#its like a sitcom adventure or something

[cosmicguts]

Finally finished streamlining my furry ocs from 15 years ago!

A dysfunctional trio that stems from a kidnapping ordered by Baron and Ivory's higher ups, just to get themselves in a heap of shenanigans and Nami finds out she's a rather special and powerful cat!

Below are the full refs!

Baron, a hyena who tries to portray himself as tough and superior to try keep himself and his childhood best friend Ivory safe. Trying to shoulder the responsibility for both of them, the two end up disagreeing and bickering a lot- even on the job.

Nami! A young cat who tries to be positive as she searches for a place to call her home! She nas no idea why she's getting kidnapped, but she's learning that she may not be as normal as she thought she was.

Ivory, a Swiss Shepherd with a high-strung attitude who doesn't have the patience for bullshit, which should have made her a great fit to be the partner in crime of her childhood friend. Too bad they always end up bickering, even when in charge of kidnapping a girl called Nami.

[necrotic-nephilim]

@sasheneskywalker i love when you enable me to ramble about things because oh my god do i have thoughts.

so recently, i made a post discussing the phenomena of DC x DP and DC x MLB crossovers and why they exist and part of that post was discussing how largely speaking, at least half, if not more of the Batfamily fandom doesn't read the comics. if they interact with canon DC material, it's adaptations that are their own sequestered universes and oftentimes not remotely comic accurate or seeking to be. the most obvious example is the Young Justice cartoon. i'm adding a cut to this post because it just got so long i'm so sorry.

a lot of times, when people are discussing the "why" of this oversaturation of fanon-only fandom, they blame Wayne Family Adventures. and i think, to a point, i agree WFA is responsible for a boom in this fandom. but as someone who's been in the fandom long before we had WFA, to me it's the other way around. WFA was DC's way of meeting the demand for this easy-to-get-into, easy-to-consume content about the Batfamily that predicates itself on the comics just enough to be vaguely the same characters, but has a more sitcom, slice-of-life sort of vibe so DC could profit off of this section of the fanbase that otherwise wasn't consuming its primary material. and well, it's definitely worked. not only that, but i have a weird theory that the decline in the MCU also led to the rise in the Batfamily fandom. when you consider the fan content that made the MCU popular within fandom, it's that 2012 "they all live in Avengers Tower and Thor is eating poptarts and Clint is in the vents and there are movie nights every Friday" sort of vibe. those were the fics that were a hallmark of the fandom. and as the MCU has strayed from well... quality content in general, but specifically well-thought-out crossover content where characters can have their own arcs but also exist in a wider story where they clearly care about each other, that fandom was sort of homeless. so where do you go, if you like a superhero found family where you can have villains for angst but also stick them all in one big family-like home for silly crack and have a plethora of options for gay ships? well. you go to the Batfamily. if you write a crack/fluff Batfamily genfic with silly vibes and low stakes instead of say, a fic about a very specific comic issue even if it's a popular comic, you're *going* to get more traction for the former. because the fanbase largely just isn't reading the comics.

and i feel... complicated about this. because on one hand, Don't Like Don't Read has been a tenet of my fandom experience. i'm very pro-fandom and that includes fandom content i don't like. and to an extent, i do think this sort of should apply to Batfamily fanon. i enjoy having my moments with other comic purists, giggling over exceptionally painful OOC headcanons or even facepalming in pain over some content but it is on me to not interact with that content. you don't make fandom a better place by being hostile to fans who engage with canon in ways you don't approve of. and frankly? we as comic readers are not going to get non-comic fans to read the comics by being asshats to them. no one is going to want to pick up any comic if we get a superiority complex about it. and also, i feel like we're all lying to ourselves a little bit insisting comics are so, so easy to get into. they're not. we can just all agree, they're really not. i've been single-handedly helping my sister get into comics, specifically Wonder Woman and no matter how simple i make it, i watch her get frustrated trying to understand what pre-Crisis and post-Crisis and New-52 and Flashpoint and all these things mean and what a retcon vs a reboot is and what a Crisis Event is and what the hell Diana's current backstory even *is*. sure, you can give someone a beginner list of comics to start with and slowly dip their toes in the water but sooner or later, *something* is going to confuse them. comics as a medium straight up aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea. and if someone *just* wants to read silly fluffy fanfiction about the Batfamily, i can't entirely begrudge them for not wanting to take the hours and hours out of their day to understand this medium. it's not an accessible medium to get into. "read this and this, but this run is out of print and this run wasn't collected in trades at all but also make sure you read that event in order and this is a good comic but the backstory in it is retconned and you *have* to read this it's so important but it's also really bad because the author kind of sucks" sounds. ridiculous for someone who like. just wants to read some stuff about Nightwing. sometimes, we all make reading comics sort of sound like a chore, not a hobby.

so my point is, i do extend some grace to Batfamily fanon for existing. i think my biggest gripe is, as i said in my other post, misuse of tags (if you're not creating content about comics, maybe you don't need the comics fandom tag on Ao3, just the all media types umbrella tag) and my far bigger gripe: when panels are taken out of context to support fanon only headcanons. if i could impart *anything* onto the Batfamily fandom as a comic fan it'd be this: if you haven't *read* the comic, don't spread the panel. if you don't even know what comic it's *from*, don't spread the panel. it's fine to use comic panels to discuss your headcanons, but so often i see someone spreading a comic panel from a comic they haven't read, and when asked where it's from, they can't source it. a silly example that comes to mind is a post going around, taking a panel where Dick, in his internal monologue goes "here comes the sun. do do do do." and the post is claiming it's from him getting buried alive. when that panel comes from Nightwing (1996) #140, and he gets buried alive in Nightwing (1996) #127, two completely different moments frankensteined together. if you're going to not read the comics, that's completely fine, but unless you're sure of the source and the context, panels shouldn't be spread around. i'm sick of this specifically happening to Red Robin (2009), with ppl claiming Tim has totally killed people because he blew up some of Ra's' bases, when those panels within context, make it clear he gave everyone time to escape. and in a later arc in that very comic, Tim grapples with the idea of murdering Captain Boomerang, and *specifically chooses not to*, because he doesn't agree with murder, even against the person who has hurt him the most. if you'd like to write fanfiction where Tim is pro-murder and has done some sketch things, i'm totally on board and would probably like to read it. but there's no need to pretend it's canon from a few panels you saw out of context.

beyond that, i think it's not *entirely* correct to say that fanon is harmless. whenever i see very WFA-positive posts, they often default to the argument that WFA is fun and silly, and comic fans are killjoys for not liking it. which. i think is complicated because the issue is, WFA and fanon don't exist in a vacuum. if you like WFA power to you, i don't think it's the worst thing ever, but i do think it's degrading to these characters because honestly? they feel incompetent in the webtoon. it's one thing if WFA was solely a slice-of-life sort of deal, just having silly episodes where Bruce is taking on a PTA mom or they're all fighting for the last cookie. but when WFA attempts to take on more serious plots with these characters, it *fundamentally* falls flat in understanding them. i get it, Bruce comforting Jason having a panic attack because a noise reminded him of the crowbar felt cute in a microcosm, but i'm so serious when i say that storyline destroyed how like. half of this fandom understands Jason Todd's relationship to his trauma. it doesn't understand how he reacts when he's triggered, what coping mechanisms he seeks out, and how he would handle Bruce comforting him. even if i can believe for a brief moment Jason *would* be triggered by something like that, him running and trying to hide and then getting a hug from Bruce to make it okay is just. painful. WFA needs everything to be wrapped up in a nice, neat little bow. so even when it starts to tackle interesting concepts, it makes them fall flat with its need to be soft, low stakes, hurt/comfort. there was a two-parter episode that dealt with the complicated mutual hatred/jealousy between Tim and Damian that *almost* really interested me because for once, it felt like the webtoon wanted to explore canon messy dynamics. but of course, it had to be fixed with one conversation and a hug. you don't mend the *years* of issues these characters have like that. WFA isn't in character because these characters are hyperbole cartoonified versions of themselves to fit within the medium and be a cute happy family.

because that right there, is the crux of it. the Batfamily fanon seeks to simplify the Batfamily and force them into a nuclear family. there are so many fantastic posts on here discussing how the nuclear family-ification of the Batfam is eroding decades worth of complex histories so i won't go too far into that. but what i will say is that there's this need, in the Batfamily fandom, for the Batfamily to exist as a unit. they are a *family*. (honestly i think calling it the Batfamily is a misnomer and has been for years but we're in too deep now.) they exist to each other first, and any teams or friends they have come secondary to this family unit. you can *specifically* see this demonstrated in what headcanons are becoming popular these days. i have an entire lengthy meta in my drafts about how i *loathe* the "the Batfamily meets the Justice League" genre of fanfic because it makes no *sense*. in order to have this genre of fic exist, you must operate under the assumption that no one in the League, or adjacent to the League, knows the Batfamily exists and are thus utterly shocked to discover Batman has kids. and to make *that* work, you have to strip *every single Batfamily member* of such important dynamics and friendships so you can lock them all in Gotham for their whole lives. Dick can't have the Titans, Tim can't have Young Justice, Duke & Cass can't have the Outsiders, Jason can't have the Outlaws, Damian can't have the Supersons, Babs can't have the Birds of Prey, and so on. because if they had these relationships, they would be known to the League. the Batfamily fandom doesn't care about this, it's just "silly fanfiction", it's not trying to be serious. but how can you say you like Dick Grayson as a character if you don't understand the Titans *are* his family? at some points of his life, moreso than the Batfamily even is. it is constantly repeated to us in most comics with Dick how much the Titans mean to him. he *needs* them to be who he is. the same extends to every other Batfamily member, most of which have been full League members at this point. but in fanon, that doesn't matter. the Batfamily are a sequestered unit first, and all of those side relationships are secondary and easy to toss away, if it makes your fanfic work better.

and because they have to be a unit first, you have these forced relationships that dump years of actual canon material for the sake of making them get along. the Batfamily fandom has its favorites and well. it's no secret it's usually the boys. Jason and Tim by *far* stand out as fandom faves so, their dynamic is a heavily explored one. it does matter that in canon they don't tend to get along and especially don't see each other as family. what matters is that you can push dynamics onto them. and so fanon gets all twisted up about which Robin Tim actually idolized as a kid (Dick) and what member of the Batfamily is pro-murder but still an older sibling figure to him and looks out for him (Helena, or if you want the dynamic of once tried to harm Tim but they've reconciled, Jean-Paul) in favor of who's the most popular. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian are always going to be the standouts for popularity, but it's specifically Jason and Tim who are getting fanonized the most. and that's because really, we don't have much canon content of Tim that *isn't* the comics. for Dick you've got Young Justice (tv), for Damian you've got the DCAMU, for Jason you've sort of got the Under The Red Hood movie, but Tim sort of lingers in this limbo. (yes, he's in Young Justce (tv) and Titans (live action) but in neither is he the main character nor given much depth) so, he gets a *lot* projected onto him and has become fanonized. and even with Jason's animated movies, you don't see him interact with Tim, so people build it from the ground up how they want to see it, disregarding of canon comics. i think it's what makes him so popular in the first place- he's malleable into whatever you want or need him to be.

and of course, the fanon ignores other characters in the Batfamily it doesn't know about. i feel like you could create a tier list of Batfamily characters by their popularity, going from the fandom main characters: Tim, Jason, Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Damian. to the underrated: Steph, Duke, Babs, Cass. to the forgotten about unless they're convenient for a story: Kate, the Foxes, Helena Wayne, Carrie, Selina, Harper Row, Maps, Minhkhoa Khan. to the absolutely unknown: Helena Bertinelli, Jean-Paul Valley, Onyx Adams, the Clovers, Julia Pennyworth. it's not lost on me that the ignored characters tend to be women and people of color. which is both a canon and fanon problem, DC will continue adding interesting characters to the Batfamily, play with them for a few years, then drop them to default to the "Batboys" again. and it's a vicious cycle of the fandom only caring about the "Batboys", and thus people entering the fandom via fanon osmosis won't have content about the other characters, therefore, they won't be interested in those characters enough to create it, and it's just this ouroboros consuming itself, no matter how much canon content we have of these other characters. and it's ridiculous just how large the Batfamily is becoming because of this, which is why i'm a pre-Flashpoint fan, because then the Batfamily was contained enough to actually feel like a family with every character having nuances relationships with each other, but i digress because those thoughts could be their own post.

and the thing about fanon is it doesn't exist in a vacuum. DC has started turning the comics to accommodate for what fans are asking for, because fans will beg and beg for content they're not going to consume. Tim Drake: Robin had Tim as a coffee drinker because that's the fanon accepted headcanon. and the resolution of the recent Gotham War arc was for Bruce to buy this new manor for everyone to move in and call him. nevermind that most of these characters have their own homes and have zero reason to be moving in with Bruce. Tim had his marina in Tim Drake: Robin, Dick has Bludhaven, Cass and Steph have their little side of town in Batgirls (2022), and so on. these characters are being forced together as a unit, as one big happy family living together, to appease what non-comic fans want and it's damaging comic relationships. Robin: Knight Terrors saw Jason and Tim team up and working together, which i've seen varying opinions on but i personally despised. their interactions made zero sense for any of their canon history, but it appeases them being this close sibling relationship that fanon acts like they are. also the fears they faced in their respective knight terrors didn't make sense for either character and *only* worked as a moment of bringing them together so they could reassure each other and have this weird dreamscape bonding moment. the canon is bending itself to the will of fanon rather than building on the pre-existing complex relationships. Tim barely even gets along with his most important team in Dark Crisis: Young Justice because it seems the only important relationships the Batfamily can have is with each other. and when we do see them outside of the Batfamily, it only seems to be to relive the glory days like with World's Finest: Teen Titans, instead of developing them as they currently exist. this isn't recent in the comics, it feels like you can trace it back to the New-52, but it does feel a *lot* worse over the recent years. WFA is fine when it exists in its own bubble, but the simple truth is, DC content never exists on its own. the adaptations will reflect back onto the comics. (the damage the Young Justice cartoon has done to some characters should honestly be studied) and so it does frustrate me a bit when fanon-only or adaptation-only fans act like we're being nothing but killjoys for being frustrated with this. since they don't read the comics, they don't see how the comics are suffering as a result of this.

people argue about what's out of character for the comics they don't even read. i'm sorry, but "bad dad Bruce" is consistently canon. that man is just kind of shitty. when you take someone who has the drive he has, who has this need for the Mission first, who needs a teenager in spandex next to him to keep him off the ledge, that guy is sort of going to be a shitty father figure. he just is. not on purpose or with malice, but when you compare him to any other dad in a big DC family, he sure takes the cake. it's why characters like Oliver Queen tend to *really* fucking hate Bruce for how he treats his kids. Bruce loves fiercely, but he doesn't do well with putting that love first. and his love is a controlling one, he is very particular about controlling how others in the Batfamily are "allowed" to operate. it's what drives the wedge between him and Dick, it's why Steph is never a true daughter to him. (besides the reason of her needing to be a love interest to Tim first, anyway-) i've never understood the massive outcry of people reacting to Bruce kinda being shitty in comics they're not reading. there are some moments that get ridiculously OOC with how cartoonishly evil he is (the whole Gotham War arc and that... complicated mess with Jason) but largely if you want sitcom loving nuclear father Bruce, you have to accept that is a fanon thing, not a canon one. the Batfamily being a nuclear family in *general* is fanon. most of the "Batkids" don't actually see Bruce in a particularly fatherly light and begging for moments where he calls them his kids or they call him dad outside of incredibly specific circumstances is just OOC.

it's getting harder and harder to exist peacefully in this fandom it feels like, if you don't comply to the standard fanon has set. i'm happy people are having fun with their blorbos, even if in ways i dislike, but that "harmless fandom fun" does ripple it's way back to canon, eventually. so i end up pretty tangled with my feelings because are fans at fault for DC making these poor decisions? probably not, but it certainly feels like an unfortunate cause-and-effect situation whether at the end of the day, nobody is happy. and of course, i know some fanon-only fans are striving to be more canon accurate and care about canon dynamics more than others, but for them it's always going to be an uphill battle with the above-mentioned out-of-context panels thrown around and ever-pervasive fanon overtaking anything that's truly seeking to be canon compliant. so really, it sometimes feels like we're all losing.

[skyfullofpods]

Hello fans of Re: Dracula who were introduced to fiction podcasts through the updates from our good friend Jonathan Harker! Now that the story's over (sob!), would you like some recommendations for some other audio dramas that you might enjoy, made by some of the folks who worked on the podcast?

Jonathan Sims, who played our local phonograph enthusiast, is the writer of the hugely popular horror podcast, The Magnus Archives. The Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute records statements made by members of the public, detailing strange encounters with the supernatural. What soon becomes clear is that these statements do not describe separate and unrelated events, and a bigger and horrific picture begins to emerge. Also appearing as recurring characters in this series are both Sasha Sienna and Alasdair Stuart.

Karim Kronfli is a prolific voice actor, and while he might be best known for his roles in both Re: Dracula and The Magnus Archives, he has voiced a wide range of characters in many different fiction podcasts. Out of all the ones he's appeared in, I would personally recommend urban fantasy anthology series, Unseen. The unseen world exists alongside ours, but only a few humans can see it. It's a world where magic and magical creatures exists, and Karim's character tells his story in episode 7, titled We Ourselves.

Beth Eyre and Felix Trench played twins Antigone and Rudyard Funn in Wooden Overcoats, a British sitcom set on the tiny fictional island of Piffling, in the English Channel. The twins run a funeral parlor together, the only one on the island, until a newcomer arrives. Eric Chapman (played by Tom Crowley) sets up a much more successful funeral parlor, and the story is narrated by the Funns' house mouse, Madeline.

Alan Burgon plays the Interviewer in The Amelia Project. The Amelia Project is a secret organisation, and clients come to them looking for their help in faking their deaths. The Interviewer listens to each client's story, before concocting unique and often elaborate ways in which they will stage their deaths, before being reborn into a new identity.

David Ault is also a very recognisable voice to anyone who spends a considerate amount of time listening to fiction podcasts, and The Kingmaker Histories feels like an appropriate choice here. A weird steampunk series set in the Valorian Socialist Republic in 1911 , this story involves found family, its own intriguing magic system, and being gay and doing crime.

Our favourite cowboy, Giancarlo Herrera, plays one of the protagonists in sci-fi action/thriller, Primordial Deep. Spinner is part of a team which is sent deep beneath the sea to investigate the resurgence of creatures thought to be long-extinct. There's plenty of horror to be had here, as something ancient is stirring in the depths of the ocean.

As for the crew? Tal Minear works on so many podcasts, and if you like fantasy stories, I would recommend the delightfully lighthearted Sidequesting, which follows new adventurer Rion, as they help people on their travels. If you would like some more horror, there's their spoiler-driven anthology series, Someone Dies in This Elevator.

Hannah Wright's Inn Between is a fantasy series based on D&D. Each episode follows a party as they meet in the Goblin's Inn, in between adventures, as the tavern follows them around wherever they go.

Stephen Indrisano's upcoming docu-horror Shelterwood promises to be a series which explores the horror of suburbia, as it follows one man's quest to find his missing sister. Until this is released, I would recommend Do You Copy, in which Stephen plays one of the protagonists. This found footage horror series follows the events which unfold after the closure of Red Tail National Park, and the people who were left inside the park, after its mysterious closure.

Ella Watts is regarded as a walking encyclopedia of all things audio fiction, and has worked on several high-profile projects, including directing both Doctor Who: Redacted and Marvel Move. Her upcoming Camlann is a post-apocalyptic series due to be released next year, inspired by Arthurian legends and British folklore. She is also the executive producer of Tin Can Audio's (who are also producing Camlann) beautiful experimental series, The Tower. The protagonist of this story, Kiri, leaves her life behind to climb an impossibly high tower, making phonecalls along the way.

Newt Schottelkotte's Where The Stars Fell is a supernatural fantasy set in the town of Jerusalem, Oregon. Cryptozoologist Dr Edison Tucker arrives in the town to carry out some research, and meets her roommate, author Lucille Kensington. There's so much more to this strange town than first meets the eye, with a huge revelation at the end of season one.

If you're new to fiction podcasts, welcome! I hope this short (ish!) and very much non-comprehensive list gave you some ideas of what to listen to next!

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update: november 2024

*arrives halfway through december with a hot chocolate in hand* WHO WANTS TO KNOW WHAT I READ IN NOVEMBER

this is not going to be my best or most thoroughly written roundup but I want this shit posted so you get what you get

Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist (Jasmin Graham with Makeba Raisin, 2024) - as a shark enjoyer who was too dumb to go into marine biology, I was really looking forward to Graham's book about her experiences as a Black woman working in this very white field. while the book's a bit dry it's also a fun, quick read, with an infinitely likeable narrator whose passion bursts out of every page and will delight anybody who also loves sharks. Graham's determination to forge her own path and make spaces for herself and other women of color makes for an inspiring story, and though this book isn't specifically targeted at younger readers, I'd happily recommend gifting it to any girls looking at getting into any kind of animal-related field so that they can find a worthy role model in Jasmin Graham.

Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees (Aimee Nezhukumatathil, 2024) - I feel bad, but I was disappointed! I was so smitten with poet Nezhukumatathill's previous collection of short essays, World of Wonder, in which she extolls the virtues of various animals and plants. while I always enjoy a lush description of a good food, and the illustrations were very charming (the shave ice in particular had me YEARNING to blow my savings on a trip to Hawaii), it Bite by Bite lacked the substance of its predecessor. the connections drawn in each essay felt a bit more contrived this time around, with many feeling like thinly veiled justifications for Nezhukumatathil to pontificate on her sons growing up rather than celebrating the foods she spotlights for their own merits. I ended up feeling as if I was rushing to get it over with, which is always sad.

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age (Annalee Newtiz, 2021) - this was one of the most unexpect delights of the year. I know borderline nothing about archaeology and anthropology, but Newitz paints such vivid images of their subjects that I found myself getting genuinely emo about disaster relief efforts in Pompeii. idk what it was, man, but they took their right turns stupid just like we did! humans is the same after all this time! it's been a while since I picked up a book about something totally alien to me and got to settle in for the pure joy of learning from a talented writer, and this book hit the spot tremendously. if anyone is planning on doing my 2025 book bingo challenge and needs an idea for the nonfiction about a topic that's new to them, consider this a recommendation!

The Truth According to Ember (Danica Nava, 2024) - maaaaan. I wasn't, like, blown away by the synopsis of this romance novel, in which the titular Ember lies about being white rather than Chickasaw in order to land a job only to immediately find herself crushing hard on a Native coworker, Danuwoa, and getting increasingly wrapped up in a web of lies. while the plot's not exactly original, I was excited to check out a book by a Native author about Native characters getting a pretty big release, something I hadn't yet encountered in romancelandia. but honestly? the biggest disappointment in this book wasn't the unoriginal story or Disney Channel sitcom-levels of hijinks to maintain the various lies, but it's the fact that lying about being white isn't even really the crux of the plot. Ember doesn't get fired for that! that's not actually the thing anyone has an issue with! she gets in trouble for lying about having a degree that she doesn't have to get a job she's wildly underqualified for, which is a significantly bigger issue! but all of the marketing is based on her lying about being Native, which feels... idk, it feels misleading? also the romance takes, like, a loooong time to show up; Danuowa is very secondary for like the first third of the book while we learn about the ins and outs of Ember's life, family drama, and new job. I don't know if I've ever been begging for a romance heroine to interact with love interest more, but this book made it happen.

The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out) (Tina Nguyen, 2024) - on the one hand, I really fuckin' feel for Tina Nguyen. what started out as a college flirtation with libertarianism spiraled into a deep immersion in the burgeoning alt-right thanks to her then-boyfriend, including a brief stint working under Tucker Carlson himself. Nguyen ultimately comes to realize the extent of batshit insanity the republican party is descending into, jumping ship well before the 2016 election thanks to an increasing sense that something is deeply amiss among the right's journalism core. (one especially chilling anecdote involves Nguyen, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, discovering that her longtime mentor, a man she had trusted for years to help advise her career, had been caught discussing a desire to curb America's population of immigrants.) although she spins her firsthand knowledge and exhaustive list of contacts to start reporting on the right for liberal outlets, Nguyen remains skeptical of what she perceives a critical lack of organization among the Democrats, which I can certainly forgive her for. I have a bit more side eye for Nguyen's reluctance to fully condemn some of her old colleagues; in particular, she goes to lengths to emphasize that Carlson was a pretty chill boss. idk, maybe it's hard to cut ties that completely, even with people who turned out to be monsters. overall the memoir is lacking any especially artful prose but is a bitchin' gossip piece with some decent insights into how the right organizes.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning (Cathy Park Hong, 2020) - it's always so momentous when a book actually lives up to the hype. Hong blurs memoir and essay for a resonant and painful examination of all the ways Asian American identity gets tangled up in shame, including her own. this book is potent, and by far one of my favorite nonfiction reads of the year. I think @zaricats recommended it like 700 years ago so thank you for that!

Crazy Rich Asians (Kevin Kwan, 2013) - it's. fine. it's literally just fine.

The Nightmare Before Kissmas (Sara Raasch, 2024) - not fine, this one sucked shit so bad it gave me a headache multiple times. how do you squander a premise as silly as "the Christmas Prince and the Halloween Prince are in secret gay love"? how do you make that boring? why was this mostly just a book about workplace politics with a little tinsel on top? unfortunately I WILL be reading the sequel in March, but only to complain.

Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (Naomi Klein, 2024) - a dizzying work that ties together an astonishing number of ideas, beginning with Klein's own frustrations with being mistaken for disgraced feminist writer turned vaccine conspiracy hack Naomi Wolf to the chaotic and reactionary political landscape that so many of us find ourselves struggling to make sense of. it's a heavy and heady book, dense with well considered observations and expertly articulated thoughts despite Klein's own acknowledgement that her "research" often veered into unreasonable levels of obsession. despite Klein's long career this was my first time reading her work, and now I am Listening to anything and everything she has to say.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 12 (Ryoko Kui, trans. Taylor Engel, 2023) - I truly genuinely can't say anything about Volume 12 without saying that, by the time I'm posting this, I have also read Volumes 13 and 14 and finished the series and man. man man man. this story is just so GOOD. genuinely I love Dungeon Meshi so much.

Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy (Hallie Lieberman, 2017) - a very fun and interesting history of the sale of sex toys in the US, including some very appreciated love for unsung heroes of the sex toy field like Jewish ventriloquist Ted Marche, Black disability activist Gosnell Duncan, and all of the women who pioneered sex stores that prioritized woman as their clientele. granted, that last group of second wave feminists comes with all the accompanying second wave bioessentialism you'd expect, and I'd be remiss not to note that the book also takes a frustratingly cissexist approach in the way it talks about man = penis and woman = vagina. I don't think Lieberman sought out to be deliberately transphobic (there is, briefly, a mention of a trans woman taking over one of the sex toy companies the book follows, and she is recognized as a woman even if her transition is shoehorned in rather awkwardly) but simply out of her depth with knowing how to address trans people in the very binary historical narrative she constructs. it's grating, but also unsurprising for a book published in 2017. if you can handle the cis weirdness and you, like me, are interested in how sexuality and pleasure are litigated, I'd really recommend checking this one out; I've already added it to the official sex witch library. it's worth the read for the surprising history of Adam & Eve alone.

[crossovers-nobody-asked-for]

My two hyperfixations are battling for dominance in my brain and I noticed something. The one upon a witchlight crew have been through so many horrors that I’m not sure that they know what unconditional love is. The neighbors on the other hand are beacons of unconditional love but are slowly going through the horrors.

The Idea Is Simple.

I squish both my hyperfixations based on these two facts alone. The ouaw crew get unconditional love so that they can heal while the neighbors… learn to be a bit unhinged i guess? And a crew that would fight god if they asked??

Im gonna put silly interactions under the cut that i will probably randomly update throughout the day (vague Spoilers for both medias)

“Money Talks”

Kremy and Gricko find out about Home’s currency being jokes and discovers Gricko is rich.

“Bearer of Bad News”

Julie and Frank try to discover what kind of Bug Torbek (the bugbear) is after mishearing Barnbaby talk to him.

“Dungeons and Dragons”

A new game takes the neighborhood by storm and the Lecrew discover something about themselves.(I know its a few years off let me have this)

“Flower Power”

Morning Frost asks Julie about her ability to talk to plants and about Rainbow Monsters

“Progressiveness”

A heartfelt discussion between how queer rights have changed over the years with Eddie,Frank, Kremy and Gideon

“The drag off”

Kremy and Eddie have a Drag show contest

“The Black Tulip”

See you hell you stupid fucking flower. -Gideon Coal

“Rewritten”

The Other is acting strangely.

“Sally’s Magnum Opus”

Sally demands that the witchlight crew participates in her play.

“If it’s a circus they want. Its a circus they’ll get”

The neighbors learn about the witchlight crew ‘s old circus days and ask for a performance.

“Censored”

The neighbors say swears.

“The 1970 Housing Crisis”

The neighbors catch wind that the witchlight crew have been living in tents since finding the town and insist they roommate with them.

“A bad Sitcom(housing crisis pt.2)”

The witchlight crew have trouble adjusting to being roommates with their chosen neighbor.

“Why are body swap episodes so popular?”

Yeah it’s the body swap episode.

“Can you tell me how to get, how to get to the feywild please?”(sesame street theme)

Pt1.- The Witchlight crew discover that the longer they stay the more puppet like they become. They leave without telling the neighbors because they are convinced they are a fey trap.

Pt.2-The neighbors venture into the Feywild to find the Witchlight crew and realize they are in way over their head. They also get sick dnd outfits!

I don’t have a clever episode name for this I just think Poppy and Gideon baking together would be top tier interactions. Along with Julie and Torbek interacting just in general i feel like it would be a vibe.

“Mardi Gras”

Kremy! culture! appreciation episode!

“Raining cats and dogs”

Frost, Barnaby, Wally, and Gricko are stuck inside due to a bad storm. Frost and Barnaby have classic cat and dog like tension.

“Homeswarming and Yule”

Each group teaches the other about their December holidays.

“Kremy’s apprentice”

Julie wants to learn Magic from Kremy. Kremy has a twisted idea.

“Druid’s song”

Gricko finds out his druid magic works on the animal neighbors and Frost now for some reason.

“The return of the witchlight carnival”

After going in the completely wrong direction, the neighbors leave the feywild snd end up at the Witchlight carnival.

“Home’s story”

An episode dedicated to Home coping with noone being in town.

“A group of adventures walk into a puppet show”

The witchlight crew journey through the fey wild and discover a large colorful town with colorful characters. When they turn to leave they discover they cannot. Julie finds them and offers to introduce them to the rest of the town.

“Episodes”

A train rolls through the neighborhood and Gideon has an episode. Thankfully the neighbors are there to console him.

“Conman and a Caterpillar”

Kremy and Howdy have apposing ideas on how to run a business

[emo-crowgirl]

It is my full belief that whenever Nix and Bergy are not actively involved in the episode, they’re both somewhere on the other side of Bailley experiencing their own adventure that could probably be it’s own episode all on its own. Like at nearly any point in the series you could suddenly smash cut to Bergy and Nix going on a completely different adventure completely separate from the other techs.

This “adventure that could be its own episode” can range from something like Bergy and Nix trying to fish a glitch out of a lake with a fishing rod to Nix trying to give Bergy advice on how to ask out Blake to “Cecil Bergoch and Adam Micheal Nix experience the horrors of war”.

Miko and Five are going through the events of The Glitch Modder with Ridley and halfway across town Bergy and Nix are going through, like, the plot of a sitcom. It’s a smash cut from Mitch, Five and Miko dealing with Ping to Bergy and Nix running from a small army of glitches with little to no further context of how they got into this scenario. Do you understand what I’m talking about here or am I rambling like a madwoman?

[mrmanbat]

Chatttt I actually despise Wayne Family Adventures,

Like at first I thought it was a cute little Batfam comic for when you need some fluff yk? And if people viewed it as that then it would be fine,

But the fanbase is so adamant that it as a standalone is good?? Like nah. The surface conflicts gets resolved in .5 seconds and it’s jut as sitcom version of what the bats actually are??

I’ve read the first few episodes(?) chapters(?) and it was cute- but it’s literally brainrot comics version.

It’s so dumbed down that I’ve seen child shows with more meaning.

No hate to anyone who enjoys it or its creators- I just don’t get you.

(If you don’t like beef, trauma, messy dynamics go be a fan of my little pony or something- idk what to tell you.)

[kaneandfeels]

SO A LOT OF YOU ASKED A LOT OF QUESTIONS So we answered every one we were asked

1. What is an element of your story that surprised you?

How quickly the Holmes and Watson dynamic we used as a writing crutch entirely flipped through our characters growing and developing. Feels became the star rather than the sounding board in a way that is really organic and good - Jack

Its scope. I had dabbled with absurdism before Kane and Feels, but never gone full existential horror. I’m more of a like quiet melodrama type so i love that jack was able to get me writing more esoteric bullshit- Oli

I don’t know if it's surprising, but there’s a tenderness to a lot of the series that I wasn't expecting when we started. It sets its tropes out strongly, and then the characters interact in that space and take it in wildly different directions, while remaining true to the genre. - Jude

2. Is audio drama the only medium you've worked in? How does it compare to other mediums?

Audio dramas are the only form I've ever received feedback for really, I have a literature degree and I am constantly making stories but I don't really have any other published works like this. - jack

I’ve studied in other mediums, but not worked in them. I’ve done bits of filming at school but found quickly my talents laid in sound. - Jude

I’m an audio nerd, through and through. Started as a musician, became a DJ, wrote a sitcom, did a degree, made some docs and factual programmes and then it's been audio dramas since then. It's a difficult medium to master but a rewarding one when its’ done right. - Oli

3. What are some audio dramas that inspire you? Both in general and for your podcast.

Welcome to nightvale was a big early touchstone, the work of Dirk Maggs like batman knightfall meant a lot to me as a child, I had it on cassette tapes

HItchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the radio series) is a big one. I listened to it religiously when growing up. Neverwhere was another one that inspired me from a sound perspective. The shifting brickwork always tickles my brain. - Jude

I listened to a lot of HP as a kid, while going tobed. I graduated onto the BBC7 ‘Comedy Club’ which played a mix of half hour sitcoms and stand up comedy vehicles between 10 and midnight when I was going to sleep… occasionally I would drift into the ‘seventh dimension’ where I’d hear the man in black, Blake 7 and all other sci-fi horrory affairs.  When Nightvale turned up, that was a game changer, cause it opened the field to people like me to go make audio dramas without the clout of the BBC behind us. Same with Wooden overcoats. 

More specifically though, there is a direct line between Aker and Blacker’s “beyond Belief’ on the Thrilling adventure hour’ and the early drafts of Kane and Feels

4. Who is a character that took you by surprise?

Councilman Geoff Grace. Go listen for why - Jack

Jeanine (the housewife) wasn’t surprising, but she was shocking. I just loved her framing and existence in the story. It's one of those ones where you can feel the screen on the scene. you ‘re looking in at this strange commercial of a woman as she lives this warped 50’s vibe. - Jude

For me, its the monster from wonderland. I had this idea for something grotesque, that pulled apart the idea that words don’t hurt. Of course words hurt. That’s why they can lead us to violence or action or whatever. So I had this idea of a monster who said words ‘scar from the inside’. Jack said ‘this is great, what is this monster?”…. And i hadn’t thought that far ahead. I said ‘I dunno, that’s your job, spookyman’ - so suddenly its the voice of the goddess of spite, we get Vivi P, the most terrifying italian woman ever to grace our studios to do her voice, and then pepper her in through out the series making her a serious big bad. Didn’t know she’d have that milage considering it was essentially a joke about sticks and stones breaking bones. - Oli

5. If you're the writer, how did casting/producing change how you thought about the podcast?

No one gave a fuck about our opinions on this particualr subject. - Oli

6. If you are a voice actor or audio editor, what is your favorite blooper moment?

There's a line with constituents in season one episode 4 that I just couldn't say - Jack

I think a lot of our weird bloopers end up in the show, either as the take or buried beneath some stuff. Season 2 is lousy with them, from Chippie’s final monologue to the sound of me and Oli in Thornbush’s charity shop. To even the joke about Paul Bearer in the final episode. - Jude

There’s one take we never used, where Ali Cambell, Jeanines’ actor, improvised a story about their first hamster. In the story, she crushes it to death. We loved it at the time, but it was arguably better than anything any of us had written so I personally coward’d out and didn’t put it in. - Oli (Id’ forgotten about that - Jude)

7. If you could make a crossover (canon or non canon) with any other audio drama, what would it be?

Am I allowed to say ‘Camlann’? Even though its very recent we’d slot in very well.or Victoriocity - Jude

I mean, I want to be on hello from the magic tavern, but not as kane - Jack

Sandman. Wanna work with Dirk. or What’s the Frequency or if Rose Drive ever resurrects.  - Oli

8. What is an inside joke or reference that is hidden in your podcast?

So many wrestling kayfabe references -  Jack

I always think of ‘GET BACK VILE BEAST’ *dunstan throws a spanner at a bird* - The real joke is that a lot of the rocks from St Dunstan made it into Camlann episode seven when the hill opens up into the underground.

The inside joke for me is the loops. “Jude’s discount Loops” - hacking these beautiful pieces of music that Oli has made and getting them to work. They’re all like 14 minutes long and there’s chopping that needs to be done. 

9. What are some of your favorite podcasts to listen to?

World Beyond Number. Westminster Insider, Too many Tabs, Chapo Trap House. I’m a trash person who listens to trash. (other than WBN, most exciting actual play on the scene RN) = Oli

Is it terrible I’m more of a music person? I’m currently spiraling back into Nonagon Infinity by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I listen to old audiobooks to sleep. At the moment it's the good omens radio series with Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowitz. - Jude

I have an elaborate weekly schedule of podcasts I listen to, my current favorite is 'mom can't cook'

10. Are the podcasts you make / enjoy making the same kind you enjoy listening to (genre, formatting, etc)?

I mostly listen to character improv comedy and comedy reviews of film and wrestling. A little bit of D&D actual play too. so I guess... no? - J

I can’t just say ‘I don’t listen to podcasts’... I mean I can and I don’t. - Jude

No. - Oli

11. Free space! Tell me something cool about your podcast!

The music is crazy good - Jack

The Sound Design is once in a generation. - OliThe writing is ambitious and exciting - Jude

[sleepyking]

The Science Behind Adventure Time

Hello and welcome to my TED Talk-

@forphysicsandimagination and @brokenmilkcrates this is for you:)

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A NINE PAGE ESSAY ABOUT THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE END OF THE WORLD IN A KID'S CARTOON SHOW, AND CONTAINS DISCUSSIONS OF NUCLEAR FALLOUT, CANCER, RADIATION, AND OTHER HEAVY TOPICS. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Also, if there's anything I say in this that I'm repeating from someone else(because let's be honest there's probably something), and it bothers you, lmk!

Introduction

Adventure Time is a show that ran from April of 2010 to September of 2018, totaling ten seasons and 283 episodes. It followed Finn the human and Jake the dog, who went on weird adventures and got into trouble. Other major characters featured are Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, Marceline the Vampire Queen, BMO, and Lady Rainicorn, along with others like Flame Princess, Lumpy Space Princess, and the Ice King. The Ice King was the main antagonist for most of the first season, until the Lich was introduced near the end of season one. Adventure Time is known for its far-fetched, wacky, and odd creatures and characters. But what if I were to tell you that they aren’t as far-fetched as they seem?

Background Information/What We Know

The strange things we see in Adventure Time were caused by the end of the world—also known as the Great Mushroom War(GMW). The GMW was a nuclear war that resulted in the near extinction of humanity, as well as the creation of new races and species, ranging from vampires to hug wolves to mutated coyotes. Not much is known about the war, but we do see bits and pieces of it in flashbacks. 

The exact time of all of this is unknown, but it is speculated that it happened in the late twentieth to early twenty-first century. It most likely took place between 1998 and the early 2000s, as sitcoms from the 1980s are referenced by multiple of the surviving human characters, the appearance of a Generation 3 iMac computer in The Lich (which became available to the mass public in 1998), modern smartphones in flashbacks, and internet phrases and expressions frequently used by the characters. 

The cause of the end of the world was a nuclear bomb—most likely more than one, as two bombs can seen exploding at opposite ends of the planet in the episode BMO. We also know that the Enchiridion was finished after the war, most likely on August 13th, 2021, going off of the numbers that are on the back of the book. 

Part One

During a flashback, Simon is shown looking up at the sky. In the sky, there are more than thirteen planes, which are most likely what was used for dropping the bombs. These planes are probably Boeing B2-9 Superfortress planes, which were used to drop nuclear bombs during World War II. In the episode Finn the Human, we get our first look at the actual bomb, which is nearly identical to the Fat Man bomb that was used in WW2, and was dropped by a Boeing B2-9 Superfortress. 

We’re told by Farmworld-Marceline that the bomb was poised to bathe the Earth in mutagenic horror, meaning that it was a mutagenic bomb. Now, you might be thinking, what’s the difference between a mutagenic bomb and a nuclear bomb? Are there any differences?  The simple answer is yes. 

Nuclear bombs are made to cause mass destruction using the energy released when the nucleus of an atom is split or merged. Mutagenic bombs are bombs that can cause direct DNA damage. However, nuclear bombs can be mutagenic, so Marceline could mean that it was a mutagenic bomb, or a nuclear bomb with mutagenic effects. Going by how much damage it caused, it was probably the latter. 

For this study, I’m going to say that the mushroom bomb is the same as a Fat Man bomb, and the fallout happened in 2010 (because, well, that’s realistically the time it probably happened). This bomb was dropped on the Japanese city Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945, and resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people. 

However, I don’t think that the Fat Man(FM) was the only bomb used. 

In the intro of every Adventure Time episode, we can see things from the old world—a broken TV, cassette tapes, and, most notably, warheads. Warheads that are different from the mushroom bomb. 

So I went digging. I dug even deeper into history and everything we know about nuclear fallouts, and I found it—the first of two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare; the Little Boy. 

The Little Boy(LB) was used in the bombing of Hiroshima, another Japanese city, on August 6th, 1945—three days before the FM—and had an explosion force equal to 20,000 tons of TNT. 80,000 people died as a direct result of the bombing, and tens of thousands more died later. 

Out of the 120 FMs and the five LBs made, only one of each was used, leaving 119 FMs and four LBs left. There are three warheads in the intro, which means that three of the four remaining LBs were dropped but didn’t detonate. 

Scientists have estimated that an all-out nuclear war between the United States and Russia would result in over five billion deaths. 

The Great Mushroom War took place in approximately 2010. In 2010, there were around 6.7 billion people on Earth. 

The Great Mushroom War almost wiped out the entire human race. See where I’m heading with this?

The Great Mushroom War, a nuclear war, almost caused the extinction of humanity. If roughly five billion people died as a direct result of the fallout, that would leave around one billion people left alive on the entire planet. Due to radiation, food would be destroyed, and temperatures would drastically change, which would cause more deaths. The people we see, the actual humans we see, are very few, because there are very few actual humans still alive.

Part Two

The only characters we see that have five fingers are Marceline, Simon/Ice King, Marceline’s mother, Elise, and the Lich, who were all born before the end of the world. This means that either all of the future generations lost a finger, or these four characters all got an extra finger, both of which are possible. 

Oligodactyly is the term for having less than the normal amount of fingers/toes, and is the exact opposite of polydactyly. Oligodactyly is a congenial condition that is often, but not always, a genetically inherited disability, and can also be caused caused by mutations. So, if people born after the fallout all have less than five fingers, it’s very likely that it was caused by exposure to radiation. 

Children born after nuclear fallout commonly have polydactyly. However, since Marceline, Simon, Elise, and the Lich were all born before the fallout, this is less likely to be the reason that they’re the only characters with five fingers. 

The tribe of people that Marceline meets all have four fingers, which supports my theory on oligodactyly. 

“My mom and I didn’t talk about bad stuff. When she got really sick, she didn’t even tell me,” [Distant Lands: Obsidian] Radiation can cause multiple kinds of cancer, the most common being leukemia. While it’s very likely that Elise just had radiation poisoning, I want to mention leukemia as well, because she has some of the symptoms of it as well—irritability, coughing up blood, sleep problems, feeling cold, and excessive sweating. Coughing up blood is the most obvious, as we see her cough blood onto her hand. Feeling cold is based on the fact that she’s wrapped up in a blanket while in the middle of the desert, and depending on what time of the year it is, the temperature could be higher due to radiation. The entire time we see her in Obsidian, she has eyebags(and noticeable ones at that, which means that the animators wanted us to know that she was having trouble sleeping). When she’s trying to fix the motorcycle and tells Marceline to go to teh secret clubhouse, she’s very irritable. Excessive sweating is the biggest stretch, but I added it because she’s sweating a lot of the times she’s on screen. 

Skin conditions. Exposure to radiation causes skin conditions. 

Ice King is blue, Marceline looks like a walking corpse. See where I’m going with this? 

It does seem like Marceline’s skin has always been grey(and it makes sense that it has because Hunson is blue-ish grey), but there is a difference in her skin color between her when she was younger and her when she’s older. Her skin is lighter and more blue. Now, it’s not lighter by that much, but it IS lighter, and it’s not something that you’d notice while watching the show. Radiation doesn’t cause skin to turn blue, but remember that Marceline isn’t fully human—radiation probably affects demons and demon hybrids differently than how it affects humans. 

If you look at Simon before and after the fallout, you’ll probably be able to tell the differences. Even before his skin turns blue, it’s definitely lighter than it is in scenes like flashbacks and the tapes Finn and Jake watch in the season three Christmas special. This isn’t the only way he suffers from exposure to radiation, though—he also has several psychological issues that were caused by the fallout. The crown is what makes his mind deteriorate, but constant exposure to radiation definitely doesn’t help, and, if anything, probably made the crown worse. 

I would talk about the Lich, but it’s been said that he wasn’t originally human, and it seems like he’s meant to be a kind of primordial being. 

Back to Marceline, in the Stakes finale, she says “Smelled something bad.”  This is similar to something an actual survivor of nuclear warfare said; “There was a strange smell all over.”  You could make the argument that this doesn’t have anything to do with the fallout, but while she was saying this, it showed flashbacks of when she was younger and living in the apocalyptic world.

Part Three

The first species I’m going to talk about are the gums, as they’re some of the most humanoid creatures, but they’re still very supernatural. I talked previously about skin conditions, and that’s what I believed caused the gum people. Radiation can change the texture of your skin, and can make it appear pink, red, tanned, light, or dark. It can’t turn your hair pink, but you want to know what can? Sun exposure, chlorine exposure, chemical reactions, and nutrient deficiencies. Hair can also become squishy due to protein deficiency. Hair that lacks protein can feel mushy, sticky, and gummy, and clumps together. It’s safe to assume that in an apocalypse, nobody is going to be getting all of the nutrients and proteins that they should be. 

The mutated coyotes are probably the most realistic creature in the show other than humans. Yellow sclera and red irises are commonly caused by radiation. The mouth on the chest and the extra eyes are less likely to happen, but they are theoretically possible in terms of evolution.

Radiation can also cause abnormal brain development, which means that animals could possibly mutate to be able to do things humans can, like how most of the less humanoid creatures are able to talk, or how that creepy FUCKING deer can STAND ON ITS BACK LEGS LIKE A PERSON (I really don’t like him-).

The oozers are, essentially, zombies, which are scientifically possible. Zombies can’t be caused by radiation, but cells can be changed. There are diseases that cause animals to basically become zombies, and while humans aren’t affected by these diseases, cells can change because of radiation. If the cells change, it could make it possible for humans to catch these viruses. 

Conclusion

Now, obviously, this is all just speculation, and a lot of Adventure Time isn’t able to be explained by science, and it was meant to be fantastical. This was made for fun, and I wanted to show how even though it’s clearly a magical world, a lot of it can be explained by science. 

Two-headed lizards exist, why can’t any of Adventure Time’s creatures exist? After Chernobyl, cats living in the area went feral, meaning that radiation can change the mental state of an animal. Cows produced radioactive milk. Taking all of this into account, the things in Adventure Time seem a lot less far-fetched. 

(Side note: maybe the crown was affected by the radiation, too, and that’s why it caused Simon’s mind to deteriorate-lmk if you'd like me to go more in depth about that as well.)

I'd love to do something like this again if anyone has any ideas:)!

[tame-a-messenger]

(DELUSIONAL ZONE)

is it even? I feel like I'm just making connections ..

So I back when I watched Smosh the Sitcom there was this one joke Damien made that was either an inside joke, or just really bad taste, and now almost a month later I think I finally know which one!!

So the first part of this clip he had to "confess" something and I think he improv-ed the "I am JonBenét Ramsey"..

Which if you're like me and know who that is... I thought that was a WILDY inappropriate thing to say, its a truly awful thing that happened. (caution for if you look it up)

The second clip was posted 3 days ago but was FILMED back in April, a month before the liveshow! They were asked what they'd do if they could go on a Magic School bus adventure.

What I'm getting at is, I think it was a joke meant to reference something Angela said before and make her break (that made no sense to us thanks to the upload schedule)

I'm basing this on just these 2 clips- I'm thinking the "joke" he made on the live was that she really DID save JBR with the Magic School bus and he's them? and he was doing that thing that he does and makes the SLYEST POSSIBLE JOKE that takes me weeks to decode.. (damn you Haas! you make this so difficult!)

If you think that him bringing up a joke from a month before is reaching, 1. he's done that before (how does electricity work is from LAST YEAR) 2. The second video is the last video on Smosh's leaked shoot list with both of them in it! meaning it very well could have been the last thing they talked about before they had liveshow rehearsals a month later!

That's what makes sense to me at least! him asking if she was going to say it with him and him blowing the party whistle at her solidified that it was at the very least, AIMED at her

I'm at the very least happy that the joke might actually be an inside joke and have some lighthearted context! because damn did it throw me for a loop when I heard him say that

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hi, I'm looking for a TTRPG mostly about romance that isn't just for 2 players. I know Thirsty Sword Lesbians exists but I was wondering what else is out there?

THEME: Romance

Hello friend! Here's a few games that are about romance in one way or another. You might also want to check out my Make it Gay post if you are looking for specifically queer romance stories.

The Love Balloon, by Mythworks. The Love Balloon is a light roleplaying story game for 2-6 players inspired by the wholesome yet innuendo-laden sitcoms of the late 70’s and early 80’s - shows like The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Three’s Company.  

No other ship has sailed the winds more than the magnificent Cloud Nine. Welcome at any port, its guests - from Kings and Presidents, to Celebrities and Athletes, Dentists and even Stowaways  -  all have attested to the ship's magical voyages of the heart.  Come book your stay today and experience what it's like to float your troubles away!

This is a GM-less game that is meant to replicate a sitcom, with six characters to be controlled by the table. There are some guidelines as to the kinds of characters that will be present in this sitcom; part of the story has already been built for you. The details of each character are still up to you, and who falls in love with who is tied to both character choice and roll of the dice. Each day on the float will see characters run into each-other and engage in minor adventures, romantic escapades, and interpersonal conflict.

This game is less of an immersive experience and feels more like you as the table are a writers room, figuring out the plot of a sitcom. There are roll tables for the crew member and the guests involved in the plot, as well as for port of calls and hi-jinx. This is a great game for folks who want to deal with romantic themes at a comfortable distance, as well as folks that like a game with more light-hearted themes. There’s a lot of structure to The Love Balloon, similar to a recipe for a sitcom episode, so if you want heavy drama or spontaneity, then you might want to look somewhere else.

The Rain Still Falls In My Heart, by Roz.

The Rain Still Falls in my Heart is a one page table-top roleplaying game about messy high school relationships and purple prose; it's a game about girls and lesbians of all genders. Nothing is straight forward at this school; everyone has a secret and a past, and nobody knows how to talk about their true feelings.

This is for all of the fanfic writers out there. You are all students in a girls school, and you’re all lesbians. This is a game about complicated backstories, poetic infatuation, and overreactions. When something terrible happens, you will flip a coin to see whether you compose yourself or be honest. I love the options for Compose Yourself. You either keep your cool (and make her think that you don’t even care) or overreact (and lose your cool, break something, or run away).

If you want a simple game that embodies the most dramatic elements of shoujo anime, this might be the game for you. If you want a game where you roll dice, or a game with more complex character creation, you might need to look somewhere else.

Grave Liaisons, by Yugie.

Grave Liasons is a PvP roleplaying game powered by chocolate where you play as nosy ghosts trying to ensure that their descendants get matched with the perfect partner (according to them).

While playing, players take on the roles of SPIRITS, who are trying to ensure or prevent a match, and DESCENDANTS, who are just normal people looking for love. 

This is a funky little game that uses chocolates to represent your ability to influence the world around you. Each player is both a nosy ghost and the descendant of someone else. As ghosts, they will meddle in the affairs of their descendants, in the hopes of providing a suitable match. Your chocolates represent your spooky powers, which are undefined in the game, so you’ll have to come up with them yourself. One of my favourite rules is for what to do when you run out of chocolate hearts - you can hold onto someone else’s chocolate and tell them “I’ve stolen your heart” in the most romantic voice you have, and then it belongs to you!

Thunder in our Hearts, by Card Zero Press.

YOU are a member of a wedding party about to pull off THE BEST WEDDING EVER. You and your friends in the party are under the impression that you only have 24 HOURS left to make sure everything goes smoothly - 12 to finalize your preparation, and 12 to pull off the ceremony and reception. 

You and your friends are wrong. 

You are about to find yourselves trapped in a loop of those same 24 hours, living and reliving them as many times as it takes to identify every complication, refine the wedding, and get it right. No one besides you will remember the previous loops as clear as day, but make a strong enough impression on someone in one loop and it might carry to the next. What you do here matters. What you do here has to matter, if you ever want your friends to get married and stay that way. 

This basically a heist game but instead of pulling of a heist, you’re pulling off a wedding. Throughout the 24 hour time loop, you’ll have to deal with unruly guests, unforeseen hazards, and your own feelings about your two friends getting married. I don’t think this game is specifically about your characters’ romantic prospects, but rather your characters rallying together to make your friends happy. If you want a fresh take on a tried-and-true genre, this might be the game for you.

Second-hand Love, by DarkerLarper.

The ship of your dreams glides over the pelagic water, just to you. It beckons, This mysterious figure known only as the Captain is looking to find their right hand. 

Compete against your fellow players for the chance at the Captain's booty er… love. 

Or if the bachelor was about pirates 

Second-Hand Love is a game centred on relationships and building connections to gain favor. It is designed for 4-6 players, and it looks great for campy, dramatic stories. This is a game that has room for PVP, sexual interactions, and romance galore, although you can certainly customize it to fit whatever boundaries you have at the table. If you want a game that’s all about love and profit, if you want full spicy drama and plenty of chances to work both with and against your fellow players, you should check this game out.

Games I've Recommended in the Past

Eyes on the Prize, by ira prince.

Le Bon Ton, by RobotFrancis.

[conanssummerchild]

the other day i was wondering about how it would go if rick sanchez and abed nadir interacted bcs theyre my fav guys ever but i couldnt actually imagine them ever interacting and then i accidentally came up with a whole fuck ton of headcanons about what would happen if rick started visiting the study group regularly (also featuring morty :3) so i figured i might as well post them idk

(rickortys dni)

idk what rick is doing in the commumity dimension and why btw, he's just there

the hc abt rick and abed having a conversation was just like rick going on and on about some insane adventure he went on and just overall saying wild stuff and abed listening, genuinely interested, but thinking "this guy makes jeff seem well-adjusted"

at first rick always goes alone but he talks about morty all the time and the adventures they go on but he never elaborates about who morty is so everyone just assumes he's a friend of ricks and one day rick finally introduces them to him and its literally a teenage boy and his grandson lol. everyone is confused

shirley probably hates rick sm at first

morty and britta talking abt politics or ethics or smth like that :3

i imagine rick saying the f slur or smth and the family friendly sitcom study group is flabbergasted while morty is sweating bullets apologising for him lol

rick almost immediately asks if troy and abed are fucking

one time chang tried to hug rick (even though they barely knew each other, i just feel like thats something he'd do) and rick's first instinct was to pull a gun out on him and after that chang kept begging him to make him one of those guns too (he didn't)

britta tries to therapise him but eventually rick scares her off by saying something insane or "way out of her league diagnostically" as she said once and she never tries again

rick and jeff having a drink-off (rick wins)

troy alternates between thinking rick is cool and funny and being a little afraid of him

morty and troy get along and morty thinks abed is cool

morty's favourite is anne because he thinks shes so cool and smart and pretty (think like the person you looked up to as a kid, thats how morty thinks of annie) and she lets him act like a kid and doesnt put any unfair insane expectations on him (*cough* rick) because she knows what that feels like

annie dislikes rick but she keeps slipping fliers for AA into his pockets and rick is confused and incredibly annoyed whenever he finds them

rick thinks chang is weird af but finds it funny, especially bcs hes like the main antagonist of the study group and hes just some guy

rick is probably kinda mean to the dean :(

rick saying something in spanish and no one in the ex spanish study group has any idea what hes saying (they did not learn a thing)

rick thinks its kinda cool that jeff faked his degree, but he wont admit it ofc

morty loves apartment 303

annie eventually warms up to rick because he's less grumpy and rude once you get to know him and they become kiiiinda friends (but shes still a little wary of him)

rick, morty, troy, abed and annie playing minecraft together :3

shirley also eventually warms up to rick and acts like a stern parent (even though rick is almost double her age 💀) and rick pretends to hate it but he doesnt (he didnt get loved enough by his parents as a kid)

rick calls pierce the jerry of the group

abed always listens to rick infodump

abed and rick talking about alternate timelines/dimensions together

one time he fell asleep on the sofa at apartment 303 and while he was asleep annie washed his labcoat bcs its probably grimy af and rick freaked out on her and didn't visit their dimension again for a month

morty loves shirley because shes is always so nice to him and gives him baked goods bcs she thinks hes the sweetest kid ever (he is). he always defends her when rick calls her lame

ok thats it, i usually lowkey hate crossovers but here i am. doing a crossover

also ive always been scared of posting headcannons in case someone is like "FUCK YOU these headcannons are the WORST you have no understanding of these characters you dumb faggot" so erm im scared :3 bye

[homestuckreplay]

Webcomics at Day 100 #9: Dinosaur Comics

Pages read: 2/1/2003 – 12/31/2003 & 4/14/2009 – 12/24/2009 (about 400 pages), plus Ryanquest in the Unofficial Homestuck Collection (15 pages).

Reason for selection: Ryan North and Andrew Hussie were friends as of 2010, and both their websites link and make references to the other’s. In addition, Dinosaur Comics is probably the most famous text-only webcomic – Qwantz isn’t an artist, and uses the same images for every strip, with different dialog.

Current status: Ongoing since 2003 with no major hiatuses. New comics posted three times a week. North has a Patreon, but all new and archived comics are available for free, and North allows their free use for nonprofit purposes.

Content warnings: jokes about gender and other cultures in the context of “post-feminism” and “post-racism”

Overall thoughts:

T-Rexes having tiny arms is one of the most staple jokes of the internet to me, and by making comics with this punchline in 2003, Ryan North was probably a pioneer in this area. That’s my biggest takeaway from Dinosaur Comics – it’s a microcosm of jokes, debates and discourses that came from and spread all over the Internet. Its format is simple: panels one and two feature a T-rex making a statement. In panel three, he stomps on a house as a Dromiceiomimus looks on, and sometimes comments. In panels four and five, the T-rex stomps on a human woman and has dialog with a Utahraptor, and in panel six, the T-rex is once again alone to deliver the punchline. North has repeated this format over four thousand times across more than two decades, and against all odds, it’s still paying dividends.

North plays with the form starting very early on. Comic 12 (2/14/2003) allows readers to choose between two punchlines where ‘the first is for fans of character development and quiet moments of self-awareness’ and ‘the second is for fans of kickin' it post-modern style’. Comic 29 is a ‘choose your own adventure’ where the reader takes a different route through the panels based on their choices, and comic 30 is an infinitely looping subversion of the previous. Comics 35, 38 and 39 are set in a ‘mirror universe’ where the art is flipped, comic 42 riffs on adventure games (though is sadly not playable), comic 54 is styled as a fake history textbook, comic 119 is designed to be printed out for readers to write in their own final line, and comic 168 is designed to be read twice, with different intonation (and therefore meaning) each time.

Some early comics also feature ‘compressed’ retellings of other media – for example, comic 16 retells Jurassic Park, comic 199 retells Superman’s origin story, and comic 232 retells the Bible as though it were in Seventeen magazine. In many cases it’s made clear what’s being retold, but comic 1493 retells the movie WarGames without attribution, so there are likely other allusions I missed. North later went on to write choose-your-own-adventure and graphic novel adaptations of several famous literary works, in an expansion of this format.

But possibly the quintessential Dinosaur Comic is the one that tries to teach the reader something. The main character, T-Rex, is characterized as (essentially) a freshman philosophy student – a guy who wants to understand the world on a deeper level, but is new to it and typically comes to the wrong conclusion, struggling to think past his self-absorption, lowbrow humor, and base desire to stomp on things. The stomping is part of the clipart, which makes the whole characterization static like a sitcom character – T-Rex can’t ever do any self reflection or become a better person, because the images can’t change to match. But T-Rex is also a mouthpiece for North to convey information, giving lessons on discrete math (comic 43), genetics (67), computational linguistics (170), logical fallacies (184), a recipe for chickpeas in coconut milk (196), flatworm biology (1497), the infinite hotel paradox (1575), and various literary techniques (1466, 1558, 1622). As such, while T-Rex and his friends the Utahraptor and Dromiceiomimus do have some recognizable, consistent traits, they are more of a framework for North to convey jokes and information than actual characters.

Due to the identical art, panel size and formatting of almost all his comics, North can use overlays in a way that few webcomic artists can, and has made the most of this. I found this list of twenty-four possible overlays where the URL can be edited to apply to any comic. These include one that gives the characters pirate gear, one where every character is T-Rex, one where T-Rex wears various T-shirts, one where the dinosaurs are more scientifically accurate, one that replaces the final panel with the meteor impact that kills all dinosaurs on Earth, and quite a few that replace the dinosaurs with characters from other comics such as Achewood, Penny Arcade, Problem Sleuth, and Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff.

North employs hover text in every comic, which can be an additional joke, a personal anecdote, or a repeat of a line in the comic that he especially liked. The archive page, listing every comic posted to the site, contains a second, different comment for each strip – both of these read like how Tumblr tags are used. This combined with the wordiness of the comics themselves suggest that North has a lot to say, and struggles to fit it all within the format.

Although some fans mention finding the early Dinosaur Comics weaker, I didn’t notice a dramatic difference in writing quality between the 2003 and 2009 strips. The biggest change are the newsposts that now appear under most comics, which are revealing about how popular and widely read DC has become over six years. North shouts out other webcomics and fan projects (such as comic randomizers and transformative versions) which are phrased like ‘hey, this other person is doing something cool with the internet, go check it out’ and don’t mention any official sponsorship or reciprocity. North’s relationship with other creators can be humorously antagonistic, as in comic 1502.

In other cases, the commentary discusses interesting facts, articles about crows, upcoming talks North is doing at conventions and universities, reader responses and corrections, book recommendations, fanart, guerilla gardening projects, and warnings about octopods using tools. North is extremely willing to correct factual inaccuracies in his joke comics and ensure that he also spreads the correct information – in comic 1591 he states ‘I even got some emails from researchers working on this very problem, which was kind of crazy, because I hadn't expected that!’ In comic 1508, he mentions emailing with a professor of linguistics over a recent comic. North’s work isn’t just read by terminally online young men who like his Batman references (the stereotypical 2000s webcomic reader), it’s read by academics and scientists, and publicly stating this gives him more intellectual credibility.

Like with most online personalities, I’m sure part of this is North curating an image and wanting to be seen as intelligent and cultured. But in his case, I think it’s earned – North has a master’s degree in computational linguistics and several published academic papers (all available in open access on his website) and appears to live the academic ideals of experimentation, rigor, peer review, and free access to information. Dinosaur Comics was first created when North was given a random URL and a school assignment to ‘do something interesting with the Internet’. He wanted to make comics but couldn’t draw, so used clipart. Impressively, this original ethos has carried through to today – the DC website doesn’t use ads besides some unobtrusive ones for North’s other work, the comics are crossposted to Tumblr (formerly also Twitter and LiveJournal), and all comics are searchable and include transcripts (though these were originally user sourced).

Looking at his personal website, North has taken many interesting opportunities that have come his way, and talks about them on equal terms – he’s written for Adventure Time and Fantastic Four, but also took the photograph for Wikipedia’s ‘Toast sandwich’ article and reviewed the Back to the Future novelization page by page, writing more words than are in the book itself (shit, this is sounding familiar) and is equally proud of these achievements.

North’s only paywalled projects are physical books and comics he’s written for major publishers such as Marvel, and he encourages fans to print Dinosaur Comics in nonprofit publications – the University of New Mexico has featured DC in its campus newspaper, and others have likely taken the opportunity too. North said in 2023 that he likes being known as ‘the Dinosaur Comics guy’ and being defined by that work, and that if the younger version of him could hear about his life now, he’d want to be that guy.

Between 2003 and 2010, North held fairly regular ‘guest weeks’, where he’d invite other webcomic artists to produce a Dinosaur Comic with no limitations on art or themes. Some guests play it straight and use the clipart, while some draw the standard six panels in different art styles (84, 658, 1324), some poke at the fourth wall and the T-Rex’s awareness or otherwise of the comic’s format (73-77, 1326), and some go meta and make comics about North himself (655, 1484).

The first guest weeks, in May 2003, may have come about because of North’s college finals – and as it’s before the comic takes off, it features North’s personal friends, brother and dad as guests. Later guest comics feature big internet names such as KC Green (Gunshow; origin of ‘this is fine’ meme), Zach Weiner (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal), Randall Munroe (xkcd), and of course-

Relevance to Homestuck: [one minor spoiler for Act 6]

-Andrew Hussie.

On June 12, 2009 (yes, that date), Hussie posted an official Dinosaur Comic where each of the six panels rotates between two to five possible options. The whole comic loops every 84 seconds, and functions as a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure where the path of the story is dictated by how fast you read’. Hussie is also listed as a coauthor on comic 2546 according to the archives page, which also reveals that North and Hussie’s conversations inspired a couple other comics in the early 2010s. Following Homestuck’s end of act 2, North shouts out the comic in his commentary to 1571, claiming that ‘Dinosaur Comics and MS Paint Adventures take place in the same universe’ and that the dinosaur seen in ‘WV: Ascend’ is the same dinosaur then featured in Dinosaur Comics’ header image. (The alt text of this comic reads exactly like a Serious Business message). Several days later, in comic 1574, the Utahraptor drops a ‘We’re doing this, man. We’re making this happen,’ a rare grammatically correct Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff.

It goes further. Comic 1810 features a message directly to Hussie, calling them out for not moving to Toronto. Despite being busy with moving (elsewhere), going to conventions, and updating Homestuck at over ten pages per day at that point, Hussie immediately responded with the fifteen-page adventure Ryanquest (/ryanquest/000001 in the Collection), written in the typical second-person MSPA style. North is drawn wearing a ‘Batman is For Silly Little Boys’ shirt, referencing North’s Batman fandom (and possibly comic 1543), and Hussie is drawn wearing a shirt available in the Dinosaur Comics merch store. If there are other inside jokes, they went over my head – but Ryanquest is absurd, ridiculous, and plays into the same kind of unintelligible internet irony and one-upmanship that Dave and his bro have.

It seems that North and Hussie have similar senses of humor (as well as a shared computer science background), and North clearly likes interacting with other creators, so Dinosaur Comics might be the webcomic with the most explicit links to Homestuck. Besides the obvious references, comic 1505, published July 8th, 2009, features T-Rex rapping terribly. This comes only a couple weeks after Dave’s first bad rap in Homestuck (p.287, 6/22/2009). There may be other parallels and unintentional references like this, as (at this point) the pair actively read each other’s work and talk to each other. So it’s not surprising that themes like time travel, autoresponders, and the tension between science and religion crop up in both – they’re just shared interests. Finally, Dinosaur Comics and Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff are also the only two franchises I’ve ever seen official word magnet sets for.

Continue reading? I enjoyed reading what I did, and I have a lot of respect for North’s work, but Dinosaur Comics is a very dense archive due to the wordiness of many comics and lack of new visuals. I think it works best as something to read as it updates, one comic at a time – so I will be keeping the website bookmarked, but I doubt I’ll ever read the full history.

[esperata]

Its the start of a new year so time to look ahead at my ongoing projects. First off I have a few uploaded but unfinished.

What Is Reality? (btas riddlebird) P.I. Riddler (comics riddlebird) Gay Attorney (Gotham/Ace Attorney riddlebird) Gotham Gazette (Gotham riddlebird) Merry Little Batman (Merry Little Batman riddlebird) Ghosts (Movies 1989-1997 riddlebird)

Some of these already have additional material drafted, others barely got started for the riddlebirdweek event prompt, but I do want to finish them eventually.

Other projects that haven't been shared but which at least have been started, to a greater or lesser extent. Bear in mind these are the working titles, not necessarily what they'll go on AO3 as (although looking at my list above I am not always that creative with titles).

Cherchez la Femme (Caped Crusader riddlebird) Under the Desk (New Adventures riddlebird) Sex Slave (hattercrow) Ducky's Debut (Batwheels Mahou Ducky/Quizz) Stepping Up (Arkham games riddlebird) Arkham Sitcom (hattercrow & riddlebird, possibly others) Get A Clue (Arkham games riddlebird) On Stream (comics riddlebird) You Only Live Twice (Telltale riddlebird) Pre-criminal (hattercrow) Transphobia (Arkham games riddlebird) Western AU (hattercrow) Suit (TSSM octogoblin) Fate Or Something Like It (No Way Home octogoblin) Good Omens (octogoblin)

Which just leaves the list of conceptual fics. Those which have taken space in my brain but not yet in any document file.

Bowser's Keep Showtime P.S. I Hate You continuation Old Friends Bitter Enemies The World is Your Oyster sequel Fright Gay Chicken Nobody Said It Was Going to be Easy sequel Future hattercrow (Mahou Gotham) The Curse of Alice (Mahou 1960s) Blood and Flowers Rumour Mill Wedding Nerves Doctor/Patient Mayor Cobblepot Are We Friends? Grown Up Ed Gets Powers (Mahou Movies 89-97) Take A Chance On Me (Mahou Arkham) Oz Mentors Ed (Mahou The Batman) Psychiatrist Batman Vs Dracula The People's Joker Rogues Go Skiing Truth and Lies Star Trek AU C Tier Idol Pax Penguina sequel Name That Bird Music Meister Kids Museum Meeting Misunderstandings The King of Gotham sequel Angel!Ed/Demon!Oz Post Returns Bookshop 1960s The Real Deal sequel The King Is Dead Wrap You Around My Finger Weight Gain What's in a Name? Ravishing

And I think that's a brief summary of everything I have pending. If anyone wants to query anything here, feel free to send me an ask. Please ignore that some of these keep carrying over from year to year XD

[kaleido-write]

Also if want to talk about how the latest tadc ep was probably extracted from gangle mind because no one seems to talk about it

Like everyone represent a stereotype you expect to see in fast food sitcom

The high one (ragatha), the guy (jax) , the flirty one(pomni) , the overworked manager (gangle) and the peace maker worker (zooble)

So while Caine would've used his limited knowledge about it , assuming he can have access to the internet and the characters mind he probably mixed it altogether and used gangle life and experience to create an adventure she'd like

Hence why the characters roles where so strict but the workload was exhausting and draining and she stayed very late , its a mix of caines expectations of what a day in a fast food is mixed with gangles lived experience

It was also a very good depiction of trauma and how therapy often works , because the adventure so far all challenged them in a certain way to make sure they would keep growing and wouldn't stagnate as individuals, and in gangles case proposing something she went trough in her previous life was her way to reclaim power over the situation

Also what if characters go abstract because they stop growing , what if they become abstract because they refuse to grow as a person and the stagnation mixed with dullness (wich could also be an interpretation of dissociation and depression) leave them to loose themselves beyond repair and become so complexly broken in their own psyche that caines program can't handle their avatar anymore so it becomes corrupted and break havoc because it hurts and they're confused (maybe a metaphor for self destruction amd how it often affect the people around you as collateral damage)

[superbdragoncollection-stuff]

Its really upsetting how many shows and movies nowadays are going "separation is good and necessary".

Amphibia is the obvious offender for those of you who know me, yet it started earlier than that.

How to train your dragon ends with that. the disney live action remake doesn't even need to change that.

The Lilo and stitch remake.

and a bunch of others.

Look, gravity falls was one example of this being good, yet it shouldn't be the standard. Amphibia was a science fiction adventure that for some reason got branded as a sitcom, and so you can't slap a sitcom ending from pepper Anne on it! If your message is about how we are better together you can't have so much of your narrative focused around chosen ones or separation. its like having a pie fight at the end of Star wars the Clone Wars, it is so tone deaf.

I suspect its homophobia. Found family is linked heavily to the LGBT community, and the US as a culture is also really uncomfortable with found family for reasons I cannot begin to fathom. It is only in the last forty years we've even become comfortable with telling kids they're adopted! There's literally GI Joe episodes about teaching that it isn't a bad thing!

And while it sounds like I'm jumping the gun, when people talk about how separation is natural and good it makes me REALLY uncomfortable because it implies we're stronger alone.

more than homophobia its likely the creepy conservative values hammering back into progressive spaces. The Amphibia ending was terrible, separation is NOT good. "It's a part of growing up" okay, so what? Why did you have to make such a shitty ending? this broke my heart as an adult. I can't imagine how many kids will be saddened when their favorite shows and movies tell them to abandon happiness because the families that love and cherish them are temporary so its better to cut them off in exchange for something better.

No im not bitter or anything.