#soapbox rambles

[ramblingsoapbox]

Penny 40 rattling on about White Male Protagonism made me remember this comment i wrote a bit ago on a post where our fandom was picking who they relate to most:

"crazy how everyone picked Q, its as that pervert white astral projection said paraphrased " god i relate to a strong white male main character " - this show is such a satire of the fantasy genre i love is"

While many other things may cause us to relate to Quentin like him being "a queer autistic coded character who is awkward, nerdy, and has depression" It is still clear that Quentin being set up as the main character is constructed to subvert but maintain fantasy.

Quentin is a side character endowed with the privilege to be the protagonist, and while he still contributes and has his own quests - his friends are contributing slightly more or at least the same. Julia was a literal Goddess, Margo and Eliot ruled Fillory, Alice was the one who turned into a niffin to defeat the beast, and Quentin greatest accomplishment was (in some ways) finding out that Fillory was real and making friends along the way.

I would like to note that even though I said Alice bests Quentin (due to how much she had to fight for her knowledge and her becoming a niffin to defeat the beast), she is the white female non-protagonist to pair with Quentin.

For me his non-protagonist role gave me the room to fall in love with and relate to the rest of the characters (Eliot and Margo and Penny and Julia and then Benedict Pickwick and Harriet Schiff)

Eliot and Margo are iconic and full of nerdy enough pop culture references. Penny's sarcasm and I won't say I care but I do attitude. Julia's role as someone who has had to fight for her power and knowledge. Then Benedict Pickwick and his maps and Harriet Schiffs tumultuous relationship with the Libraries that raised her.

And overall in my opinion every character is "a queer autistic coded character who is awkward, nerdy, and has depression".

[lazylittledragon]

y'know every time i feel guilty about bothering someone by singing along when i'm listening to music, i just remember that i have to tolerate my dirtbag brother screaming at his ps5 for hours every day so listening to muffled off-key fall out boy is probably preferable

[lucabyte]

If you wouldn't mind, could you explain to me in detail how your sifloop works? Would there ever be a romantic relationship between the two (and how do you think they would get to that stage) or do you just think they'll be stuck in this weird messed up obsession and loathing loop forever? Anyway your takes on sifloop are my favourite if you couldn't tell

Oh, I've been depicting it as romantic the whole time (remembers I'm asexual and aromantic and thus my depictions of such are alien at best) Er, though you'd be forgiven for not noticing.

I know I don't draw them being particularly traditionally cute (kissing, cuddling, etc) (even though I do envision that any time it's not literally extremely inconvenient that they are entangled like a pair of magnetised squiddles) particularly often.*

(Though, I do have some hints at that kind of behaviour: (x) (x) (x)) But this is where, hm, my particular readings of these characters' self-assessment comes in.

I believe that I (an aroace tumblr user who has been immersed in nuianced language about such things since i was an early teen) and Siffrin/Loop (a guy approaching their thirties who seems to have escaped social pressures primarily via isolation from their peers) will have some different views on things. Hell, Sif/Loop don't even have words for Asexuality and Aromanticism even if they seem to be able to point toward the feeling with roundabout language.

I think that their relationship, in the way that it would manifest, would first and foremost be Physical. Some real Maslow's hierarchy shit. Both of them are viciously touch starved and given the whole shared-ownership-of-body thing I keep alluding to (x) (x) I think they are prone to being a tangled pile of limbs both clothed and unclothed.

Now I (enlightened modern day asexual) do not think that physical/sexual/romantic are in any way synonyms unless you want them to be. I believe that literally all associated behaviours of these can be platonic if that's how you feel about it. Howeverrrrrrr. I really cannot envision "black-and-white-thinking-world-champion siffrin and/or loop" being able to disentangle that so easily. I think they would have trouble squaring the circle of certain actions not being reserved for romance, at least not until after several years of continued unpacking and philosophical discussion with Mirabelle and Odile.

And then there's the part where Siffrin/Loop (and also Isabeau!) have some absolutely insane Jealous streaks. Not even on the downlow, they just do. I think that combination of jealousy and posessiveness when paired with unevenly splitting time between A Guy You're Established To Be (at the very least on his side, romantically) In Love With, and Your Weird Fucking Clone Who You Keep Being Intimate And Intensely Emotional With, is going to cause some problems when it comes to labelling things.

I do not think Sif/Loop are stupid, but man do they ever lack emotional intelligence in a lot of areas (a thing the whole game hammers home). I do not think that they would be level-headed enough to independently invent the idea of "QPR, but the kind where you do basically fuck sometimes". I think they would just (agonise over cheating, first of all.) call it a romantic pairing and be done with it.

And then Isabeau is also there I guess. I gesture at him and at my aforementioned Iseabeau Torment Nexus thoughts (x)(x). I believe this polycule can work and even be healthy but hahahaha oh man they are gonna have some weirrrrrrd fuckin tension beforehand lolllll.

as for how i think they'd get to that stage? lol, lmao. I think of things with a lens of 'what would be the most narratively intense' a lot of the time, so my answer there is:

They basically act like one right out of the gate, at least to the average onlooker**. This makes the fights feel worse. This makes them both paranoid in different ways about how this affects Siffrin's relationship to Isabeau. This makes it more difficult for the party to go "hey so, your friend, we're all being very accepting of their sharp edges because they're clearly someone who's struggling, but why are they suuuuch an asshole?". They fret about this and it causes more push and pull as either side feels guilty about this relationship they're not 'supposed' to have. Even if their relationship woes could easily be squared away by either categorising it as a QPR or talking to Isa (who is vaugardian and probably thus lax about polyamory) neither of them are going to do that right out of the gate because they lack the language, are prone to being wracked by guilt, often assume the worst will happen should they talk about difficult topics, and straight up maybe just see intimacy/sexuality/romance as a package deal due to lacking the social expertise... You see what I mean.

I don't Know if what I envision is... The literal platonic ideal of "A Romantic Relationship". I don't know that if Cupid came on down and inspected my brain that they'd agree that this is romantic and not just like, something really fucking weird, man. I don't even know if I would call it romantic, necessarily. BUT. I Do Think. That These Two. Would Maybe Label It That Way. Because it would make it easier for them to understand and come to peace with that way. Which is what matters. Labels are Descriptive, not Prescriptive.

What I DO think i envision however is something so fucking aroace brained that i can point to sif/loop's canon labels, point to MY labels, and then give you a big thumbs up hoping that you won't get on my ass for implying several sentences upstream that "they probably basically fuck, or something, idk, does star-sucking count as sex? i'm not a doctor nor medical professional of any kind. you probably shouldn't drink whatever comes out of it though"

Implicit question 2: "Jesus Christ you make them seem to hate each other, is that not contradictory? Is that all supposed to be during them being romantically involved?" Yup! Sorry for the subtle undercurrent I haven't previously explicitly and overtly established literally at all but a good chunk of that percieved hatred is a byproduct of Loop keeping their identity secret. That's the space wherein I set most of my fanart. (x) Once that cat is out of the bag I think the heat cools off significantly because then they aren't both talking around each other trying not to actually say what they're fighting about. They can actually bond about shared experiences out in the open rather than keeping their traps shut in case the party overhears. They still fight and have problems thereafter, but it's not made worse by being unable to directly discuss the core issue (+ the party can actually contribute/try to shut things down rather than being unclear on what exactly the issue is)

The above ALSO not helping when it comes to jealousy/feelings of infidelity re: Isabeau. (When specifically in the context of Romantic Frustration here, since that jealousy extends to the whole party when generalised) So that adds another thing to, not necessarily fight about, but be bitter over.

As for hatred being contradictory. Mmm. Nah.

The opposite of Love is not Hate. It is Indifference. (A theme ISAT notably gets at). Hate is distinctly something you do if you care. Often if you care Way Too Much.

I try not to write them hating each other, so much as feeling extremely intensely about each other. (x)

Feeling intensely Thankful, Understood, Sorry, Trapped, Devoted, Jealous, Protective, Pitying, Indebted...

^ Scary ! Complicated ! Hard to deal with ! Even the positive ones can be overwhelming! It's gonna make things weird!

So uh, Yeah. There's your answer? I suppose tl;dr: I view relationships as nebulous and only defined by those in it. (This is something I have previously yapped about at length in essays about my OCs lol) And generally view that there's no "true" label for any relationship except the one that doesn't cause undue distress. (which. i mean it does here. but it probably works out in the end with enough talking)

Asking me to define if something is romantic is like asking me to pin down the true form of the Human Soul. Like dawg i dont know how to do that i dont even know if that shit is real. there are merely actions and their constructed societal categories. If i tell you I think they kiss sometimes does that clear it up? (It shouldn't, obviously, but you get what I mean)

But yeah. Gestures broadly. Shipping an ace (and maybe even aroace based on some shit that little fella says) character like this means it comes with an essay. Because it necessarily interfaces with their nonstandard mode of interaction in that arena. The part where its weirdo fucking ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ selfcest merely adds a layer.***

... Anyway I'll leave you with this. The mirasifloop qpr "so what is.... romance?" discussion sessions are probably downright dialectical aren't they. Feelings Buddies discuss the phrase "Self-Love" 23467324235 dead 3 injured

*i do have like . 2 wips. that would. include this kind of behaviour explicitly. but i simply have not gotten around to them yet. and also don't worry neither of them are purely fluff both of them still have an air of worrying fuckedupedness about them. yay !

** inkeeping with my "geared for maximal conflict" mind, this can be flavoured with some "technically nobody can say it's not canon, I guess?" during-the-game Sifloop. By handing them the 'started leaning on each other for comfort more blatantly toward the end of a4' thing, since, well, I think exploring the "Loop expected at least one of them to be dead by the end of this/Loop never expected this to end, and thus began filling in that 'Lover' role as comfort/pity/selfishness/mercy given their knowledge that Isabeau is forever out of reach for both of/at least one of them" angle is... Well it's certainly fuckin' compelling that's for sure. Like oops, you let the timeloop malaise get to you and maybe started a trist because you thought you'd be dead before there'd be any lasting consequences. Here's those consequences, motherfucker !! But you won't catch me putting that explicitly in my comics because I don't want to change anything about the raw text of canon when I'm exploring its consequences. However, nothing I do is Incompatible with this read. And I enjoy making things more tortured so. Shrugs and hands this to you. Be free. (....x)

*** those of you that know what i mean by this just had all of it click just now didnt you. lol.

[weatheringandweary]

Ranking demigods objectively based on power and skill level is near impossible because Rick rarely allows anyone to stand on equal ground with Percy, but I believe in my heart of hearts that Meg makes the top five - if not higher.

She has almost seven or eight years worth of experience with duel swordsmanship, is capable of summoning karpoi instinctively, has a near perfect control over all plant life to the point of achieving teleportation (granted, she risks exhaustion through overexertion but she doesn’t seem to almost die like Nico does - bless him), has the Meliai at her disposal spanning majority of the state of California, and she’s only 12?? That’s insane??

Meg is literally a badass, why are we only focused on the Seven let alone children of the Big Three?

I don’t really enjoy pitting characters against each other because it’s kind of pointless when these characters aren’t able to be used to their fullest potential narratively and more so done to put your blorbo on a pedestal (not judging, it’s admittedly fun on occasion but I don’t think it’s entirely constructive), but I dunno.

Meg is woefully underrated imo

[mordenandmerry]

From the deepest most honest place in my heart I would like to say that the Jotaro vs Kakyoin fight in episode 2 of the 2000s stardust crusaders ova has to be one of the most homoerotic fight scenes I have ever witnessed and specifically that version. “LET ME CHOKE YOU A LITTLE LONGER”? “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO WITH THAT BODY”?? THE THING WHERE JOTARO PUSHED KAKYOIN UP AGAINST THE TREE??? LIKE JESUS CHRIST BOYS GET A FUCKING ROOM. AND ITS LIKE THAT FOR THE ENTIRE THING. THERE IS NO WAY NO ONE REALIZED HOW HOMOEROTIC THIS FIGHT WAS DURING PRODUCTION.

i’m sorry i just had to get that off my chest. that is all. i love the ova guys it means everything to me.

[hooleidoscope]

I guess I’m on a roll, here. You know what else gets me about the announcement? People being happy about the supposed darkening of demon!Alastor’s skin tone. Listen…I dig a redesigned demon!Alastor. I dig the theory that his hair is still curly and he just fries it with that fuck-ass bob. But “making him look mixed/more brown/more Black because he looks white?” No, that’s not the take you think it is.

And before you come for me, I did it, too…at first. But a lot of y’all need to understand how often mixed people have colorism thrown at us. There is no one way to be mixed or look like a specific group of people. I was partially raised by a Melungeon/Black-passing great-grandma who taught me to be proud of brown skin, but would warn not to be “too dark,” because that’s how she was treated by others and hated having her dark skin pointed out by strangers. My Korean dad and I are often mistaken for indigenous people because we are both brown and “Koreans don’t have dark skin” …and yet my mixed mom is paper white with blue eyes and identifies as white because no one believes her when she says her dad and grandma were brown. And especially existing as a Melungeon person when we can look any type of way because we are mixed by default…it sucks seeing people telling mixed folks how we’re supposed to look when our looks do not define our ancestry or who we are.

And a reminder that Niffty is canonically Japanese and I don’t see anyone talking about how she doesn’t look East Asian, and spoiler, there’s no one way to do that, either. (Again, as a Korean person who doesn’t look strictly ‘East Asian’ to a lot of people). I get really anxious with a lot of my takes on this fandom and whether I come across as insensitive or offensive…but as a mixed person, this hits too close to home.

There can be a lot of shame in being mixed, but as a fandom that is a happy place to a lot of people, please let’s just care about each other and have more dialogue. I have no problem with Creole or Black fans making demon!Al darker skinned. Dark skinned mixed people exist and should be uplifted in media. But please leave any rhetoric about how you think mixed people should look to yourself. We get enough of that in real life.

[dailydragons]

I am not immune to this propaganda…

Do you like long fantasy series, but are tired of authors never finishing them?

Do you like interesting magic systems?

Do you like when characters form intense even psychic bonds with animal companions?

Do you like your heart getting ripped out of your chest and then stuffed back in full to bursting and but then ripped out again to get stomped on but it turns out you like that too uhhh let's call it... intense yearning

Do you like dragons? Of course you do, why else would you be on this blog!

WELL DO I HAVE THE BOOK SERIES FOR YOU!

The Realm of the Elderlings is a 16-book series is comprised of four trilogies and a quartet. All of which have been finished. Yes that's right, Robin Hobb saw other authors who can't seem to finish their multi-book fantasy epics and said "I will finish mine 4 different times to show you it's incredibly easy actually." She also has written multiple other series (some under the pen name Megan Lindholm), set in different universes.

So, where to start?

The components of RotE are:

The Farseer Trilogy

The Liveship Traders Trilogy

The Tawny Man Trilogy

The Rain Wild Chronicles

Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

The three bolded trilogies above are told from the perspective of FitzChivalry Farseer, one of the main/major characters in this universe and my eternal blorbo. The Liveship Traders trilogy and Rain Wild Chronicles are told from several points of view, and happen in chronological order between the series above and flesh out the worldbuilding, lore, history, etc.

For the most complete look at the universe, you can of course read everything. However if you want to stick with just one character, you can read the three bolded trilogies only. And of course, if you don't want to commit to a metric ton of words either way, you can just read the first trilogy and see what you think. Though I do think the levels of joy/pain/adoration increase with each work as you get more invested in the characters, of course.

OR. You can in fact read the Liveship Traders trilogy or the Rain Wild Chronicles quartet completely independently of the others. I actually started with Rain Wild Chronicles because those books have the highest concentration of dragons--it was actually a follower of this blog who recommended them to me, and I decided to jump into those rather than commit to The Whole Series (which at the time was only 13 books not 16). But I loved the writing style and wanted to learn more about the world, so got into the rest, and now I actually think the Rainwilds books are the weakest of the bunch (though I still enjoyed them initially)!

But You're Following This Blog, DailyDragons, So Here's The Part Of The Pitch You're Actually Invested In

Now I will be up front that you don't get many dragons in the first trilogy. There are a kind of dragons that appear at the end but dragons are not the main focus of this one. However Hobb learns from her mistakes about not including tons of dragons in her fantasy world and you get more in the next parts of the series.

The Liveship books deal with sea serpents and dragons in very interesting ways I don't want to spoil, though it's a slow build. But VERY fascinating reveals into the dragon's biology, life history, and magic.

The plot of the later half of the Tawny Man Trilogy revolves around dealing with how the world of this story used to have dragons but they have practically gone extinct. Less direct contact with dragons but still a dragon-centric last book.

Rainwilds is chock full of dragons. Including as POV characters. Can't complain about lack of dragons here at all.

Fitz & The Fool Trilogy is lighter on the dragons at first and then they show up en force at the end. Ta da!

anyway please read these books and join me in my eternal suffering. wait, suffering? nevermind who said that. shhh. it's fine. you will love fitzchivalry farseer. you will love the fool. you will never be the same again.

[not-a-ducc]

There is no evidence that Lucas Mother 3 can swim.

So ever since I played Mother 3 one thing that always stood out to me is the Sea Floor Dungeon.

It's notable for many reasons, but I always found it funny that, rather than taking a boat or even just swimming, the party just walks on the sea floor all the way to a small island. Then recently I started thinking, wait, can any of these guys swim?

I mean at the very least these guys can, this is a body of water large enough for a huge snake and a big ol' pile of bones, so there's no way they're not floating here.

The most common instances of seeing Lucas in water are these hot spring sections. It's not clear how deep these even go, they could all be only as deep as we see them, Lucas could just be standing in there and the spring is only deep enough for his head to poke out.

It's possible they ARE deeper, however. As Flint and other adult characters can stand in them with their heads still sticking out, though it's notable that pre-time skip Fuel pictured here has their head partially submerged. Lucas also gets submerged into a hot spring in Chapter 4, however here he's somewhat hunched over, so the true depth of the hot springs is still unclear.

While not a scene where Lucas is visibly in water, it's worth noting that in Chapter 1, no one ever specifically says they found the twins swimming down or up the river, they were just floating in it. Granted they likely were unconscious while this was happening, but I still wanted to include this for completion's sake.

Also there's the Hippo Reserve in the Empire Porky Building where Lucas is almost the same height as the hippos so I doubt the water is that deep here.

This is the last scene I wanted this point out here. This is an un-used scene of Lucas and Claus taking a dip in the water found in a scrapped Attract Mode sequence. It's notable cause this is the only scene in the entire game where Lucas is definitively shown SWIMMING, but it’s un-used, so does it even count? Is it even canon? I mean, technically not I suppose, but there's nothing in these Attract Mode scenes that contradicts anything from the main game. How should un-used and beta content factor into how we discuss these games? Mother 3 famously had a tumultuous development with tons of content gutted from it's story. Not all of it fits into the game we eventually got, but a lot of it still can fill in the blanks present in the main game. But none of this content is present in the main game, so have valuable is it in discussion? Is it wrong to dismiss these removed scenes and subplots because they were part of the team's original vision? How should we continue to analyze this game's development if, for all intents and purposes, we're looking at un-finished and un-refined versions of the final art piece? Is it a more pure version of the art by being un-sullied by creative and hardware restrictions, or does that un-finished nature make it less deserving of analysis? I mean realistically I don't think any of what I've said should devalue Earthbound 64 or any other work in progress versions of art. Seeing the process of creation unfold is just as interesting and worth preservation and analysis as the finalized art itself. I don't think it's wrong to bring in elements from Earthbound 64 for headcanons or to fill in the gaps of Mother 3's story, hell it's damn near necessary sometimes it feels like, I just think it's important to acknowledge that changes and revisions are just a given in any story based medium. It's not always an artist's intent getting neutered, sometimes an artist might just change their mind, or need to have certain ideas reeled back in for the sake of keeping the work cohesive. Anyways what was this post about? Oh yeah Lucas probably can swim he just is never seen doing it in the final game.

[victusinveritas]

I just posted this in a thing about military chic, but now I'm posting it here because I am. Deal with it if that bothers you (this site is free, you can always just leave or unfollow me). For people who want a military chic look made from actual military stuff, some tips from an ex military surplus store worker and briefly online seller...

I recommend the Swiss wool coat highly with one caveat. It looks a little...German, but it's amazing quality (because the Swiss believe in quality), and if you go for one of the slash-pocketed ones they are just gorgeous (the older horizontal pockets are fine too). It comes in long and short varieties, and the rolled French cuffs are handy if your arms are a bit longer. It's a lighter weight wool coat, good for up to 45F and down to about 20F, colder with a sweater. I recommend the older ones with metal buttons, but there's a later plastic/bakelite button version that works well enough too. They make corresponding trousers that are great, but at that point you are going in almost full uniform, so I recommend switching it up with a good pair of Swedish or German (postwar) wool trousers just so you don't look too much like a certain type of 'German history enthusiast.'

Here's a link to one on eBay. They tend to run about $70-$150, plus shipping, so watch where you order them from because if you're getting something from Lithuania, shipping's going to be a bit. To defunkify anything (and there will be funk most probably), I recommend handwashing or soaking that shit in a mild detergent or Woolite.

However... Don't sleep on Bulgarian Army surplus. Their wool greatcoats are made on the Russian/Soviet WWI/WWII pattern, single breasted and slightly offset. Middle weight, with enough room for a sweater depending on what size you order relative to your build. Plus, there's usually an inner pocket for your trusty Makarov while you hunt for enemies of the Revolution or whatever. Again, it's got the French cuffs, and those are just lovely.

Or you have your US Army greatcoat. A beast, but wonderfully warm:

And then there's the US Marine WWII wool coat. This one is a steal at $48, but you'll have to be small enough to fit into it.

It's what I would call a forest green, darker than the mustard-green color of the US Army coat, and the wool is less coarse, this is a coat you could live in, especially if it still has the silk lining. It's thick enough, but not so thick you can't move around in it (that's true for all the coats listed here). You can get it (and the US Army greatcoat) in a cutdown, jeep coat style. It's shorter and made for, as you guessed, hopping in and out of a jeep without getting snagged on anything so you can go send whatever fascists you need to to their reward. Nice, but you'll want a good pair of trousers with it (again, check out the USMC wool trousers from this era, they're handy). The quality on this is second only to the Swiss stuff. I'm not sure why. If you're looking for something in the same color but a bit lighter and shorter, I recommend the winter service jacket above.. And we've got the British Household Guard overcoat. Technically fine, but, eh, I'm not a fan for some reason. Well made though.

I'm more partial to this double-breasted British coat. And this Civil Defense coat is just a fucking gem. I'd love to find one in my freakishly tall size.

Avoid, I'd say, the later Cold War era Soviet Coats, they are big and wool and tempting, but they are usually stiff as a frozen poet in the gulag. I've owned two (bought cheaply each time) and given them away because they just weren't keeping.

Just...I get it, I get why it's tempting. It's got that Soviet swagger, but like the later Soviet Union, inside it just doesn't quite work.

[sp1resong]

i am once again asking you (rain world fandom) to tag your damn shipping

[margindoodles2407]

begging high school history teachers to teach their students the truth about the janissaries

[ramblingsoapbox]

i was telling my friends earlier today while talking about ai that i swear ai did the ending of lilo and stitch bc what do you mean nani went to college on the mainland (i got spoilered so you get spoilered too) ... like ohana means family and ai is not family

and to take the words of one of my friends "no legit like why are we supporting natives getting their young ones taken away by the state"

[kittydragondraws]

I'm gonna be honest, I don't like this scene.

N doesn't ask Uzi if she wants to do this or is okay with him doing it. Based on her reaction he probably never even told her this was part of his plan. In fact, he actively ignores her clear and obvious sounds of discomfort and just yeets her off the spire anyway.

He doesn't know if she's comfortable with flying on her own yet, or if she can even fly at all, and a fall from the very top of the spire would most likely be fatal. Or at the very least incredibly painful and probably cause some gnarly injuries.

When V brings up the possibility of her dying, he just brushes it off with a "She'll be fine :)".

He doesn't even keep an eye on her after yeeting her, only noticing her falling when she's shouting.

And when he catches her, does he make sure she's okay or apologize for what he did? The thought doesn't even look like it crosses his mind.

This scene paints N as incredibly irresponsible and incompetent. Like he's either too insensitive to care about Uzi's feelings, or too stupid to even notice she has them.

[moth-p]

Listening to the song with five names isnt enough i need it injected straight into my bloodstream right now or ill explode

[victusinveritas]

Where do you find alot of your stories and history!! It's incredible what you post. But you never have source links and I'd like to go on a real deep dive of some simular topics they have always fascinated me!!!

Thank you so much I hope they aren't linked somewhere else on your blog and I look dumb for asking lol.

Thank you!!

Thanks for asking. Whenever possible, I'm trying to get a lot better about posting sources (especially with the amount of fake news and rumors floating around, that sort of shit is important)--if something slips past me, folks have been very nice about politely calling out when something is wrong, or, may the Algorithm bless you all with cute animal posts, posting links to sources.

My process tends to be roundabout. I spend way too much time on Facebook, unabashedly evil but it's also how I keep in touch with a few people not found on other social networks. Because the Great and Powerful Facebook Overmind has determined that I like history it will suggest, unbidden, various (largely history) posts. I tend not to trust these posts as they stand, and hop on Wikipedia to check what I can before posting some version of whatever anecdote or neat archaeological site is the focus of the original Facebook post. The same goes for art posts, slightly more sourced commentary on politics from various antifascist and anarcho-tendency groups, etc.

For memes and shitposts, I get a lot of that stuff direct from screenshots of other social networks, tumblr included, on Facebook--for posts originally from tumblr, when bothered I will track down and reblog the original post, but if I can't be arsed or the post is older than a year, I'll often just post the screenshot, because I've got better things to do than attribute everything to everyone. If that bothers the collective you, please remember that this website is free and I genuinely do not care about your negative opinion on a given post or the way it has been conveyed--I am a petty and vengeful blogger of the old ways (Livejournal, Blogger, Wordpress, etc). Constructive criticism (someone finding the source post itself) is great, just saying 'you could have hit reblog' is not something I give a fuck about.

Just straight news from newspapers, places like the BBC? Whenever possible direct from the source, link included.

[margindoodles2407]

look man i'm sorry but i don't know how anyone could read the october 3 entry and think, "hmmmm but what if we made mina and dracula's relationship romantic"

bro that was not romance that was quite literally, and i quote, "If you make a sound I shall take {Jonathan} and dash his brains out before your very eyes"