#blackadder is my hero

[petercushingscheekbones]

Blackadder vs Shakespeare

This is THE most satisfying 2 seconds of a comedy sketch

Thank you sincerely Blackadder Sir. Especially because that is the version you have to inevitably suffer through (very much against your will) when you are studying Hamlet

[txttletale]

ever thought that less roleplaying games should be about loveable fantasy heroes saving the world and more of them should be about pathetic and petty aristocrats trapping each other in concentric layers of convoluted madcap scheming? well good news, my ttrpg most trusted advisors is on sale again! it's a silly pseudomedieval pastiche optimised for playing low-prep, light-hearted one-shots as a party of characters at the intersection between lord vetinari, blackadder, and the gang from it's always sunny, and it's 50% off through to the 26th of december!

[aceredshirt13]

1917: A Movie Review

(I created a Letterboxd account specifically to review WWI movies so you can find the review there if you want, but I had no idea reviews got buried so fast so I figured I'd put it here for safekeeping, too.)

Hot tip: if you, while making a movie about the futility of war, ever had to stop and think to yourself, “Okay, but are Germans, like, actually people, though?” then I can only both recommend you kindly consider not making a war movie, and pray for your speedy recovery in the hospital after I have beaned you with a chair.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The rest, which contains spoilers, is under the cut.

I should preface this by saying that I am not an expert on cinematography by any means, and I also watched this movie on an airplane, which means that I wouldn’t have good opinions on the cinematography even if I were an expert on it. I also had not seen any other World War I movies before this one - the only experience I’d had with WWI prior was in the form of books, half the fourth season of Blackadder, an episode of The Twilight Zone, and the occasional spectacularly dark Jeeves and Wooster fanfic. But I had grown interested in learning about the horrors of the war, and had heard much about 1917 and its portrayals of them - so after finishing Barbie on the same international flight, I decided to do a Great War spin on the Barbenheimer formula and give 1917 a whirl.

In terms of horrors, the movie certainly delivers. I will probably never forget Schofield accidentally plunging his hand in the chest cavity of a rotting corpse, or having to crawl to a riverbank over a row of bloated cadavers. Being forced to relive the memory of these scenes actually made me sick to my stomach just now. It is not as much of a visceral waking nightmare as the 2022 version of All Quiet on the Western Front, but it is, without question, awful to see. Gory imagery, however, does not a good war movie make - for that is the burden that the writing must bear.

It’s a pretty simple story. Two very young British privates are given an insanely dangerous mission to travel over enemy lines and deliver a message to call off an attack that will end in disaster, and because one of them has a brother in danger of dying if they don’t succeed, travel they do. Blake (the one with the brother) is chatty, good-humored, and naive about the realities of war, while Schofield (not the one with the brother) is reserved and cynical, traumatized to the point of amnesia from his service at the Somme. Their friendship is endearing, and is unquestionably the best part of the movie. We then follow them through many quiet, almost video game-like journey sequences across No Man’s Land, occasionally interspersed with conversation, mishaps, and near-death situations they help each other out of. Then, not even halfway into the movie, tragedy strikes, and Schofield must make the rest of the journey alone - through more quiet, video game-like journey sequences that sometimes suffer from pacing problems due to the lack of either interpersonal interaction or enough things going on save for walking to keep the viewer engaged. (I actually began to find myself wishing the latter part of the movie was a video game, so I could at least take the exploration into my own hands.) At the end of it all, he reaches his target a bit tardily, but is ultimately able to convince the captain that the push should come to an end, and Blake’s brother is, for now, spared an untimely death. The film ends with our surviving hero leaning back against a tree, gazing at a letter his mother gave him that reads “Come back to me.” before the screen cuts to black.

Now, I’ve been watching WWI films with a friend of mine who is more well-versed in war media than myself, and they let me know after watching this movie on their own that the “pushing past people in the trenches so that you can give a message to call off an attack” segment is the plot of the final scene of Gallipoli. I do not plan to watch Gallipoli, mainly due to the immense degree of historical inaccuracies fabricated to paint British colonial attitudes in a horrible light (which is something that could have very easily been done without erasing the massive losses of an entire section of the British Army that was supporting the Australians), so if you do, you might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph. But if you don’t, well, my friend also let me know that unlike in 1917, where Schofield is too late to completely stop the attack but not too late to spare the elder Blake’s life, in Gallipoli the attempt fails, and the main character’s friend is killed. So not only does 1917 come off as a touch derivative, but it is actually softer than the predecessor it derives from. The captain’s speech about the futility of Schofield’s efforts in the face of future attack orders rings true, but in the end Schofield fulfilled his promise to his dead friend, completed his mission, and lived to tell the tale. Perhaps it was so audiences wouldn’t be disappointed or dissatisfied, and feel the efforts weren’t all for nothing (the Dawn Patrol movies, though more successful at their message than 1917, are a bit guilty of this), but isn’t the entire point of anti-war cinema that it is always, always all for nothing? Shouldn’t you feel miserable, and angry, and dissatisfied?

Well, I did actually feel miserable, and angry, and dissatisfied at the end of this movie, but not for the right reasons. I would be willing to forgive pacing issues and a slightly-too-bright ending, because there was a lot in the movie to like, particularly in regard to the frightening imagery and the relationship between Schofield and Blake. The most compelling scenes in the movie, in fact, surround the aforementioned tragedy that results in two becoming one - but ay, there’s the rub. 

Because remember how I said that their friendship was the best part of the movie? Yeah, well, the way that friendship ends is the worst.

So Blake and Schofield are walking along, and they find a barn. They happen to find some milk, and are enthusiastically drinking it while a dogfight takes place overhead - and suddenly a German plane comes careening into the barn in flames. The pilot survives, but is on fire and in terrible pain, so the pair pull him free and pat the fire out. Schofield suggests they put the man out of his misery, but Blake protests because the pilot is begging for water, and asks Schofield to get some for him from the pump. And as he does, the injured German pilot - a man who has just been saved from an extremely painful death by two of his enemies who could have killed him on sight or abandoned him to burn - stabs Blake in the stomach.

I could go on about how shocked and devastated I was at Blake’s subsequent slow and painful death from blood loss, and how Schofield is at his side taking care of him until the very end. About how Blake asks him to take the picture of his family out of his pocket, and show it to him, so he can look at them as he dies - about how after he’s dead, Schofield tries to take his body to a field of blossoming trees, because Blake had spoken earlier about how much he loved them, and how his mother taught him how to identify the flowers, but is picked up by another detachment and forced to abandon his friend’s body where it is. That last bit was, to me, the most affecting and sad part of the movie. But beneath it all, I had one thought, and that thought was “this movie had better have some good German representation to make up for that”.

So I waited, patiently, for the movie to let me know that that was just one man - that that did not represent the entire German army. It’s certainly unlikely for the person you save from death to immediately betray you, but not unheard of - perhaps the pilot was particularly nasty, or prideful, or patriotic, motivated by a hatred of the enemy so powerful that he would rather die than be taken prisoner. Certainly a fair share of real-life RFC pilots were possessed of a complete lack of empathy for and a murderous loathing of their German enemies, so it’s just as certain that the inverse was true. All the movie had to do in turn was show that a German soldier could be just as capable of kindness as poor Blake, or show that a British soldier could be just as heartless as the pilot. And when Schofield later runs into a German soldier - one so babyfaced he looks even younger than himself - and spares his life in exchange for keeping his presence a secret, the opportunity to humanize a German soldier by showing him frightened, and grateful, and letting him go, seems like a total given. Easy and inevitable for an anti-war film, right?

Wrong. The guy betrays him and rats him out immediately. And is killed by Schofield for his trouble. Because German soldiers, God forbid, can’t act like the terrified children they were, crying or vomiting or hesitating or begging for their lives like in 2022’s All Quiet - no, the only emotion burning in their breasts is passion for the Fatherland. (I haven’t seen German characterization this bad in my current WWI catalog outside of the Biggles movie. Do you seriously want the bar to be the Biggles movie?) Never mind that Schofield, an already-bitter character who just watched his friend die by sparing a German soldier, is somewhat unlikely to have even done this in the first place. We can’t show the hero doing something cruel - just like we can’t show him being racist toward the Sikh soldier in the van, or ragging on the Germans like the other white soldiers in the same. No, Schofield, the traumatized, cynical soldier surrounded by death - he must stay kind, and faultless, and pure in the face of that nasty Boche horde. Christ alive. I am mad at this movie.

Like, the war’s over, dude. It’s been over for a hundred years. Do you really still think that all Germans are evil? Is that propaganda poster of the gorilla with the Pickelhaube framed above your bed? Sure, yeah, there’s a brief scene where the leads traverse an old German bunker and find a photo of a soldier’s kids, but that’s not exactly enough of a balance to pat yourself on the back for giving your movie some Big Boy Nuance. That gorilla with the Pickelhaube probably had kids, too. Pickelhaube gorilla kids. I’m drifting from the point.

The point here is that showing Germans have kids they love is not enough, because you have shown that while our British heroes are capable of compassion for the other side of the war, the Germans are in possession of no such thing. Not only are they never shown being empathetic to the enemy, but every bit of empathy they receive from the enemy is repaid with violence, betrayal, and hatred. The British? They love everyone! The Germans? They loathe everyone save for their own! Sounds a bit like the creators mixed up their world wars in terms of ideology, eh? Not that that would have even been true of the average foot soldier in Nazi Germany, because of the apparently radical notion that Germans are human, but the application of this to a war that didn’t even have one Nazi in it only makes it even more infuriating and absurd.

On the subject of Nazis, not even the twist of the traitorous spared German is original to this movie. The same exact bullshit happens in Saving Private Ryan, where (spoiler alert) a German soldier in WWII spared from a cruel and unethical death by the compassion of a kindhearted poet “repays” his kindness by murdering his Jewish comrade later in the movie. And what do both of these movies convey as a result? Certainly not an anti-war message, for an anti-war message proves that war is needless and futile. How can your movie show war is needless, when Germans are depicted as ontologically evil - when kindness toward them is depicted as a flaw and a weakness? No amount of gore and sadness will fix that leak, because all you’ve told us now is that war is terrible, but completely necessary. That it’s just the awful burden our Good Righteous HeroesTM must bear to fight off the forces of evil. You know, Kantorek-from-All-Quiet shit. Do you really want to be spouting Kantorek-from-All-Quiet shit? Of course you don’t.

But do you not want to because of his ideology? Or do you just not want to because he’s German?

I wonder.

(P. S. This isn’t directly related to the movie, but it’s mentioned in the reception section on Wikipedia that this movie is historically inaccurate because it features some black British soldiers mixed in with all the rest - a demographic claimed to have been “negligible”. Now, I’m not a historian, but given that there was more than one black officer in the British military during the war (including a known former cricketer and an RFC pilot, among others), I think it’s probable that the section was full of shit. No documentation in the British Army existed on whether or not any given enlisted soldier was black, so there are no exact numbers to prove anything one way or another, but the existing handful of officers suggests the portion of black enlisted men was likely much higher than that. There may not have been a lot of black British soldiers in WWI, but there’s absolutely no way there were none at all. So like, good on 1917 for having black soldiers, at least. Wish they were in a less frustrating film.) (P. P. S. If you want to see a piece of Allied media do in a paragraph what this movie couldn’t do vis-a-vis Germans in a two-hour-plus runtime, I recommend playing the game Over the Top on the Canadian War Museum website. Yes, really. Check it out. It’s free, it’s not that long, and it’s worth it. The Dawn Patrol movies do a good job of humanizing Germans, too, and go out of their way to do so when they didn’t need to to serve the plot - and those were only made two decades or less after the actual war. If they could do it, why couldn’t 1917? Embarrassing.)

Edit: Having now watched Grand Illusion, I am even more mad at 1917. Grand Illusion, aside from the many other ways it humanizes both sides excellently (and doesn't shy away from flaws, either), has a section involving two French escaped prisoners being given shelter by a German war widow and her young daughter, and they spend a brief amount of time getting to be a sort of makeshift family despite it all. It brings to mind the only major plot detail of 1917 that I didn't mention in this review - Schofield encountering a frightened young woman and a baby while traveling through the burned-out shell of what he thought was an abandoned village. Upon seeing her, I remember thinking "Oh, thank God. A hiding German woman. This movie finally remembered Germans are in possession of souls. Perhaps, together, they can share some scrap of kindness, even as the war rages around them."

Nah. She's French. The baby isn't hers, either - she just found the baby and is looking after it. Because you know how the Jerries are - razing villages and endangering innocent women and children! It's just what they do! Never mind that Grand Illusion - which, like the aforementioned Dawn Patrol movies, also came out around twenty years after the First World War and right on the cusp of the Second - could acknowledge mutual humanity. That's just what the Germans want you to think.

Second edit: Apologies to come back to this, but truly the more WWI media I encounter, the more frustrated at 1917 I get. Journey's End, a play written by a WWI veteran that premiered in 1928, has nothing but sympathy for the German soldiers in the same miserable plight as the British ones. The final scene of Paths of Glory shows how the brutality of war has horrific effects on German civilians. Even Lawrence of Arabia, which decidedly does not show the Ottomans in a good light, portrays the real-life mistreatment and slaughter of Ottoman soldiers, prisoners, and civilians out of vengeance as a terrible thing. All of these were written around 50-90 years before 1917, and are capable of understanding that the enemy consists of complex human beings. Yet here comes 1917 in 2019, pushing rhetoric more in line with warmongers than those who suffered it.

[alienglowgarden]

not gonna finish that fic, so instead I'll just ramble abt it to myself

First thing I'll say is, damn longform stories are hard to write. I've really only roleplayed and written nanofiction, drabbles n the like( n one short story but its full of experimental prose so its pretty nonsequential stuff too) so the very basic act of stringing a bunch of events together and giving each enough attention was kind of a struggle. Plus I wanna start a philosophical tangent based on like every other paragraph y_y It went better than my first attempt at fic, but even this in retrospect is probably pretty bad, esp with the lack of response from anyone beyond a "well this convoluted sentence was kind of funny". Tho I'll say I still feel fairly confident in the first chapter v_v It was GOOD, OK??? Could ofc be flippant and blame it on the fact that its not shipping or smut n that thats all fandom cares about, but-

Next up, excerpts from the fic that I, PERSONALLY thought were super funny and great bits in general.

I thought I was SO clever for the customer service voice comparison. A real phenomena that affects millions of sufferers every day.

n honestly this whole paragraph right after I thought sounded like a delightful little montage. And its a sweet thought that Sol's wasting their rations on Sym just to include him in the ritual and to prolong the whole "playing house" bit. Similarly later on when Sol prattles on abt cooking up something special next time, again, even tho Sym doesn't really need to eat. He's noted by Dys to like sweets, but even when you give him a cake he just tastes the icing a bit n is like "well that was nice :-)"

I WAS BOILING IN MY SKIN I THOUGHT I WAS BEING SOOOOO FUNNY UGH AND NOBODY EVEN MENTIONED IT!!!! COME ONNN!!! Similarly Sol having trouble focusing on the english, needing subtitles cus they grew up on esperanto I thought was nice attention to detail from me.

Also I compared Seeq to Blackadder, where is my comedy emmy

this wouldve had a nice callback in the last chapter, of Sol similarly finding themself experiencing something totally new and unique, totally outside of the timeloops scope.

I also liked my little Sol & the Embrace Eternity ending during Syms death hiatus bit, that was something I had written as just a teensy drabble idea before the fic. Also liked injecting a slight divergence from known canon with Geranium believing Sols future vision. Wouldve later been called up again with both of them fussing over Flulu a lot n Ger kinda feeling like shit when/if Sol gets involuntarily operated upon.

Onto chapter 2:

Ok the sugarbug thing was really all I had going for it, I was gonna wax poetic abt Vace n Sols relationship more, but depended far too much on getting any positive feedback n motivation to keep going lol v_v Theres a lot you could weave together about their mutual self-inflicted need to be a hero, even at the cost of their own suffering, their own dreams. Of feeling alienated from others for seemingly knowing more, seeing the big picture. N similarly (my) Sol has a bit of that same bravado that masks the unseemly parts of them, the reasons that would make others worry if they knew Sol wasn't just messing around, that their achievements weren't just happy accidents, but things they'd meticulously planned for, sacrificed for.

But anyway the surgabug thread was meant to be a sign of the Gardeners still holding onto their feelings of both resentment and love for their creators. Just a single facet, there would be more, but the most obvious thread once Sol learns to spot it.

Noctilucent is just fun to write for :3 "Little weed" would also with time become a more affectionate nickname for Sol.

Once again, I THOUGHT I WAS SO FUNNY FOR THIS. Why is my genous so underappreciated.

...and again, the care all Gardeners share for their planet, for the garden their creators left them, largely explored through Noctilucent, for whom that would seem most unlikely, who would surprise the reader most. In future chapters, there would have been more scenes.

Most notably, Noct finds Sol after a devastating accident that leaves them with a concussion(possibly self inflicted in an attempt to reconnect those wormhole synapses in their brain again). Sol tries to blubber something about a deal the gardeners wont be able to resist. They realize Noct has taken measures to care for their wounds. Eventually, the agreement is struck. More lenience is extended. Noct hidden relationship meter goes a little bit up again.

The end would mark a secret place Noctilucent takes Sol, the New Experience they share in confidence, a new facet of understanding the puzzle and Sol's own place in it.

ok yea its referencing that rio romero song lmao. Sol feeling a spooky ooky similarity of their own fates within the timeloop to that of the sugarbug, as utilised by their own colony. A replenishable resource; no regard for its wellbeing. Or probably more likely seeing the danger of becoming that, by their own hand, permitting their life to be consumed by the colony's survival.

[ao3feed-kiribaku]

(Д)彡

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/is4CASP by Miserable Vanilla-Shortbread Helmet (Midoriko_sama) Denki Kaminari absolutely loves his friends. He really, really does, and he has demonstrated again and again that 'he would die for them' isn't just words. Still, what he loves the most is pranking said friends, ESPECIALLY if it leads to him running away with explosions hot on his heels. After the party to salute their second year and usher in their third year, with everyone nursing a killer hangover since Todoroki is a closet delinquent who spikes the punch, it seemed like a perfect time to pull one over his favourite blasty. But this time. This time. He may have gone a taaaaad too far. ‘No way, you don’t remember?’ Kaminari said again, cackling like an old hag. … ‘You asked Kirishima to be your boyfriend last night,’ Kaminari went on. Bakugou stiffened, and his stomach made an impressive backflip; his intestine clapped. ‘And he said yes. Poor Kirishima, you’re going to break his heart if you forgot already!’ With art in every chapter by the lovely, talented Aly the Kitten! Words: 3290, Chapters: 1/6, Language: English Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M, Multi Characters: Class 1-A (My Hero Academia) Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou Additional Tags: Minor pairings - Freeform, Minor Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako, Minor Sero Hanta/Todoroki Shouto, Minor Aoyama Yuuga/Tokoyami Fumikage, one-sided (or maybe not) Denki Kaminari/Jirou Kyouka, Crack Treated Seriously, A tiny bit of sadness, British Humour, No seriously this is Blackadder grade humour I'm not even sorry, the sadness goes away I promise, Angst with a Happy Ending, Horny Teenagers, Bi awakening, Demi awakening, Some trousers have been harmed in the making of this fic, they are horny your honour, Just look at that title guys we all know this one is not going to be a serious epic for the ages read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/is4CASP

[obscureother]

🌑

f/os are the ones i pretend exist even tho they dont. fictional crushes are ones i dont pretend exist but know theyre favorites or could be f/os if given more attention or felt stronger for them.

○ once more, i dont mind sharing f/os. if you dont like sharing, then i wont talk about them with you so you can be comfy or you dont have to interact, thats ok too. ○ there are tags you can block for f/os. if you dont like to share or dont like the f/o themselves, you can block them through "🌑 obscure f/o: 🔲" but 🔲 = the f/o's emoji. the f/o's emojis can be found for the f/o of the list below or on their f/o file thing. it doesnt offend me if you dont want to see the f/o or their content.

‡ f/o may have special tag, check their f/o file for that. ○ most f/os are romantic, but not all of them. tags for the relationship will be the mini emojis beside them: ☄ platonic/queerplatonic ❔ not certain 🌑 familial no emoji: romantic. there's too many for the emoji lolol.

. 🌑 .

to the f/o list:

Main F/Os:

Gerik 🥔 (Phantom of the Opera 2004)

Dracula 🦇 (Bela Lugosi one, 1931)

The Headless Horseman (There's two: Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow 💀 and Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 🎃)

Freddy Krueger 🥓 (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

Smiley ⛓ (The Adventures of Ford Fairlane)

Inkubus 🖤 (Inkubus)

○ there's a lot of f/os that are robert englund. so sorry lolol. i dont know what it is with that man. lord help them for living together for my sake. ○ they're the rob squad, tho.

○ There also is a forming richard dawson group lol oops. sorry gang. theyre too cute too.

Secondary F/Os:

Count von Count 🦇💜☄ (comfort f/o, please dont be weird or mean about him!!) (Sesame Street)

⚫

🥞 (f/os of only emojis will be explained later on.)

Jason Voorhees 🏒☄ (Friday the 13th)

Data ⭐☄ (Star Trek: TNG)

Corporal Newkirk ✈ (Hogan's Heroes)

Joey 🪦 (Munster, Go Home!)

Rodger 🎩 (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In)

Blackadder iii 🐍‡ (Blackadder)

○ f/os that "ghost" are where they're not developed or im not sure if theyre developing to be an f/o but they're kind of showing up or could be an f/o?? ○ "The Processor" is the hole in the back of my brain that seems to subconsciously develop f/os when they occur. dont ask me how it works, i just know its there and it seems to do it when i fixate on something enough for good. if they're "in the Processor," they're developing or getting unwonkied for some reason.

Secret F/Os:

Those f/os that are either not posted of or only known to exist as emojis are most likely secret f/os. those are f/os that could be kept from posting for reasons, those i dont know for sure are f/os yet but are something going on, or other things. they could be in comments somewhere, only for tags, or other things, depends on the f/o or the development/reason for them. f/os of only emojis could disappear over time or only be on occasion through things going on.

Current number of secret f/os of last edited: 7 or so. .

[paulgadzikowski]

my earlier reblog's tags

prev's tags

I was on the verge of doing almost that when Scream of the Shalka came along. The half-human-on-my-mother's-side Doctor had been the current Doctor for only ninety minutes but for seven years, though broken up for three years in my fanfiction/fancomics at the opportunity afforded by the blackadder Doctor. I was ready to invent an incarnation if I had to because the regeneration schtick has always been one of my favorite things about the character. I was imagining the Doctor played by David Warner, tall and skinny and wearing a suit of banana yellow.

In the Hero of Three Faces pre-2014 continuity this incarnation actually appears in one frame of an animated panel of a strip set in the Time War when the Doctor is cycling through possible selves during a risky TARDIS maneuver, ultimately to convert himself from the shalka Doctor to the war Doctor:

It was the closest I've ever come to bringing an OC Doctor incarnation into my internet fancomics. But, though this cartoon is set during the Time War, it was around 2003 that I was considering the banana Doctor; and then I was handed an "official" incarnation in the BBCi shalka Doctor, who was then usurped in officialness by the BBC ears Doctor.

All of which is to say, it could happen.

i dont think id mind if dr who ever got cancelled again i think wilderness years part 2 would be fun

[nevesmose]

How about a little trip back in time into a very different fandom?

I lost most of my pre-2016 fanfic when I nuked my Deviantart account a few years back. Don't worry, you aren't missing much except for the one 40K story I actually remember which will be on an old laptop somewhere.

And, as it turns out, this lone survivor hidden away on fanfiction.net for some reason. Posted all the way back in September 2015 and dated as such on ao3 as well because that's the Moral and Upright thing to do 😤

It's an ATLA parody of George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman series - one of the major influences on the Ciaphas Cain books and very much worth reading even to this day. I personally think Royal Flash and Flashman At The Charge are the best ones but they're all very good at having an utterly reprehensible protagonist and still somehow making you care about him.

In 40K terms he's a much less pleasant Cain with no Jurgen equivalent since he was stolen from Blackadder instead. But, like I said, GMF almost always manages to walk the tightrope of making him entertaining even so.

Anyway, there I was almost a decade ago watching The Beach episode of Avatar and I suddenly thought that this dude had all the makings of ATLA's very own utterly undeserving Hero of the Fire Nation.

If memory serves I had a whole cast of supporting characters planned and a general storyline sketched out before real life started kicking my ass. Maybe it'll come back to me someday, who knows?

[totallycorrectlovquotes]

Twice, looking at map: It really is a featureless, barren wasteland out there, isn’t it?

Toga: … Other side, Twice.

[txttletale]

if you like roleplaying games but wish you could play as a dipshit feudal failson instead of a hero and spend all session elaborately one-upping your friends with dumb convoluted bullshit instead of working together, you should get my ttrpg most trusted advisors, which is on sale until the 28th! if you enjoy paranoia, blackadder, always sunny, or any combination of the three, you'll have a good time getting your friends together for some bullshit pseudo-medieval fun with this one.

[peter-newkirks-smolder]

Thanks for the tag @anna-pineappel and @spacemanxpaninis

1) What was the last thing you drank?

Hot coffee with hazelnut creamer

2) Where was your profile picture taken?

It’s a screenshot from the Hogan’s Heroes pilot

3) Worst pain ever?

Two times I’ve experienced pain like no other

1. I threw my back out when I was 25 at an old job. The pain was so severe that I could not walk.

2. Drinking milk turns into pain that I can only describe as false labor(or what I’d imagine labor to feel like)

4) Favourite place you’ve ever traveled?

I haven’t travelled as much as I’d like, but the part of Florida I go to/used to go to will always be special to me. Before the hurricane in 2022 it was very much still old(50’s-70’s) Florida

5) How late did you stay up last night?

I remember laying down to sleep around 7am

6) If you could move, where would you move to?

The UK, probably one of those still small villages/towns in central/northern England

7) What do you collect?

Bird sightings. I’m out to see every bird I can in my lifetime

(Also dog/wolf stuffies and photos of Dawson)

8) Favourite day of the week?

Don’t really have one. Whichever day is the coolest temperature and the quietest

9) Amusement park or concert?

Do renaissance faires count??? Other than that definitely concerts

10) When was the last time you cried?

As of typing this, 4.5 hours ago

11) Who took your profile picture?

Whoever filmed the pilot of Hogan’s Heroes

12) Who’s the last person you took a picture of?

For Humans- Myself

Other than humans- my dog, Buddy

13) What’s your favourite season?

Spring and Fall

14) If you could have any other career?

One of those obsolete professions of being like an artist payed handsomely by some rich bloke(renaissance style)

15) Who’s your celebrity crush?

Richard Dawson ❤️

16) Are you a good influence?

I try to be

17) Does pineapple belong on pizza?

It’s not my thing but if you like it go for it

18) You have the remote, what are you watching?

Hogan’s Heroes, Match Game, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, The Last of the Summer Wine, Are You Being Served, Avatar the Last Airbender, Blackadder

Tagging @obscureother @cartersfelix @jumicocrimson @ghosthorse-tracks @lostseadreamer @all-right-then-bucko @rose-of-pollux and whoever else would like to do this

Literally zero pressure to do this

Tagged by the WONDERFUL @nostalgic90s - coincidentally I was literally just thinking about you last night lol

1. What was the last thing you drank?

Chocolate peanut butter and banana smoothie ✌️

2. Where was your profile picture taken?

…… furaffinity???

3. Worst pain ever?

Migraines, I’m always baffled by my coworkers who say they can work through them - like bestie how are you even standing right now

4. Favorite place you've ever traveled?

Bold of you to assume I’ve traveled. I guess the place I went to college? It was in the middle of nowhere, we had one bus that took us to the nearest city and one bus that went in a circle around town. Also we had cows, pigs, goats, sheep and horses. Sometimes when you weee on the bus you could see deer just wandering through peoples yards. Easily the best place I’ve ever stayed long term.

5. How late did you stay up last night?

Uhhhh fuck if I know lmao I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 3am

6. If you could move, where would you move to?

Preferably somewhere rural with lots of folklore around it - like Ireland or the Appalachians

7. What do you collect?

Oh boy that is a LOADED question lmao

I guess my biggest collection is dolls - mostly Little Apple Dolls, though I have a few Franklin Mint Marilyn Monroe porcelain dolls and I’d love to get more of those some day. I have my fantasy reborns, which I would also like more of <3. I have some clown dolls and BJDs. I’d love some of the anthropomorphic Betty Jane Carter dolls, I think those are ADORABLE. I also have a hentai figurine but idk if she counts lol

On the smaller end, I collect a lot of Lilo and Stitch and Lion king stuff - extra points if it’s from Lion King 2 because that one is my absolute favorite. I collect a lot of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, and I collect vintage porn and pinups. Oh, and music boxes, I love music boxes.

8. Favorite day of the week?

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday - hear me out on that lmao. Sunday and Monday are my days off - I usually use Sunday to run errands and volunteer at a horse rescue every other weekend, Monday I usually spend cleaning, taking care of my plants and bugs, or just giving myself a day to do nothing for once except lay on the couch and watch TV. Tuesday is when I go back to work - but it’s also the one day a week I get to work with two of my favorite coworkers, and unless something goes HORRIBLY wrong with the scheduling, we usually have a blast. Like last Tuesday I came into work and one of my coworkers was playing Kesha. You KNOW it’s gonna be a good day when the DJ for the day is playing Kesha 😩😩

9. Amusement park or concert?

Depends on the concert and the amusement park. I’ve always wanted to go to an amusement park for a date with a nice butch who wins me tons of prizes at the game stands <3

But if I’m going alone than I’m gonna say concert lol

10. When was the last time you cried?

I don’t remember and I’d like to keep it that way ✌️

Probably not that long ago but I’m not gonna kill my morning drudging up miserable shit from the past if I’ve already forgotten about it lol

11. Who took your profile picture?

Oh shit I just realized I never put artist credit in my bio, fuck me lmao

Anyway my icon is by Kitchiki on FA, I absolutely love her work <3

12. Who's the last person you took a picture of?

One of the performers at the burlesque fetish ball I went to last Saturday, her performance was just her getting a live corset piercing. My three friends at the show were quite squeamish about it, I…. Was not lmao

13. What's your favorite season?

Spring or summer - I love the trees and green grass and flowers and sunshine, plus seeing all the baby animals down at the pond near my job. Also my wardrobe is like 99% spring and summer clothes lol

Although winter is growing on me lately, I’ve found that my tolerance for cold has gone up significantly this past year 🤔

14. If you could have any other career?

I’m literally debating quitting my job as we speak in favor of becoming a typist, solely for the financial stability. So, maybe not the best time for me to answer this question lol

15. Who's your celebrity crush?

I don’t really have celebrity crushes, more as I have like…. A select amount of female celebrities I find very pretty but more in the sense that I want to look like them. Oh and Dolly Parton - she’s not a crush or someone I want to look like, she is simply Mother™️

16. Are you a good influence?

Depends on who’s asking I guess 🤷‍♀️

17. Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Pizza is not a food I care enough about to really care what toppings other people put on it

18. You have the remote, what are you watching?

Either venture bros or invincible season 3 episode 8

Aaaaand ngl I’m skipping the very last question cause I think it’s stupid

But I will tag @radioactivesourdough @airconditionedgirl @last-knight-who-was @b-rainlet @guroboyfriend @wandering-wolf23 @thotsyndrome @jervis-tetch-my-beloved @syggwolf @spasmolytic-convulsion @evilaroships @princesstokyom @solaceinabandonment

[hoekaashi]

Karminari: Started talking to yourself, Bakugou?

Bakugou: Yes, it's the only way I can be sure of an intelligent conversation around here.

[mywitchcultblr]

I just remember DashingFrost ship and how much I LOVE this ship. Oh my god, I love Fandral very much because he fullfil the 'dashing hero with glorious mustache and interesting personality that will steal your man, woman, partner and your money in seconds' requirements

Fandral is kinda like Arsene Lupin? Robin hood? That womanizer guy from Blackadder? A much more vain and theatrical Francois ( rebel mage inquisitor)? De Sardet but even more extra?

I MEAN LOOK AT HIM! HE SHOULD BE WILLAS TYRELL!

Fandral you are such a gender envy! Give me your face! gender and mustache!

[neil-neil-orange-peel]

Flasheart! (Either or both versions)

Oooh, good choice!

Sexuality headcanon ~ Flash loves the ladies, we can't deny that. 😂 I don't personally think either Flash is interested in men, although I'd say Elizabethan Flash is the more likely of the two to be up for sleeping with one. A Flashheart from a series set in more modern times could possibly be gay/bi/pan, I just think the two canon iterations are pretty straight.

OTP ~ Bob. Though Flash is basically history's biggest hoe, clearly there is something that keeps bringing him and Bob together.

BrOTP ~ He's quite a solitary figure, really. For Elizabethan Flash I'd say Blackadder, but only up until he whisked away his bride. 😂 The Red Baron would like to think he and WW1 Flash have something - more than something - but that was one sided.

NOTP ~ He and Blackadder feels so unlikely and unnatural that I guess I'll go with that. They are black and white - literally, if you go by their clothes in s2. That said, if anyone wrote a fic trying to make a go of it I'd be thoroughly intrigued.

First headcanon that pops into my head ~ Apart from my continuing mission to connect all the Riks (WW1 Flash would be a distant ancestor and Elizabethan Flash an even more distant one), I absolutely believe that all Flashhearts are descended from Mad Gerald. I mean, that might actually just be canon, but still.

Favourite line from this character ~ I'll go with: "Am I pleased to see you or did I just put a canoe in my pocket? Down, boy, down!"

One way in which I relate to this character ~ Pffft! 😂 I don't think Lord Flashheart and I are very similar, I just find him funny.

Thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character ~ The thing about Flash is, he's supposed to be outrageous. Everything he says is meant to shock you in some way. He's forward, over the top, insulting, rude, egotistical, crass, sexist, insensitive, sexual with minimal provocation... All the kinds of things you'd hate in a real person. But he's not real, he's a massive exaggeration. And we all still love him. So, yeah, I suppose some of WW1 Flash's comments in particular are cringeworthy from a modern perspective, but that's kinda the point and the narrative knows this.

Cinnamon roll or problematic fave? ~ The Mayall answer to the swashbuckling hero trope? He probably lands closer to problematic fave than cinnamon roll. 😂

Thanks for the ask!

[sunlitroom]

 @rhavewellyarnbag kindly tagged me to list my favourite characters from ten different fandoms and to tag ten people.  Thank-you.  I’m not entirely sure that I have ten fandoms, but I’ll keep going until I run out.

1. Gotham.  Oswald Cobblepot.  

I’m hardly alone in this.  Oswald is very much the character of Gotham season one.  He’s vulnerable, soft at times, but he’s violent and dangerous.  He’s loving, and capable of great generosity, but he can be cold and greedy+.  He schemes and dares and risk with wild abandon.  Oswald in season one may be a step ahead of everyone else, but he’s one misstep from winding up dead.

Oswald is an Other.  His foreignness is emphasised by his jangling East European musical motif, and his mother’s accent, and differently spelled name.  He’s physically different.  He’s slight and short among the big broad mafia guys.  His vulnerability in a physical context is underlined by his limp.  His manners can be old-fashioned, wandering into fussy (he quickly stands up at his table when Jim comes to the club).  His sexuality is other - we see, incredibly early in season one, that he desires and has feelings for Jim.  His methods and style are typically feminine: although he is capable of physical violence, he’s more likely to scheme.  The poisoning we see in season one is usually a feminine murder trope.  We know - even before we meet him - that he was an outsider: his mother’s reference to bullies, his desperation to make friends, his visceral rage when the two guys who give him a lift mock him.

Aside from all that - he’s a fully-realised person.  He longs and bleeds and hurts and fumes and boasts.  He makes mistakes.  He gets tired.  He gets lonely.  He has regrets.  He can be ridiculous, and he can be noble.  

I’ll argue that the writing in later seasons becomes very lazy and Flanderising - but the good solid foundations of season one hold true

2. Hannibal. Frederick Chilton

Frederick is a bright spot of very human ridiculousness.  He’s hardly unsuccessful - he’s head of the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane - but he’s insecure and chronically aware of his own inadequacies.  He’s vain and silly and inadvertently hilarious.

For all that, though, Frederick is good-hearted.  When Francis has him captive, and threatens to kill Reba if he makes a sound, Frederick stays silent - even though it’s probably his last best chance to avoid a horrible fate.  His actions were in stark contrast against our ‘heroic’ characters, who had knowingly used him as bait, despite the risk.  

Frederick deserved better.

3. DS9. Kira Nerys

Arguably one of the most full-realised women in Star Trek.  Kira has a violent past full of trauma.  She owns her identity - even if she’s not proud of everything she’s done.  She has regrets.  She’s fiercely loyal.  She has a deep and abiding faith.  She’s vivacious - she enjoys herself more as time goes on, and truly values her friendships.  She has lovers.  She cares deeply about the future of her home.  She can endure just about anything.  She has a core of deeply-held principles, but she’s capable of change.

4. Smallville. Lex Luthor.

Godamnit - Lex just wants love and connection and he does not get it.  He’s clever and soft and generous and people just take endless advantage.  I really love later fic when he lives in Metropolis and we get lots of detail about his tastes and domestic habits, for some reason.  What colour his pyjamas are?  What he does when he gets a headache?  Yes please - all the details.

5. E.R.  Robert Romano

Romano was one of those characters you get a lot in shows of yore - who is plainly brought in to be a short-term antagonist, turns out to be successful, and then rapidly has his corners knocked off.

Romano is never entirely softened.  He’s difficult, and you sometimes get the sense that he genuinely struggles around people.  He’ll annoy people to amuse himself, and this can be heightened to deliberately repulsing/alienating them in what looks a lot like self-destructive behaviour.  He’s lonely, but he still - sometimes deliberately - fails to connect.

All that said, he’s not a bad person, and has a softer side.  His unrequited love for Elizabeth is probably where it’s most apparent.  He never stops caring about her: even when they’re at odds, not even when he sees her at her worst.  He visibly aches for her - not just sexually - for her, all of her, for some time, for some connection. 

Again - deserved better. Mercifully, there’s fic.

Honourable mentions

I don’t know if I would quite class these as fandoms for me - but they’re characters I’m fond of.

James Norrington, from those Pirates of the Caribbean films that I’ve never really watched.  There is a post somewhere that says Norrington is an Austen hero stuck in a Disney film, and I have to agree.  You keep longing for him to be lifted from the headache-inducing setting and placed somewhere infinitely more congenial.  

Edmund Blackadder - you magnificent bastard.

This is very likely fanon Hux (I’ve never seen the films) - but neurotic, prissy, vain, iron-willed, sarcastic Hux is good fun.

I tag - if they’d like to play: @lalaurelia, @dashokeypokey, @shadow-waterglow-and-atcnm, @ncfan-1, @littlesaintmick, @inappropriatefangirlneeds, @peritwotone, @marywisdom, @delicatelyserved and @marcceh

[my-darling-boy]

hello! i really want to learn more about ww1, i saw 1917 and it sparked something in me and ww1 specifically seems so complex and interesting, but it is has a lotttt of information, do u have any advice for any specific things to read/learn about first? or should i just dive in head first and learn about random stuff?

Good question! Also, I’m REALLY happy 1917 is bringing in a lot of new people wanting to learn more about WWI!

The good news is I find WWI is a subject that naturally allows you to branch out your knowledge no matter where you start. My best tip for learning more about the history: start out with ANY area that interests you, find a fact about it, and see where it takes you! I guarantee you’ll start out just wanting to know a little more about food served in the trenches and by the end of the week, you’ll be chest deep in a million other things you got caught up in learning!

For example, one of the first things that got me interested in WWI was a memoir (which I HIGHLY recommend) by Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth. From there, I researched her brother, Captain Edward Brittain and stumbled upon the story of his death and his homosexuality. It led me to Geoffrey Thurlow, a friend he showed clear evidence of having been in love with, and then the changes in male affection during the 1900s. It led me to learn of the “Edwardian Period” and delve into the social, political, and aesthetic aspects of the era. I started watching WWI films, reading academic articles, buying books, and one piece of information led to the next!

If 1917 is what got you into this, that’s a good sign! Cos I bet you were just as hurt as I was seeing depictions of that tragedy and were moved by that heartbreak! But while you’re learning about uniforms and trench foot and so on, I think a good chunk of time should also be dedicated to understanding why it’s simultaneously important to be critical of the war, and understand more about why people were very critical of it at the time, and the lasting impact it had on soldiers all the way up to young people today because it’s a HUGE theme throughout the conflict. I do a much more eloquent job explaining it in an ask someone sent me about my interest in studying, but like I said, VERY important to understand the extent of its effects and how what happened catalysed the modern lust for violence, and why a lot of mainstream remembrance efforts today end up exploiting this tragedy for nationalist-like agendas

I will say, even though it’s not filled with as many Insufferable White Boys as the ones found lurking in WWII forums, it’s war, so you still get your fair share of nationalist, white supremacist, imperialist, pro-war, sexist/misogynist pricks, so please do research with discretion and try to avoid these people (i.e. don’t even look at the comment sections on some websites) and watch out for those boasting about how “honourable” it is for boys to have joined up and died for their country at 15 and that there is something “glorious” to be had in war (because is the biggest lie men have invented for themselves and perpetuate the bs well into the 21st century unfortunately)

Some classic things I recommend reading/watching because they got me started on bits of my own research over time and one of them might be of some interest to you:

Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain (Book)

This true memoir details how the war affected a young British university student and how the tragedies she witnessed led her to become a VAD nurse, feminist, and pacifist. If you are a more visual learner, it was made into a beautifully shot 2014 film (obviously with some inaccuracies and omitted details) and a more in depth BBC miniseries available for free on YouTube. You may also enjoy the books “Letters From a Lost Generation”, “Because You Died”, and “Vera Brittain and the First World War” which give even more information about the Brittains and the war written by the family’s historian

The Christmas Truce commercial everyone still cries over (video)

It’s a couple minutes long, perfectly sums up what draws me to keep studying the war and my love for learning about the unique changes in human connection during the war

All Quiet in the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (Book)

Another classic example of anti-war literature a lot of people start out by reading from a German perspective. You can also watch the 1930 film adaptation of the book if you would like a visual (even if it has American actors)

They Shall Not Grow Old (Film)

AMAZING first hand accounts and original newly remastered footage from the First World War. It’s arguably neautral in its stance on various factors on the war, but it does a tremendous job showing what life was like at the front and giving voices to the soldiers that lived through it to share their stories.

Oh What a Lovely War! (Film)

Another solid (and entertaining) example of media showing high criticism for the war. This film was revolutionary for its time after roughly 50 years of societal silence about the consequences and negative impacts of WWI. It is incredibly condescending and an absolute anti-war gem

Great War Tommy: the British Soldier 1914-18 (Book)

If you’re a visual learner like me and want information about the kit of a British soldier and drill among other kit care details with LOTS of photos, this a GREAT book

British Uniforms and Equipment of the First World War (Book)

Like the above but has a VERY extensive library of photos for uniforms and equipment, and even shows niche patches and what some uniforms look like inside-out! It’s available for download through MLRS Books online

Valiant Hearts (Game)

From the French perspective. Very heartbreaking game about a French soldier produced in a very unique art style and has a wonderful soundtrack. Great if you like causal, story rich games

11:11 Memories Retold (Game)

This very artistic, stylised game tells the story of a Canadian photographer hired to take photos during the war as well as a German soldier looking for his son at the front. Again, superb soundtrack, and excellent if you love causal, story rich games

Shepard’s War, by James Campbell (Book)

A lovely compilation of original artwork and biographical details about E. H. Shepard during his time as an officer in WWI. If you don’t know, Shepard is the illustrator for Winnie the Pooh! Very intriguing to see his depictions of WWI soldiers as someone who was responsible for a childhood classic

Journey’s End, by R. C. Sherriff (Play)

This play tells the story of a trio of British officers on the frontline and how the effects of shellshock has greatly impacted one of the main characters. It was also made into a film in 2018 staring Asa Butterfield, Sam Claflin, and Paul Bettany

Not About Heroes, by Stephen MacDonald (Play)

A play which tells about the gay friendship between wartime poets and officers Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen

Blackadder: Blackadder Goes Forth (Show)

You might have grown up watching reruns of this show already, but in case you haven’t, it’s the fourth series of the BBC historical comedy show Blackadder and is about as condescending as Oh What a Lovely War, but much less Heavy, aside from the last episode that is. I’ve learned it’s kind of a staple in references made by some reenactment groups :P

YouTube also has TONS of WWI documentaries from every subject under the sun, ranging anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours. Obviously it will be a little harder to tell if the information given is without bias, misinformation, or has questionable undertones, but it’s usually a good way to teach yourself how to always be critical of any information you take in, and also a low-maitence way to keep learning. I find it’s nice to keep a balance between informative non-fiction and historical fiction when doing WWI research to keep variation in my study and also to test my ability to tell apart inaccuracies, or just to take a break from the crushing reality of it all!

In conclusion, the answer is jump right in! You’ll learn the ins and outs of WWI research as you go along! The more you learn, the more you’ll get the hang of it!

Happy researching!