#so the visual depiction is just like that for absolutely no reason. no reason but the vibes

[gemwolfz]

frog dump yippee yahoo!! with gay people, shitty presentations, and creepypasta dororo my silly

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mino

Debut: Tetris Worlds

While researching for last week's post, I discovered something amazing. Something I haven't been able to stop thinking about. No matter what, my mind always comes back to

Tetris Lore

Now, I'm not going to act like Tetris has an overarching story, or that the story of one game is at all relevant to the other games. Tetris Worlds is just one game, and its story is self-contained. But the fact that this Tetris game has a story at all is really incredible!

What would you expect from a Tetris game with a story? Maybe something like, the Tetriminos are all best friends living in Block World, but one day, wuh woh! There's a Bad Guy who's a sphere who hates cubes or something! Luckily, with the power of our friendship and Tetris skills, we can teach him a lesson and banish him once more... or perhaps make a new friend? :)

Please watch the introductory cutscene of Tetris Worlds.

These are the Minos! Minos, in this canon, are a species of cycloptic cubes with fascinating cycloptic faces on their forward-facing faces. I absolutely adore them already. And wouldn't you know it, their sun is going supernova and they are all going to die if they can't evacuate their planet in time. HUH???

This story is so fascinating! I am SO happy that someone came up with this when tasked with making a story for a Tetris game. There was a creative vision, and it appears to be fully realized in this short but unforgettable intro to what could have easily been just another Tetris game!

You get to have a Mino as an avatar! This could be YOU! You can make them wear a funny hat as they hover and squash and stretch on the sidelines while you play Tetris!

The game's manual explains even more about the Minos, most notably that they are MECHANICAL! These things just keep getting better! Living, cycloptic cubes, with an entire futuristic society, and they're machines. The manual also feels the need to remind us that they were probably made by organic beings, as "most" mechanical beings are. And I find that suspiciously specific...

Look at this fish! This mechanical, cycloptic Mino fish. This was not in the Xbox version's intro, but it was in the PS2 one! For whatever reason, the two had unique animation in their intros, despite using the same voiceover. This fish is shown emerging from water onto land, where it beholds the Tetrions, the sacred and powerful portals in which the game of Tetris takes place. The visual of a fish coming onto land is such in-your-face evolution imagery that I am ENTIRELY convinced that these fish were ancestors of the Minos who would later form civilization! Natural, evolving robots!

...and then this intro goes on to depict the Minos as having TWO eyes. Yeah ok. Sure. I will confidently declare these binocular blockheads as non-canon based on everything else we've seen, ESPECIALLY because the actual gameplay even depicts cycloptic Minos!

Some of them seem to be established characters. This is Izabela. Hi Izabela!

Are you on the edge of your seat, hoping our friends the Minos survive? They do! Savvy Tetris skills allow them to activate the Tetrions (which were left behind by an ancient space-faring civilization. In case you were wondering) and teleport to other planets. Minos live! Hooray. And now you know the Tetris Lore, and can think about it constantly like I do!

Lastly, I made this little image of the Mino leader from Worlds, in the style of a Tetris Friends avatar! I like to think some cross-promotional avatars could have been added if Worlds came out during the lifespan of Tetris Friends. I can only hope that at least someone at The Tetris Company remembers this incarnation of the Minos, and that they could possibly appear in a game once more!

[nozunhinged]

I finally managed to put my overall thoughts about Playboyy into words and hoooooo boy do I have a lot to say.

I watched the mdl ratings go down, the blatant hate towards the plot, the actors, the scenes, the sex. There was nothing that wasn't torn apart about this series and yet I wasn't phased for a second and I kept wondering why because usually get very passionate about defending the things I love.

And then I realized that this series is the cinematic embodiment of a very lonely path that I've been walking for decades and I am already very, very used to the shame around it.

Sex is not just my special interest, I also had the privilege to grow up with excellent sex education (thanks parents) and on top of that I never struggled with my (pan)sexual identity. Sex plays a significant role in my life. But I learned VERY quickly that I should keep this to myself if I don't want to be ostracized or bullied.

"You're autistic AND you like sex? You like porn? What the fuck is wrong with you??? That's impossible."

And all the comments I read about playboyy are exactly the same just in different fonts. Ew sex. Ew kink. Ew porn. Ew sex work. Sex can't have storytelling, plot, it's just for shock value. We all read it.

And sadly it's a very accurate representation of the role sex plays in our society. Which - ironically - playboyy exactly is about.

Playboyy is a visual collection of all the experiences of lives and people in which sex plays a significant role - even the lack thereof (looking at you zouey and all you lovely aces).

It's a collection of very important social commentary, with all the characters, sets, plots and visuals as a medium. Because this way, the points they make come across even stronger and draw out all the emotions they want us to feel - which is in the rarest cases, pure arousal. Because this is, in fact, storytelling. Even if many don't want to hear it.

Telling stories about sex is so stigmatized and shunned, it only has the tiniest place to exist freely. Just like sex itself. Every sex worker, sex educator, sex therapist, everyone who has a profession that deals with sex will tell you about it. The shame. The misunderstanding. Look at the state of sex work and porn in the world. It tells you everything you need to know.

And it's happening in the middle of the "modern" western society - Yes I'm talking about you, UK and I can't not plug this here:

*btw I am not a sex worker I'm just very passionate about letting people not just live their lives but giving them a CHOICE to do what they want or don't want to do

I existed in this tiny place for decades now and I got really comfortable in my tiny lil corner, but to see a show like this go "mainstream" talking about all the topics that tickle all the knowledge I collected over the years feels so amazing. And I can tell you, all you lil smartass purists, everyone involved in this show doesn't care an inch what you think, just like me. We're used to it, believe me.

I could go on for ages about how carefully all these topics of the show are treated but what I actually want to say is that I find it incredibly ironic that a show that depicts the struggles and stigmas about sex, exactly draws out the reactions and treatments it criticises.

If you don't want to join in on the fun, that's totally fine. I get that it's not for everyone (just like sex, he). But treating it as a piece of trash just because it's a thing you personally find icky is exactly the reason the issues Playboyy talks about exist in the first place. Hence you can thank your stuck-up ass yourself that debauched individuals like me get a gem like this to enjoy.

And the fact that it didn't just find a crew, but also the funding and the mainstream distribution proves that I'm not alone in this.

It's not my lonely little corner anymore and I'm absolutely thriving on that. Cry about it.

[franki-lew-yo]

James and the Giant Peach is still (mostly) for young children

Despite a single pre-metoo joke and it's uncanny-ish artstyle that's a serious make-or-break-you factor on if you like it, James and the Giant Peach is aggressively a movie for young children. I personally like it as I never find it a patronizing sit for little kids, like Don Bluth's movies from the 90s so often were, but that really is what I think alienates people; the intended audience may be a bit too scared of the visuals (NOT like how they are with TNBC, which kids go in expecting to be scary) where the adult audience who is here for the 'creepy stop-motion' feel like the movie is lacking for not being Nightmare or Coraline, which is unfair. It absolutely scared me as a little little kid but upon finally facing it at, like ten or whenever it was on Cartoon Network's movie show, I realized there was nothing to fear. And that, in turn, was exhilarating. It's such good symmetry that the film is about facing your fears and standing up for yourself because that's exactly what my relationship with it was. It's such a comfort film for me. My og Bluey. JatGP, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Ernest and Celestine = perfect comfort after I watch something serious and/or disturbing.

Half my reason for trying to pied-piper everyone else towards it as it's own merit is I think James and the Giant Peach would hit hard for lovers of weirdcore and dreamcore ala Jack Stauber or @samsketchbook's 'Welcome to Our Dimensional Party'.

That "looks unsettling/potentially disturbing but actually cute or gentle" vibe pairs perfectly with dreamcore aesthetic. We're coming up on it's 30 year anniversary I hope to see a genuine resurgence. If I had it my way and I was Dan Olson I'd make an hour-long look at the movie, the original book and Henry Selick's filmography as a surrealist the way Dan made an hour-lookback at Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. But I'm not. Cause I'm not Dan Olson and I can't build up the nerve to either show my face or figure out how to make videos in two years.

But anyway, about the title of this post (content warning: downer nsfl stuff; mentioning of real life child ab*se cases):

James' life with his aunts hits VERY different when you're an adult and you've watched too much true crime.

It's not intentional on the part of Dahl or Henry Selick. Selick had Mariam and Joanna ham up the screen and they clearly loved every minute of it and Dahl I think was just trying to tell an 'authentic' type fairytale story where the main character has to escape their evil family. Point being- Spiker and Sponge are supposed to be 'evil for the sake of evil' villains who could only exist as hammy caricatures in an already weird story. They aren't supposed to be like the parents in Matilda or the Twits who I'd argue are a little more 'realistic' depiction of awful people...except for the fact that legal guardians like Spiker and Sponge DO actually exist.

There's a heavy implication in the film that no one else in their county even knows James lives with Spiker and Sponge (literally the only people around to recognize James' existence are the bugs when they first meet him!). His aunts seem to make James work out of frustration for having to take him in, like he's a burden and they're making him pay for being one by being their slave. They actively don't feed him except for rotting fish and then shame him for not eating it. The Lane Smith picture book implies that James' parents weren't killed by a rhino but rather it's Spiker and Sponge who put that idea in James' head and use it to control him. And all that BEFORE the beatings which you know are happening off screen.

After the horrifying cases of Ruby Franke, Sylvia Likens and the Turpins, the "every child deserves a parent but not every parent deserves children" reality of it all makes you realize that James probably would have died if he lived with his aunts. Considering how they flip out on him in New York- that boy REALLY needed to escape, giant peach or no.

This is absolutely another reason for why JatGP is a comfort movie for grownups. You have this horrific childhood rescued by loving in-human parents who will kill everyone in the room and then themselves if you touch their human boy. It's like Opal but if Claire found a happier family. Of bugs. None of that was intentional, ftr, but it's what sticks out to me.

[demeterdefence]

i had some time to chill i took a walk i drank some water i still hate this sequence

fastpass spoilers and sexual assault references ahead

i mentioned a few weeks ago how much i disliked persephone's last interaction with apollo and how the narrative wants to insist that persephone has moved on / healed from her assault, and with the last chapter and fastpass spoilers, it has genuinely just gotten worse. like at this point i can't even fault the characters or their choices, this is 1000% a rachel thing, and i hope her computer crashes in the middle of an eight hour drawing that she hasn't saved ANYWAYS

i don't think it needs to be said that rachel sexualizes her abuse victim. like, there's a reason that hera is naked during her fight with kronos despite kronos being clothed; there's a reason persephone was alone and apollo had his shirt undone when they spoke on the phone before the press conference. it's masquerading as feminine empowerment, but it just seeks to emphasize how rachel sexualizes abuse, and how she will still try to redeem these male characters.

it's very telling that while she's having kronos monologue how sad and abused he was, and how he was ruled by fear, we cut to a shot of apollo and eros with the love arrow - another plot point that drove me absolutely bonkers but we'll get to that. the placement is not random, for all that it feels it; she's trying to draw a connection between apollo and kronos, how they're both ruled by fear.

apollo is planning to assault persephone again. this is not me being dramatic or exaggerating - he knows what the arrow does, he knows persephone hates him, he is absolutely planning to assault her again for his own purposes. whether kronos' apology was intended to be sincere or not, placing apollo in the visual middle of it sets a tone. he has abused persephone in the past and he will abuse her again.

the next time apollo and persephone interact, persephone has figured out how to make spring again (somehow, without explanation, one trainwreck at a time i guess.)

i don't love her plan, and i don't love how it came about, but on the top ten list of crimes in this webcomic, it's not the worst. persephone plays up her "weak, damsel in distress" image to apollo so he'll underestimate her - fine, whatever, not the end of the world. it's how rachel depicts this that i take issue with.

it took me a couple of minutes for that last picture to realize they're supposed to be struggling because it genuinely looks like they're making out lmao thanks rachel i hate it

not entirely related but the way the lineart becomes minuscule except on the face and chest rachel really shows her priorities

i'll skip a few more panels of apollo manhandling persephone with her doing pretty much nothing to fight back - she alternates between pleading with him to listen to her when he has historically never done so, and threatening to expose him for the rape, which also historically has never worked, but that's about the extent of her fight back. this is all before she knows about the arrow, so i'm hesitant to say she's playing him with her distress; this is genuinely the extent of her fight back.

a clear callback to the assault, which in another author's hands might have succeeded in being harrowing and traumatizing for the readers, but just filled me with visceral anger.

[narrator voice] fucking yikes!

ties her up, but don't worry! her chest will be on prominent display no matter what.

unrelated tangent once again but i love! how rachel has retconned the narrative so that ouranos was manipulating apollo all along! instead of apollo owning up to being a shitheel, we've got a master manipulator in the background, who can take some of the blame for apollo's actions! cool!!!

anyways persephone's plan is to make apollo fall in love with her, so he'll feel bad about raping her.

that's it.

we don't get persephone defeating apollo. we don't get persephone getting actual justice. it takes apollo being under the control of magic to admit what happened - it's a cheap cop-out, a lukewarm offering at best. i'm not joking, either, in the fastpass apollo quite literally goes on live television and admits he raped persephone, because he's under the magic of the love arrow. not because he genuinely feels bad, or because persephone got justice - it's a deus ex machina to wrap up the assault plotline. rachel never figured out if apollo was a master manipulator or some idiot tool, so she swerves between both, and then tosses the plot out to make room for something else.

it's such a miserable, cheap conclusion to a storyline that so many women have dealt with. years of waiting for apollo to be brought to justice, and he goes out with a little whimper, and persephone's assault gets swept under the rug again.

what a disappointment.

[paintbrushnebula]

Stay On For Me

I was trying to write a Tangled one-shot but then I was stumped on where to begin so I wrote this as a warm-up exercise instead. Just a cute lil quickie composed of some Ghostflower headcanons I've adopted up to this point. (P.S. This def takes place post-BTSV). Enjoy ^^

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Gwen rapped her knuckles on the door of the Morales’ residence to a steady rhythm. She only had to wait 3 seconds before the door was swung open so hard the knob would've punched its way into the apartment's wall had it not been locked in the eager grasp of her boyfriend, Miles Morales, who she could tell was absolutely buzzing. Gwen threw her arms open wide the way a star all too aware of themself would announce their arrival to the stage. 

"Hey, baby!" 

"Hey, queen~!" 

One of his better nicknames for her. 

Although, now that she thought of it, many of his depictions of her in his sketchbook had bright, little crowns haloing her form, so that nickname had to say something about what he thought of her. That thought now had her buzzing, too.

Besides, anything was better than the plethora of nicknames he coined that were just one of many shameless agonizing "cutesy" puns made out of her name. She couldn't take anymore of their friends adopting the nicknames she pointedly and immediately rejected to tease her. She'd since requested nicely him to leave the pet names to her. Just stick to "mi amor," she told him.

Gwen hadn't fished for a hug when she outstretched her arms (not that she was against one at the moment), but Miles took her open arms as an invitation for one, vaulting himself into them, his arms anchoring to her shoulders.

"Oof! Oookay!"

The flush of warmth that immediately spread from his body to hers had her weightless and oh God bless the person who invented hugs. To her it looked like he was drowning at sea and she was the life preserver. That's just one of those intrusive thought visuals that pop up when you're reminded of something, though. Her internal monologue can get needlessly poetic. 

"Yeah, he does that," Jeff scoffed from his place on the dining table, not even looking up from his crossword puzzle. 

"Sup, Captain! Catch anyone good for me? Hey look, if you need a crook to behave, you know where to find me. The donuts are on you, though." One of her hands left its place on Miles' back for a moment to shoot a finger gun at Jeff Morales, the second scariest person she knew, and her horror movie partner. Instead of her actual name, he opts to address her as "Emo." She thought he clearly wants to play the long game with first-name basis, make it really count when there's a special life-or-death occasion when it really impacted their character development. I got your number, Captain Morales. They're basically best buddies at this point. 

"Heheh, yeah right, 'donuts.' That's a good one, Emo"

"It is?"

"It better be."

Turning Jeff's earlier notification in her mind, however, Gwen had to admit Miles' hugs had a habit of being unannounced. Now looking back on all the hugs she's witness him give, from his parents to Peter to their friends, he'd always sprint toward them and collide into their arms, chest-to-chest with his arms wrapped around you like a koala. If he thought you wouldn't mind and you weren't carrying anything in your hands, then there was no reason why he couldn't just throw himself into you, right? She chuckled to herself because she knew that that exact mock phrasing of the sentiment was most likely how he unironically thought about it. Goober.

Speaking of, is he dead? Gwen was pulled from her thoughts to become aware of the fact that they're still standing at the door, with Miles still wrapped around her after what must've been 2 full minutes, having now let his most of his weight rest on her and his breathing had slowed. He was almost completely limp. 

Is he...asleep?

“Uhhh….” Gwen gently bounced the shoulder he was resting on. "Hey. Bambi. Miles. You okay...?"

He turned his head to face her, no real hints of sleep in his features. He seemed to just now become aware of himself, eyes failing to meet her gaze as his cheeks turned a light maroon. "Hmm? Uhh, yeah?" 

Gwen couldn't keep her exasperated laugh out of her words, "Did you just fall asleep...?"

His cheeks reddened even further as he tried (and failed) to feign nonchalance. “Whaaat? No! No. Just.. y'know, got a little too comfortable…”

He seemed to cringe at his words as he rushed to return to his place, like he was trying to hide from her gaze. 

“Got comfor-wait. No. Miles, don't-"

Gwen gently caught his head in her hand before it could fully rest on her shoulder again. Was she really that comfortable to hug? He was buzzing when she came through the door, and now all the energy he had depleted all at once and left him boneless in her arms. 

She should get into poetry with her fancy words. Pays to do the crossword every day.

Miles broke from the embrace, his hands going up in surrender as his cheeks turned maroon again. "Yup, sorry. Got it. Eheh..."

Gwen sighed. She hated when he misread her reaction to something he did as if he'd done something she didn't like. Which was crazy, because she liked when he was touchy! “No, no. Hey-err-listen, uh, just let me sit down, first. Then we can, uhh-heh-y'know-"

Miles nodded before she could trip over any more of her words, "Yeah, yeah, totally. That's cool. Way better idea."

Gwen wasted no time in taking his hand, lacing her fingers between his and getting lost in the smooth, leathery texture of his skin. She took the lead over to the couch, plopping down a little too hard, she'd realize too late. Sorry, Jeff. 

As Miles reached the couch, Gwen reopened her arms, this time meaning to inviting him in. Miles sat down gingerly, taking his sweet time closing the distance between them scoot-by-scoot, lacking any fervor to return to his previous position on her shoulder. 

Once were finally thigh-to-thigh, he proceeded to let his head fall onto her shoulder with the pace and caution one would set down cracked glassware. 

That was when Gwen had had enough. Did he really think he’d irritated her at the door? She sucked her teeth. Without warning, Gwen reached over, wrapped her arms under his pits to lock around his back, and half lifted him back onto his original spot on her shoulders, eliciting a flustered squeak from his lips. She could feel his heart hammering against his chest against hers. 

After a moment, his heart slowed and he allowed himself to go limp again. Only he did fall asleep this time. Gwen didn’t know when, though. Jeff had put on Sicario and they were both fully engrossed in the plot, entering deep discussions about morality and the social topics brought up by the film’s themes. It was only after the film was over that she'd noticed Miles' "spider-purring," something he'd just recently discovered male spider-people could do, which he was decidedly not happy about.

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

Not a poll request (so don't worry if you don't want to answer on the blog) but - could we get each of the mods' top 10 horror movies? (: I'd be so interested in hearing them!

Long post!

Mod Z:

*long sigh* *opens letterboxd*

K-12 (2019)

NOTE: Yk what imma just leave this here

2. Beau is Afraid (2023)

NOTE: a masterpiece i probably won’t rewatch for a long time but since i’m an ari aster truther it deserved this spot

3. Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

NOTE: Yes

4. The Crow (1994)

NOTE: Awesome ass movie. Awesome ass soundtrack. An absolute classic. I have the graphic novel it was based on and it’s one of the best things I have in my library

5. Carrie (1976)

NOTE: Stephen King’s the best at writing real characters <3

6. The Craft (1996)

NOTE: As a wicca myself, accurately depicted teen witches are my jam and this film did the best job at it

7. Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

NOTE: The only reason this isn’t in the top 5 is because i haven’t seen it in a while. If u had asked me in early 2023 i would’ve put this in second place for sure

8. Cam (2017)

NOTE: So underrated. Go watch this on Netflix now while u don’t know anything about it

9. Frankenweenie/Nightmare before Christmas/Edward Scissorhands

NOTE: CHILDHOOD (lumping them together cuz i couldn’t decide which tim burton film to add)

10. Smile (2022)

NOTE: okay wait this scared me shitless at the theatre and i just convinced myself this movie was bad to stop myself freaking out but this is a genuinely good and scary movie i’ve made up my mind

These are subject to change and Invisible Man (2020) definitely deserves an honorable mention but I haven’t seen it in a while to check if it still holds up

----

Mod L:

The Thing (1982)

Absolute masterpiece. Perfect marriage of cast, visuals, music, and script. They (audiences in 1982) hated Jesus (John Carpenter) because he told them the truth.

2. Ravenous (1999)

I love social horror more than life itself, and this is a pitch-perfect example. I recommend Atun-Shei Films' Overanalyzing Ravenous, if you haven't seen it yet.

3. Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)

See above re: social horror. I never stop thinking about how this series was inspired by rising incidents of domestic violence in Japan - how the contagion of violence in the home spreads to anyone who comes in contact with it.

4. Demon (2015)

This would pair amazingly well with my next pick, which is:

5. La Llorona (2019)

To quote a friend of mine after we watched Demon, "there is no society without memory."

6. Black Christmas (1976)

Truly ahead of its time as a slasher, as well as in its politics. Ladies, never date a Peter, and DON'T trust the Toronto Police.

7. The Devils (1971)

Nobody was doing it like Ken Russell, and nobody ever will again.

8. The Changeling (1980)

This movie understands the greatest horror of all: Joseph Kennedy Sr.

9. Us (2019)

My favourite Peele to date, no I will not be budged on this point.

10. Peeping Tom (1960)

An extremely prescient film about the male gaze and the medium of film.

(Mod Sus releases their own once they get the braincells rubbing for more than 5 movies)

[cer-rata]

Fav batfam ships?

See, making that plural was a mistake, dear Anon, because now I have an excuse to list one for every member I care about and also explain myself--

In no particular order:

Bruce and Talia: Partially because I am god's strongest (and most delusional) soldier and can ignore anything racist and OOC in all of her depictions over the last 20 years. I honestly think it's hilarious how disgustingly horny they are for each other and how absolutely stupid they get when left alone together. 10/10 so funny I could die, let them be dumb together as a treat.

Dick and Koriand'r: Listen. It's basic. They have problems, they've always had problems, but when the story and editorial direction allows for it they make each other so happy. Two traumatized kids from across the stars that find a moment of safety with each other? I am a simple man, it compels me.

Kate and Renee: I'm a sucker for disaster lesbians. I am. They are the avatars of lesbian disaterism and honestly good for them, keep making Aphrodite wildly upset with how hard you both can fumble a baddie, laddies.

Stephanie and Cassandra: It's popular for a reason! They are so wildly different while being weirdly similar! They care about each other in ways that are so genuine and raw, but aren't always helpful to the other party! Visually they look like a classic emo/sunshine ship, but if you investigate even a little bit it's quickly obvious that their dynamic is much weirder and more interesting. See also: the above disaster lesbians (wlw specifically here but the sentiment stands) thing.

Barbara and...Kara(?): ...This is my badly substantiated rarepair that also relies on a reality where Kara wasn't aged down. I just...it is one of the two variations of Superbat that compels me, and it purely comes down to the intensity of their personalities, the emotional weight they both carry, their intense understanding of loss and duty, and the fact that as Oracle and Supergirl they manage to have similarly heavy responsibilities on their shoulders.

Damian and Jon: The other variation of Superbat that compels me. Look. They've never got to have any consistent, wholesome, appropriate or healthy close relationships with any other viable options first off, so this isn't hard. Second, their arcs are literally designed to compliment each other, and the groundwork for that was laid out for sooo many issues. It's the opposite of Babs and Kara where there is actually so much content to be compelled by that it circles back to being painful again. Now, to be clear, I have no interest in anything happening with them unless and until they are allowed to be adults, mostly because I think those character arcs need come to completion before anything more than being best buds happens. Also, as god's strongest (and most delusional) soldier, the volcano didn't happen, Jon is going age normally and get to go to high school, they're going to fix it okay, there's a space whale--

Tim and Jason are in a weird "Y shaped" poly situation with a hairy bear named "Intensive Mental Health Care": No I will not be elaborating further.

Duke and ???: I love Duke. I have not been compelled by a ship for him yet. I know Tom King tried to make him and Gotham Girl a thing but...who wants that? I even like Gotham Girl enough to write for her, but WHO WANTS THAT!?

Anyone else I really haven't thought enough about to include...however....

HONORABLE MENTIONS THAT I DON'T WANT BUT SOMEHOW COMPEL ME:

Bruce and Minhkhoa: So funny, almost a parody of Bruce in a MLM ship, painfully comedic, Khoa is a disaster of a man and the most down bad creature on earth, beating even Talia on the obsession angle. Never let them prosper, never let them get it together, let me feast on this crack made canon.

Bruce and Selina: I DO like me some batcat, but I'm really more interested in Selina getting to be her own thing nowadays. Escape the bat-love interest curse girl, maybe go kiss an amazon or something.

Kon and Cassandra: Don't want this, but I am truly taken by the fact that was even a thing that was considered for 30 seconds. Insane. Insane pairing. Batshit. Kind of endearing? But please never again.

Barbara and Dinah: Listen 90's BoP (and often after too) was full of so much sexual tension between these two that it was almost suffocating. The one-night stand that they both fondly think about later, but told no one about? It needed to happen, but that's the end of it for me.

[whaliiwatching]

Caught up to the fic!! Absolutely fascinated by all the queer/punk/poc history here, since I don't know much myself. Very sweet chapter as well.

Unrelated question - mostly - but why is it common fanon to depict Noir as the more scarred up of various spiderpeople? Naturally everyone has their fair share of fights, though the only we see sustaining any marks is Peter B and his misaligned nose. Personally, I've taken it as Noir Peter not healing as cleanly due to it being Spider God stuff over Weird Radioactive Healing Factor stuff. Thoughts?

thank you so much!! i’m glad you liked it, & hope the ending was satisfying for ya <3

short answer: hot

long answer, plus a map of my idea of noir’s scars: under readmore :)

i’m not a devout spidey comic/movie fan or a doctor. this is based on conjecture and minimal research!

when i came up with my unmasked noir ideas, i wasn’t influenced by fanon—i hadn’t seen any other fan art, not even when itsv came out. but i can think of a good few reasons that scarred noir is a popular headcanon: evidence of what he’s been through makes him feel more tangible/relatable, the visual difference enhances his thematic individuality as distinct from other spider-people (especially other Peter Parkers), self-consciousness can explain why he doesn’t take off his mask in itsv even around other spiders.

all perfectly valid and interesting reasons! but the first two reasons are doylist and the last one is missing a crucial question: why does he have scars? unless a wound is severe, gets infected, or gets lucky, it won’t usually scar. facial injuries especially need to be really bad to leave a mark. and of course most if not all other spider-people have the healing factor. so what gives??

i like the spider god’s curse influences healing factor idea; it opens up some nice angsty possibilities regarding an inability to Be “Fixed;” no matter how much he tries, he can’t erase/forget what’s happened to him. but i also enjoy the bandaging someone up after a fight genre of fic, and am annoyingly pedantic, so my personal working theory is that the healing factor is not a doctor with ten plus years of experience and an accurate understanding of human anatomy. when a bone really badly breaks, it has to be reset or it’ll heal wrong. to me, the healing factor doesn’t know what ‘right’ is, only ‘fast’ and ‘effective.’ it’s an accelerant, not a substitute for medicine.

so let’s establish the baseline. modern spideys either receive modern medical attention or the injury is superficial enough that they don’t require it. even poverty-stricken peter parkers get rushed to the hospital, because fictional doctors Don’t Care About The Money and/or peter is dolled up in spider gear and who’s going to ignore a visibly beat-up celebrity hero?? plus i honestly believed peter b’s nose was just genetics or smthn. my nose is misaligned and it’s never been broken to my knowledge

to compare, noir lives in 1933 and, far as i can tell, doesn’t rlly garner the same fame and respect from the public as modern spideys do. in the 30s, medicine was meh (they had x-rays but didn’t rlly consider radiation much of a threat, penicillin was still in its infancy, polio was a huge threat, etc) but was also, more importantly, far too expensive for most people suffering during the Great Depression. whatever treatment noir receives after a fight, if any, would look way different from ours. that means his healing factor, which can’t differentiate scars from normal skin or a misaligned bone from a whole one, would be inefficiently assisted or left alone. it would leave its history behind.

on the infectious disease side of things, it’s probably much easier for even noir to recover from less physical ailments like the flu and pneumonia—spider healing factor likely remembers and codes for immunity better than regular immune systems—but without modern drug therapies he’d still be worse for wear, ie internal scarring. mans would have a shorter-than-average parker lifespan if not for the pseudo-immortality of the Spider God

anyway. all this to say, here’s my personal map of parker’s scars. crop tank and daisy dukes to keep tumblr off my ass <3

(tbh this is more for my reference than anyone else’s, i’m sick of looking through my art of Just His Forearms to keep my details consistent, but maybe someone will find it interesting lol)

[pumpkinpuffgirls]

hi there! i hope this doesn’t touch on too sticky a subject, and you’re welcome to not answer, but I just wanted to say I like your take on Bunny a lot! It honestly never occurred to me that someone could include her in an AU without making her look exactly like her sisters. It sounds a bit silly, I know, but I was so used to a particular image of her in fanart that it just never crossed my mind. Bunny in Power of Five feels very fresh and affectionate toward her as her own unique character.

I’m hoping this isn’t an inappropriate place to ask, but I’ve been ruminating on this recently as someone who is not physically disabled and has featured a stabilized Bunny in an AU of mine before. She still had a different base from the rest of the PPG and was still disabled irt her powers. But she was also significantly sized down, lacked her wide shoulders, and her face more closely resembled the PPG’s as well. It occurred to me recently that I might have been introducing a lot of hurtful implications by doing this

I know the original depiction of her wasn’t perfect in and of itself, so I know I’d like to change her in some fashion, but I don’t want to just lift your version of her wholesale, either. It’s hard for me to understand what to change where. So sorry for so much context just to get here, but did you by chance have any resources on hand or maybe things to keep in mind when creating your own portrayal of Bunny? Or maybe some advice on where to start/where to look when researching the subject? Thanks for reading.

Okay so, first off no worries i greatly appreciate you reaching out and going to the effort to explain your reasoning as it shows you've thought about this in great detail!

With how I designed my Bunny, I did so because after I made my version of Bliss, some people asked what my interpretation of Bunny would be. Specifically, and I don't remember who, someone asked if I could keep Bunny at a larger size to keep her visually diverse from the other girls and as representation for young girls on the larger side, and I absolutely was more than willing to honor that request.

My version of Bunny is intentionally neurodivergent, canonically (I'd argue Bubbles is too), and due to her size is tanky (like you mentioned). Considering how Bunny was originally it wouldn't be too far fetched to make her disabled to some degree. My main suggestion is don't make a disability her entire personality (i.e. just harp on it all the time) because that's where people will become frustrated.

As for what it could be, you could choose a real world one (like a developmental delay, or a disorder, or the like), or go the Bliss angle of giving her a chemical x/superpowered-related disability. It really depends on how you want to structure her personality and character development. I think that as long as you are careful and considerate with your depiction as you are here, you'll be okay. Do research, be open to feedback, and remember that what's important is how you plan to portray the character and their development.

I'm glad you reached out and I hope the creation of your own Bunny goes well!

[kataraslove]

What the fuck is bro going on about??? Especially the Kya and Izumi like huh??

I won’t comment on the two hour dissertation because I haven’t watched it yet. from what I’ve heard on those that have, half of it is proving why the canon ships are poorly written, while the other half of it is proving why zuko and katara would be the better endgame option.

i will comment on the fact that it would be very easy to create an even longer dissertation on why people ship kataang and why it makes complete sense as the canon ship of avatar, without so much as even bringing zutara in the mix. if i ever get the time to do so, i could look into creating it. because i think there should be more discussion in fandom on the depths of katara and aang’s arcs and relationship. if anyone is interested in helping, please let me know :)

“aesthetic coordination and color synergy is the most important part of any relationship.” i do hope this person is speaking solely in terms of fiction. because how aesthetic two people look beside each other should not be the basis for any healthy, long-lasting relationship, at least not in real life. reality continues to show that two people can look incredibly good beside each other, but can be extremely incompatible.

example: celebrities coordinate their red carpet looks to present as a power couple each year. but in actuality, their relationship deteriorates by the second. in a couple of years, that relationship will no longer cease to exist.

i searched up aesthetic coordination and i couldn’t find a single resource on it. but on the topic of colour synergy, here are the colours that are established as complementaries to one another:

so you mean to tell me that red and blue aren’t complementary colours, but instead red is complementary with green, and blue is complementary with orange/yellow?

interesting. now which couple do we know of that wears orange/yellow and purple/blue in avatar?

oh. that explains why katara and aang’s colour palettes go so well together, and why their scenes (in both the show and the comics) and accompanying fanart are always so visually pleasant.

in regards to oma and shu, they are colour-coded as zuko and katara, just like they are also colour-coded as katara and aang. if we are meant to take the colours seriously, that would imply that oma (the girl) is zuko, and shu (the boy) is katara. if the writers truly wanted zuko and katara to represent omashu, i see absolutely no reason as to why oma couldn’t be depicted in blue and shu couldn’t be depicted in red.

we have confirmation by the writer of the cave of two lovers that the legend of omashu is based off of romeo and juliet. we also have confirmation from the same writer (who also advocated for zutara as the endgame ship, by the way) that the legend of omashu was written to push katara and aang’s love story after direction from mike dimartino and aaron ehasz. the first draft of the story proposed by the writer joshua hamilton was just going to be sokka and a bunch of the nomads. we also have confirmation that avatar’s love (katara and aang’s theme) played while katara was recounting the story of oma and shu.

i truly believe that if oma and shu were meant to be about zuko and katara, joshua hamilton would have no problem stating that it was. instead, he confirms that it was meant to be written with katara and aang in mind, as a part of katara and aang’s love story.

also, zuko and katara aren’t forbidden lovers. they started off as enemies, with the fire nation committing ethnic and cultural genocide against the southern water tribe. the fire nation and the southern water tribe aren’t two fighting sides of an equal battle - it’s one larger nation with all the militaristic power in the world committing colonialism and imperialism on another nation.

katara and aang could not canonically be together because of the war. that is what katara states herself. as soon as the war is over, they are free to pursue a relationship with one another. that aligns itself more with omashu’s story than zuko and katara’s arc from enemies to friends does.

katara being a phenomenal firelady is not canon, just this person’s headcanon. firelady holds no political power in canon. it’s just wife to the firelord. kya and izumi are clearly not twins, but i suspect this is part of the “katara secretly cheated on aang with zuko” set of headcanons.

lastly, zuko is the father that stepped up? yeah, okay. let’s assume that aang is this horrible, awful dad that people make him out to be. that would mean that zuko was complicit in allowing his best friend to traumatize his children for life. kya and bumi hold no relationship with zuko whatsoever. but sure, he’s definitely the father that stepped up.

finally, father and secret lover of the year zuko did next to nothing in ensuring katara canonically received her worth and recognition among the world, even after her actual husband’s passing. isn’t zuko also co-founder of republic city? so where is katara’s statue?

what you have sent me is someone speaking an entire different language, about an entire different character that they created. but headcanons are not canon, no matter how much this person wants them to be.

[teenie-xf]

THE X-FILES 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

30 years ago today, my mother sat down to watch a brand new show called The X-Files after putting my brother and I to bed, and thought to herself "hmm 🤔 this creepy little show would be of interest to my precocious 10-year old daughter" 👽

Sure enough, she let me stay up late the following Friday and I was immediately hooked. So began a now thirty year obsession with this show that is just as strong today. Did I have nightmares after watching it? Yes. Did I enjoy the thrill anyway? Also yes. There's a reason why I'm an avid crime and horror junkie now as an adult 😉

I've been told many times over the years that I shouldn't be so attached to it, but it was so much more than "just" a TV show to me. It was monumental for my pre-teen self to watch Dana Scully being depicted as a strong female character holding her own in a male-dominated world. She was respected first and foremost because of her intelligence and expertise, and her male partner treated her as an equal above all else, even if they didn't agree on each other's theories.

She was a role model unlike anything else on TV at the time (my mom didn't let me watch 90210 or Baywatch but this, this was fine lol). And though I myself didn't follow Scully's footsteps into a career in science, medicine or law enforcement, I was still shaped by her character. Beyond learning oodles of random trivia from this series, I learned the importance of trust & faith, perseverance, resiliency, and tenacity.

Visually, the show was a cinematic masterpiece. I appreciate that aspect more and more the older I get. And while some of the costumes and technology used on the show may seem dated now, the cinematography and special effects still hold up to this day.

And, ohhh, to top it all off, at its core the show was a love story. Not only was the chemistry between Gillian & David absolutely magnetic, but there was something about the slow burn between the characters that captured my interest; how they were such opposites who complimented/completed the other. It's likely why my relationship with my husband works so well, because we challenge and inspire one another in the same way that was modeled by Mulder & Scully's dynamic.

Today's anniversary is a special one and I'm grateful that my mom took a chance as a parent and shared this show with me (and later supported my obsession) ❤️

[hwashotcheeto]

As you turned the key in the lock of our shared house, a familiar warmth embraced you. Opening the door, you were greeted by a delightful sight that filled your heart with joy. There he was, Seonghwa, home earlier than usual, his collection of vibrant nail polishes spread out on the living room table like a beautiful mosaic of colors. Watching him carefully painting his nails brought a soft smile to your face.

You approached him with a light heart, feeling grateful for two special reasons. Firstly, Seonghwa being home early was a rare delight, aligning your busy lives for a precious moment together. Secondly, the sight of the nail polishes hinted at your cherished ritual - Seonghwa painting your nails, a simple yet cherished activity you shared

"Hello there," you greeted, your voice filled with warmth and affection.

Seonghwa looked up, his eyes sparkling with happiness as he met your gaze. "Hey! You're just in time. I thought of trying out a new design today. What do you think?" He showed you a pattern he had been experimenting with on his nails, a beautiful depiction of the night sky with twinkling stars.

You sat beside him, feeling content in the simplicity of your shared moment. "I love it," you said sincerely. "It feels like having a piece of the night sky right at our fingertips."

As Seonghwa carefully selected colors for you, you shared stories of your day, enjoying each other's company. His attentive focus and tender touch infused each brush stroke with love and gentleness, enriching your connection with every stroke.

The act of painting nails may seem ordinary to most, but for you, it was a canvas for connection. In these moments, your conversations flowed effortlessly, delving into your dreams, fears, and laughter. Seonghwa's presence allowed a vulnerability that strengthened your relationship, creating a space of intimacy and trust.

Once he finished, you admired your nails, adorned with a mesmerizing night sky created by Seonghwa's skilled hands. It was a visual reminder of the love and care you shared.

"It's perfect, just like you," you said with a smile, feeling grateful for the love you shared.

Seonghwa cleaned up the brushes, his task completed. "I'm glad you like it. These little moments with you mean the world to me," he said softly, his words filled with sincerity.

You settled on the couch, wrapped in each other's arms, enjoying the comfort of your shared silence. In that moment, you realized that these small moments, like painting nails, were the foundation of your relationship simple yet profound, weaving a tapestry of love and friendship in your cozy home together.

❤️

I'm so sorry I never responded to this, I kept forgetting. 😭

This is so sweet and precious, I absolutely adore this. 💜 Thank you for sharing, you get gold stars.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

[omegalomania]

Wait I wanna hear your thoughts on the Mania mv =0

the young and menace music video expands on the themes of the base song in an absolutely harrowing way that not enough people give credit to because a) young and menace as a single was very jarring for a lot of folks and b) people thought the llama suits looked dumb. both were rather silly reasons to brush off what is a very earnest piece of art but it is what it is. i still see hostile attitudes towards mania and towards young and menace in particular because of how polarizing a song it was and i could honestly go on forever and ever about how bad and pointless and shitty and racist a lot of the discourse there was. but instead i wanna talk about the video.

right out the gate i want to make it clear that the video did wonders, leaps, and bounds for mania's aesthetic marketing. for all that people will shittalk mania, make no mistake: it had an EXTREMELY strong aesthetic foundation right out the gate. the video gives us some very potent imagery as it plays out, all of which tie strongly into the albums overall theming, marketing, and lyricism. the crashing beach waves, the star-swept night sky, the violet-drenched neon cityscape - they all get exemplified here.

but more important than that is the story it tells. young and menace is a song that really concisely portrays a manic state. from a purely sonic standpoint, it is jarring, it is full of peaks and troughs. the low opening guitar chords slink along so gradually you can easily miss the beginning of the song if youre not paying attention. the whole opening of the track stalks along with this eerie, charged dangerousness that you can feel building and building and building until it detonates spectacularly, escalating into an electrified breakdown that nearly ruptures on itself before bouncing back to its initial, calmer baseline. lyrically, its a song that discusses what it is to be an outsider. petes discussed how the song is reflective of how he felt growing up - like he didnt quite belong, because he and his family didnt look like anyone else in their (very white) neighborhood. the video takes that theme and ratchets it up to 11.

young and menace depicts a young biracial girl who lives in a house fraught with domestic abuse. young and menace is about what it means to be othered and it portrays the othering this girl experiences to its absolute extremes. she feels like a stranger in her own home to the point where she visualizes her parents as inhuman monsters - sort of a reverse "where the wild things are". she escapes into a city populated by people, but speaks a language no one else can understand. she wanders into a dimly lit club where everyone is dancing at a show, but the loud music sends her skittering back outside until she collapses in what looks like an overstimulated daze. and there isnt any closure for her either. the video ends on this kind of grim and upsetting note, because shes back home by its conclusion and has no choice but to reconcile that her parents are just people, the same way she is.

its a video that embodies what it is to be Othered in so many different ways that it all compounds on itself and becomes impossible to bear.

it depicts what it is to be othered in the literal sense and beyond that. the girl is not just a human in a world of monsters; shes also a human that none of the other humans can understand. to me it encapsulates what it feels like to be biracial very very succinctly, that feeling of intense unbelonging, that feeling of being stranded between two worlds, neither of which understand you and neither of which you entirely resemble.

it depicts what it is to be othered in the familial sense. it depicts how it is to grow up in a home where you dont feel you belong, where your home is literally not a safe place to be, to the point where running away feels like the best possible option.

and on top of that, this is the lead single on the album entitled MANIA. the whole record embodies that concept, from its soundscape to its lyricism it depicts what it is to be manic - which again comes from pete, who has been very very open about being diagnosed w bipolar pretty young. young and menace is MANIAs whole ethos in microcosm. the song and the video are so so so representative of that, bouncing between eerie quiet and choppy, jittery chaos. and theres no resolution. there is no being "fixed" or "cured" of this, of any part of this. there is no escaping being what you are. sometimes the most you can do is ride the wave and hope you make it out on the other side.

young and menace is a really really earnest depiction of how all those different aspects of oneself can intersect. i think a lot of the controversy of the "new sound" for fall out boy overshadowed how important the video was. this was a narrative about a biracial black girl in an abusive home environment, told by a biracial, bipolar, black man whos had his notable struggles with finding a community he felt accepted him. the video doubles down on the overall themes of the song in a really harrowing but i think deeply effective way. its heartbreaking in its vulnerability and for someone like me, a mixed race kid who grew up with unchecked mental illness in a toxic home environment, it meant the whole goddamn world.

[goldenchocobo]

2023 Art Dump

Not as much as last year, which would be a feat. A lot of Kingdom Hearts art, still, as well as OC things.

In the Keep Reading below, you can learn about each thing, if it interests you;

From Left-to-Right, Up-to-Down:

-Baldr and Bragi's battle stances (specifically from when they were fighting Cerberus in the Underworld). wanted to draw them like this, but never found a reason to post it as-is. I was going to include it in another compilation that sat in my Drafts for half a year (with other art on this dump).

-Character art for a friend's KH D&D character- a 'Nort replica with no memory of who he is, only that he's running from Vexen.

-Art in that compelation. It's from the first time you speak to Demyx. I like how it's the first thing he ever asks Roxas; I was going to do more, but... didn't.

-Interpretation of the Keyblade from Missing Link's promo image. I needed it for my KH D&D, as I was going to give the players a keyblade based on the stats they chose in their DttH. The keyblade didn't end up being used.

-Silly Bragi/Luxu doodle. I think he'd have to try hard not to ace any history exams, or at least know more than what he's currently being taught.

-Aerith and Cid shop 'interface' I drew for my KH D&D. I wanted a visual for my players instead of just vague descriptions, so I drew these, the portraits are the characters currently in the session.

———————————————————

-Young Xehanort headshots. I was going to do more each time I wanted to draw, but didn't know what- but these two were the only two that I did.

-Working out the design for a Minotaur Heartless that appeared in my fic, Working Together, for Ventus and Vanitas to fight.

-His Dark Materials AU Sora with his Daemon Amica. I was going to draw some battle poses with them, but I honestly never felt like it, and didn't want to force myself.

-figuring out a design for Vanitas's glider for my fic.

-Ventus holding an escapee-flood from a WiP fic, (continuation of Working Together) Trial by Light.

-New Unversed Vanitas makes when he and Ventus are on 'kind of okay' terms, that Ventus calls a Mawkeepit from my fic. I wanted to nail out a design for them, so I could describe them better.

-New Unversed Vanitas makes when he felt betrayed. They're currently unnamed- as I'm having trouble coming up with a portmantu or word-association for 'Backstab, Weasel or snake' for the WiP fic. These aren't going to feature as heavily as the Mawkeepit, but I wanted to draw them so readers could get a better idea of how they looked.

-Art of the Mawkeepit crowding an Unconscious Ventus while being surrounded by Heartless for my fic.

———————————————————

-Chocopuffs. Art from a Nyancave stream of Final Fantasy XVI, where the Northern British actors pronounce the 'cho' in chocobo the same way as the 'cho' in 'chocolate'- the result was chocopuffs, a cereal.

-Diabloceratops getting its toe bitten by a territorial turtle. didn't finish the WiP.

-Bi frog I drew for my Bi friend who likes frogs.

-Absolute monster of an art dump for my OCs, Lupin an Iberis. I wanted to give them a more modern take, so I drew them in modern clothing, with only one being of an older time period (bottom right) based on a photo of two men sitting together like that. I have refsheets for them and may post them if I routinely draw and post more are of these two.

-Neovinator in a pond/river based on a photo of a Grebe, and Daurlong sitting based on a photo of an emu.

-depiction of a woman I dreamt of. The dream was very real, and I'm certain I met death, and that is what she looked like. If you're interested in it, let me know and I post the rest, because it's long.

-Warrior cat OCs (and my friends) all from different clans going to a fourth to ask to speak to their medicine cat. the ginger one is mine and his name is Flipleaf.

———————————————————

-Nyancave Sonic OC. I think they were playing Sonic 06 or Shadow the Headgehog when I drew it, I can't remember.

-Drawn when there was a Subathon and the Nyancave were playing Final Fantasy XII. The memberships were a steal!

-Painting of their cats (now older) Dante and Nia, looking at Christmas lights.

[chungledown-bimothy]

top 5 video essays!!!

just 5?? okay, um. i'm gonna have to run my favorite video essays playlist through a few filters: minimum one hour, one video per creator, and no hbomberguy or defunctland. everyone here knows roblox_oof.mp3 and the disney theme, i want to show some love for other videos)

1- The man who tried to fake an element (Bobbybroccoli) He's a master of explaining just enough of the historical and scientific context to put things into perspective while keeping it interesting. The way he visually depicts what he's talking about is also always fantastic. This video is the pinnacle of both of those, I think.

Also it's a really interesting and funny story. How he thought he'd get away with it still baffles me.

2- FNaF & Undertale: How to/NOT to Tell A Story (Spaceman Scott) The thesis is perfectly unbiased. There's no objectively right or wrong way to tell a story, let's look at these two culture-changingly popular stories and how differently they were created and are told.

The other 75 minutes of the video are absolutely shitting on Scott Cawthon and talking about how much the attention, love, and care Toby Fox put into Undertale shows.

3- The False Evolution of Execution Methods (Jacob Geller) Incredibly well researched, thought out, and presented. It would have been easy for it to just be talking about the statistics, but he does a really phenomenal job of putting them in the context of societal and technological changes and not pulling punches or being too graphic when discussing what happens when things go wrong with the different methods.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Honestly the only reason it isn't higher is because it is such a heavy watch. (yes it's technically 53 minutes but I had to pause and process shit for at least seven minutes while watching it. It counts.)

4- Who Is Nazeem REALLY? Skyrim's Most HATED Character (Camelworks) I've done some deep dives into incredibly niche things, but this takes the goddamn cake. I want to study the creator like a bug. No one asked, but my god they delivered a fucking masterpiece.

5- The Most Painful Death Ever (VIEWER DISCRETION) (Wendigoon) Nuclear physics and weird medical things are both interests of mine, so I found it fascinating. That said, oh my god take the warning seriously. It was all presented very respectfully and tactfully, but the facts of the situation are intense to say the least. I'm not squicked by medical stuff in general, but some of it had me feeling truly shaken.

honorable mention for This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) for making cryptocurrency, both the thing itself and the culture around it, make sense to me.