#also the formatting on the old ones kinda sucked

[arolesbianism]

Thinking abt the random card au again. Why must it go so crazy hard I miss it sm

[avatar-aaang]

oh okay yea im going insane actually

[rabbit-surfboard]

Fictional podcast recs

One of my friends got into audio drama and I just sent them a whole list of recommendations to go through, I thought someone who follows these tags might also appreciate it and perhaps have some more to throw in. I resisted the urge to throw in the little blurb about audio dramas as a weird little medium and their tropes that I wrote up. It was something to the effect of nodding at how the medium has rapidly been improving since Welcome to Nightvale started, also how a lot of the tropes that tie the medium together are products of the indie podcast scene being accessible and primarily based in audio. Also at how well horror works in the format. Those paragraphs went unsaved but writing first about the medium in general helped me to reflect on a lot of the things that make audiodramas appealing or repulsive to me for discussing each show in brief beyond just explaining what they're about.

All recommendations are tagged for the tldr.

Fiction podcast recommendations in no particular order:

The Magnus Archives

Horror

The biggest criticism I ever had of this podcast’s voice acting from episode 1 turned out to be a relevant plot point. This thing is probably the best of the best, but I would never recommend it to someone unfamiliar with podcasts because the listener only notices a plot hook somewhere between episodes 20-40 and that’s daunting in the face of a 200 episode show. Getting sucked in rewards you with 200 episodes of thoughtful content and a great explanation for most of the weird things this show chooses to incorporate.

Old Gods of Appalachia

Horror

Fantastic production quality on this ongoing show. Many seasons with interconnected lore and a hell of a narrator. It’s not my personal favorite but it’s quite excellent.

Red Valley

Found footage mystery

One of the newer shows I’ve gotten into, Red Valley is well-crafted. It becomes compelling very quickly with a rapid pace that slows down to land in a neat spot for a while so you can savor the cool parts. The production quality is excellent and the two main voice actors have excellent chemistry. The third and final season is currently being produced.

The Silt Verses

Horror

Often compared to American Gods, this newer podcast made by an experienced team is doing a lot of creative and fresh things at once. The magnificently fucked up religious system of The Silt Verses is both a neat plot vehicle and cleanly works as a criticism of late stage capitalism, where many podcasts like to jab at capitalism this one is much more pointed in its commentary. Episodes are long and very well produced. All the credits in the third season have been mostly diegetic and add flavor to the world.

Archive 81

Found footage horror

Slow to start but by season 2 the production quality and plot are among the best in the game. Unfortunately, on an extended hiatus.

Ars Paradoxica

Science fiction, historical

Very well produced considering its age, this is a highly regarded show among people who follow the medium. Excellent time travel mechanics here. The plot drags a bit by the end because time travel stories must violently contort themselves into a conclusion, but the first season or two are fantastic and it’s always nice to have an ending instead of interminable hiatus.

Caravan

Gay demons n stuff

Showed up, did magic and gay shit, disappeared and went on hiatus probably with some kinda unsatisfying cliffhanger seeing as I don’t remember the plot. Could I recommend it in good faith? Not until they at least cough up season 2. I don’t remember it being bad and that alone is notable for the medium.

Mabel

Gothic horror

This is the deepest cut on the list except for maybe Caravan. Lesbians pine at each other for increasingly complicated reasons, eventually devolving into them doing datura and then spewing cryptic poetry together for the rest of their days. The production quality is fair. The slow windup and creepy house are American-gothic af. This show has had a few hiatuses, but each time it comes back significantly more intriguing.

Welcome to Nightvale

Goofy spooky news broadcast

Old and iconic, not very consistent. Sometimes explores emotional, tense, spooky, or funny scenes well, but the show is really focused on being local news for an ooky spooky desert town because Cecil is damn good at his job. Don’t come here looking for plot, it’s a fun vibe and I don’t know that anybody’s ripped it off and notably improved on this classic. Above average production quality for its time which improved through the years.

Alice isn’t Dead

USA road trip, horror

Made by at least one of the Nightvale writers, totally different show with a lesbian trucker making wry observations of some magnificently twisted shit seen around the United States. The producers know how to run a show, so the production is pretty good.

Tanis

Found footage horror

Tanis is not good. However, it was the first fiction podcast to make me ask “Is this real?” and hesitantly believe it for a frankly embarrassing number of episodes. The stories in the first season were interesting and the lore is just some big-tent conspiracy style of cramming a bunch of fun Wikipedia research into what turns out to be an increasingly nonsensical plot. Every season after the second, I return to hate-listen and am gaslit into thinking the show might low-key rock a few episodes before the finale, which is routinely frustrating and makes sure to throw out any good plot points Terry Miles comes up with. The acting is routinely terrible, and the frame narrative allows lazy and frequent retcons, ruining what I think is a good premise. Also it’s incomplete.

The Black Tapes

Horror

Terry Miles started this show before Tanis began releasing about 5 months later. I think of it as one of his earlier works because it behaves like Tanis with an added layer of cringe from a time waster of an awkward romance(?) between the two main characters. I couldn’t finish this show. You won’t see this recommended as often as it used to be online because there’s many better shows now, but this used to be a big deal. There’s a bunch of memes making fun of the annoying cadence of the characters’ speech and iconic sponsorship reads in both this and Tanis. If you’re interested in some cringe atop your creepypasta podcast, the two are interchangeable.  

Rabbits

ARG investigation

Not as horror focused as Terry Miles’ other shows, the cringe is dialed down and the show is better for it. Tanis and The Black Tapes are more well known, I think the only reason more people don’t think about this one is because the first two don’t inspire trust in the production or narrative quality of this show, but I remember it being fine for a season. I have not gone back to catch up now that more is out.

Malevolent

Horror

Inspired by The King in Yellow, one man performs two voices and verbally abuses himself with aplomb. Having a blind main character with an extra voice in his head is a frame story I haven’t heard yet (unless it came up in the magnus archives and I don’t remember), the concept works out great for the frame of a podcast to deploy the environmental imagery that foley cannot communicate. It also prevents the podcast trope of lengthy exposition about visual surroundings from sounding awkward or potentially impacting someone’s character development to show setting.

Wolf 359

Comedy, science fiction

A crew of whacky characters is stuck in deep space, hanging out and researching a star. Since that’s not actually very interesting they crack jokes and fuck around for a slow burn until interesting stuff happens. Good but not great, this one is long and satisfying and a bit less heavy than all the horror this medium often focuses on. Decent production quality.

The White Vault

Found footage horror

I lost patience with this podcast even though the overarching story seemed very cool – it progresses very slowly yet appears to grow bigger and more confusing instead of deigning to answer basic questions for a frustratingly long drag through the first four seasons. I worry that this frustration may be the point and the Patreon gated stories are the drivers for this tendency towards the confusing patchwork of ideas this show communicates. The production quality is good though.

The Left Right Game

Found footage horror

Genuinely great reddit creepypasta got turned into an overproduced podcast – I say “over” in comparison to the voice acting quality because it’s kind of impossible to sell some of the lines, which makes sense considering the source. Brief, complete, punchy, interesting, and just a little odd to hear such a clean production but a creepypasta this fun deserves the effort.

Wooden Overcoats

Comedy

Surprisingly good production quality for its age, and also a refresher from the usual tropes of the medium. Just a chill sitcom about a funeral parlor in a small town. I haven’t finished this 4 season show yet but its good.

The Black List Table Reads

Movie script readings

Some movie scripts just short of making the cut to be turned into a full Hollywood production were well liked enough by a group of film nerds that sat down to act them out as a podcast. Half of the episodes are interviews with screenwriters, and the other half see a script read all the way through by actors. They’re all rejected for different reasons so there’s a pretty broad spread of genres. My favorites were Blood From a Stone and Balls Out.

[starfxkr]

pope’s not the only reason jj is a frequent visitor of the heyward household. warnings: black!reader, little heyward is kind of a perv (pervy girls stand up!) also peep the old format omg...throwback

jj maybank x heyward!reader

it’s well known that the heyward siblings were strange, not quite having social skills on par with their peers. but whereas pope’s quirkiness was a part of his charm, you were just…off putting.

you were too aware of how uncomfortable you made people, you were fickle. coy and flirtatious one moment then vulgar and rude the next. but most people payed no mind to it because of those big doe eyes you had, nobody could resist the way those crude words sounded coming out of you little doll mouth.

kinda sucks that jj is your favorite target.

well sucks for him at least, you're having a ball.

he's giving you a stick n poke in your room, which isn’t unusual for him to be there with you alone because he’s known pope as long as you've been alive and as far as anyone’s concerned you view him as a nuisance at best unless you need something. what that something is more often than not is frivolous and nonsensical which is why he’s sitting between your legs on your teddy bear duvet giving you a tattoo right on your hip bone.

“ya know maybank, it’ll probably do you some good to tell me ‘no’ every once in a while,” you take a swig of your beer before putting it on you night stand, “pope's gonna bitch when he finds out.”

you like him like this, during his rare moments of focus and his attention is on you and only you. letting your fingers trace the slope of his nose you think. if you didn’t know any better you'd say you had a little crush on the blonde.

“well sweetheart he’s just gonna havre t'be mad you’re 22 years old and he’s not your dad so…” jj mumbles in concentration, wiping the tender skin as gently as possible with an alcohol pad, "can't really tell you what to do, not like he ever could."

you giggle, running your fingers over your lips, "I think you're the only one who could." your hips twitch when he goes over a particularly sensitive patch of skin, whimpering slightly in pain.

"yea 'cause you can't scare me."

"yes I do jayj, that's why you're here right now."

he pays, brows furrowed in clear annoyance, "I'm not fuckin scared of you."

"you're sitting in my bed with me half naked and you didn't say anything about it."

he hadn't said anything on purpose, he's been doing his best to ignore how you were in nothing but a pair of boy briefs and a wife beater because every time he acknowledges it, he ends up balls deep in you with the music blaring to cover your moans.

when he looks up at you, you're smirking--knowing where this has the potential to go and he sighs, wiping the tattoo as he starts to leave.

"wha-where are you goin?"

"I finished the tattoo, I'm goin home."

you lift your head to examine the tattoo--a lopsided little portrait of miffy the rabbit.

"but I don't want you to go!" you're petulant and soiled, used to getting your way from him and everyone else in your family.

slowly jj turns back to you, adjusting his hat as he rakes his eyes over you before settling on your frowned up face, "fuck, alright alright what do you even wanna do."

you shrug, "what we always do."

[sirfrogsworth]

Just got back from the movie. The theater was in the middle of this hipster village type deal. Trendy shops and a wine bar.

I walked into the Alamo Drafthouse and the people at the front just kinda looked at me as I walked by. I had my ticket ready on my phone, but no one scanned it or looked at it. I don't know if it is always like that, but maybe next time I should try not buying a ticket and see what happens.

The large format fancy theater was as far away from the entrance as possible. I should have brought my cane. But I made it okay. It was indeed large and fancy. The seats were very comfortable and had electric reclining. There was also a button to summon a waiter which felt very high tech. And he would duck down super low as he walked in front of everyone. He looked like a penguin scurrying along. I ordered a pizza and it showed up just in time for the movie. It was pretty tasty.

The video quality was fine. I honestly didn't see a huge difference with the 4K laser projector, but the large screen was nice. I might be spoiled by my fancy HDR, 2000 nit TV. Projection just can't do that.

The front audio was much better than the last theater. Very clear voices. But the bass was a little boomy. Unfortunately I think they calibrate the audio for when there are more people there. 100+ humans in a space add a lot of absorption and diffusion. But there were maybe 8 people total and there wasn't anything to suck up the bass.

The Atmos was not even noticeable except in one or two scenes. That was disappointing. Atmos was one of the main reasons I chose that theater. I don't know if they skipped getting a Dolby calibrator or something. The side speakers were audible, but the ceiling speakers never made themselves known. Not even in the thunderstorm scene.

The ceilings were extremely high, so I'm wondering if the speakers were just too far away. Inverse square law would dictate they would need a lot of power and volume to cover that distance. This is probably why Dolby officially certifies theaters and this wasn't one of them.

This is what a front speaker in a theater looks like. There are usually at least 3 of them. Bigger spaces might do an array of 6--all behind the screen.

That is 7 feet tall, 200 pounds, and takes 3000 watts of power.

And you'll usually have 3 of these dual 18" subwoofers.

These beasts require 4000 watts of power and are also 200 pounds.

A typical theater Atmos speaker is like this.

About 30 inches tall and handles 350 watts.

All of those speakers have to cover about the same distance. Meaning the ceiling speakers were at a major size and power disadvantage.

So I think the theater was too big and too tall for Atmos to work effectively. You probably have to trade off a big screen or good sound. I'm going to try an official Dolby theater next time to see the difference.

The movie itself was okay. Maybe a 6 out of 10. A few good laughs, some fun action, but the humor was very hit and miss.

Now, I'm not just saying this because they are a creep, but Ezra is just... a lot. They do their funny jokey thing and it gets old very fast. It was okay when they were a side character, but when they are leading a movie, it fizzles. And then there is a second Ezra in the movie and they do the funny jokey thing turned up to 11.

Way too much Ezra.

But then Michael Keaton enters and he's just fantastic. I got such a rush of nostalgia from the 1989 Batman. That was probably my favorite movie for a good 3 years. 8 year old me was so happy to see my first Batman again. They even forced him to do some super cringe fanservice lines--and he nailed them.

He was like, "I'm going to take this bullshit line and make it awesome. Because I'm the goddamn Batman."

And Sasha Calle as Supergirl was also excellent. Though she was very underutilized. But if they can keep her, I think she could be a fan favorite.

The big complaint about The Flash has been the CGI. And I would say 75% of the CGI was great. There was a reveal of the Batwing that looked stunning. Supergirl flying was great. The vehicles were great. All of the invisible effects like backgrounds and set extensions were flawless. There was a big car chase that looked decent. There were plenty of top notch VFX in this movie. And I think the artists should be proud of those.

The stuff that didn't work was mostly just because the situations were unrealistic or the art direction was poorly done or they just didn't spend enough time polishing the effect.

When they animated Micheal Keaton doing jumpy flippy ninja moves, it didn't sell perfectly. And the speed and power of the Kryptonions was not nearly as well done as in Man of Steel.

But I know why people said the CGI was terrible. Though I don't actually think it was the CGI that was bad. I'm pretty sure they just made a poor aesthetic choice. Flash goes into the Speedforce and they cleary wanted to make it trippy and otherworldly. I don't think they were going for photorealism. I think they intentionally wanted everything to be in the uncanny valley. Unfortunately the style they chose looked more like a video game.

They were trying to do a Dr. Strange type effect and it just didn't work. It ended up being more... Lawnmower Man.

The only truly terrible effects were CG renders of people they couldn't get to do proper cameos because they were fired or were dead. Usually you need a 3D scan to do a CG double and it's hard to do that on dead people. The best was Admiral Tarkin in Rogue One, but they spent months and months on that.

CG Henry Cavill was probably the worst effect in the entire film and I'm guessing that really pissed people off.

The Flash running also looked bad, but that was 100% because Ezra Miller runs like a goof.

I have no idea why they run like that, but it looks so dumb and ruins the speed effect. Like, if you took them out and put someone running normally into the effect, it would have looked super neat.

And the only other VFX that didn't quite work was these slow motion falling babies. They looked photorealistic, but something about animating a falling baby in slow motion did not look right. Again, I don't think this was bad CGI. I think it was just a visual that was impossible to make realistic.

I know that sounds like a lot of bad effects, but that was every bad effect out of 2000+ total. Maybe 15 shots out of those 2000 were memorably bad. But the bad shots are always the most memorable and I guess that is why you don't hear folks talking about all of the flawless ones.

If you do see this movie and you haven't heard Kevin Smith's Superman story, you definitely should watch that first. Because the best gag in the movie will go over your head otherwise.

Sooooo, yeah... that was my night at the movies. On the drive there I got to see the Arch and downtown and it was beautiful. And on the drive home, Google decided to take me through every spooky ass neighborhood in St. Louis at midnight.

FUN!

[hugs4neth-official]

So uh. We're a system now. Apparently. Oops. System introduction ig.

Our system name: The system X / The X system

System tag: #The system x

(this is also partly for my own information lol)

(you should probably read the whole thing there is a lot of important info here) (this is not comprehensive obviously, these are full people)

Format: Name / Other name - pronouns - form - general role - important things to know - likes - dislikes - triggers - fun fact

*She / *Her / Alina - she/her/hers - 17 year old cryptid girl sorta - "to minimize my (hosts) suffering" (protector/persecutor/trauma holder) - um. the fucked up one. shes a bit of a bitch. anorexic and ARFID. fucked up. seriously fucked up - macbeth (dear god she gets so excited about shakespeare), fire works, color coding - lying, being alive, talking to people, sarcasm, - anything about suicide. or food. or our body. - literally got a name this morning in t̶̺̜̝͙͙̀͑͠͝h̷̝̟͙̥̬͕̭̀͊̾i̵͍͚̘͉͉̼̩̠̅̓͝s̴̹͙͆̽ ̴̜͔̖̝̖͊̽͑̂̊̋f̶̻͇̺͍͗ò̴̗̙̼̤̯̳̬̄̔̓̉͆͘ṇ̴̦̇̉̎̚͘͝t̴̯͚̹̼̝͚̟̜̾͌́͐̋̋̆͝ in the brain because Alex was talking about her and used the name and apparently that is her name now.

Alex Hazard - He/Him/His - 7 year old boy - honestly he just vibes. keeps me company. he takes over when i get too overwhelmed. some of yall have probably seen his posts on the old account - he's 7, be nice. but also like. he lives inside my head, he's seen some shit. cursing is fine. really anything is fine. ill let you know if a conversation is making him uncomfortable. - Axie the axolotl, dragon prince, blankies, Fish Boi Quimsly, dino trux, fries, head pets, cuddles, boom booms - pickled ginger, *Her, spicy food, being sad, school - he doesn't want me to spell them out, but generally like. 7 year old stuff.

heh so we're actually ditching the color coding it was Alinas idea and I don't feel like it. anyway, new alters! there are 7 of us now, so uh. yeah. the new introductions will also probably follow the form less lol.

Vixen/Vix - She/Her - fishers tabby cat - look man idk what her role is but she fronts often and when ever she wants. - chaotic. chaotic. more chaos. shes a cat. really good at fronting. weirdly good at fronting. primary fronter other than me. - likes: head pets, cuddles, - dislikes: she says that "humans dont deserve to know her dislikes" (idfk man) - triggers: none that we know of - cant really talk english. like she speaks it in the brain, but if she's fronting she can only make cat noises out loud.

Annabeth - She/Her - 7 year old Annabeth from PJO - introject. dont be weird about it she's fragile. questions adressed towards me about her are ok, but dont ask her questions about her introjection. also i probably dont have to say this, but she isn't entertainment. be chill. - she doesnt want this stuff spelled out - triggers: luke, questions about her past, etc. dont talk to her about things that happen later in the series because she is a snapshot of 7 year old annabeth and its really distressing/causes her to glitch

Jason - He/Him - 23 year old semi-hippie (think camp counselor vibes) - there to calm us down. a bit of a fragment. - also doesnt want this stuff spelled out

Nico Diangelo - per/pers/pers/perself, he/him is okay too but he vastly prefers the neos - 12 year old nico from pjo - also an introject but less sensitive about it. he doesnt show up that much.

Important things to know:

pretty much all the other fronters SUCK at fine motor skills, including typing. so if you see me typing extraordinarily poorly, one of them probably has control of the body.

sometimes they have control of the body but I'm the one talking/typing/deciding what we do. It's kinda weird.

We use sign offs if someone other than me is fronting but its generally me. sometimes they choose not to use sign offs.

Talk to people other than me in the system, they like it. you can send asks and tags and shit adressed specifically to them.

Talk to Alex!! He's awesome, we love him. He's the cinnamon roll blorbo of the system, if you will.

If you've known me for a while, you know that I regress sometimes. SOME of that is Alex fronting, but some of it is also just me regressing. We're still figuring that out.

I've known that I'm a system for like, 3 weeks. Be patient. I definitely have traumagenic DID, we have all the symptoms. But also like. Please no syscourse. I can't deal with that right now.

If any of y'all have any tips or would be willing to tell me about your experiences that would be extraordinarily helpful.

If you have questions, ask them! Sometimes it actually helps me get an answer because another alter will answer.

Alex has a middle name now. It's hazard. He is extremely excited about this. (He also uses my last name but I'm not sharing that for obvious reasons)

Annabeth and Nico are PJO introjects. Annabeth is sensitive about it, Nico is not. Don't be weird.

I think that's it for now, I'll edit if I need to.

(This will also be linked in my intro post)

[morskisir]

i'm really curious why you dislike the comics? /genq /nm

ooooh the dreaded question. i can get really passionate about this (i care too much) so i'm going to be as brief and simple as i can. i'm aware many people enjoy the comics and that's fine. /gen you do you. like i said; i care too much

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: we have no clue how much time or dedication was given to the comics by valve; the poor writing isn't necessarily the fault of the writers and i have no personal beef with them! with that said, old man yells at cloud /ref under read more/keep reading.

the two main gripes i have with the comics are lack of planning and tone problems.

as i already said, the lack of planning- and therefore the poor writing- does not mean the comic team was incompetent (the art is quite good a lot of the time, actually), but this does mean it severely hurts the quality of the comics themselves. it's clear they aren't sure where they're taking this (as evident by whatever the fuck is going on with helen) and what the story is even supposed to mean. the tone goes hand in hand with the poor planning; the comics aren't sure whether they want to be purely comical and action-focused or a DARK comedy; having serious moments and themes in the story.

in the end, the serious moments come off as either manipulative (iykyk. i am not getting angry about this for 40 minutes again) or as if they're being made fun of (cough cough sniper).

they also struggle to really build up those moments, so sometimes it feels as if they just came out of nowhere. it's really jarring.

there's also just. not a lot of conflict between the main cast?? there isn't a lot of pressure put on pauling from the mercs via questioning her actions, etc. (we only slightly get this from spy. but like once) (i get that it's to show how much trust they have in her but, really? not a single thing?) (this could build up to like. a "grand betrayal" sort of thing but yknow. they didnt think about the build up to anything)

this is why i think making it JUST the RED team really hurts the story- they already have set dynamics and don't need to develop or sort through any conflicts they have with one another. medic only has conflict with sniper of all people. MEDIC. who went to join another team which was actively hunting his previous one.

the comics introduce conflict and new dynamics by straight up making up new characters?? as much as i love zhanna- she was primarily put into the story just to be soldier's love interest and have a fun dynamic with him.... i'm so sorry miss.

they could've done that with demo btw?? since demo and soldier are supposed to be friends?? unless actually the team differences DO matter (which the comics do not make clear at all, engie is randomly blue while the rest are red. okay. why? wouldn't you like to know.) so red soldier and red demo dont bounce off of eachother as much as blu soldier and red demo do.

i'm not formatting this at all but remember the poor planning? ahem. sniper timeline. why did you make him barely 30. i will fucking kill you he was always clearly meant to be, look, and sound like an old man. its in his concept art its in how he talks. raghghgh

they keep giving themselves problems by adding new characters cause then the main fucking mercs who people adore get no time for themselves (demo, pyro, scout, engie) they're just kinda......there. it sucks. but it's what we got, i guess. just how canon the comics are is questionable- but i don't care if they are.

it's free real estate i'm doing my own thing!!!!!!!!!!! fuck around find out!!!!! be gay do crime!!!!!!! *gets arrested by valve for tampering with copyrighted material*

anyways, after all that negativity; shoutout to the only stuff i enjoyed from the comics: pauling, heavy, the art. goob byeeeeeeee

[incomingalbatross]

Finished my first week (I don't go in on Fridays) of Commute Listening! (Plus a day technically because I did have to go in last Saturday.)

Here's the summary of the undertaking so far...and of just how much car/public transit time I've logged:

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos 1-6 My beloveds--the only classical music that IS for sure on my faves list, because in the period when I had a CD player in my bedroom and about three CDs, these were two of them. Still not sure how well I could identify them, but I recognized them once they started playing and greatly enjoyed them.

Artifexian podcast ep 1. Interesting! All about worldbuilding. Just far enough removed from my own interests (yes I love fantasy, no I don't enjoy worldbuilding, it took me years to process that) that I can listen as, like, a spectator, but also listening to two people who do love worldbuilding makes me feel more positive about it. Like the energy.

Several Masses by Haydn (St. Cecilia, Mass in B flat, Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin). Beautiful, obviously, but... did not grab me. Might just be that Masses and commuting are not the right combination. Might be my chant-inclined mind going "you're drawing out the words too much." Idk.

Art of Manliness ep 1, about Easy Company. INteresting and informative—a window into a subject I wouldn't have sought out on my own.

Out Alive ep 1. About a skier buried in an avalanche! Again, not something I would have sought out myself, but hearing the skier and the other people involved talk about the impact of a crisis situation and near-death experience, without any polish or dramatization... oof. Really interesting.

Reply All Billed as a "podcast about the internet," the first ep was about a social situation enabled by the internet. Also interesting as a window into someone else's personal experience that I don't think you'd quite get in any other medium than this unpolished interview format. This time about relationships instead of death, though.

In the Wind (album) by Peter, Paul and Mary. Branching aside from classical for some folk, since I was in the headspace for something between podcasts and instrumentals. Good! I recognized several of the songs but definitely not all. They also reminded me of several other country and folk artists I could listen to if I want to keep going down that road, in addition to listening to more of their work.

Vivaldi Concertos for Diverse Instruments GOOD. I loved these! They got stuck in my head afterward! Definitely want to try more Vivaldi. Also reinforcing my theory that any kind of music is good music if it involves violins going wild.

Mozart Violin Concertos 3-5 ALSO very very good. And I think I could hear the cleaner/plainer sound of Mozart as opposed to the baroque I'd just been listening to.

My Writing Sucks podcast ep 1, in which an author lovingly roasts her 14-year-old self's writing. Very fun. Endearing. Kinda makes me want to pull out my oldest, worst writing and approach it from an outside perspective, which I think would be Growth if my fragile ego could actually follow through on that. :P Maybe after a few more episodes of this.

Pints With Aquinas episode 1. This is an introductory episode giving background on Aquinas, as opposed to later episodes which will have more actual theology. Already good, though. Little harder for me to stay focused than some of the more fun ones, but I'll be coming back.

Classics for Kids Short and educational segment about classical music. Definitely told me things I don't know! A little short and a little flat in delivery for my needs, but good stuff.

Stuff You Missed in History Class ep 1. Interesting, but same issue as the above—it was just short. I need to check if episode length varies, and if they're all short I might load up six or so at once to give it a better trial. It was interesting but I couldn't get much flavor from one segment.

In conclusion, this project is definitely a success so far. I've been enjoying my commutes even when there's traffic, and I feel like I'm taking in things that I enjoy and are constructive in some way! It's fun for me. And I have a bunch of podcasts in store for next week that I haven't even touched yet.

[silveredfeathers]

So am I supposed to put a pinned post up or is it just optional?

Because I'm not sure what to put here but I see a lot of others with one... I live in Alola currently, I'm originally from Kanto, though I see Johto as my home region.

I mean I can put my trainer card post on this to make it easier to find so here's the link to that: LINK

I'm married to @trainerlynda and am dating @timetravelerpyrite.

Note to other Silvers: I AM NOT OLD

//CURRENT ARC: N/A

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//Ooc and character info below the cut.

RULES:

- Anon Hate is IC only and I'll delete anything that goes too far.

- Please provide English translations if sending asks with other languages.

- Please don't make me add rules on purpose.

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Here's a list of ask games you can use if you want to throw an ask at Silver or me:

Headcanons (Writer)

Invasive Questions (Muse)

Pokemon Headcanons (Writer, please say it's for the ask game)

Never Have I Ever (Muse)

TM41: Torment! (Muse)

Memories (OOC Muse, don't send checkmark asks please)

Reporter (Muse, please say it's for the ask game so I can respond the right way.

Evil Team Propaganda can be sent Silv's way.

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CHARACTER INFO:

I'm going to add more info to this and make it fancy later.

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Rather specific tags:

#Wormholes Suck - Lore relating to Silver and Touya's past.

#Lore Crumbs & #Vague Lore Crumbs - For the most part, as it says on the tin, the post mentions something that happened before the blog due to my Silver being developed before I made the blog.

#Silver's Asks - Ask posts. This also goes for any tag that has the word asks in it (ie. #Magic Anon Asks).

#Chimera's Curse - Stuff relating to the "official" reveal of Silver being a hybrid to rotumblr.

#Mew out of the bag - [ARC] In which Gio was turned into part Mewtwo. The link is a masterlist of important posts.

#Fool's Faller - [ARC] Silver and Lyn first meet Pyrite in person here!

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This is a blog meant to represent my version of Silver, which means he strays from canon a little bit... Okay alota bit. This blog may also cover some serious things, but also participates in the general tumblr chaos. He will only be shipped with characters my BF writes, for comfort reasons.

He is 36 years old, his birthday being 12/24/1988, which makes him 11 during the events of the Gold/Silver games. He's married to @trainerlynda and dating @timetravelerpyrite. A bunch of dimension hopping related shenanigans and other such things that have happened to him. He is also transmasc and bi. If, for some reason, you don't like that, please just block me and leave.

He is a hybrid of Ho-oh, Lugia, and Silvally, due to Kenichi's (He is Lynda's halve of the universe's Giovanni's twin brother yes I know that's probably confusing-) scientists messing with him.

Silver's Boxes (Pokemon List)

Artwork with this Silver in it:

His current pfp, drawn by me

In between form and concept drawing of the full form drawn by me

Silver and Puppy, drawn by @/yewwantstobattle

Silver helping his wife calm down after some shit happened, drawn by me

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WRITER INFO:

I am 21 and am kinda new here. Please let me know in private if I end up talking to someone bad, I likely genuinely didn't know since that info is scattered pretty much everywhere.

Follows and likes are from @zoranaroleplayhub and sometimes @messyzoranablog. Asks are primarily in anon.

Any art that I post will be credited accordingly. If it is not labeled, then it's my own work or official.

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OTHER THINGS:

Ho-oh and Lugia Feather Properties - A headcanon post about the abilities different feathers Lugia and Ho-oh have, since the Silver and Rainbow Wings have their own special thing going on with them. It's in the format of old explorer journal pages. These headcanons will sometimes be referenced by Silver and are here for ease of finding.

[sator-the-wanderer]

May I offer a book rec? I've been wondering for a while now if you'd get a kick out of The Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud - based on all the other fandoms I've seen you post about over the years, it might be up your alley?

Enjoyed HP? YA modern fantasy book series that actually really holds up when you read it as an adult featuring an iconic trio containing a morally grey black haired protag who makes questionable life choices, a non-magician girl with beef with the local government, and an immortal djinni with great narration style. Stroud isn't ears deep in twitter discourse, so there's also that.

Enjoyed Discworld/Good Omens? Loads of amazing footnotes, jokes, wordplay, excellent humour that will be followed by a quote that will knock you into next Tuesday, and fun history stuff alongside commentary on slavery, how much the British empire sucks, the evils of capitalism, love, devotion, grief and humanity.

Enjoyed HP Lovecraft? Millennia old spirits from another dimension bound into servitude by magicians, capable of great power and devouring people and each other. One has tentacles and also really likes knives. The protag djinni has eaten people multiple times. There's at least one spooky eldritch horror in each book, even if in one case he's kinda trapped inside a skeleton.

Like wordplay? Puns? Unreliable narrators? Magic and murder mysteries? Awesome action scenes? Traumatic backstories? Suspiciously goth Egyptians? That one kid who died ages ago but who haunts the narrative like a ghost? Endings that will devastate you? Corruption arcs turning redemption arcs? Then boy howdy do I have three books and a prequel for you!

(start with the trilogy, though, is my recommendation.)

Don't know how to obtain the books? I have all 4 in pdf format and am more than happy to share.

If you don't feel up for it, no biggie. If it turns out not for you, perfectly fine! I just thought I'd throw it your way in case you end up enjoying it ::3

YOu know, I actually have it in my reading list since last year and one of my buddies has a 13cm-tall book with the whole tetralogy! I guess it's time to read it

Thank you for the rec and also for the donation! You're always the kindest 🥺🖤

[holymusicalmothman]

When You’re Focusing - Dan Avidan x Reader

So the other day, I wound up taking a nap and had a dream about this and it was just one of those dreams that’s just so vivid and real. Like, color and touch and sound, the whole shabang. So here’s the dream in fanfic format <3 My dream didn’t take place in the old office, but it was still a kitchen and since there hasn't been a new office tour, we’re just gonna have it be the old kitchen/kinda bar looking area. I kept this exactly as it was in my dream <3

Also, Ashley doesn’t exist in this, I will never include her in any Danny x Reader. Ever.

Might write more if people would like to see more.

Warnings: Swearing, secret relationships, takeout with its own ecosystem, age gap

Word count: 577

Masterlist

“Dude, no, it fucking sucks! It’s impossible!”

If anyone had ever told you that you would one day be sitting with the people you looked up to most, much less working and learning as a part of their business, you would have said that they were crazy. Granted, sometimes dreams do come true, but this one always felt too out there when you considered it. 

And yet there you were, with your Nintendo Switch in hand, sitting at a counter with Dan Avidan and Arin Hansen, arguing over Breath of the Wild. It was nice to finally feel like you were comfortable to just hang around them. Being around the well known members of the Grumps team had given you massive anxiety at first, yet as the months went on, you couldn’t imagine life without them anymore.

You rolled your eyes and continued on with your game, the Trials of the Sword weren’t the easiest, but you were infinitely more patient than Arin was. For the moment at least. 

Dan leaned across the counter to watch your screen as you fought your way smoothly through the game, nodding appreciatively. “I don’t know, man. She’s crushing it so far.”

You glanced up, your gaze meeting warm brown eyes.

Arin huffed and turned to the fridge, digging through it, occasionally pulling something out only to dismiss it and keep looking. 

You quickly progressed through the level, aware that Dan was still watching you. You looked up at him again. Had he leaned in more?

Arin’s back was still to the both of you, he was now rattling off the items he was pulling out, commenting about a forgotten take out box. 

Dan’s own back was towards his friend as he leaned just a little more across the counter, those brown eyes of his flicking towards your lips then back up. 

You felt your eyes close as he pressed his lips to yours. You could feel the scratch of his stubble against your face. The feeling of his slightly chapped lips as well. 

There was a brief flash of fear through you as you remembered Arin was right there. But the thought was gone almost  as quickly as it arrived. 

Dan pulled back at the sound of Arin’s loud exclaim. 

“We have got to be throwing this shit away. There’s another box in here but it’s got its own ecosystem! Look at this!”

Dan jumped away from him, “Arin, that’s disgusting.” He laughed.

The kiss, while not the first, had taken you by complete surprise. You pulled your scrambled brain together quickly and made a look of absolute horror at the old takeout in Arin’s hands.

“That’s so gross, dude.”

Arin sniffed it, pulling back immediately. “I’m tossing this in the outside bin.” 

As soon as he was gone, Dan was in front of you again, brown eyes now twinkling.

“What part of ‘we’re not telling anyone we’re dating yet’ took a vacay, Danny? Had Arin turned around, we would have been caught.” You scolded softly. 

The both of you had agreed to keep your relationship a secret, and not just cause it was fairly new. You were eighteen years apart, 25 to his 43. And while neither of you cared, you were more than well aware of how it would look to others. 

Dan grinned. “Couldn’t help it, sunshine. You’re so cute when you’re focusing.”

You rolled your eyes as he leaned in again, obliging him in another kiss.

If anyone’s interested in my other Danny fix, it’s quite a bit longer and can be found over here!

[sinfuloatmeal0]

So, Surf and Turf Wars pt. 2 just dropped, and I’d like to do a mini-review again, just like I did for the first part.

I try to be as unbiased as possible when it comes to reviewing these, as I don’t want to have an “old good, new bad” mindset. I like legacy, and it’s quite different from the classic era. So I try to give everything a fair chance.

and now for the actual review:

_

5.5/10

Yeah, once again, like my first review…it’s just alright. The whole “lobster monster Matt” wasn’t really to my taste comedy-wise. The whole “big monster does big monster stuff” isn’t really funny to me.

And I feel like this eddisode suffered from separating the guys. I feel like the way Tom and Edd are written in beyond isn’t entertaining enough to carry long scenes where it’s just them. (Which *might* be kind of controversial? Maybe. Because I know a lot of people liked their scenes together in part 1.) But, even so, the two of them are sidelined HARD in this and I’m not even sure why.

Also…I’m not a fan of how many jokes are relegated to random one-off characters. Like, I’m here for the guys. Not randoms. And yes, I know that both past eras of eddsworld had jokes with one-off characters. But they were using pretty sparingly, and never felt like it took away from the comedy.

Not to mention that both of the ongoing plots: the Matt plot, and the Tom and Edd plot…were both a bit stale. Both plots didn’t really end in any satisfying way. It’s was pretty anticlimactic. If it were up to me, I would’ve just had Matt be with Edd and Tom on the beach doing the competitions. The eddsworld guys work great when they’re all together. Plus…lobster Matt doesn’t even interact with Edd and Tom?? What’s the point then?

And all the jokes were very…meh. I’m just gonna accept at this point that Matt’s writing style isn’t my cup of tea.

OKAY. I know I just tore into this eddisode pretty harshly, but there are some nice positives and improvements that I noticed.

-Better pacing. The first part, imo, had really strange and awkward pacing. Like it was so sluggish at points, but also moved too fast sometimes. But that’s been remedied somewhat in the second part, and I like that.

-Less awkward: By “less awkward”, I mean there’s more music. Something thats bugged me about the beyond eps is that they felt awkward and quiet due to lack of music. But there’s more music now, yay.

-Montage. I liked the montage scene. Very eddsworld.

-Sonic popsicle on the ice cream truck. Because I’m massive sonic trash.

-

SO…yeah. That’s the review. Sorry if this is formatted shittily, I did it on my phone in a hurry, lol. And if you happen to have different opinions on this eddisode, totally cool.

Kinda sucks that pretty much all of beyond hasn’t been what I’d hoped. Everyone else is enjoying it though, and I can’t help but feel like squidward looking out the window in that one meme. 😭 I wanna like it so bad, but I just can’t. Beaster bunny, and the surf and turf pt. 1 and 2 have both just been misses for me.

…Also, Matt doesn’t like icecream. What’s up with that?

[fixa-ryeter]

here's ageswap!Ritsu!

before we go on, quick heads-up: this is a heavier and wordier post; there’s going to be discussions about PTSD, its symptoms and Ritsu's response to them, and because i’m on PC i can cut off that section with a ‘Keep Reading’ bar? so i’ll do that and try to lay out the rest of the facts before that. also there's gonna be a bit of a format change here bc PC so afblakdhbf

a few people have shown interest in Ritsu and i was. so happy. im still new to tumblr imo and im so excited about all of this FBALDKHFBASFB so here he is. and with this it’ll be a huge look into what happened between him and his brother. also shoutout to my friend bc she is VERY MUCH part of the creative process. i’m not sure if she wants to be mentioned here but credit goes to her too! (bestie if you see this please tell me) update: SHE SAID YES @escape-from-twinkov say thank you escape from twinkov

Ritsu! Popular, all-rounder kid in academics and sports who started burning out in university and dropped out to pursue music with a few of his friends. it worked out for them, and his life is relatively stable. kinda stable. a little stable. really depends on your definition of stable. here’s the facts:

he's a good 5'11, about 24 years old

he/they demiboy. doesn't really feel the need for a solid label for his sexuality

plays guitar. is the band's frontman. he has three other bandmates and Shou Suzuki is one of them.

suffers from PTSD and anxiety (more on it below the cut)

loves playing Just Dance (even though he sucks at it) and Guitar Hero (he's better at this one)

your average My Chemical Romance + vocaloid enjoyer, AND a closeted 1D fan

he's a quick thinker, but when they're anxious he can barely think at all

loves udon. loves tofu. give this man either or both when he's upset and it cheers them up quite a bit.

tells people he has a diary no one should read. not because it's his diary, but because he doodles a lot in it and finds it embarrassing. of course Shou finds out. of course Shou thinks it's adorable.

he went through a lot of friends in his later school life. had many, lost many, and struggled to make friends in university. Found some buddies in their second year, made a band, dropped out with them at the start of third year.

if you've decided not to keep reading until here thanks so much for getting to this point already!!!!! heavier stuff below the cut so read at your own risk. it's lore so if theres a need for it i'll post a summary on it.

So remember the ???% incident in childhood that led to Ritsu getting hurt and Mob being unable to remember what happened? That's where we're getting at. It was never resolved in their childhood or adolescent years. Ritsu tells Mob he doesn't remember either, and tried to sweep it under the rug. Worked for the most part.

his PTSD was delayed onset. his symptoms were there, but not enough to fit the diagnostic criteria. they got worse in university because he was experiencing heavy burnout with no one he felt like he could turn to. he'd moved out and was struggling to make friends.

he has nightmares which only increased in frequency, something he never gave much thought to because they figured it was a logical response to the event. didn't bother to question it either even when he had been experiencing them for months since he had other things to worry about. doesn't mean they didn't bother them and scare them though.

sometimes they just don't show up and don't reply to messages after shooting a quick text to his mates about feeling ill. his bandmates were getting concerned.

a little bit difficult to work with in the studio sometimes because he has difficulty concentrating and doesn't seem present.

terrible sleep quality, something he and his brother have in common.

often lacks motivation to do anything outside of his music job and things he feels like he's obligated to do, like hang out with his friends sometimes. never moves things out of place in his apartment, but his room is usually a mess because he struggles with cleaning up.

Ritsu had no fucking idea how to cope with any of this and made a decision to remove their perceived source of trauma from his life. He completely cut out Mob from his life for a few years. Blocked his number. Blocked his socials. Moved and never gave him a new address.

at first he felt as though he really did something to fix things for himself. after all he didn't need to bother checking up, visiting, hanging out with a person who had caused him all this trouble. he felt optimistic about it at first. waited for their own symptoms to get better. eventually no matter how he looked at it he hadn't fixed anything. he was still being stubborn for years after cutting his brother off.

had a breakdown in front of his bandmates and they started asking him to get help. he caved in and he did! now they're learning to live with their PTSD and their issues in a healthier way. but he's also starting to really miss his brother and feel like an asshole for lying to him about the incident and leaving him in the dark.

soooo that's all that's going to be revealed in this post. more on mob's side of the story and how they try to fix things next time? i've actually already written a oneshot on it but i'm not sure if i should share it. i'll go ahead and burn that bridge when i get to it afbdhsakfb but if you're still reading at this point thanks so much for reading until here 😭😭😭

[life-in-the-monster-haus]

you sound extremely white…. especially in your posts defending Gil and blaming shit on Lagoona, like….

your posts only convinced me even more that those two shouldn’t be together.

girls shouldn’t have to put up with racism for the sake of a guy and implying that lagoona should just go “that sucks 😢” whenever gil mentions his parent’s racism? Like wtf how is that a better lesson for kids than her wanting her boyfriend to stand up for himself? and if protecting lagoona from racism is oh so terrible for gil, just…. have them break up ffs. don’t encourage kids to stay in relationships like that where one has to endure racism for the other cus otherwise the person with racist parents gets punished.

Like, way to make it POC’s fault for racist parents being abusive to their kids? “it’s all lagoona’s fault cus she forced gil to take a stand against racism even tho his parents would punish him” like wow. you truly sound very white.

let’s also not gloss over the fact that you called Lagoona a bitch at one point for crying when Frankie asked her about boys. or you calling Draculaura a cow at one point too like wtf??? so maybe lay off the gendered insults for girls??? before jumping to the defense of a character POC dislike and who’s flaws you excuse as trauma cus you see yourself in him.

I'm gonna put this answer under a cut because some folks get cranky when I make long posts, even though there is a feature in your settings that can auto trim long posts, I get blamed anyways... it's easier to blame the person than to address the problem directly isn't it?... hey! that's kinda what happens to Gil! let's discuss.

Saying someone sounds white based off text and nothing else. 🚩🚩🚩

I'm Puerto Rican, thanks for asking. But I blamed shit on Lagoona because, some stuff was her fault, specifically stuff that put Gil directly in harms way. Maybe your cool with dumping your personal baggage on a disabled 16 year old but I'm not and no one should.

My posts were never written to prove that Gil and Lagoona are meant to be together, perfect for each other OR even good together, you're confusing me with a shipper, at most I've stated Gil is decent boyfriend material and I stand by that. The entire reason I write them is to prove Gil is an innocent and defend him from slander that this annoyingly prevalent sub-section of the fandom has been spreading that has absolutely NO basis in canon, if you read my posts like you claim to you'd have known that. I'm not really sure WHY Gil has become the fandom punching bag, Maybe it's because he's less masculine than the other MH guys? is it because he's Asian coded? is it because he needs a device to breathe? Maybe it's some unholy combination of homophobia, racism and ableism. fuck if I know, so I went looking: I watched hundreds of webisodes, days worth of movies and countless pages of teen wank in diaries so that y'all didn't have to and I put it in an easily digestible format but I guess that wasn't good enough for you hmm?

Girls shouldn't have to put up with racism for the sake of a guy. you're completely correct and I don't think I ever made that claim. UNFORTUNATELY saltwater people DO face racism in the G1 Monster High universe and Lagoona would face that same racism regardless if she was dating Gil or not. The racism isn't radiating from Gil, Lagoona says herself there is a long standing system of oppression against saltwater monsters which I covered here.

Also don't put words in my mouth, it's poor form- especially in a text based forum where people can go back and re-read everything we both said. I never once implied "that lagoona should just go “that sucks 😢” whenever gil mentions his parent’s racism" I said it was wrong of her to force him to tell his parents that he was seeing her, especially when she knew they had a threat hanging over his head. Also Gil doesn't just go around mentioning his parents are racist, it's just a fact that exists in this universe and when he IS forced to talk about it, it's always spoken with great shame. Like when he tried to dump Lagoona during the Gloom Beach arc, Y'all think they should have broken up? well here you go. Gil tried to break things off with Lagoona before they were even officially dating, he knew it was painful and tried to spare her. But she likes him and he likes her, so obviously that didn't work.

Gil DID stand up for himself, A LOT. I documented it WELL with pictures, links and colored words for emphasis! I practically spoon fed it to the reader from a silver platter, a child could understand it. If you read my review well enough to understand it to the point that you have a problem with it that you just HAD to tell me about, you'd know that. But clearly you gave my review as much attention as you gave canon because here is what happened in canon again since I don't think you listened the first time it aired or when I said it. In Episode 24 Gil defends Lagoona against Mr. Hack's bigoted statement that Sea Monsters are bad parents, they weren't even dating at that point they were just classmates. He defends Lagoona directly again in Volume 2 where he speaks directly to his parents (Probably his Father?) On the phone in front of Lagoona. THAT phone call? got him sent to a Boarding school far away as punishment for defying his parents wishes and wanting to be with Lagoona and he was there for the entire summer and half of the next school year. They are still TECHNICALLY not dating by this point they are just hanging out and into each other - even without the reward of Lagoona, Gil STILL stood up for her, got punished for it and came back for more because he directly defends Lagoona to his racist parents AGAIN in Volume 3 where Lagoona isn't there, it's just him and his parents so you know how he feels is genuine and not performative, there's a whole episode about it called "Defending your Lagoona" ... I didn't even need to write what I did, the episode should have been enough proof but clearly no one pays attention to either canon or context because some key component of understanding clearly got lost in translation. I'm gonna ASSUME that most of y'all just haven't watched G1 in literally 9 years and have FORGOTTEN the subtle things that make Gil a good kid, it's like y'all watched the first half of skull shores and were like "Wow, Gil is a piece of shit!" - without finishing the movie to know that he saved everyone in the end. People cite Gil being "wishy washy" or "spineless" as reasons why they don't like him, but the shit this kid has been though? He could be getting flogged off screen like Jesus in "the Passion of the Christ" for defying his parents for all we know: he's scared of his parents for a reason but he has been ALWAYS loyal to Lagoona and he stood up to Mr. Hack, Farnum and his own parents for her... the kids spine is made of iron. Some of y'all can't get your man to take a shower for you meanwhile Gil is out here chewing bigots a new one for Lagoona.

Rebelling against your parents prejudice and wrong beliefs to live a life that makes you happy is a GREAT message for kids to learn.

"if protecting lagoona from racism is oh so terrible for gil, just…. have them break up ffs. don’t encourage kids to stay in relationships like that where one has to endure racism for the other cus otherwise the person with racist parents gets punished."

Do you want to watch a show where they are constantly pining for each other because they can't be together? Because I don't... If I wanted to torture myself with love that is there but also isn't there I'd watch Miraculous. Lagoona also never endured any racism directly at the hands of the Webbers, she was just told not to date their son and they didn't even tell her themselves, Gil was always the messenger and he softened the blow as much as he possibly could. while it sucks that she keeps getting bad news it's not really quite the same as experiencing it first hand. But any story-line where the racists get what they want is a bad story-line.

"Like, way to make it POC’s fault for racist parents being abusive to their kids?"

... Did you seriously just try to tell me that G1 Lagoona is a person of color. Blonde haired, green eyed, beach waved hair, light skinned, tiny nosed, Australian, voiced by a white woman, Lagoona... is a person of color... I'm not saying that any of these traits in of themselves automatically makes G1 Lagoona white OR that people of color can't have any of these traits. I'm just saying that all of them PLUS how she's handled in the show with her privileged Yacht owning parents AND the sheer nerd rage from fans at her being Latina in G3 and thus "no longer white" are things that make her white. I know many people have head-canons that shes Aboriginal and that would be fantastic if it was true. But let us not give Mattel too much credit to think that far ahead. for all intents and purposes, G1 Lagoona is white.

HOWEVER, what she is going through IS a common struggle among people of color and I think Mattel did this intentionally to avoid torturing an actual person of color. Little brown kids get subjected to racism enough, they don't need to watch the cartoon mermaid go through it too. or maybe now I'm the one giving Mattel too much credit they probably just wanted to show "Look! white people have it tough too!"... Honestly? this whole allegory would have worked better if Lagoona was a dude and Gil was gay. None of you would have dared to force Gil out of the closet if Lagoona was a dude and his parents were homophobic, but for some reason because it's racism and not homophobia it's okay!? to put Gil at risk!? Would y'all be like "Maybe if Gil just wasn't into men he wouldn't have these problems!" being homeless because of being gay and being homeless because of racism is STILL being homeless, he gets disowned either way.... Make it make sense folks, because it doesn't. Didn't an actor recently get forced out of the closet and it was widely regarded as an awful thing? So why are we so gung-ho to make Gil tell his racist parents he's dating a girl he knows they won't like? Would you do that to him if he was gay and wanted a boyfriend? probably fuckin' not.

I never said everything was Lagoona's fault she is ALSO young and still learning, but somethings were - like him getting sent to boarding school. I realize that Lagoona is a fandom darling and most of y'all's precious little meow meow but she was wrong for that. And I don't hate that, I LIKE that we get flawed characters! Do I love it? No! she was wrong! BUT I LIKE that she was wrong, part of being young and learning is screwing up and making mistakes! we deserve complex characters who aren't perfect in every way. Being pushy and assertive is part of what makes Lagoona a compelling character - but it got someone hurt in this instance and she should learn from that... THAT is good writing... and it's one of the rare instances of good writing we get with these two but I'll get to that in a minute.

"let’s also not gloss over the fact that you called Lagoona a bitch at one point for crying when Frankie asked her about boys."

Once again putting words into my mouth, By making this statement it LOOKS like you read Page 2 of my media analysis but did you though? because context is SUPER important. I did not call Lagoona a bitch for crying, I called her a bitch for being mean to Frankie. Frankie went to Lagoona whose supposed to be their friend for advice but instead Lagoona made it all about her and was then sarcastic to Frankie's plight because her problem is worse and She's aiming for the gold medal of the Pain Olympics. I hate the pain olympics, there are no winners, only losers.

"you calling Draculaura a cow at one point too like wtf??? so maybe lay off the gendered insults for girls???"

And why DID I call Draculaura a cow?... Was it because she was cheating on her black boyfriend with a white guy? 3 seconds after he walked off screen!? because I'm pretty sure it was because she was cheating. once AGAIN we are in a situation where context is important! In the exact same page just discussed I took an entire sidebar to explain why Draculaura was being a cow. I have absolutely zero respect for cheaters and I could have (and should have) called her a lot worse. I'd also like to say that as far as insults for girls go? Cow is fairly mild I could have called her another C word that is frequently used against girls but I went with cow to keep it classy~. also side note: there are male cows, I think they're called Steers... but it's still a cow. Anyways I don't think you really care what I call Draculaura, I think you're now just trying to paint me out as some type of misogynist... which, just proves you don't follow me or know anything about what I preach here you're just mad that I defended a boy whom you're assuming is white.

"before jumping to the defense of a character POC dislike and who’s flaws you excuse as trauma cus you see yourself in him."

UHM... I don't recall reading anywhere that Gil is disliked by POC specifically!?!?! I can't track the barometrics of Monster High tumblr... In fact from what I can gather if TikTok & Twitter are anything to go by most of the people who are hating on Gil are overwhelmingly white... but at the same time I'm not polling anybody either. But just for the record I'm Latine and my friend who helps me out with MH & Gil lore, @peppapigvevo isn't white either... Sooo if your point is that POC are the ones who don't like Gil... I'm here to tell you that POC are also the ones defending him.

But Gil canonically doesn't really have a ton of flaws and the tiny ones he does have stem from him being young and inexperienced, frankly I wish he had more, it would give people a legit reason to hate on him instead of their reasoning now which boils down to: "His parents are racist and even though HE isn't racist I'm gonna blame him anyways because someone on social media told me to and I haven't watched the show in a decade so my memory of the lore is fuzzy at best but I saw Lagoona cry once so Gil MUST be the bad guy!." Which... Y'all are expecting perfection from Gil and that's a ridiculous standard for anyone to live up to let alone a 16 year old boy. But I'm not like... making up trauma for Gil, based on how much he fears his parents THAT is a trauma response that they have instilled in him, it's there I didn't invent it. healthy normal kids don't fear their parents the way Gil fears his, I can only assume he is afraid because they have given him a reason to be afraid. a statement I have also said, several times, in my posts that you claim to have read and take issue with.

Was Gil and Lagoona's relationship written extremely well? No. But do I think Mattel should have never touched the issue of racism in their show? also No! it took a lot of guts to put a story about prejudice in a kids cartoon and MH is for little kids, their target demographic is 6-11yr olds, obviously MH skews a bit older, otherwise none of us would be here. But I'm glad they covered this topic, I don't much care for shows that shy away from scary issues or talk to kids like they're stupid because kids aren't stupid, they're little proto humans who learn things way faster than we do and we should treat them as such. Not only did they touch the topic they did so with a main character and they didn't sugar coat it! we saw the pain Lagoona AND Gil went through because of his parents racism. Touching this topic at all is huge, was it perfectly handled? absolutely not! they never actually resolved the issue, Gil's parents never learned a lesson, got comeuppance or accepted Lagoona, Gil never got to date the girl he likes with family approval there was always something looming in the background. which is... fine?... things aren't always wrapped up nice and pretty with a bow in real life, sometimes things are messy. However, one thing that bothered everyone, including me was towards the end of G1 the writers didn't really know what to do with Lagoona and Gil so they just kinda... rehashed the same fight 3 or 5 times... it happened in the webisodes, diaries and the movies. and that's sloppy on the writers part, the same fight being milked for drama isn't Gil's fault and shouldn't be blamed on him... but it is. Gil is just the messenger and y'all shot him on sight.

Mattel:

Gil:

However, that wasn't the end. Gil and Lagoona may not have got the fairy tale ending some people think they deserve or the tragic breakup that other people think they deserve but they did get closure. Gil's Mansters diary takes place after the events of 13 wishes and his parents wrote out a list of chores for him to do while they are out on a trip and before he goes to stay with Deuce for the weekend and the last thing he SAYS they put on the list is as follows:

"+ Don't date Lagoona. They didn't actually write that. I just know what they're thinking. Actually, we don't really talk about that directly very much anymore. We kind of just agree to disagree, especially since Lagoona was wished into a freshwater monster and back again. I think they saw how miserable I was during that whole time, and I believe it made some kind of an impact.. hopefully."

and that was how the saga of Gil, Lagoona & The Webbers ended. Not with a roar but with a whisper. It's also canonical proof in his own words that Gil was, in fact miserable during 13 wishes just in case anyone doubted it after my review.

It's not a happy ending or a sad ending it's not even a peaceful ending. it's an uneasy cease fire... which is good enough? I suppose. Gil's parents love him enough to let it go (after both Lagoona and he endured great personal struggles), They know he's dating Lagoona and he knows they don't like that, Lagoona knows they don't like it, I'm sure Lagoona isn't welcome over for dinners or anything but the issue has been dropped. Gil and Lagoona can finally date, no strings attached.

I'm sure that's not the ending you would have written, my very grumpy anon. But relationships are complex and sometimes the solutions to their problems are complex too but love finds a way to triumph over bigotry.

And that is a message that we could all learn from.

[sketching-shark]

I'm guessing you've seen all of LMK Season 4 (excluding the Special obviously) in English by now. Thoughts, comments, concerns?

Monkie Kid spoilers below:

Thoughts & Comments:

So many of the yaoguai have Cockney accents...

Kind of surprised that no one's mentioned Tang's "I have DEVOTED my life to this man!" in regards to Zhu Dachu haha

And in terms of different kinds of relationships involving the pigman it is pretty neat that Dadsy is definitely canon :)

There were a number of genuinely funny moments.

Super awesome that we got Sun Wukong talking about making multiple regrettable life choices though :(

Also I've got to agree with others in saying that it was a real stretch for Qi Xiaotian to take on all the blame for the calamities in seasons past. In that regard it was messed up of SWK to agree with Qi Xiaotian about those things being his fault. IDK if that's yet another example of "SWK is a terrible teacher" or if he's uniquely terrible to mentor Qi Xiaotian because they share a tendency to blame themselves for things that aren't their fault but I also don't know if that will ever be explored.

Also also super awesome that we got even MORE figures from the Monkey King's past who hate his guts because of the violence he put them through. The plot definitely did seem to be be giving itself enough wiggle room so that their animosity might end up being the result of a massive misunderstanding and/or manipulation of memories and/or SWK being forced to do things through headband torture times. But again I'm not really getting why Azure Lion or even a good chunk of Team Monkie--who it must be remembered have no idea the headband torture even happened--would consider SWK getting trapped in the Memory Scroll a bad thing given what they've suffered because of his decisions and failures. Like wow I've seen people say "He was sorry!" but sorry is not going to cut it when you've trapped your besties in an ink hell dimension for a millennia :[ That said the Monkey King did seem to be given a teensy break in the "SWK sucks" parade in terms of Azure Lion describing his failure to take down the Jade Emperor as a defeat, implying that SWK tried his best even if his best wasn't good enough.

Very confused with Qi Xiaotian's deal in terms of him maybe coming from the same stone as Sun Wukong but also maybe not. We'll see if this changes but I actually kinda liked it better when he was just some guy :]. That said it is a kind of neat idea that the stone itself regenerates & produces more monkeys besides the Monkey King; it could explain where the other World-Wreaking Monkeys come from.

Honestly out of everyone it was Sha Dali who was my favorite this season. That blue giant is so cute :3

Kind of seemed like this season was making some digs as Xiyouji's set-up and maybe people who have said that season 1 was their favorite given that the "monsters-of-the-week" format was repeatedly mocked...

I am wondering if and when they're going to explain why Li Nezha seemed to think keeping the old Jade Emperor on his throne was worth more than his own life...given that the sky started to crack after he was killed it seems like that celestial might have literally been holding the heavens together. Although if that's the case haha wow not sure how they'll manage this situation where an oppressive figure was literally necessary for the functioning of reality. Maybe that will give that mysterious hooded figure who instigated all of this a chance to step in...I have seen some people predict that it's Erlang Shen, and that could potentially be interesting if he managed to arrange things so that the uncle who killed most of his family was deposed through the demigod's manipulation but not by his hand, thus leaving Erlang Shen to reclaim heaven from a mere rogue yaoguai. And also with the one guy who was his equal in strength locked away in ink hell world.

Wild that the Six Eared Macaque finally achieved his dream of replacing the Monkey King lmao

Concerns:

Same as usual for me, so that would be: worried that they might just keep doubling and tripling down on what a thoughtless failure SWK is; worried that we're going to get 'end of the world' fatigue soon in terms of the relentlessly high stakes; concerned that the 'revolutionaries against a legitimately unjust system are going to have their actions condemned because they 'went too far' and/or made everything 1000 times worse' trope is going to be recycled here; are we ever going to get bonding moments between SWK and Qi Xiaotian again

---

EDIT: So it does need to be noted that I was being too harsh on the Monkey King with my wording implying that Sun Wukong agreed completely with Qi Xiaotian about the calamities being only his fault so I'll take the L on that. Even so, and even if Qi Xiaotian messed up in a couple of things, I still wish SWK had pushed harder against the idea that all of the catastrophes were only because of his tudi's actions like Qi Xiaotian seems to believe, which I guess he kind of does by noting that the Demon Bull King, Spider Queen, and Lady Bone Demon were angry at the Monkey King first with Qi Xiaotian getting caught in the crossfire. I think he could have done more to point out that these villains were their own agents, or if we got some more down time I think it would be nice to have a shifu-tudi bonding moment of them going through strategies on how they might work together to halt potentially world-ending calamities before they get that catastrophic. After all, making a mistake is one thing, but when it's in the context of "the entirety of the world could end" situations one right after another that does call for some contemplation on what you could do differently!

[macbethz]

I visited your blog to find that great edit you made of Alex Wilder again, because I think it's just great and one of the best edits i've seen of Alex. I was wondering though, what did you think of Rowell's time on the comic series. I really do admire how much she cares about the characters, I really do, but I had a massive problem with the progression of the stories. I just feel like it would have been better if it was in a show rather than a one comic that comes out once a month

OMG you came to the right person because i have many thoughts on Rowell's run...also thank you for the kind words abt my Alex edit its one of my favs and i always forget it exists

In terms of Rowell's run. It started off as one of my favorite runs and as time went on I grew to really dislike it.

I think there's some stuff she does I REALLY love - I think she gets Alex on a level a lot of writers really don't and does some genuinely interesting things with him which is very important to me personally since he's one of my favs. I sometimes like to look at the stuff she wrote for him in a vacuum and pretend the rest of that run doesn't exist LMAO. The stuff with Molly and her reluctance to abandon her parents because she was so young when she lost them I find very compelling as well, as well as stuff that begins to be explored with Chase in terms of How To Cope With Your Dead Girlfriend Coming Back to Life And Still Being 16, but unfortunately it isn't really resolved. Gib also is a fun addition to the cast and I like the parallels between him and the rest of the Runaways. Anka's art is ofc beautiful as always (kinda a minor issue tho but I wish he had gone less nugoth for Nico and stuck to her more classic romantic/trad goth looks - it makes her look so artificial to me)

It's been a hot second so I really need a reread but iirc i didn't have as much of an issue with pacing as I did with some weird characterization and plot choices so I don't really know if another format would have improved it, but maybe if a show or something stretched out the runtime of each arcs. I saw someone say once that Rowell is a fix-it writer and i think that really describes the problems with this run, which is that she's far more interested in resolving ""plot holes"" and bringing back old characters than telling new interesting stories. I put plot holes in quotation marks because frankly a lot of these things are not plot holes. The fact that we don't know how the staff of one works is NOT a plot hole, its part of it being a weird fucked magic artifact. Making it a person kind of undermines everything Nico has gone thru in the rest of her arc and adds some weird ass implications to every other writer's work. Even with things that actually are issues, comic history is full of holes not everything exists to be repaired especially if it comes at the cost of cool stories.

THE ROMANCE ARCS feel engineered just to kinda create cute moments rather than good stories. I didn't find Nico and Karolina's relationship issues believable or interesting at all especially considering their respective histories. I find them and a lot of the cast to be vastly OOC but that's pretty typical for comics I guess. Victor and Gert's romance is one of my main issues as well because it just seems kind of out of nowhere to me and just kind of an effort to pair off the cast. I don't feel like they have any chemistry, Vic (and the rest of the cast but mostly him) feels really dumbed down and his complex struggles with bodily autonomy are simplified down to him wanting to hold his new girlfriend. Just overall his characterization in this comic completely revolves around Gert and it sucks. Gert in general is a huge issue for me because while I find her an interesting character in her original form, in this run she kind of monopolizes the entire comic with her arcs always taking precedence. AND THEY DONT EVEN DO ANYTHING INTERESTING WITH HER. SHE LITERALLY DIED AND CAME BACK AND LOST YEARS OF TIME WITH HER FREINDS WHO HAVE GROWN CLOSER IN HER ABSENCE and instead they write this very like cartoonishly evil fatphobia plot which doesn't seem interested in saying anything besides "fatphobia bad :(" I normally hate to like try to read author intention but its difficult to me not to think Rowell did a bit of a self insert/authors pet situation here.

TLDR - OVERALL I think the comic could REALLY have benefited from less characters with longer arcs rather than trying to fit everything and the kitchen sink from the last 20 years of runaways history. But I also think it is unfortunately one of the best and only runaways comics we've gotten recently so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ def need a reread to fully collect my thoughts as well