#my relationship to most of these shows is kind of analogous to my relationship to reading novels for fun

[canonicallyanxious]

so i've been keeping a spreadsheet to track the bls/asian dramas i've watched this year [my current goal is 50 shows on the spreadsheet by end of year, we're up to 21 completely filled out rows so we are well on our way!] and like i can't make the full thing public bc i get, uh, rude about some shows skdjfnsdkfns but thought i would share some highlights illustrating how completely extra it is bc i think it's funny and, you know, if anyone ever feels not normal about the things they are into, i am here to tell u that u should go absolutely crazy and stupid. keep a color-coded, meticulously annotated spreadsheet for ur silly gay shows. do whatever sparks joy. life is short and love is long u know what i mean

[my friend was like you have two separate overall ratings?? and my answer was yes. obviously. don't you.]

[YES i recommend 3 will be free for any and all audiences. LITERALLY WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE EVEN WAITING FOR.]

[i did watch the eclipse for the plot why do you ask]

[you thought i would make a post about my silly little asian dramas and not shamelessly plug the gay chicken show? we must laugh]

[powdermelonkeg]

But Mystra WASNT right to ask Gale to kill himself. She still told a guy who cared about her "hey. if you love me, destroy yourself for me"

You're right, she did do that. And that's horrible, and shows exactly how little value she places on Gale's life.

And that's the point. She thinks she's in the right. She thinks hurting him is worth everything else she would take out in the process. She thinks she's giving him the best option.

It's very hard, from a mortal perspective, to picture how the gods see things. You can throw analogy after analogy before them to try to comprehend it, but in the end, the gods have power on such a scale that we, as readers and players, do not have an equivalent answer to compare them to.

What we bring to the table, through Tav, is that mortal perspective: we don't care about the greater good of preserving Faerûn's Weave. We don't care about the grand battle between Shar and Selûne that's lasted since the beginning of time. We don't care about the balance of life and death. We're so far beneath eternity-spanning events like that that the here and now are what we care about most.

And that's what the Origins need most. That's what Gale needs most.

Mystra's perspective, what goes on in her head, is a measured, calculated list of facts, weighed against each other:

Gale would do anything for her.

Gale possesses a weapon that needs to be destroyed.

Gale is going to die of that weapon without divine intervention.

The Dead Three are a threat.

The Dead Three have Karsus' crown.

The Dead Three could kill her again.

The scope of her power is such that a single mortal life is worth very little. Ketheric was onto something when he said "We are copper pieces in their belts. Tokens to be traded for scraps." Because that's what Mystra's doing, isn't it? She's cashing in on Gale's devotion to her.

Mystra sees a problem. She realizes she holds the solution. She thinks she's making it right by offering eternity. She fancies herself as being patient and kind by letting that solution choose to work for her.

That's the divine perspective.

The mortal perspective, the perspective that matters most, is best summed up by two lines of Gale and Mystra's conversation in the Stormshore Tabernacle:

Mystra: You discovered what lies at the Heart of the Absolute—the Crown of Karsus—and you disobeyed my instruction. Why?

Gale: Because you had no right to ask that of me!

She didn't. She doesn't.

The divine perspective is the one that lacks love. It lacks the ability to see value in a person, for being a person. It quantifies what worth something has by what it can do for you. And it is dangerous, because it cannot be told it is wrong.

Gale and Mystra were always an unbalanced relationship. When he was young, she was his teacher: she knew things he didn't, withheld them until he was ready to learn them, and directly controlled his interaction with her craft.

When she was his muse, she was the font of his creativity. He made things in her name, for little but attention in return. He gave, and gave, and was wholly devoted to her. Such is the nature of gods that it's foolish to expect them to give back to you at all.

And then she was his lover. And she was untouchable. She cannot be told "no" definitively; the only guarantee that she'll adhere to a "no" is her own personal moral code, or lingering admiration for the person who says it. She can't give herself to someone. She can spend time with them, but she can never give equally. She is a god. She exists to be served.

Gale's life, before the tadpole, was defined by Mystra. He was destined for greatness, spoke personally with Elminster, wielded the Blackstaff—and yet, he says he had no friends, and few colleagues. He's had mortal lovers, but they barely get a footnote in the story of his life. His social circle was "the size of a pinhead."

Mystra, by nature of being a god, intentionally or not, isolated Gale from his peers. You could argue any number of reasons why—my own personal bet being that he was so enamored with her that everyone else fell to the wayside—but he is alone. Even Lorroakan, down in Baldur's Gate, knew about him, and defines him only by nature of his relationship to Mystra.

The nature of gods is that anyone they speak with is now worlds away from anyone once called friends. How do you hold conversations with people when you're everyone at the table's god's favorite?

Mystra's very presence eroded away Gale over time. His friendships suffered. His joy in mortal sides of himself withered. His outlook on his own merits was restricted to what he could do with the magic at his command—did Mystra only see value in that, or did his peers and former lovers only care for what she gifted him? Both are likely. Especially with this line in his romance: "To know you love me for the man I am, and not the magic I command—none have loved me so purely."

And that isolation tore him open after his claim of the Netherese Orb, because he locked himself in his tower for a year. He didn't have those connections to reach out and ask for help, because being a god's lover burned that all away.

And then, after silence, after her fury leading to his terrified misery, after he thinks he's going to die any day, she comes in with a double-edged sword, putting the Orb to rest, at last, while telling him to fall to it anyway. The power imbalance is on full display, here: her expectations are so unrealistic that it will destroy him, in the name of forgiveness. If he loves her, he should give everything for her.

And he is going to do it.

There's such a tangled mess of emotions that explode from that.

She stabilized him. She could have done that whenever. She didn't, because it didn't serve her needs.

A year of silence, Gale thinking she'd taken everything from him and Mystra not caring enough to explain otherwise, and the first thing she says is die.

He's a pawn. Literally. She wants him to go to the other side of the board and trade his life for the winning move.

He doesn't want to die. But he's terrified that that's what's best for the world.

The divine perspective is that he gets what he deserves. The divine perspective is that she's being merciful, because she's giving him a home afterwards with her.

The mortal perspective is that she's cruel. That this is cruel. That Gale is only worth what he can give to her. That his death is more useful than his life. That ending that beautiful man with all his wants, and hopes, and dreams, at the drop of a pin, is nothing to her.

If you explode Gale at Moonrise, the Sword Coast falls to the Mindflayers. Mystra is a god, she can see that outcome. But she is a god of magic, and as such, it's not her problem. Her problem has been dealt with.

Let me go back to Withers' question:

Withers: And so, I ask again: what is the worth of a single mortal life?

Tav: Each life is of infinite value and merits sacrificing everything for.

Withers: And thus, balance is achieved.

Mystra cannot answer this question correctly. A single mortal life could never be worth the sacrifice in her eyes. She uses people as a means to an end, because the ends justify the means retroactively to her. Dornal Silverhand's suffering and Elué Silverhand's death begot her seven powerful Chosen. Two people for the wellbeing of many. She'll continue to use people like this, because that's what she is. That's what godhood entails.

Gale could likely answer this question properly, though not act on it perfectly. If his Netherese blight could save people, even if it's terrifying, he would blow himself up. He has to be talked down from it. He doesn't realize that he is one of those lives of infinite value.

What about God Gale? Can he answer it?

Of course not. He wouldn't sacrifice his godhood to come back home to mortality. He looks down on mortal life. He thinks he's above it. He, a newly minted god, is a perfect window into the basis of how gods perceive things.

Mystra asking Gale to kill himself betrays her lack of value in him as a person. Like God Gale, she looks down on mortality, just much, much more subtly. He's a means to an end. All mortals are.

Pawn to Cleric Four.

[kaelleid]

S02E08 Spoilers

Anyway I hated it lol

And this isn't just a "my little guy died" kind of thing. I've thought he was going to die all season; that was not a surprise to me. This is about how tacked on the ending felt.

Izzy spends his dying breaths comforting Ed and telling Ed the crew is his family and loves him. And then Ed immediately leaves the crew to be an innkeeper. Yeah, that was a great and meaningful use of screen time.

If the crew loved Ed and considered him family, I'd really like if they would have showed that instead of just telling us. Because what I saw this season was post-Kraken Ed having one conversation with Fang and that was pretty much it for positive crew interaction. But apparently they love him and they're family, okay.

Also RE: showing and not telling, Ed referring to Izzy as his family. I think I could count the positive interactions between Ed and Izzy across all seasons on Izzy's hoof. They've hardly spoken this season post-Kraken. Where is this coming from? It felt so forced and unearned.

It's frustrating how the scene seems to brush off all of Izzy's development this season, moving away from his toxic relationship with Ed and opening up after surviving a suicide attempt, to spend his last minutes focusing on Ed and saying that he wanted to die.

Anyway forget that, it's wedding time! And now forget that, let's have Ed and Stede run an inn with no prior onscreen discussion! The end!

I got into this fandom because I loved Ed/Stede so much. The potential for cracks in their relationship was there from the start; one of their first conversations together was Ed wanting out of piracy while Stede wanted in. I was really interested to see how this would be resolved, and how they'd move forward together. I don't think the resolution on this front was satisfyingly handled at all. But Ed read a letter and they kissed, so hooray I guess. Why would you ever need to talk anything through and build a solid foundation before living together? It's not like we saw this analog literally go up in flames a few episodes ago.

There was such an odd juxtaposition of spoon-feeding the audience with flashbacks to explain what was going on for obvious things, and then also expecting the audience to do all the legwork for important relationships. What's the relationship between Jim and Oluwande? What made Stede finally decide to leave piracy behind for Ed in S2E8 vs S2E7? Why, according to an interview, is Frenchie apparently captain now instead of Zheng Yi Sao or Oluwande? We're not going to write those conversations, figure it out yourself.

Also, Blackbeard the genius, and Zheng Yi Sao who conquered China's seas, apparently can't come up with a plan better than "Wear uniforms and then walk around with a hostage, whose gun we will not be taking." It just felt so meaningless.

The thing that really gets to me the most is how much I loved S2E1-7. I had some lingering issues, but they didn't bother me because I had faith they'd be resolved (at least, resolved to some extent, given a 3 season arc). And then the last 15 minutes of this episode destroyed that notion. I thought the writing was poor and inconsistent, and it threw everything before it into a completely different light. The things that I was waiting to be built upon were never actually in the blueprints. The cracks in the foundation were covered up with bubblegum. It didn't have good bones.

[sapphicc-ace]

💗About me!💗

MY DM NOTIFICATIONS DONT WORK USUALLY AND ITS ANNOYING IM NOT IGNORING YOU AAAA

They/she, sapphic

Pretty self explanatory. I'm still kinds figuring out my gender identity but for now I'm a femby, feminine leaning non binary person. If you don't respect that move along. I dont at all mind being referred to femininely but a they once in a while might be nice, still figuring things out yknow? And when it comes to the next two topics, as the name implies I'm very sapphic, meaning I'm not rlly into the masc side of things. But all gendered peoples are welcome here and I'd love to be friends with anyone!! Also I have a lot of social anxiety so forgive me for being stupid fhfhrjf

Aromantic...maybe demi?

I think im aromantic. I'm not actively looking for a serious relationship, but who knows maybe thatll change one day. Just keep it in mind when you dm me im not really looking for a relationship, pls dont get your hopes up. However, I love being flirty and making people happy and flustered with complimentsand teasing😋 I'm open to queerplatonic/poly stuff and would love to be an encourager to any fem feedees, or just make new friends! So feel free to reach out as long as you respect my boundaries (and ofc I'll respect yours, be sure to tell me them so I know!!)

If I think you're cool and am comfortable with you and you live in or near new york...👀

A graysexual feedist?

Yes, asexuality is a spectrum, and in truth I think i reside more on the lines of graysexual. For some, asexuality means not being sexual whatsoever. For others, like me, you can still experience stuff like arousel, without the need for sex itself. I personally am put off by sex organs of all kinds. Sex itself is physically pleasurable, but conceptually does nothing for me. Tldr, I only get off on feedism, my love for feedism is an aesthetic fixation consciously, while my body gets horny about it.

And as the name implies I loooove soft feedism! Casually encouraging someone to overeat, praising and teasing their softness, cute shit gets me so bad. I do enjoy some more hard stuff too, but usually only if my partner is into it. I naturally lean more soft core.

Feedism topics i love:

-Button pops

-Gluttony🥴😵‍💫 🥰(especially the "helpless" style of gluttony)

-Tight clothes

-Jiggles

-Burps (in particular lil borps from being too stuffed)

-General soft feeder-feedee stuff

-Bloating

-Before/after, seeing progress, that kinda thing

-General chubby love especially from non feedist sources, call me a dork but that pureness makes me heart sing🥺

Stuff I'm neutral on (can be cute in the right scenerio):

-Pet play

-Belly noises

-Slob

-"mommy" type stuff

Things I am NOT interested in however:

-Graphic stuff about genitals/holes. Knowing youre super aroused can add to it but just...no holes pls

-Blueberry stuff

-Vore

-death feedism/health issues

-Inflation

-Abusive situations

-Any bodily fluid or substance that comes out of you lol

(BTW anythibg on here that's halfway is like neutral, like I won't be sad over a lack of it but I like it!)

Neurodivergent

ADHD, undiagnosed autistic, probably an anxiety disorder, yeah I'm kind of a mess

Other interests:

-Videogames, generally big on Nintendo stuff and play plenty of steam games. Not really into super competitive stuff, realism or most shooters, but some big names are Kirby, Smash Ult, TF2, Pokémon, Celeste, Animal Crossing, and I'm a huge fan of many roguelikes like Binding of Isaac.

-Animals: pls send me cute photos of your cat🥺

-Magic the Gathering (filthy commander player who hasn't bothered learning the meta for other formats)

-Failed artist but I love seeing other works!

-Foodie (no honestly outside of kink I'm a huge slut for good food, but I'm as picky as a 5 year old so it's a struggle lol)

-Weird horror stuff, warning I WILL tell you my analog horror theories

-Animated shows like adventure time

-stupid movies, I will quote some bad movie I havnt seen in years because it suck with me for no reason

That's pretty much everything I think is important to know about me. I'll edit later if things change. Hope you have a good day full of delicious foods! (Or full of adorable fatties if you're an fa!)💗

I am both of these btw spiritually (credit: punkitt)

[drbased]

please teach us The Ways (re: ppl judging)

So the first thing to recognise is that you're at the centre of your own life experiences. You're the one who feels the feelings, thinks the thoughts, does the actions, experiences the experiences, etc. etc. So for every single belief you have, every single attitude and value you maintain as part of your selfhood, you 'should' (I put this in air quotes for reasons that will soon become apparent) have this fact at the center of how you process the world. As well as the fact that you are you, and only you, you are also the only person you have to live with and know intimately for the entirety of your life - so being kind to yourself and loving yourself is what I consider to be the most pure form of logic there is. Since you're at the core of your life experiences and always will be, that means there's a necessity in treating yourself with the care you'd expect to be required of such a situation. So when I say you 'should' do these things, I'm not saying that it's a requirement of you by some nebulous force (I don't know if you're religious anon but I have found that developing an atheistic worldview has really helped me with this), but rather that if you want to have the kind of self-confidence and inner peace required to really face life head-on, reframing your life experiences with you as the focus of your own attention, love and support is frankly the only way to achieve this robustly. Remember: this is not something you're waiting to happen, but rather an active choice you make to love yourself and to show love to yourself, just as you would other people. When you really internalise this fully, a lot of things start to slot in place naturally, as if you've unscrambled a jigsaw and now you can see the complete picture of yourself. True acceptance is hard to describe, but I think the best analogy is that of focusing your eyes - you don't know how you did it, but once you've put some fullness of effort in, it's automatically happened. Also you can slip out of acceptance at any time - this is a lifelong process, after all. And it's beautiful that it's a lifelong process! Love is a lifelong process! We don't go, aw no, I have to kiss my partner every day and tell them I love them - so the same attitude can be applied to your own selfhood.

What I like about this attitude is that there's a very solid, complete sense of logic to it - every breakdown I've ever had since, every terror I've had due to my depression, relationship with obligation, hyperchondria, drug-induced paranoia etc. etc. has ultimately hit this wall of 'oh right, I'm going to be me for the rest of my life and I'm always going to be the one experiencing my feelings, and I like having good feelings, and I can do that for myself so I'm going to do it. I don't need any justification from some external force to allow myself happiness, joy, peace and comfort - I deserve it simply because I am me and experiencing those things is good'. If you want a secondary argument to bolster it, I've found that waiting to be in the right place before I'm Allowed to do things is incredibly fragile and unsustainable and has made me kind of a worse person overall. Now with my full acceptance of my own selfhood I can be much more genuine in my decision-making and ultimately generate a sense of robust meaning from my own choices in life. It's still ultimately Not The Point, because the point should be always that I necessarily don't exist for any purpose other than myself, but sometimes I like having that secondary argument for comfort's sake, because whilst I want to do the right thing for everyone in every situation, that mentality is what caused me to have literal burnout. Now instead, my focus is on myself - my fundamental values haven't necessarily changed, I still care about everything I did before, but I refuse to martyr myself anymore.

The thing is, when you think about it, if there was One True Way to approach everything, if there was One Official Judgment of the world, then we should frankly all give up on individuality right now and just turn into the borg. But life isn't that way, so you can learn to recognise that as an individual (who, by the way, didn't ask to be born), it's your prerogative to exercise your individual personhood - and that's necessarily going to clash with the individual personhood of others. That's the whole point of being, like, a person. That's the reason you have a separate brain, a unique perspective. Your mind is your own playground, free from the chain of cause and effect, where you get to consider all sorts of wacky ideas. I used to think of my mind as form of prison, but I came to understand that the fact that we have a mind at all and aren't simply a slave to basic biological process is, to put it in a corny way, an extraordinary gift. (And why do I say it's a gift? Because I'm at the center of my own experiences and I value being kind to myself, so I make a choice to see it as a gift rather than a curse, because regardless of which is the more 'logical' choice the ultimate logic is to be kind to myself, because I'm at the center of my own world and I don't have to sacrifice any sort of comfort for some abstract sense of the greater good - and besides, doing so would achieve nothing, anyway! That's the process in action right there.)

So the first element is to shift your perspective to have you as the focus of your attention, the second is to recognise that it's your prerogative as an individual human to exercise your unique judgment, (that's what all those 'confident' people are doing, btw!) and the third part is to take these principles into learning who you really are what you really value. Once you learn true, judgment-less acceptance of you (maybe I do only ever want to eat cereal for my evening meal for the rest of my life! maybe I do only want to wear red t-shirts! maybe I do want to have a room in my house dedicated to pictures of frogs!) you get to learn who you are. This, just like the rest of it, is an ongoing process. And remember, this is about getting to know yourself! It's joyful, it's beautiful! You're finally taking yourself seriously - instead of pathologising yourself you're getting to recognise your fundamental right as an individual. Now, but those actions have consequences, right? But that's where getting to know your value system comes in. Once you've truly accepting things about yourself, you can use the power of imagination to picture yourself actually living that life - or, hell, maybe you can just start doing it. Maybe the life you've imagined for yourself turns out to have been much more about a narrative construction or categorisation of yourself - but that's fine, because now you've learned something else about yourself! And then you can change your mind! You can decide that you want to live in a different way! Ever since I developed this system, I am in a constant state of negotiating with myself: oh, if I do this thing, people will think of me as weird -> do I care if they think it's weird? -> oh, I do care a bit, why is that? -> oh, because I dislike the social consequences of that -> which do I care more about, me being 'authentic' 24/7 or me not weirding people out? -> oh, I care a bit more about not weirding people out -> then I guess I won't do the weird thing, then! -> oh, but I wouldn't like to go my whole life without doing it -> maybe I can do it sometimes, depending on the people I'm around -> Oh, I've just now made a full, complete decision on how to conduct myself based on my own personal value system!

Notice how none of this so far has been about other people? I've not had to say once anything about how to practice confidence, to fake it till you make it, or any other corny cliche. Because any attempt to do so would be deeply ironic - in order to not care about what other people think of you, you have to recognise your own prerogative as an individual to do whatever the hell you want. And only from there can you make decisions that are 'judgment-free' in the sense that the judgment doesn't feel like it comes from some terrifying nebulous force, but rather from your own internal value system. And some of those values will conflict, and that's fine! Because if the core premise is always self-love and self-centering, you will find a way to bring that into every decision. And that is what confidence is. Turns out it's not something that other people 'just have', and instead I can achieve it myself - something that younger me did not believe at all.

Another point I'd like to make here is that once you learn this kind of deep empathy for your own selfhood, it sort of naturally starts to dissipate outwards. Opinionated people can be irritating but you don't feel as threatened by them because you've stopped percieving them as some conduit for some nebulous greater truth, and rather as a whole separate human being who has a prerogative to their own weird-ass opinions, just like you. I've described this as your fear of yourself becoming somewhat higher because you learn that you're not just a series of disparate impulses but rather a complete entity with a point of view, but your fear of everything else decreases massively so there's much more of a level playing field between you and everything/everyone else. What's that quote that's like 'they're looking at me, but I'm looking right back at them'. And like, they might be looking at me, but fortunately I'm not privy to any feelings of disgust they might have looking at me, but I am privy to the feelings that I have when looking at them, so the latter is naturally my priority. It's a fucking blessing that I can't feel what everyone else feels! This is my life, my reality, my senses, my world, my opinions, my everything. And that doesn't make me a hardened psychopath, but rather the opposite - I'm free from fear of judgment so I can make much more genuine decisions.

And it builds over time, I can promise you - I sat at a comedy thing literally just this week and I was at the front row where the very aggressive comedian was bantering with me and I bantered right back! Seriously, if that had happened years ago I would have run away crying. But he's just some guy, and I'm just some guy, and now with my strong sense of self I'm not caught off guard when people talk to me. I know who I am, I know what I care about, and what I value. And the irony of life means that if there actually was some external judgment that I should care about, I'm doing a much better job to appease it now than I ever did.

[masonjarcollector]

I think one of my favorite and enlightening discussions about gender identity was when a table full of trans humans (and one questioning) explained their perception and relationship with gender to the single cishet ally sitting with us. (She asked us to, she's so incredibly nice and wanted to know more.) And it was really funny and silly! We had a pretend microphone that we'd hand off to the speaker and a game show introduction, then the rest of us would clap and cheer. Somehow during the conversation, we came up with a really good analogy: "So, if there are two chairs, one being for boy and one being for girl...I'm on the floor." And we kept rolling with that. "If we're talking about the chairs, I'm sitting on the table in the other room." "I used to just lie directly across both of the chairs, but I realized they're uncomfortable and hurt my back so now I've kind of slid off halfway." "I'm just draped over the chairs, with my legs on the floor and the majority of my body on the boy chair. Sometimes I'll readjust to a more comfortable position." "I'm like, sitting on the floor and leaning against the girl chair." "I'm on the girl chair, but am I?" "I'm sitting on the girl chair, and it's quite comfortable for me." Hands down, the most positive experience I've ever had. And now whenever I want to explain my perceptions, I just bring out the chairs!

[alharringtonfan]

honestly I haven’t been that involved with the whole Alex stuff but am I somewhat not surprised how Chezz and many others are acting this way since the whole “the holier than thou” and “oh don’t worry guys I’m unproblematic and safe uwu” stuff some analog makers have if that explains it and please correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t one of the people that “came out” like also tried accusing Martin of the same shit? Like what.

Honestly I don’t wanna accuse people of anything but I would not be surprised if one day something similar comes out about them.

it’s just feeding a monster that will soon come to bite them in the ass.

I'm pretty sure it's Mitcha who started the grooming thing (always has to be them huh). They also went against Alex but the thing that confuses me is that they warned him about Ven making a callout doc... so, are they a hater or not? I don't know about that whole thing really well because I'm a donut specialist© but searching around the alex tag you'll finds tons of information about them.

100% my friend. Alex tried the same thing back then with Urbanspook and it just reflected back to him like a boomerang. This thing with pretending that you're better than everyone else is complete bullshit, because good people don't have to prove to anyone that they're good in the first place. Same thing with humility. People who are humble don't go around screaming "LOOK! I'M HUMBLE!!! LOOK AT ALL MY GOOD ACTIONS!!" because they don't need to. They show it through their actions and people see them and recognize them as such.

Chezz and Martin are disgusting people that try to mask their filth with a facade of kindness and acceptance. They try to pander to as many people as possible to convince the world that they're genuinely "good"; and to do that, they go for the narrative that's most widespread and accepted by the general public. Because if they would dare to even think about going against the masses, people would pile up on them. And they will do ANYTHING to prevent it from happening. What Martin fears the most (aside from cats apparently) is people hating on him. The guy is so fucking insecure that some mean things said about his series prompted him to take a year-long break. Oh and on this topic I recommend that you check out Radal's reaction to The Walten Files. It's funny and it pisses off Martin so win-win. Their public image is everything they have, they don't care about being genuine. If people will pat their backs and praise them for their behavior and "courage", that's good enough in their books. Same thing with donut, the slanderer queen and master of the anti-alex death cult.

So, don't ever trust people who are too overly accepting of everything, everyone, all the time. Especially if it is compatible with modern culture and media. EVERYONE has the things that they hate, the things that they disagree with. Milquetoast creators like Alex Kaizo and Tyler Osborne, who will just nod along to whatever their audience says and not even conjure a single original thought of their own because they're too afraid to face backlash are fake. They're all plastic without a hint of morality in themselves.

Also, it will DEFINITELY bite them in their asses. Believe me. Kwite and Squizzy collaborated with Slazo's ex girlfriend to try and cancel him over false allegations of abuse. Both of them got canceled. Alex went along the mob and tried to cancel Urbanspook because that was the hip new thing to do at the time. He got canceled as well. It's just something that happens on the internet, and it'll never change because people are willing to remain or at least pretend to be dumb if it gives them likes and a bit of notoriety. Nobody is perfect, and if a meh relationship was enough to get Alex to face all this shit, who knows what will be the catalyst of the next drama. Martin and Chezz are horrible people that do not deserve the audiences that they have. I am without a doubt when I say that they HAVE done something infinitely worse than this. Chezzkids is a serial clout-chaser and grifter, who let the little "fame" he got after calling Urban names (just like the toddler he is) get to his head and inflate his ego to an immense degree. People who are too full of themselves and think they're the best of the best mess up due to a lack of forethought. They are so confident in their abilities that they won't even think about if what they're doing is the right decision to make. And that's why the twat won't ever back down. He's too egotistical to accept defeat just like Ven's cult members defenders. If Chezz is willing to stain the relationship he had with Alex over some crappy highschool level drama, you can already pinpoint his morals and character, and how he truly treats others within his vicinity.

Martin has a server with a security tighter than the CIA. He's afraid to bite the hand that feeds him but it will punch him back when time is most appropriate; despite the lengths he will go to try to keep his image squeaky clean. One can only imagine the shit he has in there and when it'll eventually surface.

Urban "boogeyman" Spook is a better person than 99% of these cardboard cutouts that dare to call themselves creators. They can only destroy. All they create is hate, the sole things they know how to spread are lies and manipulation. They're nothing more than greedy, hateful, cowardly sycophants.

Phew. I feel a lot better now. Thank you for the ask, anon! I hope you're doing fantastic today 🫶

[crystal-crax]

A RANT

A TRAUMATIZED FATHER

aka: a splinter defense

I've been rewatching a bunch of different tmnt versions and a thought popped in my mind. Is splinter an analogy for depressed/traumatized parents?

Most interpretations of him make me feel that way, at least. Specially the 2003, bayverse, 2012, rise and mutant mayhem splinters- mostly because those are the versions i grew up with and are more familiar with, lol.

The way his own point of view, experiences impacts the turtles and affects their personalities and goals so...i don't know how to express it, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when i see people treating him as some kind of villain¿

In almost every version of Splinter, there's a catalyst for his choice to raise the turtles as ninjas and a deep fear to allow them to explore the real world. Something happens to him that makes him either disconnect emotionally (bayverse/rise), place insane responsabilities and expectations on them (2012 i'm looking straight at you), or makes him be overly protective of his sons (mayhem, 2003).

I might be speaking out of turn, but most versions of the hamato/Splinterson family feel as if a part of their dynamic is that of a partially dysfunctional one, mostly due to splint's traumas.

2003 and Bayverse saw the one that took care of him be killed without mercy, vowing to take care of the young turtles that were affected by the actions of those who altered his world.

Rise and 2012 are direct victims, being stripped away from humanity without a choice, taken from everything they knew, betrayed, so they keep clinging to the only thing that still gives them a small blink of hope and happiness, four little turtles that have been mutated just as he was (one even directly sharing his dna with the turtles).

Even mutant mayhem! Sure he wasn't directly in some accident- But even he shows high levels of anxiety and fear towards the world, prohibiting his children to interact directly with it and teaching them that humans can't be trusted at all. He has been attacked and persecuted, but what makes him break is watching his own sons (the only family and precious possesion he holds, said by himself) get hurt and rejected by humans as he once was (mikey almost got ran over my a bus y'all). He deeply CONNECTS with his sons and clearly projects his own fears and issues on them, straining the way the boys perceive themselves and their own relationships within the family.

Experts agree that trauma affects the father's/mother's parenting style, which leads the children to adopt unhealthy coping mechanisms and attitudes. The effects of intergenerational trauma can impact many parts of your life, from how you see yourself to how you communicate with others.

“Trauma can inform nearly everything about the way we exist and engage with our worlds, including the ways we parent and model behaviors for children,”

Saba Harouni Lurie, LMFT and founder of Take Root Therapy in California

Am i saying splint is abusive? NO, but i'm definately explaining that almost every version of him replicates the pressure and weight he feels, which in turn makes the own brothers perpetuate said cycle of misunderstanding and emotional confusion/neglect

Sometimes, children learn unhealthy patterns indirectly through interacting with or observing family members. For example, if your parents experienced trauma they may tend to avoid distress and conflict altogether. They may relate to each other in passive or passive-aggressive ways. They may have trouble asserting their needs constructively or directly problem-solving.

Raph's anger issues, leo's anxiety, don's temper and loneliness (which sometimes seems to trasnlate on finding comfort with his computers/machines) and mikey's high emotions and empathy.

The boys love each other, they're family, but almost in every version they seem to battle their own feelings of inadequacy. They fight, hide their thoughts and emotions, have sudden bursts of anger or panic and fail to understand how to properly express themselves (heck, the rise turtles even go so far as directly stating they've barely ever been hugged)

Yes, every splinter has failed and could've done better, but they did what they believed was better for their sons. Their only wish was to keep them safe, hide them from harm and be able to live peacefully as a family; if training their sons to be ninjas was the best thing they could think of, honestly, who am i to judge?

My conclusion? Take the family for a road trip to the nearest therapist

[immoralimmortals]

Hidan x Reader x Kakuzu headcanons

A note: the end paragraph is NSFW. Let's start with Kakuzu's perspective first:

In my head, Kakuzu is moronsexual...by accident. He's been around so long and is so jaded that the new and novel that manage to impress upon him really impresses upon him. That, unfortunately, also means that those people are fucking ridiculous.

Hidan: blood ritual sacrifice stabbing myself death death death Reader: bogos binted? Hidan: jashin be damned my girl can work a scythe Kakuzu:

In my fic, Kakuzu names the insert/reader Takara, which means Treasure. He also nicknamed her "duckling" and lives to regret it every day. It makes him feel so stupid. To love, for Kakuzu, means he must suffer...both in big ways and in small. The small ways are worse because they're less justifiable, less like grand selfless sacrifice.

The thing that bothers Kakuzu the most is that he isn't tearing the civilian apart when he gets mad, not like he's so infamous for. Frankly, it means he can't predict himself anymore, so in an ironic twist his lack of rage is making him uncomfortable, less sure of his own stitched skin. He finds excuses to hide himself away when she's most vulnerable.

He shows his affection in what is perhaps the most admirable but overlooked form: economic service. He wants the ones he love to be successful and stable, works hard to help this come to pass. In my writing, I have Kakuzu make the reader analog pursue a career in music performance at a quiet bar, supervising each night and making sure she gets her tips.

This also, perhaps unfortunately, puts him in control of finances. He is a very, very frugal man. He will not give you diamonds or frivolous things; he will make sure you are safe and warm and fed, and everything else is for emergencies and investment. You're a grown adult so whatever you do with whatever money you get directly is yours...but he will judge you and make his advice well known.

On Hidan's end...

I've mentioned before that I see him as very likely to have his ears perk at the mention of anything you may like. It doesn't matter how fucking stupid it is. He'll call it stupid but he'll do it / give it. Chocolate? Ten different kinds of bars of chocolate. There's dark, ruby, milk...what the hell do you like? Ok, he's going to get you ten more milk chocolate bars in specific. Be grateful.

Hidan has a very tenuous relationship with humanity, hence the whole religion about killing people thing. The foundation of your relationship with him has to have room for forgiveness there, some way or another. Normally civilians don't impress, but if you happen to catch his eye in the midst of a fight for your life...you have his attention. Bonus points if your attacker dies. Big turn on, gives you a reason to both be around and kept alive to indoctrinate.

I think he absolutely aches for someone to listen to him, both in the sense of Jashinism but also in a personal way. He's attention hungry; if you can listen to him, he will not only respect you but listen to you in kind. His greatest comfort is your listening ear, to sit by his side and simply understand. You calm him down, slow him down, and give him the closest semblance of peace he's ever known. It's a vast difference, peace and ecstasy. He isn't entirely sure what he feels about it.

Speaking of, he most definitely will eventually experience conflict, considering the scripture of Jashin to how he feels with you. A fellow Jashinist (or prospective one, to him) gradually becomes a lover. Does that make you his neighbor? Should you be dead? He will weigh the realities and figure out what his lord means to give you to him.

He values your independence. He wants you to make decisions for yourself and use your brain and heart to get what you want. If you're a follower type of person, he's going to nudge (see: shove) you off the path and out of your comfort zone every time. Once you gain his respect, you have more than enough room to judge him back (see: how he shares affection with Kakuzu).

Together:

Their desire for you contrasts on the surface but goes hand in hand in intent. Religion or money...either form, they want you to thrive and survive and succeed. They'll fight and bicker all hours of day, but at night they will always agree on you. You who brings Kakuzu hope, you who brings Hidan rest. They will kill for you, but more importantly...they'll learn how to live for you, instead of merely exist day by day. You teach them to get along better, eventually irking so very, very easily into mutual sparks of romance. They just needed some kindling instead of fucking gasoline on the fire, a mediator so they aren't just the north and south poles of a magnet failing to get close.

The competition is healthy in bed. They both have the same goal in mind- to spoil you- and though they may argue and tease and grumble, they learn not to let it get in the way. They get each other off but more so are enthralled with getting you off at the same time. Hidan likes to lick down your skin, reveling your shiver, hand sliding slowly down your waist, and Kakuzu likes to grip you nice and tight, with limbs and threads and all, gently but oh so firmly getting you just the way he wants you. But make no mistake: you have no control. You are theirs, theirs, theirs, to do with as they wish.

[beebundt]

“Nine People you want to know better” tag game

omg i can't remember the last time ive played one of these tag games thank you @demekii for the tag!! i hope you enjoy boy and the heron, it was fun watch for sure 🫶 🫶 also ive been watching analog horror video essays lately as well so i totally feel your struggle LOLLL😭

Last Song: my song on loop for the week has been Killing Eve by Benét. i rlly like this artist

Favorite Color: give it up for my primary color gang ⁉ specifically these. i will use these colors at every opportunity it's so yummy to me. plus a green bc im learning my affection for green this past year

Last Movie/TV Show: i rewatched arcane.... i can't wait until season 2, i really love the art direction of that show. also rewatched howl's moving castle, most beautiful film of all time my beloved.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: sweet, savory, then spicy. im not a big fan of super spicy but a little is fine! and i always love having a little sweet drink or smth

Relationship status: do you think miss karlach/laezel baldur gate 3 will crush me like a soda can if i ask nicely enough

Last thing I googled: Orin The Red wiki page.......... ive been playing my durge playthru on bg3 lately and getting rlly fixated on the sibling relationship between durge & orin and just reading too many wikis than necessary .....

Current Obsession: my favorite thing is just watching 1-4 hour long essays on things ive never heard abt or dont haven't thought abt super in depth before. ever since i watched this one random video essay on Brave (the disney movie) that perfectly summed up what was bothering me in that movie that id never put into words like 3-4 years ago, ive been chasing that high ever since. did you know learning is so fun (*if the video essay is actually well researched and good). outside of that i love watching charborg twitch vods while im drawing or playing smth

Last Book: i have trouble focusing on reading books sometimes bc ive had bad experiences with them in the past....... 🧍‍♂️ i ache to be a book girlie. but i have to push myself to read more in order to find good books. however smth i WANT to read is the locked tomb series

Looking forwards to: playing a oneshot this coming february with my dnd group where ill be playing a mean pretty twink. guys i have to come up with an insult list of things he might say ahead of time, imagine that being ur homework. also i joined a lgbt club ? that i didn't know my college had so very intrigued with whatever may happen with that in the future. what does an lgbt club even do. crime ? gay ?

dw abt doing this if you don't want to 🫶 tagging kind moots/ppl i would love 2 get to know more. blinks cutely @myagletismissing @notskeleton @66dataa @rascheln @vasirah @kornyo @dreadfutures @shouty-y @rennybu @rnangopantsu

[leupagus]

Live Gus Reacts! After a nap

So this one isn't going to be long because my carpal tunnel is acting up, but I loved this episode. Yes, there were some after-school-special elements, but I think Chuck Hayward knocked it out of the park, especially considering this was his only screenplay for this show (of course, he's won Emmys for Wandavision and is about to run his own show so dude knows what he's about). It felt much more interwoven than last week's, and certainly flowed a lot better.

I'm hilarified that Edyta Budnik's Polish background was used for Jade's character, similar to how most of the Richmond players' actual backgrounds are used on the show (and why I had her reading a book in Polish in the WifeGuy fic I'm writing). I will say that Rupert, specifically, clocking that was an interesting moment because there is a very real (and ugly) history of prejudice against Polish immigrants in England; Rupert was not being charming there, by any means. The whole interaction with Rupert and Nate in this episode was really fascinating, because Rupert's clearly alarmed at the fact that Nate is getting outside support — he was so effective at cutting Nate completely off from everyone at Richmond, but here Nate is, building his own network here (Roger's invitation suggests to me that this isn't the first time Nate's been out with the West Ham staff/team after a game). And for Rupert, that's unacceptable — Nate's become as much a "possession" to him as Rebecca once was, so he's going to try his best to keep Nate isolated. Unfortunately for him, Nate is still The Great and is learning to balance his newfound pride with his enduring kindness. So however that shakes out will be fun to watch, I think. (All the fingers crossed that it ends with Rupert getting struck by lightning, because really how could you improve on mardia's masterpiece.)

One thing I hate about this storyline, though, is that Nick Mohammed is still having to field abuse from racist fans who think he hasn't "atoned" enough to be allowed happiness or character growth; I love seeing more of Nate, but not at the expense of Mohammed having to deal with this bullshit.

Re: the Colin storyline, I can't really say whether or not it was handled well or poorly, because my personal reaction to it has overwritten that kind of objective analysis. I've read a few reactions, which run the gamut, and I can see how those scenes may have left people disappointed/elated/angry/satisfied. For me, knowing that this episode was written by a Black man my age, from my mom's alma mater (and uhhhh glad to see they changed the mascot from when she went there) and that he and Dylan Marron were the two writers "in charge" of Colin's storyline does make me more inclined to see the choices — Ted's ridiculous Denver Broncos analogy, Isaac's lashing out and somewhat remedial "how does gay work" questions — as deliberate explorations of how straight men can and do react to finding out their friend is gay: not perfectly or even well, but borne out of love and respect and desire to protect. I was very grateful that the entire team immediately accepted Colin, because the last thing I wanted in that moment was "realism." Ditto with Colin's playing improving in the second half of the game, now that his two lives are (at least partially) connected; that's likely not what would happen IRL but I didn't care, even a little bit.

I'll admit I VERY much dig Rebecca as Tough Mom character this season; she's been doling out some extremely good advice to people, and it's delightful to me. Yes, she's a main character who's not getting enough to do, but like Ted I think the show still works when she's not in the spotlight, and when she gets to be the one offering support rather than needing it. And I adore her and Roy's weird-ass relationship, it's just incredible to get these glimpses into how they see each other.

Other than that: Sam giving Jamie the middle finger AND a beautiful smile was amazing, Jamie being pleased to be clocked as queer was interesting, the Higgins And Rebecca Buddies Fun Time is still great, and I want every one of Trent Crimm's t-shirts. And a clementine.

[shipcestuous]

There has been some ongoing discussion about Chris and Cathy’s relationship in the books. (All posts with commentary about their relationship are in this tag.) The relationship is controversial and we’re not all going to agree and that’s OK. I don’t want to participate in or facilitate a debate because that’s not what I want to focus on, but I recognize there aren’t really any other great places for that to happen, so I apologize that I can’t be a better host for that. I appreciate the interest and the participation. I’m going to answer the most recent asks I received on the topic, and if anything else comes in, it will be added to this post instead of posted as a new post. Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts.

Anon:  No hate to the anti-chris anon, i also appreciate the respectful way they disagreed, and i have no dog in the fight personally, but i thought it brings up a bit of a funny concept to me that an incestuous pairing needs to be declared as toxic when most people would consider the fact it is incestuous to be toxic enough, like, we kind of have to grade on a curve here, lol. In most cases, especially with canon incestuous couples, it is going to have some aspect of their relationship be "toxic", because the people that are making this content are afraid to show a loving, happy and healthy romantic relationship between relatives, that doesnt have a tragic backstory, like being abused and neglected, that as a result, encourages their forbidden love. Or at least it makes normies feel better about the fact that it could never happen in real life, except in these super specific dysfunctional situations. Its very rare for these characters not to have toxic traits, such as being controlling, jealous, violent, or straight up criminals if the pairing is canon and not just imagined, but we take what we can get in that department. And i personally enjoy some angst, its part of the appeal to me, but the darker parts (i.e m*rder and r*pe) i am able to dissect from a pairing i like and just pretend it doesnt exist in my head canon, especially in the cases where there is a tragic ending, because otherwise it'd hamper my enjoyment severely. Not to mention, these are fictional characters, i dont necessarily think we need to apply real life judgement on them, yes they are toxic by real world standards, but thats why they end up together, if they werent abused and neglected, they probably would have ended up with "normal" lives, and the ship wouldnt even exist, its just the nature of how incest shipping goes. 

You’re very right that most content creators are afraid to show loving, happy, and healthy romantic relationship between relatives. Even independent content creators are reluctant. Even if they’re not afraid of backlash, it’s like there’s this fear that it’s inferior because it’s unrealistic or something like that. Ironically, it’s the edgiest thing you could do. 

There are going to be two different kinds of fans - those who are willing to “grade on a curve” (I like that analogy a lot) and those who aren’t. I have nothing against those who have to approach it objectively, but as someone who has suffered through so many ships that have gone sour or ended in ways beyond saving, I’m definitely prone towards being forgiving to the few that aren’t as bad as the others or taking what I can get. 

I also think it’s OK to ship something as if some event or whatever had never happened. It’s basically just an AU fanfic in your head. 

@sassybisquit:  So, I have to say something in response to the anti-Chris anon. These books are not romances. They are, all the way through the fourth book, primarily about how victims become villains (while still remaining victims) and various consequences of that and trying to work off the bad you've done and not pass on the bad way you've been treated. And still failing. That's the plainest way I can say it, and I'm annoyed I have to. That's all I'm going to say, besides the fact that I don't think Chris was bad for Cathy or treated her badly (besides the very important plot-wise, but not romantic, rape). But everybody can have different opinions, which is great.

FITA gets marketed as a romance sometimes, but in my mind, it’s in the horror genre. 

I do think that VC Andrews - and as a result, Cathy - puts the blame for the sexual assault on what was done to Chris and not as much on Chris himself. And readers are going to approach that differently. Authorial intent is a whole debate unto itself. 

[amiharana]

Bored with nothing to do so I’m requesting streamer au again 😕🏃🏻‍♀️🤙

ask and ye shall receive ☝️😌✨ i mentioned in the tags that the last time i posted about streamer au that i wanna write the champions going to twitchcon and sharing an airbnb together sooo 👹

i'm actually not too sure how to incorporate the location of twitchcon into this au, because (1) i've never been to twitchcon actually KJDJFKKJS and (2) it depends on whether or not hyrule is divorced from the u.s. & the rest of human society e.g. a universe where hyrule is the country analogous to the u.s.... for purposes of this au, i've been kind of writing hyrule as a city that all the champions live in, so maybe it can be somewhere in the u.s.? what state does the city of hyrule give LOL

reading the wikipedia about twitchcon tells me that most of the cons have been held in san diego, CA so all the champions fly there together for the con, and could you just imagine them at an airport 😭 like you know those tiktoks of people either traveling with their family or their friend group and in each case there's always like the dad/dad-friend who's in charge of everything, from being there super early to holding all the passports, etc? because i can totally see daruk being that guy HAHAHKDJHFDKJ

outside of being a streamer, daruk is a dad irl and the oldest of the champs so he quite literally sees all of them as his kiddos 🥹 the flight will be at like 5pm but daruk insists on being there at the airport at 9am, he'd write labels on each of the champions' luggage with their contact information, he would put all their plane tickets into a manila folder and keeps a death grip on it until they reach the desk for boarding 😭 the dad instinct has been Activated ✅ and then when they get on the plane, daruk gets his little travel neck pillow on and conks the fuck out once the plane takes off 😄

before i continue, here's the plane seating configuration i was thinking of in my head:

most planes are usually three-seaters instead of two but for purposes of this ficlet idrgaf 🤞🤓 move along and get with the fantasy 🙏❤️

urbosa will just be chilling to herself (i have this image of her with earphones in and also knitting? no one knew that urbosa was a knitter including me), sidon is talking to zelda's manager impa, and mipha and zelda are talking and giggling to themselves bc they're gfs now <3 but link and revali? woof. these homos are totally going to be shyly holding hands on the plane the whole time, and then when they land, zelda will post a selfie of her looking extremely unamused on the plane next to mipha giggling, with link in the background looking at revali with wide eyes blushing while revali is holding up their intertwined hands to his lips.

in my head, this is gonna be set after the LOH show from the last streamer au ask, but before the date that revali had planned during the show. so throughout the entirety of the event, from the plane rides to and from twitchcon to the sitting together at their panel, revali and link have Hella Tension with each other. since the date that revali had planned during the LOH hasn't happened yet (they have a day in mind though hehe), they're both anticipating it and are also in this limbo stage of being exclusive but not really having an actual label on their relationship. all they know is they really enjoy each other's presence and perhaps they'd like to be around each other more often :>

but link is still insecure and still quite surprised that revali even returns his interest, that the date has been planned and is on an actual, real day and that revali wants to go out with him, and oh goddess revali wants to go out with him. it has him sitting tensely in his seat, nearly sweating because this has to be some sort of fever dream, right? revali, a streamer infamous for his rather arrogant, brutal words and attitude, who has had all the disparaging insults to say about link, and doesn't miss a single chance to rag on him. this couldn't have been the same revali who looked at him so fondly through the camera on the LOH stream, who has taken note of everything link says offhandedly, who sent him a heart in their discord dms (and revali never uses emojis). this has to be some elaborate prank on link and—

he feels a sharp tap on the side of his head, knocking him out of his downward spiral, and he looks up, rubbing his head and ready to bicker with zelda, but it isn't zelda who's hit him. revali stares down at him, one knee on the plane seat and his hands on the headrests in their row and in front of them.

"stop thinking so loud," revali says, before finally sitting in his seat properly. "it's painful to watch."

link scoffs and rolls his eyes. "any more painful than watching you fall in the xp farm while you were making it?"

"maybe don't hit me while i'm building next time and i won't fall in," revali snips back.

"you were wearing an elytra."

"and with what space, pray tell, could i have used to gain altitude? it's a vertical column, you absolute fool, the only way was down."

"and down you went, so i could take all your xp," link replies cheerfully.

revali rolls his eyes as he finishes settling into his seat. "and you'll still use all of that on the worst combination of enchantments possible." they both fall silent, the quiet din of voices around the plane their background noise.

"what were you thinking about?" revali then says quietly, suddenly. link glances at him and is surprised to find the other man staring at him with genuine concern. butterflies come to life in link's stomach, so he averts his eyes, down at his fidgeting hands in his lap. there was no eloquent way to phrase his worries about their date to revali, of all people.

"don't tell me you have flight anxiety now," revali murmurs. it sounds like it was meant to be a joke, but it misses its mark when link doesn't answer, fingers still fidgeting in his lap. "link?"

"i'm not worried about flying or the plane," link mutters. "i've traveled by air before plenty of times, it's not that."

"then what's got you all locked up like this?" revali replies, in the same quiet voice. link still doesn't say anything. "link..."

then, revali reaches for the blond's hand, smoothly intertwining their fingers and bringing it upwards, propping his elbow on the armrest between them. link's eyes widen, blinking, and he slowly moves his gaze from his lap to their intertwined fingers, and then to revali's face. he only stares back, a rather soft look in his eyes, and the butterflies in link's stomach burst to life again.

"you don't have to tell me if it's something personal," revali says, and his tone is so gentle, link thinks he's going to melt in his seat right there. is this the same revali who called him a fool less than a minute ago? "but don't bottle it all up or you'll end up exploding. it'll only make things worse and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

link stares at him with the same wide eyes for a moment longer, and then nods once slowly. "yeah, i guess you're right," he whispers, and after another second, he squeezes revali's hand softly. it seems to make revali's gaze soften even further, and he squeezes back.

"is there anything i can do to help?" revali murmurs. link blinks at him, and suddenly, it feels like the floodgates have opened and he can't stop himself from telling the truth.

"it's the date," link blurts aloud, his cheeks warming and turning pink. shit.

revali's head tilts to the side slightly. "the date?" he repeats. "the one we—?"

"yeah," link whispers. under revali's gaze, filled with such genuine concern, he feels shy again and he looks back down at the other hand in his lap. "it's just... i know we talked about it already, but it just doesn't feel real, like it's all some prank, you know?" he giggles nervously, his left leg beginning to bounce. "knowing you, i wouldn't put it past you to plan one as elaborate at this either, but even if it wasn't a prank, i can barely wrap my mind around that it's actually going to happen."

revali doesn't say anything for a couple moments, and it makes link more nervous, his leg bouncing a little faster, his heart pounding a little harder. please say something, he thinks to himself.

"you know," revali says finally, still in that ever so gentle tone, "we don't have to do the date." and link's heart drops to his stomach. "it was never something i was going to force on you, especially not on that pathetic joke of a show. don't feel like you have to go on a date with me to please your fans if it makes you uncomfortable—"

"no," link says, whipping his head to look at revali with wide, horrified eyes. "th-that's not what i was trying to say, i do want to go on the date with you." admitting it out loud makes link blush and he wants to melt into a puddle in revali's surprised green gaze, but he can't keep shying away. so link steels himself and maintains eye contact with revali, taking a breath before continuing. "i do want to. please trust me on that, i do. i'm just nervous about it because..." link swallows. "i like you, like a lot, and this date is like, confirming that you like me back and actually planning to go on it is insane, because i never thought you'd really return my feelings and what if you back out? because i'm not gonna stop you if you don't wanna go on the date anymore, but i want to go on it so bad 'cause—"

"hey," revali cuts him off, with a strangely soft voice. "breathe for me, darling."

link blinks and then lets go of a long breath he didn't know had accumulated in his lungs. revali nods reassuringly and squeezes his hand again. "one more time," he says in that same soft voice, so link does, breathing in deeply and releasing it slowly. he feels much calmer now.

but then, revali presses his lips to their intertwined fingers, to the back of link's hand. "i want to go on the date with you too," revali murmurs to the skin, and link nearly shivers. "and believe me, i won't be backing out unless you do, because i like you too." he tilts his head slightly to the side. "do you think i'd be so cruel to drag this out if i truly didn't want to go? if anything, i should be worrying about whether or not you want to go through with it since i was the one who planned and proposed it."

"well, sometimes you're too proud to admit you're uncomfortable when it's about being better than me," link mumbles. "i would have been doing us both a favor..."

"i'm not uncomfortable," revali says softly, reassuringly, "but it's good to know that i wouldn't have been the first to back out." he smirks a little, but the fond look in his eyes betrays him.

link's stomach erupts into yet another swarm of butterflies, but he tries to play it off and scoffs. "this isn't a competition, revali."

"perhaps i'll make it into one, if that's what'll get into your stupid little skull that i want to go out with you too." the blond blinks and suddenly, revali's lips are grazing the tip of link's oh-so-sensitive ear. "first to back out of the date loses," he murmurs, the vibrations of his voice tingling into the shell of it.

in an instant, a million thoughts race around inside of link's head, and at the same time, he can feel his face reddening and dripping off of his skull like lava. his mouth drops and his eyes bulge out of his head, but no words come out as revali gently takes the tip of his ear between his teeth, and link all but short circuits—

"boys, i hope you're behaving yourselves back there," comes urbosa's voice. revali immediately pulls away and sits stiffly in his seat, hands in his lap, looking down. link blinks, missing the warmth though his face still burned, eyes still wide staring at revali, whose cheeks were beginning to match link's. "we have a fairly lengthy flight ahead of us, and i would hate to have to deal with you two causing any sort of trouble."

"like what, joining the mile high club?" zelda snickers across the way, only for mipha to gasp in shock, the both of them erupting into giggles.

link rolls his eyes and he catches revali's jaw tense, but the other man doesn't move from his position. letting out a breath through his nose, link sits back in his seat and looks out the window, watching the ground crew scurrying around and preparing the plane for flight. he's glad to have gotten reassurance and confirmation of their relationship now, at the very least.

but then, he feels revali's fingers slip back into his hand, warm and firm against his palm. link looks back, but revali isn't looking at him, his cheeks perhaps a couple shades darker than when he last looked. the blond just smiles and squeezes his hand, looking back out the plane window as the pilot announces readying for departure in the speakers above. revali squeezes back, and their hands stay intertwined for the rest of the flight.

TEHE THEY'RE IDIOTS IN LOVE. the ground crew are the koroks btw they flew on Great Deku Airlines 🙏 zel n miph definitely take pics of revalink holding hands and also when they fall asleep, link's head on revali's shoulder and revali's head leaning on link's... when urbosa wakes them up during landing, link only groans and tries to curl up closer to revali's side, mumbling about having another five minutes and urbosa is recording the whole thing for the champions vlog later 😹 when they get off the plane, revali is grumpy and glaring down anyone who tries to talk to him, but he adjusts himself when link leans on him sleepily, clinging to his arm 🥺 even in the rental car, link's head falls on revali's shoulder again as he snoozes and revali just stares down the rest of the champions, daring them to say anything as his own cheeks color pink 😄

by the time they get to their airbnb, link has regained some consciousness, but he keeps his head on revali's shoulder blinking sleepily until revali gently taps at his thigh to tell him to get up. there are four rooms in the airbnb, so roomies get assigned as (daruk & sidon), (impa & urbosa), (mipha & zelda), and of course, (revali & link). everyone rolls their eyes when revali and link blush at getting assigned to each other, glancing shyly at each other before looking away 😄

after that, the group begins to explore the airbnb. "this is a very nice place," mipha says politely, running her hand along the wall decor. "however, i didn't expect so much winter-themed decor in midst of summer."

zelda shrugs, following after mipha. "this place is owned by a man named pondo, who appears to have an affinity for the season." they come across a pair of bowling shoes mounted on the wall, surprisingly shiny and clean. "among... other things."

revali rolls his eyes as he follows urbosa down the similarly wintry-themed hallway to the room him and link have been assigned (where did link even go?), rolling both of their luggages along. why is revali taking link's luggage with him, you may ask? it's not like anyone asked him to take link's stuff with him either 😹

urbosa stops before one of the doors nearer to the end of the hall, leaning against its threshold and cocking her head at it. "this one's yours," she says, somewhat amused. "behave yourselves. you might be sharing a room, but we're sharing a whole house."

revali's face flushes and burns like a forest fire. "we're not going to do anything like that," he mutters, unable to meet urbosa's gaze. "we're not even official yet."

"but you're officially holding hands in public," urbosa lilts, pushing herself off of the threshold. "so that's official enough."

he makes a face at her. "i bet you're not even going to tell mipha and zelda the same thing, will you?"

urbosa sighs. "i have to keep a closer eye on both of them, actually. those two are complete menaces now that they're official." she pats at revali's shoulder. "i'll leave you to unpack."

and so revali enters the room, beginning to unpack some of his things and leaving link's stuff by the foot of the bed. when he finishes up, he flops onto the bed, staring at the ceiling of their shared room.

their shared room... revali blinks and sits up as it truly settles in that he and link are going to share a room for the week they're here. oh gods. they're sharing a room for a week, and sharing this one bed in the room. well, revali could always offer to sleep on the couch or make link do it, but he thinks about the warmth of link's hand entwined with his, link's soft sleepy expression gazing back at him, link's unruly blond hair spilling like silk all over his skin and the pillow he's laying upon— revali shakes himself out of his reverie, desperately willing himself not to blush. he shouldn't think such things when they haven't even put a label on their relationship yet—

suddenly, the doorknob turns and clicks open, and in steps link, dripping wet and dressed in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. his modesty (is it modest if you're already wet and half-naked?) is protected with only a gentle one-handed grip to hold the towel together and with his free hand, link pushes his wet bangs up and over his head. oh goddesses. it's like everything is happening in slow motion. revali's lips part, his eyes widening, and he can't look away. he should, because that would be the logical, gentlemanly thing to do, but alas... the droplets of water sliding down the ridges of link's abs are rather... enthralling...

"um," link starts, "hi. i, um, forgot to bring clothes with me to the shower."

"the shower," revali repeats dumbly, and it takes his entire will to force his eyes upward to link's face instead of his very grabbable slim waist, or the v-line slipping under the towel. link's cheeks are tinged pink and his eyes are averted as he scratches at the back of his neck.

goddess, he's adorable, revali thinks immediately before catching himself. he can't say things like this when link is practically naked!

"yeah, i needed to refresh after the flight," link says, biting his lip.

"to refresh," revali repeats, blinking. it feels like his brain is melting and reforming and melting again into a searing hunk of unintelligible meat. he can't form a single coherent, logical thought right now, completely transfixed by the enticing droplets of water sliding down link's pretty throat. refresh... oh goddess, revali needs to get out of here right now. "right, okay, shit, sorry, i'll just—"

revali makes it out of their shared room and into the backyard of the house in record time. urbosa and impa are going over plans at the breakfast nook as he zooms by, beelining for the sliding glass door that leads to the back of the house, but not before urbosa can call out, "i told you to behave!"

revali could behave, alright. but it seemed like revali jr. was going to need a little more restraint.

KFDHUSKDJFHKSDJHFFKH WELL ANYWAYS. idiots to lovers is my favorite trope for these two, like they are the ultimate little freaks ever <3

after link gets his clothes on and revali jr. calms down, the champions have a shitty little dinner composed of various fast food places that were nearby 😹 idk the last time i stayed at an airbnb, i went to get mcdonalds with my cousin in the middle of the night and now it's like a core memory, so i'm passing it onto the champs. i do love me some fries and chicken nuggets though 🤍 impa is outside taking a call at the time, but i'm thinking ab daruk n urbosa with double double burgers and animal fries from in n out..... sidon n mipha with five (5) filet-o-fish sandwiches each 😭 zelda dipping fries into her sundae :] link absolutely would have gotten something from dennys, he's chaos incarnate returning to his homeland (dennys), and revali kind of gives me the vibes that he doesn't fw fast food at all LOL, so he just gets whatever link gets to make it easier on himself, but grumbles and blushes a little when urbosa smiles knowingly at him. hehe >:]

after dinner, they all slowly file off into their rooms to wash up and get ready for bed. there's two bathrooms with showers between the four bedrooms, so they divide the two between the guys and girls. revali takes his shower after sidon, and takes a much quicker one than he's happy with. he totally seems like the type of guy that has an intricate hair care ritual/routine and would hog the bathroom for more than an hour, but link still has to take his actual shower and y'all already know down baddd revali is for him 🤣

revali comes back to their shared bedroom, his hair wrapped up in a towel, dressed in pajama pants and a large plain shirt. link is flopped on the floor of the room as he scrolls through what revali assumes to be tiktok.

"shower's yours," revali says, walking around link and sitting on his side of the bed. he takes off the wrap and bends over to towel dry his hair. "why are you on the floor?"

"my clothes are dirty so i don't wanna get in the bed with them," link says, sitting up and staring at revali. "and i'm sharing with you. i would have thought you would complain if i was in bed with my dirty clothes."

revali fights the heat crawling up his neck and swallows. goddess, they're actually going to share the damn bed. "do whatever you want," he manages in a mumble, sitting back up and throwing his hair back, grabbing the brush he left on the nightstand. "that's... very considerate of you, though."

link hums, before jumping to his feet and taking his stuff with him to the bathroom. when the door shuts with a click, revali glances back at it before letting out a sigh. can he really make it through the night sharing the bed with this heavenly creature of a man that's become rather fond of in the last few weeks?

revali is finishing up with the last of his braid when link comes back from his shower, thankfully fully clothed this time, dressed similarly with pajama pants and a shirt. but instead of practically breaking down the door, link opens it slowly and peeks inside, meeting revali's eyes and neither of them looking away, for several moments.

"are you going to come in or will you stand there the rest of the night like a ghost?" revali says finally, breaking the stare and tying the end of the braid. the only light on in the room now is the lamp beside revali on the nightstand.

link finally opens the rest of the door and shuffles quietly inside, closing it behind him before sitting at the edge of the bed. when revali looks back up, link is looking down at his lap and fingers fidgeting again, like he was in the plane. it makes revali soften, recalling why link had been anxious then.

"getting cold feet?" he says, as softly as he can. link's head shoots up to look at him, eyes wide with terror like he was on the plane when revali suggested that they didn't have to go forward with the date.

"no," the blond answers immediately, but revali can see the way his lip trembles when he says it.

"i can sleep on the couch—" he begins to offer, but link quickly shakes his head and crawls onto the bed to properly sit on it.

"no, i want to—" he starts before cutting himself off. link's cheeks pinken. "i want to... i want to share the bed... with you..."

"you don't sound very confident," revali tries to joke, but his tone is still so unbearably gentle.

link shakes his head again, and this time when he looks at revali, his face is set in an adamant expression, his brows furrowed. "i do want to share the bed with you," he says. "i can. i swear. please trust me."

for some reason, it makes revali's heart skip a beat, but he just snorts and shakes his head before settling into the bed, turning the lamp on the nightstand off. "sure," he says, tugging the blanket underneath link up. "and if i wake up in the morning with you on the floor or on the couch, i'll definitely still believe you."

link wrinkles his nose at revali (cute, he thinks), and then follows after him under the blanket on his side of bed. revali sighs as he relaxes, lying on his back as he stares at the ceiling. link shuffles beside him onto his side, and revali can practically feel those wide blue eyes staring holes into the side of his face.

"want to take a picture?" revali mumbles, already feeling drowsy. the travel fatigue was starting to get to him. "it might last longer."

"sorry," link whispers. "you're just so... beautiful."

revali almost has the energy to blush. almost. "thanks," he says instead. he shuts his eyes, and listens to the sound of link's breathing beside him. they're both quiet for a while, until revali continues in a much quieter voice, "you are too." he swears he can hear link's breath catch as he lets sleep claim him.

and it's the best sleep he's ever had in his life. usually, revali wakes up at the crack of dawn, when the light is barely creeping over the horizon, no matter what time he slept. but when he wakes in the morning, the sun is already fully above the horizon and shining through the curtains. link is curled into his side, head on revali's shoulder and an arm thrown over his stomach, revali's own arms cradling link's body, keeping him close. the blond snores lightly, but sleeps like a rock atop revali. dimly, he realizes their legs are tangled together under the blanket, but he's warm and he's comfortable. revali closes his eyes; maybe staying in bed a little while longer like this wouldn't be so bad...

but that thought is cut short with urbosa knocking on the door to their room. "wake up, lovebirds, breakfast is ready!" she calls. "make sure you look decent before you get out here."

even closed, revali rolls his eyes and lets out a soft groan. link mumbles and shifts under his arms, trying to snuggle closer to revali, who dares not move an inch as the blond makes himself comfortable once more. only when link settles, still curled around him, does revali speak again, opening his eyes.

"i'm surprised you're not jumping out of bed for food," he says softly. "i'd have thought of you as a ravenous beast with an endless hunger, or perhaps a garbage disposal unit."

link hums at him. "comfy," he murmurs in response. "still sleepy too."

fortunately for revali, he's also still too drowsy for his heart rate to pick up and link hearing it. "a couple more minutes wouldn't hurt then," he replies, letting his eyes fall shut. "breakfast can wait."

they get a max of 7 minutes cuddling together under the blankets before zelda and mipha bust down the door together, saying they're taking too long and the food is going to get cold, and i don't care if you're being cute and gay and snuggly GET UP ALREADY!!! this time, link groans and throws the blanket over their heads, clinging to revali, but he sighs and decides it's time to actually wake up. after all, revali is well-acquainted with link's large diet and he needs to make sure the blond is always eating well, right? 😁😁 link will still be sleepily, grumpily clinging to revali's arm as they make their way to the dining room since he was so comfy in the bed, and only fully wakes up when the smell of food hits his nose 😹

a couple days later, the champs have their panel at twitchcon 👁️ i don't really care enough to write a whole scene about what the champs get asked, because it'll probably just be standard questions like, "what kind of group content do you guys have planned?" or "are you guys going to make a twitchcon vlog?" ("yes") or "zelda please marry me" ("security please get this person out of here") and i just am not feeling creative enough to write all that

HOWEVER. HOWEVER. revalink during the entire panel. ooughh. oughh man. they're sat together towards the center right of the panel table (from audience pov/stage center left), giggling and whispering to each other as questions are asked, chiming in here and there to crack jokes or answer as needed, stealing glances/side-eyes at each other whenever they can. they're so silly :3

at some point, The Question gets asked; "okay this one's for link and revali. have you guys gone on the date that revali planned from the love or host, or has this all been an elaborate ruse to make us all think you were dating?"

the question catches both link and revali off-guard, the both of them blinking dumbly at it. i mean, they were expecting to be asked a question about their relationship, seeing as it was a bit public and anyone could see it from their collab streams & videos, the way they bantered on twitter or in the comments of each other's instagram posts. they weren't subtle about it at all, but of course anything could be an act on the internet.

link's cheeks begin to pinken as he glances at revali, before turning back to the questioner to respond. "well, um, so—" and finally, the sound of link's voice makes revali's brain click back into place.

"have you any decorum?" he cuts the blond off smoothly. "it's not anyone's business how our relationship is going, actually. but if you desperately wish to know, then all you have to know is that it's plenty real and though we haven't gone on the date yet, it's planned and it's happening." revali looks at link, whose head is fully turned to look back at him, utterly flustered, eyes wide and cheeks fully flushed pink. his heart softens; cute.

suddenly, revali gets an idea. as subtle as he can, he reaches under the table and takes link's hand into his, sliding his fingers down the blond's palm before lacing their fingers together. if it's possible, link's eyes get even wider, his face even darker with blush, revali's heart practically melting even more from the look on his face. "link will not be seeing anyone for a while," revali says softly, but making sure the mic catches his voice as he keeps his eyes on link, "and he's very content with our current predicament.

a chorus of "awh"s and cheers rise from the crowd, while the rest of the champions groan or roll their eyes at the display. link gives revali a small smile and squeezes his hand. revali returns the smile with a fond look and squeezes back.

"i hope you guys know they're holding hands under the table right now," comes zelda's voice through the speakers, haughty and prim. the crowd screams and shouts and cheers even louder. "it's very rich of revali to complain about you not having any decorum and then continuing to have no decorum himself in public."

"oh shush, zelda, you're holding hands with mipha under the table too," urbosa replies. zelda shrieks in opposition, mipha bursts out laughing, the crowd gets louder, but link and revali are still staring at each other, still blushing, still holding hands stuck in their own world.

and of course, people were taking videos during the panel. the entire scene from question to zelda's shrieking is recorded and posted and made edits of and retweeted and qrt'd to death, until they're #1 on trending. it's a little embarrassing; this is the most attention revali and link's relationship has ever received, especially outside of their community. but neither of them regret it. next time, maybe they'll even post a picture of them actually holding hands. <3

[monocle-teacup]

Not sure if this was posted already but I found an interview that was done during SDCC with some of the Earthspark VAs. It's all text though, no video. Still, it had some interesting bits:

The interviewer made an analogy about the Island of Misfit toys in reference to how a huge theme of the show is acceptance.

Ant Ward: Acceptance is the theme and [Terrans] not only learning to accept each other but the world that they’ve been birthed into [but also] the world that they’ve been birthed into learning to accept them. That’s very much the Island of Misfit Toys. And they all have really unique personalities that don’t necessarily lend themselves to established Autobot and Decepticon personalities.

Apparently, Hasbro was very receptive to most of the creative team's ideas:

Dale Malinowski: Working with Hasbro has been fantastic. There’s a lot of teams that we interact with over there and all of them have excellent leadership. They were open to everything we were willing to pitch, and everything was a conversation which we really appreciated. We never got a hard “No.” It was always, “Tell us more.” The Megatron one was a really big swing that got their attention. We had some conversations about it and we explained why we wanted to start Megatron in this place for this series and where we would like to see him go. They were all in from the jump. We never met any resistance there which was lovely.

Ant Ward: The only time we ever get any kind of questions about things is when we have a tool or a device we’re using to push things forward that might be similar to something that exists within a much larger canon. And they ask to use this one instead of creating something new because it’s thematically very similar. Sometimes it’s a discussion and we agree. And sometimes we don’t and that’s okay because it’s a solid relationship.   

And my fav bit, when the interviewer actually calls Mandroid a tragic villain and asks Diedrich Bader (Mandroid's VA) how he interpreted him:

Bader: When somebody’s motivation is clear it’s incredibly easy to play. When it is not, and as you say it’s just a mustache-twirler and evil for its own sake, there’s literally nothing for you to do. You can throw out all the line readings in the world, but it doesn’t make any sense because he doesn’t have any drive. Mandroid really believes that he’s saving the world and that everyone else doesn’t believe him. That’s an incredible drive to have. [...] Mandroid almost unconsciously starts becoming something he’s trying to avoid.

[kygerbearr]

which TSR route is your favourite, and why

this is complicated. I like a lot of them for different reasons, if I had to rank them it's something along the lines of like.. 1. nik 2. murdoch 3. cliff 4. william this ranking USED to be different but I fell off of william's route when the shit with Kane went down. it was an amazing narrative and learning about williams regrets, his tumultuous relationship with his estranged son, and the constant callbacks to remembering what time it is there for them to show that obviously he still cares even if he's too gay to be a family man. the shit with kane just kind of disappointed me and I felt a little disgusted because A) i hate kane dunbar, and B) i don't really like seeing william degrading himself. I get that the sex scene was optional but it definitely soured my mood because it just felt different compared to what he is in my mind? obviously not a critique of the writing by any means, just a personal opinion.

nik is at the top because yao jerk sesh and also just the incredibly well-done horror elements that take place with the infamous mine. as someone who played echo first, i care a lot about what happens in that mine. plus all the side setup stuff and above all else Nik and Sam having the most sincere love ever. like they LOVE each other, they are in love with each other, and they are honestly perfect with each other.

cliff's route I think is really interesting and educational but I'm a little uncomfortable with the direction it was taking last time I played. it is not my place to pass judgement and say it is or isn't respectful, but I am really worried and not sure where it exactly stands because it's beginning to make nods towards things that may be disrespectful. i haven't played any patches in a while, so maybe it's better. but all of the native analogous stuff aside, I do like cliff and how he thinks.

murdoch's route I am kinda obsessed with, because there's layers upon layers of mystery going on here. plus a ton of family drama, and it has some of the most well-written emotionally gripping scenes I've ever read. like when he confides in Sam at the tailors, i've never felt more sympathetic for a whimpering man in my life. i wish i could step in and help him handle things. also Dahlia is over here leaving some kind of trail that I'm doing my best to keep track of, I had a document somewhere on my computer and trying to decode whatever messages she's leaving around but I haven't been able to make sense of it just yet.

overall? probably nik. it has an amazing balance of several aspects, and although i'm asexual even I kind of appreciated some of the sexual content within it because of how it's presented, which is then balanced extremely well with the horror themes and literally peak romantic relationship stuff

[beautifulpersonpeach]

is so cute how jm keeps promoting and supporting jk bpp! they love and support each other, jk even said how jm promotes 3d on live. it makes me scratch my head how pjms say they want jm to stop promoting other members. i saw their pages in the tags. all they do is talk about jk and other members dragging them. all the time. they don't even talk about jm a lot, only jk and scandals and hoping bad things happen to jk and they want jm to stop promoting him. don't they know jm? you know how ppl say like idols like fans bpp? i've never seen fans so not like their idol like pjms and jm. they act like everything jm says he hates. how can they be like this?

*

Ask 2:

bpp i'm the same anon for pjm and jm. one pjm even said if they were jm's friend they want to tell him to not promote jk. why are they like this? can you pls explain this to me? i'm trying to understand them.

***

Hi Anon,

Are you asking me to explain akgae psychology to you?

Because if you are, I want to preface this by saying you're wasting your time observing people like that. Akgaes are just awful people who happen to develop a superficial hyper-fixation on an idol. Their attachment to their idol is superficial because it's so narcissistic. Their behaviours are more a reflection of their natural states than anything to do with Jimin or even how they see him.

It's why a PJM can think Jimin, who has said on camera more than once that he cuts off real-life friends who talk badly about BTS, why that PJM can unironically think they, a random 'fan', would get a listening ear from Jimin to tell him he should stop posting Jungkook on his Instagram.

Like, it's not even that they're delusional. It's that they're just really shitty people.

It's why they worship and idolize Jimin so much, putting him on a pedestal for being oh so selfless. The reality is that while Jimin is generally a very considerate person, he's not Mother Theresa (as she was known in her lifetime not the reveal afterwards lol). Most of what PJMs place on a pedestal is just Jimin being a decent human being and acting in ways other members have done at some point in different circumstances. But for them, it's the pinnacle of altruism because they can't relate. They can't imagine themselves being that kind or that decent, they can't even begin to picture the sort of relationship Jimin says he has with BTS members because they've got no analogs in their real lives. Akgaes are like judgy old nuns who pick people apart over the smallest human slights, and they actually enjoy being hateful. Hating is 90% of the reason they're here. Their happiness for Jimin stems from him introducing them to a world of six other people in the group plus their millions of fans for them to hate. Jimin has practically supplied them with a lifetime of hate fuel.

For an akgae, there's no bigger jackpot.

Nobody has to like someone because someone else likes them. It's fine if they (or anyone) dislike Jungkook, other BTS members and/or anyone Jimin says he respects. But the difference with an akgae is that their dislike of BTS members is tied to their love of Jimin, shown by the amount of time and attention they devote towards hating, disparaging, and actively looking to harm those members, while in the same breath imagining they're Jimin's friends and buddy buddy enough to tell him to ditch the members. Ditto for the other member akgaes because they all think the same way.

It's frankly kind of hilarious but also a bit psychopathic because all their actions show is that they don't actually like Jimin. They don't like who he is and what he does. They tolerate him because associating with him helps them achieve other goals through him, plus because they don't actually know him, they're more than fine believing that their own version of him is true to life.

This is also how shooters within ARMY approach BTS as a whole, relative to the wider music industry. The common thread that connects people like this, is that they aren't here for the right reasons.

But, as with all things in fandom, c'est la vie.

Jikook will still keep jikooking because nothing - not rain, not shine, not hail, not tornadoes, typhoons, droughts, floods, or tsunamis, will ever stop Jimin from gushing about Jungkook. And vice versa.

Jikook are just built different. And everybody else will just have to deal.