#please let's discuss

[bloodinthegutter]

Little review of Deep Cut, but it's mostly me being your hyper fixated friend

First of all, hi. I don't think I've really talked about my thoughts on any particular comic run or mini series cause I started this blog specifically as a Marauder fan blog and, unsurprisingly, they're not really in the comics that often. I've thought about talking about past storylines or highlighting certain moments from comics, even if it's just one issue out of a hundred. I might do that going forward while I wait for the next thing to come along for me to relentlessly post about.

By the way, I'm not a critic. I'm very casual going into pretty much everything, and I'm way more positive than I am negative. Please don't listen to me. Please.

Okay, so how did I like Deep Cut, since it did kinda feature the Marauders? I dunno, it was fine. Nothing grand, just a little Logan side quest. Fun for anyone who's looking for a quick Wolverine story, and probably fun for anyone who's nostalgic for the Claremont era (although, I am one of those people, and I'm still sitting here not really sure what to say about it. This is hard).

I got the feeling throughout the first issue that yes, Claremont has a story to tell, he wants to fill in the gaps from forty years ago, which is great, I like that. Claremont definitely knows how to write Logan in a way where someone could read his dialogue or thought bubbles or the text boxes of him narrating to me and I’d go, “Oh yeah, that’s definitely Logan talking.” Same with Sabretooth. I’m not even that big of a Sabretooth fan, but I’ve always loved his dynamic with Logan, how he literally just loves fucking with him. It’s, like, the one part of their dynamic that usually gets lost when they adapt X-Men into movies or shows. 

I saw some people on various sites talking about how they didn’t like the art very much, and yeah, there were some…interesting design choices in certain areas…

...but I didn’t think it was horrible. 

I think this whole part was the highlight of my experience with reading this series:

She seems so excited. I love that for her. And I loved seeing the Marauders use teamwork. Greycrow definitely said it best when he said "Marauders win when we fight as a team." Brought me back to reading the Mutant Massacre as a kid and being like, "Oh no, these poor Morlocks...these Marauders are pretty cool, though." Fuck's wrong with me? Haha...

So, funny enough, I think where the series started to waver a little bit for me, personally, was after Logan realized that Sabretooth was a clone. Because whereas issue #1 with the whole fight between Logan and Sabretooth felt like it could be just a one-issue thing, a little gift from Claremont to us, the other three issues felt a little like he didn’t entirely know what to do with the rest of the story. To me, it kind of felt…over? After the first issue? If that makes sense? There were three issues to go, and I had been looking forward to seeing the Marauders, but I was still like, “Really? There’s more?”

I mean, of course there’s more, but something else that was kinda crazy to me was how underwhelmed I felt following the Sinister battle. I don’t know why, because after a fight with Sabretooth, two Marauder fights and an extra one where he, for some reason, didn’t kill any of them, Logan going up against Sinister should have been the moment where I clapped my hands and said, “Here we go, boys! The moment we’ve all been waiting for!” But I wasn't. I was just like, "Oh. Okay. That's cool."

Granted, I did like seeing Wolverine and Sabretooth team up, albeit briefly. That was cute.

But I think it being the last issue of a mini series kinda made me expect it to be a little rushed, so even though I typically go into things without any high or low expectations, I still felt a little underwhelmed. As much as I love the Marauders, I’m genuinely a little surprised that we got two full issues with them and not more Sinister. I’m not exactly complaining, but I can tell this might disappoint some other people.

Not that I care what other people think. Here's some pictures of my favorite character doing some poses:

I randomly just remembered that I met Chris Claremont at a comic con when I was 15 and he seemed genuinely surprised when I told him that I liked the Marauders. I really hope this mini series doesn't exist because of me. I'm haunted by memories of my still-existing cringe.

Anyway, like I said before, I'm not a critic. There's a bunch of Wolverine-centric podcasts that do deep dives into Wolverine comics waaaayyyy better than I can, and probably a million other users on Tumblr who have expressed their thoughts on this series in better detail than I did. I didn't hate Deep Cut, and I am just glad I could see my favorite villain group together again in a mini series this year, but it was still a pretty underwhelming read. I still have so many questions, too, that just seem like retcons now, like are the original Marauders still alive out there? Can Sinister not make clones of them without the originals? Is Hellions Greycrow a clone? Or is he the real Greycrow? And maybe the zombie Marauders were the real ones? But then where's Vertigo...?

None of that matters. I'm literally laughing at myself right now, I'm obsessed.

Closing thought: what the ever loving fuck are Scrambler's powers?

[teaboot]

Social anxiety level: Chatting with someone experiencing a schizophrenic episode and becoming increasingly self-concious of how I'm just saying "That sounds really stressful", "I've never heard of that but it sounds scary", and "You must be pretty worried about that" over and over again

[comatosebunny09]

Before AO3 goes down for maintenance, and before you flock to Tumblr to complain about how much it pains you to be deprived of your blessed, mood-enhancing, pillow-gnawing fics, make sure the writers of said fics know how much you enjoy them. It’s as easy as saying, “I like this. ☺️”

[whathappeninglestappen]

F1 Fans, We Need to Talk About What Happened After the Race

Okay guys, this is going to be long, but I can’t stop thinking about it and I really need to talk to someone about it.

After the race, Max goes to get weighed. As soon as he returns to his P2 stand, MBS comes over to talk to him. Max hasn’t even set his helmet down, and you can already tell MBS is pissing him off. Max looks visibly annoyed. Right after, he heads straight over to talk to Charles. You can see him walking away from MBS with his eyes locked on Charles.

Charles turns to Max, and they have this quiet, kind of awkward exchange. It really seems like they both want to say more but can’t. Charles asks Max about the penalty, and Max just nods—he doesn’t say a word. I think they were both super aware of the cameras on them, and Max probably couldn’t say what he really wanted to. Charles definitely picks up on Max’s silence too. Usually, those two debrief a bit more after a race.

Charles then puts his watch back on, and Max returns to the P2 stand while Oscar is doing his interview with DC. That’s when MBS approaches Max again. I couldn’t really catch Max’s body language because F1TV stayed focused on Oscar’s interview, but something was definitely off.

Then Max goes to give his own interview—and it’s clear he’s angry. He keeps it super short, and Charles looks visibly surprised when it’s his turn.

The cooldown room was awkward. Charles and Oscar tried to keep the conversation going, but Max was clearly in his head. He laughed at their jokes a bit, but he still seemed really defeated.

On the podium, Max looked depressed when he walked out. And side note—did anyone else notice Charles squirming during the anthems? He looked dizzy for a second, like he might pass out. I was genuinely worried he wasn’t okay. I think that’s also why he didn’t spray Oscar as much—he might’ve been feeling sick.

And Max didn’t spray anyone either. He deliberately stepped aside to avoid it and stayed in the background. I honestly didn’t think he was even going to stick around for the photo. He did congratulate both Oscar and Charles with a bottle clink, which I thought was really respectful.

So, in conclusion: I don’t think Max is upset with Charles or Oscar at all. In all his interviews, he praised Oscar. I genuinely believe MBS said something threatening to Max in parc fermé. While I agree Max deserved the penalty or should’ve given the position back, I don’t agree with drivers being silenced.

The FIA is supposed to be a governing body that protects the drivers and enforces the rules fairly. How can they do that if they can’t even handle criticism? Max doesn’t deserve hate just because he’s not allowed to speak his mind. The drivers can’t speak up against the FIA, but we, as fans, can.

I don’t know what we can do exactly, but I do know we need to do something.

If you made it this far—thank you for listening to my rant. Happy for Max’s P2 and Charles P3!

[lurker2773]

Characterization for the Hex if the Operator were sent back instead of the Drifter

I like to think about what 1999 could have been if the Lotus sent the Operator back to follow Entrati and not the Drifter. I know it makes the most sense from a character development standpoint to send Drifter, but the Operator is a much more experienced and capable (lorewise) warframe combatant with countless years of practice under their belt - it'd have been equally pragmatic to send the Starchild to 1999 to make sure whatever needs to get done in there happens and have the drifter get trained up and acclimated to the Origin system where there are other tenno to rely on to make up for inexperience and general rookie-ness.

So instead of the Hex getting a grown-ass person with magic void powers from the future, they'd get to have a war veteran trauma child - bonus points if that child is nonverbal or refuses to speak directly to them, and the Hex have to interact with them through the KIM.

And also, consider that most players from a gameplay standpoint habitually keep their Operators cloaked to prevent them from getting shot once they leave their 'frames to do whatever - canonically, the Operator and Drifter don't have a time limit on cloak, I don't think. The Hex are basically never even going to see the kid, and that could be more terrifying. Imagine seeing a puppet version of what you could be, dangling from the strings of some invisible, intangible thing with superpowers and magic lasers coming out of their hands.

Imagine mid mission Arthur turns to look at the weird and mysterious time-travelling entity and just sees a collapsed Baruuk on it's knees or frozen completely still in a weird position before it suddenly zooms about thirty meters away midair and starts straightening itself back out again in ways that joints shouldn't move in before slamming into the ground and rushing headlong into a crowd of Scaldra to 'build melee combo,' whatever the hell the demon child means by that.

Here's the meat of the post, though - the Hex (and newcomers like Flare and Kaya) can play the Context(TM) game like they do with Drifter through KIM and slowly piece together that this is a magical child soldier with a bodycount larger than all the people they've ever collectively laid eyes on, and then react in interesting ways that would lend interesting characterization.

Eleanor and Arthur would be horrified, probably, and Arthur might start talking down to the Operator because it's 'just some kid' who's clearly in over their head. Most of it's concern, but I think some small amount would be bruised pride - how could some kid be better at killing than a trained soldier?

Aoi would be heartbroken at the revelation that their new ally is a child soldier - how could anyone let that happen to them? How sick do you have to be to make children kill whoever the government pointed at with techno-organic corpses?

And Quincy would definitely be fucked up in the head for a few days after he figures it out - that could open up some opportunities for more characterization given his soft spot for kids. Would he try to keep up his aloof act, like he does with the Drifter, or immediately discard it to try and comfort a child that has already made peace with their ridiculous capacity for murder?

Amir might do something similar to Arthur, but more patronizing than hostile - he means well, but this is a kid. If Amir himself feels out of his depth in the current situation and he's an adult, then surely a child would feel even worse than he does about killing a person.

I think Lettie would be the most chill of the original Hex, though. She's jaded enough that she'd be concerned, but would probably decide that it's not really any of her business - especially considering just how talented the Operator is at mass homicide.

Velimir and Minerva could also be really interesting. On the one hand, they could see little bits of Rusalka in the Operator, but that could also lead to coddling or 'replacement goldfish'-like behavior not unlike how I imagine Amir's reaction would have been.

Flare would have been the first to know. One wayward comment from Lizzie calling the Operator demon-child or something of the like, and they'd have put it together pretty quickly after that.

Kaya would just be glad there's someone else who understands being underestimated by older people just because they're younger.

[ningadudexx]

please support palestinian voices and organizations 🍉 - links and sources

hello, i hope everyone can take the time to read this and consider donating if possible!! ive recently had a few people in palestine reach out to me personally asking for donations, and i think that putting the resources here in a main central post would be a great benefit to these families in order to get them more donations. ive donated to a few of these families and organizations below, but i feel bad that i cant donate more amounts since im currently a full time college student juggling with a job at the moment. so if you can, please please please considering donating or reblogging their pages, so that they can get the help they need!!! i will keep this post pinned so that it is the first thing seen on my account

I hope this post can come across as helpful to someone, the last thing i want is to speak over palestinian voices that NEED to be heard, and i sincerely hope this post doesnt do that. so many people have lost everything in their lives: loved ones, work, school, food, their homes, the list is endless. PLEASE consider donating or speading the word or even just researching on your own time from current news sources. please let me know if i got anything in this post incorrect, i want to make sure this post is a good source for people to look at.

here are a few people who i have donated to that reached out to me for help (i will try my best to update this list as people comment below this post, but i urge you to check the comments section too):

@family1234567 - https://gofund.me/600330a0

@haifa823 - https://www.gofundme.com/f/xxxx-excape-xxxxx

@qaz-1998 - https://gofund.me/f4012f59

@aya-1993 - https://gofund.me/877bdefc

@mosabfmly - https://gofund.me/5ac9124f

@sondos-gaza01 - https://chuffed.org/project/help-sondos-family

@hananfamily11 - https://gofund.me/b905b50e

@alihelpmme - https://gofund.me/ed6e9cb6

@samy-family3 - https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-a-familys-journey-to-evacuate-to-safety-from-gaza

@abdallahf5 - https://gofund.me/034bc2a0

@ahmed3amar - https://gofund.me/dcbeb67b

here are a few organizations as well (please suggest more to add if you can!!!):

PLEASE support palestinian voices!!!!!

[mumblesplash]

guys please we can NOT restart ace discourse rn there’s still sex scene discourse residue everywhere it’s gonna make mustard gas

[altschmerzes]

if the only time you bring up A Secret Third Thing is when someone has suggested generally celebrating or uplifting platonic/queerplatonic fictional relationships in spaces that ordinarily obsess about romantic ones to the exclusion of all else perhaps consider why you’re doing that and also stop.

[poppyseeds-and-coffeebeans]

Chapters: 24/25 - 18+ ONLY chapter (This update >16k words...) Rating: Explicit Relationships: Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog Additional Tags: Aged-Up Character(s), Winter Olympics, Alternate Universe -     Sports, Slow Burn, Ice Skating, Snowboarding, the slow burn isn't that   slow tbh, Those Olympics village beds are not gonna survive this, Porn With Plot, Mutual Pining, Praise Kink, unsportsmanlike behavior, destruction of Olympics property (again), Unethical Journalism, Anointing, Fluff and Angst, chest fur job

fSummary: or: Sonic and Shadow at the Winter Olympic Games

The penultimate chapter!

All eyes turn to the men's solo skating final as tensions rise, alliances are formed, and plans are brought to fruition...

Shadow commission art because he’s so pretty!

Commissioned fic art by @bionic_xei on Instagram <3

[zombifedphantomdamion]

HANCOCK EVALUATION

I think it’s interesting that if you ask Hancock where you guys stand, he not only refuses to speak for your part

(which may be because he wants you to be independent in your thoughts, but could also be that he doesn’t want to push how he feels onto, because he struggles to think that you could like him how he likes you, even casually)

But either way, he IMMIDIATLY and I mean without hesitation follows it up by asking if you are going to leave him.

Not

“did I do something?” Or “are you okay?” Or even just waiting for you to reply

Without prompting him- his AUTOMATIC view of how he thinks you talking about your relationship will go is with you LEAVING HIM.

And the fact he IMMEDIATELY says this while also trying to play it cool, using his suave language and charismatic smile and all, while saying something so insecure, makes me think that maybe this is something he has been constantly thinking about in the back of his mind

That you will leave him.

Which makes sense, considering that he already thinks you liking him is a lapse in judgment, and some kind of torture for you that he “wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy” almost exactly after you suggest it

(getting together with him)

But damn. . .

Man is insecure

And he is REALLY trying to hide it (kinda)

[fracturedtimee]

"silco never loved jinx"

he was ready to give up his dream of a free zaun, something he wanted and worked for his whole life to achieve, for her

[transgenbur]

OKAY so what ive been thinking about for ages is ctommy and being soft vs quiet . because i feel like it's one of those things in his fandom characterisation that sparks the most debate and in my opinion theres a huge difference between the two but i keep seeing people mix them together.

ctommy is soft but he's not quiet, and to disregard either of those things is what makes him less believable in fanworks imo

because on one hand, of course he's not quiet, that's the most obvious and i think one of the most commonly accepted qualms that we have with general fan interpretations of him. he doesn't just lie down and take shit, he's always committed to being an annoying shit, he's straight up rude so often, and even just. vocally. man's loud as fuck. i think that's pretty easy to establish .

but then what i find is that sometimes we veer into the other opposite, by completely denying that ctommy is also very soft sometimes. and by this i don't mean he turns into strawberry shortcake or starts being polite or whatever, but it's the fact that he's not just crass and rude. he's very considerate a lot of the time, he just shows it. uh. in his Own Way let's say. he cares for animals so so much, he's always so apologetic when he thinks he's hurt one of them, for fuck's sake he sung to the FLOWERS. he's very soft with nature, with things he's attached to, with things he perceives as weaker than him and needing protection.

the complexity of ctommy and what makes him so hard to grasp is that he's loud, he's brash, he is NOT a perfect quiet victim who suffers in silence, he asks for help, he's rude, he steals stuff, he's annoying as shit; but he's also soft, and incredibly empathetic, and he has no shame in showing that softness for animals or nature or his friends.

ctommy, and this is very much because cctommy himself acts like that a lot, is constantly vacillating between someone with the maturity of a thirteen year old boy who shouts and swears and pretends not to give a shit, and a boy who will stop everything he's doing to look at the sky or a flower or an animal (which does contrast his stereotypical rude teenager persona, because lots of aforementioned thirteen year old boys Would be embarrassed or whatever to do that).

he does BOTH. he's not just quiet and nice and sad and lonely; but he's not just rude and loud and """uncaring""" (if there is one thing ctommy is not i think we can all agree its UNCARING).

and i think this is why a lot of debates around "woobifying" ctommy (who remembers the july 2021 trenches . the butterfly clips.) tend to point any ctommy design that portrays him as soft, cozy, or even leaning into his feminine side as the be-all end-all of reducing his character.

in reality i think that misses the mark a bit because while there IS something to be said for sure about people turning ctommy into Blonde Anime Child #249824 and stripping him of his Very Vibrant character, i don't think that putting him in butterfly clips and skirts erases him in the same way. i think he could very much lean into that kind of thing . as long as he's still flipping off the camera we're all good

TLDR : fans strip ctommy of his loud-and-annoying persona but in avoiding that some forget that he's a character who's not afraid to be soft

[cook-a-little-chicken]

Tom's flawless Lady Macbeth!

"and then! I want you to pick him up, and dash his head against the wall! Repeatedly!"

[dearabsolutelynoone]

Kate Looking at Anthony

[otheredsam]

1x06 skin provides us with so much insight into dean’s perspective he has always been a big weirdo!! and a freak u guys.

SHAPESHIFTER: It’s funny. I kind of understand him. He’s all alone—close to no one. All he wants is for someone to love him. He’s like me. (REBECCA looks very uncomfortable.) You know, everybody needs a little human touch now and then. It’s so hard to be different.

it is fascinating to me that the shapeshifter is used as a foil for dean. because usually we only get parallels between sam and the ‘monsters’ to other him. if sam is both the subject and the other, what is dean? he felt hopeless from the start and his fear of being alone AND his fear of sam being ‘impure’ - these were the biggest catalysts for the main plot. fear not action. and i think that’s why kripke’s s5 ending makes so much sense because dean has to give up this fear of being alone and sam being corrupted.

SHAPESHIFTER: I am your brother. See, deep down, I'm just jealous. You got friends. You could have a life. Me? I know I'm a freak. And sooner or later, everybody's gonna leave me. [backs away]

the biggest difference between him & sam in season 1 is complacency. his submissiveness towards their dad (the OG architect of their life) & ‘roll over & die’ attitude is striking from the beginning and only gets worse.

another thing i missed is how much refuge he seeks in killing and violence right from the start! he finds genuine comfort in it unlike sam. see below

DEAN: I hate to say it, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. You lied to your friends because if they knew the real you, they'd be freaked. It's just... it'll be easier if...

SAM: If I was like you.

DEAN: Hey, man, like it or not, we are not like other people. But I'll tell you one thing. This whole gig, [takes out gun] it ain't without perks.

DEAN: Well, that’s ‘cause you’re a freak.

it’s a lil sick but sexy how dean keeps reiterating we’re freaks, we’re so different, it’s us, you only have me and i only have you. there is a bit of possessiveness & an urge to keep sam away from the rest of the world. maybe out of fear of him leaving dean again. it feels like: no one will understand you like i do. which is true in a way. this is that delish subtext they sprinkled.

SAM: Yeah, thanks.

DEAN: Well, I’m a freak, too. I’m right there with ya, all the way. (SAM laughs.)

SAM: Yeah, I know you are.

pretty much sums up the entire freak show <3

dean placing his claim on sam and establishing that they are cursed and separate from society/the norm/civilisation

[gerrik1llman]

frank bidart against silence // richard siken crush // ethel cain vacillator // bleachers merry christmas, please don’t call // succession all the bells say