#all that stuff leaks into fandom takes whether we want it to or not

[quietwingsinthesky]

thinking about how dean’s character gets simplified in fandom, or more specifically, the very black and white lens that gets applied to him. because integral to dean, from my point of view, is that he is both a victim of abuse and a perpetrator of it. that these two things do not cancel each other out or outweigh each other to the point that only one matters. he’s both, you cannot separate him from the fact that he’s both.

but very often, people do. dean is either a victim. or he’s an abuser. it’s like it’s hard for people to hold both those facts in their heads at once. dean went through incredible amount of trauma as a child and an adult, is routinely faced with violence, has resorted to alcohol abuse to cope with it. he’s also a violent person, someone who retreats into tactics of emotional abuse and control when he feels threatened, who hurts the people around him constantly and the people who are closest to him (ie Sam, Cas, later Jack) get the brunt of that abuse. these are just facts. they’re things that happened on the screen and cannot be denied.

and it’s. idk it’s weird to me (not unexpected, because he’s hardly the only character to ever get this treatment) that dean of all people is the one portrayed in such an either/or way when one of the defining moments of the show for him is that during his stint in Hell, he was tortured and then became a torturer to escape that, to feel like he had some control again, and he relished in it. it’s baked into who he is.

[the-solar-system52]

THE RUIN FILES BOOK COVER JUST GOT RELEASED AND OF COURSE I NEED TO GIVE MY TWO CENTS ON IT!

First of all, it's coming out on April 2nd and my birthday is April 8th, meaning I will actually be able to buy and read this book! I will no doubt be reporting on anything of interest and doing some theorising, so I'm really looking forward!

People have already commented on this, BUT OH MY GOD ARE WE FINALLY GETTING SOME BONNIE AND FREDDY LORE??? They could've used any other render of Freddy for the cover, there's even a version of this poster without text, but they SPECIFICALLY used the version Freddy wrote on! I really hope we get some insight into Fronnie being canon or not, I mean, even MAT PAT ships it now. I couldn't have been unintentional.

MY DUDE!!! THERE HE IS!!! Look, I'm not expecting any crazy lore drops since DCA's plotline was already wrapped up pretty nicely imo, but what I do want is CLARIFICATION. Like, even though Youtooz technically confirmed my Eclipse theory, Youtooz is only a merch manufacturer, so it can be debated whether or not they can be relied on for 100% CANON info. And even though I'm quite confident in my theory (that post is probably one of my longest) some parts are a little bit of a stretch and it takes AWHILE to explain. It'd be nice for it be confirmed and just have ONE reliable source to point to.

So I was VERY excited when I saw this because many fans pointed out that this is CONCEPT ART, and not the official poster. I thought we may be getting more concept art in this book! But unfortunately, this was not the case.

Scott replied to this situation saying that the use of concept art was entirely an accident, and will be changed in the final product. I gotta say, this is a bit disappointing. But it is in character for Scott and Steelwool. Unlike the Bendy creators posting concept art on their social media, or Undertale having a whole 'The Art of Undertale' book, FNAF has never been one to share behind-the-scenes stuff.

But I don't blame them. This is most likely due to how theory-focused the fandom is. It'd be easy to see people use concept art as evidence for a theory, despite it not being credible. Like how people use unused lines in the code of the game for theories, despite them probably being UNUSED for a reason. Unfortunately, sharing unused creative ideas would only make the lore even more confusing for some people, so I think its good they didn't go this route.

Anyway, I'm SO excited for this book to come out! Though fnaf books do have a history of being leaked before their release date, if that does happen, it'll most likely be closer to April. But I'll keep you posted!

[thecelestialsyzygy]

I feel like this needs to be said because of all the stuff happening lately. Apologies if this post is a mess.

I want to thank all of the Byler’s who post in the tag. Whether it be shit posts, memes, long analysis, random thoughts, or all of the above mixed in with posts about your life; Thank you for being here and making fandom fun! The tag has been a mess recently and I think we’re all aware of that because of all the recent deactivations. There’s always been a bit of toxicity in the Stranger Things fandom (as there is in just about all other fandoms), but I feel it's been amplified here due to the lack of content and long wait. Another reason it’s a lot more prominent in the Stranger Things fandom, to begin with, is because of its popularity. In the coming months, we should see some things regarding S5 come up for us to talk about, but if you’re not into leaks then you’re in for an even longer drought (and when it comes to said leaks, please take them with a grain of salt).

I originally came here from Twitter so I’ve seen a lot. Ppl leaving isn’t new to me, and it is a pretty common thing with fandoms in general. Sometimes it’s over something simple, like ppl losing their interest, and other times it’s because ppl don’t know how to use the block button and want to be rude, hateful, and harass others into leaving, or cause/insert themselves into drama for entertainment. It’s understandable to be bored during droughts and perhaps become irritable, but if you like creating/being in drama, please don’t put it in the main tag. Not everybody is going to agree and it is what it is. Some posts you may agree with, some posts you may not, some you may partly agree with, some you may partly disagree with. If you ever come across something that really bothers you, big or small, just use the block button or mute/filter things you don’t want to see. You can always make your own post sharing your thoughts about whatever the topic may have been. There are so many ways to control content you consume. It’s important to remember we’re all here for a good time, so let ppl have fun and learn to draw a line.

It’s OK to be opinionated, but I think some things that are important to note is the difference between head-canons and canon. Head-canons are personal interpretations about a character. It’s not ACTUALLY canon. Some head-canons can be based off of things that ARE canon, but it’s important to realize that it’s still NOT ACTUALLY canon. Canon is confirmed. It’s OK to not agree with somebody else’s head-canon, but it’s not a reason to be rude to them. You can share your own opinions with them in a respectful way or separately. However, I feel like some ppl want to make things problematic to further push their narrative or are genuinely just not educated enough. And of course there are exceptions to just about everything, like potentially problematic head-canons which I think is OK to have discussions about, but once again, that’s why we need to learn to draw a line.

I also know hate anons have been a problem lately. If you’re ever getting a lot of hate anons, please don’t be afraid to protect yourself and turn off the anon feature/not allow asks. If that doesn’t work don’t be afraid to block and report. If none of these are working, just know it’s OK if you feel like social media is becoming too much. Take a break if you need to, distance yourself if you need to, make a completely new account if you need to. You can always let the ppl who care about you know you need to go away for awhile.

Lastly, don’t feel pressure to post! That’s one way to add a lot of stress onto yourself and become tired of your interests. I promise everything is going to be fine and Byler’s/ the Stranger Things fandom will always be here if/when you come back.

[golbrocklovely]

i'm really lost, can you explain the timeline of Colby going from ms singer to m? just super confused about it all hahah

of course anon, i would love to lol

i'm actually genuinely happy someone finally asked me something like this bc i've been seeing a lot of misinformation and i'm really tired of it.

i'm explaining everything, pictures and all. i'm blurring out ppl's names and sticking to the codes names i've given the girls involved. i get that you can find these names relatively easy, i'm just not gonna be the place for you to do so.

some of the things i'm gonna mention don't have physical proof, bc they were in a live stream or just stuff i didn't take ss of. but trust me everything i'm gonna say is real and not me making shit up.

so… let's start from the beginning.

the first major misconception that i've seen is that colby and ms singer got together back in march, dated until october/november, and then colby just haphazardly moved onto m. ppl say this bc they use the pic of them out that leaked and compare it to the pic of her wearing the same outfit in march on her insta.

now idk how this got lost in translation, but ppl are trying to say it's m in the pic??? it's not, but cool that you guys want to believe that lol

but again, this fandom is holding onto "oh well, her pic on insta is from march, so that means that a, this pic was taken in march, and b, they have been together since then". respectfully, did yall forget that ppl rewear clothes? just curious.

i also literally saw her, on her story, post the exact same outfit, but in november. so....

the pic of him and ms singer is not from march. it got post on tiktok in october.

and HERE is colby, at universal horror nights, which is where the photo was taken, meeting a fan.

now, this might not proof enough, bc he could have just been dating her secretly and this was the first time they were "caught" in public. but let's be forreal for two seconds. first off, in march, he was deciding whether or not to get chemo. and on top of that they were working nonstop to have backlog content in case of him getting chemo. neither one of them had gfs or time for gfs.

on top of all of this, i have more proof that they didn't start seeing each other until september. colby did not even follow her until sept 21ish. i know this bc i keep track of who he follows and when. yes, i know it's weird. idc. here's other ppl he followed at that time:

the black box is ms singer's name.

now, onto the stuff i don't have proof of - right as all this information was blowing up, ms singer started getting more viewers on her tiktok livestreams. one of the first ones she had after the above tiktok dropped, she was asked during her livestream what's the best date she was on and she said it was one that happened recently, most likely alluding to colby's (with sam in tow most likely with k/la girl).

the biggest proof of them all is that ms singer herself said in a livestream that she didn't meet colby until september. she outwardly said that. i have friends who heard her say that, not just anons that randomly tell me things. actual ppl i have convos with daily.

now, we have to move on to how he got with m. everything this point down will just be complete speculation on my part. the only proof i have is that colby did not start following m until the day after sam's bday. she was at the party after the marathon bc k brought her there (and k was also there obviously).

personally, what i believe happened was that ms singer was very heavy handed on the fact that she personally wants to get married and have kids soon even tho she's only 21. she said it multiple times on tiktok. idk why you want to rush into that type of stuff, but hey, you do you. that being said, most likely, while they both enjoyed their time together, colby is not exactly ready to settle down and have kids anytime soon. so he most likely backed off of ms singer.

after halloween, ms singer was no where to be found with colby. what i believe happened is since k/la girl and sam were already together, she decided to bring along m to sam's bday bash. m and colby clicked, and they spent all this time together.

now, when it comes to ms singer and k and m being in some weird little drama where ms singer feels slighted - first off, i have no clue about any of that for certain. ms singer continues to be vague, for good reason, and so it's hard to know what happened. if i was ms singer, i too would be a bit pissed if my friend brought some other girl to be around the guy i was into, just bc he wasn't into me. i'm not trying to say all of this isn't messy. it is to some degree, but i don't fully blame k. colby is a grown man. if he wanted to continue his friendship with ms singer after they "broke up", he would have. clearly, it just wasn't in the cards. or maybe he felt awkward being friends with her still after moving onto someone she knew/is somewhat friends with.

okay, i think that's everything. if there is anything else you need me to explain, feel free to ask. the only reason i really wanted to answer this kind of ask was bc i've heard some whispers via comments on tiktok and twitter and whatever else that some fans think or believe that sam cheated on kat with k just bc ms singer (who is good friends with k) and kat knew each other. bc they think the timing of everything is "suspicious".

first off, kat and sam broke up in march. ppl mistakeningly believe ms singer was in the picture around this time, which is why they think k/la girl is also in the picture. that's just factually not true. secondly, sam was literally fuckboying his ass up during the summer: he followed multiple asian girls (like almost 10) in julyish before during and after japan, danced and spent the night with that random girl that was on jc's stream during his party (while colby had fun with her friend, mind you), and then ppl speculated that he had a thing with niki going on too. that boy was having fun during this period prior to september, which is when he ACTUAL started seeing k/la girl. and third, if sam or kat cheated on one another, i'm 99% certain we would have known way before now. they literally explained in their break up video that nothing actually happened, sam just wasn't ready for marriage. not to mention, if he did cheat, YALL AIRING IT OUT IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT. if they were hiding something like that from us, realistically it would be for good reason. it's not your business to share that intimate of details.

and before anyone gets on my ass about that comment, everything i'm sharing with yall is already public info. i'm not speculating, minus what happened between ms singer and la girl. but even bits of that have been told by ms singer herself so… don't come for me lol

[dinoburger]

"(also Orange anon if you're out there, I think we did cover a lot of this before, yes, yes yes yes)" aye yeah, I'm still out here 👋 -- I've been neck-deep in a different fandom these past few months, so it was a neat surprise to pop in here and see that mention, ahaha. Very opportune timing!

Boy howdy, that leaked seventh chapter... I'd written it off as a bunch of bunk, in light of @/wachtelspinat mentioning that the comic's script isn't done yet. But even without that consideration in mind -- the leak's contents seemed nihilistically final, to me? I had a hard time all those months ago (while the leak was making rounds on social media) picturing it as the comics' legit end destination -- but that may just speak to my lingering (if frayed) sense of hope, lol.

... At the end of the day, though... yeah. I do think that several of the comics' plot beats don't hit as hard as they could; whether that's down to the tone, chosen medium, or pacing (or all three?) in any given instance is a toss-up (for me; I'd have to sit down and seriously think about the writing more) -- but I agree that there's very little time allotted to exploring what happens. And regardless of whether that comic 7 leak was pure baloney or something that the writers were actually workshopping... eh. If it feels like closure, then it can be closure. Perpetual plot-limbo's never stopped other fandoms I've been in from creating whatever they want, at any rate.

"It makes is clearer to me that the way I want to approach this isn't "fixing the comics" but a "what if" from the perspective of someone not beholden to corporate quota and having to match or escalate the tone of the last entry in the series…" and I heartily approve of this, if it's something you wanna do 👍 I'm fond of your work (in general; including stuff outside of TF2), so I'll merrily follow along either way.

Wish I could talk more, at this particular moment in time, but my deadlines are approaching and so I must go tend to them. Take care. -🍊

glad to see you're still around - no worries, I think I've already covered quite a bit of ground. tbh I don't think it is quite nihilistic because of that structure less focussed on cohesion and more on how hard it can throw the next curveball - it's essentially asking you *not* to think too hard about the implications but to feel sort of stunned by the sharp change in direction.

Even if it isn't a play-by-play, the way it tapped into the pattern, on reflection, exposes the forest instead of the trees, know what I mean? Like there is a structural funnel there that looks much clearer to me.

They can't ever go back to having a serious story with absurd humor because it has fundamentally become a nonsensical story loosely supported by interesting characters, the logical trajectory is to keep upping the ante. Anything they do now that might be serious or hold weight will be undercut by everything that has led up to it, insisting not to think too hard. I can't be mad about that.

I think coming at it from this angle makes it easier for me to pinpoint and delineate what didn't work for me, as opposed to retreading the cosmos of smaller decisions made in line with this pattern. I think it also makes theorising about what could've been all the more interesting, because in recognising those decisions, you start to consider how a different writing philosophy would've effected the story overall.

Well. I think a lot of this is mostly to say "I'm going to think way too hard about tf2 lore, but on purpose now"

[welcomingdisaster]

2 and 25? 😁

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

oh no my only weakness... i have to be real every single ship i write i imagine switchy. so take this as a "in certain circumstances" kind of thing. i have written fic that contradicts both of these. it'll be compelling (hopefully) but honestly i don't know if i'll believe it. buuut. maedhros is absolutely a control freak that doesn't like being vulnerable, and sleeping with people is already toeing the line a little bit too much. i wrote enemy of good in part about his control issues in bed and i think that fic kind of captures my headcanons about his general vulnerability issues. i'm working on a longer fic about him experimenting with trauma through kink, and the rush that having power over people gives him -- so i lean towards "maedhros has to be in a very good mental state to bottom, which, considering that he wouldn't recognize a good mental state if bit him in the ass, means he doesn't really bottom." also hmmm. miriel is equally a control freak in my mind's eye. she will bottom but she will never stop bossing her partners around. she has an artistic vision for this sexual encounter please stop interrupting her creative process with your leg cramps 25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing oh man I do not know if I have a good answer for this. here are two weird ones i know that banning a language is a shitty move but i feel like. the level at which people talk about thingol is a person for banning quenya among his people is weirdly disproportionate to the action, especially considering it was prompted by him finding out he was lied to about the deaths of his own people. like it feels like people assign that action a worse moral value than all the murder. that being said that is such a feanorian assessment of morality i do kind of loop back around to admiring it. i'm also reaaallly over hearing arguments about what tolkien intended or wanted in terms of shipping (i think it's still an interesting question when we interpret some other parts of the text!). "tolkien was a catholic who would have hated your gay ships" has weirdly managed to make it on my dash several times and that is obviously the worst one. but i also kind of find the argument of "no i promise tolkien actually made x ship gay on purpose" kind of... tinfoil hat-y? i've never been convinced by them. and honestly, i don't really like the whole framework of applying authorial intent to ships. my current #1 favorite ship for the fandom was absolutely, 110% not intended, but i just... don't need jirt's permission or intention in this. i feel like the arguments about whether something like russingon or turleg (two ships i really like, mind you!) were intended by canon kind of imply that they would be less valid if they were not?

i have no idea if this makes sense & i do actually find the queer readings/analysis very interesting. but if anything i generally tend to assume that they leaked into tolkien from the (secretly queerer than we assume?) fairytales/myths/epics he was inspired by rather than being there by design. i feel like we can point out things like "hey, x plotline mirrors a romance" without needing to necessarily say "tolkien intended this and meant to hide gay stuff in his works." like i'm just over needing that old man's permission or intent.

this has been the rambliest response yet and i hope it's entertaining/coherent lmao. thank you for your ask!!

[the1975attheirverybest]

i get the vibe that he was serious, but i doubt it’s as serious at the mirror claims. they’re a trashy tabloid, worse than the sun imo. the other day one of their “sources” was a celebrity psychic lmao. i doubt anyone close to him is leaking that info, it almost sounds like that one convo in atpoiam ep.3. 

in the end, the only reliable sources are ET & People. i’d imagine someone is leaking info to the sun as well.

people just need to stop giving these clickbait articles attention, TMZ literally claims he’s drinking on stage to cope with the break up. it’s bullshit.

anyways, i’m ready for things to return to normal.

Yeah, to be honest, it’s fine either way. It seems that Matty wants whatever this is to remain private and he’s not ready for us to know what’s going on with him at the moment. Which is 100% his right.

Sometimes the truth is worth fighting for but sometimes it’s honestly not more important than the person or things you care about. And, in this case, whether he and Taylor are still secretly together, whether they’re taking a break, were just casual, are serious about a relationship, etc. is not more important to me than Matty, the boys, and Matty’s well-being. To continue to follow this story and nitpick at the evidence and piece it together would only hurt him and keep his name out there.

If it turns out that he’s “lying to us” when like one day it comes out that he and Taylor have been together this whole time or whatever it is, it still wouldn’t have been wrong of us to respect his boundaries and back off. To take his word for it and “miss the real signs” would be better than to dissect his every move and/or make it do he has no choice.

As we have been saying all day, this man has been nothing but kind towards us. And we know 100% that when he is around fans he’s completely present and giving us his whole being. Let’s treat him the same way and respect him as a human being.

I know they puzzle piecing is fun. So let’s apply that to the rollout of…whatever the fuck “still…at their very best” is and all that stuff. Let go of all this mess. Plus, the sooner we let it go, the faster w can put it behind us and get back to being the fandom that we always have been.

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

Lately, there's much weird energy going on regarding jm related things. Since his OST something or the other is happening, the whole insurance bill followed by company sayin "no comments" but they were backing up that bully girl and also billboard didn't posted any article on his proof video but they posted all the other members till now (surprisingly I haven't seen BTS is 7 trend yet lol) Even him in that Spotify video just sitting without much enthusiasm like he always had is all making me feel like is everything okay??! Also I'm new to this all hate/negative discourse on a celeb (haven't been in any fandom except bts) so it's bit weird to see a particular member getting hate for whatever he is doing. Would like to know your thoughts on this if you have any??

- hybe's treatment of jimin's ost is especially abysmal. i shift back and forth as to whether he'll resign with them when the time comes but it just gets more and more blatant that something's up due to the way they go about everything regarding him. it's not isolated either, they just do all they can to not care about jimin and his work.

---

It reminded me there was another similar ask so I'm including it. Eventually I would've gotten to it but now that we're on the subject 😅

It has certainly been nonstop. The change in the time release for the OST was very random, didn't and still doesn't make sense why would they do that. Everyone else released their Our Blues OSTs at 6pm. It has been a while but so it doesn't sound like the time is something crazy to care about, and in case it hasn't been made obvious by how, days after, Psy released his album at 6pm and not 11pm LMAO, I saw this explanation by traceofjimin.

And they said the time release was discussed and decided on by the artist's agency (or agencies). They know how it works and they still decided to do it. BTS used to release their stuff at 6pm kst too, it changed to accommodate USA time of release but it was 6pm until ON.

Aside from that, I really think the insurance bill and filter issues were done by akgaes. Hybe/bighit has never exactly handled any "scandal" BTS were involved in, probably the tattoo shop thing was the most they gave statements on or said they would do anything about. But usually it's just one single "we deny this" and they move on. So I'm not surprised and I don't think it's weird that they disregarded the bill issue so quickly. And also, to be honest, I don't know what else was there to say. I genuinely think the articles and the way it was dragged out was an akgae thing. Same with the filter credits for that man. Whether his personal info was leaked because someone from the company was "careless" when managing his documents (that's a very sarcastic careless), there's no way to know that. If it was leaked or sold by people that work close to him, I hope Jimin is aware and is handling it.

It also all just piled up over the already existing and recent enlistment controversy, so it's possible that media are just taking advantage of it, you know the saying "when it rains it pours".

Now, the billboard articles........................ It's fishy af. I don't know who's deciding that and if it's hybe, I don't know why would they want to alienate Jimin from album conversation like that but it definitely looks like a conscious choice to not do an article about him. It was deliberate.

About the hate, yeah.. kpop is like that, unfortunately. It definitely does not happen this often or this seriously when it comes to western celebrities. You can google "kpop anti-fans" "kpop anti-fans incidents" and you'll see for yourself. It's crazy. It's an industry and fan culture that for some reason or another has always begotten a lot of hate.

As for Jimin, I think he was like that for most of 2021, sadly. I mean, he was quiet and seemingly uninterested for a lot of their interviews, especially during butter promo. And last year he actually said on few ocassions that he wasn't feeling that happy or excited, it wasn't anything alarming but he did subtly mentioned being too lost in his thoughts and things like that. He's probably got a lot on his plate, honestly. I guess we should just wait and see; he's a person like anyone else and being under the weather sometimes it's completely normal, but it's also not too logical for us to make conclusions based on one or two clips, imo. I would like to know what he really, really, really thinks of this album tho.

Before, the times that anything controversial happened, there was always positive, good BTS content to push that negativity back or even completely ignore it; now, there's nothing like that and even the album-related content released so far is honestly nawtttt making a lot of noise so it's easy to get carried away with the negative stuff.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Still kicking myself for somehow missing both shows [and the manga], but fans kept it alive passed their final airings that I didn't mind too much. Just missed out on some of the fandom history, some of it being gone forever. (Sometimes the age of the audience may explain a bit of it of why it happens, but I think often see kids have more patience. xD) And maintain a sense of anonymity while doing so. To everyone, he's just a small, silly white dog making games.

.

(Part 2) (After hearing the horror stories, it's sad seeing some potential newcomers second-guess the career choice they wanted to pursue) Making your creations your career or an extra way to make some money is not inherently bad; but you gotta be aware of how your workload could affect your spark or even mental health. People often wonder how a creator can come to resent what they made; if you ever created and done it for a long while, you'll run into that feeling at some point.

(Part 3) The challenge is NOT to experience it frequently. (Early 2000s internet was a lawless land when it came to trying to find stuff; ironic how it's easier to do that today but at cost of everything being restricted and exclusive, for better or worse) For what its worth, the concept works better with games. Just for absurdity of having the weirdest crossovers somehow mesh really well or be a dumpster fire.

(Part 4) (Not sure if I shared before; the talk Gary gives Ash about Sinnoh. Not the postcard, though it still applies. After Pikachu vs Electivire, while the tone of the dub music is somewhat similar to the sub, it's still distinctly different. Skip to 2:00, note the violins: / wat ch? v = q yZ1seuA4_k ) Mm-hmm, they deserve a battle that feels more them and showcase how much these two have grown and influenced each other. And again, it's been 20 years since the Johto one.

(Part 5) (I generally don't mind the leaks. We know how most of the PWC battles will end, it's just HOW they're done. Though I'm still debating on whether I want to know if Ash or Leon wins. All I want is the matchups for the battle) In before Leon somehow surprises us.

Yeah, at least the fandom is still thriving all these years later.

True, true.

Yeah, that's impressive too. Like, I think photos of him exist? But in my head he'll always be that little white dog.

Yeah, it's really unfortunate.

Oh, for sure. I respect people who manage to make a career out of their art and do it without their mental health suffering, but that is simply not the path for me.

Yeah, the internet used to be... really different than it is now, in a lot of ways. Some changes have definitely been more positive than others.

True--like, one of the most entertaining things about Smash is the eclectic roster leading to scenarios like an Animal Crossing villager duking it out with Solid Snake.

Ooh thanks for the link! After having watched that bit a couple times to take in the details... yeah.

For sure. Wow, it really has been twenty years. They are long overdue for another really good battle.

Yeah--it's easy enough to guess what most of the results will be, how we get to those results is the important part. But personally I do not want the outcome of Ash vs Leon spoiled, I need to see how that goes myself. (Partly to make up for not being there for Ash becoming the champion of Alola a few years back--I heard about that very significant event from Twitter, I want to actually witness this one.)

He could! We'll see how things go. It's uhh the Friday after this coming one that episodes start airing again I'm pretty sure? Excited to see how things unfold from there!

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Wed 31 March ‘21

The Daily Mail has published a story telling us that last July Niall’s London apartment was broken into by an intoxicated man who followed a neighbor in and then hopped from a nearby balcony to Niall’s. Niall wasn’t home at the time, but his PA found the intruder and “kept him talking” until security arrived. The man was just sent on his way but he returned the next day at which time he was arrested; he will go to trial this July. Niall has been asked by the police not to comment on the case. Some people are speculating about a possible connection between this and Niall ceasing his frequent livestreams from his home around that time; maybe so, maybe not (we don’t even know whether this guy was a stalker targeting him or if it was random, let alone how Niall may have reacted) but it certainly reminds us yet again that there are always going to be factors we do not and can not know about that are influencing the public facing actions we see. The DM illustrated their article with videos and pictures of the interior of the apartment from Niall interviews and social media; also today a lot of pictures of the remodel of Harry’s Erskine House (you know, the place where he was terrorized by a stalker) that were posted by the architectural firm circulated. The hot pink carpeted stairs and disco ball are cool and all- but I guess I’m just glad there are so many things we don’t and can’t know to balance the things they don’t get to keep private.

I promised you an update on the resurgence of the ‘Harry Styles is Starfox in the MCU’ rumors #confirmed this time FOR REALSIES ETC: well, the update is that, despite another round of excitement yesterday stemming from a reddit spoiler post, there is no update. We still have exactly the same amount of info about it as we did before, ie no credible sources saying it’s a thing. The main account pointed to as a “leak” is a troll account and NOT a real Marvel employee, one real Marvel employee said one thing that might or might not be real and was not specific as to what role, that reddit post had nothing about him in it, and that is that. Sometimes smoke does indeed indicate fire, he might well be in the MCU: but there is still as of now nothing to confirm. There is a confirmed movie to be excited about though-- My Policeman content has begun!! A sound producer posted a picture of Harry, Emma Corrin, and David Dawson standing in separate sound booths in a studio recording something! Oh and yes that means he’s publicly in the UK for the first time in a long while.

Brit Awards nominations are out, somewhat anticlimactically for a fandom who had formed some lofty expectations-- Harry got a nom for Watermelon Sugar (British Single of the Year), and that’s it. He got Fine Line noms last year so it isn’t too shocking he didn’t again, and the others were honestly outside chances due to various circumstances, however much they might deserve the recognition.“SNUBBED!” fake complained Niall, but unlike fans added “I’m jokinggg” (suuure you are, but he’s taking it better than fans, who trended Louis’ name and Louis Deserved It, etc, for nearly a full 24 hours; maybe Niall was referring to being snubbed by the FANDOM, lol.) He further showed he was surviving the disappointment by retweeting the nom list for Harry’s category, one assumes to cheer him on.

Anyway the continued chatter about Louis’ promised documentary is a bright spot in a day of mostly negative news! Here’s what we know- Louis has repeatedly talked about how much he liked Charlie Lightening’s Liam Gallagher doc and implied it was why he wanted to work with him; that film does cover some Oasis breakup and personal life stuff, as it relates to the story it tells about LG launching his solo comeback, so while I find it hard to picture Louis choosing to do a ‘Louis Tomlinson This Is My Life year zero to present’ biopic kind of thing yeah, they could plan to include some stuff like that. But also we’ve SEEN them filming loads of stuff so we can have a pretty good idea what at least parts of it might be- Charlie and his camera were everywhere for album release behind the scenes (YES I AM ready to cry at the Times Square billboard moment footage and them watching the #1s pile up, bring it), the lead up to the release (interviews and music video filming and listening parties and stuff), Charlie recorded interviews with fans at all the pre-tour shows (and outside the hotels and soundchecks and stuff), and of course I would guess TOUR SHOWS and the rest of the tour are meant to be the centerpiece of it all, as they are to Louis, even if that’s been delayed. My only question, was Louis’ very public appearance at the LG doc premier when he first connected with Charlie about doing a project, or was that the public sort of introduction of the idea to hint at a partnership they’d already established? Maybe we’ll find out in interviews about the project when it’s done… Oh also I am down with the guess about Faith in the Future being a song title- yeah! That does sound right! Orrrr a documentary :))

[itmightbeneb]

Final thoughts on the manatreed thing

so my original outraged reaction post got notes despite me originally only tagging it with trigger warnings so i wanted to make a better one. I added some tags to that buuuuut it was just an overview of my thoughts on the situation coming from anger directly after reading dreams twtlonger

OK so my actual thoughts: i point blank refuse to read ANY doxxed info, so im not gonna go through and decide whether i think mana did it, to me its pointless to discuss it either way, if im reading dreams twtlonger correctly, i think that he may have done it. But to the people who were like nah nobody would just run away after being accused of that: i probably would, and ive never even talked to a cop in any official manner in my life. I also have anxiety, and wouldnt be able to handle kf trying to doxx me. So in the end, i still dont know whether he did it, and to be honest i dont care

lets say he did though, where does that bring us? if he did, he still didnt deserve to be doxxed, he still didnt deserve to have so many people coming at him all at once, nobody deserves that. doing a bad thing to a person who has done bad things doesnt make it right

the fan reaction to dream as well was disgusting. idk why people went only after dream and not sapnap, who would have also known, i havent gotten a straight answer from anyone. he is a victim of abuse himself, this is not something new we learnt, we knew this already. yes he fucked up with his response, no shit. But if a friend of mine was getting doxxed by kf of all places, i too would be so dissapointed in my fanbase if they took it as true (especially at first before i did any digging). his reaction was bad, he didnt deserve all the hate he got, these two statements can coexist.

in the end, i hope this fandom learns to give people time before demanding explanations, especailly with all the new info that was constantly coming out, and to take care of which sources they get their info from.

whether u were stressed or apathetic doesnt matter to me, the people getting angry at others for their responses to the situation (beyond the harassment of dream and mana) are the ones who are pissing me off. the people who are like unfollow me if u liveblogged the sapnap lore stream rn >:( are pissing me off. different people react to these things in different ways, and if liveblogging the lore stream or not caring until the final statement was given helped u cope? great for u im glad you kept yourself calm. beyond harassment, any of the reactions to the situation felt natural and normal to me, sometimes people react in different ways and we need to remember this and be considerate when we tell people how we feel about any given situation. the only real unacceptable reaction to all this was the harassment

If mana did do it, i hope he takes this time where he doesnt have to worry about rent to learn and grow and do some self reflection, this can be very hard to do when youre constantly stressed about living situations and everything. i hope he learns and can take te time he needs to become a better person, and have a better life in the future. it is possible for him to become a better person.

its also important that we remember that the victim wanted none of this, she wanted to be done with everything, and we dragged her back into this while creating a massive shitstorm for two other people. in the space of a couple days, one victim of abuse was harassed (dream) and two had information leaked (dream and mana’s victim). we need to be better with how we process stuff like this, with kf constantly going after dream something like this is bound to happen again, and we have to act better next time

overall this has really made me think about who i follow, i unfollowed a lotta dtblr today, the ones getting angry at the way others reacted. if you were stressed or anything please take a bit to urself, remember you can unfollow blogs that annoy you/make you more stressed and take time to do stuff thats not mcyt related (rewatch an old show u love, vc ur friends, go on a walk, etc) if u need someone to talk to my dms are open and ill get back to you as soon as i can

sending love and peaceful vibes <3

[swashbucklery]

I'm looking forward to your Legends science thoughts! (if you would like to share, that is)

Omg anon I have SO MANY like. You are going to regret not focusing me more let's GET GOING.

1) we will never speak of the nose babies. Never. They have defied every possible law of biology INCLUDING the conceptual analogies to human birth. (WHAT IS CONTRACTING? IN HIS HEAD? THERE IS NO MUSCLES???) Also the ear is not a direct path to the brain there is so much bone there SO MUCH if you're leaking fluid between your ear and your brain it means something has gone horribly wrong with your skull I need to lie down.

2) Okay look nobody asked but I am utterly riveted by the Bishop clone mythology they are putting together and I want to discuss it for 84 years.

Like.

First of all they are rapidly barrelling towards a complex debate that falls at the intersection of neuroscience and philosophy, namely: what are souls made of. And I discussed this a while ago so I won't get too deep into it but also I'm going to get so deep into it you can't stop me.

So.I think a lot of what is getting me is that this show seems to be conflating DNA with the complex blend of experiential signals and embedded memories that are the human brain and - idk "consciousness," I think is the word the show used.

Because DNA is - ok if we're using the computer metaphor, DNA would control the hardware. So things like architecture, any genetic factors in variable neurotransmitter expression, stuff like that. And conceptually "consciousness" is so difficult because it is hotly debated whether or how it's even measurable, let alone what it’s made of. Like as humans experience the world, they form memories and that is coded - somehow, in a complex soup of neurochemical signals and little tweaks at the synapse level that make people who they are. Experiences and traumas and physiologic stress and illnesses like they all do things that shape brain function and in some ways structure on a very tiny scale and it's so hard and weird and cool and complicated but it's very very much not DNA. And then the question is: is that consciousness. Is that sufficient for consciousness or is there an ineffable other element that we can’t yet measure that also accounts for it.

You know this! You do!! Many folks know or have met a set of identical twins and they're genetically identical with often very different personalities and temperaments because consciousness and genes are really two separate things. They can influence each other, but they are also really shaped by the complex interactions of a person's temperament and the environment they experience.

(This isn't even getting into the emerging research on epigenetics and the way that some of those changes appear to be passed down in utero and then how those might be translated once you shift from gestation and birth to 3D MEAT PRINTER.)

Anyway this is a very long way of saying IF YOU TAKE 6% OF SOMEONE'S DNA YOU DON'T SOMEHOW STEAL 6% OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES? Like look the stupid captain code word Gideon override is always so fucking cool I'm a huge sucker for it but if it's supposed to be a voice recognition override that like. Doesn't???? Work??? And like, I think what Bishop was trying to say was that he patched the code for his consciousness file with 6% of Sara's memories which is - acceptable, if I must accept the premise that the complexity of human brain function is somehow downloadable.

Like I loved the scenes between Bishop and Ava and it has poked the part of my fandom feelings that simply must know more but also I really really want this show to take a firm position on its 3D meat printer clone worldbuilding so that I can really follow along.

[kiribakuhappiness]

How do you deal with the hate comments you get?? (Not that I think the last ask was particularly hate or anything) but I never see hate stuff on your blog or in your comment sections either. I feel like I see tend to get them a lot abd sometimes I don't know how to handle them :( love your work!!! Sorry if this is rude to ask...

Not rude at all - but there's a lot to unpack here, so I’m really sorry if I ramble or go off on a few tangents in my answer!

The short answer is: I don't deal with hate comments.

The medium answer is: It depends on the type of 'hate' that I’m receiving.

The longer answer is this:

I have been really lucky (I think) to have been able to grow a little community on this blog of similar, like-minded people who enjoy the same things that I do (Tsundere characters, characters that can help show more representation in the Alphabet Mafia community, dumb boys who deserve to just be dumb boys, etc). I've rarely received any hate comments since my time here on Tumblr, and I think there's a lot of reasons for this.

1.) If someone comes rearing into my Ask box just LOOKING for a fight (ie, random death threats from Anons, homophobic comments, an obvious attempt to bait me into some kind of long-winded debate, etc) I simply just do not deal with it. Those people (especially Anons) are just looking for a reaction out of you. They want you to get upset, to post some long rambling defense, to be snarky and rude back to them, that's what they want.

But at the end of the day, I don't owe any of them a response. Hell, I don't owe anyone a response if I don't want to answer something.

But I answer Asks because I like talking with people, and getting all amped up and excited over the same things, that's part of the fun of creating and sharing that creative work online and being an active part of the fandom. I LOVE hearing from the people that follow this blog (even if I don't always get the chance to respond to all of them) because I know that they're happy or excited enough to hit that Ask button and send me a message, and that makes me feel good to know that I was able to get them so pumped up!

But those Anons aren't looking for that kind of connection. Most of the time, they’re not even looking to have a mature discussion, even if that’s how they come across at first. They're looking to hurt. To ridicule and make fun of, to make me and my followers feel bad or low. And, most of the time, the people who are sending that hate are young. So young. Like... way younger than what you might be picturing in your head right now.

So when I get the really bad hate - the hate that makes your skin feel hot, the hate that spikes your blood pressure, the hate that makes you start typing in a blind rage because you want to hurt them just as much as they've just hurt you - then they've already won. And I'll be damned if I let myself be led by the hand right into a losing battle.

So I simply do not engage. I don't reply with some snarky comment thinking I'm oh-so clever, I don’t reply in a holier-than-thou manner because I think I’m just so much better than them, and I don't reply with a long rambling post about why they're wrong and why they're childish and why they're hateful because that in itself is a hateful act, and I have far more important things to be spending my time and my energy on than fighting with a random on the internet and fueling that (quite frankly, pointless) hatred.

When I don't respond, the anon grows bored. Why send hateful things into someone's Asks if they aren’t even going to showcase it to all of their loyal followers? The reason you don't see hate on this blog is because I simply do not allow them to sink their roots into this soil. I pull them out like weeds and refuse to let them grow here.

I also don't respond because, while I may be able to take a death threat or a homophobic slur with gritted teeth and a roll of the eyes and keep on going about my day, some of my followers may not be mentally or psychologically equipped to see such rude backlash. They range from pre-teens to adults, and when they choose to follow me and my blog, I see it as a responsibility on my end to shield them from that unnecessary hatred. There's no need for them to see such toxicity, and so I act as a stubborn guard blocking the front gates. This temple is for relaxation, for laughter and excitement and love, and I'll protect it until the day that I decide to send that last post and go off to do something else with my life.

2.) Another reason that I believe that I don’t get much hate on this blog is because I don’t cross-platform my content. Does this lower the visibility of my work? Sure. I don’t have a Twitter, or a Youtube, or a TikTok, or an Instagram. This blog is just that - this blog on Tumblr, with a link to my AO3 for my writing. And while that limits my audience and perhaps bottlenecks my views, the safeguard it brings from distancing from toxic mindsets that tend to leak into the more problematic social media sites is well worth it, in my opinion.

I don’t write these stories for kudos and hits. I don’t write these stories to push out as much content as possible, to gain a following as quickly as I can, to reach the entirety of the fandom. I don’t want that. I want to write stories to get better at writing, I want to write about the boys because I crave more gay representation and quite frankly I am obsessed with Bakugou as a character and how much fun it is to write from a Tsundere mindset.

If other people happen to find my work and they like it too, then that’s so awesome! But the extent of my dedication to this blog is just that, my own dedication to something I love and something that brings me joy.

3.) The final reason that I think why I don’t get a lot of hate comments or hurtful asks is because I put a lot of pride and effort into my fics. When I write a piece of work that contains heavy levels of smut, I work really hard to make them realistic, to make the characters motives and emotions clear and concise, to showcase a healthy depiction of what it means to be sexually attracted to and/or engage in sexual activity with someone that a person cares very deeply about.

I see a lot of smut centered around the bnha fandom, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with that, in my opinion, but sometimes I do see things that I personally feel are a little tactless. They’re not handled well, or they promote toxic behaviors, or it really is incredibly self-indulgent and sometimes grossly ignorant.

However, just like with the hate that I sporadically receive in my Asks, it’s of my own personal belief that if I see something I don’t like or don’t agree with on the internet, then I simply do not engage with it. I don’t give it the attention that it so desperately wants to get out of people, I don’t give it a platform to grow on, I refuse to allow it to think that it has the upper hand anywhere in the situation.

I am entirely in control of the things that I promote on this blog, and I take that responsibility very seriously. It’s why I refuse to reblog art if it’s so obviously not being posted by the original artist (there are SEVERAL kiribaku blogs I have seen gaining popularity recently that simply post art from other artists without any credits or any permission). I have even seen several of my own mutuals reblogging art from those particular blogs, and so I find it incredibly important to be diligent in which accounts I reblog art from.

That being said - I’m not perfect. I’m a human being behind this account, a singular entity the runs the entirety of this blog, ever growing and learning and working every day to be better than I was the day before, and sometimes I make mistakes.

Sometimes I reblog stolen art, and need a follower to nudge me in my inbox and let me know that it’s stolen and where to find the original art, so that I can take the responsibility of deleting the stolen post and reblogging the original content to show support for the original artist. Sometimes I write something in a fic that (to me, from my own experiences) I might not consider to be harmful or inappropriate, but that might be damaging in a way that I may have never considered before because I had grown so used to receiving that kind of treatment myself that I fail to see its toxicity on my own, and so when people come to me with genuinely helpful constructive criticism, I feel it is my duty as a writer to be level-headed and humble enough to admit that perhaps what I have grown so accustomed to is just that - behavior I’ve simply grown accustomed to - and to then take a good hard look at that example and make a decision about whether I want to change it or not.

The important thing to remember is that we’re all entitled to our own opinions and feelings, but that we’re also individually responsible for the way that we react to these types of circumstances.

Becoming defensive, becoming enraged, becoming aggressive, becoming jaded - these things don’t do anything but make a situation worse.

That’s why I love Bakugou so. fucking. much. He IS all of those things. Defensive. Easy to anger. Inherently aggressive. And Horikoshi is teaching him through many trials and errors why those types of behaviors will be his inevitable downfall, why falling into the pit of ‘you hurt me, so I must hurt you back’ leads only to repeated failure and internal anguish, why you will forever be forced to run in place and can never continue to grow and move forward if you’re so busy ignoring the reality that we are all humans, that we are all flawed, that we all experience the same emotions, even if we don’t agree with them or think that they’re justified.

The reason I love Bakugou’s character so much is because he is so deeply flawed, he is told time and time again that he is the epitome of a villain, and yet he refuses to accept that. He refuses to believe that he is anything other than the greatest hero-to-be, and he’ll push his bruised ego and damaged pride aside time and time again to relearn what has already been so solidly ingrained into his being, to continuously be watching and listening and learning while still whole-heartedly remaining unabashedly true to himself, to know that he came to this amazing hero school and is being taught by these incredible heroes “not to learn what he can do, but to learn what he can’t do.”

So, to wrap up this entirely incoherent rambling mess of a response that you no doubt didn’t care to read about, I deal with hate the same way that I deal with everything else; circumstantially, and with as much empathy as I can possibly muster.

If it’s random hate just looking for attention and wanting to hurt, I refuse to give them a stable platform to stand on or an audience to be subjected to. I force them to go somewhere else, cause it’s no fun to hit someone over and over again who refuses to ever hit back. If it’s in regards to my fics, I think I work really hard to provide healthy representation work for this fandom, to showcase the characters in not only challenging situations but also how they can realistically overcome them, and to create an environment where love can be seen as just that, love.

Whether it’s with Bakugou and Kirishima learning how to recognize their own weaknesses and become better people because of them, or whether it’s with Bakugou and Hikaru discovering that experiencing love and relenting in trust doesn’t make them weak but in fact makes them infinitely stronger than they will ever consciously realize, the end result is always the same. I just want to share stories, hopefully ones with positive messages, that make people feel things and maybe might teach them a lesson or two along the way.

I hope this somewhat answered your question anon! Sorry it’s so long and jumbled but is anyone really surprised anymore? When you ask me a question like this, just know I am always going to go off on a long tangent :,D

If you’re ever experiencing a situation where you feel harassed or unsafe or you want advice on how to properly handle a situation, please feel free to reach out to me, and we can work together to try and come up with a mature, responsible solution!

Happy reading!! xx

[feralphoenix]

HOWMST BELL THE CAT? - A treatise on one aspect of how the Pale King sealed the Radiance

sup hollow knight fandom, i’m back with the picante takes again after having Noticed A Thing.

as with my previous essays i’ll put this guy up on dreamwidth later for accessibility purposes, since my layout text may be too small for high-res pc users. i will attach that in a reblog at a later point.

CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses canon-typical body horror and bodily boundary violations, with some side mentions of colonialism.

all game screencaps are mine. the screencap of the wiki is from the “developer notes” (style guide) section of the “cut content” page.

ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty

HOWMST BELL THE CAT? - A treatise on one aspect of how the Pale King sealed the Radiance

We understand more or less how the Pale King’s plan was supposed to work. Stuff Radiance into a no-thoughts-head-empty and silent Pure Vessel to trap, isolate, and silence her, both putting an end to the Infection and killing her for good. Stick that vessel in the Black Egg, which harnesses Void BS to both keep the vessel alive indefinitely and to cover Hallownest (and its neighbors) in a time-defying stasis so that the Pale King could successfully hoard his favorite shiny FOREVER, threatened by nothing. Then put a seal on the Black Egg to prevent anyone from getting inside and harming said vessel while it’s strung up and helpless. And THEN, put protective seals on the anchors (the Dreamers) to the Black Egg seal to protect them from any external harm: The stasis means the Dreamers won't die of old age or starvation.

All in all, a pretty foolproof plan!

...except that the Dreamers are still vulnerable to having their minds breached with the moths’ magic... and the Pale King failed to take into account that his Pure Vessel was a person actually and the amount of toxic stress his training/upbringing put on them made them REALLY POORLY SUITED FOR THEIR JOB... and also that killing 99% of his million children and turning the Abyss into a landfill for baby corpses would take enough of an emotional toll on his wife and #1 enabler the White Lady that she would walk out on him, ensuring he’d only ever have one shot at this whole deal...

Basically it’s the sort of plan that an emotionally constipated, low-empathy sort of guy who pours all his points into INT and has a big fat zero for WIS might think is foolproof. It has big holes in it that the Pale King did not consider to be big holes until he got owned by the various consequences of his actions and fell down said big holes, making the shocked pikachu face all the while. Rip in die, my guy.

Anyway, there’s a lot of incidental information scattered about the game that gives us more insight into the stages of TPK’s plan. Looking at Monomon’s notes in the Archive suggests that she was probably involved in designing the Black Egg; the hidden room in the Weavers’ den points to their being the ones to blueprint the Dreamer seal; the White Palace’s hidden rooms reveal both TPK’s morbid fascination with the Void and his mea culpa wrt his motives and the Path of Pain is certainly suggestive of a lot of things. The White Lady tells us straight out that she walked out on the Pale King because she wanted no part in a second vessel batch, but how TPK didn’t handle that is only revealed via map design and some incidental dialogue from the Old Stag.

This stuff presents us with, if not a full picture, then at least a decent connect-the-dots of certain aspects of crater politics and Pale Court drama at the time, and how exactly TPK’s plan came together.

But there is still one glaring question that these cookie crumbs do not provide us an answer to:

Who shall bell the cat?

How did TPK et al manage to stuff Radiance into Hollow in the first place?

This is the subject of a lot of memes and jokes within the fandom because it's so absurd. Radiance fuckin hates that dude! She’s probably gonna be pretty wary of him considering how he stole her people in the first place! And considering the anti-colonialism slant of the writing - beyond the general sympathetic view Team Cherry gives of each indigenous bug society, Seer makes it very clear that Radiance has very good reason to take violent action against Hallownest - the answer is probably not something like “she’s just that stupid” or “she rolled a crit fail”.

Well... I have an idea of how TPK managed to get Radiance in there. It raises about as many questions as it answers, mind, but it may be someplace to start.

[desc: the hollow knight's entry in the hunter’s journal. top text/ghost’s comment reads: “Fully grown Vessel, carrying the plague’s heart within its body.” bottom text/hunter’s comment says: “The old King of Hallownest... he must have been desperate to save his crumbling little world. The sacrifices he imposed on others... all for nothing.”]

Here we have Hollow’s bestiary entry. Most of what we’re concerned with here is the top text, which says the seal has literally trapped Radiance inside their body. (First of all, ew, TPK.)

We already knew Radiance is literally actually inside Hollow, though: The Infection is leaking out of their body, and to get to fight Radiance, Ghost has to go traipsing into their sibling’s mind. So what’s significant about that here?

[desc: screencap of the outside of the black egg temple, post-infected crossroads. there are large infection blobs in the foreground and background, connected to each other by veins that come from inside the temple.]

The infection blobs are weird and get weirder if you kill enough Lightseeds for the Hunter to tell you their origin story, i.e. that the literal actual sun has been having a very long bad day and cried a lot, and some of the liquid coalesced into living flesh, and some of that living flesh took on a mind of its own to become Lightseeds. (Hollow Knight is a WILD place.)

Lightseeds are Radiance’s accidental children and share a lot of her traits: They are harmless creatures that try to avoid conflict if possible but if pushed will get creative and find ways to fight regardless of their physical limitations. (For the Lightseeds this involves hiding inside Broken Vessel’s corpse and puppeting it around to try to stab you.) They even have her same distinctive yell. And according to the Hunter, they’re born from the infection blobs. These enemies only ever appear in the Ancient Basin, which both Radiance and the Void have ransacked, and in the Infected Crossroads.

The infection blobs are connected to and sort of a weird extension of Radiance because the Infection itself is sort of a weird extension of Radiance. In the game’s internal style guide Team Cherry explains that the Infection started as an accident, not her original intention but what happened when Hallownest tried to block her out.

[desc: screencap from the wiki of style notes attached to seer that describe a sketch of radiance’s finalized backstory. text reads: “The moth tribe were (perhaps) descended from Radiance. However, the King convinced them somehow to seal Radiance away. I guess so he could rule Hallownest with his singular vision, as a god/monarch with no other gods. The moths sealed Radiance away by forgetting about her. Hallownest was born and flourished. However, the memory of Radiance lingered (eg [sic] the statue at hallownest’s crown) and soon she began to reappear in dreams and starting [sic] exerting influence. The King and the bugs of Hallownest resisted this memory/power and it started to manifest as the Infection. Thus the first attempt to seal Radiance failed, and the King had to try another method - the Vessel.” emphasis mine.]

Some fans have posited the blobs as deposits of pupa juice, but given Team Cherry's description of the Infection’s origins I don’t know how likely that is. Since the Void also sticks its squamous tentacles into things via veiny looking things and the Nightmare’s Heart has similar veiny nonsense in the Nightmare Realm, I wonder if it isn’t just a Meddly God Shit thing in general.

Whatever the case, the blobs are very much connected to/a part of Radiance.

And when you’re hanging around them, you will notice two things: They pulse like they’re part of a circulatory system, and you can hear Radiance's heartbeat emanating from them.

[desc: screencap of the game’s title screen with the infected menu theme in use: a glowing orange ball at the center of a lot of black tendony webbing.]

Let’s also think of the Infected menu theme, which you unlock after getting either of the endings where Ghost takes over from Hollow and absorbs Radiance out of them. Ghost is infected and then sealed inside the Black Egg in Hollow's place. It’s suggested by the animation’s staging that Radiance briefly struggles to get out of Ghost after absorbed but is ultimately stuck in them, at which point the seal is reestablished.

If you haven’t used the Infected menu theme yourself, the... interesting thing about it is that it moves organically. The light ball expands and contracts - y’know, sort of like a living organ - and so does the black webby stuff around it.

Also, Radiance’s heartbeat is included in the theme's ambiance.

[desc: hollow’s bestiary entry again]

To cut to the chase, this part of Hollow’s bestiary entry that says “the plague’s heart”? I don’t think that’s just Ghost/Team Cherry being poetic. I think there’s a good chance it’s LITERAL.

I think TPK is the sort of person who could cram a native woman’s literal living beating heart inside his own child’s body so they can use it as... say, a focus to absorb and trap her mind/spirit inside their body, too. Mr. No Cost Too Great is capable of a lot in the name of keeping other people’s claws off his Big Shiny kingdom. This is kind of his whole brand.

But also, like, yuck.

This fits the worldbuilding too; generally speaking Hollow Knight is Body Horror City. Also there’s the case of Grimm: While he and Radiance are loose counterparts at best with WILDLY disparate outlooks and ethoses, his existence serves as precedent that a Higher Being’s heart specifically can be separate from the rest of them.

As I said before, though, this DOES raise as many questions as it answers. If this is another piece in the puzzle of how TPK belled the cat, we’re now left wondering how he got Radiance’s heart to use as Hollow's focus to begin with.

We know he has access to the Dream Realm because that’s ultimately where he hid when Hollow’s seal failed, but who did he send to do the stealing and how did they get away with it? (TPK certainly wouldn’t have gone; his own life’s the one cost too great for him to willingly pay.) Was Radiance’s heart separate from her like the Nightmare’s Heart, or was it a part of her body? (I think the latter is more likely just from her personality; Grimm’s hidden heart makes sense because of how he keeps even his own servants at arm’s length emotionally, whereas Radiance is all heart all the time. I think this makes more sense with their equal opposites schtick too. But this would make for a WAY riskier mission.)

I can imagine all kinds of possibilities. None of them are definitive, but the thing they have in common is that they are all Awful... and how on-brand that is for Hollow Knight as a whole is, maybe, the most persuasive argument for It’s Literally Actually Her Real Physical Heart there could be.

[davidmann95]

holy fuck, four part grant morrison superman/authority mini (bonus points for DILF grey temples superman in the modern day), launching into a tom taylor jon title, pkj action comics, and tom king supergirl? i dunno' about you but this is the most excited i've been about the superman line in ages

Anonymous said: Hilarious that Taylor is finally writing Superman just as you’ve started to fall out of love with him. Also holy shit Morrison writing Superman IN-CONTINUITY AGAIN FUCK YES and he’s using Ultra-Humanite! I always thought it odd that his Golden Age inspired New 52 run left out Superman’s first supervillain. And oh man did you see that variant for Action in July? DC acknowledging Morrison’s t-shirt and jeans Superman again!

adudewholikescomicsandotherstuff said: So Tom Taylor on Superman?

Anonymous said: Taylor writing Jonathan Kent??? No main Superman title???

Anonymous said: Fuck it if ai’m Morrison and I’m writing an in-continuity Superbook I’d fold as much of my Action run back into canon as I could. If Jurgens got to, they do.

cheerfullynihilistic said: So, Jon's promotion is happening bizarrely soon (or bizarrely late, depending on how you want to look at it) after the soft-reboot. Thoughts on the Superman family titles in July?

Anonymous said: What's your take on today's newly announced BOLD NEW DIRECTION for the Superman line?

apocryphist said: so, how about that Jon Kent news that's trending on Twitter?

Anonymous said: With the new Tom Taylor Son of Superman announcement, I have to say that I'm really suprised that DC is really sticking to the new and interesting directions with Future State and the Superman characters. You think they would have backpedaled, especially with the reactions to the Bendis run. What do you think is the reason that DC's finally doing interesting things with Superman now ?

After years of “so they’re gonna make Jon Superman, right?” it comes at last...via Taylor, right after he's delivered his first couple books to really disappoint me. Still, between his enthusiasm, the presence and fanbase he brings with him, and that the pressure on him to give it his all here is surely entirely different from any project he’s taken before, he might just be the guy to put over Jon in the cape as a long-term prospect in a way some preferred choices of mine wouldn’t have been. A Fraction for instance would have done more to blow me away, but in doing a single brilliant run there might have been more of an impetus in the aftermath to go “well, we saw the idea done well, that’s nice, now back to normal”, while it solidly purring along for a good long time with continuous support might do more as a running start to actually put fandom and ultimately higher-ups behind the idea of this as a desirable semi-permanent state of affairs that could lead to way more good stuff later. Put another way, Morrison Batman got us two years of Dick in the cowl, while Ron Marz gave Kyle Rayner a decade of uncontested stature as Green Lantern. Time will tell, but I think Taylor’s often been at his best when writing Superman - the earnestness and awe tends to short-circuit some of his worst instincts, as opposed to how Nightwing is feeding them - so I don’t really doubt this’ll be fun. I enjoy Timms too, and that cover (which thankfully is apparently not necessarily an accurate representation of the page/price ratio) rules. Kinda odd though neither Taylor (nor Morrison for the below) had any quotes to go with these announcements.

As for the other books (other than Supergirl, which doesn’t really have anything to announce):

Good lord that Tedesco Action Comics variant, make a grown man wanna cry. T-shirt Superman getting some proper love! More importantly, glad to see Lois on the main cover and in the solicit apparently ready to throw down with some Warworlders; I got an ask I was going to get around to before today changed the landscape asking about my thoughts on her absence in PKJ’s run. I was going to say that given his space-focused focus that didn’t bother me too much - yes, Ignition would have solved that problem, but you can’t blame someone for not having a game-changing brainstorm and convincing DC to go through with it as the status quo - especially with her playing a big role in Checkmate starting in June, and that I was more put off that the Tales of Metropolis backup specifically intended to spotlight everybody who wouldn’t fit on the cosmic side wasn’t doing anything with her. But now it seems after his initial arc she’s coming into the fold properly, so happy about that.

And hilariously buried in the announcement because it was already leaked so I guess they figured there was no point hyping it up any harder than everybody already had, Morrison’s presumably no-I’m-serious-this-time-you-guys final DC book. Aside from what I had to say when this first leaked, my main two thoughts are:

* Four issues rather than two oversized ones, huh? I said at the time this was avoiding Superman Beyond-style segmentation; ah well. Wonder whether Janin’s doing 30 pages per issue or if there are backups, and if so what those will be (please god, PLEASE, let Morrison finally do the Superman Squad story they once talked about here so I can finally rest in peace). And given this being a little more spaced out, along with notes that elements from this will play into Son of Kal-El as well as Action, I suspect/hope we might end up seeing some of Morrison writing Jon as Superman in here after all.

* This seems...shockingly minor? Not only is it apparently not in the future the way I’d assumed (even if I think the themes I envisioned for it will still largely be the case), but rather than a relatively standalone epic that PKJ’s Action would then draw from it’s instead this that’s explicitly a spinoff of that. Even given Morrison might conceivably want to take a backseat to the new guard, it’s shocking DC would go with it; the only particularly Morrison-y aspect in the description is that, as their final DC project, this is pitting Superman against his first villain in Ultra-Humanite (notably a baldie genius who ended up supplanted, wink-wink nudge-nudge).

Between these, the aforementioned Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Superman: Red and Blue, Superman ‘78, Batman/Superman, Justice League, Justice League: Last Ride, RWBY/Justice League, and the newly announced as I write this Justice League Infinity, that’s a damn stacked lineup for everybody with the S, quantitatively and creatively (Superboy being relegated to Suicide Squad notwithstanding) - you can even throw Project Patron on top if you’re feeling greedy. As for why this push is suddenly happening as the last anon asked, I think it’s entirely a matter of the new ownership: it’s easy to picture a fresh suit sitting down with DC’s upper brass and shitting a diamond-hard brick on the spot when told that there was a time not that long ago where their #2 property was being regularly outsold by this guy. Mass-media moves may be expensive and risky (and even his prospects there have clearly changed), but they can throw a couple bucks at their print division to keep churning stuff out in bulk until something sticks to reboot the franchise around in a decade.

[shadowed-dancer]

Let’s summarize what happened

Ok, so the MHA fandom kind of exploded last night, and I wanted to take a second and sort out what’s going on. I’ve seen a lot of misinformation spread based on early assumptions made last night, so I’ll walk you through what happened. I was awake and saw everything unfurling live, so I figured this would be helpful for people who just woke up to see... well everything.

(Spoilers for the leaks below, duh)

~ The Timeline of Events ~

So last night, at 11:02pm, Atsushi on Twitter posted “Big time chapter this week”, which was our first hint that something big was coming. We had no idea what we were in for.

9 minutes later at 11:11 they tweeted “My Hero Academia CH306 Title: ���Opening Of Final Chapter’”. This sent people wild because of the ominous wording of the title. However, this is not the official title, and we likely won’t know the actual title for a few days. With that in mind, many people recalled how in December 2020, Horikoshi had mentioned that MHA was coming to an end soon. This title seemed to imply that this would be the the beginning of the final arc.

However, since we had no context of what actually happened in the chapter yet, a lot of people misunderstood and took this to literally mean “the final chapter”. I saw a few people last night thinking that we only had 2 or 3 chapters left, which I don’t think is the case. (I’ll discuss this more later)

10 minutes later at 11:21, they posted “‘It's April. Deku-kun has left Hero Academia. Deku: It's a big Villain.’” Once again, with no pictures and no context to go on, a lot of people started making assumptions. A few people thought he went full on villain, others thought he was deliberately abandoning his friends. Some thought he gave up on heroes, while others guessed he was doing it to keep AFO off his trail. Some interpreted it as “he left UA because he didn’t want to be there any more” and others interpreted it as “he left UA because he wants to handle this alone”

5 minutes later at 11:26 they said, “Deku was discharged from the Hospital and then he left UA. He left a letter for his friends, who were all shocked reading it, Uraraka is shocked too.” The letter was posted shortly afterward, but since we didn’t know what it said at this point, a lot of people took this as confirmation that Deku just left in the dead of night, or possibly just disappeared from the Hospital and left the letters as explanation.

7 minutes later at 11:33 we get “In the last 2 pages, Deku is shown standing over something and looking down on the city, he has a bag and also he’s wearing torn/short version of Torino’s cape (it seems). In the next panel he has that kind of depressing look and he says “It’s a big villain”” At this point, we had no idea what this panel actually looked like. Many people, myself included, weren’t sure what the “it’s a big villain” comment meant, but now we get it (he sees destruction happening below and comments how it’s a big villain attacking)

From there, we got a few posts about Endeavour, but none of these leaks caused the same stir as the Deku ones. However, it’s worth noting that the first image spoilers were posted at 4:33am, 5 hours after the last Deku leak.

The full chapter summary wasn’t up until 8:34am, at which point we were able to calm down slightly. However, a lot of the damage had been done, and a lot of false rumours had started spreading around the tag.

~ Clarification ~

First: we have no actual confirmation (as of now) that Deku is a vigilante. People can make assumptions, and it’s a logical leap since he’s no longer associated with UA and is instead working (seemingly) alone. Personally, I agree that he’s still out there doing “hero” work, but I’m waiting for more confirmation before I get my hopes up.

Second: We don’t know if he’s actually given up on hero society. I’ll be honest, I have no idea where this one came from. Deku looks a little sad in the last panel, but as far as we know, there is no reason to believe that Deku gave up on being a hero. The implication is that he left UA to protect his friends (because AFO could hunt him down) but I think a few people missed the nuance and instead took it as “Deku left UA because he doesn’t want to be a hero”. No. We don't know that yet.

Third: We don’t know how his departure from UA went, and we don’t know who he told. While the letters to his classmates were probably all they heard form him before his departure, it’s very possible that he actually explained the situation to Nezu and All Might and stuff before heading out. People made a lot of jokes early in the night about Deku just peacing out, but in reality we still don’t know how it went down.

Fourth: We don’t actually know how much more MHA we’ll have left. Like I said earlier, Horikoshi mentioned in December that MHA would be coming to an end soon...

... but that doesn’t actually tell us how much time we have left. My personal prediction is that this will simply be the final arc. That means we could still have a solid year of content before the finale. Alternatively, I’ve also seen people guess that there will only be a few chapters of “My Hero Academia” left, before switching to a different title because it’s no longer set around a school. Both are based on nothing more than personal opinion, and we’ll honestly just have to wait to see what happens.

Fifth: We don’t know whether he’s actually in America. This theory comes from the fact that the gargoyle he’s standing on resembles the one on the Chrysler Building in New York, but as of now there is no indication that this is actually the case. People have also drawn comparisons to how All Might went to America, and while this is all good speculation that may be confirmed in the upcoming chapters, it is not confirmed in 306.

I hope this clarified some of the confusion. Remember to wait until the official translation before jumping to any conclusions, and as always, support the official release when it comes out!