#i think i'm getting better at combining meshes

[buglaur]

the calloway boys are going as stardew boys this year

#ts4 #i couldn't find any clothes that looked like harveys so #i spent like 2 hours making that top #i think i'm getting better at combining meshes #ALSO THANKS HAUNTEDTRAIT FOR POINTING OUT GSHADE #CAN TAKE TRANSPARENT SCREENSHOTS #how did i not know!!!! #this screenshot is completely unedited #besides a bit of liquidifying #i might start playing the legacy again tonight #but i'm not sure i'll still be awake by the time i get the chance lmao

[wingsdippedingold]

The purpose of the mating bond (TL;DR at the bottom)

I was thinking about the mating bond (and consequently how much I hate it) and I started wondering about it's purpose. Apologies: This is barely organized rambling.

Our current explanations are: to create the most powerful offspring, and that the mates are perfect equals. We know its not romance since there are examples of unhappy mates so I'm ignoring that.

Rhysand suspected he was Feyre's mate while she was still human, aka before she was a high fae, and they were still mated after she was. This means that the bond doesn't care about physical bodies, which would play a part in powerful children since fae are just supposed to be so much better than humans in EVERY WAY. Therefore it had nothing do with offspring, but knowing SJM Nyx is gonna be even more powerful as an adult because her favs need to be worshipped like gods.

If the purpose was to create the most powerful offspring that wouldn't even work logistically? The two most powerful beings being mated would work, but everyone after that, not so much. Its kinda weird to explain so imagine 4 fae, their power ranking aligning with their number. 1 & 2 are mated because as the most powerful, their children would then also be the most powerful. With Rhys logic, 3 & 4 would be mated. But 3 & 4 child would be much less powerful than a 1 & 3 child, so that mate bond wouldn't produce the most powerful offspring. Of course the mother could just go by pairing the next most powerful people, but we've seen examples where even then that's not what happens. Of course unique combinations of genes could lead to powerful kids without the need of powerful parents, but considering Rhysand's high lord father was mated with an average Illyrian mother, that doesn't always seem to be the case.

Okay so power aside, the other explanation is that the two mates are two equal halves. Sure? I guess? But that seems to be a product of being mated rather than the reason. Rhysand's parents had huge power imbalances and their personalities didn't mesh. Sure, you could be equal without compatible personalities but power and livelihood? I find it hard to believe.

The mating bond is so inconvenient for it to be a reasonable way of getting any offspring produced in the first place. Rhysand and Cassian were both mated to people from the human world, of course those humans came to the fae world so their mating bond lines up with fate. BUT. They went 500 years without a mate just to end up with 20 yr old women as mates? Same thing with Rhysand's parents. A 900 YEAR OLD MAN AND A 19 YEAR OLD WOMAN. WHAT THE FUCK. High fae rarely leave their courts too, and considering everyone supposedly has a mate, most of their mates would be in other courts, whom they'll never meet. The fate argument that works for Feysand and Cassian fails here, because a mating bond being found is so incredibly rare (except for the fact all three archeron sisters found theirs) that it has nothing to do with fate and circumstance.

Nessian. I hate it with my entire heart. Their ENTIRE romance plot was Cassian domesticating Nesta. He consistently abused and ridiculed her, but Oh! They're mates! So it's out of love! Get out. Pack your 50 shades of domestic violence and get out. That man bitch laughed at her as she fell down the stairs, locked her in a house, insulted and made fun of her regularly, and lusted after her emaciated body while she was clearly struggling. He does not give a fuck about Nesta. They were happy at the end! SO WHAT. That doesn't change the way he acted. She kept pushing away his advances and he didn't not care. The same goes for Feysand but I've already discussed them enough.

Considering all of this, I have come to a conclusion!

SJM used the mating bond as an excuse to not have to write compelling romances that actually make sense and instead a fast track to poor fairy porn and her kinks.

#mating bond #acotar #sjmaas #sarah j maas #anti sjm #anti acotar #anti sarah j maas #anti rhysand #anti feysand #anti inner circle #anti nessian #sjm critical

[lesbospirk]

Since I spent time creating Vulcan words just so I can have a petname I liked for T'Lyn to use on Mariner, I thought I'd share for anyone else who cares lmao Read under the cut!

This was mostly for me, since in my head Mari'Lyn doesn't fit the vibe of most Vulcan terms of endearment. I think most terms are very cute and lovey in their reserved way, which is nice, but it doesn't really mesh well with Mariner's commitment issues, and I don't really see T'Lyn being affectionate in a typical (but Vulcan) way. They are both rebels in their own right.

So I started scouring around the Starbase-10's Vulcan dictionary, and I wanted to play on that idea of being a rebel. Turns out there is no official Vulcan word for rebel (at least that I could find). :( Boo.

So I took from words that were similar:

Tehnau- Resist

Tehnaya - Resistance

Cool, now I just have to make it into a descriptor for a person. The word for people/person in Vulcan is Sular. And I saw that a lot of these types of descriptors used -su as a suffix to denote "a person who ___" . So I took the root from both words (Tehna-) and combined it with the prefix and got;

Tehnasu - A person who resists; AKA a Rebel

Awesome! But not quite there. Not romantic enough. I wanted to show some kind of posession in the word.

There isn't a word per say for My however there is a prefix that denotes ownership, that being T' (as seen famously in T'hy'la). Which when added makes T'Tehnasu.

Ugly. Uninspired. Hard to say. Unsexy. So I took the most common Spirk pet name and disected it

Ashayam - Beloved

I split it into two parts; the root Ashaya meaning love and the pulled the suffix -yam implied to be possessive in a specific affectionate context (I know ya is already in Ashaya but it works better imo as the whole syllable rather than just -m). Combined it makes;

Tehnayam - My Rebel (Affectionate)

Beautiful. Sexy. Rolls off the tounge. It kinda has the same vibe as calling someone a bad boy, like a hot rule breaker type. I think it's very fitting and I am really excited to use it in a fic. <3

And if you like it, use it! I'm not claiming ownership, and I'm not gonna get upset at people for using it (even if it's not Mari'Lyn haha). I just love messing with words/language and I wanted to share since Vulcan has so little petnames in it.

#star trek #mari'lyn #vulcan #vulcan language #star trek fanfiction #beckett mariner #t'lyn

[animehouse-moe]

The Witch and The Beast Episode 1: The Witch and The City of Blazing Red

I'll be brutally honest: this is still a Yokohama production. Hamana brings some good work with their helming of the production, but there's still struggles. But in spite of those struggles I can't help but love this episode, and I can't help but want to talk about it. So let's talk about it.

First of all- the negatives. Characters are off model as often as they are on model, the animation is rather sparse and there's some awkward sequences throughout the episode. Some designs end up a little too simple for my tastes due to limitations with animation, and Hamana's storyboards and sense of direction do not mesh very well at all with this episode.

In spite of all of that there's still a mountain of work that I can only describe as incredible within.

For one, the environment art and art direction was superb. I was worried about how flat the colors were in the PVs, but this episode proved they're able to deliver a great deal of range on incredible environments that mesh 2D and 3D almost effortlessly. A Sign of Affection by and far has the best backgrounds in this season, but personally I'd put The Witch and The Beast as a reasonable second place (with Ishura hot on its tail).

The backgrounds in The Witch and The Beast really bring out the most in terms of style and color, really embodying Satake's modus operandi with them: very strong and full color palettes that hinge around a color or combination. It has me incredibly excited to see how they tackle other sequences in this season.

But that's about the only aspect in this episode that deserves its universal praise (aside from the OST, which is great) , the rest tend to come with a caveat. Like Hamana's boards.

I did sort of tear them apart earlier, but I'll come completely clean: there's still some really great layouts in this episode. They're not god tier and they miss out on the potential with symbolism and whatnot, but they're still damn good pieces that help sell the episode to viewers.

And then there's the animation. Hamana's boards don't really give much opportunity to effectively animate, but there's some sequences that really stand out.

Take, for example, Gideau eating. Sure, it might be a simple and short sequence but the fact that it was animated as well it was speaks volumes to the level of work that can appear with this series.

Similarly, there's this clip of a rotoscoped Gideau winding up a punch for Ione. It might be a little awkward, but the idea and execution of the rotoscoped sequence was really cool to see.

And there's a handful of other moments that express the surprisingly ability of Yokohama's animation for this series. Unfortunately we don't get much animation in Gideau's fight, but I'm hoping that we'll see better work done under more creative and involved storyboards we move along with this story.

It's overall a very middle of the road production with this first episode for sure, but I think that the bad parts are rather mild, while the good parts are quite inspiring. So rather than feeling concern or reservation with this adaptation, I oddly enough find myself excitedly waiting to see what Yokohama manages with the next episode!

#the witch and the beast #majo to yajuu #魔女と野獣 #kousuke satake #anime and manga #anime #anime reccs #anime recommendation #anime review

[nitewrighter]

A little while back, you answered a question on what you'd do for a "Spider-Man in DC Comics" type of fic and honestly, I'm enamored with the idea of him being the New Gods/Forever People's de facto Earth buddy and designated minder. Like Spidey and his Amazing Friends, but instead of Firestar and Ice Man, it's Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and Orion sometimes.

That being said I feel like, for better or worse, a lot of folks would be more focused on how Spidey would interact with the more recognizable names in DC Comics, as well as their close family, friends, and associates.

So... what would Peter Parker's dynamic with the New Gods and Forever people end up looking like? What does the Justice League overall, and its individual members think of him? How many would buy into the narrative of him being a Wall-Crawling Menace that the Daily Bugle keeps pushing? How many would call J. Jonah Jameson on his baloney?

Do you think a young Peter Parker would have been scouted to join the Teen Titans back in the day? Would he have accepted, or continued flying solo well into adulthood?

Well going back to the Kirby roots of the Fourth World, I feel like Spider-Man's bonds with the New Gods/Forever People would start out very similar to the initial Fourth World introductions---disorienting and overwhelming!!!! Like, this stuff started back, not with the Superman title, but with the Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen title, and the thing with the introduction of the Hairies and Cadmus and the DNAliens, was that Kirby kind of flipped things on their head by having a hapless Superman being dragged along in Jimmy's adventures, though Superman took on a more established and authoritative role as Cadmus got more developed. So I feel like having Spider-Man be the Designated Fourth World Minder would basically put him a role that's kind of a combination of both Superman and Jimmy Olsen in those initial issues. At first you have Spidey starting out as kind of a youth advocate--some weirdoes start showing up in New York and Spider-Man sees, despite some culture clashes and these people talking about crazy large-scale stuff that he has no idea about, that ultimately these new visitors mean well and actually have an incredibly strong appreciation and even awe for earth. I love the Forever People so much because they are honestly THE CUTEST about how much they think earth is cool. They came to our planet from a planet that basically touts itself as SPACE OLYMPUS/HEAVEN and instantly fell in love with us. I like the idea that they would come to earth at a time when Spider-Man's feeling particularly lonely about the weirdness of his own situation and suddenly finds himself surrounded by Space Hippies who kind of give him a fresh perspective on being the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and right when he thinks, "Yeah you know, this is a lot easier with friends :)" WHUH-BAM WE HIT HIM WITH THE NEW GODS AND PARADEMONS AND GLORIOUS GODFREY AND ALSO HE PROBABLY HAS TO GET BEAMED TO NEW GENESIS AT SOME POINT.

Honestly I haven't read enough Marvel comics where Spidey is teamed up with the Avengers to really feel confident in describing how Spidey would mesh with the League. The thing is, I'm very much in the Spider-Man as "Scrappy Local Hero" camp--that's the core of his appeal for me, so like, even though Spider-Verse is so devastatingly popular right now, when I see Spider-Man, like... in Space™ with The Avengers™, I'm kind of like "What's he doing there. It's a school night." Most of my comics experience with Peter Parker's Spider-Man is grounded in the 2000-2011 Ultimate Spider-Man run because that's the comic my library had growing up, and I didn't really make it that far past Norman Osborn so like, I've also seen enough of the MCU to know that Spidey's adventures get way way way way WAY scaled up, but Spider-Man's core for me is "Some kid in NYC."

It's interesting that you ask about Spider-Man interacting with bigger names, because I recently read an arc in Superman that featured a guy with HARDCORE Spidey vibes and an appearance that definitely had some Spider-Man/Impulse inspiration.

Outburst had magnetic powers and was part of a group, "The Young Supermen of America" who were a very youthful, scrappy Superhero team that formed in Metropolis following Superman's death from Doomsday, and--okay this will eventually lead into a "Superman went fascist but it wasn't his fault because he was being manipulated by the Reality-Manipulating Entity Dominus don't worry it got fixed with THE POWER OF LOVE" arc--but Outburst ended up filling this role that felt a lot like the kind of role Spider-Man might fulfill in the DC universe, a kid who idolizes other superheroes but also holds them accountable through their admiration. It's a role very similar to the one Spidey came to inhabit in the MCU (despite being gentrified by Tony Stark...). So Spider-Man in the greater-scale DC universe, I feel, would inhabit a role that is midway between Shazam and Green Arrow.

(Look at Outburst down there on the side of that building. That's a fucking Spider-Man pose. "It's magnetic adhesion." IT'S FUCKING WALL-CRAWLING AND YOU KNOW IT, DC.)

So just looking at Outburst, I feel like that kind of answers a lot of questions about what kind of position Spider-Man would hold in DC. Still youthful, very "Local Kid" angle, desperately doesn't want to make an idiot of himself in front of the BIG TIMERS.

And similarly, there would be a lot of sort of... sympathy and protectiveness from the League towards Spider-Man both for his youthful optimism and because Spider-Man maintains a very strong connection with the civilian community he serves. They wouldn't be helicopter parenting, but there definitely would be a handful of situations where a League member swoops in like "Okay yeah no, you are 16 and WAY OUT OF YOUR DEPTH and while I respect you as a hero, I, as an adult, am not going to stand here while you get your ass handed to you"--probably to Spidey's frustration because he feels that kind of overreach undermines the trust his community has in him. So basically a much more light, optimistic, and trusting version of, "Other superheroes don't interfere with Batman's rogues" and also played with a bit more flexibility. The League is also no stranger to bad press themselves, so I think they'd take J. Jonah Jameson's takes with a grain of salt.

I honestly don't see Spidey joining a team like the Titans or Young Justice--I feel like that takes too much away from how big of a role Peter Parker's civilian life plays in his character. I feel like he would be scouted as a sort of, "Hey do you need a support system" sort of thing, but he backs away because he wants to be there for Aunt May and Mary Jane.

#dc #spider-man #outburst #justice league #superman #marvel

[definitely-not-watson]

What I really love about Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is that this game does not hold your hand through nearly, if not, everything that you encounter. Cases, evidence, deciding which conclusion to go with, since each chapter allows you to make your own decision, hinging on consequences that you may have to bear with for the entirety of the game.

So not only do you truly have to feel like a fool sometimes when you don't have a direction (which would probably be the case for me if I were a detective, because I'm just that terrible) but you're also dealing with Mr. Drama King in the back of your head.

Yes I'm talking about Jon. I've (to the best of my ability) grabbed snippets from his journal of his personal thoughts about you when you so much as do something this little potato doesn't approve of.

Though let's be real, a few of the reactions he gives are mostly just him complaining about his impatience with you. I'm going to leave all this under the cut so that it's not some HUGE text that blocks everything on your dash:

First of all, I'm not that smart when it comes to finding certain articles, at least not in every case (I will say I think the main story paper digging feels a lot more generous than the DLC ones, my word I felt stupid sometimes). You take two seconds to flip to another police document or news article and Jon pretty much moans behind you like "Hurry up I feel like I'm aging" and it's like "I don't see you helping honey, PLEASE."

Yes I'm struggling in archives because I accidentally looked up the wrong thing. Now he's just being a little brat. He acts as though you dragged him to the grocery store like he was your youngest kid and makes him walk on the side of the cart always. And no he can't get a toy from the toy section and he's going to pout about it. The best thing is leaving the screen to retrace your steps or figure out what you missed and all you see is this 👎and it's like would you calm down, I'm doing my best!

He's also super sarcastic. Since Jon is a portion of Sherlock's own personality that seeps through, mostly the playful and self-loving sort of aspects, his humor is also as dry as his, which is probably why they're able to run each other into annoying circles without actually pissing each other off. You never win and you never lose when you argue with yourself do you?

I dunno which I prefer more: Jon's incredibly witty and improvised liners out in the free world where you can roam and he occasionally makes his presence, or his down-right back handed comments in his personal notes.

Though don't get me wrong, I understand when things don't mesh well with someone that you know better than anyone else could ever know someone and things don't add up or something happens.

My weakest points when it comes to figuring out the cases was definitely the recreation process. I feel like this is where the two kind of combine heads. This is where they're seemingly more in tune with one another. I really enjoyed having Jon be the one to piece together what happened, as though they were walking through it together without saying a word. Finishing each other's sentences with each point that was connected.

Making mistakes you couldn't pin-point precisely, and then when you finally get it you either feel accomplished or a little defeated because it's like "Okay well you knew that you just had a few steps to get there" and Jon's in the corner being like "We're supposed to be a team y'know" and it's like I know, I just suck at being a detective.

Jon's reactions to what you do in the cases almost each and every step of the way is what sold his personality for me. He's rounded enough to have himself as a separate entity to Sherlock, with his own opinions and thoughts and sense of morality. He's a fantasy nerd for goodness sake, drinks and smokes a lot more than Sherlock probably ever implies, and is never afraid to speak on the sensual things (I'm talking about Sherlock's unmentionables comment as well as the painting in the caravanserai)

Which means he's very capable of calling Sherlock out when he does something wrong. A healthy relationship with anyone you assign yourself to isn't immune to having arguments or disagreements. Much less, you're allowed to tell someone you utterly made a mistake.

Both of them have a sense of mortality and a sense of justice. When someone is wrongfully accused or being blackmailed, or even shot down, that's a red flag in their books. The only reason I'm calling him dramatic in this sense with these images is because I had been nearly a full clear on two separate bandit lair occasions, and scuffed the very last one at the last possible second and left the dude a corpse on the floor. IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.

Though however, the consequences of your actions that give you Jon's comments do in fact alter the image of his visage when you open his notes. If you've done this type of accident enough, it makes sense. Sherlock does not act this way, this is not Sherlock, what the hell is going on? Jon would have no ability to step in and take away the automatic to defend people. It's immoral, and the two of them don't need to stoop to a lower ground to gain justice for something else.

You're a detective, you do not get a say in who stays above ground and who goes, that's not your prerogative. And that's why I love reading these notes. A lot of them are not mentioned here because 1) they're mostly positive because more often than not I had some sense of understanding of what I needed to do, and 2) they're repeated in certain situations. Though I'm very tempted to have a playthrough of where I get more negativity in Jon's responses to see if there are any other quotes that I've not seen before.

There were already at least 30 pages worth of comments - but I really love his little doodles. This game lets you mess up, it's not going to reach forward and say "this is what you need to do" there's no hint whatsoever. You're bound to make these mistakes, and it's the comments given that makes you feel like you're truly a part of the action and story you're walking through.

You're not alone when you travel here, and what you do is painting a certain image of yourself to someone that cares about you. This is your story, and you're free to make these mistakes, you're free to take the information you learn, dissect it and learn what happened - but in the end, it's you that makes the ending decision. There is no one correct answer, but there are many consequences.

#sherlock holmes chapter one #sherlock holmes: chapter one #frogwares sherlock #frogwares jon #long post #discussion #sherlock holmes #jon #I just really like the commentary Jon gives you in the journal #the differences in the way the two of them talk really shines here #there's humor in his words #there's puns in his words - and there's anger and confusion and worry in his words #Jon cares about everything you do - especially when you travel through a journey #and yeah I made a lot of mistakes I'M SORRY #feel free to add your own thoughts and antics within this #I wanna hear TALK FROM Y'ALL SPEAK TO ME

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

In the mood to give my weird, probably biased WOY hot take rn so here it goes: Wander and Hater would not last in a romantic relationship.

Like, I do GET the appeal of them as a pairing? It's enemies to lovers! Everybody loves a good enemies to lovers. Plus, WOY really LOVES doing that thing where they throw a LOT of romance coding into non-romantic relationships(Deathglare gets a lot of this too lmao), and Wander is just like. Weirdly flirty? With Hater especially but also just in general. Like I get the impression that that man fucks. He and Jeff have probably had a one-night stand. But I don't think their personalities are compatible for a long-term romantic relationship.

First of all: they're both really impulsive and flighty. Which I guess could work in a relationship if both partners were completely insync with eachother, but Wander and Hater. Aren't. They are not. Plus, putting two people with short attention spans together with nobody to keep them in check is a RECIPE for disaster. There's also Hater's temper, which I don't think any amount of character development would be able to take out completely, and Wander's penchant for frustrating. Everybody. He is a very frustrating person to be around. And while I don't think a long-term romantic SkeletonDance would turn ABUSIVE, like that is ABSOLUTELY taking it too far, I do think it would be VERY unstable. They have the EXACT wrong traits in common, and the traits they DON'T have in common just straight up don't mesh well. I could see them getting together impulsively, because there is some chemistry there, but eventually the relationship would deteriorate from a combination of opposing values and goals, mutual short attention spans, and Wander getting on Hater's nerves. They'd break up, and depending on the circumstances it could end up VERY MESSY. They work better, in the long term, as friends then as romantic partners.

SO, now to address my biases, because there are a few, and I think it's important to acknowledge any potential flaws in your perspective while making an argument. First one being: I just prefer other Hater ships? Like yall know me, I'm a Deathglare girlie til the end lmfao. They're LITERALLY my OTP, you can see the influence the pairing has had on me in pretty much every other ship I've obsessed over since. But like... I'm also a multishipper, and Deathglare isn't exempt from that. I don't have any alternate pairings for Peepers(because he doesn't really interact w/ anybody outside of the main 4 and Dom for some reason and I don't like him w/ any of them except Hater), but I DO have a pretty big one for Hater, and that's Skullhunter(Hater x Ripov). Idk I just think they're kinda cute! And uh. Also a rarepair. Like there's NO content for them omfg- probably because Ripov only had one episode and there are already much more popular Hater pairings... bUT I'm getting off topic, what does this have to do with my potential anti-Skeletondance bias? Well, both of my Hater ships are VASTLY overshadowed by Skeletondance. Like I think Skeletondance is the MAIN pairing in the WOY fandom, and both of my prefered Hater ships kinda get left in the dust, at least in terms of content volume. I believe that at least part of what leads people to hate on popular things in a desire to have what THEY like be mainstream so it's easier to find a community, and I am not exempt from that. I generally like to believe I'm neutral on Skeletondance overall, but there might be some subconcious jelousy directed towards people who prefer Skeletondance that makes me think the pairing just wouldn't work. Also, I headcannon Wander as aromantic, which definitely influences my interpretation of their relationship akrngosmfmekkfoemfke

So uh, yeah. That's why I don't think Skeletondance would work long term, plus a little dissection of things that might've skewed my perspective a bit! Idk why I made this tbh, I might be going insane-

#wander over yonder #wander #woy wander #wander woy #lord hater #not gonna tag this as ship cuzzzzzzz yeah #gal overanalyzes random shit

[sparrow-orion-writes]

Happy WBW! Okay, honestly I'm getting a little crazy with this one, but I think it's fun. Two of your worlds collide! Whether it be time periods or genres or just two different high schools, how do they mesh? Pretend it's a little worldbuilding activity and picture me kicking my feet in excitement while you work. 🥰

I would love to see what happens if you combined the magic of Cardinal Sins with the post-apocalyptic insanity of The Arcadian Wilds. I mean the characters in CS would probably adjust better than the characters in TAW.

The Poison forest in TAW seems like a likely place for a faery portal, especially as the people believe "small gods" live there. I could imagine April as a faery too, it was that question that had me creating Kieran from Released.

I also like the idea of Ari still being human and vehemently denying the existence of magic. I think it would be funny if April was a faery and Ari worked with him and he's just like "there's no such thing as magic!" and april's like "sure thing boss <3 don't worry about it <3"

But with there being no actual sea, how would the sirens cope? Maybe that'd be the plot of that story, it's just Fairweather and Roman trying to uncook the earth with water magic.

#wbw

[goldenpinof]

i just watched philosophy tube's new video promoting nebula and the whole time i thought, damn... dan and phil could get on that shit. especially dan's ambitious ass. i mean, they've got a pretty big audience (sure, it's not quite what it used to be, but definitely nothing to scoff at either) and one that would likely mesh well with the content already on nebula + be willing to pay for it. i see this as an absolute win, don't you think?

i wanna combine all Nebula asks in one because they complement each other.

and omg, i also just watched Abigail's video! and she sold Nebula to me, ngl 😂 if Dan ever makes them produce something, i might be willing to pay $5 for a couple of months (i'm paying for spotify more, that's the measurement). while watching Aby talk about the audience and how The Prince worked out i had a thought that we aren't as strong as an audience unfortunately. we can make Dan's show sell out, but it's care nowadays. it has to be in a big city, in a venue with ~1500 cap., and it has to be one show, so everyone who can travel will try to see it. the moment we get options we scatter and investments aren't coming back. we're not as strong as we used to be, especially when it comes to solo projects.

are we gonna jump on Nebula just for Dan? i, honest to god, don't know. wad is not the best thing to compare a streaming service subscription to. dnp's sponsorships and our engagement with it could be better. sales of wad dvd will show people's interest as well (i wouldn't be surprised if that goes on some service). it's so hard to tell if Nebula could potentially fund another project (aka Dan's project) because we don't know what stage Dan is not okay is right now. maybe it's already pitched and they are negotiating contracts, maybe the contract is already signed, maybe they are still trying to pitch it to companies. godddd, if only Dan talked to us about the process.

about pirating. i get that 99,9% of any content can be pirated. and Dan is not okay will be, regardless of the platform. with netflix it's a bit faster, i guess. anyone who can't/doesn't want to pay for it, don't worry, you will see it anyway :)

#now let's see if nebula appears on dnpg or ap as a sponsor #if yes :))) #answered #dan is not okay #catandbearr

[the-nation-of-today]

50 Follower Special Surprise

Hihi besties, so I've officially hit 50 followers which may not seem like much but the fact that there's 50 of you that listen to my insanity is wild so first off, thank you all!!

Second, I promised a surprise, and I am following through. So for those of you who don't know, hi I am currently studying fashion. I have been for the past four years, and in my studies, one thing we've learned is how to do flat sketches. I found that I loved doing these, so sometimes I do them on my own for various ideas I have. One of these ideas that had come to me was to make gown concepts based on all of the BVB albums and eventually the EPs, so, that's what this is. You can view the full collection below, and under the cut are close ups of each gown and some insight into my thought process for each, enjoy!

First up is We Stitch/Re-Stitch These Wounds. Since these albums are companions to each other, I wanted to make one gown that combined aspects of both. Fun fact this was actually one of the last gowns I conceived because oh boy did I struggle with the silhouette on it. Anyway, to the gown itself, the most obvious motif is the lacing calling back to the idea of stitches, featured on the side panels, the neck, and on the corset belt. Then, on the detachable cape and matching choker are embellishments made to look like eyes, which relates to the eye motif found on the original We Stitch cover. The colors are then picked from the Re-Stitch cover, since by the point I did this gown I had already done quite a bit of black and wanted to go in a different direction.

Next is Set The World On Fire, or as I have lovingly dubbed this gown, Set My Computer On Fire because Adobe Illustrator crashed a grand total of three times while figuring out this gradient. Now my ORIGINAL plan for this one was to have the entire gown be one gradient from black at the top to fire colors at the bottom (think Katniss' Mockingjay dress but like mid-transformation). Illustrator uh... did not like that because each of those wing shapes is separate and complicated, hence the crashing. Instead, each wing shape has the fire-colored gradient which I ended up liking better. Obviously the wings are a reference to both Fallen Angels (obviously) and The Legacy ("on leather wings"). Then, the sort of tattered belt and choker are there to be callbacks to the acrylic paint the band wore on their bodies during this era.

Next is my beloved Wretched And Divine. For this one, I didn't take inspiration from the album cover so much as I did the Wild Ones' outfits, particularly the Prophet (to the surprise of no one). In those outfits you obviously see use of mainly black with a lot of asymmetrical elements. The collar of the gown, for example, references the collar of the Prophet vest in the In The End MV. The armpiece, on the other hand, is a twofold reference. It references both the strips hanging off of his belt in the In The End MV but it also references the feather armband Andy wore during I believe it was Download 2012 if I'm not mistaken. This one was very fun to play with the various elements and just kinda go nuts.

Next is Black Veil Brides from 2014. I will be the first to admit I struggled heavily with this one. I feel like this album is one of their most stripped back, so I was struggling on how to represent the different aspects. I eventually turned to the album cover again for inspiration. The tired skirt is a reference to the rubble pile that the gargoyle stands on, while the mesh sleeves and chest are reminiscent of the skyscraper ruins in the background, using a large, square mesh to evoke that building skeleton look. Finally, the silver belt with the circle clasp is a reference to the eclipse happening on the cover, and the color scheme is evoking the album's grayscale.

Next we have bestie beloved Vale. Now stick with me, this is the most conceptual of all the gowns. So with Vale, whenever I listen to it, I always get two kinda ideas from it: the idea of feeling like a ghost and the imagery of being chained down to something. It’s hard to translate into 2D but if it were real, it would be made of some really light and flowy fabric (something like a semi-sheer chiffon for anyone else who knows fabric) and each layer of fabric is a different color from the album cover (you can see it at the bottom there as well as on the open sleeves). This is where that "ghost" idea comes in, that weightlessness. Then, being weighed down is represented by the chain belt, with the sleeves are connected in the back to that top chain detail on the collar and I imagine there would be chains back there too. Essentially, I wanted to play with those dualities of feeling like you're floating away while still being chained down by something.

Finally for the full albums is The Phantom Tomorrow. This was actually the first gown that I made in this mini collection because I had such a clear idea of what I wanted since TPT has some of the most obvious visual motifs in the form of the scarlet cross. This gown is actually two parts, the gown itself and the cape/collar. The silhouette is based off of both the girl's dress in the TPT music videos and of Andy's jacket in the Scarlet Cross MV. You then obviously have the motif of the cross cutting through the center of the gown. The cape is then a result of me wanting to allude to the idea of wings (because of the Blackbird) without wanting to do something obvious like feathers. Then, of course, I needed to incorporate Andy's slutty priest collar as a crucial element. Finally, the rosary belt was added to both break up the red and to add a little extra blasphemy because we can always do with more (sweet) blasphemy (Get it??? Wrong album I know but I had to)

Now, onto the EPs. So I actually did not do these at the same time as the albums. I did the albums in October 2022, before The Mourning came out. Once I finished those, I didn't really have any ideas for the EPs so I just let them be. Then in March of this year, I had basically an epiphany about them, like I got out of bed specifically to do a janky sketch so I wouldn't forget my ideas. So, here they are.

First off is, of course, Rebels. Since this is Rebels, I wanted it to look different from every other gown so far, hence the silhouette. The asymmetrical skirt and sleeve allude to going against the grain and not being perfect (y’know, rebelling). The damask pattern on the top of the skirt and sleeve comes from the Coffin video, the women with the candles wear veils that look like they have a sort of damask (tbh, couldn’t tell exactly but they’re Ornate). The center panel of the bodice also has a distinct coffin shape, while the slashed stripes across the bodice reference the chest paint they all wear in that video, it’s sorta striped and almost looks like a ribcage. Hard to tell on here, but it would be almost sliced open with like a peekaboo black fabric beneath it. The colors of the rest of the bodice are then color picked from the jacket on the EP cover. Finally, the chain details come from the chains on the EP cover, and the upside down cross allude to both the crosses in the Coffin video and the fact that Unholy is a song on there, y’know the upside down cross being the opposite of a right side up one.

Next up is The Night, aka the first one I had an epiphany on in regards to this set. The purple comes from the EP cover and the videos, obviously. The chains are a part of Andy’s outfits in both MVs, which is also where the crosses on the hem come from, both are on his jacket in both videos. The neck piece is a callback to the streaky paint/makeup Andy has on, and then the X on the bodice is a reference to Lonny’s makeup since it was his first record with the band, I wanted to ensure there was a reference to him. I wanted the X to be a little sharp and almost look painted on. This whole EP has always sounded very sharp to me, so I wanted to channel that in this gown. Kinda just went with the vibes on this one, ended up with this gothic armor sort of look for the neck piece, but it slaps so we're sticking with it.

And last but certainly not least, The Mourning. I wanted this to be a very big and ornate gown, almost looking heavy. The color scheme, obviously, adheres to the grayscale of both the cover and music videos. The skirt is made to look like panels or pieces of a stained glass window, referencing the rose window in the Saviour II video. The neckline is a modified sweetheart, with the two extrusions made to look like devil horns (cause, Devil, get it). Then the sleeves are twofold- they are reminiscent of angel wings (both Better Angels and the angel on the EP cover) and they represent Saviour II because they’re meant to be big and sweeping, like the song is. Finally, the studs are taken directly from Andy’s jacket in the Saviour II video

And that's it! I hope you guys enjoyed these. I am very proud of how these all came out, definitely one of my biggest projects to date but one that I'll always love!

#black veil brides #bvb #black veil army #bvb army #we stitch these wounds #re stitch these wounds #set the world on fire #wretched and divine #black veil brides 2014 #vale #the phantom tomorrow #rebels #the night #the mourning #maeve.png #this is my first time sharing my designs to a wider audience so be kind to them #i put a lot of effort into these so

[nerdygaymormon]

Carving out the life I want - Therapy session 11/7/2023

This past weekend I was spending time with a husband & wife who are friends of mine. She is a nutritionist who is employed by the county to work with people who have eating disorders. What an amazing skill set to have in a friend at this time in my life.

She shared with me that when we feel like we could use a warm hug, chewing soft foods can provide that sort of feeling, especially foods we associate with being cared for or with good times. Or when a person is feeling frustrated or stressed, they choose crunchy foods as crunching down with your jaw can deliver relief, almost like punching a wall when you're angry.

Suddenly I started recognizing how I use different foods. For example, I was at a friend's home and some of my other friends were meeting us there. I felt a lot of anxiety. Would they get along, I have different kinds of relationships with each of them so how can I mesh those together? Plus, they're gay, one attends the LDS church and the other doesn't, so for me it brings up the whole balancing being gay & Mormon, which is the source of a lot of my mental health issues. My nutritionist friend said this feeling of nervous energy is exactly why chomping on potato chips can feel satisfying afterwards.

I also realized there's some foods I only use for the chewing & spitting but not for binging. She said those are likely foods high in sugar, salt and fat, and the chewing of them combined with the mouth feel of them, activates the brain's pleasure centers, even if I'm not actually swallowing them.

Whether I'm feeling the urge to do disordered eating, or even if I'm engaged in that behavior, she suggested I take time to think about what I'm feeling and what situation(s) triggered these feelings.

—————————

I shared with my therapist that a week ago I ate so much food that I was in real discomfort, and as I lay in bed I had the thought that purging would relieve this feeling. I suddenly could see the appeal of bulimia. Trading in one eating disorder for another isn't healthy and isn't my goal but in the moment it seemed like a solution.

I have years of binge eating and also of chewing & spitting. I've been living with these eating disorders for so long that I don't have a good history of listening to and understanding my body and its needs & wants in regard to hunger and food. My drive to eat isn't based on what my body needs, but in response to emotions.

It's been a while since I did the kind of binging where I eat a lot of food very quickly and don't feel in control, and then the next day I can't remember having done that. I used to do that on a daily basis. I still overeat to the point of being uncomfortable, but it's spread over more time and doesn't feel as out of control, and I don't do it every day, so it is progress

—————————

I told the therapist how earlier this year I ran into a former friend of mine. It's been great to reconnect. He left the church, came out as gay, and got married. He has invited me into his friend group which gets together monthly to eat, drink, and play cards (many of them were raised LDS, so they don't know how to gamble, which means the card games the group plays are things like UNO and Crazy 8's 😆). One of the couples in that group has invited me to Thanksgiving dinner and I was very surprised at the invitation.

My therapist asked why I'm surprised? Do I think my friend included me into his friend group because he thought I was a dweeb and wouldn't get along? Of course not. You're an interesting person, it's not surprising they want to spend more time with you and get to know you better.

At that point I shared with the therapist about a conversation I had with a friend of mine where I wondered why my stake has kept me on as the stake executive secretary for so long? They probably should've released me in 2017 when I was suicidal and started therapy, but instead they rearranged presidency meetings to accommodate my sessions. They probably should have released me when I was hospitalized with pulmonary embolisms and home bound for about a year. Instead of releasing me, they setup a screen in their meetings so I could continue to participate. Are they exploiting me?

My friend said it's likely that they love me, they like having me close, keeping me on during those times let them keep an eye on me, I help them see perspectives that help them better understand, and they can see I make an impact in the stake and beyond.

This past Sunday at church it was joked about how I've served so long that this is now the 4th stake clerk I've served with. Then the first counselor in the stake presidency said there's no plans to replace me, that's not a conversation they've been having. That I bring so much to the calling beyond making appointments that I make a unique impact. It felt great to have that confirmation.

My therapist said if they have the power to replace me and they haven't, it means they appreciate me and like having me be part of their team.

"Why do you insist on believing that others wouldn't want to have you around?"

—————————

We ended with my therapist saying that he sees me carving out the life I want from the life I currently have. Tackling eating disorders, joining new friend groups, and other examples, are ways of me saying I want a different kind of life and then working towards it.

#david gets personal #eating disorder #long post

[okcomputeroknotok19972017]

to start, i know that psychiatric diagnoses are not exact -- they're our best label for treating clusters of symptoms that tend to go together, but the borders get very fuzzy and they mesh and meld together and every person's experience and exact combination of neuroses is different. listing out all of the potential mental illnesses and developmental differences i have been variously diagnosed with makes me sound ridiculous to many people, like i'm collecting labels for the fun of it: major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, inattentive ADHD, autism, possibly bipolar ... it all really comes down to being a generally neurotic and obsessive person, prone to bouts of suicidal depression and social isolation. i just call myself an eccentric.

psychiatry is strange. i was evaluated for ADHD but my case was 'subclinical' because i wasn't struggling enough academically at the very moment i was evaluated. i'm personally not interested in being evaluated for autism because as likely as it may be, i don't have a comorbid intellectual or cognitive disability that impairs my functioning and being treated for my other mental health issues would probably do more for my social difficulties than anything else. i know i'll never stop having circumscribed interests or feeling fundamentally different from other people, but when i don't feel so sad i get along better. i sometimes explain to people that i'm very likely autistic and they forgive/stop making fun of some of my strange tendencies, but that's about as far as that label takes me. i definitely have OCD and that's one label that i find extremely fitting. my therapist and i have talked extensively about it and done some acceptance therapy, i wasn't ever clinically evaluated but she was the first one to bring it up as a very obvious struggle of mine and understanding myself as obsessive-compulsive has helped me a lot.

i wouldn't normally be so worried about untangling the differences between three very similar mental illnesses given the fuzzy boundaries, but the question of if i have bipolar disorder has really been nagging at me -- mostly because my symptoms make me want to kill myself. bipolar disorder runs in my family and i've been questioning for about two years now if i've got bipolar ii or cyclothymia or if my frequent depressive episodes are just being exacerbated by my OCD and that neuroticism and urgent panic is similar to what would be known as hypomania. getting this figured out matters to me because finding the right combination of therapy and medication that is usually used to treat these symptoms would really help me. i'll say that lamotrigine/lamictal, commonly prescribed for bipolar patients, has been the single most helpful medication i've ever been on. if i weren't on it, i would be a wreck.

hmm. i'm not asking any commenters to armchair diagnose me, i guess i'm just thinking out loud. i'm not really sure how to broach the topic of bipolar with my psych or my therapist without setting off "google doctor" alarm bells ... and i have to admit, i'm worried that people will look at me differently with that label attached. i'm used to my OCD being misunderstood and stigmatized but people usually have a better understanding of it after i explain what it's really like, but bipolar is extremely stigmatized. i'll see it listed as a severe mental illness (and i suppose it is, but i still get that defense "hey! you don't know what it's like!" sort of reaction to it), most people are scared of it or hateful towards it, and i guess there's a kernel of truth to it somewhere. my grandmother had a pretty acute case. she was a very complicated person, and she really hurt some people. lithium helped her. it helped my mom's major depression, too. i'm scared that i am going to hurt people. sometimes i feel so angry that i want to hit something, i want to make someone else feel as bad as i do, sometimes i feel so desperately lonely and terrified that i cling onto people like they're the only thing keeping me afloat. ultimately i'm far too nervous and passive to do much of anything and i'm very good at holding in my most extreme emotions, but i fear it leeches out of me. i break everything i touch. i don't want to break people.

i look up things like "bipolar celebrities" to make myself feel better and like there is hope, and all the lists are the same: this person killed themself, this person killed themself, this person did something awful and lives in disgrace, this person killed themself, this person killed themself, this person killed themself ... so far it's not done much to soothe my nerves. i guess carrie fisher did alright for herself though, yea?

... i don't want to be my grandmother. i don't want my neuroticism and irrational emotions to be taken out on the people i love, taken out on anyone, really. world's longest sigh. i'll get shit figured out eventually. my recently upped dosage of lamotrigine should keep me afloat for a while. i'm gonna play minecraft now

#long post

[void-inked-pen]

Yo, sorry for the Like spam, but I have some questions, if you've got time?

I was reading through your posts about the turtles' fighting techniques, just because they were interesting at first, but I have a 2012 AU I'm working on in which their fighting styles change drastically over time, and I learned a ton from those posts. Trouble is, I... Don't actually know much of anything about real martial arts or combat in general. I want things to be more realistic in my AU, mainly because of how each weapon ties into their character development. If you have any, like, "actually decent combat techniques for dummies" video recommendations, that'd make my life a million times easier.

More importantly than that, though, I'm interested in what you have to say about archery. The AU is called "Sniper Leo" for a reason; he swaps to a bow in the middle of season 3 after discovering (or rather, finally accepting) that his knee injury isn't just something that can be brushed aside like Splinter was raised to do, and sure, he doesn't have all the same capabilities he's used to, but he's still a badass, competent leader with a longbow instead of twin katanas. His disability has changed his life, but certainly hasn't ended it.

(Similarly, as Don takes more of a tank role, she finds another weapon that fits her new style and allows her to adapt, but I'm not sure what it is yet; meanwhile, Casey gets a tomahawk, bc (1) he's Seneca and it ties him back to his roots before New York was New York - I'm native, this is important to me, y'know? And (2) that hockey stick is cool and all, but it's not great for fighting up-close and personal, so he needs to have something capable of dealing serious damage and punishing opponents who get too cocky, thinking they can just duck in past the effective range of his main spacing weapon. Plus, it's great utility-wise.)

Infodumping about traditional Iroquois weapons aside, my main three questions are:

(1) What kind of bow would best suit Leo, if he's trying to be stealthy, make use of his absurd upper-body strength from all that katana training, stay at a safe distance, and pierce enemy armor where possible? If those three things don't mesh well, what compromises would you suggest?

(2) What kind of secondary melee weapon would be good to combine with this? If someone manages to sneak up on him, he'll need a smaller, likely concealed Plan B to defend himself while his siblings are busy on the front line. I'm thinking a blade of some sort, since he has training with them and it'd lend nicely to him getting a better variant when Splinter... Y'know. There might be more fitting options, though, and any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!

(3) What sort of hurdles would someone go through when switching from melee weapons like katana to a long-range one like a bow? Like, any base technique concepts that he might have to unlearn. I'm guessing there'd be a lot to do with positioning and stance, but again, I'm just kinda assuming right now.

This is a long-ass ask, and if you read all the way to the end, thank you. Even if no answer pans out, I appreciate you taking the time to listen. Keep being badass ✌️

your not spamming dont worry! i'm happy to help with this (I actually get these kinds of asks all the time on discord so this isnt anything new lol)

One of the biggest difficulties that your gonna face when switching weapons is the different requirements that each weapon needs. Bows, believe it or not, actually need more upper body strength than most melee weapons because of the tension in the bow itself and pulling the arrow back. Patience as well as accuracy long range is gonna be his main issues i thing both narrative speaking and training with a new weapon. Imagine being in a leader role for so long, running into the fray yourself, and then suddenly switching to being long range where the goal is to stay as far away as possible from your target but still in range to hit?

in terms of what kind of bow? i would suggest he get a more current era bow. old style bows like the traditional long bow in japan require a huge bow that doesnt really allow for much movement but are VERY GOOD at shooting long range. Japanese long bows were able to pierce through samurai armor and same for Europe long bows (which had to pierce through chainmail and steal.) so putting current era bows with a strong arrow head which gives the bow its flexibility, range, stealth, and piercing ability (plus maybe a little donnie tech on the side) could EASILY get through robots and armor, no problem! I would suggest you look at this video of the worlds greatest stunt bowman who helps with movies and stuff to give you an idea on what leo could still do with a bow:

for a secondary weapon, i feel like he'd still stick with tradition. which is a short katana. Japanese archers tended to have both a long bow and a short sword to defend themselves if samurai broke through the flank or came at them from behind. (they also had something guarding their back like a samurai to help with that but short katana helps too). I've seen people also have archers use the pieces of their bow as weapons in a fight as well like wrapping the string from their bow around an arm or their neck to stop opponents, stabbing with one of their arrows if they got to close and couldnt draw their sword, that sort of thing.

you don't HAVE to follow traditional martial arts to make a fight interesting, in fact the reason fights can be cool is because a character uses the weapon that has a traditional style for something new and unique! having an understanding of the basics DOES help with how a fight should go and what could be possible for a character but creativity is also important in a fight. not every fight is gonna work like a traditional "honorable" dual or tournament match.

I think leo would just have to relearn to be a stealth fighter, fighting long range, hiding in the rafters so his enemy has to find him with some interesting arrows that could cause smoke screens or explosions (both of these are actual things traditional bowman could do, especially ninja. this is not like a "oh donnie would come up with this!" kinda thing no it is very common to attach things to an arrow it just depends on how you use it creatively). it would be cool to see him become a long range expert when he used to be so close range. like he gets good at Senbon (throwing needles) which target pressure points but dont kill, or throwing knives, maybe even darts!

leo stepping back also... lowkey might be good for his mental health just saying~

(also to comment on the hatchet thing, i would LOVE TO SEE THAT HAPPEN!!! we dont see hatchet combat much anymore and its such a good and useful weapon for both long range and close range. like hatchet throwing? sick as shit. also imagine casey throwing a hatchet above an enemies head, teh enemy being like "haha you missed" and they look back to see casey running up to them, jumping to HANG ONTO THE HATCHET IN THE WALL and use it as momentum/leverage to kick harder! just an idea ;3c )

thank you for the ask!!! I appreciate talking combat like this, trust me~ feel free to ask any other questions anytime! (that includes anyone who reads this lol)

-Pen

#pen talks #fighting concepts/ideas #action #bow

[hydr9]

the perception of all-rounders and "out-of-place" members in kpop

I watch a lot of full-focused/choreo-focused cams of groups, and 2day I got sucked into a small itzy choreo-cam rabbit hole, and now I'm in the mood to talk out of my ass.

itzy, obviously, as a group of their fame and status, has a lot of expectations, and a constant flood of commentary, praise, and criticism.

so, as the resident advocate for simplification, let me simplify it for you: itzy is a performance-based group

its not about having the best vocals, its about having good and stable vocals. its not about being able to sing flawlessly and with good technique and unique color, its about having good power that you can execute while doing equally good high-energy choreo.

and lia, as we've seen, faces a shitton of criticism. her vocals are too weak, her dancing is too weak, she's out of place in itzy. this gets thrown at soo many different idols, and i honestly think its mostly a downright stupid take. with how cutthroat the trainee system is, and especially with how small itzy is, do you not think there is intention behind every choice?

lia has something to offer that no one else in itzy does. that's the point. it's not about every member excelling at everything---something kpop stans seem to be obsessed with nowadays---its about being greater than the sum of all your parts.

thats why its a group. all-rounders or aces are special, of course, and theyre to be admired, but theyre not necessary. it doesnt make a group better than any other group. positions can be limiting, sure, but its important to acknowledge a member's strengths. before a group becomes famous enough that each idol will be known for what they are good at, they all have a role. something to take care of individually so that when they are together, they mesh and perform something that is the unique combination of them.

lia has this sweet, romantic, honey-voice quality that the other members dont. there are definitely some performances where her stage presence is weaker than others but she is absolutely not incapable of having a special aura about her while shes on stage. her dancing is not as powerful as the rest of the girls. but then again, for example, yuna's voice isnt as powerful as hers either. and ryujin can't capture her sweet and honey-like aura.

being an 'all-rounder' doesnt make you better at any of this. doesnt make you stand out. doesnt give the audience something to chew on, when you have average-to-good singing, dancing, and rapping skills. when idols are pigeonholed into this position, it almost makes me feel more like they dont have any actual standout skills rather than that they are actually good at everything.

this is why, for example, han from stray kids and soyeon from gidle are not all-rounders/aces just because they sing rap and dance (which most idols do, for the record). it's because they have something special to offer in each of these things. they are rappers (something many idols cant claim). and they are singers. they are all of these things, they dont just possess the capability of all of them. this might seem arbitrary and like im just picking at semantics, but i hope my point picks up.

rm from bts, for example, has a good voice. but for most of his career, he was only seen as one thing: a rapper. he didnt fight that, wasnt necessarily trying to break out of that box. he was a rapper, and that was the one thing he really cared about. he dances because he's part of an idol group. he doesn't sing, because that's not what he does. people joked about it, but no one tried to claim he was talentless because all he did was rap.

and then he released his fools cover with jungkook, and the fans were Amazed. years of joke-bad singing, and suddenly, he is singing. maybe his voice is not as strong or versatile as jungkook, but he had his moment to show another skill, and it wasnt a bad thing. because he didnt have to be good at singing. he was good enough at rapping. there wasnt any shame in that, to have one skill, one thing to be proficient at that no one can argue.

and what is this tangent to say? its that now, if an idol is bad at something, its as if its a great shame. its a great shame to say, they're the main vocal, it's okay if their dance isn't as strong as others. they're the main rapper, it's okay if their voice isn't that strong. and any combination of these things!!

i don't understand kpop fans attachment to taking any group you like, or want to support and always claiming it's a group of all-rounders. they're all always main vocals, dancers, rappers, visuals. i don't think there's any pride in that.

i think it's great to let some members step out of the spotlight when there's something they're not good at. i think it's okay, and it should again be acceptable for an idol to joke that they're not a good dancer, or a good singer. and yes, it's never okay to bully or harass or insult them, but i don't think fans should act as if there's shame in it. aren't you making it worse? to say, fuck you, my idol is better, they're all-around perfect singers, rappers, AND dancers? as if being one of these titles isn't enough pride?

and this all goes into my problem with the hate towards lia. maybe there is members of groups that are shoved into a concept that doesnt suit them. but before you jump to that, acknowledge the value they have in that group. how they can show that concept in a way no one else can.

how seungmin from stray kids, with his "pure and romantic" image can portray thunderous, an aggressive and loud song, in a way changbin with his "tough rapper" image can't. how eunchae with her young and cute image can portray antifragile in a way that yunjin with her confident and powerful image cant.

in fact, even chaeryeong has a feminine and graceful quality to her dancing that's different than yeji's powerful and precise one, and even to ryujin's fluid and heavy one.

in FACT, imagine how the fuck seventeen, a group with THIRTEEN MEMBERS, manages to have SO many different concepts, and still manages to excel at all of them, with no one feeling out of place. because there's an intent and a positive to every member, no matter how different they seem.

as usual i'll always end by unnecessarily praising seventeen. have a nice day

#im not proofreading this #itzy #kpop #kpop rants #text

[falloutcoys]

longer thoughts on the first 3 episodes of w.bg, but not more coherently organized

I went in mostly blind, only knowing there were timeline shenanigans and what was in the description on the podcatcher and honestly glad, because I'm loving even just the few twists we've had so far!

Love love love the fucked up games horror subgenre, maybe because I watched Saw played Heavy Rain way too much as a kid but I digress. So when you combine that with time shenanigans, well, it's literally my dream come true.

Mike is so right that if you have this type of time altering tech you should have language to speak about it in a better way than we can. Another tense and a way to say 'now' that implies something deeper than your place in time are necessary. I think I'm gonna run into these problems during my writeup haha

At first Mike's affect was not meshing well with me but that went away by episode two. That's when I really got hooked. Hearing the voicemail was the first "oh shit" moment and I was on the edge of my seat. Then hearing his whole deathbox he built and that it ONLY TOOK HIM 3 DAYS TO WORK UP TO IT!!! I was so glad to have that reaction vindicated later by Cannonball because Mike acting like that was soooo long to deliberate made me thinking I was overly squeamish.

Speaking of squeamish, I have never had a podcast give me suck a visceral reaction. I was driving and I thought I might have to pull over because I was feeling sick. I kept squirming and curled my left arm up without even realizing at first lmao. I think it was just the... coldness in which he spoke about the gory details of doing it to himself?

So interested in the scoreboard and what's going on there. What's Mike gonna choose as a codename, or will he? How many people are playing? If Mike is #1 after two games and Cannonball has only done three (if he's telling the truth, which I don't think he is about everything), how many games are there and how far has any one person gotten? In fact, how long has the game been running (if that is even a meaningful question considering time shenanigans)?

So many more questions and with how many episodes there are, I'm sure not all will be answered and those I get answered will only lead to further questions.

I feel like having our main character be... a slightly shitty guy (by his own words) is a really good perspective we don't see too often. He isn't particularly cool, at least so far, so it isn't that edgy sort of anti-hero. He's just a dude who can be an ass sometimes. And is kind of wildly okay with chopping his own limb off, but not as chill with cop killing I guess. I think my line in the sand would go the other way but, okay Mike.

I definitely should have called the challenge being cop killing but I was still pretty icky feeling from the arm chop, and for some reason when I read the title and saw pig my brain kept thinking of that episode of Black Mirror

God I'm hooked. I should write but I think I will listen to episode four instead

#very glad this won #I will eventually listen to it all! but this is a very good one to get into ASAP #sams lbs #my posts

[energonbunny]

What Transformer would Stiles become a Headmaster with?

Okay, so, to preface: I do not know much about the Headmasters. I've read, like, one entire fanfic that used/mentioned the premise and I've seen the wiki page, so I don't have much to go off of here.

Just to double check, you mean Stiles Stilinski, yes? Because I'm going to answer assuming you do (Stiles and Stiles, the only other one you could maybe mean is Miles but if so just let me know and I'll type out an answer for him). The thing with Stiles is... there are so many answers to this question that I think could be interesting, even just going off of the limited number of 'bots I see under the Headmasters wiki page. Some of the Transformers (just the Autobots, actually) I see listed are a few I already recognize from my limited amount of comic reading/show watching/fic reading, so that makes it a bit easier in that regard.

After a little bit of reading, I gravitated towards Fortress Maximus. I think that, for the most part, the two could mesh very well, and Stiles could definitely provide new ideas and ways of doing things that Fortress Maximus would never think of. Conversely, when they did clash, they would clash bad. Fortress Maximus would prefer to stop fighting, and just aims to protect. Stiles would aim to protect, but would also aim to finish the fight and would be willing to play dirty if he had to so he could make sure his loved ones were safe and healthy. Plus he would justify it because the other side would play dirty, so why shouldn't he? And Fortress Maximus would hate that.

Outside of that, him and Brainstorm would be a wild combination. Just... constant ideas and experiments and half thought up schemes. I feel like Brainstorm would just make some of Stiles' worst tendencies even worse, and vice versa. What was it that one time? Stiles once wrote that paper on circumcision and it wasn't even the topic? That would just become worse with Brainstorm, tbh. They would be a volatile combination because they would both have a tendency to hyper focus on one thing, which could definitely be bad if they forget about/push other stuff to the wayside for it. But the sheer amount of stuff they would come up with would somewhat make up for it? Someone would just have to babysit them and make sure they listened to rules, really.

Also... can I cheat? Because when I was thinking of Fortress Maximus I ended up thinking that basically FM would be Optimus Prime and Stiles would end up being sort of like Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime in a way, which with more thought was a bad comparison but it stuck because I think out of the three considerations, even though he isn't technically a Headmaster, I would pick Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime to stick with Stiles.

I think he and Stiles would be a fascinating combination! Both of them are rash and full of self bravado but also lacking in self confidence (RP more than HR, but you get it). Stiles would bring more planning and strategizing to the table, and HR/RP would be way better at faking the confidence aspect of things and bullshiting his way through certain things. Also, they would both adore driving certain people insane. RIP to Ultra Magnus and whatever peace he had before this unholy matrimony. Also, I once saw someone mention that it was incredibly funny so many pairings happened on the Lost Light/ended up there and that poor Rodimus had to watch it happen, and it would be even funnier with Stiles sharing his head demanding a play by play/being salty that robots were getting more action than he was.

I'm so sorry if this wasn't the answer you were hoping for! I know very little about the Headmasters as a whole so just had fun with it.

#energonbunny rambles #this got way longer than I expected it to