#i am opposed to lackluster writing

[codenamesazanka]

extremely questionable methodology but i compiled all the dialogue spoken between Shigaraki and Deku starting from when Shigaraki breaks out of AFO’s control in Chapter 379 up to Chapter 412.

(There are chapters where they appear but do not speak. Those are the chapter numbers.)

The takeaway is that Shigaraki is extremely chatty! A lot of it is taunts, but Shigaraki’s also revealing a lot of stuff about his plans and his opinions.

Deku does not seem as interested in returning the conversation, however. Whenever he does speak, it’s less in response to any of the content of Shigaraki’s chatter, and more heroic statements of intent. (The ‘you’re still human’ is the only direct refutation, I think.)

To be fair, his focus is all on surviving Shigaraki’s attacks. Nearly all his internal thoughts are strategy - combining a quirk with this quirk, how exactly he can physically stop Shigaraki. Additionally, before Chapter 410, he was probably too worried about All Might; while for most of Chapter 412, he was asphyxiating. Hard to chat when so much shit is happening.

And you can argue Shigaraki is just Villain monologuing. Deku doesn’t have to pay attention to anything he says - a lot which are, after all, taunts - he doesn’t have to engage with Shigaraki’s dumb rants.

His goal is to save Shigaraki/The Crying Child, and only that - not like talking or asking questions about anything or responding is required for that.

[remlionheart]

Split Decision

* ˚ ✦ MDNI ✦ ˚ *

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ i woke up this morning w a slutty, feral, urgent need for some soukoku x fem!reader smut and this fic just kinda poured out of me (literally), 3.7k words. porn with a plot. (hope u like it nasty) you're an intern, ending your last day in Yokohama when you're approached at the hotel bar by two men who have one very pressing question for you: red or white wine? i was melting into an actual puddle writing this so lemme know whatcha think, luv u ♡ (and as alwaaayysss, thank u to the loml @bratbby333 for proofreading and being just as fucking pumped for this to come out as i was ♡) *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

You were tired, exhausted after a day filled with meetings that you barely contributed anything to. You were grateful for your internship, happy that it held the promise of a job right after graduation but being in Yokohama for the last two days had been a bit lackluster.

You sat at the bar of your hotel with lazy, muffled jazz music dancing around you as you fiddled with the straw in your empty cocktail glass.

The trip itself hadn't been all bad. The days were long, but you'd managed to make the most of your nights. The firm you were interning for was gracious enough to make it an all-expenses paid trip and you'd definitely taken full advantage of that over the last week.

You'd spent your nights in the most upscale restaurants the city had to offer, taking yourself on little dates to pass the time. You'd found yourself sitting alongside powerful businessmen and prominent executives that made you feel important even though you were still very much on the outskirts of their social circles. You had been a fly on the wall, quietly observing a world that you could only hope to one day be a part of.

It'd been a learning experience if nothing else. A secret glimpse into how rich men behaved when they thought no one was watching. There was something intoxicating about it all. Something that made you want to try harder when you got back home. You were determined to have this sort of life for yourself one day and you would.

That's what made being responsible tonight all the more important. Your flight back home was set to leave at 6 am. Your bags were already packed and waiting for you in your room. As tempting as it was to venture out into the city again, you needed to be well-rested and level-headed when you woke up tomorrow. So, you'd kept your promise to yourself and settled on slipping into your last clean black dress and grabbing a few drinks at the hotel bar to end your makeshift vacation.

Your legs dangled from your stool, the strap of your dress slipping down your arm as you yawned. The bar had been mostly vacant all night. People passing by, but never actually staying for more than one drink. The vintage grandfather clock at the corner of the room watched you tauntingly, another sway of its heavy arms indicating that it was nearing midnight.

You knew it was time to head back. Your hand reached out to bell for the bartender when two opposing, but equally powerful drinks were suddenly placed at either side of you.

A deep, rich red wine on your left and a deceptively alluring white wine on your right. Your eyes hesitantly drifted between the two men that were now occupying the seats next to you, the warmth of their bodies radiating off of them as they sized you up.

"Which one will it be, angel?" His voice was like velvet, a dangerous smirk creeping across his face as his brown eyes met you. His partially bandaged fingertips slowly pushed the Chardonnay towards you. "You look like a woman of good taste. Honestly, I think you'd like this one much better."

A gloved hand rested on the small of your back, gently turning you around to face him instead. His disheveled red hair and azure gaze were hard to ignore as he nudged the Cabernet closer to you. "Tch, you're too pretty for that cheap shit." He smirked. "Besides, I bet you're wantin' something that would hit way deeper than that, right?"

Your breath was suddenly lodged in your throat, an ache burning between your legs at the sheer shamelessness of it all.

The brunette's smile was piercing, his stare slicing into the man on your left as he let out a low laugh. "You've always had quite the imagination, haven't you Chuuya?" His eyes maintained the same sharpness, dragging back to yours with fervor. "I think what she really needs is something that would leave her begging for more and that's not something that measly little sweet red of yours would do."

The air between the three of you was suddenly suffocating.

You crossed one leg over the other, finding yourself actually having to clench while they carried on with their salaciously threatening banter. Their fingers roaming along your back and the top of your hand. Both inching closer and closer, still spilling out corrupt little nothings about which one would taste better going down your throat and which one would fill you up until there was no more room left.

You needed to be in bed. You needed to keep your wits about you. You needed to tell them both that you didn't have time for this, but your insides were on fire the harder they fought over you.

After being ignored at every meeting you'd gone to this week and being nothing more than a wallflower at the dinner parties you'd attended, having two admittedly depraved but attractive men competing over you like this was enough to make you forget about trivial things like time and responsibilities.

They were still going on. Still gently petting and praising you while their insults towards each other grew heavier and headier.

Your blood rushed through your veins as you looked down at the contrasting wines sitting in front of you. You knew the minute that you took a sip of either, your fate would be sealed for the night. You'd be declaring yourself to one of them. The only smart option you had would be to push both drinks aside, to choose yourself, and to leave the two of them to carry on with their degenerate rivalry with the next unsuspecting girl that waltzed in here.

But you weren't going to settle for either.

As you glanced between them, it dawned on you that there was an alternate, much more menacing 4th option at your disposal.

Their voices came to a pause when they noticed your hand finally raise, hovering directly in the center of the two glasses. Your eyes danced from the brunette back to Chuuya, a hazy smile pulling at the corner of your mouth despite the fact that your heart felt like it was capable of ripping straight through your chest at any given second.

You rested your palm over both, letting your middle finger slide into the Cabernet and your index finger slide into the Chardonnay in perfect unison.

The tension was palpable as they watched you slowly pull out and bring them to your lips. You cocked your head to the side, your tongue generously gliding against the mixture of red and white before you brought them all the way into your mouth, spit slightly dribbling down your chin while you looked between the two men.

A smile cut across your face as you noticed the two sets of blown out pupils staring back at you. "Does that answer your question?"

"No," Chuuya was the first to break the silence. "No fuckin' way am I letting that asshole anywhere near the same room as us."

But it only seemed to pique the brunette's interest more.

A grin that could rival that of the devil's began to pull at the corner of his mouth. "Oh c'mon, Chuuya. You're really gonna deny this angel what she wants?"

"Don't start with me, Dazai." he snarled, his eyes softening a bit when they reached yours. "Look, I'd love to fuck you, but -"

Dazai took full advantage of the redhead's decision to opt out, spinning your barstool towards him so that your back was abruptly facing Chuuya before he could even finish his sentence. "Well," he smirked with a dangerous sense of wit in his voice. "Guess that just leaves us then."

"Wait a minute, that's not how this works!" Your chair was once again being flung in the opposite direction. A gloved hand gently cupping yours as he tried to reason with you. "You're gorgeous, y'know that, right? Even if you end up leavin' by yourself, I promise it'd still be better than endin' up with that mackerel over there."

It should've been an insult. In fact, you were certain that it was an insult, but for some deranged reason, it made Dazai all the more persistent to get you what you had originally asked for.

"Okaaay, okaayy." He conceded as he stood up. "There's no need for petty nicknames. If you're too self-conscious to share a beautiful woman's body with me, that's all you have to say."

"Self-conscious?" The edge in Chuuya's tone only gave Dazai what he wanted. "I'm not self-conscious, you arrogant bastard. I just don't trust you."

Dazai leaned into your ear, his hand shielding his mouth though his voice was far from a whisper. "It's because of his height, I'm afraid. Quite sad really."

"Alright, cut the shit." It was enough to finally bring the redhead to his feet.

He stood up, grabbing your hand to help you off your chair, eyes now locked firmly with yours. "You really want us to fuck you?" He asked, completely ignoring the absolutely vile smirk Dazai was sporting.

A mix of fear and arousal pooled between your thighs as you realized that this was your one chance to back out.

You looked between the two of them one last time before promptly grabbing the drinks that were left on the counter and knocking them both back one right after the other.

"My room or yours?" You asked.

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The three of you had ended up in Chuuya's suite which was at least three times the size of your room. It was lofty, decorated with high-rise windows that were covered by thick, black privacy curtains. His king-sized bed made up in pristine white sheets that you feared would soon be ripped to shreds with the way the two of them could barely share the same elevator without almost killing each other, let alone share you.

Chuuya took off his gloves and hung his coat in the closest next to Dazai's as you slipped out of your heels and left them by the door. Your heart was suddenly in your throat now that you were actually here.

You were still by the entryway, not entirely sure how this was going to start while Chuuya went around and began dimming the lights, making a snide comment about how the less he had to see of Dazai, the better. The brunette just smirked, taking a seat on the edge of his bed, motioning for you to join him.

He spread his legs, lightly guiding you to stand in front of him as he kissed the back of your hand. His brown eyes trailed over you intently, his slender fingers tracing along the curve of your hip. "No need to be nervous," he whispered, tangling his free hand into yours.

There was something so tantalizing about the way he was looking at you. Eager but thorough, like he wanted to memorize every single inch of you. "See how pretty she is, Chuuya?"

You felt him approach you from behind, his calloused hands holding your hair into a makeshift ponytail while his breath fanned across the top of your shoulder. "Care if I unzip this?" he asked, his lips pressing softly against the side of your neck as you nodded. He continued to kiss and nip at you, carefully dragging the zipper down your spine before letting it fall to the floor.

"Fuck."

It was perhaps the one thing that they'd agreed on all night.

Dazai had the full-frontal view of you and Chuuya had the back. You were on full display for them both due to the fact that you'd opted for no bra or panties when you'd left your room earlier, thinking that you'd be coming straight back anyway. What a lie that had turned out to be.

Dazai's hand roamed along your stomach, goosebumps dancing across your skin as his fingertips dipped a bit lower. Chuuya's mouth was still on the nape of your neck, his grip tightening around your hips, drawing the poutiest little whimpers out of you.

"And to think you almost made us pass this up." Dazai taunted. "That would've been suuuch a shame."

"Shut up." Chuuya grunted, pulling you closer so that your ass was flushed perfectly against him. Your back arched feeling how hard he was, another little noise you couldn't quite control escaping you.

Dazai raised an eyebrow at this, realizing how easy it was to make you squirm.

"Oh, our girl's sensitive, isn't she?" He smirked, his fingers making their way to your center, just barely touching the outside of your folds. "Hmm," He hummed, surveying your desperate, dripping cunt. "What kind of sounds do you think she'll make if I do this?"

His finger ran along your clit, only giving you a moment to adjust to the sensation before he immediately plunged it inside of you.

"Nngh ~!" You whined, ramming yourself further into Chuuya's bulge. He held you steady, stuck somewhere between severely hating that Dazai had made you moan like that and fucking loving that you did it while grinding against him.

"Aw, look at that. I think she likes you, Chuuya." Dazai mocked, sliding into you again without warning, jealousy washing over him at how you were holding onto the redhead for support.

He went deeper, adding in another finger, to redirect your attention down to him as you mewled. "Feel good, angel?" he asked through heavy lashes.

You nodded back at him so pitifully, it made him groan, rubbing his thumb against your clit as his other two digits continued their assault on you.

You felt Chuuya undoing his belt behind you, his pants quietly dropping to the ground.

"You're doing so good," he praised into the softness of your neck, stroking himself with one hand and palming at your chest with the other. Squeezing a nipple between his fingers as you filled the room with more heavenly noises. "Think you can do me a favor, baby?" His voice felt like blissful static against the shell of your ear.

"M -" you struggled, your eyes nearly crossing at Dazai relentlessly hitting your g-spot. "Mhmmm." you finally managed.

"Can you bend over f'me?"

You tried your best to comply, but Dazai wasn't making it easy. In fact, he was making it impossible. Every time you tried to move, he'd go deeper, practically pulling you towards him from the inside with the curl of his long fingers.

Your vision was blurry, your body forgetting how to move altogether as the two men fought over you like you were a toy that they were willing to break in half as long as it meant the other person couldn't have it anymore.

"I -" you whined, noticing the absolutely feral smirk spread across Dazai's face. "I'm gonna - fuck, I can't -"

As much as Chuuya wanted to murder him for making you cum first, he knew his turn was next and he was going to fuck you into oblivion. "I've got you." he breathed, still playing with your nipple and holding you in place. "You're okay, baby. Let it out. Oh, just like that. Good fuckin' girl."

Dazai panted as you soaked his fingers, greedily trying to draw another one out of you before Chuuya intervened. "Alright, enough." he said, carefully pulling you away from him. "Here." he said, guiding you so that your ass was arched up for him and your face was on the mattress.

He was just about to put it in when Dazai stopped him, swiftly wriggling himself out of his pants before sitting on the edge of the bed again and placing your head above his dick.

Chuuya ran a frustrated hand over his face, the last fucking thing he wanted to see was your pretty mouth wrapped around Dazai while he was inside of you, but he knew he didn't have a choice.

"Be easy on her," he warned him.

You looked up at Dazai with glazed over eyes as he smiled down at you, proud of his work. "You know I wouldn't hurt you, right angel?"

Your pussy throbbed at the way he was able to make such a reassuring question feel so sinister.

His cock was long and thick and you were quickly realizing just how hard it was going to be to not choke on it. You started off slow, letting him tangle his hand into your hair as you lolled your tongue out and pressed it against him.

"Oh, fuck." Dazai groaned watching you make your way up to his tip, graciously opening your mouth wider to accommodate him.

Chuuya was wildly annoyed but not at all surprised at how vocal Dazai was. He blocked it out by rubbing his tip between your folds, reeling in the way your back arched for him as he softly massaged your abused little clit.

You were moaning, doing your best not to lose your concentration from how intoxicatingly tender Chuuya was handling you.

Whereas Dazai had practically bullied an orgasm out of you, Chuuya was prepared to play the long game. He'd fuck you slow and deep for hours if that's what you wanted. He was determined to make you feel so good you wouldn't be able to remember any other words besides his name.

Once he was satisfied with how wet both of you were from your cum, Chuuya lined himself up with your entrance. "You ready baby?"

"Y - yes." You struggled, Dazai only letting you come up for air for a second before your head was promptly pushed back down again.

You whimpered, completely forgetting what you were doing when Chuuya entered you. His cock stretching you out more than you knew you were capable of. "Oh - mygod." You choked out, eyes pleading as you looked back at Dazai.

Surprisingly, he wasn't jealous. Wasn't instantly shoving your head back down to get you to focus on him. He was in a euphoric daze seeing how fucked-out you looked. Your eyes were full-on watering, your pussy wrapped so tight and snug around Chuuya.

Dazai's grip in your hair lightened, pulling you up but only so he could watch you from a better angle. He held your head in one hand and began stroking himself with the other. "Oh, angel. You love being fucked like that, don't you?"

You nodded pathetically, completely overstimulated by the feeling of Chuuya pounding into you and the beautiful sight of Dazai jerking himself off to you getting railed. "Say it." He smirked. "Use your words."

Chuuya groaned, it was the first time all night that he wasn't tuning Dazai out. His hips thrusted into you harder as you whined. "I - love." Your eyebrows knitted together, your mouth dropping open at how deep Chuuya suddenly was. "I love - it." You cried out. "I love it so fu - cking much."

Chuuya wasn't sure if Dazai was trying to hurt or help him by coaxing such depraved things out of you, but he was lost in the sound of your moans.

Your legs began to shake, your cunt pulsating as Chuuya's tip knocked against your cervix. "I -" your head shook, you felt like you were going to pass out. "I can't - s'too much, I'm gonna -"

"Let me feel it, baby." It was almost more of a beg than a command. "Let me feel that pretty pussy soak my cock."

Dazai's breathing hitched in his throat watching the two of you. The tears that were spilling down your pretty face and the guttural noises you were forcing out of the redhead so effortlessly. The way neither one of you were coherent anymore, too lost in the way your bodies were aching for one another to know anything else.

Dazai wasn't sure why it was doing this to him. Wasn't sure why he couldn't stop himself, but just as you started to cum, he did too. He shoved your mouth back around him, reveling in the shock and pleasure and absolute awe on your face as you swallowed every last drop he shot into your mouth.

Your body felt like it was convulsing. The three of you had somehow all managed to reach your climax in perfect, lewd, synchronicity. Dazai's cum was pooling down your chin while Chuuya filled you up from behind. A combination of both of your fluids mixing together and then squirting out of you when he finally pulled out with a heavy, "Oh, FUCK."

You collapsed into Dazai's lap, your legs refusing to hold you. Chuuya helped pull you up onto the bed as the three of you fell into the mattress with a thud. You laid in the middle of them, your head rested peacefully against Dazai's chest as you tried to stop the room from spinning.

"And you told me to go easy on her." Dazai mused, running his fingers through your hair.

Chuuya rolled over on his side, wrapping his arm around your waist as he placed a kiss on the back of your neck. "'Least I didn't get off watching her get railed by another dude." he sneered.

"Yeah, you're right." Dazai tsked, "Only thing that could've made it better is if it was by a taller man."

"Dazai, I swear to god -"

But their bickering came to a quick end when you began to shift against them.

"Hey," you mumbled dreamily, causing both of them to immediately revert back to petting you and leaving light kisses along your skin. "Could you shut the fuck up? I've gotta be up at 5 tomorrow to catch my flight."

Chuuya smirked and set an alarm on his phone. Truthfully, he was willing to let you talk to him however you wanted with what you'd done to him tonight.

He reluctantly pulled the comforter up over the three of you. As much as he didn't want Dazai in his room for another minute, you looked too content to move.

You had never felt more safe or secure than you did being smushed between the two of them. Their words were hazy as you began to doze off, two sets of strong arms wrapped around you.

"Y'know, I think I'll kinda miss her." Chuuya breathed.

"Me too," Dazai smiled, looking down at you. "She's our girl."

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[ghosts-cyphera]

im feeling brave and will share what i just whipped up super quick, if it's terrible don't tell me im far too sensitive for that 🫣 also i dont even remember the last time i wrote dialogue and i remember why its def something i need to practice, but alas enjoy a little ghost x reader drabble 😝😝 also i dont mind you responding publicly im trying to learn to come out of my shell hehe

You were coming up on hour three of your drive with Simon to the beach. What started off as a romantic weekend roadtrip was turning into a torturous car ride. How could someone look so alluring while simply having their hands on the wheel and humming along to some indie song off your playlist. There was still an hour left in your drive, but you weren't sure you were going to make it. Your heart was hammering in your chest and there was a dull throbbing sensation between your legs. "Are you alright love?" Simon must've noticed how quiet you had become opposing the bubbly energy you had this morning before you all had taken off. You nod your head yes, but you could feel the blush overtaking your face, and your ever perceptive boyfriend was definitely going to pry further. Simon does notice, and the car slows to a stop on the side of the road. You can't handle the tension in the car for much longer and avert your eyes down to the lackluster red polish you had on. Suddenly, there was a large hand gently grasping your chin, "Love, look at me," like always, you bend to his will compliantly and gaze into his eyes. "What do you need me to do for you?" The timbre and sincerity in his voice makes a soft whine unwillingly escape your lips. Nothing turns you on more than the way your boyfriend treats you like you deserve the entire world.

MIC ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

I am so, so sorry that it took me a while to get back to you, but best believe me that I'm having zoomies after reading this, all from my excitement !! I love this, I love you, and I absolutely adore that you managed to gather enough courage to share this with me (and my followers). please be proud of yourself. it's scary to put yourself out there, but look at you go!! 💕

I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say that you absolutely should write more for ghost to keep us all fed. you are amazing!! 💗

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week ?

Superman Lost #7 - Giving people cancer has become Lex’s “crowbar” and I love it. Such a smug asshole, knew Priest would write a great Lex . Priest did a fakeout with Superman cheating but I hope he actually follows through on Lois dying. Probably won’t, but it would be a stronger story if he did. All the people going “THIS IS HOW YOU GET INJUSTICE” reminded me that we need an Elseworld story with the guts to kill Lois off and not have Clark go batshit insane.

Superman #7 - The Chained is whatever, there’s potentially something interesting in him being Stryker like I suspected and Williamson hinting that he’s the reason Conner has TTK, but I am intrigued to see Lena II return to continuity. All you need is Lena I getting fished out of the fridge underneath Lexcorp and we can have a proper Luthor family reunion. Brainiac’s motive turns out to be pretty mundane, he wants a family I guess, but the why and how of it may still prove interesting. Least Brainiac is still a bastard, wipes out a planet as a means for doing a test run. If nothing else the Superfamily throwing down with the Czarnians should be fun.

World’s Finest #20 - Waid’s found his footing again! Strong start to the KC arc after two lackluster arcs in a row. Enjoyed seeing Clark and Bruce have different orders at Planet Krypton from what their Earth 22 counterparts did, nice way to demonstrate the differences between them and their counterparts. Am I reading too much into it, or is KC Superman ordering milk while our Superman ordering coffee intended to show that KC Supes is pretty childish as opposed to our Supes being more “adult”? And we will get a proper Superman vs. Magog fight after all, excellent!

Nightwing #107 - Boring. I don’t care about Bea since I dropped Nightwing during the Ric era, and without Redondo to cover for him all of Taylor’s usual weaknesses are starting to grate on me. Would drop the book but Redondo is coming back at some point so I might stick it out.

Green Lantern: War Journal #2 - First time the two Johns have ever interacted I think, would be cool to see Stewart put his architectural skills to use in rebuilding Metropolis. Plug your plotlines anywhere you can PKJ, I’m here for it, but Genesis popping up here makes me wonder if the Revenant Queen will be revealed to have a connection to Aethyr? He did turn people into monsters in that Annual PKJ did about the FS House of El traversing the PZ.

JLvGvK #1 - Not as strong a start as I hoped, truthfully it was boring. Funny that Toyman was the one to bring the Kaiju over to the DCU, most relevant he’s been in years. Going to pick up the next issue now that the setup is all done and hope it improves.

City Boy #5 - Cameron is really teetering on the edge of morality here, Pak is riding the question of which side of the moral divide he’ll ultimately fall on all the way to the ending it seems.

Incredible Hulk #5 - Foreman’s depiction of long haired Hulk is actually pretty good! Hulk’s fully in his DGAF mode and it adds some black comedy amidst the horror. Betty finally shows up, and in Red Harpy form to boot! Eldest likely has used that body manipulation power Betty mentions to force Betty to serve her, hope Bruce can see that and isn’t stupid enough to take the obvious honeypot.

Scarlet Witch #9 - What a shame that Orlando has to compress all these interesting adventures into one issue, because he doesn’t have the sales to tell them all in separate issues. Ah well, looking forward to the final issue and fight next month.

[primewritessmut]

🌞💋❌🎨✨ for the writer's ask <3

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

I don’t have a preferred time of day to write but my life is such that I do most of my writing at night. I used to hate it, actually, but then, just like with any habit, I got used to it and now I’m a lot more successful with it. Whatever success is for a writer. Writing, I guess?

💋 First kiss fics. Love em or hate em?

Hate is a strong word. Kissing is not my favorite thing, generally. I’m a lot like Loki in He Speaks Daggers that way. I think there are a lot of better things to do with your mouth. BUT I also think well -written first kiss fics can be so satisfying. There’s something about the moment the tension breaks that can be really beautiful and kissing is what usually breaks the tension.

That was not a coherent response at all. Sorry! I don’t search out fics specifically for first kisses, and I don’t actually care whether characters kiss or not. But, if an author is building tension in a relationship and the kiss is what that culminates in, then I’m usually on board.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

I feel like maybe I’ve answered this before somewhere, but I truly dislike teacher/student (or boss/employee) as a trope. (Disclaimer: this is for me personally, I’m not trying to shame people for liking fics or stories with that trope, I simply do not.) It’s a power dynamic that I am incredibly uninterested in exploring and don’t find very enjoyable as a reader either.

I think there are probably other tropes I wouldn’t write, but I’d have to be confronted by them to figure that out. Although usually I think my reaction is just, “no, thanks, that’s boring to me” as opposed to having a true visceral reaction to it.

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

Flattered! Confused! Awestruck! It never fails to shock the shit out of me when someone is so inspired by something I’ve written that they want to draw about it. (Or even write about it.) I’m usually so overwhelmed by the gesture that I’m just like “yeah 👍 cool 👍 thanks bro 👍” which is probably a lackluster response for the artist but in my head there’s a lot of screaming and running around the room and wondering “WHAT THE SHIT?”

So yeah. I’m flattered. I enjoy. I don’t always interact with it for various reasons but I am always, always just… struck by the fact that it exists.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

Oh god. Whhhhy is this the hardest thing to answer? I’m a relatively fast writer. A lot of that is probably contingent on my insomnia and hyperfixative brain, but I can churn out chapters and stories relatively fast.

I also think my stories are a good ride. Like I said to another ask earlier, I tend to fly by the seat of my pants when I write which means that a lot of the story is revealed to me as I write and I always have fun following it where it goes. That’s probably partially just the high of the creative process but also I think I spin a good yarn (to be an old man with a pipe between my teeth sitting outside the general store).

x

[lovecolibri]

I find it absolutely fascinating that KR is a decent writer. Her insistence on “tell not show” and the way she -as a show runner- focuses on what she wants to see as opposed to what makes sense for the characters? Should make for an awful writer.

It’s so bizarre.

Also- it’s been nearly a week and I’m still hella mad.

NGL I am not going to go back right now and look up exactly which all episodes she wrote. I CAN tell you I have beef with 4x14 but I know a lot of people don't so maybe that's where you're coming from. I know someone mentioned at some point all the episodes she wrote and while I don't now remember off the top of my head what they were, I remember thinking "oh, I didn't mind the early ones when Tim was in charge" so yeah like I said, she's fine as a writer. She apparently liked to write more of the cop stuff so it's not like she couldn't move to another show that does more of that and do just fine. But as a showrunner the pacing and managing of an ensemble cast have been BAD and the emergencies lackluster to say the least so that's clearly not her strong suit. I know I said ABC needs to fire her but honestly she could go back to being EP or go work on another show, I don't care, I just need her to stop making the arcs and planning out things for THIS show. She's not good at it and it stems I think from her not getting the heart of the show (the firefam and them having deep emotional conversations and growth ON SCREEN instead of just trauma and drama with no follow-up/follow-through) and not actually liking most of the main characters. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[ratcandy]

oooh so i am curious thogh are there any fanon interpretations of snatcher/conductor/grooves you do like? i also feel like fanon is kind of unappealing for a lot of characters too so that is why i’m asking

Though I haven't finished all of it I do love @/banyana's Beingverse characterizations of Snatcher, that is all very delicious to me and gets the brain chemicals to produce the Happy ones

As for Conductor and Grooves, uhhhmmnmhhhmuuhhhhhhh . Nothing specific is coming to mind I read a whole bunch of fics featuring the two of them a long while back, and some'a those were pretty good! There are points though that it just feels like whole separate characters are made, which I see little issue with given canon being lackluster as it is shkdjgh. Unfortunately I can't remember which fics were which :( To be completely honest though I am usually partial towards characterizations that lean towards canon, albeit "fixing" what GFB screwed up massively with the ending Hard to find that tho as most people reasonably don't want to touch canon shdkgJHKJH So in my own writing I will still make Conductor an angry pissbaby of a selfish old man even if I do MUCH prefer the Beta Conductor characterization (wherein he's more of an actual grandpa), but if I have to redeem him this bad boy's getting complexity and also will not be redeemed at the drop of a hat. Some sincerity and genuine remorse for his actions would be sick Basically I like characterizations that acknowledge the faults of canon but work with them as opposed to against them - but also doing so fucking Sucks in scenarios such as Grooves Winning and the contradictory mess that is whatever the game's message is supposed to be . so it's. I am just sitting here basically sdhgkLJH

I want it all to be fucked up but I want it to be fucked up and purposeful if that makes sense

also timepiece corruption real because otherwise how in the got damn do you actually excuse (repeated) attempted child murder for selfish and stupid purposes such as a movie award

[msnessy]

Poem book III

The Illusion Unveiled

Within the depths of our own reverie, A mirage of self dances in the light, We grasp for truths that seem just out of sight, An enigma shrouded in mystery.

Identity, a guise we wear each day, A cloak that veils the essence deep within, Yet who we are is not defined by skin, But by the soul that yearns to find its way.

Amidst this maze of shadows and of doubt, We roam, seeking a glimpse of clarity, Striving to unlock this grand anomaly, Yet when we pause, and let our fears give out, We realize that identity's true key Lies in embracing all we are about.

"Dissonance."

That subtle, low buzz that is simultaneously uncontrollable and under grasp. Avoiding, obtrusive, and yet completely absent. Maybe you turn down the low sound of the world after you've felt an uncontrollably painful experience. or a happiness that muffles the sounds outside and makes bells inside.

This dissonance is a friend to all, yet it has no keeper in mind. Similar to flowers, especially tulips; and... still fading into the distance.

Mellow symphony, thoughts and emotions or ambience are all incomparable. The potential collision that these delicate, sensitive, almost volitional ideas can bring about through a dissonance.

3.

In the realm of three, Love's mystery unfolds wide, Bound hearts intertwine.

Opposites of rage...

In shadows deep where darkness reigns, The rage inside, a beast unchained. Opposing forces tear apart, heart in twain, In the abyss of adversity, our souls are drained.

Desire burns with a fiery hue, Yet fear consumes what once we knew. Our essence lost among the debris strewn, In this dystopian world, our fate is hewn.

A ballad of sorrow and shattered dreams, Where opposites collide in silent screams. Disposing of our souls with silent sighs - In this desolate wasteland where hope dies.

{Free verse; N's thoughts.}

Do you... or do I like... what I am becoming?

Am I preferred in the depths of the darkness of my soul?

My inner beauty frequently fades into a low grunge of irritable discontent. My mind is wild, sentimental, and maybe even hallucinatory. Despite all of my inquiries and writings, I still don't know anything.

My mind was like a web, waiting to be devoured by the spider of life. I want to come back to life, open my eyes wide, and experience my heartbeat once more. I want to feel those tingles all over again—fuzzy, nondescript, unexpected things. I now give up control. I'm not forcing... life to even out. Chips will fall, things will happen, and I hope for the "okay."

See the dilemma? These are my thoughts expressed in the style of a disjointed poetry. Only part of "giving up control" will require patience.

Maybe this is how my thoughts are supposed to be.

~~~|||.

Another one for the books, lackluster and insignificant; nonetheless, I am proud of it. These poems have been written, nearly burned, and scratched out. May my thoughts be nothing more than fleeting fantasies. May, I see life with a lovely passion that never goes away, peeling away any layer of rose color, never stopping. Because life is beautiful and there is no time limit or limit to anything or nothing at all.

Be free.

[lighthouseborn]

7, 12, and 20!

Canon Questionnaire

7. What’s the best thing about the canon you are writing?

If we're talking about DMTNT specifically, it's definitely Henry and Carina and I feel like that would be both my subjective but also the objective correct answer. I'm biased toward him, obviously, but I really love her as well. I think they're both really interesting as legacy characters, and largely well executed in and of themselves. They're faceted, they have solid motivation and individual but complementary skill sets, they're sympathetic, and easy to root for. The romance is a pretty clumsy and lackluster, which is a shame because the potential for something great is there. I live every day of my life in complete shock that there's not more affection for them. Like lack of affection for the movie I get but for them, specifically... crazy to me how many people just write them off completely. Or are just blatantly wrong about them because they chose to ignore them in favor of just deciding there was nothing of value at all. So so so sad, so very much their loss. There's babies in this this dumpster fire (which, just to be perfectly clear, I do also love the dumpster fire. I just also acknowledge it's a dumpster fire.)--

-- aaaaaaaaand it's at this point I checked the meme and realized this means. Canon character. And not canon property, because the franchise/property is what question 3 asks about. I'm leaving it though but here's the..real answer to the question it's actually asking:

Best thing about Henry is that like... that he is Henry T.urner. I think is that someone went "actually he needs to be their kid" is the best thing about him, the best move they made at any point in the creation of this movie. This is a mildly controversial take, I know, but I think tying it back was much smarter than continuing to ignore that the previous movies centered on Elizabeth and Will. I actually also like On Stranger Tides but do think it feels like.. an offshoot as opposed to main chapter, because it's so removed from the literal and metaphorical heart of the trilogy. And yes Henry's connection is so last second, and clumsy as all hell story wise there's plenty of places they fumbled with it, but just the fact that they landed with him at all is SO the right move. I would have liked him as 'Henry Maddox', I think, but would not have loved him. So that they took that and went, 'make him a Turner' and then added that bit of context to that steady, lively, warm character... 10/10. Rounded him out, brought him forward- brought him to life. Best.

Without bringing the behind the scenes stuff into it and just as a character, I think his best thing is his devotion to his people. Yes this is also a flaw but I think it's his best thing. It's, like I said while answering this question incorrectly, a very sympathetic thing. And a very sympathetic thing taken to extremes, befitting the exaggerated reality he lives in. And I guess I am gonna get meta with this answer after all but it suits him and it suits his world, especially with the way they leaned into the ghost stuff and backed off of the imperialism. He's a very storybook kind of character, exaggerated in certain ways, for a very storybook world and specifically fantastical movie. I guess this is really the same answer again in a way isn't I just think! he was the best move for this movie!!

12. What would you say is the most unique trait about your character?

In many ways he's actually very... not the modern blockbuster protagonist of the 2010s? He's got a few of the markers (a bit quippy, happy to use his fists to solve his problems, very pretty to look at) but also a bunch of behaviors you don't necessarily see like: he spends the first act specifically seeking out help rather than insisting on lone-wolfing his way through the world, his acts of bravery are genuine and sometimes counter-intuitive to his (ultimately selfish) cause, and while he is sort of the rallying party who brings several of the others together, when it comes to leading the actual quest, he defers to Carina as soon as it's obvious she has a much more concrete grasp on the specifics of what they need to do. He's an action/adventure protagonist but with all these blatant soft poke-able places and I think that stands out from both the hyper-masculine-but-ironic-and-self-aware-about-it hero and the scrawny-status-quo-challenging-underdog that dominated the pg-13 box office at the time (and arguably still). He's not an "I'm one of the idiots who lives here" snarker and he's not a "everything about how we live our lives is backwards" chosen one, just honestly and for fun and with genuine affection for the movies that came before, a legacy character who wants his parents to get their damn happily ever after. It's very.. simple? Early thousands straight-to-dvd-sequel ass concept, without the forced I'm-not-like-you conflict. And I love him for it. Thank you. mwah mwah i kiss his head.

Then there's also... and I will try not to expound on this too much but in terms of the franchise itself he's very certain in a way a lot of the other protagonist (and deuteragonist) characters in the franchise are not. A lot of them waver on their wants, and have entire moral or religious or mortality-based quandaries in the background while all the ghosts and gods carry on, meanwhile Henry is just. Dead set on what he wants and that this is also the Right thing. Not a lick of doubt. Cannot be convinced he's wrong, cannot be turned away by interference, cannot be intimidated into backing down, and is going to see it through. And do it all so straightforwardly as well— he doesn't plot, or scheme, or seduce, he just. Runs right at it. Wild thing to do in the everyone-is-playing-each-other-for-their-own-gain franchise.

20. If you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be?

Answered (eventually) here!

[cafalla]

Dorothy, Volume 1 (2005) Background // Part 1 of 3

Today I wanted to talk about and show off Dorothy, Volume I (2005). 

This book is my biggest scanning project to date (148 pages). So it took quite a while to scan and edit this book. Same goes for writing this post. For tumblr's sake, I've broken it up into 3 parts.

This is Part 1 of 3. See the end of the post for links to the other 2 parts.

Part 1 will focus on my sorta deep dive into the wayback machine for information on this comic, and the cool stuff I found out about it!

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This book is a collection of the first four chapters of the Dorothy comic, which is based on the story The Wizard of Oz. The comics were originally published in a single magazine format starting around 2004.

These comics are super interesting to me, because they are green screened photographs of an actor/actors/props with a digitally edited environment. From the very short wiki entry for Dorothy, I learned that comics illustrated with photographs are called “fumetti” or “photo comics”. 

I can’t say I’ve ever seen a comic like this before, so it was a super interesting visual experience. I admittedly was very impressed when I found this book buried in the thrift store children’s story book bin.

Like, "What the heck did I just find? This is so cool!"

I was even more surprised to find out that this was a signed copy from one of the creators and writer, Mark Masterson, that was signed at Emerald City Comic Con back in 2007. I think that's a different signature on top, but I can't make out who it belongs to.

Like what!!! What a weird find.

I felt compelled to buy and keep it, even if it’s not something I personally would pick up at the store. 

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So, a bit of a detour before I go into the book and share some scans.

I tried searching the internet for more info on this comic, as it just felt like a cult classic type of thing that other people would've been talking about…right?

Nothing came up besides a short bare-bones wiki and some links to purchase the comics from various online comic stores.

Really? Nothing?!

But then I had an idea to search the wayback machine, and I was able to get access to the old main site! 

Here is a screenshot of how the site looked from 2004 to 2005.

Unfortunately, a lot of the images are broken and do not load. I'm not bothering to include other screenshots of the different tabs because of this. There isn't much to see.

However, I did get lucky with the downloads tab! 

There were some wallpaper images still available to look at, so I went ahead and downloaded them.

I’ll probably throw those up full size on my Internet Archive account too, why not.

Here's how the site looked from 2006 to 2007.

The site remained mostly unchanged during these two years, other than updated news info.

Here's screenshots of how the links appeared.

The Twister Times aka the news and updates tab:

The Great Store of Oz aka the store and merch tab:

You know I'm going to be on the hunt for Dorothy merch now. The designs are pretty lackluster but I feel I'm in too deep in the Dorothy sauce to care. All I feel is the desire to obtain one of these T-shirts someday.

The Balloon Rides aka the self promotion and other related links tab:

And lastly, the Behind the Curtain aka the cast, crew, and behind the scenes tab (my personal favorite):

Even though these pages used to be public, and I doubt any of their contact information is correct in 2023, I am not going to post any screenshots of their bios.

Well, I'll post a bit of just one. I felt it was pertinent to point out that Mark Masterson's photo was…this…

Which uh….was certainly was a choice…

But also, this was the mid 2000s. Most people would've seen this as edgy, quirky, and funny, as opposed to cringe and off-putting.

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Before I talk about the actual comic and such, I did want to share screenshots from the behind the scenes tab. THIS was the kind of stuff I was interested to see after reading this comic.

I have a feeling these may have been the same photos under the BTS tab on the 2005 version of the site.

Very cool stuff! Cool to me, anyways.

I'm glad I got to see a glimpse into what the site looked like at the peak of this comic being published. It looked like they were doing rather well and having a good time.

Unfortunately, the site all but dies after 2007. This was also the year the last comic, Issue #7, was published. According to the very short wiki, Issue #7 also ended on a cliffhanger! How sad.

At least we can still experience and appreciate the art and comics that were released.

Before I dive into the content of the book, if you'd like to experience it without spoilers, you can read it on my Internet Archive account.

If not, then come along! Let's get to the (abridged) story of this now defunct comic!

Part 1 -> You're Here! Part 2 -> Chapters 1 & 2 Part 3 -> Chapters 3 & 4

[eddis-not-eeddis]

So the K-drama my sisters and I all liked has turned out to suck, because, quite frankly, we are much better at writing romance subplots than any of the writers on that team were. We are devastated.

Things Wrong With Once Upon a Small Town

The leading lady does entirely too much pining. I am not opposed to a reasonable amount of pining. I may even pine a bit myself, from time to time. But her level of pining is practically indecent, and often unnecessary too.

We had the secondary romance plotted out perfectly. The vet tech (oh she of the instant coffee stash) was supposed to fall for the peach farmer who ran the local cafe. Finally getting a taste for real coffee, etc. etc. It was going to be adorable.

LOOK IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A K-DRAMA CATCH AT LEAST DO IT RIGHT! MY GOSH! The woman was LITERALLY on a STEP LADDER and the LIGHT was SIFTING through the TREES and THEY WERE HAVING a MOMENT. Perfect set up. Zero execution. The lame excuse of a K-drama catch that happened when they were all drunk after the party (she literally tripped over nothing!) just doesn't cut it. -3/10

We all decided that if the male lead's ex was gonna get with anyone it needed to be his bestie, because none of us like him or her, but we were all in favor of her not ever getting married ever and accidentally driving into a ditch...until we realized that would probably have led to her getting amnesia or something and lengthening the already overburdened plot.

Too many awkward meetings on the road while the characters are walking their bicycles. Get ON the bike and pedal folks. You can't awkwardly gawk or stare mournfully after someone when you are trying to hit your deadline, so get moving! Y'all are supposed to by super busy! GET! YOUR! TAILS! IN! GEAR!

There should have been more cows.

No really. He's a country vet, WHERE ARE ALL MY GOSH DARN COWS?

Also we expected to see at least a few sheep and they never appeared and we were heartily disappointed.

I really thought the rivalry between towns was going to amount to something, but it was honestly quite lackluster and rather boring.

Seriously people, communication is key. I had to watch thirty minutes of the leading lady lying to everyone about her feelings and then being mopey about the fact that the male lead wasn't dating her.

Um. Why is the peach farmer always just there? Doesn't he have a peach farm and a cafe to run? WTH? My guy, you have one (pardon, two) jobs. Stop hanging around the leading lady. She's not that into you.

I am expected to feel bad for a guy who has waited multiple years to confess his feelings and then only does so once he is drunk in front of his rival. No. Zero compassion. Love triangle drop-kicked into the ether. All of these people suck, but he sucks the most.

This is a stupid thing to be bothered by, but since I'm already on a roll, the male lead's socks personally offended me.

WHY WEREN'T THERE MORE COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Luckily there is only one episode left and then it will be over.

[ulaan1]

On Minecraft’s Report System

In the past few months there was a bit of an uproar in the Minecraft community over the 1.19.1 update-- which, besides being the latest lackluster and disappointing content addition, also introduces a controversial global ban system based on in-game player reporting.

Unfortunately, the discourse surrounding this change has been extremely dishonest. I will be fair and say both sides are guilty of this; many who are opposed imply that a Bedrock-style profanity filter is included in this update, which isn’t true. But on the other side, those in support constantly and disingenuously insinuate that all criticism of this system originates from a tiny minority of toxic edgelords and bigots, and that all reasonable people support this system, or are ambivalent towards it.

This is so blatantly false and cynical that I felt compelled to write a post about it. Politically, I am closer to an SJW than most, and as such I would have absolutely zero problem with Minecraft introducing a profanity filter that outright refuses to send messages containing the n-word and other slurs (that means only hateful slurs, and not a massive list that contains many innocuous words, such as “BAMF”, "gay" and "sofa king").

In fact, even if the report system in its current form specifically targeted extremist bigotry like racism, white nationalism, transphobia etc. and nothing else, I would not be writing this post. As far as I'm concerned, bigots don't deserve to have fun.

The reality

Unfortunately, the system reaches much, much farther than the above examples. We can call it a small victory that the category "swearing and profanity" was removed from the list of reportable offenses, but the fact that it was ever included to begin with shows how badly Mojang is missing the point.

And yes, it is indeed Mojang doing this. During this debacle, many people on social media have shown an inclination to blame Microsoft for this decision, absolving the poor, wholesome, relatable Mojang developerinos of any blame for a system clearly "forced upon them" by "out of touch corporate boomers".

Unfortunately, this is probably not accurate. First off, contrary to some other corporations that buy up studios, Microsoft is known to have a fairly hands-off approach toward IPs it buys. They believe that the developers that made it into a brand worth buying know how to handle their business, and if that attitude changed with Minecraft, it would be a first. If anything, Minecraft is the prime example of an IP that has improved tremendously while owned by Microsoft; we got stuff like the Nether Update, which I personally think is one of the best updates Minecraft has had in nearly a decade.

Secondly, Mojang developers, most notably among them Felix "Xilefian", have publicly displayed sentiments like "I wish people didn't bring up 2b2t" (one of the largest multiplayer servers in the world) and, paraphrased, "if you're against this system, you are a clown"; does that sound like someone begrudgingly carrying out the orders of a higher-up corporate entity? Or someone with a specific vision for what the game should be (i.e. an experience for young children), with frustration at the backlash from more mature demographics?

The point I'm trying to make by writing this post is that the majority of people opposed to this change are not, in fact, edgelords who are mad that they can no longer say racial slurs online. There are more serious concerns regarding the precedent it sets for the future of Minecraft multiplayer, that Mojang developers haven’t responded to in any of their lackluster “responses”.

Server ownership and server hosting

I am a server owner. If you're reading this, you probably know that, because who the fuck else reads my blog? But just to put it all out in the open: at this point I’ve invested more than $1000 in a physical machine in my house that, aside from my website, and a discord bot, I use to host several Minecraft servers. With the soaring energy prices in Europe right now, you can bet your ass I’ll end up spending like a third of my yearly income from my shitty part time job on keeping this machine running.

I turned 24 recently, and I have been playing Minecraft for over 12 years, since the very early days when we would get our updates on the Tumblr blog  "The Word of Notch"  and you could play the free game "Minecraft Classic" in your browser. I bought the game in Alpha for $5. I have been involved in hosting private Minecraft servers since at least 2013, and in doing so have been around the block in terms of the different ways people enjoy playing SMP.

Mojang devs have compared the Minecraft Community Standards to Discord's Terms of Service. In fact, they have compared receiving a global ban from Minecraft multiplayer to getting your Discord account terminated for breaking the ToS.

Anyone with a baseline understanding of how this stuff works on a technical level should immediately recognize a big problem with that line of argument.

Discord guilds are "owned" by their creators in name only. They are hosted using proprietary software on privately owned machines operated by Discord Inc. The Company; in this regard they have far more in common with, say, a Facebook account than a Minecraft dedicated server.

The only type of Minecraft server comparable to a Discord server is Realms; they come with the same heavy restrictions on customization for the sake of a guarantee of stability and no back-end administrative headaches, with the hosting handled by the developers themselves.

If you, on the other hand, want to actually operate your own private Minecraft server, you either have to rent server space (for money) from a third party hosting provider unaffiliated with Mojang, or invest significant personal resources (like money) into setting up your own physical server.

In these cases, the only thing provided by Mojang is the Minecraft server software. Everything else; the setup, operation, and maintenance of the actual server, the time and financial investment, the moderation of the community and curation of its contents, are all your responsibility. It’s quite a task, but the people undertaking it are well-equipped to do so.

It’s easy to write off your detractors as a vocal minority. It’s easy to claim that, for example, the Minecraft subreddit is not an accurate representation of the Minecraft playerbase (probably true), or that 2b2t is an unhealthy and toxic environment (definitely true). And yes, there have been serious cases of grooming and danger to children on different Minecraft servers in the world.

But the question isn’t whether or not harmful stuff is going on; the question is whether it’s Mojang’s responsibility to do something about it if it’s happening on someone’s private server, and the answer is a resounding “nope”.

So what does this all mean?

What this means is that Mojang is now enforcing control and undue influence over the goings-on on machines they have no legal authority over.

Yes, pedantic people will say: Well, it’s their server software you’re relying on, and they’re free to change that in any way they want! And yes, that is correct. They are free to dictate what their software does when we choose to use it, but they are also not responsible for how we choose to use it.

It’s also not even true; that we are reliant on their software for our server needs, that is. Running a pure vanilla server is almost unheard of especially public-facing ones; it completely lacks security features, and even back in the day the bare minimum was to run Bukkit + Essentials, with a permissions framework of choice. Nowadays people will bundle the Minecraft server jar with something like PaperMC, Spigot, or other software that increases performance (Mojang’s server software is notoriously ill-equipped for large public multiplayer) as well as fixing numerous bugs that negatively impact the multiplayer experience.

The main problem here, however, is more general than “Mojang is encroaching on my machine! Not in my backyard!!111″.

Mojang is, slowly but surely, changing its attitude towards its playerbase to be increasingly paternalistic and patronizing. Their idea of what their target demographic is has changed drastically from what it used to be.

A good example is how, in the EULA and in other places on the Minecraft website, it is expressed that "griefing" is a negative thing. Now for the average casual survival server, this is obviously true enough that it doesn't need to be emphasized; however, on the other hand, there are various widely popularized PvP gamemodes, like Factions, where griefing is an integral and accepted part of the competitive experience. Given the fact that Mojang interacts with Minecraft content creators regularly, they are undoubtedly aware of this. And yet, they choose to include it in the EULA. Why?

It all makes a lot more sense if you see Minecraft not as the game you remember from 10 years ago, but as the game it is right now. The overt majority of the Minecraft playerbase now consists of children and young teenagers who started playing after the Microsoft acquisition and have no particular love for “edgy” or “old-school” communities.

The comparatively miniscule holdover of adults who’ve been playing Minecraft since the early days simply does not make Mojang enough Sweet Ca$$$h Money to warrant giving a shit about. And yet, I’m pretty sure that the old-school Minecraft fanbase from back in the day is overrepresented among server operators, and are indispensable to keeping the landscape of privately hosted multiplayer servers interesting and vibrant.

Think of the children...!

Unfortunate, the truth is that those large-scale multiplayer experiences, while they’re run by adults, are mostly populated by children, and sweeping legislation to “protect minors online” is always on the horizon both in the EU and the United States; massive internet platforms full of children, such as Minecraft, have to pre-empt the possibility of getting sanctioned if it turns out that any child can freely connect to 2b2t and instantly get their chat filled with racial slurs and sexual innuendo.

At the end of the day, Mojang has simply correctly identified that their primary source of revenue is forever going to be young kids, or more accurately, their parents; whereas the adults who bought the game for cheap in 2011 aren’t going to make them any more money.

In a changing online media landscape it is in their best interest to reform their platform to be maximally appealing to parents, authorities, educators and children; and if you’re the kind of person who wants total personal control and ownership of your online experience, you are just shit out of luck.

And ultimately, if you do end up getting banned for something unfair, and the ban appeal process doesn’t overturn it, then what’s left? Well, if you really want to continue having the full experience, you would probably just purchase a new account. To them, there is no downside in this scenario; sweeping moderation guarantees to take care of 100% of toxicity and threats to their increasingly pre-teenaged playerbase, and the few cases that aren’t valid are either fixed through recourse... or by giving Mojang another $20.

Now, I strongly doubt this was some sort of nefarious scheme to make everyone buy additional copies of the game, as some particularly cynical redditors have insinuated, but if that thought ever did cross their minds, it certainly wouldn’t be an argument against the current incarnation of the report system. Ultimately, Mojang’s attitude is: if you are flagged in any way as a source of harmful conduct on our children’s game, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt: we excise you.

The thing they’re painfully oblivious to, for some reason, though, is that there is no overarching multiplayer experience. There is no single “children’s game”; there is still, to this day, no Roblox-esque central Mojang-hosted multiplayer platform to which all Minecraft Java Edition players connect in order to play. There are only the millions of privately hosted machines, such as mine, and there should be no arbiter of what is “toxic” in my server, except myself, my userbase, and the applicable laws in my polity.

Mojang’s community outreach and policing should remain strictly limited to those who want to be reached out to and policed.

The alternatives

If we accept the premise of my last paragraph, then what could Mojang do instead? 

Extending them the benefit of the doubt, the devs and their bootlickers have argued on several occasions that “many server owners are not equipped to handle the moderation of their communities". Weird take, but ok; based on no real data as far as I can tell, but let’s roll with it for a moment.

If that’s true, then what should Mojang do? Pick your answer:

A) Mojang should provide server owners with more effective moderation tools, such as a way for players to report other players to the server owner.

B) Mojang should implement a mandatory global moderation system that bypasses server owners altogether and thus reduces the control and social authority they have over their communities.

It’s glaringly obvious that, if you really think about it, their decision in this case does not make logical sense. Perhaps that’s the reason why they haven’t replied in any real depth to the question of why, exactly, this system is being implemented?

Either way, the most obvious solution and compromise would be to make the report system opt-in. If a server owner does in fact believe they are ill-equipped to handle the moderation of their own server (then why are you starting a public server in the first place? but ok.)  then they can simply decide they are okay with Mojang’s trained moderators (or “Minecraft Investigators”) to do the job for them.

The real alternative, though, that would actually satisfy everyone, is to have the report menu as it currently exists implemented into the game, but send its report output to the server owner instead of to Mojang, unless the server owner has explicitly chosen to send it to Mojang.

This would not be hard. This would be welcomed with open arms by the server admin community. In fact, if this were to be combined with real public server security features like build protection and such, it would be one of the greatest updates for multiplayer hosting in the history of the game.

Alas, it’s not what we got.

I will certainly continue to play Minecraft. I will continue to host multiplayer servers, thanks to the existence of mods like "No Chat Reports". But the sad reality, I think, is that this trend is going to continue. Mojang is very likely to continue prescribing particular ways to play their game and interact with their services, despite the decentralized nature of the platform.

At least we can be sure the smart people in our community will continue to find ways around it. That, too, is the beauty of having third-party server management.

[lavender-lores]

june reading wrap-up

finally back from my trip so now i can make this post! i've also updated my read list accordingly :)

the love interest (cale dietrich) - 6/13, 4 stars

it was entertaining for sure! but some parts of the book were either badly written or with weird plot pacing 😭😭 and even though its supposed to be stereotypical, what can i say? it was stereotypical.. and then the late half of the book just comes at you out of nowhere it was weird... but i really liked it what can i say??

my mechanical romance (alexene farol follmuth) - 6/14, 5 stars

this book knocks it OUT OF THE PARK! its realistic and its witty, and i guess a large part of the reason i liked it so much was because i related so much. its ironic but i finished this book about being a girl in robotics while literally sitting in my robotics class where i'm the only girl 😭😭 i loved this book. i want to frame it. its lighthearted in the parts it needs to be and the pacing + writing is superb. you gotta read it!

these violent delights (chloe gong) - 6/21, 4 stars

this book has been in my possession since literally winter and i have been trying SO HARD to read it until now and it was just SO HARD to get into. but by chance when i picked up at the beginning of my vacation i found myself well into the book. i dont think i'll check out the sequel, though. it was good, but it just didn't hit all the way for me.

cafe con lychee (emery lee) - 6/21, 2.5 stars

idk why but emery lee's writing just doesnt stick well with me. the book had me feeling empty and it seemed like there was just no real reason behind the book, yknow? it was fine at best. but i didn't enjoy it

a crown of wishes (roshani chokshi) - 6/22, 4.5 stars

this book!!! was so fun!!! i am not an enemies to lovers type of person (i am an extinct species) but this was literally so fun. the RELATIONSHIP between the mcs, the ACTION, the FANTASY, and the ROMANCE!!!! i loved it so much! this book was just so me in a way i cant explain. this one is one thats going on the darlings shelf

the kite runner (khaled hosseini) - 6/23, 5 stars

not much i can say on it that nobody else has, but let's just say that i'm using this for my ap lit summer reading as a "book that demonstrates literary merit."

skyhunter (marie lu) - 6/24, 4 stars

another that took too much time to get into 😅 my friend recommended this to me in like november and kept asking me about it because they loved this one so much but i had to kept telling them i hadnt finished it yet and i felt really bad.. but once i read it it wasn't all that bad! but it wasn't a fave that's for sure.

the tiger at midnight (swati teerdhala) - 6/28, 5 stars

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. the dialogues were fun and the pacing was good, plus it had the long-lost-royal trope that i absolutely love! sometimes though the writing would be weird about the whole viper stuff cuz it would keep saying she was super scary and then most of the book is her acting very.. lackluster? as opposed to this in-universe reputation. either way, i simply had to get the next book asap. and...

the archer at dawn (swati teerdhala) - 6/29, 2 stars

....... what happened 😭 idk the story quality literally nosedived after the first one i was so shocked and i didnt even feel like getting the next book i have no idea what happened in this book..

solitaire (alice oseman) - 6/30, 1 star

there are some people that are going to be very mad at me for this. but unfortunately, i feel that there is something all those people share that allows them to like this book: relatability. and i do not have that. the mc is unlikable, and she is unlikable on purpose. the point of the book is to help you to understand life from the perspective of someone like tori. but all i can say is that i absolutely hated reading it. this book did nothing but.. annoy me. i hated how she acted to other characters. i hated how she complained all the time. i wish michael holden never came back. this whole book just made me mad. i'm really sorry but i just hated this book.

here's to reading more in july!

[darkpoisonouslove]

Scooby-Doo & Zombie Island Review

This refers to both movies dealing with the zombie island. Lemme recap my experience with the first one because I don’t really have all that much to say about it and then we can move on to the MVP. Some mild and not so mild spoilers ahead so be warned. Also, as you’ll be able to tell from the review, I was still watching when I started writing it and my opinions at the beginning and at the end of it are differing.

I watched Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island when I was little and it scared the living hell out of me. Not because of the zombies. Who even cares about zombies anymore? But those cat creatures? Damn, that was the actual worst. And that assessment... still holds up... to an extent. The werecats are still terrifying, still the scariest part of the movie but was I as freaked out as the first time? Definitely not. Tbh there were pretty cool visuals but other than that the movie felt like it dragged a lot. There wasn’t that much of a mystery built through so many clues. It felt like they were just throwing in bits of info to piece together later so that they can tell their story but the actual case that they were supposed to solve? Felt pretty weak. And I have to say that that seems understandable. It is the first Scooby-Doo movie which means the first time they had to build a longer mystery and the first time we had real villains. It’s only natural that there will be a process of trial and error. Overall, it doesn’t really feel like mystery solving is really the focus of the movie. It feels a little scattered and like it doesn’t know exactly how to fill their runtime.

Now to move on to Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island. The beginning is a little weird and what is up with Fred selling the Mystery Machine (at least we get an emotional arc from Fred about it)? Not to mention that the dialogue is a little stilted at some points and there are some delivery and script choices that don’t land well but there is a lot of brilliant in it! I love the iterations of the characters here! The mystery is built so well through the little clues (just as it should be). And the comedy is really good. I laughed out loud so many times!

Shaggy and Scooby are what they always are but with an added twist I will talk about a little later on because we need the set-up first. I know that Fred, Daphne and Velma have promised a break from mysteries before but this is the one time that they are really sticking to that promise. They are going to great lengths to keep their promise to their friends and I love the dedication. They are ignoring their own instincts and urges to solve mysteries and even deliberately explaining the obviously clue-shaped stuff away in order to be good friends and it is heartwarming! I am so sold on this friendship, I can’t even tell you. Not to mention that there is the added bonus of them being left with empty lives when you take away the mysteries and being unable to small talk to each other but they still know each other pretty well. Velma understanding Scooby and Shaggy’s panicked babbling and that group hug when Scoob and Shag finally lifted the no mysteries clause were absolutely adorable moments of genuine friendship!

And that brings me back to Shaggy and Scooby who are here put in the place of the ones having to incite the mystery solving process while the others are explaining away the obviously suspicious activity around them. That was an interesting take on the characters that I don’t think I’ve seen in other Scooby-Doo pieces and was handled really well in a way that makes sense.

The other great thing about this movie is the detail work. The mystery is clearly set up with a bonus thrown in the way. You get a smaller fake mystery in the way that is pretty obvious but also hiding the grand picture. There are several clues left unexplained after the fake mystery is moved out of the way and those are the scariest ones such as the creature Scooby saw and the tires being slashed. Also, the fact that the people with familiar sounding names turned out to be actors is now lulling them in a false sense of security that contrasts with the real danger still lurking to bring out the horror that awaits them. And of course, there is the cat alter that clearly wasn’t part of the movie settings, the cold and therefore dead and real zombies Shaggy and Scooby saw (further thrown off by the fact that there were supposed to be fake zombies there but they ended up being real) and the cat pendant that the movie director is wearing which is straight out of the first movie. An intriguing way to set up a sequel. So they should have saved the personnel quitting for when the werecats showed up as opposed to the actual cats, plus, the whole deal with abandoning the mystery is messing with the tension but... why did they have to get cartoony all of a sudden? I know it’s Scooby Doo but they were handling everything seriously and successfully so far. It was a little bit of a letdown.

There are issues with the pacing throughout the climax of the story which is about the last place you want to have issues with your pacing and I feel like cutting the chase sequence would have served the movie so much better. I know it is a Scooby Doo staple but it is causing some of those issues I mentioned and they would have benefited from placing it before that while they were being chased by the actors so that they could maintain the sense of tension and danger during the parts with actual monsters. The resolution was lackluster at best, confusing at worst. They mention a forth cat and then there isn’t one. The big mystery isn’t connected to the fake mystery and is barely connected to the original mystery either (the pendant was just a coincidence which was about the most frustrating thing of all). And the emotional storyline fell through the cracks as well. It was clear that they were going to come back to solving mysteries but the movie set up a message about them learning who they are outside of that as well and then it went nowhere. They could have tried getting to learn more about themselves and each other while still keeping up with the mysteries and maybe even figuring out that they have a path in acting which could segue into the sheriff offering them to sign up and complete a training program for becoming undercover detectives and work officially for the police after they graduate from that. It would have tied all of the movie segments together much better.

I was so hyped at the beginning of this movie because it was going so well. It had the heart and the brains and then the third act took all of that and launched it into the sun. This is how the potential for a spectacular movie dies and leaves you with a hot mess on your hands instead. I really wanted to talk about this movie because I though that it would be really good and I was super excited about what it was accomplishing in the first part but they couldn’t find it in themselves to carry that momentum all the way to the finish line which is disappointing and sad. I really wish I could have been more positive about this because I really wanted to and I was hoping it would get where it was going but alas... Not the best Scooby Doo movie even though it had headed there at the speed of light at first.

[ljf613]

20 Fic Writer Questions

Thanks to @theboyfrommakapu and @old-and-new-friends for the tag.

1) How many works do you have on AO3? Technically 66, but 9 of those are really just stubs of fics I will write someday.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count? 131,183.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? 14: Miraculous Ladybug, Tales of Arcadia, Teen Wolf, Space Boy, Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman, Children of the Wolves: Ame & Yuki, Yona of the Dawn, Fairy Tail, Shall We Date?: THE NIFLHEIM+, The Dragon Prince, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, The Familiar of Zero, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and several others that have not yet been posted. (The NIFLHEIM fic was just as a crossover for a Fairy Tail fic, I'm not invested in that one enough that I'd really write a story in that fandom on its own.)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. nobody wants to pay the asking price (716 kudos) 2. you don't get what all this is about (669 kudos) 3. we all bend and break sometimes (644 kudos) 4. I'm worse at what I do best (559 kudos) 5. fifteen for a moment (541 kudos) (The we all want love/we all want honor series is way more popular than I ever anticipated it would be.)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Always. There are times when it takes me a little way to come up with a good response, especially for the really detailed comments (I think the oldest unanswered one is from way back in January), but I get around to it eventually. I think it's really important to interact with people who've not only taken the time to read my stories, but also want to talk about them.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? It's Winter Again (And I Can't Wait To See You), without a doubt. I wanted to write a super-angsty Yuaang fic, and I believe I succeeded.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? The happiest? I haven't actually ended too many fics, and most of them didn't end particularly happily-- hopefully might be a more apt description....... I guess The Bells of Kardia Cathedral had a pretty happy ending.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written? I've only written one real crossover (aside from a couple of ATLA/LOK "crossovers"), the aforementioned Fairy Tail/NIFLHEIM fic Fairy Tail in NIFLHEIM, which was pretty crazy. I do have an ATLA/Magi crossover planned that I think might be pretty interesting.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic? I don't think so (unless I deleted and forgot about it). The closest I can think of (although I can't find it now, so I either imagined it or whoever wrote it deleted it) was someone who thinks the way I'm handling Toph in the Ba Sing Se arc of we all want love/we all want honor is rather OOC for how I've set her up in this series. I actually do understand where that person is coming from, and I plan on addressing exactly why she's behaving the way she is sometime in the next few chapters.

10) Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Nope. Never have, never will, don't even ask.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not..... exactly? Someone's reposted the entirety of wawl/wawh and reposted it in a single doc, but it was posted privately for personal use (to make it easier for them to download the whole thing together). I haven't yet decided what I want to do about that.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but I'm totally open to it if anyone's interested!

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nah. There were times in the past when I almost did, but it never seemed to work out.

14) What’s your all-time favorite ship? Nathan x Haley (Naley) from One Tree Hill #otp: always and forever

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Well, nothing's completely off the table, but probably The Death of a First Crush. I have a lot of fondness for that fic-- it was probably the first real longfic I ever attempted to write, and I always knew exactly where I was going with it and how I wanted it to end. However, I started it at a very particular time of my life, when I was going through some very particular emotional stages I was trying to convey, and I don't think I could recapture those feelings if I wanted to. And maybe also Children of the Wolves. That's a story I was super-excited about, and I'd probably been thinking about since middle school (long before I discovered that fanfic was an actual 'thing' other people might actually be interested in reading)-- but the response was so lackluster I couldn't muster up any real motivation to continue it. I would like to get back to it someday, but only if there's some real interest.

16) What are your writing strengths? I'm but a lot of thought into my at worldbuilding, I do my best to avoid plotholes, and I think my dialogue and descriptions are pretty good.

17) What are your writing weaknesses? I don't know how to draft things-- they have to be absolutely perfect the first time, or I will sit and wait until they are. Also, I can't really write action-- fight scenes and such require a lot of visual/spatial awareness my aphantasiac brain just isn't capable of.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Well..... I don't think I've ever really done it, although I wouldn't be opposed to it if it made sense for the plot. If it was a real language, I'd definitely want to get help from an actual speaker, rather than just relying on Google translate or something.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for? The first fandom I ever posted for was Miraculous Ladybug. The first fandom I ever wrote for (that I actually have posted, we're not discussing the mediocre Twilight stories I scribbled out in middle school or anything) was Familair of Zero.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? My absolute favorite? IDK...... I really love the age of wizardry is over, and I'm super-proud of both Between the Emotion and the Response and we all want love/we all want honor.

Tagging: I have no idea who has and hasn't been tagged for this yet, so if you're interested, just go for it!

[rossumtrinity]

i need to talk to my group member about stuff but i refuse to be the first one to message and try to coordinate bc i ALWAYS am and im sick and tired of it. so im going to write a post talking abt my qualms with m*nimegs and put it under a cut for being i guess “ship critical” and rambly

first i need to state that i’m not necessarily opposed to the like Base Concept of the ship. i think it has potential as an interesting character dynamic which, like, displays different facets of both characters? definitely some fun homotheatric potential, the drama of being attracted to someone’s who’s basically on death row and also Your Mortal Enemy. 

however i am EXTREMELY opposed to the general fanon interpretation of it as like, Gay Married Old Men and also rodimus is their son i guess (ben affleck smoking.jpg). i don’t find it interesting, megan doesn’t have the range, i don’t think it’s realistic, and the whole infantilizing rodimus thing is ANOTHER one of my huge fanon pet peeves but we’re not talking about that today.

also in the interests of “transparency” in my stupid post, mims is one of my big comfort characters and megan is like The discomfort character so seeing them paired up isnt something i relish

like, i definitely think mims would be attached/attracted to megan as an authority figure who pays attention to and validates him but like... very much within that framework. and i think as a person he is like, really desperate for that kind of approval but actually receiving it from megs isn’t like, great for him? in terms of development? if that makes sense. supplanting lack of self-esteem with approval from authority figures instead of actually working out your insecurities ykwim

and on megan’s part he is canonically abusive, and a lot of his behavior patterns and the way he interacts with people make me uncomfortable wrt being reminiscent of an abuser. idk if that makes sense. and i can also definitely see him getting attached/attracted to mims but not... in a very healthy way either. this is not a man who has done genuine self reflection and attempted to work on who he is at the core. he still believes he’s right over other people, he is still honestly very selfish, he pretty regularly discounts the emotions of people around him. he is not the kind of person who uses power given to him in a responsible way. he just like, doesn’t do murders now, or whatever. good for you i guess

not necessarily to say that i think the ship would be inherently abusive, which would honestly be a whole other post, but that i don’t think it would move either of their characters in good directions. like i think they would both enable the other’s worst tendencies.

the common fanon take, in order to make the relationship work, involves flattening out both characters but especially megan because his abrasive shitty self just doesn’t neatly slot into fan-favorite cookie cutter ship dynamics. and when it comes to mims i feel like it really discounts his character arc, even moreso than everyone on the lost light had their character dev shoved aside to make room for megs. and while mims has the range megan as presented by m*nimegs is literally so boring. 

(ofc meg*p isn’t “canon” and the canon idw meg*p relationship is honestly pretty lackluster despite jro’s efforts but i cant help but think it would have a, not very positive influence on a mims/megan relationship)

If I Were to try and pair megan up with anyone in what i think would be a healthy dynamic it would *have* to be someone with the self-confidence to stand up to his shit and call him out and i do NOT think that is mims in the slightest. imo a ‘realistic’ take would be like, a) weird tension but not getting together in the first place because *waves my hands vaguely in their direction* Where Do I Even Start, b) really really messy and awkward breakup resulting in anti-character development. character regression, even. megan’s latest, first post-war divorce.