#get off your soapbox Steph

[1863-project]

Actually really frustrated right now because people just refuse to let binaries go and love assuming sexuality and gender based on likes and interests. Just went into the notes on this post and it was a bunch of people fighting over whether or not this young man is an egg because he discovered he looks good in a dress, and...not everyone who dresses a certain way is going to be able to be sorted into a binary gender like that, and clothing choices don't necessarily indicate gender identity. There's a huge difference between intentionally coding your clothing choices and presentation to suggest your identity to others and just wearing what you want when you want.

Gender essentialism has come back so stupidly strongly lately and it's infuriating. I'm a masculine cishet woman and gender essentialism actively contributes to my societal de-gendering, because I've noticed I'm only noticed or acknowledged as a woman when I perform femininity and womanhood in extremely specific ways.

I'll be direct and blunt here: gender essentialism is a tool of oppression, and everyone who assumes a feminine man or a masculine woman has to inherently be trans is actively contributing to it and suppressing the wide range of human expression. Sometimes they are trans, and sometimes they aren't, but it's deeply parasocial to make assumptions about strangers the way you would about fictional characters. You can't read a real person the way you would a text or the plot of a television show. If you're insistent that people have to behave only in ways that are appropriate to their gender and that if they aren't doing so they absolutely have to be the opposite binary gender, you're hurting yourself and others and I would suggest having a good hard think about who benefits from you insisting there is only one way for each binary gender to be.

(And of course nonbinary folks inherently exist outside of these binary genders, and there is immense prejudice against intersex people across the board regardless of how they identify. Those could easily be their own posts but I think that uplifting NB and intersex folks' voices would be even better to do here.)

[lemonlimestar]

3 7 16 and 22!!

tyyy :]

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

rimi why would u ask me this. there are so many. off the top of my head: the one fucking post where jason takes the wheels off of babs’ wheelchair “so she can rest,” the “steph is actually abusive 🤓☝️” post, the one au where knockout is a genuine mentor for kon (???????????????), the person who said steph and cass are siblings and babs is their mom and bruce is their dad (?????????), fucking clone babies. all of the clone babies. i hate the clone babies. kon actually wouldn’t be cool with being cloned without his consent and his relationship with tim would be forever tainted. hope this helps!

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

our dear friend jtodd. sick of him always and forever. i don’t tend to like villain characters in general but he Could be compelling if i still cared enough to engage with him more. bring back the pillhead and his little cunty outfit from batman&robin 2009 at this point u guys need to learn a lesson. also bruce lowkey, but honestly he pisses me off more in canon akdjsksj

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

already answered However i’d like to get on soapbox about how people strip characters of basic, foundational skills they either canonically (or honestly logically) have and or even enjoy doing. tim knows how to take care of himself. when you’re a vigilante who lacks superpowers you sort of need to know how to keep up your physical health to a certain extent. he’s not a coffee addict (<- forever a horrible take lmao) who doesn’t know how to function! he actively cooks for people he loves in canon! dick even taught him how to do laundry! and general chores! honestly, i feel like the way fanon tim gets treated ties into the casual ableism of fandom but i have to gather my thoughts better for all that akdhjssj

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

i also already answered this one but i will tack on kon’s nerdy interests and general dork personality <3 he likes star trek and lord of the rings…. his favorite show is a buffy knockoff… he has fuzzy slippers and kiss boxers…. he says shit like this

kon-el i love u

[goddesspharo]

ficmojis? 💡⭐ [turn your shattered dreams into rhapsodies]; 🗝️📜🎵 [all the world's a stage]

ask me about writing!

For turn your shattered dreams into rhapsodies:

💡-What was the motivation behind the story?

I loved the first season of Roswell, New Mexico so much (the best season tbh), but there were some threads in it that I really wish they'd followed through on during the subsequent seasons. One of the most intriguing things about Kyle in S1 was that he trying to do better while living with the guilt that his dad died thinking that he was going to be a douchebag forever. And when he finally found out that this guy he put on a pedestal for so long was actually Very Flawed and not always great but tried to be better, instead of exploring sad, hot, introspective Kyle being fully in his feelings era, they saddled him with an extremely meaningless romance with Steph, who then peaced out offscreen! In contrast, I think Isobel's post-Noah arc through the first half of S2 was great, but then the show kind of forgot about it. But the thing that I really wanted them to get into post-S1 was that there was a part of Isobel that loved Noah and when she found out he was a monster, she didn't know how to reconcile that. (When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it.) I'm still low-key obsessed with that idea and would write a billion fics about it. But in terms of this fic, it made sense that these two extremely hot people who spent large chunks of their lives trying to be perfect would gravitate towards each other because there were only a finite number of people who knew the truths that they did and maybe it was easier to be vulnerable with someone in the group who was, at best, a friend-by-proxy. And also, your honor, I love them! I've wanted them to go there with Kyle and Isobel since she mind-controlled him into stabbing her ("like bad girl RiRi") and while I appreciate a good slow burn like everyone else, they could've started it a hell of a lot sooner! (It's also not satisfying if they fumbled the whole of the final season so we never got to see those losers date! I will never get off that soapbox!)

⭐- What’s a scene/paragraph you’re proud of?

I I like the scene where Kyle calls Isobel over to help with Rosa's wayward powers only to make up a work emergency to get out of the line of fire when they look like they're about to kill each other. The Isobel and Rosa banter was extremely fun to write!

For all the world's a stage:

🗝️-What were you thinking when you wrote it?

The 2015-2016 awards season was a great time to be a Domhnall Gleeson fan because he was doing so much press for Star Wars (I think?) and had done all this press for Ex Machina was and going to all the award shows for Brooklyn and The Revenant and looking extremely handsome. It has been so many years that I can't remember if it was in a podcast or if I made it up in my head, but I remember him talking about how great Alicia Vikander was when she was getting buzz for The Danish Girl and I was already so much about them post-Anna Karenina and Ex Machina that of course I was all about it and the thought of them running into each other at one of these things was enough for sustain me. Also there was this at the BIFA and to this day I love it with all my heart, Back in those days, the post-awards show stuff was also so much fun because no one knew what was happening at those parties except blurbs in Vanity Fair about the most random mish-mosh of celebs talking or dancing or getting drunk together so you were free to let your imagination run wild. Leo was still thirsting after his first Academy Award so the memes were hilarious. It was truly the halcyon days of award show fodder and I miss them. (And also everyone would get drunk at The Golden Globes because it was the only one that wasn't a dry event so it was EVEN BETTER.) Now everyone is boring and the circles are all the same and it's the same argument about how the frontrunner for an Oscar shouldn't be the frontrunner and blah blah blah, let Domhnall Gleeson be in more Oscar-nominated stuff.

📜-Do you want to write something like this again in the future?

It was a ton of fun, but we do not have to worry about it happening in the future because Alicia Vikander is committed to never making a good movie again! The least Alicia Vikander and Domhnall Gleeson could do is get on the work-together-every-ten-years-and-be-delightful train that Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon have boarded.

🎵- Did you have a playlist/piece of music that went with this story?

It's been so long that I have no idea what I could possibly have been listening to at the time and since the title is from Shakespeare instead of a song, past!me didn't even help out there. I bet you I was listening to something from Carly Rae Jepsen's Emotions album on repeat at some point throughout the course of writing this thing.

[wunderlass]

I’m feeling so deflated to be writing this post. S1 had its flaws but those could be placed at the feet of a freshman showrunner who could learn from her mistakes going into S2 and up her game. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and S2 was a mess.

S1 had a clear central plotline: the mystery of Rosa’s death, leading to justice in the form of Noah’s death and Rosa’s resurrection. S2’s central plotline was…um. The kidnappings? Leading into the plot to blow up Crashcon? I think? But there was so much other stuff gong on it’s hard to tell.

Carina – if you happen to come stumbling into the tags for reactions – you’ve already acknowledged that you struggle to edit your scripts down for length. And it does show in the finished product. But you also struggle to edit your ideas down to fit into the episode count you have. There were too many extraneous plot threads this season, too many guest characters, and the ideas you had were shoddily and sloppily executed.

There were shining moments scattered here and there and the occasional good episode, but for the most part this season lurched from badly paced episode to badly paced episode. Stuff was crammed into each episode and yet somehow the plot also treaded water until 2x11 when it all kicked off – and this was because so much of what happened in the earlier episodes didn’t feed into the main plot. Even Max’s death, the overarching motivation for many characters at the beginning, was shoved to the side for other ideas.

And the payoffs for each of these storylines was too often underwhelming. Max can’t come back because he’ll be full of dark energy and a destructive force! Resolved in 30 seconds by him blowing up a pile of stuff. Max can’t remember Liz! Fixed in the same episode. That pattern continued with the finale feeling like it was trying to wrap up all these storylines without really having a story of its own. The various cliffhangers from Crashcon were tied up before the title card and then let’s spend the next 40 minutes treading water again.

There were good moments in the finale. Max and Isobel’s discussion, the Maneforrest kiss, Rosa and Helena’s reunion. But as for the rest? Hear me whine:

-          Jesse’s death was anticlimactic. His line about “no more Manes men” makes no sense given as far as he knew Flint (and maybe Clay?) is still alive. His death should have been poetic because one of his son’s killed him but it didn’t hold the weight it should have, possibly because it came so early in the episode.

-          It would have been far better if Jesse had discovered that Harlan killed Tripp and buried him beneath the shed. How awful would it have been for his entire worldview to be shaken by that revelation? How perfect would it have been if he discovered that Tripp loved Nora? If he died after learning all of that, becoming desperate and sloppy in whatever scheme he was trying to pull off (self-immolation via the bomb?), it would have been a fitting ending.

-          So many characters this season were badly served. Alex, Michael, and to a lesser extent Max, had real arcs and progression. Alex especially you can see them setting up his growth for a payoff in the finale. 

-          Kyle was shafted, shoved to the side for the Steph storyline that didn’t feel like it was going anywhere, and I suspect we got a lot of that cut away to make room for other stories.

-          Rosa’s story started off strong and then mostly got tied into rehab or helping Isobel. Them having her out and about in public in Roswell is complete nonsense.

-          Max had a line for Isobel about her becoming her “entire self” this season, and that rang false to me. We’ve only seen Isobel develop her powers. Her personality has shifted each episode, fractured and inconsistent, dependant on what the writers needed her to do. She didn’t get much of a storyline of her own – the abortion was redundant, serving as a political soapbox for Carina rather than anything that served the character – and while she’s found out more about her heritage, that’s never been as important as Michael or Max finding out about theirs. She said she wanted to become more like her mother and that never went anywhere.

-          I was so hopeful that Carina had listened and understood the criticisms with Maria’s handling in S1 and worked to improve it. She certainly gave her increased screentime. Except, so much of that screentime was tied into Michael, and latterly Isobel. She lacked interactions with Liz or Rosa. She was in two whole scenes in the finale and after she broke up with Michael, she disappeared from the story, and if that doesn’t say it all…

-          And that break-up was contrived bullshit. I’m not saying this as a shipper. It felt like they’d planned to have them break-up in the finale and wrote it even though the motivations hadn’t been properly established. Seeds were sown but they were communicating well as a couple and resolving their issues as they went along. Suddenly those issues got un-resolved and were enough to break them up.

-          The most galling part is that so much of what follows comes from Tripp’s diary, and Maria is excluded. This is her story too! Louise was her great-grandmother! Rather than sitting around her in the hospital room reading this stuff, they do it in the Crashdown.

-          Which fits the pattern of what’s happened all season. Maria found out she was part alien and it was about her powers, rather than her legacy, rather than what happened to her great-grandparents.

-          And it became clear that it was done so they could do the Nora/Tripp and Malex parallel.

-          Which completely solidifies for me where Carina’s priorities lie. She’s been clear that Malex is her favourite ship on the show and Michael is her favourite character. But this season has shown that she’s incapable of ensuring her favouritism doesn’t screw over other characters.

-          The sad thing is this really does show up in marketing. Carina always pushes and praises Vlamis and barely ever mentions Jeanine on her SM. Media outlets write about Malex as the centre of the show and they aren’t supposed to be. We have a sci-fi show with a Latina leading lady and nobody cares – not the showrunner, not the media (outside of Latinx-centric publications), not the fandom. I’m not Latina and it frustrates me so I can’t imagine how actual Latinx people feel about that.

-          Maria was dragged into a love triangle that Carina never had any intention of doing justice to. Maria and Michael were always only ever meant to be a pit-stop on the way to a big Malex reunion. Sadly it’s clear the same goes for Maneforrest. Why write something if you’re only going to do it half-arsed? And it clearly was. That’s why the Maria and Michael break-up was so perfunctory and illogical.

-          While I’m on the subject of Maria – last season Mimi was clearly deteriorating and didn’t recognise adult Maria anyway. Now that seems to have shifted to Mimi’s mind moving through time. It’s still unclear if this is the alien DNA or what was done to Patricia Deluca in Caulfield. I don’t understand why they introduced both elements – apart from being able to give Maria a line about unethical science which OH BOY what a contrast with Liz.

-          Speaking of Liz.

-          Wow.

-          If the central storyline was the kidnappings and Crashcon shenanigans, she really had no involvement with that all season apart from the very end. All the investigation went to other characters. Her mother was involved, but not Liz.

-          Let me repeat that.

-          Our lead character was not involved the central storyline of the season.

-          Alternatively, if you think Max learning about his history, and all of the reveals about 1948, and Maria’s heritage etc etc were supposed to be the main storyline…

-          Doesn’t matter because Liz wasn’t involved in any of that either!

-          Liz was a subplot in her own show after they brought Max back. Hell, she was a subplot even when she was working on that.

-          The narrative focus really has centred on Michael, Alex, and later Max.

-          I wonder what they have in common with each other.

-          If you don’t believe me, check out the screentime figures for this season. Liz had the fourth largest amount of screentime in the finale, and she’s only had majority screentime in a handful of episodes all season (2x01, 2x07, 2x11).

-          And then realise that the plot kept moving after Liz left Roswell. She’s just not part of it anymore.

-          I watched the finale and kept asking myself where Liz was because she kept disappearing for whole chunks of time.

-          She was in her own subplot about science for the back half of this season, and honestly, I’m going to have to write an entirely separate post about Liz and ethics in science because NOPE.

-          Max was right. Liz deserved to follow her calling but she had options that didn’t involve risking the aliens.

-          As such the Echo break-up was stupid but whatever, based on this season I guess it needed to happen.

-          Did Max even care that Liz left? He loved her for twenty years and then when he had her, it didn’t matter anymore? What the fuck? Are we ever going to get answers as to why he fell so hard and loved her for so long, or is the “Malex is cosmic” story more important?

-          Also the whole thing about the Genericorp lady not being interested in Liz based on meeting her at the Crashdown was stupid. You hire scientists based on the previous work they’ve done and their credentials. Diego’s word should have been enough to convince her, and then maybe an actual proper job interview to make sure she was a good fit. Not “let’s sneak into her secret lab to look at what she’s working on”.

-          When Liz does leave, she only says goodbye to Rosa and Kyle. Arturo is mentioned but not seen. Which means the whole ICE sequence this season, which should have been a solid motivation for Liz to take the Genericorp job on its own, has been resolved without a proper payoff. All that stress – scenes that I know felt genuinely stressful to some viewers because of how close to home it hit – and we don’t even get to see Arturo seeing his “genius daughter” leave with his future secured.

-          It’s plausible that Liz said goodbye to other characters – Maria, Isobel, Michael – off screen BUT SHE’S YOUR LEAD CHARACTER AND HER LEAVING TOWN SHOULD CARRY SOME EMOTIONAL WEIGHT FFS

-          Compare Liz leaving and arriving at the ocean to Buffy Summers leaving Sunnydale in Becoming Part 2. There is no contest.

-          It’s clear to me that the audience Carina writes this show for is herself. And that’s fine. Plenty of writers do that. But that means she’s writing a show for the women in fandom who like epic mlm romances with lots of angst. And the problem with that is that this show has a Latina lead who is not being done justice.

-          This is not me railing against Malex. There is space in the show for both things. This is me expressing my frustration at a showrunner and creative team who are not taking care with all characters equally.

-          Carina uses her platform to throw in politics and use characters as mouthpieces without considering their impact. She thinks she’s educating the straight white people in the audience without thinking about how scenes of ICE intimidation, homophobic violence, and racism will affect the people who are impacted by those things in real life.

-          Am I done with the show? Probably not. I’ve got fics I want to write and while I’m not hubristic enough to think I can write better than a team of professional writers, I’m going to at least try and do some of these neglected elements of the show justice.

-          Hubris. Remember when I thought that was going to be a theme of this season? Apparently not. There was no theme, unless “no editing, we die like men” counts..

[stephfights]

#5 is in the books....and isn’t quarantine fun?!

Me oh my...what a crazy few weeks it has been!  I did get to go on March 3rd and have my 5th chemo treatment.  And it whooped my butt!  I have never been so tired in all my life!  I slept for days and days.  And this one was by far the worst for my taste buds!  I either couldn’t taste it or it tasted horrible.  And that is rough on a fat girl!  And of course....here comes diarrhea.  I have been able to manage it with the medicine this time though.  But I can tell all of this is really taking a toll on my body.

March 11th was my 39th birthday.  I honestly didn’t know if I would make it to see 39.  Some days I thought there was no way....but other days I thought I couldn’t wait to be 80 years old.  It is weird.  Now my goal is to make it to 40.  Most people dread turning the big 4-0 but not me!  It’s hard living day to day not knowing when you will take your last breath.   But that is how I live now.  One day at a time. 

My parents came down to see me.  Ironically that was the same day that Chris got the call that he would be working from home until further notice.  We had a nice dinner and they got me a cake.  Although...I couldn’t taste any of it.  I felt pretty terrible that day but I never told anyone.  I didn’t want to be a downer. 

We were suppose to leave on March 16 for Gatlinburg to celebrate Clayton’s 13th birthday.  We knew what a big event this was for him and that is what he wanted to do.  Luckily his birthday and Spring Break fell on my “good” week so we made reservations a couple of months ago.  Then here came Covid 19 storming in busting up everybody’s fun!  Before all the major craziness even really started we knew that I couldn’t be out in public with the general population due to my compromised immune system.  So Chris and I made the decision to cancel our trip.  And telling Clayton was terrible.  He teared up and didn’t understand.  He thinks all this “virus stuff” is a joke.  Turns out it was a good thing that we cancelled since we are now social distancing. 

My parents came down on the 16th for Clayton’s birthday.  I can’t believe my baby boy is 13.  Although he does have the attitude and the mouth of a teenager.  I don’t know where he gets it from.  Must be his Daddy.  We ate and played card games.  It was fun.   But it wasn’t Gatlinburg.  I know he was sad.  I was sad for him.  I asked on FB for people to send him birthday cards and so so many did.  That made him happy!  What kid doesn’t like to get mail?  Thank you so much to everyone that sent something.  It meant so much to him, and to Chris and I.  

Chris is still working from home and Clayton is out of school until at least April 1st.  I have not been out of the house since my last chemo on the 3rd.  Clayton has not been out since he came home from school on the 13th.  Chris has only been out a couple of times for groceries and supplies.  While I’m on that topic let me get on my soapbox for a minute.  I want to thank all of the assholes who have bought up all the toilet paper.  I know it is a luxury but as someone who has chronic diarrhea it is something that I truly like to have.  Thankfully we have a few rolls left but I don’t know what I am going to do if we run out.  Second....to all the douchebags who have bought up all the meat....especially hamburger meat....I hope you get a little bit of food poisoning and have no toilet paper!  My son has been asking for cheeseburgers.  Chris found the buns and all the fixings....but it’s kind of hard to have a cheeseburger with no meat!  I just need hamburger dammit!  I really don’t think that is to much to ask!  I’m getting off my soapbox now.  But isn’t quarantine fun?  I’ve been on some type of quarantine since the first of December and y’all are losing your mind over a few weeks!  Suck it up!  It could always be worse!  Trust me...I know.

I am nearing the end of my first stint of chemo.  I am scheduled for a mammogram, ultrasound and echocardiogram on the 23rd.  I am scheduled for my last round of chemo for this cycle on the 24th.  I also have an appointment with my breast surgeon on the 24th to get the results of all of the testing and see if I am ready for my mastectomy.  I got 2 messages today from both of my doctors.  As of right now my appointments are still a go.  I will call when I arrive at the office and wait in the car until they call me and let me know that they are ready for me.  They are checking temps and listening to your lungs as you go in.  I think that is great!  They are going to let me know for sure this Friday exactly what I need to do.  We are not sure that Chris will be able to go with me this time.  I may have to put my even bigger big girl panties on and do it by myself.  Time will tell.

I will try to update after I meet with my doctors to let everyone know where I am and what my surgical plan will be.  I am expecting this last chemo to put me at deaths door since they have gotten worse and worse with each treatment.  But I will make it.  I have to.  I’m Stephanie.  And I’m a badass! 

Love to all,

Steph

[daleisgreat]

Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe

In 2014, after nearly 20 years of a tumultuous relationship with the WWE, the Ultimate Warrior (the former Jim Hellwig who legally changed his name to ‘Warrior’) was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on Wrestlemania XXX weekend. It was the final step of a healing process welcoming Warrior back into the WWE fold after easing his way in by participating in the previous year’s video game ad campaign and getting interviewed for a DVD collecting his greatest matches dubbed The Ultimate Collection. What many people did not anticipate however was him suddenly passing away from a heart attack three days after his induction. WWE immediately aired a bunch of tribute programming on the WWE Network that week which I covered here shortly thereafter. Nearly a year after his death in early 2015 WWE put out another home video with a brand new documentary on the life of the Ultimate Warrior, as well as collecting an assortment of previously unreleased matches and promos and called this collection, Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe (trailer). Read on to find out if WWE went to make this video as a ‘make good’ from their 2005 DVD that made him come off as the worst person in the business, or if the WWE doubled down and continued to disparage Warrior after his passing.

The documentary kicks off with Warrior’s unintentionally telling promo on RAW on the eve of his passing. I could not help but get chills watching in a new light a few years later. From there the feature starts off with Warrior’s first days in the business teaming with Sting and striking out in the Memphis and Mid-South territories in the mid-80s. Jerry Lawler, Sting, Warrior & Zeb Coulter are all featured here in interviews admitting they were way too green and had no idea what they were doing. I dug seeing all these old-school clips of the team, and instantly recalled a few of those so-bad-they-are-funny-matches of a very green Sting and Warrior teaming up off of Sting’s Into the Light BluRayI covered here last year. A few minutes was dedicated to the year Warrior spent in WCCW where he credits finding himself as a single act as ‘The Dingo Warrior.’ I wish they spent more time about Warrior in this era where it is apparent how he evolved into the Ultimate Warrior persona there by the end of his run there, but Warrior does comment some about how he came into his own in World Class and there are a handful of matches and promos from his WCCW run in the extras that I recommend going out of your way to check out. From there the doc shifts to him landing in WWE by the end of 1987 and current and past stars such as Hogan, HHH, Batista, Kofi Kingston, Ziggler and Cesaro are interviewed about how they went gaga over the infectious Warrior character and entrance.

The documentary transitions into his meteoric rise up the WWE from winning his first Intercontinental Title from Honky Tonk Man to the big showdown with the Hulkster at Wrestlemania VI. I still recall watching that match as a kid and could not help but get that big feeling from that match and watched it countless times on Coliseum Home Video as a kid and for a few years it was my favorite match. The documentary got that feeling across on how that encounter was larger than life. I own the BluRay of Always Believe, and one of the BluRay exclusives is a unique ‘Arena Cam’ (AKA ‘HardCam’) only perspective of the Hogan/Warrior match with no commentary so all you here is the pandemonium of the sellout crowd from Toronto. It resulted in a fascinating take on that landmark match, and made it worth reliving again. Throughout Always Believe there are little clips of Warrior backstage during Wrestlemania XXX with him engaging with current and past stars. At one point there is a funny exchange between Warrior and Sgt. Slaughter which served as a perfect transition in the film on how Warrior losing his title to Slaughter set up his killer feud with Randy Savage for their ‘retirement match’ clash at Wrestlemania VII. Of his initial successful WWF years I was bummed to see he that his feud with Rick Rude got the shaft with no mention of it at all here, but it is overall a much better recollection on his early years than the 2005 version of it.

The feature then shifts to Warrior’s heated years with the WWE in the early-to-mid-90s where he held the company up for cash and promptly got fired, and got fired again for missing shows in his ’92 and ’96 runs. Actually, only about 10 seconds is dedicated to his three month stint with WWE in ’96 which I could not help but crack up on how WWE glossed over it. I guess Triple H did not want to repeat his comments about his Wrestlemania XII match with Warrior this time around. I also cracked up with how Warrior’s brief run in WCW in ’98 is highlighted here. Warrior admits he only went there for the payday and he obviously was not a fan of all the hocus pocus infused into his character over there, but stated it did not matter in the end because of the big time money that came of it. Hearing Hogan admit how the feud wound up as one of his all-time blunders was nice of him to own up to as well. I may rag in my yearly Wrestlemania blogs about the philanthropy nature of the ‘Warrior Award’ at the WWE Hall of Fame where we get to see Warrior’s widow, Dana present the award each year, but do not let that dismiss the fact that Dana and Warrior’s two daughters come off as legit wonderful people in the documentary. All three are charismatic, genuine talkers and the scene covering how Warrior and Dana met and how their wedding went down is easily the best feel-good scene in Always Believe. Speaking of the ‘Warrior Award’ however, I will take this moment to get on my soapbox and call out to WWE to please rephrase this award to Warrior’s original vision of it in his induction speech as an award to recognize the hard work of the little-talked about workers behind-the-scenes of WWE such as Jimmy Miranda and Mark Yeaton.

On the Self-Destruction DVD the interviewees were quite malicious of the Warrior character disparaging how he got gassed by the time the match started and how he was one of the most careless workers in the ring in history. A decade later in Always Believe, some of those same interviewees like Hulk Hogan and Triple H have a somewhat change of heart and still recognize Warrior’s shortcomings, but are more constructive with their criticism and eventually justify Warrior’s act by essentially saying it worked because it brought in good business. If you never saw the 2005 DVD before I recommend watching that documentary before this one because it is absolutely fascinating to see the 180 degree shift in tone on the Warrior in general. I wish they were this constructive the first time around, because while I agree with a lot of the shortcomings of Warrior’s act, it was ridiculous at how much WWE disparaged him in that original documentary. I am saying this as not even a big Warrior fan growing up (I was more of a Big Boss Man-kid). I still vividly recall that documentary’s ending being Christian’s blunt thoughts on the Warrior’s legacy being “like it or not, he is going to be remembered.” Speaking of that DVD, Warrior and his wife are interviewed here about it, and rightfully trash WWE for releasing that and hold nothing back about how much that documentary hurt them. The feature then covers Warrior’s libel suit against the WWE and Vince McMahon and Hulk are on hand defending how their comments by saying they were misconstrued at the time and how the case was eventually dropped and nobody came out ahead at the end of it. There is a lot to read between the lines during this scene, and if you were following the business at the time, catching Hogan, Vince and Warrior’s thoughts about the DVD and the proceeding lawsuit several years later made for a very compelling segment of the feature.

Dana is then featured detailing how Hunter was imperative on repairing Warrior’s relationship with WWE. Vince, Steph and Hunter are all here commenting about what it was like to bring Warrior back for the hall of fame. Seeing Warrior’s final days backstage in these final scenes during Wrestlemania weekend is both ominous and fortunate to see how a lot of his final exchanges were captured on film. The big moments featured here from that weekend are Warrior and Hogan talking for the first time in many years and ‘burying the hatchet.’ Vince and Warrior also have a moment backstage where Warrior gifted Vince the children’s book The Little Engine that Could with his own personal foreward to Vince! Hearing Vince reflect on that moment and how he and Warrior got together for one last photo saw a rare, emotional moment for Vince on film when talking about it for Always Believe. The documentary wraps up with Dana detailing how Warrior’s last day transpired with him suddenly collapsing in the midst of traveling back home. Dana and her daughters then reflect on that weekend and Warrior’s legacy and wrap up by reading letters to their father and husband in a touching scene. Like most of WWE’s BluRays, Always Believe is packed with a ton of extras and the first disc has 21 Warrior matches on it. WWE is getting better with most of their newer home videos only featuring matches never before put out on video, the tradeoff to this however is all noteworthy Warrior matches have already been released on other DVDs over the years. They got around this with the special ‘ArenaCam’ perspective of the Wrestlemania VI match. This is fine for the Warrior, who was like an early version of Goldberg who I primarily wanted to see for his larger-than-life entrance and to see him run rampant and squash nobodies. Believe me, there are a bunch of Warrior squash matches on here from the weekend shows I grew up with like WWF Challenge and WWF Superstars. It was actually refreshing to relive these old-school squash-fests.

There are also numerous house show matches that WWE use to record in the late 80s/early 90s. These are longer, traditional PPV-style matches, but worth taking a look at as Warrior faced off against Rick Rude and teamed up with Jim Duggan against Andre and Rude. There are a pair of fun Saturday Night’s Main Event matches on here where Warrior takes on Haku and Sgt. Slaughter where the crowd was eating up everything Warrior was doing around his championship run. Finally, there are a few surprisingly long, decent matches with Warrior facing unlikely opponents in these scenarios where Rick Martel, Demolition Smash and Owen Hart all got a surprising effort out of the Warrior. Disc two has a whopping 2 hours and 41 minutes of Ultimate Warrior promos. This is vintage Ultimate Warrior where he mostly shouts nonsensical phrases I could not help but enthusiastically nod along too because of his organic charisma. The bulk of these promos are quick one to two minute rants of only him going off against a blue screen, but there are several longer interviews of him on the Brother Love show and having entertaining exchanges with Sensational Sherri and Ric Flair. His hall of fame speech is here in its entirety, and the aforementioned RAW promo the day before his death is here as well. It took a few sittings to get through them all, but I did not mind taking the time to get blown away by nearly three hours of random Warrior intensity. His tribute montage the week after his death is not on here, so here is a link to this very-well produced tribute.

There is just over an hour and a half of BluRay exclusives. Once again, I recommend going with the BluRay because of the alternate perspective of the Hulk Hogan match alone. There are four other BluRay bonus matches, with his WCCW match against Rick Rude and teaming up with Legion of Doom to take on Demolition in a bout that probably set a record for featuring the most face paint standing out the most. There are also 19 minutes of exclusive ‘stories’ with Dana sharing some fun Warrior courtship memories and Batista and Triple H sharing some bonus thoughts about the Warrior too. Natalya also is awesome here as she challenges one of Warrior’s daughters to an unofficial match. Always Believe is an exponentially better documentary than 2005’s Self-Destruction. This does not hide Warrior’s wrestling shortcomings and controversies (though it does hide his real life political remarks and controversies), but it addresses them in a far more professional manner and it does not make Warrior come off as the quintessential slime ball like the Self-Destruction DVD did. Warrior is far from being my personal favorite wrestler and/or person, but he did serve up a number of timeless moments in wrestling for me in my impressionable years and Always Believe is a perfect way of celebrating those moments of the Ultimate Warrior character for past, present and future fans. Past Wrestling Blogs Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 Best of Monday Nitro Volume 3 Biggest Knuckleheads Bobby The Brain Heenan Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 ECW Unreleased: Vol 3 For All Mankind Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman Legends of Mid South Wrestling Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story Memphis Heat OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History Owen: Hart of Gold RoH Supercard of Honor V RoH Supercard of Honor VI RoH Supercard of Honor VII RoH Supercard of Honor VIII RoH Supercard of Honor IX RoH Supercard of Honor X ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Sting: Into the Light Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder Top 50 Superstars of All Time Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season True Giants Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns Warrior Week on WWE Network Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition Wrestlemania 28 Wrestlemania 29 Wrestlemania 30 Wrestlemania 31 Wrestlemania 32 The Wrestler (2008) Wrestling Road Diaries Too Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money Wrestlings Greatest Factions WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016

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41/42 districts in my city have reported and it looks like rent control is here to stay with a resounding 70%+ of the vote!

Local voting matters! My city defeated some greedy landlords tonight! This is why it's so important to pay attention to those local races since that creates tangible change in your community.

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A reminder today to all my American friends here that when you go to vote if you're old enough, check that entire ballot. Go in educated on the issues that are on there, not just the candidates.

My city is voting on whether or not to keep rent control today. I of course voted to keep it because I believe in tenants' rights over landlords' profits. But the way the thing is worded is misleading, so I had to make sure I was voting NO to the removal of rent control. It's really important to read and reread the propositions you're voting for or against to make sure you're voting the way you want to.

Those local issues on your ballot are super important! Vote on those! You can make a difference in your community by supporting causes that benefit the local population. And after that vote, get out there and volunteer and be involved in your community in other ways. Community is key to survival no matter what the outcome is - so let's keep helping each other!

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One of the things that’s really frustrating about this capitalist hellscape we all live in is that self-care has now become an aesthetic thing. It’s about bubble baths and face masks, tea and favorite movies, fairy lights...and whilst that all can help, it really just feels like slapping a band-aid on a gaping wound that needs stitches.

The reality of self-care is that it’s often very messy. For me, self-care is confronting the traumatizing things that happened to me throughout my life and addressing them one by one. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting worse even though I’m getting better, because acknowledging those things is extremely difficult. Self-care is being a woman on my own terms, not a palatable one for consumption - I’m autistic and performing neurotypical femininity is nigh impossible for me, so they have to take me as I am, not as who they think I should be. Self-care is doing the things I love to do, getting covered in grease and sweat as I build things or, hopefully soon, learn to properly drive steam locomotives. I won’t look “pretty” doing that. I’m usually disheveled and drenched by the end. That’s not what they want me to look like.

Self-care is going to look different for each person on earth, and it’s not something you can boil down to a pretty aesthetic. You’re putting in work, and it’s going to get messy, especially as you address that really serious stuff and make serious changes to help yourself. Capitalism wants you to buy into the aesthetic stuff, to be “acceptable,” to fit that image - because they make more money off you that way AND you’re less likely to fight against them because you’re not addressing the bigger issues in your life (which are often caused by living in this system).

Don’t worry about looking pretty and nice for them, and actually take care of yourselves the way that works best for you and actually helps you improve.

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If someone explains why something is an issue and your response is to worry about how you look instead of examine your behavior and actively work on the problem...I suppose the best way to say this is that's a more immature response.

Worrying about how you look doesn't really compare to actively acknowledging mistakes you've made, addressing them, and going out and being a better person. Right now, internet and fandom culture seem to have shifted more towards the former instead of the latter, and things don't get resolved or improve and the spaces become emotionally stunted and hostile.

If you mess up, admit it, apologize, and work on improving what you messed up. That's all you have to do. It's the mature way of handling things. Running away or worrying about optics doesn't improve stuff. Real change has to come from you giving yourself a hard look and realizing what you can do to be a better person, and it's something we all have to do every day.

We can't just sit here wanting a better world and then shying away from opportunities to make things better for ourselves and the people around us because we're afraid a mistake we made is going to make us look bad forever. People can and do change for the better. People can and do come back from the brink. People can and do have so-called "redemption arcs" in real life.

This post isn't about anyone or anything in particular, but it's a trend I've noticed over the past few years that I think we can do better about.

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Deleted the post I just reblogged because apparently despite most of it being basic internet safety rules some people use those statements to excuse their uncomfortable and sometimes frankly harmful content, but I saved the text I added, because it's true:

Please, please protect yourselves and don’t put all your personal information out there. I’m begging you. I get so worried when I see people do this. You’re putting yourself out there in ways that actually actively put you in danger - even telling people you’re a minor at all can be dangerous in some spaces. Please don’t list all the ways someone can hurt you right there in full view by giving a giant trigger list or by mentioning any and all mental illnesses you’re contending with. Also, if someone tells you you’re “mature for your age,” don’t buy it. That’s a groomer line. Block them and tell a safe adult - a mod in your Discord server, or someone else who’s an adult in your circle and can help you handle the situation.

It's a really worrying trend. Yes, you have to curate your own experience online to the best of your ability, but you have to protect yourself from people as you do that. Curating your experience alone doesn't make you safe. Not everyone who says they're a minor is a minor. It's not as common as people warned about when I was a kid your age - they thought everyone was a potential predator - but it's also something you need to be aware of. Putting your personal information with long lists of triggers, mental illnesses, etc. alongside your age and location puts you at risk for harm, and the people who want to hurt you aren't going to pay attention to a DNI. Nobody is entitled to your personal information, and if they push for it, be careful. Again, if you know any safe adults, they can give you advice and help you stay safe. I'd advise identifying at least a few of them so you know someone who can help if you get into trouble.

Adults and minors talking isn't the problem here - it's important to have trusted friends of various ages in case you need help. It's when boundaries aren't set and respected that you run into trouble. Please stay safe.

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Growing up I was bullied horribly by my peers, and my eventual defense mechanism was humor - if I made fun of myself first, they couldn't do it, and if I was funny anyway, people wouldn't automatically reject me. The comic relief character is necessary to the story too.

This became a problem in adulthood, though, because I cope with humor in ways that sometimes make situations worse, and I had to completely unlearn the self-deprecation. It's actually really alienating to be around someone who introduces themselves to you and then immediately tells you how much they suck. It makes people think you're immediately asking for comfort. I didn't self-deprecate instantly upon talking to people - it was only if it came up conversationally - but it was still hurting my chances at retaining friends. Once you're close with someone, it's okay to talk about insecurities and doubts and help each other - that's what friends are for, after all - but it is NOT how you introduce yourself, and I see so many people doing it and that's not okay.

Your self-deprecating humor is actively making people uncomfortable, and giving yourself excessive praise is significantly funnier anyway. It is so much funnier to say something like "I am the greatest engineer of all time, obviously" when I've only driven a locomotive once than it is to say something like "hi, I drove a train but I sucked at it, just like I suck at everything."

Also, as your brain hears the praise, it retrains itself to put itself down less, even if it's coming from you. So please try complimenting yourselves instead of putting yourselves down, and do NOT introduce yourself to other people by rejecting yourself.

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PSA on a couple of things, since I've gotten some asks like this:

I wouldn't call myself a "popular Submas blog" at all. I'm not an active fandom participant and just wrote some informative guides. As it currently stands, I actively don't engage with the fandom because it's gotten out of hand with the ableism and other issues and I won't go in there again until it calms back down.

In fact, I'd argue people don't want to hear from me in the fandom, because I don't shy away from calling out ableism when I see it.

As much as I utterly despise Bl*nkshipping, I'm not the best way to spread the word about people who do it - instead of sending someone you think is "popular" an ask and hoping for it to be published, it's better to just make your own post if you want to warn people. (I got an ask like this recently and I already had the user in question blocked.)

YES, I HATE BL*NKSHIPPING. IF YOU DO IT YOU PROBABLY WON'T BE HAPPY FOLLOWING ME.

I think that about covers it! Have a great day!

[1863-project]

Something I’ve noticed lately that’s happened to a few of my friends in a non-Pokemon fandom has made me wonder a bit about an overall trend I’ve seen on this website. Note that this isn’t happening to me - it’s happening to some friends of mine, and I’ve seen it in other places so I think this might help some people.

Asks are great! People generally love getting them, unless they state otherwise! But I’ve noticed sometimes people send a bunch without waiting for a reply to the first one, and you can’t really have a conversation like that - rapid-firing questions at someone isn’t a chat, after all, and you probably should wait for a answer. So here’s a quick guide to sending asks on this godforsaken website, since it’s not like a chat client where people will see it and respond right away:

1. Unless you run out of space in the ask box and have to finish your question, send one ask at a time.

This helps the person you’re asking because then they don’t get overwhelmed.

2. Wait for them to answer your first ask before sending the next one - or better yet, reblog or reply to the answer!

It’s not easy to have a conversation via asks. It can get disjointed, and if you keep sending a bunch of asks, the person you’re asking is going to get overwhelmed and might not answer at all! Just like in person, it’s important to take turns in a conversation.

3. If you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, it’s probably not a good ask to send.

No, I’m not talking about anon hate, although that’s juvenile too. I’m talking about people who disclose weirdly sexual things on anon to strangers. Yes, you may both like the same character, but a stranger probably doesn’t want to hear about your sexual fantasies about them, just like they wouldn’t want you to tell them that in person at a convention, or on the street.

Hopefully this helps someone interact more effectively on Tumblr instead of putting people off with stuff in their inbox! Again, this isn’t about anyone sending me asks, so don’t worry if you see my original post - it’s definitely NOT about you, so you’re good!

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Actually, you know what, I have a lot to say about that post regarding ace/aro folks and how people who aren’t ace/aro get mad when it’s pointed out that society overemphasizes romance and sex.

It does, and you should get mad about it, but not at ace/aro people.

I’m not ace or aro, but I am traumatized due to lifelong bullying by my (male) peers as a child and an emotionally abusive friendship I dealt with in college that got actually quite scary when I look back on it. As I got older, I noticed I was considered “behind” because I didn’t date anyone, and it started to hurt. And I wasn’t even ace or aro - I certainly wanted to meet people, have these experiences, etc. but my own trauma kept getting in the way and holding me back from trying. I’m going to be 33 in five days, and I’ve never been on a real date unless you count a dinner I had last summer with someone a friend of mine wanted to introduce me to. I want to try, but I get too scared because of everything in my past and my fear of rejection, and so, in my early 30s, I’m alienated from a large portion of society for not having done these things people consider “normal” and are shoved in our faces all the time.

Now imagine if I didn’t even have these feelings or desires. Imagine how much MORE alienating that would be for me. That’s not right. Society’s overemphasis on romance and sex being everything is overwhelming enough as it is, and it puts so much pressure on all of us to do these things (and we’re made to feel bad if we don’t). Think about that for a minute, and get angry at the actual problem instead of ace/aro people for pointing out that there’s a problem in the first place.

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Don’t even try me, mate. (This was a thread about student loans.)