#blizzard scandal

[themutantspacedancer]

Just got intel of these stolen documents of "Overwatch 3" from Geoff Keighley's desk detailing the game's new "Light and Dark" features, including a light and dark variant of every hero in the game.

This frightful image of the game's "Dark Winston" was found personally on Mr. Keighley's desk, with small red crayons and empty apple juice containers surrounding it. Do you like it?

[way-past-future]

hazbin hate is reaching like Justing Bieber levels of hated for no real reason other than being vaguely gay (perjorative) like people do be making the same kind of posts about nuking justin bieber from orbit but with like a cartoon except that also we live in a world where you can't just "dislike" something no you need to explain why your dislike is MORALLY JUSTIFIED so they have been making shit up nonstop simply because they can't just say "I dun like" I mean people also did that with Bieber explaining how him being an egocentric 16 yearold popstar was enough reason to want to gut him with a knife, but now this escalated to "we need to explain how this regular ass woman is actually a sleeper member of the waffen SS"

[lathrine]

i know people are sick of nelf players whining about how we cannot get a win, but as someone who has been a nelf fan since the ripe old age of five i promise you this:

not only can the night elves not get a fucking win, but blizzard has intentionally made choices every step of the way in every expansion that systematically erase night elves off the face of the fucking planet.

its not just that night elves cannot get a win, it's that they only lose.

they lose land, their lose homes, they lose deities, they lose people and culture. they are not allowed to win. anything that looks like a win (hyjal regrew) came with a caveat (neutral territory, not nelf controlled) about how it isn't really their win.

the night elves had something like 90% of their entire existing population wiped out in the War of Thorns, and when the night elf leader responded with appropriate blood lust? the narrative not only punished her, but it punished her people as well.

the narrative said that if you want to see justice for a horrific wrong done to you, you are just as dangerous as those who hurt you. the narrative said that if you want vengeance then you quite literally cannot be saved (unless you relinquish your want for vengeance).

every single night elf deity is dead. all of them. and a few got super ultra killed so they can never return.

every single night elf ruler has, in one way or another, been put in a position where the narrative can point and say "see how pathetic they are? see how unstable?"

their literal introduction to the orcs, by the way, is the orcs aghast at how """"savage"""" these strange elves are (and then murdering cenarius).

AUGH i dont even remembering where i was going with this. just. this is exhausting. it's exhausting to be constantly punished for literally playing the game as a core player race. this is like if every time i played a sorcerer in DND the campaign book had a side bar for each chapter that said to just start nuking class features at random, but only for the sorcerers.

[yuzusern]

“Did you win?”

“No”

“Don’t worry about it, Rin. Until I die, Nii-chan will—“

Hoodie meanings below ⬇️

Let’s focus on Rin and Sae’s hoodies.

Hot Limit (1998) and White Breath (1997)

Both are T.M.Revolution’s songs! Here’s the translated lyrics (copied from several sites)

White Breath (Sae’s hoodie)

Your answer doesn’t matter
Let’s blame winter as we cuddle for warmth

Turn off and forget about the TV, not to mention loneliness
My throat hurts, as if dehydrated

Released at midnight, the vision of tomorrow we can see
Comes to a precious place, bearing a mosaic

Let the sorrow from this thoughtless me spread within you

In this frozen season
Do you tend to call out for love?
Your answer doesn’t matter
Let’s blame winter as we cuddle for warmth

We pretend to be free, but we’re really riding on
The moving path, watch your step

That we have to rent Tarantino’s movies
Even in battered memories, it’s an unsatisfying habit

Ignoring polite words, give me strength from today

The two of us in a mountain hut in a blizzard…
Addicted to delusions
With that, even without chasing after
The trivialities of truth, we’ll copulate

In this cold era
What do I tend to achieve?
“Your answer doesn’t matter”
Unable to speak it, you taste loneliness with me

In this night when selfish thoughts disappear
Will love cry out for someone?
Not to mention, unable to wait for anything
I’ll walk on, so give me warmth

Hot Limit (Rin’s hoodie)

Yo! Say, the summer makes my heart pound,

With all those bare-legged mermaids around tempting me.

I'll strut my stuff and if I get some results,

I think real love will come my way for sure.

I know you're on to me,

Because of the stylish way you dress.

The feelings become waterproof

All in one fast, dazzling instant.

A hot wind lures my heart away and strips it naked.

I've got nothing to lose, and you're next on my list this scandalous summer.

The fairies make summer come to life.

With all those bare-legged mermaids around tempting me.

I'll strut my stuff and if I get some results,

Will I find real love?

Without you I tend to grow restless,

This hot city is so boring.

If you let your guard down for an instant, I'll pounce on you.

I don't want to use dumb pickup lines.

Just as the fireworks color the nights in the tropics,

If you really wanna burst on fire, then let's make love until we burn to a crisp.

I want to do summer like the fairies do.

My hot desire is like a tornado.

I'll be gentle with you; I want you to know the real me.

As long as it's you I'm with, it's all right.

The sea of buildings in this city are stopping your desire.

I'll make you mine with a kiss of chilled wine.

The fairies make summer come to life.

With mermaids who show their legs and belly-buttons.

About being defeated by love and not showing up to work,

Daisuke says it's ALL OKAY!

Yo! Say, who do you want to spend the summer with?

You can say goodbye to lonely nights sleeping alone.

It is a feeling that goes deep down and will not fade.

Would you like to have that kind of love?

Rin’s hot and a reply to Sae’s hoodie while Sae’s literally Night Snow (lonely and sexy)

Oh, expect so many fan arts of Rin in this:

I’m going to enjoy next week.

[txttletale]

lrb this literally drove me insane when blizzard announced overwatch 2 and people were like 'they're doing this because of their sexual assault scandal / hong kong scandal' like. there was a whole 3d animated trailer amiguitas do you know how fucking long those take to make

[rreskk]

MIDWEST DESIRES

Summary: A desire. All it took was the desire to spiral out of control. You didn’t want to ignore the past argument but he had persuaded you with pure confidence. That man was the death of you and he left you breathless.

TW: Smut.

Pairings: Fem!reader/Trevor Philips

Word count: 2496

Daring to touch, he stood motionless in front of you, shoulders just about fitting the doorway of your humble home. Them puffy sleeves from the winter coat he was wearing thickened the width of his shoulders, hence the slight mishap of size. Yet the winter coat warmed him up greatly, his cheeks turning a bushed red and his nose sniffling with the after effects of seizing the cold North Yankton snow outside. The blizzard was only an open doors away, and you could already feel the radiation from his shivering frame. The front door – that was open in retaliation of his presence – interrogated the warmth of your home.

“Trevor.” You addressed as the last time you had said his name, it wasn’t in a wanting manner. Not at all. You felt the urge to close the door since you were developing the shivers as well, and you were dressed in clothes for bedtime. It was selfish of him to keep the door open with his wide figure and snarky face that didn’t exactly express the delightfulness of you answering his knocks in the first place. Bitter, you thought, but you couldn’t shut him out. He had no other home. Nothing.

“Mph…” He’d huff and refuse to acknowledge the changing temperatures of your house. His mullet was hidden, shying away in this ushanka that covered his ears as well, only leaving the crest of his face and shifty, all-knowing eyes, the moustache sitting over his top lip that you couldn’t see it shiver at the cold. His breath even struggled to straighten it’s posture when speaking after the shortened grunt. “Don’t say my name like that.”

The irony of not wanting to be named was almost alien to his personality as everything resulting to this argument would be the product of his attention-seeking tongue. So your interest was instantly aroused. There was lack of corresponsive evidence to believe it.

“Why?” You questioned, moving aside and gently tugging the door closed. The freezing bite of the weather evaporated within that second.  

Trevor hung his head low and ignored your question. He took the signal of the door closing and misunderstood it for a “I’m making myself at home” note, claiming the sofa as his own, his scrawny, long limbs hogging the two seats. There wasn’t even a space for you. But it wasn’t like you wanted to sit next to him. The grudge remained; the distance thickening as he’d spitefully avoid the need to communicate.

It placed you in a position of risking another fight, or letting him toy you around with his unpredictable mannerism. Neither you wanted to happen. The last thing you wanted was his dirty, scandal-grasping fingers touching any surface of your house while he’s sitting in the spotlight of the local FEDs. Knowing someone has probably died in his arms through the last 24 hours would always stain your mind, yet it didn’t repel you from him.

He threw off his ushanka and ruffled up the messy locks that were thinning and lessening. Even his hair looked unbothered about the situation your relationship was it. This is when you decided to stand up for yourself and walked over to the sofa, standing before him, his eyes inspecting you with judgement and annoyance.

“What?” Trevor grumbled lowly, his voice rumbling deep from his chest.

Pretending it didn’t give you butterflies, you tried to remain monotonal. “This wasn’t an invite for you to stay.” However, it came off like you were struggling to maintain a stern tone. It wobbled a bit.

“You closed the door.” He scoffed when rolling his neck and staring at your chest area with confliction and pervasion.

“To keep the heat in.”

“Sure.” Sarcasm dripping from his abrasive mouth.

“Why’d you come?” For once, you wanted a truer word from him, not just some smart-ass remark that’s not really smart. It would just be irritating and dimly witted.

His eyes searched your face and his shoulders shrugged in response. His coat would even rustle from his forced movement, the silence disturbed and your will-power to embrace disapproval collapsed. It made you tick, itch, clench your jaw, the slightest sounds from his stupid, green coa –

“The fuck you glaring at?” Trevor murmured, “I wasn’t the one starting the argument. On my behalf, I was the peacemaker.”

This made you laugh, stomach clenching and your posture bending as you’d hold your knees for stability. The seriousness of his defence made it worse. He has to be joking, you thought. There was no way he was playing the peacemaker when he spiralled the debate into an argument and refused to solve it as he’d disappear for 3 days straight, leaving you with the suspense of believing your relationship had ended. 

“Yeah, because that’s the truth.” You mocked, not laughing anymore.

“Are you calling me a liar?” He eruptively stood up from the sofa – livid. You were stunned when he stood less than an arms-length away, finding your little mockery offensive and disrespectful. “Don’t be a fucking prude, eh? Don’t you wanna make-up? Don’t you wanna have dear ol’ Trevy back? Or have you never loved me.”

“Oh, I’ve loved you. Still do. And it gives me a migraine.” You whispered.

“A migraine I can cure, baby. You know how it is…” His softness was inviting but you knew this was just a manipulation tactic to avoid the blame. He took notice of your sudden shyness the moment he stood up, and he abused it. That dickhead.

“I don’t think you can cure it this time.”

“How so?” Trevor tickled and placed a bare hand, so cold and cruel, around your waist. You could feel it through the fabrics of your shirt. Like you’d imagine, he grazed the surface of your neck with his shivering lips that were dry as desert. It felt like prickles whenever he spoke against you. “Don’t stay mad forever, sugar.”

Future corpse: death by Trevor and his charismatic density. Even if you tried to fight back, your body language denied access. You fell into him, his arms – without hesitation – suffocating you and his lips immediately trailed up your sweet neck with his sweet kisses.  

His hungry mouth fell over your throat and jawline, mercilessly slandering the acres of your skin like there was no sign of life in you. You had to clench the back of his jacket for stability as he was diving in – big time. If you lessened your grip, you’d both fall backwards and into the coffee table. Praise be, you weren’t going to let anything disrupt this process of “making-up”, or whatever he referred it. Make-up, make-out; his moto, most likely? Who knows. He doesn’t do communication despite blaming the lack of understanding on you.

But ignoring the present problems as you were too busy growing eager for the heat.

Trevor reached your lips and was stealing words, thoughts, your breath. His kisses were intense to the point of panting, your lungs struggling to sway around the oxygen he’s threatening to take. You both were heavily breathing, the blood rushing over to your head, the room becoming increasingly hot. God knows how he’s coping in that coat. While he selfishly abused your lips with his own, your hands grasped the zip and tugged it down. Trevor grunted lowly when it was thrown off his shoulders and onto the floor. The chills crawled down his spine when the air touched his naked arms. You felt him shiver, the closeness between you both becoming inseparable.

“I can’t fucking wait anymore,” He whined and clenched your wrist, “Lemme see you, ay? Take it off…” You made eye-contact and he pressed his forehead against yours, grinning. “Take it all off.”

The thought of facing the chilly temperatures with only his body temperature aroused you beyond belief. And it wasn’t like you had a choice. Before you could answer, Trevor had plunged the back of your shirt, disregarding it by tossing it over your head, the forceable nature causing the material to rip a bit as you’d hear a small stretch. The cold punched you in the stomach and your arms crawled with the need of comfort. As you rubbed yourself for warmth, he threw off his own shirt and wasted no time, pulling you back into the proximity, his touchy fingers groping the cups of your bra, smirking and giggling at the feeling of your clothed breasts.

Trevor toyed you around for a few minutes. The bra stayed on but he pulled one of the cups down as your breast would hang out and into his sight. He made it bounce, squishing it, caressing it, worshipping it. You had to stand there with a throbbing throat, becoming ugly for him. Nonetheless, you were left red and puffy. He had poked for too long that you breast had marks of his hands outlining around the nipples. Such pride, he groaned kiddingly, biting down his bottom lip.

And your neck. Fuck. His moustache left rashes all over your jaw and neck. Even your mouth. Just like your chest area, you were becoming red all over. The kind touch of Mr Philips was as guilty as any murderer.

“Mhm.” You winced at the itchiness of the perceived rashes. It was silenced when Trevor returned his attention onto you and them hands harshly gripped your backside, edging you closer to the wall behind where he turned you around in a ridiculous speed. Swearing you were experiencing whiplash, it wasn’t know. Not like you could say anyway. He pushed you against the wall with your breasts being pressed and your hips being pushed against him. You felt a trembling hardness fight against your ass, making you murmur his name as pleas.

“I need you,” He said, “I’m gonna have you – “ He ruffled his belt and hissed with frustration when his jeans struggling to lower. You were forced against the wall anyways, not being able to help but hearing him groan so sensually.

“Just fuck me!” You protested to rile him up. There wasn’t anything like an angry Trevor treating you like a little to no person. It was hot, sexy, a desire.

Something zipped and then your arms were pinned against your back, your face planting the wall. The roughness you wanted; you got.

“I’ll fuck you so good.” Smirked Trevor, ripping off your trousers that dangled around your ankles. He gently felt around your naked backside before pushing you against his erection that sat to bully your pussy. It wasn’t in, but it was there, warming you both up. The fact it was there was winding you up. So bad, you wanted it, so bad.

“C’mon.” You pled and grinded against him.

A sigh of pleasure escaped his throat when you took control. He held onto your waist and watched the way your ass moved against him. The wonders came wondering and you gasped in surprise when he removed himself before digging into your pussy, fucking the Hell out of you.

Trevor rocked you back and forth as he thrusting in and out. You both groaned and made sexual noises at the matched efforts to feel each other’s skin and friction.

“Atta girl…” He panted, “Jesus, argh!”

You took him in, wetness seeping and drooling. Trevor used a hand and grabbed the back of your neck, making sure he was keeping you in your place with your face, all scrunched up with pleasure, against the wall. A little power-play made it better. While you were sizing him up from your aggressive rocking hips, he maintained that place and kept you working while he groaned.

“Fuck, fuck!”

“I love your voice, sugar.” He murmured, the sound of slapping making it harder to hear him.

Now the room was the opposite of cold. It was fucking boiling. You kept your arms invisibly tied to your back during this but it itched to wipe the sweat from your brow. The overstimulating yell storming around your lower stomach. It was approaching, all that bottled up annoyance dissolving into a waiting release.

“I fucking missed you. Couldn’t stay away, angel. Just wanted to feel you.” Trevor whined when fastening the pace. He was due to get emotional when having sex with you. Always has, since the first-time. It was sweetening. It comforted you despite being hammered sloppily. It made you want to forgive him for every ungodly thing he has ever done while living.

“More…” You needed more reassurance, “Please. I want more. More. Trevor. More…”

“I fucking want more! Shit. Just gonna fuck you… Forever, damn, baby… I’m gonna fucking cum.” His words were broken in several pauses breathlessly. His hands deepened, now bruising your body. The way he was stammering forwards. There was no more thrusting. He was deep inside, letting himself beat against you.

You moaned against the wall and flattened out your chest, losing control. Unable to produce words, you could only weakly grunt and cry softly. Your pussy throbbed with him inside and he was visibly twitching. The sensation was going to kill you.

“I’m gonna…” He repeated dramatically, “Shit. Shit. Shit!” Then in a haze, like the blizzard happening outside your front door, he came inside you, his hips jerking and legs threatening to fall. Trevor leaned back and sobbed a painful moan as he attempted to move with the orgasm, leaving marks of himself and making you struggle with him.

After he had came, it was no longer an ability to deny your body. Stimulatingly, your core shrieked and it trickled down your thighs, drooling down his cock as well that laid inside you. There were no moans to moan since you were all out. You panted and gagged with your cheek hot from the wall. The orgasm spiralled out of control and you fell back into him, his arms grabbing your waist and his chest hitting your back.

“There she is…” Encouraged his raspy voice.

You whimpered, “Shit… Oh, yeah.”

“How’s that for an apology? Made you feel good, eh? I love my girl, would stay like this forever.”

“I… Accept – “ You took deep breaths, “ – Your apology. Jesus…”

Trevor pecked the back of your ear before swaying you to the sofa where you sunk into the cushions. He massaged your inner thighs as you were based in his lap, nakedly hogging each other’s personal space with the smell of nasty sex filling your living room space.

“More of this,” He pointed to your smile before smirking, “And less of your grumpiness, yeah?”

“Standard practice for you to say.”

“And less of the fucking cheek. I’m just a guy wanting his girl to love him.”

“Poor Trevor.” You teased.

“Love me…” He whined and rested his chin on your shoulder.

“I do love you.”

“What was that?”

“I think you stink.”

“Of your sweet cunt, baby.”

“And dirt.”

Trevor glared but remained quiet, trapping you in his embrace as you both finally recovered from that argument. In a bang, as per usual.

[thebeesareback]

Superstore episodes for all occassion

When you want to laugh

Spokesman Scandal (s2e5)

Workplace Bullying (s3e4)

Gender Reveal (s3e20)

Baby Shower (s4e2)

Also all of them, tbh

When you want to cry

Brett's Dead (s3e2)

Employee Appreciation Day (s4e22)

Cloud 9.0 (s5e1)

Myrtle (s5e12)

California Part 1 (s5e21)

All Sales Final (s6e15)

When you're feeling romantic

Tornado (s2e22)

Sandra's Wedding (s5e14)

When you're feeling political

Shots and Salsa (s1e3)

Labour (s1e11)

Strike (s2e2)

Guns, pills and birds (s2e4)

Health Fund (s3e6)

Town Hall (s3e22)

Maternity Leave (s4e6)

Sandra's Fight (s4e21)

Negotiations (s5e10)

Essential (s6e1)

Hair Care Products (s6e5)

When you want to leave the store

Cheyenne's Wedding (s2e21)

Golden Globes (s3e9)

Manager's Conference (s4e8)

Quenceanera (s4e18)

When you want shenanigans

Color Wars (s1e7)

All-nighter (s1e9)

Olympics (s2e1)

Ladies' Lunch (s2e13)

Video Game Release (s3e13)

Blizzard (s4e12)

Customer Safari (s5e20)

When you want a holiday episode

Halloween Theft (s2e7)

Black Friday (s2e10)

Valentine's Day (s2e14)

Christmas Eve (s3e7)

Costume Competition (s4e4)

Lovebirds (s4e13)

Easter (s4e16)

Trick or Treat (s5e6)

Spring Cleaning (s6e11)

[aokozaki]

Geoff Keighley opening the Summer Game Fest with a little speech about how this has been a rough year for games, with studio closures and layoffs disappointing everyone, before hitting us with a "but" seems like it's gonna lead to some real bullshit.

But what he actually chooses to highlight is midsize, smaller teams, and even solo developers thriving where big companies die for the sake of capitalism.

He shows the top 10 bestsellers on Steam right now, and says that while two are from what would be considered big companies, eight are from smaller teams or solo devs.

That's genuinely impressive. He found a way to keep the show hyped without completely shoving shit under the rug (as he was accused of during the whole Blizzard scandal).

[wildissylupus]

Sorry if I rant, but what is up with the ages of characters? Did no one in lore double check if it makes sense?

Sojourn is a child soldier that joined at 14/15 and her sister is a teen pregnancy

Kiriko's age not matching up with the Shimadas

Etc etc

+++++

Most issues are with the ages of the women.

The problem appears to be that the ones in charge for some reason want to make the girls as young as possible for some reason with heroes like D.Va, Illari, Kiriko, Juno etc😬

It's like no one but Ana and the men allowed to be old with several characters having reasons to be physically younger than they chronologicaly are: Mercy with her suit, Tracer being lost to time and Mei being frozen for years

After the entire Blizzard scandal it leaves a bad taste in my mouth I want to separate the game from it but...😔

In all honesty this is a problem with media in general, mainly cause the characters do look their ages for what they do on a regular basis, physical exercise and general healthy living. The problem being we as a society having a warped view on what people are supposed to look like at cirtain ages because TV shows and movies often cast adults to play teens, and basically just cast older actors to play younger roles in general. I know several people irl that have the similar heavily active, healthy lifestyle that are older then the Overwatch characters that actively look the same age as them.

That doesn't mean I don't have my own complaints about how the art team doesn't add stress to the equation when it comes to how characters age but there's still a bit more to talk about so that'll be at the end.

There's also the fact that they did fix Sojourns age to make it make sense. So yeah that one was fucked but they did rectify that.

Another thing is that with at least D.Va and Illari there is a reason why they are so young. D.Va is not only a character that is used to show the pressures of stardom paired with the pressures of being a leader, she is also shown to be a narrative parallel to Cassidy. Joining MEKA at a similar age that he did Overwatch. With Illari her being 18 adds to the tragedy of her story, she's do young and we know it's only going to get worse because she's a child who's gone through something severely traumatic and is alone while dealing with it.

This is also why Juno is the rare occasion when I want a character to be on the younger side. It adds tragedy to Mei's story along with Juno's story presumably because the three characters she has the most connection to are Mei, Winston and Hammond. I don't know what her backstory will be but it's going to be tragic.

Kiriko here is the only one I agree with cause her lore actively contradicts itself. She was 12 when Sojiro Shimada died l, he died 14 years ago, yet she's 21? It doesn't make sense. Though I am of the opinion that her having a big age gap with the brothers adds to her story, at the very least she should be 26.

Now let's get into my complaints, that's specifically Mercy. She should look older specifically because of stress, and I don't like the idea of her nanobiotics changing that. At the very least she should have bags under her eyes. Not only is she a doctor and field medic, she also going through gifted kid burnout. She should also definitely have back problems since we only ever see her sleep at her desk. Grey hairs as well cause again, stress.

I do firmly believe that they should be adding older women characters, I push Frankie being a playable character cause canonically she is the same age if not older then Ashe. I personally believe that JQ should have been older as well. I would also love to see Ingrid or one of Torbs older children be a playable character as well since if the Crisis is happening again it doesn't make sense for them to sit on the sidelines this time. In general I really do wish there were older characters in this game.

[shithowdy]

I miss old skool Death Knight rp so much. I know there are classic servers and people who are still dedicated but I’m so checked out of WoW now. I came back to tumblr recently and all my old WoW mutuals seem to have had the exact same experience since 2018~2019 of just completely checking out of the game. Most of us seem to have quit even before the big Blizzard scandals.

But idk, I just get so nostalgic for Acherus. I don’t think I’ll ever get over Death Knights 💀 I didn’t play on US servers but I always wished (I could have joined you all!)

It really was a flash-in-the-pan type of RP that can never truly be revisited, and I miss it terribly sometimes. With the scourge plotline basically concluded not once but twice-over for good measure, the whole premise of the class loses its identity and casts them adrift and without purpose-- something for which they were always sort of destined, but with Shadowlands even things like the crises of faith and redemption and what happens when they finally let go and properly join the dead are negated. The uncertainty and fear of it all is what made them so interesting!

When I left the game, it felt like 90% of the RP happening was very "domestic"-- family dynamics, shipping, people having bake sales, exploration/travel, picnics, parties. It can be occasionally fun to see how a living weapon tries to fit into that sort of dynamic, but I personally found it quickly tiresome and unfulfilling as the moral quandaries of existing at all fell to the wayside. It's very hard to continue to RP someone grappling with their identity when all the other RPers are basically going "oh yeah i just drink a potion to stop the endless hunger so i can run my fashion business :)", and rather than mire in my lore snobbery I just... left.

[not-that-syndrigast]

Stucky fanfic recs

below you can find some of my all time favourite Stucky fics that have ruined my life 💕 not really sorted except for the first three which are my all time favourites

creative | canon adjacent | AU | modern AU | small steve | sexual content

United States v. Barnes, 617 F. Supp. 2d 143 (D.D.C. 2015)

The Associated Press @AP

Winter Soldier set to stand trial for Washington D.C. massacre and treason apne.ws/1og6SWE

(Creative, canon adjacent)

End OTW Racism | Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film

“Heil Hydra,” the enemy agent shouts.

“Heil this, motherfucker,” says Captain America, shooting off a rocket.

Steve and Bucky find out Hollywood has been busy since they went away. A historical survey, including but not limited to: one set of exploded genitals, a brief interlude in France, Mel Gibson and other masterworks of casting, eight Academy awards, several dinosaurs, and something Tony Stark has ominously dubbed “the masterpiece.” Art included.

(creative, canon adjacent)

A long winter

In 1945, Steve Rogers jumps from a nosediving plane and swims through miles of Arctic Ocean to a frozen shore.

In 1947, Steve Rogers marries Peggy Carter.

In 1966, the New York Times finds the lost letters of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

(AU)

Just say you do

Steve just wanted a job. He wasn't expecting a marriage proposal. And he certainly wasn't expecting to accept.

(Modern AU, small Steve)

ain't no grave (can keep my body down)

It's six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.

For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don't. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It's very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.

I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.

Steve sits down hard on the steps.

(Canon adjacent)

casual encounters

“You have never once been careful in your entire life.” Bucky huffs out a laugh. He looks away. “Maybe I’m offended you didn’t think to ask me.” He says it like a joke, but he can’t bring himself to laugh again.

“Bucky,” Steve says, scandalized. “You’re my friend. I’m not gonna use you to experiment sexually.”

(Modern AU, small Steve, sexual content)

If they haven't learned your name

Steve gets out of the hospital in two days, but just barely. “I’m fine,” he tells Sam, Nurse Eunjung and the phalanx of doctors assigned to make sure Captain America didn’t bleed out and die and get bad PR all over their nice clean hospital. “I have an advanced healing factor. It’s fine. See? I’m standing.”

“That is not standing,” Sam tells him.

“You’re bending the IV stand,” Nurse Eunjung adds pointedly. “Let go and sit down, they don’t grow on trees.”

aka Steve and Bucky's Global Honeymoon Revenge World Tour.

(Canon adjacent)

choices we're given

Steve Rogers is a good man and a good agent. There's really no excuse for the assassin in his bed.

(Modern AU, sexual content)

through the woods

There’s a legend in Mansewood, nearly as old as the town itself, about a pack of werewolves that once lived in the forest. They say only one survives; a monstrous and snarling beast with fur like a blizzard and fangs the size of daggers. They say it guards the lands and all creatures in it, and no hunter has faced it and lived to tell the tale.

Steve doesn’t care about any of that. He only wants to know if it prefers T-Bone or ribeye, and would it please stop tracking dirt through his house? He just mopped the floor.

(Modern AU, sexual content)

[sonicasura]

Ok. It's becoming clear that people are 50/50 on the release of the Earthspark last episodes for season. Please remember the circumstances when it comes to shows during this time but also streaming services like Paramount Plus.

Let's start with the latter. Paramount Plus is rather infamous for cancelling shows as of late. Nickelodeon oriented ones are said to be "safe" but I highly doubt it. The writers for the show no doubt didn't want Earthspark to end with a lot of loose ends otherwise things would be better in pacing. A "better safe than sorry" scenario.

We can't forget the writer's strike. This was a long time coming since those in the film/show/game industry tend to not care for their employees. If you guys seen the Activision/Blizzard, Konami and Ubisoft scandals then it's clear we don't know what occurs beyond closed doors.

All I'm saying is please give Earthspark writers some slack. They obviously didn't want to release these episodes yet but felt like there wasn't a choice in the matter. It was do or die for them.

[dextixer]

RT is CRWBY and CRWBY is RT

For a long time now, especially right now i see a lot of people say things like "Roosterteeth is not the same as CRWBY!" "CRWBY is innocent of the things that Roosterteeth is doing!". Of course this is mostly in response to RT being caught up in yet another scandal of abuse or some other sort of fucky wucky. The most recent one being queerbaiting with BB over... Completely unrelated content. Something that most critics could have told you like 3-4 years ago, but the FNDM is only now catching on.

The other times people try to pretend that the problems of RWBY are because "CRWBY has limited resources" and they pretend that RT is some sort of evil overlord hanging over CRWBY and not giving them time/resources to make RWBY.

So, i took some time to go over a few names of people who produce this show for the sole reason of proving a simple TRUTH. That there is almost NO difference between CRWBY and RT. They are the SAME company with the SAME people.

(Directors)

Kerry Shawcross - Director of RWBY from V3 - Core member of RT

Gray Haddock - Co-Director of RWBY V3-5 - Head of Animation at RT

Miles Luna - Writer, Assistant director V3-5 - Head writer of Animation 2015-2018, core member of RT

Connor Pickens - Co-Director V6-7 - Lead Editor of RT

(Producers)

Matt Hullum - Executive Producer of RWBY - Chief content officer and co-founder of RT (CEO - 2012-2019) - His wife is a VO in the show for Raven Branwen.

Koen Wooten - producer / supervising producer 2015-2019 - Supervising producer of RT animation division

Joe Clary - Lead producer of RWBY 2017-2020 - Producer at RT

Nick Todd - Animation associate producer of RWBY 2019-2023 - Pre-production/outsourcing producer at RT

(Voice Actors)

Jack Pattillo - Co-Founder of Achievement Hunter - VA for Junior

Michael Jones - Core member of AH - VA for Sun Wukong

Lindsay Jones - Core editor of AH - VA for Ruby Rose

Barbara Dunkelman - Creative director of RT - VA for Yang Xiao Long

Burnie Burns - Co-founder of RT - CEO - CCO - VA for Taiyang Xiao Long

They Knew

Many of the highest ranking members of RT were involved in the production of RWBY. Heads of animation, Co-founders, Head Writers. People who were the leads of entire DEPARTMENTS of RT creation.

These people KNEW about EVERYTHING that happened at RT. RT is not some foreign entity from CRWBY. CRWBY is RT. RT is CRWBY.

The only parts of CRWBY that are not related to RT management are ANIMATORS and other such workers. And guess what, most of them are now FIRED.

Workers not getting paid, frat boy culture, bigoted culture, overwork etc. Were the fault of the SAME RT members that are a part of CRWBY.

And absolutely NOONE can even try to imply that the reason RWBY had problems because of "higher ups at RT" when those same Higher ups of RT worked on RWBY DIRECTLY. Including the CEO of the company and Co-Founders.

Also, as a note, Blizz fanboys tried to pull the same shit when Blizzard abuses came to light. "Its not the department that i like! My WoW team was innocent! My Overwatch team was innocent". Fucking bullshit, all of it.

[acotars]

books read in 2024

⋆ ⭒˚.⋆ january ⋆.˚⭒ ⋆

one dark window (the shepherd king #1) by rachel gillig

the murder on the links (hercule poirot #2) by agatha christie

pageboy by elliot page

house of sky and breath (crescent city #2) by sarah j. maas

rogue protocol (the murderbot diaries #3) by martha wells

cult classic by sloane crosley

malibu rising by taylor jenkins reid

the beauty of your face by sahar mustafah

exit strategy (the murderbot diaries #4) by martha wells

animal farm by george orwell

everyone in this room will someday be dead by emily austin

carrie soto is back by taylor jenkins reid

a court this cruel & lovely (kingdom of lies #1) by stacia stark

the rules do not apply by ariel levy

poirot investigates (hercule poirot #3) by agatha christie

yellowface by rebecca f kuang

every heart a doorway (wayward children #1) by seanan mcguire

house of flame and shadow (crescent city #3) by sarah j. maas

read: 18

* · ✦ · * february * · ✦ · *

beautyland by marie-helene bertino

bride by ali hazelwood

network effect (the murderbot diaries #5) by martha wells

fugitive telemetry (the murderbot diaries #6) by martha wells

faebound (faebound #1) by saara el-arifi

the raven boys (the raven cycle #1) by maggie stiefvater **

read: 6

.✦.· *. march .*· .✦.

interesting facts about space by emily austin

penance by eliza clark

the book that no one wanted to read by richard ayoade

pride and prejudice by jane austen

unlikeable female characters: the women pop culture wants you to hate by anna bogutskaya

the shame by makenna goodman

greta & valdin by rebecca k. reilly

read: 7

✷ · ✶ · ✧ april ✧ · ✶ · ✷

this spells love by kate robb

out on a limb by hannah bonam-young

gwen & art are not in love by lex croucher

a lady's guide to scandal by sophie irwin

the friendship study by ruby barrett

the boyfriend candidate by ashley winstead

the pumpkin spice cafe by laurie gilmore

business or pleasure by rachel lynn solomon

how to end a love story by yulin kuang

this could be us (skyland #2) by kennedy ryan

the honeymoon crashers (the unhoneymooners #1.5) by christina lauren

we could have been friends, my father and i by raja shehadeh

how to stop time by matt haig

how to fake it in hollywood by ava wilder

with love from cold world by alicia thompson

funny story by emily henry

love radio by ebony ladelle

old flames and new fortunes by sarah hogle

just for the summer by abby jimenez

don't want you like a best friend by emma r. alban

love interest by clare gilmore

the exception to the rule (the improbable meet-cute #1) by christina lauren

worst wingman ever (the improbable meet-cute #2) by abby jimenez

with any luck (the improbable meet-cute #5) by ashley poston

last call at the local by sara grunder ruiz

happily never after by lynn painter

the ex talk by rachel lynn solomon

i kissed shara wheeler by casey mcquiston

the love wager by lynn painter

morning glory milking farm by c.m. nacosta

will they or won't they by ava wilder

read: 31

.　° * ☆ may ☆ * °　.

when the sky fell on splendor by emily henry

on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

blizzard by marie vingtras

bright young women by jessica knoll

the age of magical overthinking: notes on modern irrationality by amanda montell

the flatshare by beth o'leary **

read: 6

⋆ ˚.⋆ june ⋆.˚ ⋆

not in love by ali hazelwood

the way of kings (the stormlight archive #1) by brandon sanderson

words of radiance (the stormlight archive #2) by brandon sanderson

read: 3

. · ☆ . july . ☆ · .

edgedancer (the stormlight archive #2.5) by brandon sanderson

blue iris: poems and essays by mary oliver

woman, eating by claire kohda

oathbringer (the stormlight archive #3) by brandon sanderson

a novel love story by ashley poston

chlorine by jade song

how to read now by elain castillo

please stop trying to leave me by alana saab

beautifully broken life by catherine cowles

the god of the woods by liz moore

edgedancer (the stormlight archive #3.5) by brandon sanderson

the dead and the dark by courtney gould

a most agreeable murder by julia seales

the murder of roger ackroyd (hercule poirot #4) by agatha christie

read: 14

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁august ݁. ⊹ ₊ ݁.

the bluest eye by toni morrison

more, please: on food, fat, bingeing, longing, and the lust for "enough" by emma specter

the ministry of time by kaliane bradley

system collapse (the murderbot diaries #7) by martha wells

emily wilde's encycolpedia of fairies (emily wilde #1) by heather fawcett

emily wilde's map of the other lands (emily wilde #2) by heather fawcett

catalina by karla cornejo villavicencio

roadside picnic by arkady strugatsky and boris strugatsky

read: 8

reading goal: 93/100

add me on goodreads !

[hetrosjistin]

Help I'm thinking about subbing for WoW Again

So there were a lot of things that lead to me more or less giving up Warcraft for life, including the horrors of blizzard that were revealed that made me seriously question why I was in the industry any more (warcraft 3 and world of warcraft are -why- I became a game developer).

But battle for azeroth was where it started and how... empty, and schizophrenic, and the way the world just NEVER capitalized on the story they were laying down, and then a little while later 2 things happened that, combined with the sexual abuse scandals (which came a little later iirc and would have been enough on their own), lead to me going 'yeah I'm gone, forever' (and also lead to me picking up FFXIV).

The first was that blizzard announced that they never planned the story of their games further than 1 patch cycle out.

The second was a clip of blizzard devs being asked when they were going to stop nerfing demonology warlock and responding "when are you going to stop playing it" (I cannot put into words how insulting that was, I main that spec, but if you don't want to make something work in the game then fucking remove it and have done with it, mad respect to the FFXIV team for having the balls to do that to summoner effectively, even if I disagree with it).

Shadowlands seemed to have vindicated that choice to an insane degree, especially with the level of FOMO they were willing to engage in with main storyline quests.

Now Dragonlands seems to have reversed that, the story is done and complete and it looks like they actually went into it with a plan, I've not heard of any major quest deletions of the main story, and the new expansion feels like it's coming along nicely, and frankly... I miss playing my first roleplaying character.

Counter balance that with the fact all my old friends are gone, they're probably not coming back... and... I dunno.

It's a weird feeling to have.

[mariacallous]

Jonathan’s actions were irrefutable: Over the course of nearly a decade, while working at a video game developer, he sexually assaulted industry colleagues. One victim came forward, posting their story to social media; others followed with stories of their own. The consequences were swift. Colleagues, friends, and peers disavowed him. He stepped away from his job and retreated from the public eye.

Jonathan, who asked that WIRED not reveal his identity, no longer works in the video game industry. His decision to remain apart from the community, he says, is the direct result of his actions. ”I made the choices I did, and I needed to hold the burden of those consequences,” he says. Had he remained in games, he felt he would be placing an unfair burden on his colleagues, as well as making the lives of those he abused more difficult.

“I didn't feel like it was right to stay involved and continue my journey in gaming when the harm I caused prevented them from doing the same,” he says.

In video game development, actions like Jonathan’s are alarmingly familiar. What's less common are solutions for how to repair the damage done. For decades, the industry has faced calls to weed out people accused of sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, abuse of power, harassment, assault, and much more. At companies like Activision Blizzard, which paid out millions to victims who alleged a widespread sexual harassment scandal, bad actors have lost their jobs or faced discipline following harassment investigations, but what then? It’s taken the video game industry so long to even respond to the problems in its ranks, little work has been done to figure out what can and should happen next.

ReSpec wants to be part of the solution. Founded in 2022 as an offshoot of a hotline for people experiencing harassment and abuse in the gaming industry, the nonprofit works with people who want to change. For Jonathan, that meant facing his actions and taking accountability. In other cases, it means recognizing misuses of power, harassment, or manipulation. ReSpec's work pushes the conversation further, but also raises new questions about whether abusers can be reformed—or if they should ever be allowed to return to the places they made unsafe.

In 2020, Jae Lin was working at the Games and Online Harassment Hotline. It was a text-based service that allowed anyone who reached out to talk anonymously about issues from crunch to depression. Launched by Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian, herself the target of a Gamergate harassment campaign, the idea was to create the survivor-centered, trauma-informed assistance the game industry so desperately needed.

When confessions coming from industry abusers began rolling in, Lin was surprised. They were working for a hotline that was created to support victims. Unwittingly, it was also becoming a lifeline for people who’d done the harm in the first place. “Really from the beginning, we had folks texting us about harm and harassment that they had caused or been a part of,” Lin says. “It just kept happening.”

Eventually, Lin says, they realized this was “not a one-off thing,” but something the industry wasn’t addressing. There were not many resources, even outside of the games space, for people who “were feeling remorseful and regretful for what they had done and wanted to change,” Lin says. No one knew who to ask for help.

In reporting on this piece, WIRED reached out to survivor-focused groups like the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network to better contextualize ReSpec's work. A representative for RAINN declined to comment, saying that the organization doesn't have an expert who could speak on the subject.

Lin would officially found ReSpec—a nod to rebuilding attributes in role-playing games—with the goal of providing virtual meetings that could be attended by anyone in the world. Because counseling offenders is different from working with survivors, they consulted with therapists who had experience working with incarcerated people and people on the sex offender registry. They also spoke with facilitators of batterer's intervention groups, members and leaders of men's support groups, and many more experts with experience in sexual violence prevention.

At ReSpec, facilitators have backgrounds that span hotline counseling and trauma-informed care to sexual violence prevention and “men's roles in interrupting cycles of gender-based violence,” Lin says.

Part of ReSpec’s work is about acknowledging that harassing behavior in the video game development world doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The industry is still overwhelmingly male—69 percent of devs identify as cis men—and at times hostile to anyone who doesn’t fit that mold. People drug developers at industry parties; conversations about alcohol's presence and the culture it communicates in professional spaces are a constant. Whisper networks, more powerful than they’ve ever been thanks to online forums, work overtime. It does not matter what size a company is, or even the industry it serves. The MeToo movement existed for over a decade before the allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein published in The New Yorker and The New York Times in 2017 catalyzed a global reckoning.

“So much of what we heard about from folks was rarely about a single, egregious instance of harassment or abuse or violence,” Lin says. “This is something that they're facing every time they play a game, every job they work at—it was everywhere.”

Harassment rarely impacts only those directly involved. It is a pernicious act, one that can ripple out and inform work culture. It can drive people out of industries they work in, or discourage others from joining at all.

In the last few years alone, games industry powerhouses such as Riot, Activision Blizzard, and Ubisoft have been the subject of allegations of workplace harassment and abuse. However it’s labeled—as a callout, a cancellation—bringing attention to abusive individuals is part of a greater push for justice and accountability. Victims have used social media spaces like X to tell their stories in their own words. It is an imperfect system, one that opens survivors up to widespread abuse online and off, that many turn to when they feel they have no other options.

“If you think about some of the other mechanisms that the legal system provides, they don't necessarily provide the kind of remedies that people might want,” says Jennifer Robbennolt, a University of Illinois law professor whose research focuses on integrating psychology into the study of law. Criminal cases deal with fines or prison; the civil system is about monetary damages. “In certain kinds of cases, those outcomes might be appropriate,“ Robbennolt says. “But a lot of times what people who are harmed or people in those communities will want is changed behavior.”

In the criminal system, advocates for restorative justice work with offenders and victims together in an attempt to reconcile. The goal is to move forward, and sometimes reintegrate the perpetrator back into a community or workplace, albeit often in a different role. “In some ways, that's both a benefit and the challenge of restorative justice,” Robbennolt says. “It's a collaborative process that creates room for there to be nuance to the consequences to the harm, and to tailor the solution to that particular circumstance.” However, she adds, it’s important to not minimize “the more severe end of the spectrum.”

Aside from the nature of the harm done, there’s also the matter of how remorseful a perpetrator is—a difference between someone who either cannot or will not admit to wrongdoing and someone who can potentially learn. Not all offenders should be treated the same, even when their behaviors are similar, Robbennolt says.

While other programs may align with restorative justice, Lin says ReSpec’s focus is on a different model known as transformative justice. “Our focus is really working to address the roots of how harm happens,” Lin says. That means examining behavior, history, and practicing new ways to build relationships.

A key element of a program like ReSpec, says Lin, is time. They’re betting on long-term change. “Change that happens overnight can be undone overnight,” they say. “We really believe that this change towards accountability takes years—years of commitment and unlearning and active engagement.”

Getting those outcomes starts with wanting to change, which means showing up.