#LOOK AT MY FRIENDS THEYRE PRIME EXAMPLES OF THIS

[honeysucklethornsandalligtrhorns]

i hate nihilism. the fuck you mean there’s no meaning to life??? we are supposed to lay in beams of sunlight and soak it up like a kitty cat!!

#anti nihilism #positive nihilism tho… i can get behind that #you mean you’re not desperately and hopelessly in love with the world???? #why not???? #because ‘oh humans have fucked the planet up’ #I KNOW #I LOVE IT IN SPITE OF THAT #HUMANS CAN BE SO FUCKIN GOOD #LOOK AT MY FRIENDS THEYRE PRIME EXAMPLES OF THIS

[nobodyfamousposts]

I love the newest part of chloe's lament!!!

As always, the problem with all of chloe's plans Are that she doesn't think them though, because she doesn't think she needs too. She has it in her head that she has future knowledge, and so operates solely on that.

I am very curious as to which student overhead Chloe and Bustier. Sabrina or Adrien who already knows of Chloe's wish? A classmate with no idea of theyre even being a wish? Maybe marinette herself?

Thank you for writing and Sharin chloe's lament btw it's one of my favorit miraculous aus and I just reread it all when i saw the newest post <33

To be fair, it's not just her future knowledge.

The thing about Chloe (or at least the way I'm doing her), is that she has this perception of how the world works and how it SHOULD work based on the many years where the world DID work that way. For years, Chloe could essentially do whatever she wanted and not only were there no consequences, she was never even suggested that she was wrong or anything she did was wrong.

Look at canon: even in the few instances where Chloe "lost", she didn't really lose anything. At most, someone else "won" and she just didn't get something she wanted. And even when she was revealed to have been cheating or acting dishonestly, nobody really calls her out on it. She still at most doesn't get something she wanted. That the adults seem to ignore her behavior and even the narrative made more of an effort to woobify her didn't help matters.

Chloe in this setup is the prime example of someone who thinks she's the main character and the world is just supposed to make things work out for her. This is combined with her future knowledge to make her think that this is an advantage she can use to benefit herself...not realizing that the entire setup has changed and whatever benefits she had before that protected her from consequences are no longer there.

In her limited defense, at this point her future knowledge is really her only advantage. Through it, she knows things that most other people don't. But not only is she trying to use it for selfish reasons, she's trying to apply it in ways where it simply can't be applicable due to the changes already made by the setup of the world.

Half of the akumas Chloe knows about were created because of her. But Chloe isn't in a position anymore do to as many of them this time around.

Do you really think Princess Fragrance is going to happen? It'd be Marinette whom Rose would ask instead of Chloe, and while Marinette may not be able to personally introduce Rose to Prince Ali, she could still take Rose's letter to him. At the very least, she certainly wouldn't just rip it apart in front of her.

Vanisher? Sabrina and Chloe aren't friends.

Rogercop? Haha no. Chloe doesn't have a golden bracelet.

So yes, while she is acting on future knowledge that may not apply, the bigger problem is this "protagonist centered morality" Chloe has where she is operating under the belief that SHE is the protagonist and that things are just supposed to work out in her favor because she is herself. Because that's how they always did before.

But as a result of the Wish, Chloe gave that up. Not just the money and social status, but also the protection and ambivalence she received not just from the adults around her regarding her behavior. Chloe is getting first hand experience of what Marinette and others had to go through when it came to her, and she hates it. But what Chloe especially hates is that unlike her, people don't resent Marinette for being better off and she fails to see it's because of her actions.

It's easier to just act as if Marinette's manipulating everyone or that they're brainwashed than admit that Chloe caused her own issues.

The worst part is that Chloe could have turned her situation around at any point. Her future knowledge would have helped her do that. But that would require her to accept her position for what it is and more importantly, stop repeating her previous behaviors. And given it's Chloe, that's going to be the hardest thing for her.

As far as your question, I'm not going to reveal just yet which student it is. Though I will go ahead and say it isn't Marinette. She's still at the contest, marveling over the other entries and maybe even giving feedback to some of the contestants if they want it.

You're welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!

#nobody answers #lament series #chloe's lament #chloe salt

[swbookerr]

(about the smoker/ace ask) i see the same in their dynamic !! theyre both very passionate, stubborn people. whereas shanks is the ~suave guy who knows how to play ace, smokers the typa to add fuel to fire in an argument (whether he means it or not). i can easily see them ignoring the other other for weeks and then angrily hate fucking when they stumble against each other at a random place.

lots of miscommunication and lack of trust are guaranteed (more on the ace side with his self–esteem and roger issues, methinks); its the type of relationship where both make mistakes even when they genuinely want it to work. again, theyre on the same side of the coin personality wise, so things end up pretty heated without someone to balance it out. great for one night stands, not so good when these stands end piled up into something more intimate.

theres also the secret relationship thing, with one being a pirate and the other a marine ... (it has been quite the open secret for a while now, but no one really talks about it cause of the garp factor). on the side, theres almost everyone furiously recommending each of them to give up already (“that kids not good for you, smoker, just look how he has you...” “i get that you love him, ace, but the guy ain't worth all your tears”).

this has ended in more of a ramble than i had expected, and i also added some of my own hcs ... apologies for that !!

Hahaha, I read this whole thing while nodding, like, "This person gets it!! We're on the same level!!"

Yes, Shanks can work with and around Ace's insecurities and proclivities, whereas Smoker would butt heads with him. There'd definitely be a lot of hate fucking, like you say! (But we love a good hate fuck.) I totally agree that they'd be making mistakes even when they want things to work; that they'd make more mistakes trying to fix the last. There would definitely be moments of intimacy and tenderness, but ultimately, things would be hard for them. And that's certainly in part because of the secret relationship stuff!

That aspect of their relationship is what I enjoy most about it, probably. "Forbidden love" is always enjoyable. I also like the idea that their friends would be trying to convince them to give the relationship up. You just know Tashigi and Thatch would be leading the charge on their respective sides. Thatch would use food to his advantage; Tashigi would just be insufferable. Maybe she'd buy Smoker a real nice set of cigars before sitting him down for a chat.

I think their relationship would culminate in a battle—a draw, obviously. And they'd break up right there, on the floor, tired and fucking defeated. The bad end. (But we like those too, sometimes.)

In general, I think toxic relationships can be super fun to explore in fanfiction. Just because a relationship is bad for you in the long run doesn't mean there isn't still value to be found in it (and the lessons you learn from it). Smoker and Ace are a prime example, in my eyes.

Thanks for your thoughts! Loved hearing them! Very much agreed.

#my asks #smoace #smoker #portgas d. ace #one piece fanfiction

[lolotheparagon]

Sofia the First Season 3 in a Nutshell

Cool Hand Fluke - 7/10

Finally, an episode about the mermaids that isnt shit... That is a sentence I just said.

Minimus is Missing - 10/10

Every pegasus in the kingdom has been Pied Pipered away and he mastermind behind this is revealed to be a spoilt kid wizard who really wanted a pegasus for his birthday and decided to steal every horse in the kingdom cos he can. He also gets a rock ballad villain song. Yknow, this show really surprises you sometimes.

Cedric Be Good - 9/10

After all this time, Cedric finally has the amulet by swapping it for a fake copy and goes through the five stages of grief cos he doesnt realise he stole his surrogate niece's most priced possession.

Princess Adventure Club - 1/10

Oh, a new princess who's an adventurer? Now that sounds cool! I wonder if there'll be regular adventures she'll take Sofia and the gang to- OH MY GOD AMBER CAN YOU STOP BEING A BITCH FOR 5 MINUTES?? This girl's characterisation really is the prime example of "depending on the writer"

Minding the Manor - 4/10

Aunt Tilly instructs Sofia to housesit her mansion for an afternoon whilst dealing with gargoyles. Then its revealed Tilly wants to pass onto Sofia the role of being a errand girl to everyone else's domestic problems, even though she's like 8

The Secret Library - 6/10

Okay, not a bad start to this Secret Library arc and its a good story about Minimus making amends with his free-spirited big brother. Also Cary Elwes is the villain in this, which was a delight to see. Also Merida's in this and she gives the last good advice out of all the Disney Princesses to Sofia.

New Genie on the Block - -3/10

This is the most whack shit Ive ever seen in a kids cartoon. So a genie is loose in Tangu and theres a genie patrol, who is run BY a genie and he's designed to look like an American cop for some reason and Sofia becomes a honorary deputy throughout the episode. Their flying carpets are designed to look like American police cars but we're in fucking Arabia. WHAT IS THIS DESIGN CHOICE? The kid genie that's supposed causing trouble is just doing party tricks for a group of kids but Sofia and the genie cop chasistise him anyway for breaking the rules (oh yeah there's genie rules and unlike Aladdin, there's like a bajillion of them even though this kid genie isnt even doing that much rulebreaking) and thus ends up causing more trouble. Wow, its like the actual American police. I dont know what the fuck the writers were smoking but its fucking hilarious

The Fliegel Has Landed - 1/10

Jessica DiCicco plays an mean alpha bitch fairy who's just moved next to the trolls and its up to Sofia and Cedric to teach this bully a lesson? Nice! I cant wait for them to squash this nasty bug- oh no theyre redeeming her, for fucks sake!!!

The Princess Ballet - 10/10

Kari is a wonderful side character and Sofia and Amber helping her overcome her crippling perfectionism whilst practicing ballet and hiring a special tutor to teach her in ways she can understand before the big show is super sweet. THIS. This is what Sofia the First is all about

All the Sprite Moves - -5/10

Vivian has moved into a new castle and hates it, so she enlists the help of the sprites to make the castle haunted so her family can leave. There was also a subplot where Clover gets drunk on love potion berries and obsesses over Crackle and apparently these berries are a plot device cos Sofia uses them again to drug the sprites to leave the castle. That was really weird, dont ever do that again.

Sofia in Elvenmoor - 10/10

The most kid friendly acid trip episode you'll ever get. A good lesson about being focussed on what you're doing and not getting distracted by whats around you. Also there was an adorable moment when the King tries to communicate with one of Sofia's critter friends (even though he cant understand squirrel) when he's trying to find her. He also didnt want to cut down an ancient tree when his men were constructing a road and wanted them to build around it, even before he noticed Sofia was in the tree. King Roland's environmentally friendly and thats just neat.

Stormy Lani - 1/10

They really pulled the magical native stereotype with Lani and had the gall to have a white girl teach an indigenous girl to calm her temper cos her emotions change the weather. WOW. That is Steven Universe levels of racist.

Lord of the Rink - 7/10

Huh, imagine that. A good Prince Hugo episode . This one's a flip-around from Just One of the Princes where Hugo worries his interest in a feminine sport like ice skating will cause his friends and his father to mock him and Sofia reassures him to just do the sport and not worry what others think. Nice to see theres no gender double standard in this show.

The Secret Library: Olaf and the Tale of Miss Nettle - 0/10

Once I found out Ms Nettle was getting redeemed, I skipped through the entire episode cos im so DONE with this show redeeming every villain in its path. Why cant we teach kids that sometimes people are just dicks?

Gone With the Wand - 9/10

We meet Cedric's niece, Calista, who adores her uncle as much as Sofia does. Now im entirely convinced Cedric cared for Sofia all this time cos she reminds him of Calista and I find that so sweet. They then go to Merlin's castle where Cedric goes into fanboy mode, manage to imprison an evil sorceress and have Calista learn not to steal stuff thats her favourite colour cos its still stealing. Only downside is why that evil sorceress had to be Morgana. Girl gets way too much hate in fantasy stories.

Bad Little Dragon - 7/10

Weird title aside, its a great Crackle episode where her jealousy over Vivian's new baby dragon is completely justified as the new dragon is not only an international jewel thief, but an adult dragon just with a baby body and talks like an old school gangster. This is the funniest shit

Bunny Swap - 6/10

It's a solid Clover episode where he gets his privilege checked by his doopleganger

Her Royal Spyness - -7/10

SEAL PEOPLE EXIST IN THIS WORLD.

Best In Air Show - 5/10

Minimus has an overbearing mother zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dads and Daughters Day - 8/10

Sofia gets a similar problem like what she had in Mom's the Word, this time its with her dad. Her and Amber's class are going on a field trip with all their dads and after Hildegarde's remark about Roland not being Sofia's real dad, Sofia fears that because she doesnt have memories of previous dad and daughter trips like Amber, she doesnt believe she's truly his daughter. Cue heartfelt speech from Roland about how he'll always love her and in comes my unintelligble bawling.

Elena and the Secret of Avalor - 8/10

A Sofia the First episode tackling the destruction that imperalism causes to a nation, a new princess protagonist named Elena getting the upper hand and finally getting her crown, her family and her kingdom back from an imperalist bitch? Well, damn, I'm impressed. Although Sofia's family couldve done a lot more and the idea of a Latina princess being trapped inside an amulet that was used by white princesses really bothers me. Like, why couldnt Elena just be in forced exile thanks to the villain or have her be trapped in a magic mirror or some shit?

The Tale of the Noble Knight - 4/10

Kevin Michael Richardson plays an amazingly hammy knight. Shame he wasnt in a better episode.

The Bamboo Kite - 7/10

Nice to see the lesson of respecting both old and new technology and resources. Its just neat.

Beauty is the Beast - 9/10

This time, Sofia gets summoned to help a princess. She meets Charlotte, who's been turned into a beast as a punishment because she was racist to a goblin. Sofia tries to get the goblin and princess to get along and they end up being besties cos they both nerd out over royal stuff. Honestly, I wish Charlotte kept her beast form. Its very ugly cute.

Cauldronation Day - 2/10

Lucinda's having some witch graduation ceremony but her two new friends are both fighting over the position to be the witch of honour so Sofia tries to make them become friends, even though they clearly arent good enough friends to Lucy. Its fucking infuriating how Lucinda never puts two and two together and just makes Sofia her witch of honour and tell her friends to fuck off cos Sofia is right there being supportive.

Camp Wilderwood

Yknow that spoilt wizard kid Wendell from Minimus is Missing? That kid who stole a kingdom's pegasi cos he really wanted one instead of a magic lute? That kid who even took over a small kingdom for the evulz? Lets redeem him and have him befriended by James all because htey both hated going to a summer camp. Great, a terrible slap-dash villain redemption and a mediocre James episode. Man, this kid never gets a good episode.

Royal Vacation - 5/10

"See, parents? The best way to get your family to spend more time with each other is by forcing them to go on vacation! Even if the vacation turns out to be 90 percent a disaster. As long as you come home feeling happy at the end, that's all that matters!"

Hexley Hall - 8/10

Sofia has unlocked new amulet powers and Cedric takes her to his old wizard school to meet Billy West wizard to get more info about the amulet. I love how halfway throughout the episode, Cedric gets interested in Sofia's amulet and you'd think "oh no, is he gonna go back to stealing it again to take over Enchancia?" but thes its immediately dropped as Cedric's friendship with his pet raven suddenly becomes the focus and he goes into papa wolf mode when Sofia is threatened by Billy West wizard later on and he didnt even care about the amulet. Dont know if that was either a writing flub or an intentional twist, but I like it.

The Princess Prodigy - 10/10

Vivian gets manipulated by an evil musical baron who's preying on her musical talent to fuel his own musical magic, by isolating her from her bandmates and making her lash out at her friends, causing them to help her come to her senses and take down the baron. Cue an epic Scott Pilgrim style music magic battle between Sofia, Vivian and the others and you have an absolute baller episode.

One for the Books - 9/10

A nerdy prince named Desmond, who hasnt had a major appearance since Enchanted Science Fair, struggles with an eccentric assignment giving by the best teacher in the entire school (Seriously, I love Mr P, he's such a cool unorthodox teacher and those are the best. He reminds me of my old geography teacher when I was at school) and he's too embrassed to ask for help since he's usually the top student. A good lesson about never being afraid to ask for help and dont give magical growing food to an already magical plant. This is how you get Piranha Plants

#sofia the first

[sketching-shark]

Man, zhu bajie n tang sanzang had to b up there w swk about their mischaracterization n hated in lmk fandom

I have never seen so much mishandling as i seen with those three characters 😭😭(like bro i get that the most noticeable arc that ppl retain is the white bone spirit arc bc of OSP BUT THEY DIDNT STUCK TO THAT CHARACTERISTICS IN THE LATER ARCS LIKE CMON NOW—bajie couldn’t even lie about the dragon piss medicine in a later arc, what makes yall think he’s always a fantastic liar. Theres some benefit to his lying but they also backfire. BAJIE DO END UP LIKING EVERYONE LIKE HE REFER TO SWK AS ELDER BROTHER!<- no man could ever live up to the wonder of zhu wuneng. He just sweet n he does get a fantastic arc in the novel!

Tang sanzang does have some(albeit rare moments where hes nice but his asshoole moments sometimes intertwined) where hes like “yea my disciples r greats but theyre mad ugly.” Or that he gets better at having more trust in his disciples besides zhu wuneng. Even if its followed by hella traumatizing moments that no human person would remain sane like that. <hes just barely holding on by his faith, his mission and his disciples. Not his horse bc he cant hold on to save his life but that character arc where he DIDNT FELL OFF THOO!>

Monkie Kid spoilers below

Hmmm I know about the Sun Wukong & Tang Sanzang dunking but is that happening with Zhu Bajie too? Have to say I find that a little surprising given that (if memory serves correctly) Monkie Kid did say Zhu Bajie's main fault (well besides the whole being a man-eating yaoguai thing) was being stubborn, but then lego Patriarch Subodhi said he became one of the hardest workers of the pilgrimage. I guess I was under the impression that people were more light on their criticisms and thoughts about Zhu Bajie, but maybe that's just because he doesn't seem to be a point of great interest in the lego show fandom lol.

Kind of funny story anon but I've been vicariously growing in awareness on how much Zhu Bajie is loved in China through @antidotefortheawkward's posts about the pigman. And yeah, I can see that being in large part because Xiyouji in its totality does give a very different impression of who these characters are and where they end up than a cartoony summary can provide. As a number of people on this site have noted for example, the White Bone Demon Arc can be understood in a much more complex light than "Tang Sanzang & Zhu Bajie hurt poor monkey for nothing" when placed in the context of it being more near the beginning of the journey when the pilgrims were still grating against each other a lot & it happening very soon after the whole debacle with the Ginseng fruit tree. Here after all you can see how the monk has a recent history of getting into serious trouble from the monkey lying and being quick to destruction, so he would be primed to not believe SWK, not to mention he does hesitate to use the headband against SWK more than many give him credit for here. And YEAH given all the things they go through together I am more willing to accept a Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie enemies to friends arc than that put on many another character.

Also LMAOOOOO Tang Sanzang DOES seem to have quite a few lines where he tries to comfort terrified individuals by telling them that the pilgrims are good people even with their rancid looks (ugly pilgrim rights <3). And oh dang anon you are so right about how even if Tang Sanzang is much more of a static character in comparison to SWK it's kind of a shame more attention isn't given to the series of horrifying events he goes through and what effect that would have on him so that he gets a little more depth than "weepy monk who's mean to the Monkey King & falls off his dragon horse" in the popular western imagination. But then again I can understand why the monk's trauma is largely downplayed in western cartoony retellings, given that said lighthearted cartoony retellings probably wouldn't be the best medium to even touch on stuff like human butchery, death threats, sexual assault, and the consequences thereof.

#anon answered #monkey critical #journey to the west #sa mention

[thegeminisage]

tng update time. last night we watched "datalore" together and this morning i caught "angel one" on my own

datalore: not terrible!! i felt really bad for data the entire time of course. kind of delighted to find out he is amnesiac-adjacent in this episode, at least as far as not knowing where he comes from or why. i've gotten used to thinking of him as friend-shaped but lore reminded me of just how creepy he actually does look because he was making the creepy faces

the planet and lab were cool though it was hilarious that one of the pieces was just an ass with the crotch faced away from us to protect data's modesty lol

i liked the bit about data having an off switch.it is ironically such a human vulnerability. we have those too! it's called head trauma.

ik what i said about picard not being a dick anymore but i noticed he IS still a dick sometimes and it's mostly to either wesley (valid) or data (may he DIE). i was glad data told him not to call lore "it" and that he APOLOGIZED. he should apologize to data more often

lore is literally just a data who is better at masking btw. like thats all it is. he thinks using contractions makes him allistic and he's like ha ha look at me i'm better than you meanwhile he has to use a little laser to remove his own facial tick and his special interest is murdering humans and good for him

one thing i HATED about this ep was once again wesley made a valid point and everyone told him to fuck off. meanwhile whenever hes fucking around they let him do whatever he wants. this is making me CRRRAZY. all this stuff about you would have listened to me if i was an adult!! i'll kill the little brat myself

however the episode was immediately rescued by the appearance of this meme:

which sent me immediately into screaming hysterics because i was NOT expecting to see it in its original format here. i quite literally had to pause the episode and explain this meme to catherine with tears running down my face

angel one: not as bad as the skip/watch lists led me to believe (i didnt have to play it on 2x speed for example) but still pretty fucking terrible. oh what if WOMEN were in charge wouldnt that be WEIRD AND SCARY? meanwhile the women are wearing what pretends to be "no makeup" in 1987 and theyre super fucking hot

i thought that blonde chick was rthe one from tos's backdoor pilot and even looked it up but no she just moves her face the same way

riker's slut outfit really was something. he was such a good sport about it that i thought it was kind of mean of deanna and tasha to laugh at him but considering how women are treated on this show they deserve to actually. tasha especially.

absolutely bonkers that he tried to turn the head woman down and she slept with him anyway. close encounters of the space babes riker version??? quite literally the man said i'm not an object to be seduced and then he got seduced. wild

anyway, the morals of this were all over the place. they cant remove these people bc theyre not bound by the prime directive but they literally are interfering with this planet's system of laws etc...also the fact that like everyone is arguing for gender equality when the genders are reversed is all well and good when they live in a utopian society where genders are equal but we live and star trek was made in the real world where the genders are NOT equal so it just comes out sounding like but what about the meeeeen?? i mean. what about them?? sorry.

i. HATED. the b-plot of this episode. everyone's like oh no i wonder how this virus spreads! and then they allow worf to stay on the bridge while he does those dad sneezes. maybe this episode should have been before the other to explain data's sudden hyperfixation on learning to sneeze lol. like ik all infectious disease media hits different post pandemic but jesus christ we had more sense than that even BEFORE the pandemic

tonight we do 11001001, and then i'm doing the next FOUR on my own...rough.

#personal #tng lb #star trek blogging #ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE KIND OF DEATH YOU'VE EARNED LITTLE MAN?

[selamat-linting]

so anyway, back to bitching again (i always bitch) yall know the women's group? the one i talked about? yeah so a little backstory first for the newcomers: this girl, she was a former member of a branch of my org. she was from another town. when she moved here, she's supposed to be helping my branch right? but no, she broke off with no warning, and started a women's group with her friends. thats the group im talking about. they focus on producing art / writing as a form of their resistance. with the occasional charity event in-between. its a very laid-back almost apolitical group. my girl plans to push her friends' left by meeting them on their own terms. doing resistance the way theyre comfortable with and hoping it would influence them to be radical.

suffice to say, it failed. my girl is kicked out of the group she founded, and when i offer her to go back here, she doesnt want to. claiming this town is too far gone for any meaningful resistance. my feelings on that loaded response is well documented on this blog but anyway. lets go to the present

this group is now doing another event, a talk show about mental health. now this would be good except the topic is this, "self diagnosis: valid or not" featuring a fucking psychiatrist.

i dont know, maybe because im a victim of (mild) medical neglect from a psychiatrist, and im firmly anti-psychiatry after seeing how lucky i got compared to my comrades with a more stigmatized disorder, but this is just wack to me. idc.

like, first of all, in what world that a discussion of whether self-dx is a special topic of discourse to be treated this way? girl look at the state of our healthcare system. look at how we lack a social safety net. look at how there's practically no help for abuse and bullying victims. we dont even have a homeless shelter in this town! look at how many mental health workers that still treats homosexuality as a disease or asks child abuse victims to forgive their parents. look at how the criminal system treats addicts!!! look at the prisons! by god look at the prisons!!! prison inmates are prime examples of men and women who is failed by the state over and over again and end up hurting and abusing everyone around them, fueling the cycle anew.

youre putting the cart between the horse, by discoursing about self diagnosis when you havent even talked about how bad society is falling apart and how inefficient and inaccessible the healthcare system is. and im not just talking about the money, i know treatment's free, but is it really treatment when you have to wait four hours every two weeks just to meet an out of touch doctor for five minutes who'd just tell you to forgive your abuser then dose you up with potentially addictive medications without telling you the side-effects or even listening to your concerns?

also wow, inviting a shrink for a self dx discussion. i would bet money their stance is that theyre against it because heyyy therapy is free and covered by national insurance uwu and its your personal responsibility xoxo. very neoliberal. i always suspect their politics is as progressive as a gay conservative since they decided not to make a post acknowledging pride month when they personally call themselves a feminist collective. how come a group of college-educated women could be this unserious? unprincipled? eugh. i expected better of them than the empty headed dumbfuck boys who made a metalcore concert for a day where at least a million people died by the hands of the state but turns out theyre just a different flavor of annoying and ignorant.

but i guess i have to act professional and nice around them since they did agree to help for the pro palestine campaign. i hate this fr fr!!!!!

#posts about my life #infighting and resentment tag #anti psychiatry #i guess?

[gutsfics]

Since you write for multiple Choices stories, I'm curious: (how) do they all intertwine? Do your various MCs know each other? How do they get along? How did they meet? If any of your stories don't exist in the same universe, how would the characters get along if they did?

aaaa i love this question!!!! i love figuring out how these stories all fit together even if they don't interact <3

they do all intertwine, but in some places what's 'canon' and what isn't gets a little muddy. like for example, for me both RCD and HWU are equally canon, but its impossible for them to both exist in the same timeline, but that doesn't mean that there isn't connections that happen in both versions. Simon is Hunt's nephew in both RCD and HWU, but how he met Avalon is different because how Hunt met Avalon is different. and that's not even touching on all of the different versions for It Lives I have, and how those different endings would change how It Lives connects to all of the other stories. plus also: all of my sillies fun aus (which i will not talk about here at risk of this post going wayyy too long)

this might get a little messy, my mind is bouncing all over the place. under a read more bc i Will talk way too much about this <3

Simon

anyway since i mentioned Simon by name I'm gonna start with him. im ignoring choices HSS for him & his friends, bc i don't like that it kind of retcons some of HSS prime + makes all of the original friend group just People Who Go To School Together And Barely Interact.

obviously, he is Thomas' nephew, his dad is Thomas' older brother. they're very close, Thomas is his favorite uncle & he's very supportive with Simon figuring out his gender stuff. in fact, he's the person who buys Simon his first suit and the person who helps Simon find a good surgeon for his top surgery, as Thomas himself had issues with his own and didn't want Simon to experience the same things he did (more on this later)

in the HWU world, Simon meets Avalon over his spring break, which he used to sit in on a few classes of Thomas' classes. they know who each other are in really simple terms, just "there's that tall guy from that one class Thomas teaches, he sure is a nice dude :)" "oh, there's that high schooler who's sitting in on classes that Ethan wants to be the agent of. i hope he doesn't feel too pressured to make a decision right now, he's still got plenty of time to figure things out". they do eventually form a stronger relationship but that's only after Thomas and Avalon end up together officially- Simon thinks Avalon is really cool, and Avalon likes that his daughters have a cousin they can look up to (Simon LOVES babysitting/hanging out with Dawn and Lily btw theyre defo The World's Most Chaotic Cousins)

in RCD world, Simon was very small when Avalon and Thomas were together the first time and he knew Avalon just as Thomas' Cool Fun Roommate. he was absolutely DEVASTATED when Avalon "moved away" (read: they broke up) bc he thought Avalon was just SO COOL. but alas, since he was so small at the time he doesn't really remember Avalon all that well. But he is excited when Avalon reenters Thomas' life, and even more excited to find out that they're getting married (he'd be about early/mid 20s by this point). he may not remember Avalon too clearly, but he remembers how much he loved it when Uncle Thomas and his Best Friend Avalon came to visit

in both worlds: one Dr Bryce Lahela does Simon's top surgery (i'd say he gets it maybe mid/late 20s). he specifically chose an Edenbrook doctor bc Thomas knows Dr Banerji and he asked if there were any surgeons that Dr Banerji would trust to do the surgery properly, and he recommended Bryce :) more on how Thomas knows Naveen later

Baxter & Reigan

theyre getting a whole section to just them bc theyre BoyBestFriends and there's a lot about em (but ill try to keep it short)

Baxter and Reigan met in high school, after Baxter was deemed healthy enough to actually attend school instead of just being homeschooled in a hospital room (it was absolutely 100% Baxter's idea and want to do this, their parents wanted to keep them in the hospital 24/7 bc they were worried they'd immediately get sick)

at the time Baxter had been super standoffish and did not like being around people, so Reigan was the one to approach Baxter first. he was fairly well liked and respected by their classmates & he wanted to make sure that they didn't have an awful experience in school. eventually Baxter ended up asking Reigan out, not because they were particularly attracted to him (they were a bit of a late bloomer in that regard) but because they wanted to have all of those Normal Teenage Experiences(tm) and they did like spending time with him. and he said yes, bc even though he didn't feel any attraction either (he's ace/aro), he did like spending time with them as well (and to some degree was hoping that attraction might happen eventually)

dating for them just looked like how hanging out did, although they did hold hands a bit more and kiss at some point, when Baxter decided that they were at The Point In A Relationship Where You Kiss. they also went to prom together.

they broke up shortly after graduating high school, half bc Baxter achieved all those Normal Teenage Experiences(tm) they wanted to and half bc Reigan felt bad that he felt no attraction to Baxter, although he didn't mention it at the time bc he didn't want to hurt Baxter's feelings. there was a bit of a pause in their friendship after this, as both of them felt that they had to give the other some space to get over the romantic part of the relationship, but in the end they realized that neither cared? and went right back to being close good best friends :)

their friendship ended up being long distance for a while, as both college and career choices got in the way of being physically near each other. but. the week that Reigan got the job offer for McGraw Byrne was the week that Raf broke up with Baxter AND Ethan left for the Amazon, and the idea of being just a three hour train ride from his best friend defo played a role in him deciding to take the job. he actually flew to Boston instead of NYC so he could spend a little time with Baxter before he got too busy with his job. Baxter, Aurora, and Bryce actually spent one of their days off helping Reigan's dad furnish Reigan's Cool New NYC Apartment :)

speaking of Reigan's dad. Baxter is actually WAY closer w Reigan's parents than they are w their own. in fact, when Baxter went NC with their parents, Reigan's parent's were like "cool WE'RE your parents now :) we love you kiddo"

anyway. the attack in OH year two happened to line up w the end of LOA book one/beginning of book two (at least it does in my timeline) & Reigan immediately dropped everything to head to Boston to make sure Baxter was okay. while he was there, Martin kept trying to give Reigan really petty cases that were a waste of time, even though Reigan had taken time off and given a reason for it. he ended up chewing Martin out over the phone and quitting, deciding that he'd just look for a job in Boston to be closer to Baxter anyway. he stays in Boston for a bit to help take care of Baxter after they're discharged from the hospital, and when he gets back to New York he learns that Aislinn and Gabe also quit & have started their own law firm, which Reigan has been given a job offer for. he takes it only after Baxter assures him that they will be fine if he stays in NYC

Baxter is the reason that Reigan and Tobias meet (but not the reason that they end up in a qpr together) and they're also the Best Man Of Honor at both the weddings they end up having (Reigan and Tobias marry twice-- once in a Boston courthouse bc they decide that the legal benefits of being married work with what they want from the relationship w each other (Baxter's role here was just a witness), and a second time a more traditional wedding (more of an exchange of vows than a legal process this time) a year or two later to appease the parents)

and this does Not have to do with Baxter and Reigan's friendship but it doesn't really warrant it's own section: Reigan and my Bachelorette Party MC, Hallie, are friends from law school :) and speaking of Hallie, she's the twin sister of one of my Lovelink MCs, Harvy, although Harvy and Hallie were separated at birth bc their bio mom didn't know she was having twins until giving birth & she was unprepared to raise both so Hallie was put up for adoption & raised in the US (Harvy was raised in Vancouver, Canada). it takes em a while to find out about each other (Hallie knew she was adopted but didn't know she was a twin (her adoptive parents didn't know either) and Harvy just straight up Didn't Know he was a twin as his mom didn't tell him). also Harvy technically is just A Character I Have Now bc i really don't care for Lovelink anymore

It Lives

ok so here's where it gets messy. also i might kind of be vague here sorry

the It Lives series has a bunch of different ways to end (zero thanks to pb, this is 100% itlivesproject's win [blows a kiss for the itlivesproject crew <3]), all of which i really like.

so tbh for my world. each and every one of the endings is both canon and non canon, depending on which one i feel like writing for. bc sometimes i wanna write some cute soft fluff where Noah and Devi get to overcome their trauma. and sometimes i want Noah to fucking wallow in his pathetic meowmeow sopping wet sadboy misery where [SPOILERS] bc [SPOILERS] and [SPOILERS] (seriously pls go read the it lives trilogy theyre so good, especially It Lives Within)

however. It Lives IS canon in my worlds. i like the idea of a very mundane world having some kind of exciting magic to it, even if its mostly unknown. just. a magic that touches everyone's lives in little ways and connects us all together :) and that's EXACTLY what the Power is

anyway the ending where the It Lives characters get to interact with characters from other stories is the one where Noah and Devi get to overcome their trauma, and they open up a restaurant together <3 basically i think at some point All of my characters will end up having a meal at Baby Jane's. not all together, but they'll make their way there eventually :)

also there's my au where It Lives is a tv show which I KNOW i said i wouldn't talk about aus BUT i just want yall to know that the actor who plays Devi (i don't have a name for him yet, bc hes not technically Devi) sees Avalon as a mentor figure :)

Thomas & Naveen

(tw for medical malpractice and transphobia)

hey so remember when i said i'd talk about Thomas' top surgery later? and that i'd also talk about how he knows Naveen? well.

my Thomas took a gap year between his senior year of high school and his freshman year of college to medically and legally transition. he was moving to a new place and he wanted to be as stealth as he could be. so as soon as he turned 18, he got his name legally changed and started on testosterone, and got his top surgery scheduled. his plan was that by the time he started college, he would have recovered from his surgery and he'd have been on T for long enough that he'd be going through most of the changes he'd want from it

he specifically found a surgeon in the same town his older brother (Simon's dad, his name is Jonathan) had moved to so he'd have some company/a caretaker while he recovered. unfortunately for him, that surgeon... kind of sucked. his surgery was done wrong, and wasn't healing properly, even though both Thomas and Jon were making sure they were doing everything right. but when they tried to talk to the surgeon, the surgeon would just say "nope everything's fine nothing is wrong you are delusional :) its SUPPOSED to be all rotten and nasty :) stop bothering me" and no one else in the clinic seemed to care at all?

anyway one day Jon just had Enough, bc he'd heard from other people who'd had this surgery how recovery typically looked, and his brother was just wasting away, too weak to do anything bc of how his surgery got fucked up and he kind of just. snapped. and started yelling at the surgeon to Please Fucking Do Something.

while the surgeon didn't do anything, Jon's yelling attracted the attention of a different doctor, one who had only heard bits and pieces about this patient who's brother kept stopping by to ask over and over again if a surgery was healing properly, one who'd heard said surgeon being kind of a dick about it in the breakroom, and he decided that someone needed to do something to help these brothers

that doctor being a young Dr Naveen Banerji, pre diagnostics team and pre Edenbrook employment

he caught Jon just outside after Jon had been..... "politely" escorted out and asked what, specifically seemed to be wrong with his brother's recovery

immediately recognizing the problem caused the surgeon's incompetence/prejudices effecting the health and safety of a patient, Naveen helped Jon find a hospital to take Thomas to, one that would actually help him with what was wrong and set him onto a proper path for recovery

he also quit his job at that hospital. he'd noticed things similar to that happening before, but this was just the final straw. he helped as many patients as he could there, but at some point you have to know when to walk away. but that was a good thing for his career, as he was able to start the diagnostics team at Edenbrook, not to mention that other hospital ended up getting shut down for medical malpractice

Thomas and Naveen stayed in touch, and now whenever Thomas ends up in Boston for whatever reason, he'll stop by for a visit :)

#Red Carpet Diaries #Open Heart #High School Story #Laws of Attraction #i didnt mention some mc's relationships w each other bc i dont know how some of them would interact w each other tbh #i cant really think of any situation where they would meet and its kind of hard to think of their dynamics bc of that #i mean. Avalon would try super hard to get Baxter to like him. bc he thinks that Baxter doesnt bc of how deadpan they are #but actually Baxter quite enjoys his company :) they're just not good at expressing it #and their Not Good At Expressing It is very different from Thomas' Not Good At Expressing It #so Avalon doesn't know how to recognize it #but also. i dont know how or why they'd meet. #& as for Devi i think for the most part everyone else would just kind of think of him as that cool goth waiter from Baby Jane's #he & Simon would be chaotic best friends though. along w Harper. three stooges right there

[colnerys]

if not for 90s homophobia i think kira couldve had some truly messy wlw romance arcs like here lemme give some example:

her and jadzia having so many will-they-wont-they moments in s1 and early s2 which eventually leads them to dating before s3 happens or smth.

the whole joran shit happens with dax, life support happens with kira (i think bareil wouldve been her wise bestie with the good kush), and honestly ds9 major canon events happen

which leads to s7 having kira struggle to not kill dukat with her barehands because she knows if she kills him he'll haunt her forever and thats exactly what he wants : to live in her head rent free.

so ezri shows up, theyre awkward for a bit but kira loves dax so they kiss n hookup but kira also knows abt the reassociation taboo and respects how much love jadzia had for her people despite the system fucking over dax.

so she knows how important it is for ezri to find her own identity but shes so drawn to dax ... or is it ezri?? she doesnt know!!

so she makes the hard decision of beginning the rite of separation with ezri and ... i guess j.ezri can happen ??

and kira n dax just shoots longing looks at each other across ops every day until one day kiras sent to cardassia

and if we think about it the amount of stardates thats passed from when she met with damar to when the war on cardassia prime ended was roughly 3 months

kira definintely went in there knowing she could die and that the odds were stacked but she had to fight to live.

so in garaks basement during the down time she had a lot to contemplate about life and reflect. she thinks abt her relationship with jadzia and then ezri

realizing she liked them for different reasons and remembers how jadzia was there for her when she didnt really know who she was after the occupation

me thinking abt how her wanting to see her found family again, see sisko play baseball again, and just to be able to talk to dax one more time giving her the resolve to survive

so kira comes out the other side and the minute dax and her see each other they just leap into each others arms and kiss

its okay bc in the ideal universe jezri at the time realize they arent good fit then and needed time so they stay friends

anyways, they talk for hours n hours n kira really gets to know who ezri was prior to joining

shes smitten but in the "oh shes so awkward like me" way not in the "oh wow shes so together, shes so wise, so smart, so kind, nothing like me" way she felt for jadzia. which tbh reflects a kira self love journey also

anyways she promises to support ezri thru her tough times and all is well

...well u never know its trek

or alternatively:

kira having aliens of the week encounters with wlw / nblw characters

imagine her with natima lang — how messy is THAT?? like shes still in her i hate cardassians phase but like is slowly opening up. and she sees natima and just quietly admires the shit out of her for risking her life for the future and truth

her and grilka finding each other in the gym and sparring and then it becomes a heated affair that leads to kira being the subject of gossip and her blushing profusely for like days

those three cardassian scientists

obviously cannot forget keiko

her and kahn having a moment and it being messy bYE

anyways my point being kira had such potential on that front and still have it be true to her character. narratively it wouldve been interesting to have a character who isnt actively flirting all the time, a character whos entire background is embroiled in sadness, loss, and tragedy to just have love and connection be there for her constantly

#* 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 : ooc #its early in the morning this is a brain dump bye

[obstinaterixatrix]

stella i ended up watching it pretty much immediately while drawing mk bc i do not control what my brain decides to eat and when and goddamn. the musical really is the musical equivalent of a reverse timelapse video of watching an apple rot. their youth and optimism. Gone. they were so cute and optimistic towards the end but then you remember That All Goes To Shit. (inserts that one sonic meme) Frank Wake Up. You Fucked Up Big Time. repeatedly. a lot. giving in a little every time to further their dreams but eventually losing sight of it all.... shouldntve have had an affair tho. thats entirely on you bud. idiot. man.... they were SUCH GOOD FRIENDS.... so patient and supportive of each other.... but then it all....... Man. sorry this is all p disjointed i literally just finished the musical something past 2am and i need to speak. i like hearing all the leitmotifs tho..... my memory is too shit to remember which part i heard it But Theyre Absolutely There.... the musical was so good....... it is such a story. a story that absolutely would be prime material for a fixit fic tbfh. what a mess... but i like messes.... man stepping back a lot... its kinda fucked up.... that if you ignore the timeline... the structure is kinda the same as a typical underdog story as in its starts out with a conflict thats meant to be overcome and ends with an all happy and optimistic open ending with things looking up..... BUT NO... the struggle is backwards.... if this story was chronological it truly wouldnt have the same wistful impact... you would just be like what the hell man. thats how it ends? but no it establishes from the beginning that this is the result. But How Did We Get Here. and thats the story....very funny how one of the lines in the song are "never look back" when thats the entire goddamn premise of the musical lol. this is like 3 times longer than i intended it to be. im glad the character count has been expanded so i can subject you to all of this all in one go. Narratives Man. got me.

YOU GET IT NOW!! YOU UNDERSTAND!!! Hang on I have a quote from sondheim’s book I want to highlight where he goes into a bunch of his own thoughts for something like a personal glossary

look at this one

lol.

another thing that sticks out about sondheim is that he’s VERY particular about who sings what. in his book he talks about being annoyed when every part of the ensemble sings the same lyrics even when they’re different groups of people with different ideals and priorities. and it means there’s a LOT of really tasty interactions within songs for character consistency & character dynamics, for example

Mary as the person who tries to fix things, Frank as the person who minimizes, Charley as the person who corrects him, and Mary again who runs interference between them.

Then there are verses that not-so-subtly highlights the Frank conflicts with Mary and Charley—

And even a line that’s not the highlight of the verse gets this treatment!

There’s just a lot of irony and contradiction and hypocrisy textually, subtextually, and metatextually. I mean the musical’s called merrily we roll along and it’s all about going backwards to get context for a miserable beginning (end) lol. And another thing that’s interesting about the structure is that Frank *can* be sympathized with at the end mostly because you end where he began, and you’re following him to how awkward and earnest he was as a person (rather than if it were a linear narrative, it’d be easier to dismiss his present self as a dumbass bastard) (which he is lol). What’s the phenomena about the first thing and the last thing is what’s most memorable. Ah, whatever, you get it. Anyway yeah all his problems are his own fault, though they weren’t helped by gussie. bro you could’ve compromised a *little* for money without compromising uhhhhh Every Single Person Who Was Ever Important To You. literally every step of the way had someone going like woah there hang on, stop, plowing ahead,

#ask #ap sadistics #talking abt musicals #tmblr mobile does a thing where the preview images are swapped around so hopefully all the right ones are in place #ah the dramatic irony of beth going like I want to be fucking rich!! and then she gets what she wants. lol.

[otteritos]

i think ive said this before but my favorite part abt toh's character designs is that the teenage characters actually look like... kids.

like for example hunters 16 (the Prime Age for teen protags btw) but in toh's art style, he's portrayed as exactly what he is: a kid. when he takes off the mask, he's just a little guy—a kid, like luz. his proportions and the way he carries himself are just so accurate like just take a look at the 16 y/os on famous birthdays they are BABIES

in comparison, in gravity falls wendy and her friends look like full on adults compared to dipper and mabel but theyre only supposed to be 15 (but ik this is partially done on purpose bc having the contrast of a 15-16 y/o grown ass emo teenage boy have beef with a 12 y/o kid is really funny)

#idk just. THOUGHTS #toh #hunter #the owl house #hunter toh #toh analysis #(kind of?) #gravity falls #ig #idk #my post

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 22

oooh man, its time to feel some EMOTIONS!

I'm BACK after a hiatus, which was due in part to me getting my 1st dose of the covid vaccine! woohoo!

anyways, starting here w/issue 22....we have a great cover w/thunderclash, the legend himself

oof. the covers made me forget how much I don't like the art this issue...I hate to be mean to the artists but this art style just isn't doin it for me chief

god I love this issue though. the framing device of rewind’s movie is so so fantastic

tailgate listing off all his fake awards/accomplishments....ily 

rodimus my boy, you're a prime in my heart

the ‘not a decepticon’ label for cyclonus is so much hvbhkjfbskjf

I literally wanna comment on every single panel bc I love all the characters so much but then id be here forever...that being said whirl ily sm 

hvbjdfbhsfjhdfshja BRAINSTORM ‘according to perceptor - ships genius’ hvhdkjhbfhjs ily dumb gay idiot

and then the cut to perceptor after brainstorm like, blew up his lab vjbkdsfnbksjf dude

GODDDDDD drift ‘your name...defines you. it’s your soul expressed in syllables. hm? oh, yes, sorry. it’s drift.’ GOD he’s so fucking funny. I love early story hippy drift

god I cant stop thinking about how good this whole issue would be as an animated show...like, specifically rewinds film, it would be SO FUCKING GOOOOOOD mtmte show WHEN

rewiiiiind ;_; I fuckgin love rewind god. fellow video editing enthusiast....

ohhhh rodimus being embarrassed about his big speech at the beginning of mtmte....my boy I love u so much

gjhnbgehjsrkfbjksf magnus being suspicious of rewind oh my god. magnus ily but please, look at the lil guy, he’s a good boy, most of the time

the fuckgin footage that magnus removed hbvhakjbfhskf god. wasn't that intended to be footage of magnus dancing? I love him

minibot squad.....

and here it begins, the mystery stick rung question...

poor rung oh my god he’s just trying to polish his lil spaceship and people r throwing shit at him. taking Ls as per usual it seems

hand grenade tag hvbfjksdnfbkjdf love that callback

noooo rungs ship :( 

magnus’s censorship vhbhadkjfhdbhjsakjhfn

oh man I forgot about how they met that race of Transformers But More 

the one-upsmanship hbvkajsbehfjks

whirrrrrl lmao I love whirl sm

goddddd whirl just killing that other alien and ending the 16 million yr long civil war bvkjsdbfhjjkafs so fucking much

oh god oh god the ‘are you happy’ page, I'm not emotionally equipped to handle this like, ever

but I will say I feel like it would be EVEN MORE oof if it were milne or someone drawing it bc I feel like this art style takes away from some of the impact bc the expressions aren't really that...expressive? idk how to put it

anyways. every single answer destroys me!!! like even the happy ones, like chromedome and rewind and tailgate - well, in present time, none of those three are doing so hot, so that makes this just hurt 

and rung....that is so fucking depressing. jesus. this guy is so fuckng sad, somebody get him a friend stat

and swerve...ouch. this readthru I've really noticed how much early-mtmte swerve is not-so-subtly like, crying out for help bc he’s so alone and shit. jesus 

also brainstorms response is just plain ole sad w/context, but at this point in the story without context, it just seems very foreboding lmao. I'm realizing this readthru that brainstorm is very sketchy and ominous in a particular ‘is he evil?’ mad scientist sorta way in early mtmte

and then everyone else is also just so OOF in their own unique sad ways, but I think the worst out of everyone is drift....GODDDDDD. especially considering that at this point in the story, drift is this kinda goofy hippy guy, so seeing him just sit there with his face in his hand, not even answering the question...AND knowing that shortly after this he’ll end up banished...IT FUCKING HURTS M8!

meanwhile, the more upbeat ‘quest to see rungs alt mode’ continues...with an ‘alt mode party’ vhbadkjsdfnabskjf it looks so silly with a bunch of cars just sitting around a table lmao

I cant even tell who everyone is bc they so rarely turn into cars n shit lmaoooooo 

rodimus with the bucket on his head hbvhakjbfskjf I CANT

everyone’s reactions to thunderclash...i fucking love it

the fact that TAILGATE doesn't hate him, even though we’ve seen that tailgate tends to dislike people who are universally liked/who have achieved a lot of impressive things

rodimus you petty thot vbdkjbfdjhsakjdf ily

RODIMUS IS SO FUNNYYYYYY ‘I'm not making all these sacrifices and leading these guys into battle and being inspirational - I'm not doing that because it makes me look good’ RODIMUS VBHSKJDFNBKSJF

thunderclash talking about magnus’s article on typefaces....hdbksjfsdbkjgfb bro

AND THEN MAGNUS HUGS HIM....HGBSKJFDSHFKD I CANT

POOR DRIFT bvhajkdfbhjkjsfd rodimus saying he ‘rehabilitated him’ oh my god

the whole spectralism thing...im sorry I cant get over how funny all this is vbakdjfbksjf thunderclash rlly b out here charming rodimus’s entire crew

and then ratchet comes in, calling tc ‘thunders,’ and tc immediately notices ratchets new hands (somehow) hvbkjfhbskjf truly amazing

it cracks me up that rodimus is all 😒😒 at thunderclash, even though as we come to find out, tc really IS That Perfect, and him complimenting rodimus isn't sarcasm at all lmao

AND THEYRE LOOKING FOR THE KNIGHTS OF CYBERTRON TOO HVSDHFJBSHKHDFJS OF COURSE

the vis vitalis being a life support machine spaceship is a really cool concept tho

‘rescuing some orphans from an exploding sun’ I fucking cant

evil guy: [holds a gun to thunderclash’s head] 

rodimus: :D finally something doesn't go his way!

he’s so petty I’m..........dkdjhfdabhduifadijgl

and its the aliens from earlier! oooh

GODDD I forgot that swerve used rung in mystery stick mode to SCHWACK the guy

rung casually dropping the fact that the functionists like, experimented on him...there's a lot of implications there, and that'll certainly be explored more later...

the fact that his ID card says ‘rong’ hvbhjakhdsbfakhsjfn 

oughufadkfujbsfk the circle of light throwing wrenches n shit at skids...guys cmon vbhsdjkfnslfd

the circle of light is like ‘wtf you all have trauma and a bunch of weird unhealthy coping mechanisms this is wack byeeeee’ lmao

skids calling the lost light his home is rlly sweet tho

cant believe the religious space hippy cult is being so rude about a film made by a guy who died like a week ago. unreal 

cd finally figured out how to make the pffft sound, good for him

AUGHHHHH the fact that rewind used ‘little victories’ as the title of the film and that's something that chromedome said in the video ;_; I'm fucking inconsolable 

rodimus, despite his obvious posturing for the camera during the whole issue, comes off as surprisingly genuine when he says that he hasn't thought about his own future much, but wants the crew to have a happy ending....im gonna cry

‘who knows what's around the corner?’ tailgate, PLEASE don't say that, oh my god, 

OUGHHHH GROUP SHOT 

OHHH mannnnNNNNN i love this issue SO MUCH. what a good fun emotional rollercoaster wrap-up to mtmte s1. god. 

like, this issue has it all - humor, drama, crippling sadness, intrigue, worldbuilding...it’s so excellent 

and getting to see rewind again hurts so bad but also I love him

ok quick mtmte s1 retrospective...god s1 is so fucking good. I'm gonna have to read more to say which chunk of mtmte I liked best but s1 is so fucking excellent that it might be my favorite. though its hard to pick bc there's so much good stuff later on too...whatever, the point is s1 is so so good

the plotlines and characters are fucking stellar. like I cant even believe how well Everything works, its very impressive. I cant really think of anything major that made me go ‘yeah could've done without that plotline/character’

I love how dedicated jro is to connecting everything. I've mentioned it before but basically every single moment in the series has payoff - what you initially think is just a funny moment, or a fluffy character establishment bit, ends up ALSO being an important plot point later, in some way

an example would be here w/rung and his alt mode - it just seems like a fun little B-plot for this issue, and seems to pretty neatly conclude with the reveal that rung was eventually classified as an ‘ornament’ (lmao)...but we later on get to see a lot more about this, both here and in the functionist universe 

and like, stuff like tailgate’s autobot lessons w/magnus - at first that can be seen as purely character establishment stuff, showing that magnus is a strict rule-lover and tg is a loveable try-hard good boy - but that becomes plot relevant in remain in light, with tailgate saving the day due to his knowledge of the autobot code (and its also character relevant, with magnus’s arc in remain in light). 

and I know this is like. a normal regular thing in writing, but I'm just very impressed about how cleanly jro pulls it off, and how many things he’s juggling at once, especially in early mtmte - it’s very ambitious!

and we gotta remember, this is a comic book. I've read a lot of comic books, and the quality is all over the place. a lot of writers bite off more than they can chew, and the story ends up kinda scattered as a result. 

another thing I see a lot in franchise writing like this is a lack of strong early character establishing due to the author assuming the readers are at least somewhat familiar with the characters already - which can be totally fair depending on where it is in the continuity, but other times it can come off as lazy

in mtmte, the cast is extremely well fleshed out, and not only that, the cast itself is unique in that there are a lot of relative unknowns (franchise-wise) - which I think was an absolutely brilliant move, because then jro was able to essentially create The Definitive Version of these characters - characters like swerve, brainstorm, chromedome, rewind, tailgate...mtmte is their baseline characterization, because they haven't really appeared in much else

this also allows for deviation from the franchise norms - again, a comic book classic is good writing being stifled by a need to stick to a certain status quo regard the characters, the world, the powers, relationships, etc

(I've mostly read DC comics, and some marvel, so I'm thinking superheroes w/all these comic comparisons)

so mtmte had a good recipe for genuine creativity in that the characters were relative unknowns, the plot was basically ‘space road trip,’ the status quo of ‘autobot vs decepticon war’ had been demolished throughout the entire franchise...so jro was able to take all that and run, and it turned out so fantastic

and luckily it isn't over yet! so many comics suffer from premature cancellation...and sadly mtmte/ll isn't exempt from this, as we’ll see later, but I've seen some awful ones, where comics are forced to wrap up in like 2 issues while in the middle of an arc. yikes. 

but another comic staple...one of my least favorite things about comics books in general...something that was basically responsible for driving me away from comics after reading a bunch...the dreaded crossover event

yep, even mtmte isn't immune to this unfortunate plague on the comic industry. crossover events are the absolute worst, and I'm saying this as somebody who adores crossovers (in concept more than execution usually). they SHOULD be my favorite, but unfortunately they p much always completely suck

they're essentially a ploy to get you to read the other ongoing titles, but they usually only serve to bog down whatever story you're reading to the point where you don't even wanna read that one anymore, let alone read all the other ongoings. at least, that’s been my experience 

it doesn't help that reading orders tend to be hard to find/keep track of, and that you need to go read the other series to know what's going on. I just hate it, like, I came here to read THIS series, I don't want a bunch of other series showing up too - even if I was reading two series, I wouldn't want them crossed over, because they're separate stories! augh!

I'm totally losing my focus here but my point is...crossover events suck, and mtmte unfortunately is involved in one. I have not read dark cybertron, and I'm not about to. I've heard nothing but bad things so I have no desire to inflict that upon myself 

soooo ill be reading through the tfwiki articles for those issues to give myself a better understanding of what went on - which is more than I've ever done in the past - and maybe ill even make a single post summarizing my thoughts on what I read in the wiki, lmao

but yea ill be skipping to the mtmte s2 stuff next 

phew ok I'm super tired, my vision keeps blurring out and stuff lmao. its time for bed, I probably have more thoughts but ill save them for later. for now...peace out!

#lj rereads mtmte

[furidojasutin]

Okay. She-Ra. Let me just put down some chaotic, random thoughts. I’ll miss a lot of a stuff but-

CATRADORA!! At the beginning I didn’t think I’d end up loving it as much as I do now, I was kinda torn between some different She-Ra ships (Catra/Scorpia for example, but that got washed away in one of the seasons), but BOI. I was so happy. That whole last season had me !!!!!!!!!!! THEYRE LESBIANS HAROLD

Glimbow was a little more of a surprise, but it’s not out of nowhere and they are really precious. Their confession scene was precious, too. I would’ve loved them as best friends, but I can also stan them as couple. I mean... The ball thing in the first (?) season kinda started to give hints already

Mermista and Seahawk were pretty much teased from the beginning but I never really knew if I liked it or not.... Probably bc I rly love Mermista and want her to be rly gay bc I’m rly gay but I also never really stanned Mermista and Perfuma so HMMM. I... kinda learned to appreciate Merhawk, though. The last season just did so many things right. And them with a piratey aesthetic? Amazing.

on that topic though, my initial thought after Seahawk’s first appearance was ‘chaotic bisexual energy’. He’s bi as hell and at least that dude with longer hair and the eye patch in that one undercover episode was his ex boyfriend, no discussions. Mermista is also bi. Merhawk is a powerful, chaotic bi couple.

Bow? also a chaotic bi or pansexual

Bow is precious af and so are his dads btw. God!!! I was so happy when his dads got introduced like whaaaat!! And then we also saw a pic of Scopria’s moms in one ep and just?? YES.

glad that Netossa and Spinnerella got more screen time tbh. They are so wholesome and we finally got to see how powerful they can be, too! They had so many good moments in the last season, we stan

I’m not..... really a fan of Frosta (sorry!!) but Micah trying to bond with her bc he feared that Glimmer might not like him was really precious and funny. Micah is a really nice character anyway, I also dig his abilities and his character design

Scorfuma is a ship I never thought about a lot but.... it’s cute. They will be so wholesome together, so sweet, so much POSITIVITY!!!!

Scorpia’s dkjsfj singing scene???? GLAMOROUS. We stan a scorpion queen. She’s so gorgeous and so sweet.

actually the whole undercover episode was a blessing. Mermista in a suit and a hat?? I died a little. Scorpia and Perfuma looked really pretty, too.

WRONG HORDAK. he was probably one of my fav things of the new season. he’s so fucking precious omg and some scenes were so funny. such a good addition, and he deserves happiness.

Melog..... is so cute, too. Therapy cat!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!

look, Shadow Weaver, though. She really deserves appreciation as a character. I’m not saying that she’s good; no - she’s egoistic and manipulative. But she’s a damn good and interesting character and she went out with a bang. I felt really torn about this scene and I was a little shocked also, but really, it was perfect, actually. I won’t ramble about her character here now, but yanno

Adora’s new She-Ra transformation. It was even better than the other one and the outfit and hair style are so much better, too!!! Basically, I was Catra when Adora did her transformation she watched her do it. Yep.

I really love Mara (and GOSH she’s SO pretty!!!!) and I would’ve loved to see more of her again, but yea djakfwf

the Adora’s dream of the future scene must be one of my faves.... The lightning, the designs, the playful nature.... IM CRY. Glimmer’s new hair style????? Bow’s hair style???? Adora and Catra’s matching outfits and Catra’s ponytail? UGGHH.

I didn’t care so much about Horde Prime as a character, but actually, basically.... he’s the type of villain I rly like? Cold, well-spoken, calculating, a lil charming, ruthless? Ah, yea. Good concept.

STARLA. I almost forgot about Starla omgggg. The three siblings in general?? Their designs were cool, their fighting styles, too. I would’ve loved to see more of them!!

this show in general somehow managed to make me cry easily and often and about the smallest things - I don’t know how it did that, but it was/is a thing. god.

EMOTIONS

the finale was just so good, so perfect, so many feelings..... There’s so much chaos in my thoughts and heart about it, but in a very positive way

there are just so many details that I could ramble about, but this post would get so damn long. so many good scenes.

I LOVE IT SO MUCH

#cryin................ #she ra #shera #Sel's talking #honestly dkwjqef #so much to think about #so many small things too #this post is just very basic #she ra spoilers #shera spoilers

[mothmvn]

i’ve talked my anglo friends’ ears off about this already but it basically never ceases to strike me, just how kind and thoughtful songs/media directed at children made in the 70s-80s USSR were

like songs like “голубой вагон” or “цветные сны” or “крылатые качели” or even sth silly-sounding at first glance like “пусть всегда будет солнце” - all aimed at kids, and all have struck me unexpectedly hard at different points long after i was the target audience... the examples are basically endless, and even tho they’re prime material for the actual 70s-80s-90s kids to grow up and become super jaded about (case in point: “прекрасное далеко”), if you take them at face value they sure strike Something

maybe its the ridiculously persistent MINOR KEY in them - do they want children constantly Wisftul? it’s working... but also lyrics in said minor key like “детство кончится когда-то, ведь оно не навсегда; станут взрослыми ребята, разлетятся кто куда / но пока мы только дети, нам расти ещё, расти - только небо, только ветер, только радость впереди”, or “слышу голос, голос спрашивает строго: а сегодня что для завтра сделал я?” am i just nostalgic? perhaps

or maybe its how seriously they take kids and their emotions, whether addressing them from a “fellow child” POV (the little mammoth song breaks my entire heart still) or an “adult speaking to children” POV (any of the songs from the russian Mary Poppins, or the verses in “пусть всегда будет солнце”), and how earnestly they state pretty damn basic kindness! like, show me an english song for kids that says “in school they teach you [i.e., basically, an important thing in life is] to forge super-super strong friendships and treasure them from early on”! or one that enumerates the positive qualities a little person should be raised to have, which are genuinely pretty basic (earnest, noble, fair, clever, honest, strong, kind - прекрасное далеко also has “клянусь, что стану чеще и добрее, и в беде не брошу друга никогда”)! or a song from a mary poppins movie, sung by a hippie living in a front yard, talking about how no matter how shitty you feel, just trust that there’s someone out there looking for you in the gloom and rain of life! fuck!!!! and like, even when they’re silly, theyre not unkind! they’re hopeful, or funny, or something positive.

i don’t know, theres something about the whole “casually a musical” thing that a lot of russian films do that i’m very fond of (the three musketeers are in my head Largely through song)

and soviet cartoons have so much heart, originality, style - there’s basically no two that look alike, tons of them are stop-motion clay animated and look absolutely beautiful for it... and sure, when i rewatch some of them now, i see the clear uhhhh propaganda-ish elements (how much more blatantly anti-imperialist could the bremen musicians or the flying sailboat(?) be lol), but as a kid they were just... fun! stories! pretty animations! fun songs!

OR they could also be wistful, somewhat adult-aimed maybe but still perfectly palatable to kids - жил был пес, ежик в тумане, падал прошлогодний снег... and then you rewatch them later and youre like Oh this hits different despite it still being a man who grows a tiger tail... don’t even get me fuckin started on garry bardin, that man’s simplistic medium of like, bits of rope, hit at parental issues i didn’t know i had as a child

not to be “that guy” but i’m genuinely grateful i grew up on this stuff instead of the western tom-and-jerry/looney tunes, or stuff like маша и медведи, (and i cant even think of song equivalents, maybe less of a tradition of child songs in english/french aside from nursery rhymes? maybe i just didnt grow up with them bc i am not a Real Canadian?). it breaks my damn heart that it’s so hard to share them with my anglo friends cos they’re excellent, and i feel like... i don’t want to say “all kids should hear this/watch this” bc that feels arrogant and obnoxious, but i’m really glad that children can/do/did hear/watch these messages of kindness and understanding, if they speak russian

#personal #this is a long AND niche post and is entirely a mess of me loving the media i grew up on #i have no concept of how normal such a fondness of it is bc none of my highschool friends were immigrants and idk how fond they are of #the stuff that they grew up on #and then again the stuff they grew up on was lesss..... less Kind with a capital letter yknow #not that it was bad! but the VIBE

[brunhiddensmusings]

year in review of parenting

thought i would try and record a few prime interactions ive had with my kids so i remember them as my 3 daughters are just so out there - daughter says shes interested in becoming an animator so i have to line up a list of animations on youtube i know were made by one person, including ‘no evil’ by betsy lee, dingo doodles sips and the karaoke of doom, ‘witches on tinder’, and piemations as examples of the kind of thing one person can reasonably do with a lot of dedication and if you pay close attention you can see how each of the animations are done differently - explaining what skaa was, twice - spending  time at gamestop just discussion how some funko pops make sense and some are super dumb. makes sense funko pop would be one of the main characters of a movie thats well loved, dumb ones would be the same but for a movie literally nobody likes but funko pops were released before the movie was so they will never sell, or having 40+ differnt versions of rick and another 50 of morty. even having 15+ different batmans doesnt make sense because given the choice do you want orange batman or classic batman? - no i cannot go to your school to beat up the kid who was mean to you. i mean technically im physically able to but thats not the point - explaining what the music style ‘scat’ is and why its unrelated to the same word used to mean ‘wild animal poop’ - i dont know how to explain to you who freddie mercury is because were in a car and i cant show you a youtube of bohemian rhapsody while im driving - explaining why i am irritated at the kid friendly versions of classic horror monsters, they dont get it so i have to go into detail a- is the wolfman scary? like just a dude thats hairy? no. no he is not. however imagine that someone you know, and you dont know who, may at some point in time turn into a ravenous monster who will attack their friends ruthlessly, its already happened at least once so everyone is on edge wondering who it is. however, secretly it is you that is the monster, living in fear that you could loose control and kill the ones you love most b- the frankenstins monster, just a big green dude with bolts in his neck? scary? no, hes just a larger zombie basically. however imagine someone at college going nutty and then starts to raid the morgue, the cemetery, butcher shops, and surgery wards at hospitals for the human parts he stitches together into a rude parody of a human being and brings it to life. but it doesnt stop there, because he abandoned this new creature that thing now stalks him out of revenge, one by one killing everyone they know - the kids now understand why the majority of the classic monsters are supposed to be scary as balls - explaining COPPA to them because several youtubers we watch together have started loudly announcing ‘not for children’, at which they unprompted start complaining about a youtuber called ‘ryans world’ where a very annoying screaming child tells everyone to buy shit and is repeatedly recommended to them by the algorithm because it knows theyre kids. i should have taken that as a warning so i wasnt surprised at just how much ‘ryans world’ merchandise was in stores this year, like ye gods theres more of it then there was starwars and harry potter merch combined he has his own cereal which is apparently frootloops and disturbing plush animals. we agreed its weird when on his merch theres four different characters but the pink cat girl looks like she was made by someone different then the others because shes got way better detail - explain to kids that ‘green eggs and ham’ was made on a dare, which requires me to recite the whole thing for them to count that there are exactly 50 different words 5 year old- “wheres my sister” me- “in the bathroom, why” 5 year old- “imma hug her” me- “nn.... wow youre - 14 year old in the bathroom- “GAAH!” me- “-fast” - i can do a perfect impression of the ‘huhuhuhuh’ sound sans undertale makes - its been 3 years of me using the phrase ‘sans undertale’ specifically and my daughter who has spent the last 3 years dressing like him and listening to his music hasnt caught on that the way im phrasing it is in fact a joke - kids accidentally stumble uppon a history meme i was part of and i have to explain thats a thing i do - explain to kids what the emu war was - explain to kids who rasputin was - explain to the kids what the problem with hitler was, given the 11 year old is supposed to only get this in the school curriculum this next year i can understand why she was shocked. 14 year old was also shocked becuase she is in the between part of ‘we briefly touched on that war’ and ‘okay now that you are old enough we can explain how shoving people into ovens works’ - they asked, they really did, and only then do i realize that despite it being something everyone should definitely be aware of... figuring out how old and how to explain it really is a tricky matter cause ho-damn most adults get queasy when you explain it and im sure those kids had bad dreams for a week - theyre also aware of the trump concentration camps and were able to draw the connections real quick - pun contest - kid asks me to acquire a daft punk song for her so i can put it on her mp3 player, i have never heard of this song despite her spending 5 minutes describing it and how their eyes are freaky. have to explain to her that when i was about her age daft punk released an entire movie made of music videos. we have to show each other different daft punk videos to understand each other - no, daft punk are the robots, not the blue eye people. literally nobody knows what they look like under the helmets they even show up to music award shows wearing them. the helmets can actually make words and emotes theyre really rad songs we have erupted into together - spooky scary skeletons - narwhals narwhals - another irish drinking song - hubba hubba zoot zoot

#dad things #year in review #dorks

[a1kitkat]

Hiii! 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22 (can it be a Westlife one?? Cause theyre older? :D), 23, 24, 32, 33 (to be continued).

12. I don’t entirely get this question... i mean, episode of a particular show? Because yes! I’ve written several fics based upon episodes of TV shows... I mean Torchwood, Roswell New Mexico, Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman, Hawaii Five-0 have all inspired fics from me :)

13. Best advice is probably that it’s okay to write not good stuff or even to not write at all... sometimes you just can’t write because the inspiration isn’t there... but it’s okay to take time off and not force yourself to write

14. Personally I find the ‘just write anything’ advice isn’t very helpful because sometimes you really don’t have anything to write

15. Honestly, I’d love for either ‘Dancing on the Blades’ or ‘I Met him on a Sunday’... I would’ve said Seasons in the Sun but it nearly all takes place in the flower shop. So ‘Met him on a Sunday’ would be a cute rom-com

16.  Oh God... That’s a hard one!!! Because I’ve had a few OTPs over the years... But maaaaaaaybe Cherik! Shnicky have such a special place in my heart but I think I’ve moved on a bit from them so my love has definitely waivered.

17.  95% of my fics are written from start to finish but the occasional long-fic of mine does get written a little out of order, depending on how excited I am for writing particular scenes or if I’m stuck on a plot point and I have to skip over it to then come back (Soledad is a prime example of writing out of sequence)

20.  I don’t think I’ve ever had perfect writing conditions. I often write on-the-go or just whenever I have time. One time I locked myself in my room and wrote for two days straight which was very productive so basically anywhere where I can be left alone and not interrupted that allow me to be ‘in the zone’

22.  The following is a snippet from my very first ever Westlife Fic... I actually re-edited it two years ago before posting it to AO3 

"Nicky?" Shane whispered, a hint of fear in his voice. "Say something. Please?"Nicky pulled away and stared deep into the eyes of his best friend. Nicky could see the tears, fear and uncertainty in Shane's eyes."Please say something. You're scaring me"What can I do, to make it rightWithout another word, Nicky leaned forward and softly brushed his lips against Shane's.Shane paused, shocked. He hadn't expected this to be Nicky's reaction. Shane closed his eyes and began to return the kiss. Nicky's soft, gentle lips were revitalising Shane's senses.Nicky slowly pulled away from Shane and nervously smiled at him. Shane opened his eyes and saw Nicky's beautiful face shyly smiling back."Nicky?" Shane asked."Shhhh...." Nicky whispered.Nicky placed his hand on Shane's cheek and leaned forward. Once again, capturing Shane's lips with his own. Shane slowly began to lay down in the sand, pulling Nicky down with him. Nicky lay on top of Shane, the couple still joined at the lips.

So this was the edited version:

"Nicky?" Shane whispered. He looked up at the blonde; A hint of fear in his voice. "Say something. Please?"Nicky pulled away and stared deep into the eyes of his best friend. He could see the fear and uncertainty in the younger boy’s eyes. Shane was blinking back tears"Please say something. You're scaring me"

Without another word, Nicky leaned forward and softly brushed his lips against Shane's.Shane paused, shocked. He hadn't expected this to be Nicky's reaction. He’d hoped and prayed but never thought it would be a reality. He closed his eyes and began to return the kiss.Nicky's soft, gentle lips were like fire and sent waves of heat through out Shane’s entire body.The blonde slowly pulled away from Shane and nervously smiled at him. The younger boy opened his eyes and saw Nicky's beautiful face shyly smiling at him.

"Nicky?" Shane asked."Shhhh...." Nicky whispered.Nicky placed his hand on Shane's lips, effectively silencing the younger boy.Shane couldn’t resist placing a kiss to Nicky’s finger tip. The blonde retracted his hand and slid it behind Shane’s neck. He pulled the brunette towards him and captured Shane’s lips with his own.

The brunette slid his arms around Nicky’s waist, his hand sneaking its way up underneath the blonde’s shirt. He then slowly lie back in the sand, pulling Nicky down with him. Their tongues never ceased their exploration of the other’s mouths as Nicky pressed his body against Shane’s.

23. ‘Against All Odds’ is a Westlife fic I haven’t re-posted online because it’s terrible but I would love to go back and re-write the entire thing better.... Alternatively, I’d LOVE to re-edit Soledad part one. It really doesn’t sit right with the rest of the series given how my writing has improved. I mean the storyline is fine but given that it’s like 40k words, I’m just too lazy to go back and fix it. 

24. Not from AO3 but I used to have a geocities site that housed all my fics. After the server was removed and I lost the site, I had about a year or two with no home then once I joined ao3 I wasn’t sure if I should repost all my Westlife fics or not because the fandom really had died off. So as it stands now, there’s probably about 10-20 unposted Westlife fics that I would really need to edit/fix/re-write before posting.

32. I have mixed feelings about smut. I have moments where I like the idea of writing it more than actually writing it. Sometimes I have the inspiration and really want to write nothing but pure filth but other times I get invested in the plot then when I reach the point where the smut has to be written, I just don’t care for it and it becomes a hard slog to try and finish the story.

33. I enjoy reading crack but I’m not very good at writing it or coming up with cracky ideas

#ask meme