#are we gonna have a civil war fandom next

[especiallyhaytham]

The implication that an American Revolution fandom exists (throwing up @ that), and it's actually a different thing from being a history buff is something that's confusing in concept and terrifying in practice.

[everythingisround]

I think a lot of people who aren’t in the raggedy fandom or are just getting into the fandom may be a bit confused why so many of us headcanon Raggedy Andy as trans, so I decided to compile all the more heavily transcoded traits from across adaptations that fans use to justify their headcanons, plus some stuff I noticed on my own that I decided to add here.

Please note that I am in no way saying that trans/gnc headcanons NEED ‘evidence’ to be considered valid, or that Johnny Gruelle himself created Raggedy Andy with a trans man in mind. I just thought it would be helpful to have a little database of sorts for those who are first encountering this headcanon, and just in general to bounce ideas around that some may find representative of themselves and their experiences. Also, I’m trans, so I’m gonna make every male character in fiction trans too :p

I present to you… Trans Raggedy Andy™️

starting off with his design, andy has eyelashes, a trait commonly associated with female characters. note how other male dolls like clem, henny, and cleety the clown do not have this trait. (clem does have eyelashes in some illustrations, but their design is already EXTREMELY inconsistent lol)

andy’s hair in the early illustrations and dolls is very choppy and uneven, implying that he may have cut it himself. you could make the argument that ann or bessie (andy’s original owner) cut his hair for him, but let’s be honest, it probably would’ve looked a lot more neat and well layered than his current hairdo lmao

andy's arms are very large and disproportionate compared to ann's, which are very slim and feminine. perhaps andy stuffed them himself to give the illusion of muscles?

on the topic of andy's arms, in the books and some of the dolls and animated adaptations, his arm fabric is white, just like ann's. this isn't an issue at a glance; it was mostly likely an homage to ann and andy's design inspiration of scarecrows and clowns, which both typically wear gloves (moreso clowns with their signature white gloves). however, if we assume that raggedy ann stories takes place in 1918 (as that was the year it was published), and the beginning introduction states that ann is physically 59 years old, with andy being sewn a day or two afterwards according to raggedy andy stories, then both ann and andy were sewn in 1859. thing is, andy's outfit is sort of a mismash of contemporary fisherman/sailor attire, and fishermen/sailors didn't typically wear gloves back in those days, and even today. however, plenty of women, especially those of higher classes, wore gloves as a sign of neatness and status. granted, ann's attire seems to be more rural, but if, say, you were a working class woman in the mid 19th century, chances are you'd wear gloves at least some point. or maybe marcella's great-grandma/bessie's mom just used whatever scraps of fabric they had :shrug:

compared to ann's clothes, andy's clothes are a lot more modern (at least for the time period) and put together, with buttons and bowties galore. sure, bessie's mom could've just had those trinkets lying around, but considering the letter at the start of raggedy andy stories states that bessie and marcella's grandma lived next door with no fence, they were most likely lower class. personally, i like the idea of that ann made andy's current clothes herself :) maybe, with the civil war in america going on around the same time, ann might've based his clothes off of some of the sailors from that time...

in many of the adaptations, most notably the 1977 movie and the 1986 broadway musical, andy's arc usually revolves around him trying to prove himself, mostly by asserting himself to be as masculine as possible. one could argue that this is just a classic case of toxic masculinity, and while that could be a byproduct of his behavior, we do see him show sympathy and compassion for others, especially his sister. this indicates, to me at least, that andy's yearning to break away from others' expectations of him and be the strong, tough, and terrific boy he is is an internal conflict rather than an external one.

ill admit this is a bit more farfetched, but andy's voice does kinda sound like someone going through hrt, where the voice is in that awkward state of sounding more like a teenage boy as it slowly deepens with increased doses. (note that i havent gone on hrt yet; im mostly basing this off some of the things that my friend who has been through hrt has relayed onto me) if you listen to the 1977 movie, 1986 musical, and even the chuck jones specials, andy's voice definitely gives off that vibe (at least to me). then again, that may just be a result of the rag dolls being ageless, or the writers not knowing whether they wants the dolls to be minors or adults.

no girl's toy. yeah.

finally, ann and andy look basically identical, especially looking at them from the back view. heck, you can't even tell some of the dolls apart without their clothes on. this most likely indicates that bessie specifically wanted a doll that looked like marcella's grandma's, so that they could play with them as sisters and all that. it's also more common for kids with toys that share the same gender as them (though not all the time, of course), and boy dolls were almost always love interests for the girl dolls back then. even in the raggedy andy stories letter from earlier, johnny's mom (who, considering marcella was directly based off of johnny's own daughter, is most likely marcella's grandma in this context) even states that andy would sometimes be dressed in girl clothes when she and bessie wanted him to be ann's sister on that particular day. while that definitely makes me feel bad for andy if this is after his transition, marcella's grandma is also an old lady at this point, so it's very possible she could be misremembering, or perhaps she didn't want to confuse her son by saying her friend's girl doll magically turned into a boy doll one day. trans people were almost unheard of back then, after all, even though the concept of being trans has existed for thousands of years.

yup. that's the tea. this ended up being WAY longer than i originally intended, so i apologize for that... hopefully ive explained myself the best i could. tldr; raggedy andy has been trans since forever im sorry :(

[areyoudreaminof]

Dreams That Answer: A Feysand Playlist

Happy @officialfeysandweek2023! Day 1!

Would any of us be here were it not for Feysand? Would we be goofing around in this fandom if we didn’t love Feyre from the moment she took down the wolf? Would we be such simps if we hadn’t ever read, “Hello Feyre, darling.”? I love them. I love their journey and their growth. I love their blunders and mistakes. The very best kind of epic love story is the one that takes the most time and struggle, but defies all odds. Feyre and Rhys forever, baby! This is especially dedicated to the queen of all Feysand's @the-lonelybarricade.

If my initial character playlists for Feyre and Rhysand represent them as individuals before they meet each other, this playlist is when they come together. I wanted to show their strong bond and love for one another. So LISTEN HERE, and come on behind the cut for lyrics!

After Hours-The Weeknd

Thought I almost died in my dream again Fightin' for my life, I couldn't breathe again I'm fallin' in too deep Without you, I can't sleep 'Cause my heart belongs to you I'll risk it all for you I want you next to me This time, I'll never leave

Arabesque-Coldplay

I could be you, you could be me Two raindrops in the same sea You could be me, I could be you Two angles of the same view And we share the same blood

Holiest-Glass Animals & Tei Shi

Climb until you're getting high Be a part of the scene like you're living your dream Walk the room like you're on fire Like your chasing the truth, gripping tight to your youth

But you're the holiest thing I know Yes, you're the holiest thing, holiest thing I know

Eavesdrop-The Civil Wars

Let’s let the stars watch, let them stare Let the wind eavesdrop, I don’t care For all that we’ve got, don’t let go Just hold me I can’t pull you closer than this It’s just you and the moon on my skin Oh, who says it ever has to end?

Fade Into You-Mazzy Star

I wanna take the breath that's true I look to you and I see nothing I look to you to see the truth You live your life, you go in shadows You'll come apart and you'll go blind Some kind of night into your darkness Colored your eyes with what's not there

Night Terror-Laura Marling

If I look back and he is screaming I'd left him dreaming; a dangerous feat And I'll run back and shake him tightly And scream, "If they want him, oh, they're gonna have to fight me Oh, fight me"

Starry Eyed-Ellie Goulding

So we burst into colors, colors and carousels Fall head first like paper planes and playground games

Next thing, we're touching You look at me, it's like you hit me with lightning Oh, everybody's starry-eyed And everybody glows

Empire-Of Monsters and Men

I find comfort in the sound and the shape of the heart How it echoes through the chest from under the ground As the hills turn into holes, I fill them with gold Heavy stones fear no weather And from the rain Comes a river running wild that will create An empire for you Illuminate There's a river running wild that will create An empire for you

But You-Alexandra Savior

Speak soft, speak slight now, honey It feels a little empty in the night now, honey Drift back, drift right down on me I know that you can feel it 'Cause nobody else can heal it but you

Hold Back The River-James Bay

Lonely water, lonely water won't you let us wander? Let us hold each other Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes Hold back the river so I Can stop for a minute and be by your side Hold back the river, hold back

Only In My Dreams-The Maria's

Baby stay here The whispers in the trees Are getting near You're everything I need To bare this fear The demons in my bed They're always here It's only just a dream

Lips-Marian Hill

Overwhelmed, hazy eyes Staring at tinted skies And I like, what we do Running wild, just us two

Can't Deny My Love-Brandon Flowers

What's going on in your head now? Maybe something I said? I know that you've been living in the past

Locked up in your room is there any room for me? In the spoils of your mercy In the reverence of your bed In the cradle of the morning What was it that you said?

telepatia-Kali Uchis (please note, much of this song is in Spanish)

You know that I can see right through you I can read your mind, I can read your mind What you wanna do? It's written all over your face, times two 'Cause I can read your mind, I can read your mind I can hear your thoughts like a melody

Wild Green-Foals

Spring is on its way now, lilac April rain Mayfly spreads its wings at the end of a day Let me fold myself in the corner of a day Never leave, never leave, let me stay Let me lay my head down, let me while away Holding back the hours, I'll keep them all at bay Let me fold myself in the corner of a day Before the rain comes and washes us away

Sea of Love-Cat Power

Come with me, my love To the sea The sea of love I want to tell you How much I love you

Ultralife-Oh Wonder

Days passed slowly, lost and low You gave me hope and now there's only Blood running in my veins I've never been here before And I got love falling like the rain I never could've asked for more I got so much soul inside my bones Take a look at me now I'm young, forever in the sun

Cosmic Love-Florence + the Machine

I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map And knew that somehow I could find my way back Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too So I stayed in the darkness with you

taglist: @wilde-knight @c-e-d-dreamer @climb-the-mountian @damedechance @eyllweambassador @gaeleria @itsthedoodle @kataravimes-of-the-shire @krem-does-stuff @kingofsummer93 @lidiacervos @labellefleur-sauvage @lucienarcheron @octobers-veryown @popjunkie42-blog @reverie-tales @rosanna-writer @spell-cleavers @separatist-apologist @thesistersarcheron @ultadverb @asnowfern @ablogofsapphicpanic @vulpes-fennec @velidewrites @melting-houses-of-gold @wittyrejoinder @bagelfyre @xtaketwox @brieq @thelovelymadone

[cringecompanionapologist]

Turlough Tales 2: Planet of Fire

I've marked this as a sequel to make it clear that there's an original out there for people to seek out if they need context for these.

I realize that this whole thing is a bit weird. Before the internet, fanzines were where fanfic was published, so these stories from a fanzine really should be on the same level as something posted on Ao3, but it feels different. Magazines are published. Stories have to be approved by an editor, and people pay for the magazine. (in theory, anyway. I'm getting these from archive.org). It makes fanzine fanfics feel more "official" than online ones. They went through a "quality control" process my fics don't have to. So, it's tempting to treat these fanzine stories as more like Short Trips, which were published by either the BBC or Big Finish. But, they're not, so I'm analyzing fanworks as if they can be compared to official EU material, because my zillennial brain can't comprehend pre-internet fanfiction. To people who were active in fandom, reading fanzines in 1996, I probably look like a bit of a dumbass.

Anyway...

I probably should've included a cut like this in the last one. Also, this is gonna take a while. I have a lot to talk about here.

Before we start on this next story, there's a quote in the same issue of the magazine that I think is vital to understanding why this exists the way it does. Peter Grimwade, inventor of the Trions, had a take on them different from anything I've seen anywhere else.

So, this story I think is more based on the idea of Trions as a Planet of Lawyers.

You see, in sci-fi, because writing a planet as complex and diverse as Earth, unless it's the only planet depicted in the story, is virtually impossible, alien worlds are often given a single culture that, though it can be explored in more detail, can pretty much be summed up in a single word. The trope that is doing this is called the Planet of Hats. The "hat" being a single concept that defines the culture of the planet that the audience gets to see. Star Trek has done this a fuckton of times, which a Planet of Logic, Planet of Honor Codes, Planet of Capitalism, and Planet of Pure Devotion to the State, to (not) name a few. (This was about Vulcans, Klingons, Ferengi, and Cardassians, if you're a Trekkie but couldn't figure that out lol).

In Doctor Who, with a few exceptions, specific alien worlds aren't often explored for more than one story, so the clear Planet of Hats you see in Star Trek isn't always obvious. Gallifrey can get a certain amount of development, and a few other planets are featured more than once (Skaro, Mondas, and Peladon, to name a few), but you usually don't get full cultures from them, since Daleks and Cybermen are too uniform to really have much of a culture to speak of. Daleks are the "kill everyone" people and Cybermen are the "convert everyone" people. Sontarans are Planet of War though, so that kind of works.

Trion is never even directly visited by the Doctor onscreen, so it gets little development. They had a civil war and Turlough's from there. That's all the show really gives us. This meant EU media could basically do whatever the fuck they wanted with it, as could fan works. However, there were a few more details that popped up early on, and thus became adopted by most people.

A Brief History of Doctor Who EU Nonsense:

Most Doctor Who EU media began during the Wilderness Years, when the show was off the air. There are a few exceptions to this. Doctor Who Magazine started doing comics in around 1980, and the magazine had a semi-official status, so you had proper tie-in comics for the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctors while their episodes were still airing.

Before that, there were annuals, yearly books of comics and short stories. The first one of these was published in 1965 and most of them had virtually nothing to do with the show until the 1980s. In the 1980s, JNT became producer and changed how basically everything worked. One of those changes was taking control of the EU, making sure the people working for more popular magazines and working on annuals and ongoing comic strips had access to enough information to know what was going on in the actual show. The children these things were aimed at earlier were assumed to not care, but Doctor Who in the 80s was marketed less to children and more to people who'd already been watching Doctor Who for at least a decade. The show took on a more serious tone and referenced its continuity more to pander to this new target demographic, and making sure the annuals didn't contradict the show was just a nice little side effect of the change.

This also applies to TV Comic, a comic strip that began in 1964 and was running beside and pretty much completely detached from the show throughout the 60s and 70s. It basically ended when DWM took over Doctor Who comic writing duties.

But, I just wasted your time on a bunch of this that don't matter here, because the only pre-1990 EU relevant to this story are the Target novelizations and a short-lived book series called The Companions of Doctor Who.

Planet of Fire got a novelization, like all classic serials eventually did, but it was one of the lucky ones to get a novelization not long after the episodes aired, written by the same person who wrote said episodes, making the serial and its novelization sort of equally canon to each other, coming from the same brain. The serial aired in 1984 and the novelization came out in 1985.

The novelization added a bit to Turlough's backstory, namely that the civil war was a revolution against the Imperial Clans, a group of families that had ruled the planet before. Turlough's family was one of the Imperial Clans. When the regime was overthrown, surviving members of the clans were either executed or exiled. What the Imperial Clans were beyond "the rulers of Trion" is never elaborated upon.

But, in 1986, someone did. This was the first of a series of spin-off novels called The Companions of Doctor Who, which followed companions after they left the TARDIS. In the end, the series had only three entries, the third of which was a novelization of K9 and Company, a failed spin-off about Sarah Jane and K9. So the only real entries are Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma and Harry Sullivan's War. Harry Sullivan's War had the advantage of being written by Ian Marter, who played Harry and therefore understood the character very well.

Tony Attwood, who wrote Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma, had nothing to do with the show and the both is not well-liked by Turlough fans. As far as I can tell, Attwood did talk to Mark Strickson while writing the novel, but not to Peter Grimwade, which he wasn't happy about. Still, the Imperial Clans from the novelization were included in The Earthlink Dilemma, portrayed as a sort of caste of scientists that ruled Trion for millennia, while mostly allowing the commoners to do their own thing. A lot of work is done to make the Imperial Clans seem good and make the leader of the revolution a terrible person who basically led a Reign of Terror (her name is Thatcher spelled backwards!!!).

This means that when Trion is given a Planet of Hats effect, they're more often a Planet of Scientists than a Planet of Lawyers. Turlough is proud of Trion scientific achievements and, when he returns to Trion, welcomed back as a hero and offered political power in the democratic government, he instead decides to be an astrophysicist. He just wanted to be a scientist this whole time. It's actually a pretty interesting take on the character, which is why it tends to stick around.

But, this story in this fanzine (remember that that's what this post was supposed to be about?) really leans into the Planet of Lawyers aspect and offers an alternate ending.

You can tell it's not canon because Vizlov. Not Vislor, nor Vizlor, but Vizlov. Oops.

Anyway, you can see that this version of Turlough was apparently charged with treason for rebelling against the government, instead of being part of the regime that was rebelled against. Said government is referred to as New Trion though, which muddies the waters.

Turlough's exile has a different purpose here. The Trions are basically trying to gain legal control of Earth and Turlough's exile was intended to have him eventually participate in that plan, as well as training in "primitive systems" as a sort of character-building exercise.

It seems that Turlough was blamed for the destruction of Sarn, because the Trions had no idea about the Master or anything else that was going on there. They thought Turlough, after escaping Earth, deliberately destroyed Sarn for Reasons. The exact charges:

He did escape his exile on Earth.

"Consorting with undesirable aliens" is an interesting one. Since Trions are actively involved on Earth, I don't think this would mean humans. This might mean the Doctor? Other EU works reveal that the Time Lords colonized Trion, so there might be a conflict there.

He's also seen as being involved in overthrowing the religious regime on Sarn, which is apparently protected in some way. Sarn is also considered government property that Turlough destroyed because, once again, the Trions don't know what actually happened and have no interest in listening to Turlough.

The Trions also have no way of knowing about Tegan, since she'd already left by Planet of Fire, but this bit is funny.

Turlough had been lured to Trion under false pretenses, expecting not to be immediately arrested again. There's some Lawyer Speak: You won't be persecuted for his previous crimes, but they will persecute him for new ones. Also Lomand has taken credit for Turlough's heroics. The bastard. Also, apparently political criminals don't exist because the motivation of the crimes do not matter...

Though, this story, like The Earthlink Dilemma, doesn't say what happens to Malkon in all this.

He can't prove the existence of the Guardians. Though, when it comes to his departure from Earth, Turlough is actually being dishonest here. He chose to go with the Doctor and was obviously desperate to escape Earth, so he is actually guilty on that one.

Also, Turlough encountered Tractators, which is enough to justify exile, because existing in the same space as Tractators threatens Trion? Because it's an infection? Maybe they're the "undesirable aliens"...

So, instead of going back to Brendon, he's now basically an intern to the lawyer who'd been handling his case, possibly to once again participate in the legal conquest of Earth they've got going.

We end on a sort of Where Are They Now? where we learn how Turlough's doing in 1996 (present day when the zine was published).

"Doctors have been manipulating him all his life" Ouch...

He definitely has reason to feel abandoned by the Doctor here. The Doctor didn't exactly check to confirm that Turlough was actually going home as a hero and not being lured into a trap. Perhaps the Doctor could've explained things to the other Trions somehow, or just straight up helped him escape.

So Turlough becomes a lawyer in an army of lawyers from the Planet of Lawyers trying to take over Earth. That's hilarious but also sad.

I still prefer "Returns to Trion as a hero but turns down the spotlight to become an astrophysicist" though.

[all-the-things-2020]

A Year of Fandom Crossovers : January

Title: “I Need a Pilot”

Pedro Character: Frankie “Catfish” Morales

Fandom Crossover: Star Wars

Notes: This is the first entry in my Year of Fandom Crossovers! This one is a straight forward adventures placing Frankie in the Star Wars universe. I took some elements of the plot of Triple Frontier and dumped them onto a planet in a galaxy far, far away. There’s a little Stormpilot thrown in for good measure. Hope you enjoy! Thanks as always to @oonajaeadira for creating the @yearofcreation2023

“I need a pilot.”

Franki sighed. How many times had he heard that line? The young man in front of him seemed earnest and a bit naive, something not often seen in this backwater town. What the hell, he thought.

“How much and how far?”

The man blinked. “Um, I don’t have any credits on me, but …”

Franki shook his head. “I don’t fly for free. I got a kid.” He thought of the baby, just able to sit up on her own now.

“I can get the credits later,” the young man said. There was something urgent and strangely calming in his dark brown eyes. “This is important.” He looked around furtively, then lowered his voice. “I’m with the Resistance. Things went bad and … my pilot is out of commission. I need to get him off planet and to medical assistance right away.”

“I don’t fly off planet,” Franki said, taking a drink of his ale. “I’m a hopper pilot. Ferried troops and supplies for the Takaians during the civil war.” He took another long drink. The war had been his ticket out of this skughole town, or so he’d thought. Instead, it had just broken him and his friends and dumped them right back in Damphi.

“Thanks okay,” the young man said. “We just need to get to our rendezvous point and someone will pick us up. But we can’t get there without help.”

“And your friends can’t land here in Damphi because?”

“Because the place is crawling with First Order after we — I — messed up,” the man said miserably. “They’d shoot down anything that looks halfway Resistance. Which is why we need discreet transport. Hoppers are in and out of here all the time. Just … just fly us where we need to go and you’ll be rewarded. General Organa will pay you personally.”

Franki shook his head. “I don’t want to hear about generals or Resistance,” he hissed. “I don’t want to hear about you and your pilot. I got my own troubles.”

“Fifteen thousand,” the young man said. “I swear it. Just get us to the rendezvous.”

Fifteen thousand was a lot of money. Enough to pay off some debts, get back on somewhat solid footing, maybe even start up that little business his wife was always talking about. You’re gonna regret this, he told himself.

“Deal. Name’s Franki but my friends call me Catfish. Long story. Pleasure to do business with you.”

They shook hands. “Finn,” the young man said. “When can we leave?”

Franki shrugged. “Soon as I finish my ale, I guess.”

Finn beamed at him and Franki swallowed a grin. Kriffin’ idealistic kid. He has no idea what the real world is like. Hope the Resistance has more hardened soldiers than him or they’ve got no chance.

**************************************************************

When Finn and his pilot friend entered the hangar, Franki did a double take. He glanced around, expecting Benni and the others to jump out and start laughing. “If you’re messing with me …,” he said, trailing off as they got closer and he saw that the injured pilot was not his friend San-Ti. The resemblance was striking, though.

“I know I’m messed up right now, but I’m not that ugly, am I?,” the pilot croaked. He was clearly in pain but still able to joke.

“Just thought you were someone else for a moment,” Franki muttered. “Let’s get this over with. My hopper’s right over here.”

He led them to the battered vehicle, a decades out of date Model 7G planet-hopper. It wasn’t fancy, but it got the job done and M-98 kept it in working order. Mostly. When the droid wasn’t in the shop itself.

“The left rotor will need maintenance within the next one hundred hours of flight,” M-98 said morosely as they walked up the ramp. “And I’m keeping an eye on the second fuel injector.”

“That’s fine, Ninety-Eight,” Franki said. “This should be an easy trip. Out and back. Like shooting womp rats in a barrel.” He turned to his passengers. “I’ve got a co-pilot’s seat but not much else. Will your friend be okay here in the cargo area?”

“My name is Poe,” the injured pilot said. “And I’ll be fine anywhere, as long as you can get us to our rendezvous in time.” He winced and Finn immediately helped him to the floor.

“Take it easy, buddy,” Finn said gently. “We’ll get you in a bacta tank before you know it.” He looked up at Franki and his warm brown eyes belied his words. The kid was worried.

“Just give me a few minutes to warm up the engines and get the coordinates into the nav computer,” Franki said. “Then we’ll be off.”

“Six point five two minutes,” M-98 chimed in. “I told you that injector is acting up.”

**************************************************************

Flying in a hopper was nothing like flying in a spaceship. For one thing, it was noisier; Franki hadn’t been off world much but he found it eerily quiet when he did. He was used to the rattle of loose panels, the roar of the combustion engine, the thwup-thwup-thwup of the rotor blades. Hopper flying was also rougher than flying in space. Air turbulence combined with the idiosyncrasies of a machine that still had only half of its original parts meant that there was no such thing as flying straight between two points.

“It feels like this thing is falling apart!” Finn yelled. Franki had offered him the second set of headphones, so they could communicate easily, but he’d refused, insisting he wouldn’t be able to hear Poe if he needed anything.

“She’ll hold,” Franki shouted back. “Just sit down and relax.” He kept one eye on the horizon ahead and the other on the flickering blip on his nav screen.

Finn leaned forward, obscuring his view of the nav screen, and Franki fought the urge to shove the younger man out of the way. Be nice to the paying customer, he reminded himself.

“Forgive me, Catfish,” Finn said, “but aren’t we taking the long way around? We’re heading for Bezerr.”

“I know,” Franki said. “Can’t fly directly there because of the mountains. And this is a hopper. Got to refuel every couple of hours. Follow the supply stations.” He indicated the string of green dots their flight path connected.

“It’s just …” Finn shook his head and pulled the headset on. “Look,” he said, once he was on the comm link. “I don’t know if Poe has that much time. He’s getting weaker.” The concern in the young man’s eyes tugged at Franki’s heart. He knew what it was like to lose a comrade in arms. Especially because of a mission gone off the rails.

“Can’t do it,” Franki said. “This route is as fast as I can go.”

“I’ll double your fee,” Finn said. “Triple it, whatever. Just get us to Bezerr before he … look, you said you have a kid, right? So you have a spouse.” Franki nodded. “So you know how I feel. What if your wife — what if that was her back there and it was your fault she was hurt and …”

“I feel for you, kid, but it’s not doable. We’d have to fly over the kriffin’ Pyrshis! Tallest mountain range on the planet. This bucket of bolts isn’t built for those altitudes.”

“Please,” Finn pleaded. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him.”

Franki sighed. He always was a sucker for big, brown eyes. “Okay, we’ll refuel at Brosia Station. I gotta do some calculations before we attempt it anyway. Better to do them on solid ground.”

“Thank you!” Finn said.

“Triple the fee,” Franki said as he adjusted the nav coordinates to take them to Brosia. You’re really going to regret this, Catfish.

***************************************************************************

“Are you certain?” Franki asked Ninety-Eight.

“Ninety-seven point nine five three percent certain,” the droid replied.

“Not good enough,” Franki said, banging his fist on the console. “We need to get this as close to perfect as possible.”

“I’m sorry, Catfish, but there are too many variables to reach a higher percentage of certainty. Nine seven point nine five three is the best I can do.”

“Almost ninety-eight percent sounds pretty good to me,” Finn chimed in.

Franki shook his head. “Look, kid, we’re not just going across the mountains, we’re going over them. That shortens our range considerably. These hoppers are built to cover distance, not fly high. We get up there where the atmosphere thins out and the engine can’t handle it if we have too heavy a load. So we have to make sure our tanks are empty enough to get enough lift to get over the peaks, but full enough that we have enough juice to get to Bezerr. Plus the rotors aren’t built for thin air, and this thing isn’t pressurized. We get over four and a half clicks and we’re going to start feeling the lack of oxygen. We hit five and a half, we’re getting light headed. Same with the engine. Can’t burn fuel as well when there’s less oxygen. This has to be as near perfect as we can get it or we crash up there.”

He pointed out the pitted windscreen at the soaring crags of the Pyrshi mountains. There was always ice and snow up there. The tallest peak topped out at close to six clicks high. Nothing lived up there except snow fleas and snow spiders and the occasional lost bird.

“If we don’t go soon, Poe will die,” Finn said. “One hundred percent certainty. So I say ninety-eight percent sounds good enough.”

“You’re paying,” Franki said. “Ninety-Eight, double check the tank before we take off.”

“Roger that,” the droid said. “And it might be a good idea to offer up an entreaty to any deities you gentlemen may be particularly fond of, just in case.”

“I’m going to let San-Ti’s cousin remove your humor module if you keep this up,” Franki grumbled. “Don’t know why I let you talk me into installing one in the first place.”

**************************************

The engines were straining. Franki could hear it and, more importantly, feel it. They were slowly climbing the crest of the mountains, aiming for a saddle that was only about twice the width of the hopper, but the lowest point where they could cross over and begin the descent toward Bezerr.

“How’s our fuel?”

Ninety-Eight hesitated a fraction of a second. “Close,” the droid said.

“What the kriff does ‘close’ mean? Close to empty? Close to what you calculated?”

“The fuel level is approximately what I calculated we would need to accomplish the crossing,” Ninety-Eight said primly. “A few milliliters short but close enough.”

Franki shook his head. He hated when the droid was vague with him. It meant things were not good. “How about the rotors?”

“Left rotor is showing signs of wear, as noted previously,” Ninety-Eight said. “Still within safety parameters, though.”

Which means it’s ready to break, Franki translated. He wasn’t even going to ask about the injectors.

“We’re almost there,” he heard Finn say. The young man was in the back with his friend, who was looking much paler than when they’d arrived. Franki was fairly certain the man was bleeding internally; he needed a bacta tank and a good surgeon as soon as possible.

Franki steadied the hopper as they neared the saddle. The winds were tricky around the glacier carved peaks and he fought the stick to keep her steady. “Almost there,” he said to himself. “Just hold together, baby, you can do it.”

They slowly rose above the level of the saddle and Franki could see the rolling plains beyond the steep escarpment of the mountains. As the hopper crept through the pass, a gust of wind slammed down from the cirque above. The left rotor cracked and broke into several pieces. At the same time, the engine coughed and sputtered, then went silent. The hopper tilted swiftly to the right.

“Brace yourselves!” Franki yelled. “We’re going down!”

He controlled the fall as best he could. It was nearly impossible to glide in a hopper, so he couldn’t guide it much, but he kept the nose up so at least when they crashed, they wouldn’t go down face first. A boulder caught the side rails and flipped the hopper sideways before it slammed to the ground, the right rotor still valiantly trying to spin even as it crumpled against granite.

**************************************************

Franki wiped the blood out of his eyes and took off his headset. He’d cracked his forehead against something, but it didn’t appear to be life threatening. “Finn!,” he called. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Finn said. He appeared battered but mostly intact.

“How about your friend?”

“Not great, but he’s still with us,” Finn said.

“And I am still functional, if anyone cares,” Ninety-Eight chimed in.

“Good,” Franki said. “Because I need you to assess the damage and see what we can salvage. We can’t get airborne but at least it’s all downhill from here. Maybe we can rig up some sort of conveyance to get us down.” He could feel the thinness of the air in his lungs. “It’ll take us too long to walk or climb.”

While Ninety-Eight surveyed the wreckage, Franki dug out the first aid kit and cleaned himself up. He had a cut on his forehead and a few slivers of glass in his arm, but otherwise he was just bruised up.

“So, we’re alive and we have a droid,” he said, after handing the kit to Finn. “No broken limbs, but we have one non ambulatory person to deal with. We’ll need some sort of litter to carry him on. And it’s going to get cold real fast up here. If we can’t get moving soon, we’ll need a fire or something else to keep warm.” His emergency survival training was coming back to him in bits and pieces. During the war, he’d mostly dealt with the aftermath of these things, swooping in to extract soldiers from tricky situations. This was the first time he’d been on the bad end of the deal.

********************************************************

Ninety-Eight cobbled together a small wagon out of the wreckage, as well as a rudimentary pulley system that could be used to lower it down the sheerest slopes if need be. “I can pull the wagon with all three of you humans in it,” the droid said. “It will be a bumpy ride but faster than your own feet.”

They settled Poe into the center of the wagon. Franki let Finn sit near Poe’s head, while he wedged himself into the back of the wagon. It was a tight fit, but at least they wouldn’t rattle around this way. Ninety-Eight set off at a steady but sensible pace, traversing the rocky ground as smoothly as it could.

Franki was uncomfortable, but not because of the cramped conditions. It was the quiet murmur of conversation between Finn and Poe that he couldn’t help but overhear. It was very clear that the two men were more than just friends and comrades in arms. Franki wasn’t a demonstrative person; public displays of affection made him squirm. He pulled his cap further down over his eyes, which made him wince as the brim scraped over the fresh cut, and feigned sleep, trying to give the two as much privacy as possible. Which wasn’t much, considering that Poe’s feet were basically in his lap.

“If I don’t make it,” Poe said at one point.

“You’re gonna make it,” Finn said.

“I know, but just in case … tell Rey to take care of Bee-Bee for me, okay?”

“Oh, so I don’t get custody of the kid?”

“You’re a mediocre pilot, babe. He’s an astromech droid. She can give him adventures.”

“I’m a good pilot. I just look like bantha poodoo next to you and Rey.”

“You keep telling yourself that, buddy.”

Franki suppressed a chuckle. Like an old married couple, he thought. But that made him think of his wife and baby waiting at home and the amusement faded away.

*************************************************

It took the better part of a day to reach the plains, but it would have taken them much, much longer on foot. Franki’s forehead had crusted over and itched like hell, he had a pounding headache and his left leg was asleep from being folded underneath him for so long, but otherwise he was in good shape. The same could not be said for Poe; the man had drifted into unconsciousness halfway down the mountainside.

Finn had a handheld comm link and kept trying to contact their ship, but the steep canyon walls were not conducive to radio frequencies. Once they were on the flat, he tried it again and finally received a response.

“Yeah, we’re near the foot of the mountains,” he yelled — the connection was staticky and intermittent — “about three clicks south of the river. Can you get a fix? Yeah? Okay, we’ll stand by.” He thumbed off the comm. “They’re coming to get us,” he said. “It won’t be long.” He smoothed the hair off Poe’s forehead, where it clung in damp curls.

“I’m not sure how much of the fee they’ll have on hand,” he said to Franki. “But I promise I’ll get the rest to you as soon as I can. There’s a bank in Damphi, right?”

“Yeah,” Franki said. “I’ve got an account.” Not much in it, but I’ve got an account.

“Will you be able to get back okay? Without the hopper?”

“I’ll hitch a ride with one of the other hopper pilots. You just worry about him.”

Soon, a nondescript transport descended from the sky, landing a few hundred meters away. A Twi’lek and a human hurried out with a floating stretcher and whisked Poe inside, a med droid hovering along beside them. “Wait here,” Finn said. “I’ll get your money.”

Franki stretched as he waited, idly watching Ninety-Eight tighten the bolts on the wagon. “It’ll be worth more than the scrap value if I spruce it up a bit,” the droid said.

Finn emerged from the transport with a pouch in his hand. “It’s only six thousand,” he said. “That’s all we have aboard. But I swear you’ll get the rest. Triple the original fee. Forty-five thousand.”

Franki took the pouch, weighing it in his hand. New Republic credits by the feel of it, maybe a few other currencies mixed in. Odds were this was all he was going to get from this disaster of a job, but he’d take it. “Take care of your friend,” he said. “And good luck with the resistance thing.”

Finn looked him in the eyes. “Thank you, Catfish. May the Force be with you.” He pulled Franki into a quick, fierce hug and then ran back to the transport, which lifted off a few minutes later.

“A new hopper will cost at least thirty-seven thousand,” Ninety-Eight said flatly.

“I know,” Franki said.

“If he comes through, you’ll be okay.”

“I know.”

“If he doesn’t, you’re kriffed.”

Franki glared at the droid. “Do you want me to have your personality removed?” He climbed back into the wagon. “Let’s go. If we get into town before nightfall, maybe I can catch a flight out and won’t have to waste money on a room.”

*****************************************

Damphi looked almost pretty in the morning light. Franki had caught a ride with Starsi, who was a good pilot but could talk the hind leg off a rancor. They had flown through the night, stopping twice to drop off cargo at poorly lit depots in the middle of nowhere. No wonder he’s flying at night, Franki thought. Still, it was a ride, and Starsi didn’t even charge him anything, simply glad for the company.

They’d sold the wagon to a scrap dealer near the landing strip. Ninety-Eight was still sulking because it thought its creation was worth more, but Franki had wanted to get out quickly. With six thousand, three hundred and ninety credits in his pocket — and no hopper — he was a lot further in the hole than he’d been a few days ago, but there was lots of work in Damphi, even if it wasn’t as fulfilling as flying a hopper. They’d be okay.

When they got home, Ninety-Eight went straight to its charging station. Franki tiptoed into the bedroom but it was empty. A note was on the table beside the bed. “Got an early shift at the factory, thanks to Emmi. Dropped the baby off with my mother. See you when I get off.”

At least I get a little break before I have to explain my latest screw-up, Franki thought as he collapsed into bed.

After a few hours sleep, he found some food and headed for the bank. Might as well pay a few bills off. At the teller window, he emptied the credits out of the pouch. “Deposit this into my account,” he said. “And then tell me the balance.”

The teller punched a few keys and printed out a slip. As she slid it across the counter, Franki shook his head. “This must be a mistake. I only deposited sixty-three ninety. This says seventy thousand.”

The teller consulted her terminal screen. “It’s correct. Although only the sixty-three ninety is available immediately. The rest is from two off-planet deposits that came in a few hours ago. That won’t be available until we get the ping back from the bank on Coruscant. Give it a day or two.” She swiveled the screen so he could see.

39,000: Balance of payment for services rendered.

30,000: For damages to equipment incurred during employment

Both deposits came from a bank on Coruscant. Guess the kid wasn’t lying about his connections, Franki thought.

“Thank you,” he told the teller. “I’ll be back in a couple of days to make some withdrawals.” He turned the numbers over in his head as he left the bank. Seventy-five thousand would allow him to buy a new hopper, pay off all the debts, and still have a little left over. A fresh start.

As he made his way home, San-Ti rushed up. “Hey, man, you would not believe the night I had!” He flung his arm around Franki’s shoulders. “Some kriffing Imperial wannabe thought I was someone else and tossed me in lockup! Then they threw in a drunken Wookiee and we all spent the next few hours trying not to get our arms ripped off. Finally they ran a genetic scan and realized I wasn’t the guy they were looking for and the one who brought me in got reamed out by his superior. It was hilarious! Except for the drunken Wookiee part. So, anything new with you?”

Franki laughed. “You have no idea, my friend. You have no idea.”

[tonystark604]

No but hear me out.

What if we as fangirls created a book made from fan girls to fangirls. Like you guys all know the feeling of watching a movie or a tv show and the ending being so dissatisfying that you just want to bury yourself in fanfictions. Or the tv show got cancelled and there is no ending whatsoever, or your favorite character got killed off.

My solution:

A book where from Fangirls experiencing the same pain an alternative ending is written. Sooo you buy the book and then you watch the hobbit for example and fuck thorin, Fili and Kili die but you can’t live with that, so you pick up the book: “the encyclopedia for Fangirls” or whatever we gonna call it. You search the content table for the hobbit alternative ending and you get instant relief. After that you go on ao3 or whatever and get more relief with more fanfictions. But right at the moment, instant relief. We ignore canon.

And then we do it for every freaking fandom. We collect the suggestions of Fangirls and in cooperation of Fangirls write what they want and we make it fucking real!

You want the doctor to be cuddled? You want thirteen and Yaz to kiss? Write me a suggestion it will be in the next edition!

You want civil war to not have happened? You want Tony stark to live forever?

You want Elsa and Anna having the childhood they deserve?

You want Crowley and aziraphael kissing and getting together? Hit me up!

And all of that in a book! Like in a real fucking book that you can pull out of your bookshelves and read whenever you need it! With a beautiful cover full of fanart!

Let’s go on with the thought process. Imagine it being a hit. Like Fangirls all over the world suggesting what they wanna read. Building up a community where people write: hey I have read this fan fiction from this author and I want something similar for real. We collect that information and make a freaking database out of all the fanfictions! So after the end of the text written in the book there is a QR code sending you to a website where all fanfictions with similar tropes are saved. No painful search anymore just all fanfics you want in one place and theeeeen, you see a fan fiction and it’s missing? Hit me up imma put it there!

Moore thought process… fanart! Not only fan fictions but fanart! You wanna see a specific fanart? You want to have a book with FANART? Yea let’s do it! Imma put it in.

And the best thing: you can hold it in your HANDS! ITS A REAL BOOK FOR FANGIRLS AAAAAH!

I would buy it.

[jung-koook]

Oh my god, we really need to be more creative with the comments, but can yall not use what V said to bully other armys? Are these comments boring and annoying - hell yes. Negative and disrespectful - not so much. Encouraging change is good but yall jumping on other armys throats about how fucking embarrassing and stupid they are is not gonna achieve anything. And some of you reblogging this have participated in saying "yoongi marry me" or "jk be my date for a minute," etc.. but now you're insulting fans that still do that and act like you're a better fan and threaten and insult others in the tags? Nah

And I fucking bet Tae is gonna be appalled by how armys turn on each other over this. No wonder some of them are shutting comments all together instead of telling you to change bc it always starts a civil war in the fandom. Which is embarrassing in its own right 🤦‍♀️ wanna bet the next live, all the comments will be "stop with the stupid comments" as if that's any better lmao

some comments are rather funny when they were first commented. after everyone starts repeating them they start to get kind of boring. and this is normal. things can get boring after being repeated too much. but those arent even the comments that really need to stop. if you watch their live with the comment on you will see every nonsense that "fans" write there. and also these comments asking the members to talking in english need to stop. if you dont want to wait for the translation later then you go to learn korean. who is bothered that need to do something to change that, if you are bothered that they are not fluent in english then you become fluent in their language. asking fans to comment something different is not insulting them. namjoon and tae clearly stated that comments need to change on weverse. its something that is bothering and upsetting everyone.

[kai-keda]

how do you feel about s4 of lmk having a different showrunner and headwriter? it makes me concerned 😬😬

I’m not surprised because the Embrace Your Destiny specials had such a book-ending to them. Everything from the first season onward was tied up nicely at the end. To be perfectly honest, and friends from Discord can confirm this, I was Lowkey upset that the show was even CONTINUING after I saw that ending.

The series started with Tang having a narration about how “the story is never truly over” and it ends with Tang having a narration about how “the story is never truly over”. It’s beautiful. So it makes sense that the head writer and show runner have stepped down from the project. It’s a perfect point for it to either end or transition to something new.

Honestly, even if it was the same exact crew, my brain would be separating the first three seasons from whatever comes next because no matter what they do, it’s gonna feel disconnected from the previous stories due to that solid opening and ending.

Because that disconnect is already there for me, I’m not too worried about how future content will make me feel. That being said, there are some concerns I have based on previous experiences with fandoms and based on how I’ve seen this fandom act about “being right”.

Worst case scenario is we get another Dragon Ball Super situation. I don’t mean this in regards to the actual quality dropping, but more in how the atmosphere of the greater fandom will shift MASSIVELY.

Example Hypothetical:

DBK and PIF are shown in Season 4 to having not gotten their act together and continue treating Red Son like garbage which leads to a character arc of Red Son disconnecting himself from them entirely and fully joining the Monkie Kid Team.

Remember, whether this scenario sounds appealing or is well executed or not isn’t the point of this example.

Imagine this happens and you are left with half the fandom being excited because this is exactly what they wanted and have had all of their feelings on the subject validated by this. Meanwhile, the other half feels betrayed. There’s evidence of DBK and PIF doing better so why would they suddenly be so awful, right?

Now the part I’m concerned about is how these two halves would interact going forward.

The Dragon Ball fandom is a god dang WAR ZONE between people who don’t want to acknowledge DBS as a part of their personal canon of the series (cough cough - me) and the people who argue you HAVE to accept it (elitist dumbass assholes).

Now, don’t get me wrong, the Dragon Ball fandom is worse than the Monkie Kid fandom when it comes to forcing personal interpretations, analysis, headcanons and beliefs on other fans. But that doesn’t mean the LMK fandom doesn’t have those problems at all.

The LMK fandom ABSOLUTELY struggles with this.

See also “Wukong is canonically a father figure to MK” and “Red Son is canonically genderfluid” as only two examples. Both statements being objectively false because neither thing has EVER been stated in the canon of the show.

With the understanding that there’s a new show runner and head writer, there are - without a doubt - going to be fans who choose to say “I only go by the first part of the show”. Whether it has to do with relationship dynamics or characterization, there are going to be fans who have their current interpretations challenged by the new material and they’re going to blame the show runner/head writer rather than it just being something that filled in gaps they originally filled on their own.

Here’s my concern of how this is gonna turn out:

Rather than everyone coexisting, there’s going to be a shit show of a war between fans who don’t acknowledge anything post new crew and fans who think everyone HAS to accept everything from the show.

There’s going to be an overwhelming sense of who is “right” and “wrong” and the great LMK Civil Fandom Wank of 2023 - [whatever-year] is gonna pit brother against brother.

With the hypothetical I gave, we would see fans of the newer seasons putting the people who WANTED the Demon Bull Family to heal on blast with a sense of moral superiority via calls out stating “This user thinks you should never run away from abusive households!” (Which would not ACTUALLY be true of said user)

NOW

This isn’t GUARANTEED to happen, but I think it’s worth pointing out the possibility ahead of time. After all, being aware going in that there IS MOST DEFINITELY going to be people who don’t like what the new show runner and head writer have planned will be able to prevent us from going down a nasty path of proving why one side is “morally disgusting.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of a Civil Fandom Wank of this type, you may be entitled to financial compensation

If you know the term “Fandom Wank” without having to look it up, you may be entitled to financial compensation

[shittinggold]

Dashboard osmosis late seasons supernatural?

Oh man - so I stopped watching early in S9, and my memory of anything after S5 is pretty hazy (I have rewatched S1-5 once, the latter seasons not at all), so this is a combination of dashboard osmosis, fractured memories of things I may or may not have seen, and whatever November 5th did to my brain.

So, at the end of S8 all the angels fall out of heaven, right? Because Metatron did a Thing. I've no idea what happened with Metatron after that but I'm gonna assume the brothers killed him, because that's generally how they deal with things, even deity-level-powered villains. I don't know if the angels went back after that - I know there was a civil war which might have been before this? Also at some point all the angels die I think, which leaves Castiel as the last angel. Castiel gets depowered at some point. And some other point becomes God. And dies. And I think becomes evil? It feels like they did everything they possibly could with Cas other than let him be a main character.

I think at this point Cain and Abel (maybe?) show up and Dean gets the Mark of Cain on him which makes him evil. Because of this (or perhaps entirely unrelated) he becomes a demon and we get Demon Dean for a bit which honestly sounds quite cool. Presumably is cured in some manner that sets up the arc of the next season.

The brothers find out that they're the heirs to some secret society called the Men of Letters and get a cool new bunker which means they don't have to shoot on different sets each week which makes the show cheaper and totally ruins its original aesthetic.

Kevin and Felicia Day both get killed off because of course they do. But I think Felicia Day (Charlie?) comes back because she's in the last episode. She also at some points goes to Oz and dates Dorothy. Honestly as far as SPN women go it seems like she does pretty well.

Crowley becomes King of Hell at some point. He also stays alive for ages even though he was never half as interesting as the fandom always thought he was.

Lucifer comes back! And presumably then so does Adam? I assume this means they address the whole "we left our other brother in a hell cage and never mentioned it again" weirdness, but I think it's funnier if I don't. Lucifer hangs out with Sam and maybe posseses Cas? (I've heard the word "Casifer" and assume this is what it means).

The Impala becomes a human in one episode, which is apparently actually a good episode. There's also an episode where Dean is a dog and another one where they're in Scooby-Doo. Honestly I would like to watch these.

There's a new kid called Jack that seems to be like a fourth main character and is Cas' son? Unclear whether this is in any way literal or just that they have a parental relationship. He seems to be around a lot but also is kind of dunked on by the narrative and not given enough attention? I dunno, he's new to me so I don't trust him but I assume there's a reason why people (including you I think!) care about him.

And then uhhhh there's cold static for like three seasons and Cas makes a deal with the Empty (which is like angel afterlife/superhell but is also a person that you can make deals with?) in order to save Jack's life, which means if he gets Perfect Happiness he will go to superhell. His perfect happiness is confessing love to Dean and getting ambiguously no-homoed in return. Later is re-homoed in spanish.

Oh, wait, Chuck is back and is explicitly God! And is evil about it because he has a story and wants Dean and Sam to follow his story but they don't? I'm sure this is either a genius metanarrative or a self-cannibalising mess, no in-between. They kill ChuckGod and save the world/themselves/free will.

Then they go to a pie-eating contest and Dean eats too many pies and then gets killed by a vampire who sticks him with a rusty nail. Sam is sad but goes to have a Normal Life with some woman who doesn't even get a face, let alone a name, and dies 50 years later from terrible prosthetics disease. Dean goes to heaven and his car is there because in the supernatural universe, cars go to heaven but gays don't.

...Until Dean then takes the car and goes back in time with it to makes sure his parents hook up or something? Idk what's happening in the prequel, but it sounds nuts.

And Mischa Collins comes out as straight. Love wins.

[deke-rivers-1957]

I posted 126 times in 2022

That's 126 more posts than 2021!

54 posts created (43%)

72 posts reblogged (57%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@alienelvisobsession

@skinnypantsmcgee

@loving-elvis

@heartbrake-hotel

@lindszeppelin

I tagged 123 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#0 - 7 posts

#real elvis - 77 posts

#elvis presley - 37 posts

#elvis film - 31 posts

#elvis fandom - 13 posts

#real talk - 10 posts

#elvis was a nerd - 9 posts

#elvis art - 7 posts

#film review - 7 posts

#my thoughts - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#seriously look at pics where he's holding a frame from the 70s his thumb is bent backwards a bit more than most people can handle

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Kung Fu Elvis Part 1

So going back to @skinnypantsmcgee posting a piece where different Elvis' fighting each other made me think of something. What if we rank all of Elvis' characters based on their fighting ability?

Basically what I'm gonna do is after I watch 4 films, I'm gonna rank each of Elvis' characters based on their ability to win a no weapons hand to hand combat style fight. I know Elvis did 31 films but I do not count his 2 documentaries as films so I'm only judging his 29 films. That's 7 parts with the last one having 5 films.

Ok so here we go, after I recap each of the characters including their age in the order I watch the film I'll rank them at the end. Age is important because a young 20 something fighting is different than a 30 something fighting. In some cases Elvis' character is specifically given an age in the film, but otherwise his character will be treated as if he was the same age as Elvis when he did the film.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok so first review of course was the first film, Love Me Tender. This film is set during the last couple days of the Civil War and the next couple months that follow. Elvis' character was Clint Reno, the youngest brother who didn't go to war. His only occupation is being a farmer who did most of the work while his brothers were away. Since this is the 1860s it's debatable as to how much nutrition he got and because the farm wasn't doing that well we can assume this is not a well off family.

Clint is implied to be a young adult or recently became an adult. It's hard to tell because based on the dialogue and circumstances in the film, he comes off as an 18 year old. Vance said he was practically a man, he wanted to be part of the war but he couldn't go and just in general he comes off as a young man trying to prove to his brothers he's not a kid anymore. However, the tombstone saying he was 22 years old is evidence that suggests that he's older. The problem with using that to determine age is that it contradicts a line stating how much time has passed since the brothers robbed the train by having him die before they were supposed to have been arrested. Ultimately, I'll just say he's between 18 and 22 since Elvis himself can pass for someone younger than 21 his actual age at the time.

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13 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

#4

This Boy

Look at this boy from 1956 behind stage on the Steve Allen Show. He's just biting on his hat. He can't even go 5 minutes without be a goof or absolutely precious. Why does he need to have something his mouth all the time?

America explain.

14 notes - Posted August 25, 2022

#3

Elvis Ask Game

This is a part of the original thread by @aconflagrationofmyown. I made it separate to make it easier to read since I'm deciding to answer a lot of these lol. Thank you @lindszeppelin and @ash-omalley for tagging me.

•When and what was your first exposure to Elvis Presley?

I don't remember when I first watched this film, but my first exposure to Elvis was watching Lilo and Stitch.

I was only 2 or so when the movie came out so I think I saw it later on when I was like 5 or 6 years old so like maybe 2005/2006.

•And what was your first impression?

I didn't understand who Elvis was other than oh he's the guy Lilo likes so much because of her parents. I didn't think much of him until I was older.

•Lace shirts or jumpsuits?

Lace shirts since I like that era of Elvis better. The jumpsuits are very hit or miss with me and the idea of how much he suffered in that era keeps me from truly enjoying that era.

•You can steal one of Elvis/Austin’s outfits, what’s it going to be?

See the full post

18 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

#2

See the full post

26 notes - Posted October 27, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Not totally on board with "Big daddy Elvis" thing. It was water retention from his health issues, not fat. Finding it sexy feels kinda' wrong, to me, but that's just my opinion.🤷

I can understand that. I have hesitancies about it too. I'm fully aware that he had health issues that contributed to his physical appearance.

To me I like the clothes that he wore in that era and to me he sometimes did have good days where the average person wouldn't know that he was even sick.

Regarding his actual size, I try to say "hey it's one thing for him to actually be fat that's perfectly fine, but here it's a bit different because he was actually sick" you know. I try to make it clear that he was sick and that I personally would like him at the size he was in that era so long as he was healthy.

Basically I agree sexualizing him as he really was in this era can be off putting. I personally base my own feelings on a what if fantasy that he was that size and perfectly healthy.

I hope that cleared things up for you as I totally understand that something like this can be uncomfortable and that not everyone in the fandom really understood just how sick he was.

I'm glad you asked this anon because it helped me summarize my own thoughts on the latest surge in big daddy Elvis. While I do agree that he was still a person that deserved love and affection, the degree being taken here is a bit excessive and is more of a sign that the fandom isn't aware of his issues.

51 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

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[cherrycheridarling]

tic-tac-toe | mcu

marvel cast x actress!reader

warnings: one swear, fluff, no plot

summary: you play aphrodite in the MCU and it's time for the press conference for infinity war. based off of this press conference

wc: 2.7k

"Tom Hiddleston!" Jeff Goldblum introduced the man who was sitting on your right.

Everyone applauded before Jeff moved onto you, "Y/N Y/L/N!" more applause rang through the room.

"Sebastian Stan!" you looked to your left where Sebastian waved to the crowd as you clapped with everyone else.

"Anthony Mackie!"

After Jeff finished with the introductions, he explained how the panel would work. He would pull a ping pong ball out of a container and it would either have a name or category. The audience would be able to ask a question to that person or a person in that category after Jeff called on them.

As he pulled RDJ's name out of the container, Tom leaned over towards you.

"Does your water taste funny, too?" he whispered making you stifle a laugh.

You nodded, "Kind of like lemon, right?"

He shook his head, "Mine tastes like mint. Can I taste yours?" he held his hand out as you passed him your water bottle. He took a sip and spent a moment analyzing the taste, "Yours does taste like lemon! Why does mine taste different? Here." he passed you his water.

You took a sip and were hit with a strong mint flavour, "Woah. I think they're trying to drug you." you joked making him laugh.

"As I am answering this question, Tom Hiddleston and Y/N Y/L/N are discussing the flavours of the water behind me." Robert exposed you and Tom to the audience making the room burst out into laughter.

"They have fancy water. Mint and lemon." Tom spoke into a mic drawing more laughs. "Sorry. Carry on!"

As Jeff pulled the next name, you adjusted your dress. A white, long sleeve, blazer dress with gold buttons down the middle, the dress ended mid-thigh. The v-neck cut showcased your subtle gold necklace. Black stiletto heels covered your feet.

You unconsciously began bouncing your leg up and down in a fast motion. Sebastian placed a hand on your thigh, stopping your movements, "You're gonna drill a hole through the floor, Y/L/N." he chuckled.

"Sorry." you laughed quietly.

Sebastian pulled out a notepad and pen, "You need a distraction. Tic-tac-toe?" he offered.

You smiled with a nod before making your move.

"You absolutely suck at this." you chuckled as you won the third game in a row.

Sebastian scoffed, "You can't suck at tic-tac-toe."

"And yet, you do." you smirked.

He rolled his eyes playfully before you continued playing.

After two more rounds, your attention was back on Jeff as he pulled a new ping pong ball. "Ooh! You can ask a God or Goddess." Jeff announced, "So, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth or Y/N Y/L/N." he reminded the crowd, "Okay, yes, you!" he picked a woman in the front row.

"Hi, I'm Alexis with Forbes. My question is for Y/N." the room applauded as Jeff tossed the ping pong ball at you and you caught it with one hand.

"See, Robert! It's not that hard!" Jeff exclaimed making everyone laugh.

"Screw off, Goldblum! You chucked that shit at my head." Robert joked back. "Sorry, Alexis, go ahead."

"Um, I wanted to ask about Aphrodite's powers. We all know that she is the Goddess of Love and can seduce anyone with her beauty. We see in the trailer a small clip of her seducing men. How many people did you seduce in the film and were there any funny moments filming those scenes that you can share?"

Her question drew a mix of reactions from the cast. Some laughed, some furrowed their eyebrows and others were just confused. You took in the question before opening your mouth to reply, until you remembered that you weren't wearing a body mic. The cast laughed again before Sebastian passed you a mic.

"Sorry. Um, how many people did I seduce in the film? None." you stated drawing more laughs, "How many people did Aphrodite seduce? All of them." you chuckled, "I'm kidding. Although, I'm not sure what I can share because I don't know what's in the trailer." you confessed, "Kevin, Joe, Anthony, what's in the trailer?" you asked them making everyone laugh again.

Kevin picked up a mic, "I believe it's you seducing Spider-Man, Starlord, Drax and Iron Man."

You nodded, "I do have a funny moment that I'm sure Mister Holland will kill me for sharing, but it's too good to not tell." you smiled thinking of the memory.

Tom immediately grabbed a mic, "You wouldn't!" he exclaimed making the audience and cast laugh.

"I would," you retorted, "We were shooting that scene and, as you know, they have to act like they are falling in love with me. Like I'm putting them in a trance. Well, Tom took that a bit too seriously." you paused at the laughter that your sentence caused, "They're all on their knees in front of me, looking at me as if I'm their queen, because I am." you joked, "And then Anthony calls 'cut' and Dave, Chris and RDJ all get up and start chatting, but as I'm turning away, Tom doesn't move. Still on his knees, looking at me as if I hold the world in my hands." the room filled with amused laughs and chuckles as Tom covered his face with his hands.

"No, it was so bad because I just looked like a creep that couldn't stop staring at her!" Tom laughed at himself.

Robert grabbed a mic, "Very true. I was watching and it honestly had me convinced that Y/N had real powers."

"I have to say, I understand the kid's reaction. Y/N's costume for Aphrodite and the way they transform her only enhances how gorgeous she already is." Anthony Mackie spoke up causing the crowd to gush and clap, "I'm pretty sure we all had the same reaction when we first saw her while filming Civil War." he looked around as the cast nodded.

Scarlett picked up a mic, "Yeah. I remember her walking on set in this stunning white dress which made me extremely jealous," she confessed, "Because, one, it's so gorgeous and she looks absolutely amazing in it," the crowd and cast applauded again, "And two, it's made of the softest silk while my suit is leather and spandex!" everyone laughed at her comment.

Benedict picked up his mic, "Although, it wasn't Tom's first time seeing Y/N as Aphrodite. He was in Civil War and still could not contain himself." he teased making the audience and cast laugh again.

Robert spoke again, "Yeah, he did that during the filming of Civil War, too." the room hollered with laughs.

Tom's face was bright red, "I'm just a very committed actor. I really give all of myself to my work." his comment drew more laughs.

"That's why Sebastian despises Tom. It all started when Tom couldn't take his eyes off of Y/N." Chris Hemsworth added making everyone double over in laughter.

"I feel so loved," you held a hand to your heart as the room chuckled, "These are genuinely the best people in the world and I guess you could say I seduced one person during filming." you joked as the crowd continued to laugh, "Sorry, Tom. I'll buy you some juice, don't be mad." Anthony and Benedict laughed loudly. "Thank you for your question!" you thanked the lady as the cast clapped before Jeff picked out the next ping pong ball.

Next was Scarlett. You sat back and silently judged the man who asked about fashion. Scoffing with Sebastian at his question and laughing at Scarlett's sarcastic and witty responses.

Sebastian leaned over again, "I have to piss."

You stifled a laugh at his abrupt confession, "Go to the washroom, then." you nodded your head towards the exit.

"We're not allowed to leave." he frowned.

You chuckled and reached over, patting his thigh with your hand, "Don't piss yourself."

He rolled his eyes playfully before Jeff called out the next name.

"Anthony Mackie!"

"Hi, I'm Tiffany with Times Magazine. With such a star studded cast, do you find it difficult or any obstacles in developing your character with all theses amazing stories being told and struggling for screen time? Like, are there any obstacles or special difficulties or is it all just amazing?"

Before Anthony could answer, Joe Russo picked up his mic, "Are you asking Anthony Mackie if he has a hard time getting attention?" his comment caused the whole room to erupt in laughs.

Anthony nodded slowly as the laughter died down, "Touché, touché. Uh, well, Tiffany, a wise man once said that some men need an hour to make their presence felt and some need thirty seconds." there was an uproar of laughter and hollering at his comment as he dramatically dropped the mic on the table.

"Who are we asking next?" Jeff squinted at the ping pong ball, "Ooh! Back to the Goddess of Love herself, Y/N Y/L/N!" the room applauded for you as Jeff threw the ball to you.

Sebastian intercepted the toss and caught the ball himself with a smug smirk. You rolled your eyes, but smiled as Jeff picked a lady out of the dozens who had raised their hand.

"Hi, I'm Amy with Esquire and I wanted to ask about the relationship between Bucky and Aphrodite. We see in the previous films their awkward tension from their past history. They have a very special romance and their love story is a fan favourite in the Marvel fandom. What was it like building that bond and relationship on screen? And what do you think of the choice to match the two characters together, how did you react when you found out? Did the pairing of the two help build your bond off screen?"

Jeff spoke again, "I said 'one question', that was at least twenty." he teased the lady drawing laughs from the room.

You chuckled and nodded slowly as the laughter died down, "Excellent questions. Umm, I honestly really like the pairing of the two. I think it gives a great dynamic to both characters and reveals sides of them that we never would've seen without their relationship. It's a very 'good girl falling for the bad guy' trope. And if I'm being honest, I've always wanted that." you confessed causing the room to chuckle, "Their relationship is, without a doubt, one of the most complicated ones in the MCU, but I think that's what makes it so loved by the fans since there's not a dull moment between the two. It's nice to see Bucky have a sentimental side, in his own awkward way of course. And you get to see Aphrodite fall for someone who's not a God or a Titan." you turned to Sebastian, "What do you think?"

You offered him the mic, but he didn't take it, letting you hold it up for him, "Yeah, I agree. I never thought Bucky would have a love interest, if I'm being honest. But I'm glad he does because Aphrodite brings out the soft side in him and he brings out the fighter in her. They really balance each other out and Y/N portrays the character in such a unique way, it really brings a whole new fresh persona to Aphrodite and it's amazing having her as a partner on screen." the audience applauded at his words, "When I first found out about Bucky having her as his love interest—"

"—He called me screaming about how hyped he was." Anthony Mackie cut him off making the room laugh. "Anthony! Anthony! Bucky is gonna be with Aphrodite! That's gonna be sick!" Anthony mocked his voice as you were hunched over with laughter.

Sebastian nodded with a smile, "I did. Won't lie, I did. It's a really refreshing relationship and I'm glad that the fans love it as much as I love playing it. Back to you, you haven't talked about the development and our bond." he gave you a lopsided grin.

You chuckled, "I feel like I'm rambling, but yeah. Their development is definitely," you paused, trying to find the right words, "A development?" you settled on drawing more laughter. "Well, as I said, it's very complicated, but awkwardly adorable at times. Since Seb complimented me, I feel obligated to say something nice about him," you joked making them laugh again, "Kidding. He really does play Bucky with such passion and commitment, it's truly inspiring. And working with someone who loves what they do as much as Seb, it definitely motivates you tremendously and yeah. Um, I won't lie, I honestly was dreading working with Seb," you confessed drawing laughs and a gasp from Sebastian.

"Why?!" he exclaimed making you laugh.

You sighed, "Not because I think you're a bad person or anything, but you come off as very intimidating to people who don't know you very well. And I knew nothing about you before filming other than the films you'd already done, so you scared me." your confession caused everyone to laugh loudly.

Sebastian smirked jokingly, "I am extremely frightening. I understand." he shrugged.

You scoffed with a laugh, "I caught you sleeping with a stuffed turtle and whale noises playing." the room roared with laughter again, "That's when I knew you were a big softy."

Sebastian rolled his eyes playfully, "She's joking. I am the toughest man alive." he deepened his voice.

You shook your head with a chuckle, "Sure. Thank you for your questions." the room clapped for you as you set the mic down and relaxed back into your seat.

"Nailed it." Sebastian held a hand out for a high five and you chuckled before hitting your hand against his.

For the rest of the press conference, you sat back and listened to your friends answer questions. Laughed at jokes made and clapped when appropriate. Small tic-tac-toe games went on between you and Sebastian. Your attention was fully on your nails when Tom Hiddleston got called on.

"Hi, I'm Samantha with Daily Mail and I was wondering, since Loki is a very closed off and mysterious character, we never explore the aspect of him having a love interest. So, if you could choose anyone from the MCU for Loki to end up with, who would it be and why?"

You turned to look at Tom as he pondered on the question, crossing his arms and rubbing his chin, "Very good question. Umm, who would I choose for Loki? Let's see," he paused again and looked around the room until his eyes landed on you, "Ah, I'd steal Aphrodite from Bucky." he answered making the room laugh and Sebastian chuckled with a nod.

"Why Aphrodite?" Jeff asked.

Tom chuckled again, "Well, it's Aphrodite." he simply answered drawing more laughs, "They are so different yet similar in so many ways. Loki is never fully evil nor fully good, but I think Aphrodite has the best chance of turning him good. And who wouldn't want to end up with the Goddess of Love?"

The cast nodded understandingly before Chris Pratt grabbed a mic, "If you were to ask any person on this stage that same question, I guarantee the answer would be Aphrodite." the whole cast nodded.

"They're all trying to steal Sebastian's woman." Jeff teased.

Sebastian scoffed jokingly, "They're all jealous." he wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

You chuckled with a shake of your head before Robert spoke up, "Adding onto the conversation. Miss Y/L/N, who would you want Aphrodite to end up with?" his question drew excited reactions from the crowd.

You let out a bark of laughter before looking from Tom to Sebastian, "Hmm, excellent question, Mister Downey." you rubbed your chin, "Stop doing that, Holland." you chuckled as you saw Tom point at himself in the corner of your eye.

He raised his hands in surrender before Anthony Mackie spoke up, "Spidey is five years old, kid." everyone laughed at that.

"I'd have to stick with Bucky. He is her true love." you shrugged as the crowd cheered.

Sebastian smirked from beside you as the men of the cast faked disappointment.

As the panel came to a close, you looked around at the family you were surrounded by. Friends you love more than anything. Hundreds of memories with the most amazing people you'd ever met. Your home.

[wenellyb]

People are being very dramatic in Twitter with their Sambucky divorce takes and how dare Bucky works w/Walker. I'm gonna take a step back from the fandom because I can't see so this for the next two year. At least Feige or anyone else in charge need to say something beforehand lol

Hi Anon!!!

I hear you, and I get that some people are upset, I would have been happy to see Bucky in Cap 4, but the people who are acting like it's the end of Sambucky surprise me.

This should be the greatest news ever, we have more info about the Cap 4 Cast, we'll get Joaquin and Isaiah back!

And Bucky isn't forgotten because he's getting his own movie too. I don't know enough about the comics to comment on the Thunderbolts but Yelena is in the team as well, so they can't be that Bad, right?

Both Sam and Bucky are getting projects, the timelines are getting clearer and I personally don't see how it means that their relationship is over.

I also wish some more Sambucky content, but as someone who has been shipping them since Civil War, Tfatws was already peak content. I would also be happy with just having them mentioning each other in their respective project.

I'm just so happy to have more content with Captain America, and I want to be excited about the movie...not envision the worst case scenario for the next two years.

Lastly, Bucky not being on stage doesn't necessarily mean he won't be in the movie.

And again, I'm not blaming people who are upset, I understand that. I just wish people weren't expecting the worst outcome possible for the ship.

Literally:

[ruby-whistler]

a lot of people seem to have the attitude "he should've just let them had what they wanted!" when it comes to technoblade and dream both going against l'manberg, and absolutely no offense, but that seems... so awfully naive to me?

[ /dsmp /rp | the other reason why l'manberg deserved to fall ]

it looks like people automatically assume "what they wanted" was good, and that everything would've been fine if it wasn't for techno and dream being in the way. so let's look at what the leaders they fought against actually wanted, shall we?

let's start at the beginning, then.

wilbur (all names in this essay refer to the characters) made l'manberg after he failed to take control of the economy by making a capitalist empire based on lies, rumors and theft.

we're starting off strong, i see.

he referred to tommy as someone to mould or build upon multiple times, saying he is naive and calling it a good thing, even mentioning people like tubbo or fundy as the "a lot of tommyinnits" he could use take advantage of for his plans. these were people who were the most useful in terms of being hardworking and passionate, and arguably the most easily manipulated.

...cool. this still doesn't tell us what he wanted to do with l'manberg, but it gives us a sense of this guy's moral compass and honesty.

wilbur, to his soldiers at least, says that he made l'manberg for freedom and protection. ...freedom to steal from people? protection from... everyone except the guy who wants to exploit them?

yeah no, i'm not trusting anything he says.

let's turn to what wilbur said out of character about the motives with which wilbur the character created l'manberg.

"you could create something that you believe is worth having power over, and because you want to have power over it, everyone else will believe it's important, even though it's not." [ link ]

...alright, well that sorts out that question i suppose.

wilbur after his revival says that l'manberg was a "useful tool" that did what it was supposed to do; it divided. since naturally i'm not going to take his words at face value if it would kill me, let's turn back to what wilbur was actually saying and doing back when he made l'manberg, because maybe his memory has just faded, right?

*rewatching the vod* is he. is he quoting tr*mp's speech about building a wall and "making the mexicans pay for it" while being openly xenophobic towards the people who originally lived in the lands and building a giant wall?

ooo boy. cc!wilbur knew what he was doing, wasn't he?

see, if you rewatch the vods and look at them as satire on american propaganda (including the hamilton references) everything starts to fall into place.

but hey, l'manberg changed, right? it grew into something more than that initial quest for glory... right? i mean, the l'manberg government wasn't even corrupt up until schlatt's reign, right?

*laughs* no.

let's fast-forward.

l'manberg... hadn't done much after the revolution. it was just a safe space, but not really. people are living just as they did before, and neither wilbur nor l'manberg really changed much.

wilbur doesn't like that, and that is clear from what happens next.

Wilbur: “Tommy, we need power.”

Tommy: “Yeah?”

Wilbur: “I’ve tried – I spoke to Fundy and Tubbo yesterday, I told them how I didn’t like the civil war they were having, you know the fights that were going on.”

Tommy: “Yeah, that huge war in our name, yeah.”

Wilbur: “I told them I wasn’t happy with it, I told them to stop. Do you remember when you started getting angry at Dream, and I tried to control you, and you ignored me? …Yeah. See, this is the thing. Tommy, I…I led the revolution, right, but the issue is, is that I sort of became the de facto President, but no one listens to me. No one cares about mine – or your – power. No one cares! To us, we may be in anarchy, you know?”

alright, so a) wilbur dislikes anarchy, that's a good thing to remember for later, b) he's pissed off that people aren't listening to him (and tommy, but he definitely just added that on to make him care about the subject) and he can't "control" them c) he sees more power as a solution. well... maybe he just doesn't want people to fight, right? he's talking about a civil war he couldn't stop, after all.

Wilbur: “We can either, Tommy, right – we can either become a dictatorship, okay…we can just suddenly decide, ‘right, we’re in charge,’ and we just start – we start asserting our dominance. Now the key thing to being a dictator, is we need to control the center of power…so we get an army going –”

Tommy: “What is the center of power? Is it like some cube, or like an orb?”

Wilbur: “The army! The army! The banks, you know? We take control of those, and then people will do exactly as we say, right? That’s the dictatorship route, right. The other route is the democracy route. Now, this route’s gonna be slightly harder, but I have a plan. So I was thinking…what better way of making people believe that you’re in charge than by having them vote for you, right?”

so, wilbur was thinking of getting "an army going" to "control the center of power" and to "take control" of "the banks". he saw this as a valid solution to people not bending to his authority.

then he turned to election fraud instead, which he puts as straight-up manipulation of his people into believing he isn't a dictator.

...what. i'm not going to praise him for that decision, that's not even the bare minimum - he's still being a prick and showing just how much he actually doesn't care about what the "people he claims to care about" (cc!wilbur's words again) want.

but let's get back to the point; so, according to all of the current evidence, what did wilbur want?

wilbur wanted glory, power and division, to be able to enforce his authority and take control of his people.

...this is what people are saying dream shouldn't have stood up against in his land and "left them alone". that is what people are saying he should've "let wilbur have" in the home he worked to protect and build for the people he cared about - and keep in mind the dream smp was pretty much an anarchy back then.

this was willbur's intentions, and the first instinct of a lot of people was to paint dream as the tyrant. that just doesn't sit right with me, i'll be honest with you.

what about techno, then?

well, new l'manberg was ruled by tubbo, who was only doing his best - truly doing his best to turn wilbur's lies into a reality. no corruption, no conflict, only a home.

but tubbo was not ever actually in charge, was he?

let's talk about post-16th quackity.

i remember the second tubbo livestream i ever saw live was him rebuilding the crater; putting up grass blocks over the top, with quackity and fundy helping him out. it was when quackity first proposed the idea of getting rid of techno.

tubbo didn't want conflict, and he disagreed at first because it went against his ideals and his morals.

that didn't pan out well for him - and i think that's enough evidence quackity was pulling the strings of the cabinet, if you take into consideration the propaganda, riling up, and overall vengefulness that we suddenly seemed to be working with.

quackity's words didn't speak louder than his actions, but they are still interesting to note; "bring this country to power" being a common theme in his motivation for getting techno and dream "out of the way".

so quackity wanted power as well, and this desire only grew as it was taken further from his reach, but ever since the 16th, it has been very prominent in the way he instructed the new l'manberg government.

techno, the local anarchist who fought (only) oppressive governments that hurt people, was supposed to not do doomsday and "leave l'manberg alone", while what quackity wanted was nothing else than to turn l'manberg back into a tool of power and control.

i'm beginning to see a pattern here.

i am all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, really; but the constant glorification of a revolution leader who did everything for his own power and benefit, and a "secretary" that committed multiple war crimes and literally harmed and manipulated innocents in his quest for power; plus the instantaneous villainization of those who stood as obstacles in their path, is a bit too much even for this fandom's standards, even for me.

i get wilbur and quackity are both silver-tongued bastards able to shift the narrative in their favor, but the grudges people will hold against characters that fight against them and the measures to which they'll reach in order to defend them is wild.

it's not as easy as "they should've let l'manberg be". the people leading l'manberg were far from innocent and had sinister intentions.

[bill-weasley]

The thing with Sam Wilson is, we all know he's a good man. He was in the Air Force, did 2 tours, lost his best friend Riley, and came home and suffered massive amounts of PTSD.

Then, he turned his grief and pain and started working as a counselor at the VA.

He met Steve once on a run and decided to drop everything within' all 5 minutes of knowing him and went off to fight Steve's battles. Despite earning the privilege to live a quiet peaceful life on his own.

LOL. Then he gets his ass kicked, his wings torn off, and gets kicked out of the helicarrier? And what does he do? Sam spends the next two years after that looking for Bucky because it's important to Steve.

Starting to notice a pattern yet? No? I'll continue.

In Civil War, Sam doesn't even need to be asked to help Steve. He's just right there, being supportive, kind, and good -- and never once considering his own mental health or safety. Sam then sacrifices himself for Steve and Bucky could get a head start. He has to watch a man who he respects and admires being shot out of the sky (just like Riley), and then he gets BLASTED IN THE FACE for it. Like it's somehow Sam's fault. :) Then comes the imprisonment. Then two years on the run without seeing his actual family. And of course the blip. Sam Wilson is kind, compassionate, considerate -- but more than that, he's a good man -- a greater man than the pedestal we put Steve on. Despite all of this -- we've never seen Sam express his views, we've never seen Sam lose his shit, we've never seen Sam have a temper tantrum on screen. And if he did, the entire fandom would turn on him because everyone besides Sam Wilson are allowed to have feelings. This fandom is treating the most worthy character like shit because he's black. It's true. Don't gasp, don't clutch your chest like it's the worst thing you've heard. It's true. There are people on this app claiming Sam Wilson doesn't have the same amount of development as Bucky. People fault Sam on not having enough trauma (lol, trauma measuring contests, lovely). People fault Sam for that therapy scene because he came so close to saying how he felt and then stopped himself to spare the feelings of white characters. And don't get me started on how much care and loyalty he's shown Bucky -- despite the fact that so far, Bucky's done nothing to earn it. Sam doesn't just care about Bucky, he cares about Sharon. He holds so much guilt and accountability for shit that has nothing to do with him.

It was Steve's job to make sure Sharon got a pardon, and yet -- nada. Steve fucked off to live his life with Peggy (which I know he earned, and I'm not faulting him on that). And now it's Sam who's trying to make amends. Amends for things he has no responsibility in.

I'm not gonna lie, TFATWS feels like Sam's supporting and backing up everyone and nobody is sticking up for him. Who has Sam's back? Who unconditionally supports Sam? When am I finally gonna meet a character who gives to Sam just as much as he gives to them? As a fandom, we do not deserve Sam Wilson.

[desiraypark]

Alright. 

So.

I really wasn’t trying to get too deep into the mess. Why? For a couple of reasons.

1) Because when I joined this ADCU fandom--I was very aware that I was going to see racist shit. A lil’ internalized sexism. All of that. I’d mentally prepared myself for it before I came through, or tried my very best. As I stated in a post a week or two ago, I was very vocal about these things in my younger adult years, but now, I am tired and just no longer interested in letting racism, misogynoir, microaggressions, and other things on the internet get my blood pressure up (because I’ve gotta deal with it in real life). I simply block, filter, and move on. This is my path. Not saying that it’s right, that’s just the stage that I’m in right now. 

2) What I’ve heard of this controversial fic is offensive to me. More so, the erasure of certain elements about the Civil War is what I found offensive. Did it piss me off or enrage me? No, because again, I’m tired lol. Offended, yes? Angry--me? No.

Now, I’m not writing this as a “woman of color”. This is a BLACK woman about to tell you what HAS pissed me off over these last few days. And I’m saying it straight from my account--not on anon or some account that just blossomed a couple of days ago. 

I’m writing this as a Black woman who lives in a neighborhood that used to be a plantation (big house and slave cabins still up and intact up the street from my home) - because there is barely a place in my city you can walk where your feet don’t touch land that used to be a plantation, or a slave trading station, or an auction block, or a public whipping post, etc. I live in a city that is ENTRENCHED in “memories of the Civil War” -- “good” and bad memories. 

I’m writing this as a Black woman who once worked next door to a Confederacy Museum--MUSEEEEUM--and watched old white men sit outside of the building with their flags. Or, who once had an old white man come to into my job, walked up to me with a shady, condescending glint in his eye, to ask me questions about “the museum next door” that he hoped to visit one day.

I love historical AUs and write them myself. Me, personally, I’m not gonna tell anybody they can’t write romantic/smutty Civil War AUs (I’m just gonna fucking block them). Because people are gonna do what they want and as we’ve seen demonstrated, there are some people who are gonna do the shit HARDER if it’s called out. But I DON’T have the privilege of reading something in that setting and being able to imagine myself as a landowner. This is a fact. 

People can say “oh, well there were Black landowners back then!” But could they own that land without a  “guardian”? Could they walk around town without “papers” to “prove” that they were free? Do we think that free and/or landowning Black people were just walking around untouched in the 1860s and AFTER? We LITERALLY just commemorated the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa massacre. Come the fuck on, now. 

I can BARELY write my 1920s AU shit without thinking about how race impacts the my OCs. I just CAN’T make that separation. And it must be nice that some of you WOC and white readers can do that. I’m happy for you. Whatever. 

Now, from what I’ve gathered, I believe that this is the point that was originally being brought to SH--that not only could some of her audience not see themselves in this story, but some of them actually might be hurt by it. And instead of being thoughtful of that, excuses were made. The “colorblind” card was thrown out and it was stressed that “sides” in a Civil War setting were written “vaguely”. The dismissal and denial is what has frustrated me. 

But ah, here’s the thing.

This is a pattern. 

I think some of you might be under the impression that this might be the author’s “first misstep” (that is, if you think that is the case at all). I’m going to tell you a quick story. And this story is not secret--these incidents and the posts (pro-cop posts) that correspond to them were shared publicly. 

I’ve long had SH blocked for awhile. Why? 

You remember when another writer whose name started with an “S” went  through this whole thing about all cops not being bad? I was actually quite friendly with that writer and expressed among people (including SH) that I wanted to reach out to S because I knew she was young and probably just hadn’t lived enough life and been around others to understand why their stance was problematic (and wrong). But then, I found out that she’d done the whole deleting POC’s comments thing...

She’d reached out to me wanting to talk, but at that point, after learning about commentary deletion, I didn’t want to be bothered. I decided that I would not reach out to her. I unfollowed her and moved on, because as I later told SH, Aiyana Stanley Jones was born around the same year that S was--but unlike Aiyana (who was murdered by WHO?), S will be fine. And I don’t regret my decision. I would have been a fool to try to be the Black person who “reaches out” to try to educate somebody. And I would have regretted doing so.

So, anyway. SH tried to encourage me to talk to S anyway, because S felt so bad and hurt. I politely declined, gave my reasons why, and me and SH left it at that and remained cordial. This is something I do regret because I should have known better. Because guess what? About a month later (IF THAT), SH made a post regurgitating S’s same pro-cop sentiments. 

But I made no fuss. I simply unfollowed and blocked. She’d shown me who she was and I finally decided to believe her. No need to argue. I had no desire to “call her out” because she already knew how I felt--and she’d only shown me that (as history has shown my ass time and time again), I don’t matter to her and I don’t count in the world she’d rather exist in--(edit: or at the very least, the fanfic worlds she’d like to create). Calling her out would have been fucking pointless.

So, I can’t let this week end with y’all thinking that this is just some “slip up” or misstep--or some “sudden attack” made out of jealousy or whatever other shit people are spewing. These recent events are merely a day that has long been coming. 

Now. 

I’m about to put “Civil War” in my filtered tags and content, and go on about my day. Bye.

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x01 Review

New Year’s Eve was a great way to return to HSMTMTS especially after such a long gap. Let’s dig in!

Vladimir Lenin once said that, ‘’ there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen". It’s been almost a year and half since S1 ended but this past week has seen revelation after revelation as the fandom has resurrected itself and promotion for S2 kicked into high gear: Joshua Bassett came out, Frankie and Joe confirmed that they are a real life couple, Larry seemingly confirmed that S2 will only have 11 eps rather than the 12 initially ordered, and perhaps most importantly Olivia revealed that she and the main cast are under contract for 4 seasons and made clear that she’s leaving the show as soon as her contract is up.

I really enjoyed this premiere, it felt like picking up right back where we left off. I’m guessing that S2 was originally supposed to premiere around Christmas or New Year’s but the holiday decorations and real Utah snow add a charming aesthetic to the ep. Tim Federle deserves credit for giving HSMTMTS more of an ensemble feel which is no easy feat with a cast as large as this show has. It likely won’t last due to covid restrictions  but at least for tonight we got to see all the characters hanging out together acting like a real group of friends.

The dialogue tonight really reminded me of Glee and I think I mean that as a compliment. Miss Jenn in particular seems to be doing her best April Rhodes impression minus the alcoholism. 

The rini scenes tonight were lovely. Perfect gift was a great song and I loved the rini duet during the music in me as the world faded around them leaving just the two of them. The Harry Styles reference is funny in light of Josh’s coming out interview. Of course, it’s hard now to separate Nini and Ricky and Olivia and Josh. Their chemistry shines through as 2x01, 2x02, and possibly parts of 2x03 were filmed pre Jolivia breakup which seems to have happened around summer 2020. Whether they can keep that same chemistry later on in S2, not to mention future seasons, remains to be seen.

A major theme tonight was communication and clearly Rini need to work on theirs. Poor Ricky had to learn that Nini’s moving to Denver the night before she leaves town which has to remind of him of his mom effectively abandoning him. Ricky saying that he’s never gonna breakup with Nini ever again sure sounds like foreshadowing for a disaster though the odds that this time Nini initiates the breakup are pretty good. 

I’m glad that the show is continuing to delve in the Bowen’s divorce story with their house being sold and Ricky and his dad having to move into an apartment. Divorce is expensive and the division of assets typically leave people less well off. Mike Bowen needs to work on his communication skills but he’s rocking that beard; it takes him from depressed divorced dad to depressed divorced daddy.

Seblos was cute and in a nice change of pace Disney doesn’t seem to be cynically teasing them then cutting their scenes. It was refreshing to see them just being a couple and to hear Carlos casually refer to himself as gay. In that regard tonight’s ep didn’t seem like it was a Disney show at all and it’s major progress that there are now two main gay characters on HSMTMTS. We learn that Carlos is rich which seems likely to be a source of conflict with Seb who comes from a large farming family.

Bet on It was really fun and I liked that Ricky apparently couldn’t stop singing it. The medley of HSM 2 songs was fun but I’ll be real with you wildcats, I never thought HSM 2 or 3 were nearly as good as the first movie so I’m not sad that they’re doing something else this year.

Wild that Big Red’s mom also calls him Big Red. Salt Lake Slices seems poised to be a big part of S2 both as hangout spot and work location for some of the characters. Redlyn are sweet together but sometimes Big Red comes off as a closeted gay guy which isn’t ideal for a het pairing that is supposedly a big part of S2.

Nice to see Gina so excited to have sleepovers with Ashlyn. We know from 2x03 that Gina contends with being single on Valentine’s day and from her glances at Ricky tonight she’s clearly not over him. Tim’s playing with fire and I can only hope he knows what he’s doing. I liked the little detail of Kourtney having AOC on her vision board, it feels true to the character (hopefully AOC gets elected president one day if the USA doesn’t collapse into a fascist dictatorship or civil war before then). EJ’s beard has got to go but I like that he seems committed to being a better version of himself; very doubtful his plan to go straight to Duke like his forefathers doesn’t change by the end of the season. 

Derek Hough did a good job of playing Zach as a subtly condescending man who managed to swiftly undermine Miss Jenn’s confidence, we’ll see what he and North High bring to the table.

Looking Ahead:

Next week are auditions for Beauty and the Beast, we know Ashlyn gets the role of Belle and EJ has conveniently removed himself from the running for Beast which presumably clears the path for Ricky to take the lead. There’s been some controversy over the casting choices and I’ll save my comments about it for the 2x02 review.

We get to see Lily who looks like a meaner version of season 1 Gina, we’ll see how much depth she actually ends up getting. Howie is introduced in 2x03 and Antoine likely shows up later on. Jack likely shows up towards the end of the season.

Howie seems to have a connection with Kourtney though the character synopsis does say he gets close to a wildcat or two which certainly leaves room to slide him into Gina’s plot. We know Antoine is into Ashlyn so that’s another love triangle to look forward to. Jack was described as having wanderlust and most of the cast seems not to have filmed with him so I think it’s likely that he plays a role in convincing EJ to take a gap year rather than head straight to Duke. 

A translation leak on TikTok reveals that in 2x03 Gina is sad that she’s only gotten a Valentine’s Day gift from her mom. A brief clip from the promo shows up her on her porch at night holding a heart shaped box of chocolates. If that’s supposed to be from a secret or semi-secret admirer than it has to be from either EJ, Ricky, or Howie. If it’s a platonic gift then it could be from anyone, we’ll see what Tim has up his sleeves.

Nini moving back to SLC is a question of when not if. It’s going to be very difficult to bring her back in a way that’s justified and also doesn’t leave the time she spends in Denver looking like a total waste. Frankly, I’d rather the show just bite the bullet and bring her back with as little fuss as possible.

We’re possibly around a quarter way through HSMTMTS given that the mains have 4 season contracts and presuming that the show is not cancelled earlier. At the very least the show will be radically different after S4 if they try to continue it as Olivia has made very clear that she’s going to leave asap to pursue her burgeoning music career full time (notably she’s only done the bare minimum of promo for S2). 

Looming over the remaining seasons of HSMTMTS is what the professional relationship between Olivia and Josh looks like especially since in many ways the show is built around Ricky and Nini. Off screen relationships have often caused on screen problems and dating a co-worker is rarely a good idea since even clean breakups leave lingering resentments. Obviously the Jolivia breakup was not clean, Driver’s License, Deja Vu, and Good 4 U (which is a certified bop) were clearly written from a place of hurt and in some ways were written to hurt. It’s no surprise that Joshua has dropped his duet with Sabrina Carpenter from his EP; someone on his team at least is trying to stop the damage to his reputation. There’s a decent chance that Olivia’s songs becoming such hits has irreparably damaged Joshua Bassett’s reputation among the same pool of largely young women that he’s targeting his music towards thereby cutting off his music career at the knees. If nothing else this behind the scenes drama should keep things entertaining for a while.

Until next week Wildcats