#and that's fine

[thechaoticdruid]

Friendly reminder to people talking about Astarion as a dad.

Being a good parent does not equal loving your children.

You can be a shit parent and still care about your kids.

Honestly though perfect dad Astarion HCs are boring to read about, let him be a dysfunctional papa who praises his babies for theft. Let Tav tear their hair out over what this man is teaching his kids.

Let him get annoyed with them, but stick a dagger on anyone who dares to think about hurting them.

Bro is gonna teach them to be entitled little shits and raise hell if someone accuses his child of not being a perfect little angel I just know it.

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #astarion ancunin #astarion bg3 #astarion x tav #astarion my beloved #dadstarion #Astarion would NOT be the best dad #but he would love any child that was his #and that's fine #we're literally imagining stuff about a man who isn't real. #bg3 astarion

[david-talks-sw]

An argument I hear from time to time is the following:

"I don't care that this novel is considered Legends, if it was canon when George Lucas was in charge of Lucasfilm, it's still canon to me now. Whatever George says is what counts, I don't care what Disney says."

Putting the Expanded Universe's Star Wars and George Lucas' Star Wars in the same basket. And that's, uh... inaccurate.

So without further ado, let's explore:

George Lucas’ involvement in the Expanded Universe

Early years of the EU...

When the first bit of EU content came out in the form of the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Lucas was too busy working on the films, so Alan Dean Foster wrote it by himself (which explains why Luke and Leia's relationship plays out romantically).

After the movies came out, when new material was going to be created, George told Lucas Licensing and other authors that the Prequel era was off-limits to write about, because he might tell that story one day.

Beyond that, they could go to town and write sequels, for instance. After all, part of why Star Wars was created was to let people's imagination run wild and George was happy to let other artists play in the sandbox he created.

That said, things were very clear from the get-go.

These weren't his stories.

The Thrawn books, Dark Empire, all this material was explicitly just Tom Veitch and Timothy Zahn and whoever else's creation. Not George's, who was described by Lucas Licensing's Lucy Autrey Wilson as "not very involved".

The most he did was answers "OK/Not OK" questionnaires about what the EU writers could or couldn't write.

Telling Yoda's backstory? Not OK.

Telling Han's backstory, between the Prequel and Ep. 4? OK.

Having someone wear Vader's suit after his death? Not OK.

The Emperor returning in a clone body? OK.

So that's it. That was his involvement in the 90s.

Him saying "don't write something set during this/that period".

"OK/Not OK" questionnaires.

It's also worth mentioning he didn't approve of Mara Jade, Luke's wife in the EU. In his mind, "Jedi don't marry".

Rather, the character herself wasn't an issue... until she married Luke. When Timothy Zahn asked for Luke and Mara to be married or engaged, back in 1993, Lucasfilm initially vetoed the idea.

According to Brian Jay Jones (author of "A Life", George Lucas' biography), in 1995 George convened a 'Star Wars Summit' wherein he gathered licensees and international agents to Skywalker Ranch to reinforce "the need for him to maintain quality control, especially in the areas of publishing, where some characters—such as Luke Skywalker, who’d been given a love interest in a fiery smuggler named Mara Jade—were living lives far beyond the ones he had written for them in the original trilogy".

Sources:

During the Prequels...

George Lucas was writing and directing three movies with large themes, shot almost back-to-back, commuting between Australia and California. That's hard enough as it is.

Also, in the 90s, most movies were still shot on film. During the making of Phantom Menace, Lucas shot parts of the film by combining prototype digital Sony cameras and using them in combination with videotapes, rather than shooting on film.

For Attack of the Clones, George worked with Panavision and Sony to develop fully digital cameras, which eventually became the standard.

As if that wasn't enough, by making the Prequels, Lucas and ILM were also creating fully-digitized worlds (Coruscant, Geonosis) and characters (Jar Jar, Yoda) and laying the groundwork for the CGI technology that has now become essential for today's blockbusters.

Having established all this...

Do you really think he had the time or the patience to read through a bunch of novels and guidebooks?!

Simply put: George Lucas was too busy revolutionizing cinema to be involved in the development of the EU.

So if you ask George who Tahl or Vitiate are, or what the Stark Hyperspace War or a vapor manifold are, if you ask him to recite you the Sith Code... he'll grumble and say "heck if I know".

He outright admitted that fans know more Star Wars lore than him.

Because SOMEBODY ELSE wrote that stuff.

And he let them do it because:

It made money. A lot of money, especially after TPM came out. Money that could fund his next films. You don't mess with licensing. Hell, it's why he was so cool with there being all those Star Wars parodies.

He didn't see those stories as canon anyway, so it couldn't hurt. He saw them as a separate universe, an alternate timeline wherein the films happened ALONG with all these other tales.

So associating the EU content with Lucas is unreasonable. He was too busy, so he just let Howard Roffman, Lucy Autrey Wilson, Sue Rostoni and Lucas Licensing do their thing and crank out new stories and transmedia content for the fans.

It was a one-way relationship. The licensing parallel universe needed to have some internal consistency AND adhere to what Lucas established in the new films movies (which was difficult because they weren't involved in the production process), but he didn't need to be in line or consistent with anything they established.

Now, George did set some guidelines/boundaries and there were obviously do's and don'ts. But once those boundaries were set and the brief was established, the authors had a lot of freedom and, like, 99% of their interaction was with their editors from the respective publishing houses (Scholastic, Del Rey, Dark Horse) and the folks at Lucas Licensing.

George was only really brought in to sign off on, like, some of the major plot points only once in a blue moon. Stuff like:

"Let's make a Maul novel". George would go "fine, just keep him mysterious."

"What species should Plagueis be?" George: "he could be a Muun, here's concept art."

Nothing more than that. Again: the Expanded Universe was other storyteller's interpretation of what Lucas had created.

Sometimes, it was spot on and it aligned with George's vision.

Other times, this additional lore was created by writers who didn't know what he was doing with the Prequels, so they were in the dark regarding certain plot points.

And then you have the authors who absolutely disagreed with George's vision of the Prequels, or of Star Wars, in general, but wanted to engage with the material nonetheless.

Which is why, whilst sometimes the EU fixed some plot-holes, sometimes the EU had inconsistencies.

Inconsistencies such as Ki-Adi Mundi being a Knight on the Council, who is married and has kids (when the Jedi being prohibited from marrying is a major plot point in the Prequels)...

… or the Jedi being essentially superhuman (when one of the narrative reasons Qui-Gon is killed is to show that the Jedi are mortals, not supermen)…

... or other stuff like Mace having a blue lightsaber for a period (because who the hell knew purple was an option?!) or some Jedi having red lightsabers, or Sith Lords being able to become ghosts after death, when that's a feat you can only achieve by being selfless.

It's also why you get conflicting definitions of what the Jedi call "attachment" or conflicting narratives trying to reframe midi-chlorians as a cold, intentionally-flawed way of seeing the Force (when they're meant to be a beautiful metaphor for symbiosis and how the Force works).

And it makes sense that some of this stuff wouldn't track, considering how Lucas stated multiple times that he didn't have anything to do with it, that it was a separate universe from his own...

Safe to say that if George had any involvement in the EU, it was so minimal that he, himself, didn't count it as "involvement".

Additional sources:

Later years of the EU...

After the Prequels were over and done with, Lucas created The Clone Wars with Dave Filoni. At first, he'd just suggest a few storylines, but he quickly got VERY involved in the whole process. Far more involved than he ever was with EU content.

And y'know... Dave Filoni is a massive Star Wars fan and an avid EU reader. So, from time to time, Filoni would bring up EU material for Lucas to consider during the story conferences, and they'd look at what was out there together.

But it's important to note that George's stance toward the EU didn't change and became a rule for everyone on the writing staff: the EU content was nothing more than a pool of "fun what-if ideas" that they could draw inspiration from.

If they could, they'd try to not mess with continuity... but if the story called for it, they could retcon anything without batting an eye. Because it wasn't canon to them.

It's why author Karen Traviss quit working with Lucasfilm after the Mandalorians were retconned into pacifists in The Clone Wars.

The only things that were truly canon were:

George Lucas' own word.

The movies.

Previously established The Clone Wars lore.

And that's it.

Everything else was somebody's else's concern. Not George's.

Sources:

This way of seeing the EU continued all the way to the time shortly before George sold the company to Disney as his drafts for the Sequels featured:

no Jacen, Jaina or Anakin Solo (Han and Leia's kids from the EU),

a still-alive Chewbacca (who died, later in the EU),

no "New Jedi Order".

Every version of George's Sequels ignored the EU.

Which would explain why the EU reboot was planned in the summer of 2012 (when Lucas was in charge)!

I'll repeat: the EU reboot was planned months BEFORE George Lucas sold the company to Disney.

Because of course it was! It's a natural result of 30 years' worth of content that's so intermeshed that it would stop future artists - namely George himself - from creating anything else.

Sources:

Exceptions to the rule:

1. Comics (kinda)

He did read the comics. Or at least, he gave them a glance.

Aside from the fact that he grew up reading comics, understand that George Lucas is a visual artist, first and foremost.

That's what he's about and that's what he loves, that's what speaks to him. There's a reason his upcoming Museum of Narrative Art will feature comic panels and pages of all kind.

During pre-production on Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Lucas had the art team draw concept art before a script had ever been written so he'd have ideas for set-pieces.

Later on, J.W. Rinzler pitched him the idea of adapting his early drafts for Star Wars into comic form. Lucas' initial reaction was going "hell no". Rinzler had concept art made…

… and George took one look and was on board.

So it's not a stretch to assume that a book telling a story through beautiful drawings would catch his attention more than a novel.

Case in point: He knew who Quinlan Vos was and was enamored with the character. He knew Aayla enough to put her in Attack of the Clones after seeing a cover of Republic by John Forster featuring her (below, left).

(although, it's worth pointing out that he doesn't call her out by name a single time, in the director's commentary of the Attack of the Clones, she's just the "Twi'Lek Jedi" and her inclusion was done mainly to add more diversity to the Jedi fighting in the arena)

Over a decade later, when the comic Star Wars #7 came out in 2015, Lucasfilm acquired artist Simone Bianchi's original 20 pages and cover art for George, so he could feature it in his the Museum of Narrative Art:

So at the very least, he looked at the comics and admired the visuals.

Whether he actually read the comics in detail or just skimmed through most of them because he liked the pretty pictures (likelier, imo) is an entirely different matter.

Sources:

2. Video-Games (kinda)

Lucas would periodically check in on the status of LucasArts games, lending creative input and advice.

Sometimes, his advice ranged from "weird" to "he's gotta be fucking with us, right?"

Apparently, he advised the team developing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed that they dub Starkiller "Darth Insanius" or "Darth Icky".

And you know what? I have no trouble believing it.

Firstly because if you're going by the idea that he gave no fucks about the EU, then of course he'll come up with "meh" names. But also, this is the same guy who created "Winkie" in 2012/2013, the character who'd go on to be named "Rey".

He also told the team creating Star Wars: 1313 that he wanted a fresh face as the main character, then only weeks before the game was announced he went "let's make it Boba Fett".

Finally... the cancelled Darth Maul game by Red Fly.

Codenamed “Damage”, then “Battle of the Sith Lords”. Think Batman: Arkham City meets Star Wars.

Red Fly pitched it as a coming of age story where we see Maul be kidnapped, tortured, eventually joining the Dark Side, and ending in TPM. Then they had interactions with LucasArts and found out Maul survived his fight with Obi-Wan.

The game went through several iterations, partly because the people at Red Fly were kept in the dark about the developments in The Clone Wars (Season 4 wasn't out yet), and even when some tidbits came out and they knew characters like Savage Oppress and Death Watch would be included, they didn't get more details.

Whatever. They do their best to make something from what they're told. Then they have a meeting with George. As this GameInformer article explains:

“A friendly George Lucas entered the room and was eager to hear the pitch from Red Fly’s creatives. “Before they could finish their spiel, Lucas cut them off, stood up, walked over to [two Sideshow Collectibles statues of Darth Maul and Darth Talon], rotated them to be facing the same direction, pushed them together, and said ‘They’re friends!’” adds the source. “He wanted these characters to be friends, and to play off of each other. […] The problem with the idea of Maul and Talon teaming up for a buddy cop-like experience was that they were separated by over 170 years […] When this vast time divide was brought up to Lucas’ attention, he brushed off the notion of it not working, and said that it could instead be a descendant of Darth Maul or a clone of him.”

So now the game is about a descendant of Maul, guided by his ancestor and fighting a redesigned Darth Krayt, etc?

The game was eventually cancelled when George sold the company.

Worth pointing out that this was circa 2010/2011... around the time that George started working on his Sequels, according to Jett Lucas. And we know that the treatment for the Sequels that Lucas presented to Bob Iger featured old man Maul and Darth Talon as the villains of the trilogy... take from that what you will.

3. The Prequel novelizations (kinda)

They were all given a copy of Lucas' screenplay.

While most of their work was with Sue Rostoni, Lucy Autrey Wilson, and Howard Roffman on the Lucasfilm team (like some of the other authors), Terry Brooks, R.A. Salvatore and Matthew Stover all spent a bit of time with George before writing their respective novels.

George told Terry Brooks to write some additional material for Anakin Skywalker because there wasn't enough of that in the movie. He was shown rushes from the set, they "opened the safe" for him. When Terry had further questions re: midi-chlorians and the history of the Sith, George goes on a 30-minute monologue about all that.

R.A. Salvatore had a 45-minute interview with him that turned into a 3-hour chat. He was able to go back to the Ranch a few times during the writing process, and one of those times George chatted with him and his wife during lunch. He was shown various cuts of the film and concept art.

Matthew Stover and George talked for a whole afternoon (I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume he was also shown the other stuff like some cuts/deleted scenes, concept art, etc etc).

Was there a line-edit of the ROTS novel from Lucas? Regarding the Revenge of the Sith novelization, some people bring up the idea that George Lucas did a line-edit on the book because Stover wrote this statement on theforce.net:

That said...

Stover, also stated that Lucas told him to write whatever he wanted as long as it was good,

he also said he didn't actually see Lucas type the edits,

an anonymous Del Rey editor stated on theforce.net that the notion that George edited the novel himself is "extremely incorrect".

There's enough "reasonable doubt" for the argument to be made that the Revenge of the Sith novelization was edited the same way as any other Star Wars novel, rather than by George himself.

The fact remains, though, that it was a novel written by someone who understood the source material, as it was explained to him in detail by George Lucas himself (a luxury many SW authors never got).

Lucas' backstory for the Sith in the TPM novel: If Pablo Hidalgo is to be believed, the backstory of the Sith, as detailed in the Phantom Menace novelization, came from Lucas.

(Obviously, I'd allow for the very likely possibility that there was some embellishment by Terry Brooks)

20 years later, however, it seems George decided to stick to the idea that there was no war between the Jedi and the Sith.

Final thought:

A lot of people will insist that George was involved in spite of all the above-posted evidence. Saying stuff like:

"But [X person] said that it was canon..."

Sometimes, they’ll link you to this whole website collecting quotes of other people saying "the EU was canon" (never George Lucas except for, like, one/two quotes where he acknowledges the existence of Sequel books which MUST mean he saw them as canon, right?) and...

On the one hand... of course they'll all vaguely say he's "involved" and tip-toe around the subject; it's technically true and, again, they're trying to make money. It's a business, folks.

On the other... yeah? Duh. Of course it was canon to Lucas Licensing and the authors who wrote for the EU. But it wasn't canon to George. And I just gave you a whole bunch of quotes directly from him and/or the same people quoted on that website, all confirming that he didn't see them as canon and he wasn't involved (or barely was).

Other times, we're straight-up approaching "burying head in the sand/lalalala I'm not listening!" levels of justifications.

Like, we just talked about the Sith's origins, right?

I remember a while ago, this Star Wars YouTuber was reviewing this quote from Lucas, in The Star Wars Archives: 1999-1995:

The YouTuber's reaction the second after reading the quote is saying:

"And of course, what George is referring to, here, is the Battle of Ruusan and the Brotherhood of Darkness using the Thought Bomb created by Lord Khan to kill the Jedi Lord Hoth and…"

My guy! You read a whole excerpt that started with "there was never a war between the Jedi and the Sith" and the words "Ruusan" or "Thought Bomb" never being mentioned once in the passage (or in the TPM novelization)... and concluded that George was referring to the Jedi/Sith Battle of Ruusan? And all that other EU stuff?

See what I mean, folks?

Now, look, I grew up with these stories (heck, I grew up with these stories in three different languages). So I get it. I know they're awesome.

And, yes, there is a difference between the kind of content we used to get and the content we're getting now (for one, lightsabers used to be lightsabers, in video-games, not baseball bats).

But if you're trying to prop up the EU, the facts show that the "George Lucas signed off on them" authority argument isn't a valid one. Because he clearly wasn't very interested or involved in it.

And why would you want to use this authority argument, anyway?

You shouldn't need to say "this came from Lucas" to like those stories. They don't need to be George Lucas Approved™ to matter and to be validated as "worthy of appreciation". They're valid on their own, they're great stories. And if you like them better than the Sequels, go to town. I know I do.

The only thing you can't do (with a straight face, at least) is hold them up as "the True Lucas-Approved Canon™ as opposed to the Disney Trash" in a rant, because you'd be wrong and/or lying. Neither had Lucas' hand in them in any meaningful way.

Finally... I was devastated when the EU was officially made non-canon, in 2014. And for a few years, I saw the new Star Wars continuity through this lens:

"Any EU content is still canon unless it's directly retconned...!"

Trust me, when I say that only pain lies that way. Because that's not how a lot of Star Wars creators, including the Flanelled One himself, see it. The way they saw/see it is:

"Unless it's been shown in a movie or TCW... it's a legend, it might have happened."

This line of thought seems to be increasingly applied to the new Disney canon too, by the way. "If it's not shown on a screen, then it's probably canon yet also up for grabs to be retconned."

And the sooner you accept that this is how it's being treated, the sooner you accept that the EU was never canon to Lucas or Filoni...

... the less painful it'll be when, I dunno, you watch The Acolyte and it's nothing like the Darth Plagueis novel or Plagueis himself is absent, or he's there, but as an Ithorian instead of a Muun.

(note how I didn't use the word "painless")

#Lucas Canon & EU Canon & Disney Canon are all different things. #the only downside to this notion is that you can't use Lucas' name in conjunction with the EU to win a debate or rant about LF. #or use Lucas' name to validate a headcanon that came from the EU #Aside from being glad he got to create a universe that inspired so many artists and creators to let their imagination go wild #he barely gave a crap about what other writers did in a parallel universe that he didn't even see as canon. #and that's FINE #collection of quotes #89 quotes I think #this may be the longest or second post I've written yet #meta #sw meta #expanded universe #george lucas #lucas quotes #dave filoni #youtube #star wars #star wars analysis #TCW #star wars comics #star wars novels #lucasfilm #EU #Legends #star wars legends #sw legends #supplementary material #long post

[amaranthsynthesis]

Me: (painstakingly plots out and dates Ballards background and life story) Also me, like a week later: but WHAT IF AU

I was thinking about what might have happened if Ballard's coming of age had resulted not in killing the Matron and majority of House Halvyriin, but in her actually accepting him as a male heir and continuing to groom him as her successor... as always, an excuse to draw fun outfits and jewelry, but also! The Ballard that gives us is haughtier, colder, and more ruthless; he has to make very deliberate decisions to balance his duties to Bhaal with his duties to his House, and ensure they never interfere with one another. He stills takes over the Temple of Bhaal in Baldurs Gate, but they operate just as heavily below the sewers and tunnels as they do above. Gortash still sends him an invitation to the first heist, and when they conceive of the Absolute plot it is easy for Ballard to bring in the force of Drow warriors Ketheric had wanted so badly, bringing down another of the Menzobarrenzen houses in the process........

#this is so self indulgent #and that's fine #I don't hate this young!gortash i think #the first time I've tried and not erased it immediately #bg3 #the dark urge #durge #ballard #artings #digital art

[the-badger-mole]

calling Aang a “spoiled brat” is………. Something

It's called a description. I have worse words for him. Unempathetic. Selfish. Short sighted. Entitled. Ineffective. Lazy. Sexual assaulter. Terrible father. I have more if you want.

#atla #anti aang #you're not ready to have this convo about your fave #and that's fine #just stay away from me then

[beesofwisdom]

:)

#bzzz #encouragement bumblebee #thought this was a timely reminder #the holidays can be and often are both exhausting and joyful #and that's fine #take care of yourself #you're doing so well #you're loved #you're important #i promise

[bright-omens]

Miles Maitland Headcanons

The lack of Miles headcanons is absolutely criminal, so I will take it upon myself to make both general hcs and also x reader ones because why not. These are just general hcs of how I think he'd be in a relationship :)

This man would be so sweet and would absolutely spoil his lover

His main love language is physical touch (which sucks, because it's the 30s, but he gets very handsy when in private. In a modern setting/AU though, he would not be able to keep his hands off his boyfriend)

He would love going out to dinner with his lover (if he's dressed for it obviously)

Would never get his lover (too) jealous on purpose, but thinks it's attractive when it happens

He strikes me as the type of person to enjoy deep conversations no matter what time it is, as long as he actually loves the person. It could be 3 in the morning, and he would still be open to any kind of conversation, so long as it's interesting to him and he's learning more about his boyfriend

So many gifts. He would practically pick his lover's wardrobe. He knows his fashion and he knows what would look good and what wouldn't. Most of his gifts would be clothes related

When they aren't though, they're so meaningful and at first glance, they don't seem that deep, but every gift he gives is tied to some sort of memory

That being said, while he's definitely very sweet with his lover, he's also such a little shit

This fucker will tease his boyfriend relentlessly if he catches him doing anything dorky (in the most loving way though)

He is absolutely going to pout just to get his way, as long as it's not a big deal and not in a manipulative way (i.e, he's not going to pout just to get his partner to fuck him, but he will pout to get his partner to buy him that lovely pair of shoes that he's been eying for the past week)

He's definitely the type to subtly tease his boyfriend. Like, it's subtle enough that no one would notice, but it's also obvious enough that his boyfriend and friends would notice, if they paid attention

Speaking of attention, he's an attention whore and will do almost anything for his boyfriend's attention

He's also so dramatic

"What do you mean I can't buy that shawl? It would look absolutely stunning on me...I'm aware I should save my money, but still. I should be allowed to pamper myself."

Cue a very pouty Miles

He's also a big fan of pet names. He'll call his boyfriend "Dear," "Love," "Darling," and anything else he can think of

That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading :)

#miles maitland #bright young things #miles maitland headcanons #miles maitland hcs #He's my current hyperfixation #look at him #I love him #This probably won't get any attention #And that's fine #This is just self indulgence for me anyways

[hellenhighwater]

Hi ! As someone who's trained a few cats some tricks (sitting on shoulders, no scratching, etc) what would be your opinion on starting to train a cat at 4 yo ? I'm looking to adopt and I intend to bring my cat wherever I go on vacation because they are my family, but it will need training and accustomization. My mum thinks I should start with a younger cat. Do you think 4yo is too old? Have you trained 4+yo cats and do they respond well to training (in your experience and opinion)? Thank you so much !

I'm of the opinion that it's never too late to start working on training with a cat. I didn't have Nim shouldering until she was probably 14 years old. But what training can achieve with any cat (and the timeframe you're looking at) is going to vary a lot. Honestly, though, if you're looking to have a cat that's comfortable leaving the house with you and going on trips or whatever, that's going to depend a lot on the individual cat. I got Vice when he was only a few weeks old, but I'd say he's probably a decade away from enjoying long out-of-house trips, if he ever does. Some cats are just bolder than others--and for that reason, you're probably better off adopting an adult than a kitten. Kittens are gambles--their personalities can change quite a bit as they age. Adult cats are often more settled in themselves, so you know who you're taking home with you.

If the four year old cat is outgoing, likes meeting new people and acclimates quickly to new places, you're probably going to be able to train them to be able to participate in trips without too much problem. A four year old cat is like the equivalent of someone in their early twenties, in terms of life-phase; they should be pretty settled in themselves but they're very young. If they don't...well, maybe look for a different cat. But I would still say you should look for an adult, and be picky. Cats that truly enjoy being out of the safety and comfort of their own territory are relatively few and far between. Malice will go on boat rides and car rides without fuss but after a couple hours she just wants to be back in her comfy bed at home; I would think long and hard about bringing her on a multi-day trip.

There's also a possibility that you may have to say "okay, I have this cat and I love them, but they just don't enjoy going on trips, and the best thing I can do is make other accommodations for them when I travel." I think that it's possible to train almost any cat to tolerate travel, but that's not the same as enjoying it. Sometimes having a pet as part of the family means recognizing that their needs and wants are different from yours. Training can do a lot, and there are cats that really do enjoy travel, but make sure you're putting the wellbeing of the cat first.

Here, have a picture of Malice on a boat.

#a lot of the cats that i see in 'adventure cat' videos #seem to live either full-time or very nearly full-time on the road #and that's fine #you can make that work #but if you're talking like a couple times a year #that may be more alarming for them than fun #so you can probably find a way to make it work #but don't force it.

[running-in-the-dark]

I've got an appointment with my psychiatrist tomorrow, and I'm getting my conch piercing swapped out for a shorter one. that's gonna be stressful 🙃

#annnd I will absolutely take my lorazepam for the second one... yeah it's unnecessary yeah it's dumb but. I'm SO scared #and I haven't even thought about taking any in ages. so it's alright and I don't mind #I will do things to make things I want to do but am scared of easier for myself so that I can do them at all #and that's fine #I'm so hoping she'll say the piercing is healing well... it doesn't hurt at all and I've been careful with it and I've cleaned it #(almost) every day like she said #but there's a bump and it still gets pretty gross and. well I'm just hoping it's fine 😬 #I kinda keep going from 'I still want as many ear piercings as possible' to 'I don't want to get a piercing ever again in my life' and back #though at this point.... I'm thinking I definitely should not get any more in my left ear since it keeps being difficult (the slight hearing #loss and the tube and then I got a middle ear infection... maybe it'll eventually be fine again but right now it's not looking like it 🤔 #but whatever maybe I'll get more in the right one. I could. if I wanted to. we will see 🤷) #also it suuucks that I now have to drive 30 minutes to get to my psychiatrist's office but I like him a lot so I will not look for a #different one #personal

[silverbirching]

Have you ever had one of those inexplicable thirsts for a human being, even if they're a hairy Australian weirdo who does silly dances and sings songs about hot nonsense, but you still spend the whole time they're on screen digging your nails into your palms?

No? okay me neither. Anyway here's a new Tom Cardy song.

#tom cardy #hot shit #pluto is not a planet #and that's fine #I'm not weird you're weird #shut up #Youtube

[obsidianmichi]

#rogue trader #rogue trader sass #you know #it's been awhile #but I can't remember a game that has this many sick burns in rapid succession #there's not a lot of tones other than “I am your God King” #and that's fine #lolololololol

[statementlou]

God I hold such a grudge against Niall for not supporting Louis at one of his concerts that I won't listen to any of his music. My friends think I'm super petty but Louis was there for him and Niall could find the time to go be seen at Harrys show but I guess he was too busy for every Louis concert. I'm so glad Louis didn't go to nialls London show.

I mean I think Niall went to Harry's show because he wanted to go, not to be seen and create publicity for Harry; but you have my full blessing to be as petty as you want, literally the ONLY reason you should listen to Niall's music is if it makes you happy to do that so if you don't feel like it for any reason at, oh well! That's that! But I will say that I don't think Louis and Niall are refusing to support each other: I think they just don't hang out/ their shows aren't on each other's radar. I imagine if Louis messaged Niall like "hey you should come to my show!" (or vice versa) that Niall would, but that Louis wouldn't even think of it, and they probably didn't even really know about each others' shows coming up. Whereas we know Harry and Niall still make an effort to hang out (and Harry probably did message him about it, it seems like the sort of thing he'd be on top of.) While I'm sure either would be so pleased to run into the other (as we saw when Louis was teased with the possibility at the Rolling Stone awards) it looks to me like Louis and Liam are in touch off and on, Niall and Harry make time to see each other, and we obviously have no idea about Louis and Harry as that's HIGH LEVEL CLASSIFIED REDACTED WE'D HAVE TO KILL YOU INFO but aside from that... they just aren't in each others' day to day lives and don't think about it that much is my guess and like... it is what it is. I mean I'll tell you, you get older you get busy and suddenly you don't see some friends for a year at a time. But like it's fine! You're still friends! It doesn't mean you don't like em it just... happens that way. IDK I'm not too worried about it

#now if you were a houie one could make a case for who got who in the breakup fairly easily!! #but I don't think that's the case #some were always closer than others and its consistent #I personally don't listen to niall's music cause I'm not that into it! whatever!! #and there are loads of artists whose music I don't even check out to see if it's good because I DON'T CARE TO #and THAT'S FINE #do whatever you want always forever #also I mean... I kind of don't imagine Niall and Louis being all that excited about the music each other are making? #just based on what they're into? #whereas Niall probably is super into H's music #blah blah blah #nouis discourse

[dontvap0rdawave]

what do you think of the ship cube x blixer?

I don't really mind, don't really care, mostly desensitized to it (and a lot of the ships here, but not in a bad way and more of a: I've seen so much and so varied of them that I guess I'm used to it?? Yeah I think that's it, kinda way)

Like, don't get me wrong, some stuff I've seen of it is cute. That goes with every other ship, but I guess it was like the norm at one point in the fandom and I just became used to seeing it and just walked over it without a care in the world. I know people put a lot of work and lore in the ship, and you know what? That's cool! You do you in your wacky adventures, but some of it it's just not for me and that's okay too

I don't attack anyone for it, no one attacks me, I'm always respectful of other people's headcanons and storied and whatnot. It's not cool to attack people just because they're pretty much existing and drawing stuff they like, they're still people.

With that all said, I don't mind it... What I DO mind is people of said ship trying to mess with me because I am cringe (affectionate) and basically a OCxCanon shipper the whole way

Now, truth be told, the first years was when it was really bad, because it was when the fandom was starting, and everyone was fighting everyone, and there were still a lot of very vocal kids and whatnot. THAT, was stresful-

Nowadays it's all chill, people are way more respectful, and I'm sure some of my audience grew as people and stopped fighting with other people just because of some blue cats. That has lifted a huge weight off my back, yet still, there are some crazy people back there trying to make me either look bad, or want to defend the ship like white knights, which I just walk away from

Friendly reminder that I'm a person who just wants to self-indulge and vent through my works most of the time, and if you don't like my stuff you're more than free to block me, just don't send me death threaths over a ship

#sorry for the rant #but i feel like i had to adress it at some point #shipping is cool #some people don't like that #and that's fine #just don't harass people over it #this goes for all of the fandoms i'm in #looking at you threateningly kirby fandom #seriously people in there messed me up for my ocs #whadda hell #reply #reply post #rant #vent #not really but still #long post #figured I should start responding to asks #it's the least I can do with college on my back #blegh

[seethesunny]

My writing may be shallow and cliché and too personal to be discussed or gather a big audience but honestly? I've made peace with it.

And if there are six or seven people who enjoy it? That's cool too. I'm just having fun with my hobby.

#I'm creating something and not everyone will take a look #and that's fine #is this blissful ignorance??? #don't know who cares #gecko rants #my dumb thoughts #mine

[magical-girl-brainrot]

magical girls based on dc and marvel superheroes

#you got superhero things doing bootlegs of those guys #and that's Fine #but it would be cool to have magical girl bootlegs of these fuckers

[pierrotwrites-hc]

whump is also about sex

I’ve seen a lot of posts about whump not necessarily being sexual and asexuals also enjoying whump. This is true and these whumpers are valid. There are many, many reasons to enjoy the particular catharsis of seeing a character get absolutely wrecked.

However, for a lot of us, whump is also about sex.

I, myself, personally, am only interested in whump if 1) the whump is being perpetrated by one character against another, and 2) there is some kind of sexual relationship between either whumper and whumpee or caretaker and whumpee.

Fic where a character gets sick or injured in some nondirectional way (e.g., a car crash) doesn’t work for me. I need the whump to be a manifestation of specific, focused malice. 

Also, G-rated whump doesn’t work for me. Hell, most PG-13 and light R-rated whump doesn’t work for me. My wheelhouse is in hard R to NC-17 territory. 

And that’s because, well, whump is also about sex. For me, it’s about sex. It’s about other things, too! But sex is a necessary (and, depending on my mood, wholly sufficient) component.

And that is fine. It is fine to be interested in trauma in ways that are not just G-rated. A lot of people read and write whump because they are sadomasochists. 

Whump is also about sex, and that’s fine.

#whump #whump as trauma culture #hurt/comfort #hurt/no comfort #thoughts on whump #it's also about sex #and that's fine

[lovl3igh]

https://www.tumblr.com/happymixxx/745736737550139392/i-watched-both-trailers-hotd-season-2-one-for?source=share

Nevertheless, many find the change in Aegon's character attractive. I see how lots of people are starting to love him.

SOME BOOK SPOILERS

I agree! just by the trailer you can say aegon is better character now than in season 1. he did tons of horrible things who are being ignored by people (otto, alicent, erryk) or being justifed (like saying that the war is rhaenyra's fault bc she's not firstborn son and don't want to bend the knee). tbf it didn't needed much, in s1 aegon is always drunk rpist forced by his mother and grandfather to take the throne, now he can finally do sth on his own. and as from books we know those things are horrible (feast after luke's death, killing rhaenyra in front of her son, what they did to baela etc), they are also very interesting and intensive and speak a lot about aegon. he is a bad person but for sure good character, even more in the books than in the show for now and as we reach season 2 we will see more about him, which i'm very excited for.

so yeah, I see why people love / start to love aegon's character that was created. what i do not understand why they love him as a "person" in context of his behaviour or try to justify him. in fact he is the usurper, a rpist, a kinslayer and throws his own children to fighting pit. there's no point in denying it. many from team green do not understand that they can love a character without ignoring their actions or trying to justify them. there's no justice or good will in aegon's behaviour. it's pure chaos, hatred, anger and need of being loved and either you like to see it or not.

#like either you love aegon's character for who he is #and that's fine #we don't need to love only clearly morally white characters #it would be not very good idea in hotd tbh #but saying that he was the rightful heir #or that he doesn't rpe girls #is clearly not true #and you try to push fanon aegon agenda #but yeah some of tg are like that #rhaenyra targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen is the rightful ruler #hotd #anti team green #team green #aegon the elder #aegon the usurper #house of the dragon #fire and blood #team black #asoiaf #anti aegon ii targaryen #anti aegon ii stans