#I've been seeing some posts about it and i saw the trailer and immediately went HOLY SHIT

[kannagms]

As someone who has been a fan of the boys since the beginning of Buzzfeed Unsolved when Ryan was doing his little PowerPoint presentations and reading from a single sheet of printer paper, this entire Watcher fiasco is insane and was definitely not on my 2024 bingo card.

Back when Ryan and Shane announced that they were leaving Buzzfeed to start their own entertainment company with Steven, I was excited! I wanted to see what new, fun, interesting, and creative content they would put out without Buzzfeed holding them back. I'm a huge fan of Mystery and Ghost Files, Puppet History, Are You Scared?, Too Many Spirits, Top 5 Beatdown. Loved Spooky Small Talk before it was scrapped. I watched every new ep that came out, even the ones I didn't like that much like Steven's food ones, and liked and commented because I wanted to support them as much as possible. I rewatch all my favorite episodes. I have a dedicated playlist of Ryan and Shane content because it helps me fall asleep at night. When I didn't have much I at least had Watcher to keep my smile on my face and continuous laughter going when I didn't feel much like going on.

I got the notification 3 days ago about a new Watcher video and was stunned at what I saw. Sure I can watch episode 1 of new shows and watch some trailers, but I'm gonna have to sub to yet another streaming service to watch anything more. A streaming service that doesn't even have an app, so if I want to add anything to my sleep playlist, I'm gonna have to leave my phone on all night.

Anyways, I immediately went and checked the boys' socials and see what they posted for any additional info. Thousands upon thousands of negative comments all saying basically the same thing:

I can't afford $6/month/not everyone has $6 laying around, and it can really make or break someone financially.

Been a fan since Unsolved, guess I'm not a watcher anymore.

This is a bad move.

From what I've seen across reddit, Twitter, tiktok, Instagram, and Tumblr, the negative far outweigh the positive. The only "positive" comments I've seen haven't really been "oh this is a great idea! I'm gonna go sub right now!!" It's really been more, "well it's their business, they can do what they want with it." Or simply bashing other people because they cannot afford $6 a month or $60 a year, which really comes off as boomer ideology. You know, the old "if millennials would stop eating avocado toast or buying Starbucks maybe they can afford a house!" While completely ignoring the global economic crisis we are all facing. It's completely out of check with the fact that there's so many of us not just in America, but in the world who are barely living paycheck to paycheck. That there are so many people who WISH they could get a Starbucks coffee in the morning but often times have to skip meals because they cannot afford food if they want to keep a roof over their heads, you know the ridiculous amount of money that we spend to rent a small space. Never gonna forget the one apartment I looked at that was $800 a month, no utilities included, no parking, no pets allowed, and I could lay flat on the ground and have my 5'4" length reach comfortably in every single room. Wasn't even a kitchen or room for a single size bed (mild tangent rant, I now pay $1300 for a 2 bedroom apartment, most utilities included, but bad parking)

And for Steven to say that anyone can afford $6 is just so factually wrong. Has anyone checked the foreign exchange rate for $6? Some threads I've seen on Reddit are insane. For some people 6 USD translates to someone's entire rent or a week's worth of food. If I recall the comment correctly, one person said that in their country, Netflix comes out to $2 USD, and is considered a luxury item that only the upper class/wealthy have.

Maybe I'm just being bitter. Maybe I'm just overreacting to a piece of content I loved and cherished being pushed behind a paywall. It just feels like a slap in the face to fans who have spent countless hours soaking in their content, recommending them to friends, making new friends over a shared interest, and now feeling like they didn't matter at all. That we were just dollar signs. To hear them going from thanking dedicated fans for helping them get to where they are to but now you gotta give us more money if you want to keep being fans and now we are going to ignore your backlash just feels disingenuous and heartbreaking.

[rockinlibrarian]

Post-Umbrella Academy S4 Reaction Part 3: Viktory!...ish (spoilers under cut)

If you're just joining me, Part 1 was a reaction to FANDOM'S reaction; Part 2 was a snippet of fix-it that poured out of me yesterday. Now to get into the nitty-gritty.

Let's start off the show-specific commentary with something, to counteract the online vitriol, I have the most genuinely positive feelings about (though also a few definite opinions on how it could have been improved): VIKTOR. VIKTOR MY BABY whom I have written 35,584 words from the point of view of (and almost as many ABOUT him from other povs) since last we saw him. I think I've mentioned in tags or something the weird possessive feeling I got just seeing him in trailer footage-- the same thing happened when season 3 of Legion came out and I saw the Loudermilks again. There's something about spending a lot of time in a character's head that makes me weirdly emotional about them after that.

Five is my favorite character from an objective what-an-absurdly-interesting-character standpoint, but Viktor has always been the character I've connected to most emotionally. I, too, have spent my life convinced I'm Nobody but desperately longing to be SOMEBODY. And he had the tragic arc I've been morbidly obsessed with since Lester Nygaard-- the doormat who finally stands up for themselves but it all keeps going horribly wrong.

He finally speaks up, tells his story to the world-- and it only further alienates him from his already-troubled family, and the one guy he most hoped WOULD read it immediately shelved it and never touched it again. (At least, in a possible future, it became an anchor and lifeline for Five. But I'm not sure Viktor ever canonically found out about that. All Five told him was that it was "ballsy," which is better than anything anyone else ever told him about it, but not about how he carried it everywhere he went for 40-some years and used it to keep all his most important home-going equations)

He finally gains the power he always longed for, but instinctively lashes out violently with it at every reveal of betrayal from people he trusted (and only one of those people probably deserved it).

He finally gets first chair, is the most extraordinary violinist the world has ever seen, and then-- well-- he blows up the moon.

Again and again, he ends up triggering apocalypses every time he steps out, takes a stand. He saves a little kid's life, and THAT action ends up eating up the entire universe.

He can't catch a break. All he wanted was to be a hero like his siblings, and it KEEPS. GOING. WRONG.

I am OBSESSED with this. I'm obsessed with this kid who cried when his brothers stepped on ants unwittingly destroying all life as we know it over and over again. I need him to break this cycle, I need him to prove that he CAN be powerful AND have good results, I need to see it as a fellow struggling-to-get-out-of-her-self-esteem-pit doormat who only wants to do GOOD, and I ache for him when he doesn't. But in a good way. Because it's fiction and I savor the angst.

Which brings us up to Season Four, under the cut.

So, six years have passed since Viktor got off mood suppressants, tasted power, came out as trans, and got asked by the brother who used to completely ignore him and once locked him in a sound-proof cell to serve as Best Man at his wedding. He's been living a completely new life! We saw in the trailers that he's a bartender, but then you get his location establishing shot and it turns out it's HIS BAR. HIS NAME IS OVER THE DOOR.

Reader, I reacted vocally, out loud, to this reveal. HE built and runs this genuinely nice bar all by himself! Look how WELL he is doing for himself! Okay, he can't maintain a relationship for the life of him (but that's okay, it's just he hasn't realized that Five is his Soulmate SORRY I WILL PROBABLY DO IT AGAIN) (also, I'm very tickled that his last girlfriend was named Amy. I'm flattered, really), but otherwise he has built a darn nice life for himself. (It gives me the same bittersweet feeling as this one Fiktor fic--there's your warning, don't like don't read-- by @sissytobitch10seconds, "Completely Alone," in which Viktor runs off to become a farmer without telling anyone. Sure, he's isolated himself from the family he once longed to feel a part of, and that's a little sad, but he's working well and quietly, and living fully and in peace, and I love that for him!)

And from here on out, you can just see how far he's come-- the confidence in the way he talks to the siblings he used to be in awe of! The way he doesn't hesitate to share his ideas-- and the way the others actually listen to his ideas now!

And then the majority of the season for him becomes coolly (and...sometimes not so coolly-- but much more in CONTROL than he was six years ago) standing up to the father who belittled, sedated, and gaslit him (or, a variation of said father, at least), and being respected back.

It was just so SATISFYING.

One little victory-- um, viktory?-- that stood out for me was when he had the idea to infiltrate a militia of cultists by Sharpie-ing an umbrella tattoo on his wrist. The symbolism of this action that had once been a sort of pathetic and misguided attempt at fitting in, he was now reclaiming it for purposes of pretending to fit in, a more important goal forefront in his mind-- it was a little thing but it touched my heart, how he was like, "Oh *I* know what to do! I used to do this all the time!" but this time it actually helped him be a hero.

And then the biggest full-circle moment: he insisted on trying to talk Ben down, to bring him back from the edge of blowing and destroying the world-- just like Ben had done for him at the end of season 2.

If only it had worked.

Anyway, I now direct you to the Venn diagram I reblogged the other day: I liked Viktor's arc: it made me really happy, in fact. It GENERALLY made in-universe sense. It could do with some major improvements as a piece of narrative storytelling, though, and that comes back to the overarching theme of Viktor I discussed before we got to the season 4 stuff.

In the first three seasons, the concept that he WAS the apocalypse was always hanging over his arc, even as he gained control of his powers and emotions and gained confidence in his place in the family. I would not have been happy if he really WAS cursed to always bring about destruction, but I want to see him explicitly break this curse, onscreen. But a lot of his personal growth happened off screen, between seasons-- which is generally a good thing, I'm so happy he's been doing so well-- but I feel like we should have at least acknowledged that the Curse of Being the Apocalypse was still hanging over his head as the season began, and THEN SHOWN him deliberately turning that around, AND THEN HE SHOULD HAVE SUCCEEDED.

Him trying to reach Ben was a start. It was symbolic and circular. But it ultimately didn't work, so bleh. Someone on the Elliott's House Discord suggested that what SHOULD have happened was that Viktor succeeded in removing all the Marigold in the world--from Ben, from his other siblings, from everywhere-- and taking it into himself (an action his long-desired powers had been shown to be capable of) , and then sacrificed himself into the Cleanse to save everyone else. BINGO, full-circle, the Apocalypse becomes the cure, the wannabe superhero becomes the ultimate hero. It's a bummer to have a hero die, but compared to what actually happened in show, this would have been one glorious, well-built-toward death, as opposed to a lot of completely hopeless, emotionally ill-timed deaths.

That would have been narratively a lot more satisfying. I would have accepted the death of my blorbo--sadly, but with acceptance-- if it had been so perfectly heroic in this way.

But I'll discuss the way the show actually ended-- which was, for me, the only serious bummer letdown of the season-- in a separate post.

Two more things about Viktor in season 4, before I go, though:

I appreciated that they at least acknowledged his violin-playing. I could not believe that a professional musician would utterly and completely turn his back on music, and they basically let it drop entirely in seasons 2 and 3. It wasn't just a plot device, it was his vocation, dangit! So when Abigail mentions it to him, and he says it's "really more of a love/hate thing," that makes it all make a little more SENSE. Yeah, sure, he's got QUITE a bit of trauma tied up in the violin now, I guess I'll accept that as an excuse for not getting back into it. I would have made a different choice for him, but at least you gave me a REASON, show, so thanks for that.

Secondly, look, I'm not so naive and deluded to believe that my warped, pseudo-incestuous ship would ever be canon, but Viktor and Five barely said a WORD to each other all season, and I wanted just ONE good one-on-one interaction between them, like we've had every other season-- just ONE MOMENT of the childhood besties/apocalyptic foils-for-each-other being more than distant random family passing like ships in the night. They SHOULD have stuck together at the end of Season 3, to be completely honest-- I did slip in a meaningful explanation for why they didn't in that fix-it scene yesterday-- but I'd settle for just...anything at all!...when they reunited. Ah well.

I was honestly just so happy that Viktor had grown so much, that I'm willing to accept a LOT of things-I'd-rather-have-happened not happening.

And that's where I'll leave this post. I'll make a few more-- at least one whole post about the end (going from my favorite part of the season to my LEAST favorite part of the season-- but I have a lot to say about it that is not just emotional ranting!), one post about the infamous love triangle (which I am not opposed to despite it going against my own ships, and I'll have lots to say about that, too), and at least one post of miscellaneous observations, if any of those topics don't jump out at me and demand I give them their own post as well.

[octolich]

I was Scared for Dragon Age: Veilguard.

I take it back, we are so back. The release date trailer fixes so many of the anxieties of this post, Im keeping it up because I ain't no bitch but consider this an archive post of sorts. Ima make a new one glazing the new trailer but for now this is absolute cinema. Nice going Bioware! Still not pre-ordering tho, fuck EA. I want to say before I state anything, I'm still buying the game, I just want to warn fellow DA Fans to be cautious about this game and its potential quality. I could be wrong and this could be game of the year, best in the franchise. I've just got a weird feeling about Bio ware's marketing that I want to get off my chest.

This is just a personal opinion and warning from a Dragon Age Fan. Disagree? You're probably right. Your opinions are valid and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

SPOILERS FOR DRAGON AGE SHTUFF.

TLDR: Bioware has been very sneaky with marketing as well as dodgy choices in design that I do not agree with. They keep on talking about how this is the best game in the franchise and how the characters are the most in-depth yet, but I personally am sceptical. I could be wrong and this could be game of the year, best in the franchise. I've just got a weird feeling about Bioware's marketing I want to get off my chest and warn others about. We're treating breadcrumbs as buffets. They refuse to show anything substantial off and rely too much on "The games good, trust me bro. we've got nudity!"

I love Dragon age Inquisition to death. Played through it multiple times over the course of 7 years (Necromancer homies rise up). I played Dragon age Origins a wee bit and really loved the freedom and gritty setting which was a complete 180 for what I'm used to from DAI. I didn't play dragon age 2 (sorry besties I'll try it at some point) but I've heard it introduced a lot of controversial concepts but ultimately "modernized" the franchise.

Now, I actually didn't mind the trailer! I was jamming to the bombastic song but found the dialogue in it to be extremely corny. It definitely is a major shift in tone from the other trailers but hey! Maybe it won't be like that in the game. Marketing can mislead the perception of a game through the trailer like with Dead Island (amazing trailer btw) But then I saw the gameplay preview.

I was quite shocked to see Minrathous! I loved the city's whole MagicPunk theme and with the floating Archon's palace in the sky? Even though it looked a bit... off, I still liked it. The city looks old, and powerful. I absolutely love that. But then we get to the immediete problem. The Demons. I believe I heard from somewhere that the artists designed them this way to be similar to that of the human nervous system. What I presumed to be despair demons looked creepy with this artistic vision, but the pride demon??? It just looked goofy and not intimidating at all. They really traded how unique each and every demon looked, and went with floating kool aid spirits?

Moving on, Dragon age Inquisition has 8 slots for abilities you can fill in, allowing you to combo them and have a wide arsenal at your disposal. But with Veil guards 3? It was an immediate red flag. Now, I heard from Bioware that Rook can have an ultimate ability, but that is still 4 out of the original 8 you could bring. Companions are said to have a fixed 5 but can only bring in 3. BUT, Bio ware has been said in the game informer to be encouraging combining abilities with other companions, and not with just your own arsenal. But I still don't like the change.

A 60 second cooldown though??? either the fights shall be long, or you'll be a sitting duck spamming basic attacks waiting for your cool spells. I suppose there would be ways to reduce the time with cooldown reduction perks, but again, I do not vibe with this. aswell as following to comment this:

Now, Im no expert on game design, but I loved the combat in DAI AND DAO, yes it had its flaws but I find it was a highlight, now a flaw of the games. To say that Combat was "Uncharitably meh" I find spits in the face of the philosophy of combat in the previous games. DAI was all about about levelling up to build complex arsenals of spells to combo with, and unlocking specializations which further added spells to play with. DAO was all about freedom, you can be a necromancer/pyromancer/blood mage/spirit healer and it would work! Im afraid that Bioware has forgotten why this was fun and risk the chance of making combat one of the worst aspects of Dragon age Veilguard.

Now, instead of Bioware talking about gameplay, they love to talk about companions, throughout all of the game informer articles they talk about Romance, nudity, character creation (I admit I'm a bit hyped about this one though), and the companions.

Again, the wordplay of how Veilguard is even better than all previous dragon age games doesn't sit well with me. Are the previous companions also not complex? Is Dorian not a man who's constantly fighting between hating his father and loving him, while this love is also reflected for his home land? Is Morrigan not a woman who is on a fight between the discovery of ancient magic, the love of her warden and son, as well as the fear of her mother?

I just find it so strange that they focus so much on the companions in these articles, while also keep quiet about the gameplay, spare the game preview (Basically a vague tutorial) and a few pictures. Now, again. They could actually be the best in the entire franchise. I could eat my words and these companions could shake the very foundation on what it means to be a companion, but I just don't buy this narrative bioware is trying to feed us.

"These followers or companions don't exist by themselves" "Your assembling a family." "Everything you do ties into the critical path" "things are done towards a goal." "In Origins things are done just to do them."

https://www.gameinformer.com/exclusive-video/2024/07/19/the-making-of-dragon-age-the-veilguard (blue text is excerpts from this video. There's more but I can't be assed putting every quote into this. You may watch it yourself if you wish to see more)

They continue to use flowery language in these statements. How complex they are, how they're their own people. But where's the proof? these are all just words at the moment. In the 20 minute preview, I wasn't sitting there immersed in Minrathous, (still pretty gorgeous though, love you concept artists and 3d modelers xxx) or sitting there amazed at the characters. I'm just a dude sitting there watching some Batman Arkham knight look ahh combat.

The Video used above is just so much yapping, with re-used footage from the gameplay preview, trailer and images previously released. There is nothing new they are adding or introducing, only saying "The Characters and Story is good, trust."

Honestly? My theory is that this entire campaign is damage control. Lots of people who viewed the trailer immediately hated it (to be fair most of them haven't touched a single dragon age game in their lives) and the gameplay preview was a mixed review at best. After mass effect andromeda? I don't trust them. Not one bit.

I am going to buy the game and either enjoy it or hate it. I don't prefer gameplay over story, I'm a mix of both. I think one cannot exist without the other. I am just extremely worried for the future of not only Dragon age, but Bioware as a whole. I have a feeling that after this, if this game flops, Bioware is headed for the guillotine by the hands of EA (bunch of pricks).

One thing I will say is I like the skill trees!

This type of skill tree I think outdoes Inquisition's skyrim style perk tree, and really leans into the way Origin's does its abilities and perks (which I like more and Inquisition). From the looks of it, you can twist into what type of mage you are, as well as specialization. Control Death Caller? Burst Spellblade? Or maybe mash Control/Sustain together? It really beckons the imagination. THIS is what I want to see. Instead of words I want action! I want snippets! Not reused footage of the trailer or game preview, I want hard proof of how great this game is!

Not only that, but I do have to admit. the New UI puts all of the previous games to shame. I'm a big fan of the prismatic purple UI they've got going on.

I got to hand it to the Artists and graphic designers, It feels like the artists have fully realised their creative vision. I've never wanted a MagicPunk city until I saw Minrathous. I admit its a small thing to like about, but its the small things like these that can elevate a games quality. If there's one thing that I find that Dragon age Veil guard does better than the rest is the UI.

I post this out of love, not hate. I'm terrified that my favourite franchise is going to turn dogshit thanks to questionable choices. Bioware is doing nothing to comfort these fears by pumping out bloated statements like how the characters are the best in the series, and bringing up transmog and hyping up the character creator. Like, yeah? where is it then? are there no snippets? You're willing to post entire skill tree's why not post the character creator? or a sneak at the transmog?

After mass effect andromeda, my faith has been lost on bioware. But I still love the dragon age games. I just wish they do it justice. I will still buy the game, and leave a positive or negative review depending on the quality. If its good then ya'll have full permission to clown on me!

Im uh, still new to Tumblr so I don't know how to end this. Treat yourself to some water, maybe order just eats? Just treat yo self! Thanks immensely for reading this, hopefully you've learned something from this rambling. And hey! If you disagree, that's more than welcome! Your opinions are just as valid as mine. and I'd love to hear what you think and love about Dragon Age. Who knows? we might agree! (Lucanis is so handsome its not even funny)

[thedinanshiral]

After the reveal

Cinematic trailer and gameplay reveal already out of the way, now we wait. What's a few months after ten long, painful years? Sure, i can wait some more, and now i'll do it more gladly than ever.

There's not much i could add to what everyone is talking about, so this will be a post of personal impressions.

Cinematic trailer: while i admit i was not liking it much at first, and yes i did compare it to Fortnite, i immediately went to watch DAI's cinematic trailer because i remembered it looked kinda funny too. And then i remembered DAO's awful, truly awful trailers and i felt my worries washed away by the waves of "It'll be ok" Beach. Cinematic trailers should be taken as what they are, a basic look into the game, not its final version -unless it's stated as such in the trailer itself-. I saw people not liking the characters' presentation cards but i think they were ok, as we have new factions and all. That's all it was, a quick look at new companions and locations. But as always some people went rabid over it like an undertaker eager to put six-feet worth of dirt on your face. As they've been doing for the past decade and even before that, for which i have a Zero Tolerance Policy. As for the music, while i do like Bowie i'm not a fan of that version of Heroes, and in my heart nothing beats DAI's Into the darkness as a trailer song but after the dust settled that's really my only real complaint.

Gameplay reveal: I'm glad it put most people at ease. I'm sad Varric couldn't succeed in convincing his old friend and that in the moment Solas decided destroying Bianca was the way to make him stop trying for good, that he was cruel intentionally to that end. I'm not sure how combat will feel like but i'll get used to it. I'm certainly not a fan of having to pause every two frames and i did enjoy combat in Mass Effect Andromeda so having only two companions tag along isn't exactly a new thing either. I'm a bit confused about the commands wheel screen, and how it works exactly. Location and ambience-wise i loved it all, i know they had to cut it short for the video but i hope we get a bit more freedom to explore the area. It's one thing to cut the scale down from The Hinterlands but i'd hate it for these new locales to feel like a shoebox. I'm curious to see if the tone indicators in the dialogue wheel will be like in DAI or more like in DA2, and i hope it's the latter because i need a Purple protagonist in my life again.

I rather wait until we know more, ideally until i get to play it myself, before i start weaving words about what was peaking through the rip in the Veil, about the ritual and all that sweet, sweet lore intoxication i'm gonna be getting.

What's coming: BW were kind enough to give us a bit of a schedule

Now armed with past experiences and my intuition, i'd like to explore possibilities. I've always thought the release date should be in November. It marks the 10th anniversary of Dragon Age Inquisition, and the 15th annoversary of Dragon Age Origins. On top of that, it's the year of the Dragon, and November is close enough to the holidays to bank on that as well. So i'm considering the possibility that after June 18th they give us a some days to process everything so far, and there's also the character creator reveal as well. And then by July i think they could start showing us a bit more with character trailers. With seven companions plus Rook i'd say one trailer per week is enough to make it to mid September. I Imagine a basic presentation of Rook in some of their variants, to reintroduce those origins people missed so much, the new factions, etc, could take over July and then the companions over August and September. Maybe we could get more official art or short stories sprinkled here and there too. After that i'd say a pre-order and release date would be great, giving everyone a month or so to get ready for a glorious November release right on time for my birthday.

Anyway that's all in my head, for now we have nothing beyond June 18th. I'm mostly waiting for a pre-order, of course a release date, and whether or not there'll be a Collector's edition or anythin like it so i can work my magic to get one.

[sege-h]

Thoughts on the State of Play reveal

Under a readmore just in case

1- I know I said I'd keep the Son*dow tag blocked for a bit after Prime ended but I think I'll keep it blocked till the end of the year now lmao

2- I know the rumor has been going around since yesterday but I took it with a grain of salt since it's. Yknow. A rumor. But even when I let myself think 'what if its real tho' this is SO FAR FROM WHAT I EXPECTED. A!!! I thought at most we'd get is a remaster that'd also make Shadow playable! As soon as I saw the new level I was like WAIT WHAT. WAIT WHAT!!?!? and it just kept going from there!!!

I'm so happy we'll be getting a HD biolizard fight! He'll no longer be contained to the 3DS! Also from what little we saw Shadow will get to have some dynamic posing in the boss fights, like Super Sonic did in Frontiers. Good! I loved those!

3- Ian Flynn has #KnowingSmile'd the announcement and I'm hoping this means he got to write for whatever new content there is.

And speaking of Frontiers! I'm hoping that this ends up being Shadow's 'Frontiers' moment. In that his writing and character get what Amy's, Tails', and Knuckles' did in Frontiers.

4-I had the stream off to the side in another tab since I wasn't interested in most of what was shown. And then I heard the first few notes of the Generations music and i immediately switched tabs and I just!!! Feel like I did in 2011 except my computer/internet is way better, and you tube is shittier!

5- I'm excited for this for such Me reasons. For those new here- I live in a country that had no Sonic stuff for...well, never, really. Not until about 2022. The second movie did what I'd hoped the first movie would do (but then the pandemic happened) and brought over Sonic stuff here. For the first time in my life I went to a toy store here and it had Sonic stuff. I got to buy physical Sonic comics for the first time. For the first time in my life I can go to a video game store and actually see Sonic games there. It's been wild

That being said, 2011 had Nothing. Sonic Generations came out. And I didn't want to pirate it because a friend of mine had worked on it. I was determined to find it. And I only saw it irl one time- for the Playstation. A console I've never had. It was pretty upsetting! I remember posting about it here even....I've been on tumblr too long SHDGSHDHS

Later I'd find that there was a 3DS version. I have that! So I looked for that version of it alongside the PC one

So, for almost a decade, I looked, to no avail. And for this whole time I refused to look at any playthroughs! Any knowledge I had on whats in the game came from the trailers we saw

And then in 2019 my best friend helped me buy the 3DS version. I had 9 dollars on my 3DS and whenever the game went on sale it'd be on for 10 dollars. So he gave me a dollar and helped me get it SHDGSHDH

So I finally experienced Generations! It was surprise after surprise in that one, because I knew it was different but I didn't know how. I didn't expect a Rush level in it, or for the Biolizard to be in there!

And then in late 2020 when I got my new computer and could finally get steam, another close friend got me Generations for the PC! I'd somehow managed to dodge spoilers on it all those years so all I knew about it was: Theres Green Hill, Chemical Plant, City Escape, and a Silver boss fight.

I got to play modern City Escape for myself- which is the level that inspired the current iteration of my main OC, Storm. It was a joy

All this rambling to say...it's wild to think that once this remaster comes out, I'll be able to get it day 1, at least I hope I will. Still-it won't take me almost a decade to get to it

And if there's a physical release? I'll be able to go to a store here- HERE, not in one of our neighboring countries, not from somewhere else, but in a store here. Right across the street. And I'll finally have a physical copy of Generations. That was my final goal with the game-- I love it, I have two versions of it! And the plan was always that even though I'd gotten to play them now, if I ever ran into a physical copy of the game, I'd buy it. And now I'll really get to do it

6- Bonus thought of me being silly: Wowow my OC was shown at the State of Play--

[jemandtherobots]

All 50 books I read in 2022, why I read them, and if I'd recommend them

Notes:

F = Finnish, i.e. the book was either written in Finnish or was translated into Finnish.

3 titles have been redacted bcos they're uhh self-help type books and I don't want you guys to know what I've needed help with.

Jeanne DuPrau - The City of Ember

I wanted to start the year off with an old favourite. Literally this was my fave book when I was 10 years old, and the one that got me into sci-fi.

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games trilogy

I think I saw a tumblr analysis post about these that made me want to re-read the series (and also, I was digging through my old books anyway). I think I liked these more now than I did ten years ago.

Kate DiCamillo - Because of Winn-Dixie

Another one from the pile of Books I Used To Love Many Years Ago. This one still holds up for sure, would recommend and not just to children.

Charlotte McConaghy - Migrations

Someone I follow online (an influencer!) recommended a different book by this author, but I found this one first and figured what the hell. It is a good book. It is a well-written book. But also as I was reading through every bad thing that had ever happened to the main character I kind of wanted to be like "isn't this enough? isn't is possible to write an interesting character without giving them every kind of trauma on the planet?".

redacted, (non-fiction)

A self-help book someone recommended in some Twitter replies, that happened to be on the audiobook service I was subscribed to for a couple of months. The advice in the book was very good but it didn't stick.

Rebekah Taussig - Sitting Pretty (non-fiction)

I don't remember how I came across this (it was also on the audiobook platform) but I'm so so glad I did. I don't just recommend this, I am physically coming to your house and making you read this book.

Alice Oseman - Solitaire

Final audiobook, listened to because I watched Heartstopper and figured I should see what Alice Oseman's works are about. I recommend this, if you don't mind a million Harry Potter references, mainly because I need the plot of this book to happen in the background of Heartstopper season 2 and I want people to understand.

Noora Tuhkanen - Kuuraattori (F)

I got (back) into poetry this year after attending a poetry open mic at my local library, and I decided I should read some poetry in Finnish. This one was alright.

Pauliina Haasjoki - Planeetta (F)

See above re: poetry. This one was actually on the librarian recommendations shelf and I only saw it as I was leaving the library, but the cover caught my attention so I went back for it. Glad I did; this is my favourite Finnish poetry I've read so far. A recommendation.

Jane Austen - Persuasion

I read this one fairly often anyway, but this year it coincided with the release of the trailer for the Netflix adaptation. Now that I'm writing this I'm thinking about The Letter so hard I might have to make this my first re-read of 2023. A definite recommendation.

Emmi Itäranta - Kuunpäivän kirjeet (F)

I bought this one ages ago because I will love and support anything Emmi Itäranta writes, but then I noticed it came out in the UK and I recommended it to a friend and immediately went "oh shit I should probably read it myself" so I read it really quickly and am pleased to say I didn't have to take back the recommendation. The best book Itäranta has written so far, if you're not from Finland please look up The Moonday Letters, this is probably in my top 3 books I've read all year. (Yeah, I recommend this.)

Eila Kaustia - Aikamerkki (F)

Poetry, Finnish, I was over at my grandma's for midsummer and it was on a bookshelf. I remember nothing about it, but I must have enjoyed it.

Jonathan Safran Foer - We Are the Weather (F translation, non-fiction)

I follow people online who are in what might be called the climate circles, heard good things about this one, read it, remember very little of it.

Bethany Clift - Last One at the Party

I've long had a thing for books in the "almost everyone in the world dies" genre (god knows why), but this wasn't it. Not bad, not the worst in the genre, but… could the sole survivor of the virus not have been a more interesting person, at least?

Mary Jean Chan & Andrew McMillan (ed.) - 100 Queer Poems

I feel like the title is explanation enough for why I bought this book. What more do you need to know? It's fuckin fantastic. I keep it on my bedside table and hug it occasionally. Would recommend.

Emily M. Danforth - Plain Bad Heroines

My local library has a section of books in English, and this one was in there with a rainbow flag sticker on the spine. Not sure how I feel about it, I mostly liked it but some parts made me go "uhh what the fuck". The writing itself was really good, though. I recommend it if you don't mind Weird Shit with your lesbian hauntings.

Dave Wolverton - The Rising Force

This one's a Star Wars book. About a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Target audience: 9-y.o. boys (see: my brother when this book was bought for him) and me.

Mary Oliver - Blue Horses

This was a gift from a dear friend, and I treasure it almost as much as I treasure our friendship (a lot). Would recommend, both reading Mary Oliver and having friends.

Sini Helminen - Hurme (F)

This was one of my NaNoWriMo prep research books. I ventured into my library's YA section for this, to find Finnish fantasy books. I find it hard to rate this, considering it's in a genre I don't tend to read.

Elina Rouhiainen - Muistojenlukija (F)

More NaNoWriMo prep reading. I liked this more than I did Hurme, and wasn't even too distracted reading about the area of Helsinki where I'm from (fuck yeah Vuosaari). But again, it's not this book's fault, but fantasy YA just isn't for me.

Erin Sterling - The Ex Hex

NaNoWriMo prep reading of a different sort, this time a witchy romance. Felt a bit meh.

Ursula K. Le Guin - The Word for World is Forest

I'm a simple man: I see a Le Guin book, I read it. Obviously I would recommend this.

Ann Aguirre - Witch Please

Back to NaNoWriMo prep reading. Here's the thing: I read some questionable books in 2022. This was the worst. You may ask me why I hated it, but only if you want to hear a very long rant.

[redacted] (non-fiction)

A Humble Bundle book.

Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre

NaNoWriMo prep reading, again, this time taking the gothic romance approach. It's nicely written, and a classic for a reason, I guess.

Ryan O'Connell - Just By Looking at Him

Actually looked at my Bookbub email for the first time in years and this was in there! I loved Ryan O'Connell's Netflix show, Special, and I loved this book. I don't love what it did to my Google Play Books recommendations because it was marked as erotica. But I do recommend this book.

Remi Carrington - Wrangled by Lilith

Another Bookbub find, this one might even have been free. I saw the words "cowboy romance" and was somewhat disappointed.

Autokoulun oppikirja (F, non-fiction)

So I went to driving school, and this was the textbook I used for the written test. I guess I'd recommend it if you were learning to drive in Finland. The "what not to do" pictures were entertaining, so bonus points for that.

Claudia Burgoa & Grahame Claire - Holiday With You

Bookbub, free, Christmas romance. One of the better romance novels I read this year.

Ellie Cahill - I Temporarily Do

Bookbub, free, fake marriage trope. Also a pretty fun read.

CP Ward - Autumn in Sycamore Park

Bookbub, free, had a fun time with it.

Ashley Poston - The Dead Romantics

Bookbub, cheap, ghost romance. I liked it enough that I think I did recommend it to someone, and certainly enough that I was horrified when I saw it in a bookstore on the "tiktok made me buy it" shelf. I'd say this is my favourite booktok book I read.

Tamsyn Muir - Gideon the Ninth

This book was first marketed to me by a friend whose taste I do not trust (see "The Flatshare" and "Red, White & Royal Blue") as "sword lesbians in space" which obviously piqued my interest. Also, people on the internet who I don't see talking about books have been talking about this series for ages. And finally, I came across it at my local library. You guys were right, this is really good, and yes I would recommend it.

Sophie Ranald - No We Can't Be Friends

Bookbub, cheap (free?). Eh.

Rebecca Crowley - Shine a Light

Bookbub, cheap (free?). A holiday romance, set not at Christmas, but at Hanukkah. Obviously I'm reading it. And unlike many of the romance novels on my list this year: I would genuinely recommend this one if you enjoy the genre.

Emily M. Danforth - The Miseducation of Cameron Post

I guess I did like Danforth's Plain Bad Heroines enough that when I saw this in the YA section of the library I took it home. Not the most exciting book I've ever read, but fine.

Ali Hazelwood - The Love Hypothesis

The first time I saw this on the "tiktok made me buy it" shelf at the bookstore, I was curious as someone whose interests include romance and academia, but who got burned by a book about those a few years back. Then I heard it was originally a Reylo fic, and I knew I had to read it. Bookbub came through for me, I paid a euro, and… well, it's not the worst book I've read all year. I wouldn't recommend it, but I did have fun with it.

Anni Nupponen - Valkoinen kaupunki (F)

Of the books in my library's tiny sci-fi section, this one seemed the most promising out of the ones I hadn't read before, and it turned out to be So Good. The world-building was amazing. Unfortunately most of you will have to take my word for it because this book has not been translated into any other languages, sorry.

Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle (F translation)

The movie adaptation was my comfort watch of 2020, and this book my comfort read of the same year. I don't remember what made me think of it, but I got it out the library once more. Lovely book, what more can I say? Also, the translation is really good - I'm annoying and picky about translations but this one worked. Would therefore recommend both the book and the translation.

Mary Oliver - Swan & A Thousand Mornings (both F translation)

Well. I read these because I adore Mary Oliver (we know this) and I needed lines from poems I liked for a poetry class assignment. I would recommend the poems but not the translations.

Tiina Tuppurainen - Sinä olet perheeni (F)

I heard the author speak at a Pride event and I was curious about this book as a queer Finn. I very much wanted to like this book. I did not.

Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James - Winging It

Another cheap Bookbub find. As someone who has spent a lot of time reading a lot of Check, Please! fanfiction, what was I supposed to do, not read the gay ice hockey romance? I'd recommend it if you would like the experience of reading Check, Please! fanfiction except with different characters, but it doesn't really have much more to offer.

[redacted], non-fiction

Another Humble Bundle book.

Shirley Jackson - The Lottery and Other Stories

I've read and loved two of Shirley Jackson's novels, and I figured I would love her short stories just as much. I almost did. I think I just didn't "get" some of the stories which is really a me problem.

Beth O'Leary - The Flatshare

A pal recommended this, and I read the Finnish translation a couple of years ago, and I read it again because it came up for like 1€ on Bookbub and I remembered thinking it was okay. It's a fun concept, but a fun concept does not a brilliant book make. My 2020 self was right: it was okay.

Connie Willis - Doomsday Book

I bought this in like, 2015 or 2016, when my method for selecting a book was "as long as it's sci-fi written by a woman" (which is something I still do in bookstores). It's set around Christmas, so I have a tradition of reading it around then, going so far as to buy the ebook copy because my physical copy is with my brother. I would absolutely recommend this book, but not without content warnings.

Casey McQuiston - Red, White & Royal Blue

A friend (see above re: The Flatshare) actually recommended this to me back when it came out, so I was curious about it, and another friend read it and said they hated it. This second friend lent it to me with the words "I'd tell you to enjoy, but I don't think we can be friends if you do" and I'm happy to say I wouldn't recommend this book. It's a fun read, but it isn't good.

[roseyserpents]

Delicate

Summary: after you lose everything you made friends with some Serpents, but you worry your new feelings would ruin what you have

Word count: 2,616

Warnings: mentions of sex (that's about it I think)

A/N: This is a song fic with Taylor Swift's Delicate! this is the first fic I've posted in a few months so it might be pretty bad :|

This ain't for the best

My reputation's never been worse, so

You must like me for me

You used to be at the top of the social ladder in Riverdale High. You walked the halls with Cheryl Blossom and Reggie Mantle and the like. You were a co-captain of the Riverdale Vixens, proudly wearing the uniform and looking down at the people who could only wish to be like you. To be someone everyone knew and was invited to every party. Someone who could get a boyfriend with the snap of her fingers and get everything she wanted just by saying it. You used to be that person. Until your mom lost her job sending you both tumbling from the richest parts of the Northside to Sunnyside trailer park. It was nothing like your old life where you had a closet the size of the entire trailer and any type of food you had a craving for. Now you had a small dresser and two cabinets that held Cheerios, Graham crackers, and ramen noodles. You traded your high and mighty life at Riverdale High for being the new soft kid from the Northside at Southside High. It was as if you were standing on the top rung of the ladder and someone pushed you off, sending you crumbling down to the bottom not even getting a grip of it. Your reputation in Riverdale was ruined.

That's why you were surprised when on your third day in hell a certain Serpent named Fangs Fogarty decided to take a chance on the Northsider that stook out like a sore thumb and invited you to sit with him and his friends at lunch. Fangs didn't have much of an issue with your past but it took the others about three months for them to consider you worthy of being called a Southsider. One of the people who scoffed and rolled their eyes every time you appeared or spoke was Sweet Pea. But he even came around to you eventually, you becoming part of the group. Part of the Southside.

We can't make

Any promises now, can we, babe?

But you can make me a drink

You were finally okay with your new life after a year and a half when the news of Southside high closing traveled around. You were sent a letter in the mail that you would be transferred to Riverdale High effective by Monday of the next week. Riverdale High where everyone who used to adore you would now glare down at you for being one of the transfered students. Riverdale High where you knew there were rumours about what happened to your family and you were had been receiving hate for it. As soon as you read the letter you threw open the door to your trailer and made your way to the Whyte Wyrm, sitting down with a heavy sigh and your face twisted into an expression of rage.

"See the letter?" Sweet Pea asks, appearing in front of you from behind the worn bar counter. You don't reply, simply nodding and drumming your stiff fingers on the wood. "It'll be fine. You already know everyone."

"You don't understand." You say with a humourless smile and a shake of your head, "They're ruthless to anyone with remote connections to the South. I'm not going to be able to walk the halls by myself without getting the shit beaten out of me."

"Serpents wouldn't let that happen." Sweet Pea says referring to you joining four months prior. "That's a promise."

"Might be a hard one to keep." You sigh. "Can you make me a drink?"

As anticipated by you the first two months of being back at Riverdale High was horrid and filled with you getting pushed becoming the students physical and verbal punching bag. They threw words at you about how now you're Southside Serpent scum and no longer one of them. But eventually most of the Northsiders got bored of bullying you all and dropped it, mostly only Bulldogs and Vixens starting feuds. You'd eventually made friends with a few Northside kids you'd never noticed when you went there through Jughead including Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, and Archie Andrews.

"So, I convinced my parents to let me use our lake house for the break." Veronica says as she sits down in the student lounge. "I figured we could all use it as a romantic getaway."

"Sounds great." Betty smiles for her and Jughead.

"You guys have fun with that." You sigh, leaning back in the couch.

"Aren't you going to come Y/n?" Archie asks, everyone turning towards you.

"I would but I don't exactly have someone to go with." You answer.

"Why don't you bring Sweet Pea?" Jughead suggests, raising his hand that rests on Betty's shoulder.

"Sweet and I- we're not like that. We're just friends." You stutter, trying to stop the heat creeping up your necks and onto your cheeks. You didn't want to even admit to yourself you'd grown to like the tall, quick tempered Serpent as more than a friend. The butterflies that flew in your stomach every time you saw your friend scared you because you knew it would change things so you stuffed the feelings way down inside of you and locked them in a box. That nobody was allowed to unlock or even see. Those feelings were off limits and would just turn everything into a mangled knot.

You see Veronica and Betty have a conversation with their eyes before turning towards you. "Bring him, it'll be a friend thing instead of a romantic getaway."

"No, you guys can have your date thing I'll just hang out with the Serpents." You reject, not wanting an extremely awkward week or to ruin theirs.

"Hangout with that Serpent with us." Veronica says with her "I'm not going to stop bugging you until I get my way" look. You sigh and press your lips into a line, looking between the two of your friends before speaking.

"If you guys can convince him to go, I'll go." You finally give immediately regretting it as the two of them look to Jughead.

You'd decided to leave to go to your locker, the others waiting for you to be out of ear shot before talking.

"Y/n and Sweet Pea like each other right?" Archie asks, turning to Jughead.

"Oh yeah definitely." He answers, stuffing a Dorito in his mouth.

"Which means we need them both to come." Veronica adds, quirking a brow as she smiles.

Your stomach flipped at the texts as you realized you just accepted to go on basically a date with Sweet Pea that you were technically forced to do. Still in disbelief the next morning you packed a bag filled with clothes and your basic necessities before walking outside, confused when you see Sweet Pea standing there.

"I was expecting to meet you there." You say, explaining your expression when he quirks a brow at you. He shrugs, hand scratching the back of his neck before falling back to his side.

"I figured I could give you a ride." He says, gesturing to his motorcycle leaning on its stand.

You look to your own propped against your house and look back at his, debating the decisions before walking towards Sweet Pea. He flashes you a small smile before swinging his leg over the seat, you doing the same and wrapping your arms around his torso. He revs the engine before pulling away from the trailer park and makes his way to the lake house using the directions Veronica had sent that morning. You tried to ignore how your heart seemed to stop whenever you remembered how close the two of you were, trying to keep your focus on the passing woods.

After about forty-five minutes you slowed to a stop in front of a house the size of the entire Sunnyside trailer park. The others approached you as you and Sweet Pea gaped at the building.

"You made it!" Veronica smiles, taking back your attention. "You two can set your stuff in your room."

"Room?" You ask, slight panic rising in your chest at the lack of a mention of separate rooms.

"My uh parents only gave me permission to use three so we're all two to a room." She says, not fully convincing you but you say nothing else knowing it would be a pointless conversation as you follow her into the house. "Last door on the right." Veronica says, you nodding and walking up the stairs with Sweet Pea behind you.

"Holy shit." You hear Sweet Pea breathe as you step inside. "This room is as big as four trailers."

There was a queen sized bed on one wall facing a wall made of windows with a door leading to a balcony. Another door sat on the wall next to it leading to a bathroom, the room complete with themed decorations. You both set down your bags and meet the others downstairs, the sun setting below the lake outside as you made small conversation and played a few games.

About an hour after the sun was out of sight you were all sitting in the hot tub with a drink in hand. While the others sat practically on top of one another you and Sweet Pea stayed a safe distance apart sometimes your arms brushing against each others causing your breath to hitch in your throat. You'd easily finished two drinks trying to loosen up and not be so tense when everyone was having fun. You just couldn't stop thinking about every little thing Sweet Pea did from the smile that grazed his lips when the others made jokes to how you could swear he was getting closer to you.

Events seemed to start blurring into each other, you hardly being able to give any of your focus to the others conversation. You hardly realized you were leaning against Sweet Peas side, his arm lazily hung around your shoulders.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." You excuse yourself climbing out of the hot tub.

"Are you okay?" Betty asks, observing your wobbled way of walking.

"I'm fine." You say, waving a hand at her right before slipping, twisting your ankle and landing hard on the stones around the water. You hear multiple people climb out as you groan and turn over on to your back, squinting your eyes.

"Y/n, are you okay?" Sweet Pea asks, helping you sit up as you rub your head.

"Totally." You groan, looking around at the others who give you looks of concern. "I'm probably gonna go uh lie down."

With that you attempt to stand up but wince and lift your leg at the pain from putting pressure on your ankle.

"Need help?" Pea asks, standing up next to you. You nod and he wraps an arm around you, trying to help you walk but you find it awfully hard to hop on one leg in your state. He shakes his head before scooping you up in his arms, carrying you the rest of the way inside. He gets you upstairs, setting you down on the bed but falling over and ending up on top of you, his cheeks burning bright red.

"I uh..." He says, opening and closing his mouth to finish his sentence but no words come out.

Third floor on the West Side, me and you

Handsome, your mansion with a view

Do the girls back home touch you like I do?

Long night, with your hands up in my hair

You look into his eyes, your hand coming up to cup his face before bringing your lips to his. He hesitates a moment before returning the kiss, moving himself fully above you. The once small kiss quickly turns heated, your hands roaming his body. Your lips trail down to his neck, sucking on the soft skin. His hands lace in your hair, tugging on the y/h/c locks occasionally.

That night you did something you'd never imagined would happen between you and Sweet Pea, not even thinking about how many boundaries were bring broken and how you weren't thinking of your delicate friendship.

The next morning when you woke up you immediately felt yourself go hot clammy finding your head on Sweet Peas chest with nothing but the bed sheets separating your skin from his. Your heart tightens in your chest as you back away from him, having to pry his arm from around your waist before retreating to the opposite side of the bed. Sweet Pea groans and opens his eyes as he sits up, the blanket falling off of his upper body as he does so. Your cheeks and ears burn bright red when he looked to you, your eyes holding his for a quick moment before looking down at the mattress.

Is it cool that I said all that?

Is it chill that you're in my head?

'Cause I know that it's delicate

Is it cool that I said all that

Is it too soon to do this yet?

'Cause I know that it's delicate

"Shit..." He mumbles. "Look I um-"

"It's fine." You cut him off in a small voice. You didn't mean to sound so scared but you were utterly terrified of this ruining everything the two of you had. "I just... I don't want this to change anything."

Sweet Pea nods, meeting your eyes again. You don't know why it hurt you to see regret slightly on his.

"I like you, Sweet Pea." You say, everything in you freezing as you say the thing you had barely admitted to yourself. You don't see any reaction on his face prompting you to rant out of nerves. "I thought that if I just ignored it it'd be fine but I can't get you out of my head. I know that you will probably not want to see me after this and I understand that it's just-"

Sweet Pea cuts you off by cupping your face, his thumb running over your cheekbone. Your mouth went dry and you couldn't get any words out as your eyes scanned his face finding something you couldn't quite identify. One of the things on your mind was how you were practically shattering the delicate relationship you had. You felt like you were ruining everything and you just lost one of your closest friends because you were stupid and couldn't keep your emotions to yourself.

"I'm sorry. For all of this." You manage to say.

"Don't be." He says quietly. Neither of you quite understood the reason for being so quiet, maybe not to scare the other away with anything above a whisper. In seemingly slow motion he leans forwards until his lips are on yours soft and warm in a delicate kiss made of rose petals. Everything between you two was delicate from the way his hand gently held your face to whatever your relationship was now. But something that wasn't delicate was the fireworks you were seeing even though your eyes were closed, the colours exploding between the two of you. You both pull away, not getting very far as your foreheads press against each others.

"You're okay with this?" Sweet Pea asks, his breath lightly hitting your face.

"Of course." You smile before connecting your lips again, finally breaking through that delicate phase of your friendship and into a relationship that you'd always thought would never happen in that bed, a kiss being the bond in front of the sunrise over the lake making the whole moment even more perfect and warm and golden.

Cause I know that it's delicate

Delicate

[dent-de-leon]

You can give an opinion without being an arsehole, mate. Also, I just read that 'broganes' was headcanoned by an Asian, so are they racist too? I'm not 'trying to win an argument', I'm genuinely confused. I've searched for it on here, but I can only find people arguing against it being racist. Most people I've seen who think of them as siblings isn't because they 'look similar' (which they don't), but because of how they act.

Okay, let’s break this down. First off, I know who the first person that came up with the bro/ganes headcanon was. I’ve been in this fandom a long time, practically since the show aired, and I honestly have a better understanding of fandom trends than a lot of other people since I saw it all firsthand right from the beginning. So, again–I know who the first person that came up with the term was. Yes, they were Asian. And I also know that it was 1) intended to be a “fun AU” for them based off their own personal experiences with their sibling, that they based it off that, and 2) it was meant to be an AU, not canon–which is how many antis took it–and it was also never meant to bash other ships or trivialize Shiro and Keith’s relationship. 

It was a fun personal project for them, and it wasn’t meant to be used as a tool to harass others. Guess what happened anyway. Just guess. Bro/ganes might have started out as something innocuous and innocent, but antis clung to it and things very quickly went off the rails. And just because some Asian fans liked the idea, you literally cannot change the fact that I’ve heard multiple others express their concerns on just why the subject was so upsetting for them. You cannot separate this term from the inherently racist connotations built up and emphasized by antis over the years. You cannot. The person who invented bro/ganes didn’t mean for it to get out of hand and be used by antis to hurt others like that, so please don’t try to play them like some kind of trump card or drag their name through the mud. 

And if you want to see firsthand just how detrimental bro/ganes is, Barlee very innocently posted an artwork of Shiro and Keith calling them “bros.” Antis went wild over it, and she then deleted the comments. People were like, “hey, why’d she delete the comments?” And antis started making up bullshit like, “oh, she probably did it because evil shaladins were bothering her, because they were upset about bro/gans!!” And then Barlee literally made a post saying that, actually, she deleted it because she didn’t want antis harassing shaladins and running away with the whole bro/ganes bullshit like they literally always do. When you have fans literally harassing the staff over this nonsense, it’s gone too fucking far:

Copying and pasting a brief history of bro/ganes here from my other post in case you didn’t see it:

I’m not sure how many of you were around for this, but I was here well before season 2. And the bro/ganes crap absolutely predates that (BOM) line. By a lot. I’m talking like practically the beginning. They’ve literally always been like this. Hunk saying the other paladins are his brothers convieniently never gets mentioned, but antis zeroed in on that one out of context line, because that’s how they are. They were ready for any scrap that they could wave in our faces and scream about like children somehow “proving” their nonexistent point.

And if you’re saying there’s weight to the line with Keith and Shiro, then you must also acknowledge there was considerable weight to Allura’s words when she called Keith and the other paladins her family. That was a heavy scene, there’s no way around it. It’s even followed by this embrace and words of affirmation. And yet, how interesting antis fixated on one scene with Keith and found family but not the other.

The facts are these–antis have always been uncomfortable with Shiro and Keith being so close. Because the easy intimacy there felt very tangible and real. Because it wasn’t k/l. I was there when the first trailer for season 2 came out, the one with Shiro calling out for Keith at the end. The one where Shiro tells Keith to lead Voltron. Do you know what antis were saying at the time? They were pissed that Keith and Shiro were so close and it would be a “sheith season.” We’re talking before this thing even aired. How dare Keith care so much about Shiro. Where was Lance? The nerve. 

People literally said they hoped Shiro would die because then sheith could never happen. I can’t even begin describe the very visceral hatred that people had for his character at this time–because Keith had the audacity to careabout Shiro, and it drove them fucking wild. As part of some mass delusion, people arbitrarily claimed it would be a “choice” between Lance or Shiro dying–because Lan/gst and everything must be about Lance. And there were posts and posts of people saying that they would throw Shiro off a cliff for Lance’s sake in a heartbeat and how if it’s between them they hope Shiro gets killed. 

People kept trying to rationalize it by insisting the only canonically mentally ill character needed to die because he was too traumatized to lead, because he wasn’t good enough for the team. He had to step down and give Lance his time. It wasn’t until antis had that one out of context BOM line to latch onto that they finally breathed a sigh of relief and went, “look, look bro/ganes is canon!!! We’re safe!!!” And suddenly no one said he had to die right away. In their mind, sheith was “dead,” and that was just as good as killing Shiro. It’s pretty sick. 

The bottom line is this–people have always hated sheith’s relationship and have been frantically looking for ways to undermine it. Bro/ganes–even right at the start–very quickly turned into fans going all conspiracy theory, making very racist assumptions without any evidence to back it up. “They look similar, they must be related!” “Keith’s last name in GoLion was Kogane, which sounds like Shirogane!! So they’re related!!” Is that how last names work? No, not in the fucking least. Did they neglect to mention Lance’s was Kurogane? Absolutely. 

Anyway, moving on–“They’re both Asian, so obviously, they’re brothers!! That’s why they’re so close, it all makes sense!!” You know what else is pretty upsetting to me? That you have tons of teenage girls fetishizing the k/l rivalry–because someone harassing another guy is apparently hot–but then immediately showing disgust when you have two guys actually expressing mutual love and support. 

The fact is, they used bro/ganes as an excuse to make Shiro and Keith’s relationship more “palatable” because they were personally uncomfortable seeing two guys so close, so obviously open and affectionate. And not in a way that was ever staged as fan service, not in a way with juvenile love/hate “sexual tension” played up to titillate an outside audience. Instead, Shiro and Keith’s interactions are very much heartfelt and organic. Interesting how apparently more guys like she/ith than k/l. 

Anyway, the most striking thing of all here is you keep saying I’m giving shallow reasons and that “it’s just racist because I say so,” like…you’re literally missing the entire point here, which is that, it doesn’t fucking matter what I think. This isn’t about you winning an argument with me. I cannot and I can never decide what’s racist to actual Asian fans, this is about their feelings on the matter, not mine. And if you don’t acknowledge that this is a term that’s been steeped in racist connotations and used to harass others for months and months now, then I literally don’t know what to tell you. Also, “You can give your opinions without being an asshole.” You already called me a dick, mate. You don’t have to pretend to be polite now, it’s okay. 

This isn’t an issue I’ll ever budge on, so I really don’t know what you’re expecting here. But it’s not about me, it’s never been about me and my feelings. You can open up and listen to others who are personally affected by the matter. Please understand these are my final thoughts on the subject, and nothing you can say will change it for me. 

[xphanuel]

I hate cops

That post reminded me of all the times I was searched for no good reason and had my rights thrown in the garbage, lol. I dead ass was only found with weed once, and they let me fucking keep it after trying to see if I knew where they could find coke, to which I genuinely laughed bc I'm afraid of cocaine and I've never tried it LMFAO

Last time I got pulled over, it was this past January and I was driving home from work, which could range from 1 am to 3 am if I work the evening/night shift. I wasnt even speeding, but the cops like to park in dark parking lots and pull out after you for some reason by me? Not sure if that's everywhere or not. I saw the dude pull out after me, and I was like here we fuckin go lmao I'm going to jail or dying for hitting and screaming at a cop. I make the right I'm supposed to make to get to my house, and I make the next left, which is when he pulled me over. So he comes up to my car and I give him my license and registration and ask why he pulled me over and he said that my turn was wide??? "yeah, you sure about that buddy? You sure it was the turn? Not that you saw me on Hempstead turnpike, parked in that dark abandoned parking lot next to the motel, and pulled out after me to make a random stop for no good reason at 2 in the morning on my way home from work, during a pandemic?" He told me to sit tight and then he immediately brought all my shit back, as if he realized theres fucking cameras in the parking lot he was sitting in, or that I wasnt fucking stupid.

Bro, fr, the only cop that's been a god send to me was the one state trooper who ticketed me for speeding but brought down how fast I was actually going. My ass was going 110, I would have went to jail in Pennsylvania with my friend in the car jfc.

The dude was super nice though and appreciated that I pulled over on the "wrong" side bc the parkway was small and didnt have a lot of room to pull over on the "right" side, so I just wanted to make sure the dude wouldnt get smashed by a trailer or some shit. He brought the speed down to 75 and just gave me a ticket and sent me on my way. And ngl I deserved the ticket, I shouldnt have been speeding like that, especially in a fucking rental. That day I was just so pissed off and already had to call the cops bc we were leaving a convention and the valet literally outright refused to give us our car back because "we were rude" when all I did was say hi and gave my name for the valet??? Like lmfao, the cops ripped him a fucking new asshole when they showed up, especially when he tried to double down and say he was "just trying to teach us a lesson not to be rude" and the cop just snapped and was like "that's not part of your job, you're not one of their parents, and it's illegal to hold their own car because you wouldnt listen to them and interpreted their tone as rude." Bc dead ass all I said was "uhhh, hi, Elliot _________?" Which is how I requested my car the entire time we were at this fucking convention??? Like bruh what is the world even

[mistsinthenight]

PS4 games I want to play: Detroit Become Human, FF15, NieR: Automata, Journey, Horizon Zero Dawn, Shadow of the Colossus...

Money I have to buy a PS4: zero

Wh y