#Screenshot were taken of a period of a year

[toh-proship-positivity]

Cricket here. I'll be allowing asks, no anon asks because if you want to bitch about Griff, least be brave enough to show your face. As for how Griff is doing, they're ok. They have spoken to multiple people about this including their councilor, actions will be taken. But they're still pretty rattled, this isn't the first time they got ran out of a fandom because people are huge dicks who just can't leave well enough alone. But it sure is their worst experience, they said they'll take a shower and cuddle up with some plushies and have some tea. They did admit to being scared that these clowns will only quit harassing them if they end their own life. No, they aren't contemplating suicide. Just scared the harassment won't stop even if they decided to step out of the fandom. For their sake I hope those low lives leave them be.

[m0e-ru]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the day my brain was literally rewired and my gender was being changed by the second SO HERES A GAS STATION SPECIAL before this joint was even a gas station in the FIRST PLACE !!!!

FUCKING FREAK

[astradyke]

hey so I've been a casual Dan & Phil fan for years but never really a part of the fandom. Recently started scrolling thru the tag and like...did I miss something? Have they actually said for real for real that they dated? Like I'm queer and tbh 2 gay guys living together for that long have to at least done *something* but I'm not an rpf person (no shade) but I do wanna be up to date on the Dan and Phil facts (phacts?) Obviously they're some kinda soulmates but tbh I know some queerplatonic soulmates who aren't *together* so idk if that's them or not. Am I missing receipts or is their relationship presumed given their whole situationship? Genuinely asking and no shade to your shipping intended.

hiya! i'll try to be succinct here but i might totally miss some things as a heads up :P

In Basically I'm Gay on the Daniel Howell channel, the same monologue that led to the description of them as soulmates also included the statement: "And that was when, through the magic of the Internet, I met Phil. And obviously we were more than friends, but it was more than just romantic [...] The relationship we formed, at that point, was something that I needed in my life." Despite "relationship" being a neutral, versatile term, the preceding sentence confirms they've been in an explicitly romantic relationship. along with that explicit confirmation, we also know from several other relics from 2009-2011 in particular that the two were at the very least actively flirting (I can retrieve a few formsprings for you that point to this if u want just lmk!). Additionally, in 2010, Phil made a privated video addressed to Dan that explicitly confirms a romantic relationship; this video was unprivated via a YouTube glitch in September 2011 and circulated heavily in late 2012. it was a serious incident that outed them and thus people don't talk much about it. I've never seen it in full-- it's pretty much off the Internet entirely due to copyright strikes-- and I really solely bring it up for context that they were dating at that period in time.

Basically I'm Gay only indicates a past romantic relationship, leaving their current one ambiguous, and both Dan and Phil's respective coming out videos state that they want to keep their personal dating lives private (both of these videos were released in 2019). Since then, though, there's one other explicit confirmation of their relationship-- I had a difficult time hunting down this exact interview in entirety, but my lovely mutual freckliedan helped me find the relevant screenshot:

[ID: In bold, the interviewer's text says: "So, just like a normal gay couple then?" Below, Dan's response is not in bold, and says, "Basically, yeah."]

I was able to find another screenshot at this post as well, which has the actual context confirming that they were discussing Phil previous to this. Now, obviously, this interviewer was a little forward in their questions, so I understand any reluctance in considering Dan's response-- however, Dan is a professional, and if he was sincerely uncomfortable with this line of questioning, I have faith in his ability to avoid answering it altogether. I therefore assume he knew what he was doing, and that this can be taken as a valid statement. This was from 2023 iirc.

Both of these excerpts-- from Basically I'm Gay and from this interview-- do suggest that Dan and Phil have a romantic relationship. On top of both of these more concrete confirmations, there's a lot more information/statements they've made public that corresponds with a romantic relationship, even if none of them are technically exclusive to romantic relationships.

A brief list: They've lived together for approximately 13-15 years, and bought a house together with a mortgage (for brevity's sake, I'll exclude other things that kind of pair with this). They make frequent sex jokes on their channel, several of which stating things about the other's sexual preferences. They recently went on holiday together, just the two of them, and given the tourism biz and how they discussed the holiday it seems like they were in a place intended for couples. Phil's sister in law, Cornelia, refers to Dan as an uncle to her child. They use pet names for each other. They frequently joke with the phandom, riffing off of jokes about their relationship (reacting to posts saying they are in a situationship, making a joke about having a joint toilet, etc.) This is most arguable, but it's highly likely that they share a bed as well (again, going off of the images/videos they've shown us of 'Dan's bedroom'). Lastly, other interviews with Dan include him being highly verbose about his relationship with Phil, but he's referred to him briefly as his "husband" in a long list of other words like "soulmates" and "just mates", ending with "who the fuck knows?", in one past interview (I have a picture of this but I can't attach it rn I can find it if you'd like though!)

It's not impossible that Dan and Phil's relationship isn't currently romantic, and even operating off of the assumption that it is, there's information we don't know about that (whether they're monogamous or polyamorous, for example, or whether or not they share a bed). It honestly just seems unlikely that their relationship is queerplatonic, given the past statements indicating that it has been romantic historically and the interview (+ supplemental evidence) suggesting that it currently is (I am very aware of the variation in QPRs, though, so I'm sympathetic to that interpretation from folks. However, I also understand that many explicitly romantic partnerships are considered to be QPRs-- in media or with real people-- in a way that contributes to gay erasure. It's nuanced and I am not the person best equipped to eloquently discuss it). Obviously, just to underscore here, we are not owed any information about their personal lives and the vast majority (if not the entirety) of the phandom just riffs off of the information they tell us, all of which happen to point to a romantic relationship. They clearly don't have any discomfort in us assuming this, and I personally don't believe they'll ever give us any more conclusive statement about their relationship any time soon, given that they've told us enough that the implication of a romantic partnership is pretty solidly there.

TLDR: Dan and Phil have "hard launched" (AKA released information that portrays their relationship as irrefutably romantic) 2-3 times. There is also other more indirect information that seems to confirm a romantic relationship, though if one wanted to, it could be read as non-romantic-- however, given those conclusive statements, and the current way they treat phandom commentary about their relationship (AKA not giving a shit), it is the effective conclusion that they are in a romantic relationship. Other conclusions, such as them being queerplatonic or them having broken up, seem to rely on a lot of critical assumptions, while the idea that they are in a romantic relationship is in line with their own statements as well as what we generally see out of them.

Thank you for your patience and your very kind ask! PS calling it "phacts" is funny as fuck, I did not utilize that verbiage here through my reply but you were a visionary for this. have a lovely one :D

PS. If any folks want to add, or if I missed something when glancing back over this and corrections are needed, please please please share! I am so deeply not a phandom history i am simply a little guy! much love

[shitpostingperidot]

How old is Carol Danvers???

(Inspired by a post by @blindluck which was in turn inspired by a post by me and @marvelsassbutts )

So I just found out the official Captain Marvel wiki places Carol Danvers’s birth date in 1965. At first I thought “that’s ridiculous” for reasons that will become clear through this long ass post. But then I saw they cited drawings by the assistant art director on Captain Marvel, found on her portfolio! That’s pretty official!

Wait what’s that at the bottom…

1984???? For Carol’s USAFA basic training???? This is impossible, the movie is wrong, and here’s why.

(Excerpt from my future video essay incoming)

There are no dates in Higher, Further, Faster; the marketing text on Amazon, Liza Palmer’s website, etc just says “80s.” So, we need to do some detective work.

We know that the 2019 film Captain Marvel takes place in 1995. Since it takes place in Southern California and Louisiana, the warm weather doesn’t tell us much about the time of year. Personally, I believe it takes place on March 8, 1995, because that’s the exact day I was born, and my birthday is the day the movie was released on to coincide with International Women’s Day. Regardless, Monica Rambeau is eleven years old in the film, putting her birth in 1983 or 1984. So, Maria’s pregnancy must have begun in 1982 or 1983.

Here’s a “fun” fact about US military academies: until less than one year ago (summer 2023, a full three years after Captain Marvel came out), cadets at USAFA who became pregnant were required to either drop out, have an abortion, or relinquish their parental rights to their child.

Dropping out also means reimbursing the government for your tuition for all classes you’ve taken up to this point, and giving up your ability to be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force upon graduation. Definitely not an option someone as driven as Maria wants to consider. In fact, we know this isn’t what happened, because this news article Carol hung up in her spaceship in The Marvels says that Maria Rambeau is a USAFA graduate.

We also know that Maria didn’t have an abortion, because, well, Monica Rambeau herself is tangible evidence. Theoretically, it is possible for Maria to have given up parental rights and adopted back her own child after graduation. Before the policy change in 2023 that allowed cadets to be parents, many found this to be their best option (see the article I screenshotted above). However, this process is really expensive and takes a lot of work with a lawyer over a period of months or years. From the little we know of Carol and Maria’s life pre-crash, (it was busy, they lived in an expensive area, and Maria only had Carol for support), I think we can assume that it’s less likely that Maria was forced to adopt her own daughter than that Maria graduated USAFA before becoming pregnant in 1982 or 83.

That still doesn’t answer the question of when this book takes place, though. The exact year is important, as the military had some major differences under the Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan administrations of the 70s and 80s, and one of the things I want to assess this book on is accuracy.

Oh wait, what’s that? Another discriminatory policy that helps us date this book? That’s right, USAFA didn’t enroll women as cadets until Public Law 94-106 went into effect in 1976.

What’s more, Carol and Maria cannot have been part of this first group of women cadets, because in the book, there is an upperclassman character who is a woman. Officer Cadet Chen is one of the leaders of Basic Training for Carol and Maria’s flight, a position cadets aren’t allowed to hold until their third or fourth year at the Academy.

So, Carol and Maria must enter USAFA no earlier than 1978 to be two or more years younger than Chen, and must graduate no later than 1983 for Monica to exist. To comply with the marketing blurb’s declaration that this book takes place “in the 80s”, let’s say that Carol and Maria’s first year is the 1979-1980 school year.

(End excerpt)

In conclusion, Maria and Carol were born in 1960 or 1961 (with pretty equal likelihood of which birthday makes them 18 at the start of the book, since USAFA basic happens the summer before the school year), not 1965. It would be impossible for them to have done basic training in 1984 as in the production drawing, because they would have to have already graduated and be well on their way to test pilot school which is a whole other policy can of worms before Monica’s birth in 1983 or 1984.

In conclusion conclusion, Carol is ~34 in Captain Marvel and ~64 in The Marvels, and the MCU should hire fans to fact check for them.

[riddlerosehearts]

i am so tired of seeing this screenshot about wish's ending reposted everywhere and used to make fun of the movie:

and this is coming from someone who didn't even like the movie very much, but this is misrepresenting what happened. yes, there is a thing where asha wears a cloak resembling that of the fairy godmother and at the end star makes her a magic wand and the kids say she's like a fairy godmother, king magnifico does get trapped in a mirror, etc, and the movie was absolutely filled with easter eggs and references to previous movies--yep, when i saw the movie i did in fact take these scenes as just easter eggs! after all, think about this logically, if all currently existing movies in the disney animated canon were meant to take place in the same universe, and asha canonically grows up to be cinderella's fairy godmother, then...

how can you explain such a drastic difference in appearance? how can you justify asha, a brown-skinned afro-hispanic girl with a face full of freckles and long brown hair, and this old white woman being the same person? you can't, because they're not!!!! if i recall correctly asha doesn't even wear that cloak at the end when they're calling her a fairy godmother, she just wears it during one scene when she's a fugitive and has to sneak around. also...

the creators of the movie have directly confirmed that they were not trying to set up a disney multiverse and that it's not meant to be taken that seriously. rapunzel and eugene's cameo in frozen also wasn't meant to be taken anywhere near as seriously as everyone took it. neither were any previous cameos like belle in hunchback of notre dame or aurora in oliver and company (and if aurora being in oliver and company was canon, she'd be over 600 years old!). and, back to wish specifically, the little easter egg earlier in the movie where magnifico sees a wish bubble from someone who wants the perfect nanny to take care of their kids and says he's "poppin' that one" also doesn't mean the banks family from mary poppins canonically lives in rosas. the scene at the end where a boy named peter who wears all green and dreams of creating a flying machine goes to work with a girl in a blue nightgown whose wish is to fly doesn't mean peter pan and wendy actually somehow lived together in rosas and knew each other before the movie peter pan ever happened. it is literally impossible for all of these movies to take place in the same time period and universe, so it's a good thing that they, uh, don't, and were never intended to. please, if you don't like the movie, that's perfectly fine, but don't say disney is trying to create some convoluted multiverse and "MCU-ify" their movies when that just literally isn't true.

[bigchumpus]

your pirate au is everything, I just discovered it and. my heartttt </3 /pos your art style is incredible too, the way you draw hair and your design for Pearl's wings are both just. woah. mind blown. gorgeous.

Just want to point out a few things I love!! :)

The quotes from the sketches page: "how do you reunite with someone you thought was dead" <- MY HEARTTTT "almost died" "wings are clipped"

That one instance [screenshot from this post below] of Grian's eyes being depicted as purple after he joins Scar's crew (and presumably whatever incident left him almost dead/"injured and unconscious"), as opposed to the brown they were as a kid? The strong implication that something (or someone? the watchers perhaps? I'm assuming it's something to do with the old crew that took them in as kids) were responsible for it.

"...one day things go awry"

And excuse me again for taking a screenshot [from this post], but the one image in which Grian's eyes are obscured by a bandage, complete with a watcher symbol and a glowing purple eye?? And Pearl's eyes being purple too? And they're both dressed in purple robes... just. insane /pos

The watchers are typically depicted as an oppressive force, and yet they both look happy. IDK. Something something juxtaposition, childhood innocence versus the purple symbolising something that's very widely regarded as cruel or even evil.

All this is to say I really really love it so far!!

and also... absolutely zero pressure at all! but would you perhaps be willing to share some crumbs on the story? :)

SEFJJRHPORDHJ Awww gee! You've made my day! :D Never thought people would really notice the little details

I'm not very good at detailing moth wings which is why I went for more of a starry feel, so I'm glad you like it 😆

And since you've asked so kindly, I could share some ideas rotating in my head,

When you're a kid, I don't think you realize as much the cruelty adults are capable of. Especially when they've been treating you kindly for the most part, and the progression to harsher conditions and punishments is slow. (Pearl would've been the first to notice.)

Grian and Pearl were already stealing to survive, having nothing but each other, so when the given the offer to be spared from their decimated town, and leave as a pirate, they took it. Grian would regret that a lot later :D

I've also been pondering over the idea that no one, including Grian, realized he was an avian, because he wasn't born with wings. So was taken from his nest by hunters who'd thought he'd been stolen (hybrids aren't always treated well, and sometimes hunted down in this au, though by the time they're adults that seems to change a bit), and then taken to an orphanage (which he'd run away from) when they couldn't afford to raise him for very long.

On the other hand, Pearl was born with her traits and would live in hiding with her parents for the first few years of her life, before it'd just be her mother and her, and then just Pearl as hunters had gotten to them.

So when the two met, Grian would often use the fact that they look similar to his advantage, like "Well I'm her brother, do I seem like a hybrid? Then neither is she!"

I think in return for certain protection, Pearl would've taught him some of the basics of the alphabet and reading,

And later when they're recruited to be raised as pirates, maybe Grian would be better at the magic stuff, whereas Pearl would be better at the fighting aspect. Idk I just like the thought that they'd cover each other's bases :D

And during the beginning of the period of time where they're separated, I think there would be mishaps where they expected the other to be there, the way it'd always been.

Something something, survivors guilt and Grian maybe not being as kind and trusting as he used to be, and never making promises. Still loyal although all his presence has ever achieved is death.

Something something, Pearl still clings to the feather he'd once given her, keeps searching because she knows he's alive - he has to be alive, still wonders about if she had just been stronger—

and maybe Pearl sees a bit of her old sun in Gem, and maybe Grian learns to trust in others and himself again with Scar.

Iwouldrambleabitmorebutwe'rekindofinapickleatthemoment-

[aheathen-conceivably]

1, 10, 12, and 25! - lgl

LGL always a joy in the inbox 😊

1. What’s the last screenshot you’ve taken for your story?

Trying to get them spoilers here, huh? 😜

The last screen I took was actually while testing some pose edits. It is a blessed photo, so please enjoy (and speculate)…

10. Is your story fully planned or are you still working things out? is there a definitive end?

Kind of, definitely, and yes.

More specifically, I have a number of specific details planned out. I always like to ramble about how it’s like scaffolding being built toward the sky. The higher you go the less the structure is there, and you can see all the cracks and still need to figure out how to actually get to the next solid point, which is where the inspiration and flexibility comes in. But overall, yes, I have the final scene of the story written. Imma need a whole ass team if I’m ever gunna get there at this rate though 😅

12. Do you actually play the game or do you just use it as a storytelling medium?

Specifically in the Darlington save? Probably like 20/80 at this point. I play between story shoots to kind of mimic the arcs, so it’s more me just imitating my own story in gameplay vs. actually playing the game and letting it influence my writing at all.

25. What inspirations have you drawn on for your story?

Goodness, gracious. Everything? If that’s a fair answer? 😅

Movies I love, books I read, history I’ve studied, songs that hit, fellow storytellers, tropes that make my brain itch, personal experiences, the color of the sky sometimes, a single word my husband says. Honestly? Fun times out here when you’ve got the Darlington brain rot.

To narrow it down I think that the 1890s/1900s were more inspired by my own aesthetics and decades challenges in general, and things got a little more personal around 1910 (which is why I usually tell people that’s when I start to really like the story). Those years were heavily inspired by Downton Abbey and Titanic (of course). And as broad stroke inspiration, I’m sure y’all know I’m fond of the “it glitters so brightly you don’t even see the tragedy until it’s too late” vibes that Titanic has (cue my other favorite films Cabaret and Moulin Rouge).

The 20s are inspired by New Orleans, I cannot state it enough. By everything I felt in my years there and everything I learned during my MA. More specifically, it was heavily drawn from Mister Jelly Roll and Empire of Sin. We also have some Gatsby in there, of course 😉

Now in the 30s I’m really having a blast, because I feel like I’m pulling inspiration for all the previous decades (Gatsby references coming when?) as well as hinting toward future ones (a certain littlest heiress and her obsession with the Wizard of Oz comes to mind). Combined with that is so much rich inspiration for this decade itself, coming heavily from Route 66: A Cultural History and The Grapes of Wrath specifically , as well as broader ideas of Americana, country and blues music, and the symbolism/beauty of the desert.

This decade has also really made me realize just how much inspiration I draw from place, and how it not only influences my style of descriptive writing (which in and of itself is inspired by Anne Rice), but also makes me so interested in how a location and its history influences people and the path of the story. I feel like it grounds me not just in a time period, but how that time period may have been different in specific locations and how different characters react to those factors.

[cellarspider]

25/30 Eschatology for Dummies

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Once again, we dive into that font of madness, Prometheus. I lied last time, we’re not talking about language today, I want to bash my head against the problem of “what in blazes is the intent of this movie”.

As the expedition enters the alien structure, suddenly Shaw remembers that germs can float.

“Wait. We still don’t know how Holloway got infected. If it’s in the air–”

This is one of those maddening little moments where the script tells me that no, the earlier removal of helmets was not just the oversight of someone who didn’t know better. The script chose violence.

“Smells fine to me.”

So does VX nerve gas. Truly, this is the mental acumen required to become rich.

The movie attempts to raise tension through a ZOOM AND ENHANCE, and cluing in those in the audience who may have been thinking “Ha! Foolish Engineers! How would they ever destroy life on Earth if they don’t have any spaceships?”

Well, turns out, there are these great big buildings called “hangars”, and you can put spaceships in them, sometimes even under the ground. I almost feel like if they hadn’t buried the ship, Holloway would’ve tried to see if he could do a burnout in it.

David, meanwhile, is having a great time. He’s giving a guided tour of the ship (that he explored more thoroughly than anyone else), pointing out their technology (that he learned how to use), explaining what they were doing (which he figured out before anyone else did), and assuring Weyland that yes, he can talk to the Engineer (which no one else can do), blithely skating by the reasons why he knows Holloway didn’t die from an airborne illness and how the Engineers were going to press the reset buttons on Earth. Simultaneously excelling at what he was supposed to do and also anticipating Weyland’s inevitable doom, possibly even that of humanity as a whole. It feels appropriately childish for a character that’s extremely young, extremely smart, and has had the worst socialization this side of Immortan Joe’s war boys.

Weyland doesn’t care about any of that, because he’s a horrible homunculus of an old Englishman formed out of a forty-five year old Aussie. This continues to vex me, even now. I keep trying to figure out why they did this. Did they originally intend for him to be depicted as young and change their mind? Was the mobility aid exoskeleton thing they put him in heavy and cumbersome? It’s hard to see in these screenshots, but he is wearing one.

Honestly, just have Lance Henriksen play another Weyland again. Lance can definitely play scumbags, and it would honestly be funny to have every single Weyland in every single time period played by him. Have him play Vickers too, for good measure. It would’ve taken me out of the film less than this.

At this point, I personally did not care about any characters besides David and the Engineer. Which is a very strange position to find oneself in, caring most about two characters who seem just fine with humanity going pft! 

And I’d like to examine that. Because fiction can put you in all sorts of strange headspaces that can be thoroughly contradictory to personal morals and self-interest. What was the movie trying to do here, and where has it ended up?

I want to start with some assumptions that mass media tends to make. Fiction, in general culture, is often presented as a moral lesson. Your protagonists are virtuous, and anything that stands in their way is villainous evil. The protagonists are also expected to be likable, and the audience is expected to root for them. A moral tale of who is worthy and who is not.

This is only a small piece of what fiction is. No one of these things is required. Villains are not required, sometimes problems aren’t caused maliciously. Protagonists do not have to be moral. Moral characters don’t have to be likable. You don’t have to root for the protagonists. And none of these divisions are binary.

I am uncertain whether we are supposed to root for the protagonists in this movie. Ridley Scott isn’t a stranger to this idea–look at Blade Runner (1982). Is it good that Deckard hunts down fugitive replicants? No. Absolutely not. Is it a compelling story? Yes! It’s beautifully told and tragic! If you make me watch Roy Batty’s monologue I will cry.

So. It is entirely possible that we are supposed to find the human characters unsympathetic. The Engineers created humanity, and then decided to destroy it. This could have been planned from the start–many religions describe cyclical, world-ending death and rebirth, after all. But this movie is heavily influenced by christianity. Those sects that believe in a destructive apocalypse call it the Last Judgment of humanity, something that occurs when the world has fallen into a state of corruption.

Which then brings us to the question: Does humanity deserve that most fatal judgment?

I mean, in real life, I’d say no, absolutely fucking not. The problem of a suffering world is not sanely responded to with “I’ve got a solution: murder everything”. 

This is fiction, though. We are being presented with a vision of humanity. This has the potential to be a counterpoint to the Engineers’ thinking, or their evidence, or a mix of both.

What is it, then? Most of the cast are morons, selfish, or featureless ciphers. They are a very pessimistic view of humanity. And remember, this is fiction. People don’t need to act like real people. When you think about redeeming qualities in yourself, in your friends, in your favorite so-and-so, this fictional realm does not necessarily contain them. In its barest form, it only contains the characters we see.

We’ve got Janek, who’s been charming and indicated he’s willing to stop the Engineers here, but that’s all we know about him. He’s also behaved in negligent ways that contributed to the deaths of Millburn, Fifield, and the nameless guys mutant Fifield wailed on. Christian morality is big on redemption as a path to unconditional absolution, so is he redeeming himself through a last-minute sobering up? Maybe. I’d note he’s missing the “confession” and “recanting past sins” parts that are usually bundled up with that.

We’ve also got Shaw. Shaw has all the makings of a Final Girl, somebody who is destined to survive the plot. They usually have some redeeming quality that makes you want to root for them. What does Shaw have?

Well, she’s got a never super-defined strain of christian faith. And she’s had a really shit time lately, so it would be cruel to watch her get kicked around more.

So, that’s two. Two could be enough in Abrahamic religions–Lot flees from Sodom to Zoar, and it’s spared from destruction because of his presence. Sure, he does some Weird Shit, but he qualified as righteous by whatever standards were at play there. But Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for want of ten righteous people. 

And all that gets more complicated in New Testament stuff, after God’s pinky promised not to destroy everyone again, except for the aforementioned Last Judgment thing. Is this movie, as christian allegory, advocating for a god of forgiveness, or depicting a just god who punishes the wicked?

No idea. It doesn’t have to be clear, obviously, fiction doesn’t have to be clear, any more than it has to be moral. I didn’t personally want the Engineer to sail off and destroy Earth, but frankly, I could see it from that perspective, given what this poor bugger’s met with upon waking up.

Next time: our Engineer wakes up from a two thousand year trauma nap to find some little monkeys yelling at them. Surely, this will go well.

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Alt-text rambles:

https://extra-images.akamaized.net/image/8a/5by6/2021/04/17/8a6f54c4f0ca4bd397cc22aceb4cb30e_md.jpg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torc 

[twipsai]

grabby hands

I would like to see your alterna theories im invested

OKKK OK SO

you see all this? all this "snow"? thats ash. how do i know this is ash? oh well mY dEAR alternan citizen, we know that the rocket essensially exploded, making the liquid crystals rain down from the cave walls. this combine with the rising sea levels during the 12000 year period that alterna sat dormant is proably what caused alterna to flood.

now we know that the snow in alterna isnt real snow, being mentioned that its outright "fake snow" by Agent 2 in Cryogenic Hopetown. we also know that the snow wasnt always there, as shown by the below image

[image id: a photo taken directly from the Alterna logs. it depicts a group of humans standing inside of a small, dome-like room, with a sunny landscape projected on the walls. the image is very grainy and pixelated, as if taken by an out-dated camera. /end id.]

i dont see why Alternans wouldve made fake snow and completely covered their land in it, unless they didnt put it there. at least, not on purpose.

-

this brings me to another theory, which is that the test chambers were made to train Alternans who were going to board the rocket.

now, we dont know where the kettles came from (ill get back to that) but wouldnt it make sense? why else would there be a clean room, if not to prepare Alternans for what theyre going to have to do on the rocket, on the surface, in space? we see O.R.C.A. specifically state that their purpose is to test Alternan's physical and mental abilities

[image transcript: "My circuits are designed to measure your intellectual and physical prowess as demonstrated by your ability to complete missions throughout Alterna. In each mission, you must reach a goal mechanism or complete an objective. Extraordinary citizens will complete many missions and receive many Power Eggs! You can expect a substantial Power Egg payday in particular for this first mission... May your enthusiasm result in success, citizen!" /end image transcript]

but i KNOW what you're thinking. "Twip, if O.R.C.A. was testing Alternans for the rocket, then why are they designed around inkfish's abilities like squid surging, squid rolling, swimming in ink, and shooting with ink?"

i raise your question with a question: who was in a desperate enough situation that he kidnapped an entire army, and needed only the smartest employed under him to monitor ever corner of Alterna to make sure his planes went off without a hitch?

Grizz. its always Grizz.

this explains the fuzzy rival octolings, who appear different from how fuzzy inklings appear in the game

[image 1: a screenshot of a promotional render of a fuzzy rival octoling at a 3/4ths angle, with a hand on their hip. /end id.]

[image 1: a screenshot of a player character after they have touched the fuzzy ooze. the character is laying on their back, covered in fuzz with only their hands and feet sticking out. their eyes are wide. /end id.]

this shows the difference from those properly treated with the fuzzy ooze, vs those who merely touched it.

tl;dr of that entire section: the test chambers used to be a way to test Alternans that were going to board the ship, but were converted to test octolings who were to work under Grizz to help with the rocket plans

[360nw]

Old Number 5 - Corvallis, Oregon

Baldwin Locomotive - September 2006

From a 2022 Reddit Post by versuchsflakwagen about the locomotive:

Georgia Pacific #5 a 2-8-2 "Mikado" type engine, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1922. Under the Baldwin designation system, it is a 12-30 1/4 E 85 engine. It was given road number 5, and was completed and delivered to the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Co. on May 6 1922. At some point, it (I have not been able to find an exact date) it was acquired by the Alaska Junk Co. (located in Portland, Oregon). Later, in 1956, it was purchased by Georgia Pacific and put to work in Toledo, Oregon on a recently acquired line of track going from Yaquina-Toledo-Selitz-Monmouth. In December of 1959, it was abandoned, and the following year, 1960, was gifted to the City of Corvallis.

According to the plaque located at the engine today, the date of said exchange was September 28, 1960, and was done through the Corvallis Lions Club. Ever since then, it has been on public display at Avery Park in Corvallis, Oregon. Some railings were added on to the engine in order to make it a safer place for children, as well as many of the interior aspects being welded shut. It periodically receives new paint, and all in all, it is very well taken care of, and sits on some specially laid track. The thing is living out its retirement in absolute bliss. It's 100 years old now, and has been a local landmark and favorite spot for over 60 years (long enough that there's a black and white photo of it there in the park).

Here is a screenshot from the Baldwin Locomotive Works documents detailing the construction and detailing of this locomotive, and the full docs can be found here (page 128 in the pdf, 198-199 in the original book). All the SMU Baldwin archives are here. Also, since there's so little info, I'm just kinda blindly trusting this site for the basic info, so if I'm completely wrong, then sorry."

[9w1ft]

do you think there’s a specific PR reason and/or reasons taylor is being spotted so much rn out and about or is she just enjoying time w friends..? Ik she really only gets seen when she wants to be seen so obviously all these instances are not random but is there more to it than just her wanting to show she’s hanging out w her friends?

i mean taylor just spent close to 7 years very much able to not get her photo taken, so you’d have to assume it serves a purpose or two or three

here’s a screenshot of a site that keeps albums of all of taylor’s candids, and look at the past decade and look at that huuuuuuge dip in the amount of paparazzi content during her joe era. 2017 of course relates to the period of time that the internet had cancelled her but you can see how even during lover era and midnights rollout her publicly photographed candid moments were limited. and look how in the year 2023 she’s already surpassed the number of paparazzi walks and photos from the past 4 years combined. you could also say she’s already had the same number of outings this year as 2018 + 2019!

so why the uptick? i’m not sure what the main reason is but it doesn’t have to be just one. i’ve seen several points floating around that i feel could all be true in some way:

1989 promo and mirroring the public fun single girl with her girl friends nature of that era (although she doesn’t need to do a lick of promo to break all the records with this album so i really feel it’d be mainly in the spirit of fan service)

it shows she’s in new york every single day while that football dude who swears he’s dating her isn’t (not that she has to disprove it, but i do think it’s has a little two birds with one stone benefit of keeping any dating rumors with any dude simmering instead of boiling)

further solidifies the idea that joe was holding her back from her fans all these years / that she was actually unhappy with him, ie, putting swifties through the process of having to rethink some things that they swore were true, which theoretically should be helping more of them be more flexible with their beliefs in the long term (note i said helping more of them not all of them)

shows that if you want to date taylor you have to to be comfortable with being photographed and camera ready wherever you go because taylor’s gonna want to go out! that’s what the song bejeweled has come to represent. and i think it’s pretty telling that more than a few of the people she gets taken photographed with are frowning or looking uncomfortable or even pissed in these shots. sure, the paps are invasive even if you call them. but, some people can wrest control of these moments and others really can’t or don’t want to. it’s kind of related to my above point but it’s just this idea that taylor would need someone to rise to her level if they want to date her.

[cyncerity]

About the situation

ok so i hate addressing drama on here but this feels important.

If this is how you’re learning about the Shubble situation, i apologize

more under the cut

first things first: i 100% stand with and believe Shubble. My heart is with her fully and I’m so glad she’s healing from what she went through with her abuser.

the reason im posting this, though, is because of the discourse surrounding Wilbur Soot and the possibility/evidence that he was the unnamed abuser Shubble was talking about. And as many of you know, i post a lot of crimeboy/sbi/wilbur-centric stuff. For now, because from what i can tell the situation is less than a week old, i’m going to give Wilbur time to respond. I won’t say that it’s him, i won’t say that it’s not him, but i’m prepared for the worst.

As for this blog, i’m probably going to handle this the same way i handled the Dream situation; i’m going to take a break from Wilbur centric aus for the moment until things become clearer, but the odds that i’ll stop writing for his character all together are slim. I don’t write with ccs in mind, ever, period. At this point i’m treating the dsmp cast like OCs with how far removed from their og characters they tend to be in my stories. In all honestly, i stopped watching half of these creators over a year ago, but i still like the idea of their dsmp characters. Hell, to be completely truthful i don’t think i’ve ever watched a Dream or Sapnap youtube video in full and those two are main characters in like half of my aus.

Also clarification just so this doesn’t get misconstrued: when i say “i’m going to handle this like the Dream situation,” i mean i’m gonna keep writing and not take down my previous stories, i’m just going to distance myself from the creator until more comes to light. I don’t want to compare Shubble’s experiences with abuse to fakes snapchat screenshots posted on twitter. Again, I stand with and believe Shubble’s story 100%, abuse is not something to be taken lightly and I wish her nothing but the best. It takes guts to speak out like she has and I commend her bravery.

This situation is a bit harder for me than the Dream one, though, because as I mentioned, i was never a huge cc!Dream fan, more a c!Dream fan. But I’ll be devastated if this is all true because I was a huge Wilbur Soot fan. Never really liked LoveJoy, just wasn’t my type of music, but SootHouse was quite literally the first YouTube channel i ever watched. Not to be parasocial, but Wilbur’s videos got me through some tough times. His YLYL videos were the only things that brought me joy when Techno’s death announcement was released on my birthday. I really looked up to him.

I don’t want to make this about me, the main thing in this situation is to support Shubble. No matter who the ex is, she deserves all of our unwavering support right now. I hope that if it wasn’t Wilbur that he somehow clears his name soon, but that if it was (im hoping it’s not but im not ignorant enough to blindly disregard all the evidence) that he regrets what he did and is getting help. I believe people can change and that everyone deserves a second chance, but im not going to know what to think of him until he gives a genuine, heartfelt apology for his actions, fully commits to bettering himself, and proves that he’ll never do something like this again.

[walks-the-ages]

"Favorite Doctor Survey" Update February 11th, 2023, ~9pm Eastern Standard Time:

[ID: a screenshot of a pie chart which has a multitude of colors in sections, the largest being labeled with percentages of 23.3%, 16.3%, 11.6%, and two are labled 7% while the rest are not labeled. there is a list of Doctor Who incarnations off to the side with color coding which trails off. end ID]

So far, we have 43 votes, and right now, the 8th Doctor is in the lead with 10 votes, aka 23.3%!

I am extremely delighted with this fact, we need more people to appreciate the Eighth Doctor ~! For anyone who is unaware of it, the Eighth Doctor is not limited to just the 1997 TV movie and a few minutes in Power of the Doctor--

--oh no, this Bestest Boy Ever has not only over a hundred audio dramas (and counting!!) on Big Finish, but also at least 74 Novels to his interation! If you do not know the Eighth Doctor yet, now is your excuse to go watch his movie on the web archive and then dive into the world of Big Finish to experience his adventures with Charley! :D

*Ahem* So, onto the next "Favorite Doctor!"

To no-ones surprise, the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi is holding steady in second place, with 9 votes!

There's a slight error in the graph because I realized I'd forgotten to add his actor and year to the 12th doctor listing and the answers already submitted didn't get edited, so Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor is not just the dark teal 16.3% you see above, but also the dark blue right underneath it which is the first 2 original votes before the updated info.

In 3rd place, appropriately enough, we have the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee! He currently has 5 votes, aka 11.6%!

Everyone seems to love his dynamics with UNIT, being earthbound, and his fatherly/grandfatherly relationships with his companions-- not to mention his chemistry with The Master!

Tied for 4th place, we have the Sixth and Second Doctors, each with 3 votes, aka 7% !

One, Five, Nine, and Ten each have 2 votes,

Four, The Valyard, The Shalka!Doctor, Eleven, and Thirteen all have 1 vote each,

and so far we have two write-in answers: one vote for "The Lethian Campaign Assassin" (an extremely intriguing wiki article) and one vote for the Master!Doctor from Power of the Doctor :D

Let's keep those votes rolling in! I pretty much have no time limit on this poll lol, i'll just post periodically when there's a significant number of new votes or if someone else takes the lead!

In the meanwhile if you haven't taken the survey yet, here is the link to cast your vote:

And if you'd like to see what all the hype is about for the Eighth Doctor, here is a link to a gorgeous fan-made upscaling of the movie, which was posted to the archive by the uploader-- you can stream it from the archive (make sure you set it to 1080p and give it plenty of time to buffer!)

Or, even better, download the mkv video, and use VLC media player or a similar open source program so you can adjust the playback speed to around 96% for the proper pitch and speed!

When they were doing US to UK conversion they uh. lol they fucked up the framerate so to fix it the movie was sped up on release, so watching it without adjusting the playback speed will make everyone sound like chipmunks comparison to their normal voices, but can also cause some motion sickness from the weird, fast framerate

! So I highly reccomend downloading it so you can adjust the playback speed a custom amount! Oh, and don't forget to favorite to show the upscaler some love for their hard work, they made it into a beautiful masterpiece! [ it literally looks better than my physical dvd i bought years ago lol]

If you'd like to dip your toes into some other, slightly more obscure Doctors featured on this survey, I also have a link to the 4k Upscaling of "the Scream of the Shalka", an animated Doctor Who episode from 2003, which was never continued (on screen at least; it has one short story sequel written available online, "The Feast of the Stone"!

Scream of the Shalka, in 4k HD, again, thanks to fans taking the time to upscale things!

Scream of the Shalka short story sequel:

(please note for fellow Shinigami-Eyes users, there is no transphobia in the short story, the entire BBC website is now universally marked red in shinigami eyes)

[audreydoeskaren]

what do you think of the costumes from the drama Royal Feast/尚食 ? It's set in the kitchens of the ming dynasty. The higher ranking ladies in charge of food have a really interesting hairstyle, but I couldn't find anything about it

Firstly I think the costuming in this drama is very much in the repertoire of "dramas that use costumes from all over the Ming Dynasty anachronistically regardless of the actual time setting", so it isn't historically accurate by any measure. I'm sorry I can't be bothered to find the ladies you're talking about because this drama and stuff surrounding it annoy me to no end. The story is allegedly set between the Yongle and Xuande eras (1404-35) in the early Ming, but as always many of the costumes are taken from the late Ming and even the Qing. I shouldn't need to say this but the Ming Dynasty was long, and what people wore in 1404 obviously wasn't going to be the same as what they wore in 1620. Well, this drama doesn't care. This kind of anachronistic mishmash of Ming fashions was fresh and cool when Song of Youth did it first, because at the time the bar for costuming was so low and people were so starved of Ming representation that it was impressive for dramas to have costumes that have even the slightest twinge of connection to the Ming, but now I'm starting to see a trend and it's disturbing. If I'm watching something set in the early 15th century I want to see the early 15th century, not the 16th or 17th or even 18th for God's sake. I think the Chinese period drama industry needs to actually have standards now, because otherwise instead of improving the quality and accuracy of costuming, it's just going to replace guzhuang norms with a new but equally bullshit set of norms.

Looking at what the guy is wearing here, this kind of gunfu robe with colorful roundels and hat with the gold decorations were not seen on formal portraits of emperors until Emperor Longqing (reign 1567-72) 150+ years into the future. This is already enough for me to rest my case.

I strongly urge some of these costumes to go back to their respective corners of the Ming Dynasty since few of them are from between 1404 and 1435. Aside from the anachronism, some of the costumes are badly constructed and come from nowhere in the Ming. It's repeatedly mentioned on online sources that the costumers referenced 明宪宗元宵行乐图, which I find hilarious that they think it's a good thing because that artwork is from 1485, 50 years in the future (not to mention that the full skirt look of that era was distinct and not existent earlier).

@guzhuangheaven posted a gifset from this drama that looks almost 100% 18th century (Qianlong era, as always. I'm not even surprised at this point)

On top of the bad costuming, the producer Yu Zheng again does what he does best and tries to play the nationalism card by picking fights with Korean people online (whether they are genuine Koreans or hired actors/photoshopped screenshots I will never know) who claimed some elements of the costuming and plot plagiarized iconic 2003 Korean drama Dae Jang Geum. I don't even care whether it was true, it's this attitude of always trying to artificially manufacture hatred against Koreans to make himself look good. It's like he's much less concerned with making an actually good drama than generating clout. I am so sick and tired of his shenanigans I just want a drama with decent, non time travelling costumes is that too much to ask for.

[ofmdsalt]

Hey, I really liked your take about how Ed could have gone on a self discovery journey instead of ending up with Stede so I'm curious, how do you view Ed and Stede's relationships? TBH my interpretation is that lots of people in the fandom need to like...stop putting romantic love on this pedestal and understand that self and platonic love is equally important and media always skews our perception and the importance of romantic love in negative ways (I mean, there are literally academic articles written about stuff like this). And sure! a big part of fandom is the shipping! and a big part of the show is their eventual relationship! but idk like sure its nice to see and read but in irl I know lots of friends who fell into toxic and dangerous relationships because they were unhealthy and needed some growth and I've even lost a few friends to relationships that me, and our other friends, disapproved of. Some of those friends have even come back years later to apologize while others just unfortunately lost their entire support networks (friends, colleagues, and family) and still are in those relationships. Which like yeah in fandom i love the "us against the world" mentally but irl doesn't work that way. idk sorry for rambling, but would love to hear your thoughts.

sorry i left you on read for so long, anon! had to think this one through a bit.

so for those who don't know, they're talking about this post that i made. that was immediately screenshotted and taken out of context by implying that i said Ed needs to be 100% perfectly healed before going into a relationship. which is. a take. i won't go much into it, but this is a perfect opportunity for me to expand on that!

what i love in fandoms are long winded character studies. so a fic focused more on an individual person where the relationship (if there is one at all) is secondary. i've written such stories before because sometimes i like exploring an individual character and getting to know what makes them tick. what i wanted to get into with the post linked above is why do we immediately assume that a relationship between Ed and Stede is going to 'fix' them? both of them are in a period of flux within their lives. Stede has lived in a hetero marriage that was, as far as we can tell, fairly miserable and detached for both parties.

he then leaves them (lbr, abandons is a better word for it) to play pirate and put himself and others lives at risk because he does not know anything about the world he's gotten himself into

then we have Ed. a man who's reputation precedes him but who is also strangled and suffocated by this image that he's in. he's Blackbeard first and Ed second.

i can really resonate with both these characters and their struggles to understand who they are and need to be seen as who they want to be. it's a tale as old as time in terms of identity. and then when you add the complexities of a relationship into the mix of Stede realizing he's gay and Ed seeing that he doesn't need to be Blackbeard (but who is he really without Blackbeard?) it makes i all the more interesting

and then season 2 happens and packs in a whole lot of unearned character development due to budget cuts and a slashed screentime.

their relationship was never going to be perfect. no relationship is. but if that's how Ed reacted when Stede abandoned him, Ed should honestly be given the time to reflect on who he is now beyond Blackbeard. beyond being Ed&Stede, a romantic relationship. because the constant hammering home of 'it's the Ed and Stede show' reduces the complexities of these characters to a point where they no longer exist outside of each other. and i think that's really disheartening

why not give Ed a chance to discover himself? why not have him assert that he scared himself during his bender at the beginning of season 2? if he reacted that poorly to Stede's rejection, what will happen if they do break up? i think it's perfectly fine to ask and wonder if Ed should be by himself for a bit.

realizing you're not ready for a relationship can be a big moment of growth for people. knowing how to be alone, how to comfort yourself, how to be by yourself is good and healthy. and it's totally up to all of us to decide when we are ready to be in a relationship again.

i just wish this fandom didn't hit so many over the head with the assertion that Ed and Stede must be together no matter the cost. because sometimes that's not the best way forward and there's nothing wrong in taking more time to find yourself

[nerves-nebula]

I think if I meet abe when I was younger I think I would have let him SA me

Like let me explain myself like when I was younger I always was painfully aware of my body and how it made grown men feel. I've had multiple men try to SA and groom me but due to the fact that 1. I hate being touched by ppl I don't like 2. I didn't like adults because my mom used to tell me all adults do is lie everytime she or an adult broke a promise they made to me

So because of these quirks about me as a kid, I managed to stop multiple men from grooming irl. For example A lesson teacher I had used to compliment me a lot and I liked him until he started being weird and touching and robbing my thighs and my 8yr old self who was a snitch at heart and knew from the multiple times my mother watched sex scenes of shows in our presence that after thigh scenes comes no no scenes so I went to my mother immediately after that and that teacher got fired and there was this neighbour who used to give me candy and shit( I knew not to take them but I thought I would be safe because he was an old Man and old ppl are always nice in cartoons so why in the world would they not be nice irl) then the bastard tried to invite me into his house and when I said no my mom won't like that he got mad and really pushy about it and would threaten me with no more candy and i got mad at him because of that and reported him to this weird neighborhood watch thing and the guy got a serious talk and used to angrily stare at me from his window for YEARS

But this things happened when I was in like primary school, if I met this creep in like the early days of my highschool years I would have definitely loved him or more of like him, love is a strong word lol. I would have known he was grooming me and how the power dynamics between me and him was AWFUL. I would have been FULLY aware of how bad the relationship is because I did heavy research on stuff like this because a ton of my friends where in awful relationships like this and I always had to be the one to try and talk some sense into them and warn their groomers that I'll report them to the police sending them screenshots as threats and stuff

But even being aware of all of this, if I had any adults give me validation, tell me they cared for me, held me and tell me my feelings and anger were valid during this very depressing period of my life. I would have gladly followed them but the only down side is that I was pretty classist during this period too so if I asked him to buy me these expensive chocolates I really liked and he said he couldn't afford it I definitely would have been rethinking "staying" with him but I feel like if I ever tried to leave him, he would pull the" everyone always leaves me" "I don't know what to do without you" "if you leave me I'll hurt myself" "I have pictures" acts but doing this would have probably made me want to leave more and report him myself😭

I saw this happen to my friends more times than I can count and I got so mad everytime my friends groomers did so. So him saying this would have given me an ICKKK

Oh you get the vibes perfectly. That’s exactly how I designed him to be. Like, so for me, I was terrified of ending up in an abusive relationship from a pretty young age. so I researched it a lot, and my dad was pretty graphic about sexual abuse stuff with me. but honestly if a cool older teen had taken an interest in me I would have fallen over myself for them. Knowing it was a bad idea, knowing it was gonna probably hurt me, because I needed that. I needed anyone to care about me. A cool older teen would have been the best! (Read: easiest for me to admire and feel comfortable around)

Donnie would probably also go with the logic that Abe is ok to date because they’re both teens which means they’re peers. Stubbornly refusing the fact that 19 year olds are an entire different kind of teen.

Also,

the only down side is that I was pretty classist during this period too so if I asked him to buy me these expensive chocolates I really liked and he said he couldn't afford it I definitely would have been rethinking "staying" with him

this is very funny to me, idk why