#also what I think SG!OP would look like

[catnipvodka]

Megs and OP and something I wanna try 👉👈

Also Breaky and the baby 👀

[transingthoseformers]

At some point, I think the Autobots just can't deny it any longer.

... I could totally see it as SG OP "accidentally" hurting a human, which would be bad, but if it was normal OP, he'd apologise, but this Optimus? He doesn't even care.

They confront him, and like predators do in the wild, SG OP chooses to flee instead fighting a useless battle. He knows their weaknesses. He can have his fun with them later, when he can take his time. It's a shame he didn't get a chance to break their spirits, but he'll settle for breaking their bodies.

It'd make an excellent gift for Megatron, he thinks and imagines gruesome displays made out of their greying frames.

But obviously, he ends up at Megatron's side. I imagine that creates quite the uproar until OP probably rips some arms off and establishes his place in the pecking order.

Or... maybe baseline OP somehow returns and SG OP is revealed to be an impostor. He still ends up running to the Nemesis, but perhaps he ends back up in his true colours?

So he exactly does that, yes, SG Optimus would exactly do that. And that, of course, is our breaking point. BL Optimus would never do that.

Yepppp, he exactly runs. After all, that's what a predator does when they think prey is gonna win: cut their losses and live to hunt another day (is this when I tell us that predatory animals are way less successful at hunting than you'd expect) so now he's a free agent for a nice while. SG Oppy has some particularly brutal plans, of course.

Okay but I love how this is the second iteration of SG Optimus Prime we've decided has the love language of utilizing broken frames to try and impress suitees. Bitch man is like a damn cat or a shrike.

Ohhhoh yes. The other decepticons still aren't so sure about this new Optimus, especially since he looks exactly like BL Optimus in this. Several of them who haven't seen him in action yet might even think it's purely rumors, so of course they're going to object to an alliance with the prime. Well, until some "unfortunate incidents" occur and that incredulous feeling redlines straight into being buttfuck terrified of him.

But, on the other hand, the latter situation you provided gives us so many amazing scenes and scenarios. It also makes us wonder where exactly BL Optimus has been. The clashes between these two would be so amazing, especially since it's personal on just a whole nother level. Them seeing SG Optimus in his true colors would be lovely, and I'm just imagining him standing on the bridge with an axe at his side and BL Megatron's arm around his waist on the other. Vehicons admitting to each other that if they had to choose which version of Oppy they'd rather see in the corridor late at night they'd choose BL Optimus.

The fucking righteous fury that BL Optimus would have upon learning how his SG counterpoint has treated his autobots and the humans he has sworn to protect.

[discluded]

Not looking to dump on you about the state of fandoms in your inbox but the MA fandom is the most Kpop adjacent fandom I have ever been a part of that shares some similar characteristics. It has been really eye opening to see the power of trending and just how much the efforts of the fans really do pay off in the promotion of the celebrities and the opportunities they receive but IMO you have to have one fan buy enough tickets to account for half of the presale record the movie set it is genuinely a bit demoralizing. It's amazing that fans are super committed and there was clearly interest in the movie as half the presale tickets did come from genuine fans and the public but I sometimes fear that people are too focused on the numbers games. These actions show the passion that fans have for these celebs but a person's work and the results should speak for themselves. I mean fandoms are changing constantly so maybe this is the new normal but for someone who isn't used to it it's been a bit annoying trying to find out what the actual reception of the movie is amongst the general audiences and how well the movie is actually performing in the box office.

https://twitter.com/Pandababygirl2/status/1709397703736824259?t=_yF0NTDyS3VL7wK3Jj19vw&s=19

you're not wrong with that and you're not the first to have noticed this rapid shift and interest in Thai stars recently.

for example this article was published on HBSg (which has a very friendly relationship with mileapo thanks to Kenneth Goh) and resyndicated in other Sg media outlets in the last couple of months.

As for whether that's good or bad, I think you've hit the nail on the head that business as usual changes, and this appears to be a new business as usual.

I mean, western celebs are also taking advantage of this as well. Some more egregious than not. TSwift recently got called out by her own fans for one of these common kpop practices of releasing multiple album versions specifically to drive up sales (cough line her own pockets with fans' money).

(op has already deleted her account now as she said she would but I have it cached from earlier)

as far as I'm aware, this was also a ticket donation project so not just a single person buying tickets and leaving the seats empty, or the equiv of a single fan buying dozens of albums which they can't listen to.

I actually think this is a much better use of fan funds than some of the projects like the Time Square ad placement for Man Suang... which of course was useless because there was no international release date announced 🥲 you want your advertising dollars to go somewhere effective and this was pretty much an equivalent of throwing money into a river. (sorry to the FCs who ran this.. I understand how hard it was to organize things like this so I tried to avoid criticizing but the effort could've gone somewhere else...)

as for the "actual reception", it's actually a relatively new phenomenon that we're able to hear first hand the thoughts of common viewers on the film à la Rotten Tomatoes. historically, films relied on good critic reviews to drive foot traffic. I actually have so many negative opinions about forums like RT (which suffer from the same problems as film critics... ie who is frequenting the site) but that's for another time.

ultimately the one who controls your fandom experience is you, so if you don't want to engage at this level or see this kind of behavior, just remove these kinds of more extreme (passionate?) fans from your line of sight. As long as they're not hurting anyone, including themselves in a financial sense, I don't feel like it's appropriate to moralise on the best way to be a fan. these fandom spaces are predominantly female-occupied when male dominated fan spaces (see, sports and video games) are not subject to the same amount of scrutiny over the level of zeal.

[eldritch-araneae]

you know if windblade was in earthspark ( we haven't seen her yet tho hopefully she shows up later on ) what would she be like in your interpretation?

That's very interesting question! I also hope she will show up even tho the hope is tiny ahahah.

Ofc I can't really guess anything that didn't appear or was implied in canon yet, but I have ideas which how I would write her if I was writing Earthspark~

Ideas and spoilers under the cut!

I would hope she would be friends with Bee at least, because Cyberverse already have us this relationship and they had such great chemistry before they both got sidelined in S2 and on. Especially when one Earthspark's focus are emotions.

So I'm gonna assume that Windblade is kinda similar to her Cyberverse and a bit of IDW counterparts and she has telepathy.

So if we'll take a scenario when they aren't friends yet, I could imagine them bonding over the sense of loneliness bc of their positions.

Bumblebee is lonely because he's a spy and scout, plus he's struggles with sense of belonging (which why he always seek approval from higher ups but his interaction with Elita-1 in EP3 implies they just don't understand what "being a hero" means to him) and he was made fun of before ( also implied in EP3).

Windblade is lonely because of her position as Cityspeaker which means she will be placed onto unreachable pedestal (which was implied in Cyberverse I believe). Yes, people will respect her and look up to her, but forming personal relationships will be hard.

And if we take to account that Bumblebee is youngest among legacy bots, there is a big chance he might not even what who Cityspeaker is. He probably would just acting around her like with any other person and this make her relieved and relaxed and and that how their friendship would form.

If we will take a scenario where they know each other, this could go into few different directions.

Ofc one where they just know each other and that it, kinda sad bc I want to what Cyberverse did, but better and deeper.

Another one they are friends but this gonna involve a lot of drama!

You know how GHOST is shady and and Optimus does anything to keep Bumblebee away from them. Logically he probably does it to have a spy outside of GHOST influence ( and probably same goes to Wheeljack) and then EP10 also implies that another reason Op wants Bee to stay hidden is to form a real human-cybertronian alliance with him in charge.

But what if there is a third reason? What if GHOST have Windblade who is kept in stasis because they know about telepathy and want to use her in their plans, and potentially they can use Bumblebee as leverage against her?

Which also adds more to Optimus' turmoil because he knows, but there is nothing he can do about it.

(Side Note: the more I'm thinking about the whole GHOST situation, the more I realize that some ppl in fandom just don't get the full scope of this.

Many just immediately side with Megatron without looking into nuance of the situation, mostly bc IDW kinda messed up (tho maybe it started earlier? TFA had seeds for it, and whatever was happening in Bayverse too) with faction characterization. Now a lot of fans see Megatron is revolutionary and deceptions were oppressed by government, while Autobots represent this government... I personally have TON of issues with this entire idea ( esp when SG exist) and that's the main reason why I didn't read comics, but I wont got into this here, esp considering how controversial my opinion is.

Anyway, looking at grand scope of thing you can see the difference between two leaders.

Megatron cares for his people, while his care about humans and Earth only extends to Dot and her family and that's it. Nothing stops him from starting the shit again and probably the only reason what stops him is Dot. Which btw I like a lot and wanna see where this go ahahah.

While Optimus does not only cares about his people, but humans and Earth too and this is why he ended in this situation in first place! He doesn't want a destruction of another sentient species and that why he grabs any opportunity to avoid it even if it mean he has to work with shady ppl that will probably backstab him.

Which btw, Dot understood very well in EP5 and she found a common ground with Optimus here, but some ppl choose to ignore it ofc.

This is why its important to him that Bee ( and probably Wheeljack?) stay out of GHOST eyes, bc his own hands are fucking tied.

Meanwhile rough Decepticons are causing shit simply bc they don't care about humans. Because if Autobots can stay hidden, they could do that too and I'm pretty sure Megatron would supply them with energon just like Optimus supply his bots ( bc cmon I don't think Bee could go a least 15 years without taking energon ahah).

But because there is a huge rift between cons and Megatron this not gonna happen. Tho I wonder if there are cons that followed Megatron into this? Maybe even cons with GHOST badges? This would be interesting to see~ Maybe there is Thundercracker out there, hiding like Bee and writing movie scripts? And something tells me we will more cassettes in wild too.

The only thing is unclear to me is why would Op destroy the ground bridge? Because this clashes with what I said above? Was is a poor panicky decision? Or there is more to is and things, again, isn't that simple as everyone thinks? Like maybe Megatron was the one who destroyed it and Op took the blame because humans would be nicer to him? Time will tell.)

Okay I got really distracted, but I wanted to talk about this as well, so I apologies.

Anyway, another idea that Windblade might show up later by Malto's door just like Arcee did and maybe she would stay and teach terrans as well since she's a flier and Twitch as also a flier and sword user!

And they fact I think Windblade could teach terrans some combat, because Bee's is more focused on scouting stuff and maybe shooting, while Windy could teach them melee combat ~

And maybe she help Bee to open up more and lower his defenses? Maybe! That's all ideas a have for now))

[kaless39]

All right guys, if anyone is willing to help: I need some help looking for a fic. The fic nostalgia is real.

It’s an SG-1 fic, at least 10 years ago (yes, I know I’m old lol)

Pretty sure it’s called something like ‘Guilding the lily’ or something similar

O’Neil is getting promoted off SG-1 and is sending the team to what is basically spec ops boot camp so they can realize that they will be fine without him and for them to have official recognition for their skills

Chapters include: O’Neil messing with the organizers a bit because they think he’s trying to get unqualified into the program and having them realize he’s ‘Guilding the lily’

Sam absolutely demolishing a survival exercise

Daniel surprisingly being able to find a stealth expert because of field experience with Teal’c (he thinks the stealth guy is part of the group) He also lets the group fall into an ambush because one of the guys Karen-ing their way into leadership, very reap what you sow. There is a quote from the exercises oversight: ‘thinks he’s a duck’ ‘is he a wolf?’ ‘No, a fox maybe’

Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[baekhvuns]

I skipped a few steps, so guess it's just waiting for death for me soon akdhsjshanshhs. Stop because some people get married and have kids in their early 20s and that's so wild to me

Oh so you're a furry now? Into 🦊?

I will never stop being shocked at fansites regularly travelling to another continents for concerts. Seriously how rich and bored are you?!?!? I saw at least 3 Hwa fansites doing it and it's just... how, why

Not saying Korean fans are perfect cause they have their insane moments, but international fans are so messy and ridiculous too. The stalkers need to be locked away for real

I have a feeling it won't be as easy now with music shows, not only because COVID had changed a few things, but also the popularity growth Atz and especially Skz have experienced 😭 so I'm glad I did it back then

Hope your friend's throat gets better, but I'm glad she had fun! I saw enough photos of Park Seonghwa it's fine if you can't share maybe it's for the best 🤚🏻

SM Town Euro please juseyo 🤲🏻 I hope things are starting to pick up again post-covid, SEA is getting more tours too, so is LATAM and the girlies are visiting Europe so there's hope. However, JYPE I'm going to 🔫 make your artists come to Europe!!!

$100 per book?!?! Are they made of gold or what

Yes, I understand releasing the drama so soon wouldn't be the best, but surely they can't avoid the word Halloween forever. I wonder if the Halloween kpop content will be released or not? I can live without it, but it would be a shame. And Yes 2 FUCKING YEARS since NGDA2 😭😭😭

Baek I like the way your brain works however you're gonna drive me into insanity. I love this uni AU we've created 🤧

Right, there are some Canadian idols, it's like with Australia, a few Aussies in the game and yet little to no gigs?

ME AT THE FALLEN ANGEL MOODBOARD: 👁👁

I hope there'll be some more PSH x SW interaction and they send him something 💖

I felt the spirit of many Shinestars because lots of us share the same sentiment, but unfortunately a lot of people take him for granted or overlook him for some reason. However, look at this OP is so real. Seonghwa always HAD IT, the Treasure fan cam, the Hala Hala demonic shenanigans?! But he got more theatrical and creative, I appreciate how much thought he puts into each stage and cares about other things like clothes, hairstyles, make up. Also remember this... Seonghwa one of the best 4th gen performers, I said what I said!

My friend almost got a ticket to Phoenix, but her finances stopped her, and earlier she sent one video of Hwa with the caption "I'm glad I didn't go, I wouldn't have survived this". And I sent her the "single/taken/thinking of Seonghwa" tweet and she was like "That's definitely you, and maybe me a little bit now. Help" 😊 and I smile!

Not the blanket, but the photocards are a must. Why are they doing this to me, I'm worried about SG now 💔 I saw that Hwa and Yunho standees are already sold out, but my friend got us some stuff <3

I need to stop being subjected to the Park Seonghwa (I say whilst scrolling through hashtag Seonghwa on the blue bird app...) I miss this

An actual comedian

That's not my guy that's my driver, don't get it twisted! - DV 💖

hello!!!

I skipped a few steps, so guess it's just waiting for death for me soon akdhsjshanshhs. Stop because some people get married and have kids in their early 20s and that's so wild to me

LMFAOOOO 😭😭😭 stop someone from my school got engaged @ 18 bRO UR JUST LEGAL 😭😭🤚🏼 i also agree bc that’d be mad difficult to raise a kid,,, and in this ecONOMY??? not saying ppl shouldn’t but ur not exactly financially independent to raise a kid😭😭 id personally start crying

Oh so you're a furry now? Into 🦊?

im just like u

I will never stop being shocked at fansites regularly travelling to another continents for concerts. Seriously how rich and bored are you?!?!? I saw at least 3 Hwa fansites doing it and it's just... how, why

NOOO BC GIMME THAT JOB???? U EARN AND GET TO TRAVEL EVERYWHERE??? HOW DO U GET THAT MUCH MONEY?? SEND ME UR JOB IM APPLYING no but those bar’s??? for example those china bars,,, how mf rich do u have to be gIFT THEM ROLEXES ??? WHAT

mingi’s new fansite 😭😭

Not saying Korean fans are perfect cause they have their insane moments, but international fans are so messy and ridiculous too. The stalkers need to be locked away for real

EXACTLY!!! ifans are “outsiders” bc they rly don’t know what’s going on there 😭😭 and yet they tend to indulge themselves into matters that does not involve them + kfans be living in some delulu phases, saw this article where they were all complaining their “idols go too far to perform” and they get jealous???? and lose interest??? ayo???

I have a feeling it won't be as easy now with music shows, not only because COVID had changed a few things, but also the popularity growth Atz and especially Skz have experienced 😭 so I'm glad I did it back then

omg the amount of ppl that would line up for them would be MASSIVE !!! what an experience u had 😭😭🤚🏼

Hope your friend's throat gets better, but I'm glad she had fun! I saw enough photos of Park Seonghwa it's fine if you can't share maybe it's for the best 🤚🏻

LMFAOOOO IM GONNA SHARE FBWNFHWJ i have not heard from her and im assuming bestie’s in the post concert phase 📈📉📈

SM Town Euro please juseyo 🤲🏻 I hope things are starting to pick up again post-covid, SEA is getting more tours too, so is LATAM and the girlies are visiting Europe so there's hope. However, JYPE I'm going to 🔫 make your artists come to Europe!!!

saw smtown trending and i was like “e-europe?” SEA FANS ARE FINALLY GETTING SOMETHING BUT ITS ALL BEEN SO MESSY 😭😭 latam, the storm ???

$100 per book?!?! Are they made of gold or what

YEAH 😭😭😭 PHYSICAL IS 100+ AND DIGITALS ARE REACHING 100,,, may b if the recession brings some things down 😭😭😭

Yes, I understand releasing the drama so soon wouldn't be the best, but surely they can't avoid the word Halloween forever. I wonder if the Halloween kpop content will be released or not? I can live without it, but it would be a shame. And Yes 2 FUCKING YEARS since NGDA2 😭😭😭

yeah! hopefully it doesn’t become like that dear m drama case,, oh man i wonder if it would too, but highly doubt they would esp after how in concerts in jakarta have ppl pushing each other as well like itaewon,,,, NOH BESTIE IM NOT BELIEVING ITS 2 YEARS AINT NO MF WAY ?????? AND NOW UNDER MY SKIN 4 YEARS AGO???? FUCK????

but to celebrate idea 2 years,, this remains the best stage

Baek I like the way your brain works however you're gonna drive me into insanity. I love this uni AU we've created 🤧

the junior who’s good by day and whore by night <3 hwa just panics when he sees his senior there and the next day he chases yn down all while yn’s running away and he’s like “HEAR ME OUT PLEASE”

my mind also recently (2 hours ago) brought back boxer hwa <3

Right, there are some Canadian idols, it's like with Australia, a few Aussies in the game and yet little to no gigs?

YEAAAH AND THE AMERICANS GET FUCKING EVERYTHING 🔫🔫

ME AT THE FALLEN ANGEL MOODBOARD: 👁👁

ME TOO BEST FRIEND BUT U WONT LIKE THE ENDING AT ALL!!!! YOULL YELL AT ME AND I WILL NOT CHANGE IT FHWKHDW

I hope there'll be some more PSH x SW interaction and they send him something 💖

omg we just get a notif of hwa’s youtube live and he’s sitting there with wide eyes holding 14 boxes of star wars lego, u best believe im watching it all

I felt the spirit of many Shinestars because lots of us share the same sentiment, but unfortunately a lot of people take him for granted or overlook him for some reason. However, look at this OP is so real. Seonghwa always HAD IT, the Treasure fan cam, the Hala Hala demonic shenanigans?! But he got more theatrical and creative, I appreciate how much thought he puts into each stage and cares about other things like clothes, hairstyles, make up. Also remember this... Seonghwa one of the best 4th gen performers, I said what I said!

you’re right! especially from pre-debut to like wave era, a lot of ppl did overlook him and other members were mores out there! it’s the way they’re all grew so much professionally with distinct personalities but something about seonghwa ALWAYS SCREAMS MAGNETIC,,, omg the op,,, when seonghwa dances so happily that’s truly what the stage presence is, when the body moves to the music 😭😭 I AM THAT OP THAT IS ME,,, seonghwa has this HUNGER to perform and it shows and it only attracts more ppl,,, what a man truly wow

My friend almost got a ticket to Phoenix, but her finances stopped her, and earlier she sent one video of Hwa with the caption "I'm glad I didn't go, I wouldn't have survived this". And I sent her the "single/taken/thinking of Seonghwa" tweet and she was like "That's definitely you, and maybe me a little bit now. Help" 😊 and I smile!

FBWMDHQKHDKQHDKW BESTIE SHE WOULDVE HAVE BC WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS ???? I LOVE THIS PYRAMID SCHEME OF GETTING PPL TO LOVE SEONGHWA SO CRAZILY THEY NEVER LEAVE FBWNHDE

do u think she would’ve survived this mingi

Not the blanket, but the photocards are a must. Why are they doing this to me, I'm worried about SG now 💔 I saw that Hwa and Yunho standees are already sold out, but my friend got us some stuff <3

i thought the sg was this and was like thank hod nothing else but them realized they still have to drop it 😭😭🤚🏼WHAT MF CONCEPT ARE WE GETTING pls i hope they do some pirate concept, like comically dressing up as pirates for their school photo day concept or something 😭😭

I need to stop being subjected to the Park Seonghwa (I say whilst scrolling through hashtag Seonghwa on the blue bird app...) I miss this

An actual comedian

mingi and hwa are such an underrated ship 😭😭🤚🏼

ur right, comedian of the year + new sound drop

…

That's not my guy that's my driver, don't get it twisted! - DV 💖

really??? BECAUSE I REMEMBER HIM AS AN ULTRA ATTRACTIVE MEGATRON 3000 UBER DRIVER U HAVE 🤨

going to eat him

???

HIS CHEEKIES

shinestar’s with seonghwa

[imalifegen89]

A Legacy Left Behind - Chapter - 5 - The Gemmond Incident

Part 5 - Final

Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain - Colorado

As promised, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell had shown up with SG-1, which had included himself, Teal'c, Vala Mal Doran, and Dr. Daniel Jackson. Sam Carter had not been available since she had been called away to the Daedalus for an urgent matter. Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka had both shown up in her place to specifically study the two downed crafts and find a solution to free the trapped Gemmondians. SG-3, SG-8, and SG-9 had accompanied the Colonel in order to disperse around the city and help with the clean-up and whatever other tasks the citizens were in need of help with. Dr. Sandy Van Denson and Dr. Ian Carmichael along with three other medical staff had also shown up, bringing along the promised medical assistance for the traumatized Gemmondians.

Sheppard and the team had been upgraded to local celebrity levels and almost all of the people there in the city had wanted to catch a glimpse of the Tau'ri who had managed to successfully wipe out the Wraith. The locals had insisted on the feast they had somehow managed to prepare despite everything and made the SG-11 the guests of honor. The team had stayed for a few minutes, enjoyed a few local cuisines, and taken their leave in quiet relief when Mitchell and the other teams had finally shown up to take over.

..........

"Fucking hell! Hearing about all this crap in the briefing and looking at nasty photos is one thing. But this, man - this is something else." Danny's voice was equal parts awe, fear, and incredulity.

"So, this telepathic attack basically had a domino effect on these creatures. Powerful as they are when they are mentally connected to each other, it can also be a major weakness. Too bad only the ATA gene carriers have this ability," Adam Noshimuri sounded wistful. He was fascinated by the footage they were all now going through of the day's operation.

SEALs always went on ops with recording apparatus as a part of their standard kit. SG-11 had permission to keep this particular Special-Operator-trait for their operations, in keeping with the Navy standards, and it came in handy. They could always study the ops footage later to get more information and also it could be used to educate other teams whenever they went through something like this. Only a few of the team had body cams that day since they had been going to a party. But they had managed to team up to maximize the coverage and now they had mostly complete footage of the entire operation.

They had all gone for their post-Gate-Hop medical checkups once they had returned to the mountain. As promised, Colonel Mitchell had retrieved the rest of the SG-11 from the village near the jungle and they had returned to the mountain about 20 minutes later. They all had reunited in the infirmary during their medical checkups. Sheppard, Lorne, and Danny had garnered extra attention - the first two because of their dealings with the Wraith and Danny for getting partially stunned. But they had all been cleared without needing to spend the day in the infirmary once the doctors had been satisfied. They had all had early dinners in the mess hall and the two pilots had retired to the quarters since they had both been still suffering from headaches. The rest of the team had gathered in one of the smaller recreational rooms to go through the footage and get their AARs (After Action Reports) done for the debriefing the next day. They had already gone through the cam feeds from Steve, Bates, and Vega and now knew what each team had faced. They had exchanged praises, criticisms, and good-natured ribbing while watching different areas of footage with fascination. Now they were all at the part from the cam Lorne had been wearing.

"Yeah, that's the thing. These guys are rare enough as it is. When the Wraith find out about this, they’re going to start hunting them. The gene carriers are a real threat to Wraith. All they have to do is ask the Goa'uld to take care of the gene carriers while they deal with the non-gene carriers. We’re going to have to try and keep this stuff under wraps as long as we can," said Vega, after they had all finished watching the feed.

"Keep what under wraps?" asked Sheppard at the end of a huge yawn. He was leaning against the door of the rec room and was wearing a black t-shirt, loose sweats, and a pair of slippers. He still looked half asleep and Steve wondered what had made the man wake up and come looking for them.

"Ah, sleeping beauty, come take a seat. We were just talking about your horror show," said Danny, with his usual lack of tact.

They were using the TV screen in the room to watch the feeds and a few laptops and PDAs were scattered on the stool in front of them. Steve, Adam, and Kono were sitting on the long couch, Danny, Bates, and Vega had claimed sofas and Cadman was settled between Higgins' stretched-out legs on the floor. Sheppard pushed off from the door frame and walked into the room eyeing the seating arrangement. Then he huffed and went to settle on Steve's lap, who let out a quiet laugh and moved to accommodate the burden. John wriggled and shifted until he was sitting comfortably, resting sideways on Steve's chest with his head on Steve's shoulder, and let his long legs dangle off the armrest of their side of the couch. Steve wrapped his arms around the sleep-warmed body on his lap and closed his eyes. Then John looked at Danny expectantly. Danny keyed a few commands on the laptop closest to him and started the feed from Lorne's cam for John to have a look.

Steve felt him tensing up the moment John saw himself on the screen. It occurred to Steve then, that this was the first time John had seen himself going through the 'online experience.' The other time he had been alone and when he was discovered, he was already back to normal. Steve rubbed his back, offering silent comfort.

"Wow! That's... um... disturbing. My eyes - they look creepy - I look creepy..." said John. He was thoroughly disturbed at witnessing his physical transformation.

"I don't know brah, I was once involved in a raid at a meth factory. I've seen creepier-looking dudes running around, believe me," said Kono matter-of-factly from the middle of the sofa.

"And I know for a fact that you are a complete lunatic. One, because I've seen you fly and have had the misfortune to fly with you several times. Two, you are dating the other lunatic you are sitting on. So this little drama is nothing. I wasn't even that surprised," said Danny, his hand slicing away at the space in front of him, emphasizing his point. John and Steve both sent identical glares at Danny who just upped the wattage of his shit-eating grin.

John could clearly see the easy acceptance from his team of his rather weird ability, and That made it much easier for him to accept the fact himself. (He did remember how Lorne had looked during the change. Okay - he had looked like he was high on something - but not a full-on-mutant like John, though.)

"So the point we were discussing was, to keep this bit of intel from falling into the claws of the Wraith because that would lead to those fuckers declaring open-season on gene-carriers," said Bates, with a grimace. The others nodded in response.

"Dr. Carson is working on artificial gene therapy. He says his serum would have a 75% chance at activating junk DNA in a non-gene carrier to become ATA positive. I actually helped him to find some information he needed from the Alteran archives back in Antarctica. The way things are going, we are going to need him to deliver soon, so that we'll have enough people to deal with these assholes," said John thoughtfully, his mind drifting back to discussions he had with the Scottish doctor during his visits to the Defense Outpost in Antarctica.

"Yeah, and let's not forget the Snake-Heads. At least we have some sort of warning system against the Wraith. But the Goa'uld - do we even have a way of identifying them in advance?” The question was from Steve. he still had his eyes closed, enjoying the proximity to John.

"There are some medical scans that can spot them. Other than that, the Jaffa and some of the previous hosts, like Vala and Carter can sense them. Of course, the Tok'ra would know. But that's about it I think," said Cadman, remembering the facts from Daniel Jackson's lectures.

"Yeah, they've been quiet enough on earth for what, closer to two months now? But busy stirring trouble in other worlds? Whatever they are planning, we are not going to like it much when it happens. I really can do without these times of suspense, you know?" said Vega.

"I know it's tempting fate, but I do agree. By the way, did you guys hear? The word is, that the big boss is going to show up tomorrow. Probably for our briefing. He usually shows up when things are really going to get sent up the creek without paddles," informed Cadman conspiratorially.

"What big boss?" asked Sheppard at the same time Steve asked, "Where do you even hear this stuff from anyway, hah?"

"Oh, I've got my sources, Mr. Major, Mr. Lieutenant Commander," said Cadman, grinning from ear to ear.

"Awesome. Better get our paperwork and shit together then, yeah?" suggested Bates and grabbed the PDA closest to him.

Sheppard slid off the comfortable lap he was sitting on and settled on the floor between the Commander’s legs, then grabbed two PDAs - one for himself and one for Steve. They all then got busy with their respective reports on the day's events.

..........

Early next morning, Sheppard was sitting inside the Jumper helping the Air Force Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter to extract the data pertaining to their jaunt in Gemmond. He was transferring the flight records, blueprints of the Darts and Wraith Dart Carrier, all details about hull compositions, weapons, and other data, the scans and the footage the Jumper had managed to capture to Carter's PDA. When the data transfer finished, Samantha Carter went away, letting Sheppard know that they'd be called in for the debrief later on.

He knew that Kono and Steve had also prepared a comprehensible version from all the cam feeds they had on themselves during the mission as well. They had all submitted their detailed AARs to the SGC server already and were now waiting to be called to the briefing room for a Q&A session with the General and whoever else was present.

The summons came via Sergeant Harriman who came to fetch the SG-11 team leaders, Sheppard and McGarrett, into the main Briefing Room just after breakfast.

Briefing Room, SGC, Cheyenne Mountain - Colorado

Entering the Briefing Room, Sheppard experienced a feeling of déjà vu, since the atmosphere held the same intensity as his first briefing at the same place, several weeks ago.

This time there were more participants. Even in his BDUs, the bald Major General had an imposing presence. Brigadier General Jack O'Neill was sitting to his right and Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell was to his left. Next to O'Neill were Dr. Daniel Jackson and Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter with Teal'c sitting beside Mitchell. Dr. Rodney McKay was also present, busily typing on the laptop in front of him while munching on what looked like a blueberry muffin. Dr. Zelenka was sitting next to him trying hard to look like he had absolutely no association with McKay. SG-11 leaders had the seats on the opposite side of the big conference table, facing everyone, completing the assembly. There were two projector screens, on opposite sides, so no one had to twist their necks to see the feeds or any other data that was projected onto the screens. They also had their own PDAs or laptops with them, so they had ready access to anything they needed at any moment.

"General, you wanted to meet the trouble magnets. Well, here they are. The team leaders of SG-11." General O'Neill made an unorthodox introduction as they both entered the room and gathered in front of the conference table.

"You shouldn't complain much O'Neill, when you were the one who was bugging me for a group of special operators in your ranks. Now you've got some, and if they’re bringing extra workload for you, well, you've got no one else to blame," said General Hammond pleasantly.

"You know, it was more like Marshall's wish, come to think of it," O'Neill informed General Hammond. Colonel Marshall Sumner who was at the Earth Alpha site on an inspection, was not there to defend himself.

General Hammond shook his head in amusement, already much used to General O'Neill's eccentric ways, and turned to address SG-11." Anyway, gentlemen, it's a pleasure to finally meet you two. I have seen your personal files and the files of everyone in your team, of course, but I always like to meet trouble magnets in person, whenever I can manage. Please sit and make yourselves comfortable. We’re going to be here for a while," he informed the Major and the Lt. Commander.

"Major Sheppard, if you can please give a brief report of what took place in Gemmond?" he looked to Sheppard once they were seated.

Sheppard recounted the mission as ordered. He started from the point where they had to force the connection to Gemmond via the Jumper's DHD and detailed their entry to the hot zone. Then he briefly described the recon they conducted and the subsequent entry to the Wraith Carrier. Then he recounted the rescue operations and the entanglement with Wraith. He then summarized blowing up the ship, how they split up to accompany the Gemmondians and how the rest of them returned to the gate to report back to SGC, followed by the handover to Lt. Colonel Mitchell who showed up to take over the clean up. Once he finished, General Hammond turned to Mitchell.

"Lt. Colonel Mitchell, will you tell us what happened next?"

"Yes Sir. I went to Gemmond with SG-1, SG-3, SG-8, and SG-9. SG-3 was sent with the medical staff to the city to provide medical help and SG-8 went with them to help with the clean-up. I dropped off the Doctors McKay and Zelenka at the Dart crash sites along with Teal'c and SG-9 and took the Jumper to orbit to run a scan in near space. There were no other Wraith Spaceships in the vicinity. Then I returned to the city and stayed there to coordinate with the city council. I also spoke to some of those travelers who were taking refuge in Gemmond. They were from Holdus, Aegis, some even from Charos. They all had similar stories about this 'Culling', as they called it. It seems that this started about two weeks ago and there seem to be few other worlds targeted as well. So far they've been avoiding the technologically advanced planets though," continued Mitchell. "Then I took a trip to the village near the jungle where the rescued Gemmondians gathered with a couple of medical staff. They were all okay and being taken care of by the Nasyans. We spent the whole day in the city and the clean-up was rather quick, seeing as SG-11 got there pretty quickly and the Wraith didn't have much time for a larger attack. Then I collected the Doctors from where they were camping near crash sites and returned to the mountain for the debrief."

The General then turned his attention towards the two scientists;

"So Dr. McKay, Dr. Zelenka - any luck extracting the people stuck in those Darts?" he asked.

"Hmm, we've scanned those two Wraith Darts and found a way to connect with their interfaces. Basically, we’ve gone over the controls that dematerialize people, store their information, and then rematerialize them again when commanded to. It's a very complex process and requires a lot of power. Now, the Dart I scanned has five life signs and Radek's one has eight life signs. But according to the power readings we've got, those darts don't have enough power to rematerialize people on their own. But we can hook up a Naquadah generator into each of them and give a bit of extra oomph to restart the controls and activate the beam. Sort of like jump-starting a car battery." Rodney looked quite proud at having managed a properly dumbed-down report for the academically challenged.

"Ano, Rodney, we discussed this. There is a chance that those generators might not be the best way to restart those controls. You mustn't forget the biological components in those Darts - they are not like normal batteries that we can jump-start." Dr. Radek Zelenka pushed his spectacles further up his nose and reminded Rodney.

"I know, but if we regulate the levels and write a subroutine to abort if it gets over the power levels we need, it'd be fine." Rodney turned to face the Czech scientist and gestured with his muffin.

"A subroutine that we need to translate to match the coding on the interface. Yes, yes! It might work. But then we need..." Zelenka had already started typing something fast and McKay was leaning over to watch his screen.

"Ah, wait, there," he interrupted and the Czech said something unintelligible in his own language, still typing away. Now Rodney had abandoned his muffin and was also busy on his PDA while talking to Zelenka about code.

The two scientists had forgotten about the rest of the assembly and were completely immersed in their planning, typing, and conversing in increasingly complex scientific jargon. General Hammond let it continue for a while and then decided to interrupt when the scientists showed no signs of returning to the briefing. Out of all of them, only Carter seemed to be able to follow the dialog between them with an amused look on her face.

"As riveting as it is to be listening to you two gentlemen, can you please tell us whether this venture is possible or not? We really don't need to know the exact process," Hammond asked them both with great patience.

"Yes, General. We can do this. Maybe by tomorrow evening, we should be done. We will need a Naquadah generator though," said McKay, without looking up or without stopping his typing.

"Jack, can you accommodate that?" asked the Major General.

"Yeah, I'm sure we have one or two of those lying around here, somewhere," General Jack O'Neil replied, looking pointedly at Sergeant Harriman who confirmed with a firm nod.

"Well, then," started General Hammond, but was interrupted by Dr. Zelenka. "Can we be excused? We need to clean this up and get a proper program before we need to return to the planet."

"Yes, please. You may both take your leaves, doctors." A rather relieved General excused the pair without further delay. They both got up with their PDAs and left the room, bickering about the code and power levels.

"Commander, I was informed you have the footage of the entire operation?" he then inquired of McGarrett, who confirmed. "Now, Jack, I think this is something we should get all our Gate teams to start practicing. There is always one team or another who runs into something unexpected whenever they conduct Gate operations." He turned to the General.

"Yeah, I agree. But there is a concern, you know? What with the IOA and all their crap about respecting the privacy of the natives and such. SG-11 has a bit of leeway on this because they are a joint ops team and we had agreed to keep up their SEAL standards. So all their Gate missions go under Special-Operations per that agreement with the Navy. I think it's about time we took a long hard look at those pesky civilian regulations, especially since it's starting to look like trouble's brewing," said Jack O'Neill, for once looking completely serious.

"Hmm, I have a meeting with the IOA in a few days. I'll speak to the President as well before I meet with them. The chances are that we are going to have to raise the threat levels and will have to change some protocols accordingly, very soon," replied the General. He was already thinking about reaching out to the other races with advanced technologies and capabilities the earth had connections with; about this latest threat and ways to defend against it.

He then turned to Samantha Carter. "Carter, I'd like to review that footage now please."

Lt. Colonel Carter projected the video onto the screens on either side while Harriman dimmed the lights in the conference room. For the next 90 minutes or so, the entire conference room was quiet except for the sounds coming from the footage of the mission.

General O'Neill took it upon himself to break the thick silence that had descended in the Briefing Room at the end of the mission footage. "You know, I remember I sent SG-6 last year to Gemmond for the harvest celebrations. They brought back cake - really nice cake - and even nicer wine," he said wistfully, and then turned to where Sergeant Harriman was seated. "Walter, remind me next year when the time comes around, yeah?"

"Of course, General," the Sergeant replied with an equally serious air.

"That was an excellent bit of soldiering. My compliments to your team. Well done." General Hammond said. He was extremely impressed with the way the team handled the situation. He had harbored some concerns about how well they could mesh a SEAL team with an SGC team and this incident proved that it could be done quite seamlessly. He could see that each and every member brought a unique and impressive skill set to the team.

"Jack, I need a copy of this footage and all other data collected in a summarized report so I can present this to the president and the IOA. I might call an extra-planetary meeting to discuss this too. So be ready. And keep me posted if you get news from other planets on any encounters like this," He informed O'Neill. "So far, is there anything on the surveillance on those satellites and the Goa'uld activity?" he inquired.

"Nothing, but I believe this explains why they are waiting for the Wraith to stock up on supplies before starting whatever they are planning on. I have a feeling this might include an armada or two of alien fleets by the way things are going," said Jack O'Neill thoughtfully.

"The work on Prometheus is nearly completed. She will undergo her space trials in the next month, bringing our fleet to six. We shall see if we can persuade our allies to contribute as well. This information might just be what we need to apply that persuasion," General Hammond reflected. "All right people, thank you for your time. I will be in touch." He stood up, bringing the briefing to an end.

With that, everyone stood up as General George Hammond took his leave.

..........

It had been two days since the meeting with Major General George Hammond and SG-11 had just returned from a training session at the Alpha site, off-world. They had completed the medical checkups, cleaned themselves up, and were seated around a long table enjoying their dinner in the mess hall when Steve's phone started ringing.

The call came from a landline bearing a Hawaiian prefix. "Is this Mr. Steven McGarrett?" The voice was female. Steve winced at the 'Mr.' involuntarily, not used to being addressed as such.

"Yes, that's me. Who is this?" he asked.

"Sir, my name is Diana Curtis and I'm calling from Honolulu General Hospital. You’re listed as the next of kin for Captain John McGarrett. He was admitted to the hospital yesterday when he suffered a heart attack. Sir, his condition is stable for now. But we'd like you to be here and visit him if it is at all possible?” The professional no-nonsense voice delivered the news in such a calm manner, it took Steve a few seconds to register what the woman was saying and the seriousness of the situation.

"WHAT?" he barked into the phone, when he had recovered from the shock. The team sitting around him all stopped what they were doing and stared at Steve.

"Mr. McGarrett, please calm down. Your father's condition is stable for the moment. He was brought to the hospital on time. Are you able to make it here safely as soon as possible? Is there anyone who could bring you here?" The hospital admin on the line tried to placate the very agitated SEAL.

"Uh? Yes, yes. I'm not in Hawaii at the moment. But yes, I'll be there as soon as I can. Thank you for calling and letting me know," Steve collected himself enough to reply. His mind was still reeling at the shocking news he had just received. He had called his old man only two days ago and he had sounded fine on the phone - even happier at the fact that Steve was stationed somewhere in the mainland and could call home more or less on a regular basis.

"You’re welcome sir," the voice said crisply and disconnected the call. Steve stared at the phone in his hand dumbly, his mind refusing to cooperate and start being useful for the moment.

"Steve, what was that all about?" The touch on his arm and the concerned face of John - which was quite close to his - brought him back from the stupor he had got lost in. Steve stared at him for a moment and then found the words to reply.

"That was the Honolulu General. My dad, he's in the hospital, he had a heart attack," Steve said in a dull tone, still not able to believe that it was real. He felt John's grip tighten around his arm at the revelation.

"What? When? How?" Questions bombarded him incredulously. Steve took a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to bring his turbulent mind into some semblance of control and deal with the situation.

"I don't know, but I need to go there now," he said decisively, standing up.

"Hey, Steve, hey, they didn't say it's bad, did they? Just don't go by yourself." John was also standing with him and he realized John was holding him by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. He grabbed onto John automatically, his presence so close to him, helping Steve to ground himself. He concentrated on what John was saying to him and could hear the regret in his voice at not being able to go with Steve. They were the team leaders of SG-11 and one had to be at the mountain if the other was going to be unavailable.

"Don't worry man, I'll go with him," Danny was also standing up and looking worried. He also looked determined to follow the SEAL home no matter what Steve had to say about it.

"I need to go pack a bag, and yeah, Danny, you can come with," said Steve, starting to mentally list the things he needed to do in order to get moving.

"I'll help," Kono volunteered.

"Let me talk to Walter and contact Peterson AFB - there might be a transport or something going that way. It'd be quicker," Sheppard suggested, and was already moving towards the elevator to go to level 27. "I'll come back and see you in your quarters," he threw back over his shoulder as he entered the elevator.

"Shit, I need to apply for leave," said Steve, watching John disappear into the lift.

"Don't stress Commander, we'll take care of it." Bates patted him on the back and Cadman nodded along. "We will apply on behalf of you two. This is an emergency. So it'll be fine," said Vega. Then she and Bates both took off towards the HR offices to handle the paperwork for their Commander's emergency leave.

"Thanks, guys," Steve shouted after them. And then he hurried towards his own quarters with the rest of his team tagging along. He already had a duffel packed for emergencies and only needed to add a few more things. He tried calling his dad’s friend but the call went to voicemail. He figured that he could try contacting them once he reached the hospital. He wouldn't even think about calling his sister until he had the chance to see his father and knew more about his condition.

..........

Within 20 minutes, Steve and Danny were both waiting by the exit at Cheyenne mountain for the vehicle that had been signed off for them to be delivered to Peterson AFB. Walter had made the arrangements. There was an army cargo plane making a training run to Hickam and he had managed to arrange transport for the two SEALs with it. They'd make their own way back after the visit to the hospital.

"Steve, listen, it's gonna be alright. You hear me? It'll be fine! Your dad's a tough guy, he'll be fine." Sheppard was holding his face in his hands and Steve found himself nodding along to the assurances pouring out of his boyfriend. Then John kissed him softly on the lips and Steve sighed, leaning into the comfort. He rested his forehead on John's and wished with all his heart to wake up and realize that this was all just a bad dream.

"And don't forget to call, yeah?" John implored as he straightened and very reluctantly let go of Steve.

"Sure John, I'll call," He promised as the SUV came to a stop in front of them. He and Danny both got in and seated themselves. He then gave a short wave to John who was still standing there by the exit watching them leave. Steve hoped what John had told him would be true, that his dad would be able to make it through. He was not ready to lose his only remaining parent. ‘God please, not again! Not so soon...' His mind was repeating the mantra as Steve let out a weary sigh and closed his eyes.

[o-neillwith2ls]

I never wanted anything else

Prompt Number :16

Fandom:Stargate SG-1

Rating: G

Warning: none

Companion piece to Chapter 5 of my Sam and Jack day Prompts entitled: C'mere. As usual one can be read without the other, but as always feel free to read both!

Also, those following my ‘Unravel’ story, HUGE *hint hint nudge nudge* as to what to expect from the next chapter!Jack took a deep and measured breath in and entered into the infirmary room where Jacob lay. 

This wasn’t just Sam’s dad that lay dying here. He counted Jacob Carter as a friend, whether Jacob considered the same of him was a different story, but certainly Jack hoped the man held him in some esteem.

"Dad." He said, plastering his best smile on his face. "Hope you don't mind, I told Carter to take a few minutes. I think she went to get some coffee. That leaves you with me for a bit."

"Don't mind at all, Jack, I've been meaning to speak to you."

"Oh?" Jack asked, genuinely surprised as he stepped closer to the bed. 

"Do you care for my daughter's happiness at all?" Jacob asked him as Jack reached his bedside.

"I never wanted anything else." Jack replied honestly. "Jacob, what is this about?"

"I don't have time to beat around the bush with you, Jack, so here's the deal. My daughter is in love with you and I don't think I would be too far off the mark by saying you love her too."

Jack paused and looked at the man seriously for a moment. "Look, Jacob--" he started to answer but was interrupted.

"She's in denial. About the things which make her truly happy. About the men in her life, about who it is she would be truly happy with. Now I might be getting soft in my old age but all I ever wanted was my kids’ happiness. Mark is, Sam – well, she's more complex." He looked up painfully at Jack and stated, "Let me be blunt. Do you want a life with my daughter? Kids, marriage? Any or all?"

Jack scratched the back of his head for a moment and looked cautiously around before he licked his lips nervously and answered him honestly. "I never wanted anything else. But--"

"No buts," Jacob protested, "Jack, this is no time to be cautious. If you don't show her how you feel, how you really feel, you're going to lose her. I don't want my daughter making a decision which will leave her and a good friend miserable." Jack looked hopeful at the man, glad to know he was considered a friend. "That cop is a putz and doesn't have it in him to make Sammy happy long term. But whenever she's with you, even when she's worried or sad or scared, she is the happiest I've ever seen her. I know this is true because I’ve seen it – more times I can admit." Jacob looked at Jack. "Follow through, Jack, let her know you still care. That's an order."

Jack's eyebrows quirked and a grin appeared in his lips as he answered, "Yes Sir."

"Don't you worry about the brass either. I've put things in motion." Jacob told him.

"Jacob!" Jack replied in shock, that he would go to the extent of putting his ore in.

"If you show her how much you still care, I guarantee you, you won't be disappointed." He looked up at Jack and gave a heavy strained sigh. "I never imagined my daughter's happiness would lie in a man like you, Jack." He told Jack which deflated Jack a little. "Black ops. You and I both know--" he didn’t finish because he knew Jack understood which made Jack feel better. The hand closest to Jack’s reached out and laid it on the top of Jack's hand "But you're the exception, and I'm glad you make her happy." He looked Jack seriously in the eye. "So, when the time comes, you have mine and Selmak’s blessing and know that Debbie would have loved you."

Jack grinned. "I have Dad's approval!"

"You do. This really is my last chance at being right." He joked. "Don't mess it up for me."

Jack chuckled then looked at his friend and if he had anything to say about it, his future father-in-law. "Yes sir."

There was silence in the room for a brief moment. Jacob started showing signs of fatigue. Jack made his way to the door but before he crossed the threshold, Jack turned to face the man one last time, snapped to attention and saluted. “It was an honour and pleasure to serve with you, Sir.”

Jacob Carter gave his final salute. “It was an honour and pleasure to serve you too, Son.”

Jack exited the room. In the empty corridor outside the infirmary, Jack leaned against one wall and whispered, “Goodbye Dad, I’ll miss you.”

[trashyeggroll]

Would you classify Sanvers and Agent Reign as ships featuring a POC? Maggie is meant to be Mexican even though she's played by a white actress and Sam is white passing but Odette is a proud Colombian I believe. If someone shipped them over Danolsen would it fit the meme you posted a while back or not?

To be clear, I am assuming the meme you are referring to is the one about non canon wlw white ships vs canon woc wlw ships but tell me if I’m thinking about the wrong one! That meme in particular, at least to me, I won’t speak for op, is a side-eye to the massive SuperCorp fandom vs a clear, comparably long lasting canon woc ship like ThunderGrace or Coopatience, but this is an interesting way to approach it.

Also a clarity note, I’m not making any commentary about the validity of any real person’s identity, and I am not Hispanic/Latinx, so I speak to this from an outsider’s perspective. I don’t wanna come off as an associate professor but I do want to make sure I’m articulating this as well as possible: the question, when we add Sanvers and AgentReign, now incorporates ethnicity.

Some context for my perspective, I see Sanvers continuing a long line of absurd casting choices for wlwoc.

Exhibit A:

If you’ve been following me for awhile you might notice that I LOVE, with ALL MY QUEER HEART, Sarah Shahi and Sharmen. But Sarah Shahi is Persian/Spanish, and Carmen is explicitly chicana.

Exhibit B:

DO YA’LL REMEMBER THE ABSOLUTE SHENANIGANS SURROUNDING PAPI ON THE L WORD? Besides the plot stupidity, Eva “Papi” Torres, another explicitly chicana character, is played by Janina Gavankar, who is Indian/Dutch.

And now we have Florianna “straight shot of European” Lima cast in a similar position, where white creators say, ah look, tan skin and dark hair, close enough! Yay, we did diversity!

All three of these characters are (apparently) framed as WOC, so Sanvers counts, but those of us paying close attention should have a pretty sour taste in our mouths about it. I mean, Melonie Diaz is an actual Latinx (Puerto Rican) actress and has been out here playing wlw characters for YEARS, and crickets on the tumblrs about her playing an openly lesbian-identified character on Charmed 🧐

But none of these characters (as far as I can remember, correct me if I’m wrong), including Sam Arias and Andrea Rojas, ever identify themselves outside of a nationality-associated ethnicity. Mexican. Colombian. Puerto Rican. These are not races.

Maybe Maggie Sawyer identifies as mestizo or Indigenous/Latina and maybe Sam identifies as white, with Hispanic/Latina ethnicity. Like you said, Odette’s certainly white-passing, but I am not here to say what her racial identity is, for her, because she is Colombian by heritage. That’s also not something we can say for the characters, canonically speaking, and honestly I dunno how that conversation would occur organically in-show without a prompting incident? Or more detailed heritage info, I suppose.

Another example of how personal this can be: I know two Filipino siblings from work, and in conversations with them, I learned that the sister identifies as Asian & Pacific Islander, and the brother identifies exclusively as Pacific Islander. So the brother would not consider himself the same race as Vietnamese or Chinese people, even though most wypipo lump all of us together on a personal and structural level.

And to swing allllll the way back to fandom... People can try justify it all they want about “chemistry” or whatever, but TIME after TIME, women of color, and ESPECIALLY BLACK WOMEN, are treated like minor annoyances by white fandom.

People are just never going to convince me that someone can ship Sanvers, AgentReign, and AgentCorp (a combo of these in the SG fansom doesn’t seem uncommon) but Dansen and Danolsen “lack chemistry” for any reason other than subconscious racial bias ya’ll refuse to address within yourselves 🤷🏻‍♂️

Also, keep in mind this is a big picture problem throughout CW show fandoms, not just SG’s specific Alex pairings. Black Lightning is the best show on CW and my Sunday night feed is full of people complaining about how terrible SG is... ya’ll won’t even give it a chance 😤

This exercise bears repeating:

[coefore]

Hi, hello, I know you may not necessarily do a lot with TFP, but looking through your SG ask answer talking about your interpretation of SG TFP, I just wanna say I’d die to see anymore notes you may have on that take if you’re comfortable with that. Also I’m really loving your art and fic of Vaporwave’s story! Thank you for your time and efforts, have a good night!

Oh! You mean the little story I wrote in the ask? 

Well, for what it counts, I guess my interpretation of a creepier-god like sg tfp op is maybe unique? Like, I haven’t seen that interpretation around, but I found it so fascinating. Optimus ends up being emotion-less, focusing all his energies to make Cybertron the wondrous place the Matrix tells him it should be! Emotions are for pitiful living bots, he’s a god! 

I love the idea that Megatron’s arc would basically be creating the decepticons just to try to reach Optimus (or, Optronix)’s spark and free him from the curse of the Matrix. The interesting factor would be that Optronix is fully aware of what his body is doing, he’s seen the awful things he has done, but has no control over it. Whatsoever. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Granted that this Optronix was a war strategist, so he’s not really untrained to mental strains... but you know, this is something different. A high level of dissociation of the self. 

For the romance part: just imagine the friends to “literally my boyfriend turned into an Ancient Demonic Creature but I actually don’t know his true self has no say in it so I’m crushed by what he’s become and think there’s no redeeming for him”. I mean there’s a happy ending somewhere. 

AND THANK YOU!!!! I should get back to writing. I swear I stopped living at the end of June and didn’t do shit for even my own stories. :/// I wrote like 10 pages for chapter two and I’m really interested in showing everyone who our other protagonist (Mirrorshade/Cyberpunk)... truly was ahahaha 

Thank you for the support. I hope it was a good reply for you. :)

[littlesparklight]

please tell us about your clffjumper/sg ships

My ships!! For Cliffjumper in SG I CAN DEFINITELY DO THAT.

In no particular order other than that the last one will probably be longest and come with some images and thus take the most space:

Starscream/CliffjumperI mean, how could I not? This is basically a little like a variation on Mirage/Cliffjumper in regular continuities, with Starscream reining Cliffjumper in as needed and Cliffjumper able to give the giant nerd a push when needed. He’s basically Starscream’s second in command while they’re on Earth, and the way they work together is great. Cliffjumper’s awkwardness about Starscream, because well, Starscream, except this is not Starscream as he’s used to and this nerd is nice and kind and compassionate! (too nice, these idiots need Cliffjumper around). Like, I have to point out that Cliffjumper in SG comes from Classics, which is an offshoot of the old Marvel comics and in those, Cliffjumper is one of the cybertronians (both Autobots and Decepticons) killed by an Underbase-powered Starscream (this, guys, is where Cliffjumper constantly dying come from. The original G1 Marvel comics did it first, and then many other creators can apparently not figure out how to use Cliffjumper other than killing him off, as an intentional homage or because they’re incompetent, who knows). So you have that background against this Starscream being… well, nice, and genuinely appreciating Cliffjumper (while being kind of worried about his zeal for fighting).

Sideswipe/CliffjumperThis is more because their situations is kind of similar, if from different angles. Cliffjumper is with the ‘Cons because they’re the ones sharing his ideals etc, Sideswipe is with the ‘Cons both by choice and forced circumstance, having turned traitor because he started Disagreeing with Optimus (mind, there’s some pointers still from the prose stories that Sideswipe is still pretty vicious). So they’re both “Autobots”, and both “know” each other, and Cliffjumper is probably both comfortable and on edge with Sideswipe because he is familiar and similar to his positive-polarity alternate… which would just make the differences when they crop up all the more jarring. Same probably goes for Sideswipe.

Mirage/CliffjumperThis… isn’t from anything in canon, because Mirage’s only appearance is a kind of jokey short comic, but the idea of it, since I ship them elsewhere, makes me want this, and some badtouching. :v

Optimus/CliffjumperNow this… Like, for anyone who hasn’t read the original comic, I don’t think you quite understand how much they build up the apparent relationship between SG!Cliffjimper and SG!OP; Hot Rod, Megatron, Sideswipe all call Cliffjumper some variation of one of Optimus’ favourites, Optimus himself is downright delighted to see Cliffjumper “alive” again, and explicitly says the only reason he didn’t kill him when Cliffjumper opens his big gob is because of how important he was/is to Optimus.

Like. Look at him! So happy! (Also SG!Cliffjumper being a sharpshooter… our Cliffjumper explicitly picks up a sniper rifle at some point during his stay, I imagine he didn’t want to be bad at something his alternate could do.)

See that? I mean, I would have preferred “I’ll keep you and teach you your error” but hey that’s what fanfic is for.

~possibly his most trusted friend and ally~

I am basically always here for terrible power dynamics and “YOU WERE IMPORTANT TO ME so now I’ll make sure you stay where you should” shit, and since Optimus’ reflexive attempt at killing Cliffjumper at the end of the original comic if course fails, there’s so much material to play with and where to take things after.

I AM SO ALONE HERE IN MY NEED FOR TERRIBLE THINGS boo hoo.

I hope you enjoyed my word vomit.

[bitegore]

Okay. Let’s see... Optimus, Arcee, Rattrap?

already did IDW Optimus, so now, for my favorite, TFA Optimus ,because why not

TFA Optimus Prime

How I feel about this character

Help Him Please Why Is Every Single Authority Figure Garbage

He’s Not Supposed To be Dealing With This

He’s Not The Authority

Sentinel You’re Trash Now Go Help Him

Please

Someone

This Is Bullshit and Unfair To Boot

anyway i love TFA OP, but like, jegus, help him, he needs Help, not more of this like,,,,,,,,, “we don’t believe you. don’t be a hero” thing. 

every other optimus had an army behind him; this optimus has a ninja, a repairman, Bee, an angry old man medic, and an eight year old.

also this Optimus won with his ninja, repairman, Bee, angry old man medic, and eight year old. what other optimus managed that? no one, that’s who. This is the most badass Optimus. Despite being Not in charge and Not a “hero”.  

All the people I ship romantically with this character

megatron

megatron

megatron

have i mentioned megatron yet

megatron

ngl tho, TFA Megop is … very good. 

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Optiratch

Optimus and SG!Starscream, listen, i know SG Starscream never showed up but i want it and i can dream

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don’t think I have any off the top of my head but.,,, i mean if i have to think of anything all im coming up with is “optimus prime from tfa’s laugh is so fucking precious,,, i want to Protect him even though he doesn’t need it, i love him” like. nothing else is coming up

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

………..megop

listen my boy op had a decepticon logo on his desk, he had a thing for the old war videos, he recognized megatron immediately, megatron looked and sounded Like That, 

he should have had a crush.

i want that

please if we had to deal with blackarachnia being overly sexual in a threatening manner why cant we get megatron doing the same thing and then optimus just fucking tripping over himself trying to get himself to do something when hes just like, “oh my god, i want to. die. am i dead. is this heaven. is this hell. what is even happening right now oh my god”

listen it would have been so good

it could have been so good

it would have added so much dimension to megatron not remembering optimus’s name too

it would have been so good

yeah and these two are gonna be idw because i know idw better and i don’t like TFA Arcee or TFP Arcee as much as IDW Arcee

Arcee

How I feel about this character

kin

ok not really but, like, you ever have like one or two characters who you relate to REALLY FUCKING HARD? one of mine is megatron and one of mine is arcee and then i mean i have a few others but. h

i know everyone hates the arcee spotlight but like… i relate

im afab nonbinary and she existed for a while in a weird place as being the only one of her gender, and not there of choice, and being pissed about being pushed into it

and like heck, i feel that way about my entire body a lot of the time, and i relate to the gender fuckery

i like that one

also i love her and would die for her and am. big gay for her. swords. on fire. burn me . hhh

All the people I ship romantically with this character

me

elita-one

chromia

prowl (sort of)

solus prime (blame oriflamme)

My non-romantic OTP for this character

arcee and prowl

arcee and bee

arcee and wheeljack

arcee and starscream

My unpopular opinion about this character

i really did like her origin story; there was some fucked up weirdness in it and some transphobic nasty shit and some shit where you could tell the writers really didn’t like women, but i feel like if you cleaned that out it could have been good to other people than me? but like? i liked it. i related to it. 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i wish she would come out of the pages of my comic books and slice me into several pieces with her swords, killing me iinstantly

ok im kidding but like,

i want a five-issue series just following her 

shes so fuckin awesome i love her

Rattrap

How I feel about this character

he’s cool

i don’t have that many feelings about him but i liked what they did with him in TAAO despite hating most of TAAO

All the people I ship romantically with this character

ha. no.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

rattrap and windblade

My unpopular opinion about this character

i don’t have that many opinions about him? i really don’t. i don’t actually have any opinion outside of ‘he did a really good job fucking starscream over and i admire it.’

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i want him to gloat at Starscream and then have Starscream mope at him until Rattrap feels vaguely guilty for reasons of i feel bad for Starscream and i have a thing for characters who feel guilt anyway

[siodium]

(deadpan) hello welcome to subway what can i getcha

i finally got around to editing the photos that i took when i visited the subway museum two weeks ago

found out about the museum through some featured blog post i think?? and i thought it was pretty cool that they had interactive zones and games?? after all museums are usually just a Look But No Touch kind of deal so anything different would be intriguing

but the promise of a Fun Time didn’t completely sell me the idea of going uNTIL i saw the glorious definitely-not-a-footlong subway sandwich plush in their merch section and i knew i had to acquire one for myself

yeahhh something about fast food merch rly appeals to me :// can’t help it

anyway i didn’t wanna go alone so i got G to come with (and conveniently the subway museum was close to the national museum so we could go back to see the exhibition we missed the last time)

in order to get a pair of tickets for the museum we had to spend at least $20 in a single receipt at subway and that was ez game bc G can eat a footlong by himself

usually i’d order just a sandwich but my adventurous spirit prompted me to also get the broccoli and cheese soup

it was mega salty tho :-( curiosity gave me hypertension

.

.

.

i have no idea what this building was meant for before they had the subway museum pop-up

i also was not aware that subway had a chara mascot?? baguette boi

when you first enter the museum you get to do a quiz to learn some neat facts about subway

ngl some of the correct answers were kinda sus to me?? like did you know that the tuna sub is the most popular (can’t rmb if it was worldwide or just in sg)?? i’m the only person i know that orders tuna?? what

the next section was prob my fav bc THERE WAS AN ACTUAL SUBWAY COUNTER FOR PHOTO OPS!!!

too bad they didn’t have fake ingredients to go with the set but i think the kids would have a field day with any loose pieces so maybe it was a good decision not to have any

the lighting isn’t exactly the most flattering and i look like i’m ded inside (honestly?? exuding the perfect amount of energy for a Tired™ f&b staff) bUT I KINDA WANNA MAKE THESE MY LINKEDIN PROFILE PICS LMAO

for some reason there’s a room dedicated to food panda?? the inside was just a stark contrast to the rest of the exhibition

the whole room was bathed in pinkness in an aesthetic kind of way

also reminds me of a game with a black and white bear hmmm

everyone gets a free try at the UFO catcher!! i won a sticker sheet lol

i want to stick the GOT CHA! one on cha

minigames were stationed all around the place and completing each game gives you different subway ingredients (like sauces and breads and meats and veggies)

at the end of the exhibition you can assemble your own custom subway combination with whatever ingredients you collected

on the left is the squeeze-the-sauce game and on the right is the slap-the-dough game

and holy shit i was not expecting a workout session?? my arms were so achy after smacking the buttons and squeezing tubes

there was also a spot-the-difference type of game for meats (i quite like that one bc it’s the least physically exhausting) and a fruit ninja type of game for the veggies

i didn’t know that you had to replay the games to collect all the ingredients bc the rewards were random :-( rnjesus did not give me tuna

ended up picking some ham type of meat and named my subway combination after chi

too bad chi just missed the sebun but wow that’s a lot of sandwiches made

i wanted to continue conquering the minigames to see if i can collect all the ingredients but that plan was scrapped pretty quickly when we saw how crowded the place was getting and how long the queues for the games were

so!! i decided to take another walk around the museum except this time chi and cha will be out to play too~

someone thought chi and cha were part of the display and started taking photos immediately after i left the scene askdkdsalds

idk if i should’ve said anything?? like maybe they just wanted to take a pic of the set bUT they were specifically taking close-ups where chi and cha were so?? i just let them?? chi and cha are cute so why not right??

the final stop: subway exclusive merch store ✨

TARGET ACQUIRED YAY!! it’s my new chair buddy along with my mos burger blanket heheh i’m abusing it well

got a free chocolate chip cookie and coke too~

gonna end the post here!! we went to the off/on exhibition at the national museum next and i took some photos but aaaaa laze!!!! the laziness has me in a chokehold!!!!

anyway if i get around to editing the rest of the pics from that day you will see them...... in due time

[disappointmnet]

kenta japan fanmeeting thread

fanmeeting stages: nayana, sayonara hitori, let’s love again (ost)

first he came out and danced nayana

during pd101 they only ate roasted meat and curry. it was tasty but he eventually got tired of it. the curry only had mushrooms in it

small woojin doesn’t like mushrooms so he only ate curry

when he auditioned for pd101, the staff told him to do a voice imitation so he did doraemon

he did it again for the fans: ta~ke~ko~p~ta~ (pun on doraemon’s original catchphrase) and it was really cute

but the staff didn’t like it lol

during open up: 

while they were eating curry kenta gave daniel and yongguk vegetable nicknames in japanese

daniel: potato yongguk: cucumber

when they saw the onion in the curry everyone said in japanese “tamanegi! tamanegi!” (onion). the way daniel pronounces tamanegi was really cute

during spring day:

i was supposed to be in dance position but i picked spring day. at first i thought i made a bad choice but because of spring day my singing improved and i gained more confidence. it was a good experience.

actually, a lot of trainees picked a different position. like kim donghyun and kwon hyunbin.

kenta keeps imitating hyunbin’s downpour singing and hyunbin keeps telling him not to lol

when he first moved to korea, kenta only knew “hello”, “thank you”, “i want to see”, and “i’m hungry”

during spring day:

before deciding, he talked with boa and said he wanted to go to dance position but for some reason he chose spring day lol

the trainee he became closest with is hong eunki. in C class eunki and insoo taught the nayana choreography. eunki also taught him a lot of korean. kenta wanted to go with him to A class so they practiced until morning and woke up early to practice more.

during open up:

he and eunki got to practice together again. we talked about practicing hard in C class in front of the camera. during C class we barely even appeared on broadcast but this time we asked if we could at least appear in the behind scenes but we didn’t even get that.

kenta said from now on you don’t have to watch his old videos anymore lmao

if he had stayed in japan he thinks he would have worked at a cafe. he’s worked at a cafe before as a part-time job and learned latte art. he also had a part-time job in a cafe in korea. his pay was 6000 won

from a male fan:

i like kenta very very very much but you can understand me right??

kenta: i understand!! i was also a male fan so i also know how you want to root for them!

during be mine:

when i got 1st place and 6th place overall i anticipated seeing myself on broadcast and watched the episode with my office staff but i was the only one who never appeared and it surprised us

he asked an overseas fan “where are you from?” and it was really cute 

he talks a lot with teentop’s ricky. they’re on a program together so they meet each other a lot

near the end there was a surprise. seokhoon appeared on a video. he said that kenta is such a kind, polite, hardworking person. he’s watching over kenta’s growth through sns. SG Wannabe (his group) is expected to perform in japan so he also promoted them lol

he said he wanted kenta to promote his show and that’s why he sent this video lol. he wants kenta to also take a video and send it to him when SG Wannabe performs 

after singing let’s love again kenta talked to the korean fans a bit and got nervous because he was paying attention to his pronunciation

MC: i was worried about what if kenta changed his nose or eyes~~ (through surgery)

kenta: actually i want to try it!

fans: !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? 

kenta: but if i do it now i would look completely different so i won’t haha

during pd101 kenta wanted to trend his ‘kenta clap’ (op: probably this) so he did it a lot but only jisung’s was shown

when he was talking about dorms he forgot the word for ‘building’ in japanese so he just called it a ward lol

whenever he drank water he asked “is it okay if i drink water??” in advance (op’s comment: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ drink a lot of water kenta ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜ)

when he saw the lightsticks kenta said in japanese “pretty! yellow yellow!” it sounds better in korean i swear

during open up:

in kenta and seonho’s room kenta, seonho, youngmin, and daniel talked about ghosts. youngmin went out because he wouldn’t be able to sleep. seonho also said he was so scared he wouldn’t be able to sleep~what do i do hyung~~ but he ended up falling asleep right away lol

there was a fan from tochigi prefecture so kenta said “tochigi! next to gunma!” (gunma prefecture is his birthplace)

last ment:

a year ago i didn’t even know how things would turn out so coming to japan and seeing everyone was something i never imagined. being able to meet like this now was all because of you guys and i’m so thankful. i feel like i haven’t started yet. from now on i’ll think of this as my start and work even harder. i would be thankful if everyone kept watching over me and kept cheering for me. thank you.

trans cr. kentalent

[bloojayoolie]

Being Alone, Apparently, and Bad: reddit police and the kids' father. (who was a police officer) he apologizes a lot for his wife. They apparently were going through a really messy divorce and fighting for custody of the kids. Apparently, she's abusive Towards SG. My mom later told me the whole time during the trial of the mom she was trying to get her fired and accused her of making stories up about her. But it came out that the house she was staying at with her boyfriend (where her kids stayed while they were with her) was cooking meth in the basement. she was Charged with Child endangerment, Drug trafficking, Theft, attempted theft, and Child abuse. (i don't know how long she got) Edit: I was told I should post this here. So I didn't really think it would fit but I thought I would give it a try Edit 2: l'm done responding to people in the comments people are just starting to be assholes. If you have a question DM me Edit 3: You win.... l'm sorry to everyone that likes my posts and has been giving me kind words I really do appreciate it. You all are the reason I'm not just deleting theses post right now. But I can't deal with the hate anymore so I'm going to stop posting stories. (At least for a while.) I'm sorry Share 693 ↑ 7.8k Write a comment You are viewing a single comment's thread.View the rest of the comments 5h Yall, this is so obviously fake and OP is so obviously making this stuff up. Check her post history. She has 3 of these stories, all of which are just as ridiculous and have large inconsistencies. In this story, she claims to also have epilepsy and a panic disorder that is so bad that it can trigger seizures and heart attacks. l'm not a doctor, but that's not how stuff works. At least Google the disorders you are claiming to have. A mute epileptic with a severe panic disorder and a heart condition is rare enough, but I doubt someone with such severe health issues could consistently hold down a job at a fast-paced fast food restaurant In this one, some random guy takes offense to her service dog, for no reason, then just randomly physically assaults what he thinks is a child (OP is weirdly fixated on mentioning how small and tiny and young she looks) also for no reason, then her dog attacks him and then he calls the police on her. Has anyone actually even read this current story? It's even faker than the 2 prior ones. Who is buying this? This story isn't even a good attempt. None of that is how the criminal justice system works. Having a district attorney on a case trying a defendant who was previously arrested for assaulting the daughter of said DA is a huge ethics issue, just for starters. Literally a few episodes of Law and Order would tell you that this is all garbage In all 3 of these incredibly similar stories, the crazy people have kids, approach her as she is sitting in a McDonald's for absolutely no reason, refuse to understand she is mute, verbally and physically assault her for absolutely no reason, try to steal her laptop (seriously, in all 3 stories they specifically try to steal this one laptop), and then call the cops on her who end up arresting them instead. One story, maybe but 3 stories, all with almost the exact same plot? Fake, fake, fake. This is self FanFiction written by a child who wants attention. Why are so many people buying any of this? The dialogue alone should be a huge indictator that it's incredibly fake. Nobody talks like that and nobody reacts the way these fake characters react, except in FanFictions where everyone is out to get the main character despite how clearly innocent and perfect she is Also, what's up with all the comments on hentai and futanari, OP? That's a huge dead giveaway that this is a fake account, 99% of people have enough sense not to have face pics, extremely identifiable personal anecdotes and even photos of their dog on the same account they comment on porn with 62 3h The dog pics are stolen from someone's blog from 2010. It shows up flipped in reverse image search https://ift.tt/2BSwXs7 Straight up r/quityourbullshit material 1 39 Redditor posts well-written fake story on ProRevenge, gets called out for glaring inconsistencies in story.

[benrleeusa]

[Ilya Somin] Will Supreme Court Reargument of the Knick Takings Case Come Down to the Federal Government's "Klingon Forehead" Argument?

The Supreme Court has ordered reargument in a crucial property rights case. The outcome could hinge on an extremely dubious theory put forward in an amicus brief by the federal government.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Knick v. Township of Scott, an important Fifth Amendment takings case concerning whether property owners can bring regulatory and "inverse condemnation" takings cases in federal court, as opposed to having to go through state court. In Knick, the Court will decide whether to overrule or limit Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, a 1985 decision that makes it virtually impossible to bring many types of takings cases in federal court. Williamson County creates a Catch 22 for property owners, under which they cannot file a takings case in federal court until they have first secured a "final decision" from the relevant state regulatory agency and has "exhausted" all possible remedies in state court; but then, the very act of first going to state court precludes a later appeal to a federal court. I explained the issues at stake in the case in a Wall Street Journal op ed, and more fully here and in an amicus brief I coauthored on behalf of the Cato Institute, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Southeastern Legal Foundation, the Beacon Center of Tennessee, the Reason Foundation (which publishes Reason magazine and this website), and myself.

Like other cases the Court considered during the first week of its sitting, there were only eight justices on the bench, because Justice Brett Kavanaugh's nomination was still held up in the Senate in order to give time for the FBI to investigate sexual assault allegations against him. Ultimately, however, Kavanaugh was confirmed by a narrow margin. And on November 2, the Supreme Court issued an order that Knick is to be reargued before the full nine-justice Court.

The order could well have been issued because the eight justices who heard the original oral argument are split 4-4. After the argument, I thought there might be a 5-3 split, with Justice Elena Kagan siding with the four conservatives in support of the property owner. But it's entirely possible I got this wrong. Alternatively, there might not be a 4-4 split on the result, but there is a division on the rationale that Kavanaugh could help clarify. Whatever the reason for the reargument, Kavanaugh will now get to participate in the case, and the result could well hinge on his vote.

What Kavanaugh might do is hard to predict. He has virtually no previous record on takings or other constitutional property rights cases, so no one really knows where he stands on these issues. Takings cases often split the Court along right-left ideological lines. As a conservative, Kavanaugh might therefore be expected to vote for the property owners here. But other conservative justices have broken ranks on takings cases in the past, and we cannot ignore the possibility that Kavanaugh might do so, especially in a case where a decision in favor of the property owner might require overruling or severely limiting a 33-year old precedent. At the very least, Kavanaugh's replacement of Justice Anthony Kennedy creates greater uncertainty for the property rights side in this case, since Kennedy was one of four justices who joined a 2005 concurring opinion urging the Court to consider overruling Williamson County. He would likely have voted to get rid of it in this case had he stayed on the Court.

The Supreme Court's order setting the case for reargument also ordered the parties to file supplementary "letter briefs" addressing some specific issues raised in the oral argument and the property owner's brief. The nature of these issues is not easy to figure out, since the Order refers merely to specific page numbers in the oral argument transcript and the brief. At the Inverse Condemnation blog, prominent takings lawyer Robert Thomas plausibly suggests that these might be references to a dubious argument offered not by the parties, but by the Solicitor General in an amicus brief for the federal government.

The Solicitor General's argument attracted only brief attention in the original oral argument. But it's possible some of the justices now want to take a closer look at it, perhaps as a strategy for building a broader consensus on the Court - and a way to mitigate the Catch 22 aspect of Williamson County without overruling that precedent completely.

What is the SG's argument? Frankly, it doesn't make much sense to me (or to most other commentators). The standard interpretation of Williamson County is that a property owner cannot bring in federal court a takings claim alleging that a state or local government has taken his property without paying the "just compensation" required by the Fifth Amendment unless he has first "exhausted" all possible state court options. As the theory goes, the state has not really denied pay compensation until that happens. The solicitor general, however, argues that this constraint only applies to cases brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (a federal statue authorizing law suits for violations of constitutional rights), but not ones brought to federal court under 28 USC § 1331, the law giving federal courts jurisdiction over "all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." Robert Thomas gives the best explanation of this argument I have seen, including a helpful analogy to Star Trek producers' dubious efforts to "retcon" the evolution of Klingon foreheads:

Retroactive continuity -- or "retconning" -- is, according to that authoritative source Wikipedia, a "literary device in which established facts in a fictional work are adjusted, ignored, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which breaks continuity."

For example, compare the real-world explanation for why the 1960's Star Trek show's Klingons didn't have butt heads, but the later-produced shows and movies did. The real-world reason was that the TV show had a bare-bones budget, so couldn't afford the required intricate make-up. The later-produced stuff, having larger budgets, could. But to those concerned with an in-universe explanation that had to line up with the production realities, it turned out to be a big source of contention. Fandom as well as the later shows' writers struggled to come up with a narrative that accounted for both Klingons with butt heads, and those without.

Sorry for the impossibly nerdy detour, but that's what the Solicitor General's argument in Knick v. Township of Scott reminded us of....

And now having gone back and reviewed the SG's difficult-to-comprehend argument, we are reminded of retconning. Because it seems to reach back and question the "continuity" of what were, we thought, "established facts."

Recall that in Williamson County, it was the SG's amicus brief that raised the whole ripeness argument. Neither party did. Read the Brief Amicus Curiae of Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association in Knick for the details on how the argument was first raised in Williamson County by the SG's brief, as a substantive requirement under the Fifth Amendment. There's been no constitutional wrong, the brief argued, until the state or local government has denied compensation. We disagree with the rationale, but we get the logic.

Flash forward three decades, and you have the SG now coming in on the side of the property owner to argue that federal court is an option in Fifth Amendment takings cases. Other than saying "whoops, we were wrong," how was the SG going to frame the government's argument? Retconning, that's how....

First, we think the goal of the SG's brief was to both come in on the side of property owners, while at the same time preserving the rule that compensation need not be provided contemporaneous with a taking, provided there are reasonable, certain, and adequate means to secure compensation after the taking. That rule, after all, allows quick takings and statutory takings, and forces property owners alleging an inverse condemnation or regulatory taking against the federal government to pursue compensation in the Court of Federal Claims in most instances. Above all else, the SG wants to preserve that line of decisions.

[T]he only way to do that was in a way that didn't undermine the Williamson County rationale first advanced by the SG's amicus was to retcon a new theory. And while it took no less that four reads of the SG's brief, here's our best summary of that retroactive continuity theory:

Williamson County was only a ruling that under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 a "takings" claim isn't ready for federal court and there's no federal constitutional violation until the state has both taken property, and refused to pay compensation.

Consequently, a takings claim does not trigger a § 1983 claim until the state has denied compensation, because any constitutional violation isn't complete until the state has denied compensation. Thus, the Court need not overrule Williamson County. You still must pursue compensation in state court via a state law inverse condemnation claim and lose it, before you can even state a ripe claim under §1983.

But (and there's always a "but," isn't there?) an inverse condemnation claim in state court to get compensation under state law is not a § 1983 claim, but independently implicates a substantial federal question.... And thus, federal jurisdiction may be invoked independently of whether there's been a federal constitutional violation, or a ripe cause of action under § 1983. (Knick's Reply Brief (page 4, n.5) rightly refers to this as a "puzzling" argument.)

The embedded takings question is a "federal interest in a state claim" (our characterization, not the SG's) and that is enough to trigger federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (arising under jurisdiction).

There's a certain cleverness to this argument. If it works, it allows property owners to bring many takings cases in federal court, but also allows the federal government to take property without having to pay for it immediately (the main motivation for the SG's intervention, most likely), and enables the Supreme Court to eliminate a ridiculous Catch 22 created by Williamson County without having to actually overrule that decision. But ultimately, it is no more persuasive than the Star Trek producers' heroic but nonetheless ridiculous efforts to come up with an in-universe explanation of the variation in Klingon foreheads.

There are two obvious flaws in the SG's argument. First, nothing in Williamson County indicates that its logic does not apply to cases brought under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Second, and much more importantly, Section 1331 only gives federal courts jurisdiction over "civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." But the whole point of Williamson County is that there is no action "arising under" the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, until the government has refused to pay compensation, and there is no sufficiently definitive refusal until the property owner has "exhausted" all possible state court remedies. For reasons I summarized here, here and in an amicus brief in Knick, I think this theory is badly wrong, and at odds with the way the Supreme Court treats other constitutional rights claims, where no such "exhaustion" of state court remedies is required. The Takings Clause is violated from the moment the government seizes property without paying for it, not the moment when a state court reaches a decision on the issue. As Chief Justice John Roberts noted in the earlier oral argument, "the compensation that is due runs from the moment of the taking... In other words, if it takes you six months to adjudicate the -- the claim and you say, well, this is how much you owe, you owe interest going all the way back to the point at which the property was taken." But if the reasoning of Williamson County is correct, the theory precludes Section 1331 claims no less than Section 1983 claims.

The SG's theory might be a lesser evil compared to just reaffirming the traditional interpretation of Williamson County. It would significantly reduce the harm done by that precedent, though at the cost of making it even more incoherent than it already is. But it would be better still if the Supreme Court relied on Vulcan logic rather than Klingon forehead retconning. As a Vulcan philosopher put it, "[l]ogic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." Logic says that Williamson County is just plain wrong, and should be gotten rid of, not "retconned."