#stuff that isn't my fault vs stuff that is...

[parasitoidism]

More Persona 1 manga anthology scans

I finished scanning another one of my Persona 1 manga, "Megami Ibunroku Persona Comic Anthology: From the Sea of the Soul"! You can see it all in the google drive link. Enjoy!

[mars-ipan]

there's always more fucking shit to do

[orangeearlgrey]

Now that I have watched the new end theme a bunch of times it's interesting that a. Vincent pulls Ciel into the dance and then subsequently b. Ciel's parents are the ones that let go of him and let him hit the ground so then c. When he's dancing with Madam Red they're both kind of presented as being on equal footing and then she starts going too fast and lets go of him and the circus well, the guilty part is pretty self explanatory and obvious here the most but anyway Madam Red mention ❤️

[no-144444]

FIC-TOBER

Hey everyone! I've decided to participate in the regualr kink-tober stuff (in my own way) :)

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I have a fic fr every day, I'll try and get them out at roughly the smae time but with work and school I'm a little busy so please be mindful of that and also enjoy! Some of these are requests, so thank you to the people that requested and please enjoy!

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October 1st: Making moves  Enemies to lovers -> Lando Norris x publicist  reader  Why did your client have to be such a pain in the ass? 

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October 2nd: The grid: Meet-cutes! 

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October 3rd: Brother’s teammate Brother’s teammate -> Jack Doohan x Gasly reader  It’s not your fault his new teammate is hot (smau)

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October 4th: Married man Private, but not secret -> Lewis Hamilton  Married? Maybe. But why does everyone else need to know? 

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October 5th: (smut): misguided mishaps One bed trope -> Lando Norris x Fewtrell reader  One bed… what could go wrong? 

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October 6th: Love and lies Fake relationship -> Alex Albon x reader “We don’t love each other, right?”

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October 7th: mi señora Everyone else ships you -> Franco Colapinto x Williams reader  “We’ve barely ever spoken!” “He’s in love with you!” 

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October 8th: Presenting y/n y/l/n! Our fav commentator Y/n Y/l/n! Tweets about our favourite F1 commentator!

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October 9th: Judgy McJudgy Pants or Osc? You decide! Things heating up between you and Judgy McJudgy pants...

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October 10th: Losing Battle Marriage of convenience -> Lance Stroll “Children?” “No way.”

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October 11th: Temptations (semi-smut 18+) Skinny dipping-> Max Verstappen god forbid a girl has hobbies tmz. 

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October 11th: Accidental injury Injury causer-> Logan Sargeant x engineer! reader “Watch where you’re going please?!” 

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October 12th: a story for a dinner party (smut 18+) Trapped in an elevator -> Liam Lawson x driver! reader “Don’t move!” “I’m not moving!”

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October 13th: Persistent Pestering Sworn off relationships and ‘I’m in love with you’ -> Charles LeClerc  Ferrari drivers are persistent. You’re not looking for love. Too bad he is. 

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October 14th:  The grid: wedding shenanigans! ୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ

October 15th: smile, even though it’s breaking. Sunshine vs. Grumpy -> Daniel Riccarrdo x RB mechanic! reader “Do you even stop smiling?” “Only when you’re not around.”

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October 16th: Listening ears on Matchmaking gone wrong -> Zhou Guanyo x Bottas reader  How come when you try to set Zhou up, it always ends badly? (smau)

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October 17th: Admin looking for love! Secret pining -> Carlos Sainz x williams admin! reader  Why did Alex Albon feel the need to post you on his story as a ‘lonely woman looking for love’? And why did Carlos Sainz dm you after it? 

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October 18th: Creepy guy who isn't all that creepy Coffee mix up -> Ollie Bearman  Why does your cappuccino taste like shit? And why are you being followed by a random 6 foot man? 

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October 19th: Opposites attract, right? Forgetful-> George Russell  “Where’s my-” “Babe, stop leaving things lying around!” 

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October 20th: Happy accident! Accidentally married -> Max Verstappen  Good night, right? 

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October 21st: Stoic much? Secret baby -> Oscar Piastri  “You have a wife?” “You have a kid?!” 

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October 22nd: The grid: Time for a hot lap! 

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October 23rd: All grown up! Childhood crush -> Arthur Leclerc  “I had a crush on you as a kid.” “Same.” “What?!”

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October 24th: Breaking up (not making up) The one that got away -> Kimi Antonelli  “So we’re done?” “yeah.”

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October 25th: Wallflowers like flowers too Friends to lovers -> Oscar Piastri  “I got you some flowers.” “Why?” “Because they’re pretty, like you.”

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October 26th: Thoughtless love Best friends to lovers -> Paul Aron Being with him is just easy.

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October 27th:Lovers in denial Won't admit it-> Logan Sargeant  “I don’t like her!” “Exactly, you love her!” 

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October 28th: Was it casual? Scared to commit -> Lando Norris  Aren't we just casual?

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October 29th: The Grid: Late for a date!

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October 30th:  The Grid: confesses! 

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October 31st: Chancer Halloween party -> Oscar Piastri Can he figure out who you are at the masquerade ball before you leave forever?

[bvnneyrabbet]

Something I've been noticing is that quite a lot of people outside of the Forsaken fandom are bashing on Forsaken fans for simply watching or interacting with classic/niche roblox stuff that had been featured in Forsaken.

Here's some of my examples.

I once watched an old Roblox machinima from I think around 2015 with Shedletsky and Builderman in it. It was random and funny, and when I went to look in the comments I saw one comment that went something along the lines of:

"I hope the forsaken fans don't get to this stuff," and it read in a very snarky and condescending way. Like, pardon? Do you not want Forsaken fans to be interested in old Roblox? Do you not want them to know more about the characters featured in Forsaken, or are you too purist for that?

Just today I found out about the origins onto where the Geometry John Doe skin was from, and it came from a roblox ARG by the name of DeivyDoesTutorials33. I found one comment saying that they came from Forsaken and wanted to catch up on the series, reading:

"Came from Pwned and Forsaken and just caught up, but I wanna say I ABSOLUTELY ALREADY ADOOOOORE SERIES. please continue when you can this is so interesting and cool to watch!!!!!!"

And one of the replies of that comment read:

"PACKGOD HUMBLE THEM FOR TIS NOOB FORSAKEN COMMENT, pwned is cool though"

I know that reply was likely sarcastic malice, but seriously, do you not want people to be interested in content that was featured in Forsaken? Do you want them to go unknowing, and make the same mistakes that happened when Dream Game/Frozen Soul was featured in Forsaken?

The reason why Frozen Soul's characters, Nashatra, Eunoia, and Mafioso were confused for being Forsaken characters is due to Forsaken being extremely popular and Frozen Soul being way more niche and obscure, also something to note is that Forsaken is a very young game, with the March 18th incident only happening when Forsaken was 3 months old.

And this issue isn't even just with Roblox stuff, it's also happening in the Limbus/Project Moon community, with people in the fandom essentially stereotyping the Forsaken fandom. I may not be interested in Limbus, but I have seen a few tiktoks about it that were completely unrelated to Forsaken, but in the comments I've seen Project Moon fans just talking shit about Forsaken.

Yes, Forsaken does have a very iffy fandom, but listen. The issues with not just it's fandom but it's PLAYERBASE is due to many environmental factors, and it's not Forsaken's fault for it to be that way, but it can change but you're just not letting them change.

Forsaken is a very popular game, which means that people from other games, specifically competitive and toxic games such as TSB are gonna flock to Forsaken and misunderstand it entirely. From what I've seen, people who join Forsaken from those games see Forsaken as a competitive battle-type game, when in reality Forsaken is a survivors VS killers game.

Also, I've seen people from PCX bash on Forsaken too, one of my most recent examples is someone leaving the Forsaken fandom due to it's toxicity, and someone in the comments saying they should join the PCX fandom instead since they're leaving. It read very condescendingly and the best I could put it would be some religious person at your doorstep unannounced trying to indoctrinate you.

If you see someone leaving a certain fandom you don't like and you immediately start yelling at them, pointing at a flashy sign saying that they should instead join your "better" fandom is a really shitty move.

On the fandom side it's different, as when it comes to fandom it focuses on the characters and lore rather than the game. Some core aspects that happen in literally any fandom, not just "the bad ones" are; woobification, sexualization, mischaracterization, shipping, and unfortunately proshipping as much as I hate it.

Shipping is not a problem at all, and woobification is an internalized infantilization that's mainly irrational. Many people mistake shipping as a purely sexual thing, when in reality shipping is much more complex than that. I do not think they should fuck or kiss, they should be suffering intimately together and find comfort in the literal purgatory they're stuck in.

Mischaracterization is also something that happens with woobification, as woobification also causes mischaracterization and vice versa.

Elliot's mischaracterization makes him out to be a hotheaded individual who hates everyone, Two Time's mischaracterization either makes them out to be a twink who needs protecting or an insane foaming-at-the-mouth psychopath who would kill everyone, and 007n7's mischaracterization makes him a frail twink.

All of these are far from canon, when their actual personalities and lore are much deeper than that. I also think mischaracterization is also mixed with sexualization, as many artworks of Two Time that I've seen make them obviously sexualized and frankly make them look like a prostitute, with weirdly prominent boobs or thighs. It's not an issue if you give them a big chest or thighs, but it's an issue if you sexualize it.

Sexualization in fandom has been prominent ever since fandom began to exist, and it's not an issue unless it starts to intermingle with one's actual perception of a character. It's fine to say that 007n7 looks hot and that you'd fuck him, but it's an issue if you make that sexual aspect his entire being.

And of course, proshipping. I really do not like proshipping due to not just outside perception but also due to personal reasons that I will not disclose. Proshipping is an issue in my eyes, as even if it's fictional and "just pixels" it's still the romanticization of immoral things, and these things can also effect reality whether you like it or not.

I don't want to go on a whole rant about proshipping, but it's safe to say that every single fandom that you can think of has proshipping or just proshippers in it, and the Forsaken fandom as a whole do not support proshipping and you can even get banned in the discord and game for proshipping.

Also, have you ever heard of 007e7, as in the real person? You've likely heard that he left roblox due to a certain incident. So what happened? An adult proshipper made proship art of 007e7 and an actual minor and posted it in 007e7's discord server, which in turn made 007e7 leave the roblox community entirely. The Forsaken devs are supporting 007e7 and the victim due to this from what I've heard.

Something I know that's going on in the Forsaken fandom in a very specific part of it are a group of people trying to make the spawn cult a real thing, which is incredibly bad. There's a whole video going off of it if you're interested as I'm getting tired writing this. The Forsaken devs as well as the fandom absolutely do not support this, and you can get banned in both the discord and the game.

I presume as to why this is going on is due to Forsaken's large collection of neurodivergent, impressionable, and mentally unwell and unstable people. And I'm saying this as one myself. People like these often latch onto certain aspects of something they like and turn it into delusion.

I once did this with an older friend I once idolized and it was bad, but I eventually stopped interacting with them due to something they did. While my situation wasn't extreme, it was still pretty bad.

I feel sympathy to the people who are stuck in the spawn cult group, as it is incredibly toxic.

Now, for the Forsaken fans who confuse characters like c00lkidd, 007n7, or Shedletsky for their Forsaken counterparts. This is a smaller yet still prominent thing that's going on with some Forsaken fans, but it is slowly dying down.

This is when some people mistake characters outside of Forsaken like c00lkidd as a child. And this is also a similar issue to a general fandom issue, which is some people not just in the Forsaken fandom but also in other fandoms applying their own headcanons to characters or mistaking their own headcanons for canon. One of my examples are people saying that the Forsaken 1x1x1x1 is Shedletsky's child, when in reality 1x1x1x1 is the manifestation of Shedletsky's hatred, making their ship a mirrorship and not incest.

If you see a Forsaken fan who confuses a character like c00lkidd to be a child outside of Forsaken, such as hacker c00lkidd/007n7 or TR:UD c00lkidd, let them know that only the Forsaken c00lkidd is a child and that many of the versions of c00lkidd that are popular aren't. Forsaken c00lkidd and 007n7 as well as all the other roblox characters that aren't original are all just interpretations of them.

This is all why I believe research, both in-fandom lore research and outside general research is an incredibly good thing. I'm big for research and lore, as it both gives me more knowledge but also more content of them (and yaoi,) but not everyone does research and that can be a big problem. If you see anyone make mistakes like these for the love of god EDUCATE THEM INSTEAD OF HARASSING THEM.

Harassment does no good, it does not inform, it only drives them away and does the opposite of what you want them to do. If you harass a Forsaken fan for not knowing where Elliot was from, educate them and tell them that he came from Work At A Pizza Place. Do not call them newgen either.

I've been playing roblox since I was a tiny child, I was a WAAPP, NDS, and Normal Elevator diehard, but I didn't know who Elliot was, I didn't know who Stickmasterluke was or Shedletsky was.

I eventually found out who the main popular admins were over time, yet they were only a mere fraction of my memory as they weren't important to me. Hell, I've played Block Tales but cannot remember Shedletsky being in it. I cannot tell you how I found out about them since it was a gradual thing and I literally cannot remember when I discovered them. All I know is that I was and still am a big Stickmasterluke fan.

I didn't know who all the admins, hackers, myths, and mascots were the day I first touched roblox, I learned about them over time. I first discovered the Blox Watch through a speedpaint video, I remember hearing about c00lkidd a long time ago, I remember hearing about Guest 666, and that's all I remember.

Forsaken is what properly introduced me to them, and because of Forsaken I started researching on old roblox content.

Get a grip.

[alien--cookie]

I'm like 8 years too late, but oh well - I've had this Captain America Civil War rant stuck in my head for a while and I need to get it out after re-watching it. (This is gonna be long af, but bear with me).

I feel like a lot of people missed the actual point and plot of the movie (and the marketing definitely didn't help). The whole "team cap vs team iron man" stuff becomes irrelevant after like the first 20 minutes of the movie. But of course, it's still quite a big part of the movie and I'd like to take a moment to explore what I think, the different character motivations are around why they signed or didn't (or would / wouldn't).

The only reason Tony "I successfully privatised world peace" Stark signed the accords in the first place anyway is because of his massive survivors guilt complex which we see triggered by the woman who approaches him at the end of his speech to the MIT students. Like this man does not give a single shit about the government, and much like Steve Rogers, he just wants to keep people safe. Unlike Steve, however, he doesn't trust himself to do so and thinks of himself needing the be kept in check, for someone else to take the blame (though he'd probably internalise it anyway, let's be real).

Rhodey has always kind of been more on the side of the government, even if that meant going against Tony - think Iron Patriot - so it makes sense that he'd want to sign. He understands that a group as powerful and dangerous as the Avengers needs to be kept in check, but what he doesn't understand are the risks around that. In a perfect world, it would be fine, but unfortunately government systems are stupid and corrupt.

Peter was only really in the fight in the first place because he was a child blindly following this big celebrity guy he idolised. He didn't know enough about the situation to properly analyse it, just being fed and believing whatever Tony told him (and he had no reason to go against him, so why would he? This was his shot, he's been chosen by THE Tony Stark to help). "Mr Stark said you'd say that" "he said you're wrong, you think you're right, that makes you dangerous." I 100% believe that if Peter had read the accords, that he would have been on Steve's side anyway.

Vision is an embodiment of 'good' and 'peace' - essentially everything that Ultron was supposed to be, but wasn't. He has no reason to be against the accords if it will keep people safe and he makes the point during their conversation of "our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict ... breeds catastrophe. Oversight ... oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand." It's also very much the beginning kind of puppy love between him and Wanda in this movie, meaning that he will want to protect her. No matter what. Even if it means "locking her in her room."

Nat was seriously one of the only people in this movie with a brain cell lol. I firmly believe that if the accords had been properly put in place, she would have followed them until she no longer thought the government's instructions were 'right' and would have gone against them anyway. Her main goal in this movie was trying to keep the Avengers, her family, together and ultimately do the 'right' thing.

T'challa didn't give one shit about the accords lmao, he's damn king. No, he was only there in the first place to take revenge on his father's death (which at the point of the airport fight scene he still thought it was Bucky's fault. He later discovers, after following Steve and Bucky to Siberia, that it's Zemo's, and locks him up).

Steve's concerns with the accords are valid, and honestly I wouldn't have signed them either. To be told "sign, retire, or get locked up" isn't really a big winner for me lol. And the thing is, Steve's done this. He fought in WW2, he got paraded around like some big hero while men died, and he did nothing. It wasn't until he went against orders, that he actually did something helpful (saved the captured 107th division in Azzano). So, no, he's not going to be side-lined when people out there need help. That's just not who he is.

Bucky had no part in the accords, and as soon as he got introduced into the movie, that plot point became irrelevant. He was framed by Zemo, and then used to rip the avengers apart. The accords was just another log to add to the fire at that point. He followed Steve because "till the end of the line" and all that. He literally, heartbreakingly, says "I don't know if I'm worth all this," but he follows anyway.

Scott, much like Peter, is kinda just happy to be there. He's following CAPTAIN FREAKING AMERICA into battle without hesitation. But like, let's be honest, given his whole movie and character, I very much doubt Scott would be on Tony's side if he had read the accords.

Clint got dragged out of freaking retirement for this shit, and he didn't actually get involved until after Team Cap already knew about Zemo. That's why he's there. Not because of the accords, but to help Steve get to the Quinjet to get to Siberia and stop Zemo before he can go through with his assumed plan to wake up the five super soldiers who'd been stashed there. (Of course, this isn't actually Zemo's plan, but we'll get back to that later).

Wanda is going through some serious self loathing during this movie, and the incident in Lagos doesn't help. Like at all. Ma girl just wants to live her life and be left alone at this point and she's getting all of these horrible things thrown into her face by Secretary Ross. She doesn't want to be controlled, she doesn't want to be a weapon, she wants to be free. "You locked me in my room." - Girl already probably hates Tony Stark due to her family being killed by one of his bombs and Ultron, so she's mad anyway.

Sam is on Steve's side from the start. With the accords, to fight Zemo, all of it. During the 'discussion' between him and Rhodey, he says "So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" He doesn't trust Secretary Ross, and is clearly hesitant to add his signature to the accords. (not that I blame him).

The main actual villain and 'plot' of the movie after the first part with the accords, was the whole thing with Zemo wanting to tear the Avengers apart to get revenge for his family dying in Sokovia. He takes advantage of the accords, and of Bucky / The Winter Soldier to do this but it's not really discussed which annoys me. It's a MAJOR part of the film, yet all I ever really see being discussed are the accords affecting the decisions of characters throughout the film with no consideration of the wider picture.

From when the UN meeting is blown up, the Avengers are being manipulated by Zemo working in the background throughout the film. He frames Bucky for murder, and Steve - who has been looking for Bucky for the past 2 years - goes after him like ‘tf man’. Bucky gets taken in and Zemo uses the opportunity to activate the Winter Soldier programming, learn about Hydra’s super soldier program, and of course - “Mission report. December 16, 1991.”

This leads to Bucky’s escape and attack, Steve and co going on the run, and eventually the airport fight. The meaning of this scene gets lost, I feel, when people relate it back to the accords because it’s not about that anymore. Not really, not for anyone. Especially not for Steve, or even for Tony.

Tony at this point, most definitely feels like his world is being torn apart. He’s losing control, he’s spiralling, and Steve just isn’t listening. He’s blinded by his anger to the bigger picture and he just wants to get a handle on the situation to deal with it further.

Steve’s forgotten all about the accords, his priority is keeping Bucky safe and stopping Zemo. He tries to tell Tony, tries to talk to him, but Tony isn’t listening either. I mean their whole interaction just before the fight shows this:

(the dialogue below has been condensed to show the key lines - basically I got rid of other characters talking irrelevantly)

-

Steve Rogers: Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this.

Tony Stark: Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?

Steve Rogers: You're after the wrong guy.

Tony Stark: Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday.

Steve Rogers: And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't.

- later -

Tony Stark: And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep . . . I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.

Steve Rogers: You did that when you signed.

Tony Stark: Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys . . . with no compunction about being impolite. [Steve looks aside.] Come on.

-

Not to mention that Tony, after learning that Zemo impersonated and killed the actual doctor dude that was supposed to see Bucky whilst he was in confinement, he DISOBEYED the accords and Secretary Ross to go and help Steve stop what they thought at the time was the reactivation of the five super soldiers who'd been left in cryo freeze.

He follows Steve and Bucky to Siberia to help them, not to fight them. That only changes because of Zemo showing the footage of Bucky, WHILE UNDER BASICALLY MIND CONTROL, killing Tony’s parents.

In this scene, Tony 100% has every right to be angry. Unfortunately, he’s the kind of person who cannot see past his anger. He gets in his head, he spirals, and he tries to kill Bucky based on blind rage. (IT WASN’T BUCKY’S FAULT DAMMIT).

And yes, Steve was 100% in the wrong for not telling Tony. This whole scene could have been very easily avoided if Steve had just pulled Tony aside and had the difficult conversation about his parents death. Tony deserved to know, and Steve was only sparing himself pain by doing it. Dick move Steve, 0/10.

The fight between the three allows Zemo, having successfully completed his plan of eliminating the super soldiers and tearing the avengers apart, to slip away. With his work done, he tries to end his own life, but T’challa stops him and arrests him instead.

Steve and Tony’s fight was unnecessary, dramatic, and heart-breaking, and I’m very glad they managed to make up later, but ye. I think, at the end of the day, they’re all just dramatic idiots with communication issues lol.

-

Thank you for reading my long ass essay lmao, apparently I have a lot of feelings about this movie 😂

[variousqueerthings]

rewatched the due south pilot again with someone new. gradually pspspspspspssss at everyone i know about this show.

but yeah, two scenes really stick out to me this time about ray in terms of core features in how i come at him:

the second time they meet: their first meeting did not go well, he thought fraser had ruined his case, he was generally quite done with Stuff (and later on of course we will learn more about why he's so run down), there's this stranger demanding his time, and oh- oops he's just insulted his dead father accidentally and, huh, this oddity of a person is taking it pretty well to be honest... the second time they meet is entirely on ray. he seeks fraser out having done research on the case, but first he apologises to him very sincerely for having said those words. that is the first, big thing that ray offers fraser (the next, of course, is giving over his entire life and soul to him, but i don't think he realised that in that moment...)

after he gets blown up and is lying in hospital: he apologises again, this time for screwing things up. we know by now that he had a bad relationship with his own five-years-dead father who never thought he was good enough, that he's struggling under his caseload at work, we've got a sense he isn't super respected there either, and although we've met his family which is actually very loving (if loud and argumentative) he's giving a sense of being pretty lost in the world at that point and nothing that happened before was his fault. he's been helping fraser, against his superior's wishes, done some good sleuthing/detective work, and saved fraser by putting himself in front of the explosion. and then he apologises

I feel like a lot of the time ray's thought about in terms of his abrasiveness with people generally, his shield against the world he's quick to assume the worst of people and doesn't let others in, but fraser neatly bypasses those walls. on purpose? by accident? bit of both? i think he does sincerely See more to ray in their first scene, the "like you, he is pretending to be someone he's not" line feels like it's talking about more than just ray having been undercover in the previous scene, and because he's fraser he never belittles or mocks or gets aggressive about ray's behaviours throughout their first meeting, which probably also draws him in on top of the need to Make Things Right

i think beneath some of the goofier stuff (which, honestly, i dont think theres thaaat much of, but id have to do a proper count and parallel how many times he's there as "comic relief" vs when fraser is, and also times where ray is shown to be extremely competent which is often -- maybe i'd wish for more dramatic episodes for him but that's more to do with how good marciano's acting is than a real disservice done to ray himself) and the more petulant/childish manifestations of insecurities (it's hard being friends with a Saint, as he puts it very fairly in my opinion, although i also think that line partially relates to some other stuff he'd said about Fraser Please Taking Better Care Of Himself throughout the whole season) there's this ray, and that core is quite obvious pretty much from the get-go

a ray who meets sincerity with sincerity and takes fraser in with honestly barely any prompting at all on fraser's part. a man who maybe was desperate for something/one to believe in, who isn't super macho about admitting fault, and then -- in the hospital scene -- a man who's so used to thinking of himself as a screw-up to the point that he'll apologise for getting blown up to save fraser

there's a lot ray gives fraser. for one thing, fraser would be dead multiple times over without him. but ray Needed him to appear in his life in order to get through the damn day. he saw some storybook larger-than-life weirdo and grabbed hold of him immediately and then realised that the rest of the world seemed to want to eat said weirdo alive and pretty much said over my dead body and he's done pretty well living up to that

did, though, very much appreciated fraser finally properly telling him in red white or blue how much he means to him and how valued he is, because ray doesn't always see it. (funnily enough, they had another bomb threatening to detonate at the time. almost a full circle)

two scenes in which ray says sorry, one in which he was right to do so and one in which he was wrong. there's more to it, but that's the... Thing im thinking about

[amysubmits]

Is there any kind of... sub beginner classes anywhere? I think there should be at least a youtube series about it. There's such a fine line between "i'm submitting to this person" and "this is abuse papered over with BDSM language" and there should be classes to help new subs learn the difference before they're murdered

Kink classes do exist. There are sometimes conventions that will have a bunch of classes to choose from across a day or a weekend. I have never participated in our local BDSM community but I have heard that sometimes if you go to a local kink club they will sometimes host evenings where someone will teach on a certain subject, too. I think generally it's easier to find classes that are more about specific aspects of kink (like how to flog or a beginners shibari class) than lifestyle D/s stuff, but they do exist. Some people on here advocate really strongly that they feel in-person communities are significantly safer than online ones. On the other hand, I've also had a lot of people message me over the years telling me about how they were harmed by someone who was in good standing in their local community. Sometimes even how they reported a consent violation or other abuse with a community member to leaders within a community and that person was not kicked out or nothing else was done. Some claim they can basically be a 'good old boys club' kinda mentality, unfortunately. So as someone who doesn't have experience with a local community I've never really known what to believe, but my advice would just to be super cautious in ANY community, in person or not.

For those wanting to be educated but not wanting to do anything IRL, there are books about healthy D/s, podcasts, youtube channels, etc. Loving BDSM is a solid resource from what I understand. I personally felt like I learned a lot from Tumblr when we were new, though we were careful in picking and choosing which content to embrace and which ones to reject and not everyone may have the insight to know which posts are promoting healthy D/s vs which ones aren't, so that can be messy. I think educating yourself is great, but I think people who want to educate themselves can pretty easily dive in on their own, in most cases. And people who choose not to, are choosing not to. So I'm not sure that any sort of class or even series of classes or books could really guarantee to keep newbies safe, unfortunately. Sharing red flags so that newbies can recognize them is a great thing, and I try to do that when I see good info coming across my dash. At the same time, it's not uncommon for subs to share that they engaged with a person who they knew had one or even sveeral red flags and they ignored those red flags. They were so desperate to get to try out D/s or they wanted to cling to the good they saw in the person, or so many other reasons. And that doesn't make the abuse their fault, I am not blaming them, but it does mean that educating new subs about what dangerous "doms" look like isn't always enough, unfortunately. It's complex.

[fumifooms]

You're always so on point with your posts. On that note, it made me realize that; Considering the themes of desires in DunMeshi. It's also to say that what you think you want isn't what you actually want.

Like, Marcille thinks she wants the handsome prince from the novels she reads... But what she actually wants is someone maybe more like her father who she admired so much. Kind, virtuous, caring to a fault, a family man. Things she later finds in Chilchuck.

Because as traumatizing as it was to see her mother's spiral after her father's death; Her memories of her father itself are some of the most important to her. And it fits with her pursuit to increase her loved ones' lives, because she does want what her mother and father had.

Sipping. I do go over ‘what you think you want vs what you actually want + what you need’ in my (upcoming) Marcille & Chil arc analysis ;) It’s a part of Dunmeshi that I really like and is super fascinating, I’d honestly like to make an analysis-post on the topic: all the different threads and characters in canon that reflect that, desires vs wants and themes of idealization in Dunmeshi, but it’s one of those things that’s just so huge to make. See this is the freaking problem with doing Dunmeshi meta you start talking about the themes or a narrative and everything is so interwoven you get distracted with tangents BUT IT’S ALL COMPELLING AND RELEVANT

I know that’s something laimar does a lot too, the dad thing, with Marcille in a post-canon comic knitting beside him paralleling her parents and whatnot. I don’t know if I fully agree on the angle but there’s definitely stuff to dig at there…

Like I know that I’d like to analyze Marcille’s succubus more, it comes up in my analysis draft but it’s not the point I’m trying to make there so I focus on other stuff but… I always saw the focus of Marcille’s succubus as that she sought out an emotional connection most of all, it’s romantic and courtly in nature but more importantly there’s personality and behavior there and it’s a character she already loves and knows deeply from having read the series, so it’s not like Chil where it’s just a pretty face whose identity doesn’t matter. A friend of mine though, @room-surprise, goes with the angle that it shows she isn’t ready for a relationship and that the appeal is very self-centered, and I def think compelling points are made…

Point I was trying to make, the succubus is definitely at the crux of figuring what it is Marcille wants and craves in someone I’d say, where she’s emotionally at wether consciously or subconsciously, or how she sees herself being involved in romance at least… It’s true Marcille is enthusiastic about romance, but always someone else’s, never hers, and she seems unwilling to examine her own relationships with people. She oversteps boundaries either obliviously or carelessly and doesn’t like change…

And then there’s how complex people’s relationship to fiction can be on top of that and graaaaah

Edit in bc I forgot I wanted to mention this like an idiot: OH and I do think the Daltian Clan serves a role in the general tapestry of Dunmeshi as well, sometimes in in depth ways that Room-Surprise will tackle in their research paper way better than me I’m sure. My understanding of the importance of general Hagreus in a more general narrative sense is that he reinforces the theme of idealization/fantasy vs reality that’s super present through the manga. Beyond just Marcille’s arc and his importance to her he’s designed uncannily close to Mithrun, it parallels real elves and their very flawed military system and the broken people it cultivates vs the romanticized elves put on an aesthetic pedestral in novels, especially considering it’s "general" Hareus

To give some previews of the analysis wip: Thus the succubus targets Marcille’s wish for a perfect knight who could cherish her forevermore, someone safe and known and fantastical, just hers in a way, free to see and construct however she wants because he’s a character to interpret Dungeon Meshi is in part about resisting desires, the irrational cravings, mostly through the character of the demon. I mentioned needs earlier, and to ideals vs wants we also add vs needs, both emotional and physical. And needs alongside wants are what Dungeon Meshi wishes to promote for a healthier person. Dungeon Meshi illustrates very well with the dungeon lords that you can be a slave to your desires. Dunmeshi prones the important of balance for both a healthy body and a healthy mind, and the arc of optimism vs pessimism with Marcille & Chilchuck is one such case <3

Ouuuugh how flawed relationships with flawed people can still be made into somehing good and healthy that make the world brighter…

We’ve gone far from the topic of how her family shaped what she seeks in relationships haha, I think you put it well already though I don’t have much to add on that front Edit in 2: SIKE! I’ll add that there’s an interesting thread in the manga of Marcille maturing and becoming more like her mother, which would be interesting and fun to pair with the fatherhood of Chil. Because Marcille is sometimes a mother figure as well: she’s the mom friend. I go over it here, and since when I made that post I’ve seen more interesting analysis on the topic too, like noticing she hides behind her mother’s portrait in the nightmare chapter, perhaps the inspiration behind her more mature reserved academic persona she sometimes has. Her parents are def important to her so it’s interesting to see how all the dynamics and her own psychology fit into that….

But yeah I think what she (thinks she) wants out of romance has a lot of layers, both conscious and subconscious… I haven’t gone into the bigger picture of how fiction affects her relationships here but it’s the central topic of my Marcille & Chil arc analysis so. She idealizes the trope of the prince charming and finds it attractive but is that what she would actually latch onto… Is it fully superficial, is it more about herself than it is about her potential partner... Is it mainly because she wants to get validation, from being special that she typically gets from high academic performance… We do see she can be rather insecure and worried about others’ perspective of her, that they think she’s not useful or capable enough, especially in the mandrake chapter… Unconditional love perhaps

What is your emotional landscape Marcille. How emotionally intelligent are you. I don’t think she knows what she wants romantically. I think she has a job so she don’t really care about that rn I’m just not sure if we can figure out what she ~actually~ wants on her behalf that might be too many levels of interpretation but idk idk, thinking on it still

[thatfilthyanimal]

What are your thoughts on Schaffrillas?

Oh Anon I really hope this is being sent in good faith and isn't just bait because well. Hm.

I want to like the dude. I do. Without his review of Megamind (2010) I'm not sure Megamind would have had such a resurgeance that it's had in the recent years. And for a long time, I deeply respected the dude for that.

But I also had slowly fallen into the youtube trap of what I will not-so-affectionately call "ragebait youtubers", which are people who profit off of whatever new piece of media is the Big Thing To Hate. I was subscribed to a bunch of them, and had my big laughs at all the new "terrible" media coming out, for years.

And then suddenly Megamind Vs The Doom Syndicate was the new thing to hate. It was no longer funny. At all. Everyone I subscribed to dogpiled onto it and collectively sabotaged the series following it (many of which were people regurgitating things every other reviewer was saying, often getting things wrong about either Vs The Doom Syndicate or the show following it, Megamind Rules, if they even knew the show existed at all). The Rotten Tomatoes reviews tanked. The screenwriters got threats of violence on their personal blogs, one person actually stating that they wished they could cut their hands off so they could never write again. (Hi, what the fuck?) The Megamind tags were flooded by hate. The fans that DID like the new stuff were dogpiled and told they were stupid Dreamworks shills being paid to promote the new stuff. Nobody believed that there were actual fans that actually liked the new stuff, because the fans of people who do ragebait youtuber shit are miserable, unhappy people who fail to see joy in anything new just because it isn't 100% perfect.

My biggest gripe with Schaffrillas is the fanbase he caters to these days. I have not watched his newest videos about the new Megamind stuff (I refuse to watch any of it; I refuse to give these people my views for their blatant misinformation and hostility towards something "mid" at worst) but there was a SIGNIFICANT uptick in both hate in the fandom tags and harassment to both fans and the screenwriters on twitter, here, youtube, ANYWHERE-- after his video. I don't believe this was his actual intention, he's obviously not a dick, but I refuse to entertain the idea that his intention with his newest videos wasn't careless. "Why Megamind 2 Is A Cinematic Disaster" is a title implying the lie that Megamind Vs The Doom Syndicate is something that should be held up to the same standard as a theatrical "Megamind 2" and the dude is smart enough to know exactly that. The thing is, it ISN'T "Megamind 2", it's an extended pilot episode to a low budget straight-to-streaming show that is actually very damn good. Before Schaffrillas even got to review it, before it even released, I had seen news outlets falsely labeling it as "Megamind 2" in the same way, getting people's hopes up. I asked the screenwriters in a (now deleted because Elon sucks and lots of people fled the site) twitter post if they considered the film/series to be a proper sequel on par with a title like "Megamind 2" or not, and the response was basically "we just consider it a continuation of his story", aka what I took away from it: "No. Not a grand theatrical sequel like everyone is implying. But more stuff, regardless." My own expectations going in were lower, because of this, and I wasn't as greatly disappointed as everyone else who was under the impression this would be some high-budget Puss In Boots The Last Wish level production. Not these people's fault! News outlets and youtubers BOTH painted this film like it was supposed to be more!!

And the kicker to all of that is Dreamworks fully failed to promote Megamind Rules properly. In the advertising for Vs The Doom Syndicate, the show is mentioned as an afterthought at the end, as if there isn't like 7hrs of content behind that film to still watch after, that the writers/artists put blood/sweat/tears into for years beforehand. I assume there was a lot of push to have a pilot episode get turned into a "movie" even though it would have been better as maybe two episodes. But the backlash from the internet seemed to have hurt the Megamind Team SO BAD that the advertising for the 2nd half of the first season didn't even get finished. One of the team members slipped the unfinished ad video onto twitter finally. The ONLY people who advertised the 2nd half of the series were the Megamind Team themselves, and the fans who liked the show. Dreamworks social media was absolutely silent about it, choosing to promote everything else instead. Ragebait youtubers, and this culture of hating EVERY new piece of media that comes out, whether it deserves it or not (spoilers: it rarely ever does) had damaged the future of this show when it truly didn't deserve it. Dreamworks threw their hands in the air and gave up. The Megamind Team did their best to still promote it because their paychecks probably rely on it and they knew old fans still liked the new stuff even IF there was overwhelming backlash about it!

I don't think Schaffrillas realizes the full impact of everything he says and does in his videos these days. I don't know if any ragebait youtuber even cares anymore, as long as they get paid by Daddy Youtube for churning out the next video as quickly as possible before anyone can watch things for themselves and form their own opinions on anything. Does Moana 2 actually suck or is youtube just feeding me videos by unwashed losers who are mad their sequel isn't Shrek 2 perfect? I don't know!! But it's all I see! "This new movie sucks!!" "This new show sucks!!" "This new game sucks!!" holy shit! The reason I -LIKED- people making videos about Megamind before all of this was because the reception was generally entirely positive! People were talking about it because they LIKED it! Schaffrillas, give me a video over a damn hour about everything you LIKE about Megamind and I'll freakin' watch it. I will NOT sit there for an hour listening to someone complain about a piece of media they could just stop watching or walk away from and choose to go watch anything else the actually LIKE instead. IDK!! Idk. I'm old, I'm cranky, I'm tired. I'm glad people have mostly moved on by now and I can have a shred of normalcy back in the tags again. But it will forever be marred and ugly from all the hate from everyone shitting on the newest stuff (whether it deserves it or not) and I will forever be nervous to promote my fandom server to new fans for fear of one of these big youtubers dropping another "this movie sucks" video and their fans going to the tags on various sites to find ways to grief the fanbases for liking something "so horrible". Which, yes, already happened. A lot. (We banned a lot of people this year when we rarely ever had to before this :/)

I don't know if the dude realizes the bridges he's burned, both in the Megamind fandom and with various Dreamworks employees (not just about Megamind, mind you, but also other recent things he's said). This is NOT the way to get anywhere if that's what he's trying to do. It's just going to get him remembered as the dude who made people lose money/jobs because they couldn't make a budget larger from thin air, or couldn't read minds on what would be considered "good enough" to a larger swath of fans of something.

The Megamind Team is full of really good people who really did do a good job and tried VERY HARD with A LOT going against them to make a good product that would make fans happy. It certainly made ME happy! It was consistent with the the original canon material and even borrowed from fandom theories for some things (probably unintentionally? but it's still funny to me). Somehow Schaff managed to make a video over an hour long about everything bad about it. I don't see it that way, and it must be infuriating to live in a world where you CAN find over an hour's worth of stuff to bitch about with it. Yeah, the animation is crunchy and the pilot film goes on a bit long and could have been shorter. Whoo. I'm done. It was easy. Not over an hour long.

There's also a thing about the DeGun? Idk. I don't have the full context but I assume it's about the opening scene where Megamind doesn't dehydrate the Go Fish Gang dudes as they're running away. From a writing perspective, the building should have been completely flooded with water, so it makes sense that he wouldn't. Obviously though the animators didn't have time for the water everywhere or it just got overlooked. But also, Megamind sucks at his job. That's the point. He's new and he's not good. He also canonically doesn't use his DeGun to dehydrate people well before this! Metro Man, Titan, hell-- the whole tower falling towards them at the end of the movie? There's clearly rules towards his tech that are being followed (or the guy is just an idiot idk) that we don't ever get told about, and yeah that would probably be good, but personally all I thought was "ok he's dumb but let's go XD;" when it happened and that was it. I also didn't have monetary incentive to make an hour long video about hating it, though. So. Y'know.

All I really want is for the dude to reflect on where his videos are currently heading and, again, the bridges he's burning due to the careers and lives he's hurting by going this route. I can't sit here and pat his ass for him and tell him he's doing a great job when I feel like he's doing more harm than good, and apparently that's enough reason for his fanboys to have a problem with me and harass me and other fans. Again, I want to like the dude. But at the moment I don't think I can. Maybe he's said some really nice stuff in his recent videos, I don't know! I just know how his fans reacted and how much damage it did, and I don't care to look further.

As usual I just want to say that even if you don't like the movie, the show Megamind Rules is REALLY good and the ending is fantastic and satisfying. It's worth sticking it out, but you HAVE to try to put aside the urge to hatewatch and instead just watch for fun. This stuff is meant to be ENJOYED. Stop holding yourselves back from that. The world is hateful enough already.

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

R. M. Renfield

Mentally ill queer man writes mentally ill queer character. 200 years later, Dracula Daily happens and everyone in their mother immediately starts poking fun at him, demonizing him, or treating him like a naive child when none of these things are true. I could write a darn essay about Renfield and his role in the story. His status as a servant of Dracula is kept hidden from our heroes despite how obvious it is to the modern reader, and it turns into a striking example of dramatic irony. But at the same time, he's not a simpering servant; he's psychotic and Dracula feeds his delusion for his own gain. His death isn't a sacrifice, it's a tragic end to a story about the effects of isolation on the mind and the suffering that can come about from people refusing to listen to those who aren't like them. Pretty damned amusing, then, that absolutely no one seems to listen to the words that come out of his mouth.

Izzy Hands

people hate this guy. people HATE this guy. and for what? "hes abusive" you are out of your MIND if you actually think that. let middle aged men be messy jilted lovers, goddamn!!!!

Oh my gods, fandom has lost their minds with this one. People act like Izzy is the devil himself and actually it's his fault that the main love interest of the show has ever done anything wrong ever. Every bad thing in the show? Actually Izzy's fault. I've seen people literally, actually say he deserved his abuse and that it's his fault his abuser hurt him and that he liked it. I have seen people unironically say that his abuser should have killed him. I've seen people say that Edward Teach (y'know, literal Blackbeard who explicitly says in canon, with his mouth, "I love a good maim" would never have done anything violent ever if it wasn't for Izzy's manipulation. This is, of course, ignoring that Ed's first acts if violence were before he ever even met Izzy

So Ed and Izzy have a toxic relationship and do bad stuff to each other. And Izzy fans will minimize the shit Izzy did while bringing up what he suffered. And Ed fans will maximize the shit Izzy did and forgot the rest. Honestly I'm might be bringing a lot of anger on the blog for this, sorry.

[romanarose]

You say you love being queer and writing queer stories but you write straight stories more than anything else. Not hating just seems like its about attention. You say you don't have interest in transitioning but you want to be called a man. It's just not realistic, and seems like you want internet clout. Or, is it because you've gotten called out for fetishizing gay men and now you want a buffer? You're obsession with gay men is weird, stop trying to make everything gay or transgendered. Santiago Garcia isn't trans and Fish isn't gay with Ben. Go back to being a boring tumblr girlie writing smut one shots of an innocent younger reader like everyone else and stop trying to tell a story you can't relate to like gay men

you guys this is my fault honestly. I turned off anons after I got called a slur (a slur for jewish people?? which i am not??? and which they spelled wrong????) but then turned on bc i was having a discussion on my blog about identifying with the term SA survivor vs. victim and wanted people to be able to chime in anonymously.

It's my fault for keeping anon on when I know this is what I get LOLOLOL

Brother, i dont even know what you're trying to say. Are you homophobic? because I make characters gay and trans? Are you transphobic because you don't think I can write gay mens stories bc I'm transmasc? Are you transmedicalist because you said I'm not trans if i dont want to transition? I DONT UNDERSTAND WHATS HAPPENING LOLOLOL

Honestly you sound like those transphobic men that suddenly really care about lesbians and lesbian spaces only because they think trans women going to lesbian bars is the downfall of society (go outside anon. Lesbians dont care if trans women are in their bars, by and large)

Let me make this clear. I am bigender. How I'm about to describe my experience with gender is not everyones, ad certainly not like that of trans men I know. It's mine.

I was afab. I spent probably 26 years identifying as a woman with a few spurts of trying out how they/them identity felt and not liking it. I still identify a little as female. I describe it like 90% masc 10% fem. thats why while I call myself a man and trans masc, there still that femininity there. That can be and is fluid. I, presenting as a woman, was the victim of a lot of gender based violence and manipulation that took advantage of me to varying degrees. From rape to men playing with my feelings. i experienced this as a woman and this is what I know. that's why much of my writing is women mc's and readers.

also, most of my audience are afab women. A lot of stuff i write isn't for me, but bc people have shown interest and i like doing that. In the last several months I've gotten to know more male and gender divserse creaters and have more than just women in my audience. they want more diverse characters, so ill give it.

I love writing all kinds of stories. I love queer stories. I love dark stories exploring how many women have been victimized by men. I like stories where women findd healing with good men. I love coming out stories. I love writing female mc's, like Jana and Sam, who still end up with men but are bisexual and are not any less bisexual. I like writing male characters as trans like Joel and Santi, especially santi because a lot of trans men i know can see themselves in his body type. I like it all.

Also, trans medicalists can fuck right off. You dont need to transition to be trans. Transitioning is not right for everyone. But even that aside, I've only said I dont want to go on T. I've said i want a breast reduction. Not that it's anyones business, but im pretty open.

anyway, your ask is all over the place and idk what you want lol

[enkays-den]

YEAH it's been rough ever since cub decided exile wasn't enough punishment. there have been times I've had to pause watching and remind myself that at the heart of it all it's a bunch of theatre kid friends playing a really intense game of cops and robbers and that, if nothing else, the poe vs no poe stuff seems to be pretty good for boosting the numbers of hermits like jevin and cleo and joe who aren't in the spotlight as much.

(...also might be occasionally going back and watching the clip of skizz talking about that time he threw a burning pallet at a cop. for enrichment, lmao.)

I haven't really watched hermitcraft before this season so I don't know how their plotlines work but it seems to have been majorly ramping up lately, so maybe it'll be resolved soon? my personal hope for the endgame is that skizz and poe skizz duke it out somehow and poe skizz gets booted from his body exorcism style /hj I keep thinking about the phrasing of skizz saying that as regular, non-poe skizz, he's "allowed" to be happy to see cleo when they got home from exile...

anyway, tl;dr, I super feel you on the discomfort with the storyline at the moment, so fingers crossed things settle down soon! love your posts and hope you have a great day!

THIS IS ALL METAFICTION, NOT A STATEMENT ON THE HERMITS AS CONTENT CREATORS OR STORYTELLERS

yeah, i think that the anti-poe movement hasn't been unified at all, no fault to them, but the POE rn just seems like a very Brick Wall concept in terms of narrative, especially with cub at the helm. The oppressive, conformist government department is just wayyyyyy too easy of a villian to play, and the first step to confronting a force like that is you need the numbers and the motivation, and right now it's mainly been scattered mild defiance. I will have more concrete thoughts once we have a few episodes with skizz in exile and grian and scar in the mainland, as well as having two powerhouses like Joel and False exiled.

With Cub permanently in Exile, just killing him doesn't solve the problem, because he just comes back. He doesn't care if he blows up or the things he builds are destroyed, he's the perfect apathetic villian. Combined with the fact that he has lackeys to drop him supplies whenever he needs it, Cub is just this pit for the exiles to throw their time and resources into until they tire out or give up, and just slink away into the wilderness and not give in to the POE's demands.

I know Joe is trying to connect the two spawn points, and honestly i think he could ally with doc if he presents it as a way to get out of the conflict he's been "dragged into".

I think that contacting "Upper Management" might be the way to go here, because it's basically a way to nerf the POE somewhat. The idea is that the POE are somehow the authority and power here, but who gave them that right? The right to move spawn 30 million blocks away and start sending the hermits to permanent time out? (ignoring the meta for a moment). Another boss. The only thing that validates the POE's power is the POE itself, and once they lose that identity, it just exposes that it's all a bloodthirsty power play.

I love Skizz, but i think slowly 'losing' his friends is the perfect price to pay for mindlessly doing what is told of him. The mans isn't even involved in the discussion of exiling, he just sees the aftermath and says "those brutes need to be punished" without knowing what was even done. He didn't even get told that Ren and Cleo trapped the basement, he just assumes they're an enemy because he's told so. Skizz didn't show compassion or care for his fellow Hermits or give them the benefit of the doubt when told to go on a headhunt, why should he be given that luxury in return?

He's the most likely to go "hold on a sec" when FINALLY directly witnessing Cub's relentless campaign against those exiled, because skizz is a softie that likes his friends, but it will be hard to tell who's at the helm now that Poe skizz lost his sexy sexy accent.

but yeah ACAB. Legal does not inherently mean good; illegal does not mean immoral; laws are a manmade way to enforce compliance with the threat of violence as a consequence, and not inherent rules about how people should act. Catch me in a Joe Hills stream for the next while.

[lost-inanotherlife]

Hey. . .so you said when you were doing that post on performing in Dharmaville that you had a thing on Kate performing. . .I don’t want to be annoying and rush your thought process or be that guy who’s like “GIVE ME UPDATE!” but is it coming? Kate’s my favorite character and I jump at the chance to read an analysis on her. Thanks for reading!

Hello Anon! Thank you for the question, it's so nice to read that, not only do you like Kate, but that you've also been waiting for some new meta about her! I mainly write meta about LOST (and other shows) for my own enjoyment but knowing that there's at least one person (dare I say even a couple of them) that also enjoy my meta makes me want to write meta even more (I tend to write quite long essays that don't exactly do great numbers on here so, at times, I'm ngl, it does feel like I'm screaming into the void).

I'll give you the tl;dr version but I'll also provide some more context by explaining a bit of my thought/writing process and why I'm invested in Kate as a character so much (the whole series about performativity in Dharmaville actually started with my analysis of "I Do", a Kate-centric episode, I'll explain what I mean in a second).

So the tl;dr version is: bad news! The post about Juliet's and Kate's performativity has been postponed; good news! I'll finally post my analysis of the last two acts of "I Do" (and the meta I've promised about "316" for the ones who are interested); better news! this will take less time because, tbh, the analysis is already done, I just couldn't be bothered to transcribe it from my notes to my laptop (I handwrite notes on my precious black notebook as I watch an episode that I want to analyse, it helps me with the ten-thousands ideas that hit my convoluted brain every fucking time I watch LOST); and, finally, the best news! this means that there will be MORE meta about Kate Austen on this blog for you to read! YAY!

Now, the long version:

The main reason why I stopped in my tracks when I was writing my thing about Juliet and Kate vs performativity (as you can read here) was because of Ben Linus (it's always his fault, isn't it? lol). I felt like, by not taking him into account, I was sort of completely missing the point of my whole analysis. In other words, I thought I had to start over and re-think the whole premise of my "What's on the TV ?" series of which Kate is part of.

And then I was like: no, I don't! I can just write what I have in mind and the beautiful thing is that I can then write some MORE stuff on top of that and ADD new characters to the performativity meta mix. I don't have to write The One, True and Only Essay about performativity in LOST, I really don't, lol. That was just my mind playing tricks on me.

So I stopped writing and started thinking about why this topic intrigues me so much and the reason is HER. It's because I'm intrigued by Kate Austen and the very episode where she literally puts on a fucking wig and a whole other persona in order to marry a fucking cop is, surprise! surprise!, exactly that one episode I had started writing a whole long ass meta about. This is why I've decided to finally finish that first project of mine so that, by the time I'll finish the more Juliet-centric project, I'll already have some solid base from which I can build on and you guys can have actual, more or less coherently written references in order to understand wtf I'm rambling about.

I've realized how, to me, everything started with Kate and I don't want to lose the focus on her. I'd like to write a trilogy about her, three metas about "What Kate Did", "I Do" and "What Kate Does". The thing is... The reason why I started writing LOST meta was because I fucking hate the vast majority of other people's takes on her. I absolutely despise being One of Those People who are like "You just don't get X blorbo like EEEYEE do" and I surely don't think that EYEEE get Kate Austen more than other people do. I just want to give her character some fucking CREDIT.

If you follow my blog then you'll know that I'm very much aware of how the writers have fucked Kate's character up for Jack and Sawyer's "arcs". I'm very much aware of the sexism and the misogyny in the show. Hell, I'm, like, super vocal about my dislike for the love triangle and will never shut up about it.

But why it's always Kate, and only Kate, that takes the brunt of all this? Why is she a "badly written" character? Is this even true??? I maintain that from S1 to S3 Kate is actually a pretty great, solid character given all the above circumstances.

Yes, she's introduced as a love interest and that sucks. Yes, she's involved in a love triangle that even the writers didn't really like all that much by looking at how they fucking wrote it. Yes, by S5 her character has lost some of her initial "brilliance". This can be true and co-exist with the fact that she's a great chracter that could've been so much more. She has potential and I want to explore that instead of shitting on her because her character was written through sexist lens. Like, can't you see the contradiction???

As far as I'm concerned my goal with my meta is to show people that, just like with any other LOST character, Kate's biggest theme is... HOME!!! (which she blew up, ooopsieee). These are literally characters who are LOST and are looking for a way HOME (enter Michael Giacchino's "There is No Place like Home" for dramatic effect). But what is HOME?

In "I Do" Kate's "playing house" with Kevin just like Juliet thinks she was "playing house" with Sawyer. Unlike Juliet (more or less), Kate fails quite bad every time she tries. So why does she fail? I think there are two main reasons: 1. the show makes a point of showing us that women are expected to be beautiful housewives and almost all of them are deeply unhappy about it; 2. Kate's got unresolved trauma with her father(s), sure, but I think that her biggest trauma is the one related to her mother. In a way, in S4 she ends up like her stepfather by entering a family (Claire's and Jack's) that's not her own, but also like her mother, i.e. she gets emotionally attached to an alcoholic who's not really there for her and her kid. And the tragedy of it all is that, just like her mother couldn't leave her abusive husband because she loved him, Kate can't quit Jack (NOT saying Jack is abusive, just saying that there are some quite clear parallels between Diane and Wayne and Kate and Jack).

Like, all the S5 bullshit about Kate wanting to go back to the island for Claire is revealed to be bullshit when Kate tells Jack that she had angry sex with him and told him to never ask her about Aaron because... she was angry with him for making her come back to the island. Let's reiterate this: Kate thinks that Jack made her come back to the island. I think this is only partly true: yes, Jack has great influence over Kate but Kate has also shown that she does what she wants. Most of the time what she wants is... to be protective of Jack, in her own weird way. Between the two the "damsel in distress" is Jack, not Kate. Since they first met, Kate has taken upon herself the task of being the Protector of (one of the) Protector(s) of the Island. So if Jack goes to the island she can't but go there as well. Because she thinks she simply has to. So, yes, in a twisted way, Jack does make Kate go back to the island. But it's not because Jack told her to or forced her in some capacity. It's just because Jack decided to go and she couldn't change his mind. There's a huuuuge difference.

They fumbled Kate's character in S5 because the only two reasons they could come up with for Kate to go back to the island were a man and... motherhood. I think you can see how extremely bad this looks from a feminist perspective. They went for a little bit of both and this choice was just plain wrong. To me.

Incidentally, this is also why Jate is so appealing to me. The way I see it (and this way is through a close-reading of Kate-centric episodes not because I fancy so), Kate sees "home" in Jack. But the "home" that Kate sees in Jack is not a sort of "I can fix him, let's get marry and be happy forever and ever". No, I think she believes she can "fix" herself through Jack (this is established in "What Kate Did"). While Jack is the "Good Hero who Wants to Break Bad", Kate is the "Bad Girl who Wants to Be the Good Hero". Funnily enough, she's not really a "Bad Girl" but she is a "Good Girl who Does Very Bad Things". The show treats this as a contradiction in terms but is it really? It doesn't seem to be the case for other male characters.

This is why, I think, there are so many episodes about Kate Doing Stuff. Agency is never really denied to Kate, she's never a Sexy Lamp, she's never only Jack's love interest. She's so much more. AND YET... her arc is NOT the focus of the show. The main arc of the show is Jack's and we can't change that, it is a fact. Like it's a fact that Kate is his love interest. But I argue that she's more than that and I can fucking prove it.

Okay I'll stop here, thank you all for coming to my rant my TED Talk.

Thanks anon for the ask, hope you'll enjoy my future meta :3

[reign-life]

Y'know I was wondering if I should make this. But cringe culture is dead and the team seems to actually be trying so

Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 Gameplay Trailer Reaction/Analysis

First of all, I like Doey's jingle. It's short, but sounds realistic enough

And... has there been a swear in Poppy Playtime before? If not then holy shit an actual swear. Sure it's a tame one, but compared to the obvious kids farm bait of chapter 1, it seems like a good sign

Security Breach jokes aside(put a pin in that), why does it look like there's a bunch of the poppy gas? There being a bunch still lying around is believable, but I thought we'd see the last of that stuff with Catnap being impaled. But with how the toys apparently become part of the Prototype once he grabs them...

I like Harley's voice and the little eye animation. Realistic eyes are always creepy and the voice actor's doing great

Here's one of the spots from some of the images and Baba's trailer. Obvious puzzle is obvious(ding!). And I just noticed this, but that's possibly a new hand(could also be the purple one in strange lighting though)

Y'know tvs aren't cheap. Assuming this hallway(that does admittedly look cool) isn't something The Doctor made, I wonder how much of the budget got spent on this room alone. Maybe it's some security area?

Two things to address for this screenshot! First of all, what the fuck is that. I don't... think it's a human body? It doesn't seem rotted enough(assuming that's not bone) and this would be a questionable model. But it has one of the hands? Despite not having a grabpack? If the "the protag's not human" theory wasn't thoroughly squashed by now I could maybe say it's connected, but even the player needs an actual grabpack

Second: the caption. What do you mean the Prototype's working with Harley?? Maybe this is some manipulation(and not The Doctor's, you can't convince me Prototype would listen), but I can't see why he wouldn't just kill the dude. "They're both experiments" doesn't work, we saw what happened to that one former scientist. A security system could be useful, but would that really outweigh the cost of working with the dude who caused most of this suffering?

Yarnaby has claws. Neat!

This graffiti's certainly worth analyzing. It's clearly directed to the smiling/nightmare critters, which makes sense with how many of them are crawling around here. But who made this? The eyes could maybe be connected to Harley, but this is his domain and the toys are being shielded from them

Edit: it seems like Doey's made this and, by extension, his own safe haven for other toys. Not a good sign when combined with the hoard of minis, but hopefully they're unconnected

I have to wonder what this guy means(and who he is ig). There's vending machines that you could've used and... everyone's been down there for years. Food was gonna run out eventually and the only choice left is cannibalism(which they're clearly willing to do, nothing's stopping them). Sure Prototype's plan has a few flaws, but the starving thing doesn't seem to be entirely his and Harley's fault

Oh he is big. Bigger Bodies Initiative, I get it, but I assumed he'd be slightly smaller from his introduction trailer

...I will not make jokes. What I will do is notice that The Doctor's clearly got a body. Honestly kinda disappointing(not to mention confusing, but I'll talk about that more in a second). Him only being shown through tvs and other not-body electronics would've been cool

Kissy's alive! Yes! Ignoring Poppy's eyes seeming more bloody than normal, there's an unknown voice. Sure several of the voices are unknown, but this one is directly acknowledged as that. My theory is that it's the Prototype. Something about the way he says "mind" sounds different, added in

Okay remember that pin? Something about this situation screams "weeping angel" and feels really similar to the Glamrock Endos. But y'know what, the "inspiration vs theft and does that argument even apply" thing isn't new. So I'm just going to ask: what are the tv heads? They wouldn't be toys(I think?) and while the company is cruel, surely they're not stupid enough to give Harley a way to move around even more easily. Maybe these were made by the Prototype? He seems smart enough that it's possible

We finally get to see what role the nightmare critters play and it's... about what I expected. Which is a good thing! Their toy models are pretty cute and it's not surprising that they function the same as the mini smiling critters in chapter 3. But we also get to see two(only one in this screenshot) mini huggies. Which really does highlight that this area is a safe place and may lead to us seeing other types of small toys. I see where Catnap got the idea to watch over the minis

And more of the maybe-corpses. I don't think these are skeletons since one has an ear(you'd think the toys would've picked them clean...), but these just- aren't believable humans??

If there's any moment to reveal that Ollie's a traitor, this is gonna be it. Calling it now. Also 1. why are Kissy's injuries depicted like that(assuming it isn't something else). The toys bleed, this is just a fact. 2. what is that thing wrapped around her?? I assumed it was a sling or something, but her injured(?) arm is free to move around. It seems like it could be a bag or bandages, but the former doesn't make much sense and it looks a little too leathery to be the latter

Return of the Ollie and our first look at Pianosaurus in a trailer. The light in part of his mouth makes me curious. His keys seem to have distinct colors and looks more like an injury. Maybe he gets hurt at some point and that's what's on the inside?

Had to grab the transcript since these are Two captions and I have enough images here as is. Anyway, this is an interesting exchange and use of names(or lack thereof). I'm not sure who the first one is, but the second sounds a lot like Poppy. But shouldn't the captions have just said that? It could be a tape, since those captions don't label who's speaking. But they never explicitly hide it either. Something's up with this

And that's just how the information is presented to us. What's actually being said is a whole different discussion, but I have no clue where to start with this

Now to talk about Doey and the thumbnail for the video. This guy is directly stated(both on twitter and in the description) to be helping us and thank god. All the play-doh falling from the ceiling could maybe pass as creepy(I'll admit, my horror senses are kinda broken), but his actual appearance? I saw the thumbnail and was expecting the worst because even Poppy looks more unnerving than him. But as an ally and not a source of horror? I like him, his design is simple and neat. His first lines get the gist of his personality down(the "hiya there" possibly being what he was meant to be for the kids, while "follow me" is a more mature and real tone) and I can't wait to see what happens with him. As long as the scares involving him are kept to minimum

[alwek]

Spiders In My Head: Visible vs Invisible Disability

I've worked for a lot of places now. All of them fire me for the same reason. "Time Theft" or "Unreliable" as if on the day they hired me I didn't tell them some variasion of "hey, if I don't sit down and ground every hour or so I forget things and it makes me panic." Every time they tell me, "that's fine just as long as you get your work done."

Funnily enough, I've never been fired for being a bad worker. I always get praised for my work, even. But when they realize when I've told them "I need more breaks" it means I need more fucking breaks they don't like that. Because they never agreed to me taking sit down time like they agreed to.

And what pisses me off the most? All the visibly disabled people that got off easy. The downs employees that got jack shit done. That I had to pick up for, that had worked there for years. The wheelchair ridden who worked at half the pace. The folk with nerve stuff going on that can't work without another person with them at all times.

All of them getting all the passes they want. But me, the person with the memory disorder. My wife, with adhd who struggles with larger workloads and organizing it. My friend, who's "functioning autistic" and needs far more instructions than most. None of us get shit. The second those of us with disabilities that can't be seen are disabled we're tossed.

I'm fucking sick of it. I'm sick of giving these scummy fucks more tax breaks because im on pwd. I'm sick of being told my accommodations will be met, only to be fired when using my accommodations. But no. We're just lazy. We're bad workers. Because despite being disabled, we can't get the same amount of work done as the neurotipical employee.

I want to be clear here. All my hate is towards the employer. Not the visibly disabled. They benefit from a system I suffer from, and that isn't their fault.

Power in anger. Victory in wisdom. I will not take this lying down anymore.