#studying stuff is supposed to make you think about it. not just memorize it

[kil9]

everypony hates me for my complete and utter disrespect of authority

[halfpsychic]

Saint John (John Carter x gn!reader)

Summary: A conversation with your best friend during a quiet moment in the break room. Set during Season 1.

WC: 0.7k

“You know, Saint John is the patron of friendship and love,” your voice rings out in the quiet break room. Carter’s head turns to you next to him on the couch. He’s flipping through a magazine, just glancing at the pictures. It’s been a quiet night so far. Neither of you are tired enough to sleep yet, even though you know you should try.

“It’s a pretty common name,” he smiles. “I don’t think I was named after a Saint.”

“You don’t have to be,” you respond, tilting your head. “But it’s still fitting, don’t you think?”

Something in his chest aches. Love. He does love you. He tells you this sometimes, but when he does, he only ever means it as friends. He’s thankful the room is dim, and he hopes it’s dark enough that you can’t see the blush on his cheeks.

“I suppose.”

You grin up at him. “Come on, you’re my best friend, I think it’s really fitting. I never really had a best friend before you.”

There it is again. That sweet ache in his chest for you. He knows he’s your best friend and you’re his, but hearing you say it out loud again, and hearing you mention love in relation to him, makes his heart skip a beat. A few beats, really. Despite being settled in your close friendship, he never quite thought about himself as someone associated with friendship and love. He had friends, classmates he’d talk to, and a date here and there, but none of it ever stuck. Not like you did. Stuck by his side every day and on his mind every night.

“Are you an expert on saints or something?” Carter asks. He lets the magazine in his hands drop onto the table in front of him and he leans back against the couch.

“No,” you smile. “I just went to Catholic school.”

He lets out a laugh. “Right. What else did they teach you about this Saint John?”

“Well, he’s also the patron saint of authors, and burn and poison victims. So I think I’m pretty safe with you.”

“You don’t need a saint to protect you,” he says. “You have me.”

“I know,” you smile. “I’m very glad to have you. If I ever get burned or poisoned, you’ll be there, right?”

He nods. “Of course. I’ll always be there.”

The sincerity in his voice is striking. It scares you. Despite how often he casually mentions his care for you, it never quite sinks in. You still think every little bump in the road is going to send him running.

“Maybe I should write a book,” you joke to soften the mood again. “Or we could co-author one together.”

“Yeah? About what?”

“Doctor stuff,” you smile. “What not to do in med school.”

Definitely don’t fall in love with your best friend. Even if they study with you all the time, and help you memorize pesky details for exams, and remind you to get some sleep when it’s past midnight and you’re still at the library with all of your textbooks in front of you. Even if they pay for lunch and spend the night more than they should. Even if they’re the only person who understands you.

“We know plenty about that,” Carter laughs.

“Exactly. Easy money. Not that you need any.”

Carter rolls his eyes and shoves you. “Trying to swindle me out of my hard earned money?”

“Maybe,” you smile, straightening up. “Would you let me?”

In a heartbeat, he thinks.

“No,” he answers, trying not to let his true feelings show. Carter bites back a smile and ignores the way his stomach churns. “I want my fair share.”

“Sixty-forty?” You propose with a playful smile gracing your features.

“I get sixty percent?” He teases. “You’re so kind.”

You shove him back. “No, genius, you get forty percent.”

His hair falls in his eyes as he sways to the side. Before he can respond, Benton props the door open with his hand, leaning his head in. “Come on, you two, MVA incoming and we’re getting at least three major traumas. Let’s go.”

Carter shoots you one last smile as he stands up and rushes to the door, catching it before it fully closes, and holds it open for you. You don’t miss how pink his cheeks are in the light that spills in from the hallway. He’s going to be the death of you.

masterlist ko-fi

a/n: a short moment between friends who both wish they were more. i <3 friends to lovers so most of my ideas are based on that. already posted on ao3! my inbox is open!!

[myunghology]

RUI KAMISHIRO — attractive things about him! pt.2 implied afab! reader in iv. ( tsukasa version here )

i. you've won in life. this guy is completely yours. the most attractive thing about rui besides all the other stuff, is that he's completely enamored by you. he doesn't think you're his�� no, but rather, he's absolutely all yours. he'll follow you around like a little (???) lovesick puppy, popping up on reflections of windows just to get a quick glance of you even though he's supposed to be on his way to the bathroom. totally wasn't an excuse to see you in class.. he's thankful all of a sudden for those damn windows.

ii. hickey giver 101. i will DIE on this hill, i swear. no, not those hickies where you'd have to bite. and yes— he'll never forgive himself if he ever hurt you. even by accident, so that's out of the question. preferably below your collarbone, the neck is too obvious, and plus.. what if a teacher sees in the process? can't have that. this guy sucks and licks on your thin skin like it's gonna leave a permanent mark. at this point; you'd be even more surprised if it didn't.

iii. ALWAYS notices you. he's such a green flag for this, honestly. acknowledges every little thing you do, memorizes everything you mentioned you liked even if it's of the slightest of hints. best believe he'll pick up on it. quickly, too. whenever you pass by his classroom and mouth a little "hi baby!" with a wave and he'll mouth back a "hi my love!" with a happy little smile on his face. and his classmates are like NO WAY THIS MF has a significant other like how.

iv. actually has the inability to say 'no' to you. you could literally ask this guy to make you a period tracker as a JOKE and he'd go "ohhhh of course my lovee!". it's a bit pathetic but it's cute you know </3. rui just loves the feeling of you leaning on him, likes the feeling of you relying on him. even if you just ask him for help with studying, he would never pass up an opportunity to spend time with you.

v. his hands. no question. they're so calloused from his old and recent projects, but the way they hold you says the opposite. they're thin and long and have tons of bruises and probably scars too. but the waaaaayyyy he cups your face with his hands so gently, you can grasp the feeling of his scars gliding over your cheek but that just makes it a whole lot better when he kisses you just as gently as he holds you close. also a waist holder like akito but you know that's for another time

@myunghology — gang he is so 4ever by clairo coded.

[eternitia]

❛ 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆

—during a daily patrol, hawks notices you, and who would've thought that with only a laugh, she would peak the birdie's interest.

—ft. my hero academia hawks x reader

author's note: THIS IS MY VERY FIRST FIC WHERE I ACTUALLY WRITE A PLOT🥲🥲🥲 HWHSWJJAJWK PLEASE DO BE PATIENT WITH THE GRAMMARS AND STUFF THAT DONT MAKE SENSE😭😭 IM DEBATING WHETHER I MAKE A CONTINUATION ABOUT THIS OR NOT LMAO + hawks is so "make you mine by public" coded i love him + HIHI A BIT OF TOUCHING TO MY LAYOUT ALSO ><

the sky above musutafu was melting into soft oranges and deep, lazy blues. the city buzzed below, heroes weaving through chaos, keeping it from spilling over. perched atop a half-finished skyscraper, keigo takami—hawks—leaned on the edge of a steel beam, his wings fanned wide to catch the last light of day.

he wasn’t supposed to be loitering, technically, he was on patrol and he was supposed to be looking for threats. but something, no, someone—catched the edge of his sharp vision.

down below, moving with a kind of effortless energy through the crowd, was a hero he didn’t recognize. you.

there was a bounce to your steps, confident, but not in a "look at me" kind of way, more like you knew exactly what you were doing and didn’t need anyone’s approval to do it. your hero costume caught the dying sunlight, colors flashing bright against the concrete.

hawks tilted his head, an easy smirk appearing across his lips.

"huh. and here i thought i had the whole roster memorized," he mused to himself, plucking a feather and twirling it between his fingers.

you stopped to debrief with some sidekicks, laughing about something—a rich, clear sound that drifted all the way up to him despite the city's noise.

for a second there, hawks forgot how to breathe properly.

"cute." the thought slipped in before he could swat it away.

without thinking much as usual, he flicked a feather down. it spiraled lazily in the air before landing just near your feet, not touching you—hawks wasn’t that rude—but just enough that you’d notice.

sure enough, you glanced down, brow quirking curiously, then followed the line of motion upward, unexpectedly locking eyes with him.

your expression was unreadable at first—maybe confused, maybe amused, but then you smiled—a slow, amused little thing that made his heart skip like a scrapped record.

hawks offered a lazy two-fingered salute and a wink. you shook your head slightly, laughing again before turning back to your work.

but you looked up at him one more time—quick but secretive—and hawks caught it.

and boy did his grin widened.

"looks like patrol just got a whole lot more interesting." he murmured, stretching his wings wide. and with a quick gust of wind, he launched himself into the sky, already plotting his next "accidental" meeting.

it didn’t take long.

hawks wasn’t exactly known for patience.

the next afternoon, the city angled under a thick, golden haze. you were stationed near downtown, handling crowd control after a minor villain incident. it wasn’t exactly exciting, but it was necessary—and you were good at it. calm, firm, reassuring, and people listened to you.

and from somewhere above, hawks observed.

and when the commotion settled—when you finally allowed yourself to take a breath, a shadow dipped across the sidewalk, followed by the soft whump of wings.

you turned just in time to see hawks himself, standing a few feet away, hands tucked casually into the pockets of his jacket, one brow cocked up in a way that could only be described as trouble waiting to happen.

"yo !" he said smoothly with a side of excitement to his tone. his voice was light, but his eyes were sharp, studying you.

you blinked, a little startled—not because you didn’t recognize him, i mean, how could you not?— but because of how casually he just appeared out of nowhere like that.

"hawks," you said, playing it cool, even as your heart gave a tiny defiant flutter. "to what do I owe the honor?", finally turning to him while putting your right hand on your chest as a gesture of having pure intentions towards him—a kind gesture that you're used to.

he grinned at the way you welcomed him, the sun catching his gold flecks in his eyes.

"honor, huh? mannn, you're setting the bar pretty high for me." he shifted a little closer, wings folding neatly behind him. "name's keigo takami, but you probably knew that."

you raised an eyebrow, arms crossing in amused challenge. "you are kind of hard to miss."

"ouch" he said, hand over his heart like you’d shot him, "but fair."

there was a beat—a warm, teasing silence before he tilted his head, studying you a little more seriously.

"you’re new, right? or.. new to this sector at least. i would’ve noticed you before." he said, voice dropping to a more sincere note.

you shrugged, smiling. "transferred in a few weeks ago. guess i've been flying under the radar."

you laughed despite yourself—and hawks felt something strange tugging at him, something he hadn’t expected—something that made him want to linger.

"flying, huh?" he chuckled at the pun, feigning an impressed look. "careful, you're gonna give me a run for my money."

"you busy right now?" he asked, voice dropping into something lower, almost conspiratorial.

you tilted your head, wary but curious. "depends. why?"

he flashed a dazzling, boyish grin.

"wanna join me on a special patrol?"

you squinted while looking above, pretending to consider it. "define 'special.' "

he winked. "you'll find out. c’mon, live a little."

and somehow, against your better judgment, against your careful plans—you found yourself smirking back. against all odds, you decided to take the leap.

"alright, hawks. lead the way."

he beamed, offering a hand like a dare.

and as your fingers brushed his, hawks thought—for just a second, that maybe he hadn’t been flying alone all this time after all.

[loves-n-kisses]

Yes, I ment mind control and yes the reader sorry for not being specific, I suck at spelling and stuff, I love your work (btw I asked about the shinso one

Okay, thanks for specifying! I really enjoyed writing this one. 

Mind's Misstep: Shinsou x GN!Reader

A story where Hitoshi Shinsou accidentally brainwashes you, causing an unexpected loss of control.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The common room of the UA dorms was buzzing with its usual low-key chaos. Kirishima was sprawled on one couch, scrolling through his phone, while Kaminari tried (and failed) to balance a pencil on his nose. You and Shinsou had claimed a corner table, surrounded by scattered textbooks and half-empty coffee mugs. Study sessions with him were a regular thing now—his dry humor and surprising patience made cramming for exams almost bearable.

You groaned, rubbing your temples. “I swear, if I have to memorize one more hero law, my brain’s gonna melt.”

Shinsou smirked, leaning back in his chair. “You’d make a terrible villain. Too lazy to memorize the loopholes.”

“Rude,” you shot back, tossing a crumpled sticky note at him. He dodged it with a lazy tilt of his head, his purple hair falling messily over his eyes. “You’re one to talk, Mr. ‘I’ll Just Brainwash the Teacher.’”

He snorted, but his expression softened. “You’re lucky I don’t use my quirk to make you study harder.”

“Ha, I’d like to see you try,” you teased, not thinking much of it. You reached for your coffee, expecting him to fire back with another quip.

Instead, his voice dropped, smooth and laced with that subtle, dangerous edge. “Why don’t you read the next chapter?”

Your hand froze mid-air, the mug slipping from your fingers. It hit the table with a soft clink, coffee sloshing over the rim. Your body moved before your mind could catch up, flipping open the textbook and scanning the page like it was the most important thing in the world. A faint fog clouded your thoughts, your own voice silent despite the scream building in your chest.

Shinsou’s eyes widened. “Wait—shit, no, stop!” His chair scraped against the floor as he shot to his feet, hands outstretched. “I didn’t mean—stop reading, now!”

The fog lifted, your hands dropping the book like it burned. You blinked, heart racing, the world snapping back into focus. The common room was quiet now, Kirishima and Kaminari staring from the couch. You shook your head, trying to shake off the lingering daze. “Whoa… did you just…?”

Shinsou’s face was ghost-white, his breathing quick and shallow. He stumbled back, hands trembling as he gripped the edge of the table. “I didn’t—I wasn’t trying to—fuck, I didn’t mean to use it.” His voice cracked, barely audible. “You weren’t supposed to answer.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” you said, pushing your chair back to stand. Your legs felt a little wobbly, but you ignored it, focusing on him. His eyes were wide, darting between you and the floor, like he was afraid to meet your gaze.

“No, it’s not okay,” he snapped, though the anger was aimed at himself. “I just controlled you. In the middle of the damn dorms, over nothing. What if I’d told you to do something worse? I’m—” He cut himself off, pressing a hand to his chest, his breaths coming in sharp gasps. “I’m a fucking danger.”

You stepped closer, careful not to startle him. “Shinsou, breathe. I’m fine, see? Just a little spooked, that’s all.” You kept your voice steady, even as your own pulse still raced.

He shook his head, turning away, his shoulders hunched. “You don’t get it. I can’t just… slip like that. I could’ve hurt you. I’m not—” His voice broke, and he dragged a hand through his hair, tugging hard. “I’m not safe.”

Your heart twisted at the raw fear in his voice. You’d seen Shinsou doubt himself before, but this was different—he looked like he was unraveling. Without hesitating, you reached out, gently touching his arm. He flinched but didn’t pull away.

“Shinsou, look at me,” you said softly. When he didn’t move, you stepped in front of him, your hand still on his arm. “You didn’t hurt me. You stopped it, fast. You realized what happened, and you fixed it. That’s what matters.”

His eyes flicked to yours, glossy and uncertain. “I shouldn’t have let it happen at all,” he muttered. “What kind of hero just… loses it like that?”

“One who’s human,” you said firmly. “You’re still figuring out your quirk. Mistakes happen. But you didn’t let it go too far, and I trust you to keep that from happening again.”

He let out a shaky breath, his jaw tight. “You’re too damn trusting, you know that?”

“Maybe,” you said, offering a small smile. “But I mean it. You’re not a danger. You’re someone I feel safe around, quirk and all.”

For a moment, he just stared at you, like he was searching for a catch. Slowly, the tension in his frame eased, his breathing steadying. “You’re ridiculous,” he mumbled, but there was a faint warmth in his tone, the panic starting to fade.

“Ridiculous enough to keep studying with you,” you said, nudging his arm lightly before stepping back. “So, what’s it gonna be? Back to hero laws, or do we take a break and clean up this coffee mess?”

He glanced at the spilled mug, then back at you, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. “Break,” he said quietly. “But… thanks. For, you know. Not freaking out.”

“Anytime,” you said, grabbing a napkin to start cleaning. As you worked, you caught him watching you, his expression softer than usual. And despite the scare, you couldn’t help but feel a little closer to him, like you’d both just crossed some invisible line together.

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note: I like how kirishima and denki have no purpose in this fic. they're just there. two extras. adore them tho <3

Drink water, sleep good, be productive my pookies!

-made with loves n' kisses!

[akikohanasaki]

@artisticdoofusxx I'M SO SORRY- I know about your long time ago request but when I was about to post it it kinda disappeared?- actually have no idea what Tumblr was on but yeah. So here's my second try to post it 😭💔

---

Yandere!Bill Dickey x Transmasc Emo Reader

💢 When He First Notices You

It’s a slow burn that starts with pure disdain. You showed up at the comic shop or at school looking like someone who doesn’t give a damn what people think—black eyeliner, chipped nails, safety pins on your jacket, maybe a band tee that he actually respects, but he’d never admit it.

The moment Bill hears you're transmasc? He immediately starts making “jokes.” Stuff that’s gross and obnoxious, not because he really thinks it’s funny, but because he doesn't know what to do with the fact that he's suddenly really interested in someone who completely defies everything he thought he was supposed to want.

He makes you a target so he can study you without anyone questioning it. He needs a reason to talk to you, even if it's through cruel barbs. Because you’re haunting him in a way nothing else does. Not his comics, not the girls in magazines, not even Star Wars.

But you don’t flinch the way he expects. You either ignore him, fire back with something smarter, or—worse—look at him like he's not even worth your attention. That unbothered look you give him? That becomes his undoing.

---

💢 The Spiral Begins

Bill starts fixating. Quietly at first. He searches your name online. Checks if you’ve posted in any fandom forums. If he finds your old DeviantArt or Tumblr, you better believe he reads every post and memorizes your tags. He’ll pretend to be disgusted by it in public—but at 2AM, he's re-reading your blog entries like it's gospel.

He starts watching how you move. You walk with your headphones in, hoodie over your head, expression unreadable. It drives him crazy. He begins to write little mental “editorials” in his head about you—rants about how you're “obviously faking that tough guy emo act,” or how “being trans doesn’t make you special.” But behind all that bile is envy and obsession. You're becoming the protagonist of his internal fanfic.

He tries to gatekeep you out of fandom. He’ll interrupt your opinions during group talks, quiz you aggressively on trivia, or throw out niche references to see if you catch them. But when you do, and when you explain them better than he can? He feels both exposed and aroused—emotionally, mentally, and most of all, sexually.

---

💢 From Mockery to Possession

He starts picking fights with the other guys when they mention you. If Josh calls you “that emo freak,” Bill shuts it down immediately.

“Shut the hell up, Josh, at least he doesn’t spend his weekends jacking it to cosplay girls from Sailor Moon.”

He says it to humiliate Josh, but what he really means is: “Don’t talk about him. Only I can talk about him however I want.”

The obsession mutates into some kind of twisted protection. He overhears someone misgendering you behind your back, and something snaps in his brain. He follows them to their locker, smashes their favorite collectible, and says, “Maybe next time keep your fucking mouth shut.” Nobody ties it to you—except Bill, who waits for you to notice. He doesn’t want thanks. He wants to prove you belong to him.

---

💢 His Room Becomes a Shrine

He’s got a drawer full of junk you touched. A bottle cap you dropped. A note you passed in class that wasn’t even for him. A comic you handled in the shop before putting back. He doesn’t even keep them neatly—just in a messy, sweaty pile that smells like dust and resentment.

He plays songs you like on repeat, pretending to hate them. “This sh*t is lame,” he mutters, then listens to the same track 8 times in a row while staring at the ceiling.

If you’re ever sick or skip school? He spirals. Shows up at your door pretending to “borrow notes.” Can’t stop himself from staring at you when you look pale or tired—because in that moment, you look fragile. Real. Like someone he could keep.

---

💢 The Confession (or Lack Thereof)

He won’t confess. Not traditionally. He’s incapable of vulnerable emotions that don’t come out as rage. If he does try to say something, it comes out like:

“I don’t get why you keep hanging around those losers. They don’t get you. I do. I know everything about you. You think they’d care if something happened to you? You think they would do what I did for you? I fucking defended you, freak.”

If you brush him off, he reacts badly. Breaks something. Calls you names. Storms off. But two days later, there’s a burned CD in your locker labeled “Don’t Listen to This, Poseur” full of songs he thinks you’d like. Not signed of course. He's a coward.

If you show him kindness? Even once? He starts hallucinating a relationship in his head. “He gets me,” he tells himself. “He knows I’m not like the others. He sees the real me. I knew he would.”

---

💢 His So Called Danger Level

He’s not immediately violent toward you—but if he thinks someone else is “stealing” your attention, all bets are off. He’ll slash bike tires. Dox them online. Spread rumors. He doesn’t even hide it anymore. He wants people to fear him so they leave you alone.

He starts doing things just for your attention—even humiliating himself (simply trying being kind lmao) or hurting others—because it hurts more when you ignore him than when you insult him. You could scream in his face, and he’d go home with a smile and a nosebleed.

Eventually, his inner monologue sounds like:

“He needs me. He just doesn’t get it yet. One day, he’ll see that I was the only one who ever gave a damn. Then he’ll thank me. Then he’ll stay... Then he'll finally come to me begging on his knees”

---

Hellooo Akiko here 👾

My dear I hope you liked it and that I didn't somehow offend transmasc people- I LOVE YOU ALL 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[whatwooshkai]

22!

"Hold on," Chase says, grabbing a marker and beginning to draw on the whiteboard. "I need to leave a note for Heatwave."

Cody hums, leaning forward from his spot on Chase's shoulder to see what he's writing. The bots almost never write stuff down, and when they do, they keep it amongst themselves, so Cody never gets to see Cybertronian letters.

Then he remembers something. "Wait, I thought Heatwave couldn't read?"

"He can't!" Chase replies brightly, drawing symbols on the board that almost look like... hieroglyphics? "He made up his own system for notetaking. We all learned it, but there's no proper language rules so Blades and Boulder tend to struggle with it."

"What do you mean, there are no rules?" Cody places a hand against Chase's cheek to steady himself as he leans further forward, studying the symbols.

"Well," Chase starts, beginning to write a symbol beneath the note, "I've written that you and I are going out. So this is the symbol for me-" he draws it, and Cody thinks it looks a little like his car mode with bunny ears, "-and this is the symbol for you," he continues, drawing it next to his.

Cody's symbol... makes no sense. There's nothing there that could even begin to resemble him, but Cody supposes there might be some method to the madness.

Chase draws two more symbols. "These are for 'gone/going out' and 'with'. If I were to write this out, I would write it like this or this." He draws the symbols again- first in a direct sequence, as in "Chase with Cody going out", and the second a little more flowy, connecting the "Chase" and "Cody" symbols with the "with" one and then adding "going out".

"But that's not how he does it," Cody concludes, looking up at what Chase wrote initially, which bears no resemblence to what else Chase has written. In fact, he can't even see the identifying symbols for them in there.

"No," Chase mutters. "He makes up new symbols constantly. It's all memorization. This," he taps the first symbol in the original note, "is the specific 'Chase and Cody' symbol, not to be mixed up with the 'Cody and Chase' symbol, which is completely different." He sighs heavily, then looks at Cody helplessly. "And then going out."

He erases the rest of the board, leaving only his original message. "And it changes constantly," he mutters again, a smidgen of annoyance leaking into his voice. "And never tells me about it."

Cody laughs, giving Chase's cheek a reassuring pat and settling back down as he turns away from the board and heads towards the lift. "Is this seriously easier than just learning to read properly?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Chase says. "His processor is funny that way."

"Is there any way I can learn it?" Cody asks.

"Unless you're very good at remembering, no," Chase replies with another sigh. "There are no tricks or rules. Just however Heatwave feels."

"Huh," Cody hums, leaning back. "Maybe he's onto something. A language only he and you and maybe Blades and Boulder can understand? That's a great way to like write in code."

"Maybe he is," Chase says.

[yellowhollyhock]

No matter how many times I learn it, I constantly have to remind myself that when people say 'comfortable' they don't mean what I think they mean (got long ldjskks)

Whether it's me working on myself or a discussion as teachers about what's best for students or a friend seeking advice or an internet stranger giving advice, this idea of 'there's no growth/change/healing in comfort' just. baffles me so much

Growth isn't tested in comfort, but the testing isn't what leads to growth. First you gotta spend the semester studying, in sustainable (comfortable!) ways. Engaging with the material in a variety of formats, preferably as fun for you personally as can possibly be achieved. You gotta learn it a little bit at a time, this is literally the best way. And lots of review of material you're familiar with is also really really good. Cramming for a test is very very bad for long-term learning, a failing grade is much better for you than creating a habit of associating growth with crisis.

Like for example, if you're trying to memorize something, you do it by looking at it, listening to it, saying it out loud while looking at it. It takes a very long time to memorize things by reading through it only a couple of times and then trying to quiz yourself. Not looking at the thing you're trying to memorize is an absolutely nonsense way of doing it, yet it seems to be a lot of people's go to. Look away only when you are confident and comfortable in having it thoroughly memorized.

Or in sports, you don't try to push your body to the breaking point. You push yourself a little at a time and you learn things during practice, and you learn it so well that during a game it comes naturally. Comfort is literally prerequisite to growth

And I feel this extends to life. You're not going to grow if your body and mind don't have energy stored up, and confidence that it can be used without risking going without in an upcoming unpredicted emergency. Comfort is literally the best thing for growth. Because you didn't notice your growth until a crisis doesn't mean you weren't growing

And it's about here in my thought process that I always remember when most people say comfort, they aren't talking about a nice happy state where your needs are met you have mental and emotional energy to spend on doing things you like, including getting better at skills you're interested in, solving new problems, meeting new people, adapting your sense of self to account for the new things you're learning a little at a time every day

No, for some reason when people say comfort they're talking about a miserable state of being where you don't want to put effort into anything and can't conceive of feeling in control, ie able to affect change, in your own life. I guess because stuff is familiar? Is what makes it comfort? And the solution is supposed to be drastic and sudden growth? Girl you need a sustainable situation where your needs are met first

Sometimes a new challenge can help get people out of crisis mode, eustress is good, stimulation is good. Our brain needs those things which is why it makes no sense to me to call it comfort if you aren't getting enough of them

[rigelmejo]

Maybe this will be useful (or motivating) to someone? So, ever since I finished college, I don't take notes when I study any more. This blog right here is all of my language learning notes. So I suppose I do take notes. I just mean that like... you won't forget everything immediately if you don't take notes. That was something I had to learn to accept, since I was used to being afraid I would forget anything I didn't write down.

I just don't write words to review and memorize on paper anymore. I used to write down ALL the grammar points in my textbooks, all the new vocabulary, a lot of the dialogues in new chapters, mnemonics for kanji that were in worksheets, etc. I wrote so much down. I wrote so much I had hand cramps all the time (not only from language classes, mostly from my other classes which were even more note-intensive). So when I finished school, I decided I'd prefer never to write that much on paper again, to never write so much my hands hurt.

I still type a lot, lol you are all aware of that. Sometimes my hands cramp a bit from typing, but never as much as they did when taking paper notes. I still love drawing, so yeah my hands cramp when I do that for a long time.

My point with all this was... I was a perfectionist in school, and I wrote notes on EVERYTHING because I read once "writing notes helps you remember" and I needed all the help I could get in school to get good grades. So I did it all, writing everything by hand, sitting at the front of class, asking questions any time they popped up for me, all things recommended to get better grades/learn easier.

When I decided to really let myself study languages in my personal time, I decided I did NOT want to be perfectionist about it. Perfectionism stressed me out so much in school, and one of the reasons I really enjoyed self-studying languages is how much I got to learn and improve by making mistakes. Language learning is an area where I get to embrace mistake making, enjoy imperfection and the process of learning - because I will NOT be perfect at languages for years, if ever, I will NOT understand languages perfectly for years, if ever. I still don't speak perfect English and I'm a native speaker who's been writing/speaking for 30 years. So thankfully, I can never be perfect in any language. Striving for perfection is impossible, it will never be reached. Instead of giving up - since perfection is impossible - language learning is a domain where I can simply enjoy the journey of continuously learning.

So self-studying, I stopped writing down things I wanted to remember. I accepted that I was going to be imperfect, going to forget and have to re-look things up, review things as I ran across them again, and accepted that was the route I wanted to take.

I think it's great if you want to write down notes on things you want to remember and review, or save stuff to anki card decks, or whatever you specifically want to do. And writing notes definitely Does help one remember faster, it served me well in college when I had to reliably remember things ASAP - I just no longer have that need. (I still save resources - see this whole blog lol, and I save words I've looked up recently in Pleco and Google Translate - although I rarely end up reviewing them)

For me, I didn't want to do that anymore. And I wanted to be an example that someone CAN make progress and improve, even if they don't write down the things they want to remember. I used to have issues trusting my own memory, afraid anything I didn't write down I'd never learn, and it's been a relief to just let myself Not do that.

[whatonearthisgoingon]

As someone who just started theater this year, what tips do you have? If that's a hard question to answer, what's your favorite production?

Oh these are great questions!

So I'm going to give you a few tips; some are things I really struggled with, just because of the way I am and stuff. Others are more general, but I hope they help you out still!

Don't let the role you get effect you too much, if it wasn't something you wanted. There are two parts to this that I struggled with. a) You might think you want a role, but in reality you're not the best pick for it. There is nothing bad about you just because you didn't get that role. It's just out of the pickings, the other person had one or two points above you. Instead, ask the director what made them pick that decision; you can often get pointers on how to improve your skills, and get what you want next time. And sometimes it's a tough tie, and the director has to flip a coin on who's getting the role; it means nothing on you. For both of these situations, if you dwell on the role you didn't get, you won't embrace the role you got to the best of your ability; it will make yours and everyone else's experience worse. b) I often felt that many times, I was more qualified for a role than the person who was picked for it. A chunk of theater, especially if it's a company that have had the same people there for a while, is a popularity contest, and who knows the director best. Directors, just like teachers and parents, pick favorites. You might not be handed the role you want, and it may have nothing to do with your skill level; the other person might just know the director more. For a long time I was so confused on why this one girl always got the lead role, and no one else got a chance. One role that required a ballet experienced lead that I tried for (13+ years of ballet here, and the only ballerina at that company), was given to that girl who had no experience. I later found out that girl was a huge donor to the company; money and politics.

Always be willing to take constructive criticism and corrections, but don't dwell on it too hard. 95% of the time, it is not meant to be in malice or rudeness. I had such a huge time in accepting a director or fellow actor's advice. Every one felt like a personal insult, that I would nod along too, then berate myself for having that flaw, rather than thinking on how I can fix the thing that needed fixing. Berating will do nothing; you are not worthless for being off key the one time you sang that tune, okay? Hear the correction, fix it, and move on.

Don't read just your lines. Just looking at your lines and memorizing them, although will let your preform and recite, won't let you play the character to the best. You don't have to memorize the other characters' lines, but read the story over and over, and have a decent idea and expect what others are going to say around you. This will help you learn how your character is supposed to interact with others. Reading the script as a story a few times, rather just flying through and memorizing your own stuff, will help you preform them in many different ways. This will help you accurately play relationships and tension between characters. Additionally, if you or a fellow actor with a line before you do fuck up and forget a line, you can come up with something believable to the character, as you know your character further than the lines on the paper, and the audience won't notice.

Be well-rounded. If you can, I would recommend taking classes and workshops to improve your skills. These can be voice lessons, improvisation lessons, body language and dance classes, scene studies, audition technique, etc. Being a well-rounded actor make you popular in the acting market. One common term for this is a Triple-Threat: Acting, Singing, and Dancing. People who fill these descriptions are loved and sought after by directors. You can get by not being one of course, but every point you can get will help you out.

Keep a record of your shows; a resume. I am crap at remembering things, so I need to write down everything I've been in, and what role I've played in it. It's good to have, as it will make your life easier to talk to a director. Additionally, if you have a paper copy of everything you've been in, especially when that list gets larger, it makes you look professional; directors like that, because it's a sign you'll take the role seriously.

In terms of productions I've preformed in, I'd have to say "Into the Woods" is my favorite. It has so many different classic stories interlaced together, and I loved it. I was in it twice; I played Red Riding Hood the first time, and Cinderella the second time; I had so much fun.

I love your questions, and I hope the tips help you out. By the way, I love your blog. The vibe is amazing <3

(Enjoy all the notifs you're about to get ��)

[thatstonedwriter]

⋆｡˚ 「 Study Session 」 ⋆｡˚

◉ Sinopsis; what would studying with them be like? (College au)

◉ Feat; Millie, Blitzø, Fizzarolli

◉ A/n- high and working on my Anthropology study guide rn. a lil post to try and get me out of this writer's block. Not proofread, sorry for any mistakes

── ˙•˚∘✮🌙ᯓ🪐˙•˚∘ ──

Millie doesn't like studying on her own, so when the time comes for a test or project, you can bet she'll be asking to join you. Millie's interest in class material waxes and wanes, so strategies to help her retain the material are important. Maybe she does 5 pushups when she gets a question wrong, y'all take a ten minute break if you get a certain amount of work done. She's also one to actually do her own work. Her loyalty and work ethic (when she's motivated) make her really fun for group/pair projects. When sessions go particularly late, Millie always suggests a coffee run, which just means going to the vending machines. Whether or not you get anything done, you can't complain when it comes to hanging out with Millie.

┊┊┊✧ ⁺ ⁺ 　°

Fizzarolli is the distraction. I don't think y’all would get anything done, especially if it's for a class you don't like. If he has to study, he's definitely a flash cards and nemonics type of guy. Silly phrases to remember complicated concepts, making acronyms, using/making flash cards, and saying everything out loud are Fizzarolli's preferred study methods. And you better believe his flashcards are doodled all over. Adds flowers in the corners and little emotes by words and phrases to make them more memorable. I do think he'd prefer having company for when he's doing homework or studying, since I see him as an auditory and collaborative learner. With Fizz, you're guaranteed to have a great time.

┊┊┊✧ ⁺ ⁺ 　°

Blitzø? Yeah, this motherfucker doesn't study. Only agrees to study sessions so he can hang out. If you want him to learn something, it has to be made as interesting as possible. Points if it's something you're passionate about. The only time he'll retain information is if it's something important to someone he's cares about. Blitzø is probably a kinesthetic learner, so having diagrams toys, or models could be helpful. If Blitzø isn't participating in studying at all, he's eating, scrolling on his phone, or purposefully trying to distract you. One time, he did all three at once. It was a mess. Usually, what's supposed to be a study session will turn into hanging out and playing video games, but hey, you needed a break from writing stuff anyways.

── ˙•˚∘✮ 🔭๋࣭ᯓ🌙˙•˚∘ ──

[beansterpie]

Random musings under the cut ✨

I feel like the problem with so many teachers is that they're the kind of people who likely had a fairly easy time understanding their respective subject matter. It probably came more easily to them, which is why they liked it, which is why they pursued it as a field of study, which is why they're teaching it. Obviously.

But then the issue is that in a classroom setting, especially with general-education aged kids, is that there's going to be kids where it doesn't come naturally to them at all, and they have no idea wtf you're talking about. And I think a lot of teachers get frustrated because they don't understand what the kids aren't understanding about this thing, which to them, is very simple, and they're probably trying to explain it in a way that makes most sense to them.

(Goes without saying, obviously there's exceptions to this, there are plenty of teachers out there who are excellent, blah blah blah, I'm not talking about them)

Anyway this about math lmfao, which I've always been completely ass at. Except for, notably, Geometry, which I thought was fun and very easy.

THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED POST but I downloaded that Brilliant app that all the YouTubers keep going on about out of curiosity, and because I figured it wouldn't be a bad thing to... reliably know how to do math beyond multiplication and division lmfao. I started with the lowest level they offered, which was Equations. It's all stuff I know, if rusted with disuse and time, but the app starts off with using really simple visuals of scales with weights/shapes to illustrate the equations, and that simple little thing really rapidly helped me understand everything so much better than anything I learned during school.

Like yeah I remember my teachers saying how each variable represents something, and you're trying to find the value of each thing, but to middle school bean that meant very little. I did what I was supposed to do to ~solve the equation~ but I just did it because that's what I was told you were supposed to do to solve the equation. It didn't really mean anything to me, and I didn't get WHY we solved certain equations in certain ways. It was all just memorization instead of actual comprehension.

But with the visual aid it makes perfect sense and it's really simple, intuitive stuff. It's just a logic puzzle! And I know it's actually going to stick it my head in a meaningful way.

[loz-furbies]

Skyward Sword Zelda

Design

Now for something completely different since Zelda is a commoner this time! I think the outfit works well, it’s not too busy but it also has plenty of memorable details (I especially like the sailcloth around her shoulders) and the green and pink ribbons in her hair. And while the overall design is very different from the usual Zelda looks, the blue cloth on her waist at least reminds me of the “aprons” a little.

Mixed feelings about the white dress, the Hyrule crest collar is great, but everything else in the dress is really simple and basic so it feels a little out of place. However I like the white dress when she’s depicted with botw Zelda in her white dress, it’s a nice contrast how one has long flowy sleeves and the other has no sleeves at all.

Character

Skyward Sword Zelda has a charming and playful personality, making her super likable, and overall she really feels like an ideal girl-next-door type. As Link's childhood friend she's incredibly supportive of him, but also not above calling him out for being lazy or lightly teasing him. And she can be quite stern and gutsy when needed, as seen when she puts Groose and his cronies in place when she finds them bullying Link.

To some extent Zelda does feel a bit too much of idealised manic pixie dream girl to the more down-to-earth MC-kun that is Link. A considerable amount of her lines are spent on speaking positively of Link too, and we don't get to know much about what else she has going on in her life besides Link and the Plot.

A notable example of this is her status as a student of the knight academy, why is that not touched at all? Why was her role to give a trophy to the flight competition winner and not take part in it herself? Even if she's at a different stage from Link in her studies, shouldn't she still have something to say about their shared goal? I've seen some fans attribute the fact that she made it through a dungeon on her own to being a knight student, but I'm not giving the game credit for that.

We do get to know that she was interested in the surface even before the events of the story, and apparently has a knitting hobby judging by the items in her room. Which... okay I've been a bit too hard on her, as it's incredibly rare for any of the Zeldas to have a hobby at all and I do give SS Link points for his wood carving hobby too. It's just that so many of her lines are spent on gushing over Link so I guess I would have needed more stuff that's specific to her alone to balance that out.

Once she finds out about her role as the reborn goddess she becomes more serious and gloomy, but is still very much recognisable as the same character. Which has not been a given in the history of Zeldas with multiple personas, so good for her.

We don't get to know a lot about how regaining an unspecified amount of memories of her previous life has affected her sense of self, but I figure it has had at least some effect since she sometimes switches to first person, notably when apologising to Link about involving him in the grand anti-demise plan (which at least to me clearly isn't SS Zelda's fault). Though there's not any question if the goddess persona had somehow taken over, since the greatest line of the game "I'm still your Zelda" exists.

Ultimately while I think SS Zelda gets close to the line of being too much of a perfect fantasy waifu, she doesn't cross it and remains incredibly charming.

Role in the story

The game has a very slow beginning, where a lot of time is spent setting up Link and Zelda's relationship and ordinary life. And while the characters are the biggest draw for me in these games, I think there would have been room to condense the story a bit. Even if you really like the characters, in a video game you can reach a point where you're just hoping them to get on with it so you can actually play the game, which isn't exactly helpful if you're supposed to like the characters. But if you don't get frustrated with the slow start, Zelda is set up extremely well as someone you'd want to save.

After the setup she falls into a tornado, and the first part of the game is spent chasing after her and trying to figure out what's going on with her. You get more information about her bit by bit, so she clearly remains as the goal. Once you do catch up with her, it's after she was just rescued by Impa, who chides Link for having been too late to do anything himself. For me this worked just fine because I was really bad at the game, so her criticism was perfectly fair, but I wonder how better players felt about when the plot mandates that their perfect performance is judged to be a failure?

Eventually both Zelda and Link travel to the past, where Zelda explains herself as the reborn goddess and commits to her duty to seal Demise's curse for thousands of years, which changes the game's objective from trying to solve the mystery around her to a more clear rescue mission. Sealing herself to magic sleep is Zelda's big moment and the the game really plays it up, and to great success because that scene is beautiful. After that she doesn't really do much though, like because her darkness-sealing moment happens in the middle of the game (and chronologically before the main part of the gameplay since we're in the past here) and the grand finale darkness sealing is done by the Master Sword, there's not a lot of room for Zelda and she ends up with more of a victim role.

It is also kind of disappointing how Zelda gets damseled twice in the same game. I guess I can kind of see that since Link and Zelda's relationship is such a big part of the story, it makes sense that her life would be at risk when the stakes need to be at their stakiest, but I really wish they could have thought of something else than have her be woken up from her magical coma for five minutes before getting immediately kidnapped for the bad guys' evil resurrection ritual.

The end credits show snippets of Zelda's life after she fell to the surface, met Impa and started following her duty. Which was of course great but also a somewhat odd place to put it, and made me wonder if it was originally supposed to be shown somewhere during the story but got cut. And then they just put it in the credits since the scenes were already animated. But in any case it's nice to see more of Zelda's journey, even if strictly didn't offer any new information.

Relationships

As usual Zelda's most important relationship is with Link, and this time there even is more to it than a single line that they're childhood friends. Or they are childhood friends, and while in general I'm a big hater of this trope being so common in Japanese media, at least here it's used with a purpose, as the Goddess' master plan involved specifically preparing a hero who'd go to the ends of earth for her reborn form.

I said about Link and Zelda in Spirit Tracks that their relationship doesn't get any specific development and is more just about that they went on an adventure together and you have to imagine that they grew closer during that. Meanwhile in Skyward Sword they clearly know and care about each other as people and it's not just about like, general human empathy towards someone in trouble, which certainly makes their relationship more interesting.

So as I complained earlier, a lot of Zelda's lines are about Link. She gently teases him for being a sleepyhead, goes out of her way to arrange him time to practice for the flying competition and knows to send her loftwing to wake him up, asks his opinion on her ceremonial costume, asks him out to fly together which is totally written to look like a date, and so on. Some of her behaviour comes out as so flirty that it makes me think if she's all astonished at Link for being so oblivious. And she states multiple times that she wishes that Link will be the one to win the flying competition, so she can do the celebration ceremony with him, or how amazing he was when he managed to do that. The last point was brought up so many times that it just got really heavy handed, and I do think that some of it should have been cut, but just as it was entering actual cringe territory, an alternate explanation emerged that she actually wanted to talk about these ominous premonitions she's had, but had trouble bringing it up and was stalling for time.

Also it's just beautiful how the whole sleeping thing goes full circle, with Link being the notorious sleepyhead in the beginning, but Zelda requesting that it's Link's turn to wake her up as she's about to enter her magic sleep. Really shows that she has a lot of trust in him.

Meanwhile Link doesn't talk outside dialogue options as usual, so you don't get as much from his side, but his expressions when he looks at Zelda in many scenes tell a lot about how he cares about her.

In general their relationship skirts around being a romance but doesn't fully confirm anything (or at least that I can remember). After Link wins the flying contest, a scene where it looks like Zelda is about to kiss him is set up, but instead she pushes him off the ledge to complete the ceremony. And maybe she was just so coy about the "date" in the clouds because it was all about trying to gather courage and find a good moment to bring up a difficult topic, and Link's determined responses how he'll certainly save Zelda are totally platonic? But like, obviously a scene that teases a possible kiss is put in for a reason and the game ends with a shot of their loftwings flying together after Zelda tells about her future plans to live on the surface and asks what Link wants to do, so I'd say you need some serious anti-shipping goggles to ignore what's being implied.

Also since I brought it up for Spirit Tracks, Link and Zelda hold hands in this game too.

Impa is in the game as well in the role of Zelda's bodyguard, guide and friend, and this time offers a more meaningful relationship with her than her previous incarnations. Impa is fulfilling her job at assisting Zelda do hers, but they also clearly care about each other. We don't get to see them that much though, so their personal relationship isn't defined too well. Like Impa acts as a servant and refers to Zelda with "your grace", and Zelda just goes along with it and we don't know if she tried to establish a more equal relationship. In one of the end credits snippets we see Zelda doing this cute happy skip when she's walking with Impa and it looks like she's having fun, and these four seconds are probably their most casual scene together.

It's also really sweet when it's revealed that the old woman who helps the cast in the present timeline is actually Impa, so Zelda gets one more chance to meet her. Or it's kind of funny how they saying their goodbyes in the past but Impa reassures that they'll meet again, and after some time travel from Zelda's perspective the reunion in present time is literally just a few minutes later, and then Impa actually dies and they're separated for a second time. But obviously it was about how Impa had been hanging in there for thousands of years so she could still help Zelda and Link with their duty.

In any case Zelda and Impa's bond is clearly strong, even if we don't see the details. It also makes me think of how different this is from BotW Zelda's situation, and how things might have turned out for her if she had a mentor how knows what to do and also is emotionally supportive.

Groose primarily acts as a rival to Link, which includes being a romantic rival for Zelda's affections. He's not any threatening at it at all though since his feelings are clearly one sided, but it's not exactly clear what Zelda thinks about him. He is introduced when he has hidden Link's loftwing so that Link couldn't take part in the flying competition, and Zelda immediately jumps in to take Link's side. After that Groose's character development happens while Zelda is away, and next time they meet Groose behaves in a more respectable manner and Zelda appears to be happy to see him.

Like everyone else in Skyloft, she also has her own loftwing buddy, and much fuss is made about how everyone is soul-bonded to their bird. None of this really shows up about Zelda's relationship to her loftwing, who doesn't even get a name, though to be fair neither does Link's. In general I think the loftwings were hugely underdeveloped considering how much time you have to spend on one flying around.

Zelda also has a father with whom she actually gets to interact with, but I don't get much anything out of that except that they have a normal/good relationship.

[blueikeproductions]

I’m gonna be honest, I’m falling a little out of love for EarthSpark because of the last batch of episodes. Part of it is the same reason I didn’t like Cyberverse: the absolutely crap pacing and decision making.

Now EarthSpark did start off well enough, I think the first two episodes remain my favorites because it sets the tone and world up pretty nicely. After that it starts getting … messy. Nitpicks abound! As much as I do enjoy the Terrans, Thrash remains the forgettable one to me. He’s just kinda there and has nothing really to do. He gets overshadowed by his siblings being more memorably quirky (Hashtag and Twitch) or having their own arcs (Nightshade and Jawbreaker). Thrash being the somewhat immature, lackadaisical, older brother IS fine, I just wish he had something to help stand out more.

Megatron’s redemptive antihero role is pry the best it’s been written. Not even Roberts, who ushered it in, really handled it that well since it was somewhat forced and skewed into Twitter/Tumblr stereotypes. Imma be blunt: Cyberverse didn’t even try when they did it. The staff patted themselves on the back for a repenting Megs, but didn’t even bother explaining it in-show, instead giving a lengthy explanation on TWITTER. Stuff like “Oh Bisk got arrested because he beat up another Transformer he lost to at a space video game event” is harmless fluff, describing a major component of what your story is trying to do meanwhile is just mind bogglingly horrendous. Not helped is despite this, Megatron is still torturing Autobots, smacking lunch trays and being a huge dick, which runs counter to him having changed upon seeing his worse Robo-Robotnik counterpart. But CV Megatron was still his more traditional villainous self intentional or not, and I do think ES trying to keep Megatron as a heroic character is hurting the overall series. Transformers has a huge villain problem currently, and it’s only gotten worse with modern media trying to make all the Decepticons sympathetic. EarthSpark, the longer it went on, really seems confused as to what role the Decepticons are supposed to have. Are they still trying to cause trouble, are they just trying to survive, were guys like Breakdown simply on the wrong team in the first place? It’s all very muddled, and I NEVER liked the idea that the Decepticons are just slightly more irritable Autobots because you loose the franchise’s defining good vs evil dynamic that’s helped keep the thing going this long. Even stuff like Superlink, RiD15, and the G1 cartoon make it clear the Decepticons are stubborn and refuse to give up to prove a point. They WILL conquer the galaxy, dammit. And stuff like EarthSpark is just… taking the fight out of them. Which gets to my next nitpick…

So the Decepticons, understandably, are locked up by GHOST for their crimes, and the humans are trying to study them/torture them to make weapons. Naturally, the already angry robots would be pushed to the brink, want to escape the fleshies’ grasp, and lay down the pain similar to Dreamwave and Bay, and while we do see a bit of this, at the end the Decepticons just decide they’re suddenly friends with the Maltos? Something here feels very rushed, along with Shockwave also suddenly wanting to be pals after initially finding the Terrans disgusting. The pacing here is just odd, and a deleted scene shows Shockwave petting Fluffy Ears after he was just about to turn her into hamburger meat a moment before. It’s funny out of context, but it still doesn’t make sense. It skews uncomfortably into Diamond territory for me, where I get the logic, but how they got there doesn’t work (at least for me). You CAN have redemption stuff, heck Decepticon like robots like DragoBurst from Daigunder came around, but they, for the most part, properly built up to this. The Decepticons being “good” feels like a split second decision that had no real pay off. Because again, in the past, if the Decepticons helped the Autobots, it was an enemy of my enemy/Earth is where we keep our stuff thing, and they’d go right back to trying to destroying it once the third party was dealt with.

And I feel like EarthSpark may have had some internal problems with the story. How much of this was Nick not being cooperative ala Rise of the TMNT or just genuinely bad planning I’m not sure. The biggest issue for me was Ravage, and, to an extent, Starscream too. Early on they had Screamer, Wave and Ravage concocting a scheme by letting the dog-cougar cassette out into GHOST to snoop around, Starscream laughing evilly with his glowing red eyes. Inexplicably, Starscream’s eyes are blue, even in flashbacks, which has confused a lot of people, and the show doesn’t address this. A characters’ eyes turning red to accentuate a point isn’t a new thing in animation, but I don’t think that’s what this was…? I was assuming it was Allspark Affinity, but I don’t think it’s that either. More than likely him having blue eyes is meant to show he’s a good boy deep in his shell, similar to IDW’s “true inner Starscream” thing. …However, and this comes back to Ravage, Starscream was originally planning to sic Shockwave on Megatron for what amounts to the usual petty revenge on Starscream’s part. Ravage was sent out to get the remote that controlled Shockwave’s stasis pod, but this scene was cut entirely, instead explaining Shockwave’s escape as simply poor upkeep on his pod. The scene was cut for time, but … WHY? There was surely a better means to incorporate Ravage snooping around instead of just turning it into a dropped sub plot. The show attempts to course correct by suggesting via Swindle this was an attempt at a prison break until Hashtag and Mandroid initiated it instead, but Ravage is unaccounted for. I’m assuming this was a plot point that was debated on, as the official guide book INSTEAD says that Soundwave had Ravage snoop around for info on the Allspark due to an agreement they had with Prime and Megs when they got arrested. It feels like they just couldn’t decide on what to do, and chose neither, and while they could have Ravage later reappear and go “Hey guys I found the Allspark’s location and a whole bunch of ancient Cybertron relics on GHOST’s computers!” in S2, that’s fine, but I don’t trust the writers atm to do so…

There’s also turning Starscream into a trauma victim. Again sort of that Steven Universe/fandom mentality made canon thing that bothers me, BUT I completely get what they were going for. The problem for me is that even in the 80’s, Starscream’s constant beatdowns were played for laughs, and frankly a lot of the time Starscream had it coming in the first place. Starscream may have had more common sense than Megatron, but he was also driven by his pride, ego and his comedic sense of self preservation. Starscream also would bite off more than he could chew by messing with relics like the Enigma of Combination, Omega Lock and the Underbase, usually destroying himself in his quest for godhood to simply one up Megatron and show how much better he is at being evil and/or just being a petty glitch. So to play the dynamic straight and make Starscream more of a domestic abuse victim feels… wrong, especially when I’ve seen plenty of Megscreamer ship art of the G1 and Prime versions that suggests… a bit of hypocrisy in the name of a ship. I think Micron Legend Starscream handled the idea the best, though there Screamer was more a young warrior looking for approval, but Megatron thought he was weak and selfish, and the two would fight, but it was more of a anime warrior’s honor kind of way and not the more slapstick marriage falling apart way G1 and other shows did it. I do like Starscream becoming friends with Hashtag, reminds me a bit of ML Starscream becoming friends with Alexis, and I think that’s handled well enough. At the very least Micron Legend shows what EarthSpark wants to do with Starscream CAN work, it just needs a bit more fine tuning to make sense, and I feel internal decisions saw the clearly G1 and Prime inspired Starscream hugely rushed into a role he’s not ready for or arguably suited for. It’s a similar problem I had with Donald Duck in DuckTales 17: he’s barely in the show, clearly has a chip on his shoulder over Scrooge’s role in Della’s disappearance, and off screen he just sorta changed his mind and is suddenly wanting to help Scrooge. I get that part of his decision was influenced by how it was affecting the boys, but I never liked how we never saw Donald change, he just … does.

Mandroid’s descent into villainy is also rushed. Starts off well enough and him Roboticizing himself into a monster by the end makes sense, but it feels like some steps were skipped to get there, which was the same problem I had with IDW Megatron going on this big quest off screen we never saw. Also, a plot point is the Terrans don’t actually use Energon, and instead power up with Emberstone blessed Earth water… but there’s a few instances that contradict this, such as Mandroid’s Doomsday Project that shouldn’t affect the Terrans at all, but it… does anyway. Like… what? Also Mandroid and Alex knowing each other doesn’t appear to be addressed either. Especially notable when Mandroid went out of his way to AVOID killing him, only to not have this qualm anymore. It feels like a step was skipped, I get Mandroid is too far gone but even that was a huge leap in context.

Not a big deal, but do the Sharkticons Transform? Their design seems to skew to Terrorcon Rippersnapper, RiD15 Hammerstrike, and the Street Sharks style Sharkticons of Cyberverse, but I never liked how the later didn’t Transform into a robot or a speedboat or something. I get Mode Attachment, but even guys like RiD15 Grimlock and IDW Leviathan walked around in Robot Mode once in awhile.

Similarly, Jawbreaker scanned an actual fossil to get his Beast Mode, but doing so was new to Grimlock… who has a dinosaur Beast Mode which has left fans puzzled. Fans theorize Grimlock may have scanned a toy of a picture, similar to Nightshade, or that Wheeljack helped reformat the Dynobots into Dinobots as a G1 nod. However a stylized flashback shows Grimlock in Beast Mode on Cybertron, which makes me think in RiD15 terms that Grimlock may have already BEEN a dinosaur, just a “space” one. Though that runs contrary to the discussion how alt modes can help define a Transformer, and Grimlock is shown to be reluctant in the current era to Transform, as he can’t quite control his Beast Mode due to anger and PTSD caused by Mandroid. I never liked FOC’s Hulk like take on Grimlock though, and seeing that be an influence here kinda sours Big Grim for me, especially since my favorite incarnations, G1 toon and RiD15, LOVE being dinosaurs. Grimlock is still handled well otherwise though.

A lot of modern shows like this I’ve noticed have this out of balance tone where they can’t decide what they should be. It’s either super weird and cutesy or hard core darkness and angst. The one time I’ve seen this handled well was Bomberman Jetterz of all things, and that’s a kids anime about a little bomb throwing goofball that was never brought over here. It organically builds up to its darker elements, while the show starts off fairly goofy and weird it still lightly explores some things early on like Mighty’s sense of self and successfully builds on it.

Also Nightshade. Oh poor Nightshade. They continue to be the punching bag and poster child for some why this show is bad because it has The Gay TM. I do think kids can handle the concept of being gay, and I think kids can understand to some degree why a person would choose not to identify as either gender. But I also understand why parents don’t want to have such a conversation and there’s a time and place for this sort of thing, especially in kids media. (Blue’s Clues’ Pride parade animation was well intentioned but a little too… much for preschoolers. Same sex couples, sure, the nitty gritty stuff beyond that, not as much… And I say that knowing an older lesbian couple in college who thought what Adventure Time was doing with PB and Marcy was inappropriate for kids). Nightshade has more stuff going on besides their gender, but those stirring up trouble and even the owl’s supporters tend to ONLY focus on their being non-binary, which isn’t helping. The show only focused on it twice, and I think the first time was enough to set the tone. Optimus wasn’t sure if Nightshade was a boy or girl, NS and Moe clarified they/them, and Optimus warmly accepted, and that’s really all you needed for a children’s. Easy to understand for the target audience. The show then has Nightshade learn the definition of being non-binary by a human teen they help out and become friends with. The scene is fine, but I think it’s a tad over-explained keeping in mind the target audience. It also feels like an artifact of the original intention that was scrapped. In the planning stage, Nightshade simply identified as Terran because gender wasn’t important to their identity as a robotic being. Keeping it simple for the kids at home, as well as for those who might feel like Nightshade where they can go “I’m a Terran!” The official guide book also goes with this explanation. With Nightshade then learning about being NB from Sam makes a little more sense with this older concept in mind, but I think a simpler “Thanks for the save, uh…. I wanna say mister…?” “Oh I’m a they/them! Nightshade the Terran, at your service~!” “No way, I’m they/them too! I’m Sam!” “Ooo, delightful! Oh do you like the Winged Sentinel too?” “Do I? I run a big fan blog about it and Changaliens!” “-Nightshade Transforms and makes happy owl noises-“ sorta thing. At the very least, that’s been my experience being reintroduced to a friend that’s now trans or NB. “Oh you’re a dude now? Sweet! So what’d you think of the latest Digimon episode?” is a typical exchange. Unfortunately no matter of simplifying it is going to keep people from disliking the character as being a form of “indoctrination”, and I worry that’s affected the availability of the toy. I’ve seen people show they have Nightshade’s toy, but locally I’ve not seen Nightshade’s toy at all, and I wonder if controversy has led to stores refusing to carry it. That being said I’ve not seen the Arcee or Hashtag finger puppet toys, the Deluxe Grimlock or the Twitch One Step Changer, but I have seen Shockwave and Jawbreaker, and they went quickly, and as of typing weren’t restocked. So could be crap distribution again, but I can’t help but worry the toy is functionally “banned”. I may not be NB, but I do jive with Nightshade being a reclusive, yet happy go lucky nerd. I enjoy their swagger too, something I wish I had, so there’s plenty to like on top of them having a owl beast mode. I was a Beast Wars kid so Beast Modes rule, man.

Anyhow, going back to another point, this is why I like RiD15 so much. It knew what it wanted to be, a mostly low stakes action comedy, and even when it leaned a bit into darkness, it still felt tonally correct with the show. Here we have a wacky episode about an Energon parasite possessed bear, and then they jump into heavy handed discussions of racism, violence and post apocalyptic disaster the next. That’s not organic, that’s just being indecisive on the tone of your show. It’s this awkward trend of trying to make your kids cartoon into a mature, sophisticated thing, but no one has the patience or finesse to pull it off anymore and it drives me nuts. And I don’t think kids care for it either. The age range for EarthSpark I spoke to are watching the Super Mario movie, classic cartoons and older Disney movies (a lot of them, especially boys, were into Princess & The Frog and Moana in particular as it happens) when it comes to western animation. Last time I saw kids interested in Transformers was Prime, Rescue Bots, RiD15 and Bumblebee. Outside of RotB, I don’t think recent stuff has been doing it for kids, as I haven’t found any kids hugging an EarthSpark Bumblebee like their life depended on it like I did with RiD15 Bee.

I want to be clear I still like EarthSpark, and I like a lot of the characters like Alex, Mo, Jawbreaker, Bumblebee, Frenzy and Nightshade, but the cracks have been starting to show and grow larger. 26 episodes and the end goal still felt very rushed as if they thought this would be like a long running anime and didn’t utilize their time the best, and with the current strikes as of typing, I fear that’s not gonna bode well for season 2’s production either. I am very skeptical atm we get a S3, so I hope they were more careful in crafting the next phase of the story. A second season was greenlit when the first season was still being worked on, so it seems odd to me they still felt the need to rush through things as if they didn’t have time. Maybe they didn’t due to other factors? Still I hope for the best, but I’m not as exited as I once was, and a possible Prime style Relic Hunt potentially being next makes me concerned…

[carrion--comfort]

Hi!

I read your medical/life stuff and while I suppose this is not especially gonna make you happy, but I figured I'd say it still because I've been thinking about it.

You being a medical doctor trans man inspired me (also trans man) to get back in univ (I'm not from America so it doesn't cost a bazillon dollars to do so), to become a doctor at 28. Well you weren't the only one, and I've thought a lot about it for a whole year, did some internship to observe the difficulties, issues, volunteered in hospitals etc... I am well aware this isn't a sinecure, and as medical students where I live we are exploited, sometimes denigrated by hospitals.

However, knowing that there was someone "like me" who did manage to become a doctor and who is part of the wide variety of different doctors that exist really inspired me.

I'm on the first year, so I'm not even sure I'll ever be able to become a doctor yet, I gotta be in the best batch of students to access it. Still, you were a part of what made it possible for me to even entertain the idea of trying it, and I wanna thank you for this.

It is stupid, but when you see the "average doctor", you believe there is a bridge that is uncrossable by your little ass. I still fight with those feelings, especially with the difficulties and high pressure of the first year. Despite it all, thanks to you, and many other experiences and support that I got, I will not give up and I haven't regretted a single day of my journey so far.

Happy new year and good luck for today.

I didn't mean for the post to be discouraging LOL the truth is it's a discipline in which everyone demands a lot of you AND you must also demand a lot of yourself...if you know that ahead of time (and it sounds like you did a lot more thinking about it than me!) then you'll be better prepared for internalizing the amount of responsibility that will come to rest on your shoulders. (This particular incident is just a perfect storm...staffing issues + me needing to cover more after the dept lost some people + some of the areas I oversee needing fires put out + me getting 0.5 bones removed and a follow-up angioplasty AND post-op n/v = a not so good day in the office!)

Being trans in medicine does come with its own unique challenges. If you train in places that don't like trans people you will end up having to bite your tongue because the nature of medical training says that the hierarchy is ironclad, despite all efforts to change that. If you come up against anti-trans sentiment during your training, go through channels you trust instead of trying to handle it by yourself. I tried to "handle" it by myself after months of various preceptors telling me trans people were whackos (they didn't know I was trans) and basically had a controlled explosion in the middle of the workday because I couldn't keep it in anymore.

I will only say it was not like on TV where the one guy stands up and speaks his truth and everybody claps. Standing up for patients is different; everyone is there to care for patients at the end of the day. In the moment, nobody is there to protect you except you. If it gets to that point go through proper channels. Does it suck having to stand there afraid to defend yourself for fear of fucking up the trajectory of the rest of your life? Yep, but someday you'll be out of the hierarchy.

Find whatever it is that keeps you going and hold on to it...for me it has always been wanting to remove the most basic barrier anyone has to living their life, which is physical health. Not always possible but I can provide the best care I can to give them the best chance. All the working and studying and memorizing sometimes feels like bashing your head against a wall but remember you're doing it for a reason and thus you must do it! Good luck on your journey!

[impishtubist]

Spitefully inspired by all those fics and headcanons of Sirius (and James) never entering the library and needing Remus to explain anything and everything even slightly intellectual, I want to propose that actually, Sirius was regularly chilling in the library and almost always had some book or another with him. It was very rarely anything actually related to his schoolwork because Sirius is the kind of effortlessly intelligent where he just gets everything automatically and doesn’t need to research it (and so is James), but the boy was reading all the time. His teachers were all very used to him asking to visit the Restricted Section and they know Sirius knows the risks so they just let him do whatever (his childhood was good for very few things, but one of those is that he isn’t about to be tempted by what he’s reading there because this all stuff he’s either already heard about or is something he can very easily tie back to prior knowledge and see how dangerous it can be). On one memorable occasion, James and damn near every student in their year all had to go looking for Sirius because they couldn’t locate him and turned out he’d fallen asleep in the Restricted Section the night before and nobody else had a pass; the Ravenclaws were looking because Sirius is the favorite study partner for one of them and that person dragged the others along, the Hufflepuffs were looking because they genuinely like Sirius and are very grateful for his ability to calm down crying First Years who miss their family and want to go home, the Slytherins were being nosy and also Selwyn is partnered up in Potions with Sirius and deeply dreads the possibility of getting a new partner because what if that person is an idiot, and the Gryffindors were looking for their friend. They do not find him on their own, Sirius suddenly comes up to one of the groups and asks who they’re looking for. This is the inspiration for the map containing people’s locations, James isn’t about to spend another hour looking for his best friend everywhere and roping everyone in just to learn that nobody else even had access to the place he’s in. His teachers all grew used to him coming up after class to ask about some obscure thing and how it relates to the lesson and you know what? They loved that about him, finally someone who’s engaging with the material in a refreshing and interesting way. Sirius and the Ancient Runes professor had a standing debate time every week and that professor absolutely adored Sirius.

I like to think that whenever students asked for tutoring from another student, Sirius was almost always the one recommended. A motley group of students come up to McGonagall for help with a spell they just cannot master and McGonagall, swamped with grading papers and running the school since Dumbledore is not doing any of the paperwork he is supposed to be doing, Albus you shithead, simply cannot take a break to eat a damn cookie, much less anything else and tells them to find Sirius, he learned the spell a while back and he’s probably in the library again, do make sure he leaves at some point or the bookshelves might try to absorb him; I like to think Snape is in this group and grinding his teeth over this, why can he never escape this guy. They all troop down to the library and discover a rather pressing problem: nobody knows where the hell he’ll be in this thing and it’s huge, everyone split up and like enchant a message if you find him. One of the Hufflepuffs locate him, in the middle of doing Charms homework with the other Gryffindors and with no less than 3 stacks of books hovering at his side so he can periodically check them. One of the books in stack A is leaking some black poly substance, another in Stack C is hissing, and one in the middle of Stack B is on fire but doesn’t seem to be burning and somehow none of the other books in the stack are affected. This is treated as totally normal by everyone else nearby, nobody blinks at it.

Look, I'll admit that my preferred headcanon for teenage Sirius is "never had to study or step foot in the library" and "cared so little for other people that he didn't even notice they existed if they weren't James (and sometimes Remus)" but I'll allow this. I do believe that if Sirius is in the library, though, it's because that's where James has decided to fuck him and/or blow him.