#nerdy rant

[nerdby]

I really don't get sometimes how fans of the Joker miss the fact that whether they like it or not Harley Quinn saved his ass. Cause there's a chance DC would have had to shelve the Joker as a villain in order to avoid alienating their queer and leftist readers if she hadn't been created to distract from the fact that he was a very obviously queer-coded villain with absolutely NO redeeming features in what was not only the AIDS pandemic but also the worst decades for queer hate crimes since the Holocaust. Like he was a rapist (The Killing Joke) who killed children (A Death In The Family) for fuck's sake. And meanwhile Captain America was off saving his best bud's boyfriend👌🏻

And if you have an issue with the Joker being bisexual because of Harley's introduction to the Batfam -- guess what, peeps? He already was established as being bisexual in the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke where it was revealed that before becoming the Joker he had been married to a woman and he then proceeded to rape Barbara Gordon.

[adrowsypirate]

Preface/Nerdy Rant

Hello my name is Toby I am 18 years old and have been writing since I was 13—so for five years.

I have created characters for fun and have been a nerd my whole life. I love stories and myths.

Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite characters. In fantasy, I admire Aragorn, Tyrion Lannister, 

Jon Snow, Ned Stark, and Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer.

From comics, some of my favorites are Batman, Spider-Man, The Flash, John Constantine, The Thing, and, lastly, Superman.

Superman isn't boring, and evil Superman is overdone and lazy.

Superman represents hope and optimism in a world where cynicism is mistaken for intelligence. People often see optimism as naïve, but I don't believe that's true. It's easy to point at the world and say, "This sucks," But often, they are looking at a small part of a big painting—just a tiny corner of a giant masterpiece that we may never fully see in our lifetime.

Optimists don't ignore the world's struggles—they see them and still choose to believe things can get better. That takes real strength.

I believe it takes a strong person to be optimistic.

[yourlocalnerd07]

Cycle of pain.

[yourlocalnerd07]

Fuck "weird sex" and "normie sex". Sex is sex. Love is love. Be proud of what you are even if it's "too weird"* or "too normal" to be talked about. It's about YOUR relationship, not your reputation. And that's wonderful, so you should savor it for what it is.

* with the exception of pedophilia, necrophilia, incest, and rape/sexual assault

My friend is gatekeeping t4t. I literally had gay sex with another trans woman and my friend is still calling me a normie because I'm not into puppy play or whatever

[ender-of-the-sender]

I love joey because how the hell does he look like his own younger brother

When I look at Pete, I dont see just see Joey, I see Ted

[biteable-pink-pixie]

Nerds can fucking GET IT. And by 'it' I mean this pussy. ♡

[rockrosethistle]

Explaining All The Hatchetfield Lore:

(disclaimer: all lot of this is based on context clues and expositional monologues, so it is my best guess and could be wrong. But I'm pretty sure it's right.)

We start in the 1820's, on an island in Lake Michigan. Now, there's three main families you need to know about here, and those are Muckwabs, the Metzgers, and the Waylons. Remember those because they're important.

So around 1824, Willabella Muckwab discovers the eldritch entities known as the Lords in Black (LiB). She becomes a devoted follower of them, and writes a book out of children's blood, which details their history, how to summon them, spells, prophecies, etc. This book is called the Abominable Tome, but it is most often referred to as the Black Book.

Well maybe the town doesn't like the fact that their children are disappearing, or maybe they discover the book, we don't know exactly what happened. But Willabella Muckwab is tried as a witch and hung. This doesn't kill off the Muckwab family, however, because Willabella had a daughter. That will be important later.

So basically, Willabella is hung by the Metzger family (remember them?) who are often referred to as the Hatchetmen. She is buried in the woods, the black book is lost, but her soul lives on, because of her connection to the Lords in Black. Well this isn't good, so the Hatchetmen begin killing anyone else who shows signs of having magic, burying them around the woods so they can grow into trees, their magic trapping Willabella in a 'web.' All of these magic tree-people form a forest, which is called the Witchwood. The Witchwood has special properties, because of all the magic. It affects the soil and the way things grow, but most importantly, it traps Willabella, who's is known as The Witch in The Web.

Jump ahead to 1827, it's been a couple years since Willabella's death, and that island is now known as the town of Hatchetfield. That's when the the Waylons show up (remember them?) Well, the Agatha and Mathias Waylon find the Black Book, rediscovering the Lords In Black. And isn't this just a super cool religion? Let's get everyone else involved! The Waylon's form a cult, called the Church of The Starry Children, who worship the LiB. They have a ton of people on board, and with the LiB, they offer sacrifices get rich and stay forever young. The Waylon family also sets up 5 Dark Altars around town, which coincides to the 5 Lords in Black. These altars are the Old School House, Waylon hall, the Old Mill, the Hatchetfield Gazette, and the Starlight Theater. All of these are places where somebody could summon the Lords in Black, with very little knowledge or power.

So the Church of The Starry Children has been doing very well for quite a while. In 1945, they begin the Honey Queen festival, a tradition where they elect one woman per year to sacrifice to the Lord in Black, Nibblenephim. They're very good at hiding in plain sight. However, they can't stay hidden forever. In 1975, they are meeting in Waylon Hall, when they are ambushed by the Metzgers, also known as the Hatchetmen. The Hatchetmen massacre the Starry Children, and once again, the Black Book is lost.

I hope you're enjoying this lore because it's only just getting interesting. That was all pretty straight foreword, and people generally don't argue about it. So for a recap, we have Willabella who wrote basically an evil bible for the Lords in Black, and who was murdered by the Hatchetmen. Then you have the Church of the Starry children, who worshipped the Lords in Black, also murdered by the Hatchetmen. Those are our three families. What if I told you that after all this happened, three other characters were up to some wacky hijinks? This is where things get muddy.

Now introducing our three new parties of interest: Willabella's daughter, the PEIP organization, and a mysterious woman only known as Miss Holloway. Here's what's up with those guys.

Miss Holloway was a pop star, rising to fame in the 1980's. We don't know a lot about her backstory, but it is assumed that she witnessed a tragedy, because she sought the help of the Lords in Black. They made her a deal that would allow her to have the power to help those in need, but in return, she would have to give up what she cherished most. (We don't know if those were the exact terms of the deal, but it seems to be the standard deal when it comes to the Lords in Black, so we go with that.) So Miss Holloway takes the deal. She gives up the ability to be remembered: no one knows who she is, and anytime she tries to tell anybody her story, it is immediately erased from their memory. In return, the Lords in Black make her the keeper of the Black Book, as well as magic such as hypnosis, and the ability to regenerate her body. She is able to die, but she always comes back. There is only one thing that can kill her, and that is a dagger known as the Black Blade, which she used to kill a man who made a similar deal, named Wilbur Cross.

But who is Wilbur Cross? To explain that, we have to explain Paranormal, Extraterrestrial, Inter-dimensional Phenomena, or the government agency known as PEIP. Wilbur Cross was an army Colonel, and very high-ranking in PEIP. In 2005, PEIP constructed an inter-dimensional portal to a place outside of time and space known as the Black and White. They didn't know that the B&W was home to the Lords in Black. On October 5, 2005, they sent Wilbur Cross through that portal, where he encountered the Lords in Black and pledged his allegiance to them. He was also gifted powers and immortality, but to serve the Lords in Black, which meant that he used it for evil. He stepped back out of the portal, appearing to the remaking PEIP agents, before disappearing to Hatchetfield, where he murdered Sheriff Douglas Keane.

Remember Willabella's daughter? Well, she had a daughter, who had a daughter, etc. The family tree continued until October 5, 2005, when a couple of things happened simultaneously. The portal was opened to the Black and White at the same time Hannah Foster, the descendant of Willabella Muckwab, was born. This caused a few events to occur, most notably that the timeline was shattered. Until that point, there was only one universe, but on that day, when Hannah was born and Wilbur stepped through the portal, infinite universes were created, branching off from that moment.

As a descendant of Willabella Muckwab, Hannah (as well as her older sister, Lex) was born with powers, also known as "the Gift." Her powers gave her a close connection to the Black and White, and even more so to Webby, who is not a Lord in Black, but is their sister. Webby is a spider-like goddess who embodies light and love, the antithesis of the Lords in Black. She is in a constant feud with them to gain control of the many realities, and to protect Hannah from her brothers and their minions, such as Wilbur Cross.

Now, Hannah's powers were stronger than anybody else's. She is clearly the strongest out of all the other children with a touch of the gift, and has been able to speak with Webby since she was young. I believe that this is a result of her being born at the moment that the divide between reality and The Black And White was weakest. Hannah is basically a cosmic trump card. Whoever controls Hannah controls the universe, so Webby and the Lords in Black are in a constant battle over her. The LiB want her dead, and Webby wants her alive, so that could mean that her power could be the thing to reconnect all the realities.

In present day, we have a couple of things playing out at once. Everybody's still in a competition over Hannah, with Lex determined to protect her. Miss Holloway uses her powers to help children, alongside Duke Keane, who she is falling in love with, and whose father was murdered by Wilbur Cross. Wilbur Cross does Wiggly's bidding. Some members or the Church of the Starry Children live on, those descended from or related to (by blood or marriage) the original members, and still indulge in the LiB's power and riches. Waylon Hall is cursed so that nothing may truly die there. As the Witchwood is cut down, little by little, its hold on Willabella weakens. And the Black Altars still remain, where anyone with the Black Book may summon the Lords in Black. In realities where Miss Holloway is murdered, the Black Book is kept safe by Solomon Lauter, mayor of Hatchetfield. Also, the Lords in a lack seem to have favourite humans to torture across multiple realities. The Spankoffski family is often a target of T'noy Karaxis, as an example.

So yup, that's where we're at. That's the baseline understanding of events that we as a fandom all seem to have, yet don't write down because that a lot of writing. Good thing I like writing!

Oh, and there's one thing I missed. We hate Clivesdale. Fuck Clivesdale.

[hyper-alice]

Random thought but I actually love If I Loved You

I used to not like it that much, for no reason in particular but it just never really stood out to me. Especially since if you listen to the soundtrack without all the talking scenes it comes right after Just For Once and. You can’t do that to me.

Anyways I think I like the acting better than the actual song. Just the way they’re moving and stuff idk.

The way they walk away from each other after each chorus, just the way they walk.

The way Steph keeps bending a bit like she’s trying to patronize Pete.

The audience cheering when Pete throws the hot chocolate cup kills me too

I think this clip is my favourite part though. The joke of Pete miming a baseball bat when he mentions football. The way Steph looks over her shoulder before she does that walk, checking to see Pete’s reaction because obviously the whole time they’re essentially just trying to get a reaction out of the other. Nothing groundbreaking, of course, I just enjoy watching it.

[miedei]

spencer reid would never (in my opinion) be the kind of boyfriend where you have full access to his clothes

he's far too much of a hyper-focused micromanager to be able to just share his clothes with you freely, he likes to know what is where (even if his wardrobe is seemingly absolutely unorganized, he has a system!!!)

instead though, he often makes 'donations' to your collection - a pair of patterned socks, a knitted scarf, a skinny tie - after you expressed how much you miss him when he's away on cases

pieces that belong to you now, but still have a touch of spencer in them, enough for you to see them and feel the same swell of affection that bubbles up in your heart when you see him

and, he can't lie, it sends a thrill down his spine when he comes to pick you up from your office and sees you wearing his sweater vest over your button up

[squoingycritter]

the costuming in npmd is fucking genius

and i don’t mean the lords in black (although i could absolutely rant about how great their costumes are). i mean the “nerdy prudes” themselves.

peter’s outfit is reminiscent of a classic “nerd” outfit. but there’s a reason he dresses like that, one that the character has. and then he changes to a sweater in place of the bowtie and suspenders- because of steph. he still dresses like peter, but his outfit compliments hers more.

i love richie’s outfit- the patterns, the horrible layering- i knew kids like this growing up. and the hair? the sort of greasy, bedhead, scraggly hairdo. it’s just 🤌🤌

ruth’s outfit is nice- clearly they understood the assignment of how a queer person dresses (/lh)- but her whole display is ignored, the audience’s eyes immediately drawn to the head gear. just like the characters, we first see what’s “weird” about ruth.

i don’t have much to say about grace. she’s very put together, very neat. the pastel blues and pinks representing her softness innocence. also the butterflies clips in her hair slowly dwindling in numbers. that’s a good detail.

steph is very cool and alt. the cropped fleetwood mac shirt, the combat boots, the flannel- she understands the trends in fashion. but she makes it her own

TLDR; i fucking love costuming details

Edit: I made a part 2 about the lords in black, please hype it up bc i crave validation 😍😍

[automaticheartcrusade]

Okay huge huge unpopular opinion incoming…but I don’t care that much for Richie. I really could care less about him now and this is due to how the fandom has treated him/perceived him. He’s canonically an asshole (and probably sexist) and yet he’s been mischaracterized as the stereotypical “stuttering fragile soft uwu boy” you see in EVERY fandom and THANKS I hate it! Doesn’t help that most of the people who hc him as gay also push that “uwu soft gay boy” stereotype onto him as well and it sucks. Just because he’s sympathetic doesn’t mean you need to make Richie into something he’s not cause a lot of people have.

And I’ll be honest and say that my gripe with Richie also has to due with the favoritism/misogyny within the fandom. I get so salty that he’s so incredibly popular and praised for being complex because of ONE moment during a song, meanwhile characters like Grace and Ruth are 10x more layered and interesting than him, yet people would rather overly dissect Richie because of one scene rather than look at the FULL length musical number Ruth gets about her character, (which people refuse to talk about since no one likes her song) or talk about Grace and the million of things you can dissect her character on. But Grace, Ruth, and even Steph will take the backseat cause Richie is more popular and I hate that.

And while we’re here…this is exactly how I feel about Paul Mathews too. Like…omg I could give less of a fuck about him I’m so SORRY lmao. Yeah he’s really funny and enjoyable to watch but that’s it for me. Paul being popular makes more sense since he’s a main character so I don’t have issue with that, but again, it does make me salty seeing how popular he is when Emma and Charlotte are right there bro (or hell, literally ANY other hatchetfield character like Tom or Becky or something, cause the majority of them are more layered than Paul is) and yet people put Paul up on a pedestal and mischaracterize him too (the fact that some people clutched their pearls when Jon said he was an asshole is proof enough of that). Like the whole point of Paul’s character was that he’s just some average normal asshole guy with no motivations or plans for the future until he meets Emma (who mind you is more interesting than him like she’s got a whole backstory, internal struggles, family issues ect) but then people took the info we had on Paul and turned him into a soft stuttering uwu boy as well, which also sucks.

So yeah sorry I was in a real ranty mood today lol but these are just my personal gripes and opinions. Please keep in mind, NO hate to the people who love Paul and Richie, as well as the people hc Richie as gay cause I’m cool with that. I’m also not denying the depth bc Paul and Richie DO have depth, I get it….this is more a callout post about the people who mischaracterize both of them as well as the fans who have internalized misogyny AND the favoritism/picking and choosing of obsessing over characters that aren’t that important or layered compared to the ones who are. And I don’t have an issue with people favoring the smaller characters as well because people are allowed to have fun! I just kinda hate that Paul, Richie, (even Gary Goldstein) are so popular meanwhile there are characters with bigger roles who deserve that same attention and recognition but don’t get any, it’s just frustrating.

[southernmotherofdragons]

My best friend and I have a podcast and right now we are covering The Rings of Power.

I am so disappointed at the amount of negativity I am receiving from “Tolkien Scholars” who think that women don’t have the right to speak on anything Tolkien unless we can speak fluent elvish and have the Simarilion memorized.

Tolkien wasn’t written for you to gatekeep and leave rude, entitled comments about. Our podcast name is “Girls Nerd Out” and that seems to enrage them even more.

And I’ve read the Simarillion.

[adoredaqua]

i miss having a crush, so damn bad. like please universe send me a butch to take over my life 🙏

[pixthefuckup]

nibbly disciple steph this... nibbly vessel steph that... what if i hit you with a pokey steph? what if i hit you with the fact that steph is semi-canonically known to have one of the most outspoken social media voices yet? what if i hit you with the fact that solomon likes his order and would symbolicly, if not almost literally, want hatchetfield to be under one voice, his voice? what if i came screaming through the doorway of your home that steph has been silenced and never listened to for almost her whole life and that the one time people listen to her is when she's enhanced by powers that will eventually destroy her? what if i beat you over the head with the angst that in this au, steph would abuse her powers as any neglected kid who longs for attention probably would and when the summoning occurs, she would probably expect them to work again only to be frightened when they don't and she would scream her lungs out, begging it to come back when it actually matters, to finally make the world stop and listen to her when she needs it to, that she's sorry for using it to trick teachers for tests, to tell her dad to take her out to pasqualli's, to get ms. tessburger off her back, to get beer for stupid fucking parties that she didn't even like, and to fucking help her save the one person she actually cherishes the most in this stupid inescapable town. that she would be forcing her voice out through hoarseness, repeating the words that she can save him, that the magic won't make her shoot pete. what then, huh?

[ender-of-the-sender]

I was thinking about how in The Summoning, the Lords say "Gamble it on the roll of a dice"

And then i started thinking that there are 6 Lords in Black if you count Webby, so you could make a 6 sided die, each side symbolising each of the Lords, and gamble away your soul or something

So I did. Personally, I think its really cool

(Check rbs for close ups)

[pipperoo]

something i've become so certain of is that grace's decision to bury max under the floor was so specific to that situation, and is not just something she would easily do in other circumstances. this is also tied to the fact that grace would only see max falling as an act of god, she would not see it like that if anyone else had fallen

her whole goal at waylon hall is to strip max of his power or to humiliate him so much that she won't be attracted to him anymore and can go back to how she used to be. and it failed because she was right that he would be scared by ghosts and skeletons, but she was wrong about how he would react. yet, the moment that she fails, the floorboards break. at the moment where she feels like she's straying from god, it appears to her that god steps in and shows that she was right for going against max. how could she not see that as an act of god?

but if anyone else fell, she would see it as it is, a horrible accident. she has zero ill will against any of the nerdy prudes. she may disagree about some things, but she would never want them dead. they did everything right during the prank, max was the issue

back to my first point, she buries max because, one, she fully believes she is has god on her side in this scenario and she believes that he wouldn't want them to be punished for max's death. two, hfpd are massive nighthawk fanatics and bad at their jobs and there is a lot of incriminating evidence against them that point to murder, like richie says. so, if the police got involved, they would have been fucked. so chopping him up and hiding the body becomes the immediate avenue that can avoid this.

but if anyone else fell, they would be calling the police. grace would never suggest burying them because they are most likely her only friends at the time. it would easily be considered an accident by the police. they may have gotten dinged for trespassing, but that’s it. and max would be alive to get the heat of the police off of them. (before he fell, he had nothing against the nerdy prudes, so he would be horrified with the rest of them and would back them up) if max got caught trespassing, he probably couldn’t play in the big game, so they may even let them all walk

this kinda harps on my belief that grace isn’t some malicious killer. i love when grace kills people, don't get me wrong, but, at her core, she doesn't want people to die. she's unhinged, but she always has to be pushed into becoming murderous, it's not always her go to.

and if grace was the one to fall, there is no one there that is crazy enough to suggest burying her under the floor. only grace could ever come up with that. everyone else would be panicking, like in the musical, and would just call the police.