#one that isn't good necessarily but is very popular

[ghost-proofbaby]

24h eddie is so the type to be like “do you need me to come fight someone? or come get you?” when you’re just like ranting about a coworker being annoying

“no, unfortunately murder for microwaving tuna in the break room is frowned upon”

i see your scenario and raise you the scenario that prior to all this, he would have absolutely been the annoying coworker who microwaved tuna.

[douubles]

anyone else w gender weirdness ever just sit back and be like damn. Would b so so easy if I was just a girl

[princealberich]

HOW DO I COMPLAIN TO HOYOVERSE?

It's easy, and there are MULTIPLE things you can do! I recommend doing each item on this list.

1. SIGN & SHARE THE PETITION

The petition will be delivered to the appropriate cultural reps, in order to complain to the CCP about the negative impression this is leaving on Chinese companies. Genshin Impact is highly favoured by the government for the positive press it gives the country, and putting pressure on the 'big daddy' is FAR more likely to make Hoyoverse buckle.

As of right now, the petition has nearly 38k signatures.

2. EMAIL HOYOVERSE

Email them directly at genshin_cs@hoyoverse.com to state how this has affected your desire to continue playing their games.

3. USE THE IN-GAME SURVEY OR FEEDBACK

Genshin Impact has frequent update surveys, and there is a permanent option to give feedback at any time. You can find it in the Paimon Menu.

4. REVIEW BOMB

Rate Hoyoverse's games, particularly Genshin, with one star on the app store. This has already proven in the past to have an effect, when this caused the team to review the anniversary rewards.

Here is a guide on how to do this!

5. POST IN OFFICIAL HOYOVERSE ACCOUNTS' COMMENTS

Do not be silent! Speak up about your displeasure. It's important that these comments outweigh the rest! Show that we are the MAJORITY.

6. SPEAK UP

Use the tags!

#BoycottHYV #WhyAreTheyWhiteHoyo #GenshinImpact #FixNatlan

Be relentless.

FURTHER DETAILS UNDER THE CUT!

WHAT SHOULD I NOT DO?

The following actions should NOT be taken:

DO NOT spend money on Hoyoverse games.

DO NOT sent threats, to voice actors OR customer service staff.

DO NOT engage with trolls or racists. Block and report.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

It's easy to dismiss this in the face of 'more important' issues in the world at the moment, but Genshin Impact (And by extension, Hoyoverse) is a very influential game and company. It is extremely popular, and directly influences MANY other games and players through this popularity.

This isn't an issue of 'just stop playing'- This is not anger for a game's decisions, it's anger for a precedent. It's a demand that not only should Hoyoverse care about representation, but other, smaller, companies too. If Hoyoverse can get away with it, so can others- But if Hoyoverse is held accountable for their exploitation of culture, then it sets the precedent that other companies have no chance of doing the same.

Like it or not, Hoyoverse has a lot of influence, and the CCP itself values the company for giving China a positive image in other countries. This is bigger than just being mad at character design.

EDIT: It was also pointed out to me that if POC were to simply stop engaging with hostile content, they would have nothing left. 'Just stop playing' isn't fair, plain and simple. POC deserve to play the things that they enjoy WITHOUT being ostracized.

DOES HOYOVERSE LISTEN?

They listen if there's no money lining their pockets, they listen if their reputation is damaged, and they listen if the CCP gets involved. We have direct evidence of this.

Review bombing alone caused Hoyoverse to reconsider the first anniversary rewards.

The CCP forced Hoyoverse to reskin various characters to comply with their laws, which HYV did. (This isn't necessarily a good thing, however, it is still evidence that CCP has influence over them.)

This is by far the largest outcry the company has seen so far, and MANY of HYV's voice actors have spoken out in support for the movement as well. This is not just playerbase complaints, but staff, too.

I recommend following AvenOfStrats on X/Twitter for further updates on the petition's progress, and on other ways to contribute. They also share plenty of resources on why this is important, and guides on how to complain.

[tsandoll]

✮⋆˙ JAEHYUN NSFW ALPHABET A-Z

| sungho | riwoo | jaehyun | taesan | leehan |

warnings: dacraphylia, dumbification, slapping, breeding, praise, degradation, cuckholding.

A - aftercare (what they’re like after sex) 

the most clingy boy on the planet. if you think he's clingy normally then after sex will have you shocked. he absolutely craves kisses and cuddles after sex. he's so so sweet and often will hold you extremely tight before dozing off in your arms. 

B - boobs or ass (are they a boob man or an ass man?) 

he's an all around body worshiper, he doesn't necessarily have a preference for one or the other. he just loves your body and having his hands on it and looking at it. he's huge on complimenting your body as well, softly running his hands along you. 

C - cum (anything to do with cum)

jaehyun loves to cum inside of you, he has a huge breeding kink. he loves the feeling of having his cock buried deep inside of you while he fills you with his warm seed. the feeling of his cum engulfing his cock inside of you drives him insane. 

D - dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs) 

he's a hugeeee humper and he also has a thing for cumming in his pants. he just really loves rutting up against you or against pillow or other objects. his hips are always in action because it feels so much better for him. he really loves holding your hips close so he can rut against your ass. 

E - experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?) 

jaehyun has definitely gotten some action, he's always been quite popular throughout his life. i feel like if anyone currently gets a lot of action it would be him just due to his popularity as well as his opportunities. 

F - favorite position (what is their favorite sex position?) 

240 

this is an ideal position for him because it allows him access to your chest as well as your face. he's big on kissing your lips, face, and body during sex so he loves when he can get to them easily. he also is a huge fan of watching you fuck yourself on him. 

G - goofy (are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc) 

definitely super goofy, like without even trying. sometimes he just makes you burst out laughing because of something that he says or does because he really just loses all rationale. he has his serious moments obviously but he's just a silly guy <3

H - hair (how well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

he isn't usually shaven, he just doesn't care much to shave or even trim. he also just doesn't trust himself that much with a razor if im so honest. i feel like he also is just overall a bit lazy like he just doesn't give me the energy that he'd shave. 

I - intimacy (how are they during the moment, romantic aspect…) 

if he's not inside of your skin than he'll die. jaehyun is incredibly intimate and longs for incredibly intimate sex as well. he really loves holding hands and kissing and being pressed close together with one another during sex. 

J - jack off (masturbation headcanon) 

he's very needy so he ends up masturbating quite often. when he touches himself he always ends up fucking his fist, he always ends up thrusting upwards instead of stroking his cock instead. 

K - kink (one or more of their kinks) 

praise/degradation - he loves both of these things in different scenarios. he has a thing for being reassured and praised, he is a good boy afterall. but he also loves when you make fun of him a bit <3. his favorite way for you to speak to him is a mix between both, when you speak in a sorta condescending way. 

dumbification - in a way he loves being talked down on. he loves when you take authority and you allow him to be fully brainless. he loved to get into that floaty cloudy headspace and one of the ways you can help him get there is by treating him like he can't think or do anything for himself. 

dacraphylia - jaehyun is a crier, this surprises no one and that doesn't change during sex either. he loves when you get him to the point of tears whether than be from sensitivity or frustration. he also loves when you wipe/kiss his tears away while you ruin him <3

L - location (favorite places to have sex) 

he loves to have sex on the couch, like it's just something about that specific location for him. he loves for you to ride him and he also loves to be able to eat you out on the couch. i feel like he also has a thing for cuddling up and watching movies in the living room only for you guys to end up fucking. 

M - motivation (what turns them on?) 

anything and everything, as long as you're involved in it then he's hard. what turns him on the most is when you take charge or when you're there to care for him. he also loves when you're possessive over him because he's also possessive over you so it just gets him going. 

N - no (Something they wouldn’t do) 

this is always the hardest one and i feel like jaehyun is very experimental like i said for riwoo. i think some things that he may be iffy about is like cuckholding cuz he'd rather die than see someone else fuck you. another thing i think he'd not like is anything that can hurt you in any way. 

O - oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc) 

he loves giving you head so much like he would die for it. he could spend so much time in between your legs just making you feel good. he loves when you cum on his tongue and when he can squeeze your thighs while he works his tongue against you. he always humps the bed while he does this as well. 

P - pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.) 

he's super fast paced, always very energetic and hyperactive. he often is rough along with it just because he doesn't really realize how quickly he's moving and things like that. sometimes when he's tired he loves slow paced sex though. 

Q - quickie (their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.) 

since he gets hard easily and often he's actually a huge fan of quickies. he loves that you're willing to help him get off randomly and super quickly, he loves to somewhat test how fast you'll be able to get him off and vice versa. 

R - risk (are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.) 

jaehyun is pretty willing to take risks during sex. he finds it exciting to experiment and try new things, as long as it's nothing too crazy or dangerous. i feel like he often gets really excited to try different things with you cuz he loves to explore. 

S - stamina (how many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…) 

jaehyun can get spent really quickly, he's sensitive and hyperactive during sex so he uses up a lot of his energy quite quickly. one round may be enough for him but he's absolutely capable of being pushed up to three. like he's super needy and can go again but he's also a sleepy person so he may need to do something less physically demanding. 

T - toy (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?) 

he doesn't own or use toys on himself just simply because he doesn't consider them much. i don't think he'd really give it much thought that toys can heighten his experience. if you have any toys he would love using them on you though (or seeing you use them on yourself). if you introduced him to toys he would absolutely begin using them on himself when he can't be with you. 

U - unfair (how much they like to tease) 

he teases so much, he loves teasing and being teased. he's super playful and is a sucker for teasing touches and things like that. he's always teasingly touching you or kissing you in some way. 

V - volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make) 

jaehyun is vocal, he's talkative and he also moans quite a bit. his volume can rage depending on what you're doing but he let's out low moans often. he tends to get a bit quieter when he's about to cum though. 

W - wild card (get a random headcanon for the character of your choice) 

it may not seem like something jaehyun would be into at first since he's sensitive and such a sweetheart but!! he loves when you slap him sometimes, whether it's on his face, cock, or thighs, he just loves to be roughed up by you sometimes. like when he's crying and begging for you and you slap him to quiet him down or something like that, it makes him so much harder. he just loves when you take charge and do things like this to him. 

X - x-ray (let’s see what’s going on in those pants) 

he's about average size when it comes to his length. he's on the thicker side, his cock being a bit heavy because of it. the tip of his cock is also slightly bigger than the rest of it, kind of like a mushroom. 

Y - yearning (yow high is their sex drive?) 

his sex drive is crazy, he's almost always horny if im honest. he just gets riled up over a lot of different things and he also is just so into you so it makes the things you do have even more of an affect on him. i feel like he's just a pretty sexual person in a relationship in general. 

Z - zzz (… how quickly they fall asleep afterward)

he falls asleep pretty quick if he gets to lay there after cumming. he'll be so relaxed and comfy after so it's very likely that he'll fall asleep within 10 minutes if he gets all warm and comfortable. 

[bouquetface]

Navamsa/D9 Chart Observations 2

Accuracy is influenced by ENTIRE chart. This is general info. NOT a person reading. If you have different experiences, I would love to know!

D9 should be read alongside natal

Saturn 9th House

This is said to delay marriage. This does not mean you won't date or have any relationships before marriage. You could date for a long term, you could have multiple relationships before marriage, you or the partner may not believe in marriage. However, depending on entire chart, this may not delay marriage because this is just 1 indicator.

You can have a troubled relationship with a sibling. If Saturn is badly placed, you may not receive what you believe is yours due to the sibling. EX: Conflict over inheritance, fighting over parent's house, fighting over vehicles, etc.

This can make one decide to go for higher education at a much later age and/or after marriage. Getting higher education will not be easy with this placement. The financial burden of it, maintaining motivation, finding time will all be obstacles.

Moon in 5th House

This can make the spouse romantic. Unless, moon is in a sign like cap or aqua. It is still possible with a saturn ruled moon, however it would need to be supported by other indicators/placements in the chart.

Generally, this is an indicator for a good married life. The couple is happy and has a healthy social life together. They do not stop enjoying life after getting married and entering older age.

If moon is harshly aspected, the person may be prone to overthinking. EX: They are constantly worried something bad may happen to their family.

The moon is exalted in taurus, this placement indicates romance and lust is strong in the marriage.

If you have kids, they are likely to be girls. The child/children will nurture you. The bond will be deep. The child/children will give back to you as adults. This can be in many forms - support/love, caring for your health, buying you gifts, etc.

Venus in 3rd House

You can take a lot of trips with the spouse. You enjoy exploring new places with one another. You could enjoy activities like camping, hiking, beach, etc. If you don’t like outdoors early life, it’s possible after marriage you become open to these activities.

Indicator of a long lasting marriage. You could help resolve issues with the spouse and father in law. The father in law could gift you and the spouse something beneficial. This would occur later in life and/or after marriage.

You could have a charming or flirty communication style. This can lead to many thinking you like them in the workplace.

Mars in 2nd House

A couple that bickers a lot. Not necessarily bad because it isn't full blown fighting. More teasing and little annoyance are expressed because you two are very comfortable in the relationship. You don't hold back opinions.

Reckless financial choices will be made. After marriage and/or later in life, you may find you develop poor spending habits. Likely nothing too drastic - ex: buying a drink on your way to work, online shopping, buying something you already have but in a different style/colour.

Your child won't be the way you want them to be. This does not mean they will be a bad person. If you have an ideal view of what your kid will look like, be like and do in life, you will be disappointed. The child will be their own person. They may rebel against you at older age if you are controlling or aggressive in parenting style. Lots of shouting at each other.

After marriage, you could have a period of time where you are fighting with a parent. Nothing that can't be resolved. You may desire control. This could lead to egos clashing.

Sun in 5th House

This can indicate having kids later than expected. However, not a strong indicator, you should check the ruler of 5th placement.

They can be highly concerned with appearances. These people can strongly desire to stay looking young. They can be very concerned with popularity/social life as well. They wish to be well liked & desired regardless of already having a partner. This doesn't mean they will cheat. They will likely dress up and be very social/friendly.

Rahu in 1st House

Accuracy depends on ENTIRE d9 and natal chart. Keep in mind this is not a personal read for you. It is a general read of this placement alone - no sign, no aspects or other planets considered.

In their early years, they can imagine the prefect career, partner or children. Depending on personal planets, they work hard to get it. They may realize they liked the fantasy of it better than the reality. This can result in drastic life changes later in life and/or after marriage.

EX: career change. You think you really want to be a nurse, however the reality of the work drains/depresses you. This leads to a period of struggle as you worked hard to become a nurse, it may even have been a longterm/childhood dream job. The thought of leaving and pursuing a new career pains you.

For some reason these people can tell themselves they are a failure if they change their mind later in life. However, a major change in direction will be needed to achieve true happiness in their later life.

Very often, these people fall deeply in love with their first partner. They can very seriously discuss and plan marriage with them. They may even marry them. However, married life will not be as they dreamed. This does not mean it is terrible or you will get divorced and be miserable. Simply, married life and/or the spouse is not who you thought they would be. However, you may experience this disillusionment with the first love you planned on marrying and NOT the actual spouse.

EX: You and your bf/gf are very serious about getting married. You discuss marriage/wedding, children/baby names, etc. You and your famillies believe you will be married. However, the bf/gf begins to reveal their true colours as they get more comfortable, thinking that you will not leave them. They start to disrespect you in some kind of way. You break up. While it sucks to be heartbroken, you got that karma out of the way before your real marriage.

EX: You always imagined a traditional household and family. The wife stays with kids, the husband works. Yet, the reality is the husband does not have the kind of job that can provide for an entire family on his own. Or the spouse does not like this idea. Or the reality of raising many kids is not as easy as imagined.

However, with Ketu in 7th you will have a deep connection with the spouse. You will be closely bonded regardless of any issues. If saturn is exalted for ex: saturn libra in 7th, you can resolve any issues that occur. You and the spouse are always willing to compromise and work to resolve problems.

Keep in mind those are just random examples.

Natal/Langa Rahu in 5th & D9/Navamsa Rahu in 10th

This can indicate having children young. These people can put a lot of focus on their children/child. They can be so focused on home life, they lose contact with the outside world. By outside world, I mean things and people that do not involve your family. Like career & reputation.

In later life, when children are adults or even teens, the person may choose to reconnect with the outside world. They can desire advancement in career. They can become concerned with how they are perceived by outsiders.

Rahu in 10th House

Generally, this placement suggests your married life brings you attention/judgement. You can date someone who is from a different background than you. You could marry someone who has a taboo or unique career. You could be poly. You could date someone younger or older. You could be divorced and marrying someone new. It can be many things depending on entire chart.

People (not including friends) could judge you two as a couple. There is something about the couple that they don’t understand. People will think it’s weird or possibly even wrong. You don’t follow what is expected or considered normal in your society.

On the bright side, this is one indicator of rahu bringing you wealth. You can approach your career in a non traditional manner. You will be judged but likely to make a lot of money.

You can look to where 10th H Ruler is to see how rahu’a influence in 10th will affect your life. Ex: Rahu in 10th H Taurus. Venus is in 10th or 2nd. This indicates despite people’s judgement, somehow you will find yourself making money being the way you are. Maybe you share your married life online. Many people judge you but it’s making you money anyways.

Moon in 2nd H

Generally, this is a good placement for wealth. If harshly aspected, you may spend more than you have.

Moon can make it hard for you to say no. Unless, it’s in a sign like virgo or cap. You may indulge in something - shopping, lavish foods, drinking/smoking, etc.

Often, this placement indicates you don’t have much contact with in-laws. Likely you see them on holidays & birthdays but no one goes out of their way to become friends with one another.

Most likely this is NOT due to any conflict between the two. It may be due to the spouse who doesn’t contact their parents much or because you live far from them. Or the in-laws do not want to overstep or in-laws simply don’t care much to befriend you. Either way, it is likely NOT a reason that creates conflict.

Now despite your in-laws lacking an emotional connection with you, the connection you will have with your kids is strong. You may surprise yourself later in life if you have kids. You will feel strongly attached to your kids even when they are adults. You will want to befriend the people they date & marry.

To see if you will like their spouse, check if there are malefics in 11th House. I find this has been a very accurate method. However, you will know when the time comes if you like them or not. The astro can be wrong especially on a general read.

Mercury in 10th House

If aspected to Jupiter, this gives good luck and success in career. You are likely to easily find jobs. You can be offered jobs at random. People simply like you - they want to be your friend. This isn't limited to work place, people in general have a good impression of you. Your bosses think of you highly. This can all occur after marriage and/or later in life - when 35-40 years old.

You and your spouse will be thought of as a social, youthful and active couple. The couple engaged within their community - ex: volunteering, attending church/temple, going to local festivals and parades, etc.

The con of this placement, unless their are planets in 4th, the home life is a bit neglected. You become such an active and prominent member of the community/society. When you come home, you are tired.

If Mercury is badly placed or in cap, I have noticed the spouse and the person's mother do not get along. A period of time comes when one dislikes the other. They may resolve this issue when it occurs.

4th H Ruler in 10th H

If 4th H Ruler is in 10th, the home/personal life becomes public. The reasons will vary depending on entire chart.

I have noticed when there is mercury influencing 4th or 10th, this can be due to the person publicly posting/publishing photos or stories about their family life. EX: Mom blogger.

[shinesurge]

Webcomic rings run by people within the community are cool and you should support them

I've been loudly struggling a little bit with corporate webcomic Stuff lately so I want to mention something positive to balance it out: webrings run by small groups of creators earnestly trying to support each other are slowly making a comeback and I for one am delighted.

If you weren't around for them in the before times, webrings were just some folks who hang out a lot who feature each other on their websites. That's literally it lmao. There's generally no money involved and it only really functions the way it's supposed to if people have control over their own websites AND genuinely want to participate and get excited about other folks' work, which means the practice has pretty well fallen by the wayside over the years in webcomic culture given. Everything. In the rare event someone decides to do something like this it's usually in the form of a link list somewhere on their website; this doesn't usually indicate any sort of mutual support, it's just a list of what the creator is reading themselves.

A webring, though, is an official banner or hub that people gather under intentionally where each member is more or less on equal footing. It's essentially the concept of "a rising tide lifts all boats" put into practice, each creator brings their own audience to the table in a passive, opt-in sort of way that's different from working for a publisher since there isn't necessarily a Top Spot or a paycheck everyone's vying for, and individuals retain autonomy over both their own work and how (if) they promote each other. You're all at your own tables in an artist alley rather than fighting over the table in the front of the book store, essentially.

I have two rings and one collective for you today!

Webcomic Ring was brought to my attention AGES ago by Holly, one of the artists featured there, and I might have brought it up at some point but I'm doing it again lmao. This is exactly the kind of thing you ought to be looking for; a small group of enthusiastic folks having a good time making their weird little comics. You probably haven't heard of much in the catalog, that's PERFECT in the context of webcomics that's where the GOOD SHIT is. Finding something like this is A Gift go dig around in the longboxes for a while.

Then a few people have pointed me in the direction of the KNIFEBEETLE collective and that's neat too! Most of the comics there are already fairly well-known, but the vibes are excellent and I haven't seen a lot of talk about the collective /itself/ outside folks already in the know. I think it's important for this sort of thing to be more visible to folks who aren't terminally steeped in webcomic culture already so here I am telling you about it. You were probably reading several of these before I suggested it, but that's how a webring works! For it to do its job you should take those bigger creators' tacit recommendation of the less popular titles as a sign to go read something new and strange. Wild, I know these are practices held over from the old internet, but I think we should try and bring them back.

Lastly, I want to mention Spiderforest, which is a collective (slightly different from a webring) BUT still a very cool project readers starved for new stuff should pay attention to.

You've probably seen Spiderforest kicking around for a long time already; they're wonderful and have always been an overall positive force in the community in my experience. They really focus on building up a community, and especially welcoming newcomers and helping them get their feet under them. Full disclosure, I've been asked to apply by a few different folks over the years and the only reason I never did is I don't have the ability to participate in their forums and such as frequently as they want their creators to; it's a very good system (from my outside perspective) that might contribute to the community staying mostly healthy in ways that art communities usually don't and I appreciate it a lot!

ANYWAYS that's all I got for now, just trying to balance out some bad feelings I've been having by talking about some good stuff. Please go binge an archive this week.

[possiblyreallyme]

Once a Beckman girl, always a Beckman girl

warning: very spicey/smutty but no actual penetration, toys (vibrator), size kink if you squint, big dick benn canon.

hello! i got this idea from one of my favorite one piece writer on tumbler, @innerfare!! everyone, go check them out!! thank you so much!!

"Come on, honey. Don't you wanna come back to my cabin?" Shanks asked drunkenly through his hiccups and wolfish grin, staggering over the countertop to hold onto the wood and wink at you.

You'd giggle, but you shook your head, cleaning the counter when he knocked over a glass of alcohol with his one elbow.

"I'm sorry, sir," You told him with that sweet smile, though you didn't seem very sorry. "I already have plans with your first mate."

Shanks backed off immediately, nodding his head and walking away before you could ask why. Even in his drunken state, he knew it was a complete waste of time to try and woo one of Benn's girls.

Plus, his first mate wasn't one to sleep around, so Shanks knew better than to interfere when he needed a night to relax. He was drunk, not heartless.

"Tough luck," Lucky Roux murmured through his mouthful of meat when Shanks told the table of pirates about the barmaid, not even looking up to console his captain. "No one gets one of Benn's girls."

"Yeah, no shit," The captain murmured with a hiccup, before slouching against the table with a few more, spinning a bottle cap around like a pouty child.

"I just wish we knew what he does to get girls so crazy," Yasopp replied under his breath, though he didn't necessarily care to keep his voice low. Anyone who knew Benn knew he was a charmer, even if he didn't go around flirting as much as his captain.

If only they knew. If only they knew how their Benn could drag his fingers across a lady's skin and make her feel like she was a work of art. How as much as Shanks told him one-night stands and hookups shouldn't last more than 30 minutes, he just can't leave a girl like that.

Was he not supposed to stretch her with his fingers? How was she supposed to fit him if he didn't— while you're at it, doesn't it feel better when you let her ride your face until she's squealing and pulling at your hair? And it would weight much too heavy on his conscious if he left a woman alone in bed when she's tired and sore and in need of some love, when he could put his left-over energy to use and make her a nice meal, maybe give her a massage to ease the ache he caused.

Of course a man like him was so popular with the ladies. He was practically made for women, with how he could memorize your body like the back of his hand, as if he's known you his whole life, but he only just learned your damn name.

He'll coo in that deep voice of his, say things a pirate most certainly shouldn't be saying to someone he'll never see again, with that charming smile on his face and slowly rolling his hips into yours, thumbing at your clit until you've coated the sheets in as much cum as you could give him.

And yet, he's never come across as a player. He isn't a womanizer; he isn't someone like Shanks who can't be trusted to remember his partners names after a week. He's tough as nails and brutal, but to the women whose hearts still throb for the first mate, he was a sweetheart. The type to empathize and sooth when he's just a little too big to fit all the way in your cunt, wiping your tears with kisses and assure you that you've taken more than enough for him to enjoy, so don't feel guilty.

"Benn," You're whining that night, just after you close and the Red Force was snickering when Beckman puts his hand on the small of your back, dwarfing you so intensely you felt your face go hot. You should have fucking guessed that a man with hands bigger than your head had a cock to match.

"Shh, I know, sweetheart. Just relax," He soothed, large fingers parting your labia and pulling up the hood of your clit, circling the little nerve with an ease that made you wonder if he'd done this before with you.

You knew good and damn well you'd remember if a man like this had ever been with you before, but he hadn't even taken his eyes off your face and yet he found your clit almost faster than you could.

You couldn't focus on that though, already fighting off delirium you only thought a cock could bring you, taken by surprise how he could get you so dumb when all he had done was fuck you with that big black vibrator. He kept you sat upright on his desk by letting you lay your head on his shoulder, fluttering kisses against your jaw and rubbing your back when you clenched around the toy and whined for more, soothing you with his whispers like a father soothing his baby in the dead of night.

"Not yet, little one." It had been not yet all damn night, and you were ready for more. Eyes locked on the tent in his pants, large and clearly thick enough to stretch you to your limit, but you couldn't find it in you to care how much it would hurt. He cared though, and thank God for that. He couldn't live with himself if one of his sweethearts got hurt when it was his job to make sure they were well taken care of and happy, even though Shanks tried to explain to him that his job was simply to get off and go.

When he finally pulled the vibrator out and let you slump against hi desk, he kissed along the inside of your thighs and cleaned up the mess dripping to your knees, murmuring enough poetic praise to keep you high on orgasm for longer than your ego appreciated.

"Aw, baby doll," He chuckled faintly against your cunt, a smile stretching across his lips when you squirmed and whined when his stubble brushed along your sensitive thighs. "You still wanna take my cock, don't you?"

"Yes." Your mother would be ashamed at how fast you answered the pirate, who merely chuckled again and lifted you into his arms.

[lexirosewrites]

Vague role reversal for slick sunday wherein Eddie is a popular top of the food chain alpha, while steve is on the peripheral as an omega

O!Steve might have rich parents tht aren't around, but he's struggled to read at the same pace as his peers for years, numbers sometimes get mixed up, he's seen as strange for his interests, & ppl tend to overlook him in a room which is what he's convinced himself he prefers. He might read slowly but he retains nearly everything he reads, he's very good in history class, he's got an emotional intelligence unmatched. In this AU Steve is the founder of Hellfire, he doesn't DM entire campaigns only one shots or short little jaunts but he owns every book & has a lot of knowledge abt the rules. Steve has taken German every year at Hawkins high & that's how he meets & forms a bond w A!Robin. She joins Hellfire only to sit around & eat snacks & heckle the DM on the behalf of the players. While he's socially vulnerable he's often left alone from physical bullying bc his parents had him attend first a karate class then an aikido class since he was 12 in Indianapolis so he defends himself well.

A!Eddie on the other hand presents as an alpha early, he starts developing the physical strength associated w an alpha, he's a faster runner than before, he joins the track & field team, he becomes the plug for weed & pills once he's a sophomore in highschool, he laughs loud & doesnt necessarily stop the worst of the bullying but is still a gentleman to alpha & beta women & all the omegas, even Steve when he rarely notices him. He dates A!Nancy Wheeler, invites her to a small bonfire in the woods near the trailer park, B!Barb comes along, Barb goes missing (is killed) after everyone breaks off in couples to make out/have sex, season 1 happens pretty much the same for Nancy except Steve's role/redemption is Eddie

Will Byers goes missing & Steve approaches fellow bottom feeder B!Jonathan Byers w condolences & the statistic tht when a child goes missing its more likely to b a family member, when Jonathan goes to confront his dad Steve & Robin tag along. When tht leads nowhere Steve & Robin r told by Jonathan to not get further involved. Wills fake body is found. Then season 1 happens pretty much the same with Steve & Robin only having a peripheral involvement.

Season 2 happens, Billy tries a few times to corner Steve but Hellfire r protective especially Robin, & Steve uses aikido to throw Billy around by using his mass & inertia against him ending the confrontation by giving Billy a broken nose, Billy ends up giving up bc he gets more concerned w dragging 2nd year senior Eddie down & harassing the vulnerable black kid Max has been seen with, season 2 ends w Steve having to repeat senior year and Eddie has to repeat for the 3rd time despite Nancy's attempts to help.

Season 3: Steve doesn't get entirely cut off but his allowance is reduced by A LOT, steve & robin get summer jobs at Scoops Ahoy. Dustin goes to Eddie with the transmission but neither speaks Russian. When their caught talking abt it not so subtly while indulging in ice cream at Scoops Ahoy near closing Robin straight up calls all 3 of them out while stobin lean against the counter judging them. Dustin is a smart ass but when Robin reveals she's a polyglot the 3 start to include her, ignoring Steve & Steve convinces himself he isn't hurt. Then Steve hears music in the transmission & as they're all walking out he has the eureka moment of the ride. Season 3 happens & stobin still end up as the ones trapped by the Russians except Robin does her best to divert their attention to her in this AU, they get drugged & rescued by Dustin Erica & Eddie

Billy dies. Max has very mixed feelings abt it while Steve is relieved bc Billy had continued to harass him all summer

Idk how season 4 goes but I do know we get steddie & buckingham even if Vecna isn't defeated

idk why omega Steve being at the bottom of the food chain is so appealing to me, but it is and then the idea of alpha Eddie eventually pursuing him is so much more fun!

[mecachrome]

landoscar ao3 stats — 2023 overview

notes

retrieved ~sometime in march 2024

methodology: scraped metadata for every fic in the landoscar tag and...... that's it. however one important constraint is that all temporal data is date updated (not posted), so the above timeline isn't exactly a true representation of fic growth but rather how many fics were last-updated at that time. of course this is still its own reflection of fandom health in a way since dead fandoms don't update old fic but well... it's just not quite the same!

this is just info about general trends, fic content, tags etc... so nothing about kudos/comments or any authors specifically

i decided to focus solely on fics last-updated in 2023 (unless otherwise mentioned) because i wanted a tidy set that i can maybe compare & contrast in a year's time, because i expect a lot of details to look different then (tho as stated above this set isn't exactly static... 🤷‍♀️)

ngl i had to re-scrape a bunch of times because i forgot about it for like 3 weeks and then there were 100 new fics 😭 so if there are some minor discrepancies across the post it's because of that halfskh.

also i wanted to include more global comparisons (aka how 814 stack up against the f1 rpf tag in general), but this is also considerably difficult in some contexts since i can't exactly scrape 31,000+ fics can i... or i didn't even want to entertain the thought of trying to do so!!!

why did i do this? who knows.

anyway here's some viz T__T

ship growth

as evidenced in the opening graph, landoscar have been a very fast-growing ship over the past year — although interestingly enough they didn't really start growing substantially until july / the ~better half~ of the 2023 season. here are two views showing their "growth" (by date updated) alongside two other ships on the fringes of the f1 rpf top 10 (sebchal & galex):

landoscar are very much on-track to surpass them and officially enter the top 10 soon, likely before mid-april ❗️ :o

ship characteristics

onto the ship content — another thing i was mildly curious about was how landoscar differs in certain areas from other f1 ships, or the f1 rpf "global" average you could say. for example, here's a breakdown of rating popularity in their ao3 tag:

seeing as explicit is their most common rating, and that i don't necessarily expect this to be true for all ships/fandoms, i compared these percentages with the general f1 rpf tag to see whether some ratings are more commonly represented in 814 fic than average, which produced interesting results:

do lando ships simply skew more HornyTM in general? is it oscar? a secret third thing??? who knows... actually i think it would be fun to do more analysis in this direction but that can wait for another time!!!

similarly i also wanted to see which ships are the most "public" on ao3, as in have the highest share of fic that isn't user-locked... i will refrain from peppering in my feelings about the 4th wall too heavy-handedly but i was curious to see whether some sort of perhaps... er, generational gap (?) of sorts between ships that are more public vs. not could be identified. however i don't pretend to have any takeaways from this LOL i conclude absolutely nothing. (for ref landoscar is currently 72% public, vs. a global avg of 63%)

note that this graph is current stats, not filtered for 2023

looking at relationship tags, i also wanted to know whether landoscar suffer noticeably from Second-Ship Syndrome, so i tallied the first-tagged ship of every fic to find out. i know this doesn't necessarily mean that it's always the "main" ship but it's a good enough approximation. the results were quite positive!

filtered to top ships with count of >1 only

i then also calculated the number of ships tagged for each fic to discern the profile of multi-shipping in 814 ficdom; i did have to do a little bit of string standardization (all instances of implied / background / hinted collapsed to hinted for simplicity's sake + removal of other redundancies), but otherwise i left everything mostly untouched.

as you can see, landoscar also have a fairly promising amount of OTP: TRUE fic:

by the time you get to the fics with 10+ ships tagged, landoscar are less likely to be the primary ship, which makes sense just on a basic statistical level... this is also a very small sample size though

i also lazily tallied the 10 most common ships that weren't NOR/PIA or NOR & PIA to diff their shares of the 814 tag vs. of the general f1 rpf tag, to see which other pairings are more represented in the 814 tag than on average (because lestappen are the most popular by pure count but this is also true of fandom in general, so it would be a misrepresentation to say that their popularity is out of the ordinary):

maxiel's gap isn't really that surprising since i think that, generationally, in terms of when both pairings were teammates there is quite a gap; with carlando—actually let me tally this again but including all instances of "implied" and "past" as being part of the same ship, since that's how ao3 tag-wrangles as well:

Aha ! obviously as a direct ship there is competition between 814 and other lando or oscar ships, but this difference is somewhat less pronounced once we include all formats. tbh none of this really means anything but i thought i'd add it anyway... (it's also very possible that there are several errors in this, in which case my b 😔)

before we move on to additional tags, there are a few more basic characteristics of 814 fic we can calculate. i realize i never offered an overview of Super Basic Stats, so here are a few:

plus, looking at word counts, here is a distribution of those in 2023-updated fic, which shows that a majority of 814 fics were under the 5k mark:

85% of landoscar fics were under 10k & nearly 97% under 25k

i don't really have any reason to believe that landoscar's wc stats differ significantly from average ? so this is kind of just Data To Have Data, and it most likely reflects normal ao3 trends in general... but i thought i'd include it anyway because i already made it lol. similarly, here are word count distributions but stratified by rating:

& same info but heat map view:

i feel like this is also probably something you'd find across fandom in general — that gen fic is likely to have a higher share of under 1k works, since Building Up to sexual content often takes... Literal & Metaphorical Foreplay ! and the longer a fic is the more opportunities an author has to include a sex scene or other explicit content (ofc, not necessarily just porn but also graphic violence & so on). but i thought this was fun to visualize haha

additional tags & aus?

back in my old f1 rpf stats post, i made a table comparing fluff/angst "ratios" (not exactly a direct ratio because of how tag wrangling works, but an approximation) of the most popular f1 ships, and now that landoscar are somewhat popular i thought i'd first do an update:

also current data, not 2023 to make things easier

just like before, simi are one of the most fluffy ships and brocedes are by far the most angsty, but it's interesting to see 814 also extremely high up on the charts, with far and away the lowest % of angst. will be exciting 2 see how that holds or changes as the seasons progress !

finally, i also wanted to do a bit of au/additional tag analysis because you can kind of see this when you use additional filters on ao3 but the previews are limited and get bogged down by the prevalence of *checks notes* Fluff, Angst, PWP, Anal Sex and what have you. which are nice stats to have and all but what of the rest !

disclaimer that the set for these tables is a biiiit outdated because by the time i'd wrangled everything i was like I Am Not Changing It Again. unfortunately i clean my data with shoddy queries and regex functions in googsheetz...

there were 48 tags with at least 10 instances from 2023 fics, shown below, with ones that are (some ~vaguely) nsfw in red just to kind of get a rough sense of which tags get commonly used in M/E fic:

getting a bit too much into small sample size / specific fic territory so if you're an author i sincerely apologize for that... do not mean 2 put u on blast... TT__TT but i also tried to tally the most popular aus people write for 814, which is a bit dubious because people tag in really different ways and i had to accommodate for a lot of string formats but ... it's close enough ! (?)

i feel like this is very little interesting info but idk what else to add so i will stop here for now... well!!! if you made it to the end i hope u learned something or even vaguely enjoyed reading T__T and most of all thank you :')

[beomiracles]

who do you think would be most likely to be jealous/overprotective of you?

#serene adds ✎... ouuu this is a hard one... based on the versions I've fabricated in my head, I think in my opinion it would look something like this:

MOST

hueningkai -> His jealousy mostly stems from his own insecurities, whether it be him thinking he's not good/handsome enough etc... would he act on his insecurities? definitely. even though he might beat around the bush, he would always want to know where you're going, who you're going with etc. very keen on keeping you close.

beomgyu -> While he isn't as insecure as kai, he definitely still likes keeping track of your whereabouts, it makes him feel more at ease. I could definitely see him getting worked up and jealous over other guys being around you, not necessarily because he feels threatened by them but more so because they genuinely just piss him off, really doesn't see a reason for you to be around a guy that's not him.

soobin -> I feel like he's very 50/50, his response would be entirely dependent on the situation. He doesn't mind leaving you with people he trusts like his band members, but if you're going somewhere where he feels 'out of control' he would definitely be protective of you, asking you to text him throughout the evening etc...

taehyun -> Very confident in himself so he usually doesn't feel very threatened by guys around you. Lets you have very free reign because he knows you can handle yourself. If he was to get protective of you it would be for your own safety rather than to soothe any of his worries/insecurities. Probably wouldn't want you to walk home alone past midnight for example.

yeonjun -> Contrary to popular belief I think he'd be the most chill out of everyone. He knows that no one is stupid enough to go after you when you're openly dating him and so he doesn't really mind other guys trying their luck, in turn I think he finds it amusing to watch you turn them down before you saunter over to him, anything to feed his already huge ego.

LEAST

[sugar-grigri]

Kumbaya, My Lord... Who's going to come to us...?

You might think that this chapter would be hard to analyse because it sets the stage for future confrontations, but in fact it is fascinating because it heralds the next chapter.

Following the chronology first, the chapter confirms what was implied in the last few chapters, namely the war on images.

Children are seen as precious to the public hunters in that their survival and their tears can sway public opinion one way or the other.

It is crucial to neutralise Asa not just because she is dangerous but also because she is the symbol of the church; if she manages to retain her popularity despite the actions of the public hunters, then their efforts will be for naught.

This line is very interesting because it shows that the problem is Denji

The hunters boast of having searched the weapons and, in itself, everything would be so simple if Chainsaw Man were a weapon in the true sense of the word and could simply be searched and stored in a warehouse.

But it had to be an unpredictable teenager that Yoshida couldn't fully master...

This answer is just as interesting as it is equivocal: what does it mean to play Chainsaw Man? Playing hero? To be a symbol of alternative justice to the state? To be popular? This line is deliberately ambiguous, following on from part 2, which explores the essence of Chainsaw Man.

If we can't answer it, it's precisely because part 2 clouds this identity...

Impostor, instrumentalisation, neutralisation, blackmail, popularity, solitude... Denji no longer knows what the second component of his identity means...

This conversation about the demon of justice is important because it helps us to understand several things:

1) it's difficult to identify a demon, which further confuses the question of what Fake!CSM or even Chainsaw Man is, which is an unusually crucial demon for a monster that's supposed to represent nothing but fear of chainsaws

2) The fear that demons represent isn't necessarily correlated with their appearance and what they exude, especially when it comes to more abstract notions like justice. This sort of giant species looked like demons of greed, not justice. Whereas an oversized brain gave more of an air of something intellectualised like justice ?

3) So who had Yuko contracted with ? But also the other contractors, whether from the church, or even Asa's friend in the first chapter?

4) A demon can lie about its identity when it contracts with a human, which makes Pochita even more mysterious. This point is disturbing in the sense that one of the rules that had been laid down was that human/demon contracts were in good faith in the sense that neither party could go back on its word.

If a demon can lie about his identity, either that means he's not really lying or that he doesn't necessarily have to reveal his identity in order to enter into a contract.

He has to keep his word on his commitment (lend his powers) but doesn't necessarily have to mention who he is.

If it's the first possibility, i.e. the fact that the mysterious demon with whom Yuko and members of the church have tied up isn't lying when he says he's the demon of justice, then it's the second possibility.

This sends us back to him, Fake!CSM, who doesn't say that he's a multimorphic demon capable of stealing identities...

So CSM is not the only one to be cloned, but the demon of justice too.

Fake!CSM would not be the real Chainsaw demon, nor the demon resulting from the fear of Chainsaw Man, but a demon based around identity, its usurpation, its loss, or even the demon embodying amnesia, memory...

If Yuko has a contract with Fake!CSM that would explain why he's killing her. Since the contract came to an end, she was able to take revenge on Asa's bullies.

All these questions remain unanswered. Now let's look at how this chapter foreshadows the next one.

Let's get back to Barem's case. First of all, the victory of the public hunters obviously seems too simple, and we suspect that there will be a reprisal. But in what way? And what reprisals?

Already Barem hasn't been sent near Denji simply to chat, which means there's another plan afoot

Miri and the others were bait, and the main course takes place in this very amusement park.

Barem announces that he prefers to watch the sunset, which gives him a very contemplative side and gives several possible clues

1. The simplest one is that saying you want to watch the sunset means you know exactly how precious things like that can be. Weapons usually have difficult pasts, so has Barem been deprived of the light of day? I mention his condition as a weapon because it's something that resonates with what Fumiko is saying, the fact that if Barem is neutralised, he will be forced to be used by the other side. Weapons are nothing more than weapons to be searched by public hunters.

2. The most interesting of all, the sunset at night, has something to do with the man who has intrigued us from the start, the man we don't know whether he's an ally or an antagonist: Fake!CSM. He intervened twice during the dawn by killing Yuko, and warned Chainsaw Man to act before daybreak. Fake!CSM only acts at a given moment: when day breaks or when he hides.

As well as confirming that he'll be coming soon, this also confirms that he could be the one behind the big question revolving around the demon of justice.

That would explain the title 'Kumbaya'. Like everyone else, I looked into it. Apart from the fact that it comes from gospel, which confirms Barem's attachment to religion and to God, what interests us is not only the context of this popular song but also its literal meaning.

I'm not an expert on this, so if anyone wants to correct what I'm about to say, feel free.

Kumbaya is a song that originated with the Gullah, a group of African-Americans located in the Sea Islands along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. These people were originally slaves from West Africa, brought to the United States to work in the rice fields. What's interesting is that someone like Barem is using it, this song about a people who have been instrumentalised like their own, and who have found refuge in religion and faith.

This is not the first time Fujimoto has referred to the Christian religion. Firstly, because CSM is a work packed with biblical references, but more importantly, the person who expressly refers to the Bible is none other than the impostor.

God, and his divine mission to create a world without devils, is the answer to this question. What is the church playing at? Pursuing a Christ-like mission. If Fami really wants to save humanity from the apocalypse as foretold by Nostradamus, this relationship between humanity and the end of time is just one of the purposes announced by the Christian religion.

But above all, "Kumbaya" is also derived from Gullah, English Creole mixed with several West African languages, which can be heard as "Come by ya" or "Come by here". It literally means asking God to "come here" and help the singer.

It immediately resonates with what I meant above, doesn't it ? Barem isn't just waiting for the sun to set, he's waiting for his saviour.

When Yoshida attacks Asa, Kumbaya has the same meaning. She is being attacked by a particularly difficult enemy, but her response will in fact be proportional. Although she appears to be in a bad way with her hand cut off, she is actually in a state of strength.

Her hand is Asa's own property, and nothing is more certain than the fact that our bodies belong to us ? Then the weapon will be all the more powerful.

Repeating Oh Lord Kumbaya once again means that someone is coming to help, Asa is simply passing the baton to the one who will lead the offensive : Yoru.

Whether it's Asa or Barem, everyone is just waiting for their saviour to start attacking.

[grenade-maid]

there's a lot of reasons more people aren't into yuri that are troubling to consider, but equally, I genuinely think it cannot be understated how much of it comes down to most yuri being boring as hell. Like truly. I've been reading the front page of Dynasty Scans like it was the newspaper for 15 years I am not exaggerating I can show you the download file data 15 years.

You know what the complaint about yuri by yuri readers was back in 2009?

"wow that really was just 5 volumes of them blushing at each other and then they don't even kiss"

You know what the complaint about yuri by yuri readers is today in 2023?

"wow that really was just 5 volumes of them blushing at each other and then they don't even kiss"

Don't get me wrong, Yuri has grown a LOT in that time, to the point that most people today wouldn't even understand a Maria-sama reference if it were dropped in front of them (thank God). It's expanded and evolved to encompass more stories about adult women, wider varieties of scenarios, a greater acknowledgement of real life lesbianism, and is more comfortable showing girls kissing with tongue and having sex.

Yuri Manga is maybe the best is it's ever been, and it's also getting the widest readership it's ever had in the English speaking world. The titles we carry at work are always on back order with long queues, and, when I've asked them, most weebs of all gender or sexualities report keeping up with at least a few Yuri series.

At large though? Most of it is still really boring. That's not a bad thing necessarily. I like it because it goes down easy. For the most part any series you pick is gonna be pretty chill. Even shit from Sal Jiang which is PRETTY EDGY for yuri is a pretty breezy read. More serious ones like How Do We Relationship? cover some pretty real subjects about how intimacy is actually quite difficult even when both of you love each other, but it's not like... Exciting. Yuri isn't where you go to pump your fist or get perched on the edge of your seat.

So when the comparison is made to yaoi, well, I mean, have you READ any yaoi? Even in some of the more restrained titles those boys are likely to be sucking and fucking balls and all within the first volume or two. There's gonna be drama, intrigue, shit is gonna get messy, passions are gonna get heated, clothes are gonna be ripped off, people are gonna get sold to One Direction, it's stuff you can sit down with a bowl of popcorn with you know? Stuff you can message your friend and gush Hey Can You BELIEVE? A lot of it is pretty trashy, but that's the appeal. The generic state of yaoi is torrid and exciting and sexy. Ultimately, as a species many of us like to see pretty people fuck. In yaoi you'll get that. In yuri you won't. Nothing wrong with that, but it is gonna be a major contributing factor to their relative popularity.

It's also worth making the comparison to hetero romance manga, which has undergone a renaissance of it's own in recent years. There's now a whole meta around crafting a handful of mean shitty grouchy dysfunctional bully women and flinging them at the protagonist of the day who, unlike in years past, may actually have a face and personality. Most of these are also very trashy and truly scrape the bottom of the bucket in terms of writing.

AND YET?

I would bet money on the fact that you'll have heard of these women and probably even have a good idea what they're like without ever having touched a page of their manga.

I'm sorry but the straights are whipping donuts around the yuri girls in terms of delivering a wide variety of weird compelling fucked up women. How many yuri leading ladies by comparison can you point to as standout recognizable characters even divorced from their story? There's definitely a few, but not many. I'm not talking quality or depth of writing, I'm talking straight up pure recognizability. There are many beautifully written women in yuri, now more than ever. I can't think of many who'd like, get a figure made or have their face splashed on merch, though.

I don't really have a conclusion here. I love Yuri a lot, but at the end of the day this is just kinda the state of things right now.

[queerly-autistic]

I've seen some concern about the fact that the BBC has double-billed the last four episodes of Our Flag Means Death and bumped it up later in the schedule - concerns that this means it's not doing well for the BBC - and so I'd just like to allay some of those fears, if possible? To start with, it's important to recognise that the BBC does this all the time. I was in EastEnders fandom for many years, and nonsense schedule changes were a regular annoyance. When I shared OFMD's schedule change with my little group of friends from that fandom, everyone rolled their eyes and went 'oh yeah, typical BBC shenanigans'. As an example: the BBC was really pushing EastEnders last year, they'd been hard-marketing towards the big iconic Christmas episode since February, and then, around comes Christmas, and the BBC inexplicably sticks it on at 10pm (when it's usually broadcast at 7.30pm).

So this isn't unusual. This is extremely common. There's often very little rhyme or reason to the BBC live broadcast scheduling. To try and accurately read between the lines of this is like trying to analyse the written output of a cat walking across a keyboard.

But another big thing to remember is that Our Flag Means Death is a streaming show. The BBC dropped all of the episodes in one go because they know that it's the streaming audience where the show is successful. It's the same with What We Do In The Shadows - we know that the show does well for them, because they keep renewing their contract to show it, but because it does well specifically with a streaming audience the live episode broadcasts are perpetually bumped to a weird time (sometimes one in the morning!!).

The BBC is under contract to do a live broadcast of these shows, but that's not where the audience is. And that's why the episodes get shuffled around or bumped to a late timeslot or double-billed together. Them not necessarily getting spectacular overnight live broadcast ratings is not a big barrier to potential pick-up - streaming numbers is the important metric. And, just yesterday, the BBC dropped a card for the show over the credits of House of Games, a very popular (and mainstream!) afternoon gameshow, asking people to go stream it on iPlayer. if you haven't seen it, I managed to screen-record and post it on Twitter here (subtitles included): https://x.com/QueerlyAutistic/status/1762913455051325888?s=20. This is a really, really good ad to get - a very mainstream slot that potentially brings attention to the show from new audience demographics. The fact that they put an ad-read for the show in this particular slot is more indicative to me of the fact that the show is doing well for the BBC than any predictable shenanigans around live broadcast times. They advertised the 'niche' queer pirate comedy to a very mainstream middle-of-the-day audience! That's not nothing! And the fact that they were specifically advertising it as being on iPlayer - not the live broadcast - indicates to me that that's where it's doing well: that's where they know their audience is, and they don't care about the live broadcast, because the streams are where it's at. The live broadcast is probably just a contractual obligation at this point.

Our Flag Means Death is still regularly listed under 'trending' on the iPlayer website, and the Parrot Analytics for the show in the UK are excellent. And that's what we want. That's what we need to convince streamers. Remember: the YouGov survey about the show specifically asked questions about it in the context of streaming services. Overnight figures are lovely to have, too (so keep tuning in!) but this is a show made to stream. It was all dropped on iPlayer first for a reason; they're specifically pushing it on iPlayer for a reason. And, at the end of the day, it's streamers we're currently trying to convince to pick up the show, not broadcast television networks.

So, don't read too much into it. We're still doing good, UK crew!

[fuck-customers]

This one isn't necessarily horrible, but the intensity of this lady was weird, but kind of funny in hindsight.

A woman comes up to the register with some Bluey merchandise. I go into my usual spiel "hi how are you? Find everything ok? Blah blah blah" She tells me that she's buying the Bluey stuff for her toddler daughter's birthday. I feign polite interest. Pretty insignificant transaction.

Until she asks me if I had ever seen the show.

I answer honestly. "I haven't. I've heard of it and I see the merch a lot, but it seems a bit young for me and I don't have any children to watch it with."

"Oh you should give it a shot! It's not just for kids, it has parts adults can enjoy as well."

"Really? Maybe I'll check it out when I have a chance."

"You REALLY should try it! It's very good. Bluey's mom is in it and [very detailed background on this show that I honestly could not remember even if I wanted to. She talked for at least 3 minutes nonstop]"

I'm desperately trying to get her to pay and finish this transaction because a line is forming. "That sounds like a cute show, actually. Your total is $47.82. Would you like a bag?"

She's not listening and goes on about Bluey for another minute or so.

Try to bring her attention back to paying again. Doesn't work. Ask again twice. Finally get her to pay and as she's leaving, she calls out "you really should watch it! I mean it! It's a good show!"

Uh ok

TL;DR: Bluey disguised himself in drag to convince a random childless 27 year old to watch his show. Sadly, it did not work.

I think it's the Australian accents that are making it so popular. All I have to say about it is the dad is the most patient character ever written.

-Rodney

[nekropsii]

On the topic of Eridan Discourse (eridiscourse?) earlier, I typed up a very long ask this morning (brought to mind by the discussion) trying to pinpoint a specific thing about the way the fandom handles transfem Eridan headcanons that rubbed me the wrong way. Instead of sending it I spent the rest of the day pondering it. Because the thing that was nagging me wasnt "people do it in a mocking way" and certainly not "headcanoning characters as transfem is cringe" and I finally figured it out.

(it feels wrong to use he/him in this context/phrasing so she/her it is) I feel like a lot of transfem Eridan content treats her transitioning as a cure-all for her negative qualities (sometimes explicitly as a punchline to the joke! but a lot of the time more subtly too) in a way that doesn't even necessarily come across as transphobic so much as just plain old misogyny. And yes, if you want to explore something like "once she solves this problem for herself she's able to deal with resolving her harmful viewpoints" that's cool and I get it! I might be more onboard with the headcanon if I saw more content that took itself seriously!

But most of the time it comes across as a binary of "girl will not be as shitty as when she was a boy because that is how Girl and Boy genders work" in a similar way to some June characterizations that replace her character traits to make her fit a certain image of "Girl". Beyond that (even in tons of March Eridan doodles that aren't even straight up drawn in the mocking light of the original) I feel like that same issue comes up in a ton of transfem Eridan art--she's just so flattened and sanitized even by people who seem to be genuinely trying to portray her in good faith.

This also kinda brings to mind the occasional discussion I've seen of transfem Cronus which I believe you've commented on before. My guess for most content I've stumbled on of that (including stuff I've seen one of my good friends create!) is that it's a riff on the March Eridan stuff (which afaik is the reason transfem Eridan is popular in the first place) and not taking the implications/fulfilled stereotypes it brings up into account...which (once again) seems to usually be avoided by tidying up the character flaws and ignoring negative actions to create a Good And Proper girl character which. yeah, isn't much better.

Anyways WOOF that got long but hey I think it was somehow originally longer before it became actual analysis. idk, do you think this checks out? ( oh I added some formatting inspired by how you write posts in hopes it makes it easier to follow...)

Yeah, I don't tend to be a fan of transfem!Eridan works - and even some June works - because a lot of people handle it in ways I just find... Iffy. If it's not weirdly oversexualizing a 13 year old, then it's acting like Transition is a magical Cure-All for every single one of your issues as a person. I don't think it's valuable to pretend that realizing you're Queer automatically deletes any prior character flaws. It's harmful, even - plenty of people will discover their gender doesn't line up with what's been expected of them, or that their attractions aren't a part of the cisheterosexual norm, and... Believe themselves to have done all the legwork necessary to wash their hands clean of any other bigotries. Plenty of Queer people are bigots - be that lateral bigotries, or racism, or ableism, or what-have-you - it's more common than anyone wants to admit. There is a reason that the Progress flag exists, you know?

Eridan and June tend to get flattened down to very stereotypical ideas of the gender of "Girl". June's wildly out of character and portrayed more like fanon!Jade, than... Well, herself as she appears in the comic. Eridan's issues are sanded down to the point where all she is is an evocatively posed barely-teenage mannequin in a skimpy outfit. Both of them are regularly portrayed as having had their issues blip out of existence the second they realized they might not be guys. The transfem!Cronus headcanon will never make sense to me and never be morally okay to me. To say Cronus is Transfeminine is just outright violent Transmisogyny, no matter who it's coming from. That's not even a fucking conversation. It isn't a debate. That's not cute. Really? The guy who fakes minority statuses to try to sleep with people? The aggressive, hyper-bigoted sexual predator? The sex pest who isn't above repeatedly sexually targeting children, one of which he is related to? That? You saw that and thought "That's a trans woman"? Really? You're seriously saying that with zero ounce of shame in your body? Go to hell.

Back to June and Eridan - Part of the issue is Misogyny, yes, but I feel another issue coming to play is that a lot of Tumblr seems to view Queerness as inherently Virtuous, rather than a normal thing that people just happen to be sometimes. Tumblr's prone to very... Unwittingly Catholic mindsets, and Queerness being inherently Morally Cleansing is definitely one of them... And it goes... Extremely unchallenged, all of the time. It's pretty grating, honestly.

[stellocchia]

Thinking of Secret Life SMP hybrid headcanons right now...

Grian would be a parrotlet. They're the smallest group of parrots and I feel like with how pathetic he's been this season he deserves to be just a little guy. He's still a pesky bird who, as season 6 proved, can definitely cause some mischief despite his reduced size, but he's a little guy anyway.

Jimmy is not a canary. Because, yes, he may have the canary curse, but that's just a fancy name for the curse, not necessarily his hybrid type. No, my man is a dog. He's a goddamn chihuahua. He's all bark and annoying but you take a single threatening step toward him and he shivers in fear.

On the topic of dogs, Martyn is a pomeranian. I'm specifically making him a small dog too because, despite wanting to act cool at the end of session 6, he is still very much the one who was first on yellow and red. My man is not big dog-coded.

Now, unpopular opinion, but Scar is a raccoon hybrid. He's a mischievous chaotic menace of a man. A little criminal ready to scam, commit arson, kill, and steal. He's a raccoon. He hasn't burrowed under anyone's house yet (that I remember at least) but that wouldn't be out of character either. Honestly, I'm appalled by the fact that this isn't a far more popular headcanon for him.

And, before I move on from dogs, Etho is also dog-coded. Specifically an Akbash (big white golden retriever-looking fuckers used for the protection of livestock). I just feel like the protectiveness and overall vibe fit him very well.

Finally, moving on from dogs. Cleo is obviously a zombie hybrid. There are no two ways around it. Though this does allow for my little headcanon that, having to learn on their own skin how to sew they became really good and really quick and they're the ones making all the new outfits for everyone else.

Gem meanwhile is specifically a sculk hybrid. Though I like to think that that came about when she opened the portal. She was a deer hybrid before (mostly because I like the subversion of expectations with a "prey" hybrid so to speak being arguably the most bloodthirsty person on the server) and then it spread like an infection. I figure by now her infected half straight-up looks something like Belos monster for from TOH:

Scott is something like a Reakirt’s Blue Butterfly. Both because the colors match him, and because he is kinda The Social Butterfly. My man is always out and about mingling with others. He's so friendly that he literally didn't struggle to pull off the "love you" challenge when everyone admitted that no one else would have been able to. It would be a waste not to make him some kind of butterfly at least.

Now, for Impulse I have something less reasoned, I just think the idea of him being an imp called Impulse is way too funny to resist. And he is way more of a mischievous one than I usually see people talk about. I've seen the phasmophobia stream where he killed everyone with the cursed items several times in a row just because he wanted to try them out. I know what he's capable of.

Meawhile his bestie Skizz is so capibara coded it's unreal. Like, don't get me wrong, he's plenty chaotic. But also you will never find anyone more lawful good in the Life Series than him. I've been thinking this since Love Island was founded. My man is the king of chilling with everyone. (Aside from Jimmy, rip Jimmy).

At the risk of being boring, I also like seeing Tango as a salamander hybrid. Exclusively because of the mythological connection between salamanders and fire. Also, the idea that every time he's flying (though it's funnier if it's also when he's simply jumping) he's nothing but a ball of fire with a lizard tail is very funny to me.

BigB is a hard one because I've only watched a couple of episodes from his POV so I'm not quite as familiar with the lore surrounding him as I am with the others. So I'm not sure. I want to say enderman because of his cryptid vibes this season, but he's not one of the characters with the biggest connection to the end. Those are mostly BDubs, Gem, and Lizzie, so I don't know. I'm open to suggestions.

Talking about BDubs, why are there no ender dragon hybrid headcanons for him around? I think it would be incredibly ironic if the dragon slayer was a dragon himself. Also, his house is under the Earth just like the End portals. Trust me, it makes so much sense. He's small but so full of righteous anger.

Pearl is no hybrid, she's literally just a witch. I've seen the WITCH animatic and that fundamentally changed my view of her forever. Before I would have said a moth hybrid of some kind because I do like moth Pearl, but I love that specific interpretation so much it's unreal. She is a witch with an army of hellhounds at her back and call.

Mumbo is a vampire because I've seen some art of vampire Mumbo at some point in time and it hasn't left my head since. Also, he's one of the players with the highest bloodlust every time he turns red. We're 2 for 2 on that with his appearances in the Life series. And it's usually also what leads to his demise. So I feel like that would be fitting for a vampire.

Meanwhile, my dearly beloved blorbo Joel is a honey-badger. This is a headcanon that is incredibly dear to me and I've never seen around but it's literally SO FITTING. The absolute crackhead energy, the lack of self-preservation, and the surprising sturdiness as time and time again he gets himself in impossible situations and still manages to survive until pretty much the end are all that exact honey-badger vibe. Like, just thinking of him summoning a hoard of zombies to fight off several infected and surviving for quite a while in those conditions just, really proves my point. Enough said.

Lizzie meanwhile is a very sad sopping wet cat. Just absolutely miserable. One of those cats who look like they're constantly grumpy. The frown has deepened ever since no one came to her party and she's still frowning in the void of death.