#I really hope God knows what they're doing

[lady-raziel]

and alright, here's my last (let's hope) and boldest take yet. lots of people have been talking about the level of staff (around 25-ish people) at watcher, and whether downsizing that number could have been a potential avenue of reducing costs before just jumping to a subscription model. at first i was like yeah, i'm not sure that there needs to be 18 people involved in making a lets play. i was in the fucking trenches in the unus annus days and i'm still amazed how markiplier and ethan nestor managed to put out pretty well edited videos every day for a whole year with only a handful of editors and a couple people filming. what unus annus was trying to do and what watcher is trying to do are obviously pretty different, but the point is that you really don't need a whole crew of people to make lots of different types of content and do it well.

i still think there probably doesn't need to be a whole production crew involved with the creation of some of the simpler types of content watcher puts out. however, i don't think the size of the staff is the real problem. in fact, i think the staff of watcher probably should have been larger.

let me explain. if i begrudgingly go to one of my most detested websites (linkedin. *bleeegh*) and look up watcher, i can see that pretty much every person on staff is in a creative role of some sort by their own admission. at first glance, its like, oh, that makes sense. they're making creative products, it's natural that they should all be in creative roles. however, once you think about it for a little longer from a business perspective, that fact is really concerning.

after all, by watcher's own definition, this is a production studio. this is a company. So in this sea of creative roles, who's doing corporate planning? Who's managing finance? Who's doing payroll? Or brand outreach? Or human-freaking-resources??? you can hire outside groups for all this. i'm aware. but those services cost a lot of money to contract too. i'm just finding it concerning that there is pretty much no one on full time staff that is there to at least do some of this stuff. if watcher wants to be a big-boy company, that's fine, but that means you have to pay some people to be part of your company to do the not-fun business stuff like accounting. or resource management.

if they want to be a real company, they should actually have a lot more people on staff to deal with all the non-creative parts of running a company. even if they contract out most of it, you want at least a few people that are your people and don't actually work for someone else. that's how you don't get screwed over or end up in a contract you can't get out of.

which leads me to my last train of thought. like, as i go through the staff of watcher and look at what they do, it really seems like one of the ONLY people who's job it was to look at the business side of things WAS steven lim in his role as CEO. and thinking about that, i'm like god, can you imagine?? here's a guy who just wants to create cool stuff too but as one of the few people who has to think about the realities of Brand and the Business, HE has to be the one to burst the bubble. He as CEO has to say no to people and make decisions to make sure the company survives. In a group of creative people who just want to make things they're interested in, no expense spared, he was probably the guy who had to stay at least a little tethered to reality.

I'm not about to say that steven lim isn't to blame here. everyone involved in making the decisions that have led up to this point is part of this. but shit, it absolutely sucks to have to be the person at the end of the brainstorm session when everyone is coming up with their best ideas and to have to say "guys, i don't think any of these things are possible unless we make some big decisions."

is that what happened at watcher HQ? i don't know. at this point, with radio silence from everyone, speculation is all we've got. but if you follow the thread of a bunch of creatives striking out on their own to make their own business after being burned by their former employer, despite not knowing really how to run a business, and then only hiring fellow creative people and not other people who actually run business things... well, all of this starts to make slightly more sense in WHY none of watcher's actions make sense. everybody wants to stick it to the man and be their own boss with their own business, until it actually comes to the hard parts of doing that. at that point people start to realize, "oh, maybe some of the things that existed at my old job were there for a reason, actually."

all this is why lots of creatives striking out and starting their own businesses don't work in the end. they're thinking about in terms of creative products still, when they really need to be focusing more on the "business" part of the "creative business." it's sad. it sucks. it destroys a lot of good ideas and good people, because one person in every company like that has to be the one who thinks practically. could this have been avoided if watcher had been hiring people all along to manage this business and not just adding people to add to the creative output? maybe. even then it might not have been enough to curb other predictable impulses that led us down this path.

i feel bad for watcher, and i feel bad for the fandom. but i can't help but wonder if this was always the kind of situation we were going to end up in, and we just missed some of the warning signs because ALL of us were thinking, "well, that could never happen to us. we're different. not the Ghoul Boys."

#watcher #watcher tv #two stupidly long thinkpieces in one morning? wow! what a bargain! #just don't ask which of my responsibilities i'm ignoring by typing all this out

[missmagooglie]

Prefacing this by saying this is not what I EXPECT to happen in 7x09 and 7x10, it's just one specific scenario that I feel particularly feral about right now... so with that said, I'm gonna throw out a dream scenario for the end of S7:

Tommy and Buck are dating and it's going well. Buck is just sort of blossoming in his new identity as a queer man. There's a self-confidence and assuredness to him that we haven't seen before

Meanwhile, Eddie has broken things off with Marisol and is quietly going through his own reevaluation of his sexuality. His awareness of his queerness happens pretty simultaneously with his realization that the way he loves Buck isn't entirely platonic, but he keeps it to himself because Buck is happy with Tommy

Episode 9 finds Eddie and Buck together off duty. Maybe they're having an argument. Maybe on the surface they're arguing about something small but somehow it feels much bigger

Mid-argument some emergency strikes. Buck and Eddie are trapped together and it's BAD. They're both in mortal peril, but it's worse for Eddie. Eddie hopes help will arrive in time to save Buck, but he's pretty sure he won't be alive to see it

(And I just want to stress - I feel like it's essential that they are off duty when this happens. They are in sync on the job, it's how they fit together outside of the job they're still figuring out)

So Eddie gets Buck's attention - because Buck hasn't given up yet. He won't. He CAN'T. He's frantically searching for solutions as Eddie repeats his name in a weakened voice, until finally he cracks and says, "Evan, please. I need you to hear this."

And in the final seconds of episode nine, Eddie Diaz looks Evan Buckley dead in the eye and tells him, "I love you"

Episode ten opens on an unrelated disaster, just to keep us gnashing our teeth a little longer

Maybe we throw some flashbacks in there for good measure

Check in on the rest of the firefam frantically trying to coordinate a rescue effort

But FINALLY they cut back to Buck and Eddie in mortal danger and replay the last few moments of episode 9. And believing these are the last words he'll ever say, Eddie tells Buck how much he loves him. He says he's sorry he realized it too late, but he could never, never regret loving him

Somehow there's a callback reference to Mitchell and Thomas, and the way Buck looked at their clasped hands as they died, and Buck realizing that dying together was never the point of their story. Living together was

And Buck is full sobbing and begging him not to give up yet because Christopher needs him and the team needs him and finally saying "and I need you, Eddie. You can't leave me. You can't-"

We get the sense that Buck is on the cusp of a love confession of his own, but before he gets the words out he's cut off by the sound of helicopter blades overhead.

Their miracle rescue arrives in time, led by none other than Buck's starting-to-be-something-serious boyfriend Tommy

After the rescue, we see Eddie in the back of the ambulance, stable and out of danger, and Buck's about to go over to him but Tommy comes running over and sweeps Buck up in his arms and kisses his temple and says, "thank god you're ok. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you"

And Buck lets himself be held, but his attention is over Tommy's shoulder looking at Eddie

Eddie, who's gonna be ok

Eddie, who loves him

Eddie, who is the absolute center of Buck's world, but Buck has never allowed himself to think of That Way

And Eddie meets Buck's eye over Tommy's shoulder and gives him a sad smile that lets Buck know he intends to go back to quietly loving Buck at just a little bit of a distance so that Buck can be happy with someone else

And just to really twist the knife, we get an overheard piece of dialogue in which Eddie refers to Buck as his "best friend" for the literal first time ever (I'm pretty sure? Up til now, any time the "best friend" label has been used it's been by Buck, but please correct me if I'm wrong.)

And the season ends there

Cue the entire fandom going APESHIT for the entirety of the summer hiatus

#911 #911 speculation #evan buck buckley #eddie diaz #how do i fanfiction? #911 spec fic #tommy kinard #bi buck #queer buck #queer eddie diaz #tommybuck #tuck #kinkley #tevan #<- I'll tag it but I hate it #(the ship name not the ship) #eddie x buck

[anonymous-dentist]

It's been a couple of days since the last QSMP lore stream and merch drop, and there have been two DRASTICALLY different responses from the fandom:

What the fuck oh my god why did they do this what the fuck >:( I'm very angry >:( I'm on twitter btw

Yayyy omg the Lore is back!!! :D :D :D Fuck twitter btw

I've seen SO MANY passive-aggressive posts coming from users on this website that are all saying something along the lines of, "I'm happy that the server is getting back on its feet! The eggs aren't in a coma btw, they're just out of service (looks at angry twitter users who can't get over the fact that things aren't being solved immediately)."

And, really, I think almost everybody on this website has missed the reasons why other fans are upset over the recent lore stream and the merch drop. They think it's all just whining about how things haven't been solved immediately, but it's really actually all about how things don't seem to have been solved at all.

See, the thing with the Egg Lore Stream was that, uh. None of the admins currently on hold know whether or not they have a job, including known egg admin Ryan. You might know them as Sunny's Actor, and they were pretty taken aback when Egg Lore was revealed to be happening last Saturday... without Ryan, or seemingly any other known admins whatsoever, knowing. And Ryan isn't a former employee, they're a current employee. They haven't been let go.

Ryan, and other current employees, have all been stating that communication between the QSMP higher-ups and the other admins hasn't gotten better at all. Nobody knows if they even still have jobs because the only way they find that out? Through livestreams.

Ryan, and any other suspended egg admins sticking around, only found out that they aren't, like, fired because of a goddamn lore stream.

And for former admins? It's interesting how the admin team put Pomme and Dapper in the little coma machine despite Pomme's actor, Lumi, and the French all saying that they'd rather Pomme die than get replaced, and Lumi isn't going back to the server. And Dapper's admin, Shade, isn't going back without Lumi.

So imagine being them and finding out through this stream that, oh, wow, you're just going to be replaced. An entire language group is quite possibly going to be lost, but it's fine! Actors can just be replaced, right?

Just like how Twitter admins can be replaced by a bot after being fired in the middle of the night with no warning.

Oh, and shall we mention how it seems that the whole Money Thing isn't going anywhere? How we had a paid writer admin come out and say that even after the changes were starting to be made internally that the higher-ups changed the writer's description of the Pomme figure to be as soulless as possible, because if there's one thing the QSMP admin team seems to have, it's a grudge against the French. But then, remember? The writer said that, despite being paid for February and being promised to get paid for March, that they haven't been paid? And they don't think they ever will be?

And how they thought they would be fired for speaking to their friends, aka former admins?

I think that quite legitimately every admin that has come out after leaving the company, or who is still part of the company but who still made a statement anyway, has said that they hope that the QSMP can continue because they believe in the project, but they don't know if it will because nothing seems to be changing behind the scenes.

But, yeah, sure, okay, say it's all just people whining about how change hasn't been immediate. It's people just complaining about the lore! They need to grow up, right? They need to touch grass? Right?

But, well. Being critical is absolutely vital. Does that mean people should harass the admins? Absolutely not. But that does mean that people should be like, "Hey, so why is the admin team still being so shady?"

Things can't be fixed immediately, but it's been over a month. The problems with communication are still continuing! They haven't stopped! It's just that nobody on this website is listening to the admins anymore.

Trusting ccs is fine and all, but keep in mind that they didn't know what was going on before, either. With the general lack of transparency still going on behind the scenes, how would they know if it's all been fixed now?

#i'm losing my MIND with all the people in the tag #attacking people who are concerned about the project #like. there's stuff to be concerned about! #why did you all stop caring the second it turned april

[faerromagnetic]

Harrow the Ninth, Thoughts part 3

Finished the book! Harrow wasn't even insane, everyone was just gaslighting her. Gideon the First WAS attacking her. Ianthe was lying all the time, because Harrow told her to do so. Augustine and Mercy were lying to keep their cover, Johnny G. was lying because he also didn't know anything, even Harrow was lying to herself.

I understand, why both Lyctors had to kill John. But the consequences of what they'll do is insane. Obliterate 9 planets. Kill, likely Billions of People, Again. Who's to say killing off all life in a planet post ressurection won't make another Ressurection Beast to wreck havoc in the Universe. In an awful way, Mercy and Augustine are recreating the sin that John did. With likely the same consequences.

I can't agree with killing the Emperor, yes he deserves to die, but the price of doing so would have been too steep. I'd lock him in a tomb, and have him empower Dominicus for eternity. Killing John, and Dominicus in turn leads the nine houses to be put under the control of Augustine or Mercy, and through that connection, the Blood of Eden.

We don't even know who tf the Blood of Eden is! For all we know they're Fanatics and Zealots. With a name like that I'd bet money on them hyper religious freaks and Zealots. Probably some Brotherhood of Steel, Adeptus Mechanicus style cult. Likely the type to uncritically worship Nostalgia and the Past.

I'd stick with John honestly. Maybe John Gohn could be better one day, and I HOPE he was telling the truth about his regrets. If he didn't, well fuck him then. Warhammer 40k had the right idea for God Emperors. Turn the bastard into a living battery. I think, a part of Jod was hoping the 8 in GtN, would crack the formula. Maybe that's why he was hoping they would take it slow, do it with years of study and preparation. So, I can't really hate Ianthe for what she did. Or maybe, I just fell for Jaius Gaius sad wet cat act.

Also, Harrow and Gideon definitely opened the stupid tomb. Gideon found Harrow in the Tomb. So Alecto was definitely released. Maybe, partially? But she's still out there, somewhere. Maybe the girl living with Camilla. Who knows

I am, so very very happy I got my prediction about the Sleeper right. Once I realized Gideon was alive and consciousness inside Harrow, there was only one suspect. Gideon's Mom. Where else was a friggin Haz Suit ever mentioned except the one her Mom was found in. Considering Palamedes mentioned that you bring your last memory with you when you died, of course her Mom remembered being in a Haz Suit

#the locked tomb #tlt #harrow the ninth #htn #harrowhark nonagesimus #gideon nav #john gaius #ianthe tridentarius

[apostleofgreed]

It's here, the finale - my friends thoughts throughout Nona the Ninth (it's a long one)

Right which one of these idiots is stuck in Nona's body

Signs point to both

I think more likely Harrow and shes just removed the massive stick up her ass

Most other signs thus far do point to Gideon though- lack of aforementioned stick, finds herself attractive, loves ass jokes, wants to pet dogs (Harrow seems like a don't work with animals or children type)

Also these other kids have names like they're gonna be running in the fucking grand national

Honestly what the fuck is going on with child conception in this series???

Someone has five dads, God was asking if Harrow and Ianthe were being 'safe' sexually and I'm just confused

Okay so I've only listened to half an hour today but if Crown isn't coronabeth I will eat my own arm

My theory is that neither of them are in Harrow's body and that she's being possessed by The Body

Maybe I should follow in Harrow's footsteps and ask you to fucking lobotomize me

No beta we die like Babs

"what do you think is sexy?" "Eating breakfast" Me too, Camilla, me too

Maybe someone needs to lobotomize Judith, has anyone thought of that?

Thing is I feel like I'm supposed to think John is really bad and is the villain here but I just don't

The worst thing he's done is lie to his friends for a few thousand years

Finally, the baddest bitch in all the nine houses (it's Ianthe)

What a power move honestly first she steals Babs' soul now she steals his body, absolutely inspired

She could literally kill another 200 babies to resurrect Harrow and I'd be like what a babe 😍 at this point

I'm bored of shooting can we go back to swords and doing weird things with your body please

I just think it would be great if Harrow could hop back into her body and have a full meltdown about how to function in this world

Erm Corona darling can you please try to stop them bombing your sister in the body of one of your lifelong pals pls and thanks

Y'all better sTOp

Fucking marry, kill, reanimate I can't hahahaha

"that's not actually crown's boyfriend Nona, it's her sister but I don't think anyone could blame you for getting confused" Fair hahahahah so very true

Don't know how they think this is gonna work seeing as though Harrow and Ianthe literally lived together for like over a year and had an interpersonal relationship but ok

Maybe it's because pash has the accent of a rudeboy from Oldham and suffer is weirdly French (on disliking We Suffer and Pash)

Palamades in Ianthe in Babs is sending me west

Abigail died too soon and really she did all the legwork in Harrow

Can't help but feel all of this drama could have been avoided if Harry had just done the job properly in the first place and just let Gideon die properly

All of this just because an 18 year old gave herself the brain scramblies

Cam has just burst into fire wtf

Can't believe Crux hasn't dropped dead tbh

I've got less than an hour left I feel like we're cutting it fine to get Harry back in her body here

Big flex to be waiting for everyone to arrive smoking a ciggie with your golden skeleton arm

Fucking friendship bracelets and a secret handshake hahahahah

Gideon needs to stop being such a bloody himbo

Who has shouted "get in line thou big slut!" Hahahahah

There we have it, the full series. Hope y'all have enjoyed this.

#the locked tomb #tlt #nona the ninth #Nona #ianthe tridentarius #coronabeth tridentarius #harrowhark nonagesimus

[prince-liest]

Oh, my. You know, I feel like you’ve managed to give Vox’s usage of “yellow” in that recent snippet more weight than if he were to have used “red”, lol. Maybe it’s just the fact that the two of them have only ever used the latter, or just the emotional context of when/how it was used, but it felt like a gut punch when I read it.

Alastor’s reaction is so lovely, too !! I love that he actually has an emotional reaction to it, that he panics. We got him, boys, deer in yellow stoplight! Get safeworded, bitch!

(And, just to quickly tangent, I found it interesting that Alastor specifically says that Vox “can’t see” his reaction. I’ve been wondering what that could have meant throughout the day—is he in a predicament somewhat like the next fic you’ve teased, where Vox is physically incapable of seeing certain things, or just Alastor’s observation that Vox is caught up in his own emotions and wouldn’t catch his?—but when I went back to refer to the snippet while writing this ask and caught that part again, I wondered if it was less about Vox and more about him? As in, “Vox needs me right now, so he cannot see me panicking; I need to be reliable, supportive, and I can’t do that if he notices that I’m also out of my depth.” Feels more obvious now, looking back at how it’s right before “and so he wrestles himself back under control”, lol, but! You leave it slightly ambiguous, and let the reader come to their own conclusion without making it too subtle or overt, and!! I love that style of writing SO much! Makes it feel hella rewarding to piece things together, and also incredibly susceptible to going back and reading into every other word, lol. Also, so much for “quickly tangent.”)

But, anyway. What I’m saying is that I just really appreciate the fact that that word got him to actually flinch. It speaks volumes about how far they’ve really come. I doubt Alastor would have been that affected by it had this been before part 6 (even if he’d have stopped either way)—although I also doubt that Vox would have used “yellow” instead of “red” back then, either. Again, something about the way you have it written in that snippet just! Makes it feel so much more impactful! I hesitate to say more intimate, but I feel a certain degree of trust and vulnerability that came from Vox there—that Vox trusts Alastor enough to feel like he would stop and check on him even if he hasn’t used what’s considered the worst of the worse. It’s just! Sweet, beneath the ostensive angst.

You are an incredible writer, I hope you have a nice day, 🫶.

This took me a while to get back to for irl reasons but I want you to know that I LOVED this comment! Honestly that snippet in general got a lot bigger of a response than I expected, aha, which is absolutely delightful.

And you are super on point with why I chose to have him call yellow instead of red! First of all, I think it's just pretty rare for me at least to see "yellow" get use in fics even though I think it has a very important role to play, and second of all because, yeah, they're finally getting to the point of, like. This is something that didn't jive, at all, and a re-orient is needed, but it's also not at the level of emotional carpet-bombing that their previous missteps have been at. Also, it's Vox: he genuinely does not want to stop, and it's not super evident from the snippet, but the reason he calls yellow is related to why he actively wouldn't want to put a halt to things.

And I'm glad that Alastor flinching stood out so much, haha. He's been on the back foot in terms of feeling like he's the one constantly being emotionally vulnerable in any way that matters (which: Vox has been incredibly vulnerable, but the impression Alastor gets is that it's all par for the course for Vox, who has been doing god knows what with Valentino for decades), and he's also extremely not keen on actually losing what he and Vox have going on in general, so: unfortunately he also now gets to learn that it's acutely not a great feeling to be on the other side of things, either.

Anyway, thank you so much! I'm having a lot of fun writing this installment right now, so I'm genuinely so delighted that the little preview of it has garnered so much anticipation, haha. <3

#ask #personal #Anonymous #my writing #666 live on air #t #long post #hazbin hotel #also you are deeply correct about how I intended the ambiguity of that line ehehe #I will not clarify #but that is the point >:D <3 <3 <3

[dreadfutures]

impressions from the hades ii technical playtest

absolutely chock full of spoilers but also theories

Amazing gameplay, feels just as good as Hades 1 with improvements and creative changes. So many different builds/play styles will be possible. in the dev stream they talked about melee close quarters vs sorcery ranged, but I find myself doing HEAVY spellcasting while also stacking in heavy melee boons on the knives, and mixing and matching.

The boons have a few familiar perks but so many of them are new and creative, even for gods we know from the first game. All of them feel really good.

The SOUND EFFECTS are amazing. The sounds of your weapons change based on the boon equipped to each attack. the sounds of the arena change depending on the god at the end (if any). Nothing and I mean nothing makes the dopamine go off more than the sound of Hephaestus' boon blasts when I do my fan of knives and they all explode. PING PING PING.

I find myself doing "resource runs" and "story runs." they do overlap. It's tough to only have one harvesting item equipped at a time and I spent so much time looking for silver and looking that my eye has started slipping over the lone spirits who gives you psyche, even when Selene leads me to them lol. I do like that they have her guiding light, but it is subtle. I also like the way you can pin certain items when you're in a run so you can remember what you needed for a recipe.

Unfortunately I did so many harvest runs that I actually got all the recipes before I had a chance to USE forget me not on a run so.... woops on that fated list lol.

We are maybe going to romance Moros or Nemesis (probably both are options?) but maybe not both at the same time? since they're siblings technically (technically) (I wouldn't mind though). I love all these children of nyx and want to protect them and smooch them all.

EXCEPT. Mel is a Silver Sister, with Artemis and Selene. Does that mean she's gotta be a virginal girl squad? lol

I love sister Artemis. I love that she throws snacks!!!!! which is even more endearing bc it's fried and a chocolate bar and soda. I wonder if sometimes I hear a note of disapproval from her and I wonder where her plot will go later. Selene it's said may not be able to reach us in Tartarus, but Artemis might.

Speaking of found family.

I fucking adore Odysseus. I love Od. So. Much. Like I loved Achilles but Od is such a good girl dad for Mel, and his pep talks are the best and so sensitive ;_; what a guy I love him.

I think? that Hecate's familiars must be placeholders, since they're just little statues that vibrate when you give them treats. I can't wait to see where they go in the full game.

It's an interesting take on Hestia, that she hates everybody. It makes me wonder if we'll see Hera or not, since I kind of expect that behavior from Hera.

Hephaestus and Demeter and Aphrodite remain my favorite boon givers.

As far as I can tell there is no fishing rod in the playtest but there will be in the full game and I'm excited.

Arachne's self esteem hurts me 😫 I love you little bug!!!! I wonder if we'll find her shop in Olympus or in Tartarus -- and I worry about her. At least Athena is too busy to bother her! I hope! I love Mel's different outfits.

The amount of pets that Mel gets to have is delightful. I love her frog so much.

Hecate is fascinating. She is SUCH a mother, she is SO compassionate to Mel and trying to build her up! She is wry and dry but never cruel or negative. I love her sm. Poor Mel has some low self esteem and understandable doubts and is putting so much pressure on herself. And I really wonder about Hecate's relationship with Persephone and the house of Hades and with nyx. Nemesis says something that makes me wonder if Hecate is innocent. Either way I don't think she'll really be a villain. My heart would break if so. Mel would break.

Mel is so sweet and pure. ;_; and she says "death to chronos" so coldly. When she says "Hence I go" I just hear her as a little baby playing hide and seek with Hecate and it gives me so many feelings.

I want to know about Mel's arm!

I can't wait to see the other regions just from the Crossroads, since there's currently two doors we can't enter.

Also what are we going to DO with the fish?

Very exciting stuff.

#hades 2 spoilers #hades 2

[butterflysonnets]

yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.

to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!

i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.

also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.

they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.

they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.

i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.

#eve text #elmike #stranger things #byler #only tagging byler because i feel like yall will like this take lol #tagging tagging tagging WHAT ARE EVERYONE ELSE'S THOUGHTS #god i can't believe i'm making a post about stranger things. this feels like poking a bear #i'm not particularly anti m*leven but like... they'd have to do something pretty special at this point for me to feel like it's viable #i'm seeing the bts of s5 and it's got me Having Thoughts #elmike friendship is something i am so passionate about #even before i ever liked byler (didn't ship at all until s4 even though i knew it was a thing before) i've felt this way about elmike #i always believed they were close friends at heart and needed to break up #the romance part of them felt very distinctly young and very much “he was a boy she was a girl” to me #and it hasn't deepened into anything more mature and i don't see how it could based on the current state of the writing... #the fact that lumax exists — a young relationship that is actively maturing and is healthy — makes that clear to me #and the “love confession” in s4 and how disingenuous and miserable it felt was just the nail in the coffin #also the fact that will (who is IN LOVE with mike) was instrumental in making it happen? ... uh... okay... interesting choice… #fucked up and reductive if they make it another queer unrequited love sacrifice for the sake of pushing the heterosexual agenda YUCK #so i really hope the speculation about a m*leven breakup is real!! i think it just makes sense for their characters but who knows #i don't believe in the notion of love at first sight or one true love and i think the writers don't too??? #love to me is an accumulation of experiences and we inevitably choose it at some point rather than fall into it... but idk #tv is so fixated on keeping couples together... sometimes it's just not reality guys especially with young people... LET IT GO... #like i said though i'm not 100% sold that they're going to give up their “golden couple” LMAO #stranger things hasn't historically subverted too many tropes if i'm being honest #anyway i seriously need this season to come out quickly... i'm so bored and getting my master's is crushing my soul #i need frivolity #ALSO btw i won't respond to hateful messages about this so please don't bother. it's not that serious. this is a netflix show

[kimwexlersponytail]

The only thing that kept me going was knowing you were here.

#bcsedit #better call saul #mcwexler #jimmy x kim #kim wexler #jimmy mcgill #been seeing a lot of people saying that they don't deserve a happy ending after everything and though i get why that's being said #i disagree with the idea that they must be punished by the narrative in the form of an absolutely devastating end where they both die or #are broken down even further because they're Bad People and they Deserve It...their relationship is the heart of the show and #i don't believe that the writers spent over half a decade building this relationship up just to leave everything hanging in the balance #we can argue all day about jimmy and kim being Good or Bad but they love each other. they do. and bcs is a love story #do i believe that they're going to live happily ever after and get a fairytale ending? no of course not but i don't see a doom and gloom end #for them either. narratively speaking jimmy has been in prison all this time and who knows what kim has been up to all this time #i just don't think it would be narratively satisfying if the ending was about punishing them i really don't #i think it's going to be bittersweet for sure but there's no doubt in my mind that it'll be full of heart.... #but god all of the takes about jimmy not deserving to meet up with kim in the gene timeline are just making me root for it even harder #and i really hope the world turns back to color the moment he sees her and idc how many people think it's cheesy <3 #and you know what someday maybe they'll finally get their house. #mine

[minorfamilysupremacy]

said it once, saying it again outside of tags: the person you are when you're being abused is not truly reflective of who you are. in an abusive situation, you are in constant survival mode. you are behaving in ways that you think a) are going to please the abuser and b) are going to keep you from being hit, berated, or otherwise punished. you do not get to be who you really are because that is legitimately dangerous. it creates a vulnerability you cannot afford. you need to act with your self-preservation instincts in mind first and foremost, and self-preservation often conflicts with authenticity and honesty. so when you're looking at those texts, judging build for being such a thoughtless, hateful person, try to understand what it's like mentally to have your back to the wall for months or years on end.

#'well i wouldn't do -- ' is that so? is that REALLY so? #people who haven't been abused love to talk a big game about how they're better or smarter or wouldn't act like that #you don't KNOW until you are in a perpetually unsafe environment how you will react #chances are it's not flattering #when confronted with constant trauma the brain does not function in the ways you think or wish it would #it will fundamentally alter everything about you #to expect someone who is in constant danger to react with nothing but kindness and generosity is unrealistic and unfair #what many of you are doing is creating the need for a perfect victim #your long-suffering cinderella who never lost hope #you want a shining cipher of a person to believe in and not a messy complex honest human being who reacts in ways you may not like #god help any of you if you ever face a hundredth of the amount of shit you throw at build on the daily #build jakapan

[cherrywhite]

drawing THE flimsiest of lines between these two but idk there's something about the way they both build lies around themselves and how Hayward rewriting the conception of Paige's god parallels Faulkner telling his part of the verses. the way they both attempt to tell their stories, as twisted as they are

#the silt verses #i've connected the dots/hasn't connected shit #i want these two to meet so bad they're the only two of the main cast who haven't #they way they rewrite these stories to be more palatable or forgiving #and also the way they're so goddamn genuine about the lies they tell #where it's never out of malice or intentional hope for manipulation #like the way hayward twisted the story is soooo sick (/pos) to me but I cannot blame him #like he's RIGHT. paige should have known what she was signing up for when she wanted to conceptualize her god #(but obv I can't blame her for not knowing the full scope) #to make a god signifying a sort of revolution but to be unable to really understand what that would entail #and hayward is doing damage control #and this is the fall out. the way everyone is twisting this god into whatever works best for them #i'm going on a tangent #anyway something something the way these two can weave a goddamn story

[iloveyouitisruiningmylife]

i just came out to a real life person and i think im having a heart attack

#IT WAS SO UNPLANNED I HADN'T THOUGHT ABOUT IT AT ALL I DIDN'T EVWN THINK WE WERW FRIENDS?? #she lives in the building next to mine and we go to tui together to divide the auto fare and we've been walking home 2-3 dino se #and she likes kpop and kdramas #but like there isn't that Spark yk like oh ny god i love u best friends forever its a little awkward and formal still #but we were talking about something and oh my god #when we reached home we were standing uski building ke neeche and she was like i want to introduce you to my childhood bestie i think you #two will like each other #and i was like kinda weirded out like um are we that close yet i thought we were just classmates 😭😭 #so i asked ki oh why all of a sudden #and she's like 'i like you' and i look at her and laugh and she said STOP LAUGHING i don't meant it like that im straight ok #and idk something in me snapped i was like oh are u homophobic too? #but pls she didn't know what it meant 😭 so i explained ki do u hate gay people then #she said no no ofc not SO I JUST BLURTED OUT KI good cause im bisexual #THE SHOCK ON HER FACE OMG im saying this now in freaking out now but at that time i said it really coolly and proudly without fumbling #my voice didn't drop down to a low volume or waver or anything (which im so proud bc she's like the first irl person ive come out to face #to face??????? i mean obv childhood friends don't count they're all gay #but anyway she was like OH and then SHE FUMBLED she was like oh nice i respect u very much and it was so awkward i was like haan haan shut #up just don't tell anyone very few ppl know 😭and she wasn't done she was like so as i was saying #we're growing old and real good friendships are getting harder to find and i like you (stop laughing!!) and i hope we don't jinx it #and she literally touched a wooden table lying there and said touchwood???? 😭😭😭😭😭 #now i am thinking why did i tell her she's so extroverted she talks to everyone we go to the same tui this town is tiny #she could tell everyone my parents could find out #but also a part of me is relieved cause im so sick of hiding something that is such a small yet imp part of me #and if she tells everyone then cool maybe there'll be more queer people i can't ve the only queer person in this town and we could be #friends and my parents eh they'd never believe something like that they'll ask me if it's true and ill say nah just rumors dumb kids #and they'll believe me because they'll want to believe me so bad #so no harm #i still don't feel very bestfriendy with her but maybe my standards are too high 😭 idk ig i can't see myself being friends with her #for a long time if we weren't forced by circumstances and i don't like her that much but im happy i got to say it #literally said it omg 'kyunki main hu. bisexual' FUCK THAT FELT GOOD

[leafy-m]

I got Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen volume 3 a little early and guys.... GUYS!! THIS is what Kitchen in English should be like! 💥💝💖

If you like Orufrey, you have got to get volume 3!

#I don't know if the homophobic supervisor or whoever got moved to another project or what... BUT THANK YOU! 💝💝💝 #FINALLY! SOME GOOD FOOD! #I mean I am still side-eyeing the end of chapter 30 because Olruggio's line Should be about how they're finally living under the same roof. #BUT OH MY GOD what a difference everything else makes #They mention alcohol! They admit the loop chalices are usually for wine!! #The word choices for how delicious the food is is so great! #I'm gonna have to look up wtf the bananas are named after but aside from that!!! #Qifrey and Olruggio can actually say each others names and they're so friggin adorable!!! 😤💝 Mr I can go all day!! #I'm so happy ya'll I can't believe it 😭💝 #I feel so hopeful for volume 4 now #Also I'm half-way wondering if maybe they could revisit the translations for volumes 1 and 2 and maybe release an updated version maybe? #because I would absolutely buy those again if it were less censored and had better word choices. Just putting it out there! ❤ #Like maybe after volume 5 do a box-set with a little bonus item maybe and secretly slide-in the more accurate and better translated version #I'd buy it! I'd be first in line!! #Just sayin! #Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen #Witch Hat Kitchen #Orufrey #Witch Hat Atelier #Also there's some REALLY cute moments with the girls #(I say; as a total afterthought; sorry I'm so transparent lmao) #Jade talks WHA

[novelconcepts]

Paper girls was one of the most honest genuine portrayals of being a 12 year old girl I've ever seen. Even apart for them fact all this shit is happening around them they are still 12 year olds with 12 year old problems.

The period scene in particular was one of the best, truest scenes I've ever seen. It was beautiful, funny, awkward. It was perfect. 

It is so fucking authentic. Everyone rightly leans on how powerful the performances are, but you also get such a range in the writing. The period scene, the sleepover scene, the gentle bickering, the in-your-face meltdowns, the gremlin run up the stairs--it's all so perfectly tuned to what kids are like. And it never talks down to them; the rare time an adult tries to imply a situation is over their heads, they're instantly shot down. Because kids around that age are smart. They're learning who they are, how the world works, what their individual moral compass looks like, and it means they don't get things right every time, but they're capable. They can in one moment be reassuring and kind, and the next snappish and closed-off. This show allows room for that without ever feeling like a deviation from character, which is...frankly really impressive.

It always strikes me--in the best way possible--that these girls are all allowed to be mean. They're allowed to be catty, to be vulgar, to say the wrong thing with good intentions (Tiff pointing out KJ's missed her puppy's whole life), or the barbed thing because they're just being a dick (Mac's "you don't have to talk all the time" followed by KJ snickering). They aren't forced into stereotypical boxes, true, but they also aren't forced to be Sweet and Pretty and Kind. They can be those things, sure; when Erin's falling apart, everyone's there to catch her, and when Tiff's walkies are stolen, Mac's got her back, and when Mac is facing mortality, KJ won't let her do it alone or give up on herself. But they're also not always gentle with one another. A lot of the time, they butt heads. Sometimes they punch each other in the face. Sometimes they have to apologize and mean it for the friendship to continue, and it strengthens their bond every time. Sometimes they're stupidly reckless, lobbing the single brain cell from one girl to the next: Tiff running after the backpack, Mac going off on her own in the middle of the night, KJ stealing the motorbike, Erin getting drunk at a party. And sometimes they're so level-headed in the face of panic. They are all allowed to be incredibly nuanced, so full of life and hope and fear and anger. They're never dumbed down, even when they act like dipshits. I cannot remember the last show that not only took into account what historical periods were actually like, but what young girls are actually like to this degree. I will be gutted if we don't get a pickup, because, Jesus, imagine the growth in coming seasons.

#ask #paper girls #paper girls spoilers #i am literally interested only in thinking about this show and my grief for it is enormous #the arcs! the depth and weight every character is given without ever feeling forced! #the plot is not without its flaws it's true--there are holes and some confusing elements #but i am so confident further seasons would smooth a lot of that out #the first run was about establishing this world and in the world of paper girls everything is so fucking bonkers #that what REALLY matters is these four kids #if we're not on board with them nothing else will ever stick #so the first season did the right thing. the smart thing. in fleshing out these flawed wonderful characters and making them so human #that even from their first scenes you have a sense of what you're working with--but you still only know enough to be hooked #and the rest of the season is about 'looking a little deeper' and seeing how many layers each of them possess #it's a slow burn without ever feeling slow and it doesn't talk down to them at all and i! am! furious! at the idea that it got cut short #i am absolutely praying legendary knows what they're doing #i mean. they've spent money retaining the rights right out the gate and announcing it's in need of a new home. that gives me some hope #i just really really want them to prove me right on that count #because these girls have so much further to fly and GOD this cast is perfect. i would be heartbroken to lose them after all they've given

[vilevampire]

Hey, you like Raimundo along with Jack, right? And you're Brazilian. Feel free not to answer this if you don't wanna okay. I just thought you'd be best suited. Like when you commented on the "Rai" nickname.

I'm wondering if you perhaps have any thoughts or headcanons on him, family, hobbies, his inner thoughts, cause I wanna flesh him out for my fic and stuff. I'll give you credit for the ideas of course

even though I'm not that active in the xs fandom currently you've surprisingly come to the right person bc I've rambled a bit about raimundo hcs before to my friends. I had to dig up some discord messages to find all my hcs

I hc raimundo to be white-passing and mixed race, which is like the majority of brazilian ppl tbh. side note: in brazil "race" is defined almost solely by skin color, so like if I left my country it's possible I'd be considered a person of color because of my features, but in brazil I'm considered white. raimundo would be in a similar situation

so in these discord messages past!lucas has said "the only mentions of his background is that he has 8 siblings with a lots of aunts and uncles" and "he mentions that the 'rough' part of rio is his 'element'". now, I, lucas of the present, barely rmr this bc it's been forever ago since I watched xs, but I'm trusting past!lucas on this I think he would never lie to me. based on that I'm a fan of the theory raimundo is an orphan and grew up as part of the lower class. I don't think I ever theorized what the fuck happened to his parents, but I like the idea of him acquiring abandonment issues because of it. since he grew up poor I think he'd also have a lot of survival skills, knowing how to make due with very little, etc.

I actually just thought abt this but it's very uncommon for latino people to only have two names. I myself have four, bc the family names just keep adding on top of each other when u marry instead of being absorbed into the husband's name. so realistically raimundo would probably has at least one other family name

not exactly a hc but something interesting to note about mundo is that he is a good example of something we call a "malandro" in brazil. a malandro is a brazilian concept of a cunning anti-hero who outsmarts, deceives and takes advantage of others, usually for personal gain. describing it like this makes it sound like a bad word, but it has a positive connotation. like culturally being malandro is considered a good thing. we even have a saying that goes like "every day a malandro (in this case a scammer) and a sucker (in this case the one who gets scammed) leave their houses.", implying that if you're not the one taking advantage of others, you're the one being taken advantage of. I don't think this was intentional on the xs writers' part to make raimundo embody these traits so perfectly that r culturally significant to brazil but and I find it interesting.

similar thing to above we also have something called "gambiarra", which is like achieving something through improvised means instead of the "correct" (and usually more expensive) way. also very important to brazilian culture and I think raimundo would be adept in it

#asks #lindendragon #this is all I have. hope that helps #there's a lot I could say about um. languages #like languages he speaks and the way he would speak them but. the thing abt that one is that it's such a complex subject #and it's so often misunderstood how it works by ppl who r monolingual #and it's Reeeeally hard if not outright impossible to accurately write a bilingual character if ur not bilingual urself #and even if you ARE bilingual u have to speak the same languages they do #bc the speech patterns from diff languages r different and they carry over to the newly acquired language but since they're specific #you can't just write them if you don't know what they are #example. in brazil it's really common to use religious expressions like 'oh my god'. like way more common than in other places #I didn't grow up religious AT ALL like I don't know a single prayer #but it's super normal for me to go 'may god hear you' or 'only god knows' or #'holy mary' to express surprise and stuff #english has similar expressions too of course everyone says 'oh my god' and 'holy shit' and 'jesus christ' #but we have MORE of them and we say them MORE often #so bc the way ideas r expressed is unique to every language. if you're not familiar with the language it's near impossible #to accurately write a bilingual character #books and fics where the character randomly speaks another language in the middle of their sentence for no reason #is a pet peeve of mine #bc ok that can happen sometimes but it's so much more complicated than that. there's a lot more things that happen #to the way you express yourself when you're speaking a language that is not your native one #one thing for sure for me who's been fluent in english for about 10 years now . I can say for sure that I fucking hate speaking this langua #I find it restricting. it's inflexible compared to portuguese and I can't express myself as freely as I would like #anw I didn't mean to ramble in the tags abt this HEAHIUWEHAI #thank you for the ask I love raimundo and feel free to ask me more stuff if you have questions #xs #raimundo #raimundo pedrosa #xiaolin showdown

[arainesque]

I'd love to jump into the head of someone who is more emotionally aware than me. (I'm not smart, please don't interpret this as that) but I've always intellectualized things (always) for as long as I can remember.

I'd just love to experience the world from a perspective where you know what you're feeling.

#ME MAKING NO SENSE #i really do try so hard #also #i THINK a lot #probably more than the average person #but /thinking/ genuinely means !nothing! in terms of being smart #i have the dumbest thoughts even though i /think a lot/ #so please don't take this the wrong way #also the 'average person' is actually -probably- a small amount of people #i think a LOT of people are just pretending #like they're better than a lot of /us/ (sorry for dragging you all into this but pls relate to me) #but they're secretly suffering #that's my take for the day #i genuinely feel like i was born to THINK but to NEVER ever /solve/ anything whatsoever #that's up to someone else #also probably why i feel so stagnant in fic-writing because i've explored most of the underlying spiritual-scientific causes of the emotion #THATS WHAT I KNOW #some of u all are SO GOOD at capturing the actual emotion #im in genuine AWE #pls know that #(obviously there's so so so many people like me) #so scared of sounding narcissistic #you're probably all smarter than me #HOPE UR ALL GOOD if u /god forbid/ got this far <3