#I hope I made somewhat sense sorry for the rant

[divinesolas]

plagued by you is my roman empire!!! I'm so excited for the part two, and would you give a little exploration on how they have come to love each other despite being somewhat enemies?? like I imagine they had a good friendship as children but the division of their house tore it. I. AM. SCREAMING!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

a.n: just a minor little look into their backstory just to fully round out their story, i’ve briefly touched on this during the chapters but i thought it would be better to expand on it a bit 😁 also im so sorry this took so long and im glad you love plauged by you it’s easily one of my all time favs 😭😭

more so alicents pov.

part one part two - masterlist

It is such a shame the one beautiful and thriving friendship between the first born son of rhaenyra and the first born daughter of alicent was torn away by the bad blood between families.

You were innocent friends, who would sneak off together after dinner to the kitchens and steal some cake. Who would walk to dragon practice with. Who's wounds you would clean when he messed up during practice. It all seemed to be going so perfectly between the two of you, so perfectly in fact that when his mother suggested the two of you to be wed it all started to crumble down.

That's when the whispers began, when your mother would sit in your room while combing your hair telling you that the Velaryon boys were not to be trusted. You didn’t understand why and would ignore her warnings, continuing to play with jacaerys.

Until he had begun to pick on aemond. Your sweet younger brother aemond who would come to you crying about some prank the boys pulled on him. You were furious and went to go confront them immediately. Jacaerys apologized the first time and you believed him, but then it continued to happen and you grew angrier and angrier until you could not take it. You realized your mother was right. They were bastards and monster who could not be trusted.

So began your anguish for one another. He grew to find you stuck up and annoying and you believed him to be stupid and selfish. Your mother was overjoyed when you stopped hanging out with the strong boy but she could tell you had lost a sense pf yourself, you were no longer the carefree kid who laughed and smiled at everyone but instead you kept a more serious face and merely nodded at people who would come up to you.

The marriage whispers faded and you mother could not be more pleased. Though it seemed you wanted no husband instead, being flat out rude to most men who would approach you or your mother would set you up with. This infuriated alicent more than you knew, you seemed fine with the prospect of marriage not even a year ago what had happened.

She came to realize she had happened. she was the one who made you not want to marry.

Even blinded in your anger you could not imagine yourself marrying someone who was not him and she knew that. therefore when the driftmark incident happened she thought it to be a blessing in disguise. You loved aemond more than anything and you would finally grow out of this affection you had for jacaerys and marry.

Yet you still did not. You did not even wish to marry aemond, still insistent that despite it being your duty there was still no man good enough for you.

your mother was besides herself when the years continued to pass and you remained unwavering in your decision, she felt sick. You could not see what she could. when she would listen to the way you would rant about him more than she ever did she threw up. Its the way she would rant about rhaenyra.

Then they finally returned to the keep and she feared she would lose you to him. That he would charm you, make you forget about the past and be would put a strong babe in your belly before she could even blink.

Yet when you said nothing to him even as jacaerys fought with aemond she had hope. It was finally over. She had prayed and prayed for this day to come.

And then blinded in her hope she had decided to send you. that it would take one last conversation between you and him to get closure she never got.

Yet you never returned.

When aemond walked through the door your dress in arm she crumbled to her knees and cried. He had won.

[jeleynai]

Hey there, I adore your art, thank you for sharing it and joining us on tumblr. Your Ghoap art makes me feel so soft.

I am curious about your rendering process. I like how your pieces are textured and coloured and the 3 dimensionality of it, is there a chance you'd be open to sharing some of the steps you take to get from sketch to the finished product? For example what methods (if greyscale, selection tool, etc.) and brushes you use? How you pick your colours?

No pressure in answering this of course, I am just glad to see what you'll be up to in the future.

Hellooooo thank you so much for your kind words!! I've actually been getting so many nice notes from people, I'm so sorry that I haven't responded to them much, I promise I read every single one and shed a little tear of joy at how nice you all are!

Now to the question!!

I made a little step by step image of one of the portraits I posted here for you with a bit of commentary underneath! I'm sorry if it's the ramblings of a mad-woman I'm a bit all over the place sometimes haha (I'm so sorry if there's typos, please ignore them)

I'll also answer the direct questions here since I don't think I addressed them TOO directly in the image.

Methods: I work with soft brushes and the lasso tool for 90% of my process! I introduce textures as well obviously but I try to let my soft brushes do most of the work. A lot of that 'soft' look people tell me my art has just comes from subtle colour shifts and general softness achieved that way over working with harsher textures. I generally like to limit my layers somewhat, especially with simple pieces like the one above. That image is actually just a single layer after step 2! It helps me not get too stuck on one area but I also just... draw on the wrong layer very frequently even if I name them so I don't use them unless I'm working on pieces with different layers of depth (fore-/mid-/background etc.) I do check my values *constantly* (I use the colour-proof setup in photoshop) but I don't work directly from greyscale. I go straight into colours from the sketch.

How I pick colours: I do try to keep my colour palette cohesive and a bit more neutral to start with. I try to avoid extremes at the start so I'm not locked into that too early since it makes that 'subtlety' harder to achieve otherwise. For those colour shifts I talk about I just pick whatever base colour I put down and then shift the colours accordingly! Brush modes/layer modes can also help but I definitely recommend looking a bit into colour theory before relying on them TOO much! Otherwise using them will also end in strange results. There's no direct 'formula' I use when choosing colours since every light scenario is unique and will affect colours differently. I would definitely recommend James Gurney's book on Colour and Light!

Last but not least! If you're more of a visual learner and my rambling is a bit much in written form (I'm so sorry, I'm very chatty I know) I also have a few painting processes up on YouTube c: So if you want me to shut up and just watch me struggle instead then here's a link to the painting that started it all, the OG ghost soap piece I did over a year and a half ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D76X0MT4W5U

I hope that all makes sense!! I'm still super new to Tumblr but I'm always happy to ramble on about art so! Thanks for reading my rant haha

[glassofgretel]

My honest opinion on Evillious Chronicles...I believe the series is truly deep and beautifully written, but there are some personal issues I have with it.

I don't really care about the point and message of the Evillious Chronicle series nor the concept of "morally gray", I only believe in good, evil and the consequences of our own actions. MOTHY has made an amazing story that we all still enjoy ~16 years later, but I have to disagree with his philosophy and outlook on the world, ours differ greatly– Though he has some valid points, it's rather naïve IMO... and while it's compelling storywise and from an emotional perspective, it isn't as much realistically or from a political/social standpoint of right and wrong.

Morality never mattered in the first place, because evil always succeeds if it has enough power or deems its deeds necessary for a "greater benefit"... Good and evil are both necessary forces that exist to maintain the balance of this universe, just as our fate dictates.

Personally, I'm starting to see far more evil and corruption than light and hope in today's politics and throughout our society's history, so I only get pissed the fuck off whenever I see a political debate between self-righteous snowflakes on Twitter or Reddit (Especially the Character rant mfs), with each side claiming that they're right and the other is evil.

Even though morality is literally IRRELEVANT in politics, it has always been about interests and agendas in the end. If anything, there are only two lesser and greater evils. 💀

I'm no Altright-winger either, as some idiots on Discord might say... I'm more of a Pan-Arab nationalist but I just hate politics in general. Because if anything, we humans deserve all the shit that's coming to us. And trust me, I HATE Hitler with every fiber of my being... but if I were in his shoes, I would've done far worse with all the scum and idiocy in this world.

As for Riliane Lucifen, despite her awful deeds, she was still somewhat good at heart. Unlike the two-faced hypocrites over at the USA, Russia, China and Israeli governments, and especially those scumbags Adolf/Stalin... But it still doesn't excuse her actions despite her lack of moral agency, neither does her being possessed and manipulated by the demons.

So let's stop painting her as some sort of saint, she was a broken kid who deserved her redemption and a second chance- but that's all there is...

Because we know damn well that would NEVER fly in our reality, even if she was truly genuine about making amends.And I don't want to be like her or Nemesis lol, I prefer the likes of Frieza, Judge Holden, King Piccolo etc. as role models, because at least they're purely evil and honest about their philosophy, they embrace it to reach their own goals. Unlike most of our world's society...

I would say I am Near Pure evil though, since I have clear moral standards and my own personal law, I can discern right from wrong- But I'm not really much better than Hitler myself, and I am wrong more often than I'm right. I just despise everything wrong with the world, but I don't intend to change it for the better either. I don't even care about ending the cycle of violence and hate, infact I want to keep it going for my own benefit. That is the path I've chosen for myself and I embrace it fully with no guilt or regrets, even if it might be the wrong one.

I'm not just being pretentious or edgy either, I am simply disappointed and frustrated with this reality- I've had enough of this world and want to watch it burn. I enjoy treating evil with even worse evil, fighting fire with fire- Because it turns me on, gives me a greater purpose and sense of fulfilment too.

I'm sorry I really don't know how to answer this, it's the most concerning message I've ever received in my entire life

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

Remember that scene from episode 7, when Aemond tries to approach Jace on Driftmark, looking like he is about to offer his condolences but at the same time knows he shouldn't because even Jace can't acknowledge his real father? And Jace looks somewhat annoyed and Aemond leaves, then Jace glances at Aegon who is already in his cups and doesn't even notice him? There were no scenes like that in season 2. Short but meaningful, the scenes that reveal so much about the characters involved. We have Aemond who even after being mocked by his nephews still can sympathise with them in a way and the two (Aemond/Jace) can give us a 'what if' moment that creates the ultimate fallout more tragic. Then we have Jace who obviously is interested more in Aegon as a ringleader, an older boy he looks up to, and yet, it's Aemond, the boy he mocks for not having a dragon, the one who approaches him. These kind of scenes are important for the character building and also for making a stronger emotional impact on the audience when it comes to the fate of the mentioned characters. S2 had none of this and destroyed and undid whatever s1 built character and story-wise. Aemond's and Alicent's characters suffered the most, no doubt, but it was bad in general.

Also, in the balcony scene it's obvious how helaena and aemond have a great chemistry and it just made me even more mad because they had so little screentime together in both seasons. Same goes for Aegond. It's criminal they had zero good scenes , save for that one in e6 that is just used to not so subtly remind us that Aemond is a sadist. Also, why wouldn't Aemond just finish Aegon off because as long as he lives, Aemond is not safe? The answer: in the book he obviously didn't try to kill him at RR and therefore wouldn't want to kill him in the aftermath either, but these idiots just needed their shitty change to all of the sudden make Aemond a one dimensional villain, make Aegon as pitiful as possible and to show how terrible and dysfunctional the greens are as a family. However, they couldn't just kill Aegon off so early and that's why they attempted to fix their stupid plothole with that scene when Aemond threatens him. Like, what?? I'm supposed to believe that was enough for Aegon to shut up for weeks and then just leave? Nah. There were bunch of similar idiocies through the whole season and I'm sure that something seriously went wrong between s1 and 2 because the drop in quality is jarring. I'm not saying s1 was that great, but this one was abysmal. Probably Miguel leaving was one of the main reasons, but whatever it was, this season will remain a great example of what not to do when you make a TV show. I just feel sorry for the lost potential and also for the people who are planning to watch s3 because, unless you're a die hard tb stan with zero critical thinking skills, I can't see the appeal.

Ugh, I hope this rant makes sense 😅

Hello, and thank you for the ask!

You're making a very good point. Season 1 was by no means perfect; but there was at least some if not love then genuine investment in the story and the characters from the showrunners - one could feel that at least occasionally. I guess it really came from Sapochnik's end because Condal clearly couldn't care less. The show used to have a soul - and now it feels empty. And, as it has been proven time and time again through the entirety of cinematic history, it is virtually impossible to create a truly good film or TV show if you don't give a damn about its essence.

I saw some people calling season 2 "a trailer for season 3" - because of how underwhelming and lacking in substance it turned out to be, I assume. To me it feels like something in between a trailer for the things to come and a recap of an actual season that was filmed but not shown to us for some reason. Pretty much everything feels superficial - even the dragged out scenes supposedly added for symbolism purposes or whatnot. The relationships between the characters are underdeveloped at best, destroyed at most (for example, chemistry between Green siblings' actors is utterly wasted indeed); some plot points make no sense; quite a few characters seem to have got a personality transplant in between the seasons.

Actually, I can understand why people, even TG fans would still be willing to watch season 3 (some for Aegon and Larys storyline, some for Alysmond - whatever form it takes, some for other reasons which could be many). As for me though - at the risk of sounding too dramatic - I had too much heart poured into this show and got hurt too badly by what it has become to even think of continuing to watch it without feeling sick. At least, for now.

[entropy-sea-system]

OK OK impromptu rant but I need to get this out there as I still feel somewhat connected to the aro community-

I have been watching the tags, I've been talking the people in my local a-spec community and I think it amazes me just how incredible the relationships put forth by aro and aces are, while the communities just don't reflect any of it.

I've stopped identifying with the aroallo label because there was no sense of community associated with it. The a-spec spaces are made for aces only and the ace stuff in them is abhorrent. I am tired of people passing it off as repulsion, while still seeing people saying "hookers" are disgusting in a-spec tags. I'm tired of people saying PDA is bad. I'm tired of people acting like aros and aces can only be clueless cinnamon rolls. I'm tired of people being so so so stuck in their own perspective of the world they act like people in romantic relationships can't be happy. So on and so forth.

The concepts we have are passionating. They're the coolest ones I've been exposed to in queer communities. However, nobody thinks about them. Nobody speak about them. All we have is endless messages about how the world is so so confusing or hatred directed at sex and romance. I get that but I wish we went even a tiny bit past that really. It's a community filled with adults that feels so immature and I honestly think there is some sort of self infantilization going on. I don't like that I don't have symbols that aren't associated with uwu smol bean dragon lover stuff. It makes me sick and is why I don't identify with it anymore but it's genuinely sad to see because technically that's still the people who will relate to me the most.

It feels like people are always desperate to understand how the norm works and how they can best align with it instead of fully experiencing their identity. And that's an understandable thing to do but the community is just that with sex and romance negativity sprinkled on top of it.

I wish they were angrier. I wish they were more introspective. I wish they thought about breaking the norms more instead of headcannoning every female character without a love interest as aroace and talking about how gross sex is. I wish I felt like I can connect with the people who are supposed to be at least partly like me.

Anyway you're cool and I hope you're doing well! Sorry to drop all of this onto you but yeah I trust you with my ranty feels about the community.

We didn't really expect this ask but thank you for sending it!!

There are a lot of issues with the aspec community, especially online, (we have no experience with irl ones yet). And what you described here explains the issues with it quite well.

I feel like most of the aspec community ends up catering to mainly aces, and to a lesser extent aros, and slightly to apls, while other atertiary is hardly discussed (and agender ppl often just lump w gender stuff instead even though its aspec). I think the community is also rather divided, personally.

We're in some discord servers w mostly other apls and aros/run by other apl aros (often also romo aro) and they tend to overall be normal about aspec identities without being negative about attractions or actions or gatekeeping aspec labels. Currently we logged off discord a bit but we have in the past been in aro spaces that had many of the issues you mention , and still come across people being that way on tumblr.

I think there is a problem where some aros think that calling romance inherently toxic is somehow "activism" and deny that romance negativity exists, then claim that they "don't have to consider every culture ever" when people state that some cultures are romance negative and do harm people for engaging in romance.

They seem to think its "punching up" and some alloaros in particular try to justify it by acting like the united states is the only country that matters and citing sex negativity as a reason for romance negativity "not existing". When aces do this about sex its harmful, but thats not supposed to be a reason to deny that being romance negative is toxic and harmful to others even if their country doesn't persecute people for engaging in romance.

I also personally see a some aros hesitant to id with ace or acespec terms that technically fit them because of how bad the ace community has been about sex and anyone who isn't ace, as well as aces and aros generally forgetting about atertiary ppl. Some of them prefer terms like lightspec or such or allospec partly because of that.

It's understandable that some people feel a disconnect from labels like aro and ace as a result of how the communities tend to be tbh. I've had moments when I didn't want to id as aro because of this, and I consider myself both aro and alloro due to my arospec orientation.

Also being tertiary repulsed and being repulsed by sex repulsion (it just happens to repulse me a lot to read about even if not stated in a sex negative way), makes it a bit hard to be around other aspecs. I feel really disgusted and triggered when other aros talk about squishes and qprs and friendships, even if I think they should be able to talk about that. Which makes it hard to be around some other aros.

I also get what you mean about people trying to align with the existing norm. I'm seeing a rise in people maligning labels they don't understand and this attitude of "the only kind of weird thats fine is the kind of weird I am", which the aspec community has certainly not been immune to either.

I feel like for some reason most aspecs I see online, especially aros, are minors? Maybe because the aromantic label only really caught on after 2005 iirc so older people less likely to have heard of it? Im not a huge fan of how aspec tends to be infantilised either. I find issues with how some of the aro symbols are very derivative of ace symbols because we are not some extension of ace we're our own community. I can also see how ppl may find it too infantilising to have symbols like frogs and griffons etc.

Also yeah what is with people doing that about characters who are women or girls and express that they don't want to get married??? Or even just don't have a love interest. I understand if aroaces want more headcanoned rep or non-aspecs I guess idk want to fill some headcanon diversity quota without actually supporting aspecs but.

Not wanting marriage or not having a love interest is not inherently equal to not wanting romance and/or sex. I feel especially that people like to assume not wanting to have children means not wanting sex (which I find pretty reductive in that its acting like thats the only reason ppl have sex, especially as a sex favorable person who doesn't want kids). And all aspecs deserve more canon rep to begin with. I think I have a gripe with ppls aspec headcanons almost always being alloace or aroace. It's like they forget other aspecs like apls, alloaros, neu aros, non sam aros, atertiary, etc. even exist!

Additionally I think its partly because romance is emphasized more for female characters that even fans decide to make their interpretations about romance/a lack there of as if its the character's only personality trait. In my opinion its just as obsessive about romance if someone thinks all there is to a character is not engaging in it. I also see people act like they're solely worried a woman/girl character is going to fall for a man/boy character they hc as aro but not often the opposite like. Just say you see romance as gendered/feminine in some way and go I guess lol.

I also feel like mainly allistic non-aspecs do this but when ppl hc an autistic character as ace or aroace it feels infantilising if theres literally no other rationale behind their headcanon. I feel desexualised at times as an autistic and thats mostly bc ppl pick up on some kind of nd thing and they assumed I'm too "innocent" to like romance or sex, or because they view us as "unable to consent"(which can be true of some people if their neurodivergence affects their ability to consent to things even as an adult, but isn't universally true.) . I think some of this perception is also rooted in eugenics (due to people equating sex with having kids and viewing disability and/or neurodivergence as a tragedy and thinking its 'bad' for disabled and/or nd ppl to have kids).

So I don't really appreciate implications that someone is ace just by virtue of being autistic. I think its also unfair to autistic aros and aces because our neurodivergence can influence our orientation, but being autistic does not mean that makes someone inherently ace and/or aro.

My physical disability is relatively mild and less talked about (chronic pain and fatigue), and I don't reveal it to most ppl(ppl who dont live with me won't know I get exhausted from non-taxing to abled ppl activities, and chronic pain is not visible at all and we can't get mobility aids due to not being independent yet) so Im not fully aware how people view my apl and aro identities in that regard.

And there is definitely an issue with aspecs trying to enforce NEW norms. They cry about how people are forced into performing romance and sex to fit in but then turn around and tell people they need to love or have friends or family or pets in order to be a good person. It's also very harmful to aspecs bc some of us are loveless or atertiary etc. in ways that aros and aces apparently hate lol. A lot of aros in particular are very platonormative.

The aro community is also rather hostile to romo aros. There are still people who exclude romo aros from the aro label or act like we have to bend over backwards and acknowledge that we are "amatonormative oppressors" for liking romance or feeling some connection to it.

I think also the meme about putting a box away on a tall shelf away from a child is relevant here. The word amatonormative is constantly misused by a lot of aros. I've seen aros call alloromantic apls "amatonormative" and act like "amatonormative" means 'person who engages in romance'.

Its not a term abt engaging in romance or liking it. It's also not an excuse to pressure people to have or like friends either. I think aros should have actual discussions about amatonormativity that aren't just US-centric and about romance(wow do aros love to ignore that monogamy, non-queer, cis, etc. are social categories deemed more valuable under amatonormative societal norms), instead of using it to describe anyone they deem as interested in romance .

On that note, a lot of them use some examples of toxic relationships as reasons to call romance toxic and almost advocate for romance to never exist(which is especially disgusting to see for me, as in my country a lot romance negative conservative rhetoric is literally worded the same way). These people almost never acknowledge that other relationships like friendship can be toxic too.

I think some of these people believe in 'morality of repugnance' in that they think if its something they personally find repulsive in some way, that means its inherently immoral, which is not conducive to having unbiased views of the world, or critical thinking. I think a lot of ppl my age and younger are especially trying to do this because Ive lost count of how many I've seen be like "ewww thats gross/weird and so its wrong/immoral", and literally spouting conservative rhetoric while thinking they're politically liberal/leftists, perhaps with different wording but yeah. (I think that one tumblr post abt ppl in that age range being 'conservative on accident', especially in the united states- though that is concerning given the way ppl from other countries tend to absorb american opinions and such too much, describes this phenomenon)

I think some aros are also still so caught up in how much of a tragedy they think their aromanticism is, and I feel bad for them but thats not all there is to being aro and its a bit weird when ppl act like it is.

I think one of the best things about being aspec for me is feeling more like I can engage in and not engage in relationships (Im only favorable to sexual partnerships w no label other than 'sexual partner', and romance only w two partners as of now, and completely averse to all tertiary/nonrose. before I fully realised my aspec identities i pressured myself to have friends and felt like I'd be obligated to be favorable to nonsexual romance if someone wanted that with me, to 'be an ally to aces', even though it repulsed me. I also felt obligated to want qprs especially after realising Im aro. Realising Im atertiary helped me stop forcing myself to want nonrose relationships.)

Anyways that was a lot of rambling but probably most of my opinions on the aro and some extent aspec community.

[hannieehaee]

Idk if this is appropriate or not (feel free if this is something you don't want to answer) but as a casual kpop stan who really only stans seventeen and listens to other kpop artists on a somewhat frequent basis I just feel as though seventeen is reaching their peak in a way that's far from satisfying. Like idk if this makes sense but to me it seems as tho the members are struggling to keep out of "scandals" with mingyu's incident last year, minghao/seoksoon being labeled as fat phobic earlier this year over out of context clips and now with Joshua (he's not even close to being my favorite member but these rumors and pregnancy stories are honestly making me so upset rn) ...as a fan who feels a genuine attachment to these people it's hard for me to be happy because while Ik the boys deserve every good thing coming their way fame comes with a price and that price is what I'm worried about. Like I get that Pledis isn't SM and seventeen definitely see themselves as family unlike NCT who view themselves more as colleagues I'm so scared that Joshua will eventually leave like Lucas or heaven forbid anything more drastic happens. It's just that I always see these "we could never save them" posts but then the same people who post them also comment the worst things forgetting that idols are humans too. I'm super sorry for the long ask but I just read that jeonghan got hurt and that made me think of the rest of the members and everything else they've been going thru. I'm not even the type of person to get attached to people I barely know but with Seventeen it's like I'm really and honestly praying for their success because they seem that THAT genuine group of people who are just trying their best. Sorry for the rambling

i get what ur saying. dont worry abt sending a long ask! ur welcome to rant abt svt in my inbox whenever! honestly i havent stanned for too long so idk how things were before this past year but i do worry for them lately :/ theyre getting injured too often and they get no rest. i dont like how pledis/hybe are managing them at all. theyve been constantly touring japan very repeatedly for seemingly no good reason at all which has obviously tired them out (theyve been dropping like flies, LITERALLY). pledis had the opportunity to promote them in ways that didnt involve constant performances but have just chosen not to for some reason. i really hope they get to rest soon (unlikely tho since theyre likely gonna have a world tour next year).

about the joshua thing. i feel sosososo bad for him. idk and idc if hes really dating that girl honestly. i do feel like it was kinda dumb of her to consistently post herself in the same places/clothes as him if they really wanted to keep it a secret BUT neither of them deserved the hate/scrutiny they got for it. not even with the pregnancy thingy on her stories. i don't think joshua and lucas' situations are comparable whatsoever since joshua has not done anything wrong unlike lucas. im hoping pledis somehow protects him better but thats unlikely. i dont think any member of svt will ever leave bc as u said, theyre family. cant rlly compare to nct tho lol bc i only stan svt so idk any other groups' dynamics like that. i do get what ur saying tho i have friends who stan nct and svt and theyve said to me that they do see a drastic difference in dynamics between the two groups but thats neither here nor there.

lastly, i have the best hopes for svt. they keep saying theyll only go up from here and i believe that. idk how that will play out with military service in consideration or with what seems to be chronic incidents that keep happening to them (gyu, cheol, and han in the past few months) but i trust and hope they'll be okay. they have a very established fanbase and a rlly good support group with one another so i only see good things for them in the future. hope they get at least a month off soon though.

[psalmsofpsychosis]

(still the same anon from all those Batman/Joker asks)

Be ready with those empty walls, pal, I'm on my way!! I've already thrown my suitcase in the car and filled up the gas-

You blew every expectation I had with that answer of yours and I don't know if I'll ever recover. I will absolutely respond to your answer but first I need to put my brain back together from being rearranged like a jigzaw puzzle. I'm definitely looking forward to reading that Jesus/side wound meta whenever you post it.

Until then I have a different question. I don't remember who said it but it was along these lines: "There are only three people in the world who find the Joker funny. Joker himself, sometimes Harley and lastly Bruce. And he feels so fucking guilty for it."

They pointed out how Batman does a lot of bad puns, same as the Joker, except he does it with a straight face and serious tone. For example: Bat-terry, Bat-bucket, Bat-arang, saying "hang in there Alfred" while Alfred is dangling off a metal beam. (Those are my rushed examples, not something the original poster brought up, so if they're unaccurate, that's my fault). Bruce will also just say the craziest shit and nobody is sure if he's serious or not. (Happens all the time)

I have a vague suspicion who it was but I'm not sure enough to @ them.

Joker and Batman's sense of humour and how they are somewhat opposed but still similar will drive me into an early grave I swear. Like that post that's still circulating somwhere that mentions how Bruce "lives and dies by the fact that nobody can ever tell when he's pulling their chain" and how Joker "craves to have his comedic genius acknowledged [but he's just not funny]".

I don't know about Joker wanting to be acknowledged as funny because I don't think he considers himself to be in the clown business. He definitely ranted about this to a captured Damian in a comic once. But he does make a lot of bad jokes. Maybe he doesn't think himself funny, either?

Any thoughts?

(Btw I'm not done pestering you yet, be ready to receive an ask about the Batman: I Am Suicide comic and about Martha and Thomas Wayne in the next few days. I still have to gather my thoughts though.)

(Can I just say that every single one of your answers has made my brain release a huge amount of serotonin? Or is that too much? Eh, whatever, it's the truth anyway. You've brightened my week considerably, thank you so much!!)

❤️❤️ hi friend, i adore receiving your asks and getting to exchange interpretations with you, and i can only hope that my superturbonexus unhinged answers have brought half as much joy to you as your questions have brought me 🥰

I kinda took my time with this ask (sorry!) because it's a rather big bite out of an intricate can of bat worms for me, can included. I also found and reread this particular post by @distort-opia , which put more a dozen more interesting worms in my metaphorical can— i'm not sure though if it was the post you were initially referring to.

So! The concept of jokes and generally being a funnyman is a subjective talk, and my personal preferences regarding where Joker and Batman place on the funnyman scale deviate considerably from what the general consensus in batman fandom seems to be (or the lot i have seen of it), so i guess i'll just take this opportunity to do personal talk, probably more than usual 😂 take it all with a grain of salt! (an ingradient that you'll find this answer contains a fair bit of actually—)

I dont think Joker is funny one bit, and i dont think he's particularly trying to be in the general sense of the word; to imply that he's "funny" both in-world and on a meta level would mean that being funny is his core motivation and the heart of his actions, that it's the foundational component, and to me it's not. A bit more a matter of personal taste on my part, but i actually feel lowkey irritated with Joker portrayals that lean too heavily on the "HE MAKES JOKES HE'S SO FUNNY!!!!!" act at the expect of every other significant characteristic he has, because like, funny is not who he is, it's just one of the 500 things he does. Sure he started as a fun character meant to bring in a dash of psychopathic delight to the early Batman works, but he has evolved to become so much more than that, which i like better than the more simplistic "he's a funny fun guy!!!!" characterizations. To me Joker is not funny, he is not supposed to be the way you pour salt on your dish but it's not supposed to taste salty, it's supposed to taste /right/. His jokes aren't the main dish, they're an added flavour meant to bring home a certain act: the performance. He's a showman, he's here to put on a good show, and that show doesn't have the end goal of being "fun", it has the goal of being iconoclastic and real and raw. But he can't exactly do raw, raw and sincere scares him, in a way he's a slave to his fear and tries to cage it and tame it and understand it the way Batman is scared of bats and everything they represent and he made them his very persona. Joker tries to be true and geniune and sincere but he can't, so he infuses his actions with jokes to soften the blow, shift the taste a bit. He also has the genius' disease; he wants to be seen through, interpreted, understood and reimagined, mirrored, and it's an itch only a certain fellow fucked up intellectual can scratch for him.

Batman deeply understands the value of a good performance and a viciously planned persona, he is a performer both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman after all. And he has the expertise to dissect and bring out all the nuance in Joker's performance, it's probably why he finds him funny. He understands the theatre piece, both when it's executed in a stellar fashion and when it falls flat on its face. noone else can bring this level of discernment to interpreting Joker like Batman does because what other villains do is actually less performance and more.... outright insanity. I think this is also the reason why Batman enjoys saying the most insane shit and making weird jokes at weird times and have everyone be confused by him, it's part of the performance. There are these little almost invisible acts that Batman and Joker catch of each other, that they want to catch of each other, "i'm shaking the persona a bit", like when an actor improvises a moment to keep the role fresh, but only the people in on the script catch it, to others it feels in accordance, not off enough to catch attention. It's one of their core points of connection and similarity actually, they both have their performances and they both wiggle in its frame, sometimes threatening to break through the confines.

[redcomet-stims]

Content warning: blades, broken glass

💙💬💛 Song-inspired stimboard: I'm a Controversy by Ado (prod. Pinnochio-P); with color-related theming and technology!

I tried my best to make the theming somewhat fit the meaning of the song...or at least how I see it. I hope this is good and that I did this amazing song justice. This is another one of my favorites from Ado, because I love how gritty and chaotic the music sounds. Ado's voice has this very angry-ish quality to it, and Pinnochio-P's instrumental really adds to it.

When I was trying to read up on the meaning of this song, I saw a few things that made me...kinda annoyed, to say the least. It was a review website and a LOT of them were negative in ways that didn't really make sense to me! One of the reviews was just talking garbage about Pinnochio-P, calling his lyrics something along the lines of "surface level, edgy, and repetitive stuff meant for 12 year olds" (indirect quote, BTW), and that comment made me really pissed. Not every song has to have the most indirect, metaphorical lyrics ever! Music is allowed to have ranty and direct-ish lyrics! And even then, I felt like the lyrics did have a good mix of symbolism and direct comments, which is not a bother, I'd say that's actually good! A lot of people on that website just generally did not like how chaotic-sounding this song is. And no hate, you don't need to like this sound, but I LIKE IT AND IT IS NOT BOTHERING ANYONE. Go off and have your opinion, but you don't need to...trash the song because of it?

And...do the people that are belittling this song realise that they are kinda feeding into what this song is talking about? To me, it's a song about not being seen as "perfect" by the general population, being pressured as an artist because of very high expectations, and it all stressing you out because people always expect everything you put out to be exceptional. That's how I feel about it, at least, I might be a little wrong. Not only is that an important thing to talk about because of how relevant it is to the music industry or general arts in the modern world, but as someone who makes things and likes doing artistic hobbies, THAT MEANING RESONATES WITH ME! I always feel like everything I do and everything I publish to the world has to be perfect, or else I'll be hated for it! This writing is SO REAL to at least a GOOD AMOUNT OF ARTISTS OUT THERE, and I LOVE THAT!!!

...sorry for the rant. I just really like this song.

Sources:

x | x | x

x | x | x

x | x | x

[artificerstimetable]

Thinking of.. Vvr2.. avatar ideas :-)

most of the avatars in bush labs are artistic, lots of parallel stuff if that makes sense? sculptures!! intended to be bright and make a show of things, which is kinda interesting why bush labs, with its own more interesting things and whatever, is placed next to nft museum thing whatever grr (hard to word, I would've made another rpost if i could)

Tucson has a buncha the avatars from the main Scottsdale areas. However, the avatars we know are there just chilling in the plaza are the merge hotel staff, so we've got handbell thing I think her name is florentine (I love her and her story so much but I can't remember her name to save my life!!! Merge hotel was the best part of vvr2 I spread this) and we've got the lil starfish(?( buddy and I guess eye and popcorn. The reason why they're all mostly objects or parts of something is prolly because they're close to people of power, aka, madame! Usually people in power have somewhat detailed avatars. If you're human, you probably have a detailed avatar!!! If you're an employee((??? I hope that is right word?) of someone in power I Am So Fucking Sorry.

Most of the board have detailed, but robotic avatars. They don't represent or have anything alike to a human. Gavin, while having a robotic body, manages to represent a human. Marty also represents a human, however, they're not robotic. Or atleast I wouldn't say they are. Bush isn't robotic, however, she does make robots with Marty.

Anyways, neither are robotic. Compared to the rest of the board. Idk. Bush is a PIC (Plant-Identifying Citizen) and now I'm thinking of hydrangea s

I should post Dewey rant sometime ... also. Don't listen to ANYTHIJG I say it is two am

[sixty-silver-wishes]

YALL I found my old diary from when I was 13 and I was NOT prepared for how much it swings between “pretentious wannabe Romantic poet” and “cripplingly self-aware middle schooler”

So right away this is hardcore. Comes with a warning that my ghost will haunt whoever reads it after my death.

“The account of Ocean Waves [for some reason, I was convinced I would be published under that name lol] ^ otherwise known by a less appealing name, is enclosed. Please do not read until you are sure my name is carved into a headstone. If I am killed for the sole purpose of reading this, however far-fetched that may seem, I will hunt you down.”

Happy reading,

- Ocean.

P.S.- You can, however, read this with permission. Good luck with that. Also, if you do decide to kill me, I would prefer a peaceful death. And by the way, I would prefer even more if you didn’t try to kill me. Oh, and if this is read while I’m still alive, I will still hunt you down.”

Already, you can see the makings of a future historian in the works.

“In this somewhat girly journal [it was Disney Princess themed] is the somewhat boring account of a 13-year-old girl. I, Sophia [last name], also known as Ocean Waves, am recording things in here in hopes of future discovery. As I will not share this to [sic] the outside world, I hope this journal will be preserved so that future civilization may find out about my time. However, as a writer and an artist, my goal is to be noticed, not especially famous.”

I give some hilarious takes here:

“I also have artist’s block. I tried drawing a picture earlier; but I didn’t feel like finishing it. I wonder if I’ll ever draw with a passion again.”

(No, younger me, you were just undiagnosed with ADHD.)

Notably, I don’t think I was the Medieval history expert I thought I was at the time:

“I don’t wish to have a boyfriend, and at 13, I don’t think I’m ready to. In the dark ages, girls my age would have already been grandmothers. I think that’s revolting.”

I get very pretentious about my English classes, although I have to say, I still agree with my criticisms of the school system.

“This is my own personal thought, and I prefer it not to be read, as I think differently at night. I think the school system does not have a very good idea of what language arts should be like. We spend hours picking apart and dissecting poems, like they are carcasses and we vultures. Poems aren’t made to be dissected, they’re made to be felt. And all we write are expository essays. Of course this is important, but there’s no way to express how we feel. After all, who decided to put “art” in “language arts” when there is no art to it at all; just mindless examining? I’m sorry for my rant [not sure why I keep apologizing to my private diary], but that’s what journals are for. Until tomorrow,

- Ocean”

I also write about my own art with self-loathing that would put a sexually-repressed 17th century Puritan to shame. You can see me dot my “i” with circles now because I saw a Buzzfeed video once that said people who do that are creative. And I get very passionate about Edgar Allan Poe for some reason:

“I experimented with my new copic markers today, and everyone who saw my drawings seemed to like them. I’m disgraced to say that I had a sense of overwhelming pride, but I’m not used to people noticing my art too often. In first period (aka so called “Language Arts”), we read “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. Most people in the class didn’t seem to appreciate it, but I did. It tore open the hearts of both the reader + the main character, exposing his grief + longing towards Lenore, who [sic] he can never see again, so much that the stoic raven drives him to insanity and later, death. And to think that Poe got barely any recognition in his time! I’m not expecting much publicity from my books, but I do hope I’ll be able to write gripping + chilling stories like Poe did, without his own troubles (…)”

… In summary, I think 13 year old me would be very happy to know that in the years since, I majored in English, still draw, still single, and own a Poe anthology I bought while visiting the museum dedicated to him in Virginia.

[divinesolas]

hiiii sooo what im asking is if u could do anything that is related to this concept:

where raffy x reader are in a on & off relationship and it’s toxic but she “loves” him and her friends always tell her to leave him, so during the party while everyone was drinking and doing drugs, she and archie kinda clicked and danced together like how natalie & archie did. Moving on they were so into each other that things lead to another, that they slept w each other, despite the fact that she’s w raffy.

*there is consent involved. (not related to what actually happened in the movie) if that make sense.

Summary: After years of letting yourself get used by raffy you move on, and hes not happy about it.

Pairing: Raffy barton x reader, Archie x reader

Warnings: Cheating, very toxic relationship, gaslighting, men being men, soft archie! raffy being raffy, implied nsfw, Natalie and archie dont "like" each other.

a/n: I love this prompt so much so thank you for requesting!! I hope you like it!!

"You have to leave him." Alice says for what must be the hundredth time despite knowing its pointless. You and Raffy have been in a "relationship" since highschool. Its always been... complicated between the two of you, aka you have always remained loyal to him while he goes off and sleeps with other girls.

Its a constant cycle, you find out he's slept with another girl and rant to your friends, they tell you to leave him, you go back and yell at him, he ends up convincing you he didnt mean it, you two have sex and make up.

"Im done with him." Alice rolls her eyes, "Yeah yeah that's what you always say." You look down at your hands, You're currently sitting in Natalie's room while the two of them get ready for a party at alices place. You were also supposed to be getting ready but you got send a video of raffy making out with some girl at a party.

"Im seriously done this time i mean... what the fuck." You were out of town for the past couple days because your aunt had been very sick and your family feared it may be the end for her so you went to go see her. She ended up surviving which you were glad about but while you were out of town Raffy hooks up with another girl? Again?

"He's a piece of shit i dont even know why you're with him in the first place." "He cares about me, or... at least he did at some point." He's always been somewhat of a player but he was your first everything, you love him, loved? you dont know. He made you feel liked, loved, and you feared you may not find something like that again.

You get a text from him, 'Are we really still doing this silent treatment act babe? I said i was sorry.' Piece of shit. Your mood only sours as you frown at your phone.

"im sorry babes, he sucks but i know you care about him." Natalie has finished getting dressed and sits down on the bed next to you and grabs your hand, "Thank you nat." She squeezes you hand, "you should come tonight." You groan, he'll definitely be there and you definitely dont want to see him. "I dont know-" "Oh yeah shes going." Alice throws a bundle of clothes at you, "Get dressed." "Alice-" "No. No mopping around not this time youre gonna go out there and your gonna look hot and forget about that bastard."

You stare at the clothes and think about throwing them on the floor and laying in bed, sobbing your heart out but you know archie would be at tonight's party sticking his dick in anything that moves and you want him to see you not talking to him. "Fine." Alice and natalie cheer as your stand up and get dressed.

As youre putting on the finishing touches alice has a thoughtful look on her face, "Is something wrong?" She shakes her head, "Its just, i thought you should know archie had a massive thing for you." Natalie gasps as she looks at alice in shock, "No way...." "Yes way, i caught him one time stalking your insta and he confessed to me." You stare at her through the mirror in shock as she smirks, "You should talk to him tonight."

Natalie hits alice on the arm as the two begin to talk about the news and all you can do is stand there in shock. No. it cant be true rugby player archie? alices brother archie? the guy in raffys main friend group archie? It cant be true. He avoids you at all costs, always giving you weird glances, he avoids eye contact- Oh.

Raffy still lingers in the back of your mind as you think over this new info. Even on the way there you have barely said a word. Raffy continues to text, his words getting more angry his last message stings, 'i dont know why im always the bad guy when youre the one leaving me alone. a guy has needs.' You throw your phone at the ground of the car as tears pool in your eyes. Natalie hugs you as you cry, it sucks when the guy you love treats you like shit.

When you arrive the party is already in full swing. Sweaty people people grinding on each other. People spread across the room drinking, smoking, making out and doing anything else imaginable. Your eyes scan around the room as they always did, searching for him. You dont see him. Alice and natalie walk to the kitchen to grab a drink. "I thought you were gonna get here an hour ago." Archie, he stands behind you addressing alice who rolls her eyes.

He looks at you and gives you a nervous smile, "Hi." you for what feels like the first time take him in, he's large, much bigger than raffy, you fear you make prefer that, he has a cute face and smile, his hairs also nice. Its strange to be thinking this way, espcially when youve only ever though like this about raffy. You realize all your doing is staring and look at the cup in your hand, "Hi."

Alice laughs as she drags natalie to the dance floor saying something about have fun and winks at you. Shes sick. You turn back to Archie and hes glaring at his sister, an annoyed look dawning his face. "im sorry about her." you laugh, "no shes cool." A moment of silence appears before you two fall into an easy conversation. Its weird, your not used to a guy being so curious about you, hes asking you everything from what you like to your past and you love it. its so nice to have a guys full attention for the first time in forever but raffys voice nags you in the back of your head.

'youre always the one leaving me.'

'im the only guy for you baby.'

'no one will love you the way i love you.'

you suddenly feel sick, the room spins and you rush out of the room and towards the backyard. As you breathe in the fresh air you try to calm down your racing heart you move through the yard and freeze. Are you fucking kidding. There he is, laying on the backyard couch with his fingers in some fucking girls pants. And he doesnt even notice you.

You turn back around and march back inside. You need to leave you rush to the door but get stopped by archie, "Are you alright?" You break down, he pulls you into his arms as you cry. He takes you up to his bedroom for some privacy, as you two sit on his bed he tries his best to comfort you, "he's an asshole." "hes your best friend." "that doesnt mean he gets to treat you like shit."

You look at him and he's looking at you the same way he used to. It makes you feel warm. You kiss him and he kisses you back, its odd, you havent kissed anyone else other than raffy. His lips are warmer than raffys and kisses softer than raffy does. Raffy kisses like he just wants to get it over with but archie kisses you like he means it like he wants you to enjoy it. Its odd.

You pull him back to lay on top of you as you lay on the bed. He pulls away and looks at you, "I dont want to force you-" "Its okay i want to." and you do and its wonderful.

--

Morning comes and you wake up, youre not in your bed but in archies. you look to the side and there he is admiring you. He notices that you caught him and looks away, "Morning." you smile, "good morning." You wrap your arms around him and he pulls you tight against him. "Ive always wanted to do that... To be with you." You pull back slightly and stare at him.

Before you can reply his door bursts open and his guy friends enter, they all look at the sight in shock as archie rushes to cover you and yells at them but your eyes are locked on only one who has an odd look on his face.

"You piece of shit."

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

So I just finished rewatching GOT, and like most people the ending pisses me off so much. So warning: a bit of a rant ahead, I'm so sorry.

There's one thing that I don't see get talked about very much and that's Ramsay's death. So if everyone remembers, in the show, Ramsay is killed after the Battle of the Bastards, meaning he was killed by Sansa and, kinda indirectly, Jon. So this is what bugs me about his death: where the fuck is Theon during all this?? Like why isn't he involved in Ramsay's death at all? Obviously it's cathartic watching Sansa kill Ramsay after what he did, so why is the person who arguably suffered the most from him not at least there? Like I get that the way everything was set up by D&D that wouldn't have made sense, so why didn't they, you know, not set it up like that? (Well they had to set up S*nsa to become the "cold-hearted badass" we got in the last few seasons) Sorry if this is really incoherent, but I'm just so baffled as to why Theon doesn't ever get to have catharsis in his later season arcs. Honestly I would be open to hearing out people if they want to give reasons, cause I can't think of any. I think I wouldn't hate this so much if it weren't for how Theon's arc ends. You know with the fucking half-stark bs. Like he never gets to actually resolve his identity crisis, and just on top of that, doesn't get to see his tormentor finally die. Fuck he doesn't even get to hear about, at least not on screen. Anyway I'm pissed, I'm tired, and I hope that when book!Ramsay dies, Theon gets to be somewhat involved (and Jeyne at least gets to hear about it).

[yourroyalhoneyness]

Hear me out

Spoilers

I want to go on a full-blown rant about the new Earth spark episodes and I really hope they make a season 2 but this is by far one of the best Transformers series in my opinion that they have had but I want to see the other 13 primes be a bit more explored and I thought they said more Terrence we're going to be in the late season and Megatron going rogue but don't take my word for it it's just from other people's videos and stuff that I've seen all over YouTube and Tumblr but I would like to see that explored if we're able to have a season 2 and I also think I would like to explore more cybertronian characters and almost also this show got as dark as Transformers Prime even darker like mandroid went full on Silas and worse and also rip to John's sister like I mean see Karen was like a thing but like she didn't deserve that but I would also like to go back to the other topic more cybertronian characters and like I if we don't get a season 2 but I would highly enjoy it especially if they can find a way to make the storyline go on but I would also like to see a few other characters like some from the comic books and others and they also somewhat to seem that ghost might be going a whole different route with the whole cybertronian and Human Alliance and I kind of want to see if John takes over everything else and I want to see if everyone's going to disband their Badges and just be Autobots and Decepticons and just cybertronians and I also want to see if they ever do find a way back to Cybertron will new Bots not have to be choosing a position of Autobot to set a con or whatever by the time that they rebuild Cybertron I would also like to see some Autobots that are my personal favorite which would be hot rod Mirage or like ratchet or whirl or deadlock or drift if it's going to be in this kind of iteration but I would also like to see if there is another Prime like hot rod besides Optimus Prime or if there is another Prime and also another factor I found kind of interesting that both Robbie and Mo kind of technically count as primes don't they but like I would love to go on another full on rant (sorry if none of this made sense and any bad grammar but I just wanted to see if anyone else found this interesting or had some of the same thoughts that I did)

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Ya know whats funny? (in a ugh way) The more you think about it the more V9 Trailer Proves they don't pay attention to what they've done in the last volume and neither does Most of the Fandom. Showing a 'Knight' and making it a possibility that its Juane in some form or fashion for RWBY to discover? well that'd be pretty hard since fell after them. Voice saying 'friends she made and lost' ? Well that's gonna be tough to make Juane a surprise of being the possible bad (ik ik) for it if he's the only one who would know about it. Said Voice saying about lessons learned when infact no real lessons were learned other than 'Do crime! It helps you and only you! =D' The 'What are you' part of the trailer just adds annoyance when that wasn't a consideration: She was acting so much like she knew what she was: 'huntsman' ( ' ' for obvious reasons) Girlboss (the bad kind that flunks everything and hurts everyone) Silver eye warrior that seems to have so little importance that no amount of extra cash grabs-sorry 'novels'- could fix the questions that get brought up. (Also alot of people bring up the area looking like PS2 Graphics and i'm like 'bruh even PS1 games had sharper power than this'.)

sorry last part maybe a rant but I had only seen parts of the trailer through images and didn't actually watch until now so its sharp in my mind..

The trailer sadly reminds us over and over again how little CRWBY and fans pay attention to the previous seasons. With the "and lost" portion we think the trailer shows when Weiss tells Ruby at least Penny is gone so that technically can be covered, but if Jaune is a bad guy I am not sure how CRWBY will build that tension with RWBY given they have no idea he fell.

Oh anon, do not get me started on my furious feelings regarding the whole "lessons learned" thing. If the show wants to act like it had the mains learn lessons, the show did jack shit to actually show it. The mains just have the narrative bend backwards to assure the mains they did absolutely nothing wrong and are perfect protagonists. They are not perfect though, they screwed up, a lot. And that isn't a problem anon! It really isn't. It's interesting and character building when characters screw up, the issue is, the narrative pretends their failures and screw ups are not in fact failures and screw ups. The mains will literally retell history to paint themselves in a better light and the fans of the show eat it up and treat it as law rather then being willing to analyze what is happening on screen and have an honest discussion about it, never mind the fact that the characters don't even do that. I could try and guess what the line "lessons learned" refers to but I don't have very high hopes that it will actually be something meaningful.

That is just as confusing a statement to be tossing around. We had no hints even that Ruby and co was questioning their decisions to be huntress's, and if the show is going to toss that in now? Well one I don't believe they will, but two if they are now....I mean it would be long long long overdue lolz. After all the shit they've pulled and lived through it would make sense for them to be questioning their choices but it also feels like it would be way to late to do that to have the same impact you know?

Hey don't apologize anon! I should apologize if I go all over the place I am very tired but I really wanted to reply to this tonight while the trailer was at least somewhat fresh in my mind lolz.

[parkminijiminie]

unpopular opinion, maybe? I think everybody is being a bit dramatic about this lack of BD post. Am I the only one who’s not thinking anything about it? As to this day, I have literally 0 idea what Jikook are now. I used to think they were dating, now I’m on the fence. Could be, could have been and have moved on? To me it seems a bit weird for them to go from super lovey dovey to super close friends in the matter of ~ 1year or so but who knows.

but I don’t think much of today’s lack of interaction and Jungkook not posting. most years I wasn’t too impressed by his bd’s posts for Jimin. It never felt particularly special to me. I remember discussions about it year after year between "insecure Jikookers" and the hardcore believers. Last year’s video was 😳🧐 but that was an exception (okay maybe add that cute Twitter post he wrote some year, the one with the #sorry). With him being busy right now I wasn’t expecting anything, and I never really expected much from him the previous years anyway

I feel some of us who are unsure about Jikook today after years of thinking they were a thing, we can’t help but to wait for a sign from them especially Jk. Some are waiting for something like GCF, something big, but I don’t see anything remotely similar happening now with the popularity he has. Maybe because they’re simply not together anymore. or maybe because he’s solely focused on his album now.

More generally, I’m a bit confused about Jk’s direction now. It lacks something for me to truly believe in what he says nowadays and the music he’s putting out there. sorry, I still love him but there’s something that just doesn’t work for me, I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is. it just doesn’t feel truly authentic to me. I find most of his interviews around Seven - and 3D even more - boring and his words pretty empty..sorry. I know some ppl are going mad when we say this but it’s my opinion. Anyways. In my opinion, he’s trying to curate his image and be a bit more in control of what he shows of himself? He hasn’t shared much in his last lives. The vibe is different than at the beginning of the year. And he did say he was trying to not go on weverse as much as before because he was advised by his team, if I remember correctly. He also deleted his last tik tok because it wasn’t going with the image he wanted for his account. I don’t know, with his album coming I think he’s just focused on work and more careful about his social media presence.

At the same time, I’m side eyeing hardcore Jikookers because they are saying whatever to keep the fantasy going. If Jk didn’t spend some time with Jm today, then it is weird. No need to come up with ridiculous excuses. But we just don’t know much. Right now we just have to do with the uncertainty, but I won’t lie and pretend I’m still sure about them because I am clearly not anymore. Ouch, sorry for the rant

This is a very reasonable opinion, actually.

I think you are right in the sense that many people waited for a sign from JK and didn't get it. Many Jikookers are awfully quite right now, or are you just saying they didn't think it was a big deal in the first place, yet these are the same people who would have been ecstatic if JK had posted something and would have used it as "proof." I think people should be honest with themselves and admit that the lack of a sign is sometimes also a sign.

That being said, JK was never the best when it came to bday wishes, but still, he always made some effort for JM (except in 2020). And since things look the most unstable between them that they have in literal years, it's kind of normal to hope for something more and be disappointed when it doesn't happen.

I feel like Jungkook is in a particular place in his life as a whole. I think it's normal for people who have been fans for a long time to feel somewhat disconnected from him at this moment, as these are sides of him none of us knew. It's also normal for his music to feel inauthentic, considering he didn't participate in any stage of its creation. The truth is JK was offered these songs, and he simply took them. His work right now is a mere product, a way to achieve his goals for success and fame. Of course, it would feel impersonal when it didn't come from his own self. These are just songs that anyone could do. They are made to be popular hits and he sings then well, but there is nothing more to them.

[mean-and-rwde]

Volume 9 thoughts

[Spoilers, possibly]

[Rambling ahead]

I don't want to throw out all hope that V9 won't be absolute ""filler"", but it clashes too hard with the high emotions of the V8 finale.

If V8 was trying to be V3 (it failed), then I guess one could say V9 is like V4.

Except V4, while personally being one of my lesser-favorite volumes, does a nice bridge between the absolute chaos of the V3 finale to the V5 chaos. It's slower, a lot more dialogue heavy, and yet manages to remain somewhat true to canon without breaking it too much.

V9, however, looks to be a V1 - V2 ish theme but definitely not nearly as light hearted. I mean, they look to be in fucking wonderland (I heard it's called the Ever After, which is not much better, in my opinion). We've got talking mice among possibly other wild scenarios.

Meanwhile in Remnant (? I don't think Ever After is part of Remnant, I don't know tho):

- Atlas has become Atlantis (to quote my brother, who I guess heard it from a review somewhere?)

- Everyone who didn't fall into The Void / died when Atlas fell is now in Vacuo, the last standing kingdom.

- Vacuo is already very much struggling with what the citizens have. Now what's left of an entire kingdom has been dumped in as well.

- Salem has 2 / 4 relics needed to end the world and is on her way to Vacuo, where the last relic is being held.

- Cinder is still here. Like a damn cockroach

Side rant: I'm sorry, I just don't care for her anymore. I miss V1 - V3 Cinder, who was a legitimate threat and actually scary. Now she's an villain who is funniest when she fails. When I see her now, the sense of dread is more like "ugh this bitch again" instead of before where I was like "oh shit she's back what is she gonna do now?".

Adding her backstory in V7 (or was it V8? I literally can't remember) did nothing for me. It was way too on the nose, there was nothing subtle about it. And the song playing was basically beating the audience over the head with what was happening. It's too late to give her backstory, now it's completely unnecessary. It means nothing. And she has resorted to relying on the maiden powers in fights, makimg her fights boring and monotonous.

Also in Remnant:

- A shit ton of people fell into the void

- Penny is dead. Again. But permanently.

Meanwhile:

Our mains are in some weird wonderland like world where I'm guessing Neo somehow already has what looks like some sort of gang (in the intro, she's seen drinking tea with a bunch of shadowy people behind her).

There's also the mystery girl, who may have something to do with Ruby.

The intro hints that Ruby has become far more depressed and not nearly as hopeful as she once was. In the beginning, we see her as she transitions between her outfits over the volumes, while her emblem slowly fades.

While her team is running through various scenes, Ruby is dragging her feet, noticeably falling behind everyone else.

I hope this actually goes somewhere and makes Ruby + WBY + Jaune realize that they (especially Ruby) haven't made the best decisions as of late.

I haven't seen Episode 1, but I've heard some bits and pieces of it and I'm generally not thrilled. I know it's only the first episode, but I'm really not down for this whole wonderland shenanigans thing when the real world of Remnant is in danger of literally ending.

I don't know, it really feels like how when the White Fang arc was abruptly cut short and dropped (rip most of Blake's character). Things have gotten too heavy and too much, so the writers cut to something else entirely.

In this case, something comedic (or at least trying to be)

A / N 1: Apparently there's a con-man raccoon called Jinxy who is very... Stereotyped and racist. I have not seen this character, but from what I've heard... I don't think I want to know.