#twitter will be nothing without us btw

[saebaragi]

the thing about twitter falling in brazil is that I get most my cpop updates from there, on the idols, music, new cdramas or novels and is already hard to find, now I don't know what I'm going to do. at the same time, we're free!!!!

[daincrediblegg]

no you know what I'm going to scream about the stuff I talked about in the tags of this post publicly

I'm tired of the well-meaning "don't feel bad if your work only gets 20 notes your genius is what counts and do it for you!" bullshit. I've had a good handful of friends who have straight up DEACTIVATED in recent months because their work was not getting reblogged AT ALL. No, it wasn't from lack of not being well-liked, no it wasn't from lack of trying to make sure it was getting out there to the people they knew would engage with it. It was because no matter how much they were praised privately for their work, when push came to shove, absolutely NOBODY reblogged it and gave it the audience that it was due, and I'm tired of people shoving the "unsung genius" narrative as an excuse for it. Nothing excuses that. And the boop event really proved that.

because I know given the opportunity, indiscriminately pressing a button (sometimes 10 thousand times, as I did) is not beyond this website's capability. y'all loved doing that. and look at what it wrought. nothing but love and affection and happiness. just from a couple of quick clicks of a little paw button. sure. nobody knew who you booped but the other person (which is how likes used to work on this website, btw). there was an element of anonymity to it. but that is kind of the core of this website that no other social media platform still has: the ability to be anonymous. and hyper-curating a blog on here like you might on twitter or instagram to project an image is simply not viable. and hey. you wanna know a secret: literally nobody cares what you post or whether it goes with the "theme" of your blog or not. yeah. I know. CRAZY concept in this day and age. but literally. I myself have reblogged things that have had nothing to do with whatever I am currently fixated by and you know what happened to my follower count? not a damn thing. in fact, I actively try to reblog things specifically BECAUSE it's my friends who made them (even though I'm not always good at KEEPING UP WITH HOW MUCH THEY POST @prismatica-the-strange will NEVER GO UNRECOGNIZED by me).

And you know what fucking sucks? I have to deal with this too. surprise right? you ever wonder why I reblog fics or art I post like 20 times the day that I post them? do you ever wonder why I ask about tag lists and beg for asks all the time? IT'S BECAUSE EVEN I GET LIKE. 5 LIKES ON THE THINGS I POST. AND THE REST OF THE REBLOGS ARE MINE SO I CAN MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE WHAT I MAKE GET TO SEE IT. and I say that knowing that I'm certainly not an unpopular blog, or an unpopular writer. I know that people love the stories that I create. Hell, half of the people that I've talked to about lady terror have told me that they consider her to be canon (AND EVEN SOME!! THOUGHT SHE WAS!!! WITHOUT EVEN HAVING WATCHED THE SHOW! WHICH IS STILL SO SO WILD TO ME!!!) But especially in the last 4 years (which really dates this phenomenon), my posts, no matter how well received they've been amongst people I've talked to about them directly, I still go into the notes and at least half (often more than half) are MY reblogs to make sure people saw what I posted. and it happens every single time, and I can't tell you how much it crushes me considering that it used to be that I would be able to post it only once, and people would reblog it sometimes even HUNDREDS of times.

It's not about popularity. it never has been. it's not about anxiety. or shifting website cultures. even if you lurk, the simple fact is, that if you want people to keep making what you love. you have to reblog. your theme won't suffer because you reblogged a fanfiction that you really admire. your posting won't be ruined because you reblogged some fanart from someone in a different fandom. really. I promise. and if people do unfollow you for that? who needs em. followers come and go but you should NEVER have to cater to them. on this website it has ALWAYS been the other way around. lean into it. make it yours. put stuff you ACTUALLY WANT to be seen and that you love and appreciate on your blog. no matter how old it is, how new it is, no matter how niche or off-theme it is.

so please. if you really want to show your appreciation for someone's work? you reblog. it's really as easy as that. check the tags. add some when you reblog if you like. but please for the love of god reblog. it's as easy as booping and even more rewarding for the people who you reblog from. if you want to let someone know that their work is genius and appreciate it? show it. reblog. then DM them if you're too nervous to say what you want to say but not in a public forum. but for christ's sake. REBLOG.

[wilwheaton]

Hey man, I could use a few talking points to help convince a friend that Musk is horrible. I'm reading 'Think Again' by Adam Grant (good read btws) and he says to help convince people to come to your viewpoint that it can be good to have 2 or 3 strong points instead of 10 mixed points. The counter argument I get from people about Musk being good is that he did spacex and tesla, and without him we'd be decades behind. Maybe, but I don't have good ammo. Please help as I get too angry tobe critical

Well, listen, the fascism, the transphobia, the chaos, and the unwavering support for autocrats all over the planet really ought to be enough to outweigh anything else, if you ask me. It sounds like you know some people who got excited about the companies he threw money at, and they are having a tough time updating their feelings due to current events. Or maybe they share his values and don't want to admit that.

But I'll try to offer some simple facts.

He did not do engineering with Tesla or SpaceX or even PayPal. He is a fraud. He walked into these existing businesses, where people had done actual work and engineering, threw some of his Apartheid money at them, and took credit for their work. He claims, over and over again, to be a founder of these companies, and that's just straight up a lie that is easily disproved.

He literally did nothing except throw money at people and take credit for their work. Look at every Tesla up to the (chokes back laughter) Cybertruck. Those Teslas look like cars, because they were designed by engineers. Look at the Cybertruck. When you stop laughing at what a joke it is, know this: that's what happens when Elon Musk is in charge. It's like a ten year-old with some crayons drew it on a menu at Denny's.

All of the things his weird fans claim he made possible, are things that would have happened, and were in the process of happening, without him. He literally did nothing to advance the technologies or engineering. In fact, SpaceX whistleblowers have told reporters how they had to keep Musk occupied with bullshit, so they could do the real work without him fucking it up all the time with his incompetence.

But even if he were telling the truth, even if the myth were fact, it would not outweigh the damage, the pain, the chaos, and the suffering he has inflicted on millions and millions of people, all over the world with his lies, his spread of misinformation, and his incitement of angry incels.

Also, don't forget, when Ukraine was trying to defend itself, he turned off Starlink access when they could have decisively ended Russia's aggression. A lot of people have suffered and died as a direct consequence of that action, which he took to support his buddy and fellow autocrat, Vladimir Putin.

That's more information than I think your friends will be willing to hear. Studies indicate that people who are heavily invested in the myth of a person will fight hard to hold onto the myth, and reject truth and facts, because it's so jarring to them. Musk has built a cult of personality, and maybe your friends are stuck to it.

I'd gently encourage your friends to consider one key fact: he has lied about his entire origin story, he has lied about his contributions to Tesla and SpaceX. He lies about everything, except when he posts on Twitter like a 12 year-old edgelord, because that's who he is, emotionally.

Finally, and this is for you, specifically: if your friends insist on supporting a fascist, a racist, a misogynist, or a bigot, because they think rockets are cool, maybe it's time to look for new friends.

I hope this helps.

And fuck Elon Musk.

[hkthatgffan]

Hey, Kiki-Kit. Your customers are waiting!

Well, this is a painful post to make given the respect and admiration I had for her, but a long overdue one because I'm not alone in this mess and I refuse to let another fan fall for it when I could've said something!

Back in February, I bought a commission from Kiki-Kit. You may know that artist as she was one of the best in the Gravity Falls fandom back in the day and the illustrator of Don't Dimension It in Lost Legends.

She'd been running emergency commissions at the start of the year and I got one from her for $40 USD.

I have the invoice and everything saved and also messages with Kiki of us talking about the comm and me paying her. I owe nothing on my end money wise! I paid in full.

She said later she'd have them finished by around the end of March but come late April, still no response. So, I messaged her about it. Nothing odd I thought. I get things can happen and if Kiki is busy, at most she'd reply telling me it'll be a while longer and all's good.

But I got nothing. I messaged her, emailed her on the commissions email she had and tweeted at her. NOTHING! Turns out there were other people, including some friends of mine who had not heard back either. Then in June, Kiki made an update post explaining the situation.

Naturally I felt bad and wished her the best. She said iirc, she'd have the remaining comms done by the end of the Summer but here we are at the end of October and still nothing. I messaged her too again and no response.

You know, it's one thing if there's a reason for no response for a few days but then another when it's been months and still nothing. Oh and btw, I very much remember Kiki on Twitter liking tweets (back when Twitter let you see liked tweets) while I was there messaging her for an update. Real sus if you ask me.

But okay, I shouldn't rush it. Everyone has reasons to take time and maybe Kiki is just very busy and can't get back. She went through a very rough and difficult experience and I can understand and respect that. I'm more than happy to wait. But how long is too long without an update? Maybe a bit longer I guess. Art takes time.

Well, IDK about you all, but I don't remember any other Gravity Falls fan artist taking oh, idk...FIVE YEARS TO FINISH A COMMISION AND STILL NOT RESPOND!!

FoxieSkullzArtz on Twitter made me aware she has been waiting since 2019 for Kiki to respond to a commission they paid her for.

2019!!

I'm not an artist, so forgive me if I'm wrong. But I don't think it should take any artist 5 years to make a commission and even if, at least communicate with the person who paid you about it so they're not left guessing.

Oh, and it gets worse. I got another person who let me know they've been waiting since 2020 for a comm and Kiki handled it far worse!

Oh yeah, she blocked them for asking about it!

And okay, even if we give Kiki-Kit the benefit of the doubt and assume she has reasons to not communicate with people and maybe even assume people messaging her are being mean about it, then why not refund them? Nice or bad, you were paid by them to do something but also have the power to deny it and refund their money. And yet, Kiki did not even do that. And even if we be super kind and assume everyone is lying, I'm still here.

I paid Kiki-Kit $40USD for a comm I thought I would get in late March and it's now late October and still nothing. And even if you don't wanna believe me cause you can't believe an artist like Kiki-Kit would do this and assume I'm after clout (which would be odd, given why would I take pleasure in calling out an artist I respected)...well, there's gonna be someone else who says this too. And people have been saying this for years and she still is getting away with it!

It's disappointing honestly. Kiki-Kit is a name so many in this fandom know and love. And I love her art too. She's a fan artist who got to be on Lost Legends. We all celebrated that in 2018 and still remember it. And I know how hard it may be to hear this, but it has to be said.

I do not like having to do this, but I have a platform that can get this message across further than others could and having been someone who lost money to her too, I know first hand what all these people have been through.

And before you say "Kiki was going through a rough time in her life. Why are you blaming her? Be patient and she'll get your stupid art done," read over everything again. I'm not saying Kiki-Kit needs to be making art 24/7 and fulfilling these comms. I'm not saying she isn't allowed to be offline and not finish things on time for reasons out of her control. What I'm saying is that she hasn't communicated properly with anyone here who paid her and has continued to accept more and more commissions from people despite not finishing ones she has backlogs of.

When an artist opens commissions, why do you think they have slots or only accept a few? Because they know they can get that many done in a certain time or know anymore will take longer. And even if it took longer, at least they give updates. I bought a commission for the interview with Alex Hirsch and got it both on time and with proper communication from the artist.

And even if you disagree with all this, be honest with yourself...is making someone wait since 2019 or 2020 for a comm and not responding to them really something still worth defending?

I'm not here to cancel anyone. I don't want Kiki-Kit's reputation to be that of an scammer who stole money from people. But she's painted herself that way to far too many people who have been warning about this for ages but no one either saw or listened to them.

I tried to be nice and messaged Kiki-Kit over and over for an update and she never responded. I had friends who she took money from who similarly have not heard anything back! If you know Kiki directly, tell her to reach out to these people and all the ones she has taken money from and not gotten back to and either refund them or commit to finishing their commissions. Please don't be rude or hostile either though, given despite it all, she is still a person like your or me who deserves a chance to make things right.

I wanna believe Kiki-Kit has just made some negligent mistakes and isn't the best with time management or communication. I mean, I'm not the best either. But I'm not asking people for money for something and then not getting back to them with it. I'm sorry to everyone who is learning about this who saw Kiki in a positive light and I'm sorry also to everyone like me who lost money to her.

I hope if nothing else, Kiki will respond and make whole everyone she has taken money from. If she really cares about this fandom that put her on a pedestal high enough that Alex Hirsch himself picked her to work on his book, she can respond to us and fulfill what we paid her to do.

I'm not asking for my commission to be done tomorrow...I just want an update. That's all. We all do! No more stalling, @kiki-kit. Please respond to us now!

Sincerely,

Every person who has paid you for a commission and has yet to hear back from you and every Gravity Falls fan who your work inspired and are now having to learn this about you!

[joohanisms]

xdh + their favorite way to make you cum 💭💫

this is soo silly and more of a characterization exercise than anything else but!! i hope you guys like it <3

cw: oof here we go, afab reader, penetrative sex, unprotected sex, mention of thigh riding/dry humping, overstimulation, mention of squirting and dacryphilia, edging, slight begging, fingering, twitter porn link in junhan's, oral (fem receiving), mention of face sitting if you squint wc: ~900

gunil

dick.

a traditional man

Nothing beats some pounding. he Will make you cum with his dick inside your cunt.

big fan of cumming together <3

he's all about the connection, honoring the making love expression, fucking you deep and slow...

but dw, he Will have his balls slapping your clit while taking you from the back if the situation (your sex drives) requires.

likes making you a little cock dumb. it boosts his ego in unimaginable way – he's making you feel so good you can't think about anything else other than him <3

will probably go a bit insane if he ever hit it raw. like there had been very few times he came before you. but this was a moment.

he'd be sooooo overwhelmed over how much he Loves and Wants you + your pussy ain't helping him at all :-(

jungsu

idk how to say what i mean but. non-penetrative stuff

dry humping, having you hump his leg, thigh riding, being used i guess? but in a loving way <3

his thoughts are somewhere around damn this is so low maintenance?? i'm not even doing anything?? and i make you feel good this easily?? this is all i've ever asked for??

but not in a "lazy" way. you know how he's always looking out for everyone? now he can take care of you only by standing still/rutting himself against you. not having to think is refreshing sometimes, you know?

in his opinion, it's sooooo absurdly hot to be able to make you cum without barely doing anything!!

has accidentally cummed in his boxers multiple times in his haste to make you cum.

btw if you can cum untouched (only by nipple stim, for exemple) he might die on the spot

if he's in a dommy mood, he will also play with you through your underwear just to be a tease :-(

jiseok

absolute menace

likes overstimulation very much.

doesn't really have a favorite method to do so, but is best with his fingers (as expected from a guitarist)

has a vibrator.

looovesss to play with your clit. will go LBLBBLBLHLLLBLBLHL with his tongue (i laughed writing this)

bonus points if you either squirt or cry!

even more bonus points if your mascara runs off!

aaand it's top tier sex if he gets to cum on you later!!

will hold your hips down and pull your hands away if you squirm too much – but if you start uttering the first syllable of the safeword he is immediately off of you.

if you ask nicely, he'll let you use a vibrator on him and give him a taste of his own medicine <3

and just a psa: i think that because of his love to overstimulate you and wreck you, he'd be one of the members who would be so down for a threesome he'd suggest it himself <33

seungmin

another menace.

as insane as jiseok but all the way on the other side of the menace spectrum = edging king

so controlling and aware of his every move. will make you INSANE, sobbing pleaseplewspelspelseseungminseungmin, have you like 5 seconds away from cumming .. and then he STOPS????

although you know the orgasm will hit you harder after being edged, you cant help but want to kill him /lovingly

will get you worked up and stop touching you (you whine) only to go hard on you (you nearly scream) in any way he'd like :-)

if you favor any method, he'll be more than happy to comply!!

likes it a lot when you get a little desperate. he will shush you, say "it's okay, baby" and start POUNDING. you see stars when you finally cum <3

hyeongjun

i have a vision bear with me.

fingering. but you're across his lap. like this. (PORN LINK for reference)

really likes fingering you in general because it doesn't matter how lazy he is at the moment, he Will be making you cum! cleanup is pretty easy too :-)

his sex drive is something like a low thrum. he's not usually insanely horny, but he's slightly horny (nearly) all the time, willing to make you feel good (as long as it's not public. he has limits.)

so if you come onto him, he's ready to give it to you – sometimes he won't even take his clothes off. he'll just focus on you.

the power trip it gives him + the feeling of being in control makes his head spin... 😵‍💫

will inevitably get hard by the time you cum and you inevitably get him off then.

jooyeon

absolute MUNCH!!!!!!

pussy to his face all day. smother him. hold his hair in a ponytail. give him thigh earmuffs. could probably go a month with only pussy and a cup of water

sit on his nose. if he dies he dies

absolutely sloppy with it but insanely good

drooly boy <33333

when he's in his usual bratty mood he will be SOOOOO cocky and smug to the point you would slap him on the back of his head if his tongue wasn't making you see stars.

in a subby mood though... puppy. puppy boy. if you pull his hair, he'll moan so sweetly against your cunt :-(

if you pull him away from you while he's at it, he'll rest his head on your thigh and look at you with sparkling eyes and a wet chin, waiting for an explanation as to why you're interrupting his 5-star meal.

[vicvulpes]

hiii guyyss hiii tumblr dbd fandom

I came from twitter and wanna try using tumblr

a couple of days ago I came to dm of my fandom bestie @adskayapanda with a discussion about painland hanahaki au

then I decided that I wanted to describe it in more detail and post it on twitter AND THEN all this shit happened there that made our beautiful jayden revri deactivate his twitter account and want to stop all interaction with the fandom altogether

so I don't want to post this on twitter yet

hope you like it, have a nice read🤍

✨SO PAINLAND HANAHAKI AU✨

it's a dubious idea I agree BUT PLS HEAR ME OUT

I know it's weird considering that the main point of hanahaki au is that the living characters ARE DYING OF NOT MUTUAL LOVE AND HERE OUR TWO JERKS ARE ALREADY DEAD BUT

let's imagine that in the afterlife this works in a special way: for example flowers in the lungs feel about the the same as cat scratches or iron

and in particularly advanced cases of illness instead of death the ghost may simply disappear forever

btw it's worth noting that cases of illness are rare even in the world of the living, not to mention the dead but we all know how "lucky" edwin is for all kinds of suffering

soo just imagine after confessing in hell charles begins to notice how edwin is increasingly abruptly going somewhere perhaps not turning pale like alives but e.g. sometimes becomes slightly transparent and in principle begins to avoid his company

and then he abruptly begins to find scraps of bright red poppies in the office (neatly collected in a bouquet or bag) and thinks that these are gifts from edwin's new admirers or new attributes for spells (if we are talking about bags with petals you never know what they can be useful for charles is not so well versed)

but one day edwin doesn't have time to escape and charles accidentally finds him in another attack

charles did not really believe that people could have hanahaki at all - there were legends about it and nothing more but for ghosts hanahaki does not make sense at all!! they are ALREADY dead! - charles thinks trying to calm down and watching edwin vomit bright red petals

he doesn't recognize these flowers at first..

but when almost a whole flower bursts out of edwin's throat the realization suddenly comes along with a sudden flashback from childhood - charles often ran away from home at an early age when his father raged too much just to the nearest poppy field - and then brought small bouquets from it for his mother

charles's heart sank with realization

it hurts him to look at edwin in such a state and realize that it is entirely his fault that he did not reciprocate such a wonderful man as payne but it hurts even more to think that he will somehow misunderstand his feelings and break edwin's heart

and therefore after charles took care of edwin during the attack it was tacitly decided not to discuss it as always

(but edwin of course has already studied everything about hanahaki and knows what it leads to, but he tries (unsuccessfully) to calm himself with thoughts that, at least, this is not hell and that he did everything that depended on him - confessed his feelings)

and as a result, it turns out that boys "live", solve cases, and charles literally watches edwin fade away - his body is becoming more transparent, more and more often he turns into a ball shape in order to imbue himself with at least some energy and delay the moment of the inevitable even a little bit, but this is not enough for a long time

and edwin despite feeling as bad as possible tries to hold on as best he can and gets so many cases that there is not thes lightest extra second to think about his tragic situation

and charles understands the horror of the situation (and finally realizes his feelings) when e.g. edwin suffering from a particularly severe attack goes without warning for a week's treatment to some hermit sorcerer in his wilds for a rare ritual that promises to at least alleviate the symptoms of hanahaki and prolong the existence of a ghost and at most to completely cure it

and charles thinks that he is gone forever (cause just the day before while investigating another case leafing through the book "magical diseases" he came across a chapter about hanahaki among ghosts where some main points were highlighted in blue pencil and edwin's hand as well as repeated handwritten notes - edwin obviously studied for a long time and tried to do everything possible to improve his well-being. and in the end of page the inevitable scary result DEATH is emphasized and at the bottom there is a footnote that death for a ghost is a conditional removal from the universe he generally will cease to exist)

and this is the very moment when charles realizes everything - that he simply cannot exist without his edwin and that the feelings in his heart are not just friendly

at first when charles doesn't find edwin he thinks that he just left on business as often happens

then when he conditionally doesn't return in the evening charles begins to worry

BUT WHEN EDWIN HAS BEEN GONE FOR 2-3 DAYS CHARLES STARTS PANICING AND LITERALLY GOES CRAZY

he can't find peace worries panics tries to do something find edwin convinces himself that everything is fine AND THEN CATCHES HIMSELF THINKING THAT EDWIN MAY NEVER COME BACK (AND ALL BECAUSE CHARLES DID NOT RECIPROCATE IN TIME AND NOW IT'S TOO LATE!!) AND HE'S HAVING A TERRIBLE TANTRUM

and when edwin arrives a week later CHARLES IS ALREADY ON THE VERGE OF MADNESS AND AFTER HE SEES EDWIN HE CAN'T DECIDE WHAT HE WANTS MORE - TO KISS HIM RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW WITH NO WORDS OR KILL HIM A SECOND TIME HIMSELF

(after all he doesn't do any of this just hugs and sobs on his shoulder choking in tears wailing how he was afraid that edwin had disappeared forever)

then charles sits edwin down on the couch and interrogates WHAT ACTUALLY THE FUCK WHY THERE WERE NO WARNINGS OR NO NEWS FROM HIM

and edwin rather casually replies that he felt unwell and went to be treated by some sorcerer who promised to rid him of hanahaki (here he adds that his stupid feelings initially interfere with both of them and charles's heart feels like it's splitting)

(wow edwin looks noticeably better, - thinks charles)

and then charles's already nonexistent heart suddenly sinks into his heels - it seems to him, judging by how well edwin looks and holds himself that he succeeded

which means only one thing - he managed to stop loving charles - just at the moment when charles finally so acutely realized that he loves him back, that's so unfair!

having received this realization charles abruptly gathers up wipes his tears pulls away slaps edwin on the shoulder congratulates him on his recovery and begins to leave

and then edwin who bitterly thinks that charles is making such a mockery of him breaks through: tears flow like a stream his voice breaks and trembles and in his eyes there is a mixture of doom fear resentment impotence and PAIN

with tears in his eyes, he explains that even the promised "wonderful" weekly ritual of that sorcerer could not rid him of these painful damn feelings that spoiled everything from the very beginning and no matter how he tried to get rid of them nothing works

charles turns around in shock and sees how because of all these painful emotions edwin twists another attack of hanahaki

bright red poppy petals fly to the floor again

charles hesitates for just a second and then instantly flies up to edwin falls on his knees in front of him gently grabs edwin's face with both hands forcing him to look into his eyes and in an incredulous whisper clarifies: "so you still love me?"

edwin's eyes start running again counting every red petal on the floor just to avoid meeting the deep brown eyes looking at him such hopefully

charles has enough barely audible "sorry" to immediately start covering edwin's entire surprised face with happy little kisses saying between them how much he loves edwin what a fool he was how scared he was that he might lose edwin forever how he wouldn't let go anymore and a bunch of other sugary nonsense

from that very moment on bright red poppies began to appear in their office only in beautiful carved vases reminding of something personally important for these two dead idiots..

thanks for reading!!🤍

and one more: english is not my native language so I'm so sorry if smth is written incorrectly

[rpgchoices]

Astarion origin playthrough: what to expect/what is added

So I did a speed run on easy mode of the Astarion origin playthrough, which is where you choose Astarion as your main character. I wanted to write a bit about the extra lore the game gives and in general what is added (and what is lost).

I added some of the videos I have taken in case you are curious. Keep in mind that some videos are embedded, others are in link for my twitter or this blog.

SPOILERS. Just know that I went through the main plot points and the quests I know Astarion has dialogue about in a Tav game, so I did not do all of the quests/areas.

First of all... I don't think there is enough content to justify losing Astarion as a companion, as Astarion will be not voiced when you play as him, and in general you actually get less characterization.

ACT 1

Act 1 is the one with the most amount of extra content.

There are a few extra lines from the narrator about you standing in the sun for the first time, and your past.

You get a whole personal quest about hiding your vampirism or revealing it. There are different ways to reveal it:

You simply tell the companions (when you think about it the narrator will ponder about how much your companion trusts you and if they will react well)

You can use "bite" on an enemy when your companions are around (or on a companion)

You can be caught while you bite someone at night

The night bite happens after a nightmare, so you will also get a Cazador nightmare where Astarion hides/attacks/cowers before Cazador (video here). After the nightmare Astarion will think about finally being free and breaking one of Cazador's rules. You can decide to bite a companion or not.

If you do not bite a companion you will have no other option to do the bite at night, and the only reveals can happen in the other two modalities. Honestly, I am not sure how long you can drag it... pretty long, I think. One time I need to find out if you can go almost the whole game without revealing it.

If you tell a companion about it you will have to pass a check, but nothing bad happens if you fail, you just get a bad reaction (Gale yelled at me).

Other extra content from act 1 is about meeting the monster hunter. If you meet him pre-reveal, he will not say your name, btw. But it is pretty much the same as in Tav playthrough.

ACT 2

In act 2 you will have another nightmare (video here). This time you do not see what happens, you just see Astarion curling in his bed and thinking about his scars. This is to introduce the scars, as we have no idea he has them, and it will happen before you meet Raphael.

You can ask Raphael about the scars, but sadly none of your companions react.

Then the rest proceeds as usual. The sad part for me was meeting the drow lady who asks for a bit in exchange of a potion, and she is so different. She suddenly is very deferential, and asks quite nicely. Astarion can refuse or agree, but nothing happens, it is just almost a funny scene if he agrees and suddenly she tastes very bad. So yeah, you get the potion and no insight.

ACT 3

Act 3 is the one which has the same content but slightly different, as you will meet the spawns and Cazador from Astarion's pov.

When you meet the Gur outside BG3 the scene is exactly the same as in Tav play, minus Astarion's funny lines. When you meet Petras and Dalyria at the tavern, you get an extended scene.

You can just talk with them and convince your sister to tell you about the ritual, or you can show them that you can walk into the sun (by walking up to the window), or you can grab Petras and threaten him into the sun. If you fail to grab him, he will insult you and call you the runt of the litter. The whole scene clarified a bit that there is really a lot of animosity from Petras towards Astarion, and that Astarion was definitely the scapegoat of Cazador.

When Leon attacks you at night you also get more insight. First, you can see that if you try to explain, Leon is quite quick to hear you out, differently from Tav's playthrough. You will also find out that Cazador ordered them to take you home broken, so if you agree to go with them they will still attack you.

Another extra scene comes from the brothel one. I posted a video on my blog a couple of days ago, but basically you can talk with the drow twins and this line will pop up:

You can basically tell them that you used to be in their position too, but for you it was not consensual.

The rest of the game is the same.

The Cazador palace scenes are also the same, with Astarion commenting on the rooms. You will have extra from meeting Godey, of course. He will comment about Astarion needing to be broken and needed to respect the master. Video here.

When Astarion meets Sebastian you find out that he doesn't really immediately remember Sebastian's name. Astarion also has a "deception" check to tell Sebastian he really cared about him. You can see the video here. But the rest is pretty similar, same with meeting the children of the Gur, you can actually recognize their hunger and feel compassion for them.

When you meet with Cazador everything is pretty similar. It is interesting that you can tell him that you are an angel of vengeance to which he mocks you. This time you do not attack Cazador but he controls you immediately and you have to pass a constitution check to get free, otherwise Astarion will end up in the ritual (and the companions can free him).

Btw, you can see here all the options you have when you meet Cazador as Astarion.

Once the fight is over, Astarion can decide if he wants to complete the ritual or not. He can ask the companions to help him and I think they always do (borrowing their eyes) even if they disapprove. Interestingly, the narrator directly says "hey, this is a bad choice, no return", basically. You have three chances to stop for performing the ritual (also you can intimidate Cazador to beg for his life).

If you do not stop the ritual, your sister Dalyria will beg you to stop before dying.

Here I posted on twitter video options of the post-Cazador's fight.

As you can see, if you decide to stop the ritual the scene plays exactly the same and it is a rare one which is actually voiced by Neil. Your brothers and sisters will then come up to you, and as Astarion you will have to decide what to do with them. If you ask them not to feed on people, Petras will get a bit annoying and you will have to persuade/intimidate him. Then you decide what to do with the other spawns.

Interestingly, Dalyria gets really disappointed with Astarion if you decide to kill the spawns or trap them.

A very nice thing is that if you refuse to complete the ritual your companion will be SO SO PROUD OF YOU, especially Jaheira, Wyll and Karlach. You can see here Karlach in video, and here Wyll and Gale, and Jaheira here.

The rest plays exactly the same. There is no extra Astarion-specific content until the end.

If you play as lord vampire Astarion there is no specific end that I could find. I am not sure why, but basically in my playthrough I had not found the dragon, so technically I had not finished Wyll's quest. When Karlach was dying I could go to Avernus with her or be with her at her death... but after that nothing happens. My Astarion talked with Gale (romanced) and that was it.

Spawn Astarion ending instead has this extra scene which I found a bit ridiculous. The first part is heartbreaking, you see Astarion run from the sun and curl into a ball behind some shade, head on his knees. Then Karlach dies alone, because Astarion cannot be in the sun, and you get this extra scene of Astarion in Baldur's Gate killing/attacking a man and living his existence as a vampire. It is strange because in the pre-ending dialogue I chose to go to another city, and in the post ending I chose to go with Gale to Waterdeep, so it felt a bit random.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

That last ask about Animaestro, about LB's cat phobia made me remember that this chapter, chronologically, is before Chat Blanc... So, now I can't help but wonder if that was supposed to be some type of foreshadowing and/or the creator giving us a bit of a low-key spoiler.

It would have been a nice touch, if Maribug really got some screen PTSD (that someone from the PR Team said on their twitter that she indeed has it?). Yes, I know there is that chapter where she has this nightmare about Alya betraying her, but there is nothing else.

Awesome blog, btw, I love your pov regarding this show. I don't really feel that you are aggressively salty, just dissappointed about the wasted potential (like some of us). Even your "salt" towards the writers is pretty tame, but still pretty sure That Guy would block you lol.

(Post in question)

That's an interesting theory. I wouldn't put money on it being intentional, but it is totally possible! Chat Blanc was probably in the writers' minds for a while.

And did someone really claim that she officially has PTSD? Oh boy... I don't want to imply that mental health conditions only present in one way because they absolutely don't! There are a wide variety of ways that they can present themselves! There's also not a tried and true way for someone with PTSD to be triggered. Triggers can be really weird and seemingly make no sense. Things that seemingly should be triggers can somehow not effect you in the slightest and things that seem benign can be massively triggering. Brains are weird like that.

However, this is a story, so I can evaluate Marinette as a tool used to rep someone suffering from PTSD and not as a real person with PTSD who has no obligation to meet any sort of arbitrary standard. In that context, I feel comfortable saying that Marinette was not good rep. You don't get over PTSD by talking to your boyfriend and it's usually not a minor condition that lies dormant most of the time, letting you go about your life without any need for professional help.

One of my biggest pet peeves is stories giving characters a disability that never actually effects their life in a meaningful way. (Yes, PTSD is considered a disability or at least it can be one depending on how it presents.) They're called disabilities for a reason! They can and do have massive impacts on peoples' lives. If you want to include rep, then do it right! Don't give Marinette this condition and then only let it effect her when it's convenient for the story! Figure out her triggers and then let them effect her throughout the narrative because that's how PTSD works! If you don't want to do that, then don't say that she has PTSD.

You can be traumatized without getting PTSD. That is a thing. PTSD is not a synonym for trauma. It's a specific type of trauma response. It's also a real medical condition that requires professional help and a lot of hard work to manage because PTSD never really goes away. You just hopefully learn how to live with it and, in the process, get your symptoms to a manageable state.

Here are some examples of moments when Marinette's PTSD could have triggered, keeping in mind that this is a fictional character and not a real person, meaning that we're looking at this from a "set up the reveal" perspective and not a "people with PTSD have to react to this kind of trigger" perspective.

These moments from Dark Cupid and Derision are a perfect opportunity to show Marinette randomly panicking and to then bring it back during the reveal:

[Image description: two pictures of Kim down on one knee holding out a gift. The first image is from Dark Cupid and the second is from Derision.]

Marinette falling into the same pool in Derision and Mr. Pigeon 72 is another good one:

[Image description: two pictures of Marinette falling off of the same diving board. The first image is from Mr. Pigeon 72 and the second is from Derision.]

These were prime moments to show off her PTSD in a way that fit the story, but they didn't. Yet her condition is so bad that she panics over a bowl of cereal at the start of Derision, implying that her PTSD is pretty darn extreme! If it's that bad, then we should see at least a few hints of it before Derision or even after Derision, but we don't unless we're counting the many, many, many jokes told at Marinette's expense. Hopefully no one is arguing that those should count because using a trauma response for jokes is not quality rep. It also feels like a total cop out because the panic attacks in Derision are played in a wildly different manner from all the times Marinette freaked out in a silly, over-the-top way. It's not intuitive to connect those moments and it should be if those were supposed to be a true setup for the PTSD reveal. They weren't even treated as foreshadowing where Marinette's actions made no sense! Just what are we even doing here, writers?

If the writers are claiming that her PTSD comes from Chat Blanc and not Derision, then we have many examples of Chat Noir getting a white makeover without bothering Marinette, once again begging the question of where her PTSD is? What are her triggers? How is she learning to handle it?

I'll end this section by noting that I do know people who are officially diagnosed with PTSD and I even discussed Marinette with one of them, which is why I feel so comfortable saying that this is bad rep, though obviously you should defer to real experts on this one. If they say that this is great rep and that Marinette is presenting in a way that I'm not familiar with, then ignore me! My sample size is very limited.

I'll finish this off with a quick thank you for the lovely complement:

I don't really feel that you are aggressively salty

My goal is to come across as giving a critical assessment of canon and not just angry ranting, so this was very nice to hear! I want this blog to make you think, I'm really not looking to be angry or to make other people angry. I can't say that I'd blame That Guy for blocking me, though! I've never found creators doing that to be some kind of bad sign. Who wants to read brutal, unsolicited take-downs of their work? That's a special kind of doom scrolling. I'm a big fan of the "reviews are for readers" stance.

[devine-fem]

why don't you like jayjon? Genuinely asking btw and I'm neutral btw I don't really ship superheroes kids, so yeah

Alright, firstly I have always come across damijon shippers that ship them as kids because their purest connection peaked when they were young so you kind of permanently keep Jon and Damian as kid in your head because of what DC did to them.

We ship them in a ‘wholesome crush on your best friend, twisting inside you over time that you snub out till you reach your adulthood and have the maturity to deal with it’ type of way. The beauty of Damijon is not the fact that it’s Bat x Super. I honestly don’t care for this dynamic ergo not shipping superbat and not liking Timkon at all. The beauty of Damijon is that they could become something with a friendship to back it up, then continue to push each other’s characters forward while being in a relationship if the writer cared enough. It’s a plus that they care for each other so much and have the personalities to really balance each other out.

I enjoy ships like Daminika, Dami x Colin and other Jon ships as well. I just only post damijon and talk about them. It’s only Jonj*y I have issues with. It’s not about ‘getting in the way of my ship’ nothing can ever get in the way of me enjoying damijon and fandom is just gonna have to deal with that. We all come here for enjoyment because we should supposedly enjoy DC for DC and find community in that, enjoy our ideas and takes on it and one person is not going to perceive or enjoy something the same way but we are so damn MEAN to each other. Damijon gets a lot of heat, mostly because twitter damijon stans are annoying and horrible and damijon antis are just as bad.

So the problem I have with Jonj*y is just deep rooted.

Firstly, I hate the way it came about. The last thing Jon’s character needed was to be in a relationship period but then for it to be a queer relationship used as a tool to garner sales? There’s nothing in the world I dislike more than queer baiting. The last thing we needed from DC was to pull something like this and as a queer person it just really gets under my skin - as it should anyone, to be honest.

Even regardless of that Jonj*y is the relationship equivalent of stale bread. They have no chemistry, Jay has no character besides catoring to Jon’s sexuality, and even if they were to explore him there’s no point because objectively they’ve tarnished Jon Kent way too much to be wasting comic ink on Jay.

I don’t like aged up Jon Kent as a whole, it’s not like I want him to stay a kid forever - obviously not. The fun of a comic book character is their growth! Jon over time should have never been able to get to the age he is now when other comic book characters struggle to get near that age in decades. I MEAN HE’S NEARLY OLDER THAN KON RIGHT NOW. Bendis did what he did to Jon because he ain’t even like him.

There are real serious issues with Jon Kent’s age up than him getting with Damian. I know how to seperate my ship/fanon from canon. I can go on and on about the problems with it without mentioning Damian once.

I had to put “JonJ*y apologist DNI” in my bio because the stans kept coming to my page and spewing BS 24/7 so I thought it was my absolute right to make sure they knew this page was not for them.

If you enjoy the ship at all then you will not like me because I have almost every single active Jonj*y poster blocked because I have fought with them at least once because they wanted to be stupid and spew nonsense on Jon Kent when you can tell they haven’t read a damn comic besides SSOKE and it really shows.

If you enjoy it, just block me. It’s only a matter of time before we fight anyway, so don’t waste your breath because the whole time you could be trying to open your mouth, you could open a comic book instead, how about that?

Thanks for the asks though, LOL.

P.2

[nyc3]

Hey I have a question. I never saw the movie nor I want to see it +Nine sounds cool as fuck but....bk is in the movie) my question here is......why shig killed Nine?

When that scene was reblogged on Twitter I had the impression it was smth like "nine was using his name and shig wasn't pleased" ...can't be that bc this makes sense. Too much sense.

So did shig just kill the guy bc yes?

Maybe afo or the Dr evil asked shig to do so... which is plausible but damn...what waste. And it cements once again shig as a npc.

I'll try to explain this the best I can, because tbh nothing about this situation makes sense to me even today. And some context of the movie as well.

The movie starts with a scene of the LOV transporting Nine while he was still on a medical capsule inside a truck. There's a reference to this situation in the manga when the doctor request Shigaraki to deliver "something" for him.

But here's a thing: neither the movie or the prequel chapter Horikoshi made explain where Nine was being delivered or what the doctor intended to do with him in case he arrived to destiny. It feel that missing context is important.

In any case, the heroes attack the truck trying to arrest the league. The truck is destroyed in the battle and this allows Nine to escape and go back with his team.

Then we got a couple of scenes were Shigaraki seem to be tracking Nine activities, also using Hawks to do the research job for them (it's worth mentioning the events of the movie are supposed to happen at some point after MVA).

And after all this... nothing really, the movie drops this subplot and Shigaraki only appears again in the end when he comes out of literally nowhere to kill Nine. Allow me to ask how they even know his exact location? The black goo teleportation quirk doesn't even work like that btw.

Just like you my first assumption was Garaki ordered him to do so, maybe because after the spectacle Nine did in the island the doctor decided to eliminate him for security reasons. But we never got any indication of this being the case, in fact there's a scene when Garaki explicitly tells Shigaraki to not touch "it" (Nine).

Things became more confusing because in MVA when Shigaraki gives Garaki one of his edgy speeches about destroying everything he hates, there's a small cameo of Nine among the things crusty boy hates.

On a side note: this is technically Nine's first ever appearance, even before the movie itself was released. A sort of foreshadow for what it coming.

But going back to the point: why Shigaraki hates Nine so much in the first place? We never got a clear reason for any of this, isn't like they ever interacted, the only time before the movie they have some kind of contact was the prequel chapter focused on Nine, and that was only Shigaraki looking at Nine through a window.

Also the final scene when crusty boy kills Nine for some reason makes it sounds the situation is very personal? Like if Shigaraki hold some grudge against Nine for some reason.

And the line "I agree, there only can be one king" doesn't make any sense because isn't like Shigaraki knew about Nine's ideology and his desire of rule the world. The writers makes it seem to be like they both interacted and had a long term rivalry for some reason, but that never happened.

Oh and it's extra hilarious how Shigaraki killing Nine for no reason directly contradicts this other little scene:

If crusty a**hole always intended to be "a hero for villains" (as the story seem to pretend) what about Nine then? Idk but for me killing a defendless man while he was crawling on the ground doesn't seem too heroic.

Let's not forget Nine was a real hero for villains without presume about it. He saved the life of Chimera, Slice and Mummy in a way Shigaraki wish to be able to do with the lov.

Honestly is funny to think all this one directional hate Shigaraki feels for Nine could be just crusty boy being jaleous, which won't be surprise considering Nine is superior to him in everyway possible.

But well, thinking about this on a perspective outside the story itself an explanation of why Nine was killed maybe is because Horikoshi just needed a reason to get rid of him, as his presence might be problematic for the course of the main story. I mean it would be a bit suspicious to have another AFO possible vessel who happens to be better than Shigaraki, and Nine is the only movie main villain to be permanently killed on screen, while all the others like Wolfram and Flect survived.

Anyway, all this festival of bs let a bitter taste in my mouth.

Needless to say, such a good villain like Nine surely deserved way better than he got.

[thetheatrebrassiere]

i think the downfall of blogs and snark in general kind of caused whatever the fuck has happened to happen, along with quite a lot more. but having an outlet to mock things and then mock the mockery seems bizarrely almost healthy in retrospect, somehow, even though some of it (cough cough gawker outing thiel and the hulk hogan thing) led DIRECTLY to what has occurred since. it’s weird. it’s like it contained the cynicism or something and now EVERYTHING is cynical and jaded and pretentious. i’m sure it always was and i’m just understanding it more now plus not feeling so special for being the above while a young teen but my god. i used to have to seek out dark shows and now i cannot turn on any streaming service without finding nothing but it now. old woman yelling at cloud and all but something really did crack around 2015-2016 in the collective psyche. yes the election but something cracked to lead to it yknow. i can throw out plenty of theories and there is no one root cause but man alive. it’s so bizarre to see the… hope? of 2010-2014 now. i grew up with obama/mccain being my first ‘real’ election though (supported kerry when i was a child but i was also like in second grade) and obsessively tracked the tea party and was REALLY cynical that obama would be assassinated in office because of it (thank god that didn’t actually happen) and used to read like. time, newsweek, bloomberg etc in the school library during lunch (and once tried to read the fountainhead when cycling through books out of curiosity and gave up on it. also gave up on infinite jest. much preferred reading like a clockwork orange, lolita, the handmaid’s tale, red tent, the virgin suicides, middlesex, geek love etc and NEVER gave up on books which is why i’m mentioning that) and gawker/jezebel on my phone during latin class so i unfortunately knew way too much in real time. terminally online far before that was officially named. life was better when the internet was contained to the internet but unfortunately it really is just completely integrated now. ugh. twitter is very largely to blame for this btw and obviously everything pivoting to video. but there’s a lot of blame to go around, i’m not free from it, and i would rather shut up now and drink my birthday wine and listen to whatever is playing, which seems to be say it right by nelly furtado. nothing matters and yet everything does or whatever

[alice-the-demon]

(Long post, content warning for mentioning r*pe and animal genitalia halfway through. I ask you to read it fully to understand what happened without misunderstandings and to not be vulgar if you want to make comments about me. Thanks.)

Hey guys.

You might be wondering why I haven't been posting art in the past few days. "Wow, Alice that it's not being active here? What a shocker, it's not like that's the first time this happened!", you might be thinking, "She's either working on something very big or just slacking off as usual!"

If you actually thought that, one point you're right, but the main reason is another and it's what I'm going to explain here.

I initially didn't want to tell you guys what was going on in the past days, because firstly I know that most of you here don't use Twitter and secondly I didn't want to make you preoccupied. But it's not fair that I keep this kind of thing hidden from you, I want to be honest so that you get a full view of what happened. And it's about this post I made. 👇🏻

On July 31st/August 1st a guy on Twitter accused me of making a comic where I badly tackled the topic of s*xual assault and that somewhere else I retweeted a content including "animal genitalia".

The first response I showed here I made it out of stress, frustration and tiredness, because when a friend of mine showed me the post of the accusation it was around 10-11pm in my country, I was tired and fed up with the fact that this is the second time that I got called out for the same reason and to apparently being falsely accused of z**philia. I wanted to resolve the whole thing quickly, I wrote my response with capital letters and bold in some parts and I went to bed, hoping that this story would die out soon.

When I woke up I noticed how my response's quotes were filled with people being mad and disappointed at me for the tone I used and that I didn't resolve a thing. In fact, because of this I lost over 20 followers there. I was shocked and saddened by this, I realised that I should've stayed calm in such a serious situation and actually act like an adult instead of berating the guy who accused me. So I wrote a second response, apologising for my behaviour and actually explaining myself (I won't post it here so I'll just make a recap of what I wrote).

First of all I apologised for the tone I used in the first response and the reason why I acted that way. Secondly, about the "animal genitalia" part... I won't go into too much detail because I don't feel comfortable explaining that situation here, but to summarize quickly the repost the guy was talking about was in the alt account I made on Twitter where I draw adult stuff, I explained the misconception and resolved it by undoing the retweet. (And btw for your information, I don't support z**philia, or p*dophilia for that matter. I might have weird tastes but I'm not mentally sick, that's for sure)

Finally I appropriately apologised for the comic I made. If you don't know which one I'm talking about, it's a Hell Tower Q&A I made where someone asked how an Angel becomes "fallen", with me answering that it happens when the said Angel falls into sin and reaches their breaking point. And to show the "breaking point" I wanted to show an action that it was clear that what they've done is wrong, and I've decided to show an attempted s/a.

Now, there's nothing wrong with talking about r*pe and s/a in media, in fact the guy who grabbed the girl in the comic got dragged away before he could do anything to her and sent in Hell for it. The problem is how I used this argument, using it as an excuse to showcase an imaginary scenario instead to tell a topic with seriousness. Without mentioning that I showed it without any warning when I first posted it.

R*pe and s/a shouldn't have been tackled this lightly, it's a serious matter and there are people who suffered and/or still suffers from it to this day. It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone like this because of my art and I apologise for my stupidity and carelessness, as I'm taking a break from my usual drawings I'm doing my best to get better and be more mindful when talking about serious stuff like this.

As I'm writing this I've locked both my Twitter accounts to avoid getting more hate bombs. Also I temporarily locked the Tumblr account for a day because some anonymous guy wrote something nasty about me through the Hell Tower's mailbox.

It's true what it's done is done, and no matter how much I want it I can't change the past. But I can get better in the present and change my future by slowly becoming a better person and it's what I want to do.

In fact, the other reason I'm not being active is because I'm making an important comic about the girl who almost got assaulted, both as a final apology and to give a closure to this situation once and for all. The story will follow Hilda (that's the name of the girl) talking about the toxic relationship she had with her best friend to a psychologist the day after the event, how they met, how it evolved and what consequences have brought to the girl's psyche.

If you managed to read this far, thank you so much. I'll do my best to be a better person and to make sure to not repeat history in the future. As a lil treat enjoy this lil doodle I made of my favourite Archangel X Imp couple. And I know that this is the tenth time I say this, but I really love you folks for understanding and appreciating me. ❤️

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

this week work stuff flowed fairly smoothly although, again, i am spending So Much of my life currently chipping away at various ACT prep materials… debating whether or not to take on a new client and leaning towards no because i feel like i don’t yet want to give up my tuesdays at home while it’s so dark and i have all this stuff to do lol. in theory i don’t need to do another practice test this week but if i can fit it in it would be very nice to have some wiggle room… plus there is in fact a limit to how many times i will have to do this again ever and with every one in the bank i move closer! lol. but, also this week i’d like to get in the groove of the development project that kicked off recently, which on the one hand pays less well and on the other hand requires no Leaving My House.

i didn’t QUITE fix my room or the kitchen but both are looking a lot better than they did a week ago (the kitchen thanks in no small part to some outside help!). i am also not 100% prepped for tomorrow’s session but i’m close enough that i’m not worried. other than that tomorrow can be a bit of a catch up day in terms of tidying etc. and also of planning the rest of the week… this week i gave up on accomplishing tasks in general although i did refill my thyroid prescription because my room was messy (the thing about my room is that once it hits a certain threshold of messiness it takes forever to fix due to sheer cognitive overwhelm where the executives are quite dysfunctional and i spend a million years each time trying to figure out what to pick up next even though i know logically it doesn’t matter… i think it is not in that realm right now even if not ideal) and it was so horrible cold and also in the middle of the week i had to spend a big chunk of time helping my mom with some pre-surgery stuff which counted spiritually as 1 million tasks. in my wildest and most idealistic fantasies i plan my week ahead on sunday mornings or afternoons between sessions but i rescheduled my saturday morning session to sunday at 10 this week because i didn’t want to have to be thinking about what time i needed to be in forest hills the next morning during my birthday party lmao. which btw was very cute :) i only spent a little bit of time being totally insane about what if it was horrible and everyone decided to me for making them endure such a terrible time and then i calmed down and it was nice :) which again is a very normal human experience you have to understand is historically difficult for me to access because of my deeply internalized belief that it is illegal in the eyes of god for me to call attention to myself. for many years i was so focused on how bad i felt like i was at connecting with people that i really failed to appreciate that everyone i do know is so nice and cool and fun and cute but i think about that a lot these days.

i was pretty slack on habits and once more behind on steps but i got my 5 workouts and finished a book (topics of conversation: good!). i got tea at a yemeni tea shop with a friend i talked into watching the say nothing TV show (i have two episodes left!), which was mostly great because he’s like the number one person i know who now having the correct context would appreciate someone on twitter saying to gerry adams “surely you must know someone who can work a timer.” free store was extremely chill the hour i was there before departing for mom stuff because it was So Horrible Cold. i RSVP’d yes to two things despite my internalized belief that when people invite me to things they are only doing it to be polite and it would be rude and embarrassing of me to act like i don’t know that and actually go. i continue to give myself extra credit for every week of winter survived without falling into total despair and disarray. i did terrible at bedtime booktime this week but tonight i AM cozying up with the house of mirth not least of all because while it’s a reasonable hour to go to bed my body has not been used to that of late so like we’ll see. 6 weeks till daylight savings!!!!

[wafflebroski]

I have a request cuz why not: What if the Murder Drones cast, reacted to us readers somewhat turning into a human?

I don't think you are gonna make it but thanks if you do!

You underestimate my sanity anon. I'm willing to make anything that isn't going to get me canceled on twitter.

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

Uzi

Really confused, naturally.

I mean, you literally turned into a human; the same species that she swore to destroy.

She wouldn't bring herself to kill you though.

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

N

Equally as confused. Pretty much all of them are going to be confuzzled.

That being said, Since he's 'naturally warm' he'll hug you on the poor disguise of "just trying to keep you warm" to hug you.

Other than that, nothing much would change.

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

V

Well, sadistic or not, one thing would change: She doesn't know what to do with you.

I mean should she keep you alive or mercy kill. Because this is one of the most deadliest planets a human can be on.

She does keep you alive btw. It'd kinda be depressing for it all to end like that.

She'll do what N did to keep you alive btw.

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

J

She's still focused on the mission, so you randomly turning into a human kinda screws with that a bit.

I'd figure she'd treat you the same way she would with Tessa, just except without you bossing her around.

She'll assume you can take care of yourself. Your choice if you can or not.

[gloomysoup]

i have been taken over by nickelback once again so here comes another edition to the nickelback chronicles

todays edition brings us back to the 2017 album feed the machine, which seems to be a very steddie secrets-coded album based on previous editions. (the song is Must Be Nice btw)

corroded coffin is well established in the industry. they have a lot of fans, but it is more common in pop culture that they're made fun of due to certain songs that gain popularity (think photograph memes). their fan base regularly gets shit from others, but it's never caused problems. at least, not until someone comes after eddie's family.

in the age of the internet, people are increasingly open about their opinions. eddie's tough. he can brush things off with ease. he doesn't often take things to heart.

it starts with a collection of photos.

Steve and the pups got papped, bad. Eddie hadn't even been with them. Luckily, Eddie had insisted that they have a security detail when going out somewhere more public. For safety. Steve didn't really like the idea, but he agreed. He knew Eddie wouldn't have insisted so heavily on something unless it was important to him. His family's safety is important. So, when paparazzi was overwhelming them, cameras flashing in their faces, the pups upset and clinging to Steve, Eddie was grateful that their security managed to get them somewhere safe. Eddie was pissed when the photos were released online. It was clear in every frame that Steve had been uncomfortable, and the pups were scared.

Arguably, Eddie probably should've waited for the band's legal and social media teams before saying anything, but he was infuriated. He could barely hold back all the things he wanted to say.

His response came in the form of a long twitter thread from his main account. In it, he ranted about the absolute disregard the paparazzi had for privacy and consent. He went off about how angry he was that they violated his family, without him even being there. There was absolutely no reason for them to go after his family like that, and then to post those photos all over the internet like it was nothing. He was disgusted.

The post blew up. Eddie was asked about it in an interview with the band a week after the photos broke.

Eddie's hands shook as he looked at the man interviewing them.

"I don't think I have ever been so... infuriated in my life, and I've been hunted by an entire town who didn't understand." He shook his head. "I was in a meeting with a producer when my husband called me, in tears, because of those assholes. I wasn't even there. They had no reason to do that to my family. They do not deserve to be treated like animals in a goddamn zoo just because of my career. They're just fucking lucky that no one got hurt, because if anyone had laid a single hand on my family, I would not hesitate to track them down and prove an entire goddamn town right."

"Don't you think that's a little dramatic? Obviously it wasn't right, but that's their job, isn't it?"

Eddie's response broke the internet immediately upon its release.

"No. I don't think it's dramatic. I think I have every right to be angry that my family's privacy was violated. I have every right to be angry that their safety was at risk. If I do much as see someone with a camera pointed at them again, I will not hesitate to show them exactly what I think of their 'job'. I will do anything to protect my family, and I will not apologize for that."

The internet was divided. Many people agreed with Eddie. It was cruel. His family was put in danger. His response was perfectly understandable. Others thought he was taking things too far. They didn't understand just how harmful the paparazzi could be. One such person made it a point to call Eddie out. He was some up and coming artist that was gaining popularity among the younger crowds. A nepotism baby like no other. His mother was a popular actress, his father a well-known label executive. He trashed Eddie for being old, out of the loop, a hot-headed mess. He insulted his family based off the photos the paps had released.

Eddie barely gave a public response to the kid's statements. In fact, his social media went oddly quiet. For six weeks, not a single person in the band posted anything. Fans speculated on what happened. Some wondered if Eddie had finally snapped. Maybe this had been the last straw. The band was breaking up, or going on hiatus. Something. Their comments and concerns went unanswered. A few people even managed to track down the socials of people close to the band, sending DMs and asking if they knew what was going on. Nancy got the worst of it, seeing as she was the easiest to track down with her relatively active social media. Still, no response.

It was a random Tuesday morning when the band account finally posted something. Fans were expecting an official statement declaring that the band was parting ways. Instead, it was a cryptic video clip. A dark screen. Music playing in the background. A single line uttered before it cut off completely and a date filled the screen.

Stick your diamond ring where the sun don't shine

No one knew what it meant until the day arrived. The band released a new single. Must Be Nice. The lyrics are chalk full of references to common children's lullabies. It was very obvious to everyone what the song was about. Still, there was no official statement. Not until the band's tour, at least.

Eddie grabbed the microphone from the stand a couple songs into the first show. He took a drink from the cup sitting by Gareth's drum kit before taking a breath and looking out at the crowd. He got everyone to quiet down before he started talking.

"I'm sure by now you've all heard about what happened to my family a few months back," he began. The crowd booed. Eddie laughed, his eyes darting to side-stage where Steve was standing. "In case there's some people out there who haven't, my husband our pups were ambushed by paparazzi while I was in a meeting. Their safety was put at risk. Their privacy was violated. The photos were released on the internet, and I was the one to receive backlash for being upset. For being angry." The crowd screamed. "That's the thing about being 'famous' or whatever the fuck. No one cares. No one cares because they assume that we all signed up for this shit. Like the world deserves to be let into every single piece of our lives. The amount of people who wholeheartedly believe they had a right to invade our privacy and stalk our families is astounding, truly. And then there are people who grew up having everything handed to them. Who think they have a right to speak on a matter that doesn't involve them. Who only have careers because of who their daddy is. So this next song is dedicated to the fucker who had the absolute nerve to trash my family on the internet while he sat in a house paid for with Daddy's money. This is Must Be Nice."

The videos of his speech launched them back into the mainstream, if only for a few days. The internet was overrun with discourse, everyone arguing over who was in the right and who was in the wrong. It ultimately led to a public apology from the kid, and paparazzi learned to stay away from Corroded Coffin.

[joys-of-everyday]

MXTX's women

Let's do ✨discourse™✨

Addendum: I checked out twitter (x now?) for the first time in ages and... um... maybe this isn't a good time for discourse. But hey, I love mxtx so I'm just going to do a Shen Yuan and pretend absolutely everything is fine.

I feel like a lot of the discourse around MXTX and sexism don't hit the mark? Things like 'there are few female characters', 'the female characters die', 'the female characters don't hold positions of power' are not indications as to whether a piece of work standing on its own is sexist. For example, you could write an entire novel about a sexless robot (which miserably fails the Bechdel test because there is only one character) and that says nothing about whether the work itself is sexist. This is an caricature of an example and of course, overall trends give a very different picture to individual works, so its not to take such works off the hook either. Similarly, including sexist troupes isn't inherently sexist, but equally arguing something is a 'critique' isn't a shield against criticism. Critique can be done badly, critique can become outdated, critique itself can be critiqued.

But equally the counterargument to this can't entirely be 'but look at x, y, and z - aren't they great female characters?'. Look, I love mxtx's women. I can write essays (plural) about mxtx's women. Many people already have. Then again, Eowyn from lotr is arguably a pretty deep character, but I would have problems if lotr was the best example of female representation we could come up with. The point being, the existence (or lack thereof) of strong female characters isn't (entirely) the point, even though it's often made out to be. Don't get me wrong, good female representation without strong female characters is... erm... hard. But if it was the crux of the argument, the discourse could be killed in three tumblr posts.

The bigger question(s) (possibly) is: What is its intent? How is that intent received?

SVSSS, MDZS, and TGCF are all extremely different pieces of work. SVSSS in particular stands out, because at its heart, it is satire. While debates around what kind of comedy is and isn't good exist independently of SVSSS, needless to say, judging satire in the same way you would say a murder mystery or a romantic fantasy is not advisable. Sha Hualing is a sexy demon lady whose clothes rip off in the middle of a battle. Why? Because that's saying something about a particular trope of a particular genre.

(Side note: I have opinions on how we shove different BLs together when they really shouldn't be under the same umbrella and how this muddies the discourse unnecessarily. I'm talking about Killing Stalking btw)

For SVSSS, if you get it, you get it (it's impossible to read without understanding this). While some loose threads exist about how female characters could have been more developed... man, do you know how much development my boy Mu Qingfang got? You're not sexist if you punch everyone (only half ironic here). (In terms of character development I also think this might be a fandom thing as well as a SVSSS thing.) But I think more relevantly, SVSSS tells you something about the way MXTX writes critique.

If you didn't notice, SVSSS is critique on two levels. First is the blatant critique of the harem genre, and the second is more subtle critique on BL, on fandoms, on webnovels, on literature. But while we get Shen Qingqiu's commentary guiding us through the first bit, this drops during the second bit. It takes Shen Qingqiu so long to realise that what he's living through is a crazy mishmash of BL tropes that the only narration you get on this is Pure Confusion. To realise Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu's early interactions is commentary on the 'dark and obsessive love' trope, you need to immediately realise that Shen Qingqiu telling you Luo Binghe is trying to kill him is just... Wrong. So (possibly, ofc I've no idea what's going on in the author's head) the intent is critique. But intent is meaningless without it being conveyed to the reader. So how are we meant to 'realise' what is going on?

Firstly, MXTX tells you. Shen Qingqiu goes: 'damn Luo Binghe isn't acting like in those weird danmei novels' and you're meant to go 'oh weird danmei novels I know about those'. Second is her very obvious use of tropes (even flagged!). 'Clothes rip/disappear in the middle of a serious situation, isn't this weird? Where have we seen that before?'. And thirdly, by introducing a sense of absurdity. Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu's relationship is presented in such an unconventional way (the master-disciple pair which generated a famous porno!) that it forces you to engage with it critically.

Okay, so what does that have to do with sexism? Take MDZS. We have a set of very tropey characters - 'the older sister', 'the scary mother', 'the strong independent woman', 'the damsel in distress'. We have explorations and subversions that go beyond tropes: Jiang Yanli's character shaped by her experiences in an abuse household, Yu Ziyuan's pride and loyalty, Wen Qing's well... everything, and Mianmian needs no explanation. We have flags to tell us we are meant to care about these issues: most obviously Mianmian experiencing gendered harassment for speaking up. All the women die! Yeah, isn't that a problem. Because it's the women sacrificing themselves, women silently taking on burdens, women chained by the circumstances of the world around them and still making choices about what is important to them (and it's often not themselves). The women aren't in positions of power/aren't shown to be as competent as the men! They're literally put down when they speak up, and don't the wives have a great time with their husbands. MDZS is critique of society. MDZS's women too are a critique of the society they (we) live in.

But not all critique is good critique! The first way that critique can fail is if it just isn't registered as critique by the reader. And this isn't always on the reader. If the author isn't clear enough on this, then they have failed to execute the intent of their work. And to this extent, I've heard enough people say that MDZS is maybe sexist as a first reaction (myself included) to think that yeah, maybe this wasn't well done. The flags are scarce. The subversions of tropes are subtle enough to be missed in it's entirety. Then again, MDZS often ends up as people's gateway piece into danmei, when it is probably better understood with more context - for me, coming back to MDZS after a big BL reading spree was exceptionally enlightening. As to whether it could have been better done in the bounds of the genre, without detracting from the banging story it was... I honestly don't know.

One way to go about it is, well... TGCF. Here everything is laid out to you to an almost bizarre degree. 'Look, isn't this a Hard Question' the narrative stops to tell you at multiple points, from Bai Wuxiang and Xie Lian's back and forths, to 'I don't know if what I did was right' speeches on a regular basis (maybe not regular but it was enough to notice). The troupes are still there but their twists are far more obvious. Xuan Ji is the 'deranged woman' who is (we are told multiple times) surprisingly normal and competent when she isn't around Pei Ming. Yushi Huang and Banyue are just obviously strong, competent, and in positions of power. Shi Qingxuan shines in all of her wonder, kindness, and unfortune. The flags are more glaring as well: Just Pei Ming's Existence, Ling Wen's whole backstory, Jian Lan's tragedy... And it probably worked? Since people seem to complain significantly less about any supposed sexism of TGCF.

Do I like it? I like elements of it. Ling Wen is honestly great.

But I love the subtlety with which MDZS weaves its themes and tbh I think some of the magic was lost there. (I love TGCF to bits for different reasons but yeah)

Does MXTX's writing of women merit discussion? Of course, everything merits discussion. Particularly MXTX's works which rely so heavily on genre tropes to craft themes. Is MXTX's work sexist? Idk, I would say no, but these things are Hard Questions.

But my feeling? My true feeling? At the very least, it is So. Much. Better. than a huge amount of work that tries to be feminist and pitifully fails.

My current pet peeve is the 'strong independent woman'. Depicting a sexist society then including a 'strong independent women' with no true appreciation of the realistic struggles she would face, as if the only barriers that we face within these societies is to stop being a loser... is worse in my books than not including any women at all. Or 'strong independent women' who turn out to be utterly pathetic and in constant need of saving. Or 'strong independent women' who have no other personality than being the 'strong independent woman'. The intent here is to come across as feminist and progressive without critically engaging in anything. It's paper thin.

Ultimately, the core theme of MDZS and TGCF isn't about women's experiences (whereas SVSSS is, I would argue, right into the nooks and crannies). Do these works explore such themes to the extent it explore privilege, conflict, and oppression? Not really. But you can't do everything - the role of an author is inherently about choosing what to prioritise. And given what it does do, I think it does some pretty neat things.