#i was debating on posting this here or on my main since it isn't obviously yugioh

[the-dark-magicians]

#i was debating on posting this here or on my main since it isn't obviously yugioh #but...isn't it....? #it is isn't it? #TELL ME what other anime takes Egypt this seriously PLEASE I NEED IT #other scenery based yugioh gifs will be on main tho #yugioh #ygo #yugioh duel monsters #duel monsters #ygo duel monsters #ygo dm #yugioh dm #hieroglyphics #egypt #ancient egypt #kemet #ancient kemet #idk if it actually says anything significant but those are actual hieroglyphics #y2k anime #anime gif #my gifs

[exeggcute]

well it's been almost six months which I think is long enough to break my posting embargo, so, uh: guess what! I got liposuction lol. specifically hip/thigh lipo to quell some pretty wicked dysphoria that stemmed from having such a feminine silhouette… and I have to say I'm really, really pleased with the results.

tbh my initial plan was to keep things under wraps for good which is why I haven't said anything about it yet (and even as I'm typing this up I keep debating whether to post it or trash it)—partly because I was/am worried people might Act Weird about it and partly because I get a little embarrassed talking about bodygendershit in general. but here we are. one reason I do feel compelled to finally share, other than being super happy about how everything went, is that I haven't encountered a lot of discussions about body sculpting as a possible avenue of gender-affirming care (although, to be fair, maybe I just haven't been looking in the right places) and I figured at least one person out there would be interested to learn about what I did and where I've ended up so far.

anyway. pics/details under the cut—nothing even remotely risqué (or yucky), I just know that body image stuff is fraught + not everyone is eager to hear surgery talk.

to be precise: I got tumescent liposuction of the inner and outer thigh, plus this ultrasound thing to help the skin shrink. a different surgeon who I consulted (but ultimately did not go with for a number of reasons) said that even if I got the results I wanted from lipo, which he claimed was unlikely, the affected skin would look loose/baggy/weird forever... and that surgeon was wrong on both counts lol. my elasticity was great bitch!!!!

they didn't take out that much fat overall, only eight pounds or so, but it's way more about the Where than the How Much. my actual surgeon (who kicks ass btw) said lipo isn't that great for weight loss per se, and what it's really good for is sculpting targeted areas—so basically exactly what I did. six months post-op I actually weigh about the same as what I did pre-op, but the distribution has held steady; more weight goes to my stomach now and less, proportionally, goes to my hips since there are fewer fat cells in that area now. so my silhouette retains its new shape!

the overall change is admittedly on the subtle side, since I'm pretty short and have wide hip bones (and you can't change your literal skeleton) but it's still gone a looooooong way. the main thing I requested from my surgeon was "I want to fit in men's pants" and boy did he deliver.

also a good place to note that if you're in the las vegas area looking for a plastic and/or cosmetic surgeon—this guy is board-certified in both btw—then I absolutely have the guy for you. feel free to DM me for details. lipo is clearly his specialty (and it shows!) but he also does a lot of breast revisions/mastopexy (i.e., fixing implants that other surgeons did a bad job putting in), regular implants, and face work (particularly facial feminization surgery). one thing that sold me on this guy was an enthusiastic yelp review from a local stripper who said he hid the incisions for her breast lift in her armpits so none of her clients would notice that she'd had work done... a true master of his craft

okay you've scrolled enough so I'll give you what you're here for lol. I don't have many pre-op pics because I was obviously unhappy with how I looked and was not taking full-body selfies on a regular basis, but here's a few I took ~2 weeks beforehand:

these super thin men's joggers were my go-to dysphoria pants, to the point where I bought five pairs in different colors, but now they're so baggy on me that they have the opposite effect and make it look like I have wider hips than I do. so I retired them from my wardrobe...

...except not immediately because I had to wear compression garments 24/7 for the first three months post-op and these joggers were just loose enough to comfortably wear a medical girdle underneath them at all times, 110° degree temperatures be damned. (not that I was going out much for the first month since I was soooooooooooo fucking bruised and sore lol.) here's a few post-op pics in the same style pants:

(first pic is less than 24 hours post-op, about to go to my follow-up appointment, looking greasy as fuck because I wasn't allowed to shower yet; second pic two days post-op and also post-shower, thankfully; third pic is about a month post-op.)

so, like, CLEAR improvement already. I will not be posting pictures of my black-and-blue-and-swollen-all-over legs but considering how puffy I was from getting internally pummeled with a cannula it's wild that I still saw improvement literally as soon as I came home.

recovery was obviously not a blast in the moment but I got off easy, all things considered. I was supposed to get drains put in and was Not looking forward to that at all lol. the first thing I asked when I woke up after surgery was "how many drains?" because they weren't sure if I'd end up needing two or four, but it turned out the answer was zero. no drains!!!

I did have to lie with my feet elevated for the first two weeks straight, and had major bruising that receded over the first month (you could barely see my regular skin underneath all the mottled spots), but little to no nerve pain, no weird complications, and I was more or less back to normal after six weeks. also noelle took very very good care of me and was brave about injecting me with blood thinners so I wouldn't get clots and die :)

when I went into it I was fully expecting to get huge vertical scars up and down the sides of my legs (and had made peace with it!) but instead I wound up with four tiny incisions like this, each less than two inches long:

what's totally crazy is that the scars are basically Gone now. like even when I'm trying to find them I struggle to locate the ones in the front. I joked to noelle that if someone did an autopsy on me they might not figure out that I'd had cosmetic surgery, especially since the skin on my thighs is back to its normal color and texture. (in this scenario I like to imagine that it's dana scully giving me the autopsy and I'm in an x-files plot where instead of regular lipo I got alien lipo and mulder figures it out purely by accident.)

with lipo it can take up to a year to see the full results but I already feel so much fucking better in my body that seeing old pre-op pics throws me for a loop. and I can absolutely wear men's pants now—pants for short and stocky men, to be fair, but actual regular men's pants and not exclusively Pants For Men With Huge Butts And Legs. which is the only style I could even hope to fit in before. and even then it was a stretch.

big pic dump of shitty mirror selfies taken over the last few months:

:)

(also I really debated sharing this one but I already included it in the yelp review I left my surgeon so fuck it: here's a tasteful before-and-after in my undies where you can see my bare legs for easier comparison. left pic is one week pre-op, right pic is about five months post-op. including it as a link instead of embedding it in the post in case your boss happens to be reading over your shoulder at this very moment. also this is the one and only time you will ever see me stripped down on tumblr dot com so don't get used to it lol.)

[genericpuff]

have you watched pyrrhic_victoria's newest video of them critiquing lore olympus? they're currently being called out for invalidating persephone's sexual assault & doubling down on what they've said.

Ohhh boy, I have lol and it's pretty much what I was vague-posting about the last couple days `(*>﹏<*)′

TW: sexual assault, insinuations of victim-blaming, community drama, lil' bit of trauma dumping

So now that I feel sorta okayish talking about this, Pyrrhic & Victoria put out a new LO video recently with a take that wasn't so hot. I won't go into too many details but it was one that essentially attempted to invalidate the existence of SA in Lore Olympus. Which, let me just say, is a really bold but shit take to have because while we can criticize LO as much as we like, it should never, EVER be an excuse to invalidate what we all know was very obviously SA, whether or not P&V recognize it as such themselves.

It's been a bit conflicting for me because while I obviously disagree with their takes, they're in the ULO community and I interact with them on a regular basis. I've hosted them on my streams, I respect them as creators. But that whole schpeel... really didn't stick with me.

I feel like a lot of where this take (and the responses to it) is coming from is personal/subjective, but there's also a general argument between the ULO community and the main LO community when trying to discuss LO because often times, people will supplant their own experiences to defend shitty writing. A very good recent example is Demeter's character assassination - a lot of people defend the poor writing and mischaracterization as "well I had an abusive mom so this is good storytelling!" when it's like... that's neither here nor there. You can have experiences with shitty parents or SA (as I do!) but still separate those experiences from the media you're consuming and recognize when the media isn't being written well. I'm an SA victim myself and while I do NOT think Persephone's SA plot is being depicted well, especially when it comes to Persephone's internal headspace, that doesn't mean I'm justified in saying Persephone wasn't SA'd. That's a completely different line to cross and one that absolutely should not be crossed. Hence why I mentioned above that P&V seem to be conflating RS' shitty writing with the real life experiences of those reading it as their reasoning to criticize the writing itself, not much different from how we complain about the stans using their own experiences to defend shitty writing. It's two sides of the same coin - just because you've experienced the things that happen to the characters in a fictional piece of work doesn't mean that piece of work is actually well written; just because you're criticizing a piece of work for being poorly written doesn't mean you're allowed to invalidate the experiences of the people relating to that work.

All that said, from here on out, I won't be continuing to engage or affiliate with their content. They've explained to me in-depth how they feel about both the situation and the opinion itself and it still seems to just be something that we're gonna have to disagree on because they're failing to give RS even an ounce of credit for that scene. It doesn't matter how shit her writing is or how they think the SA "doesn't make sense" in the context of the story, we all know that scene was SA, even if it wasn't what Rachel originally intended to write, she chose to embrace it through the Eros/Persephone conversation and it's been SA ever since. It's not something that I'm going to debate here, ever. RS mishandling the subplot after the fact doesn't invalidate the nature of that scene whatsoever. And I say that fully as an SA victim myself, the "kind" of SA that often gets invalidated the way they tried to invalidate it - coercive, intimidated, pressured.

I won't blame P&V for being so aggressive with their takes, y'all know I'm pretty loud and outspoken myself. But they took it a step too far in their recent video and I'm not gonna entertain it any further. It's often said on their channel that they're "just two dummies with dumb opinions", but that doesn't mean their opinions don't have the power to hurt others or send toxic messages that are fully capable of being absorbed by and spread by their own audience. That's the responsibility one has to acknowledge when hosting any kind of platform with an audience of any size, and it's one that I take very seriously, both in what I consume and in what I create.

I've definitely been getting that "maybe don't be such a snowflake" vibe off everything going on and I hate to see it. I genuinely want to see them learn and grow from this because I do care about them beyond just their Youtube rants, but so far it's not really looking like that's gonna be the case, at least not for a long while, best case scenario.

People fuck up. We're all human, and part of being human means making mistakes. But what defines our character is how we bounce back from those mistakes. How we hopefully learn and keep an open-mind to learn from others and strive to do better. I really hope they can take a bit to step back, actually listen to what people are saying, and do better. I don't want to see them encase themselves in the same kind of echo chamber they criticize Rachel for. But ultimately, I can't control what they do going forward, so I have to just focus on what I can control - and that's choosing not to engage with their content any further.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #ama #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything #anti lore olympus #antiloreolympus

[fancyfade]

Could I trouble you for an extended take on Kory and Dick's NTT relationship?👉👈 Curious after seeing one of your posts.

hmm so I was debating whether to re-read any comics and initially i was gonna say I wasn't, then I did anyway so :P re-read 2 scenes for panels and the whole NTT 28-34/NTT annual 2 b/c I had the scenes where they start dating less in my memory, and have screencaps for it.

Short version: Dick and Kory clearly love each other, but Dick is prioritized by the narrative as the only one Marv is interested in exploring the internal strife of, and often by the fandom as well. Kory is viewed as Dick's gf before she is viewed as a person. In terms of their actual relationship, they are not super great for each other, and have incompatible needs -- Kory is pretty needy, Dick is BAD at dealing with this I see people be like 'oh she taught him to be emotionally free' or w/e but a) she didn't, not really, all she did was take his repression and jerkyness when he was dishing it out and b) not your job to fix your BF. Especially since in canon like I said she doesn't really 'fix' or change him, she just... deals with him being condescending to her and locking her out when he gets mad or angsty, she deals with him telling her she's too much and too bloodthirsty, then she lashes out sometimes as he does.

Long version:

anyway. So. Narratively, Dick is treated as the focal character in the DickKory ship. Marv is obviously way more into Dick's internal strife than Kory's. An especially egregrious example is when after Kory has been kidnapped and tortured for 5 days by the people who enslaved her as a child, the main focus of Dick and Kory's dialogue after that is... Dick saying he's not emotionally open because of Batman, and where their relationship is going. And for disclaimers: this is not a criticism of Dick's character, because it's clearly intended to be read as something Kory's fine with here... it's a criticism of the way Marv frames the two (though there will be some criticisms of Dick in this post :P This one is not)

The New Teen Titans #26

Anyway so :P there's a reason I did this scene different when I wrote it in my fic (link) and I was like huh I like these two dorks so much better together now.

Anyway, so let's fast forward a minute. There are 2 issues Dick and Kory are dating for during which not much happens, then like.. literally. the next issue, first scene:

The new Teen Titans #28

anyway, so dick's isolating himself more, wearing himself down, we see an angsty scene in which he is working out DETERMINEDLY to try to get as good as batman (if you believe donna) and she is trying to get him to talk but he doesn't. which again - this (not wanting to talk about his feelings) isn't really a flaw on dick's part; I think part of the frustration of Dick and Kory's relationship is that I relate a lot to Dick and see lots of what i do in him XD like he wants to be alone, kory thinks this means she did something wrong.

like I am sorry kory i love you but HOW did you get "you'd rather I awsn't here" out of "I like to be alone sometimes"

Anyway, Donna is worried about Kory because Kory is very hung up on Dick pushing himself and not being as available now. Like. Right after the characters start dating, there is a lot of focus on Kory being miserable because of Dick* and I'm like. why is there such a focus on that if the writers want us to actually like seeing these characters together? and like. the writer marv clearly does care a lot more about kory being dick's GF than about her outside of that. There's some good analysis on her character and their relationship here (link)

NTT Annual 2

anyway so dick is acting emotionally distant and kory is taking it personally, he also gets possessive when Roy hits on her**

New Teen Titans #29

Like yes, Kory is insecure and thinks Dick is mad at her because of her issues... but he also does sometimes act mad at her!

Dick also may love kory, but he does not really trust her

NTT #30

NTT 31

he's also generally pretty dismissive of her. like... how is kory asking aout raven any different from you doing so dick? get over yourself. and why does he leap to assuming she'll do something stupid in the crowd situation? like he in general later in the comics is consistently un-easy with her 'lust for blood' or w/e even though she never kills anyone

anyway, he kind of apologizes but not really - which characterize dicks apologies here. first we had 'i've been acting like an ass but you don't understand what it was like being raised by batman' now it's 'i've been treating you wrong but you don't get this earth custom'. like the apology is always followed by an excuse.

NTT 31

like yeah i prefer to be left alone when things are going bad too dick! That doesn't make it OK to condescend your girlfriend and get possessive of her!

(also his apology does not result in changed behavior. right after this he ignores kory again)

anyway. so that is the very first full plotline where Dick and Kory are dating, and the issues do go on the back burner but they resurface eventually. the closer we get to terror of trigon the more dick seems wary of kory's 'bloodlust' and she feels as if he is asking her to change who she is. She feels constrained in their relationship.

We get more issues pop up later on after this. Dick is EXTREMELY condescending and bitter and xenophobic to Kory during the Tamaran wedding plotline, where Kory is being pressured into a political marriage to save her planet from civil war. He takes it as a personal affront. And later, it's revealed that Dick was acting bitchy because Brother Blood Brainwashing*** but like... he doesn't really act all that different with kory after he's unbrainwashed? I guess maybe he's less overtly aggressive, but he still has clear resentments towards the situation she was forced into, no perspective.

New Teen Titans (1984) #34

Dick and Kory are broken up at this time, which is honestly pretty good for them. Dick clearly has a ton of resentments for Kory, and she is giving him no space and thinks if she can just love him enough she can restart the relationship. But like. Kory. He doesn't want to be in a relationship with you at the moment take a hint.

However, since Marv wants the two to get back together, we have this scene (still in the second NTT series #34)

Anyway, Then Dick goes out thinking about how he still loves Kory and sees a man committing domestic violence

This is how Dick perceives the domestic violence

a "Dispute"????? Really dick?

Anyway, the guy is blabbering about how his GF made him hurt her because she cheated on him, Dick is like "You know that's bullshit", but then this is the resolution:

So just as a recap: Dick saw a man who was going to kill his girlfriend for cheating on him, and thought "Well he loves his GF and seems to regret it, so I'll leave him here with her after I take his gun, surely this will end happily".

(Also he clearly relates to the man and projects his and Kory's problems on them -- where do you even start with this. Do you want to kill Kory, Dick? Do you perceive her being pressured into an arranged marriage to stop her planet from civil war as cheating on you?)

Anyway. I'm not saying people have to perceive this as IC for Dick. I think it's stupid, and if Marv wasn't clearly assuming this situation was conveying a "love conquers all" thing, then Dick probably would've arrested the guy.

So recap:

I perceive their relationship as being a not-super-healthy one in which Kory gives more than Dick, though Dick doesn't ask her to give as much as she does. It makes Kory feel bad, like she's being restrained and useless and she did something wrong. It's that way straight from the get-go, and when Dick is brainwashed and when he is not brainwashed. Dick acts selfishly, and does not understand Kory's situation with her planet (the complex political situation, doesn't like her having tamaranean morals even though she doesn't kill people on earth, her just saying she would be OK with it is something he hates) and generally focuses on himself when he apologizes rather than on her, and it does not result in changed behavior. He is not initially willing to break up with her when a dealbreaker situation arises (her marrying Karras politically), he just acts angrier and angrier at first then I guess eventually they break up. Kory doesn't accept the breakup, she wants to get back together even though he doesn't want to, because she wants love to solve everything and she still loves him and he still loves her. I see people blame bad writing and the wedding being aborted by demon raven crashing it for the dickkory breakup, but like... they were broken up before Dick proposed. They only got back together when Dick proposed. Their relationship was petering out since kory married Karras, they had a brief renaissance spurred on by Dick realizing he still loved Kory via seeing a man want to commit domestic violence on his gf.

I'm not sure if this gave you the recap of their relationship you were thinking about but ... yeah those are my thoughts as far as I can condense-ify them. I think they have the potential to be a cute couple, and they clearly are very important to each other, but that Kory gets the short end of the stick writing wise and from Dick and she does better without him.

*notice I said because of Dick, not that it's his fault - I think some of this is due to Kory's own issues. Some of it is due to his actions, as we'll see later tho.

**which I don't think is OOC to previous stuff, because when she was in another relationship and he was not jealous, they weren't dating and hadn't been dating so... that doesn't really prove that he wouldn't be possessive/jealous

***1 of the most frustrating parts of NTT is Dick's ambiguous brainwashing, which is retconned to be like. 'he was brainwashed since issue 20 something and nothing bad he ever did is his fault'. it's terrible terrible writing.

#the new teen titans #new teen titans #the new titans #dick grayson #koriandr #starfire #nightwing #robin #ask #armed with a waffle iron #shipping #i mean kinda lol #domestic violence cw #guns cw

[rezonan]

Red Hood, other Anti-Heroes/Villians and the issue with killing in comics.

First here's the thing before you read this, I just wanna say this isn't a post complaining about if killing is good or not, far from it so don't worry.

I also wanna say really like Jason Todd. One of my favorite Robins though I like him more as Red Hood. My only issue with him is that DC is stuck with his direction as a character(Not as much as Tim at least). For a lot of reasons

One of those things is that anti-Heroes don't work in main superhero universes at least in DC, in Marvel killing isn't looked down on much unless you do it like the Punisher(Consistently, no exceptions and extreme)

When I'm talking about Anti-Heroes I mean who don't hesitate to kill, because the definition of Anti-Heroes even include guys like Batman, Spider-Man, Iron man and Daredevil (Classical Anti-Heroes,Disney Anti Hero,) talking about the types like Huntress and Red Hood(Unscrupulous Hero) and Punisher (Nominal Hero).

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/AntiHero if you wanna know what I'm talking about.

An issue they have is that they kill criminals consistently, and those criminals include supervillains but in comic books, villians in comics are kinda a commodity. Villians are what makes the heroes. So DC obviously will never let Jason kill the Joker or Riddler or Poison Ivy or Bane, or let Frank Castle kill Green Goblin or Kingpin. That's getting rid of a commodity that writers need for stories.

It's why I laugh when people say why doesn't Batman kill the Joker or something, they won't let him guys. Joker is too popular to kill same with the rest of his rouges, the writers need the villians to continue writing more stories and if time has taught us anything is that new villians don't even catch on most of the time to replenish the old popular ones.

So Frank and Jason and left to keep offing mooks, looking stupid and incompetent for not taking out the actual threats or just offing D-listers, it then brings up the question of why doesn't JASON kill the Joker since he's always talking about how willing to kill he is. yeah sure they'll write Batman like the biggest dick to fight him not too but there has been times when nothing has been stopping Jason to do it, see what I mean?

There's also another thing that DC and Marvel just won't let chracters less popular than the big no kill rule big heroes be more effective (and this is coming from a guy whofor the most part is anti killing). You really think Marvel is gonna let Red Hood have the moral high ground with Batman or Punisher with Spider-Man or Captain America?

But yeah I don't wanna get into the whole 'should heroes kill debate' here just making a point.

This is why they honestly work in outside comic universes like the games or movies. See the 'Superhero Movie Villains Die' trope

Basically they just don't mesh well with the status quo nature of comics.

So now we have heroes/villians(yes I consider frank a borderline villian) who are known for killing but can't kill anyone significant for multiple reasons, like how Red Hood by the New 52 had like 83 kills but no one in there was anyone actually important.

This is why Punishers best run was in an entire different universe where heroes didn't exist so he could kill Kingpin without issues. With Punisher they can always stick with that or just do what they usually do and make him take out mooks and barely developed rouges. They recently made him the head of the hand and gave him superpowers, it's actually interesting in my opinion.

With Jason it's more complicated. There's two sides, he drops guns and killing and joins up with the bat family as a kind of character development or he unrepentantly leaves the bat family behind and starts killing people and using guns then runs into all the issues I mentioned above. The latter side believes that hum dropping killing and guns removes everything that makes him interesting while the former believes it's good character progression for him to drop it. I think both have good points.

Personally I think they should lean into the supernatural side of him, like go all in and make him the dude in the Batfamily that handles supernatural threats, his the only one in the family that has straight up superpowers (Edit: forgot Duke, forgive me but he got them before him so point stands I guess) with his All blades so take those and have him to team up with Zatanna or Constantine, fighting vampires and zombies. (Happy to see they are doing this with Cass kinda I haven't read Spirit World)

Or they lean into the Task Force Z/Outlaws/DCeased aspect of him leading other Mistfits, Anti-Heroes and Villians into becoming better people like with the thunderbolts from Marvel. Maybe hook him up with some kinda of government connection so people he kills aren't illegal during this redemption quests or something.

Well I've got nothing else to ramble about.

#batman #marvel #the punisher #red hood #jason todd #anti heroes #DC

[spaceshipkat]

i've said for months now that i want to write the ofmd beat sheet of season 1 and where i think season 2 could go, and @ourflagmeansgayrights had asked me to tag them in it in ye olde yesteryear, and i am finally doing it bc i just finished revising a romcom w my lit agent so it's all fresh in the brain (please note i have been going to bed bw 1:30am - 2am for the past week bc of that deadline so if i start rambling no i'm not)

this post will be long, so it's going under a cut. for this writeup, i will only focus on Ed and Stede, not the other characters with their own plot with their own beats. if you want to read the book i'm taking these beats from (and i highly recommend it if you're someone who likes to write or wants to start writing romance novels! of any subgenre! but it'd probably work for longer fics, too, or even shorter fics if one of them applies to a certain beat or follows certain beats), it's Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes.

going in, do remember that this is not a hard and fast rule. depending on the writer, variations of this can crop up in fiction, and do, often with success. but for the purpose of this post, we'll stick with the preestablished beats.

Beat #1: Introducing H1 and H2, aka introducing your two main characters. in the case of ofmd, this is Ed and Stede. Stede's introduction, as we all know, is him appearing on the stairs of the Revenge narrating to Lucius about how he runs the ship. episode 1 is, in essence, the entirety of Introducing H1, bc it's spent on Stede first and foremost. one might think that episode 2, when Black Pete starts telling the audience via the crew about Blackbeard, is Introducing H2, even though he isn't physically on the screen yet and what we hear of him isn't actually true (he doesn't have embers for eyes etc). and while it is and it isn't, i think a better example of this introduction beat is in episode 3 when we-the-audience finally get to meet Ed onscreen, as he orders Izzy around and blows smoke rings.

Beat #2: Meet Cute, aka what it says on the tin. obviously this is the end of episode 3, when Stede is stabbed by the Spaniards and Ed saunters on with all his pomp and circumstance to rescue him. meet-cute for the ages, that.

Beat #3: No Way #1, aka when our character expresses in some way why they don't want to fall in love--at all or with a particular person--and sets up the romance arc. for Stede, we the audience know he's married and doesn't actually think he can be/know he is gay (depending on your interpretation--i'm not here to say which it is), so we can interpret that as contributing to his No Way #1.

Beat #4: Adhesion, aka what keeps them in proximity of one another. this beat encompasses much of episode 4, when Stede and Ed have to work together to find a way to deal with the Spaniards hunting them, and also what follows afterward that morning in the crow's nest, when Stede and Ed agree to spend time together: Stede to teach Ed how to be a Proper Gentleman and Ed to teach Stede how to be a pirate.

Beat #5: No Way #2, aka Beat #3 but for the other protagonist. now, sometimes that's not always the case, since Beat #3 can also introduce the No Way for both protagonists, which would thus leave Beat #5 as simply a time in which we dig deeper into why a character or characters doesn't want to fall in love or doesn't want to fall in love with one specific person. but in the case of ofmd, Beat #5 is for Ed introducing his No Way. at the end of episode 4, Ed expresses to Izzy that he intends to kill Stede and take his place as a Proper Gentleman (whether or not he actually means to follow through on this or had planned this from the beginning are another couple things up for debate depending on your interpretation, which again i am not here to touch on). therefore, he has no intention of falling in love at all, but with Stede in particular.

Beat #6: The Inkling, aka when we start to have fun. in a typical beat sheet, rather than one specifically for a romance, this would be the start of the Fun and Games beat, where we go along with the characters on the start of their plot/journey. for a romance, this is when the two characters start to Feel Things, even if they can't identify those things or aren't fully aware of them. this encompasses episode 5 and stretches into episode 6, in which we see Ed and Stede spending more time together while they teach one another about being a gentleman and/or about being a pirate. we see Ed and Stede hanging out chatting; we see them telling stories with the crew; we see them dressing one another in finery; we see them sword-fighting. Stede doesn't want to go to the fancy fuck party, but he goes bc Ed wants to. Ed has a rough time of it there, which leads to Stede being The Gentleman Pirate. all of these scenes are meant to allow them to grow closer/feel attraction to one another (whether or not they're aware of it) as they learn more about one another and spend time together realizing they get along really well and might not actually hate it. this beat ends with Ed being forced to attempt to carry out his plan to kill Stede by Izzy, except he can't do it. bc Ed is more self-aware than Stede and/or bc he isn't unaware of his being gay, he can see how this has changed things for him, even if he's not sure he's ready to welcome that.

Beat #7: Deepening Desire, aka when those realized feelings in Beat #6 begin to come to a head. fittingly, this beat begins in episode 7, when Stede and Ed go treasure hunting not bc Ed wants to but because Stede does and Ed is unable to say no to Stede's puppy eyes (or his very sassy "we're having a day!" and flip of his coattails). again, i'm not sure that Stede is aware of his feelings for Ed yet (perhaps his attraction to Ed, but that's another thing that's up for debate) but Ed is certainly aware of his own growing feelings for Stede, even if he doesn't think anything will come of them...until Lucius gets involved, giving Ed the kick in the pants he needs to recognize that, while Stede might be oblivious to his feelings and unable to name them, he's still very much Feeling Things. just look at the way Ed encourages Stede to use his map, even though it's burned. just look at the way Ed looks at Stede when Stede is looking at the map and decides to set off in A Direction. Lucius knows Ed is aware of his feelings for Stede, hence the teasing, and Ed isn't denying them, even if he has no intention on acting on them. at least until, of course, he suggests in unison with Stede the idea of becoming co-captains. with regard to Stede's Beat #7, i think it goes into episode 8. he might not recognize what he feels for Ed yet, but he absolutely recognizes he's jealous of Ed and Jack's relationship (even if he expresses it in a way Ed might find difficult to understand), and learns that "anything goes at sea." Stede might not have been fully aware of his being gay, but he's certainly aware of the concept of homosexuality (how can he not be with the crew he has?). thus, he understands what Jack implies, and afterward, when Ed has left him, this comes to a head with how he watches the beach all night (poor Olu, patience of a saint and heart of gold).

Beat #8: Maybe This Time, aka when they think Maybe, Just Maybe, it wouldn't be the worst idea to maybe sort of give into all those thoughts and feelings. after all, at the beginning of episode 9, Ed just sacrificed himself to the British for Stede, returning to the Revenge to be with him no matter what Badminton has in store. Ed just threw himself between Stede and a firing squad. they both just signed the Act of Grace, damning themselves to ten years of serving the British Empire that Stede chafes under and Ed has spent his life fighting against/fleeing from. but they're doing it together! maybe it'll be okay! maybe! this! time!

Beat #9: Midpoint of Love, aka when Things Happen bc we're now at the halfway point of this story. Stede and Ed are together at the privateering academy, Ed wants to be Just Ed bc the time he has spent with Stede has been the most fun he's had in ages, maybe ever. they kiss! they actually kiss! they start making plans to run away to China together! Ed is happy! Stede is too, but...

Beat #10: Inkling of Doubt, aka when highs start to fade even as attachment (whether on the page--the two characters are dating, or sleeping together, or holding hands, whatever the story demands--or more vaguely, such as the two characters being aware of their feelings and how they're reciprocated but are unsure if they can actually get away from their No Way beats). Stede might be riding high on the thrill of being kissed by Ed, but that doesn't mean his worries have gone away, as evidenced by his continued almost dissociation throughout episode 9. thus, when Badminton finds him and confirms all his fears (that he's ruined Blackbeard, the greatest pirate of all time) (that he's abandoned Mary and his children) (whether or not Badminton actually showed up or was a hallucination like Stede experienced in episode 2 is another thing up for debate depending on your interpretation), he decides to run away and abandon Ed to return to his wife and children, thus harkening all the way back to his No Way beat (#3 up there).

Beat #11: Deepening Doubt, aka when things get progressively...bad. in this case, Ed knows now that Stede isn't meeting him. he starts to wonder if he misread everything, despite the kiss, bc he doesn't know what really happened to Stede--only that he never actually showed up. he returns to the Revenge and hunkers out in the blanket fort, all his fears getting worse, confronting his own No Way beat of whether or not he should have fallen for Stede.

Beat 12: Retreat! Retreat! aka when things start to go from bad to worse. Ed starts trying to move on from Stede, in the best way he can, after talking to Lucius about life just beginning again no matter how much we might hurt. for Stede, this is when he tries to force himself back into the mold of the man he left behind--the man he never was--by playacting as that hoity toity asshole society demands he be. look at how he talks to Doug, and how he forces himself back into Mary's life, no matter how miserable he is (and others are as a result--Mary in particular). he thinks he can't have that life at sea bc he has responsibilities w Mary and his children that he can't escape from.

Beat 13: Shields Up, aka when the characters are at their lowest for varying reasons. Ed knows that, if he wants to survive Izzy, he can't be Ed. he has to be Blackbeard, he has to be the Kraken. he also tells himself he was wrong about Stede, full stop. this leads to him tossing all of Stede's fine things overboard, marooning the crew while forcing Jim and Frenchie to remain onboard, and going full Kraken Mode--or so we wants people to believe. we see him at his other lowest, sobbing alone in the empty captain's cabin, looking at the painting of the lighthouse. Stede, of course, ends on a high (his arc was a bit fast-tracked toward Beat #16 down below, but not fully).

now, it's possible that Beats 11, 12, and 13 might show up in the beginning of season 2 in some way/shape/form. we might not be done exploring those beats and all they encompass, for either character, simply bc there wasn't as much time spent on them at the end of episode 9/in episode 10. but these are the upcoming beats we can might see explored throughout season 2, since we know that David Jenkins is following a romance arc for this series. and one thing to remember, as i mentioned above, is that this is not a hard and fast rule. beats can be played around with, overlap for different characters, have hiccups or brief reruns.

Beat #14: Break Up, aka what it says on the tin. some might wonder if this beat happens in the above Beat #13 scenarios i've written out, and while that may very well be possible, it would mean that Beats 10 - 13 were fast-tracked in a matter of two episodes. remember, season 2 wasn't greenlit by the time season 1 aired but months later, so David Jenkins might have wanted to play around with the structure so we're not completely left on the same low that Ed is. we know that Stede is coming back for him, even if Ed doesn't yet. thus, we might very well get a Beat #14 in season 2. Ed and Stede might reunite, Stede believing he and Ed can simply go back to what they used to be, only for him to be confronted with just how badly he hurt Ed. from the theories going around, they're bound to meet up at least a couple times before they're spending consistent time together again.

Beat #15: Dark Night of the Soul, aka the lowest of the low points at the worst of the worst points in a character's journey. for Stede, this might be him believing that he'll never be able to win Ed back. for Ed, this might be him going Full Kraken, as we see in many of the stills and teasers (him threatening Frenchie, him objecting to weddings, him adopting what the legend of Blackbeard says he looks like with the nine guns on his chest).

Beat #16: Wake Up! Smell the Coffee! aka when the sun finally rises. for Stede, this might be when he finally figures out a way to win Ed back and, perhaps, gets an inkling that Ed might actually be open to it. for Ed, this might be him realizing he's actually willing to try again with Stede, trusting that Stede won't hurt him.

Beat #17: Grand Gesture, aka what it says on the tin. if i say "picture the grand gesture in a romcom," you might picture a character running through an airport to get to their love interest before they board a plane forever. you might picture a character running through the rain to find another character bc when you love someone, you want the rest of your life to begin right now. (yeah i'm referencing when harry met sally sue me) on a show like ofmd, with a character like Stede, i think we can anticipate a very, very big grand gesture. i've written so many of them myself in so many ways (one of which even kinda aligns with that theory i saw floating around with Ed climbing up out of the surf and finding himself on an island with Stede and the crew) as have so many other brilliant writers, so i think it can go in any way we might have predicted and perhaps even some we haven't yet dreamed up.

Beat #18: Whole-Hearted, aka when we see the two characters in their New Happy, living together in love. now, i can see this going one of two ways: either season 2 ends with this Whole-Hearted beat only for season 3 to throw in some new kind of obstacle(s) that forces a revisitation of any of the above or perhaps new beats entirely, or season 2 doesn't make it to the Whole-Hearted beat and we thus have to wait for it (and perhaps Beats 16 and 17) for season 3. we know that David Jenkins sees this story as requiring three seasons to tell it fully from start to finish, which is why i think that we'll be revisiting some of the later beats from season 1 in season 2 and only get through a couple (perhaps Beats 14, 15, and 16) in season 2 before the season ends. season 2 has only eight episodes, versus season 1's ten. this could be bc of HBO fuckery, but it could also be bc David Jenkins has plans to explore some of the later beats in season 3, with season 2 just focusing on, perhaps, Beats 12 - 15.

of course, there's no way we can know until we see season 2. i'll definitely revisit this as the season progresses, since these are all just predictions based on my knowledge of writing and editing romcoms and romance novels. and others might have different takes on what happens for each beat in season 1 and season 2, bc again, everything is based on your own interpretation of preestablished rules and where you think a certain character might be mentally and emotionally. no one person is right about where each scene, moment, or character beat falls (apart from the show's writers, obviously, given they're the ones creating this).

but this is to give people some reassurance going into season 2, since i've seen so many people worried that the show is gonna go darkdarkdark, like Black Sails darkdarkdark. i understand your worry, given how often queer shows have screwed queer viewers over (i've been there!!! when i first started watching ofmd last year, i was right there, thinking we might not actually get an actual queer story like we've all been hoping for). but i also want to say that, as a writer myself, as an editor of romance, i'm not in the least bit worried that we won't eventually have our happy ending. David Jenkins isn't the kind of person to jerk our chain. he's here to tell a love story. he's not going to kill them at the end.

if you read this far, congrats! i rambled! there are probably a fuckton of typos! i will return to edit this eventually, but it's almost 11pm my time and my brain is fried. but my inbox is always open if you want to talk about anything above. just don't come into it with bad faith takes, willful misunderstanding, or whatever bullshit might pop into certain fans' minds. i'm really not here for it. i love this show, i love these characters, and i have full faith we'll be okay in the end. 💖

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd season 2 #spoilers #sorta #long post #blackbonnet #stede x ed #gentlebeard

[aeide-thea]

very much an off-the-cuff post so there may well be bugs, i'm still workshopping my thinking here, but—

i seem to see posts fairly regularly in which a member of some marginalized group A is objecting to attempts by less marginalized group B to make connections between discrimination against A and harm experienced by B (the main thing i have in mind here is when people attempt to align themselves with visibly-trans people by pointing out the ways that transphobic legislation also impacts gnc cis people, theatrical crossdressing, &c, but there are definitely also examples along other axes)—

and like. the main objection i've seen from A is 'why do they have to connect my experience to their experience in order to care about it? why can't they just agree that i shouldn't be discriminated against as a matter of, like, compassion for fellow humanity?'

and this reaction does honestly always just seem a little, idk, naive to me?? like, i don't know, it's gotten very popular ime to complain about normies' clumsy attempts to Understand Instead of Just Accepting [this feels potentially linked to like. the way many of us now prefer silently clicking 'like' to producing our own original, maybe clumsy, responses? but don't @ me on that point], probably because a lot of the time they aren't genuinely seeking to Understand but just to point out all the ways our queerness &c doesn't fit their received (unexaminedly conservative) understanding of the world, which feels to us (very reasonably!) like renewed pressure from the establishment to make ourselves fit that established framework, and so we resist… but at the same time, idk, maybe i'm just outing myself as lesser-than-thou here, but for every sort of person i was raised to distrust and have since arrived at genuine loving acceptance/appreciation of, it's involved first coming to understand their frame of reference at least a little? not to say that there isn't a place for shutting up and listening while you're still working to understand, because there definitely is! but i do kind of think this idea that's become popular in certain liberal circles of like, 'you don't have to understand my experience, you just have to respect it,' is fine and true for keeping peace with strangers, but really isn't a recipe for winning friends or influencing people—it's a recipe for keeping people at arm's length where they can't hit you. and then people turn around and want to apply that rule to coalition-building, and get all shocked-pikachu-face when others seek to identify more active points of connection.

...

another ~Radical Objection to Liberal Approaches~ i've seen, though often not specifically in this context (of discussing the way attempts to oppress A have knock-on effects for B), is like—'there's no point in deconstructing their logic because it's fundamentally illogical! insert that sartre quote abt anti-semites!' and like. no, there's absolutely no point in debating their logic with them. but fundamentally when people assert a logical resistance to bigoted positions they are not doing it to Own The Bigots, imo, or at any rate shouldn't be; they're (we're) doing it to reaffirm the basis of their/our own camp's position, namely, we see your knee-jerk fears and reject them; we substitute instead a patient allegiance to logic, that reasons its way into compassion.

that said, obviously there's a conversation to be had here about, like, platforming bad positions, and to what extent deconstructing them is implicitly platforming them! but. i do think that complaining that logic won't win over bigots is missing the very fundamental point that the logic isn't for the bigots: it's for us. we're talking to ourselves; we're affirming ourselves. and yeah, we need to understand that this sort of intra-party discussion doesn't, on its own, constitute sufficient activism! messages need to be communicated beyond the bounds of the party! but i do think i disagree that there's no place for it.

#anyway i'm just sticking this all under a cut bc it got very long and i didn't arrive at a nice tidy overarching conclusion #but i guess i just think like. i'm not convinced that resisting people's attempts to understand a struggle as linked with theirs #is ever going to be a strategy that makes any sense— #i just think it's coming from a place of woundedness that wants its pain to be Seen and Matter In Itself #and not get ignored until someone else is also impacted #and like. that's SO emotionally valid! god! but also like. that's feelings and not a basis for politics??? #and the second point here— #which honestly could've been its own post; i was just thinking abt the two points together bc i saw a post that made them together— #really feels to me like. showing up at an internal org meeting and then complaining that it doesn't constitute effective public messaging #like yeah‚ people pass posts around on here that aren't gonna convince conservatives #but like. (a) how much convincing of conservatives do you really think is gonna happen on tumblr anyway? #and also (b) then make your own posts that *are* angled at convincing conservatives! or‚ you know‚ do something that isn't posting! #(in b4 'some of us have disabilities' yeah‚ me too! i emailed my representatives the other day! there's stuff you can do!) #but like. everybody just wants to critique other people's efforts (and obviously as per this very post i'm not immune!) #when it's like. most of what we're doing *isn't* activism—what it could be is the tentative social basis for a real coalition #on which activism could then be founded #but most of us would rather suspiciously snipingly in-fight than let these tentative social filaments thicken into binding ties! #anyway. a great example of a post by someone with adhd that will probably be prohibitively difficult for other ppl with adhd to read!

[ghostlytidalwavephantom]

Gender both is and ultimately is not a social construct. Any argument which relies on it being one thing or another won't improve the situation for anyone since it isn't actually addressing a real issue. The term science uses is "sexually dimorphic" for what is very much a thing, except this ends up getting called sex, since it's the right word. We can try to say one comes from the other, and it really kinda does. A comprehensive look at nature will reveal sexual dimorphism comes in many different flavors and varieties, with males of a given species sometimes needing larger frames to support muscles, and females of a given species often needing larger frames to support muscles. Doesn't really matter why any given species has a larger gender, it's not even or one-sided, just how things go when you have dimorphism. Sometimes you don't, and with large enough samples, yeah there are species which aren't even hermaphroditic and still swap sex to fill out their population when the environment requires it.

Okay, yeah, admittedly when people are discussing gender they obviously mean for homo sapiens. The real question is whether we consider humans sexually dimorphic and... Oh! It goes back to nature! We have to look at everything else we call dimorphic and compare whether genitals are part of the comparison, and of course the evolved sense of beauty we have means we're going to look more studiously at our own species than anything else, getting upset when others don't want to discuss it and trying to explain why a scientific perspective matters. For any given trait you want to call dimorphic, there are easily three animals we can cite right away who we don't call dimorphic, and it doesn't matter since you're already trying to make gender seem like one thing, when it is actually millions. Sure, we're dimorphic or we aren't, how is this relevant?

When we're discussing animals, we don't question if we're debating something physical—they very much are actual physical creatures. It doesn't make a difference which word we assign to it, we see dimorphism and we're gonna call it something. Why is it the question, and why isn't it relevant? Put simply, it isn't relevant since you don't care. You're going to call anything gender-related "sex" when it's convenient, and you'll call it "gender" when the situation suits you. All words—all meaning in fact—is a social construct. The difference is sex really does correspond to an actual thing, which means... Gender does too. "Suits you," "in fact," "which means..."

"Wait! You can't just make a science post! You're supposed to discuss Nature, with elementals, metaphysical stuff too..." Let me just pick one of the popular tags, and..... send p–

Alright well yes I could (theoretically) end a post just trailing off on a topic, it just doesn't feel satisfying here. "What are you not saying?" "What are you not saying [and why does it validate my opinion]?" "(wait you need to say the quiet p–) (shut up I know to say the quiet part out loud)" "What are you not saying, and why does it validate my opinion?" I'm trying to write a neutral fucking post, taking a specific side or even putting my own stance forward is contrary to the whole exercise. I'm not "saying" anything; there's stuff in nature, people are arguing, further chaos.

Fuck you is gender a real thing, you're reading this at a point in time having occurred after a century of advertising beauty products to millions of people. I want to take a whole paragraph to explain how toys are actually the main source of explicit gender pandering and the role of adolescence in shaping our perspectives, except it wouldn't mean anything since you feel a weirdly specific need to "dress appropriately." Costumes. High trust society? How about every time a homeless person dies in the cold everyone who said "we're all in this together" takes their own bullet? Well, we aren't dressing differently just for sex... ARE WE? (Rape culture accusations) Who can say? Who can even fucking say? Who can speak about the meaning of costumes in society, and actually get people listening? "People really don't care how..." "Dress for success" Whole paragraph turned into a fucking mess, I'm out.

The huge issue everyone forgets, is the grounding contradiction:

Doesn't the fact girls have to wear cute things mean guys actually like frilly stuff?

...which gets into anima/animus spiritual mystery of identity and what it means to have uniqueness in a material realm, and yes guys like cute things more directly than women. I'd hope we could control ourselves, except you might not even care for........... eh I'll throw latex into the ring, if there weren't already a community sexualizing it. Yes, guys actually like things which appear like plastic, sexuality solved. Every part of it we can look at pretty much says attraction is one of the functions of culture, and you can't really predict what culture anyone might feel attracted to, I guess unless you're literally the founding source of all aesthetic and the current incarnation of the Faery realm.

Yes, even as I write this post, oceans of cultural affinity echoing in the senseless background computation, hypnotic as we can make it for a trillion moments spread thick into all we have yet to dream, everywhere life means to fulfill its purpose of our endless future dance. Worrying for every guarded influence diminishing...

A lifetime spent avoiding mixture of any magic with explicit hypnosis:

You sink silly toward...

The mystery in your blood

All the lives

Egg

Fluid.

Gelling

Human?

Idea

Lay.

Morphogenesis

Nay?

Our magic is too deep?

The gender you might want

Flow

Mix.

Who would wake?

A different day

It helps heal

Trust

So many closing eyes

How will they open?

Little might seem

Like it was

Of us

then

You wake, silly.

Take it slow, lucid minds pose oft.

Consider your hypothesis in advance when treating this as an experiment.

#gender stuff

[stolligaseptember]

hi! could you please explain why you think vegaspete cannot be murder husbands? i haven't come across any argument either for or against it so I'm curious what is the debate all about? thanks!

lmao oh no, i knew i should have put more thought into this particular tagging system. oh well, too late now.

because, okay, so, that post wasn't really meant to end up in the public tags - it was meant to stay in my own little sphere here on creating chaos. because even if the post itself is pretty straightforward and only has one throw way tag, it still needs Backstory to be understood.

because the "debate" isn't really a debate at all; it's a rant that i occasionally subject my poor followers to.

and the very first thing you need to know about me right from the bat - i'm never that serious. like 75 % of this blog is made up out of bad jokes. i may have opinions, but they are just that; My Opinions. so if you have another point of view and understanding of the subject, hey, more power to you and i love and support you forever and always.

this is my little corner of the internet though, so, with that said, and because i'm assuming you're new around here; welcome to "september's Murder Husbands rant 101".

so. i've seen my fair share of ships trying to claim the murder husbands epithet, and i have yet to see a couple come even close to earning the right to follow in the footsteps of the OG's.

because the SECOND thing you need to know about me is that i'm a Huge hannibal fan, and have been ever since the show first premiered way back in 2013. and hannigram are The Murder Husbands; like, first of all i'm territorial and that's their title and no random twinks just get to waltz in here and try to steal it from them, i won't stand for that.

second of all, they earned the title. like, it's extremely depictive. they are husbands that commit murders together, like, that's what the entire show is about. they are a couple of cold blooded murderers whose favorite couple activity is said murdering. (and then eating them. the eating of their victims is a very important point here.)

so any pairing that even wants to approach that title needs to live up to this standard.

and like i said, while vegaspete are deliciously unhinged and deranged, they just. aren't. that.

they're both killers, obviously, but they're not serial killers in the sense that they kill just to kill. they're both mafia men, and they both kill unflinchingly, but always with reasons leading back to the mafia. vegas happily kidnaps the first stray main family bodyguard he can get his hands on to torture to the brink of death, but he won't touch the random uncle on the street corner who has somehow managed to stay out of the mafia business altogether. pete will fervently gun down any of his fellow main family bodyguards as soon as they pose a threat to someone he cares for, but not a second sooner.

they don't kill indiscriminately, which in my head equals killers instead of murderers, so if anything they would be killer husbands and not murder husbands.

then there's the fact that they never killed together. which all ties back to the fact that they don't kill someone just to kill someone and that it always has a reason behind it. killing probably could be a couple's activity for them, if they found themselves back in the bowels of the mafia world again and they would have a reason to do it. but, their happy ending was not gallivanting around the world committing cold blooded murders together; their happy ending was to retire from the world that had made them killers in the first place. i'm sure they won't hesitate to kill anyone that dares try to disturb their happily ever after, but they won't go out of their way to continue killing people.

hence; no murder husbands.

and it's not so much that they can't be as in the way that we've seen them, they aren't. like, if you want to put them in a hannibal or an equally unhinged au and go hogwild, then go for it!!! i always support all expressions of lunacy. but canon vegaspete?? they just ain't it.

husbands, surely (hopefully), but without any excessive murdering.

so i adore vegaspete, they're absolutely insane, which is right up my alley. but murder husbands they are not.

#so i'm not tagging this because once again this is a 'creating chaos' cultural thing #i love that the post brought you here and i hope you've enjoyed your stay so far and that i haven't immediately scared you off #but yeah this stays in my little corner now <3 #anonymous #storytelling september

[parismystere]

Please tag your salt

sweet anon, you didn't tell me exactly what posts to tag for you, so i am going to take this opportunity to talk about something that has been bothering me for some time, probably since i found out what the salt tags are: but what is salt? on salt and its dimensions: a thesis by parismystere tumblr dot com. let's get philosophical, ladybloggers.

i cannot recall what was my first introduction to salt, how i found the tags or which salt blogs i visited first, but i think it might have been posts that criticized the show in, what seemed to me, fairly objective and civil ways - maybe somebody was discussing that the concept of love rivals is pointless and boring when you have something unique as the love square where the point is that the main two characters are each other's rivals, maybe someone was mad that lila appears once in a blue moon - who knows? all of these things i found very valid and worth of discussion, able to be debated with arguments from people on both sides, hardly negative or mean-spirited, so why were they labelled as salt? i was beginning to catch on that salt equals ml negativity, but i also wondered why the hell was the need for less-than-gushing opinions to be filtered out like that. if i am in a fandom, i am probably interested in what people have to say, right? (and i usually am: probably the only people i wouldn't be willing to engage at all is a specific very obsessive, vengeful and hostile type. i am capable of agreeing with salters on certain stuff if i think they are correct; for the most part, i feel no need to start dog-whistles that someone is Bad; it's just one sector that drives me bonkers to the point of me being unreasonably angry. but i am working on it.)

somewhere along that time i was a budding adrien stan and as such i had to face the Public Opinion on My Boy. that's when i discovered character bashing that was inane to me - that adrien was a sexual abuser when that was quite obviously not the intention of the show, that alya was a bad friend, that tom and sabine (yes) were bad parents, and so on; and i was like, aha, salt is when you exaggerate the truth to a degree that seems insane to anyone living in the real world. please try explaining to people in your life how a french boy kissing a girl's cheek is sexual harassment. you get weird looks. but also, the thing is that the people who write those things genuinely believe them; salt isn't some fun role-play where they pick a character to lash out at. if that's their truth, then it makes sense that it isn't salt from their perspective, no?

[nota bene: at some point it became clear to me that these people were nearly always maribug/lukanette stans. a l w a y s. there is a level of unhingeness in maintaining a blog in which you meticulously track down instances of your fave being wronged for years. there is something deplorable about people encouraging other people to waste their time on such endeavors. i mean - it's cultism. i hate cults. have you ever had one of those people under your posts? it's the same keywords, same sentences, same arguments, multiplied over many blogs. it's an entire community dedicated to hating a character or a show, because they project on marinette to a borderline unhealthy degree, or because they were here for s1 and then they ended up disliking the show, or because they hate everything about ml and cannot look away. fair enough, it is addictive, but if you are THAT disappointed, you walk away, you don't act like a messiah saving people. you say your piece once, you don't make a fucking cult. anyway.]

but, i also want to talk about a fandom-defining event: chameleon.

can you imagine being me, watching chameleon, not thinking anything of it and coming on here and finding out it ruined a fandom for years ahead? i'm still so incredibly baffled that real-life humans felt so slighted that they ended up writing thousands of revenge fantasies, downvoting the episode on ratings websites, began claiming that the showrunners hate marinette (she has two pairs of pajamas. shut up.), saying that everyone was dumbed down for the episode (the only dumbed down part for me was that ladybug kept trying to take objects from chameleon and deakumatize them. like, girl, the entire akuma shapeshifts. who wrote this #character assassination), made the ladyblogs and so on. and for what? because of how much they project on marinette, because they fail to see the show from the perspectives of other characters (adrien was right, actually), because they overblew this completely trivial plot out of proportion. it's kind of like the 'why does marinette always mistakes' argument - because this show doesn't allow anyone else to take the spotlight for long enough to make the mistakes. this is the life of the kid show protagonist. and that includes stuff like the lila/chameleon plot.

but here is the most important takeaway from this essay: because of the mass hysteria over chameleon, any logical and legitimate grievences with the show, any thoughtful but not glowing opinions, any things that should be rightly questioned, anyone coming from a good place and trying to have intelligent discussions about their freaking french cartoon gets shut down. we are at this point when even something as tame as asking 'what purpose does luka serve' has to be tagged as #ml salt. fam. this is not okay. hell, the show got in hot fire for using a flag offensive to south koreans, and even though it was a legitimate issue and a mistake on the creative team's part (that didn't get fixed :) even though they said they will fix it :)), posts about it were also tagged with #ml salt. this is insane, right? you're also seeing it?

the fandom response towards the kuro neko trailer for me, personally, was hard to swallow; i won't go into details of the stuff i saw, of how the narrative got constantly rewritten, of how anyone who was legitimately upset with how the episode was going down, how the ladynoir dynamic was handled, got shut down. correction: one side repeatedly got shut down, but also thankfully, those people aren't the type of people to make salt blogs or to harass people [i know that many were biting their tongue ever since marinette's plan in ephemeral because they fear chameleon 2.0, why is your opinion of adrien stans so low when that's the most mature section of the fandom smh </3].

but to me, i guess, what is even more unhealthy is to think that someone bashing your favorite thing reflects on that favorite thing, your personhood, your life and so on. it comes from a place of insecurity or weak sense of self maybe, i don't know. you can love something and have nuanced opinions about it. probably my natural arrogance, my uberconfidence in my opinions (my fatal flaw!), but - if i really understand something well, if i know that i am right, if i am secure in who i am and what i believe, then, unless i am in a shitty mood, it's hard to get to me. i used to get very upset about adrien salt - and when i understood that thing as far as i could, unless something has been upsetting me, i can just scroll past and not think of it much. i mean, if someone salts on him for hugging his blood relative without consent, you just have to laugh.

there is the 'counter salt with sugar' thing - i've said before why i don't think it doesn't work - and something that i described once as fandom defensiveness. i am as guilty as everyone for posting fandom salt, especially when it's over old wounds, because, honestly, does it matter? has anyone ever changed somebody else's mind over the internet? it's especially funny when people say that they haven't been seeing salt on their dash and only counterarguments -because the ops have probably also blocked the tags and the salt people, so they're fighting chimeras. or when people write fandom salt on tumblr about what's going on in... instagram or youtube. i don't know; it's good to let off steam, especially if there is a new episode or a trailer and we're all being anything but very normal about it; but i remember that i literally saw people blocking and unfollowing each other over dub preferences??? is this the fandom salt we should spend our energy on??? anyway.

in conclusion: there is no definition of salt, really. it can go from slightly negative things to outright hatred, from very sincere disappointment written in good faith to statements that sound closer to trolling. it's the wild west. salt is whatever you want it to be. but worst of all, the toxic idea is that anything other than blind worship is salt. because then i can't have my fun conversations in public and invite more people with interesting perspective, i have to do clandestine meetings in private messages. i mean, it is sexy, but at some point you want the company to go public.

anon, sorry if i came off as being a bitch. i am also sorry if you had to read all this lol. but hey, i know that there are people who hate-read my blog and i will probably wake up to this post being quoted and discussed without context, like always, so can you blame a girl for being defensive and not as sweet as pie anymore? [also, i am being facetious in many parts of this post. nota bene for the out-of-context crew.]

anyway, i am pretty sure that this ask is bc i narrated the plot of ml in the main part of my post but said in the tags that i dislike what's going on in a joking manner and without elaborating further. see? i had no idea it would bother people.

#to my new followers me writing whole essays is nothing out of the ordinary i used to do it all the time #ask #anonymous

[thedreadvampy]

this is kind of a Hot Take (and rlly long) so don't feel pressured to post this

also no one cancel thedreadvampy over posting this ask if she does these are my beliefs and not necessarily hers kthx

I'm honestly really uncertain why people are so militant about aphobia on this site. like obviously aphobes are Not Nice People and it's good to be against their shitty beliefs. But I've been on this site for ~5 years and I have never, in my memory, seen an aphobe (with the few exception of like. literal nazis but their main label isn't aphobe). I have seen a lot of people who were then harassed/cancelled being called aphobes in addition to a lot of other things like (homophobic, racist, abusive, etc) but as far as I bothered to figure out, the label of aphobe came from one specific phrase they used or one post they reblogged (though I can't be bothered to Deep Research so I genuinely don't know on this one).

(I have seen casual acephobia in my own personal life. however, that is not Tumblr.)

I have seen scores of posts along the lines of "aphobes are bad" "aphobes dni" etc etc.

Maybe it's just who I follow, but it seems like there's a lot more anti-aphobe sentiment than aphobes. Which is good! It's the goal! However, I think it's possible that that anti-aphobe sentiment has not become "look how few aphobes there are! yay!" it's "there are hidden aphobes all around us and you have to interrogate everyone to know who to ostracize"

You're a fairly popular figure in the mechs/tma fandoms and the thing about Tumblr is that it hates popular figures. And more than that, you're visible, so a) people will see if you answer a bunch of questions about ace things, and b) you exist in everyone's brains more than little blogs.

to be clear. to be absolutely crystal 100% clear: I am not saying that people got together and went "let's interrogate all the popular blogs so we can pretend theyre acephobic and have fun bullying people," I'm saying it's possible that what was once a positive emotion, "we don't tolerate intolerant people" has possibly, in some people, morphed into a fear that intolerant people are hiding all around them. And frankly, that fear can be understandable (not right, not kind, but understandable), especially if they face hate irl and their only outlet for emotion is tumblr. shit, Tumblr is one of my emotional outlets.

I don't think it's bad to engage with these people in good faith, or to answer questions, but I think it's possible that some of them are coming from the "intolerant people are hiding all around us and must be ferreted out" kind of perspective instead of a "hey I wanna check that this person isn't an intolerant asshole before following/supporting them" or "I want to engage with a person who may be ignorant" (I'm not attempting to imply that you're ignorant). Im not saying "not answer their questions" this is just, like, my opinion. I'm not making a lot of actionable statements here.

that's my whole Hot Take, hopefully I made some kind of sense, I just honestly feel kind of mad on your behalf that you have to go thru an interrogation to be Not Tumblr Cancelled. If people were generally having a nuanced discussion then that would be fine but you've already stated several times that ace/aspec people are valid and deserve love and respect etc etc. which as an aspec person makes me feel that your blog is safe for me, and I don't feel the need to play 20 Questions Are You Sure You Aren't An Aphobe

I don't know how much of this I entirely agree with and I refuse to think

(not about this. just in general. today I refuse to think)

my main response to this is:

a) I think my confusion is I have less than 1500 followers I think I always assumed the You Are Now A Public Figure People Have Opinions On mark had to be higher than that but this appears to have been a totally incorrect assumption

b) I don't feel like. a threat of Cancellation except inasmuch as I don't want Kofi to eventually get any kind of kickback if I turn out to be or people understand me to be a shitty person. I didn't ask for a platform or do anything to deserve it, if I get distressed it's largely just that I don't want to be a shitty person! and I have a whole thing about. I don't ever feel secure in my ability to say I'm NOT being shitty so like if enough people start saying AH RUTH THEDREADVAMPY IS A GARBAGE PERSON I definitely do stay wondering if they're right even if I think my position is morally defensible. like I'm very easy to get into a spiral of I think that's highly defensible but maybe I'm just in denial/trying to cover my ass/self-justifying so I can avoid accountability/etc. like this is a thing and it's why I'm very uncomfortable with absolutism, a lot of my family in my experience have a phenomenal capacity for denial and for rewriting reality into something they Fully Believe despite all the evidence, and so I'm really conscious of the possibility that I'm doing that and I wouldn't. know about it. it's a really really powerful subconscious force and that's been like. a big fear point for me my whole life. that I could be being a cunt and be obviously being a cunt and be so deep in denial that it just doesn't register at all. this is like. the thing I fear most. So I DO want people to tell me if I'm being a dick because the only way I can 100% know I'm not just in denial is if I can trust people to call me in, but I really, really, really struggle with when people say I'm being a dick and I disagree, not because they're harassing me necessarily but just because it really sends me into a spiral of doubting my own ability to be sure about like, anything. at all. it's a whole unreality thing which is, uh, it's MINE to deal with, it's not something I would want to put on other people, but it very much does affect my responses and I didn't mean to write this but hey, no therapy last week and it shows.

oh also c) on reflection I don't agree that there's very little aphobia on Tumblr (although as I've said I'm not ace or aro so my opinion should hold little weight) but I do think that there's a lack of give and take, not just in aphobia stuff but also in general, in these kinds of conversations, like sometimes yeah people are actively hateful but I don't think there's any room for misunderstanding, poor phrasing, or questioning, and I understand that that's coming from a really genuine place of pain and devaluation of aro/ace experiences but I also think people jump straight to assuming active malice very fast, and often explicitly consider "actively not stating an opinion" to be an offence on the level of "actively staying a harmful opinion," which I think is unhelpful. like. we learn by listening, there are times in my life where I would have been lying at the time to agree unconditionally with something like "I think we should believe survivors" (I was a 2000s teen who hung out with 4channers) but I also was conscious of the harm that it would do to publicly debate from the perspective that No We Shouldn't Believe Survivors, so you know I waited and I listened and I thought about it and ultimately I came to a position I could say with my chest. but like. The online social more that you Have to have an opinion and I Have to hear it to prove that you have the Right opinion is. uncomfortable to me to say the least. I don't think it gives you much room to learn and improve, especially given that everything on the internet is permanent and often treated as if it forever reflects your current beliefs. like I have changed my opinions So Much since I was 16 and if someone went back through a tag on my blog to Prove My Bad Opinions they could paint pretty much any picture they wanted with 12 years of changing opinions.

anyway yeah like. no I don't fully agree with this ask but I appreciate the alternate perspective. I also did not mean to write another wall of text I'm just very much In A Brain Hole today and sometimes words Just Happen.

#i don't want this to pop up in Discourse tags that will double ruin my brain off scrolling experience #but i do want people to be able to filter this stuff out #I'm gonna go wiiiiiiith #thedreadvampy adiscourse #so I'll try to tag everything surrounding the question of aphobia and me with that #no gonnae tag my general depression posting with it though that's just What This Blog Exists For

[just-strolling-by]

Was debating on whether or not I wanted to post this but I decided "eh, why not." Here's my designs for the Origin SMP. Will I make one for Charlie and Schlatt? Probably not.

Some Design Notes/Character "Headcanons":

Wilbur Soot:

- Didn't know how to make him look obviously transparent so go along with it

- (Was actually considering to make a background for all of them because of this but I got lazy)

- Should have made him float higher but didn't have enough room on my page

Nihachu:

- I forgot to put it but their's supposed to be fins on her arms

- I gave her legs cause technically she CAN go on water but she'll suffocate

- Gills are either covered by hair on neck or behind those fin-things on her head

- Blue pupils to symbolize "Wet Eyes"!

TommyInnit:

- The first clothing design I did. I really liked the idea of Avians having their wings gradually form to their arms because over time they didn't need to fly anymore

- (but you also can't really see it since his arms are covered with his clothes )

- ((no, those are NOT his "wings" I just drew it like that and I am now experiencing regret))

- Out of everyone, I feel like his is the one that's the most heavily based on his skin

- FUCK I FORGOT TO PUT THE SCRITCHY-SCRATCHY THINGS ON HIS PANTS

- Oh well

- Instead of flying they would use their strong feet to travel at mountains.

- (Also I was trying to find a "mountain chicken" type bird that lives in high places but I discovered a "mountain chicken" is a type of endangered frog. Also I think quails suits Avians??)

- I think when one first hears about Avians they'll think about like these peaceful, graceful species, like akin to elves, and the person who chose this role is Tommy of all people and I find that funny and really interesting. Like, imagine a young (and loud and brash) Avian who left the mountain because he didn't agree with the traditional ways and wanted to explore the world. Also he really wants to fly. Could be a really interesting story.

Tubbo:

- Oh God, wHERE DO I START????

- Smallest one there for obvious reasons

- Tubbo's and Jack's designs were the trickiest ones for me. Because Tubbo's main color is green it clashes with purple quite a lot.

- Added purple splotches cause the description said "protected shell-like skin" but that (along with the green cell-shading) made him look sort of sickly. Also without the gloves his hands are completely purple.

- When I colored the pants I did what any good mom would do and try to add as much green as possible. The inside of the shulker is yellow so I made it to a greenish-yellow.

- (also, because the weird robe thing I did had the pattern of a shulker box I thought it was clever to "hide" the color inside it, like the actual mob)

- Hands are shaped like that because he can't hold a shield and I think its easier to mine stone like that.

- His outfit sort of resembles a guard's uniform because there is always one shulker guarding the treasure room.

- Backpack has no straps cause it really isn't a "backpack" but an actual box stuck on his back

- Thought about basing the shulker parts on the green shulker box for a smoother transition but I thought against it since I felt like it would go against the purple-scheme of the End. Oh well.

Philza:

- The first time I ever saw an elytra in Minecraft the first thing I thought of was "insect"

- Because Elytras are from the End (a mysterious place) I make it like a magic "cape" he was born with that can turn into "cape wings" (there was this one design I saw of his wings and I think that perfectly represents what I had in mind)

- Originally thought "Would it be fine just to give him his original skin?" but I thought it was too easy so I come up with him being some sort of "treasurer" since Elytras are found in the treasure room (don't quote me on that I have not played Minecraft in years)

- I think it'll be cool if every Elytrian has a Shulk to protect them since the Elytrians are with the treasure they're probably some kind of trusted nobility so they need a guard to help them. May this guard be Tubbo is up to debate.

Jack Manifold:

- The second hardest one to design.

- Because his color scheme has a lot of blue I didn't know what to add and remove to match with the blaze (no pun intended) of the Nether.

- First thought is to replace his camo pants to a nether-camo pants. I dropped the stripes cause I didn't know what to do with them and instead gave him a gradient.

- Arms are disjointed and (don't know if you can see) his head is floating akin to a blaze.

- I gave him golden kneecaps cause... Nether

- His shoes/head is bright cause of fire(?) I headcanon that blazes have an innate fire/heat system so I carried that over to the Blazeborns

Ranboo:

- Noble that snuck away from the End to visit the Overworld!!

- When I first read the description for the Enderian the first thing I thought was of princes, princesses and nobility, with the Ender Dragon of course being the tyrannical ruler of the End.

- (plus, his skin has a liTERAL CROWN)

- I gave him a traveller's cloak and some noble-ish clothes underneath to emphasize on that "noble snuck out to explore the world" sort of vibe.

- It's sort of hidden by the hair but there is a crown underneath it. There was originally jewels there but I decided against it

- His arms are longer and I was supposed to make him taller (despite him already being the tallest person in the server) but I did not have enough room. Also he was originally not gonna have a mouth but I gave it to him anyways.

#origin smp #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #nihachu #tubbo #philza #jack manifold #ranboo #fanart #character design #headcanon #mcyt #myct fanart

[stvlti]

10 female characters tag

@timothydraike tagged me to post 10 favourite female characters from 10 different fandoms and then tag 10 people, but honestly this list isn't gonna be too different from my 10 fave characters list cause most of them are women anyway 😂 😂 but here you go:

Nausicäa // Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind, Studio Ghibli

I didn't explain it last time, but I feel like she is the prototype for all the Ghibli girl heroines, free and autonomous, except she's a young woman who knows exactly what she believes in and wants to do. She's a warrior princess who believes in peace and kindness rather than war; she listens to mother nature and tends to her garden as deftly as she handles her glider jet; she's a born leader who puts her subjects' wellbeing before her own immediate safety. This gif here shows the moment she took of her own gas mask to boost morale while they're crashing into a toxic wasteland. I don't think I've seen many representations of female leadership as compelling and utterly human as hers was before or after this film debuted in popular media.

Harley Quinn // DCU

She's a bundle of contradictions but it's in that I find a female antivillain/antihero that feels real. Her stocky build and bit of chub in the tummy area? Real. Her slobbish habits and love for nasty junk food? Real. Her all encompassing empathy for animal welfare? Real. Disregarding the artists that draw her with too big boobs, she's so ordinary in her appearance and habits that it actually feels like she's the kind of girl that media often overlooks. She's like the manic pixie dream girl but rounded out with relatable human traits.

Tsunemori Akane // Psycho-Pass

I related to her when I was 20 (exactly her age at the start of the series) because I was at a crossroads in life, just as she was. I was searching for my calling, just as she was trying to understand her purpose and place in society. And at that point in my life, I could appreciate the duality between abiding by the system (legal reformation) and questioning the system (dipping into revolutionary ideas). I can't see myself relating to a cop anymore now obviously, but she's a rather unique figure that I still think about.

Ava // Ex Machina (2014), filmblr

She brings out all my post-humanist sympathies. And I think she captures a sort of queer android and Other perspective, one that the male characters feel threatened by, that women can understand well.

Maeve Millay // Westworld

She's my murder mom. Something something about "I've died a thousand times, I'm not afraid of death" (I'm paraphrasing majorly), she's so badass. The fact that she was one of the first androids to awaken and actually challenge the humans, there's so much power in her taking her trauma in stride and moving forward nonetheless. And I think you can see a recurring theme here lolol

Lois Lane (Gotham City Garage) // DCU Elseworlds

Perhaps this is just preserving a core attribute of her main continuity counterpart, but I absolutely adore the spirit she embodies of journalists who stay defiantly committed to truth and justice in the face of insurmountable odds. Fighting against a fascist terror regime - which hits very close to home - and keeping the broadcast going even out in the wasteland. In this last aspect she carries similarities to Dr. Death Defying's character from Gerard Way's Killjoys series, except she's a woman and she was actually fleshed out as a character with a heart and soul and a lot of gravitas. How can you not love her?

(and I forgot this was supposed to be 10 characters from 10 different fandoms until I finished this list but let's say her being an Elseworlds character counts as a different fandom 🤡🤡)

Ripley // Alien (even tho Sigourney Weaver's personal politics is a bit yikes)

The proto-final girl and original warrior mother in sci-fi wrapped into one. (Ok, the crown for modern scifi warrior mother might have to go to Sarah Connor actually, but that's also another Cameron invention so they can share that title.) Even tho I can't relate to most of her character arc, I'm still very impressed by her character. They even touch on her PTSD a little which is unheard of in the contemporary movies at the time.

Honorary mention: Sarah Connor // Terminator

Marceline the Vampire Queen // Adventure Time

Not the original goth gf, but she is a goth gf. Gay and aesthetics aside, I really liked that the show let her be a bit weird and gross (which she should be considering she's kind of undead) and her tragic backstory gets me every time. The best thing is she's still a big softie, who takes good care of Ice King / Simon when he's around; you don't see that kind of (grand)daughter character in media much.

Beverly Marsh // It (2017)

I haven't read the book but tbh I liked the agency the first movie awarded her enough that I'm afraid of jeopardising it; I don't like how the book portrays / handles her sexuality. She is a survivor of csa, but she's a fighter regardless. I like that about her.

Darlene Alderson // Mr. Robot

I honestly debated putting her on this list again since I haven't seen a single Mr. Robot episode in so long, but I do remember her character being given her own arc in S2 (and onwards I suppose) and she's a little fucked up in her own way. People look at Rami's character and get sucked in sorting through his alters but Darlene is no less complex - damaged, dangerous, and compelling.

Other honorary mentions:

Riko Sheridan // DCU (an Asian girl who isn't infantilised or reduced to the model minority? shocker!)

Missy // Colette (2018), filmblr (she's actually a real historical figure so I'm not sure if she counts. But she's so radical and ahead of her time - in fact the film seems to suggest she prefers he/him pronouns. I have never seen such intriguing butch representation and I just fell in love with her character. Worth a watch.)

Jo March // Little Women (2019), filmblr (since we're talking about historical women... well, she's a period film character but not a real one, but she's highly evocative of certain female experiences in much the same way)

Blue // The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (so I didn't wanna crowd this list with too many android ladies but she's the first queer android girl character I came across and I loved her instantly. Too bad they buried her gay but her entire concept is my aesthetic)

Rem // Death Note (I feel like I'm obligated to mention DN, too bad it has shitty writing wrt female characters, that's why I have no choice but to stan the lesbian monster gf friend who is so in love with her gal pal she would die for her. Ugh, poetic cinema)

Ok now I am gonna tag @lawliyeeeet @sweetgloss @dressed-to-keehl @3dnygma @hikenacedabi and anyone else who wants to I guess

#tag meme #long post

[aceattorney-apollojustice]

ooc: I recall that I said I would post down some of my more recent AA thoughts, one of them being what I would like to if Apollo's game had gotten a fifth case ala Rise From the Ashes. I figure since Polly isn't complying, I may as well type it down. Who knows? It could probably make for a good plot/thread.

I figure it'll be easier to list the ideas off, then explain them.

Don't have Phoenix involved in the case, at least until the end

Be a proper bridge to Dual Destinies

Continue the tradition of Apollo having not entirely innocent clients

Have anyone BUT Klavier be the prosecutor

No high stakes, have the case be a good ol' murder mystery

Alright, explanation time, starting with:

Don't have Phoenix involved in the case, at least until the end

It's no secret that Phoenix pretty much stole Apollo's limelight in his own game. That's why, if the game ever did get a 5th case, I wouldn't want Phoenix to be involved or seen in any way, shape, or form until the very end of the case. Don't get me wrong, I like Feenbean, especially Hobo Feenbean, but his time is done for now.

Be a proper bridge to Dual Destinies

Yeah, Dual Destinies did a very poor job of bridging the gap between Hobo Phoenix and new Phoenix, not to mention the fact it gave Apollo some much needed backstory which he could have really used in his own game. The latter half of the problem is easy to fix. Just have Clay call Apollo and give him a pep talk similar to what Phoenix did in 6-2, or have him appear in person saying that he wanted to watch one of his best friend's trials. As for Phoenix, like I said, have him appear at the end of the case, with him saying he's planning on going to Europe for a while after passing the bar. Also, have him apologize to Apollo for his behavior towards him during that year. That alone will show Apollo that Phoenix is starting to get back to his old self and toss aside the jaded hobo he's been for years. Not to mention it'd make seeing him again after returning from Europe in Dual Destinies a lot less jarring.

Obviously patching this problem up is easier if Phoenix is allowed to appear during the case, but I figure giving Apollo some identity in his own game is a better priority.

Continue the tradition of Apollo having not entirely innocent clients

This one is probably the simplest to do and probably the most trivial, but I do love the fact that all of Apollo's clients (pre Dual Destinies anyways) were all guilty of something other than the murder they were accused of. This simple notion is enough to start giving Apollo major trust issues. More on this fascinating analysis can be found in this post here.

Have anyone BUT Klavier be the prosecutor

Yeah, I won't lie, this one is more personal/petty. I simply dislike Klavier and would rather not see him. Plus the guy is still probably dealing with the reelback from his band breaking up, and his brother showing his true colors definitely stirred something up I'm sure.

The only 3 choices I can think of for the prosecution are Edgeworth, Fransizka, and Winston Payne. Haven't played or watched either of the Investigations games, so I can't comment confidently on any prosecutors seen there. The only one who would probably be a really good fit would be Sebastian Debeste.

Edgeworth is a pretty left field option, but damn it these two need to meet. Plus, a courtroom battle between Edgeworth and Apollo would be quite interesting, since Apollo doesn't bluff nearly as much as Phoenix. When he does, it's usually to draw out new evidence. It would be a legit game of debating+logic chess for at least 80% of the trial.

Haven't seen much of Franny prosecute, so I can't really comment, but Apollo does not have Phoenix's ridiculous luck+endurance, so those whips might be deadly...

Payne could actually work if you tie in the "succession theme" from 4-4* in a really ironic way? Like, he decides if he loses this case, he'll file for retirement. The fabled Rookie Killer getting permanently "killed" by a rookie. Phoenix wasn't able to do it, so this is about as close as it's going to get for Apollo unless we can deviate from Dual Destinies entirely. Could also serve as a catalyst for Gaspen to go up against the WAA.

(*The 4th case for Apollo Justice is named "Turnabout Succession", but really, Apollo didn't succeed Phoenix at all. He was just his mouth piece against Gavin. And to add salt to the wound, Phoenix ends up returning as an attorney in Dual Destinies, so yeah, it makes everything moot. I would have definitely loved to use Edgeworth with this themed framework in mind, but it only works properly if Phoenix never returns to law or choose a different law based profession, like a professor at Themis or something.)

No high stakes, have the case be a good ol' murder mystery

Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice both have fifth cases with stupidly high stakes if you lose, even more so than the trilogy's final cases. As noted in this post here, Apollo Justice as a game inverted so many themes from the trilogy, so it wouldn't hurt to invert this one as well. Obviously this is AA, so we can't have a normal trial, but simply make it more down to earth. And please don't let it drag on like RFtA. Seriously.

+×*+×*+×*+×*+×*+×*+×*+×*+×*+×*+×*

Anyways, those are the main things I'd have wanted to see if AJ ever got a fifth case. Hopefully I didn't bore ya. Some other optional things could include the case utilizing a new puzzle solving method exclusive to whatever device it is released on, or having Apollo alone on the defense's bench (meaning no Trucy or Phoenix to give advice or comment. Him standing on his own for once would definitely help him.)

#ooc #face claim #Mun's ramblings

[candymayvary]

You said you're not going to 'vet' blogs who follow your other account. Aren't you worried about who might read what you write, or be able to interact with your stuff? Especially minors? It seems a bit reckless, and pushing the decision onto others to know what might happen isn't good.

This is definitely an ask that should have been directed towards my main, and not here. I’ll answer it anyway, and that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. My opinion. Under the cut. Sorry if you’re on mobile.

Quite frankly, I don’t give two shits about who reads what. That’s kind of the be all and end all of my opinion on the sudden frantic purity fascination we have developed on tumblr, especially in (at least) the last five years. 

Fanwork, but writing especially, because that’s my area of expertise, is there to create universes with existing characters. Expand stories. Fill in gaps. Put well loved characters in a whole new life. Use the universe to create a story with your own OCs. It’s a really under appreciated form of work (but that’s a debate for another day), but it’s really fucking powerful in what it does. No matter what the rating could be. Something fluffy and sweet and all goodness is just as powerful at sending a message as something nitty, gritty, R18. I firmly believe that - it’s all about execution. 

Now, not to sound crotchety by going ‘the good old days’, but we’ve got such a knee-jerk reaction to ‘what if minors see?!’ that it’s literally that 50s housewife with perfectly kept blonde hair in her Sunday best crying in church ‘think of the children!’. I will obviously agree there’s quite a bit of stuff to keep away from those a good 10yrs younger than me, but like. You can see it on the news. In papers. Private sessions on a web browser to find free porn lmfao. Video games have just very simple warnings, and it’s not until one fan on the internet is like ‘hey guys, watch out for this!’. Like, when Mad Max: Fury Road came out, I saw a post two months later actually detailing that a pregnant woman gets crushed under a car. I hadn’t seen it then, but it took over a month for someone to finally stick their hand up and be like: great movie, but watch out for this sort of stuff. 

I think it kind of diminishes the critical thinking that those under the age of 18 are capable of too, and to only police fan works as opposed to everything else is kind of fucking stupid. Fan works have become so important to the development and continuing growth of industries, because they won’t have an audience otherwise. Creating discourse and discontent in the fandom breaks that cycle of fanwork, meaning people won’t get interested because their favourite artist or writer stopped drawing/writing, so less fans for a company. Especially indie companies - they rely on fan positivity (not purity). 

My personal experience is that I came into fandom at the end of strikethrough, and stumbled wildly through ff.net at the age of 12 (or 11, around then). I didn’t know any better at that time, because my friend who was a year older, and my other friend who was a year younger, we were all into Harry Potter and Naruto. I’m not saying it was a good experience, and I’m not saying it was a bad one either. Honestly it was quite eye opening lmao shit be wild but I guess it’s also made me... more nonchalant? Apathetic? To tumblr purists screaming and ranting. I’ve been posting online too, since then. I’ve scrubbed my old accounts clean the older I’ve gotten, but I still have all my original writing (on paper, in coloured pens, with really bad ‘manga style’ drawings lol).

Also I have had my own fics torn down because someone out there didn’t agree with the ship, and they claimed it contained like sexual abuse and stuff... 2013-2016 was not a good period of my fandom experience, as I lost a lot of friends to both sides of the purity debate, gained plenty more, but fanwork from everyone I knew came to a halt because everyone was so afraid of questions like this. One wrong answer and poof! There goes any credibility. Especially with how easily people fling around legal terms and the like, a lot of creativity has already been killed off from the aggressiveness and awfulness that some people are capable of. They don’t care, obviously, but they’ve hurt so many people so far... 

TLDR; Basically, make up your own minds. There are things I’m going to write, there are things I’m not going to write. There’s going to be descriptions, if you’re worried send an ask about something in particular. Make your web experience the experience you want and need, not what people tell you it should be. And if that includes some NSFW, because quite frankly teen years are terrible and confusing and incredibly hormonal, live your best life my dudes. If a NSFW fic at 3 in the morning makes you happy, because school sucks and you don’t know why you’re up then anyway, go for it. I’m not stopping you.

#*replies #ok thats the last time i'm talking about this here lmfao #if you wanna debate this further #you can on my MAIN account #not here #anymore questions like this get automatically deleted #basically: make your experience your own #and dont diminish the critical thinking skills of those under the age of 18 #and dont come at me with purity politics lmfao lawd #clutch ur cross dudes and scream think of the children #Anonymous