#I wasn't sure about posting this with no context because this guy has a LOT of context

[fidgetspringer-art]

✷ Archmage Tethry Ikos ✷

[thankskenpenders]

Today we got some news regarding a big change for the Ian Flynn's Q&A podcast, the BumbleKast. As outlined in a blog post by Ian, starting in 2025, all Sonic-related questions submitted to the show will first need to be screened by Sega. (I have to assume this is also why Ian announced they'll no longer be doing live Q&As starting next year.)

Frankly, I can't say this is particularly surprising.

While the BumbleKast is ostensibly a podcast about Ian's work as a freelance writer for all sorts of things, and also just a place for him to shoot the shit about stuff he likes, he's still predominantly seen as The Sonic Guy. Sure, he also does a bunch of other freelance work for other series, and original comics like Drogune, and he's also the narrative mastermind for the whole Rivals of Aether franchise these days, but it's his insights into what goes on behind the scenes with Sonic that people really care about. Your average Sonic fan can't just go up to Iizuka or whoever and ask him a question about the current state of the lore, but Ian's inbox is always open.

Because of this, I've thought a lot about the BumbleKast's place in the fandom and The Discourse in recent years. Ian wants to be as open and honest as he can about his work, and I think that's admirable. To me, hearing about creators' struggles and the shit they go through just to get a story out the door tends to make me sympathize with them more. Sometimes a story just doesn't turn out as well as you'd hoped, but you're on a tight deadline and all you can do is move on to the next project. I've even softened a bit on Penders over the years as he's shared more about the absurd situations and odd creative demands made behind the scenes at Archie. Unfortunately, not everyone has that mindset.

Ian's basically always had obsessive haters who were eager to take everything he says out of context to try and stir up shit, but that used to be contained by the niche nature of the Archie comics. Most of the fandom didn't give a shit about what Ian was doing with Sonic and Sally's love life or whatever. Most of the fandom wasn't even reading those comics. But Ian's gone from being a writer for a non-canon spinoff comic, to being the initial lead writer for the first ever canon Sonic comic series, to being the new main writer for the games themselves as part of the official Sonic Lore Team. Way more Sonic fans care about his work now, and when he's so open about his work that makes him an easy scapegoat.

It feels like damn near every week on Twitter Ian's personal trolls have posted yet another BumbleKast clip out of context to rile up the fandom and make it look like he has no idea what he's talking about or like he has some kind of agenda. And, unfortunately, people often fall for this. Of course, it also goes the other way, with people more sympathetic towards Ian taking things he says about Sega and framing them as proof that Sega has no idea what they're doing with the brand. Which, well, let's be real, isn't always the most unreasonable thing to think, given Sonic's rocky history. But I'm surprised it took this long for Sega to start paying more attention to what gets said on the BumbleKast when fans use it so regularly as a source of drama.

I've also often felt that they just need to be WAY more selective about what messages they respond to on the show. Questions Ian can't actually answer due to NDAs, questions that are borderline incomprehensible, "questions" that are really just fan ideas. And the haters, oh, the haters. Ian does not need to put up with angry rants about how he should make SonAmy canon or what the fuck ever. Even if Ian's willing to put up with it, as a listener it can make the show just super unpleasant at times when someone aggressive pops up with an inflammatory question. There have been entire BumbleKast Mini episodes I had to skip because they were just obsessive critics of Ian's paying to grill him on a dozen different things and treat him like an idiot.

But at the same time, I get why the show got to be this way. It's become a part-time job for Ian with multiple new episode a week. Given how piss poor the pay tends to be for freelance writers, I can't really blame him for wanting to keep this secondary stream of income open, and to not have to refund people left and right for rejecting their questions. The man's got bills to pay. (And so does Kyle, for whom managing the BumbleKast seems to have become a full-time job.)

I dunno. The man's got the patience of a fucking saint. I would've quit the franchise if I was in his shoes, with people wishing he would die for shit like minor disagreements over Sonic's characterization or him misremembering an obscure old lore thing. While I do hope that Sega doesn't keep too tight of a leash on him moving forward, and I hope that he's still able to speak his mind about his work, part of me also hopes that having to be much more selective about Sonic questions results in less bullshit like this.

[cripplecharacters]

Hi, I have some questions regarding confusion over a certain topic. First off, I have a character with a severe scarring on the upper right side of their body. I've heard in some tumblr ppsts that such appearance shouldn't be fetished. Then I stumbled across some posts, mentioning how the character can be described as 'pretty with it'.

For sure, I'm trying my best to normalize the looks. Because I have a love interest set up for them and while they don't mind the looks, I feel confused on how to convey their appreciation for the character's looks even with the scarring. They like the character as they are and stuff.

Sorry if this is a lot, I tend to get confused on how to handle such scenarios. And this sort of varying opinions is making me go '???'.

It's okay if you take your time to answer! Have a good day ahead of ya!

Hey!

"Fetishization of a disability" and "thinking that a disabled person is pretty" are two very different things. Despite the somewhat similar sound, they're not connected by much.

In the context of scars, fetishization would be what I would call the "Zuko situation" (yes, I love ATLA as much as the next guy, let me explain) - the scar isn't really a scar, it's more make-up than anything else. It's just the color that changes, it's all sharp edges and intricate shapes, the facial structure stays the exact same. There's no physical symptoms. Essentially, it's permanent body paint.

It fetishizes a disability by making it inaccurate, sometimes almost mystical. You don't see anyone fetishizing how real people with facial burns look like because they only like the idea of it. They don't care for us; they don't care for Face Equality or why we are offended by "villain with scar #32482". It's just a fun splotch of color to add to your OC when you're out of ideas.

Another aspect of fetishization is the "a scar is the worst thing in the whole world", the tragedy porn. It's using a disability for cheap drama. Again; it's inaccurate and exploitative. I don't see writers excited to depict my "coming to terms with my facial difference as a teenager, and eventually being proud of it" experience because where's the shock value and pity points? Fetishization, again, is about liking the idea of it, not the real thing.

Describing your character as beautiful, well, isn't any of that.

The point that I tried to make on that post was that a scar is often considered inherently ugly. That it's a stain on someone's beauty, that it would be better if it wasn't there.

"Brown beautiful eyes, thick facial hair, strong cheekbones - he managed to be irresistibly handsome even with that nasty scar going across his nose."

This sucks. It's as if the character's beauty and their disability are contradictory forces that have to fight each other. But in reality, scars and any other visible disabilities are neutral. If the character is pretty, their scar is pretty too. It's a part of them, so how could it not be?

"She was a cute girl; her pastel pink, thinly braided hair framed her face, defying gravity by curling towards her mouth. The burned skin on her lips shifted as she smiled, revealing a tooth gap. She played with her equally pink 'white' cane, holding it between the two fingers she had on her right hand, bopping it against the ground to the rhythm of the song."

This, on the other hand, just states her disability as a part of her person. It's nothing weird or shocking, she's pretty, has a burn on her face, she's blind, she's missing some fingers, she's enjoying the music - it's almost boring when compared to the usual "scar introduction". There's no "even with her horribly burnt face", no "if only she wasn't scarred she would be beautiful", no "poor thing, lost her fingers in a horrific fire" - instead, she is beautiful, and she has scars, and she is having fun. That's it.

This is my best shot at explaining the difference between "fetishization" and "yeah they're pretty :-)" ft. my questionable writing - I hope this makes sense.

I definitely took my time to answer, sorry about that. Thank you for your ask,

mod Sasza

[mochinomnoms]

What do you think would happen if Floyd were to meet Riddle's mother?! Cuz I just read your Mama/Papa leech Headcanons about meeting their sons crush. But what if it’s reversed? Riddle's mother Meeting Floyd? (I would also say Yuu's parents meeting Jade, but unfortunately, that won't be happening)

“Wow, I thought Lil Goldfishie was a stick in the mud, his mama has a whole branch up her—” *gets kicked in the groin*

I have very mixed feelings about Riddle's mother, in that with the context we have right now she's a bitch and if I ever see her it's on motherfucking sight. But she must love her son still, right? Is she harsh because he wants to set Riddle up for success, but only knows the way she was raised? Is she scared of her kid getting hurt or failing, and so she tries to shield him from all possible harm? Is she so hyperaware of all the dangers in society that she feels the need to keep him in a little bubble, knowing in the back of her mind that making mistakes and getting hurt is part of growing up? A good mother would never want to see their child ever get hurt if it were up to them. I mean, she must care for him in some way, but how? In the manga or novel (not sure which) they mention that she fought back against the school to keep him in, but was that because she wanted him to have the prestige of NRC in his background or because she wants what's best for him? She homeschooled him herself to the point that he's an immensely powerful mage already as a teen, so she could've hypothetically kept doing the same thing, right? Is she a mother that truly cares for her son but suffered the same childhood, but she “turned out fine” so it must be fine? Or is she just a bitch, lol. Either way, she is emotionally and affectionately neglectful and doesn't realize it at best, and emotionally and psychologically abusive at worst.

I have a lot to say on the topic of Mrs. Rosehearts, about her parenting, the cultural differences of child-rearing that EN players and JP players might have. This post talks about it in depth, but I can say more on the topic later.

In regards to Floyd meeting Mrs. Rosehearts, probably against Riddle's wishes or while he's distracted, the poor guy is set up for disappointment. While it's implied that Mama Leech is overprotective and that she calls very often, if not daily, to check in on her sons, they still had enough freedom growing up to get into shenanigans and hijinks. I mean, they beat up a sturgeon and took some of its scales to fashion into earrings like a trophy. And they both speak very fondly of her, so Floyd is going into meeting Mrs. Rosehearts with the expectation that she might be a bit stuffy. But, she raised Riddle, his crush and favorite human! He's strict and mean at times, but he cares a lot for his dorm and is super diligent, she must be like that too!

But she's so…critical. She looks at him unamused, very standoffish, but is polite. He guesses. He can see where Riddle got his strictness from.

“Hello. Who might you be?” She probably didn't expect to have some random student, not even from her son's dorm, come up to her. He was...tall. Towered over her, and based on the color of his hair and sharp teeth, most likely wasn't human.

“Huh, you're not as red as my Lil Goldfishie is.”

She blinked and frowned, resisting the urge to chastise the strange fellow for his informal tone and rube behavior. Not her son, not her problem.

“Pardon? Do you often speak to your elders like this?” she asked, eyeing him as she turned away to watch her son give orders to his dorm as they managed an informational booth.

“Yeah, why not? They're just people. Not like I'm being rude or anything” She would strongly disagree. “You're kinda prickly, like a lionfish.”

“W-what?” She changed her mind, someone needs to put him in her place. “Now listen here, young man, it's quite rude to call people anything other than their na—”

“They're real mean, ya know. Venomous, a nuisance, can't even mess with it cause it has a bunch of spines—oh! Imma call you Mama Lionfish.” The young man snapped his left fingers like he made a revelation.

Mrs. Rosehearts had learned to control her temper, but she still had her moments, Her face been bright red, her lips thinned, and she opened her mouth to start berating the young man.

“Floyd Leech! What did I tell you about calling people names?” A tall, slender women came up to them, pale skin and hair hue similar to the man in front of her. She wore a cream-colored dress and matching blazer, adorned with gold and pearls, and a matching wide brimmed hat. She was followed by Riddle, who looked a mix of anger and concern.

“Never do it in front of people, yeah, yeah.” The man named Floyd pouted, but brightened at the sight of Riddle. “Oh hey Lil Goldfishie! What's uuuup?”

Floyd jogged over to Riddle, halting him midstep as Mrs. Rosehearts noticed Riddle almost bristle, trying to sidestep and get around Floyd. He was failing.

“I apologize, you know how boys can be!” The woman in front of her also towered over her, though not nearly as much as her son did. “My Floyd doesn't mean anything by it, he just a silly boy.”

The blue haired woman laughed, then abruptly stopped, narrowing her golden gaze as she thinly smiled.

“You're the man's mother, I assume.” Mrs. Rosehearts replied, smoothing out her skirt and clutching her hands together. “He's very...spirited. He's from the Leech family? Is it safe to assume that your the Leech family matriarch?”

The other woman's sharp toothed smile grew as she nodded. “Yes. It's not often that I come to the surface. But it's wonderful to know that I'm as—oh—well-known, on the surface, as under the sea.”

Mrs. Rosehearts wouldn't use the word 'well-known' as much as she would infamous.

“Yes, well. I would just remind your son to not so blatantly call people names to their faces.” she said, clenching and unclenching her fist in an attempt to sooth herself. “I'm not sure what your customs are under the sea, but up here he would be considered a riffraff.”

For all her talk about politeness, Mrs. Rosehearts forgot herself at time and let things slip out of her mouth faster than she processed. She knew she pressed a button when Mrs. Leech's smile disappeared.

It was only for a moment, but with the blank face and the way her gold eyes bore into her, it felt like her body and soul were being grasped by something dark and violent.

Then that feeling was gone as Mrs. Leech smiled again and closed her eyes, tilting her head.

“He'll be fine, I'm sure he'll find his people. After all, it seems he's already found someone in your son.”

Both women moved their gazes to the pair, now bickering. Well, Riddle was, the one called Floyd, was just swaying on his heels as he grinned and make a comment here and there. Each one after the other seemed to fluster her son further, his cheeks growing in color as they spoke. Most people who knew her son would assume that the red was attributed to his rage, and it mostly was. But (fortunately or unfortunately, she couldn't decide) her son was much like her. It wasn't rage that made his eyes dart away each time their eyes met for too long. It wasn't rage that made him scuff his foot every so often. And it most certainly wasn't rage in his eyes.

Mrs. Rosehearts cleared her throat, turning away from Mrs. Leech and walking to her son.

“I don't know what you're implying, but I must be going now. My son and I still need to tour his dorm.”

Mrs. Leech watched the other woman walk away, sighing.

“Oh, what a disdainful woman. And her son is so lovely too…she really is like a lionfish.”

“Yeah, it's a good nickname for her, right Mama?” Floyd came bounding over, stretching his arms. “Is' too bad she's a stuck-up, gonna real annoying if she's my mother-in-law.”

“Hm, I'll just have to overcompensate then and be the best Mama for you and the little Riddle!” Mama Leech clapped her hands excitedly, sighing in bliss at the thought.

“Oh, it will be so wonderful to see the family grow big...oh! By the way, Floyd.” Mama Leech walked away, Floyd following after diligently. “I might have mentioned a little 'something' to him about your cute rambles about him. He was so cute, all red and flushed when I said you're positively infatuated, calling him cute and—”

“Aw what! Mama!”

[agent371]

This post is talking about the designs (and the designs only, I haven't read anything from the authors and dont even know who they are so this is design based only) released for the new Damian Wayne comic - The Boy Wonder. I will be heavily critical and btching about these, but please tell me your thoughts as well. After Damian, the others are under the cut. Please read because it's important.

Damian's design is actually really good and the best one, which is probably good since this is a comic about him. And I love how he's not whitewashed, which is something that happens way too much in comics.

Now, to Nightwing, his design is okay for a Nightwing design, but he just looks off in this style. I think if they tried to stylise him more, it could look a lot cooler. So I think he's just got wasted potential. Also, he's probably whitewashed as well to make damian more special as the "only" POC in the family (probly why Cass, Duke, Luke, and Luicus aren't here as well).

Babs is next, and this is the main reason I made this post. They abled her. DC authors stop abling disabled characters, please, for the love of me, I can't stand it. She can be disabled and still be relevant in the plot. I swear the only reason authors do this is because they don't know how to write disabled characters. If they need a Batgirl, use Steph or Cass because they are more than capable of doing it. I know they aren't as iconic as Babs, but move on DC. She's so much more interesting as Oracle.

Batman, I'm not a fan of his big blocky design. I just don't like it. He also looks really irrelevant and giving this is a comic about Robin (his son!) I think he should be relevant or look like he isn't a background character who just grunts, like for the design it looks like he doesn't talk. Don't like it.

Jason now, I actually love his Red Hood costume it looks sick, and the R on the chest *chefs kiss*. But his robin outfit is too gritty, and from that, I can tell he's going to be mischaracterised as the "angry Robin," so Hood looks cool, but that's all it is, his looks.

Tim. There is so much to say, omg. Where is his hero outfit! Everyone else got them. Why didn't he? You can actually see RR in the preview, so why wasn't that design put here? Why is it just Tim? And why does kid Tim look homless you know he grew up rich, before and after his adoption sure he has a style but his cloths wouldn't be friad he'd still look sleek and scruff not on the verge of his cloths falling off his back. For this, I can tell he'll also be mischaracterised as just like Jason since this is a Damian comic they are doing to do him so dirty. :( Sad day for a 90's Tim Drake fan (like every day, tbh save my guy). His RR design also has a shitty mask, but other than that, it seems fine, I like the wings/cape for it that looks pretty cool.

Alfred is a stereotypical old man. He's got no individuality what so ever and will proble be in one panel, say something sarcastic, and never show up again.

Ra's is okay. That's all.

Talia doesn't even look like herself . If you showed me her design with no context, I would not know who she is.

Carrie. Why is she here? Like honestly, why? There are better characters to include in a comic like this, like Steph or Cass or Duke or Helana. They would all be better chooses than Carrie. I'm not the biggest Damian fan, but ofter, Damian fans have been wanting him and Huntress as in a comic for a bit. I do like her design, but I just don't get why she's here. (I'm not including her image because of the limit bit is on my previous repost)

[liedownquisition]

I genuinely believe DickRoy would be terrible for Roy. I meant there is decent evidence for it, New Titans Vol 1 #101 where Dick throws Roy's addiction in his face and physically attacks him because Roy is selected to take over the Titans or Titans Vol 2 23 which is a tough read of Dick reacting to Roy's addiction (if I am remembering right). (Honestly kinda weird when they try to retcon in Dick helping Roy with his addiction when I don't think any decent help is in character for Dick). Roy is capable of being a good boyfriend to Dick, he is very understanding but the same cannot be said about Dick to Roy (in my opinion).

You are so incredibly correct, anon and this is really foundational in why I kind of made the switch from being a DR shipper to JR. Now,

DISCLAIMER: I wasn't active in DC fanon anywhere that can still be found until like 2011-ish and by the time I was engaging with DC stuff it was around when the YJ show rekindled my interest and I was mostly yj-verse birdflash and some more niche ships largely driven by rp. I didn't really write fic in my older LJ DR days and just read the stuff I could find then.

Additional Disclaimer: This post is not intended as ship bashing, yes I'm getting a little bitchy excuse me if I'm a little pissy with how toxic the other side tends to get. I've said it once and I'll say it again: The appeal of DR to a lot of people is it being a somewhat toxic ship, but that's not how a lot of people are trying to sell it when they bash on JR.

Lemme just, let's look at some panels from your examples (Uh, TW for... I'm so hopping mad rn I can't remember the proper terms. just, being shitty about past addiction, incredibly shitty depictions of addiction, abusive language):

New Titans vol 1 (1988) #101

This particular incident is made worse by, well, all of Roy defending Dick prior to this in the very same issue:

Roy says that Dick's always been a bit standoffish with him (again, same issue), Wally even somewhat agrees and attributes it to "that Batman thing." And the entire reason they're removing Dick from leadership is FOR HIS OWN GOOD?

God, Titans Vol 2 (2008) #23 is an EXTREMELY hard read, it's at about the time of Cry for Justice and DickBats, and they really fuck up revisiting Roy's addiction so hard in here, and make a point to isolate Roy to really set him up for the clusterfuck that is Rise of Arsenal.

But yeah, Jason's the reason Roy's characterization fell into the shitter? (Also, "get help or I'll get help for you" is not... great. That's not help. Not when it's presented like this)

... Sure. Like the majority of this issue is really just about how awful the Titans were (with an emphasis on Wally being shit tbh) to Roy EXCEPT Donna (and Garth tbh, but Roy gets really defensive around him and is a total ass too. I'm not saying he's perfect by any means but...)

Like, hell, who needs enemies when you have friends like these, am I right? and a LOT of Titans/Teen Titans runs play up the teen drama and strife between Dick and Roy or Roy and literally all the other guys! It Always Has!

Allow me to also add in Titans Vol 3 (2016) #21

It's important to note that, once again, Roy isn't above also doing some shitty stuff to them, and does, but let's put some of these scenes into a bit more context:

The first one is literally Roy doing everything he can to save the Titans and prevent the government from signing bills that would affect a lot of people EVEN BEYOND the Titans themselves! Yes, Dick is in a bad space, it's still fucked! It doesn't excuse him! A reason is not an excuse! And clearly he's been sitting on that knife about Roy's addiction to pull out whenever he feels like it and has a bad enough day.

The second one... these are flashbacks happening while they're on their way to visit Roy after his arm's been ripped off by Prometheus and he's still in a coma and his daughter is fucking dead. The WHOLE time is still Donna acting as this buffer of trying to protect Roy from Wally and Dick's criticisms. (Especially Wally tbh. Dick does treat him with some modicum of acknowledgement/respect in the "current" scenes.) Could be argued to be a product of the era bcs once again this is explicitly the leadup to Rise of Arsenal.

Roy is like.... 100% correct here. Not on like a metaphoric "bitching them out" thing I mean on the literal front of he was exposed to the drug that was the method by which the Big Bad was starting to control people and was trying to get people to believe him. Dick says he's not, Batman says he's not, Donna isn't sure but ultimately proves herself as an actually good friend by busting out to help him herself and they all show up in the end to save the day. This is his last run before HIC.

These aren't even the only scenes I could pull out my hat for this. Look, as far as I'm concerned the toxicity is the APPEAL of the DR ship! But as I've gotten older and in the current climate of the world being as terrifying and cruel as it is, I just want something softer than I can picture these two having (Yes there's plenty of good things about them you can cherrypick out of their history too, but even THE DR comic run Outs.iders is filled with "mommy & daddy are fighting again" divorce energy ect ect ect. I can't tolerate most of the "wholesome" fic bcs it also completely defangs them or has the standard "uwu sad batboy x their personal love interest therapist with no other personality" Yeah, it happens in JR too, I generally don't READ THOSE either!).

I want Good Things for Roy! Something that I can see a happy end without compromising everyone's characters!

I know all the haters don't agree with me on that second point because they can't wrap their head around the idea of a) multiple interpretations of a character THAT CAN STILL BE CONSIDERED IN-CHARACTER and b) the fact that "hating Jason" isn't a CANON personality trait in literally any of Roy's runs! He was even getting between Dick and Jason fighting because he could respect that Jason had valuable intel and was willing to work with him even if he's a bitch!

And most of his major ships either don't give us that happy end potential to me (Ro.yJa.de, Di.ckRoy, Wa.llyRo.y) or have certain things I can't get past (Don.naRo.y "I was only dating you again so as to sully everyone's image of me as a good girl and you shouldn't let your daughter get so attached to me so it doesn't hurt her when we break up" - not if, WHEN. There's also a lot of offhand comments in that run from the other Titans that are very cruel to Roy too actually lol)

Despite what people keep trying to say, Roy is not Dick's best friend. Donna is. And then Wally, And probably Babs, and then maybe Roy somewhere underneath there. Is it possible that Dick is ROY'S best friend? Eh, I'm going to be honest I think Donna is his too lol. Then maybe Dick, but actually I'd bet Kyle got up there pretty far too? Jason does not have to do much to rank lbr. Even at his worst towards Roy he was kinder than the average amongst the older Titans.

And that's! largely where I'm coming from here tbh. I also Like Royfire, yeah. Don't try to argue with me that it's only bcs of RHATO bcs he also hit on her really early on and they have a solid friendship that make for a perfectly good relationship. ("Except for Kori who I'd have to shoot twice." "Nice." always fucking gets me). But lbr I'd get just as much hate and less engagement for writing it so sue me for focusing on the route where fun number goes up and serotonin hits the brain.

[doobledabbadoo]

Please block and report antinormalbrigade (aka sassymass14) for making an entire blog dedicated to harassing percyfan94 as well as many of his associates.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF DOXXING, HARRASSMENT, & SUICIDE

If any of these trigger you in any capacity, then don’t read if you aren’t ready. If you wish to read this post anyways, do so with caution. These topics are very serious and must be handled sensitively.

DISCLAIMER: Do not, under any circumstances, harass anyone involved in the situation. The last thing anyone needs here is a hostile environment where everyone's harassing each other. This post is meant to bring awareness and caution, not to target and harasss anyone involved.

As many of you are aware, antinormalbrigade or sassymass14 is contacting various fans of the Mr. Men franchise asking for information on percyfan94. It doesn’t take long to figure out that this blog is full of slander, hate, and malicious intent towards Percy.

How Did This All Happen?

A while ago in my own discord, a lot of my friends and I were gossiping and discussing about certain users from the Mr. Men fandom we had less than pleasant experiences with, Percy included.

I’d rather not get into specifics, but basically I blocked Percy back in 2021 based on what I heard about him because I didn’t feel comfortable interacting with him. Admittedly I discussed my distain for him (and several other members of the fandom) to my friends who felt the same way.

While I have my opinions on him and other users, I never genuinely wanted them to be harassed. Sure, I've spoken ill of Percy in the past, mainly due to personal reasons, but this is the last thing I want out of a situation that occured 4 years ago.

Enter Sassymass14. While we’re discussing all of this, he had a habit of suggesting some very… extreme responses towards these guys. This included doxxing and harassing Percy until he commits suicide, which is exactly his entire plan.

This was some of the earliest evidence I can find of Sassy suggesting the idea of a harassment campaign towards Percy.

About a month later, he messaged one of my friends through Discord, stating his intentions on the blog and what his goals were for it. He described himself as "the hero" and "the one who got rid of the worst mr men fans on earth".

A majority of us didn't want any of this, of course. So many of us told him that this wasn't the way to go, but all of our concerns and worries fell into deaf ears.

The Harassment Begins (And Expands)

It started by Sassy messaging several fans of the Mr. Men franchise, myself included, about Percy. Sometimes he sugarcoated it as being a fan that wanted to give something to him, other times he pressed them to give away his address in one way or another. There was one instance where he tried to impersonate one of Percy’s friends to get his information.

He's reblogged several old messages and callout posts from mrmenbusters talking about Percy, and the post I made telling people to drop the situation between him and I entirely. He's even contacted me saying that he claims to "protect me" from... Some guy I blocked almost four years ago and haven't contacted since. Sassy has also extended his harassment campaign towards several other of Percy's associates, including his own brother. He's called them the r-slur on more than one occasion. It doesn't matter that he censored it, he still made the conscious decision to use it towards these individuals.

Why Am I Making This Post?

Not only did I decide to make this post to spread awareness to those outside of the fandom, but also this guy has been using me as an excuse to justify his actions.

I've expressed my distain towards Percy many times throughout the years with various close friends of mine. He's used many screenshots from my Discord as "evidence" that Percy needs to die, even though he didn't provide any context on them.

It's clear that I don't like Percy. I've expressed my distain towards him towards many of my close friends, and now that it's brought into light by Sassy for the sake of his so-called crucade, I feel I should say this:

I never wanted this. I never wanted Percy and the people in his life to be harassed by Sassy. No matter how much I said about Percy, no matter how much I poked fun at his designs, work, etc. with friends, this was the last thing I ever wanted to happen to him.

What should I do in this situation?

Follow the disclaimer and don't harass anyone involved in the situation. The last thing we need right now is a hostile and unsafe environment where everyone is threatening each other with doxxing and death.

Simply block both accounts, report antinormalbrigade for harassment, and spread the word to your friends. If he says anything about you at all, just ignore it, it's not worth your time. If he won't listen to the people he claims to protect, then he won't listen to anyone at all.

[rosietrace]

This is a personal rant about my thoughts on Greek mythology retellings, and just the way Fantasy books and the publishing industry is at this point 🧍‍♀️

I have nothing against Greek mythology retellings, or just anything Greek mythology related in fantasy in general!

However, I have certain gripes about the way Greek mythology is portrayed in media, specifically in the way its interpreted in Fantasy.

[ More under the cut! ]

I love Percy Jackson, and I think that Uncle Rick did a wonderful job at expanding the world and making Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse mythology entertaining and easily digestible for young audiences. Genuinely, he does a better job at writing children's books than R*wling could ever be capable of.

However, as much as I can love PJO as much as I do, I still find certain bits of the world building and character writing as... Very hit and miss.

To start, I don't like the way Ares was written in the series. I can understand that it would make sense for his personality to be that way, because he's the God of War and it helps with Clarisse's character development; but I find fault in it because Ares in the myths is nothing like PJO Ares. (He literally killed one of Poseidon's sons because he raped his daughter, Alcippe, and he's one of the only gods who doesn't hump anything that can breathe in air. At least Ares has the courtesy of asking for consent ��)

The Gods being the reason behind WWII and Hitler being a child of Hades. All I must say.

The portrayal of the Aphrodite cabin

The fact that Athena can have children. Annabeth, pjo fandom at large, I love you are, but you gotta admit it must've felt weird when you first read the books and you find out Athena — the maiden Goddess of Wisdom — can have offspring. Regardless of the reasoning, I still find it weird 😭 (EDIT: I've now just remembered that it was a reference to how Athena herself was created 🤡 I'm a clown)

I get that the Hermes cabin is also the cabin for the unclaimed, but couldn't have Hestia's cabin worked too? She doesn't have offspring, sure, but it probably would've made more sense for the unclaimed to go to Hestia's cabin so that the Hermes cabin wouldn't be so crowded

This isn't really a world building issue, but I think I should bring it up: I'm not saying this against the Kane Chronicles fandom, but... Sadie and Anubis. Why. Like you can't convince me that no one WASN'T weirded out by that.

Less of a complaint and more of a question because I can't remember if the question was answered in HoO or not, but when Percy told the Gods to start claiming their unclaimed children and be more decent parents (as he should, go off king), did that request apply to the Romans at Camp Jupiter too? Because that's gotta have been confusing when the unclaimed kids at CP suddenly started getting claimed 😭😭

I could go on a whole ass tangent about PJO, but that would make this post longer than it needs to be 😭😭 and any of the points might not make much sense, since I haven't read the books in a LONG time

Off to the YA Fantasy segment... Hoo boy.

The oversaturation of Hades/Persephone retellings makes me SEETHE. Why is it always Hades and Persephone why can't it be something else 😭

I just don't like the “modern feminist” retellings of Greek myths in the YA Fantasy genre, in general. They tend to completely miss the point of the original myth, and it's the case with a lot of Hades and Persephone retellings where they try to paint Hades as the good guy taking Persephone away from her control freak mother, Demeter.

Because that wasn't what the myth was about. The myth isn't a love story, at least, not a romantic one. It was about Demeter's love for Persephone and how much she wanted her daughter back after Hades stole her away. Keep in mind, in the historical context of the myth, the daughters of women in ancient Greece never really get to see their mothers after their engagements are solidified.

If they wanted to make a “feminist” retelling of the myth, they'd have it centered around the love Demeter had for Persephone to almost doom the mortal realm to an eternal winter to get her back.

I love the myth of Hades and Persephone, truly, I do. I understand the appeal it has on people, the appeal it has one me. I can see why people adore the myth in the way they do because Hades is one of the better husbands in Greek mythology (a low bar, but my point still stands).

Personally, I blame Lore Olympus and especially the video of the myth by Overly Sarcastic Productions for the way the myth is portrayed in mass media. And I say this as a former LO fan and a fan of Overly Sarcastic Productions 😭

I'd also want to go into my many, MANY gripes about “Crown of Starlight” by Cait Corrain, but in all honesty? I don't think I can properly convey how much I DESPISE Cait and their book. So I'd highly recommend y'all to check out the videos about Cait Corrain by Reads With Rachel, WithCindy, and Xiran Jay Zhao on YouTube if you're interested in going into more detail about the controversies, especially for those who weren't made aware of it.

I feel like the publishing industry just... Isn't good anymore, after Booktok went viral. Reading has been “hot girlified”, and all Booktok seems to ask when they get recommended a book is: “Is it spicy??”

Reading is like fast fashion, now. It's all based around certain popular tropes that that's how books are promoted now. Not for the plot — or sometimes lack thereof — but for the tropes the book has.

The only thing I can thank Booktok for is that they helped me discover The Cruel Prince. And even then, it's marketed as romance on there, when it's a political fantasy with a romance subplot.

‼️ Woah! A secret bonus section! ‼️

I, personally, don't read — nor do I like — Sarah J Maas. (Especially considering the problematic aspects of her storytelling, character portrayals, and is (apparently, correct me if I'm wrong) a Zionist)

However, that isn't to say that I don't like some of the characters she makes. A lot of them have potential, actually! From what I've seen, I think Nesta, Gwyn, Azriel, Eris, Tamlin and Lucien from ACOTAR are the only characters I actually like, based on what I've heard — and seen — on anything in the SJM critical tag on this hellsite.

And while we're at it, let's discuss the elephant in the room with ACOTAR, right? Rhysand.

By all that is good and holy, I hate Rhysand so much and I think I'd hate him even more if I actually READ the books. I don't get why Booktok is so invested in him when Maas retconned Tamlin's character to make him look better as Feyre's love interest.

Also, from what I recall, didn't Rhysand sexually assault Feyre? And he didn't bother to apologize for it, and justified it with his sad tragic backstory??

I can't with y'all, istg 😭 the fact that “Feysand” is apparently a Hades and Persephone retelling too makes me even more mad about it because it isn't even a GOOD retelling. It just takes away what ACOTAR originally was— a Beauty and the Beast retelling, with Feyre and Tamlin as the leads.

Didn't Maas dedicate ACOTAR to her husband because “He would go under the mountain” for her??? BECAUSE IT CERTAINLY WASN'T RHYSAND WHO SAVED FEYRE FROM UTM, I'LL TELL YOU THAT

I think, out of all the series Maas has made thus far, Throne of Glass is the only one I ACTUALLY kind of like, based on what I've heard. Crescent City seems to be too complicated to understand, and even though I've never read it myself, I miss what ACOTAR could've been. (My hope lies with Nesta, Elucien and Gwynriel, at this point)

[shadowsandcoffedripss]

Oooooh!! I have an idea! How about a pitch black x reader where (Y/N) is totally Gen Z, so nothing really scares them and it drives Pitch INSANE.

Reader is so desensitized that anything Pitch tries to pull they just brush it off or think it’s funny!

Omg first request on my AU <33

Of course! Sounds so cool ^^

(After a lot of time i start writing again qwq)

Before starting, here's a little context on this AU:

I was inspired by @seaslugfanclub Disney Villains/ y/n park assistant concept, I thought something.

What if there was another company (generic name supposedly) that to go against this incredible idea of the Disney Parks to make the Villains turn into actual people decided to do the same thing with non- Disney Villains as well?

And this other y/n had to take care of them, because they are also very chaotic without a lead of some kind...

my most recent post includes way more villains i got obsessed with, so check out the list if you want to request me some asks!

Now, let's go <33

The Disney Parks had made such a smart move on making their bad guys come to life, so their most brilliant rival decided to do same thing.

But how to make their choice not sound like a copy of their rivals?

Easy.

Let's include multiple animated universes and let them come to life together!

Unfortunately for Y/N, the park attendant that has to reunite them all together and "take care" of their actions,

(no kids or human was harmed in this, writer of this confirms! at least not yet),

that wasn't an easy job. Not at all.

Don't get this wrong, the newest addition to the park really enjoyed villains of all kind (and despite not being accepted by the other park) she gladly wanted to work at this new one. Yeah, wanted.

Because the poor human didn't know tha chaos that was about to happen.

One of the villains that was a pain in the ass to tolerate was the lord of nightmares himself.

Now, normally one would be a little bit, at least for a moment, scared of what that man had in mind.

Well, let's just say that Y/N was one of those incredible (and so incredibly frustrating) humans that wasn't scared of the tricks and literal creatures Pitch could materialize out of nowhere.

Spiders? No, the park assistant wouldn't even look at them.

Clowns? You'll get a laugh and a few looks that seem to say "Not today, big guy"

Anything that the obscure could think about would never work.

"After months in your company, I'm still not sure on the reason why you are even able of seeing me, without any profound and maniacal fear in that head of yours."

Oh. That day you were literally head in the clouds, well not fully. You were trying to separate Rasputin and Rothbart (those bickering old-) that were for the thousand time arguing on who was the most powerful, had the coolest song, which one was almost going to be part of Disney (let's just think that he didn't succeed). And who had to help that mess? Guess.

So now you had another problem to fix. A big one.

You knew that he was a little disappointed from that look on his ashen face, so you had to fix that.

"Well, I actually am afraid of things, Pitch, but if I actually start panicking at any nightmare creation of yours, this park would be absolutely turned to dust. And I don't know where you'll go without me, and my frustrating emotionless face."

The villain then gave a small nod in your direction.

"Can you at least be scared next time? Just a little bit?"

"Would that make you happy?"

"I think so."

"Then alright big guy. I'll show you my terrified face, promise."

"I can't wait to see it."

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #22

Best of Wish

I enjoy Irep's grit-teethed remark when he mentions Anti-Fairies can't have godkids. He's just like his dad, for real, for real.

If he's this annoyed at the thought of Anti-Fairies not being allowed godkids, that kinda implies he wants one, which is interesting. Godkids were always one of Anti-Cosmo's interests, but never something Foop pursued on purpose or ever expressed interest in.

Please enjoy this cut Anti-Cosmo dialogue from an early script for "Fairly Oddlympics" that I think about constantly:

btw, there are a lot of funny deleted scenes in the old scripts that I love talking about, especially from this one, so if you find anything that catches your eye and post about it, you should @ me because I would enjoy reading your reactions <3

Plot twist - Irep is doing healthy things to work through his "scary godparent for Vicky" trauma while Peri's reaction to Vicky trauma was to cover his ears, hide behind his mom, and sing "La la la, la la la" to pretend she wasn't there.

Peri said his memories of childhood are blurry. I wonder if Irep remembers his childhood better since he was fully able to talk and comprehend things back then.

"Once a fairy quits, any magical being can take their place!"

I mean... Technically yes, but you used to have to sing for it. lol.

The Pixies, who are literally last in line for godkids below all other magical beings (including pegasi, bigfeet, and lake monsters), watching Irep stroll in like: ???

- which imo was implied to be a punishment for their race after H.P. was godparent to some unconfirmed kid I've been headcanoning was Dale for 7 years-

Actually, I like the implication that Irep was so fast to snipe Dev because he's been stalking them since he found out Peri was assigned a godkid.

Irep: Once a fairy quits, any magical being can take their place! Wanda: Peri didn't quit! He was waiting for you to call! Cosmo: He thought you two were on a break! Me: ... ?????? Peri was waiting for Irep to call and take him back? Run that by me again??

... I legitimately cannot tell if they're addressing Dev or Irep. Irep was the last person to speak, but Dev speaks next. Rewinding and listening to the conversation again, I can use my context clues to see they're probably looking at Dev (who is offscreen), but ?? why would you frame it that ambiguously.

Did anyone else get confused here or was that just me?

Also this has done nothing to disprove my previous "Peri is clingy especially where break-ups are concerned" interpretation.

I like how the very first wish Dev makes in this scene isn't for his dad to love him, but for Bev to love him.

How many kids in this class have names that rhyme with Dev and why is he so determined to befriend them all?

?? Okay, so I was previously confused about Dev's friendships because I was pretty sure I remembered him saying in Episode 1 that he and Trev were friends, but we haven't seen them interact at all. I went back and checked, and here's what he says:

"That's Trev! He's my bud, so he probably won't give YOU the time of day."

I wish we got to see him hanging out with Trev. Did they split after Trev didn't come to his sleepover?

- I just checked; I don't see any evidence of Trev at Hazel's. - Hey, did Winn and Jasmine ever find out Hazel lied to them about living in a 5-star hotel? - In conclusion, we are being ROBBED of the Trev-Dev-Bev friend squad.

Looking back, it's very funny that Dev made an effort to introduce Hazel to people when she was the new kid despite that not being his job... including giving some glowing reviews of a few of their classmates, including "This guy's my bud, this person's cool, and I respect this other guy." He wants to talk...

Also, moon is full in New York.

I keep waiting for Irep's music to drop again, but it never does in this scene. It's stressing me out; why did it only drop in THAT scene?

The version I'm watching unfortunately doesn't include credits and I can't find it after a few quick searches, but if Guy Moon did the music for this episode and remembered how he used to do it for Foop and his alt personality when they would do their switch cues 14 years ago, and so when he saw that body language he did it again, I'm gonna lose it.

Surely not... But he had to do it for at least 3 seasons; maybe it just stuck??

I don't see him credited for A New Wish at all on his own IMBD or Wiki page either. idk who did this episode, but I liked it. Hi, I'm the target audience; it's me.

And Irep's still a leftie! Even after putting both hands on the mace handle to smash it down, it goes back to his left when he takes one hand off.

He even does the "sword fight" with his left hand. It's the boy!!!

?? Is Irep's hair both blue (like both his parents') AND black (the color his tuft was in the OG series)?

Are his roots black, but the color eases to dark blue the farther out it grows? That's fantastic!

I like how Peri's hair looks most like his mom's but with a faint slope implying his dad's influence is there, and Irep's hair best parallels his dad's, but he gets his curl from his mom.

Huh. Looks like we've retired the 5 magic colors and now we're just pink poofs and dark blue lightning. Which I'm okay with; I just wasn't paying attention until now. But I know lightning-shaped Anti-Fairy magic was canon in "School of Crock," maybe others.

This does deprive me of my usual 2nd-watch shtick of reading moods based on color. Alas.

I enjoy Hazel rescuing the news reporter, but letting her know that she's a big fan of her work.

Okay, Irep uses his right hand at the last second, but I consider this a win.

I went back and checked frame by frame because I'm a NERD, and funnily enough... It looks like he changes hands after Cosmo blasts him in the left arm. It's hard to tell with the poof cloud, but when you consider the direction he moved (buffeted backwards), that implies it was a left-side hit. It's probably just coincidence, but that's funny.

I like Dev's silly star shades during this scene:

Peri's back!! Old buddies, ol' counterpart pals... I love that teeny-tiny movement Peri makes with his fingers to symbolize air quotes around "quit."

"I never gave two weeks notice~!!"

Also, this definitely belongs in my collection of counterparts using the same body language for opposite moods. idk if we'll see more of that, but it excites me that my stash grows!

I like Peri patting Dev on the head.

"He's still my godkid! :)"

Ooh, snap. Local cousins (once removed) are here to lay down Da Rules, as von Strangles do.

Aw, I like how undoing Dev's cheating means Hazel ends up with the prize shirt. I guess that makes sense; it just wouldn't have been my first thought.

I'm glad adult Irep makes squeaky sounds when you squeeze him. I seem to remember OG Poof making squeaky sounds when he bounced off walls.

Aw, Peri having a happy hug with his parents again! Instead of him feeling like they're overbearing. That's great.

Peri once again proving he's a jealous, clingy ex. I don't think this kid was okay when he was pried away from Timmy and I don't think he took his parents' leaving him on his own for 10k years very well.

I really enjoy Peri's body language throughout this series. All his little twitches and arm rubs and flicking eyes... It says a million words. You could talk forever about him.

I enjoy Dev and Hazel a lot this series, but I think Peri's my favorite. With all his little anxieties and moments he avoids eye contact, you really get the sense that he's working through a lot of baggage.

I like how his instinct was to be honest with his parents and then he immediately regrets it and closes off his body language, avoiding eye contact. He retracts what he said and says something else that he thinks makes him look better. He's got a lot going on.

The fact that he makes this big, decisive head nod as he changes his story to claim he wasn't "jealously spying on Dev" after quitting as his godparent, but he was instead "very normally and confidently passing by" is fantastic. That's... not how people talk in normal conversation, Peri. But I'm glad you're telling me you struggle with confidence issues.

- I think everything I've seen of you supports that. You've been the biggest anxiety ball ever since you got here. - Peri is the guy who'd be on edge wondering if he did something to make everyone mad.

It took me forever to get the above screenshots so I had to keep rewinding, and I have to say... I'm obsessed with that itty-bitty head tilt he does to the left before he goes full right. Idk why it's there, but I like it. It's like a shrug, or like he's thinking through his lie? I enjoy.

Also that teeny-tiny head squirm when he's enjoying the hug with his parents. He's so cute.

Okay, that's pretty messed-up of Peri to laugh with his parents while Dev is in the background really upset. Like, Peri is literally talking about Dev behind his back

-> I wish they'd snuck hints of purple in the background to indicate Peri was there, like a milk carton or pencil or something.

-> I stand by everything I've previously said about Peri not being emotionally mature enough to godparent. His kid needs comfort after a tough experience! Dev just got snapped at and punished by authority and now he's sitting on the ground looking dejected, and Peri's over there giggling!

-> C'mon, man! Hazel clocked on and she's trying to do your job for you. She shouldn't have to do that! (Though it's nice of her to try comforting her friend).

Oop, Dev just yelled at Hazel (again) and Peri did not discourage or discipline him in any way, and tbh... I don't think he even noticed. Because he was laughing and talking about his godkid with his parents. Dude, get your crown in the game.

I love Hazel throwing her prize shirt in Dev's face and shouting that she "hopes it was worth it" <3

I still don't know how to spell O-pairs and at this point, I'm too afraid to ask.

omg, Dev wants to learn about Anti-Fairies. Are we going to get lore and culture? Drama...

PERI, your godkid's running away!! Oh no, he can't hear us... he's got anxiety...

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

See I always got the impression she stayed with Calcium for too long for the wrong reasons. I was too young to know what was going on at the time but from strictly lyrics and a few things the fandom has brought back up, I've just alays jotted that relationship down to Taylor satisfying the crowd in the same way she did with her music. They wanted a sonically cohesive album, she fave it. They said she's never kept a good guy in a long relationship, so she stuck out longer than she wanted to until finally she couldn't and didn't want to hold those comments against herself anymore. Just falling for her people pleasing tendencies. I don't quite get what tension you were referring to (I'm probably the one in the wrong since again, I wasn't familiar with anything outside her music at the time) but what lines stuck out to you to describe that relationship the way you did in that getaway car post?

Anon, I know you’re here in good faith, but I want to be thoughtful with my language and very gently want to push back on the idea that she did anything, including dating a person, just to “satisfy the crowds.” I know you didn’t have any ill intent. But to me that’s another way of unintentionally framing Taylor as a character or an avatar when she is someone with a very human life she’s led with her own choices.

It’s the same with the music. Yes, she wanted to make albums people would like and buy. But to reduce her art to that is also doing her a disservice— by all accounts, she WANTED to branch out to pop. She wanted to explore new sounds. I’m not denying there was some external validation she was seeking, but that doesn’t mean she was living her life just to satisfy others.

Again, we’re not privy to all of Taylor’s inner life, including why she chose her partners or stayed with them, unless she’s shared that. She hasn’t nearly as much about this situation as others, so we’re just picking up context clues. But I just don’t subscribe to the thought that she picked a boyfriend just to beat the headlines, because again, she is a human with feelings, including for other people, and real life is full of complicated feelings. I think it’s just as likely that she chose a partner because he paid attention to her and loudly pursued her after years of being toyed with by other men, and he was charismatic and effusive on the surface and that was a welcome change in her life at the time. That’s from the little we could see and know in public and inferring from the Red/1989 pipeline.

As for why she stayed with him so long— sure, I think it’s likely there was some fear there about “never beating the allegations.” But again, I just am not comfortable with saying it’s to please others, or solely that, the same way I wouldn’t be comfortable saying that about anyone I knew in real life. Because again, people are full of nuance. I would guess it might have also been about proving to *herself* that she could stick it out, after years of situationships and emotional rollercoasters where she may have felt like she had no control over at times. And the control piece is one that is really important for a lot of things that were going on in her life.

It’s also important to take it within the context that has been filled out in the years following Rep's release thanks to the re-recordings and newer albums. She'd had a years-long on-and-off thing with Jake which was full of a lot of emotionally upending experiences and sunk her into a low period, she followed that with another long on-and-off situationship with Harry where neither of them could ever really say what they wanted so they just kept dancing around each other, along with other people filling up her dance card in her orbit.

So when a firmly established man, who was successful and famous in his own right, who she was attracted to and enjoyed spending time with, expressed interest in her and not only that, expressed interest in a relationship with her, when she'd literally spent her adult life up to then in these merry-go-round situations? That might have felt really, really comforting for a time, especially considering everything else that was going on in her life. And might also help flesh out why she felt she should stay, even when other alarm bells were going off. (That's a whole other discussion.) This however is just my speculation.

As for the clues in the music that things were Not Good-- well, you kind of have to use your noggin for that.

"He poisoned the well, I was lying to myself" / "He poisoned the well, every man for himself" points to a person who brought toxicity into the home. Poisoning the well generally and broadly means painting someone in a negative and false light to discredit them before others have a chance to judge on their own. Within the context of the song, IMO it paints a picture of someone who is controlling and manipulative at the very least. So in the first instance, she's lying to herself about how bad things are, and in the second, she realizes she's got to save herself because she's no exception.

(Not to point to real life events because I've said before not everything in her music refers to an event we see... But we do know, for instance, that he publicly denied she wrote "This Is What You Came For" and tried to discredit her until she revealed she was behind the pseudonym. I don't think that's what the song is referring to, to be clear, but it's just a real-life example of the type of behaviour that might inform that kind of lyric. He tried to deny her own success and knock her down a peg when that success overshadowed his and he was vengeful about her leaving him.)

"It was the great escape, the prison break / The light of freedom on my face / But you weren't thinking and I was just drinking / While he was running after us, I was screaming, "Go, go, go!"" is another indication of a very fraught relationship. The fact that she felt like she had to not only break free from this person, but speed off before they could catch her is very telling. It's different from the way she writes about running/escaping on TTPD, for instance-- where again it's about freedom, but she's in control and it's more like, I'm sick of this/I feel like I'm dying. In the fantasy situation here, it implies he's chasing after her, but not to win her back but to punish her, like a guard would chasing after a detainee. She's desperate to leave, and not just in the "I'm going to do what I want" type of way, but with the implication that she needs to flee as fast as she can before he catches her (and harms her, or worse yet, drags her back to her cell.) In other words, she was worried about how he would retaliate if she didn't leave right that second. There's an urgency implied with "GO GO GO!"

(Because if you think of prison break or heist movies, usually the escapee who gets caught ends up getting shot and killed. Bonnie and Clyde are a good example of this.)

Plus, the "I was just drinking" line is telling-- it implies she was drowning her misery in alcohol, which again is a theme we see later on in TTPD too and indicative of someone who is unwell and going unnoticed.

The tl;dr of Getaway Car is that she felt that if she didn't escape right that second, she was going to die. That's not necessarily literal to her real life, let me reiterate, but emotionally speaks to a very tense and dark situation she felt was harmful.

ivy imo furthers this same tension. With the caveat that we can't ~know~ he was the inspiration for the husband in the song, there are parallels to that same fear and unease in the love triangle.

"I just sit here and wait, grieving for the living," while not directly about the male character in the song, implies a woman who's stuck at home and despondent. There are other lyrics (like "He's in the room") implying that she feels like she's being watched, monitored, judged. (Which, to be fair, is in a song where the narrator is very much considering running off with another man, so I suppose suspicion isn't out of hte question.)

"He's gonna burn this house to the ground" is another lyric that is very evocative, but is also laced with the threat of violence. It's the implication that if he finds out that she's considering fleeing, he's going to destroy her and everything along with it-- which is also the undercurrent of her frantic escape in Getaway Car.

"So tell me to run, or dare to sit and watch what we'll become / And drink my husband's wine" again maybe doesn't sound directly threatening, but speaks to the narrator's utter despondency. It's, if I don't get out of here, I'm going to self-destruct. She's going to lose herself in the wine -- and it's her husband's, because she's been drinking everything he's been selling her, both metaphorically and in actuality. She's taken in his words and his threats and also his alcohol, careening into the abyss around him.

High Infidelity is the real damning song, and nearly the entire thing is infused with fear. "Lock broken, slur spoken / Wound open, game token / I didn't know you were keeping count" right off the bat paints an image of a dire situation, implying a fight that ends in threat. The "lock broken" line is interesting because I used to take it as metaphorical, e.g. the slur spoken is the thing that opened the damn (broke the lock) and hurt her deeply, but then I saw some people interpret the "ended with the slam of the door" line in The Bolter as the slam of a door in a home (as opposed to the slam of the car door which is what I took it as) and I think that paints an even more vivid-- and scary-- image. So, you have a broken door, yelling obscenities (and I think it's interesting that so many of us immediately thought "whore"/"slut" when High Infidelity first came out, because that's nearly always the way a man will try to denigrate a woman, and then The Bolter came out and confirmed it) and suddenly she feels ripped open inside realizing she's just a trophy to him (game token) rather than a partner. It's devastating, and we're only three lines into the song.

Then following that up with "Rain soaking, blind hoping / You said I was freeloading / I didn't know you were keeping count" continues that thread, pointing and to me is a parallel to "He poisoned the well, I was lying to myself." He accuses her of damnable offenses in an effort to keep her down (which sounds like it could even be gaslighting), and her "blind hoping" is the lying to herself that things are fine, that they'll get better, but then the reality hits that he's keeping score; it sounds like a classic manipulative tactic, e.g. "you owe me"/"I do everything and you do nothing"/enter attempt at power imbalance here. That's not love, that's transaction.

"Put on your headphones and burn my city / Your picket fence is sharp as knives, I was dancing around it" to me is very reminiscent of ivy and "he's gonna burn this house to the ground," e.g. he is going to set out to destroy her if she leaves. "Your picket fence is sharp as knives" means the home life he's selling to her is actually her prison, or the thing that will harm her. It's prickly, it's sharp, it means that this "white picket fence" life that is the marker of adult success is the very thing that she feels will destroy her, because he's so malicious.

"Storm coming, good husband / Bad omen / Dragged my feet right down the aisle / At the house lonely, good money / I'd pay if you'd just know me / Seemed like the right thing at the time" is so, so sad, and again follows her gut instinct telling her things are Bad. She can see that there is darkness ahead by staying in the relationship. The relationship is rapidly heading one way (down the aisle) but she knows that very thing will harm her. She has a vision that she's going to be left alone and lonely in this hypothetical marriage, even though imo she's implying that at the time she thought maybe this was the best she could hope for/deserve (seemed like the right thing at the time). Again, she's navigating what she feels she should want-- a long term relationship that leads to marriage and partnership-- with this growing feeling in her pit that he's going to hurt her if she stays.

"You know there's many different ways that you can kill the one you love / The slowest way is never loving them enough," is so sad, and like a lot of the other parts of the song, shows how hopelessly lonely she was in this relationship, and again, the premonition she was having about what would happen to her had she stayed. It's a partner who does not care about the person in their home and does not care to show them any consideration or affection, let alone whatever else is happening.

And the way she ends the song repeating "Oh, you were keeping count" again is just like: this image of someone who is predatory and looking to entrap someone emotionally. It's very, very scary in its utter insidiousness.

And lastly we have The Bolter, which again, ~might not be about him or anyone~, but the chorus IMO is referring to all these scenarios. "Started with a kiss, "Oh, we must stop meeting like this" / But it always ends up with a Town Car speeding out the drive one evening / Ended with the slam of a door, then he'll call her a whore / Wish he wouldn't be sore / But as she was leaving it felt like breathing" It's the initial flirtation and honeymoon period (kiss/meeting like this) but the speeding car out the driveway is the end of it-- fleeing the scene (like the Getaway Car, like running off in ivy, like the emotional escape in High Infidelity). Here we have the slur spoken from HI (called her a whore) and perhaps even the lock broken (slam of a door). "Wish he wouldn't be sore" is like a cutesy way of "wish he wouldn't be so mad," but it's also sad because it implies that he's always like this and it's dismissed as just one of his personality traits. And like with all the other songs, her escape is literally life-saving to her, in so many ways.

And while, "He was a cad, wanted her bad, just like any good trophy hunter / And she likes the way it tastes, taming a bear, making him care / Watching him jump then pulling him under," could be about anyone, again I think it applies here too. Because she is the game token in HI, the trophy he wanted to put on the shelf and pull down whenever he wanted. The taming the bear thing is funny at first glance because it's part of the "I can fix him" complex we see over and over again, and she loves the thrill of the chase, only her she feels endangered when the bear turns on her and shows his teeth. Hence the escape in escaping.

Anyway this was waaaaaaaaaaay too long. But I just hope that fleshes out a little more about what you were wondering about. One of the fascinating things about Taylor's discography is not only how much the stories end up calling back to each other as time marches on, but that she uses so many narrative devices to tell them. Whether it's the fantasy of Getaway Car or ivy, or the diary-entry-like High Infidelity, or The Bolter's amalgam allegory of so many situations, it's so interesting to pick up on the common threads that weave together another story.

[rowena-rain]

Looking for some simple one-shot tomarry Bottom!Tom ideas plz 🙏 Tag your friends and make them give me some too ;)

Simple tomarry?? That’s a big ask :). But I shall try. Here are some random one-shot ideas organized by broader context. If anyone is interested in potentially writing any… let me know ❤️.

Time-Travelling!Harry convinces Professor Merrythought to retire a few years early and  becomes the new DADA professor to “keep a better eye” than Dumbledore did on Tom. Tom is obsessed with his new professor (obviously). (Except for the first one, these could also work as a same-age, Harry and Tom go to Hogwarts together, either time-travel or timeline-mashup.)

After a string of increasingly outlandish bad behavior by Tom, Harry is finally forced to give Tom detention even though he’s pretty sure he’s doing it on purpose to get him alone. Harry, honorable human that he is, tries very hard to think of a detention assignment that Tom can’t just turn into another ploy to seduce him. Tom takes that as a challenge.

Tom is the only Slytherin to choose to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas. Harry, who doesn’t have family here either, feels bad. Tom feels an opportunity.

Harry catches Tom going into the second floor girl’s room in his fifth year and panics that he is about to find the Chamber. He makes a desperate attempt to distract him. It backfires. Optionally, it ends up with Tom bent over the sink, watching Harry pull his hair while fucking him in the mirror.

TWO Harrys from alternate timelines show up. One wants to raise/reform/guide Tom into a better version of himself. The other wants to kill him before he becomes Voldemort. Tom wants both of them.

Time-Travelling! Or Timeline-mashup!Harry and Borgin & Burkes-employee!Tom

Auror!Harry is undercover investigating the sale of illegal magical artifacts at Borgin & Burkes (or Time-traveller!Harry is just snooping on Tom). Either way, Tom knows this cute new guy is up to something. Fortunately, he knows how to be just bad enough to keep Harry’s attention focused on him without landing himself in Azkaban.

Time-travelling!Harry gets the locket and the cup from Hepzibah Smith to prevent Tom from getting them. Tom finds out. Now, he has a new, much prettier target to swindle. 

Tom is a con-man posing as a very expensive whore (either in place of or in addition to working at Borgin & Burkes). He’s not interested in degrading himself for these pathetic old losers, but he likes their cash and getting access to their collections of valuable magical artifacts. Auror!Harry poses as a client to find out why so many wealthy people seem to have had their memories altered lately. Tom is intrigued. He could maybe make an exception for this one. Well, he’ll still probably rob him, of course, but he might not have to modify his memory. 

Depressed Post-war!Harry raises reincarnated!Tom

Harry is left feeling empty and incomplete ever since Voldemort died. It’s a few years after the war, but he still can’t shake the feeling that something important is missing. Ginny thinks the solution is a baby. Ironically, Death agrees. Well, Harry is pretty sure that was just a dream where Death came and told Harry he really was Death’s Master and then gave him a strange offer to help. If he’s absolutely terrified a few weeks later when Ginny announces she’s finally pregnant after years of trying, that’s just… normal nerves from being a first-time father, right? (Lol, okay, that’s not really tomarry I guess since Tom isn’t even born yet. Either that or it’s definitely not just a one-shot ahhaa)

Okay, I seem to have gotten away from the “simple” assignment, so I’m going to stop now 😅. Also, a couple of them are calling to me. And I already said I wasn't going to start anything new until I finish the first arc of heir de la mort. Sighhh

Tagging @sweetalison007-blog because they always have a ton of tomarry prompts and @cindle-writes because I know they have a lot of bottom!Tom ideas in particular!

[hide-in-imagination]

Alright, I'm gonna talk about Margarita and why many viewers prefer Marrey over the main couple because the first season of Margarita just ended and I need to cope somehow.

Fair warning, this will be long, full of spoilers, rants, memes, and some references to Soy Luna because I can't help myself.

Okay so, just to give some context for whoever hasn't watched this show and came upon this post by coincidence: Margarita is a show by Cris Morena (same as Casi Ángeles) and works as some sort of continuation/spin-off of Floricienta because it follows the life of one of Flor and Maximo's children: Margarita.

The thing is, Margarita doesn't know she's Margarita, daughter of Flor and Max, because when she and her brothers were babies, some military man took over Krikoragán (the country Flor and Max ruled, yeah, they were royalty) and so everyone had to run for their lives, basically. Margarita grew up as an orphan because Cris Morena loves orphans, is obsessed with orphans, she can't not have orphans in her shows.

Anyway-- The main couple of the show, which is obvious from day fucking one, are Margarita and Merlín, who happens to be the son of the military man who dethroned Flor and Max lolol

Now, I know this sounds like epic romance, like, the daughter and son of enemies falling in love, blah blah blah. It could have been that way-- If Merlín wasn't so fucking stupid.

Cause here's the thing: Merlín is not a bad person, okay? He actually feels a lot of guilt because of how his father took over the country and basically destroyed Florencia's and Maximo's lives (who btw are M.I.A), so what does he want to do? He wants to marry the exiled princess Margarita as a way to return the throne to them. Noble, right? Sure. The problem is that, as I said, the real Margarita doesn't know she's Margarita. Instead, there's been a fake Margarita walking around all these years (who was tricked btw, she doesn't know she's a fake, she truly believes she's the princess), who everyone calls Daisy.

If you're thinking "Oh, this is giving Ámbar is season 2 when Sharon told her she was Sol Benson so no one would find out it was actually Luna" you are absolutely right, it's pretty much like that. The only difference is that Sharon was already rich before this; in this case, Delfina, Margarita's aunt, needed to lie and say she had found the real Margarita so she could access the fortune.

Anyway, moving on. The thing is, the show starts and Merlín is immediately going after Daisy and flirting with her, because again, he wants to marry her so he can give her back Krikoragán's throne. But at the same time, he and Margarita kinda fall in love at first sight (cause remember, they're the main couple of this show), so he's also seeking Margarita all the time and flirting with her.

So, we're not up to a great start, because it's literally episode 1 and this guy is already playing around with two girls at the same time. And listen, this could've worked, okay? Like, I get it-- He loves Margarita but because of his honorable desire to return the throne to the exiled princess, he has to go after Daisy, even if he doesn't want to. This really could've been a conflict of Love vs Duty, and it would've been fine... but. this. BITCHHH sdjkfnsdkdf.

I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD, MERLÍN IS A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR!!! The number of times Daisy asked him if he had feelings for Margarita and he lied in her fucking face!! Even after Daisy finds out that he wants to marry her to return the throne to her, HE STILL INSISTS THAT THAT'S NOT THE REASON WHY HE WANTS TO DATE HER, HE STILL INSISTS THAT HE TRULY LOVES HER, EVEN THOUGH HE IS GIVEN 94823489 OPPORTUNITIES TO SAY THE TRUTH. And what reaaallly annoys me is that Margarita wants to tell Daisy the truth, because she's her friend. And keep in mind that at no point does Merlín stop flirting and seeking Margarita out, nonono. So, of course, our girl Margarita is like "If you say you like me so much and neither of us can stop feeling this way about each other, then we have to tell Daisy, because otherwise, we're just going to hurt her."

And you know what really annoys me? That Merlín agrees. He agrees, and he tells Margarita yeah you're right let's do that, they had an AGREEMENT-- But guess WHAT? Later that day, Margarita finds out that he didn't tell Daisy ANYTHING. In fact, I think he told her again that he loved her for real, u know, like a LIAR, and Margarita is like ??

"Bitch, didn't we agree we were going to tell the truth?" and Merlín is like "Nah, sorry, babe. I still love you tho." LIKE THE PATHOLOGICAL LIAR HE IS.

Listen, when I tell you Daisy sat them both down and literally ASKED THEM, 100% sincerely and with no ill intent, if they had feelings for each other because if so she would step aside, AND MERLÍN STILL LIED. FUCKING BITCH.

This could've been so different if Merlín actually tried to fall in love with Daisy. Like, if he told Margarita "I really like you, but because of duty, I have to be with Daisy" and stopped flirting with Margarita and actually focused on Daisy. Like, of course they would still yearn for each other secretly, but that would be the fun angsty part of it that would make all of us ship it. If we saw Merlín really try to follow duty but being unable to let go of his love, and eventually Daisy realizing this too, that her friends are in love with each other, and freeing Merlín from his responsibility toward her so they can be together. IT ALL WOULD'VE WORKED OUT FINE. Especially considering that Margarita is the real princess, so when that secret came out, Merlín wouldn't have to choose between duty and love because he could marry for love.

But no. They had to make him a detestable cheating liar. Because, do you think his history with lies ends there? NONONO, MY SWEET SUMMER CHILD, SIT DOWN, THERE'S MORE!

Eventually, Daisy doesn't believe his lies anymore (GOOD FOR YOU, GIRL) and is heartbroken but totally breaks up with him. And you, as a viewer, would think "Oh, okay, so he can be with Margarita now, there's nothing stopping them--" WRONG. Because then Petra shows up: Merlín's arranged betrothed. And Merlín makes eyes at her and seeks her out. And, okay, to be fair, he wanted to convince her to renounce her titles of nobility along with him, but did he need to make eyes for that? Debatable. Anyway, that's not even the main issue. The problem is that Petra somehow CONVINCES HIM to pretend to be ENGAGED FOR REAL, OUT OF LOVE, and show it to the world in a LIVESTREAM, so that they can later on renounce of their titles before the wedding and therefore making it a much bigger scandal internationally than if they just announced it on a regular Wednesday.

And since Merlín is a PATHOLOGICAL LIAR, he AGREES TO THIS!!! This stupid, unnecessary plan!!!

And, of course, for this plan of theirs to work, they have to keep it a secret that the engagement isn't real, so Margarita is none the wiser. Merlín, for once, actually wants to tell her the truth, which would be okay I guess, if it weren't because the main reason why he wants to tell her is because MARGARITA IS DATING SOMEONE ELSE.

Please, picture this for a second. Margarita has been led on and then disillusioned by this guy for like two months by now. Eventually, she decides that enough is enough and she needs to find a new love (GOOD FOR YOU, GIRL). She does find a new guy to fall in love with, who also falls in love with her, and they start a very cute relationship, and then, THEN, THIS FUCKING COACKROACH, BLOODSUCKING PARASITE, has to come SEEKING HER OUT AGAIN because he just can not fucking let her be happy, I swear to god!!

So Merlín goes after Margarita, desperate to tell her that the engagement to Petra isn't real, tells her to keep the secret, and also that he loves her, and that he knows she loves him too, so they have to be together, and she can just forget about her boyfriend because she obviously doesn't love him like she loves him either way.

And listen. Again. This could've worked under different circumstances. If Merlín was somehow forced to pretend to be engaged to Petra for some reason or another, or if he was dating Daisy for real, like I said in the previous scenario, but seeing Margarita with someone else finally made him realize that he couldn't choose duty over love and so he begged Margarita to be with him, it would've been fine. I mean, still shitty for the third-wheel guy, but as an audience, we would've supported it, because they're the main couple and he's the main guy and we want them together.

But NOOOOO because Merlín is literally only doing this out of selfishness!!! I mean, let's keep in mind that the whole world really believes he's really engaged to Petra, and they have to keep it that way for their plan to work. So, when Merlín seeks out Margarita now, telling her that they love each other so they have to be together, what is he really offering her? He literally can't offer her more than dating in secret from literally everyone, because otherwise, his plan with Petra would go to hell. And did he ever consider that Margarita might not be happy with that??? To be his dirty little secret?? Like- she's already dating this other guy, who wants nothing more than to make their relationship public because he really likes her, and Margarita is supposed to set that aside for... secret kisses behind closed doors with Merlín??

No wonder Margarita tells him no. MORE THAN ONCE. And she tells him it's too late now because she's with someone else.

BUT DOES THAT STOP MERLÍN? NO. BECAUSE HE'S NOT ONLY A MYTHOMANIAC BUT HE ALSO CAN'T RESPECT MARGARITA'S WISHES TO SAVE HIS LIFE!!

Remember when they agreed to tell Daisy the truth and he didn't? Yeah. And now Margarita wants to move on but he's like "Nah." And in future episodes, he quite literally puts her on a plane and takes her to Krikoragán with him AGAINST HER WILL !!! I---

And they wanted to make it look comical, I'm sure the idea was for it to be funny, but by this point, we're so upset with Merlín that he could cure cancer and I'd be pissed about it.

I just think it's frustrating because I know what they wanted to do, I know what the writers wanted this story to be, but I'm sorry, you wrote this guy so completely wrong that we can't even sympathize with his struggles anymore. I just don't care if he doesn't want to be prince or whatever-- cry me a fucking river somewhere else.

And here's what's really frustrating about all this.

Let me introduce you to Rey. Real name: Juan, but everyone calls him Rey. Also known as: the third guy in the love triangle. Also known for: EXCELLING AT EVERY SINGLE ASPECT IN WHICH MERLÍN FALLS SHORT.

1. Doesn't lie: Rey is very honest and direct about what he thinks and what he feels. When Margarita asked him at one point why he knew how to pick locks, Rey could've lied and make up some excuse, but instead, he honestly said that his dad is a thief, and so he taught him how to steal from a very young age, but Rey doesn't want that life. Which brings us to the next point:

2. Has a more compelling/interesting backstory: Rey starts off as one of the bad guys of the show. He's conceited, mean, and bullies the neurodivergent kid of the group to the point that he leaves the house they're all staying at (he comes back tho). At first, no one likes Rey, the audience doesn't like Rey, because we have no reasons to. BUT it all changes when we start to see different sides to him. We come to see his mean behavior as an act, an armor he puts on because in the family and socioeconomic context he grew up in (aka, thieves, thugs, the strong devour the weak, bully or be bullied) he had to be like that to survive. We see how incredibly sweet he is with his little siblings and how he works his ass off to give money to his mom now that his dad is in jail. In summary, Rey is the typical character who comes from a shitty situation and wants to escape it, be better. He sees the art he makes as a way of salvation, his ticket to a better life, and when we, the audience, see that, we can't help but support him. It's a tried and true character arc and dynamic: people always root for the underdog.

Compared to his struggles, Merlín's theme of 'I don't want to be the prince, I want to return the throne to this other girl' simply... falls short. Especially when you've got Rey's dad threatening Rey with separating him from his family if he doesn't help him in his bad deeds, and actually does separate him from his family later on in the show, much to Rey's hurt and frustration. Compared to that, Merlín's goals and obstacles seem simply superfluous.

3. He's direct with what he wants/doesn't go after two girls at the same time: Rey, being a bad guy at the start, had a thing going on with the bad girl of the show, Única (picture Ámbar for reference, except Ámbar is MUCH better, maybe I'll talk about that at some point.) Rey wanted an actual relationship with her, but Única was being hot and cold, so, Rey told her that he wasn't interested in being played with and took distance from her. Then he took an interest in Margarita, and when she asked him about him and Única, he was being 100% sincere by saying they had nothing going on anymore and he was 100% single and available, because it was the truth, not at any point did Rey continue to make eyes, flirt, or anything with Única after he took an interest in Margarita-- UNLIKE A CERTAIN SOMEONE.

And once he started liking Margarita, he was honest and direct and told her. He told her he felt some chemistry between them and he was more than interested in seeing it through, and Margarita doesn't really deny there's something there (because she likes him too), she just says it's not the right time (she's still hung up on Merlín)

Which brings us to...

4. Respects Margarita's wishes: Sure, Rey flirts a lot with Margarita at the beginning-- he gets all close, tries to go for a kiss-- and some people could say he was being pushy, but considering Margarita was about to kiss him two times prior to that, it wasn't like he didn't have reasons to believe she might want to. When push came to shove though, Rey asked her: "How long are we going to keep fighting this pull between us?" And Margarita was honest in her reply: "I like some other guy, but I do have feelings for you, I just don't think right now it's the right time. When I feel like it's the right time, I'll let you know." Rey accepted that and he didn't push-- He still spent time with her, but he didn't try to kiss her again or anything like that. He waited for her to make the first move.

And she did. Margarita was the one to initiate their first kiss, in a moment when Rey was being completely vulnerable and HONEST (he could've hid the fact that his dad was threatening him to do bad things but instead he opened up to Margarita about it (MERLÍN COULD NEVER)), and it was a great moment.

5. LITERALLY TOOK A KNIFE TO THE STOMACH FOR MERLÍN: That bad thing Rey's dad was forcing him to do? Well, he wanted him to help two thugs kidnap Merlín so they could ask for ransom, but Rey stopped the kidnapping, getting stabbed in the process of protecting Merlín. Following this, Merlín tells him that he now considers him his brother, because he saved his life.

But how did Merlín repay Rey, his "brother", for saving his life?

BY STEALING HIS GIRLFRIEND.

HEAR ME OUT:

6. Respects Margarita's new relationship instead of trying to sabotage it: Remember how I mentioned before that Merlín could not fucking let Margarita be happy with someone else? Well, this is what I was talking about. Merlín knows Margarita is with Rey and doesn't give a shit. He keeps going after Margarita, telling her they love each other so they have to be together, meanwhile, let me remind you, HE IS PUBLICLY ENGAGED TO SOMEONE ELSE. And sure, no one can 'steal' someone else's girlfriend, said person has a hand on it too, BUT considering Merlín literally put Margarita on a plane and took her to Krikoragán against her will... well, I'd say it was pretty close to stealing.

Keep in mind that Margarita told him several times to back off but Merlín did not, Rey also told him to back off and focus on his own girlfriend (RIGHTFULLY, BC WTF ARE YOU DOING FLIRTING WITH THIS OTHER GIRL WHEN YOU'RE ENGANGED?) but Merlín did not, and even after Margarita explicitly told him "It's too late, I'm with Rey now", Merlín still proceeded to take her to Krikoragán with him. He just doesn't give a shit what everybody else wants, apparently.

And, sure, let's be fair and mention that, by the time he took Margarita to Krikoragán, her and Rey were pretty much broken up-- BUT THAT WAS BECAUSE HE SABOTAGED THE RELATIONSHIP. RELENTLESLLY!!

I mean, remember: Rey is direct, Rey is not up for games. Rey asked Margarita if she still had feelings for Merlín and she lied to his face and said no. Later, when he found Merlín and Margarita alone together for the Nth time, he was rightfully pissed. He told her, quote: "If you want to have two guys fighting over you, be my guest, but I don't want any part of it. I'm not interested in being in a relationship with a girl who isn't sure of what she wants."

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 ICONIC BEHAVIOR. All second male leads should learn to be like him, tbh.

Now let's take a look at the reverse. When Margarita and Merlín start dating in the last few episodes of the season, does Rey try to get between them? No. And he's still in love with Margarita, the show makes sure to let us know that. But he doesn't try to sabotage it in any way despite this, in fact, he tells Merlín he's HAPPY FOR THEM ????? EVEN THOUGH HE'S CLEARLY BROKENHEARTED??

MERLÍN COULD NEVER.

7. Has better words of endearment for Margarita: Rey calls her Bonita (like Simón calls Ámbar, yes, we stan) and also Marbonita, which is a mix of her name and bonita, which, in case you don't know, means 'cute/pretty'.

Meanwhile, Merlín's love declaration to Margarita right before their first kiss was: "You are the queen of garbage and the queen of my heart <3"

Seriously, who wrote this? WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS ROMANTIC? WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?

Which brings us to:

8. He's simply better in every way: Seriously. Name any aspect and Rey is far superior to Merlín. The only things Merlín has that Rey doesn't are 1- Money 2- The ability to make Margarita queen by marriage. But Margarita is not some social climber interested in money, so these shouldn't be important factors.

I would say Rey even has more emotional responsibility than Merlín, because even after he broke things off with Margarita and was angry at her for sneaking around with Merlín behind his back, he apologized for it ??? He was literally like "Hey, I'm sorry for being cold and rude towards you lately, I don't want to treat you like that, I'm just still hurt about what happened."

I-

AND YOU STILL EXPECT US TO SHIP HER WITH THE OTHER GUY???? BE FOR REAL !!!

Even in the final fucking episodes of the season Merlín could not stop lying. His uncle was threatening him with killing his little brother if he didn't immediately return to Krikoragán and marry Petra, but did he tell Margarita about this? NoooOoOoo. Their last interaction was him being all romantic and assuring her that this was not a goodbye, even though it WAS A FUCKING GOODBYE AND MARGARITA POINTED OUT THAT IT FELT LIKE A GOODBYE, BECAUSE HE CAN'T. STOP. LYIINNGGGG. Literally, it costs zero dollars to tell the truth, Merlín. He wasn't even threatened to keep the whole thing a secret, it wasn't like his uncle told him "Oh, and tell anyone about this and I'll kill your brother", nonono, he had complete liberty to tell Margarita what was happening, but he. chose. not to.

Margarita found out later anyway and called him, right as Merlín's plane was taking off, and you know what his last words to her were? "Please wait for me. Wait for me for your whole life."

WAIT FOR ME FOR YOUR WHOLE LIFE?? MY DUDE, YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET MARRIED TO SOMEONE ELSE. YOU WANT HER TO STAY SINGLE INDEFINITELY WHILE YOU SOMEHOW FIND A WAY TO EITHER 1-DIVORCE OR 2- GET PERMISSION TO HAVE A MISTRESS?

And I know this was supposed to be a very emotional moment. Merlín was crying and everything. The actor is good, don't take me wrong, we have nothing against him. But the characteeerrrr. I just can not sympathize with him anymore. He always has 49238 chances to be honest and communicate and make things less complicated, but he ALWAYS. CHOOSES. TO MAKE THINGS WORSE !!!

And I'm not saying his character should be perfect-- ALL characters are allowed to have flaws, in fact, they have to have them, otherwise they wouldn't be believable. But when the same character keeps making the same mistake over and over and over again, I'm sorry, but my patience only goes so far.

(Also, a lot of people like to point out that Merlín is 21 and playing around with two 17-year-old girls. Personally, I wouldn't criticize him for it because we don't know how old Rey is, and if later on we find out he's 21 too or something, everyone's going to have to swallow their words 😂)

Alright, so this was my rant about why the main couple of Margarita is so annoying and most people in social media are begging for #MarreyEndgame

Do I actually think Marrey has a chance to be endgame? To be honest, no. Looking at the narrative, I don't see how they could make it make sense after the ending of season 1. If the ending had been different, there could've been more hope, but with the way things are, it just makes more sense for Margarita to end up with Merlín. How could they make her end up with Rey without the viewers being genuinely confused? Because everything is set up to build Marlín. The only way to get Marrey would be to kill Merlín off (*cough* like in Floricienta season 1 *cough*). Or, I don't know, have Margarita lose her memories?? And while she has amnesia she falls so in love with Rey that once she gets her memories back she's unable to get back together with Merlín?? But I can't see the writers doing something so drastic.

Of course, they could just say fuck it and give the people Marrey even if it doesn't make any sense in the narrative. By this point, I'd be cool with that, but I don't think Cris Morena cares enough about what the audience wants to do that. She knows the story she wants to tell and she's not going to change it because some people are pissed about it. Because when you're in this industry, you learn that you can't please everyone-- Why would she try to do that now? For numbers? For money? Would it really make that much of a difference if she doesn't make Marrey endgame? Doubtful. Sure, some people will not watch season 2 if there's no Marrey, but even then, people have to be watching to find out if there is Marrey or not, so... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway, this was long, so if you read all of it, I'm both grateful and very sorry kdfjns.

RIP Marrey, you were bigger than the whole sky, you were more than just a short time 🥀

[korpsewax]

ALRIGHT EVERYONE BUCKLE UP. IT'S "IAN BEING A BIRD NERD AND A FREAK ABOUT THEIR SUPERNATURAL TERROR AU" TIME.

so, sandhill cranes make a soft, almost clicking noise that sounds like purring, and they do it most often to communicate with family members, i.e., mates and young. it's a much more gentle noise than the buguling they do, which sounds almost like a loud chatter or laughter (at least to me). example of the "purring" seen here ⬇️

in the context of jirv in this au, i think he would use this noise to communicate with hodge mainly, but also with peglar while they're doing recon missions or scouting. given his connection to tommy, a hellhound, and the marines of the terror, werewolves, i feel like he'd also make this purring noise around them, even if they don't necessarily understand what he means like peglar and hodgson, also avians, would. tommy, however, is able to use this purring noise to gauge john's emotions. sandhill cranes are known to make this noise occasionally outside of just their family, most of the time when nervous. context is really important when it comes to bird vocalizations, and with the way tommy is always trailing after jirv in this au, it's safe to say that he has more context than anyone that he can use to make sense of jirv's various noises.

tommy quickly familiarized himself with all of john's vocalizations after they bonded, and the marines (sol especially) are already tuned in to what he's communicating. he definitely would see hodgson, tommy, and the marines as his family, so him making the purring noise around them makes sense to me. he probably also makes it towards edward, but the poor guy has no idea what it is or what it means.

jirv works very closely with the marines and tommy, whose main job after being ice locked is protecting the ships. john, being basically a part of the pack at this point and also being tommy's "handler," decided to "make himself useful" by flying around and helping them patrol. he's their eyes in the sky, and he has them trained to understand what his different, much louder vocalizations mean.

given the fact that tommy and the marines are all dog adjacent creatures, they have impeccable hearing, so no matter how high up he goes, or how far away he is, they're still able to tune in to whatever he's calling. despite tommy still being deaf in his left ear from an accident on a previous expedition where he was shot by a crew member, he's constantly tuned in to john's... everything. he focuses all of his concentration on making sure he can hear john, as a way to make sure his handler is safe, even if it means he misses out on a lot happening around him to do so.

jirv, hodge, and peglar making bird noises and behaving like birds is so important to me in this au. billy doesnt do it quite as often as them because he wasn't raised around other avians like they were, but he at least gets familiar enough with peglar at some point to start communicating with him in vocalizations as well as words. idk i just love avians as a concept and a species, and im a huge bird nerd, so i fear i will never be normal about these four again.

also, i can't put another video on this post, otherwise i would show the buguling of the sandhill crane. instead, i'll link a video of various sandhill crane vocalizations for your viewing pelasure! (including the purring in the video above bc it's the exact video that came from lol)

also, heres the link to my bird boys post if you're interested in finding out a bit more about the avians on the terror in this au!!

[tinycupcakesstuff]

Unpacking Heated Rivalry and the OG Hockey Husbands

I can't unpack Heated Rivalry before covering Breakfast with Scot, who walked so the whole m/m hockey romance genre could run. The film based on the novel by the same name which explores intergenerational issues between queer adults parenting a queer child. The film ups the ante with making one of the queer adults a hockey player and the layers that come with being in the closet as a professional athlete.

The year was 2007 and we are introduced to Eric McNally, who retired sometime around 2002 (Ellen came out in 1997), so his career would have been 1990s-2002. He would have played junior hockey in the 80s. Heated Rivalry takes place covering the decade after Breakfast with Scot, 2008-2018.

For Eric, the context of AIDs epidemic, shifting social views on LGBT issues in general society let alone the sports/hockey world are very much his lived experience.

We meet Eric, now retired from hockey in his late 30s, in a long term committed relationship with his partner, Sam who is a sports lawyer (and was apparently Eric's lawyer). Eric is out to the important people in his life but not publicly because he works as an analyst for a Canadian sports network. He is living a double life, or at least his sexuality is somewhat of an "open secret" in hockey circles. One he takes great lengths to avoid drawing any attention to.

Eric is aware of how things have changed, but all of the societal progress and multitudes of public figures coming out post-Ellen hasn't necessarily changed anything for him. He is still very much under the microscope of the Toronto hockey media landscape, having become a sports caster in his retirement and hosting a Sportscenter-like hockey program on TV. Despite the fact that he is out to his assistant who relentlessly teases him for not being out at work. When Eric does finally come out at work, she confirms, "everyone already knew."

In daily life Eric seems to be comfortably out. Eric's comfortable balance of his homelife with Sam and hockey life explodes with arrival of Scot, Sam's brother's dead ex-girlfriends son, who they need to take custody of temporarily.

Scot is not the 11 year old boy Eric was expecting. He was bracing himself for a homophobic terror that would destroy their home and sell their electronics for booze. Instead they got Scot, who wears Pink Gardenia hand cream and a charm bracelet. Scot who turned down Eric's invitation to watch hockey because, he "only likes musicals."

Somehow, this was just as bad as what Eric was predicting and he starts having a harder time keeping his worlds separate. Eric attends Scot's parent teacher night with Sam, which the topic of discussion is how to manage Scot. All 3 adults have no clue. The teacher offers that he should watch TV to find more "traditional" role models. A microaggression that Eric bristles at.

Scot has no qualms being who he is, clearly his mother raised him in an affirming manner. He wears pink, glitter, make-up, and is 100% true to himself at all times. And interestingly, Scot faces little bullying and ridicule even though Eric is terrified of this. Scot is innocent and confused about homophobia, although at one point he admits to Eric that he thinks being gay means "no one likes you." To which Eric forcefully tells him, "It doesn't mean that." Which for a guy like Eric, with a pretty limited tool box in which to discuss feelings, is pretty big!

On Scot's first day with Eric and his partner, he outs Eric to a mall security guard.

Eric immediately responded above, stammering I'm not, I'm not, because he was caught off guard. I don't necessarily buy into that he is ashamed. I think Scot outing him AGAINST HIS WILL wasn't something he was prepared for and I do have a lot of sympathy for him stumbling through it. I'm not sure the film and the fandom are always very sympathetic to Eric.

Scot continues, "Him and Sam are married" and Eric's response is probably my favorite line in the film. He says, "We're not even...we're not even married."

For me, he is redeemed. He is not denying his relationship, he clarifies that they're not married, but doesn't deny that they're together. I think he did his best navigating a very nuanced public situation with an impressionable child as a gay public figure in the closet!

So what does all this have to do with Heated Rivalry?

So in the entire DECADE after we meet Eric still in the closet 5 years post retirement.....we get a fictional NHL player coming out publicly in the Game Changers universe!

Heated Rivalry covers, in excruciating detail, how difficult and painful it is navigating falling in love as a closeted NHL player. And when I say excruciating, I mean it is agony.

I don't know if it is a weird take because I am 7 years late to the Ilya/Shane party, but the angst was just so painful. I am in an emotional twist. Physical/psychic pain. Damn, their love was so hard. Damnnnnnn.

I have a Eric McNally origin story where I speculate about Eric's Heated Rivalry glory days which would have been roughly 1992-2002, and what he got up to while he was playing. I do NOT have him falling in love back then lol. But he did have a boyfriend or 2. He saves it all for Sam. It's certainly not on the level of Ilya and Shane, but I am sure he had someone to meet in hotels all across North America. The only other mm hockey romance that touches on that experience is the character Wade in Breaking the Rules.

Eric and Sam are the OG hockey husbands!!!!!

I am working on an Epic novel length Eric and Sam romance novel, full of smut a la Ilya/Shane.

This is just another part of my (and a few of my fandom comrades) ongoing effort to produce Breakfast with Scot propaganda to entice others to join our esteemed ranks which number in the DOZENS! We are dozens!

Breakfast with Scot has me in an absolute choke hold because we meet Eric and Sam as hockey husbands. They live the most stable, quaint life on the outskirts of Toronto in the cutest brownstone known to man. Their relationship is calm and safe, despite Eric being an absolute neurotic mess 100% of the time.

It's a deep well to draw from thematically. The character of Scot is an absolute delight. This is a queer family film, a hockey romance, it is everything! And the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed their logo to be in a queer film!

It's taking every shred of willpower NOT to abandon my WIPs and start working on the Game Changers x Breakfast with Scot crossover no one asked for...But I need a universe where Eric and Ilya and Shane can exist together...Soon, I hope.

[fellamarsh]

another thing i've been trying to do recently is read more self-published stuff. "but fell," you say, "you're a self-published author. surely you've been reading self-published stuff all along" and then i laugh for so long in response we both become uncomfortable.

see, the fear (which has for a long time been killing my mind) that i'll read other self-published stuff and find out that it's so much better than mine that i might as well stop writing forever kept me from doing that basically ever. i have a hard time not unfavorably comparing my work to others and had convinced myself i was being smart by withholding an avenue of de-motivation (reader: i was not being smart). it also doesn't help that i'm pretty low income and have a hard time spending money on books i haven't already read, and that self-published stuff isn't always available at the library---but really a lot of it was just me being a coward. which i'm working on. i could talk about how this particular cowardice is Very Silly, but i think enough has been said about it on writeblr and in the Writing Space in general that i don't feel the need to (though i will if anyone wants me to).

instead, i wanna talk about the self-published things i have read in the past few months and ask about the self-published things you love!

so: what happened was i got real sick, and while i was real sick i (naturally) read over 200,000 words of ace attorney fan fiction in the span of a few days. eventually i got bored of it (and also maybe annoyed at how people were characterizing some of my guys), but i still wanted to read something gay and romantic and nice, something i knew was gonna end happily, which isn't my typical fare.

now you may be saying (having gotten over all the uncomfortable laughter from earlier) "fell, you write gay romance. what do you mean that's not your typical fare?" listen. until a couple months ago i hadn't read a cut and dry romance novel since before i finished college. for context: i graduated in 2015. i know it doesn't make sense. i'm a guy who doesn't make sense.

but in this case it worked to my advantage. not the not making sense thing, but the not having read Published Romance in 1000 years thing. I didn't know where to start. I was very skeptical of everything the library had Available Now in the Gay Fantasy Romance category. what if it was all bad and also not good?

and then i scrolled past the familiar cover of our very own @ashen-crest's A Rival Most Vial.

now this was comfortable territory! this was a novel by a very nice writeblr person whose posts i enjoy! i already loosely knew the plot, i was familiar with the characters, i knew the names of things like rosemond street and the griffin's claw and that ambrose had blue hair and that at the end of it all there would definitely be Boyfriends. i didn't have to worry that this would be bad! i only had to worry that it would be really good!

but i wasn't worried about that, because i was officially Not Writing at the time, and because why the hell hadn't i read this book yet Ash literally emailed me some very kind words last year when my cat died??

Y'all, I devoured ARMV. If you haven't read it yet---especially if cozy fantasy is more your thing than it is mine---you should check it out Immediately. It was fun! It was heartwarming! It was sweet and earnest and confident! I was delighted to find it was occasionally hot! Ambrose and Eli snuggled up into my sick exhausted heart and found a permanent little place there. (Especially Ambrose. I have such a thing for Stiff Guys who Kind of Suck for Tragic Backstory Reasons and are So So Lonely They Don't Even Realize It. gawd)

(And a very small part of my brain spent the whole time wondering why I had been so afraid to really engage with the work my community is doing. The community that I'm in. The one I'm a part of. Why?! Maybe more on that later.)

But from there the curse was broken! I immediately devoured @stjohnstarling's What Manner of Man in a similar sort of frenzy (and hooooly shit guys am I excited for the expanded, finalized version to come out at the end of next month!) and started digging into @lurinatftbn's The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere (which I can already tell is going to be an All Time Favorite).

And now I want to ask you what your favorite self-published books are so that I can read them, too, but I think I will in another post that doesn't dedicate so much space to talking about my various and sundry Issues and isn't Terminally Long