#I saw some comments on reddit while trying to look something up

[galadrieljones]

Trying to understand ppl who say Astarion is worthless in battle. Um he's literally our all time MVP pyrotechnic sneak specialist. He's like a navy seal. He ends more fights than anyone, including Lae'zel. He got the final hit on the Netherbrain. He's rolling high initiative then getting in there and he's blowing ppl up and then biting them and finishing them off with his rapier and then he's misty stepping back to the platform before you even know what hit you. Did you hit him with your sword? He's going to charm you with his Illithid swagger. He looks so hot covered in blood. I thought everyone played him like this?? lol. How are the redditors playing him?? Just like chipping away with arrows? What do they think is going on here????

[wiishopwednesday]

longing for something you can never return to

[ID: a collection of images relating to nostalgia. the first image is a genius screenshot of the lyrics to car seat headrest's "famous prophets (stars)." the screenshot reads "We gotta go back/We gotta go back/We gotta go back/We gotta go back." the second image is the "we got the torture labyrinth tomorrow" meme template, edited to instead say "We got missing what we can never return to tomorrow/What?/We got the beginning of the rest of our lives tomorrow/Ohhhh/Okay." the third image is a discord screenshot, with the user's username and icon cropped out so that only the text is visible, and reads "Duuudeee you missed out on those 7 days where god created earth you are fucked LOL." the fourth image is a screenshot of a piece of text, which reads in bolder font "You can never leave home." underneath it, in normal text, it reads "You take it with you no matter where you go. Home is between your teeth, under your fingernails, in the hair follicles, in your smile, in the ride of your hips, in the passage of your breasts." the fifth image is a screenshot of a post made by tumblr user ryebreadgf, which reads "YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK! YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK! YOU CAN BITE AND SCRATCH AND BEG BUT YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK!" the sixth image is a screenshot of a piece of text that reads, "YOU KILL YOURSELF AND IMMEDIATELY WAKE UP AS A CHILD ON YOUR PARENTS BED. YOU'VE BEEN ASLEEP FOR HALF AN HOUR. THE SUN IS SHINING." the seventh image is a picture of two uneven dark yellow boxed next to each other on a off-white background. the first box reads, in handwriting, "I'm terrified of change." the second box reads, "I'm terrified of staying this way forever." the eighth image is a screenshot of a post made by tumblr user dakotajohnsongf, which reads "women be looking at pictures of their childhood selves and trying to find a way back to them." the ninth image is a screenshot of a post made by tumblr user bestofgentleearth, containing a screenshot from a forum of some kind. a line of text reads "(16 hours ago) butterfly said:" underneath, an indented section of text reads "today, the world looked beautiful again. i'm starting to remember what kept me alive last summer." the tenth image is another tumblr post by user cursedsuggestion, which reads "the friend you miss comes home for good. you never see another mirror. it's summer forever and that terrible thought you keep having finally disappears." the eleventh image is a screenshot of a reddit post, with the original poster's username and icon cropped out so only the text is visible. it reads "I'm not sure how to word this, but I constantly go through this deep sense of loss. I feel like I terribly miss something I love from the bottom of my heart, but I don't know what it is, exactly. Nothing in life satisfies me, nothing makes me content, but l wouldn't say I'm depressed either. There's just this endless search for something, and at times I feel I can catch a glimpse of it - different sceneries pop into my head at times, like of a particular beach at night, and I'm moved to tears. Or I remember a dream and all the feelings that were stirring while I saw that dream, and feel entirely connected to them." the twelfth image is a screenshot of a tumblr post, but the original poster is cropped out so only the text is visible, which reads "wait i wasn't ready. i never finished that game of tag. i still need to learn how to do a cartwheel. my friends and i never finished making that bridge over the creek. i want to go back. can you carry me to bed one last time? and maybe i'll wake up tomorrow in my childhood room with my pink walls and we'll laugh over this dream at breakfast." the thirteenth image is another tumblr screenshot of a post by user heavensghost, which reads "uhhh yh sure u can go back but no one will be waiting for you there."

the fourteenth image is a screenshot of a reddit comment, with the user's information cropped out so that only the text is visible, which reads "HIRAETH (heer-eye-th) 'A deep homesickness; an intense form of longing or nostalgia for a place long gone, or even an unaccountable homesickness for a place you have never visited. A pull on the heart that conveys a distinct feeling of missing something irretrievably lost.'" the fifteenth image is a collection of 3 rows of black boxes, with 3 boxes in each row. the first box has a white, vague form of a human. the second box pictures the human form stretching its arms and legs out. from the third box onward, the human figure starts to dissipate into white dots until it has completely disappeared and only dots remain. the sixteenth image is a tumblr post by user n1ntendos, which reads "I AM HAUNTED BY A PAST I CANNOT GO BACK TO !!!!!!! anyways." the seventeenth image is a screenshot of text that reads "I cling to everything - CDs that skip, rings that turn my fingers green, the dead ends of my hair, old love notes that turn my stomach over and over. And I'm not proud but there are still boxes under my bed. And I'm not proud but my closet is still running out of space. And nostalgia is a fucking waste of time but my heart is full with it. Tell me I won't hold this forever. Tell me there will be a day where I let gloriously go." the eighteenth image is an image of larger text that reads "It's a summer day, and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world." the nineteenth image is a photograph of a large white dog standing in a dark, flowing river surrounded by a dark forest and green trees. the dog is facing away from the viewer with its mouth open. the dog appears to be glowing, likely due to a lens flare of some kind. the entire picture feels very melancholy and nostalgic. the twentieth image is larger text that reads "Nostalgia is the aching realization that you can't go back again. The longing, no matter how intense, can never be met." the twenty-first image is a screenshot of an instagram dm, with the user's username and icon cropped out so that only the text is visible, and it reads "well the time passes anyway so I have to." the twenty-second image is a screenshot of the spotify lyrics for gerard way's song "action cat." the lyrics read "Hey/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you/Do you miss me?/'Cause I miss you too." the twenty-third image is a screenshot of text that reads "YOUR CHILDHOOD DOG IS ALIVE. YOUR DEAD BEST FRIEND WANTS TO GET COFFEE. YOU HAVE BEEN KIND AND GOOD. THERE IS NOTHING CHASING YOU. YOU CAN SLEEP. WHAT DO YOU DO?" the twenty-fourth image is a continuation of the lyrics from car seat headrest's "famous prophets (stars)" that were pictured in the first image. these lyrics read "We've gotta go back/We've gotta go back/We've gotta go back/(Don't spend too much time on it)." end ID.]

[4rthstandbreak]

Roots, the egg, and the tail

In every chapter there is a Man behind the tree who gives you eggs.

To get the egg in chapter 4 you have to find the inverted egg in the hallway filled w stained glass, it's specifically the 100th window. In chapter 3 the Man says this:

When you enter the inverted egg window you'll see a small library and a path leading to this:

If you're not extremely tapped into Deltarune you wouldn't realize that the Spamton Sweepstakes, which happened in 2022, had updated with new links May this year, one of them being a game called "Rarecats" where you click on green dancing cats (similar to the Mike fight/Pluey). Playing Rarecats (which is now defunct and leads to "room_dogcheck" here's some gifs from the game). Clicking on the angel cat has a small chance to take you to the same stained glass window hallway from ch 4, and clicking on the inverted egg window takes you to https://deltarune.com/lostwheretheforestwouldgrow/ which leads to an image of a single tree from ROOTS and the title being "ROOTS" as well (documented here by a reddit user)

Back to ch 4, walking further past ROOTS is a Philosopher who says this:

Unscrambling the sentence gives us "Lost where the forest would grow, the children followed the pointed tail" (or at least that's what I assume it says) we'll come back to this later.

Back to the Deltarune website, there's a page called "the poor children" (https://deltarune.com/thepoorchildren/) and the page heading is "Therapy"

The page itself is a black screen where you can draw using ur mouse. If u draw for long enough a tree will pop up, the tree that the Man is behind

Clicking on the tree takes you to https://deltarune.com/egg/ which is Noelle's blogpost abt the egg "pet" in Cat Petters

The actual egg room in ch 4 is set in a hospital lobby with a layout different from the one in Hometown. The last Flying Ace is acting as the secretary and comments on how "knockoffs don't have the right to complain," implying this entire moment is based off of something from Kris's past. To get the egg you have to walk into the room with a tree on it

Walking into the room and finding the correct thing to interact w while in complete darkness plays a scene where Kris draws "what they saw behind the tree" but they mess up so they draw again over the previous drawing. They keep trying to draw until they don't even lift their hand off the canvas and just draw in a "single, wild line." Their drawing is then described as "nothing more than a monochrome smear." Then the box says : "Next, a tree was painted over it... ... painted over everything... ...leaving nothing but a simple still life... ... After all, there wasn't anything to look at in the room besides a single tree." This mirrors exactly what you can do on /thepoorchildren/ to get the tree to appear then to get to /egg/.

Back to the Philosopher and tails, Organikk (the enemy that looks exactly like Philosophers) has a couple battle lines mentioning tales/tails: "the tale that must be followed" (referring to the prophecy) and "the tail that must not be followed" (potentially referring to "the pointed tail")

In ch 4 in the third sanctuary if you go out of your way to get the Princess Ribbon this will appear right before you get to the chest

This is a piece of the prophecy intentionally hidden from the gang and the player

So. What does all of this mean?

I don't know! I don't have enough of the pieces to fully say. What I can say for sure is that:

1) We should be keeping an eye on the Deltarune website

2) The children (one of them being Kris) were in the forest and followed/encountered something. Whatever it was traumatized Kris enough to have their parents put them in art therapy, potentially not even located in Hometown. It's something that's permanently etched into Kris's mind. And it seems to be connected to the Man

Isn't it interesting that the Man only ever appears behind trees?

[theonlyonesora]

The Quiet Equation - End

Toto Wolff x You

Harvard in the fall had its own kind of romance—amber leaves underfoot, lamplit library windows, the faint burn of coffee and stress in the air. But even surrounded by ivy-draped buildings and brilliant minds, you’d find yourself glancing at your phone, checking for his name.

And it was always there.

Daily messages. Evening calls when the time zones aligned. The rare voice note—low and intimate, wrapped in that unmistakable Austrian cadence.

“I saw a young engineer today with your kind of fire. But no one has your quiet precision.” “I miss your questions.” “Come to Silverstone.”

You blinked at the last one.

Just a short message, no fluff. Typical of him. But there was weight in it. An undercurrent. Like an open door.

And so—you said yes.

.

Silverstone was louder than you remembered.

The paddock was a maze of bodies and camera lenses, fans screaming, engines roaring to life behind guarded garages. You wore your guest badge tucked under a zipped black team jacket and oversized sunglasses. Incognito. Or so you thought.

Toto met you by the hospitality unit.

He didn’t hesitate. He never hesitated.

Arms around you. A kiss—cheek first, then forehead, lingering a second too long. His hand slid down your back in that way that made your lungs forget what breathing was supposed to feel like.

“You’re here,” he said softly, as though confirming it to himself.

And when you looked up and smiled, he exhaled like he hadn’t allowed himself to hope that you’d really come.

You spent the race in the garage. Right next to him.

You wore the headset. Listened to the radio. Watched as engineers scrambled and strategies were made and unmade. His presence beside you was calm and commanding, his body close enough to feel the heat from his skin.

At one point, the camera panned across the garage.

You knew it was live.

You also knew the angle caught you beside him, Toto’s arm casually behind your chair, his eyes flicking down to you like gravity pulled him there.

It didn’t feel secret anymore.

And weirdly… that didn’t scare you.

The internet wanted to know who you were.

There were TikToks and Twitter threads. Speculation. Screenshots of that exact moment, that glance. Reddit digging. Comments about your age, your looks, your smile. Some gentle. Some cruel.

You scrolled for a while in the car after the race, curled in the front seat of his blacked-out SUV, your fingers scrolling silently while Toto drove with one hand on the wheel and one on your thigh.

“They’re curious,” he said, finally breaking the quiet.

“I didn’t think it would feel like this,” you admitted. “So... exposed.”

“I can make it stop,” he said. “If it ever feels like too much. I’d protect you from it. I’d protect you from everything, if you let me.”

Your heart broke open, quietly.

“You don’t have to protect me,” you whispered. “I just need to know I’m not doing this alone.”

His hand tightened gently.

“You’re not,” he promised.

.

Back at his house—his real house, not the hotel—the atmosphere shifted.

The quiet was warmer here. More settled.

You kicked off your shoes by the door and sank into the soft leather of his couch while he poured wine in the kitchen. He moved like he always did—measured, intentional, elegant even in his socks and rolled sleeves.

He handed you a glass. Sat beside you.

You talked. Laughed. His hand found yours, fingers laced.

The wine made everything feel softer.

The way he watched you? That made it electric.

“I don’t want this to be something temporary,” he said suddenly, voice low.

You looked up, your pulse stalling.

“I don’t want you to feel pressured,” he continued. “You’re young. You have your life. I’m not trying to take anything from you. But I’d like to give something, if you’ll have it.”

You set your wine glass down, turning toward him completely.

“What are you offering?” you asked, almost breathless.

“Something real,” he said. “Something that might last. I want to build it slowly, honestly. But only if you want that too.”

Your reply came not in words, but in movement—your fingers gently curling into the front of his shirt, pulling him in.

“I want to try,” you whispered. “I want us.”

The first kiss that night wasn’t hurried. It was reverent. Familiar. Like two people who already knew how the other felt and were finally letting their bodies echo it.

He kissed you like he had all night.

Like he wanted all night.

Fingertips along your jaw, your throat, brushing down your sides like he was mapping the parts of you he’d only imagined. His hands were large, warm, grounding—lifting your shirt slowly, sliding it over your head with a careful reverence that made your breath catch.

When you reached for his belt, your fingers trembled.

He noticed. Caught your hand.

“You don’t have to,” he murmured.

“I want to,” you answered, eyes never leaving his.

It was slow.

Deliberate.

Not just lust—though there was plenty of that too. But more than anything, it was tender. He touched you like you were something rare, kissed your neck like it held secrets he wanted to spend years unraveling.

When you gasped, he smiled into your skin.

And when you pulled him down to meet you fully, there was nothing left unsaid.

After, you lay tangled in sheets and each other, sweat cooling, heartbeats steadying.

His hand traced lazy shapes along your hip. You buried your face in his chest, sighing contentedly as his other arm curled around your shoulders.

“I want mornings with you,” he said into your hair.

“You can have them,” you murmured, already half asleep. “You can have everything.”

[portraitofalinkonfyre]

If each link was a dog breed, which ones would they be? (besides golden retriever)

Oooo yess I've seen this question before!

Time: Golden Retriever-- nope, Great Pyrenees! I almost put Bernese Mountain Dog, but honestly? I think that fits another member of our beloved chain a bit better. Anyways, the Great Pyrenees is a breed of livestock guardian dog originating from France, which fits Time's farm background well, and they're known for being very loyal and patient companions, though they can deal a lot of damage if provoked. If anyone decides to draw the LU boys as dogs, I would pay money to see Time as one of these cuties <33

Twilight: Bernese Mountain Dog. I just had to. There's a lot of reasons that I believe this dog is the best fir for our rancher, but the biggest ones are that these creatures were specifically bred in Switzerland as farm dogs (omg it's literally Twi), they're known for being very intelligent and eager to please, and they're one of the best dogs you can keep if you have children (not that you can't have other dogs around kids, but these specific dogs take it to a whole new level). I also love love love the floppy ears <333

Wild: Jack Russell Terrier. Kind of a no-brainer because, like Wild, their adventurous spirit knows 'no bounds' and they've been described as "clownish, lively, and intelligent" by several sources. Also chose this one because they're originally a British breed of dog and Zelda in BOTW has a British accent, so...

Hyrule: This sounds a bit mean, but I can't see him as anything but a Mutt. He's already a bit of a street rat, and no one really knows where he came from, so it makes sense that the type of dog he is (hypothetically) would have similar characteristics of this. Despite this, I definitely think he'd be extremely loyal, if not a bit wary, of new people, but once you're in, you're in.

Legend: Shiba Inu. These dogs are typically classified as being intelligent, loyal, and somewhat standoffish (though they do tend to form very strong bonds with their owners), plus they're just so damn cute! Someone please meme him as this 🥺

Sky: If any of the boys were golden retrievers, it would be Sky, but for the sake of the ask, I think the Saluki suits him best. The American Kennel Club describes them as "thought to be a gift from God" which fits great with Sky's background as the "First" hero + his connection to Hylia and the Master Sword. The only drawback is that Saluki's are known for their endurance, while Sky is not, but he is a sprinter, which these dogs also excel at (some breeders say they can run up to 50 miles per hour for short sprints!!!!!!!)

Warriors: Dalmation. This one was a tough-ie because I was trying to find a breed that has connections with the military (b/c Wars is in the army) AND looks absolutely fabulous while ripping your throat out, which is irrevocably the Dalmatian. Described as "reserved and dignified" by the American Kennel Club, these dogs have been used for hundreds of years to accompany and guard carriages of the wealthy, as well as firefighters, in more recent times.

Wind: Schipperke. My instinct told me to go for a Whippet Hound or something similar (have you seen these dogs?? Absolute cuties), BUT then I discovered the Schipperke, a type of dog specifically bred to accompany sailors on their journeys. They're described as very active, energetic, and overall 'busy' dogs, which fits with our Sailor. Breed colors also include a whiteish-creme color that looks SO adorable.

Four: Papillion. There's a fair amount of smaller dogs out there, but I saw the Papillion and immediately thought of the Minish, so here we are! One commenter on Reddit describes them as: "smart enough that they'll sometimes look at you, consider the command you gave, and decide "nah"", so obviously I had to choose this breed for our smithy.

(Actual answer is that Four is a munchkin cat in disguise LOL)

[twopoppies]

hi! I’m not a Larry but I was thinking that the LZ relationship was fake until yesterday. I wasn’t completely convinced she was even there until yesterday. The reasons I thought it was fake:

L did that pap walk w/ a girl a while back, so I figured he wasn’t against these sorts of things, and since that one failed so badly I figured this one would be more elaborate

the dailymail/mirror photos all looked kinda fake/awkward/staged, he’s never seen anywhere but then they found him at the grocery store

the article that came out about fan speculation before they were spotted out together (and the quote from Reddit saying that they saw rumors saying he was dating her when literally NOBODY was saying that)

inconstancies in other articles

weird spam bots I saw on tiktok when after the electric brixton show. (Some TikTok’s were saying that he kept “looking to the balcony” and then there were random accounts who weren’t at that show saying he was looking at Zara? This was only after he followed her and nothing else?)

he hates love island???

he’s been very verbal about his new album upcoming shows/projects and might be doing this for publicity

They posted a concert story together and went public, were seen on a date together, but for whatever reason he didn’t take her to Coachella???

she’s a whole media/journalism expert, so she knows what she’s doing and can make this look real

As a non-Larry, I thought maybe he might be doing this to dissolve Larry speculation while promoting his new stuff, also she gets publicity and has a lot of projects coming up

i saw an anon (idk from what account here on tumblr) that said they knew about this trip in advance (obviously could’ve been fake)

there was an account on Twitter that I follow that warned her followers in advance that this was gonna happen (also could’ve been fake)

But omg, yesterday made me think maybe these were all just coincidences! I guess this might be real after all? Cuz as a non-larry I believe that Eleanor, Danielle, Bri, Freddy, all them were real. I obviously know the blonde girl from last time was fake and I thought this one was fake too? Maybe not? The only weird coincidences I can see now are:

The 2 girls that were posting about him yesterday were HUGE one direction fans and both frequent concertgoers. If they were such fans why did they take pictures/videos without his consent. One girl took a video with L and Z in the background and I saw L look at the camera. The other girl took a picture of them sitting/eating breakfast together. Like specifically to prove that they were together?? Seems disrespectful, especially for someone who is such a fan?

both of those accounts were VERY VERY vocal (responding to comments, replying to tweets, etc) saying things like “they were so cute/happy, etc” and trying to shut down any Larry stuff. Almost like they were told to?

the tumblr anon that I mentioned before (#11) said that they were going on a tropical getaway and the predicted them getting spotted at a night club, which is exactly what happened, so maybe they knew what they were talking about?

are there no larries in Costa Rica lol?

however, these may all just be in my head. I sorta dont like this girl because of the political stuff I’ve heard about her, not sure if it’s true tho. Plus with the whole ridiculous cheating thing, she just doesn’t seem right for her but then again that’s just my silly opinion. Is there anything else that I’m missing? Any other anons or proofs? I didn’t want to say any of this on Twitter cuz my oomfs are raging antis and I don’t want them to hate me 😭😭

I think the best way to look at this stuff is to remove Larry from the equation. It really has nothing to do with that. It’s just incredibly obvious that it’s fake. Even if I believed Louis was into women, he would never want to have such a public relationship and have it splashed all over the tabloids.

I don’t know how to prove something that is so over the top obvious to me. @daisiesonafield-blog has a post on her blog about how to spot a PR relationship. Maybe scroll through that because this one just ticks all the boxes.

[infiniteglitterfall]

the worst part about the i/p discourse

it's NOT the posters of Nazis with the swastikas on their flags replaced by stars of david. or the pages and pages of blood libel conspiracy theories in instagram posts about why local pride organizers are such big meanies. or the newfound insistence that jews just exaggerate and make up antisemitic incidents to smear the pro-palestine movement....

it's the fact that every. single. time. i try to post anything about any of these things, i end up in a rabbit hole SO DEEP IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO THE BOTTOM.

Yesterday, I saw a --

YOU SEE? I went to Reddit for a second to find the link to the post about the Melbourne protest this week that had people carrying the Nazi-star-of-David posters. But first, I saw a post that began, "All I see on social media and the news is more and more attacks. Who beat up a Jewish family here, who stabbed a 1 year old in front of a synagouge. Those are two examples, I've lost track of all of the other ones."

and I was like, SOMEONE STABBED A ONE YEAR OLD IN FRONT OF A SYNAGOGUE?!?!

And I started to look that up. AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Two days ago, I saw an article about Cincinnati Socialists setting up a table at North Kentucky Pride without asking, it sounds like, to hand out flyers saying the war in Gaza was Netanyahu's "Final Solution" for Palestinians. Cincinnati Pride organizers alerted the NKY Pride organizers, who kicked them out.

I was like, "okay, well, let's see what Cincinnati Socialists say about it." Then I discovered that their instagram not only "names and shames" the two Cincy Pride organizers and one NKY organizer. Which led to the Cincy ones getting so much harassment and violent threats that they resigned....

But also has a related post that goes on for pages and pages of pure blood libel.

So then I sat there fact-checking all their blood libel and finding out that not only was it untrue and impossible, but half the stuff they referenced didn't even exist.

Then I ended up fact-checking things in the "article" that they'd clearly used as their source. Fact-checking things I found while fact-checking those.

Trying to write a Facebook post about how fucked up it all was. Giving up on the Facebook post after several hours because it made more sense to write it on Tumblr, or at least to write it on Tumblr FIRST.

Then I'm also looking at the post they made "naming and shaming" the organizers, which is like... "the Cincy ones are partners! two days after Hamas's incredibly violent and brutal massacre, one of them changed his profile picture to a photo of them honeymooning IN ISRAEL two years ago! they did it through some group that COVERS A LOT OF THE COSTS FOR HONEYMOONS IN ISRAEL!!!!" and "the other one went to a protest of Hamas's massacre!!! with a sign saying to free the hostages!!!"

oh no. the fucking horror. truly how did these genocidal monsters even end up on the pride organizing committee. this is a shanda scandal.

then I'm responding to people's comments, trying to talk them down from horrible positions. telling people things like, "I know it's asking a LOT, but if people could grasp the idea that "going to Israel for your honeymoon" ISN'T "committing genocide," it would be really great. Or that wanting the hostages freed is actually something that both Israeli AND GAZAN protests have called for, and it's only Westerners who are opposed to it. Or that in fact, saying you "Stand with Israel," a few days after an incredibly brutal attack that burned multiple towns to the ground in one day, killed entire families and their pets, an attack which Hamas has promised to repeat "again and again and again" till Israel is violently destroyed... is opposing that attack, NOT calling for genocide."

then i'm like, "oh, i should edit these images to show the correct info, and i can explain that I drew arrows and added the correct info!" so then i'm doing that and working on writing alt text, and holy shit??? how many fucking hours??? did i spend on this?????? just because i read a frigging reddit post that linked to an article about it?????????

and like. i can go through and debunk all that shit in the comments. (and did. i responded to every single comment that believed this shit.) but ultimately, everyone who pulls this shit has way more reach than I do.

just. like. THAT'S ONE ORG IN ONE PLACE. And it was bad enough that I persevered and finished debunking it and commenting on it today and started telling people about it. Do you even know how many more of those I've seen?! How many I would see if I looked for them on purpose?!

The tsunami of deliberate disinformation is SO FUCKING BAD. All of it is SO FUCKING LAYERED. In any single bullshit post, there are SO MANY horrifically bad and wrong assumptions. So many of them are DESIGNED, BY HAMAS, to lead people down the path to "All Zionists should die! Israel should be violently destroyed!"

There were so many comments on a "Free Palestine Melbourne" group's instagram post (Sydney? Could've been Sydney) asking, pointedly, how many Jews are Zionists. What percentage of Jews are Zionists, again?

One (1) had a response telling them it doesn't matter what the percentage is, no percentage would justify collective punishment of Jews.

The rest all said things like, "Too many."

It feels like constantly being lied to. Just constantly being lied to about things I have looked up and verified myself from solid sources, now and in the past, by people I counted as my community.

Then just now I opened Instagram because I hadn't taken screenshots of a couple of the pics I wanted to add. And I'm hit with these:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by jewsinschool (@jewsinschool)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewish on Campus (@jewishoncampus)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewish and Proud (@jewishpridealways)

Then some brighter posts (including one of a baby bat!!) and then a post which sums up a lot of what I'm feeling right now.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jess Cook (@jessicagcoook)

It's like, yes, that, plus the uncomfortable sense that some people are getting thisclose to going, "Most Jews are Zionists anyway, so YEAH, I DO think most Jews deserve to die."

[once-upon-an-animation]

Alright PJO fandom. Let’s clear the air on something real quick.

So if you’ve watched the PJO premiere, I’m sure one of the major changes you noticed was Gabe, and how toned down his behavior is compared to the books. There is also a clear change in the dynamic between Gabe and Sally, with Sally being more assertive and snarky with him.

The fandom seems pretty split on this change. Some people hate it and feel that a dark yet important aspect of the narrative has been lost, some people are neutral about it and are wondering if the whole Poker Player Statue bit is getting removed, and some people welcome this change, saying that Sally is more cool, strong, and badass now, and that showing a woman staying in abusive relationship in hopes of protecting her kid is not okay for current audiences.

To the people who are saying that Sally is more cool, badass, and strong now…

…FUCK YOU.

And here’s why.

I cannot even begin to describe how awful and disgusting it is to imply that book-Sally was weaker, less cool, and less strong because she struggled to stand up to her abuser, struggled to balance the need to leave an abusive relationship and the desire to protect her kid, and found herself making difficult choices in an abusive household. I am baffled that people think that this is an okay thing to say in the year of 2023, going on to 2024.

Are all of you shitting me right now? Are you seriously fixing your fingers to imply that book-Sally is inferior to show-Sally because her story reflects an ugly truth about how hard it is for mothers to stand up to their abusers while trying to look out for their children? Are you all fucking joking?

I have never felt so angry to see so many people diminish what book-Sally went through, and claim that it would be bad to depict something like that on TV. I know what Sally goes through is triggering and not fun to watch, but it is the very fact that her story reflects an ugly truth about what many wives go through that I think her struggle with an abusive husband is so fucking important!

Yes, we don’t want to encourage victims to stay in abusive relationships. Yes, we don’t want to make women feel like the only way to be a good, loving mother is to endure bad situations for your kids. Yes, we want to make it clear to mothers that they, under no circumstances, are obligated to endure an abuser. HOWEVER, the ugly and unfortunate reality is that many mothers have such a strong desire to protect their kids that they will find themselves making this unfortunate choice, and that is not a truth we should shy away from. A depiction of difficult choices that victims feel like they have to make is not necessarily an endorsement of that choice, but rather, a realistic reflection of what people go through.

And I will be DAMNED if I sit here quietly and watch so many of you tread into victim-blamey territory, or imply that book-Sally is somehow inferior because she struggled with the courage to leave and accept the risk of Percy not having Gabe’s protective smell. I literally saw a comment on Reddit where someone was trying to defend the change, and they typed out the sentence “You know what’s not badass? Staying in an abusive relationship.”

As if most abuse victims have the full freedom, resources, and support to just pick up and leave whenever. As if every choice that an abuse victim makes isn’t being made in the context of danger, pressure, stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and so much more. As if an abused woman’s top priority should be to look “badass” instead of trying to take care of herself.

I am a proud Book-Sally defender, and I will happily fight anyone who dares to imply she isn’t as strong or badass as show-Sally because standing up to her abuser wasn’t easy for her. I am extremely disappointed in this fandom for this ugly language regarding book-Sally in comparison to show-Sally.

And quite frankly? All of you can kiss my ass.

[amiizuki]

(a 2 weeks late repost of my comment from this Reddit post, cause I forgor)

things RWBY "teaches":

if someone lies and hides info from you – beat them up, yell at them, and then proceed to later do the exact same thing they did to someone else. except this time consider whoever tries to call you out for lying evil

if, after you run away without explanation, one of your friends decides to follow you and try to help – slap them in the face repeatedly and berate them loudly

if a person, who previously helped you and your friends multiple times without expecting much in return, is on edge and looks like they're on the verge of a panic attack – scowl at them the whole time, like they murdered your family or something (add bonus scowling and start thinking of them as pure evil, if said person also starts to call you out for betraying and lying to him earlier)

when it comes to forgiving and offering redemption – only offer it if the person in question is female; if the person is male then continue villainizing them or kill them altogether

if your overly stressed sibling is having a meltdown in front of you – scowl at them, while protecting your date from said sibling, as if they were an insane lunatic ready to kill

if you see your friend/sibling commit sudoku, once again, in front of you – watch it happen, without even attempting to stop them, and then spend some time having a group hug with your friends, before remembering about your dead friend/sibling

bonus stuff, that were said by other people in that same comment thread:

also a somewhat long addendum to the 3rd point, because rewatching the Gravity scene, to grab screenshots of Yang's face, somehow made me angrier than it did the first time I saw it:

lemme fucking tell you, that Yang did not start to scowl at Ironwood after he called RWBY out for being lying hypocrites. her angry face, in fact, appeared the moment he started talking! sure, at first it looked more like a slightly confused scowl, but a scowl nonetheless. girl even had her hands in fists already, like c'mon (at least during the moment when Ruby realizes Cinder was the one who left the chess piece, Yang's hands aren't visible in earlier shots, so I can't tell if she had them like that the whole time or not)

so this potato sack looking cunt, who supposedly had PTSD and should supposedly know how it looks and feels like, saw this overly stressed man, who ALSO has PTSD, and who just got faced with an image reminding him of one of the most traumatic events in his life, starting to freak out about the safety of his people and kingdom, and, again, overall looking like he's about to have a full on panic attack, and her gigabrain idea was to fucking SCOWL the whole time he's talking. wowww Yang, what a nice and kind thing you're doing there! I can feel soooo much sympathy coming towards this distressed general, who you actively lied to with no remorse by the way, from your ugly ass scowl. this will definitely help to deescalate the situation and calm Ironwood down, and it definitely won't make him call you out for being a lying shithead and throw your desaturated blonde ass out of the window.

oh, but I guess Ironwood isn't a cute catgirl named Blake, so he doesn't deserve anything more than an angry look from Yang. makes sense, considering Ruby isn't a cute catgirl named Blake either, and so Yang constantly forgets that she exists, only remembering Ruby when it's time to scowl at her, call whatever she's planning dumb, or when it's time to go drink boba and go shopping with her, instead of spending that time planning on how to defeat Salem who has 2 or 3 relics.

[loopy777]

What do you thing about the preproduction series bible for Avatar the Last Airbender? Seems to be a lot interesting stuff there. You can find it in a google drive in one of the reddit comments.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/14rmkbb/original_production_guide_for_atla_leaked/

It's also fully posted on Reddit here, with analysis of validity. I first encountered it on the linked Avatar Spirit forum thread. I even wrote a short story based on one of the unused plot ideas.

Overall, I love having the look at what could have been and the development process, and a few of the ideas are pretty neat. While what was got was generally superior, one idea I'd like to see recycled is an Avatar who has to get around the world without an animal to ride (especially another sky bison), using Bending to either power a vehicle or directly move around. And I'd love to see a re-use of the idea of a false master corrupting a student.

Perhaps there will be a version of that in the new show.

Zuko's lack of a story here is pretty glaring. There's no redemption arc for him until the final season and, it seems, little interest in exploring his character. He doesn't have a process of seeing the impact of the war, he just flips a switch only when he sees his own countrymen being mistreated. We've heard that Zuko only became a deuteragonist at the suggestion of one of the executive producers, so I wonder if this subplot is the beginning of trying to do that without a real concept of what it would entail, or if the executive saw this in the bible and suggesting beefing it up.

The ending is notable for breaking up the gAang and sending them back to their respective homes. Even leaving aside that this bible has no mention of how the romantic subplots resolve, it's interesting that this original vision didn't want to make the main characters into a permanent multi-national team. It even creates the possibility of Aang finding a new Air Nation and joining with them. This feels like it goes against the major theme of the cartoon of friendship and family, something evoked as early as 'The Southern Air Temple' where the cure for Aang's Avatar State session is Katara and Sokka professing that they're his new family. This reinforces something I've found in my own writing, that I can start plotting with some vague ideas about the work's themes, but the real meaning of the work will make itself apparent after I've outlined the first version of the complete story, and then I can streamline and emphasize its nature.

And of course it almost goes without saying that the decision to make Toph and Azula into girls might have been the most valuable changes in the entire development process.

So yeah, it's always a treat to get such a look into the development of a favorite story. I've been spoiled by being a Star Wars fan and so many of those original scripts being published, but the most wild journey of this kind I've seen is the evolution of Jeff Smith's 'Bone' comic series from the original fantasy/gag strip 'Thorn.' The AtLA we know is still very visible in this bible, but the negative space where some of the best stuff was is a lot of fun to poke at.

[good-to-drive]

how would you say the fab four's self-esteem issues manifested differently, and thus affected the way they were perceived?

i was reading some comments saying how george didn't have an ego at all, while john was a complete narcissist, for example, and many people agreed but i don't think i do. what's your take? btw i love your insights <3

Thank you so much for this ask!! It’s such a fascinating question, which is why I took a little while to try to answer it well. (Also, thank you so much, I’m so glad you enjoy my ramblings!! <3)

I considered breaking this up over four posts, but it's only about 2.5k words altogether, so y'know what it's fine...

JOHN

I think the question of John's self-perception (and how this manifested in his behaviors) hinges heavily on whether you think he may have suffered from borderline personality disorder.*

I once read a really poignant description of BPD (and many other personality disorders) as someone whose inner self is a “dark room," meaning that when they look inward they see only darkness and emptiness. There are things in the room – they absolutely have just as much inside of them as everyone else – but because they’ve never been able to see it they feel like some sort of empty, subhuman creature who could never possibly be loved.

Over time (and usually through therapy), the person can begin to “raise the lights”, so to speak, and see who they are on the inside and begin to develop a sense of self and identity and from there a sense of worth. Unfortunately, I think John didn't get the opportunity to do this work until late in his life, if ever. He spent most of his adult life contending with that perceived emptiness and the constant psychic pain that accompanies it, and I think that's what most defined his self-perception.

In terms of how this manifested in his behaviors, while the intensely idealized relationships often formed by people suffering from BPD largely function to reassure them that they aren’t completely and totally unloved, they can also be a way of soothing that feeling of unworthiness. The thinking is something like "At least one person thinks I’m worthy. And it’s this incredible, amazing, perfect person who’s too special for everybody else, but they’re not too special for me. And no one who's a part of something this special could truly be unlovable."

But, of course, those relationships also tend to be extremely volatile. And when the person switches their "special connection" to another person, everyone else who came before becomes a threat to this connection and therefore an enemy. And when you're on the wrong side of this kind of thing it feels exactly like malice or cruelty. So, in regards to how this defines the way John is seen by us/fans, I get why it's so tempting to frame him as a cruel or malicious person.

It's easier and perhaps more satisfying to attribute his volatile relationships to cruelty rather than a deep-seated schema of unworthiness, or to attribute his determination to be seen and loved to ego and then characterize that ego as reprehensible. But, with the benefit of time and distance, I think we can probably see that it was a way of trying to survive inside of a broken schema that put him constant psychic pain.

There's also a whole 'nother conversation about to what degree John did or didn't use his public image to self-soothe his feelings of emptiness, which actually brings me to the idea that John was a "complete narcissist."

I’m not sure if the comments you saw meant it in the reddit-y “narcissists are assholes so therefore all assholes are narcissists” kind of way, or if they mean that narcissists have insanely high opinions of themselves (which is true of neither narcissists nor John), or if they were actually using the word correctly.

But if they were using it to refer to the personality disorder, it's probably worth mentioning that people on the NPD spectrum also often struggle with those same intense feelings of unworthiness, emptiness, and self-hate. And John most likely did have some narcissistic tendencies that affected his behavior, but overall I honestly think he was more aligned with the BPD tendency to over-rely on idealizing a personal connection than the NPD tendency to use outside praise and approval as a replacement for internal self-worth.

*I recently became aware that some psychologists believe BPD is actually a form of CPTSD. I’m continuing to use the term BPD, but the truth is I’m not in a position to say whether people with BPD should more accurately be placed under the umbrella of CPTSD.

PAUL

I think the most important consideration when we look at Paul's self-perception is the fact that he most likely was on the NPD spectrum, and I genuinely think to some extent he relies on his public persona because he was denied the opportunity to develop a strong sense of self as a child.

(Off topic but it drives me fucking crazy that narcissist is slowly turning into a synonym for asshole and people with crippling childhood trauma and mental health issues now face even more of a stigma because whiny bitches on reddit couldn’t come up with a better word than “narcissist” when they were big mad. Argh.)

Okay, with that out of the way, I think in looking at Paul's self-perception we have to look back at his adolescence and take into account the fact that he was heavily burdened by his father's addiction and later his mother's death.

There's a quote from Paul about the day Mary died and Paul saying something to the effect of “What are we going to do without her money?”, which people erroneously interpret as Paul being cold (????) but I think obviously indicates a child who was pushed to take responsibility for his family’s financial problems (and by extension his father’s addiction and by extension their continued survival) from far too young an age and was existentially terrified that they wouldn't stay afloat.

(To be clear financial stress is just one tiny piece of being the child of an addict, but I think it's illustrative.)

Anyone growing up under that kind of pressure would be affected by it, and I think in Paul’s case it overwhelmed him with a sense of responsibility and corresponding fear that put his mind more on his family's survival than on himself. Which meant that as an adult he didn’t necessarily have a strong internal sense of identity to fall back on when he was experiencing internal doubts or outside criticism, and other people’s opinions became even more important to him than they are to most people.

In terms of how this manifested, I honestly think it turned him into one of the most media-savvy people I have ever seen. Which, yes, sometimes reads as performative. But for some people their feelings are realer when they’re seen. By making it public/visible they make it a part of how people see them and by extension a part of themselves.

This is also why I think it’s a little bullshit when people try to assign this duplicity to the way Paul intentionally/consciously overhauled his brand after the beatles – just because he wanted everyone to think he was Ultimate Wife Guy/Number One Dad it doesn’t mean he didn’t actually want to be that person. In fact, I think it meant that he did.

All that being said, it’s probably smart to remember that any image we see of Paul (and any other celebrity) isn't a reflection of who they are but rather of how they wanted to be perceived during that particular conversation. Every conversation has an audience, and sometimes for Paul that audience is a literal audience, and it's a little naive to treat the statements he makes publicly like some kind of unfiltered stream-of-consciousness peek into his mind rather than, y'know, public statements.

It’s not that anything he says is necessarily false, rather that things we enjoy hearing may be overrepresented, things we don't care about may be underrepresented, and it will all likely be portrayed in a way that's generally pleasing. In that way, Paul might sometimes function as a mirror to our own feelings about the beatles and their legacy (or our feelings about Paul and his legacy). I talk a little more about this in the replies here.

It kind of reminds of a quote from Marc Maron's podcast about Paul that I can't find the exact text of, but it was roughly "He's become a theme park where people go to relive their memories of The Beatles, and he's okay with that." Paul is a generous, savvy performer trying to perform something we will enjoy without totally selling out the sense of self/identity that he experiences vicariously through his public persona. So it’s both very sincere and very performative. They’re not incompatible. 

GEORGE

There’s arguably some conflicting ideas about George’s self-perception, with the general fan assumption that he was overwhelmed with insecurity not really aligning with how the people around him often described him as having a strong internal sense of identity, individuality, or confidence. That being said, it can absolutely be both.

I think we in the beatles fandom tend to assume that George had terrible self-esteem because we tend to see him through the lens of the beatles (actually I guess we see them all through that lens, but it’s arguably the most limiting with George), and it just seems like common sense that if you were trying to be a songwriter in the shadow of the two greatest songwriters of all time you’d end up feeling pretty shitty about yourself. 

Then, on the interpersonal level, there’s the fact that both of the people we often see as George's most important friendships (although I’m not at all sure they were the defining relationships of his life) were extremely focused on conveying to everyone around them that they preferred each other. Which is a very natural thing for a hyperidealized bond to do, btw – oftentimes people with BPD need everybody to know that their idealized bond is extremely special and their idealized person prefers them to everyone else.

(That's not to say Paul and John were friend-excluding jerks, btw. It's obvious they were very close with George, not to mention Ringo. It's just that it was probably soothing to them to perform the specialness of their relationship in front of others, to convey to people that their closeness is extreme and important and unlike anything they have with anyone else, or, indeed, unlike anything anyone else has ever had.)

But I honestly think this perception of George as someone overwhelmed with insecurity is yet another perspective on George that only really makes sense if you insist on exclusively seeing him in the shadow of the beatles. Put it up there with “George didn’t play well with others." It’s something that feels intuitively right… as long as you don’t really know anything about him that doesn’t directly involve Paul and John.

I'm not saying he was never insecure and never tried to talk shit about himself, but look at how many people described him as individualistic, confident, etc., from a very young age. Also, frankly, he just never seemed super concerned with controlling how he was perceived or searching for validation via his public image. I don’t think it’s a case of outgrowing John and Paul’s shadow, either, because apparently he was literally always like that.

I know people will immediately point to George's bids for connection in Get Back, how they sometimes took the form of "I'm bad at music" and then waiting for the "No, you're not!" and how this contrasts to Paul's bids for connection, which were more like "No one likes me" or "I'm bad at being in charge."

I have my own issues with GB (it's got every reality TV red flag under the sun) and even more issues with how it's perceived, but, yeah, this definitely points to George at that point in his life feeling a sense of musical insecurity. Or, at the very least, using his perceived musical inferiority as a bid for connection.

And it’s also probably worth noting that George really did describe himself as a “pretty good guitarist” who wrote songs that “weren’t that bad”. Which honestly doesn’t strike me as someone with horrible self-esteem (especially because he seemed basically fine with that tbh), maybe more just someone with a self-deprecating sense of humor who was self-aware about being “economy class” and didn’t think (or expect other people to think) that he was one of the best musicians of his time. But, yes, if we’re looking at him in contrast to someone like Paul who once described his musical oeuvre as the only true equivalent to Mozart, it’s obviously pretty different.

So I'm not saying we're all totally delusional when we say George seems insecure compared to the other beatles. Rather, I'm saying that his insecurity seems more like it existed against a larger backdrop of security in the self that probably came from a relatively stable childhood.

I’m semi-familiar with a difference in psychology between self-esteem issues that develop in response to childhood experiences and self-esteem issues that develop in response to things that happen when you’re an adult, and I know George joined the beatles well before he became an adult, but I honestly think it might come down to something like that. Maybe having a base/core of knowing yourself and feeling some degree of inherent value as a human being meant that while he certainly had a lot of experiences throughout adolescence/adulthood that could theoretically make him feel unworthy, it didn’t really get at the core of his being.

RINGO

With Ringo, I do question a little if his self-perception was actually that well developed when he was young. I talked about this a little bit elsewhere, but some of the stories about his childhood make me think he experienced some degree of emotional neglect that prevented him from learning how to identify and cope with his own emotions.

Which is a really common thing for people who grow up to self-soothe with alcohol – because you don’t know how to recognize your emotions you can’t even begin to cope with them, so you feel your only option is to numb them with alcohol.

(It can actually cut both ways, too – depending on how young you were when your parents realized they could shut you up with alcohol, you might have been prevented from learning how to recognize and cope with emotions by the fact that they were always being numbed. Given that he first got black-out drunk around age 9, I think this might be true for Ringo as well.)

I think in a weird way this is also why people tend to overlook Ringo and/or not have a particularly vivid image of him as a person who feels things or does things. We don’t always portray a very complex inner or emotional life in him, but obviously he has one, it’s just that for a long time he himself may not have known that he had one. And I sometimes think this perceived "blankness" (as opposed to emptiness) defined his self-perception, defined the way he was seen by the people around him -- as a blank space where they could pour out their own emotions, and now defines how we see him as fans.

Which is a little frustrating because he's been sober for over thirty years and I strongly suspect that he has a very developed sense of self and self-worth at this point in his life or he wouldn't have been able to get and stay sober for thirty fucking years. Also, frankly, even back in the day he was probably living in the same repeating prison that all addicts live in, but because he wasn't overtly aware of it he wasn't overtly expressing it and as a result we all sort of fail to see it even looking back.

(I'm not excusing myself from this either, btw. The other day I caught myself saying John and George were probably the most open to changing as people, and then I remembered that Ringo was an alcoholic until he was almost 50 years old and still managed to get and stay sober and realized I'm an asshat.)

Self-esteem issues and self-hate come rolled together with any drinking problem. It’s hard to get sober without facing what you’ve become and it’s impossible to face what you’ve become without hating yourself. I suspect Ringo has had a profound and painful journey with his own self-perception and sense of identity, I'm just not sure I know what it is. Which, yes, makes me the asshat.

All that being said, the blankness/simplicity we project onto Ringo does sometimes work in his favor. He's been very open about the fact that he considers his behavior towards his wives to be abusive, and he almost never gets called on it the way beatles fans call out John, and I suspect it's partly because we insist on seeing so much more complexity and importance and frankly more humanity in John's story than in Ringo's.

[thetruthisoutthereandbeyond]

The Comments

In the event that anything is deleted, here are the comments I refer to in my article.

MrsFizzle's comments:

Flashbacks

This confrontation also showed up in Reunification with a different teacher who uttered almost word for word what Miss Tompkins said to Shawn in this Flashback chapter.

Autumn in Philadelphia

The Darkest Night

A Boy and His (Teacher's Motorcycle)

The sus comments and replies on Reunification:

There are highly sus comments on her other BMW stories as well, but for now, those are irrelevant.

FFN:

I included this one because for some reason an account with the same name and pfp commented on MrsFizzle's BMW stories on AO3 but Reunification on FFN. Curious.

AO3:

She had her entire story outlined? Or the entire story was outlined for her?

So she reuses things from her other fandoms? Curious. That's not very inspired for a published author.

This one is from Reddit.

I'm including it because of the topic. The post was very clear about sharing something that you (as an author) created for your fics, yet MrsFizzle claims an OC dog as hers then backhandedly mentions that a friend actually created it.

Why respond with an OC someone else created when that was not the question asked? Why not talk about Ashley here? Or are we still trying to perpetuate the lie that Ashley is Jon's canon wife?

So very curious.

For the record, I looked up this OC dog and, of course, he is not tagged as an OC. Instead there is a Lieutenant-verse tag. I'm not sure why she has such an aversion to using OC tags when she has no issue using OCs.

What really bothers me is she does not credit the dog's creator. Not once. Instead full credit goes to her for the character. In her final chapter AN on the longest story featuring the dog, she has the audacity to refer people to read a story the friend wrote set in her world, but does not give the friend credit for the dog.

I would think you would credit out of respect for the friendship if nothing else. But no, instead she misleads readers once again. Two stories, no credit.

No wonder MrsFizzle was so comfortable taking what she wanted from someone she saw as a rival without crediting.

Read the above thread. Now read this one again:

Anything sound familiar?

She really is bold, leaving these comments all over. Or shameless. I'm honestly not sure. I find her behavior baffling and inexplicable most of the time.

This was a comment that came out in the post-chapter 70 of Autumn in Philadelphia rush to finish Reunification.

What did chapter 70 include? Jon sitting Shawn down and talking to him about his decision to take him to counseling after a trip he, Shawn, and Audrey were going to take.

It is one hell of a coincidence that MrsFizzle suddenly includes Jon getting Shawn counseling after they and Ashley return from the Europe trip.

At this point, Reunification is one coincidence after another after another.

Since both authors appear to be NCIS fans, I think Gibbs' Rule #39 is applicable: There is no such thing as a coincidence.

It's also interesting that MrsFizzle says she didn't know about this stuff until recently. Both to MA and to Reddit she presents herself as an authority on the foster care system as far back as 2022.

Curiouser and curiouser.

The Ashley comments

This is her friend that helped her hide the plagiarism accusations on FFN again hailing Ashley's greatness post harassment claims by MA.

The truth about Ashley's origins:

I don't have a comment for this one that isn't snark. But this is a reader who admits to knowing nothing about the fandom or characters.

I really did try not to chose a side while I investigated this because I don't have access to what went on behind the scenes. All I see and can judge is what the authors put out there.

What MrsFizzle puts out does not win her any favor. In fact, a lot of what she says strengthens the claims against her. She mentions to readers they should/can contact her privately. Apparently, everything is done privately with her, which is fair, but she really has no public support that I can find. It's hard to tell what people really think of her. This may mean nothing at all, but paired with her very odd behavior in the BMW fandom, it may mean an awful lot, especially since MA says she has evidence that MrsFizzle got readers to help harass her.

With MA, you can see how hurt and stressed she is in her Tumblr posts, AO3 author's notes, and Reddit comments over what MrsFizzle did to her. She never names this person but you can track the rise and fall of her frustration with the situation. And that's really all I can say negatively about her. From Tumblr to Reddit, she appears to be highly regarded, even by those who don't seem to have any fandom overlap with her. She comes off as highly supportive of others in and out the BMW fandom and is much appreciated by those around her.

And this lead into their online personas.

MrsFizzle's persona changes so much that it makes it look like she's trying to hide something (see the main article for her changing Reddit persona). It's a very noticeable shift especially in the lead up to her leaving Reddit altogether or at least no longer posting/commenting.

MA is consistent. She's upset, stressed, and worried at times, but her story doesn't change. She doesn't change how she talks to people or what she tells them although over time she does give more information about the situation. Again, she is highly supportive regardless of what she's dealing with and gives measured advice on dealing with plagiarism.

Going back to the previous comment, MrsFizzle's response to it is barely five months old. She claims Reunification "remains one of my favorites I've that worked on".

Innocuous response on the surface but having spent as much time in these two worlds as I have, I wonder why that is? Does she delight that much in hurting another author?

Then I think back to that Reddit remark about envy and wanting to bring others down and I really do wonder why this story is so special with all that was going on around it?

For MA her story is a 20+ year labor of love. For MrsFizzle her story appears to be a two year jaunt into tormenting another author.

And now we're back to the Ashley lie:

If I was MrsFizzle I would be ashamed and embarrassed that I stooped to this level just to avoid acknowledging where my ideas came from. What could be so horrible about tipping your hat to someone whose story clearly impacted you?

The truth is out there.

Each and everyone one of you can read it for yourself and see it.

-DS

Much as you try to bury it, the truth is out there. Greater than your lies, the truth wants to be known.

-Agent Mulder, X-Files

[rachell-redacted]

Re face anatomy critique, I completely understand how awful it feels to work really hard to address a certain aspect of your work and still get negative feedback about it. That said, there’s no way you have put in that amount of work to learn facial anatomy and not vastly improved. At least for me, it helps to look at my old art sometimes and compare it to my current work, because often when I feel like I’m getting nowhere it turns out there is a huge level of improvement I simply haven’t noticed. Even the most well meaning commenters don’t see that progression over time, and so can’t say “wow you’ve really improved” when you absolutely have. There will always be room for improvement and there will be some areas that are harder for you, but don’t underestimate how far you’ve come just because you’re still receiving similar feedback.

That said, I do also think a lot of these comments aren’t neccesarily a reflection of your ability to draw anatomically correct faces. I’ve seen plenty of similar comments on actual photographs of real people, especially women and/or POC, because people have wildly unrealistic expectations of what actual people look like. Even if you draw faces perfectly, you are still going to get comments saying they look weird simply because you are drawing them accurately, so I wouldn’t lend too much credence to those sorts of comments (though this is easier said than done especially if you have struggled with facial anatomy for a while.)

It's a valid and important point you're presenting, so whatever I type after this just know I'm not arguing, just trying to pinpoint my concerns. And thank you for taking time to engage!

So, you are right, sometimes those comments are just reddit rage and some real game promos would get the same treatment. Like, I literally saw it with Alyx in HL:A, I know how it goes. "She looks like a man, I've fixed her face"... That said, sometimes I just get *the vibe* that something went wrong with my drawing and it's not just Reddit. If a negative comment about the face gets ten upvotes AND piece isn't doing great numbers vise I start to get worried. You see, I'm often blind to my mistakes. Maybe something is wrong with me, or my eyes or whatever, but I can miss very obvious fuck ups. When there's an "umm... Wtf is this?" reaction to an art, I can't help but doubt myself.

Regarding progress, it's tricky. My progress is very slow and I used to get comments like "you are not progressing at all, do something different". Sometimes I can see some regress, which isn't uncommon but still unpleasant. Not to start a talent discussion, but I'm not the most naturally gifted person on this Earth. If it's possible to have an artistic learning difficulty I might just have one, which isn't very fortunate with my goals in mind. Hence me being frustrated.

All of that said, thank you for your perspective. I'll try to reflect on it a bit more.

[hot-crossedbuns]

being trans is so weird.

I'm trans masc. in transitioning towards presenting more masculine. if I could I would have a hysterectomy and top surgeryl right now.

but I just saw a Reddit thread about "girl secrets" and I found myself in the comments of hundreds of people describing the mundane aspects of their womanhood, like making sure you get the leftovers out when you shower at the of of you period or the weird adjustment thing you have to do with your boobs sometimes when trying to sleep.

My hair has always been a source of dysphoria for me, always being complimented on my hair, long and thick, natural highlights and gentle curls. all I ever wanted until I finally gave in at 17 was to chop it all off. I'd get a buzz cut if it meant people stopped seeing me from behind and immediately clocking me as a girl because it went right down my back even in my ratty ponytail.

but I saw this tiktok on how women often swoosh their pony tails behind them when they walk, because it's fun. and it is! I always found some joy in that before I finally cut it off and felt pride in my hair for the first time ever.

my co-workers are all women, cisgender women who don't know that I'm not one of them. to them I'm just the short haired lesbian that works shifts with them. but this means they include me in their monthy girls nights and I get to feel the joy of being the inside of some secret club I never really felt a part of as a kid. it's fun hearing them chat shit about their exes, talk about those weird things that only happen to women because of our anatomy.

and yet, I'm taking steps to turn away from that, because while these spaces are safe and familiar to me, they what's felt unnatural and like I was intruding on something not meant for me.

I'm taking these steps to look and be seen the way that makes me confident and empowered, and yet I'm time I'll lose the experience of talking to random women fixing their make up in the at the mirrors in public toilets, or seeing 5 drunk women tell a random stranger she's beautiful when they find her ex left her for someone prettier.

Men don't have that support. and I'll lose that forever when I transition.

and yeah, once I visibly transition I don't have to be as afraid of walking home at night, and yeah i won't have to hear drunk old men hit on me after telling me I look like their grandaughters, and yeah I won't have to deal with sexist jokes made at my expense by my guy friends.

but once women stop seeing me as a woman and start seeing me for me, suddenly my past, my whole childhood, where i believed I would be a woman the rest of my life, suddenly changes meaning.

if I were to talk about those weirdly sexual and creepy comments my best friends boyfriend made for months, it's just guys being dudes. if I mention the time my boss's boyfriend smacked my ass during a busy shift, it's just a bro tap. if I mention how random guys at work often try to hug me or hold my hands or call me pet names, it stops being harassment and just starts being guys messing about.

if I mention how my cramps can immobilise me, or how much I hate wearing tampons or how dogs do that weird thing where they just keep sniffing your crotch or how sometimes my ovary cramps and it's rock hard beneath the skin, or how frustrating it is when your period comes 2 days early and ruins the underwear you liked or it's a week late for absolutely no god forsaken reason and your hormones are all over the place, and you're moody, tired, angry, sad, hungry bloated and nauseous all at once, they're just look at me all funny because his could I, someone who looks and presents as a guy, possibly know what it's like to be a woman.

as if I didn't live as one for 20 years.

as if I didn't plan to live my life as a woman.

as if I didn't grow up being someone's daughter, sister or niece.

as if I didn't expect to be someone's mother, wife or aunt.

being trans is weird, because once you realise it, all of your life experience slowly stops mattering.

it's weird because yes I want the world to separate me from who they always assumed I would be, yes I want them to stop seeing me as that little girl who didn't quite know how to be a girl. yes I want them to see me the way I've always felt I was supposed to be... but I don't want them to only see the masc side of me.

my girlhood, my femininity, my lived experience as a female in the 21st century all helped shape who I am now, and just because I'm trans doesn't mean that goes away.

but no one really sees that.

and yeah, it's a good thing, it means the world is finally starting to see me for who I've always known myself to be.

but knowing that part of me is slowly fading is weird.

being trans is so weird.

and so frustrating.

all at once.

[tiredfox64]

Oh, what’s this? Does my persona have something new in her hands?

Ah yes, she has my followers. And how many do we have?

Over 50?!?!?!?! What the fu-

So yes I gained over 50 followers (now it’s over 60 since I woke up) which some might think that’s too little to celebrate. But if you put them all in one room I sure would panic from that so i say that is a big amount. Tbh I’m shocked because I only meant to drop some Rain fics since I wasn’t seeing enough and just dip. But we can all see that it has become more than that and now I write fics. I knew it would happen one of these days and it has. So as a little celebration I will show you some of my recent art because I did say I do that in my pinned post. Alright, let’s go!

Phen my dear

The story behind this is that I made a post on Reddit and it got a bunch of upvotes which was a shock. I basically asked why he stands so weird and everyone yelled that he serves cunt. Someone drew it out for me as well which is where I even thought of the quote. So I quickly drew him up cause i couldn’t stop thinking about it and yeah. And if you saw this on Reddit that means you also found my Reddit account. Not so fun fact I had a dream where I wrote a fanfic about him and people were eating it up. I fear it may come true with the things I’ve seen.

Are you a fox or a fairy

Let me admit I’m not the greatest artist. The corner picture was a trial run to see how I wanted her to look. Basically this was me making my Tumblr into a person (does that make sense). I don’t like the hair that much maybe a split would do better. I’m also not the best with backgrounds. But she is still cute, don’t have a true name for her tho.

False God

I take a writing class and this was part of my short story. The teeth are supposed to look fucked up like that which someone said grossed them out when they critiqued it lol. I know the mouth is a bit wonky but what can ya do. What’s done is done. Also I got distracted while working on him that I forgot to go to my asl class 💀.

And yeah that’s about it. Not much but it’s because I’ve only gained motivation recently. Hope when summer hits I can do some more.

Once again thank you everyone for following, liking and reposting, even taking time to comment. This might go unnoticed since I am only known as of now for doing MK fanfics which is fine. I just thought I would share some stuff. Like I said I’m not the greatest artist (it’s not the program there is someone else on here who is a master in my eyes).

Just so y’all know I have about two and half weeks left of this semester. Maybe in the summer time I will be quicker with popping this out (I act like i haven’t been posting everyday). I do plan to slow down a little because I think it’s a lot for me. When I’m writing fanfics in my dreams that means I need to step away. I don’t want to burn myself out too early especially since part of my major is writing. Hopefully no one jumps me for wanting to slow down if I ever do. I’m a people pleaser I will literally walk on hot sand so y’all can wear my flip flops.

But yeah, I have nothing else to really say. I hope no one unfollows me because I posted art but that might be my anxiety trying to scare me into not posting this. Adiós!

[triptychgrip]

If the Katsuki-Nikiforovs ever took GQ Magazine's Couples's Quiz game...

...it would be an utterly sappy and unhinged rollercoaster, as I cover in Chapter 7 of my post-canon, Olympic-Games-focused Yuri!!! on Ice fic (which only has 4 chapters left until completion!). Yuuri, understandably, feels the need to profusely apologize to the GQ production staff for putting up with him and Viktor (plus the friends they'd invited to watch the filming, which includes Yurio and Christophe, among others).

Indeed, as I note Reddit user r/OohYouMakeMeFeel_369's reaction: "I laughed my ass off when I saw Yuuri's tweet a few hrs ago where he tagged the filming crew and promised to buy them some strong sake for putting up with them. And then, omg Viktor followed up by inviting them to Yutopia. My fav Russian continues to be #NumberOneHasetsuTourismAmbassador"

If you've watched any of the actual Couple's Quiz game series, you might note that they usually end the quiz with some form of the question: "What does your partner love most about you?"

Even though my fic is currently over 200K words, this scene is definitely in my top 3 favorites I've written, because it allowed me to try to capture how Yuuri and Viktor -- who, at this point, have been together for over 5 years, and married for nearly three -- perceive the other's love.

In particular, it allows you to see the traits that they've come to appreciate about themselves by way of the other's vantage point: something that was particular gratifying to create headcanons around as it pertains to Yuuri's increasing confidence through canon, which continues to grow as he and Viktor face life's challenges together. All in all, this chapter will give you the warm-fuzzies, and I believe you can still enjoy it even if you don't want to read the larger fic (though I do hope you'd give it a chance, especially if you are interested in seeing how their relationship might have evolved).

Below is an excerpt that I hope piques your interest in checking the story out. Note: as it gets closer to completion, I'll probably post more excerpts from the first 10 chapters, because I sort of sucked at promoting this fic when I first started posting it to ao3 back in November...lesson learned!

------

“Never mind their gross kissing,” Yurio loudly complained, throwing them a look of disgust as if they’d just insulted Potya. “What I want to know is what the score is now that Katsudon got all 3 right.”

Jamie answered almost immediately.

“Ok, remember: there’s still a final question for you both, which are big multi-pointers,” he called out, flipping a few pages of his clipboard. And, since neither of you have used your three hints, you could each get an additional three points when everything wraps up, if you decide not to use them. So with that disclaimer, Yuuri is currently in the lead, up by 1.5 points.”

Before Yuuri could outwardly celebrate his small leg-up, Chris piped up with a predictably suggestive comment. 

“Hmmm, I wonder if dear Yuuri will be able to maintain his lead? I believe he can, he’s always had such excellent stamina, after all…”

As his voice trailed off, Yura turned to face him with a pronounced scowl on his face. 

“You need new material, Giacometti. These two have been together for years: it’s time to show some damn evolution.” 

He then began to mutter under his breath, saying something that sounded like “resting on his fucking laurels, what a waste,” which made several people nearby laugh. The Ice Tiger had a bit of a point: stamina jokes were so 2017.

While Yuuri was pleased with his lead, he was slightly nervous around what Jamie and Tarneka had selected for their final questions. There had definitely been some bizarre ones nestled within the ‘bank’ of options the two co-producers had emailed them a few weeks back. As he’d filled out his answers and allocated the points for the thirty questions he was supposed to submit – having to eventually move to a different room away from Viktor, as they’d kept distracting one another with their snickering – he remembered barking out mildly hysterical laughter at a few of the options in the last category. 

“What might your life be like in a parallel universe?” had stumped him, and he wondered if his husband had been brave enough to pick that one out; it was the kind of wacky, philosophical question he adored.

“Only 1.5 points behind…that’s nothing,” Viktor spoke up, with a gleam in his eye. “Don’t get too comfortable, Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov,” Yuuri lobbed back, only a split-second later, before slipping into focus mode and reaching for the last notecard.

Before he could lay a hand on it, however, his spouse called out to Tarneka and Jamie.

“Are you able to dock points for intimidating the competition?” he asked, sounding put-out. 

Yuuri blinked, unsure as to what he was insinuating.

“You have on your very eros nothing-can-stop-me face, and I won’t be able to concentrate if I’m too distracted by how hot you look,” Viktor continued on in Russian, furrowing his eyebrows, cutely. 

Powerless against the giggles that burst forth, he clapped a hand over his mouth as he watched his love’s eyes begin to narrow. 

“You can’t be serious, Vitya,” Yuuri wheezed, following Viktor’s lead and switching to Russian. “This is just my face! It’s not like I’m doing anything on purpose.”

Yuuri missed the ensuing retort amidst the sound of Tarneka’s ask to Yura for a translation of their back-and-forth: a request the Ice Tiger very firmly denied.

“Trust me, you’re better off not knowing,” he griped, before marching over to stand near them, just out of the camera frame. 

“Get a grip, old man!” he hissed in Russian, staring daggers at Viktor. “This thirsty idiot act may have been acceptable a few years ago, but the time is long past for you to realize that the person you married is just a man. For fuck’s sake, Katsudon isn’t some god.”

Viktor visibly bristled at these words, and Yuuri mentally prepared himself to intervene.

“I resent that, Yura,” his husband replied, loftily. “My Yuuri is divine; he’s not ‘just’ anything! Did you even see his Sports Week magazine cover? When I saw the final proofs, I almost fainted: all the blood in my body began to rush straight to m– ”

“Mmmmmph!”