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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Quick Thoughts: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Reveal Trailer and Initial Roster

Whelp I didn’t expect to be doing another one of these so soon but welcome to quick thoughts where I give well quick thoughts on stuff instead of the longer form reviews I usually do.

So as longtime or even short time readers of this blog might know I love NIck. I don’t review shows from it as often as Disney or Cartoon Network, but it was still a beloved part of my childhood and still makes great shows today such as the Loud House, Harvey Beaks and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s horribly mismanaged, which is why two of those shows are no longer with us and the last of them is weirdly missing from this game, and have a long and storied history of screwing things over.. and i’m not exagerating when Mr. Enter, no matter your opinon of him now, did a whole marathon of every nicktoon almost every entry included the fact the show had been screwed over in some way.

But as anyone who knows my history with Disney will tell you just because I don’t sugarcoat a brand I like’s fuckups dosen’t mean they aren’t near and dear to me at the same time. I”m a grown up: I can have complex emotions towards a chlidren’s tv network. So I love it’s varied shows some of whom (Avatar, Harvey beaks again, Danny Phantom, Hey Arnold) are among my all time faviorites.

Now something readers of my blog probably WOUDLN’T know is I love Nintendo, they have their own fuckups like weird release strageies and never doing a remotely decent discount like the competition, but their still a company I love and since I only play handhelds most of the time are my primary source of good shit. So naturally Smash Bros is my faviorite franchise of theres. I love the idea of fighting games but often struggle with the combo heavy nature. So Smash Bros, having a roster of some of my faviorite characters ever, a plaformer style control scheme, and a deceptivley simple style that’s easy to learn and fun to master with the right character, is my shit. Sure I won’t rush out to buy every dlc character, but you better belivie I played the hell out of Ultimate, will likely go back to it again some day, and did buy Banjo and Kazooie because fuck yeah.

So yeah I needed to talk about Nick making their own smash bros clone. When I heard the rumors I wasn’t sure, mostly because Rumors can be just that.. but nope this game is happening and i’m all on board for it. This isn’t Nick’s first crossover rodeo in recent memory either also making a pair of Kart Racing Games: one I KINDA wanted to play till I looked at the roster, had a good laugh and lost that i want, and the other I really want to play as it seems like the first game if it were you know an actual game with a decent track selection, a deep character roster and an actual love of it’s properties.

So making their own Smash Bros was a logical step and one i’m here for. We haven’t had any of the big cartoon networks make one since well.. Cartoon Network, and Nick has just a deep a bench to pull from, one that will hopefully get CN to get their cast to throw hands once more.

For now though the idea of the vast history of nick all throwing hands with each other is amazing. Look i’m honest with myself: this looks like a decent smash clone,functional but nothing specail, but with the expressive character animation and solid roster you need for a game like this. I know going in i’m not going ot get Smash Ultimate quality of brawler, but i’m probably going to have fun with it.

The only downside I see so far is , like the Kart Racers, theyd idn’t seem to get ANY voice actors for this which smacks of laziness, especially since most of the voice actors for these characters are still active, and in some cases like Spongebob or Loud House are still working with you. So you have no real excuse for this, shame on you.

But yeah the game looks good.. despite the trailer being pretty bad. It’s just some generic music set to “LOOK WHO WE GOT”. And granted look who they got is really spiffy and i’ll be diving into that in a second, but it dosen’t give any of these characters a reall chance to show off how they play or how awesome they are. It’s just a bland montage of whose in the roster in the same 2 or 3 stages. And when you have 15 stages overall to show off that’s not excusable. Again i’m not expecting Smash level quality revelas, this game dosen’t have the marketing budget, but you have a really great concept and roster here, you coudl’ve revealed it better and this game better. The Kart Racers 2 Trailer was also mildly bland but it did show off the game better, showing off several tracks and how VASTLY improved the roster was, so you CAN make a good trailer you just didn’t. It felt like they thought the poitn of all the smash reveals trailers was here’s a character and missed all the style and substance to them.

That being said while the trailer was weak.. it was boyed by the fact this roster is REALLY damn good. Let’s face it I woudln’t even be talking about this game if the roster wasn’t this minty but they clearly learned from Kart Racers not to half ass it and while they learned the long lessons from Smash in how to promote the fighters they have, they learned the right lessons in having a nice mix of crowd pleasing faviorites for kids and vetrans alike along with a few deep cuts for said longtime fans. And this is JUST the intitial reveal roster: Given the Box Art isn’t out yet, I feel there’s more to come, especially since despite being perfect for the game there’s no one from the Avatarverse yet, but I also feel that Nick is saving that for a second trailer to announce the release date. But I can and will go into who i’d LIKE on the roster in another one of these sometime soon. -

Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy (SpongeBob Squarepants): I’m getting these three out of the way as their essentially to this what Mario and Co were to smash: necessary and inevitible. As for who was chosen.. it was as obvious as putting spongebob himself int he game. Sponebob is Nick’s mascot, Patrick is nearly as iconic and Sandy is well loved as well as the spongebob character most associated with buttkicking. Being an expert martial artist is both part of her character and a cerntral part of her character and relationship with Spongebob. So yeah not a lot ot say here: it was ineivible but I don’t mind at all having grown up with them and with my niece and nibling being huge fans.

87 Leo and 87 Mikey (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): This one i’m mixed on. Not on the turtles being here: i’m a MASSIVE TMNT fan and i’td be stupid to leave them out since Nick Owns them, made the last two series, and they fit this kind of game like a glove, even having had their OWN smash clone to themselves once.

No my issue is obviously in the version choseN: The 87 turtles. Again I have no beef with the guys themselves, I haven’t seen much of 87 but I want to and they look really gorgeous and nicely cartoony. It’s just a REALLY weird choice. The 87 turtles have never been on a nick network due to rights issues, have never been associated with nick, and aren’t the ones most kids of EITHER DEMO would be familiar with: Grown up fans of nicktoons from the 90′s like myself would be more familiar with 2003, and kids and teens from more recent eras would be more familiar with 2012 and rise, which REALLY should’ve been the rep. I mean their weird shame of rise bothers me enough on a good day but not using EITHER show you actually made bothers me, it bothers me a lot. I’ll still probably play Mikey, i’m not made of stone and as I said I have no beef with the 87 turtles, I just wish nick had used the others or hell just gone all lin and used one turtle from each cartoon. I mean if your going to use stuff you’ve barely aired why not give me some 2003 nostalgia too huh? Though it could just be that since, unlike the rise and 2012 turrtles the 87 turtles have the same body type and colors it was easier to just do all 4 and just give each unique facial expressions. Who knows... I knows it was probably that.

Lincoln and Lucy Loud (The Loud House, Duh): Another pretty obvious one as The Loud House is currrently nick’s co-flagship show with spongebob. Still waiting for my diffrent world spinoff with Bobby and Lori guys. So yeah Lincoln isn’t a suprise and Lucy is only minorly one as it was a matter of “which sister”... and Lucy is one of the most popular. Neither really fit a combat setting.. but given this is a fun crossover game, that really dosen’t matter and in fact is kind of the fun: taking just the most insane matcchups imaginable and mashing them together. I mean this is a game where Lincoln and Lucy can beat up Leo and Mikey, why wouldn’t I want that kind of crack on my nintendo switch? I am hoping for Luna to make her way to the stage next as she was absent from Kart Racer 2 and would be really fun to play. Plus having ANOTHER bi fighter in the mix if korra gets in there would be awesome, let alone letting the two beat up or punch each other’s face. But again I could and probably will mak ea whole article about other possible fighters i’d want.

The Plesant Suprises: Nigel Thornberry , Oblina and Powdered Toast Man (Wild Thronberries, Ahhh! Real MOnsters1 and Ren and Stimpy) : Yeah while only one of these cartoons was a faviorite as a kid (Wild Thornberries)... I have nothing but respect for these choices. One of the funnest things about Smash is while you can see some roster members coming sometimes you get utter curveballs like Mr. Game and Watch, Pirana Plant and MInecraft Guy. They also go for more cult franchises like SNK or Earthbound (the latter of which is fucking awesome localize mother 3 already dammit) too among the big heavies, making it feel like a true tapestry of Nintendo’s history.

Nigel is the only one of these three that’s really obvious. He’s a meme, he was the best part of his show.. but it’s still just uniquely batshit to put NIGEL THRONBERRY in a fighting game. You better belivie he’ll be one of my mains.

Oblina is more a suprise because I thought they’d go with Icket, but instead went wtih the character who was more popular and had a really unqiue and cool design, so i’m pleased as punch to have her. Finally while I don’t have any real attachment to ren and stimply apart from Log, and really it’s hard to gain any now knowing i’ts creator was a pedophile piece of shit, the franchise is still a cornerstone of nick history, the rest oc the crew didn’t abuse power or not make deadlines or be a com plete piece of shit, and powerded toast man is genuinely great. I”d love to see Really Big Man too, clash of the weird superheroes, I love me a weird as hell superhero. This also speaks promisingly that w’ell get some real weird curveballs to come and i’m here for it.

The Rest: Helga, Zim, Danny and Reptar. (Hey Arnold, Invader Zim, Danny Phantom and Rugrats! ): Note i’m not lumping these together because their bad: their all graet nostalgic picks from timeless shows and with the rugreboot currently running on Paramount+, it’d be weird not to represent them.

And since I brought it up reptar is a fun chocie, another oddball but one more understandable as no one wants to beat the shit out of a toddler. Or rather no one playing the game would care you could because it’s a silly fighting game and a 12 and 8 year old are also beat upable, but someone would probably throw a fit somewhere. Plus again it’s a game where you can have danny phantom fight reptar. Shut up and take my money.

The rest are all great choices if ones I’m not suprised by: Hey Arnold’s an all time classic and being tough is a lot of Helga’s character, and again I can have her throw hands with nigel thornberry, reptar and a ninja turtle in the same match. Zim is another fan faviorite and fits the game like a glove and Danny Phantom is the one out of Nick’s three suprehero classics it actually still cares about so my boy getting in there isn’t a shocker, though his attacks lookw eird. Hopefully they green them up before the final prduct.

So yeah overall it looks really promsing and really fun and i’ll probably check this game out if I get enough money when it comes out or more likely put it on my christmas list. But I will get it somehow this i swear.. speaking of which put manny in the roster dammit. If you liked this.. thing consider joining my patreon for a buck a month fo exclsuvie reviews and ot help me review tuca and bertie, amphibia and more as part of my memebership drive.

#nickelodeon #danny phantom #the wild thornberry's #spongebob squarepants #hey arnold #teenage mutant ninja turtles #ren and stimpy #the loud house #ahh! Real MOnsters #rugrats

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kiingocreative · 3 years

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The Structure of Story is now available! Check it out on Amazon, via the link in our bio, or at https://kiingo.co/book

Every author starting out will know how important reviews are. If you’re yet to be convinced, here are some fun facts about reviews*:

1. 88% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.

2. 72% of consumers will take action after reading a positive review.

3. Positive reviews tell Amazon and Google you’re worth ranking and can boost search results for your book by feeding into SEO (reviews account for almost 10% of total search ranking factors).

So reviews aren’t just a nice to have — they’re critical to the success of a book.

Now, amongst the writers community, we talk a lot about receiving reviews, but less so about giving reviews. I enjoy writing book reviews immensely, because it makes me think about what I’m reading on a different level, and forces me to learn how to articulate that opinion. This is actually one of the main reasons why I got into professional BETA reading.

I was asked recently how I structure my book reviews (all of which can be found on my blog), so here you have it: all the secrets to how I go about writing book reviews, along with some concrete examples!

Start With Why.

The most important question to ask yourself before you even start writing a review is this:

Why do people read book reviews?

In essence, they want to know whether the book is good, what it’s about, and — more importantly — whether they should read it. They generally like some context and detail to back the review so that they feel it’s genuine and trustworthy.

If you can keep in mind what people generally want to get out of a book review, this will help you keep your review relevant and useful. It’ll help you figure out what’s worth including and what isn’t. If in doubt, ask yourself what you would want to read about in a review when you’re trying to decide whether or not to buy a book.

Some Key Questions.

Before you start writing, you also need to ponder a few things. It may not always feel natural to reflect on a book on this level of detail — it didn’t for me at first. I either liked a book, or I loved it, or I didn’t, but I rarely spent a lot of time critically thinking about why I did or didn’t like a read.

If you’re also finding this uncomfortable at first, I say stick with it. I found it extremely interesting to make myself think these things through. It’s made my writing so much better, because I’ve developed that objective evaluation muscle that activates even when I’m with my own work. It’s also made me much better at forming and formulating an opinion, which is something I didn’t use to be good at!

Here are some questions to start with before you start on your review:

• Did you like the book?

• What did you like about it?

• What didn’t you like about it?

• Are there any themes that were particularly well handled?

• Were there any characters you liked above others, and why?

• Would you recommend the book to a friend?

These few questions will start shaping your view of what you’ve read and provide the main elements of your review.

To take your critical reading to the next level, you may want to ponder the various elements of the story and the writing as a whole. Think about:

• The plot / storyline — is it strong? Consistent? Original? Enticing? Are there gaps?

• The characters and character arcs — are all characters well developed? Multi-layered? Do they make sense? Are they relatable?

• The key themes — what are some recurring topics through the story? Are they well handled?

• The pace and timeline — is the story progressing at a good pace? Where does it lag? Does the timeline make sense?

• The writing style — how was the writing style? Did it flow well? Did it feel unique or original?

• The dialogues — did they feel natural? Were they believable? Were they engaging? Did they add to the overall story?

• The editing — how was the editing? Were there any typos or formatting errors?

Example Review Outline

Once you’ve spent some time with those initial questions, you’ll find it gives you the best part of your review content. At first, you may want to note down your answers to each of these. With time, you may find you can process these in your mind faster than you did before, and you don’t need so many notes. Whichever way is right for you, once you have this, you’re ready to start structuring your review.

I tend to use the following outline (though, of course, this isn’t the one and only way to write a review!):

1. Star Rating:

It’s most common in this day and age to include a rating in your review. There are talks out there about not leaving a rating on a book, because these can be extremely subjective — someone’s three-star rating may mean they loved the book but for others it’s a negative rating, some people don’t leave five-star reviews out of principle etc.

If you’re reviewing the book on Amazon and Goodreads however, you don’t have a choice but to pick a rating out of five stars. Have a think about how that rating system relates to you. For instance: would you leave five star ratings? What rating do you use for a book you liked versus a book you absolutely loved? What kind of book would warrant a low-rating? etc.

2. Opening:

Start with a short overview of what you thought of the book. This should give the reader a concise view of what you thought of the book, in two or three sentences. The idea is that, if they read only this opening part of the review, they should know your view on the matter.

Here’s an example opening paragraph I wrote for Heart of a Runaway Girl by Trevor Wiltzen:

‘Heart of a Runaway Girl is a breath of fresh air. As far as crime and murder investigation novels go, I only ever read Agatha Christie, so my standard is high. But this book did not disappoint.’

3. Synopsis:

The next section of the review is a short summary of the book, which should give the main elements of the plot. I tend to keep that part really short because I find that, if anyone wants to know the specifics, the book blurb the author so diligently wrote for the back cover is a much better place to learn more about that. Yes, you need to give a sense of what the book’s about, but it shouldn’t be the bulk of the review.

I think this is a matter of personal preference, I’ve seen reviews out there with a much longer synopsis section, but I always find myself skipping those bits to get to the nitty gritty of the review, which is what the person thought. There again, go back to the why — people who read reviews do so to find out whether or not they want to buy a book, so the more valuable pieces to help with that (in my view) are your opinions, more than an in-depth summary which they can find elsewhere.

For instance, when I reviewed Counter Ops by Jessica Scurlock, the second opus in the Pretty Lies series, I kept the synopsis paragraph to:

‘In Counter Ops, we meet a familiar duo, Ivy and Nixon, as they face the aftermath of the Elite Auction, and each endure its painful consequences. We follow their journey as they try to escape their fate and attempt to come to each other’s rescue — in more ways than one.’

4. Highlights:

The next part is what I call the ‘highlights’. This is where you talk about what you liked most about the book, or what you thought the strongest parts of the book were. This can focus on one element of the book (a character, a part of the plot, a theme etc.) or cover multiple elements.

See, for example, the highlights I picked for my review of Age of the Almek by Tara Lake:

‘I loved the author's ability to give every character their own voice and a distinct perspective on the world around them. I loved how involved I became with every character's fate and woes. I loved the precision with which the Almek world has been created, with such minuteness you can picture it down to the finest details.

My favourite part is the portrayal of the many facets of human nature, be it through the reactions of the masses to the barbaric ways of their rulers or the individual views of the protagonists. In every Almek citizen is a piece of the great puzzle that is humanity at large, and the author has a gift for writing it as raw and real as it gets.’

5. Mitigate your view:

Right after the highlights is where you’d add anything that mitigates your view. That’s anything that wasn’t quite as strong as you’d want it to be, or anything you weren’t a fan of.

You can skip this part if there’s nothing you didn’t like about the book — you don’t have to go nitpicking if nothing comes to mind. And it doesn’t have to be a bashing of the author and their work either. Keep it constructive and explain why you felt that way. There’s never a need for insults or expletives, and these wouldn’t enhance the quality of your review anyways. Formulating constructive criticism takes practice, and requires tact and subtlety. It’s a valuable skill to have if you’re willing to invest time in honing it.

Here’s how I phrased that part of the review for Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan:

‘But - and there's a but - my qualm with this book is that, for a story that revolves entirely around Nick and Rachel... There's actually very little Nick and Rachel in it!

Yes it's all 'about' them and it talks 'of' them loads, and we're told theyare happy together and want to be together... But it's all 'tell' and no 'show'. Their intimacy is sorely lacking, so I was left missing that added colour to convince me that they, in fact, do love each other. And I'm not talking saucy passages — I 'm talking about basic things suchas them actually talking to each other and spending time together.’

6. Conclusion:

The final part of the review is a short paragraph with closing remarks, such as a short summary of your view on the book, whether or not you recommend it or some indication of what readers the book may be for (e.g. ‘if you liked… you may like this book’).

When I reviewed Collision by Kristen Granata, I ended the review with:

‘Readers used to intricate, far-fetched romance plots may find this book too straightforward for their liking. In my mind, this is what makes the book's key strength: it's real and honest, it takes the reader through difficult situations and complex emotions beautifully, and that makes it all the more relatable.

A great read overall - and the moment I finished the last page, I was on Amazon ordering the next book in the series!’

How long should a review be?

I don’t think there should be a minimum or maximum word count to a review, though I find that mine end up being around 300 to 500 words. I feel this is a good length because as a reviewer this forces me to be concise and clear in expressing my opinions, and as a reader it’s long enough to give people a sense of the book, but not too long that they’ll drop off before the end.

Final Thoughts: To spoil or not to spoil?

My view on adding spoilers in your review is simple: DON’T.

Try as I might, I can’t fathom what could be gained from adding spoilers to a review. Once again: back to the why. Someone reads a review to find out if they want to read the book themselves. If you ruin the plot for them in that review, what’s the incentive to pick up the book?

It just hurts the author’s chances of making a book sale, and it robs a fellow reader of the joyful rollercoaster of finding out those plot twists at their own pace. Don’t do it, it’s just rude.

*Sources:

www.bookmarketingtools.com

www.searchenginewatch.com

www.dealeron.com

#writingtips #screenwriting #creative writing #writers on tumblr #writers #writing #writerblr #writing advice #writing community #writing resources

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mst3kproject · 4 years

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Exo-Man

Failed series pilots were very much part of MST3K’s stock in trade. We’ve sat through San Francisco International, Stranded in Space, Code Name: Diamond Head and I’m sure there were others. I generally recall all of those movies being kind of dull and lacking in personality, and I can’t imagine this 70’s superhero mess being much better. I don’t think anybody in Exo-Man was ever on MST3K but Jose Ferrer (the first Latino actor to win an academy award, for 1950’s Cyrano de Bergerac) was once in a movie called Zoltan, Hound of Dracula, which I am deeply remiss in not having seen yet. You may also recognize Harry Morgan, who was Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H.

Dr. Nick Conrad is a wacky physics professor of the type nobody has ever encountered in real life. He’s somehow both smart enough to invent anti-gravity and memory plastic, and stupid enough to chase after a fleeing would-be bank robber. The latter stunt, set to wakka-chicka Mitchell music, makes Nick the target of a mafia assassin, who kills his lab assistant and leaves Nick himself paralyzed from the waist down. He wallows in self-pity for a while, but then rediscovers his passion for invention and builds himself a suit of armor that will allow him to walk again… and to take on the mob single-handedly.

I don’t know why they called the movie Exo-Man. That name is never used in the dialogue. I guess the more accurate Fiberglass Avenger just wouldn’t have sounded as cool.

The first thing you’re likely to notice from the plot summary is that Nick’s story starts off as Dr. Strange and then takes a hard left into Iron Man. I’m pretty sure the latter at least was an intentional ripoff, with bits of the first thrown in, knowingly or not, to distance Exo-Man from Marvel’s lawyers. What’s funny is that posterity has actually made it a hat trick: the movie opens with a weirdly homoerotic jogging scene, so now he gets to be Captain America, too!

Exo-Man is a really stupid, often boring, and consistently ugly movie. The actors are mediocre, the music bland, the effects terrible, and stuff is made to look ‘high tech’ by sticking lots of blinky lights on it. Way too much time passes before we get to the action and when we do, we find a deep pit of disappointment. Yet at the same time… I kind of enjoyed it.

A major part of why has got to be the incredibly dopey super-suit the main character wears, which looks less like ‘Iron Man’ and more like ‘Fiberglass Commando Cody’. It moves really slowly and I doubt the guy in the costume can see very much. Nick controls the bottom half of it using switches on one sleeve, which appear to have simple functions like ‘sit’, ‘walk’, and ‘jump’ (there is, of course, no ‘run,’ because nothing happens fast in this movie). He puts the thing on by lying down in what looks like a tanning bed (or maybe one of those contraptions from Avatar). My personal favourite is the warning light labeled malfuntion.

All this is in a movie that sometimes manages to be surprisingly subtle. We are introduced to Nick while jogging, we watch him play tennis with his girlfriend, and see him maintain this exercise regime even while he’s supposed to be under police protection. These shots are in brilliant sunshine, and the camerawork is as active as the subjects. Post-injury, Nick never outwardly complains about his inability to participate in sports, but we now see him sitting in his wheelchair in dark surroundings, with the camera held perfectly still. We feel that he has lost something he loved dearly, and we never need to be told it outright.

We are also introduced to Nick as somebody who is devored to furthering minorities. His two lab assistants are an east Asian student and a Jewish one (the latter identified as such by a surname, rather than appearance), and the reason he was at the bank was to help a Latino student get a loan. Again, the script trusts the audience to get this without having to draw attention to it through dialogue. These minority characters are, of course, still just accessories to Nick’s story. The Jewish guy in particular is there to be fridged – its his death that leads to Nick flaunting his police protection and getting hurt. But the effort was made to say that minority rights are important to Nick, without hitting us over the head with it.

Theme-wise, Exo-Man is about a man coming to terms with a disability. I should preface this by saying that I am not disabled, so my perspective is necessarily biased. If anything I say below is offensive, that is out of ignorance, and please let me know so that I may edit or delete the review and do better next time. I was actually pretty impressed by how the script and director handled the life-changing nature of Nick’s injury… mostly. I’ll start with the bad stuff.

The attack on Nick comes with a heaping helping of victim blaming. As an important witness in the bank robbery, he was offered police protection. The assassin tries to get around this by putting a bomb in his car, but one of the lab assistants borrows the car for a late-night pizza run, and gets killed in Nick’s stead. This leads Nick to deliberately place himself in a vulnerable position, hoping to draw the killer out for capture and punishment. In the hospital with a broken back, Nick blames the police for failing to protect him, but I’m pretty sure the movie wants us to think that this is really Nick’s own fault. Like the tragic accident victims in Days of our Years, he has nobody to blame for his own misery, or that of his loved ones, except himself.

After that, however, the movie’s treatment of Nick’s disability improves quickly. His girlfriend Emily leaves him, but that’s not because he’s in a wheelchair, it’s because he’s too busy wallowing in self-pity to even let her into his apartment. Later when he apologizes to her, she takes him back and they resume their happy relationship, and the fact that they can’t play tennis together anymore is not an issue. She does not treat him as something to be pitied, she speaks to him on his eye level, and they avoid that weird trope of having the abled partner sit in the wheelchair-user’s lap. Emily loves who Nick is, not what he can do. His colleagues and students, likewise, treat him with respect and help him with his chair, and never make the latter feel like a burden.

By the end of the film Nick has come to terms with his disability. The suit he’s built is not a cure for his condition: in fact the first time he wears it out, it breaks down and he needs help getting back to his high-tech armored van. It’s a tool he has built for a purpose, and he doesn’t feel the need to wear it in non-superhero situations. Based on what we see, he could have built a legs-only version to wear under his trousers and let him go jogging and play tennis again, but that is no longer who Nick is. And when and whether to wear the suit is always Nick’s own choice, not something imposed on him from the outside.

Of course, it would also be really helpful in later maintaining Exo-Man’s secret identity, and I suspect the writers were thinking of that a lot more than they were of things like parents forcing questionable ‘cures’ on disabled children. The secret identity probably would have been a big deal if the pilot had sold, but in this stand-alone story, I thought the suit worked well as a metaphor about a disabled man at peace with himself.

Exo-Man also takes a quick little peek at the morality of vigilante justice, although this comes in pretty late and clearly isn’t something they wanted to get into in any detail. The first person Nick confronts in the suit is the assassin who actually beat him up. He says he didn’t go into this encounter with any real plan… perhaps he just wanted to scare the guy. What ultimately happens is that the assassin climbs a drainpipe to get away from the terrifying robot man, the pipe comes off the wall, and the man falls to his death. Nick feels this is his fault, and so the next time he takes the suit out he does so with a particular goal in mind: he wants to capture the mob boss and provide evidence of his wrongdoing to the police, not to kill anyone.

The mob boss’ name, by the way, is Kermit Haas, which is probably the least intimidating name a movie has ever given to its big bad.

Would that work? Is evidence a guy in a robot suit left in your dumpster for you admissible in court? Isn’t where stuff was found kind of important? I honestly have no idea and I’m not sure how to go about finding out. People might wonder why I want to know and I don’t think saying it’s for my blog would allay their suspicions.

At the end of Exo-Man, I was more entertained than not, but mostly on the level of laughing at the dumb-looking suit and appreciating the fine art of ripping off comic book characters. If that’s your kind of thing then this movie ought to put the fun in malfuntion for you. If that’s not your thing, well… this is an MST3K blog. What are you doing here?

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #exo-man #tw: abelism #70s

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smolbeandrabbles · 5 years

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Don’t Let Me Forget - Director Keller x Reader (Captain Marvel)

GIF Credit: X

Author’s Note: It’s been a little while since this Director graced my blog. And you all have @mandy23b to thank - who gave me the ultimate challenge of writing Keller without Ms.Maliyah... Well! I only ever was gonna go one way 😉 Because it literally the one idea I had for him Also - Me? Still bitter about the ‘R Keller’ thing?! NEVER!!!

Disclaimer: Captain marvel characters / plotlines not mine,and neither was the R Keller decision, so I will reverse it forever! / lyrics not mine

Premise: ‘Hide The J’ is Keller’s top S.H.I.E.L.D agents favourite activity, you’re prepared to make this a little risque... if he’s prepared to play the game.

Words: 3920

Warnings: Swearing / Sexual Pre-Amble / Sexual Connotations

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Today is one of those I wish that I could frame Or keep it on a video, replay it over and over Just replay it over and over Cause right now I'm feelin' like I'm walkin' on a cloud But I know what's up's gotta come down sooner or later Will I come down sooner or later? I don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring But can you promise me one thing? Don't let me forget Your hand in mine The firefly drives The time I feel asleep and you carried me inside Kissed my head and said goodnight When we were sparks Just the start Our naive hearts had never felt that kinda fire That you and I were playin' with So don't let me forget One day the sound of you sayin’ my name Won't make my heart stop in the same way That it used to So remind me how we used to Stay up late, sing those songs That made us feel invincible when we were together I always wanna remember... I don't know what tomorrow's bringin' All I know is I don't wanna lose this feelin' ---

All of you liked to play a game every so often. It was easy to play. And there were no rules. Save one: Hide the J.

Your boss’s name was Jonathan Richard Keller. And the little plastic letters outside his office displayed as such. J R Keller. Or R Keller. Depending on who was hiding that J today. And he hated it.

But he was too nice to reprimand anyone for it. So the best you got out of him ever was an exasperated “Agh!!! Guys!! Again!!” Before he sighed and began wandering around searching for it. Sometimes it couldn’t be found and he’d go as “R Keller” for weeks until someone finally returned it or he ordered in a new one. During which time everyone liked to call him Richard - or worse still, nickname him Rich - and drive him insane… Now, it was your turn to do so. Only, there was a small little problem with that. Keller wasn’t just your boss, but your significant other. That wasn’t really a well-known fact, you kept it professional at work, and unprofessional at home. But - if he happened to deem the mission important enough for him to also take part in, there would never be any doubt that you were going to be the one he would ask to accompany him. Some people - like Nick Fury - got wise to this fact. But apart from indicating that he knew about it, Nick never really seemed to show much interest one way or the other. You and Keller were suited to each other and that was fine. So long as it didn’t affect your working relationship, Nick didn’t have any qualms. And most of the time it didn’t - you respected Keller as the authority here... even if sometimes him choosing to lead off with you meant sometimes there would be spontaneous (and sometimes quite steamy) make out sessions that would just “happen”.

The mission prior was no such exception and he held your hand on your knee as he drove you back home. “That was some mission... huh?” “Well... nothing if not for a few thrilling scrapes...” “Oh yeah?” He smiled knowingly as he checked his mirrors, “What kinda scrapes would those be?” “Well I feel like getting a little scratched up chasing the target is one thing - scrapes against the back of elevators cuz someone got a little eager-!” “Oh hush!” “Your defense, Mr.Keller?” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and returned his hand to yours, clearing his throat; “I thought it was a little bit bigger than that - alright? I misjudged the dimensions!” You couldn’t help but laugh; “Well at least it’s the only thing you misjudged-! If you misjudged your aim people could have got seriously hurt!” “Why do you think I wear glasses?!” “Thought that was more to do with flying.” He whistled through his teeth; “Ah-! Now she wounds me!” “Words are a little nicer than the bruise I’m gonna have now-!” “I told you to hush!” You laughed, “That doesn’t sound like an apology, Director!” “Come off it-! Like I didn’t already apologise a thousand times...” He looked across to you - his sorry in his innocent blue eyes as he kissed the back of your hand. You smiled “Well... when we get home. If those are to be your apologies, maybe you ought to do it another thousand times...” He smiled gently against your skin and focused his eyes back on the road “...Gladly, if that is what you wish...”

** You stared at the piece of paper on your desk You’re Up! You smirked - Oh! You were about to have some fun with this!

Knowing he’d been called out early, you took a leisurely stroll back to his office, you would have nearly all the time in the world to figure out a place to hide it. You wondered why they didn’t just get him a new plaque where this wouldn’t be possible, or why he didn’t order one. Maybe he liked the game? Maybe he just wanted you all as his subordinates to have fun and didn’t want to get in the way of that. Perhaps Keller only acted annoyed with you all when it disappeared. Guessing could well have been as much fun for him as hiding was for you. It took a little longer than usual - the adhesive must have been much better this time round - but eventually you prised the tiny letter off. You held the J in your hand for a moment and smiled gently; now... where to hide it!?

You figured you could hear Keller’s frustrated yell from more than just a few corridors away and that was signal that the game had begun. As the several emails wishing you good luck that suddenly pinged into your inbox also denoted. You heard nothing more until 10 minutes later your team received a group message from your boss: Very funny. What is this the 5th time this month!? Come on guys. Give it up - who has it? You almost wanted to reply with ‘Not me’ but wondered if Keller would take you seriously, or if he’d figure you were trying to cover your tracks and come straight to you. Mind you even if he did come here it was well hidden. He’d have a job finding it.

** There was a knock on your door, and Keller didn’t even wait for a response to open it. “Director?” You weren’t sure exactly what he was here for, considering the analysis you were busy working on wasn’t due for another few days - if he wanted it early (which didn’t seem like a Keller thing at all, but wasn’t unheard of) then he wouldn’t get near enough close to what he wanted. He closed the door behind him though, and then you figured you were in trouble. “Y/N.” Definitely in trouble. “...Yes?” You batted your eyelashes at him innocently. “Give it back.” Your eyebrows knitted together confused for just a second - and then you realised he was taking about the J - quite forgotten about from this morning’s little escapade. “...I don’t have it.” “Yes you do.” “No way!” You didn’t think a fellow agent would sell you out, but also wouldn’t put it past any of them. “Yes, way.” He held up at least three sheets of paper, “Rule one, don’t leave an email trail.” “...Are you kidding!?” - you always wished each other good luck, was Keller getting wise to that or did he always know!? “C’mon where is it?” You raised an eyebrow, hoping you might also have reason to throw the rulebook back at him - “I feel like my boss going through my work emails isn’t exactly policy, Sir.” “Really not hard to set up some spyware that the minute I come into work will tell me you received several emails wishing you luck. Also not rocket science to piece that together, is it?” You pouted slightly, crossing your arms “You’ve made this considerably less fun.” “Well you should think of that before defiling my name plaque...” Keller took a step forward, holding his hand out, “give it back.”

You stared at him for a minute, unwilling to concede. And then realised you didn’t have to, this could still be a game, after all. You stood, hands down and leant over your desk with a sudden smirk. “Why don’t you come get it?” He regarded you coolly for a moment, folding his own arms, trying to work out if you were serious. Tracing his to your clothes however, he decided you weren’t. “...That seems like it’s against the rules.” He was forgetting this game didn’t have any rules. “...Was that a complaint?” The look on your face was almost innocent. Keller rounded your desk, making you stand straight, “No.” “Good. I should hope not.” “I just think maybe it’s a bad idea.” “What, you think other people will try it??” “Oh, what if they do?” “Well I don’t know, Director, I think I might get a little jealous...!” He delicately placed his forehead to yours, and you had to bite your lip to keep the moan of anticipation from escaping. This was probably very against the rules. And god knows how many policies and codes you were breaking here. But then again, the man about to kiss you was the Director – he could bend those rules as much as he liked. His first kiss was soft, and if he thought that was going to get him anywhere he had another thing coming. You pulled back just a little more for every kiss he gave you. “That’s not going to get you very far, Director, now is it.” “Y/N…” Even his voice was supposed to be gently persuasive. Usually it’d work – but you wanted to see how far you could take this. “mm mm…” You shook your head and took his hands in yours – placing them on the hem of your shirt; “You’re going to have to at least undress me for it…” “At least?” He pulled back from you slightly, and you realised that his face was already flushed. Keller was about to get very flustered indeed – and that’s when you loved him the most. You pulled him closer to you, and you knew he hoped you didn’t notice his little gasp at you taking control for even just a second. “Why don’t you just fuck me for it?” The smirk on your face at the bold confidence of your question then did really fluster him. He released his grip on you and stepped back – bright red. Keller really had no way out of this, but you knew he was wishing you didn’t say that. He took a few deep breaths as he tried to decide what was worth it. Conceding that notion to you, or walking away and getting called Rich for the rest of the week until you actually gave it back. You knew which decision it was by the shaky way he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He still wasn’t looking at you, preferring the floor of your office. This was a movement Keller often made – usually when he’s flustered, but also when he’s shaken, scared or angry. Only the context of the situation would let you know which it was… and maybe also the stage of red his face was at. It was pretty clear which one this was (but, maybe he was a little pissed at you two for putting him at your mercy.) But when he took his next deep breath those blue eyes flicked back to you, and now at more of a steel grey it was clear the only way he was giving you what you wanted was if he was in full control. And if that look wasn’t sexy as hell anyway; the little growl in his voice as he pinned you up against the wall was. “Fine. I guess I’ll find it the hard way…”

Pfft. As if he really minded…!

You both panted, making your way slowly down from that extreme high. He pressed his forehead to yours; tie slacked; shirt unbuttoned- glasses curiously still on. In a hurry, Keller? Your jackets were both discarded and half your suit also; no surprise there - he was trying to find a tiny black letter under all your clothes and you had invited him to do so.

Only he’d failed. Not that he cared much right now.

You unwound your legs from his waist and he let you back to the floor gently. There were still no words; you were both far too breathless for that. He cleared his throat, and began straightening his clothing l - as did you. He got that slightly embarrassed look on his face that always happened when these occurrences transpired in work situations. But you felt they were fairly absentminded, because they would always be replaced with this confident little smirk you loved seeing on his face that he would wear all day.

But as soon as you were both redressed, he pinned you back to the wall with a kiss. “Where... is my letter... if it’s not on you...” You stole another kiss whilst you could and pointed behind you, to your desk. Sitting propped up on your keyboard - black against the white was the two inch ‘J’ from his name plate. Keller’s mouth opened, are you kidding me!?, but he didn’t voice it - although he looked back to you, unimpressed which caused you to grin: “Oops! Guess I forgot it was hiding in plain sight!” He took a step back, gathering it between his fingers, but didn’t relinquish his hold of you. “You...” he didn’t finish, and the anger on his face was a clear facade “I What??” “You’re lucky I like you...” he claimed your lips again, and that kiss was exquisite. You groaned into it none too softly, and perhaps for the second time that day, were glad the walls of every office in this building were sound proofed.

*** Months Later… His car was there when you arrived, but Keller himself was nowhere in sight. That was fine with you, he would likely be along shortly. You sat on the sidewalk and tipped your head back to warm yourself with the last few rays of sun for today.

You realised where he’d been when he sidled across the parking lot with a can of soda in his hand. “Bad day?” “Ha!” He sat next to you and popped the can; “You got that right!” “...I’m sorry.” “Not your fault.” He took a sip and held the can out for you, but you politely declined. His face clearly said suit yourself, so he took another. “But if I was there-!” You tried to protest that it hadn’t been your fault – as one of his top agents you should be making sure this kind of thing didn’t happen to your Director. “I’m glad you weren’t...” You leant on his shoulder, rubbing his arm affectionately. Keller smiled, resting his head on yours “What about your day?” “I’m exhausted...!” “Doing what?” “Running around after you.” Or, the other him. “Ah! Well. See I should be sorry!!” “Don’t be. I’m just glad he didn’t haul me off like you usually do. Or that would have been really awkward.” Keller chuckled, “Sounds like he gave the game away...” “Well, I did find that odd. The alarm bells really went at the right-handed thing though.” “Oh, dear Lord.” He placed his head in his free hand for a moment, voice pitching in embarrassment. “Well, yeah, I knew there was no way in hell you’d suddenly switch your good hand, especially when you also draw left... it looked awkward.” “And no one else noticed!?” You gave a shrug; “If they did I haven’t heard anything.” “Ought to fire them all-!” This time he took a gulp from the can and you raised an eyebrow, “That healthy for you. Director?” “Better than cigarettes.” He shook the now half empty can at you “I thought you had that covered?” He pointed to the car, “No toothpicks or I’d be fine.” “Fine? After your day?” You raised an eyebrow “Well now you mention it, I do have one hell of a headache...” Keller rubbed his wrists, although neither of you were sure if that was because they hurt, or because he was just thinking on it “That’s just embarrassing-! Knocked out and tied up!? Like, how am I supposed to live that down??” “Oh-!” You rummaged in your pocket and held out his pass, “I rescued it.” He took it from you delicately “Ah... thank you... there was a gun with this, did you get the gun?!” “Didn’t bring it in case you go through with that threat of not ever being able to live it down..!” He pushed you, “Not literally!” You didn’t dare laugh; “It’s in my desk draw, don’t worry...” “It’s to be hoped we don’t get called out now!” “Well I wasn’t about to carry an unlicensed firearm around LA after this morning was I!” “It’s licenced-!” “Not to me, Jonathan! To you!!” He attached the pass back to his belt and stretched his arms. You studied his wrists carefully in the two seconds they were on show, glad to see there weren’t any marks “I tell ya...” he sighed, shaking his head “Bound and gagged in your own office... that is not an experience I ever want again.” You folded your arms and smirked “Aw. Damn. And here I thought we were going to be spicing things up in the bedroom.” “What?” He looked to you for a moment uncertainly as it clicked, “What!? Oh god! No! No! No! No! No!” Instantly his face flushed. And you acted disappointed; “Aww... but I thought It’d give you confidence... if you’ve done it once-!” “Y/N...!!” His face was still burning as he buried it in his arms.

He remained like that in silence, flustered and needing to calm down for a number of minutes. So long in fact that you were beginning to wish you didn’t say anything. He didn’t even retaliate to you prizing the drink out of his hands and taking a sip for yourself. “You do realise that you’re R Keller again.” “Yeah I did.” “Certainly wasn’t me this time.” “Oh-! Don’t you say that after what you just implied!!” When he did eventually look up at you there was still a trace of embarrassment painted across his cheeks. As he tried to figure out if the seductive joke was serious. You just sat there, can in hand, the picture of absolute innocence. He raised an eyebrow - “At least buy me dinner first!” You stood, can empty - “Oh no. Dinner’s on you tonight.” You held your hand out. And Keller let you help him up; “oh!” He laughed “Well then it’s on the other me. Ready to go?” “Yes...” He took your hand and kissed the back of it as he walked you to his car, “Just don’t get any funny ideas about any of my ties, alright?!” but he knew by the amused smile on your face that you already were, and he’d just given that thought to you for free.

“Oh! One more thing...” His sigh was exasperated and he rolled his eyes as you got into the car, which had you grinning- “What else could there possibly be to add...?!” “The other you didn’t know what a black box was.” Keller’s eyes widened as he was forced into a stunned silence - then he leant forward to rest his head on the steering wheel and let out a cry of anguish “My reputation-!” You were all too happy to add fuel to this fire; “Some guy at the Pegasus facility thinks you don’t know what a black box is, let that sink in. When he researched famed Agent Keller and sees Air Force he’s gonn-!” “Stop!! Please! I can only take so much defamation!” He wrung his hands and then took a deep breath, running them over his face. “God help me.” He muttered more to himself, then cleared his throat to signal there would be no more talk of this, before he turned on the ignition. The radio was on soft, but Keller turned up the dial. You were met with the familiar sound of country music. “Still at it with country, I hear.” “Well, you know what they say...” he did all his checks before moving off “You can take the man out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the man - so to speak.” You squinted at him, but your look was playful “You pinning yourself as a Southern Gentleman, Keller?” “You said it not me!” But he was grinning “Alright, my Southern Beau...” you reflected his grin, “take me home.” He turned to you with a wink; “Yes m’am!”

It was a pretty long drive back home - with Keller between so many offices his places of residence were never particularly central to where he needed to be. The wide scope also meant that a call coming from LA could send him to a neighbouring state, and he’d been to the Utah facility innumerable times for the labs they had down there. Sometimes you wondered how much Keller really knew - maybe a little too much. He had a way of looking when someone would offhandedly mention something - the way he would shift in his seat and fold his arms - that always made you think he was aware of too much. But he was never telling you. The weight of being a Director must have been great - and you knew he had a great many briefings with the President. How was he supposed to tackle the idea of aliens though? Or... did he do that already? You knew one thing - if you questioned him on the World’s deepest darkest secrets, he would never tell.

It wasn’t long before you drifted to sleep, the sound of the radio and the motion of the car was not something you were going to fight. And not even Keller’s soft humming along was going to stop you. Which made him smile - sounded like you needed rest, running around the Pegasus facility couldn’t have been easy, and it was by no means a late start! Still, he was a little disappointed that he’d missed it; what he wouldn’t give to have reason to go down there himself. He might be able to make one up, he supposed. Fascinated with both space and aircraft, Jonathan knew he’d missed out on a lot by being unconscious on his office floor... His cheeks burned slightly though - As long as I can convince them I really know what a black box is!!

** You were still fast asleep when he pulled up in the drive way. He thought perhaps turning off the ignition would stir you, but it didn’t. Good. He checked he had everything and slid out of his seat, gently closing the car door to make sure he didn’t wake you, before rounding to the passenger side. You groaned gently as he lifted you from your seat, but still didn’t wake, and he carried you and your things back inside - again closing the front door as quietly as possible.

He wasn’t about to wake you for no good reason, so with a soft laugh he carried you upstairs; “Alright darlin’... lets get you to bed...” He removed your shoes and your jacket but left you alone after that before tucking you into bed. Keller watched you for a little while with a smile, as you lost yourself in dreams. He leant forward and kissed your forehead - “Goodnight, Y/N...” He was half way out the door before he heard you call back softly, and he turned with a smile – your eyes were barely open, but they were fixing him with a look of adoration. And he couldn’t help but smile more as that feeling reached his heart. “Sorry, sweetheart?” Keller hadn’t really missed it, he just wanted to hear you say it again. “Goodnight, babe…I love you.” He chuckled gently, turning off the hallway light to let you sleep in peace; “I love you too.” --- @dennismitchell @happyskywhale @wltz-bby #MendoTagSquad.

#Which ever one of you tagged that GIF set gutter thoughts #It's come back to haunt you a little here #becausssssseeeee #Well. I mean. I wrote this #ALSO I wrote the stealing the J thing!#So it's now been in my drafts - been deleted - and has come back!#Congrats Keller you're the first to achieve that accomplishment!#Keller #Director Keller #Captain Marvel #Ben Mendelsohn #I can't tag my girl - saddddd!#Keller x Reader #Director Keller x Reader #Jonathan Richard Keller #HAHA!#102

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hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 4 years

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The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 37: How did we get here?

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As of this writing (but not of this posting) I have finally caught up with this series. As such I’m doing something a little different for this installment.

I’m going to talk about why I think this series has been received the way it has been.

To one extent or another, Marvel comics have been treating Mary Jane like utter shit for the better part of 15 years. The ways are too numerous to list.

Simply put they have dragged her through the mud whilst insulting her. Sometimes this is done overtly, other times slyly and underhandedly.

Without doubt the singular greatest example of this is the travesty that is ‘One Moment in Time’. It is nothing short of four issues of outright character assassination.

This treatment has naturally rubbed most Spider-Man fans the wrong way. This is because Mary Jane since her full debut in 1966 has been a very popular character. Even if some fans simply disliked her, judged her unfairly or took the times she was badly written to heart, the majority of fans felt differently.

The majority of Spider-Man fans (and in my experience particularly the female fans) like Mary Jane. They like her unto herself and they like her relationship with Spider-Man in particular.

This attitude is particularly prevalent for fans who grew up on Spider-Man between 1987-2007 when Spider-Man’s marriage to Mary Jane was part of the status quo and there was an increase in the number of Spider-Man media adaptations. Naturally this meant MJ was also featured a lot in wider media and was typically framed as Spider-Man’s primary (or only) love interest.

Whether due to nostalgia, the merits of the stories or both, this generation of fans generally took to MJ.

As such there has been an underlying displeasure throughout the Spider-Man comic book fandom over MJ’s treatment beginning with ‘One More Day’ in 2007 and continuing up until Nick Spencer’s ASM v5 #1 in 2018.

I firmly believe it is this displeasure combined with affection for Mary Jane that accounts for the reception of this series. Or at least those are the primary reasons, perhaps there is a social/political element too, but I’m not interested in discussing that.

Whilst the source is certainly biased, the letters pages in AMJ #6 are a prime example of some of the praise the series has garnered.

Whenever I’ve seen reviews or commentaries for this series they’ve overwhelmingly been positive, echoing sentiments from the above letters.

Whether it’s from Spider-man fan sites, general comic book sites, Comixology or more controversial outlets, there are very few bad words being said about this series.

This is mind boggling to me because as I just detailed for over 30 essays, it is in fact bad. It’s downright awful.

But the immense problems with the narrative have seemingly been ignored or unnoticed by fandom at large.

Why? Simple. Because the situation is not as bad as it was before.

When you are dying of thirst in the desert a drop of water can seem like an oasis.

Or to put it another way…

When a character you love has been maliciously dragged through the mud and insulted for 15 years, seeing them dragged through the mud without malice and celebrated can feel like they are being put on a pedestal.

Let me be clear as crystal.

I am not saying Marvel are working some kind of anti-Mary Jane agenda with Amazing Mary Jane, let alone Leah Williams herself.

On the contrary, I think 100% of everyone involved in the production of this comic book series has nothing but sincere love and adoration for Mary Jane. Leah Williams especially very obviously adores the character.

And that’s a big deal to Mary Jane fans because for far too long she was written by people who at best were indifferent to her and at worst actively disliked her

To have anyone genuinely like the character and write her feels like a win. To have that happen in a story putting her as THE lead feels like a win. To have that happen in a story that so often frames Mary Jane in a heroic, capable, awesome and generally positive light feels like a win. *

And that is especially true if fans go into a story actively looking for it to be good and when the story has enthusiasm bursting through the pages.

Make no mistake. Williams writing is energetic. It’s loaded with fizzle and fun. She’s obviously having a blast writing this title and that fun is transmitting itself through the pages. That can be hypnotic to readers at the best of times, but when they so deeply want the story to be good and so deeply want their beloved character to be done justice the combined result is people will see what they want to see.

Fuck, go read my first impression of AMJ #1. I was on the whole very positive. Like everyone else I wanted the story to be good. I wanted one of my favourite characters to be done justice.

I wanted this to be a win. So when I first read it, I saw a win.**

But it isn’t.

I’m not saying having an MJ solo story, a writer who likes her and a story that frames her positively is inherently a loss.

Rather, if all that is wrapped up in a mischaracterization, a lack of common sense, a broken moral compass, inconsistencies and just generally bad storytelling, then what might feel like a win in reality is a loss.

This story has creatively damaged Mary Jane to the point where nothing short of mind control or just ignoring the events of it can fix things.

I want this series to end as soon as possible. I want Nick Spencer, Jody Houser or anyone who doesn’t just understand some aspects of Mary Jane to write her again. Leah Williams’ affection and enthusiasm can never be questioned.

But her competency on this title? That’s a whole other story.

And I wish, from the absolute bottom of my Peter/MJ shipper heart that was not the case.

I really, really do.

Next time…well actually I am not sure.

At the time of this writing AMJ hasn’t released yet. And my ability to write this tome of an essay series was reliant upon me reading the issues immediately after one another. By doing that I was able to bear everything in mind and carry over points from one issue to the next. I fear waiting weeks or months between issues will hamper my ability to do this. I might forget critical points and be more harsh or more lenient when it is not warranted as I forget important context.

As such I am unsure if this essay series will continue beyond issue #6. I’m sure I will still cover AMJ in some way, but in this format? We will have to wait and see.

P.S. I think there is also something to be said for many Spider-Man fans not necessarily knowing the specifics of Mysterio’s history. By not knowing that I think a lot of fans view him as far less insidious than he really is. He is often dismissed as a B-lister at best, and a joke at that. But when you observe what he has actually done and what he is capable of you can see why Williams’ framing him the way she did is problematic.

*This is in fact not dissimilar to what happened when ‘Spider-Island’ was initially released.

I distinctly remember Spider-Man/Mary Jane fans lauding it because MJ teamed up with Spidey and there were romantic vibes between them.

However, I was one of the few people not convinced. I remembered how Dan Slott wrote Mary Jane during the Paper Doll storyline and during the early issues of his solo-run on ASM.

I knew the guy was a bad fit for the character. And I knew Marvel had done nothing but throw a bone to fans who by rights should have had the whole chicken and should never have had it taken from them in the first place.

Yet Mary Jane blogs and fans persisted. Spider-Island was a highlight for Mary Jane. Dan Slott was a good MJ writer. Spider-Island in fact was good specifically because it gave MJ fans the most meager of morsels to feed upon.

I’m not saying that Williams is merely throwing fans a bone. Rather, like Spider-Island she is being praised for delivering goods she never actually gave us. She and Spider-Island merely gave us something less bad than what we had before.

**Even when I first read it stuff in it was niggling at the back of my mind. And it grew, and grew, and grew until I was downright anxious for the second issue to address my concerns.

It didn’t. It made them worse. But even I couldn’t have predicted just how bad this series would get.

I loathe saying that. I truly do. I wish this series was better and I wish everyone else could see the flaws that exist with it as I do. But more than that, I’ve never wished harder that I could not see those flaws and enjoy the series like everyone else.

I do not enjoy being the lone voice on this subject.

But if I feel strongly something needs to be said I will say it. When Superior was going on that was the primary reason I began this blog. 99% of everyone lauded it. I saw it for the shit show it was and wanted to express that.

Seems history has circled back around. Sigh.

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#Leah Williams #Amazing Mary Jane #mjwatsonedit #mary jane watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #MJ Watson #spider-man #Peter Parker #joe quesada #brand new day #One More Day #One Moment in Time #Dan Slott #nick spencer #Superior Spider-Man

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lisinfleur · 5 years

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Jag Känner En Bot

The request:

Author’s Notes | I made an OC for this because of the name confusion idea and I used this music – Boten Anna (Basshunter, 2008) - as inspiration! I hope you guys like this! Thanks for the sweet request! Universe | Vikings Pairing | Ivar x OC Info | Modern Age AU, requested by anon for 5CW7 Words | 2687 ⁑ Warnings: Some cursing.

His friend was late.

Great.

He was sitting on that table, waiting for around half of an hour more than what they had settled when his phone finally vibrated with something from "G4m1ng" - a follower from his blog that became super active, enough to start exchanging messages with himself and become a friend.

His name was Dylan and they were chatting for a while now. The guy was a top supporter of Ivar's work with the blog, even suggesting he should start streaming his games for more views and maybe a career. And that was the secondary reason for that meeting, to be honest. Ivar wanted to know someone who had been giving him different tips for his favorite games, making his nights incredible fun and also, maybe start something new like a bigger and more audacious project having this supporter by his side.

His intention was to invite the guy to work with him and maybe edit his videos for a new Youtube channel, or maybe something on Twitch. He didn't know what was the best investment or platform and his hope was that talking to Dylan would help him to figure this out.

He had thought about this idea for a while and set up the meeting was something they had talked to each other for almost a whole week. They settled that place because it served the best fries of the city - something them both had in common as well.

Dylan knew about his disease and wasn't a problem. In fact, they sometimes spent days texting to each other because Ivar was having a painful day of bluest eyes and had to be in bed for a longer time.

The guy was an amazing friend - so Ivar was starting to feel worried something had happened because it never passed through his mind Dylan could, somehow, intentionally miss that meeting.

When the phone vibrated, Ivar unblocked the screen quickly opening the notification to see a strange question from his friend...

"Where are you, bro? Gave up on meeting me?"

Ivar frowned. There wasn't a sister location for that restaurant brand: it was the only one in town so it was impossible Dylan had gone to somewhere else.

His fingers started typing a fast answer, trying to figure out what was going on by softly teasing his friend to come.

"I'm at table 20. Did you found a way to get lost here, dude? C'mon... There is a pretty young lady alone two tables from me on the 18. If you take too long, I might want to sit with her and share our fries."

An emoji of a laughing face, despite the concern. Maybe Dylan was only not recognizing him or finding the table. Ivar lifted his face to look for his friend, but what was his surprise when the girl on table 18 took her wide eyes from the screen and looked straight at him, getting up from her table and coming closer to speak directly at him.

"Ivar? I mean... 'I.Boneless'?" she asked, utterly surprised.

Well, this was something he wasn't expecting.

Ivar was sure that he hadn't published his face online too many times and his avatar was the picture of a Viking prince from a series he liked to watch some years ago so. It was pretty unlikely that girl could be some kind of follower that was recognizing him.

"Yeah, I'm... I use this nick but... how do you know it's me?" he asked and she giggled before really falling on a long laugh, causing Ivar to be even more confused.

"Oh, my god! I can't believe this is happening. Fuck!" she cursed, laughing even more.

Damn... Ivar couldn't see Dylan anywhere. And that situation was starting to be embarrassing. Why the fuck she was laughing that much?

"Pretty young lady?" She said, causing Ivar to freeze. "Bro... The last thing I ever thought about myself was pretty... Now about you? Jez, Ivar, you're hot!" she joked.

Just like...

"Dylan??"

The girl exploded in laughs again.

"Dude, you should see your face!" she smiled. "Yeah, bro. I'm Dylan... Dylan Elyah Summers, and it's very nice to meet you, Ivar," the girl said, extending her hand for him to shake.

"I thought you... I..." he said, speechless, shaking her hand as she giggled again, sitting in front of him at the table.

"I know. You thought I was a guy, right?"

Dylan smiled at Ivar's affirmative nod, giggling as he scratched his nape.

"It happens a lot of times. My parents gave me a unisex name, so lots of times people think I'm a boy," she smiled.

"Yeah, that's pretty confusing," Ivar said, and the smile on Dylan's face diminished a little.

"It's not a problem for you, is it?" she asked.

Ivar could notice a certain bitterness in her voice. As a person with lots of bitter moments in his life, he knew what was that bitter taste on her tone and it wasn't hard for him to figure out her reasons: he could bet a dozen idiots had already rejected her as soon as they discovered she was a gamer girl and not the dude they were expecting to see. Other dozen had probably just started hitting on her like a bunch of horny dogs... He knew his gender: Men could be pretty toxic in his community. Instead, Ivar decided to act differently.

"Of course, it is! How dare you not to tell me you were a girl?" he started, causing her to cringe and sigh, sure she would lose another friend before he smiled at her once again. "I would be waiting for the 30 minutes of lateness, dude. Ya know, makeup, hair stuff..." he joked, receiving a small and friendly punch on his shoulder and noticing she blushed a little.

"Asshole."

They spoke for hours, sharing three whole portions of fries with cheese and bacon before they had structured together the whole plan for the new idea. Dylan was super excited about the project, but Ivar had to admit he couldn't stop thinking about how incredible it was to find such a pretty girl that was so similar to him, liked the same things, was so intelligent and charming as Dylan was...

At the end of that amazing day, Ivar and Dylan shared the Ubber that stopped first in his house, closer to the restaurant.

"I see you at the weekend!" he said, confirming the new meeting they had settled for the next weekend to start the channel's physical preparatives at his house.

"My ass! Go log on the game, bro! I see you online in the next thirty minutes! Bye, Ivar!"

"Bye!" Ivar waved back before she closed the door of the car that left taking her towards her home.

"Dylan's sister?" Hvitserk asked, stopping by his side while biting an apple after almost scaring Ivar's soul outta his body.

"No. That's Dylan. Fuck, Hvitserk! You fucking scared me!" Ivar complained before noticing Hvitserk had literally choked with the piece of that damn apple, hitting his brother's back, causing Hvitserk to spit the piece of apple and start coughing at the same moment. "Eat slow!"

"That's... That's fucking... Dylan??" Hvitserk tried, still recovering from the choking surprise. "What the fuck, Ivar!? You went out with that hottie and is standing here as if it was nothing? Brother! She's gorgeous!"

"Stop it, Hvitserk," Ivar warned while walking inside. "Yeah, she's beautiful, she's a girl, but it doesn't change anything. She's still the same Dylan we use to play together. Don't ruin the experience by starting to hit on her ok? For fuck's sake, keep your dick out of your mind!"

But Hvitserk giggled, looking at him with malice.

"Don't worry, brother. I won't hit on my brother's girlfriend..."

It was Ivar's time to almost choke with his own saliva.

"What?"

Hvitserk giggled again.

"C'mon, Ivar! You speak about this friend all the time, she likes the same things you like, she loves the games you love, you guys talk for hours! I can't believe you discovered Dylan is a girl and didn't ask her to marry you on spot! The two of you are perfect for one another!"

"Nah. No, no. You can stop it right now," Ivar warned. "Don't put your fingers into it!"

Hvitserk's smile became even more malicious.

"You want her, don't you?"

Ivar frowned and before he could answer, Hvitserk smiled bigger.

"I knew it!"

"Stay out of it, Hvitserk!"

This time, it was a harder warning.

"I really like her. She's really special and what we have is really important to me. Don't ruin everything for me or I'll swear I'll never speak to you once again!"

Hvitserk lifted his hands up, trying to tranquilize Ivar.

"Relax, brother... I won't mess up with your girl ok?"

"She's not my girl!" Ivar insisted.

"With Dylan! Dylan! Better now?" Hvitserk answered, still keeping that smile on his face.

Ivar was sure that promise wouldn't be fulfilled. However, he couldn't just get rid of all his brothers so he sighed. At least, Dylan was a nice girl and he was sure she would understand.

And he could always punch Hvitserk's nose if he was going too far so, problem solved, right?

The next few days were kinda strange.

Ivar wasn't being different, nor Dylan. But Hvitserk made the enormous favor to open his big mouth for more than eat the whole kitchen and now everyone knew Dylan was a girl.

Somehow, all the brothers found a way to get closer to her. Even Sigurd, who wasn't making any effort in her direction, ended up speaking to her for a long time about good soundtracks for the new channel, even spending a whole evening in a chat with her, explaining and teaching her about the new synthesizer and what she could make using it.

But the one who was bothering him Ivar the most was Hvitserk himself, all the time trying to be into their chat rooms, always catching Dylan's attention to himself... Ivar remember he told Hvitserk to not to hit on her just because she was a girl, but it was the same to tell a door to not to open! The bastard even invented he wanted to open his own blog just to get her attention on teaching him things so he could have a different style and not be so similar to Ivar's blog!

He really couldn't figure out why was Hvitserk doing this, but surely it was hitting on his balls! And Ivar decided that weekend would be the day for him to put a period on that sentence.

Dylan was his friend for a long time, he liked her, they had everything in common and if someone in that house would be with her, this someone would be him!

When Dylan arrived for their meeting, Hvitserk went all smiles to open the door, receiving her, and even spending a long time of conversation with the girl before Ivar could actually figure out she was already in his home.

"Oh, hi Ivar!" She said, smiling bigger at him than she was smiling at Hvitserk,

But noticing Ivar was kinda serious, Dylan closed her smile.

"We need to talk," he said, getting the girl kinda anxious.

"Is there something wrong, Ivar?" Hvitserk asked.

A malicious smile on his face. Surely the bastard was planning something. Ivar just kept his icy eyes into his brother's greens.

"I'll talk to you later. This is something between me and Dylan."

Hvitserk shrugged as Dylan started following Ivar to his room.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked, really anxious now.

"No," Ivar answered, walking through the hall.

"Did something happened?" she asked again.

"No," Ivar answered, monosyllabic one more time, opening the door and entering his room into what Dylan stormed up, annoyed.

"Then tell me what the fuck is going on at once, Ivar!"

"I like you. More than just a friend. And I want you to be my girl."

The sentence sounded like a slap in Dylan's face that became instantly red like a tomato while Ivar was closing his door before looking at her once again.

"W...What did you just say?"

"I said..." he looked straight into her eyes, to warrant she would be able to see his true feelings through them. "I said I like you and I want you to be my girl."

"Ivar..." Dylan hesitated, looking at him. "Are you sure? I mean... You're... I am... I..." she stumbled on the words causing Ivar to smile.

She was sweet when speechless like that.

"You just have to say yes or no, Dylan. It won't change the way I see you. I just want to be real for you. I like you for real, I hardly doubt I'll ever find a girl who sees the world and thinks about it the same way I do... Like you do... You make me happy; you make me forget the disease, the pain; you paint my world in a way I can look at it without seeing it grey. And I want this... I want you by my side."

"Jez..." She spat.

And it was the time for Ivar to think she would break his heart probably saying he wasn't his brother...

He wasn't like Hvitserk, for sure.

But Dylan just smiled.

"You're pretty, sweet, and really know how to speak to a woman. I deserve an achievement for this," she said, lifting her hand to touch Ivar's face with a sweet smile on her lips "Something like 'World's best guy's girlfriend' or something like that..."

Her smile became bigger and Ivar smiled back, coming closer.

"I agree. We should receive some new achievements like 'Ivar's girl' for you, 'Dylan's boy' for me," he said causing her to giggle. "However, I think there is one more thing missing for us to reach these goals."

"Oh, you think? And what it is?" she asked with a smile.

Before Ivar leaned his face, softly mashing his lips against hers; what Dylan received with tenderness, wrapping her arms around Ivar's neck.

They ended up not working at the project, spending the whole time she spent in his house together, exchanging caresses and enjoying each other.

By the night, when she had to go home, Ivar suggested Dylan come back tomorrow for a new visit.

"Then we could try to start working on the channel this time," he joked and she smiled.

"If I can stop trying to find the stars in the sky of your mouth, we can maybe work, for a difference," she answered with a giggle and Ivar smiled, caressing her face before they exchanged a new kiss of goodbye.

"See you tomorrow, Dy."

"Wait, are you two together?" Hvitserk's voice echoed and Ivar turned from the door towards his brother.

"Yes. Dylan is my girlfriend now and I would like you to..." Ivar started, about to tell Hvitserk to stop hitting on his girl when Hvitserk giggled, patting his back and interrupting him.

"Fucking finally! I thought I would have to really try to kiss her to have you motivated, little bro. Congrats!"

Dylan started laughing almost immediately. Ivar, on the other hand, frowned looking at Hvitserk.

"What?" Hvitserk said, smiling. "You are perfect to each other, bro! I just knew you wouldn't go forward so I made you think I was interested just to give you a little push forward. You're welcome!"

"Fuck you, Hvitserk!" Ivar answered punching Hvitserk's shoulder and watching as his brother left, laughing.

"He's smart... I think I owe him some fries for infuriating you," Dylan said and Ivar smiled at her.

"He doesn't worth a dime. Don't get yourself misled, love."

Dylan instantly smiled tenderly.

"Oh... That's so cute."

"What?" Ivar asked, surprised.

"You called me 'love'," She smiled. "I really can get used to this."

Ivar came closer embracing her with his free hand and smiling.

"Well, get used to being spoiled all the time, love. I'll call you like this for a long... Long time...”

Do you like my work? Support me!

Tagged ones:

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Want to be tagged? Ask me!

#history vikings #imagine vikings #ivar #ivar the boneless #ivar imagine #v #ivar ragnarsson #ivar lothbrok #ivar's heathen army #sister wives #5CW #5CW Event #5CWIvar2 #shot

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wychive · 4 years

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tagged by : @neo-shitty (toffee! ilysm hehe)

tagging: @noya-sannnn , @vitriosan , @hwanami , @luthenia and anyone else who wants to participate

slight warning : mentions of food

this is kind of long so it can help you relax if you want to do this!

[ one ] tell me the first song that made you stan your current fave group and why did your faves attract you so much?

wave // ateez

when jane showed me and fely (she already stanned ateez) the mv i was like :00 this song is really good and it goes with my type of music; pumped up and really fun. i decided that i wanted to stan them because of this introduction video that they did during pirate king where san broke the toy hammer trying to smack yunho’s ass SHHSSIJS,, i found them really funny and comforting! they made me so happy and that’s why they attracted me so much. + their amazing music ofc

forever // exo

alright so i originally just casually listened to exo from wolf era up till 2017 when the kokobop teasers came out. they looked really pretty and so i watched them up till kkb was released. it’s what baekhyun’s voice in the forever teaser that captured me into stanning them. everything about the exo’s attracted me, their vocals, their dancing and ofc their visuals. bonus: their time on the ‘360 show(??)’! im not sure of the actual name for the programme but it was where yixing kept pronouncing jurassic park wrong pls that was so cute and funny how could you NOT stan them!

[ two ] answer the ten questions given by the previous person and write 10 of your own for the next person!

what’s your favorite season and why?

we only have two types of seasons here but if this includes western seasons, i would pick spring! flowers give me a sense of calmness whenever they start to bloom so being in a season where it’s just different coloured plants all around you? sign me up pls

are you a cat person or a dog person?

im a cat person! i currently have two cats as pets

what’s your current favorite song and why can’t you stop listening to it?

it would probably be fever by ateez! this is because it gives off freedom vibes and i’ve been stressed lately so the song is a little oasis for me

if you had the ability to do either of the following, would you rather change something in the past or see into the future?

i would choose to see into the future so that i could change what i do now, whether its related to me being lazy or me being selfish,, i would like to keep the past the way it is even if i had some scarring moments. it’s nice to look back on those and see how far you’ve come as a person.

what’s your favorite movie?

my favorite movie would either be spirited away or paper towns,, i actually don’t have a favorite movie because all of them have affected my life in different ways so yea :D

what did miss rona ruin for you this 2020?

probably the food fair this year,, my group of best friends were supposed to go there to celebrate jane and another friend’s birthday. the food fair happens yearly so it wasn’t anything big to anyone else, but to us it was something special. there are a lot more things but this was one of the major things she ruined :/

what’s your favorite album? (you can name one for each genre you like or you can just name one, it’s up to you.)

toffee why my top three would be day6’s sunrise, bts’ you never walk alone and lauv’s ~how i’m feeling~

if you could talk to your past self (person who lived your past life), what would you tell them?

“hey, dude, i hope you’re doing okay. stop being so selfish all the time alright? and stop comparing yourself to others, it wouldn’t do you any justice. make sure to spread A LOT of positivity even if no one acknowledges it. its okay to cry sometimes too. is my soulmate doing okay? i hope they are. i’ll make sure to find them in this timeline, and the next. whatever it takes. learn to love yourself.”

do you have a go-to person? who is it?

uh i dont have a go-to person,, i can’t vent or rant without feeling like burdening the other person or spreading negativity to them. instead i just kind of rant to myself on discord.

if you could tell your younger self something, what would you say?

“hey, kiddo. don’t fall in love too much nor fool around. it’ll affect you badly. appreciate the things your parents do for you, okay? don’t take anything for granted. ignore the people who call you names, they don’t matter here in the future. just be you.”

how do you spend your free time?

who or what is your biggest inspiration?

if you were a character in a horror movie, which stereotype do you closely resemble? and why?

your top 3 fanfiction tropes! (can be nsfw)

do you believe in soulmates and why?

painting or sketching and why?

what is on the top of your to-do list right now?

list down the top 3 things that make you happy.

who are you simping for right now?

what is your first core memory?

[ three ] bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations.

AIR ༉⋆͙̈

i have small hands / i love the night sky / i watch animals and birds when i pass them by / i drink herbal tea / i wake to see the dawn / the smell of dust is comforting / i’m valued for being wise / i prefer books to music / i meditate / i find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE ༉⋆

i don’t have straight hair / i like to wear ripped jeans and overalls / i play an organized sport / i love dogs / i am not afraid of adventure / i love to talk to strangers / i always try new foods / i enjoy road trips / summer is my favorite season / my radio is always playing

WATER ༉⋆͙̈

i wear bracelets on my wrists / i love the bustle of the city / i have more than one set of piercings / i read poetry / i love the sound of a thunderstorm / i want to travel the world / i sleep past midday most days / i love simply lit dinners and fluorescent signs / i rewatch kids shows out of nostalgia / i see emotions in colors not words

EARTH ༉⋆͙̈

i wear glasses or contacts / i enjoy doing the laundry / i am a vegetarian or vegan / i have an excellent sense of time / my humor is very cheerful / i am a valued advisor to my friends / i believe in true love / i love this chill of mountain air / i’m always listening to music / i am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER ༉⋆͙̈

i go without makeup in my daily life / i make my own artwork / i keep on track of my tasks and time / i always know true north / i see beauty in everything / i can always smell flowers / i smile at everyone i pass by / i always fear history repeating itself / i have recovered from a mental disorder / i can love unconditionally

[ four ] the ultimate tag: answer whichever ones you want to because there are a lot.

personal

name: [REDACTED], alachi nickname: teja, kai birthday: april 11 zodiac: aries nationality: malaysian languages: english, malay, learning korean gender: female sexuality: biromantic height: 160 cm / 5"2’ or 5"3’

blog stuff

inspiration for muse: music, other people’s work meaning behind my url: fever (current fav song) + core (aesthetic??) blog established: around 2018 but i started becoming active in late 2019/early 2020 followers: 146 ( i love you all )

favorites

favorite animal/s: anything connected to the cat species favorite book/s: the authentics (abdi nazemian), satellite (nick lake) favorite color/s: lighter shades/mid-tones of cool colours, a dash of yellow

random

average hours of sleep: 6 cats or dogs: cats coffee, tea or hot chocolate: tea current time: 11:34 pm dream trip: south korea, japan, europe dream job: song producer, lyric writer hobbies: listening to music, browsing the internet hogwarts house: ravenclaw last movie watched: harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban last song listened to: no. of blankets you sleep with: 1 random fact(s): my favourite subjects are biology and english!

[ five ] 10 songs i can’t stop listening to:

eternally - txt

fever - ateez

blue - keshi

lights out - exo

00:00 - bts

strawberries and cigarettes - troye sivan

maze in the mirror - txt

i loved you - day6

illusion - ateez

stolen moments - the vamps

#this took wayyy too long hhh #but thank you to toffee for tagging me <333 #tag game #tumblr game #kpop #about alachi !#alachi thingz #alachi's bffs!

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all-good-things-dot-dot-dot · 4 years

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All Good Things… Creative In An Uncreative Place

#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThings…

6th June 2020

Hello, Chaps and Chapettes,

Have you ever felt that you are being stifled? You know what you want to do and you may even have all of the energy to do it, but there’s one big ol’ problem that’s stopping you. You’re not in the right place and it isn’t the right time. There’s hope, but to get to that hope we have to crawl through the dung first.

(Photo: https://latetothegameoutdoors.com/blog/2017/10/25/i-could-never-do-that-and-other-lies-we-tell-ourselves )

Let me put this into a context. Some jobs are not made for people who want to get up, do something, and enjoy what they are doing. There are jobs that are necessary where the fun has to grind to a halt because if it didn’t, nothing would get done and there would be nobody around to have fun with. Sometimes, that job is not for you, but you have to do it because A) you have bills that you cannot contentedly screw up and ignore because then ALL OF THE FUN WOULD STOP AND HOMELESSNESS WOULD START, and B) no matter how much you want to enjoy life, a livelihood has to be a staple to overcome first.

You’ve probably heard a lot of people say that if you’re looking for a job you enjoy, then you should go out there, quit what you’re doing and go get it! Or, you should work hard for it and eventually the hard work will pay off! While I cannot say the former would work, because I frankly haven’t had the balls or the healthy bank balance to try it, I can say with certainty that the latter is extremely hard. Especially if you have spent a lot of your life saying ‘I’ll do it later’ and sitting on your ass doing just enough important stuff to get by without people shouting at you. For me, it was mostly raised voices but nothing that constituted an actual bollocking (that means getting a serious talking to, to those not familiar with it).

There’s another reason why being creative is hard, while trying to keep up a job, pay bills, do everything to make your home feel like you definitely ARE NOT homeless, and all the other fun stuff that constitutes being human. That reason is that it is tiring. You come up with a great idea, maybe MANY great ideas, and they’re all exciting and wonderful, and you jot some of them down, you make a start on them, and you’re not even halfway through when… What? Where’s the energy for this gone? Where are the enthusiasm and eagerness and promises that THIS TIME it won’t fall on its arse?

The answer is that a lot has happened since the point you first got excited. You’ve been to work, you’ve made a meal, you’ve done laundry, done the shopping. Maybe you’ve rested but then done all that again, probably spoken to a few people in between, get excited about something else, even gotten invested in somebody else’s visions on TV or in a book. In the space of an hour of having an idea, you’ve already thought of a hundred other things and done at least a couple of them. The matter is that your body and mind is constantly doing the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes, spinning about and yelling and spitting, but we’re not cartoons and it is tiring after one rotation.

(Photo: https://www.standingstills.com/taz-the-tasmanian-devil-looney-tunes-cardboard-cutout-standup-standee-cac522 )

So, where is the hope for any of your projects to see a finishing line? This is the hard lesson I’ve had to learn and it was summarized nicely in a chat I heard Ricky Gervais having with his fans online the other day:

“I've got my next idea, but I mustn't even think about it yet because you've got to put everything you can into every series. Leave it in the ring, don't leave it up to the judges.”

(Gervais, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qlOJPEeGDc, 2020)

If you are coming up with exciting new ideas while working, and paying bills, and breathing, then it is best and easiest to task your mind on only one of those things until you have mastered it. In Gervais’ context, he was discussing his own projects, explaining that he wanted to keep his mind on his current one (Afterlife on Netflix) and complete that before he started anything new. He realized in himself that if he tried to do too much at once, he did not make a satisfactory job of it. Here’s another quote I like that explains the same premise.

"Never half-ass two things. Whole ass one thing."

(Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson, Sweet Sixteen” Season 4, Episode 16, Parks and Recreation)

This does not mean you must dismiss other ideas while working on your current one. There’s nothing wrong with writing things down and holding onto them for future endeavors. In fact, in the Creative Writing degree, I’m currently studying, it actively encourages keeping a writing journal at all times for scribbling all the new ideas, titbits and potential plots that come to you from the world you live in. That also leads to another good point.

(photo: https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/12/18/wishing-you-ron-swanson-christmas-12269 )

Don’t treat your world, work, even bill-paying life, as an albatross around your neck. Instead, treat it as inspiration. Look at work with new eyes, look at the characters you meet, the crazy things that happen, the serious stories that come from that happen to you, and the people around you and use that. Don’t use people by name, of course, because that could get you in hot water, but perhaps there’s more to it than just a grindstone. Dawn from the office could inspire that lady with all the juicy gossip in your next play, story, or drawing. The trouble you had paying that last bill will encourage you to find a new, better way to help people with their money or stress. Just because the world is a grindstone, doesn’t mean you can’t imagine it as a carousel with lights and a jaunty tune instead.

The world, no matter how big or small yours is, has a lot more going for it than you think.

So next time you feel bored, fed up, lonely, sad or angry, ask yourself one thing.

How can I make something more interesting out of this? Don’t let boundaries get you down.

All good things,

Love, Scaramouche.

#ron swanson #ricky gervais #blog #taz #blogger #blogging #bloggerstribe #all good things

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bloodline-rpg · 5 years

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Congratulations, Angela! We have accepted your application for your OC Mika Ilari (FC: Ksenia Solo) using the Street Magician Skeleton. Please create a blog for your character and send us the link via ask box as soon as you can along with the song lyric you wish to use for Mika’s bio (if you do not wish to use the lyric on the skeleton). Welcome to Bloodline!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name/Alias: Angela

Age: grown ass adult :)

Preferred pronouns: she/her

Timezone: CST, however, I work overnights (6pm-6am) so I keep very strange hours.

Level of activity (don’t give your activity a number value, please describe how active you will be as best as possible): It’s been a minute since I’ve been in a Tumblr RP, however, I tend to get VERY invested. I’m typically online at least once a day and get very excited about replies. It can be difficult to write replies on days I work because it all depends on how busy we are, but on days I’m off I should definitely be able to get replies out.

CHARACTER DETAILS

Character’s Name: [The Street Magician] Mika Ilari

Desired FC: Ksenia Solo

Character’s Age: 21

Character’s Species: Holistic witch

Character’s Sexuality: bi-sexual

CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY

They spent their life invested in the little things; details, moments, watching peoples’ eyes. They were nimble. Slippery some might say. Their father called them frivolous. Their mother cried. There wasn’t money in magic. Magic isn’t real. Until witches were hunted, and then a child could only be so sure, that maybe they truly belonged… somewhere else entirely… It started as a hobby. Card tricks. A way to keep an overactive mind busy before fidget spinners were a thing. She had a knack for it, sure, but she never considered it more than tricks. As she got older she probably should have outgrown her love of illusion, but it gave her something to focus on when her parents tried to pressure her into becoming someone she wasn’t. Mika had no interest in becoming a doctor or a lawyer or any of the other “respectable” professions her parents pushed her toward. The fact that they thought she’d survive as an accountant just proved that they didn’t know her at all. The more pressure they put on her, the more she bucked their authority. She took to wearing dark makeup, dying her hair black, wearing higher heels and shorter skirts. Her clothing became as much a performance as her tricks, everything designed to draw the eye where she wanted it and keep it away from where she didn’t. Her draw toward the occult started as nothing more than teenage rebellion designed to annoy her parents. Ouija boards and tarot cards were toys, not tools. If her “predictions” often turned out to be eerily accurate it was simply because she was intuitive, not because of any sixth sense. Sure it was fun to charge her classmates a few dollars to confirm or deny whether their crush liked them back, but it wasn’t until she saw, ironically, a David Blaine special that she seriously considered the idea that this could be a real way to make money. After graduation from high school Mika went ahead and broke her parent’s hearts by refusing to go to college. She wanted to give this whole magic thing a try. It was the one consistent thing that made her happy, the way people would gasp in shock when she found their card, the way she could somehow make it appear in places they never expected. She didn’t know how David Blaine did the trick that made the card show up in an unpeeled orange, for that matter she wasn’t sure how she did it either, but thinking about that too much gave her a headache so she didn’t. It was fun and was something that was hers, free of obligations or expectations. The attention was an added bonus. Mika traveled the country, splitting her time between big cities and festivals. Anywhere where tourists could be talked into throwing money away for tricks and fortunes, Mika was there. She worked as a “psychic” for so-called ghost hunters or paranormal groups and led seances, did readings, cleansed locations with sage and crystals. If she managed to ferret out some actual information she tended to write it off as coincidence to herself even as she accepted acclaim from anyone willing to give it. She worked with other magicians when it suited her, split from them when it didn’t and generally avoided anything that resembled real responsibility. It wasn’t real, it wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, she’d have to come up with something she was good at that didn’t involve making a spectacle of herself, but not any time soon. She was young and impulsive and this worked. The exposure of real magic gave her pause. She tended to write off anything she did that worked as skill with acting and persuasion and insight, nothing more. But then there were things that not even she could explain. Maybe it was worth looking into? Especially since she happened to be in Salem for now – surely if there were witches to be found some of them were cliche enough to be in Salem. Finding a coven wasn’t that hard but Mika found most of them to be pompous blowhards more interested in making sure their jeans were organically sourced than in magic. There was only one other person who managed to catch her attention as having any real power. Nick. He and Mika eventually left the “coven” and worked together to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. When the call came for witches to gather it felt like the next adventure for Mika. Nick was far more skeptical and he decided to stay in Salem, but Mika wanted to know. She had to know.

CHARACTER PERSONALITY

Mika refused to be intimidated by anyone or anything. She’s full of sass and bravado and gumption. Her whole life she’s been bucking people’s expectations and marching to the beat of her own drum, she has no intention of stopping now. Original witches, immortal witches, it doesn’t matter to her. Power is power and Mika prefers hers to be flashy and frivolous. Obviously she doesn’t want to be hunted, but part of her is still unconvinced that her magic is actually magic. Did it really just pop up in kids with ADHD and authority issues to help them spite their parents? Responsibility has always been something to avoid, and while she’s smart Mika has always had issues applying herself.

PLOTS AND POLITICS

In her mind, everyone in the manor needs to relax – they all take themselves far too seriously. Mika is still of the opinion that if it doesn’t work out, she can leave like she’s always done. Her magic isn’t dangerous, it’s not useful for much more than parlor tricks and a quick buck and Mika thinks she’s fine with that. Her goals are not necessarily the same as the rest of the witches and while she’s eager to learn more, she’s also not going to be bullied or pushed around for their entertainment.

I feel like Mika can hold her own with the sass queens if only because she’s not impressed by them and not intimidated by their power. She feels as though she has nothing to lose by leaving. Life was great before and she’d always been safe – convincing her otherwise might be the key to earning her loyalty.

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haileyjikai · 6 years

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so today (we officially met in December but stfu that’s not important atm im not waiting another yeAR) is the only recorded day I have down so today hereby marks a year (maybe it’s been two we don’t know at this point whos counting?) since I met the members of the shitlords gc.

We originally started out as a gc for the blog @/bts-imagine-factory with 20 something members and I remember it being so chaotic in the beginning, we very quickly became friends. But soon enough many of the members left because they were inactive or (in rare cases) broke the rules we’d agreed to follow, and then there was the crisis of someone deleting the original blog that Jewel had worked so hard on for years with 12k + followers. The numbers of the gc dwindled down to about 15 or so.

We decided to start another blog which is the current @btsimaginefactory but many of us realized we weren’t continuing the way we once were, and many of the admins stopped being active when the original was deleted. So we eventually scrapped the idea of a blog.

Now with a gc of the 8 current members, having made and watched some friends go, I can say that I’ve never felt closer to someone I’ve never met than I do to these 7.

It’s been a crazy year(s bitch I still don’t know) knowing them for sure, and I know that they’ve really helped me become who I am today because they’ve taught me what it’s like to completely be yourself without fear of judgement, and I’m sure that they might know more about the real me than any of my irls.

So now shits about to get sappy bc im gonna write messages to them and shit and soft hours or whatever but juST LET ME APPRECIATE MY FRIENDS STFUGAJDBFN

Jewel - oKay sO you’re probably one of the very few people I admire that I’ve ever actually m e t and I love you v much. I know that whenever you’re online that something will eventually make me laugh, and as much as I clown you I’m really happy to call you my friend :( 💕

Andy - my literal twin you and I are practically the same person, and honestly as much as we joke about it I’m really glad that it’s you and not some creeper off the side of a 7/11 that I look like bUT GAJSBS I always know that I can be as crackheaded as possible around you and I’m really extremely happy to know you and be able to call you my friend :(( 💕

CYNTHIA - yES I KNOW THATS NOT YOUR NAME BUT LET ME HAVE MY FUN ILY, as much as I clown you and I know that it’s a l o t leave me bE I know that I can trust you no matter the circumstance and I love you and I’m really happy to call you my friend :( 💕

Chae - charmander my firey pokémon friend, I remember when I gave you this nick name and now I can’t imagine calling you anything else half the time hakdbdbggn, I’m happy to call you my friend and I’m very happy to know that I can let myself go and talk abt weird shot with you ily :( 💕

Skyler - I feel like we don’t talk much compared to the others but when we do I know that it’s some of the best conversations I’ve had and I’m glad to know your my friend, I’ve also learned that time zones are a bitch and I hope to meet you one day soon :( ily 💕

AJ - oKay sO I know for a fact that I’m extremely happy to call you my friend and I love you very much, I know that I can trust you and that if I want to talk about anything I could for sure come to you, thank you for being my friend :( 💕

Honey - hi I know I argue jokingly with you the most about dumb topics but I just want your attention anYWAY you’re definitely the one that I’ve talked with the most outside of the gc, and I find it really nice how we can talk for hours abt the smallest topics ever and I’m really fucking happy to know you, I also know that as much as I argue with you abt me being sOfT that this is the only time I’ll ever admit to it, thank you for tolerating my bullshit and being my friend, Ily :( 💕

Finally I know I clown The actual fuck out of you all but I really do appreciate you a whole lot and I really should thank you for sticking through this with me i love you all v much ❤️

#shitlords gc #appreciation post #hng its just me being sappy and if any of them actually see this im gonna be teased and my angst cred will; drop in rapid successions

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twotwinks · 6 years

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benthan for 001, and benji for 002

I hope you realize what you’ve unleashed here- It’s so ungodly long that I’m adding a cut to save your dashes.

001 | Benthan

When I Started Shipping Them

So I went back through my posts because I very vividly remember when I realized I’d fallen for this ship. I first mentioned that I might have started shipping them in the tags of a post on September 15, 2018, and after I acknowledged it, I was sold on it. So I’ve shipped these precious soft boys for just a little shy of two months!

My Thoughts

This is so vague and mean, I don’t even know where to begin… I just… I love them a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever really felt this strongly for a ship before. I mean, I��ve had OTPs before, but never an OTP that actively made me want to rip my heart out because I just can’t handle the emotions it causes, positive or negative. It’s also the first ship I’ve ever written fic for, and it honestly just feels so natural, it’s so easy to write romantic stuff for them and virtually impossible to write something platonic. Plus, without this ship, I never would’ve made any tumblr friends. I’d still just be sitting on the outskirts, randomly reblogging stuff and trying desperately to come up with decent content for my fandom blog. Now I know Ruth and Cassidy and Stanislas and everybody else, and I have so much fun seeing everyone’s posts and participating when I’m brave enough (even though I still sometimes wonder if I fit in, and even if I don’t, I’m just grateful everyone still plays along with me) and honestly it’s one of the brightest parts of my life right now. I see a note or a message or someone tags me in something and sometimes it makes me want to cry because people are thinking about me. So I love this ship even more for that.

What Makes Me Happy About Them

There’s just so much. There’s so much to be happy about them. I love the way they smile at each other. I love how loyal they are to each other. I feel like they fit the “I’d follow you to the ends of the earth with only mild complaining” better than anyone else, because they would, they’d do anything for each other. And even if you look at their relationship as platonic, that’s an incredibly strong friendship, and it just warms my heart.

What Makes Me Sad About Them

The fact that one day one of them is probably going to end up dying trying to save the other one. I’d really like for them to leave fieldwork so they can live happy and safe together for the rest of their days, but I know that Ethan would never be able to live like that. Fallout told us that much. And you can bet that as long as Ethan is in the field, Benji’s going to be right by his side.

Things Done in Fanfic that Annoy Me

I dunno, really. Most of the Benthan fic we’ve got is pretty solid. Some of the smut’s a little weak, but I only occasionally venture there, so it’s not too big of a deal. One thing that does sometimes bug me, even though it’s literally the most nonsensical and ridiculous thing to be bothered by, is when they’re referred to as boyfriends or use terms of endearment on each other. I have no idea why it bothers me, it’s such a perfectly reasonable thing!!! I guess maybe I feel like they’ve just been friends with each other for so long and they know each other so well that they wouldn’t bother labeling it. At the end of the day, they’re still just Ethan and Benji, just like they’ve always been. I don’t know. I know it’s stupid, but it can still sometimes throw off the whole vibe of the fic for me. Which is ridiculous. I’m ridiculous.

Things I Look for in Fanfic

Good characterization. That’s such a big thing for me, especially now that Ethan and Benji have been my daydreaming muses for so long now. Their voices are so strong in my head, especially Benji’s. So a fic has to have really good characterization for me to love it. I also really like reading (and writing!) anything that deals with Benji’s trauma and hurt/comfort with Benji as the victim. He just deserves to be taken care of. Poor guy’s earned a hug or ten.

Who I’d be Comfortable Them Ending Up With, If Not Each Other

I suppose I’d be okay if Ethan and Ilsa ended up together. I really don’t want Ilsa to be demoted to the love interest, though. She’s such a good character, and Fallout already did her so dirty. But she’s the only other person I could see Ethan having a chance of being happy with. As for Benji, well… I think I’d just prefer him to stay a Single Pringle. If Ethan (or I!) can’t have him, no one can! I know Benji/Brandt is also a pretty popular ship, but it’s honestly just not my cup of tea. I can’t see it (or maybe I’m just too blinded by shipping Benthan so strongly).

My Happily Ever After for Them

Preferably for them to never ever set foot in the field again and buy a little house together where they host cozy holiday dinners and snuggle together on the couch after long days of training new agents and teaching them about the importance of the team dynamic. But, as I explained earlier, that’s unrealistic for these two. So, if they must remain in fieldwork, I pray that either they both manage to last long enough that they’re forced to retire (and then Benji will have to help Ethan cope with not being able to prevent bad things, so not exactly ideal) or that they both die together in the field, at the same time, so that neither of them will have to live with the guilt of losing the other (again, not ideal because then they’ll be DEAD).

Who is the Big Spoon/Little Spoon

Benji is the little spoon I don’t care if he’s taller I WILL FIGHT YOU ON THIS. Benji likes being held. It makes him feel safe after all he’s been through. Grounds him, you know? Gives him a sense of security. And Ethan likes holding Benji, because he knows that no one can hurt Benji when he’s there in Ethan’s arms, and even if Benji has nightmares, Ethan’s already right there to help him.

What is Their Favorite Non-sexual Activity

They are cuddlebugs. They snuggle everywhere, every chance they get. I don’t know if cuddling counts as an activity, though. I think they also like reading to each other. While cuddling. Because I can’t imagine a scenario where they could reasonably be in physical contact and yet wouldn’t be. So yeah. They like to cuddle.

002 | Benji

How I Feel About This Character

I… I love him. So much. Probably more than I should. Rogue Nation was the first M:I movie I saw, and I’d been kinda passively watching it until the high speed chase scene. I’d looked up from my crochet enough to notice Simon Pegg (who, at the time, was still just Scotty to me – can you believe that???), but then he started screaming during the chase, and I started paying attention, because hey, that’s exactly what I’d probably do in that situation, I like this guy. And then by the end of it Benji owned my heart, because Simon Pegg is a phenomenal actor and made me feel all of the emotions when Benji was strapped to the bomb. Mostly because Simon’s eyes are incredibly expressive, something I first noticed towards the end of Star Trek Into Darkness and still notice in most of his films. Then I went back and watched all the films, and I made small involuntary happy noises when he showed up in M:I:III. And he was so cute in Ghost Protocol. I nearly had a breakdown in the theater towards the end of Fallout (you know when I mean!) because I’m so attached to him. I actually legitimately said “Oh thank god” in the theater when it all worked out. I might have even cried a little. I was so worked up that I didn’t even fall for the bait-and-switch at the end. I didn’t have the emotional capacity to even process it as a possibility. So yeah, I think I’m unhealthily obsessed with Benji Dunn.

All the People I Ship Romantically with This Character

Ethan. It’s literally just Ethan. Ethan or bust.

My Non-romantic OTP for This Character

Benji and Ilsa are bros. Fire-forged friends. They’ve both gone against each other once or twice, but now they know where their loyalties lie, and they’ll help each other out when they need it. Total bros.

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character

I don’t know if I have one, really. Although I always kinda imagined Benji as a really good baker, or that he at least enjoys baking in his free time, but then I discovered that apparently a lot of people headcanon him as an awful cook? So maybe that’s one.

One Thing I Wish Would Happen/Had Happened with This Character in Canon

I just want his trauma to be addressed. He tries to talk about it in Ghost Protocol, and Jane and Ethan both look kinda worried, but then Brandt just jumps in and SHUTS HIM DOWN, and nothing more is said about it. And he’s been through much worse since then. Even if it’s just a simple, “Hey, you okay?” from LITERALLY ANYBODY. I’d take it. (I’d prefer it even more if Benji got a hug out of the deal. He needs a hug, poor baby.)

My OTP

Benthan. In case you haven’t figured it out by now.

My Crossover Ship

I have never actually considered this. And I’m not sure I will. I’m just so invested in Benthan, I don’t think I have the capacity to ship Benji with anybody else. I can’t even think of anyone he’d click so well with. (I’ve always been bad at the crackship thing anyway.) Maybe a lone Nick Frost character somewhere. Those always make for good ships, right?

A Headcanon Fact

Hmm… I’m really bad at this stuff, aren’t I? I either give away my answers way ahead of time or can’t come up with anything. Well, outside of Benji being a baker and my fun-to-think-about idea that all Simon Pegg characters are actually related to each other, I usually headcanon Benji as a pretty panicky sort. When I write his internal monologues, I usually get going with these long, looping, drawn-out sentences that all circle back and compound on each other and just make everything so much worse for him. He’s a worst-case-scenario kind of person. Even when things work out, he drives himself mad constantly running through the what-ifs. That’s probably me just projecting onto him a little, but I feel like it’s worked out okay in the few fics I’ve written. I also headcanon that he’s a big-time stargazer, especially when he feels overwhelmed, something that I originally chucked into a fic because I needed something for Benji to do (and also as a I’m-probably-the-only-one-who-got-it nod to Star Trek) but now I firmly stand by it as something he does.

There. That’s that. I started this two hours ago. I probably should’ve been in bed an hour and a half ago. This is ridiculously long. I hope someone finds my obsessive ramblings enjoyable instead of just irritating.

Thank you for giving me the chance to gush like this, Ruth! It feels like I never get to talk about the things I love often enough. At least not to people who actually want to hear me gush about them!

#character ask #mt answers #benthan #benji dunn #mission: impossible #ruth

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moonguardsecrets · 6 years

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hi im berenal

So I'd like to preface by saying I don't really use this blog too much, I mostly read it every now and again but that's about it. I've been relatively quiet concerning this issue but frankly I don't think that's the right way to go about it anymore, so I'm just going to address some stuff.

I've always believed in being pretty transparent about my issues, especially beef with other people. So while this blog is all about being anonymous, I'm just going to put up my side of this whole thing.

1. Concerning my guild/our story. There's a post I've seen pop up a few times that we've accused Blizzard of copying our stuff for Drustvar. While there's some striking similarities between some of our stuff and Drustvar, we know that Blizzard doesn't care about some random guild on MG. It was a meme. Maybe it's cause sarcasm gets lost in text, idk, but we've never actually believed that our stuff was stolen. We've actually fully embraced the similarities and have been super looking forward to the Drust stuff cause it's a cool concept, but this idea that we've somehow been slighted by Blizzard/earnestly believe that there was a copy thing isn't true. It was a joke that I guess went over poorly outside of our guild. We still say it as a joke in our casual conversations, accusing a specific guild mate of being a blizzard spy whenever something funny happens. It's a little outlandish to me personally that it got taken seriously but hey I'm not going to point a finger around, I'm just clarifying that the Blades as a group doesn't actually think this.

As for my character, which I've seen people saying I try to roleplay Greymane, thanks I guess? Berenal as a character is meant to be insanely patriotic. If they ever turned Genn into a villain, Berenal would follow him, unless it was done so in a really weird way like old gods or something overtly obvious. The character is meant to echo Greymane's statements, but I've never tried to pass myself off as Genn IC or state I have absolute authority from him or whatever.

Our guild is centered around Gilneas foremost and we put a lot of our narrative in-house rather than post it up publicly because we don't believe in forcing an intrusive narrative. I know I've been accused of such personally when Flames of War was doing Ashenvale, though I'll address that a bit later.

2. Concerning the titles of ranks in the guild. Recently a post came out, which was deleted because it did include the name explicitly of our stuff, that was talking about a title given to one of my officers. The post included a mistranslation, saying it translated to queen. That's just blatantly not true. For some background, the position was a recent creation because our previous council system wasn't working too well for this branch so we downsized it to the main officer in charge of the branch of the guild.

Given that this is our pagan project, and they have their own language (which yes, we do proxy with Irish cause I'm not a linguist and I don't have the means or time to make my own language up), we used an amalgam of a few words to describe it. The title roughly translates to an arbitrator of law/leader of law. Not king, not queen. In fact it's not even a noble position either, it's an elected one that if Aleyina were to ever step down, it'd go to whoever was elected next. We use the title Grand Master, Spymaster, Rionasai, and a few others throughout the guild. They're all on the same level of 'power', and countless other guilds have similar structure. I'm not sure what drove the need to lie about that but I'd just like to clear that misconception up before I go into my next point.

3. Concerning the pagan project in my guild. My guild has had a pagan project in it for roughly 4-5 years. I put up the original article for it about almost a year after we started it. It's a story I personally started back in Mists of Pandaria and have cultivated alongside several others for years, it's something I only recently managed to hand off into other people's hands for running it because I couldn't focus on it, I have other narratives and stories that I tell in my guild, but here's the proof of how old this story is. (Note, at the time the Pagans were called "Wickers", which is actually where the whole drust meme even comes from on our side.)

https://i.imgur.com/7rgG9t5.png

I was fascinated with the bare minimal lore that Blizzard provided for the Old Ways and Harvest Witches/Wizards that I tried to expand on that by making a group of people based around the ideology of an expanded religion that roots its self from a common point in druidism.

What started originally as a side group grew into an entire branch of our guild and has since been something I've personally invested years worth of time growing and developing as a writing project alongside others. We've made a point of making nearly everything in this branch original content and it's at the point it's at after four to five years of growth and development alongside the main narrative of the guild. It's a project that I have personally cultivated with the help of others for years and has been personally invested into by the guild as a whole through nearly three expansions now.

On top of it, a while ago we were accused of having said our runes were celtic or something. That's not true. They're stylized elder futhark, we've never bothered to hide that. In fact, I've attached some images below.

https://i.imgur.com/q5MHveU.png

This is an image from Varian's grave in Stormwind. The runes are translatable elder futhark, and this is the closest representation to Common we have in the game.

https://i.imgur.com/C9jc7sG.png

This is an image from Haustvald in Stormheim. These runes too are Elder Futhark, though they've been slightly stylized and include some runes that are gibberish it's meant to represent Vrykul. The angle's a little bad but if you go there in game Elder Futhark is literally lining most of Stormheim. You can translate these as well, it's pretty nifty.

The premise of our written language for the project we have for runes has never been 'celtic', we just based it off whatever Blizzard ended up saying was 'humanity's language'. Our group takes some minor inspiration from norse and celtic themes, but the majority of it is original writing, and the runes themselves are based around the idea of having descended from vrykul runes; so we just kept to the format that Blizz themselves are using for humans in the game.

4. Concerning Flames of War. While this one has largely died down, I'd still like to address it. Flames of War is a team effort, something with over ten coordinators that all of us still actively communicate with one another fairly regularly. During this time I'd been claimed as a dictator, or that I was giving special attention to myself/my own. Flames of War has never been solely 'dictated' by my actions. Every major decision has been either voted on or come to consensus one way or another, including story decisions. Sure I'm the dude who made the server but I've forfeited any real 'power' that gives me in favor of a council system. Ergo, if you're mad at me for something that happened in Flames of War, I highly encourage you to re-assess the things that happened and either speak to myself or another coordinator. We're not in this for some weird power play or whatever, this is a video game in the end of the day and unlike some past 'moguls of the server', I'm earnestly just looking to make my virtual barbie doll be in some cool situations, not make him grand poobah of the alliance or whatever. I can speak on behalf of the rest of the team and say they feel the exact same way.

5. Concerning our adherence to lore. I know there's been some people who have accused my guild of breaking lore/saying I don't care about lore. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a giant lore fanatic and for whatever reason people use me like an almanac in a few servers for lore questions. I really honestly do try to keep the boundaries of my guild within reasonable lore parameters. Despite the rumors, no, my character doesn't have regular casual chats with Genn Greymane, no, our lands are not 'flawless with millions of gold and soldiers', no, we don't RP like we run Gilneas either. All we're trying to do is have fun with the game and tell a story of a rundown kingdom trying to get back on it's feet.

6. Concerning deleted secrets. Yes, I've requested secrets be deleted before because, honestly, ever since this nick-name stuff started it's stopped being remotely ambiguous. Sword of Genn isn't even remotely ambiguous. Neither is Knives of Greymane, that's just changing one word. The rules for the blog on the side state anything that can be considered trolling or abuse of anonymity is grounds for removal of secrets; so I've just used those rules since honestly, a lot of these are really weird accusations. Each time I've been willing/or have provided screenshots to prove the contrary. Not all secrets concerning my guild have been deleted; only the ones that break the rules. This segways into my final point.

As I said at the beginning of this huge post, I've always been a believer of transparency. If you have issue with me, or any of my guild mates, I'm honestly imploring people to contact me over Discord or in game. My tag is:

Berenal#0693 In game it's just Berenal, no weird letters. I'll be online in Boralus.

You don't need to contact me on your main account if you're afraid I'm going to 'out you' or whatever. Any conversation we have will be one on one between us. You can even delete it afterwards, I don't mind. So come to me on a throw-away discord account, let it out to my face, or maybe we can even hash out our differences. I'm more interested in getting this shit done with than trying to start a flame war, honestly. In the end of the day this is a game to me and mine, and we're all paying 15 bucks a month to have fun. I've cleared out my block list entirely, so there's nothing stopping people from contacting me.

I do hope folks reach out so we can hash our differences out and do our own thing, instead of whatever vendetta seems to have brewed up over play pretend for god knows what reason. I earnestly don't understand the point of the majority of these vitriolic posts; it just seems to subsist off the idea of throwing words around for what real reason? To upset people? I don't get it. I don't see what posting incessantly here about it does to fix anything.

If you've got issue with me or my guys come talk to me about it, my door's open.

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knowing-truth4031-blog · 6 years

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Santa Claus (Opinion)

Since Christmas is right around the corner I figured this particular opinion post would focus on the holly jolly man in the red suite...Santa Claus.

So who is this Santa Claus. In our culture here in the United States of America, Santa Claus is a man who lives at the North Pole. He has a workshop where the toys are made for all of the good children of the world. How are the toys made? Well, a bunch of little creatures called elves work all year (with no pay) to make these toys in time for them to be delivered by Christmas morning.

How does Santa deliver these toys? Why, in a magical sled pulled along by eight (nine if you count the red nosed one) reindeer who can...fly. On the night of Christmas Eve, Santa flies around the entire world, breaks in to every house and leaves toys for the good kids.

If you haven't figured it out from my maybe obvious sarcasm, I am not a fan of Santa Claus. In fact, I find him to be very harmful and not just from a Christian perspective. We will touch on the Christian perspective of course, because this blog is taken from such perspective, but I will also throw in why even those who stay far away from the church should also caution themselves when it comes to ol’ St. Nick.

Reason #1: Santa Is A Lie

If you are reading this and you still believe in Santa...well, spoiler alert, he’s not real. This shouldn’t be a controversial idea. Santa Claus is not real. He doesn’t live in the North Pole, he does not have a magic sled (because that’s not real either). He does not have several flying reindeer (because those don’t exist either...reindeer do, just not the flying kind). There is no toy factory at the North Pole where a bunch of little enslaved creatures work day after day all year to make toys for no pay. It’s all fantasy.

Is there anything wrong with fantasy? No. God gave us an imagination. Fantasy has been used by many people to promote the gospel. A good example is the famous and wonderful Chronicles of Narnia saga by C. S. Lewis. When you have an active imagination, you can use that for the glory of God! So now why is Santa different? When you read stories to your children such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings you make it clear (or at least you should) that what is going on is not real. Hogwarts does not exist. Middle Earth is not a real place. You read these stories because they are entertaining and there are wonderful lessons that can be learned from them. The whole Santa Claus narrative is most commonly told to children as real and true.

How many of you grew up believing in Santa Claus? I’m sure many of you did! I did. The Bible says this...

- So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors , for we are all part of the same body. (Ephesians 4:25)

I know what some of you are thinking...this is a little intense. That’s the point. I think many of us as Christians see that there are two levels of lying. The lying that is really bad and the lying that is not that bad because it’s not hurting anything. Right? Wrong. All lying is wrong. All lying is sin. The Bible is very clear on this. We as Christians are supposed to be witnesses to truth! That’s all truth.

We tell our kids they shouldn’t lie to us. We tell our kids that lying is a sin. Then we need to be an example of this and not lie to them! No matter how big or small we think the lie may be, it is still a lie. And in case you’re wondering, I believe this applies to all fictional things such as the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Great Pumpkin, Bigfoot and that creepy baby angel Cupid.

Reason #2: Santa Teaches a Gospel of Works

If we want to raise our kids in a Christ centered home with a Bible based way of seeing things then we need to apply it to our whole lives and not pick and choose. The Bible teaches that it is by grace through faith alone that we are saved and not by works so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). So if this is the case, then why do we tach that Santa will only reward you if you are good?

He knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake. I think most know this song. And I think we can all agree that being kind to others and acting with other people’s best interest instead of our own. That’s sacrificial. But it does not count towards our salvation. At all. Our works are as filthy rags to God. If we try to earn or even contribute to our salvation through good works then we are fighting a losing fight. God loved us so he made a way for us to have access to him through the death of Christ. This is a gift freely given to us. We did not earn it. It’s not based on if we’ve been bad or good.

Parents will use this idea of Santa to get their kids to behave. I remember my mom or dad would say things like, “You better be good because Santa is watching!” And this would sometimes cause me to get my act together because I wanted to make sure I got that one special gift for Christmas. I am not faulting my parents. Like most parents, I do not believe there is any intent to lead their children astray. They see it as a fun little way of getting in the Christmas spirit. My parents were very good about making sure me and my brother knew that Jesus was the reason for the season. However, there were times when it crossed over in to “do this or Santa will know and you won’t get anything for Christmas!”

To repeat. God gives us the free gift of salvation for all who repent and turn from sin and surrender to Christ. It has nothing to with us. What we do. It has everything to do with what Jesus has done.

Reason #3: Santa Discriminates

What do I mean by this? This is probably the simplest point I can make. When we do the Santa thing with our kids we are not taking other people in to consideration. Let me paint a picture for you...

Family A is an upper-middle class family. They have a lovely young son who really wants an Xbox for Christmas. He has not been very good all year but he is sure Santa is going to bring one for him.

Family B is a lower income family with an equally lovely young son who also really wants and Xbox for Christmas. He has been good all year. Respects his parents, gets good grades, says please and thank you. Great kid.

Well, Christmas comes and Family A has put a brand new Xbox under the tree for their child while Family B does not because they can’ afford one. They give their son what they can. Both kids happen to go to the same school and are in the same class. Kid from Family A is talking about his new Xbox that Santa gave him and kid from Family B overhears him.

Why didn’t Santa bring him one if he brought the kid from Family A one? Did he do something wrong? Was he not good enough? Or does Santa not like lower class people?

You see the issue here?

We put so much value on our possessions. And we like people to know what we have. We like people to see the car we drive or the clothes we wear or we want them to know that we have the latest and greatest gadget. I have an iPhone, and I think the most common question I get asked is, “what iPhone do you have.” When I answer they usually respond with, “Oh, I have the newest one. It’s great.” Why do I care? Why should I care?

You shouldn’t care. Because the worth of someone is not found in what someone has. It is found in their character. I am reminded of a story from the Bible where Jesus and his disciples are at the temple. Jesus points out the rich people like to make a show of their giving. They do it for the attention and not because they want to be generous but because they have the extra money and what they’re giving isn’t a sacrifice to them. And then comes this woman who puts in two little coins. Jesus points her out and says that she gave more because she gave everything shad had. Her heart was in the right place.

The idea of Santa falls in this category of the rich. We give these gifts because we want to be recognized. Be good and get gifts and tell everyone that Santa brought it to you. Santa is all for show and it’s all about me. If we teach our kids to give instead of receive, to abandon this idea of a Santa who discriminates against the less fortunate then we are able to teach them about a God who gave everything to us. To make a sacrifice on our behalf, not because we’ve been good or bad but because he loves us. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re from. Jesus extends this invitation to all who repent and turn to him. This is something Santa cannot offer.

I am not saying receiving gifts is bad. I’m not saying to have a desire for something is bad. What is bad is when we tell our children that there is this man who seems to know everything (sees us when we’re sleeping. Knows when we’re awake. Knows if we’ve been bad or good) and yet seems to forget about or doesn’t care about the kids in the families who can’t afford the luxuries other people can.

Reason #4: Santa Takes the Place of Jesus

I do think we need to be cautious though. There are much bigger issues in the Bible that need to be addressed when it comes to what we teach our children, but, the Bible does paint a pretty harsh picture of what should happen to someone who leads children away from Jesus (Matthew 18:6). Again, do I think that if you are a parent who does the Santa thing is guilty of this? Not necessarily, but could that be the case? Yes. When the child chooses Santa over Jesus. When Jesus is put aside and Santa takes that spot, then I believe you are walking on dangerous ground.

Jesus needs to be the focus and the center of our entire lives. Everything we do should be Jesus centered. The moment something takes the place of Jesus in our lives we have crossed over in to sin. Don’t get me wrong, we all do this from time to time. We are human beings. We are not perfect. Yes we will stumble, but we repent. However, when we knowingly and willingly put Santa in our children’ t head as this all knowing judge of good and bad, we cross a line. We lie to them. We push Jesus to the side. And that is not good. Not good at all.

Bonus Reason: Santa Is Just Kind Of Creepy

Let’s just take a moment and remember a quote from a lovely little fellow named Olaf; “Breaking and entering: Okay on Christmas.” And I might add that it’s okay as long as it’s someone who is bringing you a gift that you really, really, really, really wanted. Can I just remind everyone that this person called Santa apparently breaks in to your house by means of chimney. And according to a semi-entertaining movie from years back, if you don’t have a fireplace one would just appear. I like how they fill that plot hole but not the one about kids in 3rd world countries. The point I’m making is Santa is just plain creepy.

Conclusion: I know many of you who read this probably think I am being way too picky about this and that it’s not as big of a deal as I am making it out to be. And that’s okay. That’s why this is marked as an opinion blog. Unlike most of my other blogs, this is all based on my own opinion of what I see in scripture. If you do the Santa thing with your kids, I do not see you as a bad person nor would I avoid you if I saw you in a Walmart picking out one of those giant inflatable yard Santas. I love you and you have your own convictions. I just argue that maybe some re-evaluation takes place with the whole Santa Claus thing.

God bless.

-Ty

#Blog #Christmas #Christian #Santa #Claus #Holiday #Holly #Jolly #Opinion #Jesus #Christ #God #Love #Bible #Snow #Winter

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vanessagalang · 6 years

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Last week, I finally had the courage, and time to have my maternity shoot. 😀

It was such a surreal experience; it was a first time for everyone! My hair and makeup artist, the photo and video team, my husband, and of course, me!

I know it can be unnecessary, since we have so much to prepare for birth and the days after that, but I definitely wanted to push this idea to document this wonderful miracle while I can. And of course, it won’t be possible for me not to write about it here. Teehee!

So I’d like to share some tips and a guide on what you need to do just in case you’ll be holding your own momma-shoot!

Find a Comfortable Venue

I was 35 weeks when I had this shoot, and according to some of my readings, the best weeks to hold this photoshoot is when you are between your 28th to 35th. In this time, at least your tummy is showy enough to be captured, and at the same time, safer. We don’t want to be bothered by the fact that you can give birth any minute while posing for the camera, do we?

Photo Credit: http://sanrafaelriveradventure.com/

I tried looking for studios, and a good AirBNB place, but all the places I’ve looked for are either too cramped, doesn’t allow photoshoots, or are waaaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive!

Good thing, I stumbled upon a post in my feed about this cute getaway place in Bulacan. It’s called San Rafael River Adventure, and the place actually looks divine! 😀

They have a lot of fun activities that you can use for other types of shoots, like the prenup. But since I will just be using the entire accommodation, this should be enough.

It is highly important that you feel comfortable with the location or your venue, because of our condition. This is not the shoot where we can be adventurous. Leave it to the prenups and getaway trips! 😀

I booked the Glass Stilt Cottage, which is newly constructed by the way. I can’t believe I have a view of the lake in front of me! They have a comfy bed, and a jacuzzi. The space outside was enough to cater at least 6 people. There was a hammock, a sliding sofa, good lighting and a breezy weather to top it off. The air condition was good inside as well, plus the windows were perfect for those silhouette shots I was eyeing. Plus I thought that their rainy season promo was just perfect! So, what does a pregnant girl got to do? Book it right away of course! 😀

I am happy that the resort was very quick to reply, and I was given the available dates. I made a group chat, and voila, scheduled it right away together with the available dates of my team! 😀

2. Create Your Mood Board

I am a very bad pregnant-person-slash-client. Grr. I bash myself.

Oh well, I know I have to prepare for this weeks ago, but I was only able to send this to my team two days prior to our shooting day. I was too busy with some other things that I rarely had time to browse Pinterest or create a mood board.

But being the good crammer that I am, I was able to whip one just in time. Hehe 😀

Since I got a really good deal with Grid Studio too, (they are our civil wedding photo and video team by the way); they offered me unlimited shots, so yeah I want to maximize that. 😀

I thought about 5 sets and took inspiration from the things I found online, and of course with the available props and wardrobe that I have.

a. Whimsical Woman

I bought this pink ensemble way back in May, thinking it could be a good alternative for a bridal robe for my church wedding. But turns out, it could serve its purpose at an earlier date!

I also bought these flower crowns in SM. I couldn’t decide which one I like more, so I got them both. Haha Ayoko na pahirapan sarili ko! (I don’t want to have the burden of thinking which one is better!)

b. Simple and Laidback Mom + Hubby

I saw a lot of simples, and laidback shots that are perfect to include baby things, and the husband too. It looks soft on the eyes, very loving, and “very family”.

c. Boss Mama

This one is credited to my working-productive-self! Even though I’m pregnant, I am still very hands-on in my business especially that it’s new and the brand is just starting to pick up.

I always tell myself, I will not lose my identity and individuality just because of the new role that motherhood could bring; more so, it will be a big improvement. I will be a much better version because I’m adding a new role in my resume.

d. Boudoir

I actually wanted one before prior to getting married, but due to time constraints and indecisiveness, I wasn’t able to come up with one. Hopefully, when I get my body back post-pregnancy!

So in the meantime, I thought why not have one while expecting? It’s a totally new form because for once in my life I am not skinny, and I’ve got a few extra curves to flaunt. 😀

I can’t wait to share the silhouette photos! 😀

e. Summertime

Since I love wearing a bikini, and there was a Jacuzzi in our venue, there was no way I would pass on the opportunity of wearing one.

It was very funny too, because for once in my life, I have to buy an extra-large bikini! Haha 😀 I was pretty sad when I didn’t get the color I wanted because I was too big for the available Large size. Goodie, they have this red one that can fit my baby bump.

Which reminds me, I actually had a mini shoot wearing a bikini when I was in Bataan. I was 18 weeks here, and you could see how I just look ‘busog’.

3. Find a Good Maternity Shoot Team

This was easy. I was able to establish a really good relationship with my civil wedding photo-video-HMU team that I thought about them instantly. They actually haven’t done any maternity shoots, so this made the whole experience more exciting.

I actually thought of getting other suppliers, but I realized I will still get a better deal if I get my original team. I also saw some studios offering maternity shoots. Sure they are cheaper, but what I didn’t like is that they don’t give raw files of the photos, and they will only release like 5 to 10 shots, printed and edited. Plus there was no video too.

Grid Studio offered me unlimited shots, a video, printed photos and raw files, plus we can shoot anywhere I like, so yes, there was nothing left to discuss.

Elaine Cordova Makeup Artistry is such a good find too. She has done my makeup for a blog photoshoot and at my actual wedding, and I am really satisfied. She has great skills, plus I don’t have to burn holes in my pockets just to avail her airbush makeup. Elaine is also very instinctive, she knows what you want, asks for your makeup pegs, and deliberately retouches you every now and then, without you even asking.

4. Know Your Poses

Expect a lot of dreamy looks and belly-touching poses on a maternity shoot. So be sure your nails are polished! If you gain some weight and some extra chubbs in your face like I do, be sure you know your angles so you can still achieve the looks you want.

It’s also good to research poses with your husband/partner so things could go on smoothly. I am so happy that Rose and Michael of Grid Studio are very directive when it comes to poses. It was amazing how they handled and directed us even though it was also their first to cover a maternity shoot.

5. Prepare Your Props

We weren’t able to buy a lot of props, but good thing I was able to nick some of the random shopping baby finds we had. Plus it is so helpful that friends and family also gave their baby gifts earlier! Haha More props for us!

Here is the list of the props I think would help add more character to a maternity shoot:

Baby clothes

Baby shoes (Be gender specific)

Baby socks

Baby toys

Ultrasound Photos

Baby book / Storybook

Pregnancy book

Stuffed toy (I had a kangaroo with a little joey in its pouch)

A figure of the first letter of baby’s name (We didn’t have time to find one. Sad. )

6. Get a Good Night Sleep The Day Before

Please do! It’s good for your skin, and to rid those circles under your eyes. Plus it helps you to have good energy for the entire day!

I only had an hour’s sleep though. I was finishing bulk orders ready for delivery the next day, that’s why. I think my strong desire and excitement for the shoot to happen are what sustained me to last the whole day! 😀

7. Enjoy Being Gorgeously Pregnant and Pose the Belly Away

Honestly, I was extra weary that I won’t look great in this shoot, because I’m fat, my skin is dry, my belly button is protruding, my linea nigra is so apparent, my face feels like it’s going to burst, etc.

But hey, I am a walking miracle! That should be enough to keep me happy and make me feel beautiful. So I just accepted all these flaws that I have in my head, after all, these are all normal for a pregnant woman, duh?

So I just prepared myself that I won’t get the usual results in this photoshoot, unlike the past ones. I have to accept that early on. I will look different. Very different. But there’s a growing life inside me, and this little one is going to change my life forever. And being able to document that in a maternity shoot is already a blessing. Truly, something I would treasure for the years to come.

If you are thinking of having one too, I highly recommend it! It doesn’t have to put a big dent on your wallet though. You can always have the kind of shoot you want, whether in your home, studio, in a DIY setup, on the beach, or anywhere you find it comfortable doing. You just have to do your research, and be resourceful!

Go my mermom merfriends! 😀 Be confident and strut that baby bump soon! 😀 You only get pregnant once, or twice, or thrice! Haha 😀 Whatever the frequency is, it would be a great keepsake for your family to remember by, and a great photo to show the little one once he is outside too!

I will share my final shots when I get them!

Enjoy your pregnancy! I’m popping soon!

**, Via

7 Things to Do When Preparing for Your Maternity Shoot Last week, I finally had the courage, and time to have my maternity shoot. 😀 It was such a surreal experience; it was a first time for everyone!

#Maternity #Maternity Photoshot #Maternity Shoot #Mermom #Mermommy #Mom-To-Be #Mommy #motherhood #Photoshoot #Shoots

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