#i'll be their entire fanbase if i must

[addledmongoose]

Best of 2023 Good Omens Fanfiction

This is my list of the 20 best Good Omens fanfiction works I've read in 2023.

A few notes:

These are all complete works; there are no WIPs in the list.

Please feel free to let me know if a link stops working

It's not an ordered list. That would be far too difficult.

You'll probably recognize some of the most popular ones. They're popular for a reason, after all, but I hope you find something you haven't yet read.

The majority are full-length works, but there are definitely some shorter pieces.

These are certainly not the only good works I've read, but they are the ones I'm most likely to read more than once

Click the Keep Reading to see the list

If you're the author of one of these, first off, thank you! But second, if you want me to add your tumblr name to your story, let me know, and I'll edit.

This first section, all the stories are canon-compliant or canon-adjacent. In other words, it's at least somewhat set in the Good Omens universe.

a lighthouse (burning) (108K; Rated M)

This one is canon-adjacent and set in the 19th century. Aziraphale goes to a lighthouse to figure out where all the lighthouse keepers disappeared to, and Crowley follows along. This one is a bit of a spooky mystery along with the romance, and the writing style is simply beautiful. You really get a sense of being trapped in this lighthouse in the middle of nowhere.

***

The Grindr Logo Doesn't Even Have a 'G' In It (79K; Rated E)

It's honestly hard to remember that this one isn't human AU, but they're still just as angelic/demonic as ever. Aziraphale joins Grindr and starts texting (and then sexting) with a charming young man. It's no secret to the reader who this new hookup is. This story is genuinely funny at times. I like the funny ones.

***

The Whole Damned World Seemed Upside Down (103K; Rated M)

This is one of the best reverse omens stories I've read that isn't technically a reverse omens. Crowley wishes things were different after leaving the bookshop, and the universe gives him his wish. He finds himself in a world where Aziraphale hates him, Death has trouble taking lives, and basically everything you knew about the world of Good Omens is upside down. It's very funny. It uses inline footnotes (which is good, because it has a LOT of footnotes), and Death is hilarious.

***

it's a new craze (5K; Rated T)

Another one that seems like it should be human AU but isn't. Crowley and Aziraphale start up a podcast after the Notpocalypse and gain a loyal fanbase who can't figure out if they're a couple or not. They often forget who their audience is and often reference events in their shared history that make no sense to the humans listening.

***

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a demon in possession of a mobile phone, must be in want of attention (6K; Rated G)

And yes, that is the entire title. Another funny short story where a couple of podcast hosts receive a call from a certain angel whose demon trapped himself in his phone and won't leave.

***

In Mixed Company, or the Corporate Retreat of Heaven and Hell (52K; Rated M)

I've read this one at least three times, and it's probably my favorite of all. Every 300 years, Heaven and Hell share a company retreat on Earth during which angels and demons surrender their celestial powers and hold retreats. It has a great new angel friend of Aziraphale's; Hellish Powerpoint presentations; Gabriel being annoyingly chipper; and Aziraphale and Crowley sneaking around like teenagers trying to find some alone time.

***

How To Woo A Demon (24K; Rated T)

Aziraphale researches demonic courtship rituals and starts implementing them in order to convince Crowley he wants to take their relationship to the next level. Crowley is very confused by Aziraphale's actions. Another cute, funny one.

***

Factory Settings (107K; Rated T)

This one is famous for coming out practically as S2 dropped, making people think whoever wrote it (the author is anonymous) had something to do with the production of the show.

This is the only one I'm going to say anything negative about. There are a lot of spelling errors and typos in it. It needs a hard editing pass. Despite that complaint, I devoured this story as fast as I could scroll. It's that good, and even knowing all the errors are there, I'll probably still re-read it. I'm usually pretty picky about errors like that, so for me to overlook it and even recommend it, means I really liked it.

Crowley gets reinstated as the angel, Raphael, with no memory of his time as Crowley, and Aziraphale struggles to return him to his demonic self. It's heart-breaking and wonderful and I absolutely loved it.

***

One Night In Bangor (And the World's Your Oyster) (17K: Rated E)

Much like In Mixed Company, Heaven and Hell come together for a corporate retreat on Earth. In this one, some totally random demon who's name definitely doesn't rhyme with Bowley created a wager in Hell to see which demon could bed an angel first.

Another funny one. This time, a lot of the humor comes from the demons doing their best to pick up the angels with really bad pickup lines.

***

We Only Said Goodbye with Words, I Died A Hundred Times (9K; Rated E)

If I could learn to write even half as good as this, I'd be ecstatic. The emotions the author packs into this story are mind-blowing.

Crowley receives a cursed amulet that creates an ever-increasing need for the person he wants the most and goes to see Aziraphale.

***

To reveal my heart in ink (29K; Rated E)

Aziraphale starts writing letters to Crowley by mail. The letters they exchange slowly get more and more explicit.

***

Pray For Us, Icarus (66K; Rated G/T)

The author wrote this one as a series, so each one varies in chapter count and rating, but they tell a single, contiguous story.

This was the first long-form GO fanfiction I read, and it was way too close to the ending of S2. I really should've waited a while, because holy cow, is this one heartbreaking.

For three hundred years, Crowley has been reincarnated over and over as a human with no memory of his past. Aziraphale has spent those three hundred years trying to restore him to his true self.

The author, Atalan, is probably one of the best writers on the site. This story is stunning in the quality of its writing, in the pacing of the story, and in the emotions evoked. I normally don't like being sad (like I said, I like the funny ones), but I've saved this story off to make sure I always have it.

***

Pretend For Me (53K; Rated E)

In a panic, Aziraphale tells the archangels that he survived hellfire due to his soul mixing with Crowley's because they're in a romantic and sexual relationship, but now they want them to prove it.

I'm a sucker for fake relationship stories, and there aren't a whole lot of them where the characters are still angel/demon, but this one is. It's another fun one, though a bit more angsty than some of those I listed above.

***

The following are all human AU. Good chance you'll recognize all or most of these.

Married At First Sight (147K; Rated T)

One of the most recently completed stories in the list, this is a fake relationship story where Aziraphale and Crowley join a reality show that marries complete strangers off to each other. Their new marriage starts off on a less than idyllic foot and they decide to fake it for the show. The author is a master of making you want to scream "for fuck's sake, just talk to each other, you walnuts!"

Probably one of my favorite fake relationship stories.

***

Postcards From Paris (12K; Rated G)

The author, ghostrat (@mrghostrat), is a fantastic writer of human AU, and it's worth going through his entire backlist (and read his current WIPs, too).

Crowley moves into his Mayfair flat and starts receiving postcards addressed to the previous tenant from one A.Z.F., who is in Europe hunting for bizarre bibles and rating wine. Sweet and fluffy and the perfect antidote if you've just been on an angst binge.

***

Or Be Nice (151K; Rated E)

I stayed up until 6:30 in the morning reading this one, crashed for three hours, then read until I finished it. Then that night, I started it again.

This is, without hesitation, my all-time favorite human AU. It's funny. I love the author's version of the characters, and I will probably end up reading it again in just a few months. I probably already would have if it wasn't for the length of my Mark For Later and Subscription lists.

Crowley and Aziraphale are neighbors who get into a noise war. They both have their reasons for their actions, though to be honest, Crowley is a bit of an ass at first. Once they really start talking, though, they are absolutely wonderful together.

Even if you've never read a human AU, I recommend at least giving this one a try.

***

What We Make Of It (Shotgun Wedding) (213K; Rated E)

This is the third charlottemadison work on this list. 15% of this list is just this one author. That's how good they are.

Aziraphale works as an English teacher. Crowley is the guardian for his nephew, Adam, and works for a school testing company. Crowley can't risk his job dating his nephew's gorgeous and charming teacher. Unless...

Crowley comes up with a crazy plan. Now he just has to convince Aziraphale to go along with it.

Again, another very popular human AU. One thing I love about this story is how there's a lot less angst between the two characters, and how they both really care for Adam.

***

Slow Show (95K; Rated E)

The very first human AU I read. Didn't even think I'd like that specific genre until I read it. Now, as you can see, it's about half of my reading list.

This is an actor AU. Aziraphale (named Avery here) and Crowley are actors working together on a new show. Avery is an award-winning, straight-laced, well-respected actor; Crowley is a mess who immediately falls head-over-heels for him and somehow has to get through the show without letting his (apparently straight) costar realize that.

***

South Downs (76K; Rated E)

Another actor AU. This time, Aziraphale is an openly-gay actor, well-respected for his period drama work. Crowley is a once-blackballed actor who jumps at the chance to star in a gay Regency romance with Aziraphale in the hopes it can restart his career. The trouble is, Crowley is struggling to play the romantic lead opposite a man.

I love the growing friendship between these two as much as the romance. I love how comfortable and confident Aziraphale is here; and how caring he is toward Crowley's growing awareness of his sexuality.

***

This one doesn't really fit either category, so I'm putting it here.

The Rose and the Serpent (56K; Rated M)

By the same author as Pray For Us, Icarus comes a GO retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Aziraphale is sent off by his older brother, Gabriel, into the forest to be held hostage by a giant snake in a cursed castle. Turns out, neither the snake nor the castle are what he was expecting.

Light-hearted and with very memorable characters, the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale is simply stunning. I love how Newt and Anathema are used here. The quality of this one is as good as Icarus, and I loved this one so much I could easily have read 300K more words.

***

And bonus: mine!

The Beginning of the End (Again) (79K; Rated M)

The first fanfiction I've ever written and the first book I've written in a decade. I had the first two chapters in mind after finishing S2, and the story grew from there. I actually have a sequel in mind after I finish another, separate fake relationship story.

Crowley spends months drowning his sorrows after Aziraphale accepts the Supreme Archangel position, until a group of demons shows up one day and tells him the Second Coming is nearly upon them, and they want him to stop it. Turns out being a demon isn't much fun if there are no humans left to tempt.

Aziraphale has spent these last months in Heaven looking for ways to stop the Second Coming while mourning the way he and Crowley left things. After discovering that Hell's minions have been tasked by the Metatron to escort the son of God on a tour of Earth in preparation for his Second Coming, he hurries down to see what's going on, fearing the worst.

Instead he discovers Crowley escorting the Messiah around Earth. Is his demon taking the son of God on dates?

#good omens fanfiction

[anantaru]

— they‘re reading thirst tweets (celebrity au!)

including alhaitham, kazuha, scaramouche, venti x gn! reader

— ꒰ a/n ꒱ — i wrote this after watching the jackson wang and wonho thirst tweets video

— ꒰ genre ꒱ — crack, modern au!, celebrity au!

— alhaitham

the cameras change focus, lights on, 3.. 2.. 1..

in unlimited disbelief, alhaitham delicately held onto the little card he received from the camera crew— which was currently overlooking the interview he was in, as he attentively read through the letters on the paper with a careful uttering.

from @/milkboobielover69:

"i want alhaitham to suffocate me with his huge humongous tits."

at his words, the team of the late night segment— that was hosting the little shift, began to loudly permeate the room with their contagious laughs while alhaitham made severe attempts to cease his upcoming, flustered smirk.

"wow, this is turning into quite an occasion." he speaks in a monotone voice while his porcelain skin was saturated with a brilliant shade of red.

while his conveyance remained as usual, his instinctive body reactions had exposed him to the lens directly pointing at his face.

"i assume you don't mind if i question your username?"

he's facing the camera with his infamous, habitual smile, a brow lightly raised to further gather his thoughts, "it is quite, interesting, if you ask me."

frankly, at first, alhaitham couldn't believe he even agreed to do this, in his words, 'redundant arrangement'.

or that his manager put out said proposal in the first place— yet he acknowledged that it was altogether gravely important to embrace and further strengthen the connection he had built with his fanbase.

"are you all like this?" he asked, wholly amused, "because it is crucial for me to know before we execute that little plan of yours."

with a wink he ends his sentence, his eyes pointing straight to the main camera before playfully shaking his head— as to try to get rid of his flustered cheeks, gathering the next question soon after.

— kazuha

hello everyone, you may recognize me as kazuha from 6reeze and I'll be reading your thirst tweets tonight!

with an authentic greet towards the flashy cameras, kazuha decided to get on with his current performance right away, seeing this particular meeting as nothing more than an exchange of dialogue to further intensify his public relations.

"perhaps i should start with this one."

kazuha was excitingly leaving his pretty eyes roam over the little smartphone he held in his palm, gently scrolling over the numerous tweets the late night staff had specifically hand picked out for him.

from @/peepeeconnoisseur:

"kazuha gives serious hidden dom energy and i want him to ruin me."

at the tip of his issuing, he so soon had began to snicker into the transitioning lens, hiding his growing embarrassment with his hand and dramatically pressing it on top of his face to cover his eyes.

"compared to what i have encountered before-" he rapidly cut himself off, eyes widened in his own foolishness— the last he’d wish now was to accidentally air something personal out.

lightheartedly, kazuha carried on to rub his blurry eyes, in a powerless aim to cover his dazed look and tracks.

the fact that thousands of people were currently watching this right now didn't make it any easier nor turned the task somehow into simplicity, but to keep himself mustered and well collected was one of the very utensils he had been practicing on his entire career.

to have himself speak clearly he was coughing out, setting his attention back down to the phone in his hand, "i must admit, this is really quite tame."

the unexpected blows of laughs and convulsing titters packed the room with a genuine, hilarious response as one of the many staff members spoke out in a saddened voice.

"man, i really thought i'd get you with that one." the woman was crossing her arms around her body and frowned.

"if it was one of my band members i'm certain you would've stirred them off their footing." - "though some you might've flattered even."

the assurance was enough for him to almost completely forget the tweet he had read a couple moments ago.

though after the room went quiet again, kazuha decided to express himself on the topic just one last time, peering up to be to the core set in frame by the several cameras.

"all i have to add is that i am a man of hardly any words, i prefer to show off my skills instead."

— scaramouche

"you better not hold back with whatever we're doing here or you're wasting my precious time." ...

... "not my fans though, they're all important to me or whatever."

the blows and beats of irksome cameras and ring lights being shoved left and right towards their designated area had rigorously bothered scaramouche, who was, at present, situated on a cozy white chair with a couple cards in his hands, lazily leaning onto the armrest.

3.. 2.. 1..

... we're beginning now, massive apologies for the delay ... take one!

hello *rolls his eyes* i'm scaramouche from 6reeze and I'm forced to read your thirst tweets tonight ...

... you better have something good in store for me or I'll have to punish you in some unknown way.

instantaneously, scaramouche broke out of his established, not to mention unduly recognized, personality as he approached a quite nicer (in his own way) outlook for the cameras piloting on him.

after all, he was very much aware of how exasperating the media could turn out whenever he wouldn't control his disinterest in maintaining his public persona.

besides, the last setting he‘d need is for his band member kazuha to lecture him about the whole engage and its significant importance.

from @/http_scaranuts:

"i want scara to fucking spit in my mouth."

the way his body responded on its own was hysterically funny, "why would you want that?" in spite of the fact that he faked his disgust, his guise was revealing a different story.

his sides were splitting into an entertained smirk and not even seeking any effort whatsoever to hide his pleased smile.

he was engaging, almost hypnotizing, and managed to plant a significant impression onto many, which is what his fans idolized about him the utmost.

how downright blunt he was at times, mixed with a bewitching sweetness, a blazing firestorm that was able turn the whole music industry upside down.

scaramouche delightfully clicked his tongue— terrifically composed with an unchanging face.

"i'm barely two sentences into this and you already want me to spit on you."

with a little gesture, he finely brushed his hair strands back that were unkemptly falling all over his face, "how amusing."

"ultimately i'm going to give you a pass for the distasteful username though." he's innocently fluttering his eyelashes before blowing a quick kiss at the cameras, "so so sorry."

thus, scaramouche was carelessly flinging the little card back and tossing it onto the floor, already skimming through the next tweet.

— venti

the video established itself as the camera slowly shifted their focus on venti who was currently sitting in front of a white background, a couple stickers in his hands that had the late night logo inprinted on top of it.

"i didn‘t think anyone would write thirst tweets about me."

he‘s joking and setting up a pseudo guiltless attitude, as if he didn’t see a couple of those while curiously scanning through his notifications the other day.

but, well, to keep his performance going, he playfully waved at the camera and began to regret the fact that he had washed the rational thinking parts of his brain away with alcohol earlier.

venti always appeared wildly comfortable around the large screens and bright flashes of the studio room— essentially he was also known as one of the most talented as well as best performers of his entire group.

.. but maybe it was also due to the fact that he was mostly drunk, yet obviously not exposing it to his fans.

his eyes were now, a tone lower, when he glowered into the first of many cards, without further ado vividly brawling to keep his own poker face.

from @/l3t_thewindlead_thisp3nis:

"(i am not okay) if venti needs a stress reliever i volunteer as tribute."

subsidiary after prattling it out, venti narrowed his eyes towards the screen with a concerned look on his face before ultimately concealing his expression with the little card.

".. a stress reliever?" he asks, bluntly, before setting off the whole room to infectiously laugh.

venti himself nearly erupted into tears from how hard he’d been chuckling at the tweet.

"tsk tsk tsk." he‘s shaking his head with a sigh— as if he was disappointed, and carrying on with his high spirited words.

"a shame, i really thought you would elaborate on that a bit more."

giggling at his own remarks he instantaneously got reminded (by a staff member) to keep it as family friendly as attainable as to not suffer the brutish fate of his manager scolding him afterwards.

the cameras cut and set on a different frame, recording back again.

perhaps it wasn‘t the most brilliant idea to have venti go into this without a single form of preparation— nor a script he could base his answers on.

though beyond anything, he was a natural ar this and managed to engage the viewers with his quite peculiar charms.

"i‘ll leave that for now but i‘m coming back to you later."

©2023 anantaru do not repost, copy, translate

#genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #kazuha x reader #scaramouche x reader #alhaitham x reader #genshin x you #scaramouche x you #venti x reader #alhaitham x you #kazuha x you #venti x you #al haitham x reader #genshin impact headcanons #genshin fluff #genshin impact fluff #genshin x y/n #genshin impact fan fiction #genshin impact x you #genshin impact #genshin impact images

[hisui-dreamer]

warming up to you

Pairing: Lilia Vanrouge x gn!reader

Synopsis: you weren't too keen on the school playboy, but maybe his persistent efforts have started to wear you down?

Tags: fluff, shoujo manga inspired, modern au, mixed school, flirting, lilia cooks, silver is lilia's adopted sibling, reader (millie) likes more masculine men for a bit

Word count: 1k+

Notes: this was requested by my dearest millie @hheun!! mwah mwah i love talking to you and every time i get a notif from you im just smiling automatically at how you're handling Lilia ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡

her request was very long so maybe i'll post it separately (cuz funni), but this takes place in a modern school au and the events that take place were specifically designed for millie hehehe #millia

to millie: heart attack incoming!! hope u enjoy it ;)

Masterlist

lilia vanrouge is the vice president of the diasomnia house

so when you first saw him, you respected him quite a bit, though his features did make him seem a little out of place as compared to malleus, silver and sebek

you quickly learned that those exact features made him incredibly popular

maybe overly so, because every time you saw him, you could see him flirting with an entirely different person

the first time you actually spoke to him, he was looking for his misplaced pencil case, still wearing the overly large science coat with the large goggles resting atop his head

"Excuse me dear, I seem to have misplaced my pencil case and I have no idea where it could be. Would you be a dear and join me in my search?"

you simply raised an eyebrow, and shook your head no

he pursued his lips and made a pouting face, but you just stared blankly at him

relenting, he sighed and turned around to find someone else to help him with his search

you could faintly hear a "... Am I not cute enough today?"

fortunately (or not), you stumbled across a pencil case at the edge of the staircase, with diasomnia, light music club, and bat keychains attached to the one zipper

hmm, he must have dropped it while switching classrooms

so you bring it to the diasomnia house room, where you were greeted by silver

you entrusted the pencil case to silver, but not without him asking for your name and class so Lilia could say thank you properly

of course, you tried to leave, really not wanting to get involved in any sense with the playboy and his fanbase

but silver being the dear that he is insisted on having your name

the next day, as you were walking to your classroom, Lilia appeared seemingly out of nowhere

he thanks you, but starts rambling off "Oh I knew I was cute enough yesterday! How sweet of you to help little old me, khee hee!"

ಠಿ⁠_⁠ಠ ...sure, lilia-senpai

you try to brush off his gratitude with a quick "you're welcome" and "it wasn't a bother really"

but then he's spouting "It must be fate that you were the one to help me! Darling, won't you let me return the favour? Perhaps, with a date?" he says while batting his eyelashes cutely

??? no??? you weren't into the cute type of guys, you liked more masculine, muscular men ahem leona senpai

so you rejected him honestly, but rather than be upset, his eyes are just twinkling mischievously (uh oh)

after that event, you just started encountering him randomly in your school life

popping up randomly to ask you out because he looked particularly cute that day

asking you to come over to the light music club after school

you continued to reject him, thinking he was just playing around like with all the other girls

but then one day, he came up to you with a request

"Dear, would you happen to be good at baking?"

see, silver's birthday is coming up, and apparently it's all the rage nowadays (so he says) to have a homemade cake rather than a store-bought one and "of course, it's also more nutritious"

but, rather infamously, Lilia's not the best cook

see the white day incident, where he made chocolates in return for all the ones he received and almost succeeded in murdering everyone's tastebuds

so nobody really wants to work with Lilia in the kitchen, not even his devoted(?) fangirls

usually you would've rejected his request, for two reasons, one being the rumours of his cooking, and two being not wanting to become further involved with him

but he seemed so sincere about his wish for silver, and so downcast at being unable to make the perfect birthday cake that you couldn't help but agree

on the condition that he listen to your every word whilst working in the kitchen

and thank god for that condition, because you quickly learned why he was a bad cook

"But this recipe isn't nearly nutritious enough! Shall we add some lettuce? Or perhaps..."

Lilia, we're baking a cake, not a salad...

you felt so bad for whoever was his partner in home economics

but you gave him the task of whisking the eggs after having him prepare the stovetop, where you planned to melt the butter in a saucepan...

"There was one time I went abroad and brought something back for Silver..." Lilia recounted, his hand hard at work whisking the eggs.

But just as you were getting lost in his storytelling, disaster struck. The stovetop suddenly caught on fire, flames dancing dangerously high. Panic welled up within you, and before you could react, Lilia acted swiftly.

"Careful!" he exclaimed with urgency. With the grace of a gallant knight, he pulled you close, his body a protective shield against the fire. His surprisingly serious face caught you off guard, the fiery glow reflected in the depths of his crimson eyes. His arms were a fortress, secure and tight around you.

Thump. Thump.

In a matter of moments, Lilia turned off the gas and moved the saucepan away from the stovetop, as if he were used to dealing with emergencies in the kitchen.

"Are you alright, dearest?" he asked, genuine concern in his eyes.

You took a moment to collect yourself, your heart still racing. "Oh, uhmm, yes, I'm fine... Wait, did you turn the stove all the way up?"

Lilia looked a bit confused as he admitted, "Yes? I wanted to melt the butter faster."

You couldn't help but shake your head in exasperation. "Lilia!!!" you exclaimed, incredulous at his impulsive cooking decisions.

He chuckled, seemingly unfazed by the near-disaster. "Well, it did the job, didn't it?"

thankfully, you manage to finish the cake without either of you getting hurt

it's not the best looking cake, but it definitely has a homemade feel to it, only enhanced by the chopsticks used to support it

you also get invited to silver's birthday party! lilia keeps trying to take pictures with you and ask you out

only this time, you can't help but feel more affected by his attempts than you were before

maybe you've taken a liking to the playboy afterall ;)

"Goodness, isn't it about time you give me a chance, darling?" Lilia playfully pouts, placing his hands on his hips in a mock display of irritation.

He sighs, before a rueful smile graces his lips. "Well, I suppose it's alright for now. I'm a very persistent man, you see," he says, his unwavering gaze fixed on yours.

Masterlist

if you liked this post, don't forget to reblog!

#✧1k! another life✦ #twstnexus #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #disney twisted wonderland #twst imagines #twst wonderland #lilia vanrouge x reader #lilia vanrouge #twst lilia #lilia vanrouge x mc #✧asks✦ #✧millie🪭✦ #millia

[my-mt-heart]

When I think of the Caryl spinoff we were promised, I think of all the space there'd be to explore a new, but hard-earned romance between the two underdogs turned most iconic duo of TWD.

I think of them getting back to their roots, helping each other heal from their trauma, and conquering their fears of not being worthy of each other's love.

I'm tired of sitting through explicit beats of shipbaiting for the sake of marketing Daryl as the most eligible bachelor and riling fans up while Caryl, the relationship that sold me on their chemistry and their one-of-a-kind bond is treated like a dirty secret.

I'm tired of Carol feeling, and being portrayed, as if she isn't good enough or young enough or blonde enough for Daryl and I'm tired of the ageism Melissa has to suffer in order for the show to please an unreliable market that's more likely to watch clips on TikTok then subscribe to the show anyway.

I’m tired of foils and subtext and symbolism being used to say something about Caryl's relationship in a round-about way without ever seeing the payoff.

I don't want a retread of Caryl’s entire story that makes me think...

Canon is coming!

We're almost there!

Just a little bit further!

Maybe the next episode!

Maybe the season finale!

Maybe the series finale!

Absolutely not.

Because I know the difference between telling a longform narrative and stringing me along, manipulating me into thinking I'm getting exactly what I want ...

At least Daryl and plot device #100 didn't get together.

At least Carol doesn't die.

At least Daryl and Carol are finally alone.

At least there's "hope."

...when in reality I'd be getting nothing I want and not even for any creative reasons, but because it isn't good for an EPs brand or his ego or whatever it may be.

There's a lot of hype for Melissa's/Carol's return right now, amplified because of the year-long fear that her fans were never going to see her again, but what's the hook going to be for S3? If AMC wants a large fanbase they can rely on to keep tuning in and to keep growing, they should want all Carylers on board. And to get us all on board, including the ones who left a long time ago, explicit canon that honors both Carol's and Daryl's journeys is a must.

S2 is THE chance to show me—clear as day—how Daryl and Carol really feel about each other. That they are in love. That they are and always have been each other’s only choice and plot devices 1-100 never changed that. That's the Caryl spinoff I'll watch.

*This is my response to a few anons I received over the past week or so. I figured it would be better for my sanity to address them all in one go.

#caryl #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #daryl dixon #norman reedus #the book of carol #twd caryl

[cassiefromhell]

Unexpected (pt. 2)

Part One Edit: Part Three

Fanbase: acotar

Eris x Reader x Azriel

Summary: Reeling from the shock of discovering you have another mate, you realize that you need to tell Eris about your predicament.

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: suggestive

A/N: Requests are OPEN! Check my pinned message for details on what I'll write <3

I stare for a long, hard moment at this winged male.

He takes a step forward.

I take a step back, slipping my hand to my side, where a slim dagger is hidden under the flowing fabric of my skirt.

“This must be strange for you,” he murmurs, raising his hands slowly. “I know that you’re mated to Eris, but the moment you walked in, I could feel—”

I bare my teeth at him, fingertips grasping the handle of my knife. “Who knows?” Instinct has a snarl building in my throat. I’be worked my entire life to have a pretty, elegant, no-hitches mating ceremony, and this… odd… occurrence will not get in my way.

Hurt crosses his pretty face. “What do you mean who knows?”

“He must know,” I hiss, pointing to the first male—Cassian. Which means this one is… “Azriel. Who else have you told?”

“No one.”

“Good,” I release my knife, turning on my heel and working my way through the crowd. “Tell no more, and no one gets hurt.”

And I mean it. I’m a trained assassin. 

They let me leave without much struggle, but I am well aware of the shadows that are pooled at my feet, stalking my movements. The dancers let me pass easily, simply whirling and twirling out of my way.

I reach the doors in record time, grabbing a croissant to shove in my mouth on the way out. With a point of my index finger, the candle next to Eris’s throne on the dais lights up — our signal that something is wrong.

I stride out of the ballroom, heading straight for our bedroom. I only make it halfway there before I find myself in a storage closet, on my knees, unable to breathe. The shadows stopped following me just outside the door, and I can see where they block the light filtering in through the gap between the floor and the door.

Resting my forehead on the ground, I try to catch my breath and process what is happening. 

I start by listing what I know:

Eris is my mate.

I love Eris.

I am going to officially accept Eris as my mate tomorrow at 11a.m. during a brunch time mating ceremony.

There’s another male, an Illyrian, who is also my mate.

I think.

Shit.

A soft tug comes from the half-formed mating bond, snapping me out of my haze.

The only problem? I’m not sure which bond is being pulled.

My problem is solved quickly, however, as Eris’s soft voice cuts into my consciousness from the loose thread connecting us. 

Love? Are you alright? I see the candle, and I can’t find you.

I sit up straight, leaning against a wall. I left. I’m in some closet down the hall.

I’m on my way. What happened?

I bite my lip, suddenly realizing that I’ll need to inform Eris of this…mishap. 

I’ll explain when you get here. I really, really love you, you know.

He sends a feeling of pure, undeniable love down the bond. It means more than words.

Not even forty seconds later, the door is opened, and my ginger lover is striding to my side. 

“That was fast,” I murmur, leaning into him when he pulls me to his chest. “Like, really fast. How did you find me that quickly?”

“It’s the strangest thing,” he folds me into his lap, taking my place against the wall. “Azriel’s shadows followed you.”

My head snaps up at the name. “You know him?”

He nods. “We’ve collaborated on multiple things — the Hybern War and the human queen situation, to name a few.”

I remember him telling me about those stories. About the spy that he didn’t particularly like, and his companion, which he liked less. 

I burst into tears.

He sighs softly. “Little flame, what has you so upset?” He tucks my head against his shoulder, stroking my hair and lower back. His heart begins to pound, and he must be plotting how to brutally murder whoever’s caused this under his soft exterior.

“You’re going to hate me, Eris,” I sob, reaching up to knot my fingers in his hair. “Really, truly, hate me.”

“I could never, my love,” he coos, pulling me closer. ��Now, what’s happened?”

“Something awful.”

“Did you… cheat on me?”

“What?” I burst, leaning back. I shift to be straddling his lap, hands on his shoulders. “I could never!”

“Then I don’t hate you,” his index finger reaches up to stroke my tears away.

“You might take that back,” I sniff.

Eris huffs a sharp breath, and places both hands on my hips. “Okay. My love, you need to tell me. I promise to not be angry.”

“You promise.”

“Of course. Pinky promise,” he offers a pinky, hand still at my hip.

I lock our fingers together, and blow out a long breath. “Okay, so, uhm… there’s a reason Azriel’s shadows are following me. I saw him for the first time at the party tonight. And it just… clicked. Eris, he’s my mate, too.”

He stills. Completely, and utterly still under me. 

An eternity passes. And then another. I’m certain that with every long minute of silence that passes, he’s adding to a plan to publicly execute me.

At least a bajillion years have flown by when he finally speaks up. “…The mother has a cruel sense of humor, doesn’t she?”

“I’m so sorry,” I suck in a breath, trying to muster the strength I need right now. “I don’t care for him. Not at all. I have no idea who he is, and he’s already stalking me,” I raise my voice at the end, and the shadows pooled beyond the door seem to scatter. “I love you. I do. And I want to go on with the mating ceremony in the morning. I’ve told him to tell no one.”

Eris nods slowly, thumbs rubbing my sides. “Try not to talk like that. If he’s—” he swallows hard, “…your mate… You deserve to have a chance to get to know him.”

“But I love you. You’re my mate.”

“He is, too.”

I groan, taking my bottom lip between my teeth. “Stop being the logical one. You’re supposed to be angry.”

“I am angry, believe me,” he growls. “But not at you. It’s not your fault, and you deserve the best shot at happiness you can get. Even if that means that I’m not the only one you love.”

I don’t respond, staring directly at his chest. I simply can’t look him in the eye. It’s difficult enough to face them with the sinking feeling in my chest, like I’ve betrayed him.

Would it be worth it to even entertain the idea of having another mate? I’ve never heard of it happening. 

In my heart, I am sure that I love Eris. But could I love this other male, too?

“In the end, it’s your decision, little flame,” Eris presses a kiss to my temple. “I don’t exactly like the situation, but I’ll do whatever it takes for you to be happy.”

“I love you,” I whisper, leaning forward against his warmth.

“I love you more.”

I grin, opening my mouth to reply, but he sweeps me up into his arms before I can make a sound. I squeal, gripping his neck to keep myself upright. 

“I say we go back to our party,” he announces, holding me close. “And dance until our feet fall off.”

“I’d be inclined to agree. You paid for really good food.”

He laughs, placing me on the ground and holding me to his side. With a wave of my hand, my tear-streaked makeup is repaired, and Eris tucks a few strands of hair back into place.

Together, we stride back into the hall, ready to face our guests once more — even if one of them may be my mate.

Eris and I have devolved throughout the night. 

We went from dancing, to talking to guests — avoiding the Night Court group like a plague — to eating, and now we’re drinking absurd amounts of wine with Lucien, High Lord Tarquin, and a few of the latter’s friends from the Summer Court. I think one’s name started with a C.

I’m on my… fifth? Sixth? I don’t know, but I’ve drank many glasses of Fae wine.

I’m seated next to Eris, our chairs pushed together so that I can rest my head on his shoulder.

“Why’d you two even leave earlier?” Tarquin asks, sipping his wine — he’s much more conservative, and has had far less than us.

“Do you need to ask?” Lucien hiccups. His hand flies up to cover his eyes. “Please, don’t ask. I don’t want to hear about my brother’s fuck life.”

Eris scowls, looking tempted to throw the glass in his hand at his younger brother. I take the glass out of his hand to prevent that scenario, patting his shoulder soothingly.

“Lucien,” I start. “I assure you, that is not why we left.”

“Then why?” Tarquin asks once more, gesturing to Eris and I. “You practically ran out, and two minutes later he was on your tail.”

I open my mouth, then close it. When I look up to Eris to make him conjure up a story, he has his eyes locked on something else.

Straightening, I follow his gaze. 

And lo and behold, Azriel Shadowsinger is standing there.

The Illyrian’s wings frame his broad shoulders, and his entire body looks rigid. His expression is unreadable, as I hear it always is. His attention is undoubtedly glued on me.

Next to him is Cassian, who was speaking until my eyes shifted to him.

I would go on to observe them further, but Eris pulls my face to his, and suddenly his lips are on mine, his hand rooted in my hair.

Perhaps Eris is bothered by this situation a little more than he was letting on.

Nevertheless, I’m not complaining, and I part my lips for him. His tongue makes sweeping moments through my mouth, eliciting little noises from my throat, my hands finding their way into his rouge locks.

“Ahem.”

I pull away just enough to glare at Lucien, the male making a gagging motion.

“Fuck you,” I laugh, taking a cookie and whipping it at his head. He ducks, then throws a scone right back.

Love? Eris purrs down the bond.

Hmm? I reply, glancing over at him.

What do you say we go back to our room? He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. I think I could use a little practice for tomorrow. 

Practice, huh? I hum, shivering as he traces a finger down my spine.

He sweeps me up into his arms as a reply, and I laugh, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“We’ll see you in the morning, lovepixies,” Tarquin calls after us, followed by gagging noises from Lucien. A few of the summer court bunch laugh at the younger Autumn Court heir’s antics. Luckily, sneaking off together and public affection isn’t particularly uncommon in the days surrounding a mating ceremony — Fae culture.

His mouth is on mine once more as we make our grand escape, kissing me with the passion of the High Lord he is. My back hits a wall, followed by my legs being hoisted around his waist, skirt bunching at my hips.

I bite down hard on my bottom lip when his mouth trails down my neck. He leaves sloppy kisses and licks in his wake, hands trailing up along my spine.

A sharp tug on the bond comes, and I gasp sharply, eyes zeroing in on Eris. “What was that for?”

“Hmm?” He glances up at me, halfway to being on his knees. “What was what for?”

“You tugged,” I murmur.

“No,” he frowns, straightening. “I didn’t.” He places me back on the ground, his eyes narrowing around the corner. I’m not even sure if he’s aware of how he tucks me behind his back.

And, right on cue, Azriel Shadowsinger comes into sight.

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #writing #a court of wings and ruin #a court of silver flames #a court of mist and fury #azriel acotar #azriel #azriel shadowsinger #azriel x reader #azriel x you #eris vanserra #eris x reader #eris vanserra x reader #eris acotar #romance #acotar fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #eris x reader x azriel #suggestive #mates #cassiefromhell

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Elizabeth Midford

She started as just a cutie fiancée trying her best, turns out she's also a swordfighting genius, very under pressure to perform feminity in the Victorian Rose type of way. Fandom crucifies her bc she's Ciel's fiancée and they want him to be with his butler, Sebastian, the demon he sold his soul to for revenge

anime was a shitty canon divergent adaptation that butchered her character down to her "cutesy silly girly" persona, which obviously made the 2008 anime fans hate her with a passion (nothing wrong w being girly I'm just saying the adaptation made her super one dimensional) anyways fujoshis used to treat her as a villain because she's the fiance of Ciel,, who as u might know already was HEAVILY shipped with his butler, Sebastian back then (now it's kinda looked badly upon, nice tbh that ship sucks ass xD) She's a bit similar to Misa Amane from death note in the way she was treated. (Like an obstacle the yaoi ship must overcome rather than a person)

she's my silly little rabbit! i could gush about her character but i'll keep it short and just say that she's really well written and one of the best characters in the series. anyways she's ciel's fiance and she's like, rightfully annoying as any other 13 yr old girl would be but the fanbase fucking crucified her for even existing. she gets demonized for being 'annoying', but then ciel gets yaoishipped with an even more annoying guy. there is 100% an argument that lizzie/ciel is weird bc they're cousins (i personally don't ship it) but that falls flat when her detractors then ship the 13 yr old ciel with an eons old demon who Canonically looks like his father. the anime also never reached her main character development until years after its peak and that was only in a movie, so she really got the bad end of the stick here. not me though i had a giant crush on her when i was 12

Katara

Katara is constantly mistreated by the fans in favor of the Zukka ship (Zuko × Sokka.) They make her out to be mean, homophobic, and completely out of character just to add drama to the Zukka ship. In reality, Katara is very compassionate, and would never act that way toward anyone. 

Zutara was a popular ship but when zukka got popular over covid during the atla renaissance there were a million posts about how zutara was problematic while zukka was perfect usually for racist reasons. Meanwhile katara and sokka are siblings so it didn't even make sense. They did not have to be so illogically rude to her to ship zukka and it was weird

Katara is FANTASTIC I fucking love her to pieces she is so cool and yet the entirety of the ATLA fandom treats her like garbage because she “talks about her mom dying too much” (even though she BARELY does & also was parentified from a young age due to her mother’s death) and, of course, because she’s a more feminine women when compared to her counterparts. Even in the show itself she’s mistreated: she’s ALWAYS shown cooking for the rest of the gaang, doing their laundry, any ‘womanly’ task. She ends up with the guy who kissed her twice without her consent & who she never showed any real attraction to and apparently (despite being a badass warrior-doctor!!!) after the show ended she just… settled down in the South Pole and had a bunch of kids and never did anything else. She didn’t even get a statue :( Anyways during the ATLA renaissance, despite Zutara actually not being canon, people felt that Katara threatened the sanctity of the new almost entirely baseless yaoi ship, Zukka. Unfortunately for them, due to the fact that Katara and Sokka are siblings, the usual anti-Zutara arguments didn’t work as well. So they resorted to just… slaughtering her character. If she was lucky, they’d just make Katara a background character, wingwoman, &or throw her together with her canon love interest. If she was unlucky they’d do anything from make her homophobic (??) to killing her off! Fuck’s sake, she never even got a token spare-the-pairs wlw ship! Sorry for getting so heated, that whole debacle made me FUMING MAD.

#poll #round 2 #black butler #elizabeth midford #avatar the last airbender #atla #katara atla #katara

[thatdebaterguy]

Forcing Beliefs

I saw this post here, and clearly they think what they're doing is spreading a good cause, but god they've done it so wrongly. The entire reason of wars stems from different opinions. Hamas believes Israel is some hellish creation that should be wiped off the face of the Earth, Israel thinks it has a right to exist. Saying that's a debate that actually exists genuinely blows my mind, that a country's right to be sovereign and exist peacefully is debated, because barely any Israel supporters say Palestine should be wiped out, but a scary amount of Palestine supporters call for the death of the state of Israel.

It's a debate. I believe strongly that my stance is correct based on morals, facts and evidence, but I don't deny people their right to oppose me or believe Hamas is in the right. Even if Hamas are literally terrorists, I'll let anyone debate that. Also using the 'silence is complicit' argument has never worked in history, when German's just wanting to get through their lives under the Nazi regime weren't out protesting, it doesn't mean they wanted the death of all Jews, they just didn't want to die a horrible death for voicing it. In fact, the way people push supporting Palestine is very similar to the way the nazis were, since many people who speak up and say Israel is in the right, could lose their jobs, their social status, friends, family, get told to kill themselves, just for a difference in opinion. If I was part of a certain fanbase, or even better, if I was queer, and started voicing my opinions for Israel, I'd be called a fake member of the community, a traitor, an oppressor, told to kill myself, and be isolated from that community entirely.

I can't speak for all Israel supporters, many of whom think differently to me, but if you support Palestine, I'll watch movies with you, joke with you, play games with you, go on walks with you, go to restaurants, as long as you aren't some brainwashed incredibly headstrong supporter who refuses to acknowledge any difference in opinion. If you can even just tolerate that one difference, I'll happily get along with you.

One thing they're doing though, they're linking things like supporting Palestine with supporting human rights. I had a teacher who ran the debating club I was part of who taught us the basis of logical argument. An argument can be logical without being true, and the structure went like this; IF you support human rights, AND supporting human rights makes you Pro-Palestine, therefore you MUST support Palestine. I'm a literal example of why that framework is logical, but untrue. I support human rights, innocent victims of war, victims of genocide, but not Palestine. It's a way to rope in more people to their cause, by trying to play on peoples emotions rather than logic, to make the idea of refusing to support Palestine, an alienating, racist, bigoted thing to do, which just isn't true. Don't let people bully you into having certain beliefs. Form your own logical argument that IS true and contains evidence, to base your opinions on. For example, IF genocide is defined by the purposeful extermination of people based on race, ethnicity or other categorical factors, AND you accept that definition of genocide, as it is in the dictionary, therefore you MUST accept that Israel is not committing genocide, because based on the very definition you said you believe, it simply isn't happening, and if you agreed with that definition, then still believe that Israel is committing genocide, then your opinion is illogical and factually wrong, so either you believe they aren't committing genocide or you change the definition of the word, OR try debate that Israel is attempting to wipe out all Palestinians, to which all I have to say is, IF Israel has a weapons arsenal that could wipe out Gaza in minutes, AND Israel is attempting the extermination of all Palestinians, therefore Gaza MUST currently be flattened to the ground. Which it isn't. It really isn't that hard to debunk. Don't get brainwashed.

#israel #politics #palestine #gaza #current events #hamas

[grimaider]

The Coffin of Elfen and Leyley: Incest and Questionable Consent in 2000s Media.

WARNING: This blog post mentions numerous sensitive subjects such as incest, questionable consent, murder, cannibalism, sexually explicit material, and real-life criminal cases. If any of the following is bothersome, I would highly suggest scrolling past this post. Thank you.

ANOTHER WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Elfen Lied and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. If you wish to avoid spoilers, I would highly suggest clicking off this post and come back once you have finished both. Thank you.

Hello (again), it's grim.

I wanted to discuss an interesting phenomenon that I've taken note of over the past couple of years that seems to always cause internet controversy: The rise of taboo subjects found in modern media.

Now, I want to clarify that I hold very libertarian beliefs when it comes to media. If you can think it, it can be written, regardless of how inappropriate the content is. However, I also believe that there should be consequences to such writings depending on the substance.

The two topics I'll be talking about today are The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and Elfen Lied. These are both pieces of media that I have consumed in the past 2 years, and have noticed a trend between taboo subjects and how their respective authors and/or fanbases have used their taboo nature to repurpose characters and relationships for inappropriate media.

While I believe these pieces of media can be criticized in any manner due to their taboo nature, I would argue in defense of their conception since there is no exact promotion of the taboo nature represented throughout the mentioned medias. I believe this is important to state, for I solely disagree with the creation of media that promotes a taboo and/or illegal act rather than just the representation of such acts.

Images of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley (left) and Elfen Lied (right)

To make this analysis and opinionated piece easier to read, I will be going through my opinions and personal experiences with both of these medias separately. To do this, I will be separating taboo into two subsections:

Illegal Taboo

Questionable Taboo

While I would argue that there is probably some grey area between the two of these, I am simply dividing the taboos into two separate categories because my stance on illegal and questionable taboo slightly changes. Furthermore, the taboos in TCOAAL and Elfen Lied are very different. I believe it would be unfair to compare incest and questionable consent content. Both are taboo, both have been countlessly debated for and against, but incest has stable, concrete laws set against it (at least in the United States) while the other doesn't.

Let's get into the analysis.

Illegal Taboo (The Coffin of Andy and Leyley)

Screenshot from the love/incest route of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

Oh boy, where do I start. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into when I first stumbled upon this game. I saw the art style of the game in a YouTube video where the uploader had referred to the siblings as "lovers," which gave me the impression that the main characters of the game were not blood relatives. By the time I had seen the controversy plastered all over Twitter and Reddit about the TCOAAL's "questionable" content, I had already bought the game, which put me in a tough dilemma: Do I immediately refund the game or do I give it a chance?

I bet you can guess which one I picked.

Me being the curious individual that I am, I decided to keep the game. I had a million thoughts rush through my mind about the decision I had just made. What if the game actually has illegal content? People must be exaggerating the situation. I'm sure that the incest claims are probably just false. If it does have a plot that revolves around such content, maybe its just a small tidbit of the game. No biggie. These thoughts did not stop, and I wasn't sure what to do next.

One of the only screenshots from Episode 2 of TCOAAL that isn't horrendous

For a month or so, I avoided the game like the plague. I held off on installing it, I avoided it on Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram as best as I could (for both spoilers and online biases), and I refused to talk about the game with anyone that I knew. I planned to play the game, but I wanted all the controversy to die off first so I could play it without too much backlash. Unfortunately in this world, outrage has become the people's first emotion to anything, so even if your reasoning for such an action is rational and fair, you might still be attacked for simply touching new media without an initial bias.

When I finally got around to playing the game, I was genuinely pleased. Episode 1 has nothing over-the-top, and the incest that people were talking about was yet to be seen. So I didn't think anything of it. I scrolled through my social media and just continued assuming that people were hating on TCOAAL simply for being a new trend.

Then Episode 2 came around.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet: There is incestuous acts and behaviors littered throughout the game, and people online were certainly right.

Below, I have a handful of screenshots that I took showcasing the romantic and sexual tension and acts between the two siblings. There's a bit of it.

(I'm not kidding, all of these are in the game)

Now, I will give TCOAAL fans this, the vast majority (9 of the 10 images) of the incestuous content above is NOT easy to come across. There are very specific routes that you must past through in Episode 2 to come across these screenshots. So it's not as "obvious" as people online made it out to be. In fact, it took me roughly 3 hours of additional gameplay to reach all the different endings for Episode 2, so it certainly is time consuming.

For the sake of time and my sanity, I will NOT be showing how to reach these scenarios. I will only say that you will know if you stumble across the lover/incest route because the NARRATOR THEMSELF warns you NOT to continue down the route.

While I don't think that the incestuous undertones of the story should be the entire definition of the series, I can understand why people dislike it. What is so genius about giving Leyley a romantic and sexual interest in Andrew is that it does one simple thing that the creator wanted to hit home: It makes people uncomfortable. It simply does what every other piece of horror/thriller media tries to do, and it does it well. I don't see it as any more or less uncomfortable as the barbwire scene from Saw I, and the fact that the creator could pull that off just by making Leyley an incestuous, manipulative creep is stunning.

Furthermore, TCOAAL acts as an interesting question for psychology: Does social deprivation, abandonment, isolation, hopelessness, and manipulation play a role in one's moral compass? We see that Andrew's behavior towards Leyley dramatically changes throughout Episode 2 depending on whether you choose to trust and sympathize with Leyley. In addition to a change in behavior, we also see that (most notably the incest route) Andrew accepts his nickname "Andy" again, which he hates due to its connection with a murder that he committed with his sister in Episode 1 (not going into too much detail). It is also noted that Andrew's ex-girlfriend Julia had trouble with Leyley's dominating presence in Andrew's life, which would lead her to stop communicating with him. His degree of whether he cares or not changes based on his sympathy towards Leyley, highlighting how relationships in Andrew's life highly changes based on how much he lets Leyley abuse his existence.

Backstory that showcases Andrew's love interest that abandons him in Episode 1

In short, TCOAAL has many more layers than the internet made it out to be, but the incestuous routes and behaviors between Andrew and Leyley can be seen as concerning. I'll come back to this shortly.

Questionable Taboo (Elfen Lied)

Famous cover art for Elfen Lied showcasing Lucy in the nude.

Now, I watched Elfen Lied in 2022, so I'm just putting it out here that it has been a while since I have watched the anime. Furthermore, I have not read the manga, so my observations are SOLELY off the anime adaptation of Elfen Lied.

Just like TCOAAL, I do NOT think that the story of Elfen Lied is overly terrible. While I do think that TCOAAL has a more sound story line, I do think that Elfen Lied did an okay job at showcasing the selfishness and cruelty of humanity. However, there has always been a part of the show that doesn't sit right with me and many other viewers, and that is Kouta's (the main male protagonist) relationships with Yuka and Lucy.

Throughout the entirety of the show, Kouta partakes in relationships that are considered extremely taboo, especially in the western world. For one, he marries and supposedly procreates with his cousin Yuka at the end of the anime and manga, which is gross and highly disturbing to me, and I am certainly not the only one who feels that way. Almost any search through r/elfenlied would show the outrage and confusion that many people hold towards such a decision. Below are just a couple of what can be found about Kouta and Yuka's relationship (which is also ironically incestuous):

However, one thing that I do not see talked about a ton is Kouta's HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE relationship with Lucy. While Lucy is not human and is considered to be a Diclonius (some sort of humanoid), some of the scenes and plot points feel as if the author wanted to bank off of questionable consent. Many scenes throughout the anime highlight that Lucy is "sexually curious," which makes perfect sense in theory, but is implemented horribly into the anime. Scenes like Kouta observing Lucy's private parts and random butt shots of Lucy just make the entire show uncomfortable, and I would even argue it normalizes taking advantage of the mentally immature for sexual purposes, which could be considered sexual abuse and/or rape (especially since Elfen Lied is a fan service ecchi).

I understand that mangakas and Japanese culture call for the normalization of nudity, but Elfen Lied fails horribly at making a good case. Elfen Lied could have looked over to other medias such as Ghost in the Shell and Imouto Sae Ireba Ii do a much better job at implementing casual and artistic nudity in their shows while still offering tidbits of fan service to the horny. But, I digress.

Nudity is showcased in both Imouto Sae Ireba Ii and Ghost in the Shell and don't face the same criticism as Elfen Lied

Regardless of how I feel about the previously mentioned, I will give the mangaka of Elfen Lied this: They did a great job making the viewers uncomfortable. I would even argue that Lynn Okamoto did a better job making me feel so unbelievably uncomfortable compared to The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, and it's been two years since I last saw Elfen Lied, so props to Okamoto!

My Personal Take on Taboos in Media

(Now that I scroll through images of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and Elfen Lied, there really are a ton of similarities...)

In short, I do not think that these taboos make The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and Elfen Lied "bad." Distasteful? Sure. Gross? Most definitely. But, my concern for these medias stems from the fact that modern media has failed to hit home the ideas that these might be inappropriate taboos to normalize in modern internet culture. Simply going through tags such as "gravecest" and "coffincest" on Tumblr showcases the questionably deranged behaviors hardcore TCOAAL fans have towards the story's incest plot.

I was fairly surprised to find out the Elfen Lied has not been overly sexualized over the years. While I am thankful for that, I do believe that Okamoto was wrong for writing up a manga and anime that focused on a humanoid character solely for the purpose of being sexually taken advantage of. She could've done a much better job at handling the fan service without making Elfen Lied look like a promotion for sexual and mental abuse.

I believe all that really matters and what can be taken away from this analysis is that taboo subjects can be used in media as long as the intent and the targeted audience work together. For instance, I believe that The Coffin of Andy and Leyley's questionable use of incest as a story principle is okay since the author does not call for the promotion of incest in the story nor does the entire story revolve around the incestuous behaviors of the two main characters. BUT, rule 34 content of the game that showcases such explicit, incestuous acts between the siblings should be criticized since R34 content is solely made for pornographic purposes with no substance to the story's canon. I am also okay with Okamoto's usage of incest and questionable consent in Elfen Lied since it plays into the storyline and theme of the anime, but the fan service showcased in the show should be criticized since it was easily used as a lazy way to throw borderline pornography into the anime, therefore ruining the point of "artistic" and "normalized" nudity.

In short: I don't think using taboos in media should be illegal unless the media in question is a direct reflection of a real-life scenario (like the 2019 Shadman incident), but public criticism is certainly understandable on a case-by-case basis.

Thanks for reading, I am extremely tired.

grim.

#tcoaal #andrew graves #elfen lied #the coffin of andy and leyley #leyley graves #lucy #fanbase #fandumb #opinion #discussion #media criticism #media #media commentary #media analysis #internet #the internet #controversy #controversial #coffincest #gravecest #siblings #rant #2000s #modern media #media critique #analysis #criticism #morality #ethics #society

[colbyskies]

Lover, You Should've Come Over

1.2k words Bill Kaulitz x male reader Bill and M/n had broken up, months ago. Leaving both of them to wallow in their pity and on M/n’s end—self hatred. Bill wanted to go public, they had an on and off relationship since they were both teenagers, the year was new and Bill was ready to take the next step; coming out. M/n wasn’t, he still isn’t. Coming out is terrifying, especially to an entire fanbase, especially in 2014.

Bill and M/n had broken up, months ago. Leaving both of them to wallow in their pity and on M/n’s end—self hatred. Bill wanted to go public, they had an on and off relationship since they were both teenagers, the year was new and Bill was ready to take the next step; coming out. M/n wasn’t, he still isn’t. Coming out is terrifying, especially to an entire fanbase, especially in 2014. 

It’s been a couple weeks since the release of Tokio Hotels new album, Kings of Suburbia. M/n can tell that there are some songs about him, he’d be lying if he said he hasn’t been writing a song about Bill too. 

He loves him still and he hopes with all his heart that Bill still loves him. 

So as he sits in this radio station, ready to hop on the radio and sing one of his songs live, he second guesses which one he should actually sing. It would be a shot in the dark to sing the song he wrote for Bill, what are the chances that he’s actually listening to the radio right now? Despite it, M/n knows it's now or never, the record label would never sell something where M/n is clearly talking about a male lover. 

“Hello everybody! Today we have M/n with us, he’s going to sing one of his songs!” The broadcaster announces not noticing the way M/n’s body shakes with nerves. “What song are you going to sing?” 

It’s now or never, right? “I’m going to sing a new song that I recently wrote, first ever listen on air.” M/n smiles through his shaking hands, this could be the end of his career.

“Really?!” The broadcaster looks shocked but excited. “Well let's get into it then!”

The second M/n hears the soundtrack to his song playing in the background he knows there's no backing out of it. Everything in his body telling him to turn tail and run goes off in his head like a series of hurricane sirens. He can only hope Bill is listening. 

— — — —

Bill hates to admit it, but he’s stuck on M/n, almost obsessive over what he’s doing and who he’s with. He knows he shouldn’t act like this, he ended things for God’s sake, but he can’t stop himself from tuning the radio to the station he heard M/n was going to be singing on. 

At first he just had it on for background noise, but after hearing M/n is going to be singing a new song, he puts down his notebook and listens.

The sound is strange, nothing Bill has ever heard from M/n before. It’s almost churchy, something that M/n definitely does not lean to. As soon as the intro closes a beautiful melody plays and Bill instantly knows the song will be a sad one. 

“Looking out the door I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners…” Bill once again finds it to be strange that M/n is singing about this but turns up the volume anyway, loving the sound of his voice. Missing it. 

Bill sits with his knees to his chest, Pumba at his side supporting him. 

“...Maybe I'm too young to keep good love from going wrong, but tonight you're on my mind…” The way his voice sings makes Bill’s chest ache, it sounds so genuine. Each break in his voice breaks down Bill's defenses. 

“...Much too blind to see the damage he's done. Sometimes a man must awake to find that really he has no one…” An apology. Something Bill didn’t know he wanted until this moment. The way his heart fills with warmth at the sound of the discret apology makes him feel shameful for his feelings of breaking up with him. 

Pumba has now gotten up, trying to play with Bill, but the singer rejects him. Feeling the need to focus on everything M/n is saying or singing for that matter. 

“So I'll wait for you, love. And I'll burn. Will I ever see your sweet return? Oh, will I ever learn?” Bill almost chuckles at the last question, something he has said to M/n time and time again during their fights. Fights that Bill now finds to be pointless arguments used to push each other's buttons. 

“Hey Bill, what do you want to eat?” Tom walks into the room asking only to find his brother curled in on himself on the floor, watching the radio like he can see through it to the other side. The older twin is about to ask what is wrong when he hears the familiar voice over through the stereo. A voice both of the twins have grown up with and found to love, the voice of a former friend. 

“...My body turns and yearns for a sleep that won't ever come…” Tom makes his way to Bill before sitting beside him and putting an arm over his shoulders. This break up has been one of the hardest things Tom has to witness his brother going through. Bill even got back into the old habit of sleeping in his brother's room for comfort, scared to be alone after years of falling asleep with a familiar warmth beside him or pressed into him. 

“...My kingdom for a kiss upon his shoulder. It's never over. All my riches for his smiles when I've slept so soft against him…” Bill’s eyes blow wide with shock. “Holy shit… Did he just say he?” Tom could barely talk either, his mouth slack. M/n has always been terrified to reveal anything about his sexuality and now he’s doing it live. He can’t take it back or say it was a slip up of words. He actually took that leap. 

“...It's never over. All my blood for the sweetness of his laughter. It's never over. He is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever…” Suddenly, Bill throws his face into Tom's neck, crying at the words. A simple change of pronouns sending Bill into a fit of sobs. Bill doesn’t even know if he’s happy or sad. He’s happy M/n did it, but they’re not together anymore. M/n isn’t his like he used to be and Bill is so scared he won’t get him back. 

“...Too deaf, dumb and blind to see the damage I've done. Sweet lover, you should've come over. Oh, love, well I've waited for you. Lover, lover, lover. Lover, love, love, love, love, love, love!

Lover, you should've come over 'cause it's not too late.” The emotion in M/n’s voice is evident, the sadness, the yearning, the regret, everything on display for everyone to hear. Bill wishes he could listen to the sweet words on repeat, to hear M/n call him those names once more. To hold him and tell him everything will be okay, but he’s not here with him. 

M/n did this for him. 

— — — —

When the song finishes M/n is rushed out of the station by his manager. His manager yells obscenities at him, but M/n couldn’t care less, this is his life and he wants to live it with Bill. Despite everything, he hopes Bill heard, he hopes Bill still wants this as much as he does. 

All of that is confirmed to be true when he receives a text from ‘Bill <3’ that reads, “Call me.”

There's no need to hide anymore, he loves Bill more than anything and would do anything for him. 

#tokio hotel #bill kaulitz #bill kaulitz x you #bill kaulitz x male reader #bill kaulitz x reader #tom kaulitz #angst #song fic

[echoinghowls]

Why Dream has a healthier fanbase than JSchlatt: and why that sentence can never be true.

Continued beneath the cut...

Reason 1

Dream can't tell his audience "no".

This isn't completely true, I'll admit. He's very good about calling his audience off of his friends, and minimizing damage caused by his fanbase.

However, what I am talking about is the reason they have to be called off in the first place.

Dream has said yes to/ allowed:

Shipping between himself and friends

Smut (of him and his friends)

Fans (after his face reveal) to post his face/ make it their pfp

People to dedicate their entire life and personality to him

Basically, Dream just REALLY needs to set some boundaries. Of course it doesn't have to be a lot, having a super big/ active fandom must be fun (if a little scary)! BUT some healthy boundaries could be:

No Smut (people will make it anyways with shipping. at least someone won't show up IN REAL LIFE wearing a shirt of him FUCKING HIS BEST FRIEND)

Don't buy the L'Manburg flag (not only is it merch that all of the people of l'manburg could have sold together, but when people are treating it as another pride flag I think that's too far. ((Think of how a "Classic American" who loves the American flag thinks/ feels and multiply it by at least 10. that is how some of these fans are.)))

After his face reveal, ask people not to plaster his face everywhere. He didn't show it at first for his own reasons, and I can't imagine what it was like going from nothing to it being everywhere at once. That had to be overwhelming, and yet as far as I'm aware he said nothing.

Not everything he says is true! DEAR GOD!! People need to stop treating everything he says like it's religion!!!! Like, he's a great guy and a good content creator but seriously!!! Let him make a joke sometimes!!

Irl and Online are seperate things. I feel like Dream's fans aren't aware of that?? Like, Dream only shows you what he want's you to see. Like in his face reveal video, he sat at an angle the entire time. For no reason other than that was probably how he liked it the most! Because he didn't want to show us his other angles yet! And his videos? edited. shit cut out that he thought might offend people/ hurt people's feelings, or most likely because it was boring. Can you imagine how differently you would view him if you hung out with him as just another person? Imagine meeting Dream irl before the face reveal, and you don't know it's him and you guys spend a day together. You would probably not like him as much as you do online!! Because it's a persona!! Because it is so incredibly toxic to put every part of yourself online!!! Let him have some privacy and NOT ASSUME YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM!!!

Anyway.

You're probably wondering "why JSchlatt of all creators? he's the opposite of Dream!"

No, I don't think so. I think he just has boundaries. If he didn't like something someone in his audience said, he made a point of saying how much he dislikes the joke and, after poking a but of fun at him, his fans stop.

Because they respect Schlatt.

Dream's fans don't respect him, they obsess over him.

Remember when Schlatt mass banned people with a Dream SMP name from his chat?

He probably did that because it was funny.

But also because he didn't want people who don't respect a content creator's privacy/ humanity to be in his chat/ audience.

TL:DR,

Dream needs to set boundaries so that his fandom will respect him instead of turning him into some kind of God.

Also Schlatt is funny and says "no" to his audience all the goddamn time and nobody cares because they all respect him.

#dsmp #dream #jschlatt #dream smp #I really hope dream fans read this #at least one #I'm using these tags to get you to read this #if you have jschlatt muted you are the cause of the problem

[dr-jem-nutcase]

MvA: The M Files, take-a-peek, pt. 5

Chapter 6:

Dr C's origin story video was a 20-second one-take recording of his accident, so there's little to no room for any deviation from the movie. Still, may this NOT disappoint

Gotta love alliterations but carnage means "widespread murder". And I don't think this sort of kids' book would be willing to show a bloodbath

I just realized, where are the stairs leading to those massive doors?

A pin-up in the audience, wth? Even the guy to her left is saying the same thing

Genetic teleportation device. Makes sense cuz teleportation was the topic of scientific research & experimentation in both Fly movies but this time the bug mutation is intentional. The video game only talks about the genetic part: recombinant DNA (fact: this term wasn't coined until the 70s, so Dr C was ahead of his time). Thanks, M Files, for a better elaboration beyond just a scientific machine

Is it just me or have the illustrators eventually said, "heck with it! let's just get this done & over with!" and got lazy? Taking a look at the last two chapters/the last post, I'm beginning to wonder

Ok, we get a better visual of Dr C's hairstyle. I put this pic in a grayscale filter and his hair in the movie was definitely darker than this ash brown-blond color (I like to think it's dark brown)

That shirt & tie. So much for that turtleneck. But from what I've gathered, the illustrators for a number of kids' books about the movie were given art references (besides the concept art) from DW months before the movie came out. Dr C's swap from the tie to the turtleneck didn't happen until later in the making of the movie; pretty much all the concept art of him show a shirt & tie. I don't know about you but I wanna see that reference art, every piece of it! As a fan of this glorious franchise, may my prayers be answered!

Whozits. Lol

Srsly? Portable phones, or phones that didn't require a cord, were a thing of dreams in the 60s. And what kind of haircut are you guaranteed? A trim? A buzz cut? And chocolate tastes AWFUL after you brush your teeth, and the average adult doesn't drink hot chocolate on a regular basis. It's coffee, if anything. Or even more realistic in the early 60s: a phone that lights a cigarette. You ever watch mid-century period dramas like Mad Men or Call The Midwife? Every other person smoked back then--anytime, anywhere! But this is a kids' book, again. Smoking/tobacco use is nowadays a reason for something not to be rated G. Istg, my inner historian has been doubled over & screaming in pain since this chapter began! Ok, enough whining

The fat guy's constant *ahem* cracks me up tho

Was this presentations of scientific discoveries or a glorified science fair? Dr C had discovery in mind while the fat guy had fair in mind. Imo, that genetic teleportation device was way more practical than a phone with hygiene & hot chocolate powers, not just super scientific

Unsurprisingly, Doc had his own fanbase on a university campus

Say "they called me crazy but I'll show them" without saying "they called me crazy but I'll show them"

Ok, is it just me or did the color pallet change on this page?

Didn't think that the machine was red. Also, the shirt is now black

"Whoops! I made a mistake!" "Just keep going, Jim. We've got a deadline."

So, he's just going with it without actually testing it on something else? That IS mad

I wish we saw more of his face in this instead of the back of his head

Dr C foretold Neil Armstrong's famous landing-on-the-moon quote

O...m...g. You can tell the illustrators had the hardest (or laziest) time with this chapter. I can barely look

A PhD in dance, mind you. A PhD in anything doesn't make you a faultless god

Oh! And go back inside if you want peace & quiet. And if you must, lock the door

Now both the tie and shirt is a different color

Reclining in the trash can, lol

I'm honestly the university campus hasn't been entirely vacated at this point

Welp, if climate change doesn't work, we know where to go...wait this was the 60s. Never mind

So, you've got a washing machine, an oil barrel, two tires, a traffic cone, maybe a bike chain and...what else?

That day, the middle of September 1962, a distinguishable sound that would haunt a secret prison facility for generations to come was born. This lines up with my h/c that being partially human mentally on top of the trauma of the accident brought on some amount of insanity

That tie must be magic. It changed colors again

Omg! Just call that slipper out for what it is!

"Hey, Jim? What's that shoe thing people wear in the morning?" "I forget. In this panel, it's in a junkyard, so just call it an 'ugh'."

In the movie... "Ooh! An old ugh...I mean, slipper!"

That is one heck of a net for that tiny fishing pole

The antennae sticking out of the net

Ooh, Monger's a major now, but how'd he know about Dr C?

But srsly. Is this chapter perfect? No. But I like it for giving "human" Dr C a bit more time than just a 10-second camera footage of a hottie in a lab coat getting into a giant cylinder. I don't know about anyone else, but it gives me more of a comprehension that Dr C's a human being with a cockroach head and tendencies, not just a strange anthropomorphic bug person

Epilogue

The End! Oh, wait!

So the jetpack has a flamethrower? Hot dang...literally

Link lifting a weight with his tail, lol

Blue-eyed Dr C with a gold tie pulling out...what is that? A bra? The illustrators must hate his guts

Poor private Grime. And what are the monsters supposed to do with potatoes? I think B.O.B. & maybe Insecto are the only ones who would eat potatoes, and Dr C might try potato battery experiments. But why so many? Did Monger stop by local gleaners or a food bank/pantry? Was this a donation of charity? Did he accidentally go over the top with potato crops at his farm? I don't get it! But quoting Samwise Gamgee, "Po-Tay-Toes! Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew!" There's probably a thousand and one things you could make with potatoes. Like vodka--oh, wait! Kids' book

Grime must've been like one soldier online who said he could cook minute-rice in 58 seconds. Still, I feel bad for the guy. Do you know how hard peeling potatoes can be on your hands after a while? Ow, ow, owie...

Overall, not a bad book. Disappointing every now and then, but hey! Kids' book. It was kinda expected. The watered-down, non-violent breakaways from the movie had its ups and downs. Like providing some explanation of details of the origin stories in the movie, like why the tomato and dessert topping. Or the idea that luring a monster into a trap is the ultimate way to capture one, MUCH more scaled out and less violent than fighting them until you get the upper hand and force them into submission and/or tranquilizing them, like tranquilizing Susan and then tying her down when she became too drowsy to fight and eventually consciousness in the movie instead of luring her into a trap (like, how would you lure a confused, scared 50-foot bride into a trap when all she can think of was her fiance's safety and why people were wrapping a rope around her arm?). If you thought this book was a disappointment through and through, I read the graphic novelization, and it is a bigger disappointment than anything in this book. More watered down, the illustration was terrible, and some of the rewritten scenes didn't add up with the events of the movie, like wth. I think I threw it out

I hope you enjoyed this take-a-peek series as much as I did. And maybe I can share the second half of the entire book, a story called Brain Pain, a silly entertaining story about the four monsters (BOB, Dr C, Link, & Insecto) in the facility some time before Susan showed up. Maybe :)

Again, none of this belongs to me, as much as I wish it did

#monsters vs aliens #mva #dreamworks #general monger #general w r monger #childrensbooks #dr cockroach #dr cockroach phd #insectosaurus #doctor cockroach #the missing link monsters vs aliens #kidsbooks #bob mva #benzoate ostylezene bicarbonate

[theangrypokemaniac]

Part Three

Almost everything I forgot.

One of these days I'll get someone to explain the appeal of Training Daze.

Years I've been on Tumblr, YEARS now, and I've never known an episode so cradled and cooed over in a bizarre, lock-step frenzy of undiluted praise, as if we all agree it's a blessing upon mankind.

Even the great Holy Matrimony!, too good for this sinful world that it was, never got that kind of senseless adulation.

And God rest its sweet, sweet soul.

I almost suspect this constant deluge of non-criticism serves as a shiny veneer coating the rather insalubrious reality, conditioning the entire fandom to swallow what it's spooning.

Because if everyone says it's good, it MUST be, right?

Is it just another perfectly harmless coincidence that Hoenn, being the first region after Team Rocket's creator left, is also the one to wipe so much established history away?

1. Ash effectively starts all over again with no Pokémon, setting the pattern for every era to come.

2. The entire past of Jessie and James is flushed down the shitter, making their connection much more shallow and conditional.

Prior to this, we knew they'd bonded long before as children, and so joining a crime empire didn't change anything.

But now? Well, if they only met as members, that's all their relationship is based upon.

They might have nothing in common otherwise, with completely conflicting personalities.

I mean, we can't really know if they'd stay together in the real world, can we?

No indeed, and let's be realistic: why would two complete strangers even want to be together?

What, just because they happen to work on the same team, that means they're gonna get married?

Ah come on, that's a bit of a stretch.

I work with loadsa people. I didn't fall in love with any of 'em.

Look, kids. One of these days you're gonna have to accept that people can be Just Friends without deluding yourself imagining all sorts of romantic fantasies.

Yeah. Shipping them is so silly, when you really think about it.

The way her legs cover his belt gives the impression James is boasting some sort of Team Rocket onesie.

3. As part of this Brave New World, the Rocketshipping element all about disappears from the script.

At a push, you have The Bicker the Better and 'But Jessie, sweetheart', and that's it, in four series.

Five if you're counting the spin-off.

Compare that to no hugs, no hand-holding, Sweet Baby James and this hammer blow:

Max: And I thought you were just a nice old couple.

Jessie: No one's ever called us old!

James: An certainly NOT a couple.

Oh? I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that heavy-handed 'hint'.

SEE KIDS HE DOESN'T WANT HER THERE IS NOTHING THERE STOP SHIPPING THEM RIGHT NOW IT'S ALL JUST YOUR IMAGINATION!!!

Interesting that it started off as James openly rejecting her, but later developed into Jessie barely tolerating him.

I wish I'd been in the fandom then.

I'd love to know how this mythos of Training Daze as a piece of perfect wonder gained ground in the old forums, fans welcoming such blatant disrespect with open arms.

Or how early PoCo shills silenced dissent.

Yeah, this does completely annihilate every fragment of Team Rocket lore that we loved and cherished.

Now here's why that's A Good Thing...

Well no, flower. You can have the Indigo universe or this atrocity.

Pick one.

Go on. Do it. Why is that an uncomfortable choice?

Why would anyone spare a moment for something so contemptuous of its own fanbase it feels able to tear up and trample upon the very characters we care about?

Eh, they might as well I suppose.

No-one ever answers back.

On the contrary, they'll rush to defend, excuse and celebrate every deliberate manoeuvre.

For example:

Oooooooh! But what about the title?

The sub is called The Origin of Love of Youth!, which, I grant you, sounds promising, but mere words papering over shameless actions are no good to anyone.

First, whilst I suppose the translation is flawed, I'm not sure how this can be an 'origin of youth', given Jessie and James no longer meet in childhood, and are instead as old as they ever will be.

As for an 'origin of love', they've got some bloody nerve, kicking off the most openly Anti-Shipping region by burning the heart out of it, before finishing with James declaring he'd sooner die than marry Jessie.

And Pokémon, more or less over now, ended with them STILL not together, with every sign in between telling us it would never happen anyway.

Exactly what 'love' began here?

I expect Training Daze was slipped into a side-series to contain a potential backlash, where it would all be quietly forgotten without overshadowing the rest of Hoenn.

That miracle unforthcoming, the crew were thus emboldened to insert their various affronts to public decency into the main run, so now you can just shut up and like what yer given.

Yet this chilly Year Zero apocalypse leaves a vast wasteland in its wake, coercing fans to gobble up whatever comes along to plug the gap.

Accept Training Daze, and I'll presume you believe Crossing Paths! out of necessity, meaning Jessie is essentially a wriggling pervert with revoltingly warped desires, and if she asks you to come down the cellar then don't you be going.

'Cause yer won't come back.

As for James, you can go two ways:

• Left home at ten — ?????? — Team Rocket.

• Left home recently, and thus spent his life with Jessibelle, settled and uncomplaining, but doing a bunk once she put the banns up.

Take the first road, and there's a chasm of mysterious blackness in his background that remains unfilled to this day, and now never will be.

But opt for the second, and James chucked Jessibelle after leading her on for years, pissing off as soon as she wanted commitment, and was therefore as cruel and faithless to her as Darren the Div was to Orange Jessie.

Well cheers, retcon!

Hang on. I'll see what I can do.

Every recollection James has is always of his time at home, where he's never any younger or older than his missing poster, as if all his memories come from one single year.

There's no proof he was there at a later date, but also none that he wasn't, since we never see him beyond that age.

So thanks to this bollocks, we now have live with Jessie being a depraved sicko chasing after snotty nerds (NERDS, MAN!!!) and James potentially mistreating women.

Hah! You don't wanna ship 'em now, do yer?

And you wonder why I hate canon balls.

OOOOOOOOOOOH!!! IT SO DOES FIT WITH CANON!!!

Oh really? Proceed.

...

...Um...

...WELL!...Well!...Well now.

See...what happened was...well OBVIOUSLY...they split up in the bike gang didn't they? And then... then they went...somewhere else...

AND THEN...then...they just so happened to join Team Rocket...at the exact same time.

HAH! SEE! SEE! IT DOES FIT!!!

The first rule of propaganda is that a lie told enough times becomes the truth by virtue of repetition.

But the way this is regurgitated to shield a multi-billion dollar franchise goliath like poor defenceless PoCo from criticism is truly humiliating, for all concerned.

You'd imagine it was a well-documented fact given how often its rolled out, not an obvious Cope driving me fookin' insane!

How can it be a continuation if the sub's calling itself an origin?!

They're using The Bridge Bike Gang to prop up a shitshow that erases it in the first place, meaning any 'evidence' the former provides can't even exist in this timeline.

Which doesn't matter, as there isn't any.

Nowhere in that adventure are Chopper or Tyra surprised to see them together, nor do Jessie and James make any reference to a separation.

In fact they've not a single unhappy memory of their time there.

And what kind of excuse opens more questions than it answers?

Believe it, and they both left the gang in a huff, disappeared off the earth for an unknown period, before being independently inspired to join the Mafia, which was handy.

Where the bloody hell were they in between?

What argument could be so awful they vowed never to make it up, to the point they couldn't abide the sight of one another, and stormed off, planning never to meet again, for all the rest of their years left upon earth?

What was it even about?!

And how much time are we talking about?

Weeks? Months? Years?

Well a full decade of missing time, according to the above, being as Duh Twenny Fyve and that.

Ooh, but there's plenty o' clues during Training Daze, I'm sure. We just have to eke 'em out.

Ol' Fat Bastard Bullroarer Took introduces Jess to her new colleague, who — GASP! — happens to feature prominently in one of her multiple-choice Shameful Secret Pasts.

All together now:

It's a small world after all!

And that's enough to knock any girl off her crumpet.

Things Jess WILL say:

• Hmm. You seem familiar.

• Eh? Have we met before?

• Well, well, well. Long time no see.

• Hey, James! It's me, Jessie! Whoa, I can't believe this! How've you been keeping?

• Oh! You again!

• EH?! You mean HIM?! Oh no, you can forget that!

• What? JAMES?!

• OH! NO! NOT YOU!

• SO! WE MEET AGAIN!

• OOOH MY GOD!

It's coming, man. You'll see.

...

BUT! But! James will say it! He'll know her, no problem.

...

Not a flicker of recognition. At all.

Nor is there a single second of footage referencing this supposed Big Argument, proving it's an entirely fabricated excuse trying so hard to clean up after PoCo's tornado of death swept through the ship.

So why lie and pretend otherwise?

But whilst we're here, let's have a look at that definitely-not-cheesy thing James just said.

No one's carried me since my momma.

Yeah. The mother you're talking about there isn't your real mother Ma James, is it?

Else you mean no one's carried you since your governess, three nannies and a footman, til he put his back out.

Again, Holy Matrimony! is no longer canon, thus neither is the rest of Kanto, for the simple reason Hoenn James's 'momma' is some rough, chain-smoking fishwife with six kids by eleven men.

Actual documentary footage.

Well, it's the same accent, so I suppose that's something.

Although I will say, if you try to make it fit, it sounds like James did run off as a boy, even if his home was completely different.

So it doesn't work anyway.

Note that the only way you can have both Indigo and Hoenn canon mixed into some no-doubt cosy Frankenstein freak, offering out milk and there-there hugs, is by accepting that Jessie and James will and can separate over the most trivial issues, thereby leading you to also tolerate, and even justify, all the other Team-Rocket-Are-Splitting-Up episodes to come.

And I don't know why any of us would, as every one of them is predicated on Jessie and James NOT being a couple, not a sniff of hidden feelings even, for walking away is perfectly easy when there's no emotions involved.

Hmm. I don't remember any split-up episodes during the first series.

Certainly not. And guess why.

Now this was Nu-Thinking in its infancy, and yet to gain a foothold, meaning some attempt was made to rationalise the change.

But there's no explanation for how Crossing Paths! connects to Pokémon Tech., the bike gang, or even the Chansey School, given they've all to got to fit around Jessie's late-childhood crisis of Nurse Joy cosplay.

Perhaps it shows Training Daze did its job: buttering 'em up enough to take any punch to the gut, as long as it provided Feeble Emo Feelz in compensation.

Swear down, sometimes I think Pokémon only had a coherent narrative when it was gonna be a one-off.

Soon as that dream died it all went to pot.

During Sinnoh, for example, we go from the Jessie of Noodles! Roamin' Off! telling James to eff off home and marry Jessibelle, to the Jessie of Where No Togepi Has Gone Before! who is implied to be sharing a bed with him.

Take them both as true, and she's a manipulative bitch and bloody abusive, with James as her sad-bastard simp.

Nice.

And thanks to retcon magic, they always were like that now.

Because of the Noodles! ending, we're expected to forgot the beginning, where James almost killed himself trying to bring Jessie back.

Seems the writing can't even stay logical in one episode, as according to this she longs to spend eternity with him, but as for her life?

Nah, some other bird can take the hassle.

Everyone says James's childhood was a vision of horror, for growing up the cosetted only son of two billionaires is exactly as traumatic as struggling to survive as a homeless, starving orphan.

And don't let them pesky peasants tell you otherwise.

But then you have Jessie ordering him back to it.

So either his home life isn't so bad after all, or it is, and she'll happily send James into Hell rather than suffer him a moment longer.

It's SO shippy tho.

Oh look, another minger.

Like a Bay City Rollers tribute act with that collar.

If you were charitable, stooping to admit Dr. Shipman was 'alright', even then, does he remotely compare to James?

No!

Should we limit it to the ugly, boss-eyed Kalos style, then STILL James is superior, because he retains at least a portion of his anime roots.

Besides which, I can never forget James was once better animated, whereas for Dr. Crippen, this mug is as good as it gets.

And it's shit.

But, let's give him his due, he seems to possess two fully working eyes, which puts him one up on Daz 'n' Ozzy, even if they are the Fish-Eyed stare of a psychopath.

Of course, bringing him back down to their level is having No Bloody Nose, just a bridge which...goes nowhere.

And what's up with his neck?

Why is it so thin and elongated like a flamin' lollipop stick?

T.A.P's Law: Never trust a man with a long neck.

There's always a kink in it, like their souls.

Necks like that come from peering over walls to perv on silly women changing with the curtains open.

Conversely, never trust a man with no neck either.

That's from lurking in the bushes.

Is it, AGAIN, a coincidence that Jessie gets pawed off on to the most low-rate arse pickings possible?

What are you telling me? That Jessie is THIS worthless she goes for absolute biological crap, and since they don't want her, she is beneath them?!

And as she can't so much as stomach James, he's even worse than her?!

You look pretty today, Jessie.

I like your ear.

I'm irked at how, in a way, Dr. Shite is close to reasonable, at least within the restrictions of Kalos, yet the 'artists' made sure to stay just on the wrong side of average.

Had that flat, lank rug, supplying a chip shop its annual grease quota in one flick, been coloured black, we could've worked with it, turd-polished him up as the 'tall, dark and handsome' stereotype.

But NO!

Instead, they go for a murky shade between brown and grey, i.e. sludge.

Calm yourself, ladies.

Had his eyes been truly brown, then this could fit with that same 'ideal man' cliché.

But I think they might be veering into red.

EEEEEEEE!!! THE SATANIC HUE OF DÆMON SPAWN!!!

Somewhere along the line, him and Darren are in cahoots.

I insult Dr. Hook relentlessly for this episode, but, all facial flaws aside, it's not his fault.

He never asked for Kalos Jessie to throw her screeching fruit loaf at him; for some utterly unknown lunatic to force herself into his life, expecting to take over.

You ought to able to save a bint without her turning out be an obsessive nut claiming to be 'in love' after five minutes.

Really, he showed her nothing but normal human consideration, never led her on, and all the way through, stayed loyal to his midget girlfriend.

He likes her so much his right eye's popped out.

This is all on Kalos Jess.

She's the one abandoning her mates for a bloody stranger she knows nothing about, who might be a bloomin' serial killer for all she's aware.

Come on, every doctor's offed a few.

She's the one expecting Wobbuffet to take on some tarted-up single mother Wobba and her fatherless offspring.

But is he paying maintenance? 'Cause that's the real question.

She's the one not bothering to tell her friends she's safe, happy to let them go on believing her dead.

Oh, thanks a lot, love.

She's the one who knew James was robbed, beaten and alone, meaning he'd have NO ONE for the foreseeable future, and STILL wouldn't help until she had no other choice.

What a bitch, man!

Imagine how this was for me.

Little T.A.P. idolized Jessie. That was who I wanted to be when I grew up.

What do you think it is to see someone you love, the lively, fiery and beautiful young girl, twisted into a selfish, dried-up and soulless husk of woman?

We're supposed to see her as a weak, simpering airhead, who's 'in love' (HAH!) with every dribbling chump in her line of vision, which is bad enough when you realize how far she's fallen from the early years.

Have you NO dignity anymore?

But the actual depiction, beyond that sugary superficiality, is of a cold, callous, truly repulsive monster, with such a lack of concern for James's welfare she had to be FORCED to help him.

And I find myself in a state of cognitive dissonance.

I don't consider Kalos Jess to be Indigo Jessie, because the only similarity between them is they occupy the same space in the universe.

Problem is that the passive, 'mainstream view' is that they are, and so, immersed within it, by definition I'm expected to see it that way too.

I'm pressured by the planetary weight of blasé fandom culture, to see this heartless, vindictive harpie as no different from the girl I once hero-worshipped, and, as usual, she now was this all along, forever rotten to the core, and unworthy of my devotion from day one.

And I hate that.

As with Dr. Death, it would've been so easy to turn this around, scraping over the line of inadequacy with at least SOME redeeming elements.

If, at any point, Jessie had come to her senses, realized where her true heart lay, and ran back to James and Meowth, laughing at her own foolish fancies, I could've blamed it on brain damage.

If, having heard James's anguished plea for help, she'd dropped everything and rushed to his side, just as she did in Noodles!, this might count as the shippy-follows-anti-shippy rule, which I'd have suffered.

But do we get any o' that?

NO!

The ONLY reason she bothered to lift a finger to save her oldest friend was as she realized Dr. Fox didn't want her.

Whaddya yer see in him, Jess? He ain't even a man!

He looks about fourteen!

Meaning if Dr. Who HAD reciprocated, Jessie would've happily left James to fend for himself, potentially alone for life.

Yer fookin' evil bastard, Jessie!

Right at the end, she flings her bouquet from the balloon, for she's resigned to a loveless existence.

No wry smile, a shrug, or even philosophical attitude that eh, this is where she belongs, and alls well that ends well.

Nope, she resents coming back, and would leap at the chance to leave again, if anyone (and I do think it's anyone) offered it to her.

As to Kalos Jess, James is the lowest of the low, the pond slime company she settles for when nothing better is available.

He is the worst possible result, who she now can't even abide as a pal.

Oh charming, this is.

I have only seen this episode once and I will never watch it again, because it broke my bloody heart.

This was it. This was when I realized.

They'll never be together. All your dreams meant nothing.

I had inklings before, but like an idiot I pushed 'em down, unwilling to acknowledge what my own senses told me.

Year upon year of implications and, God help us, 'deconstructions' but this was the episode where the writers' intent was finally out in the open.

And people STILL didn't see it!

Apparently no one thought this hateful, nihilistic tantrum was anything to worry about, even trying to spin it as a positive that she came back at all, despite what it says about her reprehensible attitude.

As sod James and his feelings.

All that matters is Jess gets some half-witted knob-wrench to take her on fulltime.

Meowth can be sold on like a cheap, hand-me-down handbag, whilst James can suck it up and do one.

It's not just the clanging, anvil-to-the-head message that Rocketshipping is dead that got me, it's that it was murdered in the nastiest manner possible.

If it'd carried on as usual, all their romantic interludes fading to nothing, replaced by the anæmic, brother-and-sister creepfest they have now, it would've been a sad, tedious end, but rendered almost unimportant thanks to interest withering away.

But they couldn't even do that!

Instead, it the clear message that James loves her, but Jessie doesn't love him, and thus misery.

Worse, she hasn't a single platonic feeling for James, or even crumb of pity, though this is supposed to be a fella who's stood by her for the last five generations.

Kalos Jess is in fact ice all the way down, without a speck of humanity.

It's not even 'Just Friends' now! 'Cause that was too much to ask for an' all!

How this is meant to gel with Hoenn James's disgust I don't know, but his delight on seeing her, after all she did, downgrades the once-proud, arrogant posh boy into a broken, grovelling snotdrip, hanging around hoping she'll 'settle' for him once she's out of other options.

Fuq's ache, James!

You can do better than her, love. Jessibelle wouldn't have cheeked yer like that.

And then, for utterly no reason at all, Rumishipping suddenly looked attractive.

Remember how bad the montage was too? That gives you an idea of their opinion.

Although I suppose some of it's practicalities:

A. The 'art style' had degraded so badly by then that any 'best bits' from the first four regions wouldn't fit, instead emphasizing the collapse in quality.

The only answer would be to reanimate every single one, and they don't care that much.

B. A real collection of their finest moments would show Jessie as a warm, magnetic character, giving affection towards James and Meowth, which would somewhat undermine her modern portrayal.

Taken literally, imagine being James, running away crying, and the best memory you have of Jessie is almost dying of anaphylactic shock with her.

You know how this was supposed to be the 'origin of love'?

Well, about that...

What, you believed 'em?

You thought, if they didn't plan on Jessie and James being together, they'd actually tell you?

What, and watch you walk away, you and that lovely bank account of yours?

Come on, they've gotta milk yer dry first.

Here's where Zero Tolerance becomes a winning strategy, because we're only in this cesspit thanks to fans putting up with the steady decline in standards.

• You liked the above picture, so you agreed with rewriting canon.

Or, you took a blowtorch to Kanto, melted it beyond recognition, and stuffed Training Daze into the gloop, meaning you accepted Jessie and James can split up.

But that was alright, as it happened offscreen.

No worries.

• You got tearful over the end of Noodles!, and thus overlooked them parting on-screen, with her telling him to marry Jessibelle, confirming that Jessie and James have no romance.

But that was alright, as she soon came running once he was in need.

Also no worries.

• Now, we get to Kalos, after a full region of no shippy scenes between, and lo and behold, Jessie leaves James on-camera, openly pesters another man, and despises James so much she'll knowingly let him suffer.

But THAT was alright, as she... she... she came back didn't she? Thanks to the conventions of the programme.

No worries!

From the day I learnt Cassidy and Butch were back, I KNEW it'd be terrible.

Not just as it always is, but announcing this on Christmas Eve, thereby parading it as a gift, was tempting fate.

When the sub aired, the one surprising element was people actually complaining about the substandard offering, for once.

Yeah, they'd cheered on every other travesty in this post, but NOW things were serious.

Yet strangely, I didn't find it so awful.

It's a bad episode yes, but there are worse out there, certainly in Galar, and the tone was so slapdash and stupid I couldn't take it seriously.

So why all the fuss?

I would guess many viewers were holding on this long, trusting it'd all be worth it one day, but every disappointment was like the tick-tick-tick of a bomb countdown.

And here's where time ran out.

Something about The Good, the Bad and the Lucky! set off so many explosions, as if THIS was the one, THIS had to be the prize, THIS must be what they'd waited for all these decades.

And when it wasn't, then BOOM!

Too little, too late, sunshine. They don't need to please you now.

Team Rocket are gone, and Tumblerries who wouldn't fight are shocked they lost the war.

Yet there are also daft fans out there STILL insisting the happy-ever-after will come in the very, very last installment, if you only wait another twenty years or more, watching and paying as you go, up to when future writers won't have to bother.

Why should they deign to please you when no kids will remember who Jessie and James are by then?

Maybe we did have the ending we deserved, given no one cared enough to make a stand.

And it's not that I begrudge anyone speaking out now.

I only wish you'd said something when it could've made a difference.

End of Part Three

#Team Rocket #Jessie #James #Jessie and James #Rocketshipping #Doctor White #Hoenn #Training Daze #Kanto #The Bridge Bike Gang #Sinnoh #Crossing Paths! #Noodles! Roamin' Off! #Kalos #A Fork in the Road! A Parting of the Ways! #Galar #The Good the Bad and the Lucky! #GIFS

[captnjacksparrow]

I found it funny nowadays how we're not allowed to dislike certain female characters because that makes us "misogynist". Umm no??? I don't dislike a certain female character because she's a girl. I dislike her because she's an asshole (and so is a majority of her fanbase).

There is this Wonderful Quora writer named Kelsey L Hayes (Kelsey).

She mostly writes about ASOIAF novels AKA Game of Thrones TV series (GoT). You could say, she is my writing idol. Also you could see how my write ups and thought process almost mirrors the following pic (from one of her recent answers).

She says... “If your mother says she loves you, Check it out”. I don’t take things at face value....

I say... “If Sasuke says ‘I’ll Kill you’ to Naruto, Check it out”. I don’t take things at value value....

She says “I considered other people’s perspectives than Dany’s. Obviously, she thinks she’s punishing the right people and making the world a better place, but not everyone around her would agree, and their perspectives are just as valuable and important to consider as hers, even if they aren’t major characters “.

I say... “I considered other people’s perspectives than Uchihas. Obviously, they think that they are punishing the right people and making the world a better place, but not everyone around them would agree, and their perspectives are just as valuable and important to consider as them, even if they aren’t major characters”.

And Kelsey is a journalist and hence her write-ups are thoroughly professional and yet enjoyable with full of facts. Not only did I learnt the way of writing and analyzing scenes from her, but also I learnt how to pick up media subtleties, hints, foreshadowing, how to grasp all-over meta themes and such.

When the entire fandom was mesmerized and drenched in the Kool Aid made by Dany (a popular character from GOT), Kelsey was one of the very few and foremost person in the fandom to propose a Theory of "Dany is gonna be a Dictator who is gonna burn millions of people".... That too many many years before (2013)... Before the show was about to be completed in 2019.

Back then every Dany stans called her "A Bitch", "A Misogynist", "Pro-Slavery Hoe" and some more abuses thrown at her way... Most of these accusations are from Women... Because Dany stans are fucking unhinged and rabid assholes. I must say Sakura stans are miles better, tbh.

But Kelsey without putting those harsh words in her mind, she kept on writing more and more by pointing out her theories using the Book Quotes in a clear, Objective and no-nonsense way.

As time passes by, her theory started to make sense day by day and other people also started to find Dany as this spooky character. ((Count me along them))

And guess what.... Kelsey was abso-fucking-lutely right. Dany indeed ended up committing a genocide without an inch of regret. Mind you, Dany was a celebrated character with millions of stans. But ended up becoming the main villain of the series. Twitter, Reddit got a big meltdown after the reveal... Whereas, we, Quorans were eating the popcorn and watching the shitshow with a proud smirk..

See??? The same bad writing & feminism bullshit Dany stans pulled out from their asses back in 2019... They even started to call the Author as a misogynist because, "The Author made their UwUwU Saviour into a villain"...

Now tell me, Who is a misogynist, in this case??? Kelsey who refused to drink Dany Kool Aid or those women who bullied Kelsey for writing the truth???

I'll tell you... Most of these so-called women don't even really care or empathize with other women... They are just unhinged mobs who wouldn't hesitate to put down another woman for their own benefit... But when things goes wrong, then they cleverly hide under the Gender Blanket and play victims... Such a Low Life Filthy Cowards.

So, being called as a Misogynist for hating a female character is not new to me... Been there done before... I feel really proud to be labelled as a Misogynist, if that female character is an absolute asshole. 

#anti sakura #antisakura #anti hinata #antihinata

[lighthouse-enjoyers-anonymous]

The CSH pipeline (aka my downfall)(aka my favorite band ever)

Last year around June, I listened to Car Seat Headrest for the first time, I think starting with Sober to Death. I had seen mention of the band before in memes about it being "incel" "male manipulator" music, but it was associated with a lot of bands I already had an interest in. My first instinct when seeing that something is being shit on is to go and consume the media so I can judge for myself whether it's actually that bad or if the fanbase is just being characterized by a couple shitty fans and if it's being meme-ified like Weezer. This has lead me down some questionable paths but I ultimately like this way of consuming media because I do end up finding new stuff I enjoy without being restricted to what's popular. I started listening to Mitski because I saw a tumblr post about how people don't like her work. Idk. Anyways I loved Sober to Death and started listening to their other top songs to get a feel for it. I think I mainly just listened to Twin Fantasy and Teens of Denial at first, then ToS and MBIKMB after a while. I wasn't hardcore into it and I knew barely anything about the band except I had picked up somewhere that Will was a furry (I have zero idea when I learned this but at the time I thought it was the most hilarious thing I've ever heard). I was just focused on my other interests much more (you know how it is). Fun fact, my ex included "It's Only Sex" on our relationship playlist when we dated in March, which

1- is an absolutely insane red flag 2- proves I knew about the band earlier than I remember Flash forward to February. I must have seen CSH mentioned a lot more on tiktok or pinterest or something, because I suddenly had a lot of interest in it. Sometimes I get waves of "oh god i'm a fake fan for not knowing everything about this subject" and that spurs some manic search to CONSUME ALL. I started listening to every album available on spotify, learned about Will's pre-CSH projects, and was instantly hooked.

This guy had written songs that spoke to me in a way only several other artists had in the past. On top of that, he had lived less than an hour away from me for the majority of my life (until he relocated to Seattle in 2014), AND most of his music was written at the age I am now. There was something so personal to me about it. Obviously, it was a popular-ish band so it wasn't really underground or anything, but it wasn't known by everyone so I still had the opportunity to introduce it to my friends for the first time. That being said, I still got teased a bit for listening to "sad gay furry music" :/ Touché.

Anyways, I then learned about 1 Trait Danger. Oh boy. I had heard the "Timmis" sound going around on tiktok without realizing it. God Andrew Katz is amazing too. It was silly, it was stupid, it had a new plotline to follow for each album, there was a discord server, there were costumes, there was Will Toledo, there was SO MUCH TO LEARN. So naturally I joined the Patreon so now I get some sick behind the scenes video game development content.

Deeper into the rabbithole comes Cate Wurtz's comics, which are mentioned in several CSH songs, and generally help to contextualize Will's work. Holy Shit I love Crow Cillers. I only started reading it yesterday. I have yet to fully understand what's going on because there is such a mash up of themes. It's entirely possible I made a mistake and managed to skip some crucial lore, but I'll figure it out eventually. Ynce Iche is badass. Other things that this hyperfixation has caused me to get into:

Radiohead and Weezer. more stereotypical incel music but I D K

Costume design? I'm in the process of building a trait mask, and I will make another post about this because I need help!!

animation, possibly. I'm hoping to animate parts, if not all, of 1 Trait Bangers. I have no prior experience with animating so this will be.... fun...

video production. I am ALSO in the process of creating a series of tiktok style videos to all of twin fantasy. if each one is about a minute, I should have... 71 videos. 1 down, 70 to go! This is cool because I got to visit the spot in Harper's Ferry mentioned in BL-I-D.

CSH livestreams. I looove the acoustic sound. Do miss the other band members though. Lots of his covers have lead me to find new music as well.

Will Toledo's tumblr. I scrolled all the way to the bottom of it and i'm attempting to compile a playlist of every song he mentions on there.

Will Toledo's spotify monthly playlists. That funky guy is listening to soooo much welsh folk. This raises questions about what the possible new album will sound like, but I'm down for anything!

Andrew Katz's instagram reels. I love these funky little videos it's like a vine revival with all of our favorite band members.

Will Toledo's high school bands/comics. The Mr. Yay Okay facebook page is so blessed I love seeing shitty home video recordings of them playing with a Ouija board.

New friends! Shout out to the cool people on the 1td discord server. game nights are always hilarious

Pop culture references. I have been convinced to buy several books simply bc they were mentioned in a song or his tumblr. also I started NGE and I will eventually get to Twin Peaks.

That's all for now! I should be able to update as I find more stuff to deep dive into, and as my creative projects unfold. It's going to be a busy couple of months in my house though, as I prepare for college. If I end up switching hyperfixations before I complete anything, I must apologize. But I don't owe "you" anything. I say to my singular follower, cheezbot. Hi cheezbot.

#car seat headrest #cshr #csh #will toledo #infodump #1 trait danger

[popculturebuffet]

Into The Spider-Verse: Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man (Amazing Fantasy #15)

Hello all you happy webheads! It's time to swing into the Spider-Verse. As for what this is Kev, my patroen, sorta producer and friend, had a brilliant idea going into Across the Spider-Verse: Take a look at the first apperances of the various spider-men and women (Sorry NB's) who appeared in the instant classic Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, then review the film in the nick of time for it's sequel. Since Spider-Man is one of my faviorite characters and i'd read most of these comics already and loved them all, it was an easy sell. So for the next few months we'll be going over every spider-man and woman from the first ones. We'll also likely be doing something similar for the sequel to cover that at some point, so keep your big ole expressive mask eyes peeld.

To start us off there was real no other choice, we're taking a look at the original spider-man: the one who taught us anyone could wear the mask, who made teenage superheroes a thing, who taught us what only a science major could do, and with great power must come great responsiblity: It's Peter Parker and the first apperance of any spider-man, Amazing Fantasy #15. Specifically this one is more for Peter B Parker, who like the modern day peter is a down on his luck man in his early 30's (despite what marvel tries to say one) but before he was a depressed man he was depressed boy so come with me under the cut as we explore the humble origins of one of the greatest heroes of all, and the legacy he'd unknowingly cause by putting on the mask.

Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, with an assit by Jack the King Kirby. It was the 60's and Stan Lee had just had his first major success as a comics writer, creating one of my faviorite teams with the Fantastic Four and kicking off the marvel universe as we know it, captivating readers with it's grounded characters, fantastical plots, and general freshness from what was on shelves at the time.

So for an encore Stan Lee decided to scratch another narrative itch he'd had while at the same time tapping into the FF's youthful fanbase: most teen superheroes at that point were sidekicks, mostly falling in the vein of robin, and most were written like this

They were also usually the popular kids or at least resonably popular, and their lives outside the masks were almost never focused on and easily being able to lean on their adult mentors if there was trouble. So Stan Lee decided to flip all of that: His teen hero would be entirely in the same league as any adult superhero, fight villians all by himself. He'd be a nerd, an outcast, someone with no friends to confide in and whose only family is someone he could never tell, and someone who constantly struggled with money. In short he'd be someone most teens reading comics could relate to.

He decided to model the hero a bit after pulp hero the spider, copying the hero's sixth sense and motif. What he needed now was a design and he naturally went to FF partner Jack Kirby. But while Jack Kirby is The King he just didn't have the right fit for Spider-Man, so Lee went to Steve Ditko and Ditko's lanky design for the hero combind with the now iconic mask (chosen as to mask the fact Peter's an awkward teen under there and to add a sense of danger and mystery) was the perfect fit.

Ditko's art is hard to describe but spectacular: it comes off like a more detailed version of dick tracy having the same exagerated features, but feeling entirely realistic at the same time. How he pulled it off I don't know but his style is moody, scratchy and perfect for the more miseable early world of peter parker.

What wasn't was editorial whose reaction… well i'll let stan lee himself tell it with this excert from his intro to the first Amazing-Spider Man Marvel Masterworks:

Thankfully for us Stan didn't remotely listen and instead found the perfect way to give the book a test run. At the time Lee and Ditko were working on Amazing Adult Fantasy, a science fiction antholgy book, that was coming to an end. So Lee decided and his editor reluctantly agreed to let Spider-Man headline the last issue: if he was a success, then Stan would be vindcated and Spidey could get an ongoing replacing Amazing. If he wasn't.. well it was the last book of a failing mag anyway, no harm done.

While it took a few months to find out, 60's and all, the results spoke for themselves: Amazing Fantasy #`15 was one of Marvel's best sellers, Amazing Spider-Man #1 with Lee and Ditko followed soon after and given we're on legacy issue 700+ at this point, with countless spinoffs, spinoff characters, other spider-men we'll get to shortly, two live action tv series, 10 animated tv series with another one upcoming, and nine movies with more of them a comin too, the results speak for themselves. So how's the debut hold up? Well… let's see shall we?

A Diffrent Kind of Hero:

We open up with this iconic opening panel, peter parker rejected by his peers, dejected and with a giant shadow of the man he'll become behind him.

Granted i'm not sure anyone even professionals has ever called then "long underwear characters" and even my goofy self has only so far he can go. I also find it funny they "need one more for the dance" despite having an even number. As you can see there's no perks to being a walflower for peter parker, and It was part of his charm: as I said nerdy kids like peter could relate to him, as could people of color or queer readers who coudl see themselves in someone who just didn't fit in anywhere, felt constantly alone and in the case of queer readers had a secret he had to keep iron tight lest the reveal of it destroy his life. It's why the anyone can wear the mask message Into The Spider-Verse goes for works so well: anyone really could wear the mask, so even if the guy behind it on page was a white nerd, he could be any kind of nerd or person. The point of having a geeky neurotic teen in the role was to have someone you woudln't expect behind the mask, and that gives hope to anyone to wear it. Lee himself had that in mind, and it was brilliant.

Anyways we get the standard stuff that would become a staple for peter: He has two loving elderly parents: Aunt May and Uncle Ben who adopted him after his parents died but loved him just the same, and he coudln't get a girl to notice him even if his hair was on fire at this point. He'd have friends more in other adaptations at least, but for Ditko's run he's a man alone, with no one to rely ona nd the world… laughing at him a lot. When he gets bit by a spider at a science demonstration, the scientests reaction.. is to not notice and instead claim it was a bit too much for him. A guy nearly running him over . .blames peter for it..

Apparently it was ENTIRELY legal to kill nerds in 1965. Which tracks it's just shocking to find out in a comic book is all.

Anyways peter finds out his powers, which was brillantly expanded on in the rami films and in hindsight shows up in pretty much all spider-man media that depicts his origin: peter slowly realizing in some way he has his powers.

I also wanted to spotlight the gag with the kid as I see it WAY too often in media and while it at least fits a little here, I always feel bad for the person who isn't belivied and it always annoys me. It's not helped almost EVERY stan helmed silver age marvel comic used this gag. I'm not exagerating. While true the artists had more influcence on the story back then thanks to the marvel method, Stan still wrote the dialouge, so this is entirely his fault. I know he did because Ditko once drew spidey angry at some protestors because of his objectivist beliefs, and Stan spun it to peter supporting them because he did and because maybe directly telling their audience "your wrong and your wrong to want to change anything", was a terrible buisness tactic

It also annoys me because while I get some assholes digging in and not beliving shit that has tangible proof, the last few years have been a nightmare of nothing but that from the right, so it's not entirely implausable after a while it gets annoying when we're into the 80's and writers are still doing this when there have been multiple alien invasions in new york alone. Outside of NYC I get it, but inside it at a certain point the gag just stops working and becomes obnoxious.

Anyways, Pete decides to test his might now he's much more unique than the other guys, and participates in a wrestling contest to stay in the ring three minutes with crusher hogan. This is another point where the rami films come up and reading this it's very clear Sam studied this issue relgiously and adapted it really well, his only changes being expansions that honestly only improved peter's origin. Or in the case of the wrestling scene changing it form a 60's style strongman contest some bald guy, to

I mean let's face it anything is better with randy savage. Peter easily sweeps the guy and a guy in the audience asks him the important questions

And promises to get him on EDDDD SULLLIVANNNN

I like the subtle touch as Peter, before fairly defeated and at most sayin ghe'll show them all once day, getting a bit more confidence yet ego: when asked for more showmanship he makes the now iconic costume, as well as his web shooters, a nice touch in my eyes: it shows off peter's science prowess and them running out has been a vital plot device across all spidey media that serves as a ncie little bit of dramatic tension whe nneeded. We also get the lost spider-man catchphrase I never knew I needed.

Honestly i'd of loved if Peter just started shouting crackers and milk any time he's upset…

… I regret none of this. Anyways spidey goes on EDDD SULLLIVAN and I don't think we've seen this part of his origin much. I mean obviously the Ed SullivanNN

…. part of things is a bit outdated but most adaptations just skip the showbiz part of his career entirely and skip right to the fateful moment that woudl change everything.

I get it from a time compression standpoint: for the first movie it helped get right to the fateful moment w'ell talk about in a second, and for most adaptations it saves on time in general since they often expand it with other places, like Peter having a falling out with ben just before… well you know in both the amazing and rami movies. I still like it as it explains why Peter's ego grows beyond a power high: after having most people laugh at him or ignore his achivements his whole life he's FINALLY loved, respected and has everything he could want: his family is fincially secure, he's popular, it's easy to see why a kid who was picked on just before this happened woud get high on it's own ego and thus makes what happens next work as well as it does. We've all had moments where we get a swelled head and get high on ourselves, where we let our own ego steer the ship, even my insecure ass… and moments where we could've done the right thing.. and simply didn't

It's just six panels (I coudln't fit the last one in), but it's simple enough to shwo what peter's become: he's become so jaded by his treatment in the past he's letting it impact who he could become, deciding to double down and put out for only himself. And yes stopping the criminal would be dangerous and the cop would be a dick for asking any civilian too.. but it's something peter could've done with or without the mask, the guy was unarmed at the time, and doing so was the right thing. It's a horrible mistake but it's mundanety is really what hammers it in: anyone could be in this situation and thus anyone can feel the pain of it because it so easily coudl've been you. Just as anyone wearing a mask gives you the freedom and power of spider-man.. it also means you can feel the weight of what happens when he doesn't use this power how he should. That you can feel his guilt because it easily coudl've been you in the same situation if you just decided fo rone second "fuck it this has nothing to do with me i'm out". To do nothing instead of the right thing. Stan and Steve coudl've easily made this just a power fantasy, but they knew it had ot be more than that: that with relatablity can come fun.. but it can also punch readers in the gut.. and I feel you all know exactly how their about to do so.

But before that we get a few panels that I feel are still important: Ben suprising peter with a microscope, with him being genuinely greatful, showing even with the new ego.. he's still sympathetic. He still loves the peopl ewho raised hima nd wants to take care of them. So after a few week sas a media sensation.. the inevitble happens.

The art on peter really gets me. Ditko perfectly captures the poor boy's devistation, his panic.. and finally his rage as he prepares to get his revenge, the shot of peter furiously putting on the costume being a true classic. It's part of why this story holds up: some thigns may of aged and the dialouge can be hit and miss.. but the emotion and sheer craft of the tale carry it though. IT's why all but the mcu have adapted this in some way: it's just a perfect origin story.. and it simply ahs one last part of it to go to seal the deal:

Spider-man easily stops the guy, finding him and getting his revenge but before he can do more…. he see shis face…

While i'm glad Ditko thankfully ararely did pupil's on spide again as it simply dosen't work, this .. is an exception. The sheer horror in peter's eyes is more human without the mask, that he could've stopped all this and didn't. That one stupid act of selfishness, of not using his powers how he should… got an innocent man, the man who raised, him loved him and taught him to be the man he was died. I also like how Ditko's shot of a maskless peter shows how.. young he is. While most adaptations have peter as a teen, this originanl panel really makes yo ufeel it: a scared kid with his future unknown, as he goes into the distance remembering what would later become his uncles words: With great power.. there must also come great responsiblity. It's what makes a superhero who they are, and what Stan and Steve brillantly demonstrated without pushing it in too hard: it's easy to get power or have it fall in your lap.. but what makes the hero is how you use it. IT's choosing to fight for the right thing even if it isn't easy. IT's what great responsiblity really means to me: using the power your given to help those who need it… and the reason Uncle Ben is such a great imeptus is peter's been ther enow: he's seen what happens when a good man does nothing and the consequences of that. It's why I admire him so much: in the face of such a tragedy peter could've gone further down into his grief.. but instead decided to be the man his uncle would want him to be. To truly be something. and that is why his name is in the roster of those who make the world of fantasy the most exciting of all: because he rose up and became something more and choose to take the worst moment of his life and while never forgive it, turn it into something his uncle would be proud of. It's why the character endures.. because Peter Parker will always endure, he'll almost always get back up and he'll always use his great power.. responsibly

But what does someone else do with said power and responsiblitY? We find out later this month as a kid from brooklyn also gets bitten and has to be steered into a greater destiny, wether he likes it or not. We're looking at Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1-5. Until then thanks for reading true belivier.

#spider-man #peter parker #marvel comics #stan lee #steve ditko #may parker #ben parker #amazing fantasy #into the spider-verse

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 3

Propaganda Under Cut

Sharon Carter

Sharon is portrayed as a conniving, meddling bitch/villain in fics. Multiple authors flat-out say that they need someone to be the bitch or villain in their fics and they used Sharon. She got so much hatred based on Steve kissing her in Civil War in 2016 that Marvel Studios changed its entire plan for multiple characters. This is despite how Sharon has been Steve's main love interest in the comics since December 9, 1965. Despite being off and on for decades (three of Steve's other love interests were while she was supposedly dead, with at least one writer saying they only created the love interest because Sharon was dead at the time)

When she first appeared she was unfairly treated by fans for "getting in the way" of the Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes ship. A shame because she's a really good character. I'd talk more about how unfairly Sharon, and her actress Emily VanCamp, have been treated by the fanbase and the creators, but that's a different story.

She and Steve Rogers were meant to have a romantic relationship, but the entire fandom and many Stucky fans dislike her because it wasn’t a good ship. I think she isn’t the best but she doesn’t deserve so much hate

Elizabeth Midford

She started as just a cutie fiancée trying her best, turns out she's also a swordfighting genius, very under pressure to perform feminity in the Victorian Rose type of way. Fandom crucifies her bc she's Ciel's fiancée and they want him to be with his butler, Sebastian, the demon he sold his soul to for revenge

anime was a shitty canon divergent adaptation that butchered her character down to her "cutesy silly girly" persona, which obviously made the 2008 anime fans hate her with a passion (nothing wrong w being girly I'm just saying the adaptation made her super one dimensional) anyways fujoshis used to treat her as a villain because she's the fiance of Ciel,, who as u might know already was HEAVILY shipped with his butler, Sebastian back then (now it's kinda looked badly upon, nice tbh that ship sucks ass xD) She's a bit similar to Misa Amane from death note in the way she was treated. (Like an obstacle the yaoi ship must overcome rather than a person)

she's my silly little rabbit! i could gush about her character but i'll keep it short and just say that she's really well written and one of the best characters in the series. anyways she's ciel's fiance and she's like, rightfully annoying as any other 13 yr old girl would be but the fanbase fucking crucified her for even existing. she gets demonized for being 'annoying', but then ciel gets yaoishipped with an even more annoying guy. there is 100% an argument that lizzie/ciel is weird bc they're cousins (i personally don't ship it) but that falls flat when her detractors then ship the 13 yr old ciel with an eons old demon who Canonically looks like his father. the anime also never reached her main character development until years after its peak and that was only in a movie, so she really got the bad end of the stick here. not me though i had a giant crush on her when i was 12

#round 3 #poll #sharon carter #mcu #marvel #marvel comics #elizabeth midford #black butler