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leighsartworks216 · 3 months

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Hello! Oh, I am happy to see you're still doing these! How about 48. kisses to shut them up with Astarion, please? And thank you so much if you do this! <3

48 - Kisses to shut them up

Astarion x gn!Tav/Reader

Wanted to write something easy and quick, and this seemed perfect. Honestly after not writing for Star for a little bit, I'm very happy with this

Warnings: none

Word Count: 476

Main Masterlist

First Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist - Second Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist

AO3

Tag List Form

Astarion hummed noncommittally, nodding along whenever it felt appropriate. When he asked about what you were doing, he didn’t expect to receive an answer as long-winded and enthusiastic as Gale talking about some dusty old tome. Not that it wasn’t interesting - the light in your eyes, the excitement behind your gestures, and the endless tangents you went down to ensure he understood well enough to write a novel all about it.

As much as he loved it, you’d been working on your little project for hours, and explaining it to him long enough for the moon to pass its zenith. It would only be a few hours more before the sun rose and the adventure continued, and you hadn’t gotten a wink of rest. Even as you blinked away the blurring in your eyes, you blundered on, refusing the signs you needed to stop.

You lit up again as you recalled another factor of the process, turning to him as you prepared to start another endless ramble. It was in all your best interest that he swooped in and silenced your mouth. All in your best interest that he cupped your jaw and pulled you in closer, parting your lips with his as his tongue delved in to swallow the surprised sounds you made. Surely, there were no underlying selfish gains to this.

Only once you’d dropped your project and reached out to him, fingers brushing into his hair and fiddling with the untied laces of his shirt, did he pull away with a smirk. Devilish glee danced in his eyes in the light of the oil lamp.

“As much as I’d love to hear all about it,” he assured in a soft purr, “I do believe our dear leader needs their rest.”

You frowned, pouting up at him. “Did you just kiss me to shut me up?”

He gasped, pulling away like you burned him. “After all I’ve done, you accuse me of such underhanded techniques? Darling, please! I have some tact.”

“So that’s a yes.”

“You’re no fun.” He dropped the act with a teasing scowl. His fangs seemed even cuter when they peeked out behind pouting lips. “I simply wanted to ensure you were well rested enough for all the maiming we’ll get up to tomorrow.”

You couldn’t stay mad at him for long, even playfully. All too quickly, a grin broke through your act. You pulled him closer by his shirt, kissing that stupid smirk off his face. It was addicting to be able to kiss him like this. The trust he placed in your hands… You reach up to caress the tip of his ear, a silent thank you.

You pull away with one last peck to the corner of his mouth. “Alright. I’ll go to bed now.”

“You can tell me more about it tomorrow.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

---

Tag List:

@satelliteapotheosis @hypopxia @flsalazar @beverlybeav @angelofthorr @emiemiemiii @marina-and-the-memes @aurasyn @furblrwurblr @cappsikle @mjmygd @thegirlsadventuresinwonderland @kindadolly @bloopthebat @pandimoostuff @chesb0red @black-star1472 @sessils @puppyg1rl666 @maruichio @cyber-dump-171 @katharynmarie @twinkliker3000 @cherifrog @catching-fire-in-the-wind @phantoms-fandom-blog @thespectacularspaceace @lynnlovesthestars @sylverqueencosplay @tototini @ashrio20 @bambamwolf87 @astarion-imagine-archive @thistrashisreadytobash @rosxtinted @bongwaterflavoredgatorade @the-lake-is-calling @nyxmainex @squid-killer @godoffuckedupcats @dontneedbiologytoadopt @dark-angel-is-back @gaymistakeboi @asterordinary

#request #requested #fanfic #fanfiction #astarion #astarion x tav #astarion x reader #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate astarion #baldurs gate astarion #bg3 astarion #gn reader #x gn reader #gender neutral reader #x gender neutral reader #fluff

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lilac-gold · 4 months

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i know that this is just a part of how omori's fight system operates, but i find it very interesting that we are able to make memes like the one pictured below considering all we know about hero's character throughout omori, both in the real world and in headspace

this meme is made by using hero's "smile" skill as well as a rain cloud, sad poem or anything else that inflicts a sad emotion on him. hero's skills are primarily always either food-based healing (e.g. "cook", "fast food", "homemade jam", "snack time") or some form of charisma (e.g. "captivate", "mesmerise", "enchant", "dazzle"). it's hero's job to be the support of their team, and to use his pleasant demeanor and appearance as a distraction.

no matter which emotion hero has, he can still use every one of those skills. it is of no relevance how he feels as long as he can uphold his designated role as a charmer and a healer.

now, consider real world hero's way of dealing with things, which is that he simply doesn't. when he returns to faraway, he's there for everyone else, appearing on the surface to be completely fine and content, and simply not acknowledging his own trauma. he puts on a constant facade of normalcy and perfection. because to hero, it doesn't matter which emotion he has, he can still use every one of his skills. it is of no relevance how he feels as long as he can uphold his designated role as a charmer and a healer.

hero would bend over backwards to please others. he canonically has depression, but would much rather be someone else's shoulder to cry on than admit he's not okay. everyone puts him on a pedestal, viewing him as a sort of ideal to look up to. sunny does it. kel does it. his parents do it. even hero himself does.

i think that's part of the reason why he's so often overlooked by the fandom: hero's unrealistically perfect, but that's exactly the point. he forces those expectations on himself, forces himself to earn trophies and medals even while he struggles to even get out of bed. he smiles despite wanting to do the opposite, because he's not supposed to be depressed. he's hero.

his charm-based skills in headspace alternate between a) reducing foes' attack with a bonus happy effect and b) acting first with all foes targeting him for one turn. hero either dissolves the situation a little, acting like the mediator he always has been, or takes the blunt of the damage for his friends.

he's constantly in the spotlight, in every world.

headspace hero has done a ridiculous amount to help people, from stopping a wildfire to giving up all of his organs, has made such a profound impact on so many lives through his good deeds, and that's recognised. people in headspace adore him.

the conveyor belts at the junkyard are endeared to him. sweetheart falls in love with him. mr jawsum plans to essentially keep him trapped working at the last resort forever. medusa thinks he's "too pretty to sell". hero's worth something to so many people, even when he doesn't want to be.

and that applies to the real world too. he's the only older sibling left for his friends after mari's death. he has to be strong for them, to be that ideal, because they have no-one else to fill that role. he brings kel and aubrey together, rescues sunny and basil, says that they should have a sleepover like "old times". he's trying so hard for everyone else, he can't afford to let himself crumble.

hero's a performer. and we see canonically that he has at least some stage fright from sweetheart's quest for hearts.

sweetheart's an interesting case. i find it interesting that the image above would be found mostly in the fight against her. sweetheart is one of the bosses with a uniquely heightened emotional state, hers being that of happiness in "manic". due to the way the emotion system in battle works (explained to us, funnily enough, by hero himself), it makes sense to oppose sweetheart's mania with sadness, misery, and depression.

so that's what hero does! he has the depressed effect, he'd otherwise look incredibly morose, but as soon as time calls for it, he's got a smile back on his face. we see how uncomfortable he is about her advances, but he gives her a smile that sets into motion a whole separate stream of dialogue where sweetheart proclaims her that she would like to "make [his smile] mine".

hero's the group golden boy. the charmer, the healer, the protector, the older brother, the pillar for them to lean on when things get tough. he knows that he is, and upholds that image to the best of his ability.

that is, until mari dies.

then, he falls into a deep, serious state of depression in the real world, because he's failed. he and mari have strived for perfection their whole lives, only for her to apparently deem it all pointless and leave them behind. hero feels like he wasn't enough, like he never will be, no matter how much he's tried. the faked grins disappear alongside those which were genuine, for how is he supposed to smile when he's given up on the facade?

he stops talking to people. stops going outside. stops helping. he can't do anything but reflect on his perceived failures, and without his pillar of support, the group crumbles to pieces.

hero stays like that for a whole year, until he argues with kel and remembers the reason why he needs to stay alive. this is hurting his brother as much as it is hero, and kel's depending on him to get better. so he does, in a way.

he earns medals and trophies again, helps out again, lives up to expectations then exceeds them even more. he can't bring himself to do the things he enjoys anymore, or talk to the three kids he viewed as little siblings and he failed, but he's trying. then, he leaves, off to medical school like his parents wanted. it's a fresh start. it's a chance for him to start to move on.

he's been healing, a little, by the time he comes back to faraway. he can talk about what mari would have wanted without breaking down entirely. he can make kel and sunny breakfast. he can bring the group together like old times, and reminisce on all he used to have.

but he's still not better, and it shows. it shows in the tears he spills when alone beside mari's old piano. it shows in his refusal to visit her grave. it shows in all the little ways he can try to hide, can cover up with a smile too bright to be real. depression doesn't go away that easily, no matter how much hero tries to pretend he's fine.

all in all, i think this meme essentially sums up hero's character and arc in a single, otherwise funny image. am i overcomplicating things? oh, definitely yes. was this a blast to analyse nonetheless? absolutely! there are far too few takes on hero out there, and i hope this gave a little bit of insight as to why i adore him so much.

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bookshop · 1 year

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pardon me i'm just overwhelmed by wang yibo (as usual)

It's just, this kid, THIS KID, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND LET ME EXPLAIN

— he has to battle his way up through the ranks of YG to get to debut, in another country, away from his parents, while barely a teenager, all while learning a second language, and he not only does it, but according to legend he and Lisa are the only two foreign idols in YG history to graduate the program with all As

— and then his debut gets canceled and he has to go back to China and Yuehua and restart his entire career without much support at all from his agency, and he just does it, he starts the grind all over and just fucking does it

— he isn't even Yuehua's first choice for Day Day Up's new host competition, and they submit him only because he speaks Korean and that's good for the show, but then Wang Han sees him backstage one day and sees how hard he's working on his dance routine and immediately knows that Yibo is their next host, and not only is he an incredible addition to the show, but he stays on DDU longer than he reasonably should given how massively famous he gets, and he's so beloved that when he returns for Hunan's 2022 NYE concert, the network rolls out the red carpet and treats him like he's their hometown son and Wang Han is like, "Our Yibo has come home" (And Luoyang is the girlfriend in the distracted boyfriend meme lol but ykwim)

— he has to submit his comp shots twice just to even get an audition before anyone takes him seriously for The Untamed!! Except then the moment they see him, they immediately know he's their Lan Zhan

— he's the "pretty idol" throwaway captain for SDC3 and you can tell this when you watch the editing for the first episode because the comments for Yibo are all about how hot he is, and he comes in last place after the first captain's dance, and it's clear nobody really takes him seriously, but then the second he opens his street auditions, the tone of the entire show changes and from then on, for the next two seasons, he is completely unstoppable, his talent and intelligence and strategic thinking and competitive drive are so raw and exciting to watch that he basically takes over the entire show, the ratings more than double from s2 to s3, his fandom grows even more massive, and the dancers all fucking LOVE HIM. like dude he wins street dance of china so hard that within three seasons he's basically co-producing it and he's literally given a writing credit.

— The director of Being a Hero doesn't think he's old or mature enough to play Chen Yu and then Yibo sits down and talks to him about why he wants the role and the director realizes that Yibo basically is Chen Yu, he's the focused hard-working persevering single-minded actor of his dreams, and Yibo winds up giving a performance so moving it makes the director cry and declare, "That? That's acting."

— he jumps from no ranking at all to 9th place to #2!!!!!! within TWO YEARS on the Forbes China 100 Most Powerful people list between 2019 and 2021

— Duhua famously didn't take him seriously or treat him well for most of their long contractual relationship, oh shit, because now according to YH's latest investor report for Q3-4 2022, he singlehandedly brings in 90% of the profit for her entire company, a shareholder, the "top talent," and the one who has to pay whenever Uniq gets together because he's "the boss"

— Yibo goes from being the SDC underdog to being so respected that when Da Peng is looking for a dancer to star in his street dance movie, he asks all the best street dancers what actor is capable of doing the moves, and they all unanimously tell him: Wang Yibo. Da Peng winds up telling the press on Weibo Film night 2022 that he wrote the whole movie for Yibo, and that "if there's no Yibo, there's no movie"

— Cheng Er, director of Wuming, claims he has no idea who Yibo is, and just decided to cast him in a supporting role in his film because he looks the part of a Republic-era spy. And then he sees Yibo act, and he sees Yibo immerse himself in the part, and he sees how hard Yibo is willing to work and how committed he is, and he rewrites his entire movie until Wang Yibo is the main fucking character; Wang Yibo, in his first major film debut, acts his way into the lead and earns rave reviews from across the globe, including the goddamn new york times

Every time you think people will have finally figured out that you do not underestimate Wang Yibo, you learn of some new example where Yibo, once again, has had to prove himself in an industry that perpetually writes him off and doesn't take him seriously at first — only for the people around him to be absolutely blown away by his talent and dedication and mesmerizing star power.

And this happens over and over and over again. And he just does the work, always, every time, without complaint, and every time the result is something surprising and unexpected and fantastic and such a mark of his incredible passion and talent

— and every time I think my heart can't possibly grow any more sizes over Yibo, he proves me wrong

#yibo #wang yibo #wang yiboooooooo #i'm so proud of him #so proud of him always #and i'm so sorry tumblr at some point surely i will stop word vomiting about yibo on your timeline but that day is not today #wuming #hidden blade #long post

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blueiight · 2 months

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can i ask your thoughts on the fandom’s heavy focus on louis as an object of desire? it sometimes feels to me like people are more interested in other characters reacting to louis than they are in louis himself. i know the “helen of troy” stuff is a joke but it genuinely seems like he’s often rendered oddly passive in his desirability, like we’re looking at him through the eyes of the other characters even though it’s his story (to be clear: in the fandom, not the actual show). or am i being uncharitable? either way, you always have interesting things to say about fandom reception.

i think the focus of louis as an object of desire arose largely in response to a lot of racially-charged nonsense about show louis, namely, where a loud minority of fans tried to deny the abuse and horror of season 1 and frame louis as the primary antagonist/abuser of his own story. which in of itself had the potential to go somewhere, especially considering the feminized role louis occupies in parts of season 1. unfortunately its spiraled off into its own dead end at this point to where now people, a year and a half removed from the release of s1, can box louis's character arc into this tale of getting all the hot boys to look her way. when this is a horror and tragedy series. romance is part of that, but is a piece of the full picture. classic romance is very much horror tbh but thats just me

if we're discussing the show strictly, majority of louis's relationships are antagonistic. even with his lovers, they love him as much as they seek to control him. 'his love is a small box that he keeps you in', trailer louis saying 'i knew who i was without those pieces [of myself?]' . so on and so forth. the first three episodes of season 1 are about louis's struggle to maintain a link with his mortal community, in the midst of increasing racist tensions against the city leaders, all as he struggles to come to terms with his existence as a vampire and how his relationship to lestat fits in relation to all these pieces of himself. doubly so, there is also the nature of the second interview in present time, and the sort of antagonism between daniel + louis as louis eventually pushes daniel into burning the old tape. the latter half of season 1, episodes 4-7 is squarely about the triad of lestat, louis, and claudia, how lestat increasingly tightens his hold over them both, claudia breaking them free of it, and louis's response to such. doubly so, daniel becomes more hostile the less he knows, and the more louis's composed 'master of his instincts' personage collapses to show the broken man thats underneath. armand comes in at the end bc the interview has reached a breaking point once more [as it did in the 1970s]. i know, im looking too hard into the meme, but so much of where louis errs, where his memory falters, where history is completely revised, has to do with the question of claudia. even book interview foundationally was about this grief, though not nearly with the level of depth+ gravity the show has added to the story.

where focusing on louis as an 'object of desire' most impedes analysis has to do with claudia as well, bc if u see louis as that solely, then what is claudia to u if not a 'child interfering in [louis's] romantic affairs'? why are people already seeking to write claudia off as a wayward child unduly 'taking out her anger on louis', when it was louis at the end of season 1 who strangled her against the wall and refused to let her burn lestat? when its louis in the trailer thats throwing claudia's words from season 1 back at her, evading her questions in the cafe? when claudia is having to dress as a baby doll and advertise with a sandwich board for a theater + a coven-master that all want her dead?

i think this is by nature of the fact that iwtv is canonly gay and isnt afraid of showing that, and modern fandom is mainly interested in romance. claudia's relationship to louis is secondary, if not tertiary, to all 'camps' of this tiny tiny fandom bc she is clearly established in s1 as not being a viable romantic option for louis, despite claudia's perspective and her story taking up the second half of the first season, and will continue to be important in the second season. the 'helen of troy' fixation on his desirability in relation to romantically viable vampires [or even men] seems to be another means by which fans can ignore this part of the story, just as the mutual abuse nonsense about louis being clarence thomas the third self hating black man who stole lestat's lunchables and is 'just as bad as the rest' drowned out and continues to drown out any other conversation for the past year and a half. it is very difficult to have conversations on this character precisely bc of this state of fandom, where many people seek to crack the whip over a fictional character for not being mother teresa and having a complex response to trauma, then instead of discussing that, some seek to fixate on the fact that mother teresa can be sexy, actually. when thats not the point. why is modern louis so full of grief and all but suicidal in dubai, if not for the fact that claudia is permanently dead, he still lives, he regrets something, and wants to find the truth under it all? the jokes are cute and all, but lets put our thinking caps on.

#yn.#yn answers #is this even worth being in the main tags?#idk.

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pastafossa · 8 months

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Happy Birthday and a merry 6 years to TRT! 🎂 🎁 🎈 🎉 🍰

🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯

Some FUN TRIVIA FACTS:

TRT's sun sign is VIRGO and its moon sign is LEO!

After 6 years, its current wordcount is 932k words. If you put that in size 12 arial font, single-spaced, this would come to about 2000 pages, and even more if the pages were the usual mass market paperback size!

TRT is now 40 in cat years!

The Man in the White Coat is my tribute to the Mad Scientist trope common in scifi, which is one of my favorite genres!

It is old enough developmentally to tie its shoes! Keep going, TRT!

Ciro is partially inspired by John Marcone from The Dresden Files!

TRT shares a birthday with literary great Agatha Christie! Maybe I'll introduce poison-based murder into the fic in her honor...

The idea of seeing threads came to me after seeing a meme about red threads tying soul mates together. Everything that came after - the other threads, the thread world, how it works, is unique to TRT!

TRT is now longer than War and Peace, and Crime and Punishment combined! So if you've read all of TRT so far, then you have the perfect middle finger to anyone who tries to say you can't focus on longer stories!

The inciting penguin documentary that Foggy drunkenly watched (which led to him declaring Matt and Jane 'penguins') was about Adelie penguins specifically!

Jane has a leather jacket because I love leather jackets and think all badass characters should have a leather jacket! And so you should you! EVERYONE DESERVES A COOL LEATHER JACKET.

The long hiatus between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 was because I had life things pop up. During that hiatus, I realized the plotline/ending needed some work, so I spent those two years outlining, and I also wound up doing a bunch of additional novel writing classes just because I wanted to learn. A lot of this wound up influencing TRT!

The grey threads are one of the only threads that no one has solved yet!

There are absolutely some bad people working for Cyrus James. There is also a guy named Kyle. He is there not for Evil Purposes (tm) but instead because this was the only place he could work that would allow him to pay off his student loans.

When I started TRT, I thought maybe 5 people total would read it. I was told five people total would read it by some shitty people. So I wrote it expecting five total people would read it, and told myself at least I'd enjoy it, and I could use it to learn. In other words: I had ZERO idea TRT would take off like this. None. Nada. Zip. AND LOOK AT US NOW, BABY. FUCK THE HATERS, 6 YEARS AND GOIN' STRONG.

Based on my outline, we're a bit over halfway to the end!

I hope you enjoyed these TRT funfacts. And I hope you know: this fic isn't just me. It's you, too. This fic has become so much larger than just me. It's the TRT playlist you've sent songs in for that keeps me inspired when writing. It's the fanart I look at to give me a boost. It's your sweet comments and likes and kudos and messages that encourage me when I'm sick or depressed. It's the people who've made friends over this fic, or who've been inspired to write fic themselves, adding beautiful works to the community that we all use to keep going. It's all of this love for both TRT and Matt, and I'm so happy that I've been able to contribute in at least a small way in keeping Charlie!Daredevil love alive even after the show's been gone for years now. I love you all so, so goddamn much. I love this fandom. I love TRT with all my heart. Thank you so much for being a part of these past six years through cancelations, through your high school and college years and beyond, through my ups and downs of moving and sickness and fiberglass and pandemic craziness, through late night chapter drops and wild twists and turns.

And I hope the next few years as we enter the second half of this story are just as amazing!

#the red thread

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ettawritesnstudies · 11 days

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I think my dash is just oversaturated and that's part of why it doesn't look like I'm active in the writeblr community anymore lol

How many writeblrs exclusively post writing??? Most people (including me) use their blogs as commonplace books, fandom spaces, and who doesn't love sharing the memes and shit posts like the walrus fairy and goncharov nonsense whenever it sweeps through the site. Even if you *mostly* post writeblr stuff, other content is going to slip through the reblogs.

So when you're a 5 year old blog like me following 1100 people, even if most of those people ARE WRITERS, the majority of my dash is not, in fact, writeblr content, and so finding and participating in the community has only become more overwhelming the longer I've been here because it's not the same close knit group I used to know.

At some point I've got to purge out my follow list but I can't do that! What if I accidentally unfollow my friend! What if I don't recognize a writeblr I loved just because they're currently just in a fandomphase? I can't just unfollow everyone?!

#etta rambles #writeblr #writeblr community

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arandomnerd810 · 10 days

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TADC EP 2 SPOILERS

putting down all my thoughts and stuff i’ve noticed lets gooo

AAAAAAAAAGDEKNSQKDFUNFSIDANIVUFDN OMG IT WAS SO CUTEEEEHKQVSHKUHSQDFKHSDF I LOVED IT SO MUCHHH

i’m gonna speak in periods for the first paragraph since it’s very long but do not get me wrong i don’t wana be serious sounding it’s just to make these paragraphs more readable excuse the rambling

Caine posting section cause he’s my special intrest

satisfaction Caine wise 10/10

first the elephant in the room as Caine’s #1 fan yep still his number one fan! Serial Designation N killed tons of people yet nobody in the fandom cares, and Caine doesn’t get people well so he had no ill intention. rlly my opinion of him has not changed he’s still my silly lil goober no matter what he does. i’ve always known he will do horrible things and been expecting this to happen ever since Pomni gave the idea to bring him to the circus. Gummigoo had a sir pentious like death so i wouldn’t be surprised if we see him again.

he may be an asshole but he’s my asshole ❤️❤️

now that that’s out of the way a little glimpse of Caine angst is all i could have asked for in this ep 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶 like cmon everyone has to agree insecure much?

Caine posting over cause my god have i gotten more attached to everyone else aswell! (ofc Caine’s still my fav by far)

satisfaction with everything else 10/10

the fact that this wasn’t censored normally (no wacky sounds or the censor bar) and how Caine reacted with “you can’t say that…” could imply bubble said all of this out loud uncensored which is very funny to me

I love Ragatha she’s so sweet look at her ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I wana see where everyone’s friendship goes from here! they are already so adorableeee

still a sucker for found family dynamics

the fact Jax wasn’t here but still was upset is :( as much as i like to bully him, i love him just as much as any other human character. i’m the most interested in his episode cause he’s a mysterious guy( and i may or may not have a sneaking feeling like ill relate to him a little even though our personalities are practically polar opposite)

Kinger is so fatherly auughofewhiuhefvw the fact he’s old enough to have kids and is more likely than not married to Queenie imagine he had kids before coming here they would only be in like middle school ish cause he’s not even that old that’s sad af

GANGLE COLLECTS ANIME FIGURESSSS!! SHES JUST LIKE ME FRRR!

this really makes me want to buy the gangle plushie i’m thinking i’m gonna do it lmaooo

the fact she started crying 😭😭

Zooble wasn’t taking part in the adventure cause they were setting up Kaufmo’s graveee i love him sm

GANGLE ART!!

It’s really funny how chilled out Bubble was here

merch talk timeeee

sneak peaks of the rooms mayhaps?

Let’s just hope there’s only memes around it and not another figure incident….

welp going onto grab the Gangle plushie i’ve decided

real talk i’m actually happy TADC got so popular cause ive made a friend through it already and strengthened old ones since info dumping is the only form of communication my braincells can handle well lmaooo it’s crazy how many of my friends have decided to watch my special interest

#glitch productions #tadc #the amazing digital circus #tadc caine #tadc gangle #tadc pomni #tadc jax #tadc kinger #tadc ragatha #tadc zooble

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7grandmel · 2 months

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Todays rip: 04/03/2024

Willievan Afton Polkka

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) Ievan Polkka (In-Game Version) - Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA

Ripped by KnightOfGames

youtube

Requested by realchickenmanny! @realchickenmanny

One of the most fun parts of keeping up to date with SiIvaGunner is getting to see the rise of new jokes being used on the channel - which weird sources are trying to become mainstay running gags, which feel as if they're failing to really catch on, and so on. I talked about this in relation to Season 8 in particular back with Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab, back when the Season had just kicked into gear a few weeks ago, and even in that short time since there's been a few rising star jokes worth considering. One of the most surprising newcomers to me, then, is the very subject of Willievan Afton Polkka: the Five Nights at Freddy's fan song Stuck Inside, by Black Grpyh0n ft. The Living Tombstone.

Five Nights at Freddy's has of course always had a pretty prominent presence on the channel since back in Season 1 with the Circus rips a la Goodbye To Love, where the entire gag was built on how FNAF games lack much of any real music to make rips of. But there's another way this gag has been utilized in rips of the games - by instead using the rips to cover The Living Tombstone's immensely popular FNAF fan songs as if they were official theme songs of the games. The cultural impact these songs have had on many an internet dweller is undeniable: back with Five Dreams at Night 1.16, I covered an example of these using the song It's Been So Long, which currently sits at 312 MILLION views on YouTube. (and, of course, The Living Tombstone's first ever FNAF song was used as the credits theme for the feature film last year!)

All that is to say, that I find the usage of FNAF fan songs - old and new - to be a fantastic fit for SiIvaGunner, as influential nuggets of pure pop culture self-expression on YouTube. Stuck Inside, used by Willievan Afton Polkka and six other rips all released after the start Season 8, is a far more recent song than the nostalgic FNAF songs of old, themed around the story depicted in the FNAF movie - yet even without that nostalgia, it's got an absolutely fantastic melodic hook and creepy, yet ominously cheerful tone to it. After hearing it for three or so rips, I was sold - the team had clearly taken a liking to the song, and I was now amidst the various other commenters noting how fun of a listen it was.

That was, of course, before I went to look up which rippers were behind which of these eight rips. Eight rips using Stuck Inside, made in the span of two weeks - and they were ALL made by KnightOfGames.

And look, KnightOfGames is already one of my favorite rippers, I've admired the earnestness and quality in his output since I first began listening to the albums and connected the dots of who was behind what (plus, in his own words on mlp racism anthem (comix zone arrange - every MLP rip specifically goes through him for approval to ensure peak pony quality!). But this sheer commitment to rendering Stuck Inside in these SUPER distinct styles, making a one-man effort appear like the work of multiple contributors through sheer variety and rate of uploads - it genuinely did make my jaw drop when I found out! All of these are bangers in their own way, but I felt the need to single out Willievan Afton Polkka in particular for how much of a fun escalation it proved to be SO early into the meme's life - it's the kind of rip that I wouldn't have expected to see uploaded until several weeks from now.

Ievan Polkka is of course a very sillycore banger in its own right no matter what you do with it, but the idea to have Stuck Inside's vocals be sung by Miku herself over the former song's backing beat is such a genuinely inspired idea, this clash of old and new internet fandom music that, on the surface appear, like oil and water. Yet the somewhat uncanny cheeriness to Stuck Inside's melody that I mentioned earlier ends up fitting in perfectly, appearing far more sincere and lighthearted in the arrangement as a result - and all topped off perfectly by the use of Moonbase Alpha-like Text-To-Speech clips to match Stuck Inside's occasional squeals. Just for good measure, the rip lastly explores juxtaposing the tonal differences of the two songs, by using the original vocals for a small segment in the middle of the rip, before returning to the good-fun Miku vocals.

Willievan Afton Polkka is, above all else, another release in the long line of excellent vocaloid rips on the channel, much like Rolling Start and As Miku Collides. And much like those two rips in particular, there's a sort of personal feeling to the rip - in part due to how exclusive Stuck Inside as a SiIva joke still is to KnightOfGames himself, but also due to how much fun the guy clearly had in arranging it in a seemingly-bizarre style such as this. There are some mashups and edits that you think of just from hearing songs for the first time, the "surprised this hasn't been done yet"-type of rips, but Willievan Afton Polkka feels like the complete opposite: the kind of out-there rip idea that could only be done by someone who knows Stuck Inside like the back of their hand. That's a level of commitment that I just have to respect - and I hope with my whole heart that Stuck Inside eventually becomes picked up by other members of the team as Season 8 progresses.

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the-east-art · 7 days

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Easts Supernatural Rant

Just been thinking a lot about how bad Supernatural is lately because I've been going through the weeds reading old fics I've bookmarked and there's some good SPN ones. Background info: I watched SPN nonstop in middle school (roughly ten years ago) and if you go back in time you'll see that it was the fandom I was in way back when I first made my tumblr. I watched until about... season 10? When I realized it was never going to actually get good. So I was really obsessed with it for a good while but also it has been quite a while since I actually watched it.

rant under the cut o7

Okay so anyone who has watched Supernatural knows that it didn't start out actually so... bad. Supernatural starts out decent and builds up momentum fine in my memory clear through the final of season 5. I feel like among the fandom most people know that this should have been the ending of the series. For those reading who don't know, Swan Song ends with a really beautiful monologue about endings and in a tragedy with just enough of a glimmer of hope. Like it's a good ending. And then the series just kept going. do not get me wrong - there's a lot of fun episodes and concepts explored in the *checks notes* holy shit 10 FUTURE SEASONS, but it's also where a lot of the cracks really get bad.

However, in my opinion the biggest issue with Supernatural as the seasons progress is how whittled down the cast becomes. In the first few seasons there are a lot of supporting cast that you really get attached to - there's a bar for hunters, Bobby's place, a whole network of people connected to the principle cast.

While naturally the core of the series is Dean and Sam (and eventually Castiel) almost all of the supporting cast dies. And while I think the death is good in several ways, it really pushes the stakes of the series, especially in the earlier seasons where death truly was final and wasn't a joke. However you can only kill the supporting cast for so long until the show becomes... lonely. Messy. You start to not want to get attached to new characters because of how you know they'll probably die and then not get mentioned again. Many characters after their death just kind of... fade into the background never to be seen. While I don't believe that characters need to be mourned forever, you can't help but to feel that they are dropped for convenience of the show.

This has been on my mind because, as I've been poking around the annals of ao3 looking for diamonds in the rough, I've realized that really any fics that take place in any of the later seasons (let's say 8-15) to me might as well be a different show. It's a show heralded by characters I either don't know (Griffin Mcelroy meme of 'I don't know who Jack Kline is and at this point I'm too afraid to ask) or are character so completely reshaped by the narrative that I no longer recognize them (Castiel the character that just kind of does whatever will make the story interesting I'm looking at you).

What previously is a respectable narrative becomes blown out of proportion. I was reading a fic that dealt a lot with the themes of 'free will' and what that means and how do we try and exercise it, and I realize that I forgotten that, at one point, free will had been the theme of the series. The principle trio in the fandom is called Team Free Will because of that, but pretty much after season 5 all of that is thrown out the window. The first third of the series the boys are fighting against fate, and prophecy, and roles that they have been assigned to. But in the latter part of the series, as the narrative web spins further out of control, you lose that theming.

I mostly talk about this because I kind of find it interesting to look at. About what is engaging to me as a person, and what is a red flag. What I like in a story and what I don't. And I am chiefly reminded of moments where the series drops plot point, or muddies messaging (I have been reminded what The Voicemail is and how it is never addressed). And It's sad. Because I really REALLY loved the show once, and cared for the characters. And now I take refuge in fanfiction, because a lot of the aspects of the story and settings and characters hold SO MUCH potential, that is ruined in the source material.

Uhhhh yeah. Let me know what you think and let me know if have any questions about my opinions on stuff cuz I LOVE talking about art and narrative and stories. Or let me know if you want Fanfic recs because hell yeah I do.

#spn #supernatural #rant #the east rants #I mean #I also don't give a shit about romance plots pretty much ever #so that may have affected things #*holding Garth and Kevin Tran in my hands*#I would have treated you boys better I promise

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trekkie-lkm-archive · 4 months

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Kink meme archiving project: Star Trek

Hello! I've started a personal project in 2024 to archive the old kink memes on livejournal for my favourite show: Star Trek. I'll be working my way through them all slowly- so while I'm starting with the reboot one (which is a huge undertaking! will definitely take me a while) this blog will go through every single one I can find. This is not to repost fictions, you will not find actual works posted here just links to the original threads I find them on with additional links whenever possible to authors personal livejournals and other places they may have posted it, as well as a final link to where I am archiving said fics via the wayback machine-- Which seems to be as screenshots of the kink page as otherwise the comments (where the fics are) does not appear so please forgive any clunky/outdated appearances

This is not an ask blog, a rec blog, or anything else of the sort. It is purely for archival purposes to have everything located in one place-even then it is mainly to be used as a reference point for myself with my work with the wayback machine. As such asks will never be open and besides this I will not be posting anything besides links.

As it is not a rec blog or anything of the sort I will not be vetting the fics- by this I mean I will not be leaving anything (purposefully) undocumented in regards to these fics, regardless of how I or anyone else may feel about their subject matter--it is a Kink Meme and all possible warnings apply. I will be adding verbatim how the original prompts listed its kinks/warning and if an author added any warnings to the very start of the fic I will do my best to add them as well. But if you see a post and decide to read the fic it contains please do your own research if you know certain content upsets you.

I will not be saving unfilled prompts but the content that is there may not be complete either, basically as long as some sort of fill is there and available I will be posting it--If there claims to be a fic but I have no way to access it it will be made into a special post with screenshots and asks for help in regards to original content if I can not find it on any other archive-- a long shot but maybe someone knows someone who has screenshots or was the original author who can add a link to where they have saved their work!

All of this to say, while tumblr is questionable my posts may or may not end up in the tags, so I hope this pinned post is a useful as a sort of FAQ and that I don't get reported for spam or anything

projects like this are a big undertaking, and it's just me doing this, I can't be sure how fast or if at all I will complete this but I believe it's important to preserve fandom history, the kink memes are a big part of my fandom experience, and I've been so so happy to see them start to make a reappearance as 'prompt memes' on tumblr and A03, as the kink memes on livejournal are over a decade old there's bound to be TONS of fans who have never experienced them and find livejournal confusing to navigate, I'm hoping this inspires people to give older fics a try, give lots of love to those fic writers who might come across this blog, and even gives a boost to the current prompt meme revivals!

While asks are off, if you need to contact me you can reply to this post, I'm hesitant to give out my personal tumblr in case the content causes fandom wank--the internet is a very different place than it was a decade ago and terminology and kink that was commonplace in those circles may be harshly met now but we will see how it goes!

ALSO!!! if at any point in the future you see this and think this would be a good idea for other fandoms ( I know Glee has a fucking HUGE kink meme presence for example) you can just straight up go ahead and do it! no need to reinvent the wheel or ask permission if you like how I organized the info you can have the blue print-- I think the important part is archiving on the wayback machine. Think of how much past fandom history has been lost, and how much will be lost once old giants like livejournal and ff.net go down-- hell I think I even use to read fics on sites like quizzila at one point, gone now, and all the other places that existed like geocities, MAILING LISTS!! EMAIL AND GOOD OLD POSTAGE!

While A03 is doing amazing at archiving, places like the kink memes are hidden gems, so many fics are just small bits of love that don't get posted anywhere else and it's so sad to think about what will be lost.

Edit 11/1/24

I think I'm making steady progress! I know its going to be a slug getting through it all, just this one kink meme has 14 parts to it with like an average of 8000 comments each which could be like . . . at least a thousand or a good few hundred fics in each (would it be an 8:1 ratio??? i feel like that's too high) either way combined i'm looking at a good few thousand fics for ONE kink meme and there's TONS out there-- and if i manage to get through all of them before LJ gets shut down (this could very well take me years) then there's all the communities they get cross posted in who have their own fandom events and a whole bunch of fics to maybe also archive. Or just all the authors i'm finding who have other fics on their Journals who haven't been active in years! But I can't think that far ahead or I get overwhelmed, this is at its core a kink meme archive.

I've sorted out an issue I've had with a handful of fics where the adult warning archives instead of the fic. as far as i can tell there's no solution through it using the main archive (there is with other sites, but LJ is a special old girl) but there's a different archive I can use-though i cant seem to then archive THAT on the main site . . . so that's still a problem, but I've tagged those fics 'other archive' to come back to at a later date.

I have a hard time trying to locate other places people may have posted their fics if they don't leave me very obvious bread crumbs so if you (yes, YOU, the person reading this sometime in the future) see a writer you recognize you're more than welcome to tag them or add additional author info in a reblog or just whisper in the tags or reply (if this blog is still active mystery person reading this a decade in the future)

either way, i'm hoping to get through this particular kink meme by the end of the year. I know it's only 11 days into the new year but i'm really trying to pace myself so I don't burn out. I'm almost positive I can get through the first part this month so an average of one a month shouldn't be impossible (so average like a page and a half a day, which is still like 18 fics/per day)

24/1 lmao ok so I started Vyvanse, and I hyperfocused and basically archived 163 fics in the last 24 hours and finished the first of fourteen sections of the first kink meme on my list-- which is golden! Awesome! Spectacular! 410 fics in just that first part,( they tapered off from an average of 11 fics per page to 8 basically) I'm doing amazing! And--this is looking way to far ahead-- but I like to think now that I'm in a solid rhythm (of how to archive not how to pace myself) once all the kink memes are done I'll start a whole new blog and archive all the other trek comms I can find, because theres a lot of crossposting going on and theres just so many comms with their own special events and things that have been archived but on things like delicious which is gone or in blogs that have been deleted as a whole. like st-anon! But anyway I'm having a lot of fun! And I'm probably not gonna look at this blog for a week but I've got days in the bank baby!

19/2 I've reached part 3!!!! I'm right on track where I want to be mid february, there was a small decrease in the number of fics in #2 but a lot more than going through page by page made it seem-- a common theme I've noticed is misplaced comment fics, which is so fascinating! It's so easy to misplace your comment on threads, and instead of hostility or mod culling it's treated with comradery (get it?) and kindness. I'm still looking at around several thousand individual fics just for this kinkmeme and after this one there's so many more, one is already lost to a purge but there's at least one other huge one. My queue ran out the other day because I was dealing with a dead rat somewhere in my kitchen walls, very distressing, and a bit embarrassing cause this blog doubled its following in the last few days, and it definitely feels a bit strange to know that this project is getting attention. Feels a bit like I'm sitting on my bed, back to the window, and every time I peer around my shoulder I see more people peering down at what I'm doing. Which I WANT people to be able to do cause that's the whole reason I'm doing this but it's like a 'damn wish I'd thought to put pants on' kinda vibe. I don't feel very professional. But still . . . we persevere!!!

22/2 horrific news. Just realised I wasn’t counting the posts with multiple fics . . . As multiple fics. So even the posts with five individual fics. Have only counted as one in my count. The absolute buffoonery. The agonising idea of having to individually check each post. The massive urge to quit and sulk for five years. But still. . . We persevere. So I need to come back to stixk 1 & 2 and recount. But from the start of 3 we’re on track.

#star trek #archiving #kink memes #livejournal

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tagedeszorns · 5 months

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What's boring you about the fandom? Sorry to hear you're struggling with that at the moment.

Just wanted to say though, it is normal to go through stages of fixation and ambivalence, especially if it feels like you might have plumbed the most exciting depths of your preferred niche. (I have felt like that so many times in other fandoms lol...) Maybe it's worth exploring other parts of the fandom, you might find something that ignites your passion again. Alternatively, if you need a break or feel the need to branch out, do it. The fandom will still be here when you feel like engaging again.

(Also, if you feel like it sometime, please tell us more about your minis and joytoy figs. Are they named? Do they have backstories?)

I'm not bored. I'm just having a severe "old man yells at cloud"-moment, like I do semi-regularly. 😉

When I came to the Tumblr-branch of Warhammer-fandom it felt so very exciting - artists and writers regularly got 80 to over 100 notes in a few days on their texts and pics (not just memes and/or shitposts, mind you! The real stuff!) - and not just likes, a lot of reblogs, comments and so much discussion! So many HC were developed here for everybody to see and to participate.

But this all changed. No fire nation, though.

I'm getting a bit tired of saying it over and over myself, but in my opinion it still is true: Discord is slowly killing fandom-permanence. Discord isn't good for conserving things. Ideas vanish. Pics get consumed like fast food and digested just as fast, leaving no nutritional value for viewer or artist. Thoughts get lost, because they wander down the chat-drain and vanish into nothing. HCs get no engagement, fade and die.

The slow, ugly decay of Twitter didn't help. A lot of new people not getting how Tumblr is supposed to be played and take the easy way out to Discord, too.

A Tumblr-blog is a very intimate showcase of a person's journey as a fan. It's like a geological slice of their interests and thoughts. I love that. I want to keep that. I want to get to know other fans. And not the shallow, fleeting way of Discord.

Yeah, as I said - old man yells at totally uncaring cloud. I can't stop time. I have to adapt or remain behind.

And the other thing is my "ceterum censeo" of being bitter about people just paying attention to Primarch-content and don't care about the guys from second row who are in my opinion so much more interesting and colourful. And if they get the spotlight it's just some meme-shit or being waifu'd to hell and back.

I love being silly about characters I like. I love making up shitty sidestories, silly AUs and other absolutely hilarious OOC-stuff. But if that's all that remains from a character, that's just sad.

I need way more Credible Hulks who love quoting the books as much as I do, around me!

But anyways, I'll come around.

That I had quite a few not so very good books this year didn't help either. I need both the Eidolon- and the Xantine-book to be good, next year! And St. Martin better NOT writing any shit about Lucius attacking Fenris (I mean, WTF, St. Martin! That short story was the worst you ever wrote, man!).

#warhammer #Fandom #Meta

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rageprufrock · 1 year

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Hi Pru!!! Ik you have been back on tumblr for a little but I just found out (bc I havent been here) so in a fit of nostalgia I went through your ask/fandom tags and read old fic meme responses and honestly it really struck me that I am now at the age of when you were writing many of my favorite fics (presque vu, drastically redefining protocol, etc etc your inception, haikyuu, and merlin fic lives in my heart) amd tbh it came as a shock. I think because im probably 15 years or so younger, I've always just seen those fics and ur process behind them as so Adult and one day I will also be an Adult just like that.

Spoilers, I am not quite the Adult I envisioned myself becoming while I had been reading your fics at 13, 14, 15 etc (worringly young) but I still hold a lot of it close to my chest and I think at least I am on the right track. Anyways tldr I love your fic, thanks for writing them, from both me of past and present.

I've read this ask over and over again, and I want you to know that I found it so moving, Anon, that I've been sitting with it for ages wondering how to respond other than to say: I can't think of anything more lovely or flattering than to know that in some way, the stories I wrote have been a part of your experiences growing up. These stories felt, to me, like part of my experiences growing up, too, and that we share that in some cosmic way always makes the world feel smaller and friendlier, and my own missteps and embarrassments less searing. We're all just kind of fumbling along together.

I think if you ask anyone, none of us are the adult that we anticipated being when we were young and reading about people older than us, who we had assumed had their shit together. I like to think that we're better than those imagined versions of ourselves, wiser and more patient, kinder from going through our own difficult periods, and more forgiving of people who we see headed down the same confusing roads toward getting older that we once took. It's why I think I find myself revisiting the theme of internal transformation so much: there's something so big and bright and difficult to explain about how the shape and size of the thing inside you changes over the years, how without any trigger mechanism or intention, you might wake up one day and realize you're an entirely different, marvelous surprise even to yourself.

Thank you, from the me of both past and present, for reading. <3

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missroserose · 2 months

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13 books meme

@introvertia tagged me in this (thank you, lovely, you're such a positive influence on my reading consistency <3) So let's talk books!

1) The Last book I read:

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Absolutely destroyed me—90's science fiction, examining the paradoxes of faith and the difficulties of cross-culture exploration, seasoned with a hefty dose of grief and frustrated desire. Might as well have been written for me.

2) A book I recommend:

The Wicked & The Divine, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. A sprawling examination of the celebrity-industrial complex, cultural and individual objectification, and the dark side of fandom culture. Well worth reading through in its entirety.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

Starling House, by Alix E. Harrow. I'm a sucker for a fierce and driven heroine who makes things happen by sheer force of will, despite the odds being against her. Between that and the deliciously spooky atmosphere, I adored this book.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

<i>Good Omens</i>, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Hardly an original answer on this website, but it's a classic for a reason <3

5) A book on my TBR:

Victor Lavalle's The Changeling, thanks to @introvertia's recommendation. I know nothing about it but I'm looking forward to reading it!

6) A book I’ve put down:

The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. I know that the accepted formula for self-help books is to present your one theory and explain why it solves every problem in the known universe, and I hate it, which is probably why I don't read a lot of self-help books. Needless to say, around the time this dude claimed that Hitler wouldn't have become a mass murderer if he'd followed the book's advice, I gave up in disgust.

7) A book on my wish list:

Honestly, I don't have many? I've been enjoying reading from the library, in part because my bedroom is already showing the strain of previous book-buying sprees.

8) A favorite book from childhood:

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, by Tamora Pierce. I read the entire Alanna series numerous times but I think this was my favorite—I really loved seeing her come into her own independence and learn a new culture (and one that accepted her unusual gender presentation).

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Again, depends strongly on the friend...but I can think of more than a few who'd enjoy the old-school gothic fairytale setting and viciously driven heroine of A. G. Slatter's All the Murmuring Bones.

10) A book of Poetry or Lyrics you own:

Hm...does the script to Hedwig and the Angry Inch count?

11) A nonfiction book you own:

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson—they practically issue you a copy when you move to Chicago. (In fairness, it's a cracking read.)

12) What are you currently reading:

Skin Folk, a collection of short stories by Nalo Hopkinson. I'm also rereading (or re-listening to) Mike Carey's The Devil You Know, and enjoying it rather better this time around—I think the first time I tried it, almost ten years ago, I was expecting something more along the lines of The Dresden Files and wasn't quite old enough to appreciate the more emotionally battered and worn-down middle-aged protagonist. Now, being a decade older and having lived through a global pandemic and seen rather more of just how terrible people can be to each other...I think it's more my speed. And possibly good research for if I ever get my angel noir story off the ground.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

Definitely The Changeling.

Bonus Round Shelfie?

I'm at a library right now but I might add one later!

Tagging: @klove0511, @sirsparklepants, @emiliosandozsequence, @skybound2, @ihni, @callieb, @lord-angelfish, @redmyeyes, @misschinablue, and @sea-salted-wolverine—no pressure, obviously, but I'd be interested in your answers!

#bookblr #reading #books #tag games

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buckttommy · 2 years

Note

i love ryan but i’m newer to fandom (joined during the s5 mid season hiatus) and i’ve always vaguely heard about The Incident but have never been able to figure out what actually happened?? other than it was something that got him labelled racist and if you like him you’re therefore racist too. you don’t have to explain what happened if you’re not comfortable w it but i’m very curious and i support him but idk how to defend that choice without knowing what actually happened, you know?

Hi anon! I'm glad you asked. Not a lot of people know the context surrounding The Incident and I'm tired of people's ignorance. Enough is enough. This is long, but stay with me.

In May 2020, one of Ryan's followers at the time went through his partner, Chrysti Ane's, twitter account and found an instance from 2011 in which she used the n-word. Considering this was only days after George Floyd was murdered (or might have even been the same day; I can't find the tweets that incited the incident) and tensions were already extremely heightened, this discovery blew up in a massive way.

Days later (May 31, 2020), Chrysti Ane wrote this statement and posted it on Twitter:

[img. i.d.: As these recent events unfold, so do heightened state of emotions. My family and I have been accused of being racists for the past few days and I think it's past time for me to address quite a few things. This all started when one of my partner's followers dug up a few of my tweets from 2011 (9 years ago) that used the n-word. I will not justify using that word, but I will explain myself. At the time I was dating someone of African-American decent [sic] and started diving deeper into the culture; I made tons of black friends, listened to music that used slurs, watched black comedians that freely used the word, and I felt accepted by the black community. At the time, none of my friends found it offensive, but I must say I also didn't fully comprehend the WEIGHT of the word. I didn't comprehend the history, the struggles, the oppression. I was a 16 year old girl in high school trying to find my place and figure out who I was. I am not a woman with my own family, a child, and a partner. I am NOT the same girl I was almost 10 years ago, I encourage you to look back at where you were 9 years ago and think to yourself "am I the same person?" That being said, this is my formal apology for those tweets and who they have offended. We must hold people accountable for things that [sic] have said or done and I am glad this has been called out and I can show that 16 year old girl isn't the woman I am today. I can tell you honestly I have grown immensely. My respect for the black community is massive. What they have endured, what they have overcome, and what they CONTINUE to go through on a daily basis has opened my eyes and my heart. I will continue to use my platform, as I have been, to do good. I have donated, tweeted links, and spoken my peace on the matter. I have stood up for the black community and will continue to do so. Now I'd like to address a different matter - blocking certain accounts. After those tweets resurfaced, I experienced hate tweets, hate accounts, memes with my image and my partners, name calling, and worst of all foul names about my son. After responding to a tweet saying something among [sic] the lines of "I have many black friends and I couldn't fathom seeing such a thing [as George Floyd]" one of the accounts that had previously been a part of the "hate tweets" had told me I made her "uncomfortable" because it seemed as though if I didn't have black friends I wouldn't care. I responded addressing her previous online bullying and proceeded to get hate. To that I must say, I have repeatedly attempted to turn focus to what's important-EQUALITY/HUMANITY. It seems as though everything that is said nowadays is dissected and the overall message gets lost. If you don't speak or use your platform, you're "racist" or "choosing the side of the oppressor" or "part of the problem" but if you DO say something without articulating yourself CRYSTAL clear with no room for interpretation you're "racist" or "making people uncomfortable" or "part of the problem." I simply want to use my voice for good. I want to help. I want to do my best to let the black community be heard and RESPECTED. Let's all be part of the solution and create proper change in this country so everyone can experience what America is supposed to be an stand for.

The same day (May 31, 2020), Ryan hopped on Instagram Live and addressed both Chrysti Ane's use of the n-word and his own silence over several days. [Full transcription here] I strongly encourage everyone to read the entire transcript, but for those who don't want to, most of his Instagram live was about his support for the black community. During his livestream, Ryan:

Highlighted the black community as being instrumental to his growth and development as a human being

[img. i.d.: "I love my black brothers and sisters. In fact, a lot of them have shaped me into the person I am today. I'm very thankful for their input, their insight and their culture 'cause [they are] as proud of their culture as I am of mine. And the great thing about America is we get to combine those cultures. Black lives definitely matter and they should resonate -- they are the reason that America is so great.]

Called out the racists who followed him specifically:

[img. i.d.: "If you are a racist and you're following me or you think that this whole Black Lives Matter is out of proportion or anything, get the hell of [sic - off] my Instagram, get the hell of [sic - off] my Twitter. I don't need you. That's not the America I want to live in. I'm a biracial man. I gotta accept more than one race anyways. So anybody that follows me needs to be part of the solution rather than the problem. And of top of that, this is a human rights issue."]

Highlighted the realities of systemic racism and the black experience

[img. i.d.: Our black brothers and sisters, who are human beings, are being mistreated by systemic racism. That racism has allowed white people to just hurt our own kind, our own humans. That sh*t, I can't stand for. And now how I see all this changing is not overnight. It's by each individual making that choice to stand up to the next individual who is next to him who is being racist or being ignorant or being naive. I can't even imagine what it would be like to talk to my son and tell him people are gonna look at him worse because of his skin colour. That sh*t hits deep. It hits hard, and not because some of my friends are black -- that has nothing to do with me, this ain't about me at all. It's, again, about humanity. It's how we treat our fellow people.]

Did research before speaking, sought counsel from the Black POC in his life, and reverted back to history to back up what he was saying to his followers

[img. i.d.: I was looking through things over the internet, trying to do my research before I spoke, and black people getting killed by white people for racist views is nothing new. I mean, you can go to the biggest names -- Martin Luther King [Jr.] in 1968, Reverend George Lee, one of the first black people to vote, killed by white people. And the "I can't breathe" movement? That was nothing new. You saw all the NBA players wearing "I can't breathe" shirts, anybody in sports, anybody in entertainment was wearing "I can't breathe" shirts. That was Eric Garner in 2014. Philando Castile, 2016. I am not painting every police officer bad because there are good police officers out there, so what I'm trying to say is this is directly to those racists out there, who have embedded themselves into the American society. You could be a person working at the movie theaters, you could be working anywhere to be honest. I don't care if you got a badge or not -- if you're racist, you're a racist. And your time is coming to an end. There's more biracial people coming into the world, there's more black people getting influence in the world, we got our first black president and hopefully not our last black president. This sh*t hits deep. I keep saying it. I employ everyone else do their research. Start looking at why everybody is so angry. You know, COVID-19 is an epidemic but this whole racial thing is systemic. It's been happening for 400 years to people with skin darker than ours, for no other reason than just that. So we need to call out people who got more power in this, those white people who have more power in this. I only know of one big attorney because I worked with them on a TV show, but Mark Geragos who has helped out P. Diddy, Chris Brown, and all these other people. Let him start speaking up. Come on, you got enough money now. Start standing up for the right reasons now. So also doing my research and talking to the cast of 9-1-1 and trying to figure out what [we] can do, how we can help out. Some of those don't feel what it feels like to be a black person and will never be able to, so how do we help? And Aisha, who plays Hen on the show, she was all about just support, reaching out, help whenever you can, wherever you can. You can go to Black Lives Matter, you can go to defund the Police, but in my personal opinion, defunding the police won't help because there are good police officers out there. You can also go to colorofchange.org, that's a good one. I see that a lot of people are trying to help out on that one, and there's a fund for George Floyd himself and his family. So there's ways to help out. Let's just find the right ways.

It was during this same livestream [on page 3/4 of the transcript], that Ryan says this about his partner's controversy:

[img. i.d. And now we're talking about different things now, now we're talking about her using the n-word. Let's address it, okay? You're telling her that she can't speak through Twitter to her black friends that have allowed her to say that back and forth to them, specifically? Mind you, that is a private conversation had on a social platform. I can see the misconstrued insight on that. That being said, I have plenty of friends - Black, white, Asian, Indian, Korean - and we make fun of each other's races all the time. We call each other slurs all the time. We don't get butt-hurt at all, nah, because we know the actual person, we know who each other are, we know we're not trying to bring each other down. So what are y'all trying to get it? You're trying to prove that somebody who is not racist is racist? Nah, you don't have that power. There is no racist energy coming from this household at all. In fact, we're helping. Again, being part of the solution rather than the problem. I know, for sure, that all of our friends would speak up to say the same thing. They know who we are. We know we're not about bringing down other humans, at all, not even caring about any kind of colour or nothing. So y'all need to stop with that. And if you're breeding hate and throwing it our way, you're wasting your energy and you're wasting your time.

This comment was the impetus for the "Ryan is racist" narrative. The following day, Ryan once again returned to Instagram live for a shorter livestream in which he clarified previous comments. [Full transcript here]. I can't add anymore images but to quote him directly:

What up everybody. So after having some time to really think about it and really calm myself down, I felt I have to clarify certain things. Let me first start off by saying I do not condone the use of the n-word by any non-Black person, that includes all Latinos. That's not our word, alright? So that people that are coming after me, keep that same energy for Cardi B, Tekashi 6ix9ine, Fat Joe, all of them Latinos who've been using it for years upon years and getting passes from and by 50 Cent and whoever else and what-not and saying it in their music. Keep that same energy. That being said, let me clarify and address the real situation at hand: When I said slurs, I came from an angry place. I couldn't think straight and I misspoke. All that was going through my mind is seeing these comments about my girl and about my one-year-old son. Seeing death threats to my girl, seeing this foul-ass language about my one-year-old son. And I misspoke. I meant to say stereotypes, and do I condone stereotypes? Nah. Now amongst friends, can friends make fun of each other? Yes. That being said, I'm not here to bring anybody down, no race down. As far as my girl goes, using the n-word nine plus years ago, she was I don't even know how old. 16? I think she's grown as a woman. I think she has apologized for it. I remember her doing a tweet last night apologizing for it. And I don't condone her using it. We don't use that word in this household; it's not our word. I'm not here to take away from what the black community has gone through, or take something from them. I'm here to help them in any way, through support, through anything. So that being said, I apologize to those that I have offended, and misrepresented myself by using the wrong term. I stand by my "try, fail, learn, grow" state of mind and I will continue to grow, I will continue to help out the community. So hope everybody has a great day, enjoys their life, and let's help our black brothers and sisters going through this horrible, difficult time. Alright. Now have a good one.

After his livestream finished, big entertainment new companies such as Variety, EW, and TVLine began pushing the "Ryan is racist" narrative, fueled by Aisha, Rockmond, and Oliver's comments on Twitter made the following day.

Aisha:

[img. i.d.: A tweet from Twitter user RisingTom that says: Maybe we should ask his black castmates how they feel about this. @/AishaHinds @/ImAngelaBassett @/traciethoms @/RockmondDunbar Ryan stays completely silent during this movement then comes on to excuse his wife's use of racial slurs & admits he & his friends use slurs all the time. @/AishaHinds: How I FEEL daily is a perpetual state of GRIEF. There's sadly no version of this indefensible discourse that doesn't exascerbate that grief. There's legions of learned behaviors that need to be named and neutured [sic] so we don't continue to give life to them. May we know & DO BETTER.]

Rockmond:

[img. i.d.: Two tweets from @/RockmondDunbar: As a black man this should go without saying but just to make sure people in the back understand when I say this with my whole chest: I don't condone the shit. I don't like the shit. And I've never been one to allow the word to be used around me by any non-black person...cont 2ND Tweet: And any alleged 'black people' that are co-signing their non-black friends to refer to them in that way need their entire asses checked. Too much history, too much pain. Past and present. Shit is utterly unacceptable.]

Oliver:

[img. i.d. Two tweets from @/oliverstarkk: I know a lot of you want to hear my thoughts on what a cast member said today on IG live. I can tell you that my opinion is there is absolutely no excuse for the use of the n word. It belongs to the Black community only and I absolutely don't agree with it being used by... 2ND Tweet: ...anyone else under any circumstances.]

Ryan apologized again after that in one of his final posts on Twitter, and then alluded to the controversy (and his response to it) once more on Instagram on his 34th birthday.

Those are the facts. Now for my opinions.

The response to Ryan and the years of backlash that have followed (mostly from white people) are completely disproportionate to the situation at hand. The controversy wasn't even his to begin with, but at the point where he involved himself in it for the sake of his partner, everyone (Ryan's castmates, the greater public, the fanbase, and Ryan himself) quickly lost sight of who was initially at fault. I don't think Chrysti Ane should be raked over the coals for comments she made 10+ years later, but the fact of the matter is that Ryan showed more contrition and genuine apology and desire to do better in his multiple apologies than she did in hers. Chrysti Ane victimized herself in her apology; Ryan didn't. That makes a difference.

I have always maintained, and continue to maintain, that BIPOC are allowed to feel about him however they want to feel because BIPOC communities were, in essence, targeted. But I encourage everyone to know the facts before making or maintaining any sort of decision or judgement.

And to all white people who read this and still decide not to like him, please know that I do not trust you. I probably do not like you. Not only have you inserted yourself in a discussion you absolutely do not belong in for years, but any continued vilification of a man of color after learning all the appropriate context is transparent and deplorable. For years, I have watched people hide their blatant racism behind empty activism, but there's no excuse for that now.

Here is all the context.

BIPOC, do with this what you will. White people, please keep your mouths shut on the matter.

#jack.txt #ryan guzman #RG discourse #one and done #jack answers mail #this took three hours to write. my poor eyes.

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historia-vitae-magistras · 7 months

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do you have any thoughts on prussia and Canada non romantically? I think they could have an interesting dynamic that’s way overshadowed by all the shipping in the fandom, like they were enemies at one point and i think Prussia would fear Canada bc Canadians had a reputation of being really strong on the battlefield in both world wars. I think they’re def chill w/ each other modern day though.

I understand if this just isn’t ur thing, just those two are making me think thoughts and I cannot find any non romantic content of them

this was all sparked by your fic where Matt and jack are captured by Gilbert and Ludwig btw, I really liked how you wrote the dialogue there. Also you mentioned they had interacted before, care to elaborate? 👀

Oh, man yeah. Idk what precisely about prucan makes me want to jump in a lake, but in my universe, Matt literally took or nearly took Gilbert's head off with an axe in 1918 to slow the German spring offensive so lol yeah. That was his little side quest during the whole 'Alfred was mad Jack and Zee moved back behind the lines without Matt' fic from a while back. A solid quarter of Matt's war crimes were directly against Gilbert and Ludwig personally.

With the whole invisible meme and how practically every man, woman and child in Quebec participated in extremely severe brutality against the Americans and British in the 17th and 18th centuries and then threw our war crimes record on top, it's just too perfect not to write him as a trench wraith. Other nations have limits. Europe may stay their hands personally often because they never know when they might need that ally later. But Matt's never held back in his life. He couldn't afford to when he was small, and crawling on his belly through no man's land was easy for him. Ghosting his way behind enemy lines, spitting skulls and slitting throats is nothing new for him. He did that as a child, the wee freak.

And Gilbert did, too. Knight, crusader, zealot whose hand was certainly not stayed. Mutual recognition of being so fucked up they can't spend much time with the other without being reminded of some USDA Grade-A beef. I fully adhere to the headcanons that Matt's a walking flashback for Gilbert in some circumstances. But they get along fine. It's incredibly funny to picture a 1,200-year-old war machine chatting with Alfred or Arthur and then absolutely jumping out of his skin because Matt appears out of nowhere wanting affection or is just interested in the conversation. The whole anglophone world has swallowed Alfred's or even Arthur's perspective about Matt being the milder, sweeter version of Alfred, but Gilbert's specific situational PTSD just sweating bullets gives me life. It's a kind of cruel, but Matt takes utterly too much pleasure in it.

As for before that point, the long 19th century of Anglo-German fuckery as Anglo-Saxonism and a largely German monarchy drew Britain into closer cultural ties among the elite of Germany and Prussia; Gilbert often found himself in Arthur's company. They fucked a lot, mutually griping about their children. Gilbert and Matthew met and saw each other, and I want to rewrite that ficlet where Gilbert isn't exactly clocking him when he really should be in my current timeline lol. The part from canon about how everyone sees Matt in his early life as being a menacing figure at Arthur's shoulder greatly appeals to me. The guard dog with the loyalty and obedience of the best of Arthur's hounds.

Like at least once in a group drinking setting, Francois' arse has caught and kept Arthur's attention and Matt and Gilbert find themselves at a table having a conversation and swapping stories that would have them both before the Hague if they were more recent. And they just vibe. Both men depend utterly on the goodwill of often testy and impatient brothers. There is a loneliness of having one neighbour that matches fairly well with having mostly neighbours who probably hate Gil's guts on some level and loving women who could kill them. This absolute canyon of difference in how Gilbert is relegated to the museum display case, and Matt is an active, dynamic part of the world political system that keeps them apart.

#the ask box || probis pateo #Gilbert || from this baltic cannonball #matthew || my country is winter

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