#I put the screenshots in chronological order

[probablyhuntersmom]

Luz and Hunter's parental figures and mentors come from three different families, awww

Idk, I'm liking how the number is equal and there's a nice overlap without the combination being exactly the same for each of the two siblings

[drbtinglecannon]

These two sets of besties have the exact same vibes and that's why they're both so hilarious & perfect

I love them, your honor, my beloved set of absurdly-unexpected-wholesome-ride-or-die-besties-for-life.

[peachcitt]

show us the ot4 stuff please!

sure thing :)

as you can see, i took this au very seriously while just starting out

thanks for asking!!<3

[todayisafridaynight]

Okay Goro Yakuza 0 looks like a completely different dude then the rest of the series obvi 17 years past between 0 and 1 but I mean the cheek bones are different the chins the eyes are lot more calm. Wtf happened… I mean we know what happened.

left to right: Yakuza 0 (2015), Yakuza Kiwami 1 (2016), Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017), Yakuza 3 (2009), Yakuza 5 (2012), Yakuza 6 (2016)

its prob just the model makers figuring out exactly how they should make majima look- plus eivdently post-0 majima is a lot more expressive so his face just feels like it looks different. at the veyr least, YK1 majima looks to have heavier bags, and by the dragon engine (YK2, Y7) it feels as though majima's general shapes become softer and more rounded

[butterscotch-brigade]

Can we see the Violetshine quote list

ASKLDJSALKJDAS SURE!!! (for context anon is talking abt an ask i sent to @/wc-confessions talking abt violetshine warriorcats where i mentioned i have a quote list for her LMAOOO)

this list is a combination of quotes said by her and quotes relating to her!! just stuff that rly hit me in the mentally ill kinnie brain aksljkldjf (putting under the cut to avoid this post getting unnecessarily long LOL. also all the quotes r screenshots but bc tumblr doesnt let u post more than 10 pics im gonna write em all down manually lol)

EDIT: HI SO UH. I HIT THE CHARACTER LIMIT WHILE I WAS WRITING THESE DOWN ASKJDSKL SO THIS LIST IS INCOMPLETE OOPS SORRY. BUT U GET THE IDEA

Besides, Ratscar's words were still gnawing at Violetkit too sharply to allow her to concentrate on Littlecloud. She's not really one of us, is she? She'd heard the skinny, dark brown elder's meow as she passed the elders' den that morning. He was talking about me.

Darktail stared at her. "What's it like living with Clan cats when you know you're an outsider?"

She tried not to remember how lonely she felt in the Clan. How Pinenose's kits ignored her. How she wasn't allowed near Grassheart's kits in case she passed on an infection. "They try to make me feel welcome." Her breath caught in her throat. Don't they? Darktail leaned closer. "And yet you don't."

I'm not wanted here. I never truly was.

Twigpaw only comes to see me when she wants something. She hasn't tried to find me in the four moons since I left. Hasn't she been worried about me? She huffed to herself. She thinks her needs are more important than anyone else's.

Anger surged through her. Did no cat want her? She'd spent her life being passed around by other cats. First Alderpaw had taken her from her mother's nest. Then Rowanstar had snatched her from ThunderClan. Then Needletail had taken her to the rogues. This was the first time she'd had any choice in the matter, and she was choosing ShadowClan. They were lucky!

She searched Violetpaw's gaze for a reaction, but Violetpaw seemed unmoved. Pity swamped her. When had Violetpaw stopped expecting to be loved?

"Oh, Twigpaw." Sympathy flooded Violetpaw's gaze. "You always want to be close to some cat." "Don't you?" Twigpaw frowned, puzzled. "I guess I just didn't think it was possible."

"Let's never forget we have each other. We're kin, and that's stronger than being Clanmates or denmates. We'll always be close. Nothing will ever change that."

She didn't understand. Twigpaw had said she wanted to be close to her. They'd talked about being sisters--how that was more important than anything. You made me trust you!

"You can't leave!" she wailed. Twigpaw stared at her from among her Clanmates. "I can't stay." Why not? Fury surged through Violetpaw. Why had Twigpaw begged to stay close if she was just going to leave?

Violetpaw bit into her mouse, stung by Twigpaw's words. Violetpaw has always been sensitive. Her sister hadn't meant them meanly but it felt like a criticism.

Violetpaw glanced back at him. Talking about Pebbleshine seemed to have made him happy, even though she was dead. Was that how it was when you lost someone you loved? Her thoughts drifted to Needletail. Even thinking of her friend made Violetpaw's chest tighten with grief. I could never talk about Needletail happily. Not after what happened.

"You're abandoning me again!"

"You left me when we were in ShadowClan. And you're leaving me now. All for your precious ThunderClan! What's so special about them? They're just a bunch of meddling know-it-alls. Why do you want to be with them instead of me?"

"I don't care!" Violetshine hissed. "I don't care if you're not happy! What about me? Why am I never allowed to be happy?" Her eyes rounded as though she realized what she'd said. Her body shook. She dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I just believed that everything was finally going to be the way I dreamed it would be."

Hawkwing pressed against them, soothing Violetshine with a gentle stroke of his tail. "Twigpaw is right," he meowed softly. "We will always be kin. We'll miss Twigpaw, but isn't it better to know she's found where she belongs than to live with her knowing she wishes she were somewhere else?" Violetshine lifted her glistening gaze. "I just wish she wanted to be with us," she mewed thickly.

He'll probably decide to move on, she told herself, trying to ignore the hollow feeling in her chest. Just one more cat who leaves me behind, whether he means to or not.

"He is," Violetshine admitted. "A bit like you. Except he follows through."

Twigpaw gasped, stung by her sister's words. "Look," she meowed, "I'm sorry about leaving SkyClan, but I just didn't belong there, as much as I wanted to." When there was no response from Violetshine, she asked, "Haven't you ever felt that way?" "More times than I would have liked," Violetshine sighed.

"This is for Needletail!"

Anger surged in Twigbranch's chest. "But you can't leave me!" She glared at Violetshine. "How can you go after all we've been through?" Violetshine stared back at her in surprise. "But you left me, over and over."

Rootpaw had heard stories about Darktail and his Kin, and how they had nearly destroyed ShadowClan. And he knew that for a while his mother had been part of the Kin, and that she had eventually helped to destroy it. But Violetshine had always refused to talk about it. Too raw, too painful, Tree had explained to him and Needlepaw.

"I can't do it," she meowed. "I worked too hard to find my kin. I could never leave Hawkwing."

"But if Bramblestar is violet toward other cats, especially those in his own Clan - cats he is supposed to care for - then he must be stopped." Her voice shook a little as she added, "I learned about that from Darktail."

Rootpaw stared at his mother. She must feel very strongly to mention Darktail. Normally she never talks about that part of her life.

[legend-of-cupcake]

Drow rouge

Human ranger

Tiefling durge barbarian

Gith monk

Paladin gnome

Half drow durge fighter

High elf bard

My girlies 🥰 Am determined to playthrough every single class… and hopefully have at least one male tav!! 😂

[carlyraejepsans]

Do you have a timeline for when you believe the humans fell underground (including Chara + Frisk)?

Well not necessarily anything specific. just a few things that mark some VERY wide margings for what i have in mind

Chara fell in 201X, as per the calendar with the circled date.

This was after the Dreemurrs (and thus monsterkind in tow) already left Home to explore the rest of the mountain and settled in New Home. This is deduced by the wall writings in Waterfall, which bemoan the underground's inaccessibility, saying there's no way a human could ever make its way down there.

So New Home already existed (or was soon going to be founded, if the plaques were written while the monsters were still exploring) before any human had fallen into the Underground at all.

However! The childhood room in Home is referred to as Asriel's room in both the game files and in the art book (the screenshot is from the Home segment of the book)

Which would mean Asriel was born close enough in time to the monsters' banishment to be alive when they migrated further into the caverns (and to already have personal interests, like astronomy), and that he was likely snooping around his previous home in the RUINs by chance when he found Chara.

I think Chara spent a LOT of time with the Dreemurrs... but less so chronologically. They likely had reset powers like all humans who fall into the Underground as a consequence of their high DT (from the Undertale Legends of Localization book):

(I actually think this was the intended implication with their inappropriately light approach to death and pain, ie: laughing in that one videotape about making Asgore sick), so I like to think that, while they obviously stuck around for a long time, they techincally were only with the Dreemurrs for 1, maybe 2 linear years. Which would explain why they seem... hesitant to call them their child/sibling. From their perspective, it was too soon for those words at the time. Either that or Chara was uncomfortable with familiar terms for whatever reason. I tend to ping-pong between the two.

Chara dies and so does Asriel -> Asgore cringe comp -> Toriel bails.... And then bam, the next humans start falling down.

l think the entire affair took centuries in total. Surely a lot of time, enough for most commonplace monsters to have no idea what a human looks like

At LEAST one century, that is, but that is the barest minimum. There's this one line in the date with Sans at MTT resort when he's talking about his first meeting with Toriel:

Now I'm not saying Sans is aware of what's going on or that this makes incanon sense, but knowing UT's propensity for tragically poetic irony, this feels like one of those occasions.

I in my personal chronology, the humans fell either 1 or 2 per century, putting Toriel's exile between 300 and 600 years long.

The order? uhhhhh. dw about it

Thus, Frisk falls down in 2X15. Monsters are freed, everyone is happy. Yay yayay ^_^ yippee. The End.

[nervousbelieverstarfish]

So, Gloob is going to air episodes 12 and 18, when all we got till now are the first 9 episodes.

I know the mayor part of the fandom will watch them despite they're out of order, but I'm not gonna do that.

In this season the chronological order is more important than ever, every episode is interconnected with the others. Just imagine for a moment watching episode 9 without watching the previous 8 first. That would be pretty confusing, right?

For this reason, many people around are considering the possibility of not watching them, especially episode 18, but the same amount of them are afraid of being spoiled anyway by social media, and for this reason they'll watch them even if they'll ruin their experience with the show doing so.

What I'm here for today is asking all of you to not take away from us the freedom to decide.

When the episodes airs, if you want to watch them and rumble about them over social media, please use the proper precautions:

Tumblr: use the #*episode name* spoilers tag instead of just the #ml spoilers one, so we can block the specific tag for those episodes without cutting off ourselves from the rest of the season

Instagram: add spoiler warnings as the first 2 images of your posts (because IG will show you again a post in your feed if you just ignore it, but offering you the second slide instead) specifying the name of the involved episode; when you share spoilers in your stories, cover them with a spoiler alert sticker or share the slide with the warning instead

TikTok: add a couple of seconds at the beginning of your videos where you just put a spoiler warning with the name of the "spoiled" episode

Twitter: other than the #MLBS5Spoilers tag, use a tag with the episode name, #MLBPerfectionSpoilers and #MLBEmotionSpoilers should do the job

Please share these simple guidelines with everyone you know: reblog, screenshot, repost, I don't care! Just spread the word!

We can do this.

Stay strong, stay Miraculous!

[astralexpressarchives]

The Renheng Iceberg Explained

Alright so there's this renheng iceberg on twitter that I was recently informed about. I'm wayyy too deep into the lore so I skipped to the bottom and everything there was stuff I was already more than familiar with.

So I figured why not put all this information to some use and make a post explaining the more obscure items on the iceberg and leaving out the self-explanatory ones, doing my best to reference as well as possible.

Blade gazing at Imbibitor Lunae statue

This was a hidden interaction where you could find Blade standing near the statue of Imbibitor Lunae at the scalegorge after revealing Dan Heng's vidyadhara form. He says he is 'mourning for folly' and asks you if Dan Heng is happy. You can watch a video about this here.

Good friends who are bad for each other

This is Kafka's description of what she knows about Blade and Dan Heng's history in her companion quest. This answer is a "truth" in her game of truth and lies.

"Apparently, they used to be good friends... Well, good friends who were bad for each other. Bladie forgot nearly everything, so he doesn't remember well. Together, they did something bad — something terrible. It led to horrific consequences. That's the information I managed to piece together. Bladie refused to tell me the details."

Dan Heng gets nightmares about blade

We see this in-game in the cinematic leading up to the Xianzhou questline. This is also suggested in the Only Silence Remains lightcone description.

Matching Jade Ornaments

Referring to this idea.

There is also a vidyadhara egg that says:

"You edge closer to the pearlescent shell and have a dream in which you are a Pearlkeeper who rides the waves, and travels across the ancient sea with your true love. The time you have spent with your lover is full of happiness, but the time of hatching rebirth is determined by destiny. You secretly put a jade pendant in your mouth so your lover can recognize each other in the next life."

And considering that DH:IL 4 story has him refusing to speak during the entirety of his interrogation, death sentence, and final verdict, it definitely leaves room for imagination.

Bracer Lore

This one encompasses a few of the other ones on the iceberg, too. Really, it's worth reading the entirety of the Passerby of Wandering Clouds relic set lore. Keep in mind all relic sets are in chronological order of head/gloves/body/feet. The bracer also mentions this part about 'That owner also once shared company and drinks with the unnamed, the two of them simply gazing at the moon with no words exchanged.' This has an interesting meaning in CN that tells us this drinking was an engagement ceremony. People thought this must be a typo but, despite many tickets from people, their only response has been that they're unable to comment further. They still haven't changed it as of patch 1.4.

Dan Heng polishes and gaze longingly at Cloud Piercer

A recent addition in patch 1.4 where Pom-pom now says:

"Passenger Dan Heng often carefully maintains and polishes his spear. Although the Express is very safe, it seems that he is not willing to drop his guard. Hmm, Pom-Pom can tell that when he polishes his spear, there isn't just alertness in his eyes, but a glint of longing, too. Don't underestimate me, Pom-Pom had dealt with all kinds of different passengers!"

I'm sure by now everyone knows that cloudpiercer was made by Yingxing (Blade).

You can see screenshots of this interaction in this post.

Mirror Inverted Colours

Apparently, a big part of CN character design focuses around the concept of inverted colour palette designs for ships. Because Blade and Dan Heng share inverted colours, this is considered a good sign for the ship as it indicates they were most likely designed together.

Danmei Coded

Danmei is the CN genre for mlm. It has a lot of stereotypical tropes that are very common in this genre and apply to renheng also. My personal opinion is that renheng is very similar to something written by Meatbun in particular - this is a danmei author who wrote erha, yuwu, and casefile compendium. The associated tropes are:

Lovers to enemies back to lovers angst timeline often including misunderstandings involving tragic betrayal

Black/red character x white/blue/green character

Under the moonlight

Amnesia and/or reincarnation themes

Protag did something that made everybody turn on them + complicated political drama plot

Redemption in death/isolation/retreating from the world at the end

Waiting frankly ridiculous amounts of time to be with the lover again

One character pursuing the other character literally

One character considered dead or demonic in some capacity, the other is ethereal and godly

Mortal x immortal

Afterlife/spirit realm shenanigans usually involving fractured souls as a result of torment

Contrasting personalities + others don't think they should get along/are bad for each other (usually the deviant personality is considered to be corrupting the noble/revered personality in some way which often involves a rebellion)

Mirrored Ultimates

Their ultimate animation sequences are very similar with close eyes with weapon - open eyes - attack.

And both of their ultimates take place in different versions of the same location:

Vidyadharas can't identify items belonging to their past yet Dan Heng got the bracer, jade pendant(?), and cloud piercer

There is an NPC named Lingling in the alchemy commission who is responsible for assisting in vidyadhara hatching rebirth. She collects the personal belongings of vidyadhara who claim that they want to keep the items for their next life. She says that:

From what I've seen, most Vidyadhara lack emotions fresh after their rebirth, and are unable to understand the sentiments of their previous selves. Not a single one has ever been able to identify which one of these items used to belong to them.

This is a big indicator that DH = DF and that their romance will be continuing in this life, too. We know from Passerby of Wandering Clouds relic set that Dan Heng is still in possession of the bracer because of the line: "His fingertips could still faintly feel the temperature from the other."

The stars always accompany the moon

This is a reference to their names in CN where the Xing in Yingxing means moon and the Yue in Yinyue jun (Imbibitor Lunae) means Moon. Their ship name Xingyue means Star and Moon, which is often why you will see them referred to with the Star/Moon emojis as well as the sword/leaf emoji.

Blade came to see Dan Heng blushing when Xiyan asked him to act the character in his story

This is referring to this video on weibo where Dan Heng is talking to Xiyan. You can see the characters in the crowd then Dan Heng starts blushing. The next time you see the crowd, Blade has arrived third from the right.

"Eternal Regrets of a High Elder" and "Dreams from a Past Life"

These are arias from the Cloudcry Songbook written by a Vidyadhara named Lingjie who reincarnated into Chunfen. Lingjie was an opera singer and apparently a big fan of Dan Feng and his romantic life.

My friend wrote the poem analysis of both of these arias. I would strongly recommend reading her translations.

TW: These translations do include mentions of a new leaked poem. Some of the content is NSFW.

Dan Heng named himself "Dan Heng" due to the "Dan" character carved by Yingxing/Blade

We know that Vidyadhara do not usually name themselves based on their past lives as they have no attachment to them. The other iteration of Dan Heng was named Yubie for example. Dan Heng's name in CN is  丹恒. The Dan 丹 means red/pellet/powder/cinnabar. You can see Dan is inscribed on his spear that Yingxing made for him, thus the logical conclusion is that Dan Heng saw the inscription and chose it as his name.

The Star of the East (Jupiter, Wood Star)'s god is Ying Xing, and their guardian beast is Azure Dragon/Canglong/Qinglong

This one is the only one I didn't understand when I first saw it, so I had to request the help of my CN knowing friends to figure it out.

Yingxing's name is 应星 (where the 星 means star).

The CN god of Jupiter Taisui Xingjun 太岁星君 is known as Yin Jiao 殷交

Jupiter is the planet associated with the Chinese wood element, known as the wood star

Azure Dragon is known as Canglong or Qinglong in CN. This is the guardian of Jupiter (the wood star).

Blade's fansong equates Yingxing with 听星 (judging star) which is an alias for Taisui Xingjun

You can read my friend's explanation of the relevant line in the fansong below.

Dan Feng's crime was inspired by Chang'E, the moon goddess for stealing an elixir of immortality and Yingxing was inspired by Hou Yi, a mortal and husband of Chang'E (he was given immortality but didn't, this parallels and contrasts Yingxing's immortality)

So there's actually a bit more to this. I'm going to just use my friend's explanation here:

According to Shang dynasty’s Guicang, It is said that there is a moon maiden who escaped to the moon after stealing an immortality pill. This story was eventually given more details: The moon maiden became known as Heng’e 姮娥, who was the wife of Hou Yi - the hero who shot down the 9 suns. Hou Yi was given an immortality pill/herb as a reward, but Heng’e stole it and flew to the moon. In some versions, upon finding out, Hou Yi tried to shot down her to prevent her from floating to the moon, but he hesitated and ended up choosing not to in the end because he still loved her. In the moon, Heng’e stayed in a palace called 廣寒宮 (the Vast Palace of Coldness) and cursed to be separated from her husband, alone with only the moon rabbits and the immortal osmanthus tree forever. Later on, her name was changed to Chang’e 嫦娥 because Emperor Wen of Han’s name was 劉恆 Liu Heng, and so the 姮 Heng part of her name became a taboo. The interesting here is that 姮 (Heng’e), 恆 (Liu Heng), 恒 (Dan Heng) are all alternative ways to write the same character, 姮, which originally means moon, Heng’e. In addition, we also have a lot of official artworks depicting Dan Heng with the moon and osmanthus flowers:

Yeah so I think that just about covers everything. I left out the ones that were self-explanatory but if anyone is still confused about any of them I can try to elaborate further in the replies.

[finsterwalds]

Got my hands on the script of Anatomy of a Fall, and I couldn't help but compare it with some scenes from the movie because that's how deep I am rn :'D Anyway, here are some of my finds and things I personally enjoyed. I'm sure there are more things to dig out but these are what I wanted to share with the world. The order of my finds will be chronological, for the most part, but keep in mind that sometimes, some scenes were edited to show up later, or earlier than originally intended. Spoilers for the whole movie obviously so you've been warned!

Takes place when Vincent first visits Sandra to discuss Samuel's death. In the movie, Sandra stops Vincent and cuts him harshly, saying "STOP, I did not kill him". Vincent then says a line that I think is pretty iconic in the movie, a sarcastic : "That's not the point. Really". His line is much harsher than on the script, where he's a bit softer. "You don't need to tell me that" implies that he has some deep, loyal faith in Sandra, while "That's not the point" cuts any further discussion. He really doesn't wanna know if she actually did it. Comes from a wish to remain blind still, but with less innocence and a lot of denial. Oh, Vincent.

In the movie, his last line is way better imo, he says "No one's gonna believe that. I don't believe that." I like the emphasis on his opinion rather than the fleeting and impersonal "it's really hard to believe". Truly hits way harder and puts Vincent back in the position of a lawyer.

The rest will be under the cut because I think it's gonna be a wall of text I apologize guys...... This movie does things to my brain.

There's a scene that was cut where Vincent phones Nour while still at Sandra's, which I would have enjoyed a lot but I'll admit it's a bit filler-y. Doesn't add a lot and kinda cuts the serious tone of Sandra's confession, imo, as they discuss the judge's antics in a pretty comical manner. I just love Nour so I'm based......

Another, REALLY long scene that was cut where a medium comes into Sandra's house to feel Samuel's ghost and foreshadows Daniel poisoning Snoop with aspirin. I had a good laugh at that one, honestly. It feels pretty out of place with the tone of the movie, and the personality of the characters even... I can't picture Sandra calling a medium. I'm glad they removed it because the foreshadowing was unnecessary too. It's still interesting that they had planned it however.

This takes place after Vincent finds out about the tape. Interestingly, his whole line was cut after "before he died". In the movie, he never comments on Sandra's affairs/sexuality. He never really asks much about her life at all. He truly is blinded by his wish to shield himself from her inner demons, in order to maintain his undying loyalty towards her. To see what he wants of her...

Another scene that was completely cut (a flashback, I believe?) where Sandra makes Daniel pose for a german photographer to make some money, which Monica dislikes, and then they argue. I think it really frames her as too unsympathetic, so I'm also glad it was cut.

Okay, so now, here comes The Big Change. The scene where Vincent and Sandra drink together after the first trial was heavily altered, because its tone in the movie is pretty tense when compared with the lightheartedness of the script. In the script, they laugh and reminisce together about the past and even kiss at the end of the scene. In the movie, none of was I screenshot happens : instead of playing along with the 'firing Vincent' suggestion, the scene ends with Sandra scolding Vincent for judging her in his head. Vincent backs off and the scene ends. Another instance of him not pressing emotional depth to shield himself.

There are other scenes I liked (many that touch upon Sandra's books) but I'll stop there. Hope you'll enjoy that... I might draw some of these so stay tuned... This movie has absorbed my soul but it feels good to be alive, thank you Justine Triet.

[krakenartificer]

Basics of Tumblr-based memetics for reddit refugees

When people arrive at Tumblr, they are generally unsure about how to handle themselves. The buttons are easy enough (I mean, the UI sucks, but it's 2023, we're all used to sucky UIs by now, so....), but what are the social implications of each one? What does a reblog mean?

This is very difficult to explain to people for whom this is their first social media site, or are arriving here from (eg) Facebook. But for this round of refugees, from Reddit specifically, I actually can explain. Because!...

....As you have no doubt noticed ....

.... in a world where we all use 4 websites, and each of them consists of content screenshotted from the other 3....

...there is not an equal distribution of who's making content and who's copying it. Facebook generates almost none of the content for other websites; Twitter generates some; but nearly all of the content on the modern internet is generate on Reddit or on Tumblr.

There is a reason for this: all "web 2.0" sites have the ability to generate new memes, and new variants on those memes. But only Reddit and Tumblr have an evolutionary pressure that forces those memes through a natural-selection process. On Reddit, that pressure is applied by the voting system: if an addition to a post doesn't get enough upvotes, it's hidden from view, which means it has limited ability to affect the next generation of posts.

On Tumblr, the equivalent evolutionary pressure is applied by reblogs: each version of a post, each set of additions, is seen in proportion to how many people reblog it, and thus cause other people to see it. Lack of reblogs -> lack of visibility -> limited ability to affect the next generation of posts.

So with that in mind, let's look at some nuances that are specific to the Tumblr ecosystem.

1) Reblogs are direct visibility; upvotes are indirect

On Reddit, when you upvote something, it's a signal to the algorithm that -- in your opinion -- this thing is useful/valuable/funny or in some other way worthwhile. The algorithm takes that into account along with everyone else's votes, time since it was posted, and so on, and makes a decision about what to show by default vs what to hide by default, and how to sort things. Upvoting does affect visibility, but it's only one factor.

Whereas on Tumblr, reblogging puts the post on your followers' dashboards directly (assuming your followers have chronological order turned on, which most of them probably do because fuck corporate decisions about what I should and shouldn't see). One reblog = one post on everyone's dashboard; it's as simple as that.

Reblogging is therefore a much stronger evolutionary boost than upvoting is.

2) Likes have very little impact on visibility

Most people have "based on your likes" turned off. Even for those that keep it on, it doesn't affect what other people see, it only gives Tumblr some idea of what you might like to see. Of course behind the scenes that's somehow accomplished with some kind of correlation coefficient about which posts are most likely to be "liked" by the same person, and in that sense a "like" on this post increases the likelihood that someone else who has "liked" other posts that you have "liked" will see this post as well, but it's a very tenuous and wispy impact,.

Liking is therefore a much weaker evolutionary boost than upvoting is, and should be considered more along the lines of a high-five, or a hug, or a "I would give you gold for this if I could afford any" comment.

(Also, you cannot "like" only one section of a post. When you "like", the notification goes to everyone in the chain, from OP to the latest reblog. If you wish to give specific high-fives, the mechanism you're looking for is replies.)

3) Replies have no impact on visibility one way or the other.

Only OP gets notifications for replies, but you can tag people in the reply to notify them. This is the place for "@most-recent-commenter I would give you gold if I could" or for tagging a friend that you think would enjoy the post.

So, with the underlying mechanics of the ecosystem out of the way, let's look at

memetic engineering

There are two ways you can add your thoughts/ideas/opinions/snarky commentary to a post: in the text of the post, or in the tags.

a digression on tags

Tags -- of course -- can theoretically be used to organize content, although if we're being completely honest here, they're not ... great. for that. Tags can be handy as a textual handle to simplify your google search when you use an external search engine to search your own tumblr blog, but their use as an archival tool is mediocre at best. Likewise, no matter what the Tumblr UI says in the tag section, they're not gonna be that helpful in allowing people to find your content.

Tags can also, as sometimes they do on Twitter or Instagram, provide context to a post. This is less important here, since without a character limit there's no need to trim down your commentary and trust #wgastrike2023 to fill in the missing details, but it can be very handy when you're trying to determine whether this "Bruce and his buddies" post is talking about The Hulk or about Batman, or whether this thread is dissing Harry Potter, Harry Styles, or Harry Prince of Wales.

Tags are also very handy for allowing people to continue following you even when there's some sort of interest incompatibility. If you love spiders -- especially pictures of spiders -- and I'm arachnophobic, then I'm probably not going to be able to keep following you, no matter how excellent your Anarchist Star Wars takes are. But if you love pictures of spiders and you tag every single one of them #spiders, then I can block that tag and still keep following you. Similarly, a temporary block on #The Witcher Spoilers can allow the fandom to all discuss a new episode at whatever time they're able to watch it, without having to completely avoid online spaces in the meantime.

And finally, tags can, and are, used for commentary that you don't want to put in the main post. Where that line is -- what to put in the post and what to put in tags -- is something you'll have to decide for yourself as you get experience, but as a general rule, the post is for something that you believe contributes to the memetic fitness of this post, and the tags are for things that you believe are not necessarily of memetic value. Additions to the post are integrated into the DNA, and will be passed on with subsequent reblogs; tags are only added to your instantiation of the post, and will not be included on future reblogs (unless the person who reblogs it from you is on iOS Tumblr Mobile app and hasn't adjusted their settings, in which case it'll go into their tags... but at any rate it'll die out in a generation or two.) This feature makes it good for adding meta-commentary that will be interesting/funny/valuable to your immediate circle of friends, but won't be useful to the population as a whole -- it allows you to be as snarky, in-joke-y, and obscure as you'd like, without having to spend any of your mental RAM calculating what will and won't have an impact on your Brand as an Influencer.

Influencers

There is no easy mechanism for people to see your follower count. There are many easy mechanisms for people to make it impossible to see their follower count. No one cares about how many followers you have or how far your "influence" spreads. No one is going to offer you a Tumblr sponsorship deal.

However, for assorted underlying-code reasons, Tumblr blogs are disproportionately useful for manipulating search engines. So.... we have an ongoing problem with SEO scum making a whole bunch of bots and using reblogs etc to generate fake signals to Google.

The combination of those two things leads to a general Tumblr tradition of Block Bots On Sight. The extra followers aren't helping you, and the mere fact of their existence is hurting all of us. If you've seen people strongly urging you to change your profile picture, add a bio, and reblog a couple things, that's why -- because we don't want you to get caught in the crossfire of our ongoing guerilla warfare.

Other Notes

One of the places that Reddit is much better than Tumblr is in the viewing of an entire memetic population as a whole: you just look at a post, scroll through the page, and Reddit helpfully shows you want you want to see, and hides what you don't.

On Tumblr, each memetic variation is functionally an entirely separate entity. This is great for memetic diversity, but it means there's a LOT of duplication, and it means there's really no good way to get all the variants together. The closest you can get is to "check the notes" -- click on that number at the bottom left of a post, and look through the replies, reblogs, and tags. Those are in chronological order and in no way threaded, so it's not very useful, but it is what we've got.

Let's see ...

One thing Tumblr does much better than Reddit is the ability (because of aforementioned fragmentation) to have an arbitrary number of any fandom. No more "Well I don't like the takes in r/polyamory but it's the only place where I can talk about it so idk" ... nope! Here we can have as many Spider-Man fandoms as there are Spider-Man fans. Really like someone's headcanons? Follow them! Really dislike someone's OTP? Unfollow them! Really hate someone's take on your favorite character? Block them! This is a fabulous feature of Tumblr and I encourage you to take advantage of it.

uh...

tags can be 140 characters, but they can't contain double quotes (") or commas (,) because those are delimiter characters and Tumblr will break your tag at those points in the string

...

If you think someone has mis-judged the value of their tags, you can copy them from their post and paste them into the main comment of your reblog. This is known as the tags "passing peer review". Copy-paste is preferred to screenshotting for accessibility reasons (and also the fact that sometimes Tumblr just doesn't feel like loading pictures), and it's considered polite to credit the person whose tags you promoted.

...

Contrariwise, if you think they mis-judged the value of their comment, you can go back to the person they reblogged from, and reblog without their addition. Tumblr made this harder recently, but I have confidence that we'll defeat them eventually.

...

I know that I said reblogs are much stronger than upvotes, but when you've got infinite monkeys generating infinite reblog streams, it all gets lost in the noise. Reblog anything and everything you feel like upvoting -- if people don’t want to be subjected to a bunch of random shit that lights up the dopamine receptors in your brain, they shouldn’t be following you on Tumblr.

...

IDK what to tell you about Tumblr polls. We're just like this 🤷‍♂️

...

...

That's all I can think of. Deities bless and keep you for seeing a problem in our online ecosystem and actually doing something about it. Looking forward to seeing what we can do together.

(Author's Note: All statements about how Tumblr works ("works") are as of 14 June 2023. God only knows what changes staff will have rolled out by time time you read this)

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Was I the AH for making a joke no one told me they didn't like?

This happened back when I was 12.

I was pretty... not popular, but friends with a lot of semi-popular figures in a certain fandom. I know you aren't supposed to be on social media until you're 13 and all that, but it was a good while ago [2019ish] and I was a kid who never made friends IRL.

One of my friends [16, I think?] had a delusion [it was a diagnosed disorder they had and told me about, if I remembered I would tell you, MAYBE OSDD but I think it was something else] that they were one of the characters from the show the fandom was about.

I had other friend groups into the same show, and I would often make jokes "pretending" to be one of the characters [usually just posting a memed up version of a screencap and mimicking the speech pattern of the character], which would land well and make them laugh, so I saw no issue using this joke around the friend with delusions [who I'll call Lucas]. I only did it twice.

The first time I didn't notice anything different, but the second time they started treating me like this character [who I later learnt but didn't know at the time Lucas recalled having memories of being in a romantic relationship with]. Lucas was the only person I knew who had these types of delusions, so I didn't know what to do and just went along with it until they, uh... "snapped out of it", I guess?

Soon after, I was added to a group chat with a few other people. All of them were 16, except for who we'll call Dawn, who was 12 or 13, and who was the leader of their whole group. I'll call the other people Rosa [someone who I had gotten in a huge argument with before for a reason I don't remember but I think she started it and I overreacted, if this was about that it'd probably be YTA or ESH, but I apologized and we didn't really talk anymore], and Nate [someone who I hadn't ever talked to outside of a large group setting]. Lucas was also there in this group chat.

They were staging an... intervention? They were basically making me explain my actions and were telling me how I was a horrible person for "tricking Lucas into thinking I was this character". Lucas wasn't very responsive to the situation, and I was pretty sure Dawn was the one who orchestrated the whole thing and roped Lucas into it, maybe as a confidant or something like that. Rosa brought up how awful I was to her before, and how she never forgave me even though I thought she did. Nate also brought up how "aggressive and violent" I was, citing one of the only times I had talked to him [which I thought was just a funny way to greet someone, akin to like "*knocks a door off its hinges and it explodes everywhere, I take several minutes trying to put it back together but it clearly isn't done well* Hi guys"], using a screenshot he had taken MONTHS prior and had been saving for that moment, he told me.

I was supposed to go out shopping, so I couldn't keep on checking my phone without my parents getting suspicious of me. I was also hyperventilating and kept on having to take breaks to make sure I didn't freak out. I kept on trying to reply to things in chronological order, and they were getting more and more progressively upset. I told them the first part about my parents getting suspicious, and one of them even told me that "your parents should know what kind of sick fuck you are, maybe then you'll understand your actions." Eventually, we DID go shopping, and I couldn't reply for several hours.

When I got back, Dawn and Rosa had made several call out posts on their social media each, and I had several DMs from other people about it. I couldn't read the posts, and all I did was deactivate my account. I couldn't post art I had done online until about a year ago, couldn't even think about the show until a few months ago when my friend wanted to try it out, and I still can't go onto that social media platform because it makes me so nervous and I can't breathe, afraid that someone will recognize me even now and "expose me". Lucas wanted to keep in touch, but they were a bit clingy and only came to me when they were having mental breakdowns. I couldn't handle the constant reminders, so I eventually deleted their number.

Note: while I am very safe about my identity online, these people [at least Dawn, since she said how old she was before me and even showed pictures of herself in cosplay online before, she WAS very 12] did know what age I was [I had lied about it before then to other people].

I still feel really bad about this, and I was wondering if I really was being an asshole. Maybe I was just being biased because I was the one being persecuted? I don't know. Maybe I was the AH because I was suffering from the horrible illness sweeping the nation called being 12 years old?

I'm sorry if this is a little silly, but I'm 17 now and this is still a part of my past I'm ashamed of.

Could you tag this post "12 year old confrontation" so I can find it? Thank you. Sorry, again.

What are these acronyms?

[20dollarlolita]

20dollarlolita pattern school step 3) prep and pattern selection.

NOTE: Here's a link to the pattern school discord. If this link has expired, please message me off-anon and I can send you one. I like to get to know everyone in the pattern school and so I don't let too many people in at once, so that I don't get overwhelmed.

So quick summary of where we were: Pattern School is a project that I'm working on in this blog, and that has an accompanying Discord server. The purpose of Pattern School is to teach people, though hands-on experience, the consistent conventions that sewing patterns use. It also teaches basics about how to transform patterns into designs that do what you want them to do. Pattern School is divided up into steps. Each step builds on the skills of the previous one, and each one teaches new elements.

Here's the pattern school tag, in chronological order.

In step 1, everyone follows a commercial pattern with notches, grainlines, and written instructions. This pattern is for something that is not fitted to a human body/is not multi-sized. In this step, we make sure that everyone has a basic foundation understanding of how commercial patterns are made. We choose a non-fitted item so that selecting the correct fit and adjusting for body shape is not necessary. If the student wishes, an additional challenge for step 1 will be to look at a pattern, see if it's usable in lolita fashion, and make good fabric and trim selections to make a usable lolita item.

In step 2, we take a pattern for pajama pants and use it to create bloomers. This step introduces the basics of pattern manipulation. We go into how to remove seam allowance, measure ourselves for fullness, and assemble a garment from a modified pattern. Once again, there is a challenge of choosing good trim and fabric options to build a usable lolita garment.

In step 3, we will be making a lolita or lolita-adjacent garment for ourselves. This garment will be a fitted item, and it will have a closure. What's a closure? Closures are something that opens and closes to allow the wearer to get in and out of the garment. Closures can be zippers, button plackets, hooks and eyes, IDK freaking magnets or something, if you want to put velcro as a closure then more power to ya, but your garment needs to have some kind of closure. I've made resources for how to put in zippers, but other closures are probably also acceptable. Pullover elastic is not a closure. We are making a garment for ourselves because it's a lot easier to make a fitted garment when you have the body you're using right there with you at all times. If you are always with another human being while you sew, you could probably use them, but the critical component is that you have the body accessible to you all the time.

This time, the challenge is also to make something that either can be part of your lolita wardrobe, or that forces you to choose and style something that has a lot of lolita fashion aesthetics. If you want to pick a lolita-adjacent concept, like Aristocrat or Fairy Kei, you're probably fine? If you're doing this on your own, the person who decides if you're cheating is you. If you're in the Discord, you can ask if something's acceptable and like 15 people will disagree with it before tagging me and then I make up an answer on the spot. I firmly belive that Ouji is just lolita with pants and doesn't need to be stated separately.

I previously made a very long list of garments that you can make EGL fashion with, but it's older and some of the patterns are out of print. So, here's a few hours of me going through the big 4 pattern website and finding stuff that has potential.

Dresses:

Left | Center | Right

So quick note: my image editing software kept refusing to function with images off simplicity.com, so we're going to alternate between funky screenshots and semi-competent images. I'm not sorry.

Left | Center | Right

Any time you're making a lolita dress from an existing dress pattern, you'll need to check that the skirt will hold our petticoats. Frankly, most of them don't. You've done the bloomer step, so you do have experience with this kind of modification, but I'll do a tutorial later about checking this and drafting your own skirt onto an existing bodice. For step 3, doing a commercial pattern for the bodice and then following a web tutorial for the skirt totally counts. What we're looking for in a dress pattern is the ability to mod it into a working lolita dress. Please note that Simplicity 8444 (the pirated-but-not-pirate lolita dress) and Simplicity s9735 (the “why'd you use Derpy-chan??”) dresses are not eligible for Step 3, as they are both elastic pullovers.

Top Left | Top Center | Top Right Bottom Left | Bottom Right

Blouses: However, Simplicity 8444 and s9735 both have blouses that work for step 3. If you want to build the JSK on your own and then follow the blouse pattern for step 3, you're good.

The McCall Titanic looking thing is a really fun blouse to make for this, and it's got a back zipper, so if you're not confident in your button-sewing then it's a good option.

Any button-up that goes all the way to the neck has some lolita potential. M8463 is actually pretty loliable on its own.

Top Left | Top Center | Top Right Bottom Left | Bottom Right

Vests are easy to make, don't take a lot of fabric (so you can use some really fancy fabric and have it not break the bank). You're going to have to find a good reference image for lolita but they're really good for ouji and aristocrat, so they get a category.

Top Left | Top Right Bottom Left | Bottom Right

I've just always wanted to make my own lolita coat so they get a category. Once again, you're going to need to double check that the flare fits your skirts.

Left | Right

Welcome to the weird shit category. There's a costume shop near me that sells these funky bolero steampunk things and I've always wanted to put it in a coord, so it's on here. The other one is a top that you could probably use as the top half of a JSK, so if you want to make a coordinating skirt then you could have some fun separates. I think handmade lolita needs more coordinating separates. They're a real thing but I want them to be more common.

So that's in no way a complete collection of patterns you can use, but I hope that's got some kind of inspiration about pattern. My test garment was made off an etsy pattern. There's plenty of other patterns out there. This was just the fastest way for me to showcase some patterns that do work.

We'll do a little more about looking at style lines and finding how to understand this a little better in the future, but for now here we are.

[yumeka-sxf]

Spy x Family movie CODE: White plot chronology predictions

Now that we've gotten both a teaser trailer and a full trailer for the SxF movie, I thought it would be fun to theorize about what the exact order of events would be for the movie's plot, based on the trailers and short synopsis we've gotten so far. Then, when the movie is finally released, I'm curious to see how accurate my predictions were or if they were way off! 😅

(Just note that anything in this post that's not mentioned in the official synopsis is my personal speculation, so please take it with a grain of salt!)

My first guess is that the scenes of Loid and Yor doing their spy/assassin work will happen at the very beginning of the movie, as it makes sense to introduce the audience to the basics of the characters for all the non-fans who are watching.

The first part of the movie's synopsis describes how WISE wants to replace Twilight with another man as the head of Operation Strix...a man who is apparently "incompetent." Now we haven't seen any other new character in the movie promotion besides the villains, so I don't know who this person is. However, I would assume this means we get scenes of Twilight talking to Sylvia. OR! There's this below scene of Twilight catching a rolled up message from the sky. Since he's still dressed in his usual outfit, this takes place before they leave on the trip. So maybe this message is a cipher or something from WISE about how he's getting replaced and he doesn't actually meet with Sylvia (the scenes of Sylvia/WISE from the trailer would occur later).

Next, the synopsis describes the cooking competition at Eden where a stella is rumored to be the reward. This is probably where we get the scenes of the Eden kids and Henderson. I doubt they'll have bigger parts in the movie besides cameos at the beginning and maybe the end.

The synopsis continues with Loid suggesting that Anya make the "Melemele," a traditional pastry from the Frejis region and a favorite of the principal, who is also the head of the judging panel for the cooking competition. Since Anya getting a stella would help him show progress with Operation Strix, and possibly prevent him from being replaced, Loid decides that they should take a family trip to Frejis. That would be the below scene from the first trailer.

The synopsis then mentions how Yor "witnesses an exchange between Loid and a mysterious woman before their departure, resulting in some uneasiness about their temporary relationship during the trip." (Yor's expression when Loid mentions the trip in the scene above does look a tad "uneasy" to me). As for who this woman is, I think it's either Fiona in disguise or possibly Loid himself in disguise as a woman, since the disguise he's seen wearing at the beginning of the teaser trailer appears to have blonde curly locks.

The below scene of Loid putting on his movie jacket probably occurs right before they leave on the trip. The scenery in front of him looks like it could be either at home or at his workplace. In this scene he's probably thinking about how he has to make the Frejis trip worthwhile for Operation Strix.

Next from the synopsis is how Anya finds a trunk case on the train with chocolate inside. We see in the teaser trailer that she gets a hold of a key to the trunk (it looks like the key is lying on a sink perhaps, since there's water near it?) She then accidentally eats the chocolate before the trunk's owner comes back.

At first I thought she ate the chocolate later, in front of the villains, which made them immediately kidnap her, but the synopsis specifically says she found the trunk on the train. You can also see in the background of the two above screenshots that it very much looks like a dark, luggage compartment of a train. I doubt they take another train ride after this, so my guess is that she ate the chocolate on the train without anyone seeing her eat it, but one of the bad guys witnessed her sneaking around or acting suspicious in the general area. However, he didn't check the contents of the trunk until later and, when he realizes the chocolate is gone, he immediately tries to track her down.

The synopsis stops with Anya eating the chocolate, but there's still a lot to piece together from just the trailers! Next would be the scenes of the Forgers spending family time upon arriving at Frejis. Loid takes Anya around the booths at what appears to be some kind of fair/festival, Anya and Bond play in the snow, and Loid buys Yor lipstick, perhaps because he senses her uneasiness about the mysterious woman (she's shown to be wearing the lipstick in later scenes).

I also think that Loid buys Anya the toy gun here, which she's seen brandishing later.

After this, the Forgers eat some delicious Frejis cuisine. Just a note that Loid has taken off his scarf and coat, and Yor and Anya took off their coats and hats.

It looks like they're staying at a fancy hotel of some sort? Assuming the below big ballroom is part of where they're staying. I wonder if they're staying in the same room with one bed? Or separate rooms?

Maybe Yor and Anya are sharing a room, since we have the below sweet scene of Yor putting a blanket over sleeping Anya.

By now the villains have realized that the chocolate has been taken/eaten, so the next day they track down the little pink-haired girl who was seen loitering around the train luggage compartment! Somehow they find Anya and succeed in kidnaping her. How exactly they succeed, I'm still not sure, but let's see what we can piece together...

What stands out the most is obviously that they grab her in front of Bond and he attacks.

The question is of course, are Loid and Yor present for this? It's possible Anya sneaks away for some reason with only Bond, and they find out later that she was kidnapped. One of the trailers has dialogue from Loid saying "Anya got caught up in the military?" The way he says this gives the impression that he finds out about it later. However, I also see evidence for him and Yor being present as well. We have the below scene of Loid looking very cautious as the military guys surround him. My guess for this scene is that they're telling him what Anya did and they have to take her away, that he shouldn't resist, etc.

There's also the below scene of Yor seemingly attacking someone. The background looks like a similar location to the aforementioned scenes of Loid and Anya/Bond, though it's not an exact match. At first I thought it was a scene from the train where Anya eats the chocolate, since it looks like she's standing in a narrow train compartment...except for the fact that she's wearing the lipstick, so it must take place after they arrive in Frejis. So I'm placing it in relation to Anya's kidnapping, though I'm still iffy about it.

But if Loid and Yor did witness Anya getting kidnapped, were they unable to prevent it? What happens between the point of Anya getting kidnapped and the end of the movie is still very unclear, but again, I think we have enough info to speculate. Obviously this opens up potential for a TON of Twiyor goodness...like, the two of them trying to comfort each other about failing to protect Anya and trying not to think about what terrible things the villains might do to her. They could even come up with a plan to work together to stop the villains. BUT! It's also possible that they go after her on their own, like, Yor is able to keep following the villains to the airship or wherever their HQ is while Twilight is left behind to gather information with help from WISE and/or Franky.

Speaking of Franky, I think he either appears at this point in the story, to give intel to Twilight that could help with finding Anya, or earlier before they arrive at Frejis. However, I'm still not sure where Yuri fits in. I doubt he'll be part of the main action during the movie's third act, so maybe he'll have a quick cameo at the beginning like the Eden kids.

Anyway, I believe this is the point where Sylvia and WISE make an appearance. Maybe after Twilight contacts them and tells them what happened to Anya, we get the scene from the trailer of Sylvia mentioning the importance of the microfilm. HOWEVER! I also think this scene could have occurred way earlier, maybe even before they arrived at Frejis, so during the trip Twilight is on the lookout for this microfilm. But for now I'm saying we get this WISE scene around the time of Anya's kidnapping.

Then there's the above scene of Fiona arriving in Frejis to possibly help Loid with stopping the villains. At first I thought this scene may have happened before they got to Frejis (and was the scene that made Yor jealous). However, there's snow falling during this scene, so it must take place after they arrived. But again, if Sylvia informed the WISE agents about the microfilm earlier in the story, Fiona may have come to Frejis earlier as well to let Twilight know to look out for it.

We know that Bond managed to tear off one of the guy's military insignia. So Twilight uses this to help make disguises for himself and Fiona to infiltrate the military airship/base (though makes me wonder why he needs to wear their uniforms since a bunch of them already saw his face...maybe to fool the ones who haven't? Was he unable to get one of his face masks?) If Fiona is indeed helping Twilight infiltrate the military airship, that's another reason to believe that Twilight and Yor are working separately to save Anya.

There's a plane present in one of the trailers as well as the original movie visual, so maybe that's what they use to reach the airship?

As for the final battle with the villains, I'm pretty sure Yor will fight Type-F, the robot guy. The fiery hue in the below screenshots makes it look like they're from the same scene.

However, there's also the below scene of Yor seemingly standing on top of the airship (with her coat still on). This scene probably happens before they send in Type-F to stop her.

As for Twilight, seems like he fights Snyder, the military colonel. The animation style for this scene is an interesting choice...I feel like they'll put some kind of epic song/music over it.

And, probably towards the end of the final battle, Twilight has to steer the damaged airship to safety (some point before then he gets rid of his military disguise).

I wonder where Bond is during all this. Did they leave him behind at the hotel? Did he come with Twilight? I also wonder what exactly was the villains' plan with Anya. If they want a microfilm from a chocolate that she ate, how can they get it back once she's eaten it? Any answer I can think of is extremely violent/disgusting, too much for a series like SxF, lol. Also, what made them change their minds from kidnaping her, to killing her, to holding her hostage? (since there's the scene of her bound and gagged)

And lastly, two scenes that I have no idea about are the below screenshots of someone readying guns. The clothes they're wearing don't match anyone from the movie as of now. So all I can speculate is that they could be random thugs from Twilight's and/or Yor's introduction missions from the very beginning of the movie.

And that's pretty much it! After the big battle in the movie's climax, everyone's reunited and Anya definitely will not earn a stella 😂 (since I'm sure the movie isn't allowed to affect the canon that much).

I spent way too long on this to most likely be proven more wrong than right later 🤣 There's also the chance that some scenes in the trailer won't even be in the final cut of the movie, lol. But it was fun speculating anyway! If we get another trailer or significant info that sheds more light on the movie's plot, I may update this post later.

[echoweaver]

Like a bunch of others have said, I have been nervous about making a simblr gratitude post because I'll almost certainly leave someone out, and that hurts. I guess I'll start with the disclaimer:

I read everyone I follow. I can't read every post, but I don't keep anyone on my dash who I haven't made a conscious decision to put there. If you've seen a like or a comment from me, I'm reading you, and I'm doing it because I like what you post.

And I appreciate a lot of simblrs I don't follow too. I've had to choose not to follow several who I'd like to follow, simply because of the above -- I read the folks I follow, and I can't let my follow list get too big for me to handle.

I also have a long list of story tags I follow specifically for stories that have a chronology that matters. I use XKit Rewritten on my browser to keep a list of unread posts by tag so that I don't miss posts from long-running stories.

OK, that said, and in no particular order...

@anamoon63 I have enjoyed the heck out of Alan Wilson's wild life. You're one of the reasons I'm poking at TS4 now. I also have gotten attached to Dale Cho and Kelly. They have so much personality.

@treason-and-plot I was intimidated by the complexity of your story for quite a while before I really started to dig in, but I couldn't stay away. You have so many characters! And so many plot threads! And they all weave together into a tangle of personalities that feel all too real.

@kimmiessimmies I'm still just getting to know your characters, but they're so vivid. As I've said in the comments, I really appreciate that Sadie and her entourage are mostly emotionally mature people who are working through their problems in reasonable ways. Characters don't have to be shallow or dumb to find themselves in drama, but it's a challenge to write mature ones.

@bearphase I got sucked in by Clem. Orange has got to be one of, if not the most challenging NSB generation, and you aced it. I've been invested ever since.

@rebouks You sucked a character all the way to rock bottom, and then he climbed out with hope and integrity and took everyone nearby out with him. I'm still not sure how you made such a dark story so warm and friendly.

@zosa95 I always smile when your characters show up on my dash. You're a warm presence in the community and a good storyteller. And your screenshots somehow manage to be extra endearing.

@greenplumbboblover I've never seen someone try to tell a soap opera of all of Sunset Valley. I'm getting a fresh look at characters who almost never get the spotlight. It's so much fun.

@mosneakers What can I say? I'd snatch Coraleye away from her boy if I had a chance.

@danjaley I can only imagine the kind of work that goes into the McCarrics. Reading their story makes me feel like a fly on the wall of real moments of a Scottish landed farmer's life. I've also snatched up a lot of your cc for my own projects.

@declaration-of-dramas You have such a beautifully staged historical setting, and your characters are so wild. I miss Lady Prilly, but this new story you're telling in San Pineda has already caught me.

@natolesims Your NSB has so much personality. Grey is a lot of fun. I hope we'll see Tiana soon. Ella's story really gripped me, and Tiana's was shaping up to be just as intense. Plus, your Disney simalikes are spot on.

@oasislandingresident You're a big reason why I discovered I like longer lifespans! I fell into the all-to-common trap of assuming everything had to be generational. You can discover very different stories when you give sims more space to live.

@pudding-parade You make some of the prettiest sims I have ever seen. I've downloaded about half a dozen worlds from your world reviews, and I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with them.

@queeniecook I can't wait to meet Vera and Caleb's baby. You've got us all in suspense. Your story is such a fun combination of adventure, intrigue, and domesticity. Also, so many pregnancy photo shoots. 😆

@nocturnalazure Last on this list but not least, I think your story is the first one I found on tumblr that I became a passionate fan of. I honestly think in another universe it would be a great TV adventure drama. I jump whenever I see something new on the tteot tag. Thanks for the story.

Thanks to everyone, and to the folks I've forgotten and will feel guilty about later. 😅

[heloflor]

Was thinking a bit about how “The Devil’s Playhouse” has a lot more comedy than people make it out to be, and while especially thinking about “The Penal Zone” I realized this episode is actually very very very very gay. Like, I’m pretty sure it’s the Telltale episode with the highest amount of gay moments (205 is second on this list, what with Sam getting catcalled by a moleman, Max flirting with Mr. Reaperphone, the whole bachelor party, Peppers etc).

I think what I really like about those moments is that it’s a great example of normalization. The characters are incredibly casual about it, talking about gay relationships the exact same way one would talk about straight relationships, it’s really neat to see! Especially considering that this game was made in 2010, a whooping 5 years before gay marriage was legal in the whole US. It's crazy and great how much they were able to get away with!

(Screenshots of all these moments with timestamps (and quotes) under the cut. To have as little pics as possible, only a small section of each dialogue is taken. And to have a limit of two screenshots per pic max, some dialogues that are cut in two parts in-game have the second part pasted under the first. The timestamps puts you at the beginning of each conversation. All footage from NapalmX717 with the screenshots in chronological order of this video)

Max: “What can I say, Sam? Alien ships love to abduct me. It’s not my fault I look so probe-able.” (9:44)

Sam: “Nice work, little buddy! Make sure you wait three days to call, or he’ll thing you’re desperate.” (11:47)

Max: “Well, he IS pretty charismatic, Sam. And he’s from space, which is a plus. But you’re the only hairy, overweight, domineering control freak I need, Sam.” (20:38)

Sam: “I don’t need to go to another planet for a methane rich environment, as long as I’ve got you, pal.”

Max: “That’s really sweet and obvious, Sam.” (22:46)

Skun-ka’pe: “Perfect! Just the one I wanted to see ha ha ha ha!”

Sam: “Keep the hands where we can see ‘em, pal.” (23:36)

Max: “We could just give ourselves tongue-baths, like cats and flight attendants do!” (30:57)

Sam: “Why do we have jumper cables? Neither of us knows how to use them.”

Max: “It’s simple, Sam: the RED cable goes on the RIGHT nipple, the BLACK cable clamps to the…” (34:42)

Max: “Oh boy! Now I can finally set up my 24-hours adults-only naked bunny chat line.” (34:58)

Sam: “Toys...Toys… we must prepare… the toys….”

Max: “Well, that’s just a typical Friday night for YOU, Sam.” (36:45)

Flint Paper: “Oh. Well yeah, that could be it. I was thinking it was you, Sam!”

Max: “You think you know a guy. I’m not angry, Sam, just very disappointed.” (1:03:49)

(For context they’re talking about who might be Girl Stinky’s secret admirer)

Max: “I can’t lie to Flint Paper, Sam!” (1:05:20)

Max: “What kind of pretend mother would I be if I didn’t worry about our imaginary baby?” (1:10:31)

Momma Bosco: “Oh, it’s not all bad. I’m getting better at apparating. And now I don’t leave a trail of ectoplasmic slime behind every time I leave the room.”

Max: “That’s better than Sam can say.” (1:23:13)

Sam: “I’m not gonna rest until I find the guy who killed my partner!” (1:43:13)

Max: “Wow. I feel really very close to you now, Agent Superball.” (1:45:33)

Sam: “I don’t like the thought of you teleporting off without me, Max.” (1:46:33)

Max: “Sam, this is all so sudden! I… I don’t know what to say!” (2:07:10)

Sam: “I think one of us should try to smash through that window with his rock-hard, melon-sized head.”

Max: “And I think one of us should try the door, unless he wants to spend the rest of the day picking plate glass out of his partner’s fluffy white nether regions.” (2:17:00)

Girl Stinky: “Sam and Max? Don’t tell me Skun-ka’pe wants YOU guys to be his love slaves, too?” (2:24:48)

Girl Stinky: “Eww. He wishes. He’s SO not my type. You only have to date an evil gorilla once to learn never to make THAT mistake again.”

Max: “We’ve all been there, girlfriend.” (2:25:07)

Girl Stinky: “Gee, it sounds like YOU two should go out with him. Would you like me to give you guys some privacy?” (2:27:33)

Max: “You’re my best friend, Sam! I know you’d take a bullet for me!” (2:31:02)

Sam: “You keep coming up with creepy disaster scenarios that always end with you eating me, Max. It’s getting annoying.”

Max: “If you don’t like it, then stop looking so damn tasty.” (2:38:11)

Max: “Think of something quick, Sam. I don’t like the way he’s undressing me with his eyes.” (2:53:22)