#the first game takes place in 2011

[theconfusedartist]

hey what if the dead or alive took place in the assassin's creed games?

or prototype??

or the protocreed au--?

#playing doa dimensions #after playing hours of doa 4 #the first game takes place in 2011 #is all about cloning #also fame douglas was trying to “guide the human consciousness through a fighting tournament” #also they have some of the best fighting outfits ive seen #the only reason i was thinking about this was thinking about the hand to hand combat #in both prototype and assassins creed #and they weren't fleshed out but in Alex's case a lot of his fighting relies on hand to hand #and it suffered from not having a fluid combat system when a lot of the fighting in prototype relies on position and what ur using #ie the musclemass the hammerhands the whip the claws sword #even throwing things #also the tag in/out system was great especially with throwing and grabbing in doa which is a mechanic both prototype and assassins creed #like if i were to say the biggest mechanics shared by prototype and ac is the parkour movement fighting in wide open areas and how to evade #doa fighting mechanic would add some serious polish #maybe with sword mechanics from soul cal? #the up and down movement would lend well to 1v1 encounters and could be expanded to close to what the og games have now #when facing more than 3 enemies #idk just spitballing #the mechanics.....

[nochukoo97]

we can’t be friends (wait for your love) - teaser

pairing: childhoodfriend!jk x childhoodfriend!oc

summary: you and jungkook have been friends since birth, and as you both grow into teenagers, you can’t help but have some sorr of longing feeling towards him. but after a turn of events, you move away from your home town, growing apart from the boy you onced were close to. almost a decade later when you decide to move back, there’s someone familiar yet unfamiliar waiting for your arrival… was this the universe giving you a sign about him?

warnings/tags: story starts off when the both of them are children, but most of the plot is when they are adults :)), eventual: kissing, an emotional rollercoaster 🥲, they’re stuck in a ‘what are we’ moment, playing a waiting game of who confesses first, a little bit of angst, smut, but fluff too hehe

a/n: IM BACK 🥲 after being in writers block sighhh but i am back hehehe hope u r excited for this!! anyways this is just an intro for the actual fic, its more of what happened before the present which will be in the main part hehehe

TAGLIST OPEN!!

(this is the introduction, the main part is coming soon :)))

MASTERLIST

23 July 2007

You’re currently wedged between two bookshelves in the living room of your house, eyes trained on the words in your book, giggling to yourself when the plot takes a funny turn. Meanwhile in the background, Jungkook and your brother Taehyung, both a year older than you, the two ten year old boys play fighting in your parents backyard, their game was way too rough for you to even watch, you decided.

That’s always the way it’s been since you were young, Jungkook’s mum dropping him off at your parents place as he spent time with your brother, mostly roughhousing like they are now, and you, at nine years old, simply tucking yourself in another fairytale, which to you seemed like a much better way to past time.

You never truly spent a lot of time with the two of them when Jungkook would come over, besides the once-in-a-while moments where your parents would make you guys bond a little through board games or card games which the two elder boys would never take seriously, the games always ending in them either throwing the board game pieces at each other or stacking the cards into a pyramid.

When it came to school, you tried your best to stay away from bumping into your brother at school, but you’d always end up being teased in front of your friends by him and Jungkook, making fun of your two pigtails or your very glittery pink bag you had just gotten as a birthday gift, but you were used to it anyways, having grown up with a brother.

12 August 2011

Four years go by and now you’re finally completing your last year in middle school, Jungkook and your brother having moved on to high school, and as expected, they end up attending the same school, as they have done their whole life.

But since four years ago, a lot has changed. You’ve grown much closer to Jungkook, having gone on quite a few trips with his family, and you could even consider him a close friend. Most importantly, he’d grown from being a kid to a teenager, even though he was only a year older than you, the 14 year old boy suddenly became someone you always wanted to hang out with. To you, you saw him as someone cool. Instead of teasing you along with your brother, he now would defend you from your brother’s teasing, treat you to ice cream on the weekends and even teach you the video games he played with your brother.

“And then he let me get as many toppings as I wanted,” You tell your friends, clicking the buttons on your phone to show them the picture of your ice cream, filled to the brim with all sorts of toppings because Jungkook said you could.

“You’re so lucky, I wish I had a boyfriend like that,” Jiyeon sighs, pouting her lips as she sulks.

Your face turns red, tip of your ears warm as you quickly deny, “He isn’t my boyfriend! Just a friend… In fact he was my brother’s friend first,” No, you couldn’t even begin to try and imagine Jungkook as someone more than your friend!

“Well, but you should definitely confess to him on valentine’s day, it’s in like six months,” Yuji twirls her hair, nudging your leg slightly as she giggled.

To the three of you, as 13 year old girls, having a valentine was a big deal, especially since the whole idea of a crush and all was new to you guys as teenage girls.

“No! I don’t have feelings for him! He’s just nice to me I guess,” You frown at Yuji, just because she confessed to her crush and now apparently has a boyfriend, doesn’t mean you need to do it too, you decided.

You didn’t have a crush on Jungkook right?

You push away the thought quickly, this whole topic was so taboo to you, it made you feel squirmy thinking about it. No, you didn’t have any sort of feelings towards the older boy, never.

-

So that day when you arrived back at home, spotting Jungkook and Taehyung sitting at the table and doing their homework, you decide to take a seat away from the certain boy.

“Huh? Why are you sitting all the way there? Come back here,” Jungkook hums, pulling out his earphones in bewilderment, you had always sat next to him whilst the three of you would do homework together after school, nudging him here and there to ask for help with a math problem.

“I- okay,” You scooch towards the chair next to him, dragging your books along the table as you avoid eye contact. Your cheeks heating up again as you remember your conversation with your friends in school earlier, it made you feel all tingly inside, but why were you being so weird in front of him?

“You’ve been staring at that math problem for ages, need help?”

You jump up in surprise at Jungkook’s voice , letting out a small yelp as your brother snickers at you from across the table, you kick his shin in response, sending his hands flailing to the injury, mumbling some cuss word you don’t understand.

“Yeah,” You only muster out a whisper, handing over your pencil to the boy, who finds your behaviour a little off but nonetheless, doesn’t comment on it.

And while he explains the solution and working to find the value of X, you can only notice his eyes, his nose, the mole under his lips, the scar on his cheek from when he fought with your brother years ago, his lips.

And then you for yourself to snap out of your daydream when his eyes lock with yours in confusion as to why you’re staring at him instead of your workbook.

03 January 2012

But then five months later, opportunity for valentine’s day didn’t even come for you anyways, as you pack your bags to move miles away from the place you once called home, since your father had been posted to a new country for his work.

The whole idea of leaving your life behind and all the people you’ve ever known since young was such an overwhelming feeling that you didn’t even think once about your feelings for Jungkook anymore, or maybe you did once, but it didn’t matter.

So when you tugged your luggage and watch your brother sadly hug his best friend goodbye at the airport, reality struck, you wouldn’t ever get a chance to even properly assess your feelings for Jungkook anyways, so you simply wave him goodbye, not looking back so you don’t think further than a goodbye.

He did make sure to exchange his Instagram and Facebook with you, promising you and your brother to keep in touch, which you agreed to. Maybe there was a part of you that wanted to cling onto the idea of him, but you didn’t let yourself believe that anyways.

#jungkook fluff #jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook au #jungkook ff #jungkook smut #jungkook x oc #bts #jungkook x you #jungkook drabble #jungkook angst #jungkook imagine #jungkook imagines #jungkook fanfic #jungkook scenarios

[yonpote]

ok heres how i split up the dnp eras (loosely based on dan's timeline in his interview w anthony)

2009-2011: the Sillies era :3 dan refered to it as being a dumb teen just posting cuz he was bored, which is like, thats what all of youtube culture was at this time. they met and like fell in love or whatever you know the lore dont you. phil moved from his parents home to his first apartment in manchester, and dan technically moved to uni but really he moved into phil's apartment to take advantage of his washing machine and ps1 and. yknow. other stuff. they officially moved in together in 2011 yippee hooray, the phanchester apartment holds a special place in my heart

2012-2013: THE SHIFT. they started getting Serious about youtube as a career, doing more stuff w the radio, superamazingproject started in 2011 but THE SHIFT is very easy to observe when you compare the first season of sap to the last season. ALSO. they were NOT A DOUBLE ACT AND NOT GAY 🙄. it could also be called the No Homo era lmao idk this is when a lot of shitty things were happening wrt leaked information, harassment of their families, and just generally becoming more in the spotlight especially while still in the closet being a horrible experience. but also, they moved to london and got cool opportunities with radio stuff and were starting to actually make a living on this shit.

2014-2016: Peak Dan And Phil™ Era. at the height of their popularity. they realized oh shit, we ARE a double act and not only does everyone enjoy us best as a double act, WE enjoy working together. tabinof, tatinof, dapgo, still doing the radio every month up until they start touring, 7 second challenge app, gamingmas, what the hell DIDNT they do during this time period (what they didnt do was uhh take care of themselves and not overwork and not blur their work and personal lives so much to the point where they felt like the whole apartment was a film set.)

2017-2018: Gay Softlaunch Era (aka post-baking aka glass closet) the baby steps toward authenticity, moved to the double apartment to separate work and life, ii's whole theme, dan talking abt depression, phil getting the quiff, both of them being gay as hell in every way other than saying it explicitly. important things of note: TRUTH BOMBS dropped, Interactive Introverts happened, still uploading gaming vids and honestly by the end you could feel their fatigue. and then they hiatused dapg.

2019-2022: ok these four years each feel like whole eras in themselves, but also theres an overarching theme. THE GAY ERA.

2019: im gonna futher split this year in half. first half- dad left to buy milk so other dad is taking care of us. rough six months for dannies im sure. important phil thing of note- he changed his film set from his "bedroom" to a fairly basic but cute shelf backdrop. honestly prob didnt wanna keep pretending that was his bedroom considering.... second half- DAN AND PHIL GAY. dan uploads his magnum opus. phil comes out via tweet. they go to japan and its really gay and it's The Trip to japan for them like yes they first went in 2015 and again in 2023, but Japhan 2.0 Was The One. what does this mean? proposal? anniversary? idk exactly but it was gay as hell dude and theyve talked about that trip with such love in their hearts.

2020: Phandemic (sorry that was bad) but also where tf is dan again? even with the big C-word happening, it was business as usual for phil, regular vids but make em gayer, caught a pigeon nbd, and end of the year introduces the Stereo app show Phil and Phriends where he's had chats with pj, louise, his brother, seth everman?????, and finally. dan reappears. they reveal that they bought and FULLY PLANNED a house together and are ready to move!

2021: they don't move house for another like six months! basically their house was (and is??) still being worked on AND they were in lockdown AND turns out at the end of last year, they were kicked from their Life apartment and were now living in the Work apartment so you can imagine what all of this can do to their psyche and lowkey they were getting sick of each other like it wasnt just bordering on phivorce it was nearly Phurder. Phidow. but to fill the time so that DOESNT happen, my favorite fucking thing ever happens: Lockdown Lads (and all the other names). the first taste of what a dnp podcast would sound like, with the added bonus of chaotic listener interaction. oh yeah also dan wrote a mental health guide book whatever (IM KIDDING I REALLY LIKE YWGTTN I WROTE LIKE TWO REVIEWS ON IT NOW) and they finally become Homosexual Homeowners. theres quite a bit more dnp content this year, dan being on phils channel a bit more, the phodcasts, dan's gay and not proud special.... oh yeah and hometown showdown i guess AND TEXT VIDEO 2!!! my favorite and my namesake!!!!!!!

2022: Prophecy Year..... but they didnt get married. dan returns with another longass video to say: hey i hate being a youtuber and also youtube majorly fucked me over. but also fuck that im gonna do a weird talk show and ALSO GO ON TOUR WITH THIS APOCALYPSE THEME! phil actually... slows down this year. more dan uploads than phil somehow??? but also Dan Is Leaving me is posted and i go completely insane and become the deranged individual you see today. WHICH FINALLY LEADS US TOOOOOO

2023-present: The Unhinged Era. dan's tour was a huge Emotional success for him but uh not without its hiccups due to management and all that and i think he and phil finally realize. Fuck It Who Cares. dan flies back to england FROM AUSTRALIA to make sure he can be with his future ex-husband on his birthday. CAKE HEART EMOJI. YELLOW PLAID SHACKET. they go on a gamer date and post a picture of playing footsies in a cab. THE PHUDE HAPPENS. they go to japan again and while this one will never be The One it was still a well earned holiday this time with bryony! and they took a bunch of very cute film camera pictures.... THIS IS ALL JUST THE FIRST HALF OF 2023 BTW. in phil news, he talks about going to therapy and figuring out how to manage his anxiety!!!! he changes his hair again!! he hires an editor, phan is his otp, he teases about the gaming channel a couple of times but so many of us already dropped any hope of that returning- OH WAIT WHAT THE FUCK?!!!? HUH!??!? they returned, and more chaotic than ever before. the gayness upped to the max, the Weirdness on full speed, the Horniness at Very Scary Levels Oh God Stop Talking About Dogging, phil can swear uncensored now???? and this energy has continued into today...

#the shift #softlaunch #myrambles #phan

[iinsertblognamee]

Sam Kerr and Y/N Arnold Take a Friendship Test to See Who's the Better Friend

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

INTERVIEWER (BEHIND THE CAMERA): Are you ready?

SAM KERR: No.

[CUTS TO Y/N STANDING IN FRONT OF THE WHITE BACKGROUND]

INTERVIEWER (BEHIND THE CAMERA): Are you ready to talk about your best friend?

Y/N ARNOLD: Caitlin?

INTERVIEWER: Uh no. Sam. Sam Kerr.

Y/N ARNOLD: (TITLING HER HEAD) Who?

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: Hi, I'm Sam Kerr and today I'm doing the friendship test with my bestie Y/N Arnold (WHISPERS) Kerr

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: And I'm Y/N Arnold and I was told Guro Reiten would be here (PLACING HER HAND OVER THE SIDE OF HER CHEEK, MOVING FOWARD TO WHISPER) She's not.

BLANK SCREEN; 'HOW DID YOU MEET?'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: We met when Y/N was placed in the matildas back in 2011

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: She kicked me in the face with a soccer ball.

SAM KERR (BEHIND THE CAMERA): BABE! I DIDN'T MEAN TO

Y/N ARNOLD: It was definitely on purpose. Didn't like the idea of new competition in the team.

BLANK SCREEN; 'WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST THOUGHTS OF THEM'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: She's pretty cute

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: Why'd she kick me in the face?

BLANK SCREEN; 'IF THEY WEREN'T A FOOTBALL PLAYER WHAT WOULD THEY BE?'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: A Milf - Well she already is one, is that still okay if I say that?

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, that's fine

SAM KERR: (NODS HER HEAD) Definitely a Milf - that I have fu-

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: A criminal

BLANK SCREEN; 'HOW MANY SIBLINGS DO THEY HAVE?'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: Two

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: Three

BLANK SCREEN; 'WOULD THEY SURVIVE A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: God no. No chance

INTERVIEWER: Would you like to elaborate?

SAM KERR: No

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: Uh, yeah. Yeah. If you locked her in like a basement room thingy with FIFA 23 she wouldn't ever leave the room.

BLANK SCREEN; 'A DISGUSTING HABIT THEY HAVE'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: Um, I don't really think she has one.

INTERVIEWER: She said one about you - straight away

SAM KERR (SHAKING HER HEAD, LAUGHING): I have a feeling I already know what it is

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD (LAUGHING): Did you ask this because you wanted me to say her pasta sandwich?

INTERVIEWER: Possibly

Y/N ARNOLD: I just want to note, I don't think it's disgusting but I know most people find it gross. It's honestly not that bad, chuck it in a sandwich press and you're set.

BLANK SCREEN; 'WHEN DID THEY HAVE THEIR DEBUT'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: 2011

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: 2009 (ROLLING HER EYES, A SMILE ON HER LIPS)

BLANK SCREEN; 'THEIR FAVOURITE SONG TO LISTEN TO BEFORE A GAME'

SAM KERR: Uh, it changes all the time but a favourite of hers right now is Strawberry kisses

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: Strawberry kisses

INTERVIEWER: She said the exact same for you

Y/N ARNOLD (LOOKS DIRECTLY AT THE CAMERA, MOUTH WIDE OPEN)

INTERVIEWER: Is that not true?

Y/N ARNOLD: No, no. It is.

BLANK SCREEN; 'FAVOURITE MEMORY OF THEM'

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: When she told me she was pregnant. (LOOKING DOWN TO HER RING FINGER, SMILE ON HER FACE)

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: She got me some mangos a couple of days ago, that was pretty sweet. (PAUSES AND LOOKS BEHIND THE CAMERA) Wait. What did she say? Was it something nice?

INTERVIEWER: She said the day you told her you were pregnant

Y/N ARNOLD: God damnit. Well, uh. I change my answer. My favourite memory of Sam is probably when I saw her hold Delilah for the first time.

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, SAM STANDING]

SAM KERR: All done?

INTERVIEWER: Yep. You did good.

SAM KERR: Did I beat her?

INTERVIEWER: We weren't counting points

SAM KERR: (SMALL FROWN APPEARING ON HER FACE) But if you were, did I win?

INTERVIEWER: Sure

(SAM SMILES AGAIN)

[STUDIO; WHITE BACKGROUND, Y/N STANDING]

Y/N ARNOLD: I think I did a pretty good job at that, was it convincing that I like her?

INTERVIEWER: Very

Y/N ARNOLD: Perfect. (PULLING HER PHONE OUT) Is she still in the building?

INTERVIEWER: I think so?

Y/N ARNOLD: Right. Can you keep her occupied while I sneak out? I really don't want to have to talk to her again.

#sam kerr x reader #sam kerr imagines #sam kerr imagine #woso imagine #woso imagines #woso x reader

[cyziel]

i'm thinking about yosuke again and it makes me so annoyed because of how hard atlus dropped the ball with him. it's very obvious that they made his character arc with the intention of him being a closeted high schooler in the year 2011 that struggles with internalized homophobia who learns to finally accept himself, but then randomly decided to cut out the payoff to all of the setup so it just makes him extremely homophobic. the whole game is about accepting the part of yourself that you hate, and yosuke coming to terms with his bisexuality throughout the course of the story fits into that theme perfectly.

it's small stuff like this and so many other moments that make much more sense with the context of him originally being planned on having a romance route. he projects his idea of "manliness" and what's "right" onto both others and himself to make up for the social stigma placed onto him by society; he's trying to convince himself that he's "normal" so he can fit in. him feeling ostracized because he's the manager of junes' son is a blatant parallel to this, and the two of them could've easily been intertwined.

"i like you" in japanese is "ore, omae ga suki da" 《俺、 お前 が 好き だ》 -> known as the most common form of a love confession in japan and is almost always used romantically, especially given the context

this is an obviously repressed queer kid who has been struggling to grasp his sexuality and growing feelings for yu; there is so much subtext throughout the game that has all culminated to this moment—or at least, should've culminated to this moment. but it didn't.

funnily enough, i don't think it was atlus projecting their bigotry onto him at first until p4g, but making a genuine attempt at a good character arc that, much like the rest of persona 4, misses the mark in the worst way possible despite being so close to saying something meaningful (cough kanji and naoto). it's like they chickened out at the last second, but "forgot" to take out the parts that just make him a homophobic asshole with the context removed—and then even doubled down on it in p4g lmao. the thing i'm confused about is that hoshino (the former director of the persona series who is extremely disgusting and bigoted) was... already in the company when the lines were recorded??? so i'm baffled as to why they were allowed to come up with it in the first place before deciding against it.

this could've been really great and realistic representation that could've helped other queer people who were going through the same thing yosuke was—especially in the year 2008—and i'm super disappointed that they decided to cut it. persona 4 is about confronting the problematic elements about yourself, and i cannot think of a greater example of this than yosuke and his internalized homophobia.

(bonus: the closet is made out of glass)

#persona 4 #yosuke hanamura #souyo #persona #mine #long post #hardcore yosuke defender he's my special little guy #meta

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Incomplete vs. overshoot

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in Seattle (Feb 26) with Neal Stephenson, then Portland, Phoenix and more!

You know the "horseshoe theory," right? "The far-left and the far-right, rather than being at opposite and opposing ends of a linear continuum of the political spectrum, closely resemble each other, analogous to the way that the opposite ends of a horseshoe are close together":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory

It's a theory that only makes sense if you don't know much about the right and the left and what each side wants out of politics.

Take women's suffrage. The early suffragists ("suffragettes" in the UK) were mostly interested in votes for affluent, white women – not women as a body. Today's left criticizes the suffrage movement on the basis that they didn't go far enough:

https://www.npr.org/2011/03/25/134849480/the-root-how-racism-tainted-womens-suffrage

Contrast that with Christian Dominionists – the cranks who think that embryos are people (though presumably not for the purpose of calculating a state's electoral college vote? Though it would be cool if presidential elections turned on which side of a state line a fertility clinic's chest-freezer rested on):

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/how-alabama-ivf-ruling-was-influenced-christian-nationalism-on-the-media?tab=summary

These people are part of a far-right coalition that wants to abolish votes for women. As billionaire far-right bagman Peter Thiel wrote that he thought it was a mistake to let women vote at all:

https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian/

Superficially, there's some horseshoe theory action going on here. The left thinks the suffragists were wrong. The right thinks they were wrong, too. Therefore, the left and the right agree!

Well, they agree that the suffragists were wrong, but for opposite reasons – and far, far more importantly, they totally disagree about what they want. The right wants a world where no women can vote. The left wants a world where all women can vote. The idea that the right and the left agree on women's suffrage is, as the physicists say, "not even wrong."

It's the kind of wrong that can only be captured by citing scripture, specifically, A Fish Called Wanda, 6E, 79: "The central message of Buddhism is not 'Every man for himself.' And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up."

Or take the New Deal. While the New Deal set its sites on liberating workers from precarity, abuse and corruption, the Dealers – like the suffragists – had huge gaps in their program, omitting people of color, indigenous people, women, queer people, etc. There are lots of leftists who criticize the New Deal on this basis: it didn't go far enough:

https://livingnewdeal.org/new-deal-and-race/

But for the past 40 years, America has seen a sustained, vicious assault on New Deal programs, from Social Security to Medicare to food stamps to labor rights to national parks, funded by billionaires who want to bring back the Gilded Age and turn us all into forelock-tugging plebs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/06/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom/

If you only view politics as a game of elementary school cliques, you might say that the left and the right are meeting again. The left says Roosevelt got it wrong with the New Deal (because he left out so many people). The right says FDR was wrong for doing the New Deal in the first place. Therefore, the left and the right agree, right?

Obviously wrong. Obviously. Again, the important thing is why the left and the right think the New Deal deserves criticism. The important thing is what the left and the right want. The left wants universal liberation. The right wants us all in economic chains. They do not agree.

It's not always just politics, either. Take the old, good internet. That was an internet defined by technological self-determination, a wild and wooly internet where there were few gatekeepers, where disfavored groups could find each other and make common cause, where users who were threatened by the greed of the shareholders behind big services could install blockers, mods, alternative clients and other "adversarial interoperability" tools that seized the means of computation.

Today's enshitternet – "five giant websites, filled with screenshots of the other four" (h/t Tom Eastman) – is orders of magnitude more populous than that old, good internet. The enshitternet has billions of users, and they are legally – and technologically – prevented from taking any self-help measures when the owners of services change them to shift value from users to themselves:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

The anti-enshittification movement rightly criticizes the old, good internet because it wasn't inclusive enough. It was a system almost exclusively hospitable to affluent, privileged people – the people who least needed the liberatory power of technology.

Likewise pro-enshittification monopolists – billionaires and their useful idiots – deplore the old, good internet because it gave its users too much power. For them, ad-blocking, alternative clients, mods, reverse-engineering and so on were all bugs, not features. For them, the enshitternet is great because businesses can literally criminalize taking action to protect yourself from their predatory impulses:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

Superficially, it seems like the pro- and anti-enshittification forces agree – they both agree that the old, good internet was a mistake. But the difference that matters here is that the pro-enshittification side wants everyone mired in the enshitternet forever, living with what Jay Freeman calls "Felony contempt of business-model." By contrast, the disenshittification side wants a new, good internet that gives every user – not just a handful of techies – the power to decide how the digital systems they work use, and to be able to alter or reconfigure them to suit their own needs.

The horsehoe theory only makes sense if you don't take into account the beliefs and goals of each side. Politics aren't just a matter of who you agree with on a given issue – the real issue is what you're trying to accomplish.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/26/horsehoe-crab/#substantive-disagreement

#pluralistic #politics #suffrage #womens rights #new deal #civil rights #race #enshitternet #new good internet #old good internet

[daenystheedreamer]

i love looking at ao3 statistics did you know if you exclude got and hotd from your search the top ships will include both rhaegar/lyanna and rhaegar/elia but not rhaegar/joncon even though out of those three people joncon is the only person confirmed to have even liked rhaegar in the first place. also the top tag for stavos is modern au... all stannis fans want is to see him in his rightful place (shitty corporate job at the executive level)

I LOVE AO3 STATS omg i went down a rabbit hole for yearly changes in the ASOIAF tag and its so fun (<- nerd)!! you can see how game of thrones totally changed the landscape, then how hotd just annihilates it. i didnt filter out the show tags for this reason. before the show released, somehow arianne x jon snow was the THIRD!! most popular pairing. and stavos is there too but is ANNIHILATED once the show airs. braime is consitently on top but gets beat by jonsa and jonerys a couple times, and then Its So Back, and now its so joever because of hotd however if you take out the hotd tags its #1 🫶

intellectually annotated pics below, super interesting if youre an insufferable nerd. i filtered for 2011-01-01 until 2012-01-01 and so on, and didnt filter show tags.

#asoiaf #ask #garak

[digitalgate02]

The UPDATED (OG) Adventure universe’s Partnership double year math count

Updated Digimon Adventure OG Timeline’s Partnership Math Count List 

Not particularly spoilers from the movie, just stuff stated by the official timeline from the pre-release stream for the movie in Japan (Oct 26)

Early 80s - Oikawa Yukio & Hida Hiroki make the first contact with the Digital World, befriend Pipimon (no partnerships)

1995 - Hikari and Taichi find a Koromon egg* (no partnerships)

1996 - 2 (Rui; someone else gets a digimon later in that year*)

1997 - 4 (Menoa)

1998 - 8 (Possibly the previous 5 mentioned from Adv’99 anime/novels)

1999 - 16 (Adv Eight, Meiko*)

2000 - 32 (Ken*)

2001 - 64 (Michael)

2002 - 128 (Daisuke, Miyako, Iori)

2003 - 256

2004 - 512

2005 - 1,024

2006 - 2,048

2007 - 4,096

2008 - 8,192

2009 - 16,384

2010 - 32,768

2011 - 65,536

2012 - 131,072

2013 - 262,144

2014 - 524,288

2015 - 1.048,576

2016 - 2.097,152

2017 - 4.194,304

2018 - 8.388,608

2019 - 16.777,216

2020 - 33.554,432

2021 - 67.108,864

2022 - 134.217,728

2023 - 268.435,456

2024 - 536.870,912

2025 - 1.073.741,824

2026 - 2.147.483,648

2027 -  4.294.967,296

2028 (02 Epilogue) - 8.589.934,592

↓ Original notes + "Why there's still no retcon of the lore" below ↓

First, the OG notes from the outdated post:

→ This count is not about “which was the very first digimon-human contact”, and yes about people with a digivice. Because if we were going to count who was the first human to have contact with a digimon, it’s actually two and they’re Oikawa Yukio and Iori’s dad, Hida Hiroki.

→ I’m ignoring all the inconsistencies with other material (WS & ▽) because they seem to not match well with the original count. So, in this case, Ken’s statement in the anime (Aug 2000) is the one to be accounted for here. I don’t know if Ryo counts as Chosen (possibly yes, judging by 02 flashbacks) but I’m not sure where to place him here.

→ I’m only adding Michael to the count, even if he’s not a main character and yes a side character, because 02 ep 14 had this statement regarding him. And I like Michael too so, let me have him there :V

→ Menoa states in the movie she met Morphomon when she was nine, and according to the Dash X novel version, she’s the same age as Taichi. Which means she became a Chosen in 1997.

→ I couldn’t think of how to include Maki & Daigo’s group in this because ▽ contradicts with the original lore’s math – The fact the Pt4 book released with the movie on Japanese theaters state them being in Elementary School the time they went to their adventure in the DW, and later the confession scene means they’re in University/College makes them possibly been Chosen Children way before 1995, and I’d take it granted that they were chosen by someone else IF weren’t for the Homeostasis being involved in the scene and the digivice being way too modern for that time (it was basically Taichi group’s model. If you look at Rui’s digivice in the leaked footage from DigiFes2022, his model seems to be different and an older version)

→ That said, Meiko is the only character in ▽ that does not fall into contradiction with the math count. Because in 1999 there was not only Taichi’s group, but also other 8 non-featured Chosen according to Kakudou’s notes. So we can consider Meiko one of those other 8 children.

→ When it comes to Wallace, I prefer to think he is game in the original math – Taichi and Hikari met that Koromon in 95, but they had no digivice until 1999. Which means it can be possible that Wallace had encountered Gummy-Choco’s egg before 1995 and only became an official Chosen Child later.

Now, the new notes:

→ To avoid spoiling any detail about the movie itself, I’ll make sure to tell you they might have changed how the math works only. It’s not like, “everyone gets a digimon at the same time” but rather… “A X number of people get partnered with a digimon in different periods of a year” – Which means yes, you can still count Rui and Ukkomon as the origins of the Digimon partnership, but that later in the same year someone else (or, say, Wallace in the main timeline) got a partner months later.

→ That said, I’m opting to update this list and work within the idea that various sources of partnership (Homeostasis, Holy Beasts, etc) can be counted in the math. Remember – Homeostasis (not referred to as this in the OG series but yes in the novels) had selected Taichi & co., but the Holy Beasts chose Dai-Miya-Iori. And some other entity probably chose Ken in August 2000. This could explain why there’s a higher number of partnerships happening at the same time in Adv’99 and 02.

→ As I mentioned before, and indirectly supported by the staff (check the official timeline at the top of the list), ▽ has violated the lore to the point it goes in direct conflict with the new 02 movie and the entire timeline. So I guess it’s better to consider ▽ as its own timeline/Alternate universe than forcing it into the main timeline.

→ That said, and since Meiko does exist in Kizuna/main timeline, I suppose Maki and Daigo also do exist, and maybe they got their “ages” retconned and down to something suitable to the universe’s math count. They can still be part of the previous five kids mentioned in Adv’99 anime/novels, but they are probably around their teen years, or even early 20s instead, not fully adults working for the government I suppose. Or alternatively, just not Chosen yet. Pick your favorite route, Maki/Daigo fans!!

→ Yes, the Koromon from the very first movie IS NOT THE SAME PARTNERED WITH TAICHI. This never was confirmed, and was just fandom's theory. Considering how ▽ also made this mistake and possibly was one of the lore's violation, I prefer to believe this means it's not the same Koromon/Agumon partnered with Taichi in Adv'99.

#digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digifood for thought #kizuna spoilers #02tb spoilers #ni's digitheories

[arikihalloween]

Wakfu art dump because yes

This post is gonna be super long because I will ramble IN DEPTH today

So huh if you like my rambling or my art just read ig, otherwise scroll away idk what to tell ya

Showing some of my art and ramble because wakfu is part of my current big 3 hyperfixations ( along with WH and Trolls )

So huh enjoy my growing insanity ( I compiled it in one post to not annoy people too much :')

Presenting my oc Sharm !

An (very pink) Eliotrope

She's based on my in game character but I kinda gave her lore and a story so

⭐INFODUMP about Wakfu in general ! ⭐

Basic infos for those who don't know anything about Wakfu :

Wakfu is a french animated serie made by the studio Ankama, who also made several mmorpg games ( and way more, like the amount of content and lore is crazy)

Most of the stories will take place on the World of Twelves, populated by 12 main races (with many variation)

And there is a 13th "main race", the Eliatropes, which is the race of the main character of the anime, Yugo

Eliotropes ( with a o instead of a) are a subrace of the Eliatropes ( lore is explained in the serie but I don't wanna spoil, so to boil it down, Eliotropes are unstable pale copies of eliatropes) [ they are playable in the game wakfu]

So, what about Sharm ? Well she was born a pretty regular Eliotrope. She had two "brothers", Chance and Vitali, who unfortunately ended up fading away with time ( mechanically, when an Eliotrope die, his/her essence will go to the nearest Eliotrope to allow them to live longer)

So Sharm was left alone for very long, and stayed in Eliatropes ruins she found. Those were overgrown by stasis ( type of crystals, very bad, generally associated with corruption and destruction)

However, the essence she got from her siblings passing could only last so long

One day, in a desperate attempt to not die, Sharm took stasis and...ate it. Chewed on the mf crystals, and surprisingly, an interesting reaction occured : it stabilised her essence. It also made her basically frozen in development, Sharm cannot grow anymore and her power levels are quite limited in quantity, unless she uses stasis.

So my girl went through the ages, she kept on researching on the remnant of the eliatrope race ( wiped out aside from a few) and became sort of an archeologist

Nowadays, Sharm travels from a country/city to an other, often with mercenaries she hires as bodyguards . The other two ocs in this sketch page are the said mercenaries

And the cat is called Noiraude !

Sharm needs protection because she is stupidly useless in combat

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And also I have fanarts of Nora !

And also, it's time for the gremlin mode

The worst of the ramble

I kinda just need to scream for a moment

Beware, big spoilers for the serie ahead ! Stop now and go watch Wakfu !! It's all on Netflix ( season 1, season 2, then the 3 oav, THEN season 3 and you will be ready for season 4 :D)

So, this character is Nora (second drawing is a headcanon version of her)

Who is Nora ? She is the sixth eliatrope of the Council ( Eliatropes are rules by the six first borns of the race who can reincarnate along with their dragon twin)

Nora appeared for the first time in a flashback the episode "Quilbi" in season 2

In 2011

And back then she was in a flashback, so presumed dead from the war that wiped out the Eliatropes

BUT

Lately, as clips and trailers of season 4 of Wakfu has been released

It's confirmed that Nora is there

She's alive

She's in season 4

*grabs u*

2011

She has been my favorite character of Wakfu since her one and only appearance, alright ?

And now

12-13 years later

She is real

SHE IS REAL AND ALIVE IN THE SERIE

*maniacal laughter*

I will not shut up about it

Prepare for the fanarts

*retreats to the shadows*

#and this was Ariki being crazy about a character that appeared only once in the serie #in my defense i'm not alone #Nora enjoyer rise with me #Nora l'Eliatrope #wakfu #wakfu fanart #wakfu nora #my favorite character in the serie #litterally appeared once #BUT NOW SHE IS REAL #wakfu oc #wakfu eliatrope #wakfu eliotrope #krosmoz #dofus #fanart #yk you can somewhat see a pattern in my favs #bubbly very pink feminine presenting character ? yes please #Nora - Amy Rose - Julie Joyful - Poppy #i am reclaiming the pink of my childhood lmao #i like pink #also if you notice Sharm's design is close to Nora's #that's because Sharm always was a ref to Nora when I play the game #NOBODY EVER NOTICED *cry* #and now in Sharm lore it's also intentional #Sharm purposfully dress and acts like what she knows of Nora from ancient transcripts #an archeologist kinning what she thinks is a demi goddess #well Nora is in fact a demi goddess in term of Wakfu lore lmao #but anyway #Ariki rambling in tags

[sourcherryandsprinkles]

I HAVE ALL THE CHAD THOUGHTS READY

first one, can i PLS have a blurb about in scream 5 when chad gets stabbed in the backyard, reader goes outside and sees it, losers her shit, and has to be pulled away from him (kinda similar to the one scene in scream 6)

Warnings: stabbing, blood

my taglists are here  + you can requests here at any time

—

Initially, the party was a memorial for Wes. Everyone quickly forgot after a few beers — and shots —, though, acting like it was a regular party. Music was blasting, people were laughing and making out as if there wasn’t a masked killer on the loose.

Did they all forget what happened in 1996 and 2011?

You seemed to have forgotten too because your mouth was on Chad’s, making out on Amber’s couch.

Neither of you were insensitive to Wes’ death. People just mourn differently. Wes and Chad had been friends since middle school, his death had affected him more than a lot of people present tonight. Although he came here to celebrate his friend, he was tired of being sad and needed a distraction and comfort, which he all found in you.

There was no rush as you kissed, just gentle caresses and tender touches. Chad’s hands were on your waist, fingers slipping underneath the bottom of your shirt. You would rather have his hands groping you under your clothes, but you had to keep it PG-13.

He trailed his lips down to your neck, causing your fingers to curl into the material of his shirt. ‘’Want to go upstairs?’’

‘’Like…upstairs?’’ Chad questioned, halting his kisses.

You nodded, closing the gap between your lips again. Strangely, Chad didn’t kiss back.

He gently pushed you away. ‘’Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ll have to pass on that tonight.’’ His hands rubbed over your thighs, wishing tonight was just a regular party.

You laughed, sitting back on his lap. ‘’Why? You think I’m the killer?’’

Beneath you, Chad baffled. ‘’No no no!’’ he quickly said, then pulled you close again. ‘’Look, usually I would be all in for going upstairs, but tonight is different. According to Mindy’s Stab rules, people who have sex at parties are more likely to get killed and I kind of don’t want to die. I’m also a legacy, which makes me one of the targets. I’d rather not take the risk.’’

‘’We could lock the door. Stay there all night. Amber’s parents won’t be back until tomorrow.’’ You dragged your finger along his jaw and down the column of his throat, trying to get him to change his mind.

‘’The safest option is to be down here, with all the people—’’ Chad insisted, but you put your sulking face on and got off him. ‘’Where are you going?’’

‘’Getting some air.’’

After sending five messages in the span of twenty minutes and not getting a reply from you, Chad decided to go look for you outside. It wasn’t safe to go by himself — another of Mindy’s Stab rules —, but you were his girlfriend and he was worried.

Candlestick stick in hand, he ventured into the darker part of the backyard. ‘’Y/N?’’ he called into the dark.

Chad wasn’t easily spooked, but right now he didn’t feel comfortable. With the recent events with Tara, and Wes and his mom, he couldn’t be blamed for being a little scared of shadows and dark places.

He called your name again, and his phone beeped with a new message. Chad reached for it and drew his eyebrows as he read. Come find me, it said with a like of your localisation. Without thinking twice, he clicked on the link and let his phone take him to you.

Playing games of hide and seek was nothing new for you and Chad, but you were never that cryptic. It was usually just a picture of something at your location and him to find you. This was a trap.

He let his phone lead you to you, relief washing over him when seeing you were fine. He put his hand on your shoulder and your heart almost jumped out of your chest thinking it was the killer. ‘’Finally!’’

‘’Fuck, Chad, you scared me!’’ You hit his chest, but he didn’t react.

‘’What’s the weird message of sending me your localisation?’’

Confusion formed on your face. ‘’What? I didn't send you my localisation. My phone is at 1% battery, it's basically dead.’’

‘’Then who—’’ Chad's question was quickly answered as ghostface emerged from the trees and a scream - - from your throat.

Chad quickly turned around and tried to hit the masked killer with his candleholder, but ghostface stabbed his knife right into his thigh. It was Chad’s turn to scream — of pain, this time.

‘’Chad!’’

He aimed again with the candleholder, hitting ghostface right in the face.

Getting away would have been the smartest idea, but you couldn’t leave Chad there. Once the person was tackled to the ground, you grabbed Chad’s hand and dragged him away, running and limping through the excruciating pain in his bleeding thigh.

It was a matter of time before ghostface would get back up and go after you again. You have seen enough Stab movies to know they always get back up.

You kept running, trying to reach Amber's house before he caught up to you, but Chad was slowing down. ‘’Come on, babe. We’ve almost reached the back porch.’’

You caught him as he was about to fall, helping him stay up and supporting him all the way to the house. It was difficult, Chad's bodyweight being much heavier than yours, but you made it.

Unfortunately, ghostface made it too and stabbed Chad’s shoulder, the abruptness of the knife making him topple forward on the lawn.

Screams from the partiers on the back porch echoed, yet no one came to help as ghostface kept stabbing your boyfriend. Fucking assholes.

You tried to fight back, but the killer stabbed your lower stomach. Blood seeped through your shirt rapidly, your hands automatically coming over the wound.

‘’Help!’’ you screamed desperately, looking back at your classmates.

One of them kicked into action and a pair of arms pulled you back from Chad.

‘’No! Help him!’’ You struggled against their restrain, trying to get back to Chad. ‘’Chad!’’ you screamed with tears streaming down your face as ghostface stabbed him again and again and again. 

—

Scream taglist: @misfityanii @beautybyfire @iluvscream191 @mariposa555 @bella7866 @o638 @lulubelle14 @luvvtxinityy @frasersgf  @Eddiefrickenmunson @jasperr-the-friendly-ghost @ghostf4cee @thesebitcheslovesosadotcom @wandaswigglywoos @xjennyx2 @jennasslut @thatonesblog  @mikaelsonsstuff @icarly23 

All and more taglist: @spiokybirdstarfish @kenqki @liidiaaag @hawkegfs  @gillybear17  @areaderinlove @acornacreacure @black-rose-29 @fudge13 @cece05 @rosie-cameron @Caxddce @laylasbunbunny @gemofthenight @beautyb1ade  @hi-bored-as-fcuk-rn  @lovelyy-moonlight @mellabella101 @vxnity713  @marzipaanz

#chad meeks x reader #chad meeks martin imagine #chad meeks martin x reader #chad meeks martin #scream 6 imagines #scream 6 #scream 5 #scream 5 imagine

[traitorsinsalem]

i feel like ive just gotten baited into sending one of those "WAIT, KIRBY HAS DEEP LORE!?" asks but please tell me about the magolor christian themes

HELLO. ok it is 2am so i will do the best i can. if this answer is utterly incoherent, blame that.

magolor's whole christian thing has been around since his concept art, which ensured that his design had notable yellow highlights as a nod to the color used to represent judas in classical christian art. (his ears were also originally going to be horns, so there could be some devil stuff there if you squint.)

this doesn't mean much if you only look at return to dreamland 2011. it's simply a clever, blink-and-you'll-miss-it piece of his character design that ties with the fact that he betrays kirby. some fans also found this funny regarding his symbolic link to apples, which he uses as bombs or. uh. microtransaction materials. lol.

however, once return to dreamland deluxe came out in 2023, the game dropped a MASSIVE bomb of their own by providing us with a new, post-game epilogue for magolor. spoilers ahead, obviously. via the epilogue, magolor's link to apples is explored in-depth by putting him through trials where he must collect 5 fruit (apple) fragments, which a game screen implies parallel the fact that magolor tricked kirby into collecting the 5 parts of the lor starcutter. that's essentially his "penance" process.

when magolor finished rebuilding the apple, which is known as the "ethereal alter" in english and the very unsubtle "room of eden" in japanese. the master crown that magolor had betrayed kirby for and stolen from its place on halcandra became a massive gem apple tree final boss. however, the tree itself is not listed as the boss--instead he is fighting the master crown itself.

he ultimately destroys the master crown, which had taken the form of the "forbidden fruit" that had tempted magolor into hurting people, including those he had come to genuinely deem friends, for the sake of obtaining personal power. the gem apple being constructed in the "room of eden" is enough on its own to build a base for a christian theme, but magolor's arc of redeption through either 1. trial and repentance (main gamemode with magolor epilogue; self-imposed; successful) 2. outside aid (extra mode + true arena; extended by kirby; failed) is what allows the christian imagery to shine.

however, his christian imagery chronologically extends past the return to dreamland deluxe epilogue, as that same epilogue confirmed that "microtransagolor" (the green magolor from kirby clash deluxe) is the same magolor from return to dreamland. he nurtures the gem apple seed which he obtained after defeating the master crown in that game. clash deluxe also introduces us to a weekly "magolor day," which, you guessed it, is on sunday, with the first of them occuring on an easter.

the major reason why i connect magolor to christianity in particular rather than all abrahamic religions is the judas connection, the easter sunday thing, and the process through which he repents or "must atone for his misdeeds." while genesis isn't exclusive to christianity, the specific actions which magolor takes along his path of betrayal and redeption mirror make more sense to me as a christian moral tale rather than judaic or islamic for some reason. not sure why, i'd have to unpack that elsewhere.

this isn't to say that kirby is indoctrinating children into christianity or whatever ofc. considering the whole hyness and mage sisters deal in star allies, the connection between kirby and religion as a whole isn't always a positive one. nintendo also tends to avoid real life religions and references to them as a whole in their games likely to avoid controversy and to make their games accessible and understandable to a worldwide audience with a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. that last point is WHY i find it super crazy that magolor has an obviously and intentionally christian narrative.

(also, for the books, i'm not catholic. but i think 4 years of catholic school and a catholic grandmother gives me juuuust enough background/authority on the topic to relate it to kirby)

#long post #long text #magolor #kirby

[tracfone]

The “glados/caroline is chell’s mom” theory sucks and the math does not add up, and let me tell you why:

(Preface: this is going to cover a LOT of spoilers from both games. I would advise turning back unless you’ve finished portal 2)

To start off—i do not believe that test subjects age in stasis. If chell was a child during the specific bring your daughter to work day event (which i do not think so, but I’ll elaborate later), i do not know how she would have the mental faculties to handle the events of either game without freaking out, as she would have aged from a child to an adult in the time she was in stasis, with no time for her to develop mentally. Also, the time between the first and second games is unknown, though it’s definitely….a while, more than just a few months. Had stasis not preserved her, she would either look significantly older or be like, a literal pile of bones. But no, she remains largely unchanged, save for the fact she looks much less haggard and more refreshed:

According to the portal wiki, the time between GLaDOS’s activation/takeover and the events of portal is 12 years; the year this event took place would have been in 1998:

You could also say like, “oh but but her dad could have brought his adult daughter to work!!” but this does not make sense, as…well, just look at this penmanship. You would have to assume chell has horrible handwriting, but this clearly looks like the writing of an elementary schooler:

…but. I also do believe that THE bring your daughter to work day event and the one chell attended as a child were two separate events—likely taking place in two separate DECADES. I don’t know how long it takes to fully extract someone’s brain into a personality core, but it was probably not instantaneous, so I think it’s safe to assume caroline is already dead, and could not have brought her; cave johnson is most definitely dead and his brain is in a robot. Chell refers to her father and cave as two separate people, in any case

EDIT: actually i looked at this image more clearly, and the fact that chell refers to cave at all as someone she's interacted with means that the event she attended must be in the 80's or earlier!!!

(Side note: there is a line in portal where glados mentions that “the aperture science bring your daughter to work day is the perfect time to have her tested”, which you may think is evidence for the theory, and, admittedly, does raise some questions about how cryosleep works in this universe, but for reasons I’ve already stated, I don’t think this means they are putting kids into stasis so they can test as adults, though they may be introduced to the concept at the time and encouraged to apply once they’re old enough. This could also potentially refer to getting “tested” to be uploaded into a robot body)

Here, glados mom truthers, i will throw you a bone for once—savor it, because I’m not done, but according to a reddit AMA thread circa ~2015, ellen mclain admits she thinks the theory is interesting:

…HOWEVER!!

I am going to take that bone back now. In a 2011 panel, when asked if glados really deleted caroline or not, she says (this is me paraphrasing but you can view the whole thing), “…there’s what ellen mclain thinks, and then theres what erik wolpaw thinks. You’ll have to ask him…”. She’s basically saying not to take what she says as hard canon, because what the director says ultimately is what matters. Also in the thread specifically she could have been acting cheeky—see how she refers to herself as….well, herself, and not as glados. She could mean either, i guess, but it really sounds like “chell is my (ellen mclain’s) daughter ;)”. I dont know! It ultimately doesn’t matter, either way. This is me just going off the tone of her other answers

In any case. Back to the main point of the post. At the end of portal 2, glados gives a very bittersweet speech. She tells chell she realized that she was all along her best friend. This….is not something a mother says to her child, unless you happen to be a very suffocating parent who maybe possibly parentifies their child. I know what you might be thinking, and like, I don’t mean to kick dirt all over your experience if your takeaway from this series was “escaping an abusive parent”; i can see why you interpret it this way. Tonally, though, this goodbye speech does not fit a farewell speech from a parent, in my opinion!!! The portal series also is very “show and not tell”—you kind of have to figure out through clues from cave johnson’s recordings what is happening to the employees, and how glados came to be; you aren’t explicitly told it, until glados says that “being caroline taught (her) a valuable lesson”. The story unfolds with a lot of environmental clues, and that’s part of what makes it so engaging, figuring out what’s going on by yourself, by assembling this puzzle in the debris of an abandoned facility. That said though, the single player ending would have been a great time to elaborate on the parent plot IF it were actually a parent plot. At the end of the first game, glados tells you what she did to all the scientists, finally giving you an answer to why the facility is so empty, aside from you and her—portal 2 could have taken the chance to make her say something like, “being caroline taught me a valuable lesson: i remembered who i am, and who you are, my child…I’m so sorry i put you through all this” or [insert whatever tooth-rottingly sweet line you want here]. But they didn’t!

(Side note I think “cara mia addio” is completely unreliable evidence no matter which side of this you’re on, due to the double meaning of the word “bambina” and the fact it is, allegedly, an improvised song. I will not be using it to prove anything, though, i do think we can assume the tone to be of a romantic fondness, if you match it up with the vein “want you gone” was written in)

EDIT 9/7/22: OKAY I JUST GOT THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN ON CARA MIA (thank you so so much @ossyflawol on Twitter for letting me use this excerpt). This is from the portal 2 official guide, the collector's edition. Take a look!:

This post is becoming long and so as not to risk this entire textwall becoming completely incoherent, I’ll cut to my final point: chell was already an adult by the time she was put into stasis

In lab rat, we see a photograph of chell in her profile. It doesn’t really look any different from how she looks in every single other drawing in the comic:

I’m going to go as far as to say that chell was employed at aperture before the takeover. During her boss battle in the first game, glados has this to say:

…this would seem to imply that chell was a part-timer or an intern pre-stasis. Glados lies a lot but I’m choosing to take what she’s saying here to heart

Remember when i said “cara mia addio” doesn’t hold much water, and can’t be used as reliable evidence for anything? Well now I’m the one who lied, because i need to bring it up again. This song is like, the holy grail to those who stand by the mom theory—they say glados is sending her child “away from science” and saving her on the bring your daughter to work day incident. But—please stay with me here, this is where it all falls apart—there is no conceivable way that chell was a “little girl” in 1998, we know FOR SURE she was an adult. To illustrate, let’s see what our old pal cave johnson has to say about this:

During the 1980’s aperture had completely phased out of using people they grabbed off the street (and offering them $60) for testing, and have switched over to solely using their employees. He also says directly after that they plan to discontinue human testing altogether—this evidently did not happen, as there are ten thousand humans in stasis ready for testing. At least, there’s not really any evidence to the contrary: whether glados put all the employees in stasis, or caroline did when she was still human, or whether it happened before cave’s death is ultimately irrelevant, though i doubt it was glados as her current form, because she killed off the remaining staff sans rattmann

EDIT 9/21/22: it is with a heavy heart that, after receiving some more timeline resources, that i am unfortunately going to write off the science project entirely. but this is okay. while the words on the project itself do imply that the time chell met cave johnson would have had to be before the 1990's (and i still think it should be interpreted that way, canon or no), the combine-overwatch portal/half-life wiki has this to say about the bring your daughter to work day incident:

"The untested AI of GLaDOS is activated for the first time as one of the planned activities on Aperture's first annual bring-your-daughter-to-work day. Upon being activated, she almost instantly becomes self-aware, takes control of the Enrichment Center, locks everyone inside, and floods the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin, but is halted when she is quickly fitted with a Morality Core. She then begins a permanent cycle of testing, aimed at beating Black Mesa in the race to develop functioning portal technology."

...so it was the first, as well as the last one. taking place in may of 200x (1998 was apparently retconned at some point, according to aperturescience.com). the entire timeline of these games is a horrible trainwreck, to be perfectly honest, so you can take this or leave this, but still, i wouldn't be swayed by allegations of chell being a child during this time. the forced testing initiative also began in 200x. not enough time could have elapsed for this project to have been made around the same time. it's impossible. this image of chell's science project is nothing more than a non-canon easter egg; it doesn't fit anywhere. therefore the point still stands, but i just thought i would be transparent about it if i know something. this entire post is kind of a living document at this point haha

In conclusion: CHELL WAS AN ADULT EMPLOYEE AT APERTURE LABORATORIES BY THE TIME OF THE BRING YOUR DAUGHTER TO WORK DAY INCIDENT. Caroline did not bring her to work that day, these two are completely unrelated

You might be crinkling your nose right now and thinking “buh buh buh but roryyy you only think this way because you’re a chelldos shipper!!!” and like, you’re right to an extent, but i also firmly believe that were the narrative a familial one, it would change the meaning of the work drastically; portal is about two women who face workplace abuse and inevitably end up working together to combat it. It’s about the horrors of capitalism and the lack of ethics in the scientific field; it’s about an intelligent woman forced into a computer and suppressed so hard because people don’t want to give her any power or autonomy, to the point that she’s become a completely different person. And, of course…it’s a sweet, sad story of a robot who, no matter if you interpret the nature of these feelings as romantic or not, becomes attached to a test subject and it’s incredibly painful, emotionally, and she can’t deal with it; her test subject is both her killer and, if you think about it, also her savior. Putting glados in the role of chell’s mom feels like it slims down her character development significantly. It’s not sweet, I don’t have “chills bro literal chills”, it doesn’t move me or make me want to cry, it does absolutely nothing for me! The self-discovery, the mutual trust built between her and chell in a crisis situation, it morphs into something completely different if this narrative turns into “ohhh she softens up because she learns she’s a mother uwuwuwuwuwuuuuuu happy famiwy teehee!!!” I am going to VOMIT

I should say that i don't care whether you ship them together or not. I just think this theory is ridiculous and wanted to point out how full of glaring holes it is. A lot of people like to parrot this theory as ABSOLUTE TRUTH when nothing has been confirmed on th matter, and with developer commentary that directly contradicts it (have you heard the good word of Johnathan Coulton?), it's hard to present it as such. Glados loves and cares about chell--this much is absolutely true, even if the reverse isn't canon, and there is no hard evidence to suggest any of the named characters are related by blood or by legal ties

Anyways, if you read all this: thank you. Here’s some supplemental reading you may or may not have already read that features points i purposefully didn’t touch on, because i wanted to focus on things that have been said less on this topic

#portal #portal 2 #portal 2 spoilers/ #glados #chell #chelldos #abuse mention / #genuinely sorry to those whom i have textwalled before about this i think i got it all out of my system now #this theory makes me so angry and i had to go to bat here

[yonpote]

as someone who wasnt here at the time (was a fan from about 2011-2013) what exactly defines the "softlaunch era" pre-coming out that i hear you and others refer to?

you've come to the right place cuz this is the era when i truly became a Phannie... "gay softlaunch" is generally considered 2017-18, but to be more specific it was october 31, 2016-june 13, 2019!

before they came out this was also referred to as "post-baking universe" referencing the halloween 2016 monster pops video that had an (at the time) abnormal amount of raunchy humor and just general derangedness. nothing like it is today, but that point felt very significant and dan even brought it up in liveshows like yeah idk what happened there and when phil called a peach an ass in a gaming video dan said "we live in a post-baking universe" (i believe fans coined the term tho).

people have also called it the "glass closet era" which is a divisive name for a lot of people cuz "glass closet" can be seen as kind of a mean term and it implies like, stereotyping or speculating or the "we been knew" behavior dan had talked about in BIG. which i understand that feeling, but i don't think that's what was happening, because the way i see it was queer flagging. ways they could show a little bit who they really were without saying it just yet. they weren't Out out, but they were just like. openly talking about attraction to men and finding men hot and not calling it a Man Crush or anything. dan would bring up queerness more often in liveshows, which hes mentioned queer artists and stuff before but now it was also making jokes about like.. being in a gas leak man porn fantasy in his first livestream of 2017 LMAO. phil would make a lot more innuendos, which hes always done, but now he wasnt pretending like he didnt know what he was saying. dan started wearing a single hoop earring on his right ear. this is an old school form of queer flagging, in The Olden Days (im too lazy to look up when but like my 70-something year old history teacher knew about this) if a man had an earring on his left ear, he's straight, and if he had one on his right, he's gay. that one's pretty subtle if you don't know much about queer history and there were Great Debates over whether or not we should take it to mean he is gay, but personally i saw it as like. he was letting us know without needing to say the G word out loud just yet!

i think a really important part of this era was even outside of directly discussing queerness, they were both trying to become more authentic online and figuring out how to do that without compromising their own privacy. dan stopped straightening his hair and rebranded and opened up about his mental health. phil's authenticity journey seemed a bit slower and wasn't as overt or seemingly drastic as dan's was, but it was happening! he changed up his hair!!! which yes its kinda silly to talk abt dnp's hair but the emo fringe was Their Brand. phil in particular said that, the emo fringe was a comfort place but he was feeling like he was trapped in having it forever because it was Who He Was, so it was a huge deal for him! he opened up a little bit about his physical health, both of them were a bit more honest about all the stress and anxiety they were dealing with (the mukbang is a pretty good video where they talk about that and an interesting one to watch in retrospect) and their whole 2018 tour was themed around whether they should Give The People What They Want or do what they wanted to do.

god i talk too much ANYWAY then dan disappeared in 2019 and phil was manning the helm for a good five and a half months and then the Big Gay hit! the Hard Launch Era if you will :) and now i would say 2023-present is the Unhinged Era so i have no clue what the hell their next move is gonna be...

#ofc there were also signs before 2016 'wtf even is your sexuality' #but at that point there was still a veil over everything ykwim? #myrambles #also sorry im such a phillie i like barely mention dans authenticity journey BUT I JUST FEEL LIKE #IVE TALKED ABT IT A LOT BEFORE SO IDK WHAT MORE I COULD SAY #softlaunch

[iinsertblognamee]

it wasn't meant to go like this

summary ― a split second and your world comes crashing down

pairing ― sam kerr x reader

warning/s ― fluff, angst?, injury

masterlist

The 2011/2012 Women’s A-League was a promising year, Caitlin and you put on the blue jersey again. The season went on, Sydney FC taking on win after win. 

Sam had come to watch your game in Newcastle, the weather was a little rough for this time of year but the game continued. The grass had soft patches throughout the whole field, rain from the night before not helping at all. 

It was one wrong move and you were down, the pain rippled through your ankle as you fell to the ground. You vividly hear the blowing of the whistle, and teammates surrounding you as you let out a groan. 

You knew long before the medics confirmed. You’d done it bad. The official report said you had a grade three lateral sprain in your ankle - a complete tear of the muscles. That was your season over. 

They carried you off the field, teammates clapping you off the field as the medics continued to work on your ankle. The pain was only getting worse, the shock wearing off as tears spilled. It doesn’t take long for you to be placed in the medical room, Sam joining soon after. 

She held your hand as they wrapped you up, explaining your rest period as well as getting you in contact with the team physio. They mentioned surgery but explained that they wanted to keep that as the last resort. 

Sam kept you grounded throughout it all. Rubbing her hands up and down your back to keep you relaxed, talking about anything and everything under the sun to get your attention off the pain - and it worked. She even managed to get a smile and some giggles. 

The following weeks were hard, you were constantly in pain. You weren’t sleeping well, your ankle wasn’t getting better as fast as you had hoped. Putting a damper on your recovery. Once the swelling had gone down you had been approved for air travel, taking the first plane back home to Perth. 

Like many times before your families were standing there with ‘Welcome Home’ posters and balloons. Sam rolled both your suitcases towards your families as you hobbled over with your crutches.  

Hugs and kisses were given all around, Sam’s sister taking the bags off her so she could help you through the airport and towards the cars. As much as you wanted to be able to do it all by yourself, you knew that extra support would be needed. 

Physio appointments were booked within the week, and your mum, Roxanne and Sam shared the load of getting you to and from. It got worse before it got better. You were so overly tired that you became snapping, Sam receiving the brunt of it. 

Fights were becoming a normal occurrence and on multiple occasions either you or Sam would stomp away. The fighting was pointless, arguments about who used the last bit of butter and where did you put my jumper? becoming a constant in your lives. It was pathetic but both of you were too stubborn to admit to being wrong. 

Your most recent fight had been about you taking your painkillers, you had been refusing to take them the past few days because you believed you didn’t need them anymore. You knew the faster you were off the painkillers the faster you were to recovering and getting back on the field. Sam, on the other hand, knew you were lying straight through your teeth. She saw the way you would wince every time you put a little bit of pressure on your ankle, she heard you crying at night trying not to wake her up. 

Sam had left with the front door slamming behind her, you watched through the front window as she walked across the street to her parent's house. You let out a scoff as you shook your head. If she wanted to throw a fit you’d much rather she do it in her own house, not yours. 

You stay seated on the couch, the TV playing in the background as you played on your phone, temple run your new favourite game (thanks to Caitlin). An hour went by, and your legs started to cramp from staying in one place for too long. You felt around from your crutches, your eyes moving around the room to see they were leaning up against the dining table. 

An annoyed groan leaves your lips, the distance way too far for you to make it. You turn your attention back to your phone, switching to another game to keep your mind off the cramps. 

It worked for twenty minutes, but the cramping was now a dull ache. You looked up at your crutches once again, your brain trying to work out how exactly you were going to get from here to there without injuring yourself further. 

Your best option was to get up and go as fast as you could, hoping that the speed would cancel out the fact that you would be using your ankle. Giving yourself a countdown, taking a deep breath before you pull yourself up from the couch. You take one step and then another, the shooting pain through your ankle winds you for a second but you’re determined. You take a second step, placing your bad ankle down once again. You think you have it, a cheer almost leaving your lips before you feel the muscle tighten before it snaps. 

The scream leaves your lips before you hit the ground, tears streaming down your face as you lay on the floor. You don’t attempt to move, the pain taking over any attempt to get yourself back up again. 

You don’t know how long you lay there, tears streaming down your face. You know you’ve done more damage. You can already hear the physio telling you we’re back to square one, you’re even further away from getting back on the pitch. 

Outcome after outcome rumbles in your mind, the thought that you might have fucked it up so bad that you can never play again grows and grows. 

You miss the sound of the front door opening again, as well as the bouquet of flowers Sam had bought as an apology hitting the ground as she lets out a scream. She runs towards you, her knees hitting the ground as she grabs your face making you look at her. 

“Sam?” you cry out, grabbing onto her arm. The tears don’t stop as she runs her hand over your hair attempting to calm you down. “Sam, I hurt it. I made it worse” 

You choked on more tears, closing your eyes as you brought your hands over your face. You can feel her checking over your body, you know her attention is purely focused on your ankle. 

She gets herself comfortable next to you, her hand never leaving your hair as she pulls out her phone, the ringing tone enough for you to fall away from your face. 

“Who are you calling” You hiccup out, watching Sam as she brings the phone to her ear. 

“Your physio, we need him to look over you to see if there’s more damage or not” She doesn’t sound angry as she explains it to you, she uses her hand on your hair to bring your hand to her lips, kissing each knuckle. 

“Hi, I’m Sam Kerr calling on behalf of Y/N L/N” 

The physio came within the hour, and with the help of Sam, they moved you to your bed, as he looked your ankle over. You hissed as he pressed in, your hand gripped with Sam’s. After his assessments, you wait for the bad news. You wait for the ‘I’m sorry but you’re never going to play again’ but instead he gives you a smile. 

“Everything seems okay, no further damage from what I can tell, but I’m more than happy to do another assessment in a few days once the swelling has come down again.” 

“Wait. It’s okay?” 

He lets out a small laugh as he nods his head “I think you scared yourself more than any damage you caused. It’s just a stress fracture from using it at such a high level after so long of not using it at all. Your foot just wasn’t ready for that much pressure quite yet. I reckon though in a week or two, with your exercises we might be able to take one of the crutches away” 

You cry again, Sam pulling you into a hug as she kisses your forehead. 

It was going to be okay. 

You get the all-clear to play in March. 

Your first goal since the injury equals Matilda's tie with New Zealand in a friendly match. 

#sam kerr x reader #sam kerr imagines #sam kerr imagine #woso imagine #woso imagines #woso x reader

[banavalope]

Hello, I'm a Homestuck and Good Omens fan and just saw your post about coffee. I came to the Homestuck fandom way late, though, and don't know what the coffee theory was. I was wondering if you'd be willing to share that story from the trenches if it's not too traumatic :)

I'll preface by saying, this all happened near about the time I began to step away from Homestuck, as this was late 2011 to early 2012. My recollection could very well be missing some juicier deets, because I always managed to avoid the worst of it. In all I had a pretty benign time floating about the Homestuck fandom, I'll say that. My knowledge is as a fly's.

If you want the short version: once upon a time, the Homestuck fandom was so stupid it had discourse over the way coffee was drawn in a single panel, because the stylistic choice used to show the way cheap potted coffee has that oil slick sheen on the top Really got the gamerz thinking Gamzee was putting troll blood in the coffee.

The long version is this: this Act was annoying. All the Acts had been annoying, there'd been rather more than six of them so far. The fandom's toxicity was at its most potent, and the main fandom exodus hadn't happened yet. But the stylistic choice brewing on page 4702 of A6I2 suggested a discourse was on the horizon, and it was the size of planet fucking Jupiter.

To understand the affairs of 2011/12 Homestucks, a few things are important to mention: first, nobody enjoyed Act 6. Ask anyone from the tumblr era First Wave, we all agreed that Cascade would have been a better place to start wrapping up the comic as a whole. When Act 6 opened introducing the alpha kids, a whole new plot derivative, and we all realized we'd have to go through the same slog again, that the story wasn't over, the collective exhaustion was palpable. SWATHS left unhappy; worse yet (for some), the alpha kids brought us away from the game of SBURB and the over-aching plot, to instead place our focus on their interpersonal relationships. It was a bad time to take your audience away from a well crafted climax.

Reading it now as a completed work makes this not so bad, because the book is wrote. You can consume it as a finished piece and clearly interpret a through line for yourself, start to finish. Skip it even, if you want. When you've no idea at what time the next update will come, while all the pieces remain necessary to tell the story, any pacing is bad pacing.

Second, while Homestucks are known for many things - all of them cringe - the one that goes overlooked most, in spite of the ripple effect we still feel from it today in every corner, is the sheer amount of over analyzing done to the story itself. Every panel, every inch of every pixel, was a part of a puzzle we all collectively made up. Theorizing was an integral part to the Update Culture era of Homestuck's fandom, that we Figure Out the Story, you had to be the one who predicted what came next. Impressive how none of us came up with some kind of fandom Nobel Peace Prize, for how much we lauded it as a lifetime achievement.

I'll give you, Homestuck does have a very rich narrative. Much of it, I'll favor, is even intentional. It made worldbuilding choices captivating enough to get people painting themselves grey, for fun, so surely it had a few right ideas in some places. And there's nothing wrong about analyzing your media, picking apart its references to tie together a background story, even if it's just one you make up based on how you experienced reading it. That's kind of the whole point of consuming art. It's to be discussed, share your personal conclusions on. Theory is the breath of creativity.

It's the whole part about wanting to be right, where Homestucks as a collective force wanted to start eating each other alive on the spot. We were fucking OBNOXIOUS with theory posting. I'll be honest with you, I really ate that kind of thing up, and even I was getting annoyed. People were beginning to stretch, likely to cope with becoming bored.

Finally, the sober Gamzee controversy. This came about a while before coffeegate, but the effect the inciting update had on Homestucks is comparable to a haunting. It was fucking chernobyl, and a bad day to be a nuclear scientist because now it was your problem. Vriska fans - equally insufferable, as we all were by some respect[1] - and Gamzee fans fought with each other VEHEMENTLY, just to see whos gang was better. Keep that in the background of your mind as the theme music to what's playing. Everyone was anxiously wondering what had happened to Gamzee, because for the last several some-odd panels, we'd lost the boy. He was full of murderous intent, we were down to precious few characters on the meteor left, and we'd lost the boy.

So here we are. It's 2011. We're standing now at the end of the world, we've lost the boy for several panels, and finally the plot is trying to move along. We're all tired, and irritated, and divorced, doing this song and dance one more time but god willing the LAST TIME, when a joke about the look of shitty potted coffee gets made.

And some harbinger of the fucking apocalypse takes to tumblr dot com, drafting up a post about how Gamzee - living in the meteor walls - is putting troll blood into the coffee. Because, otherwise, how is Kanaya as a rainbow drinker doing so fine? Dave called the taste metallic, like blood. Something something long forgotten theories about trolls blood here something something. People would chime in to say "that's just how coffee looks", somehow it dissolved into actual discourse of people violently discussing back and forth how it could ONLY BE BLOOD, because coffee drawn in a prior panel UPDATES AGO didn't have the film on top, only now AFTER SOBER GAMZEE. Etcetera. It was just the worst case of reading too hard into something that you done ever did see.

Shortly following this, many people who were already growing exhausted with Homestuck's narrative direction at this point decided to take this coffee theory as their sign the flood was coming and to board the ark or learn how to swim. Anyone who learned to swim subsequently left during the exodus of 2015.

Again, my memory is pretty hazy. Thanks to Requiem Cafe, surprisingly difficult to google these days. Certainly another old still following me will have something more to add that I'm forgetting, as your handy dandy unreliable narrator.

[1] Said the Eridan fan.

#bana stop talking #homestuck #doddleys #i shouldnt tag this as good omens but theres an evil part of me that wants to

[gamerzylo]

how old is the postal dude in each mainline game?

Postal 1 - I remember reading somewhere years ago that a design doc for the game had him as 27 so that's what I'm going with. 27 in 1997.

Postal 2 - Game came out in 2003 so 33 then.

Postal 3 - Dream retcon aside, this one is tricky to place. Either it happens shortly after 2 which would mean he's still 33 or it takes place in 2011 which would put him at 41.

Postal 2: Paradise Lost - retcons 3 into a dream and takes place 11 years after the end of Postal 2 (so 2014 in-universe) putting Dude at 44 and by extension P3/Alt at 44.

Postal 4: No Regerts - has two release dates for the PC version, 2019 for early access and 2022 for the first release outside of it. 2019 would place Dude at 49. 2022 would place him at 52.

#anon #replies #postal dude #postal #postal 1 #postal 2 #postal 2: paradise lost #postal 3 #postal 4: no regerts