#to be fair especially when it comes to issues like this i think its important to share thoughts and debate...

[toraziyal]

Anon again, thanks for the explanation and taking my ask in good faith. I was worried it might seem like I was trying to start an argument. I understand perfectly!

thank you for taking your time to read my answer and reply 🫂💖💘💓💘💓💝💝 asking for clarification is not argumentative! especially when it comes to sensitive issues, it's much better to ask why someone thinks this or that way.

have a nice day anon 🫂

[redr0sewrites]

Red and Green Flags of Some of the Hazbin Hotel Cast

the title says it all! i'm just blurbing about some red/green flags they have when ur dating them :)

🥀Cw: nsfw mentions but nothing explicit, mostly crack and fluff and maybe the slightest angst when it comes to red flags

🥀Pairing(s): Adam x reader, Alastor x reader, Vox x reader

Adam

Green flags

INSANELY loyal. this man was cheated on twice and left for the same guy. if he's in a serious relationship with you i genuinely can not see him cheating bc this man is genuinely so devoted to you and only you. he's had his fair share of hookups but very very very rarely commits to a serious relationship, which means if he does, you're not only very special but he genuinely thinks you're "the one". when it comes to these serious actual relationships (not just hookups or situationships) he's very very loyal and would never think of cheating on you. he also dates to marry when it comes to serious relationships and will genuinely try to make the relationship last. this also means you get to see a side of him that most people don't get to, and he's generally very soft with you. he treats you so much better than everyone else and expects everyone else around you to do the same

adam is very supportive of you- he definitely gives off "THATS MY PARTNER‼️" vibes. while he likes to think he's in charge, if you change your tone towards him he immediately agrees with you like a hurt puppy. if you have any important decisions you want to make he's much more likely to compromise or agree with you than if anyone else was suggesting an idea. adam can be irritating, but when it comes to you, he's absolutely wrapped around your finger. your also the only person who can make him knock it off when he's patronizing someone and you're also the only reason sera has not attempted to strangle him because you've been keeping him in check since you both started dating

adam always has your back and is on your side no matter what. there is no devil's advocate for him, if his partner is in a fight with someone he's automatically on their side. adam is absolutely the type to tell someone off for shit talking you and is also the type to tell you if someone was being rude to you behind your back. he's also not the kind of guy to shit talk you behind your back and gets pissed at guys who complain about their wives and stuff like that. if he has an issue he tells you to your face and doesn't believe in hiding anything in your relationship.

Red Flags

adam is very insecure about his masculinity even if he doesn't want to admit it and this can be problematic in your relationship. he puts on a lot of appearances around others and acts much more confident when he is, and sometimes his fake persona can piss you off a bit because he genuinely treats you so differently in private versus in public. he also very rarely takes off his mask around you, especially early on into the relationship. in reality it's because he's insecure about how he looks, but he'd never actually admit that (at least early on) so you're stuck in a loop of asking him to take off the mask, him making up some bullshit lie about how he can't, you getting pissed at him and the mask, and him getting more insecure bc he thinks you don't like him anymore. eventually it ends with a conversation about how u love him regardless of what he looks like, but it takes time to get there that might be irritating for you

he is INCREDIBLY clingy, and also huge on PDA- but like even if its not the most appropriate time, he's pulling you onto his lap or slapping your ass or something like that. he also will make a lot of lewd and inappropriate jokes in public- we know he's childish and he is the embodiment of middle school boy humor. you guys could be out in public just trying to have a cute date but he always ruins the moment by making it sexual or making a shitty joke. adam is also very unaware of his surroundings and horrible at reading people so you could be extremely uncomfortable and he just... wouldn't notice unless you told him so. adam isn't great at expressing intimacy nonsexually (he was quite literally created for the sole purpose of populating earth, and a part of him still lowkey thinks he's only good for sex ☹️) so he ends up accidentally turning non-sexual moments sexual. he isn't trying to annoy you, but it can seem insensitive.

pisses you off on purpose. adam does care about you and your feelings but he also can be childish. he'll see that your pissed off and will make a joke only for you to get even more angry at him, but he'll get super defensive even if he was in the wrong saying he was just trying to make you laugh. he will feel very bad afterwards tho, especially if you cry or get really upset because, as i said before, he isn't great at expressing himself and genuinely doesn't mean to hurt you sometimes

Alastor

Green Flags

very respectful of your boundaries. relationships are new to him after all, and he isn't the most expressive lover, so alastor knows that dating him can be tough. he never pushes you too hard or forces himself on you, and he takes your opinion into consideration a lot when it comes to decisions or dealing with life in general. he always asks before taking your hand or kissing you, and he initiates most of the courting process, not wanting to put too much pressure on you. when you first caught feelings for him you were genuinely so scared that he wouldn't even want to be friends with you anymore, but once you found out he reciprocated your feelings, at least in his own way, you were elated. this lead to him being the one to initiate most dates and things like that, at least early on, so that he could show you he was serious about treating you well. you definitely recieve top tier princess treatment (regardless of gender)

protective, but not in a limiting way. if you're dating alastor, then you have to have been friends for at least a while before officially getting together, and he also has to trust you a lot. alastor always wants you to be safe, he knows how cruel hell can be, and he knows that others can use you to hurt him. however, he also trusts you and your strength, and he tries to keep a decent balance of protecting you but also letting you make decisions for yourself. you both definitely have conversations about him sending his shadow to watch over you when your away, and he prefers to have you by his side more than anything else

alastor is very emotionally intelligent and is great at reading people. this skill comes to use a lot and you both very rarely argue over anything because he's very quick to notice when something is bothering you. he's also great at communication, and isn't afraid to sit down and have a conversation with you about how you feel about him and how he feels about you. when it comes to your relationship he wants to make sure you both are on the same page, and yall are the type of couple to have monthly check-ins where you sit doen and just talk about what you're feeling. this leads to a lot of open conversations with alastor, and overtime it made your trust for him grow. he would never tell anyone anything confidential about you, and he genuinely views you as his equal.

Red Flags

alastor does not like change, which means he is not great at adjusting his own behaviors. this also means he refuses to catch up to modern technology and trends and is overall very outdated. he'll get irritated with you for using modern slang he doesn't understand, but will refuse to actually learn the slang terminology. while his class and refinement is attractive and well-meaning in most cases, in some situations it can definitely cause some friction between the two of you. he never wants to watch a movie with you, or go to a nightclub, or even attend concert with you because they're all "too modern" for his tastes. then he'll turn around and get pissed if you invite someone else! alastor also pretty much refuses to take photos with you and avoids most technology all together. i genuinely think he does have a phone, but its super outdated and he is the absolute dryest texter. he will just leave you on read most of the time and doesnt understand why its a big deal

he is not very physically attentive. while we know that alastor is definitely not a fan of being touched, there are moments where he will just randomly start being very touchy with you, but won't let you reciprocate. like he will completely invade your personal space at the most random lowkey inconvenient time and start showing you affection, but when you try to reciprocate he just gets icked out and pulls away. alastor doesn't even explain himself either, he will just... walk away. he doesn't understand that you have very different needs than him and is always confused as to why you're so touch starved. he's giving you attention, isn't that enough? he just doesn't get that theres a vast difference between him looming over you and practically leaning on you, and actually cuddling him and showing you affection. he also will randomly just disappear for days on end. like one day you'll be hanging out going on cute romantic dates to cannibal town and literally being fine and then the next he's gone with no note not information, you just wake up and he isn't there. alastor gets better at communicating his absences once he realizes how worried it makes you, but its certainly alarming in the beginning of your relationship because you think he's upset with you when in reality he's just fucking around and finding out doing god knows what. it takes time for the both of you to find a happy medium ground where you can satisfy your own physical needs while he can also take his own space, but once you do, your relationship goes a LOT smoother.

Vox

Green Flags

Very devoted to you. vox is the type of guy to be absolutely WHIPPED for everything his partner does, and he is not afraid of showering you in affection. while he does find public image important, in his mind, you're the most important and valuable thing in his life. he wants the world to know that you belong to him and that he belongs to you, and he is NOT the type of person to be embarrassed about his partners quirks

He prioritizes satisfying your needs and feelings. whether its sexually, physically, or emotionally, vox is always willing to provide you with comfort. he would never want you to be left unsatisfied or needy, and really wants to be enough for you. vox is self aware and knows that he isn't perfect, but he always gives you more than the bare minimum. his work schedule is a little wild and he always feels bad about not getting to spend time with you so he schedules out full days that are dedicated just to you. he's very attentive and is pretty good at noticing when something is wrong, and he has no qualms about approaching you about anything you might be facing.

trusts you. a lot. in the beginning of the relationship less so, but over time he gradually opens up to you more and more. you are definitely vox's favorite person without a doubt, and he makes sure you know it. early on in your friendship, before you even started dating, vox found himself falling for you. he really didn't want to fuck up what he had with you and wanted to make it clear that you meant more to him. in the beginning of your official relationship, especially during the honeymoon phase and first couple months, he's SOOOO nervous. vox very rarely lets his guard down around others, but with you, he feels his walls instantly shatter. he doesn't understand why he's so drawn to you, but he loves you because of it. he finds a lot of comfort in you and your one of the very few people who have seen him at his worst.

Red Flags

vox sometimes thinks he knows whats best for you, and will act on his own accord to make decisions for you, especially early into a relationship. vox knows hell is dangerous and he knows that there are people who would hurt you to get to him, and he wants to keep you safe more than anything. sometimes he'll watch you on security cameras without your consent, or he'll track you on your phone to know where you are. if you ever found out he wouldn't see the issue until you explained it, but if you really, really had a problem with it he'd stop.

he can be manipulative without even realizing it. vox is surrounded by cruel, nasty people most of the time and will take his own nastiness out on you unnecessarily. like you both will be in an argument and he won't even listen to your side because he just automatically assumes he's right. he'll be condescending and try to change your mind rather than hearing you out. this is obviously very frustrating on your end because, while vox isn't always aware of it, he's still treating you like shit and just trying to manipulate you. i also think he'd accidentally hypnotize you sometimes. like you both would be arguing and vox's hypnotism would just start and he wouldn't realize until he noticed that you were just staring blankly at him. he would feel SO guilty about it though, and it would probably eat at him for a while. you're the person he cares about the most and he genuinely doesn't mean to hurt you, and he definitely does not want to hypnotize you without your consent. vox loves you because youre YOU, not because you listen to his every word like everyone else in his life. it honestly makes him insecure, and he starts to worry that maybe it isn't the rest of hell that he should be worried about hurting you, and maybe its himself thats your biggest threat. PLEASE comfort him he has the emotional capacity of a brick and cares about you too much for his own good. over time his toxic manipulation and cruel behaviors stop, especially towards you, but it can be very, very tedious in the start of your relationship.

mansplains. this is moreso a personal pet peeve of mine and as much as i love and adore vox he absolutely would mansplain and would get pissed when you don't listen. he would also get pouty if you already understand what he's talking about or just brush him off. sometimes it can be kind of endearing though when he's infodumping, and over time his mansplaining slowly forms to infodumping to you. its kinda cute how his behavior changed to match yours, and how excited he gets over sharing shark facts with you.

loved writing this sm this was lowkey an excuse to just psychoanalyize my favs- will prob do a pt 2 once i finish all 500 of my other WIPS + requests lmao- this was originally gonna include luci but i couldn't think of enough red flags and i was also very tired so im sorrryyyyyy he'll probably be in pt 2 😭

[belbobiggins]

shoutout to the severe mommy issues going on in the deltarune subreddit rn. lots of "its bad for toriel to move on and date sans" like god forbid a single mother has a spark with someone new in a small town

Don't worry, I'm definitely not hating on Soriel. In fact, it's one of my favorite ships, and I totally agree that it's healthy for Toriel to be able to move on from a past relationship and find something new with someone special, especially when we take the trust Toriel and Sans share with eachother in Undertale into context.

This situation is both strange and endearing, and like i previously stated, it shouldn't be viewed from just one perspective. We need to account for how uncomfortable it must have been for Kris AND how healing it must have been for Toriel.

I've noticed a lot of people calling Toriel an alcoholic, and I think that's just plain untrue. Alcoholism is a chronic disorder characterized by an inability to control drinking habits, or by abusing how much alcohol you consume. This does NOT describe Toriel. Someone who enjoys alcohol (even on a weekly basis) and someone who physically cannot control their need to drink are two different people.

This isn't excusing Toriel, however. Yes, it's important to find someone to share your happiness with, especially in a time of loneliness after experience something possibly traumatic. But she's still an adult with a child. Getting drunk off your ass when your child is out into the odd hours of the night with no known location is not appropriate behavior. Plus, judging by her reaction when Susie left, Toriel knew Susie would most likely stay the night. Again, that is not appropriate behavior in front of your child's friend.

This isn't even taking into account that the most likely reason Sans' shop was closed up is because him and Toriel were together, so you can't say that Toriel "didn't have any fun". When you become an adult you gain adult responsibilities.

But that's just one side of it, which is exactly what I said we shouldn't focus on. Currently, the reason for Toriel and Asgore's divorce is in the air, so any number of things could have happened, traumatic or not. The fact that Toriel could find someone friendly to get drunk and have fun with is delightful, and like I said, I LOVE Soriel.

This is all coming from an unbiased viewpoint, by the. I've never had alcoholic parents and I don't drink, so don't use the "mommy issues" card on me. I don't think it's fair, however, to say that Toriel shouldn't be able to move on and find someone else. The problem is that she didn't care that Kris was out who knows where until (probably) past midnight.

Everyone needs a break, sure, but that doesn't mean you don't have responsibilities. Get rid of that "if I can't see it, it can't see me" mentality

[cosmickid-inmotion]

What: An event to highlight disability visibility in the Pedro Pascal and Oscar isaac fandom! Writings or art MUST include some disability. In the header, I have chosen 4 characters with canon disabilities, but you can write for anyone! For examples:

Marcus Acacius losing eyesight Llewyn with a reader with a reader with epilepsy Javier Pena x Steven Murphy and Steve has cancer

Fics and art can be NSFW, friends, romantic, canon characters only, x reader, solo fics, ETC. If you want to explore a bonus chapter within a series you already wrote, that works, but,

MUST BE NEW CONTENT!

Who: Anyone who wants to make art or write a fic!

Where: Tumblr, but if you want to post on ao3 and send a link that works!

When: Through the month of May!

Why: It's important for all of us to look at the beautiful diversity of this fandom! There have been many discussions around race and gender/sexuality biases especially in the PPCU recently, and I want to not derail, but rather add to this conversation.

Rules: I'll try to keep it simple

Not a dead dove event: While dark content can be discussed or shown and I am not a dark hater, please no dead dove, non con etc. Not for this event.

Minor characters are allowed, but obviously no NSFW minors. You want to have Marc and reader in their teens, thats fine! but not smut.

No minors!: I am aware I cannot stop nor do I wish to stop minors from reading, but interacting with this event is strictly 18+

Non-disabled people can write, and disabled folk can write for disabilities they do not have, but do research: Reach out to friends who have a disability you want to write about. Watch youtube videos. Read book and blog posts. I'll link some resources at the bottom!

TRY not to fall into trope or harmful traps. Again, I'll link tropes in the bottom, try our best!

Try to end light. This is about the beauty of diversity. Like with my pride event, I'm not naive to hardships the disability community faces and we can explore that, but lets not let that be the main focus.

Readmore: Use the READMORE option! I'll reblog all fics but ONLY if theres a readmore

Add alt text to any pictures. I have literally done this maybe twice and that's my fault. it takes a minute, I have no excuses, but its very important for people who use aids online.

And this isn't a rule but a few notes. try to avoid the inspiration porn shit. If you don't know what it is, look it up and if you're still not clear you can ask me! Also, I recognize major depressive disorder , PTSD, anxiety ETC can be disabilities, these are things that are depicted a fair amount in fics already. If you choose to write to draw with these disabilities, that is okay! I'm still more than happy to include your work! I just want to gently encourage people to think of other disabilites we can try to include so others feel welcomed!

And as always with my events, I want to encourage you to think beyond the standard x fem reader. It's all wonderful and beautiful, but if you wanted to write reflecting your experience as a black disabled woman or a trans disabled man or writing about Santi's experience being queer and disabled I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT ALL!!

Events tend to not have a lot of art, so I'd really love to see artists participate too!

HOW: SEND ME THE LINK ASKS OR DMS! asks in preferred so I can keep track. Do to internet safety, I wont look at anonymous links. If you have to be on anon bc you use a sideblog (looking at you, Haru!) then tag me in your fic or post, I'll open up a dm with you on that blog and you can send it there. I''ve had issues in the past trying to keep things organized so this is best for me! Everything will be reblogged, and then put into a masterlist!

I will be posting the masterlist on my new blog, @cosmic-kid-in-motion. I wanted to start the event here where I actually have followers, but the final product will be on my new blog, transferring things over.

I am so excited to see what you all come up with!!!!

Disability Visibility Project: An online page talking about disability issues. The sight is ran by Ali Wong. She also has a book of essays from different people called Disability Visibility, I HIGHLY REC. We read this book and used this site heavility in my intro to disability class, its why I named the event this!

Ableist tropes in media

Youtuber who is a friend of mine, Andy

Deaf awareness by same youtuber

Another youtuber I like

Disabled palistinian comedian

If anyone has other links they recommend im all ears!

I also open for any questions, and if any other disabled tumblrinas wanna open up for questions, comment below! You totally dont have to, but a wider range is always great! I have a few physical and mental disabilites and like I mentioned, I took a class. Im also good friends with the tuber i linked above and he's done a lot of disability advocacy and I've learned a lot from him, So I feel confident but if theres another I dont know I'll open it up! Any input or ideas are welcome!!!

Im so excited to see what everyone comes up with!

[taxideermied]

What is "prey rage"?

Thanks for the question! And sorry that my answer is so long. I like to yap and this has been on my mind for a while. This is coming from anglophone USAmerican observations, for the record, I don’t and can’t speak in absolutes on this issue as it applies to other countries and cultures.

But in therian and non-therian spaces both, there is a general tendency to characterize prey animals as passive (innocent, helpless, harmless) and predators as active (hunters, killers). And this notion is harmful and unhelpful across the board, but especially, in my opinion, when it comes to large ungulate species.

Most of us (USAmericans) are extremely alienated from the beef, dairy and pork industries, and are unlikely to interact closely with cows or pigs. Given the general cost and land requirements of equestrian hobbies, the same goes for horses. Deer are somewhat present in the collective consciousness but usually as pests or a road hazard or a hunting season. The fact that these animals are capable of violent self defense is obscured, almost on purpose, in a land of friendly milk advertisements and Disney cartoons. You don’t want to think about Bambi goring someone, do you? That might make you buy less merch.

And to be fair, I do think it goes deeper than that. Humans anthropomorphize reflexively. Predator species are often more charismatic and their relative rarity and ecological importance makes the study and documentation of individuals much easier. Predators are usually independent, and when they’re not, they often exist in family groups, lifestyles that are not only approachable but downright appealing to the USAmerican mindset. These animals are framed as intelligent (as it relates to a human way of thinking) and active ecological forces that keep prey animals (necessarily passive in comparison) in check.

So the prey species become largely secondary. Since humans are at the top of the food chain, it’s difficult to properly conceptualize life for animals that are predated upon. They eat (mindlessly), they reproduce (mindlessly), and they are killed (mindlessly). If humans have deigned them worthy of conservation, they become not just mindless, but sin-less creatures uniquely devastated by climate change or habitat loss (a characterization that also hurts predatory species). Their passivity is a virtue in need of protection and, if it’s not obvious, the idea that these animals are as equally capable of killing as they are of dying sort of throws a wrench in the whole well-meaning paradigm.

Elk and bison injure people annually at Yellowstone, and still humans wander up to them as if that outcome is a complete impossibility. And yes, the public is largely uneducated on animal behaviors, but I hear a lot less about tourists toddling off towards bears and wolves, don’t you? It’s like that gif of that biker guy holding his arm out to a horse clearly displaying every “fuck off” warning sign in the book, and the guy gets bit. It’s not just that he doesn’t know horse body language, it’s as if he can’t conceptualize the idea that a horse might feel threatened and lash out and hurt him. Because horses don’t do that. They’re literally nice.

Obviously, prey species will defend themselves, violently, explosively and “no holds barred” if necessary, because the other option is usually death. And this defense, by design, will fuck up humans or any other predatory species.

Granted, prey “rage” is an unhelpful anthropomorphization of this behavior as well, but in my defense I was talking about myself.

I’ve talked before on this blog about how I value kindness and compassion, and partly why I value it so highly because it is often against my nature entirely and is something I have to actively work at. If I feel I have been wronged or hurt my first instinct is the kind of kick-your-lights-out, kill-or-be-killed reaction an elk has when a wolf is latched onto its hock. I have to get them back, and it has to hurt.

Now I can recognize that that is a self destructive and unhelpful impulse (there is no wolf latched onto my hock), but I do believe it is informed by my “prey brain” (among other aspects of my nonhumanity). It is unhelpful to characterize me as innocent or incapable of harm on account of my deer-ness, and I will always reject that sentiment. Further, is damaging to discuss deer and other prey species as wholly sweet and innocent even and especially in therian spaces, and that was largely what I was getting at with my original post. Hope that has answered your question lol :>

[cassiopeajelly]

Thoughts on Pit Babe

What is it about Pit Babe?  It is a show that sounds like it would be so awkward and weird, you could even say cringy (though I don’t really like that word).  To be fair, I can read the most stupid and ridiculous romance and enjoy it, but somehow seeing it acted out is where it becomes awkward and that is what I expected for Pit Babe.  And yet, the show is so addicting.  

I didn’t watch the first series when it came out because I thought the premise was so ridiculous and I figured I would have a lot of second hand embarrassment watching it.  But I was pulled in by clips of Alan and Jeff and eventually took the plunge.  And, although I think there are things that you can criticize about the show, I loved it.  There are so many good characters and while I am not really drawn to the main pairing (I do like it though), Alan and Jeff may be my favorite couple ever.  I rewatch their scenes all the time in comfort watches. Kim is also a superior character.  Kenta grew on me a lot as the season when on.  Those four are all really top tier characters for me.

When I saw the initial trailer for the second season I was dismissive of it.  I didn’t think that they could capture the same energy twice and I worried that they would go back on character growth in order to create storylines for the new season, something that I feel like happens all the time with extra seasons.  I especially didn’t like that it seemed to imply that Kenta went back to working for Tony since his break with him was such an important moment of growth for him.  But that is not what happened, the second season is not undermining the the character development of the first season, but rather bringing to to forefront the issues that remain unresolved. I actually think the characters have been remarkably consistent so far in what we know about them and their motivations. (Side note, I was really surprised that so many people were so angry at Babe in episode 5.  I feel like him taking action like that was pretty well signposted and in character, I wasn’t bothered by it even though I agree it was stupid.  But I am someone that appreciates nuance).  It’s not a perfect show, but I am once again addicted.  It doesn’t help that in addition to still having my beloved Alan and Jeff, they have once again given me a couple that I am feral over in Kim and Kenta (so many thoughts about that). There are a lot of balls in the air and so many couples that it is going to be hard to stick the landing, but I hope they do it.

To take it back to the why at the beginning, I feel like Pit Babe really commits to the bit and takes its world and characters seriously.  I think that is a large part why it works and doesn’t come off embarrassing for me.  Or maybe there are just narcotics in the show.  I don’t know.

[bumbled-bees]

Do you think Lily is ableist? She has a pattern of being so but I can't figure out if it's just her being ignorant or if she actually like ableist ableist. Just off the top of he head she's:

Told an autistic person to "be an adult" when they asked for advice about noise at protests.

Very recent made bluesky equivalent tweets calling people schizoids and saying they deserve to be in a padded cell.

Put a bunch of DID and other mental illness jokes in a now deleted script of her avatar video (either korra or the live action. Not a patron anymore so i can't go back to check). She was so out of line that a server member actually risked getting punished to call her out on how not okay that was (a system was even active in the discord at the time mind you, won't name names).

That’s a fair and important question, and it honestly gets at the heart of a recurring issue with Lily: the way she interacts with aspects of marginalized identities that she doesn’t personally relate to (especially neurodivergent ones) often reveals a deep lack of empathy, if not outright contempt.

The examples you listed aren’t isolated. They’re part of a broader, years-long pattern where Lily either openly mocks neurodivergent people or treats their needs as inconvenient, immature, or laughable. And that’s what makes the distinction between “ignorant” and “ableist” kind of moot in this case, because ignorance is a starting point. But when someone refuses to learn or reflect after being told something is harmful, it turns into willful harm.

Let’s take that first example. Telling an autistic person to “be an adult” when they’re asking for sensory advice? That’s not just tone-deaf. That’s dismissive and condescending, and it plays into a common ableist trope: that autistic people are being “childish” for having real, legitimate needs. And it’s not like Lily isn’t aware of autism or its traits; she talks a big game about being educated and experienced. So when she acts like she doesn’t “get it,” it feels more like she doesn’t care.

The padded cell rhetoric is even worse. That’s not ignorance. That’s cruelty disguised as edginess. Using terms like “schizoids” as insults and implying certain people deserve institutionalization? That’s dehumanizing. It's the kind of language that contributes directly to stigma, discrimination, and social isolation for people with serious mental illnesses. Even if she was being sarcastic or provocative, it’s revealing. Because when push comes to shove, she defaults to weaponizing mental illness as a punchline or a slur.

And the deleted script thing? That kind of behind-the-scenes glimpse is especially telling. People often let their guard down in drafts and closed circles, and if what came out in those drafts was full of DID jokes or mental illness mockery, then that’s likely closer to how she really thinks when she’s not worried about how it’ll land. The fact that someone in her own space felt compelled to speak up despite the risk of backlash says a lot about how obviously wrong it was.

So, is Lily “ableist ableist”? I would lean yes. There’s a persistent thread of ableism in how she speaks, jokes, and responds to neurodivergent or mentally ill people. And it's not just passive bias either: it's active, repeated, and often targeted.

It’s not ignorance at this point. It’s a choice.

[jimpagne]

When does an Idol's apology work?

So, I saw the whole thing with Jungkook's hat situation and how people have been responding to it, and before I make this post, I want to clarify that I thought what he did was quite ignorant... but at the same time, it had me thinking, when does an idol's apology work?

I want to preface that I don't necessarily agree with the ARMYs who say that he never should have apologized, I actually think it's good and commendable that he recognized how he might've/could've hurt people and immediately took accountability. That's incredibly important and shows that Jungkook wanted to shut down any narrative surrounding him immediately.

WARNING: Long post ahead

I'm going to compare both Aespa Karina's scandal and Jungkook's. When Karina apologized for her alleged PPP support post, it appeared that many people did not receive it well, and I think that was for a myriad of reasons, some of which were not fair, but some of which raised pretty concerning red flags. However, with Jungkook's, it seems that more people were willing to forgive him despite these issues being political in nature.

I want to preface that I am not accusing nor defending these idols.

In the case of Karina:

Karina's occurred around their Korea's critical snap elections, and it was a time where it seemed that everyone in the public eye in was willing to stop regular hand gestures or stop wearing certain colors to avoid to be associated with any of the major parties. Karina is a Korean, she works in Korea, and she probably knows its history and political system very well, making it seem impossible that she wouldn't know what is going on. Also, the PPP president had literally just been impeached, so sentiments surrounding the party had soured in the press.

Additionally, Karina's post included three nods to the PPP (the color, the number, and other correlating symbols), and she indirectly apologized on a paid app, which I think made the situation a bit worse. Making an apology locked behind an exclusive service can come off the wrong way to a lot of people, even if the sentiment behind it was genuine. Some people were also upset because it appeared that more 'effort' went into her apology for dating... which in my humblest opinion, she should have never made an apology for that in the first place.

Also, although some try to argue against it, it is true that some were willing to be harsher to Karina on the basis of gender. Misogyny always hits, and it hits hard. But I'm not defending nor am I accusing Karina of doing anything, and I honestly do hate when the misogyny card is played when a woman receives valid criticism. I still thought it was an important point to bring up since it is our current reality.

Another thing is that some said it made sense for her to be a PPP supporter on the basis of her faith, trying to directly tie Catholicism to conservatism, which isn't exactly a fair play, especially in a country where Catholicism is a minority religion (at only 11%). I think many western Kpop stans view Korean politics similarly to how they would view their own country, and many of these comments came from people from the US, where religion and politics are HEAVILY intertwined. But in a majority atheistic country like Korea, tying religion to politics is not always as black and white as it seems.

I think the biggest factor that contributed to the negative reception of her apology is the overall reach of the initial incident, as Karina's Instagram post had escaped its initial circle and found itself being scrutinized by the public and the press almost immediately, whereas in Jungkook's case, when he issued the apology, even many fans themselves had no idea what he was talking about in the first place.

In the case of Jungkook:

Jungkook wore a "Make Tokyo Great Again" hat, which is a direct tie to the MAGA slogan heavily used by the current and controversial American president, Donald Trump. However, it's quite common to see people parody this slogan or make satirical merchandise off it (Make America Gay Again, etc...) Some of the most left-leaning people might wear something that uses the slogan satirically. However, the slogan itself is STILL politically charged, so many Americans did feel a bit perturbed even though the slogan is talking about Tokyo. But also, some Americans didn't take issue to it because they understand that some people make satirical pieces using it all the time. Jungkook is not an American, no, no one can expect him to be an expert in what's going on in a foreign country, especially since he's been in the military for the past 18 months. BUT, Korea is heavily intertwined with the United States politically, and Trump has been in the political sphere since 2016, well before he ever enlisted. However, in Jungkook's Weverse apology, he was explicit in addressing the political discomfort surrounding it and immediately said he would discard the hat altogether.

However, the hat itself says "Tokyo", and many people were quick to point out the tense relationships between Korea and Japan, and how their history has been a brutal one. I think it's incredibly important for us to understand exactly what happened and how the Japanese subjugated Korea and its people. But at the same time, it is also important to note that not all modern-day Koreans and Japanese people hate each other, and that the younger generations in both countries have taken a keen interest in one another. Many young Koreans enjoy Japanese pop culture, and Japan is a popular travel destination for many Koreans. It's the same the other way around. Korea is no longer in an era where it censors everything from Japan or hates any cultural export from them (but censorship in Japan... well, that's another story). But it could still be considered tone deaf in the grand scheme of things and as a public figure he should've been more careful about how that might've come across to the general Korean public, especially since similarly, Jimin's Korean Liberation Day t-shirt carried consequences in Japan before. However, Jungkook also has multiple tattoos regarding Korean nationalism and culture, so many find it hard to believe that he'd support Japanese imperialism. (I also want to point out that I have Korean friends whose parents are completely fine with Japanese cultural imports/exports, and some Korean friends where their parents boycott any Japanese product entirely. It's a mixed bag. Also, I formally took some Japanese courses, and my Japanese professor talked about how loved Korean culture is by the youth there, his own wife taking Korean lessons and watching K-dramas. I am also well acquainted with a Japanese family who had their daughter live in Korea for special job training, and they are big fans of the country.)

Jungkook recently took a trip to Tokyo with Jimin, so some assumed that he probably got it as a souvenir while he was there. The hat itself also comes from a Japanese streetwear brand, so it's entirely possible that he picked it up. Is it a great souvenir? In my opinion, not really. But Jungkook has said multiple times on camera and in writings that Japan and Tokyo are one of his favorite places to visit and vacation to. He had a private vacation in 2017 with Jimin to Tokyo, and then in 2023, he and Jimin again went to Sapporo and stopped briefly in Tokyo as well. This is why some people might be more lenient since the hat itself says Tokyo rather than all of Japan itself.

BTS themselves also have a long and intricate history with politics and resistance to conservative bodies. BTS risked being blacklisted after making songs/statements that challenged the GNP (a conservative party in Korea) and Park Geunhye's administration. They also made several statements being in favor of queer rights and gender identities, have strong connections/relationships to those in the LGBTQIA community, have made strong national sentiments about Korea and have expressed anti-imperial Japan views (namely about Dokdo and not working with an imperialist producer), and they also worked closely with the democratic/left-leaning party in Korea, and removed themselves from direct government collaboration when the PPP candidate got into office (except for YTC in Busan event, where the gov proceeded to neglect member payouts of 5M USD). Although this is also controversial, I do think it's worth mentioning that BTS met with American leader Joe Biden, a direct opponent and apparent 'enemy' of Donald Trump. They also made a hefty donation to BLM in 2020, directly going against the sentiments and outcries of Trump, who was president at that time. Jungkook himself had also made donations to local hospitals in Korea after it was announced that the conservative government would be cutting funding.

I think their past decade of philanthropy/overall message as a group has made people more willing to accept Jungkook's apology and view it as an act of ignorance rather than an act of support for Japanese Imperialism and Trumplicans. But I do think it's also worth mentioning that many people could easily spin these displays of liberalism as being performative rather than genuine (especially since 7 in 10 Korean men in their 20s voted for the PPP, and at the end of the day, we really don't know our idols) but that's a whole other can of worms.

But overall, I think the actions of both Jungkook and Karina were ignorant at best, but this is why I think some people were more willing to accept one apology over the other. If I remember quickly, I think they both posted their apologies quickly, so I don't think the speed in which they took accountability impacted the reception of their statements all that much. Also, I would like to point out that I'm not entirely familiar with aespa's philanthropy, so I'm not entirely sure how/if that could've impacted the overall reception of Karina's apology.

edit: the brand themselves also posted an apology and expressed that the original intention of the design was not to send a political message, but rather to express optimism/hope for a thriving future for Tokyo. Again, it doesn't really matter what the intention is, if someone is hurt by it, it is good to apologize at the end of the day.

But these are just my thoughts!

[marimayscarlett]

Sorry to jump in on all the Till stuff that’s happening—I’m sure you’re probably getting your fair share of asks about it, but I think a lot of non-Americans (and Americans alike) don’t actually understand that Mar-A-Lago is, yes, a pay-for-membership type place, but it doesn’t look like Till actually…stayed there. Not only was the visit seemingly kinda last minute (I’m inferring here based on the caption of one pic/vid literally being ‘impromptu’) but it also wouldn’t necessarily be his decision where to perform, and Mar-A-Lago rents out spaces for private events. More than likely, whoever was running his event booked the place because of its proximity to larger areas of Florida (like artists booking in cities like Buffalo or Hoboken to allow for people from NYC and surrounding larger areas to come without the issues that a big city may impose onto a touring artist).

Anyway, just my thoughts as a USAmerican Till fan. Am I disappointed? Sure; his newest mv hit a bit weird and it’s not super cool to see the guy who wrote “Amerika” and “Links 2 3 4” at Mar-A-Lago. But even so, I don’t think he intends to actually hurt anybody or stir up controversy—not in this case, anyway. I think any provocative thing he does is specifically in the name of artistry just like it seems to be with the rest of the band (ehem. Pussy, the onstage dildo antics, etc).

I think he’s aging and trying to figure out what he as a 62 year old icon wants to do and where he wants to be. But I don’t think it’s fair to scrutinize every single thing he does—if we did that for every metal musician, we would be hard pressed by some pretty superfluous stuff. Not to discount anybody’s anger, but some of the stuff the fandom has been getting upset about seems pretty silly, in my opinion. He isn’t the first musician to use AI nor is he the first to use a mv to vent his personal frustrations—we can say it could’ve been done better (because it could have!) but what’s done is done, and here’s hoping he learns from this.

Basically, all this to say: as a very anti-Trump, leftist American, I really don’t fault him for the Mar-A-Lago thing. I went to school next to one of the Trump hotels, and it was never a big deal when people like Ariana Grande or the Kardashians stayed there or rented out the private rooms (this is actually anecdotal, this happened a LOT). I think we have more important things to deal with than why one of our faves happened to step foot within a specific part of Florida when he’s been outspoken about anti-fascism and his own personal dislike of the current administration. Sorry that this ended up as more of a vent than a short ask, your blog is one of my faves and I feel comfortable getting it all out here <3

Hi 👋🏻

I had this ask in my inbox five times - either you really wanted me to answer it, or Tumblr had a glitch 😄

I'll go through your message step by step and add my thoughts as bullet points:

- I do understand that Mar-a-Lago is essentially a resort or a hotel or something in that direction (I wasn’t assuming Till was staying there permanently in the sense of sleeping there or anything like that). Until 2017, even the Red Cross held an annual charity ball there. However, my main association with the estate was the FBI’s 2022 search, which was also covered in German media.

- Whether Till actually has a choice in selecting where he sings/performs is a valid point. Especially when abroad, one often has to rely on locals who know the area.

- Personally, I also don’t believe he intentionally wants to offend people with his actions. However, I do think that sometimes a little more mindfulness or willingness to inform oneself before making decisions would be appropriate.

- As I mentioned previously, I see it similarly: one shouldn’t lose their mind over every little thing - that’s unhealthy for one’s mental well-being. And, as I said in the past few days, if we applied the highest moral standards to everything, we wouldn’t be able to consume a lot of music, films, art, and books.

- I can’t comment on his new music video because I’ve only seen snippets. I understand that the use of artificial intelligence doesn’t sit well with many people, but not everything has to be to one’s liking.

- I appreciate getting an American perspective. As a European, I mostly hear about Trump through the news, where he comes across as a rather pleasant unperson and politician, bulldozing his way through global politics. Honestly, that’s quite off-putting and makes anything associated with him seem very fishy.

So, thank you for taking the time to write out your opinion in such detail! In discussions like these, it's important to engage in a structured and respectful exchange of thoughts 🤲🏻

[strawglicks]

flint fascinates me bc he comes off as rlly polite and kind

but also. not really. at all

they apologize often and it seems like they try to be nice to others, but then u look deeper and take into account different details

one of the biggest things abt flint that gets overlooked is that he likes drama .

i dont think liking drama itself is bad, why else do we have reality tv shows yk. but i think they actively indulge in it and one of the biggest things that points to this for me is how they treat the satellite investors

he seems to talk bad about them behind their backs, then can't handle the comeuppance of cosmo yelling at him.

this is further implied with cosmo saying they're "goin' around spreadin' lies", meaning flint does actively talk shit on what might be a regular basis. and flint saying "oh, no, I shouldn't have said that" implies FURTHER that they KNOW they're gonna get yelled at for it but continue to do it anyway with the hope cosmo wont find out. like hes not sorry for doing it, only sorry for getting caught.

cosmo gets HEAVILY neglected both in the community as a whole and whenever flint is brought up even though they have a really interesting and honestly hilarious dynamic (but thats for another post..)

whenever cosmo DOES get brought up in the context of he and flints relationship, people defend flint and blame cosmo for being "mean" to him. but tbh, i think cosmo has a fair point in this particular text. Flint can talk all he wants, but at the end of the day can't handle the consequences of it and lacks the confidence to put his foot down. He's a follower, not a leader (unlike cosmo, who flint looks up to canonically. WHICH NO ONE TALKS ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!)

flint also seems to have an interesting habit of apologizing even though he actively and intentionally attacks the toons right after

which i think is interesting. i think it's just a habit of his to say sorry when he knows he's doing/has done something wrong (especially bc he doesnt like facing the consequences), even if hes not actually sorry. Considering this is the same person who claims they like setting toons on fire, i dont think any of these apologies are sincere:

speaking of not being able to handle the consequences, when flint does get defeated by toons, there's a line that sticks out.

Specifically the "i'll be back" feels vengeful. Like he takes the defeat personally, and doesn't want to give up because it makes him feel weak and he wants to come out on top.

something else i find interesting and almost jarring in flint's dialogue is some of their Power Trip dialogue:

this dude is incredibly power hungry. he craves confidence and the ability to be a leader, given how he looks up to cosmo and is drawn to graham, who also appears confident.

speaking of graham, i think it's important to note that earlier, when flint was talking shit abt the satellite investors, he was saying that specifically to graham, who encourages flint not to "let people walk all over him".

graham encourages flint to feel more confident, which is not inherently a bad thing. confidence is great! and its something flint deserves. but i think there's an issue with how they choose to express this "confidence" on the rare occasions they do.

shown throughout this post, flint's way of trying to be confident is being power hungry, talking shit, and fighting toons . i think it's pretty clear that flint has been walked all over in the past and present, and it's caused them to become shy and a bit of a doormat. which he clearly doesn't like (more evidence of this is the fact that he explicitly dislikes belittling.)

and on the rare occasions when they're "allowed" to be confident, they proceed to belittle OTHERS, like toons. in a lot of their dialogue, they come off as condescending towards the toons, even if it's pretty awkward.

i think Flint deserves to feel confident, but the way they go about it is unhealthy. They've clearly been treated like a doormat and is fed up with it, and it seems like they lash out as a result. I think he has a good and genuine heart, but he almost comes off as bitter due to being walked all over constantly. its rlly interesting to dive into flint's flaws and the way they act due to their desperation for confidence, something they really lack.

[dallasgallant]

As I re-read the novel I find myself appreciative and disappointed. As it’s really damn close a lot of the time, some parts are word for word and there’s little details here and there but then it’ll loose these pretty important moments. The biggest for me being how cut down the drive in scene is. Not only because there are some funny quippy parts to it but also so much world building and character work.

The whole reason Marcia cracks her “you just burry him no sweat.” joke is because Greaser fighting is wildly complicated! It’s fascinating to how two bit explains it.

To a greaser violence becomes almost like another form of communication, blowing off steam, solving an argument- getting the anger out of the way now so there’s less grudge holding and more solidarity. They have self made rules and honor that holds them to their system of fairness. You back up your friends when they ask you but sometimes it’s their fight alone— Dally’s getting what’s coming to him for slashing those tires, they ain’t cheap and it’s a poor community. Tim will whip him and they’re back to buddies by the end of the night. Big fights, real fights - rumbles- are organized with rules and this weird sense of civility.

There’s this weird mix of “Boys will be boys” roughhouse with “got to be tough to survive” raised in violence survivalism.

Meanwhile,the Soc’s are a lot less warm with their approach to fighting its “cold and impersonal” like they handle all things. Though honestly I’d argue it’s a lot more personal— not fighting for communication but because one can or to exert power. They don’t fight fair, they hold those grudges and there’s no solidarity to that. Ponyboy describes them best as “a snarling pack”. Their violence is rooted in the same systems and misfortunes Greasers face - in that what perpetuates violence is a bit universal. The difference is a greaser will help a guy up and maybe get him an ice pack where as a Soc will just leave you in the street for the sake of appearance or dominance, it’s not enough that they beat you. Nothing is ever enough, like Cherry mentions they can never be satisfied.

“It’s not the money it’s feeling— you don’t feel anything and we feel too violently.”

I’ll keep mentioning that quote until I’m blue in the face honestly, it goes right alongside “things are rough all over” Differences stem especially from their reactions and behaviors in response to what’s rough. Some hardships are universal but don’t mishear me as a good portion of it is also class issues because the Reason a Soc might drink himself into oblivion is way different from why a Greaser might.

Beyond Two-bits explaination I’m sad we loose more of the talk between Cherry and Pony on emotions and money. How people are people and they’re all a lot more similar than one might think (despite the contrasting I’ve been doing in this post it’s very true). And talking about his brothers. In the movie it’s a little weird as he only brought up Soda once but she “feels like she knows him” and he brings up sunsets to her later in the movie and they never mentioned it here! Unless they’re trying to imply they had more of a convo on the short walk to the parking lot but I’m not buying that.

Ponyboy being resentful (not that he’s wrong for it) because how hard everyone he knows has it compared to Soc’s. How he has to learn though the novel that “things are rough all over” isn’t that everyone has the same troubles/level of trouble. As they’re certainly worse off; it’s about empathy and everyone being human. That some might be better off but that doesn’t mean they’re entirely without problems. That not everyone is out for a fight all the time.

It’s just a shame as this scene adds so much context to the world, social circles and the moral of the literal freaking novel. The compare/contrast with their lives is pretty important… I digress.

[i-love-my-dorks-and-simps]

addressing my abandoned wg comic for my wg followers:

(ty @cargoshortsenjoyer for the suggestion!)

it will likely never be completed so as a result ill be sharing the basic ideas i had planned out for it below:

it was a highschool au staring becky/wg and tobey as being in a relationship (where tobey doesnt know becky is wordgirl)

important context for this au:

after some time of their elementary shenanigans, in middle school, tobey quits being a supervillain due to his aspirations of having a normal life. he's tired of pining over someone he knows will never reciprocate, and even more so of working so hard on his inventions that go unnoticed by everyone, especially his mother. (mommy issues alert)

after tobey's disappearance from villainy, becky/wg gets concerned for his wellbeing and check up on him (as becky). after seeing hes decided to change his ways for once (given its been years since wg originally takes place) she gives him a chance at friendship from which their rivalry turns into a sweet yet playfully competitive relationship with one another by the time theyre in highschool.

au starts:

the two are roughly in junior/senior year (undecided) nearing the end of highschool by the time the au takes place as tobey sees how the stress of school has taken a toll on becky. they have a conversation about it with tobey doing his best to comfort her when she mentions how much the supervillain population in fair city has been affecting her. being a former villain himself this sparks tobeys interest and he starts to pay more attention to his surroundings.

thats when he realizes the sheer amount of villains that had come since he quit. given they only have 2.5 heroes pulling the work of a city practically run by villains, tobey notices the imbalance there is. he finds it unjust that this has to be the state becky goes through everyday. he knows how important justice is to her (she also wants to be a district attorney like her mother) and decides to take things into his own hands

he takes out his robots for the first time in years, (only bigger and better than the ones he made when he was 10 (he's had more time to hone his skills in private)) and begins to "apprehend" supervillains in town, which prompts wordgirl to swoop into his robot warehouse to see whats been going on. (where else would he store those things? his backyard?)

from here tobey tells wg all about how hes being a hero now and creating less trouble or innocent citizens out there when she tell his that this is not the world becky (herself) would have wanted at all. shes not happy to see him like this again knowing the progress hes made and she doesnt want to fight him again after all this time.

events after the existing two parts i posted:

from there on tobey enlists the help of other 'retired' supervillains to achieve his goal of making fair city a better place (for becky). the story continues on as becky/wg urge him to stop and think about what hes been doing which he stubbornly disagrees with her, putting strain on their relationship.

throughout this tobey starts to adopt a savior complex and truly thinks its his duty to cleanse the world of villainy. everyone in fair city is too dense to realize what him and becky do. the fact that just jailing the villains alone wont stop them from crime. there needs to be an end. and he's going to be the one to do it. (adding onto this, tobey will eventually start to target regular criminals without superpowers after he gets rid of the supervillains through his mandated death penalty of those with unnatural abilities. at some point he will begin to view wg as a threat despite being a hero because she stands in his view of whats just. wg tries to save as many villains as she can and tobey is on her trail. at this point its likely rose may hold a part in his investigation, wanting to get closer to the action to get a better scoop.)

the fate of this au is undecided from here on (though there would be a ton of character moments unmentioned here to keep it from getting too long. i would love to touch on how tobecky is holding up throughout this alongside other characters reacting to the scenario (ex. family, friends, villains))

[genderqueerdykes]

i wanted to follow on from some of the recent asks about disability and basically see what you and others think. basically when things are kinda 'medium' bad, like I'm tired or in more than baseline but not extreme pain, or whatever, i always feel like I'm putting it on or playing it up. (and to be fair very occasionally i am, because i need to convince people who don't really get it that i need help with 'simple' tasks or whatever) but like i just walked for about 15 minutes, to go grab a snack from the shop, and my joints are misbehaving and so i was walking fairly slowly and when i had to hurry over the road my knee didn't like it and my back is really stiff and whatever but if i had to i could just mask and not even show any of it. how do i teach myself that not masking or masking less than i could =/= putting it on.

(also kicking myself because i did not buy any painkillers on my adventure to the shop and i don't have any with me today and i really really wish i had some right now owwww)

generally speaking, the normal amount of pain to be in is none, or at the least, so little that its not bothering you. unless you recently had an injury, exercised very vigorously, have particularly bad posture or or did a lot of repetitive motions with that part of your body, it's not normal to be in a consistent amount of pain. it's different for everyone, some people have astronomically low or high pain tolerances. some peoples pain tolerances fluctuate wildly.

that definitely does not sound like a "normal" amount of pain to be in for sure. i can relate to that though, i don't walk for much longer than about ~15 minutes. severity is a scale but it doesn't mean that half of it is invalid. the lower end of the spectrum is still experiencing pain even if it's "less". i'm very psychotic n i don't think ppl who experience psychotic episodes a handful of time in their lives.

if ur in pain, treating the pain is the first concern. figuring out the cause comes second. preventative care is important. it's good to get things to help you, however i do wanna give the Obligatory Equinox Warning about painkillers, which is to really be careful with them. i'm stone cold serious with this because i took Naproxen (Aleve) for months & it ate a hole in my stomach. NSAID medications like Naproxen & Ibuprofen are dangerous. they can also interact with other medications if you take it regularly.

be careful with Acetaminophen. it's very hard on the liver and you want to make sure you are not consuming too much. check the label on the bottle, but the recommendation is generally no more than 4,000mg of Acetaminophen (Tylenol, Paracetamol) per 24 hour period. be very careful. play it safe and go as far under 4,000mg as you can handle. you do not want permanent liver damage especially if u take other meds. be careful about tylenol with codeine. codeine is an opioid and can make you very tired, dizzy, or even cause death due to respiratory distress if too much is taken. plus there's a risk of addiction. always practice harm reduction w/ opioids.

i would recommend seeing if you can speak to a doctor about it and get a prescription medication that's tailored to your specific kind of pain. arthritis pain, fibromyalgia pain, pain from injuries, pain from inflammation, pain from gastrointestinal issues, pain from nerve damage, and all different kinds of pain respond differently to different medications. it's better to have access to way more options if possible. OTC painkillers are very weak and don't help very much in the long run

there are more accessible remedies that might help like taking hot baths or shower to ease pain, using topical pain killers like salonpas, tiger balm, blue emu or biofreeze. i try to urge people to try topical painkillers first, including the patches, because those medications are way less harsh on the kidneys & liver and a lot of them are herbal or are mostly herbal. tiger balm is an herbal medication that hits like a truck, it's camphor & menthol and it it's a blessing. i genuinely recommend it

good luck, if you think of anything else, let me know, i'll try to help in whatever ways i can.

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

im such a big fan of the linda public school vs homeschool debate i think its a really interesting conflict, because obviously roman was homeschooled and it wasnt really beneficial towards him (which virgil could probably sympathise with regarding all of his mortal friends being terrified of him briefly), BUT also trying to tell logan or even patton that public school is the best option for their fae child is so obviously gonna be a problem, and then even when roman saw how logan was treated he didnt see how young it started and how much it was ingrained in him that he was wrong, and virgil didnt really see any of the worst of it so trying to commicate why its such a concerning idea is going to require bringing up some unpleasant things. but ALSO linda is not logan ((is it fair projecting his experiences onto linda or by trying to protect her are they gonna cause a complex anyway where she internalises being fae is wrong?)) or roman or patton or virgil and either choice could be uniquely beneficial or damaging just based on how she responds to her environment, which is impossible to actually determine without some trial and error, and id bet good money they dont want to risk the "error" part at all

just a very cool and interesting debate i feel, i enjoy how everyone has so many reasons to be so emotionally invested

thank you so much, you get exactly the vibe i was going for. the dichotomy of roman and virgil who were so so lonely as children due to isolation, versus logan and patton who were so hurt because of bullying, putting them in two very different camps as to what's best for their kid, makes it SUCH a hard conversation to have. they pretty much start having it the moment she's born and it continues for the next two years, and its the closest to genuinely angry they ever really get with each other. because theyre all really stubborn, but they rarely disagree on something this important so vehemently.

compounded by the fact that they dont yet know if she's going to age more like a fae or a human, and that being a visibly-6yo in middle school would theoretically make that issue exponentially worse

tentatively, im thinking that she will be homeschooled until she goes to college, and also that thats kind of one of the reasons why she doesnt do as well as she hoped. she had structure (in a house full of autistic people, you bet she had structure) but also a lot of freedom over dictating that structure, and the freedom to deviate from it when she needed to (in house full of ADHD people, you bet she was allowed to go run around in the yard whenever she needed a break).

so in college the combination of 1. less structure in the sense that she has less support network and people to hold her accountable and 2. less freedom in the sense that you can leave whenever you want in college, but the class doesnt stop and wait for you to come back, means she doesnt have the skills to make it really work for herself, especially compounded with the fact that she's emotionally much less mature than her peers

and that fucking sucks, for her and for LAMP. because you can debate for years, and you can do your best, and you can do everything right, and your kid might still wind up with baggage because of something you did. something you did and believed in your heart of hearts was the best thing for them.

the world is big and full of sharp things and you cant actually wrap your kid in bubble wrap. the bubble wrap is also full of sharp things, in this metaphor that immediately ran away from me.

all you can do is just keep stocked in bandaids, and hold their hand while you put it on.

[zombie-bait]

Omg i just realized I have something tiny to add to the whole James Somerton debacle. I'm currently watching the hbombguy vid (as you do when procrastinating assignments) and I remembered something that stood out to me in James' old videos.

So I used to be a fan of his stuff. I am also a fan of Hannibal and IWTV. He made a video covering both so naturally I was very hyped. It was called 'The Gay Appeal of Toxic Love.' The vid itself was fine (I don't remember having any super strong opinions of it besides being excited to hear ppl mention Interview cuz I had recently become obsessed) but one thing did stand out to me. In the IWTV section he mentions Nicki and, naturally, his death:

"After becoming a vampire, Nicky becomes nearly catatonic, and eventually slips away from Lestat entirely. And after centuries of dealing with depression and severe mental illness, Nicky kills himself."

(sourced from this transcript: https://github.com/TerraJRiley/James_Somerton_Transcripts/blob/main/Transcripts/The%20Gay%20Appeal%20of%20Toxic%20Love.txt)

To anyone who's read TVL, I don't think I need to explain that Nicki had not, in fact, been around for centuries. "Nicki had lived to be 30" has been rattling around in my head since I first read it.

And like, obviously I don't expect every youtube essayist to read several long-ish novels to have a full grasp of the series' deep lore, especially when the focus was largely on IWTV and Loustat rather than the entire Vampire Chronicles. Still, it makes you wonder a bit about the quality of the research being done here. You can find the proper info in like, 5 seconds by just going on the fan wiki so I'm not sure what his sources were. And that's the issue at hand, isn't it?

At the time I felt a tiny bit smug recognizing the error but in light of everything that's been revealed, it's kind of telling. I'm not saying this part was plagiarized (I haven't found anything but others on reddit have found issues with different sections of the same video) but rereading the transcript it comes off as someone who clearly doesn't know much about Interview.... It feels like he's reading through a loose summary of plot points rather than analyzing a piece of media that actually means anything to him. It's very much Interview for people who don't know Interview which, one could argue is fair. Especially beyond book one, VC is a niche series and a lot of elements that are important to certain characters or plot lines cannot be summarized quickly for an audience unfamiliar with it. A good writer, who's done a lot of research about the specific topic they have chosen to make a video on, would be able to balance this. There is a LOT to analyze about queerness in VC and its a shame to see one of the more popular queer media channels half-assing it just to churn out videos heavily made up of other people's work. In retrospect he had several videos like that, where he would discuss things like manga/manhua communities while clearly having little knowledge on the nuance of those subjects. He was an outsider who presented himself with a strange amount of authority.

This was content created with the sole intention of propping up queer stories and history, yet it's built off stolen work from queer authors and doesn't actually care that much about exploring the communities it features. Vids like the IWTV one weren't really fact checked because it's only people like me who would might give a shit or even notice anything is off in the first place. There's a bit of a similar vibe in some of his other vids where he undermines the experiences of queer women because he clearly has not taken the time to learn about the nuances of representing queer women in media. These are things that irritated me when I first started to notice them but I put those concerns in the back of my mind because I cared about the topics he was covering and was excited to see these discussions becoming more mainstream.

The revelations of this evening have been disappointing to say the least.

(also for the record I know he made other more recent vids about IWTV but I haven't seen those and even if his account was still up I don't think I would lol

BUT

I did look at the transcript for his 'Vampires and the Gays Who Love Them' video (found from the same link I included above) and this quote about the IWTV AMC show is sending me: "Daniel has never grappled with the complexities of being gay"

Shoutout to straight, uncomplicated icon Daniel Molloy. Devil's Minion was a mass hallucination, spread the word)

[thatbennybee]

i think it's kinda funny that you don't like hickory since he's a fan favorite but you're valid in your dislike, its just a shame that DW didn't do much to redeem him like the other hunters, other than make him feel remorseful and ashamed of betraying Broppy and providing gumdrops to Poppy in the final confrontation, they could've done more. If you had it your way what would you change in twt or post twt?

If ppl like Hickory, that's fine. You can like whoever you wanna like. I just don't really like the excuses that often come with doing so. Just acknowledge that he was wrong.

Regardless of feeling bad, he did nothing to stop it really. If you had the chance to possibly fight back against the oppressor but you actively aided in her plans, and your only excuse was "Well I didn't want to lose what is important to me," you're really just saying "fuck everyone else losing their freedom ig cuz I don't want to lose mine." Like I don't fw that, especially not in today's climate. It's selfish.

Like idc if ppl like traitor characters, like I even understand Creek and Veneer fans. I just hate when they aren't punished for it. Like damn Creek died for betraying his people and selling them out to the oppressor to save himself, and Veneer still got arrested despite "feeling bad." How is this different just cuz Hickory was sad about it and felt bad last second? He knew where this was headed, he was deceiving them whole time dawg...

I have the same issue with ppl acting like Veneer wasn't just as bad as Velvet just bc he expressed doubt and remorse. Which is bare minimum empathy mind you 🥀

The rest of my rant and what'd do to change his redemption if you gaf ⬇️

I just hate complicity in fascism, oppression and/or dictatorships when there's no room for it. Especially just sitting back and letting it happen with your head hanging low like you weren't a main factor and the final puzzle piece to its takeover.

Ik this is just trolls, but they WERE making political commentary on cultural erasure, colonization and race supremacy in a way kids could understand, so I get to criticize it thru that lens as a POC.

Plus I'm a lesbian so i have ZERO tolerance for a man that acts pathetic as shit and refuses to stand on business while being dead wrong like that and is coddled to hell and back for some reason. Then have the nerve to be chopped on top of it all??? 🙄 STAND UPPPP MY GOD. I will slow roast you like a rotisserie chicken 💥💥💥 Even I can admit that Branch can be a prick sometimes and he's my #1 favorite character of all time. (And he is not ugly 🙂‍↕️ and also a he/him lesbian 🙂‍↕️ and also stood on business 🙂‍↕️)

Now don't get me wrong—I don't wholly like Barb either bc they didn't make her apologize at the very least when she was the worst part of it all. But nobody ever has any problems appropriately placing blame on her, sooooo...❓️Let's just keep it fair, man. Being a colonizer and helping a colonizer are both shit. My main gripe with the movie was that she got to blame Poppy, and nobody even told her to shut her ass up cuz it was her fault to begin with. Why ain't Poppy yell at her ass or sum... 😒

Shoulda whacked the guitar remnants over her big ass head fr /hj

People also have no problem hating om Poppy for how she acted in that movie either but Hickory gets no flack... Errkay... It's getting weird......

Now, if I could change how Hickory was characterized.... 🤔 Hm... I'd either have him pretend to want to take charge of Poppy's capture himself only to have him trick Barb and let her escape while their guard is now down, try to fight back against Barb and/or Dickory in a similar manner and telling Poppy to run, or even having her be rightfully upset at him post TWT.... literally fuckin anything but just laying down like a wounded animal and getting zero flack for it!! It just pissed me off so bad idgaf about your stupid gumdrop trick bitch 😭😭😭🫵🏾💥

Talm bout some "she learned that from me! ☝🏾🤓" WHO GAF YOU TRAITOR SHUT UP!!! 😭😭😭👎🏾

It's not that serious but actually it is bc I like to dissect these characters to death, it's good for writing and having good media literacy is super important to me!!!