#this gifset is all over the place and honestly i don't like it at all :'((

[aemondvelaryon]

love grows (where the mustache goes)

summary: as the squad is giving jake as much shit as possible for the new offensive hair growing on his lip, you are frozen like a deer caught in headlights.

pairing: jake seresin x fem!reader

warnings: explicit language, realization of feelings, alcohol consumption to combat dirty thoughts.

word count: 2.2k

a/n: based on this lovely gifset by unicornships

If you were being completely honest with yourself, you always kind of had a thing about Hangman.

Look, you didn't hate him, per se, but he definitely stirred some feelings in you that were less than normal. He made you feel totally feral, if you will, unrestrained and vicious. The sort of anger that made you want to scratch your skin off, vibrating and seething, screaming at the top of your lungs.

It took barely a look, less than a glance, not even a word before you were fuming just by being in his presence. He had some sort of grip on you.

So, you tended to stay as far away from him as possible. Leaving when he arrived, staying home when his attendance was announced, and sticking close to people that either didn't like him or didn't know him. It was easier that way.

Easier than thinking about why he really made you so angry.

But the worst part was, the cherry on top, was that he just loved being around you. Loved seeing how worked up he could get you, making you squirm under his gaze, and making you turn bright red from his flirting.

He had to know. There was no way he didn't. The squad must have told him how much you didn't want to be near him which is why he made it his mission always to find you in every room.

He had to know how much he rattled you.

On this particular night, he had yet to make an appearance. But wherever Rooster was Hangman usually followed, and the tall, mustached, Hawaiian-shirted pilot had already made his way over to the piano tonight and the rest of Dagger had slowly trickled in.

You didn't know why you came out tonight especially since their shore leave had just ended and all of the pilots had started making their way back to base and the surrounding area which always included the Hard Deck.

But it was the only fun place around and Penny was so nice to you and going out in a dress on a Friday night and nursing a drink for a couple of hours just to be seen and known instead of rotting in your little apartment after work was worth the possibility you might see him.

Your eyes lock on the little crowd surrounding Rooster, as charismatic as ever, singing another 80s hit. You smile despite yourself.

God, how you wished Bradshaw was the one that made your brain go fuzzy. He was sure of himself, not arrogant, teasing, not antagonistic, handsome, not drop-dead gorgeous.

Sometimes you looked at Hangman and wondered why God would make him so fucking hot and then let him open his mouth.

It honestly wasn't fair.

Eventually, you hear his voice, and your back goes ramrod straight, awareness prickling at the back of your neck, and your hands instantly sweaty.

"Bradshaw, you started without me? I'm heartbroken. After I went through all this trouble to do this just for you? Absolutely devasted."

You don't look. Because if you look it will just cement how much you want to look, and don't want to stop looking.

A choked laugh sputters, as if they're surprised and then Phoenix's voice pierces through the crowd. "You didn't. Please tell me that's not real."

"No way! Someone go pull on it! Probably glued on." Fanboy shouts and you hear the sound of someone falling out of their chair.

"You got to be kidding me. What the fuck is that! Did something die on your face?" Javy yells in disbelief and disgust.

You want to look so bad. Just their reactions almost make you turn. Did he get a bad haircut or something? You're just close enough that you can hear every word but not enough that anyone's noticed you.

"Pay up, now, I called it! I can't believe you guys doubted me. I said he would do something like this." Reuben sounds like he's smiling triumphantly.

Bob's voice is quietly astounded, "He looks like 70s Porn Star Ken."

You sit up even straighter. Oh god.

He grew a mustache.

Rooster finally acknowledges him. "Man, Hangman, I knew you were obsessed with me, but this is another level."

You can't ever look over there now. Just the visual has your skin feeling too tight.

"You like it? Took me a whole month to grow this bad boy just 'cause I wanted to see the looks on all your faces, but I gotta say, now that I'm here, totally worth it." He's grinning, he has to be, shit-eating and ear-to-ear, you can feel it, can practically see his smile in your head. You've stared at it long enough.

"That's great. When are you shaving it?" Natasha sounds disgusted and it almost makes you laugh if you weren't so fucking frozen like a deer in headlights.

"I can't believe none of you are appreciating the effort I went through to do this. Unbelievable."

"You look like someone from the cast of Boogie Nights."

"Well that's a great movie, so thank you." He sounds closer now and the hand around your glass threatens to break it. "Y'know if I can't get you guys to recognize my dedication, I know someone who will."

Oh god, oh no.

"Hangman, don't--" But before another voice can dissuade him, he's already sidling up to you at the bar. You feel the heat of him before you hear his voice.

"Hi, sweetheart, did you miss me? I know I missed you." You grab your drink and finish it off quickly, eyes not looking over at him.

"What do you want, Hangman?" You hope to come off as annoyed, not rattled to the fucking core.

"Well, I know you love Rooster so much so I thought I'd do something to make me look a little bit more like him. Maybe get you to not run out of the room every time you see me, yeah?"

Goddammit, he can't know that you do that. Unless he pays attention to you as much as you do him.

"I don't love Rooster, okay, I just don't like you." You grit your teeth and call the other bartender on duty for another drink.

"Will you at least look at it, before making your judgment, babe? You're hurting my feelings." The faux hurt in his voice almost makes you turn.

"Don't call me that."

"What should I call you then, huh?"

Your drink gets refilled and emptied just as quickly. "Woah, slow down there. Don't need you passing out on me." You have to get the hell out of here, quickly.

Your name, for starters, maybe. "Nothing. I don't even want you to talk to me."

You turn and make your way off the bar stool and it rushes over you all too fast. An empty stomach and tequila do not a wise girl make.

You nearly fall off the seat and onto your ass but a warm hand finds its way around your waist and catches you just as quick. "Easy there." You shiver and turn in his grasp trying to get away but it just makes you meet his eyes.

Shit, shit, shit.

"You good?"

No, you are very much not good. He looks--fuck.

You don't see Hangman out of uniform often. You weren't a pilot or even in the military. Just a casual acquaintance that sometimes had a few chats with his squadron. So, you'd seen him in what he usually hangs out in, his tan jumpsuit, his swimsuit, you've even seen him in his dress whites before. But this Hangman just got back and hasn't even been to the base yet so this is Jake Seresin, Texas born and bred, raised on a farm, rides horses in his spare time, mama sweeter than apple pie, probably owns a fucking cowboy hat.

So, of course, he's got a plaid shirt on. Over that is a bomber jacket, like one you've seen Mav sporting before, only it looks like something you'd wear to go ranching in the winter not fly a plane. He's got jeans on, they’re all beaten up and used, and a leather belt, and he looks like he stepped out of some country romance Hallmark movie.

The mustache is the icing on the cake.

It's not that you had a thing for mustaches. You didn't because you had no feelings for Rooster whatsoever, but you didn't think they were unattractive or creepy like most of the population seemed to.

Did you have a big crush on Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I. when you were younger? Yes. But who didn't? And liking Bella's dad in Twilight didn't make it a pattern, okay! Everyone liked him.

"Uh." You finally gracefully spit out.

He smiles teasingly. "Didn't hit your head, did you?" He knows you didn't. He's playing with you. Riling you up as he always does. Because it's funny to him. Not because he likes you--wants you.

You sober up slightly and push at him. "No, get off."

Jake--God, no, when did he become Jake in your head--just smiles more but it seems softer. "I knew you'd fallen for me, but I didn't think you'd also do it literally."

You turn even redder if possible. "Shut up."

Christ, how was it you had reverted to playground comebacks at just the sight of him? Were you really so weak?

"You didn't answer my question." Was he still talking? You felt fuzzy.

"I need another drink." You can still feel his hand on your waist because despite pushing him away he hadn't let you go.

"Did I finally break you?" He laughs and shit, he knows.

"Why are you still talking to me?" You finally snap at him and his face falls a little, just slightly, that if you didn't have every inch of his face memorized you wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Because I care what you think." It's a confession. It has to be. You don't know what else it could be.

"Why?" You squint at him. Dumbfounded is the only word that comes to mind.

"Why? What--you don't, you seriously don't know?" He still holding onto you, and his hand flexes, fingers slightly digging into your hip and you feel yourself inch towards him, always stuck in his orbit, gravity pulling you closer.

"Don't know what?" You lick your lips in anticipation and he glances, once, up, twice, down, and then looks away and swallows.

"Why the hell do you think I talk to you all the time? Come find you in a room? Grew this fucking thing on my face?" He laughs, bewildered, and shakes his head.

"Why?" You ask again, if he doesn't say it, you won't. Too goddamn scared that you're making it all up, reading too much into it. "I thought you just liked to tease me. Get a rise out of me. I thought you were making fun of me."

"C'mon, you know me, I do the same shit I do to you that I do to Rooster. That's just what I do when I like someone."

You punch him in the arm.

"Ow! What the hell was that for!" He whines and grabs his arm, taken aback and pretending as if it actually hurt him.

"Why didn't you just tell me that, you ass!" You screech a little, desperately, feeling way too many emotions at once. He tends to do that to you.

He scoffs. "Have you met me? Do you really think I'm emotionally mature enough to do that?"

"That whole time you were just, what, flirting with me?" You question incredulously.

He laughs, a little bashfully. "I mean, come on, I thought it was obvious. I mean it was to everyone else."

You pale a little. "The others know?"

"Yeah, 'course they do. They're the ones that pointed it out in the first place. I didn't even realize I was doing it at first either." He scratches his neck, almost nervously.

"So why the mustache?"

"I don't know. I was just trying to get you to pay attention to me. Thought this might help." And god help you, Jake blushes, actually reddens a bit.

"How'd you know?"

"Hm, know what?" He smirks at you.

You cough. "You know, that I'd--that I'd like it."

Jake grins. "I didn't but you just told me you did."

You hit him again, a slap on the shoulder, almost playful, and you can't believe it, you're flirting with him, you're really this close to him, doing this. "Fuck off."

He smiles again but this one is different. His eyes are incredibly soft and he's looking at you and--did he always look at you like this? Were you really this blind?

"I need you to answer another question for me." His hand on your hips snakes around you and you stumble into him, putting your hands on his chest to brace yourself, and, Christ, he smells good. “Do you think I could take you out sometime?”

"Um." You're throat suddenly feels incredibly dry and you're heart feels like it about to beat right out of your chest. "I mean, if you want to."

"Yeah, baby. I want to."

#jake seresin x reader #hangman x reader #hangman fanfic #jake seresin fanfic #top gun fanfic #top gun maverick fanfic #my writing #idk what this is but i hope u enjoy it #just something a little sweet for the kids #love grows

[ginaporterr]

HIIII Y'ALL!!!!!!! this is honestly very insane to me but i recently hit 1k on here, so i just wanted to say thank you all for being here and joining me on this fun ride over the past two years since i made this blog. i feel like i've joined the hsmtmts/specifically rina fandom three separate ways/times and i've always been able to easily find my niche of people, which really speaks to how open and wonderful this community as a whole is. this third time around was no exception, this little subsection of some of the nicest, funniest, smartest, most talented, most supportive people ever means the world to me, so thank you all for following and partaking in all of the fun that was this rollercoaster of a show, and thank you for supporting my relentless content creation bc i am most definitely not stopping anytime soon skdjfks 😭 this milestone perfectly coincided with the show's ending since i hit it on the day of s4's release, so i thought it would be fun to celebrate both my little milestone & the ending of our beloved show (and our many major wins) with you all, the lovely people that have made this time with the show as wonderful as it was! this show, these characters, and you all hold a very special place in my heart, so. let's celebrate it all!!

like last time, this celebration will be split into two components; prompts & polls! i thought it would be fun to see the difference in top ships now that the second half of the show's been released (+ with a bigger voting pool), so we're running it back! to join in on the celebration, you can vote in the poll linked below and/or send in an ask with a prompt!!

RULES — mbf this blog — send in a prompt (or multiple) from below — vote in the top ships poll

PROMPTS — ❄️ : song association! send in one of your favorite songs and i'll make a gifset relating it to some aspect of the show — 🦋 : personalized sets! tell me what you like about hsmtmts / what it means to you (in as little or as much detail as you'd like) and i'll make something inspired by your message — 🌀 : requests! send in a character/dynamic/episode/etc. + color/quote/song/motif/etc. that you'd like a gifset of — 🪁 : make me choose! send in two (or more) characters/episodes/dynamics/scenes/etc. & i’ll choose between them for a gifset — 💙 : surprise! for mutuals only <3 (reminder that i follow from milesgmorales)

and one last thing, i want to especially say thank you to some of my mutuals, old and new, that have made being here one of my favorite experiences <3 you all genuinely brighten up my dash, my tag, my blog, the show tag, the ao3 tag, everything with your thoughts and creations and talent and humor and i'm so very grateful to you all bc these past few years would not have been the same without you (especially those of you that were around for the s2/post-s2 rina dark ages KSJDKFH) forever grateful to this fun little disney show for bringing so many wonderful people into my life <3 LOVE YOU ALL MWAH

@ginaricky @laylakeating @homemade-ghosts @chuckclayton @richiebowen @saythewylie @aamirmitchell @pinkhysteria @mjsparkour @bakerolivia @spookys @blues-valentine @ginasporter @starrrbakerrr @emiraee @squishymar @rickybowsn @mariasyko @frostluvrs @ginaluvr @narcobarbies @usersojo @tabithatate @kitherondale @mike-el @userguts @kayascodelorio @yellowlaboratory @bartowskis

don't feel obligated to participate or rb ksdjkfs

#what's the surprise who knows not me #is it a gifset? is it something else? stay tuned to find out #(probably gonna be a gifset KDSJDFH) #i hope the butterfly emoji prompt makes sense #and that i can actually deliver 😭 #hsmtmtsedit #hsmtmts #ricky bowen #gina porter #maddox #ashlyn caswell #kourtney greene #jet #rina #madlyn #jetney #gp1k #hoping i didn't forget anybody bc i will feel terrible but. if we are mutuals just know i love you dearly sdjfjksf <3 #ignore the bits of text that won't stay small bc the new post editor sucks

[wendigho]

Every time I see AI art discourse I think of my new media teacher in college talking about remix culture.

I think about how much I love collage and how much it inspired me to keep going with art because sometimes all I can do is cut and paste.

I think if taking a few tracks I loved from a downloaded album and learning to use audacity to make something new.

I think about how much capitalism kills art.

So much so that we can't even agree that it's more messed up that life could be ruined by sharing creative energy.

No one will engage with the fact that maybe, just maybe, it's messed up that a form of creation even has the possibility to make artists unable to live.

It makes me sad when people say it's theft, abuse of other's work, lazy... It's art.

It's as much art as when I'm drawing, painting, cutting up magazines, folding zines, making a mix tape, over painting a thrift store find, making book art.

The issue is it shouldn't be paywalled, it shouldn't be censored, or centralized. Just like the Internet itself honestly.

Human beings should all feel free to create and remix any fucking thing they want.

The AI algorithm is not the problem, it is as it has always been, capitalism.

Don't want to lose your livelihood to a machine? Consider those who would use that machine against you in the first place. Side with free open source systems that do not generate profit. Actually consider why the problems exist and stop scapegoating and dismiss real actual tools for artists who are not traditional.

AI can make lovely stuff, I use it for references and to speed run sketches sometimes. I can input my art into certain things and run variations to find new directions for a sketch. I can visualize ideas, I can make something.

There's no reason anyone should be opposed to that.

But then, people hate collage too. People hate Tumblr gifsets and image posts made from screenshots. Those old composite gifs are "cringe" but they also took a hell of a lot of work. Just stitching together a fantasy.

#i just crave nuance in the debate #ai artwork #ai art #ai discourse #ai discussion #generative art #midjourney #stable diffusion #dalle3

[rosenfey]

You can make this public Ambie, but its something I've also been struggling with. I honestly understand what you meant when you were talking about like... feeling like you can't love/like said fictional character because other people have claimed them. I'm assuming you mean Gale because i SORTA feel the same but in the sense of... I make Gale gifs but other people's Gale content does so much better so I'm like... am I doing it wrong? Am I enjoying the character wrong? Am I making poor content? Do I not have THE RIGHT to enjoy him because people enjoy said creators content of Gale more than mine...? And yeah its a spiral, to the point I beat myself up over it. It's like... their content blew up overnight while my Gale stuff struggles. Sooo I guess I'm kinda in the same boat and it sucks.

Dear Taylor, thank you. ♡ I am going to write more about this because it's a way for me to organise my thoughts and maybe hopefully also to help me (and you maybe!) to feel better.

I think a lot of this has to do with kinda being on tumblr for a long while. It's ultimately hurtful behaviour but old habits die very hard and it's super easy to feel like it's all some sort of competition - when it isn't obviously, but the anxiety goes deep.

I mostly get it when I feel like I am not making enough "content" (shouldn't probably call gifsets / edits / anything creative "content" in the first place, actually because it strips it down from being something we should do for our own enjoyment. im gonna get there) for a character.

I get like this with Gale as well namely because he is my comfort character in the sense that his story helped me and taught me a lot, and it's just incredibly deeply personal and important to me. But I remember when the "norm" on tumblr felt like (it wasn't maybe but it felt like it) people laid claim on characters. At least in my personal experience, this was really the case because I remember I had a falling out with my ex friend because I started shipping my oc with the same character as them. Unfortunately, I started to believe that this is normal - that oops, they claimed that character and hence I can't have that character myself. I still don't like that character anymore even though I used to love them, simply because somewhere in my mind it feels like a guilty territory, like I don't deserve to like that character anymore.

I haven't been this affected by a fictional character ever before in my life. Gale literally saved my life when I was at a very very very low spot. And he continues to do so. I can safely say he is the reason I am still here. So I think that's why I feel backlash sometimes - even when it's just my own feeling, because nobody has ever told me "hey hands off, its MY emotional support wizard" - because I need to unlearn this habit of feeling like I am not enough. Or that my love isn't enough and that I am not a true "fan" enough. All of that "I am the no.1 fan" and canon url stuff from tumblr from years past is unfortunately still within me. And I can safely say I am working on it, however, there are some bad days sometimes.

I stopped posting about Faerene x Gale because at this point I only talk about my ocs because I feel like I need to "make up" for the fact that other people talk about their OCs / Gale x Tav ships more often. And if I don't post about mine it makes me feel like people will assume I don't like this pairing as much as others do. Same when it comes to gifsets and stuff, I feel like mine aren't getting much traction because somehow I don't "deserve" to love this fictional character as much because other people post and talk about them more often than I do.

It really really really sucks but I fully believe we can work on it!! At least I can always tell myself that even though I have these feelings I will not let them take over me. Because we don't act upon them. We don't go around and tell people "hands off my comfort character I love him more than anyone". We don't feel like this because we are bad people. I think we are just deeply hurt somehow. But that can be healed and I believe in us.

Just remember that you are more than what you post online. Your online presence doesn't define how you feel about things. You cannot simply measure love. Love is unique for all of us!! And it's incredibly beautiful that we get to love a fictional character so much and that Gale has brought so much joy to many other people. Your experience with Gale is different from mine and everyone elses! Nobody. I mean nobody. Can take that away. And spoiler alert, most of them aren't even trying to.

#ask #wizardblood #sorry i got carried awayyy but i need to sort my brain #today is a mental health-care day

[jaskierx]

little pre-warning for suicide (i'm fine though!!)

sorry if this isn't articulated very well but like. i got into ofmd only last october when season 2 was airing and i still remember it's bc i got a clip on tiktok of the "is that blackbeard?" "no, i'm blackbeard" scene which is SUCH a good fucking hook btw. and before watching it i kind of actually hated it LOL like people do with anything that's popular and Everywhere it just oversaturates sometimes. and it made me feel kind of silly to go back on my own opinion but i didn't even really dwell on that bc me getting into it also happened to coincide with a failed suicide attempt (that kind of funnily also included a gun that misfired like in-show lol). and like i was pretty understandably all over the place, but generally still in the "i want to live" moment that happens right after you nearly properly die. and the thing about suicide recovery is that you don't actually want to recover. so it was a really up and down left and right kind of situation and you're left feeling kind of like a puppet with no strings that's also been thrown into the ocean or something.

but then i liked this show that was funny and silly and i also got to see trans and gay people existing happily and normally which isn't necessarily NEW but it did feel really cool and unique to be able to go Oh and this is the moment where they would usually leave it to subtext and then they actually KISS and it's like woahhhh. i didn't know they could do that... and then as i was still processing what was happening with my own life and like mortality i got to see this character go through the exact same thing and come out on the other side of it ENTIRELY by himself and experience love and self determination and actualisation and i'm not saying it made me want to do it myself but it did feel like a really personal thing for me (hence anon also lol).

and for the few weeks it was coming out i got to sit there and think about how he was doing and it gave me another reason to not do something again. like i am so definitely not the only one who can say "this show saved my life" but honestly it literally did. like there's that thing when you're suicidal where the things that you're sticking around for are the only things you've got so they're as important as anything even if it's like... going to a concert the following week or something. or getting a burger. and i really honestly stuck around just to love this show and my cat.

it's been a few months now ofc and it still sucks and i'm not better or anything but being able to indulge in something fun for fun's sake is the biggest source of joy in my life and tbh it's not gonna go away just because there's going to be no season 3. when i'm feeling too much of particularly anything i have a handy little balm which i know everyone feels but still. a little gifset of ed always makes me feel better if i'm freaking out so it's cool i don't care if it's a bit lame. i'm a bit sad for season 3 and everyone being sad is also making me sadder but i still have a lot of love left so ah. it'll be fine :)

if anything i hope this inspires people to have a little boom in the numbers re: content now that we know there'll be no canon to possibly diverge from and we can make up our OWN season 3 ‼️ which will be fun :)

hi anon sorry i didn't reply to this yesterday i wanted to sit and think about what to say

and then i didn't really come up with anything lmao other than you're right and i love you and i love this show and it's so incredibly important to me and so groundbreaking in so many ways and has made me feel seen in a way that no other piece of media ever has. the queer rep is groundbreaking. the portrayal of ed's suicidality moved me beyond words. there are dozens of other people sharing stories about how ofmd helped them to come out or meet their partner or start transitioning or quit something that was making them unhappy. i watched s2 at a time while i was really struggling with post-covid symptoms. i've met so many incredible people through this fandom. i think about the show dozens of times a day. the show brought me so much joy and they can't take that away

they can't ever take away how special it was and how much it's changed people's lives

i'm very excited to see what the amazing fic writers in this fandom are going to give us in place of s3. i just wish we could've had the rest of the story david wanted to tell

#asks #anon #ofmd #cw suicide

[mulderscully]

Thank you so much for sharing so much of your 20s struggles with us. (OG followers like myself especially—I’ve lived for the comeback of your Tentoo/Rose obsession and your Star Wars Opinions bc I’ve followed along a loooong time.) It really does give me hope as someone just a few years away from turning 30. It can get better because we’re going to make it better!

You’ve put in so much work to change your health and that includes working on your mental health! #DoItScared all day!

Happy Birthday and I hope your 30s fucking rule!!! Thanks for the laughs and incredible gifsets over the years!

i'm gonna cry, it makes me so emo that some of you have been around so long and stuck around!!! honestly my 20s were so hard and painful and lonely, especially there in the middle/end when i got epilepsy and then the pandemic happened that if i didn't have the community we have here idk what i would have done. i can't imagine it and it's why i think of this place so fo ly when a lot of others don't, ya know?

and absolutely! some days i feel so exhausted and weighed down, but i don't feel the same absolute dread everyday and any step forward is worth celebrating and accepting that somedays you take a step back too is important as well.

i'm excited to walk toward 40 🙏

#reply #bday #i love u all 🥹

[icedteaandoldlace]

One of my favorite things about Rogue Time, honestly, is the fact that that's the episode where I first realized that Cisco was actually important to Barry (tbh I think it’s the episode where Cisco first realized he was important to Barry, too).

Everything I saw about The Flash on Tumblr before I started watching the show (aside from Kurtbastian AU gifsets) had to do with either Westallen or Snowbarry, with some Coldflash and Olivarry thrown in as well, and I saw pretty much nothing about Cisco. And what with Iris being Barry's childhood best friend and Caitlin having a Hermione-esque energy (and Tumblr SERIOUSLY misleading me about what her relationship with Barry was gonna be like), I thought that Cisco was going to be basically a third wheel who's only there to make handy gadgets, name bad guys, crack jokes, and get yelled at when he's not being Serious™️ enough. I had absolutely no clue he was going to become Barry's best friend; I really thought he was just gonna be Some Guy that works with him.

So it was something of a surprise when Barry reacted the way he did to finding out that Cisco had been kidnapped. Then when Cisco is let go and he tells Barry that Captain Cold forced him to tell him his secret identity, I expected Barry to actually react to that news in some way. I expected him to be stressed, and maybe even a little mad/annoyed at Cisco, even if he didn't say so to his face and just gave him a polite, "the important thing is that you're safe", and then went all "that bitch actually sold me out" to Caitlin or Joe or Wells later (I feel like Clark did something like that on Smallville once, but I don't remember the circumstances, and I think that's what I based my expectations off of). But instead, Barry's concern was 100% for Cisco. He didn't get upset or put any kind of blame on Cisco; he just hugged him, told him he was sorry for putting him in a position where that could happen in the first place, and then worked out the matter of Captain Cold knowing his identity on his own—which involved telling him that if he ever hurt anyone he loved again, he would take him down and he didn't care how many people he told his real identity to. So even when he's running damage control, Cisco's safety still takes priority over his own anonymity.

Another thing I love about that situation is that it's one of many turning points in Barry and Cisco's relationship. One was in Captain Cold's first episode, another was after Flashpoint, and so on. This particular one showed us Cisco thinking Barry's life is more important than his own, and very likely thinking that he cared more about Barry than Barry did for him, considering the kind of relationship he has with Dante, the fact that he went his whole life up to this point thinking that Melinda Torres didn't love him back, and the fact that this episode comes right on the heels of us learning that the person Cisco admires the most and sees as a father figure is capable of killing him in cold blood without hesitation. Even though Cisco doesn't remember that timeline yet, we know he's used to having unrequited feelings for people, so it tracks that he would have the same expectations in his friendship with Barry. He's just happy to help from the sidelines, he doesn't need recognition for everything he does, so it doesn't even occur to him that Barry sees and appreciates his value and genuinely cares about him as a person, and not just the guy who patches up his suits. Once he does figure out that Barry values him, it gives him more security and confidence in their relationship, which results in him later getting more sarcastic with him, and being able to vocally disagree with him, without worrying that Barry will stop being his friend. And the longer the series goes on, the stronger their friendship grows, and the more comfortable Cisco becomes in challenging what Barry thinks, and because of this, Barry is able to grow more as a person as well—and it wouldn't even have been possible if he hadn't shown Cisco that he was important to him.

#The Flash #Barry Allen #Cisco Ramon #Rogue Time #Barrisco

[messyhairdiaz]

I'm hesitant to ask this question because a lot of people are really weird but you were patient even with the person being really ridiculous and I have been really confused lately.

Why are so many people who were big buddie shippers shifting to be mainly or even only bucktommy now?

I get multishipping, but in the past when people had other ships they liked they didn't shift so drastically. Most people are now changing their users and everything to be bucktommy/tommy and most of the fanfic writers write only bucktommy now.

Is it just because it is new? Or because Buck being bi is such a big thing? I am on the spectrum and don't do change so maybe it's a me thing but it is just surprising and a little confusing why there is so much of a shift. I remember lots of people shipped Buck/Josh and even Buck/Taylor and Buck/Lucy but there wasn't ever so much of a full focus change.

A lot of people also seemed to suddenly start hating on or just not caring about Eddie too which has made me sad, like he only matters in the context of Buddie shipping. That seems to be mostly on Twitter and tiktok though and those groups of fans have always been a little weird.

Anyway this is very long and I understand if you don't want to answer, especially with all the discourse lately.

Hi! Honestly I’m always happy to answer questions like yours where you are genuinely asking a question and not just coming in with accusations and nonsense to start drama

I can really only speak for myself, but I think other people would probably agree with my reasoning, so:

I think a good chunk of it probably is because it’s new, yeah. I love buddie so much and nothing could ever change that, but it is fun to have this new dynamic to work with. For me especially, I’m enjoying writing bucktommy a ton right now, because I haven’t written outside of buddie in, well, years actually because even before I dove in headfirst in 2021 I hadn’t really been writing much of anything. So it’s fun to have new toys to play with.

And honestly, at least as far as my dash and my friends go, I don’t think any of us are only bucktommy shippers now, it’s just getting the major focus right now because it’s new and it’s playing out on our screens. I’m still seeing plenty of new buddie fics, metas, and gifsets coming out amongst the bucktommy

Like, my last fic was bucktommy, and my next one will be too, but I still have lots of buddie fic brewing, and I know I’ll still be coming up with tons of new ideas for them too. But it probably seems like I’ve done a hard shift, because it is only what I’m working on right now. But that’s just temporary, and I’m sure it is with others as well.

As for hating on or not caring about Eddie, that is definitely something I have not seen. I can’t say it isn’t happening, of course, because I only follow around 100 people and rarely venture off my dash, but if you’re seeing it here I would encourage you to curate your dash better, and stay away from twitter and TikTok because those places are cesspools for fandom.

To circle back to why bucktommy is getting this treatment over the other ships you mentioned, again, I can only speak for myself, but it’s because Tommy is such a compelling character. I’m fascinated by the character set up through the begins episodes to now, and I like thinking about him. I’m not saying other characters haven’t been compelling, but they just haven’t grabbed my attention in a way that makes me want to write about them the way he has.

I hope I was able to address all your questions

#asks #anonymous

[margridarnauds]

fanfic writer emoji ask: ✍ 🎢 👀

✍ Do you have a beta reader?

For a while, I did, and they were and are great (we have not had a falling out! We are still friends!), but real life kind of got in the way for both of us, and that's fine. Sometimes, I do miss having someone look over my stuff so that I know I don't sound insane, but it's fine.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

I feel like "wildest ride" could mean so many different things. Like, content wise, just on the basis of it existing? ABSOLUTELY A Soft October Night, mainly because I don't think I'd ever gone as far as "Incest Murder Threesome" before. (I will make no promises that I won't do so AGAIN, but it definitely is a shocker from the usual.)

Though this is ALSO from the same creative team that brought you "Romeo has sex with the personification of Death on a crucifix" and "Ronan and Lazare have sex on a printing press" (which seems MUCH tamer compared to the other two), so, really, you can pick your poison.

As far as plot? Either The Midnight Mass or Pour la Peine, depending on if you think "Ronan discovers his old friends are zombies that want to kill him" or "The Thing that happens in Pour la Peine that changes the whole plot" is more shocking. (Personally, I am still REALLY proud of that twist in PLP, since I'd sat on that for years.)

If you're talking about in a crackficky sense? ...I mean. Goosefic. Goosefic. The fic that solidified my reputation in the 1789 fandom. If I say so myself, every single fic I've listed before that has some larger motivation for why it's Like That. Goosefic was just me reading a writing prompt and thinking "I want Lazare to get chased by a pissed off goose." And it is beautiful.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

I don't think it's a SECRET I'm working on writing out my playthrough of BG3, or at least. Key parts of it. (I am NOT. Novelizing. An 125 hour playthrough. Yet.) I have about 11k words into it at the moment, but I'm not publishing a word of it until it's in a place where I know I can very likely finish it, or at least make a dent. We are NOT doing that thing where I just publish one chapter, hit a major bout of writer's block, and can't go through with it. (I can't make any promises for AFTER one chapter.)

It deals, primarily, with Kitrye's Happy Fun Times in the game, her ongoing verbal game of cat and mouse with Raphael, her relationship with her sister, and her relationship with her culture, as well as her overall development during the course of the game. (I don't really consider it a spoiler, given I put it in an actual gifset, that Kitrye breaks her oath as a paladin at one point -- there is a LOT dedicated to the circumstances around that and how it changes the game, even though that's a late development.) A spoiler that literally only you and a couple of people will understand and so I can give without any worry is:

"Ich will dich nicht, ich brauch' dich nicht. GEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

(Honestly, thus far, it's looking like how I'm writing out every act is taking inspiration from something else. Like, if Pour la Peine and its related stories drew a lot of inspiration from the Evilious Chronicles, I would say that the third act in particular is very, very Elisabeth tinted if you know where to look; second act is looking to have at least one scene inspired by a very memorable moment from one of the branches of the Mabinogi; and the first act, which is still the roughest, is a little bit more up in the air, with all of them borrowing at least a LITTLE bit from The Last Trial.)

Of course. It would be much easier to work on it. IF I HAD MY GAMING PC THAT COULD RUN THE GAME SO I COULD DOUBLE CHECK MY FILES. MY CUSTOM MADE GAMING PC THAT I CHOSE EVERY SINGLE PART FOR SO THAT IT COULD BE A MONSTER AT RUNNING GAMES.

(I'm cool, I'm chill, I'm fine.)

Anyway, have the Symryvvin girls, out of context. (Malla 🤝 Raphael: Being in an eternal state of Done.)

[thebonerpit]

Idk if anyone follows my posts enough to even notice this but you may have seen me talking about a lot of new things I've watched so far this year, both tv and film. I kind of made a mini resolution to do this because I found, especially at the end of 2023, that I was stuck in a rut of either rewatching old things or mindlessly flipping through YouTube videos I had little to no interest in. There's so much media out there I'm interested in and now I feel almost reinvigorated to go through it and I've been having a blast.

Most of the time I'll probably just reblog a gifset or two with thoughts in the tags but I finally watched the Interview with the Vampire tv show and I have FEELINGS (mostly good)! Spoilers for season one and I do talk about book things that eventually happen so beware in case you don't know and want to continue the show completely blind...

So I kinda put off watching this at first because the Vampire Chronicles books are some of my favourites, and while it did have its own issues, the 1994 film holds a special place in my heart. I was like... do we really need anything else? But I'm glad I gave it a chance because the show was able to go so much further in so many aspects and also now we have a chance to actually see even more of the book events take place!

I'm gonna say up front that almost every character felt very different from how they are in the book except for Lestat. Lestat was actual perfection and I cannot BELIEVE someone did a (dare I say) even better job than Tom Cruise who gave the performance of his life in the film. Sam Reid's Lestat is unhinged and dramatic and terrifying and sad and cringe and yet also loveable and it was a masterpiece of acting. For the majority of the other characters I really didn't mind the differences and in some instances I thought they were actually improved. Daniel Molloy, for example, who is basically Anthony Bourdain? Perfection. Louis who is yes kind of pathetic and dramatic like the book, but also is volatile and complicated which Lestat is drawn to right from the beginning instead of only after having his little breakdown caused by his brother's death? Excellent. Armand who is older and looks nothing like the Armand described in the books but I can see without any problem how Marius fell madly deeply insanely in love with him because he's GORGEOUS and has this unsettling serenity about him? Give. Me. MORE.

The only issue I really had was with Claudia. I see people praising her all over the place so I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion but I hated that they aged her up so much. The most compelling thing about Claudia as a character is that she is an adult woman trapped in the body of a literal CHILD. A pre-pubescent child. Not a teenager. It's absolutely horrifying and it should be horrifying. Now, I will say, I saw an article where they talked about part of the reason behind this choice being that they needed the actor to work longer hours and it was impossible for a kid to do that, plus the very intense material, and I fully FULLY support any protections for child actors because the industry is insane. But it does make me sad and I wish there was some way they could have worked around it. I get what they tried to do with teenage Claudia but it just fell flat for me. And also the actress really looks her age (I think she's 20?) so like the few times where people were making fun of her for "playing dress up" or whatever I'm like... she fully looks like an older teen at LEAST what are you talking about lol. Also I thought her accent was kind of bad.

But honestly, that was really the only problem I had with the whole series. I absolutely loved how they went full-on explicit with the Lestat/Louis romance and the chemistry between the two of them was... WOOF. I was actually really interested in the modern portions too, mostly because Anthony Bour-- I mean Daniel Molloy was so entertaining lol. I loved how he pushed and pushed at Louis and their whole back and forth was brilliant. Although putting on my archivist's hat for a second to be outraged at Daniel consenting to wearing the cotton gloves to handle the diaries but then eating a fucking sandwich right beside the book???? Absolutely not lol. It was so much fun to see the Armand reveal (which I was spoiled for somehow but that's ok) especially knowing that Armand eventually turns Daniel and boy oh boy I hope they go long enough to get to that. I loved the continued references to Lestat's love of music which makes me hope they're planting seeds to make rock star Lestat a little more believable lol (god can you even imagine?? And we don't talk about the Queen of the Damned movie ok).

As for S2, I'm so excited for Paris and the Théâtre des Vampires and HELLO Ben Daniels as Santiago!!! Omg so hype for that. And it's going to be so interesting to see the Armand/Louis relationship as well because I mean it's always going to be Lestat/Louis and Armand/Marius for me so Louis being like "he's the love of my life"... girl. (And speaking of Armand/Marius please GOD give us some flashbacks because they are my Vampire Chronicles OTP and I need to see that whole story including my girl Bianca thank youuuuu).

Yeah so overall I'm quite positive about the whole thing and sincerely hope that they get many more seasons because there's so many interesting stories in those books and we've only ever gotten a TINY portion on screen.

#tbptalks #interview with the vampire #in addition to watching new things i'm apparently also reverting to my livejournal days and writing long rambly posts about media lol #i like throwing my opinions into the void ok sometimes i just need to get them out there #and when i have a lot to say i don't like using the tags on someone else's post

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

hello hello hope u are having a good timezone! as u might have noticed re: my tags on that shl gifset lmao i'm interested on yr thoughts on this as a wenzhou poem.. cannot stop thinking about the come hope too much. come with all your ghosts. come clown around when the timing's bad. come promise me the world. come trust me to do my best even when i don't. come ask me to give you everything i have. anyway. !!! <3

honestly, i dont know how to present my thoughts without wanting to cry. there is something so raw about this poem that hits me where it hurts. i think this visceral need, of hope, is so essential to tyk, and at the same time, the novel is making a study of hopelessness.

i mean. the main character starts out killing himself; and it is hard not to understand this wish if the very world he lives in is so bleak and devoid of warmth. and after that very important decision, zhou zishu rejoices in every single mundane thing life has to offer; and he can do that, like, he has given himself the allowance to it because he paid for it with his death.

Death was not frightening. It had not been easy for him to survive over the past twenty years; all of the methods he used to pressure Zhang Chengling were ones he had endured in his childhood, but even harsher, and despite him not having the kid's innate talent for withstanding that harshness completely unharmed. (Ch. 45, tl. chichilations) "Why wouldn't i? My junior used to be taught by my hand." .. "Then what did you do if our junior couldn't recite the mantras, or couldn't practice some move?" .. "I made him copy the introductory breath-regulation mantra three hundred times. If he couldn't even practice slowly, then he wouldn't need to eat, nor… need to sleep. In the middle of the night, I would get someone to lock his bedroom up so that he would go into the snowdrifts and come to a comprehension on his own." (Ch. 33, tl. chichilations) He had experienced enough to fear no one and nothing in the world. If he lived in no fear, what was so scary about death? (Ch. 45, tl. chichilations)

and i feel like... like!! he has spent his entire life trying to carve out a place for himself: he perfected four seasons manor’s martial arts into an, uh, art, he dabbled a little in game of thrones politics entirely uncalled for, he discovered he has basically no bottom line, he sold his sect to the empire and built a new organization by himself, he became the most powerful person of the nation second only to the son of heaven. he has, like, done lots of things, and made mostly only bad choices.

but this struggle has always been about living his own life, and it has always been in a transactional way, and now that he has all but killed himself, he is doing it all over again.

However, what was making him uncomfortable was that he had to count the days down until his death. / Having endured so much, his heart's will was stalwart, and never had he had a will for death. Wasn't it ironic that his most free, most unworried, and most cheerful days would be the ones where he was waiting to die? / This was most likely yet another stupid thing that was his own doing. (Ch. 45, tl. chichilations)

and wen kexing is kind of the opposite. wen kexing has never really lived a life for himself, and over his time in the valley, he must have become accustomed to the thought of never having a life of his own ever. he is entirely unashamed of being seen as well, at least regarding the things that are socially unacceptable, like homosexuality and murder, or his general unhinged self; unashamed in a way that speaks of a trial by fire. but he once says that,

"For all my life, whenever I want to happily play around, I can't be happy. When I grew up a little, I wanted to learn arts both martial and literary with my parents, but no one was around to teach me. Tell me… isn't that some very poor timing?" (Ch. 29, tl. chichilations)

in short, he is always slightly out of tune. when he meets zhou zishu, he is slightly out of tune as well. zhou zishu is going to die (at this point, it is all but set in stone), and wen kexing has this plan that ends with a bang, with him going up in flames while he burns all of his past grievances and the devils and demons of jianghu, and that includes himself, away.

"This is the human world," he continued, "and the human world should not have ghosts and demons. The … prestigious Hero Ghao Chong is ridding the world of calamities for the common folk. If we don't lend a hand, would your many years of reading sagely texts not be in vain? I heard that only many years of cultivation can then give you a fulfilled life, but if you don't do anything notable, wouldn't those decades have been for nothing?" / Zhou Zishu didn't answer, but Wen Kexing still turned to ask after him. "Wouldn't you agree, Ah-Xu?" (Ch. 16, tl. chichilations) When cold rain falls, autumn makes itself known; the wutong tree ages and dies. Thin robes offer no protection from a night of bitter winter, years and lives wasting, whiling away... nothing more than this: resentment, that we met so late. (Ch. 29, tl. hunxi-after-hours)

but oh. while they meet, in that space between them, they carve out a place for them that fits just right; a space where they can explore and discover, play and fuck around, and be human. something neither really knows how to. ("and I started feeling myself open, / started feeling my yes coming back / and it was the sweetest thing I had ever known / the reverse of being haunted, / like taking a deep breath / and pulling the fog of the glass.")

and it also reminds me of this:

(excerpt from 'baked goods' by aimee nezhukumatathil, found here)

seriously, the lines youre quoting in your ask, like (grabs wenzhou and shakes them around) thats them!!! its them!!! but the poem has no single line that isnt a banger, almost no line that doesnt fit them. how it starts is absolutely devastating, it reminds me of wen kexing and the valley and his general attitude re: his lack of autonomy. ("I wanted the yes to last forever so badly later on I told myself: / We’re built like drums. We couldn't make songs / if we had never been hit. It was a desperate theory.") it reminds me of zhou zishu's journey (gestures at qi ye at large) and his unceasing downwards spiral, that ends with him (figuratively but also not) in his own grave. ("And that’s how I lived. I mean, that’s how I’d been living. / Decades of no no no no no no / And that’s okay, an accordion could not make a song / if it never closed.") like, zhou zishu is a survivor. the fact that he decides to kill himself has been a long way coming emotionally, but only really comes to pass in the physical world when liang jiuxiao's death kicks him off over edge, and half a decade later, he still remembers him with that misunderstanding in mind; otherwise, im fairly sure, he would have never done so, despite being unhappy and miserable.

"Who?" Zhou Zishu laughed dourly. "You mean the girl at the restaurant? I'll handle her. Liang Jiuxiao … he… he said murderers pay with their lives. Told me to pay with my life." (Qi Ye, Ch. 62, tl. chichilations) Murdering someone should be paid with one's life? Why should it be? In this world, there was a way to make living worse than dying. (TYK, Ch. 20, tl. chichilations)

but wen kexing, even despite being highly aware that he has never really lived, tries to find light in the darkness even in his last days on earth. ruth @specialability said the other day when i was rambling about wen kexing's general attitude re: his own impending death in my tags, "I do think that Wen Kexing is sort of removed from his reality in a dissociative way but he doesn't want to be. He is trying to have life experiences that are not so shitty and I do think there are times when he is very 'present', especially with Chengling," and i agree. they are both in their last days on this earth, and they are desperately making the most of it, because in all honesty, neither really wants to die. this shift from "not wanting to die" to "living", in tyk, happens incredibly slow and not all at once, i think. its a gradual process, a lot must be chosen and decided upon, and before all, wenzhou must allow themselves to believe in hope again.

thats what rattles me so about 'good light', its about how there hasnt always been hopelessness, but now, it is hard to remember how it used to be; having faith. believing in the good. this ardous, sometimes agonizing process of starting to believe in it again, of opening yourself to possibilities again. in the chapter when wu xi and jing qi return to examine zhou zishu again, after they already pronounced him incurable once before, and savable only if he paid a price that turns out to be his bottom line, zhou zishu says, in his pov:

Even though the time he had spent alive could not be considered ‘long’, Zhou Zishu felt that it was sufficient for him to understand this lesson--that there was no such thing as a free lunch. Even if these two people before him could be considered ‘friends’ if he were hard-pressed to, even if he was familiar with how the Great Shaman operated, he still dared not believe it so easily. / Because… it could hurt, this thing called hope. (Ch. 64, tl. wenbuxing)

but oh, it can be so sweet as well, cant it? when youve opened yourself to it, when youve begun to discover life, the world, yourself and who you might be; a second chance, at life, at being a person. like, wenzhou are so weird, but they are also trying out this thing called courtship, called friendship, called mundane life. and its so funny because they dont know how, and the novel absolutely drags them for it and they drag each other constantly and themselves too, no thing is left untouched. but also it is funny, it is hilarious, in this tragic sort of way that makes me want to cry, and also in the funny way because these two guys are just so perfect at being clowns.

but it is also sweet and lovely and raw, and thats who they are, and thats what they allow themselves to be, allow each other to be when they are together. they have, somehow, carved out this safe space with each other, where they can be fragile and human.

(quote above from 'i will' by mistki, found here)

#ruth! i hope its fine i keep quoting and atting u! #i know youre chronically tired u dont have to pay this silly little post any mind! i just really liked what u said there #the mutual tag #hi ros!!! hi!! hello hi!!! #sorry this took so long. #i saw this ask and i saw this poem and i was devastated all over the floor for WEEKS. #i have like 100000 drafts inspired by it thank u but no thank u #please add ur thoughts if u have any i love reading them and i would love to keep screaming about this topic especially #hope ure doing good!!! and thank u for the ask! (its the first of its kind in my inbox <3 it was very exciting and anxiety inducing höhö) #ros #ruth #inbox #tian ya ke

[maya-matlin]

Hi! I’d love to hear your view on Julian and Brulian? Like other people have pointed out, he had a whole different personality initially before they decided to lean into his dorky side. But even when they wisely tried to make him adorkable, there’s just something about him I don’t fully love and trust—maybe it’s the actor’s line deliveries, or the way even as an adult he’s so fixated with a group of high schoolers from a school he didn’t even attend (a movie and then a documentary in which he inserts himself lol?!), or just how he he seemed less of a real character than just a love interest for Brooke. And honestly I thought he had more chemistry with Alex! I love the idea of Brooke with a sweet but strong dork, but as much as I like some brulian gifsets, when I actually watch their scenes they just don’t click for me. I hope this makes sense!

I like Julian fine. He wasn't one of my favorite characters, but I thought he mostly fit into later seasons OTH. But I have to admit that there were several occasions where I would compare him to Lucas. It wasn't just within his relationship with Brooke. Julian was friends with Nathan, close with Jamie (even making him his best man!), was involved with both of Lucas's main love interests and like Lucas, created media. Even though Clay was technically Lucas's replacement, Julian was the one primarily serving that role. His characterization was kind of all over the place. Like you said, Julian literally changed personalities based on the season. I'm not sure if it was a deliberate shift in the writing or if Julian's personality changed because of Austin Nichols. I have no insight on this. I haven't watched a single interview with Austin and have zero behind the scenes tea other than he dated Sophia for years.

In terms of weak performances, the worst was by far in season 9 when Julian fell into a dark hole after leaving his son in the hot car. I wasn't at all sold on the angst or Julian's pain. Julian was just selfishly throwing himself into danger and inserting himself into Nathan's kidnapping arc just to make himself feel less guilty. It didn't suit him. This is a perfect example of comparing Julian to Lucas. I completely understand that the Lucas/Dan history meant the two teaming up was highly unlikely, but Chad 100% could have pulled off the tough guy stuff in that context. Then at the very end of the series, Julian essentially replaces Lucas when he writes HIMSELF into the story of Lucas's high school life, stealing the moment where he makes the winning shot at the state championship. I mean, it was probably just Mark Schwahn's petty bullshit, but still.

LOL yeah. Looking back, Julian's introduction was kind of sketchy. To a degree, I think that was intentional. Julian showing up as Peyton's jilted ex was a misdirect. We were meant to think he was going to cause trouble for Lucas and Peyton only for him to end up with Brooke instead. So with that knowledge, it turns out Julian decided to read Lucas's book and, like the entire world apparently, realized it was the greatest story ever told and became personally invested.

You're making complete sense! I feel the same way. I'm aware Julian is a good man and was a loving, devoted husband to Brooke, but I just don't feel it. The actors were doing everything right and the writing was solid, but there's just no passion. It's nice, but it's not particularly exciting. I'm happy for Brooke, but my feelings don't go beyond that. When it comes to Julian/Alex, I pretty much agree. I'm mostly glad they never got together because their friendship was so good and genuine that it didn't need to be muddled up with relationship drama. But at the same time, they pulled me in far more than Brooke and Julian ever did.

My stance is pretty much that it should have been Brucas together with Naley in the final episode. Julian was only in Tree Hill for Brooke. Peyton wanted out of her hometown, even attempting to leave multiple times to go to Jake, and really only came back for Lucas. Both Brooke and Lucas had a lot of love and nostalgia for their small town and seemed truly happy returning to it after college. It just makes sense.

#Anonymous #Ignore my cringy pro Brucas paragraph even though I stand by it

[mlobsters]

supernatural s12e2 mamma mia (w. brad buckner, eugenie ross-leming)

whatever the fuck is happening here, no fucking thank you. evil mol lady in sam's head fucking information out of him? need to tally all the times someone's messed with his head, jesus. being resurrected soulless, having said soul shoved back in by dean via death with a wall, said wall being destroyed by cas to keep the boys occupied, trauma from said breaking causing lucifer hallucinations, becky's love potion, dean tricking him into saying yes to gadreel, am i forgetting anything? (too much plot to keep track of)

CASTIEL Don't make things needlessly complicated, as you humans tend to do. I'll call you.

oh damn, i need to get on that too. keep it simple, stupid

i really like the hair and makeup on mary this time. reminiscent of her s1 makeup

s4e21 sam hallucinating mom (nigh on unrecognizable, i thought she'd been recast!) / s1

MARY That yellow-eyed thing would never have come for him that night if I... I started all of this.

respectfully, what with the being michael and lucifer's One True Vessels, i don't think it matters what you did. which tripped some signal in my brain for a techno?? song with a line 'this has all happened before and it will all happen again'. i keep thinking the messiah album from 94 but hmm. argh. i need to drop this and figure it out later

thought we were done with the physical torture. silly me.

why are we with rowena now. and this dude who's been in a million things but who knows what i recognize him from. could be commercials, for all i know. and rick springfield, right. we're just going on with our weird little goofy plotlines and just cutting to awful torture periodically. sure.

MARY Sam had a chance to get out? And he came back? DEAN When Dad disappeared, Sam and I looked around, and something became very clear. That the only thing we had in this world – the only thing, aside from this car – was each other.

i will take that and tuck it in my pocket. mary looking (understandably) concerned

ROWENA I can't believe I'm once again down some dank hole seeking the devil! When does it end? It's exactly why I'm retiring to Boca Raton. With Ben.

stopped clenching my jaw over sam long enough to laugh, that was a good one

great, now dean's getting a beating too. just go wander about this place that's heavily warded, alone. not making good choices, dean (so we can get mary to come save the day again?)

the wing shadows are always fun and a lot easier to execute well compared to actual (practical or cg) wings but do miss a real wing unfurling from time to time. you know what had great wings?

clash of the titans (2010) that and shiny armor on the gods is all i remember honestly

internet died unexpectedly mid-episode so here i am day 2, again.

i will say. also. i really appreciate spn does cast people that are older for things that could be cool and badass or sexy or whatever. but i dunno if rick springfield was the best choice exactly for lucifer. since we're like, in theory trying to still do mark pellegrino's lucifer, maybe getting an actor-actor would have been a better fit

the way dean replied "hey" so soft and with a hint of a smile, my heart

(back to muting with evil lady)

and yes, to mary saving the day. man, she looks great. shoutout again to the makeup artists and stylists (and good lighting!)

they are really going above and beyond making this mol woman irredeemably awful. not one to encourage them just killing people straight out of the gate but i was hoping mary (or dean) would just shoot her. i dunno if the goal was try to get information or something but she has proven to be exceptionally dangerous time and time again. sam shoulda just shouted out for them to shoot. but less angsty drama so

seen this in meme format and knew it must be from this plotline, didn't realize they'd cropped mary out

gather there must have been some offscreen cas-healing. convenient

MARY But do you still like pie?

reminds me of a gifset i saw recently with jensen talking about his been conditioned to be excited about pie via dean lol

i have a variety of gags i don't love on this show, but dean eating as piggishly as possible is up there near the top.

i can't get over how beautiful she looks. bewitched me

MARY Well, we should call the Internet and find out as much as we can about these people. Did I say that right? DEAN So close. SAM Yeah, it was close.

that was very cute

the crazy awkward i can't begin to fathom for sam, not knowing mary at all (though dean barely did too, especially considering most kids don't retain those very early childhood memories)

SAM Dad's journal. His writing, his words. Helped me fill in some blanks, answer some questions I didn't know I had. And, you know, it – it – it keeps him with us, sort of. MARY Thank you. SAM Good night. MARY Dean said you got out of hunting. SAM Yeah. MARY And yet here you are. SAM Well, this is my family. My family hunts, you know? It's what we do. Mom. For me... just, um... having you here... fills in the biggest blank.

❤️ got me to tear up too - despite the slightly odd music cue for the hug - lyrics yes but not quite the right mood musically to me? (heart's lost angel). i think it works for the montage but the tone feels not quite right for the hug

i hope they're taking more pictures these days. damn bobby for burning the family picture with jo and ellen in 5x10. sam and dean both look at them regularly, should add some new ones

the apocalypse au picture?? had it paused trying to find jdm and then like whaa that's cas being human-apocalypse-casual. 5x04 (which includes some really wonky romantic music when sam and dean reunite, clip included)

and now we're back to cheesy action spy thriller with the whatever, expert assassin torturer whatever the fuck. giving whiplash

--

brief-ish rant. i've complained, often, annoyingly, about the torture in this show. pushing aside the fact that torturing for information doesn't work, i think it's the sheer volume in this show in particular that has me so kneejerk upset about it. most shows or movies i watch (because i'm not going to pick to watch things that advertised to have a lot of torture in them), i can look away through maybe a few scenes and okay moving on. but torture itself became an Important Character / Plot note thing for dean, and with the torture subjects often being not-human there's (presumably) less moral qualms about torturing them, along with just a general standard action trope of using it for information. it's just so common and so accepted as standard operating procedure. and i don't like it. i don't like depictions of it ever, but especially not with this show's frequency, and especially-especially not with my special guys doing the torturing or being subjected to it.

#supernatural #spnwatch #spn 12x02 #sam and dean mush #is best i could come up with a tag for when they say mushy stuff #now to slowly go find my other posts and tag them appropriately #brad buckner #eugenie ross leming #christopher lennertz

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

omg i just found your podcast and it’s incredibly cathartic to listen to as i have felt the loss of fandom spaces over the past few years (tumblr dying and twitter being hard to use for that). livejournal sounds so nice. I wish there was another social media site that would allow that sort of community again for art and fandom and connection.

Thank you so much for listening and writing in! The loss of fandom spaces is always so hard and sad -- I (V) still mourn the landscape of individually run HTML fansites that ran all the way to the horizon back in Web 1.0. I miss fun layouts! I miss image galleries! I miss fandom mailing lists! (And I highly recommend The Rec Center if you don't already subscribe to them).

I actually think that Tumblr isn't dying so much as accepting its size and scope -- it ISN'T a social media site, and it's never been something that was going to be able to compete with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for mainstream, everyday-Joe users. People who don't have a hyperfixation or a fandom want to see a variety of content and are easy for The Algorithm to feed. Tumblr users... are not.

Tumblr may have started out with the goal of being a hub for Srs Bsns Photographers & Poets/Writers, but everything about its format makes it the perfect site for fandom to flourish.

I'm really happy that Tumblr itself is embracing that now! AFAIK their actual slogan on the Apple App Store is "Tumblr: The Home of Fandom." Fandom is a niche subculture. We're just not gonna have the numbers of a Twitter or a TikTok. (And honestly, thank fucking god. Can you even imagine the chaos. I shudder to think.)

Tumblr is a microblogging site. It's for people who write too much for Twitter and whose images aren't the vibe of Instagram. It's for gifsets, which are an art medium unto themselves that social media sites wouldn't have any use for, really. And it's definitely not for Norbert in Accounting to connect with his grandma on like Facebook.

The anonymity of Tumblr is antithetical to modern social media sites -- even though IT IS INSANE TO ME THAT PEOPLE PUT THEIR REAL NAMES AND PHOTOS ONLINE, DID WE NOT LEARN ABOUT STRANGER DANGER??? -- and the fact that Tumblr is inherently ABOUT transformational, shared, "yes and" content, rather than mostly original pithy content like Twitter and IG and TikTok, makes it attractive to people with the hyperfocus of fans more than people who want to scroll and scroll and just see Stuff. I mean, obviously on Tumblr we're all looking at Stuff, but you can CURATE your feed on Tumblr in a way that you can't on social media. Curation is the enemy of The Algorithm. And Tumblr users fucking hate The Algorithm.

And honestly? The Algorithm hates fandom, because it's really hard to market things to someone with a hyperfixation. I don't CARE about your product, and seeing it instead of the thing I want to be looking at makes me HATE your product. The Algorithm really needs to be able to feed you a lot of different types of content to see what you're interested in. If you go into a site already knowing what you're interested in, then... ::shruggie:: Sucks to suck, Algorithm.

All of that said, yes -- community is definitely an aspect of Web 1.0 that feels like it's missing, or very hard to find, on Tumblr. I know a lot of people are finding great fannish communities on Discord these days, but I am elderly and don't know how to find Discord communities in the first place and also I'm painfully shy, so. I just Tumbl.

But I think that the loss of a sense of community is also part and parcel of Web 2.0, from the formats of websites to their function. It was easier, in Ye Olde Days, to feel connected to other people who found your fandom online because... not everyone WAS online. There was a sense that if you loved a thing enough to find your way to a fansite, or to LJ, or whatever, that was already taking the first step towards opening yourself up to friendship. Now, with social media and with smartphones and whatever else, literally everyone is online all day long. It isn't already a little club of nerds, yk?

I don't know. The internet as a whole has changed its shape and scope so much in the last ten years, let alone the last 20, that it's a whole different arena than it used to be. I don't really have any solutions or suggestions. Maybe once we get our Patreon up and running or something we'll start a TWIFH discord that people can join and make friends on.

But all of that is to say --

tl;dr, Fandom itself is antithetical to "social media" sites, and it needs blogging sites like Tumblr or LiveJournal or hand-coded HTML fansites to BE ABLE to exist. /opinion

#asks

[littlespoonevan]

How do you like, gain momentum and a following in a fandom? I've been a part of a fandom for a while now, and it seems like everyone around me is just somehow better at this whole thing - interactions, engagement, following - than I am. And I'm trying to have fun and do it for myself but it's hard if no one ever engages with your stuff :(

i'm sorry, anon, there's nothing more frustrating than feeling like you're shouting into the void in fandom :(

i'm gonna preface my response by saying i've had this blog since 2010 and, as such, some of my advice might be a little outdated because the vast majority of my following was built up between 2014 and 2017. likewise, i have found in general it's been easier for me to transition from fandom to fandom because i already had mutuals/followers that were interested in the new thing i got invested in and so tended to follow along with me???

like say if i was starting from scratch right now in the 911 fandom there is no way i'd even come close to the same amount of engagement/followers etc if it wasn't for my past fandom experiences, y'know?

having said that, i will say the thing that's always drawn the most engagement for me has been my fics. it's how i gained my first follower surge, it's why i first started to receive asks, and it's generally the thing that gets people talking to me whenever i join a new fandom. now i don't think anyone should have to commodify their place in fandom just to get people to engage with them but i do think contributing in some way lends itself to engagement. whether that be writing fics, making gifsets or fanart, or even something as simple as funny textposts or fic rec lists, or character playlists or rewatch commentary

(like i've had some shitposts reach over a thousand notes in comparison to my fics that would average out between 100 and 300 lol)

beyond that i've found it does tend to be pure fluke what posts gain traction (eg. if a quote-unquote Big blog happens to stumble across your post and reblogs it and it subsequently gets shared around) which is frustrating sometimes but also can lead to you finding your own little circle of friends/mutuals to discuss stuff with.

also i don't think there's anything wrong with private messaging someone if you see them discussing a particular scene/episode/ship/headcanon whatever and wanting to continue a discussion based off their post. i've done it plenty of times! sometimes we might only exchange 2-3 messages other times that person has become a beloved mutual. if you're going to click, you'll click.

overall i would say make your own stuff (again, be it fics, gifsets, fanart, text posts, meta, fic recs, whatever - they all have merit and they all matter in fandom), tag said stuff, engage with other people's content (leave comments in the tags!!!), and message people if you feel comfortable doing so

it's not necessarily foolproof and this website is definitely unpredictable but truly, if you can find 3-4 people you get along with that you can discuss all things fandom with then that's honestly 90% of what makes fandom enjoyable ❤️

#i hope this helps bud!!! #anon #asks

[glassprism]

Since twitter is a mess these days due to owns it now do you have any good recommendations? Any good social platforms for theater people?

Bold of you to assume I'm on enough social media to even have recommendations.

That being said, I can give you a run-down of... some of the stuff I'm on, whether it counts as social media or not. I'll try to go in semi-chronological order. Big caveat that this is based mostly on my own experience; so much of social media is what you make of it and the niche you create for yourself, so it can be hard to determine what is the "general vibe" and what is just "my opinion". Having said all that, here we go.

Forums - Definitely not the oldest place for phans to congregate online, but it's the oldest I've been on, so I'll just start here. I honestly only know one, Deserted Phans, and it's pretty quiet. (No wait, I know another, but it's the phandom equivalent of the shadow lands and we will not speak of what goes on there.) When active, it tends to be the place for many older (or old-school) fans, people who were there when the ALW musical first opened, viewed many of the original casts, saw the changes wrought by the 2004 movie and LND first-hand, probably got into actual fistfights with ALW and CamMack. Cool people, but they've seen A Lot and are a bit tired. Nowadays, it's probably not worth it to make an account since they're so quiet, but the nature of forums is they're great archives of info, so that's a good reason to check them out.

Facebook - You can follow the official Facebook page for Phantom on here, but the closed, private groups are where most of the discussion is at. That being said, remember, it's Facebook; the people on there tend to be older, less Internet-savvy, and less connected to other parts of the phandom, so be prepared to see constant rehashes of the same old arguments, over and over again (if I see "Team Erik or Team Raoul?" or "How do you guys feel about the 2004 movie / LND?" one more time...). Occasionally yields some spectacularly funny conversations that you can pass around to your friends.

YouTube - It's YouTube, so most everything is video content and the comments are not worth reading. You'll get people of all ages and experiences here, and their commentary will reflect that. Expect a lot of "Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess are the best!" or "Why do people hate Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum so much? I love them!" type comments. Good if you want to get a bead on casual phandom. I use it mainly for bootlegs and promo footage of shows.

Reddit - There's a dedicated subreddit for Phantom, but it's pretty quiet. I don't go on there too often, but it feels like a slightly better version of the Facebook phandom - a lot of the same questions popping up over and over, but there are some oldies on there ready to give intelligent, nuanced responses if needed. If you ask the right question, good for discussion and responses as it's more text-based.

Twitter - I know you're trying to flee Twitter right now because it's a hell hole, but before you go, I really do need you to make a verified fake account of Cameron Mackintosh and announce that the original stagings of Phantom and Les Mis will be returning. In less than a year. To every country worldwide.

Tumblr - Age-wise, skews a little younger than some of the other places, more older teenager to young adult (thinking 18 to 30s, though there are many, many exceptions). Image- and text-based, so good for gifsets, art, or meta and fic. Very much what you make of it, and who you follow will probably determine what kind of fandom experience and discussion you get, but I've seen people willing to talk about fic, about shipping about meta, about the various adaptations, pretty much whatever you want. Can definitely be some discourse, though I think the phandom is comparatively quiet.

Instagram - In terms of age, I think Instaphandom tends to be a little younger than Tumblr (more teenagers IMO). Very, very picture- and video-based, but also very popular, and lot of actors and people involved in the show and various versions are on there. Didn't have that good of a reputation a few years ago, mainly because people on there kept reposting stuff, but it seems better now. Good place to get very... in-the-moment news and postings, I think. Has some drama and such, again because of how young the population is and the presence of celebrities, but can also be a great source for information that you won't get elsewhere (e.g. news updates, casting info).

Discord - Think of this as like a big group chat. If you're into that, you might have fun on Discord. What you get is very dependent on what kind of server you join, servers being the places where people congregate and talk. Some are public and so you'll have very active conversations with a wide variety of people, some are private and quiet and more like an online friend group. The group chat nature of it can make it overwhelming, but if you're okay with that, it's where a lot of phandom discussion is happening.

TikTok - I dunno, I'm not on here, but it looks like a wild place. Seems to have a lot of young people. The weirdest discourse appears to be coming from here. If you go, tell me what it's like.

#GP gets asks #anonymous