#and i don’t have many bots following me either so. wtf

[fear-ze-queer]

kindly, what the fuck

#i had like 400 a few weeks ago???? wtf #and i don’t have many bots following me either so. wtf #parker shut up

[ask-prime-starscream]

Animated Review

Well then, now I understand why everybody yearns for a fourth season. :|

Here are my thoughts:

2D is like the medium for Transformers. You can have a bigger cast of robots easily and they can show very varying body types without any uncanny-valley clones.

The Autobots being a ragtag team who have to use strategy and their wits to win while the Decepticons are a big deal and imposing, is EXACTLY how I like it. Even though it’s a less serious series, the fights are still interesting to watch. I must admit that I always found the TFP fights boring as hell with a few exceptions (which is Starscream. When he jumped mid-flight on that Vehicon that was awesome.) And Cyberverse fights can get cut altogether. The way seekers explode just by flying a straight line or miss firing on an Autobot who stands one meter away is beyond suspension of disbelief.

The human Batman reject villains are pretty bad though. Always hated when they showed up.

Humans just aren’t useful. Sari is like a younger Miko who just wants to throw herself into danger. Her only excuse to be there is her deus ex machina key. She just has to push it into everything in order to fix things. 

I like that the humans are aware of the Autobots though. Coexisting is far more interesting than them being a government secret. People deserve the truth.

The Dinobots. As always I couldn’t stand them. They were never worth the trouble throughout the entire series. “Let’s ask them for help.” Dinobots attack them. “Oh.” But interesting to see how wary the Autobots are of new bots like them, Wreck-Gar or the Constructicons. 

This is the only incarnation of Prowl I like. The nature-loving ninja just beats the table-throwing asshole. 

This is the only incarnation of Bumble Bee I like. He is either the fat G1 dwarf or the ugly, mute Bayverse monster. I never got his popularity, but I also hate Pikachu. So, there!

Animated Bumble Bee is small, fast and nimble, but not overpowered. Unlike the “scout” who beats Decepticon veterans with ease (TFP, Cyberverse), or moves like a ninja even though he is some fat, stocky, overgrown toddler (IDW). It’s just so much more satisfying when he can win his fights in a believable way using the assets you believe he has looking at his design and personality.

The Decepticon cast seems a little small. Megatron only has Lugnut and Blitzwing around, while Black Arachnia and Starscream do their own things right from the beginning.

There is also nothing redeemable about this Megatron. Even TFP Megatron at least complimented Starscream sometimes. Animated Megatron is just pure evil who would even throw away his most loyal servants. I remember reading on youtube someone saying “Lugnut’s devotion is pathological”. True. Poor bastard.

This series also has an Optimus I can tolerate more. He gets back-talked by his team members and gets criticized. He is not this Jesus or priest who only speaks golden words, you can’t really relate to. Also he left Elita behind while Sentinel of all people wanted to save her. And the show treats this as the bad decision it was. Wonderful!

I like how horny this show can get. When Swoop gets his chin rubbed by Black Arachnia and he makes this cute, happy face, that’s just so adorable. I don’t wanna hear this “robots no sex, no gender, all sterile, asexual beings” nonsense when the whole franchise does a very poor job depicting them that way. As long as womanbots get boobs and manbots rectangle shapes, I don’t believe in an “asexual” species. I don’t care about shitty 13 Primes - only one looked like a woman - backstories. Shove them up your exhaust port. Make them less binary, make them genderfluid, agender, anything. Then we can get some believable asexual representation. Because there is only asexual representation when some actually engage in sexual activities. Otherwise it would just be devoid of any sexuality. But either way... this show is made by humans for humans and if it was meant for adults and not children, they would fuck each other’s brain-modules out. We all know it. And don’t dare to kink-shame me. This is my emotional support robot fucking porn. It doesn’t hurt anyone, the least canon itself.

*inhales*, *exhales*

I thought the robot language would be annoying because fanfiction got it really bad and it was a real struggle getting behind it when English isn’t even your native language and you start out as a new fan. But even if I will probably never use the word “servo” for hand, thankfully the language was consistent and there was no fake Latin in there. It gets from annoying random declension of the word “pes” to disgusting sounding (glossa), to utterly confusing (”derma” for lips?! Congratulations, you make me imagine skin on a robot’s face, ewww!!!). I heard people say, it helps with the immersion, but to me there is none. “Denta” is just tooth! It’s just Latin. If you understand Latin it just sounds like a random mess. That’s why I won’t use it myself. The same with “femme” and “mech”. I started with it, but now I stopped it. Especially after an angry lesbian claimed the word “femme” only for lesbians. Not gonna become part of such kind of drama. WTF. No. Oo

Now the most important part that got me thinking beyond this series. I read on TF wiki: Slipstream was originally intended to appear in "Endgame, Part II", in which she would revive Starscream after the Autobots left Earth, but the scene was cut for time. If that is not a whole new can of worms. Last time we saw her in the series, she was firing on Optimus Prime whose flying form she mistook for Starscream. But she revives him in this scrapped scene? I could imagine she would want him to follow her orders from now on. For what other reason would she do this?

And then there is this scrapped 4rth season episode synopsis: "Megatron Must Be Destroyed! (Part 1)"- As Megatron's machinations of reformatting Earth into a new Decepticon homeworld reaches fruition and threaten the entire planet, unholy alliances arise between the Autobots, Decepticons under the command of Slipstream, Blackarachnia's Predacons, and the Dinobots to defeat Megatron once and for all with many casualties abound.

You know what this shit could have meant?! YOU KNOW WHAT THIS COULD HAVE MEANT?!? Just imagine that Animated Starscream would muster up enough character development to actually follow Slipstream’s lead, even if it’s only temporary for the sake of defeating Megatron, THE VICIOUS CYCLE WOULD HAVE BEEN BROKEN!

Starscream and Megatron fight each other -> Autobots take Megatron’s side -> Starscream dies later in the series -> Megatron gets spared/redeemed at the end.

Every damn time!

But in this case Starscream would have helped kill Megatron!! Megatron would have been dead and Starscream would have lived or at least if I read “many casualties” right, he would have helped killing him even if he had to die. 

This just blows my mind. It amazes me. Something like this could have been a possibility. I doubt this would happen today. Not a chance. But there was a slither of a chance! HOLY SHIT, PEOPLE!!!

#Transformers Animated #long post

[swimmingismywholelife]

Another About Me Tag

— rules: answer questions and tag blogs you are contractually obligated to know better!

Tagged by: Juju! Thanks dude you know how much I love these lmao @cheolliewrites​

name/nickname: Janelle (most people don’t call me by a nickname but my bf calls me Jelly if that counts lmao)

gender: Female

star sign: Cancer baby!

height: 5’2″. I think I’m one of the shortest out of all my friends tbh.

time: 3:18 am EST

birthday: July 8, 1999!

favorite bands: Oh no lmao. I stan too many people. These days I’ve been listening to a lot of EXO, Seventeen, Stray Kids, Monsta X, NCT, 5 Seconds of Summer, Mayday Parade (my faves!), Grayscale, and All Time Low, but I listen to so many tbh.

favorite soloists: Taeyeon, Sarah Geronimo, Chungha, Jay Park

last movie: The last full movie I saw was Spiderman: Far From Home, but the last like snippet of a movie I saw was Gran Torino

last show: I think it’s called SWAT? Or FBI? One of those CBS cop shows my mom is in love with lol.

songs stuck in my head: It’s always I Am You by Stray Kids, but U by Super Junior has made it up there these days

when i created this blog: I’VE BEEN HERE TOO LONG LMAO. I think like October/November/December 2012...? Maybe it was 2013? Either way I’ve been here like almost 10 years.

last thing i googled: GOT7. I wanted to see if the rumors of a member leaving were true tbh.

other blogs: I could recommend blogs for days tbh. I’m gonna recommend some people I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet so @escapewriter, @1-800-hyunlix, and @strawberryhime

do i get asks: Not really lmao. I run a super super tiny blog but I’m always open if anyone wants to talk!

why i chose my url: So I didn’t wanna make it fandom based because I thought it would be too hard lmao. But swimming has been a sport I’ve been passionate about since I was a kid and when I made this blog, I was swimming competitively. I thought it fit pretty well and I actually really like it.

following: 728 wtf that’s a lot of people 

followers: 398 but ngl most of them I’m pretty sure are bots lmao

lucky numbers: 4 and 24!

avg hours of sleep: My sleep schedule is straight ASS rn but at least 6 to function. Ideally I sleep 6-9 hours.

instruments: Flute baby! I’ve been playing for 12 years? now and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

what i’m wearing right now: Blue snowflake pjs lmao.

dream trip: Australia, Spain, and South Korea. 

favorite food: I still don’t have an answer to this lmao. I’m craving burritos rn though so I’m just gonna say burritos for now.

nationality: Filipino American!

top three fictional universes: ....I also stan too many fictional universes lmao. I’m gonna say Harry Potter, Teen Wolf, and Supernatural I think.

I literally love tags so please keep them coming lol.

I tag @seokgyuu, @kimnjss, @gallivantingheart, @svngbins, and @kwanisms!

[tonystarkbingo]

TSB Week 25!

You might wanna brace yourselves, darlings, because there are DOZENS of works under that readmore!  As we reach the end of the round, everyone is scrambling to finish their fills and we are being blessed by a LANDSLIDE of content!

There will be one more roundup to gather up the last of the fills, and those should be submitted no later than July 1st!  Masterposts are due on the 4th, please include the following info for each fill on the masterpost:

Fill S1 - fill name - link - rating - pairing (if any)

You may, of course, include more, but that info is required.  We will post our Grand Masterpost with links to everyone’s masterpost after the 4th.

Also, don’t forget to claim your badges!  Unless you fill out this form, you will not get your badges! 

And speaking of badges... congratulations to the following!

Participation

Huntress

Faustess

Simi

Fighting_for_Creativity

calmena

DarthBloodOrange

Bingo

FestiveFerret

Von Gelmini

peachy

tinydragontony

Blackout

HogwartsToAlexandria

Dum-E badges have been going out as well, so congratulations to the many that have earned the Disaster Bot Badge!

And now... on to the insane number of fills!

Title: Tony, NO Collaborator: von_gelmini Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - You Can’t Trademark That Ship: Starker Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Inappropriate use of Stark Tech, Not Canon Compliant, Tony Stark is a Little Shit, Pepper Potts is Long Suffering, No Pepperony, Dildos, Tony Stark Has a Big Dick Summary: “You can’t trademark that!”Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course I can’t. You can’t trademark an actual, physical item. That requires a patent. Which I have.” “You have a patent for that?” Word Count: 1091

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Title: More Than Just a Cosplayer’s Dream Collaborator: eachpeachpearplum Fighting_for_Creativity Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted/T4 - Image: 3490 Kiss Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Fluff and Humor, Lack of Communication, Idiots in Love, Tony’s questionable planning skills Summary: After cosplayers dressed as him and Steve kiss in front of the Tower, Tony goes to great lengths to keep Steve from finding out. If only he’d known he didn’t have to… Word Count: 6196

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Title: Outsider, Outsider Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Image: Headset Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Horror, Fairy tale AU, Space AU, rabbits. lots of rabbits Summary: Stardate 5239.283.09 Word Count: 2249

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Title: If You Need Me Collaborator: periwinklepromise Link: AO3 Square Filled: Pepper Potts/Rescue Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: That's the problem with Tony, she thinks. Some of his messes are international terrorist groups hellbent on destruction, and some of his messes are just a learning robot with good aim Word Count: 343

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Title: If Only Collaborator: FestiveFerret Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - Phobia Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Gay Panic, Sexuality, Self-Discovery Summary: Steve wasn't gay. He wasn't. He'd know that about himself. He had no problem whatsoever with men who were attracted to men - he was dating one of them - but it wasn't him. Word Count: 6061

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Title: The anatomy of a dying star - Chapter 1 Collaborator: summerpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Wake Up! Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Implied/Referenced Torture, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort Summary: When Captain Bucky Barnes opened the crate, he was surprised. He thought of a million things that he might find, a hidden food-stash, some contraband supplies, maybe even a collection of weird dolls, Bucky wasn't one to judge. But what he never expected was to see the outline of a man, a very naked man, shivering as he woke up, blue eyes staring back him. Word Count: 1507

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Title: all that I think about you Collaborator: HogwartsToAlexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - AU: Hogwarts Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Howard and Maria had once again let him down, and Tony was forced to watch all his friends, and particularly his best friend who he was very much in love with like thirteen-year-olds could be, leave for Hogsmeade without him. Enter Thor and Loki. The Asgardian Brothers of Mischief. Tony knew he could manage something.  Word Count: 510

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Title: Lights! Camera! Action! Collaborator: HogwartsToAlexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Tony/Natasha/Pepper Ship: Tony/Natasha/Pepper Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, PWP, Established Relationship Summary: Tony knows he's lucky; not everyone gets to submit to their wives for pleasure, and for business. Word Count: 1890

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Title: Flex & Flexibility Collaborator: feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Accidental Marriage Ship: Starker Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Arranged Marriage, Class Differences Summary: Tony Stark meddles with the romantic and aspirational fortunes of those in his acquaintance as often as possible; he tinkers with fates as well as machines and formulae, and he considers it a form of generosity and atonement for a) being so criminally and miserably over-privileged, and b) his past mistakes.When the match he'd been brokering between his head housekeeper's, May Parker's, nephew and the sadly recently deceased son of Norman Osborn, a business associate, ends up impossible... Tony steps in. After all, the small upstate town in this great state of New York finds it unseemly that an unattached male teach schoolchildren, lest either be an unwelcome distraction to the other.And Peter Parker had already taken the post, you see. There is really nothing else to be done but for Tony to marry the young schoolmaster himself. Word Count: 4590

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Title: The kill shot - Chapter 7 Collaborator: Fighting_for_Creativity Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Image: Working on Bucky’s Arm Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alcohol, Cheating(past), Dinner, Fluff, Identity Porn Summary: After they spent a wonderful night with each other James slipps out, but not before making breakfast.Tony has a heart to heart with JARVIS.And James has a dream, which is more a memory than anything else.Later the two have another date. Word Count: 13,329

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Title: Overexposure Collaborator: hddnone Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Photoshoot Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Photographer!Bucky, Alternate Universe - No Powers Summary: When Bucky gets a chance to photograph Tony Stark - yes, that Tony Stark - it's the biggest break in his career. It doesn't matter that Bucky has a tiny, itty bitty crush on Tony. It doesn’t matter that it’s a lingerie photoshoot, or that the pictures won't ever be seen by anyone outside Bucky, Tony, and Tony's wholly undeserving boyfriend.Bucky is going to be an absolute goddamn professional. Word Count: 1068

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Title: Bing Bang Bingo Collaborator: Kou Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier Ship: Pepperony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary: Tony helps Steve with his problem and tries to rationalize why he's willing to harbor a known war criminal. Word Count: 1040

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Title: The Auld Triangle Collaborator: Menatiera Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A2 - Labyrinth Ship: WinterIron, Stuckony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub; Alternate Universe - No Powers; established bucky/tony; Mutual Pining; Fluff; Flirting; Irish Steve Rogers; Irish Sarah Rogers; Polyamory; Polyamory Negotiations Summary: Moodboard. (Fic summary: In which Steve owns a failing Irish bar and Bucky works at that bar and is also married to Tony and the latter two desperately want to bring the former one into their relationship…But this is Steve, Tony, and Bucky we’re talking about. So they’re idiots about it.) Word Count: N/A

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Title: Through a Child’s Eyes, It’s Different - Chapter 6: Very Familiar Eyes Collaborator: rebelmeg Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Flying Ship: Pepperony, Tony & Avengers, Iron Squad Rating: Teen Major Tags: deaged Tony, angst/fluff/humor, science and magic gone wrong, post-CACW drama, Team Cap Critical Summary: Rhodey's in a panic trying to find Tony in the rubble created by the explosion. Problem is, Tony isn't there. There's just a little kid with big brown eyes that look awfully familiar... Word Count: 12,090

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Title: my body is not their bed xvii Collaborator: Simi Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - Tony Stark/Natasha Romanoff Ship: Bucky/Tony/Steve/Natasha Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Soulmate AU, Female Tony Stark, Toni is Raised by HYDRA, Explicit Sexual Content, PTSD, Aftermath of Torture Summary: In 1995, the Engineer and the Winter Soldier escape HYDRA and end up, bleeding, on Peggy Carter's doorstep.This is their journey after. This is the story of their victory march. Word Count: 94,402

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Title: Because I could not stop for Death - (He kindly stopped for me) - Chapter 3 Collaborator: Faustess Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - Angst Ship: WinterPepperony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Inspired by Corpse Bride (2005), Angst with a Happy Ending, Not Cheating, Pre-Poly, Supernatural Elements Summary: Tony likes Sergeant Bucky Barnes and if they'd met under other circumstances, he could have been happy. But Bucky's dead... and Tony's not. Meanwhile, the Potts's are short one groom for the wedding. And our favorite field mouse is livid Word Count: 4787

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Title: JARVIS Play Despacito Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - WTF Ship: JARVIS & Steve Rogers Rating: Gen Major Tags: texting fic, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century Summary: Text conversation between JARVIS and Steve Word Count: 446

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Title: Hadid - Chapter 3 Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4- [Image of Tony & Rhodey hugging in IM1] Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: Dragon Riders, Iron Man 1 AU, Mutual Pining Summary: An AU of Iron Man 1, now with added dragons. Word Count: 4786

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Title: It is the wind, that shows you the way. Collaborator: HogwartsToAlexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - A Wedding and A Funeral Ship: Pepperony Rating: Mature Major Tags: soulmate AU Summary: You find your soulmate in a dream they say, and that dream can be so many things at once sometimes you don't realize that's what your subconscious has been telling you, and yet it was. Word Count: 1984

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Title: Las Vegas Wedding Collaborator: Violettavonviolet Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - hindsight Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Gen Major Tags: secret relationship, hindsight, DADT, secret wedding Summary: They had talked about it a lot after gay marriage was finally legalized. They didn’t marry because of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, but now that it was repealed, Rhodey knew what would happen. or: Tony and Rhodey have a Las Vegas Wedding because they can, finally they can. Word Count: 1610

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Title: The anatomy of a dying star - Chapter 2 Collaborator: justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Mind control or Brainwashing Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Firefly AU Summary: When Captain Bucky Barnes opened the crate, he was surprised. He thought of a million things that he might find, a hidden food-stash, some contraband supplies, maybe even a collection of weird dolls, Bucky wasn't one to judge. But what he never expected was to see the outline of a man, a very naked man, shivering as he woke up, blue eyes staring back him. Word Count: 6705

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Title: Cheer - Chapter 2 Collaborator: hddnone Link: AO3 Square Filled: R2 - Sam Wilson/Falcon Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: none Summary: The one where the Avengers are a collegiate cheerleading team making their way to Nationals. Word Count: 2073

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Title: Tears In Heaven Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Square Filled: A1- Resolve Ship: Tony Stark & Morgan Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, James “Rhodey” Rhodes & Tony Stark Rating: Gen Major Tags: Major Character Death, Avengers Endgame compliant, heavy angst Summary: He’d done it. Thanos was gone, turned to dust along with his army. Tony just needed to find something to lean against. Just to give him some support while he got his breath back. Word Count: 581

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Title: Order and Chaos Collaborator: The_Alias (Artemis_Day) Link: AO3 Square Filled: R2 - Angel/Demon AU Ship: Pepperony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Angel/Demon AU Summary: You can't have one without the other. Word Count: 1683

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Title: Only Fool Rush In Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Squares Filled: Chapter 1: S5 - No Powers Chapter 2: Jan Adopted Prompt - Fake Marriage/Marriage of Convenience Chapter 3: K5 - Drunk Dialing/Wrong Number Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: College AU, fake marriage, age difference (Steve is 25, Tony is 18) Summary: Due to a condition in Howard's will, Tony needs to find someone willing to sham marry him before he can claim his inheritance. Including taking over Stark Industries. The facts that Steve is the one who volunteered to help, and that Tony has a massive crush on him, shouldn't be a problem. Right? Word Count:

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Title: The anatomy of a dying star - Chapter 3 Collaborator: justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4: Helen Cho Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Firefly AU Summary: When Captain Bucky Barnes opened the crate, he was surprised. He thought of a million things that he might find, a hidden food-stash, some contraband supplies, maybe even a collection of weird dolls, Bucky wasn't one to judge. But what he never expected was to see the outline of a man, a very naked man, shivering as he woke up, blue eyes staring back him. Word Count:

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Title: Comfy Collaborator: festiveferret Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S3 - Cuddling Ship: Stuckony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Cuddling, Fluff, Snuggles Summary: none Word Count: 440

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Title: Through The Looking... Portal Collaborator: MagicaDraconia16 Link: AO3 Squares Filled: Chapter 1: adopted prompt - Sent to a Different Dimension Chapter 2: A4 - Multiverse Shenanigans Chapter 3: adopted prompt - Meeting Alternate Universe Counterparts Ship: Tony & Bucky Rating: Teen Major Tags: the odd swearing, dimension travel, magical accidents, Reed Richards' portals Summary: Reed Richards was an absolute menace. Of course, it was Tony's fault for touching the obviously magical object in the first place. What else would you expect from something that came from a portal designed to look into alternate dimensions? Word Count: 5215

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Title: Welcome to the Jungle - Chapter One Collaborator: monobuu Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Trapped/Isolated Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: Video Game Violence, Cursing, (Video Game) Death Summary: A GAME FOR THOSE WHO SEEK TO FIND - A WAY TO LEAVE THEIR WORLD BEHIND Word Count: 1286

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Title: Faked Collaborator: festiveferret Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T4 - IMAGE: Jan & Tony Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Fake Relationship, Jealousy Summary: none Word Count: 570

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Title: Love Is True In Fairy Tales Collaborator: periwinklepromise Link: AO3 Square Filled: Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: none  Summary:  Locked away in a castle and guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon, Natasha is still waiting for a knight so bold as to rescue her. When her rescuer finally comes, he's ... a little unorthodox, she must admit   Word Count: 851

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Title: High on You Collaborator: hddnone Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Wolfgang von Strucker Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Sex Pollen, Dubious Consent, Non-consensual drug use (from the sex pollen), allusion to Clint/Nat/Steve Summary: Sex pollen. Just another Tuesday as an Avenger. Strucker is wrong about it distracting the Avengers too much to fight - well, with the exception of those with the serum. It hits them a little differently than the rest of the team. Word Count: 3481

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Title: A bet for love Collaborator: Violettavonviolet Link: AO3  Square Filled: S2 - Misunderstandings Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: shovel talk, misunderstanding, pining, POV Bucky Barnes Summary: Bucky has been pining after Tony for months, and the other avengers finally decide to step in. Any idiot can see that Tony like Bucky. So, one morning, Clint makes a bet with Bucky. He has to ask Tony out and Clint does his reports for a month. Bucky does and sure enough they start dating, sadly neither of them are good at communicating and now Tony is holed up in his lab. or: A small misunderstanding can lead to a big fall out. Jarvis is scary protective and Bucky and Tony are really just a couple of dumbasses. Word Count: 2433

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Title: Skein Collaborator: onlymorelove Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S1 - Secret Hobby Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard  Summary: Tony loves to knit.

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Title: A Veritable Landslide of Creatures Collaborator: betheflame Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - Attacked by a creature Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: none  Summary: Peter likes to sleep with a few too many stuffed animals for his dads' liking. Word Count: 1155

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Title: Cinderella AU - free art fill by monobuu Collaborator: summerpipedream Link: Tumblr Square Filled: free art fill - T2: Cinderella Story Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: Cinderella AU with Steve and Tony

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Title: The anatomy of a dying star - Chapter 4 Collaborator: justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Firefly AU Summary: When Captain Bucky Barnes opened the crate, he was surprised. He thought of a million things that he might find, a hidden food-stash, some contraband supplies, maybe even a collection of weird dolls, Bucky wasn't one to judge. But what he never expected was to see the outline of a man, a very naked man, shivering as he woke up, blue eyes staring back him. Word Count: 6705

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Title: “That treasure of yours better be worth it Stark!” - Moodboards Collaborator: sianmcawesome Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S5 - AU: Adventurers/Explorers Ship: Bucky/Clint/Tony Rating: Gen Major Tags: snakes, skulls, medical equipents (for pics under the cut), mention of Obediah Stane Summary: 4 moodboards for the WinterIronHawk meets Indiana Jones/National Treasure/Blood and Treasure/every other Treasure Hunter movie and show out there story I´ll probably never get around to writing.

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Title: Bing Bang Bingo - Chapter 3: TSBingo K1: Meet Ugly Collaborator: Starkangejr Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Meet Ugly Ship: Pepperony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe--Canon Divergence, Manipulation, SIM!Tony, Attempted Murder, Minor Character Death Summary: Superior Iron Man always gets what he wants. Word Count: 2484

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Title: feed each other and call it love Collaborator: ohjustpeachy Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - Steve/Tony Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: none Summary: Steve works late, Tony builds a robot, and they show their feelings the only way they know how: through food. Word Count: 1823

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Title: Alarmed Collaborator:  festiveferret Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S4 - Adrenaline Rush Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: fluff Summary: none Word Count: 770

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Title: For Want of a Nail Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Centaur AU Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Human/Demi-Human Relationships,  Summary: The centaur, Bucky, is traveling to the witch coven to get the herbs needed to alleviate his herd-mate’s cough. On the way, he throws a shoe. Centaurs don’t usually associate much with humans, but what choice has he got? Word Count: 3909

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Title: God Is Great Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: Mod Fill for tinydragontony K5 - Forgotten Things Ship: FrostIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Marriage Proposal, Religious Rituals Summary: Tony wants to make sure he has Loki's undivided attention... Word Count: 525

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Title: Untitled Collaborator: peachy Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T1 - AU: Gothic Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Moodboard Summary: An au where Tony’s parents die mysteriously, leaving him to inherit Stark Mansion, the house he’s spent years trying to escape, and Steve is the detective assigned to the case who gets far too involved.  Word Count: N/A

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Title: Ghost of Unprotected Sex Past - Can’t Sleep?  Collaborator: G Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S1 - Phobia Ship: Tony Stark x F!Reader // IronDad Rating: Teen Major Tags: Cursing, mention of nightmares, insomnia, mention of spiders and spider bites Summary: You and Tony have a late-night chat about your fears and anxieties. Word Count:

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Title: The Princes and the Pauper Collaborator: Fighting_for_Creativity Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Royalty Ship: Stony Rating: Mature Major Tags: Royalty Au, Envy/Jealousy, Evil Twin, inspired by the fairytale 'The Prince And The Pauper' Summary: A twin brother could be one of the most wonderful things life could gift you with.For the longest time, Anthony though of his twin Gregory as such that.Little did he know, that his brother wasn't as content with life like Anthony was.In a world where only the firstborn can inherit, the second-born twin falls victim to greed. Word Count: 1104

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Title: Thank You for Waking Me Up - Chapter 2 Collaborator: hddnone Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - AU: Anime Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Tony almost died. Well, he did die and then was brought back to life, but that was supposed to be a secret. He wants to go back to his college life at MIT and designing robots with Rhodey, but his second chance at life means that he has the Grim Reaper who goes by the name of Phil Coulson trying to train him to save the world.He's probably not meant to flirt with the demons he's supposed to be catching. Word Count: 2808

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Title: Date Night Collaborator: Artemis Day Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Spy, Secret Agent, Assassin, or Hitman Ship: Pepperony Rating: Mature Major Tags: Enemies to Lovers, Mild Sexual Content Summary: Seven O'Clock. Tony Stark was home alone. Word Count: 1387

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Title: Through a Child’s Eyes, It’s Different - Chapter 20: A Breakthrough Collaborator: rebelmeg Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Stephen Strange Ship: Pepperony, Iron Squad, Minor Jane/Thor Rating: Teen Major Tags: Deaged Tony, Science and Magic Summary: Dr. Strange's Cloak behaves oddly, and a breakthrough comes from an unexpected source. Word Count: 35,704

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Title: A Bun (Well, Cookies) in the Oven Collaborator: eachpeachpearplum Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - Tony Stark/Pepper Potts Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Fluff, So Much Fluff, Pregnancy, Baking Summary: Pepper is tired, achy, and has had more than enough of people telling her she's glowing. Fortunately, Tony is a genius, and knows just how to cheer her up. (It's just a pity cooking isn't one of his strengths.) Word Count: 1214

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Title: The Rest is Fate Collaborator: FestiveFerret Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A4 - Cinderella Story Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Pining, Unrequited Love (Or Is It?)  Summary: Word Count: 886

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Title: A Bakery Bodyswap Collaborator: Gavilan Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S5 - Body Swap Ship: WinterIron Rating: G Major Tags: Bodyswap, Baking, Photo Story, Food, Images of Food Summary: A photo story. Word Count: N/A

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Title: It’s Our Choices That Define Us Collaborator: InTheShadows Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Anticipation Ship: Loki & Tony Stark Rating: Gen Major Tags: Hogwarts AU, Sorting Fic Summary: Loki and Tony are Sorted into their Hogwarts Houses. Anyone who thinks they already know the outcome are fools. This two never do the expected after all. Word Count: 1971

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Title: That’s What She Said Collaborator: FestiveFerret Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Ho Yinsen Ship: Stuckony Rating: E Major Tags: Get Together, Drunk Consent Summary: Steve had a massive crush on his TA, which he was hiding from his boyfriend, until a chance meeting in the chip aisle at Target changed everything. Word Count: 3378

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Title: That’s What She Said Collaborator: betheflame Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - Shopping Together Ship: Stuckony Rating: E Major Tags: Get Together, Drunk Consent Summary: Steve had a massive crush on his TA, which he was hiding from his boyfriend, until a chance meeting in the chip aisle at Target changed everything. Word Count: 3378

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Title: Chances Are Collaborator: tinydragontony Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Tony in the Workshop Ship: FrostIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Domestic Fluff Summary: What's Jarvis playing over the intercom system? That sure doesn't sound like AC/DC... Word Count: 28,050

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Title: Sun’s Out, Guns Out Collaborator: only_more_love Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S2 - Thanos Ship: N/A Rating: Gen Major Tags: Moodboard Summary: Even supervillains need time to unwind. Word Count: N/A

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Title: First Kiss Collaborator: Monobuu for Lacrimula Falsa Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Mod art fill for Lacrimula Falsa T3 - First Kiss Ship: IronAgent Rating: Gen Major Tags: N/A Summary: Art Word Count: N/A

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Title: Pretty For You Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Adopted - Kink: Crossdressing Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Crossdressing, Sexual Content Summary: For some fun Steve puts on one of the USO Tour Girl dresses for Tony. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Discipline Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - Kink: Caning Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Sexual Content, BDSM, Uniform Kink Summary: “Do you know why you are here, Captain?” Tony asks, eyeing up the soldier standing to attention before him. Word Count: 1587

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Title: Pull of the Tide Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Kink: Interfemoral/Intercrural  Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Sexual Content, Food Sex, Intercrural Sex Summary: Tony is tired after a long day at the lifeguard convention he was attending. All Tony wants it to sleep. Sometimes life doesn’t give you what you want…… Sometimes it give you something better. Word Count: 2100

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Title: scenes from an Italian restaurant Collaborator: peachy Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - Free Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Marriage Proposal, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff,  Summary: Steve gets back from a mission, and they go to dinner. Word Count: 1131

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Title: A Box of Scraps in a Cave Collaborator: betheflame Link: AO3 Square Filled: A1 - Image: MK 1 Ship: Stony, WinterFalcon Rating: Teen Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff Summary: “Jarvis, report?” Tony said quietly.“Master Peter has opened the box and lit the forge.”“After eight hours of scowling at it, that’s quite a bit of progress,” Tony quipped. Word Count: 2648

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Title: Ice Breaker Collaborator: Fighting_for_Creativity Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - Popsicle Ship: IronFalcon Rating: Gen Major Tags: Fluff, First Date, Dorks in Love Summary: The moment Sam asked him for a date had filled Tony with nervous anticipation and tension.Why the hell the weather decided to be as unbearable hot as it was on that day, only heaven knows.At least Sam and he were able to get some cooling popsicles. Word Count: 1472

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Title: The Eye of a Spy Collaborator: fighting_for_Creativity Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - Movie Retelling Ship: IronFury Rating: Mature Major Tags: Movie Retelling Summary: Ever since he had been a much younger agent, Fury had the questionable pleasure of knowing Tony Stark on a slightly more personal level. Over the years though, he couldn't help but think of it more as a privilege.Tony Stark was something else.Maybe, just maybe, Tony Stark was exactly what Nicholas Joseph Fury needed. Word Count: 3001

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Title: The Reunion Collaborator: FestiveFerret Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Pining Ship: WinterIron, Stucky, Stuckony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Pining, Get Together Summary: Bucky's upcoming ten-year high school reunion is dredging up memories of something else that ended ten years ago. He tries to ignore the way it makes him feel, but his boyfriend, Tony, has other ideas. Word Count: 3162

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Title: Size Him Up, Take Him Down - Chapter 3 Collaborator: Romancebyfaye Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Cheesy Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Dom/Sub Summary: Steve is small and slight. For this reason others often assume he isn't a Dominant or is incapable of being a good Dominant. It doesn't seem to matter that Submissives, Dominants, Switches, and Nulls come in all shapes and sizes. He's had more than his fair share of fighting against stereotypes, so when Natasha mistakes his designation and introduces him to another Dominant who seems more than interested in taking him down, Steve perhaps responds in a less than ideal manner.Only now Nat is pissed at him and it seems he may have fallen prey to the exact kind of thinking he has always despised. Word Count: 5829

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Title: A Matter of Efficiency Collaborator: FestiveFerret Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - The End Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Crack, Enemas to Lovers, The Butt Chug Fic Summary: Somehow, Steve is defying all known science about him and managing to get drunk. Regularly. Tony is determined to figure out how. Word Count: 6558

#tonystarkbingo2020 #tsb2020 #tsb weekly roundup #tsb week 25

[mittensmorgul]

Like, what was even the fake destiheller’s point? That destiel shippers will most likely follow a destiel blog? I mean congratulations lol, can’t really argue??

god I wasn’t even gonna say anything about this because *sad, largely irrelevant blogger who never shuts up about what they hate but was essentially unknown to huge swaths of the fandom because aforementioned irrelevance and general not-niceness* goes so far out of the way to pull an ultimately pointless long con by setting up a blog proclaiming to love the thing she hates, but gears it not toward the active destiel writing/meta/art/gif/creator fandom that I’m part of but toward teens, by pretending to be a teenager and complaining about school and being sad they don’t have more time to blog about the thing they claim to love, while generating very little in the way of original content and largely letting the blog sit there to gather pornbots like dust for three years…

(under a cut, because when I get going I have to make all the points… consider this my personal version of one of the “Let me introduce myself…” memes. I’m actually Andrew Dabb, but only when he’s being interviewed)

I mean… three years… that blog existed, while I’ve been on this hellsite nearly every day during that span and had never even heard of their lil blog– regardless of the number of followers they somehow attracted. I have “liked” over 100k posts, and even if 2/3 of my posts are reblogs (often conversationally, as many of us add thoughts to posts, etc), that still adds up to more than 20k posts I’ve reblogged and still never stumbled across one of her supposedly HUGELY popular blog posts… I mean… the blog was so quiet she literally had to send herself ask messages.  So I know those aren’t the sorts of people who are actively participating in the same vast swath of fandom I and the people I follow and interact with every day occupy.

And heck… now I wonder how many of the cringeworthy anons in my inbox may have been from her pretending to be clueless about aspects of fandom that her own comments to herself seemed to be trying to address and just… ew.

(for the record, I don’t generally reply publicly to anons I don’t have wank-free answers for– either wank-free in my opinion, or on topics that generally tend to draw even more wank to my inbox. I do not want my blog to be one of those bitter places filled with half-assed rants and facts I just pulled out of my ass because YEAH LET’S BE CRANKY ABOUT SHIT WE DON’T KNOW ALL THE DETAILS OF will never be my brand…)

(And if you court teenagers to your blog by pretending to be a teenager, most adults will not interact with your blog on purpose, because most adults aren’t creepers… I don’t think I follow anyone under 18, but if I found out I did, I’d probably unfollow unless it was someone I knew or talked with, beause while I’m not a creeper I do my best to be a kind person who doesn’t dismiss young people for being young. But I am an adult, and therefore should know better than to deliberately target people who are younger than my own kid under false pretenses– I will never refuse to give out mom advice if asked even if I’m only a half-assed adult and my advice is to seek out an another adultier adult… whatever, this is going off point…)

Is she somehow deluded into thinking she had most of the destiel people following her? Because I’d honestly never even heard of the blog before today. Some major fandom impact, right? Really showed us what for! >.>

No original content in almost a year, and still gaining followers? I’m betting most of them were bots. Because that’s who follows inactive blogs.

I talk to so many people in this fandom every day, and have for years, and never even registered that blog’s existence before.

So what did she gain? Well, in the aftermath she’s suddenly a hell of a lot less obscure, you know? Every blog that’s posting (yes, often hilarious) stuff today about the incident is basically free real estate for her. She’s in everyone’s head now, even if *we* get that it’s kinda sad and we’re all just a bit skeeved at just what sort of person would spend any of their energy on something they hate so much… I think in her mind, at least we all know her name now. We’re all spending *our* energy not creating actual SPN content today. We’re doing exactly what we accuse *them* of doing all the time. So at least for today, she was not irrelevant.

(I mean, in her own mind, at least…)

That post was like the saddest and most pointless Evol Villain Speech of all time. Like, standing before the gates of the city proclaiming victory while the townspeople go about their business, stopping every once in a while to mutter get a load of that one… what the hell are they going on about now? And then resuming their business as usual because most of us have actually interesting things to dedicate our blogs to. Like content that’s NOT about how dumb the people who aren’t in our particular corner of fandom are.

>.>

Which is why I’d been refusing to give her any free real estate here, because sure, have a laugh because wtf, but then just… get over it. Because giving a crap about what “their side” is up to is just as lamentably sad as her giving a crap what *we* are up to, you know? 

And that is everything I have to say on the matter.

Oh, and thanks for the great memes, but really nothing’s more laughable than the original.

#wtf do i even tag this disaster of a ramble #wank adjacent #i guess wtf #Anonymous

[mcjour]

so the other day was the anniversary of my friend’s death and i realized there was so much i didn’t process there like at all. 

i can barely even remember what our relationship was. he definitely wasn’t a close best friend or anything, at least. but the line between acquaintance and friend is blurred. like, i didn’t exactly hang out with him. but it’s not like i was really hanging out with anyone at that point lol.

so i see his closer friends (also my friends) post something on facebook sometimes and i am like huh am i entitled to that? was i close enough to him or would posting be attention seeking?

i mean there isn’t anything i need to post or anything but thought that was an interesting thought. especially knowing my friends who knew him really wouldn’t even be the type to gatekeep grief anyway but like i said just a thought

gosh i barely even remember him and that’s so awful. like the day i found out he died, we all posted about it and so my memories are only the ones i wrote down in that post. they were nice memories, but i hate that my brain has deleted so much of my life

anyway can’t believe it’s been 5 years!

i think about him a lot, actually. not all the time, but more than i would expect

one thing i thought about this week was how traumatizing finding out was. because we all found out through a mass email to the entire campus. heartbreaking, probably the worst way to find out. i don’t really blame the school for that or anything, it’s not like they have a roster of all your connections or anything lol. but that doesn’t make it any less sucky

i remember i was texting a friend and maybe she was the one to read the email first? but either way i remember us being like, hold on, are we reading this correctly? our friend had a decently common name, so on a large campus, could there have been someone else with his name? but no. he was ours.

i remember i was in the dining hall getting food right before work. i was in shock. i don’t remember if i cried then and there, but i definitely cried at work. i don’t really know why i didn;t just not go to work. probably i didn’t even know who i would talk to about it. besides, what else was i supposed to do? it’s not like there was a guide to how to react when you find out your friend is dead via campus email.

i remember walking to my dorm after my shift. for some reason i worked on the opposite side of campus than i lived lol. i was probably cold and tired and dirty and wet from working in the dish room. i was listening to music as i walked. as i walked up the steep hill (almost home!), the song lifegoeson by noah and the whale came on shuffle. there’s a verse about the singer’s “last night on earth” and having no regrets or something. and wow i think i probably just bawled right then and there knowing that it had literally been my friend’s last night on earth the night or 2 before. 

when you looked at his twitter, that night (or sometime in the days before), he had retweeted a bunch of tweets saying “i could really use a hug right now.” i don’t think i had seen it at the time, like i don’t think i used twitter every day or anything. but to look back at that is so stinging. like, one of those cliche moments wondering if you could go back into the past and change something. like if i had seen that and reached out to him, would he still be alive today? and really who knows. and who knows, maybe other friends DID see, and DID reach out. it’s not really something i spend a lot of time guilting over or anything. but it still is really something to look back at, the cries for help immortalized on the internet. 

his twitter account was later hacked and became like a porn bot account which was also just devastating. luckily i think those tweets got deleted, but the profile picture and the bio still remain. and his old tweets too, like i said. 

there’s also a message he sent me a few months before he died inviting me to a party, which was so kind. and literally the day before he died, he sent me a cat video. or maybe it was the night he died. the link is dead now, so i don’t remember what the video was. there’s no response. i don’t know if i ignored it or if i just didn’t check twitter. 

maybe he was trying to comfort us through his death. in retrospect, i guess i really was a friend if i was one of the people he reached out to in those final hours

his death was right before finals too. which meant we were all totally fucked, i was already tanking a lot of my classes as it already was. i ended up taking an incomplete in one and finishing the next semester. i am sure many of my friends were in similar boats. the friend who passed was actually about to graduate. he was 24. i must’ve been 19 at the time, almost 20. he seemed so much older. i am 24 now, so lol.

the reason i was struggling so much before this was that  my cat had died about a month prior. he was my entire world. 

i couldn’t imagine life without my cat. i can’t remember when i started feeling suicidal myself, but my friend’s death definitely exacerbated that feeling. i think i felt like he beat me to it. and i didn’t want people to think i was a copy cat either. but every time i cut through the fine arts center i’d stand and look over the edge and wonder if it was high enough. i really don’t think it was LOL. but i was in so much pain.

what helped was my advisor slash professor. i had emailed all my professors about the deaths just to give them a heads up if i was missing class or assignments or whatever. and i remember i typed something like sorry, i am just having a really shitty semester. and she replied and was like yeah no that’s an understatement. and she invited me to like hang out and chat and eat donuts and i felt super awkward and anxious about the whole thing but she was so kind and helped me get through some of the professor issues i was having. plus the donut. that ended up really jumpstarting our relationship and she was so important to my college career. 

i knew another person from that same group who also died. i was not as close to her, but was of course still sad to hear of her passing. and it really speaks to how trauma can kill you, i think. most college groups do not lose two people. while they are still in college. there’s a photo of us from a house party and it’s weird that there’s i don’t know 10, 15, 20 people in the photo and 2 of them are dead.

these are things that i haven’t told anybody. because who could i tell?

like i could talk about my friend with our mutual friends, and we did right after he passed and stuff but like at some point that ends. and then i’m not really in close contact with any of them anymore. i would be happy to talk to any of them, don’t get me wrong, but i’m not about to contact these people out of the blue.

and anyone who didn’t know him wouldn’t know

and my cat too. i feel like that’s not as shareable of a grief. like society says that’s just a cat. and it was only a month after losing him that i lost my friend, so i was still grieving my cat when it happened. but now my friends all had their own grief and i didn’t want to divert the focus on my friend to be like hi i also am sad about my cat? that seems weird. the word that came to mind was selfish, and i don’t think that’s the correct word in this context. but it does just feel inappropriate.

then to go home at the end of the semester to an unsupportive household while weighted down by two huge deaths. i think i told my mom i wasn’t going to talk to her about my friend (what could i really say anyway). idk she’s the last place i would go for comfort.

and she made grieving the cat horrible. i don’t remember but i think she made it all about her somehow. like how she found the body and bla bla bla. i don’t remember.

the grief of both of these deaths has been bottled for 5 years.

something else i remembered: they set up group counseling for me and my friends. and so i went. i wasn’t too keen on counseling, but i think i was just in shock still and figured it would be good for me. and good to be with friends, whether for my sake or theirs.

so it was run by this lady. this horrible lady. the lady who sent me to the hospital for no fucking reason. so i was like holy fucking shit!!! but once again i think i was kinda in shock, like wtf was i supposed to do, just walk out and make a scene? so i sat there. and she sucked lol. i smiled at one point. i have no idea why i smiled. it was unconcious. maybe i remembered a happy memory, maybe it was just a nervous response who fucking knows. either way she called me out on it and was like why are you smiling? now i think it is rude in general to just call someone out like that LOL but this just so happened to be a very specific trigger of mine from high school days. so i think i literally ran out of the room. one of my friends followed me and talked with me out in the staircase. i know i didn’t go back, but i can’t remember if my friend went back or not. i think i felt bad having her comfort me over some dumb thing, instead of getting counseling herself, but she was definitely like nah that lady sucks. someone i think said the lady made a comment about me leaving too. idk. anyway she’s an ass.

unrelated, kinda, this lady taught the intro to social work class which i really wanted to take but i was like hell NO. luckily one semester they got someone else to teach it. it sucked in a totally different way LOL. 

[mkyujji]

Favorite sports things- 

Basketball.   I’m from a basketball town.  Probably the only school in Texas without a football team.  We focused on basketball year round.  I love basketball.  If I was forced to only watch one sport for the rest of my life, it’s probably what I’d choose.

Favorite Men’s team - San Antonio Spurs.  Although I will cheer for the Dallas Mavericks or the Houston Rockets as long as they’re not playing the Spurs.

Favorite Men’s Player - tough, but either David “The Admiral” Robinson or Tim Duncan.  (Hakeem Olajuwon also ranks pretty high)

Favorite Women’s team - Damn I miss the Houston Comets.  :(  In their absence, the Seattle Storm.

Favorite Women’s Player - Cynthia Cooper.  Seriously miss the Houston Comets.

Football. As a teenager, I can honestly say that I knew nothing about football except that the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Oilers existed.  Oh, and there were probably other teams, but I didn’t pay it any attention because it wasn’t basketball.  I got a little into it when the Cowboys were making waves with the Triplets and everyone in Texas was going insane.  (more insane than normal).  I didn’t really get into football until I was an adult and I moved to Seattle and started working at a casino.  Suddenly, I was surrounded by hardcore football fans and it was on the television All The Time.  I had to learn to enjoy it out of self-defense.  I enjoy it now, but I most enjoy watching how it effects my co-workers.

Favorite Team - Houston Texans.  I will cheer for the Dallas Cowboys half-heartedly if they’re not playing the Texans and ti definitely makes my life easier when the Seattle Seahawks win as I’m mostly surrounded by Hawks fans.  

Favorite Player - JJ Watt

There needs to be a woman’s league.  :(

Hockey. I admittedly only got into hockey during the 2016/17season.  Prior to that, all I could have told you about hockey was that Wayne Gretzky was The Great One and that the Ducks were Mighty.  A friend wanted someone to join her in the craziness, though, and dragged me into it forcefully and fully very quickly.  I’m still trying to understand some of the rules (seriously, wtf is icing?), but I love it and have now seen more professional hockey games than I have all other pro-sports combined. Including selling my soul to go to Game Five of the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals.

Favorite Men’s Team - Pittsburg Penguins.  (Which I get a lot of flack for choosing a reigning Stanley Cup champion as my team, but look, my ex-husband is a Philly Flyers fan.  It’s in the divorce creed that we have to choose teams that are nemesis.  I don't make the rules, I just follow ‘em.  ^_^ Also, Crosby may or may not be a robot, but he is a hot bot, so...)

Favorite Men’s Player - This gets a little complicated.  Because I have multiple favorite players across multiple teams.  Sidney Crosby.  I don’t understand the hate.  The cries of ‘he’s a whiner’ or ‘he’s a diver’.  Like, you’ve clearly never watched other sports if you think that qualifies as whining and diving.  Watch soccer, my friend.  Then you can see some grade A performance dives and whines.  Marc Andre Fluery.  I will never forgive the Pens for trading him away.  Ben Hutton.  The Canucks may not be what you’d call a uh... contender, shall we say, but I adore that big ball of sunshine.  Alexander Ovechkin.  This man deserves a fucking Cup, okay?  Like, yesterday.  I hate that he’s so, so good and doesn’t have that.  And while they may not be my favorites, I still love Evgeni Malkin, Chis Kunitz, Jamie Benn, PK Subban, Conor Sheary, and far too many others to name.  I’m sure it’ll calm a little once I fully settle into life as a hockey fan, but right now I’m still very much all over the place with things and people to love in this sport.

Favorite Women’s Team - 2018 Women’s USA Olympic Hockey Team.  I was pretty stoked this year.

Favorite Women’s Player - How do you choose between Hillary Knight and Amanda Kessel?  

Soccer. I didn’t really start watching this until my daughter started playing.  Then I suddenly needed to know more about it.  :)

Favorite Men’s Team - Seattle Sounders.  Tickets here are expensive, so I don’t go often, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere the few times I have gone.

Favorite Men’s player - I honestly haven’t picked a favorite player, although I have seen some really amusing whining and diving on the field.  It’s like performance art.

Favorite Women’s team - I haven not watched any women’s soccers teams above the high school level.  It’s harder to find on tv than even hockey.  :-/

Baseball is boring.  Golf should not be considered a sport.  Rodeo is a weird gray area where I can’t decide if I like it or not.  Boxing hasn’t been the same since Oscar De LeHoya retired.

So yeah... I love sports.  

#rl #sports #about me

[kateofthecanals]

For The (Not)Watch: Episode 7.4

The Reason HBO Can’t Afford Direwolves Anymore

So this week wasn’t quite AS boring as last week, but that’s not saying much. I almost had an emotion or two. ALMOST...

We open on something other than Dragonstone for a change -- in the Reach(?) and on the Westerosi Wells Fargo Wagon, which Jaime is once-overing, while Bronn hangs out in the background demanding Jaime give him Highgarden, but Biggie Lannister is like “nah, mo’ money, mo’ problems!” Bronn’s not buying that line, though, and feels he should be on the list of debts the Lannisters pay off. He also makes some snarky remarks about Cersei which are actually 100% accurate but of course Jaime, like GoT watchers, is blissfully blind to the truth. Jaime then sends Bronn with the Tarlys to go shake-down local farmers for their sweet, sweet grains.

Then we head over to King’s Landing, where Tycho is hella impressed that Pinhead Cersei will be able to pay off her debts in one lump sum but is kinda bummed to be losing out on that tasty monthly APR. Cersei hints that Qyburn is in negotiations with the Golden Company to join her cause and Tycho vouches for them... but reminds Cersei that the Iron Bank ain’t doing shit until Jaime makes that big deposit.

Next we hit up Winterfell, AND WHO THE HELL LEFT THE KIDS ALONE WITH LITTLEFINGER?? Somehow that snake slithered his way into Bran’s chambers and is attempting some kinda cringeworthy heart-to-heart... Seriously I half-expected him to tell Bran “I’M YOUR DADDY NOW.” Instead he decides to give Bran a gift -- the Valyrian steel dagger that was used to try to murder him in Season 1. Bran’s like... “Thanks?” (But really, isn’t this kinda payback for last week when he threw Sandra’s wedding night back in her face?) LF starts monologuing about Catelyn, and Bran asks if LF knows who the dagger belonged to (I’m guessing just to test LF, because obviously Miss Cleo is gonna know exactly who it belonged to... right??), and of course LF is like “No idea!” Then he randomly mentions the word “chaos” and Bran’s creep-dar goes off, and he interrupts him by saying “CHAOS IS A LADDAH.” Yes, folks, Bran threw LF’s dumbest catchphrase back in his face and it was played off like a genuinely weighty moment and not something that required a laugh track in the background. LF has barely time to react before Meera comes in. LF leaves, and Meera makes the sad announcement that she has to leave to be with her family, and Bran’s just like “Cool, bye then.” And Meera’s like... “bitch that all you have to say to me????” And Bran’s just like “uhhhh thank you for your service?” Meera then be thinking hmmm maybe this is just like a teen comedy and he’ll come wheelin’ after me at the airport at the last minute to profess his love for me? But nah, Bran’s straight-up fixing to ghost her ass, smh. She’s like “my brother, your wolf, and Hodor all died for you, Bran!!” But he’s like

And because D&D would rather leave significant character development off-screen, they have Meera assure us that Bran “died in that cave.” Cool, thanks, good to know!

Meera leaves, and then Bran hears the familiar strings of the Stark Theme, and he knows that Arya is near! Yes, Arya has finally found her way back to Winterfell. She strolls up to the front gates and is immediately given a hard time by the guards in a blatant repeat of the same scene from Season 1 (not the first or last time we will be seeing rip-offs from the first couple of seasons just in this episode alone). One of the guards even tries to PUNCH her (???) before agreeing to left her in but telling her wait while they decide what to tell Sansa. And since WF is being guarded by 2 of the 3 Stooges, Arya is able to just wander off without them noticing.

The guards then enter what appears to be the Bat Cave where Sandra is hiding out and has pretty much no visible reaction to hearing that Arya is in the house. Which is funny because Arya implied to the guards that Sandra would have their asses if she found out they’d turned her sister away. Instead, she just kinda looks bored and is like, “whatever, I know where she is...”

We then go down to the crypts for one of the most-anticipated reunions in ASOIAF-dom!!! Buuuut this is GoT, so it’s all very awkward and forced. Like, seriously, Arya, you’re not fooling anyone...

Sandra runs up to hug her, but just like with Small Wonder Bran, Arya-Bot 1000 barely registers an emotion or even bothers to hug her back. WTF, people???

They briefly have a moment in front of Ned’s statue, which was kinda nice. I mean, they didn’t even call him stupid or anything!! The lowest of low-hanging fruit, but I’ll take it at this point... Then Arya says it doesn’t look enough like Ned and that it should have been carved by someone who knew his face, but Sandra says that everyone who knew his face is dead. Ummmm? Sandra, Arya, Bran, Jon, Cersei, Varys, Sandor, Jaime, Littlefinger, Beric, Thoros... that’s almost a dozen people right there who are still alive that knew what Ned looked like (though I can’t vouch for their stone-carving skills...). Then, as usual, the moment is completely trampled on when the two sisters bond over how they both wished they had killed Joffrey themselves HAHAHAHAHA so sweet. Then Arya tells Sandra about her List, and Sandra’s just like

They make vague allusions to all the things they’ve been through since their separation. They then venture the godswood to say howdy to Bran, who is a party-pooper as usual, calling out Arya on her plan to go to KL to kill Cersei. Sandra asks Arya who else is on her list... SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO BRING UP SANDOR BUT NOOOOOPE CAN’T HAVE ANY DISCUSSION ABOUT THE HOUND WITH OR IN FRONT OF SANDRA EVEN IF IT’S ARYA DOING THE DISCUSSIN’ so she’s just like “eh most of them are already dead.” Then out of nowhere Bran’s just like “check out this new toy Littlefinger gave me” and Sandra’s like “WHY IS LITTLEFINGER GIVING YOU WEAPONS” Bran’s like “doesn’t matter, don’t want it anyway” and gives it to Arya.

The three Starks then make their way back into the the yard, where Brienne and Pod see them, and Pod says, “Good job, m’lady!” and she responds pretty much the same way I did -- “I didn’t do shit.”

Then we hit up Dragonstone, where the Jonerys train is being happily conducted by Missandei and Davos. Both give their respective masters a forced series of “nudge-nudge-wink-wink” moments with regards to the other, so as to to remind the viewers that THIS IS TOTALLY A THING, YOU GUYS. Dany and Missy are taking a stroll, and when they see Jon, they exchange a look like two freshmen girls who have just been acknowledged by the varsity QB on the quad. It’s quite pitiful.

Anyway, Jon takes Dany into one of the dragonglass caves to show her something. Sadly, he keeps his pants on and instead ducks into a tunnel which opens up into another cave with a bunch of primitive drawings on the walls. Indiana Snow then schools Dany on how they were drawn by the Children of the Forest and depict their encounters with both the First Men and the white walkers.

P.S. the CoF totally phoned it in on the FM but got all HR Giger when it came to the WWs.

And even though Jon could have drawn those pictures himself and made up literally everything he said for all Dany knew, she considers this definitive proof of his claims and immediately agrees to help him... if he bends the knee. There’s a lot of whisper-talking and long-held gazes, which I think was supposed to be “sexual tension”.

They exit the cave with their chaperones, where they find Tyrion and Varys waiting for them, looking rather glum. Tyrion drops the bad news that although they took Casterly Rock, the Lannister forces took Highgarden and all the spoils. Tyrion tries to rally, but Dany reams him out for fucking up and suggests he did it on purpose cuz he’s really still loyal to the Lannisters (OH DUHHHHH). She then declares “enough with the clever plans” and decides instead to stick to more stupid ones I guess. To that end, she asks Jon what she should do.

Your QUEEN, ladies and gents. Has no idea what she’s doing and constantly has to ask the (much smarter) men around her to tell her what to do. But the mere fact that she is “in charge” is I guess enough for most people to declare this “feminist”. Sure, okay.

Anyway, Jon tells her that if she uses her dragons to annihilate everyone, she’s just “more of the same” and isn’t giving her followers anything better to hope for. Which is a fair enough assessment but we all know it’s being used to highlight Jon’s “dumb” honor and compassion because DRAGONS SO EPICCCCCC!!!

Back at Winterfell, Brienne is again cleaning Pod’s clock (remember when this kid killed a Kingsguard in the middle of the Battle of the Blackwater? D&D don’t either I guess), but then Arya rolls up on her with Needle and says she wants to throw down with the person who beat the Hound. Brienne’s like “haha cute” but then Arya pulls out all the water-dancing nonsense and completely flummoxes Brienne.

So, for those doing the math:

Brienne beat The Hound; Arya beat Brienne; ergo, ARYA CAN BEAT THE HOUND.

I really wanted to enjoy this scene, but I couldn’t forget that the last time we saw Arya actually spar with anyone was in Season 1 with Syrio. Now all of a sudden she’s the most formidable warrior in the Seven Kingdoms. 

Any-freaking-way, Sandra appears on her perch again (with LF not far behind, of course), and at first she seems pretty impressed with Arya’s skillz, but when it’s over, she just, like, storms off in a huff? Why??

She leaves LF to have a weird stare-down with Arya.

Back on Dragonstone, it’s now Davos’s turn to tease Jon about Dany, implying that Jon was staring at her rack apparently?? Jon’s like “ain’t nobody got time for that” but luckily they run into Missandei where Davos can continue on that train of thought. They then have a conversation about how bastard names work on Westeros (in Season 7?????) and Missandei declares that marriage isn’t a thing in Naath, and Dirty Ol’ Man Davos is like HAHAHAHA not where I come from either, wanna go grab a drink later?? Jon and Davos then start questioning why Missandei is so loyal to Dany, and Missandei begins to talk about Dany like Squeaky Fromme talking about Charles Manson.

^^ waiting for this dialogue to pop out of Dany’s mouth at some point this season...

Davos is basically like SORRY I ASKED. Just then, they’re interrupted by a dingy being pulled up on shore (somehow they didn’t notice this until the were RIGHT on the beach) containing Theon and the straggler Ironborn. Theon sees Jon and is like like “hey sup” and Jon’s all YOUSONOFABITCH!!! but stops just short of roughing him up because of what he did for Sandra. He then tells him that Euron has his sister and he needs Dany’s help to get her back, but Jon says she’s not home right now...

Where could she beeeeeee?? Welp, we hop back over the the Lannister wagon train, which, again, Jaime and Bronn are just sitting and watching. Apparently they are much closer the the Crownlands (or in the Crownlands?) than they had been at the beginning of the episode... They then decide to have some not-so-subtle small talk with Dickon Tarly, whom Jaime again calls Rickon, about how he fought pretty decently at Highharden but how he has yet to be really tested. THEN GUESS WHAT HAPPENS, GUYS??? The show is interrupted by a screening of Dances with Wolves--no, wait, that’s just the Dothraki streaming over the hill to fuck shit up... along with Dany riding Drogon.

COMMENCE BATTLE #371 TO DISTRACT THE VIEWERS FROM THE SHITTY WRITING!!!

Yes, it’s all very exciting and well-executed, if you ignore:

The Dothraki would have had to circumvent KL somehow to get there.

They couldn’t have gone by ship because Euron destroyed Dany’s fleet.

Horse-Surfing™

The scene was 90% about Bronn?? For some reason??

Dany, who not 10 minutes ago was complaining about not being able to feed her army, proceeds to destroy all the gold and grain the Lannisters were hauling.

Gratuitous horse violence because “edgy” I guess

WHY/HOW IS TYRION THERE?

So the big climax comes when Bronn gets promoted from Bronn of the Blackwater to Bronn of the Big-Ass Crossbow. Yes, in yet another ham-fisted callback to an early season, Bronn figures out how to use the giant ballista and fires an arrow straight into Drogon’s shoulder, forcing Dany to land. While she’s down, Tyrion is standing off to the side and spots Jaime on the battlefield and is mumbling for him to get the fuck out of there. But this is Jaime Fookin’ Lannister, he doesn’t run away from anything, especially his toxic co-dependent relationship with his twin sister!! So he grabs a spear and begins to charge toward Dany like he at the Hand’s Tourney (except we never actually saw him joust at the Hand’s Tourney, so once again, emotional impact of this moment is M.I.A.). Just as he’s about to strike, Drogon turns and is about to make him dragon kibble when he is rescued at the last second by, presumably, Bronn, and is swept away beneath an extremely deep puddle that just happened to be nearby. The End.

I know there are a lot of show-critics today who are super hyped about this battle (which is apparently a “reference” to the Field of Fire, ugh), but guys... sorry, no. I am way past the point where a showy battle scene is going to make up for all the nonsense that came before it. They’ve tried this trick already -- it was called “Hardhome”. It didn’t work on me then, and it won’t work on me now. I would have rather seen a more meaningful reunion between the Stark sisters than another expensive spectacle. If this is why the direwolves have disappeared, then sorry, I don’t consider it a fair trade-off.

#got #got shit #got spoilers #got season 7 #got episode 7.4 #jaime lannister #bronn #dickon tarly #cersei lannister #tycho nestoris #bran stark #littlefinger #arya stark #meera reed #sandra bolton #brienne of tarth #podrick payne #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #missandei #davos seaworth #tyrion lannister #varys #theon greyjoy #drogon

[davewakeman]

5 Things I Learned At The FTC's Online Ticket Sales Workshop...

Last night I jotted down a few ideas that came out of the FTC’s online ticket sales workshop yesterday.

After sleeping on the subject, I’ve come up with a few things that I think are important from what I saw and heard yesterday, but from the ongoing opportunities and challenges in the world of tickets.

Here are 5 things that I definitely learned yesterday:

Nothing is likely to change and that seems like the wrong response:

At the end of the day, I felt like the event was the FTC checking a box…not like there would be any sort of significant action taken after the event.

What I learned was that without some sort of enforcement of existing laws and standards, things aren’t likely to change…or, not for the better, at least.

A few times the idea of needing someone to call “balls and strikes” or be “judge and jury” for the way tickets are sold came up.

At a time when the stomach for antitrust enforcement seems to be creeping up on the big technology companies, the idea that Google is going to decide what is in the best interests of the market seems dangerous.

The idea that without some sort of penalties or enforcement that online platforms might all stop trying to give their companies advantages by discounting ticket prices while increasing fees seems a bit farfetched.

And, to hope that everyone will just play nice…seems like wishful thinking.

I’m not certain what the proper response to something like this is, but I think you start by looking at the laws that are already on the books and enforcing those.

Defining the situations you want to control for or improve and working to either use the rules that are on the books now or work towards other laws that will help eliminate undesired behaviors seems like a second step.

The wrong response seems to be to do nothing and hope things get better…of course, I live in Washington, DC so the idea that anyone will take proactive action is nothing more than a fantasy.

Consumers often felt like marks for many people on stage:

There was one point in the program where the idea of fees and fee calculations came up and the way fees are charged and calculated is important.

What was amazing to me was how it felt like the consumer was positioned as too stupid to understand anything…and it felt like it was coming from both sides.

I’m decidedly pro-consumer because I realize that if you don’t have customers, you don’t have anything.

And, I think one of the reasons that the ticketing marketplace is so broken is due to the fact that too often the customer is viewed as a mass or blob and not as a person.

In general, if you are asking me what you want to see happen for consumers, I’d say a few things…this isn’t complete:

Require that full-price is disclosed up front. I get it that this isn’t always the case when you buy something because you buy a new iPhone and you see the list price, but not the price inclusive of tax. At the same time, the number of fees charged on all sides of the ticket business is crazy and confusing.

Customers have the chance to buy refund protection, exchange tickets, or just get refunds as a course of business: Customers are having to make purchases earlier and earlier. In many cases, people can’t even rightly know what is going to happen so far in the future like a new job, a business trip, an illness and they have no recourse in their ticket purchase. That shouldn’t be the case. There are a number of options and the options should be automatic.

What is for sale should be clear: A WTF?! moment was when transparency in what is for sale was framed as something that data has never proved is beneficial for consumers…seriously, WTF?! Part of the reason customers are so angry is that they have no clue what is for sale and when.

This is only 3 things, but it is a start.

David Marcus is incredibly quotable:

I appreciated the fact that David Marcus was very upfront about a lot of things. Because most of the time people go up on-stage in these things and don’t provide any context or useful insight.

I agreed with him that the term “Slow Ticketing” has been co-opted to mean market pricing.

It also seems like in far too many instances that this market pricing only works in one direction, up. Those are my words, not his.

I was amazed at the 10 billion BOT attacks figure for a couple of reasons:

I was surprised by the size of the number because it is really hard to imagine what that number looks like. I did the math and that is over 27 million BOT attacks a day.

I was also sort of surprised that the number wasn’t higher.

I was also surprised how difficult it is to define a good BOT vs a bad BOT and control for things you hope to have occurred.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that he said he hasn’t seen data that it would be helpful to consumers that they know how many tickets are available in an on-sale.

Why?

Well, I mean that’s his job. That information wouldn’t be beneficial to his business because as Bob Roux mentioned, “most shows don’t sell out.”

This is where I do get the justification for David’s comments if people knew how many tickets were on-sale for shows that aren’t considered “hot” it might drive the demand down even further.

There was also the conversation around behavior and how one of the goals of some of Ticketmaster’s programs is to eliminate the advantage of speed. This was interesting in the context of my conversation with Richard Howle a few months back where we talked about the fact that tickets is the one business that really designs the selling of our products for our benefit and not the benefit of the consumer.

It was nice hear him admit that you’re likely never going to find a way to 100% solve the problem because in many cases the perfect is the enemy of the good, but from my research I’m not necessarily certain that the Verified Fan program is reducing the impact on the secondary market and concerts as much as aggressive pricing is, but that is a different topic.

While we live in America where everything is bigger and better, we need to look to other countries for ideas:

Parul Shah shared how the UK is dealing with the secondary market and I was impressed with the depth of their actions.

I also was embarrassed as an American when I thought about how seriously other countries take consumer protection compared to America.

For any host of issues, I think we have to look beyond our borders for solutions that are taking hold or being used in other large markets.

I mean, the UK shows that you can demand more transparency, more responsibility, and proactive measures to ensure that customers are protected.

Which was amusing in the context of the panels where almost everyone was trying to point the finger at someone else.

The big topic wasn’t on the table yesterday: demand generation:

Someone mentioned that over 30% of sports ticket inventory is available on the secondary market…that number felt low to me from my own research, but I’ll go with it for sake of argument.

When you realize that most of the issues and challenges being raised revolved solely around the hottest tickets, you realize a couple of things pretty quickly:

There aren’t that many hot events in the course of a year.

We have to work to protect consumers when these events are happening because the fraud and deceit that occurs aren’t just ticket seller issues, but are issues that pop up when you have any in-demand product that has a finite supply.

Demand is broken in tickets across the board because right now everyone is waiting on “hot”!

It is interesting for me to sit in something like an FTC workshop on online ticket sales because I’m not a huge technologist.

I know the basics, but I’m a marketer.

I generate demand for products and services.

What I really came away with is that the entirety of the ticket industry is fighting over a small portion of the industry when the real opportunity is in filling some of the billions of dollars in unsold inventory. (I think Stephen Glicken pegged it at $26 Billion, but it could have been way more. I’ll go with the lower number here.)

I know that people are always thinking and working on demand generation, but I think this is one that needs a holistic effort and the reality is that the music industry hasn’t been investing in artist development the way they should for years now.

Without investing heavily in artist development, the engine that drives ticket sales never gets rolling the way it goes.

So you have this boom or bust cycle where if you are Pearl Jam, you can sell out a tour instantly. If you are Garth Brooks, you can sell out city after city, multiple dates. If you are Greta Van Fleek you catch fire and are forced into buildings arenas before you have fully developed a fan base and the chops needed to fill the arena because you are “hot”.

Demand generation wasn’t on the menu at yesterday’s FTC workshop, but it was like the shadow looming over the proceedings.

For me, it was interesting to be there and see what people were up to, talking about, and willing to share.

I learned a lot and this is just a little bit of it.

What did you learn? Or, what did you wish you had learned? Let me know.

FREE WEBINAR ALERT: June 24th at 11AM Eastern…”10 Ways To Sell More Tickets In The Second Half of 2019“! 

Join me and learn some strategies and tactics to help you sell more tickets in the second half of 2019 including:

Using content wisely

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Bundling 

And, more! 

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5 Things I Learned At The FTC’s Online Ticket Sales Workshop… was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

#bots #brokers #demand generation #FTC #marketing #technology #tickets #workshop

[speedstersarebae]

Tag game

Tagged by my son @asmolham. Love you, sweetie!

The Rules are to answer 30 questions and then tag 20 blogs you’d like to get to know better.

1.Nicknames: I’d love to tell you but then we’d be here for the rest of 2017

2.Gender: Female

3.Star Sign: Leo

4.Height: 5′5″ ish. Anyways I’m taller than the person who tagged me

5.Time: 4:59 p.m.

6.Date of Birth: July. That’s it I was born through out the entire month of July. It took me the whole month to be born.

7.Favorite Bands:  They’re all Brazilian Bands

8.Favorite Solo Artists: Also all Brazilian Artists

9.Song currently stuck in my head:  Well it was a song by the Weeknd. But now it’s “Minha Ex”

10.Last Movie I watched: I watched the very end of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. Does That count?

11. Last TV show I watched: I’m about to watch the season finale of “Shadowhunters” but other than that it was either RvB or TMNT

12.When did I create my blog? Almost 2 years ago I believe

13.What do I post? Shit

14.Last Thing I googled: The Weeknd to make sure that is how you actually do spell his name

15.Do I have any other Blogs? Yes.

16.Do I get asks? Not here because the thingie is turned off

17.Why did I choose my url? It was a promise I made to myself long ago

18.Following: 19 blogs. I like to keep it low so almost everyone shows up on my dashboard no matter how often they post

19.Followers: 225. Most of which are porn bots

20.Favorite Colors: Kerplukel and Death

21.Average hours of sleep: Usually around 8

22.Lucky Numbers: ?????????????i don’t know ???????????????

23.Do I play any instruments? No. I always wanted to play guitar tho

24.What am I wearing right now? Gym shorts and a summer camp T-shirt

25.How many blankets do I sleep with? 1

26.Dream Job:Bruh I don’t even know what I want to major in in College wtf?

27.Dream Trip: Greece and Italy

28:Favorite Food: I love Mac n’ cheese. But also: Brigadeiro

29. Nationality: Brazilian. With some Italian.

Anyways: @youth-revengers @time-and-space-penguin and that’s about it because I have no friends. Bye!

[clockways]

nissus

  Wtf- my art account just got followed by 20 spam...

I don’t know anything about how that stuff works, but I do find it a lil disturbing how many porn blogs either follow me or reblog posts.. I feel as though there is some wierd SEO thing going on, but I don’t know.

Ya, my understanding of it is basically that we as real people have a natural validity with SEO- search engine stuff. By porn blogs following real people/rebloging real posts some of that validity then transfers to them, meaning they’ll show up better ranked in searches. Basically they gain their reputation from ours that we build naturally. I tend to get less than I hear a lot of people talking about and I assume it’s probably due to the lack of reblogs I do and not being a banf. But I could be wrong in that.

So this ‘social media trader’ is doing the same thing. Their bot re-blogs what I assume are popular posts- most likely tumblr radar and following people to raise their validity and.... apparently try to sell it to people?? But I don’t know who they intend to sell it to because obviously the porn blogs already have their process down. So it’s really like wtf??

#nissus

[missrosienorris]

The Election that is Bad, Part 3

CW: lots of politics, mentions of ableism, a hint of racism and abusive behaviour, also a little corona at the end

Statement of potential privileges and biases: Translucently white. Finnish, and thus less directly affected by US elections, although I’d argue the whole world should be concerned about them. AFAB enby. Probably a gray ace with no gender preference, but frankly I’m not quite sure wtf I am. Rather far left but haven’t found an appropriate ideological label. University educated. Middle class. Young-ish (is 30 still young?) My mental health is ass.

So, I’ve already made a few posts about the US presidential election and the shit it’s stirring up, which is why I’m now giving the series a name. In this post I’m going to lengthily bitch about some arguments between Biden and Sanders supporters that I’m currently seeing a lot, and I’m already planning another post that’ll be a more personal rant about how I’ve had to make a purge in my parasocial relationships because so so so many of the people I follow have morphed into dicks during this election season (or perhaps revealed themselves to be dicks, I can’t assess which one from afar).

In this post I won’t be discussing Biden or Sanders themselves or their policies all that much, but I will summarize where my allegiances lie here for the record, not that my opinion is likely to surprise anyone who’s read any of my stuff before:

I think Biden’s policies suck, albeit not as much as Trump’s but that’s a low bar to clear. I think he’s a neoliberal and a sleazeball, I don’t like his incoherent speaking style or his proneness to temper tantrums and were I American, I’m not sure I could bring myself to vote for him in the general even for harm reduction purposes (but to make it crystal clear, I would never vote Trump either, it would be third party or blank in that case). I think he will lose to Trump if he is the nominee.

I have a soft spot for Sanders despite being way to the left of him, he’s a socdem at best and I’ve never voted for a socdem in my life. However, in a US context, he would be a major step to the left, his policies are alright, and he’s way more coherent than Biden. Some people on the left flanks say he’s too nice and that’s probably true, socdems tend to be like that, but my lizard brain finds the niceness endearing even though I think it’s politically not ideal. I would vote for him in a heartbeat and I have given him money (funneled through a clothing vendor, so yeah I’m a foreign interference Russian bot). I think his chances to beat Trump would be better than Biden’s. Not great, mind you, Trump has quite an advantage going into the general and I’m not sure he’s beatable, although I sure hope he is.

Alright, now then, onto my long-ass rant about bad political arguments.

So, at the time I’m writing this, it sure looks like Biden will be the Democratic nominee, the race isn’t called yet but it’s looking pretty hopeless for the Sanders campaign. Consequently, the Bidenists are looking for everyone to rally around Biden and the Berners are pissed and/or discouraged and many of them are considering not voting or voting third party (and I guess some are considering voting Trump, but I genuinely think that group is real small and I’m ignoring them because fuck anyone who would do that).

Now, there are arguments for both of these stances that I find understandable. Like, I get the Bidenist argument that Trump is worse and therefore a vote for Biden is harm reduction, and I get the concern for the supreme court. I’m not convinced by these arguments, but I get them. On the flip side, I'm very sympathetic to the arguments that Biden is corrupt and awful, and that while Trump may be worse in the short term, voting for Biden will tell the Democratic party that they can keep putting up shitty status quo nominees and progressives will just take it, and thus the party won’t change and more people will be hurt by that in the long run. This is probably the position I’d take if I were in the US, as stated above.

Either way, these types of arguments from either side are pretty reasonable, but they’re not really the ones I’m hearing the most, at least not on the ol’ internet. What I’m hearing is a lot of crap, and I’m now going to list said crap and bitch about it.

1. Biden has dementia and keeping him in the race is elder abuse.

I want to get this real oof one out of the way first, because I drag Biden a bunch and will continue to do so, but this I don’t like. Yeah, the guy is incoherent when he speaks and lashes out a lot, but we shouldn’t be armchair diagnosing him or accusing anyone of abuse without proper evidence of that. I think it’s fair to criticize him for the way he behaves and to point out that Trump will definitely use that against him, but leave health assessments to professionals. Also, I get that a presidential candidate must be scrutinized more than the general public, but some of the stuff y'all are writing about people with cognitive disabilities is like super ableist and not cool. Don’t call people soup brains, for example, that’s trash behaviour.

2. Not voting in the general/voting third party is a vote for Trump.

Hey fuck off, no it’s fucking not. A vote for Trump is a vote for Trump. I get voting strategically, I really do, but the people who choose not to vote strategically are not voting for Trump. Doesn’t matter what the reason is, if you don’t vote for Trump you don’t vote for Trump and are not to blame for Trump. It’s unbelievably shitty to accuse people of being equal to Trump supporters if they don’t line up behind a particular other candidate.

3. Sanders supporters who won’t vote for Biden in the general are making that choice out of pettiness and/or childishness.

This is some ad hominem bullshit and also kinda contrary to the whole “unite the party behind Biden” thing, you don’t typically woo voters by calling them pissbabies. Especially young people don’t tend to respond well to frumpy people condescendingly telling them to grow up. Also it’s usually not true. Most people I know of that aren’t voting for Biden have well rounded reasons why, typically that they think voting for Biden would make things worse in the end. And unless someone tells you why they’re not voting for Biden, you don’t really know their reasons, so assuming “petty and childish” reflects more on you than it does on them.

4. Anyone who WOULD vote for Biden in the general is either a not a real progressive or a “low information” voter.

Shut up about that. Trump is a nightmare and many feel that four more years of him would be so disastrous that they’d rather take four years of Biden as the lesser of two evils. Being super scared of Trump and going the harm reduction route is not a sign that you’re uninformed or not progressive enough, I may disagree with it but not for that reason. The “low information” thing also seems to be directed at minorities a lot, which is kinda gross. Talk about voter suppression and try to reach out to people, absolutely, but sort of implying that minorities are ignorant is not a good look to have.

5. I was for Warren and now I’m for Biden because Sanders supporters are abusive.

I don’t have as strong an opinion on this one as the other ones, I just feel like it’s a super weird take to jump from supporting (relatively) progressive policies to supporting whatever it is Biden’s got going on because some of the Bernie crowd are kinda dicks (which I’m not denying by the way, I’ve seen them, I just feel like policy is more important). As I stated above, I’m not about to start accusing anyone of being a fake progressive or whatever, I’m just saying it’s a little weird and if there are any Warrenites out there who would like to explain it to me that would be swell. Preferably explain it civilly, since many of the #WarrenToBiden types I’ve seen have been surprisingly abusive themselves considering their stance on the whole Bernie bro thing.

6. Not voting for Biden in the general is a sign that you’re privileged and aren’t that affected by the vote, and that you don’t really care if minorities suffer another four years of Trump. Or the converse, voting for Biden in the general is a sign that you’re privileged and aren’t that affected by a continuation of the status quo, and that you don’t care if minorities suffer in the long run.

This argument can just fuck off whatever side it comes from. It’s another ad hominem attack and super reductive, both the people rallying behind Biden and the #NeverBiden people are a diverse bunch. Some are privileged, some are not, and this generalization helps no one. Especially cringe is when someone who is decidedly not part of a minority of any kind makes this argument, which I’m seeing A LOT of. I’m all for identity politics, but this ain’t it.

7. Sanders has said he will support Biden if Biden is the nominee, so you should too.

Why? Sanders isn’t flippin’ Jesus, it’s completely possible to support him and still disagree with him on occasion. I’m not quite satisfied with his explanations considering his record on guns, for example, nor do I think he should co-opt the term “democratic socialist” when he’s really just a socdem (although it is admittedly very funny to see conservative Americans freaking out over the mention of socialism). It’s not weird to not be a sycophant, personality cults are not a good thing.

You know, I’ll probably come up with like 100 more bad arguments I’ve seen floating around once i press the “Post” button, but it’s 3 AM and this post is already dragging even by my standards so maybe I’ll release another one of these at a later date. Until then, please wash your hands, stay safe if you belong to a risk group, and if you don’t belong to a risk group, don’t be a fuckface and hoard the supplies they need or endanger them by not following recommendations to limit the spread. I’ve had a probably-just-a-cold this week and you bet your ass I haven’t left my apartment even once just in case it wasn’t just a cold and I ended up murdering a grandma. Just don’t be pricks.

#politics #democratic primaries #Joe Biden #bernie sanders #rant