#i respect kids media made by really passionate people SO MUCH

[fruitsofhell]

(Just FYI this isn’t meant to be a “How You Should Write Your Kirby Headcanons” post, its just me explaining reasoning for my own and I thought it would be fun to share!!)

     So the way I’ve factored KatFL into my timeline of Kirby Ancients Lore is that all the background of the Forgotten Land happened before and/or separately from any events previously explained to be connected to “the Ancients.” I’ve basically read it as the Ancients being the people of Halcandra and Jambandra, and that the people of the Forgotten Land are precursors to them - the Ancients of the Ancients. But I’ve seen a lot of stuff online where people have the time of the FL and the Halandran Ancients mingle, like Galacta and and Elfilis being meeting or sealing Void and other stuff like that. It kind of made me realize, “Wait? Do I even have a concrete reason why I interpreted it like this other than vibe?” But I realized I actually do, and its a meta thing about how these games are written.

     In a couple interviews recently Kumazaki and the dev team have stated that the series is entirely designed around gameplay first, which means any world-building and lore comes after the main elements of the game are in place. Every new game is built to be self-contained for the most part with the threads of details and basic character arcs connecting them so that they don’t have to fret over story while planning a fun game. That explanation is where that infamous in my mind “There is no canon timeline” quote came from. -

- What that probably means is that the plots of each game and therefore a majority of the lore of them is not planned before hand. Kumazaki just has a blueprint for basic aspects like the existence of the Ancients on Halcandra and the magic and science stuff, and then as each game came out he played by ear and built on top of what was done last. Which is really interesting - on top of not wanting to make the games bloated and wanting things to be open to interpretation, this writing style is probably why things are so vague. And with how this quote was in response to being asked if there would be a Zelda style mess of a timeline someday, I think its cool and functional to keep things loose like this so you can prioritize the gameplay and not make overly messy lore.

     Anyways, this philosophy is exactly what was used for KatFL. The idea of the Forgotten Land as a whole didn’t start with wanting to create a new place for lore, but with environment and game mechanics. -

- And specifically what I’m getting at is that the Forgotten Land as a world likely wasn't designed to interweave heavily with previously established stuff about the Ancients. It feels like this was designed to be its own kinda bubble of lore outside of a lot of pre-established stuff, but to still relate back to it to flesh things out. Like they made this whole new ancient civilization deal, and then for lore they stretched back the timeline to plop the whole of this games backstory there, make it relate to pre-established material in fun ways, and then called it there - they built ON TOP of what was there. Which works surprisingly effectively though definitely my first reaction to this was “they just added more ancients kinda out of nowhere lol?” But I mean the way RtDL kinda just came out of nowhere with a whole laundry list of details about a random new ancient people too, this will probably be built on in the background of later games a bit.

     Now that’s the dev lore side of it, but I also think its really fun thematically. I talked before about how the ruins of Halcandra and the ruins of the Forgotten Land are opposites of each other despite being related, and I think that dichotomy continues if you think of the latter as being complete pre-history to what we know. Not only are the current inhabitants of the Forgotten Land blissfully ignorant to the technological and magical riches of the planet’s ruins besides what innocent enjoyment they can get out of it now, but no one searching for that even knows the place exist because it is forgotten. Halcandra is the hellish plundered planet still looked back to in legend for its secrets and valuables, but the Forgotten Land was completely untouched by that until Kirby showed up. And Kirby and the Dreamlanders aren’t ones to really bother with all that glory and gold stuff so you know it will be safe with them (until Magolor or Susie come to visit). But I think its fun to think of its isolation as being one of that worlds many bittersweet blessings and beauties. Instead of being like Halcandra where the misery of its inhabitants and the legends spread about it turned the planet into a complete wasteland, its former greatness and industry is being naturally reclaimed by the planet to be recycled for the next inheritors of the land. Instead of continuing a cycle of greed and ruination its one of wonder and discovery and all that.

TL;DR - Kirby games are written with the basic structure of the world in mind but characters, plots, and most environments aren't planned in advance, they just build on top of each other. Which means that the FL was likely not made beforehand to interweave with pre-established Ancients lore, but built to be a self contained chapter of the universe history that just leads into what we know. It works nicely if you want to parallel Halcandra and the Forgotten Land and how one being legend and one being pre-history respectively effects how you interpret them as ruins - either as plundered remains or reclaimed wonders.

#kirby #kirby and the forgotten land #kirby lore #kirby headcanon #shinya kumazaki #shut the heck up #kirby lore rambles #kirby writing rambles #really proud of this one #also you should read all those interviews #im talking only about lore but all the gameplay stuff is so cool and i love hearing how much the team cares about all the details #and making fun accessible games with depth #i respect kids media made by really passionate people SO MUCH

[moltengoldveins]

so it’s been about a year and a half since Technoblade’s passing. I’m not ready to talk about it, but let’s be real. I’m never going to be. We have what we have when we have it, then it’s gone. I didn’t talk enough about him while he was here, so I’m doing it now.

I was really active in the MCYT fandom when I was younger, ages six to twelve or so. Then again for about three years before Techno’s passing, joining early 2019 as far as I remember. Techno was the first online figure I’d encountered with even a passing resemblance to my own sense of humor and philosophy on life. I respected him a lot, and grew to love the community because of the environment he cultivated. He was also a big figure in my journey towards realizing I was ace. I’m not about to speculate on him or his tastes, but he didn’t base his humor around sex or romance. He never really brought it up. He avoided the topic when other people did, and he was Still Funny. He was still loved and valued by his fans and community. That was really big for me. That someone could ignore all that stuff and still be loved. That Will and Tommy and such never made him feel lesser for being uninterested.

His character kept me invested in the DSMP. His humor helped me through the worst parts of Covid. I’d already read The Art of War, but his love for it made me appreciate it and the rest of the classics so much more. The stories and art, the music and headcanons, all of it irrevocably altered the way I tell stories and the way I view the world. He helped me articulate a lot of my moral code, and concretely understand a lot of my beliefs. His relationship with Philza, both in character and out, also helped me. I had no idea friendships could be that intimate without being romance, and my friendship with my best friend is significantly closer now. My family has lost a lot to cancer. At the time of Techno’s announcement, I’d recently lost a grandfather to lung cancer, my other granddad had just barely fought it off, and my aunt had dealt with blood cancer as a kid, leaving her incapable of having kids. I’ll admit: I panicked. I hated cancer with a passion and I still do: I couldn’t fathom loosing another person to it, public figure or otherwise. I was never allowed to interact much with the internet while I was a minor. By the time I wasn’t one anymore, watching fandoms from the sidelines had already become habit. I never stepped in, never commented, never sent any messages in chat. I think I did it to maintain emotional distance. I was there for years, every stream, every video, cheering and screaming and chanting with the best of them, but entirely silent. I only really got close to breaking out of that weird sort of limbo once. It was some random stream, late in his illness, when a timer went off for his meds. He ignored it, cracked a joke, and even though I was at work I spent the next ten minutes thinking about it. “Just go take your meds, idiot.” I kept muttering to myself. I think I scared a coworker. I had the chat open and my fingers on my phone when he noticed the rest of chat yelling at him and took them, so I didn’t say anything. I never did. I regret that immensely now. I wasn’t any further removed emotionally because of my distance. I just felt like I’d never done anything of value when I could have.

I don’t think I really… processed it. When he died. I wasn’t in a very safe environment anyway, as my family had no idea I watched his content, much less cared so much, so I couldn’t emote much externally. What was I gonna say anyway? “Oh, some random guy on the internet died of cancer and won’t be making stuff anymore, darn, what a shame.”

So I didn’t process it. I went on as normal. I didn’t engage with any media made after his passing and I let the hurt fester. Everything was ✨fine✨… and then a few months later, I got a call while at college, “Grandad has cancer again. He’s probably not going to make it this time.”

Yeah. Yeah that. That hurt. A lot. That semester became a painful mess of travel and sickness and missed classes and hard conversations with a dying man I still love more than anything. I was kicked out of my apartment without warning the day I got the call about his death. When I got the chance to breathe, it finally hit me, and I just sort of broke down. And the person I was grieving? Techno. Not my grandpa. Not at first. It was like I’d blocked the pipe up, and the first stuff to come out was the stuff that’d gotten stuck first. i sat down and cried about it. I reread Passerine for the first time since he’d announced the cancer. I started writing again on things I hadn’t had the heart to touch. I found Grandpa’s old dog tags and I haven’t taken them off since. It was… ok. I guess. But I still wouldn’t watch his videos. I couldn’t watch any of the other DSMP creators, especially not Phil. To be frank, I was also dealing with a lot of doubt in my faith at the time. Techno was the first person I’d ever known who died without being a professing Christian. I still don’t know what’s happened to him, and at the time I didn’t know what to do with that. I couldn’t tolerate the idea that, according to everyone around me, someone so funny and noble and kind and strong willed would end up parted from God or lost or whatever you think the afterlife might be for people who don’t ‘get everything right.’ And most of the people in my church circle are painfully callous when it comes to people who aren’t ‘in the right,’ who don’t die ‘correctly.’ I still don’t really know what to do with that, except for the fact that I hate it, and I don’t think it’s Christlike. I don’t think I’m going to find peace on that for a long while. I might wait until I die and see what happens. So I figured it was done and over. I’d been sad, I’d come to terms with it, I’d moved on. But I wasn’t… really acknowledging how much it mattered? And I wasn’t reengaging with the fandom at all. I assumed I never would. But recently, I made a friend. We’ll call her Jamie for privacy’s sake. Jamie’s really similar to me, but she’d never really interacted with the DSMP fandom. She was asking for fic recs and before I even thought about it I’d recommended Passerine. Then Bones in the Ocean. She loved them, then started asking who Techno was, so I mentioned the Potato Wars videos, and before I’d had the chance to flinch I was watching them with her, laughing and rolling my eyes and trying my hardest not to cry in front of someone who hasn’t the slightest idea why I’d be so emotional. But I watched them. And that evening I put a Philza stream on. I’m not done mourning Techno, the stuff he stood for, and the community he built around him. But I’m done hiding it. I’m sharing the art and the half-finished fics and the stuff I still laugh at years later. I’m gonna find time somehow to join Phil’s streams, and actually talk to people instead of watching from a distance. I’m gonna talk about it with people. I’m gonna buy merch. Because I loved him, in that same weird friend-brother-online-stranger way he seemed to love us right back, and I still do. He’s still here, in a weird way, making us laugh and cry and fight every battle with flawless confidence and our heads held high. It’s not easy, but he’s not dead until we let him stop. He’s not gone until we all decide he doesn’t matter anymore. And we’re Chat for crying out loud, that’s never gonna happen. Technoblade never dies.

#technoblade #long post #introspection #??? I guess #Again #i hope y’all are doing ok #Grieving properly #And living well 💜

[daydadahlias]

What is the difference to you between Wattpad fic and non Wattpad fic? Genuinely asking. Isn't fic just fic and quality is going to vary regardless of where it gets posted? Also i think to me at least, x reader fic is kind of synonymous with Wattpad so how can you "condemn" one but not the other? Interested to hear your thoughts :)

ok so it is 1 am and I just finished writing a vEry bad paper so my brain is not firing on all cylinders rn. thus, pls forgive me for not being the most articulate.

I would like to first say that all of this is just my Jess Opinion so I’m not trying to make you disagree or agree w/ me and I’m not stating any of this as fact. These are just my personal thoughts that I state with authority and passion bc that’s how I talk :) ok!!

Obviously I don’t actually “condemn” any authors lmfao I was just being dramatic for comedic affect. Im not asking to burn any wattpad authors at the stake or anything. However, there is definitely a distinct difference between wattpad fic and ao3 fic, so much so that I can literally read a fic on ao3 and tell when it has been cross posted from wattpad.

Fic quality actually does not vary as much as you think dependent on platform. Usually people write amongst groups of likeminded people and similar writing styles so your writing style can be influenced a Lot by the platform you post on. Sure there’s an outlier here and there but pretty much all wattpad fic is simply Not written well for a variety of reasons.

My most personal beef from wattpad stems from their crack ass horrible garbage stupid bitch fuck ratchet tagging system.

On wattpad, there is NO way to trigger warn or appropriately tag for content or, as a reader, filter out content you don’t want to see. Unless an author specifically includes something in an author note about content warnings (which they Don’t do for the most part because no one else on the platform does so why would they break fhe mold??)

This means that when you read Most wattpad fics, you don’t know what kind of content you’re going to encounter. Often times, this content ends up being blatant internalized misogyny, domestic abuse, and/or dub-con handled with no tact or understanding for the problematicism of the subject matter :)

I don’t personally read x reader (bc I’m an aroace person so I’m just not the audience for it lol) but I certainly don’t knock people that write it. It’s a very valid form of writing/expression and there are plenty of very talented x reader writers on tumblr that I respect a lot. So that’s why I made the differentiation.

A lot of the x reader writers on tumblr are adults whereas wattpad is primarily comprised of children (when I say children I mean as broad a range as 9-16).

Because ao3 is regarded as “confusing” to a lot of young people just now getting into fanfic (ie. me when I was 12), they post on wattpad (or quotev, which is where I posted lol) because it is a platform made to be accessible for primarily adolescents.

This means that the bulk of fics you’re finding on wattpad are written by teenagers; often, straight female teenagers who have not had comprehensive sex education, do not understand the full spectrum of consent, have only consumed media that pushes damaging heteronormative expectations when it comes to romance, and are reading stories written by other adolescents who don’t understand these topics either!!! It’s usually a case of the blind leading the blind.

I don’t inherently think of wattpad being synonymous with x reader considering there is slash on there too. I instead consider it synonymous with adolescent writing. And, as we’ve established a few times now, I’m an adult who does not feel comfortable reading about children or reading the writing of children.

While there’s nothing wrong with kids learning how to write and becoming comfortable with their craft (and while I think it is important for them to have those outlets as it was for me), wattpad writers never really tend to grow out of that because that’s what basically All the content on wattpad is. They continuously feed into a loop of misinformation that they perpetuate the cycle of by not understanding the content they’re consuming is inappropriate and incorrect (I’m talking about romantic portrayals of abuse/assault and the glamorization of abusive men).

Young teens using wattpad makes sense to me. It really does. I used quotev so I don’t have room to talk. I can say, however, that I don’t like it, considering how permeated wattpad is with untagged rape and domestic violence that teaches young consumers really damaging perspectives about romance but… I know kids genuinely don’t know any better and have not been given an outlet to know better when our sex education system fails to teach us even the slightest bit of porn literacy… but that’s neither here nor there. And I often times make fanfic a deeper conversation than it needs to be :)

#and scene #take a deep breath #my thoughts :) #all personal no one is allowed to argue w/ me bc I’m not saying these things are fact #pigeon #anon #I luv how long this is #I spent 23 minutes typing this answer wow #jessay #that really was a jessay geez

[paperstorm]

Hello! I love following your stories and your posts. You always have such an interesting take on things!

I have a question that maybe controversial (that's why I'm on anon), so feel free to ignore this if you don't feel upto it.

I'm a cis, straight woman of relative economic privilege in a very traditional, conservative country. Which is to say, all of my interactions with and information about the LGBTQ+ community are from the internet. This sometimes is an issue because I end up learning the wrong things, where I think I'm being an ally but I'm just thinking things that are problematic in different ways.

I write a bit of fanfiction for other fandoms and I really enjoy watching 9-1-1LS. I have story ideas for Tarlos, but I'm not sure about the ethics of someone like me writing about a queer couple. Is it okay for me to do that? Or is it more respectful to just read and listen and learn? In case it's fine to write it, never having actually witnessed a queer couple's relationship, how do I write realistically without perpetuating problematic tropes that I've seen in Hollywood/TV/other fics?

(This might get long, I’m sorry followers, one day I’ll learn to shut up but not today and not about this)

I want to start by saying that ‘own voices’ started out as a good thing. It started with the purpose of allowing marginalized communities the space to tell their own stories, rather than prioritizing a white man pretending he knows what racism feels like when he doesn’t. It had really good intentions, and it’s still important to amplify the voices of people who are speaking from direct experience.

But because social media spaces are literally never capable of nuance, it pretty quickly turned into ‘you aren’t allowed to write or talk about things that you don’t have direct experience with’ and this is where it became a really harmful mentality. It has led to things like celebrities being forcibly outed (off the top of my head – Lee Pace, Kit Connor, Casey McQuiston, and Jameela Jamil, but I’m positive there are others) because the internet mob said ‘you can’t portray/write about queer characters if you aren’t queer! Publicly perform your sexuality for us or ELSE!’. On a much smaller scale, it led to me not including characters of colour in my stories for years, because tumblr and twitter told me I wasn’t allowed to.

These are not positive things. I saw a post once, years ago, that said something like ‘yes it’s important for POC to get to see characters who look like them as the hero of the story, but it’s equally important for people to see characters who don’t look like them as the hero of the story, because that’s how you learn empathy for people who are different than you’ and that has really stuck with me. It was not good that a teenager was forced to come out before he was ready a few months ago because twitter told him he was queerbaiting by just existing and living his life. It was not good that I went years excluding characters of colour from my stories. It was not good that I never tried to get into the headspace of someone like Sam Wilson or Nile Freeman or Yusuf al-Kaysani or Carlos Reyes or Marjan Marwani. We develop intense empathy for people who have vastly different experiences than us when we care about their lives and their stories and their struggles.

I showed this ask to my best friend who is also queer and he made a lot of good points in a series of very passionate texts but among them are these:

I would rather someone be open and wanting to explore a new community, perhaps occasionally stumbling over the wrong thing, but learning rather then sitting on the sideline like some kid outside of a candy store window.

I’m not interested in allies who are silent. Who haven’t put themselves in my shoes. Who don’t adore the parts of our community the way I do. I don’t give a FUCK about people who are just going to sit there and say “it’s not my place to speak/participate.” I want my allies in the thick of it. I want them saying I stand with you, vocally and I’ll only sit when you sit.

Quit making people treat marginalized groups like exclusive clubs. Everyone is welcome in my gay house

I know my family loves me because they are my family and I am of them. I need to know the rest of the world is going to let me in, too. I need to know that some successful author who has absolutely no stake in the game ALSO sees value in a queer voice in their story. I need to know I have a place in the world BEYOND the people who are accepting of me because they are like me.

So. All of this is a very long-winded way of saying please please PLEASE write and love and care about queer characters even if you, yourself are not queer. If you’re worried about getting something wrong or unintentionally writing something that is offensive, ask a queer person if they would be a sensitivity reader for your story before you post it. And be willing to accept the criticism if a person comes to you after and says ‘hey this was offensive’ (while also understanding that one queer person or one POC does not speak for the entire community, and that the concept of offense gets incredibly complicated sometimes). But write it. It is a wonderful, necessary thing when people care about communities that they are not a part of. In the immortal words of Mr. Bernie Sanders, when then question “Are you willing to fight for someone you don’t know?” is asked, the world gets infinitely better when the answer is yes.

#anon asks

[ellestray]

so. i was lucky enough to see skz at lollapalooza.

my entire body still hurts and my throat is just sore from all the shouting, but lord. i've never been happier about some pain.

i cannot express how wonderful they were. so caring. so passionate. you could absolutely feel their energy and gratitude through their performance, even from the back.

i usually don't move a lot during concerts (although i'm always having the time of my life!), i like soaking in the music and watching intently what the artist worked so hard on. but lollapalooza honestly is a blur.

it was so natural to dance and sing along. honestly, although there was an absurd amount of people, it felt like a safe space where i could care-freely be myself. it just reminded me that beyond the bad apples on social media, the community skz built is at the image of the group- nonjudgmental, all about kindness and, ultimately, music.

i also need to make a quick comment on bangchan- i've always known he's a born leader, of course, everyone does. but seeing his leadership in action during the concert was really different. i've gained so much more respect and appreciation for him, if that's even possible. i've been to a lot of concerts, but i don't think i've ever seen an artist take so much time to ensure the public was safe and anyone feeling sick could be escorted. i know it should be the bare minimum, but he was so genuine and gentle with his worry and kindness, i couldn't help but feel this new found love for him. he also did an amazing job at dealing with such a large crowd and leading the performance overall, still giving every member space to express themselves and hyping them up on stage- he was just everything.

oh, and haven. such an emotional moment. the euphoria we all felt from miroh just being performed. the fireworks. the boys being oh so happy on stage. the crowd dancing around with the biggest smile on their faces. it all felt so safe and comfortable. i wish the kids could've witnessed the scene from the point of view of the public- it was truly magical.

after the end of the concert, as i was walking away from the stage hand in hand with my friend, we saw a little girl with her mom- the image really marked me, for some reason. we shortly talked to them, and this little girl was brought to tears by the moment. the mom was so, so genuinely happy for her daughter, and she also was feeling all this happiness we were sharing from the experience. it made me realize that stray kids makes music for everyone, not just an audience that could turn into full time fans. this performance wasn't just for the little girl who had been dreaming of seeing her idols, it also was for the parents, for the people that didn't know them, for anyone that needed a breath of fresh air after difficult times.

before the concert, i met so many stays. the way we all naturally got along just reminded me of how kind the community skz fostered is. those stays and i went to the eiffel tower at night together and talked for hours, without even knowing each other- it'll be a moment i'll cherish forever.

i have so much more to say, but it's difficult to find the words to describe everything that surrounded this concert. i'm just filled with pride and newfound energy. i've been going through hard times lately, but in those moments, i felt free and at peace.

thank you, stray kids, and thank you stays for being so kind :')

#lollapalooza #stray kids #elle's thoughts #skzpalooza #stay #i am so grateful

[lizzibennet]

ok but what are the true crime podcasts you DO like 👀

bear brook by nhpr - about four bodies, found 15 years apart, in bear brook state park, and their connection to the murder of a korean woman in florida. simply the best true crime podcast out there. the host is great, easy to listen to and a damn good journalist. he is really respectful which is rare in tc podcasts. the story is one of the most unusual - part of this case was what originated genetic genealogy. i feel really passionately about unidentified victims so this one always resonated particularly deeply w me

finding cleo by cbc radio - about a young indigenous woman who went missing in canada. talks quite a bit about racism in child welfare in canada (so content warning for that). really heartbreaking :( this was important when i was building my understanding of the treatment of indigenous people in canada. 

maddie by 9.com.au - about madeleine mccann. the host clearly has an opinion but i like that he brings in ppl who disagree with him and values their opinion just the same. really complete imo while also being succinct 

bad blood by three uncanny four - about elizabeth holmes. while I don’t agree with the near glamourization media at large has caused to her case the case itself is really interesting. This was written by the journalist who first published the exposé that brought her company down, so it’s really in depth and not really baity or inflammatory at all, just depicts the truth

broken harts by iheartradio - about a white lesbian couple who adopted six black kids and tragically ended their lives in a murder-suicide. this was also really heartbreaking but the story is important to listen to, i think. i’m not american so it gave me some context about adoption in the us and especially how race plays into it

the clearing by pineapple street studios - about april balascio, who is the daughter of a serial killer, and her journey to understand her life and especially her childhood with the knowledge of what her father did. just a damn well put together podcast

root of evil by cadence13 - about george hodel, who is largely suspected to have killed elizabeth short (the black dahlia case), but also probably committed dozens of other crimes in his life, narrated by his granddaughters. I hate referring to true crime cases as “insane” bc it’s real life not a story but this earns the title by the simple fact there is SO much to one family. I do not recommend the tv show they made about this lol

voices for justice by sarah turney - about alissa turney, sarah’s sister, who went missing and who sarah now believes was murdered by her father, whom she previously protected and even campaigned for. the case became relatively well known within true crime circles and sarah now uses the platform it allowed her to build to highlight other cases of missing and murdered people. i have a bias here as i have talked a bit with sarah and i just think she is a great person lol but i really like podcasts where the host allows a deeper look into the person’s life, so this was great for me regardless. i’m not very into the episodic part of this one (not much for episodic true crime) but i do listen to the part about alissa a lot

i will shut up now lol

#Anonymous #what is my ask tag again

[damnednyx]

I think commentary youtubers should stop talking about cultures that are inherent and massive like fandoms because a) you're not part of it and b) you're not adding anything to the conversation that hasn't been already added c) you're not fucking part of it so you don't know shit you oblivious moron and d) you're clearly biased as fuck so get off your high horse and just admit that and move forward.

Like the inevitable nature of fandoms and the ways people (especially kids and teens) express their passion and interests has always been there. No matter the media being discussed. So stop preying on a group that's already shamed and ridiculed and is made up mostly of kids (on tiktok!! Like really??? You went to tiktok??? And expected what?? What you doing at the devil sacrament?? Making fun of it? You went through all that to make fun of it??) They're just doing their thing and it doesn't harm anybody. You went searching for it and you're sat here complaining about it. 'Gently poking fun' at a teenagers interests and worst of all putting their face to an audience they didnt expect or ask for or not equipped to handle is ignorant and you are guilty of the things that you accused Dream for.

I'm so tired of people flaming on teenagers for just staying in their lane and doing the shit that they like. Like years of shaming had tampered whatever passion i had for so many things that it's unreal.

Saying parasocial relationships are inherently wrong is such a deadbeat and outdated take that i can't even bother refuting it. Parasocial relationships much like every other relationship has its own pros and cons if you can't understand the intricacies of it then get educated. You're a fucking commentary channel?? Where's your research dickhead?? What are you teaching here "you can expose kids to milions of your viewers if you think they either deserve the harassment that is sure to follow" or you're so confident in your viewers that they won't harass her because you said pretty please, parasocial much? That's exploitation.

If you're gonna poke your nose into something that you have no clue of then do better research and be respectful of your limited knowledge. Nobody's going to flame you for not knowing and accepting that you don't know or understand it. In fact so many people are welcomed if they're just a little bit kind. That's all it takes.

#discourse #nickisnotgreen #criticism #dreamblr #my post

[fcb-mv33]

Hii Red Anon here again ❤️

You and that other Anon making me blush ☺️.

Don’t get me wrong I only started watching F1 at the end of 2020, and 2021 fully made me watch and the passion Max would drive that Redbull I can honestly see why my brother is a big fan of Max, I got the subscription of F1 Tv to watch back on past races (being from England and watching Sky 🫠) I watched Max’s first win in Spain and they way he kept Kimi behind him, no one can take away Max’s accomplishments, I see comments like FIA in Jos pockets and I’m like huh 🫠 really 😂, it’s time for the Youngsters to shine now it’s a new era of racers.

Out of the Sky commentators I really like Jenson he’s never bias he will call out Lewis and Max and give detailed discussions why, Naomi sometimes I’m like yessss and others I’m like really (the Max, George Baku debate), Martin I’m so/so with him I seen past races when he’s like I’m a big fan of Max.

As a journalist/Commentator you have to be neutral over everything even if you like that person.

The reason why I came with the receipts is because we all know people would bash me and say that I’m lying (google is there for a reason).

Yuki may be my favourite driver but I will cheer Max on and honestly the Max fans I’ve seen on here are so respectful, and the way they defend him and the F1 drivers, the Lewis fans on here well I’ve only seen a very fair few that like Max.

The bullying and abuse Max gets is horrible and wrong, the racist abuse Lewis gets is horrible both should never get that and I look at these people on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and I’m like why would you do this you cyber bully someone how would you like it if someone you know, your kid, your sibling got cyber bullied or if in the future they get called by their kids school saying that their kid is cyber bullying people and their kid turns round saying you did it honestly i do not get people.

Yes the drivers say things that makes you question them, yes you may dislike a driver that’s fine but why abuse them on social media, when I saw them fans in Miami flipping Max off and telling him to Fu*k Off I’m like you’ve spent £1,000+ on tickets just to do that wtf.

I will fully defend Max no matter what he’s done nothing but put his life into racing.

I would absolutely love for Max to win Brazil and Sliverstone and Mexico this year just to spite all the Lewis British and Brazilian fans and even the toxic Checo fans.

Kinda wish this year I was sitting with all the Max fans at Sliverstone.

Hopefully next year I get to see a race 😁



F1tv has honestly been a blessing. I’ve watched the full seasons since 2015 when Max joined and even in 2015 he was genuinely a joy to watch, annoying the living life out of everyone (except Nando) for being 17. People comment sometimes saying he’s a paid driver but when you do a deep dive into his stats as a child I mean Jesus they are so so impressive and also no amount of pull could get a 17 year old into a car if he wasn’t insanely talented. Which Max is.

I fully don’t like any of the commentators except Jenson. They have chatted so much shit since Baku and the start of the season. Constantly acting like Max is ruining the sport, is a spoilt child when he’s just Max. They choose to be ignorant of who he is, the way he is and the talent he is because he’s not British and it’s a shame. I swear the amount of times I’ve seen them trying to say George would match Max is literally criminal.

Honestly I’ve really strong opinions on the hate Max gets and how it’s seen as basically okay. It’s been that way since 2021 when Merc and lh would send their fans to abuse Max but give out about the booing or cheers in 2022 when they sat by and said nothing about their fans week in week out wishing death on Max, his gf, his mother, his sister and her two little boys. The hate Max gets is according to some “deserved” all because he destroyed Merc in 2021. He out drove Lewis in 70% of the time when Merc didn’t take him out. I think the abuse not being called out is fucking vile and that’s why I constantly call it out.

#anon❤️ #hope he wins in silverstone Brazil and Mexico too!! #for the shits and giggles

[cock-holliday]

camellia, daffodil :)

camellia ⇢ what were you like when you were younger? do you think you’ve changed a lot?

Oh boy, we’re getting into the loaded questions. I’ve changed a lot and also not changed a lot. I feel like I’m at a stage right now where I’ve come very full-circle.

As a kid, I was rowdy, I was stubborn, I was sarcastic, and I was a little odd. I made friends with a kid named John that lived across the alley, and since my birth name began with a K, we played Men In Black as J and K respectively all the time. We both were obsessed with space and aliens. I was hooked on ET and Close Encounters. And then obsessed with and haunted by seeing Signs *way* too young.

I liked a lot of nerdy stuff but I also played a bunch of sports. Soccer was my first but I’ve also played lacrosse, ran track, and played gaelic football and hurling, and tried my hand briefly at basketball and hockey.

I saw Lord of the Rings as a kid and decided I wanted to make movies when I grew up. I loved creating and being part of teams. I liked the high-stakes pressure of being the last line of defense in soccer or lacrosse—the goalkeeper. I very much wanted to do big things, be part of something huge, and admittedly—impress people.

I could be shy or you couldn’t pay me to shut up, with no in between. So while I liked being on my own I also had little issue socializing with peers when I wanted to. I wouldn’t realize until high school that I hadn’t had many close friends—it was more acquaintances. I had the habit of knowing everything about my “friends” but they knew very very little about me. Until I met two of my best friends and realized that this is what friends really were.

I think, or at least have tried, to return back to shameless enthusiasm and driving passion I had as a kid. I had a long period between where I was made to feel embarrassed of my interests, that I talked too much, that I got too emotional. I learned to hide the things I liked, I felt like sharing anything was a bother, and that it was crucial for me to repress a lot of what made me me to be acceptable.

I like to think I’m how I was as a little kid again but better this time. I want to share my passions and interests and not in a naïve way, but in a way that I know that someone who respects me won’t make me feel shitty for indulging in my interests. I have the experience and memories to feel comfortable that when someone doesn’t like that about me, I don’t have to let it bother me.

I didn’t listen and I pissed off my parents and I did what I wanted when I wanted and was unapologetically me, then I was so far from myself. Now, after a lot of reflection and self-discovery, I can feel more confident about who I am, and be that again.

daffodil ⇢ do you have siblings? if yes, in what ways do you think you’re similar to or different from them?

I have two sisters and I am smack in the tragic middle of them. The three of us were very very close as kids. Then have drifted and reconnected and drifted in different ways. I wanted to be like my older sister, but my younger sister let me be young again. When my older sister moved to college, I got closer with my younger. We both love the same kind of media. We’re both creatives. We have such similar humor we constantly say the same joke at the same time, prompting us to follow up with an inside joke we say in unison that’s about saying the same thing together. Unfortunately she and I really butt heads politically. We can be so similar and then sometimes could not be more completely different people that I’m shocked we are related.

My older sister and I always bonded over sports. She taught me a lot, and pushed me really hard. She is the golden Eldest Daughter. She had so many expectations of perfection on her shoulders. She was cool and good at sports and good at school and really popular. When she moved away we didn’t have as much to connect us besides sports. I went on to watch her games. We played sports together when we’d see each other. She put together my workout packets. We reconnected and got much closer when she realized she was queer, and this and her relationship with her now-wife really brought us together. We could not have different tastes in movies, music, shows, but we see eye to eye on a philosophical level, and we bonded a lot over Rough Times from our childhoods.

I have extremely different relationships with my sisters, and they each have their own complications. But right in the middle is my MO.

#ask meme #ask #cxptnjackharkness #thank you!

[junko-en0shima]

hii there!! may i request a match up for HP (Marauders Era) and Stranger Things??

i'm 17, bi, go by she/her pronouns,

i'm 5'7", wear glasses and have a grown out pixie cut. i'm a first born, and an older sister which has made me mature faster than most (or so i've been told) i'm responsible, a go getter, someone who prefers to do shit on her own because ik no one can do it better than me. i need things to go my way else i get supremely uncomfortable. i'm used to standing on my own two feet and would rather cut of an arm before going to someone for help. i'm independent and can't wait to go off to college, although i love my family. i'm the "mom" of my friend group, and just in general. it's up to me in public and private settings to be the responsible mature one, and i don't usually mind it, in fact i love it. but there are times i wish i had someone else who could be the "mature" one so all the repsonsibility wouldnt fall on my shoulders. that's not to say i don't love being the "mom" it warms my heart to know my friends think of me like that, in fact i've known for while i want two kids as well as a successful career and i'm going to make that happen for myself.

although i crave affection, i bolt at the first sight of getting any. i don't know why. i love people endlessly, passionately even, but can't verbalise it to them. i can talk about how much i adore and care for person A to person B, but can never say it to person A. my love language is physical touch, if i'm touchy and clingy it's because that's the best way i can show my affection. i tend to fold into myself when people get too close, and keep my heart under lock and key because i'm scared when i fall in love, the person will leave me at any time, and once they find out who i really am they'll hate me.

personality wise i can be loud, boisterous and bossy, but also a self deprecating anxiety ridden mess. it depends on company and how i feel about myself that day, an ambivert you can say. i love reading and writing, and hope to pursue something in psychology or business while managing creative writing as a hobby on the side. my achilles heel is taylor swift, tvshows and romance in any kind of media

Your match for Harry Potter is... Remus Lupin!

This boy got you hand and foot! Though he was an only child, he's very empathic and understands how it feels to feel so responsabile due being the oldest child because he was like the babysitter of the marauders.

Oh boy, he loves when you act clingy around him because everybody can see you're his girl and nobody else's.

Admires how mature you are and actually can relate to you for that because he thinks most of mature kids are misunderstood (I can relate too, unfortunatly).

Though he teases you about that, he makes sure none, I repeat NONE of his friends, exploit you as the mom of the group ever.

Your match for Stranger Things is... Steve Harrington!

Okay, he's a prince and don't try to change my mind (thought my personal prince is *coff coff* Eddie *coff coff*).

Just like Remus, he admires how mature and indipendent you are and also he thanks God for being not the mom of the group anymore, but the kids have to treat with respect or Steve is gonna kick their little butts.

Most of your dates are based on snuggling in each other's bed at each other's house. Don't worry, big boy has got all your attention cravings!

He swears you are so fucking cute when you get clingy!

#❦ matchups #harry potter #remus lupin #marauders era #stranger things #steve harrington #mama steve

[septembersghost]

As our Austin and Andrew girl, why do you think Austin has been treated badly for Elvis when I don't remember Andrew getting that criticism for tick tick boom?

i understand why you draw the parallel, both of them are such talented, empathetic actors, both of them really dedicated themselves to those roles, but it's still very apples and oranges, in the end there are a lot of reasons. ttb is a beautiful film, while it doesn't bear the burden of being as grand in scale, nor about someone world famous. i wouldn't expect the average, non-broadway aficionado, audience to know who jonathan was, but most people at the very least have an image of elvis, if not a litany of stereotypes to also go with it. ttb is a musical in the truest sense of the term, and not a biopic, really - it's part autobiographical, but jonathan was telling a story through his writing too. andrew and austin both took various lessons to prepare and sang (amazingly!), but austin had a far more overwhelming mountain to climb there because of who he was playing. the fact that he surpassed that expectation is astonishing. baz and other creatives who worked on elvis have said a true biopic was not their goal (that the word itself was even verboten on set), and i'd actually hesitate to categorize it as one in some ways, i think it somewhat simplifies what the film is and its purpose, but the...stigma? that goes along with that was attached to it anyway. what's particularly odd is this seems to only accompany biopics of musicians - will's oscar last year was literally for a sports biopic? anyway -

in their unique ways and approaches to their crafts, andrew immersed himself in jonathan, austin immersed himself in elvis, but only one of those comes with both an icon and a joke connotation in pop culture. austin also, to most people, seemingly came out of nowhere, whereas andrew is already established, so people saw this "kid" (he is 31! but i've seen him referred to in this way a lot) playing this unthinkably famous man (trying to comprehend his level of fame and the sheer amount of stuff - true, false, idolizing, spurious, out there - is too much to wrap my mind around, in awed and heartbreaking ways) and were making a lot of judgments and preconceptions. there was that snide, ridiculous attitude towards austin's voice (andrew had to drop his own accent and speak like jonathan! but the judgment here stems particularly from the baggage surrounding elvis' "southern drawl"), there seemed to be this idea that he was too genuine and therefore ~cringey~ (or so genuine, in fact, that it must've been disingenuous! make it make sense), and that the level of care he took and felt was weird/extra. almost all of this has to do, ultimately, with the way elvis himself is perceived, despite the film doing its utmost to dispel that and reach for his humanity. *we* know that, but the overriding noise of social media and the press cycle was starkly different for a long list of reasons.

jonathan's sister speaking about ttb and andrew, and how true and moving his performance is, giving some measure of her brother back to her, being like seeing his light and life again, makes me think so strongly of lisa marie and her response and pride in elvis and the way austin captured the heart and soul of her father - both of which are the most important responses and amongst the greatest gifts those films provided. they were both crafted with respect, reverence, and love.

they should feel nothing but proud of their extraordinary performances and the films they made, which truly touched people and introduced them to other music and art they might not have experienced. the press fades, and what remains is the work. what also remains is who they've proven themselves to be as human beings. i love that both of them are such passionate, introspective humans and provide such insight, into their art but also their perspectives. andrew is well-regarded for a reason. austin, this entire awards season, established himself with graciousness and humility and kindness, and that impacted a lot of people (not only fans, but those across the entire industry, including other, more famous, actors, which is why we saw so many of them take him under their wings or gravitate towards him, and he mentioned himself how much that newfound camaraderie meant to him). his next project will shift the narrative and hopefully no one will focus on the superfluous things. what will stick is the compassion and the meaning of what was created.

#anonymous #letterbox #my fave boys (actor edition) it's true #e in my head isn't that famous btw. who??? only we have ever heard of him. gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing

[whysojiminimnida]

Hi, I'm a new army and my favorite duo is Jikook. They caught my attention immediately so I've decided to go back and watch their previous moments. Watching their 2016 dynamic, I noticed they were different, very active that it surprised me. They were always posting selcas (together or of each other), posting videos, commenting on each other posts, making posts related to the other, doing vlives together. It's true that the flirting, compliments, closeness, gentleness and care still exist, that's what made me love them, but why do you think this open interaction in social media changed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t0LRazPwO8

Your link, anon:

I'm gonna preface this by asking you a couple things :) Have you ever been in a long term committed relationship? (More than 3 years)? If so, did that relationship remain static over time or did it mature and change as you and your partner did?

In 2016 Jungkook was 18, turned 19 in September. Jimin was 20 and turned 21 in October. Both guys had been living together, with the rest of BTS, for over three years - since they were essentially a Western ninth-grader and eleventh-grader, respectively. They were high school kids, basically, who acted appropriately for their ages.

They also weren't on the radar of the entire world. They were popular, and getting moreso. They were working much more than a full-time job schedule. Everything they did was on camera, for the most part, and they were still learning to live with growing up in front of that visibility - but the massive arena tours weren't happening just yet. They were still very able to hide in the open, knowing that "skinship" could often be a great cover for what was really happening.

We got GCF in 2017-2019. We did used to get selfies a lot but then the antis, solos and TKKers ruined literally everything with their Jimin hate (PS, thanks Bxxx you hateful bitch you can sit on Twitter and fake respectability but I see your for-profit cult "analysis" videos that villainize Jimin and treat Jungkook like a self-insert Y/N fanfiction victim)

Fast-forward to 2020 - 2022 era Jeon-Parks. There is no less love or affection but there have been some burns, some rough patches, some erosion of the sharp corners and steep cliffs of overwhelming passion. I see it as a maturing but also a recognition that literally everything they do is now seen under the unforgiving flourescent lens of Western culture, where gay looks gay and is called gay and you are either out or someone will out you, eventually.

It's one thing to be an open secret at home where people KNOW but they don't TALK ABOUT SUCH THINGS. It's a whole other animal to be visible in a culture where people talk about everything and don't understand why that might not be safe or okay for you. The social media intrusion has been HUGE and they have handled it sometimes well, sometimes awkwardly, but they're still young men in their mid-20s. They're DOING THEIR BEST OKAY.

There's also the looming possibility of military service. I cannot overstate to you how major this is for them. Being gay is not a crime in Korea but having gay sex while you're in your mandatory two years of military service IS A CRIME and is punishable BY JAIL TIME. Better to stay in the closet at least until that question is handled for certain. WHICH brings me to my current theory, kids, WANNA HEAR IT?? OF COURSE YOU DO LET'S GET THIS BREAD LET'S GOOOOO HIT ME UP IN MY NEXT POST ANYWAY

I don't think we've been lacking in Jeon-Park Household Content, though, anon. Just because the media has shifted doesn't mean we're getting less. If anything, do you a Google image search for "jikook 2021" and OMG. THE TREASURE TROVE.

(collage credit twitter user @ kmgoogiemin) It's there. The Jeon-Parks haven't changed, fundamentally. They've just evolved. Grown up a bit. Learned a lot. Did a little stamp collecting. That's all.

#anon #ask #jikook is real #jikook just jikooking nbd #must be 2022 at the jeon park household #jimin #jungkook #selfies #december 2021 #also a whole park jimin exists #and a jeon jungkook #i have a new theory kids #hang on a minute i'll post it

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Aphid

Debut: Real Life

Welcome to Funky Friday! This Friday is particularly special to me, you see, I get to talk about a creature I am very passionate about, if you know me outside of this blog, it should come to no surprise that Aphids are up there as one of my favorite earthlings ever! They’re part of my username, and hence, my internet persona, I even put little antennae on emoticons like this ==:) I’m obsessed! But I swear it’s all justified!

To protect the peace of those who may be afraid of bugs, I’ll be talking exclusively about Aphids in Videogames! They haven’t had the biggest presence, but in recent years they’ve made some lovely appearances!

Aphids. Just look at them! They’re very green, very round, and very small! They have very long antennae as well! Instantly checking off all the marks that make a perfect creature design!

Aphids are sap sucking insects, they just hang around in colonies sipping sap from plants, a very peaceful life, they’re incredibly good at just hanging out and slurping plant juice! So much so that they are sadly considered as pests by humans, but they’re just trying to get by! Like you and me, the way they’re vilified everywhere is really unfortunate, they deserve to live just like any other earthling, but whenever you google em you just get stuff on how to get rid of them, I believe their presence in art like movies and videogames can be very important to change this perception! 

Name: Aphid

Debut: Bee Swarm Simulator (Roblox)

Let’s start with the face of the post, Roblox aphid! Look at this simple model! Just a pea with 2 red orbs for peepers and sticks for antennae, I love the charm of such a simplified bug! 

Bee Swarm Simulator is a lovely little farm game that has you collect nectar and breed all kinds of bees! While out in the flower fields, you may find an aphid while collecting nectar. Like all bugs in this game, they will attack you, but to be fair, you are very tiny, so it makes sense a giant bug could damage you, even if they don’t do anything particularly dangerous!

When your bees defeat them they can drop rare items! And as such, aphid encounters are quite a blessing, matter of fact, they have rarity tiers! And they change their appearance accordingly, there’s Rage Aphids

Armored Aphids

and Diamond Aphids!

Overall very charming inclusion, aphids now come in new flavors! Every time I play this game I hope I get to encounter one of these sweet peas! Silly models of bugs are fantastic, so Roblox aphids make me very happy!

Name: Aphid

Debut: Bug Fables

Now THIS is my personal favorite fictional aphid appearance in media ever! In the world of Bug Fables, they are livestock! And you even get to go to an aphid farm! Here, they keep regular Aphids for their honeydew, Cochineals for their red pigment, and Woolly Aphids for their wool! That’s right! This game gave us representation for TWO kinds of real life aphids! It’s such a delight!

Everyone in the world of Bug Fables respects and loves aphids, people find them very cute! Some of them even keep them as casual pets! Could you imagine? A cat-sized aphid for you to hold? The people in Bug Fables are living my dream and I want in! I hope you can also agree they’re extremely cute, the artists nailed that sweet little drop-shaped face I adore so much! 

On April Fools, the Bug Fables devs released a short game all about aphids! Aphid Festival! Here you can train and breed your aphids! Which allows you to get all kinds of different color patterns for your aphids! Can you believe this? If you told me “In the year of 2021 there’s a videogame that’s completely centered around aphids.” I would’ve never believed you!

Name: Aphid Lurker

Debut: Jax and Daxter

Now I know what you may be thinking, “this is just a dog!” And yeah they’re definitely the doggiest bug I have ever seen, or is it the buggiest dog? Regardless of how you feel on the validity of their buggyness, you gotta admit it’s very impressive we have an aphid-based enemy in a game from 2001, most other aphid appearances I could find were very recent, was Jax and Daxter a trendsetter? Probably not, but maybe at least one kid out there saw Aphid Lurker and went “Woah aphid? What’s that?” googled them, and proceeded to fall in love with them! 

Regardless of their good impact for all of aphid-kind, they are very round, very green, and have antennae! So I really can’t dislike them, they even got spikes!! Which is something I like to see in my round creature designs sometimes, it just works!

Name: Aphid

Debut: Grounded

Returning to modern games, Grounded is a survival game that has you shrunk down to the size of an ant! So you gotta survive among the towering grass blades in the middle of a garden! Fortunately for us, this means you get to interact with tiny insects very up close! Including aphids!

Don’t be fooled by the fancy graphics and realistic aesthetics, aphids in Grounded are arguably the cartooniest creatures you can find! They almost look like a real aphid, but they have a vertebrate mouth! Perfect for opening in surprise when you get close to one, they’ll jump, chirp with an extremely cartoonish expression, and then flop into the ground, before scuttling away!

Now that’s a silly little mouth!

Aphids in this game are peaceful creatures, they’re a bit timid so they’ll run away from you but they will let you get close over time, they also drop honeydew, which you can use as food, so you really want to befriend and protect these little dudes if you can!

Name: Aphid

Debut: Scribblenauts

Scribblenauts is a game where you can type anything and it’ll come to life! So the devs really tried their best at including everything they thought a player could think of, and they thought of silly bug fans like me! People who would type “aphid” in hopes an unloved little bug they love could appear in the game with them, and instead of being met with the usual disappointment, were met with a cute little rendition of this sweet green bug!

Design-wise, I’m a bit sad they added a neck, they have no necks! They’re funny teardrop shaped bullets! But they DID add the cornicles! (The two little horns on their butt). Out of all the videogame aphids I’ve shown you, this is the ONLY one to include the cornicles! Not even Grounded who went with a semi realistic design got it! So thank you Scribblenauts, for considering the aphid, as well as giving them their anatomically correct defense organs.

Finally, I’d like to give a shoutout to Aphie from A Bug’s Life! Not a videogame aphid, but 100% one of the earliest aphid representations in media! And they’re very cute, just a little puppy! They got a puppy tongue and all, given ants herd and take care of aphids, having one of them keep one as a pet is a very cute way to humanize an ant!  Also Aphie has the cornicles!! Good on you Pixar, you did your research.

And that’s all for this special friday! Thank you reader for coming in this journey with me, here’s hoping there’ll be more aphid representation in the future! 

#aphid #insects #funky friday #mod sockop #not mario #aphib post.... I did it #can't believe i'm just allowed to do this #ty everyone who reads these posts by us! We just love silly creatures!

[causeiwanttoandican]

The Times

Prince William’s close friends on what makes him tick — and why he’s not trapped

March 20 2021, 6:00pm

As the world devours the Harry and Meghan interview, what’s going on with the brother who was left behind? He’s embracing his destiny, William’s close friends tell the Sunday Times royal correspondent, Roya Nikkhah

Next month Prince William will celebrate his tenth wedding anniversary — the day he became a duke and embarked on the most formative decade of his life. Back then, the tentative 28-year-old newlywed was not ready to devote himself entirely to royal duties. A decade on, he is in a very different position.

The job of being the heir to the heir to the throne, of finding a balance between life and duty, is difficult at the best of times. These are not the best of times. In their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey this month the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused the royal family and the institution around it of racism and callous disregard for a suicidal newcomer, among many other damning charges. Harry the spare also declared that William was trapped within “the system … My brother can’t leave that system, but I have.”

In the immediate aftermath of the interview William was “reeling”, a source close to the duke says. “His head is all over the place on it.” Four days after the Sussexes had their say, he hit back during an engagement with the Duchess of Cambridge at a school in east London. Asked about accusations of racism, William retorted with restrained fury: “We’re very much not a racist family.” He also confirmed that he hadn’t spoken to Harry yet, “but will do”. By the weekend it emerged they had “been in contact”.

William is thought to have been less than thrilled a few days later when that conversation made global headlines after the American presenter Gayle King, a close friend of the Sussexes, revealed live on air that it had not been an easy chat: “I did actually call them to see how they were feeling,” she told viewers. “Harry has talked to his brother and he had talked to his father too. The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive.” The intervention prompted a senior royal source to say that “none of the households will be giving a running commentary on private conversations”.

A close friend of both brothers says Harry’s “trapped” comment was “way off the mark”, insisting that William does not see it that way. “He has a path set for him and he’s completely accepting of his role. He is very much his grandmother’s grandson in that respect of duty and service.”

When the Queen turned 90 nearly five years ago William admitted “the challenge” that “occupies a lot of thinking space” is how to “modernise and develop” the royal family, and make it “relevant in the next 20 years’ time”. Twenty years now seems like a very long time. In the hours and days after the Oprah broadcast, William was at the heart of all discussions with the Queen and the Prince of Wales about how to respond to the Sussexes. He was keen that the issue of race should be acknowledged in the Queen’s statement as an area of particular concern that “will be addressed”.

William has always railed against being a “ribbon-cutter royal” and the issues he champions — mental health, battling racism in football, homelessness and his ramped-up eco-warrior role — are a window into where the future King William V will take the House of Windsor. A friend says: “He’s a small-c conservative. He values tradition and the need to go around the country, but he realises he can make a difference beyond traditional royal duties.”

Today royal popularity is, to put it mildly, in a state of flux, but William’s strategy has been working. Post-Oprah, he ranks just below the Queen at the top of a YouGov poll of royals. Not so long ago such a position looked like a long shot, when the “workshy Wills” and “reluctant royal” tags plagued him and he was clocking up fewer days of royal work than his nonagenarian grandparents. Pictures of him hitting the ski slopes and clubs of Swiss resort Verbier in March 2017, missing a Commonwealth service that even the Duke of York flew back for, didn’t help.

After the lasting PR gold dust of the Cambridges’ 2011 wedding and the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, it was the first public nosedive for William, who was still working as an air ambulance pilot. “That pissed him off,” a friend says. “He was leaving home at 5.30am, getting home after dark and saving lives in between, but people were still being critical of his commitment to his [other] job.” William was based at Cambridge airport with East Anglian Air Ambulance for two years, where he was on call for “some very sad, dark moments”, often working “on very traumatic jobs involving children”. He later acknowledged that “after I had my own children … the relation between the job and the personal life was what really took me over the edge, and I started feeling things that I have never felt before”. But it was a job he loved, because of “working in a team … that’s something that my other job doesn’t necessarily do. You are more out there on your own.”

A former royal aide says: “Immediately after their wedding he had a very clear idea of the pace at which he wanted to take things.” William was adamant he wouldn’t curtail his day jobs, first as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot in Anglesey and then with the air ambulance. “If you’re not careful, duty can weigh you down an awful lot at an early age,” he said, insisting he didn’t “lie awake waiting or hoping” to be king. He delayed full-time royal duties until the autumn of 2017, when, acknowledging the Cambridges’ future required more time at “monarchy HQ”, they moved from Norfolk to London and George started school.

He’d had to fight his corner for the air ambulance role. A source close to William reveals “there were lots of raised eyebrows in the Palace when he wanted to do that. While the Queen and his father backed him, some senior courtiers questioned whether it was becoming of a future king to be doing a middle-class role, hanging out with ordinary people. They thought he wouldn’t stick it out, he’d find it boring, or was doing it out of stubbornness to put off royal duties. He was pretty bloody-minded about it, and determined that other people’s expectations in the media or the system shouldn’t get in the way of his own values.” In the wake of Harry and Meghan’s interview much has been speculated about the extent to which royal life is dictated by Palace officials, but it is clear that William has managed to forge his own path. Who knows how high those senior courtiers’ eyebrows rose in 2019, when William spent three weeks shadowing the spooks of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ to learn how they combat terrorism. He insisted on being called “Will” and lunching in the canteen every day.

Those closest to the duke say his resistance to the idea of full-time royal duties stemmed not only from a desire to achieve something for himself but also from a fear of the impact on his family life. Miguel Head worked alongside the prince for ten years until 2018, as William, Kate and Harry’s communications secretary and later as William’s private secretary. “In his role everyone’s going to tell you you’re marvellous,” Head says. “The RAF and air ambulance jobs were about knowing what his abilities were, what he was good at in his own right. Without that he’d still be hankering for something that was his own.” After children came along he says William developed a “visceral determination to give them a life of consistency and privacy that were missing for large parts of his own childhood”.

Another close aide says the plan enabling the Cambridges to have a few years of “normal” married life, away from the full-time glare of the royal spotlight, paid dividends: “For years, the battles around privacy and paparazzi intrusion were all-consuming. He wanted to know, could we build them a credible plan allowing them a family life while slowly increasing the profile of official life? It took years to get there, but the success of that plan allowed him to be confident and content in his role. He’s not worried about his kids’ privacy any more and he has been able to be the kind of dad he wants to be.”

“Marriage maketh the man,” a friend says. “Catherine’s groundedness has been the critical anchor. And where his relationship with the media was once all fury and frustration, he now understands using the power of modern media, so the public feel they’re getting enough access.”

The children’s birthdays are marked with photographs — often taken by the Duchess of Cambridge — and there has been a noticeable increase in their public appearances of late. While not “officially” staged, William was happy to let George and Charlotte be photographed at their first Aston Villa match with Mum and Dad in 2019. Pandemic set pieces have shown the family clapping for the NHS on the steps of Anmer Hall, their Norfolk home, and, before Christmas, their first red-carpet appearance together for an evening at the panto with key workers and their children.

As they celebrate their anniversary on April 29, friends who joined the Cambridges on their wedding day tell me the partnership’s equal footing is key to its success. “They’ve got a solid relationship and she gives him confidence,” one says. “There is no jealousy, no friction, they are happy for each other’s successes.” In private William talks as passionately about Kate’s work as his own campaigns, and takes pride in her growing confidence on the public stage.

William has said his grandmother’s approach to being head of state is to take “more of a passive role. She’s above politics and is very much away from it.” He doesn’t plan to meddle in party politics, but he was not happy about the unenviable position the government put the Queen in with the 2019 proroguing of parliament, which was later ruled to be unlawful and forced an apology from Boris Johnson to the monarch. Constitutionally the Queen had no alternative other than to act on the advice of her government, but in William’s reign there will be “more private, robust challenging of advice”. His last three private secretaries — Christian Jones, Simon Case, now the cabinet secretary, and Head — had all worked in government departments, helping William to keep his finger on the political pulse. The new incumbent, the Whitehall heavyweight Jean-Christophe Gray, who served as David Cameron’s spokesman, continues in that vein.

The former Conservative leader Lord Hague of Richmond was last year appointed as chairman of the Royal Foundation to develop William’s work on mental health, the environment and a raft of new support programmes for key workers. “People internationally and nationally respect his credibility and knowledge on these issues,” Hague says. “He’s very persuasive. You only see that behind the scenes. He knows what he wants and he goes out to get it.”

Charlie Mayhew, chief executive of the conservation charity Tusk, has known William since he was 20. In 2005 Tusk and Centrepoint, the homelessness charity championed by Princess Diana, were the first patronages William took on. “In those early years I kept having to pinch myself to remember how young he was,” Mayhew says. “He was much more mature than his age and very aware of his destiny coming down the track. He had a sincerity, but never without wicked humour. His teasing is merciless.”

William knows some people see his passion for conservation as a posh man’s part-time hobby, but Mayhew says the duke’s “genuine and huge knowledge” undermines that view. “He’ll call and WhatsApp to flag up something that I haven’t even seen in the conservation space. He can be impatient to get things done.” Last year William launched the Earthshot prize, a £50 million Nobel-style environmental award to galvanise solutions to global problems over the next decade. He believes “conservation and the environment … shouldn’t be a luxury, it’s a necessity”, Mayhew says. “That’s the drum he wants to beat. He’s got a megaphone and wants to use it in the most constructive way. He speaks for that next generation and I think they can relate to it.”

A turning point for William was his 2015 official visit to China, one of the world’s largest consumers of ivory, where he met President Xi and condemned the illegal wildlife trade as a “vicious form of criminality”. Unlike his father, who has refused to visit the People’s Republic over its human rights record and treatment of Tibet, William’s view was that despite the UK’s fractious relationship with China, “we’ve got to engage”.

“It was very political, raising the illegal wildlife trade in China. I’m sure the diplomats were having all sort of nightmares in advance,” says Mayhew, who joined the duke in China. “But he was gathering greater confidence that he had the ability to be a mouthpiece for the issue.” Mayhew reveals that while William was visiting Japan before China, he still hadn’t secured a meeting with Xi. “But when the Chinese saw all the high-level meetings he was having in Japan, they changed their minds and Xi made time for him.” Later that year, as Xi began a UK state visit, William appeared on Chinese television condemning the ivory trade. Two years later China banned the trade.

In 2018 he spent months prepping for his most high-stakes overseas visit yet, to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories that summer. Navigating the diplomatic tightrope walk between Jerusalem and the West Bank, he visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah. As he travelled back to Jerusalem, he changed his speech for a reception with young Israelis and Palestinians to strengthen his solidarity with the latter: “My message tonight is that you have not been forgotten … The United Kingdom stands with you.” It was a bold move, but both sides hailed his visit a success and the officials breathed a sigh of relief. To the delight of the travelling press pack, William’s engagements on the final day were brought forward, allowing the diplomat duke and president of the Football Association to land back in the UK in time to watch England’s World Cup tie.

Ask him if he’s a peacemaker and William will laugh, saying Kate is the mediator. But according to a source close to William and Harry, his bridge-building skills were deployed in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018, when tensions in the Kensington Palace household, then still shared by the brothers, were running high: “Every time there was a drama, or a member of staff on the verge of quitting, William would personally try and sort it out.”

As the brothers clashed more over the substance and style of their work, and the family hierarchy that William is a stickler for but Harry is less keen on, a split was inevitable. When they finally divided their households in March 2019, it had been a long time coming. But he never thought that a year later his brother would up sticks for America.

The pair went for a long walk to clear the air after the “Sandringham summit” when the Megxit deal was hammered out, but did not part shores as friends. What upset William the most was Harry and Meghan’s surprise launch of their “Sussex Royal” website before the summit, which featured their blueprint wish list of a part-time, commercial royal future. Later, when the Queen decreed they could no longer use “royal” in their future ventures, their website hit back with this bold statement: “While there is not any jurisdiction by The Monarchy … over the use of the word ‘Royal’ overseas, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use ‘Sussex Royal’ … or … ‘Royal’ …” Both “the content and that it’s still online is staggering”, a senior royal source says. “That was it for William, he felt they’d blindsided the Queen in such an insulting and disrespectful way,” says a source close to him, who reveals it was still at the forefront of William’s mind at the Commonwealth Day service one year ago. It was the Sussexes’ final engagement as working royals, and the froideur between them and the rest of the family was unmistakable.

It is a year since the Sussexes left for California and William misses Harry. “Once he got over the anger of how things happened, he was left with the absence of his brother,” an aide says. “They shared everything about their lives, an office, a foundation, meetings together most days and there was a lot of fun along the way. He’ll miss it for ever.” A close friend says William “definitely feels the pressure now it’s all on him — his future looks different because of his brother’s choices, it’s not easy.” Another friend says: “It’s still raw. He’s very upset by what’s happened, though absolutely intent that he and Harry’s relationship will heal in time.”

After lobbing bombs in his Oprah interview, Harry said: “I love William to bits … We’ve been through hell together … we have a shared experience … The relationship is space at the moment, and time heals all things, hopefully.” Harry would be wise not to set his stopwatch.

The first test will come this summer, when the brothers could be reunited for a series of family engagements including the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday and the Queen’s birthday parade in June. In July they are scheduled to unveil a statue of their mother at Kensington Palace, marking what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday, an emotionally charged occasion with the world watching.

While a chasm has opened up between the brothers, William has grown closer to the Queen and Prince Charles. He has helped them to navigate their way through Megxit, Prince Andrew’s removal from public life following the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and, now, the Oprah controversy. “That has changed the way the Queen sees him and values his input,” a courtier says. William also feels his relationship with his grandmother has “massively improved” in recent years and their views are “more aligned than ever”.

Friends say there has also been a “renaissance” in William and Charles’s relationship. “As the years passed there were strains imposed by the system — money, work, competition, Diana,” one says. “Part of William’s evolution is that as he has become closer to his father, he sees their similarities. At William’s wedding there was a gag in one of the speeches that he was more like his father than he’d ever admit, which made a lot of us laugh. As their respective destinies get closer, it weighs more heavily on them and strengthens the bond. The rift with Harry has also brought them closer.”

William is said to hate “flummery”, though the role of future king comes with plenty of bowing and scraping. But in 2017, for the first time publicly, he didn’t get his way. As a new parent worried about rising teenage suicide rates, he had spent a year convening a Cyberbullying Taskforce with big cheeses from tech and social media giants including Facebook, Snapchat, Apple, Google and Twitter. He wanted them to adopt industry-wide guidelines creating safer online spaces for children. According to William the meetings at Kensington Palace got “fruity” and the tech giants didn’t come close to the change he wanted. He was furious.

Tessy Ojo, chief executive of the Diana Award youth charity, sat on the taskforce. “He was deeply disappointed,” she says. “He didn’t come into it as ‘the duke’, he gave emotional pleas as a father.” William has since publicly condemned social media giants for their “false choice of profits over values” and privately offered support to the family of Molly Russell, who took her life at 14 after viewing images of self-harm online. Ojo believes it is William’s “lived experience of the fragility of life that guides the work he does”.

It also shapes the way he and Kate are raising their family. William has said he is determined that the grandchildren Diana never knew should “know who she was and that she existed”. He “constantly” talks to his children “about Granny Diana” at bedtime, so that they know “there are two grandmothers in their lives”. Earlier this month on Mother’s Day, Kensington Palace’s social media feeds published George, Charlotte and Louis’s cards paying tribute to “Granny Diana”, revealing it is an annual ritual for the Cambridge children. After a difficult few weeks for William, a line in Charlotte’s card provided poignant insight into how he is feeling: “Papa is missing you.”

He is on course to be a more modern monarch than any before him, but William is still a creature of habit at heart. He has the same tight circle of friends from his schooldays, one of whom says that, with William, “it’s all about trust and loyalty”. He plays five-a-side football in his Villa socks when he can, goes to the Chelsea Harbour Club gym he went to as a child with his mother and has a “smart casual” public uniform of chinos, jacket, blue shirt and no tie.

“William’s not trying to be down with the kids,” a friend says. “He never wants to be painted as irrelevant or dull, though he’s allergic to being compared to celebrities. The public doesn’t always get to see his funny side, but otherwise he’s the same in private as in public. He once said, ‘I’ll be in the public eye all my life. I can’t hide who I am because I’ll be found out.’ ”

In 2019, during a visit to a youth homelessness charity supporting LGBT people, William was asked how he would feel if one of his children was gay. “Absolutely fine,” he replied. “I fully support whatever decision they make, but it does worry me from a parent’s point of view how many barriers, hateful words, persecution and discrimination might come.” Such a personal exchange was a radical departure from royal engagement small talk. But William, the first in his family to be photographed for the cover of a gay magazine, had personally put the issue on the agenda.

As president of Bafta he gave the academy a diplomatic dressing down in his speech at last year’s ceremony, expressing his “frustration” over the lack of diversity: “In 2020, and not for the first time in the last few years, we find ourselves talking again about the need to do more to ensure diversity in the sector and in the awards process — that simply cannot be right in this day and age.” The 2021 nominees announced this month suggest his words hit home.

William “thinks the public look to him to keep royal work looking modern”, a confidante says. “The Queen and Prince of Wales are providing continuity and stability. He’s carving out his own relationship with diverse communities. He sees it all as a way of doing things now that will help a smooth transition when the time comes.”

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as a former frontline worker himself, William has led the royal charge supporting key workers. “Now, more than ever, he knows what his role in public life is, and he sees the value in it,” a close aide says. Chatting to NHS workers in January, William said: “Something that I noticed from my brief spell flying the air ambulance … is that when you see so much death and so much bereavement, it does impact how you see the world … as a … darker, blacker place.” Soon after the first lockdown was announced, the Cambridges’ Royal Foundation launched Our Frontline, a round-the-clock mental health and bereavement service for key workers.

Miguel Head says the future King William will continue to campaign on his big issues: “I can’t see him backing away from causes he’s passionate about. And while he’s not someone who loves ceremony, he knows the importance of it. When he gets the top job he won’t do away with it all. He’s mindful the monarchy represents something timeless that’s above all of us, and many people like the magic and theatre of it.”

Roya Nikkhah

Roya is royal correspondent at The Sunday Times. Over more than a decade she has covered royal events for the BBC, interviewed the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry and presented the films Prince William, Monarch in the Making and Meghan and Harry: The Baby Years.

#William #TeamQueen #TeamWilliam #TeamCambridge

[kalzoni]

Thank you so much to the crew and fandom, you made something absolutely incredible!

I really can’t express how much I love this show and this crazy family

When Rise of the TMNT ended and I cried, I don't really think I've ever cried at a show ending before. So I wanted to write some stuff from the heart, because no show has ever impacted me the way this show has:

This show itself has such a beautiful focus on family, Family is the people you choose, whether biological or not. Platonic and Familial relationships are so hugely important in a child’s life and I’m so happy the show put such a hard focus on it, I don't think enough shows put this level of care into it. The show handled the idea of family beautifully in such a healthy and wholesome way. There’s no such thing as an average family. The world we live in is diverse. And the people we love come from all sorts of places. Family isn't defined by your blood relation, it's defined by your love for each other.

The show also had some really progressive views on its characters, with male characters being emotionally vulnerable and open and female characters being total badasses and written realistically to how a lot of girls actual act. And Splinter as dad? Man, his whole arc was just fantastic! He is a really genuine character, all the characters are! And the way sibling dynamics are written are so realistic and hilarious! The characters are all just written with so much care and I love it!

The crew of Rise are INSANELY TALENTED and PASSIONATE people who put so much love into this show, and you can see it in every single frame! The colours are vibrant, the character animation is excellent and the fight scenes are just PHENOMENAL and genuinely JAW-DROPPING! The show was visually amazing and just and totally out there! The love and care put into the show by every crew member is unlike anything I've ever seen before. The show is absolutely fantastic and is the very definition of passion project, from the first episode to the last. It’s absolutely stunning to watch and a pure inspiration.

Perfect is an understatement.

I really can’t fully express just how much this show meant to me and how much it impacted my life.

I discovered Rise of the TMNT two years ago totally on accident during a pretty low point in my life. I saw an article for this show and checked out the trailer and I was totally blown away by the animation. I loved the art style, I loved the animation style, just everything about it! It was like a group of people sat down and made a show just for me. I would just watch the promos frame by frame and animate alongside it for hours on end. I felt like a little kid! The only thing I would talk about was this show (and tbh that hasn’t stopped haha) This show reignited my passion for my future and my animation and gave the drive to push forward and keep trying my best. This led me to dropping out everything else around me and putting all of my focus into my portfolio to my dream course (mostly full of turtle drawings haha), and about 5 months after the first episode premiered I got accepted!

And it's not just the show alone that’s important to me, the Rise fandom has been the most welcoming and kind fandom I’ve ever had the pleasure to be a part off. You guys are absolutely amazing. When I first started posting two years ago I didn’t expect to get more than a couple of likes, but this fandom gave me such an overwhelming amount of support and kindness I really didn’t expect. You guys gave me so much confidence in myself and in my art and just made me so incredibly happy. I remember I used to purposely post late at night just so I would be able to wake up to your responses first thing in the morning, it always made my day. Every fandom I’ve been in a part of in the past has been purely for the sake of talking about content, but you guys have been so much more than that for me. You mean the world to me and I really can’t express just how much your kind words and support have impacted my life. <3

I am currently the happiest I’ve ever been in my life and I thank this show and fandom hugely for it. This show has continually been my inspiration as an artist to work hard to achieve my animation industry dreams. When I felt the lowest of lows this show pushed me forward and gave me the drive to work hard and get where I wanted to go. This show has been my comfort for the past two years. Whenever things weren’t going my way, I knew I could always pop on an episode or check out the tags and watch this funky family do their thing. This show and fandom just bring me so much joy and are so incredibly important to me.

This show has gone too early, but I’m so grateful it came into my life when it did.

I think this is the kind of media we need more of. Media made by people who genuinely LOVE what their making and who's inspiration comes from the heart. Media that’s spreads strong messages of family and love that the creators really believe in. 

Shows made with love and passion reflect on the audience watching it. We can see it, and we love it.

The crew that worked on this show are all amazing, and I have the absolute highest respect for them.

They had a story and a message they wanted to tell and they stuck by it till the very end. I honestly think the children currently growing up with this kind of content have to be some of the luckiest kids in the world.

The show may be over but it had such a huge impact on me that it will forever and always be one of the most important and special shows in my life.

To the fandom, and to the entire crew and creators of Rise of the TMNT.

You’ve made something absolutely incredible and I love you all for it

Thank you all so much

#Anatawa Hitorijanai #SaveRottmnt

#I had to move house during the finale so this is unfortuntely late but the sentiment is the same #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #tmnt #rottmntfinale #myart #kal #saverottmnt

[waywardfacegarden]

okay i have this todobaku au i can’t shake off my head but also i can’t seem to write it bc my brain is not working and i don’t have enough time

but i can’t stop thinking about it so here goes my long list of (a few of all i have) ideas about it:

au where katsuki is a ballet dancer and he’s like. pretty passionate about it. he’s also in love with all types of dances (he practices a lot and puts so much effort every time and he always strives to be better and he loves doing it) and he’s actually pretty known in social media bc he updates tiktoks regularly dancing popular challenges (mostly bc mina won’t stop bothering him about it but also bc he’s the fucking best and he’s gonna show it) or just showing off some moves with songs he likes and there’s this user that keeps telling him (in an awkward-dad kind of way) “good/great job👍.”, “your performance is outstanding.”, “well done :)”, etc etc in every single one of his tiktoks and. yeah it’s not that weird (he’s had way worse) but for some reason katsuki starts paying attention to him bc it’s a mix of ridiculous and funny to him (and a bit of annoyingly endearing but he’s not. saying that.) (and no, pinky, he’s not interested in any way in that weirdo, no. stop bothering him about it--)

meanwhile shouto is a famous tiktoker as well but he only uploads videos of him trying different desserts and doing challenges with kaminari (reason no. 1 he created a tiktok account in the first place) and sero (reason no. 2 he made a tiktok account in the first place, and reason no. 1 he’s talking about manga in a podcast sero has every thursday). people follow him bc 1) they think he’s hella pretty and 2) they think he’s both hot and cute and 3) #he’s precious, must protect at all costs. his fans also keep recomending him stuff and he actually finds doing tiktoks fun (plus some recs have been actually pretty amazing and he adores sweet stuff). kaminari also always reassures him that he’s doing every challenge he does with him just alright (he doesn’t. but kami finds him adorable and todoroki is actually trying his best, kami doesn’t have the heart to tell him he’s doing it wrong. besides, he doesn’t think people actually care that todoroki is doing some stupid challenge wrong--kami also has so much fun doing it bc todoroki is super chill about it and practically agrees to everything kami wants to do) -- his instagram is fairly popular, too. most of it are photos of his and stray cats he finds on the streets, but he’s studying photography and he loves it so he’s always practicing and taking new photos. there’s that one of his mom’s favorite flower in that vase they gave her on her last birthday. there’s that one of fuyumi. one of his siblings. one of her mom. a few ones of his friends. of the ocean in that trip he did with them to the beach. of an old lady having breakfast in that coffee shop near the university. of some kids playing at the park one saturday afternoon. of the sunset, of a window showing a storm breaking behind, etc. people absolutely love his photos. (he also recs mangas there bc he’s a nerd).

anyways. they don’t know each other. they don’t even go to the same college. katsuki is studying chemical engineering and lives in musutafu and shouto is staying in tokyo with touya to study in an arts college. but then one day jirou mentions bakugou (she actually knows him from his instagram. he doesn’t use it a lot but it’s basically full of random photos [that utsumi takes and uploads without his permision] or him playing the drums and doing some covers). katsuki follows her on insta too bc he loves the way she sings and the lyrics she writes. they’ve never really interacted but there’s mutual respect there. and she’s amazed by his dancing. so in some conversation she broughts him up and kami is joking about how she wants to make him and shinsou (they’re all dating) jealous but then she shows them one of the tiktoks and they’re. hella impressed. they end up binge watching like 25 in a row. -- at some moment, ofc, shouto peeks interest and when he first watches katsuki dance, he kind of falls in love at first sight. ofc, he doesn’t know why his heart skips a beat in his chest or why does he suddenly feel dizzy but he knows he’s really in awe at him so, later at night, when he’s about to sleep, he looks up for his username and starts watching him dance. he’s mesmerized. for some reason, shouto really wants to take photos of him. he wishes he could capture the exact moment katsuki smirks when he does a hip-roll or the way his eyes shine even through the screen, like he’s having the time of his life. he wishes he could capture katsuki’s energy with his camera.

anyhow, he becomes a bit obsessed. not in a creepy way but he finds himself rewatching his tiktoks from time to time and hoping katsuki would update more.

eventually, his friends find about his crush interest in him and kami suggests that shouto can flirt with him. (shouto doesn’t understand at first, why would he flirt with him? so kami changes his phrasing to “you could try talking to him. the worst thing that could happen is that he ignores you. and if he does and that hurts you then i can virtually punch him :D”). anyway, that’s, in short terms, how shouto starts leaving comments in katsuki’s tiktoks.

katsuki doesn’t notice him at first. it’s mina who does, bc she finds him and his dedication to katsuki’s tiktoks hilarious (in a dorky and adorable kind of way)

it’s also mina who does “research” on him and looks into his account and what the HELL BAKU, YOUR FANBOY IS ACTUALLY SO PRETTY ????????????

(he is. katsuki has eyes and he’s gay and what the hell. how does someone so gorgeous exist. it pisses him off.)

it’s camie, tho, who sends him a weird private message weeks later bc “he should stop being a bummer and get over his pining”

hi fam, im ur no 1 simp, are u single? she types and sends it while katsuki is not looking. katsuki wants to die 0.1 seconds after he finds out.

... simp? is the only thing pretty boy replies. and, after a few second yes, i am single.

katsuki is busy praying so the floor will eat him alive that he doesn’t reply for a bit and then, pretty boy goes. “oh.” and five seconds later: “my friend told me what simp is” and then “uh”  -- and katsuki wants to die so he just types as fast as he can “holy fucking shit” “ignore that” “my annoying roommate took my phone. that wasn’t me” and pretty boy is just like “oh. okay then. hello to the real one” and that--tbh, katsuki is a mix of “lmao he’s a dumbass/dork” and “holy shit why do i find him endearing”

then shouto is just like “i really like the way you dance” and katsuki just replies “of course you do, i’m the fucking best”

for some reason, shouto finds katsuki’s ocasional narcissism pretty amusing. (he also finds pretty amusing the way katsuki reacts when he teases him about it).

all in all, they start talking privately after that.

at first, their relationship is kind of. shouto being shouto and katsuki being endeared by him but also being in denial about it so he’s just like “you are a dumbass” every time he feels like catching feelings.

so after they start getting comfortable with eo (which is. actually surprinsingly fast. they fall into conversation a lot easier than they thought. shouto even shares his insta with him and sends him photos of cats all the time and memes that “remind him of katsuki”. so yeah later their conversations start being all banter and shouto being sassy and blunt and kind of unknowingly and awkwardly flirting and katsuki being still kind of in denial about the fact that he’s stupidly falling more and more every time for that pretty dumbass.

katsuki watches (quietly) all of shouto’s lives and one day he’s just sitting there eating cereal while reading comments while wearing a stupid beanie with cat ears and he looks so fucking cute katsuki might have a heart attack. ofc, he types out agressively “you look so dumb” in the comments and shouto is just like. he just deadpans soemthing like “you always say that, don’t you have more more vocabulary in your mental dictionary bakugou” just to piss him off (bc that’s. their usual dynamic) and katsuki starts arguing with him in the comments and shouto just ends up smiling amused at his antics and shouto’s fans are like “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! shouto smiled ??????????????????? who’s that?????????????? did he just make shouto smile ????????????” (bc yeah that was their first actual interaction in “public” so shou’s fans don’t know who katsuki is) 

(camie just looks at him dead in the eye and tells him “he flirts pretty weird” but katsuki is NOT flirting so shut up--)

meanwhile katsuki’s fans are like “wait is he actually paying attention to someone????” when katsuki starts replying to shouto’s comments and arguing with him in bakugou’s insta posts

their fans start shipping them.

it only gets worse when they start regularly having whole ass conversations in the comments replying to eo’s posts in insta and tiktoks.

their friends ship them.

(every time someone asks one of them if they’re dating katsuki replies with “we are not fucking dating. If that’s what you think you should get your eyes checked. Or your brain.”

neither of them gets actually offended or anything bc people ship them, though.

katsuki pretends it’s annoying as hell but actually gets pretty flustered.

shouto is just a mix of shy and amused.)

in holidays (and like half of a year after they started talking for the first time) shouto goes to musutafu to visit his mom and meets with katsuki.

later, when he comes back to tokyo, he posts a set of five photos with the caption “cute✌” on them

the first one is katsuki distracted, peacefully eating dango. he’s leaning over a bridge and there are soft sakura petals behind him. the sunlight basks in his face and makes his eyelashes look like they’re made of gold. he’s looking serene at the small lake under the bridge.

the second one is katsuki side-eyeing him

the third is katsuki arching an eyebrow at him, face a bit tilted to the side, ruby eyes sparkling

the fourth one is katsuki scowling at shouto (realizing he took a photo of him)

and finally, the fifth one is katsuki flipping off at the camera of shouto’s phone

katsuki just comments: 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕 🖕

and: i’m not cute. fuck off

shouto is like: you actually are

katsuki answers with a classy: shut up

shouto replies with a simply: i’m not actually talking tho

katsuki decides to answer with: delete this now or i’m exploding your face off your head in thee seconds

shouto: how violent

shouto: how are you even gonna do that, tho, you’re not even here, how are you getting to my home in three seconds to explode my face

katsuki: i’m not telling you, greenland flag

“are they lowkey flirting” @/rainbowsprinkles comments just below bakugou’s comment

“are they lowkey dating” @/imsogay adds

“are they HIGHkey dating” @/im-just-here-and-i-am-a-tired-bi corrects

“FUCK OFF WE ARE NOT” it’s bakugou’s reply

(they phone call after that--or more like. katsuki calls shouto to complain about and the conversation goes a bit like:

“you fucker” katsuki hisses as a greeting.

“hello.” shouto answers. and katsuki swears he can hear his smile through the phone.

“you did that on purpose, asshole.”

“that so?”

“yeah, you’re doing it to annoy me, you sly dipshit.”

“not really”, shouto says, and then, “i actually think you’re cute.”

katsuki blinks. and then he’s just glad shouto can’t see his face bc he’s sure he’s blushing of all things, holy shit--

he tries his default answer, hoping he’s not stammering: “fuck you.”

“dinner first.”

and honestly wh-- bakugou shouldn’t think shouto is funny. bakugou shouldn’t. that was lame af. and cliche. and he definitely shouldn’t get flustered at that. so why is he reacting to it. stupid todoroki shouto.

after katsuki’s long silence [in which he traveled to another plane of the existence to scream] shouto is like “sorry, did i actually make you uncomfortable? it wasn’t my intention. i should’ve asked first. i can delete them if you want.” and he actually sounds concerned, like he’s worried katsuki is actually mad at him and katsuki is a weak man [and tbh he’s not actually mad he’s just embarrassed] so he’s just like, in a weirdly soft tone, “no, you didn’t make me uncomfortable, dumbass. just leave it. they’re good photos” and shouto is like “you really think so? :D” and katsuki smirks and goes “ofc, i’m in them” and shouto actually laughs at that and then katsuki dies in another astral place of existence bc what the hell what the hell what the hell!!!!!!!)

(that’s not exactly the first time he thinks about kissing todoroki shouto.

it’s the first time he acknowledges he wants to do it, though. katsuki wants to kiss him.

and what’s worse, katsuki can’t stop thinking about kissing a laughing shouto after that).

there are a lot of more moments when their friends tease them: kaminari makes comments in both of their posts and openly ships them. mina starts the tag #todobakuforthewin on insta. etc etc

katsuki then visits shouto in tokyo for the first time a few months after shouto’s visit and gets to meet his friends (he gets along with them pretty easily, even though they tease him a lot.

kami and sero actually act like bakugou is their long time friend and love to tease him more than anyone.

they all like him tho)

they start visiting eo more often

they get like. super close. they text and videocall and call eo often, and they get comfortable enough to talk about more personal stuff about themselves

they comment on all their posts, and support eo’s work, and continue their banter

and they’re really happy <3

+ bonus

around a year later katsuki is visiting shouto and that’s not unusual at this point but they’re doing a live in shouto’s account (which isn’t unusual at this point either) and katsuki is eating at the back while shouto answers some questions and talks and then

@//imjusthereforsasukes comments something jokingly like “so are you finally admiting you’re good friends bakugou?” bc he never admits it and then someone is continuing with yeah, you visit him almost all weekends now

and todoroki finds it amusing so he reads the comments out loud (not expecting katsuki to say anything about it. maybe just rolling his eyes or scowling like always) but katsuki looks straight into the camera and says “we’re not friends. if that’s what you think you should get your eyes checked” -- which isn’t a weird statement honestly but then he’s leaning on shouto’s shoulder and looking dead serious and he announces “we are fucking dating, dipshits” and todoroki just opens his eyes a fraction more and kind of gets weirdly flustered (blushes a bit, blinks rapidly) and then, a few seconds later, he confirms  “… yes. We are.” in a low and almost shy (but firm) voice, “Dating, I mean.”

katsuki flips off the camera and smirks and then kisses shouto on the cheek and then everyone is losing it

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAT”, “I KNEW IT”, “I ALWAYS KNEWWWW”, “my ship😭😭😭” “im so happyyyy😭😭😭” “omg you are so cute” “congrats!!!!!” “i’m happy for you both!!” “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” “🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺” “congrats guys!! You’re both adorable” “TDBK FOR THE WIN” “AAAAAAAAAA TODOBAKU” “todobaku was endgame since day 1 i knew it all along” “:0000000000000000000000000” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?” “I JUST CHO C KE D IN MY CERE AL GUYS YOU CANT JUST SAY THAT OUT OF NOWHERE OMG OMG OMMMMMMMMG” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHSKJHKDGKJSSGGDSHS” “my sis owes my 20 bucks” are some of the comments they start getting after 10 seconds of everyone losing their goddamn minds

so, that’s how their fans get to know they’re dating aroun a month later they start their relationship lmao

#todobaku #tdbk #social media au #my writing #kind of? #oof this was long #and if you think these are the only ideas i have of this au ahahaha you are so wrong #i have like 347280357045 more #if only i had the time and skill to write it LOL #and yeah if you were wondering mina and camie are definitely a thing #and #they're baku's besties #kami sero and todoroki are super close. kamisero adore todoroki sm and they're all chaotic together lmao #shinkamijirou is goals #anyhow feel free to add more things you want to this or write this in an actual fic or make fanart or do whatever you want with this idea! #just tag me tag me i want to see it #or reblog this with it so i can see it!! #feel free to comment your opinions too #or ask me stuff about this au bc i'm honestly obsessed at this point and i'd love to talk about it #or send asks about your own ideas idk whatever!!! #<33333 #have a lovely day <3 #i hope you enjoyed reading this mess haha