#spy vs. critic

[thewriterowl]

Thinking abt dinluke with regards to this post and I can’t decide which one as which is funnier

https://www.tumblr.com/daydreamz618/746968949708767232/terapsina-onion-souls-tilthat-til-there-are

Oh my god.

This is perfection! And yes, I can't decide! Is Luke the spy because he is agile and powerful and already technically a spy-ish character while Din is the critic traveling around with his child, living a nomad life but experiencing new sights and foods? Or is Luke the cheerful critic who no one really suspects because he is so personable and warm and seems to love milkshake and burger shacks over anything else vs. Din who is on a mission with a child (a la SpyXFamily) and has to stay in hiding to protect the asset and his cover?

Or. OR.

We as the readers don't even know until the end. What if one is a spy with a love of cooking/is a front? What if it's a food critic with who reads a lot "nonfiction spy documents"? Who is who??

Luke has a set of cooking knives in his car that are always sharp--are they weapons he can move from state/country/planet lines without question or does he enjoy recreating recipes he tried out at the restaurant he was critiquing?

Din has a radio in his car that always crackles with weird messages--are these codes on life an death and where he can hide out for his own safety to avoid assassins or is he trying to just find out if he and his child were noticeable at the two-going-on-three-star restaurant they just left behind?

Both fully believe the other is in their field and both are not about to break.

[dueling-jesters]

Found a fanfic tagged with "canon-typical violence" but it was just rape porn. Wouldn't say that's "canon-typical" by any stretch of the imagination.

[a-little-ray-of-fantasy]

An analysis on how Sir Pentious' character design represents his personality and development perfectly (beware of Hazbin Hotel spoilers)

Let's get this out of the way: Sir Pentious is a snake, an animal mostly known for generally believed negative traits such as poison, deceit and betrayal. We don't know WHY he's in Hell, maybe he was a "snake oil salesman" considering he comes from the Victorian times and he's into hyping up what he does, or maybe he was into war. Thing is, he's a Sinner whose design just scream "Evil".

(BTW, a snake could also represent "fertility": looking at you, Egg Boiz!)

He always had eyes all around him not just because of a stylistic choice.

Sir Pentious always felt like he was watched, and had to watch out for any danger.

"Everyone here is too nice: obviously it must be a lie! I can sense they are planning to kill me, but when?! HOW?! I must be PREPARED!"

Sadly, he's been constantly berated by other demons, far more effective in destruction, status, cruelty and charisma. Alastor won't ever bother to remember him, Cherri always ones up him, and the Vs, the ones he admires to most, won't care less about him.

To the point that Vox sent him as a spy without the intention to save him if things were going to fail. Heck, he even openly tells him to die while calling him a failure.

So of course he's got reasons to have trust issues, or taking everything so seriously, being constantly reminded of what he can't accomplish. So he puts an air of grandure that may be very flamboyant, but is VERY frail.

But, if we have to be frank here, his biggest source of insecurities... is himself.

He has eyes on his tail (his softer, more vulnerable side, which is ironically made even MORE lieable to getting hurt because of how sensitive those organs are), and inside his hood, so he could look out better for danger when on alert mode.

Heck, even the mark on his hood kinda resembles one eye.

Problem is, when you see his hood folded, when he's at ease, neutral or sad, those are not looking at outside sources.

They're looking at him, at his back. A constant stare that happens everytime he lets his guard down and shows how vulnerable he is. A gaze that can sense all of his weakness, his struggles, his insecurities.

And it's all him.

Pentious constantly believes that his inferiority complex will fade away once he'll accomplish something grand that will make others accept him. But he is his biggest critic, his worst enemy: HE is the one who believes he's a failure, that he'll never gain approval from others.

This show takes place in Hell, but this is Sir Pentious' personal Hell: insecurity born out of self hatred. Doomed to feel everyone's gaze upon him, including his own. Believing the danger to his self esteem is from others, when it's really from him.

But then he's accepted at the Hazbin Hotel: Charlie forgives him, he bonds with Angel, Husk and Niffty who don't care a bit about what he's accomplished or not, or what he's done in the past.

He feels more comfortable in showing his vulnerable side, and no one judges him for how easy it is for him to get emotional.

Of course he's still very insecure, considering how he struggles to confess to Cherri, but notice how he stops building machines or planning to attack others as soon as he starts bonding with the others: he doesn't have a reason to destroy or attack, now that he knows he's loved.

And his final design, when he goes to Heaven, shows how much he's changed, yet stayed the same. He may have died a hero, but he's still the same awkward snake we've come to love.

Speaking of love, let's talk about that!

No more eyes on his tail, now it's just on his chest (showing he's opened his heart), his glasses are now heart shaped, and even the markings inside his hood resemble kiss marks more than anything else.

And look: the mark on his hood is now heart shaped!

Why all these hearts? Why did all the eyes disappeared from his body? Even his eyes that were looking at his back?

Simple: love. Love defeated his insecurities and self hatred. He died for love.

He died protecting his friends, his new family, his new home.

He confessed and kissed Cherri knowing full well he wouldn't have made it, and yet he went anyway.

The usually cowardly and timid Pentious actually faced a great danger with courage and determination: he acted selflessly by putting himself in harm's way, he didn't steal (naturally) and by going against Adam he did indeed "stick it to the man"!

He used his weaponry knowhow and battle experience not to conquer, but to save his loved ones.

His only thought up until his demise was: "I'll go down protecting them".

And he's been rewarded not only by becoming an angel, but also being spawned directly in front of Emily and Sera, two Seraphim, the highest rank for an angel to have, who have also been depicted as snakes of fire throughout history! Sir Pentious, the lowly demon considered a failure by everyone, actually has been noticed by the Seraphim! He's come so far!

He's now come to represent the REAL symbolism of a snake: the duality of death and rebirth, transformation and immortality (ironically a reference to the fact he's been around since 1888 without ever dying from any Extermination or blessed weapons).

And isn't so poetic that a snake, the "source of the original evil", was the first sinner to ascend to Heaven? Or that this episode was released on February 1st, or National Serpent Day?

And of course, as the Bible itself says:

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

(John 15:13)

And knowing him, I'm confident in saying he'll keep helping his friends even in his new position, like the soft hearted noodle he's always been, but was to afraid to show it up until now.

[aamy2100982]

Reading Spy vs Spy because why not?

What is this freaky ass face?

at the sight of seeing your enemy practicing disintegrating you with fire

And your reaction is to blush, smile and lift your butt?

I GUESS it's meant to be a reaction of surprise or fear, but I think the smile ruined it a bit xd

Also, I just noticed, but besides sweating, it seems like he's drooling. I got you, you can't criticize a man for having "special" tastes.

Interestingly, this game with fire happens more than once.

and it's always White to Black, Why does Bro want to mark Black so much? You don't need to put your name with hot metal on his skin, we all know that man is yours.

[crowsintheforest]

reasons to watch severance, in no particular order:

fascinating mystery box show that's also a scathing criticism of bullshit jobs

Bleak Winter Corporate Aesthetic

dichen lachman (she gets a full bullet point)

old man yaoi in two distinct yet overlapping flavors (office romance and cold war spy thriller, how they are related will delight and astound you)

having a weekly water cooler show to talk about with all your cool friends and coworkers

existential questions about identity, selfhood, and who we are on the job vs the expectations placed on us

you're a big fan of giving yourself heart palpitations by watching a tv show that's mostly white walls

goats

yeah just the literal goats. with brienne of tarth for reasons

[sepublic]

I appreciate the use of “books about crusty old women” by Bridget in this scene because it clarifies that there are definitely women in classic literature to talk about, it’s not just dismissing the genre wholesale. These two kids are still interested! And it represents the distinction between like, sincere critics who care about representation within the genre VS people who were never interested and believe it has nothing of value to offer.

Likewise I dig how The First Day frames the issue with schools not teaching kids about X as bad because kids WANT to learn and them taking initiative to learn it outside of what’s mandated for them in class (via spying on other classes) is good!!! It’s not just that schools don’t teach this it’s that you should want to learn this anyway, and encourage schools to do the same!

It clarifies itself against the type of person who blames schools for not teaching them about something, only to not put in the responsibility to educate themselves in their free time whatsoever, and tbh they were never interested in learning so for all we know they were taught, they were just doodling an eye during the lesson. Luz being the kid who doodled an eye AND paid attention.

[autumnmobile12]

The League of Morons vs A Summer Camp

All right, so I love the hell out of this nonsense and I want to talk about the Vanguard's plan and how ridiculous it was.

First, most of the crew showed up a night early and…well, then what?  That first night, Dabi says they’re still waiting on a few more people to arrive.  Okay, so what are you all doing here already?

Did Kurogiri warp them back to the bar after they’d gotten a look at the place?  Scouted the area a bit?  You needed seven people for that? Were they that bored waiting for Twice, Compress, and the Nomu to show up?  What were they doing in the 24 hours between this part and the actual attack?  Standing on that cliff and muttering,  “Heroes…”?

Was Toga all, "Guys, I'm tired. Can we go back to the bar already?"

Spinner: "No, as villain protocol dictates, we must stand here menacingly for a minimum of twelve hours."

Dabi: Fuck you, I'm going to bed.

Except for being a scare tactic, having Dabi start a fire was mostly unnecessary. Their goal was to further weaken society's faith in heroes by targeting UA students, so you'd think he'd be a little more proactive in...well, actually harming someone. As it happened, the fire really only to served to announce there was an attack happening.

But I’ll throw the Vanguard a bone here and say this was Spinner’s doing.  Like their original plan was to start a massive fire that would consume both classes and all the heroes in a singular tragedy, but then Spinner said,  “Hey, pump the breaks, people.  We’re here to uphold Stain’s ideals about toppling the corrupt Hero culture.  Do we really want mass child murder as part of our brand?” Sure, he wanted to go after Iida, but he was a specific target since he was on Stain's hit list.

The two copies Twice made of Dabi were virtually useless in a fight since Vlad and Aizawa both took him out so quickly it was embarrassing.  And yet he’s apparently a big enough threat that No. 1 and No 2. can’t handle him.  Go fig.

Endeavor/Hawks:  Oh, no, he’s too strong…

Aizawa/Vlad:  Listen here, you little shit!

...

Muscular goes and reveals their plan even though he didn’t have to.  They all saw the Sports Festival, they knew what Bakugo looked like, and yet here he is asking Deku where he he can find Bakugo as if he was going to answer him.  Yes, he didn’t think there was any harm in telling him since his plan was to kill Deku anyway, but alerting UA to the fact they were looking to kidnap someone is still just hubris.

Going after Bakugo in the first place was a dumb idea.  We can probably credit that one to Shigaraki because only he would look at the violently temperamental teenager raging on national television and think,  “Yes, he seems like a reasonable person to negotiate with.”

...

Gonna drop in some actual light criticism here: Given the inequality issues that arise in the series later, targeting the heteromorph students for recruitment purposes would have been a smarter move for the LoV.  They’re all part of a demographic that has a justified reason for being dissatisfied with society, so there would have been a believable chance of the LoV thinking they could sway some people to their side.

But hey, the League of Villains was on a learning curve. Give 'em a break.

He totally saw Aoyama here.  Or at least he heard him because he clocked that there was something weird about that bush and he was going to go check it out…and then Twice distracted him and Dabi has an total ADHD moment and forgets what he was doing.

And it's not because Aoyama was the spy. Nobody in the Vanguard knew.

1.) Shigaraki says he tried and couldn't figure out where the camp was, but AFO figured it out relatively quickly. So if even his successor doesn't know who the spy was or called on that resource, then why would AFO tell anyone else in the group?

2.) Moonfish, Muscular, and Mustard were all apprehended, but none of them ratted out Aoyama, as someone with nothing left to lose would. Neither did Kurogiri when he was later apprehended, but that one may have been a loyalty matter. So I think this was a case of AFO saying, "I have a source of info and you don't need to know who it is." Because at the end of the day, AFO is an arrogant narcissist who's definitely not placing all his eggs in one basket. Aoyama wouldn't be an easy spy to replace, so of course AFO would want to limit any chances of him being exposed.

So this was Dabi's screw up.

Speaking of forgetting things, Dabi also straight up forgot they had a Nomu because he thanked Twice for reminding him they had a Nomu.

Sir....how the hell do you forget you have a Nomu?

Toga was supposed to get blood from at least three people.  She failed.

Twice had a simple job. Create clones. He succeeded, but the only two he made were Dabi and I refer you to the previous point on how useless they were.

Spinner and Magne’s roles were a diversion. Distract the Wild, Wild Pussycats and give everyone else the opening to find and kidnap Bakugo.

They did pretty well. Up until the point they were almost caught and Kurogiri had to bail them out. Also Spinner lugged the giant, over-the-top blade contraption all the way there only for Deku to destroy it.

However, they do deserve some credit for making probably the best strategic decision of the group that night, and that was taking out Pixie Bob. We saw on the first day of the camp that she was able to hold back a class of twenty students with an army of earth creatures she was simultaneously controlling. That would have been a huge problem, so for the purposes of their team, good on them for removing that obstacle.

Underrated squad members right here.

Mustard was a legitimate threat for same reasons Dabi and his fire was a threat, plus he brought a firearm into the fight. (I want to know what the other villains thought when they saw that.)

But instead of putting him in the center of the fight where he could do some significant harm, they placed him on the outliers and all he did was knock some students unconscious and everybody made a full physical recovery, showcasing the gas he emitted wasn’t all that lethal and didn't cause any long-term complications. (Again, maybe this was Spinner's idea of Stain's ideology on not indiscriminately massacring children. "Guys, I'm telling you! That's fucked up!")

The Nomu (effectively brain dead without orders) did more damage than any of them, which makes the previous point that Dabi forgot they had it even funnier.

And finally, Mr. Compress was missing for half the night and then almost came in clutch by fulfilling their main objective plus extra credit, only to nearly blow it with his showboating. Seriously, they could have gotten away with both Bakugo and Tokoyami had they just booked it while the going was good.

But no, Compress had to make a dramatic production of it. When he first snatched the kids, he could have just left and Deku and company would have had no idea what happened. Had he just kept his mouth shut and left, they wouldn't have known he even existed. Then as the Vanguard members were leaving through the warp gates, he goes and does it again, giving Aoyama enough time to fire at them with his navel laser, something that also could have bee avoided had Dabi just checked the fucking bush!

The Vanguard Action Squad won by sheer dumb luck and their collective incompetence actually succeeding is the most hilarious thing about this arc. In the end, three members of their crew were arrested.  (Although I think everyone was secretly relieved they lost Moonfish.  Even if he was on my side, I’d be actively worried that guy would kill and eat me in my sleep.)

Yet this self-important twerp is smiling like they actually did something to be proud of here.  All Dabi really accomplished personally was grab a marble (coincidentally the correct marble) before Shouto could, which is borderline more standard older sibling behavior than actual villainy. He literally lost two separate fights in one night and called it a win.

This arc was a five episode Scooby-Doo trap going wrong and succeeding.

Seriously, I hope that after the warp gates closed, they all just looked at each other and immediately started calling each other out on everything. Like Dabi slapped Compress upside the head and asked him what he'd been thinking having 'one last bow' before they got away. Spinner yelling at Dabi about how the clones did nothing. And there's Bakugo all, "I can't believe I've been kidnapped by a gaggle of morons."

Fake it till you make it at its finest.

[starry-bi-sky]

I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

[orange-coloredsky-archive]

The two most popular reads of the synth plight in Fallout 4 are that of the race allegory and the Red Scare/McCarthyist allegory. In the former example, synths get racialized in a similar way to Black Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century, but just barely. The Underground Railroad is quite literally remade, synths are subjected to slavery at the hands of their human creators and punished harshly for escape attempts. Others have likened synths to fears of immigrants or asylum-seekers from nonwhite majority populations. Synths in these imaginings of Fallout 4 are painted as needing to be saved at the same time as they are vilified and dehumanized – sometimes by the same character over the course of the story. This duality could be a great opportunity for a dive into how white saviorism tends to play out, but in reality it ends up being a messy, deeply uncritical exploration of the impact of race and racism in society. The factions doing the racialization and/or saviorism’s motives are never questioned, and there is a very clear depiction of “good vs. evil” being the end-all-be-all of anti-racism work (again, with no critical thought as to how the “good” side is made almost completely of non-racialized people making decisions on behalf of a marginalized group). Worse yet, it’s contrived. The android-racism analogy has been a thorn in the side of the science fiction genre ever since Isaac Asimov wrote the 3 Laws of Robotics. There’s very few iterations on the idea that have come from popular (white, Eurocentric) media that aren’t riddled with the same aftertaste of white guilt and fundamental misunderstandings of how racism plays out in day-to-day life.

The less common, slightly more agreeable interpretation is that of the Red Scare – which, given Fallout’s inspirations and the setting’s original critique of reliving America’s “good old days”, makes perfect sense. In this example, synths take the role of the Soviet spy: watching over everything Americans are doing and reporting back to a secret base that is plotting to overthrow the world as we know it. Psychological screenings as well as inhumane tortures are utilized to pick synth “spies” out from the good, red-blooded residents of the Commonwealth. A neighborhood is founded entirely around the protection of the “old ways of life”, complete with a white picket fence comically decorated with automatic machine gun turrets. While this is a more charitable analogy that’s grounded in a slightly-deeper-than-surface-level exploration of American history, the Red Scare interpretation is victim to the same pitfalls that plague the racism interpretation. Midway through the game, the player discovers that there actually is a secret base of evil villains hiding underneath our feet, plotting to annihilate our beautiful Commonwealth lives. People do get taken and replaced by synths, they are in our governments, there is an actual reason for synths to be feared. Sure, some synths are perfectly fine people with no wish to be made tools of the Institute’s tyranny, but that is greatly overshadowed by the fact that the Institute’s stated goal is to use synths to gain control over the Commonwealth. There is no real critique of McCarthyism, there is no ideology to be challenged, because the Communists are here and killing your loved ones in their sleep.

[aureumms]

Would love to hear your case on why goldenduo should be changed to neutral/negative on the DSMP wiki

thank you anon for the ask, i can now go apeshit since i have been freed from the “nobody asked for that” anxiety

so here we go (p.s., i am talking STRICTLY about c!, not cc!—they are separated here)

I’m gonna clarify two things:

First, this is literally just me yapping in a very unorganized manner, I am NOT demanding a change of the wiki, just giving my thoughts. I’m doing this just for fun, and am in no way shape or form criticizing the work of people who have spent hours upon hours making such a detailed wiki. It’s great.

Second, I am looking in between the lines for something invisible to the naked eye when there probably isn’t anything, but that’s the point. I’m like the guy you see on street corners holding up signs and spewing nonsense—I get it if you think this post will just be a huge nothing-burger of goldenboys yapping where I point at clips where they’re in the same frame and fall into a rant about the unconscious mind and its wants .

I’m gonna be honest when I say I don’t think c!Purpled technically disliked c!Tommy, even when they had their spats or whatever. Even in the earlier days when Tommy expressed disliking Purpled to his face, Purpled stated he did like Tommy. While this could be taken as sarcasm because Purpled was very sarcastic in the stream he and Tommy had a “group” for about an hour or two, I think it’s still worth nothing because Purpled is still serious at some points.

There are also some points where I believe Purpled wanted Tommy’s trust, or he didn’t want a stupid feud anymore. The first instance of this could be when Purpled was the only one who saw Tommy and Wilbur spying on the Manberg Festival, Oct. 16th 2020. Purpled saw Tommy and Wilbur, made direct eye contact with Tommy—but he didn’t snitch. He said nothing, and pretended like he saw nothing. (I so badly wished Purpled was streaming so we could have gotten his thoughts on that.) I’m also gonna make a point here that almost every instance where Purpled and Tommy fought, Purpled was almost never the initial instigator, he was merely fighting back since he felt threatened. I’m referring to when Tommy threw the first stab during the Manberg festival, and then Purpled eventually got a kill on him.

I’m gonna pick up with the Manberg vs. Pogtopia war + the Chaos War, where the info about their relationship on the wiki leaves Off. Like it states, Tommy did in fact mock Purpled for a few second because he defected to their side. And yeah, that happens—Tommy hits him a couple of times and mocks, repeating “i changed my mind” two or three times. But this doesn’t seem to really Affect Purpled. Sure, he defends himself, but he doesn’t seem too swayed since he isn’t kicked off of Pogtopia’s side. Points for that?

Here’s the thing that I’m not sure a lot of people noticed during the war though; Purpled basically made almost subconscious attempts to protect Tommy throughout. (Almost none of the clips I am going to talk about are linked in the wiki, so at the END of this post I will have a master video posted so you can look at every clip I am talking about.) The Manberg vs Pogtopia war is a TREASURE trove for these clips. First, (making a stretch here,) when everyone is surrounding Dream to get info out of him, Purpled jumps to Tommy’s side and has a bow out, pointed at Dream. He also says “thanks” when Tommy calls the rest of them cool looking, which made me cheer !

Purpled also at one point expresses he’s worried about if he made the right decision, and if he made the right decision too late, RIGHT before looking at Tommy. To me this says that he’s worried he isn’t gonna be taken seriously by Pogtopia’s side since he is a Manberg defector, and he still wants a positive relationship with Tommy. What a yearner /j

Before L’Manberg is blown to literal bits, while everyone is expressing their confusion—mostly about Philza joining and Wilbur being M.I.A—Tommy is attempting to fight Technoblade on the roof and nobody notices it. Except Purpled. He literally zooms in on Tommy on the roof, runs closer to the building he’s on, and throws two enderpearls, saying “Are we just all going to ignore that?” Before you say that he could be referring to Phil joining, that likely is not the case considering MULTIPLE people referenced Philza joining in the previous moments. Purpled is focused on Tommy and Technoblade. Focused on helping TOMMY. When Purpled eventually does teleport up and sees Tommy is no longer up on the roof and therefore no longer in immediate danger, Purpled backs off from Technoblade.

Later, when Techno has a crossbow to Tommy and Tubbo after L’Manberg has been blown up, Purpled pulls out an AXE and slowly but very surely makes his way over to Tommy’s side, like he is ready to attack Techno if he decides to shoot Tommy or Tubbo. (Neighborsduo AND Clingyduo mention) Unconscious mind folks UNCONSCIOUS MIND.

Okay, timeskip time ! I want to make a point by saying I think there was like. a flip in their perspectives. Purpled becomes the one who wants nothing to do with the possibility of a friendship, Tommy seems indifferent to the idea and/or pities Purpled + still teases him.

Post-Wilbur Revival, Tommy and Wilbur are strolling the main path when Wilbur points out Purpled’s destroyed UFO. Tommy is immediately confused and expresses that the UFO being destroyed “isn’t very right.” While Wilbur goes on about “someone’s been a copycat,” Tommy is still showing remorse and pity over the fact Purpled’s UFO has been destroyed. In fact, he says nothing negative about Purpled, and even says that the UFO was one of the staple builds of the DSMP—saying it’s “shit” that it’s been destroyed.

Now to the stream where Tommy visits Las Nevadas, WITHOUT Wilbur (for clarification.) Who knows how long it’s been since Tommy and Purpled have even spotted each other by this point. It has to have been a while, because Tommy seems delighted at the fact he’s seen Purpled again, saying “I haven’t seen this man in a fuckin’…” (he trails off.) Now while Tommy does steal two ender pearls, and Purpled punches him, Purpled doesn’t make a point to persist after Tommy throws a pearl. I think that this could add to the Neutral/Negative aspect, since while there is teasing/slight conflict, there is no ill feelings. At least on Tommy’s end, since we don’t have Purpled’s POV.

That’s all I have. Now: The clips! Thank you for reading this.

[Video time: 2:22]

[halfbaked00q]

okay I Won't Stop about this cuz seriously. Does Anyone Else see what I mean. or just me? about Casino Royale's pre-title sequence being that film noir hardboiled detective / femme fatale Standard

picture this- the hard-boiled detective enters his dark office. it is raining outside. he hangs up his coat and hat, turns on the light-

-suddenly, a smoky, seductive voice floats from behind him. he whirls around. to see our seductive femme fatale, somehow already there and lurking in the shadows of his office waiting for his return

(also god I JUST noticed the fuckin. louchey lounge he's got going on there. area man NOT beating the femme fatale allegations!!! to ME. plus that fuckin eyebrow waggle. Okay Morticia Addams, let's slow down now)

god I wish tumb would let me put two videos in a single post cuz this neeeds the audio...

but okay, the way the guy is like. Shame. And we barely got to know each other (okay yes we've pivoted to like, a noir-esque spy vs spy story BUT Bond is still the femme fatale spy here. the uhhh honestly probably Russian lmao Black Widow-esque figure).

and click. "I know where you keep your gun."

*slight but decided smirk* "Suppose that's something."

and then talking about Bond's first kill... "how did he die?" "not well" blah blah

but then. (and props to the actor). the way he like. almost leers out that "Made you feel it, did he." in the storied tradition of maybe it ain't that deep but I got shovels and I'm willing to dig! ooooh boyy. we are in full on sleazeball man perving on Black Widow-ass territory here

listen yes it's 2025 and perhaps suggesting "female-coding" of a male character is not/no longer? okay, and I'm not exactly doing that.

what I am doing instead is viewing it thru my (haha sickos) filthy little queer reading lens and going 🧐 Interesting 🤔. Weirdly suggestive.

I'm sure there are planty of literary traditions and theories and schools of criticism I can call upon to draw out slash invoke the sex-violence metaphor/complex.

cuz yes they're talking about violence (literally, killing), but also it's Quite Suggestive, Isn't It- removed from context, would you think they're discussing killing? or perhaps something... else? violence still, possibly, sure. but perhaps a more.... prurient sort of "violence"/"violation."

it does, to ME, draw out all sorts of comparisons/parallels to the *coyly* "be gentle. it's my first time" type of jokes

actually, now I wonder if anyone else has done an academic or academic-type paper about this, lmao, the ways in which Bond / specifically this Bond's treatment is Very Interestingly, similar or parallels the way female characters are "typically" treated.

and Does It Mean Something, or perhaps nothing, lol

[atopvisenyashill]

Worst things GOT did casting wise:

- making Dany too beautiful (+ styling her in a way that she never has a hair out of place, always wears BLUE - which makes her look peaceful and soft and angelic, not making her burn her hair off etc). I just think of that one official art piece that's in the illustrated AGOT book where dany is bald, with the dragons and sparks and frames around her and its so striking instead of the "beautiful angelic blonde women stand empowered with her tits out" scene we got

- casting Iain Glen as Jorah and not like. a random Lannister (like. Come on. He is a burly and ugly man... why are you casting one of the most beautiful men to play him.... this is how we ended up with dany/jorah shippers)

-making Joffrey too unattractive (this is not meant to disparage JG who is a great actor and seems like a really cool dude and i'm not saying he's ugly but I think from his very first scene Joffrey looks very punchable and it would have been so much smarter to make the audience .. relate to Sansa's infatuation with his golden looks. In my head (and in all the official art) Joffrey looks like a male version of cersei/a younger version of Jaime.)

- making Dany, Jon, Robb, Marg, Brienne etc 10+ years older than Sansa and the younger starklings .... It's not "the main characters and arya (who is so cool and can kill people) + the little children" it's ONE AGE group of equally important characters

Like I know people are upset at Ned/Jon etc being too attractive, WHICH I GET, but I feel like those were very vibe based casting decisions and i'm ultimately fine with that (I also think it's easier for the audience to root for someone if they're attractive so like. I guess they had to do it) but these other things resulated in people's perception of the characters being so wildly different from what they're supposed to be. The real reason people get so angry whenever someone says they wish tamzin had stayed is because they don't like the idea of daenerys not being this ethereal beauty (TM is beautiful but not in a conventional way) that they can fully root for without issue.

1. NO YOU ARE SOOOOOO RIGHT ABOUT THEM REFUSING TO LET DANY LOOK UGLY. it’s not to say tamzin isn’t clearly beautiful, but i think she’s beautiful in the same way gwendoline christie is, which is that she’s very striking and she has a strong presence but she’s not exactly what people picture when they say “typical hot lady” (which is Crazy these are all able bodied white women, like the definition of “beauty” is soooooo fuckijg narrow that tamzin merchant is ~atypically beautiful) vs emilia definitely is, and YES like everything from not burning her hair off to emilia being,,,,,fuller in figure than dany as a fourteen year old would be is just very clear that they saw dany different than the way she is On The Page. i mean i know people whack george for saying that she’s like a sexy funny lady or whatever but george never lets go of the fact that she’s incredibly young whereas d&d completely miss that part of her character.

i will say i Get the criticism of tamzin perhaps not picking up on the conlangs easily because one thing you can say for emilia is that she had a decent head for the conlangs, she’s even still partially fluent in dothraki lmaooo. but all the other stuff they said about why they recast dany it’s like. hmmmmmmmmmm.

2. absolutely right about iain especially because he’s similar to idk paddy in that he’s got CHARISMA but unlike viserys, they didn’t intent to portray him as a deeply flawed, antagonistic character they went in portraying him as like an objectively Good Guy dedicated to dany. he’s just so much less creepy and pushy in the show and has several scenes where he shows some moral backbone - that “yet here you stand” “yet here i stand” scene is sooooooo good for example, the fact that he actually apologizes for spying on dany, giving him the greyscale story & not having him fuck a valyrian looking woman in a brothel 💀, etc etc - and you also just lose some of the creepiness here because emilia is clearly a grown if young woman and ian is handsome, so it’s like. welll of Course you want to root for them to be together! and never mind that this is a Massive departure from their book characterizations!! again, they have this idea of jorah in their head that doesn’t match up with what’s on the page even a little.

3. i do get your point re: joffrey and i think this is my problem with aidan as littlefucker too - they’re too obviously villains and it makes ned and sansa look stupid. like, in the books we have that moment where robb almost decks joffrey which does seem to signal something bad but the crown prince being full of himself doesn’t mean he’s going to threaten his betrothed’s sister with a sword then get his ass handed to him by a toddler. in the show we get QUITE a number of scenes where joffrey is shown to be a brat AND as you say, just like aidan, jack has a Certain Look, he looks like a shitty jock who has allegations against him ajsjdj like irl when jack smiles he’s so adorable!! but in the show they REALLY play up his ability to channel a greasy aura ya know aksjd. when the point of asoiaf is often that villains don’t LOOK like villains, but some of our Main Villains clearly resemble typical villains in the show.

4. “it’s ONE age group of characters” NO YOU ARE SO RIGHT. like, there’s several years difference from robert to ned to cat to the twins to tyrion but they’re all the same generation of characters. there’s that exact same age difference from brienne to robb, dany, jon to sansa, arya, bran, with theon kind of similar to characters like jorah, who are old enough to remember The Before Times but aren’t quite in either generation. but because they wanted dany, brienne, jon, robb, and margaery to be more of a Typical archetype rather than an exploration of that archetype, they aged everyone up and essentially invented another generation between the “adult” characters and the “kid” characters. not to be super nerdy here but one of my favorite worked shoots in wrestling is one cody rhodes did where he was ranting about the way young wrestlers get put through the grinder and he has this amazing line where he sums it up as “old men talking, young men dying” and it’s not to say there aren’t a lot of old dudes Also dying lmao but you really see this where young leaders are often unprepared for their responsibilities and used as puppets by older men and you just MISS THAT when that whole generation is so grown!

it’s like they looked at those themes of war being terrible and all consuming and brutal no matter how justified you feel you are and went “wow war is brutal 😍” LIKE PLEASE????

[seat-safety-switch]

I'm in the marketplace of ideas, and some of these thoughts are coming from the bargain basement. We've all got terrible concepts rattling around in our heads, but in times long past, there were limited opportunities to disclose them. Maybe to your suffering spouse, sometimes to a beloved family dog, perhaps to your kids if you hadn't sent them out to labour in the fields yet. Once that audience was spent, it was better just to keep your mouth shut.

Now, with the internet, anyone can descend into an international network of other dingbats. No matter your dumb-assed belief, there are statistically several million people with the exact same one. This experience will reinforce your worst behaviours, and soon you'll be kidnapping a state senator to get him to stop making the government owls spy on you at night. Not the private industry owls, those are fine and are only interested in collecting pseudo-anonymized shopping data for marketing purposes. Just the government ones.

Paradoxically, all these free-minded folks are really getting into the swing of old-fashioned, no-thinky-so-much totalitarianism. It has never been a better time to be a charismatic, personable cult leader. A few catchphrases, a hand gesture or two, and an unwavering drumbeat of confidence that the people responsible for the current state of affairs will be punished. Unfortunately for me, "charisma" is not exactly compatible with cornering people in the hallway and one-on-one asking them about their gear ratio setup. Most folks just hiss and try to crawl away, or fumble for mace. What wannabe dictators need, though, is a large luxury vehicle.

Almost universally throughout history, a true leader has needed an enormous luxury sedan, often with little flags on the front fenders. It's how we know someone is important. Sure, the Dutch show up in a squadron of bicycles, and the Japanese Emperor travels in a train that converts itself into an enormous war robot at a moment's notice, but to get that real autocratic vibe, you want an impractically massive car. And that's just what I've been selling out of my yard.

Sure, I don't like selling my New Yorkers and Mark Vs, but I don't really drive them all that often. You have to pay too much attention to where you're pointing the car in today's crowded city streets. They don't even fit in the Tim Hortons drive-thru anymore. Every tinpot internet fascist has a thick stack of banknotes to place in my lap in exchange for some rusty shit they can trick their followers into restoring. And, most importantly, those suddenly-desirable cars are taking up room in my backyard that I could use to store more shitty old cars.

So if you're planning to get into an internet cult this weekend, tell whoever's in charge to come on down to my place, once they've reached a critical mass of acolytes. Only my shitboxes can provide the curb appeal required to add true legitimacy to your insane conspiracy theories.

[in1-nutshell]

I honestly never done a face-off before, so I want to try this today. How about Sonar vs Teleporting Decepticon Buddy from Griffin Rock? Outlier vs outlier? Considering their personalities, I don't think they will fight each other unless there is a misunderstanding considering they have different faction badges. Sonar as a former gladiator definitely have more experience in fighting than Buddy and have a sonic screech that destroys everything in a large mile radius. Buddy's telepoting ability does allow them to dodge a lot of opponents' attacks, but the downside of this ability is Buddy could get more and more tired if they keep using this ability too much. Since Buddy used to work in a spy unit in the Decepticons, they might try to observe the opponent's weaknesses or to see any mistakes the enemy makes while Buddy tried to shoot the enemy in the distance if Buddy knew the person is bad from a distance. But considering Sonar isn't a bad person, Buddy will likely try to talk things out with Sonar unless Sonar forced Buddy's hands. Who do you think will win? Please and thank you!

Another hard one huh?

I like the challenge!

Winner: Sonar

Explanation below...

This was a hard one to think about not going to lie.

A fight between these two powerful outliers and neither really enjoys fighting? Buddy and Sonar would rather not kill a fellow outlier for petty reasons.

Yep, this is going to have to be another 'huge misunderstanding' scenario.

Buddy is not going to take any chances in fighting Sonar the second they figure out about the sonic screech.

Nope, nuh nuh, not happening today!

And that's were the two biggest attributes that Buddy has comes into action.

Teleportation and stamina.

Buddy is considered 'lazy' and 'slow' to the average bot. But that is only because they are storing away tons of energy in order to perform their teleportation abilities.

The range of said teleportation can span from going across the room to literally shoving their entire fist into someone's chassis.

If Sonar doesn't understand what they are up to in time, it will be one less outlier in this world.

But why is it that this outlier will lose?

Buddy will loose to Sonar's fighting experience.

This bot has had years fighting all sorts of outliers and different bots in the arena.

Buddy is no different.

I can see Sonar taking a few hits, maybe even a critical one, before finding out Buddy's weakness, their stamina.

While Buddy's stamina is high, it burns out fast and isn't long lasting in comparison to Sonar's.

As soon as an opening comes in, the former gladiator is going in for the kill.

In conclusion, Sonar is the winner.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Object permanence: Bill Waterson’s comics for Berkeley Breathed; Ian McDonald’s research; BLM vs copyright bots; UN Cybercrime Treaty.

Hey, German-speakers! Through a very weird set of circumstances, I ended up owning the rights to the German audiobook of my bestselling 2022 cryptocurrency heist technothriller Red Team Blues and now I'm selling DRM-free audio and ebooks, along with the paperback (all in German and English) on a Kickstarter that runs until August 11.

#20yrsago Would you give a fiver a month for a UK tech/civil liberties org? https://web.archive.org/web/20050726235521/http://www.pledgebank.com/rights

#15yrsago The comics Bill Watterson sent to Berkeley Breathed https://web.archive.org/web/20100728151135/https://tvbarn.com/tv-barn/comic-con-2010/

#15yrsago Interview: Ian McDonald’s research secrets revealed https://web.archive.org/web/20100726181934/http://www.cclapcenter.com/2010/07/an_interview_with_ian_mcdonald.html

#5yrsago BLM footage censored by copyright bots https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/23/circuit-split/#dolphins-in-tuna-nets

#5yrsago Where Will Everyone Go https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/23/circuit-split/#migration-models

#5yrsago Canadian judge invalidates Safe Third Country Agreement https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/23/circuit-split/#kids-kages-kanada

#1yrago Holy CRAP the UN Cybercrime Treaty is a nightmare https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/23/expanded-spying-powers/#in-russia-crime-cybers-you

Support me this summer in the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop! This summer, I'm writing The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI, a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux that explains how to be an effective AI critic.

[bl-bracket]

Deserved Better - Loser's Bracket Round 2: Gu Xiang (Word of Honor) vs Porchay (Kinnporsche: The Series)

[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]

Gu Xiang: "All she wanted was a normal life where she and her boyfriend could go run off and have a bakery together and look what she was dealt instead"

"She was Wen Kexing’s sidekick, daughter, maid, cook, and guard for most of the show. She provided critical eye rolling when Wen Kexing’s flirting went overboard. She finally got her chance to break free from Ghost Valley and was brutally murdered on her wedding day devolved into a full on battle (as usually happens in wuxia drama). She deserved to get her HEA."

Porchay: "Come on! He just wanted his wattpad moment and all he got was heartbreak. Yes, Kim is emotionally constipated, but look at chay! How could you lie to him and say you never loved him! And then try to apologize to him by stealing a song he originally wrote about his brother?! Chay deserved so much better than what kim put him through. (Also wtf Porsche. Now that you’re the head of the minor family, you’ve gone and gotten your brother even more involved in the mafia. What happened to protecting him?)"

"He’s a sweet baby Angel of a boy who was orphaned at a very young age and raised by his older brother who was also a child and an uncle with a serious gambling problem that pit them in major debt to loan sharks who regularly show up and trash their house. Then when things are finally looking up his brother suddenly disappears in the middle of the night with only a note saying he’s working on a private island and his uncle has seemingly vanished too. He’s left alone and the only bright spot is that he gets to meet his famous idol/crush who starts to tutor him and flirts with him and they start some form of relationship. He even shoots his shot and admits his feelings and gets a kiss and a cuddle on the couch in return and things are looking great, except oh no! He gets kidnapped by a mafia because it turns out his brother works for the mob now and Chay’s entire life gets uprooted out of nowhere and he has to go live with the mafia where he finds out that actually his idol/crush/almost boyfriend is actually a mafia heir who is spying on him for info on his brother. He confronts him and gives Kim a chance to fix things by saying any part of their relationship was real but he just says he wouldn’t have bothered to spend time with chay if he didn’t need info on his brother and leaves him sobbing on the ground. He’s so destroyed by the whole thing he gives up the university dream he’s been working so hard for, dyes his hair blue and goes on a partygirl spiral in an attempt to move on only for Kim to show up and get angry acting like he has any day in chays life and when he confronts him (giving him yet another chance to fix it if he just admitted his feelings) he gets angrily dismissed and left behind by Kim AGAIN. He blocks him but Kim keeps trying to contact him, not letting him move on. Then his brother suddenly grabs him in the middle of the night and hides him at a bar during a mob war where he eventually turns around to find the traumatizing sight of dead bodies everywhere. After all that is done he finds out his mom isn’t dead but has been atticwifed by the crazy mob boss whose apparently his uncle and he actually could have had a parent his whole life, except she’s essentially in a waking coma and doesn’t even really react to him. Oh and Kim is still trying to contact him and sends him a YouTube ukulele apology video that doesn’t actually include the words I’m sorry or I love you. To top it all off the show ends without him ever getting a happy ending. My poor, sweet boy."

"Chay was just living his life (occasionally getting beaten up by loan sharks) and got to experience the joy of a Wattpad fanfic by dating his musical idol. Unfortunately for him his idol started dating him to get dirt on his brother. And he also gets kidnapped because he’s evidently the most kidnappable man in Thailand. Said idol also breaks his heart."