#ludicrous mode

[dexaroth]

all this advancement in technology and we still dont have decent ways to have an animated desktop wallpaper. world gone to shit

[bratzboykai]

God I wish theyd reissue previously printed Issey Miyake sewing patterns, especially the ones between the 80s and 90s. Those are some stellar fucking pieces with so many interesting shapes and strong shoulders.

[rubyvroom]

Ok first of all Renfield was a blast, so jot that down. Secondly, Nicolas Cage was so fucking funny in this scene it's semi-tragic that he's usually only in comedies unintentionally.

his facial journey here is so good

[renemesis]

if you had to throw a birthday party for some of your f/os on their respective birthdays, what would the parties be like?

Anon yuore feeding me soo well I'm grabbing you so gently like a small creature and appreciating you rn. ANYWAYS (under cut as usual)

Hmm ok well. I think truthfully alot of my f/os would have very complicated feelings abt their birthdays/being celebrated and also I think some of them just dont know their birthday even but oh my God. The ideas are still so so cutes bc I LOVE ALL MY F/OS!! ANS THEY ARE ALL PRECIOUS TO ME AND DESERVE GOOD THINGS!! (<-many of them are actually not good people at all. But thatsok they're all good to Me thats what counts ♡(JOKE))

God ok. I cant imagine literally ANY of my f/os wanting big parties with lots of people like maybe lucien or alfred or toshi would tolerate it?? Actually a huge bday party for lucien would be so funny. Yeah I'm putting up the fantasy equivalent of obnoxious bday decorations in the murder cult hideout. No he'd tolerate it at best and attempt to murder me at worse itd be sooo funny OK ANYWAYS!!

Omg this is a little tough ok.,,. Hmm. Ok I wanna Give Moreaus old goofy as a nice party maybe just a small thing... I'd be stubborn enough to annoy his siblings into complying with the idea so it'd be more of just a lettle #problematic family get-together out in the woods by the village or perhaps in the Lady's castle (if she is.feeling tolerant of manthings at the time)... baking his silly fish ass a cake and giving him homemade gifts and guilting the lords into being real niceys to him yaaaaay♡♡♡ (miranda isnt invited tho shes been ex communicated FOREVER. Sorry that's just how it has to be ♡)

Ohhh yknow what. Throwing a (found) family get together bday party for Frank would be so good too but it'd also be so awful and ridiculous. It would have to happen somewhere secluded bc shit is ALWAYS happening to this man when hes just in public. Always. And of COURSE I'd invite his besties but also his Worsties (the defenders) and perhaps maybe he'd end up having a fist fight with his blind rival at his own birthday party. But that's ok! It happens! Noo but it'd be a fairly nice event overall methinks and despite what he might say I know Frank would be thankful to have so many people give enough of a shit abt him to happily spend a day hanging out with him and appreciating him being alive (despite everything)

These are.kind of so nothing but this post is already so long GAH!! Anyways my f/os are all VERY different and honestly i.could very meticulously ramble abt what I would do for their bdays but all that's insane behavior. And also I'm so shys. And also I think most of them would value the effort and time put in rather than monetary value or dramatics but also maybe a little dramatics is appreciated to show just how much they're really cared for. Y'know. Thank you and God bless

[kirkenovak]

John accidentally calls Bob a pet name (they’ve been secretly dating) but the rest of Thunderbolts think he’s mocking Bob and are upset.

Bonus: Sam Wilson is there and gives John a lecture about homophobia in a full Captain America Is Making a Speech mode

Bonus bonus: Val is there and decides to do damage control by “outing” Bob and John as a couple to the press— except they really are a couple - and by saying how upsetting it is that Sam Wilson thinks romantic affection between two men is such a ludicrous idea that it has to be a mockery

Bonus bonus bonus: Bucky is not present for any of this. He’s on holidays. He’s resting, he’s thriving, he’s ordering drinks with little umbrellas, hes getting massages, he’s not checking news and texts, he’s out of the loop. Please, let this man rest, he looks so tired, so done.

[m1stm3]

ok so this has the most sudden ending so don’t get too attached pls :3 but anyways here’s over 1k words abt my bf

mdni!! this one’s a lil suggestive

everything is quiet — gentle (as gentle as your boyfriend could be, at least). the apartment had gone dark at a ludicrously late time as per usual, all screens on an idle sleep mode that gave a dim blue light to the living room.

you’re straddling tenko on the couch, lips locked and feverish — something that would’ve made spinner gag if he was was present (not that the two of you would be doing this if he was — he just tended to have really bad timing when it came to these things. whoops).

there’s a small shift underneath you.

the way tenko’s hips bump against yours is soft, so soft you almost don’t catch it in the haze of your locked lips… but then he does it again. and again. and then you have to pull away to check what he’s doing because you two have never done anything more than make out and you definitely do wanna fuck him but what if he’s not even trying to initiate anything like that and-

“what happened?” he asks softly. the lovesick look on his face is almost comical, you would’ve teased him about it if you were in your usual mental state but you were way too out of your element at the moment to even consider that option.

you give his shoulders a small squeeze from where your hands were resting, a small, uncertain shift of your hips making you both take in a little breath.

“… nothing.”

your voice is nothing more than a huff. you don’t know whether you’re frustrated at yourself for your lack of confidence or at him for how oblivious he was to how fucking insane he was making you right now. he doesn’t look convinced.

“tell me.”

“no.”

the pout he gives you is lethal, his kiss swollen lips only enhancing every squeeze-him-to-death impulse that you got whenever he even glanced in your direction.

“stop it. m’not telling you.” you grumble.

“then keep kissing me.”

“… i can’t.” you almost hoped he couldn’t hear that. the confused little wrinkle in his brow shows that your silent prayer wasn’t answered.

“you can’t.” he repeats. you can almost hear the irritated twitch in his brow.

“mhm.” maybe doubling down would work. maybe he’d just brush it off because you both knew you were being ridiculous and overthinking every little thing as you usually did. maybe, maybe, maybe…

“you’re being stupid, tell me what’s wrong.” he gives your hip a small pinch, an action that would usually have you frowning and swatting his hand away but now only makes you want to squirm.

“you were just-“ you let out a frustrated little breath that cuts off your own words. he stays quiet (whether he was being considerate or reveling in the rare shyness from you was disturbingly unclear. you wanted to choke him out either way).

“… moving…” you finish your thought. that was dumb, of course he was moving while you were making out. you were starting to question your own mental state.

he still doesn’t say anything, but his expression turns deadpan. gods you were so out of your depth.

“you were like- moving your hips, i guess… i dunno. shut up.” you finally huff out, a burning heat in your cheeks that you tried your best to conceal. why couldn’t he just catch on already??

“no i wasn’t.” his response is immediate. you couldn’t tell whether he was oblivious or embarrassed (he was irritatingly good at schooling his expressions when he wanted to, unfortunately for you).

“you were, i felt it. you were, like… basically humping me, tenko-“

“ew don’t say it like that, i was not-“

“you were-“

it’s not long before your words devolve into jumbled murmurs, the both of you desperately trying to get your points across and make the other admit that you’re right without waking up everyone else in the apartment. you don’t notice the way his eyes dart to your lips for a split second before he leans in again, muffling your words against his lips.

his hands grip your hips tight, his chest pressing against yours when you lean into the kiss. you were stubborn but definitely not stubborn enough to break the kiss just to bicker with him more.

he pulls your hips against his in a subtle rocking motion and your breath hitches in a small gasp you take in through your nose. his hips aren’t moving like they were before, but the way he was guiding you is more than enough to send heat flowing just under your skin.

“did i make you uncomfortable?” it’s a breath against your lips, a sort of care behind the whisper that only you got to see. you pull away just barely so you can shake your head, your lips grazing over his. not quite a kiss but the air still felt static.

“do you wanna stop?” his voice is somehow softer than before. you weren’t used to hearing him sound so… shy. he was always one to rip the band aid right off but here he was, flushed and gripping tightly at your hips for any way to ground himself. it’s like you both were resisting the urge to shy away and retreat to opposite ends of the couch. you shake your head again.

the red on his cheeks has spread to the tips of his ears at this point, but he still nods in response. you both don’t move for a few beats after that, both of you so so afraid of doing something wrong and taking the other out of the moment.

“you’re… really pretty.” he breaths out the words like you’ve punched him in the stomach. he truly couldn’t think of anything else to say at the moment and you knew that, but you couldn’t help but fall into a fit of giggles at his words.

“you're mean.” he grumbles out, the slopes of your noses nudging against each other when that little pout pulls at his lips again.

“i know, m’sorry.” there’s that tinge of sly amusement behind your words that makes his heart squeeze and he has to stop himself from biting you… or something stupid and cringey like that.

instead, he guides your hips to grind against him in a clumsy, unsure sort of motion. it’s an act of impulse, something that would’ve had him flushing dark and apologizing if he didn’t hear the sound that left you when he did it.

that fucking sound. he wishes he could’ve recorded it and played it on repeat for the rest of his life. you weren’t loud, but it was soft and breathy and just a little higher pitched than the times he’s sucked hickeys into the skin of your neck. it’s fucking perfect — unrestrained, pretty, you.

he’s watching you with stars in his eyes and you have to press your palm over them to finally break him out of his daze.

“stop that.” you grumble under your breath, but the way you lean forward to press a few fleeting pecks to his lips does not help your words sound any more forceful.

he lets out a small sound that you don’t acknowledge as a whine for your own sanity.

“baby…” it’s soft in the way he knew made you weak. he always did this, used the stupidly sweet petnames you used with him because he knew how quickly you’d fold. you always tried to resist, but he wouldn’t continue doing it if it didn’t work, would he?

“lemme see you-“

“shut up.“ there’s a stupid, subtle smirk on his lips and you have half a mind to get off of him completely to get the smug look off of his face. you don’t though, he knew you wouldn’t.

[mouseycometz]

King and Queen of the Skies (TFP Starscream/OC)

Word Count: 700+ Warnings: None! Plot: Starscream teaches Juniper how to swan dive.

On a barren, rocky cliffside, Juniper stood tall in her techno-organic mode, her pink and gold armor shimmering bright below the sunlight. She spread her feet apart, her wings twitching with trepidation. A bead of sweat trickled down her face, her shining, blue eyes fixating on the solid ground below her. It was a long fall. One mistake could very well end in death. 

Could she take that chance?

Starscream lingered next to her, towering over her with a scowl on his faceplate. He tapped his claws against himself, signifying that his patience was thinning.

“Well, are you going to keep me waiting all day? Try again.”

Juniper frowned a little, but she nodded and did as she was told. While flexing her wings, the woman dove from the cliff’s edge. The wind howled in her ears and grazed her visor, her red hair fluttering behind her. The feeling of weightlessness overwhelmed her, turning her insides numb with fear. The ground approached far too quickly, just like last time. Before she could even shriek, Juniper caught herself. She broke her form with a defeated groan, flailing her limbs as she readjusted her flight path. Sulking, she soared back towards the cliffside with the aid of the rocket boosters on her heels. Starscream waited with his arms crossed over his silver chest.

“Fine.” He frowned, venting with another sigh and twitching his wings. “Allow me to demonstrate once more.”

With that, the mech created some distance between her for safety. And then, with a dramatic flair, he engaged in a free fall. Juniper watched in awe as he fell in a perfect swan dive, outstretching his arms and wings before transforming into a jet at the last moment and twirling into the air. For several moments, he soared, truly aiming to impress the lady as she hummed at his display. With him, there was no fear, and there was no hesitation, at least whenever it came to flying. Starscream cherished the activity more than anything else in the universe. 

Once he returned to her side, transforming into robot mode with his pedes planted firmly on the cliff, he nodded at her. 

“You see? Now, do it right this time.”

Once more, Juniper pouted, a flood of anxiety overtaking her as she twiddled with her fingers.

“Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

"Playing with your digits!”

With a burst of emotion, Juniper stomped her heel.

“Well, I can’t help it! I’m scared.”

Starscream scoffed as though he found her outburst to be ludicrous.

“I've witnessed you fight an army of Terrorcon Predacons, how does this scare you?”

Juniper’s wings drooped, a blush forming across her pale face.

“I don’t want…to disappoint you.”

All at once, it seemed like everything came to a halt, even the wind itself. The mech paused, turning silent for a moment as the woman averted her gaze from him to look at the ground far below her. The blush across her face glowed, spreading to the tips of her ears. She closed her eyes, hoping to hide herself away from the embarrassment. 

And then, she felt the tap of a digit on her shoulder plating, causing her to glance upwards. Starscream was lowered slightly, his gaze soft and his crimson optics bright. 

“Why don’t I...do it with you this time?” He smiled at her. “I won’t let you hit the ground. I promise.”

There was sincerity in his tone, one that encouraged the woman to relax. Juniper couldn’t help but smirk, her chest thrumming with the warmth of her hybrid spark. 

“Alright.”

With his help, she then formed her body into the correct position. He was right by her side, never wavering.

“Ready?”

Juniper nodded.

“Ready!”

Together, they dove, side by side as the air whooshed around them. As her wings tilted, Juniper felt Starscream's optics on her, and although she was tempted to meet his gaze, she instead focused on the ground ahead of her.

“Trust your spark, Juniper! I have faith in you!”

With her arms stretched and heels close, she waited until finally hearing the familiar sound of clicks and whirrs. Starscream transformed, and once he did, she activated her boosters and soared upwards into the sky along with him.

She cheered, kicking her feet and flicking her wings. 

“Starscream, I did it!”

The mech laughed.

“Yes! You did! That’s my girl!”

The two beamed at each other, dancing in the sky as though they owned the entire expanse. In a way, they did. In the clouds, there was no one else. it was their safe space, their domain, and it was only them, the king and queen of the skies.

[geniusphilester]

i'm a bit of a balatro nerd, so here's some notes on dan's screencap in his insta story

if you haven't played before, balatro is poker in its most core mechanics, with single-player roguelike (so you lose a lot and build from playing a lot) deck building (what it sounds like, you build your deck) mechanics to make poker Bigger. you can do some weird and wild things with it, but at its base, you're playing flushes and straights and pairs and trying to score chips.

if you want to see it in action, markiplier has a good video that seems like it'll be first in a series.

in balatro, you get a base level of hands per round depending on your deck/add-ons like vouchers or jokers. for checkered deck, which dan is playing, it's 4 hands/3 discards, so you have four hands to try to get enough chips to get to the next round. there are three rounds per ante, and the regular game ends at ante 8. you can also skip rounds to get stuff.

which is the long version of saying: dan has gotten to endless mode, which means he's beat the regular part of the game and is shooting for a ludicrously high score. he has to get 47 billion chips to win this round and get to the next one. for comparison, round 1 in ante 1 on white stake difficulty (which is the one dan's playing in) needs 300 chips to advance.

also for comparison: i have hundreds of hours on this game and i haven't cracked the 100 million chips achievement on steam

he's doing a flush build (which makes sense for checkered deck; it only has hearts and spades, unlike the normal four suits) and his flush is leveled to 24, which is really good/necessary to get this late in the game. he has a lot of money, he used all his discards for the round, and he has a bunch of face cards with modifications on them. it's good strategy just looking at this much, basically

and then all the jokers he has up top make this REALLY impressive. in order from left to right

gluttonous joker: played clubs get +3 multiplier. odd one for checkered deck (no clubs to start with) but a) maybe he added some and b) even if he didn't, it's a negative card, so it's not taking up room that any other joker could use. (for this set of circumstances, base slots for jokers would be five.)

sock and buskin: retrigger all played face cards, which means all the cards dan is playing in this hand will score a second time. two of his face cards have red seals, which means they'd play a third time, one of those red seals is a glass card that'll give him a higher multiplier...i could keep going, but doing a face-card flush build is a good way to score big.

photograph: first played face card gives x2 multiplier when scored. again, another great joker for a face-card build.

blueprint: copies the joker to the right. GREAT card if you have good jokers. it also has holographic, which means it add a +10 multiplier as well.

triboulet: highest tier of joker (legendary) where kings and queens give x2 multiplier when played. but imagine it twice, since he has blueprint as well.

the tribe: x2 multiplier if hand contains a flush. and he's obviously doing a flush build.

to add to all of this, his order is really good because the cards play left to right. times multipliers stack on each other, and since chips get exponential, you need that to really get anywhere.

tl;dr - while some of this is luck (the store doesn't always sell jokers this good at the right time), dan is good at balatro.

[somesecretpie]

Fans and Creators of Webtoons!

I want to talk about Line Webtoon’s new “Super Like” program and why it sucks for literally everyone.

What is a “Super Like?”

According to their website, super likes are a new way for webtoon creators to monetize their work. Readers can pay real money to buy a super like for their favorite webtoon, and the creator gets a fraction of that money.

Wait, a fraction? Not all of it?

Yep! Webtoon skims quite a chunk off the top.

30% goes to Webtoon, and then another 30% of that amount goes to the payment processor.

So what do creators get? 49 cents for every dollar their fans try to give them. Literally half.

That’s pretty ludicrous, right?

Interestingly enough, they announced that they had a “tipping system” in the works in the same email they ended the CANVAS creator rewards program (and many comic creators livelihoods)

They said tipping system in their social media posts too

Obviously this tipping system is referring to super likes right? They say they’re going to do a tipping system, and then this rolls out.

But “tips” are not something that buisinesses can just take a cut of, at least not in the United States. According to the Department of Labor, it is illegal for any amount of tips from customers to go to an employer.

Webtoon is trying to walk back this language, of course. You won’t find the word “tip” anywhere on their website page explaining how it works. But those old social media posts are still up.

This is all pretty scummy

But wait, it gets worse!

They removed the Patreon button at the end of episodes and replaced it with this:

Yep! That’s right. Webtoon really said “what if we replace the tipping system that already existed with a shittier one where you only get half of it 🥺”

Unsurprisingly, they faced a ton of backlash.

Webtoon was quick to point out that the Patreon button was only removed from the end of episodes and there was still a button on the creator’s homepage. But of course, the end of episodes is where that button matters the most.

Creators know this. Webtoon knows this.

Eventually, after days of continued complaints from creators on social media, Webtoon went on damage control mode and announced that they would be putting the Patreon button back at the end of episodes—

As of right now (May 11th, 2024) the Patreon button is still not back.

***

So…Super likes are “super totally not a tip.”

But if they aren’t tips…what are they?

Well there’s a bit more to the story of what a super like actually is. After announceing the program, the app updated to reveal a new ranking category on the front page

When you click on this ranking tab, you can see that there is now both a daily and weekly ranking

If you’re a CANVAS creator, you know how difficult and seemingly random it can be to get your comic on the front page of the app—so my immediate worry was that comic creators were going to buy superlikes on their own series to get in this ranking and…

Yep, that’s already happening.

But why would webtoon even allow creators to buy superlikes for themselves? How does that make sense?

Surely goading desperate creators into buying superlikes can’t be that lucrative, can it?

No. I think there’s another, possibly even worse reason.

Fandom wars

If you’re into music, you probably are aware of how common it is for super fans to make concerted efforts to get their favorite musician to the top of the billboard charts. They coordinate over social media, stream music on loop as soon as an album drops to inflate the numbers, buy albums in bulk to increase sales, all so that they can say their fav is number one. It’s especially common among K-pop fans and swifties

This phenomena is well documented

Fans of Webtoons can be just as ravenous as K-pop, so I think Webtoon is trying to capitalize on this. They want to encourage fandom war and make money. That’s why they have this ranking. Not only can super fans brag about their favorite series topping the charts but they can wear their super like proudly on their reader profile that webtoon will be rolling out soon.

They’re just testing this super like stuff out on CANVAS right now, but once this starts up with originals? Oh. It will be a very profitable, very terrible mess.

(Oh and I mean profitable for webtoon, not creators, in case that wasn’t clear.)

***

Anyway, if you’re a creator, do yourself a favor and don’t enable super likes.

If you’re a fan of a webcomic, just donate to that creators patreon or Ko-Fi to show your support. Don’t give a red cent to webtoon because they did not do any of the work to make the series you love, alright?

Also check out my webtoon haha.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

I think it’s pretty damn funny how much of the TF2 comics were just about taking the ludicrous things that happen as part of the gameplay and giving them even-more-ludicrous Lore Explanation. Anything from the appearance of new weapons

And new game modes

And why the ‘announcer’ is the same regardless of which team you’re on

And why a location would be called basically ���2Fort” in real life anyways

And who the hell the characters were talking to in their “Meet the” videos

And where did the moniker "Team Fortress" even came from in-universe

To of course, why you’re fighting the same repetitive battles over and over endlessly anyways

But the one thing they never tried to explain or meaningfully acknowledge in any way, not even in a poignant “the point is that it’s pointless and makes no sense” sort of way - is why the hell are there two identical ‘Team Fortress’ populated with seemingly-identical people living seemingly-identical lives.

[transformers-spike]

I love your TF1 Megatron angst ❤️ I prefer Cybertronian x human but I don't often see TF1 x human and yours is my favorite. If questions are still open, who do you think are into fucking while in alt mode and how do you think they do it? Seat grinding? Gear stick play? Seatbelt bondage? Whatever is inside a flyer's cockpit? Mostly thinking G1 or TF1, but TFP is cool too

Oof - been contemplating this with @drunkeninlovesailor (at this point expect to see her mentioned whenever I post smth) Here's what she wrote and I'll be adding onto it:

I think TF:One is hard to get a grip on mostly because we only see the altmodes on Cybertron, and not the ones they take up on Earth. So sadly this takes Sentinel out of the equation (rest in piss). I'm a lot more finicky with my TF:One portrayals so for now y'all gonna contend with what my homoerotic bestie wrote TFP Breakdown would love having you touch yourself in his backseat. He may not have Knock Out's voice, but his himbo charm and genuineness sweetens the mood.

Skyquake is more feral than Dreadwing, so he's down for it. Will even make his engine vibrate - just try not to faint during the trip. If he wants to make you cum, he hecking will (or at least overstimulate you until your genitals are raw) Smokescreen is young and spry and full of transfluid - so of course he's going to beg you until you ride his stick shift (make sure you're already parked for the love of Primus). His overload is dry in his alt mode, but he still has to reboot. Making him come undone is ridiculously easy I think the Autobot guardians are actually quite opposed to alt mode teasing - mostly because their wards are usually the ones in there, so having their human partner do this to them... well it feels weird because they keep thinking "Oh fuck - how can I act casual when Jack/Miko/Raf arrive?" - it makes them feel dirty in a bad way. Arcee's the one to get over it though, mostly because she realizes how ludicrous the thought process is. She's a grown femme, what she does with her interface partner is her business alone Out of everyone, Knock Out remains the wildest because if you have a dildo or a fleshlight with you (or even just contemplate getting one), he's going to sweet talk you into fucking yourself with it in his interior. Just don't leave a mess else he'll make you clean it up. Still wants to feel you come undone inside of him

[j-august]

He wished that, sometimes, fate would settle for drama or comedy. He wished that the more difficult events of his life were not always in terrible juxtaposition to the ludicrous. He had fading hopes that, one day, he would wake up and find that he was firmly in one successful mode, and about to stay there.

Dorothy Dunnett, Scales of Gold

[rei-ismyname]

Daken and Logan have a chat

Daken is self destructing and he has been for a while. From working for Norman Osborn, his disastrous stint as an LA mob boss, burning out his healing factor with drugs, and even blowing up his bizarre friendship with the Fantastic Four. He's in supervillain mode and it's time to settle his oldest debt. 'Claw clown' is amazing.

He has his father at his mercy in what is probably the closest to a therapy session Logan ever gets. Daken has a lot of anger, and many of his gotchas have a lot of merit to them. Logan's schtick is definitely undercut by his contradictions and hypocrisy, but he does try to be a better person, mostly. Better doesn't mean nice or even friendly, but he's tied up here and he really does want to help Daken if he can.

It's unsurprising that Daken and Sabertooth managed to work together - they both hate Logan for many of the same reasons. While he's ostensibly a 'good guy' and is treated as such socially, he definitely kills a lot of people and is a raging asshole most of the time. It frustrates me, so I do empathize with Daken. Being psychoanalysed and condescended to by Logan is the last thing he wants. He was calm-ish and talking. That's something.

Logan is ... not great at reaching him, frankly. A huge part of Daken's anger comes from Logan not being any kind of father to him. Drawing a line under that and trying to give fatherly advice seems like a terrible idea, but it's unclear if there was any possibility of getting a good outcome here. The tough love is 95% tough, which doesn't leave much room for love.

Focusing on Daken's agency feels almost cruel, too. So much of his life has been defined by his choices being denied to him. What he says is true, but the presentation is pretty callous. Sure, he's not good at this stuff but honestly he's had a long time to learn. It's an impossible situation made worse by future knowledge that Daken will massacre the school, but I wonder if spending some of his ludicrously long life on emotional intelligence might have led to a better result.

The 'stain' comment strikes a chord with Daken but it's something he already knows. He's got plenty of delusions ('you hate me' etc) and a pathological desire for acceptance, but that doesn't override his anger. I might be projecting my own parental trauma here, but I think he wants to be heard and understood. Logan is mouthing platitudes at him but he's not really following Daken's side of the conversation. Aside from 'I'm your goddamn father,' he hasn't directly answered a question or statement. When asked if he wonders what could have been, he looks away and says nothing. Daken is well aware he's burning shit down; he just thinks that's a good thing. Or, he hasn't been given a reason not to.

Daken pivots to what was, instead of what could have been. It's awful, and it's just a tiny sample of what he went through. Logan doesn't listen for very long before before cutting in with tepid regrets. Daken brushes them off and toasts to regret. Keep in mind Daken is like sixty years old at this point, maybe older. He's been carrying this around for a long time.

They have a lot in common - some of which Daken inherited from Logan. Enemies, powers, trauma, anger, expectations, and so on. It's possible they could have reached an understanding of those commonalities, but I'm not sure either man knows how right now. Importantly, Logan received a lot of grace and room to grow from other people. His murder factory was state sanctioned while Daken's wasn't. If Daken did want to try to be better, the ecosystem he exists in definitely wouldn't help.

Logan makes his pitch as Daken decides for sure that he is not capable of giving him what he wants. It might land better if he had reached out a little more openly. Daken says he's been considering it, and he might be lying but I don't think he is. I think a more compassionate, less individualistic Logan might have gotten through - but then it wouldn't be a tragedy. Thanks to time travel nonsense he probably thinks that a fight to the death is preordained. We'll never know, as he goes for Wolverine Kryptonite - drowning.

Obviously Logan escapes, something Daken meets with false bravado. They prepare to finish it.

Logan even puts himself at a disadvantage by choosing not to succumb to berserker rage as Daken does. Well, arguably an advantage, a commentary on their mental states if nothing else. He's not trying to save his son or reach him anymore, if he ever was. He's got many responsibilities pulling at him and Headmaster of the Jean Grey school is the only one left.

We switch to Daken's POV as Logan turns the tables and drowns him in a puddle. The 'what if?' questions and images run through his mind as his brain is starved of oxygen. He struggles but Logan is stronger.

In the ruins of a burning building, a ruined life, Daken dies pathetically by his father's hand. He did always want to torment him as much as possible, and while he didn't maximise it this is really sad. Unnecessary. Yeah, Daken has been a shithead with little regard for anyone (and he'll be back) but it's still a shame. The story frames Logan's agonising choice as whether to kill Daken or not, but the source of that was his future self - even more gruff and grizzled than this Logan. I think he may have been able to avoid that situation entirely, but then he wouldn't be Logan. It's a powerful story, but I think it contributes to their eventual good relationship feeling less earned.

[olderthannetfic]

TW Suicide. I talk about suicide from a religious perspective, and religion is not kind with suicide.

I might be reaching but I think religious Asian countries might be more proship-friendly than western countries??

Let's see a few cases. Japan. I'm not sure how religious Japan is, but they have very strict values and traditions. There are so many how-tos and even the language has levels that you can only use to certain people, otherwise it's rude. They can't express queerness so freely that yaoi/yuri is the best outlet they have, and they got called rotten for it.

Japan is notorious for being very proship friendly. There was even a huge "what is proship and why should you block those with 'proship DNI' in their bios" thread over on Twitter and it was so widely shared by Japanese users. At that point, even antis took off the "proship DNI" off their bios (such cowards lol).

The people in my religious (Muslim) country and its neighbor, Malaysia and Indonesia, even the minors, are so proship-oriented that I only ever saw exactly one person with "proship DNI" in their bio. And their posts tell me they're the more "liberal" people of the country. You know, the ones that the older people are using as examples of "Look at that girl. She's been poisoned by the western values, she's showing so much skin. Don't be like her". Now I obviously will just laugh at older people who says such things but hear me out.

The people who are actually practicing religion to the point where nothing sexual is allowed, who WILL screech at sex (both vanilla and kinky) in fanworks should they ever join, won't touch fandom with a ten-foot pole. This leaves us with the absolute freaks who thinks "I'm religious, I believe in God that other people call fiction, but I can't have sex until I'm married and masturbation is haram, so smut fic is actually a great way to let off tension! No one real is having sex so it's a green area. I'm not masturbating, I'm just reading. Sometimes they excite me, most of the time not! Halal mode."

Also, murder and suicide is a sin. A huge sin. If you tell someone to kill themselves and they actually did, the religious guilt would be MASSIVE. I can't imagine an actually correctly-practicing religious sending death threats and not be haunted by the promise of a sin. A sin that involves other people is much harder to forgive (it requires forgiveness from the hurt people, and that's impossible with suicide. They can't forgive you if they're dead) than a sin that involves yourself (masturbation. All you have to do is regret and never do it again. Which is why suicide is seen as unforgiveable. You can't undo it).

So, it sometimes makes me wonder that in the west, MAGA catholic conservatives shares a lot of values with fanpols. But in religious countries, the actually rigid religious ones aren't in fandom, so the fandom is filled with people who aren't evangelical purists.

This incoherent yap might be reaching, but hey, a new perspective to US-Europeans or non-religious people. It's just kinda funny to think about. Since you are very well-spoken and critical (I think so from your replies to the asks!), what do you think?

--

Well... I think there are a lot of specifics here that are hilarious in how you've framed them. (The situation with queer people in Japan has evolved a lot over the last couple of decades. That isn't at all how I'd describe politeness levels in language, and I think your assumptions based on how politeness works in Japanese are ludicrous. Catholicism isn't the big, powerful flavor of Christianity in the US, so it's not where the majority of the nutbars ruining politics come from. Etc. Etc.)

But back in the 90s in US fandom in English, slash was the domain of freaks, and the puritywankers were openly homophobic and did not hang out in the same spaces.

Yes, I do think that part of the rise of the current flavor of antis has to do with somewhat wider acceptance of queerness combined with an overall anxiety-inducing and uncertain situation. They're not secure enough to chill the fuck out, but they wrongly believe that our battles for queer rights here are done and/or that they can be won by throwing the freakier members of the community under the bus.

[pureshadough]

I'm trying to redesign my kingdom and I'm having a bit of a rough time doing it,

I saw images of your kingdom and it looked AMAZING

Can you please give me a few pro tips for the hollyberry update?

kingdom designing (and a lot of the game in general) is infinitely easier on PC, google play games is an "officially supported" emulator but there are many options out there

i look at pinterest for inspiration and then just kind of zone out for a few hours LMAO

not rlly helpful my apolocheese. as compensation heres some other tips while im at it of shit i just wish i knew abt earlier

when collecting skill powders from the bounty game mode if you click the symbol that looks like this 🔁 in the actual boss menu you can select exactly which type of skill powder you want to collect instead of it being a randomized assortment

i dont rememebr what the mechanic is Precisely called off the top my head but its the rotating levels monster mayhem thing w/ the different chest colors. green chests are your best means of collecting beascuits if you're underleveled

in general if you havent finished beast yeast yet doing so on story mode will still give you a fuckload of free fate cutters

join literally any decently leveled guild and dont just do your daily check-in but Open thue guild battle tab daily too. even if you dont/cant play the game mode it gives you a ludicrous amount of guild gacha pulls and cream puff is very helpful in a lot of settings if you're in need of a good support cookie

you get a free 40 light of [x] during the beast/ancient events from the shop (its hidden under the "new event" tab iirc) so dont forget to collect that

[vomitdodger]

Major ongoing psyop to discredit Susie Wiles, who was also Trumps campaign manager, tying her to big Pharm. Be aware. The BS Which was always bad is on overdrive steroids full ludicrous speed mode.