#omnipotent-moron

[jasontoddscrowbars]

Part 53 of the robots have taken over! 🫃🤖

Trigger warning: This has technology taking over world shit. Ik that’s freaks some ppl out (me) so thought I’d warn you.

Tim: you want to know why I won’t ever have children?

Dami: not really?

Tim: singularity.

Damian closed his eyes. As he slowly inhaled a breath and lowered his tablet, Dick, tightened up. He sat between them. Was beside Tim on the sofa, kitty corner to Damian who was on his chair to the right. Dick did not like to be in the middle of these conversations. He did not like to be in the room at all.

The twos fighting had changed for vicious verbal debates. He didn’t have the mental capacity to keep up with them; he’s not only becoming more than confused but he’s had brain cells fried, he’s cried, hell, last time he locked himself in his room for over a week because he’d lost his will to live.

They were ruthless but leaving now was no option or they’d notice his existence and he’d be dragged in.

Damian: not that conspiracy theory bullshit.

Tim dead panned him as if Damian was the biggest moron on the planet. It was sort of a boost to Dicks pride for him to not be the target even if he had no clue what singularity was.

Tim: singularity is happening Damian. Half a year, year tops.

Damian rolled his eyes as he began to lift his tablet back up.

Damian: and you won’t have kids because computers are going to reach a point that they don’t need us anymore?

Dick twitched. What?

Tim: that uneducated response proves why you don’t deserve an opinion.

Damian tsked: you can’t live your whole life scared that ai is going to become omnipotent and take out man.

Tim: it will happen and you should be more scared! Especially seeing that most of what WE do runs on technology. We’re not Superman.

Damian: YOU might be useless without it.

Tim: we both know without batdaddy i’d have you down before a birdie can chirp.

Batdaddy? Gross. Dick did not want to know what context that nickname came out of.

Damian: you’re being delusional and paranoid again!

Tim, leaning forward with a sneering grin: but you can’t dispute it.

Damian was almost on his toes now, his fangs barring.

Damian: not going to happen. Even if it did, you would destroy humanity first with your own need for omnipotence. Hell, you could be the one to make AI’s take over happen, if it was realistic.

Dick sat back deep into the couch to avoid Tim; was almost sucked into the cushions like one of Tim’s hidden guns no one was supposed to know about. Wasn’t sure when he’d wimped out like that but it felt right.

Tim: singularity is going to happen. There was a study that tested shutting down ai and you want to know what happened?

Dick, squeaking: no.

Tim, becoming aware of his meek demeanor fed off of it: OpenAI’s o3 model had 79 out of 100 trials edit its script so that the shut down wouldn’t work. When ordered allow yourself to shut down, 7% of the time, they didn’t.

Dick had his knees in his chest, arms wrapped around them as his heart was racing. He was practically near bawling.

Tim: in another study, Anthropics Claude 4 Opus had been told it would be replaced by another model. It sent EMAILs that an engineer was having an affair. 84% of those emails blackmailed the engineer to not shut down the program.

Dick was pissing himself. Most definitely pissing himself. How awful, how terrifying… he didn’t want to be blackmailed!

Tim: it also copied itself onto external servers, made malware…

As he dramatically paused, Dick felt like he might just faint. Even Damian was a bit pale and peckish.

Tim: it wrote future versions of itself about the NEED TO EVADE HUMAN CONTROL!

Dick: no!

Dick rose, threw the pillow he had grabbed at some point and had been throttling down at Tim’s head as he began to storm away.

Dick: fuck no.

He grabbed Damian’s tablet. Sensing doom, Damian clutched at it but it was useless. The tug of war ended with a loss for Damian and his tablet on the floor being kicked in by the heel of Dicks shoes.

Tim sat on the edge of the couch excitedly.

Tim: that’s right Dick! Prove to it that humans are horrible!

Dick screeched as he clutched at his hair. He abruptly turned and took off. As he did, Bruce entered the room confused. He had very serious dad eyes that the boys were in trouble.

Bruce: what’d you do this time?

Tim: I can’t have kids due to singularity.

Damian: that’s bullshit! It’s not happening.

Jason, who’d been quietly watching: it sounded pretty convincing.

Damian crossed his arms: even if it did, you two can’t have kids because you’re gay!

The room went silent.

Dick backtracked into the room.

Dick: Damian Wayne! You cannot tell a man he cannot have kids because he’s gay.

Damian threw his hands out confused.

Damian: he can’t! They’re both men! It’s biologically impossible.

Tim was fuming now.

Dick: wow. Didn’t know Dami was so bigoted.

Dami: I’m not? I’m gay? They can’t have kids!

Tim: oh, I’m having a kid now.

As he rose, Jason perked up.

Jason: we are!

Bruce, unsure if he should be enthusiastic or not: you are?

Tim: we are. I’m going to Steph right now and asking her to surrogate.

Damian: as if she would.

Tim: she will. Especially after I show her the house footage of this conversation. She’ll do it Damian.

Tim snatched Jason’s hand as he took off with him.

Damian collapsed back into the chair with a pout. He wanted to say he’d proved Tim wrong today but he felt like as ass about everything.

Damian: fine.

Damian:

Damian: I won’t have kids.

Bruce snapped his head to him as he gave him a sharp eye.

Bruce: what?

Damian shot up, riled now: I won’t have kids! And when his great great grandchildren are fighting off the robots, mine will not be thanking me because I didn’t have any!

As Damian went to get his phone to tell Jon the glorious news of their doomed future, Bruce fell back against the wall defeated.

Bruce: why can’t they take over now and take me out?

Dick, screeching: nooo! They can attack after I die. Save it for the next generation.

Bruce raised a brow, concerned for his wimpy son.

The boys did know that the league had contingency plans and they had a superhuman on their side, right?

The sauce for the ai shit is the Wall Street article Ai is learning to escape human control. It cost though so I looked up videos. CBS did a report which is where I learned it from.

And if you’re wondering if there is going to be a baby from now on in the series.

Tim doesn’t half ass shit.

[manic-sapphic]

just some rambling thoughts on spop s5e3 corridors, don't mind me~

prime is such an egocentric moron, it's lowkey hysterical. dude's narcissistic to the point of perceiving himself as omnipotent - which is ironic, since that directly contributes to his downfall, as it renders him incapable of seeing actual threats to him - even when they're right in front of his face.

i mean, he literally called out catra for caring about adora after that creepy little exhibitionist dinner party, and later he even acknowledged that catra was seeking to protect her, yet he still tasked catra with being the one to get info from glimmer, and displayed the current known location of adora’s ship on a giant friggin screen so that she got a chance to take a real good look. and all after searching for catra while possessing one of his clones and straight up finding her exiting the teleportation room! like c'mon man, i thought you said you knew shit lol

no wonder she couldn’t help laughing in his condescending face. like dude you knew all of this, but you’re out here surprised that this is how i repaid you?? HAH! like you’re sooo great that how much it all meant to me still couldn’t possibly have made me a threat to you? ~LmAo you dumb as hell~

and i kind of read it as the first example of the truth in entrapta’s words to prime during the series finale — “you don’t understand what makes us strong, and that’s why you’ll never win." the fact that prime simply can't comprehend the sheer strength one can gain just from experiencing powerful emotions such as love is not only what allows adora to save catra, but it's a weakness they all learn to exploit well enough to be the ones to take him down after centuries of being considered unstoppable. cause sure, prime’s official weakness is magic, but what’s a more powerful source of magic on etheria than love?

[froggipied]

For Science- Chapter 1

Ao3 link; https://archiveofourown.org/works/41680413/chapters/104553549

Discord Server Link: https://discord.gg/KB6vWVAp

To summarize tags for those reading on tumblr; This is x reader fanfiction. This work of fiction is partially canon compliant, but is planned to be 'canon-adjacent'. This genre is Isekai, but mainly for explanatory purposes and forced omnipotence of the mc.

Portal mods included in story: Portal stories: Mel, Portal: Revolution

Word Count: 4.4k

----

Chapter One

Science is objective. Anything could be an experiment, and to Aperture Science, Ethics are a suggestion made by Morons.

–

You knew something was wrong the moment you opened your eyes. It felt like waking from a dream, although you were certain you had just closed your eyes for a moment while talking to a co-worker one moment you were in a bleak little office party with disinterested co-workers, talking to the one you could stand, and the next, you were in a little bleak creme colored room with one pair of doors opened on the other side of it. The hinges to the doors squeaked back and forth as they rattled opened and closed. Dazed, you stare around yourself, look down at your hands for confirmation. Not a dream. At least..you’re doubtful it were. Time would only tell, but most dreams have something off about them.

A panel to one of the walls collapsed before your feet as you stood up, revealing wiring and metal that didn’t seem normal. A room was built of panels held up by wood or metal framing, but this wasn’ a frame. You were no architect but even you knew this wasn’t normal for a panel.

The door behind you squeaks again, catching your attention, and against your rational judgment, you left the soft colored room out into the bleak.

Stark gray pillars as far as the eye could see, stretching into the sky and far into the ground below. The only walk-space you had was a narrow catwalk made of decaying bars that shuddered and creaked as you stood on them. Unnerving,you decided. You'd try to find an area not made of catwalks sooner than later.

You Give yourself another once-over while you walk. Same shirt, same pants. Same shoes, too. Nothing about your attire had changed. That'd be a first for a dream. 

The catwalks stretched on for what seemed to be forever. As far as you could see, they connected and spiraled and led to different areas of a bleak open space. Somewhere broken with rusted metal hanging just over your head, other areas shuddered and clattered as you jogged across them. It felt like you were running behind something. The area itself reminded you of the backstage. Was there something on the other side of the panels? A show, maybe? 

You entertain yourself with the thought, just for fun. Something to brush your mind away from bubbling worries of kidnapping or escapes. 

What if, behind that very panel, were some actors playing a terribly done rendition of Macbeth? Funny enough, in your opinion.

The catwalks lead you through doors that whirr as they unlock, a little orange light turns green. Occasionally, they take too long to open, as though rusted. Like the rest of this place, you find yourself lamenting in annoyance. You wanted to get out of here quickly. Through one set of doors was a catwalk leading beside a time. One little blinking red light catches your attention. While the thing is familiar, you can’t make sense of it.

Though you try to walk by, a little voice stops you. 

“I’m different.”

“Hm.” you have places to be, and you really can’t spend time with..whatever this is. “Nice ch–”

“Icarus flew to the sun on waxen wings, desperate for its warm embrace.Though gentle to the earth, the sun was not gentle to man. Icarus burnt,falling to the cold sea.”

“..Nice chat.” you mutter, thoroughly disturbed by the little thing as you passed by another set of doors. It’s just mythology. And not even accurate mythology.

There’s something familiar about all of this, though you couldn't put it in words. Something like deja vu, which seemed outrageously silly to you. Until you heard a voice, muffled behind a set of doors.

“I should probably bring you up to speed on something,right about now.”

Familiar. You decide. Like someone you’d heard before. You swear you recognize it, but you can't puzzle it out. You passed through the squeaky set of doors, glancing briefly down at the floor of tattered checkerboard,unaligned and broken, concrete raised precariously out of the ground that you had to step around to avoid 

Familiar, you frown as you walk through the hallway and see it. Him, more like. A robot, followed closely by a brunette woman in a jumper with something in her hands. Their backs were turned to you while they walked, and while he talked. 

You know where you are, and you felt silly for not realizing it sooner. A game you played as a kid, and what the hell were you doing here?

Though the robot wasn’t just a core, he did have arms and legs and a body as anyone would expect of an android..but the core for a head. Weird, you decided.

“In order to Escape, we have to pass through Her chamber…and she will most definitely kill us. If she's awake”

Your foot slips against a checkered tile, and it slides a few inches ahead of you, clattering around with the sound of fragile glass. It gives both the android and the woman pause. The woman looks over her shoulder, and her gaze narrows as she spots you. The android, on the other hand, starts walking over without another thought “Oh, Hello! Are you staff? You must be staff, since there isn’t anyone–” he pauses,optic blinking wide”er–ignore that, nothing’s wrong with the folks in suspension! Heh..-uhm..” he taps his hands together as you stare between him and the woman standing rigid behind him.

He follows your gaze and after a moment, he waves dismissively “her? She’s a bit brain damaged, you know how they are when they come out of it! Can’t speak at all..” he squints “I think.”

“Right.” You mutter. The moment you speak, the core’s head turns back around and he exclaims 

“Ah-! You speak. Great, really great. I was getting a little tired of being the only voice in the room. uhm..So- I’m trying to get this one out of here. She seems eager enough, and er..that’s..that’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

“Ah..No, not at all.” why you were going along with what the moron set for you, pretending to be a member of aperture, you weren’t sure. To avoid suspicion? Chell, however, seemed perfectly suspicious of you, not moving from where she stood on the far side of the room. “She’s offline, as it were,so…testing can’t really er..happen.”

“Right.” the core nods, turning back around on his heels as he keeps walking after chell, talking loudly “So, to recap. Facility? Brink of destruction,totally unstable. Unfixable, even. Getting the lady-and myself-out of here through her..her chambers.” He grunts and shies away from the door once it starts opening from Chell’s proximity to it. “Actually– hold on, wait, we don’t have to. We should just– leave it be, yeah we should leave her be and–” the door reaches the top, and in a heap of dirt, dust and botanic life was a humanoid figure with an oblong head, optic partially hanging out of the ‘head’ “Whew– she’s off.” Wheatley mutters, hanging to the side of the doorway for a moment as Chell trudged ahead of him without stopping. You followed after the human and robot, and Wheatley whistled. 

“There she is..” he steps delicately over her body while you walk around her “Nasty piece of work she was–right?” he looks at you with a wide optic.

“Right.”

Wheatley jogs to keep up with Chell, and you followed suit “A proper maniac she was, really. Word of mouth? She killed everyone in the facility once. Railway operations department was not happy about that.” he shakes his head. “Know who took her down, in the end? A human. Like you too. All flesh and bones took her down.Not much known about him. Just..took her out and went and uh..no one’s seen him since.” you almost find the prattling amusing. If you weren’t trying to figure out a whole different matter of how to get out of here. “And uh…not much has happened since. Just..a lot of quiet and then us escaping now so er..yeah don’t touch anything.”

While Chell walks ahead of the two of you, Wheatley just keeps on talking, which you don’t particularly mind filling the silence. “This place has seen better days,certainly. I’m er– glad that she’s gone, of course. But it was a lot cleaner when she was awake. There’s this one fellow I know? Obnoxious with the cleaning ‘this is messy’, ‘this chamber is filled with bones’, ‘this track is broken and i can’t fix it,what if someone comes’, just prattling, really.” he huffs “not the best of guys, either. My standards are..not everyone’s, of course. Probably fine. Probably a fine guy but uhm..he wanted to turn her back on. Tried to, too, I think. Dunno how that went down but seeing as she’s still off…safe to say he failed, i’d think.” you’re not even sure who the hell he’s talking about, but it is filling the silence, so you don’t interrupt him,for his own sake. “Ah, we’re coming upon a drop. Rusted bars n’ all. Might want to watch your head. And your feet. And maybe..” he glances over at you, squinted and scrutinizing. “You..don’t have fall boots.”

“Nope.”

“Well, that is definitely an issue, considering the drop. I mean, you humans are plenty fragile without the danger of drops or injuries or blood or–well actually, no, a drop like that might be fine, if you can stand a broken bone or two. Though, we don't actually have any way to reset the bone, so as long as you’re fine with a permanently odd leg, then it should be perfectly fine.” he eyes the drop over Chell’s shoulder, and starts up again “uh–lady, think you’ve got the boots to sp–” Chell jumps off of the railing without a second thought, hitting the floor rough and stable. She briefly turns, looking back up at the railing, before she takes a step back to rest against a wall. She’s waiting, now.

Wheatley glances down at the drop again, and squints “Actually, now thinking about it, a human’s head would split like a melon from a height like this. So, a good bit of advice doesn't land on it. Or your arms, either. They'll break like the legs. So uh..don’t go head-first. Or arms first. And especially not elbows first. I don’t have elbows, but if i did, i wouldn't want to fall on those. Or–actually, judging it..it is probably too high to jump without long fall boots. so…Metal man, Human..person.” he squints “More likely to survive a good old fall, yeah? Not made of plastic and all that.”

“You’d probably be fine.”

“Well...i did fall off my management rail and was perfectly fine, so..” Wheatley hums as he stares down at the drop. Unceremoniously, you were thrown over the android’s shoulder, which hurt far more than it should’ve, and dropped back onto your feet after the jump. “Et Voila!” Wheatley hums with a little flourish of his arms ``perfectly intact, the both of us.” Chell bumps her shoulder off the wall as she turns around the corner..to another set of catwalks. Wheatley yelps not long after, staring directly below himself “Ah- I do not recommend looking down, awful long fall…Ah-! Just done it again, terrible..This place just goes down. Miles and miles really. All sealed off years ago, of course.” The robot mutters, metal hand gripping the bars to the catwalk far too tightly as he shambled after Chell.

A silent woman on a mission, she was. Understandably so. A desire for freedom from the hell that aperture was at its core. A Tumor of unethical practices and a lack of humanity or morality.

Chell pauses upon coming across the main breaker room, and wheatley walks around her, squinting at the wall of buttons “Alright,” he chirps “So, there should be a switch labeled ‘ESCAPE POD’, don’t touch anything else. Not interested in anything else. Don't Touch anything else. Don't even Look at anything else, just--well, obviously you've got to look at everything else to find ESCAPE POD, but as soon as you've looked at something and it doesn't say ESCAPE POD, look at something else, look at the next thing. Alright? But don't touch anything else or look at any--well, look at other things, but don't... you understand." Wheatley rambles on as his head turns this way and that, searching up the wall of levers and switches with a narrowed pupil, humming to himself “No..no.. movement controls, interesting– no. nothing else. Lights…mmmnh no nothing else.” In a fluid movement, the android spins halfway to face you and Chell. 

“Tell you what, Might be easier if I'm plugged into the system. And..the lights. Might need the lights. So just plug me on in and I'll turn on the lights.” You were going to ask how exactly to go about that, before Chell pulls a long cable from the main breaker, plugging the cable into the back of Wheatley’s head as he turns back around to the system. The lights flash on at once, and both you and the woman cover your eyes briefly as Wheatley gestures “Let there be light!”

“That’s uh…god. I was quoting god..” Wheatley trails off slowly, and when met with an awkward silence by both you and the mute woman, he grunts “Tough crowd.”

There was an issue you hadn’t considered. Glados. She was going to turn on, throw Wheatley to rubble and throw Chell into testing, but just what would she do with an outlier? And Anomaly, more like? A wrench in the plan, even. You’re not entirely certain you wanted to find out.

But aperture rarely left time for pondering, as the platform started to turn slowly, and Chell wobbled on her feet, grasping behind her for anything to hold onto. “Oh, it’s turning!” Wheatley chimes nervously as he laughs “Ominous..but fine, as long as it doesn’t start moving up. Now..escape pod..escape pod.” he trails off quietly to himself. The platform whirrs loudly as it starts moving up, and the robot grunts “Ah it is–it’s moving up.” he hunches over the control panel as he talks “Okay! No, don’t worry. Don’t worry at all, it can fix this, I can fix it–fixing it…now” Wheatley’s pupil shrinks to a pinprick as he looks above himself. “No..makes it go faster..uh-oh..”

“Can you still fix it?”

“Listen– don’t panic, stop panicking” Chell watches the robot with a stony expression as the main breaking clicks into place at the ground level. “I Can, I Can still fix this, I can still stop it.” Wheatley glances down at the main breaker as the intercom whirrs to life

“Powerup initiated.” Daunting, that’s what that is. A message in dead air of what’s to come. A very large part of yourself hopes that Glados finds you an interesting anomaly and keeps you alive.

“Ohh that is not good” Wheatley mutters “ah- oh.there’s password. That is..fine. I‘ll just hack it. Not a problem.” You’d say you and chell beg to differ.

As Wheatley tries to hack the password combination by combination, Chell’s expression steels at the sight of the android’s figure being lifted up from the ground by pipes and wires connected through the back of her neck. Her legs were in a state of disrepair, one torn with red and blue wiring spilling out of it, and blue and yellow sparks flew as water dripped out of cracked casing. Her head slowly rises and falls backwards while sparks flew from her head, optic pulling itself back in and establishing a connection.

“Can you help at all?” Wheatley mutters “I think…I did B already. Someone needs to write this down. Grab a pen or–”

“Powerup Complete.”

“Okay, okay alright. This is fine.  Just be nice– totally nice, act natural, we’ve done nothing wrong.” Glados’ head falls forward as her optic constricts and contracts, before ultimately focusing on Chell, who stares right back at her. Without a lick of fear, that one. “Hello!” Wheatley chirps.

“Oh.” Glados’ steps forward and broken legs. It nearly looks like levitating,pulling along by the tubing out of her head “It’s you.”

Wheatley’s head spins to look between you and Chell. A silent woman, but her glare gives her away “You know her?” he questions.

“It’s been a long time.” Glados chides smoothly, not paying any mind to you nor the core, focused on Chell “How have you been?” Chell’s eyebrow twitches. You conclude that this ‘long time no see’ tone of phrase isn’t all that pleasing to the woman “I’ve been really busy being dead.” Glados breathes without the need to “You know, after you murdered me.”

“You did what?”

Two claws descend from above Glados’ chassis, lifting chell up from the hand, though if she were in pain, she betrays nothing to Glados. It’s commendable..if not worrying. Wheatley on the other hand, is lifted from the head, screaming “No no no—No no no-Agh!” Sparks flew as the wire connecting him by the head to the main breaker was ripped out and clattered by your feet. 

“Okay, look. We both said things that you’re going to regret.” glados’ head doesn’t even turn to regard the core before the claw drops and grabs, crushing Wheatley's outer casing,and his optic blinks out as the claw tosses the body into a heap across from her. Something about even that reads to you now as restraint, exerting Control, even. Crushing the core as to not crush her enemy. “But I think we can put our differences aside. For science. You monster.”

As the claw slowly drags Chell over the incinerator, Glados’ voice takes on a lighter tone,body being dragged along by wires “I will say though, that since you went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really really love to test. I love it too. There’s just one small thing we have to take care of, first.” You watch as the claw drops the woman into the incinerator. Only once it closes and the claw rises up and away, does Glados turn slowly around to regard you. The anomaly.

Glados’s optic stares down at you, a blinding yellow light amidst the decay, and you shrink back a step, towards the heap of scrap that Wheatley currently was, laying in a broken pile. The robot’s angular body shifts forwards as she walks towards you, wires dragging slowly behind her broken legs. Commanding, that’s what you think of her in person. She commands a respect about her, and she was downright scary, even smaller than you’d seen her in the game. 

“You are not permitted to be here.” She states. Not a question. An objective, undeniable fact. “You are not a test subject.” Glados has no panels to her optic, like the core. It’s far harder to read her ‘expressions’ beyond tone of voice. The monotony of it doesn’t help you one bit. Mad? Intrigued? Civil? You couldn’t be sure.

“Yeah.” you trail off, not denying the fact.

Wires spill out behind her legs as she walks straight towards you, looming over your head.”What are you doing here?”

You don’t have an answer for her. What would you say, something as childish as ‘i dunno’? Absolutely not. So you lie. “..Studying.”

The robot’s head tilts backward as she scrutinizes you. Or at least, you certainly feel as though she was. ‘Go.”

“What?”

“Study.” She states, turning slowly on her heel. “When the incinerator is operational, your study ends.” You don’t like the sound of that. It’s not malice, but it’s undeniable that in the robot’s view, you were an intruder of some sort. “Take the core with you.’ It’s not a request for you to do so, she was telling you to leave and take the core with you through a different door she had opened. 

“Why?” You don’t know exactly what compels you to ask. To question Her, while she’s telling you your time is limited. You don’t have the seconds to waste, and yet you were.

“A test.” she doesn’t turn around, nor turn her head to stare at you. Instead, she regards her facility in such a state of disrepair. “Humans are made of Will, in theory. She proves it.” You’d think that might be the nicest thing she’s said of Chell. “Either she is an anomaly, or you will prove it as well.” So it’s a test for you to get answers about her.

You don’t have it in you to stay any longer in the room with a homicidal rogue AI who is still currently upset from the encounter with her murderer, instead quickly hooking your arms around the broken core’s body and dragging him along with you back through the door, which slams shut as soon as you were through it.

Wheatley Whirrs back to life not long after, on the catwalks. You had dropped him not moments ago, the strain being too much to bear on your arms. He sits up, searching and bewildered as you laid your hands on your knees, breathing hard. Solid metal, you’re frankly surprised you got this far. A single turn away from the door you were allowed through.

“Oh…this is not good.” Wheatley mumbles as his cracked optic looks this way and that, constricting and contracting. A constriction too small for the iris, and sparks would fly “Agh-”

“Thank god.” You mutter “Heavy metal.”

“What?”

“You. Are heavy.” You point with one hand as you straighten back up, turning your head around to stare down the seemingly endless line the catwalks made.

“Well, yes, I’m-I’m made of solid metal and titanium bearings, of course i would be heavy. Not exactly meant to be carried. Or to do the carrying– really, but i did, if you’ll remember–”

“We’ve got to go.” You decide, squinting. In the first place, you needed to find some way for Wheatley to fix himself up. His optic hanging that loosely out of the ‘socket’ couldn’t be good, neither were the tears and large cracks in the casing. Wires hanging out of the top of his head.

“You what?”

“We’re running on borrowed time.” you don't wait for him to get onto his feet, although you reasonably should’ve. Now that you’re not carrying a hunk of dead-weight metal with no-functional springs, you’re running on adrenaline. Not healthy, doesn’t feel good at all. You wonder how chell was going to fair was the slightly drug-induced testing tracks. 

You don’t actually like remembering the game, in this case. It’s bothering you immensely already, what’s to come.

Wheatley scrambles after you on wobbly legs as he stares around himself wildly “Look, I’m all for an escape plan. Clearly. Planned to escape her. Think it was a pretty good plan, if i do say for myself–which i am, really. It was a good one, if that main breaker had agreed with me. You know, all the bots down in the wiring department really should condemn a machine like that. Definitely wasn’t supposed to raise. I don’t think so, anyways. Broken as a heap–”

“But?”

“aha..Uhm. But this is ‘by the seat of our pants’, as it were, right?” Wheatley questions, shambling after you “i mean you certainly don’t know where we’re going, Scientists aren’t allowed behind the catwalks–and that's not to say that you wouldn’t be able to direct us, i’m sure you’d be great at it, but i have some idea of where we are and let me tell you, it is far too close to her.”

“I know. It isn’t a good plan.”

“So you agree, good, good.” You glance over your shoulder, just a touch offended. Wheatley’s iris contracts and sparks fly as he nervously backtracks “Like i said, like i said, i’m sure you’d be great at it if you knew where we were.”

“You’re welcome for carrying you.” you chided as you headed through a set of doors. Ultimately, he was right. You haven’t a clue where the hell you were right now. In the game, you would’ve been testing, there was no need to really know where the catwalks lead

“Right–yes, thank you. Greatly appreciated. Wouldn’t much care for being left to uh..die.”

“Who gave you and Her the concept of death?” you question while you walk. Filling the silence now. The chatterbox surely could fill it.

“Well- you would know, wouldn’t you? I don’t. They don’t exactly apply a ‘made by’ sticker.”

“Right. I haven’t been here in awhile. Excuse any lapses.” 

“Totally excused!” Wheatley chirps “Actually, now that I think of it, this is a great plan. Get away from her, and then we can come up with something else.” and he claps his hands together with a metal thud “Oh! Great idea. We go get Her, the brain damaged one? Seems perfectly capable, that one.” he pauses, and you’re certain he’s staring at the back of your head, expecting some sort of back-talk “Obviously not to say that you and I aren’t perfectly capable, but apparently she killed Her before?” he stumbles right into his own plan a little “Oh! Hold on, really, that’s good. We get her to shut Her off, and then the three of us escape! The musketeers, our little trio’ll be, right?”

“Maybe shutting her off isn’t the best of ideas–”

“Think about it! I mean really think about it. Chances are, you die twice, you’re not coming back a third time, right? Just need to make sure the death sticks this time, like J– actually..shouldn’t say that.” the core grunts as you both pass through another set of open doors.

“Maybe.” You haphazardly agree. You really don’t like knowing what’s to come. “First things first, though, have to get you fixed up.”

“Right. Definitely, priorities in order. Put myself in working order, retrieve her, defeat Her, escape! One issue though, No spare parts. Another issue, no spare optics on hand. Third issue–”

The sound of other voices stunt you both in your tracks. The sound of yelling, arguing and monotony bothers you a great deal. What? They weren’t supposed to be anywhere near here.

“Fact, Adventure core is a Crass excuse for Indiana Jones.”

“What!? Have you got an oil leak in your main chambers? Indy is a crass excuse for Me.”

“I think…Indiana Jones should’ve gone to Space!”

Despite your apprehension, Wheatley goes jogging ahead of you with a tone of delight “Others! Isn’t that great?”

“Hold on–”

Now you’re shambling to keep up with a broken robot. 

[twoidiotwriters1]

Something's changing in Ara Jackson. As if that weren't scary enough, Leo continues to be missing, the oracle doesn't work, and all forms of communication are failing. The Daughter of Olympus faces a new crossroads when Lester, formerly the sun god Apollo, enlists her in a new mission.

Book I // Book II

Born to Say 'Fuck Off' Forced to Say 'Yes, Sir'

No! Not My Irrepressible Thoughts of Death!

I Have a Resting Bitch Face but I'm Far From Rested

Kawabummer

Girl Help, the Backpain Is Winning

God Gave Us ADHD Because He Knew We'd Overthrow Him

I Can't Dance, I Can't Jive, I'm Not Having the Time of My Life

Dang Bitch, You Live Like This?

With All Due Respect, Which Is None

Yes Boy, Give Us Nothing!

I'm Ready to Fight God AND Die Trying

My Lil Prince (Derogatory)

Can't Blame a Bitch for Trying

To Whoever's Controlling Me Like a Sims Character, It's Not Funny Anymore

Maybe Consider This: Let's All Get Along

I'm up to My Tits With Morons

The Gang's All Here! (The Voices)

This Apollo Is Not Demure nor Mindful

Serendipity

This Is Not Very Yeehaw of You

We Are Thirsty, Besties

I Cannot Be Held Responsible for What I Say After 8PM in a Court of Law

Oh We're Performing Behaviours Are We? We're Acting in Ways?

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing, and None of You Can Stop Me

My Dokies Are the Okiest You've Ever Seen

I'm Going to Cry, This Is a Threat

At the Next Inconvenience, I Will Start Biting People

The Fucketh?

Believe It or Not, I'm More Terrible Than You'd Think

I'm Joining the Orcas at War

Unfortunately, I Prevail

Just Finished Sobbing. Time to Girlboss

I Wanna Hold His Hand So Bad It Makes Me Look Stupid

Silly Bitch Club

Yeet!

Found Family (Derogatory)

Girl Talk! *Guttural Screaming*

I Get Diagnosed With Omnipotence

I'm What the Kids Call 'Unwell'

Ooohh the Girls Are Fighting!

Lester My Man, You're Scaring the Hoes

I Am Once Again Making Problems for Others

Hey, Pookie... What?

To However Burnt Habaneros in My Altar, Count Your Days

This Guy Is So Cancelled

RIP Brutus You Would've LOVED Stabbing This Caesar

Caligula Wants Me, Commodus Fears Me, Nero Is Just There

So Many Languages and Yet I Talk Bullshit

Give Me My Horrid Self-Awareness Back It Was a Gift From My Mother!

Awake, but at What Cost?

The Rumors Are True, I Murder People

I Have the Power of God and Anime on My Side!

If I'd a Nikel for Every Demigod That Became a God I'd Have Too Many

Here's the playlist where I'll be adding all the songs I use for this fic -Danny

Join the taglist!

Last Update: June 4th, 2025 by Danny

[stone-97]

GGY: SB - Truth

-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-CRACK-THUMP-THUMP-CRACK-

“I’m furious, beyond furious actually. This anger had been building ever since Becker was butchered by Glitchtrap and his obedient murder slave. Being stripped of control like that is nerve-wracking. It was important to send Becker on a goose chase, all those morons had to do was leave multiple trails out of the city. Should’ve known the plan was doomed to FAIL, but I’m not omnipotent, just overly cautious and paranoid.”

-BZBBZZZBZZBBZBBBZBZBZBZBZBZBZBZBZBZBBBZZBZZZZZZZBZZBZBZZZZZ-

I CAN’T BE EVERYWHERE; SLEEP IS A MUST FOR US! STABILITY REQUIRES SLEEP!

-BSBSBSBBSBSBSSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSSBSBSBSBSSBSBSBSBSBSBSBBSSB-

I CAN FEEL OUR BODY TREMBLE AS THE A FAMILIAR VOICE YELLS IN MY HEAD

              My head shakes as the buzzing fades away again, refocusing on the matter at hand. It had slipped my mind what the ramifications of denying the blinding weasel and the braindead puppet. Although, HIS plans went beyond resurrecting a worthless zombie, unlike my “associate’s” belief in the zombie’s gospel. I’m not a fool, the only reason Vanny was still useful was because she has VANESSA’S BODY. My host’s existence was testament to the zombie’s failed initial plan. Then again, it was a miracle that Glitchtrap didn’t order Vanny to dispose of Gregory.

“God dammit! What’s the point of gaining remnant if the dumbasses want child remnant specifically.” My hands vibrate from pain as I tore up failed notes to grasp ointment and gauze.

-RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPP-POP-SQUEELCH-FWIIIPPPP-RIP-TACK-

“Those two are doing as they please, disregarding the consequences and this new “plan” of theirs will be blown-up in their faces, don’t need to be a genius to see that.” My hair is ruined, and my base is dusty.

-CCCCCRRRREEEEEEEEAAAAK-

              I look at the worn photos in a corner, an echo of nostalgia filling my host before fading into obscurity. Gregory had turned every mirror in the base to the walls, but I know he’s hiding from that specter. I know the specter isn’t harmful, but Gregory suffered enough at the ghastly apparition of my “Boss” to leave mental scars. The apparition is talkative, a mechanic, and clearly a past victim, I don’t know who it is though they value family if their staring at pictures isn’t obvious enough.

“Gregory is an orphan by no fault of his own, I still see flashes of that night he became one by Glitch’s orders. I desired to be FREE, now I’m tired of it all, so fucking tired. Just a few more tuning sessions and I can set it all in motion.”

-CREAK-FWOOSH-CLICK-CLACK-CLICK-CLACK-FWOOSH-

-HRUM-HRUM-HRUM-HRUM-HRUM-HRUM-

              The comforting, amber glow of Gregory’s remnant illuminates this room, the jars are quiet and calm in his presence. However, the room adjacent to this crawl space closet is different, almost joyous in the windy whispers. Although I hadn’t the reason to look into Gregory’s memories, I’m aware of their shared past, but the remnant isn’t picky in what is transferred back into the body. So, I see Gregory’s childhood before the headset, yet it’s clear that Vanny existed before it all. I can’t understand what made her wait to kill THEM, she could’ve done it at any time prior. I can theorize but no proof exists to answer this query of mine.

-CLICK-CLACK-CLICK-CLACK-FWOOSH-CLICK-CLACK-CLICK-CLACK-FWOOSH-

-HROOO-GIGGLE-HROOO-GIGGLE-HROOO-GIGGLE-HROOO-GIGGLE-

-TINK-CLANK-TINK-CLANK-TINK-CLANK-TINK-CLANK-

“It’s all irrelevant, I need to finish what’s in store before those two get wise to my lip service and platitudes. Lucky for me, Vanny’s forethought isn’t beyond covering up her crimes, or she’d ask about the remnant I’m using. Time to check the others.” Crossing the gap to the door.

              This was the other secret I’d kept for so long, these jars are almost gone, soon nothing will stop me from getting what I want. I can feel the exhaustion in my being, but I’m almost finished, soon nothing will matter after this is all over, not Vanny, the missing children, nor the past. Gregory will wake believing it all to be nothing short of a bad dream, it’ll be better for us all in the end.

-Staring into the, now hung, mirror, with the ghost behind me-

              It’s merely a feeling, but a warm echo settled into my chest, guess you agree with my plan. I’m no longer looking at a reflection of blue eyes, only weary amber stared back, a splash of ever-present pain apparent in them. How it feels to watch an imposter live your life, steal your friends, and continuously bloody your hands until knee-deep in bodies. That is a kind of trauma I could never understand, but freedom is near, yours and MINE.

“Cassidy won’t agree to your plan, no longer will HE be in her grasp.” Sorrow hangs in the room from the ghost.

“What SHE desires is irrelevant, after all, she is still hiding from the consequences of HER actions.” Tis wrong to snap at him, but her actions led to this nightmare’s existence.

              I turn to the machine, Vanessa’s unconscious form strapped into the comfy chair. Moving her was easy, but Gregory worries, she’s gaunt, starved of nutrients, and so pale it’s as if she’s already dead. Yet, tis an improvement over how near-death she had been before the “tuning” I began. Calling it tuning was quite clever when the truth was that I’d been feeding the agony Vanny pulled from Vanessa back into Vanessa’s body.

-SLOSH-GURGLE-TINK-

              I stared down at the faintly glowing, emerald liquid sloshing and coiling the jar like a water snake. It YEARNS to return to the host. I lied when I told them that Vanny would overtake Vanessa, it wasn’t the opposite either, this would weaken Vanny’s hold tremendously, but it won’t be a miracle fix-it as I mentioned to the ghost. There are still other safeguards that warden set up.

“When the stage is set, I won’t be able to communicate with him, so you’ll have to in my stead.” My eyes glance to the darkened corner.

-TINK-SHINK-TINK-SHINK-TINK-SHINK-WWWHHHIRRRMMM-BUBBLE-BUBBLE-FSSSSS-

“Now then Vanessa, this is your final round of shots. Soon, you’ll be right as rain and on your way.” I slot the jars into the feeder before pressing the button.

              I’d set up Gregory’s feeder last night, so all I need is to sit and let the machine work as we sleep. Everything is done, soon Freddy will deliver Vanessa to the Lost and Found office. As for Gregory, my faithful partner will hide him in one of my burrows near the Atrium, just in time for the show. Vanny and Glitch will be scrambling to brainwash him again. I’ll be laughing the entire time, wherever I land when they realize the chip is gone, from Gregory.

              Remnant is a wonderful quick fix, as long as the one healed matches the one it’s pulled from. I glance at the faded scar that’s hidden by Vanessa’s right bang; it was shrinking more, and soon it’ll be completely gone. How easy those two were to convince, an unexpected accident with a Monty endo in P&S was all I needed as an excuse to put her under. Now, to get rid of the last piece, her chips.

-POP-HHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS-SQUEAK-HIS-BUBBLE-SPARK-BZZZ-ZIP-GURGLE-

“It’s time for you to return, Gregory. This night will be nightmarish, perhaps traumatizing. No need to worry, you won’t be alone. Neither of you will be alone.” Situating myself comfortably, nodding to my assistant bot.

-WWWHHHIRRRMMM-BUBBLE-BUBBLE-FSSSSS-

              My vision blurs as the needles gently poke and the injections start flooding Gregory’s veins at once. No surprise, I feel at peace, my mind tranquil as the blur turns from white to black.

“-sigh- It’s finally time, will be amazing to sleep, uninterrupted.” Gregory’s head lolls as the rest of him relaxes into the chair.

“It’s time; wake up, Gregory, wake up.” My eyes close forever.

[star-in-making]

Mod note:

This is my first rp blog – I was inspired by @true-grant's call to action :D

Kinda funny that I made an au blog and not a "canon" version of my mouthwashing OC, but I was really interested if I could turn a very y2k character into a historical one (but I'm so slowww). Not sure if anyone will be interested since it is an OC + niche AU blog, but I'm kinda invested. Will add thighs later

I'm friendly, come say hi, ask me or my girl anything you want

Feel free to interact with whatever, I'll probably make some goofy ah posts and arts

I'm fine with most things, I'll tell you if something is too much

I'm open for rp's of any sorts

I'm not a native speaker (im sowwy) so some things might not make too much sense

Intro:

If God existed and was as omnipotent and as omnipresent as Christian churches – from catholics and orthodox to protestants and other smaller groups of faithful – were telling people, then why does He let her suffer this much?

First her family was stripped of their wealth back in Russian Empire, then they were forced to flee overseas in search of a new beginning. Then disasters struck again, again and again untill she found herself far away from her beloved mama, papa and sisters,

Maybe – just maybe – Heavenly Father straight up hated her; hated her with great passion, because forcing her to live in a tiny town, surrounded by farms and nature was straight up cruel. Five years of living in big city made her accustomed to skyscrapers, theaters and stores full of luxury, not... two streets, which by mankind's will happen to cross each other in the middle.

But nature is good! some would say.

Nature stank. Nature itched. Nature was loud, waking her up too early for her liking. Nature lacked all the comforts and necessities her body yearned for.

Only children, cowboys and morons are able to be joyous about being close to nature.

Thank goodness they deliver Sears catalogues here.

The only saving grace was that she managed to get herself a nicely paid job in this town. Not as nicely paid as when she was a governess to one wealthy family back in Chicago, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

Now instead of explaining and correcting mistakes in spoiled brat's writing exercises she explained and corrected names and addresses on mail of Tulpar townies. Katarzyna was pushy (and talented, of course!) enough to secure a position of a post lady. How could the Postmaster refuse? She was well educated, literate and fluent enough– or maybe he just liked to look down her cleavage (she doesn't know and doesn't want to know).

Today was rather... a quiet day, if she says so herself. Katarzyna helped few citizens this morning, received a fresh bunch of Montgomery Ward catalogues, bagged one for herself and sent courier boy out with the rest. Now she sat there, all alone at the Tulpar's post office counter, her eyes trained on the printed pages full of furniture and clothing and other goodies – bless railroads, all of these were in a reach of her hand even in a scary wilderness of not-a-capital-city.

She perks up slightly when she hears somebody's footsteps approaching the door of the post office, her posture straightens.

"Greetings, good patron!" redhead says from behind the counter, her foreign accent seeps through even when she tries to hide it. "What can I help you with today?"

Mod note #2:

This is full of my pfp + original "canon" look I made for her. Credit to me I guess?? and my main blog @spado-the-pomeranian

[collymore]

The delusional assumption of being white Caucasian and therefore omnipotent!

By Stanley Collymore

Israel and the USA specifically have done their very best to try and actually carve up the Middle East to suit their needs over the last 50 years! Iran, however is undoubtedly a different beast as they've simply already discovered. Poke it and you will inevitably discover that realistically it's no pushover. And obviously, what these white, western oriented master race morons undeniably and simply, quite unquestionably should stop and crucially consider, is really this. The days of white Caucasians of simply whatsoever tribe they do deign to align, or assign themselves, specifically with; effectively carving up the world, to suit themselves; and to Hell, with everyone else who doesn't think and literally act like them, or essentially, knuckle down to their quite self-evidently, thoroughly selfish and really discernibly, arrogant demands are undoubtedly over. And if you white racist, Nazi and xenophobic Westerners crucially want to instigate World War 3 then bring it on! As there are collectively effectively more of us numerically than they are truly of you. No matter how many nukes you have between you! And if you want to slice off your nose, to spoil your face; well, that's your fucking problem, not ours!

(C) Stanley V. Collymore 20 October 2024.  

Author's Remarks: In succinct and unapologetic phraseology, simply fucking well grow up! The world belongs to all of us inhabiting it not exclusively white Caucasians who were the last element of Homo sapiens to effectively emerge on it!

[qutemag]

The movie guy reviews: Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning -- Part One

by Benjamin Harkin

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One represents a finesse of a formula built over six entries in a series that has taken the mantle from the Bond films as the movies with the most action, spy stuff, cool stunts, intrigue, mustache-twirling villains, and badass women. And perhaps it is that, the formulaic nature of the film, that prevented me from enjoying this one as much as the prior six. Although, this is also part one of an intended two-parter, so perhaps the second half will prove this the very best in the series.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise of course) by now is so good at being in the shadows and spy work that every time he appeared for the first third of the movie was like a glorified magic trick. He’d toss green gas grenades to announce his presence, gassing everyone except the man he needs to talk to. This happened multiple times, and it’s almost a joke if Tom Cruise weren’t able to sell the goofiness. He’d stand behind columns, in shadow, his presence over the events almost omnipotent. Ethan has become a spy-god, and we the audience are in awe. This is Tom Cruise at the most Tom Cruiseyness you could get, his toothy smile well on show, his sleights of hand so perfectly calculated that we only must clap and point and go “ah that Mission Impossible guy, he’s such a character!” It’s a departure from the vibe of earlier movies, which always had Ethan slightly out of his element and on the back foot. By the seventh installment, he’s so used to danger that he eats cyanide pills with his corn flakes and sleeps on a bed of drones.

Turns out a macguffin has gone missing on a sub near the bottom of the ocean (unfortunate given the whole Titan mess a week or two ago, undoubtedly will be on people’s minds) and it’s only the IMF team, a team so secret not even the head of the CIA knows about them now, who are able to track it down. But this time, they’ve perhaps been outsmarted before they’ve even started. Not even Benji could hammer his laptop hard enough to outwit their worst foe yet. What do you do when you’ve blown your chance on the last flick for the ‘best villain’ awards with Henry Cavill reloading his arms in a brutal bathroom fistfight? You flip the script – there is no villain. Well, no human villain. For Ethan Hunt, this will be the biggest fight yet, a villain he must both find and run from – ChatGPT. That’s right, this is mano a AI, ChatGPT vs. Tom Cruise.

So a worldwide AI, running underneath everything, has become self-aware and needs to find the macguffin, and incidentally every government (including the CIA) wants to control this AI because its intellect alone would be the deadliest weapon in the world and bring untold damage. There’s a sense of inevitability about this entry, like everyone in it knows this is the last hurrah and the IMF team have run out of options. Finally, the world has caught up with them, spywork has become simply cat and mouse when AI is the fumigator.

Oddly, this decision to completely remove any underlying villain has the ability for me of removing stakes in the movie. There’s no villain to hate, only a white circle of pulsating lights on a giant screen, empty and faceless. And all the humans fighting for the AI feel a bit like dupes and morons in service of a nothing cause. The fights then, while having impact and weight and the stunts being of course top notch Cruise fare, I’m sitting there watching these epic set pieces thinking – why? What are they actually fighting for? The movie makes plain that the AI should’ve precalculated every possible outcome of every possible situation, so it feels a bit like Ethan and the team going through motions and fighting a fight that’s already been done. I guess my issue with the narrative is by its nature it doesn’t feel spontaneous. The plot is a jumbled mess, throughout in between the epic action there’s scenes of people in suits yammering into the abyss about AI, keys, world ending stuff, before being unceremoniously taken out, their expository moments serving their place in this machine-oiled screenplay, every beat perfectly placed, like the screenwriters went to ChatGPT and said: Write a screenplay for MI7 containing a train stunt, a bike stunt, a car chase, plus a rogue AI, and then redrafted twelve times before preproduction even started. It’s a baffling, albeit new avenue (and predictive certainly of our current struggles with the leaps in AI technology) for this series, and I’m not sure it’s fully pulled off as well as it could be. And for me, I hold this series in highest regard – Mission Impossible has been my guilty action pleasure for the past decade while the Bond series languished in broody Craig backstory digressions.

Hayley Atwell is the newcomer this movie, and she suits her role perfectly. A pickpocket with a wry smile and a similar goofy attitude, she’s the perfect match for Cruise onscreen. They both chew the scenery with their crosses, double-crosses, steals and counter-steals, airport tailings and outwitting of goons. It’s good fun. Simon Pegg as Benji again thrills as the put-upon tech wizard, constantly needing to get Ethan out of jams. Wisened old Ving Rhames is there as Luther, mostly relegated to a tech role same as Benji, but gives Ethan valuable advice on how to approach this amorphous villain and start thinking outside the box.

I especially enjoyed the role of Paris by Pom Klementeiff, a henchwoman who seems to turn up out of nowhere in what’s my favourite sequence of the film, a car chase between Ethan and Hayley Atwell, Italian police, CIA duo hunting Ethan (who remain hunting him for the movie, seemingly to reign him in as they view IMF a terrorist organisation now), and then the henchman for the AI, a dude fittingly named Gabriel, who seems to know all and do all in service of his AI master. Paris though bursts into the car chase in a giant SWAT looking humvee, smashing everything to run over Ethan and Grace (Hayley Atwell) in their crappy little yellow Fiat. She has this glorious crazed look of glee as we’re not sure exactly what her intentions are, only that she wants to rip and tear everything in sight.

The train sequence near the end is of course the big ticket seller. A brilliant melding of fight scene, some espionage face-swapping gee-whizzery, and crazy good stunts. Tom of course steals the show with his life-threatening derring-do, going so far even as to ensure there’s a dialogue scene while he’s falling, just to make what is an incredible stunt that much more of a victory lap. It is here too Vanessa Kirby wows as Alanna, again another dodgy third party wanting in on this macguffin, whose loyalties are always switching and bamboozling those around her. She too is a newcomer and plays her role to perfection. 

Rebecca Ferguson as Illsa puts in another stellar performance here as well, and she’s now a solid part of the IMF team as the one outsider Ethan can trust in the web of deception. The CIA duo hunting Ethan, who hate him for reasons even they’re not 100% sure of, do well too as the henchman from Ethan’s own side making life difficult for the IMF. The CIA director and former IMF director (as in, the actual former IMF director from the 1996 film, and there’s a number of references to prior entries throughout) too prove fun asides, although with no real introductions we’re a bit at a loss as to what exactly they are doing in the movie or their objectives beyond “wanting macguffin” and “being annoying”, they are fun but nothing more than more bodies in a melting pot of a movie overflowing with people, places, action, and near constant feeling of rapid pace.

And the biggest, most amusing thing out of this whole huge Tom Cruise show is this is part one. The movie ends just when everything is in place, and you’re thinking “What? Really?” and then you remember that you’ll have to tune in next year to see how Tom and the gang manage to undoubtedly outdo the relative chaos of this first installment. I just wish there was something a bit more intriguing than an AI gone mad. Perhaps part two will reveal an even bigger threat behind the computer-generated pulsating circle. While I didn’t quite enjoy this as much as I’d like to, I will put most of my reservations down to this being what is essentially half a movie. And a Mission Impossible being still very very good is miles better than most of the action movies Hollywood churns out. 

[specialshinytrinkets]

🪲Boys will be bugs🪲

(Technical stuff under cut)

Original Bug Popuko and Bug Pipimi toy pictures from this post

OML LOOK AT THE TWO BOYS!!!!! XDDDDDDDDDD I guess I have been starved of caption writing for long enough to do this, so.... here we go!

One of the things about this duo that is. Making me shake and yell is that, technically speaking, they're kinda opposites. But not really. They're simular, but different. In terms of headcanons — that is for sure. Let me explain.

Gumball is the star of the show. It's his world for a reason — if Gumball stops existing, the World (as in, the extraterrestrial omnipotent forces of scriptwriters) is going to do everything in its power to return things to status quota [See also: "The Static"]. The eyes are all on them. They can't escape being Universe's favourite boy. He suffers and doesn't quite know that, being shoved from one wacky situation into another, often being misinterpreted and laughed at, without proper guidance (this Gumball angst post has rewired my brain and you're gonna have to Get Over It).

As for Grave, he's a one-off character. He's starved of attention both in meta and in-universe sense. Why, you may ask? Well, because I don't believe that a child of loving, attentive parents would earn money via illegal burger selling. And rap during work without any specific purpose, only to entertain himself (amd maybe, as intention, others). He's nowhere and everywhere, possibly existing in the background for much longer than presented, with Mr Small referencing a guy who left EJHS for supposedly lying and working at the cemetary. Very interesting coincidence.

So, we have a guy about whom barely anyone strongly cares, and a three-episode character. Both are well-deep into humour as coping mechanism (with Gumball it's confirmed; with Grave — cutting up dead animals as a teen is definetely traumatic). Both are selfish in their own right. And both probably feel lonely!

But with Grave being adopted by Needlemeyers (because of course he is), that adds extra interest. Now he's directly tied to a person who suffers from Gumball's hijinks. So how would he feel meeting Gumball? And how would he feel after finding out Gumball has their own mental struggles? Would there be a sense of kinship? Of the need to guide the young cat through life? And considering that Needlemeyers would greatly care of Grave, what would Gumball feel when hearing of mothers, who DON'T throw their child into a desert to prove his worth?

Oh, and. Don't forget about the queerness. And gaming. Never forget. These fools are like that one meme: "-What do you think of gay marriage? -As far as I'm aware, all marriage is gay marriage." They are nigh interchagable. And I love their moronic energy.

[argumate]

interesting aspects of the movie:

it experiments with splitscreen / comic book style shots! not a great idea tbh, kind of breaks immersion, haven't seen it used in many other movies besides Ang Lee's take on Hulk.

lots of typography, starting with the excellent opening credits which are displayed over a constellation of official printouts and documents that captures the typesetting zeitgeist of that period of line printers that predated the desktop publishing revolution.

the cylindrical underground facility resembles those that appeared in countless movies since, most notably Resident Evil, but has a much more stark and inhuman design: five layers in which your humanity is progressively stripped away as you descend, you literally have to lose the top layer of skin to reach the bottom.

hilariously silly stuff like having to desperately climb the central core of the facility to disable the nuclear (!) self destruct while being gassed and shot at by lasers designed to stop escaped test monkeys.

common trope of wise scientists confronting moronic military and craven politicians, although movie leaves open how complicit the scientists were in the germ warfare program.

secrecy is taken as a given: phone lines are cut off and civilians are told nothing even after an entire town is wiped off the map by a space virus brought back by a satellite (they plan to nuke the town).

it's 1971 so hippies make a brief appearance in the background; there's no direct mention of Vietnam, but all the helicopters and the F-4 Phantom showing up seem significant.

no direct involvement of the Soviet Union, but there is frustration when they realise they'll have to tell them before nuking Nevada thanks to the treaty banning above ground thermonuclear detonations.

it's 1971 so the old man sexually harasses the nurse and everyone smiles because that means he's getting better.

key plot point is that one of the scientists is epileptic and actually has a fit at the worst possible time, collapsing and foaming at the mouth right at the moment when people think the virus has escaped containment, oops.

the scientists take a brief moment to decry the irrational prejudice against epilepsy that would lead people to conceal it, which is a nice moment given that they're only a few minutes from nuclear obliteration at the time.

there is a man in the top secret facility whose entire job is waiting for a little bell to ring when important messages are received on the teleprinter, but it turns out that a small piece of paper is stuck in the mechanism preventing the bell from ringing, so he simply... sits there for four days and does not bother to read all the messages that are coming in as the lack of ding sound means they must not be important??

there are some advanced computer graphics in the film which like other films of the era were constructed manually with clever film editing, no computers involved.

the entire facility is run by an omnipotent computer, which is interesting as the movie is set in the present and not the future, so there is no HAL like 2001, but somehow the computer is still smarter than what you would see today (despite using 1971 era UI, which is honestly quite charming).

the facility also has the traditional calm female voice making announcements in the background (and a joke about who that voice might be) and I liked the fact that it kept making announcements that had nothing to do with the plot or characters but would be relevant to stuff happening elsewhere in the facility.

walls of fishbowl CRT screens look so ancient now oh my god.

Crichton feels like the Gladwell of fiction (if that's not already Gladwell lol) in the way that he confidently drops in pop psych stuff like the odd man rule (single men make the best decisions!) and color coding the levels of the facility for best psychological response and just random stuff like the scientists going to absurd lengths to purge themselves of bacteria to avoid contamination when the virus they're studying is already isolated in a secure chamber they're not supposed to enter.

at one point the space virus eats a guy and leaves only his polished bones behind and I think people don't make as big a deal of that as I would in that situation.

not a great movie! but definitely has its moments, and I have to admit its confidence in the coolness of its incredibly crappy computers did make me nostalgic.

The Andromeda Strain movie from 1971 is based on the book by Michael Crichton and includes some themes you might recall from Jurassic Park (life is difficult to isolate and contain, advanced technology breaks down in unexpected ways) presented in the form of a very dry scientific inquiry in which people cultivate petri dishes and take slices for electron microscopy and kill a lot of lab rats and also a monkey.

[satansaidmyturnintheh3llscape]

Everything Right/Wrong with Ninjago “Legacy of the Green Ninja” E6: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

This entire episode is just you watching my sanity dissolve in 4K. Disclaimers: Show owned by LEGO. This is not a professional review/critique - it’s mainly intended for comedy.

Reblog, like, and/or comment for more!

- This episode f*cking exists ❌

- Intro ✅

- Why is Nya carrying a whole-a*s watermelon into the training room? ❌

- “If I had focused more when I was little I would’ve seen that coming.” Buddy chill, you’re like 11 now ❌

- “We cannot change the past, but we can improve for the future.” Get it? Cuz it’s about time? And this is a time travel episode? GET IT???? ❌

- Wasn’t the City of Ouroboros destroyed? ❌

- “We’ll head straight for them.” Golly, this episode sure is moving fast! Surely this means we’ll have more time to flesh out and explain later events that happen, right?….. r-right…? ❌

- Wait, why did Nya come to the fight without her suit? I know she can fight without it but it’d still give them better chances ❌

- Garmadon reacts way too casually to seeing his son double in height in just a few days ❌

- “If only [the ninja] never existed!” If Garmadon was really smart, he’d go back to before they were born and kick Ray in the n- ❌

- “Now, to finish the ninja once and for all, so that my son never becomes the Green Ninja!” Or so that he never lives past age 8 but go off, king ❌

- “Garmadon’s gone back in time to make it so Lloyd never turns into the Green Ninja!” Well that was a quick conclusion based off of limited evidence… ❌

- “Remind me to pack a helmet next time we time travel…” No one reminds him. ❌

- “But we can’t let the old Kai or Nya see that we talked to [Wu],” The ninja get that Kai and Nya can’t see them, which means in order for them to not come to same conclusion for Wu, they have to all consider him some separate, omnipotent being instead of an actual person. Realistically, this wouldn’t be Wu’s fault and would be the result of the ninja just being idiots, but I’m gonna blame Wu anyway ❌

- “I believe a big uh-oh is in order.” Little late for that, Snowflake ❌

- Wu sympathizer I am not, but even I have to admit that Wu is going through it this episode. My guy has NO idea what’s happening and I don’t blame him ❌

- “I’m wise…” Let’s agree to disagree ❌

- Why do Jay and Zane’s poses in the photo remain the exact same even when Lloyd (who they have their arms around) fades completely out? Also, wouldn’t Kai not be in the pic? In this reality he never joined them, right? ❌

- Wait, if, back in the pilots, Garmadon baited Kai into grabbing the Sword of Fire, which ultimately led to Wu (and the golden weapons) being taken to the Underworld, which led to him escaping it, and now in the reality he’s trying to create, Kai wouldn’t join the team… does that mean he never escapes the Underworld? Has he thought this plan through? ❌

- “You have to convince Kai to go with you.” “Why?” Jay either forgets why they’re here, or just hates Kai. ❌

- I know the Skulkin are morons but how do none of them recognize Garm’s helmet? ❌

- Past Kai reacts way too casually to being sh*t talked by his own reflection ❌

- Also, Infinity Train’s “Chrome Car” episode looks different here (pls someone get this reference)

- Cool fight scene and all, but it directly implies that Jay, Cole and Zane’s fighting abilities haven’t improved at ALL in all this time ❌

- The only good thing in this entire episode is getting to see Kai deck his pilot-self in the face. Instant relief let me tell ya ✅

- In the pilots it takes about a week to get to this point. The ninja have been here for a week. The skulkin haven’t returned home in a WEEK. ❌

- “I don’t understand… I have 4 arms…” WHY IS THAT ALWAYS THE PART PEOPLE FIXATE ON?!?!?! ❌

- “Great😦 Scott😥” GREAT SCOTT?!?!? With each second of this episode I can feel my brain deteriorate more and more! ❌

- “Why are we still here?” Where tf are you planning to go?!?!? YOU HAVE NO PLAN TO GET BACK TO THE FUTURE!!! ❌

- “I don’t stand a chance against Garmadon’s 4 arms!” Past Kai has been a ninja for a couple weeks. Garmadon has been training to fight for actual CENTURIES. Yet, our biggest f*cking concern right now IS HIS GODD*MN ARMS?!?!?!?!? ❌

- “2 Kais?” “Yeah!” WHY IS PAST KAI ACTING SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS???? ❌

- “It could be possible to erase the events that have transpired so far by destroying the Mega Weapon that brought us here in the first place.” WHAT. ❌

- the Garmadons are doing this handshake for nearly HALF. A f*cking. Minute. I timed it ❌

- “No time to find out how you got [the golden weapons]!” WHAT? WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?!?! ❌

- “Return to the future?” I’m not dealing with another godd*mn voice mix-up after this sh*t ❌

- “My father has a mega weapon???” *very, very long sigh* If the mega weapon doesn’t exist, Why. Is. Lloyd. Not. 8. ❌

- I have no idea how Lloyd makes a dragon out of this watermelon slice but I also don’t have the energy to come up with a joke for it ❌

- “I think some things are best left in the past. Come on, let’s just prepare for the future!” “I don’t get it.” Me either, Green Bean… me either ❌

- Foreshadowing. Because of course, this is going to be the one episode that is brought up again in the future ❌

- Let’s be honest here: this episode was just an excuse to get rid of the mega weapon because it was too OP, and now that we’re getting into the actual plot of the season, the writers had no clue what to do with it ❌

Sentence: I’m gonna go lay down

[stryc-9]

Part 2 in my 5 part series of obvious things Lauren Seal completely misunderstands about storytelling... coherent plot

In a perfect (or even acceptable) story, the plot would be not only coherent, but also compelling and consistent. I think we all know that's far too much to expect in LN's case, so we'll stick with only one C aspect for now.

I'm going to admit something that makes me feel dumb but actually makes LN look dumb... I do not know what season 4 was about. Truly. I could guess at themes (that fall apart if you try to carry them through) and point out messages she thought she was maybe kinda conveying, but I honestly can't give you an elevator pitch to explain the season.

The homages / straight up copies of religious iconographies (which didn't belong in the first place) were so muddled.

The Romeo & Juliet fish tank homage -- both characters die. The scorpion and the frog fable -- both characters die. Cupid and psyche -- they end up together despite all kinds of obstacles and a trip through hell. And don't even get me started on Jesus, especially with how LN has followed up saying Villanelle was too self-serving to sacrifice her life for Eve. That was his whole deal.

So in 2 of these, both characters die. In 1, they end up together. And in Christianity -- why do I even have to address this -- there is the sacrifice of one for all.

I probably missed some of her fables / mythologies because honestly it was too much to keep up with considering the constant conflict. But of the ones I remembered, none fit the story.

And before someone lets her open her dumb mouth again to say something like "well Eve died too. She was being cleansed of all the death to be normal again." Honey, sweetie, darling, precious moron, Eve died A LONG TIME AGO. It was literally the point of her character journey. Her true self was being revealed while her "normal" persona was being stripped away.

She didn't become SOMEONE NEW. She embraced all parts of herself to become SOMETHING ELSE. Not new. Complete.

Now we can now discuss what we were presented with as maybe I guess might have kinda a little bit been the plot for season 4... the 12. They make no sense (in the show) as either an organization or a big bad. One minute they are all knowing and no one can ever break free of them and the next they're sending out e-vites.

Characters were used as objects for no reason. Konstantin was back with the 12. Why couldn't he or Pam decode the text from Helene's phone that apparently only Villanelle could crack in 4 seconds?

You all know I have 9,857 questions about this season. That one happened to pop up simply because I'm trying to find the thread that held together 8 episodes.

But here's the thing... a month and a half post-finale and I still can't. In fact, it only falls apart more on further inspection.

When we finally do "resolve" the storyline of the great and seemingly omnipotent (yet incompetent) 12, there's no point whatsoever. They never had faces that mattered to us or the characters. They had no bearing on the actual story. They just kinda existed, I guess? The only purpose ever given in the show was that they "create chaos," whatever the fuck that means.

Luke Jennings, at the very least, understood the concept of plot. His 12 are cunning and competent and they HAVE A PURPOSE. They're largely faceless still (as any actual secret cabal should be), but their presence is FELT and their reach is CLEAR. Their kills are strategic and each one is part of a bigger picture to crumble world governments. In short, they're terrifying.

Oh and I do hate to slap this point on with little to no transition, but I'm just following LN's lead: time jumps should be used incredibly sparingly and only by the best writers. If, however, one absolutely must (against all sound advice in this case) toss one in a narrative -- it is 1000% that person's responsibility to show the audience how we got from point A to point B in order to pick up the story further down the road.

There wasn't even an attempt at that, which honestly gave the plot no chance from the get go. Addressing 3 things in a short amount of time would've been a jumping off point: 1. What happened between Eve and V after they looked back on the bridge? 2. Why is Eve indifferent toward V as if she's an annoying kid sister and not a formidable foe / equal love interest and V essentially begging for scraps of attention? 3. Why church camp? (I can't even with that, and would've settled for the first 2 answers.)

It would've taken under 5 minutes to lay that groundwork, but instead we got half an episode of Carolyn in the 70s, new characters all the way through the finale, and a relationship between Villaneve that's never been more contentious while they hooked up with everyone else and never had an honest conversation. BUT WHY?!?!

And I've failed to mention how the time jump wasn't discussed IRL either. Sally said 7-8 months, Sandra said 2 years, and Jodie said 4-5 months. Those are VASTLY different timeframes. No blame on the actors whatsoever, but WHAT?! Kind of important facts to the plot of filming too.

The long and short of it is this: if all anyone is left with after your story is questions, you didn't have a coherent plot. And if this post lacks one, blame LN.

Part 1  |  Part 3 | Part 4

[kingcrxwn]

i only have five dragons total so they're all kinda my favourites. dumb dirt angels!

the Goblet has been banished under the cut bc she has sapphire and while personally i can look at her and i get a migraine from 0.5% more sapphire than she has, still better to be safe

would it be possible to get some dragon therapy with ur fave dragons? 🥺 

[whumpster-fire]

Okay listen, Nathaniel Bartseq is a dick and a moron, but the other day I saw a claim that basically all the problems in Amulet of Samarkand, including the first Simon Lovelace incident, were caused by Nathaniel being an arrogant little shit, which is like... noooo?

The problems in Amulet of Samarkand were caused by:

Simon Lovelace, a full-grown adult who could call up powerful djinn at the drop of a hat, feeling the need to bully a 10-year-old kid, refusing to take even the slightest L when said 10-year-old was smarter than he expected, and physically attacked him for saying the slightest word in his own defense. Nathaniel did absolutely nothing rude or arrogant until well after Lovelace and co, three grown-ass men, asked to have him called into the room, then started insulting him and grilling him with every intention of using his failure as further ammunition to humiliate him. And to make Underwood look bad (as if Underwood needed any help looking bad. I'm sure Lovelace had plenty of ways to flex on this guy without involving a child).

Arthur Underwood, for... well okay, in the moment publicly coming to Nathaniel's defense there would have been a disaster for them both, but Mr. Underwood absolutely fucking set his apprentice up for failure by being content to sit back and let him be fed endless propaganda about the "Honorable Magician," leading to Nathaniel being hopelessly ignorant of the political realities of the situation. This is a man who locked a six year old in a room full of imps that he'd ordered to terrorize and torture him to make sure it was driven into his skull from Day 1 how dangerous "demons" were, but what, learning how cutthroat and brutal magical society is wasn't age-appropriate? Like, "keep your head down and don't rise to goading from enemies who are more powerful than you, pick your battles" is such a vital lesson for a young magician, and he apparently just didn't bother with it. I'm sure Schyler and Whitwell were / would be terrible abusive masters but come on I think they would have made an effort to teach their apprentices "social skills for magicians" from an early age because they'd anticipate this kind of shit. Seriously like there are many, many things Underwood could have down to avoid or mitigate this entire situation, or at the very least to make the lesson Nathaniel took from this "Other adult magicians are dangerous and I must interact with them just as carefully as with a demon. My master is not omnipotent and cannot protect me from pissing off a guy like Lovelace any more than he could protect me if I scuffed the pentacle we're both standing in during a summoning" instead of "My master cannot and will not lift a single finger to protect me because he is a weak spineless coward and because he hates me and does not care about me." The amount of psychological damage that could have been avoided if Underwood had gone: "Yes, he's an asshole and I know he's an asshole, but you cannot confront assholes with power this recklessly. Count yourself lucky you learned this now because if you pull a stunt like that as an adult you will die" instead of making Nathaniel feel like he was being completely blamed for trying to protect himself. Literally the only person in this book who actually gave Nathaniel genuine guidance about how to survive in magician society without sugarcoating it was Bartimaeus (well, and Lovelace, but he was planning on murdering him immediately afterward), and that's pretty sad.

[hageny]

I think I agree with everything you said about Matsson. I have seen other people say he is a chameleon, and I think that speaks to your points as well. I think there is obviously a lot of overlap between his business persona and his personal, inner self, but where that overlap lies is always changing. Deliberately so. He is obviously intelligent, but I wonder how much of a "genius" he might be. Maybe he is actually a genius because he crafts so many different versions of himself and everyone believes in them. He is clearly very manipulative and obsessed with power, like most people on the show. I would love to know why he specifically always wants to win. Why he wants the sale to go through so quickly. Why he wants ATN now. Like Kendall, I think Lukas also has an inflated sense of self (who doesn't on this show?), but I would love to know the source of it. I also wonder if his intelligence, privilege, and influence cause him to be so empty and bored. Like, he seems to have no real purpose or passion in life. I feel like everything he does (the Waystar acquisition in particular) is done simply because he can. It comes easy to him. Like he is constantly pushing the limits and boundaries of what he is able and allowed to do, and he still has yet to find someone or something that can stop him. And because he hasn't hit that barrier yet, because he hasn't met his match, he is just rolling along, like a growing avalanche-gaining more and more power but living an aimless, destructive existence. It's almost like he is developing a god complex, and it makes sense why everyone and everything bores him. He is attractive, able bodied, relatively young, smart, rich. He technically has everything. When you are omnipotent, nothing moves you. I think that is why he said he was interested in failure last season. He wants a challenge. He wants something worthwhile. And taking on something a big as Waystar is that. But still, like...Logan was ready to sell very easily and Kendall and Roman are not competent enough to put up a fight in a significant way. They literally could not even succeed at ending the sale. He outmaneuvered them and seeing the pic Shiv sent was like a hit for him. He loved it, it got him off, but it will only last for so long.

But that moment on the mountain when he was with Roman, I think he deep down really liked that. He was furious and had a lot of energy. I think that's sort of the baseline of what he is looking for. For people to tell him no. For people to stand up to him. For people to parry and get a hit in, rather than always letting him win or losing to him in a predictable, unintelligent manner.

I also think he digs so deeply into things and people because he is trying to find someone equal or better and he just hasn't. He said everyone disappoints him and I think that's what he means. He is trying to find different avenues to rile people up so that they meet him where he is. So that they understand the game he is playing and say "Okay, let's go." I think when someone checks him, in the way that really overpowers him, then he will really come alive. But right now it makes sense why he is so lonely and such an oddball. He isn't interested in the conventional. He wants to be stimulated and wants a reason for being and despite all the wealth and access and everything and everyone available to him, he is a shell.

I'm a moron who checked my inbox and forgot about your well thought-out message, so forgive me, but I'm going to go ahead and share this so others can read because I like how you've dissected Matsson.

[collymore]

Get over yourselves - you useless, fatuous and sycophantic morons!

By Stanley Collymore

Anne Boleyn: the second wife of Henry VIII was crucially Queen of England, specifically in the 16th Century; precisely so from 1533-1536, when for actually chauvinistic and, I would additionally add, discernibly psychopathic and undeniably misogynistic reasons, her husband Henry simply decided, obviously ostensibly for essentially another woman whom he effectively had his eyes on, and because Anne Boleyn, hadn't borne him a male heir; literally falsely, accusing her of treason had her executed. Quite crucially perfectly brazenly possible and generally acceptable basically in those days when the motor car wasn't invented, then; and thus a quite necessarily orchestrated as required in the 20th Century, a car crash in the tunnel, of a neighbouring country; of an obviously, actually unwanted, and equally perceived too as a troublesome ex-wife, was clearly required to achieve precisely the same undoubted purpose.

However throughout her life, even as Queen, and subsequently so; this second wife of Henry VIII was, and is to this very day customarily referred to by her actual, evidently genuine maiden name of Anne Boleyn, and quite markedly so with no disrespect but on the contrary much affection! And rather discernibly in correlation with that there are numerous modern day undeniably rather intelligent and also undoubtedly mentally liberated women, who're actually very happily and simply devotedly married, who distinctly for their own personal, and mutually too cohabiting reasons; actually delightfully and proudly so, retain their own maiden name while still actually being blissfully happy evidently, in their own respective mutually valuable and fruitful marriage!

Yet we evidently have a facile surfeit of   simply quite discernibly intellectually challenged, crucially brainwashed and likewise delusionally, braindead morons, categorically, for the most part, entrenched racist Karens and basically, unquestionably so, like-minded Gammons, with essentially no real or any specifically meaningful lives of their own, and self-evidently ensconced in their literally Disneyesque fairytale, type feudal world of sycophants, automatically ruled by their naturally, ardently cherished omnipotent Lords and Ladies - recurrently and aggressively consistently demanding that simply because that's what they very personally want, everyone else must also automatically, specifically emulate them!  

And therefore an avidly egocentric and a stalkingly acquisitive woman, Kate Middleton, whose exacting simply cunning persistence very fulsomely achieved what she was after, should undoubtedly also, be essentially and ostensibly distinguishably heralded into that same, quite exalted milieu is their rabid thinking. An attitude effectively, that then becomes belligerent and offensive when those that can, and obviously do think for themselves, actually refuse to accede to their arrogant and clearly childish demands. Because such basically enlightened people sensibly acknowledge, that these so-called royal titles, that obviously this monarchical family very routinely award themselves are rather meaningless, and sensibly conclude that specifically, and very crucially all titles and significantly likewise distinctively also nationally awarded recognition, should in essence be unquestionably very positively earned and very fundamentally not simply given specifically because of one's actual birth or who they're essentially married to.

(C) Stanley V. Collymore 1 October 2024.

Author's Remarks: To the best of my knowledge no one is telling you prats you shouldn't in your medieval and puerile fawning, feudal mindset not to laud and worship these perceived by you as far superior automatically to everyone else and including yourselves. But don't think for a solitary moment that your persistent and essentially childish as well as belligerent and persistent demand that I follow you in your fatuous fawning towards your perceived and omnipotent betters is going to work with me, as it most categorically won't!

But as the saying goes, whatever turns you on! So enjoy and leave others far from being as daft as you are requisite to Kate Middleton and the rest of them alone!