#no I am not willing to discuss

[sluttyspacebabe]

Thinking about this

[tulliok]

we stopped watching around the later seasons and barely remember what happened in them so we're encouraging you to talk about what you dislike or want to criticize

Got asked, so here’s my abridged season 8-9 thoughts.

As someone who grew up watching the show from the beginning, I have a lot of gripes with how “friendship” is defined as a power-up or a material resource. However, it really wasn’t that big of a deal because I understand that MLP is a show targeted towards young girls that enjoy playing with toys, and the show was able to still portray realistic and educational lessons. 

The introduction of a friendship school in season 8 was a poor decision for so many reasons. Narratively, it locks our main characters into a single location, and we go from having a cast with unique occupations and storylines… to one where all six share the same responsibilities as an instructor and tackle the same lessons. Especially when some of them don’t seem like the type to enjoy teaching at all.

But the biggest issue I have is that the school validates the show’s idea that friendship is a unique resource that has to be taught, and that comes with a load of problematic implications. To get to the worst one right away, the school came packaged with a storyline about xenophobia and Equestria’s prejudice against their foreign neighbors. The coding of non-pony species in the show has always had weird racial implications (yaks and dragons being depicted as loud, unintelligent barbarians, the buffalo and Zecora representing members of real marginalized groups), but it is made even worse in this season by depicting them as people that are uneducated and need to be taught basic social skills and lessons in a foreign land. The Friendship School is literally a project designed by Twilight to spread Equestria’s idea of friendship to other countries! On top of that, they introduce what is essentially a conservative, white supremacist pony as a villain, and to beat him Twilight needs to prove that the exchange students are worthy of being taught. I really don’t think I need to explain why this is extremely weird and shouldn’t even be in the show in the first place.

I love the show because of episodes like Amending Fences, Leap of Faith, and No Second Prances—episodes that teach children that relationships aren’t big battles of morality and power but are complicated experiences that everyone has a unique response to. These experiences cannot be taught in a school with sewing lessons and apple picking and taking exams. They are also not unique to any particular community or race—that is a fact of life that most children should immediately understand. It’s extremely disheartening watching the show regress to the point where Rarity is telling a young girl that her cultural costume isn’t pretty enough and she’s dolling her up in wigs to cover her braids and giving her etiquette lessons to “fit right in." I don’t care that the moral was that she was wrong; what’s wrong is that the show even bothered making episodes like this at all. 

Season 9 concludes with a happy ending where all is well, but it isn't because the young child villain, the one character that needed friendship lessons and the grace to grow up, was turned into a garden accessory without a second thought. All while surrounded by the redeemed villains that the series arbitrarily decided were more worthy of our sympathy.

I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with my opinions and I want to be as fair as possible about what made me so uncomfortable with the show’s conclusion. I am a longtime fan, but I also care a lot about children’s media being responsible with their messaging, especially when they tackle subjects that require a great level of care, such as race and relationships. MLP (whether older fans like it or not) is ultimately a show about teaching children valuable social skills and providing moral lessons with every adventure.

I doubt this mixed messaging was intentional on the writer’s part. Rather, the last seasons were recklessly handled. To a viewer’s eyes, there isn’t a difference between these two.

[egophiliac]

Is there any indication that Fellow Honest has a limp like the original Honest John?

I don't think so? but we haven't actually seen him walk or anything (the sprites just zwoop around the screen like everyone's on skateboards), so no indication he doesn't either! no reason it can't be headcanon. :D

the first part of the event was pretty much all setup, so we still don't really know anything about him or Gidel at this point! we might learn a bit more when the next part comes out tomorrow (but more likely it'll be in part 4, maybe some crumbs in part 3 if we are lucky) (I am expecting part 2 to be standard "walk around and look at stuff and talk about it forever" event filler with perhaps a dramatic cliffhanger to hook us for next week) (but who can say for another...checks watch four and a half hours, wow, that next part really snuck up huh)

[wonder-worker]

Wild how we know that Elizabeth Woodville was officially appointed to royal councils in her own right during her husband’s reign and fortified the Tower of London in preparation of a siege while 8-months pregnant and had forces gathering at Westminster “in the queen’s name” in 1483 – only for NONE of these things to be even included, let alone explored, in the vast majority of scholarship and historical novels involving her.

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

OH. okay so normally i dont touch discourse with a 20 ft pole, but this has been niggling at my brain tonight and i finally realized why

the people who are mad at qbbh for the memory loss and “dodging consequences” dont understand that he doesnt want to dodge consequences. Like they cant know that, they werent focused on him when he was literally feeding himself to the soul vultures and planning his eventual imprisonment and also. The Many Many Many hints he made towards suicide/sacrifice/Just Fucking Dying.

ccbbh is a subtle roleplayer, he’s been building this shit up for two whole months- it was day FIVE of the eggs going missing that he resolved to do whatever it took (hurting his friends) to get the eggs back. It was day three that he followed in dapper’s footsteps and started feeding himself to the soul vultures (and gaining a Massive headwound beneath his hood in the process- you can only see it if you go on namemc and remove the layers). He’s got impaired judgement. Even the memory issues arent a new thing- i cant remember exactly when they started, but one of the first big moments i remmeber was september 30th where he spent an hour falling into a delusional frenzy searching his base for cameras that he forgot he asked aypierre to plant.

The super murder of purgatory and the memory loss afterwards probably all feels very sudden for people who havent been following his story, but as someone who has been- all of this has been true to character. The only cheap swings he’s made have been combat-based in purgatory, and even the motive for those was built up in rp.

People are calling for consequences, but he has alrwady been experiencing self-inflicted consequences for months. The blue on his usual outfit is blood. This recent memory loss isnt a restart to get away with the atrocities - it is yet another consequence of his egg-protecting complexes and the ways he punishes himself for failing them.

he is NOT a moral character. he’s a demon hiding in plain site. he has eaten people. he has killed people. he understands the cruelty of his actions, and the consequences of them for the loved ones of his victims. but it matters when that harm is being done to his loved ones. he’ll still do it, because he will do anything for the eggs, but it matters, and that means that he has already started the process of self-inflicting those much-demanded consequences

[iamfuckingsorry]

"Do you know where we are going next?" I asked ART.

Y'know what, I think maybe I don't need any more Murderbot books. I think maybe ending things here is fucking perfect and as much as I love Wells's writing I'm genuinely not sure it can get better for me.

Like, so much of the books are about MB learning how to be a person, about becoming okay with being a complete individual with everything it entails. The first thing it does once it's actually allowed to decide on its own is it runs away from it all (admittedly to go on a mission to confirm some things about its past, because it genuinely just wants to be *good*). It shoves all its emotions away as much as it's able to. Then shit happens, and it makes its first friends, makes decisions based on these friendships, goes through a lot of emotionally intense situations...

And we get to this point here. MB having zero doubts about going with ART says a lot about its relationship with ART, but it also says a lot about its relationship with its humans - it knows that wherever it goes, when it comes back, the humans will still be there. Its humans actively acknowledge its struggles with being a now-free SecUnit and MB is willing to entertain the discussions to an extent and share information about its deeply personal experiences. Hell, System Collapse ends with MB admitting it might be somewhat broken, but that's okay as long as it can keep doing its job, and agreeing to basically do counselling - this is the guy what would rewatch its favourite TV show again and again in order to avoid acknowledging it even had Emotions a couple books back.

Reading this, I know that MB will be okay. It has hopes and goals and genuinely believes in itself and it has an amazing support system that its willing to lean on for the first time in its life. I'm convinced it'll go on to do great things with ART. And that's really the only thing I need to know.

[failbaby]

The idea that misogyny is a real axis of systemic oppression whereby men are privileged in some ways and women are subjugated in some ways is THE most baseline fundamental building block of feminism, and if you refuse to believe this then you are not a feminist. Like point blank, end of, you are not a feminist if you don't believe in institutional misogyny. Having some vague idea that women shouldn't be second class citizens does not make you a feminist

[tannertbosas]

and if i said tanner got the fandom treatment that jessup & reaper deserved then what

[upsidedowngrass]

HELLO here is............ reference art for my liam design/interpretation!!!!!! a lot of these r ideas ive already had and/or included in my liam art already BUT !!! now its all in ONE PLACE!!!! :)

[ilottthepilot]

how many more years do we need to do f1 academy discourse? please i need to mentally prepare myself for reading the same 3 tired arguments every month

[happyandticklish]

Dropping the Controversial Tickling Tea~

A list of takes that may be controversial but I no longer care because these issues are argued about far too often not to say anything

It’s okay to have preferences. I feel like we understand this concept on the lee side, but ostracize it on the ler side. If someone doesn’t like being tickled in a certain area, we okay that, but if someone doesn’t like to tickle a certain area, then people become defensive as though it is somehow specifically targeting them. If a ler doesn’t like to tickle feet, understandable! If they exclusively like to tickle feet, ALSO understandable! If a ler doesn’t like to tickle a certain area but the lee loves being tickled there, then that is something to discuss and talk about. Maybe they’re willing to budge on that point, maybe they’re not, but either way, neither side should force the other to do something that makes them uncomfortable. 

The SFW and the NSFW community are not always black and white. Some people view tickling as a kink in certain scenarios, and platonic in others, and that’s fine. Some people don’t view tickling as a sexual act, but enjoy when it’s combined with sex because it makes them feel loved. Some people view tickling as romantic, but not necessarily sexual. It is not simply platonic or sexual, it’s a much larger gray area than people give it credit for. It’s okay to view it as completely non-sexual too, as well as to get off on it. That does not mean you have the right to judge other people for the way they enjoy it. We’re all just trying to get along here. 

Fictional characters are just that—fictional. If you write a fic where Bakugo kills Deku it does not mean you are advocating murder, you are simply exploring a perspective. If you write a fic where Bakugo holds down Deku and tickles him while he begs for it to stop, that is also, technically, okay. Although non-con is a pretty big no-no in real life, fictional characters are an outlet to express... well, pretty much anything. If you write a fic where Levi is tied up against his will and tickled, that’s your prerogative. So long as you are not genuinely inflicting harm on anyone, that’s fine. I personally am not a huge fan of non-con in fics, but you do you boo. Not to mention, sometimes you just want to write fucked up stories. My Gorillaz fic is hella non-consensual in part one because they have a fucked up relationship and I was exploring what would happen if you combined that idea with something like a tickle kink. It does not mean I support it in real life. Stop criminalizing tumblr users as if these fictional characters are real people. 

On that note—non-con is not always bad. I’m not going to get too into this as I’m not the most informed individual on the matter, but CNC does exist, and blends a form of consent and non-consent together, with the victims okaying it upfront and allowing their consent to be overridden later on. So. You know. That exists, so non-con can even be ethical IRL in certain situations. 

If you like feet, that’s okay. This one’s pretty simple. Stop kink-shaming people, guys. If you don’t like feet, cool, don’t be a dick to others about it. Hands are grosser bacteria wise than feet anyway. 

Aging up fictional characters is not morally wrong. This goes back to the fictional characters rule. Sometimes it’s just to explore a different perspective, sometimes it’s because the show freezes with them at like 16 or something so you’ll never have a chance to write about them in an adult context. Again, fictional characters, not real, we could argue the ethics of it all day long, but at the end of the day no IRL minors/adults are being harmed.

You can be an older person writing fanfiction in the tickle community. I’m using the term older broadly to mean anyone between 25-60+ because often it is past 25 once tumblr users start being weird about it. Almost all published writers are adults, if anything it makes more sense to be in your thirties and writing fanfiction, tickling related or otherwise. There is no time limit to existing within the community, so do not bully people for this. 

On that note, I don’t think minors should be ostracized from the community. I understand that we want to protect the innocence of youth, but at the same time it is highly hypocritical to put those expectations on them. I’ve been scrolling tk fics since I was 8 and have been lurking on tumblr since 12, and definitely took in some content that was more,,,, NSFW in nature. Now, whether that was the healthiest way to exist on the internet or not, I don’t know, but the point is that I did it, as have many other people on here. We did not all wait till we were 18 to make accounts on here. 

It is nearly impossible to exclude minors from the kink side of the community. It is both possible and realistic that people will develop a sexuality at an early age, usually around puberty. I don’t think you should be engaging in sex at that age per se, but you are most certainly not blind to the concept. Kinks also tend to develop early on in people, either subconscious or otherwise. For many children, they turn to the internet to try to understand these feelings as they don’t feel like they can confide in their peers. The reality of minors on the internet being exposed to sexual content is a given. You can put up as many DNI or DNF’s as you want, but at the end of the day there is nothing to stop them from lurking. People can also lie about their age just as easily. I’m not saying minors should be involved in the kink community, I’m just saying that, realistically, they are. Not to mention, the term “minor” goes all the way up to 17. So minor does not always mean 9-12 year old's, and that’s important to remember. 

If a content creator is not comfortable with something, don’t push it on them. Like I said, everyone has preferences and if they don’t have theirs listed there’s no real way to help accidentally suggesting a request/commission at some point that makes them uncomfy. The best you can do at that point is respect their opinions and try to think of a different request that they might be more comfortable with. There’s nothing wrong with you for asking it or them for not wanting to do it, so long as both of you are respectful about communicating these things to each other. 

Please, please, please do not be forcing tickling on real life people if they hate it. Fictional characters is one thing, but real people have real feelings and needs that can be seriously hurt if you push their boundaries. This does not apply to playful pokes, a gently tasing someone from behind as that all falls under general friendly rough-housing with friends. But, if a person tells you that they don’t like tickling, do not force it on them. Being tickled is an unbelievably vulnerable situation and it can be traumatizing if you are forced to endure it. Hence why so many adults hate it due to older siblings when they were younger. This falls in with the unspoken don’t be a dick to people rule. 

Recognize the validity of switches. Switches are versatile, yes (I would know, being one ;)), however, they they are not merely puppets to fill whichever role you need them to. If a switch is in a lee mood, do not try to force them into the opposite position, or vice versa. They have no obligation to fit specifically the mood you’re in; they’re people too.

Finally, the Tickle Community is varied! In general, we tend to lump everyone into one large group all centered around one interest—tickling. However, the community is comprised of a variety of different subsets that do not all fit together evenly. There’s people who enjoy it in a fictional sense, people who enjoy it IRL, people who like both, the SFW and NSFW sides of the community, and a million other distinctive groups. It is not fair to try to expect everyone to bend to your particular beliefs around tickling, as we are all just trying to enjoy it in our way. 

[p-clodius-pulcher]

Sexual violence and exploitation are inherent to imperialism and any discussion of imperialism that shies away from these subjects is disingenuous and flawed. I know lots of people on this site (myself included) engage with Ancient Rome and its history as a hobby, but that is not an excuse to not be aware or willing to discuss the unsavoury parts of its existence and legacy.

[dionysus-complex]

so i did in fact make a sideblog for talking about things related to kink, not really for explicit nsfw content/erotica but more for thoughts/writings/art etc or any semi-risqué reblogs that could get this blog flagged. it's basically empty at the moment but in the future that will probably be the main place I discuss such things given the more public nature of this blog. I am willing to share the url with trusted mutuals if you message me to ask!

[yesterdayiwrote]

After reading @vro0m's post suggesting Grill the Grid should take on a Taskmaster format, please have my ‘not entirely definitive’ list of Which Taskmaster contestant the 2023 F1 grid would most be like...

Max Verstappen : Kerry Godliman - Wants to win. Doesn’t want you to know how much they want to win. Until you tell them he’s done it wrong and then he argues the rules with you incessantly. Probably loves a laminator. Bosh, done.

Sergio Perez : Paul Sinha - Should be really good at this. Is getting a bit old though and inexplicably fucking the whole thing up. Is really trying but just permanently perplexed about how this isn’t going better for them.

Charles Leclerc : Judi Love - Is trying really hard, still not quite understanding what they’re being asked to do but not wanting anyone to realise how confused they are. Most likely to ask ‘Is there a duck on my face?’

Carlos Sainz : Joe Thomas - Is also very confused, but slightly less chaotic with it, not exactly hiding how confused they are, just openly having a breakdown while their brain stops working. Liable to suddenly argue back about how unfair it is and how hard they’re trying.

Lewis Hamilton : Liza Tarbuck - Knows what they’re doing, minimal fuss, just gets on with it and ends up winning everything. Is starting to get mildly irritated you’re asking them to do it still, decreases effort throughout proceedings, yet still somehow manages to do really well

George Russell: Mel Giedroyc - George is Mel. Rushes into every task with enthusiasm. Highly competitive. Tackles every task with a cacophony of Britishisms spilling from his mouth in place of swear words to hide his frustrations, whilst simultaneously congratulating the crew on what great tasks they’ve come up with. (There is also a really strong argument for Ivo Graham here. Bringing big Eton energy but slightly more angsty about his failures)

Lando Norris : Nish Kumar - Is trying really, really hard. Is also failing really, really hard by failing to notice generally what’s going on around him.

Oscar Piastri : Richard Osman - Just getting the tasks done in a calm, sensible manner. No bells and whistles, just taking it all in his stride.

Esteban Ocon : Jessica Knappett - Goes rushing in to everything with enthusiasm and positive energy and falls face first into failure. Tall and lanky and just very happy to be here.

Pierre Gasly : Iain Stirling - Tries really hard, really wants to win, but you can’t shake the feeling that you’re watching a Love Island episode whenever you watch him attempt anything (just for wildly different reasons).

Fernando Alonso : Rhod Gilbert - Quietly confident of their own abilities. A bit of a lone wolf and hates team tasks because he just wants to win for himself. Has an uncanny knack of finding a loophole and winning tasks thanks to some dirt he has on the taskmaster from many years ago.

Lance Stroll : Paul Chowdhry - He’s not entirely sure how he’s ended up here, or what he’s supposed to do, but he’s giving it a go anyway. Appears unenthusiastic about everything but actually wants to win, just with the least possible effort he can muster.

Valtteri Bottas : Hugh Dennis - Very calm about everything, even his own failures. Actually not that worried about where he comes, just happy to be taking part. (Valtteri would actually be Fred the Swede but he’s not a contestant so he can’t be)

Zhou Guanyu : Charlotte Ritchie - Appears like they have it all together. Calm and softly spoken, yet strangely chaotic when given a task. Seems really eager to please but kind of low key stressed and anxious. (A certain element of Sophie Duker or Mawaan Rizwan entirely for the great fits though)

Yuki Tsunoda : Fern Brady - Is very stressed about everything and would very much like to go home for a big sleep because being competitive is exhausting

Daniel Ricciardo : Joe Wilkinson - Chaos. Full stop.

Nico Hulkenberg : Lee Mack - This is one of the harder ones because he could be any of the ‘uncontroversial older guy’ contestants. Went for Lee because he’d probably keep dropping dad jokes in there but not a total chaos demon. Just does…fine?

Kevin Magnussen : Ardal O’Hanlon - Similar to what I wrote for Nico but with a bit more chaos and confusion thrown in, but just politely smiling his way through it. (See also Alan Davies)

Alex Albon : James Acaster - Has a severe dislike for whoever organised this, would quite like it to be over. Would also like to win. Doesn’t want to look desperate with it but is actually trying very hard. Is very angry that he’s not winning and ends up ranting about how unfair it is to hide his disappointment.

Logan Sargeant : Desiree Burch - American. (Look, I ran out of ideas for Logan I will admit)

[mwolf0epsilon]

Who wants to hear about what happens to Tongue Twister, Conch and Syrup?

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

I saw a comment on the post-trial shortonegaming video that went something like this: "everyone loves Gonta, but no one respects him," and honestly, I think that's a great way to sum it up. They all love him and care about him, but they don't really take him seriously.

And it's noticeable in smaller things, like when almost everyone brushes off his comments about tiny bugs (and in bonus interactions he talks about it A LOT). But in the 4th trial this is even more obvious. They don't see him as a person who could kill for everyone's sake. They only see him as a victim.

Gonta is a very observant person with strong moral principles and a desire to be helpful. But mostly he's seen as a kind but very naive child. And this is a different, but really heartbreaking kind of pain💔

(Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember people saying much when he calls himself stupid. He does this a lot, but people often don't go out of their way to convince him that it's not true. They scold Kokichi when he says this about Gonta, but they don't say much when Gonta says so himself. Of course, I could be wrong, maybe I need to pay more attention to it next time)

Anyway, I really enjoy reading your thoughts about Gonta! I liked him before, but you made me appreciate him on a whole different level❤

I haven’t seen shortonegaming’s post trial video yet, but yeah. That’s a really accurate way to put it. Gonta has always seemed so isolated from the others, never having one close friend/ally for longer than one chapter. He was always appreciated and loved, but not respected as a person so never fully integrated into the group. Its part of why I think going from having a small group of people working with him in the student council to being completely by himself in chapter 4 (with his ideas always dismissed in this chapter, even if it was to stop him from sacrificing himself) added to everything he was feeling at the time.

And it SUCKS. Because as you said, nobody says anything when he self deprecates, only when Kokichi really pushes it in chapter 4. Even when Miu is rude to him in previous chapters a couple of times, nothing. Because they take his self loathing at face value despite the fact that he IS smart. He’s very thoughtful, observant, and brave. One thing that stuck out to me in trial 4 was Himiko defending Gonta from Kokichi’s accusations, she said something along the lines of “Gonta couldn’t have done all of that! He’s not smart-“ before getting interrupted by Kokichi with something else. Not only do a lot of them casually brush him off, but they also agree with his own judgements of himself without questioning it.

The only person who ever tried to push back against Gonta being hard on himself, if I remember correctly, was Kaito. Sometimes, when Gonta would apologize for something a bit excessively, Kaito would say “a man shouldn’t apologize so easily!” (Which isn’t exactly a good way to correct that but. Thank you Kaito for trying). The only other time I remember was that moment between them in the virtual world right before Gonta goes to kill Miu, where Kaito directly counters him calling himself stupid. But I genuinely can’t remember any other character saying anything like this. (If anyone else remembers, please let me know!!)

But yeah. It’s just so so tragic. And it’s why I think post game Gonta would be such a lonely person.

And thank you for the kind words q^q it makes me more happy than you could know to hear that me posting about Gonta has got people to appreciate him more. He’s such a special character to me and it’s so rare to find fanworks going into these parts about him