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#like you're literally an mcu stan
all-that-jazz-93 · 10 months
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Holy shit dude, Peggy haters on this webbed site have the weirdest fucking takes
I mean honestly, talk about willfully ignoring canon to form your own (wrong) opinions about a character...
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charcubed · 9 months
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Disneyland's Rogers: The Musical, propaganda that turns Steve Rogers into more myth than man, and revisionist history (possibly) to a purpose
Any of my thoughts in this post could just be me reading too far into things. I'm very aware of that, and please know that this post exists just because this sort of thing is fun for me! This is a thought exercise where we propose "What if we live in a world where the MCU is actually doing a cool and interesting thing as a longcon?" If you have anger at Marvel, that's valid and relatable, but please don't get angry at me or imply I'm an MCU stan who doesn't think critically about the mouse. Thanks!
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Breaking news: I'm back on my bullshit!
A quick personal recap: I infamously hated Avengers: Endgame for a long list of reasons (and I even rewrote the movie). One of those reasons is that I've always taken issue with Steve's ending. But in the years since then, and as the MCU's phase 4 has evolved, my frustration at Steve's "ending" has turned into an ongoing and legitimate theory that the MCU could be slowly leading into a loosely adapted Secret Empire plot line. I know we've all been joking about Steve being trapped or about an imposter Steve since 2019, but uhhh, it's kind of not a joke to me anymore? It feels weirdly plausible at this point and so I enjoy discussing the potential.
You can find a full elaboration on that here, where I wrote out my "Steve was snatched by HYDRA" theory in 2021.
In that post, one of the things I mentioned at the time was Rogers: The Musical being in the Hawkeye trailer.
[The musical's] very existence is an example of how in-universe the stories of the lives of the heroes are being commodified, especially (in terms of how they’re framing it) for Steve’s. The heroes are no longer seen as people, if they ever were. They are, as Kate Bishop says to Clint in a recently released clip, more about “branding.” Sam Wilson will be redefining the shield moving forward in a Cap context, but simultaneously, the world is still enamored by Steve Rogers as a symbol in his own right. And that is ripe for manipulation as a Trojan horse to control public opinion… whether in the context of things like this by themselves (is the musical portraying Steve accurately, or is it painting an inaccurate picture of him the world accepts as fact?) or in future (is this propaganda that makes the public see Steve a certain way and continue to love him, to set up a fake or brainwashed Steve coming on the scene later?).
Now a form of the musical exists in full, at Disneyland and all over Youtube. Considering some of its baffling content – which I will break down below – this perspective seems even more strongly worth considering.
I have two main reasons for why I'm defending examining this musical so closely:
1. It is (arguably) an in-universe piece of media that has bearing on the MCU canon. It isn't like any other typical Disneyland attraction; its very existence is meta and it was in canon first. Obviously it's seen in Hawkeye, but there are also posters for it in several different phase 4 properties. It's lurking in the background indefinitely. So what can this musical tell us about what the wider public within the MCU is being told about the life story of Steve Rogers?
2. This Secret Empire graphic – which is animated in the center of the stage of a prolonged period of time – feels like a literal sign to pay attention.
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Granted, this is obviously still ancillary material. 99% of the MCU audience will never see this musical, whether in person or on YouTube. But just because it isn't a vital piece doesn't mean it's automatically an entirely irrelevant piece.
They've given me an inch with that sign and I'm taking a mile.
So if you're interested, please join me on this journey :)
For the record, let me just say that I salute the creative team behind this show. It's pretty fun and the songs are catchy, the sets and costuming are cool, and the cast is overall very talented.
It's also fucking maddening. LMAO.
Why? Firstly, because of the seemingly deliberate ahistorical inaccuracies. We all know Ant-Man is wrongly shown in the Battle of New York, which originally "came from [the Hawkeye showrunner] and Marvel, as something to further aggravate Hawkeye as he watched the show, and also as a comment on how movies and articles and people always get something wrong." It seems like they expanded those meta nods, but most inaccuracies are now in service of glorifying Steve and Peggy's "love story." Yes, romance objectively makes for good theater; but again, I feel that this is worth examining considering the full context.
And secondly, Steve's ending is framed as an offer presented to him, convincing him it's the happy ending he deserves because he's tired. In my mind, these two big elements go together, and I'll walk you through the details of what happens in the musical before I tie the thought threads back around into some theorizing.
For your reference, here's a list of the main songs and story beats:
• "U-S-Opening Night" - the Starkettes (who are basically a Greek chorus) frame the show's story, and then it turns into an ensemble that loosely takes place at the Stark Expo. • "I Want You" – Steve's "I want" song about trying to enlist in the army. • "Star-Spangled Man With A Plan" – Steve performing on the USO tour obviously, and then there's a reprise with an added voiceover that (very briefly) covers the Howling Commandos' rescue + the war via comic book imagery. • "What You Missed" – Fury and the Starkettes tell Steve some pop culture things he missed while he was frozen, + they tell him about the Avengers. Then Fury goes down a list of other hero characters, including the Guardians? Doctor Strange? Wanda?? It plays loose and fast with time, because many non-2012 characters are bafflingly mentioned in this nonlinear Avengers list – including the Winter Soldier (???). • "Save the City" – this is the song seen in Hawkeye, with the civilians + the Avengers all involved, but it's slightly different here and expanded to also reference other battles. • "End of the Line" – Old Steve presents main Steve with the time stone as an opportunity for his happy ending, and they reflect on things together. (Yes, this is insane.) • "Just One Dance" – Steve and Peggy reunite and sing about their love. • And then there's basically a reprise of "Save the City," with the Starkettes and the whole cast closing the finale out.
Right out of the gate, let's address this: the main reason you're going to see some fans pissed about this musical is not only that Steve and Peggy's ~epic romance~ is made a pillar of the story... but also that Bucky's importance/involvement in Steve's life is minimized as much as possible.
And they took Bucky-related elements from canon and made them center more around Peggy instead.
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• For some weird reason, Peggy is in the Stark Expo scene. When a soldier is hitting on the Starkettes ("hey sweetheart, I wanna dance!"), Steve tells the soldier to show the ladies some respect. The soldier grabs Steve and throws him down, and then Peggy swoops in to yell "Pick on someone your own size!" and punches the guy before walking away. So she's given Bucky's TFA line verbatim, and she is given the role he had of saving Steve from bullies. There is blatantly no reason they couldn't have had Bucky still serve that function and be truer to "history," because he briefly enters this scene in uniform less than a minute later to announce he's shipping out to the 107th – and then he spins off with a date on his arm. (We don't see Bucky on stage again until the full cast comes out for the finale!)
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• After the Star-Spangled Man show, Peggy rushes in to talk to Steve. Steve is excited about his USO performance (???) but she urgently tells him to listen as she says that the 107th has been captured. Peggy apparently knows it's Bucky's division, and she knows Steve is going to go, so she tells him that she's already arranged transport for him. This is a subtle twist from the truth of how it went down in TFA, in which Steve recognized 107 as the number of Bucky's division, and his dogged determination inspired Peggy to relent and help his rescue mission. Here, Peggy is given a stronger role in the Cap origin story. And before Steve rushes off, Peggy sings a short untitled ballad hoping for their dance, so Steve pauses before he leaves to ask her to go on a date with her when he returns. • The most egregious Bucky-to-Peggy change of all is the song "End of the Line," in which the infamous Steve and Bucky line/promise (that broke Bucky's brainwashing...) is re-contextualized to be about ???? Peggy waiting for Steve in the past??? Old Man Steve and regular Steve sing it together. But we'll go back to that in a minute.
Again, I get it, yeah? It's for theater. Whatever. But in reality, the obvious logical truth is that Peggy is centered (to the point of taking elements from Bucky's story, and in turn Bucky is downplayed) because they needed to convince the audience that Steve going back in time to be with her makes sense. Steve's time travel ending had to be justified, so the Peggy and Steve "love story" had to be a pillar in this with everything else being given lesser weight.
And the inherent selfishness of him doing something as big as going back in time also had to be justified... which is why they do their best to convince you Steve fought so much he deserved it.
Let me elaborate on that by describing the lead-up to the "End of the Line" song.
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So, right before "End of the Line" is "Save the City" – which includes Steve belting "I can do this all day!" repeatedly, of course. It's the 2012 Battle of New York as the Avengers come together to win.
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As they begin to disperse, the song then transitions to a voiceover alert mentioning Sokovia being under attack by artificial intelligence (a.k.a. Age of Ultron). The Avengers group rushes back to center stage to say "Save the city! Help us win!" together for battle again.
And then things get fucking weird.
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Because the next voiceover threat is "Washington DC. Attack: the Winter Soldier." This is not accurate to the order of events! The Winter Soldier events were before Age of Ultron; the public of the MCU would also know this.
And suddenly on stage Steve is now in the center while everyone else gestures to him. Instead of singing with him, they're telling him "Save the city! Help us win!"
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Then, another voiceover: "Wakanda, under attack" (Infinity War) and again, Steve is centered while everyone else points to him. The ensemble says, "Save the city, help us win! Save us all from the state we're in! Got to hear you, got to hear you, got to hear you say..." as Steve is buckling to his knees under their pointing. And as the lights go down to one spotlight on him and everyone else leaves, he says "I can do this all day" one last time, but now it's subdued.
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The implication is that Steve has been fighting and fighting, people leave him or he loses them, and he's tired.
And then fucking Old Man Steve arrives.
He says "On your left," because yes, they gave him Sam Wilson's line. BATSHIT.
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So now there's two Steves on stage! There has been no mention of Thanos or infinity stones or anything up to this point! (I can only assume that's because in the MCU universe no one would want to be reminded of the trauma of "the Blip" – though it's pretty wild that they're allowed to know about magical time travel?)
Steve is baffled by Old Man Steve's arrival. I, too, was baffled by Old Man Steve's arrival.
As Steve questions how this is possible, Old Man Steve shows him the time stone from his pocket – and only the time stone – which Steve recognizes.
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OLD MAN: "You've got to remember where you've been to know where you're going." STEVE: "Where am I going?" OLD MAN: "A date with destiny." STEVE: “Destiny. So we’re the hero till the end?” OLD MAN: “That’s the thing about endings, Steven. They can be rewritten.”
Lmao???????
Steve starts singing about how he hopes this means they "win" and calls himself a "tired hero."
STEVE: "But sometimes I wonder, who will save the savior? Can we really do this all day? So here I am, now and also then. Just a man, looking back at where he's been." OLD MAN: "The road is rough but wounds are healed by a thing called time. You can't forget what's waiting at the end of the line."
Me, watching this: the fact that he says this out of the blue makes absolutely no sense.
There's a bit more singing, including "end of the line" repetition, and then Old Man Steve pulls out the time stone to essentially show visions of... I don't fucking know. Past, present, and future?
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That's pre-serum Steve, Steve with Mjolnir, and Sam Wilson as the new Cap. This is the only reference to Sam in the whole thing.
More singing, and then: Peggy's silhouette.
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OLD MAN: "Can't forget who's waiting..." STEVE: "I can't forget who's waiting..." BOTH: "Don't forget who's waiting..." STEVE: "At the end of the line."
At this point I'm like, what in the hell?
Did Old Man Steve just brainwash normal Steve into thinking "end of the line" is now about Peggy? Because uhhhh, sorry, that's what it feels like!
Then Steve uses the stone to go back in time, reunites with Peggy, etc. etc. finale.
It's truly some crazy shit.
[drags hands down face]
Look... there's a lot to unpack here, and there's a lot that gets me about it. I know this is dramatized for the stage! I KNOW! But the fact that Old Man Steve shows up to convince Steve he should go back in time makes me want to gnaw on furniture.
Another person essentially uses the lure of a life with Peggy to tempt Steve into doing this, dramatized or not. That is how it's framed.
It's a hell of a way to frame it, and it makes Steve's ending stand in even starker contrast to so many other things in phase 4. Desperately trying to go backwards when you shouldn't or to bring back a lost lover is an evil temptation, and it results in a trap or negative cosmic consequences for basically all of the other characters in the MCU.
• In Shang-Chi, Wenwu is tempted by the Soul Eaters beyond the Dark Gate. They use the voice of his deceased wife to convince him to set them free. • In "What If" episode 4, Doctor Strange becomes evil in a desperate bid to save Christine and he destroys his universe. Along the way, he tries to tempt/trap the good Strange who's fighting him by using visions of Christine, but good Strange knows she isn't real. • Wanda's grief and desire to bring back Vision leads to – well, you know. • In No Way Home, Peter trying to undo things is what causes the multiverse problems.
And the fact that they frame it as Steve being tired, so basically the argument is he deserves that time travel ending (just like MCU fans who defend Endgame say in real life)... Well.
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There's no way to make it hold up, especially because in "What If" they explicitly subverted that and had Captain Carter not go back in time despite how she felt she'd "earned" it.
Lastly, in this musical as Steve decides to pursue time travel as his course of action, he basically has the meaning or memory of "end of the line" rewritten for him. I refuse to not think that is some nefarious shit. Yes, it's not out of the realm of possibility that it's just some general Disney erasing Steve and Bucky nonsense.
But... this is on another level to me. I do think that it's a blatant choice that they had to be aware even general MCU fans would call bullshit on. Everyone knows it's inaccurate. "End of the line" is embedded in pop culture consciousness as being connected to Bucky. It just is! Surely that means it's not a stretch to theorize it could be deliberate meta commentary.
How, in the MCU world, would the in-universe playwrights even know the phrase "end of the line"? How the fuck would it be accidentally applied to Steve and Peggy? Not to sound like a crazy person, but who the fuck was rooting around in Steve and/or Bucky's personal business or their brains in order to obtain that knowledge and then remix it, and why? Neither of them would flippantly mention it in the public eye or interviews ever. So where did its inclusion come from?
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And in the finale ensemble, this is Bucky's line when he comes out on stage and salutes + points to Steve: "Don't forget who's waiting..." And Old Man Steve completes it with "...at the end of the line."
What on God's green earth am I meant to do with THAT?
Smh.
The vibes are fucked, folks.
The MCU public wouldn't know enough to say the vibes are fucked. The MCU public wouldn't know the origin of "end of the line" as a phrase. But us? The ones who know the "true story" via the movies? We can call bullshit.
Whether the creative team behind this musical did every aspect of this consciously or not, in my opinion the fact that they had to tweak canon "history" to A) make Peggy's involvement in Steve's life more central and B) emphasize Steve as a tired hero all works as commentary on and almost a condemnation of Endgame's frustrating ending. In a way, it's also what Endgame did with the compass and 1973 moment with Peggy as well.
Steve's ending had to be convincing.
It's theater.
And so, maybe the same is true for the in-narrative perspective of this musical in the context of the MCU world. What purpose would it serve to tell the MCU public a feel-good narrative about how all Steve Rogers wanted was to no longer be a tragic man out of time and get to make a life with his best girl? To frame it as being about how he fought so hard for years and so he earned a happy ending? To minimize and nearly erase Bucky's importance in his life?
Who would want to do that sort of propaganda, and why?
The MCU civilians are given this happy explanation and maybe don't widely question it. Who cares about the details or logistics if it makes a good story, I guess. It's a stretch, but maybe they mostly applaud it. Maybe they're happy for "America's favorite son" (not unlike people who uncritically liked Endgame). In a way, it's even a rehabilitation of his image (after the Accords) like putting the shield on the Statue of Liberty. And maybe they'd even be ready and waiting to applaud if Steve ever made a dramatically selfless and de-aged return to the spotlight or a position of authority.
But mostly, the public is being conditioned to not know or to forget that anyone else like Bucky Barnes or Sam Wilson would possibly know Steve Rogers the person well enough in the modern day to call bullshit on any of this – or on his hypothetical miraculous future return.
So. Sure, it's probably nothing.
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But what if it's not?
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UPDATE: @faeriecap added to this post with some incredible information and further behind-the-scenes context about the MCU/Marvel stuff at Disney parks! Check it out here :)
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tEaM cAp BaD, tOnY gOoD
The fact that takes like this are still being spewed 7 years after Civil War maddens me.
OMG where do I even start... You know, maybe this is the result of the MCU not knowing where they stand in regards to heroism. In the past we used to watch superhero movies that were very clear on defending the heroes and keeping the villains accountable, but for some reason the MCU seems to enjoy questioning their heroes and framing them in a negative light while justifying the bad guys - so I'm not surprised to read these takes.
OP says "Hydra didn't hide themselves after the reveal". Uh, yes, they did, actually. And with good reason. If you have been infiltrating an American intelligence agency for decades and you're finally outed, why exactly would anyone go out there and happily advertise they're Hydra? That... makes no sense.
I honestly have no interest in talking about "Did Wanda and Pietro know or not?". I'll just leave this here.
In the same comment OP shows his anger at Wanda for not facing any consequences for her actions, he defends Stark "not selling more weapons" as enough accountability for his. So he can spend his whole life willfully ignorant of where his wealth is coming from, he only decides to stop selling when those weapons kill Americans (he didn't give a fuck if they hurt other people), he can literally tell the government to suck it when they request his tech (which I'm okay with, but damn, nice display of hypocrisy right there when these stans claim the heroes are awful for not signing the Accords in CW)... and all this shit is enough for Stark to be off the hook?
They want Wanda, sometimes even Steve, to be jailed and punished but when it comes to Stark, if he pouts for a while they call it a day and that's enough accountability for him 🤦‍♀️
OP's line about Edith is even worse: "Edith is designed as a planetary defense system." I always think of Zola's line in TWS whenever I read a take like that one: "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security."
More control doesn't equate more safety, it tends to cause the opposite thing, actually. But of course NWH never addressed the morality of this device so many fans think its existence okay. If they had handled it like Nolan did their ideas would be different. Edith is another Project Insight and Stark was still defending this "control is safety" years after CW 👇
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That's Hydra rhetoric. I couldn't care less if it's a so-called "hero" saying it, that line could be said by Zola or Red Skull or Rumlow, that's how messed up it is. But all of a sudden it's Stark saying it and that makes it okay?
OP: "Steve Rogers [...] solves problems by punching things [...] He has no fucking idea how to handle a situation involving a bioweapon or a terrorist." Tell me you don't understand Steve's character without telling me you don't understand him. This stan is one of those who thinks Steve is just a buff guy with no brains who can only punch his way out of things, which is hilarious because he has been shown to be the exact opposite of that.
A guy who figured out how to take that flag from Camp Lehigh, who could easily tell he was being deceived after being defrosted when that Shield woman approached him in the med bay, who figured out Loki's sceptre worked like a Hydra weapon (linking the space and mind stones & how they worked), who knows military regulations well enough to know where a building is built in the wrong place, who can figure out he's going to be attacked in an elevator after only a few seconds...
Sure, he only knows how to punch things 🙄
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genericpuff · 1 year
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you ripped off your entire "theory" about LO being made for kids from Pyrrhic Victoria's latest video lol. Word for word, that's pretty hypocritical but then I guess that's to be expected from the person who still financially supports Webtoon and LO even though you've based your entire image off how much you supposedly hate LO
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if I "ripped off" P&V then this is news to me because I've only watched each one of their videos once (they're long and they cover a SHITLOAD of topics, bruh) and it's been ages, BUT-
This honestly makes for a great segue to talk about opinion sharing in the fandom in general because ima be honest with you, there's like... only so much you can talk about in the LO crit community. Like as much as we make fun of the stans for all sharing one echo chamber of opinions, the ULO community isn't that much different in the sense of like, having the same takes and opinions about the topic we've chosen to unite on and being hyper passionate about it to the point of having the same conversations at least ONCE per week. Like it's just a webcomic about pink and blue people, a lot of takes are pretty much the exact same and that's not a BAD thing but ... both P&V and I have been in the ULO stratosphere for AGES now so ?? There's only SO MUCH to cover about LO before it all starts blurring together lmao I can't "own" an opinion, and they undoubtedly know that they can't "own" any one specific opinion either, especially within a fandom like this. C'mon now.
"LO is made for babies" or "LO is marketed to children" is also one of the way more common takes, that's like saying I'm ripping off panel redraw accounts for doing my own panel redraws. LO's been compared to other things that are commonly marketed to children like MCU films, Disney movies/shows, etc. time and time again because that's been SUPER common knowledge for YEARS now prior to any of us joining the community, regardless of "who joined first", it's literally WT's entire business model and it's pretty plainly obvious. The specific comparison I made was just one that came to me during a ramble on stream the other night and I wanted to put it to paper because that's what I do here. If that specific comparison has been made in the past already in a 3 hour video that I completely forgot/didn't realize, then great! I'm not the only one who came to this conclusion! Thanks for the validation!
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None of this is with shade at P&V or even you, btw, I think it's honorable you want to stand up for them if you enjoy their stuff and I can't harp on you for that but like... this ain't it? Y'all gotta understand this community is still HELLA small as far as fandom culture goes, we all know everybody, have helped build these parts of the community together from cardboard and glue whether or not we still directly affiliate with each other, and share many of the same takes and schools of thought that stem back YEARS before even WE were in the community ourselves so it's kinda silly to try and point fingers at any one person and say "abc is ripping off xyz!" esp when the "ripping off" is just like, having the same opinion about something? A lot of both our takes also intersect with takes from other antiLO accounts and channels that pre-existed theirs and my own. It's a fandom, after all, no single person can lay claim to any specific opinion we're all coming from many of the same schools of thought with foundations that pre-exist us, it's just different people delivering their own unique spins on takes that have been heard many times before. Some of us do re-imaginings, some of us do panel edits, some of us just crack great jokes about it. We're not all pals with each other, we're not even all from the same platforms or community bubbles, but I think we're all pretty familiar with each other's content and what each one of us is about for the most part.
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I know you're likely not gonna take "trust me" as a promise that I'm not ripping anyone off, but like... trust me, I'm not sitting here sifting through P&V's 15+ hour video backlog and going "huehuehue I'm gonna steal this!" because I would gain nothing from doing that and their content is ultimately just part of a bigger genre of topics and opinions that are constantly being re-assessed and re-discussed as the comic goes on, they were just the first ones to make an ongoing Youtube series about it (which is commendable in and of itself with how much content they've made around it, most other Youtubers just review it once in 20-90 minutes and call it a day).
P&V's contributions to these discussions have their own personal unique flair to them but the opinions themselves aren't all brand new revelations. Back when I still watched their videos, their alternate scenarios as to how something could be written were pretty neat because it came with their own unique experiences and viewpoints as webcomic creators which isn't something you'll find on every other account. But "LO is marketed to children and here's why" isn't exactly one of those takes because it's one we've all talked about in the community LONG before those videos even existed. And it's been talked about since before any of us were in the community, period. So... yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say on that lmao it's not that complicated, there's no "conspiracy" going on here, it's a Tumblr post about something that's already been talked about in the past by many others, my guy.
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As a closing note, accusing me of being hypocritical on the basis of something you don't even have facts on like "financially supporting Webtoons and LO" is such a silly hill to die on, c'mon pal. You want me to stand here and tell you my side of it as if you're even gonna believe me? Because even if I do say "actually, I no longer even have the Webtoons app on my phone and I can't even remember the last time I paid for coins on the app because all the series I usually FP nowadays are on hiatus and I stopped FP'ing LO back at the start of S3" are you really gonna believe me? Did you even bother to read through the majority of this post? You want receipts or something? What do you want from me? I got nothing to hide, but I'm not gonna sit here and try to explain myself to someone hiding behind an anon filter who's already decided I'm a hack so idk what you want 🤣 Even if I did still FP the series, what then? There are people in this community who do still FP to keep up on content so they can keep talking about it, why is that a crime all of a sudden? Since when did this become some kind of weird "prove you're loyal" indoctrination? Or are you just mad my takes are basic?
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crashdevlin · 9 months
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Losses and Gains 1- She Deserves Better
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Author’s Note: This is the first chapter of Losses and Gains, the second part of To Have it All. This is Something More...from Jensen's side!
Summary: Jensen doesn't take it well when Y/n catches the eye of a certain British gentleman. 
Pairing:  Jensen x Reader, background Reader x Tom Hiddleston
Word count: 4149
Story Warnings: open marriage, mentions of depression and heartbreak, the beginnings of bad things
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I knew. When I watched Y/n ride away in that Uber, I knew that Danneel had broken something. Months of getting closer, being in love with each other, building some secret something with her...all torn down with one catty, jealous comment from my wife.
I was hoping she'd come back around but I knew that I had one shot to see her and bring her back to me. I was hoping that showing her that I was still in love even when she was clear across the continent would work. I called her every night after we wrapped. The calls were short, fifteen minutes, usually, but I managed to make her laugh at least once a day. It was a good thing. Made me feel like there was still a connection between us.
I spent my days sad and my nights dreaming of her. I missed her so much and I knew, I knew it in my heart, that she was pulling back and that I was at risk of losing her. Losing her...well, that was going to be the worst thing I could think of.
When she went to Atlanta, I was excited. She'd be alone. She'd be able to remember how being with me felt. At least that was the way I thought it'd go. I mean, especially when she actually called me at noon on the first day of her shooting with Marvel. "Hey. How's your first day on a major motion picture going?"
“Uh, it’s good. My hair is super red. My voice is already tired," she said as I sat in my recliner in my trailer. "You remember when Rich was directing and he made us do the French Toast scene thirteen freakin’ times? Nothing compared to these Marvel guys.”
I chuckled as I remembered the day a few months ago. “You havin’ fun, though? Meet any of the biggies, yet?”
“Yeah, actually. Most of my scenes are with Tom.”
“Which one?” There were several Toms in the MCU so that was funny to me.
She laughed and I smiled. She hadn't really laughed since she went home...not with me, anyway. “Hiddleston. Sinthea has most of her scenes with Loki. I have a small interaction with Stephen Strange and  two tiny scenes with Thor, but that’s it. So, I’m sadly not gonna have any screen time with Robert Downey Jr. or Sebastian Stan." She sounded so excited. "Oh, they did tell me something cool and super-secret-keep-your-mouth-shut. I get the mid-credits scene.”
I was filled with pride for her. That was a big fucking deal. “No shit?”
“No shit. Well, me and Tom, but… it’s Sinthea’s reveal, which I can’t go into because it's super-secret-keep-your-mouth-shut.”
“So, you're already callin' him by his first name, huh? I knew they’d take to you as fast as we did.”
There was a long moment of silence before she gave a little sigh. "Yeah, um, about that…Tom asked me for drinks after we wrap tonight.”
Drinks. I knew what that meant. He was making his move on her. Already, he was making his move. He hadn't even known her six hours! And she was going for it? “You said 'yes’?” I asked.
“Of course, I did," she practically squeaked.
I got irrationally pissed off. I was losing her. I was losing her to Tom fucking Hiddleston on the day they met each other and there was nothing I could do about it. But I wasn't pissed off at her…no, all that anger was directed at Dee and Hiddleston. “No, you’re right. I've got no claim to you, no right to stop you from your life. Hell, I’ve got a wife. Look, I gotta go. Bob’s calling. Talk to you later.” I was shaking as I hung up the phone. I literally hung up on her.
I jumped up and started pacing back and forth in the living room area, trying to deal with the anger. I threw my phone at the plush back of the recliner and rubbed my hand across my face as it bounced and hit the floor. What was I going to do? Was there anything I could do? I was stuck. I could only sit back and hope the man wasn't as charming as he seemed. There had to be something wrong with him, right?
"Wishful thinking, first of all. He's a complete fuckin' gentleman, by all accounts," Jared said when I told him what soured my mood. "Besides...this could be a good thing for her! She deserves a nice guy!"
"I'm a nice guy!" I argued. "She already has a-"
"Jensen, she doesn't have a nice guy in her life that can be a public part of her life and she deserves someone who won't treat her like a dirty little secret."
I clenched my jaw and my fists. "I have never treated her like a dirty-"
"The first rule of your relationship is that I'm the only person other than your wife who can know about Y/n. That is, exactly, treating her like a dirty fucking secret." Jared shrugged. "Come on, Ackles. Don't act like you don’t know how this played out for her. I told you how it was affecting her and how much worse it could get. You're lucky, and she's lucky, that she found someone else before either of you got in too fucking deep."
I scoffed. "She's not his yet. I can still pull this out. I can still fix-"
"Jensen!" His tone snapped me out of my monologue and I looked up to catch his eyes. "Stop. Just fucking stop. She's not his yet, but she's not yours either. She put up a wall and you need to respect that shit. Call your wife and work on fixing that instead."
"Are you kidding me right now? Dee is the reason that Y/n was emotionally available for this asshole to swoop in and turn on the charm! Why would I want to fix anything with-"
"Because she's your wife and you love her and she needs to be more important than your ex-mistress, okay?" Jared patted my shoulder and walked away as I processed his words.
He was right. Jared usually is when it comes to other people's lives. But I didn’t want him to be right. I just wanted to have both of the women I loved. Is that so fucking wrong?
So I switched my flight to Atlanta. I was planning to fly out Friday night to get there for her birthday Saturday, but I needed to get there as soon as possible to mitigate the damage.
Tom Hiddleston. Why did it have to be Tom Hiddleston? Why did she have to be interested in him? All that Loki energy rolling off of him.
I spent the rest of the day pissed off. Luckily, it worked with the episode since Dean was having to deal with Jack and spent half the episode irritated. We wrapped at about 1 in the morning. I was exhausted, cold, and still pissed as I trudged toward my trailer. I was planning to call her and leave a message before I went back to the condo...but my phone rang before I could get there.
"Hey." From the heavy way she said the greeting, I could tell she was drunk. It was 4 am in Atlanta and she was drunk dialing me. "Jensen, I’m drunk.”
“I can hear that," I said as I opened the trailer and stepped up into it.
“I’m drunk and I’m alone.” Alone now or alone completely? “I didn’t go back to Tom’s hotel with him, which...he's in the Ritz, by the way...because I was left with the distinct impression that you are mad at me and I don’t want you mad at me, Jay.”
Of course she thought I was mad at her and not him. She's got the self-esteem of an abused puppy. I couldn’t let her keep thinking my issue was with her so I scratched my head and sighed. "I ain’t mad at you. I know I…” Words. What words are the right words? Why do I struggle to say the right shit to her so often? “I’m married. We aren’t dating. I knew we were temporary when we started it." Which was painful but true. "I just didn’t expect you to leave me as soon as you…left Vancouver.”
“I’m…sure it’s temporary with him, too. It fuckin’ always is. Look, I’m not going anywhere, Jay. I…I’m part of the Family now, right? Even if Tara gets killed off, I’m part of the Supernatural Family. Even if we aren’t together, I’m gonna be around. Right? You aren’t gonna cut me off just because-”
“No! God, no!" The very idea of it...never...I could never. "Come on. Don’t…look, I’m not mad at you. I just really wish I could give you what you deserve.”
“I deserve a chance with Tom. Since I can’t have you…I deserve Tom. But I deserve to be your friend, too. Please, don’t take that away from me.”
I didn't think I could watch her be with him. I couldn’t stand idle as she started a relationship with him. I knew it was going to hurt too much, but still I said, “I won’t. I’m here for you. Promise.”
“Good. I have to get some sleep so…Jay. Don’t hang up on me again. It hurt.”
I shook my head at myself. I never wanted to hurt her. “I know. I’m sorry. Hey, but I’ll see you at the Atlanta Con, right? You don’t have any shooting for this weekend, do you?”
“Yeah. Definitely. The director cleared me for that weekend before I even got here.”
“Okay, great. I’ll see you then, Baby Girl.”
“Good night, Jay.”
I bit my lip as I disconnected the call. At least that hadn't changed. She still called me 'Jay' and it still made my heart thud out an extra beat.
~~~~
Clif didn't like the idea of me going to the convention alone. I was supposed to be with Jared. I was supposed to stay guarded. But I promised him that I was just going to sneak into the green room and surprise Y/n and then I was gonna grab a drink with her back at the hotel. He insisted on coming along anyway.
I made it to the con hotel about a half hour after karaoke started and I found the green room by memory from the last time we did a con in Atlanta and from there, I had a smitten volunteer take me to the backstage area. I could hear Y/n's voice as we approached. She was singing a duet, some Meghan Trainor thing I had heard her sing in the kitchen while making dinner. But instead of her singing the male and female like she did when she was frying chicken, there was another voice coming through the speakers.
I was, for the first time, irrationally pissed off at her. She brought him to our space. Conventions were ours. Conventions were for the Family and she brought this guy she barely fucking knew into our place.
I went back to the green room and started pacing. "Can you believe that shit? She brought him to a convention! She should know better! He's not one of us! Why would she bring- isn't it bad enough that he's stolen her away?" Clif just shook his head at me and went out into the hallway. He was not shy about the fact that he was on the 'let it go' train Jared was driving. I kept pacing for a few moments before sitting down on one of the couches, seething at her and at him. Tom, who walked in as I was debating leaving the con and pretending that I’d never been there. He stopped at the door and I glared at him. I couldn’t help it.
Y/n followed him into the green room about a minute later, practically bouncing with happiness. “Hey! You were amazing! Your voice is like velvet!” she exclaimed.
He gave her an uncomfortable smile and nodded toward me before he said something I couldn’t hear. She looked over at me and gasped before rushing at me. “What are you doing here on a Friday?!”
I stood up and pulled her into a hug. It felt good to have her in my arms again but I was still pissed off so I just licked my lips and stepped back. “Well, your birthday’s tomorrow. I didn’t wanna miss out on your big two-nine. Though, I kinda feel like I may be a third wheel now that I see him. I cannot believe you invited him to a con.”
She literally rolled her eyes at me and grabbed my hand, pulling me across the room toward him. “Tom, this is Jensen. Jensen, this is Tom.”
He extended his hand for me to shake it and for a moment I almost let him hang, but the look in Y/n’s eyes told me I couldn’t really do that. If I did, I’d be spurning her. So I took his hand and tried to crush it in my own. To his credit, he didn’t show any pain. He just smiled politely and nodded. “It’s a pleasure,” he said and I forced myself to nod at him.
“Right,” I agreed, as I stepped back from him and turned my focus on Y/n. “So...how about a drink, Y/n/n? I mean, if your friend doesn’t mind.”
“I agree, a drink is a wonderful idea. Should we wait until the karaoke fun is over or-” It made me cringe that he answered for her.
“Oh, we definitely have to wait for the finale!” Y/n exclaimed. “Everyone’s gonna sing ‘Carry On My Wayward Son’! If Jensen goes out to sing with us for the finale, the audience will freak the fuck out! He’s literally never here for karaoke!”
I didn’t really feel up to it. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was there except her. “Yeah, I, uh, don’t know if that’s such a good idea, roomie. I just came early for a birthday drink with you...and after you bringing your new friend, I’m sure they’ve probably had enough excitement for one night.”
She immediately slipped into her puppy dog face. “Oh, come on, Jay! The fans will love it!”
I ran my hand down my face and shook my head. “Fuck. You sure do know how to use those eyes on me, don’t you? I...guess I can do some Kansas. But after ‘Carry On’ you and I are grabbing a drink...just the two of us,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t put up any protest. If she protested, I’d just go have a drink by myself...and I thought I was going to have to do that because she looked over her shoulder at Tom, like she was asking permission.
“It’s fine. I’m sure you two have quite a lot to talk about with your...roommate. Meet me back at my hotel afterward?”
His hotel? She was staying at his hotel?
She nodded. “I’ll text you when I’m done. Just to make sure you’re still awake.”
“I’ll put on the strong tea.” He winked at her, then kissed her cheek and left.
I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. I wasn’t sure what to say. I was so full of anger and pain. “So, you’re staying with him now?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m still at the Holiday Inn Express. I did stay at the...Ritz last night. And it looks like I might be staying there again tonight.” I was so hurt and pissed off about the very idea that she already fucked him that my stomach seemed to burn inside.
“Wow, that was fast. I mean, took me months of flirting with you before we made it to the bedroom,” I snapped. I didn’t want to make her feel bad but I was pissed. I could see the offense on her face and I felt bad about it but I was too pissed off to care much.
“Jensen, I had no fucking self esteem when I met you. I-I couldn’t even imagine that someone like you was flirting with me. But...you did and...because you showed me that I was worth the attention of a...of a god among men, I was able to see it for what it really was when Tom asked me for drinks.”
I scoffed. “Oh, so you’re saying that it’s my fault that you’re fuckin’ that guy? That...stupid...British...ginger…” I couldn’t articulate my anger. I couldn’t articulate my feelings.
She looked away but nodded. “In a bit of a roundabout way...yeah. I’m sorry, Jay. It’s just...we can’t ever be more than what we were. You’re married and you love her.”
“Yeah, of course I do, but you and I both know that my love for you didn’t start or stop at the bedroom door,” I reminded her and she looked away from me.
“But the way you love her...your love for her and your kids...it’s all-encompassing. You...can’t…” She sighed and looked away from me. “Jensen, I will always love you. Always, but...I deserve to be someone’s one and only. I would never be more than a--a distraction for your long days away from home. I deserve more than that.”
“I…” I shook my head and looked away from her. “I know. It doesn’t mean I gotta like it, though. I thought we were happy with our prior arrangement.”
“We were...until...I wasn’t.”
“Because you met him,” I accused her.
“Because I realized I wanted more,” she responded.
I was on the verge of tears, my heart breaking at the idea of her wanting more than what I could give her. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stick around for the finale. Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just...not into it,” I said, starting to walk away.
Her hand wrapped around my wrist and I looked back at her. “Jay, please don’t shut down.”
I couldn’t hold back my anger anymore. “What do you want from me?” I snatched my hand away from her. “If you had told me ‘no’ in January, then it could’ve been okay.” No, it wouldn’t have. It would have hurt if she told me no, but it wouldn’t have hurt like this did. “We could’ve stayed friends but after everything we’ve been through...Y/n, you’re leaving me for Loki. It’s that simple.”
“We weren’t dating, Jensen!” she whispered, furiously. “I was your sex toy. I was something for you to play with when you were away from your wife!”
“I love you and you know that!” I growled and I was a little bit louder than I should have been.
“But you can’t be with me,” she whispered...and her voice was full of so much pain...and that hurt me.
Fuck, I just wanted everything to be okay. “What if I could?” I asked, before clarifying. “What if...we were really together?”
She looked around, obviously making sure that no one was around to hear what I’d said. Obviously, I wouldn’t have said that in front of anyone. She shook her head. “You’d never leave her and I would never want you to. It’s the last thing I want to be a homewrecker and she is your home. Her and JJ and A-to-Z.” I love the way she called the twins ‘A-to-Z’ but I couldn’t appreciate it right then. “I would never want to break that up. But I deserve to be with someone I can tell my family about. I deserve to be with someone for more than just the few weekends we do conventions and the couple weeks I shoot on the show. I’m not gonna be on Supernatural forever, Jay, and what then? I deserve-”
I couldn’t hear her say anymore. “I know that! I just wish I could be what you deserve.”
She looked irritated. “If I’d met you before 10 Inch Hero...but I never would have...before…” She shook her head. “Jensen, it’s just not in the cards for us. You should find someone else because...I’m moving on.”
“I don’t want another girlfriend. I want you.”
She looked away from me and sighed. “Fuck, Jay. I’m ready for a grown-up relationship. I am ready from more than just sex.”
That. That hit me harder than anything else. “Is that what you think this was? You can’t really think that’s all you and I had.”
“We couldn’t ever be anything else!” she hissed at me and I could see that she was as hurt by the whole argument as I was but my anger and hurt wouldn’t let me empathize. “We were never going to date or-or have a relationship that I could ever tell my friends or family about. I was always going to be a secret. What we did, for the past eight months, was hide in dark corners and behind bedroom doors and I knew for the last couple months that I wasn’t ever going to get more than that. I thought it was what I wanted. I thought that was less drama and it would be a good idea because the last time I tried to have something real was when I lost everything. I lost myself in Nate but I’m better now. I’m a fuckin’ adult, Jay, and I deserve-”
“I know!” I couldn’t help but lose my temper because she was right. She was right and I didn’t want to hear it. I just wanted her. Why did that have to be so fucking hard? “I get it! I’m not giving you what you deserve! But I’m not gonna stand here and pretend to like this shit because I don’t!”
“Keep your damn voice down!” she demanded, looking around nervously. I didn’t even care if someone heard at that moment. My world was crashing down. Her eyes were sad but she was breaking up with me and there was too much happening in my heart for me to care about what some fan or one of our friends was gonna say. “Fuck, Jensen...I can’t do this. If you want to push me away...if you wanna end our friendship over this…” She got a little fire behind her eyes as she stepped up closer and looked up at me. “If you wanna act like I’m fucking wronging you by stepping away from my status as your sanctioned fuck-toy, especially when I know that your wife was not as on-board as you both made it seem...Fine,” she bit out before stomping away.
“Oh, yeah, ‘cause I’m the fuckin’ bad guy here, right?! Happy birthday, Y/n!” I shouted as she disappeared into the hallway. I punched the nearest chair but it didn’t make me feel better, so I moved to the closest wall. I was about to do some damage when Clif walked in.
“The hell do you think you’re doing? Padalecki’s the one who’s supposed to get his ass hurt.”
“I don’t wanna hear it, Clif.” He scoffed as he followed me out the back door of the green room, heading toward the parking lot.
“You’re being a dumbass,” he said as soon as we got in the SUV.
“Said I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Yeah, but you need to. Am I your friend?”
I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture. I didn’t want to hear how I’d fucked everything up. But I didn’t have anywhere to go once he started driving to the hotel.
“Course you are.”
“And you know I’ve been watching. I’ve been around. I see things a lot of folks don’t, right?”
“Yeah.”
“She was on her way out before Danneel even met her.” I glared at him in the rearview mirror. Yeah, I just heard her say the same shit, but I didn’t want to believe it. “I could see it in her eyes after you started with the lovey-dovey bullshit. As much as she wanted you, she knew that you couldn’t give her what she needed...and you can’t.”
I shook my head. “Clif...you don’t understand.”
“I do. I watch, remember? You’re so in love. I know. But now you have to give her an opportunity to have something else.” I looked out the window as he pulled into the parking garage at the hotel and parked. “I’m not going to tell you to focus on your family or any of the crap Jared’s been telling you. I’m going to ask you: does Y/n deserve someone who can shout his feelings from the rooftops, or should she stay someone’s secret for the rest of her life?”
I didn’t have to answer. We all knew exactly what Y/n deserved.
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'Maybe sharing my loki works help the disappointed fans like me recover a bit from being dismissed '
Absolutely loved that answer that's exactly how i actually felt when i first stumbled upon one of your fics i literally hadn't interacted with any of the loki fandom or actually felt like i love the character the way i used to since it sort of got taken over by the series stans which is like over a year now i think, so yeah just sending you some love 🤍💚
Aww thanks for love, Nonny!
Thing is, the stans can like the show fine. Loki isn't the only major MCU character that Phase Four chewed up and spit out. Its just, the show could have taken almost any track with the character and it would have made for a better, more compelling, more reasonable arc.
Redemption Arc? Okay, Loki saves some people. He learns to feel bad about all the shit he did? Fine. He goes on some quest to atone for his past and relieve his guilt. He learns what love is? Sure thing. Even if you're going to be cunts and NOT bring in Sigyn, Amora, or Angrboda, how about someone who is his polar opposite as opposed to LITERALLY HIM AS A BLONDE?
The show isn't even about him. He's basically the functions as the companion in Doctor Who. They should've just made the show 'Sylvie' and had Loki make the occasional tie-in cameo like Banner did for She-Hulk. The biggest insult of all. They go and accuse Loki of being a narcissist and then make the show that literally bears his name about someone else. Someone who sucks.
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summerstrash · 9 days
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genuinely baffled by the level of whole-ass-showing that l*zzie *ls*n stans reach on Twitter. Like, I saw one go into the replies of people who are not talking about mcu wanda, who are explicitly talking about updating the comics character's wiki page so that it better reflects how she's currently being drawn (giving examples of recent covers she's featured on), and say that, referencing the posted covers, "the fan arts don't even look like her that's a whole other woman"
and i'm just like. dude those are official art. Wanda's finally being drawn with respect given to her Romani heritage. you're just obsessed with a literally pale imitation of the real thing. That's a whole other woman, boyo. Get out of our house.
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trickarrows-bishop · 3 months
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I would love to know what fandoms you're into bc I swear I find the randomest shit on my dashboard and they usually correlate with a fandom I'm in.
drum roll please 🥁🥁🥁
GADIES AND LETELMEN. I GIVE TO U . EVERY FUCKING FANDOM (im lying there's no way these are all of them) THAT IM IN
movies, tv and books and yh u get the idea: (no particular order. im reading off a list) - lost in space - do revenge - the sex lives of college girls (leighton murray the beloved <333) - ted lasso (ted is literally just a little guy i love him fr) - free guy - star wars (i haven't watched anything thats new tbh (aka ashoka) BUT IM GETTING THERE) - crush (the best 2022 movie Of All Time) (ignoring that cast drama ofc cuz wtf was that) - warrior nun (beatrice i am on my knees please) - willow (2022) (jade claymore i am single) - hsmtmts (maddox single handily got me to watch season four tbh. saylor bell curda the woman you are. MY GOD-) - hunger games (SAW TBOSBAS YESTERDAY IT FUCKING ATE RAHHHH) - paper girls (i would sell my left kidney for this) (my left kidney hardly works but im sure you get the gesture) - stranger things (atp finn is all i interact w the fandom most of them have acc ruined it. im looking at the stancys, b*lly defenders/stans and the people who basically helped explode steddie. (idm steddie it is just Everywhere) - the half of it (its just a sweet lil movie yk :') ) - tlou (i've only seen the show but ellie is so fucking funny) - mcu (im blaming my father for this one he acc made me watch them from such a young age that the mcu is just in my fucking dna atp. i haven't watched basically any of phase five other than gotg 3 tho BAHAHHFDJFH) - ALSO THE ATSV MOVIES EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I LOVE EM EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
musicals WOOOOO (yh im kinda a musicals kid moving along): - six the musical (im a lesbian. no explanation needed) - dear evan hansen (cried seeing this live. i am NOT talking about the movie) - & juliet (idk this musical just. ate.) - mean girls (ITS COMING TO THE UK IN SPRING 2024. AND THE MOVIE IN JANUARY IM GONNA BE SOOOOO ANNOYING) - rent (i need like every version of I'll Cover You to be injected to my DNA immediately fanks) - the prom (nothing compares to the lesbian musical of all time (i am NOT talking about the netflix adaption (although araina debose did kinda eat)))
MUSICIANS RAHHH - t swizzle (need u to immediately realise although i am a swiftie i : am aware her music is not for everyone and can accept that she very much is not this perfect person. she has made mistakes in her career . no one is a perfect person. but i will NOT tare this away from her songwriting being fucking insane) - renee rapp (she's the loml she wants me fr (she doesn't know i exist)) (renee releasing any piece of music makes me better and worse at the same time) - holly humberstone (COOLEST FUCKING PERSON ON THE PLANET I LOVE HER MUSIC SM GOD ITS JUST SAD MUSIC RAHHH) - muna (i love cool gay people) - girl in red (see previous point) - sabrina carpenter (although i don't like acc know that many of her songs (rip) she's so fucking cool dude i can't even deny it if i wanted to) - foo fighters (yes i went from taylor swift to foo fighters what about it i love rock music too <3) - arctic monkeys (their music eats next question) - foals (RAHHH AWESOME BAND RAHHHH)
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starlightgen · 2 years
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gonna put this under a readmore since it's gonna be kinda long. also as a note, this is gonna be pretty critical towards the mcu and mcu stans, so if you're not up for that, don't read
i genuinely cannot understand why superhero comics are the only media where fans aren't allowed to complain about accuracy in adaptations. like this isn't even fans complaining about some minor thing being done differently in the comics vs the mcu (and this entire post is gonna be about the mcu since i dont read dc comics). this is about the mcu making major changes to characters, comic fans being, rightfully imo, upset about that, and mcu stans saying stuff like "it's an adaptation"
the mcu being an adaptation doesn't mean that those are good decisions. like holy fuck adaptations can be bad! and people complain about adaptations being bad! but apparently, i'm not allowed to be mad about marvel ruining my favorite characters for their generic superhero movies
it's espeically notable that the changes we're complaining about range from marvel basically changing every single thing about a character other than their names and skills/powers (example: Clint Barton) to marvel changing core aspects of a character (example: changing Kamala's powers, which were integral to her character arc to make her fit better with their plans for the captain marvel sequel) to marvel's horrible treatment of some of their minority characters in the mcu (ex. whitewashing the Maximoffs and America, aging down the queer young avengers, or just not including them in the mcu at all, while keeping the straight ones the right age, erasing Clint being deaf for like 10 years, etc).
that last point is honestly why i'm making this post in the first place. like i came across this tweet earlier
Tumblr media
and all of the replies and quote tweets are people being "it's just an adaptation" and pretending like because the characters are kids in the mcu that it somehow erases the fact that they're canonically queer in the comics. like jesus christ. Billy, Tommy, Kate, and America are all the same age in the comics! Tommy and Kate literally dated at one point and Kate and America are constantly flirting with eachother, on top of being explicitly best friends. keep in mind that on top of this, there are 3 other queer young avengers who aren't in the mcu at all (while the other two who are, are a) not aged down to be literal children, and b) straight), AND none of them are confirmed as not being straight (or cis in Loki's case) in the mcu other than Loki, and even then it's a single line.
it's so hard not to see this as a deliberate attempt to not have to portray members of the first predominantly queer superhero team as such in the mcu, and as someone who happens to be a huge fan of these characters, it really fucking sucks having to see them adapted so horribly, and that's saying nothing to my complaints on how they adapted Kate and America's personalities or my complaints about how the mcu decided to portray Clint and Kate's relationship
furthermore, the whole "it's just an adaptation" thing gets at another huge problem i've noticed with mcu stans and the mcu in general: there seems to be this distain for the comics, as if these people's favorite big budget, cgi-fest of a movie would exist in the first place without the comics. i'm not saying that mcu stans need to read comics to be fans of the characters or anything, like i'll joke about wanting to gatekeep characters from the mcu but in general i don't think we should gatekeep people from being fans of stuff, rather i think that mcu stans should at the very least show some basic respect for the comics and the people who are fans of it. and i'm trying not to say that in some gatekeepery "i'm a real fan of these characters and you're not" kind of way, but moreso in a "please aknowledge that the version of kate bishop you like is not the original character and that there are people who were fans of her as a character before she was put in the mcu and some of those people don't like how she was adapted"
just please stop acting like comic book movies are perfect and let those of us who are upset with how our favorite characters are portrayed in the mcu complain about it
also maybe actually listen to comic book fans when we talk about the mcu adapting minority characters horribly for once
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essayofthoughts · 10 months
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for the choose violence ask meme: 8, 10, 13
8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about
That Ripley assaulted Percy. There is literally no evidence - arguably negative evidence with how untraumatised Percy is regarding the prospect of sex, especially given how we know he has processed exactly none of his trauma til the end of the campaign -, it isn't in character for Ripley's impersonal style, and it's such an annoying fandom trend that if one person (especially someone of a different gender) physically traumatised and hurt another, it has to be rape.
Bitch, she tortured him. I think that's enough trauma on it's own!
10. worst part of fanon
Would it be lazy/cowardly to just point at the above? Genuinely, that one really gets my goat specifically. I have personal resentment and dislike for that one.
Otherwise... idk. I stay pretty disconnected from anything that isn't my specific blorbo interests because I have encountered Shit in my previous fandoms and I am not in the mood to get in a fucking fight.
I guess the one I've been seeing lately, that you've spoken about Burr, about how a portion of the fandom seems set on vilifying the Prime Deities due to C3 stuff I have minimal knowledge of. I had one person come into the comments section of one of my fics once, saying they thought the RQ was being set up as a future big bad and like... no? God of Death =/= evil? Death is a natural process? You gotta learn to grieve and move on with it? Don't join the LessWrong nutjobs who've Roko's Basilisk'd themselves into irrational fear of death; just like. Acknowledge you will die. It's okay. It just means you gotta do things while you have a chance - and then, at the end of your life, you get to look back at it all and rest. Your body feeds the earth and the plants. New life comes forth - existence continues.
I believe in Death very much in the Discworld form - a necessity and not a cruelty, and based on how Matt played the RQ I am inclined to think he sits in the same boat!
Don't villainise the characters the DM has been very clear are benevolent! Maybe complicated, maybe flawed - but that doesn't make them villains. We're all flawed, bitch. You're flawed. I'm flawed. It's the consequence of being a goddamn person!
13. worst blorboficiation
Fuck if I know. I don't pay attention to any blorbos but my own for a reason. I avoid discourse for a reason. I saw how the tonky stans were about Wanda in MCU fandom and frankly fuck that. If other people are being irrational about their blorbos they can do it over there, several thousand miles away, where I can fucking ignore them.
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doctorofmagic · 2 years
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Charlize is only a couple years older than Rachel McAdams. She is not old. just SAY you hate a character that's had 10 seconds of screentime bc ur upset that an ESTABLISHED unhealthy relationship is most likely NOT going to be canon. I'm SORRY but I HATE the age argument!! Nobody's complaining about anyone else!! Mr. Krasinski isn't that much younger and NOBODY is complaining about him!! If being 46 is too old for an actor be in the MCU then I guess we need to get rid of Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson, Don Cheadle, Vin Diesel, Benedict Wong, Angelina Jolie (who is OLDER THAN HER), and while he's already gone, RDJ*. Her age has NOTHING to do with it.
*my personal opinion of these actors are not reflectant from this list. (I do not "stan" actors on principal.) I am pointing out that the age argument is just so ??????
This argument is basically ageism and misogyny. Look at the bs I’ve seen in the past weeks, not to mention the things I already posted.
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THEY'RE JUST ONE YEAR APART WTF. Also Rachel McAdams is 43, just two years younger than Benedict.
This only confirms that this "argument" is actually a thing™ and is more common than it seems.
There's literally nothing preventing Charlize from being wonderful in this role except people using bias and prejudice to diminish a woman.
You don't see people complaining about the age of the male actors, and this explains so much about how rotten some fans are to the core.
And yes, yes, it's not like we "stan" actors but we must point out that there's a problem with Clea and this problem is people using a ship to attack and diminish another woman through ageism, which is absurdly bonkers.
Willem Dafoe is 66 and made all his stunts in NWH. You don't see a single person complaining about his age and performance. So why a woman in her 46 should be a problem if not for the sake of misogyny and ageism? They can't even hide they're incapable of sorority.
And honestly, if people who are reading this vouch for this behavior, please do me a favor and block me. You're not a Stephen stan, you're just a terrible person and I don't want to see you in the fandom. Be better. We don't need you.
PS: please do not harass these people, they want attention and you’d only be feeding the trolls. Just block them and move on. Thanks.
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girlbob-boypants · 9 months
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1-21-25 for uh Guild Wars? or whatever you want
You know what yeah let's be violent about my beloved game. Oh okay this was a lot more than I expected uh lets put that under the cut
1. The character everyone gets wrong
You think I'd say my precious baby boy BUT its Caithe. She's an incredibly interesting character who is denied the actual on screen depth and arcs she needs. It's an interesting case where the people who hate her are missing the points and the people who stan her talk like she's actually given an arc instead of simply plopped into the story with a "she's better now." The key example being the fact that she doesn't show up in s4 until THE END OF EPISODE FOUR??? That's hardly her fault cause for whatever reason THATS when she's allowed to actually give a fuck about the daughter she loves so much that the moment that daughter cared about the fact that WE WERE BEING MURDERED she ignored Aurene for fuck knows how long?? And then admitting that is enough for them to ignore the psychic connection Aurene canonically has with the Commander so they can just. Set Caithe to post therapy with no real story. The people who hate her act like she's personally the cause of every single problem in the game and that setting her on fire and replacing her with a man will fix everything. Meanwhile the people who stan her claim her story was sooooo good and 100% justified and didn't fuck with things or have problems. She's a brilliant concept that post HoT is executed in a parking lot. And while her parts in EoD are perfectly fine and logical it's just...ugh. She's barely there and exists purely to limit Aurene's screentime with the Commander. Which sucks cause I love both of them.
21. Part of canon you think is overhyped
All of EoD. I am going to pick at a certain part, actually. Rama as a character and especially the entire story with the cop father he has was TRASH. Not as in it's a bad idea but in that it's so terribly done. The lack of build up, the fact that it's the ONLY RATIONAL PERSON WITH A PROBLEM WITH JOON'S MONOPOLY OF TECH who turns out to be King Fascist, the way they just don't explore Li's whole being Kurzick like Rama (or at least I think that's what was being implied? It was literally just Rama saying his Secret Name in front of us and then not addressing it). It all goes nowhere and means very little beyond the strike mission. Like no we aren't going to explore this corruption of the cops, we aren't going to discuss why the society of Cantha would cultivate a minority joining a supremacist group, and we're ESPECIALLY not going to explore Rama's feelings about it for longer than a minute or two. Didn't you know his entire story is that he has a crush on a cop? Don't ask for depth, don't ask why the only people who have an issue with forest polluting tech monopolies are fascists and ecofascists, and don't ask us to give Rama lines that aren't mcu zingers. Take what you get and go make really fucking questionable jokes mocking his hat without expecting more of the expac that brutally murdered Icebrood Saga and gave us CHAMPIONS.
Not too fond, really.
Also the beast races but that's not really controversial to say it's just true. But I hate the Kodan, Grawl, and Centaurs especially. Whoever wrote their parts in s2 and s3 should be hit with a bat and robbed.
25. Common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing
This one I'm actually having trouble with rn. The obvious answer is character hate and, no, I don't mean character criticism. I mean things like 'i hate Trahearne cause he sucks his voice is annoying and he's overhyped' and the many, many death wishes. This feels like a cop out but I barely scroll the tag anymore cause the game is in a weird space in my heart so I only really engage with it as I see fit for myself. Which is mostly nostalgia tinted thoughts about past seasons and expacs but hey. Better than being a rage filled ball of spite and bad faith readings like I've been in the past with things I've fallen out of love with.
I'd also say I got tired of the weird relationship gw2 has with strikes and raids both from newbies AND vets alike? This game kinda sucks at making the endgame accessible for everyone and I'm vividly aware of that but vets complain that it's stale while gatekeeping to the point of intimidation and newbies all sit and stare at the training LFG without doing anything like these groups are a match made in hell and if anet just learned how to make something like the ff14 duty finder it'd probably be a lot easier but that would require work and admitting that having some kind of role system would make class and party designs easier.
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I like how the audacity Adrien Stans will always say "Oh Mari-Trash is the one who never apologizes!" Or "Marinette is only being a hero for fame!" I have a lot of words but one thing I will say is: You want therapy or do you want a roast? And I'm not talking about the food kind.
Literally. I don't engage with those people unless they crawl into my inbox. The worst is when it's adults doing it like???
You, a grown ass adult, are going to shit on a fictional character, and you're not even going to do it accurately 🙄 Can't you go join the mcu fandom or something instead?
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januariat · 2 years
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10 characters/10 fandoms tag game, thanks for tagging me @superbattrash and @pinto-bordeaux :) i thinkkk how this works is 10 fandoms and my favorite chars from those fandoms? this is so hard...it's so difficult for me to choose a fave character 😭 also feel free to ask me about literally any of these blorbos and i will talk your ear off about them
1. Clark Kent/Superman (DC) (easy. my sunshine boy. my lonely alien son who dedicated his life to helping other people...i would lay down my life for him)
2. Serizawa Katsuya (Mob Psycho 100) (this was tough. i love everybody in mp100...but serizawa has a special place in my heart. the Character Growth got to me. mp100 is just so good at it)
3. Bruce Banner (Marvel Comics/MCU) (OG fave. I love spidey and deadpool and other kiddos as well but bruce will always be #1 in my heart)
4. Eustass Kidd (One Piece) (REALLY difficult, i'm obsessed with everyone in OP. gave this spot to kidd tho bc my ugly boy needs it. love being a kidd stan. there are dozens of us!! dozens!!!)
5. Remus Lupin (Harry Potter) (what was that? another kind and gentle character with a hidden dark side?? say no more)
6. Noi (Dorohedoro) (again super hard to choose. close runner up is dr. kasukabe and his wife haru because they are The fucked up4fucked up couple of all time. also nikaido. Listen just read dorohedoro there aren't enough of us)
7. Metal Bat, whose actual name is, and I am not making this up, Bad (One Punch Man) (his relationship w his sister!!!! arguably the most well adjusted/well rounded hero in the series. i Will fight you on this)
8. Olruggio (Witch Hat Atelier) (tired old man trying to take care of his husband and their daughters despite them having Angsty Past syndrome. it's about the unconditional devotion. the self sacrifice. the fact that he's a warm hearth for qifrey to come back to when he's cold and alone. someone give him a break)
9. Bertholdt Hoover (Attack on Titan) (listen... i know. i know he died like 6 years ago. i know no one cares about him. but listen. it's about the unthinkable atrocities he was put through as a child soldier. it's about how he could do nothing but watch as the only two anchors he had to his home spiraled away from him- one into isolation and the other into madness. it's about being forced to make a terrible choice that isn't a choice at all, and how the big bad who once seemed to us to have the most power of all was in truth a child who was just a cog in a greater machine. it's about how cruel it is to be sold the fantasy of free will and heroism as you are crushed to death underneath the implacable wheel of war and vengeance)
10. Hiruma Yoichi (Eyeshield 21) (easy. i love everyone in es21 but hiruma has that special combo of being bonkers crazy while loving everyone fiercely on the inside and trying desperately not to let anyone know about it. those who read it know what im talkin about)
once again if you're reading this consider urself tagged :) but just for kicks, @blorb-el, @brodinsons, and @eliemo! i wanna hear about your blorbos :D edit: also @allgremlinart bc i feel like you would also do this ask justice
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gayshipsandanxiety · 1 year
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For the ask game: music recs?? Please??? I've listened to the front bottoms' whole discography like 5 times now i have nothing to listen to
your music taste is already iconic but here ya go <3
the psychedelic furs: i started listening to them because they're my dad's favorite band and GOD there is some gay stuff there. they do mostly synthpop (i think??? i'm bad at recognizing music genres). a lot of their stuff can be interpreted as a disdain for typical hetero white picket fence families/relationships. you absolutely HAVE to listen to love my way that song slaps so hard and some of my other favorites by them shock and soap commercial.
echo & the bunnymen: i found this band from this video (https://youtu.be/ek52acrA1lw) and lost my fucking mind. i have no idea what genre they are but they're and 80s british band and no 80s british band has ever done me wrong. some of my favorites by them are villiers terrace, it's alright (bestie you're gonna start crying when you hear it), clay, ripeness, and never stop (discotheque). the entire porcupine album slaps so fuckin hard.
tears for fears: this band has So Much Gender and they're one of the few 80s bands that i like their 21st century stuff. bestie the instruments!!! so many instruments!! pale shelter and memories fade are both mike wheeler anthems and they are very close to my heart. raoul and the kings of spain is a great album, head over heels is fantastic, and shout makes me astral project.
bronski beat: fuckin bronski beat!!! they're another synthpop band and jimmy somerville's vocal range is just *chef's kiss*. their songs are gay as fuck and their music is just so. music. i'm gonna be honest their songs kinda played a part in me realizing i was mlm. some of my favorites are why?, junk, need a man blues, punishment for love, and ofc smalltown boy.
arctic monkeys: yeah so you might not have heard of them because they're suuuper underground and indie /s. i'm pretty sure typing that sentence made me grow a beanie directly out of my skull lmao. anyway i really like vibe of their music and they go surprisingly hard. the am album is a banger, 505 is of course a classic, and the favorite worst nightmare and whatever people say i am, i'm not albums are also pretty good.
the smiths: either everyone in this band is gay or britain was just like that in the 80s idk. they have a lot of angsty gaycoded songs so ofc i'm obsessed with them. how soon is now?, back to the old house, sweet and tender hooligan, there is a light that never goes out, this charming man, and i started something i couldn't finish all gave me psychic damage but i reccomend you listen to all their songs because literally everything they make is a banger.
taylor swift: you're already gay and a byler stan so you're halfway to becoming a swiftie /hj. i can't put into words what her music does for me i'm just so in love with her songwriting. some of my faves by her are you are in love, new romantics, gold rush, exile, cardigan, cruel summer, paper rings, it's nice to have a friend, all too well, don't blame me, delicate, look what you made me do, dress, i did something bad, and wildest dreams. the midnights album comes out on the 21st!!!!
violent femmes: if you like the front bottoms you'll LOVE the violent femmes they have a lot of folk punkish queercoded songs. just like my father and mother of a girl will turn you into an angsty bisexual male character, no killing is a religious experience, love love love love love is the queer agenda, their violent femmes album i literally cannot listen to without headbanging, and their why do birds sing album could be the soundtrack to literally any steddie fanfic.
gin wigmore: i'm gonna be honest i need to listen to more of her stuff but i was soooo obsessed with her back in my mcu era. i loooove her voice it's so raspy and cool. she does country??? but Woman Country that's actually really good and about heartbreak and becoming stronger. her songs make me feel like the main character of a western. written in the water, black sheep, happy ever after, hbic, and hallow fate slay so hard.
black pistol fire: ahhhh i love them omg. they're grunge rock i think? biggg boot stomping energy. black halo, fever breaks, hope in hell, level, look alive, and well wasted are all blorbo anthems.
des rocs: ehehe i'm so obsessed with this weird little rat man (affectionate). his music is just so !!!!!!! idk how he doesn't have a million listeners already. he's a rocker and sings a lot about mental illness and toxic relationships. let the vultures in is a fantastic ep although huge tw for mental illness, mmc is great, suicide romantics absoultley Destroyed me, wayne is a Song, and his album a real good person in a real bad place is the best thing ever god i love his songs.
bishop briggs: another artist from my mcu era lol. literally every fandom has an edit to her song river but dark side, jekyll & hyde, and high water also slay. the emotion she puts into her songs is so <3333 and GOD her voice is amazing.
barns courtney: GENDER MAN GENDER MAN DOES WHATEVER A GENDER CAN <3 another rocker but he has some acoustic stuff too. his albums 404 and the attractions of youth are just incredible and sinners is also fantastic.
sleepover asks <3
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mangopit · 1 year
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I posted 1,712 times in 2022
139 posts created (8%)
1,573 posts reblogged (92%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@eau-duresistance
@retroactivebakeries
@sassforallofeternity
@thearchivist-theprime
@26velociraptors
I tagged 997 of my posts in 2022
Only 42% of my posts had no tags
#art - 172 posts
#woohoojazelyn thoughts - 142 posts
#ace attorney - 117 posts
#vid - 75 posts
#reblog bait - 51 posts
#quizzes - 48 posts
#viz - 41 posts
#eeaao - 32 posts
#rotbtd - 29 posts
#carmen sandiego - 23 posts
Longest Tag: 139 characters
#but instead we're talking about a quantity of people that we know is larger than something but the sentence doesn't actually establish what
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
the posts that are like "stop idolizing your faves, they are human and will inevitably disappoint you" are usually just people who want stannies to shut up. the posts that are like "i'm not surprised [beloved celebrity] did this problematic thing, they always left an indescribably bad taste in my mouth" are just people who want to feel validated in never liking a person everyone else liked. the posts that are like "stop pretending you've always hated [celebrity], you just want to feel superior now that they've been exposed" are just people who feel absolutely humiliated they ever stanned said celebrity.
95 notes - Posted May 25, 2022
#4
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See the full post
118 notes - Posted June 17, 2022
#3
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possibly one of my favorite lines of imagery from "all summer in a day". perfectly conveying the stillness, the shame, the sudden realization of individual responsibility, of failed individual responsibility. good shit. reading this in the sixth grade brought up my trauma in ways i couldn't even comprehend lmao
245 notes - Posted January 1, 2022
#2
i know they're two types of movies that serve completely different purposes, but like,, honestly. now that i've seen everything everywhere all at once, the mcu multiverse feels like some weak shit. like oh no mister white man accidentally messed up his multiverse encantation spell or whatever because a high schooler was distracting him?? :(( okay well michelle yeoh literally staved off infinite versions of herself and the temptation to fall into any one of those seemingly better lives, JUST so she could do right in her own universe. oh so the next big mcu conflict is between two reality shifters who disagree on which one of them is more capable of messing with the multiverse? right so you're telling me an asian immigrant and her queer second gen immigrant daughter were able to communicate and compromise..... BEFORE these two supposed grown adults in charge of the multiverse did??? like damn mcu fans really do pay to watch superheroes be incompetent for 3 hours at a time😳 i guess asian immigrant families are just built different 😬💅🏼
750 notes - Posted April 23, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
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watcher ily but i fear them more
973 notes - Posted October 19, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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