#but tl;dr it all depends on what you want and how much you are willing to pay (ofc i dont recommend spending too much but its up to you)

[ultramarine-spirit]

do you have any advice on how to get the wmmap paper dolls books? or is itsuper exclusive merch? sorry for asking i'm just super curious!

Currently the only way of buying the paper doll book is finding it being sold on a second-hand shopping site. When KW Books' (Carrotoon's parent company) official store had just launched, they put some leftover stock of wmmap's limited editions up for sale. I guess that could happen again, but 1. Going by their wording, it seemed like a "just this one time" type of deal; and 2. You would have to buy volume 3's limited edition, which could be way more expensive than buying the piece of merch individually. Also, wmmap's volumes got sold out in like, a couple of hours.

Anyways, the fastest and safest way of buying any rare merch is keeping an eye on reseller sites. I'm not too sure about the korean scene, since I use japanese sites. My go-to site is Mercari, but there's also Suruga-ya, Yahoo! Auctions, Ebay, etc. I recommend Mercari because it's easy to use with proxy companies that help you out with the buying process, such as Buyee (probably the easiest one to use? but there are others like Zenmarket, Treasure Japan, etc. I can vouch for Treasure Japan and Buyee since I've used them several times). I have seen korean and japanese fans selling the paper doll book on Twitter once or twice, but the person most likely won't ship internationally (I asked lmao).

TL;DR: 1. Search for wmmap on reseller sites (using its japanese, korean, chinese, etc., spelling depending on the site you use). The paper doll book is super rare, but I have seen it a bunch of times, so eventually it should reappear; 2. If you can't buy it directly, use a proxy company as middleman (Buyee is pretty reliable, but depending on your country there might be better options from local stores). That's it!

As for prices, it honestly depends on your luck. Sometimes you'll find second-hand merch at pretty fair prices (for books I think anything around $20 USD is worth it, but this heavily depends on your currency's exchange rate), and other times people will ask for a crazy amount of money. Merch that has been opened, used or that has any type of damage will always be cheaper, so sometimes it's best to buy "not perfect" merch. My advice is to also consider the shipping cost and possible import taxes before making any purchases.

Oh, also, I don't recommend buying from Etsy resellers. They always overcharge way too much and I've heard many cases of people not receiving everything they had bought from them.

Wow, that was a long answer...

[least-carpet]

No, no, but now I want to read your ideas about how wwx is set to an implosion in 1-3 years. How do you get him there? In canon, he needed jyl's death, the wen siblings death, the world against him

Another neglected anon! Sorry for the late response and happy new year!

I actually think what we saw in terms of Wei Wuxian's devolution after Jiang Yanli's death qualifies as an explosion rather than an implosion, i.e. the force was directed outwards from the centre and killed whoever was in the blast radius. I don't think he'll do that.

I do think we see him implode earlier than that though, in the post-war period, where he drinks excessively (to the point that Wen Qing comments on it), he's unreliable, his moods are volatile, he self-isolates, etc.

To be fair, a certain amount of this is related to not having a golden core and practising demonic cultivation. However, I also tend to read it as a reaction to his war trauma, since self-medicating is a pretty normal response to surviving horrifying events?

Let me be clear that I don't think he always used alcohol like this—I think his partying as a teenager became a problem in adulthood. I think that was always a risk for him for a variety of reasons (we know that he survived becoming a homeless orphan and doesn't remember big chunks of his childhood, which tends to indicate trauma) but I don't think we see it happen until after the war, during which he saw and did some buckwild shit. I also don't know that he ever developed a physical dependence on alcohol, just that his post-war alcohol use looks pretty dysfunctional given its context and all the other choices he was making.

So. Given what we know about:

his behaviour in the post-war period;

his behaviour immediately post-resurrection, specifically that we see him desperately trying to avoid people, places, and situations that make him remember traumatic events from his first life;

his partner, specifically that Lan Wangji doesn't have a real barometer for what "normal" drinking looks like, and also has a tendency to enable Wei Wuxian;

where his partner lives, the extremely calm and controlled Cloud Recesses, where everything is on a strict schedule, therefore predictable and regular, and many activities Wei Wuxian likes are just not allowed—

We have a scenario where a person who thrives in exciting situations and likes working under pressure is living in place that is quiet, regular, and predictable. He is not supposed to drink there, but has a spouse who's willing to smuggle in as much alcohol as he wants. He has thus far throughout the story distracted himself from processing a long series of very traumatic events, and has only been willing to be in relationship with people who can't or won't hold him accountable. All of those feelings are waiting to explode out of the closet he's stuffed them in and fall on his head. And now he's often in a place where there's nothing fun to do...

Like, I think that it might take a minute, since the euphoria of new love will at least provide, you know, some positive feelings, which are their own distraction. (Plus all the sex! And night-hunting!) And Lan Wangji has many qualities that make him a real support to Wei Wuxian, and that might get him through that inevitable post-honeymoon period of quiet where all his feelings pop out and come for him. But I don't think that's going to be a fun experience for anyone?

TL;DR I think eventually he will have to stop running away and actually think about what he's lost, and we know what he does with Bad Feelings he doesn't want (excessive drinking, avoidance, withdrawal from loved ones). Grief and shame are gonna get you every time!

[antianakin]

It's so interesting how people reacted so drastically to the criticism against the Prequels, disliking both Anakin and the Jedi while liking Obi-Wan, that Anakin and Obi-Wan managed to be basically merged into almost the exact same character.

Anakin has the "relatability factor" of being the protagonist who goes on a journey and has the flaws that are explored within the story. But he's COMPLETELY unlikable as a character, especially in AOTC (and I hear people find child actors grating in general which is a personal taste problem but caused people to dislike Anakin in TPM too). He's whiny, rude, disrespectful, awkward, unforgivably uncool, and comes with a HEFTY dose of secondhand embarrassment in nearly every scene he's in.

Obi-Wan has the "cool factor" of being the one who is the Adult most of the time who is there to showcase how far the teenaged protagonist has to go still, so he gets all of the clever quippy lines and the better fight scenes (and his actor was a little older and more seasoned which probably helped a bit). But he's not the protagonist and so his flaws are not on display and it's not his story being told at all.

TL;DR Obi-Wan is an actually likable character with redeeming entertaining traits, but Anakin had all of the character story beats and protagonist bias.

And this meant Obi-Wan got out of the Prequel Trilogy a lot easier than the rest of the characters, especially Anakin (and the other Jedi).

So then we got The Clone Wars. And TCW is a show that is much lauded for being the show that "saved" the Prequels, generally by "saving" Anakin as a character. How did they do that?

They took away all of those pesky uncomfortable qualities of Anakin's and instead just gave him all of Obi-Wan's more fun likable qualities. TCW Anakin is turned into a dudebro action hero, with tons of cool action scenes to show off just how badass he is, endless amounts of quippy dialogue so he can equal Obi-Wan in their scenes together, capable of flirting with a Queen SO WELL that she doesn't even realize he's faking it until he pulls out a lightsaber. Gone is that secondhand embarrassment, gone are the whiny moments, gone is the inability to have a cool fight scene to save his life. The awkwardness stays just enough to make him ENDEARING, but not enough to cringe at so much you want to turn off what you're watching or just fast forward to the next scene.

And this is the version of Anakin that feels more "right" to people, more true to what they anticipated in a baby Darth Vader. He's angry a lot, violent, prone to lashing out if things don't go his way, but he's also just charming and suave enough that it's mostly understandable why people around him are willing to write off his worse behavior as a momentary struggle. Gone are the tears, gone is the fear of loss being his most obvious motivator. Because THIS is how people expected a villain like Darth Vader to act in his youth.

And then you get fanon Obi-Wan. Because people hated the Jedi, rejected the warrior monks who destroyed their visions of gallant medieval knights, and created a whole new interpretation positioning the Jedi as the villains of the story in order to try to make their peace with that dissonance. But they liked Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan CAN'T be the villain.

So how do you save him from that fate? You make him more like Anakin. He gets to keep the cool fighting abilities and the fun quippy dialogue of course, but he's now completely repressed to the point that he never told Anakin he loved him until Anakin was burning in pieces on Mustafar. Now he's someone who can barely keep himself together and regularly forgets to eat and sleep like a normal person and has to be taken care of by other people. Now he's constantly being portrayed as just as attached to Anakin as Anakin is to him, just as co-dependent as Anakin is in that relationship, just as inclined towards anger and willing to walk away from the more stuffy traditional Jedi Order so he can have the more natural, healthier domestic lifestyle he's always truly wanted and never known he could have. TCW even decided to help out here by giving Obi-Wan a love interest who is for all intents and purposes just a knock-off of Padme, his own forbidden star-crossed love story. He takes on ALL of Anakin's flaws that make Anakin so "relatable" as a character, keeps his more charming likable traits, and loses all of those things that make him a Jedi, that make him Obi-Wan Kenobi.

So now Obi-Wan and Anakin are both cool, charming, suave, silver tongued, attached, repressed, struggling against the Jedi Code. They're effectively the same person, but one of them just happens to commit genocide and the other one... doesn't. What made each of them distinct and interesting characters in their own right is washed away in order to merge them both into two copies of the One Perfect Character and who you like better at that point is probably just down to who you found more attractive or something equally banal.

And through fandom osmosis, this is what is considered their true/"canon" interpretation, regardless of how inaccurate it actually is.

[qqtxt]

[🌸] i know i love you w/ txt

✿ pairing: ot5 x reader / idol!txt / non.idol!you / exes-to-lovers(ish) ✿ disclaimer: possibly toxic behaviours / the boys are depicted to be in a one-sided love but the reader still reciprocates their love in secret / curse words (none with ill intention!) ✿ mini-fics with each member for the same situation / less than 500 words for each member / altogether, word count: 2,314 words ✿ in which they show you they still love you, even when they know they shouldn’t… ✿: 🎧 0X1=LOVESONG by txt [masterlist 🌸] / other members are below the cut! / @kflixnet​​ ✨

things ended... messy, to say the least. emotions were running high, stress was constantly on and pressure was never a good friend that made everything combust; leaving both ends burning and crumbling to meet at the centre. a break. not a clean one, but it’s a break nonetheless. 

it was the grey area of uncertainty, of not knowing if you two would ever be together again or if this was the end. a part of you knows you’ll always love him–whether it’s in secret or out in the open–and you can’t ever deny that. him, on the other hand, is more adamant to showing you that your love still burned brightly, strongly, unwavering in the time you two were apart.

[🐰] soobin once a week, flowers would show up unannounced. be it at your home, at your work, at the places you least expect them... the blossoms of hidden messages would be there depending on the week and it happens so frequent that you don’t question who it’s from anymore. orchids of i miss you, tulips of deep and unconventional love... lily of the valley in hopes of patching up the relationship that has gone sour, that once tasted so sweet.

it’s a new day to a new week. you hear the doorbell ringing and a soft mutter of a delivery under your name. while you’re hoping it’s that kitchen appliance you’ve ordered, you’re surprised with the blossoms of petunia. upon thanking the delivery guy, you’re standing at the doorway with the bouquet in your hands, the letter poking out for you to recognise the handwriting that makes your heart twist but soon after, the warmth that spreads for the first time in a long time is what makes you crack a smile.

‘here’s to our healing. to you. to me. to us. still thinking about you everyday. yours, c.s.b.’

soobin watches, a distance away in silence. it pains him that he knows he doesn’t deserve to be here, to see you at a vulnerable state but it’s all he’s willing to give himself as he watches you hold the flowers he’s picked for you. how desperate he wants to be the flowers you hold so tenderly in your hands but he knows he deserves this... dull, throbbing ache that probes at his chest. yet today, for the first time in a long time, he smiles with the tears in his eyes and quietly leaves to think about the next bouquet of flowers he’d send next week.

tl;dr: soobin respects your space and doesn’t exactly show up in person (also because his heart can’t take it) but uses other means to show you he still loves you. flowers. he finds that being able to speak with you through written word and the blossoms and... quietly watching your reaction to the flowers is enough to reassure him that you still love him; just that you two needed time, for now.

[🦊] yeonjun “i know,” he murmurs, softly, broken. he swallows thickly, peering up to you in a way that you can’t close the door on him even if you wanted to. “i just–i really, really needed to see you...”

he knows this is wrong. he knows that you deserve your space, your privacy, the time apart of what grants this to be a break in the first place but... he can’t. he wants to honour his words of being able to allow you to reflect in peace but he can’t. yeonjun misses you too much to pull through despite doing well the past few weeks and at the times when he’s the weakest, he finds himself red eyed from crying, puffy eyes steering him away from his path back to his dorm and straight to–”j-jun...”

yeonjun hates that look on your face. pity. pain. the way you still silently love him but can’t openly show it because you’re hurting, too. then he hates how you hug yourself when he wants to be the one you wrap your arms around. on top of the many things he hates about you, he can’t ever hate you.

“that’s what you said two weeks ago.”

his eyes snap shut, a couple of pathetic tears falls from his eyes to his tear-stained cheeks as he nods, “i know.”

he tries his hardest not to crush you when you step out to pull him into your embrace. it’s the same thing you did the last time he was here and he’ll take all he can get. his arms feebly wrap around you before he steers you to his chest, keeping you there, feeling your heartbeat thump just as loud as his but never louder than the silent cries that echo in the quiet corridors. the embrace was much longer than last time but never ever long enough to satiate him.

he reluctantly lets you go when you bid him goodnight and tell him to take care of himself. he knows you know the love you two have is still there; gently wavering in the sea of unknown and that one day, it’ll resurface. not today, not now, but one day. yeonjun watches as you close the door on him and succumbs to walking back alone that night; yet, his heart feeling a bit lighter than the last time he was here.

tl;dr: yeonjun does well in the beginning to give you your space but after a week, two weeks, three... he’ll start to crumble and show up at your place even if he knows he shouldn’t. it might sound like he has an ulterior motive but he just wants to see you. even if you don’t say anything or hold him, all he wants is to be able to see you face to face, to get his dose of your presence before leaving again. he won’t push you to reconcile with him if you weren’t ready and he’ll respect your wishes if you truly didn’t want to see him but when you don’t, he’ll take it as a hint to keep showing up until you two were ready to fall back in love again.

[🐯] beomgyu beomgyu knows he’s not being fair to you but... he... honestly... he couldn’t stop himself. it’s on impulse for him to buy the tickets before he can stop himself and he only realises what he’s done when he sees the e-ticket on his phone. it’s a movie you’ve been fawning over since the trailer came out and he has a feeling you wouldn’t want to go so he just...

that’s how you two end up meeting for the first time in weeks since you two said you’d go on a break. a bunch of rules were made up; keeping each other’s distances, respecting spaces, trying to keep it civil but there’s only so so much that beomgyu can take.

in the thick of the movie being displayed on the large projecting screen, beomgyu’s instincts get the best of him. you jolt a little but you remain unmoving when you feel a head on your shoulder. then, the light brushing of his hand that lingers over the back of yours. it pains you but it... soothes you, at the same time. the only reason why this break existed in the first place was to give you two clarity, to give a moment apart before you’d come back to talk things out and work on it together.

that would come inevitably. you two know it. feel it. in your veins and in your hearts that you two loved–still–love each other. it’ll come soon. maybe in a week. next two weeks... it’ll come. but for now, beomgyu enjoys being able to have your presence; whatever little bit it is, he’ll take it. he doesn’t pay attention to the movie anymore. all his mind fixates on is the way you lean your cheek to the top of his head and allow for him to hold onto your hand. 

tl;dr: this sweetheart can’t stay away even if he wanted to, even if he tried really hard, he’ll crack once or twice before you to end up agreeing to meet up again. it’s only because he remembers something that you like, something you’d be interested in doing and he forgets for a split moment that you two were one a break. when he realises it, though, it’ll feel like it’s a sign from higher up, as if you two were meant to meet whether it’s “allowed” or not.

today, however, his favourite memory is in front of him ordering a drink he knows by heart. the way you say it is still the same, the contents of your order never changing. before you can pay, he manages to reach forward to the card reader. it grants him the look you give over your shoulder, gaping in surprise. he ignores the way you call his name, knowing very well he wouldn’t be able to hold his end of the bargain of this so-called “break” if he dwells in it.

[🐿] taehyun third time’s a charm... and it surprises taehyun even if he consciously decided to come down to a coffee shop you two frequented during your time together. although neither of you were currently in talking terms, deciding to go on a short break to allow each other to have this moment apart to clear your minds, taehyun still misses you. to satiate that feeling, he goes to the places that he’ll be able to somehow relive those memories.

he responds with a small nod and watches as you move to the side to wait for your drink. when it comes to his turn to pay for his drink, his body flinches when you manage to sneak in a payment. he has this look on his face as he watches you grin to a smile of success. with your drink in your hand that he’s paid for you, the way your eyes still shined bright, the way your lips curled up sets everything straight and in-place in his life.

like he can breathe again; for the first time in weeks.

it’s short-lived when he manages a soft thank you, watching as you nod before leaving the coffee shop... and it wasn’t the coffee taehyun was thanking you for.

tl;dr: probably one of the few who actually stays true to his promise of staying away during the break, knowing the break would benefit the two of you, anyway. when he realises how it’s helping the two of you, though, he’ll notice how much he terribly misses you. that resorts to him going to places you two went the most and in someway, somehow, he hopes to bump into you there to get his little dose of being able to see you.

[🐧] kai it’s been barely two weeks but kai... he couldn’t help himself. it was taunting him that he can memorise your number by heart and it’s on his screen along with your contact each time he dials it out but never presses. some unknown force today gets him to press the green button and it’s like he wants you to pick up before he has to tell you he called by “accident”.

it happens. he’s never quite prepared to hear your voice. the soft hello? that comes through shakes his bones as he holds his phone by his ear. his breath is trembling, more so when he hears you call his name–oh god, how long he’s missed that–he wants to hear it again, one more time, then maybe he’ll hang up but then you ask in a voice of worry that gets him to speak up. “k-kai, are you okay?”

“y-yeah,” he musters up frantically, clearing his throat, “i... i called by accident.” i was never a good liar.

“oh, i see. um... shall i stay on until we fall asleep?” i know, but i appreciate what you’re trying to do.

“if that’s okay?” it’s like you know without me saying anything.

“yeah, okay.” of course i do.

kai slept in peace for the first time in a while. a smile to his face, clutching onto the phone with the sounds of your breathing. no words being exchanged; just the comfort of knowing despite the distance, the time apart, not seeing each other... the love you two had still ran deep. special.

tl;dr: a similar approach to taehyun except he’s a bit more obvious about it. a mix between taehyun and beomgyu, really. he’ll try his best to stay away because that’s the point of the break but... it’ll break him and he forgets that he’s supposed to stay away, reaching out whenever it’s too difficult. he’s respectful, too, but in the moments he shows you how needy he can get is a reflection of how much he truly loves you.

[thingstrumperssay]

Well, I don't think I quite got all of my thoughts straightened out so this is probably going to be a huge mess, but I want to post it before the Gaza strip is blown up.

I think the easiest way to describe how I feel about the war between Israel and Palestine is pure frustration. I don't know the small details on this, but I at least understand the basics. (I think.)

So basically Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians for over 75 years now. It's been getting worse and worse throughout the decades.

So this group in what's left of Palestine is formed. They call themselves "Hamas." When you corner a cat they're going to attack. A group of people retaliating against those who's cornering them was inevitable, because their extinction is pretty much inevitable, so why not go down fighting?

I'd root for a group who retaliates against the people oppressing them, but that's not what they're doing here. I get that these people are young, but the group is taking their grudges out on anybody who lives in Israel and not those who are the ones actively responsible for their oppression.

What I was hoping for I know is a fairy tale. I was hoping that this group would take over the government and anybody who tries to stop them and establish a coexistence with those who are willing to coexist with them. Or at least kick them out. (Which I'm not for for economic reasons, but if I discussed that now I'd be derailing to another subject.)

The thing is, they know by now that taking Israel civilians hostage isn't working. Israel's government's response to them taking hostages is to cut their water, electricity, and to blow them up.

Last night (or a couple nights ago, depending on where you live) Israel sent a message to people living in Gaza that they're going to give the citizens living there 24 hours to leave before they blow it up. There are several things wrong with this.

They said this in an electronic message. Gaza doesn't have electricity.

The message is in English.

They don't have anywhere to go.

This is the Gaza strip. The gray part is Egypt. Egypt's government is reluctant to let them in because they have a peace treaty with Israel. (I assume that's the reason. I'm not entirely sure.)

Edit: Israel blew up the way to Egypt anyway, so...

Not that it matters much anyway, because the message to evacuate the Gaza strip was obviously not for them. It was a message justifying genocide to their largest trade partner- America. If you're wondering why Biden's taking Israel's side, that's why.

America gets stone, glass, metal, pearls and sometimes medical supplies from Israel. They get cars, integrated circuits and diamonds from us. So we benefit pretty well from each other's existence (minus the pearls and diamonds) so of course they're going to pretend to be "fair" to the innocent people of Gaza.

I'm sure I'll come back to edit some things, add some things and probably delete or strike out some things as I learn more and as more happens.

TL;DR: Hamas is targeting civilians instead of their oppressors directly. The government of Israel's response is to blow them up. (Even though they'd probably be blowing up their own citizens, too.) I'm frustrated about all of this.

[theneighborhoodwatch]

Found this welcome theory video that i found interesting: https://youtu.be/9Lz6OcILeSc?si=tcPnCX3QC4JmAyC-

Thoughts :3?

(functional link to video)

i tend to avoid youtube coverage of welcome home because i'm petty, but fuck it, it's a new year and i've never actually heard of this youtuber before. i'll give it a shake. liveblog under the cut:

"y'know if it wasn't for the unsettling mysteries, the feeling that somebody is always watching you, and the mold.... i'd wanna live in the neighborhood" that's exactly why the mold and paranoia's so scary babeyyyy

"update number two" Tch.

i'm less inclined to call the writing in this update character development so much as it is just character establishment. especially since before the july 22nd update (bc that's what this video is about) all we knew about the other neighbors was what the WHRP was willing to tell us. i feel like i'm preaching to the choir though.

ok i laughed at the grindset alpha male howdy joke

"now i wanna move onto eddie bc i wanna make a connection between [eddie and howdy]" :D OH DO YOU NOW.

i do love the energy in this video, very infectious. i too have recommended people welcome home solely on the basis that they would have the hots for eddie and y'know what i haven't been wrong yet.

I WAS GONNA SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HOW LIKE. almost all of the characters have that backstory element of having coming from somewhere else before settling down in home, but i see the point about howdy and eddie specifically dealing with stuff that comes from someplace else as like, an actual job. putting a pin in it.

i'm not Sure how i feel about the idea that the world of home/the world in which home exists is Within our world? pretty much from the beginning i assumed it was running on re:creators/deltarune dark world rules (i.e. it is a world that was born from human thought and its existence is dependent on/influenced by our world, but at the end of the day it does exist on like a separate plane of reality) and i still stand by that. barbieland in barbie 2023 is a more apt comparison though.

"possession route" Tch.

ok actually i can't tch at that because i have talked about it in my own posts. TL;DR: i think possession/haunting theory could work but only if it's anything other than actual literal ghosts. as soon as you try to make it FNAF 2 i sleep.

don't have much to say about Real Poppy Lover Hours except emphatic smiling and nodding. although i will say i have seen people use "oh she's more like a mom/aunt/etc.!" as an excuse to sideline her in fanwork bc for some reason some folks think that her having a motherly personality means that she can't be shipped with anyone? even though all of home's residents are adults who aren't even related to each other? that's a gripe for another post, though.

THE CONCEPT OF SALLY BEING AS BIG AS POPPY IS KILLING ME. I PROMISE SHE'S SMALL SHE JUST HAS A BIGASS HEAD. she would want to be big though wouldn't she.

...actually now i want big sally. note to self to draw that later.

i do like the examination of whether or not sally referring to the audience is meant to mean anything. personally i think it's just a bit of wordplay/red herring action but You Never Know!

i misheard "girlboss bossgirl slay" as "girlboss boygirl slay" for like a split second. still fits tbh.

IT'S FUNNY THAT THEY MENTION THINKING THAT THE WHRP IS A SINGLE PERSON bc i do have an ask about that right after this. i'll save my thoughts for that response though.

it's funny that "was the majority of the gang being some form of queer/disabled/nd/etc. planned in-universe" is a question at all bc at the risk of sounding like an asshole it feels so obvious to me that it very much was not. the interview is definitely playing into those themes though.

"them <3" yeah

again. extremely refreshing to see a welcome home video from someone who actually likes welcome home instead of the clicks that covering it will give them.

BARNABY-SANS COMPARISON IS... DISTRESSINGLY APPROPRIATE.

he always knows when to show up, huh.... huh.... i've been trying to break away from being so self-referential ever since welcome home and consequently this blog blew up but. huh...

do i think he's a service dog? i think to answer that question we would first have to answer the question of whether or not he's even a Dog or just Shaped Like A Dog. the laws of his reality say he is a dog, but we can at least guess that even even those can't be trusted. i think it's possible that he may see himself as in service to wally, that he worries about what will happen if he doesn't butt in, but i don't know if this is an objective truth.

"[wally] being so mysterious i don't think is like, him wanting to be mysterious. [...] there just may not be that much about him." and then relating that to how typically protagonists in puppet shows have more subdued personalities than their co-stars so they can be more relatable to the audience. Teehee. (this is positive)

oh there's something kind of poetic about the idea that each bug video ends bc wally's snapped out of his dissociation by one of his friends calling his name when paired with the idea that he's disassociating in part due to his connection with the audience isn't there. being reminded of one's own personhood through your connections with others, and how that has the potential to become more bittersweet the more wally continues to risk it in the process of regaining a sense of purpose as The Audience Surrogate. oogh. that's just me waxing poetic though.

oooh that whole passage about the idea of remembrance and the pursuit of a "correct" story and tying that back into how welcome home in-universe has been almost universally forgotten and the themes of living as a disabled or mentally ill or queer person. beautiful connection.

"hmmm, how much agency do you have in your life actually" AHEHEHE. HEHEHEHE. HEHE.

conclusion: Good Video. thank you for sending it.

[your-local-grinning-cat]

‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe…

You have entered the Tulgey Wood, the home of Che’nya. When the curious cat beastman is not attending classes at RSA or out bothering visiting his friends at NRC, Che’nya will often be found here, wandering the Wood. 💜🐾

Make sure you keep a good grip on your mind - you wouldn’t want to lose it now! - because things are a little different around here…

If you’re curiouser and curiouser - please be sure to read the directions to be directed in the right direction…but not necessarily directly… ⤵️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before you go any further, you should know Che’nya is not alone in the Wood. He has kidnapped adopted a pet human of his very own, AR! Where Che’nya goes, AR goes. AR is as much a part of the Tulgey Wood and the world of Twisted Wonderland as Che’nya himself is, so do not be surprised when AR and Che’nya interact!

AR is both a character and the role player. How can AR be the role player for Che’nya if Che’nya adopted them? Well that certainly is an interesting question, isn’t it? I suppose you’ll have to read further to find out. You were warned that things are different around here… 🩷🐾

While all of Wonderland is mad, there are rules here. The Queen of Hearts has made sure of it! Very loudly! And even someone as chaotic as Che’nya listens to the Queen most of the time.

Here are the TALL (rules explained in full and fully in character, posted first) and small (tl;dr, posted second) rules of the Tulgey Wood.

TALL RULES!

1. As said before, Che’nya is not alone here in his Wood. He always drags his human, AR, along with him. AR is not allowed to leave the Tulgey Wood and has been lost here for quite some time. They request their one phone call, a lawyer, and for you all to remember that when you interact with the crazy cat AR will also be present and accounted for

2. If you have any questions, comments, requests for advice, pleas for directional help, etc. for the local stray, feel free to send an ask! Just know that the time period of when Che’nya gets back to you may vary… he is very free-spirited after all. One moment he’s here, the next he’s at NRC stealing tarts from Heartslabyul, then he’s at RSA studying, and then he’s through the Looking Glass and going only Che’nya knows where! So please be patient and respectful of the fact that Che’nya does not stay in the Tulgey Wood 24/7

3. Che’nya and AR both support people no matter where they have wandered from, what they look like, who they love, etc. and will not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. Che’nya is mad, not a bigot. If you act bigoted within the Wood, you will either be given a warning (but this is only if AR honestly thinks it was a mistake and a teachable moment, as we all make mistakes and deserve room to learn and grow) or teleported out of the Tulgey Wood and magically barred from entering again 🚫

4. Che’nya is a fairly flirty kitty, but he is mostly SFW. The most he is comfortable with is hugs, cuddles, playful cheek kisses, and perhaps quick pecks. However, he is also a cat beastman, so he is also willing to exhibit/recieve more cat-like behaviors/affections, such as nuzzling, head pats, pets, ear scratches, tail wraps, pinning people while play fighting, and quick kitten licks. And, as a cat, Che’nya has no sense of personal space once he is comfortable with you. Unless you tell him to stop or that you are uncomfortable, you will often find yourself with a lap full of Che’nya or just have him lounging around and/or on you. And when it comes to “verbal” flirting, do not act lewd, crass, or excessively NSFW. Anyone who makes Che’nya and/or AR uncomfortable will either be given a warning or teleported out and magically barred, depending on the severity 🚫

5. NSFW content that IS allowed is cursing. The cat could not care less about that - there are more interesting things to pay attention to

6. Che’nya is very friendly! He is absolutely willing to interact with other rp blogs and OCs! The more the merrier! He believes madness is much more fun when you can share it with more people ❤️🐾

7. Neither Che’nya, nor AR, hardly ever get on Tumblr on anything other than their mobile device. So, needless to say, this entire blog is being created and maintained on mobile. So keep that in mind if anything looks wonky - AR knows some things don’t translate well but they don’t want to hear any complaints. They said it will make them cry so please don’t do that to them

8. Che’nya and AR reserve the right to decide which asks they do and do not answer for any reason

small rules.

(tl;dr the above monstrosity… which, fair)

1. There is an actual person behind this roleplay blog. Remember that and be kind and respectful

2. You can send asks in but please be patient if you are not answered right away - real life does come first

3. Be a decent human being. Don't be racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. This will either result in a warning (if it is honestly a mistake, as people should have room to learn and grow) or a block 🚫

4. Keep it pretty much SFW. AR is asexual and neurodivergent and struggles to pick up on flirting cues. View Che’nya as someone who is highly physically affectionate, extremely playful, and perhaps slightly flirty - but that’s as far as it will go. If you want a better grasp of what physical affections Che’nya would be okay with, check the TALL #4 rule. Anyone who breaks this rule will either be given a warning or a block, depending on the severity 🚫

5. Cursing is allowed

6. Other rp blogs and OC characters are absolutely welcome to interact!

7. This blog is being run entirely on mobile so forgive any weird formatting

8. AR has every right to refuse to answer an ask for any reason with no explanation required

Che’nya: I wonder if anyone will ever actually read all of this… You’re putting so much effort into this.

AR: *laughs* Probably not. But I knew that from the beginning. This is just the OCD writer in me. If they actually do read any of it, they’ll probably just skip down to the small rules. It’s why I included them.

Che’nya: *frowns* But what about the tags? They’re next!

AR: *shrugs* Who really wants to read all this Che’nya? Isn’t it enough I had fun making it?

Che’nya: …hmm… *looks out at you all* Let’s make it worthwhile for those that actually read this then! If mew have skipped all of the above, go read it and then get back here. I’m going to go back up there 👆and leave paw prints in colors that you need to remember!

Che’nya: Here are the new paw prints! 💛🐾

AR: What will the reward be?

Che’nya: Well, they’re not done collecting, now are they? They still need to go through the tags of the blog… Heeheehee… 😸

AR: *sighs* Okay, yeah. The tags are kinda important and interesting anyway. They give some blog-specific Che’nya lore, after all.

Che’nya: OOOH LIKE HOW I’M BASICALLY A LOWKEY COSMIC HORROR/CRYPTID/TRICKSTER GOD ENTITY THAT IS ENTIRELY SELF AWARE AND LAUGHS IN THE FACE OF FOURTH WALLS?! 😺😺😺

AR: …yeah that. 🫠

➡️⬅️⬆️⬇️↗️↘️↙️↖️↕️↔️↪️↩️⤴️⤵️🔁🔄🔃

TAGS 🏷️

#Che’nya Chats - when Che’nya replies to asks, regardless of what kind they are

#Che’nya Appears - when Che’nya wanders off to other blogs and sends asks to them, usually to stir up mischief

#Che’nya Comments - when Che’nya pops onto a post where he wasn’t originally a participant… but I guess he is now

#Che’nya Meows - when Che’nya makes any kind of original post speaking his mind (for better or worse)

#Che’nya Grins - when Che’nya finds posts, jokes, riddles, puns, art, etc. that make him happy that he wants to share with his furiends!

#Che’nya the [REDACTED] - when Che’nya does something that reminds us that there’s more to him than just a cute little kitty beastman… 🖤🐾

#Che’nya Knows No 4th Wall - when Che’nya once again flaunts that he is 100% self aware, the little shit 😒

#AR answers - when AR replies to asks in the actual body post, not just the tags; usually for asks that need/ask for AR specifically

#AR speaks - when AR makes any kind of original post speaking their mind; includes posts looking past the 4th wall as AR is both a character and the roleplayer

➡️⬅️⬆️⬇️↗️↘️↙️↖️↕️↔️↪️↩️⤴️🩶🐾🔄🔃

BONUS TAG INFO 🏷️ 🏷️

#AR: / #Che’nya: - AR and Che’nya are speaking in the tags; if #AR is not included, and the tag is not a sorting tag of some sort, then the tag is most likely Che’nya adding more to to conversation as he is the default speaker when AR is not included

#OOC: - While AR can answer things OOC as they are both in character and OOC, to keep things from being confusing in the tags since sometimes AR and Che’nya converse there, any OOC moments in the tags will be preceded by “OOC:” Anywhere else, AR will simply respond to any “4th wall breaking” comments

Che’nya: Is that is?

AR: Yeah, I think that’s it.

Che’nya: Yay! 😸 You did it!

AR: So are you done having your Blue’s Clues moment?

Che’nya: …💙🐾

AR: You’re enjoying this far too much.

Che’nya: LET ME HAVE THIS! I LET YOU HAVE THE PINNED POST! 😾

AR: *sighs* Okay, Steve, what do the good little children get for collecting the multi-colored paw prints?

Che’nya: Heeheehee! They’re not done~!

AR: What?

Che’nya: They have to find the last one at the very end, then they have to put 💕🐾 in the comments of this pinned post (and no, ↖️ that print does not count as one of my magic paw prints!), and then send me an ask saying they have been directed to me via the magic paw prints and include all the paw print colors in order! And if they do ALL OF THAT……

AR: …

Che’nya: I will reply to their ask with something fun. Like a cool joke or a riddle or a cute cat picture or something. 😺

AR: …that’s it?

Che’nya: THEY WILL ALSO GET TO HOLD THE FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE OF THE MAGIC PAW PRINTS OVER THEIR FRIENDS’ HEADS! Because you can’t tell other people where you found the paw prints. That’s cheating. 😾

AR: That is ridiculously convoluted just to get a joke or something, Che’nya.

Che’nya: But I will be sure to give them a shoutout for following the magic paw prints. They will be special. They will have bragging rights.

AR: … *walks away, satisfied with my post and 100% done with Che’nya*

Che’nya: Liar! You’re not 100% done with me or you wouldn’t be roleplaying me! *snickers, glances back at you all reading this, winks, and then follows after them, grinning*

Che’nya: *calling back to the readers over his shoulder* Remember, there’s one last paw print to find. I’ve already given hints as to where it could be~!

Now it’s time for the cat to play…

Heeheehee… 😸

[kozzax]

how do you think Jake and the half Harley’s would get along?

hmm. I think... I think it depends on what point in his timeline you pull him. A sixteen year old Jake might be able to get on well with Jude, but would be decidedly shunned by Joey-- 'oh, that explains a LOT about our childhood' type beat. She hates her father and a sixteen year old Jake is easy to imagine growing into her father. Jude, I think, has a slightly less aggressive stance towards their father and so would be more willing to try and bridge that gap between him and Jake as kind of a brothers in arms sort of deal. Jude likes to understand things, and getting close with Jake English gives him a chance to better understand Jake Harley. They're both weird little adventuring boys.

Post-canon Jake, though-- Candy, in particular? I think it would be way more complicated a situation. I think Candy!Jake would see them and see how terrible a father alternate him was to them and be incredibly put off by it, but still desperately want to give them some kind of fatherly figure-- but at the same time, I don't think the half-Harleys would be willing to take that olive branch. Jude might get on with Tavvy, but Joey absolutely wouldn't.

That being said, I think Joey would be the first one to realize that Candy!Jake does actually want to be a better father figure and is trying to make amends. I don't think she'd ever accept him as any sort of father, but I think she'd be willing to meet him halfway as an estranged uncle figure. Jude, on the other hand, would be a lot more judgemental of him-- he's Jake English, yes, but he's still Jake, and he's trying to step into a fatherly role. Jude reclaims the Harley name, but their father hurt Joey, and she's his Joey.

He's willing to be cordial, but he's not willing to bridge the gap, because their father already broke their trust and Jude isn't going to let his sister be hurt like that again.

Meat!Jake doesn't ever meet them because Meat!Jake is too busy having emotions in a corner after Dirk literally broke his mind with the narrative. If he did meet them, though, I think it would go poorly for everyone involved-- Meat!Jake has had his autonomy ripped away from him and replaced with literally just think about Dirk, and I think both Joey and Jude would be VERY put off by this. They're not comfortable being around him and they've gone no contact.

TL;DR: - 16YO!Jake: Jude gets along with him, but he reminds Joey too much of Jake Harley for her to like him - Candy!Jake: Neither gets along with him at first, but after he keeps trying to be better Joey is willing to reconcile with him as an estranged uncle figure. Jude is put off by his niceness and refuses to accept him as part of the family because he can't let Joey get hurt, but DOES get along with Tavvy. - Meat!Jake: Nobody wins here. They're all no contact with each other.

[rottingmanifesto]

This got deleted by Tumblr for whatever reason, so I’ll answer here! @mvvdusa

Star: It very much depends on the fandom and the piece I think. I’ve been wanting to write more scenes with Cassandra (or just women in general), and I desperately need to rewrite Hidden Lavender (it’s bad to me), but I typically look forward to writing character-driven scenes. Since there’s no specific fic/piece listed I can’t really give examples.

Wildcard: I have some opinions on this actually! I’ll put it below the cut so I don’t get too long-winded.

I had this conversation with @tommytranselo so I’m stealing some of what he said plus adding some of my own takes here.

Short version: yes, he saw them as friends, and convinced himself that there was some obligation to kill them anyway. In truth, he was too afraid to give up his own privilege and basically tricked himself into believing that he couldn’t do anything.

Long version: I’ll actually discuss some background knowledge before I dive in head-first.

Both Henry and Leo consider themselves to be “progressive” for their time. They’re willing to work with anyone and have the philosophy of equal-opportunity assholery (“fuck you, I got mine, I hate you because you’re not a part of mine”), and have convinced themselves that it’s not hate if it’s not targeted. Giorgi is of the same vein. Hell, there are numerous scenes where Giorgi seems dismissive or even a little disgusted by Sal’s behavior (and Santangelo— my personal view is that the relationship only existed for the heroin), and to my recollection, he doesn’t say the n-word and seems hesitant to go along with his dad’s plan. However, he still chose his cushy lifestyle over whatever beliefs he might have had. To directly quote Harry here, “Giorgi probably considers himself quite progressive. forward thinking. a modern man. and he still sides with his own privilege”.

He could have, theoretically, chosen to side with his friends, warn Lincoln about what Sal had planned and got all of them (or at least himself and Lincoln) out of there. But he didn’t. He wouldn’t have died, though maybe there would still be a heavy price to pay. Sure, fear of his father could have played into his decision, but it was truly a fear of loss of privilege that scared him. His friendships— and morals (allegedly)— were expendable if it contradicted his wants.

After the fire, Giorgi convinced himself that there was no other choice. That he had to. He went into a state of learned helplessness that “he couldn’t do anything”, so he just tried to appease his father since that’s all he felt he had a choice in. That’s when, in my opinion, he really became a villain. He reveled in the shit he did now that he wasn’t burdened by, well, compassion.

I could very easily talk about how this applies in a meta-way, but that is a whole rant in and of itself.

TL;DR— yes, they were his friends, but they weren’t his “wants”.

[generic-sonic-fan]

dearest CEO and authority on omega, i seek your guidance for a thing i'm maybe plotting: do you think, in a future far enough ahead where eggman is no longer a thing, omega would take pity on an abandoned metal sonic and find some way to repair him at least enough so he's functional again? or would he be completely apathetic, seeing as metal is/was just another of eggman's robots?

First of all THANK YOU for the acknowledgement. That alone has made my day.

Second of all, as you no doubt predicted, this post got LONG and I put way too many disclaimers in the beginning so here's the TL;DR: current Omega would nuke Metal from orbit, but this is not about being current, so I came up with a few fun ideas for your consideration.

Third of all, a general guideline for discussing Sonic characters in the far future is that literally everything is fair game as long as there's some acknowledgement in the writing of how the character has changed and at least an allusion to what might have caused it. See my strange future Metadow drabble I did a while back for reference- people were willing to accept that Shadow could get really helpless and depressed and that Metal (Neo, in this case) could get actually somewhat emotionally stable given enough time and distance from the Egghead himself. Shadow was really only a small divergence from his established character, while Neo was much larger leap. It was an interpretation inspired by the recent trans girl Metal Sonic movement here on tumblr, which would be difficult to parse without the context of that current fanon.

Now that I've spent all that time on that disclaimer, allow me to throw it all away. Omega doesn't really have any established character interpretations, canon or fanon. It's pretty much just me, the IDW canon, the Archie continuity, and a bare few snippets from the games that you're cherry-picking from. But this means that you get to have FUN. This is your sandbox now! You get to invent justifications for any kind of behavior you want Omega to have!! This is literally my favorite part of being a fandom creator- we get to come up with interesting ideas and convince other people to share our brainrot!!!

Okay okay okay okay okay, with THAT whole nonsense out of the way. . . to get to the part that you actually asked for:

I think it would really depend on just how far in the future we're talking for Omega, and any other people he currently has in his life. Fresh, current, canon Omega would never even think about restoring Metal Sonic in any capacity. If anything, current canon Omega would stomp him even flatter. But you knew this already. You're not asking about current canon Omega- you're here to suggest some hypothetical future character development for him. Allow me to throw out a few personal ideas:

If someone important to Omega took pity on Metal Sonic first (almost exclusively Shadow or Rouge, though there could be others depending on circumstance) then he might not immediately smash Metal for parts. He might even help with repairs a little. You probably knew this already too, though. Omega's look to Shadow while holding Metal at the end of Sonic Heroes probably suggested that idea enough.

But to get to the true vision of your ask, of Omega repairing Metal on his own. . . if said pitying person was somehow incapacitated and left their work to restore Metal unfinished, then I could see Omega completing the repairs. He'd be in denial about it the whole time. He'd probably hate himself for it. But he's got a thing about completing goals, you know, and I think he'd be compelled to do so for someone he was close to even if he's not onboard with the mission. This circumstance would be perfect to set up an enemies-to-friends situation. Omega only tolerating Metal out of love for the original person that cared about restoring him, but that could change over time.

(I'm imagining a scene where a newly-repaired Metal learns about his abandonment and, defying Omega's expectations, gets downright pissed at Eggman for it- and this being enough for Omega to reconsider his views just a little bit.)

The other idea I'm imagining for this concept is a distant future, something like Silver's future, where, for whatever reason, Omega is alone.

(My personal character interpretation of Omega is that he hates being alone, even if he's not so fond of people. He's desperate for the attention of others, even if it's only to run screaming from him. It has to do with being isolated and ignored during his formative period; his deepest drive is to be acknowledged in any capacity.)

Perhaps he's been alone for a long time. Perhaps he's still grieving Shadow. Omega's had a lot of time to mull over stuff and get nostalgic about the "good ol' days". He stumbles across the broken corpse of Metal Sonic and is hit with an idea that he knows would've made his younger self want to blow up an entire city block. He doesn't waste vital parts on restoring Metal, but he keeps the blue corpse around and adds bits and pieces whenever it's convenient. Eventually, perhaps unexpectedly, the repair is finished. Metal could be reactivated. Omega hesitates. He eventually decides that in the worst case scenario, he could always blast the inferior robot to bits again should he prove annoying.

(Scene: Omega flips the switch. Metal Sonic awakens, expecting to see Eggman standing above him. . . only to find Omega. And Metal is distraught about this in a way he can't really understand about himself. Omega, surprisingly, sympathizes, recalling a long-lost desire to be the greatest Eggman robot only to be abandoned all the same.)

I could see this being the start of an almost mentor/mentee relationship between the two, much the same way that Dadow is usually spun, actually; a much older Omega begrudgingly taking care of a Metal Sonic who was deactivated during Sonic's time. The idea interests me- if I wrote it, one of the reoccurring thematic notes would be an exploration of the Omega of now versus the Omega of the past, from Metal's point of view. If you want to throw Silver in there, it could be a more literal comparison, too, which could be fun.

In conclusion: those are just two of the thousands of plausible ideas you could write for Omega and Metal. Honestly, interactions between these two fascinate me so much and I would adore seeing what you might come up for them, no matter which way you spin it.

[ladyvictoriadiana]

Why the "good faith" argument doesn't work for HP/ JKR

TL; DR: JKR has, even though the discussion of racism and anti-Semitism in Harry Potter has been around for decades, never shown any support for a good faith interpretation of her works by acknowledging and apologizing for her "mistakes" - quite the contrary.

As the upcoming Harry Potter HBO series will undoubtedly, as has the publication of the latest Wizarding World Videogame, lead to an influx of "good faith" arguments by liberal HP fans who want to find reasons to watch the show without feeling guilty for compromising on their values. And I just want to help debunk these arguments*.

To break it down: Many liberal fans I've seen argue against a boycott of Rowling's works or related franchises use the following argument: "JK Rowling didn't know what she was doing, we should consider her works in good faith and not project our modern sensibilities on it" - this is basically a version of the "They are just a person of their time" argument that gets used all the time. However, this just doesn't work - especially in 2023.

Why? Well, because JKR has never shown any support for this argument herself. The arguments of racism and anti-semitism being present in the books (published 1997-2007) and movies (released 2001-2011) have been around for quite a while - just by searching for the keywords on Google and specifying the articles to be released between 1997 and 2001 I found a variety of articles on both topics which mentioned the portrayal of goblins as anti-semitic stereotypes [1] and discusses how race is portrayed in the book [2]. By widening the search parameters to include the end of the movie releases, I found more articles in a similar vein, arguing both sides of the aisle.

This means that JKR, at this point, has had over 22 years to address these concerns and clarify her stance both on racism and anti-semitism**. If she were acting in good faith, she would have done so. She would have, at some point between now and 1997, put out a statement along the lines of: "I have been made aware that my books/movies contain racist and anti-semitic stereotypes that harm the marginalized communities. I was not aware of how much harm I was causing because of the privileges I have experienced as well as a lack of critical thinking skills at the time of writing these books. I am deeply sorry for any harm that I have caused and will ensure that future publications will do their best to minimize this damage. Furthermore, I will endeavor to educate myself further on both of these topics and will, additionally, donate x amount of money to charities that support anti-racist and Jewish causes." Now, I am sure that JKR and her agency would be much better at formulating such a statement than me, but you see what I mean.

Now, concrete measures would, of course, have depended on when precisely such a statement was published and how it was published - in collaboration with publishers or Warner Brothers or only by JKR herself. But the fact that such a statement was never published and that JKR seems to have taken no measures to support those communities she has harmed to me suggests that she is fine with what she wrote/produced. And that, to me, suggests that she is, at best, ignorant and, at worst, racist and/or anti-Semitic.

I can understand making mistakes and being blinded by your privilege - I myself for the longest time did not realize why certain tropes in German fairy tales (and Harry Potter) as well as a variety of other books I read as a child/teenager are anti-semitic and/or racist and also had to be educated by other, better-informed people (largely online but also at uni). Making mistakes is understandable - but how you deal with them shows your true character and intent. And JKR, in my opinion, has not dealt with her "mistakes" (if you are willing to extend her enough good faith to call them that) in a way that shows she has matured, educated, and informed herself.

On the contrary, as her latest release within The Wizarding World shows, she is still using anti-semitic tropes literal decades after people first brought to the public's attention how problematic this is and how she is harming vulnerable communities with her works and her seal of approval on related franchises. Rather, she seems to be doubling down, which shows her lack of concern for the Jewish community and her lack of willingness to change.

This is what should turn any liberal HP fan off the works and any, especially official, related works forever - not that JKR lacked critical reading and thinking skills in 1997 when she first created the goblins from pre-existing folklore and created a world that claims to be race-blind but has an entire creature-race of slaves but that she still has not made any changes in her attitude or her work to show that she is aware that she made mistakes and caused harm.

Please feel free to add additional commentary, especially if you are part of communities hurt by JKR, as well as sources or opinions to this post. If I have said anything that you consider wrong or problematic, please do contact me via this post or via DMs - I have tried, in the last years, to educate myself as best as possible but I am aware that I am not perfect. I also hope it provides some arguments when coming across remaining HP fans.

*Just to clarify: I myself am neither Jewish nor am I a person of color and I would ask you to not just read my post but also read content by members of both communities discussing their concerns with Harry Potter/ JK Rowling. I will also not argue against these points from the perspective of either of these groups (because I don't belong to them) but rather wish to provide a general argument.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/26/movies/potter/readers-comment-on-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone.html

[2] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/07/31/under-the-spell

** I am aware that JK Rowling, in the early 2000s, visited a Holocaust Museum and compared the ideologies of Deatheaters and Voldemort to the ideologies of the Nazis - however, this does not address the issue of her using anti-semitic stereotypes to portray the goblins in both her books and movies (and just always felt a bit icky to me personally).

[sylvyspritii]

Why I'm Leaving Twitter and Joined a Better Website

This is a Tumblr version of the essay i wrote on why i am leaving Twitter, you can read the original version on Google Docs here: https://tinyurl.com/sylvybyemusky That's right, it's over, i've made my decision, you can read (the short version of) my full reasoning right here The original text will start now (keep in mind it won't be formatted correctly because Tumblr handles pasted text strangely):

Tl;dr: I will still keep my existing accounts and i will check my DM’s so that clients can still contact me easily and also to save my @ from being stolen I’m done with Twitter

Refresher: i am a professional freelance video game music composer, hobbyist artist, and hobbyist Vtuber Everyone has a limit to how much they are willing to tolerate before it becomes too much, before it starts breaking our principles Under the leadership of Elon Musk, we have seen Twitter be transformed from a flawed platform of the masses, to something that resembles a circus of incompetence, hatred, and untrustworthiness

I made my first Twitter account back in 2015, back then, it was important for every freelancer to have a Twitter account, because “everyone was there”, and it was an easy way for clients to contact us Eventually, i grew to around 2000 followers, and then i decided to delete my account in around 2020 because i was unhappy with the direction the website was going in I came back, because i noticed that people kept asking me to “come back to Twitter” Already back then, i started to dislike the platform a lot, i have multiple reasons for that

Reasons why i already disliked Twitter before Elon Musk

All your likes are public now, it didn’t used to be that way, so you can say your privacy goodbye, so if you liked some controversial tweets, even before this update went live, everyone can see it now, even if it was 5 years ago, all your like history is saved, nothing is private, and there is no option to make it private

Your following list is public, and this means that everyone can see who you follow, this is also terrible for privacy, and you can be judged depending on who you follow, this is very bad, especially if you have stalkers

Not only are the last 2 points a danger for freedom of speech, but they are also a danger to freedom of assembly, and freedom to learn, because it discourages people to connect with people that are “not acceptable”, this can reinforce prejudices and discourages people from learning about things outside of their comfort zone, in fear of being “found out”, for example, people discovering LGBT+ identities and wanting to follow people to learn more information about it, can now be stalked and discovered by their peers and parents, and even punished for it, but this also counts for politics, art, and many other things

It discourages straying away from “the norm”, because everyone can now judge who you follow, and what you like, so if you are interested in broadening your horizons, you always have to be aware that you can only follow and like “acceptable things”, this is especially bad for business as well, because it makes it so that your work and life balance is more difficult to separate if you accidentally liked some tweets 5 years ago when you were not a professional yet I have heard multiple stories from my friends and fellow freelancers that people have stalked their likes and who they follow, and have used it against them to judge them, this is not the type of behaviour i want a website to encourage, options should be given to users to make them decide for themselves 3. “Recent tweets from x”, a notification in your notification tab that is purely designed to keep you engaged on the platform, it is not a real notification, and you cannot disable it, because it is designed to be annoying, to keep you on the platform for as long as possible, to maximise potential ad revenue

4. The many “unwritten rules” of Twitter, for example, if you post a link or a hashtag in your tweet, then the tweet will get deboosted in the algorithm, this means that, for example, if you put a link to your music, your commission sheet, or your Twitch channel when you’re streaming in a tweet, the tweet will appear less in people’s feeds, even if they follow you (I have heard this often from people that followed me, “i missed your tweet about the stream even though i followed you”, it is very common)

5. Twitter is not a space for reasonable debate, the short tweets lack context, and therefore, are often spread into threads of multiple replies, but only 3 of these replies will appear on people’s feed, this means that a lot of the times, a lot of the context of a longer text is missing, because Twitter hides many of the tweets that are part of the text Not only that, but the fact that every tweet in the thread is separate, means that people can take some tweets out of context and quote retweet it to cherrypick a specific sentence to argue with to make themselves look better, this encourages constant negative engagement focused on “dunking” on people for likes, retweets, and more followers (clout), rather than reasonable debate and discussion This has affected politics as well, and it becomes very obvious to see how this benefits populist parties, who are focused on fearmongering and short, memorable quips, a platform that promotes dark patterns for optimising negative and shocking engagement (for ad revenue of course) benefits them, and does not benefit political arguments that require more nuance, this makes screaming and dunking matches on Twitter a chaotic circus

6. Twitter boosts negativity and shock to optimise engagement for ad revenue, it does so by constantly sharing “recommended tweets” in the timeline for you to engage with, and often, these tweets are negative, an argument, or a controversial opinion, it is often bait, whether the original poster knows it or not, their tweet is boosted in the algorithm in order to increase the amount of engagement it gets, this is to ensure that users stay on the website, or think about the tweet, because negativity often sticks more in people’s mind that positivity, this is a psychological trick to keep users thinking more about Twitter, and thus using Twitter more, and the goal of this strategy is simple; ad revenue, it’s all designed to show metrics to investors and ad companies, to show them how much people use Twitter, so they can justify receiving more and more money by exploiting the misery of others

There are many more reasons. And this is just the beginning, this was all before Elon Musk came to power I do not have faith in Elon Musk

I consider Elon Musk to be an irresponsible businessman, unfit for leadership He is unpredictable, sporadic, pushes his national, moral, and political values in his website, does not respect his employees (he fired 6000 employees, which were kicked off with no warning, leaving them vulnerable without a job), does not respect freedom of speech (it’s just a marketing term for him, he has been banning journalists left and right from the platform for criticising his decisions, and not just journalists, but normal users as well, even criticising Twitter Blue (Twitter’s new subscription service) is not allowed anymore), he is short-sighted, petty, transphobic (he refuses to support his own trans daughter, and even blames “neo-marxists at educational institutions” (a conservative national populist conspiracy) for making her transition), he is manipulative, a conspiracy theorist, NFT supporter, crypto supporter, untrustworthy, and a liar

I could go on, there are many more reasons why Elon Musk has lost my respect

If you’d like to read more about Elon Musk’s mistakes, i recommend reading these articles; https://www.freepress.net/blog/elon-musk-worlds-worst-businessman And this one is especially important for my fellow LGBT+ followers: https://www.them.us/story/elon-musk-pride-month-tweet-likes-anti-trans

I’d like to make it clear that my arguments here are in no way, shape, or form, meant to be political They are criticism of Twitter and Elon Musk, as a platform, and no matter where you belong on the political spectrum, the direction of Twitter has undeniably become more negative for almost everyone Making music is my job, i require clients and reach to do my job properly as a freelancer, and Twitter has become more and more of a platform that discourages that, both for users and businesses Just to make it extra clear just in case: i do not talk about politics or drama, i am merely sharing info

Elon Musk has automatically disabled DM’s for everyone, except if they are Twitter Blue subscribers Twitter Blue is a subscription service that directly supports Elon Musk I consider the people that subscribe to Twitter Blue to be a part of the problem, they willingly support the undeniable negative actions of Elon Musk, and i firmly believe that if you are currently a subscriber to Twitter Blue, you should consider ending your subscription, because Elon Musk does not deserve your money Elon Musk introduced a limit to the amount of tweets you are allowed to see per day, encouraging dark patterns of you coming back every day since that’s when your limit gets reset, this is to keep you addicted Elon Musk has changed the company name to X, resulting in multiple legal disputes, and a lot of confusion Elon Musk has supported racist and LGBT+phobic people and politicians And there is so much more I’m leaving

I am just done I am done tolerating all this madness just for my career I don’t want to be on a website that does not respect me, my mental health, or my career The only reason i am still on Twitter is because it is “required”, because “everyone is there” Twitter is popular, this means that for freelancers like me, it is expected of me to be there, and i cannot deny that a large part of my clients have approached me through my Twitter DM’s, rather than email (potential clients, if you’re reading this, consider emailing me! I check my email every day!)

Twitter has become a hostile and unsustainable environment, both for personal and for business reasons, and i am leaving By “leaving”, i do want to clarify that i will not delete my accounts, i will keep my accounts, but they will not be active anymore, they will serve as a way for clients to contact me through DM’s, but i will not be active anymore on all of my accounts (@sylvysprit @sylvyspritart @sylvyspritii)

Instead, you can find me on Cohost and Tumblr, 2 social media websites that i prefer over Twitter My Cohost can be found at https://cohost.org/sylvysprit My Tumblr can be found at https://www.tumblr.com/sylvysprit (I also have personal accounts there, you can find them pretty easily, but they are not meant for my casual music fans or clients)

I have many reasons why i like Cohost, i’d like to share a short post about why i have decided to subscribe to Cohost Plus, a subscription service to support Cohost’s development financially https://cohost.org/sylvyspritii/post/1763282-yeah-i-did-it

There are many more reasons why i like Cohost Cohost is a website that respects the privacy and mental health of its users, their principles are strong, and their leadership is transparent and easily contactable Twitter’s downfall is inevitable, and it is up to you to decide which platform deserves your attention and/or support, and personally, i do not believe that Threads or Bluesky will be better than Twitter, because they do not fix the inherent issues of Twitter regarding its algorithms, business model, or negativity spiral for engagement, and i do not have much faith in the Fediverse either, because it is too difficult to understand for the average user Tumblr is alright, it’s popular, and has a strong legacy and track-record, it’s still going strong in 2023, but they tend to make too many unexpected and unwanted changes (NOTE EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE TUMBLR VERSION OF THIS POST: I'm talking about the 2018 stuff, if they can get that fixed, Tumblr will be the obvious winner in the War of Twitter Succession) Cohost is the platform i have decided is the most aligned with my desires for what a social media platform should be, so i have decided to support them

You can join Cohost right here: https://cohost.org I recommend reading the manifesto of the Cohost developers as well, so you can understand exactly what i mean when i am talking about the clear principles of Cohost as a platform: https://antisoftware.club/manifesto.html Cohost’s transparency regarding their finances is also something i respect: https://cohost.org/staff/tagged/financials

It’s up to you to decide which website you want to support, i am not forcing you to do anything, but i do hope that i have informed you properly about my decision to leave Twitter, and hopefully, you will consider joining other social media websites as well, it’s good to future-proof, in case things come crashing down

If you have come this far, then i’d like to thank you for taking your time to read this I wish you a very nice day, and the best of luck in your life

[signs-of-the-moon]

🥛milk, for whisperpaw

Thank you so much for sending this emoji in particular, now I get to go on a rant about Whisperpaw and her complicated family that live in my head rent free

🥛 [MILK] What is your OC's relationship with their biological parents like? What about their relationship with any non-biological parental figures?

Tl;dr not good, at least with her bio parents. Whisperpaw and her littermates are treated very differently depending on the parent they're dealing with

For instance: Wavestar dotes on them, imparting wisdom as he tries to raise Whisperpaw and her siblings in his image to one day become ideal candidates for leadership. Wavestar is stricter with his other kits, but with Whisperpaw he's softer because he understands she's sensitive. She's his special little girl. But not in a good way. Out of all three kits, Wavestar has the least faith in Whisperpaw. And Whisperpaw knows it too. She sees it in the way he looks at her; eyes always brimming with pity. Wavestar makes Sandybreeze only put her on easy patrols, and sets her up to face off against weaker apprentices in training. Whisperpaw is given more elder duties than most apprentices, and while she's grateful to not be on the frontlines of battle, Whisperpaw wishes her father would be as willing to send her out as any Oceanclan apprentice. It's the principle of it, you see. Whisperpaw doesn't want to be treated as different, but Wavestar acts as if she's made of fragile ice.

Beckycreek, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of Wavestar. She's distant from all three of her eldest kits, but especially to Whisperpaw. Why is Whisperpaw singled out, you may ask? Well for starters, she's always acted stranger than her siblings. Speaking about dreary things or asking depressing topics from a very young age. As a kit she'd talk when nobody was there to be spoken to. That startled Beckycreek. It's part of the reason for Whisperpaw's name, in fact. Beckycreek has always been very put off to Whisperpaw.

It doesn't help that out of the littermates, Whisperpaw is the least reluctant to allow their mother to distance herself from them. No matter what, Whisperpaw has always tried to gain her mother's favor. She just wants to get along with her. But Beckycreek isn't up for that. She's cold and blunt with Whisperpaw, and makes a show of coddling her other kits to emphasizes just how much Beckycreek doesn't want to be bothered by Whisperpaw.

But part of Beckycreek's treatment of Whisperpaw isn't her fault (technically none of it is, as it's never the child's fault for their abusive parent's unjustified hatred of them). Beckycreek is detatched from her first litter because of Wavestar. I forget if I've posted about it before (ik I have the info in my drafts at least), but Beckycreek was at one point very in love with Wavestar, and happy to be the mother of his kits. She fell for him not long after she joined Oceanclan, and Wavestar was smitten with her from the very start. Once Beckycreek had her litter, however, whispers and gossip began to spread through the clan. Cats were wondering which of the kits would grow to become leader. Some questioned why Wavestar chose a kittypet to bare his heirs. Others speculated it was because he wanted to show a truce between clan cats and outsiders; he wanted to show Oceanclan was proud of how mixed it was. All Beckycreek heard was that she was used as a pawn in Wavestar's game. She was never really loved, she was only there to provide Wavestar a successor. Even if that wasn't the truth, that's what Beckycreek came to believe, and it's the reason why she's now with a different cat and completely over her first litter. Beckycreek has never properly explained this to them though, so they've always been left wondering why their mother stopped loving them. But Especially Whisperpaw.

As for non biological parental figures, Whisperpaw has a couple of cats. Her stepdad Scallopfall is nice enough to her, and treats her better than both bio parents combined. While neither sees each other as honorary kin, they have respect for each other. Whisperpaw is especially grateful to him for the great attention he gives to her little half siblings, who she has a hard time trusting Beckycreek to care for, from personal experience (but again Beckycreek tends to make a show of just how much she cares about them compared to Whisperpaw and her littermates).

The greatest parental figures Whisperpaw has though, are Curlear and Bluesky. She admires the wise cracking medicine cat and his lazy ex-kittypet apprentice. She sees them as her smelly old uncle and stoner cousin. But the cool kind. The kind a kid would beg their parents to go visit every weekend. Whisperpaw trusts these two cats more than any other in the clan. They don't treat her as different, as fragile or as a burden. They talk to her like a normal cat, and acknowledge her capabilities unlike many others in the clan. They challenge her to be the best cat she can be, and Whisperpaw is eternally grateful for their presence in Oceanclan.

Anyways thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. That's all I'm going to say about Whisperpaw and her batshit family for now. You're gonna have to keep reading Moon High to find out more about them :3

[jonesyjonesyjonesy]

Good evening,

Since we're all part of the old man lovers club here, i have a question for you, and everyone else who it may interest (i actually would love to hear more people's opinions on this:)

I've recently matched with a man on tinder, now this is the first time I've started talking to a man (slightly) older than me. He is 48, and I'm 23.

Now the age difference to me doesn't fucking matter, we've hung out twice now, and i have truly never felt such a deep connection with someone ever, apart from my closest friend.

I told a friend of mine who i met with for a cup of coffee last week about this, they were happy for me, up untill they asked me about his age. I told them his age, and when i tell you, the pure disgust and discomfort i saw on their face, quite shocked me.

For me, age is just a number, and if it's a relation with two consenting adults, i don't see a reason with someone being 'too old' ever. But okay, not everyone thinks like this, and that's also okay.

So anyway, this is turning out to be way too long I'm sorry.

Now i don't mind what other people think about age differences and such, (i think the boys of Led can still get it as much as they could get it in the 70's :)

but since my friend reacted in such a way, I'm wondering what you lots think about age differences, what is the 'line'? What is appropriate or not.

I always used to say, 'as long as he's younger than my dad', as a joke, but i don't think it's a joke anymore. :))

Okay peace OUT!!

I love you

Oh anon yes...the older man irl debacle.

I don't think age is just a number...but how much that actually matters TOTALLY depends on the people and how willing they are to meet each other where they are at in their life experiences.

I think my opinion has changed on this since my early twenties. I feel like a completely different person than I was even just three years ago. That being said, your twenties are like second puberty.

My ex-boyfriend was 11 years older than me - I was in my early 20s, him in his early 30s. We got on in so many wonderful ways (which I tend not to dwell on due to the trauma I am still overcoming from that relationship). But he wasn't as mature as his age indicated to me in the beginning. We were developmentally on the same level. In fact, I was more mature.

However, my life experience was so severely different than his, not just because I come from a privileged background (relative to many), but because I was younger and hadn't experienced a lot of life yet. Now, just a few years later, I've matured a ton and stepped into a completely new chapter. I wasn't able to do that growing with him.

Since my relationship ended, I've been on dates with guys as young as 23 and as old as 57. I'm currently talking to a guy much older than me. You vibe with who you vibe with, plain and simple.

You just have to leave room for each others' journeys. On one hand, younger partners need to be respectful of life already lived and on the other, older partners need to be respectful of a life being lived (not to imply anyone older has stopped living life). These age gaps can turn dangerously parental.

I know people who think even a ten year age difference is too much. My roommate has grimaced when I say I'm going out with a guy in his thirties, even though someone who is 33 is only 6 years older than me. I understand from the aspect of gender dynamics that sometimes it can feel like older men are leveraging their privilege against younger women. But we also can't ignore pervasive ageism (in both directions).

It boils down to this: different strokes for different folks.

People are always going to yuck your yum. If it's going well and you both are feeling it, that's amazing. Cherish that. As long as you feel safe and happy in your relationship with this guy and it continues to grow that way, that's all that matters. And fuck the haters. Periodt.

Tl;dr: If John Paul Jones showed up at my door and wanted to bang, I'd say yes. Live your life gurlina.

[thumpersdae]

tl;dr im changing the way i post my own artwork here, by having a goal of one (1) piece a week, posted on different days depending on what i have made. also im going to start to bring more attention to some of my other social medias. heres a helpful chart:

(more details under the cut)

So i've had a dedicated art blog on tumblr for a couple years now, and ive decided that maybe i could like, use it as a way to be better about making consistently.

basically, my issues with making and posting things in the past were me having issues figuring out how to pace my actual making in a way that is sustainable, and then also that creates these peaks/valleys in attention that i get for my work that are surprisingly frustrating. this made like 70% of this whole process emotionally uncomfortable at best, witch is a pretty uncool stat for a hobby im doing because i love it.

so now, instead of just posting whenever i have anything, i will be posting one piece of art a week. what day of the week it is will depend on the content of the thing im working on. ideally this will make it easier for me to manage doing at least one thing creative each week, without falling into the manic sort of "ive been awake for 28 hours and need to finish this and get 100000's of reblogs or ive failed" feelings i tend to get into.

also ive decided to start trying to be better about cross-posting and self promotion. ive had a Red-bubble for almost as long as ive had this tumblr and im going to try and be better about getting my more polished original work there. my Youtube has a couple AMVs and fan videos, theres not much, but i find it's a good place to keep animations, and i will be continuing to post similar things there. Ao3 is arguably the place i add to the most, ive been writing fics on and off there for 8 years, and will try to be better letting people here know when new things are up there.

also i have 2 new sites that im going to start working on. i started a Ko-fi because it felt silly not giving people the chance to support me if they wanted to be incredibly generous. i dont really expect anyone to contribute but you miss 100% of the free coffees you dont ask for (or something). also ive also built an OnlyFans, im planning on posting all of the visual art i will be posting on tumblr there for free, with the occasional paid post with more nsfw themes for people willing to pay for that sort of thing.

so thank you for reading about my update, i hope this means you'll see my stuff more regularly in the coming weeks. take care <3

[yinnyguardian]

how much are your commisions?:0

Hey thanks for the question! I currently don't have official prices yet so it depends on what you'd want! There will be a TL;DR at the bottom!

I'd say Ponies depending on how complicated they are, what type they are (Alicorns, Pegasi, etc), what all you're wanting (Headshot, full body, custom background, etc), and the difficulty of their Cutie Mark can range anywhere between 5-20 dollars! Though I currently still am doing that $10 for a Full body with colors and shading deal! I'd be willing to do a Custom background for 1-2 Dollars too for that deal! Human take more effort for me so they will cost more! Chibi's I'd just always say are $5 and you'll get a full colored and shaded Chibi! Otherwise it would depend like for the Ponies! How difficult their design is, if they have any non-human features (Animals tails/ears, horns, elf ears, etc), Whether you want a headshot, full body, etc, and other potential factors! I'd say between 10-30 dollars are a safe bet!

Ferals are free. Fair warning the quality may not be the best but I do need to build up skill and a Portfolio for the upcoming Art Fight anyway so Ferals are free :D

TL;DR

Ponies are usually anywhere between 5-20 Dollars but I currently have a deal for $10 a Full Body + Color+ Shading (Extra 1-2 dollars for Custom Background)

Human(oids) can range from 10-30 Dollars but Chibis are automatically $5!

Ferals are free for portfolio building purposes! :D