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love-takes-work · 3 months ago

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Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey on Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries

Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey gave an interview to Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries on hosts' Austin Taylor (he/they/she) and Brenda Snell's (she/they) 151st episode. (Ian's last name is correct in the title, but it's incorrectly written as "James-Quartey" in the episode notes.) The subject is the groundbreaking episode "Jailbreak," which just had its 10th anniversary.

The interview itself is bonus content! But then there is a podcast episode with discussion between the two podcast hosts with some additional perspectives from them (mostly Austin) as fans, with short clips from the full interview interspersed.

Highlights from the interview:

We hear a short introduction from Rebecca Sugar (she/they) and Ian Jones-Quartey (he/him) about their roles on Steven Universe (including that they both boarded on the episode "Jailbreak," even though Rebecca was the only one of the two who was credited as a storyboarder, along with Jeff Liu and Joe Johnston of course). Rebecca also wrote the song "Stronger Than You," and they both have writing credits.

Austin asks them to discuss the writing process versus the boarding process, and they go into some detail. It's a storyboard-driven show. First there's an outline; then the storyboarders write and draw the show, and they are responsible for the dialogue too. Premise and outline (Act 1, Act 2, Act 3) are mapped out first. Matt Burnett and Ben Levin played the writing/conceptual roles along with Rebecca and Ian, and they'd get the outline done which would then be handed off to a storyboarder. They essentially chose this process because they wanted to have it all: the traditional boarding process that made such good content, but still have the mile-high view providing an epic storyline. Other creators were always curious about how they'd managed to do both in that sense, and this is how they did it.

They go on to talk about episodes that are "pillars" of the show, how important aspects of the show were worked into big episodes all coming together. Ian talks about "visual set pieces" as a top down element--how "Ocean Gem" had ocean towers into space and "Jailbreak" had a musical fight sequence on a spaceship. They planned those big episodes as potential finales if they didn't get any more episode orders. Rebecca says it was really hard to write the show both as if it could end at any moment AND they were planting enough seeds for the future if they did get more episodes. Ian clarifies that they had a huge story planned that they hoped to get to tell, but they wanted viewers to be satisfied by what they got to give them.

Rebecca pitched "Jailbreak" to the Crew at the time that they were living in this hundred-year-old cabin. They had everybody over to go over the beats of the episode and the Crew members were skeptical that they could get all of that done in 11 minutes. Rebecca describes it as "excitement and terror." Ian praises Jeff and Joe for fitting it in with so much fun and energy. Nothing major was cut story-wise, but Rebecca tells a story they've told before about consolidating some of the content while Ruby is looking for Sapphire, which was disappointing because they had to drop gorgeous drawings by Joe at the board stage. Joe bravely announced he didn't care that they had to lose it. Haha! Ian thinks some fighting Peridot on the ship was consolidated too so it would fit in the song break.

Rebecca discusses how they learned in the first season that they really had to keep big reveals and concepts tied down to their own episodes. They had early ideas of Steven separating from his Gem early in Season 1 and it was just too much too soon. "Lion 2: The Movie" had a bunch of new concepts at once and the reveals were too much for a casual audience to catch everything. Pieces that had to be built for "Jailbreak" to work required individual episodes introducing concepts for how fusion works, where Gems are from, etc.

Austin the host says they'd been watching Steven Universe from the beginning, and they enjoyed the show as a casual viewer but they felt like people really NOTICED this show for the first time when "Jailbreak" aired. They want to know whether the Crew had any idea that the episode was going to be such an artistic and cultural game-changer. Rebecca describes being in a weird fan-cocoon with the content because they had had "Jailbreak" finished for a whole year by the time we saw anything and they were already all the way moved on to Season 3 of the show by then. They didn't know where to put their enthusiasm as a historically very fannish person. Ian describes how Cartoon Network would take completed episodes and leave them on the shelf for a long time before airing them and they weren't able to reveal anything. They believed they would just have a niche audience and did NOT foresee the huge fan response. Rebecca tries to talk about how controversial the content was but Ian interrupts to say it was also so different from everything their peers were making.

Rebecca picks up the discussion of the radical content, referencing how on Adventure Time they'd learned that same-sex content was a no-no so they had to wait until they weren't getting so much scrutiny before trying to build anything of that nature into the main text of the show. They got pushback internally when they turned the episode in, with decision-makers saying they could not have the same-sex relationship, but the song was done, the schedule was set to send it to Korea for full animation, it was really too late. They couldn't have done that earlier in the run, but now because of the stability they'd built, they could get it in under the radar. Rebecca mentions getting the suggestion that Ruby could be a boy, to which they replied that Ruby and Sapphire were Gems and they are in love and there's a song about it. They were then told no mouth-kissing was allowed, which was amusing to Rebecca because the boards for the episode never showed them kissing on the mouth. The planned kiss was always on the eye, and that was how Rebecca wanted it, because Sapphire kissing Ruby's tear seemed so intimate. They finally relented, saying if it was already done it was already done, BUT they weren't allowed to confirm the same-sex relationship or talk about it outside the show. Ian got in trouble for doing it anyway. He tells the story:

A fan asked him a Twitter question about whether Ruby and Sapphire would be considered a same-sex couple in human terms (he doesn't remember clearly what was asked, but I recall it's the question about whether they would be femme-presenting nonbinary lesbians), and he confirmed it while emphasizing that's the human version while they are Gems. Articles were written, the studio found out, he got called into meetings and scolded, and they made him apologize to one of the heads of the studio. He had to cool way off on how he answered questions from fans for a while, but eventually he was able to share the truth again.

Rebecca shares that the only expectation they were led to believe existed would be a negative reaction, especially if studios in more homophobic countries found out this content was in the show. There are places on Earth where being LGBTQ is a crime. The pulling of funding could lead to the end of the show. The studio apparently did not anticipate a positive response anywhere. Rebecca refers to the older LGBTQ fans as a "secondary demographic" that didn't matter to the the network at the time, and that they were entirely focused on the show doing well with 6-to-11-year-old boys. Rebecca wanted those kids to have this show too, along with their loved ones, and it doesn't seem to have occurred to most of the higher-ups that boys in that age group are sometimes themselves a queer orientation. The closest they got to believing it would be relevant to those kids is if they had same-sex parents. The concept of queer youth was years away for them. Rebecca didn't even really realize how many people it might resonate with because the work and its motivation was highly personal, only common in their experience with a few other artists they knew. (And artists are weird and unrelatable, right?)

Austin asks their guests to share some fond memories of making the episode. They go into the process of writing the song and how much pressure Rebecca felt when faced with the concept of writing a song for Estelle to sing. Rebecca consulted with Estelle to get her input on what inspiration would feed into a song that's a love song, a fight song, and a victory song all at once.

Rebecca so deeply wanted to use the skills they had--an animation degree!--to convey a message that could help influence the world in a positive way, and they specifically reference wanting people to be more accepting of a couple like themself and Ian. They wanted to tell young people that this kind of relationship isn't wrong, and with all the battles they fought against bigoted perspectives, they felt it was a vital fight. The clash between Garnet and Jasper is meant to represent taking a stand and advocating for those relationships, and Garnet's response to Jasper's hate was "too bad." This was one of the fondest memories Rebecca had--that they were able to take this deeply personal idea to their Crew, their composers and writers and artists, and have them all support and contribute to a message that they were being told was not expected to be well received. Rebecca and Ian drew the scene together of Garnet reintegrating, and they loved that they could bring the whole Crew into that world to make a difference.

Ian points out that they worked so hard to get this message out there and that was part of the reason he did want to share the truth on Twitter when he replied in a way that got him in trouble. They had gone in this deep and wanted it to pay off. "Jailbreak" used up all of its allotted retakes trying to make it as good as it could be. Ian talks about the song aligning properly and how even the release of the song has its own story. Then they discuss the Stevenbomb format and the messed up airing order, which was upsetting to Rebecca because the details are important (and Garnet's outfit going back to her Season 1 design sticks out like a sore thumb in the out-of-order episodes). Rebecca brings up the "Say Uncle" crossover and how it focuses on Steven learning to summon his shield reliably, which is very important for him to actually be able to do in "The Return," so it's odd to see him struggling with it in a later episode (despite that it was intentionally non-canon).

Ian decides he wants to talk about the Undertale fan parody of "Stronger Than You." He describes how their song didn't get publicized by the network, not even with major releases like this song, so it didn't get posted for months. In the meantime, the Undertale fandom used "Stronger Than You" in a parody, and that became many fans' first exposure to the song. Ian thinks it's funny. The Undertale version still has way more views than the original song.

Austin wants to say one more thing, and it's about the ending gimmick of the episode with an iris out as Connie calls to find out what happened. Austin thinks that's a great way to remind people it's a cartoon, and Rebecca chimes in to say how it was always really important to them to keep the show funny. They also then discuss that the fans outside the network's intended demographic sometimes became possessive of the show to the point that they said it was NOT actually for kids and that THEY were the core audience, but Ian says it's not true that it's not for those kids. It's for them too, and some of the work they did on keeping it funny and accessible to them was just as important. Rebecca points out that some of the people now talking to them about the show WERE those children who were in the intended demographic. Rebecca loved the secondary audience but also enjoyed when whole families could enjoy it together, like they did as a child with their father.

There's some discussion about Cartoon Network's inability to properly advertise the show most of the time (though Rebecca acknowledges they were "being difficult" and they were kind of the wild card), and they really wanted the events to be hyped as much as something like a big Game of Thrones episode because that's the level of importance these revelations have to the core audience. And for clarification, Rebecca loved and respected the S&P department at the network. Those people are often really cool according to Ian, and they'll have very specific requests for changes (like "you can only say 'sucks' twice," while "blows" was more acceptable than "sucks"). They can find any which way something unintentional could be taken as dirty or objectionable.

Highlights from the podcast episode/discussion:

In introduction, we hear that the day of the podcast episode's release--10 years after the groundbreaking Steven Universe episode "Jailbreak" aired--it isn't so headline-inspiring to have queer content in a cartoon, but that was not the case when Ruby and Sapphire's same-sex relationship was featured in this season finale. We hear a short introduction from Rebecca (she/they) and Ian (he/him) about their roles on Steven Universe (including that they both boarded on the episode "Jailbreak," even though Rebecca was the only one of the two who was credited as a storyboarder, along with Jeff Liu and Joe Johnston of course). Host Brenda jokes that they can't believe they actually got the creator of Pug Davis on the show. (They talk a bit about the graphic novel too.)

The hosts describe the content of the episode "Jailbreak," and then they cut to another clip from Rebecca and Ian discussing the characters' kiss. They're Gems and kissing on the lips has no special meaning to them, so the fact that Sapphire kissed Ruby on the eye wasn't less intimate as far as they were concerned. They discuss how a bunch of the episodes were aired out of intended order. They mention the Uncle Grandpa crossover (mentioned to be one of Rebecca Sugar's favorites!) and the host Austin gets their wires crossed a bit here by claiming "Say Uncle" was supposed to air after "Jailbreak" but aired before (it was actually the other way around), and claimed that she had her post-"Jailbreak" outfit on in the episode (she didn't; again, other way around; Garnet is wearing her old outfit and that's why we know it's technically intentionally a Season 1 episode).

The host says "Jailbreak" aired as part of the first Stevenbomb (a special event where they'd show a bunch of episodes in a row, usually over the course of most or all of a week), and points out that Rebecca Sugar had no part in the decision to do Stevenbombs. That was all the network's decision. For some reason the host Austin continues getting their wires crossed by saying "Jailbreak" was the last episode in the first Stevenbomb (it wasn't; "Full Disclosure" was the final day) and claimed that "Say Uncle" was part of the Stevenbomb (it was not), and then they say some episodes from Season 2 got pushed into Season 2's Stevenbomb (they did not; none of the displaced Season 1 episodes were ever used in a Stevenbomb--they were "Open Book," "Shirt Club," and "Story For Steven," plus "Say Uncle," which all aired on their own days outside of promoted events).

Host Brenda admits they have only seen the first five episodes of SU and they joke about "Frybo" being cursed. The hosts discuss the impact of "Jailbreak" on Tumblr (which they say was perceived as a platform already losing popularity because you could no longer post tits on your blog; that timeline is also skewed because "Jailbreak" aired in 2015 and the "no female-presenting nipples" thing happened in 2018). They talk about the revelation that "the rocks are gay!" and how important this was for queer fans. They discuss the nature of fusion and how it's not really the same as being the components.

Another clip from the interview plays where Rebecca says they had to "get out from under the microscope" before they could show some of the queer content, which is why it was so comparatively late in the show when they started to reveal Garnet's relationship. They knew from working on Adventure Time that same-sex relationships were not allowed to be portrayed. Making this relationship part of the identity of a central character the audience already knows and loves helps ensure that they will get to keep the content.

Austin and Brenda talk about the influence of Steven Universe on the generation that grew up with it, how many queer young people learned how to embrace their identity through the example of the show (and learned other important lessons about friendship). They talk about how awesome the song "Stronger Than You" is and how it was such a great anthem for people who needed it. They talk about Estelle's music video for the song being made at Comic Con in 2017 and how it helped a lot of people who were scared during the first Trump administration.

They discuss how the Cartoon Network bigwigs might have reacted poorly to the interpretation that they'd "broken a rule" and portrayed a same-sex relationship, and how they had to take the chance. Austin claims that they got some pushback and finger-wagging, and that Rebecca rejected the idea that Ruby could be a boy, and that they didn't straight-up say they were a couple and hey, friends could be this close too. (This spin isn't typically how Rebecca talks about their approach to dealing with the criticism from above--the plausible deniability "well they could still be seen as friends!" angle doesn't mesh with other statements Rebecca has made, though Rebecca does sometimes emphasize that they are not "women" but "Gems.")

They suggest that the Steven Universe creators sort of out-manipulated Cartoon Network by sliding this in when Garnet was already so central and they've already made popular content and merch of her, so they wouldn't be able to object to it without risking "losing" one of their best shows. (This also feels a little different from the way they usually frame it too; I've never heard them suggest that they essentially played hardball and tricked them into airing queer content. Usually the way Rebecca tells it, they certainly fought against the bigoted feedback they received, but they did not hold a lot of cards in the situation, and every battle was another possibility that they would lose the show. "I'm a big shot, what're you gonna do about it?" isn't a sentiment I've heard from them.)

Austin brings up international queer stories in animation and how shows like Revolutionary Girl Utena and Sailor Moon featured queer characters long before we were able to do it in mainstream animation in the West. They talk about the international audience for Steven Universe and how Russia in particular was not willing to air queer content, and therefore they dubbed Ruby as a boy. (Author's note: This is actually true, but it's more complicated. Ruby's Russian voice actor is a woman, Larisa Brokhman, and though they did imply she's male by occasionally using the equivalent of he/him pronouns for her in earlier episodes, they mostly dealt with this by avoiding any wording that used pronouns for Ruby at all, followed by cutting and refusing to air every episode where she and Sapphire were flirty. After Russia stopped airing the show entirely, the subsequent episodes began to be dubbed with the correct she/her pronouns for Ruby, but they knew it would not be released publicly inside Russia and would only be available in underground copies. By the way, if anyone believes they edited footage of Ruby to put a mustache on her, that did not ever happen.)

The hosts share some frustration over the fact that the HD version of the song "Stronger Than You" did not come out until around two years after the original was released. The episode cuts to a clip of Ian Jones-Quartey discussing how Cartoon Network didn't do a good job promoting the shows on their network and didn't get around to posting "Stronger Than You" on their YouTube channel for promotion until months afterwards, but in the meantime the Undertale fandom gobbled it up and released a fan version people got addicted to. They discuss how funny it was that the Undertale version was a lot of people's first exposure to the song and some of the fans didn't know it came from SU. We hear another clip from Rebecca Sugar saying how the team backed them up on deciding to take this episode forward, to be who they are and not have Rebecca fighting alone for queer content anymore. Rebecca describes it as a personal turning point. Rebecca really wanted to reach queer kids with the microphone they had.

#steven universe #jailbreak #ruby and sapphire #rebecca sugar #long post #myblog

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rockyapboa · 1 year ago

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hcs for the bruiser brothers bcuz i love them a bit too much hhhhughh:

> rick is a huge vocaloid nerd, like hes practicing how to make songs with the miku voice

> also has a vocaloid collection and a miku cosplay he wears in cons often

> nick has a huge mr. sandman collection (biggest mr. sandman fanboy, that he paid all V.I.P tickets to any meet and greet with the World Circuit)

> they draw on each other when one is sleeping

> rick is fucking bad at cooking, with a bad diet of cup noodles, nick is basically a private chef and tryna make rick cut the noodle addiction

> nick is a big sore loser. like a big one. at the hospital he probably cried on how he lost to a frenchman even tho his record is undefeated still

> just in case, rick has shark teeth and more piercings on his ears and one on his nose and bottom lip, and has a scar on his eye due to a knife

> and nick has scars on his face from his match against joe and have fang teeth on the bottom and top row

#nick bruiser #rick bruiser #super punch out #punch out #headcanons on them bcuz tf am i cooking

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honey-stars12318272 · 2 years ago

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even more criminal minds incorrect quotes

Prentiss: Are you a masochist or a sadist? Gidian, deadpan: I’m a Taurus.

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Hotch: Guys it’s a shooting star, let’s make a wish! Reid: I wish for good grades. Morgan: Nerd. Reid: Nevermind, I wish upon the shooting star to fall down at a 30° velocity aiming for Morgan. :) Hotch: Reid…

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Reid: Some people are like slinkies. Morgan: What? Reid: Not really good for much but bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs. Morgan: Morgan: Please don't push JJ down the stairs. Reid, pushing JJ down the stairs: Too late.

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Hotch: I can't believe you've done this….. Reid: I'm sorry I didn't know-! Hotch, on the verge of tears: YOU CAN'T JUST BUY ME A GIFT OUT OF NOWHERE NOW I FEEL LIKE A HUGE ASSHOLE!

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Prentiss, trying to comfort JJ: What's the problem? Anxiety? Low self-esteem? Obsessive thoughts of random arson? I've been there.

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at a zoo Reid: What are they in for? Hotch: Reid, this isn't prison. Reid: So they can leave? Hotch: No, but- Reid, pointing at a meerkat: I bet that one murdered someone.

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Garcia: Okay happy campers! If you were a fruit what would you be and why? Reid: I'd be a tomato because no one accepts me as part of the group. Garcia: … Reid: … Garcia: OKAY HAPPY CAMPERS-

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Morgan: Your smile? It makes my day. Reid: Your happiness? I live for that. JJ: A room? Get one. Garcia: Hotel? Trivago.

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Prentiss: Hey, Joe said he's coming over this afternoon. Reid: Cool. Prentiss: Do you know who Joe is? Reid: JOE MAMA! JJ, not even looking up from her phone: Damn, that backfired.

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The bau is playing Chess Reid: easily beats everyone because they know how to play Morgan: doesn’t know the rules, but wins anyway Hotch: doesn’t know the rules, and loses Prentiss: knows the rules, but still loses to those who don’t JJ: Actually, you can’t do that, because I said so. Garcia: They named a board game after cheese?

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Prentiss: Do you know that we are made out of atoms? Prentiss: And atoms never touch each other. Prentiss: So in my defense, officer. I did not punch this kid.

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Morgan: WHO THE F**K ATE MY BREAD

Morgan: I SWEAR TO GOD WHEN I FIND OUT WHO DID I WILL F**KING KI-

Reid: I did

Morgan: kiss you, you haven’t been eating enough lately<3

*Morgan walks away*

Reid: He’s gone

Garcia mouth full of bread and muffled: thank you!

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Hotch: Something’s off. Prentiss: Maybe you’ve finally developed human emotions and feel bad for hurting people. Hotch: No, but that’s funny.

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Reid: Hello, my name is Failure, and you're watching my life crumble into pieces. Reid: waves their finger and sings like they're in a Disney Channel intro

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Reid: I wish I was a dinosaur. Hotch: Why? Cause they're big and scary? Reid: no because they're dead.

#aaron hotchner #derek morgan #emily prentiss #moreid #spencer reid #jenifer jareau #penelope garcia #Emily prentiss #jason gideon #criminal minds #The bau #behaviour analysis unit

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fandomworld9728 · 7 months ago

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Total Drama: Revenge of the Island x Reader - Chapter 2:

Sliding to a stop next to Jo, (Y/n) cheered. "Yeah! I haven't run that fast since freshman year."

"Good speed. Not many can keep up with me." Turning to the jock next to her, Joe became smug. "Sorry you had to lose to a couple of girls."

"What girls? Lighting only sees one and that's cheer girl over there. And Lighting didn't lose bro. Lighting never loses. Just had to save my full speed for the rest of the game."

"Lighting is a jock with it all ladies! Looks, brains, talent, not to mention a huge ego to match our host's and he talks about himself in third person! How is he still single?" Smiling at being able to make Jo laugh, (Y/n) soon lost it at Lighting's smug smile.

"That's right. Cheer girl, if you can notice Lighting's qualities and talent you might be lucky enough to be on Lighting's arm."

"Gag me."

(Y/n): "Looks like Lighting doesn't understand what sarcasm is. Any guy who tells me I'm 'lucky to be on his arm' is going to find themselves with a black eye if they're not careful. However, I promised my mom that I wouldn't cause trouble... Well, much trouble anyways."

Jo: "Huh. This (Y/n) girl isn't so bad. If I had to actually make friends with someone on this stupid island, I guess it'd have to be her."

Pulling up to the three teens on his A.T.V. Chris barely spared them a glance as he continued his phone call. "You can't just- do you know how dangerous this show is?! Hey! That was uncalled for! I'm sending her home! Sabrina! Don't you dare-" Groaning, Chris stared angrily at his phone. "She hung up on me!"

"Did you really expect anything less?"

"You! Zip it! Now, to the teams. Captain modest two steps to your left. You're on team A. Yo, Jo, move right. You're on team B. Not supposed to be here, team B."

Rolling her eyes, (Y/n) followed the tomboy and waited for the rest of their teammates. "This sucks."

"Pit sniffer! You're on team A."

"At least I'm not on their team."

"Then what sucks so bad?"

Taking a moment to think, the cheerleader tried to word her answer carefully. She just met Jo and didn't want to give away too much of her personal life quite yet. "Chris... knows my mom."

"No way... shut up! You have to be joking." Seeing her shake her head, Jo couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Jo: "Do you know how much of an edge we could have with the host being close to (Y/n)'s family? This is great!"

"Corporal Brickhouse, team B."

"Sir yes sir!" Sending a salute to their host, Brick was about to join the two girls, giving them a smile when B ended up stopping a moment too late and knocking into the cadet, sending him flying.

Laughing, Chris wiped a tear from his eye. "Silent treatment, team A. Bubble boy! Team B."

Seeing B turn around, (Y/n) snorted at the sight of Cameron clinging to the boy's back by the hood of his jacket. "That's one way to get to the finish line. Looks like we're on the same team, Cam!"

"Really? And you're happy about it? Okie Dokie!" Smiling, the nerd let go and ran over to his team, ignoring the glares he was receiving from Chris and some of the other guys.

"I like him. He says Okie Dokie."

Raising an eyebrow, Jo gave the cheerleader a curious look. "Seriously?"

"Zoey the lonely, team B."

"Only as a child!" Making her way over to her group, the redhead got more self-conscious from Chris's condescending nodding. "Seriously!"

"Hey, Zoey. Welcome to the team. Glad to have a friend already on it." A smile returned to the redhead's face as she stood next to her new friend.

"The aura whisperer, team A. Saved by a girl, team B."

(Y/n): "Did you see that?! She just glided in out of nowhere! Dude... she is totally awesome!"

"Princess wannabe, team A. Tan in a can, team B."

"Shit. I can't stand girls like her."

Setting a hand on (Y/n)'s shoulder, Zoey tried to cheer her up. "I'm sure she not so bad once you get to know her."

"I hope you're right."

"Yo game junkie, team A."

"My uncle Bill won the New York marathon four times because marathons were first proposed by my great great-" Losing the rest of her breather, Staci fell on top of Sam.

"And chatty Staci team A."

"What the heck was that thing back in the forest?" Scott asked, still shaken.

"I'm pretty sure that cry does not belong to any known animal species."

"Relax, it'll all make sense eventually." Chris' amused laughter quickly turned insane, freaking out the contestants. "Now! This season of Total Drama will be a little bit different. For example, in every episode, someone will be eliminated."

Gasps filled the space from the teen's surprise. "It's never been that hard before."

"I know, I'm good. But since you're all first-timers, I'm gonna cut you a break and hide this bad boy somewhere in the campgrounds." He pulled out a wooden head in his image. "A genuine McLean brand Chris head. Your free ticket back into the game. Even if your teammates vote you off. Whoever finds it will become the most powerful player in Total Drama history!" Taking a closer look at the statue, Chris squinted his eyes. "Is the cleft on my chin really that big?"

"Definitely."

"And it looks like a butt." Scott smiled, able to get at least some progress with the pretty girl on the other team through their similar sense of humor.

"Moving on. Time for team names."

"Team Lightning! No, wait, Lighting Squad!"

"Great suggestions Lightning, but names have already been chosen by Moi. Team A, you shall henceforth be known as The Toxic Rats." The only one who seemed happy was Sam. His teammates looked less than pleased. Especially Lightning. "And Team Be. You are hereby dubbed The Mutant Maggots."

"Um... What's with all the references to chemical waste?" Mike spoke up, asking what was on everyone else's minds.

"I do not like where this is going."

A loud roar shook the clearing, once again scaring the teens. Trees fell over and birds flew away as it neared. "It's the monster!" Out of the bush came a hairless pink creature.

"Hey! It's just a stupid squirrel."

"Aw." Dakota thought it was adorable. Until it blinked and its eyelids closed sideways, causing the blonde to shriek.

"Oh my gosh. What's wrong with it?"

"While we were gone, I rented the island out to a nice, family-oriented, biohazardous waste disposal company. Sweet people." The camera did a quick pan over to drums of chemical waste in and around some trees, dripping the dead liquid. "But the waste is having a teensy bit of an impact on the flora and fauna."

"Cool."

"Not cool! That squirrel just ate a butterfly! That is not normal. I can't believe you could do something so cruel! It's also a miracle everything on this island isn't sick or dead!"

Dawn: "I'm glad that someone is as upset and passionate as I am about this matter. Our host is a horrible man, and he must be stopped!"

"Weird. I want one." Apparently, the squirrel wasn't in agreement as it roared and shot lightning from its eyes at the heiress causing her to jump into Sam's arms.

"Most. Danger. Ever!"

Dakota: "Chris is the meanest ever! Hang on." Pausing in her crying, she pulled out a hand mirror. "Not too blotchy... Okay, take two." Putting it away, she went back into a fit of tears.

"Now, before starting our very first challenge of the season, let's give out some rewards. Jo and (Y/n), because you made it here before anyone else, your team gets a trampoline! And The Rats get a hacksaw."

The camera panned over to Chef not so enthusiastically jumping on the trampoline while holding the hack saw. Losing his balance, he fell off with a yell. The hacksaw flew off, smacking a laughing Lightning in the face and the trampoline ended up rolling into Jo, knocking her over.

"What do these items have to do with this bomb?"

"Um, he won't really blow us up again, will he?"

"Won't I? Find out when we come back!"

"We're getting blown up again?!" (Y/n) asked, bouncing on her toes like an excited child.

"You're taking all the fun out of this!"

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#total drama x reader #total drama #x reader #total drama island #total drama island x reader #total drama revenge of the island #total drama revenge of the island x reader

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theythatsayohmystars · 6 months ago

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What are your headcanons of Chuckie? 🥪 >:)

CHUCK!!!! the guy, he is the best and such a fun character. i love their

personality and how sweet he is!!

he/they - gay and ace

used to date dr. two brains but is in a happy relationship with the whammer

still great friends with d2b and also hangs out with the butcher, blhg, and invisibill! he likes to spend time with them since they both are the whammers friends.

they’re an active facebook user and stays up to date on all his moms posts (trying to be a good son)

introduced d2b to the apple grilled cheese sandwich and completely blew his mind

he shops at fancy stores like trader joe’s and aldi to get snacks that everyone will love at the villain hangouts (ex. expensive cheese, high quality meat, sourdough bread, etc.) they’re somewhat of a picky eater but he likes to make all kinds of food!

owns multiple gaming systems and plays many different video games (huge comic book nerd as well!)

listens to lots of different music, depending on the day. he really likes 80s and random fun tunes

#wordgirl #chuck the evil sandwich making guy #wordgirl villains

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campy-mccampface · 8 months ago

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you should tell us how you see the loons since you are their #1 fan...

BAHAHAHA YOU’RE SO RIGHTTT.

Dave: “Where will I do my synchronized swimming?!” *Ping Pong pats his back as he sobs* (“It’s No Picnic” Season 1 Episode 4B)

God, I love these nerds. Well, one thing’s for sure: I consider them separate characters. It’s not like The Lemmings in canon where they’re interchangeable. When I write their Bus Pass bios, they’ll each be getting their own. For now, though, I’ll do a little rundown of tidbits for each. I have much, much more in store for these beanpoles than what’s below. I’m a simple bird: I see secondary characters, and I project onto them and make them mine.

Dave Loon

—Canonically he’s the more sensitive of the two brothers. Headcanonically I make that difference even starker: Ping Pong is the kind of nerd you simply can’t win against, while Dave falls apart at the mildest pressure. Love that for him.

—In the show, we’ve seen he’s a grandma’s boy and I really really like that because I was too, haha. (She’s getting a blog tag. Nana Loon. I’m sure I’m not done with writing her.) That sort of implies he prefers her over his parents, but I wouldn’t say so. He loves his parents. (Also it’s. Hilarious how Ping Pong knew they came from eggs and Dave didn’t. I consider that another sign of his higher maturity.)

—Dave and Ping Pong are the only scouts who can fly, emphasis on ‘can.’ Dave haaaates flying, it makes him so nervous (but what doesn’t) and he only ever does it when Ping Pong’s flying with him. If not, he’s completely grounded.

—Dave has a huge crush on Lazlo, (who clearly feels in the same way in return, see the episode “The List,” which lives rent-free in my noggin,) and because it’s Dave he’s a huge mess about it. He blushes, he stammers, he shies away, usually hiding behind Ping Pong’s back, the latter of which is a reflex for him in most situations anyway. (Also, because this is a Joe Murray cartoon, in his worst moments Dave will at times spontaneously burst into flames, with no ill effects. No one considers it novel or dangerous. It’s just a thing that happens, like your shoe coming untied.) Ping Pong loves them together, and because he’s a big brother, gives Dave lots of friendly teasing about it.

—Dave’s the younger brother, hatching a few minutes later. Nonetheless, they’re called ‘Dave and Ping Pong’ collectively without variation, presumably to be in alphabetical order.

—Dave’s the more passionate of the two about journalism. That’s not to say Ping Pong doesn’t love it; he really does, but as they mature, Dave’s the one who retains his interest while Ping Pong pursues another avenue: music. But he especially liked it when it gave him something to play at with his little brother. (Dave would gasp at the insinuation this was all just ‘playing.’)

—In my wife💛 and I’s Future Au, which we call “Refried Beans,” Dave and Lazlo marry and set to living year-round in the attic of Scoutmaster Lumpus’ cabin. Dave works for the Prickly Pines newspaper, and Lazlo is now Scoutmaster’s Assistant, while Slinkman is now Scoutmaster. Lumpus is retired but still lives in the cabin too, and they’re all joined by Jane, and her presence is the only thing keeping Lumpus from going axe-murderer at the fact he’ll never, ever escape Lazlo.

Ping Pong

—As I’ve said, his real name in my headcanon is Bruce. This is hardly ever used. There’s a reason he became Ping Pong but I’ve yet to decide why.

—Ping Pong is the more mature of the two canonically. Headcanonically he’s unstoppably stable and unflappable. You can’t bully him and get anywhere without him turning your namecalling back on yourself and more cleverly. You can’t beat him in a fight. You can only make him feel endangered after everyone else in the room feels endangered first. This first came about out of necessity to toughen up to defend Dave, and it then became further ingrained because Ping Pong’s the biggest smart alec in the Western Hemisphere and he gets a kick out of being able to sort you out while reading his book at the same time. He’s like if Yakko Warner had feathers and legit booksmarts on top. (What a powerful creature.)

—In the “Radio Free Edward” episode, we get a passing line that he intends to play classic rock for the camp’s radio station. I’ve decided to run with this and say classic rock’s his passion and true calling. He becomes a legit star in short order by his late twenties in my au and it just never goes away. If I had to describe his singing voice, (and you’d never expect him to have it, and I find that hilarious,) it’s like Bruce Springsteen, Angus Young, Rod Stewart, Rick Springfield and Freddie Mercury all had their vocal chords fused in a laboratory. It’s insane.

—I think it was “Beans are from Mars” where the show erroneously calls Dave, Ping Pong and Edward cabinmates? I’m gonna do a Bob Ross, call that a happy accident and say it was true… for like two weeks. But what a formative two weeks. Edward I guess had had enough of the Dungs and demanded new cabinmates. So he went with the Loons and because Samson’s unlucky, he went with the Dungs. (I think he and the Dungs get called cabinmates that episode too.) It was during those two weeks Edward decided he’s head over heels for Ping Pong, (but he won’t admit it, being Edward.) Ping Pong is completely wise to this, not that Edward knows, and really likes toying with him. And mercilessly snarking and outwitting him. Then he starts crushing too. (I like to think their little picnic with Dave in “Snake Eyes” was basically a first date.) Then of course they switch back to their usual cabinmates, but there’s been a sea change where they’re no longer just two guys who like talking smack to each other. And by the time of Refried Beans, (basically the present,) they’ve also gotten married. I’ll save the details on that for now. It’s a doozy.

Both

—They’re from Canada originally but moved with their family, including Nana Loon, to Southern New York or Connecticut at a very young age. They’re both also fluent in French. At camp, they like to tease Edward by pretending to talk about him in French, which he doesn’t understand, when they’re actually discussing the weather or licorice ropes. (Later on, Edward likes when Ping Pong speaks French. Like, embarrassingly melting like butter on a freshly baked baguette. Ping Pong finds it funny. But what about Edward doesn’t he find funny, I ask you.)

—Their parents are also nerds. Go figure. Their father is a professor at a college, (I haven’t decided what he teaches,) and their mother is a semi-famous novelist. She knitted them the turtlenecks they received in “The Big Cheese.” Lumpus does indeed confiscate them for fishing pole cozies, but Mrs. Loon wrote a strongly worded letter threatening to mention his misgivings at her next book release. In the end, the Loons got their sweaters back, Larry his sneakers back, etc.

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goatsghost · 2 years ago

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ok so if i were fan casting a live action batfamily, i’d want kit connor for two different people but you have to hear me out first

JASON TODD:

kit connor isn’t a small guy okay? he’s 19 now, the same age as jason when he came back to gotham. in my head, jason is this huge dude, but obviously still has a bit of a baby face bc he is still a child!

and you can clearly tell a difference between a 13-14 y/o kit connor and 19 y/o kit connor, so it’s proving it’s not unrealistic for jason to come back as a tank

also this isn’t part of the red headed jason propaganda (i could live without that tbh), but it’d be a fun coincidence in and of itself wouldn’t it?

next character,

BERNARD DOWD:

this one is more of a typecast and what more people would go for anyway. he’s already played the blonde sporty bf to the dark-haired nerd, he can do it again. (i wouldn’t really have joe locke as tim tho, bc i’d want someone equally as muscular, and not just remaking heartstopper again, but ig i wouldn’t be absolutely opposed)

also, we know at least tim thinks he’s jacked:

#like i’ve only ever seen him in heartstopper so idk if he can play jason todd’s whole angry angst thing as well as someone else #but it was a thought i had #jason todd #bernard dowd #dc fancast #fancast #kit connor #mine

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sapphire-weapon · 2 months ago

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oh, and i forgot @ bawk anon

(sorry i'm trying not to post huge wall-of-text asks so much anymore, because when i have to reply to something piece-by-piece, it feels like the overall message gets lost)

and idk, it might be me but i have not seen a single youtube game review that talks about how re6 aeon sucked and ruined leon and the game for them, it's just bad bc the gameplay is messy and repetitive for each campaign. if it did ruin the game for ppl at some point, the ship is already forgiven by the general audience, based on what i read from chat and heard from ytbers/streamers. like seriously, the re6 aeon hate probably only exists on old rants on game forums, and aeon can't be the main reason re6 was hated by fans, so this just circles back to how this hate even got picked up or was cared about by the community manager who then would proceed to tell capcom, bc as you said, they only report a big fluctuation. a crowd hating on a once beloved duo in a game where EVERYTHING was hated on bc it was bad IN GENERAL is not out of the ordinary. it's an expected reaction from a game that was built poorly. like how can aeon, a small factor of the game, came out great when the game it came out from was BAD? you know what i mean?

so what you're doing is looking for shit being said in 2025 and/or things that still show up in search results in 2025

when what i'm talking about was the immediate knee-jerk response from fans back in 2012.

the internet looked very different back then. youtube was not the main source of content back then; the biggest video game channels back then were, like, spoony and angry joe and the angry video game nerd and machinima. twitch didn't exist in the form it is today, and the only like... "big" video game streamer who was actually doing video game streaming as a career at that time was destiny, who doesn't play RE and was still doing starcraft 2 tournaments. tiktok didn't exist. twitter had almost 0 fandom presence. podcasts weren't really a thing yet.

those "old rants on game forums" were the fandom, at that time. fandom existed on neogaf and gamefaqs and /v/ and livejournal and tumblr and the biohaze forums. community managers, back then, talked to people directly on those forums for feedback. they even had special flair on neogaf so people knew who they were. they lurked and shitposted on 4chan anonymously. they visited fan-built fan-filled RE forums. they read through the RE community on livejournal. that's what a community manager used to do, before social media took over everything.

i never said that aeon was the main reason why people hated RE6. i'm saying that the hate that aeon generated in the immediate aftermath of RE6's release was loud enough and ubiquitous enough and anomalous enough that it caught the community manager's attention, and word got back to the devs as a result.

the effects of that outcry can still be seen today -- because most of the guys who were working at capcom during RE6's release still work there. RE almost died as a franchise because of RE6's disastrous reception, and i'm sure that the guys at the highest levels of the project (like hirabyashi) are terrified of doing anything that comes too close to anything that RE6 did ever again. that includes both gameplay and story. aeon isn't the only thing that these guys probably feel is toxic now -- but it's on the fucking list.

it doesn't matter if fandom's forgiven the ship; it's very clear that hirabayashi took that feedback really hard back in 2012 and still just wants absolutely nothing to do with a leon/ada romance anymore. he even talked publicly about how he kept the feedback from RE6 in the back of his mind while he was coming up with the dev plan for RE2make.

shit like that can be traumatizing. there's a reason why i keep bringing up the fact that mikami had nightmares for years over REmake releasing as a catastrophic failure. sure, today, REmake is hailed as the king of survival horror -- a timeless classic that's held up by video game fans around the world as the gold standard for what a remake should be and what a survival horror game should be. but that doesn't matter to mikami. because, at the time REmake released, it tanked so hard that it (like RE6) almost killed RE as a series and nearly cost him his job. he went into RE4 under the very real assumption that it might be the last RE game ever made; because of how poorly REmake performed, if RE4 was anything less than a smash hit, RE was done for, and mikami himself was going to get shitcanned. that's why RE4 was such a dramatic departure from what RE had always been as a series; mikami allowed himself to take risks and go crazy because he had nothing left to lose. sure, it worked out for him and the series in the end, but shit like that stays with you. it haunts you.

you can't just draw arbitrary lines through time and go "okay nothing that happened prior to this time matters anymore." it matters. because it's still the same guys working on the games.

with all that being said, i'm pretty sure that none of the guys who are making RE9 worked on RE6 (iirc they were the revelations 1 team before they were the RE7 team), so they won't have these same traumas that hirabayashi has. so they could very well just decide to go hard on aeon again in RE9. i don't know. but when we're talking about hirabayashi specifically, you'd have to be delusional to think that RE6's reception just doesn't affect him anymore.

well, delusional, or just very young. maybe it doesn't make sense to you because, for you, 2012 was just so long ago that there's no way that it matters anymore -- but for those of us who were already adults in 2012, it really wasn't that long ago. time passes differently as you get older. 2012 feels like 5 years ago, to me. it probably feels even closer to hirabayashi, who's older than me, and who likely measures time in projects. RE6 was only just three projects ago, for him. that's it. it's not as far in the past for him as you think it is or should be.

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alicepao13 · 7 months ago

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Hudson and Rex S04E09 - Impawster Syndrome - Part B

I'd love to know how she was planning on fighting them off with a shaving razor.

Charlie is surprised because he was probably expecting a boyfriend.

What exactly are you fighting about, children? The level of Jesse's nerdiness? Nerds can have girlfriends, you know.

Joe: "Rex found a girlfriend in your apartment."

Charlie: "Am I the only one who's still single?"

"Is questioning new girlfriends standard procedure or something?" It should be in this place. It really should be.

lol I'd forgotten the video of fake!Jesse punching someone.

It's a great day for justice.

"But do we really need to make an arrest before we question him?" Um, we just did? Do you want to do it yourself, is that it?

You cannot possibly think it's a good idea for Jesse to be questioned by his own team, Charlie. Anyway, he's out of his mind with worry and I like it.

"Okay, but if the media learns that IA is investigating, they're gonna take that as an admission of Jesse's guilt!" So, the proposed solution is to not let them do their jobs?

Rex just snuck into holding.

Man, they really should have thrown your snarky ass to IA.

The funny thing is that in this season Charlie does do a few things for which he deserves to get yelled at. That's definitely not one of them.

Okay, so your job is to be the tech specialist (or whatever title). You are aware of the new technology known as deepfake, and since you know that it's not you in the CCTV footage, how do you wait for a second video to emerge to think that it might be a deepfake? It should have come up even as an outlandish theory.

Jesse: "I can explain but I need my computer." Charlie: "Sorry, but I already had a criminal fool me like that. Not again." End of episode.

I died.

"I heard there are even programs now that can fake a person's voice." Well, you guys are really good at predicting your future. I'm not talking about the Charlie/Rex mashup, although I'm sure that must be somewhere out there as well.

Aw, Rex is barking because he doesn't want Jesse to be sent down to the holding cell again.

Diesel's head is huge lol

It's one more police cover-up. And you know what? It's not, obviously, but Jesse has received preferential treatment in this case, they even more or less admit it, and what gets me is that he is whining on top of that about how his friends have treated him.

Livestreaming and uploading a live video would have showed as different in most social media platforms. Unless you had, like, put the camera in front of the video that was already playing in another screen or something, which would in most cases result in poor audio and video quality, making it obvious that it wasn't live.

You can say that the guy was abusive, people.

And an actual peeping tom. Always, ALWAYS make sure you camera is covered when you don't use it.

Well, now you can do whatever you want.

"I'm not gonna eat healthy!" lol Jesse. But that donut looks nice.

Rex, you could have nibbled on the guy a little. For Jesse.

Charlie shoved him a bit. That's fair.

"Her Majesty's Penitentiary"? Jeez.

Uh-oh.

Okay, I'm having a hard time believing that SWAT would be deployed for a domestic dispute in Canada, even if there was a distressed call from a woman.

SWAT consistently is made to look pretty bad on this show lol

"We're totally surrounded." You don't say.

"We're not gonna let anything happen to you, okay?" How will you guarantee that, Charlie?

Oh god, he was framed and you guys were doing your jobs!

I'd have told him to stay put, actually. I don't know what protocol SWAT follows, but in all these cases you try to de-escalate the situation, not escalate it. And you need a negotiator.

lmao are you for real?

"I'm not letting you shoot Jesse! I don't know what the fuck the humans are doing!"

Jesse could use a hug, you emotionally stunted people (affectionate).

I mean, financial motivation to ruin someone's life, I get. But this is pure revenge because you sucked at poker? Don't gamble.

You know, believing him or not, it shouldn't have made much of a difference on how you handled your job.

Okay, sap.

I love this.

Wait, is Charlie wearing the same jacket he will wear in S04E14 for the undercover thing? Or am I tripping?

"Rex knows all my tells." Rex knows everybody's tells. I just don't know how he's playing poker. And winning.

Generally, Jesse's attitude frustrated me in this episode. And the team's up to a degree. When I rewatched this with my sister (who couldn't care less for these characters so I consider her a more impartial viewer), she couldn't understand why his behavior during the investigation was even a tiny bit justified and reasoned with in the end. From the team's part, I think some of this has to do with the fact that Jesse is part of the team and they care for him, so of course by the end they would apologize. But the thing is that they've done nothing wrong, they're just in an impossible situation.

And I don't know why Charlie apologizes for not believing him, it was pretty clear up to a point that he was merely entertaining thoughts of how Jesse could be involved in this but purely theoretically and as the evidence against Jesse started piling up, he grew more and more concerned for Jesse, not certain of his guilt. At no point did they show any of the team believing that Jesse might have done this, which, had it happened, would have actually made me side with Jesse. Instead, he comes off as a person who expects preferential treatment because "they know him". Some of which he gets, without the team breaking any major rules, at least. Just the fact that they look for another explanation once they find the weapon of the robbery at his house, when that usually provides an airtight case to hand to the Crown, says a lot. Which is sort of the right thing to do when you know that this person can't be that dumb, but it's still based on the fact that you know them.

Jesse is redeemed for me at the end because he stands his ground. Which is a different thing altogether but I still liked it. It's not exactly a case that told me "You know what? This guy should make detective in a year" but that's just me.

#the great hudson and rex rewatch of 2024

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hedgiwithapen · 2 years ago

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And Leverage fixes the Flash canon in whatever way you choose. I’m not saying Elliot should punch Harry Wells. But I’m not NOT saying that

follows The Central City Job

While the cop—Joe, Allen had called him-- still held the forged warrant, Eliot surged forward. His first blow caught the man in the face, and Eliot knew without waiting that he’d wear a black eye for days. The second lunge gave him the force to slam Harrison Wells-- alive, breathing, standing on two legs in working condition, all things that Eliot knew shouldn't have been true—hard into the wall. He had clearly not been expecting it, and Eliot could tell from his stance and the way he shifted under the arm pressed against his throat that this stork of a nerd was no fighter. The other two, though...

The cop (detective, the way his eyes focused, the way he held the weapon, Joe had to be a detective, not just an officer) had lowered his gun temporarily, now he raised it again, the documents in his hand as forgotten as the badge Eliot had let drop when he'd seen Wells. Allen moved forward, his feet going just shy of too fast.

And Parker's voice came out of the thin air just behind him. “Wow, and I thought the security here was bad before.” She materialized, ponytail bobbing as she dropped from the airvent and turned visible.

Hardison, still very aware of the gun pointed in his general direction, kept a deathgrip on his fake badge. “ Par--”he started “--tner,” he finished, correcting himself. “Agent Hagen. Good to see you. Are you ok?”

She came up next to him, lifting her own identity badge from his pocket and getting it into her own with ease. “What? Pfft. I'm fine. The airvents here are huge, and they don't even have lasers. It's almost embarrassing? Like, really?“ she beamed. “Though it was good practice, always good to practice. Still, that was rude of you,” she told Allen. Looking past him, she saw who Eliot was holding. “Oh, you again. Aren't you supposed to be super dead?”

Wells didn't answer. Eliot shook him a little, like a dog with a toy. “Hagen asked you a question.”

“Ok, that's really enough,” Allen said, moving forward again. Eliot was focused on his captive, that was the only way to explain why he didn't actually see the movement as Allen pulled him back. No-- it wasn't. There was one other way...

Eliot responded by half tossing Wells down the hallway. “You think?” he growled. “You're working with the dead man responsible for your mother's murder, kidnapping FBI agents, Flash. You have some damn explaining to do.”

“Oh hell,” said Hardison and Joe in near perfect unison.

#dammit hedgi day 2023 #Leverage #The Flash #get him eliot!!!!

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paradoxlemonade · 2 years ago

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Can I hear your thoughts on 8 and 18 for the ask game?

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Wattpad migrants calling their fics "books" isn't the end of the world, actually. They wrote a bunch of words? And it's one coherent story? Congrats! Fic! Book! Whichever one, it really does not matter. "b-but, it's not printed and bound—" original fiction that only sees a digital release is still called a book, so that argument is invalid. Let the Wattpadders and those who originated there have their fun.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

JOE HILLS SUPER HOSTILE ANGST BABEY. The fandom is all about Grian's sad pre-hermitcraft backstory but the other hermits can have trauma too!!!! (Minor tangent: that's also why I'm a big big fan of people writing Crafting Dead!Scar)

Anyone-else-who-played-super-hostile angst, tbh. (I'm just a Joe Hills fan first and a human second.) My friend Waffle (@aplatypusshapedkite) and I have an entire AU about this one, featuring primarily Joe, Cleo, Doc, and Xisuma going through the absolute ringer (irl Doc has not played super hostile, but he's a major character in this AU). Part of the planning document is a *huge* timeline from the first hermit to ever play a super hostile map (Joe) to the last (xB), overlayed with a timeline of all the Hermitcraft seasons one to eight. Every player has all their playthroughs hyperlinked to YouTube playlists with all the episodes. And it's color-coded <3

(And to avoid having to address Grian's traumatic backstory in Super Hostile AU, Waffle and I decided that EVO was one big larping server. Grian was invited to hermitcraft and "joined the watchers" as an excuse to write his character out of the story bc he's too dedicated to his nerd craft to simply leave his arc and relationships hanging. This is the most well-adjusted and least traumatized Grian we have ever written.)

#thank you nonny #asked and answered #choose violence ask game #anons abound #super hostile au #< bc of the major tanget #idea original post

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niobiumao3 · 1 year ago

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you so much to @eclec-tech for the tag! Quite the trip down memory lane.

How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

529k

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Wars, Star Trek, MCU, various others here and there

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

All MCUs with one LotR piece--not super surprising, though, the MCU is such a MONSTER huge fandom.

Jane Foster's High School Reunion The Sky Cannot Ignore Us Maria Hill’s Bi-Annual Performance Review Nothing's Wrong When Nothing's True The Health Benefits of Knitting

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to repond to all of them with at a minimum a thank you. I've got a bit of social anxiety so it's hard for me to do it, but I try to make sure to get them all as a way to work past that.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

So I don't typically do much with angst of my own; I use the angst of the setting, largely. I guess 'Stormchild' is the best option here given everything that comes after it in canon.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably The Obloquy of Newness, since it ends with Jane getting a Nobel Prize.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I never have that I can think of. Maybe I come across as a little too 'fuck around and find out'? Not sure why not.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do on rare occasions but I post very little of it. If 'what kind' is referring to kinks, I'm kink light in what I write.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I don't know if I've written a proper crossover. I like the idea of them but have never actually come up with an idea I liked enough to fic. I've done a Daemon AU piece, but that's not properly a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I did have a number of my fics reposted on one of those reposting sites and have to DMCA them, which was a hilariously weird thing for anyone to do and I still boggle at it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not! That would be super cool.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not that I've posted; a friend and I have cowritten several things which will remain private.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

This is kind of a tough one. I love them all for so many different reasons, so I don't think anyone is an all-time fave over the rest. Nicky/Joe (gay immortal hubbies) from The Old Guard continue to be something I read so much of despite not writing for them; Jane/Thor (nerd socially inept woman and godlike warrior, whats not to love) are an old standby from the MCU alongside Sam/Bucky (bickering to lovers) and Sarah/Bucky (cute overload); I still have a soft spot for Dick/Babs from the DCU, my new faves are Tech/Phee and Miles/Gwen…

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Unshriven. I have a solid idea for it, I just can't get the energy to write for the MCU anymore. A shame, I liked my idea.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I would say dialogue and world-building.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Repetitiveness, being willing to cut out unneeded things or convert them from exposition to action scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I always write it in English and indicate the language if the POV character would know; otherwise, I indicate they don't know what's being said and suggest or state the language. This is simply because I don't know another language to write in; if I were multilingual I would no doubt approach this differently.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

TSR's Dragonlance. It will never see the light of day.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Hm. At the moment I still like how Obliquity turned out despite it being wholly unplanned from the word go. So that's probably my favorite just now; prior to that I'd have said Jane Foster's High School Reunion due to how nicely it all gelled together.

NPTs: anyone who sees these! Let us know~

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duckielover151 · 2 months ago

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Fanfiction Tag Game

I literally never play these sorts of games, but I just stumbled across this one, and it looks really cool, actually. A fun way to look back at your own works... And I don't know about anyone else, but I always feel super awkward about self-promotion, so it's a convenient excuse for that, too. ^^'

Rules: Give us the links to your fic with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the least words (feel free to interpret however you would like; if not on AO3, can be on Tumblr or FFNET!)

Here's mine...

Most Hits: Lost The shame... XD We're starting right off the bat with a long-running, multichapter fic... that I haven't updated in about 3 years. It's a Digimon retelling that combines the first three seasons. Basically, the original kids (minus Kari) were all sucked into the Digital World the night they were chosen and the city was attacked... and got stuck there. Kari's grown up in the shadow of her brother being missing all this time and teams up with the 02 kids and the Tamers to solve the mystery of what exactly the Digital World is and what happened to the missing kids. This story holds such a special place in my heart... I still love this story, and I still have all the notebooks full of outlines for future chapters and whatnot! I have every intention of picking it back up and finishing it one day! Lost taught me an important lesson about not forcing the creative process. For, like, 2 straight years I kept myself on a schedule where I got an update out every month. But the pressure of that schedule got to where writing felt like work... and first and foremost, fanfiction should be fun. I swear I am going to finish it. Someday.

2nd Most Kudos: Inheritance A family-themed Naruto one-shot. It's basically a look at the Ino-Shika-Cho bond from the outside. The three members who married into it (Temari, Karui, and Sai) each get a little segment where they're watching their kids and reflecting on the connection between the three clans. It's pretty cute and mushy, and it put me in such a good mood when I wrote it. ^^ I'm really glad this one landed as well in the fandom as it did.

3rd Most Comments: Love Languages

(Not gonna lie, I was really hoping this one would make the list, as it's my most recently-completed multi-chapter fic and I want to talk about it. ^^) It's a Webgott-themed Band of Brothers story, retelling the tale from Haguenau to the end. The premise is basically that David was away for so long because he went deaf in one ear when he got hurt and had to learn to compensate for that before he could sneak back out and rejoin the company. Joe, of course, figures it out almost immediately, and the two bond over keeping the secret.

There was so much I loved about writing this story, mostly getting to incorporate the use of sign language wherever I could. I'm a big fan of this pairing because they're the two translators. I'm a nerd about languages, and their love language often IS language, in most fics portraying them. (I'm a sucker for seeing those German endearments pop up.) I loved getting to add another layer to that.

4th Most Bookmarks: Responsible

A Twilight one-shot centered on Bella truly realizing for the first time that she's never gotten to be a child, now that she's spending time with a family that takes care of her instead of the other way around.

I haven't written a lot for this fandom... I was never a huge Twilight fan. I've actually only really gotten into it as an adult, looking at it through the lens of these genuinely interesting characters... who deserved to be written and explored so much better than they were. Nothing burns me up more than Charlie and Renee's shitty parenting. This one-shot explores the effect it had on Bella-- largely, her low self-esteem and analyzing just a little why she might have become so unhealthily obsessed with Edward.

5th Most Words: Six Degrees

A very self-indulgent short, 7-chapter Naruto-OC fic.

You know what, though? I regret nothing about this fic. I think it's self-indulgent for the right reasons. I wrote the story I wanted to read but couldn't find. This one's pretty personal to me.

There are so many reincarnated OC fics... I wanted to play with something specific: The OC not getting all her memories back right away. As she slowly remembers her past life, the reader is introduced to an insecure, introverted girl about to graduate high school... and really dreading it, because she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Add in how she'd grown up in the shadow of her much more outgoing, successful best friend who she was about to have to say goodbye to as they went their separate ways for college... Meanwhile, the Naruto side of things explores Matsuri finally moving past her crush on Gaara... via an ill-advised fling that leaves her unexpectedly pregnant and thus, raising our OC.

While I maintain that this OC was not intended to be a self-insert... This was literally a study in exploring all my own worst insecurities as a high schooler and then young adult now that I've found my way in life a bit. A vent fic in its truest form. But it's very dear to my heart. The epitome of... This one may not appeal to literally a single other person... but that's okay. I'm really glad I wrote it.

And finally!

Least Words: The Bonds That Break Us

A tiny little Kiznaiver one-shot that I wrote for prompt 2 of Angstpril 2023. (Invisible Wounds.) As much as I love Kiznaiver, this is actually the only fic I've ever written for the fandom. The prompt was just too fitting. I almost never come across these kinds of prompt events, so it was really cool to be able to participate in one! (Even if I only did one day...) And extra cool that it led me to write for a fandom I hadn't yet.

So there's my list... I really hope it reaches the people I tried to tag... and by all means, hop aboard if you see this and want to participate!

#ao3 tag game #fanfiction #@fanfictionjumbler #@pimento-playing-hopscotch #@etaka #I've also literally never tagged another user on a post #so I hope this reaches you guys XD #Digimon #Naruto #Band of Brothers #Twilight #Kiznaiver

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wrimbles · 2 months ago

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4/17/25 - Ghosts

I had a big moment today. I've been trying to find the right way to write about this, or express it creatively… and I'm sure I will a thousand times in the years to come due to it's eerily poetic nature, but I felt compelled to share this.

I watched a video by a science educator I watch on YouTube which was dismantling and critiquing an author that I used to be a fan of. The year before the pandemic, I was introduced to Joe Rogan and his weed-smoking hang-out-with-your-buddies-and-talk-about-mindblowing-shit podcast. It reminded me of college, hanging out with my bandmate who was also a huge sci-fi and fantasy nerd, and coming up with what-if theories, so I got really into it. Through the podcast, I got into Terrence McKenna and… unfortunately… Graham Hancock. The critique I watched today was dismantling Flint Dibble's "debate" with Graham Hancock on Joe Rogan's "podcast".

I used to literally listen to Hancock's audiobooks in my sleep. Not even joking. Night after night, having fucked up dreams, while I was going through some pretty fucked up life shit as well. I don't know if I was 100% onboard with all of his theories as absolute truth, but I entertained the possibilities he floated as though they were any other form of evidence. As though they were more than just fantasies based-on-a-true-story. I took his word for it. I deconstructed from this after the final episode of his "Ancient Apocalypse" series on Netflix gave me a massive "the world could end right now" panic attack, I think that was in winter 2022. That's a story for another day.

I found a comment on the critique I watched that called out to me, because… and I hope I read this right… they seemed genuine and innocent.

"How are theories about Atlantis "dangerous" AT ALL. Unless it's a stepping stone into ideas that challenge the power structure. Like maybe lost technology Why else could it ever be considered dangerous? Are you just that scared of differing opinions??

Maybe I was being generous, I don't know. But I felt compelled to answer. I think my answer sums up some of my personal journey challenging these ideas with critical thinking, and the complexity of what I discovered given my familial history. Vague, I know… what can I say, I like to build suspense. Here's what I responded:

"It is unfortunately not very common knowledge, but Atlantis and the mythical continent of 'Hyperborea' are the core of the supremacist doctrine of the Nazi party. This doesn't mean all stories and explorations about Atlantis center around this, but… as Dibble said very clearly and directly… it is the responsible thing to do to disclose and critique this when discussing the topic, since it's shockingly unspoken about. The Thule Society, the Ahnenerbe, etc. To put it very short and simplified, they believed that the Aryan race was descended from Atlanteans. It is what made them the 'master race'. It was literally one of the primary justifications for the Holocaust. Again, it upsets me--someone whose grandfather was one of the first to discover and liberate the Birkenau concentration camp--that this isn't more common knowledge because once a light is shone on it, it seems pretty clear why glamourizing this is… not a good thing… since people still believe the same racial supremacist crap in the 2020's, not even a century later, for some fucking horrible reason. Like it or not, this fucked up ideology is still around, and we still need to keep it contained, all of us individually.

What helped me wake up a bit was looking at the history of 'Chariots of the Gods?' by Erich von Däniken. Since Hancock's first two books were… 'Fingerprints of the Gods' and 'Magicians of the Gods', and he has cited von Däniken's work in the past, the connection is hard to look past. Von Däniken served 9 months in prison for embezzlement and fraud. Von Däniken also handed his original manuscript for the book over to a professional author for a rewrite before it was published. It was rewritten by a man named Wilhelm 'Utz' Uttermann, who went by the pseudonym Wilhelm Roggersdorf. Uttermann was a former editor for the Nazi Party newspaper 'Völkischer Beobachter', and was a bestselling Nazi author. It's not just… 'association'… with some of these sources. I really hope that you would understand the importance of citing a bestselling Nazi author as one of the co-writers of a source--especially on a topic like Atlantis--even if it isn't directly relevant to what is being cited, at very least just for disclosure's sake.

It is not 'just differing opinions'. It is not 'just asking questions'. I wish it was that simple, but history never is. We are not the first people to ask these questions and have these ideas. When it turns into citing literal white supremacist sources, I'm sorry but like… something needs to be said out loud there. It's really hard to call someone out on that without them freaking out and losing their mind, even when you present evidence directly to their face. Watch the clip of Dibble calmly doing this again with this context to see what I mean, and why I have so much respect for that man's courage. This isn't using the term 'white supremacist' or 'Nazi' in the proverbial or hyperbolic sense, like someone is name-calling or trying to say a code-word for 'bad', it is the most literal usage of the term possible. No one wants to be directly associated with this, I get it, and I love the idea of going on an Indiana Jones-style archaeology quest even as a passionate amateur, but… whether it's said out loud or not… this one in particular is 100% directly associated with these horrible things from history, and Hancock knows it, and he continues on anyway, he just doesn't want anyone talking about it, which I find concerning and dishonest. I think a glaringly obvious tell that he knows about this association is how he conveniently seems to investigate everywhere else on the planet except for where 'Hyperborea' was alleged to be--though I will admit, that's my own speculation.

This is not just a stepping stone to white supremacy, it is one of the cornerstones of the ideology that justified one of the most horrific genocides in history. It's very dangerous, and people need to be educated about how beliefs like this can easily be used to twist people into committing atrocities. It needs to be part of the conversation when talking about Atlantis, and it's genuinely horrifying to me that people would fight so hard to not have this topic be part of the conversation. We can not and will not bury the Holocaust. We need to be educated about this, and we need to keep talking about it, even when it's uncomfortable or embarrassing.

Think of it this way. It's not that you 'can't draw swastikas'. You can. But if you're going to, please be responsible, please do your research on the history of the symbol, please give clear historical context and clearly critique the horrible history associated with the symbol, and understand that normalizing that symbol without context can lead to people feeling comfortable with it, and vicariously the horrible things that come along with it can sneak their way back in. Just because you yourself may be able to stop at just a symbol or just an Atlantis story and call it a day, does not mean that the next person after you will be able to, and we all share this earth, so we all need to look out for one another.

I'm sorry if that was a lot, and I hope it answers your questions."

For me, there was a lot of shame in discovering that I had been lured in by the same fantasy story that my grandfather risked his life to fight against, even if it was just a root or branch of that story. I felt… stupid. Short-sighted. Foolish. Embarrassed. I felt like I should've known better. It still makes me feel uncomfortable to even write or talk about it.

Luckily, I didn't stumble on the Nazi ties immediately. I think that was part of what helped me blunt the shock of it all. I first made the racism connection. I took a chance and watched a critique of a Hancock video, and saw him standing on-site at a Southeast Asian archaeological site, and saying directly into the camera something like (paraphrasing) 'these primitive local people could not have possibly built this, it must have been someone else'. A common argument in the pseudoarchaeology scene, either "aliens" or "ancient advanced blahblahblah" filling that invented "gap". I don't know why I bought it so unquestioningly. When it was shown that this specific site he was standing at was very clearly similar to other sites in the region, and the locals were very capable of building in that style, and excelled at it, and took pride in it… I saw it for what it was. Overt, unabashed racism. Negligent or not, that's what it is.

That one crack in the dam was enough. I started asking questions, and realized Hancock had no answers, and no evidence. I dug deeper, I kept searching, I found actual history, actual archaeology, rich and intriguing local culture and traditions. All of which was dismissed with a scoff and a skyward tilted nose by Hancock, as though they didn't interest him at all. I have never looked at him the same since. Especially after I started really digging deep into the history of the Atlantis myth, that really sealed the deal.

It made me feel like I had dodged a bullet. Like I could've been swayed towards darker beliefs. I was never intentionally racist or supremacist. I've always been a bit of a hippie, and try to be very open, loving, equitable and accepting. This fantasy made me act in ways that I am ashamed of, by hijacking my passion for mythology and ancient history. It made me discredit other cultures of their heritage, and diminish their cultural accomplishments. That realization scared me, because it was something I would have never knowingly and willingly done. It made me start reassessing my behaviors, and pressured me to be mindful.

The shame and embarrassment still lingers, along with a painful sense of betrayal. But I am deeply grateful for the experience, because it revived and jump-started my critical thinking. Ever since that pivotal moment, watching that one World of Antiquity video critiquing Graham Hancock, I have been tirelessly devoting myself to developing my critical thinking skills: fact-checking and challenging beliefs. I got "Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan not long after, which has been very helpful perspective as well.

I've found a lot of shared experience in religious deconstruction spaces that I've been spending time in recently. I am a lifelong atheist and kinda-half-assed secular Buddhist (on paper) who has gone through many passionate phases of researching various world religions and mythologies… but only dabbled in personal spiritual belief during the Graham Hancock phase, so I guess the two are kinda interlinked for me. I can only imagine how staggering and world-shattering it is to have your lifelong worldview melt away, and lose your entire community. I do have my own versions of that too, to be honest, but it's not the same as lifelong indoctrination in a church or cult. They say in group therapy to not compare yourself to others, and I get why. I do feel a lot of comradery though, I feel at least a similar shade of what they've felt, and connecting with them and having them accept me amongst them has been incredibly meaningful to me. As a historically reclusive atheist, I've never had a community like that before. It's alien but it's very heartwarming.

Interestingly enough, my personal deconstruction of this ideology has not "killed the adventure" that I felt with pseudoarchaeology - the thing I think a lot of people still in it kinda fear to lose. Quite the opposite, actually. It nurtured my passion for science, mythology, history, and fiction. I started to carve defined lines between fiction and evidence-supported ideas. I find adventure and wonder in both now. It's not a competition between them anymore. It's not "I think I saw a ghost and this buzzkill skeptic asshole is going to rain on my parade and judge me", it's "I am so impressed by how my brain is capable of convincing me so powerfully that a shadow and a sound is a strange spectral human invader in my home, and I want to learn more about how and why that happens" and "I could capture this experience and turn it into a painting, or a short sci-fi story, or a song."

I didn't lose those wonderous cinematic experiences. They evolved into something so much fucking cooler. Two new worlds. The "real world", which can be explored through repeatable experiments and verifiable data. And the "imagination world", which I can explore through a variety of different creative mediums and riff off of any time I want. And these two worlds get to interact all the time. It's so much more than just being stuck in this "I saw a ghost once and it was totally real, I can't prove it, but I know it was." To me, that's just… very one-dimensional and boring now. It's lost all of its appeal. To me, it feels like the difference between going to a tacky tourist trap versus exploring a new countryside and immersing yourself in the culture. I don't know, it's hard to describe.

So yeah, I just wanted to get that out. My webcomic series I was doing updates on here about was kinda about that, but just… wasn't really doing what I wanted it to do. That project has gone very far on the back burners and may not come off anytime soon without some reworks… it's a good idea, and I love it, but it doesn't feel right as it currently stands.

Since I last posted, I've been chipping away at my sci-fi horror novel, which I'm tentatively going to say is right on the cusp of done with the second draft. I still have to read through the entire book one more time, I'm giving it a little distance so I can do that fresh and try to do it in one go while taking notes.

In the meantime, I've been fucking around in Blender. I like drawing mandalas, and I've wanted to make animated 3D mandalas for a long time. I've done animated 2D before, but never 3D. I've got a good foundation done, but there's definitely a learning curve that slows shit down a lot, I'm very very new to even basic 3D modeling. It's really frustrating to put in like 6 hours of just making mistakes and fixing them, only to scrap the whole thing and start over because it would be easier to just start fresh and try something simpler than to salvage it. But, you know, all part of the journey.

The other thing that I just started yesterday is… in my novel, my main character has a wood cabin that he built himself. I designed it and drew up rough concept sketches for it when I was writing Act 1 Chapter 4, so I could really paint an image in my head of what the scenes looked and felt like.

I've been saving all the matches I use to light incense and candles for a good amount of time, I probably have about 1/2-2/3 a box of spent matchsticks at this point. I cut the carbonized parts off, I'll save those to make ink or something at some point… probably… I started to take measurements of the house and scale it down so that each "log" is the width of a match's width. I have a 14" ceramic dish that I designed a miniature sand and soil Zen garden in by my windowsill. I plan to make this scale model of the cabin and put it in the garden as part of that mini ecosystem, and maybe even get some miniature live plants (moss, probably) to bring it to life. It's fun, it's intimidating because I've never taken on a project like this before, but I think it's going to turn out really cool. 🙂

#blog #deconstruction #skepticism #pseudoscience #pseudoarchaeology #art blog #sketch blog

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