#or they were sending death threats to the developers. no in between

[sapphim]

I do think it's rather funny how modern articles about bioware-of-the-past-decade have a tendency to represent ME3 as a beloved finale to a beloved franchise, as if mass effect fans didn't throw such an enormous fucking bitchbaby shitfit on its release that the developers had to be dragged immediately back into the studio to redo the ending to shut them up

[glitter-stained]

Please do tell us about your literal head canon. I’m so interested. I’ve seen your post on what Outlaws should be, but please let us dive further!

So for a moment there I thought you were talking about that joke I once made about giving the canon head and was very confused lmao.

That being said, wrt the canon that exists in my head (aka complete rewrite of Jason's Red Hood run but I'm head of dc editorial): with pleasure! This should also help understand the context of the fic I'm writing rn!

Glitter's complete Jason Todd Head canon (the canon that is in my head)

Batman and Robin 2025, Batgirl and Robin, Nightwing Annual

> First there's the Extended Robin Run: this one I won't spoil because I'm actively working on writing it and it's not necessary to understand the continuity: it's a bunch of jaybin stories intended to fit into Jason's post-crisis robin run and develop it, give it cohesion while also exploring themes such as class consciousness, trauma, mental illness etc. It's not related to the rest of the continuity in so that it's meant to be understood as an expansion of canon rather than a replacement of it, but I do like to think there's a logical continuity between this one and the stories/themes/idea in the Red Hood rewrite so I think it's worth mentioning.

Now onto the meat of it. I do wanna say first thing first, I don't like the ambiguity around Jason's age in the og Batman Annual/Lost Days storyline and the way it seems to serve some psychoanalytical/psychophobic plots, and the whole point of the rewrite is a big fuck you to DC's bias and attempts at manipulating our empathy. Ergo: Jason crawls out of his grave three years later than he does in canon and is sixteen at the time he comes back to Gotham.

Batman: Antigonish

The UTH. Often from Bruce's perspective, lots of Edgar Allan Poe references. Also lots of disguise fuckery. Because Jason looks and is so young, and mostly because I like it, we're leaning fully into the horror genre. Jason, crucially, is not a crime lord in this one.

The main plot points:

> Jason, in disguise, visits Judy Koslovksy in prison (she had actually been convicted after the canon events of The Dumpster Slasher) and tells her to get in contact with her lawyer. Jason then steals evidence, leading to Judy winning her appeal and getting out.

> Jason begins a campaign to demonstrate that Bruce's campaign of ruling through fear cannot work if he never kills anyone ever. To do so, he targets several people who he believes are 1) key players into systems of oppression/mass violence and/or 2) criminals who he thinks are never gonna change their ways and deserve to die for the horror of their crime. Amongst these targets are (amongst others) Black Mask, an extremely corrupt and wealthy politician, and the cop who sexually abused Jason as a child (this one is implied rather than developed because we'll address it properly in its own time, which we get to do because I'm the head of dc editorial). To start his campaign of terror, Jason adopts the identity of the Red Death and sends several unnerving threats to his targets urging them to quit their activities (leaving bloody handprints on their doors, burning stuff down etc). Jason goes after his victims covering himself completely in blood and gore from the slaughterhouse he keeps breaking into, and makes a ghastly apparition. Jason's game doesn't scare the targets (at least not at first not before the first victim) so he goes after them to kill them. He also sends messages/hints/general psychological fuckery to Bruce about his death, actively haunting him.

> Jason's murder always have a veneer of legitimate self-defense, always make it seem like hey the bad guy did it to himself he could have just not tried to attack Jason with a knife Jason just accidentally diverted that knife in their throat, etc. There's a criticism of the pointlessness and hypocrisy of Bruce's line in Jason's eyes, with lots of references to Starlin's Bruce's deadliest moments (ie locking someone in a room in the subway to die).

> Because this is right after Steph's death and "Who killed Stephanie Brown", Jason is haunted by a hallucination of Stephbin who follows him as an incarnation of his rage and guilt. She is in the robin suit and despite Jason having seen pictures of her he can never recall her face, her image looks like someone has smudged black sharpie all over her face.

> Black Mask, having seen what Jason did to his other targets, eventually flees Gotham after Jason cuts him off from his support and sends a rocket into his building, almost exploding him. From Bruce's perspective, this is evidence that fear>death does in fact win, a reasoning we're meant to find flawed (// Bruce's reasoning about Felipe in Diplomat's Son).

> Jason may be a killer, but he's far from cold-blooded about it (yet). After he goes after his last target and ends up fighting on a balcony in front of roadwork, the villain tries to push Jason into the roadwork down the street; Jason defends himself but ends up accidentally pushing the man and watches him die a painful, horrifying death in some kind of press, a much more gory and terrible death than originally planned.

> Having retraumatized himself, Jason cries on the balcony, the rain washing the gore off his face, and then picks up a red hood/mask get-up and assumes the identity of the Red Hood to go to Arkham and kill Joker, knowing that Bruce will follow him there.

> The confrontation happens like in canon (oh Bludhaven also explodes) but without explosives because I can't bomb Arkham. Bruce sends the batarang through Jason's neck and he clamps on it, starting to bleed out; but before anybody can do anything, Judy shoots the Joker dead with the phone Bruce discarded, revealing that she'd been tracking Jason to repay a debt and also that she did Gotham and humanity a favour. Bruce hesitates, Judy claims that this time, she won't be condemned for sure, and that Jason is bleeding: if Bruce goes after her, surely he will die. Bruce hesitates but goes after her and arrests her. When he comes back, the Joker's body has been taken by an Arkham guard and burnt, there's a large, large puddle of blood on the floor and Jason is gone.

Nightwing: Ash to Ash

This one I need to flesh out much more but basically, Jason, dissociating, walks to Bludhaven (which just exploded) and finds a dissociating, suicidal Nightwing. Ensues a comedy of horror where both end up convinced Jason is dead and his ghost is haunting Dick, with classics such as Dick telling Jason to go away and stop haunting him, Jason almost jumping off the roof, Dick hauling him up and begging him not to leave him, nobody being okay enough to wonder why Dick was able to haul the incorporeal ghost up the ledge and some kind of weird "you don't die and I don't die/leave" pact with your ghost dead brother who's not actually dead. In the end, Dick is a little more stable and Jason decides he doesn't need him haunting him anymore and leaves; Dick wakes up and calls one of his friends and finds evidence/realizes that Jason was actually alive the whole time and not just a hallucination but it's too late, Jason is gone. Dick is the one to inform the hero community that Jason is back, but is in crisis/need of help. Idk if it's shown here since this is Dick's POV, but Jason is also absolutely still hallucinating Steph.

Green Arrow: Double Red Daisies

Seeing Red rewrite! Again, not extraordinarily fleshed out, but the idea is that I wanna keep the parallels and Mia's story, the fact that this is foremost a Mia story where she views Jason as a dark mirror she's terrified of becoming, and the contrast between Oliver and Bruce's parenting, while also pushing the reader to feel empathy for Jason/highlighting his, arguably pretty valid, point about teenage sidekicks. In this one, the reference to Jason's csa backstory is explicit and not open to interpretation. At the end, having been thoroughly rejected by Mia and her conviction that she'll never be like him, Jason leaves.

Red Hood: The Hourglass

Voluntary time-loop time! A mini where Jason finds a time machine and attempts to solve his death/relationship to Bruce/be saved in time/save his mother (Catherine)/save his mother (Sheila) and restarts the time-loop again and again and again. The point is the heartbreaking realisation that you can't fix trauma, you can never save anyone, it already happened, you're never going to have been saved. However it turns out this isn't a time machine but some kind of dream/stasis machine. In the end, someone (Black Canary) ends up freeing Jason under Barbara's lead; it's revealed she's monitored his comeback but cannot bring herself to approach him.

And at the end, training montage! Jason thinks back on everything and decides he was fucked because his hands shake when he holds a gun since the events of Antigonish, so he practices again and again to become more cold-blooded, convinced this is the only way to survive. We are officially entering Red Hood's most ruthless era.

Red Hood: War Hounds

Jason voluntarily enters an illegal fighting ring (dog fight symbolism be upon ye) lying that he is 15 and portrays himself as super vulnerable, and successfully catches the eye of the child trafficking ring he's been tracking due to its ties with Black Mask (who has continued its activities outside of Gotham after Antigonish, surprise surprise). Jason is then sent to a facility that attempts to train child soldier, where he is the oldest, older than their recruitment age. There, the children are trained for combat and murder, and the staff uses torture to "break them". Jason meets and protects the oldest of the kids, a ten years old red head girl called Sasha. She calls him out on some self-destructive behaviour and he replies he has nothing to live for. A couple of Jason torture sequences later, he sneaks into an office and steals intel of their communication with Black Mask. He sends Black Mask false info while pretending to be the head of the ring, then steals a chess piece from the chessboard. He then rescues the kids, going through the facility in a one-man army and either killing or locking anyone he meets up. He tells the children to run, and then goes back to set the whole facility on fire (yes, with all the people inside it; I did say it was the ruthless era.) When he comes back, Sasha is watching the fire and tells him she wants to be like him. He tells her not to and she tells him he was wrong about having nothing to live for because he fights like a survivor.

Batman: Hour of the Mask

Very chess-themed!Jason's plan for torturing and. killing Black Mask goes awry when it turns out Steph is alive. Between Steph finding out about what happened, Black Mask thirsty for vengeance, a righteous Batman and a furious Selina,

Jason, with Batman hot on his heels, still manages to kidnap Black Mask and is found by Steph first; finding out then and there that she is alive, he pivots to offering to kill him for her or letting her do it if she wants; she hesitates but can't bring herself to do it or let Jason do it. They are interrupted by Selina, who decides actually, she wants to be the one killing him for what he did to her family. To give her time, Jason surrenders himself to Batman, smiling even as he kneels with his head behind his head and is taken to Blackgate, looking very much like the cat that got the canary.

Red Devil #16-17: Sympathy for the Devil

Jason escapes Blackgate by poisoning the food of a whole lot bunch of rapists, child abusers and human traffickers (how he managed to do that selectively is future me's problem). He then comes to help Eddie Bloomberg who is struggling with something, but does so in disguise, under an anonymous identity. The two have intense chemistry, they're both such yearners. Despite Jason's acknowledgement that he is a person from Eddie's past and refusal to confess to who he is, they end up kissing about it (well, Eddie kisses Jason's mask) and then Jason ties a scarf again Eddie's eyes and gives him the mother of all blowjobs. At the end of the story, Eddie finds himself in love with this stranger from his past, and Jason realizes that his childhood crush never went away and finds himself in love with Eddie, and thus decides to leave him because he's decided that's something too precious to ruin and he won't be able to take it when Eddie finds out who he has become and abandons him.

Red Hood: Ash Wednesday

Lost Days rewrite! (Taking a page out of Winick's book and putting this flashback mini right after Jason's most brutal crimes to bring back empathy for the character and remind the reader of how young he is to be doing such things). A whole bunch of horror elements in that one too!

We see over the course of the year a progression of a freshly resurrected Jason from his jaybin era to developing his philosophy in Antigonish. This arc has no psychoanalysis, no Talia character assassination (idfc about Death and the Maidens and you can't make me), issue titles are a bunch of "First" because it does follow a teenage/child development/coming of age structure, ie First Steps, First etc. and the last one: First Kill. We also see Rena for the first time since the Jaybin era! She's back in Gotham for college and trying to uncover Jason's grave by washing all the dirty/abandoned/unreadable tombstones in all the cemeteries in Gotham. She started this work as at fifteen but had to leave because of her dad's work and promised Jason she'd come back someday. The panel of her leaving the cemetery in the evening, hands covered in dirt and exhausted, is of course immediately followed by Jason, an alley after the one she was working on, crawling out of his grave alone that night.

[jeonscatalyst]

I just realized today after thinking about things long and hard that most of the hate Jimin gets today especially within the fandom is because of his bond with Jungkook. When I say it is because of Jungkook I don’t mean that Jungkook himself caused it, I mean that Jimin being associated to Jungkook, having a bond with him, loving him and being loved by him is the one of the biggest reasons he gets all the hate he gets today.

The very first people who started with this insane hate against Jimin were taekookers who developed a hate boner for him and started sending him death threats as early as 2015 because according to them Jimin kept coming in between their ship. Things got go much worse for Jimin after GCF in Tokyo and after 2017 in general as we all saw a huge increase in Jikook moments (because they were together alot and not because the company was pushing a narrative that they were the closest) and a huge decline in taekook moments which made the cult go feral. That is when the vitriol and vile hate we see these people have for Jimin started.

Whether they want to admit it or not, majority of Taehyung’s fans within the fandom are taekookers or were at some point and that led them to hate him too and that hate continued even after some of them stopped shipping taekook and became solo stans.

Jungkook solos always had a hate boner for Jimin and I believe this is because they saw and still see what most of us see in Jikook and it makes them extremely uncomfortable and that is why they constantly project unto Jungkook by claiming that Jimin makes him uncomfortable and that Jungkook hates Jimin and that’s why they don’t like him but the truth is that, they are the ones who felt uncomfortable watching Jimin and Jungkook interact. Something about Jimin and Jungkook’s bond always felt “weird” to them and they could sense the things jikookers feel when they see Jikook interact and seeing as most Jk’s stans are Y/Ns who picture themselves with him and most of them are deeply homophobic, it makes sense that they would have a huge problem with Jimin. I mean they know about Jimin having his mouth on Jk’s neck long enough to leave bruises. They know about Jimin’s sweaty earlobes being in Jk’s mouth. They know about Jungkook choosing to spend many a nights with Jimin doing “nothing” so it makes sense why they are uncomfortable.

Without Jungkook in Jimin’s life, there would be no taekookers to hate on him, no Tae solos (ex taekookers) to hate on him and no JK solos to hate on him either.

We also wouldn’t have blinks so desperately hating on Jimin because we know that a good number of Jk solos are blinks who token stan Jk just to hate on Jimin and other members.

Me specifically speaking about the hate Jimin gets because of his affiliation to Jungkook doesn’t mean Jungkook also doesn’t get hated because of his bond with Jimin but everyone knows that the hate Jimin gets is tripple what Jungkook gets. Stan tweet in particular seems to have it out for Jimin and I honestly don’t understand why. They look for the least opportunities to hate on him and mass like hate posts about him and in those posts, we see all the other idiots like taekookers, jjks, tae solos and other solos who hate Jimin more than they love their own faves because they don’t mind liking and even rting a post from a hater who has also hated on one of their faves so long as that person is dragging Jimin.

So many times I have seen people say Jimin’s solo stans are the worst solo stans but I can honestly say that Jk solo stans are the worst and it baffles me how two people can love each other so much and yet have the nastiest fans who are at each other’s throats every single day. I say Jk solo stans are the worst because they are manipulative, deception and pure evil. Don’t get me wrong, PJMs are a piece of work but they haven’t gotten to that level of evil yet in my books. Jjks are evil set of people. This fandom and the entire kpop community never think twice about any rumors that concern Jimin as they eat it up no questions asked, JJKs know this and they use it to their advantage. I have seen these people fake tweets, websites, messages and so many other things and spread them around just to “prove” that Jimin’s success is fraudulent because they cannot stand the fact that Jimin is the only member who can compete with Jk. They have single handedly created and spread the narrative that Jimin is fraudulent. After Jimin released his album they faked a tweet from one of the biggest Jimin funds accounts claiming that PJMs sent phones to the US to stream for Jimin. Before you ask me how I know they faked it let me tell you. JJKs would rather die than have Jimin break any of Jk’s records so if they could boost streams by sending phones to the US, JJks would have been the first ones to do it. They made up a fake tweet and spread it around and no one questioned it’s authenticity and even when the account denied it, no one cared. First of all who is stupid enough to do something like that and make a tweet about it? JJKs also created a fake account pretending to be a Jimin solo and threatened to leak Jk’s passport information a few weeks back and even though it was clear that they did it, no one batted an eye and jimin solos took the blame. Jjks/tkkrs have faked two gcs now (that we know of ) and tried to pin in on jkkrs. One happened right before Jimin’s album dropped (after we got Tteokbokki By Jk) and then the next one happened after AYS episode 6.

This is why I say these people are pure evil because I have seen Jimin solos do and say some messed up things against Jk but not up to the level of JK solos. They throw stones every damn time and hide their hands and Jimin takes the fall for it. They fake articles about him and his family, about his numbers, his success and the sad part is, they have way of getting the media to pick up on their bullshit.

Tae solos (ex taekookers) are just lazy. No offense to Taehyung’s beautiful soul but most of his fans don’t give a tiny rats ass about anything but his face. They don’t care about the music he makes, about his art. They are so quick to like and view and follow his accounts everywhere but when it comes to streaming his songs and actually supporting him, they don’t do it and because of that, they lash out at Jimin and call his fraudelent because they could never believe that Jimin whom they always considered inferior to Tae would get better streaming numbers than him. They spent years believing that the number of likes and followers someone has on social media equals success and when reality hit them in the face, they couldn’t accept that they were wrong but resorted to accuse Jimin of being fraudelent. How does hating on another person’s success make you succeed?

Taekookers, Jjks, and Tae solos (ex taekookers) have made all sorts of rumors about Jimin. They have accused him of sleeping with bang pd for favors (Jimin solos have done the same thing to Jk btw), they have accused Jimin of selling himself to pdogg and the other producers for favors. They have accused Jimin of being jealous of Jk and Tae. And the funny thing is, because these people hate Jimin so much and are desperate to bring him down, they choose to believe any negative thing they see about him whether it makes sense to them or not. Someone could post an article tomorrow claiming that Jimin is Donald Trump’s lover and you will see that post having over 100k likes with people agreeing to it even though they know it isn’t true. No one cares about the truth when it comes to Jimin, they just care about having a reason to drag him and most of this is because Jimin met a doe eyed boy over a decade ago and loved him.

No one would have cared about hating Jimin this much if he wasn’t a part of Jungkook’s life. Taekookers, tae solos, jjks wouldn’t have had this deep hate for Jimin if Jimin didn’t love Jungkook and if Jungkook didn’t love Jimin too and this is one of the reasons why Jimin and Jungkook just never made sense to me as platonic friends. There has got to be a reason why them together drives people so crazy and if their love and feelings for each other was just at the level of bestfriends, things would never have been this bad. If taekookers really didn’t see and fear something about jikook’s bond, they wouldn’t hate him so much or spend almost all their time talking about him on their blogs. Taekookers on tumblr can barely go a single day without bringing Jimin up on their blogs. Some Tae fans on tumblr can barely go a single day without bringing him up and talking about his success and work and then we have JJKs who are quite literally obsessed with Jimin and then Jimin solos obsessed with Jk. If JJks didn’t feel the tension between Jikook they wouldn’t project their discomfort and hate unto Jk so much.

Regardless of whether what Jimin and Jungkook have is platonic or not, I think it says alot that how they feel for each other brings them so much hate alone and together. I think it says alot that despite all these hate they have gotten for years, they just keep getting stronger. I think it says alot that millions of people cannot stand the ground Jimin walks on just because he has Jungkook in his life. Whether people choose to admit it or not, they feel the strong bond Jikook have and for some reason this frightens them.

No one breaks into an empty house. No one puts so much effort into something that isn’t relevant so usually when a whole lot of people are doing everything in their power to break or bring something down, it is usually because they see and fear it’s power. No one would care about hating on Jimin so much if they really thought Jk hated him. No one would care about discrediting his success so much of they really thought he was irrelevant, no one would try to make him the villain so much, if they didn’t see the beauty of his soul and no one would try so hard to dim his light if they only saw darkness.

It breaks my heart that their love for each other is one of the biggest things that brings them hate but there is some weird satisfaction I get from knowing that their bond is strong, deep and obvious enough to get this many people trying to destroy them individually and together. No great person ever had it easy. No one who made history ever went through life without getting stones thrown at them so I take this to mean that Jimin and Jungkook are meant for the greatest things. When people see your grace and the bright future ahead of you, they try to break your wings before you even realize you can fly but the good thing is, they always, always fail.

[mythalism]

about ai in fanfic, wasn't there some huge drama about a popular solavellan fanfic "writer" who used ai to pump out a total of 700k words in a month or something a while back?

I will never understand people who do that, not stolen valour, but just fake valour. Cheap plastic valour that breaks after a single use.

i have been largely not commenting on these AI fic debacles because im controversial enough on my own however at this point its getting so fucking annoying that idc anymore. yes people across the fandom keep writing AI fics that are blatantly AI in terms of the INSANE literally physically impossible word counts in short periods of time, lore inconsistencies, internal inconsistencies (characters changing eye color between chapters, for example), repetitive prose, repetitive scenes (like literally the same scene happening 5 times), repetitive formatting (very little variation in paragraph length), absolutely no spelling or grammar mistakes in an entire 400k word fic, no intentional stylistic errors, no character development across 400k words, strange nonsensical metaphors, and also they just feel... off? i DNF'd the one you're alluding to because it was just OFF. also i thought the portrayal of sexual assault was careless and clumsy and the age dynamics were... bizarre. a red flag even. AND THIS IS ALL NOT EVEN MENTIONING THAT THESE FICS COME UP AS 70-100% AI ON AI DETECTORS. ive literally been trying for weeks to get a false positive and ive yet to be successful. nothing human-made that i have put in that detector has ever come up as more than 0% AI. nothing. and yet people are literally fighting for their lives in the streets to defend these authors against "false accusations"? when they get accused and then cannot provide any proof in the form of notes, outlines, google docs version history? and then people start sending the accusers death threats and calling them slurs????? (yes this happened on both twitter and tumblr) ARE YOU PEOPLE FUCKING INSANE???????? WHAT DO YOU GET BY DEFENDING THESE PEOPLE THAT ARE LYING TO YOU???? POINTING OUT A FIC IS AI IS NOT BULLYING. ITS NOT A SMEAR CAMPAIGN. ITS A FACTUAL STATEMENT THAT MAKES THEM UNCOMFORTABLE BECAUSE THEY ARE RIGHTFULLY ASHAMED. GET A GRIP OHHHH MY GOD. dragon age has famously some of the most fantastic fic i have ever encountered and the fact that people are literally putting forth AI slop TRAINED THROUGH PLAGIARISM OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN PUTTING THEIR SOULS INTO THEIR WRITING FOR YEARS is so disgusting. AI is encroaching on every facet of our fucking lives and if you cannot speak up against it we are going to be literally devoured by it. chatGPT's energy consumption is immense, it uses the same amount of wattage daily as 180,000 US households and consuming what is equal to a bottle of water with EVERY. SINGLE. CONVERSATION. and every time someone uses it to write one of this braindead fucking fics THEY ARE DELIBERATELY CONTRIBUTING TO THIS. THE CEO OF OPEN AI HAD A FRONT ROW FUCKING SEAT AT TRUMP'S INAUGURATION AND DONATED A MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS TO HIS INAUGURAL FUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE WORKING TOGETHER!!!!! DOES THIS NOT INFURIATE YOU? YOU ARE MORALLY BANKRUPT!!!!!!!!! HOW DARE YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THIS????? FOR WHAT???? INTERNET CLOUT???? THAT YOU DID NOT EVEN EARN YOURSELF????????? GOODBYE!!!!!! LITERALLY LOG OFF. I WILL CHASE YOU OFF THE INTERNET WITH A BROOM I CANNOT STAND IT!!! GET OUT AND DONT LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT

[agoldenblackbird]

The OG: Ranty Bitch Vol. 1!

i'm gonna be a ranty bitch for a minute.

tbh i'm turned off even reading new buddie fic despite being a multishipper and have unfollowed a bunch of buddie accounts because i'm sick of the smug attitudes. one ask that i am otherwise not going to publish or respond to ended with 'sorry you don't understand media literacy bestie :)' fuck off. listen INFANT, i have been writing fanfic and original fic AND watching, reading and analyzing queer media since before you were born, i understand how character and story development works, and i know the difference between 'storyline i personally disliked' and 'bad writing.' this was BOTH, and it also was marketed to us as 'carefully crafted bi rep' and 'queer love story that is not about a bunch of pain and conflict FOR ONCE' so we have every right to be upset at the bait-and-switch.

the fact that i'm seeing the same exact posts - 'bt bones buddie CANON' that i saw three seasons ago after the bucktaylor breakup, or every time they thought buck and taylor MIGHT break up - says something. the fact that so many fans seem genuinely convinced (STILL!) that buddie is inevitable because there have been so many 'signs,' and then they rattle off a convoluted theory that would make the most hardcore taylor swift stan say 'wow, that's a bit of a reach,' honestly weirded me out a little when i first joined the 911 fandom. i have never been in a fandom where so many fans are insistent that their ship will be - not might be or could be, but WILL be - canon. i am skeptical both from past experience with other shows mishandling queer storylines or ship-baiting, and tim minnear's proven track record with this one of not really knowing what to do with buck's LI's. but i didn't want to yuck anybody's yum, so i let them have their theories and squee in peace, and unfollowed or blocked certain tags if i was seeing too much of it and getting annoyed. it's too out there for me, but i'm glad they're having fun!

yet they can't give us the same courtesy. they deride us as delusional for thinking that a canon pairing that was presented to us both in promo and the show itself as different and important (eg the bobby approval convo and 'buck getting off the hamster wheel') might last, and we're stupid to have ever liked tommy or lou or be disappointed at how the breakup was written, and if we point out the biphobia it's just sour grapes.

the bucktommy breakup is not the first time 911 has started out strong with an interesting storyline and fumbled it in the 4th quarter either because the writers got bored or in the name of needless drama/a 'gotcha' sudden twist. amir & bobby, eddie's fight club arc, the sperm donor SL, hen vs councilwoman ortiz, whatever the hell is going on with harry, the whole mess with shannon/kim, just to name a few. and especially the past couple of seasons, for me since 6b, the pacing has been off. they seem to have too much happening at once and many of the storylines don't have enough room to breathe to be narratively satisfying, or they get resolved in ways that feel lackluster.

if the toxic buddie stans who have been attacking lou on sm and sending death threats (wtf!) actually get what they want, which i admit is possible, but it's certainly not guaranteed….i don't know why they think the writers won't fumble that just as badly. it's not going to happen precisely the way they want it to because it is impossible to please everybody, that's what fanfic is for. but at this point i have zero faith that it would even be well done at all, and zero trust in the writers not to just sabotage or regress a character for funsies, and that's an excellent reason to stop watching the show. in most of my other fandoms i regard canon as a jumping-off point or a blurry outline at best, and i can have just as much fun in the 911 sandbox without any further input from canon at all, once i'm less angry.

[melrosing]

JAIME IN THE RIVERLANDS II: Bluffs, Bargaining and Baby Trebuchets - Why Jaime Can’t Win at Riverrun

[lol sorry i've not updated this since Dec 2022 but i feel kind of compelled to finish it and this part was actually mostly done in back in Jan last year. I just got distracted. anyway part one here]

Following ASOS where Jaime’s character development came thick and fast, Jaime of AFFC is stalling by comparison, looking for an outlet and lacking one. He hopes to improve the Kingsguard as its new Commander but it’s in a poor state, saddled with men like Boros Blount and Osmund Kettleblack who are sworn to serve it for life. Meanwhile, his every move is undermined by Cersei’s erratic rule as regent, or the strange counsel she has built around her. He is beside his son, but Tommen can’t know it, and his daily duties involve tedium more often than not. Jaime’s scope has been drastically reduced: there are no bears, there is only Pycelle, and meanwhile his relationship with Cersei is undergoing seismic change that leaves him emotionally adrift. 

Jaime is also growing increasingly conscious of the risk that Tywin’s death poses to his family: joining the funeral procession for his father’s return to the Rock, ‘dead’ rings in his ears as he attempts reconciliation between Kevan and Cersei (JAIME II, AFFC) - Tywin is truly gone, and nothing stands in his place. Indeed, whilst we see throughout ASOS and AFFC that Tywin had the respect of his siblings, Jaime and Cersei are viewed by Genna and Kevan as little more than squabbling children far out of their depth. Kevan even regards the twins as a direct threat to he and his family’s security and goes so far to say as much, rending the family deeper. Worse still, Jaime is unsure whether or not Cersei does represent a true threat to their uncle, leaving him to play the game half blind:

Ser Kevan was a Lannister of Casterly Rock. He could not believe that she would ever do him harm, but… I was wrong about Tyrion, why not about Cersei? When sons were killing fathers, what was there to stop a niece from ordering an uncle slain? [JAIME II, AFFC]

It’s clear at this point to both Jaime and the reader that House Lannister is beginning to cannibalise itself, with each link representing a threat to the other: even Genna and Kevan compete for safer seats for their families, with Kevan leaving the poisoned chalice of Riverrun for his sister and her children. Meanwhile, Cersei’s growing paranoia and ineptitude as queen is setting off alarm bells: “The crows will feast upon us all if you go on this way, sweet sister” (JAIME II, AFFC). House Lannister’s vulnerability is hugely apparent, and now, far from Tywin’s vision of a single unanimous collective, each branch of the family pulls in its own direction. So we see that part of Jaime’s role at this point in the story is to somehow reunite his family with the singular object of their security: the trouble is that the security of House Lannister runs directly counter to the security of all others.

It is here that Cersei sends Jaime into the Riverlands against his will, to finish their father’s work in quashing House Stark and House Tully. Jaime goes reluctantly, knowing the Riverlands have already been ravaged by his father’s men: “scarce a field remained unburnt, a town unsacked, a maiden undespoiled.” Cersei’s request that he finish the work of men like Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch “[leaves] a bitter taste in his mouth” (JAIME III, AFFC). Jaime is also mindful of his oaths to Catelyn Stark, i.e. that he will not take arms against Stark or Tully, and his own personal ambitions for betterment. But the dregs of the war aren’t going anywhere, and so begins Jaime’s attempt to balance his own personal ambitions with what his family needs to solidify their rule.

RETURNING TO THE RIVERLANDS

Jaime initially travels with little sense of direction. He hovers at Darry to see Lancel and settle the matter of Cersei’s infidelity. He returns to Harrenhal to restore order, and makes some attempts at a transformation into ‘Goldenhand the Just’: rescuing Pia, executing her rapist, punishing outlaws (be they of opposing camps or otherwise) and rehabilitating Ser Ilyn Payne. But as many have observed, these are small gestures - perhaps even misguided, in the case of the outlaws: Brienne’s chapters feature a sorrowful monologue on the plight of ‘broken men’, who have long suffered at the mercy of their high lords. This is Jaime attempting to do good within the scope he’s been afforded, but he is under no illusions that it is enough to transform his reputation, and it is certainly not enough to atone for his sins: 

"Wear [the golden hand], Jaime," urged Ser Kennos of Kayce. "Wave at the smallfolk and give them a tale to tell their children." "I think not." Jaime would not show the crowds a golden lie. Let them see the stump. Let them see the cripple. [JAIME III, AFFC]

“Men will name you Goldenhand from his day forth,” the armorer had assured him the first time he fitted it onto Jaime’s wrist. He was wrong. I shall be the Kingslayer till I die. [JAIME III, AFFC]

“He was not wrong," Ser Bonifer allowed, "but some sins are blacker than others, and fouler in the nostrils of the Seven." And you have no more nose than my little brother, or my own sins would have you choking on that pear. [JAIME III, AFFC]

After loitering long enough, Jaime finally continues his journey to Riverrun, where he finds the entire place at a standstill. The Freys have ruined negotiations by belying the bluff behind their threats, and now Riverrun will not fall without armed conflict. Jaime does not want armed conflict owing to the oath he swore to Catelyn that he would not take up arms against House Tully, but the danger to his house grows more pronounced: Lannisters and Freys can be found hanging in the woods, and Brynden Tully obstinately wants no peace with them. The contrast between the honourable Tullys and the impotent Freys is immediately made starkly apparent, and any reader would feel that Jaime is on the wrong side of this conflict. Yet even despite Jaime’s own obvious disregard for the Freys, we get to see the House Lannister he’s grown up with, and hopes to protect: the jovial Daven, the fond Genna, even the tragic Lancel. There is genuine affection amongst the extended tree of Lannisters, not easily dismissed for the sake of oaths.

Yet even so, Genna quickly notes Jaime is not the man to protect them: “Who will protect us now? [...] Tyrion is Tywin’s son, not you.” I’d argue that it is at this juncture, more than any other, that Jaime resolves to begin his performance as Tywin’s ‘true’ heir: he has entered this conflict lacking direction, and Genna has now provided him one that he has willfully ignored till now: House Lannister needs someone to protect them, and if not him, then who?

So begins the delicate balancing act between Jaime’s own ideals and oaths to Catelyn, alongside the dwindling security of House Lannister. 

ALLIES & ENEMIES

We frequently see Jaime struggle with the fact that he vastly prefers his enemies to his allies, even as the reader is encouraged to do the same. Jaime likes Jeyne Westerling, with her earnest devotion to Robb. He has admired Brynden Tully since he was a boy, and desperately hopes to win the man over himself (to no avail). He clearly prefers Tytos Blackwood to Jonos Bracken, despite (if not because of) Blackwood’s staunch support for House Tully, versus Bracken’s more malleable loyalties. Yet Jaime himself is encumbered by Freys of dubious loyalty and still more dubious character (if they are not altogether ineffectual), as well as lickspittles and violent rogues, such as the remainder of Gregor’s party he finds at Harrenhal. We see Jaime attempting to work with what he’s been given, but the disdain he feels towards his allies is always palpable - whilst his preference for his more honourable enemies is a recurring weakness.

Jaime’s ADWD chapter is an interesting exploration of both the strengths of Jaime’s character, and the ways in which he is ill-suited to his role in this conflict. He is instantly able to build some rapport with Tytos Blackwood, agreeing to privately manage humiliating dealings, and making allowances for the man where he can. He even goes so far as to allow Blackwood to choose his own hostage - Jonos Bracken advises Jaime that taking Tytos’ treasured daughter would give House Lannister the strongest hold over the family, but when Tytos emotionally protests, he allows the man to instead suggest a son he’s less fond of, and who would even enjoy the trip to the capital. The threat inherent in this exchange is so forgotten that when Hoster Blackwood emerges as though ready for summer camp, Jaime realises he has to remind the Blackwoods of who exactly they’re dealing with, else appear weak to a supporter who might easily turn: 

"I am not your friend and I am not your brother." That cleaned the grin off the boy's face. Jaime turned to Lord Tytos. "My lord, let there be no misunderstanding here. Lord Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, Sandor Clegane, Brynden Tully, this woman Stoneheart … all these are outlaws and rebels, enemies to the king and all his leal subjects. If I should learn that you or yours are hiding them, protecting them, or assisting them in any way, I will not hesitate to send you your son's head. I hope you understand that. Understand this as well: I am not Ryman Frey." [JAIME I, ADWD]

Here, Jaime directly counterposes himself with Ryman Frey: the man who almost lost Riverrun owing to his ineffectual bluffing. The reason being that Jaime and Ryman are dealing in the same currency: so far, Jaime has offered only threats that remain untested by his enemies, and Hos the hostage is only another of them. His role as Tywin’s heir is an elaborate performance, but Tywin’s reputation was earned through deed - Jaime so far relies only the memory of that. The second any one enemy does dare to test his resolve, the whole business could come crashing down - because this is a character who has yet to prove his resolve in the matter to either his enemies or himself, and is desperately avoiding doing so.

We see his lack of conviction again in subsequent conversations with his new hostage. Hoster reminds Jaime of his younger brother Tyrion, building his warmth towards the boy, and soon enough Jaime is asking him questions about the surrounding landscape and its history. At the end of the chapter, Jaime even shares a skin of wine with Hoster and his young squires (mostly hostages themselves) about a campfire, failing to enforce an emotional distance. The only instance where Jaime resumes his performance before Hoster is one where the pretence is palpable:

"My father had a saying too. Never wound a foe when you can kill him. Dead men don't claim vengeance." "Their sons do," said Hoster, apologetically. "Not if you kill the sons as well. Ask the Casterlys about that if you doubt me. Ask Lord and Lady Tarbeck, or the Reynes of Castamere. Ask the Prince of Dragonstone." For an instant, the deep red clouds that crowned the western hills reminded him of Rhaegar's children, all wrapped up in crimson cloaks. "Is that why you killed all the Starks?" "Not all," said Jaime. "Lord Eddard's daughters live. One has just been wed. The other …" Brienne, where are you? Have you found her? "… if the gods are good, she'll forget she was a Stark. She'll wed some burly blacksmith or fat-faced innkeep, fill his house with children, and never need to fear that some knight might come along to smash their heads against a wall." [JAIME I, ADWD]

Here, Hoster inadvertently tests Jaime’s resolve in the Lannister cause, and Jaime parrots obligingly, invoking his father’s darkest deeds as a reminder of what House Lannister is capable of. As Tywin’s heir, Jaime, is aware that he owes his audience a performance.

Yet what is coming out of Jaime’s mouth runs laughably counter to his own feelings and actions. He does not agree with his father’s methodry: the memory of Rhaenys’ and Aegon’s bloody bodies is clearly traumatic, and something Jaime has repeatedly wished he had prevented. And he has of course sent Brienne to rescue Sansa; in doing so, he may well have sown the seeds of the next Stark uprising himself, a consequence that could directly threaten his own family. This goes to prove how complex and contradictory Jaime’s objectives have become. He is attempting to preserve the security of both the Starks and the Lannisters, whilst struggling to avoid handing either side victory over the other. 

Jaime cannot make that struggle apparent to his audience, however, and so he says the words for Hoster: it is important Hoster believes them - that everyone does - yet once again, words are all Jaime has offered.

HALF MEASURES

Jaime’s sole ADWD chapter offers the best framework to unpack one of the most discussed episodes of Jaime’s Riverlands arc, and that is: Jaime’s threat to fling a baby over a castle wall.

"You've seen our numbers, Edmure. You've seen the ladders, the towers, the trebuchets, the rams. If I speak the command, my coz will bridge your moat and break your gate. Hundreds will die, most of them your own. Your former bannermen will make up the first wave of attackers, so you'll start your day by killing the fathers and brothers of men who died for you at the Twins. The second wave will be Freys, I have no lack of those. My westermen will follow when your archers are short of arrows and your knights so weary they can hardly lift their blades. When the castle falls, all those inside will be put to the sword. Your herds will be butchered, your godswood will be felled, your keeps and towers will burn. I'll pull your walls down, and divert the Tumblestone over the ruins. By the time I'm done no man will ever know that a castle once stood here." Jaime got to his feet. "Your wife may whelp before that. You'll want your child, I expect. I'll send him to you when he's born. With a trebuchet." [JAIME VI, AFFC]

As already mentioned, bluffs have been Jaime’s sole currency against the Tullys so far. The trouble is that he has entered an arena where bluffs have already been used to ill effect: the Freys have practically numbed Brynden Tully and his garrison to Edmure’s death, by threatening to do kill the man daily and failing follow through: this has led Brynden to frame his retaliation under the supposition that his nephew is as good as dead already. The best thing Jaime could do to assert his status over the Freys and dominance over the Tullys is demonstrate that he is a man of action, and will kill Edmure - but the action required is precisely that which he is not willing to take.

So Jaime enters this conflict with a bluff of his own, this time pointed at both the Freys and Edmure, as it’s necessary for both parties to believe he means what he says. Having covertly directed Ser Ilyn Payne to bluff, Jaime fools even the reader for a moment into believing that he meant to have Edmure’s head off:

The ferry had just started across with Walder Rivers and Edwyn Frey when Jaime and his men arrived at the river. As they awaited its return, Jaime told them what he wanted. Ser Ilyn spat into the river. [...] The sight of Ser Ilyn widened [Edmure’s] eyes. "Better a sword than a rope. Do it, Payne." "Ser Ilyn," said Jaime. "You heard Lord Tully. Do it." [...] "No! Stop. NO!" Edwyn Frey came panting into view. [JAIME VI, AFFC]

It’s here apparent that Ilyn Payne has been instructed to sever the rope suspending Edmure, making it seem to Edmure and onlookers that he means for Ilyn to behead the man. Jaime knows that Edwyn Frey will intervene before this can take place, but Edmure, who already bought into Jaime’s Kingslayer persona, has now had it reified by Jaime’s apparent resolve to behead him there and then. This lays the foundations for Jaime’s subsequent negotiations with Edmure: whilst treating with Brynden Tully, a man with nothing to lose, was a worthless pursuit… convincing Edmure, with everything to lose, holds more promise, and Jaime has now primed him to accept the carrot and fear the invisible stick.

Many readers do not regard Jaime’s villainous monologue to Edmure as any kind of bluff, but rather a promise that demonstrates that even if he isn’t Tywin’s ‘true’ heir, he’s capable of the same cruelties. However, we’ve now established that bluffs have become the currency at Riverrun, and are an especially vital currency to Jaime, a man who is determined to take no decisive action for the sake of his oath. His sole objective is to get Edmure to surrender peacefully, and violent words are his oddly pacifist method. 

It is also worth observing the improvised nature of the threat. Jaime mentions trebuchets specifically because they are trademark of Tywin’s from his feuds with the Reynes and the Tarbecks - as is drowning castles so that no-one would know they ever stood. The whole threat is heavy on Tywinian rhetoric, promising violent extremes that are atypical of Jaime’s own approach in war - but of course, they go the extra mile in pushing Edmure over the edge. Edmure knows what the Lannisters are capable of, and that is enough to frighten him into acquiescence before he begins to wonder what Jaime himself is capable of. 

Following Edmure’s surrender, Jaime self-consciously notes to himself his cynical invocation of Tywin’s trademarks, humorlessly marvelling at what came out of his mouth:

‘With a trebuchet,’ Jaime thought. If his aunt had been there, would she still say Tyrion was Tywin’s son? [JAIME VI, AFFC]

And of course, we see again here what has been on Jaime’s mind the whole time. Genna has told him she doesn’t believe he can protect their family, because he is no second coming of Tywin Lannister. Jaime is desperate to prove otherwise, whilst simultaneously desperate not to - and so, in thinking to himself that he has proved Genna wrong, Jaime has ironically proved her right: he is not willing to take decisive action, offering only words to suggest he could. 

Finally, there is a telling passage that precedes Jaime’s threat, suggesting the extent to which just saying the words pains Jaime:

Must you make me say the words? Pia was standing by the flap of the tent with her arms full of clothes. His squires were listening as well, and the singer. Let them hear, Jaime thought. Let the world hear. It makes no matter. He forced himself to smile. [JAIME VI, AFFC]

Jaime has built rapport with Pia and his squires over the course of AFFC - he gets to know them as people, they get to know him, and Jaime is a different person for them than he has been in the minds of those back at King’s Landing - he is a saviour to Pia, and a mentor for his squires. They are at the inception of the man Jaime wants to become for the rest of Westeros - someone honourable, and worthy of their respect. 

However, Tywin Lannister was not such a man - he was a man to be feared, and to sustain the Lannister regime, his heir must be feared as well. Jaime asks himself, ‘Must [Edmure] make me say the words?’, belying the fact that he had hoped to leave the threat implicit, offering Edmure a hand to his feet without having to show him the back of it. He is conscious of Pia and his squires listening, and how these words will impact their opinion of him; how the words will get out of the tent, and impact everyone’s opinion of him. 

But Jaime resolves: “Let them hear. Let the world hear. It makes no matter.” It’s apparent that it does matter to Jaime; he does not want to be a man feared and despised. Nonetheless, there is a futility in these lines. He lost the respect of Westeros long ago, and will not regain it in acting as Tywin’s heir. ‘Goldenhand the Just’ is a fantasy, and revealing his true motives to the world would be dangerous. He has to maintain his performance as Tywin’s heir for the sake of his family, and if that’s all the world will ever know of him… here, Jaime is telling himself to suck it up. “He forced himself to smile.”

The threat serves its purpose in the short-term, however. As much as Edmure hates Jaime for the words, it’s likely he requires them before he can sign Riverrun away to the Lannisters. Edmure needs to know the price of the carrot, cannot take it without asking. The price tells Edmure he’s making the right decision for everyone, albeit a bitter, humiliating one that reeks of injustice. Yet to refuse the carrot would be to surrender his family and people to something worse than injustice: in short Edmure needs to believe he’s saving his family from something. Jaime gives him that. 

THE PEACE

Of course, the greatest trouble for the Lannisters is that Jaime’s measures will not maintain the peace in his absence. Jaime did not take up arms against the Tullys, and so Brynden has escaped. In all likelihood, Edmure and his pregnant wife will shortly do the same - they travel with Jeyne Westerling to Casterly Rock, a character GRRM has told us will feature in TWOW’s prologue. It seems a foregone conclusion that that prologue will see an interruption to the hostages’ journey to the Rock, perhaps one orchestrated by Brynden Tully. 

It hardly helps that Jaime has even released a number of Tully men after having them swear an oath after the fashion of his own to Cat: 

Lady Genna suggested that a few of the men might be put to the question. He refused. "I gave Edmure my word that if he yielded, the garrison could leave unharmed." "That was chivalrous of you," his aunt said, "but it's strength that's needed here, not chivalry." [...] The Tully garrison departed the next morning, stripped of all their arms and armour. Each man was allowed three days' food and the clothing on his back, after he swore a solemn oath never to take up arms against Lord Emmon or House Lannister. "If you're fortunate, one man in ten may keep that vow," Lady Genna said. [JAIME VII, AFFC]

As we see, Genna does not regard Jaime’s measures as stringent enough for their ends, and she may well be right - the Lannisters’ pit of violence has grown too deep for the family to sustain themselves through pacifism now. But ultimately, these chapters serve to show that Jaime is not willing to consider the alternative: whatever method his family requires to survive, he is demonstrably not the character to implement it.

Needless to say, it seems pointless to argue that there aren’t clear ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ in the Riverlands conflict - because even if there were, Jaime’s desire to protect his family is a sympathetic one. His attempts to do this solely through rhetoric are understandable, even laudable. And the fact that he has ultimately failed has a level of tragedy to it: we root for the Tullys and their return to Riverrun, and the downfall of the Lannister regime, but there is still a human cost associated. 

The coming of Red Wedding 2.0 is another foregone conclusion, but from the groundwork laid in AFFC and ADWD, it seems clear that GRRM will not intend it as a triumphant event: it was gruesome and cruel the first time, with many innocent lives lost in the crossfire - it can only be so different the second. 

As readers, we want Jaime to move beyond the Lannister cause to higher ideals, and in ADWD he has. But GRRM does not intend that this should be an easy path to take. Jaime’s loved ones remain embroiled in this conflict, and fighting for or favouring the other side has implications for all of them. Abandoning the Lannister cause is necessarily difficult, and there will be consequences for doing so.

NEXT PART: A Reckoning in the Riverlands!!! this won't be quick but i hope it won't be a fucking year

[sugdendingle]

I was talking to a friend earlier and it got me thinking about something.

B*mmy stans project all of the stuff they do onto us to an extent I've never seen with any other fandom discourse before.

They call us homophobic for not liking B/T or T*mmy. Yet they hate on people for shipping Buddie or seeing Eddie as queer. To the point of harassing people for including Eddie and Buddie in pride posts. Continually harassing the 911news account and even trying to dox a journalist for posting about Buddie.

They call us delusional for having watched two men love and support one another for 6 going on 7 years and for thinking there could be something more than friendship there. Even though Oliver, Ryan, and Tim have all said they see what we see. Yet they've seen Buck kiss a guy twice, have very minimal screen time or development and they headcanon that they're in love and will get married in the coming season.

They say we fetishize Buddie. Yet most of the time when our fandom is discussing our ship we're talking about the emotional connection between them. Or how we want to see them finally be together in a canon romantic relationship or as a full fledged family (with Chris). Or have their first kiss. Meanwhile most of their posts are the kind of sex they headcanon Buck and T*mmy have. Hell after that that dinner scene tons of them changed their urls to something with daddy in it (referencing the out of place daddy kink joke). To be clear there's nothing wrong with headcanons about fictional characters sex lives. But the main reason most of us ship Buddie is not just because they're two hot guys who we want to think about f*cking, it's because we're invested in the story of their life together. The same can't be said for B/T.

They say we feminize Buck for Buddie:

Meanwhile most of their fics/art/headcanons involve T*mmy being the big strong protector rescuing the "damsel in distress" Buck. They constantly talk about how hot it is that T*mmy is this big older "daddy" firefighter who can take care of Buck and guide him in what it means to be in a m|m relationship.

They say we've made Buck's coming out all about Buddie but 1. Eddie and Buck's feelings for him were heavily included in Buck's bi awakening ep. 2. They have made T*mmy synonymous with buck's coming out to the point of saying Buck wouldn't have even realized he liked men without T*mmy. They've even said that if T*mmy and Buck were to break up in s8 that it would ruin Buck's coming out story.

They accuse our fandom of being mean and of harassing the actors including of sending death threats to Lou. Of chasing Lou off of social media and being the one who caused him to stop his cameos. They say we're the reason Oliver chooses not interact with Lou or anything B/T related online. When there has been no proof of any of this. Meanwhile there is proof from their own fandom that Oliver and Ryan have blocked some of them. They have repeatedly tried to pressure Oliver to interact with B/T posts and Lou. They were also leaving comments on the the video of the podcast Ryan did (with Tommy DiDario) where he talked about his s*icide attempt, telling him he should have finished the job.

They call us a cult or BoBs (Buddie or Bust) yet they dress up like Lou and would still be paying for his videos if he was still willing to put them out. They prioritize Lou/T*mmy above any other character on the show. They talk about how T*mmy should get a begins episode. How T*mmy should be a main character. They defend everything T*mmy has ever done including when he was racist and homophobic to Chim and Hen. They harass anyone who has a negative word to say about their ship or Lou or T*mmy much like a cult would protect their leader. They to this day act like everything Lou ever told them in his cameos is the gospel truth.

911 fandom has grown increasingly toxic ever since B/T became a thing and I honestly just can't wait for the day we either find out T*mmy isn't coming back or when his last ep will be. I mean in some ways our fandom won't ever be the same after this. I've seen a lot of ugly sides to people who I had followed for years as Buddie shippers.

It will never not confuse the hell out of me that some people who were big time Buddie shippers for years not only dropped Buddie but turned completely against the ship and our fandom. And all for a ship that is seriously underdeveloped and one that it's clear the show is telling us in flashing neon lights isn't meant to last.

[ariainstars]

Apparently… Star Wars is for “Adults” Now

“Young people today don’t have a fantasy life anymore, not the way we did… All they’ve got is Kojak and Dirty Harry. All the films they see are movies of disasters and insecurity and realistic violence.” (George Lucas)

I am following on social media the enthusiasm caused by the Star Wars series Andor. I haven’t watched all of it yet but personally, I find it cold and bleak. I’m not saying it’s badly made; I just don’t like it. It could be set anywhere on Earth and in any period. It has nothing of the things that made the saga so special, no magic, no family, no hope, faith or love. And yet, countless fans love it.

The argument I keep coming across is that this is “Star Wars for adults”, which is basically like saying that if you don’t get it, it’s because you’re too immature for it.

What irritates me about this that these fans are basically almost all those who couldn’t stop (and don’t stop until today) to hate on The Last Jedi, saying how rotten it is, that Disney Lucasfilm destroyed their childhood etc. The result of all the TLJ bashing is that ever since, the studios are “apologizing” to these bullies first finishing the most beloved, beautiful and successful saga, after 42 years, with a stupid and trivial last chapter like The Rise of Skywalker, and now telling a story rooted in cold realism like Andor. Which, see citation above, was the very last thing the Star Wars creator ever wanted it to be.

The Last Jedi is a fairy tale in perfect Star Wars tradition. I and many other fans loved it, we were enthusiastic about its topics, the magical atmosphere, the development of the characters and the dynamics between them. Many fans not only never saw all of this but believed to be particularly intelligent finding faults in every second of this movie, calling it ridiculous and blasphemous. All because it hadn’t met their expectations by not portraying Luke Skywalker as an invincible, cool and aloof hero.

Tastes are different. Fine. But why say that if you don’t like Andor, the reason must be that you’re not adult enough to understand it? Apparently, these fans are the “grown-up” ones who appreciate cruelty and coldness, while it is implied that who appreciates the wisdom and beauty of a true fairy tale is a childish fool.

The irony is that it was them who spat venom up to sending insults and even death threats to the film studios after The Last Jedi. It’s not us. Who doesn’t love Andor doesn’t hate on it making a biblical drama over a piece of media. While apparently, that kind of behaviour was “adult”. They see absolutely no contradiction there.

Jeez.

I will rather stay in contact with my inner child than spend my time with depressing stuff so I can claim to be “adult”, thank you very much.

[scoutofmymind]

Hello! I just discovered I’m Your Man, and I’m so full of fondness for this story, I mean this is incredible. I read the lore and saw the visuals as well, this story is so so special to me. I was wondering (and hoping) if you were planning to write for this story again? Sending my love and appreciation your way <3

Hey darling! Thank you so much for reading, and asking me about it! I loved writing for that piece, it was a lot of fun, and I conjured up a lot of lore for it — I can’t promise I’ll finish, or that I’ll do an official second part, but under the cut I’m just giving you what I have that I never published (or finished) of a part 2.

Fair warning, I didn’t take the time to proof read too much or edit. This is essentially a kind-of first draft, so it might be messy, or worse, has plot holes. 💋

Evenings were easiest, though that was rather like saying drowning was preferable to burning.

They brought the blessed relief of shadows, of carefully maintained distances, of words swallowed behind silver spoons and crystal glasses. The gilded dining hall stretched endless between you and your father, though the space never felt quite vast enough. The table itself was a battlefield dressed in finery —every elaborate centerpiece a fortress, every candle flame a warning signal, every piece of silverware a potential weapon or witness.

Almost ironically — or perhaps deliberately, knowing your father's appetite for subtle cruelties — he'd begun stationing Luigi among the dinner guards.

The Grims stood like living statuary, paired in perfect symmetry along the walls, their muzzles gleaming dully in the candlelight.

Your father had always appreciated aesthetic suffering.

Each guard was positioned precisely, their shadows stretching across the imported marble in careful geometry.

Luigi stood sixth from the left, and though his stance matched his fellow Grims perfectly, you could read entire sonnets in the minute differences — the slightly looser grip on his weapon, the barely perceptible shift of weight when your father spoke too sharply, the way his eyes tracked the servants' movements with concern rather than suspicion.

Keeping your gaze from finding him had become an exquisite form of torture.

You'd developed an entire language of not-looking; studying the ornate ceiling frescos until you'd memorized every painted cloud, counting the crystalline drops on the chandeliers, examining your reflection in the soup as though it held state secrets. But your eyes were treacherous things, drawn to him like compass needles to true north.

The worst part was knowing your father watched you not-watching.

He sat at the table's far end, a spider in his web of calculated ceremony, measuring the space between your glances with the same precision he used to measure the kingdom's borders.

Each time your eyes skipped too close to Luigi's position, your father's wine glass would pause halfway to his lips — a gesture that carried more threat than any spoken warning.

Still, there was a bitter comfort in these evening performances.

At least in the dining hall, everyone wore their masks openly — your father's benevolent tyrant, your own dutiful daughter, Luigi's obedient hound.

The honesty of pretense, served alongside each carefully plated course.

"Father, why do we need the hounds here whilst we eat dinner?" You ask, letting sweetness drip from each syllable. The question is crafted with the same delicate precision as the sugar sculptures adorning tonight's dessert course — beautiful, fragile things designed to shatter.

Despite his perpetual softness toward you — or perhaps because of it — you'd seen what lurks beneath your father's facade.

Since your mother's death, you've watched him transform like iron in a forge, folding and refolding into something harder, sharper. The man who once read you bedtime stories now reads execution orders with the same cadence.

Your father's hand stills, fork hovering above his plate, and the silence stretches long enough that the candle flames seem to hold their breath.

"Tell me," he says finally, his voice carrying the same tone he uses when addressing servants who've broken valuable items, "would you question why we keep shields mounted on our walls? Or why the castle keeps its gates?" He sets his fork down with a loud precision that makes you flinch. "These creatures serve their purpose. Nothing more."

You cast your gaze upward to catch his, and the temperature in the room seems to drop as he continues, "They may walk on two legs, but make no mistake — they are tools, not beings for contemplation. The muzzles aren't decorative, they’re necessary. Like chains on a door."

You feel Luigi's presence across the dining room, steady as heartbeat, though you dare not turn, your fathers gaze flicking past your shoulder, and his lip curls slightly — the same expression he wears when discovering rats in the grain stores, a hand reaching for his pistol.

"Perhaps," he says, "you've spent too much time in the gardens. Your mother's softness speaks through you, and while it was charming in her, it has no place in our current Kingdom."

The mention of your mother falls like an executioner's axe, and he knows it.

Later, you find yourself shivering in the east hall, the long stretch of marble flooring illuminated by candelabras lining the ornate wall, their flames cast dancing shadows across centuries-old tapestries, each flicker a potential betrayal of this stolen moment. "Miss you," Luigi whispers earnestly, his voice barely stirring the air between you.

The winter's chill seeps through the very foundation beneath him, but even this bone-deep cold is preferable to his former post — outside the vacant North Tower where a new pup now stands, facing the harshest winds winter could devise, just as Luigi once did.

The east wing's bustling nature should have made it impossible to pluck Luigi from his duties, each passing shadow a potential witness, but like all obstacles your father erected between you, it only stood for a night or so — after all, you'd learned long ago that the busiest places often held the best hiding spots, and that most eyes saw only what they expected to see.

The castle's rhythms were as predictable as tides.

Every third hour, like clockwork, the kitchen staff would parade through the east hall with their thunderous carts of dishes and linens, and the noise would draw the attention of even the most disciplined guards, and the temporary chaos of bodies and movement provided perfect cover.

You'd learned this during your childhood wanderings, watching from hidden corners as the entire wing transformed into organized mayhem, and more importantly, you'd noticed how the guard stationed closest to the kitchens would habitually step aside, pressing against the wall to allow the procession through.

Luigi, being the newest addition to this post, had been stationed precisely there — a placement likely meant as another punishment, subjecting him to the constant disruption.

It was almost too easy to time your requests for his escort to these moments, when his temporary step away from his post would go unquestioned. After all, what guard would refuse a princess seeking protection during such chaos?

And if your chosen paths happened to lead away from the bustle rather than through it, well — that was simply a matter of comfort and propriety, wasn't it?

The library's defunct servant passages would be perfect — specifically, the narrow maintenance corridor behind the east wing's reading room, originally designed to allow servants quick access for tending fires and delivering books, it had fallen into disuse once the castle modernized its heating systems.

Few remembered these passages existed, their entrances cleverly disguised as decorative panels in the library's ornate woodwork.

What made it ideal was its location between the library's outer wall and inner chambers — the thick stone masking any sound, while the regular creaking of the building's ancient architecture provided perfect cover for any subtle movements.

Your fingers tremble with practiced urgency as you undo the cruel leather straps, each movement gentle despite your haste. The muzzle comes away with a wet sound that makes your chest ache, revealing the constellation of puncture wounds across his cheeks — fresh rivulets of blood trace familiar paths down his jaw, marking today as one where he couldn't hold his tongue.

"My stubborn boy," you breathe, already dabbing at the wounds with your handkerchief. The white silk comes away crimson, like all the others hidden away in your chambers. “Can’t keep anything to yourself.”

Luigi catches your wrist, stilling your ministrations.

Even in the dim light of your hidden corner, his eyes hold that same burning intensity that first drew you — not the dutiful blank stare of a Grimguard, but something wild and unbreakably human.

You lean forward, pressing your forehead to his, breathing in the metallic tang of blood and leather and him. This close, you can feel the slight tremor in his frame — exhaustion from standing at attention for so long, “Will you ever forgive me for putting you in this danger?” You whisper, your nose nudging his.

Despite the fresh wounds, a crooked smile tugs at his bloodied lips — the same reckless grin that gets him in trouble during training, as he reaches up with scarred knuckles to touch your face, his calloused fingers impossibly gentle for someone who's been trained to kill.

"Not your fault," he murmurs, wiping away a tear you hadn't noticed falling. His smile turns sharp, almost proud. "They tried to grab my collar and I caught his hand." He chomps his teeth dramatically at you, the bright white enamel bloodstained from the wounds on his cheeks.

You've seen him in the training yard, snarling defiance even as they force the muzzle on him.

Watched him stand proud with blood running down his chin because he refused to stay silent when ordered.

But here, with you, his fierce edges soften, even as he bears his bloody teeth in a playful grin — like a wolf pup showing off its first kill, eager for praise rather than fear. The same smile that terrorizes the guards transforms into something almost innocent when directed at you, even as he growls, "Let them hurt me. I hurt them back worse."

You reach out to trace the fresh thorn marks on his neck, each puncture a reminder of how close they come to going too deep. "Luigi, please," you whisper, voice catching. "They'll kill you if you keep this up. Father already talks about how you're more trouble than you're worth."

His playful grin falters for just a moment, something vulnerable flickering in his eyes before the wildness returns. "Let them." he says, but his voice lacks its usual bravado. His hand catches yours where it rests against his wounds. "I can't-I can't just submit like the others." He struggles with the words, frustration evident in his clenched jaw. "Rather die standing than live on my knees."

"You don't understand," you plead, gripping his forearms. "There are worse things than the thorns. I've seen what they do to the ones they decide to break. The ones that disappear into the lower chambers." Your voice drops to a horrified whisper. "Sometimes we can hear them screaming for days."

Luigi goes very still at that, his breathing shallow.

For a moment, real fear crosses his face — not for himself, you realize, but something else.

Or someone else.

But he only allows himself a heartbeat to sit with that grief before he's pressing his face into the crook of your neck, inhaling deeply. This part of his ritual is as familiar as breathing — marking you with his scent, erasing any trace of the suitor who dared stand too close today.

The gesture should seem animal, primitive, and perhaps it is.

After all, that's how they raised him.

Chained and muzzled, trained with thorns and pain until human and beast blurred together; yet, there's something achingly human in the way his hands tremble against your back, in how he breathes your name like a prayer against your skin.

Flesh and bone and something wilder — something they couldn't beat out of him no matter how hard they tried.

You could feel the heat radiating off of him, wild hearts beating in tandem, hands roaming two bodies that ache for each other but have been kept apart for far too long. "How much longer?" he murmurs against your neck, the words half-growl, half-plea. His fingers trace idle patterns on your back, but there's tension in every line of his body. "Until we can stop hiding?"

You know what he's asking — about the plans you've whispered in the dark, about the ship waiting in the southern harbor and the loyal Grimguards who've agreed to look the other way, about the small fortune in jewels you've slowly been converting to untraceable coin.

Three more weeks until the spring festival, when security will be distracted and the crowds will provide cover. Three more weeks of watching him bleed, of forcing yourself to smile at what your father has called the Destined Suitor.

"Soon," you promise, running your fingers through his hair, careful of the fresh bruise at his temple. "Just a little longer.” You pull back just enough to cup his face in your hands, forcing him to meet your eyes. "Three weeks," you whisper. "Then we'll be free. No more thorns, no more hiding. Just us."

The wild hope that flares in his eyes makes your chest ache. It's the same look he had when you first suggested running away together — like he couldn't quite believe someone would choose him, choose freedom with a broken weapon over a crown and a kingdom.

“Just us.” Luigi echoes, a nod following an earnest hum. He transfers his trust to you, not just in this very moment but in all of them. In every moment he leaves his post to be with you, in every moment he ‘s vulnerable, the whimpering pup who snarls and spits and makes itself as big as possible when threatened.

"Are you scared?" you whisper, Your fingers trace the raw edges where metal has worn his skin thin. His slight head shake carries a practiced indifference, but you notice how his throat tightens, how his fingers curl against your dress. You've seen what happens in that arena — watched pups tear into each other with desperate fury, their humanity unraveling thread by bloody thread as the crowd cheers.

"No," Luigi says, but the scars around his cheeks tell a different story. They're deeper now, darker — a map of defiance etched into flesh. Each time you remove his muzzle, each precious moment he claims his face as his own, the wounds carve themselves deeper.

His attention drifts to your face, and something in his expression softens. There's still a boy beneath the scars, beneath the kingdom's attempts to forge him into steel. "Are you worried for me?" His hand lifts, catching a strand of your hair between callused fingers. Even now, with hands trained to break bone, he touches you like you're made of gossamer.

Like he's afraid his violence might stain you.

"The Teething doesn’t hold a match to the Muzzling.” He recalls the sparring he’d done with his first muzzle, even before it’d been thorned — heavy metal weighing his head, obscuring most of his sight, meant to train him for endurance before his permanent one.

"What's any of it good for?" The wonder slips out before you can catch it, fragile as a dying breath. Your fingers trace the cruel architecture of his muzzle laid off to the side, and you remember a different kingdom.

You'd grown up believing in fairy tales — in a land where the castle's shadow meant protection, where your father's crown symbolized wisdom rather than power. You remember running through meadows that bloomed eternal, your shoes stained green from grass that seemed to stretch into forever, and how the gardeners would weave you crowns of daffodils, the air always smelling of spring's promise.

Now those same fields lie buried under sheets of unforgiving ice.

The flowers have long since withered, their graves marked by frost. Even the earth itself seems to have hardened, frozen to its core like your father's heart. Sometimes you wonder if you dreamed that gentler kingdom, if it ever truly existed beyond your childhood memories — or perhaps this is what kingdoms always become, when kings forget that crowns should weigh heavy with responsibility rather than pride.

You watch his eyes drift back to the crystal chandelier above, searching for wisdom in its scattered light. "I think-“ His tongue clicks softly against his teeth, followed by that drowsy habit of his, lips parting in a yawn he'd normally have to suppress. Without the muzzle, he can indulge in these small freedoms.

"I think it is necessary."

The words hang in the stillness between you, and your fingers weave through his dark waves, each curl a small rebellion against the military precision they demand of him, but you don't interrupt this rare moment of vulnerability. He's still learning to trust his voice, to remember that language can be wielded as skillfully as teeth and claws.

"I think," he continues, each word carefully chosen, "the kingdom needs teeth." His eyes hold a wisdom that makes him seem ancient despite his youth, although he struggles still to find the words. "Without the Teething, they might forget what power looks like. And when they forget-" He pauses, and you see him wrestling with memories he hasn’t shared yet. “That's when real monsters want to play. At least with us, with the hounds, everyone knows where the danger lies."

The terrible logic of it makes your chest ache.

He's learned to see his own subjugation as a form of protection — a controlled violence to prevent unchecked chaos. The clear-eyed understanding of a young man who's seen too much of the world's darkness.

"When they know what we can do — what we're made to do-“ his voice grows softer, almost gentle, "they stay in line. They don't hurt each other in the streets. They watch us fight instead." His fingers tighten in your dress, betraying the conviction in his words. "Before the hounds, before the muzzles. There was so much blood. At least now-“ he swallows hard, "there are rules."

You hear what he won't say, that he'd rather bear the thorns himself than watch the kingdom tear itself apart — that somewhere he's accepted his role as both warning and sacrifice, carrying the weight of controlled brutality to ward off something he fears would be far worse.

It's the logic of someone who's been taught that peace can only exist in the shadow of power — and perhaps has seen enough to believe it.

Still, it would never stop him from pushing the envelope.

His acceptance of necessity didn't breed docility.

He’d always bite the hand that fed him.

But to show him kindness without permanence would have been a cruelty worse than leaving him.

Furthermore, Luigi was devastatingly easy to love.

He was rough around the edges that needed it — calloused hands, scarred knuckles, the way he'd bare his teeth when startled; but he was soft in all the ways that mattered.

How he'd fold your blankets in the morning, the gentle way he'd test bath water with his wrist, how he hummed old lullabies while he clung to you in your sleep, always mindful of your feelings, still, despite years of being trained as a demonic pet rather than human.

Against all odds, against the leather and steel they'd forced between his teeth, against every lash and command, Luigi had clung to his humanity like a drowning man to driftwood. It lived in his laugh — starting rusty, as if remembering how, then building to something wild and free. It showed in his breathing — no longer the measured pants of a trained beast, but deep and steady and sure.

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them in terms of lore or where I planned on going with the story. Like I said, I loved writing for it! I just can’t promise a continuation beyond this and I apologize! But that’s also not to say I never will.

[jayz4dayz]

RWBY Volume 9 Was A Total Missed Opportunity:

Putting this out there right now. Volume 9 is by far my favorite volume of RWBY for many reasons which I will not be addressing in this post, but there are a few things that have been on my mind since it's been released where I feel the storyline went wrong and could have been something so much more meaningful for the character's story arcs and development.

Starting off with our main man or should I say our old man Jaune Arc. His presence throughout Vol. 9 felt out of place not just for his character, but also the way his development was handled didn't feel right in the slightest. Becoming a crazy old crackpot because he foolishly made bad decision after bad decision, completely altering and undoing a lot of his character's timeline, and turning into this sort of secondary antagonist for Team RWBY made no sense to me. The way he said so many out of pocket things throughout the different episodes, including completely crossing a line with Ruby and being insensitive towards her mental and emotional condition instead of showing genuine concern like he normally would have, made me cringe to where I wasn't enjoying what I was watching anymore. Not in a good way!

Here's how I would have done it:

Going back to the very end of volume 8 where we see Jaune running towards the portal and barely missing it by mere inches, followed by seeing him fall into the dark abyss and joining the same fate as Team RWBY and Neo. Instead of that, we see him jumping through the portal at the very last second and making it to Vacuo by the skin of his teeth. The others see him and question why he's alone and where Team RWBY was, only for him to go "Uh..." and then the screen cuts to black and the credits start rolling.

We're gonna skip the three year hiatus and jump right into the beginning of Vol. 9 where only Team RWBY and Neo have fallen into the Ever After. For the first few episodes leading up to the reveal of the Rusted Knight, I don't think much needs to change except for the fact that they won't ever encounter Jaune, but they will still encounter the Rusted Knight who, in this version, is someone that would have had the entire fandom shook to their core when the big reveal of the Rusted Knight's identity happened: Pyrrha.

Now, how would she get to this point, you might ask? Well, remember when she got pierced by Cinder's Arrow and her body seemed to disintegrate? This scene:

This death compared to all the other characters who were killed off was unique in the fact that there was no body left behind and it almost appeared her energy was transported to another place. Hmm, perhaps another realm such as the In Between or the Ever After? Why this happened, in my opinion, was because of the use of someone else's semblance. We know very little about Pyrrha's family and have only seen her mother on screen once, so we don't know much about her backstory or semblance either. However, if her semblance worked anything like Raven's to where she needed to be attached to someone in order for her semblance to work and transfer her loved ones to a safer location to escape a deadly threat, now we have something. What if her mom's semblance transported the body to another realm of her choice right before the moment of death? (I like to call it a "divine intervention" semblance.) If that's the case, then why wouldn't it make sense for a mother's love to send her daughter somewhere familiar and (relatively) safe and still accessible to Remnant? The Ever After was based on a children's tale that everyone knew growing up and Pyrrha being as smart as she is would instantly recognize where she was transported to. Maybe she had knowledge of her mother's semblance and knew this might have happened one day, or maybe not. I find the one scene her mother is in to be very interesting because while she was talking to Jaune, she had a very bitter-sweet attitude about it and almost talked as if she knew more than she let on, but I digress.

In the story's timeline, when Team RWBY arrives in the Ever After, Pyrrha would have been there already for a couple of years. That would have given her enough time to establish herself and explore the different acres because let's be real here, Pyrrha wouldn't have stumbled upon the time travel fruit and messed around with it like Jaune did, nor would she have focused all her energy into the people of the land even though she would protect them with her life if she had to, but at the end of the day, she was just trying to figure out a way home. Once she stumbles across Team RWBY, it would all make sense why the Tree didn't let her return to Remnant yet. By this point, I'm sure she would have encountered Alyx, Lewis, and the Curious cat, probably handled the situation a lot better than Jaune did, and give Team RWBY a cautionary tale about the Curious Cat in a way that wasn't bitter or vengeful. The bee's having their special moment still would have happened, the team's fallout with the Curious Cat still would have gone down, and then we get to the scene with Neo's Jabber Walker clones and Ruby has her mental breakdown and identity crisis. I don't see Pyrrha blaming Ruby for what happened to the Paper Pleasers despite her immense sorrow for the loss of her only friends she had during her time in the Ever After. Her experiences with the Paper Pleasers would have been way different too because there's no way she'd be a gold-hearted tyrant like Jaune was painted out to be. I do see Ruby blaming herself and still running off anyway because she feels like a burden and a failure as a leader. I didn't enjoy the way Jaune was the center of focus when Ruby was very clearly in a dangerous state of mind and I'm positive Pyrrha would have picked up on it right away and address it to Ruby's team after the fact and not go off on her for not doing enough.

Team RWPY would go on the search for Ruby and still find her in Neo's torture dungeon, which would have been just as painful to watch, especially from Pyrrha's point of view. Ruby having to watch Pyrrha die in Vol.3 and now she had to witness Ruby "die" in Vol. 9 is kind of a trippy coincidence that fits so well. The only difference being Pyrrha immediately taking the initiative to find Ruby before the cat does and the final battle being way more epic. Jaune certainly gained a lot of battle experience throughout the series, but Pyrrha was always ahead of him in that respect and without a doubt would have sharpened her skills to perfection while she was on her own in the Ever After. Ruby emerges as a new version of herself, they defeat the Curious Cat, Neo ascends, and all of the girls finally get to go home together, hand in hand.

I can even go as far as to say this would have made Vol. 9 Beyond so much better too. Picture it, Team RWBY and Pyrrha leaving the portal and the first person to see them is Jaune. The potential for Arkos here is so strong it kills me inside! They'd have a raw moment between each other, there'd be lots of crying on Jaune and maybe even Pyrrha's part too, a long hug, and most definitely a romantic kiss that would have tied their relationship arc together in such a perfect way. It would have brought Pyrrha back and that's honestly all I want.

Of course, this is all just for shits and giggles, but I'd love to hear what y'all think or if you have something else to add! ^-^

[pixels-and-pages]

(This work was part of a final exam and presented during the annual students’ conference titled Journeys Across Worlds: Deconstructing Identities Through Language and Literature)

When Alien: Isolation was published, its AI was marketed as a “learning entity” that adapts to the player’s gaming style, presenting an inevitable threat that needed to be avoided at all costs since it could not be defeated. Usually, the player uses weaponry to defend themselves, but even the alien’s initial weakness, fire, proves useless as the alien seems to develop a higher resistance. Additionally, it even searches lockers and other hiding spots that the player regularly utilizes for their defense. Therefore, the player cannot run or hide: The alien will find them.

But is that really the case? Years after the game’s release, the publishers de-constructed the alien’s AI and explained how it works. Until then, it operated on patterns unbeknownst to the player. They could see that the alien reacted toward sounds or movements but when it suddenly crawled underneath the table and pulled the player out of it for their inevitable death, even though the alien had no visual clues for the player’s current position, they ultimately realized that they were powerless against their enemy. 

When the input and output are known, but the mechanisms in between are not, it is called a “black box.” A black box describes processes we cannot understand, and often, when we try to de-blackbox, so to unveil the mechanisms behind a system, we quickly realize that more black boxes are revealed. A scholar named Latour used the example of a projector: It is used daily, no questions arise behind its mechanisms or workings, but as soon as one part malfunctions and needs repair, we are exposed to our lack of knowledge – the black box. 

In the case of the alien, or any NPC (non-playable character), the AI’s black box becomes visible when the player faces an obstacle they cannot overcome, or if the behavioral pattern does not add up to the player’s expectations. Consider this: the player provokes a sound and expects the alien to investigate – but it does not. The player repeats the process, and still, the alien does not show up. They turn around to leave, but they are greeted by the alien turning the corner and bodyslamming them into another death screen. The player asks themselves if this was an error on the AI’s part or if it was programmed unfairly (There is an interesting article on that subject by Jaroslav Švelch: “Should the Monster Play Fair?: Reception of Artificial Intelligence in Alien: Isolation”).

The process just described is “Step 2: interest (interruption, detour, enlistment)” in Latour’s sequence of “Reversible Blackboxing:” It is the moment we realize a process is not working in the way we are used to, leading to an interruption or detour and creating interest in its inner workings. This interest more often than not is forced upon since mechanisms are seldom questioned. 

Let’s deconstruct the alien’s black box now by using the information the developers published. There are extensive video essays on how the AI works on YouTube, so I will cover the basic concept. The AI consists of two parts: 1) the Director, and 2) the alien itself. The Director AI overviews the alien’s and player’s movements and current locations and guides the alien into the general area of the player. The alien, then, needs to utilize the reactions in its behavioral tree to either search an area for visual or audio clues or wait until the player reveals their whereabouts. Additionally, the Director overviews the “Menace Gauge,” a tension meter that determines whether to send the alien away from the player for them to progress or provoke an encounter. 

As mentioned, the alien bases its reactions on a behavioral tree, which can easily be described as branches containing reactions when something is triggered. The alien can choose from different sub-behaviors and unlock them as the game progresses. So when, at the beginning of the game, the Director sends the alien in the player’s direction, its behavior tree might only include roaming the area, whereas as the game progresses, the alien might search in lockers additionally since it could not locate the player through other clues/behaviors alone. Therefore, the alien is not a learning entity in terms of adjusting to the player’s gaming style: Even if the player does not hide in the vents regularly, the alien might still search them. Even if the player does not defend themselves with fire, the alien might still develop a higher resistance. Even if the player runs from one part of the map to the other, the alien will still find it because of the Director. 

Therefore, through deconstructing the alien’s AI, we understand that the player’s choices have no impact on the alien’s learning or behavior – it simply utilizes the sub-behaviors implemented in its behavioral tree. However, deconstructing this black box uncovers another phenomenon briefly mentioned before: more black boxes. Even though we now know how the alien operates, the behavior tree or when it unlocks specific sub-reactions is still an opaque process to us and the player. 

It is also crucial to mention that calling strange/unknown processes “black boxes” might lead to mystifying otherwise simple mechanisms, and therefore making the term redundant. Even though this example is very much centered around video game AI, the general public demands more transparency regarding artificial intelligence and its inner workings. A recurring example would be the TikTok algorithm or Spotify suggestions.

[snicketstrange]

Behind the Periscope: The True Story of Captain Widdershins

Many people don't like Captain Widdershins, but he is actually humanity's greatest hero. Moreover, he possesses the best skill in hiding truths: he can tell half-truths and mix them with lies. I would say he is on the same level as Quigley, or even higher, in deceiving people.

He created an entire character to distract those around him. We see this in a comparison between his young version in ATWQ and his adult version in TGG. Let's analyze his adult version in TGG and see how he is an impressive agent of VFD.I find this book very interesting. I'm not following the reread, but I remember some important points in my theory. Firstly, Captain W. is certainly a big liar.

He is looking for the SB in the ocean because he received information that the SB had been thrown out of the HQ window. Certainly this information must have been received through the telegram equipment that is hypothetically broken. But it was working all the time. Surely after Klaus calculated where the SB was, Captain W sent the information to the mysterious woman or her supporters. He must have sent this information while the children were sleeping.

Thanks to that, the woman got to GG and grabbed SB. She must have arrived at the submarine with the SB in hand. And Captain W decided to abandon the submarine so urgently because the woman said something like: "I can't breathe." He must have taken the SB with him. That's why he needed to send the SB to Hotel D via the crows. The reason SB needed to go to Hotel D was because SB contained a lot of confidential information, much of that information was being cataloged in the real Hotel D.Another key thing is the backstory of the W family that mixes with the Anwistle family and Olaf's actions. It has been explained several times that the word "schism" refers to different events in the recent history of VFD.

We had the Great Schism, which the Man with a Beard and the Woman without a Beard participated in, about 40 years before the main events. As they said, it was at this event that the serpents took the willing side of the schism. Olaf, evidently still quite young, took the willing side of the schism as well, and was trained along with Lemony by VFD. Another important schism was the Anwistle Schism. It is this schism that the W family was unsure whether to participate or not.

Captain W's wife evidently sided with the schism that wanted to use the deadly MM fungus against the enemies that already existed (the incendiary side) while Captain W himself was unsure whether he would support his wife or not. That's certainly what led to the end of their marriage, and the lame excuse about Fiona's mother's death. Fiona herself was still a baby. Around this time, Olaf and Fernald teamed up to put an end to the threat of the deadly MM fungus. This development of events made Fernald very confused about VFD's morals and Olaf's morals.

According to Fernald and Lemony's words about him disagreeing with some of Captain W's attitudes, and Olaf's words about the W family never deciding which side to support in the schism, and the fact that Olaf and Fiona were close when she was still a baby, leads me to believe that Captain W was actually the great hero of humanity. An unrecognized hero, but a hero nonetheless.

The deadly MM fungus needed to be destroyed. That is a fact that, at least I, recognize. But only people who supported Anwistle's schism could approach where the fungus was being cultivated. This is evident by the fact that Kit Snicket tried to convince Anwistle through a letter, instead of solving the problem herself.Captain W had to pretend to be a supporter of Anwistle's schism and infiltrate the sect. In order to help him complete this mission, Captain W managed to marry Fiona and Fernald's mother, one of Anwistle's main persons of interest due to her research work. Additionally, Kit Snicket achieved an engineering feat: building a submarine that required a very small crew to operate, as it did not use human propulsion.Thus, Captain W became a person of interest for Anwistle's plan since his submarine could be used in all the necessary logistics. But at some point, Captain W was responsible for bringing a person from VFD with a bad reputation and experience in causing fires to Anwistle's facilities: Olaf.

Unable to explain his true intentions to Fernald, Captain W posed as a supporter of Anwistle's ideas in Fernald's eyes. And for that reason, Fernald allied with Olaf and helped in the destruction of AA and the deadly MM fungus, without knowing that this was exactly what Captain W had in mind.It was a complicated situation. Anyway, Fernald could not conceive the idea that Captain W would remain a member of VFD even knowing that VFD was responsible for cultivating the deadly MM fungus, without making the proper separation between the wheat and the chaff of VFD. That's why he joins Olaf, who from his point of view was a dissident member of VFD and one of the responsible for saving humanity.

Another important detail is how Captain W manages to pretend that he is completely unaware of JS. At no point did he show any lack of knowledge about the fact that he was actually working with JS, and instead he simply changed the subject and stated that Jacques Snicket was dead. But evidently, Captain W was working with JS. After all, JS knew that the children were arriving in a submarine. This information must have come from the submarine itself and reached JS, and this could only be possible through W's communication with JS or a supporter of JS. This leads us to believe that JS, the recipient of the message in the refrigerator in TSS, was expected at the VFD HQ. He would receive the SB. And he must indeed have received it. After all, the person who really took on the role of Jacques Snicket must have been his brother Lemony Snicket, who is also disguised as a taxi driver, and received the SB just as he had wanted to from the beginning. (In TPP). In other words, Captain W saved humanity again: he prevented the SB from falling into the wrong hands.

[projectmoon-smash-or-pass]

hi everyone, the queue is dead so time to bring out the big question (poll under readmore)

so if you're not familiar with wonderlab, it was a webcomic tied to the series about the agents and clerks of lobotomy corporation

right now wonderlab is considered "non-canon" because the author wanted to take them down and doesn't want an association with PM anymore, and the reasons for that are the fanbase and PM's own fuck-ups:

mimi, the author of wonderlab made a disclaimer on their twitter and blog that one abnormality in particular was a child (servant of wrath) and while they disliked nsfw of their characters, they wouldn't stop anyone EXCEPT for any kind of nsfw work of servant of wrath. some people made nsfw of SoW just to spite them, which is one reason why they tried to take wonderlab down a few years back before the big ishmael "controversy".

a year before the ishmael controversy, pm hosted an event at hamhampangpang with wonderlab characters, but apparently they did not tell mimi that they would be holding a wonderlab event (they learned about it from twitter of all places), so this already soured the relationship between mimi and PM

mimi was silent during the controversy, however they became a part of the harassment because incels (who are limbus only) discovered wonderlab, found their twitter, found out that wonderlab characters are all LGBT and mimi themselves focus on LGBT art, especially lesbian relationships, and began sending them death threats. this was the final straw for mimi and why they asked for wonderlab to be considered non-canon

now a lot of people (myself included) think while she didn't deserve the harassment, wonderlab deserves to be a part of the canon because a good amount of the abnormalities are featured on library of ruina, wonderlab developed what "the city" and its citizens look and live like (especially L Corp), especially because it was being released while LoR was still being updated, and while there is a lot of lgbt CODED characters in other PM media, wonderlab is the only PM media with actual, canonically lgbt characters. there is still a wonderlab wiki and tv tropes, and mimi could have asked them to take these down because they were suing people for downloading wonderlab left and right

i am perfectly fine with wonderlab not being featured on the blog but this depends on what the followers on this blog wants.

while this poll is up for a week i will start working on the ID and EGO blog and start preparing for the tournament ^_^

please no hate comments towards mimi, pm, myself (for this poll) or others, thanks

[theinternetisaweboflies]

Jägermeister

Chapter Thirteen: Aftermath

The paramedics carried Newton to a PPDC helicopter one block south of the apothecary, at the nearest clearing in the debris large enough for them to make safe landing. 

Apparently, Marshal Hansen had ordered the helicopter as soon as Newton's presence was confirmed in the bunker. Hermann was grateful to the Marshal for arranging emergency transport while his own attention was elsewhere. 

Hermann wanted to accompany Newton, but there wasn't enough room in the helicopter with both the paramedics and security officers on board. 

The Secretary General had insisted on giving up his own security detail at the last minute, sending then to replace the officers about to board the helicopter. 

Hermann did not like the look of Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber standing guard over Newton’s gurney, but the pilot was under Marshal Hansen’s orders to take Newton directly to the Shatterdome, so he could be treated by drift specialists. He would be safe there. 

Besides, Hermann's suspicions of the Secretary General had only ever been conjecture— pure speculation based on evidence that was circumstantial at best. No doubt his paranoia could be attributed directly to the drift with Newton, who reveled in developing conspiracy theories about the Queen of England’s death or the symbiotic relationship between mole people and the alligators in the New York City subway. 

Hermann felt some shame for having even voiced his suspicions to the Marshal. The danger that he had grown accustomed to over the past decade had always come from a fixed source. In its wake, danger suddenly seemed to come from all quarters and for all he cared about.

He started to follow Deirdre back to the armored van, but Marshal Hansen intercepted them, gesturing with his good arm. 

For a moment it was V-Day all over again— Hermann and Newt were somehow both leaning their full weight against each other as they followed the new Marshal to the old one's office.

Then he was back in the bone slums. Dierdre stepped aside to confer her fellow security officers, while Hermann joined Marshal Hansen and the Secretary General. 

The Secretary General of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps was a man named Dustin Krieger. Hermann knew him by name only. He was in his mid-fifties, but the job had aged him further. Surgery had fought a battle with age, winning some skirmishes, but losing the battle of the bulge.

“-involving local law enforcement,” he was saying. “This is an issue of national security.”

“Which nation, mate?” Marshal Hansen asked, with an even heavier accent than usual. 

“Excuse me. Of course, I meant international security. The threat has already been resolved, and the perpetrators will be remanded into federal custody. The official story will be illegal kaiju organ harvesting, which has the benefit of being technically true. I’ve already ordered the Security Office to seal the investigation into Dr. Geizer’s abduction.”

“The Security Office is under my-”

“I recommend you have all non-security personnel involved sign a special NDA,” Secretary Krieger interrupted, glancing briefly at Hermann. “Unless you want someone leaking this story to TMZ too? With all of the international attention Dr. Geizer had received since the first leak, it would only look bad for the PPDC.”

Tendo pulled out his cell phone, scrolled for a few seconds, and then whistled. 

Hermann had almost forgotten they were there. Tendo, Mako, and Raleigh. They were still limping from their heroics during the Battle of the Breach, but they had stayed up all night to help him find Newton. 

He sent them a brisk nod and hoped they could extrapolate from there. 

“I’m sure you know the PPDC is in a precarious enough position as it is,” Secretary Krieger was saying, “or perhaps you don’t know. Representative Taylor and I are old college buddies, so sometimes he lets things slip a little early. You know how it is.”

“What are you going on about?” asked Marshal Hansen.

“The Pan Pacific Defense Corps is in danger of dissolution,” said Secretary Krieger. “At least your branch of it is. After all, Marshal, the war is over. This is peacetime. If any part of the PPDC has relevance now, it's the civilian branch. I’m sure the UN will brief you soon enough, but if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to. I’ll see you back at the Shatterdome.”

With that, he turned and walked away. 

“What the actual fuck is wrong with that guy?” asked Tendo. At least, it was phrased as a question, although Hermann was fairly certain it was intended to be rhetorical. 

“He doesn't have protection right now,” said Mako. “Couldn’t we just-”

“No.” Marshal Hansen held up his good hand. “We got what we came for. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

...

@lastdaysofwar

[ts2cambremon]

Cambremon- the events so far (pt.4)

See here for: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Galina was murdered by Ivan, who clumsily tried to disguise the homicide as an accidental fall. Galina's corpse was found by Serf Astra.

Bruk was sent to announce Galina's death to her family. Serna, Galina's older sister, seemed very skeptical and voiced an indirect threat.

Kadja announced Galina's death to Janviya, who used to be her personal Serf. Both women were worried by this turn of events, which highlighted their precarious position.

A soldier reported that he'd seen an encampment in the wastelands, prompting Ren to organize a search party to investigate.

The search party was taken by surprise with the appearance of a mage wearing a mithril armor: Achemi Baranim.

Achemi showed herself to be a force to be reckoned with. She introduced herself as the leader of a mage clan living in the wastelands, who'd made a deal with a powerful spirit called The Beast. She already knew the names of the members of the party thanks to her son Marek, who had premonition powers and had foreseen their meeting.

The Cambremons made an alliance with this new clan. Besides Achemi, their leader, the clan was composed of Achemi's two sons, Marek and Yakon, and Yakon's companion, Ansyl.

Ansyl was none other than Edvin's ex-wife, who had managed to survive after fleeing the bandit camp.

The Cambremons and the Baranims came to a trade agreement. To seal the deal, Marek insisted on coming back to the Cambremon hub to find a bride, and the Baranims agreed to help the Cambremons with their spider hunt.

Although the Cambremons offered Ansyl the chance to come back to the Cambremon hub and be reunited with her two daughters, she refused.

Meanwhile, Serna was investigating Galina's murder. She questionned Serf Astra, who was too scared to reveal anything, but who implicated Ivan.

Meanwhile, Inna became an adult. A flirtation started between her and Ivan. Bruk tried to put a stop to it, by threatening Ivan to stay clear of the Cambremons.

The Cambremons and the Baranims took the fight to the spiders by going into caves where they made their nest. The mages emerged victorious, with Marek saving a young soldier.

However, the Cambremons showed their wanton disregard for the lives of their men- including for their half-brother Dormund- carelessly sending off a portion of their party to a spider-invested tunnel.

Miraculously, Dormund had survived the attack, and was brought back to the camp.

Ren gave Kadja some spider glands- a precious ressource, as it increased mage power- and told her to use this new power to heal Dormund.

Meanwhile, Chel passed away. Bruk, her son, was crushed.

Catching Ivan kissing Inna, Bruk flew into a fit of rage and attacked Ivan.

Inna sent Bruk flying. In the argument that followed, Inna showed herself to be far from defenseless- she was well aware of Ivan's nature, but approached their relationship very pragmatically, in order to get information from him. She ordered Bruk to stay out of her affairs.

Although the Baranims expressed their concern, Marek chose to accompany the Cambremons back to their hub, desperate to find a wife.

On the trip back to the hub, Kadja informed Dormund that his wounds caused long-term damage, and that the Guard was now leader-less.

Back in the Cambremon hub, Marek clearly expressed his attraction to Inna.

Ren and Andra planned Inna's marriage to Marek. Inna readily accepted the marriage, demonstrating her loyalty to the Cambremon and gaining Ren's approval.

Despite the arranged nature of their match, Inna and Marek developed feelings for each other.

[zozo720]

[CW: Mentions of NSFW content, Pokémon leaks down below]

I love Pokémon dearly, it is my comfort game, my biggest fixation and something that's been with me since I could think.

That said, I cannot stand the Pokémon fandom for the things some of them have done. The response to Sword and Shield was when I first lost all respect, and the response to the recent gigaleak has now eroded all faith I have in the community, or at least certain parts of it.

The fact that it happened at all was bad enough. This wasn't an accidental leak or something left in the files of a game demo. A Game Freak employee was phished and so much private information was stolen and compromised. It's undoubtedly cool to see this beta content, but I don't think the safety and security of hundreds of people is worth it.

And then there's the content of said leaks. Beta sprites and lore, info on Legends ZA and Gen 10, sure, that's cool. And surely everyone wants to hear about it, right?

Nope. The only thing anyone cares about is scrapped lore that implies human/Pokémon relationships, so they can drag out the same terrible, unfunny Vaporeon Copypasta jokes

So many people get legit harassed for liking Vaporeon and Lopunny and Braixen completely unironically, meanwhile people keep calling them "furbait" and blaming the designers for the fact that they can't think of anything other than porn. And despite being so aggressively spiteful of furries, those same people make tasteless jokes about having non-consensual sex with their Pokémon...

It should go without saying, but please don't make jokes like that publicly. Don't harass ACTUAL fans of these Pokémon by implying they're as dirty-minded as you. And if you try anything like that around me I will block you.

And don't come crawling with the "it's canon now" excuse. It's not. That damn book in Canalave Library never once mentions sex. No actual official Pokémon game mentions sex. Because this is a franchise for ALL AGES. I don't care about random manga panels taken out of context either. Even if the manga is more adult than the games or anime, Game Freak isn't supporting your weird obsession with beastiality.

The only thing worse than that is the leaked conversations between key members of GF staff, discussing how to handle things like Ash's retirement. They knew it was a sensitive issue. They were SCARED of the fans. They were legitimately terrified of fires and death threats. All because of an anime for children.

And I was there for it, I've been around to see the worst this "fandom" has to offer. To all the Pokémon fans who genuinely love Pokémon, who find comfort in it, whether you draw attractive anthro Mons or just think of them as adorable animals, I wish you all the happiness in the world.

And to all the "fans" who harass us with your tasteless sex jokes and send death threats to game developers, don't show your face around me unless you want blocked. I'm sorry the games and anime for 9 year olds is too much for you to comprehend.