF THE FLOWER BOQUETS AND THEIR SYMBOLISM ON SASHA’S GRAVE? 140 Responses

Respondents vastly appreciated the flower symbolism from MAPPA with 82.9% of the pie. 12.9% aren’t really sure what symbolism there even was, and a small amount either don’t care or felt the effort could have been spent on something other than flowers for Sasha.

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 143 Responses

This pie chart wound up being almost eerily even. 42.7% are most looking forward to the 104th discussing Eren (hopeful for the train flashback?). 39.9% instead are looking more forward to Hange and Eren’s tense conversation at his jail cell. The remaining three preview moments were pretty evenly split as well.

DO YOU THINK WE’LL GET BLUSHING!104TH NEXT EPISODE? 130 Responses

71.5% feel that there is a chance we will get the train flashback of the 104th in this episode, but don’t want to say for absolutely certain. 18.5% feel that it is a guarantee based on what we saw in the preview. 10% feel it is instead guaranteed that we will NOT get the scene in 69.

WE WILL LIKELY SEE PREGNANT HISTORIA NEXT EPISODE. THOUGHTS? 140 Responses

The plotline that continues to be a frustrating mystery in the manga - Historia’s pregnancy. 34.3% aren’t particularly looking forward to seeing her in the rocking chair and aren’t very stoked about having to relive this plotline all over again. 33.6% mainly just care about seeing how the anime only fans react to the scene. 17.9% just miss Historia altogether and will take any scraps they can get. And a small handful, at 9.3%, are actually looking forward to seeing anime!Historia with a baby bump.

Don't really care about historia

It's in MAPPA's hands now. I just hope they can add a little more of her screentime somehow.

I hope so. I want to see the design of her adult self.

I honestly wouldn't mind if Historia's entire arc, which consists of equal parts pregnancy, irrelevance and uselessness, is just completely cut in the anime lol

not interest

I'm not interested

I've hated this fucking plot line with all my being and what it's done to Historia since the leaks for this chapter were revealed years ago. So I'm not looking forward to anime-only people jumping in with their hot takes too. 🤮🤮

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

mikasa was shown in sasha's grave in the morning/afternoon and then she was shown again at dusk. SHE SPENT THE WHOLE DAY THERE. and annie... what a queen. and hisu's few scenes? so pretty.

Really glad the pacing was well done

nicosasha ship just flew in and took the spotlight

fantastic!! maybe it's just because this isn't my first time going through this arc anymore, but i feel like the anime feels chronologically less confusing than the manga—I remember being very confused my first time reading these chapters.

The lack of score by Hiroyuki Sawamo is negatively impacting my relationship with the anime. The depth of the emotion that could have been evoked was not present. I also did not get the sense that Nicolo and Sasha were in love, which was a major disappoinment. There were other aspects that weren't so bad, though; specifically, Levi's portrayal and Onyankopon's philosophy.

It felt a bit all over the place, but just seeing things from the manga being animated, I ain’t even mad.

I think that the scene between Sasha and Nicolo was made better in the anime. Isayama has problems with writing romantic moments, so in the manga the whole moment looked like it was taken from some light romance. Mappa made this scene more serene. I liked it.

I think MAPPA is doing so great tbh! I just need them to hurry up and explain if there will be a part two to this final season or what?! I need to know if we get more anime or they'll diverge into movies or.... just tell us! Lol!

How DAREEEE they not give Levi his black steed!!!! .....Although knowing what happens ummm yeah maybe his pony gets to live another day this way lol

Here comes the train wreck, choo choo!

I'm really sad I didn't get to hear Sasha call Jean a perv. I was really looking forward to that. LOL I love them. When EMA were at the shooting range, it looked too much like Mikasa wasn't wearing any pants.

VERY solid. Not the biggest fan of the War for Paradis arc but I'm here for the ride.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 128 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

#snk poll #snk polls #snk spoilers #snk s4 #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot

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reynaruina · 4 years

Text

With a good bit of our loans already paid off, today for the first time in years I was able to buy a new pair of pants. Also, for the first time in years as well, I was finally able to buy my mom a gift: a nice warm sweater.

I feel like I’m slowly recovering my humanity. Going through tough times really distorted my ability to see the options I had open, for so long it felt like I was just surviving, seeing so much stuff I had get broken and be unable to repair it, or having to sell them just to get by, or get into even more debt for the same reason and having to count every penny. And now, for the first time in YEARS I could Actually go to a store and afford something as basic as a new pair of pants without dreading what further hardships will my family and I have to endure for it.

And none of this would have been possible without you all. I am serious. The support you guys have been steadily giving me, with commissioned work and patreon and ko-fis, is actually allowing me to climb out of the hole I’ve been stuck in here for what feels like almost a decade. And even more so, I’m actually starting to believe in myself thanks to it. Believe that I can turn my passion into a profession, that this isn’t some pipe dream I’m not cut for. Thanks to you, all believing in me and showing me that I am worth something.

So I guess what I wanted to say is...thank you. Thank you, with all my heart, for making all of this possible 💝

I want to give back to you all in some way, and you sure ass hell deserve it, so once I get thru a bit of the work for the month I’m doing a poll to decide what y’all are getting. Thank you once again, I love you all so very much!

#my stuff #personal #zadr #i guess #not specifically but all you zadr shipper have made this possible #and I am just so flabberghasted #jnk #jmdngds #is so late but I really wanted to say something today #wanted to post but is so late as well #will have to be tomorrow

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blazehedgehog · 3 years

Note

Have any feelings on the impending 8BitDo Pro 2 release? Only just found out about it myself and I'm looking forward to it.

The luster is slowly wearing off on my 8BitDo SN30+. I’m starting to run in to small little issues I’m not really happy with.

For example, I’m not sure if it’s a dead zone issue or what, but starting on my Android tablet and now sometimes even on the Switch itself, I’m starting to get phantom inputs. So far I haven’t gotten any real analog stick drift, but every now and then the controller will register me pushing down or to the right at random. I don’t know if it’s on the left stick or the d-pad.

8BitDo has configuration software to set deadzones, but you can only save it to an optional profile that must be enabled manually. You enable and swap between profiles by clicking in both analog sticks, which really sucks because that’s the macro RetroArch on my phone uses to open the menu. Also, the fact you have to save it to a separate profile and can’t just tell the controller “no, adjust the deadzones for the entire controller” is a bit dumb. And I’m not even sure it’s a deadzone issue!

I know what deadzone problems feel like -- I’ve had the deadzones fail on PS2, 360, and Gamecube controllers. This isn’t like that. When the deadzones start to fail, you can pick up the controller and shake it a little to get the stick to register a bad input, and that’s not what is happening with this 8BitDo. I can set the controller down and not touch it and it’ll suddenly register a directional input. But then, I can pick up the controller and shake it violently and the sticks stay perfectly centered. Doesn’t make sense to me.

There are also Switch games it just doesn’t work right with? Like, if I use it with Downwell, the controller vibrates, constantly, all the time. It never stops vibrating. It doesn’t happen with the Joycons, it only happens with the 8BitDo SN30 Pro+ and it only happens with Downwell. The only thing I can figure is that maybe Downwell is constantly polling HD Rumble -- not necessarily using HD Rumble, but sending it small amounts of impossible-to-feel rumble that the Pro+ then converts in to full controller shake. It’s not great. I can’t really play Downwell on the Pro+.

A different problem cropped up recently: I bought Gear.Club Unlimited on the Switch recently because it was $3 and for the longest time it was the only “serious” racing game on the Switch. In this tweet thread (with video) I talk about how the controls aren’t very good, because you constantly “oversteer” a little too much. If you watch the video, it’s clear I’m pinballing around the track a lot because I’m struggling to keep a handle on my car.

But then I played the game a few times in portable mode, and I came to realize something: Gear.Club Unlimited plays better on the Joycons. That oversteer problem I describe that has me slamming in to the barriers constantly? It doesn’t exist when I’m driving with the Joycons. It’s a problem with the 8BitDo SN30 Pro+.

It happened while I was streaming the game to a friend over a Discord video call, actually. I got stuck on a particular race and realized the weird, laggy controls I complained about weren’t there in portable mode. So I literally said to him “Okay, check this out.”, unplugged the Pro+, and after losing the race three times in a row, went on to win it by a significant margin on my first try using the Joycons. With the Pro+ it was a fight to stay on the road, but once I went back to the Joycons it wasn’t a problem.

Something with how Gear.Club Unlimited picks up and handles analog input from the Pro+ gets mucked up. It’s another game I can only play using the Joycons.

At this point I’m starting to wonder if I should just invest in that adapter that lets me use my Dualshock 4 on the Switch. Then again, that’s also made by 8BitDo, so who knows! If it’s a software issue, all of this stuff might happen there, too!

I’m very curious if the Pro 2 will correct any of these problems, because from the outside, it mainly looks like the Pro+ with a physical switch to toggle between Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo modes. Which is useful, don’t get me wrong, but I bought this thing because I liked where the sticks are placed and now that it’s registering phantom inputs and not working right with all my games, I’m starting to view it a bit differently.

#questions #8BitDo #SN30 Pro #joycons #Nintendo #Switch #Downwell #Gear.Club #Deadzones #Analog #melcodriggs

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simplyclockwork · 4 years

Text

WIP Poll!

Okay folks, now that I’ve finished my two Fandom Trumps Hate fics, and immediate and inglorious, I’m trying to decide what WIP to dedicate my time to. I have a few options, and I thought it would be neat to see what people think.

I’ll list the WIPs I have in mind, with a description of the plot, and, if people can reply or reblog with their choice, that would be great! Number or title is fine.

1. And Vow for Something Completely Different

Johnlock AU, mostly light and humorous. Inspired by this post, John and Mary are casually dating for about 3 or so years. Friends keep asking them when they’re gonna finally commit, but neither are really into it. John’s fine to settle, Mary is, too, but there’s no real big love between them. One drunken night with their friends, the suggestion comes up to have a wedding and invite a celebrity, with the likelihood they won’t attend, and will probably just have their assistant send a gift basket. Perfect, Molly knows one! This guy named Sherlock Holmes, who, before he made it big with some patents, used to use their lab at Bart’s for his research. Super standofffish, not very friendly, but now stinkin’ rich. Exactly the kind of rich dude to send a basket and never RSVP to a wedding. John and Mary jokingly agree, then, with next day sobriety, make a weird pact that if, for some wild reason, this Sherlock Holmes RSVPs yes to the wedding, they’ll actually get married.

Guess what? Mycroft forces Sherlock to go, telling him to be ‘more sociable’, and now John and Mary have to get married. But how will their tenuous, half-serious agreement hold up when Sherlock arrives and John is smitten?

Fun, AU, Kinda Cracky, Fluffy.

2. Balanced Equation

This is the Johnlock Unilock fic I have been working on for ages. My plan is to complete it before posting, but we’ll see. I have a good chunk written, and it is my literal child. Like, it is my favourite fic, but I keep pushing it aside to work on other WIPs. Sherlock and John are in their 20s, both struggling through young adult life. John is a very closeted bisexual with bonafide alcoholism, trying to hide his sexuality from his peers and his parents, for fear of invoking the same anger his sister Harry received from their abusive father when she came out to him. In a flash of brilliant lack of thought, he gets blasted at a party, and ends up grinding up on a very attractive, tall, dark-haired man. They kiss, they dance, they grind, they part.

Sherlock is a super self-destructive young man with a crippling drug habit. Growing up as the ‘freak’ has made him withdrawn and cold, but it is all a facade. In his efforts to push everyone away, and drown his loneliness in chemical oblivion, he really only has one friend, Molly Hooper, who gives anything like a care about him. He attends house parties, enjoys making out with complete strangers who don’t try too hard to know him, and is unambiguously gay af. John grinds up on him at a party, and Sherlock is a little disappointed things don’t go further.

Turns out they’re assigned lab partners the day after said party. Cue angst, terror, chaotic bisexual John Watson, and just some general heart-ripping misunderstandings (and some very stupid decisions).

AU, Angst, Pining, Smut, and a Happy Ending (and likely a sequel!).

3. In Every Storm

Sherlock and John are finally together. After years of miscommunication, death threats, and drama, they are finally a couple (maybe even married). But John still hasn’t dealt with everything he’s been through, and it begins to come between them. John is distant, withdrawn. Sherlock can feel him slipping away. He knows he is losing him. In a fit of desperation, Sherlock makes a mistake that could be unforgivable, but, at this point, he would do almost anything to reach John. However, what he has done might be too much to move past, and he might end up losing John for good.

Angst, Broken Heart, Not Sure About a Happy Ending.

4. Smoke and Mirrors

Model AU! Sherlock Holmes is a 25-year-old print model, making a name for himself and taking the male model community by storm. He is a cold, distant man, but, when he gets in front of the camera, everything changes. He can be warm, he can be sultry, he can be mysterious. Sherlock’s control over his body and emotions allow him to be a chimera in front of the camera, and his dedication echoes his intensity. Thanks to a rough, very public break-up with Jim Moriarty, a fellow model, his reputation has been deeply tarnished, and he is doing his best to navigate the blow to his rep.

John Watson is an older, “short” male model. Struggling to stay relevant in a field that already “sells him short” thanks to height and age biases, John has clawed and fought for everything he has achieved. His manager, ex-boyfriend, and best friend, Gregory Lestrade (a semi-retired older male model) is his manager. When Greg takes on Sherlock as a client in his male model mentoring work, John is less than impressed by the young model, who ‘looks about 12′. Over time, and with Lestrade convincing John that Sherlock isn’t what the tabloids say he is, John finds he actually likes the new kid on the block. But, as their friendship (and something more?) begins to develop, speculation and rumours abound, threatening to tear down the tenuous start to their relationship before it has even begun. And Moriarty, with his new partner and squeeze, Sebastian Moran, seems hellbent on having Sherlock collab with his new agency, Criminal - whether he is willing or not.

AU, Johnlock, Modelling, Smut, First Times.

-----

All right, folks! Let me know what you think! And please do not take these ideas as your own. I am fine if people are inspired by any of these fic ideas, but please credit me if you write something from it.

Thanks!

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makaris · 4 years

Text

Let’s discuss voting.

I want a just, fair and moral world. If our choices become Biden vs. Trump, I want to discuss how people interested in a better world can strategically vote for the best possible future.

I implore any #Bluenomatterwho folks to read my thoughts before responding. I know it’s a lot, but I can assure you that *I am far from alone in how I feel*, and I am looking for serious, political strategy discussion. If that is even possible.

We should all know by now that Biden has shown immense capacity to do damage. He has and will continue to be on the wrong side of many, very important issues. He has shown that he can and will work with republicans to pass THEIR agenda, not the lefts. He cannot be relied on to do the bear minimum we expect from democrats (which is, reining in the worst excesses of the right).

He will be a more effective greaser of the military industrial complex then Trump, who actually varies quite a bit from war-hawk orthodoxy, on occasion. Biden will continue to engage in genocides in the Muslim world.

Biden might be able to bring us back to the standards of the Paris climate accord, which were wholly insufficient for anything other then optics. The world will burn either way.

Just today, Biden said that even if M4A passed the house and senate, he’d veto it. During a pandemic, he would veto it. The health care plan he wants to implement leaves 10 million people uninsured, and that is before he caves to Republicans and chops it down to nothingness.

...There are like a million things. I could go on, but I'm sure anyone actually interested can look it up.

On the flip side, a Trump 2nd term is also very scary for a number of reasons I probably do not need to spell out for anyone even nominally on the left.

The point is, Democratic establishment NEEDS to be overthrown. That is, BY FAR, the most important thing here. They are the #1 obstacle to our agenda. For anyone interested in passing progressive policy, I do not understand how them casting a vote for Biden would help.

I'm seeing two options here.

VOTE FOR BIDEN ... and *inevitably* lose to Trump anyway. We then will have to deal with the ramifications of that WHILE ALSO having sent a message to the Dem establishment that their candidate was sufficiently acceptable for us to vote for them. Which, if they even care about holding on to power, is all they care about. Their primary strategy has been "fuck the progressives, what other choices do they have". And all I hear from #Bluenomatterwho folks is "that sucks but it's true... what other choice do we have?"

So after the above, we come to the mid-terms and then 2024. Whatever candidate the left tries to push forward (AOC, likely), will be smeared and denigrated the same as Bernie, and I'm not sure they will be able to rally as much support as Bernie did. Bernie, need I remind, 1) Raised the most money, by far. 2) Had the most donors, by far. 3) Had the largest operation, by far. 4) Had the most diverse coalition, by far. If that can be swept aside by The Machine's propaganda, I don't know how we have any hope at all. This sucks, everything sucks.

VOTE THIRD PARTY The Democrats NEED to get the message that if they do not EARN our support, they will not HAVE it. Voting third party might be our only hope in achieving this.

Honestly, I've only just begun exploring this as an option, and I'm still trying to inform myself more about it. I know that, historically, it has not worked out. Not even close. BUT, with boomers dying off (grim, but electorally significant), the internet, and the right candidate to rally around, I think getting a true Labor party might be possible. Maybe.

What sucks for a Labor party is that the Democrats will still suck a lot of energy out of the room. Most of our possible figure heads (again, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna, etc) are pretty firmly in the democrat camp and would not be able to switch. And, so far, I have not heard anything about anyone who could lead the movement after Bernie AND who would be willing to work outside the system.

However, EVEN IF a Labor party is impossible, that does not rule out the value of voting third party in 2020. It means you showed up, and voted anyway. It tells the establishment that you are A Voter. Someone who counts, as is winnable.

Imagine if 15% showed up and voted third party? Yes, Trump would probably win. But, if we are being honest, he is going to win (vs. Biden) anyway. If Biden got OBLITERATED, it might be the kick in the pants the democrats need to realign, refocus, and start listening to the working class again. Maybe.

I guess, after writing all that, my thoughts right now are... -- If, right before voting, the polls are extremely narrow between Biden and Trump AND and you are in a swing state... if *BOTH* of those things are true, you may want to consider a vote for Biden. -- In ANY OTHER CASE, for third party.

Things are not looking good right now. Writing this out is most therapy for me, but I am interested in other folks views on this. I am firmly against brow beating #Bluenomatterwho rhetoric, as I feel it is a tone deaf reduction of what is a very complicated situation. The left needs to get smarter politically, more strategic.

We cannot just do what we are told.

#democrats #2020 Election #bernie sanders #Joe Biden #elizabeth warren #voting #labour #vote blue no matter who #voteblue #Donald Trump

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gamerwoo · 5 years

Text

EXO: X.O. (Part Two)

Characters: EXO x reader (gender neutral)

Genre/warnings: dating sim au, horror au, this actually has some fluff tho

Tag list: @fullsun-donghyuck @hyungjunjpg @chanxyeollie @baekwell--tart @mntax @baek-byunies @withoutanyconfidence @exo-chan-kai @squishy-yamdumplings @linophobia @changbinasmr

a/n: lines in italics are what’s in the game! also pls keep in mind i’m not an actual game developer so i don’t actually know anything about creating games. that being said, all of this is probably wrong but just pretend for my sake that it isn’t lmao

Previous | Next | X.O. Masterlist

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You triple-checked that your game was saved before you jotted down in your notepad that you were deciding to do Baekhyun’s route first -- although, you knew it was possible to change routes if you answered “incorrectly” for Baekhyun’s. You put your pen down before moving your cursor over Baekhyun’s option and clicking.

You watched as eight of the nine characters slid out of frame, leaving a beaming Baekhyun in the center.

Baekhyun: Ha! In your face, Yeol!

Baekhyun had always been one to tease the others when I did things with him instead of them, but I never quite knew why.

Actually... All of them seemed to do that sometimes.

Baekhyun: We should get going to class, then. Mr. Song isn’t too happy with me after I changed Hongbin’s game codes so all of his characters were naked.

_____: Uhh, why did you do that?

Baekhyun just shrugged.

Baekhyun: For fun. I had spare time to kill.

The scene changed from a typical classroom with wooden desks and a chalkboard, to a room lined with computers.

Baekhyun walked me to class, even offering to carry my backpack for me. I declined since he had his own backpack to worry about, but he stuck close to me, and he put his hand on my back every now and then to make sure I didn’t bump into anybody.

It wasn’t that this wasn’t normal behavior for him -- or for any of my friends -- but this time, it just felt...different.

Baekhyun slid into screen, his backpack only on one shoulder. His character model was smirking in a mischievous kind of way.

Baekhyun: You’ve been out sick for two days. Think you even remember how to code a game?

I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

_____: Of course I know how to make a game, dummy. Two days of being sick doesn’t make me forget all that.

Baekhyun: Just in case, let me catch you up.

The scene faded into one in the same classroom, but made to look like you were sitting at a computer, looking next to you at Baekhyun. He was sitting at a computer of his own that had a game that he was working on pulled up on the screen, but the coding was just gibberish that you made up to look like it was legit.

Baekhyun pulled my chair closer to him.

Baekhyun: Alright, I’m only gonna explain this once, so make sure to pay extra close attention to me, okay?

One of his eyes dropped into a wink that made me roll my eyes.

On the screen, his character model changed ever so slightly so he really was winking, and you actually did roll your eyes. Why did you make the game like this? Did all dating sim creators get secondhand embarrassment from their own games?

Baekhyun went on to type out random codes that were very obscure, explaining what each did but using the wrong explanation on purpose. He talked about the basics of making codes to build characters, scenes, movements, or anything needed for a basic game, but was using codes nobody probably wouldn’t ever need -- such as his favorite code to make every character naked.

I knew he was just messing with me, but I continued to listen and nod when needed.

Baekhyun: There is one really important code that you should know, but it seems like you already know it.

_____: Oh yeah? What is it?

Baekhyun looked at me with a lovesick puppy kind of smile, batting his eyelashes.

Baekhyun: The code to steal my heart.

You groaned out loud at his pickup line, “Why did I make this game so damn cheesy? I’m gonna vomit.”

The game suddenly glitched, flashing to something slightly different before it was back to normal. The change was so quick that you couldn’t even tell what it was, but it still caught your attention.

“Oh...okay...” you sighed, figuring it was just a tiny glitch.

You made sure to jot down in your notepad when it occurred so you could fix it later. It seemed small enough that it wasn’t worrisome anyway. It went back to normal in a split second, so it didn’t seem worthy of stopping the whole game. Even if it was, it was probably best to go through the whole game to spot every glitch you could before going back to fix it.

_____: Ha ha, you’re so clever.

Though I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t heat rushing to my cheeks.

Baekhyun’s character model turned back to his resting ‘normal’ face.

Baekhyun: Actually...can I be serious for a second?

_____: Yeah, of course.

Baekhyun: Having you out sick for two days was kinda...shitty. I knew you wouldn’t be gone forever, but Luhan, Tao, and Kris moved away really recently, so having you gone too was just really lonely.

Baekhyun wasn’t really super emotional all the time. He mostly covered all of that up with stupid antics and jokes, so it was kind of touching seeing him open up to me like this.

_____: Aw, Baek... For what it’s worth, I missed you guys, too.

His model switched back to his bright, toothy smile.

Baekhyun: But me the most, right?

I ruffled his hair, lightening the mood more.

_____: I’m not choosing favorites; I’ve told you before. Besides, you and your big mouth would go brag to the others.

Class went by as normal after that. Baekhyun actually managed to work pretty diligently, and without sabotaging his friend, Hongbin’s work this time.

The bell rang, and I made sure to save what I was working on before grabbing my bag. But Baekhyun beat me to it, standing up with my backpack strap in one of his hands, and his own backpack slung over one shoulder.

The scene changed back to the original computer room, with Baekhyun standing in the center of the screen with his backpack on his shoulder like described.

Baekhyun: I was thinkin’ maybe I could walk you home after school today. Whaddya say?

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TAKE THE POLL HERE!!! The poll will close 10/4 at 8pm EST.

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96thdayofrage · 4 years

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What is voter intimidation?

Voter intimidation — harassing voters, spreading misinformation, or asking them about their citizenship — is never allowed under federal law. And many states prohibit explicit electioneering, such as handing out pamphlets endorsing a specific candidate. But when it comes to apparel, state laws and enforcement vary.

“Generally speaking, if you wear a candidate’s t-shirt, or an ‘I’m voting for Ruth’ t-shirt, if you’re just in-and-out voting, most places would seem to allow it,” Houghtaling said. “But because states vary broadly, it’s recommended not to do that.” Twenty states have laws restricting what voters can wear to the polls, many of them banning clothing and accessories that display a particular candidate’s name.

Morgan said a poll worker asked the man in the MAGA hat to remove it when he got to the front of the line, and he complied. But she wonders what she could have done had the issue been more serious.

“The place that we most commonly ask people to go to is 1-866-OUR-VOTE,” said Houghtaling. “That’s the election protection hotline.” The hotline is staffed by a group of nonprofit organizations and managed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, providing guidance, information, and help to any American regardless of how they’re voting.

As millions of voters head to the polls this election, organizations across the political spectrum, including many faith groups, are deploying resources to protect voting rights. For example, The Poor People’s Campaign is leading an effort to send nonpartisan poll monitors to sites in 10 key states. Many of these election protection efforts are taking place alongside a rise in voter intimidation. Experts fear that President Donald Trump’s recent call for supporters to “go into polls and watch very carefully” might lead to an uptick in polling place confrontations and violations that are more serious than candidate-specific apparel.

Federal law prohibits intimidating, threatening, and coercing voters at the polls. This includes aggressively questioning voters about their citizenship or criminal record, posing as an election official, and spreading false information about voter requirements, according to the ACLU.

Physically blocking access to the polls is also considered intimidation and shouting while not wearing a mask might also be considered a violation because of the ongoing pandemic, according to Houghtaling. She also said certain items of clothing, like apparel with Confederate flags and Proud Boys t-shirts, could be considered intimidating to some voters.

If you see something...

Voters and poll observers have several options when it comes to reporting violations:

• Check in with on-site nonpartisan poll monitors, including those from LDF, Poor People’s Campaign, or other faith-based groups

• Call the Election Protection Hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA en Español)

• Call the U.S. Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline (800-253-3931; TTY line 877-267-8971)

• Reach out to local and state officials, including official poll workers, county clerks, elections commissioners, and state boards of elections

Volunteers should listen to instructions from election officials when they’re at a polling place, according to Houghtaling. “If it is somebody official, like an election judge or poll worker, and they’re asking you to be farther away and telling you what you’re doing is not right, then I would definitely listen to that official person,” said Houghtaling. If it’s an individual who just doesn’t like what you’re doing, the best answer might just be to walk away, she said.

And what about handing out food and water, as many faith-based organizations are doing? That can also get complicated. Jason Bailey, a staff attorney at LDF, said federal law prohibits giving out “anything of monetary value” to voters when there’s a federal candidate on the ballot. “But we think there’s a gray area there,” he added.

Rev. Joshua Nelson, Pastor at Emanuel Seventh-day Adventist Church in Albany, Georgia, has been out at the polls offering water, snacks, and other support to voters nearly every day since the state’s early voting began October 12. “People were standing in line for five to six hours with no water, no food, no shade, nothing to sit on, and so we filled the gap,” said Nelson, who is volunteering his time in coordination with Black Voters Matter.

Nelson said his group checked in with lawyers and their county administrator to make sure they weren’t breaking any rules. But on their first day out, a white woman confronted them, using racist language and displaying a weapon. The woman later posted about it on Facebook, urging others to “defend the vote,” and the Black Voters Matter volunteers were told by county officials to stay 150 feet away from the polling site, according to Nelson.

Nelson doesn’t believe the volunteers broke any rules, but they’re complying with the 150-foot request so that they continue to provide assistance to voters. “We are definitely there with eyes open,” he said.

“It’s really important that when people are providing water or snacks to people in line, it’s not done on a partisan basis,” Houghtaling stressed. “It is, you are in line exercising your fundamental American right to your vote, and someone is providing you with sustenance to be able to do that.”

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