#personal transit has a very important place in my heart

[rickktish]

Maybe it's because I'm a product of my time and place, idk, but sometimes the anti-car posts I see come across my feed get to me in a silly and purely emotional way. Because as much as I love the idea of implementing better public transit, both for the sake of the environment and for the impact it would have on citizen's wallets, I actually know that I personally would almost never use it.

Both for practical reasons, since my work covers an extremely broad area and I frequently drive over a hundred miles each way to and from work in a day, but also because my car is a part of my support system. It's a marker of my independence and ability to care for and provide for myself in spite of the fact that I can't live on my own. It's a safe space that belongs to me and isn't limited by someone else's ownership or control over that space. I bought it with my money, and I pay all the insurance and gas and repair costs. When I'm exhausted and feel alone and trapped I can literally just get in and go anywhere, and I don't have to worry about having a panic attack because someone can see me or hear me breathing or be annoyed that I'm taking up space, because it's my space and only mine alone. Sometimes that means driving around the block to the local park, sometimes that means going two or three miles to a grocery store, and sometimes that means picking a road and just driving in a straight line until I feel less crazy again, but none of that would be possible without my car.

I used to walk 20k+ steps in a day, and when I could do that maybe I could go on a walk to clear my head instead, but for the last three years going more than 3k steps in a single day means I have to spend the next day in bed recovering.

And yes, driving-- especially driving stick, which I prefer massively over automatic-- has its own toll. Today I wasn't able to drive the four hours each way it takes to go visit my brother at school like I had hoped because I drove two hours each way to work yesterday.

But because I spent yesterday driving, I got to spend today getting things done that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Today I walked around the kitchen to make myself food. I worked on daily tasks like cleaning and organizing, hell, I ate more than one meal today because I could actually get out of bed to do so. I can't do that on a day after I've had to walk around a lot.

If I lived in one of the "walkable" communities that have been cropping up all over my area, I would need to get myself a wheelchair to achieve the same level of independence I currently have, and likely still have less of it because I would need to plan around a whole different kind of fatigue from buying groceries or spending time with friends than I currently deal with. Driving five minutes to the store and spending a thousand steps there leaves me with more steps for things like showering and making dinner than walking five minutes to the store would, and that's so important to me. It's necessary in order for me to have the quality of life that I do, even as limited as I am by my body. I may not be able to work full time, but at least I can spend three days of my week doing a job that I love and value because I don't have to plan around distance from bus stops or adding public transit time to my already-fucked sleep schedule.

I don't know. Mostly I think I get a little bit tired of the posts that spend so much time denouncing the evils of personal cars and declaring that we have to replace them with public transit because I honestly think that ideally, we ought to plan for both. Public transit works really well for people living close together who don't go very far, and that needs to be supported better than it is in most places at present. It's also really good for people who need to go relatively far away at predictable and plannable times. But we shouldn't dismiss cars wholesale as evil; we need to try to strike a balance, for the sake of those whose lives or jobs aren't predictable and plannable, and for those who don't or can't live in communities structured for "walkability."

[crystalwhites]

ASTROLOGY NOTES

Hey! These are just my views and observations might not be relatable to all, please take what you relate 🤎

This Post consists of only Scorpio, Capricorn, Saturn, Pluto, 8th / 12th house placements

𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃

✦ I'm not surprised 12TH HOUSE rules psychiatric hospital, mental illnesses, abandoned places things that are twisted in some way, that are mysterious

since we are on it, 12th house mystery and 8th house mystery are veryyy different....... 12th is like conspiracy everything that's hard to believe which might or might not be real...and 8th is stuff that everyone knows exists but don't wanna talk about cause it's dark and hidden

✦ Saturn dominancy is definitely something you inherit or like runs in family (not compulsory ofc)

✦ Plutonic moon and plutonic venus make a good match from what I've seen, their wants and needs are similar (also the possessiveness and jealousy :/ )

✦ Capricorns and them questioning themselves whether they're enough.

✦ Scorpios are majorly attracted to Capricorns cause caps are so authentic they just be themselves not trying to lure anything or anyone,....... caps / earth signs don't give a shit about anything and Scorpios like it, their cold persona is very appealing + caps are not pretentious and Scorpios like people being honest and real

✦ CAPRICORN and SCORPIO difference (sun/ moon/rising)

Both of them are mysterious but the difference is Scorpios are secretive and caps are reserved / private ppl. Caps don't mind sharing their things with right person but not announcing it lol where as Scorpios have issues with trust they won't share until something like 10+ years and signed nda.

✦ 8TH HOUSE placements really hate people who don't have depth to them, who are too superficial to understand them

✦ You shouldn't underestimate a Moon in 8th house person's ability to detach themselves from anything or anyone, or at least they can pretend to cause they are so good at hiding their feelings

✦ idk why but I've observed this a lot that in someway or other it has always been unfair with Saturnians

✦ Heard a CAPRICORN STELLIUM say this ----

"your life is 100% your responsibility, no one is coming to save you"

✦ one thing you can expect from CAPRICORNS is keeping things real. They will say like it is and yes that also means no consideration for your heart sometimes cause they don't want anything based on lies, truth and loyalty are important to them

✦ A combination of Saturn and Pluto dominant in a chart 😵😰🥵

✦ Some of the songs from taylor swift album tortured poets like loml, so long London are so deep and heavily emotional perfectly showing her SCORPIO VENUS (pls never break a scorpio venus heart they're too soft <3)

✦ SATURN - PLUTO transits are scary especially in the 1, 4, 7, 10 houses....... pls y'all look out for yourself stay safe <3

Thankyou for reading !!

Hope you liked and related 🤎

[transfemmbeatrice]

beatrice muchadoaboutnothing is a trans woman: a brief treatise

thematically, i think in a play about the social vulnerability of women, having a character be a trans woman just makes sense as a way to provide depth to that idea. specifically, i love the concept of beatrice's view of men being informed by her own experiences as a closeted trans woman (it's amazing what people will say in front of you when they think you're one of them) and as someone later facing sexism and transmisgoyny.

usually when someone does a trans reading of this play/character, they look at beatrice's famous speech about wishing she was a man and interpret her as a trans man, which is perfectly valid! but this idea started for me with the simple thought that i wanted an out and accepted trans character to play with rather than a closeted one who cannot transition, just as a matter of personal preference at that particular time and with this particular text. but then i kept thinking.

as above, the concept of beatrice reading men for filth in the context of having lived among them is great. the "oh god that i were a man" speech is extremely disparaging of men and what they claim to be vs how they actually wield their power. what she wishes is that she had the power that men have automatically in her society--felt all the more keenly because there was a time when she was able to wield that power and she gave it up to be happy, to be herself, to be free in a different way. (here is where i sometimes imagine beatrice regretting ever transitioning, believing that her own happiness and health is less important than having the power to protect hero's happiness and health, because i love angst.) but now that the worst has happened, she is reduced to begging a man for help and it's demeaning and infuriating and tragic.

i also love turning on its head the line "i cannot be a man with wishing, therefore i will die a woman with grieving." being a trans person, dealing with internalized transphobia, knowing that transitioning will put a target on your back, wishing you could just be the gender you're born as--but no amount of wishing will make her not a woman. i think she loves herself and her gender but the play is focusing on points of conflict so that's what i'm talking about here.

in a play about misogyny, the vulnerability of women, and the hypocrisy of men, a trans woman has a unique perspective on both masculinity and femininity both as genders and places in society. (in the ideal version, i think john would be a trans man to mirror this experience, but that would require him to be rewritten to have actual depth and personality and all that is a different essay). there is also just a particular kind of strength that comes from having to carve out and defend your identity in that way which i think fits her very well.

lastly, a couple of other miscellaneous things from the text that can tie in:

beatrice recounting "a double heart for his single one" meaning both "i loved him twice as much as he loved me" and "i loved him as two people: [birthname] and beatrice"

benedick insisting he wouldn't marry her even if "she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed." Adam, not Eve. in MY illustrious opinion, this is benedick saying "i don't care HOW big her dick is i'm NOT gonna marry her."

[bonefall]

It's certainly a writing choice to make a book about a mother's grief while ignoring her relationship with her remaining daughter. Alas, Occam's razor strikes again. Do you think they're going to suddenly give Thriftear more relevance in Star? I'm looking forward to seeing how you flesh her out, I've always loved how much care you put into family dynamics no matter how small they are in the grander scheme of things.

I'm honestly quite cynical on this front. We probably won't get a lot of Thrifty in Star. I think what's going to happen to Canon!Thriftear from this point out is that she is going to lose any personality traits that really make her unique as she transitions into becoming Moonpaw's mother.

She will be a mild-mannered, kind woman who is neither too harsh or too permissive. Any personality flaws she retains will just be related to what the plot requires Moonpaw to feel negative about. If we're all right and Moonie is a weirdgirl, then Thriftear will be a Mom Who Just Doesn't Understand.

I hope I'm proven wrong, but call it a hunch based on the detail we DID get from Ivypool's Heart; "Compared to her interesting siblings who are too neat and too messy, Thriftear cleans her den in the most normal way." Goldilocks middle child.

In any case,

I find family dynamics to be one of the most important aspects of BB, so anything I adapt that involves Ivypool is gonna involve Thriftear too and that is a PROMISE.

In BB, Ivypool is the adopted child of Lionblaze and Cinderheart. It was only revealed in BB!ASC that she is the forbidden child of Jayfeather and Poppyfrost.

This means she is fiercely Firekin. Squilf has always been her grandmother-- BB!Lionblaze was adamant about that, when Brambleclaw disowned him.

Fernsong is an ex-kittypet, and the primary parent of the kittens. Their "Mi."

This fixed Moonpaw's parentage problems pre-emptively. Bayshine and Thriftear are NOT cousins in BB

HOWEVER I STILL SAID NO.

It's still a little up in the air, but I'm leaning HEAVILY towards Bayshine and FLIPCLAW being the parents of Moonpaw. Two very silly dads and their weird child.

If the dynamic between Moonpaw and her parents ends up being more distant or unhealthy though-- it'll probably be Thriftear and Plumstone.

BB!Thriftear has a VERY strong personality in my mind. She's Firekin and proud. Bristlefrost is gone and she is dedicated to carrying on her strength and ambition in her place.

Since they were young, they both planned on doing big things in the Clan. Thriftear is serious and a bit sarcastic, intense personality.

Plumstone has just as much raw ambition, but in a sort of laid-back, authoritative way.

As a couple, they're fantastic at "Good Cop/Bad Cop" plays. It doesn't matter how hard it looks like the two of them are fighting-- it's a trap!

They will ALWAYS end up turning a united front on you. They are terrifyingly good at working as a team.

So, bottom line is, I'm not giving this up to accommodate canon unless they end up giving me something REAL interesting. I'm very fond of the BB!Ivykin family!

[zahri-melitor]

so i'm reading certain nightwing volumes from '96 - 02 for my current reading run following NML (shout out to @havendance, cannot thank you enough 🫶🏾) and while some aspects of how he's written is very compelling and interesting to chew on, for the most part it's been pretty....boring?? like i'm gonna keep reading it so i can have as much context as possible, but it feels more like a chore 😩

anyways, i read your response on that “who’d you choose to write nightwing” poll and i’d love to get your opinion on what nightwing runs/writers to read outside of those 8 volumes. i really wanna get into dick grayson’s character and personality! also, if it’s cool with you, anyone else please feel free to add to this!

-dominomasc

Hey, dominomasc. Unknowingly you've just raised one of the fundamental incongruities of how comics work.

Comics are about layers of stories providing depth to a character and about dozens of different interpretations more than they are about a single amazing run. (Some characters have That Run! But on average, most don't). Dick Grayson, a character that has existed for 84 years, has some very fun stories from all sorts of writers. His title, Nightwing, is also an excellent example of how a lot of long running titles often don't really have a stand out section that's head and shoulders above the rest.

I promise, you are never going to run out of stories to read about Dick Grayson (Comicsvine has him at 9,593 appearances as I write this). So yes, this is going to be about two things: advice on finding stories about Dick that vibe for you; and advice on understanding Dick alongside other storylines.

Taking into account what's listed above and the fact I'm moderately obsessive, I have compiled a discussion of most of the major writers who have written Nightwing runs, or who have written major titles that Dick also prominently appears in.

I am at heart a 'Dick belongs to the Bat Office' person and my expertise in most characters starts with COIE. On that basis I'm not going to dip into pre-Crisis here.

Marv Wolfman & George Pérez: New Teen Titans (1980-1993ish). I am not going to explain all the title names here; you're going to have to go get more detail from someone who treats NTT period as their special interest. Wolfman and Pérez are the architects of Nightwing as a character, separate to Robin, that Dick grew into. Read this period if you're interested in Dick as a young adult among the other Titans going through the transition into adulthood and independence, and his relationship with Kory. Basically it's a superhero young adult soap opera. It can be quite uneven in places, particularly towards the back end, and there are approximately a thousand discussions over which storylines are good and which should be fired into the sun. I am not a subject expert for this period.

Because of the state of the Titans titles in the early 1990s, the Bat office demanded Dick Grayson back under their control. Exactly when they got him back is slightly debated, but it would be fair to say Batman #500 (October 1993) marks his transition back to being a Bat character (around the start of Knightquest); by KnightsEnd and Prodigal (July 1994-January 1995) Dick is once again firmly a member of the Batman set of characters, and has remained so to date.

Prodigal, by Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Doug Moench: (Batman #512 to Robin #13). Use a reading list here as the stories are spread across multiple titles. Prodigal is 12 issues about Dick's first time being Batman, with Tim as his Robin, and his feelings about returning home to Gotham as an adult. Robin #13 in particular is possibly the most important issue of the story, as it's the foundation of a reset in Bruce and Dick's relationship with each other and how it is going to be characterised for the next decade or so.

Chuck Dixon: (Nightwing #1-70 1996, Nightwing: Alfred's Return, and a bunch of other one shots) So Dixon is probably DC's most prolific writer of all time, and is the architect of what's been treated as 'default Nightwing'. In this run, Dixon creates Bludhaven and the situation of Dick being its protector, out of a desire to be his own man apart from Bruce. He sets up an extensive Rogue's Gallery for Dick, the most famous of which is making Blockbuster one of Dick's main enemies. He has Dick working at a cop bar and then decide to enter the Bludhaven Police Department in an attempt to investigate it from the inside due to the levels of corruption. This is also the run where Dick and Babs get together as adults. Basically, everything about 'default' Dick that you probably know comes from this run. Dixon's great for character interaction, for world building, and and particularly at making various titles tie together - because he was writing at least 1/3 of DC's entire line for a while there he's the king of crossovers, giving a lot of depth to friendships because characters just pop between titles he's writing. His actual plots however vary between middling to occasional flashes of greatness. I'd consider The Hunt for Oracle (#45-46 and BOP#20-21) and the Shrike story (#55-58) to be the standout storylines in his Nightwing run; for individual issues I'd also point to #6 and #25 for his relationship with Tim, #16 for Dick building his car, and then his crossover issues in events tend to be quality.

Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty: (Robin: Year One 2000, Batgirl: Year One 2003, Nightwing: Year One - Nightwing #101-106 1996) I am separating these three out from the rest of Dixon's work as they're quite important as retcons over Dick's backstory. Robin and Batgirl are well regarded rewrites of events; Nightwing is less so, partly because it's a solid example of the Jason personality retcon, and partly I think because a lot of people reading this were still well across the two 1980s versions of Dick's transition from Robin to Nightwing. I highly recommend Robin Year One, particularly with the Shrike storyline of Nightwing, as they are interlinked.

Devin Grayson: (Nightwing #71-100 & #107-117 1996, Nightwing/Huntress 1998, Gotham Knights #1-11 & #14-32, The Titans #1-20 1999) Oh, Devin. Devin Grayson is a Dick Grayson superfan (she uses Grayson as her surname because of Dick). She is really good at character introspection - Gotham Knights #1-11 contains some amazing character work. She's also not shy about establishing her own headcanons on characters and retconning their backstories. Devin's biggest contributions to the Dick Grayson lore are in establishing him as Romani and actually writing Bruce adopting Dick. Her run on Nightwing is best understood as a whump, break-the-cutie run, where Blockbuster sets out to destroy Dick's life, and in the process gets Dick fired, breaks up Dick and Babs, burns down Haly's Circus (for the first time), blows up his entire supporting cast, chases Dick out of Bludhaven and leads to Dick going under cover in the mob essentially to punish himself (also not the only time). Dick's also sexually assaulted in Nightwing #93 but I really beg people to read this in context of the rest of the run; this should be looked at as PART of the whole flow of whump, rather than as a separate situation. Grayson also had the title taken off her before she got to the 'comfort' part of the extended hurt/comfort storyline she was writing. It reads a lot better if you think of this in a more transformative fandom, ficcish manner of story rather than as a more standard run. If her Nightwing run is too grim for you, I highly recommend Gotham Knights and her Titans run; Devin Grayson is honestly best when she's writing a constellation of characters around Dick more than when she's writing Dick himself. She adores his friends and family. Standout issues to get a sense of Devin include: Nightwing #100, a self-reflective issue on Dick's history; Nightwing #81, where Dick's in hospital and Cass goes after Slade for him; Titans #15 1999, where the Fab 5 go on a camping trip together to get back to their roots and deal with a lot of tensions in the group; and Gotham Knights #8-11, Transference, where Dick and Tim team up to rescue Bruce, who's been brainwashed by Hugo Strange.

Jay Faerber: (The Titans #21-41 1999) Honestly Faerber's run on The Titans is not that Dick Grayson focused. It's entertaining if you want to read some solid Titans dynamics, but the standout characters you read this run for are Roy and Donna. Seriously, if you're into Roy, Cheshire and Lian drama I highly recommend Faerber's work; otherwise it's not an essential run for Dick.

Judd Winick: (Outsiders #1-25, 34-49 2003, Batman & Robin #23-25 2011) Winick tends to write an angrier and darker edged Dick Grayson, and he has a bunch of really common tropes you see pop out in his writing. These are no different, and thus include an awful lot of violence and characters having sex (so much sex). He can be quite funny as a writer, but honestly his Outsiders run does not have much of that humour. The Batman & Robin story is basically Winick finding some space to tie up his Jason Todd plot before Flashpoint obliterated it, more than an actual story about Dick. If you want a good encapsulating issue to get the vibe of Winick about Dick, take a look at Outsiders #21, which has a good chunk of Dick and Roy AND Dick and Bruce in it, though it's helpful to remember that this issue is set very shortly after War Games and so Dick is in a massive guilt spiral.

Bruce Jones: (Nightwing #118-124 1999) It's One Year Later! Bruce Jones moves Dick back to New York City (as Bludhaven went boom due to Chemo in the lead up to Infinite Crisis) and theoretically sets up Dick's status quo out to Reborn. So. The story Jones is most famous for is the first 4 issues of the run, which are generally referred to by fans as the TentaTodd story. Jason Todd turns up to run around annoying Dick by ALSO dressing up as Nightwing and committing crimes. He also turns into a tentacle monster for a bit. It is certainly a story that exists, but it actually is pretty in line with Jason and Dick's relationship up to Flashpoint: Jason turns up to be a brat who wants attention, does violent things, and Dick exhaustedly kicks the shit out of him and gets him locked up while despairingly going 'why is this my life'. Because of Jason running around killing people as Nightwing, the NYPD get mad at Nightwing and start trying to hunt him down. Jones is for the completionist.

Marv Wolfman: (Nightwing #125-137 1999) Lacking any better ideas, Wolfman gets a run on Nightwing. It's not Wolfman's finest work, to put it bluntly, and it's very obvious that Marv hasn't actually read any of Dixon or Grayson's runs. Marv does set Dick up working as a gymnastics and trapeze coach, which is always a decent job for him. If I had to pick one story from Wolfman, read Nightwing #127, where Dick gets buried alive and digs his way out of the grave.

Peter J. Tomasi: (Nightwing #140-157 1999, Batman & Robin #20-22 2011) Tomasi loves Dick Grayson, and particularly loves Dick's connection to his friends and family. Let me put it this way; in the lead up to Final Crisis and Blackest Night every title got an Origins and Omens short story on the back of an issue. Most books used it to write creepy or introspective reflections on awful stuff especially deaths that have happened to the characters. Tomasi used his to have Dick take Barbara skydiving for her birthday, and echo a bunch of themes from his first issue. I think this is one of the most mature and grown up looks at Dick prior to Flashpoint; Tomasi treats Dick as a grown adult with an adult relationship with Bruce. I love Freefall. Read Freefall to see some really interesting meta on Dick's relationship to the concept of falling and to the concept of catching falling people, a theme that's frequently present in his stories.

Grant Morrison: (Batman & Robin #1-16 2011) Astonishingly given how much of Reborn was designed by Morrison, they don't actually seem to care that much about Dick as a character more than as a prop to set Damian against. Dick's extremely focused on Damian in this title but also does not actually appear to like Damian very much. If I were going to recommend one story out of it I'd probably point to Batman & Robin #7-9, because Dick gets to be a giant hypocrite in them and tries to resurrect Bruce. It goes badly, for all involved.

Scott Snyder: (Detective Comics #871-881, Gates of Gotham, and like every Bat event during n52) The Black Mirror is probably my favourite piece of Dick!Batman storytelling set during Reborn. It's just elegant in terms of how hard Snyder pushes Dick and how his reactions are very much not those that Bruce would have. This is helpfully extremely obvious in that The Black Mirror and Gates of Gotham are actually part of a trilogy, the third act of which is Court of the Owls and due to Flashpoint Snyder had to rewrite CotO quite extensively including swapping Dick out of being Batman and having Bruce as the lead. Read The Black Mirror for Dick having a minor breakdown while solving a complex case with links to James Gordon and Babs. Read Gates of Gotham for incredible Dick & Tim & Cass & Damian fourway storytelling that shows the dynamics of every pairing out of the four.

Fabian Nicieza: (Nightwing #138-139 1999, Batman #703 & #713, parts of Battle for the Cowl, Nightwing #51-56 2016) The thing about FabNic is when he's on, he's very much on, and when he's not it can be painful. I actually almost would have skipped him on this list, but he very much deserves recognition for writing the Nightwing issues of Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, which alongside the Robin issues portray exactly how far Dick will go for Tim; and for Batman #703, which is the only issue prior to Bruce's resurrection that actually puts Dick, Tim and Damian on page together as heroes. He also got saddled with writing the start of the Ric Grayson saga under the script of Scott Lobdell, which, well, is definitely at the 'not well regarded' end of his oeuvre. FabNic is again a writer that is really good at character interaction, and I tend to find whenever I'm reading events where there's heaps of writers involved and he's there, the issues I really enjoy are the ones he's had a hand in.

Tony S. Daniel: (Battle for the Cowl, Batman #692-699 & #704-707 & #710-712) Oh, Tony Daniel. Why. Daniel's stories are probably the most classic-Batman of the Dick!Batman stories. His stories revolve a lot around drama at Arkham Asylum, with Harvey and Gilda Dent, and with the Falcones. On balance I think you could probably actually trade Dick out for Bruce in half these stories and it wouldn't make a huge amount of difference. If I were going to suggest one to try, maybe go with #710-712? It's Harvey focused and it has Kitrina Falcone and doesn't actually depend on the whole Jeremiah Arkham thing.

Kyle Higgins: (Nightwing #1-12, 0, & 15-29 2011) For a reboot of Dick Grayson down to his fundamentals, and working within the requirements of the 5 year time line, I like Higgins' work on Nightwing. Sure, I could have done without him burning down Haly's circus, again, and all the Court of the Owls revelations, but some of that was clearly dictated to him, and they way he gave Dick time as a teenager with relationships with other characters at Haly's before his parents died worked quite well. If I were going to cite a favourite part of this run it's probably the last section, #18-29 when Dick moves to Chicago and tries the 'strike out as my own hero with my own city, screw you dad' thing for the first time in the new timeline. Higgins put in quite a bit of cast building work and it's a shame none of it ever got used again between Forever Evil and then Rebirth just ignoring everything during this period.

Tom King and Tim Seeley: (Nightwing #30 2011, Grayson #1-20) I'm going to treat these two together here as I can't actually easily subdivide the run between them. This is the longest period Dick goes undercover working as a spy because his life has just gone to shit. He is both spying on Spyral (for Bruce) but also his job within Spyral is as a spy and special agent. Think James Bond, except Dick also gets to be the focus of the objectification camera. Some people enjoy it as a change of pace, some people can't stand it because it's just a very weird story for Dick and Dick's generally personally unhappy when he's stuck undercover, and it definitely is a highlight in the 'did you know Tom King worked for an intelligence agency? Tom King is working out his feelings about working for an intelligence agency again' oeuvre. If you want to try an issue, I recommend Grayson #5 as probably the best character and storytelling piece in the entire run.

Tim Seeley: (Nightwing #1-34) Good stuff I can say about Seeley's run includes that he used Rebirth as a impetus to rebuild Dick's status quo. He did quite a lot of world building for a new version of Bludhaven, he got Dick back into Nightwing and back into a blue V costume for the first time in 7 years, he's interested in looking at the Grayson family and not so much in terms of the Court of the Owls stuff. He likes Dick and Damian's time as Batman & Robin. Seeley's also a fan of a lot of character beats in terms of Dick's characterisation that were pioneered by Devin Grayson - particularly in terms of Dick being easily attracted to women, being impetuous and hot headed at times, and in the Romani retcon. I don't necessarily see eye to eye with Seeley on all of his characterisation and story choices, but he does a lot of repair work on getting Dick back to being Nightwing, including things like repeating beats from the Dixon and Grayson runs so that Dick has that backstory again, and what that means for his character. I might suggest Nightwing #8 2016, because it revolves around Bruce and Dick and the concept of falling (I'm a sucker for a good falling metaphor) or #9, which is literally a discussion of the changes between n52 and Rebirth with both of the Clark Kents, and in which Clark points Dick to return to Bludhaven (in a sort of re-encapsulation of Clark originally giving Dick the inspiration for the name Nightwing, but this time pointing him to what people treat as his default 'home'). If you like the shape of Dick as Bludhaven's hero from fic, you probably will find Seeley's run has stuff to enjoy.

Sam Humphries: (Nightwing #35-41 2016) So Humphries' storyline is another good example of what a lot of the current run of Nightwing contains since 2016 - reinterpretations and new versions of old stories. In this case, it's an adaption of the Hanging Judge storyline to have taken place in Bludhaven in Bruce and Dick's past. I don't mind it as a story, but it's definitely there to remind you of old story beats.

I haven't yet read Benjamin Percy's run, or any of Ric Grayson yet (which is a combination of Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza and Dan Jurgens), or Tom Taylor's run, so I don't want to give you too explicit opinions on these.

In general terms from experience on other titles and what other people have said: I really loved Benjamin Percy's Detective Comics #35-36 story in n52 and I suspect his Nightwing writing is a perfectly acceptable fill; nobody particularly likes the plot surrounding Ric Grayson, and the fact Scott Lobdell had a hand in plotting it seems to me to explain a bunch of the aspects of the scenario premise that upset a lot of people; Dan Jurgens is a DC workhorse who can turn his hand to anything; and Tom Taylor's run has been described as many as 'rewrite the arc of Devin Grayson's run but make it light and fluffy and free of consequences'. I honestly think if you haven't read much Nightwing yet, Taylor's run may be a good transition run to try to see if he's your vibe; I keep getting the impression he probably makes a good intro for new readers.

If you have any other writers you would like my impression of, please ask specifically; as I've said, Dick's been written by a LOT of people over the years.

[breadraccoon]

I’m trying to watch season 4 of TUA. It’s painful. I’m struggling to get through right now. I just hate how they’re treating Diego, Lila, and Five

I just want to throw my fix-it season 4 idea into the ring. Why couldn’t we get a season of struggling but happy new parents Diego and Lila. That still can be interesting plot line. They both lived very action packed lives. I can see why the transition to domestic life would be a struggle. So why can’t Lila’s family play a bigger role in them figuring out their family dynamic.

One, how did they find out Lila’s family is still alive? They just kind of showed up. That really bothered me honestly. Anyways Diego always talked about struggling to find his place in Lila’s family. But what about Lila. There could have been a huge discrepancy between who Lila’s family think she is and who she actually is. Lila didn’t grow up with them. She doesn’t know them. But she wants to learn how to navigate and be a part of their lives. She could talk learn to open up more and that it’s ok to rely on others. Maybe she could talked to her mom about her insecurities of being a mom.

And Diego. He came from a really broken and abusive family. He’s never had relatives who try to look out for him. I guess Pogo counts, but it would have been nice to show him trying to bond with Lila’s newly alive family. Maybe during Diego’s lowest point in their marriage, Lila’s Dad comes out to help him. Or maybe Lila’s parents come to Diego because they don’t understand why Lila is so different. I would have love to see Diego awkwardly try to make small talk with her very judgmental aunties. Maybe he could learn to be less hash on himself. He’s doing his best. He thinks he needs to be this picture perfect father, husband, and a hero. But maybe Lila’s father goes and sits down with Diego. He look at Diego and say he is enough. He can’t see anyone better than Diego to be Lila husband. And for the first time in Diego’s life he gets a father figure who see him and sees how big his heart is. Lila’s Father heals a hole Diego didn’t know he had.

My outline for this little subplot:

Lila’s parents aren’t there from the start. Lila and Diego are trying to wing it on their own. They are struggling to make means fit. There is a growing distance forming in their relationship.

Lila is struggling to fit into the life this Timeline’s Lila was apparently living. Maybe she is a botanist(I just want to make a Lila can’t stop getting her plants killed joke. Her parent did own a flower shop). Diego is still working a life draining job.

Maybe Diego family is still around like they are in season 4. It’s still awkward though

For Lila’s parents, Lila just went straight missing. One days she was around and then the next she was gone. For six years they’re left wondering where she went

Her family hires a detective to find her and that detective’s snooping around freaks Lila and Diego out. Why is this person following them around? Are they a spy?

Hijinks ensue :)

Eventually they capture the detective and they quickly tells the couple why they were hired.

Lila is floored. Her family is alive and has been looking for her. She immediately wants to find them. Diego agrees. He understands the importance of this to her.

They find Lila family and Diego talks Lila out of backing out. She scared and doesn’t know how to act around them

The first meeting is awkward and goes horribly. Lila and Diego come up with an amnesia excuse for why Lila is so different. Lila and Diego are quickly overwhelmed by her family.

They still joke about them meeting in a mental asylum, and it doesn’t land. Not everyone believes Diego’s intentions are true. The timeline of their relationship is not great. And the cracks in their relationship are showing

But they spend the night, and Lila gets some time way from Diego to defend him in front of her family. She explains why he’s so important to her and her family decides to give him a chance(especially since they have a kid together)

Oh yeah they only have one kid. Why have multiple kids if you just call them the twins? I hate when writers give pairings kids and then give them no personality. Kids are people too.

Que montage of Diego trying and failing to impress Lila’s family. Diego is really upset. He wants so hard to be able to fit in to Lila’s family. But he doesn’t know how to turn off his tough guy act.

Diego’s family show up and they are no help. The in-laws are all side eying each other.

Lila had to go do timeline shenanigans with five(NO CHEATING SUBPLOT) maybe five has a one side-crush on Lila. Lila turns him down. But Five does take an active roll in protecting Lila’s family. You know positive healing (Everything doesn’t need to be so depressing)

While Lila is gone, Diego is primarily looking after grace. And Lila’s family see how good he is with their kid. Lila’s father has a heart to heart with Diego. They talk about how Diego can potentially fix the distance slowly coming between him and Lila.

Lila comes back. She hugs the shit out of her family. She comes out with full honesty of who she is and why she is so different. Five helps explain too

Her family is stunned, but they still see Lila as family. They want to help her. They are very wary of Five. They embrace Diego’s weird family though.

No one dies in the end. And they all go on breaking the cycle of abuse.

I get why they potentially couldn’t do this kind of subplot. Six episodes is a really short run. This kind of plot line would have been really condensed, but I feel like this would have been significantly better for their characters.

This is me just making up ideas off the cuff. If you want to use this idea, go ahead. I’ve got too many fics I’m already working on right now.

[rainbowgaez]

one thing about being a trans woman in a male dominated space is that before you start transitioning (and early into it), you will just be off-putting to other men. it sucks, but in my experience that just made it easier to avoid people i probably wouldn't have gotten along with anyway.

however, after you hit a certain threshold in transition and performative presentation, you become fly tape for the most desperate kind of weird guys imaginable. you might think this is an improvement. it's better to be liked than shunned and cold-shouldered—and it's hard to argue with that—but the thing about these weird dudes is that they are often not very perceptive, introspective or self-aware, and that complicates an already complicated situation.

you see, they are parched. for weeks, months, years, they've been searching for a pretty girl who they believe is as verifiably skilled and knowledgeable as they think they are. and after suffering through the sweltering sausage desert that is their hobby or interest, they've stumbled upon an oasis. they become infatuated, assured their journey has come to an end so long as they can flatter and impress their way into your heart, something they're woefully confident in their ability to achieve usually. their narrow view of reason is eclipsed because something girl shaped is the perfect size to obscure it.

this is something that pretty much any femme presenting person has probably had to deal with at some point, but as a trans woman it has placed me in this really awkward spot multiple times. most of the time it comes down to two questions:

do they know, and are they going to be weird about it?

i know, ideally, it wouldn't matter, and hopefully i can just turn down their advances and they'll take a hint and fuck off. but that's just the ideal scenario, and like i said earlier, these guys aren't good at picking up hints.

so if they persist, it's like. what do i do? do i tell them in hopes they'll lose interest? that's just one possibility out of several that come from doing that. earlier when i asked "are they going to be weird about it," it's important to mention "weird" means more than one thing in this context. are they suddenly going to start acting angry and violent toward me as if my personal existence is an attempt to deceive them? are they going to become more interested and thereby even harder to make go away? did they somehow already know and that's why they were interested in the first place?

all questions i never want to have to ask nor do i want answered but things i feel i have to occupy myself with to make sure i don't end up in an even worse situation

[k0koii-yu]

So…

I can’t believe it took me 3 years to be able to say it out loud but—

Old woman yuri.

(Or at least one-sided gay pining at the very most)

(Apologies for the lack of good screenshots, I just started replaying WE recently since my Angela brain rot is coming back)

———

Okayy so I want to confess: I initially wrote a fic about them because I wanted a wlw equivalent to Jars from S3 so then I thought about them— and thus came a slow burn fic (actually a 1k word one shot because it was part of a one shot book in Wattpad I had back then) I made of them in 2021 in an AU where Lars was the mole for the sake of making the ship sail. The one shot has been deleted, unfortunately, and as of now I might not have plans to rewrite it : (

Anyways I started shipping them seriously after I wrote that fic (I still like Angelars and Carchelle tho!) and the more I read into their interactions, the more I realized just how much untapped potential their relationship has (PS knew they would be too powerful so they had to make Angela the mole with little to no buildup until literally two cases before IPS/s). Also incoming ramble about them since barely anyone talks about them:

Their interactions, while few, are super wholesome and have a special place in my heart as someone who’s skimmed through the transcripts for either Angela’s appearances OR their interactions. No one talks about how Carmen, while usually hotheaded and quick to action, constantly praises Angela and is really patient with her enough. And as @celestiarambles has pointed out in their analysis of their relationship, Carmen has only gotten mad at Angela ONCE for a reason that wasn’t out of concern for her well-being and it was because she was flirting with Lars in front of her. (Could it be because she wasn’t being serious? Or could it be out of envy? We may never know, unfortunately…)

Likewise, I see so much potential to be explored when it comes to their interactions: Carmen teaching Angela photography after having very nicely for some reason (I bet 50 bucks that if it were Jack or Lars it’d be different) told her she sucked, them discussing parenting tips, and character studies of their relationships. Or if we were to enter fic territory, their pre-canon/post-canon dynamic is also an interesting idea to think about, or maybe an AU where they could end up together (Mole!Lars seems like the easiest way tho). Fic writers, I call upon thee to make this wish of mine come true/j

Their personalities also complement each other very well : D. While both show clear work ethic and seriousness in their work, they also complement each other. Carmen is tough, hotheaded and started off as distrustful at us in the beginning of WE, being focused on her work first and foremost, while Angela is much more calm, patient and initially warm and family-oriented. This also leads to some interesting parallels as they almost become each other’s core traits by the end of WE: Carmen having grown more motherly and caring after having Sanjay, whilst Angela grew distrustful and cynical, likely due to her pledged loyalty to SOMBRA, which lead her to follow their orders so devotedly that she was actually willing to blow us up.

The fact that the transition from the main plot of IPS to the AI has Carmen change facial expressions from holding a straight face to being sad/disappointed. It could’ve been Ripley, who was upset at the loss of one of their most competent members by the hands of the organization she swore to destroy. It could’ve been Jack, who was upset for Lars— his best friend, and they did have some nice interactions, too. But the fact that Carmen of all people was chosen for this, despite the fact that her relationship with Angela wasn’t either of their most important (Lars to Angela and Sanjay/Elliot to Carmen /platonically btw), did make for an interesting choice.

Also not related to canon but fun fact: my hc of Carmen nicknaming Angela “Angie” actually came from that one fic I wrote XD

And don’t get me started on the way they also fit into so many tropes at once:

Birds of a feather: Both of them are hardworking, serious and devoted to their work, but are shown to also care about the people around them, especially children and young people.

Red oni, Blue oni/Opposites Attract: Despite their similarities, Carmen is more hot-tempered and impatient, while Angela is known to be more calm and reserved.

Coworker yuri: do I even need to explain myself…

Brains and Brawn: Angela is shown to be really intelligent (you do not just forget a Nobel prize in biology) and it is also shown when she almost succeeded in deceiving us into thinking anyone but her was the mole. On the other hand, Carmen is more prone to action and violence (the fact that PS barely put out a moment in which she lets her badass personality shine and is almost always rescued by Jonah is a huge sin against humanity). Their jobs also reflect this in a way.

Pair the smart ones: Angela with her academic expertise in biology and Carmen with her field experience in journalism.

Battle couple: Most of the points I stated for Carmen earlier apply, along with the fact that we learn that Angela takes military training in the finale.

Dating Catwoman: Can somewhat apply post-canon, or after Angela has been outed.

Morality pet: To Carmen, since Angela is one of the few people she rarely ever gets mad at that wasn’t a child or teenager.

You (he) never did that for me: For Angela. An example was in Case 8 where she had went missing for hours and Lars was only like “hey guys my wife went missing” while Carmen actually went to go look for her.

Not so Different: Aside from their personalities, their character arcs also reflect this as discussed earlier. Carmen’s warm and motherly side gets to show itself later on with Angela still around, while the finale also shows Angela loyal to SOMBRA and being colder and meaner towards the Bureau, showing this sense of superiority(?) over their respective allegiances similar to Carmen in the early cases (and also throughout, to an extent) of the season.

Complementary colors: Red and green. Need I say more?

OKAY THIS WAS A LOT— it took me a whole hour to type this up but I wanted to get these two out of my head rq also as a means of unwinding from exam stress (will probably disappear into the shadows again after this). Please do correct me for any inaccuracies, though ^^

[couldtransitionsaveher]

HAU from POKÉMON SUN AND MOON

JUSTIFICATION:

"Hau is so sweet and so nice and she has had a very special place in my heart ever since i first played sun and moon. Her bulbapedia page describes her as 'big-hearted' and loves pokemon, pokemon battling (which she does mostly for fun but learns to take things more seriously when they need to be) and food! She generally kinda does whatever she wants and still is silly even when people (like Gladion in their first meeting) try to make her feel bad about it. Like i said, i've adored her for years but my trans headcannon/reading is a lot more recent, but now i will never un-see it. (also my trans headcannon for her and my autistic headcannon for her are holding hands in my brain so if it ever feels like this is also a autistic reading of her character you're not wrong.)

Everyone sees Hau as just different, a tad off in some way or another, she has the exceptions of fallowing her grandfather's path but all she really wants to do is make people happy. Her grandfather is a very important member in their community, he's a jolly old man but can be pretty intense. He specializes in fighting types and his own son (Hau's dad) ran off to avoid Hala's exceptions for him. to directly quote bulbapedia: "One of the villagers in Iki Town, where they live, comments that as a [girl], Hau had once witnessed Hala in a rage, which frightened [her] to the point of tears. Nothing Hala did could comfort [her], which he claims is the reason why Hala is "too soft" on Hau".

It's also said that she basically never cries, which is interesting to me. Like she's not any kind of masculine ideal or whatever but i feel like she was exposed to a bit of that 'boys don't cry' idea indirectly. The one time we see her cry is at the very end of sun and moon when her friend (and implied crush) Lillie is going away to have her own adventure. Hau says that she hasn't said everything she wanted to tell her and that she's going to write her a really long letter. This was the biggest fictional lesbian moment of 2016 for me. I don't know how anyone can think she's a straight cis boy after that and i still think about this moment all the time.

I personally read this all as Hau, who loves her family and her community, is given exceptions that on some level she can not handle. To stop being that happy-go-lucky, to stop being too 'soft', to stop the way she is inherently. The ideal end to her arc and story is her realizing that she needs to stop living up to expectations that others give her and finding her own meaning to her life and who she wants to be, and personally i think she would find out that she wants to transition. Thank you and good night." - @pigeon-wizard

Reminder: Submissions are always open! Submit here!

Did you make your daily click today?

[pardonmydelays]

clancy tour (watching a livestream) essay 🙏

anon, this question made me so unbelievably happy omg. i just can't get around to the eras tour essay, however, i do feel the need to write, so we're doing this instead.

for the context: i woke up at 5:30 today to watch the livestream of clancy LA show. no, i wasn't there in person. but mentally i was.

please, listen to this incredible playlist while you read my essay (no one's gonna read, it mark my words):

i have decided we will just go through the entire setlist. i don't want to make this too long but i wanna talk about EVERY. SINGLE. SONG. let's fucking go.

OVERCOMPENSATE

so this is when i started crying. who the fuck cries on overcompensate, you would ask... well, me, apparently. i honestly think this is the best opener for both, an album and a show. this song gives me so much serotonin i can't even explain it. i'm always worried about tyler tho because his entrance looks dangerous (the jump, the jump, I AM TALKING ABOUT THE JUMP!). nothing bad happened tho, thankfully. i also noticed he was wearing the other version of clancy jacket today, the one with the hood. not that it's important, but it kinda is. for me at least.

HOLDING ON TO YOU

ok, so if you know me you probably know this is my ultimate favourite twenty one pilots song. and the live performance is even better with the crowd stand at the beginning (i swear to god, it's so incredible to me how much trust tyler has for the clique), clancy mask and lightbulb mic (you can tell tyler has a lot of fun with it), and my favourite part - josh's piano backflip during the bridge of the song. fucking iconic. what's not to love.

VIGNETTE

first thing i want to talk about is the insane transition from holding on to you to vignette. honestly, all transitions are so fucking amazing on clancy tour, it's impressive. now, tyler's little dance during this song is one of the most adorable things i've ever seen (he is such a cat omg) and and and! NEIL BANGING OUT THE TUNES!!! i'll be honest with you, because of this part vignette became one of my favourite songs from clancy and definitely one of my faves from this tour.

CAR RADIO

another one of my favourites. car radio will always hold a very special place in my heart, it's so relatable to me. it makes me so happy that we have a chance to see it being performed in clancy costume (and clancy mask!!!). and when tyler teleports at the end! (also i think he's wearing a totally different jacket in this clip which probably means he has three different clancy jackets, i have no proof tho so i'm just gonna shut up. the video is from LA night one tho. not my show). here's another clip, you can see how he teleported here.

THE JUDGE

ok, so for those who don't know, right before every show the fans in their incredible outfits are being filmed while singing the judge together and every night they show a different video of them singing first verse + chorus and then after that tyler comes out with his ukulele to finish the song. it makes me cry for no reason at all. yes, i cried today too (it just makes me so happy to see all the clikkies singing together and they all look so beautiful always). so what happened today? content warning glitch happened during fan video, you can watch it here, then blurryface tweeted this:

i am losing my goddamn mind over this, people on the livestream were losing their shit when this happened, I STARTED CRYING LIKE A GODDAMN FOOL BECAUSE I'M SO FUCKING EMOTIONAL ABOUT EVERYTHING THIS BAND IS DOING. ugh. i was so right to watch today's livestream. something's gonna happen soon guys. they are warning us.

(i added CUT MY LIP to the playlist but technically it's the judge/cut my lip mashup so there's really not much to say about it)

THE CRAVING + TEAR IN MY HEART

the transition. the goddamn transition!!! it's honestly so fucking cool and probably one of my favourite parts of the tour. i absolutely love all jenna's songs and everyone who says they should not be on the setlist, fuck you forever. in this house we stan all jenna's songs. i usually cry on the craving and tyler is being so silly during tear in my heart - this is my favourite thing in the world. plus, do you really hate the sound of ukulele???

BACKSLIDE

ok, i actually started crying as soon as i realized we're singing backslide now. i love this song so goddamn much, it means the world to me. at one point it was my favourite song from clancy. the chorus breaks my poor little heart every single time and live performance of this song is so emotional... especially at the end when tyler is on his knees (the video is not from tonight's show but it's my favourite one from backslide, please watch it, his vocals here are INSANE). it's like crying for help. i wanna kill myself now. i relate to this song so much. also, backslide is the reason i decided to buy clancy tour tickets, so there's that.

SHY AWAY

oh, thank god this one is on the setlist. you know how much i love scaled and icy and i think out of all the songs from this album shy away is the best one to put on the setlist because the live performance is always so fun!!! don't you shy aWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! the scream is absolutely fucking everything oh my god. actually, i just love when tyler screams. but don't we all.

HEATHENS + NEXT SEMESTER

ok, now don't hate me, please, but i was never the biggest fan of heathens (i don't hate the song, i like it, just not as much as the others. i probably wouldn't cry if it wasn't on the setlist). however, the transition (again!!!) from heathens to next semester is the best goddamn thing in the entire world and i am losing my mind every single time i come across any clip of this moment. please, watch it, this is everything!!! one question tho: i know tyler was playing bass on the platform for next semester and he didn't do that today, did he just stop doing this recently or is it because of what happened yesterday during the show? (not during this song tho, or at least i know nothing about it, but it seems like LA fans absolutely cannot behave and he was definitely being more careful today, more about it later tho).

ROUTINES IN THE NIGHT

oh boy, this is my vigilante shit for real. remember vigilante shit performance from the eras tour and how everyone was losing their shit when they saw taylor doing the choreography with this motherfucking chair? yes. it's basically that except tyler is fully dressed. which is even worse maybe (y'all know how i feel about his clothes for some reason). one of my favourite songs from the album, but after seeing the live performance for the first time i became absolutely obsessed with the song. i was genuinely scared today because this is basically what happened last night in LA (i swear to god people are acting like fucking animals) and i noticed that tyler was being much more careful this time: he wasn't coming so close to people, and honestly good for him. he didn't even let them touch him during this part. i can't blame him. i feel so bad for what happened. hope he's ok.

ADDICT WITH A PEN + MIGRAINE + FOREST + FALL AWAY

my favourite mashup in the entire fucking world. but before we get into it, please this is so fucking funny and adorable. so basically, before playing the mashup, tyler sat by the piano and he said "currently i'm temperature hot. so i would want to take my jacket off, i promise not to turn on all the dads tonight" and then this happened. poor guy didn't know what to do LMAO. he's such a cutie, please watch the video, he's so adorable i can't. he's also the funniest person on earth. back to the topic, the mashup... i am such a slut for their old songs and this mashup is absolutely fucking insane. the song i love the most out of those is, of course, forest. according to tyler, this song is so old it basically doesn't exist. fuck you, tyler joseph. i can't believe i'm going to hear it live tho, holy shit. i will be fucking SOBBING during this part, i just know that.

MULBERRY STREET

this is such a fun song to play live and one of my favourite moments. you can tell how much fun tyler has each time they play it, also this! this is everything!!! he's always so happy when this happens, he trained us well hahaha. it's so fun omg. can't wait to be a part of it. this has always been one of my favourite songs from scaled and icy so i'm glad they decided to keep it on the setlist.

NAVIGATING

get in, losers. we are entering the lore now. ok, honestly, this part of the tour is absolutely everything to me. torchbearer with his torch? and clancy jacket?? coming to pick him up so they can perform while dema is burning??? AAAAAAAAAAAAAA. oh my GODD. also, navigating is so special to me (i picked this url for a reason) and live performance of this song is fucking fire. watch it. watch the clip. just watch the goddamn clip, will you? we all know this song is on the setlist because of josh, so everybody say thank you josh. also you can tell tyler is very emotional about this song and i just wanna give him a hug. oh my god. i can't wait to hear it live. this will fix me (it will probably make me worse).

NICO AND THE NINERS + HEAVYDIRTYSOUL

the MOTHERFUCKING transition!!! i know i say this a lot but i am such a slut for all the transitions on this tour, oh my god. they are so good. also i absolutely fucking love how we're still in the lore and also, the visuals are absolutely incredible, and also, nico and the niners is one of my favourite songs (the one that got me into their music actually) and also heavydirtysoul live is INSANE and also-

MY BLOOD

ok, i'm sorry, i keep forgetting that this song is on the setlist. it's not one of my favourites (don't fucking hate me, i like it, it's just not my fave). i will be very much singing it at the concert tho cause it's so good live. not much to say about it tho.

OLDIES STATION

boy, here we go. so i started crying at the very beginning of the song and honestly i have no idea how i'm going to handle this live. i am so very normal about this song. it means everything to me. the worst part of it tho was when during the song tyler said "thank you so much for using our music. you've saved us in ways you'll never know". OH MY GOD. i started weeping even more. it's like... their music saved US but we also saved THEM and i need 3-5 business days to recover after that. good lord. listen, i love slowtown and i'm sad that it's not part of the setlist anymore, but i love oldies station a hundred times more and that was a good change me thinks.

FAKE YOU OUT + GUNS FOR HANDS

putting those two together just because i can and i will. vessel is such a great album and it makes me so happy that those two are on the setlist. screaming "our brains are sick but that's okay" with the entire arena is going to fix me, for sure. also, here's the clip of tyler messing up the lyrics (he basically went kjbufbfkkjejkebfkjk after that lmao). can't blame him. the rap part is so fast. i died tho. he's so funny, please.

LAVISH

i can't even begin to explain how happy i am to have this one on the setlist. it's the funniest moment on tour and i love watching them being stupid on stage. also, jOsH iS sHiRtLeSs. the walk, THE WALK LMAO. the best choreography you've ever seen. i just love seeing them so silly and happy and this is everything. i paid a lot of money to see this live. i'm definitely not gonna regret this.

RIDE

so the thing i love about this tour is that every single night while performing this song tyler brings a different kid to sing the chorus with him (it's the equivalent of giving the hat during 22 on the eras tour i would say). tonight we had an adorable girl named callie (if i'm correct). she did so well! also i was giggling so much when tyler said she's cute (he was giggling too hdshfbhekj). i just love watching him with kids, it's so sweet!!! also she had a great beanie with band's logo, i want one too. please watch the clip of them singing together!

PALADIN STRAIT

i was crying. i was crying so much, i love this song and the live performance is so emotional. i put the song bandito on the playlist, because there's this moment in the song where tyler is singing the bridge of paladin strait and josh is singing bandito at the same time and OH MY GOD. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR THE LORE??? THIS IS SO CLEVER AND I AM LOSING MY GODDAMN MIND EVERY SINGLE TIME I THINK ABOUT IT. please, watch. this is sick as fuck. you don't understand. do you even understand? OR AM I THE ONLY ONE I KNOW???? i'm sorry i just can't i can't i am defeated i am absolutely insane about this part. also, the ending when they are showing the clip of paladin strait music video combined with other clips which looks like a flashback from clancy's life and his never ending battle with nico? the fuck??? and then we go straight to...

JUMPSUIT

the motherfucking coat. not gonna say anything else. just. the coat. oh dear lord. now i am temperature hot.

MIDWEST INDIGO

now my favourite part of midwest indigo is tyler taking off his coat very slowly. because he fucking knows what he's doing. but also, this song is so special to me. i know he wrote it as a love letter to ohio and i'm not even american but somehow this song always makes me think about my hometown. the live performance is so great. the beginning with the bass! he's adorable!

STRESSED OUT

"i don't want stressed out on the setlist it's so overplayed" kill yourself. i love stressed out because i have good taste. it's fun. it's a great song with great lyrics and you fuckers hate it only because it's popular. just shut up. shut the fuck up. in this house we actually enjoy listening to good songs. i personally want it to be on every setlist. if stressed out has no fans it means i killed myself. i'm dead. i'm gone. stressed out defender forever and always. also clancy tour version is incredible. just watch it and shut the fuck up.

TREES

again, i was so scared about my boys because of what happened yesterday in LA. people are fucking animals. i'm so glad, because tyler actually decided to call them out for this and seems like it was much better today. but still. guys please, behave, cause if you're not gonna start acting responsible they are going to stop performing like this. it's still insane compared to the opening night of clancy tour where people didn't even come closer until tyler told them to. i also just noticed now that tyler's t-shirt had black font today (the previous one had red font) for the first time. i think i was just too tired to notice this before. there's not much i can tell you about trees, because you just simply have to be there to understand. it's a perfect song to end the show (for those who don't know: they always close their shows with this one), it's something i experienced live once before and i can't even compare it to anything. i wasn't even crying. my soul literally just left my body. trust me, there's absolutely nothing like trees live. i can show you thousands of clips and it will never be enough. nobody does it like them. seriously. this is the moment. the moment of all moments. i am in fact crying now...

TO SUM IT UP:

great show. 10/10. would recommend. i'm going to see them live in 223 days. this is the thing that makes me want to stay alive. yes. i need to stay alive for this. whoever sent me this ask, thank you. it means the world to me. i need to talk about them because it's the only joy in my life now. they are the reason i want to push on through. also, if you made it this far, thank you. i love you. and i'm sorry.

[our-t4t-experience]

hi Evan! Big fan of what you do on your page. I very recently got a boyfriend who is also a trans man. Do you maybe have any tips on how I can make this relationship last more than a month? (Knowing my luck…)

-🦦(if I ask anything else)

there are some things that are in your control and some things that are out of them. its worth mentioning that if you have been abused before, its more likely that you will either perpetrate those behaviors, or on the flip side, allow people to perpetrate those behaviors against you

in my experience i have had a lot of unstable relationships where the instability wasnt necessarily caused by me (or me alone) as much as it was the other person being abusive to me and me letting it happen

so this advice IS coming from a place of "ive been abused," if this isnt applicable, my apologies

-communication is very important and remembering that people communicate in different (and sometimes incompatible) ways is also very important. you may be extremely direct and dating someone whos a little sensitive. you may want to de escalate an argument by being by yourself and they may want to talk about it. its important to be able to compromise sometimes and for them to compromise sometimes if your communication styles arent aligned. my girlfriend has to be very direct with me because shes learned that while we're both southern and she has learned to approach boundaries and conflict in a passive, sugar coating way, because im autistic, that approach doesnt work, for example

-how do you express love? how does your partner express love? its important to show your love in a way that is fulfilling to you, but its also important to show your love in a way that your partner receives it. ive heard mixed things about the "5 love languages" test but honestly i did the test and it was decently accurate and may be a good start, its also worth noting that neurodivergent people may also express love in different ways than the "norm"

-never stop dating your partner. yall like flowers? get each other flowers! go on cute dates! send each other memes that make you think of the other person! never stopping trying to impress your partner can make for a more fulfilling and exciting long term relationship

-time together, especially later in your relationship, is super important. distance can make the heart grow fonder (trust me, we're long distance lol) but you dont want to be away from them all the time. work and family obligations can make that hard, but having time to yourselves is important, me and caspian sleep together on the phone every night, and thats one of my favorite parts of the day

-specifically trans advice, but your trans partners transition should be a celebration. ive heard from one trans man that you should be responding to your loved ones transition like you would if someone was having a planned and wanted baby, and thats good advice. get excited! get funny with it! get romantic with it! my girlfriends excited for me to get top surgery and that makes me feel very good about my transition

(past this is longer term advice)

-i dont usually like those "3 weeks 3 months 1 year" rule stuff, but in my experience, you can usually tell if youre compatible with someone by 3 months. this is enough time for the "honeymoon phase" to chill out a bit and youre more receptive to their flaws. by some point you should be able to know if these flaws are a dealbreaker (unless youre like me and have a fawn instinct lol), and ive also found that i can tell when a relationship is unhealthy USUALLY by around 3 months, at least in my subconscious

-i knew i wanted to marry caspian by 6 months of us being together, and we're not getting married right now for a couple different reasons mostly boiling down to we're just not ready yet, but id recommend waiting 6 months before you start thinking seriously about a future with this person

-a rule ive had for a long time regarding marriage with anyone is that i want to have lived with them for a full year before we get engaged. i dont live with my girlfriend and wont until probably the end of this year (our 7 months os tomorrow!) but i have lived with a partner and have found that you can find out a lot about a person by living with them for an extended period of time

if i missed anything lmk, anyone else is also free to give advice in the comments (:

[natlacentral]

Dallas Liu for Boys By Girls. More photos and interview behind the cut.

Photography ELIZABETH WEINBERG Fashion LUCA KINGSTON Interview CAT EVANS Grooming TAMMY YI for EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS using T3 MICRO Production TREVOR PERSON

The sky trickling in thick clouds yawns open, summoning rays of light to stream down into outstretched hands. Warm, welcoming. Palms rub together and friction sparks, filtering dark shadows into shimmering strands of energy. A glint of light swells into fiery radiance, and Dallas Liu is in the centre of it all, as both himself and as Zuko fromAvatar: The Last Airbender. He is setting his path aflame as he grows resilient and intrepid, and through it all, countering the dimmer parts of life with the brightest fire.

Filled with a charismatic and personable energy, Dallas leads each conversation with a contagious spark that you just can’t help but match. It could be the fact that Dallas and I have both been west coasters since adolescence, but there is a chilled, laid-back state right off the bat as he and I sit to chat. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Dallas started acting at a young age, and there is a fierce ambition and drive in him that is truly electrifying to encounter as his career begins to ignite. Having infinite support from his loved ones, Dallas has a steady head on his shoulders and a big heart that always makes space for others, but never forgets to leave room for himself as well.

Dallas instantly supplies the energy of a born leader, but he confesses his leadership skills have grown substantially over time, with the most growth happening during the filming of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Even though we’ve just met, a sense of pride for Dallas floods my system as he speaks about his role as Zuko, especially when his eyes light up as he admits Zuko was his favourite character growing up. What a childhood dream, indeed, for him to play the young firebender in the new live-action series! There is a cadence of sincerity and intellect from Dallas as he speaks of the close knit relationships created with the other cast members during filming. We talk about how Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who plays Uncle Iroh in the series, took Dallas under his wing and allowed space for him to gain new skills and knowledge, both mentally and physically. Dallas speaks as though he has lived many different lives, leaping from one world to the other and always leading with intention and consideration.

Through sips of tea and banters about the weather, Dallas and I settle into a space that is cosy and comfortable as we set ablaze conversations around managing big transitions, representation in Hollywood, and the importance of forgiveness. Through it all, Dallas carries the duality of calm waters and kindled fire all at once - a gentle, warming spirit through and through. He is striking the match, igniting his own fire, and making home in an inferno of self-assurance and purpose.

Avatar: The Last Airbender releases February 22, 2024 on Netflix.

Dallas, hello! Looks like you might be in some chilly weather with that jacket on.  [laughs] Yeah, I’m in L.A…It’s in the sixties…really not that cold, but it is for here!

Yeah, Los Angeles must be getting a slight cold front like a lot of other places in the states have! Right! For an L.A native like myself, this is when we wear our trench coats and what not. Everyone's standing outside with their scarves and coffees and hot lattes!

Well, it’s so great to get to chat with you! How has your day been today? Good, thank you! Just hanging out, and the trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender dropped today, which is super sick. I'm feeling very excited about that! I’ve been calling everyone, seeing how they're feeling. I was just happy to finally have something out after so long. I think our teaser was released last year in November, so it's been a while, and now the show's coming out in a month exactly, so I'm just happy to finally be sharing it!

Yes! And the trailer is so great, I’m really excited. I grew up watching the animated series - I’m thrilled for the live action and to watch it now as an adult! Yeah, I think especially with the way the show is doing it where we're spreading it out, with the first season being the entirety of book one, will be really awesome! There’s just too much that goes on in that first season to really compact it into a three hour film.

For sure, I agree! Well, we’ll dig deeper into the show of course, but let me give you a warm welcome back to Boys By Girls! This is your second time sitting down with us for a conversation. Your first interview was in September 2021. How does it feel to think about the time that has passed since then? I can’t believe that much time has passed already. It’s so cool…and also frightening! It all feels like a movie in itself. It’s been a whole entire journey since the last time I talked with Boys by Girls. I had only just booked Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I hadn't even really started prepping for it at that point, because they hadn't sent us the script or anything like that. Now I'm getting to talk to you guys again and the show is coming out soon! I feel like not only have I been able to grow as an actor, but as a person as well. And I'm just excited to talk to you guys again!

We’re very excited to have you! And we’ve just transitioned into a new year. What would you say the biggest transition was that you went through in 2023?  Well, this is kind of a very basic answer, but I think a lot of people in my generation are learning to not obsess over things out of our control. As long as you've done your part or done your best in that moment, the moment has passed now. So, you know, it’s about being able to accept that. What you've done is done. It's time to move on. All you can do is be proud that the moment existed and you were able to participate in it.

How do you do with transitions and change in general? Is there anything that helps with change and staying grounded?  I am definitely someone that finds change challenging, but it's something that I enjoy as well. It means that something is happening in your life. It's proof that you are really here and living through it all. This kind of goes back to my last interview with Boys By Girls, but I can't stress enough how much my family and friends mean to me through all of this change. My family and I are so close. There's no way that they'd ever let me switch up on them or turn out to be this crazy person. And with my friends, during transitions, I think the ones who can stay will stay. The ones who can't, or choose to leave, were friends with me for the wrong reasons.

For sure. Our loved ones definitely keep us in check during transitions and change, as well.  Yeah, I feel that! As you get older those numbers of friends will decrease, and you're going to naturally start looking for more friends that feel good to spend time with and keep you grounded. However, if there is this prior knowledge of your status or career, there's always a little scepticism that exists within you. Sometimes you're not really sure whether or not to fully form that friendship and trust them. But for me, luckily I have not only some of my high school friends, but people I’ve worked with. All of us working on Avatar: The Last Airbender, except for the adults, are kind of new to the industry. We're all sort of trying to figure out how to just be our best selves as actors, but also as people. All of us on the show are constantly keeping each other in check, which is really nice. That's such a precious thing.

That is really vital. I think in any career, having those sorts of connections is so important.  That's always the best thing with co-workers. Like, there's no extreme character that you’ll sometimes see in these television shows and movies. We're all people. We’re all just normal people, right? We're on the same TikTok algorithm! [laughs] Yeah, that's when you know they're for life: getting on the same algorithm!

That’s true compatibility! And, on the subject of friendships, one of the biggest themes in Avatar: The Last Airbender is the importance of community and friendship. How was your experience with building a community and support system during the filming of the series? I'd have to say in the beginning it wasn't too difficult. I was calling my mom every day, calling my manager every day, and staying in touch. And, you know, sometimes when you're put in those specific environments with new people, you go through this struggle bonding with the other actors and actresses. We also went through a boot camp for martial arts training, and we worked on scripts for a little bit. So, I'd say in the beginning it wasn't too difficult for me to make those connections.

However, later on in the process, when we were about four or five months into shooting, that's when I really relied on Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who plays Uncle Iroh, when I was on set. Then when I was off set, it was Ian Ousley, who plays Sokka. Him and I were actually roommates, so after months of shooting, we finally decided, yeah, let's move in together! Like, why not? Our characters rarely interact in the animated series, and when the main three were on set, I was at home, and then we'd just go back and forth. It was funny, he and I would always have some tea and just debrief the day after one of us would come home from work. It was totally like a real life couple activity!

So, you are playing Zuko in the new live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender! What are you looking forward to most with the release of the series?  For this release, I'd have to say [I'm most looking forward to] the relationship between Zuko and Uncle Iroh. When Zuko is on his own, he's kind of this crazy, mad, angry teenager, right? He's going through a lot and he's experienced a lot. But when he's with Uncle Iroh, he seems to be more in touch with his senses and his emotions a little bit better, although he is still quite lost identity wise and in what he actually wants for himself. But I think everyone has felt that way in some part of their life, especially in their teenage years. That'll be something a lot of people can relate to - that feeling of being angry with whatever you might think is the cause of your problems, although not necessarily being fully self aware.

In the teaser, you get to see Ozai and Young Zuko fighting in their Agni Kai. I'm really excited to see people watch me play the younger version of Zuko as well. I think that'll be a fun twist, because younger Zuko is obviously, as you know, way different from bald ponytail Zuko. [laughs] I'm stoked for that. And I'm stoked for people to see Uncle Iroh in general. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is a super talented actor that helped me grow and become a leader on set, which was really big for me, because I didn't really understand the role of a series regular. Although they have this title of a regular character, and you know they're going to be in almost every episode, I didn't know what the role was when you're not on camera, and how your mood can affect the rest of the crew. So that was really, really valuable for me.

Zuko is portrayed as an “anti-hero” in Avatar: The Last Airbender, even though, in a lot of ways, he’s just a complex character going through his own coming-of-age and personal growth. What would you say are Zuko’s greatest internal struggles?  Personally, I had to really understand Zuko. I had to know every single part of the series. Even going back and watching YouTube analysis videos of his character was so beneficial for me. You see in the animated series of the first season, he's kind of just a hothead all throughout. So what I wanted to make sure I did was give Zuko some sort of depth as a real person. Because, yes, we are living in this fantasy world - you have all these crazy animals and spirits that are involved. But at the end of the day, these characters are human beings. They eat, they sleep, and, as a plus, they can bend. And, sure, bending is the whole thing about Avatar, but I wanted to give a real performance of me, a human being, as Zuko. He's been my favourite character since I was young! I wanted to sort of dissect my childhood and my own personal relationships, even though they’re incredibly different from Zuko’s, to see if I could use any of those past memories to my advantage. Although not all of them were very useful. Imagine if I was like, yeah, I burned my face! [laughs] No, just kidding. But, yeah, I think trying to relate to Zuko is going to be hard for anyone just because the trauma that he experienced was so extreme. But I worked with what I had. I had a lot of source material and I had a few performances to look at. I used everything that I could at my disposal.

What do you cherish the most about being a part of the Avatar: The Last Airbender world? Hmm, that’s a great question. Can I ask you to answer that question for yourself first? [laughs] I need time to think!

Oh gosh, turning the tables on me! It is definitely a difficult question, because there’s so much about the world that comes to mind. As a kid, it was the escapism for me that felt super important. Also, the whole idea of bending being this certain outward form of expression, like what art is for people, that was big for me to see as a kid. It’s why I love being an artist, and I think that carries through the series beautifully.  Dang, those are some great answers. Now I don’t know what to say! [laughs] Just kidding. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think for me, my favourite part about the whole entire series is probably the individual journeys each character goes on and the storytelling within that. The way that each character's journey sort of ties in together and brings them to that one final battle. And it’s not only just the physical battle, but it's mental for each of them as well. I'd have to say, also, I love how much the fantasy world really does relate to the real world. There's a lot of beautiful themes in the series.

That’s a really lovely answer! There are themes in Avatar: The Last Airbender that are a bit grittier, like conflict and war, disability, discrimination, and grief. How important do you find these topics to be to the series and plot? And also exposing these topics to younger generations through the series?  I think it's so important, however I don't think it's the most important thing about the series. It's of course vital to give youth some sort of exposure to those grittier topics, because it does exist in the real world. It is, in a way, preparing them for these big world issues, right? Like, you're a kid, so typically you're kept in your house, taken care of by your parents, going to school. It's this simple life, but obviously as you get older, everything just becomes more complicated. It's tough to deal with all of that tragedy and evil that exists. However, what you see during those wars and the outcome of these amazing stories is that they're all good endings, so I guess that helps out the kids quite a bit. I mean, you don't really think about the genocide and violence in the series too, too much as a kid. You're like, ah, dang, they got wiped out. As an adult, you're like, oh my Lord! But, I guess because you're a kid, you don't really think too deep into it. So I think with every darker theme in the series, there's a lot of lighter themes to combat it. And, as a kid, you want to hold on to those light themes. It certainly balances out everything. I feel like the light certainly outweighs the darkness just because it is, at the end of the day, a kid series.

The nations in Avatar: The Last Airbender are influenced by East Asian and Inuit culture, which are respectfully showcased in the fantasy world. How do you think this series is providing a stage for representation, especially as a show that is revolutionising television for younger generations specifically? I think it's doing it in the best way possible, especially our live action series with Netflix. You see these Asian and Indigenous cultures, and it's something that everyone can relate to. You're seeing that representation in the faces, in the world building, in the costumes, but deep down at heart these are characters that everyone can relate to, or have met someone that they can relate to, that has a similar nature to all of these characters. I think that's where not only Asian and Indigenous cultures would like to move forward in Hollywood, but minorities in general would like to experience that well roundedness in the characters. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's cool we get to play ethnic characters that aren’t just only ethnic characters, but real human beings, you know? Their ethnicity isn’t the only thing about them, and not the thing that is being solely focused on. Their ethnicity is not their story.

Especially being in America, although those ethnic stories are extremely important to our story in Hollywood, it's cool we get to play these roles that don't exist in the real world, but everyone, no matter what race you are, will relate to these people. I mean, that's the whole reason I fell in love with the animated series as a kid. For me, I knew these characters were similar to me culturally, but to get to see them just live out their life in a fantasy world where none of that stuff really matters, it's just the world that they exist in, I think is so cool.

Now for a fun (and thematic) question…what natural element would you say you resonate with the most?  Hmm. This is so lame because I say the same answer every time, but it's so true. I'd have to say fire. I mean, it's a good one. And, yeah, that's just what people have said about my looks all my life. [laughs] No, no I’m joking about that! It's definitely the opposite. Definitely the opposite. But with fire, not only do I think it's the coolest, but I'm a Leo, I'm a fire sign. It just kind of all adds up.

In your previous conversation with Boys By Girls, you express your love of boba. I have to ask, what’s your go-to boba order? Ah, I think over the years it's gotten more and more simple, actually. Now I go to this place called Chicha San Chen. And boba is Taiwanese, but this place really emphasises that they're Taiwanese. For a boba shop, they're Michelin star rated or something like that. It's insane. If you're ever in LA, or I think the other location is in Vancouver, you’ve definitely got to give it a shot. It is so good. I usually always go with a black tea. At this place you can throw in cream or mousse, which is sometimes so nice with it. Then I like to get either fifty or seventy-five percent sugar, depending on the day. You can also order hot tea boba at this shop, and it's super good on chilly days… like this where it's 65 degrees [laughs] [It's for] when you're wearing your puffer jacket and beanie, and you're like, ooh, I need a little hot drink in my life. But then if I get iced, I always do less ice. Yeah, that's the order. Black milk tea, or jasmine milk tea, of course, is great as well.

If you could manifest this new year in one word, what would that word be?  I would have to say “forgiveness.” I pray for forgiveness because I think especially after coming out of COVID, people are trying to figure themselves out, and everyone needs forgiveness. Whether it's a person that has done you wrong or someone that you may have done wrong, knowing that maybe either one of you had a part in it and simply giving them that forgiveness and closure could go a very long way. Whether they're aware of whatever happened or not, I think to get that off of your own chest, or for them to get it off of theirs, is a small gesture that really can go a very long way. I think forgiveness can impact everyone very, very deeply.

That’s a stunning perspective and way to move into this new year! Thank you for the lovely chat, Dallas, it’s been such a pleasure. And I’m so excited to watch the show when it comes out!  Thank you, I appreciate it so much. This has been super fun!

[oraclekleo]

Jung Yoon Oh (NCT) Ideal Partner Tarot Reading

Disclaimer:

All readings have purely entertainment nature

I don’t know any of the celebrities personally

Don’t base life decisions purely on tarot readings

I can never guarantee any of what’s said in the reading

Before requesting, read the pinned post and appropriate linked post

Tarot readings are my hobby - I’m not obligated to accept any of the requests nor to complete them, it’s my choice, not duty

Waiting time is long, even several months

If you can’t wait, please, seek other tarot reader

Reading Info:

Rating: 18+

Reading Type: Single - Couple

Requested: Yes - No

Requester: 

Deck: E. A. Poe Tarot

Spread: Ideal Partner

Questions:

Body 

Heart 

Spirit 

Soul 

Time 

Place

Celebrity Info:

Full Name: Jung Yoon Oh

Stage Name: Jaehyun

Group: NCT

DOB: 14.02.1997

Blood Type: A

MBTI: ESTP

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Chinese Sign: Fire Ox

Life Path Number: 6

Masterpost: NCT

Ko-fi - Voluntary Tip for Readings

Jung Yoon Oh

Jaehyun (NCT) - Ideal Partner

DOB: 14.02.1997 Blood Type: A MBTI: ESTP Sun Sign: Aquarius Chinese Sign: Fire Ox Life Path Number: 6

Spread / Question: Ideal Partner

Deck(s): E. A. Poe Tarot

Body - XII The Hanged Man

Jaehyun’s ideal partner is likely someone who likes to do the opposite of what others think is appropriate for them. They are likely to dress their own way, having their own style and carrying it with confidence but not showing off. They prefer to listen rather than speaking all the time. They are the observers and notice things and events from very different points of view than other people. Their eyes might seem veiled sometimes as if they were daydreaming all the time but they actually just try to see everything from multiple angles.

Heart - Ace of Cups

Jaehyun’s perfect match is a loving person at heart. They are overflowing with affection and care towards people who are closest to them but they also radiate kindness when dealing with complete strangers. They might not be the ones talking about their feelings openly but their actions speak louder than words. They are that person who will cook chicken soup after work only to bring it to their sick neighbour. Their heart is open and ready to cradle anyone, they have a strong desire to love and care for someone.

Spirit - 10 of Swords

Jaehyun’s special person is likely someone who has been through a lot of hardship in their life and they have learned how to guard themselves. Sometimes they seem rather mysterious to others, like if there was a wall around them, thick and impenetrable. They seldomly share their aches and fears with others, they are used to dealing with them on their own and internally. It’s not likely for others to see them cry or break down as they will keep the poker face in public and only let the tears flow when they are safely alone or with someone they trust completely.

Soul - King of Swords

Jaehyun’s ideal person has the soul of a scientist or psychologist. They prefer to analyse other people more than getting emotionally engaged with them. They might seem distant at times, people have a hard time reading them. They are the ones who can read others extremely well, they spot red flags and signals instantly and they might even seem like they are reading other people’s minds. Sometimes it’s scary but the important thing here is that deep down they are good and just and whatever they learn about others, they always use it to benefit or help them.

Time - 8 of Cups

Jaehyun and his special person might meet at a time of transition. One of them or both might just have broken up with someone and are in need of a little detachment time. The relationship is likely to start as something non-committal, none of them wanting to actually take it seriously or even reveal it to the public. As they walk this path together, it’s possible their feelings for each other deepen and the bond thickens.

Place - 4 of Wands

If Jaehyun and his lover decide to live together, they will make a beautiful and peaceful home for themselves. It’s more likely for them to keep it private, not letting many friends hang out there with them as the space feels nearly sacred to them. They are likely to build a comfortable and in a way minimalistic home, no clutter around to distract or disturb them. It’s also likely for them to share the burden of house chores equally.

Thank you for reading!

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[positivelybeastly]

To the Mod: I know Cat! Hank is your number one version of the character, now I'm curious of how you rank the other encarnations from least favorite to favorite...

Ha, so, funnily enough, this reminds me of an old meme I made, which is horrifically low quality, but eh, it makes me laugh.

Pretty much all versions of Hank, I can find at least something to love about them, even if it's just something visual or something small, one little scene that works for me, so, with that in mind, let's begin our ranking! I hope you don't mind, but I went from favourite to least favourite, just because that's the way my brain works. :)

Platinum Medal - Feline Beast (2000-2012)

As you mentioned, in my opinion, absolutely the best version of our man. When drawn well, he has the best design, the best look, the best storylines, the best everything. He's still eloquent, he's still hilarious, he's still bipolar, he's still ridiculous, he's still so aggressively unhappy and doing his best to make it through, he's still the biggest bleeding heart you'll ever see. He's my guy.

Gold Medal - Classic Beast (1974-2000)

The boy! The bouncing, bludgeoning, bountifully blue Beast himself! Honestly, I used to be a little down on him, I used to think he lacked complexity and was just kind of a weird 'diversion' on the path to cat Hank, but reading New Defenders completely changed that opinion, and now he's firmly second place. He's just such a goofy goober!

Silver Medal - Dark Beast (1994-Current)

Honestly, one of the better evil twin/counterparts I've seen in media, mostly on account of some very subtle characterisation tweaks that make him fascinating. His strange, borderline narcissistic-but-also-self-worth-affirming fascination with 616 Hank, his inability to hurt Hank's parents because the idea of being loved makes him weak, his absolutely incredible sense of humour . . . like, I dislike what he's done to the discourse about Hank, since people will trumpet the idea that Dark Beast 'proves' that Hank always goes evil, but as a character, I really am just happy any time he's on panel.

Bronze Medal - Modern Beast (2012-2019)

You'll note that I cut this off before 2019 for obvious reasons. Honestly, this version of Hank is saved primarily by a few key stories that actually bother to examine his actions and ongoing personality crisis in more than surface level detail, and I do really like this design, even if I wish people could be more consistent with it (seriously, he's not a hard character to draw, can we please establish if he's as big as the Hulk or not?). Forever tarnished by being written by Bendis, but I do like him when he's written well.

Runner-Up - TAS/'97 Beast (1992-1997, 2024-Current)

I love this boy, but he hasn't gotten quite enough stories of real import and character development for me to say I like him as much as the comics versions of Hank. I'm optimistic that season 2 of X-Men '97 will rectify that, given some key scenes in episodes 5 and 7, but until then, I just like him. I think he's neat. Definitely has one of the best voices of all the Hanks.

Runner-Up - Grey Beast (1974-1975)

I used to regard this guy as just a transition from human to blue Hank, but going back and reading those issues of Amazing Adventures and the tie-in issue of X-Men Unlimited, I actually kind of adore this brief but meaningful period of Hank's life immensely. When I started writing my big X-Force fix-it fic, the idea of regressing Hank back to this colour and something like this state of mind was key to my vision of the character, because it's so under-explored and so fascinating to me.

Runner-Up - Sublime Beast (2004)

The best of the villain turns Hank has ever had, because it's not really Hank, and yet, the manner in which he turns is so achingly Beast - he burned himself out trying to keep everything afloat, and in his desperation, he made a stupid mistake that ended up hurting him most of all. Also, 11/10 character design. White fur and purple leather? Fucking god damn what a daddy.

Runner-Up - X-Men 3: The Last Stand, The Marvels (2006, 2023)

Honestly, good version of the character, even if I don't love Kelsey Grammer's politics. Great voice, good design, good integration into the storyline, interesting place for Hank to end up after leaving the X-Men, good use of his acrobatics. I was very pleased to see him crop up again in the Marvels.

Runner-Up - X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine & the X-Men, Marvel Anime (2000-2003, 2009, 2011)

Throwing these all into their own little space because I do love them, but they were very much just supporting characters who didn't get a real chance to shine outside of one or two funny moments, and one or two episodes (the Beast of Bayville from Evolution is the standout here). Great designs on these three fellas.

Runner-Up - Human Beast (1963-1974, 1986-9, 2013-2018)

Honestly, not my favourite version of the boy. He's fine, but he's not done yet, he hasn't finished baking. I appreciate a lot of the stories that come from this era, but I always regard this version of Hank as fundamentally unfinished and incomplete. The magic stuff with time displaced Hank was interesting, the Jean love triangle and the conga line of humiliation Bendis was intent on putting him through was. Less so. Still. Good lad.

DNF (Did Not Finish) - X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix (2011-2019)

Just not really the same character, tbh. See me after class for notes.

An Affront to Me, Personally - X-Force Beast (2019-2024)

If I could fill your bed with thumbtacks, Ben Percy, I would. You have poisoned the earth for this character for decades to come, if not forever, and I regard you as a blight upon his legacy. The fact that you were allowed to do this with the character is all the confirmation I needed for my theory that the X-office, and Marvel at large, does not give a single solitary fuck about the integrity of this character, will not protect him, and does not hold any regard for his history or meaning.

Beast in name only. Shame on you.

Bonus: Lives In My Head Rent Free - Gay Exiles Beast (2009)

It's canon.

This list isn't entirely exhaustive, there are a billion other versions of Hank out there, like Brute from Mutant X, Manga Beast who looks like a teddy bear, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3 Beast, Ultimate-1610 Beast, etc, etc, but these are my 'core' Beasts, and as such, this is my ranking.

[sea-blue-heart]

hi i came across your elliot nightray is a lesbian post and i know that that post is like. almost a year old would it be possible to explain what you meant about it being a joke about elliot's place in the narrative? no pressure ofc i just also had the same hc and i wanted to see why someone else thought that way

of course!!

basically: in my interpretation of pandora hearts, elliot isn't really a character who exists outside of the thematic role he plays in the story (even in the in-story world of the manga, because...the world is a story!) namely, he's a guy who is there to further along the themes of self-sacrifice, particularly to challenge the conceit that self-sacrifice is an inherently selfish act that places the blame of suicide onto the person committing it as opposed to the structural oppression and action that drove them to that point (which is one of the reasons why it's so important that ELLIOT is the character that does this, because he's one of the main people who champions the idea of suicide as personal selfishness.) elliot is one of the first characters to realize the story that he's in and the role he is supposed to play within it.

ADDITIONALLY AND RELATEDLY, elliot is very much a deliberate parallel to lacie. they share similar roles in the the lives of their corresponding glens (leo doesn't have a coio he has to 'kill,' but in every way elliot fills that role in his life). they both have the same final sentiments (im sorry, forgive me) that are both messages for their glen. both elliot and lacie are ultimately trapped in a structure that forces them to die as the "best" way out, *even if they expressly do not actually want to kill themselves.* and well. lacie baskerville is a lesbian. to me.

all of this analysis aside (im sorry i tried to keep this short and then failed bc im abnormal about pandora hearts) what it boiled down to is a series of messages with my friend @rheineorshine that were a combination of "well elliot is lacie so by transitive property he must also be a lesbian" and "elliot isn't an actual person in the narrative of pandora hearts so he can literally just be whatever you want" and "elliot is lesbian-coded because he's dead."

and then she embroidered "elliot nightray was a lesbian, actually" and it's on my wall forever and ever.

[kyouka-supremacy]

sigma for the ask game?

Sigma!!!!

Favorite thing about them: The same thing as the bsd author: I really like how “normal” Sigma is!!! It makes him very sympathetic. The way he fought with everything he had during the Sky Casino arc to protect what was most important to him made me emotional.

Least favorite thing about them: Nothing I can think of? I guess his outfit could use some improvement but I'm starting to think I'm very nitpicky with this kind of stuff lol.

Favorite line:

I feel like I'm always going for the most predictable lines but like. I really like this one. I wish nothing more for my life than to do what I can as an ordinary man.

brOTP: Everything I ship with him romantically I think would work really well platonically too!! Not much more I can't think of since he hasn't interacted with a lot of characters, but I have a hunch that him and Kunikida would get along well lol.

OTP: I really like sigzai, it's my personal “liked it before it got popular” pffttt. I do understand the criticism in saying that Dazai was mostly manipulating him, but I think that's the cool part? Like them starting out with Dazai manipulating him and Sigma being mostly aware of it but unable to impede it, yet Dazai gradually growing in love of Sigma's resilience and will to live. I think they're very nice even if they didn't start out healthy, but like, why would you be looking for healthy relationships in the toxic yaoi franchise? I also throughout enjoy siglai. It's like, the cooler funnier version of kuniki/dazai for me lmao. I find the “I have literally NO CLUE why I love you and will keep loving you despite wishing I didn't” and “if I don't spend 25/7 annoying you I will explode” vibes really compelling.

nOTP: Nothing. Look, unless it's something that actively bothers me, I hardly have any notps in general, I'm a multishipper at heart.

Random headcanon: I really like the concept of transfem Sigma within canon who's like. “I haven't gotten the chance to transition because I was born like two years ago and my life has been a mess, but AS SOON AS THINGS CALM DOWN— ”

Unpopular opinion: ... I don't like the idea of him joining the ada? I mean, I don't hate it, but I would have rather had it where he didn't, even though it's evident that the plot is going in that direction. I just wish he could keep working as casino manager because he looked so at home at the Sky Casino, it makes me wish he would go back. And the odd thing is that I acknowledge that it's been established in the manga itself that that was not the right place for him (Dostoyevsky in chapter 107: “[You realized that] a lonely ‘home’ isn't enough. What you need isn't a place, but trust.”) and that he should join the ada; I just feel like they made his love and attachment to the Sky Casino so strong and moving in its respective arc, the idea of him having a life outside of it just feels wrong. I think he's really good at manager jobs in general, I'd even be happier with him like. Opening a hat shop or something.

Song i associate with them: -ERROR by niki, also the Namine Ritsu cover by cillia. The illustration of Ritsu in the cover even seems to resemble Sigma a lot for me eheh. I feel like the lyrics fit Sigma's inner conflict between feeling like he isn't supposed to exist and still wanting so deeply to live a lot!!!

Favourite picture of them:

Favourite panel from the manga:

Favourite illustration:

Favourite illustration in the anime art style:

Send me a character?