#//Also excuse my hashtag rambling

[piowasthere]

Ok, since the Astrals have been called or just compared to gods in the recent episodes, that basically officially gives us that the dynamic of Lumini is essentially mortal x god

Or alternatively, hear me out-

Au but Lunar's an angel and Gemini's a deity.

[arolesbianism]

I wanna redesign my furry Yukina design a lil bit to make her dog half more clear but also I need to design everyone else but also doggy :(

[netherworldpost]

Small Business Tag Because I Hate Tags But I Love Efficiency + Can Occasionally Be Bribed By A Great Gif

I hate tags. This is not a specific-to-Tumblr thing, I just hate this method of organization.

After yesterday's post, I realized it would be better to utilize tags to organize commonly-asked-questions about hashtag small business

Because I had to learn all this crap the hard way, I have regularly felt an obligation to give back to tiny-weird-shop-weird-maker community

I remembered this gif exists and I want to showcase Mission Hill more because it was a great, GREAT, GREAT!!! short lived show

The excuse to use this gif + a desire for efficiency in answering questions alleviated the tag-hate

Here is a tag of known rambles I could easily find about running a small business, negotiating, etc.

In the future if I think of something useful, answer a question, or stumble across an old untagged post, I will so tag it.

Sometimes the tone gets cranky because a significant period of time folks will come to me and say: "Hey! How did you start x-y-z! I want to start a company! You owe me answers!"

And I will say: "It's super hard! You gotta love it! Also, no I don't, I don't work for you!" and they do not like that. I am not going to tell you that it's all flowers and rainbows and that you're going to get rich quick.

I'm going to be brutally honest with you and say "capital, not labor, builds wealth, so the chances of getting rich via labor, especially your own, are practically zero. You should do this because doing this makes you You more You. You should do this because not doing this is worse."

Or, secondly:

Other times people have come to me and said "Hey! I want to create an Objectively Disgusting Art Project! How do I do that!"

And I will say "Charge a metric ton of cash per piece because your work is going to have an extremely small audience and you're going to face a lot of backlash! The market for objectively disgusting art exists, but it's extremely small!"

Note on second point:

These conversations are not tagged. I am not going to promote them or give them more light.

I am bringing them up here because I have a personal, internal conflict between "Multiple Experiences Have Soured Me From Helping Hence Cranky Voice Sometimes" and a legitimate desire to give back.

I hope this helps!

Sorry it got sour at the end, I need to get my point across. I have 27 asks in my inbox right now that run the gamut of possible tones and I'm having an Experience this morning.

[bubblegummintie]

🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸 About Me 🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱🌸🌱

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Name: Bubble, Bubblegum, Minty, and Mint are the four main ones and I'll only answer to them if we do not know each other.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Pronouns (will update with site info): He/she/they. I am genderfluid and prefer they when talking about me to others.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Sexuality (not delving in too deep): I'm bisexual.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Age: I won't go into exact age, but I am 20+ so please keep that in mind.

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Fandoms: I'll probably update this as time goes on, but the main ones I'm in are Smile for Me, LiEat, and a bunch of other ones that I can't name off the top of my head. I only really write somewhat for the Smile for Me fandom and try to be as true to the character as possible with some liberties of my own in some cases. 

Account icon: done by the amazing Twizurcis!!! They don't use Tumblr much so I don't really have a link to send.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗ DNI ˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

✧˚₊‧ Homophobic, transphobic, just anything that is anti-human rights and life (in ways no one gets hurt from).

✧˚₊‧ Post, or well, talk about heavy amounts of gore. I'm fine with you, I just don't want to be harassed like I have in the past with it and be exposed to it. I can only handle a certain degree of it, and if it's live action and you send it, that is an immediate block and I will not remove said block.

✧˚₊‧ If you are looking to befriend me solely for the purpose of talking trash about me or anything of the sort. This is a safe space and I do not want to be involved with people I do not want to be involved with. If you disrespect this, I'm blocking you and adding you to a posted list of people not to talk to me about or anything of the sort. If you want to talk things out or anything of the sort is cool, just don't get me involved with anything.

✧˚₊‧ If you want to start drama of any kind, stalk me, start letting people talk trash about me and harass me/those around me, and just don't like me, do not interact or even come near my account. I don't want to see or be a part of this and I will not be a part of it. If I have you blocked, it's for a specific reason and I'm usually not going to budge on it for my own state of mind.

✧˚₊‧ Anti-mental health. I know this is kinda a stretch for some, but there is a lot of people out there that are very against it and I don't want those people near me from the way I've been treated for mine and for my autism. I also want them far away from others no matter what.

✧˚₊‧ Fatphobic people and just anyone with the "I'm doing this for your own good/trying to help!" mentality. Bluntness is not something to be proud of if you use that as an excuse for hurting others. Alongside that, treat people with respect, care, and compassion. If I don't want to see it, they probably don't either. Abuse is abuse and can really change a person, so don't imply too much and genuinely respect boundaries. No respect from you = no respect from me when I block you. I won't trash talk you, but I won't respect you as someone I want near me.

.˚ *꒰ঌ✦໒꒱ * ˚. Social Medias and more .˚ *꒰ঌ✦໒꒱ * ˚.

[I won't be posting all of them right now, just the ones I use and are very public about.]

❀˖° AO3: Be aware I tend to upload chapters close together to prevent myself from losing the will to finish it and then leave it unfinished. Tap the word for the link.

The link to the masterlist post: https://www.tumblr.com/bubblegummintie/734892975230943233/heres-that-masterpost-i-mentioned-in-my-pinned

❀˖° Instagram: Tap the word. I mostly post edits to here and maybe some crafts if I make the decision to.

❀˖° Twitter: Tap the word for the link, I just reblog stuff here for the most part.

❀˖° Discord: Can't exactly give a link but my username is bubblegumminty and I'm always open to adding new people!!!

My tags for everything are:

#Mint Tea Time Reblogs, #Mint Tea Time Talks , #Mint Tea Time Uploads, and Mint Tea Time Rambles. I'm also adding for when I make polls the hashtag, #Mint Tea Time Polls (idk how to embed them so they are in the tags at the bottom of this post).

Thank you for reading and I hope we all get along fantabulously! I'm always open to chat but please don't ask to be friends if we've just met. It's a natural process and I do not want to feel forced to say yes.

[elytrafemme]

hi this is unrelated related but i was literally thinking about this today and thought i’d share ^_^

^ always taking excuses to ramble

while we don’t have many like major differences in romantic and sexual orientation the amount of varying gender in our system is sooo 💥✨🌟❗️ ya know

like specifically many members not only fall on different ends of the spectrum but they also have different varying degrees of strength to that gender (expression?? experience??? identity??? words.)

like for instance i’m agender and don’t like technically have a gender. yay! then there’s like a trans man and also a very very feminine hashtag woman. and like varying amounts and expressions of nb. so like it’s really interesting because sometimes just having the hint of gender in the mind can be an indicator someone else is near front. like oh hello i love you but why are you so strongly gendered

i also just remembered that like, one of the ways that it’s very apparent that one/some of us are around/close to front is the fact that someone has a crush on someone in our writing class?? and this only crush only pops up when the headmate who has that crush is near. it’s an experience

anyways ✨💪 that’s all

YES YES YES NO LITERALLY THIS. KAY YES YES YES IM SO GLAD OTHER SYSTEMS HAVE THIS BC OUR GENDER IDENTITIES GET SO WILD LMAO

puzzle agender moment YIPPEE!!! the fact that u can tell if someone is near front simply by gender vibes is really interesting, ive never noticed that with my system but that's wild. obsessed that someone can be Too Gender and thats when ur like yeah im out

my system atm has like. genderfluid ???, cis high femme woman, genderqueer man, cis masc-leaning man, agender void of vague femininity but a lack of care about it, and another cis femme woman. so its all over the place HAHA

YEAH YEAH YEAH. it's weird we have similar but it's like. there are a few guys in our choir class and i find them objectively pretty but i can't tell if klavier has a crush on them or dahlia does or something. like i don't have a crush on them but Someone maybe does. or maybe it's gender envyy i'm not really sure. very odd.

hi bestie <- ending ask with this for some reason instaed of starting it like this OOops

[miumiins]

Hi miumiins, as a fan of mga, what are your thoughts on their columbus MV? i honestly didnt get why people were making a fuss up until i watched the video myself... Why did they thought that was a good idea lmao

Hi! This might get kinda long since i’ve been trying to sort my thoughts and feelings regarding this for the past like two days and it might just end up being ramblings partway through so i’ll put it under the cut. 

First and foremost, putting my love for mga and their music aside, my overall thoughts for the columbus mv was that it was bad…like really bad.

Regardless of their intentions, using imagery/expressions that comes off as racist and discriminatory is unacceptable. From Ohmori’s apology statement, if the concern about such imagery being seen as a discriminatory expression was brought up from the beginning, the idea shouldn’t have been used at all, and instead they should have taken the mv in a different direction. If they wanted to continue with the idea, they should have done more proper research on the topic, reevaluate the idea, and choose different imagery/expressions to avoid possible misunderstandings in their intended message. Whether it was ignorance, unintentional, or lack of understanding or consideration, there is no excuse. The contents of the mv contained subject matters that were offensive. They, as well as everyone else involved in the mv production, failed to stop this from happening and it’s extremely unfortunate. People have every right to be enraged about it.

To give my honest first impressions regarding the mv, i’d actually seen screenshots and clips here and there on my fyp on twitter (from other fans on jp side of twt, none of which brought up any issues about it) prior to actually watching the mv because it was premiered at like 2am where i live so i saw all this after just waking up and getting ready for work. Seeing the thumbnail for the mv and fans all hyped for it on my fyp i was simply like “omg the atmosphere for the mv was way different from what i was expecting lol ���” and really, i was just seeing all of this from the perspective of a genuine fan of theirs.

When i saw that the music video featured apes as part of the cast via screenshots and clips (again, this was prior before watching it), i…felt slightly uncomfortable by it, but as someone who generally gives others the benefit of the doubt (perhaps too much for my own good sometimes), i put that feeling aside and still looked forward to it, hoping that it wasn’t what i thought it might be.

When i finally watched the music video, there was still that uncomfortable feeling at seeing the apes among the cast as well as the way they were being treated (teaching them how to play the piano or how to ride a horse, one of the apes literally pulling the carriage…), but admittedly i had generally watched mv with the filter of a fan and it was also during my break in between work, so the main thing i was really focused on was the overall atmosphere and the members’s visuals more than anything, which i enjoyed, and everything else (the apes, who the members were dressed as, the impression all of these things give off, etc) hadn’t fully registered in my head. As a fan, seeing the members have fun is more than enough to make me happy! 

During the initial watch, while i was uncomfortable about the appearance of the apes, i didn’t actually fully make the connection in my head between the apes and “Columbus”, rather, i didn’t even realize that the other two members were supposed to be dressed as Napoleon and Beethoven until sometime after when i saw someone else mention it. I just saw the members as the members, rather than the roles they were portraying. While i was still under the excitement over the new song and mv while also like half-focused on work, no matter what, the negative connotations associated with the imagery of apes paired together with columbus kept bothering me at the back of my head.

And then i saw the trending hashtags. I don’t generally check trending tags that often, but y’know, if i happen to see that it’s about something i like, i’ll be curious and look through them. Scrolling through the trending tags regarding this incident after i finished work helped me turn off that filter of a fan and fully register that, yeah, that mv was extremely problematic.

As a huge fan of the members and their music, i was really sad, disappointed, and frustrated from a variety of aspects. Sad and disappointed that the band that i love so much released something like this, frustrated that no one involved (whether it’s the band, the management company, the record label, etc) stopped this from happening, whether it’s because literally no one realized how big of an issue this was, or they noticed it but didn’t voice it and just let it happen, seeing all the tweets regarding the whole thing (both sides of the argument). I’m the type of person where if i see someone say something negative about something i like it’ll plague my thoughts for weeks haha

In all seriousness though, with all that being said, it really is unfortunate and awful that this happened. It’s easy to say “why didn’t…” “they should’ve…” etc etc after the fact, but in the end, what’s done is already done. They took down the video fairly quickly, Ohmori himself explained the thought process and intention behind the whole thing, realized and admitted the mistake, took the criticism seriously and apologized for it. Obviously, just because he apologized doesn’t make the whole thing okay or forgivable, but it would’ve been much worse had they taken it down and pretended as if it never happened, or never released a statement addressing the issue.

This is my extremely personal opinion, and i do realize that it’s because i’m a fan of mga that i might have this bias and think this way, but from all the previous songs, music videos, live footage, interviews, etc that i have seen up until this point, not once have i felt that any of the members were racist or were in agreement of discrimination or anything like that. This incident showed that they lacked a full understanding about the subject matter/didn’t do the proper research to understand the weight of the imagery/expressions they were using, but the mga (both phase 1 and phase 2) that i’ve seen these past six years are genuinely good people with music that moves a lot of people. I can’t tell you how much their music has brought me joy, saved me and kept me going during times when my mind was in a bad place.

The mv was a huge mistake on their part, there’s no denying that. But i think it’s also unfair to deny everything they’ve done up until now when it’s completely unrelated to this incident. It’s because I believe in, and want to continue to believe in the mga that i’ve seen up until now that i want to give them the chance to learn from this mistake and believe that they’ll grow from it. I want to believe in the emotions that their music evokes in me, and continue to support them.

Again, this is just my extremely personal opinion, i’m not trying to convince anyone to agree with me or anything, or rather no one has to agree with me. I’ve just been putting a lot of thought about the whole thing these past two (and a half, now?) days and this was pretty much the conclusion i came to.

Sorry it’s so long it’s probably not what you were expecting lol I've covered most, if not, all my thoughts about the incident so i probably won't answer any other asks regarding this (if anyone were to send me any) otherwise i will not be able to handle it mentally i've dealt with enough conflicting emotions over this for these past couple of days ldskfjgh

(On a side note, Oshira’s video really sums up all the emotions i felt regarding the mv. It’s only in jpn and no eng subtitles, but he objectively goes over both the “positive” and “negative” views of columbus, and then talks about the gradual realization as a fan as to why the mv is problematic, etc. If you’re able to understand jpn, i think it’s worth watching.)

Mga/Record Label’s statement regarding the suspension of the video

Ohmori’s statement and apology regarding the mv

[harveythewendigo]

You know the what!

I'm going to go ramble and by the end see how many hashtags I can legitimately shove on it. I like going on long walking because because it's an excuse to get out and you wouldn't believe what kind of loot you can find in the ditches. I've found a leather baseball, a chewed no trespassing sign and two (unfortunately empty) whiskey bottles hell one time my Papa (That's Italian for grampa) found a pair of stereo speakers in a ditch and he hooked them up to his truck and they worked perfectly fine. I love my Papa though he doesn't hear for shit and when he can hear you he ain't listening. I tell you he drives me and Nana (Italian for grampa) up the walls sometimes. My Nana own chihuahuas she currently has 4 there's Peanut the oldest. I like to call him Smelly because he always stinks. Theirs Pinky she always barks when she hears the door open and she doesn't like my Ma for some reason because of that my Ma likes to call her a witch. And finally there's Daisy and Little man. They're Pinky's pups (I choose Daisy's name) they had an older brother Jojo (Yes like the anime I also picked that name) but Nana decided to give him up because he was too big. I still need to finish watching Jojo's bizarre adventure now that I'm thinking about it and beastars too. I wonder if there's any good pirate anime? I've tried watching One piece but I found it boring. Now that I'm thinking about it I should probably also finish watching Hunter X Hunter God I have a lot of anime I need to finish watching. I've also been thinking what counts as anime? Personally anything that's animated and has a "Anime art style" (You know what I'm talking about) as anime but I understand that other people whould be more selective on what classifies as anime. Man talking about anime has got me thinking about ramen. I love ramen if we had tacos or burgers recently because that means thatI can get fancy and take some of the leftover lettuce, onion and tomato and dice it up into my ramen add some garlic powder, soy sauce, some Louisiana hot sauce, crackers and a fried egg oh BOY that's some good eating I tell you what. Speaking of Louisiana hot sauce there's apparently more than one type of Louisiana hot sauce. I like the kind with the yellow label but apparently there's one that seasoned or something it has a deferent labe and it tastes alright I guess. Speaking of hot sauce besides Louisiana I also like Sriracha sauce. I use them for different things. I use Louisiana for things like ramen and chili while I use Sriracha for tacos and burritos. Speaking of tacos and burritos I don't like hardshell tacos they're too messy and soft shell tacos are just an unwrapped burrito. Man I'm getting hungry I think after I, done writing this imma get a midnight snack. Probably a ham and cheese sandwich with mustard and mayo. Speaking of mayo I don't understand why people don't like miracle whip it's delicious and better than regular mayo but my Nana don't like it and only buys it because me and Papa like it. Although I like a lot of things because I've never been a picky eater hell I loved to eat vegetables when I was a kid and I still do. Coleslaw specifically the kind my Mom makes that I wouldn't eat even if you pay me to. I used to think that I didn't like it until last month when my a Nana convinced me to eat some of her slaw and I found out that the reason I hated coleslaw was because my Ma whould put sugar in it. I need to stop talking about food now it's making me more hungry. Um... Oh! I've recently been playing a game called "Epic battle fantasy 4" on new grounds. I remember ebf3 when I was younger; that game was my first introduction to RPGs and to the concept of gun swords. And is probably the only game series where you can say "I had my big tottie mage charm my Nazi so his tactical nuke dose more damage against the bees." And have it make sense in the context of the game. Oh. Apparently I've reached the character limit. Oh well I was running out of ideas anyway. :/

[ask-seer]

*leans over* Ya like jazz?

"So..... you're saying that.. you want me to respond to this specific question while Brooke and I wear these bee costumes that you specifically made for us for this specific question only?"

"Alright then.... um"

"Jazz is alright. I wouldn't say that it's my favorite, but it's alright. Not that I have a favorite type of music since I enjoy the majority of the genres."

"But are bees a fan of Jazz? Is that something that should be known?"

[sparring-spirals]

uh, would you mind sharing your thoughts on Imogen? Your analysis on how jester and vex represented the two different sides of the offense and defense coin was interesting and I was wondering what your thoughts on Imogen were? That is if you don’t mind people asking

The mentioned Jester/Vex meta here.

Oh boy, would I like to share my thoughts about Imogen :')

(You absolutely do not need to apologize; I love to ramble on about character analysis and I also really fucking love talking about Imogen, specifically.)

I didn't include her in the original post mostly because. Well. We really don't know her yet! 10, 11 episodes is so early in getting to know a char, vs both Jester and Vex who have a campaign and few years worth of growth and analysis and data points to reference. So before I say anything else, big fucking flashing disclaimer that: I know its early! Things are VERY subject to change. This is all speculation, I am likely wrong, etc.

That said.

On the sliding scale of offense/defense mentality that I have apparently built, I think Imogen is a fascinating blend of both, although she definitely inches more towards offense, especially under fire.

More specifically: She strikes me as someone who sets up all her baseline rules to play defense, except all her plans B-Z immediately go for the jugular.

Imogen, in theory, is the kind of person to play it safe. By default, she comes off as relatively nervous and trying to get by without rocking the boat, or hurting, inconveniencing, or offending others. Lies with exceptional ease if she needs to get out of trouble. She is constantly, actively maintaining a literal defense against the ongoing barrage of other peoples thoughts. So. Yeah. That's pretty defensive.

Except. When it’s not. Except Imogen flips to the offense on a dime. When things start looking dicey, or when she wants to know something, or she just ... Wants to. We see her get ravenously, rudely curious. We see her projecting into people's minds to pester and intimidate, we see her lie audaciously and convincingly without batting an eye, we see her casting calm emotions or causing a ruckus. We see her shooting fucking lightning, bombarding psychic attacks, etc.

The second-guessing? The caution? Gone, replaced with a kind of terrifying ruthlessness. Fast, effectively, and with essentially zero hesitation. She’ll open herself up for danger and backlash if it means she gets shit done.

Don’t get me wrong, Imogen has a killer self preservation instinct- and I mean that both metaphorically and literally. It is evidently just outweighed by a sense of ravenous curiosity or a particular objective.

Jester offers friendship and means it (as an offer and a threat). Vex charms you from an arms distance while she mentally calculates your worth (your value, your danger). Imogen will lie and ask for help and be harmless and a little lost until she very suddenly isn't, and you find out her mind was elsewhere the whole time- in yours, on the objective, on her friends.

In terms of protector, protection, protecting- I think Imogen acts protectively, but less as an ingrained quality and more in service of one goal or another. (And most of the time that goal is: protect self. Protect Laudna. etc. But when it isn’t, that’s when it gets interesting.)

Imogen is playing defense by default, until she very suddenly isn’t. And she’s a smooth enough liar that you might not recognize the shift until it’s too late. :D

[monstermoviedean]

just read one of those "dean does something horrible" posts and my first reaction was how do i not remember that. what is wrong with me. my second reaction was assuming it was a g*mble episode.

[samscompliment]

ok cas fic ramblings under the cut. like spoilers for the whole fic but if i never finish/post it then does it really count as spoilers. really. thoughts welcome <3

ok hiiiiii. mwah. so its post canon in the ambiguously human cas domestic bliss stage where they all live above ground EXCEPT. i have personal strife with human cas sorry bc i very much interpret it as basically binding a graceless angel to their vessel (hashtag i read dta and went sure ill incorporate that into my belief system) so cas is like. kind of miserable. like hes not because hes finding joy in the little humanities! and he's got dean! and dean cooks meals that he thinks cas would like and he makes sure all the blankets are soft and all these lovely little things that show he cares and cas my best friend cas just like. covets it. like he hates being 'human' but ALSO dean is like showering him in love so he's like Well. this is manageable. and also dean keeps asking how hes doing and cas is very greedy for proof dean cares about his wellbeing. my poor guy. and like they are in a happily established relationship at this point its all well and good its just that twelve years does stuff to a guy's head.

anyway the catch is that for vague plot empty rescue reasons cas very much does have his grace. like its in a vial he can take it back at any time but he doesnt for approximately three different reasons. one) if he takes his grace back dean wont do any of the little things to make humanity easier and cas doesnt want to lose that and/or go back to how they acted before the empty. two) dean very explicitly loves him which means cas can no longer beat himself on the head like "dean doesnt love me because i am terrible" so he had to find another way to hate himself which in this instance is "i could take my grace back and protect my family but i wont because i wont sacrifice the love of one measly human my hubris is my eternal downfall i am a failure of a father and partner" and THREE) my guy is not keen on relinquishing his outsider identity. bc sure hes "human" but hes not actually human and he fits so poorly but he gets a kind of. idk a kind of perverse pleasure from it. hes a little self pitying in this fic i have to say. but also at the same time hes like i deserve the good things though. i am so miserable look at how good of a miserable excuse of an angel i am. like it literally loops back around to pride for him. my favourite weirdo

while all this is going on cas is doing various post canon things and he gets a tattoo and dean is very nice to him and its sort of your classic "cas tries to find his footing in humanity" activities except you know hes just trying to avoid taking his grace back even though he also wants very badly to take his grace back. he is literally so illogical the entire time and i love him sooo much but it culminates in cas being like okay someone PLEASE take this decision out of my hands so he tries to give his grace to dean

why does cas give his grace to dean well ill tell you. he doesnt want to give up their human life. he hates himself for not giving up their human life to better protect them/jack. so hes like. well if i give the grace to dean it takes it out of my hands and i can hate DEAN for it INSTEAD. i can blame DEAN. literally what nick seasontwelvedean said about cas resenting dean a little for not loving him but now that he knows dean DOES love him hes like this is weird :/ what if i resent him for something else. and dean of course is like what the fuck and throws a tantrum. and its like well dean you did very much kind of bring this upon yourself i like i know youre doing a bit better now but like babe where do you think cas learned all these thought patterns<3

anyway you can tell that we're now reaching the bit i havent written because after they somehow work this out cas takes his grace back and he gets his little "the future" vision realised and he has his wings and dean on his knees being like thank you cas youre the best youre so cool with your angel powers and saving my life forever and ever amen <3 and of course nothing really changes and afterwards he has a little birthday party and probably goes off to find something else to be insane about. and thats The Cas Fic

[fatphobiabusters]

So, I'm a fat person who is also a fan of K-pop and I wanted to submit something talking about fatphobia in k-pop and just how awful and unhealthy it is. I've been a fan since 2015 and over the years I've seen so much fatphobia both from the k-pop music industry and the fans themselves. A lot of the time it just seems like the industry doesn't really care about their idols health as long as they look a certain way and fit certain beauty standards. For example, the ideal weight for female kpop idols is said to be between 40 and 50 kg regardless of their age or height and they are often put on very extreme diets and workout plans to maintain this weight. A singer called IU was put on a diet where she would eat an apple for breakfast, two sweet potatoes for lunch and a protein shake for dinner and she lost 5 kg in 5 days. This was even turned into the "IU diet challenge" and a bunch of youtubers made videos of themselves attempting the challenge(complete with the usual before and after pictures). Another singer called Momo(a member of the girl group Twice) was told she had to lose 7 kg or she wouldn't be allowed to perform live. She lost that weight in a week by only eating ice cubes and she said that she would even spit those ice cubes out, so she basically didn't eat ANYTHING for a week. Momo said she was so hungry she was afraid that she would die if she fell asleep and it made her cry. I remember reading articles about it and feeling so disgusted and sad and angry that anyone would let her do something like that and that her company would threaten her to lose weight or they litteraly wouldn't let her perform live with the rest of the group! Not only is that diet bad for her, making her stress out and cry like that can not be good for her mental health. What's just as disgusting to me is how a lot of fans either try to excuse the fatphobic behavior of the industry or they just don't care that much as long as their favourite idols look pretty. I've seen idols insult other members of their girl/boy group by calling them pigs or saying they look like pigs or that they must weight 200 kg etc. And when a fan says how that's disrespectful and needlessly cruel other fans will jump in and say stuff like "These are just jokes between good friends, you shouldn't try to police how idols talk to each other" or they'll try to justify the use of the word pig by saying how (ALLEGEDLY) people in Korea like to talk about weight a lot and they like to use pig as a cutesy affectionate nickname so it isn't fatphobic (even tho that logic doesn't really apply in this situation). There's even a story about how fat k-pop fans didn't feel included so they created a hashtag on Twitter so they could post their selfies under it (the hashtag is called #BigKpopBitches). While I am happy that these fans have their own space now and that they feel comfortable posting selfies there, I feel like it's kinda sad that they had to create a seperate hashtag in the first place.

I'm sorry this post is really long, but I just don't feel comfortable posting something like this in other places. I feel like I'm gonna be told I'm overreacting and that it's not a big deal, but I get really sad when I read stories about diets and arguments between fans and people commenting negatively about how an idol has gained weight or that they "look fat". I feel like this blog would be a good place to post this. So thank you for reading my ramblings 😀

______________________ I'm so sorry that you've had to experience so much fatphobia in these fandoms. I'm sadly not surprised. Fatphobia seems to be even worse in countries like South Korea and Japan. Fat people often don't feel welcome when they travel in general, but especially so when they travel to those two countries. Fighting fatphobia takes a lot, so I commend you for fighting it in those spaces. Every time you do, you make it that much easier for a fat person to exist in those fandoms. -Mod Worthy

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

So, I had this thought process

I've been thinking a lot about that Adam Sandler movie "Pixels", and I think I just wrote a summarized alternate plot for it in my head and I need to write it down.

Okay;

Let's start by brainstorming on writing better and more relatable protagonists. For many, this movie is very hard to watch because it almost feels like a bunch of middle-aged guy's writing in nice-guy self inserts of themselves to feel better about whatever mid-life crisis they're having. And maybe this wouldn't be too bad if their characters were just a bit more than "middle aged creep who lives in his mom's basement is secretly a romantic warrior when put in the right scenario".

At least for me, it's very hard to relate to that kind of protagonist; given how that character is usually the most developed out of all the characters in this type movie. I often find that it's hard to relate to nerdy nice guy characters who often get away with the lack of likeable qualities just because "life should have treated them better". It comes off more as a pity-party more than anything, and their unmotivated dynamic with the "out of their league" love interest, who always comes off as nothing more than a trophy and\or act as an excuse to get the climax rolling in the last 20 minutes after getting captured by the big bad.

So then, how would I write an 80's nostalgia themed adventure movie? What, say, would you think would be a practical way to write the main cast in a way that audiences new and old can relate? Easy; If your intention is to give your entire audience a wave of nostalgia, but to still keep it relatable, then why not make your main cast kids? (credit to Black Nerd Comedy for that idea) I would probably suggest between the age of 12 and 16, and maybe with the occasional big brother\sister type characters and some of their friends . Kids often have a ton of freedom, a large imagination, basic priorities, and a lot less worries than adults. Just about anyone should be able to relate to that, since everybody either was or is a kid at some point of time. And I'm not saying that you can't write for\relate to older protagonists, but you don't want to alienate your audience, especially when making something that might catch the eye of a younger crowd.

Not to mention that ever since the 80's, kids have always been a major player by the impact of technology. For some reason though, the plot of Pixels doesn't really have to do with technology. There's guns and contraptions that are specifically made to destroy the pixels, but it doesn't really go much father than that with the tech. The plot more focuses on going on the "alien invasion" route (which I would think would be more 60's sci-fi based than 80's, which was more experimental in cosmic horror with its alien media)(not including Space Invaders. Shush. That does not count). Honestly, I think 80's nostalgia can be replaced with just about anything when it comes to a "shape-shifting aliens who mimic earthly cultures" plot. It's very basic, yet it doesn't really fit in with the theme of arcade games. It just comes off as a poor excuse for pandering to 80's kids, instead of using that element to bring up interesting concepts and world-exploring in this universe.

So I have two solutions for this, either;

A. Do not do a time jump, and keep the story in the 80's. Make it an alternate universe where different forms of consoles and computers are being developed. Maybe the adult characters are very unfamiliar with these changes, but allowing for the kid characters to have more of an advantage because that stuff would be more relevant to them. Because this was before a time where kids often thought about becoming programmers, it will also work as a disadvantage to the kids because they won't have an excuse to suddenly know how the opposing side works.

Or B. It takes place in a modern era, with Virtual reality, game consoles, and laptops, but it doesn't overly modernize itself with teens on phones, saying outdated things like "lemmie just take a selfie" saying "hashtag" out loud, or any junk like that (Because guess what? Teens and kids don't usually act like that). Maybe make the environment time neutral by making it a mix between the 2010's, 2000's, 1990's, and 1980's. I don't really think it's relevant enough to work in a present setting.

And lastly, let's talk about the big bad of the movie.

Really in Pixels, it's more of a self-struggle either projected upon others, or manifested into it's own being for the protagonist to succeed. There's not really a lot of leg space for anyone else to develop other than the main character (and perhaps something happens occasionally to the comedic reliefs\mascot characters). I imagine maybe this version doesn't have just one central character\plot, kind of like Stranger Things. However, unlike Stranger Things, I would also like a compelling and intriguing villain. Sadly, Pixels doesn't really have that; i has Donkey Kong, but he's nothing more than an alien catering to the protagonist's inner struggles (and nostalgia). There's nothing really more to DK other than that, so there's not a lot of difference between him and any of his previous minions.

And there's nothing really compelling about DK; because at least in canon, he's just a scared circus animal. There's not a lot of reasoning behind his actions other than to just invade. It's basic alien stuff like I said before, it can basically be replaced with some other theme than arcade games.

So what would be a compelling antagonist? Foils to the main group of characters (such as an older school bully, or maybe twisted programmers), create conflict, but if we're keeping the theme of attack of the machines and videogame characters, there has to be a bigger bad than that.

Oh! If only there was an already established villain-coded, tech-based, 80's icon with the ability to control almost all technology!

....

Trust me, I'm onto something!

Max Headroom was always presented as an egotistical talking head. He had multiple shows in the 1980's, as well as guest starred on multiple shows. Perhaps Max survives off of his viewers, and constantly strives to expand his audience. Max does not tend to care about other's well beings, and just wishes to use them as a way to gain publicity for his shows. Max also has a tendency to step over whoever he needs to to gain popularity, including his own film crew.

Max also has multiple canon abilities such as:

Being able to transfer to any screen (including arcade games)

See and interact with the people watching him

Control more than one screen

Interact with himself from one screen to another (multitask)

Turn on and off lights (and likely other outlets as well)

Manipulate the visuals of the screen that he's controlling

All of these abilities can be expanded and explored enough to set him up as a powerful and unpredictable villain.

I've also came up with a couple motives as well;

A. If this is in a modern era, Max could be suffering from a long hiatus since he hasn't been that active since the 80's; causing Max to seek as much attention to thrive off of as possible. To do this, Max hijacks as many outlets as possible to air his show. He might also use this as a way to repel audiences away from all other media; making it easier to turn to him for entertainment.

B. This takes place in an alternate universe where Max Headroom became more popular than it originally was. He starts taking over half of ads and television shows on air, getting more power hungry with each channel he takes. However, in his media take-over, ratings take a slight drop due to uninterested children who have turned to other outlets like toys, videogames, and arcades. This inspires Max to take a full takeover over everything electrical, causing a full invasion of all things electrical.

(I also forgot to mention that Max very likely hates children, and has canonly protested the execution of all of them)

Bam! And there you have it. A slightly more efficient plot for Pixels.

This was rotting in my head for a while and I wanted to let it out. Sorry for the ramble.

[noa-nightingale]

It's so sweet what you sent to Steven Ryan and Shane! The Funkos are so beautiful and I'm sure the letters are heartfelt too (sorry they read some of the stuff that weren't meant for camera!), especially for Steven.

Watching this sequence on Patreon I noticed how clearly remorseful Steven still feels about the HWYD episode (Shane and Ryan too, but especially Steven), and it makes me sad to see him still deeply affected by it (He says "It's something you never get over, you just learn to live with it" and it was heartbreaking.) As a queer person, I was part of so many who were hurt by the episode but also part of those who truly appreciate his apology.

What I'm trying to say is I'm thankful you're sending him your letter and package as part of the Steven Lim Appreciation Week. At least for me, I'd like him to know he and his content are a constant positive presence in my life and they make my days so much better. I'm hoping he understands that he has positively affected so many people and that he is loved in return by so many people. Thank you for what you did.

Thanks for the message, anon! ^-^

The Funkos are not from me but I agree that they are beautiful. Like, they look really well-made and adorable. Looking back, it was probably not that bad that Shane read a few sentences but I am still embarrassed about it lmao. (It was made even worse by the fact that he read it without any kind of context - because Steven was reading the context at that moment lol. When I talked about Steven Lim Appreciation Week, I was referring to a little thing on tumblr and twitter last year; it was a whole week dedicated to Steven with a little theme for each day. Shoutout at this point to @wheezingghoulbois for organizing it. If anyone wants to look it up, the hashtag used was #stevenweek. And personally, I would love to bring it back for a Steven Week Part 2.)

Oh yeah when I first watched, I did not really realize that Shane had read the part about the HWYD ep because I was too busy shouting "stop reading please" in my own head. :p I hesitated to actually include that text because I did not want to bring up any bad memories but I decided to send it anyways because I wanted Steven to know how much he is appreciated and how grateful I am that he handled that whole situation back then the way he handled it. (It's this text here btw - I have not re-read it before answering your message because I know Steven has read it by now and I want to avoid cringing at myself even more.)

The thing is, I don't want him to feel remorse. I don't want him to be ashamed. Like - it's done. It happened. He handled it really well. (And personally, I learned a lot from it, especially because I am not a person of color and his explanation made a lot of sense to me. I am grateful that he shared his experiences in the follow-up, that could not have been easy.)

(I think when he said "It's something you never get over, you just learn to live with it", he actually was talking about Simba though? That's what I took from it anyways.)

I meannnnn... you could write him a letter and send it to the p.o. box. ^-^ I don't want to pressure you, of course, but I agree that he deserves to know about the positive influence he has and how much he is appreciated. So, just sayin', it's an option. (Which is totally not selfish and has absolutely nothing to do with me wanting to hear what other people have to say to the Watcher guys lol.) Thank you so much for sharing your own experiences with me!

It made me a little sad when he said "I don't deserve a Steven Lim Appreciation Week" because YES YOU FRIGGIN' DO.

Thanks again for the message, anon. I like an excuse to ramble about that man and how much more love and appreciation he should get. And it is good to know that other people, including you, agree with me.

Thank you! <3

[books-and-cookies]

5 SECOND REVIEW:

CIRCE by MADELINE MILLER

You can find the Goodreads summary here.

Goodreads rating: 4.26

THE GOOD:

* raise your hand if you had an “omg i fucking love greek mythology aaaahh” phase when you were a kid * well, Madeline Miller just made me relive mine as a 32 year old woman with questionable coping mechanisms in... life (this is code for “I drink wine a lot”) * the writing is... *sobs incoherently*... exquisite™ * i know this review doesn’t make any sense, but you knew that when you signed up to following my mess of a blog, which means you also knew that when i’m incoherent, it means i really fucking loved the book * because I did, oh my looooorddddd * I want to wrap Circe in a blanket, take her far away and just feed her strawberries and drink wine with her all day and trash talk everything and everyone * hashtag bestie goals * you have a bit of everything: mythology, magic, love, the complex emotions of humans, the capiciousness of gods, all mixed up in a gorgeous story  * one of The Best Endings™ I’ve ever read, it was exactly what I needed and what I hoped for * I genuinely did not expect to love this as much as I did, yet here we are, me rambling and making no sense, but with the general idea of “ahahaha please read this i’m begging you” and you with a confused look of “why won’t this lady go away, why is she blabbering about pls make her stop” * anyway, 15/10 would reread this, because it’s one of those books where you miss so much the first time around and where you discover a million little things upon rereading

THE BAD:

* excuse you, we don’t disrespect this book in this house

YAY or NAY: *refers you to the incoherence in the above paragraphs*

Favourite quotes:

“But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.”

“He showed me his scars, and in return he let me pretend that I had none.”

“Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.”

★★★★★

To everyone who got this far, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! Also, feel free to share your thoughts, comment or tell me anything :)

If you liked this stupid review, consider buying me a coffee because it keeps me warm :)

[gingerteaonthetardis]

Can I just say that your Twilight commentary brightens my life? I was a big, big fan of it ten years ago or so, and, being good ole naive 13-year-old-me, didn't see anything wrong with Twilight back then. No Tumblr 10 years ago for me, also. So, your collection of posts and added commentary in the hashtags is very, very educational (not to mention hilarious).

sasha, thank you! it's honestly really reassuring to hear that, because i was also very much into twilight all those years ago, when it first came out and... yeah, i was definitely not aware of any of the problematic elements either. like, whatsoever. more rambling below the cut.

when i was growing up, the idea of an older man who controled nearly every aspect of my life wasn't strange or discomfiting—it was my reality, and what i expected to be my reality for the rest of my life. it was normal. the idea of people going through/taking bella's things, particularly, didn't hit me wrong until much, much later, because that was an unspoken threat in my life, something that was constantly reinforced as normal. bella's lack of autonomy combined with her simultaneous forced adulthood was just... how i felt. it felt normal. (except for the access to the kitchen/cooking thing, lmao. that's one part i envied.)

i also didn't understand the harmful tropes or stereotypes and how they were impacting my thinking. i didn't see the bigotry embedded into every page featuring the wolfpack. i was just there for the rich guy who would solve all my problems, and i never even stopped to consider the rest of the characters, who have now become my favorite part of the series, the richest ground for development and theorizing.

so, now i've sort of come back to it with this fresh vehemence, a lot of enthusiasm, and a sense of good old fashioned righteous fury. i feel like i have lots to say about a long-dead franchise that really influenced me during my teenage years, and i'm glad to know it's not annoying (or, at least, not annoying you!)

i feel like i'm making up for lost time, in a way. (or. well. that's the excuse i'm making for the 37k word half-done fic that's currently sitting in my google docs, basically as a therapy exercise that'll never see the light of day, lmao.) i'm Working Through My Shit, and a lot of that is happening here on tumblr. so, glad you're enjoying the ride!