#but its so often i read something and there is a phrase that im like oh my god HE WOULD fucking say that shit

[jestroer]

Yeah we all know “He would not fucking say that” but can we please also talk about “Oh my god HE would fucking say that”. When you see something in-character you can hear it in character’s voice. Peace and love on the planer earth

#shitpost #ive seen many ooc fics but you do not really think of them after you closed them #but its so often i read something and there is a phrase that im like oh my god HE WOULD fucking say that shit #This is the shit he would fucking say in this situation for sure #like its so good such a good feeling

[keepingsecretstokeepyoutk]

This is going to be very long and sound a little crazy at first, and maybe a little mean but please hear me out…

I’m convinced that Taylor sometimes purposefully includes one line or multiple lines of poorly written or clunky lyrics in specific songs to make a point.

We all have seen some version of this with bearding songs like London Boy, a simple bop whose lyrics were immediately detected as sounding disingenuous, even with the general population (the locations she was signing about were the most touristy and too far away from each other to visit on the same day, etc, basically implying that she doesn’t actually have a long term local bf there that she spends a bunch of time with exploring the city with, etc).

But just like everything else on the album, I think she’s doing maybe a more in your face version of that. No holds barred.

So High School is an obvious example of this, with all of the early 2000’s hs imagery, she seems pretty blatantly to be mocking the idea the public has of her “living out every American girl’s high school fantasy” of dating the tall popular football player. With lyrics like “touch me while your friends play grand theft auto” (barf), etc, shes being clear enough that this is not a serious song.

This is the possibly controversial part, but I’m so curious to see what others think about this - I think another iteration of this on this album is the title track, The Tortured Poets Department. Hear me out.

(First, I want to reassure you that there are lines in this song that I really like and think are well written, like: “you’re in self-sabotage mode/throwing spikes down on the road” and “but you awaken with dread/pounding nails in your head/but I’ve read this one/where you come undone/I chose this cyclone with you”. And I fully agree with the idea that these sentiments are from Karlie’s perspective. Basically, when you take out the chunks I’m about to talk about this song makes way more sense and has a beautiful sentiment of undying love behind it - which makes the following parts stick out that much more!)

The first time I listened through the album, and this was the second song, I got terrified because I didn’t understand its place in the whole narrative and when I heard the first clunky line “scratch your head like a tattooed golden retriever” I got the ick. Then the bridge with no structure and no wit and no clever turns of phrase, no metaphor, just “you put my ring on the finger people put wedding rings on” and “that was the closest I’ve ever been to my heart exploding”. So over simplified and cheesy, and doesn’t sound anything like her writing, especially the caliber of her recent lyrics

I know art is largely subjective, but I insist there is no way that the same person who wrote Cowboy Like Me wrote these lines into her title track if she didn’t have a reason and a point to make. To make it clear that this isn’t a matter of genre personal taste, because I know CLM is a very specific sound and a style that music snobs often take more seriously - I love SO many of her candy pop bangers, they are infinitely more clever, articulate, and overall works of art by a true wordsmith than this. Karma, The Very First Night, etc are all a master classes in clever words and tight writing being tucked into an “unserious” pop song.

The lyrics I cited above to me sound like what haters believe her writing sounds like, even fans who make little jokey TikTok’s about her and make up a spoofy something to sing while in character - that’s what these lyrics sound like.

Im worried im being too harsh, but please stay with me because the more I think about the more genius I think it actually is.

In the context of the themes of rest of the album, (her being trapped, miserable, manipulated, ready to burn it all down, screaming to be seen) this theory became clear to me. I think she’s leaning into her public persona (in more ways than one, we’ve already seen it with the stunting), in a way setting a “trap” for her fans and the public, that will essentially call them all out on how they ignored the real her in favor of her pr narrative, making the album about paternity tests, etc, all of which I’m guessing will become very clear in retrospect, possibly after she comes out? (Of course it’s already clear to us now, which is another purpose of the beard songs including clunky writing - to signal to us that these are not serious and that she knows that we know that she knows (like Phoebe on friends lol))

Ultimately, this is (along with So Highschool) a classic beard song. When she writes in this voice, she embodies the most extreme versions of her public persona, not just the one she has cultivated on purpose, but also the one that people have of her that don’t know her (as she did in Blank Space), including those that don’t take her seriously - because her identity as a boy crazy psycho ex girlfriend is directly tied to people dismissing her art as vapid because, they’ve only ever heard her singles, they don’t know the full her.

That voice is the straightest, the most boy crazy, the most one note, and sometimes the most unsophisticated writer version of her that people have in their minds, including her fans - the fans that refuse to see her as a whole person, the real, that believe she is head over heals for big football boy, that believe “he knows how to ball, I know Aristotle” is a romantic line about how opposites attract, the fans that say they don’t “get” some of her most beautiful and well-written songs, the fans that don’t see her and haven’t been seeing her.

They didn’t see giant Taylor on the eras tour, they refuse to see all of her queer signaling, etc, and I think she’s making the bearding songs obvious to underscore the difference between her Taylor(TM) and Taylor(person) personas.

She knows that despite the fact that the lyrics don’t even come close to measuring up to the rest of the album, the public, and many of her fans, will make this song one of the most listened to simply because they are looking for evidence of her relationships from the past year. We’ve all commented on how insane it is that this layered, complex, devastating album is being reduced to the usual paternity tests. This is currently one of the top songs precisely because it is “about Matty”. And of course, So High School is one of the tops songs along with it because it’s “about Travis”.

The juxtaposition of the bearding songs alongside her beautifully written poetry of Prophecy, Peter, Whose Afraid of Little Old Me, Cassandra, How did it end, The Albatross, etc mirrors the juxtaposition of her two selves during the Midnights era.

She has proven the point that if they think she wrote every line of this song completely in earnest, then they see her largely no differently than her haters do, as a subpar writer who writes absurdly cheesy love songs praising trashy to mediocre, problematic men. By eating it up they tell her that’s what she’s good for, for being the subject of tabloids and warring fans who make this entire album about two (purposefully) mediocre songs and the men who “inspired” them.

She has proven her point - that a subset of her fans will be distracted by a lesser song simply because they think it’s about one of the greasy men that’s she been seen holding hands with. That they will ignore once again all of her pleas to be seen, that she’s in pain and caged, and has been driven insane by their willful ignorance. That they don’t appreciate her full potential and talent, that they don’t even see it, and just want to be confirmed in their ideation of her.

This song is essentially the “forget him(her)” pill at the beginning of the fortnight mv, but it’s a sedative for the fans, who are addicted to her straight narrative. Similar to Willow’s 13 chants of “that’s my man” that started off evermore, casting a spell of heteronormativity over everyone who wanted it, so that they could choose to just completely ignore the following 14 gayest songs ever written. Don’t pay no mind to her singing directly about women with zero male perspective - she said “that’s my man!” We’re good! She’s still straight!

Taylor in the fortnight mv had to a take a sedative to be able to go into the next room and write her bearding songs - ie she self medicates to deal with keeping up the straight persona and to get through having to release dumbed down songs to feed the masses. (I also see the pill as something forced on her, I think it represents both layers)

From the first time I watched the music video I thought the writing Taylor looked so miserable and the bearding songs are why.

In this room she’s trapped, churning out the songs that her fans expect of her, the songs that make her team money, the songs that make her money, but that she has to compromise her truth to create.

But when she frees herself she’ll burn the stories that weren’t true, the filler that doesn’t represent her.

I’m curious to hear other’s thoughts on this - have you ever felt like Taylor purposefully inserts off-sounding lyrics that are written in a different voice to make a point?

I want to reiterate that it’s not the entirety of either song that I think is terrible, I genuinely love bopping along to both So High School and TTPD (track). Like I said above, when you remove the clunky lines from ttpd (track), the song has another layer and likely gives voice to some Karlie insight that is beautiful and tragically profound. It’s the red herrings, the pieces specifically meant to tie this song to a bearding narrative, that I’m dissing, and the only reason they are suspicious in the first place is because I know how gifted Taylor is with the written word.

Taylor is such a skilled writer that she can embody the voice of the bad writer that dismissive ignorant idiots believe her to be, just to make a point!

I even wonder if maybe there is a second version of this song locked away in one of those drawers in the fortnight writing room that leaves out the red herrings and is a thousand times better than the bearding version we got.

I hope one day we get to hear it.

#gaylor #kaylor #bearding #closeting #ttpd #so high school

[horseimagebarn]

hello my dear friends welcome to the horseimagebarn weekly recap where every week i respond to all the cool tags asks comments and such things i received in the past week

i shall begin our recap with a request as i am planning to rework my tagging system for the horse emotions and i need your help to think of good ones here are the tags i have so far

joy - for happiness

whimsy - for the positive oddities and love of life

cursed - this is cursed

lament - for sadness

anger - self explanatory

sloth - laziness and comfort

love - horses that are in love

friendship - horse and some other being or beings displaying friendship

indulgence - indulging in food water alcohol drugs etc

intelligence - doing tasks that display intelligence such as human tasks

small - small or young horses

NEW! evil - evilness and villainy

NEW! unusual - this is unusual

NEW! vehemence - upset or disgust

NEW! styling - for all the well dressed horses

NEW! nonhorse - there is a nonhorse entity in the image

NEW! cute - i think this horse is cute

NEW! aquatics - the horse is in the water

NEW! regular - a regular and uncontroversial image of a horse

NEW! silly - the horse is acting in a rambunctious or goofy manner

NEW! greatest hits - my favorite horse images or the most successful ones on the tumblr platform

please let me know your feedback on this matter as these tags exist to aid you in your navigation of my blogs archive

anyway let us move onto our recap

this is the truest damn thing ive ever heard

i appreciate this compliment greatly my friend i am a massive fan of the beat poets ginsberg especially though he may be a basic choice is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to shorter form writing i am deeply touched by your comparison

welcome to tumblr my friend i hope you have a wonderful time here i am touched to have had such an effect on you as to motivate you to make an account

hello friends i do not and never will accept ai generated images for this account i do my best to give every image i find a decent sized gander in an attempt to prevent ai images from being posted this account is dedicated to enjoying the true and real nature of horses and i feel that appreciation does not extend to fake horses that are an amalgamation of pictures of real life horses it feels unnatural and wrong to me to post fake horses

i quite like draft breeds i think they are beautiful and i love horses with thicker builds however i truly believe all horses are majestic and impressive creatures deserving of love and i do enjoy all of them

i would watch it i love horse media its so funny i myself think often of writing an adult animated television show about horses

i search pretty much everywhere you could think of and i type nonsensical phrases with horses in them until something of value is revealed to me it is a valiant hunt

im afraid i have never read any of his work do you recommend it

this is very good i love when people draw the horses you have much skill

thank you my friend i am always pleased to see your tags on my posts my girlfriend and i are indeed happily frolicking every day with joy and excitement in our hearts i showed her this and she said that was indeed us so your image choosing was accurate take heart in that for you have horse posted the horse poster

red dead redemption 2 is a very good horse game i enjoy it greatly my horses were named isabella and trophy and felt and wet blanket and i loved them very much

shoutout skippy

#horse #horses #horseblr #horseposting #horseimagebarn weekly recap

[the-gayest-sky-kid]

what's your take on odasaku and dazai's idealization of him?

also any takes you want to share about bsd/bsd in general?

(If you don't mind, I'm also interested in your thoughts about verlaine if thats ok 😭) tyty

who's your fave bsd character and whose the character from bsd you want to have more screen time?

i think its another case of projecting onto someone and it fucking things up. like notably how kouyou projects her own feelings abt light & dark onto kyouka. we just dont often see it that way because what oda does is like. stereotypically good? he uses his dying words to push a friend out of the dark. a death motivating others to act and furthering their character development is classic storytelling. you go into bsd knowing dazai is on the "good guys" side (not that the ada are "bad" but obviously reading bsd as a good guys vs bad guys story is. wrong), so clearly it worked out. so you kind of overlook the surrounding events yk? plus dazais own idolization of oda hammers that in. dazai tells atsushi that "He was a friend of mine (...) He’s the reason I quit the Port Mafia and joined the agency. I’d probably still be killing people for the mafia if it wasn’t for him" in dead apple (the lightnovel. im not going to go through pulling up the movie for this fhfhtndj). and so aside from previous bias people are going to take what dazai says at face value. hes thankful oda showed him the "side that saves people" and of course we're going to agree with that. the thing is. again. projection. now i havent actually finished dark era (i am working through it) but a lot of the time it feels like oda is just shoveling off all his feelings about being "someone meant for the darkness" onto dazai when thats something thats not going to be true for. well. anyone really? and his final conversation with dazai is very influenced by that. he says "You told me if you put yourself in a world of violence and bloodshed, you might be able to find a reason to live... (...) You won’t find it (...) You should know that. Whether you’re on the side that takes lives or the side that saves them, nothing beyond your own expectations will happen. Nothing in this world can fill the hole that is your loneliness. You will wander the darkness for eternity". now the thing is this is kind of a fucked up thing to say to an 18 year old with suicidal tendencies, but odas view of dazai makes it seem like a well needed wake up call. he obviously had good intentions. hes trying to "step into that solitude" but because of his flawed view of dazai he kind of. stumbles. dazai up to this point has been clinging onto the hope that he'd find a reason to live by observing the entire human experience. now oda comes along and dazai thinks hes found someone who understands him better than anyone, and oda tells him hes not going to find that. ever. so he should become a better person and make the world a good place. and also he's dying. so dazai, as we've seen, takes these words to heart. so hes not going to find a reason to live but he should also make the world a better place. good cool got that. so i think he gets a bit too comfortable being collateral for a good cause. and hes already convinced hes not going to find anything here, so of course hes not going to find anything. does that make sense.

i dont think ive phrased anything correctly here but like anyway i think with all his other friends around he'll be able to sort things out there. i cant see bsd ending without any sort of resolution for him in this regard yk.

#i cant say much on verlaine since ive read barely anything of stormbringer #like up to meeting shirase i think #flags death just fucked with me #from what i know hes also got projection issues. very common bsd theme #as for my favorite character... well you all dont know this but my favorite is actually Dazai #big shocker ik #as for screentime like..idk i miss everyone #i just want normal agency bullshit back #actually ykw i desperately want to see ranpo kyouka and atsushi as a trio #ranpos weird little siblings sweep gogogogogogo #aethers asks #swearing cw #longer post #anyway anyway anyway take this all with like 3 tablespoons of salt #i obviously havent read or watched as much bsd as i should have to be making these takes fhdhhsjs

[electrificata]

here are my house observations, im in season 3

some of the shit house says to foreman is genuinely unforgivable

foreman as a character i generally like. omar epps is giving a good performance of an even-keeled-but-not-without-effort kind of guy, i do like the plotline of a guy who came to learn from an expert whos the worst guy in the world and trying to figure out how to do the same thing without being the worst guy in the world. i also think they way they keep him out of hospital love triangles is racist, foreman is not currently hot but could be with 15% more attention from the writers room.

really sexist as a general rule. i have not encountered the idea of "jailbait" this much in literal years.

hipster racism. its the 2000s. funny to talk abt this because "hipsters" were younger at this point and the character of house is, im assuming, in his mid 40s at the start of the show, but thats the general logic that seems to be on display. "well you know that he's a good guy so its ironic and funny that he's threatening to use the n word as a joke."

a) stupid logic to begin with, doing something ironically is also just doing it, b) doesnt even work on its own terms here because house is widely acknowledged to be an awful person in the context. the entire show is built around the question "how much deliberately annoying, dangerous bullshit will we endure from this dickhead to maintain access to his unique skillset"

i still dont "get" house/wilson. like i do see it, like i can see that theyre a little obsessed with each other and they have a fun mutually manipulative dynamic, and they make sense as foils (guy who's self-consciously awful and often ends up doing noble things accidentally/guy who's self-consciously noble and often deliberately does awful things). but i cannot feel myself going insane about it. if anything i like him better with cuddy

cuddy really really hot. really really really hot. cuddy.

so like yeah i see house/wilson im just not going insane about it the way i thought i might. altho tbh it took a global pandemic and a extended, byzantine renaissance of tumblrina supernatural scholarship to make me have a destiel spiral. i need infrastructure for these things.

cameron's character is such an old school token girl character. i hate how they treat her "niceness" almost as much as i hate how they treat her crush on house.

a better show (written by me) would have some more cuddy and foreman "managing" house plotlines (foreman being a protege allows focus on the legacy of house's medicine, how to replicate it, how to contain damage), probably give him some of the cuddy and wilson time. the three of them together would be good i could do that.

cuddy/foreman. hm. in the remake.

like, i do get how this happened. house is troubled in a durable, interesting way. the writing is good enough to support his layers, the way his snap-judgement psychoanalysis of everyone he meets curls back around to shine a light on his own issues. good balance of competence and patheticness. laurie is giving a masterclass in the niche field of "british comedian comes to us tv drama, grows some stubble, becomes a sex symbol." i read an old review that referred to his "sourpuss charisma" i really like that turn of phrase.

(i was also into josh on the west wing when i watched that last year, i have a type i love antagonism. no im not dating anyone right now, who wants to take me for a candlelit dinner and tell me i smell good and my voice is sexy) (you cant just compliment me, ill be bored or uncomfortable, you have to bury it in a disagreement and make it clear youre kind of mad that youre into me)

that said i think the show kind of misunderstands house's sex appeal. it feels very written-by-men. women characters throw themselves at house in a porny kind of take-me-now way. in my observations guys who are arent traditionally hot but attractive in this antagonistic, talky was dont really get that kind of treatment, but they do get the main cast wilson/cuddy/cameron "i hate this guy but im obsessed with him and i will never make a move or i will and itll go badly" kind of stuff. my phantom house reboot does have cameron and house hook up and its a really mean and destructive fwb thing with like 4 false endings. does this make sense.

right now im in the middle of the plotline where leighton meester plays a 17 yr old girl stalking house because shes so in love. like thats not the vibe. at least from what ive seen. im not omniscient.

lol it turns out she has a spore makign her hypersexual lolllll i literally have this on in the background rn ok i take some of this back.

whenever i mention to someone im watching house theyll recount to me the plot of the one episode they can remember and it always sounds insane and its never made up.

"the one with the intersex teen model who fucks her dad to manipulate him and has testicular cancer" like yeah. yeah thats real. if you talked to me 3 weeks ago thatd be the one i recounted to you.

yes house does leer at her in that episode and its treated as logical and normal for a 45 year old man.

i hate chase, he's awful but boring.

im curious how long im gonna keep watching this, i know the later seasons get kind of soapy plotwise and i dont know if thats what i want out of this

#god this got long.

[heartshapedbubble]

I had this headcanon for a real long time, and wanted to write it myself but im too much of a coward to start writing cause idk how tumblr works, anyways Joseph with an S/O who knows french??

OOOO as someone whos learning french myself this one intrigued me... here you go nonnie!! super cute prompt btw :] and dw! tumblr is no rocket science once you get the hang of its functions

ALSO!! im occassionaly gonna put some tunes to listen 2 while reading... so have some gackt era mm 4 today :] this song reminds me lots of dating joseph/joseph in general!! (alsothisiskindashortimsosorrynonnie)(sobs)

joseph with a s/o who knows french hcs📷

while dating joseph, your knowledge of french was kept a secret to him

(to josephs delight, of course)

joseph is and always has been a huge romantic he just can't help it okay?? you have him making up date plans in his head and making you presents and thinking of ways to make you red in the face the next time you two meet

(also if it isn't obvious already this man loves to plan. even if we're talking dating and relationships)

and obviously there are gonna be french pet names in play!! he's literally uncontrollable, he's so in love with you and just can't help it okay

he LOVES the idea of him whispering you sweet nothings in french as he holds you tight and you just pulling him closer to his chest... AND the idea of him writing you french poetry and your fingers slowly tracing over the foreign words and phrases, imagining them being softly cooed into your neck

...and all those plans are sent directly to hell during one cuddling session

as he pulls you closer to his chest, he whispers out:

"je suis folle amoureuse de toi, mon ange"

and you, uncontrollably, reply back:

"je t'aime plus, mon beau"

he suddenly jumps up, flustered and red in the face

like that was NOT according to the script to his head 🤨🤨🤨 but uhm who is he to complain

like he's still a bit >:((( for not telling him before but now he's got a new thing to obsess about

would 100% write you romantic poetry in french and gently put the paper under your pillow as he tucks you to sleep... he's expecting you to write to him back ofc >:o

he'd take pictures of you (you're his personal muse obviously🙏🙏) and make collages of you in his diary and write some MORE poetry and his lovey dovey french ramblings into it

congratulations you have officialy fried this man's brain you're on his mind 24/7 and he can't help giggling like a drunkard whenever he thinks of you

during matches you two often discretly chat or tell each other things in french to avoid attention

would probably quietly sing some french tunes on the hunter's side of the queuing room thinking you can't hear him (you can. and he's got a pretty nice voice🥰)

often holds afternoon tea parties for you two to chat in french (reason #2 of him holding them is to stuff your face with macarons and eclairs (HE REMEMBERS YOUR FAVOURITE FLAVORS)(AND TOPPINGS)(HOLY SHIT))

enjoys dancing ballroom dances with you sm... it's something he secretly misses from his mortal life/life before the manor

#identity v #idv #idv headcanons #identity v headcanons #idv fanfic #idv imagines #idv x reader #identity v x reader #idv scenarios #identity v x you #joseph idv #idv joseph #joseph identity v #identity v joseph #identity v photographer #idv photographer #photographer idv #joseph x reader #joseph desaulnier

[istherewifiinhell]

IS FLYING GENDERED? On the masculine default, typifying gender in genre, and women as the other in the transformers cartoons.

question for the ages

once again i said back in the halcyon days of watching g1 (aka 5 months ago) i was like. Nooooo, decepticon is NOT a gender that's Silly. It's funny, but as a Read Of The Text, I thought it largely unneeded. (The concept came about, as a joke, involving dismissing the bad guys using the same language you would abt women (sexistly) that they're emotional [heh, flighty], vain, and shrill) after all. If in the 80s era there are 5 whole named/speaking woman tfs, its only ever gonna get better from here right? (<- booboo the fool)

anyway

Let's consider the axiom that the assumed default gender is male, that maleness is often seen as LACK of gender, and femaleness and gender variance are the PRESENCE of gender. In certain reasoning and worldviews, of course (See Androcentrism). Then add that, for transformers, the assumed default thing a transformer turns into, is car. (Autocentrism, if you will)

(The most general term for what a tf turns into is "Alt mode" as some of them are not vehicles at all. The other mode is "Robot Mode", whether its humanoid or not)

So I will be laying out why I believe the cartoon iterations support: non standard alt modes = non standard genders. This is in spite of the fact that FIRST lady tfs were all cars. Sleek cyber cars, but still. For whatever reason, (possibly, the reason for everything in tf, toys) they might as well not exist for how woman tf characters presence in the cartoons progressed over time.

And, to be clear, this is a reading of how these works of fiction are created, not a new unified bioessentialism but for robots aliens I'm proposing for like. In universe lore reasons. I hate that idea.

That said, alt modes in order of most to least gender: Spider, motorcycle, flying (in general, with rotors, jets), tank, and then FINALLY, car. (water and space crafts are already too marginal to rank, but they too can be assumed in relation to default maleness, AND that in making one a woman, would still qualify as othering her).

The NUMBER one reason for this is the bizarre need to have an ESTABLISHED woman tf character before making new ones. AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE. With a g1 gender ratio something like.... (counting even the most marginal cases for the ladies) 9:120? (That's a rough count from a quick scanning of the tf wiki g1 char list) Shits dire out here.

The second is, ofc, character design based. cis people [stand in phrase for the hegemonic world view] are not okay, and their opinions about how tf gender must need be depicted visually is. uh? Im not a fan. Size and shape dimorphism in general is a given, and specifically having women tfs as far more humanoid and curvy in specific. Also general cartoon lady face syndrome but, whatever. I think there's exactly one character here who doesn't have "lips" or "lipstick" as a distinguishing factor. I'm so tired.

Third is generally, the idea of The Girl Of the Team. When there's The Girl, she often isn't JUST a normal character, who happens to be a girl. See, of course, the Smurtfette Principle. But in my view there's also a trend to give The Girl "special traits" on top of "Girl", maybe even to directly combat the idea that the Girl Character has no other traits? To stop this from being a General Primer on Woman in Media, my explanatory focus is things specific to the tf franchise.

(A phrase I use for thinking about normative modes [in general, not just the Alt ones] in within the tf universe is "unique transformerdom" or, even more clunkily, "A transformer of unique transformerdom". The excessive verbosity is amusing to me personally. All I mean by it is to have an umbrella term for any of the ways tfs can be made unique from their peers in the non allegorical realities of the fiction).

I could, and do, and greatly want to, speak about this AT LENGTH. But it keeps spiraling away from me. So I'll say for now were looking at ways a character is being depicted different from her peers, not because she is the only woman (which she likely is), but cause she's a different kind of transformer, AND if she's othered for it.

(IN SOME forms of the lore. Being a transformer woman, IS A UNIQUE KIND of transformer unto itself. Let's just say I hate it and move on)

Fourth, is the gender of villainy. There is much to be said about gender presentation of villains, the ways they are allowed to be aberrant. We will get to it. There is also all the tropes specific TO evil women, and the modes of villainy open TO female characters. But a general thing I think impacting the gender ratios of the factions is the how "Good" and "Evil" female characters are written. I'll generalize and call this the "Damsel vs Temptress" dichotomy. (See concepts like the Madonna-whore complex). Transformers, is by and large, an action franchise. Unless special reasons are made, characters who can impact the action– have more screen time, and likely more memorable, and iconic presences. A villainous woman can be unchaste, violent, aggressive. While a heroic woman, even if not a literal damsel are more likely to be in a support role. The secretaries of the action genre: medics and techs.

(Another factor is that tfs are giant robots, and the good guys are often friends with tiny squishy little humans. These make very good damsel fodder, and can be taking up the spots on the roster that might, in a different franchise, go to women. Additionally, while woman characters in transformers overall is an interesting topic. When I say tf women, I'm referring to ones that are in fictionally, transformers.)

SO, now understanding our points of attack/obstacles for getting woman into transformers. (Getting established, gendering the designed, uniqueness of existence, and general villainy). Lets go over those alt modes, and the characters that have em, in more detail.

Spiders

The "Beast Era" (1996) intro-ed the spider ofc. And what don't we have with this one. She's a villain, but shes also misunderstood, the era and design style let to these more organic shapes. And they used them to make sure she was very sexy. She's genre aware, she's quippy, she's an absolute icon. So naturally. She gets ported to other later shows. Which means we just have sexy spider ladies running around when everyone else is a fucking truck and shit.

Her own origin is, well think of her as a "Bride of Frankenstein" to the resident evil scientist, also a spider. She was designed for, and manipulated by him in multiple ways. Her protoform (A blank robot base), was supposed to be one of the good guys (a Maximal), but was reprogrammed into a bad guy (Predacon). Even then, she eventually joins them, for her own reasons. She's not even the first predacon to do so, the difference? Well the characters are a lot more NORMAL about his autonomy. Both of these characters stress that being a predacon is an identity they still see as important. But only the woman is told that really, she is was was always MEANT to be a maximal. And while that's true in a sense. There's also a plot were she's forced (by plot contrivance, not the other maximals) to get corrective robot surgery for it. And when they think she died from, everyone's more sad for her boyfriend than for her. Ouch.

The second spider, in the 2007 show, is now one in a world where she is the only "techno-organic" transformer, hence, she is spider, everyone else is a vehicle. Similar to the first, her narrative is very gendered, but less in the way were, like, I do literally think the first was was experiencing in universe sexism from other characters. Here, they really focus on the "techno vs organic" narrative, and the tragic circumstances on how that happened. In this case its just real world sexist writing.

THIRD SPIDER, (2010), instead of misunderstood and tragic evil, this ones just super mega likes to cause pain evil. She also occupies a strange place between the typic vehicular tfs, and the insecticons. This is because she has a helicopter alt mode, and her robot mode is just, a lady with spider characteristics. And, more than just a passing bug like similarity, she has the power to control the insecticons (you know, cause evil woman mind control). However, she doesn't fit in with them either, as the insecticons are at the most insect like they've ever been, in look, living in hives and that most don't even speak.

They may vary in exact character, relationship to the story's moral conflict, and design. But they stay comfortably established, dimorphised, flirty and flirting with villainy. And bonus points, always, for black widow spider trope.

SO. SPIDERS. Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ (Extremely!) Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ Villainy: ✅️

Motorcycles

Tooooo my knowledge the first bike lady was in 2004, and fairly minor, in the actual plot, but rest assured, they did go the previously established woman route, by being pink, though, which one shes named after varies by language. But neither were previously motorcycles. (And yes, there is also this problem of mixing together or swapping out one woman tf for another. As if we have the ladies to spare). Even though motorcycle men also exist, this one just stuck for a bit. Maybe something to do with Those Movies. I think the Gendered Existence of a motorcycle is pretty evident though, general sex appeal, being smaller, the mode of riding a motorcycle is different, more physical and intimate. Mainly this ranks so high for the level of grossness they can pack in. Just how objectifying it can be, particularly with two instances where the human rider is an annoying teen boy. Naturally, I've also never seen a male and female motorcycle in the same room, but the approach to design tends to be different. And yeah most of em are Arcee, who's first alt mode was cyber car, but it's not just her.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: Depends on iteration, I do NOT like the way one gets called "tough, for a two wheeler". Villainy: ❌(they wouldn't need to be motorcycles if they weren't making them the Special Girl Autobot, after all)

Flying

General: It just tends to stick out when your one girl is only flyer in the group, even she's otherwise tactfully done. Only flyer of the Maximals, a falcon, only flyer of the dinobots, a Pteranodon.

Rotors

I can barely even figure this one. Maybe it's just a general, aesthetics and use case of the actually vehicles, the associations? None of these ladies (and special case) are very connected otherwise. As previously mentioned, the spider helicopter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A big one for this is the preschool demo shows, which are rescue team focused. In the first one the only woman on the human response worker team pairs with the helicopter, they mention she does medical at times. The helicopter is male, like the other tfs. But also he's afraid of flying, and while not the first case of a flyer with a fear of heights, their personalities are, pretty different. As he's both fearful AND effeminate, fine as character traits go but, with the tone of humour used, marks him as Other.

In the second, Whirl (pointing to icon) becomes a girl for the first time, now with standard humanized face. I assume as move to keep with the previous show of having a girl one, as there's no human team mates. She's also the only one who really likes rescue school. Aaaand that's all know of her. What more do you want from me.

Helicopters: Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (milder than some)

But why'd I call this section rotors instead of helicopters? That would be because one of the latest Sole Female TF we just put in everything™ is a VTOL jet with rotors. She'll tend to be the only jet of her type, which is also smaller than the type of jet used for the villains.

And, of course, aside from alt mode, the thing that makes her stand out most in the cartoons? That she's very clearly a comics character. (I find the emphasize that she's "fan created" over done, as it only controlled minor aspects, and irrelevant cause tfs get completely overhauled in new versions all the time). From her design, which is a bit busier than most characters she stars with. And also uses Japanese aesthetic signifiers in ways that I think are a bit misappropriated and untactful. (VERY USamerican comics). Also, when she stars next to a guy, also from comics employing Japanese aesthetic, you can tell its not deployed in the same manner. (E.I she has hair and makeup, he has armor). Either way, her depictions have her either as badass sword lady on mission from god who's constantly getting hit on by an annoying guy. Or have her be from a different planet and has special telepathy.

Do we see how both her gender AND the cultural signifiers are having affects here? That the main woman tf in a series can be a literal alien even among our alien robots, with cultural signifiers they don't have?

Ratings Established: ✅️ (made the comics to cartoon jump) Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (SO SO EXTREMELY, using methods in fiction and real life)

Jets

I think my association of jets with tf gender is stronger, than some of the above examples, even if there's less reason to it. And why is that? Well, lets get socratic. Here's another question.

Is This All Starscream's Fault?

No. He's not real, he can't do things. But. His legacy as THE main stay transformers character that gets to subvert gender? Yeah. (Sure, the G1 autobots have their own effete, but he's not in every single cartoon they ever made now is he? Plus now that I think about it, he is a FLYING car...)

From the get, he's not a Man's man. He's shrill, he's manipulative and duplicitous, petty and emotional, cowardly and wheedling. He is, of course, the Perfect character. Now naturally, the 80s cartoon was not concerned with your paltry logics. Starscream and his ilk are the jets, but every decepticon can fly. The gun, the cassette player, the camera, the cassettes.

And each to a last, more masculine than he is. Vocally or behaviorally, physically. Every one of them fit the gender expectations more than he does. Even being a small time grunt, is a masculine trait, after all, more so than unchecked ambition. So its not femininity from flying, from jets. But direct relationship, reference, and descendancy from Starscream that makes it. I've yet to see female versions of Jet fire and or the aerialbots, for example.

So what to do when an effeminate male villain was less maltese falcon and more that man has effeminate hips? Well. We had to start getting his ass for being effeminate, explicitly. They made the female clone of him, which yeah, is an offensive joke stemming from the various The Gender Anxieties. (Transmisogyny, homophobia and sexism. General relation toxic masculinity. A heady mix of all and more).

But I mean. It's free girl tf... Once given a name in extra canon materials, she start's showing up in other things. Once you're in books, video games, comics, and most importantly, toys, you're real. And then eventually, her first non clone appearance in a cartoon, and how her presence shaped it.

That being, Cyberverse. Which is a cgi show, you need to know this for reasons of production. Making new models is expensive. This has always been the reason you just make recolours of Starscream and name them different things. Chicken or egg on this one, I don't know, But because CV has Slipstream, and the only difference between her and the generic "male" decepticon jet, is a more feminine face; Suddenly, any random decepticon goon can be a woman.

An absolutely revolutionary take for striving to populate a fictional world with gender parity. By at large it also means they're way more lady villains, and specifically flying model of villain. The show has other woman, but none who get the same androgynous body mold treatment.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: Mildly to NO. Unique: By design, no. Othered: Yes for the clone, and Screamer himself, I suppose. No, otherwise. Villainy: ✅️(That's, the whole idea)

Tanks

It needs to be said. Sometimes, when doing things that transgress a norm, anteing up is less subversive. This is another reason why gender variance, female agency and overt sexuality are more common traits of villains. When already defying strictures of society. What's one more.

That's Right. TANKS ARE THE BUTCH WOMAN OF TRANSFORMERS.

Alright. Let me back up. Strika is the stone cold knock out undefeated champ of lady tf designs that, actually has a reoccurring cartoon presence. She is, admittedly, only a reoccurring to minor character.

Her introduction is in another show with techno-organics, this one involved in the struggle between well, the techno and the organic. Strika as we see her, and as the design that will go on to be iterated, is not in her normal transformer body. She has been transferred into a 'vehicon' body. Without a preexisting essence contained in one, vehicons are not considered alive, in the way a transformer is. Visually, they lack the more human body plan, a standard face, feet and hand like appendages.

To further contrast Strika against the two techno-organic woman. Both of them are tall, and slender. Their softer organic shapes designed towards elegance or beauty, whatever your subjective opinion of that result might be. They both have romance subplots too. By the way. Or honestly one subplot and one main plot. Strika. In contrast. Is built like a brick shit house. Her face is. Minimal. And her goal: protecting her planet... by terminating the heroes.

Now, existing as a character that can be referenced for other media, and given the detail that she was a "Famous general", it's off to the races. She makes a wonderful big tank menace that can fill out a background shot, too.

Without her I hardly think we could have Clobber, also from CV. Who is. The true goat. The finest thing, the achievements of all we could ever hope for. A big fuck off woman, gender swapped from a previous male design with minimal faff, with now even more personality and show presence. Friends, wants, desires. Emotions. Thank God for Clobber, Thank Clobber for Clobber. Thank Randolph Heard and Mae Catt for Clobber.

Established: Depends if you want to count that Strika had so much swag they kept drawing/modeling her Gendered designs: FUCK NO Unique: ✅️ Othered: only originally Villainy: ✅️

Cars

So now you have the final piece of the puzzle. In transformers, Autobots are Cars. Yes, there are plenty of autobots that are NOT cars, and there are cars that are not Autobots. But they're exceptions, they're aberrances. They're unique. And Autobots are the norm. They oppose the Decepticons. Decepticons are Villains. And Decepticons can fly. Modal simplified binaries and false dichotomy abound!

And the thing about those original Autobot woman, the one's who largely did not influence all of this? They were cars, it's true, but not like how the men where cars. They've not been designed from transforming car toys, with a shellac of humanoid gender over top. Their designed in the way of human gender. With the car on top.

When the preexisting clause leads to the original designs to be revisited, which, has largely only happened in more recent years. They aren't car woman robots. The cars are literally not part of their bodies, they are additional. Instead of a unifying identity of a robot who is a car, its Arcee and her backpack. Parts of cars get grafted onto their petite lady bodies, and placed anywhere out of the way.

In order to make a transformer a woman, they have to give her a gender, not understanding that that's always been the case. And to give her a woman's gender, she's got to LOOK like a woman, not a transformer. And to look like a woman, she's got to act like a woman. She must be heroic but reactive instead of active, or else, villainous, conniving and or self centered. To be a woman, we must have some other previous woman to explain her presence, or else explain it anew with her unique, strange, or exotic origin. How could she ever be a woman if she simply, existed, looked average, talked average. How could she be a woman if her body is hunks of ungendered car. How can she be a woman if she's everything we expect a transformer to be.

A woman is transgressive, a woman is not normal. Autobots are normal. Autobots are heros. Autobots are men. And Autobots do not fly.

#some shit #its not called cisformers #<- IT SURE ISNT FOLKS #a note on how im using citations here u can read BEFORE getting into the post proper #I'm writing this in mind that someone might have NO idea about tf. or. god forbid. #the general perspective of media trope analysis im working from. #So the links can be considered additional or further reading with intent of 1. if a more thorough understanding of a concept might help #2. something im eliding the name of for search reasons 3. a referential example of what im saying #4. a specifc reference/bit of info that might be unclear. in which case im usually linking to a SECTION of the page #5. JOKE #ALright now normal tag talking space. #THIS IS. serious media analysis done casually for fun! in that. I mean it. genuinely. But also im here for silly fun and im not trying #to be SOOOO academically rigorous that its still not. Posting. u know? #MUCH inspired. or i suppose u might say. encouraged to completion and whole hearted commitment by (fandom) silly serious analysis and #math theroying thematics #i have NO idea if this thing will be searchable with all the links and the words i used. but i prepared for it it case it is #AND I PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO IT!!!!!!!! SO its okay if anyone reads it! #but im also braced for bad faithing inwhich case. I will not be held responsible for my actions. thank you. #i have been told to tag this #maccadam #transformers #if someone tryies to kill me for it im not taking responsibility

[bioethicists]

hi i hope you dont mind this question. i assume because you are anti psych/mad liberation (me too) you probably also get the pro psych reaction of "thats dangerous" and "its not all like that" and the accusation that acknowledging the fact that psychiatric and therapy "care" is so bad will make people quit that care and they will inevitably get worse and it'll be your fault? im an anti psych blogger and this really messes me up because my whole thing is that i DONT want mentally ill ppl to suffer, and thats the whole reason i AM anti psych. and i am afraid ppl will somehow be harmed by me telling the truth or making (evil!) generalizations about psych professionals, etc.

to me it seems incredibly reactionary, usually comes with a moral panic flavor, and is chock full of victim blaming cliches. it seems to me that it hinges on the fear and threat of 1. a Crazy person rejecting treatment and 2. a Crazy person rejecting authority, so again, it seems to be based mostly in stigma. and yet it does seem true and possible that ppl will be influenced in ways that turn out poorly and i dont want that to happen either. and yet again, framing it like "dont tell ppl what health care to pursue" is a misnomer since psych care is simply about social control... and that facade of health care just protects them from criticism in a bad faith way cause it makes you look anti vax adjacent and telling ppl not to see doctors. im not really interested in telling ppl what to do when it comes to accessing psych care, but my general analysis is that: is refusing psych care possibly dangerous? yes. is getting psych care also possibly dangerous? yes.

anyway the main question is if/how you deal with this. both intellectually and emotionally. cause i think its possibly the hardest part of sharing anti psych views in public. it makes me feel guilty and afraid. and i think making splicing disclaimers sucks and is stupid. so idk. thanks for reading.

first of all, i absolutely do experience this + it used to piss me off more than it does now but now it mostly makes me sad. i think you summed it up so well when you said that both refusing + seeking psych care can be dangerous.

part of it is that, the deeper i root into my belief in bodily autonomy, the more i stop punishing myself if someone takes a good faith, well-phrased assertion i've made + spins that into something harmful which i never said or intended. i am very deliberate to only spread information that pushes for expanding + critiquing methods of healing, stressing that my goal is to free people from suffering, not compound it.

i know that some people who are struggling with paranoia or self-destructive impulses read mad liberation talking points (often finding their ways to the more conspiracy fueled or recklessly phrased ones) + respond in ways that end up harming them, like cold-turkey going off antipsychotics or firing their entire treatment teams to take sketchy supplements. it does make me very sad that this happens, because like you said, i want these people to be happy + not suffer.

however, i rarely see comparable conversation about how people take the logics of the psych system and use THOSE to harm themselves. many people with similar traits to those who do what you are describing are just as likely to use the logics of psychiatry to punish themselves or distance themselves from others. they use 'coping mechanisms' punitively by becoming obsessed with 'clean' eating/dieting, organization/academics, being the Perfect Patient. they tell others + themselves that they are neurologically incapable of love or healthy relationships or pleasure. they isolate themselves because they believe they are fundamentally toxic or abusive. they dismiss their emotions as "just symptoms" + actively chastise themselves or try to train themselves out of experiencing any anger towards others or even any negative emotions at all. they admit themselves to psych wards frequently not out of a reasonable concern that they will hurt themselves or others but because they believe they belong in a psych ward any time they are experiencing symptoms. the list goes on.

all of that being said, i do experience genuine concern that people might read what i write + because of self-hatred or intense paranoia, read some sort of mandate or advice that isn't there + end up in more pain. because this exact thing also happens with psychiatry, which the naysayers you describe above are not concerned with, i don't think they're actually worried about hurting people. they are worried about Crazy people Not Getting Help. it comes from a place of paternalism + fear.

another, more positive aspect of it is that i do genuinely believe that many people are not being helped by their treatment teams but think they Have To be in therapy or in a hospital or on meds despite them not helping because that's What You Do. so they have been sitting around waiting for five years of therapy or their seventh ssri to start doing something meaningful. some of them just needed to hear: you don't have to do this; it might not be the right thing for you. i actually think these people are really well-served by hearing about anti-psych/mad lib stuff + them quitting therapy/meds/treatment ends up allowing them to look for other pathways for dealing with emotional suffering.

ultimately, i think mad liberation that focuses on true autonomy + total liberation of all peoples provides a clearer path forward for people to return from these places of intense paranoia or self destruction. i think we are all so used to being deprived of autonomy that, when we first get it back, we often stumble with it or try to provoke someone into taking it away from us. that is just going to continue to happen if we respond to it by making autonomy conditional. a LOT of us feel like we're not allowed to heal if it's not a moral mandate, so hearing that it isn't feels like nobody cares. we have to find new ways of showing that we care which don't involve exerting power over others.

#anti psychiatry #long n rambling sorryyy

[an-spideog]

hey is míse arís (at least i tried to use emphatic pronouns...)

so i heard and read about béarlachas. as far as i get its something like anglicisms? english words but pronounced as irish? i find it a little similar to surzhyk, ukrainian + russian language. people who don't know ukrainian good enough, sometimes use russian words with ukrainian spelling etc

is there a way/place/option/sth to check and avoid béarlachas? some sort of dictionary? webpage? anything? i really want to learn irish words, not english again :')

thank you very very much! h and also your explanation ab emphatic pronouns was very good, alth im still trying to get it better

So there's two different things that people use "béarlachas" to describe

Borrowed words from English i.e. "badhscal" (bicycle) or "bricfeasta" (breakfast)

The use of English structure and idiom (like phrases) in place of Irish ones

I would use it to describe number 2, in my opinion borrowing words is a very normal thing for a language to do - see "cliché, déjà vu, café" in English. Telling someone to say "rothar" instead of "badhsacal" is like telling them to say "coffee shop" instead of "café". It's also worth noting that a lot of these borrowed words tend to be very common among native speakers and learners are the ones who reject them. Sometimes you even see learners rejecting very long-standing Irish words because they seem like English words (carr does not come from English 'car').*

With regards to structure and idiom, I would describe it as béarlachas when people use direct translations of English phrases into Irish without regard for the way that Irish would express the idea. For example if you were to say "I don't get it" in English, that could mean "I don't understand", but if you literally translate that into Irish as "Ní fhaighim é" it doesn't make any sense. In Irish you'd just say "Ní thuigim".

This is something learners do all the time because we don't think about the idioms within our native language. Saying "Back off!" makes sense in English, but if you translate that as "Ar ais as!" that doesn't make any kind of grammatical sense, you have to look at what the phrase as a whole means.

English has also influenced Irish as a language more broadly though so there are many idioms which have become commonplace in Irish because of English.

So if you're trying to avoid béarlachas, I'd recommend just reading and listening to lots of Irish so that you know what people tend to say. If you're trying to translate a phrase, remember to read the examples on something like focloir.ie rather than just translating word by word.

*often these borrowed words become common because native speakers borrow them and use them immediately when they start needing to talk about something i.e. buying a bicycle. And then it's only later that an "official" translation comes out. See also 'radio' vs raidió. Other times words are borrowed with less necessity, for example 'alright' is very common in native Irish. e.g. An bhfuil tú alright?

#gaeilge #irish language #learning irish #irish #béarlachas

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Ngl I'm kind of dillydallying around my own SDV fixation and i'd KILL to see what your brain is doing to this game like i for one would eat up dat stuff UP . . .

I love the way this is phrased; genuinely 😭💖 like im a force of nature tearing through any new interest like its made of wet tissue paper 💥💥💥

I thought about it some more and i will (eventually) make an sdv blog. Its going to be a mess having all my interests on one dashboard (im lazy and i dont want to sign in and out all the time for diff accounts lol) but i need sdv stuff in sight or ill explode. For now tho i will ramble about random hcs rattling around in my brain

- The valley is FULL of magic, but not alot of Magical Beings that utilize that magic. If the residents of pelican town knew more about magic, there would be alot more wizards than just. The Wizard.

- Everyone in pelican town has some kind of latent magic, or at the very least, an affinity or sensitivity to magic. I like to think that magic builds in very secluded corners of their world and the area including (and surrounding) pelican town is simply one of those places.

-(sorry, i am just obsessed with Places and Magic) I like the idea of your farmer being drawn to pelican town bc they have a bit of magic in them. The letter is just A Letter, but it is the desire to see this town that makes them leave their old life behind. I am obsessed w the idea that the magic in the farmer craves the valley bc it sees the valley as its home, and by extension, the farmer sees the valley as their home. The people of pelican town rarely leave bc the magic in them sees the valley as their home always. The biggest examples of this are Kent, Demetrius, Evelyn, Emily and Shane. The huge exceptions to this (still workin on it) are lewis and sebastian; lewis bc i see him as a normal, non-magical being trying to wrangle the weirdness of this town, and sebastian bc his feelings of isolation and not being understood propels him to crave the world outside of the valley. (That changes a bit if u befriend him/romance him)

-(shane is weird bc hes super depressed and lonely but his happiness comes from his new ‘ragtag family’ (his words) and his very Not Normal chickens. The animals of the valley love him bc he loves them and he becomes tied to the valley bc of it. Marnie has always loved the animals of the valley and some of the love they had for her definitely rubbed off onto shane, who very openly admits he loves the chickens 💙)

-I wasnt very fond of the idea of purple=magic but i think that was bc i often saw it as a way to tie-in the wizard and abigail. I am still trying to get through the friendships for everyone but rn it doesnt feel like theres any connection between them (and caroline). But. I do like the idea of odd, unnatural colors coming through bc of magic. Alex and Pierre having normal brown hair; Haley and Sam being true blondes. BUT. Shane and Jas having purple-ish hair. Emily and Caroline have blue toned hair. Even vincent have pinkish hair 🥺💖 (and dare i say….sebastian with purple/black hair like shane 👀…maybe he has more magic in him than hed like to believe). Abigail doesnt count bc from what ive seen, Caroline laments about her daughters dyed hair. “When she was younger it used to be chestnut brown” which…awww she took after her dad lol.

- LAST THING. This is not an hc i am just mad about this. I cannot believe the game doesnt allow u to befriend Marlon. What the fuck. What the fuck !!! I love him!!! I want to be friends w the chill monster slayer! Im a monster slayer too!!! Let me give him gifts !!! Fuck ! 😭😭😭💥💥💥💥 Also. I know how to write old man yaoi. They shouldve let me do a romance path for willy, clint and marlon. And the wizard i guess but someone already did that. Linus doesnt count bc hes ascended the need for human romance; hes one w nature (read. aroace). And we (linus and willy and the farmer) already co-raise leo so that counts for something i think 🤔

#answered #chattin #sdv #sorry that 80% of this was about the fucking Town #but i am obsessed w Places that Feel #Magic that Feels #wants and craves and breathes with emotion #you come to the valley bc the magic in you misses home #the valley calls for you bc she misses you #not just the magic but the person who has kept this magic safe and warm #the valley knows when to let go. but it also knows when to reach out and bring you back #everyones got little tethers on them. she wonders what everyone is up to #the farmer wants something beyond this desk and she gives a little tug #she hums along the tether to kent and its funny; she doesnt need to pull at all; he comes back as soon as hes able #sebastian wants to see whats out there; find his purpose; and she unravels the tether as much as he needs it to be #anyway hi. welcome to my destroyed whirlwind room of a brain #this doesnt scratch like. the wildlife of the valley. the magic in the farm and crops. the seasons #the moonlight jellies (and how u can see them in fern island sometimes) #lewis and his many many crimes (read. he is wack and i hate him) #the emily/shane friends w benefits agenda i have going on (and harvey/elliot ship that i love so dearly) #and the jodi/kent/caroline polycule u didnt think u needed until i said it just now #i have like. too many thots. its literally consuming brain. i fall asleep thinking of this fucking game #and the version of it that exists in my head rentfree LMAO

[vendetta-if]

this isnt really a huge issue, but some of the wording in this paragraph kinda threw me off? not sure how it is with other people/places or if this isnt as common as i think it is but thickness/thinness and how wide something is are usually considered the same thing

im assuming when you say how wide the box is you’re referring to length? if so then it would probably be clearer to say “thinner but longer in length” or “thicker but shorter in length”

like i said before its not a big deal, im not sure how this stuff works in different languages/places so i could be speaking entriely out of line 😭 i hope this didnt come off as rude or anything and have a great day :)

No worries! It doesn’t come off as rude and I’ll always be open to receiving any feedback on typos or potential grammatical errors! ☺️

I’m not an English native speaker, so I guess in a way, no matter how fluent I might be in writing in English, sometimes, I still subconsciously translate some phrases from my native language to English without even realizing it 😂 This also most often shows up when I use the wrong preposition for something.

Anyway, thank you for letting me know! 😄 I’ll make sure to come back to that section again to see whether I can make some changes to make it clearer and smoother 🧐

And if there are any native English speakers who might have some suggestions on how to make the part clearer and easier to read, please, do let me know in the comments! ❤️

#asks #typo/grammar #chapter 2 #if: vendetta #if vendetta #vendetta if #if game #if wip #dashingdon #choicescript

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

hello,how r u?

i hope ur doing okay

i have a question,how can i improve my writing skills and draw people to my blog?

btw you're so cool🌸

hii angel, im doing well thank you, how are you? I think you’re cool💓

im in no way a pro, so these are just some tips and tricks that I find helpful and some that I use

I think the main ones are:

— read a wide variety of other writers work, but from different fandoms and different ways of writing. that way you can establish what sounds and reads best. it helps you learn different formats and that way you can see what works best for you. but only take influence from them, don’t copy

— write in a way that feels natural to you. I think we all kind of have a flow when writing, and that makes it more organic. try to stick to that, and then it flows easier

— make mind maps to base your story on. write lists of keywords and phrases you like that you can implement into your work

— start small as not to overwhelm yourself. at first stick to a character (assuming you mean fanfic) you’re the most comfortable with, and note down details about them, how they act, how they talk. and it’ll make things easier and help keep the ball rolling

— my style of writing has changed loads from when I first started, so be open to the idea that at first it might not be how you 100% want it. but just keep at it, and practice in different ways and then you find that sweet spot

— there are lots of writer tip blogs on here, so have a little look on those. they can be really helpful, especially if you’re stuck/ in a block

— learn/ understand how to structure sentences and paragraphs, and it just makes everything easier. eventually it becomes second nature and you don’t even have to think about it

drawing people to your blog:

— use tags correctly. sometimes when people tag something as angst and it’s actually fluff, it peeves others off and sometimes it earns them a block. clogging them doesn’t always mean more visibility

— in the tags, use the character name, character name x reader, character name (genre: ie fluff, angst, smut) character name fanfic or fanfiction or fic, character name x you or y/n, character name series or movie title. those sorts of things. it makes it simple and clear and again, it lets readers know exactly what they’re reading

— have the title, pairing, word count, warnings clear from the beginning. it makes it easy for readers to know what exactly they are getting. have a look at other writers, but again don’t copy theirs. have images too, a pic of the character or the vibe of the story makes the whole thing more visibly appealing. I often ignore writing posts that don’t have those clear, it’s very deterring

— follow and reblog others work. it creates a community

— once you’re comfortable with who you originally write for, move onto others, maybe ones that are more popular and that way you’re more likely to get more people involved

— sounds silly, but don’t focus too much on notes and numbers, it’s important to have fun with it, and its not when it feels labouring

hope these help lovie💓

#ask #writing tips

[shirawords]

ive been having difficulty with the rhetoric around the i/p conflict and the genocide that the israeli state is committing rn and its something ive been trying to work through but

like. i do the 'terrified rabbit freeze' whenever i see someone referring to zionism or zionists as a bad thing that needs to be destroyed. and thats not because the government of israel doesnt need destroyed. its because ive spent so long seeing zionist and zionism be a stand in for dirty Jew that thats where my mind immediately turns

and the other reason is that i have a relationship w zionism. a very very complicated relationship, but id be lying if i said it didnt exist. the historical kingdoms of Israel and Judea are the homeland of my people. despite the many expulsions, weve never totally left. i feel a connection to the sacred land of my very place-based religion, and the reason i still feel attached to zionism as a term is because its just the anglicized transliteration of ציון, the word weve used for thousands of years to refer to the holy land. im working on that, because my connection to a word doesnt get to outweigh the harm that word has done, but its gonna take time for me to sever the connection between zionism as is exists in the political landscape and zion(ism) as is exists within my religious and cultural tradition

but the thing is. the thing is. it makes me uncomfy when people refer to Palestinians as indigenous and the state of israel as a colonizer. both of these things are objectively true, but the way theyre often phrased reads as an attempt to reject the indigeneity of Jews to Judea and cast the israeli establishment as white european colonizing interlopers. and the thing about geopolitics is that its not as simple as white = european = colonizer = bad, wherein if the oppressor is one of those four, the oppressor is considered to be all of those four. the world is more complex than that and to deny the complexity because its easy is to do a great disservice to everyone involved, including the oppressed peoples. no one will get anywhere by telling the israeli government that its a bunch of white european colonizers, because its actually a bunch of israeli colonizers of debatable and varied ethnicity and indigeneity. to actually make any progress on anything you have to start with what the thing is, not what you want to to be or think it should look like.

and now is obviously not the time for me or anyone else to be nitpicking about the goyische understanding of the interplay between Jews and the land of Judea as a historical & physical concept and the state of israel and Palestinian liberation. its just that i see the rhetoric speaking about people as if they are their government and it scares me for all sorts of reasons, not least because of the trend towards moral purity thats basically people trying to figure out who they can be mean to while virtue signalling about it.

i dont have answers and i dont even have a point to this whole ramble. i guess its just to say that im working on my internalized biases and id really appreciate it if people could try to be accurate in talking about everything

i may or may not answer any well-intentioned questions that people have. im much more likely to talk about this with Jews (or obies tbh) but well see how much headspace i have

#i havent gotten much antisemitism personally and for that i am grateful #its just that all my life ive had dreams that im in the holocaust #so i get tense when i see people speaking in the manner so often used for hate and violence against my people #there are a limited number of words in any language so theres nothing to do about it #it is what it is and im working on not jumping on the dogwhistle train #israel #Palestine #i/p conflict #i spam

[coldresolve]

yeah, nah, fuck it. im sharing this post and then i'm just gonna link to it whenever it becomes relevant.

every disagreement i have with yall always comes back to me phrasing things in a way that sounds mean. always, always. like duh, i dont try to sugarcoat how i see things, i have realized that, in fact i do it on purpose. why? well.

i come from a culture where it's often interpreted as deceitful and/or shallow to sandwich your point in with superficial courtesy. if you spend too much time packing your point in with whatever you think will make it easier to swallow, people will start to feel like you're infantalizing them, or straight up wasting their time. being direct and honest from the get-go is seen as a sign of respect - yes, even if what you're saying could easily be interpreted as rude. say what you think, say exactly how you feel, and we'll take it from there. that kinda thing.

when i say an opinion or criticise something on here, i am treating you, the reader, like someone who is smart enough to understand the gist of my argument without being bogged down by its delivery, mature enough to recognize the difference between criticism of your work (or general trends) and criticism of you as a person, and emotionally well-adjusted enough to not pin your self-worth on the negative opinions some random guy on the internet might have of something you do/create/like.

i am showing you respect by talking to you as if you are an adult who can deal with what i might have to say. if you're not, and you can't, i expect you to have the wherewithall to not engage with me. i could at the very least respect that. alternatively, you're also welcome to disagree with my points, obviously. i'm always up for a good discussion.

but you responding to criticism like mine with defensiveness, affront, or worse, the idea that you're now justified to go after the criticiser as a person, only comes across to me like immaturity, self-consciousness, self-importance, and in some cases - deliberate or not - obtusiveness. see how that cultural divide can go both ways?

we're probably not gonna find common ground here. i'm tired of being interpreted as aggressive all the time, but i have no intention of conforming to the american ideal of social courtesy, because it makes me feel shallow, disingenuous and fake. meanwhile, you're probably not gonna be able to hear me speak without shaking the knee-jerk feeling that i'm purposefully ignoring the sensitivity of others (because objectively, i am).

so do we chuck the whole thing up to different culturally determined approaches to communicating our ideas? can we keep a shred of respect and mutual understanding and leave it at that?

or are you gonna insist that i'm immoral/rude/aggressive/callous/antagonistic/attacking people/etc, for voicing my own opinions, in my own way, on my own blog - in which case i, in turn, will feel perfectly content to just consider you an inherently silly person?

as far as i can tell, it's one or the other.

(also please please recognize the difference between using culture as an excuse, and pointing out a very real cultural divide that influences both how i communicate and how you interpret how i communicate. my point is that we're gonna keep talking past each other unless we adress the fact that we approach communication with very different goals in mind, mine being effectiveness and honesty and yours being courtesy and social sensitivity. i am also not saying that either one of these is "the right way" to communicate. don't read shit into my takes that isn't there to begin with. thx)

#other #alex @ me: 'prepare to be misunderstood again'

[dee-is-for-lots-of-things]

one of the little subtleties in season of mists i love is the subtly different way Dream presents himself to the different ambassadors, like even down to what he’s wearing. he’s slightly different for everyone and i love thinkin about the attention to detail, it would have been so easy for him to be just in his full on dream king mode all the time but instead we get this (sorry this is gonna be long but i love this. its a sandman blog this is what u signed up for lol)

the first one to show up is odin, who offers up a prediction of ragnarok containing a fragment of dream’s soul

dream is in his casual moping outfit, t shirt and probably jeans, but sits above odin. it’s possible this is to sort of remind odin that dream is in charge here, since odin is a trickster and considers tricking dream through basically the whole book. the candles are probably a reference to something smart neil gaiman read but i just think they also add to the neat border, separating odin and dream.

he’s also pretty polite to odin, genuinely considering the offer and generally being nice about it (well. nice for dream lol)

next we cut to jemmy (ambassador for chaos)

this is immediately distinct because she’s stood so close to him. while odin was a little bit away and dream was sat above him, here thanks to the height difference that’s already there i guess he didnt think he needed to bother

dream is much harsher to her than odin (although not the worst he gets) the other think i wanna say is i think the image of dream with his balloon is very sweet

the candles are back when order’s messenger shows up, and he’s put his big dramatic coat on for being big and dramatic in. with the wide shot at the end the candles seem to once again be a barrier, this time against the floating emissary, shielding dream and keeping him in a little circle (whether this is the intention of dream or it’s a fun little bit of imagery to show how isolated dream has made himself, who’s to say)

he’s also a lot meaner again, outright dismissing kilderkin, which shows that he was being very nice to odin at the beginning. maybe he puts on his coat to be scarier after chaos just straight up threatened him

i always enjoy a shift in artstyle to represent the perspectives of other cultures, especially dream in similar clothes that i do not know the name of (sorry) also it’s weird seeing him in blue instead of black, obviously the way they draw black often uses blue to highlight but idk it’s just different and i like it. his words are similar to how he spoke to odin, and the offer is considered on the same level

bast and dream have at least something of a history together (correct me if im wrong it’s a while since i last read brief lives) and are a lot more direct. maybe the short, single word phrases mean he’s slightly taken aback or maybe it means this is the fifth meeting he’s had and he just remembered there’s still more to come and is very tired

also, lovin the collar

matthew interlude! this is very cute. moving swiftly on!

in terms of his physical presentation, i think azazel is the most interesting. for one thing, he’s hovering to match, and his cloak thing idk what to call it has a bunch of layers overlapping much like azazel’s many eyes mouths etc. the fact that azazel is the one one to really take offense with his cautious diplomatic tone is fun but not really unexpected, he’s a fucking demon.

oh also he’s back in his t shirt when the angels come and take the key. worth mentioning but i forgot to get screenshots lol

#writing this up makes me wanna get that annotated sandman book #comicc #season of mists #sandman #the sandman #lily liveblogs #dream of the endless #neil gaiman #long post #sorry but also not sorry

[okthatsgreat]

hiiii could you talk about billie and andi a bit? i absolutely love the vibes

RRAAGHJHG YES I CAN TALK ABOUT THEM!!! 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 i love you whoever this is btw. and also very unfortunately i cant tell you as much as i would like bc both of them are being used in an rp im running and the people in the rp FOLLOW ME 😭

its set in the year 2006 !! but like. a parallel universe where technology is considerably more advanced. here are their actual references :]] ill ramble under the read more LMFAO

BILLIE LANE is the ultimate lucky student from weston, florida. this killing game is comprised of primarily former ultimates (age 18-40), however billie is the youngest participant of the bunch at 15!! and she is the most fifteen year old girl of all time. shes awkwardly polite and can get a bit judgemental even if it is well intentioned, and is dealing with a whole lot of teenage angst (<- undiagnosed mental health issues 😔). shes a character created to be adaptable in the rp, meaning she is VERY susceptible to the more charismatic presences and will often pick up traits and phrases she hears from them, and shape what she believes to be right and wrong around the people she trusts. and when she thinks something is right or wrong, she is STUBBORN about it!! even if shes awkward, she despises feeling helpless because of her age and has a very strong sense of justice! :0

billie considers herself to be extremely unremarkable and desperately wants to stand out, which leads her towards a more alternative style (featuring clothes she sees in magazines and tv shows). she is soooooo painfully aware that she has no talent, which further plays into this debilitating feeling of helplessness shes been experiencing for the past few years lol. shes got a whole ton of hobbies but they never last long-- recently its been button collecting :]

ANDI my best friend andi is an artificial intelligence designed alongside the virtual reality experience the cast is in!! she uses a female interface when talking with the houseguests and was designed to be and LOOK as approachable as possible, with a blue colour scheme (the company she works for is called New Waters lol) and an ever changing rotation of hotel clerk outfits. it is extremely polite and helpful, and holds very little bias towards quite literally anything. they're also the sole rule enforcer of the simulator, with a very strict internal law that they follow wholeheartedly. so hopefully nobody 😋 fucks with that internal law 😋 because that could mean bad things 😋

very very unfortunately i cant go in depth with her just because a LOT of andi is a spoiler to the people in the rp but ASK ME AGAIN IN A COUPLE OF DAYS!!!!!! 😁😁😁

THANK YOU FOR ASKING I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY GUYS MWAH <33

#lee art #ask lee #anonymous #oc: billie #oc: andi #THANK YOU AGAIN!!!