#also gonna be controversial for a sec...

[allblognamesaretakenso]

luke's mcqueen era is genuinely so special to me like y'all don't get it. we had to endure over a year of luke being overlooked by production teams. ignored in marketing and given crumbs as a male lead. every conversation was about his personal life or his looks or some manufactured drama. every interviewer asked about his 'glow-up' or superficial questions about intimacy scenes. trolls called him unemployed. talentless. insulted his character.

and now he's with a team that uplifts him. that lauds his talent. he can talk about his acting process. he has a script that will allow him to show his talent like we've never seen it before. everyone who meets him talks about how kind and sweet he is.

yeah i'm emotional but this is such a great time to be a luke fan and i'm actually so proud of him.

[missmagooglie]

.

[holychopshopgalaxy]

I’m gonna say something controversial for a sec but it needs to be said. A lot of the flint ship wars seem to be rooted in the inability to acknowledge that thomas is his truest love but also silver is the love of his life. Or that he can be gay and still love miranda as much as the other two. And to that I’ll just say: skill issue.

[pleasantinternetperson]

Jumping back on the Wereworld/Wolf King train again, I wanna talk about some controversial (?) takes I had after finishing the books - but please don't come at me, I'm just a new fan expressing some thoughts I had, and this is such a small fandom and I genuinely get excited to hear what anyone might have to say about it, so feel free to debate or discuss with me :)

So, speaking in regards to the books for a moment: I gotta give credit where credit is due, because goddam is this a decievingly rich world. I mean, I went into it expecting the usual fanatsay stchick, but the amount of lore and world building that went into creating Lyssia is breathtaking. I touched on this in my previous post, but I'll mention it again - having a world for your characters to inhabit that feels lived in, that feels like you, as the reader, with some context could inhabit yourself, is such an excellent starting point for any kind of fantasy, I can't begin to go into it or we'd be here all day. Having a fantasy land with all kinds of different, fleshed out cultures, their own kinds of history, and a range of different topographys and being able to tie it all together into a cohesive world that only lends itself to the narrative, but strengthens it? Incredible, astounding work, and these books do it well. Lyssia feels akin to something like Alagaiesia from the Inheritance Cycle, with its vast range of locations and diversity of characters, and its something I really started to appreciate the further into the series I went.

Now, I want to speak about the characters for a sec, and their relationships with each other in particular. Individually, I think Curtis does a really good job of fleshing out his characters in a way that really wants to make you root for them - I have to be honest, I didn't really connect with Drew when I watched the TV show, but the moment Tilly was murdered in the book and he fled to the Dyrewood? You best believe I was sat for the horrors this boy was about to go through.

Now, the relationships - Hector and Drew? Beautiful. Gorgeous. Best guy friendship I've seen in so long. That's Drew’s bestie, you touch him and he won't just rip his own hand off, he'll rip yours off too. But on a serious note, I really enjoyed their friendship in the first two books, and while I did also enjoy Hector's corruption arc, I missed having our boys together in one place, because they don't really interact after the split in the second book until the last one - and I think it's a crying shame, honestly, because while Drew manged to find so many other allies, Hector was his first friend, yknow? There really was a level of trust and understanding between the two that Drew never really manged to find with anyone else, and I'll always be a little sad we never got to see more of that.

Now in terms of romantic relationships, here's where I come out with my potentially controversial take (?) - so, personally, I am not the biggest fan of Drew x Whitley.

(I'm sorry, I have no idea if this is blasphemy or not, this really is just me as a new fan putting putting my thoughts out here, so please bear with me if this is like a heinous crime or something)

Look, I really like them as individual characters, I do. Drew starts out a farm boy and ends a real king, Whitely starts out an experiences trainee and ends up a badass woodland scout at the end. Both fantastic. But in terms of shipping? It felt really abrupt, I'm gonna be honest.

I cant be the only one who thought there was a vibe between Drew and Gretchen, right? Like there was definitely something there, and it's expressedly mentioned by more than one character at a certain point?

Look, I'm a sucker for a good enemies-to-rivals-to-lovers ship. That's my kryptonite, and these two had it going strong for them. When they finally became friends, and started becoming more comfortable around each other, and you could see the way being around the other was enough to invite change in their personalities? Loved it. Their lowkey flirty banter at the beginning of book two? I had my ass sat for what would be the most entertaining romance amid the political fantasy aspect of the series. So, well and truly, imagine my surprise when Gretchen gets whisked away in the second book, and Drew sets out on a journey to bring her back while going against every other person telling him he can't, only for the two of them to never interact again until the very last book? It felt like all the time it took for them to finally get aping and trust each other in the first back faded into insignificance, and while I love Trent I do feel like Curtis tried to replicate what Drew and Gretchen had in half the time and with a lot more exposition, because as far as I can recall, we don't see much of their time in the Dyrewood together, and are only told they eventually get over their differences and fall in love, which felt rushed and kind of...shallow? So I couldn't find myself getting too invested, if we're being honest here. (And Gretchen becoming a feral warrior ready to get her hands dirty was truly the most invested I've been in a character's development in a while, like I was cheering her on everytime she leveled up and did something badass)

Even putting ships aside for a moment, I think the biggest weakness of this series was seperating the main three (Drew, Gretchen and Hector) after the second book. While they go on to have really good arcs, and I truly do mean that, because the people they start out as and the people they end up as are such stark contrasts to each other, but still manage to be a cohesive progression of their character arcs under the circumstances, is such a phenomenal display of an author having a good understanding of their characters it makes you feel a little proud by the end, honestly - splitting those three up was a terrible decision to make. You could've had a main trio on your hands, who played off of each other incredibly well and managed to make each character interesting in their own right - I guarantee you if these books had gotten half as much reach on tumblr as they should've it would've totally been a thing.

I think I'll touch on Whitley in a separate post, because this one is already getting way too long - but these are some of my more detailed opinions, I guess? Feel free to discuss, again, I've loved seeing and hearing from the folks who interacted with the last post I made, and it makes me happy to see that the fandom is still thriving :)

[ankle-beez]

Vivzipop (I think I spelled her name wrong but idc to check)

I'm gonna be controversial for a sec and say the premise of Hazbin Hotel isn't inherently bad per se but Vivienne never grew out of her "haha saying swears and sex and fuck and racism COOL and epic" phase and so she indulges in that instead of doing literally ANYTHING to elevate the premise and its characters to its fullest potential in an effective way. Just an absolute failure as a storyteller in every conceivable way

Also her character designs suck and she can't take criticism which is. A baffling trait to have as someone in the industry

[0heartangel0]

PERSONA 5 TACTICA IS NOT GREAT: A VERY ODDLY-CONSTRUCTED RANT

Okay, if you thought I was being controversial before, these last few parts are when I'm gonna lose some people. But bear with me!

I keep saying it, but there's a reason I do. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and that I'm not judging them for liking something, because a LOT of people on the internet tend to take an opinion way too personally. As a result, I keep having to tap the same sign over and over just to be safe, and right now is no different:

I just want to get my opinion out there to maybe get people to understand why I do feel the way I do about certain media and characters. So please keep that in mind for these last few parts, because I know for a fact that the last things I'm going to cover are actually stuff people liked about the game.

So, with that in mind:

Pt. 7: Erina/Eri/Ernesto Is A Nothing Character

NONONONO! DON'T GO, YET!! LET ME EXPLAIN!!

Just keep in mind what I said at the beginning of this post, and at least hear me out for a sec, okay? Okay.

To ease us into this, I'll get one positive out of the way, aside from her voice acting, which I talked about back in Part 1. I do really like her design. There, I said it.

The balancing of the colors red, black, and silver/grey is nothing short of phenomenal. Her outfit being ripped and tattered to show her history in battle is smart. The metal leg and hair covering her right eye alluding to her real life counterpart's injuries from her accident is genius.

And they seemed to have put a lot of thought into her design, because she has, like, 10 different concepts! I'll only show a couple that stuck out to me:

This first one actually has a neat idea behind it; since she's the leader of the Rebel Corp, why not make her look similar to them? They did something similar with Luca in the DLC, so why not in the main game? Would've made the hat people feel a bit more cohesive.

This one's just Yoshizawa, but made her into a cafe waitress(?). Maybe she was supposed to be a worker at the SafeHouse version of LeBlanc in an original draft of the game, but scrapped it (would add to the idea that the thought of Eri gives Toshiro comfort, much like LeBlanc)? It's a neat concept, and I do like her casual attire, but I would understand why they'd change it for story reasons.

This one just looks like if Mitsuru and Ann did a fusion dance. I do like the look, it just feels way too close to Ann and gives the impression that Eri was originally supposed to be a foreigner. Also, those feet! Dang!

This one's my favorite, mainly because of how funny the concept is. We have this cute little girl handling firearms and bazookas, painting herself in camouflage and wearing combat gear. I especially love the bush covering she wears at the top left; it's too adorable and funny.

Okay, okay! No more indulging in what could've been! Let's get into the meat and potatoes of what we got: her personality and role in the story.

And this is where my issues with Erina start to arise.

We'll start with her personality. I don't think everyone's gonna agree with me on this take, and you're free to refute me if you can, but simply put: she's very one-note.

I can only really name ONE personality trait that she exhibits: REVOLUTION.

No, that's it.

She is all about revolution. She eats it, she sleeps it, she bloody BREATHES it. She's like this at the beginning of the game, and she's like this at the end, making her feel very static.

Okay, she's also really reckless, but that comes with the revolution trait. In short, very basic.

Also, the game sometimes portrays her recklessness as more of a quirky thing about her, like when she shouts while sneaking into Marie's dungeons, forcing you into another battle (out of 22 in this Kingdom - still not over it). But, to me, it translates to her being kind of stupid, because who the Hell does that in the middle of a stealth mission?

And aside from Toshiro, no one really reprimands her for this trait, nor is she really punished for it, aside from the final flag scene.

SPEAKING OF THE FLAG SCENE, I have many issues with it, but among them is just how nothing really changes with either Erina OR Toshiro after this scene ends. Apart from us getting Makoto and Yusuke back, nothing exactly comes of it. She's still running headfirst into things without reconsidering, while Toshiro is still a wuss. There's not even a subtle change of their characters going forward that would indicate that this event affected them that would warrant a conversation and self-reflection later. The only commentary they have regarding it afterwards is them just bullying Toshiro by stating it wasn't really him that did anything, but simply, the flag itself.

And with that in mind, I know she's supposed to be Toshiro's foil, as in, she's more gung-ho to charge into battle, while he's more gung-ho to run away from battle. The issue is how the game never really gives any nuance to this opposition of personalities, or even commentary that would get you to consider both sides. Toshiro is always painted in the wrong for his mindset, while Erina is congratulated for hers. Once again, only Toshiro is against her mindset, but he never has any good comebacks to her argument, other than it's the safest option. And then she proceeds to destroy him.

Literally their first interaction is her giving him a grand speech on why it's wrong to run away, and is rewarded with a flag that automatically makes her win the fight once she plants it.

They're obviously supposed to have conflict with one another, but there's nothing challenging the conflict on equal parts, because we have to know Toshiro is the wrong one in the conflict.

I have more to go into here, but that would just be me slipping into talking about mainly Toshiro, so I'll leave it for now.

As I've mentioned before, she kind of comes across as stupid in some of her actions, and it's not just through her recklessness (although, that is a major part of it). After saving Joker and Morgana from Marie at the very beginning of the game, she makes an odd assumption that they're working for Marie and asks if they're even trustworthy, which....why would you think that?

You saw them getting dragged around the courtyard by their necks chained to Marie's bloody CAR! Marie herself even complains on how neither Morgana or Joker are submitting to her! You jump down from a roof soon after, implying you were there for quite some time to witness this!

Is this what being a pawn looks like to you?

She then does the EXACT SAME THING with Toshiro after they save him!

Erina's point of contention here is that he has no memory, other than his name and occupation, but that doesn't warrant you to think that he's a suspicious individual!

You found him in Marie's dungeons, being visually and verbally scared of the situation. He's obviously too confused to even understand what's going on. How is that evidence of him being untrustworthy?? Or even him being a potential pawn of Marie??? That makes no sense!

You could make the argument that she's just being very cautious, but A) Caution doesn't make you throw logic out the window, and B) I thought caution was Toshiro's trait, not Erina's! Aren't they supposed to be polar opposites? Erina is supposed to be the character that throws caution to the wind?? It's what leads her to getting shot???

Ugh!

....regardless, this is very dumb...

Now, the game tries to give her some form of a character arc by having her be very adamant on wanting a Persona like the thieves, and later question her very existence after finding out the Kingdoms are of Toshiro's cognition.

Here's my issues with this arc:

The Persona thing only lasts for about two scenes in the whole game, and they both happen at the very beginning. So when it's (technically) paid off at the end, you kind of forget this was even an arc. They could've expanded this to more scenes to really land it home. Speaking of,

The game never uses the irony of 'Person That Really Wanted A Persona Becomes A Persona Themselves' to its advantage. Not even in a joke! It was right there, but they never do anything with this!

Her questioning her existence never really comes up all that much until Kingdom 3, where at that point, it should be very obvious who she's supposed to be in context to this world, especially since they know they're in Toshiro's cognition.

Why isn't she more hung up on being someone's Persona? Their other self? There should at least be some form of questioning or bewilderment to this realization, but she's weirdly calm about this. Once again, they do nothing with this concept, despite how unique it is! We've gotten people's Personas fusing into one, thanks to the power of LUV~♡, a Shadow gaining a Persona, someone else's Shadow having a Persona of their own, separate from their counterpart's (I'm still trying to wrap my head around how Labrys works), but not someone just, BECOMING someone else's Persona! Bloody DO something with this!

And while I'm on the topic of her Persona identity, dear GOD, does it hurt my brain....

Actually, no. Before I discuss her Persona identity, let's discuss her real-world counterpart identity in order for the Persona argument to make sense.

Let's start by talking about the thing that peeved me off the moment I read it: her name......

Eri Natsuhara.

ERI NAtsuhara.....

ERI NAtsuhara................

.......I hate this game.......

Here's a clip of me realizing the name in real-time just to let you know how dumb I found/find this:

Game, why?

Anyway, back on topic. Eri was a transfer student who joined the student council, and became immediate friends with its president, Toshiro, after having witnessed him standing up to a bunch of bullies for a kid (why she just stood and watched him get beat up, only to later give him a measly bandage, I'll never know). They spent their school year basically trying to make their school a better place, with Eri rushing in to every situation with reckless abandon (sound familiar?).

One day, a girl by the name of Yuri Kurano came in, telling them that their Vice Principal, Nakabachi, had found out about her job working at a nightclub. He used this info to blackmail her into digging up information from students for him. He'd been apparently doing this with other students and staff once she got said information. Yuri then requested that Toshiro and Eri help her take down Nakabachi, to which Eri was obviously all in, while Toshiro was initially hesitant.

They later tried to confront Nakabachi, who instead taunted the two, explaining that if there were victims, why hasn't anyone come forward? They have no evidence! Eri was about to get physical, until Toshiro had to stop her. Nakabachi pointed out Toshiro's daddy issues, and he proceeded to flip off.

Going back to the student council room, Eri was still peeved, and Toshiro asked why she cared so much about this. She explained that back in her old school, she was accused of stealing something, and everyone shunned her for it. Her teacher then tried to motivate her by saying that you shouldn’t confront injustice through silence, which inspired Eri to be more active. This convinced Toshiro to help Eri with taking Nakabachi down once and for all.

They round up all of the students who were blackmailed, and confronted Nakabachi on the rooftop, where they recorded a confession out of him. This worked, and Nakabachi was finished.

One fateful day, though, as Eri and Toshiro were waiting for the train to arrive to take them home, Nakabachi, in an insane stupor thanks to the harassment he had to deal with following the fallout, tried to grab Eri, only for her to fall back and onto the tracks, getting hit by an oncoming train. This landed her in the hospital, having lost her eye and made her crippled, while Toshiro gained a scar on his right hand from his attempt at trying to pull her away from the train (which is why he wears a glove on that hand).

They stopped talking after that, with Eri moving away soon after, never seeing Toshiro again (until the ending, but SHHHHHH), while Toshiro got blamed for what happened with Nakabachi going insane, constantly getting bullied at school, until his dear ol' daddy put a stop to it.

At some point in his life (don't really know), Eri turned into an inspiration for Toshiro, becoming a representation of his rebellion in his cognition, thus creating Erina.

His Shadow, though, goes on to blame Eri for everything that went wrong in Toshiro's life, and thus, should kill off Erina once and for all to quash this "curse".

After some motivational speech from Erina and a flashback reminding him of Eri telling him to not lose his rebellion, or something, Toshiro finally stands up to his Shadow, leading to Erina remembering her purpose as his 'rebellion', and Toshiro to awaken to his Persona, Ernesto, who is just Erina.

......OKAY!! There' a LOT to unpack here, so let's do this step-by-step!

Why did they think it was a good idea to confront Nakabachi the first time 'round? Did they really expect him to stand down after just pointing out his wrongdoings? Even he points out how dumb that is! When Ryuji did it with Kamoshida, not only was said wrongdoing MUCH more concerning, but it was more or less the straw that broke the camel's back after having failed to gather information on Kamoshida. Also, Ryuji - being Ryuji - rushed in to the situation as he let his emotions get the better of him, while Joker and Mishima had to chase him down and physically stop him from throwing a punch. Meanwhile, both Eri AND Toshiro agreed upon confronting him. I get Eri, but why Toshiro? He's supposed to be the voice of reason, here!

I had to actively look back at footage to even remember Eri's dumb backstory, which doesn't exactly amount to anything, other than explaining why she's a transfer student and why she's all in for justice. What kind of Phoenix Wright bullcrap backstory is this? At least that was gay! The teacher chick never really comes back despite her supposed inspiration that's important for Eri's change here, nor does the backstory in general! Like, Nakabachi could've used that to threaten blackmail on her, possibly giving better foreshadowing to this reveal, as well as connect back to why he's even being confronted to begin with, making him much more of a threat to not just Toshiro! Also, that's why your parents transferred you? Because you allegedly stole something? And then they did it again after she was hit by a train?? Her parents must be getting sick and tired of this transferring at this point, and possibly concerned about their daughter's wellbeing if she keeps getting into stuff like this, to the point where it leaves her CRIPPLED!

How did the students agree to this uprising? We're never shown them being rounded up and convinced to do this, making it feel kind of out of nowhere! I guess it's in perspective of the numbers, and possibly the plan laid out to them, but once again, they should've showed this than imply it! Especially considering how EASY this was!

This one arguably baffles me the most-

How in the Flying Dutchman Hell did Eri survive getting hit point-blank by a TRAIN?? The cutscene showing it cuts off to when she's hit, implying to us the audience that she died. But then a cutscene later, we're immediately shown that she actually LIVED that crap, only losing an eye and ability to walk!

Bloody HOW???

Between this and the train accident in the opening to the original P5, trains must be made of cardboard in this universe! Meanwhile, tons of people are dying to cars left and right! Wakaba, Kasumi, Kobayakawa, and Aoi are probably doing cartwheels in their graves as we speak!

Wouldn't it have been more impactful if Eri just died, giving Toshiro more of a reason to feel guilt and regret over what happened? Would've made more sense then her LIVING THAT!

AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN TOSHIRO STILL HAS HIS HAND AFTER THAT-

Why were the kids bullying Nakabachi punished for what happened? While it's implied that they're responsible for him going insane, the fact that HE made the decision to attempt to kill Eri shouldn't be put on those kids! And how did the teachers know about this bullying to even warrant a punishment?

And on them blaming it on Toshiro as a "scapegoat", why didn’t they just go blame it on Nakabachi for making the choice of killing a CHILD?? And the fact that Nakabachi was clearly targeting both Eri and Toshiro should be punishment enough for what they supposedly did to Nakabachi! I just-

It doesn't make sense!

And how the Hell did Yoshiki get the kids at Toshiro's school to stop bullying him? What, did he slip them all twenties? I get the 'why', but not the 'how'!

Why is Shadow Toshiro blaming Eri for all the bad that happened to Toshiro? The only bad thing that happened was that Eri got ran over, leading to Toshiro getting bullied at school!

She didn't cause Toshiro's mom to die!

She didn't make Yoshiki into an abusive father!

She didn't set him up with Marie!

She didn't get him into politics!

What is his Shadow on about?

Apart from the previous point, Shadow Toshiro kind of has a point.

Why DOES Toshiro harp on Eri for so long, to the point where she becomes a whole bloody representation of his rebellion? It implies he's just been obsessively thinking about some random chick he met all the way back in high-school, but never bothered to get back into contact with her?

ALSO!

She becomes his Persona? Y'know, his other self? "I am thou, thou art I"? Does this imply he KINS Eri???? This makes people who ship Toshiro with this particular version of Eri kind of weird, especially since she takes on the appearance of her high-school self?

I can't with this!

Speaking of which, why does his COGNITION become his Persona, and not his SHADOW??? That's not how that works! In Persona, it's always the SHADOW that becomes the Persona! That's the BASIC RULE!

That'd be like if instead of Futaba's Shadow becoming Necronomicon, it was instead her cognition of WAKABA! It would make zero sense!!

And even then, once Erina becomes Ernesto, HIS SHADOW IS STILL THERE!!! A Shadow shouldn't be able to exist if he also has a Persona!

Flippin'-

Yu.....explain it for me.....

Thank you, Yu! This is why you're my favorite Persona protag!

This has always irked me, right from the beginning.....

And while I'm on Ernesto.......

ERNESTO "CHE" GUEVARA AS A PERSONA??????

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????????

A REAL DUDE????????????????????

THAT'S GOT TO BE ONE OF THE DUMBEST PICKS FOR A PERSONA I'VE EVER SEEN IN THIS FRANCHISE SO FAR!!!!

Every other Persona we've gotten has been based off of characters/creatures that are either from myth, folktale, novels, or just people that were known from so long ago, that there's room for them to not even be real! Guevara was literally born in the 30s!! I don't know about you, but that's pretty recent! And everyone knows he was an actual existing person!

Why couldn't they have just picked someone from FICTION that still represents revolution?

I just-

It just baffles me....

Even if we were to ignore ALL of that,

They just made Guevara into an animoo waifu-

I'M DONE!!!!!!!!

The design is....fine, but it doesn't change how I feel about Ernesto as a whole.

I'm not gonna go into her moveset, because I'm actually gonna save that for when I talk about Toshiro, since it actually links back to something that I've been thinking about in regards to him since he was first introduced in the trailers. And....hoo boy.........that has not changed....

I'll just end things off by stating a pretty ironic thing about Erina:

She's actually pretty similar to that of Chidori from Persona 3; they both exist SOLELY for the more important male character and their development, and NOTHING MORE! Also, they become said male character's Personas, which doesn't exactly help with challenging that idea. It's even more ironic in Erina's case, since she is a character all about revolution and rebellion, only to realize at the end that she only exists to serve a man.

wow.

I'll.....just end it there, out of fear that people will attack me for this......

(Update: I just realized when Erina was manifested into Toshiro's brain. According to the Wiki, she was born on December 17th. Based on a Reddit post I found, the Thieves canonically changed Shido's heart (send the calling card) on the 17th. The calling card was supposed to be what ignited Toshiro's rebellion, which is what Erina is supposed to represent. I'll give the game that, not gonna lie. I just feel dumb for not realizing that.)

Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 4.5, Pt. 5, Pt. 6, Pt. 8

(We're finally gonna get into what I've been waiting for!)

[meowfeverzzz]

Meow. Meow I'm caught up with fua I NEED the character list game for Harley pretty please.

bbbbbbbbb this took me furever i forgor.

fua spoilers!!!

fav thing: he's so silly. i dunno. i like when he's just overdramatic for fun. also his initials are weh.

least fav thing: how he is when he's mad??? when he yells at radd and lanc and when hes sulking on his floor with the stupid recorder im like harleyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy u stupid stupid man i was mad at him thruout the whole lanc in containment arc lol

fav line: i like "the price of safety is always blood, people just pay it in different ways" from the new ep

brOTP: "sibling nice" obviously

OTP: harlanc is canon to me

nOTP: shrug....him with anyone else......

random headcanon: bbhhhh i think hes really sensitive to pain, given him "being a big baby" about the tattoo and also everything he goes through after,, i picture him using a walking cane,, he's probably afraid of the dark (at least now),,,,,i like the few times that he draws even tho he sucks at it so i hc that he draws often to destress, maybe keeps a sketchbook, and mayb he improves over time without meaning to lol

unpopular opinion: the harley height controversy just flashed before my eyes for the first time in years. he's tall to me. not as tall as radd maybe, but about as tall as klein and taller than lanc and love.

song association: you're the one with the playlist this time... i'm gonna go with jimmy mushroom's last drink etc by will wood here

fav picture: i don't...have any........wait a sec...

that one.

[redgoldblue]

mid-year book freakout 📚

i was tagged by @itwoodbeprefect thanku! ❤️ the perfect procrastination opportunity on writing scientific report results (blergh)

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Number of books you’ve read so far: 36, of which 20 are just Phryne Fishers. I started this reread in April (and am now four from the end), I always forget how many of them there are even though they're all right there on the bookshelf showing me.

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Best book you’ve read so far in 2025: I'm gonna go with Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle - I liked Camp Damascus. I loved Bury Your Gays. ooohhhh the vibes baby. the atmosphere. the genuinely unique horror and meta takes. the catharsis. the gays.

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Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2025: well, as per above 20 books being Phryne Fishers, it follows that 19 of them have been sequels. (I have also read two other sequels this year, Somewhere Beyond The Sea (TJ Klune) and Very Nice Funerals (Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer), so I've got a good range of options. Of them all... I've been tossing up the idea of making a full list of Every Phryne Fisher Book By How Much I Like Them. Top spot goes to either Blood and Circuses (which, having very briefly gone to Goodreads to get that link, seems to be a massively controversial take? One of the reasons I love it is that it's a very rare case where she does get almost entirely removed from her wealth and her support systems and struggles because of it, but gets her feet under herself anyway. This seems to be a reason people do not like it. Anyway the other reasons are circus setting (also apparently a sticking point) and all the circus characters, who I love.) or Death By Water (I'm a sucker for a cruise ship. And a single-setting mystery (i.e. snowed-in mansion, running train... cruise ship). And this is in my humble opinion one of the best books for clothing descriptions, and for Dot and Phryne's friendship. And what both of these books have in common is a set of fun, distinct side characters strictly defined by a location.)

-

New release you haven’t read yet but want to: Oh there's a few. The Dratsie Dilemma (GL Carriger), Dream On, Ramona Riley (Ashley Herring Blake), Harriet Tubman: Live In Concert (Bob the Drag Queen) and Dead In The Frame (Stephen Spotswood) are probably the biggest ones.

Also, actually, I already own all of those, which I feel may not be in the spirit of the question, so I'll add Disco Witches of Fire Island (Blair Fell) which I do not.

-

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: Oh, man, since I stopped looking at Twitter I never know what's coming out until it does. Wait. Chuck Tingle's Lucky Day is coming out in December, I think. The only one I can think of, so it wins by default. (The other pre-order I have on wishlists is @pangur-and-grim's Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs To Die, but that's not out till next year).

-

Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you): Ah, my reread winter is foiling me. I've only read 6 new to me authors this year. Of those, I'd say the one that was the most surprising in how much I enjoyed it was Kellie McCourt with Murder Most Fancy - especially because it's set where i live(ish), which is always a mark against media for me. I did also realise a few chapters in that it was a sequel and I hadn't read the first one, but I am planning to get the first one.

-

Newest fictional crush: I was going to cite someone from Phryne Fisher, none of whom are new but of whom there are numerous, but then I remembered Triple Sec's Kade. It may not end up one of my favourite books of the year or anything but whoo. Kade.

-

Book that made you cry: I mean, none literally bc I very rarely do that. Bury Your Gays probably made me the most emotional, although my reread of House In The Cerulean Sea still hit hard the second time around. Boyfriend Material made me cry bc of my inability to dnf books

-

Most beautiful book you’ve gotten so far this year: I initially read this as book I have received from someone else, but almost all the books I've bought myself were in one order that I haven't seen the covers of yet bc I need to go pick it up, so I'm still gonna go with Copper Script (KJ Charles). It may well still be true after that.

-

Book that made you happy: Honestly I'm just gonna leave the entire Phryne Fisher series here. There's a reason I reread it every ~two years.

-

What books do you need to read by the end of the year? 'need' is a word i'd prefer not to use. although having said that i do feel some level of duty to finish Love, Reason and Morality, which is a collection of philosophy essays that shockingly does not have a single review on Goodreads. I'm trying to prep a Masters pre-Masters that will be partially on philosophy of love, so I'm trying to get a broader basis in that.

Other than that, books I want to read by end of year includes all the ones named above that I haven't already read, plus Friends of Dorothy by Sandi Toksvig. Also, I already kinda wanted to (re)read some Miss Marple, and then my father - who barely ever reads books outside a work context - started reading Agatha Christies to help him go to sleep, and now I find out you've also been reading her, Squares. Clearly the universe is trying to tell me something.

-

i will tag @teacupsandcyanide and @faorism and also echo the "open invitation to anyone reading this who would like to talk about books, has any good books to recommend, or is just very very bored. tag me so i can read your answers!"

[clover-the-awesomest]

Talkin bout Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel) for a hot sec okay thanks

Okay. Listen. This is a pretty big topic I’m gonna be delving into, and it’s a topic I’ve had no real exposure to until recently, so a lot of the things I’ll be saying is of my own opinion. I will be talking about SA, child abuse, abuse in general, alcohol, self-destructing, SH, and Hazbin Hotel in general. All of these are very big topics (Yes, including Hazbin lol) so if you are not keen on listening to some outsider talk about these things, please leave. I don’t want you reading something that will actively make you uncomfortable.

And again, let me reiterate: I am an outsider looking in. I have had no real exposure to any of these topics until I watched Hazbin Hotel episode 4. This is not meant to be a call-out or me making any educated guesses. It is purely just for my sake and so I can say my piece about these topics. DO NOT, IN ANY CASE, ASSUME I KNOW 100% WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT. I AM YOUNG AND DUMB, AND I AM VERY LIKELY TO MAKE SOME HOT TAKES HERE. IF I MAKE A MISTAKE OR SAY SOMETHING CONTROVERSIAL, DO NOT HESITATE TO HARRASS ME, BUT BE WARNED THAT I WILL NOT ENGAGE.

One final disclaimer: If you know anyone. ANYONE who is going through a rough patch, or someone who has experienced any of these things before or are currently going through it, please please PLEASE just at least reach out. Say hi. Make them a gift. Listen to them talk. Sit with them for a while. Stay on call with them for a while. Just… Just be there for them. Please. Even a little can go a long way.

With all that out of the way, here is my very overdue take on Hazbin Hotel episode 4: Masquerade.

———

====

It is depressing. Genuinely, it is a very sad and very raw episode. And honestly? It does not deserve any of the hate that it is most certainly receiving.

Masquerade is an episode all about the horrors of an abusive (Sexually and otherwise) relationship and how it affects the one being abused. Angel Dust, who’s been shown before this episode to be very toxic and sexual, is once again given the spotlight that he very much deserves, shedding light on his behavior and why he acts the way he acts.

What is genuinely saddening about this episode is that we know that what Angel goes through is not far from reality in the slightest. If we take away the magic and the soul contracts, we get a day in the life of a real human being in the world right now as you are reading this. Someone is out there being hurt, being abused, by someone they once looked up to. They are being manipulated, being slapped, being thrown against the floor, and all the while they are powerless to do anything. It’s such a sad, sickening reality that I wish wasn’t true, but it is, and that’s that. I want more than anything to be able to help these people who are being hurt and are being used, but I currently have no way of doing that and I feel so so terrible and wrong for saying that but it’s true and I just… Ugh. It’s so depressing, really. The lengths that other human beings are willing to go to just to have someone under their control at all times. I hate it, truly.

“When I say ‘Come,’ you say…”

“Yes, Valentino.”

“When I say you are fucking 20 guys before lunch, you say…?”

“Y-yes, Valentino…”

…

Valentino wants money and control. That is all this fucker wants. The moment he laid eyes on Angel’s desperate drunken ass he instantly knew he struck gold, and just like that, the spider was under his control. In the beginning, Angel did just as he was told with little pushback, because he was looking to make a quick buck and this was also literally a goddamn overlord he was working with. Disappointing his boss could spell disaster! After a while though, Val’s demands became much more intrusive and much more harsh than they were at the beginning, and Angel’s hope for a fresh start began to slowly fade away. Soon enough, he got to where he is now. Still working with Valentino, but wanting desperately to find a way out. To be free from this double-hell that he’s dug himself into. To be happy again. But of course, now that he’s dug himself a grave and has already lied in it for some time, he can’t exactly escape. Valentino has seen his work first-hand, has experienced it with his own disgusting fuzzy body, and loves it all with every fiber in his bones. He doesn’t just want someone to fuck 20 guys before lunch. He wants Angel to fuck 20 guys before lunch. He’s found his new favorite toy, and he intends to keep playing with it.

Now this is where the manipulation comes in. Angel wants to leave, he knows he does, but he also knows that he can’t. Literally, he can’t, because his soul is bound by a contract that only Val has access to, but even without that in the picture, he cannot leave. It was shown via a previous episode (I forget which one I’m not sorry) that Valentino cannot and will not let go of his favorite toy. He sends Angel text after text after text, voicemails, emails, calls, you name it. We see a clip of him sending Angel a large amount of voicemails, and in each one he switched between being nice and caring to his spider baby to going full on insane! He yells at Angel in one voicemail, then starts cooing and whispering in kindly tones in the next. It’s such a terrifying way of showing the abused that the abuser can change their mood on a dime and that they can’t control it. That they need an out, something to let their frustrations out on. It terrifies the abused into staying, leaving them both to fester in this cycle of cat and mouse for a while before one of them inevitably breaks said cycle. Though it usually isn’t broken until it’s too late.

There is one upper hand that Angel has over Valentino though, and it’s that he knows what Valentino is doing and doesn’t fall for those kinds of tricks. Angel is a spider, and spiders are well-known for being tricky and sinister and gross, so naturally he’d pick up on Val’s manipulative behavior. This then leads Angel into another issue in his life though, and that’s his coping mechanisms.

Since Angel knows how terrible Valentino’s treatment towards him is, and since he knows how much it hurts him, he turns to other things that don’t exactly help. Alcohol, drugs, clubbing, more goddamn sex like can this man please just stop having sex if he wants to get away from it please can he just have a break por favor-

These are good substitutes for the pain. They are like numbing agents, or more questionable anti-depressants. Angel goes to the club to forget it all, to forget how much everything hurts. He goes to get heavy drinks so that he can forget. He gets high so he can forget. He has sex so he can forget.

He hurts himself more so that he can forget.

Rather than talking with someone and dealing with his stress and emotional turmoil head-on, Angel pushes it away. Off to the side. Bottles it up in a small plastic container where he’ll never have to see it again! But when leaving a glass of water under the tap for too long, it’ll quickly begin to overflow, and that’s what we see happen with Angel in Masquerade. It’s been so long of him using his illegal methods of forgetting, of numbing the pain and ignoring it, that everything just begins to spill over. He starts losing his touch, starts affecting those around him who clearly had nothing to do with any of it in the first place. He oversteps Husk’s boundaries, is constantly rude to Charlie and Vaggie, and just straight up ignores everyone else. (As far as I’m aware. Not mentioning Pentious in this btw cuz he’s a temporary resident at the hotel.) Even when Husk calls Angel out on his behavior, even when he calls the guy fake, the spider does not, CANNOT, budge. He remains indignant, is still a cocky little bitch, and just tries his hardest to not drag everyone else down with him. It backfires horribly, of course, and Husk soon ends up dragging him away from his escape, from his anti-depressant. And Angel snaps.

”IT’S NOT AN ACT!! It’s who I need to be…! And this? This is my escape! Where I can forget about it all, how much I hate… EVERYTHING. A place where I can get high and not have to think about how much it hurts.”

And then… We get this line.

“And maybe, if I can ruin myself enough in the process, if I end up broken, I won’t be his favorite toy anymore.

And maybe he’ll let me go.”

…

This line hurts me so much. My chest aches every time I hear it. Because what it entails is genuinely horrifying. Angel is telling Husk that he is literally just a toy to Valentino, just a perfect plastic doll that he loves in a perfect plastic house that he owns. The spider doesn’t know how much it’ll take to full break himself, doesn’t know if he’s even able to do that, but at this rate he is very ready to see if he can. He wants to do that, he wants to break himself. Angel wants to become physically unable to do Valentino’s dirty work, to get thrown away just like all of Val’s previous toys did. He wants, more than anything else, to just get tossed into the trash and get crushed by the truck that collects him, just so he doesn’t have to be hurt by Valentino anymore.

But the part of his speech that truly hurts me is when he says that MAYBE Valentino will let him go. If Angel was so sure that his idea would work, that breaking his boss’s favorite toy will get him to lose interest, he would’ve said “And then he’ll finally let me go.” But instead he says Maybe. Because Angel isn’t even sure if Valentino will let him be free after all this. He is unsure if Val will lose interest, if he’ll be tossed aside, if he’ll be able to find happiness in his afterlife once he is broken. He’s so far from what he dreamed of that he is more than willing to hurt/kill himself, even when he’s unaware if it’ll even help him in the first place.

Seriously. How sickening is that??

And again, one of the saddest aspects of all this is that real people experience these things in real time, in the real world, right now, as you are reading this. It’s terrifying, scary, downright depressing to think about! How so many people are willing to kill themselves just for the slightest chance at grasping freedom, yet are unsure if they can even reach it once they have that chance.

The worst part is, though, is that before opening up to Husk, this was literally Angel’s only way of finding freedom. To break himself apart so that he couldn’t be used anymore. If he can’t be broken, if he can’t die, then Val will just keep using and using and using Angel. He’ll keep hurting him and abusing him and manipulating him, and the poor guy is very unable to do anything about it at the moment. It’s so sad and so twisted and I hate it so much.

This episode of Hazbin Hotel has been getting a pretty fair amount of hatred just for existing, and honestly for once, I can see why. It touches on a very, very heavy subject that not too many people are fully familiar with. And even if there are people who are familiar with/have experienced SA before, they most likely did not have the same experience as Angel does in the episode. Which, yeah duh, of course they didn’t! We’re not in Hell yet! But the way they go about it is horrible. I’m assuming people are hating on the episode for both painting SA in a terrible light, and also not being true to their specific events. So, in response to this, let me just say this…

Nobody, no matter what, no matter what you do or where you go or who you are, is gonna have the same exact experience. For example, I went on a big hiking trip with my dad over the summer, and I saw many other families go on the same exact path we did. And yet I could tell they all were doing fine, and they all enjoyed themselves, while I was feeling like I was gonna fall and die at any fucking moment and I just wanted to get back on solid ground. The view was nice but the journey honestly made me think I was gonna go splat right then and there and I was not too happy about that.

What I’m saying is that I did not have the same exact experience to anyone else on that trail. Everyone else except for me was doing fine, yet their experiences were all purely their own. This is what makes us human. The difference in appearance, expression, and experience. Thus, for people to come out and watch an episode all about SA and for them to expect it to be exactly as they imagined… No. just no. Get a therapist, please, because you clearly have something wrong with you.

And as for painting SA in a terrible light… That’s… That’s good though? SA is genuinely a horrible thing and I do not, under any circumstances, want anyone ever to go through anything remotely like it. We are human beings! We have compassion in our blood! Use it, for fuck’s sake! I do not want anyone to ever be hurt by anyone else that they know or love dearly. That is a thought I’d never wish on even my greatest enemy! So yes, it should be painted in a horrible, terrible light! It’s bad!

====

———

This episode was… It was a lot. I still get sad and depressed to this day whenever I watch it. What I watch Angel go through makes me sick. However, I’m glad that issues like these are being addressed and that people are talking about it. I don’t like it in the slightest, but that’s why it should be talked about more. We need to be able to help more people, and even though I can’t right now, I pray to God that someone out there is hopefully getting the help and love that they truly do deserve.

Thank you so so much for reading through that whole thing, I know it was a long one. I just have so many thoughts on episode 4. I’ve been working on this for almost an hour and a half now btw so I am very gladly going to end it here. Hope you show some love and respect to those close to you and I really do hope you keep the negative thoughts to yourself. Now go get yourself a drink of water, go eat a banana or a bowl of cheerios, text your loved ones and hug ur stuffed animal, and have a great day/night! Thank you.

[bismuthburnsblue]

pocket!

im gonna b controversial a sec and tell you, i only put pockets in like, half the things i make. a lotta the time, i think pockets are a detriment to the lines of a flared skirt (esp in floaty fabrics) as putting things in them only drags them down. but! more casual things or things in more structured fabrics i will, and its always a Good pocket :) this is a cosplay also, so i find having pockets SO useful when out at a con.

[aettuddae]

heaven literally having the attention span of 3 secs 😭😭😭

serim grumpy, karina gonna be so mad when she starts liking her shshjwhwgs

questions - has Olympia had any major scandals?, and since queen jennie is here and thejr idols, do kai and her have their shared history here 😭😭 kinda feel like that would be extra messy

- 🕷️

heaven is just a group of good looking idiots 😭 karina is gonna have an interesting time dealing w these prople

well, they're well-known for being TOUGH on their trainees. also, is incredibly difficult to get into the company, as a trainee and even as an employee, so people thinks.. what are they doing there that no one can see 🤷🏼 aside from that, the biggest controversy was when a male idol left the group, then sued olympia for mistreatment 🫵🏻

and yes, jenkai is canon here 😭

[strawbyangel]

A group of men from certain ethnic backgrounds which I will not mention as to not be controversial surrounded me at the bus stop today just cause I was wearing a dress.

In the middle of Germany.

Wow.

And people say Europe is so great this Europe is so great that, all I've seen so far are a bunch of stone faced senior citizens (or middle aged if you're lucky) that all dress like those sad grey cubicle office workers from a Pixar movie and give you a good ol German stare down just cause you're a little dolled up (not saying they're ugly god would strike me down if I did just saying they're very practical with their looks no accessories or color or nothing.) also there's no sign of babies or even children anywhere, just dogs, lots and lots of dogs, this is like the last stage of late stage capitalist individualism, it's honestly depressing.

Yeah okay I know it's only been one day and this is just a small part of one single state but still, I don't like it, I could never live here, and it's cold and the weather is always cloudy and I stick out like a sore thumb, I don't like it.

Send me back to my second world country that at least still has some semblance of brotherhood left.

Germans should speak more, they don't even tell you to move out of the way they just either wait for you to feel their breath on your neck or try to squeeze past you, so quiet and for what no one's gonna cut your tongue off if you speak up and now that I think about I've even very rarely seen Germans speaking amongst each other, or laughing, or smiling, it's like a ghost town even in the most crowded places just dead silence, how do these people live like this.

Also there's barely any Germans around it's all just immigrants, kinda sad tbh but I don't feel bad since it's their own fault for meddling in with the middle east and Africa and also not having any children as if their pets could look after them when they get old.

I know I know I sound like a traditionalist but I'm honestly tired of this whole work till you die cause you're a girl boss who should never get married or have kids cause men ain't shit just keep bending your back backwards for capitalism and buy a bunch of useless electronic crap like in those oh no my mother in law is coming home in thirty seconds chinese tik toks and get a bunch of Botox and fillers and here have this dozen face serums to look 16 until the day you die and only care about your career and looks and that'll definitely make you feel fulfilled and fill in the gap of genuine human connection. I just don't buy all of this crap like I'm not saying you need to get married and have children to feel fulfilled that's not for everyone, but let's be honest it definitely is for a majority of people and they're just torturing themselves by trying to fit in to this new world standard of what a successful life is which has been specially crafted to feed capitalism (and ironically is the one killing it with the record low birth rates) , like sorry to break this up to you mate but obviously the thing that is the only reason our pathetic excuse of a species is still alive and is the whole purpose of all living beings on this planet makes your brain release more serotonin than getting a second hand Toyota that you slaved off five or more years to afford in this economy.

I think that everyone should drop their jobs today, move to the country side and build a farm, then watch how fast the so called broken economy heals and you can buy an actual house for yourself cause the greedy bastards sitting at the top aren't making any money when there's no one working or buying from them so they have no choice but to lower prices, fuck them all and fuck landlords too this generation can't even afford to buy a house let alone have children because of them catch em all burn them to ashes and cut those pigs guts out .

Okay lost my cool for a sec there but really I'm furious with how shit things have become and how people are buying into a so called dream life that is just made to profit the big bosses further, raise cows fuck banks feed your own family from your own crops and hard work, this is real anarchism not opening a so called non profit cafe where an espresso is 20 goddamn bucks and you sell vegan tote bags that are made by Chinese child workers.

I don't know how things escalated here from talking about my time in Germany but I'm still right.

On the bright side I bought a Remington hair straightener and some nail polish, great success.

[darlinginluv]

𝓦𝓮𝓵𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓘𝓷 <3

Hi! I’m Iris, I’m 22, and this is my side blog! Gonna just be posting darling core content, brain rots and rants, and reblogging some awesome creators <3

Im reallllllllly gonna try and filter my reblogs to be from people who are 18+, as THIS is an 18+ account…. But im human so if I slip and either don’t catch someone sage or it’s not listed and I reblog at 3 am…. Im sorry. Let me know if you catch something and I can always take it down!

Trying my best to make my blogs a safe space, that also establishes healthy boundaries within a community that tackles very heavy topics 💕

This being said, let me be serious for a sec and copy and paste this rule from my main blog:

I don’t want you glorifying mental disorders. People have BPD, people have DID, people have personality and affect disorders, etc, and we love everyone no matter what. BUT- what I don’t want here, is someone misinterpreting a serious mental condition for a trendy tag that will get you reblogs. Yandere content and mental illnesses overlap. They are not the same. I don’t care if this is controversial. I’m here for the silly goofy and the smutty thirsting, but I’m not gonna compromise on respecting mental health struggles.

𝒪𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑅𝓊𝓁𝑒𝓈

🦢 Homophobia, Transphobia, Ableism, and general asshole behavior is not gonna fly here.

🦢 If you want to submit asks for writing please direct that to my main blog, this is kinda just for the more personal brainrot word vomit stuff.

🦢 Other asks are fine, just don’t ask for my address or anything like that- but I love interacting with the community, and let’s be real, I’m the most introverted attention whore you’ve ever seen, so lay it on me 💕

Dividers are from the ever talented @cafekitsune

[icanseethefuture333]

the olivia ‘copyright’ issues aren’t all that tbh. i feel bad for her even, cause it’s not even copying, if she just had a better legal team this all could’ve been worked out. the taylor thing is stupid cause it was like 3 secs of screaming in the bridge that was ‘copyrighted’ n then she had to give 50% of the royalties over to her. but the music industry is real weird. i think this was def a big lesson for olivia esp as she just started out and was new to everything. she’s got a diff perception of the music industry now for sure. here’s a link kinda explaining the whole copyright thing. it’s just so dumb to me cause chord progression can’t be copyrighted. if so, literally every single artist we know right now would be sued 😭. but oh well

https://x.com/gdlsspersephone/status/1700773380272660618?s=46

I feel like Olivia wouldn't have been criticized as much if this wasn't happening just back to back. First it was "Good 4 U" and "Misery Business" by Paramore. Then the situation with Taylor (now after hearing the comparison I agree and think 50% is a bit much, Taylor could of just did 5-10% instead). Now Olivia is getting heat as well for "All American Bitch" because it sounds like "Start All Over" by Miley Cyrus. People felt a way about the reading I did on Olivia and Taylor, but I'm gonna be real. Half of the artists you guys send me asks for I don't even listen to them or care for them as people. So there's no bias I have towards anyone (not that I'm saying you're saying that anon but people get in their feelings when their faves aren't praised 24/7). I do feel bad for Olivia in the sense that she needs a better legal team and its unfortunate her and her idol had a falling out, but I also agree with the fact that she needs to do better as a songwriter and overall businesswoman because she's an adult. There's no excuses for that and if Olivia needs to speak with a legal advisor, take a music business class, something, then she should go do that. It's like she keeps putting herself in situations that's gonna cause controversy. There's definitely have been artists who have gotten away with stealing parts of a song and not giving the original artists their credits or royalties as well. All I can say is I wish her luck 🤷🏽‍♀️

[tarathoughts13]

while i do agree with the fact that given the current political climate in the u.s - women's rights and marginalized communities being targeted, the rise of conservative/'tradwive' ideals, etc. it probably wasn't the best time to release an album cover like this.

that being said - i do think that people should take a step back and breathe for a sec. i understand as a WOC myself (desi girl btw) why some women especially woc felt put off by this album cover - it is controversial. and i understand why seeing the cover in tr*mp term 2 may have triggered some people or made them feel upset/angry. but, it is at the end of the day - just an album cover. sabrina is not a politician or some radical feminist that twitter makes her out to be - she's a pop star with somewhat left leaning/liberal beliefs (shes shown lgbtq support and is anti-trump) - and i don't think it's her responsibility to be some radical feminist icon leading the way for young women or something - her job is to make pop music that is good (which she does) and be a good entertainer. that's it. and that goes the same for people like taylor swift or chappell roan or any big pop girlie rn - there job is to be a good pop star and to entertain us, that's it. if they choose to pursue activism alongside that - that's their choice - like olivia rodrigo and chappell roan have been outspoken on their respective issues like abortion rights and queer rights/free palestine - but i don't think it's something which should be expected of them.

also idk if this is me being dumb but i also interpreted the album cover + title to be a commentary on how sabrina is basically the perfect 'man's best friend' - she's hot, blonde, funny, cheeky, petite, sexy but still somehow cute and innocent, relatively submissive/passive sexually etc. - she's everything that most straight men ideally want in a woman - and the album was gonna be from her pov on how being a man's best friend actually sucks bc it means u have to deal with well, men.

also this may be an unpopular opinion but as a woc who is also an artist and a writer - i don't think that every piece of media created by a woman/femme presenting person has to be some feminist thinkpiece about the state of being a modern woman etc. - i think women are allowed to make whatever art they please, (as long as it's not promoting hate speech) and sometimes that art may be a bit uncomfortable to look at or not as politically correct as others. at the end of the day - sabrina is a pop star and it's not her job to be a politican or to create thinkpieces on womanhood, her job is to make fun songs, be a good entertainer, and be funny, that is it. and i think wasting this much time and energy on some random white woman who made a kinda weird album cover for her upcoming album instead of focusing on actual issues regarding feminism - like the fact that the u.s gov. can apparently force dead women to give birth now, or the fact that republicans are pressing congress to ban abortion shield laws - is kinda fucking stupid.

that's just my take tho - not hate to op

People are saying Sabrina Carpenter's album cover is meant to be satire and if it is, it's pretty shit satire. Good satire would have been depicting the man on his knees at her feet, what ever happened to wanting to see men getting PEGGED??

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

If you had to suggest one gay fanfic to someone who has never really read fanfic much, what do you think it would be?

oh man uh like i would definitely suggest reading one for a fandom youre already in so this is quite a hard question to answer with just one single fic? so here are the absolute top ones I'd recommend as a first for a couple of the fandoms im in

ok so Leave No Soul Behind by whochick is like, my ultimate favourite star trek fic. I read it years and years ago and used to recommend it to literally anyone who would listen. It's an AU but the kind where it's very much set within the canon universe but putting the characters on a completely different path. honestly you can read this as its own standalone novel without even having watched any star trek it's SO GOOD damn i need to reread this. like if i had to pick one single fic to recommend i think id go with this one but idk if you watch star trek so ill drop a few others too

also gonna shoutout Veritas by theproblematique as another star trek fic that i've reread time and time again over the years and its a great one to go for if youre not at all into au

The Student Prince by fayjay otherwise known as THEE merlin fic, again i know people who have never seen bbc merlin who have read this and loved it. another au this time a modern day university au which i dont normally go with but its kind of a semi reincarnation au i think? I dont remember the details on that but merlin has his powers and his destiny is tied to arthur (who is still a prince i think? its been years since i read it lol) in a way thats still pretty close to the show so the dynamic really hits

Thirty Eight Days And Counting by thecommodore_squid i couldnt find this for a sec and thought it had been deleted anyway this one is for you if youre a stucky stan and also like fake dating (i think like 90% of the fics i read in my stucky days were either fake dating or everyone knows theyre dating but them lmao)

literally anything I post for supernatural will be controversial bc theres so much required reading lmao so I'm just gonna drop Diamond Star Halo by Jad (who also wrote one of my favourite unfinished star trek fics jad if youre out there-) and The Girlfriend Experience by rageprufrock (this is literally porn but plotty and so good) and run

I know this like literally didnt answer your question about what one single fic i would recommend but thats way too open ended a question like there are so many variables. let me know ur pairings and ill come back with a specific for u ok

also a note that most of these are au which is weird because ive never really been one for aus but i do think when an au hits just right it can go so fucking hard and turn out to be a glorious standalone novel that sticks with you for years which i think is why its easier to recommend these over canon style fics bc those rely a bit more on me knowing what you like lol