#nerd rant

[chronicprocatonator]

I feel like the fan response to Conquest saying "im so lonely" being "OMG he's gonna rape mark!" jokes says A LOT about how we view men who want emotional and social connection and none of it is good. 😬😬😬

[thejadeofc]

While we're on the subject, I listened to Caleb's first phone call from the game and in comparison to the latest one, he sounds so much livelier and although his side comments still have a bite to it there's isn't a sense of that deep, almost suffocated longing that the later lines have when he implies something to mc.

[neokamui414]

The fact that in the early Young Avengers comics, Billy used Manifestation and self-help books to actualize his powers is really brilliant in a way that I don't think the writers intended or most fans / comic book readers ever realized.

See the thing about stuff like Manifestation/ Law of Attraction/ The Secret is that is these concepts were born out of scientific, philosophical, and occult intellectual developments in the 17th to 19th centuries. And a lot of it had to do with magnets, new discoveries and innovations with electricity, and a new level of intellectual focus on the will, emotions, and human psychology (the things that would eventually give rise to 20th century psychoanalysis). This is the time period where we got stuff like Mesmer and Mesmerism, the New Thought Movement, Spiritualism, and the idea of Animal Magnetism.

So you have his mother or pseudo magical reincarnation b******* mother Wanda who's aesthetics and conceptualization of magic has a lot to do with late 19th to early 21st century occultism with stuff like Wicca, Thelema, and yes Chaos Magic. And then you have his grandfather, Magneto the master of what? Magnetism?!?! (Whom incidentally also displayed in his older appearances telepathic / mind control abilities in addition to his manipulation of metal which obviously can be attributed to neuro electricity nowadays but back in the day the thing that was explicitly evoked to explain his ability to control people was, you guessed it, Animal Magnetism!)

So Wiccan's ability to execute his magic being this sort of combination/ halfway point of his mother's probability manipulation and his grandfather's ability to affect electromagnetism is actually super fucking brilliant and cool and is the kind of clarity and specificity a fictional magic system and acknowledgment of history of real world occultism that you very rarely find in comics overall, and again it was almost certainly unintentional on the writer's part which makes it both more brilliant and more frustrating!!!!

So in addition to the fact that this makes the retcon of Wanda not being Magneto's actual biological daughter even more infuriating and nonsensical, it's also one of the reasons why I'm really not vibing with the current MCU depiction of Billy even if I did like Agatha All Along.

[shinobicyrus]

Maybe I'm being too hard on it, but the Buffy episode Gingerbread simultaneously hits so hard and is immensely unsatisfying to watch in the Year Of Our Lord 2025.

The bones of a great story are there: moral panics, witch hunts, zealous parent organizations, cops breaking open kid's lockers and dragging the "witches" away, cops ransacking a library to remove "dangerous" or "inappropriate" books.

It's the kind of story I think really can't (and shouldn't) be told in a Monster of the Week format, because - spoiler warning - the show conjures a physical monster that is responsible for it all and killing it makes the problem just...solved in a very frustrating way. Everything discussed isn't given closure, everything that transpired (save the 'Amy is stuck as a Rat' gag) simply doesn't come up again.

Yes, I know that's a bit uncharitable to horror-comedy teen drama from 1999, but I'm gonna go off anyway.

From the start, the premise is interesting. I won't do a full recap, but the beats are simple: Buffy's mom Joyce - in an attempt to try and understand her daughter better - decides to invite herself along on one of Buffy's patrols in a mom-like fashion. Joyce sees a pair of dead children with a ritual mark on their hands. The ritual mark suggests witches and Joyce starts getting involved with the school and later city hall, where she makes a speech about taking Sunnydale back from "the monsters, the witches, and the Slayers."

The town starts going on the hunt for witches. First occult contraband, then Giles' books are forcibly removed from the library; witchy students are getting attacked at school.

Only it turns out it's not real. The kids never existed, it was all a trick by a demon who convinces Joyce and other parents to burn their daughters at the stake, but then the demon is revealed and killed. All's well that ends well!

Now I was on board at the start. Watching a boy in makeup get accosted by a gang of bullies for being a "witch," books being taken away by the authorities, troubling speeches by "concerned parents;" it's quite affecting in our, say, current situation.

But when we find out "Oh! It's actually Hansel and Gretel!" is where it all falls apart for me, culminating in a frankly lazy quick fix for, let's be real, is crypto-fascism.

The episode doesn't even have a final tie-up of loose ends where Buffy confronts her mom about her obviously still unresolved issues with her being the Slayer. Joyce specifically called out "slayers" in her speech about what's wrong with Sunnydale. She told her own daughter to her face that she doesn't really solve anything as the Slayer; that she's not doing anything to help in a way that matters.

And that's just left completely unaddressed! No follow-up, no closure. Oh it's fine, she said all those hurtful things while under the influence of Hansel and Gretel surely they're not an expression of her true inner feelings at all!

In order to fix this, to give the subject real justice, I think you'd have to A). tweak a few details and B). make it more than a single episode.

They really didn't need to make the kids some figment. Kids have died in Buffy before - and not just high school students. Children have been turned into vampires before and even killed as vampires. It wouldn't even need to be a witch symbol that kicked it all off, it could have just as easily been a demonic symbol used by like...cultists. Buffy has dealt with people working with demons before! She nearly got sacrificed to a snake demon by a college frat full of rich assholes.

In fact, I think it works even better if Joyce was responding to a semi-real problem: humans working for demons. Joyce (and the parents she recruits) would then take that to mean anyone who has contact with the supernatural is corrupted. Parents and cops seeing no difference between evil demonic symbols and like, the white magic Willow and her friends practice would be such an easy leap. It starts with looking for people who cavort with demons, then it's books about demons, then it's witches, then it's just anyone different.

Even if Buffy were to defeat that particular demon and its human toadies that specific episode, the tension would still be there. The problem of Sunnydale taking out years of enduring horrors they don't understand out on vulnerable people on the fringes could have been an overarching problem that would dovetail so nicely with the Mayor, who is the focus on most of that season anyway!

Imagine a longer arc of Joyce's activism getting her more into politics, more into the orbit of the Mayor. A Mayor who is friendly and charming and more than willing to start passing laws to "protect" Sunnydale. Suddenly, a curfew for anyone under 18 makes Buffy's patrols cut short by the cops, or the magic shop is shut down and the Scooby Gang's jobs get harder. They're not just fighting the Mayor now - they're fighting City Hall, they're dodging the cops, they're opposed to Buffy's mom.

Maybe I'm overreaching a bit. Maybe I'm projecting anxieties as I live in a world where moral panics are in full swings, libraries are being purged and defunded by the government, where vulnerable people are being demonized and targeted by parental activists, politicians, news organizations, and hateful vigilantes.

Maybe living through the past couple of years and then watching something I like from my childhood treat the same phenomenon so cavalierly has made me a little bitter.

But hey, there's always fanfiction.

[nerdranttheories]

Watching Two Heroes again reminded me of something I haven’t really seen talked about a lot, but

All Might Keeping Secrets and Self-Isolating Led to His Downfall

Obviously, right? Everyone and their mother’s said this, and it’s clearly meant by the story. But I think David Shield is the best example of this, and I haven’t really seen the Two Heroes movie mentioned when having this conversation. This is my explanation of this movie being the epitome of this idea, and the time where I believe All Might learns from his mistake — even if it’s too late for him to change the course of his narrative.

The movie clearly indicates early on, by All Might himself, that David Shield, his “best friend” and sidekick from his college days has not been informed of One for All, and All Might intends to keep it that way. Deku, ever the audience lens character for the world of My Hero, questions it, to which All Might answers it’s to keep his friend safe.

This is shown to not be the case. In fact, by not telling his friend about One for All, David, someone who is good and concerned about his friend, turns to villainy out of desperation to save him. If All Might had simply told him about how his power works, and that he’s passed the torch on to Deku, then David wouldn’t have had as much need to worry. And this is something that All Might had several opportunities to reveal, even over the course of the movie itself. Most especially when David’s checking Toshinori’s vitals and his quirk levels. (Which, I have no idea how you would even trace something like that, but I digress.)

Then, to add salt to the wound, All for One targets David regardless of his knowledge of One for All. Just his connection to All Might as a former sidekick was enough to put him in the line of fire. All Might’s secret-keeping didn’t protect him from anything, and instead turned an already bad situation worse. In the end, presumably David Shield is put away in prison, because when we see Iron Might in the manga, only Melissa is pictured, not her father, and if David had been available I refuse to believe that he wouldn’t have had a hand in the suit’s creation. All Might’s time limit in his muscle form is also shortened once again.

Ultimately I believe this specific situation is what led to him eventually urging Deku to not make the same mistake he did, in not telling anyone about One for All.

Also, the specificity of Wolfram being drawn this way after being defeated, gaunt and steaming, paralleling someone else we all know and love, felt very intentional. I don’t have more to say about it at the moment, I just thought it was interesting and that I’d point it out.

[oroontheheels]

Listen, guys, I talk shit about Donny Cates’s Venom since earliest chapters were released. I talk shot about Knull because I think his design is boring and he is LAME.

But all this aside, this 👇 is very, VERY bad

Listen. I have my reasons to hate Cates’s run. I hated how Eddie was saying “hurrr hurrr my life was nothing but DARKNESS I don’t know WHY the fuck I’m with that symbiote but now I have a SON and it’s my ONLY joy in my entire life”.

But even with all its flaws Knull? It was Eddie’s villain. He was created to push and conclude the story Cates was creating. And Eddie gaining King in Black title was as satisfying as it could have gotten. Considering all the insensitive retconned and homophobic bullshit.

Eddie became King and Black and it wasn’t about power or control. He wanted for the entire universe to see that Symbiotes can be a power for good. To restore their reputation, to give them new hope.

It was beautiful. It was meaningful. Eddie suffered a lot. His other suffered a lot. Dylan suffered a lot. And Symbiotes suffered a lot. By defeating Knull and gaining freedom they all started a path to overcome trauma and see a better future.

why THE FUCK would I care for “New King in Black”? Eddie’s journey took YEARS. 30 issues + side stories and crossovers. You can’t recreate it.

I guess they just gonna pick some male character and make him new KiB overnight.

I assume it will be a bad guy so new KiB can become a generic monster of the week who will enslave Symbiotes anew and use them for evil.

And it will never be explored. They just become black gooey drones the heroes can kill while yelling “MAN I HATE THOSE THINGS!!”.

Fuck this shit. I’m so MAD.

P.S. the only meaningful New King in Black could only be either Venom symbiote or Dylan. But I doubt we will be this lucky. :/

[firestorm-shiba]

Horseshoe crab = real life glorious evolution??

I have been thinking about this nonstop why are horseshoe crabs so perfect. They have been around essentially unchanged for ~450 MILLION YEARS. THATS 4 AND A HALF HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS. 4500 MILLENIA. 45000 CENTURIES. 450 000 DECADES

guys this is so stupid

I am being consumed by this

I cant tell if its the arcane brainrot or paleontology brainnrot that got to me first but its turning me into a freak

[askameisha]

Ameisha, are you, by chance, related to Peppermint Twist in any way? You have very similar coat and mane colors.

“No offense to the kid, of course-”

“You're no fun.”

First of all, thanks for asking this! Made me search through the depths of my gallery to find her reference, haha-

But anyways, time to yap about my universe a bit!!

Mei's entire family deals with something called Echo Syndrome. “But what's that?” You may ask- it's not a very difficult thing to understand! Think of it as a want / desire that is not actually desired by someone; Here, unwanted desires are like echoes, that reverberate until they form something new. Hence the name. ✨

So, Meet... “Hunger”! Mei's undesired echo. This is all hereditary, so maybe it helps to imagine where, or rather, who, the girls actually came from!

[luvcatzzzz]

AAAAAAAAHHHH!!

hold up…cheeky rant;

i HATE those naegi d riders that say like “urm…sayakas a snake” FIRST OF ALL she’s a teenage girl in a killing game, and she’s shown her best friends and dream career being destroyed..of course shes gonna try to escape and stop it happening right?! shes not a snake for playing the game 😒. i dont care if she tried to frame makoto or kill leon, her plan was genius until it went wrong. these people always call sayaka a snake but go and glaze kokichi/byakuya/nagito. like yess girl go contribute to the already existing misogyny problem in the fandom 😒 smh.

#1 sayaka glazer idc

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

My DC Cinematic Universe - Creature Commandos: Part I - Introduction

In every comic book fanatic...there are two wolves.

There's the first wolf, the purist wolf, who has read all the canon, loves the comic book lore as it stands (no matter how ridiculous it is), and can tell you the unnecessarily complex backstory of that one character that no fully same person knows the backstory of (the Hawks for DC nerds, and any member of the Summers-Grey family for Marvel, for example). But the second wolf, the fan wolf, actively shares those characters and stories they love with other people, and thinks about those characters with its own headcanons and opinions.

Now, unlike the metaphorical inner wolves of normal people, these wolves are fed by external media. And when a comic book fan looks at a character or story they live, especially when its adapted, their wolves feast. The purist wolf feeds on accurately adapted characters, faithful to the page and to what they love to see. Meanwhile, the fan wolf just wants to see the adaptation, regardless of the changes, and loves to talk about it with other people who see it. Now, ideally, every comic book nerd has wolves that they feed in equal measure with books and media, especially if that media adapts comics well.

So, how are my wolves doing?

...Jesus Christ, when did the fan wolf learn how to walk on two legs? And use weaponry? And develop thumbs? And learn Spanish? And speak with the voice of acclaimed character actor Wagnar Moura? Well, shit, he's feeding pretty well as of late. Makes sense, there are a lot of adaptations nowadays, and comic books and associated media are considered mainstream! That means the purist wolf must be

Ah. It's dead.

Well, goddamn it, what the hell? Comic book purists have never really fed well, but it's not like they've been completely starved. As somebody who considers myself pretty flexible in my tolerance of character and story changes between media (different media means different narrative need and format), I often like the changes in adaptations. Plus, there have been plenty of changes that are at least faithful to the original spirit of the characters.

In Marvel, for example, every version of Spider-Man that we've seen in film has at least been faithful to the spirit of the character. Sure, Tobey's version wasn't very funny and created natural webbing, Garfield's version was arguably too cool for school and never said the whole responsibility thing, and Holland's version is way too reliant on other superheroes in his films, but ALL of them are still solid version of the webhead, in my opinion. Plus, hell, Into and Across the Spider-Verse are both more than enough fuel for a comic book purist, even with Shameik Moore's stupid-ass Tweets as of late.

And that's not even counting the Playstation Spider-Man, who's goddamn fantastic (BOTH of them in BOTH games), some of the animated Spider-Men (looking at you, *Spectacular Spider-Man*, unsurprisingly), and even fan-made versions of the character that have made the circulations as of late. Hell, adaptations have been doing better than the FUCKING COMIC BOOKS as of late when it comes to Spider-Man. But, OK, enough about Marvel. Not why I'm here. Just...bear with me, I'll get to the point.

DC has had plenty of faithful adaptations over the years, if not actual straight adaptations that also work all right. Young Justice, of course, is the most recently lauded animated adaptation, while older shows like Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the various shows of the DC Animated Universe (AKA the DCAU or Timmverse), and even more recent fare such as Harley Quinn shows at least an appreciation and familiarity with source material. That last one, admittedly, is a stretch, but Harley Quinn has genuinely surprised me with its attention to faithfulness, and its willingness to be more creative and funny with its alternate versions of classic characters. It was better in earlier seasons, though, just to be clear. But even then...passable.

There's also the animated film adaptations, which haven't been as good as they were in the late 200s and early 2010s, but still have some solid entries. The Crisis on Infinite Earths adaptations weren't perfect, but had their...sparse moments. The Long Halloween was actually quite a good adaptation of the difficult-to-adapt source material, as was Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (even if the TV series did it a little better, although much less accurate). Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is a recent adaptation that's actually VERY good, especially to those who love WW rogues. And if you haven't seen some of the older films, like Justice League: Doom, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, Superman vs. the Elite, All-Star Superman, and Superman: Red Son...uh, yeah, please do, they're all excellent.

But, OK, with all of those adaptations, some as recent as last year, why is the purist feeling so deprived? Well...because the bad FAR outweighs the good, especially as of late. Just talking about DC (because Marvel is a bag of angry, screaming Flerkens), the movies have only given us THREE decent adaptations in the last 5 years: the underrated Blue Beetle, which is a quite accurate iteration of the character; Matt Reeves' The Batman, and the associated The Penguin (which was so afraid of comic books that they changed the main character's name to be "more grounded"), and The Suicide Squad, which is...a fitting film to bring up. Oh, and Birds of Prey doesn't count because it fucked over A LOT of characters, especially Cassandra Cain. Just sayin'.

In terms of TV series, well...Young Justice returned, but kinda fell off in the process for a lot of fans. The CW series, with the exception of the excellent Superman and Lois, are...something for another post. And there is Peacemaker, which is...again, fitting to bring up, but also incredibly complicated, and not beholden to accuracy for various reasons. And anything else...doesn't really rate discussion. Yeah, it hasn't been amazing for DC fans, while Marvel fans were eating pretty well in the last decade-and-a-half. So, imagine our delight and joy upon hearing that the DC cinematic universe would be remade by a bonafide comic book fan who was unafraid of the source material: James Gunn.

With Guardians of the Galaxy, Gunn had already proven he was able to swing and swing BIG when it came to comic book characters, having successfully adapted the titular Guardians, and Ego the Living Planet, of all characters. Yes, he severely fucked up Ronan the Accuser and Adam Warlock (like...REALLY badly), and also kinda Drax, but he also adapted Mantis successfully. FUCKING MANTIS. At the very least, he showed that he was willing to go for it. And then, after the firing-and-rehiring from Disney and being brought onto DC as a result, he made The Suicide Squad.

Understand what a miracle this film is, OK? Gunn makes GotG, it's a massive success, and Warner Bros. and DC notices that. So, they make their own GotG with blackjack and hookers in the form of David Ayers' Suicide Squad, which is TERRIBLE, and seen for the rip-off it was. Then, Gunn's old tweets pop up and he gets fired by Disney, and JUST before he gets rehired, WB swoops in and snags Gunn to revitalize the film series that ripped off HIS film series IN THE FIRST PLACE. AND IT FUCKING WORKS. Not only does Gunn make a GOOD Suicide Squad movie that people actually LIKE, but he also adapts King Shark, Starro the Conqueror, and fucking POLKA-DOT MAN!!! And he gets Jon Cena to play Peacemaker, WHICH LAUNCHES ITS OWN FRANCHISE BY ITSELF!!! And with that, Gunn gets brought on to run the DC cinematic universe as their own Kevin Fiege. FUCKING POLKA DOT MAN??? It's incredible!

...Right?

Like I said, Gunn's The Suicide Squad seems like a miracle. Excellent performance, a lot of cool characters to introduce from the DC Universe, and a crazy-ass showdown that does DC Comics some justice. But, uh...hold on a second. The wolf is still starving over here. Because this film cleverly seems like a miracle. In reality, while Gunn made a fun film to watch, he also severely fucked over comic book nerds in a myriad of different ways with this film, because he set a dangerous precedent, while also continuing an irritating trend that he'd previously helped to promote. That trend? In-name only characters, AKA references for the sake of references.

...Fan-service. Gunn is a master of good-looking fan service.

Look, creative license is great, honestly. It's also incredibly necessary. But Gunn has found a way to put in superficial references that draw in comic book nerds, or the comic-book knowledgeable, while also not really even caring about the source material. Sometimes, it doesn't matter. Polka-Dot Man, AKA Abner Krill, is essentially a joke character that Gunn took and made into an actual character. No comic book nerd gives a SHIT that Polka-Dot Man was a Batman villain from the '60s who committed dot-based crimes, using various special devices and gadgets that he turned into dots that he wore. He's essentially a blank-slate of a character, and Gunn took that and changed it completely, but also made the character memorable and interesting (as did actor David Dastmalchian, of course).

In fact, Gunn did the exact same thing with a whole slew of bit characters in the beginning of the movie. Lemme give you a shortlist of the comic book characters that appear in The Suicide Squad, outside of the main cast of character.

Javelin*,Savant*, Blackguard*, Mongal*, Captain Boomerang*, Weasel**, Thinker*, Kaleidoscope**, Double Down**, Calendar Man**, Ratcatcher*, Starro the Conqueror**, and technically Arm-Fall-Off...Man*. Holy shit, that's a lot of characters! What's that you ask? What do the asterisks mean? Ah, right, sorry, I should explain. Characters with two asterisks have little more than a single brief appearance, just for a quick joke or a "hey look, they're here" appearance. And the single asterisks? Those characters die.

And yeah, OK, it's a "Suicide Squad" movie, death is part of the equation. But look at some of those characters again. Mongal? She's an extraterrestrial conqueror, and the daughter of a major Superman and Green Lantern villain. Definitely could be used better than dying LIKE A PUNK. And why is that character even in Task Force X? Starro the Conqueror? I mean, maybe they pull something off and bring him back for a later film, but that's a WORLD-ENDING THREAT, and a fucking JUSTICE LEAGUE villain! And...wait a second, did Gunn kill CAPTAIN FUCKING BOOMERANG???

One of the most iconic members of EVERY comic book iteration of the Suicide Squad (and therefore a survivor), one of the most iconic members of Flash's Rogues, and one of the only semi-decent things about Ayers' Suicide Squad? You gave Weasel, fucking Weasel, a post-credit scene where he survives the beach massacre, and Boomer is just fucking SHAFTED??? For what can only be assumed is a shitty SHOCK-DEATH? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DECISION IS THAT???

Look...I actually like The Suicide Squad, I swear. It's a fun film, it is a Suicide Squad movie, and it does a good job with character development and the story of the team. Bloodsport and Peacemaker are great rivals and fun-as-hell characters, Margot Robbie gets a chance to actually shine as Harley Quinn, Ratcatcher and King Shark are great, and the fact that Flag and Polka-Dot Man die is actually genuinely affecting. Plus, shit, they made Starro the Conqueror FUCKING TERRIFYING, especially because he's a big dumpy STARFISH!!! I do like it! But...man, these are some controversial fucking choices, and I've never liked them.

And the big problem now? Gunn is running the DCU.

And again, I don't think that's inherently a bad thing, but...man, it has me worried. Hell, look at Peacemaker. While it was a great showcase for its eponymous character (and Jon Cena is stellar in the role), it introduces two characters that get kinda screwed, while also giving a kind of nothing-burger of a villain. I mean, I love Vigilante in the show, but Adrian was a fucking judge in the comics, not a complete sociopathic moron. Funny, yeah, but not the character. And Judomaster? Damn, did that character get completely shafted. Another in-name-only character, even though he's not a character I've ever been super-devoted to.

My problem is this: if Gunn approaches all of his projects, and the DCU at large, the same way he approached The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy, this isn't gonna work. And that's not just in terms of how the characters are written or treated, it's his practices of pumping characters into his films, only to dump them and ruining them for the future of the universe as a whole. I mean, hell, he even did it to Marvel. Ronan the Accuser, Ego, and the High Evolutionary are gone from the MCU, despite being characters of enormous potential. But hey, is this a rational fear, or am I worrying for no reason? Well...cue the trumpets.

Earlier today, I finished watching Gunn's Creature Commandos, having kept up with it throughout the season. And understand, when this film was announced, I was super excited about it! I love the Creature Commandos in concept, and they've had a few incarnations throughout the years. It's a fascinatingly fun idea, and I was looking forward to seeing how the characters were adapted. I had my questions and concerns, especially about the roster, but I was intrigued. And what we got was...well, second after I finished it, I wrote this post. And that has sponsored what you're currently reading. So, uh...I have some notes.

Yeah, this is one of those rare occasions where something has made me SO irrationally frustrated, so very and incredibly irritated, I had to write a goddamn essay series about it. And yeah, this is only the first one of these. Can't help it. I'm kinda pissed off. Because Gunn wasted this team, ruined a fair number of characters for the DCU going forward, eradicated a pile of possibilities, and STILL GOT A SEASON 2 APPROVED FOR THIS SHOW. God, I'm worried. And I gotta tell somebody about it.

So, to the...I dunno, 1 to 5 people who actually read this essay, including those whom I know personally (you know who you are, how ya doin'), thanks for reading and, if you're interested, stay tuned. A lot of unnecessary nerd-whining to come, believe you me. And more than a few headcanons, because I'm giving this the same treatment as my Superman essays. So, yeah, buckle in. It's gonna be a ride.

Part One: Introduction and Adaptation Part Two: The Original Creature Commandos Part Three: Amanda Waller and Rick Flag, Sr. Part Four: The Frankensteins Part Five: G.I. Robot Part Six: Weasel Part Seven: Doctor Phosphorus Part Eight: Mermaid Part Nine: Circe Part Ten: The Princess and the Monster (soon)

[thenightling]

Nerdy rant.

So many scifi shows and movies get sapience and sentience confused. Sapience is intelligence. Sentience is the capacity to feel emotion. That's why it bugs me when Data says "All though you are not sentient" in his poem about his cat in Star Trek: The Next generation. Cats have a nervous system and an amygdala (The part of the brain for feeling emotion). A pretty big one, in fact. They are sentient. But they aren't human-level sapient. And Data should know this.

End of nerd rant.

[chronicprocatonator]

The fact that a lot of girls unironically simp for the Eltingville Club main characters says so much. It says that the problem with all these characters is their personalities. It's says so much that these horribly misogynistic and unlikeable charaters are so well loved by the same people they would called slurs or harass.

[sombra7567]

Nerd rant:

My favorite fact about Andrew is that cilantro tastes like soap to him- it's actually caused by genetic variations in certain people. Their receptors are super sensitive which causes them to be able to detect chemicals that give off that flavor.

(Forgive me, Mom's a chef and I'm studying to become a geneticist lol... she told me this a few years ago and I went down a whole rabbithole to learn more. Hearing that about Andrew made me laugh a little.)

(For me, it's raw carrots that taste like soap, I have no idea if it's caused by the same thing.)

[neokamui414]

Once again I have woken up from a nap feeling ever so slightly irritable and see that Supernatural and Destiel, a show and pairing that I find so infuriatingly terrible, is trending......

Thusly I am once more ever so slightly tempted to pull a Martin Luther and nail my thesis about how this websites obsession with this aggressively heteronormative piece of media both misdirects from and paradoxically lays bare the fundamental disgust and distaste and discomfort the vast majority of fandoms on Tumblr and their constituent members have to AMAB sexuality, particularly towards bisexual men, to the proverbial door.

About how no matter how many pieces of fan art or analysis posts they make of Dean and Cas it will not distract me, a AMAB Bigender Bisexual who identified and understood themselves as a Cis Gay man for a very large portion of their life, from the fact that Dean as a character is an aggressively cis het dude bro conventionally attractive white man. One that women who have some level of internalized hetero pessimism and queer tweens living in working and lower middle class neighborhoods project a fantasmal ideal of bisexual sensuality onto as a psychological ruse in order to justify their attraction to a character who's archetype of heroism is inseparable from cis heteronormative American patriarchy.

About how Destiel is this vacuous construct of "safe" and unchallenging male sensuality and intimacy that has absolutely nothing in common with either genuine expressions of MLM eroticism in the real world or how it is expressed in fandom and media. One that acts as a mediocre pastiche of past homosexual/homoromantic pairings in organized fandoms and homoerotic interpretations of subtext such as Kirk and Spock.

About how one of the only genuine expressions of inter-male intimacy and subsequent subtextual homoeroticism that exists within Supernatural, accidental though it is and mostly sublimated into aggression and violence, is one that the vast majority of Destiel shippers are uncomfortable with because it's between two men that are within the bounds of this fictional universe, blood siblings. Sam and Dean are two dude bro heros played by two heterosexual actors, who were chosen specifically because they both have the photogenic qualities that heterosexual media assumes heterosexual women find appealing. These two actors come from our real world and cultural context, one that has very strict rules about what level of intimacy is acceptable between men lest they be perceived gay and therefore unmasculine. These actors in performing the role of siblings, one of the only "acceptable" relationship dynamics in which men are allowed to have some sort of vulnerability and physical (nonsexual) intimacy, paradoxically and unintentionally combine with the audience's knowledge that these two men (who they were supposed to find attractive hence why these two actors were cast in a CW show) are not in fact siblings, to create an interaction that positively oozes and drips with repressed erotic tension. And the early fandom for the show was absolutely not incorrect or crazy for detecting these unintentional elements and playing with them in their fan works. Of course the fact that this was a relationship dynamic that outside the constructs of fiction and fandom spaces would be justifiably taboo and morally abhorrent means that there was always going to be an element of the fandom that liked what Wincest gave them emotionally and erotically, but were unable to sufficiently separate the homo eroticism of the fiction (which again, was there and viewers were not crazy or deviant for pointing out or finding emotional resonance in it) from the reality that's such a relationship between siblings is bad obviously*.

About how when Cas was introduced to the show, played by another conventionally attractive ostensibly heterosexual man, it gave fans an opportunity to continue to indulge in their fandom, more specifically an erotic attraction to Dean (and by extension his actor) while carefully avoiding any sort of guilt or shame that might come from acknowledging an attraction to a figure that they knew on some level was an example of a archetypal figure of heterosexuality while being part of or identifying with a group that had a antagonistic relationship with heteronormativity. The fact that they also got to maintain a moral superiority against other "deviant" members in the fandom was an incidental bonus. A bonus they enjoyed all while not recognizing that the parts of their mind that correctly understand incest as deviant are also the parts of the brain that store cultural narratives and socializations that categorize male sexuality, particularly those aspects maligned by hetero pessimism and sexual / romantic expression between two men, as "deviant" and conveniently ignoring all the incredibly complex sociopolitical, cultural and historical reasons erotic and romantic art and fiction created by and for queer people ESPECIALLY trans women, and gay and bisexual men have frequently explored the taboo and depicted sexual and relationship dynamics that exists outside the confines of real world ethical or healthy sexual practices.

........Despite the length of this post this isn't actually the aforementioned thesis. In the end I'm merely indulging in my freedom to complain and will for the most part simply continue to avoid interacting with those fans who like this show or their content.

There's still plenty of art and fan content that I do find agreeable and genuinely queer on this website so now that I have this out of my system I am content to live and let live.

This website and its user base can continue to indulge in their delusion that somehow a throwaway line said by an actor who really really irresponsibly indulged in the fandoms addiction to a imaginary interpretation of a mediocre show written and performed and created by people who very clearly did not like it's queer audience but were very very willing to pimp them out and get a buck out of them, in the finale only for that character to immediately be killed off in an incredibly homophobic way that once again clearly demonstrated the fact that the writers and actors really hated these fans (and despite this fandom's efforts to lampshade this blatant exploitation of their emotional connection and devotion to this media through the use of ironic memification, those Destiel react memes that show up every time there's a new piece of news on the trending page are idols that I wish I could violently iconoclast), somehow proves that Destiel is canon and that there is anything meaningfully or revolutionarily Queer about this shitty CW monster hunter show.

I sincerely hope that all the fan artists and fic writers continue to participate in something that gives the meaning and joy and community.

I THINK, that Destiel is the fetishized and sanitized mask over the reality that is so exquisitely and succinctly expressed by those "getting railed in a sun dress by Dean Winchester as he feeds you pie" scented candles bought by straight women who have dissatisfactions with how men are socialized in patriarchy but who still date and marry conservative men........

But you all do you babes 🫡 😽

*the fact that the Destiel fandom would end up doing the opposite and indulge in massive amounts of behaviors rooted in a fundamental disregard for the separation of the fiction from reality such as writing real person fic (while simultaneously demonizing it like some sort of deeply repressed Christian) or getting extremely, inappropriately, parasocially attached to the actors of the show and doing things like giving them essays on why they think their characters are totally boning, has the sort of poetry that I can't quite articulate right now but is very much apparent and worthy of ridicule.

[doseofnerdshit]

DEH- The Name Connor, who he was

The name ‘Connor’ means different things to each person in the story.

To Cynthia- it means her loving son who she watched grow up and slowly turn dark.

To Larry- it means the son he thought he gave everything to, and who still gave it all up.

To Zoe- it means the brother she has who she wished had loved her, but was really a ‘monster.’

To Heidi- as well as society, he’s just the kid who took his own life and deserves to be remembered.

And to Evan- the name Connor means the guy who he never got the chance to know. The friendship he could have had, but never did. Connor was the start of a whole new fake life for him, and they never even really knew each other.

Connor is Zoe, his crushes brother. Connor is the guy who signed his cast. Connor is the guy who took Evan’s letter. Connor is the guy who shoved Evan. Connor is the crazy kid who threw a printer. Connor is the rise and fall of everything for Evan.

And he never even knew him.

Nobody really knew Connor. In reality he didn’t have any close friends, (apart from Miguel from the book version, but I’m specifically talking about the musical version) he was drifting further and further away from his own family, and nobody really knows what happened in his head or personal life, or why he took his own life.

And the one person, the only person they think really knew him, actually helped him and is helping them remember him- didn’t know him at all. Evan’s trying to preserve memories that never even existed.

Nobody knows why Connor died. But Evan did. Of course he doesn’t know all the real, specific reasons for Connor. But out of anyone around, he’s the one who can probably relate the most. Because he was in the exact same place as Connor.

He tried to take his own life. In his letter- the one thought to be by Connor to Evan, was actually from Evan, about how alone he felt himself. People believed it as if Connor had written it, as if that’s something Connor would say. So if the letter Evan wrote, sounded just like sometbing the guy who killed himself would say- then, they must feel pretty similar.

‘Last summer, I just felt so- alone.’ ‘Did you fall? Or did you let go?’ ‘Will I ever make a sound…?’ ‘No one would even notice if I just- disappeared tomorrow.’

I am sure that is not far off from how Connor felt.

So even thought Evan never knew Connor directly or personally, he could relate to how he most likely felt…

Alone.

[nerdranttheories]

Why in the MHA universe are people supposed to pick their hero name in high school? Can you imagine being stuck with the name that you thought was cool your freshman year? I would have been Space Princess or something cringey like that. Does no one change their focus has they enter their careers? Does no one go “hey, that name doesn’t fit me any more.” I think it would provide way more comedy if there was a student that wasn’t really sure of what they want their focus to be yet — so they keep changing their hero name every couple of episodes.

Also why is the expectation that you can only go into hero work if you go to high school for it? Everyone at the hero licensing exams were high schoolers as far as we’re aware, and this is solidified by Vigilantes, where the protagonist has to become a vigilante because he missed the UA hero exams and therefore can’t get a hero license.

This series leaves me with so many questions…