#i don't have rts or whatever so like

[jerichoes]

alright. i'll gif cyberpunk

[icewindandboringhorror]

Very strange outfit that is sort of like.. a mix of my current style (pattern mixing, pom poms, fun sandals) combined with how I dressed when I was like 10 years old. The stereotypical skelanimals hoodie vest and the skull t-shirt lol.. 

[jmtorres]

i just saw a post about how we just have to "live with" covid and wanting more protections from our government is unreasonable because we'll never wipe it out, it jumps species and is in all sorts of animal populations (like, true ok) so why even try to

and apparently the argument was aimed at people (who I haven't seen in the wild) who are arguing we should still be in lockdown. and i have mixed feelings about the idea of extended lockdown or attenuating isolations; but my main feeling at this point is not that the government should keep us apart but that the government should be trying to make it safer for us to be together

things the government could/should be doing about covid:

we know that ventilation/air movement helps a shitton. we should be incentivizing upgrades to ventilation systems in all public buildings with shit like rebates or tax deductions, while phasing in eventual legal requirements. (and uh. it has occurred to me that the US might actually be doing this sideways by there's currently this decade enormous tax incentives in re energy efficient upgrades for slowing climate change and you know. energy efficient hvac does tend to improve ventilation. extra point to biden here.)

mandatory paid sick leave so workers aren't under social or economic pressure to work when sick

passing out RT-LAMP tests like metrix that actually work instead of the rapid antigen tests that have become less and less reliable as the virus mutates

i don't know how you'd write this law but like 95% or more of computer-based work can be done remotely and companies should not be allowed to force people to return to the office. I know there's people who want to be back in person and I'm not saying they should be forced to stay home but ffs I know of at least two people CLOSE to me who worked remotely before the pandemic and at some point their workplaces tried to tell them they weren't allowed to do that anymore despite the pre-existing contracts. stop canceling remote work for people that want, need, or prefer it.

for that matter, every college lecture that was an online class during covid should still be offered as an online class, there is no reason to force students into auditoriums in person. you got the communications infrastructure up and running, why are you tearing it down. give people the OPTION. it increases accessibility for everyone!

covid vaccine immunity lasts about four months. this should be well-publicized and everyone should be able to re-up for free every four months. "every year, like the flu vaccine" is demonstrably not often enough. actually "for free" isn't good enough start handing out $10 gift cards you will be shocked at how many people who are resistant to the idea of vaccines will fold for $10 a shot

are there already laws on the books about masks in medical settings that some medical professionals are blatantly ignoring because they forgot what best practices were before the plague and they're 'tired of masking'? if not, pass laws. if so, fucking enforce them

oh another incentives for upgrades phasing into legal requirements thing: brass doorknobs and railings over stainless steel or whatever. microbes do not survive on brass surfaces

i mean. i know this one sounds too extreme to a lot of people but. UBI.

most if not all of these measures will prevent or ameliorate other pandemics of different diseases that may arise in the future. and just. generally improve our health and quality of life for other reasons.

I haven't felt safe to go to a concert since 2020. Maybe if I knew a venue was legally required to have ventilation to a certain standard and that none of the ticket takers and ushers were on the job sick to avoid risking loss of paycheck or job, and knew a larger percentage of the crowd had up to date vaccinations--maybe if any or all that, I might ever feel comfortable going to a show again.

wouldn't it be nice if those of us who have been disabled, by covid or other conditions, had accessible remote options but also occasionally felt safe enough to interact with and participate in wider society?

one of the arguments on the post I saw was how isolation was massively psychologically damaging and various strata of society were affected in all sorts of ways, from undersocialized kids to increased depression in--well across the board, I think. and here's the thing: WE KNOW. PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITIONS, LONG COVID OR OTHERWISE, KNOW ISOLATION SUCKS REAL BAD. because we, both for our own health and due to disability ostracism, are still isolating and isolated more than most.

what are you as individuals or societies, what are our governments, doing to help make it safe and accessible to rejoin you????

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole in this situation??

First of all I'm so sorry for bringing t/b discourse here but this has been so gd annoying I need help. And all this is is on twitter-retro etc.

I'm 100% here for switch please keep in mind. Idc what anyone else likes it's food I'll eat all of it. But this fandom. Oh this fandom. So here's the context, it's a anime show with a really popular almost canon mlm ship, one of them is crazy beautiful and the other one is a big muscular man. Naturally the fandom like the pretty man as bottom and the muscular man as top. Let's call this DC. Not all people tho and it's the problem.

See, there are some creators who hate the above dynamics so much they make the muscular man a woman, sometimes trans which is fine but they always babygirl him, call him wifey, use she/her pronouns, go all out to make the pretty man over the top masculine so he can be top while making the canon masculine man demure little wife. Note that they're both really tall but D has long hair so they always make him wear accessories to feminize him. I made friends with some authors who used to like switch, they wrote DC back then and they were so good. They were all into switch too. Over the years they became really hateful of DC dynamics and started to exclusively write CD, talk about CD only, rt CD art exclusively.

This is still fine, they're like 10 people out of thousands who don't care, and most people don't care. Until one day recently when I said it was better to ship switch. Those people started clowning me, saying it's their right to exclusively like whatever, write whatever, started ignoring how the show portrays them. They wrote literal threads detailing how to how use tags as if no one knows, shaded people who said they didn't care and would use whatever tags they liked. It got to a point I had to ask them to stop, they started saying I was harassing them and accused the fandom of harassing them on anon and ao3. When I said it Doesn't Matter they said it was racist to suggest that, telling me to block if I didn't like their posts. I could not make them understand how fetishistic it was, just because Japanese fans do this doesn't mean it's good or we have to follow? They somehow figured out who I was and blocked me, kicked me out of a server we were in together, so I lost mutuals and some followers too.

Then they started answering my asks unseriously like "I write CD to piss YOU off" "can't project on the twink like yall" and started insulting switch fans calling us hypocrits. There isn't much CD content to begin with how can I share more of those? Whatever is available they make it heteronormative like that. One of them deadass called me an asshole for "harassing" them just because I said it's rude to block people over t/b dynamics when no one is bothering anyone, because these people are always blocking anyone posting DC and making a bubble of CD only fans. This is bound to make them lose track of canon but who cares anymore. They keep complaining about being harassed for liking CD and yes some fans probably send anon hate but that doesn't mean any critic of CD is harassment?

Tell me how I'm the asshole here for suggesting they stop obsessing over t/b this much? How am I the asshole when I'm the one they all blocked and apparently I'm a bad guy because I followed some popular accounts who post DC and said some weird things about D which I didn't even know about.

What are these acronyms?

[jo-harrington]

Peak Sales Hours (Eddie Munson x Store Manager!Reader)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: After his first Black Friday, Eddie is exhausted and takes comfort in his new relationship with you.

Previous Part: Promotion

Warnings/Themes: Established friendship/new relationship, fluff, hurt/comfort(?), idk it's a lot of comfort, working in retail hell, Eddie works at Tape World and Reader is the Store Manager at Claire's in Starcourt Mall, angry customers, weariness

Note: So...hi guys. Welcome back to the Store Manager Verse. This little installment is sort of skipping a step. I had a whole thing planned and half-written of Eddie and our favorite SM actually confessing their feelings and being fluffy...and it's still gonna happen I'm just...on day whatever of work and have a big deadline and have had sleep for lunch the past I-don't-know how many days.

And it just took me back to the countless Black Friday and Peak Holiday shifts where all I wanted was to get back home. So here we are.

You can find my masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

___

Never, in his entire life, had Eddie Munson felt more akin to the heroes from his favorite fantasy stories.

Long journeys and harrowing battles.

Deep wounds and comrades lost to the beyond.

Hoards of villains and the promise of a better future if only there was hope.

Taran. Aragorn. Luke Skywalker. They had seen it all.

"What's taking so long? I just need a gift receipt!"

But none of them had ever worked Black Friday.

He had experienced Black Friday before, as a shopper.

Thanksgiving hadn't ever been anything magnificent in the Munson household, especially after his mom died. Wayne and Rick had always tried to make it still feel special for Eddie, with hearty midwest comfort foods.

There would always be a full belly and an even fuller heart with his uncle and his almost-step-dad around. Eddie could never complain.

Then after a late afternoon dinner, Wayne would pack up a plate of leftovers to make his shift at the plant that paid time-and-a-half, plus a little something extra from the plant manager, cash in hand. By the time Eddie woke up the next morning, Wayne would pull up with a box of fresh donuts, honk three times, and they would be on their way to the Kmart on Rt 9 and get some steeply discounted goods with Wayne's holiday pay.

It was always a madhouse, but Eddie could swiftly dodge screaming kids, empathize with over-caffeinated employees, and wait in long lines if he and Wayne didn't need to fret about things like work boots and gloves, t-shirts and underwear, and usually one nice little Christmas gift for each of them.

This year, of course, had been a little different. Wayne had been a little disappointed--he would never admit it, but Eddie could tell--that their tradition would be forsaken for Eddie's shift at the mall. But your addition into the Thanksgiving festivities had been a welcome one.

Eddie had extended the invitation weeks ago, when you mentioned you wouldn't be able to make it home to spend the holiday with your family thanks to work.

You, of course, promised to pull your weight--

"It's always really casual," he tried to ease your worries as you began to fret over what kind of dessert Wayne and Rick might like. "You don't even need to dress up. Come in your pajamas. Rick makes a really good pumpkin pie, and I have my mom's old scalloped potato recipe that will literally put you in a food coma."

"What about turkey?" you asked.

"We don't really do turkey." He shrugged. "There's only three of us. So we do different things every year. Rick usually catches some kind of fish if it's warm enough. Wayne has a good recipe for fried chicken. We were thinking of doing meatloaf..."

"I can do the meatloaf!" You perked up immediately.

--only to show up laden with a roasting pan for the meatloaf, a plastic-wrapped gravy boat full of some kind of mushroom gravy, a salad, and a casserole dish overflowing with green beans, cream-of-something soup, and heaps of french fried onions.

Eddie, of course, scolded you as you shuffled through to the kitchen, much like he had the first time you showed up for dinner at his place. But he also placed a soft peck on your lips, which earned him a bashful smile as you shoo'd him away.

That was a new development to your...friendship, if you could even call it that anymore. There really hadn't been time to discuss the logistics between the frenzied makeout session in his van outside of the Hideout this past Tuesday night and Thanksgiving dinner.

Now that he had been trapped at the cash wrap, ringing out ungrateful customers for the past 8 hours, he was almost loathing his past self for wanting to be a little discreet in front of Wayne and Rick. For not...making himself have the "what are we" conversation with you, because your lips had soothed every frazzled nerve he had the other night.

Knowing that at the end of the day that he wasn't going through it alone, that his girlfriend was also in the mall suffering through the mass chaos and that he could go upstairs and steal a kiss whenever he wanted...well it certainly would have done him a world of good to mentally prepare him for this.

For the entirety of his time working at Tape World, he thought he had been doing a pretty good job. Sure there were some hard days, some rude customers. But at the end of the day, an 8-hour shift was an 8-hour shift, and he was only selling tapes. Not...ending world hunger.

"Ah you say that now," Kyle told him on Wednesday as they were putting together cardboard "dump bins" for the discount tapes that would be placed every 10 feet in the store. "But Black Friday is a beast, and Christmas Eve is worse. You're honestly lucky you only work here and not at, like, Radio Shack or something. My buddy Todd has seen some shit.

"Actually, I'm almost regretting scheduling you as a mid but I needed a second key." Kyle rubbed the back of his neck. "Peak Hours. Mid's a rough shift for Black Friday weekend."

"I'll be fine," Eddie scoffed. "I've done mid shifts before. I'm almost excited. How bad could it get?"

Famous. Last. Words.

He had barely been able to squeeze into the store when it was time for his shift, the line for the cash wrap blocked the way to the stockroom door. As soon as people saw his name tag, they started shouting at him to open the other register, how they needed help; he could barely get a word out to explain that he wasn't clocked in yet. They didn't care.

He was no longer Eddie Munson, Tape World Keyholder and your boyfriend, probably, maybe...

He was a body who could unlock the electronics case and ring them out.

He was a husk who said "welcome in" and "thanks have a great day" and smiled until his face started hurting.

And for the first time since he had gotten this job back at the beginning of summer...it really fucked with him.

His legs were cramped from standing at the Cash Wrap for so long, he wasn't sure which of the associates had his keys, his hair was damp with sweat even if he threw it into a some haphazard bun hours ago.

He'd been yelled at by more people than he could count, counted so much change the edges of his fingers were pretty much stained from all the muck and grime on everyone's money, and had made so many returns from people with buyer's remorse that he was sure they had given more money back than they had made in sales today.

Eddie hadn't even gotten a chance to take his lunch out in the mall and pay you a visit like he typically would. He had just collapsed in the little metal folding chair in the break area of the tiny stock room. Kyle had clapped him on the shoulder with a quick "good job kid" as he left for the day and Eddie hadn't even moved.

"Alright Ed," Paulie shuffled over as Eddie wrapped up the last in a long line of transactions and was about to wave the next customer over. "Quitting time."

Eddie sighed and backed against the counter as Paulie counted him down. The adrenaline of the day finally started to wear off as he came to realize that it was all over, and a weariness unlike the one he had been feeling his entire shift settled deep into his bones.

He went through the motions as he went back to the stockroom to grab his jacket and punch out. He wove his way through the still-crowded store and out into the mall, sighing in relief as the cooler mall air hit him.

It was gonna be a mercy once he got out to his van. He'd drive home with the windows down.

His ears rang as he headed towards the employee entrance and he wondered if it would be worth waiting in line at the Orange Julius before he left or if he should just stop through the McDonald's drive thru or something on his way home.

"Eddie."

But then, he didn't really need to stop for anything. There were leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner at home. He could smoke a little bit, make some kind of meatloaf sandwich, and then sink into his bed.

"Eddie."

And sleep until...

Fuck.

He was gonna have to do it all again tomorrow. And the day after that.

He thought back to his favorite fantasy heroes and wondered how they did it. How they put themselves through endless journeys, practically sacrificed themselves time and again.

And he could barely make it through a shift at the Starcourt Mall of all places.

"Eddie!"

He crashed right into your hands as you planted them on his shoulders and prevented him from absolutely barreling into you.

"Jesus are you ok?" you exclaimed and pulled him off to the side of the walkway to get out of the way of foot traffic.

Was he? Probably not.

"Yeah," he shook his head and answered. He finally looked at you, finally actually saw you. Dressed in your Teen Vogue best, as you called it, although a little worse for wear, if the eyeshadow smeared where it definitely shouldn't be and your jewelry all askew was any indicator. "Yeah I'm fine.

"You sure? You looked like you were in a trance," you explained. "I've been calling your name for a little while."

"Oh shit," he sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Yeah, no...it's...It was just a long day."

You didn't hesitate. Your arms immediately wrapped around him and you pulled him in. Pulled him back from whatever precipice he was about to launch himself off of, and straight into the comfort of you.

---

Before long, Eddie found himself in your apartment, fully upside down with his legs propped against the wall as he enjoyed the Blizzard he'd picked up on the way.

"You know just cuz you can hold it upside down, doesn't mean you're supposed to eat it upside down," you laughed as you filled a pot with water and put it on the stove.

"And what are you, the Blizzard expert," Eddie scoffed. "If you'll recall I was the one who took you to Dairy Queen for the first time."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." You rolled your eyes and turned to grab some cans from the cupboard.

You had offered to make dinner--again--while he vented about his shift. Nothing as spectacular as what you made for Thanksgiving dinner, but it left the leftover meatloaf for Wayne to take for his lunches.

"You're lucky I like your spaghetti sauce," Eddie grumbled, a little sad that he couldn't have his meatloaf sandwich.

So he talked as you ran to your bedroom to rid yourself of the remnants of who you became when you were at Starcourt, and as you emerged the person that, he liked to believe, was reserved especially for him.

He told you about the back to back returns he had dealt with when he came back from lunch as you dropped dried pasta into the boiling water and grated garlic into sizzling oil.

He complained about the man who demanded help from a manager only even though all he wanted was a special edition cassette deck that had all the bells and whistles and anyone with keys could help him. His voice got louder and meaner as he quoted the jackass verbatim, but the sharp strike of your wooden spoon against the side of the pot brought him back down to earth.

And as he finished up his story about having to count Sam's register three times because he forgot that there were large bills under the cash tray, you joined him on the couch with a bowl of steaming hot pasta for each of you.

He righted himself and discarded the empty blizzard cup on your coffee table.

"First Black Friday in the books," you announced and you passed the bowl to him. "I'm proud of you."

"Proud?" Eddie groaned. "Seriously? It was a disaster."

"They always are," you explained sagely.

"You survived," he pointed out.

"So did you."

"Barely."

"So?" you asked and twirled noodles on your fork expertly. "Doesn't that count? This is, like...my 5th Black Friday? My 6th? I count each one as a victory. And so should you."

You leaned over to kiss his cheek, then clinked plates with his in a salute, and then the two of you fell into contented silence as you ate.

As Eddie worked ravenously through the layers of starchy, cheesy, garlicky goodness, he realized that the weariness that had settled within him after his shift had started to alleviate. How he felt more like himself now that he was sitting next to you, basking in the warm glow of your company.

He briefly considered this ritual the two of you had been engaging in for months. The way you shared stories and foods and got closer to one another. He had always been a little worried that things would change if he ever got his wish, if this friendship with you ever became more.

But it was like nothing had changed at all.

He wanted to ask, was tempted to ask, what this was? If this was a date, like all the dates that weren't dates hadn't been before? If you were his girlfriend now?

But then...he recalled the time that you had a bad day and you immediately found relief in him, how he thought that he didn't need to be your knight as long as he could be your home.

And Eddie realized that whatever the two of you decided it would be, whether you were still just his friend, or if you were his girlfriend, or maybe...maybe something else...

You, too, would always be his home at the end of a long battle.

---

Next Part: Disaster Preparedness

Tag List for Store Manager Verse is still temporarily suspended. Thank you for understanding.

[acc3pt4nce]

choose, assume, persist. - a guide

first: decide whatever you want to manifest.

think– what do you truly desire deep down inside of you? for example: when manifesting a sp, are they truly what you want? when imagining the perfect sp do you envision them? or do you imagine someone else?

second: decide you have it.

this is the part that most people struggle with, but you can actually have fun with it. all you have to do is assume and accept that you have whatever it is that you desire. you want that house? assume you're living in it. you want that ugly ass boy? assume you're dating him? you wish ur english teacher would stfu? assume she's not annoying asl.

feel that you have what you want. this is when methods come in. methods are only for sustaining the feeling of the wish fulfilled (i'll go more into depth further in this post about this.) the most popular methods are affirming, visualizing, scripting, inner conversations, etc! this is the fun part, visualize whatever you want, hear whatever you want, feel whatever you want. you are, of course, not obligated to use methods and can just simply assume what you want is yours and move on. all you have to do is decide "i have _" or "i am _!"

third: persist in your assumption

persist in your assumption that you have whatever it is you desire in imagination. this means to continue to accept whatever you desire as yours. i suggest that whenever the thought of your desire pops inside your head you shift back to the state of the wish fulfilled. you dont have to think about it every single second of the day but i suggest once or twice a day.

now.. what is this feeling/state of the wish fulfilled stuff?

"When I speak of of feeling (feeling of wish fulfilled) I do not mean emotion, but the acceptance of the fact that it is fulfilled." - Neville Goddard

i absolutely adore this quote by neville and it simplifies tfotwf (the feeling of the wish fulfilled) so perfectly. when we talk about "feeling" in loass we don't mean emotion, we mean knowing. knowing = acceptance = belief. we mean the knowing that your desire is yours in imagination. all you have to do is decide "it is mine" or, once again, use methods.

to understand the state of the wish fulfilled you first need to understand states. a state is a mindset comes from assuming a new belief. now, the state of the wish fulfilled is just the state of your desire being yours. you reach this state by accepting and assuming your desire as yours.

so.. how does this stuff manifest?

the 3d is a mirror of the 4d, this meaning you have to change the 4d to change your 3d. your 4d meaning consciousness, imagination, the inner man and the 3d is the external world. what you see when you open your eyes. i've heard this example about 100 times and i love it sm: when getting dressed and you put on a shirt and you don't like it, would you try to change the mirror or change yourself into a different shirt? your shirt ofc! imagination is the real reality. imagination creates.

Your assumption, though false in the sense that it is denied by your senses and reason, if persisted in will harden into fact in such a normal, natural way that you will think it would have happened anyway. - Neville Goddard

dont place your focus on the 3d. dont check for proof expecting the opposite right after you accepted that you have what you want. instead, live your life in the 4d, experiencing whatever you'd like.

loll this was my first real post .. i'm not the best writer but i think i got most of my thoughts out! my faveee loass bloggers on here are nakedbibi333 sexynhedonistic - sexydreamgirl 0t0mie piercedblunt ella nd my favee twitter accs inbarbad0s (i absoluetly adore her sfmm.. her posts are so perfect plz check her out) stuckinthe4d visualdior (love her threads & her website) aliamanifests (shes on here too) scarlet anddd angel

fave guide love how easy it is to digest because the law is easy asl.. LMFAOO alright check out my twt for more rt's , if u have any questions use my askbox and yeah!

[mathlann]

Requisite Disclaimer: I don't see the point in keeping this OC specific but, my game isn't your game etc. etc. I'm coming from a Sub! Marazhai perspective for context but just my interpretation.

So I've been rotating that Act 5 Kiss in my head for too long but I think I've pinned down what makes the Act 5 Kiss work, for me at least. Because inasmuch as the "Marazhai hates kissing" thing is fun, I don't think the actual Act of kissing (with or without teeth) is really what he's objecting to that first time. It's that the Rogue Trader is messing up the Game (ie, the terms of their fling/him teaching them how to be more Drukhari). And I think the Act 5 Kiss, or rather how you get it, is a fun bookend on ending the Game/re-balancing the dynamic?

Long-ass ramble under the cut

So, like I was saying above, the RT and Marazhai's relationship is pretty explicitly a Game that he's playing out of boredom. The Rogue Trader receives "[an education on] the true Aeldari soul" he receives "a fleeting titillation" until it's time for him to become Archon/become a Merc/join the clown show, whatever. He initiates the proposition, and he's the one setting the terms through the whole thing. It's up to the Rogue Trader to stay in their role and meet his standards, or they give up, or he gets bored and leaves. And a major part of his romance is that he's very action over words in regards to what he wants and how he feels.

As far as the first two kisses go, it's not the act itself it's the context imo. The first (bitey) kiss, he initiates, and it's during the lust/murder-high part of the Feast, which is what he invited the Rogue Trader to do. The Kiss Attempt™ by the Rogue Trader is the next morning after all that's worn off. And, granted the scene itself is pretty cozy, considering (he's literally leaning over the RT and telling them not to keep him waiting ie, next hookup) so it makes sense why the Rogue Trader might decide a goodbye kiss is appropriate. But it's a misstep I think because it's too intimate, bordering on sentimental, which is very much not the Drukhari way of doing things (it shows weakness). You aren't lovers in that way, the Rogue Trader is a toy/a pet, fun time is over and he's headed out. To try to pretend more than that is past the Game and an expression of weakness that needs to be put in its place as a "mon-keigh absurdity" as he'd say.

Compare that to the Branding, which is much more his style. It is, for all intents and purposes, a commitment scene, but he doesn't actually say "I want this," he's decided that the Rogue Trader has earned it from him. He talks around, but doesn't even explicitly say, he wants the RT to brand him either, (if asked, best he gives is "well....I mean after I've been so ~submissive~ you would let me just walk around without???? 👀"). And he threatens to walk out if the Rogue Trader keeps asking too many questions because again, he's the lead here and to say so would be to play his hand, which is a major no. If he grabs the RT like he's going to brand them....and it just so happens they have a mighty easy time grabbing that knife from him....well, there's the answer, no words needed. And if the Rogue Trader doesn't grab the knife, well, there's his answer. Y'all don't need to see each other anymore.

Which also makes the final Feast/Big confession hit the way it does because it is the first and only time he's being very direct in how he feels and what he wants, ie. they're equals and he wants the to keep up *all of this* for as long as they've got. And...that's a slip up irt his control of the situation/the Game that the Rogue Trader can exploit. To see:

And for extra juice, the actual threaten to break up line after this is "I am not interested. I think I have played enough with you" which is a nice reversal ie. "testing the limits of who is running the Game." Because if Marazhai's confession is a test, accepting fails it, they were too sentimental. Except he's not actually testing them and he gets genuinely upset and scared at the idea that the Rogue Trader would just leave him like that. Also, (at time of writing iirc), you can't get The Kiss™ if you didn't attempt it earlier at the first Feast. I think it's interesting if, perhaps, that bit of sentimentality made him assume the Rogue Trader was the one who was down bad/being sappy this whole time. Which was fun to play around with before, but now he's caught feelings and the Rogue Trader potentially out-manipulating him on that front only to "abandon" him now is a major blow to his, being, frankly.

And if the Rogue Trader pushes further with the "I do not hear enough pleading in your voice" line, the narration notes he's stuck between "despair and pride" while still refusing to say more because it's not in him to say what he wants with that kind of honesty. And again, like, he's Drukhari so you're never going to get an "I love you" out of him, and he wouldn't accept that from the Rogue Trader in turn, but he doesn't know how to otherwise show that because Drukhari aren't big on straightforward lovey dovey kiss stuff even when they actually feel it. So the Kiss™, a real (romantic) one is an olive branch in the "you don't have to say it but I'll believe you're being honest if you do this" sense but also the Rogue Trader winning irt "the Game is over, show me we're equals, I met you on your level (see: his bullshit), meet me on mine (mon-keigh absurdities)."

[crimsonxe]

I'm absolutely going to be rewatching v9 cause of it being now on the RT site and me wanting to put whatever extra numbers to it there as I can; but had to skip first to the bonus episode cause ofc I did.

Spoilers below the cut

Love Eddy saying that some of the footage will show up in v10, like ofc I don't know when this was recorded but it reinforces that they're still fighting to keep the show going

Love that the bonus goes across multiple pov's not just one or two

Anyone having doubts on if CFVY would show up, can now rest easy cause they definitely do along with at least Sun & Neptune

Neon confirmed alive o.o

I wish I could pop into the universe to tell Nora her scars are badass >.< I hate the idea of her seeing them as a disfigurement and hope that Ren is pushing her that direction too.

So even Oz has no clue about the Ever After and likely that the Brothers aren't actual the true deities of the overall omniverse. Not to mention getting the impression that he's about as knowing about what the Relics do as everyone else is. Which shoots down many b.s. notions of what he could do to stop Salem. I'd even have doubts on him knowing how the Vaults work.

So the issues between Atlas and Vacuo definitely would be in place (likely including faunus), but on top of that Ozcar fighting the merge.

Ren respecting Jaune and looking up to him even is definitely nice given the backdrop of his words back in v8. Not to mention them doing more showing of his semblance.

Weirdly like the awkwardness between Renora, because of the realness of what they're navigating and that it was something that the writers plan to explore.

Mercury and Tyrian stirring up shit w/ Tyrian being batshit insane as per usual and Mercury being clearly out of his comfort zone

Confirmation that all of SSSN are planned to be in Vacuo, which means there could be Nolan/Scarlet scenes

Seriously Port and Oobleck are like unofficial husbands at this point, wherever one is the other is usually around too xD

My OTP for Willow is Klein, ngl I could support Qrow and her too (especially since ages would be fine), but that look when Klein arrives in the shuttle really sends me back to Willow/Klein xD

God the ["What? How?" -Ruby looking at the flying armada "You sent a message and the world answered." -Qrow] will always hit me in the feels and get watery eyes. Part of that being Jason's performance and only he could do that with his more emotional voicing for Qrow.

Also just want to highlight this, with the black outline cause BB not being subtle at all:

[shrimp-buffet]

LARRY & LAWRIE HEADCANONS #3

(Headcanons after the cut, I ramble for a bit)

*head pops out of grave* I'M ALIVEEE

Yeah I know I say this in practically every post but I finally got something again! school and other stuff kicked my ass and honestly i wasn't sure how interested really was in making these until I missed them! So while I can't guarantee any consistent posting knowing me, I can at least say that I do plan to keep doing these and I'm hoping to branch out into other fandoms so that me making these doesn't fully depend on me having a Brawl Stars hyperfixation.

Anyways as a sort of apology for the lack of content, I bring you the follow up I know many have been waiting for: LARRY AND LAWRIE PART 3 BABY!

Hope you enjoy!

Fair warning: this one may be a small bit angsty in some spots. Nothing that would need an actual warning but didn't want to jumpscare y'all with surprise sadness.

Larry based, Lawrie based, both

•Larry's most rebellious action would be putting a soda can in the non-recycling bin... Then feeling extremely guilty and fishing it back out to put it in the correct bin when no one is looking.

•Lawrie has an apocalypse bunker hidden somewhere in the park. It's only for them, Larry, and RT.

•Lawrie likes Bob Ross! They don't like to paint all that much though. Larry does like painting but he's really bad at it.

•They've never been outside the park before. Lawrie is pretty content with that fact and doesn't want to leave, but Larry wants to see what's out there and occasionally asks parkgoers about it.

•Larry gets along well with animals (add this and the last one and Larry is a fricking Disney princess- /j)

•Lawrie is the exact opposite, all animals hate them and they hate all animals in return.

•As somewhat implied already, Lawrie is kind of leaning towards a "hate all biological life" mindset. They don't actually full-on hate lifeforms entirely, but people don't really like them so they don't like people, that kind of deal. This leads Lawrie to sometimes say stuff teetering on the "kill all humans" line but Larry calls it out and Lawrie would always agree they're going a bit too far.

•Larry as usual is the opposite. He finds life and people to be so interesting and envies their experiences. They even somewhat avoid hanging out with other robots because it reminds him that he's also just a robot, though he doesn't even realize this thought process. He would never admit it, but he kind of wishes he was human. Lawrie can sense this so it causes some arguments between the two.

•On a more light-hearted note, Larry has a bit of a crush on Melodie! She's very pretty, sings beautifully, and does whatever she wants and says anything on her mind, all of which Larry loves and admires.

•Out of all the people in the park, Lawrie gets along with Draco and Hank the best. Draco is more of a frien-emy that can get on their nerves a lot but they have a lot of similar interests like music taste. And Hank is a semi-friendly rival.

•Larry, Lawrie, and R-T were all made on the same day. When it comes to the birthday though they celebrate it as R-T's day cause they just love their "baby" sibling. (Plus in Lawrie's case they just don't like the idea of having their own birthday)

•Larry is scared of Cordelius. He just gives them the creeps and somehow always manages to accidentally sneak up on Larry. (Same goes for Lily)

•Larry has a notebook they carry around to do made up math problems in when they're bored.

•Lawrie usually never wishes they could eat food, but he does wish he could try chocolate.

•They tend to play "road trip" games when they're bored on a patrol together. Things like Eye Spy, 20 Questions, Alphabet Game, etc. They both really enjoy it!

•They also listen to true crime podcast together.

And that's all I got for now! Thank you for reading this far!! As always if you'd like more let me know!!!

[directorofthefalselastact]

Do we know what specific games or kinds of games YJH/SP played? What is it that he is a pro gamer of?

Yes! Well, sort of.

The most explicit mention of Yoo Joonghyuk's chosen genre is in the side story, Mia, which was added in the ebook edition of ORV's Volume 5. We're told that Yoo Joonghyuk is an RTS main, and we get a cute little definition of the genre. This would be games like StarCraft, StarCraft II, Warcraft and its sequels, and so on. The progenitors of the pro gaming scene! Of course, StarCraft II tournaments are still big draws, and the highest level of play has always been centered in South Korea.

But even before this story, we get other kinds of hints. One of them is actually a message from Secretive Plotter that congratulates Kim Dokja on surviving the battle royale with the other Kings. The English novel misses this nuance, but he specifically says 존버에 박수를 보냅니다. 존버 is a slang term that the webtoon fantl team amusingly translated as 'diamond hands' since the most modern use of the term is in fact for HODLing, or the cryptobro term for holding onto coin stock even as it plunges as a show of businessman like nerve or whatever.

But! It is alleged, and I am inclined to believe (not least since I can find uses of the word as far back as 2012 which predates the crypto craze by a fair amount), that the real origin of 존버 was not 존나 버티기 (holding the fuck out) (aka HODLing) as is used by cryptobros, but 존나 버로우 (burrowing for your goddamn life) (lol) in reference to the Zerg (the alien bug race from StarCraft) (look, you'll just have to keep up) move that lets you dive into the ground to hide yourself. So for Zerg players that would dig in the moment any opponent showed up and relied on that sort of annoying technique to survive... you get the idea. Very fitting for Kim Dokja, and for Secretive Plotter. The StarCraft Guy has Opinions on your Zerg Playstyle, Kim Dokja. You Little Bitch.

...I just don't want Yoo Joonghyuk to be a cryptobro, okay!!!

[leagueofuselessness]

Hey! thanks for stopping by our blog. :3

Nice to meet you! the mortal flesh sack you see before you with the purple hair... their name's Taylor, but we tend to go by many different names...

Here's some things you should know about us!

-Level 27 Dragon Shapeshifter.

-Trans in whatever way makes all of us faggots.

-pretty fem presenting most of the time and prefer she/her but we're very chill abt it.

-we like to skateboard, longboard, and roller blade!

-PC Gamer (primarily FPS/RTS/Survival but also some MMORPG/Simulation games as well)

-Furry

-Traditional Artist (pencil/pen/marker)

-Roleplay enthusiast

-Stoner / Psychedelics user

-Therian/Non-human

-Writer

and a lot of other more specific things :)

The tags that we primarily use are "#it'sa me" for selfies and "#my art" for drawing, as well as "#photography" :3

To explain to you the best way we can how the system operates. My (1st person) perception of the body is a sort of host. The many bits and pieces that make up all of me just reside within this shell (2nd person). We can control it with a series of inputs, not unlike that of a controller of a sort. but it is not just one single unified mind inside of this shell. The little bits and pieces that make up our personality are separable into different entities that sit behind the one "fronting" and talk at them like a council, attempting to sway their choices in the actions the body takes and the words it speaks.... But these entities, they also contain characterizations of other paths this host could have taken, had we made different choices or had we stayed existing geologically elsewhere. Even as far as being an entirely different breed of being, feelings of parts that aren’t there anymore and extensions of myself that we feel we should have….

The headspace that our system usually fronts with in Marisse's, however Natasha has become quite a big part of our life now and she makes us so happy. We feel her when we're treated like a puppy and given scritches and told that we're a good girl.

We can feel her really start to paw at the "controller" during these times and try and make decisions for me... and a lot of the times, we let her :)

Marisse the water dragoness - 🌊

Strong and wide momma dragon with a daredevil streak, unable to keep herself from the dangerous and the thrilling for too long before she gets herself tangled in another adventure! Competitive, stubborn, and self-driven!

Her two girlfriends are Bessie the cow and Tori the giraffe, and they live in an apartment with their adoptive son tempest the Clydesdale.

Natasha the Husky - 🐾

Voluptuous and sultry purple husky with a lavender underbelly and a black collar from which a purple bell hangs. She is overtly flirty with anyone she deems worth her time and slurps up attention with an incessantly wagging curl of tail floof.

Edit 5/5/24:

We feel comfortable enough in ourselves enough to express this through changing the pronouns on our pinned, even though I don't neccessarily use them each and every time I refer to myself in real life.

We shouldn't have to. who is anyone to define how when and where we decide to express our plurality? What we DO know is we feel comfortable about sharing that with you.

Edit 8/27/24

We've been doing some thinking, and we've updated some of the text here on our pinned~

[strqyr]

ftr it isn't rooster teeth that decides if rwby gets greenlit or not. it's hbo, their parent company, which is worse given how they love to fuck shows over mid-run.

last i checked, rwby is fully funded by rooster teeth, and gets no additional funding from warner bros discovery:

"Many folks assume that, given that RT is wholly owned by Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), that we have an endless pool of cash just laying around. You could not be further from the truth. While we are indeed owned by WBD and love being a part of the family, we typically tend to run RT as an independent business within the larger framework of the organization. Contrary to popular belief, we do not receive an annual bucket of money to fund the show." [source]

now, i'm not going to pretend i know exactly how all of this works so i could very well be wrong here, but i'm assuming that the entity that actually funds the show gets to decide whether more is made or not. if rooster teeth doesn't have the money to continue making rwby—let alone keep all the people who worked on it hired even during the interim—then they're obviously not going to force it and drive the whole company down while at it.

in the above source link they also talk about the exclusivity deal with crunchyroll and the reasons for it: that is, wanting to find a long-term home for rwby where it can continue to thrive and expand, implying that it cannot do it any longer on rooster teeth's own site.

in doing that, rooster teeth decided that instead of driving fans to watch it on their own site and using their subscription to watch the show legally, they sent fans to crunchyroll—which isn't to say they didn't get any money out of it, you don't give away exclusivity for free, but rooster teeth quite literally had a "i'm here just for rwby" option when prompted to give a reason why you won't continue with your first subscription; they know how important rwby was for first. they willingly tanked their own subscription in an attempt to ensure rwby would continue.

i mean. from what i've heard and understood (again, could be wrong here, or misremembering), the production during V9 went like: work on majority of V9 (funded by RT) -> work on jl x rwby movies (funded by WB, not RT, kept people employed) -> back working on the last couple episodes of V9 (funded by RT). and, like. i don't really see any reason to suddenly, mid-V9 production, to swerve to the crossover movies if they weren't having problems with funding V9 on their own—in the commentary they were literally talking about how they considered making the summer, tai, & raven scene in 2D instead of 3D as a money saving measure—, hence the exclusivity deal with crunchyroll.

and last i checked, crunchyroll isn't owned by WBD, it's owned by sony. yet, when it came to greenlighting V10, crwby were directing people towards crunchyroll, not WBD, and certainly not HBO, which as far as i know doesn't even have rwby on its streaming service and is also owned by WBD.

which doesn't sound like WBD or anyone else is holding rooster teeth back from greenlighting V10; if anything, RT is looking for someone to partner with them to cover some of the cost—in this case, most likely crunchyroll—and whatever discussions and negotiations they may or may not be having at the moment haven't bore fruit yet.

obviously most of this is speculation—i'm just a person on the internet with no inside knowledge, only able to make assumptions based on information that has been given by those actually in the know—so don't take it as a gospel. however, i don't think creating boogeymen out of other companies who have nothing to do with funding rwby is a way to go either; focus on the company actually making rwby, first.

[ookikufurikabutte]

it is so mildly annoying that i can put "pr*ship dni" in my bio on twitter and then people who find me thru my fanart with "antis dni" in their bio scramble to follow me.

like idgaf if you like my art or rt and just don't go on my profile so you cannot tell, whatever, but when you actually have to click my profile to follow me i feel like yall are just proving u dont have reading comprehension in more ways than one.

[yoshizora]

i recently discovered one of the libraries in my area has video games so for the past couple months i played Metroid Dread, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, and Astral Chain. heres some random thoughts bc i wanna talk about them @ a wall (also i just wanna complain about Astral Chain specifically)

Metroid Dread: 9/10

really tight controls, the parry felt seamless in combat, and the navigation/puzzles felt challenging without wanting to smash my head against a wall. the EMMI have excellent atmospheric tension but after a couple of them they feel... scripted and predictable. i do wonder if they would've been better off being random encounters throughout the whole area maps, but passages would have to be specifically designed around their movements so maybe not.

final boss was a banger; one of the most fun boss fights in any game i've played in years.

also samus hot

Pikmin 3: pikmin/10

i've never played a pikmin game before because for some reason i just never thought i would get into it but IT'S GOOD!!!!!!!!

i could not decide if this was relaxing or stressful. maybe both at the same time. yeah. rock pikmin are my faves. no but it's such a unique rts system that i can't really compare to anything else i've played, i'm kicking myself for not playing any pikmin games earlier.

i'm gonna go buy pikmin 4 when i'm able to. this game slaps. i'm gonna go eat some fruit.

Astral Chain: 6/10

i'll start this off by saying i really like the combat; it's stylish, fast, fun, AND not just a rapid button masher (like bayonetta, which hurt my hands to play). the lock-on system is kinda janky and so is the camera, but the important thing is that fighting is FUN.

buuuuuut, uhh, the story? the characters? huh??? did someone just, forget to polish this rough draft?? this was the epitome of all flash with no substance; the protagonist player being silent is REALLY detrimental when the sibling plays such a large role in the story in tandem with the player. there is no real emotional bond nor depth to their relationship, because the entire dynamic is just Akira yelling about whatever and the player staring blankly at them. it was basically the Byleth issue all over again and i hated it. Akira barely had much of a personality anyway.

i'm not sure what to say about the story because there was barely a story? look, it's fine if the mysterious otherworldly phenomenon has no explanation because that keeps the intrigue and alien-ness about it, but you can't have the story constantly questioning WHAT the chimeras are and WHERE all this came from then answer nothing. maybe there are proper answers in the data files/reports...? but imo, a player shouldn't have to scour the optional side content in a game in order to get the most crucial answers for the MAIN STORY.

i do see why people who don't care much about story/characters would praise this game so much, because the combat IS fun and the visuals/music are great, but the platforming segments were NOT fun and i was wholly sick of the astral plane parts by the end.

also, jena was one of the most disappointing wastes of an antagonist i've ever seen in any game. lmao.

[yumedoca]

Hi! How are you?

I was thinking about Urusei Yatsura and I must admit I don’t understand Ataru. The more I think, the less I understand! Would you help?

Why is he so insistent with the womanizing? Why he needs it so bad? He really wants the attention of all of these girls or is that supposed to represent his biggest desire for freedom above all else? It’s sort of messed up that he priorizes his so-called freedom and the skirt-chasing above being with the girl he loves and who loves him back and that he knows he’s hurting said girl with his behavior (both the girl-hunting and by withholding affection) and he keeps doing that anyway 😭 (... Not that Lum is a saint either but that's besides the point). Ataru's unwillingness to compromise and to give up on his habit really gets in the way of him truthfully experiencing "True Love", doesn't it? It seems like he would rather lose Lum than commit to her. Do you think he would have acted differently if it was with Shinobu?

Oh, and I've seen some speculation that explained Ataru's lechery as being the result os his relationship with his mother and the lack of motherly love he received growing up, so he actually goes after all these girls because he's that starved for affection. What do you think?

Hai there, Hope you're doing great!!

Sure, I'll help you out!! Ataru is a complicated individual, after all. But first, I think it would help you a lot if you read my write up on 'Ataru's Love for Lum' first since whatever I've mentioned there is very vital to understanding Ataru as well.

And I haven't even started yet but I have a feeling this will be a sequel to the linked post above since this ask does bring up some questions I don't think I've directly touched in that one.. so...

I hope my fellow UY's are having a great day because today on ‘Yuca Analyzes Silly Things (For No Reason)’, we'll be talking more about Ataru and his relationship with Lum!

And naturally there are spoilers so proceed with caution..

Ok now, let's begin!! Your first question is 'Why does Ataru womanize?' As for the initial reason? Not completely sure. The manga shows that he's just always been like that, even as a kid. It's just never been talked about. And I don't believe in the speculation which you stated btw, because I wouldn't say that Ataru had a lack of motherly love. Yeah, Mrs. Moroboshi can be a bit comedically harsh, but most of that ends up being a one time joke. In fact, she actually really does love Ataru and takes really good care of him (to the point where she waits for him to arrive before eating dinner, says she'll save up money on him so he can go to a good college and other details like that which you can catch here and there), she's just worried about his idiotic tendencies, that's all.

The best theory I have about his womanizing is that ever since he was little he's always seen women in a sort of 'very nice and sweet onee-chan' sort of way. What supports this theory is the fact that Ataru's mom seems to be the most involved in his life compared to his dad (who's either at work or buried deep into his newspapers, he does spend sometime though) and has the most agency in the family. Because of that small Ataru probably had a better view of woman, which probably made him want to meet more and befriend them but since he was small and an idiot, he would just cling onto them which naturally annoyed them to the point of there being rumors about him. And as he grew older (and hormones), this 'liking' eventually became lust. Another theory is that it might be genetics since both of his parents have fallen for someone else during the series' run, but that's like the only thing to support the theory. In the end, I'm still not completely sure. Like to be fair, UY is a gag which wasn't exactly written with much thought (yeah, the character development is unintentional. I'm pretty sure it's a result of RT writing each chapter by going with the natural flow of the story, which is why the characters grow gradually. This isn't something any writer can do btw) so not everything would have an explanation.

Next is 'Why is he still womanizing? why does he want these girls?' Because he's young. He's still a teenager and he likes women and he has for years to the point it's a habit. Habits are hard to break so he can't suddenly be dedicated to someone out of straight up nowhere (especially if she basically got them 'married' instantly when he's still just a teenager). His love for women is just a huge part of his personality, it's just not something he can throw away in an instant and because of that he remains attached. What does not help matters even more is the number of gorgeous girls who're usually around him on a daily basis, girls who are incredibly cute, beautiful, sexy.. tell me, just tell me exactly how easy would it be to break his girl hunting habit when that's the case??

As for Lum, Ataru doesn't emotionally hurt Lum with his womanizing for the most part. Sure, the hope he would stop does linger in her but his infidelity for the most part only makes her mad more than anything else, and she recovers from her anger pretty quickly. Lum getting deeply hurt, is actually quite rare (and has happened very few times in the series) since she's mostly very outgoing. Whenever she's that hurt, we, the readers are made aware of her feelings because unlike a certain idiot, she doesn't keep how she feels to herself. But for the most part, Lum just goes into furious rage rather than any sort of deep feelings when it comes to Ataru's womanizing and yes, Ataru is completely aware of that so he knows he isn't hurting her in any serious way.. and if he did hurt her in that manner, he would probably want to fix things with her..

See how Ataru wanted to talk to her here when he thought she was emotionally hurt? But it was actually buildup for her rage..

The next bit I want to talk about is how both of them love teasing, irking and messing with the other, Ataru likes poking at Lum's temper and Lum likes messing up Ataru's enjoyment with women because to them, their daily antics are like a game which neither wants to lose because of their pride. Like that, their 'he flirts, she zaps, she chases him' thing isn't something they take to an emotional value. It's their game, a game which neither wants to give up.

Now with that done, I want to talk about what you said regarding 'Ataru prioritizing his womanizing over Lum' which has evidently shown to be incorrect. One example is in the 'Electric Jungle' arc, when he left a date with some girl just so he could go on his date with Lum. It's not always a girl accepts Ataru's request; the chances for that is most probably lower than his chances to go on a date with Lum, yet he still left his date with the girl anyways because he knew Lum was waiting for him. Another example is the fact that Ataru won't accept a harem if it doesn't have Lum in it. If Lum isn't in the harem, the harem means nothing to him. Heck, the reason why he wants a harem is because he needs Lum with him, even if there are other girls. Lum is what matters the most to him.

Next is the topic of Ataru and 'true love', Ataru isn't someone who yearns and is desperate for 'true love', but he still does hold it with value. To Ataru, 'true love' doesn't mean flirting, kissing, etc., it means something much deeper, something that comes from the heart. The former can be done even if you don't love someone truly, but the latter is what 'true love' is. There's also a bit more to it but I've already talked about this in the above linked analysis, so I'll just copy-paste that part here instead of writing it from scratch:

Now if he does love her, then why doesn’t he agree to do couple stuff (here I mean stuff like kissing, flirting, saying “I love you”, etc.) with her? That’s because he does all those things with other woman to the point they have lost that specialness. It may still be special to her, but not to him because Lum isn’t any woman, he’s the only one he actually cares about and he doesn’t want to give her the same treatment he gives other women.

So, yeah, it's exactly what I said..

And finally the question 'Would he have acted differently if it was Shinobu?' Of course, we all know that they used to be exes and we do get to see how it was back then as well so we'll just use that info. The womanizing part remains the same for the most part, Ataru would chase skirts if it's either Lum or Shinobu. But the difference would be in whether he shows affection. With Lum, Ataru knows that she'll never leave him and that she will only love him (which is true) but Shinobu isn't like that. Shinobu didn't have any other options and she was already friends with Ataru which is why they started dating. But when she's presented with a better option (temporarily Rei, though only in term of handsomeness, she turned him down because he's an idiot, and later Mendo) her mind immediately wavers and prefers the better option, after all she wants the one who is the match made for her. Because of this, Ataru can't hide his feelings (which he eventually ended up losing anyways) or else it's literally over. It's also easier for Ataru to show affection towards Shinobu since he's always been friendly with her, unlike Lum who he treated terribly at first.

And I think that's it! This ended up being hella long and I ended up spending a lot of time on this (so.. to those reading, please like and even more importantly, reblog! pretty please?) and I hope I was able to clear all your questions anon! Ataru's a tough nut to crack but once you do it you'll see why it is that way. Anyways, that's it, thank you for taking your time reading this and have a great day ahead!!

[itsclydebitches]

I honestly have no idea how they intend to greenlight volume 10 if it's not been greenlit already. They've announced the final season of Red vs Blue and a lot of early day fans are in agreement that the end of RvB is the signaling of the end of RT in general. It's their second biggest money maker next to RWBY. After this new season, it's over. What do they do next? Do RT really believe that RWBY is popular enough to coast on for another decade? It'll be a miracle if it lasts even one more year.

Their viewership has been on a decline since Volume 6, they've abused so much of their animation department that there's almost no one left, most of their VA talent for RWBY's popular characters aren't coming back due to all the controversies, any spinoffs or soft reboots or whatever keep going back to the Beacon era and don't really do much to help with the overall problems that are down to the roots of the company.

They even made their biggest ship that kept what few fans are left canon and put out half assed merch that sold out in minutes, and somehow they still haven't managed to find enough money to greenlight another volume?

If they somehow miraculously get Volume 10 made, it's probably going to be the last.

The last few years of RWBY have really highlighted for me how challenging it is to define "popularity" and "success" nowadays. Granted, a good chunk of that is simply my own ignorance about how the production side of things are run, but it nevertheless feels like there's this intense level of ambiguity that wasn't there in the past (or at least wasn't as obvious). Fandom itself has always been an unreliable source because depending on the corner of the internet you're in, you can get a wildly skewed perspective without engaging with everything that contradicts how "good" or "bad" you think things are going. As you say, merch sells out in minutes, yet neither the finances nor the implied security of that seems to be enough to land another Volume. There are questions about whether this could be a marketing scheme, wherein Volume 10's future is simply being kept under wraps to drum up interest. There's the question of whether popularity matters at all when we've got companies cancelling and pulling undoubtedly successful shows, all according to their own, long-term algorithms. On the one hand the information surrounding RT is all about the abuse of their workers, another scandal, how this might all tie into the strikes... and yet most of this is nothing new and RWBY has still secured movies, a soft reboot, comics, and books. I agree completely with your list above of all the ways in which the series is struggling (massively) and yet RWBY has been "dying" for half its run-time. So is this the final nail in the coffin—the inevitable ending that's been a long time coming—or just another year where the fandom unintentionally cries wolf?

I'm not so naive as to believe that things were actually simple 'back in the day'—that's the nostalgia talking—but it still seems like things were simpler in comparison to what we've got now. TV and its media equivalents used to be—or at least felt like—a fairly straightforward journey of airing, ratings, syndication, cancellation, renewal, and then (eventually) the viewer securing a copy for themselves via VHS and DVDs. Now it's like, "What do I do with the newbie webseries eventually bought up by a major corporation and moved from a free watch, to a company-specific streaming watch, to a different, more expensive streaming watch, all of which has led to a decade of success with various spinoffs, but apparently this webseries still isn't making enough money to continue? Regardless, it and everything else I love to watch is inching more and more towards digital-only copies, a status that is inherently nerve-wracking, which means that if it does suddenly crash and burn (given that this is one of two series keeping the original company afloat) circulating this story and maintaining the fandom will be that much harder."

I find that depressing and I'm someone who thinks RWBY is pretty awful right now. I can't imagine what that ambiguity and the state of streaming media in 2023 feels like to fans still in love with the show.

So yeah. Idk how they intend to greenlight Volume 10 either.