#it's not trying to start ~discourse~ or drama or whatever

[cogaytes]

anyway i'm at a point where i'm scared to tag things with kotlc discourse cause i don't wanna start shit i just wanna scream into the void

[genericaces]

if u did a tier maker of buffyverse ships i would enjoy it 🙏

This is tricky because ships are one of those things that people can get really passionate about, and I don't want to upset anyone. I try to steer clear of any drama when I can, but I also want to feel free to express my opinions, you know? Because god knows I have them.

I guess I'll say before I wade into any discourse that, disclaimer: my enjoyment of a ship doesn't mean I condone what goes on in it, and I can separate fiction from reality. I try not to moralize when it comes to fictional ships and approach them both objectively in terms of quality and also subjectively to my personal tastes. But I also believe that, at the end of the day, it's just fandom and people should do whatever floats their boat.

So with all that being said, here's my (highly personal!) rankings of the ships in Buffyverse:

C Tier:

ATS 1x09 - This is the ship with the bomb that Doyle sacrifices himself to disarm. Now it's a good episode, but this is really the only wide shot we get of the boat. I literally forgot that the climax takes place on the water. The interior is fun with lots of stairs and various apparatuses for fight scenes, but it could just as easily have been a basement or abandoned factory. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed by the ship factor. Rating: 4/10

B Tier:

BTVS 2x13 - You might be thinking, "You're ranking a BACKGROUND ship higher than an actual location?" but hear me out: because the ship is in the background, I actually remembered that this scene had a ship. There's a great fight scene in front of it where Buffy uses the chain along the docks to choke out a bad guy, and then she gets thrown into the water. The ship hangs out in the background the whole time and brings together the whole nautical-themed fight. Rating: Angel diving into the water/10

A Tier:

BTVS 3x15 - Now we're cooking with gas. We get a FULL shot of the whole ship on the dock. The establishing shots linger on the boat more because Buffy and Faith have a confrontation here. Not only do they have a conversation with someone visibly ON a boat, Faith starts out on the upper deck of the boat then swings herself OFF the ramp to argue with Buffy on the docks. Bonuses for a visually dynamic conversation and the boat representing Faith's plans to fuck off, interrupted by HER choice to get off and get in Buffy's face about it instead. Rating: Saving the girl that's supposed to be your enemy/10

S Tier:

ATS 3x22 - I know, we're getting into controversial territory here. But look how beautiful this ship is. Is it a boat? A schooner? A yacht? I don't know, but I DO care. Extra points for it being a plot-necessary boat, of course, since they had to get Angel out into the middle of the sea somehow. What's great about this ship is that it's really condensed all the ship elements into a smaller vessel, so you're aware throughout the tense emotional scenes that you're actually ON a boat in the middle of the sea. It really emphasizes Angel and Connor's isolation at this point in the finale, both physically and emotionally. And, I mean, look at this: we actually have a shot that has most of a boat AND most of a person in it. AND it's the climax of a season finale? THIS is the ultimate Buffyverse ship. Final rating: The misunderstanding-to-patricide pipeline/10

[weaselbeaselpants]

Legit Bad-take/Bad-Faith Helluvaverse critics you should not trust if you see them

Interpersonal squabbles within the critical tag are irrelevant, sorry. This here is a genuine warning against users you should keep your distance from in regards to any VivziePop drama-discourse because their names may come up and you should know what it is that crossed the line.

Starlatte/Starvader/HonestHazbinCritiques/OhGodDude and Woomycritiques/RaySquid - Serial harasser(s). Long story incoming. Starlatte was/is a Vivcritical who got involved in the fandom back in 2019/2020 when she was a minor and didn't tell anyone. Her blog on tumblr was HonestHazbinCritiques where she made some good points but also managed to find/be a part of everyone else's takes in the critical community. Her relationship with several criticalblogs turned sour when she started lashing out, talking over people, being accused of faking her age, and doing stuff like arguing with irl sexworkers abt how they should feel about Angel Dust. Whatever her age actually was at the time, she was also sending her own rewrite scripts and fanwritten episodes to Spindlehorse in order to 'fix' Hazbin. In 2021 Star returned to Tumblr under the name "Oh-God-Dude" w/o disclosing to new people who she was while also starting shit. When said new ppl found out her past and got mad at her, she proceeded to block-backtalk every one of them.

Woomycritiques (twitter handle: Raysquid) is a critical blogger who stans Star and calls everyone else in the critical community an obsessed stalker while lashing out herself. She accused others of racism (unfounded), her friends of predation just for being proship (not the 'cest and underage is good'-kind, the "I like some problematic stuff in fic-context"-kind), and heckled Dirgentlemen over how much they should hate Helluva, and more.

Regardless of if you believe Woomy and Star are the same person, which ppl do, they are both -by now- adult persons who have been asked to stop and DIDN'T, which is why people don't trust them. Star and Woom were asked to tone it down, stop making accusations and even asked by many criticals to leave and stop talking about Helluvaverse as she/they seem to have nothing good to say about it. To put that into perspective, cuz I know some HH/HB fans are gonna be reading this: the people who've self-styled themselves antis and criticals begged this person to leave cuz she had nothing nice to say and was being a nuisance. I know the stans think that's all of us anyway, so let that sink in.

LincarRox aka ToyTaker - Creep. Nasty jealous stalker freak who got kicked out of Helluvaverse servers and Aminos for saying nasty shit like how he "wants to put a baby" in Viv. No really. He took his shit and grievances to BadWebComics wiki under the name TheToyTaker while also seemingly trying to get work at Spindlehorse in order to have access to Viv directly and to 'fix' her show. He did so by faking his animation portfolio. BWW did eventually catch on and kick him out but yeah....bad. May or may not still be going under his old pseudonyms, but regardless if you see someone talking weirdly sexually abt Viv while saying they were "let go" both by SH and BWW, get out now. That's probably him.

Animation Call-Out - Bigoted shitlord. Twitter user who rags on Vivz' controversies w other people but also hates gays and BIPOCs. Admitted to submitting one of the anonymous reviews against Spindlehorse "for fun" amidst legitimate ex-employees. All of the reviews, even the ones that seem the most validating/believable should be taken with a grain of salt I believe especially since they are coming to us anonymously, but when a racist person admits to def being one of those fake reviews for "Lolz" sake, that's def when shit's hit the fan.

DoodleToons - Also bigoted creeperlooser. Altright white kid who hates BIPOC existing in anything and admits to hating Viv's stuff for their LGBTisms and 'demons'. Yes, there legit are bad-faith critics who are homophobic. Just because Viv and her crew have a way of saying that's EVERY critic of her work doesn't mean there aren't shitty people out there.

[sparkssys]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

|-+-+-+-+-~~sparks system~~-+-+-+-+-|

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Hey there! First of all, if you're here to start drama, fuck off before i know you're here. You don't wanna figure out what I'll do to protect them.

We're a traumaendo system of either 9 or 10, not sure yet!!

Most of our system members are endogenic but we have at least 2 traumagenic headmates.

Quick reference guide:

-💜 : Layla, traumaholder and persecutor (she/they/it)

-✨ : Glee, tulpa (they/she)

-☄️ : Magno, tulpa formed by stress and a breakdown (he/him)

-🫧 : Jake, femboy (he/him)

-🦴 : Sans, introject (he/him)

-syl : Sylvine, the avid gamer (she/her, also lesbian, her side blog is @sylvineslair . She doesn't front much because she gives us a huge headache.)

-carol : Carol

-⭐ : Avery: traumagenic little who just got back from dormancy. Probably the core. We don't know for sure and we don't care enough to figure that out.

There's (i think?) 2 headmates who don't really front in the same way we do, one is a drowser and the other we know nothing about.

More info under the cut!

~+~Useful info~+~

We are very inconsistent with sign-offs. You can just ask who posted what.

We are inconsistent with pronouns and we use i/me/we/us interchangeably. We don't care enough about it to change how we write.

We are autistic and collectively transfem. Some of our headmates aren't comfortable with feminine terms, so when in doubt, just use they/them pronouns.

Please use tone tags.

We no longer have a host, the lines are way too blurred to appoint one and it's an unnecessary label anyways.

We are not endo neutral. We are pro-endo. If you don't like that, leave. I have no patience for anti-endo rethoric and some "neutral" people are so infuriatingly hypocritical. -Layla

DNIs don't work. Don't like me? Block me. I don't have the time to check if you're some asshole crosstagging on my tags, and it's your responsibility to curate your own space, anyways.

After some time in both sides of proship discourse, I have decided I'm okay with people doing whatever. Antis are just toxic haters most of the time that don't even intend to try to help, they just straight up dehumanize and demean people they don't agree with. Y'all suck.

Also after some time in both sides of transID discourse, I've decided I don't actually give a shit about what they identify as and why. If I personally don't fuck with it, I'll block you. You do you and I do me.

-=edit log under the cut=-~please skip

15/05/24 13:32 PM: added tags

17/05/24 12:01 PM: updated the label we use for the system's origin, because it's far more complicated than we thought

17/05/24 12:53 PM: linked to post about Layla's gender and sex

19/05/24 18:02 PM: linked to Layla's stance about anti endos

30/07/24 14:30 PM: Deleted old text and links and prepared it for an update.

30/07/24 14:53 PM: Updated headmate list and basic info about them, added useful info for people interacting.

30/07/24 15:17 PM: Finished updating the post by linking to an informative older post, adding blinkies and userboxes and more information.

30/07/24 15:25 PM: Just realized I'm a persecutor more than a protector. Edited the label. - Layla

08/08/2024 05:59 AM: Cleared up some text that I should've deleted earlier and got lost in the middle of the edit log. Also added further clarification on some older edits.

08/08/2024 06:01 AM: Moved the cut to right above the start of the edit logs to better organize the information flow.

29/08/2024 6:22 PM: Added info on our stances.

29/08/2024 9:27 PM: Updated various information about how we interact with tumblr.

30/08/2024 04:26 AM: Cleaned up some old quirks and outdated text.

02/09/2024 12:35 PM: Linked to a very important post about my situation

[sebadztian]

I rarely get myself invovlved in fandom/shipping discourse, but please allow me to put in my two cents in this whole "A guide for new Kuro fans" drama by sharing my own personal experience.

When I first watched Kuro, I wasn't into Sebaciel. I didn't see them as father-son, but I didn't see their appeal as a unit either, if you know what I mean. I was just watching this new anime without shipping anyone with anyone else (no, not even Cielizzy).

The only reason why I watched Kuro was because of the plot (yes, really). I like the idea of Ciel being the Watchdog and how he behaves like a detective, solving these cases (Azzurro, Jack the Ripper, and even the demon hound anime arc).

I managed to stay 'neutral' for the entire season 1 & 2, believe it or not (totally has nothing to do with how I'd watched them all within 3 days. It was during COVID lockdown, ok? I had nothing else to do!).

Of course, as a fanfic avid reader, I'd gone to AO3 to check out some fanfics and to my surprise, there were a ton of Sebaciel fanfics out there (I wasn't into anime at all and I wasn't aware that Kuro, let alone Sebaciel actually exist).

Since I wasn't into it, I didn't read any of those fics. I looked for the neutral ones because I just wanted to read about how Ciel solved various cases. Unfortunately for me, not many of those existed.

I started looking for more Kuro anime and found the BoC, BoM, and BotA online. Tbh, I was very, very confused. S2 was confusing enough and now this? Naturally, the next thing I did was to do some research about what's going on and that was when I found out that most of the anime aren't canon.

Then I started reading the manga.

In the beginning, I still had the same mindset, that I was just here for the plot. I can't remember exactly what has changed my mind, but then I gave those Sebaciel fics a try and that was when I started shipping them, because I was curious about why people ship them.

I started slow, but as I read those amazing stories and equally engaging manga, I started to see the appeal of Sebaciel and before I knew it, I become a shipper.

I'll say this, there's no way not to ship them if you read the manga. The entire series is built upon their relatinship and the development of their characters, both individually and together as a unit.

You can see this 'unit' as romantic, erotic, mentorship, even business partnership, or other. It really is up to you because your upbringing, your environment, your own characters, etc, might make you look at something in a certain ways.

But please remember that they're just FICTIONAL characters and they remain as such. As invested as you are in the story or the plot, this is just that, a story. Reading it doesn't make you a/an *insert insulting terms for Sebaciel shippers*.

So, in conclusion, for the new Kuro watchers/enjoyers, there is only one rule to watch Kuro: There's no right or wrong way/reason to watch Kuro, but kindly please do not harrass others whose opinions don't align with yours. Everyone has their own life story and it's not within anyone's rights to judge others for what they ship/don't ship. Please respect that and don't be an ass about it.

That's it. Other than that, read, watch, and enjoy the series (or any other series) in whatever way you want.

[odusseus-xvi]

q!BAGHERA post because I am ecstatic

I want to talk about what happened yesterday (just in case, this isn't about drama or whatever this is talking about what the evolution of the character might be, no discourse, no drama, this isn't the subject of this post) because of HOW MANY POSSIBITIES IT OFFERS for Baghera and how TERRIFYING they all are.

Let me tell you I am terrified (ecstatic I love the angst gimme) because Baghera yesterday, discovered what BBH did (only partially, she doesn't know about the torture yet.. OH and when she does...). But that's the thing. She was upset at BBH, but what's worse is what BBH did to her. As of late Baghera has been lost, scared, and while everyone has moved on in their grief (they are all still grieving obviously, but they are at a point where they have grieved quite a bit and are now trying things) she has not even gotten the occasion to at all. She is trying to grieve her missing children AND her childhood she remembered she never had, AND Bad which is very obviously looking terrible, but everyone is moving along, trying to pass on to other things or trying to find solutions. Forever comes and tell her to try and be happy, but how can she ?

Here comes yesterday. Here comes BBH. I always suspected, and it was proven multiple times that Baghera was very much his moral compass. But at the time she came back, it was already to late. It was done. He did the mistake. And the thing is BBH is one of the only ones she decides to trust with some of her secrets, because it's her bebou, it's her partner in crime. It's the father of her children. And Bad decides to do the same, except HE puts her at test. She doesn't know it yet, he asks her to make the promise not to tell anyone and not to intervene. She oblige, obviously. And he shows her.

And she is shocked, she is starting to stress out. She is obviously angry at Bad, and at the same time... She promised, but it's fucked up, but it's her best friend, but it's too similar to her childhood she has to help, but it's Pomme's father she can't betray him. And when she makes it clear to Bad she is not happy he starts behaving in a way he never did with Baghz (when I tell you I got chills) , when he lied to her before it was mostly playful, but there it felt like manipulation, he cut her words short, "Is he oka-" "Yes he is don't worry.", he doesn't let space for her to be mad.

She promises to Ron. "I'll get you out of here. Give me one or two days"

And then when Forever etc. comes around she is still processing all this and she makes a quick decision, a terrible one. She lies to them. She protects Bad. But it's also to protect Ron. She may have an occasion to free him. And in that moment, she hates what she is doing. She doesn't want to lie but Bad has put her in an impossible position. And in trying to solve everything, to not betray anyone, she is forced to betray everyone. And she realises it. She hates it.

And that's where we get for what happens then. Because she is already lost and lonely, and one of the only person she could have used to get out of this downward spiral has betrayed her. He has lied and made her betray everyone else. And she will have to betray him soon. She will feel truly alone. She feels like she betrayed Forever, and in a way she did. She feels terrible, she can't trust him anymore, she has crossed the limits herself, she is too afraid. The French suspect her of things, she suspects them in return. (obviously she will still play with all of them because cc!Baghera is still friends with all of them, what I mean is she will just bottle up all those feelings again.)

That leaves three options.

First is Fit. But even if there is mutual respect in their respective secrets, that respect includes NOT giving away their secrets.

Second is Jaiden. "We have to stick together." But unlike anyone else, this will most likely end up in a downward spiral as well. They will just comfort each other in their compassion for Cucurucho, and in the end their past with the Federation.

Last is her "true and only" family. When she will truly be alone, there will be one option, that will always remain open.

The Federation.

Basically, unless there is an unforeseen turn of events, that can always happen, I want to say she is doomed.

And I can't wait to see what cc!Baghera comes up with.

[h0neytalk]

Mango v. LingQ v. Anki

I’ve been using the above apps for a while now and I couldn’t find a ton of somewhat easy to understand comparisons/explanations of how to use these various cult favorites. I figured I would make one if anyone is wondering where to start or making a departure from Duolingo.

Standard langblr disclaimer: I am ultimately just a person on the internet, I’m not an expert in language learning or a world renowned polyglot. I’m not even an expert in any of these apps/programs. These are all just thoughts and opinions I have about the value of each app to myself as an average consumer trying to learn a language and intended to help other people decide where to spend their time.

Anki

Anki is an open source spaced repetition flashcard program. It has an incredibly loyal fan base of med students and people who just want to learn things. This is also the one I have the least experience with so I recommend diving into forums and other blogs who go in depth on all the ways you can use this program. The web version is completely free and there is an official paid mobile app. There are also unofficial paid apps, this is the source of great drama and discourse and I’m not touching that here. Spaced repetition essentially means that the program will present you with cards at intervals designed to maximize your retention. When you flip over a card, you have four options that boil down to: fail, hard, good, easy. This is how the program determines what to show you and when.

Key Features:

The main draw is obviously the spaced repetition system. It’s much easier and more effective than sorting manually.

Because it’s open source, there is a way to customize the settings and cards to do basically whatever you want. There are also tons of premade decks to import and either use as-is or use as a base.

The online web version is completely free.

You can add really any media type to the cards. You can add sound clips of pronunciations, images, even drawings and diagrams.

Having the four options is particularly useful for the nuances of learning a language. For example, for general vocabulary decks I’ll assign one “point” to general meaning, tense/part of speech, and pronunciation. Getting the general meaning but not the other two means I select “hard” when I flip the card.

Best uses:

Vocab or learning a new alphabet. Specifically for drilling any of those “slippery” words. I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but there are some vocab words that just refuse to stick with me. I’ve found the Anki SRS does help pin them down.

Potential downsides:

While there are decks to import, there could always be errors that you won’t catch just seeing single vocab words with no context.

The available customization is labor intensive.

The UI for the official app and web version isn’t super slick and intuitive.

Even the best flashcards are ultimately just flashcards and have limits to their usefulness.

Mango

Mango is similar to Babbel or other programs that focus on speaking (and doing so quickly). I much prefer Mango to Babbel or any other similar app and find that it does what it says it will. Languages are split into units. Each unit has chapters and each chapter has lessons. A lesson will start with an optional pre quiz and a brief recording of a conversation that you will be able to follow by the end of the lesson. Each lesson concludes with a listening and reading quiz. It also utilizes spaced repetition and gives you daily flashcards to review.

You learn based on phrases rather than individual words. A long sentence will be presented in its entirety. The lesson will then go through each word individually before combining them into phrases and, finally, the full sentence from the start. Then you will learn vocabulary needed for variations. The activities are fairly standard for a language app: speaking, listening, multiple choice. You can also turn off the interactive feature and have the lesson run as a “speak and repeat” style podcast. It tracks the hours you’ve spent learning a language and there is an activity log, but no in depth stats.

Key features:

It is focused on speaking immediately.

Has a ton of languages and several dialects for those languages.

Focuses on phrases and patterns that are most useful if traveling or having brief, friendly interactions.

Presents information in a digestible way and isn’t overwhelming.

Includes culture and grammar notes.

$12.99 a month but most public libraries and schools give you free access. You can also set up a household account for multiple people and split the cost with friends/family.

The first lesson of any language is free, and some rare and indigenous languages are completely free to access.

Audio is native speakers. When you record yourself, your vocal wave pattern appears that you can compare with the native speaker.

Best uses:

If you are traveling soon and want to navigate basic, friendly interactions, this will get you there quick. Within 1-3 months easily, depending on the language and how often you practice.

I also recommend this as a starting place when you are totally new to a language or to learning a language in general. The structure is excellent for getting a feel for things.

This is also great if you studied a language previously and need to refresh your memory or get back into it.

Potential downsides:

The “record yourself” feature is fairly buggy and often freezes up. It can also be annoying to try and match the timing of the native speaker, but you don’t have to record audio to progress past those lesson points so it isn’t too much of an inconvenience.

It isn’t meant for total fluency. As stated, the lessons (at least that I have done) are focused on speaking while traveling and making small talk. Some of the early lessons teach you to say “sorry, I don’t speak [x]”. Which is very useful if going abroad soon, but less so if you would rather just be able to speak that language.

The regimented nature can make it feel slow/too easy if you are also using other methods.

The review flashcards only have a binary “yes/no” option which feels annoying for longer phrases or after using Anki-style cards.

With any course like this, you aren’t going to have much choice in the vocab you learn or prioritizing topics.

LingQ

I am honestly surprised I don’t see more about this. I think they have been making a bunch of updates recently so maybe the version I’m using is miles above previous ones, but it is shockingly powerful. It’s also the hardest to explain (which may be why I don’t see much written about it and why this is going to be a long section.) LingQ (pronounced “link”) operates on a hybrid comprehensible/massive input model. While Anki prioritizes memorization and Mango priorities speaking, LingQ focuses on comprehension and listening. LingQ is comprised of courses which are made up of lessons. There are pre-built courses made by LingQ but the real goal is to make your own (more on that later).

Each lesson within a course has an audio recording and a written transcript. Words you haven’t seen before are highlighted blue (when you start, that’s every word). You click the word to see the definition and assign it one of 5 statuses: ignore, new, recognized, familiar, learned, or known. “Ignore” is used for things like names or borrowed words, they won’t be counted in your stats. “Known” is for words you knew before seeing them. You likely won’t have any of these if you’re starting a new language with no prior experience. Levels 1-3 highlight the word yellow and it becomes a LingQ. You can create a LingQq using as many words as you want. You can manually change the status of a word when you see it. You can also do various review activities similar to Mango, and if you get a word right twice in a row it will automatically bump up a level. You can always adjust it back down if needed. LingQ is very focused on the value of listening to a language. You can add lessons to playlists and listen to them like a podcast.

My personal favorite part of LingQ is the ability to import lessons. Especially YouTube videos. The site has a browser extension that will import any content in your target language into a lesson as an embedded item. You can then read/listen to/watch that content right in the app and get “credit” for it. LingQ’s statistics are some of the coolest/most motivating I’ve seen. You get coins for completing tasks but those are really just to see a number get bigger. It also tracks the words you’ve read, how many words you know, the hours listened, and speaking/writing if you utilize their tutor marketplace or writing forum.

The free trial is very limited but it’s enough to poke around and get a feel for things before signing up, not necessarily to learn anything substantial. The monthly membership is $12.95 and there’s a $199 lifetime option as well. I definitely recommend spending some time playing around at the free level and then upping to monthly if you like it.

Key features:

The ability to import lessons. It will also create a simplified version of shorter content. This is an AI generated summary of whatever you’ve imported. I use this for videos where natural speaking cadence can make it hard to parse things sometimes. It’s easier/more productive if I know generally what’s going on.

The creation of LingQs. I just think it’s a really cool and useful way to approach comprehensible input. You can visually see the yellow fading as you understand more and more of a lesson.

You can export LingQs to Anki (theoretically). I’ve never done this myself and I’ve seen some forum posts saying it doesn’t work super well all the time but it is a built in feature.

In-depth stats tracking and the ability to consume all the content easily in app. The stats would be annoying if it wasn’t literally easier to watch a video via LingQ than on YouTube.

Community features. There are community challenges (like Duolingo) but also a forum to submit writing that will be corrected by native speakers and a marketplace of tutors to easily sign up for speaking lessons. The forum is free and volunteer based, but scrolling through I didn’t see anyone who didn’t have at least one reply. The tutors are paid at an hourly rate and you can also pay by the word to have them correct written work.

Super flexible. There really isn’t any one right way to use this app so you can structure it however you like and set your own goals/metrics.

Playlists and focus on listening. It really does help to constantly be immersed in what a language sounds like, and being able to read and listen to the same thing has been so nice.

Actually decently helpful emails and not just spam.

Best for:

Hardcore language learners. The app/site provides some guidance on how to get started and the basic idea, but you’ll need to play around with it and spend some time reading forum posts or the emails they send to find what works for you.

Getting to higher levels of fluency after maxing out other apps/self study methods.

People looking to spend a lot of time on language learning because they enjoy it. This isn’t snarky, but there’s a difference between wanting or needing to learn Spanish to communicate at work or on vacation and just really enjoying learning languages. This is an app for language nerds.

Potential downsides:

Very overwhelming. They technically say you can jump right in with 0 knowledge of a language and be good to go, but I think it would be hard to make a lot of progress unless you’ve learned other languages before. If you’re looking to learn a new language for the first time, I recommend starting with Mango to get your bearings.

Doesn’t teach new alphabets. This isn’t a huge issue for Mango since it’s speaking focused, but I wouldn’t jump into Arabic or Russian on LingQ without spending some time learning the alphabet with other methods.

User generated definitions. This is a double edged sword. The definitions being linked to sites like Globse can lead to wrong definitions, but because you’re seeing things in context it’s easier to catch. And looking into what a phrase means is a great way to learn if you are really into languages.

The import feature isn’t 100% perfect when it comes to videos. It will only create a transcript when the video has captions enabled or a transcript provided, otherwise it just shows up as an audio file. It will also sometimes randomly just not be able to import a video which can be annoying, but in the grand scheme of things these are very minor annoyances.

Time commitment. The method doesn’t require a ton of actively sitting down and reviewing vocab or reading new words, but it does assume that you’ll swap out listening to music or podcasts while going about your day with listening to content in your target language. This is all well and good unless you really enjoy listening to specific content while doing tasks or need help not getting distracted. It’s going to be a lot of incomprehensible noise for a while before you can parse it. This might not be a downside as much as something to keep in mind when considering how effective it’s going to be for you.

Not as active of a community. Maybe it’s just for my particular languages, but there definitely aren’t a ton of people actively doing things like challenges. This really doesn’t matter much to me but it could be a bummer if you’re looking for that.

tl;dr just tell me how to learn things

If you need to learn a new alphabet, start with that. Otherwise, Mango to get your bearings, Anki to add to your vocab as you get bored with Mango, and LingQ to realistically get “fluent”. Then start writing and speaking either using tutors or people you know or local language groups.

[destinygoldenstar]

☀️This Gabby Stan Supports Everything She Does☀️ - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 1 Episode 6 “The Most Tranquilous Game”

I'm aware of Season 3 airing. I put the poll on whether or not I should watch this while it was. By the time this comes out, this may or may not be before or after the finale of that season is released.

Quite obviously I'm not caught up so I'm not watching that right now. The only thing I know is that the finale is around the corner, and I heard a lot of people online saying they hate the Finalists for some reason.

I also saw awhile back a little meme image (that I won't show cause it's not mine) that "Jake is a garbage human being and he should die" or something.

(Became a Jake stan) ...huh, well ain't that a bit extreme.

That totally gives me hope that things will be civilized.

I didn't plan to get caught up by then, as I'd rather watch at my own pace and actually sink in what's happening so I understand it. I did the same thing with Total Drama. Because whatever show, you have to actually take any and all moments and dialogue into account, otherwise stuff gets misinterpreted.

I know half the time with these reactions I'm cracking jokes, but that's only my way of showing my investment. If I was bored and/or frustrated I wouldn't be doing that.

I hope that's understandable. I'd much rather enjoy this show and form my own opinions and takes from my own viewing experience. Obviously if I have major gripes with a plot element going forward, I'll say it, but for the most part I actually want to hear it out.

Indie Animation such as this get a lot of creative freedom to make whatever story and narrative they want. So instead of whining about corporate interference that isn't there, I'd rather say "I'll hear you out, and here's how I feel personally. Whether I think it was handled well or not with what you were trying to do."

So... I apologize if I show an opinion on something that isn't majority. Like if I like someone you hate or if I don't care for something you love. But also, I'm not gonna apologize for having them.

I'm an analyzer. My username is AnalyzGolden. I analyze stuff in the way I see it. It's in the name!

I'm like this with Digital Circus as well. I don't interact with much internet discourse surrounding it and I just want to do my own thing and see things through my lens and not others. Cause most indie animation fanbases have a reputation for being… shall we say, extreme.

So... I hope this is understandable.

I'm also thinking about doing a post on the tier list on the characters in this season once I'm done with this season. I think that'll be a fun way to properly explain my takes on all of them.

So with this out of the way, let's begin:

"It had some cool stuff that we can apply to the game!"

"It mentioned this 'Heather' person, who betrayed her alliances, abused her alliance members, and sabotaged a relationship!"

"Then there's 'Alejandro', who flirted with everybody and betrayed everybody, and also sabotaged relationships!"

"...I'm seeing a pattern."

"...but only if we ignore the section on teamwork."

XD

You guys are slaves to the demon child. I hope you're proud.

Btw I'm only hating on Fiore because she's the villain character and therefore she's supposed to be hated. I don't actually hate her as a character. She's quite interesting.

"Do you recall what I told you about my wife?"

Are we FINALLY getting info on this?

He's broke or something, right?

"That you don't get along?"

"We do get along. It's common for marriages to get testy, I'll have you know. I'm just hoping things will get better."

Aaaahhhh... okay.

I thought for a second it would be that, but I leaned more towards my theory of them being broke.

"If I win, I'll take my family somewhere to start a new life."

Add that to the list,

'Alec: Fix Family Bond'

Okay, who do we not have for a motive that's still here?

I don't think Miriam or Gabby mentioned theirs. Or Dan. Or... I think that's it.

"Wow, look at Romeo over here, I'm sure money will solve your marital problems."

That is sarcasm caught in 4k

Not the six year old roasting the life of a grown married man!

Ooh, Grett actually looks really good in pink. I'm just noticing her wearing that.

"Jake, how are you? Do you feel better?"

He might still be mourning. Idk what his mental state is after that.

AWWWWWWWWW💗

Now I'm actually giddy. What is wrong with me?! Why are they so great?

Going in, I was expecting Toxic Yaoi just cause of Tom's spy shit, but they're actually so sweet and wholesome and good for each other.

"I'm here if you need anything."

I can't imagine how it's like for Tom. I don't think he was imagining getting close with someone just cause of the spy profession.

"I like this boy, I want to be around him and help him out."

"Now don't worry about getting us breakfast today, I will get us the usual."

Idk how I like the sound of that tbh. XD

I just imagine Tom coming back and calling everyone to the meal. "BREAKFAST IS READY!!!"

...and it's just char XD

That also implies they work together to prepare meals for the group EVERY DAY. I love that.

No not Grett changing her facial expression from that!

"I smell gay! I didn't ask for that in my coffee this morning!"

"Jake and I really bonded in the last challenge, it sort of opened my eyes. It's gotten me to open up more to these kids."

Yeah, I actually like Miriam now. Before I was just kinda forgetting she was there, but I like her now.

"Do you like him?"

*Covers mouth to hold back the giddy noise from my mouth*

*Failing*

Oh my god she's actually going there! I did not expect that.

"Uh... maybe. He's just really good as a person towards me and I feel like we're really opening up to each other, you know? It's not that deep... maybe we'd go out for Chinese sometime. Maybe we'd catch a movie together."

"Tom, do you like him?"

"Uh, no?"

Huh?

You're lying. You gotta be lying.

"You always smile when you're talking to him."

"It's just... I like him, but not in that way."

Liar. Your scenes together say otherwise.

"I'm not ready to be in a relationship."

Oh...

Oh is that what it's about... yeah I would understand that.

"Recently... I was in a somewhat toxic relationship and things didn't end well."

OH.

Oh now that makes a lot of sense.

Was it SOMEWHAT toxic, or...?

I'm probably thinking too angsty about it.

"He cheated on me. And... I couldn't get over it."

OH MY GOD HONEY.

Well no shit you wouldn't get over that. That's awful!

Why did he do that?! Why would he want to hurt you like that?!

"Well you're young, unlike me, you still have a lot of time ahead of you."

Yeah... you can find someone better.

Oh shit, Grett...

OH WAIT CAUSE SHE KNOWS TOM IS A SPY, SHE SAW THE NOTES. OH MY GOD I KNOW WHAT SHE'S GONNA DO.

And because of Jake's past experience, he is NOT gonna take it well!

OH NO...

"Hey um... how's everything?"

"All good... I'm still here."

That sounds so sad.

"Yeah I'm still alive. A tornado hasn't slammed into us yet, you know?"

"Everyone tries to vote me out! Only Grett stayed by my side even though you said I shouldn't listen to her!"

EXACTLY.

This Gabby Stan supports everything she does.

"I'm sorry, I thought I could trust the guys, but I was wrong."

YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD TRUST THEM TO VOTE HER OUT AND YOU'RE SAYING THAT TO HER FACE?!

Dan. You're being a dick.

"I hope our team wins todays challenge because I'm not too confident about my position."

And I hope they don't so you get voted out!

...actually is that worth that risk? They could vote the others.

Dan, really, you're the only one on that team I wouldn't mind losing.

THIS IS SO UNEVEN, THEY'VE GOTTA MOVE SOMEONE

Like this is not fair!

"Today the challenge will be for individual immunities."

"Why?"

"Tonight, BOTH teams will go to elimination and vote a person off each of their teams."

WHAT?!

WE JUST HAD A DOUBLE ELIMINATION.

WHAT?!

"Double elimination AGAIN?!"

THANK YOU. THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING.

"Well guess what? Life isn't fair."

...he do be spitting facts though.

OH GEEZ AND FLIP

Yeah uh, that doesn't look like a tranquilizer gun! THAT LOOKS LIKE A MACHINE GUN

HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S ABOUT TO KILL EM

"It'll only put you asleep for a few minutes... hopefully."

Cut to everyone waking up from a ten year coma.

"If there's no way to avoid elimination tonight, I have to start preparing..."

*Gets a fashion ad*

I guess she's going to slay with her fashion sense 💅

"Gabby what were you doing talking to Dan this morning?"

"I was reading him for filth."

"You shouldn't talk to him!"

On the one hand, Dan is on your team. You kinda want to be on good terms.

On the other hand, it's Dan, so it's fine by me.

"But it's only a matter of time before her little cry-baby bonding session turns into an alliance."

"Oh boo hoo, my loves ones died! Who gives a shit?! UGH, people who mourn the dead are SO ANNOYING!!"

THIS MAN IS FIRING A SHOWER OF DARTS

He's also a bad aim apparently cause HOW DO NOT HIT ANYONE?!

He really is not subtle, is he?

"I don't want to be in a relationship or push it further, but I didn't say I can't crush!"

Tom's like "Why you pressing your hands like that?"

"I'm a wittle scawed of the bullets..."

"I think I saw Jensen."

"This way, come over here."

I thought you were trying to AVOID him. Why'd you want go towards him?

Oh shit here we go...

"Golden told be awhile back to tell you something very important!"

"Hey Grett. Maybe you should tell Jake something. Just a thought.

...

WAIT I SAID THAT AS A JOKE, HOLD ON-

"For some reason I have the urge to tell Jake something. Huh, wonder who this Golden Voice is.""

DAMMIT ME, I TOLD HER TO SLAY. I DIDN'T SPECIFY WHO TO SLAY.

SLAY PASS MISFIRE

"Tom was lying to you. It was Tom who voted for Drew."

Ooooooohhhh god...

I'm like preparing myself for the blowout.

"Because Drew found out his little secret."

"What secret?"

"The whole sun sensitivity story is fake. He lied to you because he's a spy."

*DREAD*

"What are you talking about? Is this a joke?"

*DREAD*

"He's here for work. You mean nothing to him other than a way to blend in more."

*DREAD*

"Come on Jake, Grett has clearly lost it."

IT HURTS BECAUSE SHE'S TELLING THE TRUTH

I'm CONFLICTED. Not my best girls HURTING my best boy!!

What do I do? Do I support her...? I don't know...

OH NO HE'S BACK.... UGH...

At least it's earlier in the season so they have a chance to bounce back... I don't... I don't know...

This is gonna be so ugly. Jake is gonna be HURT.

"I get hurt and traumatized by my ex! I lose my grandma! AND NOW THIS SHIT. I CAN'T CATCH A BREAK!"

"Tom! You're not gonna believe this!"

"Believe what?"

"Grett was saying the strangest things about you!"

"Wh-what did she say?"

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHH *mouth covered*

"She said you were the one who voted Drew because, get this, he found out you were a spy?!"

NO TOM YOU CAN'T ACT?!?!

I mean I don't think he should lie any further, but...

"I can explain!! It's not what you think!!!"

"Wait what? It's true?!"

"It's not that simple!"

Just hear him out! I can explain EVERYTHING! I know you're upset, but please hear me out!

"Oh my god... it really is! So you're just here for your job!"

"And our friendship, was that just to blend in too?! Did you ever care about me at all?! Was any of it real, HUH?!"

JAKE, HONEY, I'M SO SORRY.

I know you being upset is understandable! It still hurts!

I can imagine what's going through his head though. His loved ones have a habit of either dying or lying to him and hurting him, and now turns out his new crush is a spy?

"Jake, calm down-"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!"

OH GOD

"I don't owe you anything! It's my life! Step off, Jake!"

DON'T BE LIKE THAT, YOU'RE ALREADY OUTTED!

"Oh EXCUSE ME if I don't want to be part of your 'super cool' spy plan!"

"Can you stop telling the whole goddamn neighborhood?!"

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH GOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!

And they got shot...

Oh my god, I need a minute to CALM DOWN.

Was that... I mean I know that was a Tom liar reveal, but was that a Jake true personality reveal?!

Is he an asshole?!

Goddammit, he IS an asshole, isn't he? I WAS ROUTING FOR YOU.

I'm calming down, I'm calming down...

Tom and Jake are gonna drive me FUCKING. CRAZY.

I don't think that's how those pans work, I think the darts would stick to the pan, not bounce off of it.

GO FIORE!!!

She pulled a Rapunzel.

And this man shot a child.

Why are you wasting time digging a hole?!

There's a man with a machine gun!

"What revenge?"

"Against Dan."

Go ahead Gabby. I support whatever you do.

"Why don't we just focus on getting to the lake?"

EXACTLY.

"No! We eliminate the competition first, and search for the lake after."

So anyway, I feel like someone's getting immunity right now...

*thinks about it*

OH WAIT NO CAUSE THEY GOT THE TRIO SHOT.

Okay NOW I get it.

"How come you're helping me? You know only one of us can win, right?"

No I think he's gonna betray you.

Should've kept Lilly and Ashley around Ellie. This is your karma.

"You would do the same for me."

"Uh... yeah. Sure..."

*cuts to confessional*

"I definitely wouldn't."

XD

I can't blame her though.

"And then Jake said 'I need you to tell me what's going on' and Tom said 'I don't owe you anything' and then Jensen popped out and BAM!"

XD

NOT GABBY SLANDERING THE BOYS, I'M DEAD

She do be right though...

BYE HAVE A GOOD TIME!!

"You can play guilty while putting together a raft. I don't want to get wet."

"We're on National TV! I'll get my hair wet!" - SAME ENERGY

"Sometimes I just like to do what I want and not be bossed around."

STAND UP FOR YOURSELF.

As a Grett Stan, GET HER ASS GIRLIE

Like, I'm defending ZERO of Grett's actions. She's a bad person. But it's just because how she goes about being a bad person that interests me so much.

Oh so NOW they stick!

SLAAAAAYYYY GABBBYYYYYYYY!!!!!

OH NO ELLIE.

WHOOPS. SLAY PASS MISFIRE

(Twice in a row, Gabby...)

"It's my plan. I did all the hard work. I deserve it."

...I mean she DID do shit, but also...

"I know you weren't helpful today! We all know that without me, you couldn't have made it this far."

"All day I've been doing what you say, AND YOU NEVER EVER SAY THANK YOU!!!"

GET HER GIRL!!!

"YOU WERE SITTING ON YOUR FAT ASS THIS WHOLE TIME!!! I'M DONE WITH YOU GRETT!! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PROJECTING YOUR ISSUES WITH YOUR BROTHER AND PARENTS DOESN'T MEAN I SHOULD FEEL BAD FOR YOU!!! WE ALL HAVE PROBLEMS, BUT YOU CAN'T TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THIS!!"

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSS

QUEEN

QUEEN

QUEEN

QUEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNN!!!!!!

I mean, I love Grett too... BUT.

LET'S BE HONEST. GABBY DESERVES THIS.

🎉YEEEAAAHHH!!! GABBY FOR THE WIN!! LET'S GOOOO!!!!🎉

WE STAN GABBY IN THIS HOUSEHOLD

I SUPPORT HER

And Alec gets it too.

Cool. I guess.

I mean he's fine, I just like others more.

"Yeah... just one of the rafts broke my bamboo."

"And also hit me in the face. I was lucky not to drown."

"Do I need you to give me my totem?"

OH YEAH I FORGOT SHE HAD AN IDOL

Sorry, TOTEM, I keep saying idol.

Honestly, yeah, you gotta play it. Cause I guarantee you you're gone if you don't.

"No I'm fine. I think tonight's decision will be an easy one."

ELLIE YOU'RE GONE.

"Golden put me in the heading! That MUST mean I'm safe!"

NO. SWEETIE NO. IT'S A BAD LUCK CHARM. DON'T TRUST ME!

God I think I jinxed Ellie...

They're STILL pissed.

Miriam is gonna come to me like, "Golden, you're having Toxic Yaoi for dinner tonight."

"Grett, I'm sorry, I don't regret taking the immunity."

As you shouldn't.

"If you don't vote for Dan tonight, you're out next."

...okay.

Is Miriam gonna convince them to vote Grett out?!

"I don't know if I can trust Tom after betraying the guys alliance..."

FUCK YOUR GUYS ALLIANCE.

THAT'S ALL YOU TALK ABOUT.

And besides, it's screwed.

Tom and Jake divorced.

"I'M STILL ANGRY AT YOU! WHY DO I KEEP LIKING PEOPLE WHO HURT ME?!"

"There's no way you can win the next challenge with her here."

Especially since she's a kid who has limitations. It is the smarter move.

"I would've preferred the three of us to make it to the merge, but there's no other option."

Honestly I would've preferred that too and that's what I thought would happen. Guess not.

"I like Fiore, but Ellie is more useful in challenges..."

It's up to Alec.

Alright... let's see what we've got this time. This should be interesting.

XD

DEAR GOD JAKE.

"THIS IS MY DIVORCE PAPER!"

Dammit, why'd he have to be an asshole, huh?

Of course Miriam writes in cursive.

"You can fool these Gen Z'ers..."

XD

Miriam's climbing up my tier list.

YES, SLANDER GEN Z

Alright, Teal's up first.

'DAN'

I mean, I prefer it be Dan just cause I like Grett, but also...

I don't think I'm gonna be mad.

'GRETT'

I like how Trevor says her name.

'JAKE'

XD

NO SHOT THEY BOTH THREW JUST CAUSE THEY WERE SO PISSED WITH EACH OTHER

XD

"AND NOW YOU VOTE FOR ME?! WHAT'D YOU SAY TO ME?!"

'TOM'

'GRETT'

And then the last vote is Grett.

Damn.

A fav is gone.

RIP.

"Sorry. We won't tolerate you any longer."

YES GABBY

"You think I care?! Because I don't!"

I think she does care though.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH

I DID NOT EXPECT THAT.

HOLY GOD, THEY ARE A THING.

'ELLIE'

'FIORE'

Ellie's gone, isn't she?

I KNEW IT.

I SHOULDN'T HAVE PUT HER IN THE HEADING.

I thought she was gonna make it further, tbh.

"Good luck winning challenges with a six year old."

Wah wah waaaahhh...

AWWWWWWWWW NOT GRETT CRYING

I WAS READY FOR YOU TO GO, BUT NOW YOU'RE MAKING IT HARD

"I've already won a lot in my life..."

The shakiness of her voice. OUCH.

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH

THEY'RE NOT GOING, ARE THEY?!

*I got a safelife repair ad*

XD

"SAFELIFE REPAIR, SAVE YOUR BUTTS WITH THIS SECOND CHANCE!"

OH NO HE POSTED IT?!?!?!

OH THAT'S BAD...

Oh god, that's gonna be bad for Tom's mission, isn't it? Whatever it is he's doing.

I mean lets be honest though... that post isn't Jake's fault. How's he supposed to know that would happen?

NOT ME DEFENDING JAKE AFTER THAT-

Ugh... I had a gut feeling though, cause I saw people HATING Jake's character and calling him the worst.

HE'S AN ASSHOLE, NOOOOOOO...

Okay, BUT, I don't hate him. Surprisingly enough.

I'm actually intrigued by his character a lot more now.

I thought he was gonna be the precious bean. The sweetest character. But no, he's petty and impulsive.

I HAVE to give credit though, this is NOT something that came out of nowhere for me. He did snap at Nick in Episode 4 for stubbing his toe, and they established this episode more of Jake's past to add more context to his POV.

So he was in a toxic relationship before and got betrayed by it. That makes perfect sense to me. I understand why he'd be pissed. Tom lied to him.

But he DEFINATELY overreacted towards it. It's one thing to yell at the heat of the moment, it's another to vote for him just because you're pissed.

So, yeah, I'm not excusing his behavior, I'm just understanding WHY.

"OH NO! A character is revealed to have FLAWS. And said flaws made things worse for other people! Well clearly I hate them now!!"

I'm not doing that.

I'm just not that kinda person in how I view media. I don't hate characters just because they have flaws. When you're watching Total Drama, you gotta have that mindset too. Cause in that show, there's A LOT of characters that do screwed up things and it's wrong. So I'm used to it.

If anything, I guess Jake being revealed to have negative traits makes him a lot more interesting now. Cause yeah, I've been there. It sucks. Well, I wasn't in a toxic romantic relationship, but a toxic friendship when I was younger. It lasted for years so it left me pretty distasteful to the people around me and everyone hated me for... acting like Jake did here, honestly. How bout that?

Him and Tom are gonna BREAK ME, I can tell.

At least the lie is outed earlier in the season, so it's not as bad as it could've been...?

Like, it would've been a lot uglier later and it resulted in one of them getting voted off.

But at least they can work this out, right? Cool off, come clean, and repair the damage. Then go out for Chinese Food and hang out by the lake. Everything will be fine. They'll get their Chinese date. IT'LL ALL BE FINE.

...god, looks like I'm having Toxic Yaoi for dinner tonight.

I love Gabby's development SO MUCH HERE. SHE'S TAKING CHARGE. WE LOVE HER. WE SUPPORT EVERYTHING SHE DOES.

Really, of my favs, Gabby is the ONLY one who ACTUALLY did nothing wrong. It looks to be that way.

I didn't expect her to kiss Ellie though. That was cute.

I was expecting that to be just a friendship, but I definitely don't hate this.

Too bad Ellie's 'gone'.

Should've used that idol.

And I shouldn't have put her in the heading. I jinxed an elimination yet again.

I'm a Grett stan. I definitely want to analyze her in the character tier list I'm gonna do after this. That way I can properly explain WHY I like her so much. As a villain, obviously. I think she has a lot more depth to her than shallow "I'm a mean girl".

But I'm also not mad that she got voted off. It is deserved. And let's face it, Grett was never winning anyway.

Anyway, idk if this will get any attention because of the Season 3 finale, but hey, I can continue these if you guys seem interested and entertained by them.

[crk-confessions]

" Haha! If You Wish To Run, This Is Your Chance. "

blog ran by @maxphilippa, inspired by the @/oscconfessions and @/utdrmv-confession-box blogs.

hello! this is mod golden cheese (any/all) speaking. this is a blog that i made so that the cookie run fandom can talk about one common interest, cookies going through it. this blog, although cookie run kingdom centric, will also be allowing confessions of other cookie run related games (ex. ovenbreak, the witch's castle).

tagging system:

- all confession will be maintagged, only using "cookie run" and their respective game tag. example: a confession talks about gingerbrave from ovenbreak, so the tags would be #cookie run #cookie run ovenbreak

- confessions that talk about a ship will be tagged with the ship name.

- confessions that talk about a ship negatively will be tagged as "[shipname] neg."

- confessions that talk about a character negatively will be tagged as "[character] neg".

- confessions talking about problematic ships will be tagged as #cw proship, #tw proship, and others. confessions that outright condone these will be rejected, for my own sake and for the sake of others. you are more than allowed to complain about these, though. these likely won't get main-tagged.

- confessions talking about triggering topics will be tagged accordingly.

- confessions that are suggestive or nsfw-ish will be tagged as #suggestive.

- confessions that talk about ship discourse will be tagged as #ship discourse.

rules:

- the confessions posted on this blog do not reflect the opinion of the mod in any sort of way.

- try to be as civil as possible, please don't tell people to do harm to themselves and don't be overall an unpleasant person. you are more than allowed to disagree with people, but any indication of people trying to start drama just because will be eliminated.

- despite the fact that suggestive/nsfw-ish confessions are allowed, PLEASE keep in mind that this isn't an nsfw confessions blog. you are allowed to go on about how much you want a cookie or whatever, but don't be too descriptive about it! we're all queer about a character or are insane about a pairing, but we have to be decent.

[cryinginthefkncorner]

Look, i know I’m about to kick a wasps nest, but I need to say it.

I don’t really care for fandom shipping discourse, I don’t take Sides religiously as both have good points, and ultimately I’m just anti-censorship…

…but that doesn’t mean I think the pro side is all right and the anti side is all wrong

Both sides harass the shit out of each other, both sides extremists are bad and need to go touch grass

But y’all also need nuance in these discussions your having

Because let me tell you, as someone who was groomed by multiple predators (one would go on to abuse me Irl for 7 years of my life btw, starting when I was a tween) because of fandom, the pro side of the debate has made it quite clear that they don’t actually care to understand the ramifications of the type of abuse I went through, or to actually listen to survivors of CSA who’s abuse occurred through fandom.

The pro side will be quick to point fingers at adults of kids in fandom, but the adults in charge of me were told by therapists I was seeing at the time that I was “being a normal tween” for believing I wanted to be in a relationship with an adult at 13/14. That I was “over dramatic and should be responsible for what happened” at the hands of this adult when I disclosed the first time about the abuse. I also got in trouble for the evidence of the grooming that was found by my parents, instead of them realizing I was being targeted by a creep.

Part of this was because I was a lonely, bullied, and ostracized kid.

It’s almost like sexual predators bank on adults failing to act and blaming young girls for the abuse. It’s almost like they’re right when they tell young girls that no one will believe them when they disclose. The pro side proves this too by how they justify their romanticization by pointing fingers at parents “not parenting kids” as if they can never do anything wrong, or miss the signs.

My parents missed the signs because they assumed a teenager (who was 17-18 when he started abusing 13 year old me) could not be a pedophile. They were happy their daughter “had finally found someone to talk to” because my own peers hated me and bullied me every chance they got at that age. To the point where I was actively suicidal for years.

All of this grooming happened because I dared to interact with the MLP fandom at 13. And trust me that fandom was filled with pedos at the peak of its popularity. Like I said multiple full grown men groomed and RPG’d in a sexual way with me, even after I disclosed my age. Because I dared to like pastel colored pony’s and I wrote some (PG-13) fanfic, and drew some fanart.

And trust me, I saw the romanticization of my own abuse in that fandom, and seeing it being defended still is disconcerting.

Like, an actual survivor saying “hey, please don’t portray the abuse that ruined my fucking life as a good thing please” shouldn’t make y’all so fucking mad. But it does. And it’s fucking weird.

I’m not going to name call or anything, won’t even tell you what you can or can’t post but just know I’m one of those people where if you are posting that crap and I stumble upon it, or are vocally defending your right to romanticize it, that I’m silently judging you.

And I’m just going to block you if you try to defend it on this post.

I’d say that if you want to avoid drama maybe just get a fucking sensitivity reader if your discussing CSA, and aren’t trying to romanticize it. But apparently sensitivity readers are just “enforcing censorship” or whatever so I know I’m just talking to the equivalent of a brick wall.

Before you bring up not reading this stuff- I don’t, I’m just kinda sick of a real problem in fandom being dismissed and victims being blamed for their abuse

Before you bring up Lolita as a “gotcha” defense- I have reading comprehension abilities, evidenced by how I have a minor in creative writing (which btw involves a metric fuck-ton of reading and discerning meaning and intentions of the author from those readings) Lolita was not defending predators, it’s meaning was twisted by people who want to defend grooming and csa, and since I can tell the difference between condemnation and romanticization, I’m sure a lot of people who share my opinions also can as well. Not everyone with “anti” opinions is uneducated like you think they are, some of us are just expressing why we have limits and why we find certain portrayal distasteful. If you think I’m still wrong i reccomend going back and reading the prologue in Lolita that you obviously skipped.

Before you say I’m advocating for censorship- I’m not, I’m just saying you don’t get to shout at abuse victims who were affected through fandom to shut up. Write insensitive portrayals of traumatizing shit, and then get upset when someone tells you your portrayal is making the traumatizing shit look like it’s a-okay. If you post something on this vein be prepared for someone to say that what you wrote is portraying harmful stereotypes (ie that CSA isn’t harmful if an often repeated myth, it’s akin to saying rape victims were “asking for it” because they were drunk).

Also I’ve never harassed anyone about this in my life, in fact the people who defend romanticization of my abuse are usually just blocked on site, because I just don’t want to deal with the shit-stirring that occurs.

And finally for those who think this is me being against harm reduction- I’m not against harm reduction, maybe these thing are harm reduction for awhile, but eventually, just like alcohol or painkillers, these little fanfic stories aren’t going to be enough for would-be predators forever. They will build up a tolerance where imagination and text isn’t enough anymore, and that’s when they start to actually do the real illegal shit.

If you have reading comprehension you’ll realize I’m am not saying fiction=reality, but to spell it out more clearly, the fiction isn’t making them offend, the inability for the fiction to be enough to get them off is what leads them to offend. It’s like someone who can’t get oxy turning to heroin out of desperation.

When the harm reduction doesn’t work anymore, is it really reducing harm, especially when the stuff they now turn to is the illegal stuff they were supposedly trying to “avoid” in the first place.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on this shit, I’m tired of seeing it debated or people with the same trauma being told to shut up because the truth is inconvenient. I needed to just get it out.

Anyone who openly defends this crap in the notes or reblogs will be blocked.

[pathogenflock]

I feel like the way people act in the cc fandom, in terms of discourse, is very harmful. To others, yes, obviously, but also to themselves. This post isn't in response to any recent incidents (none have happened that i know of at least - I've been pretty disconnected from the fandom recently, mb). I wanna preface this by saying, first and foremost, that I acknowledge the absurdity of what is basically a heart-to-heart with a fandom for a facebook game LMFAO so lets get that out of the way, but it IS a game - and by extent, fandom - that I hold dear to my heart (no, seriously), so I kinda felt like a post like this would probably do some good, or at the very least wouldnt do harm.

In the time spent in this fandom, I have seen the way in which people treat each other in disagreements. It's hardly constructive, often vitriolic, and always rooted in taking whatever the opposing side has said in bad faith. I've seen massive, weeks-long arguments stem from tiny, petty disagreements, which would otherwise be resolved with simple communication or even letting the whole thing dissolve. (One thing to note is that I am almost never part of these arguments, more so a spectator, or sometimes even a mediator, so do take the way I speak about them with a pinch of salt.) I actually kind of get it, because I've been there. Sometimes you're in the thick of it and you're not really thinking rationally and your brain sort of kicks into high gear and you do and say things that are drastic and escalating because you're locked in this 'act now, think later' mode that just makes things worse. Or maybe it's a slowburn, never nipping something in the bud and just letting it rack up and snowball into a whole thing because you were, again, in the thick of it and convinced that doing something about it at the time it started would be the end of the world.

I digress.

If you find yourself caring about something to the point that it has a negative impact on your mental health — be it stress, anger, anxiety, sadness — I urge you from the bottom of my heart and with your best interest in mind to take a big step back to assess whether it is worth the emotions that it is causing. Ask yourself as many grounding questions as you can. Is it really that important? If I explained this to somebody out loud as neutrally as possible, would it sound silly? In five years, or three years, or even six months, will this matter? Compared to my other priorities, is this really that pressing? Ask this genuinely: try not to go into it with the purpose of belittling OR affirming your initial position.

Treat people nicely. Even the ones you disagree with. Not because you're expected to be perfectly and ontologically good to everybody, but to prevent the harm that you can cause yourself when bickering with people inevitably devolves into a pathological thing. Because it will! Anger is a very addictive emotion, and letting yourself be at the mercy of it is actively detrimental to you. Obviously, don't be a pushover and always respect yourself, but 'letting people walk all over you' and 'constantly being on the offense' are two extremes in interaction that you should never let yourself skew towards because BOTH these things will massively fuck you over.

If you frequently find yourself bickering with or making snide remarks toward somebody, if you are entrenching yourself into drama and discourse about this game, you may be causing harm to yourself. Little by little, this kind of stuff chips away at your mental state and it can leave you as a bitter, perpetually-on-the-offensive version of yourself. I know this because I have been there, and I wish I could take that time back. Please don't feel bad if any of what I've said resonates with your behavior, I am fully aware of how this kind of stuff creeps up on you and becomes tedious to unlearn by the time you're aware of it, so it's nothing I look down on, but it IS something that I want to stop from causing further harm to folks.

Beyond just this fandom, there is no specific target audience for this. Please don't think I'm targeting you. I worded this as broadly as possible for a reason. Likewise, please don't let your takeaway from this post be "Oh, I know someone who needs to hear this." There is no one thing that sparked the decision to make this post, I've simply looked back on past major things, that I have either seen or been told about, and noticed an overarching pattern of behavior. This fandom is and has been peaceful lately, so hopefully this is a good time to stop and soak this in. If you needed to hear this, I hope you take it to heart, and thank you so much for sticking by. If you didn't, then thank you for reading this whole thing anyway lol. Whichever audience you belong to, thank you for making this community what it is, because I could make a post that is twice as long as this one about its merits.

TL;DR: The way people treat each other around here is pretty unhealthy, not just to the other person but to themselves. It's a sadly ongoing problem that stems from a disinterest to engage in good faith with each other, a lack of proper communication, people's addiction to their own anger, and a tendency to perceive inconsequential things as worse than they are, thereby escalating them. This is ultimately harmful to your mental health, so I've written some ways to prevent it. This isn't targeted, don't think it's specifically about you or someone you hate, it's for anyone who needs to hear it and there is no shame at all in needing to hear it. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being part of this wonderful community (/gen).

thanks for making it this far have this extremely compressed jpeg of my wife

[dalennaugw]

Really appreciate my partner being willing to listen to me while I vented things out about the recent drama here and then provide his own perspective, as a Latino (he's expressed he doesn't like POC as a term - too monolithic) looking in from the outside. Among other things, it reassured me that 1) it indeed wasn't worth getting into the weeds of it from where I've been standing, and 2) I'm nonetheless not being crazy or unreasonable for feeling what I do about this mess and the effect it's having on what should be safe spaces for all of us.

I'm gonna put some of those thoughts under a cut. And I'm considering turning off reactions for this post because while I hope it gets seen, I don't want to restart the discourse if it's dying down like I think (hope?) it is here.

At the end of the day, no one should be alienated for thoughtless mistakes (let alone personal preferences). But, those mistakes still need to be corrected, not just forgotten in the process of defending the one making them against harrassment.

And, by the same token, no one else should be alienated, either, for expressing that someone's stupid mistake is still hurtful. Nor should they be if they point out a lopsided amount of support to the other party involved, despite BOTH having been made to feel unsafe. This applies ESPECIALLY when all the facts of the situation aren't clear or present to everyone.

One person being threatened, and then feeling alienated enough to try to leave, has led to multiple other people then getting harassed, put down, dismissed, and/or alienated enough to also start leaving WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE THREATS MADE AGAINST THE FIRST PERSON. And this is at least partially because all the relevant details surrounding the issue weren't put out at the same time, nor in the same places, and many people not even involved kept piping up in reaction only to what they DID see, rather than looking further into it, or even just waiting and listening first.

And to be just a little less abstract - guys - and by that, I mean to primarily address the other white people for this part - there's something to be said about white fragility here. Even without having spoken with the girl who accidentally kickstarted all of this, even though I can't confirm or deny it's actually the case, I'm still willing to bet money that that fragility had something to do with her initial reactions here being as strong as they were. I'm also willing to bet money that some of the people quickly jumping to her defense might have been feeling it, too.

When you take the anxiety already present from her prior harrassment, add in the pushback she got at the march for her mistake, and add whatever ??? negative messages she might have gotten privately during and after, if she did, that's already a bomb you've got there... and with white fragility on top of that, that magnifies the reaction by a lot.

The thing about that fragility is that it's often bad enough, and results in a strong-enough reaction, that it shuts down any and all conversation related to whatever triggered it. It's that cognitive dissonance that happens when you unwittingly do or say something racist, realize or (more commonly) get called out for it, and can't reconcile those facts with your beliefs that racism is not something good people do and that you can't be a racist, that's not what you're about - and it can lead to shutting down, tears, rage, denial, etc. And if you're engaging in any of those responses, 1) you're already stopping a needed conversation from happening, 2) you're making the other people involved feel unsafe and unimportant to you, and 3) you're encouraging others to come in to defend you and close ranks, allowing you to lick your emotional wounds while making those first two effects even worse.

It's not necessarily intentionally malicious? Given her behavior later, especially her apology... and her apparent disappearance right afterward... I don't think it was intentional on her part. It can certainly be weaponized, but it's also often a subconscious reaction (and that makes it even harder to address). But even though it wasn't intentional - it still caused a lot of damage! You can see that just from looking back through all the discourse and at how many other people are now disappearing or going on hiatus.

Again, not having talked to her personally, I can't confirm if that was also a factor. But it wouldn't surprise me at all. And none of us white folks are immune to it. None of us. If you had a strong reaction to the mention of racism in this discourse, and/or if you had one at the idea of your friend engaging in it... it was affecting you, too.

To step back from that part now.

Look.

Making sure that everyone involved in a community (or watching it) feels safe and welcome and heard is a balancing act, especially when anyone slips up. And guys, we borked that act up big-time.

[osiris-iii-bc]

What I feared would've happened to Tobias Is now happening around on Twitter. There are people actively insulting him for not speaking out on the current issues, calling him “a neutral piece of shit” or a grown man that can't express his opinions... I'm so fucking tired because these people can't realize that the band is fictional and lives in a netherworld.

What Mr.Forge thinks about the state of the world, Is another matter and sometimes that's expressed lyrically. BUT thats two different sides of the same coin😭

(pt.1)

I'll add part 2 and 3 with my reply under the cut:

Do we want the band Ghost to live in the real? Speaking out about the horrible atrocities in the world daily, on what, Instagram? Or is Ghost, by lore a mythical place that isn't ignorant but is a safe harbor and a fictional diversion?

I think fans are setting themselves up for a fall if they think TF is going to echo everything said on Twitter atm about *that issue* (especially because he doesn't have social medias and speaks about current topics during interviews if asked about It).

(pt.2)

The band needs to exist in a fictional bubble. 

Mr. Forge exists here with us but the band does not. 

Should not. 

A ghoul would not make a political endorsement because it's a creature from Hell, but a person who plays a ghoul, a human in a costume, is free to do such things (and they're already doing so on their platforms, May I add!)

A satanic pope has no time to learn to navigate social media, but a guy who dresses up as one of his OCs for a living certainly may.

I repeat, Tobias has no social media, but I'm sure when he'll get the opportunity he'll speak on his own terms.

(Final part, sorry but It was really a long ramble and this whole discourse on Twitter has been dragging me down)

*****

My reply:

Let's start with the fact that TF does not have any social media accounts, and as far as I know, the band’s profiles have never been used to make political statements before. Right?

There haven't been any interviews lately, so he hasn't really had any chance to personally expose his views on the matter if asked. However, the rest of the band did, and I think that is enough to indicate where Ghost stands on this situation. For some people, it isn’t enough, but I’m sure that nothing really would be enough for them. I am sure that when he has the chance, he will speak up, in one way or another. Remember this when you’ll eventually see Palestinian flags on stage in the next tour :) Or maybe they will take part in charity initiative like they did with the trans cause.

Honestly, I haven’t perceived the extent of this issue. I don’t know how many people are actively trying to cancel Ghost for this, but I haven’t seen anything similar on other social media, and I really don’t think it is a significant issue. People have tried to drag them down many times over the years, and I really don’t think haters have much in their hands to succeed this time.

I have only one advice: stay away from Twitter (or X or whatever). I have a profile there to occasionally post art, but I’m never really active. The quantity of drama and toxicity I’ve witnessed on that platform is alarming, and I never take it seriously. It is like a closed circle to me: whatever happens there hopefully stays there most of the time.

[not-goldy]

"SoLoS aRe sO ToXiC"

Nothing's wrong with solos, not everyone is attracted to seven of them and you can't force people to stan members they're not interested in.

You know what's really toxic? It's army like you who like to act like some tyrant trying to dictate who are the rEaL FaNs and who are not.

You are toxic. That's not even an opinion thats a fact.

Toxic people are hateful unbearable to be around and severely negative- like always

In case you lack that awareness that's how we experience yall.

You don't add much to spaces you veer into you constantly show up to disrespect other members stirring up drama when I think you could do so much more in such spaces. It's a shame.

I was tolerant of Jm solos on my main page cos the Solos that showed up there were almost always respectful contributed positively to discourse shed more light on certain issues and would prompt me to encourage others to stream and vote. They would share links and always seemed helpful.

Even sizzling fox or whatever I would engage with them share their submissions until dude started their hate train constantly trying to prove Jungkook is a soul eating demon like bitch he's a better person than you he's not running around people's blogs spreading hate and negativity.

Yall have your head screwed on backwards

Find a space of your own and leave our spaces for us

Respectfully

[aphblr-shipfessions]

Turning off anon because I have evidence to support my argument. I was the one of thought of MyStreet Nana X Vylad while thinking of an AU I've been cooking up and never plan to do anything with. But in canon, it could seriously work.

Your honor, if I may, I believe I have gathered enough evidence to convince the jury of my peers of my argument as to why these two particular sets of blocks should kiss.

Evidence 1: Nana is a baker. And the MyStreet Wiki for Vylad says this

As we see from how she acts with a different Ro'meave brother in canon, Nana would absolutely make as many cakes as Vylad wanted. And he would absolutely help her with it because are you about to tell me Vylad wouldn't be a fantastic cooking assistant? Cracking jokes and goofing off to make sure Nana doesn't take it too seriously and still has fun with her passions? And why would he prioritize that?

Evidence 2: Vylad is a nerd.

Nana is a far more creatively oriented person, opting to express herself in various forms of art or through creating fan works of things she likes in her life. While Vylad is a gifted kid who 100% experience burn out, a mid-life crisis at 20, and then opted to start traveling the world about it. But seeing how expressive and endlessly loving Nana is of things that Vylad over looks might help reignite their passion for things he's become distant from. Remember why he liked studying. Why he liked learning. They info dump to each other about their given interests.

Just imagine Vylad lying their head in Nana's lap while she's sat criss cross applesauce on the floor rambling to him about some drama in the online discourse between cake decorators or whatever, just appreciating the way her eyes light up and her ears move to express her different emotions. Maybe Nana is sleepy and just curls up in bed and asks Vylad to tell her some facts about whatever book he's reading. She sleepily responds to some of them, trying to engage him, before she just falls asleep and he gives her a little kiss on the head.

Evidence 3: This gem

I just think Nana baking a big cookie for Vylad with the words "I'm sorry" written across it in frosting after a fight would be very cute. It makes Vylad forgive her for whatever they were upset about.

Evidence 4: They're both BTS fans

Okay only Nana is confirmed as one, but I could see Vylad liking and maybe even learning BTS songs after discovering them from Nana. Maybe Vylad takes Nana on his trip to go to Korea to see then. Maybe he took her to Japan at some point. Maybe that's where they proposed to each other if they decide to take that route. Maybe. A

And for my final piece of evidence: They were roommates

I rest my case, your honor.

(Sorry for leaving a whole essay in your inbox,,,)

*gasp* they were roommates

[real-total-drama-takes]

Okay I think rather than replying individually to every single person it would be better if I complied everything into one take

if you guys can't handle me at my coderra takes, you don't deserve me at my reboot takes /j, but in all seriousness while no I don't "love the male stalker trope"/think coderra is the healthiest ship (or healthy in canon whatsoever aside from the last 3 or so episodes of WT)/whatever other bs people tried to impersonate me with back in december, I've always been a coderra shipper & will bring up my defenses of the pairing if prompted, idk why this is news to some people

first off, worm anon & watermelon anon, yes I would ship them if the genders were reversed. Genders aren't really a factor when it comes to my opinions of ships, like as a trans person I don't really like hearing "oh I'm ok with x if one gender does it but not another" because like I'm the same person I was prior to me transitioning, I don't want to be treated any differently because I present masculine instead of feminine now. I absolutley would ship coderra if everything was exactly the same but Sierra was male and Cody was female. The closest thing we have to a genderswapped coderra in canon is gwody and while I don't care about gen 1 enough anymore to activley ship any gen 1 pairings aside from coderra and maybe gwourtney, I do find gwody kinda cute actually and like it as a secondary ship/brotp

https://www.tumblr.com/real-total-drama-takes/757942733215301632/not-to-add-to-proshipcourse-bc-its-driving-me-nuts?source=share this anon is particularly based and kinda already said a good chunk of what I want to say, but TLDR, so long as a pairing isn't activley harming anyone you shouldn't really be shitting on people for liking what they like. Literally the most I've done for coderra is write a couple fanfics about them, comission coderra fanart and create a list of hcs and I really fail to see how that's somehow problematic. Again, if this was like an incest/pedo pairing or some shit like that I'd get it but coderra hurts no one

gonna be real with you guys I started shipping coderra back in 2016 when I was a literal middle schooler who just didn't really understand the negative connotations with it because I didn't know anything about stalking; Sierra was my favorite character because I thought she was funny and occasionally relatable and thus chose to ship her with her canon love interest because I wanted to see her happy. Yeah I lost interest in TD in mid 2018 and didn't get back into it until late 2021 but I've still been shipping coderra for a long ass time and it's kinda hard to let pairings go when you've spent years creating a version of them in your head that's special to you, even if you've grown to realize they have problematic elements to them with time. I'm sorry if my coderra defenses have offended anyone and I've met some really cool people through this app and blog (tbh I wish I could actually like start friendships with my moots I just don't have the balls to ask), the last thing I want to do is like activley hurt anyone and I can stop sending in coderra takes if it's really bugging people that much. Regardless tho, I'm not gonna stop shipping the pairing itself over pointless discourse lastly "catnon has been really quiet huh" I'm not trying to be rude but have you considered I'm 21 years old with a life outside of social media. Like I get some of you are young and have a surplus of free time currently with it being summer break and all but please like in general can we normalize giving people at least a day to reply to stuff? thanks

-🐈