#they invented bromance and that's a fact!

[freetobeafcknriot]

‘‘He's my best friend. He's my pal. He is my home boy. My rotten soldier. He is my sweet cheese. My good time boy.’’

— Tanaka and Nishinoya about each other 24/7.

[tadc-harlequin-au]

New Puppet Unlocked: Caine, The Puppetmaster!

Caine's character description:

For the longest time, Caine believed that he was the only Puppet left who hasn't gone insane, and has spent living in near complete and total isolation for it (if it weren't for Bubble, his robotic Butler Blimp), drowning himself in booze. That was, until Pomni suddenly arrived at his office out of nowhere and challenged him.

Her sudden appearance, her fierceness in battle and various other reasons, Caine sought to get Pomni to see the dire situation after a stalemate in their duel; That they're the last remnants of sane minds remaining in this forsaken lands and he needs her help for what must be done next, if they are to improve the world's conditions. Thankfully, the Harlequin was not actually cold-hearted, just hot-tempered.

Reinvigorated in his self-assigned purpose, The Puppetmaster now spends his time either indoctrinating reawakened Puppets and teaching them how to become "human" once more, tinkering/inventing new machines, having friendly debates or sparring with Pomni just to satisfy her urge to battle, and various other things.

Though, he still likes to drink.

Fun facts about Caine:

He is a massive drunkard.

He passes out in the most random places if he drinks too much. One of the most outrageous locations Pomni has found him in was at the chandelier on the main lounge, which even he can't remember how he got there.

Caine still acts boisterous and speaks mostly formally; though there are ways you can break his way of speech, the easiest way to do it is to surprise him.

He avoids using swears, says it's a gentleman's code. Though, some get past his mouth on a rare occasion.

He created Bubble out of loneliness, initially just wanting someone to talk to.

In a comedic parallel, he tends to limit Pomni's cravings for battle by holding her sword hostage as much as possible, of course to the Harlequin's frustration.

His second gold tooth on his bottom jaw was a result of his and Pomni's first meeting/duel. She ended up kicking him so hard in her rage, one teeth cracked in half and flew off.

He tends to look at everyone with a positive mindset and the want to see the best in them; although Jax seems to be a rare exception. Still, he lets the automaton be.

Most of his time is spent hanging around in his office. The only time you'll see him outside is if there's a task he needs to attend to, assembling Pomni back together in the cellar, another sparring match with the Harlequin, or when he talks to Z and/or Kingr, since they are both too big for the insides of the mansion.

Like almost every ADHD-person, he is prone to getting distracted easily.

He has a strict "no fighting in the premises" rule; instead, he tells them to literally take it outside (even if it means being on the neighboring lawn), as long as it's not on the INSIDE.

He keeps his shirt opened because he feels discomfort and suffocated when he buttons it up.

He doesn't like to talk about his past.

When asked what's his classification, he'll avoid and switch topics. His rare anger (but eerily-calm way of speech) comes out when you ask about it too much.

He does admit that his entire body was self-modified.

You can hear his arrival in a scene by the sounds of ball joints slightly cracking in place.

Aside from Pomni, he likes Kingr the most, finding the chess piece's presence calming. This has lead to jokes about a bromance happening between the two.

And just like Pomni as well, Caine fixes Kingr the most because the Helpful King tends to use himself as a shield for the Harlequin.

He's rarely seen without his cane.

He HEAVILY dislikes it when Pomni dies. When he is aware that Pomni is at the brink of death, he'll start panicking and telling her to go back and abandon the mission for now, through Bubble.

Quotes:

"Greetings! I am Caine, and I am here to help you. That's all you need to know."

"I think we can arrange that."

"This is not part of the plan!"

"No fighting! Take it outside."

"Perhaps we can reach to a sort of agreement..."

"Hmm... quite intriguing."

"Why, I must say, this is quite the predicament..."

"Will you be mindful of your own sake next time, pretty please?"

"... I don't-... think that's how-... you know what, do whatever you want."

"... Okay, you don't need to go that far."

"You know what this calls for? [...] A CELEBRATION! [...] BUBBLE, TO THE LIQUOR STORAGE"

"You know, I haven't really thought this through enough--"

"BUBBLE! Did you chew through my latest project again?!"

"Oy vey..."

"I am aware of the effect that alcohol has on me. And quite frankly, I don't care."

"Strange, where am I? Who am I? What are we, but mass-produced products catered to extending one's stay on a desolate, abandoned realm? Are we even human anymore, or are we machines that think we're human in order to save ourselves from the pain of a fake existence? Hm? Oh right, I haven't eaten my dinner."

"Must we really resort to this method?"

"Oh, I just fixed that!"

"Apologies, I blanked out for a second. What were we talking about?"

"Bubble here can help you out on your dilemma. Just don't listen to him for any advices. Personally, I think sometimes he can make you jump off a cliff."

"What do you mean "I need to stop drinking"? I'm perfectly fi- *passes out*"

"Am I aware that it is an unhealthy coping mechanism? Yes. Do I plan to stop? Not exactly, there aren't a lot of options left."

"That is outrageous! Me? With her? That's... It's... *sigh* I can't. She'd never."

"May I just say, for once, what the actual fuck."

[inchidentally]

I'm so curious to hear what you think about non RPF differences between Lando with Carlos, DR and Oscar. I don't do a lot of RPF shipping personally but your takes on all of them are so intriguing and feel pretty truthful. I feel like fandom ignores that it hasn't all been smooth sailing with Lando and his teammates and want to know what you think about the less rose-tinted side of that?

okay so jsyk I always end up a little rose-tinted even when talking about non-RPF Lando relationships but I like to hope I stay truthful in terms of not inventing any kind of sexual/dating/etc narrative that just doesn't exist. and I'm afraid I'm about to go insane in my response so hopefully you don't mind that either lol.

also @twinkodium is so much better at timelines than I am so pls can you add your part to this if you get a chance??

so just to establish which I think we all know: Lando has a tendency to take his warm heart out of his chest and hold it up to anyone who seems even remotely kind or friendly. yes, he's got a bite to him and a temper but honestly that's all also part of being far too open to people. if a person - especially other men and boys - show him even a hint of affection or camaraderie then he's all in immediately. especially as the youngest driver on the grid for so many years.

truly, I think Carlos and Daniel didn't know what to do when Lando put his little beating heart into their big, clumsy hands. the fact that the level of openness and devotion they got - immediately - from Lando was so much down to Lando's insecurity in F1 and how much he was dealing with mentally, was way too much for two guys who honestly only expect to have a laugh sometimes with their teammate. maybe be chummy enough to hang out sometimes and make media responsibilities less tedious.

and Lando was so happy to be the adoring satellite, shrieking with laughter over all their jokes in exchange for him latching securely onto an established F1 personality. but Carlos and Daniel were running the show while they were his teammates - they were the entertainment and Lando was sort of a conduit for the adoring fans. and what's interesting is I think that we can pretty visibly see the turn with each of them where Lando came thudding down to that realization himself. that he would have to change his own ideas about friendship with both of them in order to remain friends at all. there's the infamous 2020 carlando "breakup" gifset (here) where Lando's face just sours at Carlos in his traitorous blood red suit making some offhand comment

and Lando cuts such a wide berth from him that it puts two whole people between them. by the time Lando reaches the reporters waiting at the media pen, his face looks gray and set

and it's like damn, we straight up witnessed Lando standing up for himself and setting up some boundaries with Carlos.

the moments with Daniel were more scattered but you could see them when Daniel was doing his usual attempts at the bromance thing and sometimes Lando was just. not. having it. there's the moment in particular of Daniel coming up behind him and hooking his chin over Lando's shoulder and oh. you can feel the coolness coming off Lando bc he's genuinely going through something and needs a friend, not another performance for the cameras.

ohhhh and the response of "no one" when asked who his best friend was on the grid was before casting around a bit and finally saying Carlos. parallel that to his irritated dismissal of the journalist pushing for carlando in Vegas and reminding them that none of these guys are his real friends they're his F1 buddies and he "hates them" when racing them. by the time 2023 rolled around Lando grew up, set up boundaries and will only give what he chooses to his friendships with Carlos and Daniel. which is overall so much healthier and has probably ensured that those friendship didn't die out completely. but they're not what they once were for him. Carlos and Daniel are allowed to visit the garden of Eden that is being fully intimate with Lando - but the gates always shut behind them when it’s time to leave.

genuinely I don't blame Carlos or even Daniel (even if I don't like a lot about him) bc literally neither of them has ever had a friend like Lando - and probably don't know any guy like him. and they're both such Typical Dudes - as well as being fully a different generation to Lando - so how were they supposed to know a sensitive, naive kid like this would be in F1 let alone their teammate? guys they know never butterfly themselves open to other guys except for extremely long term friendships - if even then. Lando above all wants to have a good heart and he just trusts people, and while it makes men absolutely crazy about him it's surely got to get him hurt a lot. you can even see it with his media pen work where he reacts to difficult questions or fairly open hostility with a wide disarming smile because he'd rather bring someone round than openly fight with them. even Daniel who definitely utilizes his smile to dominate and disarm can still easily be baited into hostility compared to Lando. but when someone persists in being a twat to Lando, he just closes off with that cold, sour look and bam. that moron just lost themselves any access to the garden of Eden.

and I'm not saying we know enough about Oscar to say that Lando's heart is definitely safe with him, but the absolutely huge difference is that Oscar came into being his teammate fully aware of who Lando is and he was willing to hold back and be content just being a teammate and let a friendship develop if Lando felt so inclined. *hint: this sign of respect and deference will be significant!

like we saw how they fell into this twinning thing at first where Oscar would mirror Lando a lot of the time - out of nerves but also deference. then as the season went on and the car still struggled, they developed sort of a tentative camaraderie born out of equally blighted hopes.

but what's really interesting is how much Silverstone was truly the turning point and not even in a fandom goggles sense. I isolated the following moments out in a video below: there's this hilarious little moment right before the fan stage where Oscar is asking Lando something like 'what's that (playing)?' and Lando seems to think Oscar is referring to the (very obvious) crowd noise and Oscar goes "no not them you idiot the song!" and it goes back and forth wayyy too long for the brain cells I would like to assume they have before they finally work out between them what song is playing.

and Lando had by the time of the fan stage momentarily set aside his own euphoria and positively showered Oscar with praise at press briefing after the race. he also repeated it at the fan stage in front of Oscar for good measure! and clearly loves it when Oscar says how he was rooting for Lando leading the race at one point.

then, like something out of a movie, as they're posing for the photo in front of the crowd, Oscar slips that arm around Lando's waist and urges him closer and you can see the whole of every thought on Lando's face. the look of surprise as Oscar's strong arm jostles his body a little, the blossoming delight, the 'woah is he really initiating this? he never does this!', and finally the big beaming smile as he wraps his arm around Oscar and settles in.

and just a few races later when Lando has another podium under his belt and has qualified 2nd at the Dutch GP, there's this other movie moment where it suddenly clicks for Lando… Oscar will always show up for him no matter what. not just when they're both doing well or both struggling, he'll always show up for Lando. out loud and where everyone can see but without a hint of performance to it.

and when you scroll through @piastrisms wonderful post-race gif compilations, you can see that dynamic shift even more to the suddenly much more tentative but openly kind of 'crushing' on each other. Oscar starts to let himself think that maybe, just maybe! the Lando of his 8-year social media obsession really likes Oscar for who he is and not just as a team obligation! this leads to him taking a few more risks during the McLaren challenges and by the time they film the beloved Austin material, Oscar has actually started to surprise Lando. from there on you can see Oscar's relief at making Lando really laugh and smile build his confidence right at the exact same time that Lando looks thrown off center and his boundaries start falling away. that mirroring they used to do started to build into trusting each other, which then led to them genuinely liking each other, and then mutually wanting to stay together as teammates. and isn't that level of security something new for Lando!

and you know what I noticed in all this that has me frothing and biting? that instead of Lando handing his beating heart over to his teammates and having it bruised and withdrawn? with Oscar, it's been the exact opposite. Lando had finally decided to be cautious from the start and keep this new anomaly teammate at arm's length - and for a while felt relieved bc the anomaly turned out to be so damn competent and quick! *oh and the anomaly was showing a level of respect and deference that Lando was not at all used to, which was so very nice but also ?? was the anomaly a little bit cold toward him ?? but then Silverstone happened and dawn broke. we finished the season out with Lando actually looking to Oscar for affirmations and wriggling excitedly and looking at Oscar with that wide-open expression on his face and Lando clearly beginning to wonder if maybe his sacred heart might fit comfortably in Oscar's hands that are smaller and gentler than the other men he's known on the grid? maybe how much more steady and careful and devoted Oscar is when it comes to his racing is reflected in how he has treated Lando, so unlike the usual "Lando effect" bromances that get all the attention and that the cameras and fans eat up. maybe the big, traditional handsome alphas and their big displays of affection are one kind of friend for Lando but perhaps not so good as a teammate. and maybe a friendship that grows too steadily and quietly for networks and social media teams to take much of an interest is another kind of friend, and maybe just the right kind of teammate.

[phineasandferbtheories]

Phieas and Ferb

ooo i haven’t given much thought to this one outside of canon weirdly enough!

ok first things first: they’re very close. obviously.

and we know that they’ve been that way since the beginning (see: that one episode where they become babies and immediately get along)

anyway

i think as they grew closer, their inventions got more complex

teamwork makes the dream work and all that

and they have hella connections everywhere, so they’re fantastic at networking

not actually part of this, i just felt like saying it. putting the ad in adhd and all that

but for inventions: as the show goes on, we very clearly see that they do a lot of smaller side projects

example: those baseball things in into the second dimension

i’d like to say that they do those alone, but that isn’t really canon. it’s canon in my heart, though.

so with that headcanon in mind, it shows that they’re constantly willing to work together

however, they’re both very. um. distractable.

ppl hc phineas as adhd and ferb as autistic but they’re both both. to me. in my heart i know it’s true.

and honestly, when you have both? kinda lonely ngl

but with someone else like that, it’s really just. fantastic

and it’s a specific type of closeness that’s hard to define or imitate in any other scenario

ok but back to the distractable thing (lol irony): sometimes they just. forget to listen to each other

example: spy mission betty bus yada yada yada

but i don’t rlly see that getting in the way of their closeness. they just see it as something that’s part of the other that, though sometimes difficult, makes it easier to be themselves around each other simply because if they do the same thing, it’ll be understood and not held against them

which is rlly nice :)

anyway, back to inventing: as seen in the episode with bully bromance in it, neither of them can stand to go long without inventing

which, for most people, is pretty hard to understand

both due to the fact that for most ppl, inventing is a difficult and long process and most ppl quite simply don’t have obsessions like that

the type that itches at your brain and makes u feel like ur losing it until u go and do the Thing

…i rlly wanna go play my saxophone

regardless! my point: both of them have a lot of traits that they share that most ppl simply won’t understand

example: candace in general lmao. two way street with that one tho

and i could go with the whole “only they understand each other” thing but that’s stupid and i hate it

but there’s very few ppl that understand them and for most of they it quite simply isn’t at the level that they understand each other

thankfully, though, they aren’t too codependent on each other, as seen in act your age and that time where they talk to their mom in the future

anyway in conclusion: they love each other lots and very much prefer life with the other around

thanks for the ask!

[the8thsphynx]

SPHYNX I stalk you on Twitter too and I saw your post about how a lot of River is based on Kotetsu and I got compelled to ask you: what do you think it would be like if your Fate OCs were in the Tiger & Bunny universe?? How chaotic or how well do you think they'd work??

Hello

And oh jesus christ, this is the perfect question to trap me.

(long-ish post ahead)

You know, it's kind of funny. With them being mages and Heroic Spirits, I wouldn't be surprised if most people in Tiger and Bunny verse would just assume they're NEXTs. So they'd probably blend in well, but--

-River

Instant uncanny valley with Kotetsu and them being basically the same person (bc again, I based the guy off him.)

''And where did this other dog come from? Who is he???'

BUT, they click and become friends with no hesitation.

Also relating with the 'being in love with a long haired, tragic twunk with pretty green eyes'.

Also becomes bros with Antonio, resulting in the Kotetsu-Antonio-River three-way bromance of alcohol and partying and non-toxic masculinity.

-Alt Alcides

Don't do that to Barnaby. Don't do that to Ryan. Don't to that to Keith. Don't put them in danger like that.

Maybe good for Ivan, Karina, Lara, and Pao Lin? Second Mom Figure.

It's Fucking Heracles™. The Hero of Heroes. The Champion of Legend. This is her Department. She invented the job.

'Oh wow, you have a dead spouse TOO? Wow that's so crazyyyyy.'

She's Going to Bully Everyone, Oh God Get Her Out of Here it'd be funny af tho, specifically she's going to upstage everyone in ways that are gonna land everyone a bonus therapy session.

Alcides thinks she's being friendly and sisterly, but actually she's lowering everyone's self-esteem exponentially.

-Brier

No.

Would live to torment Yuri. Would find out he's Lunatic in like two seconds and exploit it.

'Hey girl, I got a ticket for doing 70 in the city for the work you fucked up on, and I need you to get me out of it, thanks bestiiiieeeee~'

Actually, because she's unhinged, she would just devote herself to finding the secret identities of everyone and would probably get it all in like one day. Because she hates not being to know anything, even if it's not her business... You know... assassin, and all that.

She's gonna Target Steal everyone. And be very annoying about it. Get her OUT.

...Actually if EMIYA is there then everyone stands a chance. Maybe. Let's put EMIYA in there for everyone's sake.

-Fakkir

The only people she has any capacity to tolerate is Nathan and Yuri.

Finds out Yuri is Lunatic (courtesy of Brier) and has mad respect for him, just wishes his vetting system was a bit more fine tuned and that he wasn't going out of his way and wasting time to obstruct the heroes.

'I'm uncomfortable with how much the bull guy reminds me of my husband. Get him away from me.'

-Adam

LOVES Antonio because of the fact that he reminds him of his dad.

Actually loves all of the heroes. Much to Fakkir's chagrin he even wants to join the Hero Academy, but his 'powers' (magecraft) is so niche in terms of superheroes that he'd have a rough time in most situations like Ivan.

He'll sneak off and get involved with the Heroes' missions, which ends up putting him in a lot of trouble, but he loves the adventure.

[jupitermelichios]

Chapter 1: Closed for the Foreseeable

Fandom: Stranger Things

Ship: Steve/Eddie, Steve & Robin bromance, Steve & Eddie & Dustin friendship

Tags: everyone lives AU, monster!Eddie, Eddie dies and comes back different AU, fix-it of sorts, no one is okay but they're getting better, steve technically figures out he's bi but he's much more interested in the fact that he also figures out he's a monsterfucker, it turns out informal TPE D/s is a thing and Steve Harrington invented it, found family, this isn't a venom AU but it's also not not a venom AU

Warnings: disordered eating, suicidal ideation, canon-typical violence, minor character death, fanon-typical terrible parenting from the Harringtons for the 2 chapters they show up for, explicit sexual content, alcohol and marajuana use

“Haven’t you figured it out yet, Stevie? Everyone you care about is deranged. Every single one of them. That’s why you fit in so well.” What a lovely thought. “Okay, but I’m still the most fucked up though, right? I’m not giving up my title without a fight.” Eddie laughs. “None of them hold a torch to you, big boy. I bet Nancy wouldn’t find having her body used as a meat puppet even slightly hot. Jonathan probably wouldn’t even like having someone living in his bones.”

[read more]

[gaildaley]

WHAT IS YOUR WRITING GENRE?

Before we get started with the descriptive genres we need to get familiar with some abbreviations used in book descriptions.

Abbreviations Used In Book Descriptions

I actually thought I was familiar with all the abbreviations used in book descriptions until I found this list. Some of these things I’ve never heard of before! They are often used by reviewers and some writers in book descriptions, so I think it behooves ignorant writers like me to at least know what they are.

PNR is the acronym typically used for paranormal romance: Shifters and vampires and mermaids and so much more. Shifters are people able to become various animals. Vampires are simply vampires. It depends on the writer whether they are good or bad. The one thing most of them seem to have in common is drinking blood or sometimes life essence. A few writers of fantasy like Ilona Andrews (husband and wife writing team) treated them as another species (theirs don’t drink blood).

PWF Paranormal Women’s Fiction. These books will have adventure, passion, and LIFE. And they’ll kick ass, just like all our books already do! We are not inventing books with 40+ heroines. We are hoping to define a place for them amongst other genres.

OTP: One True Pairing (that couple that you will root for till the end of time)


NOTP: (Pronounced No-TP) Basically the opposite of an OTP. You do not want this couple together!

BROTP/Bromance: A friendship (between guys) that you adore!

Ship: If you ship a couple, it means that you want them to get together (comes from the word “relationship”).


HEA: Happily Ever After


Book Boyfriend/Girlfriend: The fictional boy (or girl) you only wishcould be your real-life love.


Insta-love/Insta-lust: The phenomenon that happens all too often in books when the couple meets and instantly falls in love (or, sometimes, lust).


Love Triangle: When the main character can’t decide between two romantic partners—most frustrating when this is drawn out for multiple books in a series.


Slash Fiction: A type of fan fiction where two same-sex characters are paired together (often guys). Sometimes slash can just refer to the imagined pairing of two same-sex characters (not necessarily within fan fiction).


OMYM/OWYM: Older man, younger woman/Older woman, younger man

M/M Male/male romance

F/F female/female romance

RH reverse harem - typically one woman several men

MC: Main character (book is told from their POV).


POV: Point of view (the perspective that the book is told from).


POC/BIPOC: People of color/Black, Indigenous, and people of color


Daphne: A female character who has to be rescued all the time (in reference to Daphne from Scooby Doo)


Mary Sue: A character who is too perfect and/or too good which, strangely.


Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist.


Twist: An unexpected event in a book—typically one that changes the direction of the plot or characters dramatically.

Info-Dump: When the author gives you lots of background information all at once via narration or dialogue.


Bechdel Test: a set of criteria used as a test to evaluate a work of fiction (such as a film) on the basis of its inclusion and representation of female characters. the term was popularized by American Cartoonist Alison Bechdel so it was named after her. Alison Bechdel never claimed to be the originator of the test. In fact, she never gave it a name. She credited her friend Liz Wallace for the idea, but also the work of author Virginia Woolf in her essay “A Room of One’s Own”.


Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose POV is not trustworthy (could be due to lying, misinformation on the part of the MC, mental health or memory issues, etc.).

GT
Agent: a person who acts on behalf of an author, negotiating with publishers and promoters.

Alpha Reader
The first reader, usually a non-professional, who provides feedback on a writer’s work.

ANT
Antagonist: the adversary or competitor to the hero/protagonist of any story.

APS
Associated Press Stylebook: a writer’s and journalist’s reference manual for rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and word and numeral usage.

ARC
Advance Reader Copy: free copy of a book given by a publisher to media, librarians, or other readers in advance of official publication.

ASIN
Amazon Standard Identification Number: Amazon’s unique identifier for each book they sell.

AU
Alternate universe: a fictional universe in which recognizable details are changed in order to create the story.

Beta Reader
A reader, usually non-professional, who provides feedback on a book after a writer has made revisions inspired by alpha readers.

BG
Bad guy: the Freddy Krueger, Lord Voldemort, or Darth Vader of your narrative.

BS
Backstory: history or background that occurs before the current events of a story.

Character Arc
The inner journey and transformation in personality of a character between the beginning and the end of a story.

CMOS
Chicago Manual of Style: a writer’s and editor’s reference manual for grammar usage, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and word and numeral usage.

Cont
Contemporary (genre): a genre that, although fictional, depicts realistic events that could happen in today’s society. An example: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

CP
Critique Partner: a writer who provides feedback on a fellow writer’s work.

Drabble
One hundred words that tell a story. Drabbles, because of their brevity, demand strong verbs, zero redundancies, and minimal showing. They usually require more time to write than longer stories.

F & SF
Fantasy And Science Fiction (genre): make-believe worlds and characters combined with narrative that is based on scientific principles. Think Star Wars by George Lucas, et al.

FF
Flash Fiction: very short fiction, usually containing fewer than 1000 words.

FN/Fant
Fantasy (genre): stories about mythical worlds often populated by magical creatures. Example: Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.

GMC
Goal, motivation, conflict: important elements for engaging stories.

GN
Graphic Novel (genre): stories that are told using a combination of graphic panels and text. Although a graphic novel may be similar to a comic book in format, it usually encompasses an intriguing plot with character growth. Example: the Logan’s Run graphic novels by William F. Nolan, et al.

HC
Hardcover

Hook
An element that is unique to a story. Always memorable, it may also be controversial.

HR
Horror (genre): frightening stories that often include elements of fantasy. Examples: Children of the Corn by Stephen King and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

Indie
An independent writer who maintains creative control and who is not associated with a major publisher.

Juv
Juvenile (audience/genre): usually geared to children under twelve years of age. Example: Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.

LI
Love interest

Logline
A brief summary, usually one sentence, that presents the main conflict or storyline, often combined with a hook to stimulate the interest of readers.

LOILetter Of Introduction

[adeadhorse]

Any thoughts on Quinn? (002 ask meme)

How I feel about this character:  Quinn is cool. She's definitely one of the most developed characters, though I personally prefer her in S3 when her non-stop quirkiness has been toned down. The main reason why she's not a favourite is because none of Dan's beloved "weirdo" tropes work for me, and because parts of her performance can get a little grating - lots of squealing and shrieking. But again, it's nice that she's a pretty well-rounded character who gets to be smart, passionate, jealous, manipulative, cool, and ultimately a good friend.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:  Logan and Nicole.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:  Probably Lola, but I also would have liked her to have more of a bromance with Chase.

My unpopular opinion about this character:  I think she and Logan had better chemistry in S3 than S4, and in general I think they're a relatively overhyped couple.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: She really should have ditched Mark earlier in the series. Also I don't get why all of these couples got together on the same day they broke up with another partner.

My OTP: Logan, I am not going to fight the fandom on this.

My cross over ship: Mindy from Drake & Josh because evil science gfs.

A headcanon fact: I've mentioned previously on here that I headcanon her as Jewish and that her parents were very rich and well-intentioned but didn't really know what to do with her, hence the alpaca and the boarding school. In terms of her as an adult, I think she became a corporate research scientist and got bored out of her brain, but needed to fund her own inventions/patents. I do actually have a NSFW headcanon though. Context: years and years ago when I still followed the cast on social media, Erin shared a meme about Quinn being a butch lesbian, and then I saw a comment about Logan being a bossy bottom, and it cracked me the hell up so the line about pegging from baby, don't be gentle was born and I stand by it.

[effervescentdragon]

Finwean headcanons I apparently have

The point of this post is for me not to forget them while I’m writing, so this is gonna be heavily edited in the future, so I gotta invent a tag. Anyways this is for all the fics, except Glorfindel/Curufin verse:

- Galadriel and Caranthir used to fuck around hang out a lot;

- Findis’ amilessë is  Istilórë (wise dreamer);

- Glorfindel is good friends with Nolofinweans, first bcs they’re cool, also bcs Elenwë was his cousin (they’re both Vanyar);

- Elenwë is non-binary;

- Glorfindel is also good friends with Aiko&Ango bcs reasons;

- Celebrimbor&Narvi made the Doors from SA1400 onwards;

- Erestor is Ecthelion’s younger half-brother, born in Arda, Ecthelion was born in Aman;

- Ereinion's daddy is in fact Orodreth son of Angrod, so he’s blonde af and an Arafinwean, don’t @ me;

- Tyelpë and Idril used to play when they were kids; Turgon rly hates the Feanarions but he begrudgingly likes Tyelpe (check with calime’s  counting spreadsheet if this is possible);

- Lalwen was Feanor’s fave sibling, which kinda fucked them over all and a lot, impacting her relationships with Nolo, Findis, and THE OTHER ONE;

- Galadriel almost died on the ice (important for flw7 and that other thing + flesh out Eldalote);

- Galadriel & Gandalf rly love one another, like, purest ever love there is, just happy af, like you&M;

- Erestor stayed with the twins after Fall of Gondolin, went with them w/ kidnap!fam; stayed with Elrond after Elros died, till then he was in Numenor;

- fuck I forgot about Finduilas; FIGURE IT OUT!;

- actually figure out the whole Nargothrond thing, you legit have no hcs about that, and you fucking should;

- Orodreth is a lil bitch;

- Nolo liked Mae, and knew abt him and Finno, but never told them till after reembodimenf;

-Mae was wary of Lalwen when he was kid, bcs she was so like Feanaro, but growing up, she became his fave aunt, and shed burn the world for that kid;

- LALWEN 💖 CIRDAN;

- turgon and mae are both business majors but in opposite directions;

- Finrod is eldritch knowledge like Galadriel, but he doesnt care, she likes lording, well, ladying it over ppl;

- Celeborn&Cìrdan bromance for the ages, LITERALLY;

-

[woulddieforperrytheplatypus]

I've been rewatching all the Loki content to get ready for the new show and I have thought of A Phineas and Ferb AU™ for your viewing pleasure (and if anyone wants to turn any part of this into an actual fanfic I would owe you my life)

this post was brought to you in partnership with @dumbausfromdanville

You know how the first Thor movie ends with Loki yeeting himself off the Bifrost and falling to earth? What if, instead of going after the Tesseract, he falls straight to the Tri-State area?

Jane, Darcy, and Selvig all seemed to be on vacation, right? So Thor presumably took place during the summer — say, perhaps, ending on June 3? So he falls right onto Phineas and Ferb's rollercoaster just before it goes down that ♫ three-mile drop straight down ♪. He has no idea wtf is happening so it's not like he gets the chance to sit down and put on a seatbelt, so he's stuck holding on for dear life for the entire rollercoaster ride which Phineas and Ferb find weird but they're not really concerned bc they're chill lil dudes and tbh this isn't too far off a normal day for them.

Phineas and Loki strike up a none-too-pleasant conversation (not that Phineas notices Loki's bad mood; he's too Him to realize not everyone is rainbows and sunshine all day, every day), and our favorite lil disoriented demigod has to figure out where the fuck he is now ("You there. What realm is this?" "Danville 🙂" "Wut da fuk?") and what the fuck he's supposed to do now that he's here.

Phineas ends up inviting him to hang out for the afternoon, and Loki is about to turn him down but then he smells the pie. He's never had doonkleberry pie before so obviously he has to try it. Then, when Loki's no longer hangry, they can hold an actual conversation. It's lowkey more Loki wallowing in his own self-pity than anything else, but Ferb recognizes Asgard when Loki mentions it so he and Phineas piece together that he's a god pretty quickly.

More importantly, though, they figure out that he's completely alone, and because Loki never mentions trying to, you know, murder his brother and lowkey overthrow the monarchy, they just kinda assume Loki's family sucks (Ferb is completely prepared to start the anti-Thor club but Phineas stops him because he doesn't want his brother to get struck by lightning) and adopt him (without his consent, but it's not like he has anywhere else to be -- and he did like that pie).

Loki has no desire to build anything with the boys He thinks the idea of a backyard beach they make the next morning is stupid — even more stupid than a regular beach, and that's saying something. But over time, he gets more involved -- not just with the boys, but with the entire family. He helps the boys build their inventions. He talks about human history with Lawrence and corrects much of his knowledge on mythology. He lets Linda teach him how to bake seriously, her pies are so good. He even suffers through Candace's mall trips as long as he gets to go to that fro-yo place on the second floor (though he draws the line at any conversation involving romance).

He's still a little skeptical of the platypus (and he feels like the platypus is a little skeptical of him, too) but Phineas insists that he's "just a platypus" and he "doesn't do much." Loki doesn't realize that Perry's keeping an eye on him for OWCA, nor does he know that Monogram has absolutely no idea what to make of the dude so he hasn't actually told any of his superiors about him. As far as the government is concerned, after the fiasco in New Mexico, Loki just disappeared.

This makes it fucking hilarious when the boys accidentally steal the superheroes' powers in Mission: Marvel and the superheroes show up at the Flynn-Fletchers' front door only to see fucking Loki. Loki just shuts the door in their faces without a word because what the fuck?, but eventually Phineas and Ferb go check the door and they agree to help the heroes (much to Loki's chagrin), which, of course, isn't complete with Candace fangirling over them (also much to Loki's chagrin; she never fangirled over him). At first the Avengers are fully convinced that Loki is responsible for stealing their powers, and Loki never actually denies it because he's a little shit but Phineas, Ferb, and their friends are very insistent that Loki didn't do anything (except a little bit of manual labor putting together the satellites because they're 10 and he's a whole-ass demigod).

At some point, Thor and Loki have a very heated discussion about the events of Thor, and it's pretty much all news to the Flynn-Fletchers and their friends. They're not really sure what to make of it so they basically glue their mouths shut and watch it all play out. I'd like to think it goes something like it does in The Avengers and that a) Thor is pissed because what the fuck have you been up to Loki you fucking dumbass, b) Thor has been in mourning since Loki yeeted himself into the abyss and he wants to make sure the guy knows it, and c) Loki does not take it seriously at all he's being antagonistic the entire time because he is so sick of Mr. High-And-Mighty's shit. In the end, Loki storms out of the SHEDquarters and Phineas doesn't even think to try to stop him until he's halfway out the door and it's too late.

He shows up again when Phineas, Ferb, and the Avengers try to fight the bad guys in the mall with the wrong powers and he basically singlehandedly saves their asses until superhero Perry shows up. As everyone's favorite shapeshifter, he has absolutely no problem figuring out that this beaver duck dude is the Flynn-Fletchers' platypus. He has no idea what to do with that information, but it sure is information that he now has apparently. (At this point, poor Loki has a very warped sense of what earth is supposed to be like lmao).

Phineas tries to get Loki to come back with them after superhero Perry grabs them and carries them home. Instead, Loki cuts himself loose and falls like 30 feet straight down (and tbh after falling from the Bifrost, that's nothing to him) and peaces the fuck out.

Loki ends up accidentally bonding with Candace and Isabella over feeling useless and unwanted (and he absolutely gets his own verse in Only Trying to Help because it's what he deserves), but unlike the two girls who are hell-bent on changing that, Loki is content wallowing in his own self-pity. He's tried this whole "being important" thing before and he ended up in self-exile for it. He's not putting himself through it again because he really doesn't expect it to end well. But then the powerless heroes decide to face the villains again, and with Candace and Isabella in space and Perry nowhere to be seen, he realizes it is once again up to him to keep the tri-state area safe (which he knows is a stupid priority but he's gotten kind of attached to these stupid little humans and he wants to keep them safe).

Then the heroes get their powers back and they join Loki (and Perry and the mysterious waffle gun in the sky) and beat the shit out of the villains. Thor and Loki work together in the heat of the battle which serves as a Great Bonding Moment™, and once the villains are gone, they have a nice lil heart-to-heart where they both apologize for their past. Thor remarks that Loki seems to have grown a lot over the last couple of months and tries to bring Loki home with him, but Loki refuses. He'll never be welcome back into Asgard, no matter what Thor may say.

But he is welcome with the Flynn-Fletchers, who are completely over the fact that he tried to ruin Thor's life and take his not-so-rightful place on the throne (except Candace who's very skeptical about having him back but it's not like Linda will believe her if she tries to tell her what Thor and Loki talked about so her opinion is unfortunately as irrelevant as it usually is on the show).

And early the next morning, before anyone else is awake, Perry gets an alert that he's needed in his headquarters (presumably to talk to or about Fury). He quietly sneaks off, only to find Loki waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him. They have a very nice "conversation" (not that Perry speaks) about the superhero Ducky Momo they saw the day before, and Loki assures him that his secret is safe, thus starting a much-needed bromance between Loki and Perry because it's what my babies, goddammit!

Anyways yeah if anyone wants to write a fanfic about Loki hanging out with Phineas and Ferb during his self-exile I would give you a socially distant high-five because I want to read it but I have too many other fanfics on my plate to start this one for at least a few months. It doesn't have to follow this prompt literally at all (I swear I wasn't trying to get this in-depth with it but this is what I do apparently) or it can follow this prompt exactly idc i just want a PnF/Loki fanfic 🥺

[inchidentally]

ouuhh that's not…

I swear I read it three times and looked through their blog hoping they were joking alfhaslfkh nope

BUT I do not want anyone to engage with this so I'm hiding the link - not just because it's ridiculous but because the best way to confine rpf ship drama is to leave it alone. (edit: so I lied abt this asofgsalfga I did reply to one person but only bc they put it in the main tags) I don't rly like blocking but I also don't want to have to create a million filtered tagged posts on my dash - and tbh I don't think anyone I've blocked will care anyway. this way I can still see carlando content for fun but none of the fandom nonsense.

I'm mostly posting this bc up til now I rly wanted to set aside the behavior of the fandom to continue enjoying carlando content but I just can't be bothered anymore. between the larrying and the rampant, disgusting casual misogyny - and ofc the competing with which friendship or fake ship blorbo 1 and 2 are "happier" with asgfjsalfglja. and it's not just this latest thing I get sent tweets and posts abt whole agendas to "prove" that Lando isn't "happy" with Oscar/Martin/insert man who is currently considered threatening to their concepts of Lando's relationships. some ppl even friendzone Max F and Lando and pretend Carlos means more to Lando than him so there's no limits to the insanity.

so for me atp there just isn't enough about carlando to make it worth constantly being reminded that the way too many of it's fans truly believe that these are two men are either as close to each other as they are to their real, acknowledged close friends and/or in a secret gay relationship, that their girlfriend(s) are cold-hearted PR plants/escorts rigged by an evil all-controlling PR department and once the blorbos are freed of homophobic forces (oh god Carlos' old tweets tiktokboom) they can finally have the kind of toxic heteronormative version of a queer relationship that is right with the universe.

like, rpf is only meant to be for fun and more important it is meant to be kept away from anyone involved/the general public !! but when ppl's delu results in the actual women these men choose as their partners being at best aggressively cropped out of pictures and videos* and at worst stalked, harassed, their families and employers harassed, abuse and slander left in comments sections on popular social media and team pages - yea carlando laughing together sometimes and slowed down bro hugging isn't enough lol

it’s also slightly the fact that if you picked a bunch of Lando’s reactions to Carlos and Daniel and no one knew context clues then no one would be able to tell which one he’s reacting to. Carlos/Daniel teases Lando, Lando shriek laughs and goes red, James Corden style gay innuendo, slightly tense undercurrent of men wanting to one up each other with jokes, iterations of bromance that are half sincere and half for the cameras, hashtag hashtag. Lando goes to Daniel's ranch on a whim, dando is special. Lando goes to Carlos' sister's huge society wedding, carlando is special. Lando's family likes Lando which makes carlando special. Lando and Daniel share mutual friends outside of racing which makes dando special. like, it's the same dynamic just rotated around at different times. I enjoy both ships to a certain degree but I'm kind of mystified at ppl choosing to see them as super deep and meaningful and worth fighting over.

side note g o d do I fully embrace that ppl who do these ship competitions and larrying nonsense have ZERO interest in landoscar bc we love Lily and support Lando in his many probable conquests - and bc the Lando and Oscar dynamic isn't a big bromance for the cameras and has no fake gay for fangirl consumption.

like yes pls absolutely consider landoscar inferior to carlando if it means they stay away from inventing conspiracy theories and saying they "just have a bad feeling" about Lily and start attributing everything Lando has achieved to his teammate instead of himself.

also I could be SO incredibly mean using charlos vs carlando and the difference between PR and the public trying to tear one apart but it persisting vs PR and the public being a major factor in the other persisting at all. or the fact that charlos does everything ppl want carlando to do. but there's no point spending more time on people who think that two adult men - who've both said they're as much rivals as friends and the bromance is more what the public sees - are laughing in metrically different and lesser degrees of happiness with their new teammates vs a former teammate.

like, as long as I can now not be exposed to those opinions then they have a perfect right to express them. god knows I'm not saying my blogs is worth a damn but at least I don't trash anyone's gf or try to stunt on other rpf ships for no reason

tl;dr I'm p much done trying to make carlando worthwhile for me to rb or post about. I enjoy seeing it on my dash for myself but that's it! no one will be affected by this change lafhlsahf

*I know there are a few ppl out there who do this bc they have a no-private life policy on their blogs and that's np. they aren't die hard carlando fans tho.

[yohankang]

i saw people making list of the shows they watched last year so i decided to make one too 💞 i’m putting it under read more because i rambled too much

top 10 shows i watched last year:

the devil judge - yes, i decided to be honest with myself asdfghjs it is THE show of 2021 for me. yes, i know it has flaws, no it doesn’t matter to me <3 i love yoh- *one of my non tdj mutuals shoots me*

word of honor - wenzhou invented love, loyalty and devotion, also they saved my life 💗 this show changed the rest of the year for me, inspired me to start making gifs again and helped me survive the worst moments of 2021

the untamed (2019) - do i even have to say anything. i should’ve watched it 2 years ago!!! 

my country: the new age (2019) - i’m forever indebted to anyone who recommended me this series. so heartbreaking and beautiful, it made me go insane </3 mutuals watch it pls 

vincenzo - so refreshing!! it gave me my best friend hanseo 🥰 i'm forever in denial about that ending tho

move to heaven - so, so beautiful and important. i’d recommend it to anyone!!

prison playbook (2017) - PEAK BROMANCE. it was so funny and heartwarming, i would watch it for lee joonho alone 

mine - KIM SEOHYUNG!!! WOMEN!!!! this drama was sooo satisfying, i loved the mystery and all the complicated relationships. also lesbian milfs

navillera - made me cry almost every episode lmao but i love crying so 

a tale of thousand stars - last few eps were a bit underwhelming but it’s still my favorite bl of 2021. tian and phupha’s chemistry was insane!!

other shows i liked a lot:

run on - i’m just not a fan of romance dramas... but this series gave me lee younghwa 💕 i keep him in a jar next to my bed :)

d.p. - difficult to watch but i enjoyed it a lot! han hoyeol my beloved 💓

beyond evil - very solid series, would make it to top 10 if not for the fact that i had to watch it on 2x speed 

to my star - so soft and comforting, i’m excited for season 2!!

shows i watched but didn’t enjoy:

kill me, heal me (2015) - i only watched it for ji sung, it was a bit too cringy for me and the incest part... wtf 

guardian (2018) - shen wei my beloved <333 10 amazing scenes, the rest was crappy (but it’s still very dear to me)

strangers from hell (2019) - lee dong wook was absolutely amazing in this, but it was boring and felt like hannibal rip off... 

shows i started in 2021 but haven’t finished yet:

kieta hatsukoi - ida!!!! best boy!!!! i will finish watching it soon, i absolutely adore this drama

bad buddy - i’m just not emotionally stable enough to watch it every week adfghks, i will catch up when it ends and i know it will be in my top 10 next year

bad and crazy - only 6 episodes aired as of today but i’m obsessed with it. i’m predicting it will be in my top 5 dramas next year. i just love pathetic men :)

shows i dropped:

lovely writer - uhhhh. i’ve seen so many thai dramas i developed standards, sorry

miss the dragon - i only started it because of the pretty main actor, dropped it after 6 eps </3

squid game - i don’t like violent and cruel stories, watched 2 eps and it was enough

the flaming heart - i’m sorry gong jun </3 i watched more than 10 episodes i think? it wasn’t bad bad but i just lost interest

you make me dance - too cringy :( 

alice in borderland (2020) - i only watched it for machida keita so you probably know why i dropped it adfghjs maaaybe i will finish it one day because it wasn’t bad, idk

[lannisterdaddyissues]

since you reblogged a second ask meme, answer for matthew, bates, and tom pls?

DSHGUAFKJDGKDSF THANK YOU ANON ILYSM YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY MAKING MY NIGHT AND I OWE YOU MY LIFE <33333

Matthew:

Sexuality Headcanon: matthew is and always will be bi to me, i physically cannot imagine him being any other way <3 however, he is very closeted and very confused about it bc wtf men don't kiss other men?!?! (hc taken pretty much straight from this fic btw which is probably the greatest fic i've read for any fandom ever)

Gender Headcanon: just cis! i don't really explore gender hcs with characters that much bc i haven't experienced anything like that myself

A ship I have with said character: mary/matthew 2kforever <3 they really are the otp to end all otps and true love didn't exist before they invented it actually

A BROTP I have with said character: tom/matthew!!! their bromance was Everything to me!!!!!

A NOTP I have with said character: thomas/matthew bitch wtf is that i'm going to kill you

A random headcanon: he is a good little church boy who doesn't drink :) this is partly bc he likes to remain in full control of his mental faculties, but he also is reluctant to admit that he just dislikes the taste of alcohol lol. additionally, he is an ace at trivia! he knows so many miscellaneous facts about obscure things from reading books and takes great pride in impressing mary with the breadth of his knowledge whenever an opportunity presents itself

General Opinion over said character: he is my precious cherub and i would protect him with my life ❤️

Bates:

Sexuality Headcanon: my dude, my man, my guy...have you seen his private scenes with robert. he is so bi you can't even question it. he definitely experimented more than once while off at war when there weren't any women around and he has absolutely no qualms about checking out other men whether they're paying attention or not because they normally misinterpret it as his 'ascertaining how best to kill you' look

Gender Headcanon: this is a middle-aged man i cannot believe i have to say this but he is cis

A ship I have with said character: banna of course!! i get that a lot of people on here don't like them or find them problematic but aside from mary/matthew, bates and anna were the reason my mom and i watched downton in the first place

A BROTP I have with said character: oh definitely robert. i want all the war stories of those two, they have so much history and it's ripe for the picking

A NOTP I have with said character: defund his wife

A random headcanon: he always knows exactly what the weather is going to be like on a given day. when asked how he knows, all he says is "i just do" but it's really because his knee starts acting up whenever it rains

General Opinion over said character: he is my emotional support war criminal and i think he should get away with murder actually

Tom:

Sexuality Headcanon: also bi! he has definitely kissed another man at least once just to be sure and is comfortable checking out other men but only when they're not looking

Gender Headcanon: cis male again i'm sorry i'm boring

A ship I have with said character: i liked tom/sybil but i wouldn't say it's an otp. tbh i would probably ship him with matthew if i didn't love matthew with mary so much. i also secretly love brary, their friendship after losing the loves of their lives was just so touching and i couldn’t help reading into it a bit in some scenes in the later seasons 😭

A BROTP I have with said character: again, is there any answer except the tom/matthew bromance?? they were so special

A NOTP I have with said character: i hated edna and sarah bunting so much like can we give tom a new love interest who doesn't make me sick

A random headcanon: he's really good at card tricks! mary will think on a trick for hours after he's shown it to her but she can't figure any of them out for the life of her

General Opinion over said character: hmmm honestly it fluctuates. he had some very frustrating moments in the series where i was like wtf but i liked him from the get-go and i liked him overall throughout the series! i really enjoyed his developing relationships with the upstairs family and i was thrilled when he came back from america

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1981 - Bonus: Avengers Annual 10/What If? 27

The X-Men, those Claremontian mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men! [more here]

(Avengers Annual 10 & What If? 27) - by Chris Claremont and Mary Jo Duffy, Michael Golden and Jerry Bingham

Avengers? You’re not here for Avengers! Let me make the following counterpoint:

Holy eye shadow, Rogue!

See, Avengers Annual 10 is less about the Avengers and more about three other things:

The rehabilitation of Carol Danvers who, after this, has had her fill of the Avengers and becomes an honorary member of the X-Men;

Spider-Woman and the X-Men trying to figure out what has happened to Ms. Marvel;

Mystique trying to spring her Brotherhood from prison, using a secret weapon: Rogue.

Depending on my mood that day, I might name Rogue as my favourite-ever X-Man, so I really could not skip her debut issue. Instantly iconic, all of this:

Her streak;

Her signature green outfit with hoodie;

Her accent.

Queen.

I love how Claremont once again almost effortlessly introduces a strong female character, one that single-handedly takes down three of the strongest Avengers. Also note how free Rogue still is with her powers: fun, flirty, without the tragic can’t-touch-anyone-angle that will define her for the next three decades.

I’m sorry, am I getting ahead of myself?

This story begins as a whodunit: who pushed an amnesiac Carol Danvers off the Golden Gate Bridge and stole her mind? For that matter, where did she came from? Wasn’t she happily married and pregnant in some alternative dimension last time the readers saw her? Spider-Woman rescues her from the choppy water and calls Professor Xavier to help out. He manages to retrieve the Jane Doe’s identity and knows who attacked her: a woman named Rogue.

Rogue, meanwhile, skulks about the Avengers Mansion, first taking out Captain America and then attacking Thor.

Considering what this comic is about, I don’t believe Hawkeye’s throwaway mysognism is accidental here.

Rogue’s powers work as follows: through touch, she can steal other people’s powers and memories. The longer she touches someone, the longer she’ll have them - with the looming threat of the theft becoming permanent.

After absorbing Thor, Rogue is faced with three Avengers who’s powers she can’t absorb - Spider-Woman (covered in a suit); Vision (robot) and Wonder Man (being of pure energy? Idk, I’m not really familiar with him other than his bromance with Beast). Hoping the three powers she has in her arsenal - Ms. Marvel’s, Thor’s and Cap’s - will be enough, Rogue flees.

Mystique, meanwhile, has duped Iron Man by pretending to be the Wasp and has paralysed Tony Stark in his suit with some sort of device. She picks up the powered-up Rogue and their plan becomes clear:

Rogue immediately earns her place in my heart by using billionaire Tony Stark the way the Coyote uses anvils. (Also note the odd way of spelling ‘sugah’.)

I love how both the Brotherhood and the X-Men continually pull focus from the Avengers: for an Avengers-comic, it's surprising how much they're pushed to the background. Again, this makes sense if you know what this issue really is about, but that won’t become clear until the epilogue. I don’t mind, it means we get a ton of great moments, like the Blob calling Mystique ‘Misty’:

My God, this era’s Destiny/Mystique is even more obvious than 90’s Rictor/Shatterstar.

A battle erupts. One funny moment is actually seeing Destiny fight. I’ve never really read comics about this incarnation of the Brotherhood and my collection mostly takes off after Legion Quest, so I mostly know Destiny posthumously. I always figured that, as a villain, she stood somewhere off on the side, delivering cryptic messages. I never realized she was the one to almost shoot Senator Kelly, nor that her powers are this practical.

X-Men drinking game rule 11: Drink anytime someone fatshames the Blob.

The fight is pretty evenly matched until Spider-Woman releases Iron Man from Mystique’s little trap. Soon, the Avengers overwhelm the Brotherhood. While Mystique and Rogue manage to flee, Destiny, Avalanche, Pyro and the Blob are detained again.

With the main antagonists sorted, we return to the actual storyline: the rehabilitation of Ms. Marvel. Professor X has managed to tease her out of her catatonic state and offers her therapy to restore her missing memories and powers. (The ones stolen by Rogue.) The Avengers, not fully understanding why Carol won’t ask them for help, eventually come by for a house call.

Carol asks the X-Men to leave while the Avengers gingerly confront her. It’s very awkward.

“Fuck the Avengers. Taking my beer.” - Wolverine, probably.

See, what all this refers to is the rape of Ms. Marvel. I haven’t read the particular comic in which this happens (Avengers 200), so if you want all the details, I’ll refer you to this article. Before I get into the details, it’s important to note that Claremont was the writer for Carol Danvers in her solo-series, giving her agency and turning Ms. Marvel into a three-dimensional character. The title was then cancelled and Carol was shuffled off to the Avengers. (Rogue was, in fact, planned to make her debut in that the solo-Ms. Marvel series, as one of Ms. Marvel’s new antagonists. Presumably, Rogue would steal her powers there, too. We all know Claremont loves to strip his heroes and heroines of their powers to show they’re even more badass without them.)

As an Avenger, Carol was wooed by some other-dimensional dude/entity named Marcus. He courted her by giving her flowers, worshipping the ground she stepped on and, oh yeah, ‘subtly’ influencing her mind to make her fall in love with him and consequently impregnating her.

Yes.

Now, Claremont is no stranger to putting his characters through their paces and he gleefully makes use of the whole mental manipulation-trope. In fact, telepathically coercing someone to fall in love with you is absolutely what Mastermind did to Jean Grey: he probably violated her just as much as Marcus did Carol. The difference is how it’s treated in the narrative: Mastermind’s actions are never laughed away or apologized for and are the direct cause for his downfall. They help trigger Jean’s transformation to the Dark Phoenix, whose first deed is taking out her fury on ‘Jason Wyngarde’.

That’s… not what happened with Ms. Marvel. There, the narrative condones Marcus’ actions by framing it as ‘her happy ending’ (married and pregnant, yay!), something which is celebrated by the Avengers.

This is where Carol calls them out for their bullshit.

We call this ‘The Reason You Suck’-Speech. It’s a thing of beauty.

The Avengers depart, tail between their legs, and Carol hangs out with the cool X-kids from now on. For now, at least.

So, this issue is not only a landmark because it’s where Rogue debuts, but you can also see Chris Claremont going to bat for one of characters: he (presumably reluctantly) gave back the character of Carol Danvers when her solo was cancelled, proceeded to see how terribly they massacred his girl and then claimed that ownership right back.

Good for you, Claremont.

***

The “What If… the Phoenix Had Not Died”-issue is kind of boring, because it’s basically a rehash of the Phoenix Saga. Why am I paying attention to it? Because of the (mild) gore (and because the Avengers Annual wouldn’t fill a whole post). Anyway, it’s like watching a Final Destination-movie: it’s silly, light on plot and never a particularly thought-provoking movie, but it’s still fun to see all those people inventively but haplessly die.

Plot! Instead of committing suicide on the moon, the Shi’ar strip Jean of her powers after her trial. Jean is trapped in a barren mental state, almost feeling like she's a veggie. But Jean's powers refuse to remain dormant: slowly, her telepathy returns.

When Galactus threatens the Shi’ar homestead, Lilandra summons the X-Men as her champions. Jean embraces her Phoenix-side and defeats Galactus. Everyone is grateful and super-convinced Jean can handle the Phoenix this time! Yay!

And, because that battle with Galactus took a lot out of her, Jean decides she can have a little asteroid. As a treat. She keeps slipping up on her diet, supping on the occasional meteor and lonely planet to keep her power levels up. It turns out to be a slippery slope: finally, she consumes another star (in an uninhabited system! And a small one! How dare you judge her!), but when she returns to the mansion…

The absolute worst moment to forget you have powers, Kitty.

Xavier attempts to bind the Phoenix, but last time, Jean helped him fight from within. This time, there's not much Jean left. Without breaking a sweat, the Phoenix wipes his brain. But she doesn’t stop there. Maybe the Phoenix remembers that, last time, she was undone by the principles of “friendship is magic”. This time, she’s determined to not let it get so far.

It’s absolutely bone-chilling.

And the stars blinked As they watched her carefully Jealous of the way she shone - Atticus

I wonder if there’s a rhyme or reason to the way Jean murders her friends: is it random? Does she go for the ones she loves the most first? Does she save Cyclops for last, knowing killing him might trigger Jean to respond?

The narration mentions that the three remaining X-Men are the most powerful ones: Polaris, Havok and Cyclops. (I would’ve swapped in Storm for Cyclops, but whatever.) They have formulated a quick plan: Polaris pulls focus while Havok and Cyclops shift into position. Phoenix disintegrates Polaris while Havok and Scott try and blast Phoenix to smithereens.

But at the last moment, Scott can’t. Havok’s blast alone is not enough. Phoenix shoots him through the heart and then, finally, kills Cyclops. That’s when Jean resurfaces, realizing what she’s done. She can’t take it - she’s in the mood to dissolve in the sky, as per Virginia Woolf - and she lets the Phoenix take over.

Phoenix finally lives up to her potential: The End of All That Is.

It's a mediocre plot with a lame ramp-up to a terrifying conclusion. In the regular universe, the thing that triggers the Phoenix is the utter violation of Jean’s body and mind; here, it’s being confronted by Kitty. One is the proverbial red cloth in front of the bull, the other is being assaulted by an ineffective wet cloth. The Phoenix Saga is iconic because all the pieces were carefully put in place; this just feels rushed an unearned.

Also, the Watcher is full of shit. You can’t say you don’t pass judgment whilst simultaneously comparing the merits of one tragedy to the other. Shut up, Uatu.

Check back next week for your regularly scheduled X-Men Abridged! It’s time for 1982 and the brood saga!

[jupitermelichios]

The King in Black

Chapter 5: She Is Loved

Ship: Steve/Eddie, Steve & Robin bromance, Steve & Eddie & Dustin friendship

Tags: everyone lives AU, monster!Eddie, fix-it of sorts, no one is okay but they’re getting better, monsterfucker!Steve, it turns out informal TPE D/s is a thing and Steve Harrington invented it, found family, this isn’t a venom AU but it’s also not not a venom AU

Warnings: disordered eating, suicidal ideation, canon-typical violence, minor character death, fanon-typical terrible parenting, explicit sexual content, alcohol and marajuana use

Steve holds out his hand, curious, and Dustin drops Eddie’s necklace into it, a guitar pick with a hole punched through it on a chord. “Are you sure?” Steve asks. “I’m sure,” Dustin says, sounding steadier than Steve’s heard him in weeks. “Eddie never took it off.” Steve nods and fastens it around his own neck, and tries not to think about the fact that it’s the sort of thing Eddie might have given to a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend.

[Read on AO3]

[emachinescat]

I've decided to watch MacGyver from the beginning (again), and I'm live tweeting the experience with every tweet tagged with #savemacgyver. I thought it would be fun to share my collected thoughts from the episodes on here as well.

My Thoughts on S1E2, "Metal Saw"

Seriously love the music in this show!

THE FREAKING BELT GRAB. You can tell they've done this kind of thing before.

I always love it when Jack and Mac have heart-to-hearts in the middle of super intense, dangerous situations. Like... it's sweet, but time and place, guys?

"Hi, I'm Jack." Nervous Jack is bebby.

Ew, sweat. Like, I know it's "realism" to have sweat stains on clothes in situations like these, but that's one bit of realism I can always do without. Gross.

Is that a bit of PTSD I'm seeing with Mac there on the couch? That's a kind of realism I can always get behind.

Riley finding Mac and Boze in that compromising position will never not be funny. "But he was on top." I love Riley more every episode.

Riley is a really good liar from day one.

I love the joke about ex-cons benefiting from being in relationships with stable people (i.e., fake boyfriend Bozer), then the immediate cut to Bozer with his whole arm inside the vending machine. Great stuff.

Love the Riley and Bozer bonding... right up until the cringe-tastic "Slide me your digits."

"Soon, I'm gonna woo you the same way Romeo would have wooed Juliet if they had Snapchat back in the Renaissance." Bozer and his surprisingly accurate pickup lines. The Renaissance did in fact start in Italy around the 14th century, when R&J is thought to take place.

I love all this psychoanalyzing of Mac. "Adapting is his survival mechanism." Also I'm living for Jack sticking up for Mac to Patti.

"This place has been searched by everybody and their dog." Is this a Texas thing or an old guy saying? Either way it's great.

Nothing beats the early days of Mac and Jack. Nothing. I wish we had gotten more interactions where Jack has to parent Mac: "Stop touching that. Look at me." ❤️❤️❤️

Jack so concerned about Mac and putting on the kid gloves = everything I could have ever asked for and more.

Jack has such a big heart. Poor guy, the look on his face when he sees that the reporter is actually Sarah...

Paperclip sculptures: When I first started watching the show, I thought they were lame. Now I miss them so much. Does that mean I've gotten lamer or that they were always cool and I was always lame?

"Closest time I ever came to coming home in a box." Oof. This line hits different now, and not in a good way.

I just love how Jack is this big tough ex-Delta who is so open about his emotions, particularly with Mac. And the way Mac reassures him... Their bromance is top-tier.

"Oh, like when they invented fire!" Another zinger.

Mac grabbing that giant cigar right out of that dude's mouth 😂😂😂

Love some good fight-scene Mac whump! 👏👏👏 And bar fights are always a blast!

Riley with the car door - such a boss. "What? You told me to stay in the car, and I did."

I've seen some people say they don't like S1 Mac's hair. I kind of dig it, to be honest. He looks like he's 5, but I love it.

Mac has made a lot of DIY cutting torches in his time, but they never get less impressive.

Jack trusting Mac to save Sarah while he keeps watch is just *chef's kiss*!

These early episodes have so many MacGyverisms. One right after the other. It's awesome.

I've never been a big fan of the dark either, Mac.

The first scene with Mac and Sarah is so beautifully tense and whumpy (he way he scrabbles for purchase, gasps for breath, that hitch in his voice as he tries to squeak out Jack's name) that I had to rewind and watch it again.

The hopeful disbelief in her voice: "Jack Dalton came for me?"

Sarah can kick some serious ass. I can see why Jack likes her. Too bad she's about to lead him on the rest of the episode, while actually having a fiance...

Sarah: *leans out of car, shooting her weapon with deadly, terrifying precision* Riley: I agree, this woman should not have kids. 😂 Everything that comes out of Riley's mouth is gold.

Riley asleep in the back of the car while Mac sits quietly and Jack and Sarah have a sweet moment is like mom and dad with the kids in the backseat. Except mom has a fiance and hasn't told dad yet, even though she's had ample opportunity.

Because seriously, Sarah. It's not that hard to tell him the truth. Giving him those big eyes and flirting with him, thinking he has a chance is just cruel. I have never liked her character, and this is why.

Mac and Jack giggling about Jack's crush on Sarah like middle-school girls is life.

"You're just gonna have to let that go." Man, I love their relationship.

Gosh, the scene where they find Luis always hurts so badly. These early episodes did not play around.

"There isn't always time to beg some suit back home for permission to do what's right." I'm not a fan of Sarah, but I love this line. Also, this is pretty much the synopsis of the whole show.

Riley's hair used to be so LONG! 😍

The loyalty of these three! And I love the OG trio so much.

This sleazy guy in the computer place makes my skin crawl.

Love how Patti's like, "Mac will be back by then." Not Jack, not Riley. Just Mac. Can we say teacher's pet? I actually lowkey love this though.

"Who is this guy?" Much like Doctor Who's "It's bigger on the inside," I never get tired of people being equally amazed and confused at the stuff Mac can do.

I've never been the biggest car chase junkie, but Barrios jumping over the car using that log in the road is pretty dope.

Sarah's rage is chilling. And Jack talking her down breaks me every time.

Again, I love the loyalty of our team. Everyone sticks up for each other, ending with Mac's totally unbelievable but still somehow 100% genuine "It was me. I forced them." TOO good.

First mention of Oversight this early. Just thinking about who it is that doesn't like unsanctioned ops just makes me 😤 I wonder if the writers knew who OS was at this point or if it was a later development.

I do wish we could have gotten more conspiratorial, approving Patti. She's so much better than expressionless, bland Patti.

The way Sarah never told Jack about her fiance Jeff (who is in fact a cinnamon roll but still a discount Jack) pisses me off. "I tried to tell you." Yeah, right. It's not that hard to say, "Yo, I'm in a relationship."

Jack NEVER should have found out about Jeff the way he did. There's no excuse.

It's not okay, Jack. She did you wrong. You didn't deserve that. Stand up for yourself, man. Gosh, he's so broken here, and I hate it.

"At least we have each other... Don't look at me. I know how weird it sounded." THESE TWO I SWEAR 🤣🤣🤣

Poor Mac. I do love how we get his obsessive tendencies so early in the show, and how they keep coming back, even as late as season 5. As someone with clinically diagnosed OCD, this makes me feel seen and I love being able to relate to my favorite character.

Love the found family antics at the end. Riley and Bozer making dinner while Mac and Jack play basketball? Perfection.

Lol, Bozer calling Riley a "caramel goddess" has such Schmidt/Cece vibes from New Girl, and I dig it!

Ew. More sweat. I know some people find sweaty men attractive, but that is NOT my vibe. I prefer my men clean and freshly laundered.

The way Riley glances back over her shoulder at them as she walks away, as if to make sure they're really there, that this is actually real!!!

"That's not even... that's true, actually. That's sad." Jack 🤣 Also, "I'm hungry." Big mood.

As a Grandpa Harry stan from the OG show, I eat up any mention of him in the new one. I just wish we'd gotten more of that wonderful man in the reboot. Still, I'll take what I can get!

I'd honestly forgotten how much I enjoy this episode! So solid, full of bromance, found family, and lots of good-natured bickering. Can't wait to watch the next one, hopefully tomorrow! In the meantime, please keep fighting for our show! Together we can #savemacgyver!

If anyone wants to join me in my re-watching and tweeting adventure, please do! It's my way to take about an hour a day in my busy, busy life to commit to the #savemacgyver movement. (And to enjoy my favorite show yet again!) If you do tweet as you watch, make sure to tag EVERY tweet with ONLY #savemacgyver so we can keep that hashtag trending! :)

Thanks for letting me share my (numerous) thoughts on this episode. This was really fun, and I hope it's something you all enjoy, too. I'd love to know what you all think of the episode in the comments! ❤️