#Curated Reserve post

[sci-simulacrumb]

Hi, everyone, it's Fellowh! Today was the great North American solar eclipse! Scientist took all of the interested residents on a field trip up a local mountain to watch the sky.

    While lunar eclipses happen when the Earth gets between the Sun and the Moon, solar eclipses occur when the moon gets in between the Earth and Sun. Turns out, a stunning solar eclipse wasn't the only sight to spot in the sky! Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks flew by just to the left of the sun during the eclipse, though we needed a telescope or binoculars to see it.

     In the time the moon crossed the Sun before and after totality, we made sure to wear special eye protection.

    The eclipse's totality lasted for around 3 minutes where we were, but the wind up and down of the whole experience took a couple of hours. The shadows grew longer as the sky dimmed. It got dark enough to look like late evening! There were a lot of sounds from the animals like the Canada geese being confused at the sudden darkness, and even a few of the C.R.itters started getting a little sleepy.

      It was still so cold that we got to play in the mountain's snow while we waited for the eclipse to start. Chelys and other reptilians made sure to stay out of the snow so they wouldn't get sick. Overall, we had a wonderful time!

[allaboutthemoonlight]

Becoming the “It” girl: using science to redefine your identity

Hello friends,

A longer post today but I’m excited about this one!

I like to define an "It Girl" as someone who embodies the highest version of oneself, a created identity that reflects your most aspirational qualities and personal vision of success and confidence.

However, this post isn’t bout conforming to standards or expectations but rather embodying the best version of who you imagine yourself to be.

Today, I wanted to talk about how social science-based principles like self-presentation, cognitive dissonance, and identity alignment can help u become an“It Girl” in our own lives and achieve the identity you’ve been desiring.

What is identity

Our identity impacts all areas of our life; it’s the person we think we are and how we communicate that to others.

For example, if you see yourself as confident and capable, you are more likely to approach challenges with a positive attitude and take risks that lead to growth.

On the other hand, if you view yourself as unworthy, you are more likely to shy away from opportunities and not reach your full potential.

Our identity manifests as how we present ourselves to the world, including our body language, communication styles, and behavior.

In addition, our identities are constantly changing as we grow and evolve, influenced by our experiences, goals, and relationships with the people around us. This is why it’s important to continue to refine your personal brand and set standards for yourself to stay authentic.

Taking the time to evaluate our current identity and identifying areas where we can make changes is a good way to get aligned with our highest selves. We can ask ourselves questions such as:

How do I describe myself in three words?

What are my core values and beliefs?

How do I typically respond to challenges and setbacks?

What are my strengths and weaknesses?

How do I feel about my abilities and potential for success?

How do I present myself to others in social and professional settings?

What is my body language like in different situations (e.g., confident, reserved)?

How do I communicate with others (e.g., assertive, passive, aggressive)?

What kind of feedback do I receive from others about my behavior and attitude?

Do my actions align with the person I want to be?

How do I handle criticism and praise?

What goals do I have for personal and professional growth?

What is Self-Presentation?

Self-presentation involves the things we do to portray a particular image of ourselves; it’s how we dress, speak, behave, and present ourselves in different contexts. Our self-presentation is closely linked to our identity because it shapes how others perceive us, which can influence how we see ourselves.

Projecting the identity we want and living by our values and beliefs requires consistent management of our self-presentation. Our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions should reflect those of the identity we’re internalizing.

For example, if your identity is someone who is stylish, you’ll want to curate your wardrobe in a way that reflects that. In a similar context, if your new identity is someone who’s highly education you might start to spend some of your free time reading books, articles, newsletters, etc.

It’s all about helping to align how others see us with how we see ourselves.

Although other people’s opinions shouldn’t dictate our lives, a big part of our identity is shaped by how others view us. Their feedback can either affirm or refute what we’ve internalized to be true.

Here are some techniques for mastering self-presentation and how they can be used to access your highest self:

Dress in a way that reflects your identity, curate a wardrobe that matches who you aspire to be

Use confident body language, such as maintaining eye contact and standing/sitting upright in social settings

Practice speaking with clarity and confidence

Clean up your social media and only follow content that aligns with your identity or helps keep you on track

Establish and maintain boundaries without people in your life that reflect your values and priorities

Invest in personal and professional development through courses, workshops, and reading

Surround yourself with people and environments that support and reflect your highest self/new identity

Regularly express gratitude and maintain a positive outlook

Questions to evaluate and improve self-presentation

What are my core values and how do they influence my behavior?

How do I want others to perceive me?

Does my current wardrobe reflect the person I want to be?

What body language habits can I improve to appear more confident?

How can I improve my communication skills to better align with my desired identity?

In what ways can I be more consistent in how I present myself across different contexts?

What feedback have I received about my self-presentation, and how can I use it to improve?

Am I living in a way that aligns with my highest self, or are there areas where I can improve?

What actions can I take today to better project the identity I want?

How can I ensure my actions are authentic and reflect my true self?

How cognitive dissonance impacts us

Rebranding yourself and changing your identity involves leaving your old life behind. It sounds simple, but it can be very a mentally exhausting change. This is where cognitive dissonance comes into effect.

Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort experienced when our actions conflict with our beliefs or values. If we’re not acting in accordance with our beliefs, we’ll end up with mental discomfort. As a result, we either end up changing our habits or our beliefs.

For example, if you see yourself as an active person but keep skipping the gym, high dissonance might make you change your belief instead of your habit. You might start telling routinely yourself, "It's just this once," rather than actually going.

This may sound stressful and prove to be a challenge during your rebrand. However, dissonance can play a positive role if you’ve strongly internalized a core aspect of your identity. For example, if you see yourself as someone health-conscious or someone who frequents the gym, you’ll consistently find ways to show that this is true, whether that’s going to the gym daily or meal prepping.

In terms of identity formation, when we highlight inconsistencies between our self-perception and our actions, we actually push towards more aligned behavior.

When we recognize that our actions don’t align with who we believe we are, we can use that discomfort to motivate positive change.

In combination with the tips previously mentioned, we can also:

Regularly evaluate our actions and beliefs to identify any discrepancies. Ask ourselves if our behavior aligns with our values and goals

Define specific, actionable steps that align with our desired identity. This can help create a guideline for behavior that supports us

Be willing to accept change and continue to grow and learn more about ourselves

So how can we apply these principles to become an “It Girl”

Define our "It Girl" identity:

Self-reflection: take time to reflect on who you want to be. Write down the qualities, values, and behaviors that define your highest self

Vision board: create a vision board (physical or digital) with images, words, and quotes that represent your ideal identity so that you’re constantly reminded of your goal

Align your self-presentation:

Wardrobe audit: go through your closet and sort items that don’t align with your desired identity. Also invest in pieces that make you feel confident and reflect your new persona

Body language: practice positive body language such as standing tall, maintaining eye contact in conversations

Use cognitive dissonance to your advantage:

Identify inconsistencies: regularly assess your actions and identify areas where they don’t align with your desired identity

Set goals: create specific, actionable goals to address these inconsistencies. For example, if you want to be healthier plan to incorporate more whole foods into your diet

Monitor progress: keep track of your progress and celebrate small wins to stay motivated

Cultivate positive habits:

Daily routines: establish daily routines that support your identity. This could include a morning exercise routine or a consistent skincare routine

Mindfulness practices: incorporate daily mindfulness practices like meditation or journaling

Continue to learn: commit to lifelong learning. Read books, take courses, and seek new experiences that contribute to your personal growth

Build a support system:

Find mentors: seek out mentors or role models who embody qualities you admire. Learn from their experiences and guidance

Surround yourself with positivity: build a network of supportive friends and family who encourage and inspire you

Rebranding yourself is a long and tedious journey, but with a little help from some science-based principles it can be as beneficial as ever!

As always,

Love Luna <3

[bookished]

( a collection of fun and adventurous dialogue prompts. adjust phrasing as necessary.) feel free to make edits to better suit your muse, but please don’t edit or add on to the original post 💛 if you like, please consider supporting me through tips, it's highly appreciated.

"Want to try sneaking into the movie theater?"

"There's this exclusive sky bar on the top floor. I bet if we act confident enough, we could just walk right in. Ready to blend in with the high rollers?"

"You know the 'Staff Only' areas in aquariums always look so intriguing. I've got an idea involving lab coats and clipboards. Interested?"

"There's a secret passage in this art gallery that leads to a hidden exhibit. I overheard the curator talking about it. Shall we go exploring?"

"I've always wanted to see a movie from the theater's projection room. I've got a friend who works here – you get what I mean?"

"So, that exclusive restaurant is fully booked for months, but I may have 'borrowed' a couple of names from the reservation list. Feeling adventurous?"

"The old amusement park's been closed for years, but I know a way in. Imagine having all those rides to ourselves under the moonlight."

"I heard there's an underground speakeasy in this library. Apparently, you need to whisper a password to the librarian. Wanna try our luck?"

"Remember that fancy pool party we weren't invited to? I've got two waiter uniforms and a brilliant plan. You in?"

"There's a secret rooftop garden on top of that skyscraper. I bet we could talk our way past security if we pretend to be lost interns."

"I know this sounds crazy, but I found a hidden door behind the museum. Want to see where it leads after closing time?"

"The local TV station does live broadcasts from that studio. I bet with the right timing, we could sneak onto a set during a commercial break. Ready for your 15 seconds of fame?"

"I discovered a hidden hot spring in the woods just outside town. It's a bit of a hike, but imagine a midnight dip under the stars."

"There's a secret room in the library that's usually locked. I copied the key while volunteering. Want to see what forbidden books they're hiding?"

"Remember that fancy cooking class that was full? Well, I may have found a way for us to observe from the kitchen's back entrance. Hungry for some culinary espionage?"

"I know how to get onto the roof of the tallest building downtown. The view of the sunset from up there is incredible. Shall we?"

"There's a masquerade ball at the governor's mansion tonight. I've got two masks and a wild idea. Care to crash a high-society party?"

"My friend works at the zoo and says we could help feed the penguins after closing time. Interested in a secret animal encounter?"

"I heard this old theater is supposedly haunted. Want to sneak in after hours and do some ghost hunting?"

"There's a secret beach hidden behind those cliffs. The catch? We'll have to climb down a rope ladder to reach it. You up for it?"

"I found an old map of the city's underground tunnels. Fancy a subterranean adventure date?"

[milkbobatyun]

loving taehyun is like doing tiktok dances together

pairing: idol!kang taehyun x idol!reader

genre: fluff, slight headcanon, drabble (-ish)

summary: what it’s like loving taehyun, but this time you're both idols (hinted) and you're doing tiktok dances together

word count: 398

a/n: thought i'd change it up this time, to make the both of them idols just cus why not >:) top 10 funniest things was when @yeonjunsfox and i literally brainwaved the idea to each other ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ pls suggest some ideas if you want cus the creative juices are dwindling ｡°(°.◜ᯅ◝°)°｡

loving taehyun is like doing tiktok dances and trends together, with fans swooning at the loving glances taehyun gives you.

when you first suggested the idea to taehyun, he was over the moon. doing tiktok trends with his s/o and getting the chance to post them? he was pumped!

so that’s how the two of you ended up on the infamous musicbank stairs, filming a new, random tiktok that, when taehyun posted, he captioned “dancing with my star 💖”. the moas who saw that lost their minds. was this a new celebrity crush or was it something more?

fans were delighted to see their idol doing promotional dance collabs with taehyun. what made it even better was seeing taehyun’s wide grin while he was dancing. 

theory makers were churning out videos and analysing the interactions where you and taehyun would interact, whether it be said tiktok videos or at music awards or in variety shows. 

what made taehyun’s whole year was when you suggested doing his favourite girl group’s newest dance. despite having to try multiple times and staying behind to learn the dance, you put in the effort to make sure you had it down pat, just to accompany taehyun with the dance.

when taehyun posted the video, eagle-eyed fans noticed how he looked at you was different from how he looked at other idols he collaborated with. sure, he looked at jungwon with so much love and pride, but the look he reserved for you was different.

he looked at you like you were his whole universe, like every movement you made would always be perfect. his gazes on you lingered like you were an art piece he wanted to remember forever.

with the number of videos flooding txt’s tiktok page, fans had begun to speculate and accept that maybe the two of you were dating, with moa more than happy to accept that you had stolen the heart of mr “cold as antarctica”.

overall, loving taehyun is 304 tiktoks out of 19.

∧,,,∧ ( ̳• · • ̳)  © curated with love by milkbobayun 2024

/ づ ♡

[fools-ramblings-and-whatnot]

Foreword (Please read)

*Curate your own experience.

*When sufficient warnings were given, please use your common sense to decide whether you should or should not interact with that piece of media.

Rules (Must Read)

*PLEASE, DO NOT MESSAGE privately. I do not chat.I much prefer you direct your comments in the Asks.

*There will be occasional mildly suggestive posts,do not interact if you know it is not meant for you, factual or opinion-wise.

*My subsequent NSFW,Dark themes, and Yandere writings will be transferred to @fools-entries

*This Blog is not spoiler free.

*No Requests unless otherwise provided.

*If ever the Request are opened, adhere strictly to the rules of how the Request should be done.

*I reserve the right to not answer an ask or accept a request without giving a reason.

*Rules will update at times . So please be guided accordingly.

GUIDE: Am I Asking or am I Requesting?

*Asks vs Request: A short guide based on an answered Ask.

Masterlist Below

TWISTED WONDERLAND

The Story of Four Sisters (Diasomnia, Octavinelle, Ignylhide and Pomefiore centric)

#4SistersAnthology

Prologue

A Meet Up with Death (God of Death! Idia X Reader)

A Sacrifice Worth Making (Dragon!Malleus X Reader)

Test Subject (Evil Queen! Vil x Reader)

It's a Deal ( Sea Witch! Azul X Reader)

DRABBLES

The Queen and The Seamstress (Pomefiore centric)

Fail Safe (Twst x Reader) - (Confession results) #FailSafeRamblings

True Love and Tribulations (Twst x Reader) #TTLTwst

Dear Future Husband

The Prefect's routine

Hand me Downs

Yuu Future: Erotic Romance Writer

Pajamas and Slumber Parties

Safe Haven

The Beautiful Apothecary is not a villain (Vil x F! Yuu)

RAMBLINGS #Ramblings

Adult!Twst HC: Sebek,Ace,Epel and Riddle - (1.1)

Yuu's Lover falls into Twisted Wonderland #TwstExAU

Yuu's heart stops from overwork #TwstOverwork

Yandere!Twst looking at Non-Yandere Twst's world

Undead Prefect

Trustworthy Prefect

Plushmaker Prefect

Charger Problems

RSA student Exchange

Auctioning the Prefect's Stuff

Prefect Breaking Down Crying

Grim-sitting Duties!

Magicam Fiasco

Condescending Attitudes #TwstCondescension

Adore Me (HC)

Yuu'sDeath,Stuck in time

Empty Space in Photos after Yuu left

Yuu's Kiss Language (part 18.5) #TwstKissAU

Idol/Band AU #TwstMusicAU

Divorce Prank #TwstDivorceAU

Anti-Ghost Bride #AntiGhostAU

Love Letters #TwstLetters

Yuu vanishing while with their lover

7 Yuus and 7 Dorms #Twst7Yuu

Here comes the Bridesmaids

Birthday Jacket on Yuu

Prefect that always gets lost in the crowd

Prefect gone Bad

Discussion (Yap Session)

Love Grows (Where my rosemary goes)

Yuu future Occupation.

Character's Musings

Vil about Yuu and Neige : The Prefect and The Prince.

The Fairest of them all:Vil and Neige from the POV of Audience/NPC

Yuu, Grim, Adeuce and the Overblots

REQUESTS

Shock the Heart (Shy!Kind!Reader(Yuu)x Jade) : #TTLTwst

[spideyhexx]

modern!coryo def has a blocklist of 200 people on instagram because everything pisses him off. you reply too late to his dm? blocked. you don’t like his story about how daddy plinth has bought him a rolex? blocked! he also has like way too many followers for the stuff he posts because he’s so obnoxious

I think this idea would be so funny and ironic cause in my head, modern coryo is fairly antisocial but I would totally believe he’d keep up a decent insta ??? Where somehow he’d have a lot of followers, mostly people from classes but still. He’d use the block function so liberally. Over the pettiest things down to not even liking the way someone he knew from class posts. He’d just say he’s curating his feed to perfection.

Honestly, I don’t think he’d block you (reader) over petty things like that, and like the not liking a story or replying late but he’d probably be annoying like did you see my story, even though he definitely did check already. Also he’s probably the type to post more to his story than to his actual like photos. Those would all be reserved for special occasions and/or he got a really good pic of himself after a lot of tries (even though you’d probably tell him he looked good in all of them).

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

am i the assshole for softblocking a person (and… existing, apparently)?

so this requires a bit of a backstory. recently i realized that i hadn't seen a certain mutual (person A) on my dashboard for a bit. i decided to go check their blog directly. when looking for it, however, no results were returned. curious, i went to check on a reserve tumblr account i made when my main got nuked, and this person did not delete their blog, they blocked my main. that seemed weird, because i don't remember any negative interactions with them, but i can be hotheaded and say things i later regret, so it wasn't implausible i said something to upset them. i decide to check the blog of a different person (person B) who i know is friends with the aforementioned one, and that person has me blocked as well. "that's not a coincidence", i think, and after sitting on it for a bit i decide to ask a third person, who was friends with both of them, and whom i consider my friend as well, whether i have done something that might have upset them at any point. they tell me that no, there isn't anything like that they can recall. after explaining what prompted this, i received an explanation that frankly baffled me.

turns out, person B was quite distressed with things related to me. according to them, i was an incredibly cool person who everyone was friends with, but i blocked them for no apparent reason and everyone kept discussing just how cool i am, which led to them feeling invalidated and upset. i should clarify, that i did block one of person B's sideblogs on which they post fanfiction for the fandom we're both in, because i wasn't quite comfortable seeing the kind of stories they write and it showed up in character name search if i didn't block the blog. i did not permablock their main blog, but i did softblock it a couple times because again, i'm not completely comfortable with what they write and would rather avoid interactions with them after finding out. i did not have any particular feelings about them as a person, because we barely ever interacted. and while i would not say that i am lame or something like that, i am also not nearly as cool as person B felt. there is a non-zero amount of people who either have me blocked or don't follow me back, and i rarely post original content, most of my blog is just reblogs of memes or other people's creations. i am a perfectly ordinary tumblr user. but i caused them enough distress that they chose to leave a discord server they were in because they talked about me so much, and for some other personal reasons i'm not quite sure about.

recently, i joined the guild and the server this person was claiming was so fond of me -- partially to see for myself how much people really mentioned me, but also for unrelated reasons. being the nosy person i am, i ran my name through the search function on discord. there was a total of six messages mentioning me in that server. in a total of four conversations. so i have been individually brought up 4 times. which apparently equates to a three hour conversation about me, according to person B.

to clarify, i am not saying person B's feelings are unreasonable -- i do know what it's like to feel ignored or outshined by someone, but i don't think i have personally contributed significantly to them feeling this way, nor do i think they interpreted any of my actions correctly.

so, aita for curating my dash and being brought up in a discord server half a dozen times? i genuinely can't tell.

What are these acronyms?

[eff-plays]

Astarion is British old money from a prestigious family who finished law school with excellent grades but shat it all away to move to the US and become a right-wing grifter who likes to trigger the libs. Has "sigma male" in his bio. His Twitter likes are either softcore porn or people talking about loneliness.

Gale moderates several huge subreddits and thinks that the best way to flirt is to defeat someone in the marketplace of ideas. He'll gift you Reddit gold and then slide into your DMs with rizz like "you sir and/or ma'am, have just won the internet." Posts pics of his cat where he takes up a suspicious 60% of the frame.

Wyll got famous after a stranger filmed him in a comic book store and uploaded it on TikTok. Uses his newfound fame to post blandly wholesome Instagram pics and promote charities. Finds a partner super quickly, has two kids whose faces he dutifully blurs in every pic, and then retires and leaves the web at the ripe old age of 30.

Karlach used to be a tech bro dick rider until he rugpulled his crypto memecoin. Now she does nothing but post videos of all the tech she owned from his company exploding or being destroyed (by her) and tagging him in them. Types only in all-caps.

Shadowhart mostly lurks on drama subreddits. The only time she comments is on AITA posts, always to say OP is the A regardless of her own opinion or the general consensus, and always under a new throwaway. Has an extremely well-curated Pinterest account and an old-school Tumblr aesthetic blog.

Minsc posts only on ancient forums. It's mainly about wrestling. His alt account is him RPing as his hamster on pet forums. It's distressingly in-depth and long-running. People have made video essays on the extended hamster universe.

Jaheira does nothing but callout posts in suburban mom groups on Facebook. She went viral a couple of times for her harsh but true takes on pie recipe plagiarism. Occasionally posts about her exotic knife collection.

Halsin used to be a TikToker who posted mainly educational videos about national parks and nature reserves. Garnered a fanbase of people who wanted to fuck him and encouraged him to start an OnlyFans. Now primarily known for his impressively hairy asscrack and "the honey jar incident."

Lae'zel is an infamous streamer who got swatted three times because she kept threatening to doxx and physically harm her stream snipers during Heated Gamer Moments. Banned from entering several countries.

[ash-says]

I think your page speaks volumes about the way you’ve perceived and endured life and I’m sorry you haven’t had the time or opportunity to soak up the good things that are all around you, I hope you develop skills that allow your success to be built off of things that are good and pure and not cheap manipulation tactics and lies

Devil may care: A guide on being unbothered.

Okay, and??

Sweetheart, I really appreciate your unwanted sympathies and illusionary sensitivity directed towards me. In our culture when someone is being sweet, kind and helpful (even if fake) we make sure that we pay them back with something valuable. Here's a small guide curated for you that will help you in being self secure so you won't feel threatened by other people's success and opinions.

1) Have a life:

Nothing screams idle to me more than this. Like you have time to be offended by someone's post and comments which you might just scroll by and ignore?? On top of that going above and beyond to let that person know. Okay, Sushma. Now log off and do the pending coursework.

2) Build genuine confidence:

Ladies, fake it till you make it can only go this far. You have to work on your underlying issues and address them. If you don't you are susceptible to triggering even by a mere stranger. Confident people don't need to go above and beyond to prove other people. They embody it.

3) Self awareness:

It's tiring to explain this. Just Google it at this point. This word is thrown like a football everywhere. You know it. Do the homework.

4) Practice self compassion and boundaries:

Negative feedback is part and parcel of life. Accept it, analyse and if it applies adopt or otherwise ignore. Boundaries are important to understand the difference between constructive criticism and disrespect.

If disrespected don't be afraid to put a bitch in place. Until then shut your mouth and concentrate on your goals.

5) Opinions are subjective:

Everyone has their own life experiences and opinions are formed based on those. Your Roman Empire might be different from your friends but does it mean it's invalid? No. Develop empathy and open-mindedness. Not everyone has the same views. It's okay.

6) Develop a thick skin:

You can't survive in this world if you are triggered by the tiniest of things. You have to be comfortable in being painted both as a hero and as a villain. Don't let others opinion get to your head. Owe to yourself that I will stand in my truth thou glory or disgrace.

7) Reflect a rbf stance:

When someone tries to belittle you, try to put you down, talk shit about you. Your body language should be cold and reserved with a rbf that screams intimidation but all you are going to say is Okay, and??

8) Master Sarcasm:

I have said this before and I will say it again. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Sarcasm is the ice in it. Ladies learn sarcasm. It's the one way ticket to put people in their place in a humorous way.

9) Be classy. Be polite. BE UNTOUCHABLE.

Who do you think will be named as the crazy one? The one who is screaming and belittling someone or the one who is still being polite but discreetly showing the person where they belong. Never resort to screaming and shouting. That's dumb. Second never go out of your way to prove how you are relevant. Take it or leave it mentality.

10) Seek professional help:

Even after all of this you are not able to practice being unbothered. I think a therapist is the best solution for you.

P.S. :Ladies, this is what I mean when I say leverage the fuck out of your connections and opportunities. This is how you turn a negative into a positive.

Plus I am petty enough to not let this disrespect slide but thought it would be a good content idea for my posts, isn't it??

That's all for today's show on ash-says. Stay tuned for more illegal tricks and explosive opinions.

[sci-simulacrumb]

May you be merry and balanced this Autumnal Equinox!

We at the Curated Reserve celebrate the first day of autumn with plenty of activities to keep us mindful.

You can join us by making music, casual crafting, or just laying in nature. Anything that keeps you in the here and now.

Happy Fall!

[liaragaming]

I just want to talk about how excited I am about Dragon Age (thank you, Tumblr)

None of my friends are as into Dragon Age as I am, and one of them has jumped on the negativity train and starting spouting a lot of terrible things after the gameplay reveal that made me question where they were getting their information from.

I tried to hang out with fans on Youtube, but there's a lot of negativity.

I tried to hang out in the Bioware Discord, but there were people in there purposefully trying to divide the fandom, and no mods to ban them, and that got tiring real fast.

Twitter has always been a shit show.

Thank you Tumblr for being my curated safe space where I get to geek out over something I'm excited and passionate about. I am really grateful for the fandom on here. Even the people I follow who do have reservations or negative thoughts put little warnings in front of their posts. And I know they just want to voice their genuine concerns aren't b*tching for the sake of it.

I was honestly exasperated the other day. Like, I JUST WANT TO BE EXCITED! And struggling to find the space where I could share that with other people. I am very grateful for the community on here and having a space to be enthusiastic about something.

So thanks, Fam. Glad to be back.

[purple-obsidian]

thanks for stopping by (18+ blog, requests are closed.)

millennial. she/her, call me sid.

property of @jellynature

leo sun ✹ gemini moon ☾ virgo rising ★

i am an adult, writing for an adult audience. i may post/reblog some dark/explicit/messed up content. minors dni. please review my tags to help curate your experience.

fan of dc comics (if you couldn't tell) only writing for dc characters rn but that could change.

my inbox is always open plz talk to me i’m so lonely

wanna know more about me? click here

when nightwing asked you to go undercover with him, this isn't exactly what you had in mind. pretending to be his wife is fun and all, but when there's a mix up with your hotel reservation, the forced proximity has dick rethinking how he feels about you. read my latest post here.

tags ⭓ masterlist ⭓ do not click ⭓ ao3 ⭓ x ⭓ backup

please don’t steal my work. don't upload it to another site, use it to train ai, or claim it as your own.

[last updated 07/25/2024]

⭓ follow my backup account @obsidian-mine

[skaruresonic]

okay guys look, I'm just gonna tell you right now:

you have permission to do what you want forever. that includes blogging about whatever you want.

be cringe, be free, because life is short, and the people who matter don't mind. I know all that's easier said than done considering some days it feels like the whole world hates your guts and you might as well talk to brick walls. So screw it, talk to brick walls until they crumble. What have you got to lose?

I'm not trying to dismiss anyone's concerns - it's just that, upon reflection, I've realized that being "liked" in a fandom like this frankly isn't worth all that much. If you really fit in there, you'd just wind up sacrificing your personal happiness in order to cut off parts of yourself, anyway.

People who hate me are going to continue to do so without reservation, and there's nothing I can do or say to change that fact... So why should I waste any more time or energy on it?

Most of the time, the reason I'm even able to reblog some Sonic posts is because they don't recognize this handle. They probably know colony-drop-program better.

Rest assured, they're just as quick to slam that block button once they realize who I am. It was a trip to see someone go "oh, you're one of THEM" and get blocked on sight on Twitter when I hopped onto their post to tell them to knock it off with their bullshit. I really don't care, though - they should curate their online experiences if they hate me that badly, instead of insisting I'm "harassing" them by adding a comment once in a while. I've had enough of walking on eggshells. To be frank, I'm less anxious now than I was back when I had 1,000 followers on the previous two blogs. In fact, the entire reason I deleted was because every post became a stressful experience, not knowing which off-the-cuff remark I said that day was going to rouse the sleeping lion.

I would rather have 10 people who I know I can trust to put up with my daily outpour of bad jokes and slop than 1,000 people silently breathing down my neck, scrutinizing every word for a slip-up.

[cthonic-bunny]

Hello! Sorry to bother you but I read your posts about synastry and I think their really interesting. I was wondering if you could tell me something about moon conjunct rising in synastry (both the moon and the rising are in Pisces), because I couldn’t find a lot of information about it. Have a nice day! 🦋

You’re not bother at all, your question is welcome!

I’ve had someone’s moon make this aspect with my ascendant before. I think this placement can make two people very curious about one another. You really want to get to know the other person, just because you want to see what more there is than what meets the eye. The way they present themselves to the world might not always be identical to your life path or role in society, but you still feel like there’s something about their way of being that just resonates with you (whether it be a similarity or a stark contrast). You can also have opposite but equal similarities. They can be somewhat of a mirror, physically. For example, I’m a woman and I feel like the men I share moon-ascendant synastry kind of look or embody what I feel like I would be like as a man. “I want to be friends with you” “I feel like I could connect with you.” I feel like this placement can breed some sense of shyness around each other while you’re still strangers or acquaintances. I think you can even understand parts of one another that other people don’t understand or find to be a negative trait. The moon person might have a different path but I still found them to be inspirational in their own way. I think these connections make you more likely to find the other person’s quirks as endearing rather than off-putting. As the ascendant person, I became a lot more shy and reserved when the moon person was around when I don’t really behave that way around crushes (I’m an Aries venus, so you already know). It was literally like a cat caught my tongue and I couldn’t even make eye contact LOL. “There’s something about you that gives me an emotional reaction I’m not really used to.” “I want to take care of you and make you feel good, I want to listen to you.” There’s a feeling of “I just know we would get along so well if we actually got to know each other. I don’t care how different we may be.” You can become more soft and feminine in their presence. You two could look like you would make really beautiful babies together. You might look different than what the moon person would be expected to bring home to their friends and family. “I think we’d make a great couple.” I think you two could find a lot of comfort being together and can indulge in what makes you feel good. I also imagine this could be a couple known for working in real estate together, or collaborating on projects involving properties. If they own a home together, I think they would be known as the couple who has a beautiful home. They could host house parties together or dinner parties for their friends. They can master curating the perfect ambiance for them to just feel safe in. You could actually really enjoy how different the other one is from you. I feel like the moon person could be very protective over the house person. I feel like there is a lot of caressing of each others faces. Looking at the other person’s face brings a lot of personal fulfillment. For heterosexual couples, I feel like this placement could make people wonder when you’re going to have a baby together. I imagine people might take a lot of interest in your lives together as parents too, and you might be perceived as a beautiful family unit. I feel like this is a “physical touch” relationship, and that’s touching the other brings a lot of comfort. You can be very drawn to the other person’s vulnerability. You two can immediately find it easy to be vulnerable with one another once you connect, even if you’re naturally private people. “You make me soft and sappy.”

[stillness-in-green]

What do you think about Horikoshi ending the manga without a canon couple? Do you ship or used to ship MHA characters? Did you see romantic potential? Do you think Horikoshi might confirm a couple later?

No canon couple?  Au contraire, my dear anon!  The manga ended with the most important canonization of all!

(Everybody give a huge hand to The Only Hets Who Matter, Gentle and La Brava; they deserve it.)

As to the ships people actually care about or were expecting some word on (e.g. the stuff with the students), my reaction there is overwhelmingly “lol gj hori”.  I’m glad he ended it with no canon student couple to speak of!  While I do sympathize with the position of certain people on Twitter who contend that Ochaco’s arc about repression really needed her to actually confess to Deku, I hated what her crush on Deku did to her arc anyway, so I don’t have it in me to be too annoyed.  Anyway, I don’t think it’s possible to do the Iron Might 2.0 part of the epilogue if Deku and Ochaco[1] have been dating the entire time, so I’m perfectly happy to run with the headcanon that she did confess at one point and it didn’t work out for whatever reason, so by the time the last chapter rolls around, they’ve just been friends for years.

1: Or Bakugou, for that matter, but with all due respect to the BakuDekus who haven’t been seeing Shonen Jump battle manga come and go for twenty years with nary a confirmed gay MC amongst them, that was never in the cards.

I remember posting once ages ago about a Japanese fan’s hope that Horikoshi, who the fan perceived as being at least somewhat progressive about women, could manage to end the series without a bunch of timeskip romances showing up at the last minute.  While I have some deep reservations about Hori’s progressive cred at this point in time, and am not tremendously impressed with his writing of women, either, credit where credit is due: he did end the series without any timeskip romances.

As to there being any confirmation of couples in the material we have remaining, I imagine the last train station[2] for that is going to be the final volume release in December, as, on top of the usual volume extras, Horikoshi should be considerably more free to include expansions that his schedule and exhaustion kept him from in the weekly publication.  I could even see a bonus chapter of some sort, maybe something post-epilogue so we can see the power suit in action or something silly and fourth wall-breaking to celebrate the series conclusion.  There’s also going to be one last fanbook released in January, which I have been assuming will be a data book like Ultra Archive.

2: Or harbor, I suppose, since we’re talking about ships.

Now, do I think any of that stuff will confirm ships?  Eh, that’s not really in my analytical wheelhouse.  The farthest I’d venture to guess is that I would a) not be surprised to get some clarification on Deku and Ochaco, and b) definitely peg the volume release to have material like that over squirreling it away in the fanbook.

For myself, my shipping habits are somewhat erratic—it’s not really where my primary engagement in media lies, and certainly not for this series!  But that’s not to say I don’t have ships, or that I’m not happy to talk about them, so if you’re curious about that, do feel free to hit the jump.  I’ll order them by general sphere first, then by how passionate I am about them compared to ones I just think are kinda cute or funny for whatever reason.

DISCLAIMER: While I have not explicitly stated as much here before, I am a 40-year-old asexual proshipper, proshipper here meaning I'm in favor of curating your own fandom space and not harassing people about their fictional ships under any circumstances.  When I say I ship something, that does not mean I’m idealizing the relationship, want it to be canon, think it would be cool in real life, or am mentally putting myself in the place of one the characters.  It’s solely because there’s something in the dynamic I think is fun or interesting, and “interesting” can very much include the same kind of interest one might have in watching a building get demolished. 

That is to say, there are a handful of Too Problematic For Tumblr ships in here—one age gap but otherwise wholesome, one age gap and tacitly abusive, and one that really hits the Tumblr Trifecta by being age gap, abusive and incestuous. I've put all three at the very bottom in their own section in descending order of Most BadWrong, but if you’re one of those people deep into The Discourse about how ships need to be Morally Correct otherwise the shippers are terrible people who should kys, this is not the post for you.  The block button’s there if you need it—and be advised that it’s there if I need it, too, and I’m not afraid to use it. (I grew up in dark fantasy shoujo fandoms; I am not litigating my ships with anybody.)

~~~Stillness’s Dubious and Delightful BNHA Ship Opinions~~~

Villain-o-rama-rama:

Spinarakiya, ShigaRD, Spinaraki: Alas for my short-lived OT3!  I was really, really pumped for this in the stretch between MVA and the early stages of the first war, what with there being such interesting possible angles between all three parties, only for Re-Destro to get arrested and never seen in person again, Spinner to get snatched up by Gigantomachia and never look back, and Shigaraki to get lost to the possession plot for, at least as far as scenes with his allies were concerned, basically the rest of the series.

Not exactly great material for my shipping heart, though I’ll refrain from the rant comparing how long the PLF members were living in close contact with each other compared to the League of Villains and why that should have meant they developed stronger relationships than what we got.

But canon being what it is, I do still ship the hell out of these three in a canon divergence situation, or any number of potential AUs.  I love the connective tissue there, with Re-Destro + Shigaraki having some startlingly strong background parallels and lasting injuries courtesy of each other, Shigaraki + Spinner having the gaming and the emptiness themes, and Spinner + Re-Destro having their Big Gay Feelings About Shigaraki as well as an appreciation for patterned fabrics some shared early frustrations about Shigaraki’s seeming lack of plans or direction.

It's a good dynamic, and I think they could all do a lot for each other, though certainly not in ways that are good for the continued survival of Hero Society.  But fuck Hero Society anyway.

As to the component parts, I don’t ship Re-Destro and Spinner without Shigaraki being at least an invisible part of the dynamic (though I would read the fic where he wasn’t with considerable interest!), but I’m also very much on board with ShigRD and Spinaraki individually.  My constant refrain about Shigaraki and RD is that they have a lot of common ground but very little common language, and I’m fascinated by how much of that they could recognize in each other and how much of it they could then recognize back in themselves, versus how much you’d get one of those cases of, “This guy is a freak and I’m so normal.”

It's so, so, so important to me that Re-Destro is the first ally Shigaraki won entirely on his own merits.  He's got no borrowed reputation from Stain, no monsters on loan from Sensei, and no help from people on Sensei’s payroll, yet still, as a result of his efforts (both in his own fights and in making the League his own, even if it didn’t start that way) he wins himself an army and a follower who never saw a light that wasn’t his.

I weep for the Shigaraki/Re-Destro relationship we could have had if Horikoshi didn’t decide that Shigaraki in the endgame was to be nothing but a pawn, and therefore couldn’t be allowed to keep any of his markers of independence and growth.

As to Spinaraki, man, what is there even to say?  The relationship so clear and obvious that it had even the mhatwt bros out there saying, “Spinaraki but at what cost?” in the last chapter!  I will admit that I liked them better when their romance had that apocalyptic tinge than when it suddenly started getting painted as primarily about them being Gamer Bros, but at least that melancholic “beauty at the end of the world” shading came back when Shigaraki talked about destroying Mount Fuji for Spinner (be still my heart!).    

They will meet and be close in every world and I will hear nothing else.

RiKoku: I don’t think I truly understood the appeal of ex-lover ships until these two.  They snuck up on me in a big way, pretty much entirely a result of my realization when I was halfway through the (first and only, sadly) MLA Week event that Trumpet was pretty free-roaming and independent from Re-Destro all the way through Deika only to be glued to his side from there on out.  Together with the Spinner parallels (the subordinates who fought each other and then came together to the crater to see their worlds remade) and my jokes about wanting to see the MLA heads during their stressed-out, over-achiever college years, all the pieces fell into place for a Rikiya and Koku who had dated for a few years and then broken up when Rikiya realized that his authority as Re-Destro—and Koku’s strong subordination to that authority—meant that he could not responsibly stay in the relationship.  (This also presents several good explanations for why a man in Rikiya’s situation isn’t married with at least one child already.)

Anyway, to me, they never really fell out of love with each other; Re-Destro just couldn’t justify overlooking the power dynamic problems once he realized how extreme they were.  (This does make for a fun alternate angle on RD’s personal life post-Deika, wherein Trumpet watches RD pass the mantle of leadership to Shigaraki Tomura and then more or less immediately pounces on him because now he doesn’t have the power dynamic excuse anymore.  Look up the great Whatever Is Spared by @leftofrevolution on AO3 for more on this.)

Overhonest: I just like Nemoto much more than I like Chrono, and thus my Overhaul ship of choice follows suit.  I like the idea that their feelings are wildly unbalanced but not totally one-sided—Overhaul has more baggage than a freshly loaded airport carousel, but he does like the Shie Hassaikai, as proven by them being mentioned in the Likes section of his character page. Nemoto in particular is someone whose presence we know Overhaul finds reassuring and we know it because he told Nemoto so directly when Nemoto asked, which means it can’t be anything other than the plain truth.  He relies on Nemoto enough to make demands of him, he expects (and gets!) effectiveness, and he even bothers to take the time to justify out loud why it would be okay for him to merge himself with Nemoto physically (because Nemoto would say yes if asked, right? of course he would) rather than just doing it with no thought to Nemoto’s feelings about it because why should he care about that.

And Nemoto, for his part, is of course an obsessive weirdo who’s totally smitten with the first person he’s ever found who legitimately wants him around, so smitten that he’ll happily overlook the fact that Overhaul primarily wants him around because he’s useful.

Moving away from what’s on-the-page canon, I enjoy (and write) the take that Overhaul is sex-repulsed, not because he’s fully asexual, but as an extension of his mysophobia.  This makes his sex life extremely fraught, but not non-existent.  When I dabble with writing them (and they’re by far the ship I’ve written the most explicit material for in this fandom), I write him as basically a sex-repulsed demi (not that he would know or use that terminology!) who is attracted to Nemoto but has been largely left aggravated and sexually frustrated by their periodic experiments in non-traditional ways of getting him off.  (Nemoto, for his part, is more than willing to keep trying!  No kink is too weird for this guy if it means finding something Overhaul would actually like.)

(To get real here for a second, if Spinarakiya is meaningful to me as a person who’s comfortably poly, Overhonest is meaningful to me as an asexual person who's only ever had allosexual partners.)

AFOUji: Truly the Evil Husbands of all time.  I wish the shift from Final Boss Shigaraki to Final Boss AFO hadn’t left Ujiko with a few truly inexplicable characterization beats,[3] because I truly do love these two as just the worst pair of mutually enabling monsters making the world worse and more dangerous for everyone while being 100% supportive of each other’s passions the entire time.  Here’s to 70 years of Dark Lord/Mad Scientist domestic bliss.

3: For the record, I consider these to be his, “I've only been living for the boy's sake,” line in Chapter 269 and his clear reticence and dissastisfaction with Shigaraki getting the surgery in Chapter 240.

DabiSkep: Skeptic is the only man Dabi has ever thanked for his contributions.  Dabi goes out of his way to kidnap him.  I’m 90% convinced that they’d been working on the video together prior to the Villa raid.  The combination of Skeptic’s deep and abiding neuroticism with Dabi’s swings between lazy malice and manic pushiness is extremely funny.  What can I say; it’s just about the only Dabi ship that really clicks for me.  I enjoy leftof’s take that Skeptic had a goth phase he never completely exited and so Dabi appeals to his inner Hot Topic teen, which he is 100% aware of and 150% embarrassed by.

   

School Environs:

Mirio/Tamaki: Tamaki literally regains consciousness at the exact moment Mirio loses his quirk.  Other than cases where there’s some actual explanation for that—a magical connection, psychic powers, etc.—I have never seen that kind of beat happen outside of a shoujo manga.  The bit where one romantic lead just mysteriously has a Bad Feeling in the same instant that something Bad happens to their love interest is so shoujo-coded.  Jesus Christ, Tamaki is so moe.  And Mirio so clearly thinks the world of him, too, as evinced by what an over-the-top sobriquet he dubbed Tamaki with.  They’re great, end of story.

Monoma/Shinsou: I’ll admit I liked this somewhat better when I thought there was any chance at all Shinsou might end up in Class B—I kind of loathe that he wound up in Class A for the self-evidently terrible reason that it’s The Main Character Class, when it seems so obviously a conflict of interest for Aizawa to be teaching him.  But eh, it’s okay; it just means Monoma will have to nobly learn to look past it after a lot of time spent being completely obnoxious about it.

My annoyance with Shinsou’s class placement aside, Monoma is one of my favorite students, and I like that he immediately latches onto Shinsou as a kindred spirit.  And, like, if that were 100% one-directional, I would probably shrug it off, but Shinsou, despite trying to play at being aloof, does actually get invested enough that he gets pretty bothered by the idea of Monoma needing help, even in something as inconsequential as a class exercise.  It’s just a much, much more interesting dynamic than Shinsou has with Deku or especially Kaminari.

Also, as someone with a bit of a Thing for mind fuckery, the way Copy and Brainwash can play off each other is Good.

MomoJirou: The fanart is cute and I like Momo better than Kaminari.  And the culture clash thing is fun.

Shouto/Inasa: The fanart is cute and I like Inasa better than Deku or Bakugou.

   

Professional Sphere:

Hawksdeavor:The age gap adds flavor.  The fact that Endeavor is still married but deeply unhappily so makes it even spicier.  The difference in what they represent (or could potentially represent) to each other is the best part, with Hawks, for Endeavor, being someone who represents a totally clean page, while Endeavor, for Hawks, represents a lifelong adoration.  Finding each other’s reality in all of that would be an interesting relationship arc and could be extremely fulfilling and strengthening for both of them.

The spoiler is (or at least should have been, if I’d been writing the series) their divided feelings on Dabi.  Honestly, I really wanted to see them clash over the matter of Touya and how to deal with him, with Endeavor wanting to save him but not knowing how and Hawks just wanting him gone but not knowing how to get away with it.  A certain pair of facts is glaring to me: first, that Hawks was a chief architect of the second war’s battle plans, whereas we never saw Endeavor involved with them at all, and second, that, when the big day came, Endeavor was slated to fight All For One with Hawks at his side despite at least some guilty protests from Enji that he really ought to be facing Dabi.

It smacks strongly of Hawks making some profoundly selfish decisions under the guise of clear-headed strategy and I really wanted it to blow up in his face when Dabi found his way to their battlefield anyway.  Pushing Endeavor into a place where he had to choose between them and ultimately chose his son (say, by protecting him from an attack coming from Hawks) would have been validating for Touya, done a lot to lever Endeavor’s arc out of the reactiveness and passivity that drag it down so badly in the canon, and also handed Hawks a real consequence for how dismissively he treats the lives of Villains and how much he’s tried to avoid reckoning with both Endeavor’s abuse and Enji’s own attempts to do said reckoning!

In summary, Hawks and Endeavor could be very good for each other, and the incredible amount of baggage they’d have work through first would be key to either making that good ending feel earned or lead to them dramatically and deliciously imploding.  Either one works for me, and either one, even without the romantic angle, would have been more interesting than the pablum we got.

NightMight: Speaking of could-have-been-good relationships that dramatically imploded!  I love Sir Nighteye as the most visible cost of All Might’s lifestyle, the one he lost because he couldn’t step away from the path his ideals had set out, and how that ideal inevitably took him full circle so that he found himself standing, for Deku, in the same place Nighteye once stood for him.  And of course by then it was too late and Deku wouldn’t listen to him anymore than he himself listened to Nighteye back then.

But Nighteye didn’t give up on caring about him, even if he had no avenue left to express it but throwing himself into finding a successor All Might would accept, which led to Nighteye's own (wonderful) relationship with Mirio.

Just great, difficult, adult stuff about irreconcilable differences that never stopped them from caring about each other even as those differences forced them to their parting of ways.

Mount Lady/Kamui Woods: They’re cute and I like the idea that they both have trouble, for opposite reasons, with cameramen.  I like that he calls her just Lady when he thinks she’s in trouble.  And not to put too fine a point on it, but I like that they’re kinda the most explicit Pro Hero couple and yet she’s the more prominent and important character with the more visible arc, which is a nice contrast to most of the other hetero relationships in this benighted manga.

   

Other/Cross-faction:

Togachaco: The yuri ship that could.  My god, the canon divergence I want to give these two.  You know why I want Deku and Ochaco to not be together in the end?  Because I want Ochaco to realize that she did everything in her power to save her Villain while Deku—after all that talk on the cliff!—just killed his, and triggered Toga just before he left to do it, meaning Ochaco had a harder time with Toga than she might have otherwise.

But, I’m not here to talk about No. 2 Green; let’s talk instead about the canon divergence where Toga survives (shove that absurd death-via-blood-transfusion right into the incinerator) and then Ochaco has to come face to face with a system that does not want to let her be anywhere near as kind as she wants to be.  The canon divergence where Ochaco realizes that her forgiveness is immaterial to justice, where she watches the system she fought to defend gear up to try Toga as an adult because Japan needs a scapegoat for the destruction of the war and all of the people who are actually most responsible are already dead or dying.  Where Ochaco realizes that she has to do something drastic if she doesn’t want to live the rest of her life haunted by the knowledge that her compassion got a 17-year-old victim of emotional and psychiatric abuse executed by the state.  The one where she decides to take a fucking stand, and it forces the rest of her class to confront that need as well.

“The cutest girl in the whole world,” my god.

Kotarou and Nao: I’m not as big on it by the time we’re seeing them in the Tenko flashback, though I certainly wasn’t pulling for some mean-spirited, allegedly feel-good “Nao slaps Kotarou and the whole family walks out of him” thing like you see in fanfic sometimes.  No, what I really like with Kotarou and Nao is thinking about them when they’re both still young, in the stretch of years where they really think they'll be happy together.  That her being with him can make all his problems go away, that him being able to bury his past and be better than all the people who hurt him (and there were so many people who hurt him) will be enough, that love is the answer to everything. Sure, the cracks are there, but they’re thin, and they can be hidden beneath all the days when things are good, when the two of them hold each other and feel safe and loved and sure.

The cracks are still there, and love isn’t enough when love becomes a band-aid and a blind eye.  But the love is still there too, and it’s so fierce and so desperate, and it still won’t save them.

Sorry, everyone; they make me emotional.  They are beautiful in the way of sparks dancing above flames, or early flowers blooming right before a vicious cold snap.  Ah, me.

StainMight: GOD, All Might really needed to grapple more with Stain’s side of his legacy.  Like, StainMight is really a victim of the way the story looked like it was setting up to criticize All Might’s methodology as well-intended but not sustainable long-term, but then, like every other aspect of the series that was about systemic critique, that criticism just evaporated and Stain became an All Might cheerleader with nothing to say about the system All Might supported for thirty years.  Maddening!  But for real, All Might should have been badly hurt in that car attack and then rescued by Stain, both to give Deku some stress about how All Might could be in danger after they parted on bad terms, and also to really make All Might have to sit with this opinionated zealot all-too-prepared to talk about how no one else is really living up to his example.

And there should be UST the whole time.

Yoichi and Kudou: I am almost entirely negative towards the OFA Collective these days, especially Kudou’s role in the endgame, but I still have some fondness for what he and Yoichi could have been.  My god, the first One For All transfer really should have been because they kissed.  More beautiful, more tragic, more profound, and preserves the Yoichi that had some actual fucking agency in the life he lived instead of just constantly being AFO’s or Kudou’s trophy princess there to talk about how respectively terrible and awesome they are.

TogaTsuyu: I just think it would be interesting if Tsuyu were actually allowed to be more present in the Toga plotline, rather than only arriving as a spoiler to avert major shifts every time.  Toga says she likes Tsuyu, too, after all, and Tsuyu is so different from both Ochaco and Deku, so much more thoughtful and considered.  I dunno, I just wonder how things might have gone if, for example, it had been Tsuyu that Toga managed to draw away in the Jakku fight.  Given that side story with her snakey friend Habuko, evidence suggests that Tsuyu is a good deal more observant and intuitive than Ochaco, and I wonder if she might have been able to suss out what Toga was actually asking there better than Ochaco did, and how that might have changed things.

   

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THE TUMBLR PROBLEMATIC ZONE:

Gentle Criminal and La Brava: I was willing to follow the canon’s initial vagary about these two, but I also like them quite a bit together, so if canon wants to put them in wedding rings at the end of the series, that’s fine by me!  Yes, I’m aware that there’s a pretty significant age gap there, which would have been at its most apparent when she first sought him out, but I don’t for one single instant believe that he’d be anything less than a total gentleman to her.  Indeed, it’d be entirely plausible to mount an argument based on his behavior that they were not at all romantically involved circa the Culture Festival arc,[4] and only become so after Gentle’s imprisonment and subsequent release.  But in general, what I’m more concerned with is the dynamic—I regard a power differential in a relationship as a reason for both parties to be cautious and mindful of that differential, but not as an immediate game-ender.

4: Most obvious is that when she says, “I love you,” he only says things like, “Thank you,” in return.

In that sense, Gentle and La Brava are great—they click together perfectly and obviously make each other tremendously happy after a lifetime of rejection.  La Brava, in Gentle’s theatrical attention-seeking, finds someone who accepts her overflowing way of showing love; Gentle, in living up to La Brava’s feelings, finds a reason for his skewed heroism beyond satisfying his pride.  To whatever extent their life together was heading anywhere bad (and there’s no evidence of this at all save that Heroes were always likely to catch up to them eventually, making La Brava’svery extreme response to Gentle’s defeat likewise inevitable), Deku’s intervention got them off of that path and back onto one that let them be accepted by the world, which they seem to have capitalized on marvelously.

They’re the only Villains I can think of whose turn to Team Hero in the endgame works for me without any significant quibbles.  Good for them!  I hope they are so, so happy together, because they deserve it.

AFO and Kotarou: MEANWHILE, IN MY OTHER KOTAROU SHIP.  I love AFO knowing Everything about what he’s doing here while Kotarou knows absolutely Nothing about what AFO is doing here.  I love an AFO who is self-amused in being friendly and reassuring and distractingly attractive to Kotarou, an AFO who knows that his toying with Kotarou would make Shimura Nana sick with terror and rage, and even if she isn’t alive to be so anymore, the fantasy of it is satisfying enough, especially since Kotarou is himself a very handsome young man, one whose hurt and resentment AFO finds beguiling to sometimes prod at, as if unable to leave a bruise alone except the bruise isn’t on his own skin.

I have an AU I’m never likely to write where Kotarou winds up successfully knocking out Tenko on the night of the accident before going on the run with him, only for them to get picked up by AFO a few weeks later, and let me tell you guys, that’s where all my guilty pleasure AFO/Kotarou really lives.

That said, I liked this one much better before we got the opening for it in canon, and not just because AFO’s disguise persona was doofy-looking instead of devastatingly handsome.  It was always one of those ships that tickled my inner hedonistic wickedness fancier but that I never wanted to be canon because my affection for the ship's vibe was not more important to me than the integrity of Shigaraki’s arc, and Shigaraki’s arc was far better served by his early childhood being as free from AFO as possible.  Alas, the reveal is very AFOtarou but at what cost.

Dabideavor: Sorry not sorry everyone, but all the people screaming about how this is SICK FILTH seem to have missed the point that it is indeed, absolutely and completely, sick filth and that’s part of the appeal.  Personally, I like it for two main reasons.

Firstly, I want Endeavor to have as hard a time as possible, and times don't get harder than this. I enjoy it when he's frozen and helpless in the face of the son whose life he destroyed because I have a long history of enjoying stoic male characters being made vulnerable through suffering.

Secondly, and more importantly, I like it because I like the version of Dabi you see in it, particularly compared to the Fanon Dabi who made so much League of Villains fan content un-fucking-readable for years.

I'm going to try to keep the hot fandom tea to a minimum here, limited to the upcoming footnote, but I hated Fanon Dabi.[5] He was an incoherent mash of a character designed to be a vehicle for the unabashed revenge fantasy of bloody murder against Bad Dads while also presenting no danger whatsoever of splash damage, a Woobie Big Brother who was completely harmless except to the father whose organs he was planning to paint the walls with. Every excuse that could be made, would be made, for Dabi's more questionable or even outright nasty moments, even if it meant minimizing or outright erasing the harm we saw Dabi do, right there on the page in literal manga monochrome.

5: There's a particular type of flanderization that goes into Fanon Dabi, the same kind of flanderization I saw attached to Steven Universe's Lapis Lazuli, and which informed the absolute umbrage certain people took with Rebecca Sugar for describing Spinel, the SU movie's villain, as toxic. There is a portion of fandom that loves abuse victims who get angry and lash out, but which will go absolutely ballistic at the slightest suggestion that abuse victims are themselves also capable of harm, that lashing out has the potential to hurt innocent people. In a perfectly executed DARVO, it becomes "victim blaming" to confront an abuse victim about the very real abuse they're inflicting on others. I only specified fictional characters here, but it's a dynamic you see in real life, too. Some people hunger for nothing so much as an acceptable target and abuse victims are not exempt from that statement.

The Dabi I thought was fun was the high-energy maniac who doesn't give a shit about anyone else getting caught in the crossfire of his revenge. Both that version of Dabi and the Endeavor who's paralyzed with guilt and despair are facilitated by Dabi’s father-obsession having a taboo sexual dimension to it that Dabi is all too ready to shove in the face of absolutely everyone who would think worse of Endeavor for it.  That means Endeavor himself, of course, but also all the good little civilians who Endeavor keeps telling to watch him.  Watch this, says Dabi, as he makes lewd hand gestures on force-streamed national television.

It's not about Dabi healing as an abuse victim, and it’s not about Dabi having a fulfilling arc—covering that stuff was canon's job!  It's about the fact that I, for reasons both personal and related to fandom spite, am personally entertained by Dabi being pedal-to-the-metal deranged about doing whatever it takes to seize Daddy’s attention and never let him look away again, which also means acting to ensure that no one is capable of or willing to save Endeavor from that fate. Like, if you want someone who would spend ten years plotting the most agonizing possible way to torment his abuser, then it’s sophistry to suddenly declare some agonizing torments off-limits.  Dabideavor is just committing to the bit.

[didalexiabreakupwitholgayet]

is there any kind of story between Alexia and things like press conferences and media and stuff? i know she most likely doesn't like them considering her more reserved persona and whatnot, but is there a deeper reason? it seems like she hardly ever does those kinds of things. thank youuuu <3

oh, you bet there is! so let's first remember that alexia is an introverted person by nature and has never been one to love the media spotlight. you can tell she gets a little nervous when she has to do any type of public speaking, although she's definitely a lot better at it now than she was.

but i spoke about in this post about how much hate alexia has been getting from the media for years for a variety of reasons, so i won't repeat everything here. the ways that rfef especially used the media as its mouthpiece to trash alexia and others was just despicable.

and you can imagine that it only amplified during this latest contract renewal phase. for example, look how the media has misconstrued the negotiations behind the scenes. in the tweet below, it states that the barça board has fallen out of love with alexia and don't see her departure as a bad thing. i mean come on. what a twisted narrative!

of course, then fans get riled up by all this information and it just creates this toxic mess, including culers coming after alexia as well! i told you that we tend to cannibalise our own!

alexia even criticised the fact that there's no privacy and there are so many leaks by the media, for example details of private meetings with liga f were published.

"i'm surprised that private conversations come to light. we can't express ourselves so freely if everything is published." 

and remember all the media backlash when alexia was summoned to the selection amid her injury comeback? there was so much disinformation spread by the media that she had to explain:

"what happened is that i was summoned and went to the call. a lot of information came out, information that i didn't even know. it's a subject that i didn't even know. they called me and i went, i am a professional and what Iitry is to be 100% and committed." 

so yeah, that's why media appearances for alexia are fairly curated because she has to be so selective. no love lost between her and the media for sure!