#i just happen to connect that ship to a bad show and a weird time in my life

[kiisaes]

Do you think you'll ever draw Klance again?

ah .. so u know of my past klancer ways ...

that ship won't leave me the FUCK alone. not in the "i still ship it despite everything" way, in the "why are u still showing up on my twitter timeline" way

it's been years. i tried my diddly darndest to rebrand myself far, far away from them and vld as a whole. it was deadass the first show that forced me to up my media literacy game because i realized that i couldn't keep thinking shows like VOLTRON LEGENDARY DEFENDER were actually acceptable stories. klance is obviously part of that show so i didn't want to waste more of my energy on it. unfortunately, klance (and vld) content is still on this blog because i'm too lazy to get rid of it, so i've learned to live with my tragic past. it's disappointing and horrendously embarrassing, but it made who i am today. every time my lemon boy keith drawing makes its rounds again i bite the inside of my cheeks and scream, and then proceed to do nothing about it

that being said, if i ever do draw klance again, it'll be because of the unrelenting and unmerciful force of trashy-media-nostalgia. i'm surprised i haven't drawn a serious klance piece in years — i thought i'd cave much sooner tbh. but maybe this is a good thing. it means i'm healing

[doromoni]

Off Track Pace | MV1 , ?

Ships Max Verstappen x presenter! Reader , ? x presenter! Reader , Platonic! Charles Leclerc x presenter! Reader

Genre : Fluff , Angst

Sub tags : mutual pinning , She fell too early , He fell too late,

Summary : A new f1 presenter and journalist has entered the paddock and she brings chaos along the way. And as competition looms , will the current Champion be as fast outside the track?

Face claim: Sofia Wylie

A/N : I’m so sorry luvs! I’m working on updating Clash of Champions , i promise ~ it’s my uni’s finals exams so I gotta focus on that first… so here’s a peace offering.

Part 2.

Media day, usually on a Thursday — a day that most Formula 1 drivers dread. A day where cameras followed their every move, interviews with journalists that twisted their every word and silly PR stunts forced on them by their teams. It used to be just all racing and winning podiums, but modern Formula 1 is all about media politics and sponsorships.

If you were to ask any driver on the grid if they were given the chance not to do PR, they would say yes to skipping it. But not everything about media day is horrendous.

Not when a new motorsports journalist joins the paddock that was an absolute sweetheart and delight to have around. A natural on the job — she always made sure that every driver that she interviewed was comfortable and enjoying their time with her and the segment.

the.Y/N

liked by skysportsf1 , lissiemackintosh, f1 , and 689,270 others

the.Y/N first day on the job? . i’m not nervous, you are! (She said literally shaking)

skysportsf1 Welcome to the team Y/N! ❤️

the.Y/N thank you kind employers. 🤍

lissiemackintosh Babe!! It’s finally official. Congratulations!

the.Y/N Thanks to you Babe!! I swear I would’ve been lost without you 😭

User1 who is she?

the.Y/N literally no one

User2 Ohhhh a new commentator? 🤔

User3 maybe she’s a journalist?

scuderriaferrari the kids had fun. They want their clay statues on display!

User2 Clay statues?? Hello?? Wut?

User3 Same question, Clay statues??

the.Y/N wait and see 🤷‍♀️ , the interview would drop tomorrow? Maybe~

User4 Its her first day and she literally had an interview with Charles and Carlos in Ferrari???

the.Y/N well no , the first interview was with Lewis Hamilton … so. 🤭

User5 WHAT?? Ok , queen slay!

User4 damnn , imagine being new to your field and already interviewing the big guys.

mclaren Do us next please 🙋‍♂️

redbullracing get in line!

the.Y/N gotta stop by Aston first , sorry besties.

User6 OK WHAT IS HAPPENING, ms. Y/N who are your connections 😭 i want in.

User7 why are all the teams here??

Y/N L/N was the F1 presenter and journalist who put drivers willingly out of their comfort zones and made them try something new. You genuinely loved what you do and you were passionate about it. You never showed partiality among the drivers, you treated everyone with the same attitude — this earned the respect of all drivers on the grid.

You were quickly becoming a paddock favorite. The fans enjoyed the content you put out and the drivers looked forward to your interview when they saw your name on their schedule.

Interviewing with you usually meant cheat meals and unusual activities that you thought they would like.

the.Y/N

liked by charles_leclerc, carlossainz55, maxverstappen1, and 740,155 others

the.Y/N maybe bowling isn’t the best idea. @charles_leclerc you suck, ngl. New vid out on Monday at the sky sports channel🤍

charles_leclerc i hate you ❤️

the.Y/N no you don’t 😌

charles_leclerc no, i don’t

User1 I love their dynamic so much!! I need more of the Paddock siblings pleaseee

User2 I can’t wait for more of Y/N bullying Charles into weird things and Ferrari doing nothing about it🤣

landonorris but why is charles in a cowboy costume?

the.Y/N i dunno? He just showed up in that 🤷‍♀️

charles_leclerc You told me we were riding horses and you wanted me to wear smth cowboy!!

the.Y/N oh yeah! Lmao

landonorris should i feel bad?

the.Y/N Nope. He’s happy either way. Aren’t you @charles_leclerc?

User2 NOT THE LMAO . Y/N thank you being you

User3 Y/N giving us Cowboy Charles , yes ma’am

User3 JUST DATE ALREADY!

the.Y/N EW. No

charles_leclerc Ok , the ew was unnecessary. But same. No thanks :)) i’m not dating my sister .

User4 Charles call y/n his sister 🥺

However, No matter how much you tried to keep things professional by being just a driver: journalist, something your boss commented during a quick meeting because fans kept shipping you with every driver. What you found weird is that most drivers you see as older brothers and some even uncles (don’t tell Nando). Plus most of them had girlfriends!

Nevertheless, your relationship with them seems to always end up with them hanging around your office at Sky, whenever they are free. Even the older drivers like Nando, Lewis and even Nico and Kevin use your office as an escape from the chaos of their motorhomes.

You didn’t mind hosting the older drivers in your room, as they were usually tame and kept to themselves as they read the books on your shelves in peace. They usually plop themselves down your couch and place the oversized plush you always bring on their lap. They always brought you snacks, so you looked forward to the times when their heads popped in your door and asked if they could come in.

But when the younger drivers visit your office? And if they came in groups — which they usually do. Oh boy, it was either a clusterfuck of them stealing snacks from your secret stash or your office becoming a den for hot gossip in the paddock usually led by the one and only Charles Leclerc.

Case in point. You now have Charles, Carlos, Max and to your surprise Checo in your office. The older Spanish-speaking driver was a rare visitor, but a welcome one nonetheless.

But considering the topic in discussion, you understood the presence of the two Red Bull drivers.

You were in the middle of typing away on your laptop when suddenly they barged in with ice cream tubs and spoons at hand then found a spot to sit and made themselves comfortable.

“Is Newey leaving Red Bull?” Charles asked Max and Checo, as he scooped a bite from his ice cream.

“We have no clue! Christian is saying nothing to us. Nothing” Max exclaimed exasperated as Checo nodded in agreement.

“So Adrian Newey is moving to Ferrari?” You questioned as you pointed your spoon at Charles

“Y/N, I love you like a sister and I know that you’re incredibly smart, but sometimes you are stupid. We’re clueless in Ferrari, hence my question ”

You threw your wooden spoon at the Monaco-born Ferrari driver. Which he easily avoided thanks to his fast reflexes. Freaking f1 reflexes!

“ I wasn't the person who got named for being stupid— HEY! Max give that back!! You don't even like salted caramel” You were trying to rebut Charles’ insult but were distracted when Max took your ice cream for himself.

Max just shrugged and placed his half-consumed chocolate brownie fudge ice cream in your hands — his spoon still in it. You didn’t complain further as you took his spoon and took a bite yourself. Yum! Brownie fudge is your favorite.

“Dude, what is even going on inside Red Bull? What was Horner under investigation for?” Carlos pressed on, trying to find answers. You were curious yourself

“Everyone is being weird. They’re keeping things from us. “ Checo added. You knew that they were truly left in the dark because if they knew they would’ve spilled instantly. NDAs be damned.

“Every interview, people keep asking if we know something! one more journalist and I swear I’ll run them over with my car! I hate each one of them” Max grumbled to himself.

You coughed. You knew that you were an exception but you couldn’t help but mess around with your friends.

“Don’t even, Y/N. You know you don’t count. “ Max waved you off.

“Wow! Thank you for that babe. Way to make a girl feel special” you said jokingly to the Dutch driver, as you winked dramatically. To which he only rolled his eyes — making you and the rest of the drivers laugh.

Max was immune to your flirting, unfortunately. It sucked especially when you had a tiny …. Ok big … HUGE crush on the 3 time world champion.

Max to you was like an Older brother’s best friend — Where you were the little sister crushing on him and you didn’t have a chance. You knew that like the other drivers, he just saw you as a little sister. But still you couldn’t help but fall the star driver of Red Bull.

Everything started when you brought your niece to the paddock because your sister had an emergency. You were scheduled to interview Checo in the RB motorhome and your niece was starting to feel fussy and you were slightly panicking on what to do— when Max suddenly came to your rescue and took your niece out to ice cream.

You admit you found Max attractive even before— like so damn attractive, but that was it— nothing more. But when you found Max carrying your niece in his arms as they played inside his garage, you knew that you were a goner to the charms of Max Verstappen.

You have been pinning for Max for a year now. You wished that you had the confidence and courage to just confess. But the fear of rejection freighted you, so you settled to just keep your friendship with the devastatingly handsome Red Bull champion.

As time went on, and nothing but friendship between you and Max developed — You’ve come to terms with the process of letting go of your feelings. Even when you’ve already met his mom and sister, hung out in his yacht and spent nights over his place when movie nights with Charles and his girlfriend went too late. You knew not to think anything of it.

And you were right to think nothing of it. Because not a week later, rumors had spread all over the paddock that Kelly Piquet had set her eyes on Max. You didn’t believe it at first, but when you saw with your own two eyes them engaged talking happily in his garage. The sparkle in Max’s eyes had solidified your will to move on.

A few weeks had passed and Kelly’s presence was constant in the paddock. Everyone had speculated that she had become Max’s girlfriend. But no one was sure, not even you — Max had been silent about it.

You tried to be happy for them you did. But you can’t blame yourself for wishing that it was you instead. Even to this day, you are still trying to forget and bury your feelings for Max.

“Y/N? Y/N? Oi Y/N” You suddenly were startled out of your thoughts. You forgot that you were still with the drivers in your office.

“What? Sorry, I just remembered something. What did you say?” You asked Charles as he was the one who called you.

“I asked if you had an interview today” Upon hearing the words of the Monegasque, your eyes grew wide as you remembered that you did have a job to do and you were indeed almost late.

“SHIT! I DO I’m late! “ You suddenly sprang up from your seat and quickly gathered the things you needed — while the 4 drivers looked at you with amusement.

“Who’s scheduled for you today, Y/N?” Max had also sat up from his seat and gave you an opened bottle of water.

You received the bottle from Max. You didn’t have to thank the driver — just one look from you and he knew.

The other drivers looked amongst themselves as they saw your exchange with Max. Everyone had a knowing look on their faces.

“I'm going to Mclaren today! I have the whole day with Lando. “ You said as you closed your once abandoned laptop and placed it in your bag — the one Max gave you on your birthday.

“What have you planned for Lando, Y/N?” Checo asked curiously. He still remembered his interview where you both made bracelets and stuffed toys for his daughters — his daughters loved it and went to sleep with it every single day.

“Oh! I’m taking Lando to a rage room, then drive-thru for food.” You explained happily to the older Mexican driver.

“Which part of that is the interview?” Charles had interjected

“While we eat the food in the parking lot, duh,” You said as if they should’ve already known. Well, they should by now.

“You know Y/N, Lando likes you right? ” Carlos had suddenly dropped a bomb on you. You didn’t expect it at all.

“What?” Max had suddenly said — catching all of you off guard. You didn’t understand, why Max had reacted so suddenly. But you pushed that aside for now as you continued to stuff everything you need in the bag

“What do you mean, Lando likes me?” You asked Carlos, with your eyebrows scrunched together.

“He likes you. Like you know? Take you out on dates and all that” Carlos replied as he gauged your reaction.

“Ohhhh, that’s cute! how did you even know about it, Carlos” you asked not taking any of it seriously.

“Cute?” You heard Max muttered under his breath.

“He told me. I won’t spoil anything else. I’m not even supposed to say that he likes you, but oh well.” Carlos shrugged as he finished off his ice cream.

“What do you think about Lando?” Charles suddenly asked you. The Ferrari driver leaned forward

“Will you date him if he asks you ?” Checo then joined the conversation.

“ You should say yes, I mean you two are the same-“ Charles had suddenly grown excited.

“Ok whoa, calm down dads. He hasn’t asked anything yet! “ you exclaimed

“But will you say yes if he asked?” Max then asked you, his eyes piercing your soul. After all of the other questions, Max was the one to Catch you off guard.

“Uh yes, I guess? I mean, why not? Lando is fun And he is single right … ” You were panicking so you said yes, even when you knew that you weren’t ready for anything like that since you still held feelings for Max.

“ YES! I thought that you-“ Charles wasn't able to finish his sentence when you cut him off.

“OK, bye guys! See you later. I need to go!” And just like that you were gone, leaving the four drivers in your office — not letting them question you further.

“I swear, that kid is weird.” Charles shakes his head from side to side at your actions.

“Lando likes Y/N?” Max had asked again just to make sure that he had heard the Spaniard correctly.

“ Lando is a good kid. They’ll make a good couple, no?” Checo asked no one in particular, as Max was not moving from where you left him.

“Wait, wait… since when did Lando like Y/N?” Max asked confused, looking green with jealousy. Fingers tingling as they clenched on itself

“Well he was interested in Y/N since the beginning but he backed off since everyone thought that you two had a thing” Carlos explained as he stood up and went to raid your snack stash.

“Yeah, but now you’re with the daughter of Piquet. what’s her name again? KELLY! yes, kelly. So Lando is taking his shot” Charles added

“You knew? Charles, you knew about Lando?” Max was aghast at the knowledge that was just receiving now.

“Well yeah? I was the one to encourage him to ask Y/N out. ” Charles shrugged nonchalantly. He knew about your feelings for the Red Bull driver, but he also saw how hurt you were when Max started seeing Kelly out of nowhere. Charles wanted to help his friends — specially the ones that he grew to love like his own sibling in any way that he could. Plus it was time for Y/N to have fun, and Lando Norris is exactly that.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Max was conflicted. His emotions growing uncontrollably by the second.

“ Mate, we haven’t seen you for how many weeks! You were always out with your new girlfriend. Even Y/N had no contact with you “ Carlos explained to Max.

silence filled the room, when suddenly pings of notifications sounded all over the rooms.

And Charles couldn’t help but whistle.

“Well he sure does move past” he had added.

Your story

As Max looked at his phone. Your Ig story flashed. His heart had started to hurt and the feeling of a pit in his stomach grew. it was as if someone punched him right in the gut.

And another notification ping had popped . And it only made Max’s stomach churn even further.

landonorris

[boombox-fuckboy]

any podcast recommendations for guys Going Through It. im a sucker for whump and i’ve already listened to TMA and Malevolent sooo

Fiction Podcasts: Characters Going Through It / Experiencing the Horrors

Gore warning for most, here's 15 to get you started:

I am in Eskew: (Horror) David Ward is arguably the Guy Going Through It. Stories from a man living in something that very much wants to be a city, and a private investigator who was, in her words, "hired to kill a ghost". Calmly recounted stories set to Eskew's own gentle, persistent rain. The audio quality's a bit naff but the writing is spectacular. If you like the writing, also check out The Silt Verses, which is a brilliant show by the same creators.

VAST Horizon: (Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller/Suspense Elements) And Dr. Nolira Ek is arguably the Gal Going Through it. An agronomist wakes from cryo to discover the ship she's on is dead in the water, far from their destination, and seemingly empty, barring the ship's malfunctioning AI, and an unclear reading on the monitors. I think you'll like this one. Great sound design, amazing acting, neat worldbuilding, and plenty of awful situations.

Dining in the Void: (Horror, Sci-Fi) So, the initial pacing on this one is a little weird, but stick with it. A collection of notable people are invited to a dinner aboard a space station, and find not only are they trapped there, but they're on a timer until total station destruction: unless they can figure out who's responsible. And there's someone else aboard to run a few games, just to make things more interesting. The games are frequently torturous. If that wasn't clear.

The White Vault: (Horror) By the same creators as VAST Horizon, this one follows a group sent to a remote arctic research base to diagnose and repair a problem. Trapped inside by persistant snow and wind, they discover something very interesting below their feet. Really well made show. The going through it is more spread out but there's a lot of it happening.

Archive 81: (Horror, Weird Fiction, Mystery and Urban Fantasy Elements) A young archivist is commissioned to digitize a series of tapes containing strange housing records from the 1990s. He has an increasingly bad time. Each season is connected but a bit different, so if S1 (relatively short) doesn't catch your ear, hang in for S2. You've got isolation, degredation of relationships, dehumanisation, and a fair amount of gore. And body horror on a sympathetic character is so underdone.

The Harrowing of Minerva Damson: (Fantasy, Horror) In an alternate version of our own world with supernatural monsters and basic magic, an order of women knights dedicated to managing such problems has survived all the way to the world wars, and one of them is doing her best with what she's got in the middle of it all.

SAYER: (Horror, Sci-Fi) How would you like to be the guy going through it? A series of sophisticated AI guide you soothingly through an array of mundane and horrible tasks.

WOE.BEGONE: (Sci-Fi) I don't keep up with this one any more, but I think Mike Walters goes through enough to qualify it. Even if it's frequently his own fault. A guy gets immediately in over his head when he begins to play an augmented reality game of entirely different sort. Or, the time-travel murder game.

Janus Descending: (Sci-Fi, Horror, Tragedy) A xenobiologist and a xenoanthropologist visit a dead city on a distant world, and find something awful. You hear her logs first-to-last, and his last-to-first, which is interesting framing but also makes the whole thing more painful. The audio equivalent of having your heart pulled out and ditched at the nearest wall. Listen to the supercut.

The Blood Crow Stories: (Horror) A different story every season. S1 is aboard a doomed cruise ship set during WWII, S2 is a horror western, S3 is cyberpunk with demons, and S4 is golden age cinema with a ghostly influence.

Mabel: (Supernatural, Horror, Fantasy Elements) The caretaker of a dying woman attempts to contact her granddaughter, leaving a series of increasingly unhinged voicemails. Supernatural history transitioning to poetic fae lesbian body horror.

Jar of Rebuke: (Supernatural) An amnesiac researcher with difficulties staying dead investigates strange creatures, eats tasty food, and even makes a few friends while exploring the town they live in. A character who doesn't stay dead creates a lot of scenarios for dying in interesting ways

The Waystation: (Sci-Fi, Horror) A space station picks up an odd piece of space junk which begins to have a bizzare effect on some of the crew. The rest of it? Doesn't react so well to this spreading strangeness. Some great nailgun-related noises.

Station Blue: (Psychological Horror) A drifting man takes a job as a repair technician and maintenance guy for an antarctic research base, ahead of the staff's arrival. He recounts how he got there, as his time in the base and some bizzare details about it begin to get to him. People tend to either quite like this one or don't really get the point of it, but I found it a fascinating listen.

The Hotel: (Horror) Stories from a "Hotel" which kills people, and the strange entities that make it happen. It's better than I'm making it sound, well-made with creative deaths, great sound work, and a strange staff which suffer as much as the guests. Worth checking out.

[will80sbyers]

What makes you believe that byler is real? I ship Mileven personally, but I'm trying to understand byler shippers' logic, because a lot of the time it feels like it makes no sense.

I personally think there are some scenes in the show and there are some choices that the writers made that are telling us that the plot of the show is going towards Will getting a "pay off", in terms of writing, at the end of the show and Mike and El finding out they are better as friends instead and Mike discovering he has romantic feelings for Will!

The writers have emphasized Will's sadness in relation to Mike and El as a couple both thematically and visually, in the writing & filming of the show there are too many scenes like this especially in season 3 and 4 they have made it clear that he will never be happy if Mike and El are the endgame relationship, even during Mike's love monologue after he supposedly decided that he was ok with El having his own feelings for Mike by saying that the painting was a thoughtful gift from El when it wasn't... They put a shot of Will's sad face in the middle of the monologue, and also he was framed behind Mike when he said "I love you" which in film is a EXTREMELY weird choice unless it means something more is going on that should make us not want El and Mike's relationship to work - the writers have been sabotaging the emotional connection of the fans with mileven by doing this and I don't think that professional filmmakers don't know that, I think it's on purpose!

The writers have shown Mike and Will as having a deeper relationship than all the other relationships Mike has, putting him in the same category of El as one of his possible love interests in the plot, they have multiple scenes bonding in a tender way than Mike has with any other of his friends, they happen in private usually or in emotionally charged moments that they film to make you as a viewer feel like they are in private and show how they have this connection that's more than just friendship

The writers have wrote in the show since season 1 MANY parallels between Mike and Will and other official couples (Mileven too!!!) that are, in my opinion, hinting at them ending up together at the end of the show

You can find the parallels here

The writers have continously shown El and Mike to have some kind of problem in their relationship and made El decide to leave Mike behind multiple times even if to save his life because she loves him, the writers have been showing us how Mike is not her PLOT priority and instead they have put having a romantic relationship with Mike as Will's deepest desire since season 3

The writers are building up El's character to have a coming of age that has recurrent themes of her finding herself without the influence of others around her, her becoming completely free from any kind of influence, and Mike has been represented as having too many internal fears to overcome at the moment about their relationship, especially with the love monologue at the end of season 4, he has beliefs about himself as a person that clash with El's character arc about not having to feel influenced in any way, the end of the show for El should be her having complete freedom in all aspects of her life because of the circumstances of her upbringing... Not saying that Mike is influencing her in a bad way necessarily, I think they both love each other a lot but having a relationship with someone that is that much insecure about his role in your life because you have powers will always be a type of influence

The writers have shown Mike and El as not being a team at the same level by separating them constantly after s1, instead they have shown the other couples that work as working together in the supernatural plot (Jancy, Jopper, Lumax, Byler)

The writers have paralleled Mike and El's relationship to all the ships that are not working for some reasons/are not endgame and have more infatuation than a real "true love" kind of relationship (Steve x Nancy, Karen X Ted, Bob x Joyce)

The writers have wrote in multiple scenes of Mike acting awkward with Will (Mike!!! Not Will) or them having coded conversations about how much they care for each other that have no sense to exist unless there is a pay off at the end

The writers have presented El, Mike and Will as being in a love triangle and have been framing them in a love triangle composition in the framing of multiple scenes, with Mike at the centre

When during season 4 the writers talked about all the movies that have inspired season 4 and 5 they have put multiple movies with love triangles that are almost identical to the situation between Mike, El and Will

Will and Mike have multiple fight scenes that are scenes you give to two possible love interests usually, the way the fight happen is written as two lovers having emotional fights instead of as how you would write two friends fighting

The writers wrote in the show a precise parallel in all the scenes of Vickie and Robin... between them and Will and Mike, paralleling Mike to Vickie specifically... who is a canon bisexual character and even paralleling Steve and Jonathan in that context as observers of the couples!

The directors filmed their scenes how you would film romantic scenes in stuff like Bridgerton or a romcom lol

The whole painting scene was Will making Mike feel so loved that he felt comfortable being vulnerable with El, but this means he was still not comfortable on his own relationship with her, he didn't feel safe enough to open up on his own and needed that talk and needed to believe all of those ideas about him being the heart came from Eleven so that he made the jump and told her how he felt instead of being selfishly silent on it because he was too afraid of her possibly leaving him one day... When you are really deeply in love with someone in the context of movies the characters don't let those type of fears influence them and if what gives him courage is the feelings of another character in the love triangle it means he's the right person for the character

( idk if you saw gossip girl but the was a love triangle situation between Blair, Dan and another character where Dan made Blair believe the other character felt some type of way towards her, she understood that she loved Dan because of this act because she wanted those words to be from him and not from the other guy... The whole painting lie is that same trope)

The writers are obsessed with IT from Stephen King and there are clear parallels with it in the show, the whole plot of s4 about the painting is a reprise of the plot between the romantic relationship of Bev and Ben in IT (with the postcard and the poem) Beverly is supposed to be Mike, Ben is Will and Bill is El.... Mike and El share a kiss at the end of season 3 that is supposed to parallel a kiss between Bill and Bev (they did love each other and liked each other but are not endgame)

Both Will and Mike are queercoded multiple times during the seasons

There are WAYYYY more reasons but this post is becoming too long so I'll leave it as this lol

You should rewatch the show and imagine if Will was a girl, I think many people would be seeing what I'm talking about way more and take it as a sign that Mike is going to choose "Willow" and see how Will is the better love interest for him...

Maybe it's all just queerbaiting, who knows, but at the moment I believe this is way too much for it to be queerbait!

I personally think Mike is bisexual

Masterpost about it here

and has feelings for both of them, but his feelings for El have always been a "puppy love" type that is growing to become more platonic than romantic with time, and I think he's a best match with Will, I think Will is able to make him be the best he can be, he's capable of making Mike feel worthy in a very natural way unlike the relationship with El does at the moment!

In my fixed post in the blog you can find all these things in more detail if you're interested!!

Thank you if you read all of this, regardless of what I believe I think everybody should be free to ship what ship they like best!! 😊

[lurkingshan]

Unknown Episode 11

Well, let me get this out of the way upfront. This episode brought us to the big moment we've all been waiting for, the final turn in Yuan and Qian's relationship--and unfortunately, it didn't quite land.

I've been sitting with this episode, contemplating my disappointment with the first sequence, and I think it comes down to this show that has been so assured and confident through most of its run faltering at the crucial moment and seeming to lose faith in its own storytelling to the point that it used editing tricks to compensate. The choice to chop up and sequence this narrative lynchpin of a scene out of order is baffling, and it's a choice that significantly stepped on the most important emotional climax of the story. I was confused to go from the conversation outside to a sudden kiss, then disappointed when we cut back to a very short exchange between Qian and Yuan that was supposed to provide the basis for this turn with only some thin dialogue that didn't connect the beats of the scene, and then into an intense sexual encounter (that was constantly interrupted by repetitive flashbacks) that should have felt like a triumphant and revelatory moment but didn't because of the way we got there.

I know I'm not the only one feeling that way, since folks have been creating and distributing reedited versions of the scene, and Youku actually uploaded a new version free on YouTube with all the flashbacks removed (a clear move toward fan appeasement after the show received a lot of negative feedback on the scene). The editing and the flashbacks were annoying, but honestly the fundamental problem was the scene they wrote did not sufficiently sell the change for Qian--he goes from saying he is still not certain what he wants to being ready to be dicked down in a couple minutes' time, with nothing in the exchange providing any new information or impetus for the shift. The performers did great work but unfortunately the writing and directing and editing decisions around this sequence were just bad; it's frustrating for this to happen with arguably the most important scene of the romance.

A note about the novel: the way this final turn happened there was quite different and, candidly, better in just about every way, from the impetus for the change to the beats of the revelation to the progression of physical intimacy on a pace that felt much more attuned to the emotional complexities at play. I do not know why the show did...this when they had better source material content to work with, but here we are. I absolutely recommend that anyone who loves this show read it!

So, with that disappointment expressed, on to the rest of the episode, in which Yuan and Qian settled into their couple era. I was deeply amused by Qian taking to their sex life like a moth to a flame to the point of daydreaming in meetings, but I do wish the episode had focused more on the natural tension and role confusion that should have resulted from this huge shift in their relationship. They touched on that a bit in the scene where Yuan asked Qian if his hug was from his brother or his boyfriend, but they didn't delve into those complexities in the way I hoped they would. I enjoyed their date at the local restaurant (and loved their friendly neighborhood gangster helping to set the mood) and how much it felt like they were surrounded by their history as they moved through all of these familiar locations where they've had important moments. I didn't much care for the insertion of the health scare plot or the time spent on Le and the doc, though I'm always happy for more Sam Lin even if it comes in the form of a weird late stage and wholly unnecessary ship.

My favorite scene between Yuan and Qian in this episode was far and away the discussion on the stairs with Qian reflecting on his fears of becoming more like his mother and Yuan biting him to snap him out of his fatalistic attitude (this felt like such a classic Priest tribute, she always has biting in her romances). It was a helpful re-centering of what they do for each other and why Yuan is an important presence in Qian's life. I didn't think we needed the health scare for Qian, but I did love Qian choosing to go to this place where he found Yuan to contemplate his life and what matters, with Yuan in turn reflecting that even though he's seen a lot more of the world now, he still prefers to come home to this street. I found that exchange so moving and I think it was important for Qian to hear that.

And that scene led to my other favorite thing in this episode, which was everything to do with Lili and her bond with her brothers. I teared up to see her standing against the wall where Qian has measured their growth talking about the sneaky ways she would try to care for Qian when they were younger, with San Pang listening attentively and gazing at her adoringly. It was such a small moment, but a really lovely window into their relationship dynamic and the shared history they also have together. And when Yuan and Qian came in hand in hand and she just ran to them and offered up her love and acceptance, I felt so much warmth for this family and everything they've survived together.

[eerna]

You stated that you used to ship rayllum and didnt like the way there arc went ahead in season 3 so how did you envision there arc going ahead and do you think that they should of been built up a whole lot more before getting together in season 3 ?

Just to be clear: when s3 first dropped, I was absolutely ecstatic about them getting together!! My take was "I know it is rushed but I DON'T CARE because they are ADORABLE!!" It wasn't until s4 dropped that I lost the rose tinted glasses and could no longer enjoy them.

As for how I would fix it... man, I can't really fix it without rewriting the entire show. You can't have good romance if the characters aren't good. You can't have good characters if the world they're in doesn't make any sense. Technically there is nothing wrong with a couple getting together 27 episodes into the show, but THIS couple would require significant rewrites to make it emotionally rewarding. So I guess the broad strokes without changing too much are: keep Rayla emotionally distant and morally flexible regarding all the Moonshadow Elves culture things (murder, social exclusion, rejection of individualist worth, emotional connections), let Callum be the emotionally mature one and morally inflexible until dark magic is brought into the game, make the elven culture VS dark magic their point of friction and make them both wrong and right at the same time (this is imperative), let them grow closer and for Rayla to discover the wonders of being loved as a person and not in a transactional way/as a part of the collective, keep her crush unrequited in s3 so that Callum feels awkward rejecting her considering he's her emotional anchor, the arc where she leaves has to happen in the show itself and should be about Rayla making a decision completely powered by her character development ("I can't lose the one person who truly and honestly loves me for me, so I'm gonna leave him behind" when in the beginning of the show she would scoff at such a weakness). The annoying thing with TDP heroes is that they don't have any wrong ideas or beliefs that could be changed. Which is why I am making Callum NOT instinctively underatand dark magic is bad (he has never done it because he doesn't know how, but sees nothing wrong with using it because he knows it saved humanity many times before) and Rayla NOT instinctively understand murder is bad (she has never committed it, but she is willing to, which also makes her seem like a more dangerous person). So basically arc 1 would revolve around them learning lessons from each other and seeing the world in a different light, and then separating on a weird note. I tried writing ideas past this point, but it became less "broad strokes" and more "rewriting the entirety of arc 2"

[sometipsygnostalgic]

i'm losing my mind how are there STILL ACTIVE CATRA HATE BLOGS it's been FOUR YEARS how are you still this mad about a female abuse victim!!!!!! how do you STILL not get it!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in enough fandoms to understand that some of the people who stick around the longest are those who act the most scarred after watching the media. It's like stockholme syndrome. Or it's like hating the thing is what gives them drive in the world.

I have also been on the other side of this. I remained a Homestuck blog for a whole four years after the ending made me depressed about Terezi Pyrope, even lasting an additional year and a half after the dogshit epilogues released, through to the demise of Hiveswap and Homestuck^2, before I realised enough was enough and let Adventure Time give me sanctuary again.

But Homestuck had its Gamzee fans who hated the comic and fandom, Adventure Time had its Lemongrab fans who hated the show and fandom, and it seems She-ra has its fair share of antis.

The She-ra antis consist of the following groups, from my observation:

Former fans who got obsessed with some other show and have to bash She-ra because it ain't cool anymore. Usually Owl House fans but can be from anywhere. Their hate is universally connected to propping something else up, and is never done in isolation.

Hordak fans who hate Catra and maybe every other character and crew member and the show. There are a lot of the reverse, Catra fans who hate Hordak, which is part of why this group is so persistent, as a "counter" to this Hordak hate. However, the Catra fans who are Hordak antis MOSTLY do not hate the show (they are just... out of touch with it and generally have bad takes). I've seen one or two extreme cases of Catra apologists accusing Adora, Scorpia, and even Entrapta of abuse, but they were completely alone in their feelings. The Hordak fans who hate Catra tend to also hate Glimmer, Mermista, Adora, Bow, and say that the show is ableist or whatever, but they do not actually harbor much love for Entrapta. Her victimisation is an excuse for their behaviour and they have no understanding of her chaotic character. Do not interact.

Glimmadora fans (the ones who purely seem to exist to make 'Spop Is Abusive' posts). Why the fuck Glimmadora fans hate the show so much, I do not understand. But these are probably the most In-Your-Face of these three groups. While the Hordak fans mentioned above have a lot of similarity to Homestuck Gamzee fans or Adventure Time Lemongrab fans in the weird way they'll hate on the show for doing their blorbo wrong, Glimmadora fans don't have that evidence because they don't really care about Glimmer or Adora. They have absolutely nothing to say about the show, other than that it is Bad. My theory on these Glimmadora fans is that they really liked the Glimmer and Adora ship on a superficial level, and then the show decided to have its Deeper Themes and give Catra and Adora a messy, complicated relationship. There was a lot happening after season 3 where people went "CATRADORA IS REALLY ABUSIVE AND CATRA IS HORRIBLE AND YOU SHOULDNT SHIP HER WITH ANYONE". This period was SO fucking harmful to the fandom that it never recovered, so much work was lost and deleted from AO3. People would say "Glimmadora is a much better ship anyway". But then when season 4 rolled around and, uhh, Glimmer was acting like a little shit all season (for good reason but she really fucked things up with Adora), and Glimmadora crumbled into ash? Well the Glimmadora truthists felt like the show was working against them and that Season 5 was a grand conspiracy to make the Abusive ship Catradora canon!!! The funniest part of this is I sympathise a lot with these feelings. I used to be a Glimmadora truther myself when I watched the show in fall 2021. I was like, "wow, look how nice this ship is. And they go with catradora in the end?? Fucking HOW???". But then seasons 4 and 5 happened and.... yeah, I was disappointed with how Glimmer and Adora's friendship ended up, but I was ENAMORED by the messiness of Catra's character and how raw her and Adora felt about each other even in spite of all the bullshit. I never made excuses about the show being abuse apologising. I analysed it purely in how believable the relationships were and what the intentions of the characters are.

Of these groups, the ones responsible for the most actual SPOP Anti blogs are undoubtedly the Glimmadoras. The only time I've seen something similar, so many antis appearing, was because of Steven Universe ship wars. You have NO IDEA how petty people feel about Lapidot, Amedot, all the dots, all the amethysts. A crew member was chased off the internet over it, or left the internet over the show's own decisions, depending on whether you believe the """screenshots""" that were taken of Zuke's ""private blog""".

[originemesis]

"creation took 7 days; now watch me fuck it all up in one night"

canon divergent adam / abel // haz.b.in h.o.tel

21 + / mid-low activity / private

ordained and entertained by skeu ; icon templates by cinna! 💜💛 human icons by bbglucifer ;p <3 --- > xxx

side blog: vortex @gutstaken

here are some cool people 😎 : @deathinfeathers , @voxistem , @lilitophidian , @cast-you-dxwn , @2ndrib , @atomeyes + @sainticidal , @arachn0philia , @drraphaelmd, @brokendreamscreation , @hlylight , @chasingrainbcws , @danger-tits-lute , @hclluvahctel

about // playlist // active headcanon // current verses // rules [beneath]

Caard-Esque:

Blog is 21+ for content concerns and mun is 25+ (an old) and will not interact with minors on this blog. minors should technically not follow me here either ~ so, don'tttttt...do that? thanks! if i catch you, you're yeeted to the shadow realm.

Do not follow this blog if you are sensitive to the sensitive topics related to this particular genre. I tag with "content word cw" for the extra wild stuff, but that's about it. adam literally has the highest swear/slur count in the show and he's only in 3 episodes, so be aware of that.

I tend to be private/selective as i get fairly overwhelmed with too much activity. i really get into plots though, and i'll spam the dash with some silly original dick chauvinism from time to time when ive fed my inner gremlins past midnight. That said, I do get easily overwhelmed when I'm following too many people and multi muse blogs in particular can exacerbate this feeling, so if I do not follow back - I might just not be in a good place to atm or I just don't see possible interactions btw our characters. It's nothing personal! ^^

This is a mutuals only interaction blog for my sanity (anons being fine). if i can see plots happening between us, i'll likely follow. but i get overwhelmed easily so please don't take it personally if i don't follow back or follow back right away.

I am not exclusive, but I prioritize my plotted threads and may have some mains/activity based off that as far as my main verse goes. But I will never be fully exclusive and i enjoy exploring different character dynamics. Also multiship is fine, but I am not exclusively here to ship or write suggestive content. My muses have always and will always require plotting and scene chemistry for me to consider writing ship material. In the case I do reblog shippy prompts still feel free to send in ofc! I'll see if I can make it work or not.

If I don't get a follow back within a week or two, if blogs i follow go inactive for up to 6-7 weeks, or if there's just no attempt on either of our ends to connect for an indefinite amount of time - i'll occasionally go through my list and soft block to clean things up. if we ever want to give it a go in the future, the option is there for us to re-follow and resume! i have in the past been made to feel like I'm walking on egg shells in rpcs regarding these matters and id rather avoid it here...im just here to chill, write and leave weird surprises in dms.

I don't like the feeling of being 'collected' so...if you are interacting with multiple of my muses, I ask you have a different dynamic for mine than them. This is just an act of courtesy I also extend to my rp partners. I interact more with folks that have a special relationship with my muse, so it's needed to deep dive into more interesting topics for me. I also do not usually interact w/ other of the same muse cuz I feel like I 'absorb' how others play him and I want to keep my version separated from that. I might give it a shot some times though depending on how it's presented.

I know that Adam is a bad guy. He's insufferable and can push buttons- but I am not him and I dislike constantly feeling like I'm being barraged for his actions, especially since I consider him to be a heavily layered character that should not be shoe horned into a standard 'ok irredeemable and never allowed nice things' box. So- if you honestly hate this character please don't interact. I am here for exploring taboo topics and ways that a flawed character can make others think he's justified, betray them, make people feel COMPLICATED things... I also love torturing my muse and taking the piss out of him, so I don't need people moving in and tying to constantly put him down/ruin his current plots by being god modey or not at least asking me how we should proceed in a power dynamic, or relationships cuz you don't ship what I ship, or find my interactions with other characters 'toxic' and 'not allowed'...let me explore and enjoy what I like on my blog within reason and do talk with me on dms if you don't like how things are going with our muses and you wanna explore other routes. I love to plot and I am very reasonable.

This post/my rules and conditions are subject to change based on what I get up to on here.

[writing-with-emy]

Young, Dumb & Broke - JJ Maybank x f!reader

JJ MAYBANK MASTERLIST | PROMPTLIST | REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Shipping: JJ Maybank x F!Reader Summary: Sometimes songs can Bring Back Memories. Word count: 5,2K Prompts: Fluff: #03 ; #10 ; #22 ; #27 ; #32 Angst: #02 ; #14 ; #34 Funny: #11 ; #18 Warnings: Mentions of Luke, Death, Drugs (mostly weed), some nicknames, metion of abuse, break-up A/N: I'm so sorry that you needed to wait so long for this, but here it is. It is deffinetly not proof read, I don't have the Motivation for that anymore so if your find something, please Tell me! But I#m absoloutly in love with this one! Plus Google Docs always tried to Make 'Pope' - 'the Pope'. Now I have an Image in my Head of JD's face badly added on the Pope.

The Thing about Breakup is, the start of it is always the shittiest part, then afterwards, there were good and Bad days. Today you had a bad day, where you didn’t get out of your Bed and just lie around. Days like this were always the same since your Breakup with JJ. You wake up, already feeling shitty, looking around in your room where the sun is shining through your closed curtains lighting it a bit up, and already deciding that you wouldn’t get out of bed. Your Mom knew already what was up, when she came in to wake you up for Breakfast. She just looks at you, sighs, goes back to the kitchen and brings you your breakfast. She knew on those days she couldn’t get you with anything out of bed. You and JJ were for several years best friends, before you started dating and it was good until the whole thing with the gold started. The day you Broke up with him, you not only lost him as your Boyfriend, but also as your best friend. So when you looked at your nightstand, there was a plate with fresh, and probably cold, pancakes and syrup, a glass of water and your phone. Instead of eating you decided to listen to music so you took your headphones, connected them with your phone, before putting on your playlist. Several songs played while you were just in your thoughts thinking about everything that had happened and staring at your ceiling, until ‘Young Dumb & Broke’ by Khalid started playing. And all the Memories of your relationship started to come back.

‘I can not give you everything, you know I wish I could.’

You and JJ both came from the Cut, that’s where you met and grew up together. With most of the people knowing and helping each other there, there wasn’t a lot of time between birth and the day you met JJ. Actually you guys mother knew each other, they were close, but not too close for your mom knowing where his Mother went, but since this was when JJ was really young, it took a while for you guys to meet. You actually met in 1st grade of Elementary school, you can remember that day like no other. When your Mom came to pick you up, you introduced her to him, but once she heard his last name, she knew exactly whose son he was. You guys waited for Luke to show up but he never did, so your mom took him with her and brought him home. He spent most of his day with your family, except one day, where Luke actually cared to show up. Your Mom and Luke talked outside, while JJ was next to you waiting in the Car. Your Mom knew how Luke treated his Mom, so he just casually shook it off and was okay with the Idea, that your Mom would pick him up when she would pick you up. He always was an Asshole, that would never change. You remember on your tenth Birthday, JJ came as soon as possible to you, on his Way picking some random Flowers from someone's front yard, he checked probably every five seconds, if he had the little present for you in his pocket and didn’t lose it. Once he was at your place he knocked at your Window, which you opened, it was early in the morning, the sun had just risen so he didn’t want to wake up your Mom. Tiredly you opened your window, letting JJ in, he was the only one of your friends to come at such an early time knocking at your Window, and as weird kids are sometimes, he weirdly gave you the Flowers before taking the little box from his pocket.

“I know it isn’t much, but I made this for you..”, he said quietly and a bit shy. You opened the Present to find a Necklace just like his in it. “Thank you, it’s perfect JJ.”, you beamed at him, pulling him in a Hug. You turned around letting JJ put the Necklace around your Neck.

Stuff like this is probably a tradition for you guys, every year on your Birthday, he would always come to you, with some flowers from someone's Front yard, and some self made gift.

On your last Birthday it was just Flowers and a Card, but it was still as sweet.

“You know, I just wished I could give you more.”, he said, looking at you with a kind of Sadness and guilt in his eyes. “JJ, I tell you this every year, It’s perfect no matter what it is, because it’s from you.” JJ knew that a discussion wouldn’t bring anything, because you are stubborn when it comes up.

‘I’m so High at the Moment’ ; ‘I’m so caught up in this.’

You were 15 when You smoked your first Joint, and the situation was pretty funny.

You went to JohnB’s house on the search for JJ, you walked by the twinkie, not knowing the person you searching was in there. You walked into the House seeing John B and Kie on the Couch and hearing someone in the Kitchen.

“Hey, do you guys know where JJ is?”, you asked John B and Kie. “Probably in the Twinkie smoking weed.”, Kie said, looking over at you. “He is in the Twinkie smoking a Joint.”, Pope stated coming out of the Kitchen. “What got you thinking that?”, John B asked, looking at Pope. “He took all the good Pudding with him.”, he just said. “Really?”, Kie let out an annoying sound hitting the Sofa. “Well, I’m gonna look for him there.”, you stated, turning around. “Tell him he needs to stop taking all the good pudding with him when He smokes.”, Pope called after you. “I will do that!”, you said, trying not to let out a chuckle throwing your arm in the air while walking down the Stairs. “How long do you guys think this whole ‘We-are-just-friends’-thing is going to last?”, Kie asked John B and Pope. “No clue, but if something soon isn’t happening, then I’m going crazy.”, Pope said. “Yep.”, John added.

You opened the door to the Twinkie and a Cloud of Smoke came in your face and your nose filled with the smell of weed. “Close the door, I’m trying to Hotbox here.”, you heard him say. “Okay, Mister Hotbox, chill out.”, you said, going into the Twinkie and closing the door behind you. “What’s up?”, he asked, looking at you while taking a hit. “I was looking for you, wanted to spend some time with my best friend.”, you said. “Oh, and I should tell you from Pope, that you need to stop taking the good Pudding when you smoke.”, you added. “Well, then be my guest and I will kick Popes ass, because this shit is good as hell when you're High, you should try it.”, he stated. “Well, there's one problem J.”, you said. “What?” “I never smoked before, forgot?” “Oh shit yeah, I mean we could change that.”, he looked between you and the Joint back and forth with a face that said ‘You can take it if you want.’, holding the Joint before you. You looked at JJ and the Joint and started thinking for a Moment if you really should. “Are you sleeping here Tonight?” “Yeah, why?” “Well, if this shit from your cousin isn’t doing me well, then you are the one taking care of me. Plus, I’m not going High back to my Mom’s nor am I staying here alone, High.”, you set your point looking at him.’ “So, that's a yes?” “No JJ, I’m asking you that shit just for fun. Of course it’s a yes.”m you said sarcastic. “Okay, no need for an attitude.”, he lifted his arm in a defensive mode before looking at you. Once you realized what you just said yes to, you feeled the nervousness beginning to rise in your stomach. “C-Can we like.. do something, before I take a like? Like.. Like shotgun or something..?”, you asked, playing with your nails. “Yeah, sure, would you like to shotgun?”, he asked. “Yeah..” He turned to, so he would be sitting right in front of you. “Come closer.”, he said, patting the place before him. So you slide closer, your knees touching when you sit in place before him. “Don’t worry, you're safe okay? If you don’t want to, can you back off okay?” You nodded. “You know-” “Yes, JJ I know how shotgun goes, I watch movies you know and Stuff you know?”, you said. He just nodded.

Now that is the part you are the most nervous probably about, the part where you asked yourself why you asked JJ to do Shotgun, when you just could’ve taken a Hit. You watched JJ taking a hit, before putting the joint back into the ashtray, he put his Hands on your cheeks to pull your Face closer to His. You have no Idea if you already are feeling something, because of the smoke that is already surrounding you, or the Fact that you and JJ Faces are just a few inches from each other, but your head starts to feel a bit dizzy and butterflies start to erupt in your stomach. You opened your mouth a bit to inhale the smoke JJ exhales, while closing your eyes just as JJ. His hands unconsciously moved from your Cheeks to your Jaw, to hold you more stable. You could feel and hear your heartbeat in your years, like it’s nearly popping out your Chest and if JJ would concentrate on his touch he would probably feel how your heart was racing. But once all the smoke was out of JJ’s lungs and mostly in your, you guys didn’t move, you stayed a couple of seconds this close, with your Hands on JJ’s forearms. But you needed to get the smoke out, and the door opened just in that Moment. You started coughing the smoke out, which made JJ laugh and the Person behind you looked at you suspiciously. “What’s up?”, you asked, turning around still a bit coughing, seeing Pope Standing there. “Taking a Pudding, because I want one, and all we have left of them are here. “Hey they are ours!”, he said. “Then Buy your own, one is mine.”, Pope said, taking one, before closing the door again leaving you two alone.

Fast forward and a couple Hits later you and JJ, are in the Twinkie High as a Kite, if not even Higher. “Shit, I’m so fucking High.”, you said grinning, looking at yourself on your Phone Screen on Snapchat seeing your red Eyes. “Well, we’re Hotboxing and it is your first time, what did you expect?”, he asked. “I don’t know.”, you said while laying down putting your Head in his Lap. You searched for a filter, before choosing a funny one and starting to film. In the Background was some random playlist JJ played from his phone, while he was eating a pudding. You started to film JJ, zooming in on his face when He opened his Mouth and you could see his full mouth with his pudding still in it. “Ew, JJ!”, you said while you stopped filming. “What?”, he asked with a full mouth. “That’s Disgusting. You’re Lucky you’re cute.”, you said laughing while saving the Video. “I’m what?”, he asked after swallowing the pudding he had in his mouth. “You’re cute.”, you said. “I’m cute?”, he asked. “Well, you’re not really unattractive plus you are not Disgusting. You sometimes do Disgusting things Like this, but you aren’t really disgusting.” “Well, thank you, and I must say you are pretty cute too.”, he said. “Well, thank you.”, you said, smiling at him.

‘We have so much in common’

When it comes to Hobbies and doing stuff, you and JJ are pretty much the same. When Nobody can find you at your or John B’s place, they Just need to go to the Beach to see you both in the Water surfing, trying to outdo the other. That all went that way, that you even took the same Jobs. If one of you really finds interest in something that is boring to the other, you still spend time together. That all really went from drinking, doing KEG-Parties, surfing to literal handworking stuff. ‘You always say I’m Wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’m right’

“Okay, but where have you read this?”, you asked JJ, watching him from the hammock walking from side to side. “Wikipedia.”, he said, stopping his movements. “JJ, I hate to break it to you, but Wikipedia isn’t a really good source.”, you said to him. “What, so you don’t believe that barking helps to get snakes to leave?”, he asked. “Well, If you meet an anaconda and she is ready to fight you, tell me how it went if you are not dead by then.”, you said, getting off the Hammock and making your way to the Chateau. “Really, I thought I had at least your Back on that thing.”, he said following you in the House. “JJ, I love you, but I’m not sure about that fact.”, you just added. “What are you talking about?”, Kie asked. “The whole, Snakes and barking thing.”, you said, letting yourself slump down next to Kie. “Really?”, Pope asked, coming in. “Come on- Okay watch the next time a snake is here somewhere, I’m going to show you that my plan is going to work.”, he just said stubbornly like a toddler.

‘What’s fun about commitment?’ ; ‘When we have our life to live.’

You tiredly make your way to your Window wondering half asleep who would knock at 1 a.m. at your window. “JJ?”, you asked, sleepy. “Hey.. can I come in?”, he asked. “Yeah..”, you said walking away from the Window turning on your little Lamp you have for reading. You heard him coming in, nearly falling in his face, before closing the Window stumbling over to your bed. “Are you sober?”, you looked at him scanning him from top to bottom and back up. You saw the fresh bruises on his face, you just didn’t know if they were from Luke or from his way to you probably falling sometimes. “I’m moderately functional.”, he said, falling next to you on the Bed. “I’ll take that as a no then.”, you looked at him. He just rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t matter.. I just want to be close to someone for a little bit.. Is that okay?”, he asked with closed eyes, not noticing how Soft your look became after that Question. “Yeah.”, you said softly, laying down, while JJ moved next to you. he turned off the light, before wrapping his arms around your waist and putting his head on your chest curling in on your side. You always cuddled like that, when JJ needed some comfort after his father hit him or just let his anger out on him in general. “Do you wanna tell me what happened?”, you whispered. “Just..my dad.. the usual you know?”, he said with closed eyes. You just nodded, one Hand in his Hair, while the other caressed his Back. “You know what's funny?”, he asked quietly. “What?”, you asked. “He always tells me.. How you are going to leave me, once you realize how fucked up I am. That I’m just like him, and that you never love someone like me. A-and sometimes I really believe that, I tell myself that even sometimes, but once I see you, and have you in my Arms after all those years..I know that he is wrong, just like me..sometimes. I really want to let you go sometimes, because you deserve someone, better than I am..better than I can be.. but I don’t want to, i don’t want to let you go. I don’t want another guy here in my place, I want you to have me by your side and not some other prick. This shit is probably so selfish but I don’t care, you are my girl, always were, always will be. I don’t care that I’m selfish..”, he started to blurt out. You have no Idea what to say to that, to the fact that he probably just told you that he loves you more than just a friend, but you didn’t need to because just as you were about to say something you heard him snore quietly, which meant he was dead asleep. So you just lied there until sleep won you over on its side again.

‘Jump then we think, leave it all in the game of love’

When JJ woke up, he directly remembered what he just rant to you about last night when he came. HIs first instinct was to get up and just leave, to not speak to you for the rest of the day, or the week, maybe the rest of the year. He just admitted to you that he has feelings for you. But instead of getting up and running for his dear life, he waited for you to wake up and to talk about it. Once you were up and eating breakfast, you couldn’t stand the tense atmosphere anymore so you started talking. “So..”, you started. “So..?”, he repeated. “Those things you said last night… Did you mean them?”, you asked directly out. “That was straight forward..”, he said a little chuckle, leaving him. “I know.. I just don’t want to talk a lot around the topic of why this is so tense right now..”, you said looking down on your plate. “Okay, uh shit.. Well, yes.. I meant every single word of it.. I knew it for pretty much the past years but I just pushed it back, but since the one day in the twinkie where we were so close..where our faces were so close.. Since then I couldn’t think about anything else.”, he confessed. “Well, then let me tell you, that I’m never going to leave you okay? And nobody can be better than you JJ, because you are the Best I’m gonna have. I love you too, okay? Don’t ever question that.”, you said, taking his Hand in yours. “So, who are we to each other..?”, he asked. “You tell me.”, you said looking at him. “Would you want to be my girl? officially.”, he asked, looking at you. “I would love to.”, you said smiling. JJ just smiled at you back, not really realizing that this means that you are together. “Well, Boyfriend, I was Kinda expecting a Kiss by now or do you just wanna keep staring?”, you stated, with a grin forming on your lips. “Oh shit, sorry.”, he said standing up pulling you up with him. He pulled you by your hand to him, before he put his hands on your waist and he finally connected your lips. Your lips moved in sync while you could feel the Butterflies erupt in your stomach, making your knees weak. Your Hands moved in his hair when he pulled you closer to him, when you needed to break the Kiss for air you both just grinned at each other like the lovesick birds you are. “You know, that you are never gonna get rid of me do you?”, he asked. “I know, because you're never gonna get rid of me too.”, you said.

Well but for the sake of the others, you love birds could never really stop acting on the fact that you are dating now. “Hey, did you get my note?”, JJ asked, once you and Kie arrived at the Beach for today's KEG-Party. “Yes, Of course I got it. You taped it to my forehead while I was sleeping.”, you said, eye rolling. “No need for the attitude Cupcake.”, he stated, coming to you. “Well, maybe I wouldn’t have one if you didn’t fully taped a Note to my forehead.”, you said. “Well, how can I make it up to you?”, he asked, pulling you to him after he wrapped his arms around your waist. “Well for the first part, you could give me my Kiss I didn’t get this morning.”, you said. “Well, that is easy.”, he said leaning down, connecting your lips in a passionate kiss. You put your hands on his cheeks, while you hear the others making gagging noises. He tried to show them his middle finger, but you grabbed his Hand and put it back in place and broke the Kiss. “And for the second part..”, you began. “Yes?” “You owe me a dance Mr. Maybank.”, you grinned, patting his cheek, before going to Kie to help her. “Seriously?”, he called after you, when He noticed you were wearing his shirt and lumberjack shirt. “Hey! Those are mine!”, he said. “Well, Not anymore!”, you called back, grinning.

‘Run into sin, do it all in the Name of fun.’

Well, all that was a year and a half ago, now everything looks different and you were laying in your bed crying, when the Memory of your breakup came back to Life.

You met JJ, after probably a couple of weeks. You knew about the gold and what they were planning to do. You couldn’t handle that JJ is putting his life for stuff like that in danger, you hated it to be fair so you distanced yourself from him and the others. But today was the day you met JJ to talk to him about it. “Hey..”, you said, looking at him as he came to you. “Hey..”, he said back. “So what do you wanna talk about?”, he asked, looking at you. “You know exactly what I wanna talk about.”, you stated. “And I told you Y/N, I’m not gonna let John B down with that, I don’t wanna talk about if that’s all you wanna talk about, then I’m gonna go.”, He said, turning around ready to go. “What about us huh?”, you asked. “What?”, he turned back to you. “What is with us? Do you not realize that I’m scared that Soon, I’m getting the Message from one of our Friends that something didn’t work out and something happened to you?”, you started. “Like, what?” “Like, these weird ass dudes, that came out of nowhere for you guys because of the Compass, or Ward fucking Cameron who is mad at John B because, he took Sarah from him. Or that shit with Rafe who is just as sick as his own Father!”, you become louder, and more frustrated from sentence to sentence. “Nothing is going to Happen!” “What if it is one day?! I can’t let this happen!” You feel the tears burning in the eyes from each passing second, with your voice starting to break with each sentence. “What does that mean!?”, he asked, now becoming frustrated himself. “You’re Changing!” “So is the rest of the Fucking World!” “So what? What is your plan if you find the Gold or something else just gonna sell it? Like it isn’t weird that five teenagers are there with gold that is worth millions of Dollars!” “We're gonna figure that out when It’s time!” “You don’t have a plan do you?”, you asked, calming your voice a bit down. “Well, what’s the real reason you wanted to talk to me?”, he asked. “I’m not going to watch you get into dangerous stuff like that and do nothing.”, you begin. “What do you mean?”, he asked. “What I mean is.. I’m breaking up with you. I’m not going to sit here and let you possibly ruin your whole life and put yourself into life threatening danger.”, you said, voice breaking in the middle of the sentence. “What..”, he began. “It’s over JJ.”, you said, before walking away. JJ just watched you walking away, no plan what to do, but once he felt the tears burning in his eyes he put his head back swallowing the tears down making it with a fast pace back to the Chateau. If you needed to leave him, then you should, he didn’t need you once he had the gold and was living the Kook life with his Friends who would never leave him over something.

Once you were Home you ran straight to your room, no hello to your mother or anything. You let yourself fall onto your bed, finally letting the tears fall, sobbing in your Pillow you pressed to your face. You screamed, you sobbed and you probably had a whole breakdown in your bed. You hoped your mother didn’t hear it, but once you calmed down a little your door was opened and closed and someone came to you. “Hey, sweetheart.”, your mother said quietly, putting to Cups of Tea on your bedside table. You just looked at her saying nothing. She sat down on your Bed patting on her lap, which you know what it means. You got a bit up so she could sit better on your Bed, before putting your head in her lap facing your door. “Tell me what's wrong.”, she started, going with her fingers through your hair. “I broke up with JJ..”, you admit with a sore throat. “The first heartbreak is always the worst..”, she told you. “I wish this was the only thing why..”, you said. “Why what happened?”, she asked. “You thought for a Moment if you should tell your mother about the Gold, but then you thought fuck it and you told her. “...and then he just let me walk away, like he didn’t care..”, you cried to your Mother. “Well, he was always a little Stubborn, but that was probably one of the things you love about him, because he didn’t give up so easily..”, she smiled a bit. “Yes, but why did he let me go so easily, why could he leave me so easily for some Random shit..?”, you asked. “People make their own decisions, Honey. And sometimes, they decide to go for a while. And sometimes, it takes time to understand why.”, she answered.

Well that is now a couple of Months ago, you still don’t understand why, why JJ let it all happen but you now can live more with the heartbreak then before but it still hurts. Well and now, all you know is that John B nearly went to Jail because of Ward and that was it. No Idea about how JJ is doing or the other, you just hope they were all good.

‘Yeah, we’re just Young, Dumb and Broke but we still got love to give’

It is a few days later, you knew about John B’s and Sarah’s possible death during the Storm and you really wished you could be there for JJ, but you were afraid of going to him. So you just sit silently at home, while your Mom is at work. Well until you got a Message.

JJ: Hey.. Uhm I know this weird but can we like.. talk or something?JJ: please?

You didn’t need to get asked why, you just asked where and when you read the ‘Chateau’ text you got up and made your way to the Home of the Pogues.

Once you arrived, you first looked outside for him, but when he wasn’t at the dock you went inside the house and the only place he could possibly be. You opened the door to his room and saw him sitting on the Bed, elbows on his knees, while his face was buried in his Hands. “JJ?”, you asked carefully. He lifted his head, looking at you with red eyes and damp cheeks and without a second thought he stood up coming to you and hugging you. You were a bit surprised at first but you wrapped your arms around his neck giving him comfort, while he just cried in your shirt. “It’s okay.. Let it out..”, you whispered in his ear. “I’m sorry… I’m so fucking sorry.”, he said, trying not to let his voice shake too much which isn’t working. “It’s okay JJ..”, you said, stroking his back. “No it’s not fucking okay. John B and Sarah are fucking Dead.. All because of that shitty Gold and I was so fucking stubborn because of it, I not only lost my Best Friend but also the best fucking thing I had in my Life!”, he said, backing away from you walking in his room up and down. “I was so fucking stubborn, that I didn’t listen to you, because I wanted to show you, that you were wrong about everything and now look. JB and Sarah are fucking gone, they are gone! GONE! And…and with all that, shit.. during all of that I fucking lost you..not only my Girlfriend but also as my fucking Best friend! I feel like a fucking looser, that couldn’t even keep my friends from death, nor could I keep my fucking girlfriend. I’m just like my fucking asshole of a father.”, he said, breaking down. As fast as you could you go to JJ, sitting next to him on the floor wrapping your arms around his shoulder pulling him against you just letting him cry for a bit.

You buried your face in his hair, trying to fight your own tears. But once he calmed down you took his face in your Hands and turned it so that he looked at you. “Listen to me okay..?”, you started looking at him, while he was just nodding. “First of all, they haven’t found their Bodys yet..right? So there is still a chance that they are alive and just stranded somewhere…Don’t give up that hope okay..? And second of all..yes you were stubborn, so fucking stubborn JJ. But fuck, that’s the JJ I know, always stubborn for the things he wants to achieve. That’s one of the things I love about you…like every fucking thing okay..? And you're nothing like your father.. don’t ever say that again, you are better than him in so so so many ways JJ. Never ever think of you like that again. I love you, I’m always going to, alright..?”, you said. He just nodded looking at you not really knowing what to say. “I know that it’s probably the wrong timing.. but c-can I kiss you..?”, he asked. “You don’t need to ask, just do it..”, you smiled. A second later JJ Lips finally found yours again, and it was like it never has been different. Like the last few months didn’t happen and you were just two People, mourning over their friends. When You separated you looked at each other, not daring to say something. “So uhm… Can- Can we like try it again please..?”, he asked: You chuckled lightly before pressing your Lips to his again, moving forward on his lap while wrapping your Arms around his neck, you separated your face a bit from his to look at him. “I would love to.. but you owe me a date.”, you whispered. “Anything you want..”, he whispered back. “Unless I screw this up Again, I’m going to Marry you.”, he said, while leaning his forehead against yours. “Well you better not mess this up.”, you said smiling.

[jocelynmakenna]

It's time for my two cents to the umbrella academy season 4 clusterfuck:

Hey what the fuck was that?

Like I was perfectly fine with the time skip and even though there were some weird choices (cough Klaus) I was perfectly fine to see where it was going to go.

But what the fuck.

Every fucking episode was worse than the one before, finding new ways to trash the characters and ruin any chance at a character arc for any of them.

The lack of discussion of prior seasons (like are we gonna mention ANY of Allison's atrocious behavior?) was kind of odd but I can move past that seeing as they got a 4 episode cut. The season tried to return to a status quo that it implied existed but never defined, leaving it feeling empty.

But let's talk about the characters MY GOD. I'll start with the obvious. Five and Lila? Why??? WHY??? Like overall, the actors have great chemistry but ROMANCE??? Absolutely not. I think a dad/daughter relationship is much more fitting for them at minimum. If I were writing this season, my biggest change to the train arc would have been to have Five with like Klaus. Giving Klaus distance from his family could have served the story better than... I don't know BURYING HIM IN A DEAD DOG'S GRAVE AFTER A WOMAN USED HIS BODY TO HAVE SEX WITH A GHOST WHICH OF COURSE ONLY HAPPENED BECAUSE A GUY WANTED HIS MONEY WHICH JUST IS SO CLOSE TO SA IT MIGHT JUST BE BUT YK GOTTA MOVE ON GOTTA TALK ABOUT BEN NOW.

Because Ben!! Spends the first like two episodes bitching about how the umbrella academy folks aren't his family (because they're not) and then he dumps everything for a girl he happened to touch(???) and then starts the apocalypse. Like congrats man on being the most macguffin of a person ever.

Viktor was overall fine. I have nothing too harsh to say about him, but once again, his acceptance of Allison in his life after she KILLED HIS DISABLED ADOPTED SON is wild. Allison continued having her character ruined by being a "bad" mom which like. Why did you destroy the original universe to get your daughter back to be a bad mom.

Diego and Luther were just. There. They took up space and screentime with nothing important nor interesting. Everything about them and their arc sucked the fun out of the entire show. Luther being comedic relief could have been a fine choice if they bothered to have him DO anything important.

I'm sorry I'm talking about the love triangle again WHY!! FIVE AND LILA AND DIEGO IS WEIRD. ITS SO WEIRD. ITS QUITE LITERALLY THE WORST CANON SHIP IVE EVER SEEN (yes that includes Reylo at least they had ~force connection~ rather than just being sad and fucking your BROTHERS WIFE). WHO YOU HAVE KNOWN SINCE SHE WAS 6. WHEN YOU MURDERED HER PARENTS. AND THEN SHE'S KNOWN YOU EVER SINCE. INCLUDING THE TIME YOUR BRAIN WAS IN THE BODY OF A CHILD. A MINOR. ITS YUCKY ITS NASTY. ITS AWFUL.

Ok the ending. Nothing pisses me off more than a show that decides to undo itself at the end (I'm looking at you Legion, you had so much promise up until the end). The cleanse was Fine. It definitely could have been done better, explained more, built up more etc. I will blame that again on a lack of episodes but there's SO MUCH that could have been cut to make the season flow better (perhaps like the 7 years of train problems!). And then the cowards move of just. Killing off all the main characters (or actually removing the characters from history. It reeks of lazy writing and just. Not caring.

Overall - 2/10

Crazy how this show ended on that season 3 cliff hanger!

[haethyre]

X-Men 97 Thoughts

My personal opinions

Okay. So I grew up with X-men The Animated Series. It was one of my fave shows. It always came on late at night on Toon Disney (at times i shouldnt have been awake LMAO) so it has a special place in my heart. I was very surprised that of all things they decided to "continue" it. So, when I heard about it, I did a full rewatch (even that ungodly last season where quality took a nosedive OOF) Anywhoo! Started and finished 97. Those who know me best know at heart I am a big OG fan of my fandoms and am trepidacious of reboots/even continuation reboots, bc lets be honest most of them are all about stomping on the source material, SO I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Xmen 97.

You could really see how much they tried to capture the feel of the old show and the characters. The voice replacements were surprisingly well done. (i mean, Wolverine is a little off, but i'll give the guy a break its been like...28 yrs XD ) The animation looks amazing. Even if i'm taking some points off for the hair hfgjhdf haha

Now the storyline.... The elephant in the room. We all know the one. I have been a Romy fan since I was a kid and yes, when I was a young girl in Borders, I did come across the comic that showed the RoguexMagneto storyline. I hated it then and I hate it now. Its just...weird. (Again, my opinions. If you like it, power to you. Enjoy, but its not for me and this post isn't for you) but its even weirder in the show, and ill tell you why. As a Marvel comic reader, I'm well acquainted with the fact that everyone gets with everyone. That is just a trope of Marvel comics. All ships of imaginable and unimaginable proportions happen. BUT I think when doing this, they really should have thought it through a bit more in context of the show's universe alone . Bc I'll be real, if you're coming in from TAS, this kinda hits you out of nowhere. She had no form of connection with Magneto in the past show. Like....they had a makeshift funeral for him and she didn't even care. She was just worried about Gambit being stuck in space. So, their "secret" just seems so random and out of place. I do like that it was used for her to understand fully her feelings for Gambit, but man was it frustrating to see him just killed off when he was one of the best characters.(even if it was really well done and the animation, again, was amazing)

There's talk of him coming back as "Death" which is a storyline I'm not familiar with but I also heard talk of the original showrunner idealizing a timeline where Rogue and Magneto have kids....so... IDK It all just left me a bit frustrated and disheartened bc Romy was like one of my earliest ships before i knew ships were a thing. To see what happened to it made me sad, even if it could be part of a long game to get them to their HEA. (and thats always an if bc we don't know, even if the original guy isn't in charge anymore)

Other things that bugged me a little but not too much. Gonna bring up Morph. I love Morph. They were always a fave and they went through so much to finally be back on the team again. I really don't understand why they changed their character design tho? I read it was to make Morph look more like the character changeling from the comics but this is again something that doesnt make sense coming out of TAS bc Morph always had that other appearance throughout the entire show. I mean...it could have at least been explained... Also, as far as the feelings for Wolverine, i kinda found it funny XD bc in TAS, it always seemed like it was the other way around jkhfgjkdfh Wolverine was so attached to Morph and wouldn't let 'em go. That being said, I kinda wish they didn't go this route if its only meant to be unrequited and sad. AGAIN. I know. Marvel is all about unrequited drama jfhdkjfdh but hasn't Morph been through enough??? That being said, I love the ship even though I know its doomed. Wolverine is the worst person to be down bad for tho. Mans falls in love at the drop of a hat fhghdfjhsd

Other than these couple things, I really loved the show. Some people said "why are they shoving so much story into such a short amount of time" XD The storyteller in me would like to agree but i will be honest, there is nothing more like Xmen TAS than smooshed storylines jkdfhfkjds with random one-off eps in between. XD So, I was fine with it.

I liked the conclusion with Scott and Jean, as messy as it was. The family fun time was a pleasure to watch.

Xavier and Magneto. They really highlighted their messy, but still devoted relationship from the original series, so that was nice to see. I was glad to see him back in the red suit LMAO bc the one he was wearing all season was weird for me.

I loved Jubilee's journey, and it was cool that they brought Alyson Court back for that one episode.

I was very pleased overall that they didn't tone things down and since censors are different these days, they could show more stuff they couldn't in the 90s. So, I am looking forward to more seasons (and pleeeeease for the love of god give Romy back to me i am begging)

[thegodcomplcx]

Sometimes I think Moffat did ship Eleven and Amy more because he seems smart enough as a writer/good at writing chemistry that he could’ve written Amy choosing Rory more smoothly. It could’ve easily has the first few episodes of series 5 be Amy and Eleven having fun but the minute Rory steps in the TARDIS eleven is the third wheel and the shadow of her having already grown up is around . Amy and Rory could’ve been written as super in love while still having Amy just be scared from abandonment issues and attached to Eleven as a result.

Instead we got this weird attitude on everyone’s sides. Amy treats Rory like a puppy but marries him because she doesn’t want the puppy to die, Rory has contempt for Amy’s choices, and Eleven wishes Rory wasn’t around but still has to choose for Amy to live with him. I know Moffat likes writing teasing dynamics but he managed to do that with so much more affection with Amy/Eleven, Twelve/Clara, Twelve/River. Even friendship wise with Twelve/Bill.

I’m just saying Amy and Rory seem like the weirdest writing Moffat has done and I can’t even blame his sitcom like writing for that because he’s done better with everyone else

my opinion about whether or not romantic 11amy was written to be taken seriously or if it was written just for laughs and views has swung DRAMATICALLY in favor of the former given the release of douglas is cancelled. i mean. look at it.

but even before that i would have said that i don't think it really matters what the intention with them was bcos that doesn't change the impact of what made it's way onscreen.

HAVING SAID THAT...the writers must have realized really early on that amy and rory being together is deeply, deeply uninteresting. i mean rory is barely a character in s5, he's only in like 50% of the episodes, and i would argue that amy's choice is the only time that the writers actually try to treat their relationship seriously and not as a punchline. (read my meta on amy's choice and how it doesn't even achieve this purpose. like thematically.)

even in the wedding its not even about rory like at all. it's still about amy's connection to the doctor (and she's still trying to get in his pants. at her own wedding. in front of the groom and god and everyone)

i would argue that s5-7A is an elevenamy will they/won't they and that rory's only purpose is to be "the husband" which is why he's such a nothingburger character. (i think the only time he proves to be a meaningful contrast to the doctor in a way that doesn't walk all over amy's character is in the god complex. but we don't have to talk about that rn). moffat is basically writing a drama. he's setting up a bunch of things so that we will keep tuning in, and one of them is the question of "who will amy choose"

i mean. fucking babygate. s5 makes it obvious that amy has romantic feelings for the doctor. they could have chosen to end it with the wedding, but you jump into s6 and its like woah okay. amy is babytrapping the doctor. and this makes complete sense for both their characters. and then the god complex happens and it's this natural ending point for eleven and amy. and once again the writers say no. amy actually still can't give him up.

which is why amy can never make an choice until her very last episode, bcos that would ruin the suspense. and we know that despite all the set up, amy can never choose the doctor because this defies the structure of the show. (she's so doomed by the narrative) so they really backed themselves into a corner with amyrory. if their relationship is actually good then rory might as well not exist. if their relationship is frequently unstable, it risks becoming like. obviously bad and obviously inferior to the OTHER romantic dynamic amy is involved in. they chanced the odds and they fucking lost because 11amy continues to be one of the most compelling things i've ever seen in my life.

[davekat-sucks]

This is was supposed to be a simple ask but it ended up getting long because of there being too many question and discussions but barely any answers so sorry about that.

On the topic of WhatPumpkin sometimes we all have to wonder what the fuck is going on behind the scenes, the latest news we got werent that much and it felt more of a like "Hey guys we are still alive dont forget about us" situation and it doesnt help that we cant really get any info because of how the only guy that Im atleast aware that works on it and is online is James and although I have no source because it was months ago, when beyond canon came back I remember him getting asked about Hiveswap and i dont remember if he answered it on the blog or on a reddit qna but he had said he cant really do much about it because hes just the music guy on that department and not an director or writer and he probably cannot say whats going on if hes aware of even the minimum because of NDAs and you know the situation is weird when not even the new director for post canon can do nothing about it or doesnt know what the fuck is going on over there either (i believe its more of the former).

On the same topic Hussie jumping the ship in my opinion feels like such an awful move in a moral and community sense, he hires fucked up people and ends up going through development hell and instead of trying to fix it he just runs away and gives someone else the work. He becasically invited destruction to that place by not doing background checks and shit and now everyone else but him has to suffer for it. I wonder if WhatPumpkin will close business after they finish Hiveswap (if they even manage to finish it) or if their writting quality wont be bad if they try to do Hauntswitch now.

I also sometimes wonder if Hauntswitch was made first maybe things could have been better. Think about it:

It happens on the Human World and you play as a cool kid looking troll and that could open the doors for a lot of potential to explore more about the Earth on the Homestuck universe and its conspiracy theories and also give us more video game parody mechanics.

The whole conspiracy theory Jude had that iirc had even the USA presidents connect to may be right considering the easter egg that shows some sort of cultists standing outside the mansion we see on the background and watching the events unfold.

We would get more answers for whatever the fuck those creatures that attacked the manor where.

another good dog best friend to fill the bec shaped hole in our soul <:

Exploration of what SkaiaLabs exactly does.

Overall sounding like an awesome story itself, a alien coming to earth and fighting a cult related to the presidents with a human companion. Especially considering how Dammek sounds like hes an asshole and also because of how trolls are usually violent could lead to interesting interactions.

I might be wrong and biased though but I feel like that concept could attract more outsiders than Hiveswap could ever wish to do. And hopefully thats it and that I wont waste almost an hour of my life rambling about this stuff (for my own sake because i feel like i could have spent my time better but i also need to post this somewhere and i dont use social media most of the time and when i do its usually to see fanart, memes and overall discussion of my fav franchises) but I probably will in the future.

It's cool with this ask. You brought up many good points here.

Yes, the question about Hiveswap was asked in a Q&A back in October 30th, 2023 from James Roach here (Archive ver for backup). The news about development should be something more like how Toby does with the Deltarune newsletter. Monthly, maybe do a special event ARG thing that gives insight of what's coming up, or anything like that. Though even with that, it might be probably too little too late since we are at 11 years since the Kickstarter had funded. Probably doesn't help since 2 million dollars was wasted, it's a mystery how the game is still being worked on if the original Kickstarter money that was given to them, had been used up. What is WhatPumpkin's new source of income then? Do they have a second job they aren't telling us about? Are they using part of that Patreon money from Beyond Canon since technically there are some that work within Hiveswap too like James? Then there's the fact Hussie not only wasted the money, but basically left the Kickstarter project he started in the first place. He may own it and be credited as the creator, but he won't be involved in the future Acts and Hauntswitch. I'm surprised nobody is pissed at him for scamming them out of 2 million dollars. Do people not care if the original person who hosted it left? Especially with the truth come to light thanks to Gio's research on this. I wouldn't be surprised if WhatPumpkin does shut down because they couldn't gain the sales needed after releasing Hiveswap Act 3. People will probably wonder if even buying stuff from Topatoco would help or not with HS merch like the prints slowly resurfacing. Drawing in the crowds from old and new to play the game will be tough. I wouldn't be surprised if Hauntswitch was first made in mind before Hiveswap. Dammek even had a 3D model ready too.

Likely back when it was still a 3D game, we would control briefly but then after the cutscene of them being transported to the other planet, we would then have to take control of Dammek, have him meet Jude to possibly have him find a way to help him back home, and the pair would adventure on Earth itself for the rest of the game to find out about the monsters and the cult. Dammek's paranoid nature would play off Jude's conspiracy theory pretty well as it has the two involved looking deep into the mystery. I wouldn't be surprised if something about the cult would eventually tie in to his home planet and the rebellion as a final grand twist. An idea like that sounds more interesting than some girl getting lost on an alien planet and was roped into some rebellion that she has no reason to be part of besides being concerned for a friend.

[pluckyredhead]

So, I can’t find it now, but one time I think you mentioned that no one writes Gar/Vic even though the 80s Teen Titans series is like God’s gift to slash shippers where they’re concerned. Like, if you told me that based on their interactions, they were meant to be dating/hooking up/friends with benefits, I would instantly believe you. And yet, fandom has always slept on them? Why do you think that is? Is it because neither are conventionally “pretty” characters?

THEY ARE SO MARRIED FOR LIKE THREE DECADES. Someday I'll post my ship manifesto because yeah, the level of in love they are in NTT is UNREAL. The scene of Vic shouting "I love you! Do you hear me? I love you!" at Gar while merging with the Technis alone. My god.

Anyway I think it's a few reasons:

They aren't Bats. Back when I first joined DC fandom like 20 years ago, it was much more universally accepted that they were functionally married, but there was still barely any fic about them (all on personal archive sites and impossible to find now). I think it was partly the same deal Boostle had at the time, which was that everyone already knew they were married so why bother to write the fic when it was already accepted fact, but mostly it's just...they aren't Bats, and even then, most of the fic was about Bats.

The cartoon was pretty bad for the ship. Don't get me wrong, I love the animated Teen Titans, but because of the size difference and Gar's voice being at a much higher pitch, I think they read as further apart in age than they really are, and also as Idiot Bros rather than the slow burn enemies to friends to lovers they are in comics canon.

Plus the Gar/Raven pairing came out of the show, which is weird because it's...not actually in the show, but that's when it became popular with show fandom, and that bled over into the comics, and now it's a really dominant pairing for those characters even though it reads...really, really weirdly in the context of their history in the 80s and 90s. (Remember when she possessed him?)

Right after Gar/Raven became the Blandest Ship of All (sorry), the New 52 happened and Vic's connection to the rest of the Titans was completely severed in favor of him standing around in the background of JL issues not being allowed to do anything interesting. Like I guess it was a promotion, sort of? But it came at the cost of his history, relationships, and personality.

Let's name the elephant in the room: Vic is Black, and fandom has a bad habit of not writing fic about Black characters even when the ship is obvious fandom catnip.

In conclusion: Vic and Gar are married, as dumb as Future State was I did enjoy that they merged into one homoerotic being, and "Hey rust-bucket! Let go of the frickin' MOON already, will ya?!" is still the most romantic line in all of comics.

[starkjoy]

it’s insane how disappointed i am with this season… like i don’t even know how to deal w this lmao. i just feel like i’m being gaslit into believing all the stuff i previously thought about tomshiv’s dynamic and even tomgreg’s (in terms of the nero/sporus subtext) isn’t true. it’s a weird decision on the writers’ parts.

the whiplash is so odd to me that i can’t help but wonder if they’re intentionally misleading us for some late-in-the-game twist. that’s probably delusion though—simplest explanation is that they changed their mind or it’s shitty writing. seems to be a trend with hbo final seasons. let’s see how it all ends before we make any final decisions, though.

unlike failed internet darling mlm ships of the past, tomgreg isn’t a case of fandom creating a narrative and setting themselves up for disappointment—the writers intentionally implanted homoeroticism into their plotline. the actors knowingly played around with it. jesse literally called them homoerotic a few weeks ago. it’s really sad to think succession may fall prey to every other queerbait-adjacent (adjacent for now since the season isn’t over) curse, leaning into the queer undertones until they’ve written themselves into a gay corner with the internet convinced something is gonna happen, only to backtrack and pretend the vibes were never there at all. it’s too early to say if that’s the case here, but it certainly feels that way at the moment. i mean, what else are we supposed to think when the writers go from nero and sporus gay marriage as the through line of season 3, to disgusting brothers hetero sex tour comedic relief background noise with tomshiv redemption front end center? am I supposed to be enjoying this?

all that being said, on a positive note im glad we’ve seen how much closer tom and greg have gotten as partners, and that they’re scheming together and on the same page. i’m glad they’ve had at least one interaction each episode. i’m glad greg seems much more into tom than previous seasons, quelling any unrequited friendship accusations. i’m glad we got insane homoerotic undertones in episode 1, even if they’ve dropped off since then. but where we’re sadly lacking is depth—what was once the hallmark of tomgreg’s deeper connection in contrast to tomshiv’s emotional constipation. now greg makes sexual quips while tom rolls his eyes…end scene. and again. it was funny and cute at first, but now it’s getting boring. don’t they deserve a more interesting arc in the final season after years of build up? why are we subject to tomshiv rehashing the same shit we’ve seen for 3 seasons instead?

also, one of the most compelling arcs of season 3 was tom’s vengeance, especially because we saw it play out from his perspective. outside of his plane convo with greg, tom’s pov has all but been erased. even the tomshiv moments are from the lens of shiv’s experience. and as much as we may sympathize with shiv’s heartbreak over his betrayal and her dad’s death, it feels almost wrong that the show is trying to make me feel bad for her? we saw how awful she was to tom for three seasons, we saw from tom’s perspective how much she hurt him. i don’t feel bad for shiv on the tom front at all, the fact that she kept his baby feels wildly out of character, and frankly it’s a little insulting the amount of time the final season is spending trying to convince the audience otherwise.

hey, maybe my feelings will change in a few days. maybe the final episodes will change all of our minds. i’ll always have some hope for tomgreg, but right now it’s not looking promising given the treatment they’ve received so far. anyone with any positivity to share hit me up because I could use it!!

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I saw this post and it upset and offended me so much. I'd like to hear what you think about this. In fact, the zk claims that the offensive portrayal of Katara in the FN play at the meta level correctly conveys her feelings and her personality in the show. she has no feelings for Aang, and Aang is not sure that she will ever fall in love with him, at the same time, "Katara" in the play says that she felt attracted to Zuko immediately after he captured her, and at the meta-level this is "the correct interpretation of Katara's feelings in the show". In addition, it proves that Zutara is a feminist ship, because "Katara" in the play talks about her feelings for Zuko and dominates their relationship.

https://www.tumblr.com/sokkastyles/723285064748859392/thinking-again-about-how-katara-is-portrayed-in

*throws up* Note to self: do not read Zutara nonsense after a meal. It does not go well.

Yes, Katara IS offended by how she's being shown in that play. But what bothers her is not "Oh she's being shown as a damsel in distress that needs Aang to save her." What bothers her is how the Fire Nation - you know, the nation that killed her mother, destroyed her village, had her dad leave to fight in the war, and has been trying to kill her and her friends for months now - is mocking her for daring to have hope. Treating her like a stupid, overly emotional bimbo people should laugh at. Throwing her coping mechanism of"I haven't lost hope" back in her face and making it look ridiculous.

It's REALLY weird Zutarians just HAVE to make everything about this fake love triangle they created in their heads. Katara's anger here is not because of Aang or Zuko - it's about how SHE is being treated, how this play is insulting HER, how SHE is being treated as unimportant, stupid and desperate when she knows damn well that NONE OF IT IS TRUE!

For fuck's sake, the whole joke of how Kataang is shown in the play is that it is treated as UNIMPORTANT! How it is treated as a completely platonic bond between two dumbasses that will inevitably be destroyed by the Fire Nation.

When AANG lets this nonsense get to his head and ask Katara if it's true that she only ever saw him as a little brother, Katara says "I didn't say that, an actor said that" making it very clear that even though she is mad, she is not taking this seriously. She doesn't believe the writers of this play have any understanding of who she is or what she wants.

And let's talk about the part this person conveniently left out: when they see their characters shown as being romantically involved, both Zuko and Katara are REAAAAALLY uncomfortable.

Why is Katara's clear objection to the way she's being shown only ever taken into account when it is vaguelly connected to Kataang, but NEVER when it shows her full on revulsion at the thought of being with Zuko?

Not to mention, Kataang and Zutara were not the only Katara ships brought up: we also see Katara's crush on Jet, and how she is ALSO not happy with how it was shown in that play, because it assumes that his "bad boy" persona is what drew her to him, when that was actually what led to their falling out. She liked the charming, sweet, charismatic guy that wanted to save people from the evil imperialist nation, not the two-faced asshole that attacks innocents as a means to an end and manipulates everyone.

That's the whole point of the Ember Island Players: we are given one little nugget of truth, followed by COMPLETELY incorrect nonsense.

Katara is hopeful and emotional, but that is the STRENGTH of her character, not the weakness. She likes Aang's company because he is this cheerful person that makes life less sad, instead of seeing it as a childlike trait of someone she thinks of her little brother. She accepted Zuko into the friend group and is bonding with him, but it has nothing to do with attraction - surely not any attraction that could have happen while he was HUNTING HER AND FRIENDS DOWN AND TRYING TO TAKE AWAY THE WORLD'S LAST HOPE FOR PEACE, something she said, to his face, made him a horrible person.

And gotta love how Zutarians think that "Katara is taking the lead in the zutara subplot of the play but in nothing else" in anyway mirrors the actual show. That's the result of ignoring a character's choices the second you disagree with them.

Before Katara even knows Aang is the Avatar and before he is aware of the war that he will be forced to put a stop to, they are already talking about going to the North Pole - not so HE can learn waterbending, but so KATARA can do it. And even after Aang realizes he'll need a waterbending master, he says "We can learn it together."

And they do. And while at first Aang is better at it than her, the writers realized that they'd have more potential for Katara's character if she was a prodigy, thus they allowed her to master it fast enough to become Aang's sifu.

In Cave Of Two Lovers, SHE takes the innitiative to kiss him. Through the entire arc of Appa being gone, she is the one trying to emotionally connect with Aang, while he is being distant - and it concludes with him saying SHE gives HIM hope.

During The Headband, Katara is visibly upset when some other girls are getting all of Aang's attention - something we had already seen in Warriors Of Kyoshi - and they then have that SUPER romantic dance.

On the day of the invasion, Aang kisses her, and while she was not expecting it, she does not look upset like she would be in Ember Island a few episodes later. In fact, that episode ends with her basically cuddlying up Aang to cheer him up after their plan fails - once again, even though he was trying to keep his distance, aka Katara is taking the lead here.

When Zuko joins the Gaang, all the others are okay with it, at least to some degree and Katara is NOT happy about it, and makes sure to let him know that if Aang gets hurt because of him again, she will end him once and for all. This is 100% Katara's choice, and she's making it very clear that she LOVES Aang (and I'm talking both romantic AND platonic love, even if she only recognizes one of them at that point).

In both The Southern Raiders AND Ember Island Players, we see what happens when she and Aang disagree on what she should do: she does what she thinks is right anyway, even if she cares for Aang. She thought getting revenge was what she needed, so she tried that (before changing his mind, in a parallel to Aang trying to deliberately trigger the Avatar State in season two, against Katara's advice). She felt she needed more time to figure out how she felt about Aang, and when he tried to speed things up, and she did NOT react well, and this time he is the one to realize he was wrong.

And, finally, in the last episode, with the war over and Katara's only concern now being "be happy with the people she cares about" she could see things more clearly, and when SHE was ready, she kissed Aang, officially starting their romance.

But since none of it involves Zuko, zutarians pretend it did not happen, otherwise it'd completely ruin their facade of "feminist ship" that TOTALLY only ships Zutara because it is SUPPOSEDLY the only dynamic in which she has any agency - when in reality, what they're saying is "Katara's choices only matter when I agree with them. If I don't, she needs to shut the fuck up."

Just good old misogyny from the fakest of all fake progressists of the fandom, everyone.