#SELECTIVE MANAGEMENT

[aroaceleovaldez]

Nico referring to his mom as "Mama" implies he most likely at least used to refer to Hades as "Papa" and i 100% headcanon he still does but mostly in the manner of him having the entire Underworld wrapped around his finger for being the baby of the family

#pjo #riordanverse #nico di angelo #headcanon #my art #nico flexing youngest child privilages by pulling out the most pitiful expression he can manage #anyways i find it fun to explore character word choices #cause yknow no two characters are going to select their words the same way #or even necessarily think about it to the same degree #i like to think Nico thinks about his word choice a lot #so of course every time he uses ''papa'' he fully knows he's pulling the Baby Of The Family card #Hades definitely knows this too but falls for it every time anyways #cause Nico hasnt called him ''papa'' regularly since getting his memory wiped - just detached ''father'' or at best ''dad'' #so it just reminds Hades of How Much He Just Wants His Children To Be Happy Like The Old Days #and how much poor Nico has been through and he's just the baby of the family and- #cue Nico smugly staring at the camera cause he knows how much power he holds #also i say Nico is Hades' only son cause mythologically even when Zagreus *is* Hades' son (rarely) he's. dead. #a major part of Zagreus' mythology is that he died #and im p sure every other deity said to be Hades' children are all goddesses and also are like 50% of the time not his #theres also only like 3 of them. and as far as we know in riordanverse canon one of them is implied to not be his daughter #so Nico is Hades' only son and also youngest in the family (cause Hazel is older by a month chronologically or 1 year biologically) #(and everybody else is a deity if children of hades at all)

[obsob]

peace n love on th planet cat (all are prints! for ur loves! link )

#mine #huhuehee...crochet cat print is like. not th paper i thought i selected its like. so soft. #will probably do a big update ina couple months. gna try n get sm stickers !!!!!!!!!!!! #i did look into cards but theyre so EXPENSIVE!! i might jus do like. real postcards u can actually mail #i think im jus gna. make pritns of drawings as i do them. doing drawings specfically 2 make prints of them makes brain melt #anyway ive had a good day. finally managed 2 mail stuff aaa!!! #im not 100% if im meant 2 yet but i mean. i could purchase th postage so i guess its fine ? who knows #im gna play sm rain world now >:) i hope u hve a nice evenin

[mrgintsu]

Careful selection of screencaps from the cooking show

#käärijä #kaarija #jere pöyhönen #selected to show how he 1)looked like a puppy and managed to get a bit of sauce on his beard #2) actually did something useful #3) enjoyed the food #4) had fun #5) was very pretty and cute

[ooctlt]

I really like this blog most of the time, but sometimes you take reasonable earnest asks that are trying to be thoughtful, and are such a dick about it.

Like if it's the characters being dicks, fine. But you could say something in the tags or post to indicate you're not just viciously mocking someone for trying to engage.

I still haven't submitted an ask since seeing your response that led to comments along the lines of "anon should go die in a hole" for asking, pretty reasonably, why harrow would want to stay with people she didn't seem to like or want to be around or interact with.

(i know, because she does like them and does want them around but doesn't know how to show it) but it's an ASK blog. How do we hear that from her unless someone ASKS

i understand it might be surprising and a bit hurtful to see an ask answered with the characters being mean/flippant, and for that i do apologize that it wasnt made clear that it would be a common thing in this blog. id like to issue the disclaimer: there is always the possibility that the characters here will not take your question well. they might answer rudely, and instigating behavior is not only encouraged but expected on both ends. this does not reflect my personal opinions as the artist; there are over 250 asks even after i constantly compile duplicates, and i will answer the asks that i personally like.

i will assume you are referencing the two most recent posts where gideon acts rudely and i repost an old panel: for the former i thought anon was really sweet for being so heartfelt and encouraging, but gideon isnt the kind of person who needs to be told shes brave for doing that by a stranger. it was a simple act of survival. and harrow is still very much in the passive deprogramming phase. the latter response was meant to kickstart (spoilers) what i will call the "dicks last resort" arc, where i clean out the inbox and share more simple, low effort, but potentially rude responses*. this is because i have roughly drawn almost daily for 87 days straight, and would like to recuperate without being burnt out because i love this blog and i love art.

this leads me to my next point: some of these answers will be curt and short and rude, because they are easy to draw. if i only prioritized the "good" asks or to make certain ask responses kinder, or longer, it wouldnt be a daily blog. it would be a monthly blog where 5 asks get answered among 100s. i didnt anticipate people asking about harrows piercings, and i considered shutting it down by just having harrow say she likes them etc. but i did want to give more insight into harrows character even if she wouldnt say so herself, and that took roughly 3 full unemployed nights. if i treated every ask in good faith the same way i wouldnt have time for anything else, because they take more effort and have to be seriously considered for the future. i can retcon their favorite ice cream or play off griddlehark fighting - it takes more to keep track of a narrative about people talking Around their issues

* by rude responses i mean "this will affect the 679ers negatively, much like making your sim 🧑‍🤝‍🧑➖➖ someone" there are a few asks planned to hurt in the same way one drafts a bad end in a visual novel, and this type of interaction is encouraged. of course if you dont want them to get worse dont send asks telling gideon she should flirt with MILFs (you cant send this ask now i already said it), but i encourage the banter.

TL;DR this is the "characters think you are weird for personal questions" blog. i am sorry i didnt warn of the ask-response banter, because i also enjoy drawing these characters being dicks. i do like when aggravation and conflict leads to character development. "how do we get earnest answers unless someone asks" sometimes you will never explicitly get that from them, and thats what the dead ends are for: to let you know to try something else and read between the lines

#the reason why i did not say anything sooner is because i do not like making ooc posts on here often. i want a little intrigue and mystery #i dream of when people will actively discuss in tags and notes how best to confront these characters #actual ooc #and i will say. i will not remember to indicate in the tags that i am not mocking the ask every time #i cannot be responsible for managing everyones feelings if they are hurt that harrowhark or gideon reacted badly #which i have seen people do! in the notes saying that gideons behavior makes them hate her a little! good! #if you dont like the direction this blog turns then i would encourage you to interact selectively

[lord-squiggletits]

On the MegOP fandom trend of saying "Optimus should apologize to Megatron"

(Speaking specifically for IDW1, though it applies to a lot of MegOP especially ones that do continuity soup with heavy reference to IDW1)

I was talking to a friend in DMs and they mentioned a common headcanon/fanfic trope that I also concurred with, and both of us said it's something that bothers us: a common take in the MegOP fandom goes basically along the lines of "If Optimus had just apologized to Megatron, the war would've ended" (or other variants including "if he'd tried harder to understand Megatron/work in collaboration with him").

And firstly, this is incorrect for a number of reasons:

There were attempts at peace negotiations during the war, but they fell through. So Optimus WAS trying to work with Megatron to the point of participating in formal diplomatic meetings.

Optimus tried multiple times on page to convince Megatron to just stop fighting and work with him for peace (Autocracy, Chaos Theory) that Megatron rejected. Given that these on-page examples take place at the start of the war and at the end of the war respectively, it makes sense that Optimus asking Megatron for collaboration is something he was trying/willing to do the entire time. So again, Optimus was always willing AND ATTEMPTING to work with Megatron and find a joint solution

Even before the war when Optimus was still Orion, he was very explicitly inspired by Megatron's writing and names Megatron as one of the people who "opened his eyes" to the wrongs of Cybertronian society. So how is it that people claim "the war went on for too long because Optimus never tried to understand Megatron" when OP literally named Megatron as one of his biggest idols, thus implying that OP does understand Megatron's ideals

But the primary purpose of this post wasn't to defend Optimus, actually. Even though I personally think Optimus did plenty (dare I say, everything) to try to end the war, there are some who may still think otherwise, so instead of arguing about whether Optimus did "enough", or who should apologize to whom, or who "deserves the blame" for starting/continuing the war, I'd actually rather talk about this:

No matter who is most "to blame" for the war, it's my firm belief that neither Megatron nor Optimus would even expect/demand the other to apologize to them at all.

On Megatron's side, he would never seek to judge Optimus negatively for the decisions to the point of saying "you wronged me, apologize." Whether it's evil Megatron who doesn't care about atrocities and revels in an opportunity to expose Optimus as a hypocrite, or post-war/Autobot Megatron who knows that his own evil actions are irredeemable, the idea of Megatron judging Optimus and demanding an apology for the war specifically strikes me as out-of-character. Why would Megatron demand or even want an apology from Optimus when Megatron knows fully well that he has his own sins to bear, he prolonged the war for his own selfish/material gain, and that he is responsible for an untold amount of suffering? Demanding an apology would imply that Megatron sees himself as the wronged party and Optimus as the wrongdoer, but by the end of the war, Megatron is too aware of his own part in the war to ever demand such a thing of Optimus. Even if he DID think that Optimus was "equally to blame" for the war (which he doesn't/wouldn't, btw), Megatron's own feelings of guilt would prevent him from trying to seek the petty satisfaction of the moral high ground or making Optimus beg for his forgiveness.

Additionally, Megatron knows Optimus very well as a person: he knows that the position of leadership is full of "loneliness [and] agonizing self-doubt" for Optimus (Chaos Theory) and that "when Optimus hurts others, he hurts himself" (MTMTE). Another reason that Megatron wouldn't demand nor want an apology from Optimus is because Megatron knows Optimus so well that he already knows that being a war leader fills Optimus with immense guilt and suffering. Given that Megatron knows about Optimus' self-doubt and guilt, why would he even need an apology when he already knows how much Optimus regrets the war and desperately wishes/wished for it to end?

Then, as established in the previous paragraphs, Optimus is too full of guilt for his part in the war (both before it started and in being unable to stop it sooner) to demand an apology from Megatron. Again, demanding an apology would put Optimus in an implied position of moral superiority and/or victimhood, but Optimus doesn't see himself as morally superior or as a victim (or rather, he sees himself as being responsible for these bad things happening and internalizes this as a duty to do better/fix wrongdoings). In other words, Megatron and Optimus both share this view of themselves and each other: Their hands are so dirty, and they both feel such guilt over this, and they know each other well enough to know that the other feels this way as well. Because both of them feel blame for the war and are acutely aware of their own flaws/part in suffering, both of them feel far too responsible for the war happening for them to ever blame their archnemesis for "not trying harder" or "being responsible for the war."

Hell, if you even look at the socio-political climate of Cybertron before the war started, neither Megatron nor Optimus were the ones who put this conflict into motion. The corrupt legacy of the Primes, Functionism, class issues-- all of these things existed before Megatron and Optimus did. Even once they started doing things like writing about social issues (M) or fighting against the Senate (OP), both of them were "underlings" in sense that they weren't leaders:

Megatron's writings may have inspired the Decepticon movement, but that movement existed as an independent entity with its own leaders and speakers long before Megatron became the "official" ruler of the Decepticons. He wasn't even the leader of the 'Cons until he took control of the gladiator arena and the nonviolent sections of the Decepticons were (presumably) subsumed into the underground, exploitative battle culture that Megatron created.

Optimus-as-Orion was a police officer to start, but even once he started going against the Senate, he mainly worked in collaboration with others like Senator Shockwave and Zeta (later Zeta Prime), who he either saw as his idols or who were literally superior to him in rank due to government/military structures.

So with this in mind, even from a social level, while Megatron and Optimus may have been "catalysts" of a sort that caused the war to escalate to an outright planetary/galactic level, the scenario is too complex to solely lay the blame for the war at either of their feet. I'm not confident in saying that Megatron/Optimus would explicitly think of this when talking to each other, but what I'm trying to say is that M/OP were just catalysts in a long chain of brewing tension that exploded into a war. Even if one could claim that one of them "started" or "escalated" the war, the social issues that caused the war and the positions of power that allowed them to become leaders in the first place were falling into place before either of them actually BECAME leaders.

In other words, this shared fate of being the final reaction that exploded a societal conflict into outright war... Megatron and Optimus both have that in common. And because of this, I really don't think either of them would even think to ask the other to apologize because they're both in such similar positions, with such similar feelings of guilt and responsibility, that they understand each other's feelings without words. To demand an apology would be akin to taking that shared vulnerability/guilt and stepping on it, attempting to claim that one is right/superior and the other is wrong/inferior, and that the inferior one needs to grovel and take responsibility for the bad things that happened.

#squiggposting #idw megop #idk if this'll get me hate or not but it's something i think about a lot #and verbalizing it to that friend in DMs helped me put into words why that common fanon take bothers me #also. hot take but if any 'apologies' are necessary then it's M who should be apologizing to OP #the war may be both of their faults but M is the one who explicitly did/said things just to hurt OP and break his spirit #i'm tired of ppl who don't understand (or at least don't discuss) how hurt OP is and how he deserves recogniztion of his feelings too #megop #then again this fanon take may just be a consequence of continuity soup culture #where ppl don't have to acknowledge specific things that M or OP did bc they can just selectively include or not include details from canon #so like. i guess in their continuity soup continuties their fanon is technically correct #but in terms of the source material which is the one shared experience we all have and the common language we derive fanon from #this fanon is very incorrect. or at least i hope i've managed to argue that it's incorrect #anyways the thesis of megop is that they're equals and opposites who are inextricably tied to each other #fanon that tries to place the blame on one or castigate one of them is missing the point of megop #the point is that they're equal. equally strong and charismatic and amazing. and equally culpable #even if they're not literally equally responsible for idw megop at least they at least both FEEL responsible #and i don't think idw megops are the type to mince words about who's 'more responsible' #they're both depressed old men who hate themselves and regret basically their whole lives. why would they judge each other like that

[aquanutart]

xadian field guide

#the dragon prince #tdp #rayla #callum #aaravos #aquanutart #if you aren't waking up at 6am before work to color two hundred puffballs are you really living #there is no other way to replicate the uniquely human experience of looking at your 200 puffballs and going #'i have woken up before dawn to color these puffballs thank god they are done' #and i think that is beautiful #actually i've had this lying around unfinished for three years because i did not want to color the 200 puffballs #in this day and age there has to be a way to make it a photoshop brush #i did manage to copy and paste some which helped but #because i delayed coloring it for three years i forgot where i copy and pasted what #and so i was not able to use it so much for the coloring because i didn't know where to match it up... #and i actually tried making a brush but i didn't know how to make it keep the colors #so it made this shape of like 50 puffballs with their little eyes cut out #but it was all the one color i had selected. only in the shape of the puffballs #anyway damn i feel so alive #at least i did when i originally wrote these tags which is before i actually finished this #then i experienced the other uniquely human feeling of coming home from work and realizing it looked totally unlike what i wanted #and that i was going to have to spend the entire rest of my free time that week recoloring it from scratch #as well as rearranging the panels and fixing some things because i didn't know how to warp text along a curve #so i had made the book page flat in order to have non-curved text and it looked wrong and i ended up handwriting it #anyway it took me 17 hours to recolor this from scratch not in small part because i kept not knowing how to shade the puffballs #i mean the puffballs are individually shaded but the mass of them also has a shadow side and what's it supposed to look like? #i kept thinking the shadow colors looked muddy and every time i tried to change them i had to recolor all the balls with 14 different colors #it was so confusing i finally just said enough. i tried looking at objects covered in multicolored pompoms for reference yet still idk #anyway now that i have talked so much i've completely distracted everyone from the joke. please ignore this and laugh at the joke #the moral of this story i think is that actually i do not recommend individually drawing this many puffballs

[thebroccolination]

SERIES VS. COUPLE

Do your favorite BL couples match your favorite BL series?

I feel like this must be a phenomenon, so I want to see what other people's lists look like. \:D/

These are mine. I'm very proud.

Voila:

TOP 3 SERIES: Be My Favorite, SOTUS, Until We Meet Again TOP 3 COUPLES: WinTeam, KongArt, KawiPi

Because, like, we judge series and character based on different criteria, right?

Be My Favorite shot to the top of my list by episode eight last year because the writing was immaculate (Waa took extra time to really hone the script, and it shows!), the directing is phenomenal (the behind-the-scenes footage and interviews show how much influence Waa had in bringing out the best in everyone), the premise is right up my alley (subjective, but y'know, favorites lists are subjective by nature), etc. etc. etc. It's just all-around an incredibly well-crafted show, so it's sitting pretty cozy up there at the top.

But!

When I think about couples, WinTeam and KongArt are firmly first and second.

WinTeam have been my favorite BL couple from Day ONE, and no one's even remotely challenged them since even though Between Us is somewhere around #5 or #6 on my list (depending on how much of the series I choose to selectively forget).

And KongArt? We saw them grow from age 19/20 to, like, 26/27? (I haven't math'd the years in a while, but the Our Skyy episode is definitely set during their late twenties.) Experiencing that much development for a BL couple is rare, and their relationship is portayed so beautifully.

So, y'know, both lists are completely subjective and don't always have anything to do with quality or whatever. WinTeam are my favorite couple because Win's my favorite character archetype and Team is a sassy traumatized gremlin, and Be My Favorite is my favorite series because holy shit I love gay time travel and it's the only series I've seen that's treated leitmotifs seriously.

SO TELL ME YOURS. \:D/

#i think it's a fun phenomenon and i'm curious what other people's lists look like #also just for clarity: i made this in the spirit of fun fandom nonsense #i also posted this to twitter but i'm not sure if people will take it in good faith or #y'know #fight about it #if they do i'll delete it there #the antagonism across all online spaces is widespread and really exhausting but i'm trying to counter it with positivity #i will spongebob my way through your anger #with my silly little canva graphics and my carefully selected screenshots from my little gay hallmark shows #thai bl #bl series #be my favorite #sotus the series #until we meet again #winteam #kongart #kongarthit #kongpob x arthit #kawi x pisaeng #kawipi #this was on twitter for five minutes before someone managed to get antagonistic about it #so it now lives exclusively here

[melloryn]

the discovery of the cheat code in Bionicle GBA is great because the infinite lives cheat helps offset one of more unfortunate game design conflicts of that game. it features large open levels which are meant to be thoroughly explored, but the system of limited lives means you'll constantly be restarting the levels from the beginning and undoing all of your exploration efforts, forcing you to retread all of that ground in order to reacquire the lightstones and matoran you lost.

a limited lives system can work fine in an arcade-style linear action game (like, say, Matoran Adventures), but there's a reason you generally don't see that sort of thing in exploration-heavy games.

with infinite lives, though, that stress is completely removed, and you're free to explore the levels without being forced to redo everything every 10 minutes. i hope that will allow more people to enjoy the game! the controls are a bit strange, but i find it quite fun otherwise, and you get used to the controls after enough playtime.

#bionicle #gba #i actually managed to beat the game without any cheats and it was ridiculously tedious and frustrating #i had to make maps of every level so i could remember where all the matoran were for the next time i died and had to find them all again #i do not wish that upon anyone lmao trust me just use the cheat menu. you will have 100x more fun than i did #L L R L Select Start A

[myenterpriseisparked]

#sorry I only did the most choicest himbos #i also only selected boys who are certifiably best friends and So Freaking Dumb together #idk enough about disco to know who their dumb duo is #also I only did the live action treks to keep the list manageable sorry #star trek #star trek tos #star trek enterprise #star trek voyager #star trek ds9 #star trek snw #star trek tng #trip tucker #malcolm reed #spock #captain kirk #hikaru sulu #pavel chekov #data #Geordi Laforge #nog #jake sisko #julian bashir #miles o'brien #tom paris #harry kim #Christopher Pike #Captain Pike

[probayern]

i think. i might prefer keeping tuchel to bringing in rangnick

#😭 #can't believe we've gotten here #i just feel like this coach selection cycle has revealed that bayern has no idea what it wants to be #each of the managers we've talked about has completely different tactics #and when it comes to rangnick... i'm not convinced #it doesn't feel ambitious #not for someone who will supposedly lead a rebuild #anyway. tuchel is going to the prem so it wont happen #sounds like it is rangnick #but. rip #bayern

[cavecarrots]

#dark rise #dark heir #stewards beliefs whack #steward clothes whack #cyprian whack #james st. clair #anharion #cyprian #dumb ass drank from the cup for no fucking reason #if cyprian doesn't have a single hater i'm dead #can flip the switch to become an even bigger pos but can't be bothered to see James and Will for the friends they are #selectively picks which rules to break and always manages to make everyones life more difficult

[koheletgirl]

what if i just. put the entirety of ttpd here

#i am going to actually have to select some songs from there #i managed to do it with rep and midnights ill manage now #i never said this was an enjoyable playlist #🤎

[blackpink]

yall i applied for a job within my firm in nyc wish me luck 👀

#suzy.txt #holymoly #if they end up sponsoring a working visa for this role then i might actually have a good chance to get selected #i know the hiring manager #originally the role was planned to be based in london however they changed the plan #IM SO NERVOUS #i talked to hr abt it yesterday #ngl nyc would be a dream #it would be scary as hell but also a fucking dream of mine

[littleseasalt]

i think bbhs and bagheras council idea made perfect sense lore wise but whenever forever talks about the things he's talking with the admins as the president I can only think of how much of a headache the council would have been and how long it would take for stuff to get done

#qsmp #this is no shade towards bbh and bagheta btw #i myself would have voted for baghera #but then forever talks about how he cant just go oh i want this mod #and he essentially needs to like group multiple mods to be added #and its not just mods but plugins #i can just imagine like how long it would take with the council #cause like first of all they would need to select the people to form the council #then they would need to do a reunion WITH EVERYONE OF THE COUNCIL ONLINE #just that part already gives a headache cause it manages lots of different schedules #then they would need to propose mods #and discuss every single one of them #which would probably take multiple days #and then multiple days in between of their schedules not matching #how long would it take voting too. voting for every single mod and plugin #up until they come with a complete pack to be added #and then there would have the chance of the admins DENYING #which would have them doing all of that over again #like meta wise in retrospect it looks like it would give such a headache and it would take so long for stuff to happen #again this is no shade towards bbh and baghera #i love them with my heart #I'm just rambling in retrospect based on what forever mentions on his streams

[snarp]

Me: So the selection criteria is -

Dad: What we're looking for here is - is trial lawyer stuff, we're looking for DRAMA, just the most OUTRAGEOUS one, you know what I mean?

Me: Theatre kid-type stuff, yes -

Dad: No! Maybe.

#(selecting which case in a group of many similar cases should be tried first #a form of stage management) #the law

[thedreadvampy]

me at the women in leadership conference: ah yes I will be so good at corporate leadership, I have many leadership insights

me at the pub an hour later: *actually uses leadership skills for labour organising like a boss*

#red said #my senior manager talked me into going. i did not hate it. #but i did extremely hate SOME elements #ie 'women are naturally better leaders because they're more Empathetic and Nurturing' #also 'nature is hierarchical there are leaders and followers' #once again only one person showed up to the union drinks #but we have a 3 point plan of action and hopefully that will give us some momentum #we've selected our national union we've identified the pathway to key leadership buyin to protect us if managers get shitty #and we have a plan for an initial open meeting