#generally when people will take any chance to hate a certain group of people. i don't trust posts

[vulpinesaint]

btw if you care about aspec people the best thing that you can do besides openly saying that you care about aspec people is to not reblog posts that are obviously just baiting outrage. you do not have to engage with things. if you see something that an aspec person says that you think is stupid that's fine. people are stupid sometimes. but then let's think down the line of reasoning that's going to inevitably follow where your harmless thought of "this person is a little too blue hair and pronouns social justice warrior/self centered/oblivious" gets turned into "this person is an idiot and it's because they're aspec" which gets turned into "awesome! an opportunity to make fun of aspecs!". not to get all slippery slope about it but a lot of you have too much faith in random people having good intentions. when there's a repeated history of people taking any fucking chance they can get to hate aspec people then maybe we can let the screenshot of this one person being stupid pass on by

[m1ssunderstanding]

Get Back Rewatch 55 Years On: Day Four

"Lennon's late again" says Paul, as he walks in late. And sweet Ringo just gently, "between ten and eleven is the time" Which means: "Chill babe. He'll be here."

One thing that always gob smacks me is how bored George and Ringo are watching Paul pull Get Back out of the ether. They literally see him do this shit all the time which is insane to me.

His voice is so so so pretty!!! And he's just so completely in his own world. The hunched shoulders. The twitching. The gibberish. The tapping. The twisting.

Obviously this is a song with the original central feeling being let's go back to before everything went wrong but he wants to make it into a meaningless song with both story bits and almost walrus-esque bits. But why is the first lyric he comes up with about gender? Thinking of @scurators posts on Paul and gender.

Ringo's customary quiet really does add significance to his voice, so him singing along with this so quickly says something I think about his support for the song and for Paul in general.

When John walks in he's greeted with a little cocky nod and smile like "look what I've just done while you were late." And then Paul sings "get back to where you once belonged" directly at him before breaking the eye contact. It's one of those heartbreaking Lennon/McCartney miscommunications because Paul is doing this to get John back, but actually it's scaring him away, you know? Paul thinks he has to prove to John how good he is, but John's exhausted with how good Paul is.

STFU Michael Lindsay Hogg

Paul really does love the idea of being forced out of parliament by cops and honestly so do I. Would've been iconic and might've kept them together.

John's so quiet today and also Yoko is not here. Correlation or causation I wonder.

"They say don't they say charity begins at home?" I love you forever, George. His humor is always so well-placed and so dry (even though he's clearly cracking himself up here). And it steers the conversation away from a direction he was not happy with without poking any bears. In fact, everyone's laughing. Clever boy.

"I've decided that the whole point of it is communication. And to be on TV is communication and we've got a chance to smile at people like all you need is love or something so that's me incentive for doing it." Wise, egalitarian John making a lovely appearance.

And then there's Paul. "I'm here cause I wanna do a show." Lol I love them.

Why do they say "Mr Epstein?" Is it because they're on camera and they want people to know who they're talking about? Does it have something to do with the maharishi telling them certain ways to talk about Brian? Does anyone have any thoughts about that?

Okay so you know how I just said last time how emotionally mature George was? I still think it's generally more true of him than the others, but this right here? This is not it. "I don't want to do any of my songs in the show because they'll all just turn out shitty." Man has issues.

I think it's important to recognize that George and Paul have both said the literal word "divorce" and it's NBD. But when John does it, Paul takes it as "the groups really over and I have to go into hiding and not get out of bed and maybe od who knows." Why? There's another puzzle piece here that we're missing.

"Should we leave you for a while?" "YES!"

On the one hand I'm like "working on Maxwell is the last thing you guys should be doing with this time alone." But on the other thing maybe it's the only thing they can do at this point.

"Mal? You should get a hammer. And an anvil." As he's walking away. Main character in a contrived mad genius biopic. Except it's real.

"Joan" sounding suspiciously like "John" ... And then he goes "fool, Maxwell fool." Aka one of their ~special words~ New theory. John hates Maxwell because he dies in it. And Paul's the killer.

"Take it away Johnny." Even though it was George and John whistling before wasn't it? Did George get cut from the whistle chorus? Another straw on the camel's back.

I LOVE that John just does not know any of his own songs. Across the Universe my beloved!

On the glyn/Paul moment featured below, I have three thoughts. 1. Whore. 2. John Lennon villain origin story. 3. The fact that glyn didn't just tell John is striking.

"I wish it fucking would". "Cause I'm down." This lyric going from a self-soothing reassurance that his people aren't going to leave him that he'll always have this beautiful dream he's created with them. To this? I hate it here.

So there is a big emotional and energy difference between their Beatlemania selves singing "Rock and Roll Music" and their current selves. And part of it is due to the fact that they're just not as happy as they were then. But I think most of it is really just that they thrive when they're performing for an audience.

[germiyahu]

Like hot take, but if Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo's parents or grandparents had immigrated to Mexico from Israel (or a Kibbutz in M.P.) the hammer and sickle twitter response to the hate campaign against her would not be supportive in the least!

And it's not super supportive now. I don't know, but it seems that they're more interested in dunking on the Nazis then standing up for Jewish people. This woman's whole family is secular, she has not made her Jewishness a part of her public or political image (why should she have to)? This does fit a pattern where the bare minimum you have to do as a Jew to gain support is to assimilate and keep your mouth shut. If you can't denounce Israel your Jewishness better be relegated to a paragraph on Wikipedia.

Leftists love to point out kindergarten level antisemitism. They love to debunk that Nazi checklist about Jews hating Jesus while Christians and Muslims revere him. Of course they debunk it because it "won't liberate Palestine," as that's all antisemitism is, a distraction (often orchestrated by Mossad). It's easy to call out Marjorie Taylor Greene antisemitism. But we've seen how they handle any other kind. So I'm not surprised they're taking the chance to earn easy social media points here. Call out the people saying "Too many Jews are in positions of power!"

While also saying "They must have edited her nose!" like they love to draw attention to Jewish features that the Nazis surely must be talking about when they go on their antisemitic tirades.

It's cheap and it's easy, and it's a distraction from their own bullshit, and I also think they have fun doing it. They think the Nazis are funny, and it's fun to clown on them. It's all so performative. That twitter user goes on to call Israelis Nazis and denounces Bernie Sanders (who refuses to attend Netanyahu's speech but says that Israel has the right to defend itself up to a certain point).

This isn't actual allyship. Then again, I don't think they expect Jewish people or their allies to actually think that. Considering that the tone was not condemnation but "Lol Right wing antisemites are going to have a meltdown about this." I do think that Left wing antisemites relish in Right wing antisemitism. It's a joke to them. They don't care about Jewish lives or Jewish safety. They love feeling smugly superior while saying basically identical things but just about a group of Jews preselected to be unvictimizable.

Another "Twitter moment" was some right wing Trump loving doofus putting on a Magen David jacket and proclaiming he was unafraid to walk around NYC, cue that crowd making fun of "how safe he'd really be," while ignoring that Jews pointing out a tangible rise in hate crimes and hate speech and a general unwelcoming atmosphere.

Antisemitism is always "their" problem, never ours. But I've noticed that recently even if they can acknowledge the problem... it's not even a serious problem anymore. They're more likely to just laugh at the "absurdity" of it and then feel like they've demonstrated that they and their ideologies aren't filled to the brim with Judenhass.

[stupidrant]

RANT INCOMING!

I have to talk abt this as this has been in my mind for months and this i think is the only safe space to talk abt the fandom and their weird antics towards the characters/actors and overall games.Im not against criticism but theres a line between criticizing and going overboard with hating.

One thing i dont understand abt the god of war fandom is that they complain about alot of things not being “accurate” and thats doesnt make sense to me bc when has gow ever been accurate? I thought it was obvious from the beginning that SMS wasnt going for that and never truly will. Its always their own interpretation. They also have this weird hatred / ignorance towards atreus that i also dont understand? Yea he was a little annoying in the first game but thats understandable as hes… a kid. Ragnarok expanded his character pretty well imo and i feel like alot of these people for some reason cannot get past him in general? Maybe because they are afraid of him taking over the series and “forgetting” kratos (idk why thats in their minds LOL) or they just hate him just because. I feel like the fandom wants kratos to forever be this god who destroys things and whatnot and its all so weird. like they never gave him a chance. thankfully he has fans but majority hates him. Dont even get me started on how they treat angrboda. Its really so ridiculous to me that they can be so hateful for no true reason. they call her a bitch for yelling at atreus when all the women in the game get annoyed or disappointed in him atleast once. And they dont understand that she has only known this prophecy shit for her whole life and she couldnt do anything outside bc of the threat. ofc shes angry bro LOLL its also in her name like i dont understand 😭.  Atreus helps her get out of that mindset and assures her she can do whatever she wants now. Laya is so strong idk how she does it :( I also noticed they treat thrud as this “replacement” of angrboda bc they dont like her either cuz shes black or bc they hate her and everything related to atreus but as long as he has a character they can like thats not angrboda its fine. Its all so weird bc theres no competition between the two. There never was. I dont think they actually like thrud for her character they just want to be weirdos and i feel kinda bad for her and mina bc they really dont give a fuck. Im so shocked chris sunny and others even INTERACT with this bullshit of a fandom they are all really strong bc id say fuck all of you and go 😭 im not against criticism at all and i try not to take this shit seriously but its hard when you see a insane group of people take alot of this shit to the next level. this fandom is a bunch of whiny babies who hold onto their precious destroyer too much. The hate everyone has gotten recently is just so stupid and they often times try to make it their goal to hate. I see that SMS is trying to diverge their fandom to a broader audience and they are taking a bit more risks esp with atreus and i love that despite the backlash against him, they continued with his character regardless. I hope they do the same thing with the other characters as well and expand them no matter how much these people want to hate and act all high and mighty. I can understand certain critiques like the ending being too fast or maybe they couldve done blah blah better and whatnot but i think alot of people are overreacting and being ridiculously nitpicky with alot of things when it comes to ragnarok. 

Last thing and also kinda random thing SMS is very wrong for what they did to TC Carson and i acknowledge that completely and i hope they never do smth like that to any of the current cast either bc i would be fucking pissed if so LOL

[alpaca-clouds]

Why I hate the Police

I am saying it very loud and clear: There is never going to be a just world as long as police exist. The system of policing is always going to be unjust and not compatible with any anarchist or solarpunk ideals.

Let me explain: Even in a world where police do not self-select to mostly employ conservatives with far-right leanings, the police is always going to hold an unjustified power over the people in a community. Because the entire thing about the police is that they get to employ violence. So even without a majority racist, ableist and queermisic policeforce, their existence says: "In certain scenarios violence is actually okay."

From an anarchist perspective, too, there is the aspect that police will also always hold hierarchical power over people. Which is something that anarchists obviously disagree with.

And the fact is just, that we do not live in an ideal world. We live in a world where the police self-selects to be more right leaning than the average. Which has several reasons.

For once, there is just the fact that the people who want to join the police are more likely to believe in hierarchies. They usually will also believe somewhat in the status quo - which in our world enshrines suppression of the marginalized groups and the lower classes in general. This alone makes sure that they will somewhat participate within the suppression of these lower classes, even if they are not explicitly racist or the like.

Furthermore we do know that within the police force an atmosphere is created where you are either with them or against them. We know that a lot of the people in power are in favor of certain abuses of the power the police holds. Which makes them select for police officers with similar ideas. If you say something against racism within the police, you gonna get bullied. If you actually take measures to get a fellow officer arrested after he abused his power... chances are you will get harassed. In some cases you might even get killed.

And then there is the problem that around the world (but most notably in the US) the police just are trained in violent escalation of situation - not in peaceful resolutions. And if you have a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail.

When people like me say: "Abolish the police!" others will answer: "But who will keep us safe?" To which I said: The police isn't keeping us safe. Rather it creates an additional danger to those people most likely to be the victims of crime either way. Even without all the corruption and what not... The police usually only get active in the aftermath of a crime. They do not prevent it.

And other than what some folks might tell you: No, it is not human nature to commit crimes and be violent. We would be a lot safer if we abolished the police and spend the police budget on things that actually prevent crime, like help for the pour, making sure everyone has clean water and food, and access to psychotherapy and such.

So, yeah... ACAB.

[dracoandthehounds]

For the fic ask -- either question 11 or 12 for hounds of love? Or you can choose any fic from the series if you're inclined to answer :D

Oooooh okay!!!

11. What do you like best about this fic?

I'd say... My favorite part of this fic/series is getting a chance to develop out complex characters that didn't get as much attention in the canon. Like developing Draco's motivations so he's less of like a Heel character. Or the plans I have for Pansy specifically feel really exciting. And, of course, Nell :) It means so much to me that people like her!!! Because she's entered a world of characters that people have known forever and cared about forever so it means a lot to me that people are liking her too :)))

And more specifically...... there are a handful of scenes coming up at the start of the next installment that I am very excited for. My hint is that these scenes will take place before Harry gets attacked by the dementors, and then after his move to the order headquarters but before his trial :)

12. What do you like least about this fic?

The fact that it won't write itself hahahaha lmao.

I'd say...... I like the least when I have to stick to certain canon moments in order for the plot to develop how I want it to. So, like, I wish I could find a way to exonerate Sirius in the books because I feel like his reintroduction to the wizarding world and how that sort of shakes things up could be sooooooo good but if I did that, then Harry wouldn't be at Privet Drive pre-OOTP, which would throw off the dementor & expulsion plot-lines which are really important to the story and things I *do* want to incorporate.

Oh and the other thing I like least is having to fix a lot of Rowling's plot-holes lol. Like... having characters be smart and come up with intelligent responses to their problems is something that is really important to me as a writer, so sometimes I come across things in the canon that just make no sense lol. (like, for example, in the second book--- why weren't the petrified students sent to St. Mungo's, and why couldn't Hogwarts idk order out for some Mandrakes??? Like why are they dependent on the mandrakes that the *second-year students* are growing??????

So I made up some casual mention by Ron about a wizarding flu that used up all the mandrakes in the series lol.

Like these things are probably things that don't matter to readers since it's just part of canon but I like... cannot move past them lol. It makes it hard to write if I feel like there's an inconsistency, especially since I'm writing in Nell's story to include stuff like Death Eaters and the Unforgiveable Curses since the first book, which don't actually appear until the fourth book in the original canon. So it's a lot to sort of keep up with in my head and to be prepared to have a logical explanation for certain things.

like.... here are some things that I have/will need to adjust bc their explanation doesn't really work in canon or i hate the way Rowling did it bc it was bigoted or stupid lmao:

why the trio didn't have food during the horcrux hunt

why harry can't move out of privet drive

the seven potters plan (okay this one just never made sense to me like i really feel like it could be fixed so much.......... but i have come up with a fix for it that i'm extremely excited about lmao. it's made my annoyance at this plot point go away.)

prev. mentioned mandrake issue

the time-turners

the goblet of fire (why can't harry just not try hard at the tasks....)

the house-elves

werewolves

giants

centaurs

veela

transfiguration of (for example) rats into goblets? / transfiguration in general.

whyyyyyyyyy tf they brought the literal most aggressive breed of dragon to be used in the first task????

the animagus ritual / why more characters don't do it

love potions (ughghhghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhghghhhh)

how harmful the memory-wiping charm is in actuality

fixing characters who are one-note ways for Rowling to hate on groups of people.... (i.e. the Dursleys are bad, and a large part of that is bc Vernon and Dudley are really fat????? wtf???) (or like.... Lockhart and Karkaroff are feminine men.... SURPRISE they're evil and creepy!!!! or Lavender Brown likes girly things.... she sucks. the best girls are Hermione and Ginny bc they are Not Like Other Girls. And Lupin who is a werewolf [as a metaphor for AIDS - explicitly stated by JKR] is 100% straight and now married to a woman nearly twenty years younger than him.... like Jo. You used the historically-used method for gay coding trope of lycanthropy and then got mad when people read it as gay...... so you hetero'd him off into a weird shoved together marriage???) sorry that's just my JKR rant lmao.

I hope these answers were interesting!!!!!! Thank you for sending in the ask <3

[colorisbyshe]

do you have any tips for someone who's going to their first concert soon?

Sure!

bring ear plugs/protection with you! they make some just for concerts/musicians. i'll be honest, i don't use them myself but... i'm probably losing my hearing at each concert. this is the most 'ymmv' tip i have here.

wear comfy shoes!!!!!!!! i know you wanna look cute but remember you can just... not take pics of your feet when taking Fit Pics. it's okay

look up the bag policy of the venue the day BEFORE you go to make sure you really got it down pat! most places are fairly lax. i tend to bring a purse is comfortable being worn all show, isn't too heavy, but can fit a portable charger, snacks (to be eaten in line, not in venue), my wallet, and nothing more than that

if you're waiting in line a long time, i recommend bringing a disposable water bottle--it tends to be just enough to keep you hydrated but not too much so you have to pee during the show. you likely wont be able to recycle it tho :( rip

i put pain killers in my purse and take them right before doors so i don't get too sore during the show, this is for standing only. if i'm seated, i don't bother. i do also bring pepto tablets (hidden in my wallet) but that's because i'm old and my stomach hates me

if you'er doing standing/general admission/the pit, get in line EARLY. at least 2-3 hours early, sometimes earlier. snacks, water, painkillers are a MUST here. talk to people in line around you, chances are they'll be near you in the crowd! you can form bonds so you can take turns going to the bathroom, buying merch, etc

buying merch: look up if the the venue takes cash or credit. some places are credit only, some are cash only, some both. if unsure, bring both if you want merch.

sometimes stuff sells out before the show starts, sometimes it's not worth buying it beforehand because you have to hold it all show and risk losing your spot if you go buy it. if seated, this is less of a concern.

lining up tip if you're going in a group: if your group isn't arriving together, be aware of some etiquette. if you arrive first and just one friend is joining you, it should be (probably will be okay) if they join you. if you arrive first and MULTIPLE people are joining you, go back to their spot in line. place holders for large groups are rude as hell. try to arrive at the same time tho. maybe get a meal together beforehand so you can arrive together.

drinks at shows are EXPENSIVE AS FUCK... just... not worth it. do with that info what you will. i know some people pregame in line (watched someone chug two coke and vodka bottles in line for CRJ lmao)... i don't. it's not worth it ot me

CHECK THE TICKET APP MULTIPLE TIMES THROUGHOUT THE DAY. ARE YOU LOGGED IN? DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD?

bring a portable charger for your phone--don't need a massive one but taking video saps battery fast

the only other tip that matters is: read the vibe of the crowd. if peopel are being loud and rowdy, be energetic too! if people are being chill, be chill. don't be afraid to assert your boundaries, hold firm posture against peopel who are shoving, but also... don't be the person who requires others to assert THEIR boundaries. just... be considerate

if you need something extra though, communicate! a moment of peopel backing away from you so you can catch your breath or idk clean your glasses can be communicated easily, just ask "hey, just for a second, is okay if i do X." some people might say no, most won't.

i tend to tell the people around me that if they need me to duck down for a certain song/moment to get a pic, they can just tap on my shoulder.you don't hav eto do that though. my point in mentioning that is to just say--people at shows are just... people. they're mostly reasonable and just need to be spoken to if you have any concerns or questions.

that said: if you ahve any more specific questions or concerns that aren't touched on here, lemme know! i love concert talk and won't get to indulge enough (next show is in may boooooo)

[illustrious-rocket]

Find the Word Tag Game

I was one again generously tagged by @blind-the-winds, so let's do it. The words this time are jump, jerk, just and jam.

Jump

“Once upon a time I held a Jewel of Life in my hands, and I have to do so once again…” Discussing her goals brought Sheena a sense of determination that helped her focus. “Saeko Oryo misused one and destroyed the Tenganist holy land at the site that’s now known as the Sinjoh Ruins. But what was once used to destroy can be used to repair, I’m sure of it. If I can find the lost Life Orb and turn it back into a Jewel of Life, I can restore the Sinjoh Ruins back to their original lush state, just like Shaymin did for La Ciudad Dorada. Once that’s done, I will declare that area to be a sanctuary state for my people. Towards those goals, and for the sake of diplomatic ties being established once they are, I want to form an alliance with you and La Ciudad Dorada, Rosalita. But before that, I have to find the legendary Navel Rock in the Sevii Islands. If I can get there, I can meet Ho-oh again and forge an alliance with it. Then, for my people…” Sheena had been staring at the food in front of her while she spoke, so she failed to notice Rosalita stand and walk over to her. She jumped slightly in her seat when she felt Rosalita embrace her again. “Sheena, I understand,” Rosalita said, her voice soft and gentle. “I understand everything. The weight you are carrying is far too much for any one person’s shoulders. Please, I hope you will allow me to help you lift it.” “Rosalita, there’s…” Although she felt guilty for burdening Rosalita with her own problems, Sheena again found her friend’s embrace far too comforting to ignore and settled into it, allowing Rosalita to stroke her hair. “There’s nothing I’d like more.”

Jerk

Pulling away from Lisia, she quietly said, “Thanks for being my friend, then… but, do you get it? My dad, he… he was always there. When he wasn’t anymore… it just… everything fell apart. I never got a chance to say goodbye to him, and then before I knew it my mom wasn’t dealing with it all… and I had to go to Rustboro so Matt could look after me. I know it was what my dad wanted, but… I was so mean to him, too, and he didn’t do anything to deserve it…” “Your mom told me about that, too. I might not know Matt myself, but… if your dad trusted him to watch out for you, I think he understands." "That's the thing." Still gripped by feelings of shame, Olivia looked downward. "Dad did trust him, and all I did was act like a jerk. If Dad saw what I did he would hate me for it." "Olivia, no," Lisia firmly told her. "Your dad might have been a complicated guy with a rough past, but I feel one hundred percent certain when I tell you that he loved you more than anything, and nothing could change that. Honestly, I don't even think death could change it. Wherever he is now, somewhere in time and space with our Sootopolitan ancestors… wherever he is, he still loves you."

Just

“We aren’t heroes, that much is true. But I do believe that in our own way, we really are keeping much worse things from happening in this world, too.” Leaning her head back, Rosalie shut her eyes and reflected upon her own past. “I used to be like you, Gabriel, a starry-eyed prodigy at the Pokémon Institute. I thought I was going to change the world with my work on the medicinal properties of plants, but my dreams were just too big to stay within the Institute’s lines. I want to do good things, I just want to make my discoveries on my own terms and get the credit, instead of having others meddling and taking credit themselves. Since there wasn't a place for me in their environment, I ended up here, with all the other misfits Team Rocket takes in. And ever since Nekou invited me to join her little group, I feel like I've found my place. I guess what I’m saying is, it’s thanks to her that I found where I belong. I know it’s hard to see, but there are good things that came from what you did. We just have to keep working to preserve them.” “You’ve got a point, Rosalie,” Zager conceded, “but I don’t think there’s anything I could ever do to earn her forgiveness, either. I put her in the situation she’s in right now.”

Jam

Father sadly shook his head, briefly causing the hologram to distort. “I don’t blame you for not believing me. You have absolutely no reason to. I also know that it’s too late to undo what you went through, but… I want to make amends for it, Renzo, I truly do. I want to make amends for everything this world did to you. That’s why I sent Finansielle to fetch you… I want you to go with her. She’ll bring you to Polaris’s temple… where we can finally meet face-to-face. Please give me this chance. With Polaris, I can fulfill all your wishes.... Lorenzo Milovy.” Renzo froze at the mention of his true, full name. “How would he know that’s my… there’s no doubt, it has to be him. There’s no other way… he couldn’t know… it would be impossible…” “Well, Renzo, what do you say?” Finansielle playfully asked him. “Or should I say Lorenzo? What a cute name…” Renzo’s whipsawing circumstances had his head in a spin. He’d started out the day supremely confident that the beginning of his long-sought revenge was finally at hand, only to be crushed mercilessly under Anabel’s proverbial heel. And yet, just when all avenues to his lifelong dream seemed completely closed off, here were Father and Finansielle jamming that window right back open again.

[ciaossu-imagines]

nakamura rio + 🖌️ still from the misc ask meme!

This is another character I didn’t figure I’d get requests for, though she’s absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much for sending this in and giving me my first chance to really write for her, or this fandom in general, on here! I appreciate it and hope you’ll enjoy my thoughts on this!

Do they have any hobbies?

Rio has a lot of hobbies actually. There’s no lack of those on her side, though this is a more recent development for her. When she was younger, she wasn’t really given much room to have hobbies, to really find all these different things she just enjoys doing for the fun of it, or to devote her time to them. As someone considered a gifted child, a prodigy really, she was taught by the adults around her, though pressured might be more of a better word choice there, to really devote herself to more ‘worthwhile’ things, like her studies and gaining knowledge. Any hobbies she was allowed to have had to be things that would be deemed societally acceptable and worth-while and she wasn’t allowed to do them just for fun. Instead, she was kind of expected to just be incredible at them, with the pressure to be talented and amazing at these things often really ruining her enjoyment of them.

It’s not really until her middle school years, when she hits her rebellious phase, that Rio starts to really gain proper hobbies. I mean proper as in that these are hobbies that she truly enjoys, that give her joy or help her relax. Because she really wasn’t allowed to decide her own hobbies at a young age, I feel she’s someone who, through a lot of their middle school years, tries on different hobbies almost as someone would try on different hats. She’s not entirely sure, to be honest, what she’s going to like. She knows the things that she’ll either hate or just won’t enjoy, but as far as the things that she’ll like? No clue on her side, so she remains open-minded about trying out new things if there’s even a hint of interest in them on her part.

I think the only hobby that she has carried over with her from childhood is her insatiable love for music. She definitely comes across, to me, like someone who would’ve been taught to play an instrument at a young age. While she hated the pressure of having to play perfectly, and to only play certain types of things, she also found that she really enjoys music. She lets that enjoyment branch out then. She’s voracious in her music tastes, always searching out new songs, new artists, new genres. She’ll take any music recommendations people give her and will give them an honest try. She uses her music streaming platform’s recommendations all the time. She tries out local live shows of new artists or up and comers. The music she tries doesn’t even have to be in a language she knows – if it’s catchy, she still likes it despite not understanding the words (though if she likes the song enough, she goes and looks up a translation).

As far as music goes, I think she discovers two big loves in that area. She ends up finding out that she loves EDM. She also discovers that she kind of loves idol groups and boy bands equally. She’ll have her favourites from both (for example, she’d be a huge BTS fan), and then she’ll have her best boy/best girl from her favourite group.

Rio also does have an eye for and an interest in fashion. Not only does she like shopping for cute clothes and accessories, but she stays up to date with the latest trends. She has a couple of designers she absolutely loves, though she can’t afford them, and she watches the runway shows for them. She definitely has a Pinterest style board full of outfit inspirations.

A social person, Rio finds a lot of energy and joy in just being around other people. Left with too much solitude, she becomes lonely, bored, and unhappy. She’s one of those types of people who honestly do need regular social interaction to remain happy and upbeat. Hanging out with friends is something she spends a lot of time doing.

She’s also someone, though, who finds a lot of fun in teasing others. She always tries to do so good-naturedly, instead of being downright mean about it, so it remains mostly teasing instead of bullying. To her, teasing others is definitely something she considers a hobby.

I do think she’s a pretty big reader, finishing at least a book a month. It’s one of her quieter hobbies, the things she does late at night when she’s all alone to keep herself both occupied and to relax. I do think her tastes run more into more romance and erotica. For example, she has definitely read all the 50 Shades of Gray novels, along with some of the erotica on Kindle Unlimited, things like Diamond in the Dark, Heat Clinic, and others. She tends to really like romances that involve the supernatural (she would definitely be an omegaverse girl) and one of her favourite series is Women of the Otherworld.

[shadowmaat]

Biases and belief

I follow T Kingfisher over on Bluesky. So much fun stuff! Wonderful author. Excellent additional nerdery things. Unfortunately, she's become a target for rage trolls because of her very reasonable stance on the recent bombshell in the bookworld.

Look. Everyone knows that when a woman comes forward with allegations about a man regarding SA, it's a good idea to believe her. Chances are that she wouldn't put herself through the shitscape of public scrutiny if something hadn't happened. While there are outliers who only do it for attention or to try and get back at someone, generally speaking there's every chance she's telling the truth.

There is, however, a difference between speaking up on your own, speaking to a credible news source, and going to a hate group with a grudge against the target of those allegations. This doesn't make anything that happened less true, but it's going to vastly alter how the news is perceived by the general public.

The issue is further complicated by a lot of people having a very deep hatred of the accused for various reasons. They are highly motivated to believe the allegations because it "proves" they were right to hate him. That's the whole "confirmation bias" issue and leads people to believe things without fact checking because you're already inclined to believe the worst about someone.

Personally? I've enjoyed a lot of the author's stuff, but I wouldn't consider myself a fan and I don't follow him on any social media sites (though I've reblogged stuff that crossed my dash). I've also defended him in the past when I felt fans were being unreasonable in their expectations of him.

When I heard the news I was inclined to believe it. Because, as stated above, when a woman (or women in this case) come forward, chances are there's truth in what they say. I've also heard questionable things about him before. And, generally, I think men steeped in popularity and with certain levels of money and power are more likely to take advantage of women knowing that they can get away with it.

Then I learned that the source of the news- the ONLY source of the news- was unreliable, heavily biased, and inclined to lie and/or misrepresent information. This is less than ideal because you have "believe women" coming up against "don't trust liars with a grudge."

"Legitimate" news sources have been reporting on the allegations, but every single one of them has cited the same questionable source. This is, again, less than ideal, and I really wish that news agencies cared more about truth than page hits. I wish that they'd make an effort to verify and confirm info themselves rather than leaving it at "so-and-so reported" and pretending that was good enough.

And this is where Ursula (T Kingfisher) has run into trouble. She's stated over and over that it isn't that she disbelieves the women, but that she doesn't find the source credible and that there's no way to confirm the accusers actually exist. I can see how that would be tricky given that victims have a right to a certain amount of anonymity in cases like this, but also, how do you prove they exist?

Ursula has faced a LOT of angry dogpiling, telling her to shut up, demanding she delete her posts/account, and accusing her of being a SA apologist who refuses to believe women. (And probably worse stuff I'm not seeing on account of her blocking/ignoring the really terrible ones). It isn't true, but every time she tries to explain that people just get angrier and keep ignoring her words in favor of raging at her for what they believe she said. If it's exhausting to watch I can't even imagine how it feels to be the target of so much misguided anger like that.

As for me, like Ursula, I'm still inclined to believe the allegations, but it'd be really damn helpful if an independent and less biased source could confirm the details. Maybe even police reports? A court filing? A court filing would really cement the issue, and I know they have provisions in place (at least in the US) to protect identities exactly for cases like this.

Anyway, my points are:

Ursula did nothing wrong and is, in fact, right to want a better source.

Believe women.

Question unreliable sources.

Beware of confirmation bias.

Don't fall for the fallacy that all men are scum.

Remember that some men ARE scum, even if they're your faves.

Read. Carefully.

Don't attack someone when you aren't in possession of all the facts.

Stop assuming the worst out of every conversation you start with someone.

You can believe women and still want a credible source of information.

Also, as an addendum, just because That Author hasn't responded to the allegations doesn't make them true. It means he's listening to his lawyer while the situation is investigated.

[destinygoldenstar]

Which Love Triangle Is Worse? (Ninjago Vs Total Drama)

Hey, this is called a sponsor, right? For advertising something? Why don’t we try it? For a book?

Destiny’s Burden. An original story by yours truly.

The world of Destiny takes place a century into the future, where Earth and all its morally questionable implications were wiped out for the sake of a utopia.

The beloved savior, Mary Sue, rescued everyone from extinction by creating a world system that would change all of humanity.

Destiny, from all the Chosen One stories you’ve heard, is the dominant force of society. Those who’ve praised Mary Sue have been granted a loving world of kingdoms with the clearest right and wrong, and lives of great fortune. Those who’ve rejected her ideals were cursed to become the Dark Lords, the villains and the black of the stories that would come.

When certain children come of age, they are granted a destiny of their own, abilities of a Chosen One, and given clear stories for them to follow and train for. Stories that would bring peace to their wonderful world, against the Dark Lords who dare to try and change it.

A generation of Chosen Ones begins with Charlie Sue, the descendent of Mary Sue herself, being assigned the task of becoming the savior of the entire land after a group of Dark Lords steal power.

With the help of a few Chosen One friends, Charlie must train for the day he claims his place as Destiny’s savior.

And if Destiny really is that pleasing of a utopia.

An original fantasy action story by yours truly. Questions are free to be asked in messaging me, and followers of my blog will, in time, get a chance to beta read parts of the story and give much needed feedback to make this a great passion project. More info coming soon.

Now, onto the post.

You know, this was easier to decide than I thought.

I know, it didn’t sound like it would at first.

Okay, lets think of a better intro...

Both of these cartoons means quite a bit to me. 

I already talk about Total Drama on my blog quite a bit, to the point where I think some of my followers think I’m a TD blog. I’m not. There’s other stuff I talk about. In fact, there’s even more I could talk about with TD, and opinions I have yet to share. 

However, it is an absolute CRIME in my head that I have not talked about Ninjago as much as I do with TD. I mean, I made a Skybound review awhile back, which holds up on my opinions, but that’s about it.

Why do I say this? Well because, I have the LAMEST childhood over. I did not grow up with Total Drama. I watched it when covid hit and I had nothing better to do. I didn’t even watch Avatar The Last Airbender until last year, which is NUTS. 

I was more so into MLP as a kid, but I stopped watching it around Season 6, not through any puberty hit, but because my parents HATE me watching MLP. (For reasons I don’t get.) And I was also bullied heavily for liking MLP, so...

I also was obsessed with Minecraft Story Mode. (And I did make a few posts about it. They’re old, though.) It’s sad to me what happened to that series...

I also binge read the Sailor Moon manga, and I have all the books still. I watched the 90s show too, but... I honestly did not like it.

I would say, ‘what a surprise, the book is better’, but you’d be shocked to hear the Sailor Moon fandom say that the 90s anime is superior. For me... no.

Then I had one brief RWBY phase. And I mean BRIEF. In actuality, I don’t hardcore hate the show, but the one aspect of the show that prevents me from getting into it is it’s awful protagonists. I dunno, maybe I’ll make a post about that topic, because it’s astounding to me how bad their protagonists are.

And if you know me, I more so tend to have more to talk about when it comes to the flawed shows rather than shows with perfect writing. I said it over and over again, YES, I’ve watched ATLA, and Arcane. Those shows are amazing. Do you want me to praise those shows like the 7 billion other people on planet earth have?

Okay, I’m getting off track.

But there’s one show in my childhood that I distinctly remember being a part of my childhood more than any of these: That’s Ninjago.

I remember when I was around eight years old, and my sibling and I would tune in every week to watch an episode on Netflix. And I don’t even like the shows my sibling watch. But we both bonded with this show specifically. I think it has to do with this being the first show I’ve watched that wasn’t just one episode adventures. This was a show with substance, with story arcs that branch for multiple episodes, with characters to follow. Something I was not familiar with at the time.

Also Zane. Best boy. No I’m not taking criticism.

Before I even made my Tumblr account, I would write private essays talking about Ninjago. They’re terrible. 

I have huge memories of this show. I WANTED to talk about this show for awhile, but couldn’t figure out what to talk about.

And then in my creative writing class, we were talking about tropes we hated. 

My teacher said ‘the love triangle’. (I didn’t have that on my list, surprisingly)

It seemed like everyone, besides myself, hated the love triangle trope. And it seems very valid.

Like, just pick one love interest, darn it!

So that got me to make this post. Why a contest between these two shows?

Well they both have a love triangle that the majority of the fandom hates, they’re both known for destroying a relationship people liked, and they both take place in their Season Three.

And also, everyone hates these plotlines, so I wanted to ask myself, are they really that bad? More importantly, which is worse?

That’s what we’re here for.

Keep in mind, this is my POV on these plotlines. There’s obviously gonna be disagreement and I would love to hear your opinions when reblogging.

Also SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON OUT. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED EITHER OF THESE SHOWS AND DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED, DON’T CLICK ‘KEEP READING’. Watch the shows, and then come back.

But there’s one key factor that I think makes people lean to one argument:

Bias

My first claim is that it has to do with nostalgia of the show that springs our reactions.

When I watched the Ninjago love triangle as a kid, I was confused, cringing, and angry.

When I watched the Total Drama love triangle when I’m older, I was just like ‘okay, so we’re doing this.’

So obviously, there’s a great line of bias. As a kid, your brain hasn’t fully developed, so when bringing up a concept that isn’t black and white, and emotionally damaging, you’re gonna get heavy results. 

It was the same for when Zane died in Season Three. I was a kid. I was TICKED.

Looking back now, that was an expertly built up scene and one of the best payoffs to a character arc in the show. 

‘Animation is for babies’

And yet you have this:

“Are you working for Silco?”

“Fuck you”

-Arcane. (And that’s the LEAST adult thing in the show)

It’s the same thing with shipping.

Kids media are given the simplistic idea that romance is absolute. That you have one person destined for you and it will all work out.

A love triangle is... complicated, for kids heads.

So when another guy a character is in love with enters the picture, kids are gonna be confused and relatively act negative towards it. Despite the fact that love triangles... do actually exist in the real world?

Anyone remember Hamilton? Of course you do.

This is why we tend to hate Love Tringles in my eyes.

But I want to be as objective as possible with this, and discuss each storyline and their problems. So lets coin toss and decide which show we start with.

*Flips coin*

*Gets Heads*

Ninjago, it’s your lucky day.

I guess it’s fitting since I watched this show first.

Ninjago (Jay, Cole, and Nya Love Triangle)

Ninjago is a show produced by LEGO, which tells the story about a group of ninjas being assigned to face against the evils of the titular world. It’s also LEGOs biggest TV show to date.

This is more of an action superhero show than anything, and I think that’s gonna be the biggest difference here. Both shows I’m talking about have different priorities.

But I’m just focusing on the love triangle.

This plotline springs in its third season, Rebooted. It’s an eight episode long season, and the plotline gets introduced in the premiere briefly, and stays relevant all season between the three characters involved. It gets carried over to season four in that third episode, and it’s mentioned briefly in the premiere of season six. Then it ends.

People tend to hate this love triangle for a certain reason:

Why?

WHY was this love triangle needed?

I tried researching what was going on behind the scenes when the decision was made, but I could not find anything. I may be bad at research though.

My best guess is this:

Ninjago was originally supposed to end after Season Two: Legacy Of The Green Ninja. However, from the success of the show and insane toy sales, they made the decision to continue the story and make a third season. The task of continuing a story you designed to end is... daunting. For any writer.

So my biggest assumption on why they decided to do a love triangle was because they were still struggling to figure out what to do with the story of Ninjago from where they intended to end it.

I don’t hate Rebooted. Rebooted has its moments. But the season also carries a lot of lows, and this is one of them. It’s why I think most of the fandom sees this as a mid tier season overall, and pretty mixed.

So lets give context to the love before the season:

Right from the pilot episodes, one of the missions of the newly formed ninja team was to rescue the fire ninja Kai’s sister, Nya. 

And the lightning ninja, Jay, says this:

“We’re saving a girl? Is she hot?”

Right off the bat, and before they even met, the writers implied that Jay was gonna have a thing for Nya, the most major girl character in the entire show.

Jay and Nya properly meet in the second pilot episode after Kai rescues her, and they exchange their favorite colors. It so happens to be blue. Flirting.

Right off the bat, there is no hate each other until they love each other bull, there is no will they or will they won’t, from the moment they met, these two have had a thing for each other.

In fact, we don’t even really do a ‘will they or will they won’t’ with them, because the flirting carries over in the proper first season of the show.

So much so that their big milestone in their relationship is in Episode 8.

Yeah. That’s quick. It’s almost impressive.

Basically, that episode has Jay trying to impress Nya, Kai tricking him into giving his sister an allergy (like the great brother he is), and despite this, Nya accepting his proposal to go on a date. Unfortunately, Jay gets his finger pricked on a snake fang, and it’s worse sounding than it sounds when you know the context of the show. Wacky hijinks ensue when their secrets of their identities clash, with Jay being a nobody from a junkyard, and Nya being a Samurai ally to the ninja and wanting to keep that a secret because of some sexist bull. 

But by the end of the episode, they make up, confess their feelings, and become an official couple.

From there, there’s minimal drama between their relationship for the rest of Season One, and all of Season Two. It’s just been them flirting and praising each other, and being supportive. 

There was also an episode where an evil clone of Jay kisses Nya, and tells the real Jay about it, which makes Jay so mad that he essentially MURDERS him. 

Compared to Total Drama, and due to different show circumstances, this is actually a very tame thing to do.

So, Jay and Nya as a couple, pre-Rebooted, has had next to NO issues.

Now you might be wondering, if that’s the case, WHY IN THE NAME OF HECK did they decide to throw Cole into this? Where did he fit in all of this?

Well, I just rewatched all of Season One and Two for this post, and in terms of Cole and Nya interactions... there was nothing.

I’m not kidding. These two have not had ONE interaction with each other pre-Rebooted. The most is when Nya is talking to all the ninja, not Cole specifically.

So why would Nya suddenly have a thing for a guy she never talks to, when she has a good relationship with Jay?

And whatever you Total Drama people who haven’t watched Ninjago are thinking, it’s even dumber than that.

So in the premiere of Rebooted, they go to this sci-fi tour at the new Ninjago central tower... thing. The ninja are left doing plot stuff with Cyrus, and Nya is left to take care of kids and be a chaperon to a field trip. Little girls find this ‘perfect match’ machine, which is SUCH a real thing in the real world (sarcasm), and they make Nya try the machine.

And her perfect match is said to be Cole.

THAT is how Nya gets feelings for Cole.

Told you it was dumber than you think.

She did not gain feelings for Cole through any interaction with him, or other people pressuring the concept, or even her current boyfriend being any wrong to her. 

No.

It’s a freaking. MACHINE.

So right at the next time Nya is focused on, she is flirting with Cole. She mistakes him referring to the students with their kids, she gives him the looks, and she’s also holding hands with him.

Yeah. Nya is essentially CHEATING ON HER BOYFRIEND.

And again, she’s only doing this because a MACHINE SAID SO.

It’s not like she’s even trying to hide it, as Jay catches them. 

This makes Nya look horrendously unlikeable in the season, as you’d expect.

Why is this so OOC for her? Because there was ZERO prompting for this to happen. None. 

At most, you could say that Jay’s ego made her feel lesser of relevance, but to Ninjago’s credit, they do address that... IN SEASON SIX. 

So that’s not an excuse here. We’re talking about BEFORE Skybound.

Until Skybound, and I guess Tournament of Elements, Nya hasn’t had an issue with Jay’s ego. Again, in the episode where they hook up, she tells him that he doesn’t need to impress her. And they both agreed on such. 

In the third episode of Rebooted, it’s revealed that PIXAL is the AI of the machine that did all of this. Not only does she not apologize or tell Nya that she should let her heart decide, but she encourages the cheating and to dump Jay.

To be fair, I don’t really hold PIXAL accountable for the love triangle. At this point in the story, she’s just a robot doing her job, and knows little about showing humanity. And she just woke up from a near death experience, so yeah, I think it’s safe to say that she was numb when she told Nya this. PIXAL is really not trying to harm anybody, or say anything personal, she’s just saying what the program of the machine told her to say.

However, Jay hears PIXAL claim that Cole is Nya’s perfect match, explaining that Nya was indeed cheating on her, and it absolutely ENRAGES Jay.

So much so that when an unexpected Cole walks into the room, Jay physically tries to beat him up. 

They were friends before, and had some playful teasing in the first two seasons, but now it’s gone.

This is, deemed by many fans, one of the WORST scenes of the entire show.

I don’t blame them. I hate this scene too.

Even if you take the so called build up out, the scene is accompanied by awful dialogue and puns, so... there is NO ironically enjoying this either.

So from then on, Cole and Jay hate each other and spend the rest of the season fighting over Nya. To be fair, past this episode, it just turns into spiteful comments, and doesn’t escalate to any physical fighting until Season Four. 

And it’s not like they’re trying to kill each other. Quite the opposite in fact. (Jay does oblige in saving Cole from getting lost in space, no hesitation)

So yeah, this season, because of the love triangle, assassinated all three characters involved. And mind you, I LOVE Ninjago’s protagonists. I LOVE these characters. So when I say they’re OOC here, I mean it.

I already talked about Nya and how this was out of character for her. Because the sexist BS is the biggest pet peeve I have with Nya. Otherwise, she’s very compassionate, assertive, and a girlboss with a very strong character arc throughout the entire show.

Jay does have a right to be angry. After all, he was cheated on. But I think he’s mad at the wrong person. He never blames Nya for this at all, and only pins it on Cole as a heartless monster. That’s odd to me, because Nya cheated, and he SAW THAT. I thought he would yell at her at least once, but no, instead he demands she picks him like an egotist. That’s what someone possessive would do, and Jay has NEVER done this before.

Besides, if you think about it, he’s only mad because PIXAL, an AI, said he was no good for Nya. In that case, he should be mad at PIXAL too. Sure, I said that PIXAL couldn’t help it, but if I were Jay, yelling at her would be warranted. 

But nope. It’s all Cole’s fault, even though Cole was kind of a victim of circumstances.

Speaking of, why is Cole even into Nya?

Like I said, they haven’t talked before this. Cole has shown no signs of liking Nya, in fact, he seemed to support Jay and Nya as a couple. This is especially strange because Cole is the kind of character who knows exactly what he wants. If he was into Nya, he would’ve said so right away, especially before Jay even got with her.

The worst part is, the rest of the season only consists of Nya trying to decide who she likes, and the other two trying to fight for her affection. I don’t think they even mention the cheating after this. And again, it goes absolutely nowhere until Season Four, Episode Three.

In that episode, Jay and Cole are forced to fight each other by Clouse rigging the titular tournament. They’re actually not okay with this until Neuro, a guy who can read minds, escalates their rage. Then they’re okay with beating each other up with a ton of rage and grief towards each other. 

Before the match, Lloyd tells them to remember who the real enemy is. He is referring to Chen. This is the driving force to the rest of the fight.

In a fight scene that is actually visually pleasing, ngl, Cole and Jay go all out until a random point in the middle where Cole decides, ‘hey, you’re not my enemy, and I never even liked Nya, so yeah, I’ll just sacrifice myself so you can stay in the game, symbolizing how you won this love triangle.’

And they make up.

Despite the little effort and prompting beforehand. Like I said, they only did this because Lloyd said so. So why are they making up now if they hate each other so much?

And then any love life plotline with Cole completely drops, and Cole is left with no love interest until Master of the Mountain. Cole and Nya have some scenes together after this, but it’s clear that they’re just friends and it never goes anywhere. And in Skybound, the love triangle is just treated as the plot device that broke up Jay and Nya, as they get back together.

So did the love triangle really amount to anything besides that?

No.

You can wipe out this plotline entirely, and not much changes. The villains don’t take advantage of that specifically, and they forget about it afterwards, with no build up beforehand. 

Yeah you could argue Chen and Clouse took advantage of it, but they were after the ninja because they were spoiled the behind the scenes drama of their little game. They were threats, and an alliance, which their games try to discourage. So they would’ve set Cole and Jay up against each other anyway.

I fully understand why people hate this plotline, as it’s used for unnecessary drama. Unlike Total Drama, which uses titular DRAMA as a part of the plot’s torture, Ninjago has no reason for their drama to be unnecessary. This is not a torturous scenario Ninjago is living in, this is an action show!

I guess I can appreciate that Jay and Nya were able to recover from this and get back together. They even get married. My heart sings.

And at least in Ninjago, this plotline drama doesn’t seem to escalate, and people are able to forget about it.

Total Drama is a completely different story.

So lets talk about that.

Total Drama (Courtney, Gwen, and Duncan Love Triangle)

 I talked about Total Drama quite a bit on my blog already, so I’ll be brief.

Total Drama is about a group of teenagers being scammed onto a game show to try and become celebrities. Torture ensues. 

It’s far more treated like a reality show in cartoon form, I guess that’s the best way I can explain it.

Despite the fact that the love triangle here is HIGHLY loathed, even more so than Ninjago, and that I did headcanon posts of all three characters, I’ve avoided talking about the love triangle before this.

That fandom is THAT violent when it comes to this topic.

You will NEVER get the same POV about it.

So what I’m gonna say is guaranteed to tick off at least half of the people who read this.

PLEASE, just hear me out.

I don’t really ship either.

I haven’t been a hardcore Jaya fan either, but it’s the same mindset I gave to Duncney and Gwuncan. In the latter two’s case, it’s because they’re trapped under such awful circumstances, that being the show’s setting used to stress them out, screw up their heads, and torture them. And also the executives who forced this on the writers.

In the context of Total Drama’s writing staff, they didn’t want to do this either. They were forced to by the executives, who wanted to teach kids that breakups happen and you could end up with someone else.

That sounds like it has good intentions...

Until you find that the actual moral they delivered with the first breakup was that ‘If you break up with someone, the entire world will hate you. And you deserve it.’

I don’t think I need to tell you that’s a bad message.

To be fair, I’ve never been against either ship involved, so I don’t hate either.

But the canon circumstances?

OOF.

Let’s get this started:

So the first season of Total Drama is kind of a different story than with Ninjago.

Unlike Ninjago, which just had Jay and Nya as a couple and Cole was someone I assumed was ace (welcome to the club), all three people involved in the later love triangle had an established love interest and relationship.

Gwen, the third wheel and the Cole in this case, had a relationship with Trent, your typical guitar playing love interest and as generic of a love interest as you can get. But they get in a few shenanigans with Gwen being a stubborn loner, and Heather being Heather and doing one of my most hated story tropes, so they don’t get together until the end of the season. 

And then in season two, Trent gets his character assassinated and becomes possessive over Gwen, OVERLY so, and it causes Gwen to break up with him because as I said in previous posts, Gwen doesn’t know how to deal with relationships. 

And then the entire world treats Trent like a victim, that Gwen was the abusive one, and everyone hates Gwen.

And this is just the START of the Gwen social punching bag.

Then in season one, there was another relationship relevant to this topic: Duncan and Courtney.

They’re presented as your typical bad boy/good girl dynamic.

And they actually had fun chemistry. Ngl.

Duncan flirts with her, and Courtney tries to deny her feelings for him and masks it through lectures, claiming she hates his rude and rebellious behavior. Despite this, they keep having sexual tension, and they have a kiss in Episode 12.

You could say Ninjago has an advantage then, but keep in mind that Ninjago has 13 episodes in its season one, and Total Drama has 26 episodes. So I’d say they’re both impressive.

I would say that on an enjoyment standpoint, Duncan and Courtney, and Jay and Nya are very fun couples with fun chemistry. That’s why people liked them.

Jay and Nya however, barely had any drama going on in their relationship before Season Three.

Duncan and Courtney are a different story.

Like I said before, Courtney tried to deny her feelings for Duncan and masked it through lecturing her own love. It’s not until she finds out about Duncan’s more positive traits that she realizes she wants to be around him. Or rather, she can FIX him.

Yeah. Courtney is a fixer upper.

This is a trope in romance, and not a very good one if you ask me. Usually, I use the fixer upper to claim why a relationship would NOT work.

SHUT UP FROZEN.

And I don’t want to take this all out on Courtney and say she’s the problem. Duncan is a jerk as well. He’s a bully, he cares more about his image than being himself, and he also does stuff we’ll talk about in a minute. But in terms of the couple aspect, Courtney is the one raising the red flags in the beginning.

Now, I do think Courtney cares about Duncan and thinks she’s helping, but that is not the point. You can love your partner, and still abuse them.

Instead of these two working through their differences, Courtney just hands Duncan a list of things she wants to change about him, and is VERY strict about him following that. Prior to this, Duncan has annoyed her by trying to flirt with her, and she responds through lethal hits to the nuts, or physical punches, or mentally guilt tripping him. Prior to even that, she DITCHED him in his hour of her need for a million bucks.

Yeah, Total Drama LOVES romanticizing abusive relationships. That is a PROBLEM.

So Duncan, in his stress of the relationship, decides he doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore, and he votes her off the show, breaking them up.

And then he wins a million dollars, and they get back together.

“Now you’re saying that I’m a gold digger, but check my gleam up, hey go figure.” -Six

And then in Celebrity Manhunt, they publicly humiliate each other yet again, sue each other, and break up. So what was the point of them getting back together?

I heard people claim that in this same special, they have a kiss on the bus while bickering, so that means they’re back together.

If you want to see it that way?

Courtney did.

But let me ask you this: Where in this episode was that confirmed? Where did they agree to get back together?

Exactly.

Duncan never made it clear to Courtney that they weren’t back together in his mind. They had what you called a fling. Duncan does this. He is a horndog.

This is Duncan emotionally using Courtney for his own image. See, I told you Duncan wasn’t innocent in this.

Then there’s Gwen.

Unlike Cole and Nya, Duncan and Gwen actually DID have interactions pre-season three.

In season one, their dynamic started around the slasher episode, as they bonded over their shared enthusiasm for blood and gore in movies. They orchestrate the survival plan for the challenge, and betray each other, but I don’t think either of them took it that personally. They also helped each other/bickered in the castaway episode.

Their friendship properly starts in season two, where they have friendly interactions and help each other out in challenges. Gwen even picks Duncan first to be her teammate. 

It gets to a point where Trent, Gwen’s girlfriend at the time, gets jealous and thinks Gwen is hitting on Duncan. Gwen denies it and claims they’re friends, but no one believes her. In fact, when Gwen is sent to the Aftermath show and broken up with Trent, everyone accuses Gwen of dumping Trent for Duncan. Another reason why the show wants you to hate Gwen and absolutely no one else.

That is frustrating.

In the Celebrity Manhunt special, it’s revealed that Gwen DOES indeed have a crush on Duncan and just doesn’t want it to surface because he’s with Courtney. When she hears they broke up, she becomes interested again.

This is a year after season two, so we don’t know what happened that made Gwen change her mind.

Did Gwen and Duncan bond off screen?

That’s an even bigger possibility in this show than in Ninjago given the circumstances, but they never establish that they did.

Duncan quits Season Three at the start, but the producers track him down anyway. Before he returns, Courtney talks about how she misses him, and wants him back.

GWEN IS IN THESE SCENES BTW.

There’s also this exchange between Alejandro and Courtney in episode two that I noticed upon rewatch that I find interesting:

“Such witty remarks from such fiercely intelligent women. I’m both humbled and intrigued.”

“Nice try. But I’m with Duncan.”

“And what pity it is that you should give yourself to a quitter, who doesn’t deserve you.”

“That’s not-Duncan is-totally-you’re just- will someone hurry this camel up?!”

Obviously, Alejandro is playing her. He is the season’s bad guy after all. He’s taking advantage of the relationship strain. 

But consider how Courtney stutters when trying to defend Duncan? She’s trying to dodge any notion that Duncan would leave her. She thinks she’s doing the right thing, and can’t fathom the idea that she’s done something wrong. She doesn’t WANT to believe they’re broken up.

I’m shocked no one brings up this scene, actually.

During this, Gwen and Courtney, being on the same team, become friends from their shared hatred of Heather. Really, I think they just became friends because they’re the only non-simps, non-insane, non-horrible people on their team.

Friendships come from very unlikely places sometimes.

They didn’t really have any interactions before this. Cole and Jay had two whole seasons being on a team.

And then we get THE SCENE.

Duncan comes back, and immediately, Courtney lectures him for leaving her, then embraces him. He says that every time he ran from the cops, he thought of HER.

He’s staring at GWEN.

GWEN REALIZES THIS.

It brings her in a spiral of question late at night, and she’s clearly not thinking clearly. Are Duncan and Courtney a thing? Are they not? Does Courtney deserve him? Is Courtney a bad influence? Does Duncan like Gwen? Is Duncan interested in her?

Duncan shuts out any questions by coming into the bathroom to kiss her.

Thus, he cheats on Courtney with Gwen.

This can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but I think there’s two we can bring up.

One is the nature of Duncan’s character.

He is a horndog who cares about his image. He wants to be seen as a bad boy and not his true self. He wants is bad boy persona to be his true self. He wants validation from the people around him, so anyone who finds interest in that persona, he will bang. 

He’s not sweet good intended Nya. He’s quite the opposite.

But I don’t think it’s clear what his intention was. Was he trying to escape his situation with someone he trusts? Was he trying to spite Courtney? (I mean, All Stars implies that) Was he trying to start over with a new girl? Is he using Gwen? Does he actually love Gwen?

None of these questions get answered. We are given NO clear idea why Duncan did this. That’s why there’s such a division in perspective.

They could’ve at least had a confessional where Duncan explained his intent, whatever it was, but nope.

The other factor is the influence of the show.

This is the machine from Ninjago.

This is the PIXAL, if PIXAL was a sociopath.

The show fans assumed there was something going on with Duncan and Gwen, and they pressure them into trying to admit that being the truth. EVERYONE, throughout the year, pressure this. Geoff, Heather, fans, Chris, even Courtney herself. 

I talked about this in other posts, so I’ll be brief. The show screws up the morality of SEVERAL characters, to the point where they will do nasty stuff you wouldn't see them do in season one, where they were pure.

It’s very easy to assume that Gwen would only have feelings for Duncan because the show is pulling her strings.

But they don’t establish that either. That’s just my interpretation of it to try and make sense of this writing.

So take all of this with a grain of salt.

Gwen regrets the kiss afterwards, somewhat, well, only because afterwards Courtney goes on and on about how Duncan’s her boyfriend. I think Courtney’s just rubbing this in because she knew Gwen was crushing, and wanted to keep her away from him.

I guess you could say Courtney is Total Drama’s Tsundre.

That makes a lot more sense in a minute.

Gwen and Duncan discuss the matter of Gwen kissing Courtney’s boyfriend in a song. Duncan sings he has no regrets, and Gwen reminds him of Courtney. They both agree that they should stop with the secrets and come clean. They know what will happen, so it’s better to just tell the truth.

Then Duncan gets mauled by a bear, so they have to wait until after the challenge.

But then Alejandro figured it out and outs it to Courtney, ruining it.

Courtney IMMEDIATELY becomes bloodthirsty on Gwen, and next to EVERYONE joins Courtney in berating Gwen. (Except Cody)

This scene, alongside the Jay and Cole scuffle, hurts to watch.

But I will confess, I prefer to watch the Total Drama fallout scene, because I think the voice acting in the scene is better. You can feel Courtney’s heartbreak as she screams at her nonstop, and the sinister craziness awakening in her. And Gwen CRYING?! REGRETTING what she did?!

Come on, there’s at least SOME value here besides Cody getting a dub.

Even if it is little value besides Cody getting a dub.

From here on out, EVERYONE on the plane (Again, except Cody) HATE Gwen’s guts. They will not let her forget what she did. They will never give her a single iota of grey area besides ‘You suck Gwen, we hate you, the entire world hates you, and you deserve to be hated. Go jump off a plane and die so we can have a party about it.’

Gwen and Duncan even try to apologize, but no one takes it.

This is like Cole and Jay, only it’s not just Jay berating Cole, it’s EVERYONE.

I think I would’ve stopped watching Ninjago for years if that was the case, because that would’ve been PAINFUL to watch.

Courtney is the key factor of this hate club, and rallies everyone up to hate on Gwen and Duncan and try to remove them. Sierra, Heather, Tyler, Alejandro, who the last one WANTED to happen as he’s now in control of her. 

And unlike Jay, Courtney actually DOES berate the cheater for what they did. Deserved.

But then again, at least Jay doesn’t sing a song about trying to kill the other point of the triangle.

50/50.

To Courtney, this is all a serious betrayal. Gwen and Duncan were the only people Courtney allowed herself to open up to, and then they betray her. She has a right to be mad, but not a right to her actions driven by the madness.

For Gwen, Duncan is now the only person she can feel safe with. People tend to cling to the kindness in their life that’s the closest to them. This is why Gwen chooses to stay with Duncan and ignore all the hate she’s getting. She needs love in this moment. 

And then Duncan tries to play Alejandro by pretending to still be into Courtney. It’s an act, but still.

We never see on screen if Duncan explained himself and apologized to Gwen.

Ninjago had a whole season and three episodes worth of love triangle drama.

Total Drama only has three episodes.

And then it abruptly ends unconcluded. 

Courtney wanted to get revenge on Gwen by dumping her off the plane and making Duncan jealous of her.

Technically, she WON.

She gets Gwen out, and she, not intentionally, uses Scott to make Duncan jealous, which causes Gwen to leave him.

Sorry, getting ahead of myself.

Now lets address All Stars.

You could argue this focuses on the love triangle as well, and... kinda? But, All Stars seems to bail on EVERY plotline World Tour had. I have NO IDEA why this is, as unlike Rebooted, World Tour is a FAN FAVORITE SEASON. But they bailed on everything.

And it’s clear that the writers had no objective with giving the love triangle an ending. 

The season is more so focused on Courtney finding a new boyfriend in Scott, that she plans to use, Duncan being thrusted into a heroes position and wanting to be a bad guy again, and Gwen, once again, being hated by everybody around her.

Duncan and Gwen have NO romantic scenes together, and Gwen constantly shuts him out in favor of trying to make things right with Courtney. The girl she BETRAYED.

She also claims that Duncan was not Courtney’s boyfriend at the time, thus she didn’t do anything wrong...

I’m ASSUMING Duncan told Gwen that story to get her on his side. THAT would make sense of this phrase. BUT the writers never establish that.

And again, Duncan only gets jealous because Gwen’s ignoring him when he’s trying to help, and Courtney’s finding a new slave to give her the win. My assumption is that he’s trying to strike up a conversation with Gwen, considering Gwen wanted to make things right with Courtney, but again, no establishment that this is Duncan’s motive.

So Gwen gets fed up with that, and dumps Duncan, shutting him out of her life.

This scene is SO QUICK, that it feels like an afterthought. There’s no blowout, there’s no prompting, there’s no remorse for the action later besides one Duncan confessional, it’s just ‘okay, they’re broken up now, Gwuncan haters can chill the F out.’

Is that the motive? What about the people who liked Gwuncan as a concept and wanted to see more of them? 

Here’s a writing tip: If your fans don’t like an aspect of your story, DON’T bail out of it. WORK on it. MAKE IT BETTER.

In my series that I’m doing, Destiny’s Burden, a lot of my beta readers didn’t like one of my characters at first. They considered her insufferable, annoying, selfish, and stereotypical. But instead of writing that character out of the plot, I took the time to give that character development, and have them develop less of a spoiled personality. Now that character is a fan favorite among my beta readers.

THIS IS WHERE YOU DO THAT, BUT WITH THE LOVE TRIANGLE.

THIS IS WHERE YOU WRITE IT BETTER.

And then there’s the last part of this. Gwen and Courtney making up.

Unlike Tournament of Elements, which threw in the forgiveness at the last minute, Gwen actually puts in the effort beforehand to be friends with Courtney again. She tries REALLY hard actually.

Gosh, I CANNOT believe I’m saying ALL STARS did something better than THE TOURNMENT OF ELEMENTS. WHAT AM I ON?!

And, looking at the Cole and Jay tournament fight, and the Gwen and Courtney boxing match... this is the same scene.

This is literally the same scene, minus the sacrifice Ninjago had.

They duke it out, they beat each other, and they apologize in the middle, explaining that they never missed the girl/guy, they just missed each other, and they make up and become friends again.

I prefer the Ninjago scene though, because it’s way more visually pleasing, and the dialogue seems more sincere to me. Courtney and Gwen’s ‘apology’ is so corny I can’t-

So what is the ending of Total Drama’s love triangle? Courtney and Gwen become best friends in la la land, they trash over Duncan, and cheer when he’s thrown in jail.

And then Courtney betrays Gwen, making all the love and support Gwen got back meaningless. But hey, that’s not relevant to this topic.

Most people in the fandom claim that this was character assassination on all three characters. Just like I said with Ninjago. 

Here’s the thing: Total Drama has more episodes around this time. Ninjago didn’t. I know NOW it’s not a contest on which show had more episodes, but looking at it, Ninjago, in four seasons, had 44 episodes, and Total Drama, in four seasons, had 91.

This is a double edge sword, as on one hand Total Drama has more to work with. On the other, Total Drama has more to work with.

After all, like I said, we are given no clear motive for why Duncan even cheated, or didn’t tell Courtney that they weren’t together anymore. Gwen was cheated on technically in season one, and here she is doing that same emotional betrayal in season three to Courtney. And again, the whole ‘he wasn’t your boyfriend’.

There’s multiple instances where literally ONE MORE SCENE of ANY part of this plotline could’ve helped it make more sense. But no. The writers just really did not want to write this. Again, they were forced to. It shows.

But I will say this, unlike with Ninjago’s love triangle, the Total Drama love triangle is SEVERELY plot relevant. You CAN’T write it out.

Everyone says they should’ve just written it out... how? 

Every fanfic I’ve seen that’s written the love triangle out actively made the story less interesting, and gave the three characters involved nothing to do. 

The villains, again, take advantage of the situation to give themselves plot armor. This is how Alejandro uses Courtney. She would’ve never helped him otherwise. This is what makes Heather jealous, prompting the last quarter of World Tour. This is what season two’s Gwen bashing has built up to. This is what makes Gwen the biggest social punching bag of the entire show. This is what spawns Gwen to become a villainous vulture. This is the start of Duncan’s downfall, and his mental distress getting him behind bars later.

You NEED the love triangle to be a thing for the story to make any sense.

I’m sorry, but that’s what I see.

Which is Worse?

Now to answer the money question.

Which plotline is worse?

This is REALLY subjective. So take it with a grain of salt.

Both of these plotlines have huge issues. They are both dampers to their season three. 

Ninjago had a worse motive, a more pathetic fight, dragged on, and had no plot relevance whatsoever.

Total Drama had a more unlikeable cast participating, poor establishment of motive, ended way too quickly, and suffered from no ending.

I think we can both agree on the quality on both of these plotlines.

It really depends on which plotline I would prefer to watch a compilation of over and over again.

And in that sense...

I think I’d pick Total Drama as the better one.

This is for a few reasons: 

One is that Total Drama is a far more morally grey show, so its characters are far more morally grey than with Ninjago. It’s more believable that the TD characters would do stuff so spiteful towards each other, than the Ninjago characters. This makes it so that you can see everyone’s point of view, and the plotline becomes welcome for multiple interpretations. 

Two is that there was SOME build up to the cheating. You could say that it was bad build up, but at least it WAS build up. What build up was there in Ninjago? Oh yeah, none.

Three is that Total Drama’s plotline is actually plot relevant. If I have to watch the love triangle to watch World Tour, I’ll watch it. I won’t skip it. If I skip it, I know I’ll miss vital information for the rest of the story.

That said, though I say Ninjago is the worse plotline, it does have an advantage of having a better makeup scene, and an actual ending. And the characters were able to recover because of that.

Because, with all six of these characters, I DO like them all. I want the best for them (even if Duncan arguably doesn’t deserve it)

But let me know your thoughts. Would you agree? Disagree? Is there something I missed? Let me know.

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

Welcome to Tumblr, Spop Fans!

Having seen a pretty decent post about the need to be welcoming to the tumblr refugees... (regarding how some of the nastier groups are always welcoming to new potential members, therefore decent people ought to knock off the “get off our lawn!” crap).... in that spirit, I’ve decided to give a little rundown of how things work on here for this specific fandom.   Okay, so She-Ra and the Princesses of Power fandom - a contentious place.  We all have our favorite characters and ships and also our NOTPS and characters we hate.   Having been here a while, well, the Spop fandom on tumblr has developed a certain etiquette to avoid drama.  It is not always followed.  Those who do not follow it suffer the consequences.   If you have a rant AGAINST a certain character or ship - you’re just talking about how much you dislike them or how much you think the creator-crew messed up their story-arc, or you hate the way their fans behave and have a “don’t trust fans of X-character!” rant or even BASIC ANALYSIS that is critical of a character or ship, the common convention is to please tag your post (tags are at the bottom of the window when you post, labeled “#tags” - you can put anything there you want), do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT put the character’s name / character names / ship name plain in there!   You need to put “anti-”  If you are critical of Catradora, for instance, or you dislike Hordak, you HAVE to label it “anti-catradora” or “anti-hordak” to avoid trouble.   You may still run into trouble because sometimes tumblr reads an anti-tag as a character-tag.  Generally, if you have an “anti-” tag in there, you have an alibi if tumblr screws up.  Usually it will not show up in the regular character-tag, but on the chance that it does, you can point to your original post or screenshot it with the tags and show people that you’ve tagged it correctly.   This is something that has developed in the fandom because people who enjoy characters and ships and want to search for something positive - fun fanart, fanfics, happy analysis - well, we like to be able to search clean and not have to deal with the negativity of people who are dunking on the things and characters we like.    THIS IS ENFORCED.  It is not necessarily enforced by tumblr, but it is enforced by the respective fandom-cliques.   Post an anti-character rant tagged with that character’s general tag? YOU WILL BE DOGPILED.   There are people here who make sport of analyzing “bad takes” and having a field day arguing with people and putting people up for ridicule and callout posts - sometimes with stalking and screenshots.   Sometimes even someone who enjoys a character making a silly joke about them will have their joke taken the wrong way and will get dogpiled and might even run the risk of getting labeled this or that “phobic” over the misunderstanding, or at least labeled as not respecting the character / ship or their fans, even if it’s furthest from the truth.  (I’ve seen it happen). So, use those anti-tags or maybe don’t tag at all if you’ve got such a rant.   Now, I don’t think this stuff goes on as much as it used to - the fandom mellowed out a great deal in the last year or so, but just in case some of you birdsite-refugees are coming in and are simply unfamiliar with the tagging-system here or some of the divides in the fandom, I’m trying to put forth tips to keep down honest misunderstandings.   Purposeful trolls, well... I’m just hoping people in my fandom will be mature enough simply to block people they don’t like (but I doubt it until some screeching has passed).  I’m not looking forward to it.  

For that matter, if anyone has anon-ask enabled on their Asks-box (I do not on any of my blogs. You have to use a signed account as I got some obnoxious asks), do not abuse the privilege.  If you actually harass someone over their fandom opinions, they will very likely take away anon asks or asks altogether. Those who don’t are probably drama llamas and I suppose they leave themselves open to what they get.   That brings to mind another thing:  New account? If you want people to send you Asks, you have to enable that in your settings.  You have the option from there to Allow Anon Asks (in which case people do not have to sign their accounts) or to disallow it.  If you disallow it, all asks to you must be signed (therefore if you get someone obnoxious, you can block them.  You cannot block anons, you can only delete them instead of answering them, but you will still get them in your inbox). YOU HAVE TO DO THIS FOR ALL YOUR BLOGS.  If you run sideblogs (such as what I do for different fandoms and different interests - freedfromthegalactichivemind is not my main), you have to work your settings specific to every blog.  If you block someone from your main account, for instance, but do not block them from your sideblog, they will be able to see and respond to your sideblog.   Anyway, I hope that this is helpful, but in general and in specific to this fandom. Please manage your Asks, use character tags and anti-tags appropriately, and be careful out there.  

[serpentarii]

do you have any advice for growing your writeblr?

i don't know how qualified i am to answer this, but here are some of the most helpful things i've learned over the past 3+ years of being on writeblr 🫡

engage with other writeblrs

if you see someone rb an ask game, send an ask ! if you see a tag game with an open tag, do it ! if you see a post actively asking for wips like yours, rb it ! it might seem a little hard to put yourself out there at first, but when people are offering a chance at engagement you should take it. if you find yourself drawn to certain people (and maybe even become mutuals 😳) ask them if they'd like to become critique partners or even just a friend to bounce ideas off of in the dms. if that still seems a too extreme, here is loml maddie @veneritia's posts on starting your writeblr & writeblr etiquette, as well as hottie @helioselene's crash course for navigating writeblr.

post consistently

by my standards that could mean bimonthly (twice a month or once every other month) but yes, consistent content for consistent projects is the place to start. even if i'm working on multiple projects simultaneously, i only ever post about 1-2 at a time to keep things less confusing. it's also generally a green flag to your taglist that the thing they are interested in is being actively worked on.

post quality

"it's writeblr, not graphicblr" iykyk 😮‍💨 i'm not saying you have to immediately learn graphic design, digital art, etc. in fact, when i started out, i literally had no idea how to make any fancy graphics. a good moodboard can do just as much, but imho presentation matters. there can be a bit of a learning curve though, so i'll link some of the free resources i use:

photopea - it's like photoshop but on desktop

canva - has a bunch of free assets, fonts, & templates without watermarks. very beginner friendly 💞

unsplash - high quality, free-to-use photos

dafont - tons of free fonts

psds - i've linked @cavalierfou's resource navigation page, since they have a lot of free, beginner friendly templates to help you get started !

but quality content isn't all smoke and mirrors. make sure it has substance to it as well. if i post a last line tag, i am not going to ping my entire taglist just so they can look at three out-of-context lines. if i make a character moodboard on a whim, i'll be sure to add a relevant, decently-sized piece of writing/information to go with it. not every post has to be a party, but it's super important to not abuse your taglist 😤

make friends !!!

yeah ik, my intp ass hates having to say this, but it's really the most important point on this list. join discord servers ! join @welcometowriteblr ! (#notspons) slide into those dms (respectfully) ! it can be hard, it can take time, it can even seem impossible, but having a creative, supportive, & super hot friend group to hype and get hyped by really makes all the difference.

aight, that's all i've got for now. best of luck to you anon 🪄

[tenelkadjowrites]

the hongmullet needs to come back seriously 😭 mullets and wolf cuts became popular so i guess that's the reason lots of newer fans love it! as they should. hongjoong the trendesetter, lol.

twt is a cesspool so i barely used it nowadays, can't say shit on there without people twisting your words. i would say that there's a thin line and many people masquerade themselves as heavily biased, but they're in fact solo stans, i met a few and they definitely lack self-awareness. i think it's fine to be a solo FAN, but a STAN is too much. there are a few idols i really like, but unfortunately their group don't interest me, so i'm a fan, but not a hardcore one.

honestly you're not the only one who exclusively/primarly writes for specific member(s), and it's okay. i also noticed less and less people take requests, cause it can be overwhelming. awww, the numbers can be a lot, but you deserve them! i noticed you don't talk a lot about yourself which is okay, but i'm glad this account opened you up a bit so you could meet some nice people.

omg, you've already posted the christmas fic! and excuse me not hwa jerking off in someone's house with the door ajar, and stealing a dress huh? 😳 man violated that piece of clothing lol! anyways i thought it would be a one shot, so i'm pleasantly surprised and looking forward to the next part

i'd die if hj brought back the mullet but he doesn't seem to revisit hairstyles so i think the chances are pretty low. and for my own mental health, i kinda hope seonghwa doesn't ever dye his hair red again because he had red hair for like ten seconds and i ended up writing addicting kitten cuz of it and my life still hasn't known peace lol. i associate hwa's red hair with that fic so much that i've never written another fic where he has red hair lmao.

i have a lot of friends on twitter so i use it to talk to them/shitpost with them but i don't use it nearly as much as i used to because it's just a total drain. it's funny cuz now i prefer tumblr over any other social media site because it feels the most laid back. on twitter, its just like you can't say even the most normal shit without pissing someone off. did you see that tweet where a woman just shared her joy at drinking coffee every morning with her husband and got a ton of hate tweets sent her way? like wtf.

i don't take requests cuz i never have a lack of ideas, my problem is i simply have TOO many ideas and not enough time for them all. i also used to freelance write for a long time and had to write what other ppl wanted so fics were a way to write whatever i wanted in a relaxing manner and i just stuck with that. (i stopped freelancing cuz it was a lot of work for shitty pay.)

yeah, i struggle a lot with talking about myself in general and on this account in particular i am aware 99 percent of people follow it just for my smut fics, not because they have any interest in the person actually writing them (which is absolutely fine). i've had some people curious about who is writing these fics and have reached out to me and i've made close friends through their efforts. i also worry if too much of myself is shown, it might interfere with reading the fics. (for ex if i listed off my influences, dived into why i wrote something in a scene a certain way, etc, then the reader might have that in mind when they read something from me and it might cloud the story so i try not to state any of those things unless someone asks directly.)

the christmas fic was entirely supposed to be a one shot. i told myself after arrow to take a break with multi chapter fics for my own sake but of course i ended up with multiple smut scenes for this idea and simply must write them all and now here we are with a three part fic lol sigh. that's how it always goes with hwa.

[marysittingathisfeet]

When My Brother Is My Enemy

Exodus 17:8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

The Jews had just escaped Egypt. Suddenly the nation of Amalek attacks without provocation. The Jews were not even headed in the direction of the Amalekite land and were not anywhere near it. So why did they attack?

Who were the Amalekites? They were nomadic descendants of Esau- Jacob's twin brother. They never got along and were exact opposites. The bible tells us that they even wrestled in the womb. Esau gives Jacob his birthright in trade for a bowl of stew. Later Jacob disguises himself as Esau in order to trick Jacob into blessing him instead of Esau. Jacob then flees to Haran for his life.

While Jacob was living in Haran with his 2 wives and 2 concubines. Esau was living in Canaan with his four wives. Esau hated Jacob for tricking him out of his birthright.

Esau's oldest son was named Eliphaz. Eliphaz had a son named Amalek. Amalek most likely grew up in Esau's household or at least near it. I am certain that Esau expressed that hatred over and over to his family and friends. As a consequence Amalek learned to hate his great uncle as well. This hatred was passed down from generation to generation as Esau's descendants retold the story of how their ancestor was cheated. Amalek's offspring became the nation of Amalek, and they lived to the south of the Land of Israel, in what is now known as the Negev Desert. Hearing the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea and no longer under the protection of Egypt, the Amalekites saw a chance for revenge. Or so they thought.

divine intervention the Jews were able to defeat the Amalekites . Moses commanded Joshua to take an elite troop of soldiers into battle the next day. Moses himself ascended a nearby mountain to pray for Gods salvation.

Exodus 17:10,11 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hand, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.

Joshua defeats the Amalekites. God is angry that the Amalekites attacked and he commands Moses to "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. - Exodus 17:14.

God did indeed wipe out the Amalekite nation. Although the nation of Amalekite no longer exists, However, Jews refer to any group or individual committed to the destruction of the Jewish people as Amalek. The Holocaust is a prime example.

What can we learn from this story? Be careful what you teach your children. Unknowingly you can pass down hatred, bitterness, and other negative thoughts and behaviors that can impact their future decisions. Esau did not temper his tongue and as a consequence, his descendants were wiped from the earth.

Shortly after the Israelites met their distant cousins, they soon met another branch from the Abrahamic tree. But this is for next time.

[go-go-devil]

what is your favorite classic sonic game and favorite modern sonic game? also if you like, mania can be grouped with the classic games :]

I already gave an answer to my favorite classic game, so I'll answer this portion with my second favorite classic Sonic game: Sonic CD!

Or more specifically the 2011 remaster made by Christian Whitehead. I never got to play the original Sega CD release nor the Sonic Gems Collection version, but honestly I don't need to because this remains the best version of the game to play and may very well be the best remaster of any video game ever! It not only enhances the visuals and gameplay speed, but also lets you pick between the Japanese and American soundtracks + giving you the option to play as Tails!

The only aspect of the game that puts it slightly (and I mean VERY slightly) below Sonic 3K for me is because I need to be in a certain mood to get fully immersed in this game's level design. It's more vertical and chaotic than the smoothly paced greatness that is 3K's zones, but when I'm in the mood to explore and embrace the zaniness of it all it truly is one of the best and most unique platforming experiences out there ✨

(Also the Japanese OST is the best Sonic soundtrack ever made and one of the best in all of gaming imo)

Now as for my favorite modern Sonic game...

Oh yeah, I'm so predictable and I don't care 😎

I consider SA2 to be the last of the "Classic Era" of Sonic games, but by the franchise's technical definitions of what differentiates classic from modern Sonic this would technically be a "Modern Sonic" game due to Sonic's gameplay and design here. Honestly I hate what Sega did by separating the 2D and 3D games into different universes since I think it's kinda lame and takes away the connected storyline the series once had (something even Sonic Generations didn't tamper with for its crossover).

But anyway, my love for SA2 goes beyond mere nostalgia. For me this game will always be the series's flawed masterpiece; a game that put so much effort into every single component of its level design and story that, while not always hitting the landing, still provided us with a truly unforgettable experience.

To me this game not only remains the best controlling and most consistently entertaining 3D Sonic game, but also the last Sonic game that truly put the effort into EVOLVING the mechanics from the previous game.

This point might piss some people off, but really think about it. When was the last time a mainline Sonic game, not counting the handhelds, which both fixed the fundamental flaws of its predecessor and added onto them in new and meaningful ways?

Sonic Heroes's team-based mechanics were dropped immediately for Shadow the Hedgehog's morality system and gun gameplay, which too was quickly dropped by the next game. Sonic 06 tried and failed spectacularly to continue the Adventure formula. The Storybook games aren't mainline games but there are many who are divisive on whether Black Knight truly fixed most of the issues of Secret Rings.

Even the boost games didn't do this. Colors only removed the added gameplay mode of Unleashed's werehog levels without actually changing the automation of boosting, and Generations only separated the 2.5D and 3D gameplay without changing the boost formula either. Lost World created a brand new parkour system that was never touched by any future games ever again. Rise of Lyric's puzzle and beat-em-up elements were never attempted again. Sonic Forces went back to the boost formula with zero tweeks to the gameplay, and Frontiers made everything open world and seemed to reinvent the formula AGAIN.

I don't care if I sound old school at this point, this series has developed a major identity problem. For me SA2 will always be the true sendoff for the Golden Age of the blue hedgehog because it was the last game that was allowed to grow and take chances before Sega put Sonic Team and its future games in a capitalistic stranglehold. Even the boost trilogy will never compare to this one for me because, as polished as those games are, their gameplay and stories just don't appeal to me nearly as much as this amazing game 💙🖤