#or at least an attempt at emotional

[bucklikethedollar]

all the critiques of the “male presenting” bit in the star beast are valid and true (patronizing, kind of bioessentialist, etc) however i think we’ve been ignoring the funniest part of the whole thing which is like. he was a woman like three hours ago. you don’t need to give him a lecture about What Women Are Like. he knows. and even when he was a woman he still bottled shit up so your argument is moot anyway

[blueskittlesart]

WHAT IF... instead of basing the movie on any of the games... it's based on the 80s cartoon? "Ex-CUUUUUUUSE me, Princess."

you understand that this is the worst-case scenario. right. it's important to me that you understand this

[piningprecussionist]

Oh! Fucking. Duh. Obvious Roxie post I can make today: here's an emote I made for the sp:te server! (With variants of different degrees of completion...)

I was gonna go back and shade the comic colors Roxie but. Just ended up going w the colors picked off the screenshot. This screenshot, specifically!

[cuubism]

For the wip tag game, dreamling shibari

shibari fic aka "dream came out here to have a good time and is honestly feeling so traumatized right now"

--

“You’ve no idea what having you at my mercy will do to me.” He brushes his lips over the shell of Dream’s ear as he speaks, then grazes his teeth there. “Been dreaming about it. You probably know that.” “I refrained from viewing those dreams so that I could experience it now,” says Dream, and Hob makes a low whining sound. Dream could have stepped into those dreams. He could have done this in the Dreaming, where his power is absolute. But his senses are… sharper, here, in the waking. Easier to tip into pain, and into softness, too. And to allow Hob to bind him outside of the Dreaming is simply… different. “You didn’t take offense, my lord, to me trying to dom you in your own kingdom?” Hob says it conversationally, humorously, as he leans back again and loosens his grip on Dream’s wrists. “It was very impudent,” Dream says, and Hob chuckles. “You have ever been. That was not my true essence in the dreams, merely a conjuration of your own mind, but… I felt the touch of it from afar.” “What does that feel like?” Hob asks, curious. He tugs on the hem of Dream’s t-shirt. Dream lets it dissolve away into sand. A final flex of his power before it is stolen from him. “It feels like you are dragging a fingertip up my spine, but when I turn you are not there.” Every time it made him shiver. He could feel Hob’s attention on him, Hob’s thoughts, Hob’s want. A pleasant and distracting tingle that made arousal pool like honey within him. An edge-state he found he liked to luxuriate in rather than acting on, let it carry him on the border of want until such time as he saw Hob again in the waking.

[gayofthefae]

Oh yeah remember when Finn said Mike was trying to be normal.

What the fuck was that. Because he spent all his time in Hawkins with Eddie freakin “the freak” Munson emphasizing to Lucas how he did not care about being cool.

The only other thing he did all season was try to tell El he....oh

[manofthepipis]

One thing that I’ve been thinking about is a possible route(?) this story could go, and that is Spamton’s trip to the Ambyu-Lances’s office. And boy do I feel bad for the Addisons because it’s gonna be hell on earth for all of em. Spamton has the mentality of a feral cat and this feral cat is going to the vet in the first time in forever. I don’t think Spamton is a big fan of large syringes, and when you have one of those chasing you down because well, look at him. He’s a walking talking corrupted program. If masters his glitches like Survey says, I can totally see him glitching through the doctors to make his grand escape™️. I feel like all the Addisons are gonna have to be here for both moral support, as well as making sure that he doesn’t attack his doctor. (Maybe they’ll sedate him a little? I know that’s what some hospitals do with rowdy-er patients LMAO, but then the Addisons have a whole new problem on their hands because now Spamton is high as a mf kite or something 😭) the last time I was under anesthesia my doctor said I wouldn’t stop laughing until I burst out into uncontrollable sobs and then I immediately blacked out💀

god a trip to the doctors office would be hell in a handbasket for this guy ;v; because he 100% has the energy of a feral cat finally being checked out

though i think once he gets closer to the addisons he'd agree to go, just to see if he can be set back to normal (spoiler alert: he can't cuz fate has handed his ass the bad luck card from square one) but he immediately regrets it and the addisons have to calm him down

them sedating him would probably be the best course of action as to actually get ANY results (because he will bite and attack on instinct hfjkkdjfkks)

though i feel if i were to write an ambyu-lance scene in the future this is how id imagine it would go:

[chirpsythismorning]

Realistically do you still think Milvn will breakup in the first couple of episodes? I feel like the fabdom is focusing on fanon so much at this point that they are missing canon and actual narrative on the show. It seems very unlikely to me for Mvln's breakup taking place in first couple of episodes. But the fandom are still stuk in their previous thoughts and cannot seem to think differently at all and never even consider the possibility of mlvn breakup happening way later on in the next season. Most of the Byler's analyses about El's character has turned out to be wrong. El doesnt seem to be done with the relationship. She still loves Mike (or thinks she does) and she drew strength from his monologue. A mildvn breakup right into S5 does not make any sense canon narrative wise. We can argue that the show was different that the script, while i agree with it to an extent i reaaaly think people are trying way too hard to discredit the writers intention and the script here. El was not angry at Mike. She was sad about Max and Hawkins' situation. 🤷‍♀️

What i am saying is that i feel like most Bylers are misinterpetating what is happening with the narrative here and it leads to unrealistic and baseless expectations for the characters and S5 regarding how Mlvn vs Byler will take place. And i am greatly sorry but i dont think Mike lied in his monologue, like at all. And the situation reads like "Mike loved el romantically but they wont be together bc of incompitability". El is not even still over Mike. And people expect her to be like "i breakup with you bye" right into S5. Mike still has underlining feelings for El. Like... all i am saying is people shouldnt base their expectations on headcanons and fanon misinterpretations.

Lastly, while i really would like a more detailed gay coming of age and sexuality storyline for Mike, realistically going by canon i dont think its happening. Sorry. They will mostly focus on Will's sexuality and coming of age it seems like and Mike will mostly have a "realization" arc where he realizes El and him are not fit for each other and then he decides to be with Will.

Based on the show’s trend of doing break-ups (or at least implied break-ups) early in the season, yes I do think it’s likely that the audience will at least have the impression that Mike and El are broken up early in s5.

That’s based on a technique they have done repeatedly, whereas the assumption that they will break-up midseason is based on what exactly? The Duffers saying that s5 is jumping right back into the action?

I mean, if anything shouldn’t that be an indication that the arcs heavily built up in s4, that were left deliberately unresolved, are going to be dealt with in a timely manner, as opposed to being put on pause and then squished into mid s5, when we’re arguably going to have even more stuff the characters are dealing with? Like, them literally fighting for their lives?

When it comes to Mike’s monologue giving El strength according to the script, this is actually really easy to explain and so I will! 

For starters, they did not disclose El's feelings about the monologue in the Piggyback script, bc they released it knowing it would go public, at least two years before s5 is set to actually come out. They would not just throw in a huge spoiler like that, seeing as it was intentionally left unaddressed in s4, with the intention to be addressed in early s5. That’s the whole thing about s4 kind of leaving things so shaky and uncertain, with s5 jumping us right back into that, bc there was just so much set up for all of those dominos to inevitably fall.

To understand Mike’s monologue and its impact on El better, it might help to recall the memory of El’s birth and how her mother’s love is what gave her the strength to defeat Henry the first time in 79’.

I mean look at the lighting of that scene, it’s probably the brightest fucking lighting we’ve ever seen in the entire series (you know what light means... pure, genuine, true love…). And it’s because strength from love is much more powerful than strength from anger. That’s something she is literally throwing back in Henry’s face that day of the massacre, going against what he told her to do and instead using the memory of her mother’s love to beat him. 

During Mike’s monologue, we see El using anger to give her strength to finally break free and stop Vecna, all orchestrated by events that Henry has had a role in impacting, meaning he was actively going up against her this second time, all while knowing that in order to actually beat her, she needed to be vulnerable and unable to use love as strength, with her only option being anger. And so what we see is anger about Mike still woefully misunderstanding what she had tried to explain to him earlier in the season, along with watching her best friend be murdered in front of her. And look at the lighting of that scene, she's literally seeing red. The atmosphere is eerily uncertain at best.

This monologue was SOOO necessary for the narrative in order to keep the public away from considering Byler. Because they already don’t want to consider it as it is, and that monologue gives them an excuse not to. You saw how they reacted to the piggyback script? Like it was this huge sigh of relief for them? Meaning that they were having doubts…

The thing is, I have considered the possibility of a mid-season Milkvan break-up. I’ve talked about how waiting until mid-season, something that would be unprecedented bc they’ve never done it before, would be odd considering we will be dealing with vastly different concerns and conflicts by that point. 

For them to hold off settling a break-up, that was built up all of s4 (arguably since s3), until mid-s5, would fall flat. If anything jumping right into the action means all the major stuff built-up, but left unaddressed in s4, is what we’re jumping back into.

They need to address those things so that they can move on to the aftermath of all of that and then beyond that. 5 episodes of ignoring that, and then 4 episodes of it happening and processing all of it AND dealing with endgame right as the finale is coming to a close, would be hard to juggle and make satisfying.

The reason they like this approach so much, is because it allows the audience to root for the other option in the love triangle. And with Will getting home-wrecker allegations as it is, a milkvan break-up is extremely necessary this time around as well, especially with byler being endgame and them really wanting us to root for them finally. 

How can we do that if the Duffer’s break their own trend of early break-ups and in turn make it difficult for us to root for byler, all while leading on milkvan’s unnecessarily even longer (with no intention of going that route), making it even more unlikely for viewers to accept Byler endgame?

They’ve been building up to this inevitable break-up since s3, with s4 ending in a way that made it sort of obvious El is not happy with Mike and with Mike clearly struggling with something.

Are we just going ignore the implications of the inevitable painting reveal or the fact that Mike called El ‘his’ superhero (the most insulting thing he could do honestly, least of all during a love confession) at the end of s4, and have that confrontation be stretched out? For what? El hasn’t even responded to it or told us her side at all? She told Mike she missed him and that’s it… That’s all we’ve got. Like, let her speak and actually say how she feels about their fight in her room and the events at Surfer Boy and everything leading up to this inevitable moment for them.

While Mike and El didn’t outright break up in s4, there was heavy implications of it, and that was for a reason. They wanted us to watch those Will and Mike scenes throughout the season and see something more. Even though it didn’t end with a kiss between them, nor them officially getting together, they still did it because they wanted us to interpret those scenes as romantic comfortably. That's also why they kept Mike and El seperate at the end of s4, because they wanted us to look at Mike and Will in a way that made us go 🫣🫣🫣 at the very least.

Now, if s5 is leading to Byler endgame, just imagine how much more important it is to make it really clear that Mike and El aren’t happening?

Another even more important reason to have break-ups early in a season in general, is to allow the overall season to have a vibe that is cohesive as it’s own entity. Major stuff happens at the beginning and major stuff happens at the end, with the middle making up the overall vibe and feeling they want us to subscribe to the whole time, with certain pairings being constant that time more than the end/beginning. It makes more sense for us to root for byler most of the season, the whole middle, and for the first time at the end now as well, while letting go of El and Mike early on, even if it’s ambiguous like it was in the previous season. Personally I think the prospects of a dump your ass parallel are high… (can we do something interesting and fun like speculate how the break up would go down? Will it be angsty? Will it be lighthearted? Like I want to see all of those hot takes bc that's actually something that is more fun to think about than the 'when').

I know some people are here because they love romances or love queer romances and just enjoy shipping in general, but I’m genuinely here bc Byler makes sense based on all that stuff you would probably consider to be reaching. That stuff is the best part to me. So, if you don’t like others doing that, then consider muting those that you deem as people ‘misinterpreting the narrative’, again, according to you. 

At the end of the day you can believe whatever you want to believe. 

This idea that it’s okay to tell other people they are wrong and have baseless claims, all while ignoring the actual evidence they are presenting… Like I mean this just comes off like Milkvan’s telling Bylers they’re delusional for considering Mike and Will as being a possibility at all. If you have to constantly use, it’s not that deep as your core argument after being presented with evidence, while only yourself giving maybe one or two reasons at most for why your interpretation makes the most sense, then you’re probably not actually open to considering things based on evidence. You want to believe what you want to believe and you're projecting onto others for not following along with it.

Especially when it comes to the whole Mike having a coming of age story or whatever, where some fans have tried to make the argument that there is nothing to support that, when that actually couldn’t be further from the truth. Bylers have provided heaps of evidence. If all of that is not enough for you, that’s something that you have to contend with at this time. Just like us believing what we believe based on evidence we’ve gathered is our concern and something we have to deal with, not you. No need to apologize! Just try to worry about your own interpretation of things and feeling confident in that, but without having to tear down others' because they don’t subscribe to yours interpretation of things.

Because I feel like it would honestly be a lot more humiliating to insist other peoples theories are wrong and they’re only going to embarrass themselves in the end, only for that person saying that to end up being wrong… Everyone is making theories and everyone is bound to be wrong about some or even most. That's okay. That's natural. That's sort of an unwritten part in the agreement we all agree to by participating in this theorizing in fandom experience.

When it comes to Mike again and his arc, I always say this, but it really comes down to this more than anything.

Finn is 2nd top billed among the kids. He used to be THE top billed among the kids for s1-3, but then he got bumped down behind Millie in s4. There is a major possibility, that Noah is going to be ranked up, with him going from being paired up with Sadie, under Gaten and Caleb, to be bumped up under Finn with them sharing a title card. Though it’s unlikely they would rank Finn down under Noah, who was not even in the opening credits of s1, while he was the first name that season and the following two, meaning Finn's character Mike needs to live up to that top billed spot right behind Millie. He needs to have an arc on his own that is equally as substantial as Will and El's arcs, and separate from them just like theirs will have aspects that are separate from Mike as well.

Because Mike was the protagonist of the first season, he HAS to be important again in a similar vein in the end for the show to work as an overall five part story. When people go back to rewatch after s5, they are going to be met with Mike front and center. That will only be satisfying if we get genuine insight into his character in the final season, beyond the surface level.

Quite honestly, ALL of the kids deserve something deeper than what you are implying for Mike, and so applying that to him, the og protagonist, is just so absurd to me. If anyone is going to come out with a surprising arc we’re not expecting, it’s Mike. The audience is already not expecting Will to actually get the boy, that's the aspect that they aren't prepared for for Will, and so what about Mike's unexpected reveal?

Literally most of the audience doesn’t even think there is the slightest possibility Mike could be queer. You don’t think that warrants some addressing and unpacking…? You know… because he never really unpacked…?

I feel like people hear me say Mike is going to be important in s5 and go oh so you don’t think Will is the main character?? And it’s like?? Honestly my answer is yes and no. I think Will is literally the spine, the heart, or whatever you want to call it. In Finn's own words, he is the reason that everything happens and he is the most important character arguably, because of how important he is in terms of all of these events taking place throughout the series.

However, Mike is at the forefront from the very beginning and we arguably see everything from his eyes in s1 and 2 more than anyone else. But that goes away in s3-4. And that felt extremely intentional based on what is about to go down (byler endgame). You can tell that by doing this, they are trying to lead up to a reveal that brings him back to his original place in the story for the audience to see him as his most authentic self again, and with answers for why we lost that insight in between.

I could count up at least 20 Easter eggs hinting at Mike being in danger/targeted, which goes all the way back to the first episode of the series. 

This isn't even considering, that another trend they’re likely to bring back in s5, bc if they don’t they’d be breaking a series long trend, is Mike being late. He starts every season late. And so, what is Mike going to be late for this time? Could it have something to do with all of the unknowns about him that are yet to be addressed?

I think that sometimes we say that something isn’t going to happen because we don’t want it to. A lot of this stuff I’m saying happening isn’t based on feelings, it’s based on actual evidence.

If you don’t want certain things to happen because of x, y, z, you can just say that is the case instead of making arguments that there is nothing supporting it, when that’s not actually true?

Like nothing? Nothing at all? Baseless? Like, be serious rn.

ST5 is very likely going to give off s1-2 vibes. While Mike is going to be less in the background compared to s3-4, Will AND El are still going to have equal, if not more attention than him, bc I do believe that their bond is what is going to also be a part of saving Hawkins.

The ending is going to be surprising bc those primary color-coded bitches are the answer to it all. If me saying that upsets anyone because it goes against their interpretation of things, I'm sorry too I guess!

[scrimple]

I can regulate my emotions just fine as long as I can cut myself :3

[quibbs126]

So I had this random idea of an alternate way the Strawberry Jam Sword could work based off this random canon divergent story idea I had in my head and I just want to share it

So basically, under normal circumstances, it doesn’t do much, it’s relatively harmless (well, to the wielder I mean, it’s still a powerful sword regardless). But when the wielder feels an extreme amount of emotion, at least in the negative side, and becomes emotionally vulnerable, it takes control, amplifying that emotion until the wielder is overtaken by it and basically becomes a force of destruction, destroying everything in its path whether it be friend or foe. How the wielder actually stops, I’m not sure, but it’s not easy

I realize it probably wouldn’t work in the games just based on how they work. I think this version would work best in something like a TV show, where you can actually explore that range of emotion

And honestly, it’s not that original of an idea. Or really that good. You could probably just insert this idea into some other show idea or something and it’d probably work. And it probably doesn’t work for Dark Choco

But I dunno, the idea looked cool in my head, I guess, and I suppose I just wanted to share

[mkstrigidae]

Apparently today's solution for APWH writer's block was taking Bal for a 4 mile walk around an alligator infested lake, drinking six cups of tea, and eating a truly astonishing amount of challah before sitting down to put myself through the emotional wringer with yet again more tea

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Uh, yeah....

Like, Viv...?

Babe?

My precious Baby Girl?

I love you, and while I can look past a little bit of jokey tackiness in the announcement trailer (even though it's still a major eye roll ...🙄)

If that little, um ...typo? Was in anyway meant to be an intentional pun, or if the entire last part of that paragraph and wording about "visuals" with *that* spelling was meant to invoke some sort of unneeded innuendo and complete tonal whiplash in the minds of your audience after just releasing such an emotional song for this kind of character with your brand new voice actor that you supposedly handpicked debuting for him, I'll be the first to admit that this wasn't it and this is not how you promote the new material, especially after Roman just proved himself more than capable of providing Angel Dust as a character with more respect, dignity, and pathos than I honestly believe Kovach had ever intended to or could. And this tweet shows a lack of respect for both Roman and Angel Dust as a character, which was already there, at in the fanon and fandom, mind you, but should've been dealt with and forgotten once... certain people involved in the original pilot moved on.

Like, everyone's talking about how Blake's voice braking immediately gave them chills and how beautifully serious he seems to be taking this character when it counts, in the way I still believe Kovach never could and wasn't prepared for. And then you go back to social media and where are we? Right back to making jokes about cum.

Which I'm certainly no prude and don't mind when the mood calls for it, but right now it very obviously didn't and I love this series but I'm sick of how it's constantly killing it's own vibe and and mood through it's own marketing by caving to it's "cringe" reputation every. single time. something actually good happens for it. 💀

I'm aware that they were never gonna hire a sensitivity consultant for writing Angel Dust specifically because it's a cartoon, but maybe the people involved could let their only Sex Working character have the same amount dignity from his shows (outside of all the cringe ass marketing) that he's allowed to have within the actual canon? For five seconds?! 💀

I don't like using the term "brainrot" at the best of times, but the leftover hunicast brainrot feels so real right now and I can't believe that little mouth covering emoji ether. Like she's aware of exactly how she's making things sound, she has to be, and in this case it's the sheer tonal dissonance of it all that's really quite tactless of her and actually unfunny. It's in poor taste, even. This shows marketing is constantly eating itself and ruined everything for everyone trying to promote this show to any actual adults outside of fandom spaces and I'm starting to agree about our little emo girlypop needing a social media manager. This is legit the most cringe, most unprofessional thing I've ever seen her do now regarding her own staff remembers outside of expecting her own fans and supporters to act as her personal therapists on her patreon and tumblr, which is something she should've especially kept nuked and never reopened, considering she (rightfully so) doesn't seem to particularly care for it, since she hasn't actually updated it, as far as aesthetically speaking, in years.

And again, if any Antis or ~"criticals"~ attempt interaction with this post, I will shoot you in the foot, just like this shows shitty marketing keeps doing to poor Angel outside of his actual canon. So no wonder why he doesn't like his feet then, l o l! 🤭

[chamomile-g-tea]

-in regards to me appropriating ocs and causing unicornofgt’s gtms to implode - i really want to reiterate to my followers i do NOT want attention, or pity, or support or defense. I’m not here now to garner sympathy or love. i just wanted to at least address the ripple that my irresponsibility caused. i don’t condone any form of bullying or side taking or justification or. analyzing people in my name. i do not know 98% of you and you do not know me. i’m just an internet person facing my mistakes, please don’t rush to my defense just because you liked my art. real people have been hurt and driven away because i was self centered and didn’t discuss or give her space to express important boundaries, and i handled the aftermath poorly.

[gamemakerm]

the book i have been proofing for work might be the first proofing project i give up on before the end of the book

[kiwiwyrm]

I just finished binging the Malevolent podcast and I'm Losing It over many things, but at this moment it's that Arthur's social circle can be broken down to:

- people who are dead

- people who want him dead

- three different versions of the same guy

- and whatever the hells Kayne(?) is

And there is overlap between all those categories

[aroacettorney]

perhaps the reason why aup ended like *that* is because it was not supposed to have a happy ending in the first place, but sayren didnt have the guts to deal with readers' backlash for when they finally kill off the main character so a half baked happy ending is what we get 😔

[lanne13]

Instead of actually apologizing I have spent the past four days imagining different scenarios wherein I do. There are not nearly enough plausible permutations to justify four days of rumination, and at this point I think I have to accept that no amount of preparation is going to make it hurt any less if I’m like “hey if you have a sec and you’re open to it, I’d like to apologize for the other day,” and his response is a variation of “actually I’d like to never speak to you again.”