#if it isn't genuinely 100% true then you need to fucking stop

[mewtonian-physics]

some people reeeeaaaaaaally need to stop throwing words around because they know it'll get people's attention. thanks

#every time i see 'this person is an ACTUAL LITERAL NAZI' and they are in fact not an actual literal nazi i get so mad #y'all are just saying shit because you know the terms are loaded and so people will have kneejerk reactions #stop watering shit down. #not every bigoted asshole is an actual literal nazi. #and if you keep saying that they are eventually people are gonna start playing out your little 'boy who cried wolf' scenario #they already are actually. i've had people genuinely question me when i've said someone is a fascist or a neo-nazi #because they're so fucking used to people just saying it for the sake of saying it that they don't trust it anymore. #you're actively fucking the rest of us over because while you're out here facing zero consequences #we're watching terms we use for specific and incredibly bad people and things get watered down #so now when we mention them no one fucking trusts us to be using it for its actual meaning #you can call someone a bigoted asshole. it's very easy. a few extra syllables i know but for fuck's sake #no more 'actual nazi' no more 'literally hitler' no more 'just like the holocaust' #if it isn't genuinely 100% true then you need to fucking stop

[genericpuff]

The Kiss Bet Episode 172 - Hot Pot and Venting About How I Want My 70 Cents Back

Okay, look, this isn't a post I was expecting to make today but it's something that just happened and I have to fucking talk about, so let me preface this with some context.

I had to buy coins recently and because I switched to using my iPad for reading comics on, I got a "new reader" type deal from Webtoons for a coin bundle that got me like 100 coins for $5; because technically it was a 'new account' as Webtoons operates their in-game currency model on apps, not on actual emails (meaning if you use the app on an Android phone and then switch to an Apple iOS device, they're technically two separate accounts which you sync the reading data between via the account info linked via the email, therefore they have two separate coin wallets).

So with more coins than I knew what to do with, I decided to start FastPassing The Kiss Bet again, which I had recently stopped FP'ing around the S3 mark, as it's recently devolved back into the "will they won't they" trope, but instead of between Sara-Lin and Joe, it's between Sara-Lin and Joe's younger brother (the "true endgame") Oliver.

Now I don't mind the ship in essence. Joe was definitely not gonna be endgame, it was always gonna be Oliver, anyone who's read any amount of romance before - especially high school romances - knows how this shit tends to go, and The Kiss Bet isn't exactly trying to be groundbreaking or subversive in any way, it knows exactly what it's about and what it's trying to accomplish.

But it's almost become a little too good at this. Because in playing the "will they won't they" game for so long with a character that we know is endgame, it's basically been weeks and weeks and weeks of-

That said, after I caught up on the recent FP episodes, it seemed like stuff was finally moving a little bit. We were finally meeting Oliver's mom and his stepdad who he has a fractured relationship with, Joe was finally getting with his true endgame girl, Vicky (who's totally not an exact genderbent version of Joe lmao) and Sara-Lin was finally realizing she had feelings for Oliver.

And then the newest episode came out, Episode 172 - Hot Pot and Venting.

CAUTION: FASTPASS SPOILERS FOR THE KISS BET OFFICIALLY BEGIN HERE!

Already I was a little petty over the title like "lmao ok clunky title but whatever". I swept it off as not a genuine criticism, just me being a nitpicking asshole over what's essentially Fluff: The Comic.

The episode cost 7 coins, which is about roughly 70 cents, albeit closer to a dollar for Canadian readers (here's something they don't tell you about Canada - our Monopoly game currency is just as fucked as it looks) and that's where I'm gonna get into my second disclaimer that I need to be perfectly clear about (and it'll be what we get more into later on in this post).

I understand the principle of paying for art. I understand fully that many of these webtoons are being produced on tight deadlines by creators who often can only afford 1-2 assistants, if any at all. I understand and fully agree that creators deserve to be paid for their skills, time, and efforts, not just as creators working on the hellsite that is Webtoons, but as artists in general who deserve to make a living the same as anyone else. Anyone who follows my stuff here knows I'm an artist myself so I would never debate the ethical necessity of paying artists for their work.

However.

I can say that, and also agree with the people who have stated in discussion circles such as on /r/webtoons that a lot of the comics that have started charging 7 coins have been suspiciously delivering less comic since. And it's not even so much in the literal panel count, the liquid volume of these comics have remained the same, but the calorie count has dropped significantly. Food metaphors aside, what I mean is that despite many of these comics maintaining their 40-60 minimum panel count requirement, they have in fact reduced the actual amount of content that happens in them, and The Kiss Bet's newest episode is a stark example of what I mean.

I am going to start by posting only post three panels - three panels that literally sum up the entirety of Episode 172 and what it chooses to spend its time on.

That is it. That is literally all that's established in this episode. I'd tell you to go read it yourself, but honestly, this is genuinely one of those rare times I can honestly say that a 40+ panel episode is not worth 70 cents and you'd be better off, and that's saying a LOT when these episodes are only priced at the cost of a gumball. At least Lore Olympus has entertainment in how bad it is most of the time, Episode 172 of The Kiss Bet is just nothing. You will literally get more substance and flavor from an actual gumball.

Literally every other panel in this episode is either repeating the same dialogue (Sara-Lin saying the same thing multiple different times to express how Oliver is holding her hand or how his stepdad is a dick) and then Sara-Lin and Oliver staring at each other. Over. And over. Again.

I am not joking. I did not cut anything out in that sequence. That is where the episode ends. Complete nothingburger, seemingly cut off right as it was just getting started like Cait Corrain's career.

Out of the entire episode, there were 45 panels. So I can safely assume Ingrid's minimum panel requirement is at least 40 per episode, that's me assuming the best that she didn't exactly meet her panel minimum at 45 panels on the dot.

Out of those 45 panels, there were:

Two actual unique backgrounds that weren't gradients or just a single piece of furniture

4 separate panels of Sara-Lin freaking out over Oliver holding her hand and wondering if he even noticed

10 panels of Sara-Lin staring at Oliver either dumbfounded or asking him to repeat himself (or apologizing over nothing)

5 panels of the characters saying nothing

11 panels of Sara-Lin repeating information in different ways that could have been accomplished in half that time

Two separate occasions of Oliver getting Sara's attention from off-panel, literally formatted the exact same way both times (and both followed by reaction panels of Sara-Lin staring at him dumbfounded)

Way too many panels of Sara-Lin blushing in response to Oliver being an asshole tbh like literally this guy's a douchebag, Joe may have been the "out of her league" love interest but at least he was nice and didn't treat Sara-Lin like someone who just bought a Husky as a "starter pet" ???

Again, I don't usually like being a dick about the coin costs, and I definitely don't like being a hypocrite in telling people they should pay artists for their work while simultaneously posting their paywalled content like this, but I think there does come a point where it feels more irresponsible for people to not be aware of what they're about to pay for and how little they're going to be getting. This episode is literally one of the best - and worst - examples of how far the romance genre has fallen on the platform - when it's not being overtaken and oversaturated by problematic series that romanticize abuse and sexual assault, it's being dragged to death with the most boring executions of tropes that everyone has seen before and is only exciting for anyone who's never read a book or watched a romance movie, period.

And here's the thing where I do approach a bit more "hot take" territory, but every time I see this argument come up about episodes not being worth the coin cost, I see others who rightfully argue that 70 cents isn't that much to pay for what you're getting - weekly episodes of work that are usually always delivered on time, with more panels than you would ever typically see in a free to read comic.

But here's where I take issue with that argument, as much as the principle of it is sound, it misses the overall point: readers are paying for entertainment first and foremost, so can anyone who's actually paying for regular refills on their app currency step away from this and truly call it "entertainment"? Nothing was gained. The comic had 45 panels to say something, anything, and managed to not even squeak out so much of a word. Even the silent moments have no substance, they just reiterate information that we already know.

Do we really need another panel of Sara-Lin blushing at Oliver? We've known for weeks now that she has a crush on him. Do we really need another panel of Oliver getting Sara-Lin's attention? What is this actually showing of their chemistry? What is being shown here that hasn't been shown numerous times - with and without dialogue - for weeks now? What does the comic have to show for itself after four seasons?

Another point of the "it's just 70 cents, don't be an asshole" argument that people seem to miss is it's not 70 cents. It's $1. Because if you want to buy a single episode of the Kiss Bet, you can't just pay for the individual episode in isolation, you have to pay for the coins first, and $1 is the absolute bare minimum you have to pay to get 10 coins, which will only pay for one episode of a 7 coin series - of which there are many now, basically any series that's 40 panels or more will cost 7 coins and, shocker, those are the series that WT will tend to promote most, you'll rarely see the 5 coins series in the banner ads, and that's not even getting into how there are more and more series cropping up that have 5+ episodes behind FP rather than the traditional three.

So if you're someone who's (almost definitely) keeping up with more than one series? You can't just pay the $1, you have to pay at least $5 for 50 coins, and that will NOT go far anymore or cut as evenly as it used to when just about every series is now 7 coins. Webtoons knows fully well what kind of game they're playing by making the new coin cost an uneven number while still offering increments of 5/10 in their coin bundles. They undoubtedly want you to be left with an uneven number so that you'll be easily lured into buying more coins so you don't 'waste' the uneven amount you have left that isn't enough to buy the episodes for the series you want to read. Obviously this is more speculation and not fact, but it's a common business model and with the series that have adopted the 7 coin count model (rather than starting off with 7 coins outright) such as The Kiss Bet and Lore Olympus, it's becoming abundantly clear that either the creators or the platform itself is encouraging these series to meet their panel minimums with as little content as possible in order to get more money out of readers who are barely even being drip fed actual entertainment and narrative progression, let alone spoon fed.

And then there's the waiting. The goddamn waiting. So many of these series guilty of siphoning their content off through a hose that they're deliberately standing on are designed intentionally with the most egregious cliffhangers in mind to keep their audience hooked so they'll undoubtedly FP next week. Do you know what that amount of waiting does to a comic? To its readers? First off, it artificially extends the actual pacing of the comic to make it feel longer than it is, when in reality, many of these plotlines are happening in a vacuum of very short bursts of time. Case in point, Lore Olympus is commonly confused for having a plotline that takes place over the course of months, when actually when laid end to end in order of cause and effect, many of its subplots - including the romance of Hades and Persephone - takes place over the course of days. This over-inflates the plotline's actual depth and, even worse so, it makes it harder for readers to keep up with information that's being delivered, as it often takes weeks for that information to actually go anywhere - so by the time it does, many readers have straight up forgotten about it.

It's absolutely not okay that so many of these kinds of series are normalizing literal slow burning for an audience who's paying to be entertained. It's not a "slow burn". It's just slow, and deliberately so. It's absolutely NOT FUN to follow a comic that does not go anywhere week after week. It's frustrating. And before long, it starts to feel like gambler's fallacy, where readers have to essentially gaslight themselves into paying into it more and more convinced that it has to pay off eventually, based on a promise that was never actually made, only assumed in good faith. And readers should not have to fill in the bulk of the content that isn't happening with their own imaginations, which is something that happens a LOT in these series that spend so much time on the characters just staring at each other and saying nothing. It's not 'plot' to just draw characters blushing and have your audience fill in the rest of it entirely on their own. This is certainly a technique in writing, but in the case of The Kiss Bet and other comics like it, it's much less of a valid technique and more just flat out manipulating your audience into falling so hard into the sunk cost fallacy trap that they don't notice they're being robbed blind by the plot that hasn't actually happened - and they've been paying for that financial and emotional robbery out of their own pockets and brains every step of the way.

Again, I do not care about the coin cost in and of itself, seventy cents IS still an incredibly cheap price for weekly updates of a series that has to put out so many panels each week. But as a reader and a customer, I should not be leaving these updates with less information than what I started with. And I'm someone who's incredibly old school by webcomic standards, there are comics that I follow that have updated 1-2 pages a week for over a decade that manage to do more with their limited pages than Lore Olympus and The Kiss Bet manage to do after entire hiatuses filled with pre-production time.

Why does this page of Alfie manage to move both the intrinsic plot of the titular character as well as the external plot that's going on around her in one page made up of 5 panels better than what The Kiss Bet can do in 45?

Why does this page of Tamberlane manage to convey more information about the world's lore and the people in it in a way that's emotionally driven and clearly affecting the characters without outright info-dumping than what Lore Olympus has managed to spit out onto its plate since S3 started over a year ago?

How does Tales from Alderwood manage to be more entertaining and convey more meaningful storytelling through its characters in a single page consisting of zero dialogue than what The Kiss Bet can convey in its silent panels of staring, blushing, and repetitive stuttering?

Why are the creators who are relying entirely on their own efforts, resources, and ability to generate income through community interaction and support putting out better work with less panels and on slower schedules for FREE than what we're seeing from professional creators on a professional publishing platform who are being paid to do this as their job?

There's this saying in the tattooing industry: good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good.

At this point, 70 cents is not a 'bargain' as many people like to argue in defense of the creators. And while I do want to have good faith in the creators who don't pull this shit, the creators who clearly go above and beyond to do what they do in the pursuit of storytelling and polishing their craft to be the best piece of work that it can be - the comics that are worth paying 70 cents and beyond for - are not the comics that Webtoons is promoting to people. The creators of the works that genuinely deserve more than 70 cents per update are being left to fend for themselves without support from the platform, while those that aren't worth the price of even a flavorless gumball are consistently winning the Wonka Golden Ticket lottery.

The cost of 70 cents is relative. For some works it's a genuine bargain. For others like the The Kiss Bet and Lore Olympus, 70 cents is not a "bargain", it's not a "good deal", it's exactly the value of what you're paying for - cheap work that isn't good.

#so yeah i'm done reading the kiss bet fr now #i figured if i had 100 more coins than i needed i may as well use them for something that i didn't need to start from scratch on #but i literally feel ripped off LMAO #webtoon critical #the kiss bet #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #Youtube

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Y'all I'm - I'm so tired y'all

I get this often. It's understandable. I've said a lot in the past of how I believe no canonical age that can be proven - the same way there's hundreds of characters who's sexuality or nationality can't be proven.

But the problem is people saying things likes this and feeling no need whatsoever to back themselves up.

Hobie Has No Age, Stop Giving No Evidence.

[a SHORT RANT about the lack of evidence and sourcing within fandom - and the Hobie age discussion]

I genuinely believe you can headcanon him at any reasonable age (as in not 42 or 12 or something).

The problem with this is saying something like this as if it's definitive fact then making no attempt to back up your argument isn't helpful, okay, or appropriate.

In any context.

And it happens everywhere in fandom. All the time.

By saying things like this, or even stating objective facts about the world without backing yourself up with evidence, means you expect others to take you at face value with no additional questioning.

Which you should never encourage others to do. Which no one should ever do.

Once again, I believe you can headcanon Hobie at any age. I genuinely do not care.

I think he's 19-20.

I have evidence for why I think this.

Does this evidence mean I am 100% correct on his age and that I have the right to tell people otherwise?

No. Because it hasn't been confirmed.

But if you're going to tell me my stance is wrong, you have to be ready to engage with every single one of my evidence points so I can understand why it's wrong. You will have to present you own evidence, and defend it.

So often people will say an assertion objectively like this - and then immediately expect the other person to defend themselves.

Even though they haven't even defended their argument to begin with.

You don't walk up to someone and ask their name before you say yours.

You don't walk up to someone and demand their argument/rebuttal or submission to your opinion, without even stating the entirety of the opinion first.

This is something that is so common in this specific conversation - but it goes WAY outside if the realm of the ATSV fandom or even fandom in general.

If you state fact, an opinion, a rebuttal, a criticism, what have you - please back yourself up.

And I mean with screenshots and dialogue and gifs if you gotta.

In all subjects. All topics of all degrees.

I don't think Hobie has a canonical age.

I do think Hobie is around 19-20, in my interpretation. I have evidence that makes be confident and sound in my decision to write him as such.

And I think everyone holds the individual right to make such an interpretation for themselves.

But if you wish to engage someone else on how they interpret Hobie - engage them fully. Back yourself up.

Do not expect them to reply apologizing to you - because let's be honest. I feel like that's what y'all want and expect.

That when you say a one line statement like it's objective fact with no follow up, the expectation is for the other person to be like

'Sorry, I didn't know! I'll edit/take the post down now :) thanks for telling me'

Because really, what other answer can you give? Just saying 'Hobie is a minor' and nothing more leaves only two options: accept what they're saying as fact or defend yourself on why you think he isn't.

Y'all genuinely do not expect to be questioned.

ABSOLUTELY NOT - You better speak into the mic!!

Come with screenshots and script lines. And if you can't - Then it isn't true. And it isn't definite.

I will almost never accept something on face value without getting at least some form evidence from a reputable source. And I say almost because we all fuck up, but ideally I' m striving for never.

I've already stated in the past why I think this conversation is absolutely fruitless.

But if you want to engage in it regardless - or engage in any fandom discourse - Engage with it fully.

If you're going to engage me, engage with me fully. I'm completely open to talking about it and looking over any evidence you have.

But saying things like

- Well I know young people who look like him-

- I know young people who act like him-

- People are making him look older-

- He most likely has a fake ID-

None of that is evidence.

All of that is pure speculation. And there is a stark difference between justification and evidence.

If your justification isn't coming from the source material - the script, movie, or writers - it isn't evidence or proof.

You can use that justification to root your own interpretation - but once you make the assertion that he definitively is or isn't (which can't be proven) - at the very least, the burden is on you to provide evidence that is sufficient.

Doing stuff like this is so unhelpful.

Multiple times have I seen people ask how old Hobie is and someone will reply '17🥰' and the other person will be like 'okay thanks!!'

And I'm like '????????'

So that's it huh ... yous just... not gonna ask no follow up questions? we done here?

And the chain reaction just continues.

Not I, Not I! I'd rather die - for in these streets, you niggas lie.

Hobie has no canonical age or sexuality or heritage. He doesn't have a canonical middle name either.

Yet, people desperately try to make a definitive assertion on only one of those things - for the benefit of nothing but their own shipping -

And then they don't provide evidence.

Always ask for evidence.

In person too. I will speak from experience people get offended when you ask them "Where'd you hear that," or "Can I have a source, please? Text me a link." or "What's your proof?"

They take it as a question of authority or a lack of trust.

And maybe it is. Doesn't matter and I don't care. Questioning authority and not going off blind trust is good, I thought that's what we were told to do.

I find this so ironic to talk about right now - because just yesterday @layz-chipz (they're great check them out) was talking about potentially making a video essay about the Hobie age discourse, the futility of it and the fragility of the arguments.

And I can say it's a video that's sorely needed (no pressure though!) and a conversation that has unnecessarily dominated the community and conversation for way too goddamn long.

It needs to be - in the words of Hobie Brown - SQUASHED.

and to reiterate and make it clear - My issue it's not with people who think he's underage or a minor. Or people who do so without evidence.

My issue it's people asserting something, and then not supporting it directly after said assertion.

Hobie wouldn't like that. Hobie would want you to cite your sources. Or mind your business. Oh and-

IMO Hobie as of right now has no canonical age.

And if you read this far I love you

Anyway here's a really high res photo of Hobie and a meme i have no other place to use 😭😭

#no proofread you know what i meant #also PLEASE PLEASE do not go looking for this reply/reblog #this post is not targeted at this person - im approaching a general issue ive encountered multiple times in the past #spiderman #atsv #spider man #marvel #across the spiderverse #hobie brown #spider punk #spiderpunk #Hobie told me 'be argumentative. question everyone. bite people if you have to'

[crookedfandomquill]

I am about to lose my mind with y'all, for real. To recap, we got: tons of new backstory content on Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship; tons of cute new content including them dancing together a la Jane Austen; two other queer relationships meant to parallel and contrast their own; a FUCKING KISS; confirmation from Neil that he has an entire third season planned out and, regardless of whether it gets made in a TV format, will definitely give it to us in some form or fashion... and there are still fans jumping online and acting the fool.

Look. I totally understand if relationship angst isn't your thing. I'm not always in the mood for it, and it has to make sense for the story and the characters. However, feeling a lot of feelings about how the season ended, or wishing it had gone differently as a personal preference, is not the same as getting on this platform and saying, with your whole chest, that it was HOMOPHOBIC for Aziraphale and Crowley to hit a major relationship snag. Was it goddamn sad? Absolutely. Did it hurt my soul? 100%. But there are people claiming that it's part of some new "queer people have to suffer" trend (an emotional bury-your-gays, if you will), and that Neil (noted storytelling genius and LBGTQ ally) wrote this ending as an elaborate form of queerbaiting.

My girls. My gays. My theys. My sweet, silly geese. This is preposterous. First of all, this is not how the story ends. It is a clear and masterful setup for a third season (or whatever form it takes, hopefully TV but we shall see). It's pretty typical for the second act of a story to end in some kind of tragedy or twist that needs to be resolved in the third act, and it's typical because it works great for narrative flow and character development.

Second of all, and I'm begging you to listen to me: it is not homophobic to have your queer couple experience relationship problems. It is not homophobic for there to be pain and difficulty before they get a happily ever after. It is not homophobic to let your queer characters deal with commitment issues, unresolved trauma, or other baggage that temporarily prevents them from being together. This is literally a staple of the romance story, regardless of the sexualities involved, and is something that almost anyone who's been in sexual or romantic relationships has experienced in real life to some degree.

Now, if there were truly a phenomenon in fiction where every single queer couple had to go through astronomical levels of difficulty to get a happy ending, proportional to fictional straight couples, and the sweet, uncomplicated stuff just wasn't there to indulge in, I'd concede a little. But that's just... not true. If you think it is, you may not be reading or watching broadly enough. Queer folk deserve to see queer characters overcome relationship conflict just as much as they deserve to have sweeter, escapist options.

If you're mad about Good Omens 2 because you prefer drama-free escapism in you queer relationships, or were expecting that and felt let down, that's fine, you have a right to your feelings. And it's always hard when you've waited for a story for four years and built it up in your head (which is why I generally try not to do that, but you do you). But, you do not have to justify your feelings by accusing the story of queerbaiting or homophobia. In fact, I beg you not to. Just say that it hurt and you wish it had been happier; it's okay for you to feel that way, and people shouldn't put you down for it.

But propping up your emotions by accusing a piece of media of implicitly contributing to a system of oppression that it actively works to undermine is just not where it's at, folks. There is media that genuinely does that, but this isn't it. Again, have all the emotions about the ending that you want, but stop crying wolf. It's getting old.

#good omens season 2 #good omens #good omens spoilers #discourse #feel free to yell at me in the comments but I probably won't respond #I've got a lot going on this weekend

[mdhwrites]

honestly, Amity's hair color is the perfect metaphor for her character. She's still hiding her true colors, she's just trying to match Luz instead of Odalia.

So even at the time, when I was still deep in the paint of TOH, I had a major problem with it as far as the themes, metaphors and just designs of TOH went. Put both Amity and Luz at that time into their Hexside uniforms. Then silhouette them so you have no colors. Now try to tell me which is which.

It was a genuine problem for me during that time period where I'd see sketch fanart of Lumity and have to look for Amity's ears because otherwise the two are indistinguishable from each other. Like yes, it's a MUCH more boring hairstyle and I'm with others that there's just way too much purple in the show so Amity's green hair helped her actually stand out but this really was a big problem and got worse as I got more critical of Lumity. After all, this moment of making sure she has her own identity, stands out from others and will decide her own fate... And she looks the fucking same as another character now, blending in more easily with them. Then she just goes on to slowly have the rest of her personality and life (which were already doing this, thank you "your grades are slipping" from Escaping Expulsion for that one) consumed by her role of girlfriend.

It makes what should be such a character defining moment anything but that. Hell, it isn't even a complete schism from her family's desires and wishes. She still goes on to effectively helm Blight Industries after all, or so I presume unless she started her own competing abominations factory which still doesn't fix that that's STILL what Odalia would have wanted had Amity failed to get into the EC. It's still living in the shadow of her father's legacy and following in his own footsteps.

It's actually the one major cue from Hunter that Amity takes for her arc which really doesn't help the two feel like they aren't the same character. At least with Hunter, we only have one action that's confirmed as being the same as those he's supposed to be rejecting so as to find his own personhood: Rejecting Belos. There's a lot more we can claim but that's the only one 100% confirmed.

Amity though? Her future includes dedicating herself to a potentially unhealthy degree to her partner while also commercializing her magic into mech-infused abominations. Even if Lumity is healthy post the series, nothing about Amity's behavior doesn't imply she'd drop everything for Luz at a moment's notice and Alador gave the same impression. So... She just became her dad? Why?

Then again, when you are a show that seems to actually struggle to write a diverse cast of characters (I mean personality wise, not ethnicity), this is going to happen. Dana is a good enough artist though that the silhouette problem shouldn't have happened. That should have been caught and stopped immediately, not when it's so antithetical to the point of the moment. I guess you could say it's to show she still needs to make another step to becoming her own person but that never really happens, does it? And we explicitly know they didn't have proper plans for it to happen.

So yeah, it really is just perfect for who Amity became, even right down to being a worse design to go alongside girlfriend Amity being such a worse character.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #amity blight

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

okay, so.

waltz.

rarely have i watched an episode and immediately come here to talk about, but i have a lot of thoughts i need to get out

so firstly, the title. obviously a callback to duet from the first series (still the best single chunk of star trek i've seen yet). that one was a two-hander between kira and marritza, the former already having condemned the cardassian and the latter struggling to work through what he did in the occupation, and this is the same with sisko and dukat. except marritza felt genuine remorse, accepted he was wrong, and that's what dukat can never do

he's awful, i know, but he's a fantastic character, because he is a character. he has a sense of humour, soft spots, humanising (so to speak) moments, he's a real, fleshed out person, who just happens to be, as sisko says, true evil. and that works because he truly, genuinely believes he isn't. and what's more, he needs everyone to see that too. we saw that with his relationship with kira, his banter with sisko, his constant bemoaning that the bajorans didn't accept him, it wasn't just posturing, or pr, he genuinely needs to be liked, and he can't understand why people don't, because as far as he's concerned, as people so often point out, he's the hero of the story in his own mind, and he can't be wrong

that's played out superbly in his hallucinations here; weyoun is his cold and clinical side, dumar his arrogance and pride, kira his doubt and self-loathing, and they criticise and needle him throughout, but in the end, crucially, they're all telling him the exact same thing - what he really thinks

and what he wants to hear is that he's the good guy, which is where the political metaphor gets interesting. this whole time i've interpreted the occupation of bajor as a holocaust allegory, obviously, the cardassians are the nazis, bajorans jews. and that is of course a big part of it, but the connection i didn't make until now is the british empire

dukat's big speech is fully "white man's burden," the bajorans as savages centuries behind cardassia, following backwards religion, no technology, who clearly needed civilising by their superiors, bringing into the light, and dukat was the kind father helping guide them into the light. and he really believes it's for the best! he tells himself he doesn't despise them, that he doesn't want to wipe them off the face of the galaxy, it's their fault for being too stupid to appreciate him, to see what he's trying to do for them, how he only wants to help them if they'd only stop resisting and submit to those who know better than they do

part of this is that he insists that he's "one of the good ones," that another prefect would have been harsher, crueler. and this is where it gets interesting, because he's probably right. a leader who didn't care about being liked might have killed more bajorans, worked them harder, starved them more, executed them more. dukat may, indeed, have been the lesser of the evils, and that's not really in dispute. what's really compelling about this is that the story never lets this be an excuse. so death rates dropped by 20%? that's great! why didn't they drop by 100%? so labour camp output dropped by 50%? cool, you were still keeping people in labour camps and enslaving them

and i find that uncomfortably compelling in the current climate. i'm not american, but i see full well what's going on there, and it disgusts me. because there's several genocides going on right now, and i'm going to focus on palestine, because the democrats are gleefully funding that genocide and protecting its perpetrators from any repercussions, brutally coming down on any protests. and when people understandably say "hey what the fuck," they remember there's an election this year and go "well is the republicans were in power this genocide would be way worse! you gotta pick the lesser of two evils!" and you know what? they're right! the genocide would probably worse if the republicans were in power! but the democrats committing a less-bad genocide doesn't mean they aren't still committing genocide! because the lesser of two evils is still evil, and sometimes there's no shade of grey

#star trek #star trek ds9 #gul dukat #not clogging the tag with any slogans here but i feel the “free palestine” is fairly implicit here

[sweaterkittensahoy]

why do you still talk to your parents if they hate you so much? i understand that's a very personal question, but you seem to get pretty personal on this blog, so.

I'm assuming this is based off my latest retelling of my dad and I getting into it when I was a teenager and feeling his apology was genuine and true versus a semi-recent event where he was a real shithead, and I had to learn to deal with it.

I don't know your relationship with your family, and I don't know your age, but here's what I know about me, my family, and my age: I'm 41. The only person I can control in any situation is myself. My parents have failings and fuck ups that pain me, but they also grant me access to my only living grandparent--my grandmother--whom I adore to my bones. If I cut them off, I lose her. Not because she is easily swayed by bullshit but because she's 90 and they live in the same town, and it's easier for her mail to go to them than for her to get to the post office. She hates talking on phone and email. She is not here to be judged. She rules.

But also, there are positives to my relationship with my dad that I find worthy of keeping. He and I are further apart politically than we've ever been. But all Dad wants when his kids are home is to watch movies, make food, and listen to us talk about our lives. Would I like him to apologize for calling me a disappointment? Yes. Absolutely. Is it going to happen? Fucking no. Would I like him to use my pronouns? Yes. Is it ever going to happen? No. Can we talk about the six movies he watched last week and have a good time? Yes.

Will my mother ever admit she's a severe alcoholic who has abused me for my entire life and continues to do so with her drinking? Nope. Not fucking ever. And my dad would drop me in a second because he would see my hardline on my mom as disrespectful, and then my mom would make SURE that anything I send to my grandmother via the mail would get lost.

I am 100% aware of the ways my parents come up short and fail me and try to cut me off at the knees (my mother especially). It's my job in taking care of myself to look at their actions and my own hopes for the relationship and decide how to adjust.

While it may seem odd to you, to me, I am literally in the healthiest version of my relationship with my parents I could be for what I want. I am very aware of where they won't meet me halfway. I know they will say things like "we never had expectations; we just wanted you to be happy" even when I could pull out a list of receipts a mile long.

I don't need their love to be validated. I have so many people in my life who give me that without struggle. I keep them in my life for a variety of reasons of varying weight and understand why I have made that choice.

At the end of the day, it'd be way easier if my parents just said, "We hate you. Stop being so you." But they don't. They put up a show of loving me exactly how I am while also failing at that, but again, I don't need them to love me exactly as I am. I am happy with who I am and how I live my life. Their power in my life and my sense of self is what I choose to put on it, and that power at this point is zero.

I enjoy my dad. I adore my grandmother. My mother exists. My MIL lives two hours away, so there's no way to avoid them if we're in the area. We went down in April and there were moments of deep annoyance, but nothing I wasn't expecting because I am clear-eyed and very accepting of what I'm walking into, and honestly, it's gotten fucking funny how right my guesses are.

How I handle my shit isn't for everyone. But it's my shit. And it's how I handle it. And every time I follow the path I've carved, I feel sure about my decisions.

#personal #family shit #personal shit #ask #anon

[twst-hanaya]

TWST Book 7 Chapter 5 Thoughts:

Spoilers under the cut, also I'm basically typing this out as I play so it's like a liveblog sort of.

Malenora is That Bitch

Sorry, ahem. Malenora is a QUEEN (technically a Princess but my point stands)

Absolutely loving her design aaaaahhhh! The horns! The headpiece! The DRIP!

Sorry, I'll try to stop simping.

You can see such an intense resemblance between Malenora and Malleus obviously in appearance but also personality.

They both breathe confidence and self assurance because they're so powerful, both are fairly temperamental, though Malenora seems to be more brash and lashes out with tantrums while Malleus - perhaps due to his father - tends to sulk more than he does explode with anger, though the lightning and bad weather happens with both of them.

Moving on, her relationship with Lilia is interesting. You definitely get the sense that he may have harbored romantic feelings for her when they were younger but at this point truly loves her as something even beyond that, and different.

I swear I nearly started crying in public when they were squabbling over Lilia taking the Egg and leaving Malenora to fight the Knight of Dawn and Lilia was like I can't love this baby for you, I've never loved anybody, I still need you, this baby needs you.

And Malenora fucking hits him with You love me. You love Levan - there simply isn't any way for you not to love our child when you love us so much.

Oh shit I'm crying just typing that.

Anyway

And you know it really hit me in that moment that Lilia's earlier comments about not liking weak things like children - it isn't true, not even then. To love something powerless and weak and fragile means risking your own heart. Just as easily as they could lose their life, you could break your own heart. Lilia has always been afraid.

And when he lost Malenora - someone who he loved, who was the strongest person he knew - died anyway, and left her Love in and Egg, he had to accept that being hurt wasn't something anyone could live without risking.

Moving on, the Knight of Dawn is still a mystery to me, but he doesn't actually seem evil. Apparently he's an orphan who owes a life debt to the previous King, and is in a relationship with the princess Reia. And of course he helped the entourage escape with the Egg - an act I think ultimately saved Silver's life and Lilia's own humanity, among the other obvious things.

Henrik also needs to fucking die what a goddamn bastard KILL HIM MALENORA (I know she doesn't make it but I think she should still get to kill this dude AT LEAST)

Silver losing his shit is kind of understandable after all this, I get it. It hurts me to see him blame himself for literally just being born though he did nothing wrong he was an ACTUAL BABY PLEASE THINK RATIONALLY. Literally if anyone else were out in that situation you know this doofus would be like yeah literally none of this was your fault of course you deserve to live and be happy. But shits not that easy I get it.

Also I actually laughed a little during that scene where Lilia finds baby Silver and he's like STOP CRYING BITCH YOU DONT HAVE THE RIGHT

Like dude I get you're mad at yourself and all but your still yelling at a literal baby please stop 😭

Oh bonus points, I ALSO cried when I found out Lilia's Unique Magic is literally called Farcry Cradle. Like. This man who insisted for literal centuries that he wasn't capable of warmth or love and that he didn't like weak things or children and his UM called FARCRY CRADLE.

全ては過ぎ去る日のようにどこへ向かうもの瞬きの間よ、遠くの揺りかごまで

Also Silver was BLONDE???

Also Malleus being like Aw Shit, What Do I Do With This Thing with baby Silver was great. Love that.

Also totally forgot to just say I'm a bit shook that Silver was actually frozen in time for 100+ years and not a descendent. Was genuinely not expecting that.

Also got me FUCKED UP with the acorn bracelet being a gift from child!Silver like how much more emotional damage am I going to have to endure exactly

NOOO BABY OF COURSE LILIA LOVES YOU

Sidenote child Sebek and Silver are adorable

Cackling at child Sebek having Zero Chill.

He'll yeah, Sebek Unique Magic! "Living Bolt" is very appropriate for him! Pimp slap that boy (Silver) awake!

Silver: Malleus and Lilia probably hate me.

Me, out loud: shut the fuck up. Stop letting your lizard brain control you!

Sebek: *proceeds to immediately deck him*

Good job Sebek!

Sebek is so baby honestly.

Sebek is so right, what a king. I really love how Sebek shows Silver that he's loved. Look at how strong you are - who gave you that strength (love?)

Also I'm always a sucker for that trope when a character who doesn't have any self confidence ends up accusing the people who love them of lying, and really their own self-denegration ends up hurting the very people they care about. How hurtful and insulting it is to have your own moral character and your heartfelt affection for a person be tossed aside in favor of propping up someone's self hatred.

When Silver was like they cant love me and Sebek really said don't you fucking disrespect me or Lilia-Sama like that again. Yeah.

Thankfully Silver regains some clarity and they move along shounen-style, very good.

Oh man the battles for this chapter were actually kind of a pain.

Also tbh I don't know how to feel about them using a recolored version if Silver's 2D rig for the Knight of Dawn. It looks off, personally.

Also in a separate post I made, I said Malleus was like an uncle in their quartet but this whole Book has made it fairly clear that he's more of an older brother. With how long it takes for fae to mature, especially long-lived ones like Dragons, it's clear that Malleus is more like a 16 year old whose parents suddenly busted out a new kid.

I'm tired Goodnight

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #my twst analysis #lilia vanrouge #twst spoilers #disney twst #twst silver #twst sebek #sebek zigvolt #twst lilia

[beautifulpersonpeach]

We couldn't just be happy that Haegeum, after all the struggles, debuted at 58 on hot 100. Can we?

Yoongi biased Ot7s tweeting "did that without collabs, remixes, multiple versions….." "Agustd paves the way"…

Who are they shading? Jimin for releasing multiple versions? JK for collabing with western artists?

This whole ot7 is a myth.

How are you shading multiple versions/remixes when the most successful Bts song, Dynamite, that charted for 32 weeks inside hot100 had 11 versions/remixes. One A side and one B side mvs. Had vinyl, cassettes and Cds.

And western collabs are a drag? We have Boy with Luv and MU right there being successful.

My Astronaut didn't have remixes or multiple versions either and it debuted at 51. So Yoongi biased armys, humble down already.

And the person they are shading the most, Jm. SMF p2 with no CDs, remixes and multiple versions debuted at 30 on bb100. If SMF P2 had CDs like Haeguem and The Astronaut, it would have debuted inside top10 for sure. People need to stop being bitter about Like Crazy.

This is what leads to more division in the fandom.

Yoongi is not my bias, I am not into his music. But I bought and streamed for him. We wanted that hot100 debut so bad for him. These kind of talks are so disappointing.

***

You probably typed this out thinking it's a very normal and sensible thing to say lmao, but all it shows is that you're getting sucked in.

Listen, I understand you feel very passionately about the member you love, and I understand in fandom spaces this can be hard to put into practice, but, just... try to be normal. The fandom isn't filled with people who hate Jimin, he would not have gotten any of his chart accomplishments if that were true, defaulting to thinking a common mindless comment made for many achievements is targeted shade at Jimin is more a reflection of how you think OT7 Yoongi-biased ARMYs view Jimin, it's more a reflection of the siloed environment you're in where you see JM constantly targeted, than based on anything that's actually happening in the wider fandom.

One thing that amuses me about all this, is that people who act like this don't seem to realize they're creating a self-fulfilling prophesy. That they're directly creating the environment they claim they're fighting against. It's the same mentality with shooters, solo stans, and mantis. This isn't to say there couldn't be Yoongi-biased people saying that to shade Jimin, I'm certain his solo stans and the akgaes of other members could say that to target Jimin, but by defaulting to thinking it is targeted shade at Jimin by OT7 ARMYs (when it of course could apply to other groups/people besides Jimin), you're heightening suspicion on regular ARMYs, who to counter that will become ultra defensive and level that suspicion back on Jimin-biased ARMYs, and you're doing all that while needlessly victimizing your bias. You've apparently identified "what leads to more division in the fandom", without realizing that you're inadvertently contributing to that division with all the above.

Lol.

This is how y'all create the circus that is fandom.

*

One more thing.

You know, when I say I don't particularly care about charts, I actually mean it. Like, I understand how the charts work, I know what they imply for BTS and I stream, donate, buy so other fans can access their music and to better support fandom efforts, but arguments over chart placements between the members, and how xyz did this at abc, etc, whatever all of that is, I genuinely do not give a fuck.

I couldn't tell you where Joon, Hobi, etc debuted on the charts unless I go back to check it, and in about a month I'd probably have forgotten where Yoongi charted. Jimin's #1 will remain top of mind simply because of how rare and monumental it is, but I've forgotten everything else. I read all of what you wrote Anon, and it amuses me that I'm reading this in the same fandom space that until June 2022, prided itself on not caring about charts like those 'crazy chart-obsessed Twitter ARMYs'. Lol. BTS solo era started and suddenly the shippers, who often operate more like solo stans of the people they ship, suddenly care about donating, streaming, buying, chart accomplishments, etc, than they did a mere 6 months ago.

Lol.

Anon, I've got a few more asks like yours in my inbox (I posted yours because you seem actually coherent). All the asks are people getting up in arms about this or that person saying this/that about Yoonmin's solo debut, promotions, chart placements etc. You and the rest who are talking like this might not realize it now, but you're getting sucked in. There's only one thing you sound like, and only one place you're going to end up with that line of thinking. It's easily one of the most predictable pipelines in fandom. You can call yourself whatever you like, but take it from someone who has been here long enough, keep going on like that and you're only going to end up in one place.

And like I've said before, I have no qualms letting dead weight fall off.

Goodluck to you.

#That fandom implosion is guaranteed to happen at this point lmaooo #we've got too many volatile and easily manipulated reagents in this chemical solution #yoonmin #jimin #park jimin #yoongi #min yoongi #bts #bts army #fandom behaviour #bts fandom

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

"X People Can't Shoot Laser Beams!"

Hey so I've been seeing a lot of people, now that X-Men Is Hot Again, coming to the conclusion that "X-Men doesn't work as a metaphor for marginalized communities because gay people can't shoot laser beams, so it doesn't hit for me". Do not get me wrong -- people have been coming to that conclusion since 1963. It's nothing new. And, it's great that you're engaging with it! Stories are meant to bring about thoughts and be controversial. But I need you to understand that's already text.

That's not something the stories pretend isn't the case, or something that authors are afraid people will bring up to nullify their experiences with the work -- trust me, the X-Men know, in-universe, that they're not just a harmless ethnic minority.

If you are stuck with "Gay people don't shoot laser beams", please, I am just asking you to keep going one single step and then go "But even if they did, we probably shouldn't genocide them."

Like, this is the crucial thing that I see people who stop conversations about X-Men with "It's a bad metaphor" never engage with. Yes, Cyclops should be held accountable for his powers in a public setting, no one is pretending he shouldn't-- but that's not the point. That's not who suffers the most.

The point is that just because that's the case, mutant children shouldn't die in their homes. Mutant pregnant women shouldn't be told hospitals don't do mutant pregnancies by default. Mutant children shouldn't be barred from schools. Mutant elderly shouldn't be denied access to healthcare.

Just because you're afraid of some people, it doesn't mean people from their group are not people. You do not get to umbrella an entire group connected by genetics and say they all deserve to die just because you're afraid of a few of them.

Of fucking course you should be afraid of Magneto, Professor X, the Phoenix and Quentin Quire. You should also be afraid of anyone who holds nukes, anyone with that much inherited wealth and social standing on birth alone, anyone who doesn't have control of themselves all the time and has hurt others during episodes, and any incels with access to weapons. That doesn't actually have anything to do with them being mutants; that has everything to do with their lives and what they do with their time. Them being mutants just informs the ways they can hurt you, but everyone can hurt you.

A child like Leech didn't deserve to get exploded by a machine just because people are afraid of Wolverine's claws. Stopping the thought at "well Black people can't kill you with a thought" robs the story of the actual point. My man, even if Black people could kill you with a thought, a government-sponsored apartheid state that invades other countries to kill and capture people would still be horrendous.

I am begging you to read these stories not as just a superficial insert-your-favorite-group here allegory, but also as an exploration of how easy it is to get people to agree with villains. How easy it is to manipulate populations, or to sell you on things you would never really agree with in other situations, even highly politicized people who see stories as extensions of their beliefs.

To imply the story doesn't engage with that is to give up without getting to the point.

The messy conversations about power, about community, about responsibility, about leaders who fail and problems with movements that have some points but fail in several ways is valid, and it is there for you to engage with. There's no X-Men story that would genuinely stare you in the eye and tell you "Magneto is not scary."

Of course he's scary. But he's not attacking you because he's a mutant. He's attacking you because he's being persecuted. You shouldn't persecute people on the off-chance one of them will do something to you just because they're born different.

But, yes, Jews can't shoot laser beams. At least not usually. That's true, and thus, X-Men is not 100% about oppressed groups in real life.

It's also a very boring take, dude, like, come on. The thought is incomplete. Please complete it.

#x men #fandom takes

[dnpsuck]

(different anon) i do want your opinion on the john mulaney divorce drama actually. i may even agree

i have a loooooot to say about this and it’s not at all popular so it’s under the cut and it’s long lmao cw: nuance 

my opinion is that the treatment he received after he left rehab and filed for divorce shows that we don't care about drug addicts at all. literally i once saw a tiktok that made my blood boil because they listed "is a drug addict" as a reason to hate him and... how dense can you be? addiction isn't a personality trait or a quirk, it's a fucking disease that could still kill him if he ever relapses again.

his life was never as publicized and torn apart as it was the minute he left rehab (and yet somehow people still managed to get so many things wrong?), there were tweets and tiktoks spewing all kinds of hateful things about him right after he received treatment for his relapse. also people started coming up with extremely invasive speculation and rumors (that may or may not be true but that's not the point here) and accusing him of things none of the people involved accused him of and still doubling down on their hate for him when... most things actually back the timeline john himself gave us?

around oct-dec 2020 (or even earlier) a much smaller, but super invasive, group of people in the john fandom were already aware of their separation because they were never spotted together anymore and anna fully stopped using 'mulaney' as her last name way before we knew john was in rehab (as well as people with information from "sources" etc but that's too deuxmoi-y for my taste). then john left rehab in february 2021 and immediately filed for divorce - and y'know how in rehab people are encouraged to get out of situations and relationships that can lead them to another relapse? and then he left rehab and immediately filed for divorce? what's. not. clicking.

but, anyway, the divorce news only came out around may, almost at the same time as the news about olivia and because of this timing some people to this day still believe that it all happened on the same week when in reality he and anna had not been together for like. half a year lmao

and i love anna. i'm not in any way saying she's in the wrong in this situation, she went through a shitty divorce, after a shitty year and unfortunately her ex-husband moved on really fast, and because of exaggerated public attention, he also moved on REALLY publicly, and that's fucking shitty. i felt awful for her because of course i didn't want that to happen for them, i loved john and anna together, i genuinely believe they’d be together forever and obviously i was disappointed by the news.

but the thing is... divorce happens. life in 2020 was tough on everybody, people were forced to be confined and everything was put to the test, and a relationship with an addict is difficult as is; now add the weight of a global pandemic and everything else? it's chaos. survival of the fittest and they weren’t the fittest regardless of what people imagined of them.

and we don't even know if it was the relapse leading to the divorce or the divorce leading to the relapse but it was definitely a year that put their relationship to the test and they fucking failed. people who love each other still get divorced. and they can be individually really good people who genuinely loved each other but even then relationships can become bad and if divorce seemed like the solution for the guy that needed to do something about his life in order to not relapse on cocaine again then... i'm glad he chose what was best for him.

but then you go on tiktok and there were hundreds of people who watched 2 john mulaney specials and read deuxmoi like the bible and they were saying shit like "anna got me in the divorce!!!" and doing the most to have the cleverest joke or make the best disappointed face for a few likes and it was genuinely draining. because even if the timeline he offered was 100% false and he did cheat on anna with olivia and all the other awful things he was senselessly accused of (again all anna officially said about the divorce is that she was heartbroken that he decided to end their marriage but wished him well etc), even if he did all of that, the lack of care in the way people talked about him in the first year of his recovery is just fucking cruel. 

i’m not saying everyone should’ve babied him and been like “uwu love u mr mulaney you’ve never done anything wrong ever” but on the simple basis that the guy was in recovery for a cocaine addiction, after being sober for well over a decade (for context: anna met him years after he got clean), ideally people would’ve just backed off and let the guy live his life as best as he could. even if he did things i personally wouldn’t have done in my recovery lol

and i wish anna had been left alone too - i love that she got recognition with her work because she’s very talented and dinner in march + the december 2021 version of dinner in march are fucking beautiful (the dec one is my favorite). but it’s sad that most of the people that are paying attention to her art, even now, almost 2 years later, are only doing that because they wanna diss her ex-husband. and if you’re only admiring anna’s work to find clues of john in it, then she’s not the one that got you in the divorce after all.

the other day i saw a tiktok edit of anna to some sad music with the caption like “omg it’s her song 😥” and it’s... genuinely so sad that if these are the people that are gonna be promoting her work to new audiences, she’s always gonna be tied to her ex-husband. she’s always gonna be introduced through this kind of really pathetic lens instead of having her actual work be the selling point (and her work is fantastic when you see the art itself and not the comedian she used to be married to). they’re basically dooming and reducing her to this divorce.

just leave these people alone. they’re grown adults trying to live their private lives after shitty years. if u wanna laugh at funny jokes, go do that. if u wanna look at art and photography about loss and whatnot, go do that too. stop acting like divorce is some sort of moral issue in the fucking 2020s. move on.

anyway, i know i’m biased and i'd been following john, his career and whatever he shared of his life since 2013-14, but more than a bias, it definitely makes me more sensible to the fact that john could still relapse again, and it could be fatal, and he has a lot at stake now (a whole child). so i do believe his well-being is a bigger priority than how upset i was about john and anna’s marriage ending.

he’d talked so much about his addiction and alcohol issues, which started when he was basically a kid, in his stand-up, in interviews, on podcasts, etc., and how drugs and alcohol made him a terrible person and how much work he’s had to put into controlling his urges with substances etc, and i remember him saying in some podcast (before the 2020 relapse) that he realized he needed help with his addictions when he looked at himself from an outside perspective and realized "oh i'm not rooting for that guy anymore" and then he relapses again, gets the help he needs and as soon as he's out, people decide that divorce is absolutely unacceptable and say "we're not rooting for this guy anymore" and it's like lol. nice priorities y'all got there. but anyway. i’m glad he managed to get by

TLDR; his divorce was a normal thing that happens to like 50% of marriages, and it was all blown out of proportion because of unhealthy attachments to celebrities (which i am definitely at a fault here but at least i do my best to have my facts right). people prioritized taking sides on a divorce they were not a part of and making annoying tiktoks with baseless speculation for clout instead of letting a recovering addict just recover, or letting a recent divorcee just move on

with all of that said, the most disappointing thing about john after rehab was the thing with chappelle. it was fucking embarrassing and truly unnecessary, and it’s what made me take a step back from stanning. still wishing him well 

#addiction cw #drugs cw #alcoholism cw #lola.ask

[celiastjamesoscar]

AAAAH A NEW GRACE FIC LETS GO!!

I can't wait to read it but my brain is a little dead from this week so I can't guarantee for my usual analysis type comments. Let's see.

To Sam they will always be kids, especially her kids.sam has always been incredibly responsible and even though she's only 5 years older than them, she definitely took part in raising the kids a bit. They are hers.

Lol I would also be in love immediately after seeing Sam for the first time. Her grumpiness would even pull me in further.

Sam is a very serious person. She keeps her true feelings to herself because being vulnerable could hurt her. So when you manage to make her smile, genuinely, then you have definitely made a big step into the direction of Sam's heart. In private she is much more open and ready to let her walls down. If you can get her to genuinely talk to you in a private setting, then you're done. You've managed to see behind Sam's enormous walls and her bitchy facade.

I LOVE THE POSSESSIVE TARA MENTION!!!

I also want to have a Sam that's so protective of me. Where can I find one? 😩

AWWW SAMMY!!! She only enjoys nights by herself when her girlfriend is around. She is so smooth and adorable!! But yeah, when Sam starts liking and caring for you then she she becomes kinda dependent on you in the sense that you are her happiness and safety net. Sam is a tough person who keeps to herself, so once she found people that she loves and trusts, they become her life. She wants and needs them around because with them Sam can be vulnerable and her true self.

O.M.F.G CUNK ON EARTH!!! I LOWKEY SCREAMED WHEN I RECOGNIZED THAT LINE. SHE IS, 100%, THE BEST HISTORIAN SAM! GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. And you, my dear, have fantastic taste!!!

Lol, could it be that you projected your own feelings for college into that first paragraph after they left for the party?

Hell yes protect Sammys reputation!!! It's honestly impossible to lie to Sam. Her big brown beautiful eyes would make me melt and blubber immediately. Possessive Tara gave her approval! Then it's a done deal. When Tara likes Sam's girlfriend then it will last forever. Tara only wants the best for Sam.

Naurrr same. I would be constantly pissing off Sam because she's so incredibly hot when she's all worked up and angry...

...Sam wasn't born yesterday because she is a Boomer at heart

“You fucking bitch,” you hissed as you pushed the cutout, causing it to fall, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Fucking fuckass loser.” Byeee that took me out!! I couldn't stop laughing. Drunkenly beating a cardboard Gale and kidnapping her to protect Sam is EVERYTHING!! I'm sure Sam will never let her live that down. I'm also sure that this made Sam fall in love even more. She isn't used to people defending her so when someone is ready to commit a crime and get hurt for her then it makes Sam feel very appreciated, loved and wanted.

I woke up at 12 and it took me 45 minutes to formulate this comment. My brain really isn't working today. BUT THESE 45 MINUTES WERE THE BEST BECAUSE I GOT TO THINK ABOUT SAMMY FOR THIS LONG. To no one's surprise, this story was fantastic!!

Sam has just taken up custody of the twins and Tara, they are her babies. She would never let anything bad happen to them

Try not to fall in love with a grumpy Sam challenge: impossible!! She’s like a grumpy cat who hisses at people but you can’t help it to love her

Sam is my favorite to write just because of how serious she is, along with Wednesday. They are both people who can’t care for feelings but both secretly crave that kind of love and dedication. It would definitely take several months for Sam to finally open up to you, but once she has, it’s over for her

POSSESSIVE TARA HAS MY HEART!!! YOU KNOW FOR A FACT SHE WONT LEAVE SAM ALONE AFTER 6

Protective Sammy>>>>

I never thought about it like this, but I really like your statement of her being dependent on her lover. Sam isn’t usually someone who depends on people, but for her happiness, she needs you. I agree with everything you said!!

CUNK ON EARTH IS THE BEST SHOW EVER!!! you know for a fact that R definitely made Sam watch that show after they got back to Sam’s apartment 😭

I might have projected a little bit about my feelings toward college…

Sam 100% uses her big brown eyes to her advantage. She knows that we are weak for them and she will not hesitate to you use them. Tara is the deciding factor on if a relationship with work out with Sam. That little shit is extremely possessive of Sam and she will not hold back from Sam’s love interests

Honestly, who wouldn’t try and drunkenly fight a cutout if Gale Weathers after she wrote that book? 😭

Thank you for your review my love!!! I always look forward to them after I post a story! <3

#bender chats #clexa is forever reviews

[nixzeroz]

universal artist pet peeves, non-artists take notes!

"Can you draw me?" It baffles me how entitled people are sometimes. It's fine if you're paying for a commission obviously I'm not talking about people who paid, I'm talking about the people that genuinely think they can get away with asking for a free self portrait. I'm sorry, are you Jesus? No? Then pay me, you're not that special.

"You're so talented." I wasn't born with natural talent, I've been drawing since I was a little kid. It's years of practice.

"I can barely draw a stick figure." It's not cute, you sound like a pick me. Just compliment me like a normal human being.

"They look like (character name)" Please for the love of god stop comparing original characters that took hours to draw to shit that already exists. It's rude as fuck. "Oh haha that's cool but that looks like this thing that already exists so basically you're not creative at all." You get me? It's annoying as hell, also a lot of artists come up with lore for their characters, they're not the same. Unless they're a blatant ripoff just stop.

"That's too expensive." Unless someone is charging you $100 for a stick figure shut up please, most artists' prices are more than fair. Sure, to you it might just look like pixels on a screen or pencil on paper but to us it's taking time out of our day for you, we could be doing anything else but we're not. If you wanna complain about your $35 full body commission then do it yourself.

"Your art style looks too much like (artist name)" Now you know damn well... It's true some artists like to use other styles as reference, I personally used to really look up to Hiro Mashima's art style but then it developed into its own thing. Unless someone is literally tracing another artist please just stop, nobody "owns" a specific art style just because they're more well known than other artists. We all start somewhere, referencing other artists is a good thing. It gives you an idea of what your goal is.

"Rendering process..." Now we've all seen certain drawings be memed to hell and back like that one Kaeya drawing, however a lot of these "oh..." "rendering process" "it's so preppy in here!" comments are directed to actual kids and baby artists, it's gross. You know how many 12-13 year olds have literally quit drawing because of assholes on the internet? If you don't have anything nice to say, shut the fuck up.

"Personally I would (unsolicited advice)" Girl did I ask... Unless someone asks for constructive criticism, keep your trap shut. We all have opinions but that doesn't mean you need to express them. Giving random "advice" when it isn't asked for is rude as fuck and backhanded as hell, and really discouraging.

Frankly I might look like a bitch, but the reality is way too many artists are too shy or nice to actually stand up for themselves so I'm here to do it for them.

#art #artist #digital art #digital artist #artists on tumblr #artist notes #non art #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia

[down-for-tea]

Why can't he just fucking like me like a normal person?? Why does he have to be scared of? How fucking awesome I am?

Like if that's the case bitch, gtfo so I can find someone who isn't scared by that and can show me the love and affection I deserve??

Why should I care if you truly love me if none of your actions either show me that love and affection or make me feel loved and wanted?

Even dumber question: why tf do I still like him? Why do I still want his attention and affection? Why do I think fawning will get me the response I want out of him when it clearly hasn't done that before? Why do I keep giving him chances?

I left my last relationship from someone who definitely would have loved me until death and at least showed me love in 70% of the ways I wanted to be loved. I left because sex was a deal breaker for me. That 1 form of affection that i couldn't get was 30% that I needed. The longer I went without it, the more resentful I got because time and time again I'd be promised that I'd at least get my physical needs met, and time and time again, those opportunities came and went without any notice.

So if this guy isn't ready or willing to date me and he's not willing to fuck me regularly, what the hell am I doing? I could probably find a fwb that, even if he'd break my heart because I'm dumb and I'd catch feelings, he'd at least fuck me senseless consistently.

But again, I fucking want what I can't have. What makes it worse is this guy is super convenient which makes his lack of well anything even more glaringly obvious. Like bro, it's not like we live far from each other. He'll, we fucking work together and you still can't make time or take the initiative to see me outside of work unless it's convenient for you.

Why do I have to chase? I should just cut off my energy and let him fucking grovel and beg for me and not give in. But I also know I'll miss the groveling when he gives up and starts being an asshole because I didn't give him yet another chance. Actually idk if that's true but isn't that what usually happens?

Maybe he makes me chase because he thinks I'm easy. He doesn't have to work for my attention, affection, or body. Why do I have to play games to get what I want? Why can't it just be straightforward?

I really need to double down on my career and stop even thinking about love and sex. I wish I could at least stop thinking about sex, but I think that's physically impossible for someone who's been masturbating since before I knew what that meant.

Big sigh. I just want a guy to come sweep me off my feet and treat me right and take me out and dick me down. I want someone to be head over heels for me and not be afraid to tell me he misses me or wants to see me and goes out of his way to make plans to see me. I want someone who will prioritize me as much as I will prioritize him.

I want a soul-deep love, someone who just gets me and still wants to get to know me, someone I can just be 100% real with all the time. I want someone who wants to call me to hear my voice and talk on the phone for hours instead of only texting me.

I want someone who will talk to me about anything and everything, where I don't always have to be the one to start the conversation. I want someone who is as impressed and enamored with my thoughts and mind as they are with my body.

I want someone who will call me out on my bs and be patient with me as I work to be better in the future. I want someone who will comfort me after I've wronged them because I genuinely mean my apology and I can't bear the thought of them leaving. I need someone who understands my abandonment wounds and can help me work through them so I can love as securely as possible.

Sighhhh.

I don't even know if someone like this exists. I just needed to get this rant off my chest.

And I guess I just want someone, anyone really, to know that I really wish this guy was all of the things I want. I'm sure he could be, but I need to learn to love people for who they are and where they're at now, not for their potential. And that's a lesson I haven't learned.

Obviously.

#my train wreck of a love life #why am i like this #why do i do this to myself #relationship problems #i just want love #and cuddles #i need support #personal rant #true love #disappointed in myself #please just let me die #dft coworker situationship

[yyukhei]

Not saying it's true or isn't but for the Johnny thing, don't a lot of people feed those they're close to? I've seen a lot of idols share food with staff and I don't see what the big deal is. fttm0 is really asking for a slap, I don't even wanna be nice because someone like her does not deserve any kindness. Especially the amount of torment she's put YY and LC through. I don't know if this is from fttm0 or another ssng, but there was a photo of Taeil allegedly smoking but they put a huge emoji to cover something up and you can't really see Taeil fully or what he's actually holding. A lot of people think he's holding his phone and put it on speaker. That already makes that pic look suspicious and screams manipulation. The problem is that this photo was taken and edited to make it look incriminating(?)–not the word I'm looking for but the only one I can think of. I really can't fathom how former ssngs confess how they were normal before and grew obsessed. Like no, honestly I don't believe that. If that were true, then almost all fans would be this obsessed. These people have been bored since the beginning have since found an outlet to dim their boredom in fandom. They need fucking therapy and/or a nice orange jumpsuit. I'm sick and tired of these self proclaimed fans who are notorious for lying to defame their "faves". Ssngs are not fans. Not at all. They are parasites because once they get bored of that idol, they will move onto another to torment because they are simply bored. I fucking hate these people.

I agree 100% with everything you said. I just wish with everything in my soul that ppl would stop supporting these sasang, bc let’s be honest, if their stalking photos didn’t get thousands of likes and ppl didn’t eat up all the private info they drop (flight schedules, hotel bookings, etc) they would just get bored and do something else.

It’s no wonder these fake accusations and manipulated photos are treated as the truth only when it aligns with someone’s personal prejudices.

Why is it so hard to believe real fans are skeptical of accusations when Photoshop and Deepfakes exist? We seriously can’t just treat everything at face value just bc our moral instinct is always to trust the accuser. It’s innocent until to proven guilty in America for a reason. Because ppl weaponize anything they can against those they hate. It’s the sad reality of the world we live in now. It doesn’t make you morally superior in a court case if you always believed the accuser from the beginning. It just makes you subjective.

We have a serious issue in many countries where idols personal lives are treated as public entertainment. It’s not okay to harass and follow someone when they’re not working. That’s their private time to rest, even in public. And YES I understand how celebrities expect this kind of treatment, but what kind of career is one where your fans would literally try to rip the hair off your head to sell on Etsy later? (I’m referring to a Nicki Minaj incident) where you sign an autograph and it gets sold? Or you give someone something special you performed with and see it for sale later? Wouldn’t every interaction feel like a money grab? It would be extremely hard to feel a connection with fans when you don’t know who is genuine.

I saw someone got sent a misprinted version of Taylor’s new vinyl album and the comments were FULL of people saying to sell it for 8x the price she bought it for. Like why is that your first thought? You received something rare that makes you a unique fan, and ppls first thoughts were money?

Idk, there’s just something about fan culture that has gone so wrong. At least on tumblr, I remember YEARS ago that ppl refused to share paparazzi pics and anything leaked from a celebs personal life. But now not only are pap pics acceptable, but fansites photos run by sasang are as well?

I pray ppl start standing up for these idols before we lose any more of them.

#ask #answered #anon #johnny #taeil #lucasconfessions #lucas #Yukhei

[isaacathom]

anyway i came here because i wanna ramble about some ttrpg stuff that MIGHT happen in my campaigns that i cant talk about "on main" (re: my twitter, which my dm and some players follow me on) without spoiling what my character HAS done and MIGHT do in future sooo yeehaw bitch

basically in one of the last sessions before a holiday hiatus, the admiral of the fleet we're a part of ordered us to try and obtain gunpowder by whatever means neccessary. the only source of gunpowder is a faction who are pacifists and and trying to use it as fertiliser, and who will under no circumstances give it to anyone. so the plan is to fucking steal it, right. My character (Naielle) finds that plan objectionable for a suite of reasons, and so she found an opportunity to warn the faction leader that these plans were being made.

thats not gonna stop the plan though, right? and naielle is not a stealth character, so she will not be involved in the actual mission, nor in its planning, so she can't really sabotage the mission beyond what shes already done.

But! She might be able to do something once they return. If they successfully manage to get the gunpowder, then Naielle has a few tricks up her sleeve:

The spell 'Invisibility' (and a con of +5)

Authority on the party's primary ship that would mean noone would question her coming and going

A Bag of Holding

A "Diplomat's Pouch" (a messaging pouch that can also send small items)

Provided the gunpowder is stored aboard the primary ship, then Naielle is in. She can get aboard, no questions. She can slip into invisibility. Her stealth isn't great (+2), but shes invis! she can HOPEFULLY get to wherever its held. and she can, at the very least, siphon some of it off (as much as she can carry without causing problems later - a bag of holding full of gunpowder sounds fun but she also has a dragon god in there and if something goes wrong she will cause an apocalypse, lol). She would then, *probably*, be able to send some kind of message to the faction leader about the whole thing (admittedly, Naielle cannot write in her language, but i figure a few grains of gunpowder and a card with a crude sketch of an elf with a hat will get the point across lmao)

thats assuming all goes well. and if it does, HEHE!!! at some point the admiral or whatever will go 'alright, we were saving this gunpowder for [situation], but we need some now' and oh shit, its gone! tf?! and naielles just sweating buckets.

But, even if it doesnt!!! oh, the drama!!!! if someone manages to hear her sneaking around, and attacks her??? oh!!! the drama! She has a decent hp but an abysmal ac, so depending on who it is and what they hit her with it could be genuinely quite a hit. if it knocks her out, or she fails the con check, then we enter the realm of her being directly challenged on her (extremely sus) actions. this holds true even if shes not challenged by someone she knows closely (ie if the gunpowder is held on a different ship, as i think i would still like to try this stunt regardless, because its fun) bc then you get into the realm of her commanding officer being woken at an ungodly hour by the vampire guy going 'captain odelia is being held in the brig on the flagship' which is. an incredible image for me.

butttttttt if she gets hit, doesnt go below zero, AND succeeds on the con check. well shit. she will 100% retreat after that - she doesnt have the spells to pull anything more than what shes doing, as the only other spell that would be useful is also concentration. so she would just leave, hopefully successfully. if she is caught, return to 'oh shit'. if she isnt, then id want to try and write in whatever injury she sustained as something she has to deal with now, at least for a little bit. even if its just like 'has bandaid on cheek' shit.

all this said. i have had an epiphany. which is that Naielle has Dimension Door, *and* the spell slots necessary to use it twice - once to get in, once to get out. this means that any of the ships in the fleet are now fair game, BUT it does have a verbal component, raising the potential that she is at least overheard, if not caught directly. NOW, she's never used dimension door in game, so theres a case that noone would realise it was her, EXCEPT that shes one of a small group of ~French Bastards~, and her accent is very recognisable. She can possibly fumble with that (i could ask the dm if i could roll a deception check on the component to have Naielle pull an accent and see how convincingly she pulls it off, eg?), but! it could be done!

the dimension door does add its own special spice too, which is what happens if she teleports into wherever the powder is held. and WHOOPS there are people there. that would be hilarious. if i go that route, Naielle would probably attempt to prepare for this in some manner, ie a mask and not wearing a number of items that are massive tells as to who the fuck she is (ie her hat, coat, etc). she could, hypothetically, get off a tp in tp out if she acts quickly enough. waste of two slots, and she'd DEFO have to roll that deception check bc she would have been spotted and heard, but like. fucking imagine.

if she succeeds in the tp out, an alarm is at minimum being raised. if she is id'd at the time, then HOHOOOO FUCK she's in trouble and she'll have to decide whether she accepts punishment or attempts to run. but the thing is that she won't really *know* if they've figured her out until someone tries to ram down her door, at which point she gets to make a choice. bc i think in the tp out she would tp right back to her quarters, bc she doesnt have time to think of anywhere else to go. she DOES have a third spell slot available for a third tp off the boat to ~somewhere else~, and she would have time to think about it, i think. if they DONT id her, then she's safe... ish.

id worry about making ~too much~ of a thing of this, because like. eg if Naielle is back against the door as someone bangs on it demanding to enter and decides to GTFO, thats a plot hijack. naielle has just hijacked the plot, bc now the party has to go and track her down. I do have a secondary character to play in the meantime, so its arguably not urgent. but its suddenly an entire plot point that needs to be addressed, especially since the secondary character is, by design, not very powerful compared to a usual pc lmao.

whereas if naielle is caught, in any of the above permutations, then its not quite a whole hijack, because noone has to go out of their way to go Get Her. she's on the ship. The party will need to come to a conclusion about what to do with her once shes done this, but that doesnt have to take that long, and can be readily pushed aside to be dealt w/ later because, well, shes in the brig. shes under watch. she cant DO anything, and if her word is to be believed, she wont do anything. so the party can decide 'we do not have time to deal with naielle apparently being a traitor right this second', shove her in the brig, and i pull out my secondary character.

which i dont think would work quite as well for the 'naielle books it' option because, regardless of whether naielle's a traitor, she has a wealth of very useful knowledge, and some specific skills the party has come to rely on (shes one of the secondary healers, shes the resident Astral Bitch, she has a lowkey spidey sense for absolutely fucked up lil guys, shes a competent dps, and she has a fucking dragon god in her pocket which we went on a whole quest for). letting her run off, and not addressing that for a bit, seems... unwise? to me? im biased ofc because shes my baby but i think tactically not accounting for Naielle Odelia would go poorly. especially because, if naielle isn't careful (and, 3 spell slots in one night burnt, she may not be *able* to be careful) she could get like. fucking captured. thats called plot synergy tho, i guess. naielle flees from the consequences of her actions, gets captured by the bad guys, chuck her on that boat we're planning to go raid... hmst. options present themselves.

anyway the whole point of this is that ive been trying to a more "active" player, rather than reactive, and apparently "lowkey betraying the party" is the method i have chosen, and im honestly really excited!! she now has multiple ways she can try to acquire the gunpowder (maybe even making it a two night affair - one night invis scope it out, another night dimension door x2?), she WILL try to do it, its gonna be fucking sick, and none of this will happen for like two irl months because we dont even have a plan in place for obtaining the gunpowder yet! i cant try and steal it back if we havent even stolen it yet lmao.

its gonna kick ass. i just wanted to gush about it. thats all :)

this isnt even getting into like. ramifications for success. naielles already, i hoped, put herself on good terms w/ the faction, and if she succeeds in retrieving any of the gunpowder i think she might be in an incredible position. or an extremely manipulatable position. both? both. itll be so fucking good. AGH.

#i came back from my holiday and chose violence for my campaign #i still dont want to cause trouble. like naielle pinching gunpowder shouldnt actively hinder our actions as a party #but it WILL have ramifications for like. the broader stuff. which will be fun. #itll be kick ass. i look forward to my dm describing a night scene and asking certain folks to roll perception lmao #going like 'okay. tonight. where are folks?' and i go 'ill be on [my ship]' and the whole time im sending them messages like #'i have cast invisibility and will be scoping out [the other ship]' lmao. itll be tight