#anyway geoff is fucking great

[skeletalheartattack]

Drudly have you ever seen Geoff Peterson I think you'd like him (he's a skeleton)

YEAH!!! there were a few times in my life where i watched the late late show, and i always liked seeing that funky skeleton

#ask #axols-atoll #SKELETON #ironically enough he appeared in my youtube algorith #im kinda assuming he did for a lot of people since my friend sent me the video i watched the other day without me saying anything #anyway geoff is fucking great #not so much his earlier appearences where he uses voice clips (since he started as a parody of co-hosts) #josh robert thompson's voice fits him the best #but simply in my mind he was just too nervous on television starting out. #its a little hard to find videos of geoff specifically but he's usually in the tweet segments of the show #also he's got a mohawk which is dope #i think hes neat is all :) #anyway!!! thank you for the ask axols!!!

[majorshatterandhare]

Apparently my brain really hates when names have A, U, and R in them, because without fail, every time I go to type Arthur my brain wants to spell it “Aurthur” or perhaps “Aurthr” and every time I go to type Marius my brain wants to type “Mauris” or maybe “Maurius” or maybe “Maurias” its unclear because I *usually* notice my mistake by the end because it’s clear to me those ending are wrong. Brain just really wants “AUR” together.

#if you see me misspell those names. that’s why #also im american so i default to pronouncing marius— hang on let me look up some IPA symbols #i pronounce is with this vowel ‘ɑ’ which is the open back unrounded vowel #where as they seem to pronounce it with the ‘e’ symbol which is an english (or at least am english) long a sound. #they say it like the name mary. like ‘marry us’ #reasons english needs either more vowel symbols or accent marks #also i am aware the ipa vowels are fucked up but its still the best ive got because even in the same language there are accents and- #dialects and that makes examples hard. i also learned recently that british and australian english has actual long an short vowels. #i knew american english didnt have strut (inverted v) but i didnt know- i mean i kinda did because i had noticed it but like not fully- #understood it. anyway if youve read this far you should go watch dr geoff lindsey on youtube hes great #to be clear we have ‘long’ and ‘short’ vowel sounds in am english. but ‘long’ and ‘short’ are just names. the actual length that we say- #them is apparently basically the same. at least when compared with br and au english. #dr geoff lindsey *just* published a video about this. re: how br and au eng speakers say ‘two o’clock’ and ‘four o’clock’ as significantly- #different lengths. while am english speakers say them the same length. he also touches on a bunch of other interesting stuff #im not gonna fandom tag this i guess #i think its funny though that its arthur and marius since they are both voiced by the same person #oh also i think all IPA symbols should have special names like eng. schwa. and strut. rather than having to be called shit like ‘open back- #unrounded vowel.’ although i do realize that theres a fuck tonne of ipa symbols. i also think each of the names should have the sound it- #represents in it. #im autistic about pronunciation somehow. arent i supposed to be in the… *other* sciences. how did this happen?

[thegainingdesk]

The Shirt

Ollie had to admit it to himself - he kind of looked sexy. His new shirt looked and felt great and he didn't know the last time he'd felt so confident. He usually didn't go for patterns, but there was something about the cute little dancing bear motif that really charmed him.

He'd held out on buying any size large shirts, convincing himself it was a boundary he wouldn't cross, that he'd lose the small amount of chub he'd accumulated, that he wasn't nearly as big as that yet. Wearing it now, he realised how silly he'd been. Not being constrained from all angles, not having to suck in his middle all the time, not having to worry about bending down or twisting the wrong way - it was like a weight was lifted.

Looking in the mirror now, finally wearing clothes that fit, it was obvious that most of the size was in his head. What's a large, really? Nothing. Okay, he wasn't skinny, but he wasn't fat either - he'd always been naturally broad, hadn't he? He was never going to fit into mediums like his mates. He just didn't look like a kid anymore.

"Looking good man!" Geoff said, sticking his head through the door. "New shirt? We're heading off in a bit, you joining?"

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute," Ollie said, smoothing the front of the shirt down and taking one last look at himself. Time to upgrade the rest of his wardrobe if it's all going to look this good, he thought to himself.

-

"You okay?" Ollie's date Malik asked, one eyebrow raised. "You look a little uncomfortable."

"No, it's fine," Ollie said as he tugged his shirt down and tucked it in for what must have been the tenth time since he'd reached the bar. "Really, I'm fine. My shirt's just a bit stiff. Reckon I must have washed it funny. Sorry, you were saying about your course?"

"Right, okay," Malik said slowly. "Anyway, like I was saying, it's so interesting looking at all these artists all together, I just…"

Ollie struggled to listen, instead fiddling with his shirt. It strained a little in his armpit, seemed to pull at the side, the way he rolled up his sleeves seemed to cut into his arms in a way they didn't usually. He hoped he could fix whatever he'd done in the wash - he'd come to think of it as his lucky date night shirt.

Still, it wasn't all bad. It was more comfortable to have the top couple of buttons open and he found the effect of his chest hair spilling out quite sexy. He wondered idly if it really was the shirt or it might be his body - after all, he'd borrowed Geoff's dumbbells a couple of times recently. He tried to flex his pecs a little. Yeah, that was it - he was just bulking at the moment. When he got around to cutting he'd look phenomenal in this shirt.

-

"Fucking hell mate, what's that about?" Geoff laughed as Ollie walked up.

Ollie looked down at himself, looking for stains, only to see the familiar dancing bear pattern. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"That shirt! It barely fits!" their mate Dan said, howling with laughter.

"Oh, right, that. It's, well I mean, it does fit," he stumbled on his words as his fingers tried to tug the bottom of the shirt towards his waistband, trying not to get too turned on by the feeling of brushing against the soft fat. "I'm just bloated at the moment, that's all. This is my best shirt, it fits perfectly."

"Fits perf… Right, gotcha," Geoff said, his shoulders shaking a little as he chuckled into his pint. "Well, I'm not being funny, but I think you've been bloated for a while now Ollie."

Ollie grinned, making a show of how little he cared. He did his best to ignore how the buttons gaped and cut into his middle as he sat down, even as he sucked his gut in. He set his pint down and flipped the menu open. "You lot eating then?"

Dan burst out laughing again. "You were bloated a second ago, what you wanting to eat for?"

"No, it's not like that," Ollie protested. "I didn't mean, bloated bloated, you know. I mean like, you know, it's just retaining water. You know, from the protein - I'm bulking," returning to his oft stated excuse whenever he was asked why he was eating so much.

Dan and Geoff exchanged a look. "Retaining water, right," Dan said, as Geoff muttered "Got to keep up the bulk."

Six pints, a burger and chips and a couple of side orders of onion rings later, Ollie struggled to suck in his gut anymore. As he walked back to their table, he did his best to hold the pints in front of the gaps in between his buttons where his belly hair was poking through. He set the pints down, exhaled as he lowered himself into his seat slowly and-

A ping rang out as the button hit Dan's pint, who fell under the table laughing. Ollie's hand flew down to his stomach, feeling the expanse of skin and hair now visible in the space opened up.

"Jesus Christ Ollie!" Geoff said, laughing. "Buy some new fucking shirts! Right, well we'll have to head home now, won't we?"

"What for?" Ollie asked. "Because it's your round next? Nah, don't worry about me, shirt's not going to fix itself by getting home any earlier, is it?" He wondered how much of a spectacle he could make of himself by the time they left. "Do you reckon they're still doing food?"

-

"What the fuck are you doing?"

As Ollie turned around the see Geoff stood in his now open doorway, he heard a rip and felt a breeze at his side. His hands scrambled for the two still-fastenable button on the shirt, his clumsy fingers struggling against the tension in the fabric. He inhaled, strained to shrink his swollen stomach just a touch. His fingers found some purchase, dug underneath the first button-hole, then the second, and the sides of the shirt burst open. He exhaled, and his gut hung out and down, the two halves of fabric framing his heft.

"Sorry Geoff, I was just, uhh." He looked around the room, trying to think of some plausible explanation. He hoped his gut, or at least the attention it was drawing, might hide his throbbing cock. He knew it wouldn't, especially with how tight his trousers were. "I wanted to see if this shirt still fit."

"Right, well, it doesn't," Geoff said. He looked to the side, clearly trying to spare Ollie's dignity by some small measure. "I think you'd sort of be able to tell without trying it on, to be honest."

Ollie shifted, and he tried to ignore the way his body wobbled and folded, willing his erection to stop. "I thought I'd maybe see how bad the damage was," he said with a small chuckle.

"I mean, do you really want to…" Geoff sighed. "The damage is pretty fucking bad, if you really want to know," he said, still averting his gaze. "You were smaller than me in first year, now you're… fuck Ollie, you're properly fucking fat."

Ollie nodded, reveling in the way his chins creased against each other. "I appreciate the honesty mate, really," he said. "I've uhh, started a diet," he lied. "Thought it could be an inspiration thing, you know, see if I can fit back into it at some point."

Geoff closed the door a little, shuffling out the room. "Right, well… anyway, we're going to the pub," his voice came through the door. "If you want to join."

Ollie peeled the shirt off his body, doing his best not to increase the size of the hole in the side seam. "Yeah, I'll be with you in a bit," he said, the sleeve inside out and sliding past his sausage-like arm. "You eating there, do you reckon?"

-

Ollie panted and strained. With one hand he gathered as much of his gut as he could, with the other he leaned past and underneath to what little remained uncovered of his dick. He squeezed his eyes shut against a wave of pleasure.

The shirt cradled his breasts like a makeshift hammock, a single button hidden in the deep crevice above his belly and below his chest. His rhythm halted for a moment as he dug one hand into a tiramisu and brought it to his mouth, cream smearing across his face. He grunted as he did his best to reach beneath himself, and he began to buck and thrust against his own hand, helping himself along.

He plunged his fingers into his mouth, counting the calories as he sucked down the last of the rich dessert, as he quivered and a sticky wetness covered his hand and filled the soft unknown beneath his quivering middle. He brought his hand up and smeared his cum against his shirt, falling back against his pillows. The motion proved too much for the tortured fabric, and it finally gave out, the button falling to the mattress and the shirt falling open around soft hairy man tits.

-

Ollie waddled as quickly as he could to the stall, and he smiled at the young woman manning it. He thumbed through the hangers, each shirt brushing against the furthest extent of his gut. 

"I used to have this one!" he told her cheerfully, pulling one out and holding it out, looking closely at the images of little dancing bears. "I've been looking for it for years. I outgrew it ages ago, I'd sort of given up hope of replacing it."

"Oh, right," the woman said, an uncertain smile on her face. "Well maybe we'll be able to help you with that."

Ollie grinned. "Maybe - what sizes do you do?"

The woman looked Ollie up and down. "Well, you see…" She looked around, as if searching for help. "We only stock up to XL, but we can do custom orders to 3XL." The last part was added with a clear tone of hope, however vain.

"Ah, right," Ollie said. "Not sure when I last wore 3XL. A couple of years at least."

The shop assistant smiled awkwardly. Ollie knew that look well - no one knew how to respond when he talked about his weight so openly. "I'll take a 3XL anyway," he said, thinking about how hot it was to obliterate the last one.

"Do you want to try it on?" the assistant asked, happy to be back to more standard shop-floor conversation.

"Oh no, don't worry. There's no chance of it actually fitting," Ollie laughed.

"Ah, okay then," the shop assistant smiled, her confusion apparent. "For one day in the future, maybe?"

Ollie shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He paid for the shirt and left. He couldn't wait until this shirt fit as poorly as the previous one.

#the shirt #wg story #weight gain #weight gain fiction #gaining fiction #gainer fiction #gainer story #weight gain story #male weight gain #this was written quite drunk tbh #let me know if theres any typos which are too egregious

[raytorosaurus]

i've been so curious about this 'unofficial therapist' that thursday had???? which member is he? how did they find him?? could he always play an instrument or did they ask him to learn so they could keep him around? did he actually help that much? how did it change thursday's writing? i don't expect you to have the answer to all of these things but you seem to know a lot about them and if nothing else i need to know who their therapist is and what 'unofficial' means in this case if you can help at all!

oh lol haha unofficial in the very literal sense so my guy andrew everding of the "no one ever expects it" chest hair fame from my chemical romance in the studio 2002 (@3:10) is like...the y/n of thursday.

he's just a nice dude who hangs around and everyone likes, good friend of the guys in thursday, and then his house burns down and he has nowhere to stay so thursday were like yo just come tour with us and he did. because he's also a very talented (multi?-)instrumentalist and, as it turns out, a great composer too. also at some stage he lived with geoff's mom? it is unclear if this is before or after the fire and/or joining thursday as a touring member. he also photographed their first west coast tour in 2002?

so like anyway by 2003 he's playing keys for the watt tour which is like.....I'd say the darkest point of thursday's history but that would be a fucking lie lol. let's say the darkest point of thursday's history so far. the guys are super stressed, super overworked, super depressed, and under loads of pressure from their label who's saying they're underperforming the expectations they had for them. geoff in particular is copping a lottt of criticism for his singing which he really internalised, and basically everyone in the band is miserable. they were also. not fucking talking to each other. like at all. they would just all constantly bitch about each other behind everyone's back and never say shit to their face. andrew, as a touring member but not official member, and as a Nice Guy, ends up becoming like...the intermediary to whom everyone in the band went to vent. so he's like trying to fix their shit and be positive and he puts his foot down and is like guys you NEED to learn to COMMUNICATE. (spoilers they didn't) but anyway the band after a particularly nasty and conflict-laden tour of australia in 2004 are like fuck this we're breaking up! but then as soon as they agreed to breaking up they were like wait. so much of the pressure is gone now. actually we're good we just need a break :) but media has kind of already picked up on the story of them breakup up so it was all dreadfully will they/won't they. this is also right as three cheers is blowing the fuck up btw 😭😭 #we'retwosidesofthesamecoin #he'smyvillain.

oh shit and then they go on warped 04 as what would have been kinda their last thing but they're like hey look at this we're sorta starting to work on our problems! oh and then at the vegas date 24yo geoff gets shotgun married to a woman he'd been dating for two years with mcr, tbs, and the bouncing souls as the wedding party 😭😭😭😭😭.

ANYWAY. they end up not breaking up but take a break from touring and then all move in together for a while? i think bc they were a little scattered at that point and geoff might have been living in sydney (his wife was australian) at the time idk so when he came over to do thursday shit they just like lived together apparently. and they write city by the light divided (so titled bc the band, naturally, was totally divided on how they wanted the album to sound lol). anyway the main difference now is this time round they've invited andrew to join as an official member!! :DDD

...unfortunately for andrew, this is also the time thursday stops being even slightly commercially viable lol so he's like technically im earning less money now than i had been on a tour salary lolz. anyway he becomes a big part of the writing process, especially for that album and no devolucion, the instrumentals if which were apparently driven pretty heavily by him!

then in 2008 onwards thursday were all broke as fuck and needed to get day jobs to pay rent. most of them went into like...food service or painting houses, but tucker drummed for mcr for a bit and andrew worked as.....a guitar tech? for patd????? (also after the break up, tucker was in boy band the wanted for a while as their touring drummer. he loved it lol <3)

anyway tragically, andrew hasn't appeared at any of the reunion shows 😔. he's private so no details but he was dealing with some health issues towards the end of thursday that contributed to the band deciding to break up and has a baby and shit now. but he did continue touring as a musician a bit, like with neil finn in 2014!!!!!! playing some wacky fancy midi/synth electronic instrument iirc? epic collision of my childhood fave and new-adulthood fave.

anyway lol this is all typed out in bed on my phone off the top of my head so there might be some chronology errors in there, but a lot of this is from their documentary, kill the house lights! it's a comedy. dark comedy.

#andrewnation <3

#ummmmm if i remember I'll go back and properly source some of this shit skdjfkdf #man sometimes i forget how wild thursday is until i start listing facts about thursday #andrew everding #thursday #answered #**

[kiseiakhun]

Anyway, I think the worst thing Geoff Johns did to Hal's character is that he just made him boring. The fun thing about Hal is that he's the worst man to walk the earth. He's a trainwreck in the making. Every day he wakes up and thinks nothing and makes 20 awful decisions and messes up everything and goes to sleep content in a job well done and it's great. Hal is the Worst Man Ever™. He's a donkey in human form. By all means his personality and skillset makes him the perfect supervillain but he's a hero and he's imperfect and he claws himself back from the brink long after most people would've given up because that's who he is. That's at the core of his character. Even when he's below rock bottom, he never gives up, and god does he hit it, over and over again.

Johns just... erased all that complexity by making Hal the bestest greatest most precious lanterny lantern ever. Suddenly everyone loves him and treats parallax as just a 'hehe! Whoops!' and it sucks because if you take away the fact that Hal is a garbage human being he's just BORING. He's just a boring stereotypical stoic superhero. Who wants to read that! Who wants to read about Universe's Best Most Precious Greatest Man Gets Praised And Solves Every Problem And Is Never Wrong. Like at least when batman does it they try to give us a detective story. Usually it's not a good detective story but they at least try. Hal doesn't need to do detectiving. He can solve pretty much anything with the ring on his finger. He's invulnerable and powerful and perfect and let's be real, at this point he barely has a secret identity. There's nothing adding stakes to the story, not when Hal the best boy is here.

It's so fucking boring!! It's genuinely an injustice to his character. Hal's much more interesting when he makes every single bad decision, ever, and then has to dig himself out of the hole that he dug. That's someone I can root for. That's a character I can develop complex feelings about. If you just hand me the perfect being in creation I feel nothing. I'm already bored.

#in conclusion thank you Jeremy Adams for feeding me. that man is the worst man in existence. i want to put him in the juice presser #like you look at hal and you just know he never replaces his toothbrush #hal jordan #meta #i guess #this is also how i feel about ollie btw #men who are the worst 🤝 #im more okay (though still annoyed) by Bruce being the best because the whole point of his stories is that he's so smart he can solve any #mystery. there's other things driving the stakes. plus he's more limited in power so even when he's the Best there's still narrative tension #hal is just too op for something like that to work #and for other characters like superman who are also op they thrive off of a nonpowered supporting cast #but Hal's supporting cast are all other lanterns. or like. superman. #like you don't need to be the Worst Man Alive to carry a narrative through the strength of your personality as Wally demonstrates #but you still need a PERSONALITY #you can't have a personality if you're the best at everything always

[goosetheluce]

I loved your different Heather headcanons and so was wondering if you had any related to male reader being in a love triangle involving Heather and Bridgette or Gwen where the Reader is somewhat oblivious to the girls competing with each other over them? How do you think it would end?

ooo interesting concept. and yesss bridgette content i love her <3

M!Reader x Bridgette and Heather Headcanons (Love Triangle)

Bridgette, the certified laid-back sweetheart, would never say anything bad about anyone unless they deserve it. So you probably should have noticed when her face fell the second Heather's name left your throat.

"I didn't know you were friends with Heather," Bridge remarked casually in response to her name. Her eyes had left yours and instead trained across the lake. The water washed over your bare legs as you sat on the dock with her, socks and shoes tossed to the side.

"I guess you could say we are. Being on the same team and having similar goals is pretty much all it takes to be friendly. At least, I think so," you explained. You knew she was difficult, but something about her just made you curious. You hoped maybe you could see what was underneath her surface.

Bridgette laughed. "If that's what it takes to be friendly, then you and I are on a five-star date right now." She brought her spring-tinged eyes back to yours, wiggling her eyebrows sarcastically.

You laughed and felt your cheeks heat up. "You can take the bill, then," you smirked. "I mean, ladies first, right?"

Bridgette elbowed you playfully. "I'm in my own Great Depression with how broke I am, so, no can do." She pulled her legs out of the water and dried them off. "Anyway, I'm gonna go hang out with Geoff. Cya."

She gave you one last smile before walking off. Your heart sang.

Heather, the infamously cunning queen bee, would say anything bad about anyone, even if they don't deserve it. The complete opposite of the surfer girl. But it got a bit much for you when you waved at Bridge and her tirade began.

"Don't you know she's just going to slow you down? Look at her, she's too nice. She doesn't have what it takes to win. Don't you want to win, y/n?" Heather slid her hand on top of yours slyly, her chin raised up at you while smiling. She liked making moves on you.

You just stared at Heather, in shock of her attack. Your mouth suddenly tasted bitter as you swiftly pulled your hand out from under hers and jumped to your feet.

"Ever heard of friends, Heather? They might do you some good. Humble yourself."

Her lip curled with disgust and she looked away, still sitting there on the porch of the cabin. "Whatever. By the way, y/n, you shouldn't shave your face. It looks better with the shadow."

You sighed and went back to your cabin, rubbing your freshly shaved chin, suddenly wishing you could curl up and sleep for days.

You dreamt of kind green eyes and maroon croptops that night.

Bridgette isn't one to fight, but she'll stand up for herself, no doubt. At least, that's what you learned the next day when you heard the angered shrieks from Heather and Bridge in the woods.

"I found it first, bitch. Back off," Heather threatened. The rest of the campers had gathered nearby to see what was going on, you included. The challenge for that day was for your team to find some stupid prize and bring it back to camp.

"Heather, please," Bridgette rolled her eyes. "Get your hand off my wrist! You're so fucking dramatic!" The surfer yanked her hand out of Heather's grip. Bridge was bleeding where her acrylics dug into her skin. "Look what you did, jerk!"

Heather crossed her arms.

"Look at you, putting up a fight!" She sneered. She sent her glare over to where you were standing. "Is it 'cause your little crush is watching?" On the sidelines, Gwen scoffed and called out, "Do you have any goal except to embarrass people on live television?"

Your throat closed up. Was it true? Your heart began to pound in your chest. You wished it was.

Bridgette's face paled and she shot a quick look in your direction. The blood began dripping down the nail marks on her arm.

"I don't have time for this. I'm winning."

And with that, Bridgette made a full dash all the way back to camp, with Gwen close behind her making sure that Heather didn't pull a trick, despite not being on the same team as her.

All the other campers walked off, shooting scowls at Heather. Everyone except for you.

"What the fuck was that? You made her bleed, Heather."

She didn't look at you, still staring at the crowd leaving the forest. "You just don't get it, do you?"

"No, I guess I don't. Enlighten me then, convince me you're not a total nut," you retorted.

Heather whirled around at you, narrowing her eyes and pushing her finger to your chest.

"I do what it takes to survive. In anything. Not just this horrible show. I go back home with no money, and I'll be screwed. Everyone has left me. I only have myself," she hissed. Your heart softened for a moment. She didn't want to be alone.

But then she kissed you, pulled the collar of your shirt down and crashed her lips against yours, and it felt wrong. You pulled away, holding her shoulders at a far distance. You had realized you'd never really see what was under her surface, because she'd never show you.

"You want to have someone, but all you do is push everyone away," you whisper painfully. If you looked closely, you would see her eyes were wet. "So don't act like you'll do anything different with me." You released her, wiped your lips clean of her coconut lip balm, and made your way back to camp. You had to see Bridge.

You scanned the place for warm blonde hair and a blue hoodie, unsuccessful. You asked Geoff, and said she mentioned something about going to the lake.

She heard you behind her before you even sat down.

"Hey, you," she murmured. Her chin was resting on her knees, her eyes watching the choppy waves.

"Hey," you greeted. "Mind if I sit?"

She shook her head and turned back to look at you. Her face was salty with dried tears.

You felt guilty for ever having anything to do with Heather, staring down at her newly bandaged arm. You sat close to her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, y/n. You didn't do anything wrong. But I have a question," she responded softly.

You nodded your head. She took a deep breath.

"I'm not going to lie and say Heather was wrong. I do like you. But will you promise me that you won't be, like...weirded out by that?"

You responded by wrapping your arm around her shoulders, pulling her in. Her hair smelled like citrus shampoo.

"That would be hypocritical of me to be weirded out," you teased. It was a confession, nonetheless. She looked up at you.

"You like me?"

You only responded with a soft kiss on her forehead, pulling her back into your arms.

"Once we get off of this show, I'll take you on a real five-star date," you said softly, rubbing circles into her arm.

She snuggled further into you.

"And you're still paying, y/n."

#lucy writes #lucy's inbox #lucy's anons #headcanons/short stories #total drama bridgette #tdi x reader #td bridgette #bridgette x reader td #heather total drama #td heather #heather td #heather x reader #heather x m!reader #bridgette x m!reader #total drama

[rillette]

to you, what is hal jordan? (would love to read your rambles about him)

oh boy! umm i wrote like. too many paragraphs whoops! under the cut so i dont clog up the dash

hal is a little goody two shoes square that has been absolutely dragged through the mud by life and geoff johns. he's the type of person that people make fun of for being a little too straight-laced; he doesn't cheat, he doesn't lie (except to himself), he won't even jay-walk. He's so incredibly genuine and honest about everything that he assumes other people are just as honest as he is, making him a bit gullible. Part of this honesty is why he's so painfully bad at keeping his ID secret. man can't lie to save his ass!

Hal's a people person, he loves being friendly and meeting new people, but he's also a bit shy and introverted. type of guy to be acquaintances with a lot of random people but never really reach out first unless they're a friend. he's also the type of guy to ask the groupchat about major life decisions bc he doesn't trust his own opinion. hal holds himself in very low esteem, mother fucker is his own public enemy #1. he's only happy and relaxed when he's certain that he's fucked up yet again. someone get this guy a therapist!

hal is also incredibly unfortunate. whatever can go wrong will go wrong and he'll end up homeless and jobless yet again, scrambling to regain control over his life. hal is really good at picking himself back up and starting over again from scratch. he's also really smart!! i know it's popular fanon on here to potray hal as like the dumb himbo punchline, and yeah he can be ditzy and dense but the guy is really fucking smart physics/mechanics-wise. he's got a degree and everything! he's also incredibly responsible??? i genuinely dont know where the trope of hal being irresponsible came from. hal would not be a really fucking good test pilot if he was irresponsible. if you want a green lantern punching bag, g'nort is right there. we need more g'nort content anyways.

he's also great with kids! the man has like a billion nieces and nephews! he was taking care of helen! where did helen go, dc! bring her back or else! also i think it's important to note that there is a distinction between hal and GL. he's a lot more confidant as GL than his is as hal. it's the type of confidence he really only has when he's flying planes.

Hal also desperately wants to be accepted and approved of by authority figures. this informs the relationship he has with the guardians. he's also under a lot of external and internal pressure to fit in with his peers. part of this is bc hes #autism coded and part of this is bc he's just not a masculine manly-man! dc please his closet is glass. please.

#hal jordan #asks <3 #ty for the ask!! #read my hal manifesto boy #i could have typed more but i got tired of typing one handed (theres a cat on my lap rn) (u guys are so jealous)

[good--merits-accumulated]

OK, SEVERELY rambly post incoming but - Anderperry Stardust (2007)/ The Little White Horse AU, anyone?

Rundown: I think many of us are familiar with Stardust, originally a Neil Gaiman book but also a great film, starring Claire Danes as a falling star and That Guy Who Plays Daredevil as the lad who promises to bring her to the girl he's infatuated with. The Little White Horse is, to the best of my knowledge, more unknown, but equally very good (for sentimental reasons, I think of it much more highly than Stardust). Published in 1946 by Elizabeth Goudge, it tells the story of thirteen-year-old orphan Maria Merryweather, who moves to her cousin Sir Benjamin's Moonacre Manor in the West Country, where she finds a) a thriving cosy community and a long family history, b) the little white horse of the title, c) a longstanding family feud cutting off Moonacre from the sea, d) her imaginary best friend Robin, real and in the flesh, and e) some of the most deliciously-described food that has ever been or will be. It's a great book even past the rose-tinted glasses of my childhood. Go read it. (The one (1) marring is that you can't find a bloody edition that doesn't have a JK Terfling quote pasted onto the cover, because apparently it was one of her favourite books, but fuck OFF, I'm reclaiming it now. Thou shalt not keep the cosy low fantasy from me.)

Anyway even though I mention Stardust this isn't really part of the AU I have in my mind, except for the bit with the Star, because Todd as a main character who thinks he's a very forgettable bland boy-in-the-corner until he finds out he's a star is a great thought to me. Particulars on /how/ he's a star to be fleshed out later! (I only thought of this AU about two hours ago, lol.)

In my mind this is how it goes - nebulously Olden Times setting (TLWH is set in 1842, so perhaps then). Todd is around seventeen/eighteen and Geoff has just graduated from university, and gone off around Europe, accompanied by their parents. Months go by. Something happens - he's never given the liberty of knowing, but Geoff and their parents stay in Europe, and the townhouse in London is sold, and Todd is packed off to stay at a distant relative's - Keating, as it turns out. It's a blessing in disguise, because Todd is finally away from his family for the first time in his life and around people that appreciate him. He begins to bloom under this new care - but there are strange family secrets only now being revealed to him, and dark forces beyond the valley which threaten to disrupt the haven he's found...

The rest is very cosy fantasy, featuring Mr Perry as the local uptight vicar locking horns with Keating at every opportunity, Neil as his withdrawn but friendly son just longing for a rebellion, and more! (Read: Charlie is here and he is Outrageous as usual. Read also: Pitts as a sailor because I think he'd like it.) Right now I'm thinking of adding an equivalent of Monsieur Cocq de Noir for a villain (Mr Perry is NOT the villain), and Cameron can play a part there so I can give him a good redeeming! Here are a couple of extracts from TLWH to show the kind of mood/tone we're working with:

Thematically, I REALLY like the idea of Todd as a star because it allows me to work in a very fun trope, of "not of the rose but near the rose" - when a character perhaps is shy and a little quiet and reclusive, but inspires other people around them to brilliance and greatness. (Honestly I do think this kind of goes in with the film, where it's not just Keating's teaching but Todd's reaction to it and his presence that galvanise Neil to continue.) This ties in really well if Todd's a star and adds to the overall self-confidence journey - plus I was really thinking about the sun/moon motifs! They're very prominent in TLWH (Maria is a "moon" Merryweather and Robin is a very sunny boy), and I really want to implement them here with slight twists. I think of Todd as a sunny moon; yes he's warm and caring and cheerful but once you go a little closer it's more of a luminosity rather than a blaze, there's a coolness and quietness to him I like. You know, a quiet character doesn't always have to be quiet because there's something "wrong" with them, sometimes they're just like that. For Neil it's the opposite, he's a moony sun; under the thumb of his father he's polite and decorous and demure but somewhere under all of that there's a very loud and booming laugh and a healthy sort of ruddiness. I don't know, I just like sun/moon motifs!!!!!!!!!!

(On a more personal note: this AU, which I already love very much despite not having known very long, would be above all a careful love letter to the West Country. It's been lovely living around here almost all my life and by this time in September I'll be hopefully up very far north at uni, so I'm pre-emptively kind of :') about it. Mutuals who are at uni/college how on earth did you cope?)

#story time! the little white horse was actually the first book i ever read #all by myself in english. i'd only just learnt it #and a friend's grandparents gave me a copy as a present - i must have been four or five #thanks phyllis and peter. i miss you :( #anyway i revolved around that book for the better part of a year #even years and years later sometimes i walk home from school #down the big hill that looks over the valley with the lightning-burnt tree stump at the bottom #and when it gets green and bowery in the summer #and the little hollow at the foot gets very thick with cow parsley i always think i could find the entrance to moonacre #in it. if i really really looked #:') #maybe i will write this over the summer #anderperry #dead poets society #dps #tristan writes #ah. can you tell i'm feeling so so sentimental.

[crazykuroneko]

The Newsreader S2 Ep 6 (Finale)

A well-written, well-acted, and well-produced season. Anna and Sam showed their range. The whole cast is such a treat to see when they're all working together for a bulletin. Love how they wrote other characters/relationships to be a foil to Helen, Dale or their relationship, especially Rob/Noellene. The set and the fashion are impeccable. My only criticisms are I wish we could see more of how Charlie/Helen crash and burn in more than a montage and a scene and the score, which could have been better imo. Anyway, this should sweep AACTA idc idc

My unnecessary note on the episode under the cut

Sam is such a great actor, because we see Dale's acting like he's okay all smiley etc but you know he's breaking inside

Geoff looks sincere with his speech about Kay, but I bet it's Evelyn's idea to put that on the news. Idk I'm still sceptical about those two

GOD DALE he's really doing everything he's been dreaming of as if that would make him feel better about himself

that montage of Helen and Charlie doing drugs is insane. Especially when you remember their relationship started right after she covered a drug addict news

ugh yes Rob we know you're homophobic thanks

"He's turning into Helen" well more like Geoff

Oh fuck you Lindsey. he's the one without any principles at all and alway takes/turns anything into personal. He and Evelyn are my big villains UGH

Okay, Rob proposing her in Korean is sweet. A sign he's willing to learn

Don't forget Rob is someone who refuses his promotion even when he gets it because he's too comfortable in his place. OF COURSE he won't understand Noelene's ambition to develop her career. I'm so sorry Noelene. i wish you didn't fall in love with a loser

At least The Walters know when they have to pay back a favor

Helen really said don't talk about my bisexual almost-husband! She's so real for that. But I do wish we saw how the relationship with Charlie crashed and burnt in more than just two scenes.

"Just do your work" also "Do nothing" in the previous episode. Insanity

Poor Dale, no one can back him up. It hurts that Tim won't help him but it's very understandable after how Dale has been using him after all this time. Plus Tim is in a different relationship with his sexuality than Dale. He's not out, but he has embraced it and doesn't want to hide it anymore. Meanwhile that's impossible for Dale if he still wants a career in front of the camera with a good pay in that era. Which is why I don't see them get back together anymore. In my eyes, it's more like infatuation than love between them, with/without the internalized homophobia. And Tim does deserve to live free from all this drama

14 hours plus on the desk? it's insane. Dale is turning into a robot wtf

Dale Jennings disappointing the whole queer community. Where did that come from? Yes, season 1! Upon reflection, I don't think Gerry did it, but it's definitely someone from the gay club. Someone who saw he's dancing with Tim before. Could be that stranger he slept with. There's no way he didn't know who Dale was. Anyway, Dale feels like the community has betrayed him, so now like a naive child he's getting back at them. (He's still my baby though ❤️)

Oh Noelene was definitely going to say no even without Helen's problem. Of course she was. 💔

Could we unalive Lindsey pls? Like he's the epitome of a white man who only knows how to scream and take advantage of any situation. A lot of people's temper would be improved

Okay, maybe Rob does deserve some rights. The fact he has achieved his peak in sport really helps. I guess that's why he's so chill about his news career

I guess the only person Lindsey really appreciates is Dennis cos who would manage everyone if not him? Lindsey can only scream and scream. He'd really be nothing without Denis and Noelene

Dale has definitely been looking up to Geoff. So it's insane when Geoff, who has sacrificed his career for his daughter, is now congratulating Dale, who has sacrificed all of his relationships for his career. It's like the passing of the news desk trap

Why is it with this couple and believing marriage will just solve all your problems? No, I understand they know that they're the life raft to each other, so when they're in a dire moment, they want to make sure they'll have each other always. Forever. And it's insane. And it's so heartbreaking that the moment Helen realizes that Dale has always been fully committed to her and fully supported her is the moment Dale got a confirmation that he really has It to be the king of news, and he won't sacrifice that. Not right now when he's finally had it in his hand

You know, when you think about it, Dale's rejection protects Helen's principle. Because here she's about to use their potential engagement to placate the gossip writer to not publish Dale's story, which would lead to them having to feed her stories on their relationship forever. Which Helen has said before that her private life is not something she would trade. In the end, Donna only gets Dale's life.

It's insane how this episode starts just like Ep 1 and ends just like how season 1 ends.

Also, this is very unnecessary, but please know I worship Sam's and Anna's acting. They're insane throughout this season.

#the newsreader #the Newsreader spoilers

[chronotsr]

No. 1 - G1, The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (July 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): Erol Otus, Dave C. Sutherland III (cover), David A. Trampier Level range: Average of 9, preferably 5+ players Theme: Standard Swords and Sorcery Major re-releases: G1-3 Against the Giants, GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, Dungeon #197, Tales from the Yawning Portal

I'm not sure if G1-G3 are the most remastered adventures of all time, but it's gotta be competitive. I think Tomb of Horrors might have it beat, but I haven't counted. The 4e conversion [the Dungeon #197 one] is really weird in particular because…4e feels like the edition least interested in the legacy of DND? It was boldly doing its own thing. A good quality, actually.

Anyway, it's time to slag off* on a beloved adventure. Note, I am using the earliest copy of G1 I can find, which is from waaaay later when D3 was complete. I apologize.

*And by slag off, I mean "be critical of at all". In practice, this module is actually showing some unusual acumen compared to its contemporaries.

EDIT: I forgot to mention a rather important thing when this was made live -- note the title there! We are officially in ADND land now, so put away your little brown booklets and switch over to the fuck-off awesome player's handbook with the iconic Moloch statue!

Somehow I had gotten my whole life at this point never really…understanding what this structure was supposed to look like? It looks like this.

I honestly think exterior shots of dungeons are critically underrated. Handouts are amazing and being able to flash the back cover art to safely show the party "like this" is actually great, I deeply wish that….any? of the previous modules had done that? I think the only one that did was Tsojconth. Weirdly, the interior drawing is very subtly different. Look at how the logs face:

Not a huge deal but, a kind of weird inconsistency that top one looks like a stockade and the bottom one looks like a log cabin. Side note, we know that the long dimension of this is using 210 feet tall logs, which is to say, the size of an average redwood. These are some big fuck-off trees -- which could be a very interesting detail about the local area.

Now the setup is pretty simple. You were hired to go beat up the giants because they've been raiding the local humans, figure out why they're raiding, and comeback posthaste. The locals have kitted you out with horses, guides, maps, et c -- but no compensation, they have simply omitted a finder's fee (cheap bastards). Also, if you fail, they'll execute you. With friends like these, who needs Giants?

Gary starts with some mild railroading (you accepted the job already, you are already kitted out, you already walked to a nearby cave, you waited til dusk to approach, you notice two guards are missing, and the cave is guaranteed to be moderately hidden. Sure, whatever, I'm going to ignore that if I run this tho. Gary notifies us of a few critical details:

Don't run this stock, that's immoral

Any surviving giants will flee to G2 if they have the opportunity (which, kind of inherently punishes clever play that avoids combat?)

There is a 2% chance per round that the wooden structure will be lit on fire due to chronic rain (why is this a dice roll??)

If you will permit me a tangent, player arson is truly the bane of interesting scenarios everywhere. Whenever a player wonders, "why are all the GM's dungeons underground or in stonework buildings?", it's because doing anything else invites arson as the default and best answer to all problems. Magic items are fireproof and most metal items will not get hot enough to be destroyed, so very often the best solution is to burn the place to the ground and loot it the next day. So, yeah. No wood buildings. Gary's fix is to have all the giants flee into the basement, then waste a week of the PC's time for daring to use arson. Kind of sucks!

Tangent complete.

Here's some random interesting bits:

Gary explicitly states that you can pass yourself off as hill giant kids, which is extremely funny. Minus the implicit child murder.

Naturally there are giant moms doing giant housemaid shit in several rooms. Presumably they have giant curlers too.

The secret door is, literally just a doorway covered by a pelt. I have to hand it to them, that'd trip up most players in 2024 AND make them feel stupid for not figuring it out!

The big reveal that Eclavdra the Drow is secretly behind it all is so lightly teased that it feels downright tasteful.

A giant that uses a ballista as a crossbow (based) and spears for arrows (also based) -- between the prevalence of lightning spears and greatarrows, one starts to think of a certain famous video game. Genuinely I think it'd be a fun exercise one day, for someone who is more knowledgeable than me about Japanese fantasy roleplaying culture, to talk about how anglophone fantasy works made their way into Japan and were interpreted.

One of the cloud giants has hidden a sentient giant slaying sword that speaks all the giant languages, it feels like there's a hell of a story going on there that is only alluded to!

To my knowledge, this is the first official depiction of an orc in DND? Which implies that Gary is team pig-orcs, which is cool. Frankly, I love porcine orcs, or even better just pigfolk in general, they're great.

I think it is actually a rather bold early stance for Gary to hold that, even here in 1978, Chaotic aligned creatures are not automatically friends. Granted, that's how it is in Elric, so it's not THAT bold, but clearly everyone else missed the memo. The orcs are willing to side with you at least in the short-run, and in our previous modules it was very rare to have groups of chaotic-aligned creatures fighting one another. It was always just personal beefs. In fact, the overall theme of G1 so far is that despite the boxy-ass dungeon design, there's already a command of naturalism that even modern dungeons really struggle with. Factionalism truly is the gift that keeps on giving for the GM!

So the big reveal internally to G1 (just think of that -- a reveal internally to G1, and externally to the GDQ supermodule -- we're already getting pacing!) is that the orc slaves have rebelled. And -- hey -- good for them. There's also a kind of…built-in companion refill system going on here? So in oldish DND the way it works is, the expectation is the party is not just 5 guys with swords. You've got companions to help fight, and you've got hirelings to do other stuff (test suspected traps, if you're evil). And you can only hire so many of these guys from town, but attrition is going to happen. So the modules simply provides, automatic replacements should you negotiate worth a quarter of a shit. A dwarf slave here, an orc slave there. Maybe a giant dissenter if you're really clever. One of the potential "rewards" you can get is more dudes to throw at problems.

More interesting bits

There is, what I can only really call an abortive idea going on here where there's a scary temple in the basement? But no one worships there and no information is provided. It is merely a fucked up altar. I think I vaguely recall that it's retconned Tharizdun in one of the remakes? They always retcon things to be Tharizdun. Busy man, Tharzy.

Gary, Gary no. Stop it. Stop this 78 guys bullshit. I thought we had established that giant rooms of giant clumps of guys was bad. I know you have terminal Napoleonics brain but stop.

Wait, Steading is a noun? I always thought it was a verb. Yknow, like "Steading those hill giants", taking 'em down a notch. Apparently, a Steading is a small farm -- same etymology as Homestead. I guess mark that as our first Gygaxism?

Our second Gygaxism is gill, which is "a quarter pint of an alcoholic drink", which is to say a few mouthfuls

Always end your adventures with weird, ominous non-diegetic text. On the flip-side, absolutely do not do what the adventure does, and end on a teleporter that takes you to the next dungeon. That is the worst option.

Anyway, that's the whole Hill Giant situation. Honestly, it's better than I remembered, but in proud module tradition up to this point it gets weirdly filler-y in the basement. There's just something about basements that makes dungeon designers stop giving a shit, I swear. I do need to give the man his due, even though he was a shitass person: Gygax wrote an 11 page module that is of noticeably higher killer-to-filler ratio than any of his contemporaries. G1 is better than any of its predecessors, pound for pound. It is way, way shorter which is I suppose a plus to me and a minus to others, but -- there is a clear internal logic to this place that is tragically missing from (say) The Dwarven Glory. And that internal logic is the beginning of good adventure design. Anyway, we have two fun tidbits to discuss before we end for the day.

First up, we have an of-the-time account of events in Dragon #19! It turns out that in Origins '78 they played G1-G3's prototype. The account is of the winners (mostly West Virginians, a few Michiganders), who used their magic extremely liberally to hide what they were doing as well as to scout. They did opt to light the place on fire, good for them! If you want to check this out, it's on page 3. I will mention G2 and G3 here as relevant later.

Second up, there's a weird interquel hiding in Dungeon #198! Hanging out as an informal G1.5 is "The Warrens of the Stone Giant Thane!" I will not review it in full because my understanding of 4e is, basically just skimming the PHB and reading the DMG, but essentially the Stone Giants are hypothetically aloof and not particularly loyal to their Fire Giant superiors, but someone gave them The Rock That Makes You Crazy and so now they are. Smash the rock!

Man, map design in the 4e era was so fucking bad. It looks fine, but like, this is four circles. And downstairs is, of course, cave as far as the eye can see. Aren't stone giants supposed to be skilled carvers? Anyway, If you feel like G2 would be too big of a jump mechanically compared to G1, this exists. I'm sure you could use it if you liked, and certainly there is a Genre of Grognard who would be kinda tickled at the thought of finding "lost content" for el classico GDQ.

Next week, we cover G2, which was also in July. So was G3! They're triplets!

#1e #chronotsr #dnd #dungeons and dragons #tsr #ttrpg #g1 #against the giants #gary gygax #adnd

[geoffrard]

I really gotta hear the drag of im not ok wimpy and weird maaan.

LMAO so geoff told this story here which is an amazing and also kind of terrible podcast that i would 100% recommend especially for geoff lore beginners

to me it's a really funny story but by all accounts geoff feels really bad about it lmao. so, basically, after geoff helped mcr so much with bullets, they sent him the demo of i'm not okay, which he really didn't like when he listened to it lmao. he recalled it sounding "weird and wimpy" on the podcast linked above.

but mcr was really proud of that song, and so they didn't talk to him for a week LMAO. here's him reflecting on that during the talk he did with Sellout author Dan Ozzi last November:

"i think i made mistakes with them as their mentor because i misunderstood what their band was, i think, a little bit....i had a vision for them early on. when i first heard them they sounded a lot like nofx, which is very hard to believe now, and i was like i dunno guys, i don't think you wanna do stuff that's been done beofre. and gerard and mikey i knew very well, and i know how interesting and unique they were. they weren't like 'we're placebo fans, we don't give a fuck about this band and this band.' they wanted to make punk and hardcore music, but they just had a totally different view of it, you know? they were into glam and britpop and that kind of thing, and so i was like, 'i think you wanna draw the band as beautifully as gerard's art, because he's a beautiful artist.' so they came back with the first record they did, and i was really excited for them and i helped them shepherd that through, and when i heard i'm not okay, i told mikey, i was like 'i dunno WHAT you guys did, this shit fucking sucks, it sounds like made-for-radio music, it's garbage, what did you guys fucking DO?' and then like i heard the record i was like oh helena's great, the rest of the record's great, and now looking back, i'm like, i'm not okay's great too, it's just not what i thought they were gonna do. and i've always felt...you know, it's fine, we're good, we're still very good friends, but i still felt, like... that this vulnerable time for them, they were about to put out their major label debut, and this guy that they looked up to was like 'what the fuck is this shit?' you know....like, in retrospect, i was like oh that was a very ungracious, very uncool thing to do."

yeah so, typical geoff shit.

but ANYWAYS the story has a happy ending because theyre still besties and geoff started out his emo nite set after the thursday buffalo show in september with inok and two of my besties @raytorosaurus and @8thnotes got to be there and dance and sing along with him to a banger <3

#answered #pretty sure he also put some panic on that playlist

[sundaemuddysucks]

my unsolicited total drama opinions: who should've won every season

tdi

gwen and leshawna. leshawna's elimination was complete BS she didn't deserve it and we all know she would've won the season if they didnt rig her elimination. owen didn't deserve to win tdi. yes he was nice but there were way better competitors like gwen, leshawna, and heather who would've deserved it way more than him. gwen is a good winner. no change.

tda

lindsay and harold. come on. duncan is the most undeserved winner ever. beth is beth. they need to go. lindsay grew so much during tda and she deserves a REWARD!! as for harold he'd have awesome chemistry with lindsay in the finale and he was really strong in tda. i do think courtney might deserve the W here more than harold but harold has better chemistry and i prefer courtney as the winner of a different season

tdwt

the tdwt winners are perfect the way they are and if you disagree with me you're wrong

tdroti

this one is really biased because i have a deep hatred of cameron but i think jo and lightning would've been a really funny duo for the finale. it'd also be a fair fight. you know what wasn't a fair fight? cameron in the fucking ironman suit vs defenseless lightning. that shit was so boring to watch

tdas

zoey and courtney. first of all, mike deserves nothing after the horrendous character arc he had in tdas. secondly, courtney was the strongest total drama competitor to never win a season. i don't think anyone would disagree on that. courtney is THE all-star. zoey is whatever. she did place like 3rd in roti so it makes sense for her to be the winning roti contestant.

tdpi

i never watched this season but judging from the limited content ive consumed from it i think the short little fucker with the purple hair should win

tdrr

the cadets and the sisters. listen i think the ice dancers deserve the W more than the sisters but they'd be such annoying winners. i love the ice dancers tho. anyways the cadets deserved it 100% and emma and kitty were just such great characters like they deserved it more than geoff and mcstupidface (i forgot his name) and also it would wrap up their arc of learning to trust each other really well

tdi2023

bowie and julia. listen to me. hear me out. i do think priya deserved to win more than anyone else. i also think that her winning does her character a massive disservice. she could've lost and had an awesome rebellion arc. instead we got the most predictable winner ever. bowie was perfect though. and i am 100% biased towards julia but she was absolutely the next best player after priya and bowie. she didn't play the social game well but she was way stronger in challenges than bowie (and even priya a lot of the time)

#total drama

[mieux-de-se-taire]

Danger Days - Part 2

Save Yourself - one of my favorites from Danger Days, definitely my favorite Danger Days intro, that simple opening melody is just so perfect, and then the lyrics, god the lyrics, every single line fucks so hard, and they’re arguably some of the best Gerard ever wrote, this song is just everything distilled: the anger and resentment while still being catchy and fun, the raw cynicism paired with the will and determination to live and care for others, the martyr complex in full force with contemplations on legacy and immortality, the song is just screaming “I’ll die for you! I’ll die for you!”, as a fuck you to the media and those who commodified their suffering and the suffering of their fans, and as a promise to their fans, I’ll protect you, I’ll die for you, I’ll die for you, and isn’t that the message underlying all of Danger Days and Conventional Weapons, christ, and then how legacy is tied into it: “We’re never leaving this place alive / But if we sing these words we’ll never die”, “We can live forever if you’ve got the time”,  “This ain’t about all the friends you’ve made / but the graffiti they write on your grave”, when making and joining a band saved your life but then spiraled out of control and fame threatened to tear you apart again but the very thing that’s killing you is also your legacy and the reason you will never die because you will always be remembered and hated and loved, and what kills you keeps you alive, the poison is the cure, oh my god, I don’t know if any of this is coherent, I love this song so fucking much 

Scarecrow - on the surface one of the happier songs MCR ever wrote, but stupidly devastating when you really listen to the lyrics and learn about the context and deeper meaning, still such a bright, summery, comforting song, one of the most important Danger Days songs I would argue, especially the lyric “Love won’t stop this bomb” (3:07), which is one of the central themes on this record, and as a follow up to save yourself, the repetition of the idea that the end is inevitable and they’re going to die, but instead of anger, scarecrow is more about comfort, it feels like a love letter to their fans, the band still acting as martyrs but focusing more on the listener: “He burns my skin / Never mind about the shape I’m in / I’ll keep you safe tonight”, and knowing that love won’t change anything, but caring anyway, man, maybe Geoff Rickly is right

Summertime - a great transition from Scarecrow by keeping the cheerier sound but actually making it joyful through some truly tender and sweet lyrics, it’s so sappy, almost excessively so, but there’s something so pure and genuine about it, which I think is one of Gerard’s greatest strengths as a writer and a singer, to be able to write very simple lines that would otherwise sound cheesy and phony (think Famous Last Words “I am not afraid to keep on living / I am not afraid to walk this world alone”) but delivering them in way that feels so honest and resolute and making you believe everything they say, it’s also interesting how unabashedly positive it is considering the darkness and anger or bittersweet melancholy that seems to accompany joy everywhere else on this album, Summertime becomes a breath of fresh air

Destroya - completely unironically my favorite Danger Days song, actually the first I heard other than Na Na Na, it fucks so hard, I always have to sing along with the chorus, it’s just so infectious, and the drums, man, it’s one of the most aggressive and powerful sounding songs on the album, and there’s something hypnotically and subversively menacing about it, especially how it was performed live in 2022 with Gerard growling and screaming with demonic vocal distortion, it sounds like a kind of battle cry, which is part of why the extended moaning sections are such a bold and unique choice, but it works in a weird way, at least once you know to expect it (and it’s not live and Frank isn’t genuinely whimpered and groaning on stage sir this is an all ages show), it’s just so angry and weird and fucked up and incredible, and it has some of my all time favorite Danger Days lyrics like “If what you are / is just what you own / What have you become / when they take from you / almost everything?”, which is a brilliant line that ties into the themes of criticizing commodification and consumerism found on Conventional Weapons and Danger Days, also “You don’t believe in God / I don’t believe in luck / They don’t believe in us / But I believe we’re the enemy” is such a raw line, god it’s such a great song, fuck anyone who just reduces it to just the “horny” song 

Kids from Yesterday - probably of one the best songs on the album, especially how they performed it live in 2022 and 2023 with the extended outro (Ray Toro what the fuck is wrong with you this is devastating), it’s so bittersweet and nostalgic and just brimming with love, they always describe it as a song for themselves and you can really hear and see the joy and love among them when they perform it, while other songs feel like promises to the audience, Kids feels like a promise to each other, “I love you. I love you. I will always love you”, it’s so fucked up, “I’ll find you when the sun goes black”, unforgiveable, and it’s also interesting how they revisit legacy as a theme (”You only live forever in the lights you make” is one of my favorite lines in the entire album) and discuss many of the same struggles of fame as other songs, but do so in a far less angry way, it puts less focus on the band as a single entity to be exploited, revered, and hated and more focus on the individuals and how their legacy relates to them as people and their connections with one another, god, it’s just such a stunning song, wish I could listen to it more but I literally can’t handle it

Goodnite, Dr. Death - I really like the radio transmission at the beginning, but I usually skip this one because I don’t feel the need to listen to the American national anthem on the regular, especially not with the very painful (cool sounding, but painful) jumpscare at the end, that being said, it might be favorite of Dr. Death Defying’s interludes, because it’s much calmer and more muted, almost soothing, but disturbing at the same time with how casually death is warned against in an address to children, really adds to the world building, and “Even if you’re dusted, you may be gone, but out here in the desert, your shadow lives on without you” is such a cool line

Vampire Money - so fucking funny, I don’t even know what to say, the iconic roll call intro and countdown followed immediately by the deeply poetic line “We came to fuck”, the fact that it was changed to “We came to suck” in the clean version, the fact that Frank says “Oh I’m there baby” sounding like he’s talking about sex rather than playing music, which he has never once (at least to my knowledge) properly said live and even refuses to acknowledge, the way the whole song is making fun of how people latched onto and then commodified their vampire symbolism and aesthetic early on, and specifically being asked to write a song for the twilight movies, god, I love how they’re so aware of and continuously willing to poke fun at how they’ve been portrayed and perceived over the years, and I also love how malleable this song is live, changing lyrics in little ways every time they perform it, another great example of Danger Days songs being best live

#mcr #my chemical romance #danger days #album review #save yourself i'll hold them back #scarecrow #s/c/a/r/e/c/r/o/w #summertime #destroya #the kids from yesterday #goodnite dr death #vampire money

[raytorosaurus]

hi nic nj hardcore scene historian. could i ask for some essential podcasts of thursday/geoff <3 if you have the time ofc :-)

YES OFC okay i need to warn you that this shit is Potent. you will fall in love and it will get to a point where you need a certain amount of food water geoff podcast just to get you through the day. if you search "geoff rickly" on spotify and sort podcasts i can genuinely say every single one of them is worth a listen. but here are a couple that are a good starting place, from memory:

going off track (october 2012): this one's a classic because it's the first time he appeared on steven smith's (yes, of untitled rock show fame) podcast - he's been on it a couple of times and every one is great but this one covers a good deal of interesting information about the jersey hardcore scene geoff was really involved in (which is really cool to learn about as a my chem fan too!) and the vibes are good bc they all go way back (one of the co-hosts, jonah bayer, is in another grindcore/punk band with geoff)

sappenin' (october 2019): again, vibes are great with these hosts because they've been friends for ages. i'm not sure exactly how in-depth they explain it but geoff went through some real shit in 2014-16 and some of that's referenced in here. two pieces of context just in case: they talk a bit about the band geoff formed with the ex-members of l*stprophets after that lead singer went to jail for some fucked up stuff (major csa warning if you google), and also about the music label geoff created in an attempt to prove that it was possible to run an ethical, artist-first label, which...imploded quite dramatically and publicly because he trusted the wrong investor lol.

cautionary tales (january 2018): the vibes of this one aren't as laid-back and fun but it is very interesting and informative about, like, scene history and politics as it relates to both thursday and my chem

lead singer syndrome (feb 2021): geoff has earned his poor little meow meow title more than anyone else. they talk quite a bit about all the label bullshit thursday/geoff went through in this one

shallow rewards dream life of emo part 1 and 2 (sept 2016): again this one's really interesting in terms of emo/post-hardcore history and situating both thursday and my chem in that, fairly succinct too

and last but not least it's worth mentioning that geoff has his own short podcast on spotify (under geoffrey rickly) about mental health in the arts industry, and this episode specifically features steve from thursday and norm brannon (who is also currently touring with thursday) and they discuss homophobia and being closeted as a touring artist in the scene (nothing graphic or too upsetting, but definitely worth a listen).

okay that's already quite a lot of podcast lol but like i said. you can't go wrong. some of the guys, especially tucker and steve, have done some good ones too which are funny to listen to after geoff podcasts bc both those guys are like eighty times less dramatic than geoff in general lmao. also shout-out to this one by stu, thursday's current touring bassist (and geoff's no devotion bandmate), because he does talk quite a bit about geoff in it, but also because it's just like. a really good listen. they talk about some pretty confronting stuff regarding the l*stprophets situation, im not exaggerating when i say this episode made me laugh out loud and cry in my car within like the same ten minutes.

anyway. have fun good luck not falling deeply deeply into parasocials with geoff after these lol ✌️ and just in general, to mcr fans, i honestly think getting to know a little bit of this kind of stuff can really enhance your enjoyment and appreciation of my chem as well!

#SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO ANSWER THIS i am slow at everything i do #mwah enjoy #thursday #answered #ref

[little-peril-stories]

OC Name Meanings

Rules: Put down an OC or more and tell what their name means.

Thanks for the tag, Anna! 💜 @starlit-hopes-and-dreams

you know what time it is. time for an open tag.

When I was a kid, my parents had these physical books of baby names and their meanings. I've always liked to write and create characters, so you know I was obsessed with those books. There was one in particular I more or less just kept (at that point it was clear they were done having kids, lol). I mean, that thing was tattered. The cover came clean off. Sometimes I was using it for the stories I was writing; sometimes, I was literally just reading it like a book.

So, as you might expect, I always take great care when naming my characters. I like to choose names with deep symbolic meanings that fit their characterization.

Nope lol I literally just pick names that sound cool or that come into my head at that moment.

Let's see how I did with the crew from The Prince of Thieves / The Queen of Lies.

Sources: Baby Names | Baby Center | Nameberry, aka the first three websites that came up in my search

Breanna: noble | strong, hill | virtuous, honourable

I wanted to make her full name her something else that looks similar, but when I searched up the pronunciation, it wouldn't abbreviate to Bree, which I had very randomly decided on, so she became Breanna instead. Someone should tell TQOL Breanna that her name means "strong" — I'm sure she'll be astonished.

From TPOT: Bree saw hope and fucking grabbed it. She heard Gysborne tell her she was going to her death, and she hurled herself toward her chance at life. Bree Cooper is still clinging to that hope, and it is beautiful.

This is probably NOT going to be in the final draft of TQOL so have it here: ...but she had a voice, and she could kick her legs, and being quiet and demure and the good wife had served her well for so long, and it had worked, more or less, but today, this was a different beast, a different foe, and if she didn’t fight, then there was no one else to fight for her, was there?

William: will, desire, helmet, protection | resolute protection

Honestly, he was invented on the spot and I probably named him after Will Turner, because pirates will never not be sexy? Anyway. Can't believe one of these names is actually spot on. Yay!

No, I vow. I have already decided, long known, in fact, that I will not betray the others. Baden Hatchett will never hear the names James Wardrew, Colette Haris, or Geoffrey Marks. I will take their names and the location to whatever unmarked grave they dig for me. I will take my own name into death with me if it means it will protect the others.

James: supplanter | heel

Another generic dude name I sort of picked out of nowhere... or, more likely, I probably saw one of the countless Outlander gifs that go around and stole Jamie Fraser's name. Jamie W. does act like a heel sometimes so that works. Jk Jamie we love you!

If you want IA, then you want me. If the man you arrested goes free, unharmed, I will turn myself in, and Iustitia aecum will be no more.

Colette: victory of the people | people of victory

Her name just happened! No rhyme or reason. Glad this is what it means though, who knows what would've happened to IA if it meant the opposite.

"And then Spider… She… When the chance to do something good for people who had nothing, when that opportunity finally presented itself… That little wooden coin… It changed my life.”

Geoffrey: God peace | peace, territory, pledge | pledge of peace

No idea why I picked this name—or why, around the same time, I also had a character called Jeff (Jeffersen) in Fen & Freddie. But hey! Geoff doesn't talk much, so the whole "peace" thing kind of tracks.

Geoff wraps his arms around me, presses his face against my neck, the unkempt, wiry hairs of his beard digging into my skin, a sublime sort of torment, innocent yet lethal. “Jamie. You are my family."

Allan: little rock | handsome | cheerful

He gets the honour of being the only character to have the same name as someone from the Robin Hood stories. (Will doesn't count.) He isn't particularly cheerful and I suspect he doesn't believe he's that handsome, but at least I got to name him Allan-a-Dale.

I scrabble on the muddy ground, finding a rock the size of my fist. Although my grip is weak from the cold, I hold it up.  ... I hurl it at him, trying to hit his head and falling embarrassingly short. “You’re one of them.” I feel around for another stone, find a smaller one, throw that, too.

Baden: bather | son of bade [other websites also gave me "battle" and "humble, confident"... idk 🤔]

Honestly? “Baden Hatchett” sounded really cool and villainous. I burst into laughter when I saw that the one site said "bather." This guy…he wants to cleanse the world of crime. 😂 But really, I just named him after the place in Germany (it’s also a small community in Ontario) for no other reason than that it sounds cool.

The delinquent rat before me, though, will never wash away the stain of his crimes—the years stealing riches from the pockets of hardworking men, of luring impressionable innocents into his gang of thieves. Nor can he brush away the bruise blossoming across his jaw, nor the blood dripping down his chin from his nose.

Curtis: courteous, courtly | polite

His name just happened. Constable Lenton needed a first name for TQOL and this was it. But it makes sense—guess this is why he's always so pissed off about someone using rude language about Breanna. 🙃 Swearing’s not very courteous at all, is it?

“Enough of your miserable attitude and your filthy tongue.” Curt’s voice was sharp enough to cut. Slick with disgust. Harsh with rage. “You want to mouth off to me or Constable Hatchett or any of us and take your licks for acting like a wild animal? Fine. But there’s a lady present, and you’ll behave accordingly. Do you understand?”

Verity: truth

I just really wanted her name to abbreviate to very so I could associate Colette with Much. That's the whole story there.

Rolling my eyes, nudging her with my elbow, I say, “Pay attention. Help me assuage some of my guilt.”

“Can’t do that,” Verie says gently, and I hate her for being right. “You ought to tell him whatever it is you lied about.”

Thank you so much for this tag! It was really fun. &lt;3

#god this one started with my life story like a food blog #enjoy #tag game #oc name meanings #Geoff and Colette's meanings very really hard to pick quotes for so they're....adequate lol #also Jamie's quote requires a slightly creative interpretation of 'supplant' soooo #lps the prince of thieves #lps the queen of lies

[rillette]

ugh. I read your analysis of those recent GL panels &...ugh. Especially since rn we're focusing a lot on reporting sexual harassment (& Hal's a core member of the League). C'mon, you really think WW would put up with his shit for a second? anyway, I'm gonna try to go find my copy of Green Lantern: First Flight (2009; Alan Burnett wrote) or my Blackest Night anthology (2009-10; Geoff Jones). Hopefully, that (+ my undying love for your & @thwackk 's fanart) will be enough to fuel my Hal obssession. Do you have any opinions on either of these comics/books? Do you think they're on their own?

literally hal would never fucking act like that. I remember an issue in like the 70s where hal says smth out of pocket to a girl and then immediately goes "woah that was really mean and very out of character of me, something must be wrong." (the answer was, as always, aliens). Hal also routinely got super pissed at carols dad in the early 80s iirc bc carols dad is a raging misogynist. Hal supports the girlies he Would Not Fucking Say That!!!

I remember first flight was alright for what it was! I wouldn't say it's super great GL media bc it does fuck up the lore from what i remember? but it works for a basic intro to get people interested in GL! I can't speak on Blackest Night bc I havent read any GL media more recent than like the 90s (other than spectre 2001 my love go read spectre 2001)! I'm a hashtag 70/80s GL stan 😌👍also SO fucking true mav's art makes me insane!!!! everyone go check out mav's account RN or ELSE!!!!!

#asks <3 #ty for the ask!! #comic talk #not. the biggest geoff fan i wont lie to you which is part of why i havent read his run yet